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characters dont really change, dont they?

2009-11-20T23:59:00.002+08:00

The part and parcel about working life is that, not many people will have the fortune to be taught; or rather, most of the things have to be pick up by self. And I refer to the small but significant stuff like what to do and what not to, and also all those sticky PR stuff.

Possibly, here's where reflection comes in, thinking about what I should have done or not, or what can be improved on. Provided I still have the energy left after a day.

And, as I found out with reflection, humans really don’t change. Traces of me are always the same, be it when I was 5, 15, or 25 years old.

Like the boastful me. Like the zealous me. Like the me who always tried to take his own path.

Whether such are flaws or strength can be left for debates later. However, what I was rather surprised that I can trace it back to when I was a small boy. The characteristics remain even after all the very different stages of life I had been through.

Based on this same theory, meaning that, sooner or later, I should get back the smiling, vocal and reckless myself.

I know I will.

oven baked brain, anyone?

2009-10-21T15:45:00.001+08:00

The dust had finally settled, and the pathway to my next step in life is now clear. As on last Thursday 15th October, I have broken free from the status of actively-seeking-employment to be, well, employed.

A big relief, definitely, at a time whereby people around you, one by one, found their job, and you are already doing nothing more than clicking on the laptop at home, everyday. Furthermore, the bank account is starting to show signs of craters that is cracking into the reserves; the new lease of “rocks” from the salary comes at the right time, will very well ensure the reserves is reserved.

More importantly, I will be sure now that I will not end up in the line that I do-not-want-to-enter-but-eventually-will-have-to-cos-I-have-no-choice. I had preset it as my last emergency choice in case I’m still not employed by Jan.

So, coming Monday, the 26th Oct, I’m going to get very busy. For this Blog, it is still no bad news. Experience in the past had shown a very interesting trend; during my free times at normal school days, posts are rare here; however when I’m so busy with temp/internship, and even during exams times, post after post filled this blog up. Looking at the past four free months you can see how miserably “active” this blog is… So I reckon more blaggering, confusing thoughts, weird inspirations posts will all come in, right after my brain is re-started and reheated with the start of work.

Stay tuned, I hope.
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Formula - One and Only - Kind of Experience

2009-10-01T17:20:00.003+08:00

To say that, for a car-nut like me, I’m born in the wrong country, is very correct. At this part of the globe, private transport is discouraged, and racing was non-existent locally. The last was in the 1970’s before it was cancelled due to safety reasons, and the more recent 1990’s carpark rallies was out of action for some time too.

That is why, even though that I haven’t been really following F1 (I was more of a fan of car races that resembles road cars), when it finally came to our shores last year, there was still some hurray. Hey, at least it’s some proper world class racing.

And that also explain why, when I was offered to buy the ticket to this year F1 at the eleventh hour, I bought it without second thought. I am going to watch a live race, first in life.

- - -

27th September, arrived at Marina bay, armed with a bottle of water and my trusty good camera, alone. Not a bad thing, considering that the amount of crowd to appear later in night, making it a more flexible affair to move about to the carnival. It was a good time for me to arrive at 4pm, since that crowd is still sparse and I get to watch the support race of Porsche Cup Asia (which is “a race that resembles road cars”).

Which, this was simply brilliant. The roar of the flat 6 engine, and the aggressiveness of those drivers, familiar with the climate and track (several was Singaporeans) conquered the tail-happy cars, sliding through corners and battling the other drivers. Some spin out early in race, some persist on despite parts falling off the cars. It was a treat to the ears and eyes.

With that over and the winner crowned, followed by some photo snap of the F1 stars on parade, I move out of the cozy seat (at the floating platform, by the way) and ventured to elsewhere. It is when part of the magic lies; you know you are in home country but it doesn’t feel like it. The entire marina area had been transformed into some foreign tourist land. Tourist roam around, cutting through all the floating balloons lamps and tents. Performers hop around on stilts to entertain guest while singers spread music around at the esplanade outdoor stage. The best of all, you see beers everywhere, be it in process of being drank or carried around in trays.

This is the complete race event experience, just like what you can get overseas; where other than the cars you get beer and chill about on the track side.

- - -

Hot dog down in stomach and it’s time for the real deal. At this time, the world is really then coming into the venue, thus it got really crowded (especially at the overhead bridge where bottleneck was formed) Arrived back to my seat, to find the entire platform fully seated, and in time for the first F1 car to drive pass for the warm up lap. The temperature at 8pm had now dropped, but the crowd around was far from cool. With the go given by the green light, the atmosphere drove up and immediately you are surrounded in the excitement in the air; one was the intensity of audience’s eagerness to know who gets to takeover/maintain the pole position short flag off (since overtaking is not that common in F1), and the other was due to that sound. F1 are so loud that you can hear them long before they come to you, and so fast that they reach you in minutes.

And when they do arrive minutes later, just like a magic wand the entire audience was being swipe up. In the sense that in a Kallang wave manner, people stood up as the race cars sped pass, either to take a photo of it, simply because they are blocked ‘coz the guy in front stood up.

It lasted for 3 laps, ‘coz after which they are tired (and gave up taking photos). But all eyes are still glued to the screen, and the most nature instinct of a outcry of disappointment with every crash or the uproar of cheering with every overtaking that was performed. A few might not totally appreciate the situation (it do gets dry after the thousand lap) and left the show early, but those who do appreciate stays behind, anxious to know who will win or “slaughter” the opponent. Especially when this is Singapore GP, the new track that is so difficult that it lacks no drama. Drivers make mistakes, some crash onto some other, and the Benz safety car enter the picture (once again for me to drool at the deep wail of the engine music) allowing more guys to do catch up.

Many laps and even more adrenaline rush later, the checked flag is out, and another champion is born (with the British national anthem being played over our soil again). The commentators come in to discuss about the points and championship stuff, but I was rather ignorant of these. What caught more of my attention was below, on the track, where the flood gates have been opened and fans poured onto the track. I joined in and had another round of immersing with the crowd. Absorbing the rays from the bright road lightings, people happily snapped every single detail of the tracks. Posing with the signboard, staring at the fresh tyre marks, examining at the accident knocks on the walls, and even lying flat on red-white rubbers with their idol team flag as blanket, the seriously haunting race track, in split seconds, turned into a giant 5 km play ground. You won’t see this on telly.

This is the complete race experience. Just like comparing between DVD and going to a concert live, yes it is different.

Big hole in the wallet is, well, worth it.

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when niggles and screw driver meets.

2009-09-10T22:29:00.000+08:00

To say that I'm a perfectionist, I might beg to differ. However, when it comes to cars, I might have to admit it. Beyond my abilities.

Here's the picture: For those who sat in the van previously, the air-con broke down. So the part finally arrived and she went for a 2 day 1 night stay at the garage, having the dashboard dismantled so as to get that coil thing replaced.

No hands can match machine precision, thus when she came back the build quality would be lost. For instance, there are loose panel and therefore the indicator became flimsy. Being critical, I wished how much the small niggles can disappear. Especially when you cant avoid the indicator while driving.

So, the day came: It was last Friday, I had sent my dad to the polyclinic for check up. And now I'm alone, with the van keys, at our home carpark, with all sorts of tools available in the boot. Too tempting.

