mercredi, janvier 31, 2007 Would you like clothes with that?  I occasionally wonder (and will continue to suffer these occasional crises of being) if I should make the effort to pen down my thoughts on Things That Matter, like things that happen in the news and politics and my philosophy on life et al. Especially when I (ahem) go slightly insane over certain things... like, say FOR EXAMPLE, THIS IS COMPLETELY HYPOTHETHICAL, OF COURSE, large Singapore soccer matches, which just make everything on this blog look so completely banal.This fear of bring (mistakenly) perceived as a banal person (popular, boring, cliched, everyday, humdrum, tired, and OMG common) wars with my pride and need to be seen as smart (or at least, having some modicum of intelligence above the average joe.) Thank God, by the time I reach this point in logic, some semblance of sense would have returned to me, and I am immediately transported to the "So what?" point next. Which rocks, I suppose. Deep thoughts are private, and blogs are public. Why should my opinions be inflicted on an unsuspecting (and undeserving) general public? Should my trust not be earned for me to tell you certain things? Must I utilise this unruly medium to exercise my right to "free speech" just because I can? I've said it before: I'd feel too naked, and worse, I'd feel like a hypocrite since I rarely articulate philosophy in person. My philosophy on philosophy: it's meant to be lived, and everyone lives in a state of contradiction. Ain't life just a kick in the pants? [Would you like clothes with that?] |
mardi, janvier 30, 2007  I managed to get off work early today, and wisely spent it on a journey to Jalan Besar Stadium to buy tickets for the match on Wednesday. I figured there would be a queue, and there was - a snaking queue approximately 500m long, which was more than I had hoped, but less than I realistically expected.It was my first trip to the home of the FAS - and I shook my head at the size of the stadium. Did they think that they could demolish the National Stadium and use this stadium as an interim stadium? Who are they kidding? 20,000 people and a swimming pool on the side. Seriously man, no way. The Malay guy and his sister behind me struck up a conversation with me immediately - I suppose I must have looked rather odd, with me being in work clothes and heels, when the bulk of the crowd were guys, or disgruntled looking women. I think their husbands/boyfriends drove them there, couldn't find a parking lot, then told them to line up first while they drove to some other ulu place to park and wait. .jpg) We chatted about the M-league days, his eyes widening when I could correctly identify the players by name and number - I suppose last time still young lah, 1994, brain still got a lot of harddisk space. He told me that a lot of the guys on the team were his schoolmates, and that they still hung out occasionally. Not good enough to score free grandstand tickets though, he observed with a wry smile.The conversation was very pleasant - a snapshot of the camaradarie which exists when Singaporeans one and all come together to hold up a patriotic challenge to any other country that threatens our sole bastion of politics-free nationalism: soccer. The queue moved quickly as I expected: grandstand tickets were already sold out when I got there, so that made things easier since that meant only two categories of tickets were left: gallery ($7) and child/student ($2). When I got to about ten persons before the counter, someone at one of the three counters exclaimed very loudly "Sold out?!" which sent a ripple of shock through those who were near enough to hear it. A quick clarification and a minor heart attack later, we were told that the child/student tickets were sold out, not the gallery. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief to hear that.  There were some Ah Pek by the side of the counter who were hoping to get some people to buy their tickets for them, which I thought was so dumb - it would be really easier to just queue up and buy them yourself - especially since buying tickets yourself would enable you to get as many as you wanted - this time there's no "maximum 4 tickets" rule: you can buy as many as you want. This was a surprise to me, since I expected to buy only 4 tickets. I figured I wouldn't have a problem offloading extra tickets, so I wound up buying six instead of four, though I have to admit that for about half a second, I contemplated buying a LOT of them to sell at a higher price to people. If you think that's unfair, remember I had to: (1) quasi-legally leave work early to get there, (2) go to unfamiliar place which isn't very near the MRT station, (3) WALK to Jalan Besar Stadium in high heels and with my school notes and barang-barang, (4) STAND ON HEELS with barang-barang (5) in the hot sun (6) for 1/2 an hour. If I may use a phrase from a well-known cosmetics brand's tagline: Because I'm Worth It!I bought my tickets and now I am happy. The end. Libellés : soccer [Worth their weight in gold?] |
