ponyo on the cliff by the sea

Another production from Studio Ghibli (the same one that brought us Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle etc) and directed by the famous Mr Hayao Miyazaki and the soundtrack composed by Joe Hisaishi.


Hayao Miyazaki



Joe Hisaishi


soundtrack composed by Joe Hisaishi

The story was kinda weird because its about a goldfish who eventually grew a pair of hands and two feet and became a little girl. Haha, yeah.. sounds out of this world but just watch this with that child like innocence and it'll be fun. I guarantee it!


sosuke who befriended ponyo

Overall, its kinda nostalgic to watch a 2D cartoon... The sound and animation of the small kids are quite 'real' and its reminiscence of Totoro.



cute cute ponyo song by Fujioka Fujimaki (the 2 guys) and Nozomi Ohaishi (the little girl)

last days of two-oh-oh-ate

As the year comes to a close
Did we laugh a healthy dose
Our life, our paths, are what we chose
It is up to us, to live it to the most
And so, the year now comes to a close...

macros

Bought a pack of sushi from NTUC Fairprice AMK Hub (its like a warzone out there today!), and decided to snap some pictures but that's after I've eaten some of it..




Recently I think the camera has gone cuckoo, for some unknown reasons, sometimes the bottom part of the image became dark colored like black or red (like those negative pics...). A little remnant of the line can be seen above because I've cut out the rest.





tako has a nice color and kinda interesting as a pic



My favourite scallop sushi! Yumz!



Ebi lying ontop of unagi... oooh.. kinky!

fishy head chicken feet abc soup

Ingredients:
1 pack chicken carcass (2 pieces) $1.52
2 packs chicken feet (12 pieces) $1.60
1 pack fish head (5 pieces) $1.95
1 tomato $0.15
1 onion $0.25
1 potato $0.20
1 sweet corn $0.50
----------------------------------------
Total cost: $6.17
----------------------------------------

If want to eat as a full meal, then the above is enough for 2-3 people. If just wanna drink the soup (like one small bowl each), then its enough for 4-5 people.


Recipe:
1. Cut away the skins and fats from the chicken carcass.
2. Wash everything nicely, and with salt if necessary (especially those bloody parts)
3. Blanch the chicken parts and feet.
4. Chop off the nails from the feet, and strip off any yellow colored stuff on the feet.
5. Cut potato into 4 pieces.
6. Break corn (of course must remove the leafy and hairy stuffs from it first! Wash it clean.) into 2.
7. Fish heads can put inside bowl, with ginger shreds to remove fishy smell (covered with cling wrap) and put inside fridge for later use.
8. Arrange the corn, potato, chicken carcass and feet inside pot. Depending on your pot, and how many people wanna drink this stuff, add 2-3 large bowls of cold water inside, cover the pot and wait for it to boil.
9. Boil until the soup smell comes out (like about 10 minutes) then switch to low heat.
10. Cut tomato into 4 and add into soup.
11. After 10 minutes, add the fish heads, and add a little salt for taste.
12. Boil with high heat for another 10 minutes (with the lid lifted a little to allow the steam to escape from the pot).
13. Turn off the heat, and allow the soup to simmer gently on its own for about 20 minutes.



using rice cooker to cook soup



end product

Serve the soup and make a chili padi soya sauce dip for the meats.

Afterthoughts:
The soup turn out to be quite oily so had to remove the oil along the way as well. Probably remaining fats from the chicken carcass + skin from chicken feet adds up to the oily factor.

Also added too much water, 'coz I thought the water will evaporate but this cooker very good, it retained all the water and hence had to add a little bit of salt to bring out the taste. Fish head, is for fun. Also quite nice to eat when its soft but don't overcook it.

how's it spelt?

I have a friend who always text "sign..." and she really meant "sigh..." Well, that's a world of difference, don't you think?

Indeed, I am quite particular when it comes to proper spelling. Call it a habit, if you like.

For example, I've seen people using the word 'plague' when they really mean 'plaque' (this is for written text btw). Its not a typo either.

Plague
1) an epidemic disease that causes high mortality; pestilence.
2) an infectious, epidemic disease caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis, characterized by fever, chills, and prostration, transmitted to humans from rats by means of the bites of fleas.

Plaque
1) a thin, flat plate or tablet of metal, porcelain, etc., intended for ornament, as on a wall, or set in a piece of furniture.
2) an inscribed commemorative tablet, usually of metal placed on a building, monument, or the like.
3) Dentistry. a soft, sticky, whitish matlike film attached to tooth surfaces, formed largely by the growth of bacteria that colonize the teeth.

crashing mozilla

Stock market is not the only thing that are crashing nowadays, Firefox too crashes like nobody's business! Ever since the version 3.0.x was installed, I've experienced like more than 20 crashes and reinstalled and crashed again. Wow... never had this kind of problem with v2.x though. Had one more crash while doing this one too!

Anyway, here's a video of my sis mini tank with fishes swimming at home:

ps: the background sound are of the vehicles passing by my house.. yeah, the house is by the road side, what did ya expect.. silence?

Also, an attempt to snap pictures of fish from aerial view above the mini tank:



the water looked so clean n clear right? flash from the camera zapped away all the dirt!

reality of life...

Had a rough week recently. People asked if I'm ok. Well.. generally speaking, yes. It was not unexpected but still feels kinda sad. As there was travel involved, it didn't really hit you until you reached home.

