Dive Trip I

One evening, many of us working folks, made plans to leave work on the dot to arrive at our departure destination in Kebangan on time. So many last min dashes to the ATM, 7-11 were made to ensure that we've got our supplies for the dive trip.

Happily, we quickly gobbled down our mini-dinners so that we can leave some space for the famous Ramly burger when we reach the other side of the causeway. Quickly, we boarded our mini-van that took 6 of us with CYK & his beau towards the causeway to get to Mersing the jetty towards Tioman our diving destination.

Its been a while since we've all last dived, the most recent time would be.... hmmm..... lets see.... two nights ago at the pool? (when many were struggling with their wetsuits?? ha ha ha... ahh... yes, that was their last dive) but for me, it was almost 3yrs ago or maybe even longer. Its a little scary to think of the first time jumping into the waters again, what if there's strong strong currents? oh well, the great relief is that we'll all be in a group, so, at least, we can all look out for each other hee....

On the way to the custom, we're caught in a huge jam. yep. totally within expectations. Fortunately, it only took us one hour to reach the customs, not too long if you think about the few thousands of cars, taxis, vans, buses, lorries all trying to squeeze through the tiny traffic at Woodlands.

In the hour that we were caught in the jam, we had a guy who was driving behind us (the mini-van driven by a very experienced M'sian uncle). This guy, lets call him G, came up during one of the smoke breaks that driver-uncle was taking outside the van with his driver side door wide open and asked if he can borrow driver-uncle's hp to call his wife.

G also told driver-uncle that he's hp was out of battery and with the jam, he needs to inform his wife, sounds like a pretty logical request to us, not like it was any real emergency but it wasnt that bad either.

But very quickly, driver-uncle turned him down flatly. He 二話不說 (short & sharply) and said NO to G. G looked pretty pissed and grumbled his way back to his car....


we felt that he deserved to be "helped" so I quickly snap a shot of him, but he did not attempt to ask anyone else in the vehicle, well, if he was so superbly desperate to call his wife, he would actually ask another person right? because there are many other M'sian car plate vehicles around us. Strange hor?

Right after G left, driver-uncle told us a few stories that got our ears peered towards the wheel....

Driver-uncle related to us his experiences with these hp-scams.

Story 1:
Driver-uncle's driver kakis got approached by a guy who wants to sell his hp away, desperate for some quick cash. Being less "in-tune" with new technologies, his driver kakis thought that they had a good deal by spending RM$500 on a brand new looking "latest" hp model. So a few of his kakis parted with their money for a new hp offered by some passerby stranger. Only to find that their new hp is made of good quality plastic and its FAKE! Its those demo handsets that's displayed on windows. Perhaps they did a swap midway through the deal or something... but still, it was a real con job!

Story 2;
One day, while driver-uncle was waiting for his passengers around KLCC, one guy came up to him wanting to sell driver-uncle his hp for some quick cash. (ahhh... driver-uncle got alot of his kakis's experience remember.... so driver-uncle played along with this guy)

Driver-uncle: How much you want for this hp?

guy: RM$500 lah, need cash

Driver-uncle: cheaper can or not?

guy: okay lah, RM$400

Driver-uncle: okay, you come into my van and we can discuss

guy gets into the passenger seat behind driver-uncle and closes the door behind.
Driver-uncle locks all the doors and throws a heavy punch across the guys' face

YEP, driver-uncle is mad and happy at the same time, to be able to seek some revenge for his kakis....

guy in shocked, begs to be let out
Driver-uncle: you think I dunno about your scam? your guys have con thousands out of my kakis you know?

guy: what can I do? I'm sorry.

Driver-uncle: how much $$ do you have?

guy: RM$300.

Driver-uncle: dun you try to fool me...

guy takes out his wallet and driver-uncle snatches it from guy and examines its contents, true enough only got RM$300.
Driver-uncle took his RM$300 and smashes that fake plastic phone...

guy: ooi, how can you do that?

Driver-uncle: you think I'll let you use this thing to con more people?

guy: you must compensate me for that!

Driver-uncle rised his fist in the air and guy quickly responded meekly to let things go...
Driver-uncle let guy out of his van and guy came to driver-uncle side in a last attempt to savalge something out of the "deal" unfortunately, he got on the wrong side of driver-uncle and driver-uncle threw him a 2nd punch right in his face.

Driver-uncle fierce eh? abit gangster also hor? if in Singapore, surely kana Changi to lim Kopi for assult etc...
But in the environment that they grow up, survive in, this is how they live and struggle to earn a living. They have no one to depend on for protection. Think about it, they drive people from all walks of life to and fro all types of places and they are all on their own. If they do not acquire some fiesty character, I'm not sure how long they can last in this trade?

Story 3:
One afternoon, while his PRC tourist passengers were unloaded to for a 5min stop to take some pictures at a touristy spot in KL, driver-uncle left his vehicle (engine still running, doors are open for those fast-returning tourist) and he walked 20m away to be under some shade for his smoke break.

He saw two PRC tourist boarding his bus shortly after he left, he thought that woah, they return quite quickly ah?
Then, these two PRC tourist came down his bus!
Sensing something was amiss, since he does not recall these two being his passengers, he quickly went up to them to question their presence, with alot of ease, these two PRC tourist claimed that they boarded the wrong bus.

Driver-uncle KNEW something was wrong the moment he heard those words "boarded the wrong bus". Before he could lay hands on them, these two PRC tourist quickly moved away into the thick crowd surrounding the area.

True enough, when his passengers returned to the bus, some of them have missing items from their bags.

These thief incidents are probably not new tricks but in our "well-ruled" world, we seldom hear of such tricks reported. But I firmly believe they exist.

So here my friends, let all be warned of any kind of character can and will occur in the most unimaginable situations and circumstances. So on high alert especially if you are not familar people.

Okies, back to our dive trip hee... the stories were quickly interrupted when uncle found a few shortcuts across the massive numbers of lorries and trucks and before long, we are already at the customs. YEAH!

and guess what? at the JB side..... it was EMPTY! I certainly tried very hard to know "WHERE DID ALL THAT CARS GO??"



Okies, after that one hour delay at the customs, our driver-uncle had alot to catch up, the planned 4hrs to get to Mersing jetty is now shorten to 3hrs. How did he do the catch up? The usualy way.... SPEED!!!!

