mercredi, décembre 31, 2003 ad for a friend -
Canon Ixus 330 for sale! 2 megapixels and 3x digital zoom comes with a lithuim ion battery, charger, fitting camera case as well as a 128MB CF (compact flash) storage card it's ard 9 months old and in good condition warranty still in use selling it because i am upgrading to another cam looking at ard $350-$400 but price is negotiable email Desmond - noumaine AT hotmail DOT com [Canon Ixus 330 for sale] |
mardi, décembre 30, 2003 I wanna go! It's 8-17 jan 8pm, or 10,11, 18 jan at 3pm (matinees), anyone game?
Apparently they promise pure Harold Pinter. I'm not sure whether they will deliver, but it would be interesting to watch anyway - finally, some good literature instead of stupid things like Bibiks Go Broadway. *snob* [The Lover and The Dumb Waiter] |
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I actually watched a movie! Two, to be precise! Yes, finally, after Pirates of the Carribean (which I watched BY MYSELF, I might add, sad pathetic loser that I am), I watched not one, but TWO movies! Within 24 hours! On two different days, but within 24 hours nonetheless! And here's my take on them.Movie 1: Under the Tuscan Sun (Starring Diane Lane, last seen being very Unfaithful) (My english is going down the toilet. I actually typed "last sawn in...") 
"This is SUCH a chick flick." That's what I said to Eunice as we walked out of Lido. Three times. It's how unbelievably chick this film is. I looked at the number of guys coming out of the theatre, and marvelled at their devotion to the other person (inevitably female) - the amount of willpower it must have taken not to just up and run screaming away from the theatre must have been monumental. Conversely, they could have all just fallen asleep. In which case, I quite honestly wouldn't be surprised. [story/plot] (what's the difference again?) Don't get me wrong, the film is actually quite good - woman (Diane Lane) loses husband in divorce, is given a sympathy ticket by her two gay gal-pals to go (of all things) on a gay tour of Then she basically spends the rest of the movie trying to fill the gaping hole her marriage has left in her by vacillating between: (1) fixing her broken-down house (or "villa"), (2) trying to find a man, (3) taking care of and cooking for the workpeople she hired to fix the house, (4) trying to find a man, (5) taking care of her pregnant lesbian friend who just got dumped, (6) trying to find a man, (7) helping underaged kids get married, and of course, (8) trying to find a man. It works (for me at least) because the self-pitying bits are interlaced quite well with the other less me-myself-and-I segments, which does depict the way that life runs (good bits are strewn here and there with the mundane and the not-so-good bits), but still I couldn't help but scream in my mind: "GET OVER YOURSELF ALREADY!" [characters] It was just Diane Lane, Diane Lane, and more Diane Lane. Have a Diane Lane overdose. Enough already. Oh, and a bit of Lindsay Duncan, a crazy woman who purportedly teaches Diane Lane "how to live". This is a woman who dances in the fountain at night by herself, occasionally wears feather boas (and nothing else) at home, and who wears hats and eats ice-cream with gloves on. Not enough character development. At all. At first I thought she would be the show's something-like deus ex machina, but then... nothing. She was just a flat, kooky character. [overall] It's not so bad. Watchable, not weepy, believable (if you can believe that a middle aged-writer can afford to buy a villa in Love, Actually was the second film. My take: another day. Tired. [I actually watched a movie! Two, to be precise!] |
lundi, décembre 29, 2003 Once upon a long time ago, there was Delight. Pretty and enchanting, she danced and sang with butterflies around her and sparkles in her hair. Everything she encountered enthralled her, and she gave her namesake to everyone she met - until she encountered the Modern Centuries. Then she dyed her hair in multiple hues of neon, gave up linear thought for randomness, and changed her name.[Delirium] |
jeudi, décembre 25, 2003 Attempting to sight-read during a performance is a risky business, but last night's Christmas celebrations in church went fine. I think Leslie's an amazing conductor, considering what he has to work with (with people like me coming in for one single practice and then performing). But what do I know about music?Later on in the night (like at 1:30am), Peng gave me a call - turns out that he was at Weixiu's place having the regular cell-group-Christmas-nua-ing session that all youth groups seem to have. So we went for a little chat, and then picked Ray and Kevin up from Weixiu's place and walked to 7-11 for fun. Lovely start to Christmas Day - makes me think that I'm in school again. [It's Christmas Day already?] |