lundi, janvier 29, 2007 Microsoft: Do they sell really small stuffed toys?  A lot of us want to complain as well, but thisis a novel way to make yourself heard...  I would buy this game! I wonderwhat would be "Park Mall"? "Silicon Valley"?  This is so true it's almost not funny... almost.  Guess the people at BMW use Macs or Linux... And of course, we have to have a special helpsection for the world's most powerful idiot. Libellés : humour, technology [Microsoft: Do they sell really small stuffed toys?] |
So I was sitting beside this guy, taking the train from Lavender to Boon Lay, and he just had to sit like this, even after my bag kept bumping into him and even after I kept shifting in my seat:.jpg) DUDE, YOUR DICK IS NOT THAT BIG.I moved away after two stops when another seat opened up. [you're deluding yourself] |
dimanche, janvier 28, 2007 Singapore vs Malaysia: Asean Championships Semifinals at National Stadium .jpg) Despite the hugeness of this match, I found it difficult to find people to go! Perhaps I didn't give enough warning, but I had thought that everyone knew it was coming up and that we just HAD to watch it. Silly me for projecting.After much grief (traffic tailback from Kallang TO THOMSON ROAD, rain, tickets sold out, Josh pulling out due to work committments), Stan managed to buy tickets off a "dodgy-looking old man" without getting scalped, and we made it into the stadium about 20 mins into the match. It was PACKED to capacity - there were no steps, no seats, nothing: every single seat was taken, and then some! We managed to score ourselves a place which these bunch of malay boys said "got people sitting", but I figured there was enough space to squeeze everyone in. Turns out they never returned, so we had great seats right along midfield. .jpg) .jpg) The Malaysian contingent was seated where they usually sit - somewhere in a corner, surrounded by Cisco security guards in their fluorescent jackets. They were small in number, but these fans had teeth, making quite a lot of noise when the first shocking goal game - aided by the fact that the entire stadium was shocked at the poor handling of the ball. After half a second of disbelief, the jeers came: "Keeper Kelong!" became the rallying cry for the next five minutes. I have to say that the goal was a huge disappointment, but my heart went out to the keeper after about 15 minutes when the crowd around us was still muttering angrily about the poor defense. However, when we finally equalize d, the roar was the stuff that magic is made out of - a warming of the heart, the complete deafening of the ears, and the utter compulsion to hug a complete stranger who's just as happy as you - the burst of celebration after that goal was a beautiful thing to see, and is the reason why I brave traffic and rain to watch these things live.Apart from that, the match itself was rather ho-hum actually - no sudden bursts of brilliance, and no controversies, although there was a little tussle with the legs which resulted in a yellow card for Fazrul Nawaz... I was almost certain he was going to get a red. The keeper was consistently inconsistent, which is better than just plain old inconsistent, I suppose. It was a match where both sides were equally good (or bad), and both goals were lucky accidents rather than ones that were created from sporting prowess. .jpg) The end of the match came with a palpable sense of tension in the air, but strangely, there was no urgency conveyed during extra-time on the field. Not that there weren't attempts at goal, but both sides seemed to be waiting for the penalty shootout to occur. They were probably too tired by that time.The penalty shootout was fun - we went first, then Malaysia. Cheers and cries of "masuk bola!" or "goal!" were heard every time a Singapore player stepped up to take the shot, and boos and jeers and "butol" followed Malaysian boots. Cheers for every Singaporean goal, and jeers for the Malaysian ones, until Shi Jiayi took the final Singapore shot. Everyone started chanting "加油！加油！加油！", which was hilarious, and very, very Singaporean. When Malaysia's final ball went straight into Lionel's arms, he was redeemed and the stadium went INSANE. Screaming, shouting, stamping, cheering, throwing, paper airplanes made out of the stiff Nike posters came raining down on us, and the celebration started in earnest (as well as the exodus.) We took about half an hour to get out of the stadium, and then it started to rain immediately after we got out, which was a lucky thing. Too bad we got stuck in traffic for half an hour (which is considered very fast already, according to my friends), thanks to the SHE concert ending at the same time as us, thus causing a major traffic snarl. But like I said: the Kallang Roar was worth it. The Kallang Wave Libellés : soccer [Singapore vs Malaysia: Asean Championships Semifinals at National Stadium] |