To avoid the many speed traps on the "usual" route towards Mersing, driver-uncle took a different route, one which passes through many many many many residential estates and small roads, this was adviced by the manager of his transport company. (yes, got bigger boss then driver-uncle himself wan, dun think they all one-man-show)

(side track, the good thing with manager, there's some co-operative network of road "spies" which relays the position and numbers of speed traps from one driver to the other who are also going the same way. throughout the 3hr journey, driver-uncle's phone kept buzzing non-stop to advise him of the routes....)

but guess what? it didnt help! because, we still got 3 police stops along these mini-tiny-side-side-side route towards Mersing. For two of them, we were able to slow down enough to get "caught"? hee.... but for one of them... it was impossible lah, it was a one lane traffic on both sides of the road and only one lane was blocked right infront of the police station. hee.

seeing how relac the police officers were on the side of the road, sitting next to a MJ-table-like-table with hot water flasks, mugs and something that looked like a radio in the dark almost felt like they were watching the stars in the night light instead of catching vehicles for speeding on the roads...

with Driver-uncle's experience, they quickly shook hands with RM$20 exchange we were let off without even a copy of the vehicle number or even pretending to. In the background, the other police officers were comfortably seated down and having a joke amongst themselves. doesnt really feel like its an exercise to reduce speeding on the road...

well, with almost all our bones jotted out of our bodies, we finally arrived safely at Mersing jetty with a very great relief and quickly descended into our speed boat and then transfer to our big dive boat....

Yippie! Tioman Tioman here we come!

diving friends happenings

Sunday car ride....

for the record, this journey only happened for like 100m within enclosed boundaries and in full safety of all passengers.

yes, the record is 8 full sized adults in one nissan sunny. can you beat that? hee... (oh, we got to add that we've got a +1 in the car as well.... who's is it? you guess lah!)

DHL

we received a DHL package in the lab.... and to my greatest surprised, it had to come like this....



tubes were wrapped like cabbage with parafilm and stuck 6 in a "pack" with these bright orange "Fragile" stickers...

we had a hard time trying to tear these tubes away from the stickers and "unwrap" them from the parafilm tape, worse still, the contents are not kept chilled and hence did not even work in our lab... what a waste of efforts.

Mini for YOU

a few weeks back, we did car testing with the Minis.... they are cute to look at but.... woah, they're definitely powerful on the roads boy... the engine roars to get you to step on the accelerator just a bit more... its pick up speed is fast & furious... definitely a great car to drive. but perhaps more suited for the "limitless" highways in Germany? hee... (during our previous europe tour, we learnt that in germany, their highways have a MINIMUM speed limit... yes, minimum, if you travel any slower than 100MPH you get a ticket! ha ha ha....)

when I saw this classic mini parked in the same parking lot, I cannot help but take this picture to remind the Mini-testing-folks of our mini adventure hee.... plus, if you buy the 4D for this vehicle and HIT, then you're one step closer to your mini cooper S hee....

Xmen 3 review

just caught the movie with labmates & gang.... the movie was too short to our liking, did not have enough time to develop the characters and plot was thin. Special effects were plenty but all seems to happen too quickly. I guess viewers like us, prefer to know the characters abit more, understand their powers before watching them in action.

here's some conclusions we have...

the most useless power: the porcupine boy
to kill someone, he had to hug them to be close to them and hence release his spines to poke his enemies to death. how often can you do that???

the saddest scene: when professor splatter into a million pieces
cannot believe that they allow a legend like the professor to be died.... how can?? *sob* *sob*

the most unbelievable scene: when pheonix died
she's suppose to be the MOST powerful, like everyone else's power combined. so how can she die in woverine's hands so ridiculously easy??

the cutest actor: the flying boy
he looked quite normal as a young kid, but woah, when he's fully developed wings and all, he certainly looked quite dashing

the most sayang mutant: mystique
so sad that she got converted, she was alot more attractive when she was painted in blue... heh... at least we all know that she was very naked during the whole show....

the missing mutant: teleporter
i was looking for him throughout the whole show! where did he go? he added an interesting twist to the previous movie... wished he was around to show the kids "stuff"

the least useful mutant: rogue
ooi, what did she do in this movie other then being jealous, trying to get close to her bf, wished she went to suck the power off pheonix and get her to be jean again hee

the most sia-sway mutant: storm
she got whacked by the mutant that can zip around in their first fight! aiyo, she's a teacher in school teaching the junior mutants how to defend themselves and she herself got whacked??? sad lah!

the most disgusting mutant: the horn guy
still cannot figure out how can he grow horns like instantly from his wrist.... kinda gross dun you think?

so who's seen the movie? who's ur favourite mutant?

Smack ur MacBook Pro

how cool is that? yes, u can smack your MacBook Pro to change the programs around hee... so fun!

cycles of life

its been an interesting 2weeks or so.

i've kinda commented on how someone else's life is "perfect", in the sense that he seems to have everything that one needs or desire. Its like every occasion, experience, opportunties are laid perfectly for him.

well, the "perfect" comment got round to my friend and the picture wasnt that pretty.

today, i had an interesting conversation with another friend who looked at my life and commented that i seems to have everything laid out for me and that i was very BLESSED.

hee... yes, i agreed with him.

however, when he carried on the conversation to pull out the path that i've taken, i realised that actually, i've had my trials too, learnt from them, grew from them and hope to pass on that strength to others. nope, even though how bless one can be, they are not spared from daily or sudden trials. yet, its these trials that strengthen us, propelling us further into the future.

i had a strong urge to share with this friend all about my trials, such that he would understand how i've "suffered". unfortunately, time was not on our side.

on the way back, i realised that it really doesnt matter whether or not if this person who saw only a snap shot of me, my life matters deeply, because all's in the past. its the future that's holding the mysteries.

i also wondered about how small the cycles of life can be.

just 2 weeks back, i thought that another person's life was perfect, today, a friend thought that mine was super blessed. ha ha ha.... I guess the right word to use on my friend should have been Blessed life, instead of perfect. the right words the right time would get the right response...

once again, apologies to those whom i've mistaken, or offended with my words, thoughts or actions. its usually not what i meant.... like i've always said, i fail in my english prelim wan!

wetsuits wetsuits the nightmare...

its hard to imagine how much torment one can get from trying to get INTO something that is suppose to keep you warm under water.... but this time, it doesnt torture just ONe but quite a few....





and all this was for only the refresher course... i bet you are wondering what happens during the dive trip eh????

if so much comedy can occur in just a short 3hr refresher course, what do you think will happen with a 3day2night dive trip?? *giggles*

wait ah...must get the GooooDD shots to "show" hee.... *evil grin*

p/s: Jas.... send the rest of the photos pleaazzze

diving friends

testing tags

Snoopy

Things that make me go hmm.... II

I always wonder about how grass root leaders and town council members discuss and decide on matters concerning their residents. Staying in my HDB estate for almost 3yrs, I've never met either parties along the corridors, coffeeshops or walking about talking to the residents. It makes me wonder how do they actually decide on which are the areas to improve upon the estates and how do they intend to go about doing it.

Occassionally, we get a full colored, 8-12page newsletter from our town council and I hate to say this, I hardly ever read its contents, it feels so unfamiliar, who are these people on the cover? When were they even in my estate taking those nice pictures which I never noticed? After this year's GE, I've became more alert on how our town councils are managing our estate and I'll start reading their newsletters from now onwards. Maybe if time allows, I'll do a little reporting from their activties LIVE instead of reading it on print 3months later.