For someone whom you had spent your first 20 years of life with, its bound to affect you in some ways.

blink and now its december!

Oh no.... what have i achieved this year? Hmmm... practically nothing? Oh wait... somehow managed to get through almost three quarter of my course.. so that's quite a feat. But it'll be absolutely even more amazing if i can manage to scrape thru the remaining modules and the practicuum!

Had the usual group supervision today, and it was my turn to present the case. Now I know what it felt like being the one bombarded with questions and queries like "did you ask this? have you tried that? why is that so?" etc etc... wow... and my answers were something along the lines of "oh.. never thought of that.. yeah, how come I never ask... errr.. i don't know... not sure.. " The reasons that I thought was good enough to justify why I did what I did for the case, well... some of those were definite NO NO in the field. Ok... so I was wrong!

Think my supervisor also felt that how come this girl so blur one? sigh...

ego deflation = 99.99%
self esteem = major internal bleeding...
self doubt = increase by ten folds

Appreciate the fact that one of my course mates tried to stand up for me.. but alas, it's simply no good.

Must do lots of self-reflect. Tune up the sensitivity level by like 1000 times more. And always, always be inquisitive!

chronicles of a m'sian trying to renew passport in s'pore

Only done so once in my 13 odd years in Singapore.. so naturally, think as hard as i might.. i really couldn't recall what i did five years ago...

Anyway, read the M'sian immigration's website somewhere with regards to the form that you gotta fill in. So I got the form from my brother when he went back to M'sia. Have to buy one.. not free. If you download from their website then its free. But have to print out on both side of the page else will be deemed as invalid.

So there i was happily went to take my photo via those photo ID booth that you can find in some of the MRT stations. It states there, suitable for passport, driving licence etc, so should be ok.. or so I thought.

So today took a cab to the M'sian High Comm. in S'pore at Jervois Rd. Don't know where? Haha, neither did I... but from the streetdirectory.com it says its near Orchard/Tiong Bahru. Anyway, the cab uncle knows. So reached there about 830am. Must exchange some form of ID to get their valid pass. Security measures.

The place to renew the passport is about 1 minute walk from the security area. And the building is quite nice la... better than the one in Hill Street last time! So, assuming all the docs are ready (application form + photocopies of M'sian + SG NRIC+2 photos), then you're suppose to queue to get a queue number. How ironic... Anyway, gotta follow procedure.

Then I sort of like noticed how the other people's photos are like.. with a blue background while mine is like white? I looked at the photo ID machine in the office.. exactly the same as the one I used back in one of the MRT stations. Anyway, i went out of the queue and got my SG NRIC photocopied (bcoz I didn't know that is also required..) and then queued somemore to get a new set of photos taken. I chatted with the officer there and yeah.. seemed like that photo ID machine is the only one in SG that has a blue background!

So rejoined the queue to get a queue number and it was quite alright. I noticed that at 930am, there's practically no queue already. So after you get your queue number, you gotta wait somemore. I waited for about half an hour, then was called to the counter to scan the thumbprint as well as to get it printed/inked on the application form. Think I'm not that good in thumb inking, so the repeated it for about 3 times.... -_-'
And after the lady had keyed in all your particulars etc, satisfied with the thumbprints, then proceed to the payment counter. Pay in SG dollar cash only $128 for a 32 page passport. After that you'll be informed to come back within the same day (or the next) at either the 2.30 or 4.30 pm time slot to collect the passport.

So to make life easier.. summary of procedure:
1. Go to the High Comm. and bring your driving license or student pass or some form of ID (other than NRICs) so that you can exchange for their pass. Bring both your SG and MY NRICs.

2. Fill in the application form to renew passport. Form is available at the counter @ SGD$0.50 per piece.

3. Photocopy your MY and SG NRIC. Otherwise, the service is available at the High Comm. @ SGD$0.30 per piece.

4. If you're taking photos in a studio, ask for a blue background. Otherwise, take at the instant machine at the High Comm. Costs SGD$6 for 4 pieces. You'll need just 2 for the application.

5. Queue at the counter 1 to get the queue number. If you have missing items, the lady will advise you after a super quick check.

6. Wait patiently...

7. Once your number is called, proceed to the calling counter and get your thumbprints taken.

8. Make payment in cash. SGD$128 for 32 page passport.

9. Collect the half of the receipt and you'll be advised on the date and time of collection. Usually is collection within same day or the next working day.

10. At the collection date and time, you'll be called based on your pass number and not the receipt number. Guess this is the first come first serve implementation?

Overall comments on the experience:
Quite alright. The security people at the High Comm. seemed caring enough as they'll keep a lookout for pregnant ladies. Also, at the collection time.. I liked it that they give priority to senior citizens first. :)

Total damage today:
1. Cab fares: $16+$5+$5=$26
2. Passport application payments: $128 + $6 + $6 (2 times bcoz first one is of white background.. useless)
2. B'fast + lunch: $4.50+$3=$7.50
3. Bus + MRT rides to SG Immigration (ICA) + journey home: $5 (at least?)
4. Photocopy: $0.30
Total costs: $178.80

So I got my passport renewed and collected within same day but didn't manage to transfer the SG PR stuffs over because according to the lady at the ICA.... one must do so before 4.30pm. Guess what time I landed there? 4.40pm. 10 minutes over... so need to go there another day. Bahhh... what a downer!

centrepoint lights

lots of light bulbs



closer view...



any closer, probably will get electrocuted!

sometimes you wonder... sometimes you doubt...