Hence, I got my hands dirty. The horrible sounding of the stalk was traced and linked to that loose housing on the steering column, whose screw was missing thus therefore not tighten. Search the toolbox for the correct sized screw, and in a very awkward position with some sweat it was tighten and secured.

Having fixed one problem and feeling confident, no prize for guessing correctly what the over zealous me would do next. Another major eye sore is that air con knob: the mech haven't align it properly during assembly, that why it's now pointing at the wrong way. Pointing at windscreen heater, it actually means front blowers.
How hard can it be?

The plastic cover of the center console was pulled out easily as how you do with a CPU front casing. Then with those tools bought during the Fiat-punto-bumper-came-off incident of Oct 07, the knob assembly was unscrewed and loosen. So far so good.

Then, it was stuck. Apparently it involves some cables too, which the ignorant me is, well, ignorant of. Thinking that I could just put it back and forget about it, I was wrong. Some thing else behind had fallen, and all 3 knobs now lost their connection.

That's when trouble really strikes. I have screw it up big time now. Oh god, previously it was only pointing at the wrong way. Now, it cant do anything else. Imagine what my dad would do, if first he found that I went to dismantle the thing and now, the air con is permanently forever stuck at the lowest temperature and blowing in your face. Damn. What follows, is just a long long chain of vulgarities from myself at myself.

Roller coaster emotion ride has not reach the peak. Right at this moment, the phone rang. My dad called and he is ready to be pick up. Meaning i have 15 minutes left to fix the shit i created for myself. Dead.

Be calm, I told myself, and analyze the problem. I regain consciousness, visualize & figure out the assembly, and successfully pulled the fallen part back in position and fix the console back. Done in 11 minutes.

With the back still sweaty and palms still dirty, I fire up the engine and went straight to my dad location. And certainly, when I see my dad i boasted about how i had fix the indicator but mumbled no word about the crisis i had just survived from.

Honestly, if fixing such stuff are as easy as doing DIY computers, then cars wouldn't cost as much and all pre-school kids can write iphone game codes already. I guess.

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Light is at the end of the tunnel

2009-08-29T17:43:00.004+08:00

After my interview several weeks back, i had in mind a brief for a new post to write; it's about how nice it is to take a detour via train, particularly east west line, where the fast disappearing landscape outside the windows helps to bring your thoughts away... Clearing your mind which was heavily flooded after that revolting interview...

Yet, this post was never completed. What i'm going to narrate now, is an opposite. What happened after that incident was an irony; what was suppose to be a mundane life for me now, events still occur to me every now and then. That why, there are still stuff to ponder and think about.

Nowadays i began to take the underground NEL train for convenient sake. This is a byproduct of my laziness, however alongside i discovered: as cold and boring the tunnel may seem, as much i dislike it, it could do good. Cos nothing to see means nothing to distract, meaning maximum space in brain for the thoughts to take over. It can be an unhealthy recursive negative feelings, it can also be the straightening out towards practical solutions. It's natural: especially when you cant sleep and there's nothing to do or watch.

Which, leads to this strange aftermath feeling. What a time i'm going thru now. Yes i may love all the freedom i enjoy now, all the flexiblity because i'm free and not committed to any thing now, but, there's so much more i want to do. I may have so much inspiration, so much ideas and plans to achieve, but, there's no avenue, no means. For now, period.

I know, i heard, i aware, that all these now is nothing but a temporary phrase. I'm definately sure that one day all that i wish for will happen if i work on it. Just pardon me now cos, after all the tunnels and trains and idleness, production of all these thoughts filled out all the buckets in my brain, so just allow me to pour and empty them here.

Thx heaven for blogspot. Typing this on mobile had occupied me from Punggol to Farrer Park station.

(this version here now is, of course, post-edited on laptop thereafter)
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the name that was 24 years late.

2009-08-15T18:22:00.000+08:00

First, the nurse pronounces it as Jing xiong without fail, during every frequent visit to the family clinic.

Then, for the last 3 years in primary school, the name was pronounced differently as the more common chinese characters for the two words.

And while doing customer service during intern, you realize that several repetition is required on the phone before people get it and remember the name, thus shortly after, the introduction process was simplified as “Lin”; for the ease.

All it seems like, if I ever would enter a frontline job, I need an English name.

Que the entrance of “book of baby names”, 24 years after the birth of this baby.

So after some really enduring silly jokes and craps (eg, "farkson"), this particular name was selected after an exhaustive short listing of choices with elimination of many other names that was associated with bad impression in others’ personal experience. (what a long statement)

How does it feel like to adopt a new name at this age?

I do not know for now, coz I haven’t really activated the use of this name yet. To be activated if my eventual job requires it.

I can imagine, it got to be weird to hear people calling you something else, on picking up the call. Need adaptation.

However, it might be some form of new identity; the more professional me with that name, the more relaxed after I was called Jingxiang again. And possibly, less barriers in approaching strangers…? More natural in introducing myself? Less focus in getting my name right and more focus on what I'm about to communicate on?

Well, I shall get to know and experience it when the time comes. For now, I shall still be known as Jingxiang; and this new name will be under the tightly-secured-air-tight wrap.

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break the wallet

2009-07-22T23:33:00.001+08:00

It is hard to think that, for someone like me who used to not prefer Apple and iPod and think that they are rubbish on a PC, would recently fell in love with my sist’s iPhone. And now to think about getting an iPod touch in future. For myself who doesn’t ever had an mp3 player, to plug in during driving or traveling, and to surf and play.

The best combination would be, instead of getting the all-in-one iPhone, to have a “normal” phone and iPod touch combi. Reason is, if the thing fails, at least it would not mess up your calls. The “normal” phone, however, is far from “basic”. Ideally perhaps the Nokia Navigator, then get a data plan and run the A-GPS, checking location data, weather, mail and etc on the move.

And since that I would be on the move, isn’t that sweet if I have a dSLR with me? Definitely a Canon, and perhaps the mid level 450D? Actually back then with the amount I dumped into my G10 I could have already gotten a 2nd hand dSLR; however I know it’s an endless pit: Filters would be followed by Lens and then Flash & lightings and so on… By then in a blink of the eye, today’s level of funds would be dried up… Thus only way to sustain a SLR is with salary.

With funds really flowing then I would want a PS3 too. After toying with other’s I have re-opened my interest in this thing after so many years… And to grab it so as to run that PS-only Gran Turismo 5: the most realistic racing simulator ever. At least my PS-compatible steering wheel would have another use.

Since the PS3 is in the room, it would need a bigger screen, like a HD LCD monitor…perhaps 21 inch will do. Then might as well also get one more 40 inch LED TV for the living room, since the current 28 inch CRT TV likes to tilt images on its own accord, and my sister newly bought DVD recorder is mocking it by using such smaaalllll fonts on the interface…

Great camera and monitor would be best graced with brilliant images, which would be all taken from beautiful foreign land. The money would be great for another revisit to Taiwan again with great pals, then to the coastal Australia and the snowy Japan…. And with the “buy-switch” wide opened, it would be more perfect with new watch, new wallet, new shoes, new shirts, new pants, etc etc etc.

