looking for baudrillard, boorstin, or eco?

dare to hope for what is good
instead of what is merely good enough.
Dead in sin | Saved by grace | Living in hope | Walking by faith | Surviving on a prayer


+ sola scriptura + sola gratia + solus Christus + sola fide + sola Deo gloria +

samedi, juillet 31, 2004

 Life by Drowning - Jeni Couzyn

Life by Drowning - Jeni Couzyn

The way toward each other is
through our bodies
Words are the longest distance
you can travel
So complex and hazardous you
Lose your direction.

[Life by Drowning - Jeni Couzyn]
Sngs Alumni @ 31.7.04 { 0 comments }


vendredi, juillet 30, 2004

 We have a vision for tomorrow...

National Day is coming up! Where we celebrate the fact that we have many pretty aeroplanes which have red coloured exhaust fumes, many citizens who can dance and wave coloured pieces of cloth around their heads (excellent life skill), many ministers who like to wear white colour, and the fact that the favourite colour of Singaporeans is red (only on the 9th of August each year.)

We also celebrate democracy as we know it, and so in honour of this day that's coming up, a preview of what could be our future...

[We have a vision for tomorrow...]
Sngs Alumni @ 30.7.04 { 0 comments }


jeudi, juillet 29, 2004

 Bye Bye tagboard

I've removed the tag-board from the blog because it's a security threat - every time you load my blog, some other page remotely links and opens another browser window. Just in case you were wondering.

[Bye Bye tagboard]
Sngs Alumni @ 29.7.04 { 0 comments }


 Dancing In My Moonlight

Here's another reason for me to like this song - I won a Power 98 contest the other day because I knew the lyrics :)

I was walking along River Valley Road, toward Great World City, to meet Jessie for a birthday dinner last Wednesday (22 Jul). I was listening to the radio on my hp, and then some game called "Am I Faking It?" came on. The DJ (Sherryn?) claimed that the lyrics "We like our fun and we never fight, you can't dance and stay uptight" was by some band or other, and she asked if that were true. I was crossing the road, and thinking "Durh." So I SMSed in the answer.

Then I walked into Zara at Great World and was suitably distracted by the 70% off sale signs. :) Suddenly, my hp rang, and it was the DJ on the line! She asked for the answer, which I gave, and ta-da! I now have two tickets to watch I, Robot, two tickets to Rastafari, the reggae concert on in Sentosa this weekend, an I, Robot t-shirt, holographic sticker, a Panasonic pen, lanyard, hp case, and a brochure for the new Panasonic phone (but sadly, no phone itself!)

The funny thing is:
- I normally don't participate in any of these call-in contests;
- The answer I gave was technically wrong - Dancing in the Moonlight was originally by Kings Harvest, but Toploader excellently remade it a couple of years back;
- Before I sent the SMS, I was thinking to myself "Should I actually press YES? It's gonna be a waste of 20cents."

Pretty good roll of the dice huh?

 
i robot. u rowboat. everybody reboot.

[Dancing In My Moonlight]
Sngs Alumni @ 29.7.04 { 0 comments }


mardi, juillet 27, 2004

 OUCH!!!

Hanging around... on MEAT HOOKS.

[OUCH!!!]
Sngs Alumni @ 27.7.04 { 0 comments }


lundi, juillet 26, 2004

 Sleepy Singaporean Singers

Sleepy Singaporean Singer 1


Sleepy Sheik-ySingaporean Singer 2


Sleepy Singaporean Singer 3



These were found in Tower Records's Singaporean section - side-by-side. All Singaporean, all sleepy on the covers of their CDs. If their own music makes them sleepy, what more us?

[Sleepy Singaporean Singers]
Sngs Alumni @ 26.7.04 { 0 comments }


dimanche, juillet 25, 2004

 Cookie Recipe

Some people have asked me for the cookie recipe I use. I can't remember if I've posted it before, but here it is again - enjoy!