Been moody recently. Everything and anything seem to irritate...
And I realize.. just how recent did I ever smile, those happy little smiles? It seemed so long ago, so I wonder...

Beginning to doubt. That very purpose that I'm pursuing... now seem something that's quite impossible. Or rather.. it was not even realistic in the first place!

Ha...

So once in a while, I wallow in sorrow. And I ponder... and I wonder.. meanwhile, life's go on.. ya... gotta stay functional.

tampines mall

Christmas came early at Tampines Mall. Actually, I'm sure a lot of places already have the deco up la. As you can see the tree is less than 3 storeys high. It was real crowded on Saturday last week.

Was hungry so went in search for food. Mcdonalds was like packed to the brim! Then upstairs have food but all near $10 range.

So went downstairs, but most are like kiosk except for Crystal Jade but my friend didn't want to because she's been having good food since her sister came for a visit. So, decided to settle on one selling Indonesian food (because their stall got some seats one... that's why la.. if not you think I'd bother meh...)

Anyway, ordered a Nasi Bali (never hear before right? Neither have I... -_-'') Anyway, the picture up there at their signboard looked pretty decent but lo and behold, I was surprised when I saw the real thing. So disappointed!


miserable portion... and missing a begedel(Malay potato croquette)... and look at those egg threads.. tsk tsk.. pathetic!


The lady boss placed the plate on the tray and just looked at me. I looked at her... then I looked at the plate of rice and looked back at her. I exclaimed, "This is it?? Like this only?!" She never say anything also to my bewilderment. Then my friend nudged me and whispered, still got chicken la.. Then the boss muttered something like wait... still preparing. Faints.. for a moment, I really thought my $5.50 is just a plate of rice with miserable vegetables sides...

Then after waiting for another 3-5 minutes, the chicken appeared in a bowl similar to ayam penyet. Cheh... just cut up those pre-fried chicken and douse some sauce only also need to take so long ah?


dun be fooled by the chicken.. it looked better than it taste...

Food verdict: While the rice and its accompanying sides like the long bean (crunchy!) and crackers (belinjau crackers.. so crispy and bitterish!) are ok, the chicken itself is cold and slightly dry and not much taste except for the sauce. So the $5.50 could be more well spent elsewhere...

dial 100

Yesterday was the day when I truly felt gan-cheong spider. I think I had been sedated for quite a while. Well... with the exception of some bursts of 'excitement' at the workplace of course.

Anyway, I was on-leave. So woke up at a comfortable time at about 5 mins before 9am. Went down had my leisurely breakfast (not nice tho.. laksa no taste unfortunately.. it looked better than its taste!) and bought some necessity for the bathroom clean-up (like rubber gloves, scrubs etc). Reached home about 10am and started cleaning up my toilet (looooong overdue!). Mirror, sink, walls, toilet bowl and floor. The full works. Hence, it was 11am when the job was done. "Hmm... still have time to re-work the contract." I thought. The contract means the contract for my practicuum. My lecturer has asked me to rewrite some parts. So I thought I better get down to it.

When its done, wahh.. its already 12pm. Oh no, still haven't bathe yet.. can't possible go to my appointment with the school principal in this condition bah... not after I just cleaned the bathroom right? So off to the shower and went finally done.. 12.15pm! Chamz.. appointment is at 1pm. And its to the west side. So I rushed out and grabbed a cab. It was raining too. Taxi uncle say, "Go by Lornie road and then PIE". So off we went. Then got traffic jam before Lornie because apparently go roadworks in broad-daylight(?) and because of rain and along some parts there was an accident too. I looked at my watch. 12.30pm. And oh no, I don't have the telephone number to inform the other party that I am going to be late. So I asked the taxi uncle, "What's the number to call to find out other people's number?" He asked me what service provider I am on. I was like ?? Does it matter which service provider? He said something like 106. Tried it and nah.. doesn't work.

So sms'ed someone else and got it. The number to dial is 100. Just let the person know what you want and he/she help you find the number.

Anyway, with rain, traffic jams and all.. finally managed to reach the place.. on time. Phew!

food and blogs

Noticed recently that many youngsters nowadays when they go out to eat with their friends are armed, with digital cameras. And most are with those high end digital SLR cameras. Cool!

Either the food is impressive or the electronics has become more affordable, or simply people are loving photography.

chinatown

i was in town... chinatown area on the way to my favourite pasttime... karaoke. So i brought out my trusted old phone with 1.2M camera... it works well in bright daylight as evidently shown from the pictures below ;)


pagoda


rows of trishaws


trying to be arty farty

KTV was fine.. although the distribution of people who had airtime were uneven. Had dinner at the people's park market (i think so la.. neh.. the one that's near the pagoda.. i think...my sense of direction not good one). Anyway, ended up eating crispy noodles (生面). Errr.. it tasted like mamee coz very the crispy.. but hor.. not enough sauce and 料。Quite stingy with the ingredients and small plate for the $4 price tag.

Then hor, went to eat dessert. And it was such a disaster... Was supposedly Taiwan dessert but with the usual ching teng, red ruby ice kachang etc. So out of curiosity, I ordered a Taiwan ching teng. The aunty who served me looked sickly.. and as if that's not enough, the ching teng ingredients were already set in a bowl! Walao.. no standard siah! Don't know how long that stuff has been sitting around also and whether it was visited by any other things like lizards or cockroach or wat nots! Eee... Anyway, still never mind.. she went to put in the 'teng' in ching teng from a tiny plastic container. Usually other places they will have cooked the 'teng' in a pot.. here.. I don't know and don't think I wanna know!