Thus, for all these day dreams to happen, I need Salary first, feed everything basic before the expenditure begins. So that means I need a job.

However, when you get a job that allows you to buy all these, how on earth am I going to get the time to enjoy them all?

You need a job to afford play but when you play you can’t afford working time…..What an irony.

from the land accessed by planes and bullet trains.

2009-07-04T00:34:00.004+08:00

Credits to the excellent facilites provided by Holiday Inn Express Taichung, i'm now able to access the net and post this entry, despite being thousands of miles away from home.

Well, to be very precise, the time now is 42mins pass midnight, and i am alone seated at one of the three computers provided at the hobby lobby, with friends almost asleep twelve storeys above and only few cars driving pass the police road block set up just outside the hotel....

In case you are wondering, this is now the 3rd night of my maiden trip to Taiwan, with 5 more nights left to go. Started at Taipei, now at Taichung, and tomorrow back to the city again..

And right til this minute, i'm truely loving it. There could be lots of issue (work) beforehand, there might be much travelling before the real deal starts, however, now it seems worth it. The fact that we DIY it means total control and choice, and at such a country it is possible and fun.

Fun is the key. Taiwan may not have the best city planning around, however the decentralisation means that every where is an attraction... And Colourful indeed, buzzling with activities and energy....Not the stressful push, but the energy to go out and have fun.

Huge too, from the size of the night-markets to the 4 lane roads to the variety of products to buy to the choice of food to eat to creativity of advertisments/marketing to the warmth of locals...

Especially for the last point: The streets here may be messy, however you will most likely to have someone to help you when you need it. Discount vounchers are shared among strangers, taxi driver and food/shop vendors chat with you when you visit... Contrast that with some service standard we have...or rather, dont even talk about "standards"; such human-touch will never be able to be emulated by some service-procedure or ratings... get it?

Standards also for Transport: The roads here will be hell to any average Singaporean drivers... what rules? Scooters rules the road. Bikes/Cars/Trucks squeeze through any given inches and merge in with the crowds in the Night Market. Picture an Corolla thru pasan malam. On roads/motorways vehicles weave in and out, however never seem Life-threatening, simply because they give way to others, Always on Alert... if only our roads can be so....

Keep left to the right of escalator in Subway, else summon. And you get everyone doing so, not blocking the way. And no ones rushes into the train cabin when the doors open, instead an orderly queue is formed.... Plus the call to let out the priority seats are done so even better...dont even need PCK to rap. (pix will be up) And that brilliant Bullet Train...filled with facitilies on board yet so fast that you wouldnt get to enjoy them...reaches destination on the dot, precisely.

Ulimately, is the total experience. Where meals are not just items that you sat down to chew and fills the stomach. Meals are tasty, senses-triggering treats, purchased and ate as you move from a stall to another, while avoiding scooters and distracted by the nice clothes Unique to every stall/shops. Stomach is filled when you had tried every different items bought by each friends, while laughing hard about some really lame thing. This is throughout the day; meaning that, meal times are actually, never ending until the time you call it a day.

Welcome to Taiwan.

back and forwards

2009-06-10T20:09:00.006+08:00

Ok, this blog is not dead. And yes, i'm not dead from exams too. I have blew off the dust on this blog and celebrate this joyous occassion, by looking at the dusty past posts.

The other day as i need some info, i browsed through my past posts and found this :

Dated 5th June 2006
(http://evoxiang.blogspot.com/2006/06/road-ahead_05.html)

"...but what's after the degree?.... The answer will be out in 3 years time. May it be a great road."

That was what the 20+ year old me asked myself way back then.

3 years and 5 days later, the 23+ year old me is still asking the same question.

Auto industry? Definately will still try after the break. Just that a realistic target will be set and options are all opened out....as long as it is not finance. For sure & for sure, months later i'll get a job and only then i can get an answer for the 20 year old me.

Come November, & i believe my life will be radically different. & that's good.

Anyway, shall enjoy every inch of my holiday right now. You are not getting that often anymore, unless you clear leave and lose your phone. Haa.

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training required

2009-05-03T00:02:00.014+08:00

At Trains (no punning intended)

Having always to be a die hard bus user, i converted to taking trains to school only Jan this year, after the morning traffic conditions gotten worse. Since then, the morning commute was seamless, and rather, monotonous.

Quickly it came for the very last day to school on Thurs, and possibly the very last time i'm known as a "full-time" student, going to that school, on that time. The train company gave a surprise that morning, by breaking the norm.

Typical morning, at the typical station, with many others typically went forward to glass door as the train typically comes to a stop, however, untypically it didnt stop on time, & went very untypically overshot. Thus with this untypical situation whereby the train doors ending up aligned to station glass walls, definately the train cannot open it's doors. An untypical reverse, i guess, is not possible too, so in the end the passengers inside the train are trapped.

Picture this. We, on the platform, staring onto the glass door that wouldnt open, (which leads to nothing) and those in the train, preparing to alight, staring onto a black wall.

This ackward moment lasted for half a minute or so, then the train sped off (before the next one came, bang and cause an 007 style explosion). And a straight voice came from the PA: "the next train will be arriving in 2 minutes.".

Honestly, i'm ok with it. I wasnt late or anything; it was rather, those in the train i do pity. For this mistake they have to go an extra station, instantly converting them from on time, to be late for work.

Hey, at least they could have shown some sort of Apology on the PA rather than only saying next one is 2 minutes right?

----------------------------------------------------------------

At F1 simulator

Came across this at airport today:

And me, being myself, detoured to the booth, and 5 minutes later, on the seat trying out the PC game (not the big simulator of 'cos, i'm not going to crash loudly in public)

Nothing beats playing a driving simulator with proper steering wheel and big LCD screen. But the enjoyment was discounted for the crashing, stalling, spinning out of the F1 car. The singapore circuit is so narrow with no run off area...and the sheer speeds require all the 1000 & 1 concentration...

Damn, it was hard. No wonder F1 drivers are paid millions.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

At Exams

Here's the luck number of the week -- 8861
Fortune available at all 4D/TOTO outlet near you.

Which, by the way, is my exam candidate number, freshly out of the hot mailer that just came in. Just days before the exams.

So as we hope that our number can lead us to some Academic fortune, wouldnt it be nice if we can extract some Financial fortune out of it?

A quick check on my sister newly-beloved iPhone, whose application revealed that this number last came on:

Feb 2007, starter
Feb 2005, starter
Oct 2000, 3rd
Dec 199o, consolation

...& that's all, in entire history.

Alrite, be realistic, study hard.

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away from red dot to the red church

2009-04-16T23:52:00.016+08:00

Along comes a long weekend and family going melaka, so it forms a perfect match for a quick getaway holiday...away from our red dot to the place of red buildings.

And indeed, the more than 200km up north escape is worth it. Slows down your pace, get yourself immerse into that rich atmosphere, and get walk shop and eat non stop. Without any diet or financial guilt.

Once is not enough; i'll want to go back again in future and walk that jonker street again, and cover those uncovered part of 'tourist-ly' places.