You will need two large mixing bowls - one for the dry stuff, the other for the wet stuff.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
* 1 cup = 250g
* Yes, baking powder and baking soda are different things.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter (or 250g, which is one Singapore packet)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar (if you're in Phoon Huat, get the lighter brown one, not the super dark brown one)
2 eggs (three if you've got teeny eggs)
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 twelve-ounce bags semisweet chocolate chips (or be mad like me and just whack as many as you want... more chocolate! You can add nuts if you want also.)



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
(It's really, really important to pre-heat the oven okay? Don't be lazy. Oh, and if you're using one of those tiny toasters, the dimensions of the oven are smaller, so the timing isn't the same - maybe 5 minutes will give you good cookies already, so keep an eye on your first batch for "your" cookie baking time if you're using a toaster.)
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. (MAKE SURE YOU SIFT! Gives you better cookies, and you won't end up tasting flour in your cookies.)
4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
(SLOWLY. Don't just dump in all the flour, scoop it in a few tablespoons at a time and mix well.)
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. With your fingers, place golf ball-sized dough portions 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. (Or be like me, just dump it in and cut it later to brownie-sized pieces.) Don't make the layer too thick or else the inside won't be cooked at all while the outside is burnt to a mess of carbon.
7. Bake for 9-10 minutes or just until edges are light brown. (http://www.topsecretrecipes.com) Makes 30 cookies.


* You can use less butter, like maybe 150g-200g, to make it less oily, or substitute with margarine.
* I normally dump the butter into the microwave until it's super soft, almost oil, then start mixing. Or you can be hardworking and take it out of the fridge first. :) I always forget, then get impatient.
* If you wanna make it more cake-y, you can put in one more egg (if your eggs are big), or two more (if you have small eggs.)

[Cookie Recipe]
Sngs Alumni @ 25.7.04 { 0 comments }


 Taken from somewhere...

The more things change, the more they stay the same. I'm not sure who the first person was who said that. Probably Shakespeare. Or maybe Sting. But at the moment, it's the sentence that best explains my tragic flaw: my inability to change. I don't think I'm alone in this. The more I get to know other people, the more I realize it's kind of everyone's flaw. Staying exactly the same for as long as possible, standing perfectly still... It feels safer somehow. And if you are suffering, at least the pain is familiar. Because if you took that leap of faith, went outside the box, did something unexpected... Who knows what other pain might be out there, waiting for you. Chances are it could be even worse.

So you maintain the status quo. Choose the road already traveled and it doesn't seem that bad. Not as far as flaws go. You're not a drug addict. You're not killing anyone... Except maybe yourself a little.

When we finally do change, I don't think it happens like an earthquake or an explosion, where all of a sudden we're like this different person. I think it's smaller than that. The kind of thing most people wouldn't even notice unless they looked at us really close. Which, thank God, they never do.

But you notice it. Inside you that change feels like a world of difference. And you hope this is it. This is the person you get to be forever... that you'll never have to change again.

[Taken from somewhere...]
Sngs Alumni @ 25.7.04 { 0 comments }


 Parties and Prayers

Happy birthday to Crystal and me!

[Parties and Prayers]
Sngs Alumni @ 25.7.04 { 0 comments }


samedi, juillet 24, 2004

 I love this ad





[I love this ad]
Sngs Alumni @ 24.7.04 { 0 comments }


 Starry Potter

Spot the Difference!

[Starry Potter]
Sngs Alumni @ 24.7.04 { 0 comments }


mercredi, juillet 21, 2004

 KillMeNow Part 1

I believe this is one series of blog entries which will continue. The KillMeNow series. Chronicling my exciting adventures at work. Watch me as I battle for supremacy, domination, plain cold CASH?? NOTHING AT ALL.

Today, I had to endure one and a half hours of a personalised "let's "discuss" this issue, when in fact I want to lecture you, but I can't because you're not really my staff" meeting. One-on-one with this old fat bug-eyed hag from work. We were supposed to meet to discuss something minor: the draft of a fine form that students will be issued with when they violate rules. Then came the dreaded "But before that, I need to discuss a few other things with you."