Then hor, must put ice shavings right 'coz I ordered cold one. So she proceeded to put ice lor but lo and behold, I spied her fingers inside the bowl wor.. boo hoo! I really considered not eating that dessert there and then! Then hor, another aunty came along and I saw at the top of the stall a picture of her looking radiant and resplendent alongside an unknown (becoz i dun recognize) celebrity (I guess it is la... else take picture and paste there zhor simi?) Then I looked at her.. and looked at the picture again. Now her face had a terrible outbreak of acne.. almost pock marked like.. with the scars still reddish... I was like.. errrr... has she been eating too much dessert or wat? The she proceeded to put agar agar ontop of the iced cheng teng... and I was like, huh? Since when cheng teng comes with agar agar slices?

Anyway, decided not to waste the dessert and ate it. I found a humongous red date inside my cheng teng and the red date is hard! Who puts a raw uncooked red date inside cheng teng ones??? Walao! Not only that, it had some unidentified objects that tasted like sugar bits (hard n chewy?), got raw 枸杞子(?), got black pearl like those in bubble tea (??) and then after a while, I gave up... it just tasted.. too weird for my liking...

Best part was, my friends also bought dessert from the same stall. Got ice kachang and red ruby. The ice kachang one comes with... a long strand of hair! *yucks*


die die DUN eat!

mediocre...

Am now convinced that there is nothing special that i can do, i am as mundane as mundane can be.

For my assignments.. I could only muster two P1s last term...P1s.. it's just like hovering between 55 - 64 points out of 100. Walao.. like that dun take better! But then, heng can pass la... phew. By definition that would mean that the papers that I've submitted are not well referenced... (yalar.. that time was sick mah.. had to complete one of the assignment while I was on MC.. sad right?) No enlightenment (though I can imagine who in the class are most enlightened), no great insights like sudden eureka kind of exclamation worth revelation... basically, it didn't catch on well with the marker. Not same frequency.

More likely to be.. need more depth and greater self and community awareness, and maybe 1000 references...

food glorious food

french fries


fish fingers or fish cake?


oats + prawns = oats prawns?


sweet n sour fish?


thai style roasted chicken?


and to think that I've loaded all these into my stomach.. all in one day... today... and those are part of the food only...wow, no wonder I'm fat!

and today i learn... about myself...

Ever had a time when you 'argue' with someone and that someone insisted on having his/her say? (Ha! I realize sometimes I could be that person... but that's not the point..) Today I had met my match.

This person is knowledgeable, seemed open to all viewpoints. Seem is the word. It is actually nothing wrong to have opposing views. I do enjoy discussing opposing views but today, I felt oppressed. Did you ever get those feelings? Especially when you don't get any chance at all to say what you want to say but instead everything else was monopolized by the other person and when you do get a chance to say something it was shot down flatly absolutely with no leeway at all.

Sigh, next time if I ever do that to you... do remind me. I will absolutely respect and will allow enough time for you to air your views!

affordable food

Found this at the other coffee shop near my place. "Old Punggol Nasi Lemak". Well, old or new, never mind. It's only $2.50 for this set C, which comprises of 1 fish, 1 chicken wing, 1 egg, some peanuts and ikan bilis and a dash of chili with 1 cucumber slice.



The food is actually very worth it for that price. Rice has slight fragrance, and I had some difficulty in finishing the food due to its combined quantity!

无目的地

今天早早就往Tampines跑。这是我最近每周的东游记，哈哈！这么知，到了那边，友人通知可能要延迟因为他们那边有节日活动。。。所以就在附近培了朋友吃早餐。现在的麦当劳，实在是很贵! 一分早餐$6多！穷啊。。。

Anyway,竟然来到了东部就觉得不要浪费。干脆在这流浪，然后过了两点钟才返回去。朋友说她要去 Raffles City 聚会。所以我就陪坐。。。坐 mrt 啦。

然后，她下车后，我就在想要不要回去Simei。想着。。。想着。。。就到了 Boon Lay! 晕倒！所以就往回东部咯。我猜，我是浪费时间大王！嘿。。到了Simei就想去Pet Safari 看看。发现，原来我好久没来。。。地点改了许多。原本六年或八年前在basement的Pet Safari已经变了NTUC。后来才发现那店已经被移上去在一个角落。还是去看了。狗儿好可爱！

然后，就去做我该做的辅导。。直到五点半。然后就搭bus回来。哎哟，今天我应该是坐了大概4小时的公车吧！

regression

i feel like i'm regressing...
staring into blank space...
emptiness in thoughts, emotions and expression...
that's exactly how it was like when i was six...

down down down

Whoa, its been a depressing week with the worldwide financial markets heading south. Just imagine, for the week alone, investors lost about $2.4 trillion. Read here.
Someone was commenting, what is the 700 billion bail out as compared to these losses in trillions?

On a closer note, my funds have also been diving drastically. This week alone, the value has dropped another 10% as compared to last week. Total paper loss is 50% in total as compared to when the funds were invested last year.

Recession has also been declared in Singapore. Singapore is the first Asian country to enter recession. This is a first that we can do without! But, in times like this, I think we should have seen recession coming...

However, here is an article that makes recession doesn't sound so gloomy.

tainted.. more

Vegetables imported from China may be melamine-tainted? Read here .