(& taste again the lovely ice kacang, coffee, laksa, etc)

Hopefully then, can be achieved by driving there....since many does that, with 65.144564% of singaporean cars found in malaysia during public holiday...& be earlier to avoid that massive jam which turns the initial 4.5 hours journey into a 8 hours one.

Now, may the pictures do the talking~

**in case u wonder, some of the dark frame you saw is due to the polarizator lens i just got. Love it under bright sunlight, although unsure have i used it correctly...needs enlightment.

& next, roll the tape..

the air in airport

2009-04-03T17:41:00.004+08:00

Ever since i knew how to take bus on own, it seems that i always love to go airport.. Earlier days was for the chilling and food, later was for dating, and nowadays is for self studies here. Whatever is it, it just have a volume to absorb my needs..

And curiously, it does help healing when u r feeling down. Maybe it's the travelling, maybe is the spacious high ceiling and fresh sunlights thru roof of t3, or maybe is the gateway that hints opportunity or hopes exist always somewhere beyond where u r currently at...as a metaphor at least.

People should be happy when they come here. Happy that u r soon going holiday, or that u just start your vacation, that your loves one r back soon, or that he is leaving for better good despite feeling sad. What an atmosphere at the halls...contributing to environment that's great for thinking about things..

Which i was just thinking.. What the heck i was doing for the past 3 years.. 06 to 09 is so different.

A blank sheet of paper

2009-03-16T22:38:00.011+08:00

As i paused to think the other day, i could relate human to a car company. How so?

Consider this. KIA motors, a relatively young Korean player in the world market, recently launched a very impressive new Cerato Forte. Away from the odd looking and cheap cars of the past, this new product is nothing like her grandparents. Strong,timeless, striking yet unoffensive european design, it indeed holds the "power to surprise", as with their market slogan.

Behind this piece of work is the new design director, Peter Schreyer. Spending more than 25 years with AUDI/VW group, he created the famous original Audi TT and new Beetle. Coming over to the less premium and emerging Kia, as quoted from the article that I had read, it would be like "working on a blank piece of paper", not having any history to "pick up and continue (with the design) ", considering the youth of the brand.

Although it might seem better for one to have a blank piece of paper and go unconstrained, according to Schreyer it could be harder to find your own way. But luckily the guys from Seoul HQ gave him the freedom, and the result shows.

Coming back to our world of graduates-to-be and job hunting, the big question remains as "what you want to do".. Some people may be just like the big brands; under the influence of the tradition and exposure given by the family, the direction would more or less not deviate much, towards a related industry. With this it can be easy, however it can be a limitation.

As for others, which are pretty fresh without much exposure or anything, it would be like the young brand having a blank piece of paper. Despite the tougher question to answer due to the lack of guidance, any direction would be possible, as long as it is desirable. Especially if plenty of freedom is given by the family (aka HQ) on where to venture into.

So where myself want to go? Having no history to follow in the family, and fortunately given all the freedom to choose, I'm very much "young" and "blank". What i deem desirable is to go into where my passion is, regardless of pay (at first). Then hopefully like the Forte, hitting it right and getting the payoff.

However in times as bad as this, just like other brands' products in the pipeline, plans can face the axe. By then, like GM, it would be just asking for reasonable survival above anything else.

Yes, blank sheet of paper. Also have to be realistic, in name of bread.
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desperate times call for desperate measures

2009-03-16T22:17:00.007+08:00

We all know the credit crunch that is going on outside, but little i would expect that my dad and sist would go this far to save....a fan.

Yes, this is it. A fan held together by a thick cast of masking tape ( thick enough to reduce the remote sensor range ), with recycled shoe lays precisely supporting the weight, and completed with rewiring works to accomondate the new position of the metal stand. That's what you get as a brain-child of a Technician and Physiotherapist (father and sist, respectively)

Oh, this used to be a standing fan, twice the height of what you see in the picture, if you wonder. It only suffers from a broken neck joint.

So, if your fan is also broken, you know who to look for. (^-^)
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the "F" word.

2009-02-17T22:32:00.005+08:00

Before you readers think any deeper south into the wrong direction, this F word i am thinking now is Fate.

As defined, this is some forces that pre-determine events in people's life. Convenient it is, freed our minds with bloggering questions about why things happens, when you can simply attribute all to this force.

Commonly used to describe relationships, it could just nice to say fate is the magical force that brought about the chain of events that lead the eventual couple to like each other. Friendship too, if not for the decision to join the group/event you wouldnt know this person that became your good friend for long. Or simply be present at the right time and right place to re-encounter into someone by chance. Nice but unexplained.

Or, perhaps even for job seekers. I was thinking that sometimes hunting for a job seem to resemble seeking for marriage: a combination of right 'qualification' and attributes will be most likely to match. However, which job you end up do depends on which listing you saw, which you apply, which got through, etc etc...or simply, whether does the boss likes you or not, based on first impression, no doubt your qualification and preparedness for interview.
..Possibly fate would result in myself ending up with some different job.

Or even buying an item; you may have planned for this shop or that specific thing, but the twist of events or the last minute temptation ends you up with something else. Perhaps explaining how people ending up buying something more expensive.

But other than that simple attribution to the unexplained cause, I guess, fate is on our side; in a way things happen for a result, be it good or bad. Just like my dad old van a decade ago; we actually went to the wrong 'stall' in the used car mart and ended up buying that van, but in return the number eventually gave my dad some 4d prize winnings 5 years back, and 7 years of trouble free miles. Or, just like me joining this school, or just like how we made some decisions.

That is why I believe, what might be odd or wrong would eventually prove to be right in the long run. "What-if" or "should-be" questions are plenty, but what matters most is what happens next.

In this tough year to come, this belief should keep it going through the odds...hopeful~

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It's all in the mind.

2009-02-06T23:51:00.003+08:00

The good thing about socio psychology class is that you would always get to watch videos; but this one that we got on monday was so interesting, that i felt so disturbed that it was first disturbed by technical gitches, then later i only got the watch half of it..so much that i went on to youtube in attempt to hunt for the rest.

From BBC, "secret of the sexes", topic about difference about male and female...as from a survey of 500,000 around the world plus experiments.

Here's the reason about all of it:

Ah. I just like the way BBC do their shows.

decorating the decorations

2009-01-25T21:43:00.005+08:00

The house's living room just had a fresh new cloth of yellow paint, and my dad wants some deco over them.

In the name of more 4D winnings, he got this:

So, in the spirit, my mum added this, a cute welcome. A pair, each on one side of entrance.

And this. In a lazy mood, we conveniently suspended it on rubber bands, so now you can pull it and see it bounce. Quite fun actually, can do it like long john style - if u like our home, please ring the 'bell'.

Now that wall look empty. So here you see, my novice attempt to decorate. Well....at least it was done in 3 mins...

and pulled down 15 mins later.

To have this....

Honestly, i have no idea what am I doing, until the last few mins to completion...
(i'm not creative hor)

At least... can i think of: "once wealth swims in, it swirls and stay.."

Thus, welcome to my home ^-^

Happy chinese new year~~

...for period ending 25th Jan 2009..

2009-01-25T01:11:00.004+08:00

As somewhere in my mind lingers some memories of 2007, quickly 2008 passed by, and before you know it, tomorrow is the chinese new year of 2009.