First, she tells me that I was posted as the Facilities Manager "so as to help with the activities there, not to make more work," implying that I had given her more work just by existing in my capacity as a manager.

Then she tells me that there would be some other guy coming in to work, and that the three clerks would be very busy with other things, so there would be times when the counter would not be manned, and that it was my job to "help cover some of their duties". This means that I would have to sit at the counter, answer phone calls and help visitors to the building.

At the same time, I would have to work out some way to SIMULTANEOUSLY be at the counter, while also ensuring that students do not abuse the practice rooms. Wow. I'm supposed to invent time-travel too.

So now I'm a receptionist. Sure, no problem. Oh, what's that? She wants me to fix the photocopier and fax machine if it jams - the faculty are supposed to come to me when they need these things done, not the clerk at my building. "She's ONLY a receptionist, and she can ONLY do receptionist duties," the bug-eye tells me. Five times. I get insulted for my friend - she's a really, really exceptional employee who is always on her toes, and this old, fat bug-eye tells me that she can "ONLY" be a receptionist.

I'm also supposed to prowl around the building, looking for any defects to pounce on and repair. "You must do this before anyone tells you about defects, you know? That's what you're supposed to do, you cannot wait for things to spoil then only you know," bug-eye tells me. Woah-hey! I'm supposed to evolve and have psychic powers too! Whoppee!

 
I really hate bug-eye. I hate the way she insults people behind their backs. When one of the clerks (my friend) protested during another meeting that bug-eye was giving me too much work to do, she apparently told my friend, "If she can't take it, she should just quit." (Soon, my dear, soon.)

I also hate the way she speaks for the Director. I'll bet you he doesn't know that she does this. During the meeting, she told me, "Last year, there were only two people in the building, and so, WE got very irritated at XXX because she couldn't do both jobs, and WE got very irritated at YYY also because she wasn't at the counter doing counter duty," Unless she's having an affair with my Director (highly impossible because she's an old, fat hag) ... ? These two people are two of the more responsible people I know, and she's the lazy bum.

My hypothesis is this: she's bugged out by me because there's a lot of stuff going on in the building, and I CC her everything that's happening because she wants to know. The trouble is there are a LOT of email about a LOT of different things that are happening, and it's clogging up my email, and probably hers too - and she has more, because she has her own job to take care of. It's just that she wants to be kaypoh and know about my job too, so I courteously CC her stuff FYI. Looks like she has too many fingers in too many pots.

She's also probably bugged out that I talk to the Director a lot more now, because I report directly to him. She wants desperately to kick me around like a clerk, but she can't, because she's not my boss, and she's really, really frustrated at that because she wants to have the final say in everything, but can't when my Director interjects directly to me. In fact, she was rather unhappy when the Director popped his head into our meeting and told me that I "shouldn't be afraid to just copy (him) everything in email that I think he should know.


[KillMeNow Part 1]
Sngs Alumni @ 21.7.04 { 0 comments }


 Definitions

Ironic: Two days after watching Super Size Me, Adeline (who knows better!) asks me to go to Macs for bfast. Whee.

Will-power: I say no.

[Definitions]
Sngs Alumni @ 21.7.04 { 0 comments }


mardi, juillet 20, 2004

 2004: Birthday Log File

0000hrs - Mourning over the death of handphone, after dropping it in the toilet bowl (thank goodness in clean water). Realise that will be missing all the birthday SMSes that are coming in. Mourn those as well.
 
0030hrs - Almost completely forget about handphone loss after surfing around for interesting Masters programmes, and am very impatient to apply for this particular one at MIT. Two years, at a whopping US$29,000 per year - and that's just tuition! I'll never be able to afford that.
 
0100hrs - Eyelids drooping, hence sleep.
 
0300hrs - Handphone miraculously wakes up and beeps four times in succession. Opened an eyelid to check - resurrected handphone display mourned messages of birthday wishes. Closed the eye and went back to sleep.
 
0830hrs - Wake up, late for work AGAIN. But it's my birthday, so who cares?
 