Yearning for days when there are good news instead of scandals after scandals...

music

music from 'the mission'


joe hisaishi


song from laputa


violins take centrestage

powershot

Look at that, ain't it cool? That's A2000 IS. With mid zoom capabilities. Always wanted one with a higher zoom. 3x optical zoom is not enough! But more recently, I think should upgrade to higher pixels. Not sure why, but getting more dissatisfied with the current 3.2 Megapixels. What? You'd say 3.2 Megapixels is obsolete? Haha, you may be quite right!

But color wise, I think I like these color schemes better.


But then they're just 4x optical zoom. They're the A1000 IS series. 10 Megapixels camera. The difference between this and the A2000 IS series is just the optical zoom part and the price difference is about $80 apart. 1x optical zoom costs something like $40, without GST. Hahaha!

Ideally, the power should be something like SX110IS. 12x optical zoom, 9 Megapixels. Priced at $499 retail. However, it doesn't have the looks...

But whatever it is... definitely not this one! Can you even imagine me using this one? With the tagline "Cute is Me?" Pengz! Haha, but this one is definitely JY's type :P

no go for bail out

Times are bad now. The US$700 billion bail out plan did not get the go ahead. Read it here. Stock prices plunged along with the news. When the bail out plan was proposed, the stock prices went up. And now that it had failed to get the necessary approval, back down the prices go. The current financial market is really not for the faint hearted.

How would it impact you and me? The people on the streets? Clearly, our confidence has been eroded. Who would know what to trust now? Uncertainties are plentiful. Our hard earned money, where and whom can we safely entrust it to? Not only that, the investment that we made, will most likely to be on the decline. If you're making money, do teach me how you're doing it!

Closer at home, I think it is prudent to start some belt tightening measures. The electricity bill will be going up starting October with it rising about 21%. Also, there will be an increase in some of the newspaper price due to high printing cost.

yesteryears

Sometimes I looked at the old pictures. Thinking of what it was like to be back in our yesteryears. We laughed, we did things together. Then we grew up. Was it geography or was it time that drove us apart? Of was it us?

I wondered... when we were together, did we know each other well? Did we mattered in each others' hearts? Or, was our acquaintance a mere fleeting pass in our journey in life?

Probably I had missed out on a lot of chances in making a difference in someone else's life. Probably at that time, I didn't put too much thoughts on goodbyes and farewells.

Now that I'm older, I cherished our time together... Also had understood, that what is gone can never return.

disasters one after another

What's going on?

Typhoons, storms... millions have lost their homes. Tropical storm Ike had moved and ploughed through Texas (Yifan, hope you're ok) and made many homeless as evacuation was necessary for this category 2 storm. Read more about storm strengths and its categorization.

Then there's the train collision in Los Angeles. Reports states that police are still investigating how the two trains(one commuter and one freight) are on the same track. Read it here.

Tainted milk powder in China ... 432 infants developed kidney stones because of it. Hope the authorities can conduct more stringent checks for all consumables.

Do you hear me,
I'm talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky oh my, baby I'm trying
Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Oooohhhhoohhhhohhooohhooohhooohoooh

They don't know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I'll wait for you I promise you, I will

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

And so I'm sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music, fell the air
I'll put a flower in your hair
Though the breezes through trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me right here right now

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

Ooohh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooooh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh

forum

There's a public forum on "The Impact of Suicide on Survivors" this Saturday (13 Sept 2008) at York Hotel, 2-5pm.

Here's the link for more details.

Suicide Awareness Week 13th-20th Sept

with dignity...

Yesterday's newspaper carried the story of Marc Weide's mother's last days, who was diagnosed with a terminally ill cancer, and the article was titled "I'm going to die on Monday at 6.15pm".

Dying of any kind, is never going to be easy. Even when it is euthanasia. Even when it is legal. The article documents the surviving family member's perspective. His and his family's struggle when his mom's decision.

This was how he ended the diary article, "My main regret is that there were such clashes between us in the run-up to her death. Perhaps if we had challenged Mum more over the years, keeping her ever-increasing demands in check, we could have been at peace as a family, instead of at war over shoes and toilets, right to the bitter end."

jason mraz

Incredible talent. I'm currently hooked on "Prettiest Friends". I like "I'm Yours", and "Life is Wonderful" also.

F1

Saw that in Paragon the other day.... preview before the race!

look what i found at clarke quay!

floats in the river, this one has white crane on it


this one dunno wat it is but like got 2 ships fighting


this one also i dunno... never read the plaque that accompanied it!


rabbit


journey to the west!

How come I bumped into these stuffs leh? Because I was bringing my penpal around, so thought it'd be good to see Clarke Quay.. and voila, pleasant surprise to have all these lanterns there~

Generation Y

I read with much interest on the report with regards to 'Generation Y'. These are typically refers to the cohort of individuals born, roughly, between 1982 and 1994. According to wikipedia, a 2008 survey by UK recruitment consultancy FreshMinds Talent in partnership with Management Today suggested that Generation Y are generally more ambitious, brand conscious and tend to move jobs more often than ever before.

Some generalistic observation on the ambitious Gen Y-ers, is that I think they are not quite willing to follow rules, but instead wants to write their own rules. They have much believe and confidence in their own abilities and prefers not to think too much about the consequences of their actions. An American survey have also found that they seem to have limited loyalty to any particular employer, and insist on working in a stimulating job environment. In this age, I think loyalty towards a particular employer is actually a dying culture, regardless of which generation you're from (perhaps with some exception of generations prior to gen X).