Technically, i should not be thinking hard about what to write, cos i got to say 2008 was one of the most "packed" year ever existed. From personal to worldwide, it was filled to the brink of happenings. The year my life was changed and different, and the world look different.

But, i'm thinking. Let's first look at the world events. Yes, we are all aware that there is seriously a recession, but had we felt it yet? As a small consumer who is not yet earning a salary, he is still spending like normal and observed that streets are still packed with shoppers everywhere. Perhaps the companies are being ethical now, and retrenchments/shut downs may all take place after the chinese new year. Then when i start to search for job i will feel the pinch. Or perhaps we will be all fine thanks to US's reforms, or the new investments in Sg like the IR or etc.

Happenings in SG? Many. From mas to f1 then to flyer, never so exciting. But whatever that has to be covered is covered in newspaper, and even by mrbrown.com with the alternative perspective. Just more things to be told to friends who came back from abroad.

Personal? Without thinking, there will so much to relate to. Mostly captured in this blog; Sad times, happy times, surprising times all in a year. Several first times in life. Think marathon (or 42km walkaton). The unexpected twist of events gave the life's roller coaster ride, discomforting for some driving you almost to depression, and other great news and findings that gave great hope in the future..

Yes, and these are the hopes that drives on the new future. External factors are plenty and out of control, but internal are not. Use it as motivation and perhaps we can face the external odds.

..Hence, cue in 2009 and the year of ox, for me to believe that, having survived everything in the messy 2008 so far, i can bring more on. My hope in dreams coming true is still alive. 相信未來.

Gamble Rumble

2009-01-05T18:02:00.003+08:00

People always say: Life is a gamble.

Based on this statement, i can conclude that, i'm indeed not a good gambler.

You see, people who wins are those who knows when is enough and pulls out of the game before he losses his winnings. Those who losses the pants out are those who kept on betting after some initial sweet winnings.

So applying this to my choice of subjects, my relative good performance from my basic principles of accounting is my big win. The one that turn all losses around and pull up my weak grades of year one.

Then come to year three i bet on and took up that advanced management accounting, and now it seems, my cards are not in my favour and the game is getting real tough.

Which means i might run a risk of doing poorly in it, or worse, having other subjects to suffer as well (thanks to the time/energy consuming nature of it) Bearing in mind that, this is not my core subject, i dont have to go through this demon training, and i might not need it in future at all.

So instead of stopping there and walking off as a winner, i bet on and risk losing what i had earned.

The game is still on now, whatever that comes next is uncertain. Since i had continued, i can only press on this game, pray for better cards, and hope for a chance to 'show hand'.

"Alrighhhttt, Let's push.."

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Another thing about gamble, or more about taking chances.

For the new year eve outing we had, the opportunity came and i executed something that i had concepted some time back: Getting a Mini Bus to ferry people all around.

Finance is ok, people nodded their heads, calls were made to check and book the proper mini bus for the big day... And thanks to the twist in events, the initial arrangement was gone.

So I end up taking the gamble... to call up this very shop we contacted before (see story of October 31, 2006) at the last minute, last resort, for mini bus, and 1 hour later, me and gh were in a 12 year old mitsu L300 van.

For the benefit of the rest of the world, the summary of the van is that it is old, sorta dirty, has a puny petrol engine, insect infested, 2 seats lesser than our headcount, and have a "heater" instead of aircon.

Thus you can imagine people's faces when i first turn up in that vehicle. All their initial flowery image of a "mini-bus" was thrown out of window all at once.

But at least, it was simply priceless discovering their expression when i first arrived. And, i believe, it was also a great experience for the clique to first try out travelling about in a mini bus. Quite cool actually, just like old time school expeditions. Just apologises to the last 2 person who sat on floor and the low head room.

And driving this really old school thing, was quite entertaining all over again.. When the last time you got to rev the engine to get it ignite (old sch caburettor), where all controls are simple and basic and direct....Well, entertaining at least for the first few miles... which then i was tired out.

Nevertheless, the result of the gamble was memoriable, in my opinion.

But not to worry, i will stick to a 7-seater MPV from now on.

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wonder waves

2008-12-20T14:01:00.005+08:00

After 9,562 shots, my camera is dead. Which means a trade-in and replacement is on its way; the new camera uses battery pack, which means my AA-size rechargables are now made redundant. Which means the 6 of them will be collecting dust somewhere in the room now.

So as i doing readings last night, i got bored and started to look around in room to see if there's any new use for the batteries. And after clearing a layer of 5 cm thick dust, i came across my old aiwa Discman; and to my surprise it is still alive. I'm not making this up, but it's 9 years old and not been switched on even once for the past >5 years. What an amazing sight, in the era when i thought all small electronics dont survive pass 3 years...

Some time later, wanting to save myself from the same old Cd, i switch over to 933 FM, and hey, another nice suprise. It's since such a long time that i've listened to late night air-time (which is continuous stream of songs without DJs) and 85% of the songs are my favourites, with 75% in my mp3 playlist. Some are new ones, some are from recent years, and some are those classics from the early 90s. What a great coincidence, and just nice to save me through the dried up readings, and enjoy the night.

Thanks to whoever that arranged last night song list or set the system etc, never thought i would felt refreshed from listening to a simple FM radio..

pay cheque

2008-12-12T23:07:00.003+08:00

In a very coincident manner, i had just ran into two really long-time-no see secondary school (AV-photography club) mates, on way to home minutes ago.

Great delight to find them still in the same old nice pattern, despite the both commenting how others had disappeared and etc (regrettedly, me was also not in touch)

There's more. One of the guy had just bought a dSLR, a Canon 450D to be precise. It does cost a bomb, but was his desire for long. The photographic passion is still there with the rest, for that they havent lost touch with these toys and heavily invested in it.

From the very guys whom I got this life-skill and passion from, their passion reminded me that dreams shouldnt be forgotten despite odds.. Hence, with my first few pay cheques, i'm gonna get a dSLR.

What's yours? In this joyous occassion, it's time for a new poll, on the right please.

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lets talk about huge numbers.

2008-12-11T08:47:00.010+08:00

to be exact, 42195 metres (which appears more, rather than in kilometres)

That is how, myself and group, made a milestone in life, joining the famous standarded chartered run full marathon, on sunday... and more importantly, finished the entire distance, completed with the medal. We did it.

THE ROUTE

Starting at esplanade, it stretches down the shenton way, u-turning back to marina square, nicoll highway, entire east coast park, and back to town, before ending at padang again.

BEFORE THE START

To reach before flag off at 5.15am, with no buses or train at that time, it is to bunk in at someone else's home. Stayed at GH's, crapping abit here and there, then slept for 3 hours, waking up at usual bedtime, and loading up a cereal rich breakfast.. And out at the night, bit of exploration, board a dont-know-where-is-our-destination taxi, and reached. Unique.

THE FUN BIT

Fast forward to the running itself, and i really love this bit. Under the cooling night/morning breeze, amids the sleeping financial buildings in Shenton, you are already sweating and running with the beat. You dont get such chances often, running in the middle of road which been sealed up, together with thousand others. And indeed, these buildings look best and magificant, when you are in the middle of the road and looking up at them.