Till then, a letter in today's forum kinda sounded out the questions that I've had in my head for a while.....

"Why Pattaya when Sentosa can do?" by Ang Hak Heng

Maybe there's some way for the residents to see how allocated funds within the estate is spent to let us be more aware of how our resources are being managed.

Having said that, I'm happy that I've got a regular cleaner that clears our corridors, washes the stairs, wipe down the lifts, clears the trash and others who replaces the light bulbs, reminds the residents that littering from their windows are NO NOs, maintaining our external facades etc. Its a wonderful environment to allow me to keep wanting come home early to relax in a peaceful home.

Apple - Nike + iPod

the ultimate jogging pal.....

More oldies

yeah, spotted this at the base of a stairway, looking forgotton....


did you ever have one of these tiny hard stumps that comes out of this machine, stamping your weight?

when was the last time you spot a weighing machine like this? this machine was very popular in its hay days probably in the 80s'. With affluence and Ikea, every family seems to have their own weighing machine and does not need to use this oldie anymore...

things that make me go hmm....

Somethings that I really do not understand, how can a building of barely 8yrs old, built with modern day technology & resources be needing a total revamp so quickly?


this building and the other 9 around it all had similar markings....


the "drawings" were to mark out the areas which the surface portion of the building were to be removed.... so weird.

To put up or not to put up....

i'm sick of having to mentor kids in the lab. not only are they ungrateful rascals, who constantly fail to listen to instructions, but also arrogant fools who think that their 10weeks of "research" makes them a scientist.

Yet, my boss is constantly pushing my limit on this. Again and again, he throws me students in bunches, drips and drapes. Often highlighting the usefulness of their "research" to the overall big picture of the lab. Unfortunately, after a few of such cases, I've not seen or even heard their results much less their contributions.

yep, there's another of such student coming in.....

I'm losing faith in both the "research" and my boss.

should i have to put up with such nonsense?

(thankfully, this time, i'm a indirect supervisior.... but i'm not looking forward to having another idiot in the lab who will potentially mess it up and cause unimaginable disruptions....)

Red skies

one late evening after work, after starting the car engine to drive home, totally exhausted, not just from the hours of being under the sun doing manual labour, but more from a huge disappointment. Previously, blogged about God answering my prayer, maybe He did it in a different way. A way which I have yet to understand.

I've waited for a clear sign before entering this "battlefield" yet, I had to retracted quickly. Cannot help but feel immensely disappointed at the whole experience.

So I drove home in my aircon-less car, with the red red sky above, strong strong winds, loud and thunderous lightning and a super heavy heart. I cannot imagine how am I going to get home in one piece with no aircon in the car, I'll be forced to close all the windows and drive in it. So I prayed. Asking God to show me the way home.

Thankfully He did. He got me home safely, despite the strong winds, rain came only in drizzles and the accident vehicles were already moved to the road shoulders. Otherwise, getting stuck in the rain with a traffic jam, definitely the formula for a car-breakdown.

Yes, I am assured again that God watches out for those who needs Him. In the same way, I should be doing the same too.

Blading

Yeah! We've started blading again (erhm, only twice so far, can say start hor?)

Its been a while since I found some good blading buddies who can race me to a "finish-line", pumping some adrenaline through my veins again. I'm glad that P & I were gamed to blade with us again. Sadly, some of us require abit more practise before putting the fire in the wheels and zoom down slopes at lightning speed again.

We wanted to try out blading at night when its much cooler and more importantly less crowded, we chose like the furthest carpark with changing facilities to mark the start of our night adventure. After popping into the toilet to change, we started putting on our blades...



Am not sure when will be our next "start" to our blading again....

Supermarket!

Yeah, the latest craz in town is Ang Mo Supermarket! A supermarket in the heartlands of heartlands! The owner is rumoured to own a few other shops in other heartlands and has 8 shops all joined up into his newly opened supermarket which took him almost 1yr to renovate. (not that the contractors were slow, but owner preferred to do it himself! he's a real perfectionist, was told that even a tiny mini mis-alignment of his welding, he'll strip the shelves down and re-do it again! yes, he does his own welding as well. Interesting how a person paying almost 12k in rent/month prefers to do his own welding and taking 10months to open this supermarket....)

After all this waiting, the whole neighbourhood is excited about its opening. its got fresh vegetables!


yeah, rows of nice new green baskets full of green veggies lined up to allow the most discerning housewife to choose what's on their dinner menu.


oops, what's Ad doing there???? he seems to be asking me to go over. oh really? Woah, the veggies are like 30cents CHEAPER!

they have so many many items! I almost went dizzy, maybe some baby food will help?


yes, almost everything in here is cheaper by a few cents as compared to NTUC or other nearby shops, maybe its an opening gimmick to get the whole neighbourhood to get sucked into the convenience of getting their stuff from them. Let's hope it lasts as long as it took him to renovate his supermarket hee....

Yummy Jap Food

yeah, one of those nights when we had impromptu dinner "parties" with a group of buddies, we decided impromptu-ly to eat at a jap resturant, at the ground floor of Starhub Center at Cuppage building.

woah, got some dishes are pretty authentic, even the japanese in the next table were eating very happily...

so friend ordered something super authentic! fried squid! woah, it was so yummy that it was almost all gone before i could snap a picture of it.



Ad ordered his favourite paper-soup BEEF! in spicy soup somemore! wah... the soup is very delicious... yes, i sneaked a bowl of it to taste hee....


THEN, friend discovered something her her dish.... something funny looking, funny colored and even funny tasting! After some digging, Ad found it in HIS soup as well! with alot of courage, a few of us took tiny mini bits of it to try.... I cannot taste anything! Ad thinks its flour. mayb.... just dun gimme tummyaches!


I ordered bean-paste chicken on LEAF over fire hee...


on the menu, it says that these amazing leaves NEVER burn! gues what? it did! they bluff!

Yeah! time at last!

heh heh.... since the departure of our analogue SCV box, we have physically LOST the ONLY sense of time in our living room. It was central to WHEN we dash out of the house to be in time for mtg/church/dinner appt etc or HOW much rush we should put into our steps when we attempt to lock the door, fasten the grilles and get into the lift. hee.... we missed its red lights badly, often turning our heads towards where it used to be.

too bad that we din have a picture of it before it left.... *boo hoo hoo*

we scouted around for the same kinda of lighted clock to be put in the SAME place exactly hee... (plus it must light up even at night....)

after much hunting, we realised that theres' only ONE kind of clock that can fit our desired needs, its LED lights that has to be powered! woah... only now that I know got so much knowledge in finding a clock...

so so so so... it's got to be expensive... finally finally found something within the budget that fitted us perfectly!

and its GREEN hee....