mercredi, décembre 24, 2003 Merry Christmas to one and all!Bad audience and lousy energy at tonight's show, but hello there, we managed to open the second level circle seats to people! A couple left just about after the invited guest segment (Scott Lei). Walked after them to ask them why, but they disappeared into the gaping carpark hole. So that's about it for my most recent foray into the theatre scene. Lots of memories, lots of old faces I had half-forgotten, interesting new perspectives into the background legwork (which I'm somehow learning simultaneously with work, which is both good and bad)... Addendum: Oh, and I met Trevor, kris! He just got back and came to see the show; I almost didn't recognise him. [Hey ho and a merry old soul] |
mardi, décembre 23, 2003 Finally! Tonight's the last night of the Chestnuts run... amazing run it has been - last night we had a pretty good crowd, including almost the entire cast of Cinderel-lah! and Stray (shout out to Emeric - hey!), and our guest star was hilariously naughty (Randall Tan from TCS's Light Years) - very bad, bad boy, as the architect/santa claus in our video would say. (And just in case you guys who HAVE watched it don't get it, the architect in our video REALLY IS the guy who played the Architect from The Matrix. He's a lecturer at NIDA in Australia, and we got him to film the video as a favour to Jonathan.)Bump-out today... I'm sure there'll be plenty of people with post-production blues. [note to self: sweaters look decidedly very, very yummy.] [Last night of Chestnuts!] |
dimanche, décembre 21, 2003 Dreaming of Chestnuts Roasting Well well well. Apparently we've got press coverage in the Sunday New Paper, and tomorrow, Tan Shzr-Ee will be featuring Chestnuts in Life! as well. Good stuff. If you haven't watched it, GO WATCH IT!
Or you can buy tickets from me, just call me! And one thing interesting about producing a play (which I had forgotten) was the little peek it gives you into audience dynamics. Since you're there every I'm also learning some very fast and hard lessons in PR from a consumnate playa'. All very interesting, all very practical, hands-on stuff. Theatre 203: How to Schmooze 'em, Theatre 101: How to Suck Up To Sponsors, Theatre 301: How To Slickly Hand Our Your Name Card... I also met someone from Republic Poly today, who said it was a shame (darn) that I didn't join them, because they needed someone who has my experience with the performing arts. Oh well. Story of my life. Too many dreams, only one life. [Dreaming of Chestnuts Roasting] |
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Someone sent me a quote today:
"The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance... logic can be happily tossed out the window." - Stephen King, The Stand (Revised Edition) Is that really true? Some things defy logic, or cannot yet be explained by logic. At the end of the day, is logic not another form of religious mania? The quote works both ways. Watch: "The beauty of logic is that it has the power to explain everything. Once logic (or rational thought) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to faith... religion can be happily tossed out the window." - me, The Stand (2003 Revised Edition) [Logic vs Religious Mania] |
samedi, décembre 20, 2003 things that make you go awww... There's a little bird I saw a couple of weeks ago, sitting on my fence. Perhaps it was a finch, perhaps it was something else. It's small, brown, with a yellow breast. It's about the size of a sparrow, very cute little thing. And it's made a home in the papaya tree that sits in front of my house. The surprising thing is that it's got no nest! It just hides underneath one of the leaves at night, and sleeps. I would take a picture of it, but I'm afraid that one picture will be all it takes to send him packing, so I think I'll leave the picture out.I think it's the best christmas present I've ever gotten. [things that make you go awww...] |
vendredi, décembre 19, 2003 I would have given you all of my heart, but there's someone who's torn it apart. And he's taken just all that I have, but if you want I'll try to love again, but I know the first cut is the deepest.[hey again sheryl.] |
mercredi, décembre 17, 2003 "Dear Ms. LIM, Just perfect. Oh well. [Hur.] |
mardi, décembre 16, 2003 I've said it to friends before, and I'll say it again: I really don't think I'm qualified to make decisions on my life. Where's that consent form, signed by both parents? Where's that disclaimer form to initial? Teetering on the precipice of another life-decision, I need someone to make the choice for me (perhaps so that I'll have someone to blame if it all falls apart?)[live life live] |
lundi, décembre 15, 2003 Al-Qaeda is after the cows. We must all endeavour to keep cows safe from terrorism. We must.[Anti-Terrorist Cows!] |
I promised some people pictures of The Toyota Experience, and here they are!