Nicoll highway also, where it was still 5 or 6km. Still surrounded by hundreds, some slowed down and some sped on. Now it became a massive road experience, with humans overtaking and changing lane all over. Just like driving, some change lane without checking blindspot, causing sudden stops and etc..Out of no where, you got some guy cutting infront of you or rubbing against you on side... The response to these was so like driving; to head over when changing directions, to give way to faster runners behind, not to hold up the faster path after over taking... what a advance theory revision..

And as commonly heard, just before you enter the east coast park, the professional kenya runners will be exiting it. That guy is amazing quick, and after (his) 30km, doesnt look shaken or whatever at all. And that's only 1hr 36mins, as shown on the pacer car. Feel the crowd (or rather, us running in opposite direction) cheering for him as he sped past. What a spirit.

THE KEEP WALKING

Soon after at around 15 kays, catch up with 2 others, had max out our running energy, so the walk begins. Relaxing it seems at first, especially at the food station, 'cos you will be right-hand-banana, left-hand-100plus, walking down as if it is sunday orchard road. Brisk walking or strolling, commenting about other runners, talking about some topics, answering and making phone calls to others, or simply laming about some ramdom stuff.. That makes up the entire east coast park.

THE TORTURING BIT

Then I realise, the point about marathon is not the running bit, but is rather, how you survive after you stopped running and starts to walk. "How hard can it be, to walk?" , very hard, after you ran, and when you are talking about 6 hours of it.

Eventually tiriness creeps in, muscles starts to complain. You heard the bells and whistles in your body calling out loud, you start to lose contact with legs (they are on auto-pilot, walking without control) and the worse is the journey gets long and dry. East coast park is full of distractions and jokes, but beyond it, it wasnt.

Especially at the most dreadful portion, that was at Kallang stadium and Nicoll highway (again). Nevermind is it long and straight, but it was made up of u-turns...So it really look plain silly when you went back to the same place where you had turned in much earlier.

Sun is doing her work at this point of time, and with the several other strangers dragging alone around, it feels like some lost-in-desert movie. Without the oasis.

THE MOTIVATORS

At 12 km, it was banana. Scared that, as i was told, it runs out of stock for the slower runners, it was such a delighted moment when we can lay our hands on one.

At 32 km, it was banana again. This time round, we are really really hungry, and wornt from the above boring walk. And much slower, so higher risk of stock out. Therefore, the beyound-any-words-that-can-describe type of happiness overwhelmed me when i saw those yellow things are still available from far, and we hurried over to grab two each this time. The girl at counter says "Come come take more, it's free!". I wanted to tell her, "No, it's Priceless."

At 39 km, i landed foot on the portion of the F1 circuit, feeling the difference in the world class tarmac (although raymond couldnt feel anymore things now). Then, at the F1 Pitstop, which was strangely littered with plastic cups, it holds a large collections of all classic Ferraris of all times...thanks to the dealer using the F1 compound to hold it's anniversary showcase. Looking at the cars (Daytona to Enzo) which i had never seen one in real life before, i forgot about all pain and blisters etc, as i stroll alongside. But guess it made me slower, 'coz i was handphone-camera shooting all way. oops.

AND ACROSS THE FINISH LINE

After such extended hours of walking, the real cheer came as you feels the ending point drawing near...as if there was a energy sucking you towards it. When the signs are counting down by metres, and the big sign appears right ahead, the world freezes and the lost legs suddenly had a new found energy, to Run towards it, heart beating fast with the excitment.

And across the finish line, with the final beep from the champion chips,

...at 8hrs 15min 53sec. You can deduce a minute off the time, coz i was still taking photos at the finish sign as i ran.

Once in a life time experience, accomplished. Really delighted.

But next year? 21km will do. Running without the walk is just sweet. ^-^

(more photos HERE)

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mid-life facelift

2008-11-30T01:35:00.003+08:00

As you would have obviously noticed it by now, this blog, with age of 3 years and 5 months (since June 2005) have received her well deserved re-skin...before cobwebs really starts to grow all over.

And with the obiviously-new-to-me-easier-to-edit-format, I added more stuff all over, including that small little useless poll on the right. Let's see what interesting ideas i can have for it in future...

Meanwhile, it's a new lease of life for this blog. As long as my mind is functioning and my fingers are still intact, this blog will carry on, for many more 3 years to come.

For now, sincerely hope you would like this new simple white skin!

Save the daylight.

2008-11-28T23:40:00.000+08:00

Recently, in order to beat the morning traffic madness, I picked up a new habit: To reach school earlier than normal, and then munch into my breakfast slowly before class, instead of the other way round. So food would be at some benches, next to the ray of freshly awaken sunshine.

Sunshine; so consistent in this country. Flip thru the weather report on papers, any year, any month, and it would always be plus-minus 7.15am everyday. Without fail. Weather also, as Ch 5’s “The Noose” puts it across, will forever be either Rain, or No Rain.

As quoted from my fortunate sister, who just came back from her week-long holiday in Fukuoka, Japan, the weather in Japan is a world apart. Beginning of week is Air-con like, then suddenly at mid-week it turns into Freezer compartment. And being winter, the night was longer; hence sun sets early at 4 or 5pm, reducing the time they could have for sight-seeing.

This reminds me the times when I was at Hong Kong for tour. Summer back then, and the first morning I jumped off bed when sun shone in, only to find that it was still only 6am. So if that’s how our bio-clock works, then aren’t during winter we are all going to oversleep like no one else’s business?

Not forgetting in some countries, you got that daylight saving thing. So more people will be late for work/class/appointment again, possibly quoting the reason that they forgot daylight saving and got the time wrong by one hour.

And perhaps, it wouldn’t be too bad to be late for an hour there. Considering the fact that in some of such countries, it’s alright to miss and wait for the train that have frequency of one hour each, while it is seriously not alright here to miss the train with 6 minutes frequency.

Ah. How I wish I’m born in those countries.

Random Track

2008-11-14T22:37:00.003+08:00

1) Bored? Try Google your name.

That’s what me and guan hui tried at school yesterday. And surprise, we found more about him:

- He owns a mechanical & electric equipment company
www.guanhui.com.cn

- He is involved in a court case.

- And, he is a German dog…
www.guan-hui.de

2) Boring job? Bus Driver

Have you ever wondered, the most boring job could be a Public Bus Driver?

Everyday simply report for work, drive, park, & sign off for work.

& despite having to see hundreds of faces, they rarely need to talk at all. Other than when someone ask for how the fare charge (which is rare, thanks to Ez-link card)

Oh yes, also not forgetting "Move back please!" during peak hours.

And that's all. Rest of the journey in utter silence.

No wonder when they see other colleagues driving pass from the opposite direction, they waved so happily.

3) Bus is an adventure

…because, every trip is a surprise.

On a same day, I can get a ride that is:

So hot that you can toast a bread,
Or Cold that you can freeze a fish.

Or having the journey in silence,
Having journey with TV-mobile,
Or with teens singing loudly with mp3 songs blasted from their “Nokia N82, bought at discounted price”.

4) The use of mp3 players.