Qi Qi update

my new niece Qi Qi is soooo cute! She's so active and alert always staring at ME. She enjoys talking talking, cannot imagine what will happen when she's 3 hee....

i recall my godma shaking her head wildly when her daugther discovered the world of chit-chatting.... she cannot stop talking! ha ha ha.... I did not realise that girls start sooo young!! ha ha ha....

here's she, my little niece Qi Qi

see how curious she is.... must be thinking" which model of Samsung hp is this?" hee...


here is her... with her fist in her tiny mouth.... she's very strong! could almost do a turn around already!

here's a video of her in her cute little body, trying to speak but is not audible because i'm too far away while she's mumbling...

tight labby

we did a shift from a huge 60+sqm lab to a 30+sqm lab at the end of last year. due to the insufficient space in our "new" lab, we had to abandon several of our bulky equipment....

suddenly last week, we received a big YELLOW metal cabinet meant for flammable items INSIDE our tiny lab. After much manuvouring, it found its place just across our sink from the doorway.

we tried to "explain" to the authorites that gave us the cabinet that arrangement actually REDUCE the chance of us surviving any fire or other hazards, as the items in the cabinet might just explode and bombing our escape passageway.

their explanation for having it INSIDE the lab instead of outside..... "more damage will be incurred if its along the open air corridor"

I cannot understand this logic nor accept it. But that stinky yellow cabinet is IN our lab anyway.

I wonder who funded the initiative and how long it took from budgeting to budget approval to sourcing for the right quotation to getting the approval for the quotation to ordering the cabinets to delivering the cabinets to allocating the cabinets and finally stuffing it into our already bursting lab. Which part of this process does NO ONE in the whole entire time not think of checking its feasibility while its INSIDE the labs or checking if the lab members require such a bulky item in their already FULL lab or even have the courtesy to send a note/email/phone call to inform us of the delivery and hence make space, make TIME to accept the item.

Where are their brains? Or when you are so far up THERE in the ladder, it doesnt matter what you do, you just implement and expect gratefulness from those below? What happen to open communication? What happen to basic courtesy of "hey, we're ordering this stuff for you, remember to get it..."?

Alot of money could possibly be saved if proper survey was conducted to identify how many of these big bulky yellow cabinets are truly needed instead of having one in every two labs and leaving them totally empty.


This represents the big bulky item in a tight space.

Have problems trying to "tell" how tight it is??? here's another one... this lady is slender with 26' waist.... and there's barely any room, this lab does not allow entry to anyone bigger than 30' waist I'm sorry....

finally a good forum read

these days we dread reading the papers, but this one is a pretty good read....

singapore

alot of readers ah!

just discovered that we've been viewed 200times in the last 7days.... must be due to the election fever and all the links flying from one source to the other.... thank you for reading our blog.

now life will resume back to the mandane blogging.... hope we wont bore you... maybe Ad will update with some intelligent stuff that he found online like his FT report etc.... hee...

Polling Day Adventure

After an exhausting polling exercise, we decided to join a few other friends in Sembawang to receive the results of our GE2006. As we headed towards Sembawang for the 2nd time in the day, it felt as if we've wasted ONE WHOLE day for polling.... darn! We've kinda wasted the "free" public holiday that comes once in 5yrs *sigh* (better planning next time pls...)

We got there before 8pm and it was still early, we chatted and exchanged our views and with internet, I hooked up with Otterman, Ladybird and Al via iChat. Since Al is in Beijing with NO CNA in his apartment and the online CNA traffic was too high for him to get decent updates, he had to rely on his buddies here in Singapore hee... it was great fun sharing the online chat with the different updates.

When WP won their first and only seat in Hougang, we could hear the WP cheers thoughout the estate. A sure testimony that the neighbourhood is very much awake! And that we can make ALL the noise that we want! ha ha ha....

When the updates ended at 1am, *yawn* we pack up and close shop, headed home and was too tired to do anymore blogging.

yep, i abstained from blogging for 2 days, trying to recover from the Rally Fever and now.... with this posting... will end the rally fever blogging that had been going on for the past week. ;)

I'm glad to be exposed to politics finally, through this past week's experience, I've learnt alot more about Singapore and the people behind it then I have ever learnt while in school. I've also learnt that there are many different types of media out there which can provide a coverage which at times our mainstream media may not be able to. Alternatives are available out there. Its just how hard you look and how hard you try. I feel more convinced that I'm not living alone on an island. There are many Singaporeans out there who takes risks, forgo their better prospectives abroad, spent less time with their family & loved ones just so that we can have a better future. For all those who has put in some effort, I salute you.

I will live as a more responsible citizen in Singapore for all the good stuff that we have are not just a result of the good fortunes of our good geographical location but also through the hardwork and dedication of many many many people.
(so if you get a scolding from me when I see you litter, I'm just doing my part as a responsible citizen... ha ha ha)

singapore

Rally Fevers continues with video feeds

Hello folks,

finally finish uploading the videos that was taken during the rally which I attended together with Ad, Otterman, Ladybird & Cat. These videos were taken with Otterman's camera. Otterman and gang were super early for the rally and picked a strategic spot to watch the rally. Unfortunately, he did not think that the FLAG (!@@$%#$%^) infront of us would pose a BIG problem for videoing the process. Hence, a thousand apologies for having a flag the the FACe of the speakers from time to time... I tried very hard to get a clear view... so if it gives you guys headache... then just listen to the rally lah! ha ha ha....

enjoy:
LTK on putting a check on PAP's policies
LTK

Slyvia Lim on WP's manifesto and its visions for Singapore's future.
When she finally came on stage, the crowd who had waited almost 4hrs for her (those that super kiasu, came super early) cheered endlessly. Then we realised that she's got quite a bit of fanclub ah...
When she saw alot of boards saying"We love Slyvia", she told the crowd that:"If one or two of you love me its okay, but if 10 of you love me, I'll be distracted." A sure crowd teaser!
sorry ah, this part we din record down because we're too busy laughing, the rest of her speech is here....
SL

(WP's manifesto can be downloaded here)

GMS's mandrian speech on hospital billing, CPF etc (this speech was the reason why we ran out of memory for LTK & SL's speeches because I was overly engrossed in taking it, Otterman was watching the card memory run out in great despair but was unable to wrestle the camera from me ha ha ha... I did not realise that this memory card had the largest memory as compared to two others which he had... so it wasnt entirely my fault ha ha ha)
GMS

Perry Tong's hokkien-mandrian-english mixed speech which draw laughter and cheers from the supporters consistently.
PT

a pity that we did not have time to explore all other rallies, perhaps in 5yr's time, we'll be more experienced to draw up a good schedule to listen to ALL parties hee...

perhaps, let me state that these videos are taken and uploaded so that my friends from overseas can have access to them. I am in no part affliated to any political party whatsoever. These comments are my personal reflections of the experience that I have at the rallies and do not serve to persuade anyone towards any agenda. All I hope was for my fellow Singaporeans to have that same viewing privilege as we have here.

singapore

A hokkien letter

Found this online somewhere, which I'm sure my hokkien speaking peng-yous...

enjoy:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From the philosophy of Mr. Ong Ah Bee

Recently, my white MP,
Kok on my door, and very kek ki..
Say ‘I’ve worked so hard, so vote for me’,
‘Or rubbish won't be cleared, in your vicinty'..