0930hrs - Reach work. Check phone messages. None. Buy breakfast (century egg porridge and tea from Engineering Canteen.) Start fooling around with the computer and checking email. Send out some quick replies. Work on typing out minutes of some personal stuff, and occasionally cleaning up desk.
 
1159hrs - Professor calls from upstairs. Lunch? His treat, since it's my day. Sushi, he says. I'm sold. We drive out to Bukit Timah for some really good california maki opposite Beauty World ("It's right beside My Wife's Place," this very single professor tells me. Then he gets this stupid grin on his face when I stare at him in skeptically, thinking "This must be a really stinking, bad joke" - and then he turns and points at this tacky neon-lighted pub, with the name - yes, MY WIFE'S PLACE. "I'm sorry, I can't help it," he says. Yeah, right.)
 
1215hrs - In the middle of eating. Pastor and Andy SMS with requests for prayers upon Timothy, who is undergoing surgery for his broken leg. Pray.
 
1330hrs - Finish lunch and head back to work. Three colleague-friends waiting for me impatiently in office to go for a second lunch at Ikea. Alright then.
 
1400hrs - Lunch at Ikea. Was too full, so just had cake, which colleagues bought for me. Yum. Good food, good company. After lunch, walked over to Anchorpoint to check out Giordan0 for colleague (since birthday discounts are 20%!) Nothing nice, so headed back after buying hotdogs.
 
1500-1600hrs - Dropped by Office of Finance to pick up a cheque, dropped by office to pick up a letter, dropped by the Suziki dealer to get back my colleague's IC, dropped by the Pasir Panjang Post Office to pick up two French horns. Phew!
 
1630hrs - Finally back in the office. Call Adeline. Meeting set at Plaza Singapura for 7pm-ish. Decide to leave work early to shop at Zara Liat before meeting her. Start packing up.

1645hrs - Leaving the office, digging through handbag, realised that I had forgotten to bring a pen. Head back to office. Colleague tells me that boss is in the building! Pick up the telephone to give another colleague a call, then boss pops his head in the door and discusses some stuff with me. Phew! That was close. :-)

1715hrs - He finally leaves the building, and so do I!

1825hrs - Shop without looking at price tags in Zara Liat. Whoopee! Amazing fun - I highly recommend trying this at least once in a year.

1910hrs - Reach Plaza Singapura. Unexpectedly meet Terence Quah at the entrance. Talk to him for a bit, then drag him up to meet Adeline to say hi.

1920hrs - Leave Terence. Go get snacks, then head to movie theatre.

1935hrs - Super Size Me! (By the way, have you heard of this paper called The Straights Times?)

2130hrs - Film ends and we move off to Giordano for my annual GioBinge - at a birthday 20% off, naturally. We have the whole shop to ourselves, and the shop manager is really good, polite and helpful but not pushy.

2200hrs - Wind down at Cafe Cartel, where Ade has a salad and I continue my chocolate rush with ice-cream and a cake. I open her presents to me, and squee - Amidst junk food (one packet of Hello Panda labelled "MONDAY", one Oreo Bits labelled "TUESDAY" etc), I find Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time! With matching birthday card!

2330hrs - Heavily laiden, decided to continue the decadence and head home in a cab.

 
That's it! My day.



the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

[2004: Birthday Log File]
Sngs Alumni @ 20.7.04 { 0 comments }


samedi, juillet 17, 2004

 Artemis Fowl, The Arctic Incident, and The Eternity Code

Thanks to Adeline and her great book-buying prowess (with a little help from the Clementi 2ndhand bookstore), I've completed reading the Artemis Fowl series in three days. Comparison with the Harry Potter series is inevitable, I'm afraid, both authors being from the UK and writing for teens.

   
Artemis FowlArtemis Fowl and the Artic Incident Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code

   
For those of you who aren't familiar with the books, Eoin Colfer is the author to blame for unleashing the rather unfortunately named Artemis Fowl character into the literary world. "A mere 12/13 boy" (depending on which book you read), Artemis is a criminal mastermind plotting to save his mother (mad), recover his father (kidnapped), and beg/borrow/steal as much money as he can (infinite.) Similar to the Potter universe, Artemis encounters fairies, pixies, dwarves, centaurs, goblins, and all sorts of other Lower Elements creatures along the way, and often (okay, always) ends up tangled with the LEPrecon force - Lower Element Police reconnaissance force (geddit, geddit? I can almost hear the author screaming with glee over this.)
 
