Of Advice

For a friend which might/might not be reading this:

If Answers are what you seek, make sure you ask the questions first

Of Dark and Light

This is not a post about soya sauce


Ok, why so serious? Jokes aside, The Dark Knight was a much anticipated movie that appealed to the adult audience and kids who can't wait to grow up. It didn't disappoint

With the Joker having a stronger performance than the bat, it's little wonder why the joker's jokes are getting more attention.

Many friends have seen inserted "why so serious" in various forms into their MSN nicks, its about time people start to embrace their dark side, the senseless side of things, the wilful destruction, the lack of empathy towards woes.

The movie also attempted to find man's soul.

Picture this:

Ship A - Full of people from everyday life, men, women, children from the city
Ship B - Full of convicts that are shipped to another holding cell, with some officers on board

Joker plans a detonator on each ship and reveals that the detonator, well, detonates the bomb on the other ship. He gives each ship the chance to blow up the other ship. Should both ships be still intact by midnight, he'll blow both ships up.

Picture yourself on either of the ship, what would you do?

Blow the other ship up?

Jump off your own ship silly..

The joker would have wired up the bomb to your own ship anyways. Click click, you kill yourself and the people on your ship when you push the button. How dead funny would that be?

Wahahahhaa














Let's put a smile on that face.

Singapore Selection 0-3 Brazil

So that's it. 3 goals, one from Ronaldinho

Downed 3 goals to nil, but that wasn't our lions playing, it was a lame Singapore Selection.

Well done FAS, so much for encouraging national pride. Get lost







Singapore Selection 0-3 Brazil Olympic Team

Of P.S I Love You

Been wanting to watch this movie ever since it hit our shores, an awful combination of bad schedules, school work and family commitments delayed the process..
Finally managed to catch the show on DVD this weekend with wifey. P.S. I Love You centers around the story of how a couple cope with the death of the husband. Couple, instead of just the widow, as the hubby planned a series of letters and activities to help his wife cope with his death..

How sweet.. or how sad is that?

Death separates us from our loved ones, and it is this fear for death and the after-life that drives many towards religious pursuits and sorts. The harder you love, the stronger the pain
Death is not your usual enemy - the quarrels, 3rd parties, friends influences, family or relatives.

Death takes it all away. There is no fighting back

Morbid Post from a supposingly beautiful love story, i get absorbed into things somethings, perhaps this is the emotional part of me. I can't imagine how life would be without my wife and i can imagine how hard for her life without me.

To my wife then:



P.S. I Love You

Of Sunday

I woke up this morning, not that early, but still good enough for breakfast. Had a light breakfast with wife at the coffeeshop nearby, nothing fancy, just a simple breakfast and we went marketing.

Its funny how 2 marketers(or at least studied to be) are doing Marketing on a sunday morning. The prawns were fresh and i went for the medium-sized ones at $6 for a 500g snatch, the slightly bigger ones goes for $8 for 500g and i skipped that..

An overweight chicken which probably had health problems would be on our plates tonight, alone with pork ribs with a generous stack of meat on them in the soup, what's dinner without vegetables? So we got that too.

Forgot to mention that i'll be making Garlic Tomato Prawns later while wife prepares the Hainanese Chicken (none of us Hainanese by the way), Chicken Rice and Vegs

Why can't everyday be like a sunday?

Cause we need to work to be able to afford the kitchen, the gas, the water, the food, the plates, the everything

Of Singapore-Brazil

Singapore VS Brazil


Monday, 28 July 2008
8.00pm
National Stadium

Ticket Details
Grandstand-S$120
Gallery-S$60
Gallery Student-S$15 (2000 gallery tickets available for students under the age of 16 years old.While stocks last!)

Tickets are available at all Sistic outlets and can also be purchased online at www.sistic.com.sg
Contact Sistic at (65) 6348 5555

Free shuttle bus service
Available from 6.30pm – 8.30pm, from Geylang Lor 1 Bus Terminal (opposite Kallang MRT) will be provided on match day.