I said ‘Dear MP of my GRC’,
‘Dun remember u, so please pardon me’..
‘I only saw you on TV’,
‘Dozing off and jiak liao bee’..

Last GE I voted for thee,
2% up in GST..
Cut CPF and up utility,
Are still very clear in my memory..

5 years later, then you come to me,
Fresh from your slumber of ivory..
Say that only, you can help me,
Escape from a life of poverty..

Just take a drive on CTE,
Count the number, of all the gantries..
Or squeeze a ride on the MRT,
That has not been cleared for ye..

My life since the last GE,
Has been downhill though I voted PAP..
If I vote the same for your sleeping spree,
I can expect the same misery..

So this time round, I vote for somebody,
Who will kachiao you, to productivity..
Forms fill wrong, no big deal to me,
If there’s someone to speak up for ah bee..

So dear MP of GRC,
If life no improve, vote u cho simi?

# posted by Ah Bee : 7:38 PM

comments:
Dear Mister Ong Ah Bee,
I have read your little BlogGY
It is realli very da funNI

And I tot the election comittEE
Say podcast is illeGY
U tink they will ask u go lim koPI?
Or spend a nite at old ChanGI.

Did u send yr blog to the MP?
Or refer it to Mr LEE?
Maybe to the Worker's ParTI
Or perhaps Doctor Chee?

I realli like your kind of poetRY
Hope u wun mind ME
Maybe i will try to coPY
In my own little bloggy.

Yours sincereLY,
From JeRI.

His response:
allo mister goh jeri,
me no like kopi in changi..
my blog's non-political persistently,
and ain't no podcast, can't u see?

go ahead and copy freely,
juz dun forget to acknowledge me..
and after you're done, and a little free,
tell me what is a 'bloggy'..

Why working hard doesn't mean anything anymore...

J is asking me why my surge in posts and fervour.... as a qualifier to a previous post, this is a letter in the Forum. Is this really how we want it to be for our children?

LOCALST, May 6, 2006
Does MOE not accept my foreign degree?

I REGISTERED as a relief teacher with the Ministry of Education (MOE) while waiting for acceptance into the National Institute of Education and have taught in several schools.

Only recently, after speaking to a fellow relief teacher who is a National University of Singapore (NUS) graduate, did I learn that my pay is not that of a graduate's.

I am an honours-degree graduate from the University of Leicester, one of Britain's leading universities.

I did not follow the typical Singaporean route of entering a junior college after the O levels and subsequently enrolling in a local university.

I was from a good secondary school and I scored well enough to gain entry into one of the better junior colleges. However, I opted to do a diploma in mass communications at Ngee Ann Polytechnic and graduated in 2000.

I was aware of the fast-track degree programmes offered by foreign universities to local diploma-holders which enable one to obtain a degree in one or two years.

I could have done such a programme after my stint in the polytechnic but I decided to venture to Britain and do a full-time three-year degree course instead as my parents could well afford the cost of my studying there.

After I graduated with a second-upper honours degree in 2003, I stayed on in Britain to gain work experience, returning to Singapore last December.

Upon my return, I answered MOE's call for teachers as I enjoy teaching because I could make a difference.

The years spent on my studies - three years doing a diploma and three years doing direct honours - are equivalent to those of a local graduate - two years in junior college and three years in university, plus a year doing honours.

I also possess an advantage not many Singaporean teachers could claim to have - invaluable experience of both local and overseas education and experience of living and working abroad.

It has been almost two months since I applied to be a teacher and I was told repeatedly by MOE that my application was being processed.

I understand the need for MOE to be thorough but the wait is disheartening. What is even more disheartening is to find out that I have not been paid a graduate's pay.

Does MOE discriminate against foreign degree-holders? Are foreign graduates not deemed as good as local ones?

The Singapore Government has long expressed the wish for local talent to stay in Singapore. Now that I am back, incidents such as discrepancies in wages make me wonder if returning to Singapore was worth it.

Edina Rahman (Ms)

Rally Fevers continues with audio feeds

It was pretty eye-opening for me to be listening to Hokkien, Teochew, Malay, Tamil, Mandrain and English speeches all in one night. I cannot remember when was the last time when someone spoke in dialects in public spaces. Pity there was no cantonese, else I would have NO problems at trying to figure out what their content was.

I understand that there is a need to manage the different dialect group speaking groups, races carefully to avoide racial disharmony but I also long for that sense of closeness, familarity when you meet with someone who speaks the same dialect with you. I've got an administrator who speaks engllish with a clear cantonese accent, it was fast & easy to identify her through cantonese conversations and I can say that, she's usually more generous with her help than perhaps to others?? These days, even when I approach a hawker in my half-baked hokkien to order hokkien mee, he/she will reply in mandrain (at best english) with "Wan chilli or not? How much? $2 or $3?" so sad, there's little chance for me to pick up good conversational dialects. *bleah*

anyways... sorries for the digression, just feeling nostalgic about losing my roots as a cantonese (which explains why I persistently subscribe to TVBJ hee....)

With all the saga on James Gomez, I was truly excited to see and hear him. What does he have to SAY? is he a real Liar? He spoke of issues close to my heart. The young Singaporeans and those who are young at heart. What is there in stored for us in our future? To build a career? To start a family? He highlights the real stresses and pains of starting a family as young parents. Yes, I do know of many friends who seems to breeze through all these financially-challenging stages easily, with alot of help from their families usually. But take a step back and think, if you had not recieve a single cent from anyone in buying your home, in renovating your home, in caring for your kids while you work (with a peace of mind), can you do it? Could you have set up your family and have such a lovely time as you are having now? Just think for a moment.... then, realise that for many many many Singaporeans out there, they DO live in such situations. Their parents have trouble feeding themselves (maybe due to over-contribution to the Singapore Pools), their siblings maybe dependent on them for formal education (we are talking about completing their N or O'levels mind you, not university...), they could have alot of medical bills breathing down their necks....

And if you take a serious look around you, you'll find some families in this situation which i just described. Its REAL!

Like I used to say, I was a happy kid. I assume that everyone was happy, everyone had daddy to work and bring home the bread, mummies to stay home to cook and look after their kids, big brothers and sisters will take care of their younger siblings, weekends are to go to the beach, take overseas holidays (to Penang the furthest...) and everyone is happy.

At 16, I met the true-blue Singaporeans who live in fear of not having enough pocket money to go to school, fear of getting whack by their step-parents (just because they are in a bad mood), fear of getting whack by their drunken fathers, fear of when is the next time they have to sit in the corridor waiting for their step-relatives (who do not know of their existence) to leave their home so that they can go home. And much more. These are REAL people.