 ^^The white Toyota van which created a very dangerous driver on the roads^^  ^^The speedometer with an attitude - it refused to go above ZERO^^  ^^The back-to-the-future gearbox^^ 
^^Tie me up, tie me down - the van was made for kidnapping people^^ 
^^Brr... slippery road day too.^^ [The White Toyota] |
 is equivalent to 
Me (11:43 PM) : i got a new phone Me (11:44 PM) : my first new phone in 3 years ... Me (11:54 PM) : i'm looking at the phone and it's kinda surreal Me (11:54 PM) : i hope i don't leave it behind just because i don't remember that it's mine so unused to it Fuzzy (11:55 PM) : wow, imagine if u're a new mother Fuzzy (11:55 PM) : and u say tt to me Fuzzy (11:55 PM) : hahahahahah Me (11:57 PM) : hahaha!!! Me (11:57 PM) : yah!!! i think i might !!! [Sunday Nights with Fuzzy] |
I want this!
 [Blankies] |
samedi, décembre 13, 2003 [ This is regarding Chestnuts Reloaded - go watch it! ]
It had better break even - I worked my ASS off for THREE DAYS doing the programme booklet. If I were actually charging for this at $50/hr, STAGES would owe me at least $1400 by now, for 25 hours of work (i started work at 9am yest and today, and ended at past 9 yest and today. 12 hours times two days + another 4 = 28.) Crap, why am I doing this for free? [Art is costing me] |
lundi, décembre 08, 2003 What is up with Christian comics? One problem I find with Christian comics is that sometimes, they're just.not.funny. Some stuff is okay, like the first picture, but some stuff are just duds, like the rest, which look to be a lousy excuse for pushing a bible verse. I think it's really cool that people want to make Christianity fun, because for the most part it is, but these cartoons just make it seem like we have no sense of humour whatsoever.What is this last cartoon supposed to be? I get the Lion King warthog reference, but he's most famous for being smelly, and singing Hakuna Matata with that little rabbit-chipmunk thing. What's "Are Ya Achan" supposed to allude to? Apart from the guy in Joshua 7 who stole from God? (and subsequently got stoned, of course.) Maybe this discovery of mine as I venture into the world of Christian comics is a sign. Maybe we Christians have no sense of humour. (No leh! We have a sense of humour! Just a very corny one!) These comics aren't remotely corny, they're just so lame, they hobble! [What is up with Christian comics?] |
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For another year running, I was invited to Azhar's house for Hari Raya, reminding me again how few not-Chinese friends I have, despite living in a multi-cultural society. Had a lovely time, apart from being bitten by MINDEF-trained mosquitoes when I was out admiring the nice discus tank.