mercredi, janvier 24, 2007 Kevin Bacon: The Missing Link to Al-Qaeda Remember a couple of years back when the Internet was young, and six degrees of separation was a game you played on html web pages way way waaaay before Friendster was even thought about? Okay, so maybe you're not that old. Kevin Bacon was the guy to get linked to in those days - the urban legend was that anyone could be linked to anyone in six degrees - and Kevin Bacon was your sure-fire way to get linked to anyone big in Hollywood. Turns out that he's not just the link to Tinseltown: he links to other scary networks as well! [Kevin Bacon: The Missing Link to Al-Qaeda] |
lundi, janvier 22, 2007  Yes, I've been sick for the last week - like flat-out on-my-back completely gone kind of sick. So sick that my mommy *sniff* offered to sleep in my room to keep an eye on me, that's how sick I was. But I'm feeling a lot better today, it being the first day in a long time since I have spent any meaningful amount of time out of my bed.And to top it all off, I got a letter from the LTA informing me that they have waived my fine, thanks to a pitiful letter I sent them informing them that it really wasn't my fault that I was found on the bus lane at 2pm on a Saturday - which should be abolished already anyway, with the "official" 5-day work week. (Hey, the quotation marks are there for a reason.) They sent my mom (her car mah) a letter a week ago, citing a fine of $130 (!!!) for driving on "a prohibited lane" (sounds so serious) at XYZ time on XYZ date. I felt quite indignant (not to mention poor), and decided to write an appeal letter to see if they would waive the fine (Darius said 'you never know') - and they did! The letter explained (with map attached!) that I had just turned out from a road on the left (A), tried to filter unsuccessfully into the "non-prohibited lane", gave up at point B because I was planning on turning left into Marymount Lane at point C. (I was caught somewhere after point B.) Reasonable request, yeah? I'm glad that they thought so as well. I got a very stern reprimand letter, telling me to obey the road rules because they're there for the safety of one and all blahblahblah etc. I'm the safest driver I know! [LTA fined me!] |
lundi, janvier 15, 2007  Collyer Quay Collyer Quay - same place as the previous picture Clifford Pier - which is still standing!Hooray!  CK Tang! How it's grown! The picture name is "hock_lam", but I don't thinkthat there are any streets by that name. I thought it was the name of the bus riots, but I checked and those are the Hock LEE, not Lam riots. I am guessing that it's the fire station near Fort Canning that's in the background though, just to give it a locale.  Female power! Empress Place, Singapore - Cricket Club, the oldSupreme Court, Victoria Theatre and the cenotaph.  More Collyer Quay... ...and even more Collyer Quay. North Bridge Street (road?) New Bridge Road National Theatre  Padang and waterfront - where's the Esplanade? :-) CBD from above Raffles Place - before the MRTs Queens Road, for shopping!I read somewhere that it was also the place where thieves took their stolen items to sell...  Queen Elizabeth Walk. I think that's the old Fullerton in the bg. Van Kleef Aquarium - I have very fond memories of this place;I lost the flower on a very pretty shoe there, and I was very freaked out and fascinated by the pirahnas which were by the exit.  Lau Pa Sat Sri Mariamman temple - which hasn't really changed much, has it? Singapore River Singapore River Super duper old bus stop - even before the orange-roof ones Outram Park HDB flats National Day Parade! With PA (not PAP) Bugis Street Bugis Street[Old pictures of Singapore] |
dimanche, janvier 14, 2007  Most stuff online is pretty trivial - personal blogs, friendster, multiply, MSN... a lot of them are time-wasters; a way to pass our hours on earth before our days are numbered.But occasionally, there comes a useful service, such as zyb.com (pronounced "zib".) JLJL introduced the service in passing to me, and let me tell you, this service is something that everybody should use. Backup your mobile phone's entire memory, widgets and other stuff online via GPRS sync (which you should have), and you can upload your contact numbers into ANY other phone - meaning no more hassle when you buy a new phone! (Only phone memory though; SIM card memory must be copied to phone memory before this is done.) The service is completely free, and I did read the TOR which DOES promise to safeguard/never sell your info. I anticipate email or phone spam from this though; hopefully it won't be too annoying. Libellés : technology [A nifty little website] |
samedi, janvier 13, 2007 Blast from the Past (SBC MTVs!)  I was cleaning out my bookmarks folder when I came across a blog that I had saved from a long time ago. I clicked to find out what it was, and lo and behold, a treasure trove emerged.Singapore Broadcasting Centre (SBC)'s OLD OLD MTVs! The only problem: it's in RealPlayer format, which is a RealPain in the butt. [Blast from the Past (SBC MTVs!)] |
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