The stories go down easily, though the characters are a little too one-dimensional for my taste. Once a blustering commander, always a blustering commander. It gets tired after a while, but I suspect I have less of a tolerance for these things than the average (teenage) reader. To make matters worse, there are slight shades of an almost Wildean sort of humour within the writing, which always irritates the hell out of me. I've read Wilde, and oh my, did his writing make my blood boil, and wish he were in front of me so that I could smack the living daylights out of him. Wildean humour irritates me like no other.

Anyway, back to Colfer - his plots and storylines are interesting, but unfortunately they are just two steps short of being intriguing. There are great things about the series, but I doubt its fan base will ever reach the epic proportions of the Potter crowd. Colfer universe just cannot hold a candle up to Rowling's Hogwarts - just like how Rowling cannot be compared with Tolkien, period. Still, it's worth taking out for a read, if you feel like you want something to read, but nothing too heavy. It's good fun.

[Artemis Fowl, The Arctic Incident, and The Eternity Code]
Sngs Alumni @ 17.7.04 { 0 comments }


 King Arthurzzzzzzzz

I wasted 2.5 hours of my life watching this terribly boring film, which didn't even have the decency to attempt being somewhat historically accurate. Excalibur's history might be sketchy (there are two stories behind it, one being that it was given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake, and the other of it being the sword in the stone, which has a whole BOOK by T.H. White detailing how it was drawn from the stone by Arthur and how he became King etc), but who said anything about a sword stuck in the burial mound of his father? 
 
For that matter, wasn't Arthur some orphan? And Guinevere being part of Merlin's Lord of the Flies ragamuffin gang? Ridiculous as a hinkypuff.
 
Thank goodness the evening was saved with a surprise birthday party for moi, organised by dearest Zibing... thank you again, I was incredibly surprised!

[King Arthurzzzzzzzz]
Sngs Alumni @ 17.7.04 { 0 comments }


 French, Smench

Two days ago, Life! section ran a feature on French culture. I'm ashamed but not surprised to report that they included excerpts from interviews, one of which read something like, "When I was in college, I entered a talentime, and my teacher taught me to sing Amigos Para Siempre properly, as I was pronouncing the words wrong. I then joined the French club in school and found the language beautiful etc etc" (I'll quote properly when I find the paper.)
 
Hello? That song's not French!

[French, Smench]
Sngs Alumni @ 17.7.04 { 0 comments }


vendredi, juillet 16, 2004

 Lego Rocks!

Lego Spider-Man!
Watch Spider-Man 2 recreated in Lego (tm)! Go now >>
 
And.... Anthony Giddens in his study!


Taken from: http://theory.org.uk/lego2.htm
 
 


[Lego Rocks!]
Sngs Alumni @ 16.7.04 { 0 comments }


 The Power of a Moment

What am I gonna be when I grow up? How am I gonna make my mark in history? And what are they gonna write about me when I'm gone? These are the questions that shape the way I think about what matters. Well, I have no guarantee of my next heartbeat... my world's too big to make a name for myself, and what if no one wants to read about me when I'm gone?
 
I get so distracted by my bigger schemes... show me the importance of the simple things, like a word, a seed, a thorn, a nail, and a cup of cold water. You know the number of my days, so come paint Your pictures on the canvas in my head, and come write Your wisdom on my heart, and teach me the power of a moment.
 
In Your kingdom where the least is the greatest, the weak are given strength and fools confound the wise, and forever brushes up against a moment's time, leaving impressions and drawing me into what really matters...
 
It seems to me that RIGHT NOW's the only moment that matters.
 
~ The Power of a Moment (Chris Rice)
 
Chris Rice is my hero! I love his lyrics; this is just one of his songs which has expressed what I want to say perfectly.