No, i didn't get paid to put this up
Yes, i'm still considering if i should get a ticket

Of That Shot

Ever since i bought my Nikon D40x, i have been trying to take nicer pictures, going for difference angles. Actually, other than landscape photography, i love to take candid pictures of people in the landscape surroundings.

Above is one of the pictures that i would love to shoot, it shows a person, walking alone on the grass, looking out towards the sea. His body language shows that he is in motion, he is not ready to stop here, the thoughts in his mind are aplenty as he looks out to the horizon. Camera in hand, he could be looking for that good shot in his mind, or he could be just taking a break from the shooting to admire his surroundings, all in the comfort of the shade provided by the old trees.

In this picture, you can also observe 5 terrains:

The grass - Comfortable and shaded, the small blades of grass cushions the feet and he walks, the little bumps along the grass patch provided some variety to his feet and his ankles bends along to negotiate the terrain

The sand - Why has he chosen not to stand on the sand? Isn't the sand why people go to the beach for? This beach looks even and clean, yet there seem to be no one on the beach, is this framed shot the full reflection of the beach? Or did it hide the hustles and bustles of life that are outside of this frame?

The breakwater - Human intervention, mastery over nature. The breakwater protects the beach from erosion. Have we humans understood nature so much that we now seek to influence nature and ultimately harness its power?

The sea - As the waves of the sea splash across the beach and wash ashore, is this a sign from the great, vast sea to stay away, intrude at your own risk, for the warnings are already given

The blue sky - Even greater than the sea, the blue sky disguised itself by hiding behind the sea, ancient man got fooled into thinking that the world was flat and dared not sail towards the horizon, the sky changes according to its mood, a good days like this, a baby blue sky is both welcoming and relaxing. On dark days, greyish sombre brings along liquid arrows, raining down relentlessly.

Such is the depth this picture provides

Even the best of photographers would find one thing hard to do, that is to shot a good picture of themselves in a good scene. Self portraits work for some though the range of the frame is limited and it takes a lot of trial and error to find that shot.

Perhaps, this reminds us all that personal mastery can only bring us so far, it is the other factors, such as friendship and open mind, that would allow us to appreciate all the greater things out there.

Thank you

Of The Emperor

The emperor asked, "Do you know who am I?"
The robed persson replied, "No, I don't know you."
"I am Emperor Alexander the Great," said the emperor.
The robed person said, "All right, what about it?"
"I possess all the land from Macedonia to India." said the emperor.
"So?" the robed person replied.
"I am the lord of nine great rivers in the land from Macedonia to India, and all the fields, orchards and houses on this vast area of land belong to me."
The robed person said, "Emperor, may I ask a question or two?"
The emperor replied, "Yes. Go on."
"Emperor, do you get hungry sometimes?" the robed person asked gently.
The emperor answered, "Yes." "When you are hungry, do you eat all the produce of the fields, orchards, and lands you own?" he questioned.
"No, I eat only a little food." the emperor replied.
"Emperor, do you feel thirsty sometimes?" the robed person continued.
"Certainly." the emperor replied.
"Do you drink the water in all the rivers you own when you are thirsty?" the robed person prodded.
"No, I only drink a little to quench my thirst."
"Do you feel sleepy at times?"
The emperor answered, "Yes, of course."
"when you are sleepy, do you sleep on all the lands from Macedonia to India?" the robed person queried.
The emperor replied, "No, of course not."
"Emperor, then what on earth is the meaning of all the material gains you have acquired?" the robed one finally asked.


Find your meaning

Of Purpose?

Yesterday, over some drinks and fingerfood at Balaclava, one of the seniors in the group asked a simple, yet complex question.

What is your purpose in life?

He later offered that most people replied this question with "i haven't thought about it" or "i'm not sure yet".

I guess that applies to most of us. How often do you really know what you want in life and how to get? Purpose, the reason for existence, the essence of living. Do you live your life for yourself, or are you striving to meet the expectations that you have set for yourself, or the expectations that people around you have set for you?