It is also quite interesting to note in the article found in today's Straits Times, about the 'anchors' in a company. Anchors are basically people who can unite/motivate the employees in the company. Typically they're suppose to be your bosses (if the company setup is small enough). Otherwise, employees who had been loyal or who had stayed for a long time in the company could be the anchors as well. And the report states that typically, these people would have come from the HR / admin dept.

I think it is interesting to note the trends as it provides useful information in how to manage the relationships in the workplace. It also made me think about whom can I hire to fit into the department. I can't hire all Gen-Ys because none of them would stay longer than 2 years. So I need to get at least one more Gen-X to balance things out. Haha.

Fast food? Not quite

Was at Tiong Bahru Plaza on Friday. Had to wait for a friend but he won't be turning up till 830pm. And I was there already at 7pm, so went walk walk, look look see see. Combed the place from top till bottom. And still with time to spare. So I went to have my dinner at Mos Burger.

No queue at the counter? Good (or so I thought la...). So I ordered the chicken teriyaki meal. They had the advertisement stating that their chicken teriyaki is now bigger and better. Think its supposedly 30% more. Ok, good lor (or so I thought la...)

As usual, you'll be served with the drinks first while they prepare the rest of the stuffs. So went to sit at some god forbidden corner. Its like a counter sit, only difference is that there's no counter to face. Just a screened wall. Imagine having to face the wall to reflect... *pengz*

Anyway, with nothing to do... I began observing the state of this outlet. Customers were actually hovering near the counters because everyone had ordered and now are just waiting for the orders to arrive. Apparently some never did, so one irate woman went to demand her items. Manager digged through the papers and somehow can't find the orders. After about 7 minutes or so, the lady eventually got her items and a quick apology from the manager. But I think she wasn't appeased la as she made a sarcastic remark before she left.

The manager tried to work in high speed mode, but still .. customers who were waiting for their orders began to increase by the minute. Then the manager still need to cope with handling enquiries from a girl who was keen to join as part time staff, still need to dash out to serve the orders, and clear tables etc... From observation, he didn't use any glove when preparing the orders. Oh, he also need to handle a man who tries to sell tissue-paper for $2 inside Mos Burger! I saw him tap on the man's shoulder and later didn't wash the hand and started to prepare the orders again. Eeks...

Oh, story haven't finish yet. So I got my orders after I've finished half the drink. And yes, the teriyaki chicken seemed bigger. But on closer look, it's actually filled with more veggies (which is good...) but also with more chicken skin (not so good...). So there you have it.. bigger does not always mean.. better.

superman

It's Chris's birthday this Sunday. So we got him a superman cake!



Bengawan Solo has it and you only need to order 2 working days in advance!

after ktv...

After ktv, here are the songs that finally know the title, and sung by whom...

1. Leona Lewis - Better in Time
2. One Republic ft. Timbaland - Apologize


For item #1, there's this visually challenged lady who busks at Tiong Bahru Plaza (current location) and she does a decent version of the song!

boring

Do you have an ambition? To save the world? To climb higher in the career ladder? To do well in exams? To attain immortality?

I suppose any normal person would have an ambition. I used to say I would like to be a bummer. I think.... I am lackadaisical!

Ya, ya... how boring is that?


"Laissez faire et laissez passer, le monde va de lui même!" (Let do and let pass, the world goes on by itself!) - Vincent de Gournay

last friends

Nice show. It won the best drama, best supporting actress (Ueno Juri), best song (Prisoner of Love!), best director and best screenplay at the 57th Japanese Drama Academy Awards! Hehe

Though I didn't quite like the ending (thought it could be better), still, "Last Friends" had made an attempt to be different from the rest of the Jdramas. Of course I was pretty amazed by Ueno Juri. Afterall, she was Nodame in Nodame Cantabile! Talented girl, she is.


as Nodame (cute)




as Ruka (cool)

The show probably warrant an NC16 or M18 tag due to its theme about domestic violence and homosexuality.

homework

For anyone who knows me personally, I have a favour to request from you as part of my homework. Everyone is welcomed to participate :)

Here is what is required. Please list down my strengths and weaknesses as they are known to you. Please list strengths on left column and weaknesses on the right column. Best if can put a bit of description so that I can understand better.

================== Example ======================

Strengths | Weaknesses

Friendly (always smiling) | Bossy (because always like to do things her way!)

============== End of Example ====================

The information will be used as self-reflection. Could be fun, could be devastating (as they say, the truth hurts! :P ). But all in all, you can say whatever you think it is. No right, no wrong answer. Just something for me to think about.

If you don't know me long enough, its ok. Not the duration that matters, but what kind of person that am I projecting to you... that'll be interesting to know.

After the exercise is done, and if there're enough responses... I'll publish the outcome here and you can judge whether it is accurate or not. No worries, your contribution shall remain confidential (won't publish names :P).

Thank you~

Closing date: 23 August 2008 (23:59:59)

code blue コード・ブルー

An interesting watch. The plot is pretty simple. A group of young trainee doctors in a hospital. There's this 'prestigious' position of being able to be in the 'Doctor Heli' which is basically a helicopter used in emergencies. So each are trying to vie to be the one that can follow the heli team as only one person will get to sit in it.