[The Power of a Moment]
Sngs Alumni @ 16.7.04 { 0 comments }


jeudi, juillet 15, 2004

 "Très très bien!"

Distressing news of the day - I may be the worst student in my French class, or the most honest. While other students are busy guffawing at some joke or other, I'm frowning my brows off trying to understand what's going on. I'm not sure if that means that most of the class understands, or if I'm the only one who doesn't bother to pretend to understand. This works out to be approximately 4 hours of frowning per week - excellent for wrinkle-development, I hear.

It's so bad that I have become that student - you know, THAT one. The one whom teachers STOP the whole entire discussion just because I LOOK like I want to say something. And when the sentence slowly stutters out, I get an enthusiastic "Très très bien!", even though I've conjugated all the verbs in the wrong tense.

["Très très bien!"]
Sngs Alumni @ 15.7.04 { 0 comments }


mercredi, juillet 14, 2004

 Congratulations Jessie!

graduating jessie!



Congrats babe! You did it!

[Congratulations Jessie!]
Sngs Alumni @ 14.7.04 { 0 comments }


 Miss Singapore-Universe needs an extension cable to power her brain, please

I find the distressing lack of concrete deadlines one of the largest contrasts between working life and student life. Previously, you knew when term papers were due, and you could plan your social life accordingly - no going off to see a LOTR movie marathon the night before your term paper was due.

Now, I find myself at the mercy of personalities - there's a higher-up at work who's well-known for his flighty attitude towards work: (1) he either ignores a problem until the day before, then gives it to you and expects you to solve it by 9am the next morning, or (2) he sort of suddenly realises that he's a higher-up at work, then asserts his position by asking you to "develop guidelines", "write policy" or "give an evaluation report" on things which nobody will care about or want to read, or (3) he tables a topic at staff meetings, then tells you "we'll take it offline", then proceed to forget about it or ignore it, then scenario (1) happens.

There's another type of people at my workplace, the type who likes to keep their actions secret. They plan plenty of excellent programmes - and I'm not being facetious, the programmes really are excellent - but they don't tell anyone anything at all, which leads to me being called at 630pm (while I'm in the office doing OT) and being asked to lug a cello up to the storage room because some stupid student changed his mind about storing it for the weekend. So I'm stuck lugging the cello while the other person zips around in his car, going for PWO/PCO rehearsals in his tux. Or like today, when I was asked suddenly for an extension cord, at 6pm, or requested to switch on the lift, so that the "special guest", Ms Singapore-Universe 200-whenever, needn't walk around the building to get to her precious car. (I was too harassed to get the extension cord so I just said that we don't have it on hand, and I told the guy that she could walk down the emergency staircase instead of taking the lift to her car.)

Imagine this: it's an HOUR past closing, and I'm at the BUS STOP waiting for an hour and a half's ride, late for my next appointment, while this guy who OWNS his own car, asks me to WALK BACK TO WORK, to unlock the damned lift, so that this MISS SINGAPORE-UNIVERSE doesn't need to walk down ONE STOREY to get to HER CAR?


Amazingly: I'm not perturbed at all by this. I'm mildly amused, but that's the good news. The bad news is: I'm not perturbed because I have bigger fish to fry, like figuring out an algorithm deriving the optimum amount of practice time each student gets per practice room, or calling up locker companies to get them to deliver our lockers earlier, or asking Yale padlock companies if they sell 40mm brass padlocks, and if they do, do they do engraving? Three quotations per item I want to purchase. The best thing is: I don't have a printer, or a photostating machine, or a fax machine in my office (which I share with a colleage) - it's all on the 2nd floor, past 1 locked door and 3 card-access doors. Who cares about Miss Singapore-Universe, when you have your own stairmaster programme all worked out? :)

[Miss Singapore-Universe needs an extension cable to power her brain, please]
Sngs Alumni @ 14.7.04 { 0 comments }


mardi, juillet 13, 2004

 Poetic Irony

Does anyone remember the pretender who put up LKY's profile on Friendster? And all the other "world leaders" on Friendster linking to him and leaving comments? Apparently Friendster got tired of it after a while and took him (and other "world leaders" off the site, but now, they've ironically succumbed to the lure of product placement and are allowing fake profiles in conjunction with DreamWorks's new movie, Anchorman.