Here's James's audio feed:
Voice-0002.amr
The James Saga, what do you know of it? Where do you get your sources from? If my memory serves me right, WP has not made any rebuttal to any of the accusations that PAP has been dishing out in the past week. What does it tell you about WP? & PAP?

When I was young, I always thought that whatever my mum told me, must be right. Afterall, she was the one who set all the rules, not to tell lies, not to steal yadder yadder... When I grew older, I realise that sometimes adults tell "white lies" too!!!! At 6 I realised that my mum was using me to answer the phone calls from my dad's "frens" who would call every weekend to date him out to some discos, karaokes, night clubs (because my dad's a generous man, so he's got lots of "frens"). Her specific instructions to me was:" Tell all the uncles who call, that daddy is not home yet." (but my daddy is infact taking his hour long shower... perhaps to get ready for some fun later?) My dad would wait for his "frens" to call for the night after they DID and he'll be a good boy and stay at home since he did not recieve his CALL. So was it wrong to "intercept" his call? Or was it more wrong to allow him take the calls and go have fun outside?

My point is: whatever media that you may be exposed to now may not be telling you the whole truths. so seek to recieve more information besides the usual mainstream medias. with internet, blogging, youtube, finding for more alternatives is less of an issue. the issue would be, do you want to continue to be following the "information" blindly or do you want to make more informed decisions? Its nothing wrong with supporting either parties based on their good manifestos, great ideas to bring Singapore into our next 40years. But do not vote based on petty arguments over technicalities, finger-pointing sagas, name-calling etc. We build our nation on hard-working capable people. Let's not ruin it on petty talks. Get serious, decide what sort of future you want to hold in your hands. In your children's hands. Have some conviction, have some ideals. Make your stand.

Here's LTK's mandrian speech, definitely peppered with more lingos/idioms and puns then his english speech. I'm impressed by his fluency in his command of the language. I guess, this is a must after 24yrs of being in politics serving in the WP.
Voice-0003.amr
Hope you'll listen to him and hear how convicted he is in giving our government a check and balance in the cabinet. He's proud of this team this election, sharing that each of them are at the peak of their careers, that each of them has great opportunites if they were to work locally or internationally. Yet, they CHOSE to stay in Singapore, to be part of WP's team to allow Singapore to have more choices. We are talking about people who had to work very very hard to be where they are today. If they were anymore selfish, they would be hugging their salaries and reaching out to their glowing future and remain careless about our politics and governance. Yet, they stood up, stood out and spoke up. They want for US to have more choices. How can anyone deny them of this chance?

Before LTK's speech, there was another candidate, Mr. Tan Wui-Hua, Treasurer for the WP, running in Aljunied, an accountant. He started his speech by thanking his wife, for supporting him in his journey as a politician. Our guess is that he's had a rough road this past week and it was really a test of his family support and more so, how much our family means to us when we are facing new challenges. He also apologised to his son who has yet to reach 2yrs old. Because of his tight schedules with the rallies in the past week, his son barely saw him. One evening his son went to a chair which he usually sits on and put his tiny hands on it calling out for "Pa Pa". With this, he shed a tear. He was truly sorry for neglecting his son in his most impressionable, fun years to devote his time to shaping Singapore to another 40yrs. This man must have touched a few hearts up there last night. To me, if one can feel so close to his family, you can imagine how hard he'll fight to defend his country.

I know many out there are new parents like Mr. Tan, I think being at work for that 8 hours a day would make you want to dash home and check on your little one. You want to spend every waking moment watching his first crawl, walk, saying his first words, cushioning his first fall etc. Yet, Mr. Tan pulled himself away from his young son to spend time on giving Singaporeans a Choice in OUR future, in our Kid's future. Heartwarming.

The Rally ended on a high with the whole WP standing on the stage reciting the pledge in english and mandrian. I was happy to be doing so. Since we left school at A levels, there was little occassion to remind ourselves of what we live for in Singapore as Singaporeans. I always loved reciting the pledge and lunging out the anthem. Makes me feel like I AM a Singaporean.

here's the audio for the mandrian pledge, led by LTK:
Voice-0004.amr

go and stand up and recite the pledge today. its the day when we make our votes. Make our choices. go go....
We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves....

Rarely at Rally Again - WP Serangoon

This time it was a more well-thought out process, no last min dinner engagements to distract me from really listening to what the WP has to share. I was glad to be there early, because at 615pm, the roads around the Serangoon stadium were tight! The parking along the roads were FULL and I got a call from Otterman telling me that the crowd was buildiing up! Imagine all this one hour before the rally even starts! And people say that Singaporeans are always late.... I guess if its for something that really touches them, they'll try very hard to be early.

Driving around the area, we saw something that strike us...

it makes us wonder what are the possibilities that got these 3 posters to be in this position? The two below from WP seems to be squished by the one poster at the nice eye-level at the top. How did this happen? hmm....

Thank God that we only searched around for a parking lot for only 20mins, 10mins less than previous experience but it was scary enough as my trusty proton is showing signs of stress by having a slightly warmer thermostat readings than normal. We quickly marched over to the nearest coffeeshop and grab a few buns and glutanious rice to eat.

With the huge crowd gathering, I was getting anxious if we will ever make it to the rally in good timing, get a good "seat" and be able to find some food to fill our tummies.... Luckily, my fears were unfounded! The huge crowd gathering on the roads were just a demonstration of "narrow" the passage ways are, there's ample space on the field. YES, we joined the die-hard fans of Otterman, Ladybug & C on the field and I stole the half piece of newspapers that Otterman was seated on heh.... He's such a gentleman.

Check out the crowd, the stadium's seating is FULL already... what time did these people started to come in??? 2pm?? or they camped overnight? Such glamourous seatings! got shelter, no mud. Lucky folks...


the field is just filling up and we're like directly in front of the grand stand, barely 20m away from the barriers. Super cool.


here's a video to show the crowd while there's still good daylight:
Pre-Rally Atmosphere


In 20mins around 650pm, the stadium's atmosphere was very high, the crowd was very excitable. Every small bit of "wayang" got them excited and cheering of "Worker's Party" goes on for a few rounds. Here's picture of a home-made banner causing a huge stir on the ground:


To create some form of orderliness, many supporters situated in the front were asked to sit down, newspapers were shared out, plastic bags etc. One kind lady, I presume she's a hawker was sharing her trusty brown-waterproof-wrap-hokkien-mee paper all around. She must have dished out easily 20-30 pieces. Totally selfless. Totally admirable. A kind of kampong spirit is rekindled here.


check out how co-operative the crowd were in distributing the "sit-down-paper" generously donated...


Supporters were getting creative in their display and show of support, many string up a few WP flags together in creative ways and waved them high in the air for the WHOLE night! Impressive arm-POWER.