Almost everyone are new faces, except the heli pilot. Eh.. correction.. the main lead is Yamapi! Yamashita Tomohisa, ahh.. he's the one in "Nobuta No Produce". Wahh.. didn't recognize him here. In Code Blue, he's Aizawa Kousaku, the ever sulky looking arrogant one but the most highly skilled. Wow.. hairstyle do change the face of a person! Not only that, I think probably I had a stucked image of him based on Nobuta, where he is carefree and naughty, compared to being just sulky and abit stuck up here. But in all show stereotypes... he's slowly melting away his icy exterior... awww...

The girl lead, Aragaki Yui.. dunno who. But she looked like Fann Wong in this show. Hahaha!

I liked Yanagiba_Toshiro who acted as Kuroda Shuji, the trainees' mentor.

cats

curious...



like a dolly...



more like a dolly..


cat empress...



Wondering why picture quality so bad? Taken using 2MP camera phone lor..

excuse me

Yesterday was traveling home from Somerset MRT back north. Time was around 10pm and boy, was it packed! So imagine everyone squeezed back to back (probably as good as morning squeeze!), and the train stops at one of its station. A Chinese male (probably late twenties or early thirties?) barged in saying "Excuse me!" in a rather loud voice. He was wearing short sleeved shirt and blue pants, and carrying an oversized backpack. So imagine this guy with his HUGE backpack ramming into the passengers and saying "Excuse me Excuse me!" in a loud voice. He'll just push his way through without allowing enough time for the passengers to react. Obnoxious right?

He pushed his way right to the middle whereby this young couple stood. He started talking to the man (so loud that everyone is aware) something about liking the way he is dressed, and later on about being his best friend or something like that. Initially I thought "Oh, he was rushing in because he saw his friend..." But then, the man whom he was talking to, looked awkward and just responded via nods or a weak smile. Then all of a sudden, the backpack man just sat down on the floor (amidst this sea of people of course). He started reading his brochures, and then something else caught his eyes. He pointed his finger to an auntie and said, "Excuse me auntie!". And started saying how he liked her shiny watch. But I suppose the auntie was trying very hard to ignore him. After a while, the man got up and pointed to another female passenger and said, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" But she too was trying to ignore him. His face looked dejected, puzzled but luckily he didn't become violent or something. Next he went over to another part of the train and pointed to a young female passenger and said, "Excuse me! Your watch is very shiny." The young girl was surprised, but very very likely everyone must be thinking that this guy is a cuckoo case.

Some looked disgusted, some looked fearful and started inching away further from him. Some couldn't be bothered, some looked amused. But I suppose this guy has some deficiency or something. Easily attracted to shiny things, not quite aware of how to interact with the world... more like a child.

For us, when we label a person as 'siao', or a looney.. is it more out of fear for something that we know nothing of?

into temptation (crowded house)

You opened up your door
I couldnt believe my luck
You in your new blue dress
Taking away my breath
The cradle is soft and warm
Couldnt do me no harm
Youre showing me how to give

Into temptation
Knowing full well the earth will rebel
Into temptation

In a muddle of nervous words
Could never amount to betrayal
The sentence is all my own
The price is to watch it fail
As I turn to go
You looked at me for half a second
An open invitation for me to go

Into temptation
Knowing full well the earth will rebel
Into temptation
Safe in the wide open arms of hell

We can go sailing in
Climb down
Lose yourself when you linger long
Into temptation
Right where you belong

The guilty get no sleep
In the last slow hours of morning
Experience is cheap
I shouldve listened to the warning
But the cradle is soft and warm

Into temptation
Knowing full well the earth will rebel
Into your wide open arms
No way to break the spell
Dont tell

where is the love (black eyed peas)

What's wrong with the world mama?
People living like aint got no mamas
I think the whole worlds addicted to the drama
Only attracted to the things that bring you trauma
Overseas yeah we tryin to stop terrorism
But we still got terrorists here livin
In the USA the big CIA the Bloodz and the Crips and the KKK
But if you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And if you hatin you're bound to get irate
Yeah madness is what you demonstrate
And that's exactly how anger works and operates
You gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love y'all

People killing people dying
Children hurtin you hear them crying
Can you practice what you preach
Would you turn the other cheek?
Father Father Father help us
Send some guidance from above
Cause people got me got me questioning
Where is the love?(where is the lovex3)(the love2x)

It just ain't the same all ways have changed
New days are strange is the world the insane?
If love and peace so strong
Why are there pieces of love that don't belong
Nations dropping bombs
Chemical gases filling lungs of little ones
With ongoing suffering
As the youth die young
So ask yourself is the loving really strong?
So I can ask myself really what is going wrong
With this world that we living in
People keep on giving in
Makin wrong decisions
Only visions of them livin and
Not respecting each other
Deny thy brother
The wars' going on but the reasons' undercover
The truth is kept secret
Swept under the rug
If you never know truth
Then you never know love
Where's the love y'all?(I don't know)
Where's the truth y'all?(I don't know)
Where's the love y'all?

People killing people dying
Children hurtin you hear them crying
Can practice what you preach
Would you turn the other cheek?
Father father father help us
Send some guidance from above
Cause people got me got me questioning
Where is the love?(where is the lovex3)(the lovex2)

I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I'm getting older y'all people get colder
Most of us only care about money makin
Selfishness got us followin the wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting their young minds faster than bacteria
Kids wanna act like what the see in the cinema
Whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness and equality
Instead of spreading love, we're spreading anomosity
Lack of understanding, leading us away from unity
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling under
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling down
It's no wonder why sometimes I'm feeling under
I gotta keep my faith alive, until love is found

People killing people dying
Children hurtin you hear them crying
Can you practice what you preach
Would you turn the other cheek?
Father Father Father help us
Send some guidance from above
Cause people got me got me questioning
Where is the love?

expectations

If we do not know it already... here goes again,

"EXPECTATION is a setup for DISAPPOINTMENT."