[Poetic Irony]
Sngs Alumni @ 13.7.04 { 0 comments }


vendredi, juillet 09, 2004

 Angst-free musing, I promise.

Is it true that people lose their desire to go for further studies once they've been working for a while? I'm scared I will/am.

[Angst-free musing, I promise.]
Sngs Alumni @ 9.7.04 { 0 comments }


mardi, juillet 06, 2004

 Positive? Who, me?

In a weird twist of events which only goes to prove that there are people out there who are so nice, they can't see evil even if it's talking to them, Emily just said that I'm "so positive!"

To top it off, I was talking about life after graduation - what to do, where to go. And then, a compliment on my attitude? Definitely a twilight zone moment.

[Positive? Who, me?]
Sngs Alumni @ 6.7.04 { 0 comments }


lundi, juillet 05, 2004

 Fallout

Sigh... had a slight unfortunate communication error with a colleague, and now we're strangers.

[Fallout]
Sngs Alumni @ 5.7.04 { 0 comments }


samedi, juillet 03, 2004

 Spiderman 2

I was expecting to be very, very disappointed with Spiderman 2 because my expectations of the movie had skyrocketed to unbelievable proportions for no particular reason - I just really, really wanted and needed the movie to be something fantastic.

After about an hour into the movie, I turned to my friend and said: I think I've gotten my $8.50 worth already, anything after this is a bonus.

The movie is so worth watching - 2 hours and 20 minutes, and tightly scripted - there's not much down-time in the movie, save for a few moments of Spiderman angst over MJ, but what's new? Doctor Otto Octavius is pretty neat as a villian, though the tentacles reminded me a lot of the Matrix's Sentinels - the way that the tentacles moved (and killed!) was very similar.

Apart from the amazing fight scenes and special effects, I like the way that the script obviously foreshadows events coming in the future. Such as (highlight if you want to read all this stuff) Harry Osborne becoming the Green Goblin, Aunt May knowing about Peter being Spiderman all along, Robbie being the lone sympathetic ear to Spiderman in the Daily Bugle, Mary Jane feeling 2nd best in Spiderman's fight against crime and evil, John Jameson's future failed NASA flight, Dr Curt Conners as The Lizard! Too many things to be excited about. And did anyone else catch the blink-and-miss-it homage to Empire Strikes Back? I totally missed it, knowing that there was something familiar about the costume pose, but choosing to ignore it, concentrating more on Jameson's turn in his take on Spiderman, and it was one of those lightbulb switches over the head when Stan told me after the movie. And if I'm not too wrong about it, the tribute to The Matrix: Revolutions, when Peter was bodysurfed to the middle of the train after he fainted. (For a moment in the movie, I thought they were seriously going to let him fall off the end of the boxcar. Then that guy's hand grabbed the spider logo.)

Too bad the science of the movie was seriously shot - sympathetic vibrations I can understand, fusion I can pretend to understand, but "drown it in the river"? Without it making so much as a hiss? KC and I had serious issues with this over.

Favourite line in the movie?

Peter: Hi.
MJ: Hi.
Peter: This is really heavy.



It's definitely a must-watch - even on the weekends. I'd watch it a second time on weekend prices.

[Spiderman 2]
Sngs Alumni @ 3.7.04 { 0 comments }


vendredi, juillet 02, 2004

 Bye, Ron

Ron just left for Australia - for two whole years! I thought NUS had a pretty good employee training programme (I just came back from a three day CPR-First-Aid course myself), but PWC takes the cake - she gets to go over to Melbourne for two years on a work-study programme. Of course she gets bonded for two years to PWC when she returns, but hey, I think that's a small price to pay for the boost in confidence and the market value you get back - the returns are higher than the liability of a two year bond. (And there's always the option of being unethical and paying off the bond.)