There was a brief moment of utter, utter tragicomedy as I talked with Jules about PHP software, and how to set it up on the web-server plans we have. For some reason the talk just kept going deeper and got more technical until we started talking about CHMODs and setting file permissions -- and I think he and I both had The Epiphany at the same time. There was a distinct pause in the conversation (he was talking at the moment of realisation). I suppressed a smile, and as he finished, he asked the statement-question on my mind: "What the hell are we doing talking about this?!?" Better us than lesser mortals, my friend. :) [Happy Hari Raya!] |
vendredi, décembre 05, 2003 Screwed up my template. Will reload my old one once I get home tomorrow.[3am Sat update - done! *phew* Blogger tags are weird things.] [Oopsies.] |
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I dreamed of kittens who were born to a neutered puss
then dreamed about a body buried in the corn - be sure your sins will find out out. You crippled me with pain and lies You're hurting all the time; and elf, you built your prison cell yourself then schemed and dreamed of open skies. Princess! The river holds the trout; so does the world take care of me. And if you do not choose to see that is what we are, we choose to be It's hard, but is all one to me. The rule is cruel, but there's no doubt - I'll dream tonight of storms at sea . . . Be sure your sins will find you out. - dream. [dream] |
jeudi, décembre 04, 2003 Student Intranet Phase One complete! I expect it to be thrown back in my face with comments of "do this and make this nicer and can we have a ring-a-ding-a-ling or a bell or a whistle somewhere about the site or something?", but that's to be expected I think - so hey-la and a derry-o, tmrw I'm gonna SLACK! (Or at least try to lah...)[The End! (maybe)] |
mercredi, décembre 03, 2003 Templates and Libraries Kick.Ass! Today, I feel real accomplished. I've taken my first baby steps away from staring at HTML code ALL the time, to staring at it intently only sometimes. Translation - I've finally gotten off my fat ass and started to learn how to use Dreamweaver properly. Templates and Libraries, babe, it's all in the templates and libraries.And I've just found out over the last week what happens after you leave JavaScript to develop by itself over two years : a whole new host of better, more concisely-written JavaScript available than ever before! I'm sure that if I check back at DynamicDrive in a couple of years, hey-la! there'll be even better stuff there than there is now. And do you need a kick-ass dropdown menu bar? Check out BrotherCake's Ultimate Dropdown Menu Bar. This is one great gadget to keep around. Free for personal, non-profit and educational use. Kick.Ass, let me tell you. Kick.Ass. Why suddenly DynamicDrive and BrotherCake? Because the Associate Director saw me slacking away, reading my Sandman [Templates and Libraries Kick.Ass!] |
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Whatever happened to Blog*spot? Finally! For a moment there I thought that my blog had been reduced to a picture of two guys at a party or something. It was rather disconcerting for a moment because I could have sworn that I had seen that picture before somewhere...Anyway. [Whatever happened to Blog*spot?] |
mardi, décembre 02, 2003 The whole process is a rather painful one. Vocabulary, grammar - everything has to be learnt from scratch. What's a verb? A noun? Conjugate the verb? For the different pronouns? In simple past tense? Or imperfect past tense? Future tense? They're all different? Every noun has a gender? Be glad this isn't German, which has a neuter gender? Change the gender of the article when the noun in question begins with a vowel, or an "h"? If you conjugate the first verb, then the second verb can stay in its infinitive form? With exceptions?It's getting tougher and tougher, and today I was practically on the verge of tears when the teacher babbled on for half an hour with me understanding perhaps a grand total of two words she said at best. Tiredness, sheer mental exertion, plus the utter, utter failure to comprehend... it's like chinese all over again. This is one of the hardest points in the course, a classmate commented, as we waited for the lift down, after the lesson. If you get past this phase, it should get a little easier. It's the do-or-don't period, I suppose. Already today, I undertook a serious contemplation on the MRT journey to Newton regarding my class. Continue and suffer, or free up the two weekday nights that this course takes up? I really want to continue, but this sort of psyche-battering twice every week gets to you. (Or maybe it's just me, I'm a wimp.) Add to the fact that it's wholly self-inflicted... makes you wonder whether why you're doing it is worth it. Nobody said dreams were easy to follow. I hope I'll get there. I hope it will be worth it. [Pardon My French] |
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back to green! doncha just love tables?
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