This gentleman, I feel, does his best, sacrificed his hanky to demonstrate his support. He wrote Worker's Party on this hanky and tied it across his forehead. He's clearly a white-collared worker in his untied-tie and long-sleeved shirt and waving his WP flag in the air most of the time.


cannot see clearly? here's the close up...


It got dark so quickly that we barely had time to quickly sum up all our "findings" from the week leading to this last night of rally. Otterman quickly filled us in all his readings and correspondance getting us quickly acquainted with WP and their aims. People are piling into the stadium, the crowd has already filled up the stadium by 8pm, even the fringing grounds outside the stadium is filling up. The tiny gaps between the stadium and the swimming pool was also filled with supporters. I can only guess, MANY are HERE.



Pre-Rally Chant...

If you listen intently, there's a male voice that asks the crowd to sit-down. Yes, this man was instrumental to allow the rest of us who are comfortably seated to enjoy our "seats" for the night. He was doing a great job at keeping those infront seated down the whole time. ha ha ha...

Yeah, the WP arrived at the stadium to a standing excited crowd at 730pm and started delivering their speech with different representatives from the different wards. Each one of them had a topic to discuss, angled at a different group of audience, rapidly exploring all the different languages and captured the crowd in their first speeches. Impressive.
check out the crowd...




I'm impress by the fact that when a candidate speaks, the people listens.
Everyone will be silently listening, attentively taking mental notes of what they say. Many in the crowd belongs to the educated Singaporeans who are able to judge for themselves if what the WP says makes sense. How often to you see so many being so attentive for 3hrs?


The YES crowd

A short clip on how "obedient" we are as listeners.... yet another example of how closely we're following the speeches.

Post Rally Video - lots of young folks


Post Rally Video - last bits of the speech to remind supporters to leave in an orderly fashion, Otterman's view, a grateful voter (East Coast), the litter before the clearing and after......


When the rally ended, many hanged around to discuss what they've just heard. And many also started to leave the newspapers/magazine/plastic bags that they were seated on behind. When we turned around and saw the crowd departed in a non-chalent fashion. We started to do a new chant :"Clear UP your NewsPapers, OOI, CLEAR UP." It was a powerful signal to see the crowd shouting and clearing a the same time, with some pressure, these folks started to pick up after themselves and even for their neighbours as well. Very proud of you.

tired liao. will put up the audio feeds tmr... *yawn*
(hope I dun chant the WP chant in my sleep....)

From Financial Times

I make it a point to read every other newspaper whenever I fly (being in the airline lounge or the hotel gets me access to other newspapers around the world) but haven't flown in the last 2 weeks.... but managed to be pointed to this from another local blog... I've always known about much of these but I wonder how many of you out there actually know of it and are still in the dark? Article was a whole lot critical, not like what we are used to in the local press....

-Although unemployment is low at 3.4%, the rate is nearly double for those over 40 with little education.
-A recent government survey showed that the income of the poorest 20% fell nearly 15% in nominal terms between 1998 and 2003 to an average of US$505 per month.

-Although Singaporeans have one of the world's highest rates of home ownership, at more than 90%, house prices have fallen by 30% since the mid-90s, meaning many are sitting on paper losses.

-Households in the top 20% earned about 21 times as much as those in the lowest 20% in 2000, a government survey shows.

-In 2004 Singapore had the world's sharpest rise in the number of millionaires at 22%, according to the latest World Health report by Merrill Lynch & CapGemini.

-Days before the elections, the PAP distributed S$2.6bn in cash as "Progress Package" payments with a focus on the needs.


http://news.ft.com/cms/s/cde29cb0-db09-11da-aa09-0000779e2340,s01=1.html (with subscription)

A

I remember....

Standing at the field near St Andrew's listening to Mr Chiam, I remember long ago. I remember him coming by to say hi. I remember him coming to a friend family's wake and knowing he made it a point to know the residents and even attending each wake. He made it a point to make it special, to you as a resident. I remember much. I don't remember anything about my MP though. He was from the ruling party.

Today, I attended my second rally this election, today after a long time. And the biggest. I'm proud to be have been there. I listen to the opposition and they are firm and offer an alternative with sound suggestions. The party has credible candidates and Sylvia Lim with Low offers a view that resonates with many many on the ground. I'm glad to have spent 3 hours listening to good alternatives that can make a difference for someone like me.

I remember the oppostion in the last 2 elections that really didn't offer substantial opinons. Today, I think about my future. My children's future. Is the poor getting poorer, the rich getting richer? Is it today an equal platform? I know of a teacher who didn't do well in school and is leaving because she's not got good grades when she was in school. But you know, I've seen her in action, and she's a very good teacher. I know now of friends who are senior officers in the military that aren't scholars and we all know what happens. Does the system take care of us not scholastically successful? Are the weak step-sided? I went into a recent discussion with several officers and a mere "if I work super hard now, will it make a difference?" And you know, we came to a unanimous agreement, that days of old like C K Tang, even if you work hard today, rats, life will still be one toughie! So here was something that also hit me. At a local food place, I saw many foreigners working to clear tables and this Singaporean Chinese auntie was lamenting how she would soon lose her job to these foreign imports. Mind you, she was close to 60 and needed the job to feed her family. There are governing policies. I know as an employer myself and I know how quite a many folks are placing on record more Singaporeans so that they can hire more foreigners. Like that also can and rampantly too. It's a vicious cycle I suppose...

I don't buy the fact that if you vote for one party, you get the government's $80million for upgrading. And if you vote for the other, the government doesn't support you. Isn't the government's money the people's money and not any party's money? I remember definite recommendations, good suggestions and policies that work for the country. But today... the ruling party spends seven days talking about technicalities over a form. If you think Mr Brown's & Miyagi''s Bak Chor Mee was funny, you are one of the appreciative folks who agree how silly this all is and how can 7 days of campaigning be on this and not fundamental Singaporean issues? I can only hope improvements will come.

Folks who know us will know that we are trying for a family. But the medical fees we incur can't be paid for fully using our Medisave, our own money, and it's not a couple of dollars but a substantial amount! I grovel and digress...

I remember being inspired by the ruling party. And yet today, I am now inspired by the Opposition; one that took the pledge together as a finale. I have respect for the opposition and am glad there is a choice for the people of Singapore. This gutsy night at a rally with some 30,000 other Singaporeans, remember I will!

A

A podcast which I cannot stop laughing at

woah... this one must post.... Mr. Brown in his non-political podcast about a mee-pok man...

go laugh yourself silly!
tmbs-060501-the_persistently_non-political_podcast_no6.mp3

Once in our lives

In another 20mins, it will be 1am.

at the 2nd min, 30th sec, international time will read:

01:02:03 on 04/05/06

its a once in a lifetime experience. isn't that cool?

heh....

our 300th Blog!

Yeah! its our 300th blog!