[Bye, Ron]
Sngs Alumni @ 2.7.04 { 0 comments }


+ moi +

+ PDL +

Musings on Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Life (PII)

||01||02||03||04||05||
||06||07||08||09||10||
||11||12||13||14||15||
||16||17||18||19||20||
||21||22||23||24||25||
||26||27||28||29||30||
||31||32||33||34||35||
||36||37||38||39||40||


+ twitter +

+ booksneeze+

I review for BookSneeze

+ best of the web +

[lilies of e field]
[missiepixie]

+ les liens +

[blogtrbc] [adetan] [airong] [aang] [aileen] [ben+yimei] [bunny] [C.Kam] [camellia] [celesta] [chloe] [cornball] [derek+serene] [di] [dims] [elaine] [evangeline] [eunice leow] [eunice soh] [ft] [I-V] [jae] [jason w] [jazzymoo] [jemTiong] [jerming] [jing] [juian] [julian] [kimmeeee] [leon] [lolitapop] [marcus wang] [mai HS] [mark lim] [meiyen] [minghui] [onesimus] [p.k.] [praisie] [puden] [puchuan] [qy] [sam.wong] [serena] [sharon] [sherryn] [shuhui] [simone] [skinnydrummer] [soaps] [soul survivor] [stan] [stee] [titus] [weilong] [yimei] [yining] [yunyu] [zhizhen]

[me@deviantArt]
[me@livejournal]
[me@YouTube]
[me@Multiply]
[me@Twitter]


+ before i die +

Stuff I'd Like
Lake Tahoe
Borobudor
Pyramids, Egypt
Laos
Boro Boro
Cambodia (Ankor Wat)
Taj Mahal
Bali
Great Ocean Road
Maldives to DIVE!
Great Barrier Reef to DIVE!
Christmas Island
See a penguin in the wild
Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


make ur own map!


+ archives +

juillet 1990
décembre 1990
décembre 1998
mars 1999
novembre 1999
décembre 1999
janvier 2000
février 2000
mars 2000
novembre 2000
décembre 2001
janvier 2002
août 2002
septembre 2002
octobre 2002
décembre 2002
janvier 2003
février 2003
mars 2003
avril 2003
mai 2003
juin 2003
juillet 2003
août 2003
septembre 2003
octobre 2003
novembre 2003
décembre 2003
janvier 2004
février 2004
mars 2004
avril 2004
mai 2004
juin 2004
juillet 2004
août 2004
septembre 2004
octobre 2004
novembre 2004
décembre 2004
janvier 2005
février 2005
mars 2005
avril 2005
mai 2005
juin 2005
juillet 2005
août 2005
septembre 2005
octobre 2005
novembre 2005
décembre 2005
janvier 2006
février 2006
mars 2006
avril 2006
mai 2006
juin 2006
juillet 2006
août 2006
septembre 2006
octobre 2006
novembre 2006
décembre 2006
janvier 2007
février 2007
mars 2007
avril 2007
mai 2007
juin 2007
juillet 2007
août 2007
septembre 2007
octobre 2007
novembre 2007
décembre 2007
janvier 2008
février 2008
mars 2008
avril 2008
mai 2008
juin 2008
juillet 2008
août 2008
septembre 2008
octobre 2008
novembre 2008
décembre 2008
janvier 2009
février 2009
mars 2009
avril 2009
mai 2009
juin 2009
juillet 2009
août 2009
septembre 2009
octobre 2009
novembre 2009
décembre 2009
janvier 2010
février 2010
mars 2010
avril 2010
mai 2010
juin 2010
juillet 2010
août 2010
septembre 2010
octobre 2010
novembre 2010
décembre 2010
janvier 2011
février 2011
mars 2011
avril 2011
mai 2011
juin 2011
août 2011
septembre 2011
octobre 2011
novembre 2011
décembre 2011
janvier 2012
mars 2012
avril 2012
mai 2012
juin 2012
août 2012
novembre 2012



[lpsd 2003-2009.]