I finally realise the proper use of mp3 players... and even more, why are they made so slim and small.

Reason: You need one during running/jogging...

As discovered as we run long distance nowadays. When it gets long and dry, it's the songs that keep you going and forget the miles clocked...or the sun…or the aches.

Ah. Now I see.

5) Running for 15km

In which at the same run, last Sunday.

Finally clocked that magical 15 km, and surprisingly, it wasn’t that dramatic as when i crossed 9 km....

Either is that my body had attuned to running, or was I too tired to think anymore, or even having any expression?

More to come, for sure. Yeah.

6) Facebook 86!

Talking about magical numbers, this is what I got when logged into facebook that day.
(on the bottom right hand corner of screen)

The most number of notifications at one single go -- 86. Wow.

Nice to find, as it was due to the large amount of tagging on the birthday series of photos... Credits to that ultra funny strangers group photo. A classic, made.

7) Environmental suggestions: To chop trees

Heard from my sis, there was this dialog session between the MP and residence of a certain GRC, with regards to environmental protection.

And someone gave a classic suggestion:
In order to save electricity, we should cut down on Air-con usage by allowing more wind flow. Hence, trees should be chopped off as they are blocking the wind.

8) KFC

Finally, on the note of suggestions, some one finally heard some voices from Punggol. (or rather, consumers’ demand)

The town that doesn’t have a fast food restaurant for 6 years is now officially declared freed of this title.

KFC had just opened in Punggol Plaza. Replacing Cash-Converter.

Actually, I thought Mcd would be better?

(^-^")

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Exceeding Expectations.

2008-11-02T15:41:00.005+08:00

SAT 25th oct

To make the beautiful story short, what expected to be a makan session @ chalet became a mafia style blind-fold walk and the cake smash session.

Which, well, ended off un-expectedly quick but yet in "style". Well, how many people in this world, will trip over a stupid drain before he manage to lay his cake on others, and falling straight next to the "happy birthday" deco, in a photo perfect pose??

Perfectly memoriable.

But to a great effect, this entire chunk did woken out something asleep inside me for long. It recalled what i felt missing, whenever i flip thru back the old JC days photos...

It's the sense of fun. The crazy old Jx was asleep. Remember the jc times, endless water bombs, never ending running and chasing, frequently mud spattered Ts? The times whereby you went all out to do whatever you deem right, regardless of what others thought....Even up to the recent camps in uni the Jx who went all out just to win the game challenge. For a long period, it was all asleep. Crazy had been replaced with sensibility, who only look at gathering and gathering.

....No wonder 'bear' becomes 'uncle'.

No, it's not time to settle down and fall asleep. There's more in life.

So now, who's next?

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SUN 26th Oct

Steamboat. Good old pals, but in an all different settings as last year. Un-expectedly, this year out of the 7 pax, we got 3 couples, and u got it, the last Odd number is me. haha.

But, true to the chinese idiom "Send a charcoal during snowing", the flew-from-UK card from derrick surprisingly came on the right time. And true to derrick's style, despite stuff'd with words, you know that every words represents his thoughts from afar.

It's always the simplest things that means lots. At the right time.

Alrite, so i shall be optimistic, if there ever a right one and a steamboat again next year, may there be 4 couples persons this time. Or even 5 pairs ?

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SAT-TUES 28th oct

Still on the same occassion. Sometimes you really dont have to take in other's opinions seriously.

Like the Mitsubishi Lancer EX i rented for the occassion. Online discussions had gun it down as Disappointing, Noisy, Underpowered, Thirsty, etc... The gloomy picture that had painted on me are gone the minute i set my eyes on the car, and forgotten the minute i Finally got my hands on to drive it.

Just look at it. The exact way i want a car to look like. Having a road presence despite not imitating. A clean proud Japanese design, not aiming to be like some conti or what. And their own take of Alfa-style brake lights which finish off the package just nice.

Underpowered? The 1.5l may be puny in this application, but by not driving it too hard it will still reward you. No one asks you to stomp the pedal to metal at every green light isnt it?

And spacious all around. The barrel style dashboard works and looks neat with integrated stereo, the red dials shouts 'sporty', and i do prefer the brigher beige interior trims (minus the fake wood) sadly they dont bring this colour in anymore. And oh, i love that headrest with the soft cushion in centre.

PLus the key-less entry...Never need to take the key out of pocket, just brush your fingers on door handle and it unlocks by itself. Great to use, especially when your hands are full; but that prompt my first ever time to flip thru the car manual to learn how to use a function of a car. grr.

So that why they say, buying a car doesnt need to be too rational at times. It's still a matter of heart; what ever you like will be the best choice.

Like person-relationships, all it's takes is just an affirmation from a single person and that's enough.

Isnt they always say, beauty lies in eyes of beholder?

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SAT 1st Nov

Exceeding all factors and records, i finally finally clocked my (ashamely) ever longest running distance.... 9 kays. Achieved at East Coast Park with the bestie-running kaki.

But that involves running-jogging-brisk walking-walking-jogging-limping-jogging-running... etc etc.. you get the picture. Hey, but that's still 9 km ya?

But i guess, so far it seems like East coast is one of the more suitable places for long distance? It's safer as compared to street-pavements, it's the biggest park around, and sufficient 'ever-changing' landscapes to distract you..

Starting from bedok jetty u got the big 360 ski to glance, then the seafood restaurant to think about, then the loud music from ECP chalets to listen, then Waraku & Mcd to signal turning point is approaching, then u-turn and all repeats itselves.

But really, by the time i approaches the stretch of Waruka/burger king, my entire body is already so on roll that anything else after it passes in flash. That's the magic of long distance i guess, makes you run til you really felt what is mind over body...without your choice.

At the end, i could finally use the word "exhausted" with confidence. 'cos i'm really exhausted.

Right, so here's my 9km. Not to be too happy yet, 'cos there are still >4 times more to be covered eventually in Dec's Run.

Grrr.

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self.

2008-10-20T23:01:00.002+08:00

Psychology lesson today, and it took a small quiz to reveal this: So i'm of a higher of level of interdependence, than all others around.

For the benefit of all, interdependence, in social terms, refer to one taking cues of the group feelings and behaviour, before deciding on own response. That is a contrast from independence, in which own feelings take priority above looking at the group feelings.

In short, others over self. With a significantly higher figure from the "balanced" others, as shown from results yielded from the quiz.

Based on this, the curious me prompted a discussion with Jamie, which enlighted and concluded several issues that have been, sort of, bothering me.

So now it makes sense. Myself has lost the unique-ness of 'self', in name of harmony. Giving way, doesnt seems to be the way.

& possibly, a reason why people like me are always being missed out on, because there are nothing special attractive about it. Bland, in short.

This illustrates perfectly: a FIAT, although not that reliable as rivals, but still are desirable because it looks like nothing else; a BMW, although pricey, but still sells like hot cakes 'cos it has brilliant engineering and makes great noise. On other hand, a Toyota is very reliable, solid value, does nothing wrong, but is not desirable, simply because it doesnt stand out. It's bland.

Me, perhaps, is like the one that had lost the unique-selling point. So how can you get noticed in the first place when there's nothing attractive?