Thank you for reading, listening, responding and sharing. we'll continue to blog and continue to yak yak yak.

How would you spend your CPF $$ at 62?

saw a documentary today on how many elderly men spent their CPF $$ away in Batam/Bintan island on womenising. Scary! One of the interviewees related to how he foolishly gave his "women" 20k to buy her a house and even deposite the $ in her name in a bank account. He admitted to being overwhelmed by the glory of being a "boss" surrounded by tonnes of beauty whenever he's on the island. He would spend an average of S$1k/trip of 2-3days on each trip. He was treated like a king, his "wife" was specially attentive towards his needs even simple gestures like helping him wash his hands before meals was an attraction.

Strange how easily men can be fooled into spending away their hard-earned $$ like that. washing hands? you think you still small? 5yrs old I'll help you turn on the water and rub soap on your hands with you... at 55?? arn't you even ashame of yourself?

One comment that he made was:" I just kept spending the money lor, it felt as if the money wasn't mine."

Could this indicate a flaw in our system? Although its great to have a lump sum of hard-earned money given to us when we're about to stop living this life, but to those who might not have any clue how they should spend their money wisely, in a responsible manner, is this a great option for them? To have a large sum of money to wither away to some neighbouring island?

Councillors who work on marrital issues states that there is a upward trend in having senior men who just recieve their CPF in getting into extra-marital affairs, not only ruining their family life but also leave them penniless for their old age, making them dependent on grants for the rest of their lives. Should we be concern?

Isn't this the fastest way to deplete our national reserves? imagine S$1k/3days/old man. Each boat trip easily takes about 100 persons across to the island, assuming only half of them are there for "pleasure", each day there's conservatively 2 boat trips.

In one week:
S$1000 x 50 (men) x 2 (boat trips) x 2 (going there twice a week) = S$ 200,000

I think it'll take me a really long time to have that kind of savings... but give 50 men 1 week, all this $$ could be gone! or thrown into the sea....

is it worth it?

how would you spend your CPF $?

I've got pus!

yup. dunno how this wrist got this weird thing that seems to get more "irritated" when I try to apply creams on it.

there were many theories on how it comes about....

1. the sap of mango. possible, because I ate some mangos 2weeks ago, but this rash thing came around the same time. but I was told that mango sap-caused rash would go away after a few days. but this is 2weeks! too long!

2. infection from my weekly gardening of grass... soil disease! yikes! scary... possible because i'm too lazy to put on gloves which will give me ugly tan lines around my wrist... but shouldn't my fingers/hands "kana" first? why the wrist?

3. bug bites. but from where? possible because one of the rash patch appears to have a bite-mark.... yikes....

tried putting on antibotic cream on it and it started to get pus-sy and redder!! At times to distract myself from the itch, I've resorted to putting an ice pack over it until the skin is totally numbed from the chill. *bleah*

hope that antiboitic cream works.... else i'm going to get disfigured! *BLEAH*

okies, here's the gross shot.


but to all those mummies, daddies out there whom your kids were in my arms.... according to my doctor, this rash is not infectious so pls do not worry. it only affect ME *BLEAH* *BLEAH*

Who's voting?

hey, I understand that there's 4million of us here in singapore... I'm not sure how many are actually Singaporeans. But read the statistics that only 1.2million will be voting.

guess what? the smallest population that will be voting is Potong Pasir at 15k while the biggest is in Sembawang!! at 187k!

interesting.....

so will u b voting?

singapore

God answered my prayer

hee... it felt good to be heard isn't it? especially by the Higher Powers. ;-)

one of my friends was feeling down recently and I felt that my friend needed professional help at his issues. When I attempted to find out more, I realised that my friend is quite against the idea of asking for help. So I hesitated. I did not want to burn the bridges between us and was unsure what I should do.

Hence I prayed for His guidance.

Yesterday I recieved a call from my friend saying that he's open to seek professional help! Awesome! the power of prayers.

never underestimate the power of your prayers pple! it may not come immediately but I guess He'll have His way of giving you the answers that you've been looking for.

cheers!

YouTube

with blogging, pictures became an essential part of the "show & tell" and now with www.youtube.com, one can easily upload video clips and copy a short html and paste the video onto their blogsites. Amazing!

After a crazy night of pushing all the video footages onto youtube. I happily deleted most of the video files on my computer to declutter. It was only when a friend requested for a copy of their baby's video that I realised that one cannot download their videos from youtube! maybe there's another indirect way to do it but I'm still lost after some trial and error.

On the good side, no one can download the videos that i uploaded heh... they can only keep going back to watch the video over and over again. Its a good safety precaution.

cheers to good thinking youtube!

Jen's Yummy dinner

you must be wondering why the blast of blogs... its because I finally had time to blog! sorry for blasting your RSS with the updates hee....

here's the last. super bo-liao stuff... my dinner!

Wanted to prepare a simple, fast to cook, easy to clean up meal while Ad's out for the night (yes without me *pout*)

So I started with... desserts! ha ha ha... I combed 2 supermarkets before finding the pandan leaves to cook the agar agar that Ad was dreaming about...

this pack of agar agar has history wan I tell you. From my mum's times, she's been using this brand of agar powder to whip up delicious yummy agar during many festive seasons. so many years, requests for this agar came pouring in during many relative's celebrations. this signature dish of my mum's about to be reproduced by me. hopefully it'll turn out okay....

after much stirring and heating up the agar, I poured them into their mould and found that.... i needed more than one mould! argh!


then I popped some frozen yummy chicken bits into the toaster and got it cooked while I did the other dish.


with one meat dish, the other must be a veggie lah, else how to have a balanced meal? So I opted for beans, jap beans. super yummy and easy to cook too! just have running water over them for a min to defrost and its ready! But, if you want it hot, boil it in water for a min or two. Super easy. Comes in frozen from NTUC.


SO here's my dinner:

it has to be completed by a cup of coke right? ha ha ha...

Then I remembered something....

something small....

something cute.....

something cold....

something chocolate....



Mini Magnum! Yummy! I gobbled it down in a few gulps ha ha ha... its indeed mini. ;-)

YEAH Pasar Malam at last

we've seen the tentages being set up for a while, was wondering WHEN will they actually arrive??

YEAH they are here at last!


even with all the modern facilities of supermarkets, hypermarkets, they just cannot replace the good ole festive mood of a pasar malam. The open air atmosphere with all their good displayed out to capture our hearts cannot be matched with the neatly stacked cartons on shelves. Strange eh?


if you stare through the tiny peak in the center, you'll notice some golden statues on shelves. Its an auction! ha ha ha... super pasar malam feel man!


still early, so the crowd hasn't really hogged over the exposed mechandise yet....

Josh's laughter

Josh the sunshine baby has a laughter that will bring a smile to even the saddest person. Not only he's got big round eyes that will charm you with his slightly tilted head, his cute face and glowing smile whenever he watches his favourite brothers play.

Here's