Myself

There is perhaps no one purpose that i have in life. In fact, i strive to meet multiple expectations of myself and from other people that i seldom have time to sit back to think about it. Parents, naturally, would expect their children to respect them, to care for them in some ways. Spouse would yearn for the love and support. Friends seeks companionship. Colleagues seeks cooperation. Bosses seek results.

How well and how fast we fulfil such requirements defines us, and thus builds a name or a reputation of ourselves. Perhaps, it is this name that manifest into the purpose of life. What would we be remembered by when it is our time to pass?

It is this expectation that you have from yourself that rises in difficult times to take control. For example, i have decided at a very very early age to stay away from smoking. Till this age, i have yet to take a puff though friends tried to convince me to take just one trial puff. A No is a No.
Determination. To keep to the path why things get tough, to not let go. Do the right things? or Do things right?

Today seem to be a quote production day

Dreams tire us, asleep, or not

How true

What's your dream? Nope, not that one last night.

And yes, or is that a no, i havent answer the question

Of Thoughts on MP

I have always taken an active interest in politics, or the lack of it in Singapore.

Being i begin on my main topic, my condolences to the friends and family of the late Dr Ong Chit Chung, MP for Jurong GRC

Now, pardon me and i remove the emotional aspect of a passing and talk about some thoughts that came up as first read about this news on TODAY.

TODAY Article, 15 July 08:WITH Dr Ong Chit Chung’s death, a seat is now vacant in Jurong GRC, where he was Member of Parliament for Bukit Batok ward.
The next step, say his fellow GRC members, is to pick up where he left off and make sure his constituents are still served.

Mr Lim Boon Heng, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Jurong GRC MP, said the other four MPs in the five-member GRC will take care of the late Dr Ong’s Bukit Batok ward and would be meeting to discuss the sharing of the responsibility.

From a political point of view, a by-election should be held since the team that was elected is no longer intact, the article later suggest that it is also unlikely that a by-election would be held, instead, responsibilities will be shared by the other MPs in the ward

from the same article:
then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong had said: “You do not talk about by-elections because there are still three other MPs.”

MPs Charles Chong and Chew Heng Ching had covered for Dr Tay’s ward until the 1997 General Election. Mr Chong told Today: “There’s no need to call for a by-election if other MPs can take over his work. Unless he was the only minority member in his GRC, that would be a different matter.”

Now there, my point is, if other MPs in the GRC can take over his work, is there a need for 4MPs insteads in 3 then? Its quite hard to put in an exact figure of how much our MPs are paid, the last figure i remember puts in at $16,000 monthly, i would take more than 6mths to earn that.

So assuming that each MP draws $10,000 monthly, thats $120,000 annually. 1 last MP equals cost saving of $120,000 annually.

If all the GRCs reduce their MP by 1 and the remaining MPs take up more responsibilities, we could really save alot more money then. Are our MPs underworked or overworked? Many hold director positions in companies and other statuatory boards which provides them with another source of income too.

Is it time to squeeze our top civil servants more?

Food for thought, no offence

Save the earth, save the taxpayer monies too

Of Back

I'm back, yes, since saturday night but i have been busy(or lazy) to update...

Individual journal is due next wednesday, followed by Final Report on 6 Aug, so the work's not done yet

Managed a 80% for the presentation, great team effort, i think we did well, though i was a little disappointed we weren't amongst the top 3 team. Can't wait to see the video of our presentation, just to get a feel of how it is like to look at us from the other side, it'll be good fun

right, 5mins break, back to work work. gOsh i miss perth, the only thing missing during those 7 days? My wife

Of the next day

This time tomorrow, i should have just landed in the capital of Western Australia, Perth.

Weather forecast estimates a high of 15 degrees to a low of 9 degrees.

6 days of intensive work beckons before the final showdown, our presentation to the Western Australia Tourism Board.



Since when did schooling become fun again?

Of Randomness

The Head of Klay run rampant... there is no focus, no concentration. Sitting with his back against the nylon of the office chair, his heels are rested on the carpet which conceals the false floor beneath. His head stares down on the screen, his eyes fixed on the screen, his breath slow and steady.