Not all will agree. I've met/know people who are optimistic... some pessimistic... and some in between. I guess you could call me realistic. I've learnt long long ago about expectations/anticipations. The more we anticipate, the greater the disappointment/anger/whatever negative emotion that you want to insert here...

However, let's take a step back and ask ourselves, "Why do we 'expect' certain things to turn out in a certain way?" For example, consider this scenario. You and a friend. You have always been caring and supportive of your friend. However, suddenly, when you needed that to be reciprocated, it didn't happen. Disappointed? Sure do. Happy? No! And we like to rationalize with ourselves. We'll give all sorts of excuses. Then when it happens one time too often... we slowly become jaded...

Are we selfish to expect something? It could be because we tend to have an idealized view and thus developed an unrealistic view of things. Then no need to expect anything? Unlikely.

There will always be expectations. Parents' expectation that their child will perform well academically. Our expectation that our friends will be there for us. Citizen's expectation that their government will take care of them.. etc etc. It could be viewed as a yardstick of measurement. A strive for a better future. There is expectation on me, and therefore I will strive to achieve it.. provided I have the resources to do so. On the other hand, when we get disappointed/angry.. let's ask ourselves.. "What made me angry? Was it the other person? Or was it my 'expectation' of the other person." Often times, even when we're angry with our 'expectation' of others, the other party won't know it. We never say, "I'm not angry with you. I'm just angry with my expectation/anticipation and things didn't turn out the way I thought it would." Very often, the other party will perceive the anger/disappointment as directed to them and as such, likely to become defensive.

Be aware.

Seigi no Mikata 正義の味方

Interesting light-hearted show. About sisters, an older one (Makiko) who is supposed to be pretty and attractive while the younger sister (Yoko), who is young (teenager), naive and always kanna bullied by her older sister. The two of them live with their parents, where their dad is like always doing things for their mom.


Makiko (Yamada Yui)


Plot is pretty simple. Makiko is forever bullying Yoko. And Yoko although grumbles alot about the unfair treatment, will still obey Makiko. Yoko calls Makiko the devil in disguise, but to outside people, Makiko is forever pretty, forever good. The stuffs in here are pretty comedic. Makiko with her cold treatment towards everybody (but everyone just seem to fawn over her...), ill-intent (seemingly) but somehow in the end with her pure good luck, manages to cause good outcome (albeit most of the times are by chance!). Basically I know none of the actors except the dad, played by Sano Shiro.


*spoiler alert!*

Anyway, in episode 1, Makiko has this thing about bento set, so one fine day she purposely went to queue for this special bento during lunch time and as usual in long queues with limited items, you'd be counting and getting worried when the people in front of you start to buy more than one. But lucky for Makiko, there was 1 set left and she was the last in queue. Unfortunately, before she could get to pay for it, an obnoxious looking man came along and paid for the bento and took it away with him. She was pissed off! So pissed off that she called the police to fabricate a complaint against him (told you she always has ill-intent~), but the best part was... when the police asked for the complainant name and address... guess what.... she gave them her sister's name and school address. Faints ah... this kind of sister also have??! Hahahahaa! Funny when watching the show.. I suppose not so funny if it were to happen in real life? So the police really go and arrest that guy and hence this caused the guy to hold a grudge against Yoko (but later on we learn that he actually is a crook and he thought that since Yoko complained about him, then she also know about his other secret... which I guessed was something of him being an arsonist or smthg like tht la...) Anyway, he began stalking Yoko, and coincidentally there was a sex maniac around in the neighbourhood. So Yoko thought she was followed by sex maniac. Then one night, that guy actually pounced on Yoko (but Yoko was on the phone with Makiko because Makiko demanded to know why Yoko haven't return home yet with her special bento that Makiko commanded Yoko to buy for her.... -_-')

So imagine this scene, where Yoko was attacked by this guy and she lay on the ground helpless while the man was choking her neck. Then imagine Makiko came running down and stealthily crept up upon the crook. With an evil glint, Makiko brandished an electric stun gun and stuck it into the back of the crook, sending him into convulsions. Then Makiko wasn't impressed with the power of the stun gun (because she had the idea that anyone kanna stunned would faint or smthg), so she stuck it into his back again. After which, she looked closer and noticed that hey, this was the guy who jumped her queue and caused her not to be able to buy that bento. So, evil glint one more time, and she stun him again. Muahahaha! Then Yoko was looking all teary eyed because her big sis came to her rescue when she needed her most, and she was go 'gam dong' that she wanted to give her big sis a BIG hug... then Makiko just turned to the bento that Yoko dropped during the struggle and cradled it, as though it was her baby. Imagine Yoko's face crumbling when she realized that Makiko, actually came to the bento's rescue.. and not hers... -_-'''

But even more hilarious, was the scene when the police were conferring those bravery award to Makiko... then Yoko quietly asked another police why the bad guy was stalking her. Imagine her indignance when she realized the real reason.. simply because Makiko had complaint using Yoko's name. -_-''''

I think this series will appeal to those with a sadistic streak in them. Muahahaha!