In the background, soft music, from the 80s probably, play from the speakers of a nearby computer. Today is friday, an end of the work week, the start of the weekends. Perhaps, the impending trip to perth has distracted him enough, thought after thought flodd the limited space in his brain, yes, the brain that holds so much potential yet so under-utilised, what if you could just increase 1% of the brain's capability? How about 2 if not 3%?

Miles away, a friend reflects on a similar state, one of laziness. Is it a lack of motivation, a lack of energy? Why have we choosen to do what we are doing? Is the projected future promised or even certain? What if things do not materialise? what if what you were working towards just crumble before your eyes when you are that close to completion? Yes, the thin line between success and failure, failures serves as lessons towards success, can you survive enough failures to see success? Extinction occurs becomes of failure to do the most basic of life, to survive.

Time is the ultimate equaliser. No matter if you are rich or poor, smart or silly, beautiful or ugly, tall or short, man or woman, you have 24hours in each of your living day, any attempts to "buy time" is just an illusion, the silly things that men do to make themselves feel better.

But who's to fault men for trying? it is this desire to try that has differentiated men from animals. Fire, electricity, water, harnessing nature for the gain of men.

It's truly amazing how computers, the internet has allowed people to communicate over distances. Then others will say, the computer was developed only after the discovery of electricity. Well, the Head of Klay says language allows people to speak all this arguements and make sense, so without language, electricity, computers and almost everything else who be pointless? If animals could really speak to their counterparts like what human do amongst ourselves, we could see another species rising up the chain.

Someone, a total stranger was communicating about "sustainable growth", the power of the internet has allowed for the communication of ideas. "Sustainable growth", he said, is an oxymoron. Growth cannot be infinite in a finite resource environment and thus it cannot be sustainable. The Earth can only take so much, its time will end, assigning a gender, a mother earth and father earth, are just fanatsies from the human mind. Would my generation be the one who experience the end of this time period? no one knows. that is it, no one, we are all smaller than we think, even our thoughts, our fantasies, our believes. No one means no one. Apply the same, ditto me, i could be wrong.




The power of randomness

Of Curtin Study Tour

Hi people,

Just thought it would be decent to account for the happenings next week, to inform, clarify and well, create some content since i have not made any entry since the Spain win.
Basically, i have choosen to enrol for a unit known as Marketing Professional Practice 300(MPP300) for my part-time degree. Completing this unit in between Trimester 1A and Trimester 2A means that i would have 2 units left for the Aug-Nov period and would complete my degree in Dec 2008. Time saving.

MPP300 has several requirements. Prior to departure, a 10-page background report covering statistics and trend analysis, profile of western australia and perth, SWOT analysis of perth from a singaporean prespective, learning points and a review on a local tour agency on its packages to perth.

I'll be in Perth from 6Jul to 12Jul. 7 days, mostly work, some fun. What happens is that the group will visit some tourist attractions to understand and experience the sights, sounds and people, we are also expecting a few academic sessions in Curtin's Bentley campus in perth. There are also plans for us to handle an impromptu "media conference" held by students from Curtin that are on the Media courses. Guess it would be fun to be in front of the camera and laugh our ass off when we see the tapes.

Day 6 is the kill day. We have been split into groups of 4 and each group has 7mins in front of the Western Australia Tourism Board in a boardroom setting. Our job, to recommend 3 ways to market Perth as a tourist destination to singaporeans. The scope is still pretty hazy now, we'll sort that out when we get to perth.

At the end of the trip, a final report is to be submitted, based on the recommendations made during the presentation. Finally, an individual journal on the 7-day study trip completes the rout.

It's quite a smart move actually, it is the super low season for tourism now and the winter cold in perth isn't making it all that attractive, so by pulling us in during this time, we ensure that the service apartments get some business and the tourist attractions staff do some work for their pay.

Did i mentioned that i need to pay another extra 1200 for accomodation etc for MPP300? The module fee itself is AUD1310. Our SQ flight cost SGD875. I is broke. Donations welcomed, please feel free to drop me an sms/email/tagboard message to contribute.



Away for 7 days, gona miss my wife