The ultimate target is, to make the Real yourSelf stands out, while accepting other 'selves. Harmony is not by changing yourself to themselves/other-self..

Great, now I know why. But to achieve, is still a long way to go.

Still learning. True to the title.

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kaizen

2008-10-11T01:06:00.005+08:00

Previously learnt from HRM about KaiZen, Japanese for continuous improvement. Used as a model in organisations, for the pursuit of continuous improvements in all aspect, via staff suggestion or other schemes, so as to increase efficiency and ulimately cost saving...

All of these came to my mind, as i came across this packaging while at supermart with family. This is the pack of Snack Bar we had bought:

Which comes with a surprising long and huge Bar Code.

KaiZen? Staff suggestion that Bar Code should be made easy for scanning? Interesting.

------------------------------------------------------------

Finally, that DVD recorder is back at home.

No more missing of favourite tellie shows and/or rushing back to catch them. Stuff 'em all in, and declare tomorrow (Sat) afternoon as television day.... to watch one week worth of shows.

Thankful of such invention....as long as it dont break down again ;(

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One Choc cake, 6 candles (of various length), some bench in school, and several loud friends, and you got a Birthday Cake cutting celebration for Kelvin birthday, on Thursday.

Simple, yet unforgettable. & so damn exciting when he is still miles away and the candle are burning out fast (cos the kiasu us lighted way too early) And he still ran into some friends along the way also, according to our informant.

Thankfully he arrives back on time, to blow 'em out before you got choc-wax.

Surprises, surprises. 就是不一样.

cheers..~

PHOTO Journal of the bday cake, HERE.

same place, different person

2008-10-04T01:14:00.003+08:00

To pass IPPT. How hard can it be for others, always very hard for me.

Nevertheless, today IPPT had bought me back to the old Academy at Thomson road. It had been >2years since i had last set my foot there, and god, it's all memories the minutes you step in.

Yes, the place is so much different now; After they had shifted the training of new NS boys to the new Academy, they renovated and upgraded some parts, specially the new area delicated for IPPT. Cleaner, better equiped, more first aid and welfare, and even a delicated running track for 2.4km with electronic time logging..

And more importantly, the way you walk in also. No more previous trainee style of marching-with-your-boots; people dragged their feets in in slippers/flip-flops with no issues at all.. No more panic-looking NS boys guarding the gate, all season'd old salary-paid guards now.

But still, how would you ever forget the times you march/punished/ran on that same old tarmac, the stretch of pavement where you almost got into trouble by fighting, that old guard house where you draw the oily rifle, and that grass field patch which you had been psycho'd not to ever cut-across-the-grass-or-you-kana-palms-down..

IPPT finishes, and I save the 71cents by walking to Toa Payoh, using the same exact route that i used to take on every book-out days.

On this route across HDB flats, unlike the academy, nothing had changed. Every sights are still the same as before, the same path under PIE, the same void deck, playground, coffee shops, every single details remains. Rather, coupled with the old memories that was engaged just freshly in mind, it had a constrast on my current state of mind..

You see, back then as i/we walked, in mind would be always the desire for time to speed up; NS to end faster, we are unexcited by the mundane routines and is so ever ready to face new challenges... Now? Time. please slow down. School-life has only lifespan of few months left; After it are Really challenges already. You cant stop it, the journey, just like this route to Toa payoh, has to, and will, end soon.

Same place revisited, different mind.

..Let's take it as it comes.

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IF you have time to kill, consider visiting this:

Facebook album, on my small photo journal of the SG motorshow '08 i visited last sat 28sept.. photos of what we did other than car browsing. ^-^

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Discovery.

2008-09-23T17:27:00.004+08:00

ONE.

Monday. We wanted to run after School, and surprising the nearby running tracks options are out or not available. So by chance, we set foot on Bukit Gombak Stadium.

& what a surprise. Nicely located at the foot of the bukit batok natural hill and park, it was an escape from the concrete world the minute you step in thru the gate. Although only opening from 630pm on weekdays for evening (which means we, apon our 530pm arrival, have to come back again later) what we got in the end was a very cooling sun-set run.

Which I havent felt so good before during running, since i start this 'healther' activity recently. Perhaps it was already 7pm, but the air was so chilling; especially at that portion which was parallel to the Woods, where by every inhale rejuvenates. Breezes kept on flowing down from the hill, just like a natural air-conditional blowing on to you as you run by the foot of hill. So crisp, so fresh. That before i knew, i completed the run without any dragging of feet or what.

Stadiums always gave me a cold and harsh feelings. Perhaps because many are old concrete block, or perhaps it was always at Stadiums where i was proven to be the Weakest of the lot, or it was where i always fails.

But here is different. The freshness of air pumps all negative thoughts out of mind, the hilly scenery distracts me from the bad thoughts, and made me forget what is failing. ...Just run and enjoy.

When opportunity arises, i will pay a visit back there again.

Pardon this grainy picture, taken with Phone after sun had set.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

TWO.

If you had always flip thru European motor publications, you would have heard before one of the best things in the world (for car-enthu) is to drive some Ferrari or Lambo thru those long mountain-pass Tunnels, wind down the window, rev the engine and enjoy the Italian engine noise amplified via the wall of the tunnel.

That was rarely encountered by me in this Sunny Island before, not until the KPE was opened on Saturday, featured a 12km long Tunnel. Which i tried on Sunday.

What was going to be a boring drive (due to the strict speed limit) was shaken off, when i was woken up by that special noise of the V8 engine & that bright headlights coming from behind. Definatly something special, and i grabbed my camera, which gave you that pic you see below.

Indeed it was a Ferrari F430. In normal conditions it sounds good, and all of that are further enchanced when it echos in the Tunnel. The amplified sound inspirits and captivates your senses, triggering the nerves as it roars past. It shouts when it approaches, and that voice still lingers around even when it had travelled past to far ahead at the front of the pack... Dominates the entire tunnel to be it's own.

And now i understand the wonders of what the journos were describing always, after this fortunate encounter.

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Derrick & T3: The send off story.

2008-09-18T21:56:00.004+08:00

Setting: Airport Terminal 3, Popeyes. 17th Sept '08.

As i was munching onto the famous biscuits, & pondering over how "Popeyes" is pronounced, Dom was saying that she have been here numerious times this year, sending friends off. But this time round it was really different, 'coz as you see, derrick's flight is 11.59pm, and now is 9.35 and yet there's no sight/news of him yet.

10.19PM: Idling at Departure lobby, and he calls in. Horror, he's still at home. Finishing with packing and all the admin stuff, and is rushing to leave house now.

Shock but not that surprising...this poor guy been running up and down for weeks in preparation of this Big Trip and Exchange programme, stress'd up and really busy he is...but well, now he's going to be really late. Thankful he lives at Marine Parade.

Almost 40 minutes later at 10.57pm, he arrives. with friends awaits with trolley by the Cab. With efficiently the luggages are dug out of the cab, swiftly we move onto the now queue-less Row 3 for check in procedures.

From then on it was a sense of mixed feelings. It was sort of relieve to see him arrive almost on time, but that was on a price that he havent eaten lunch/dinner, his poor parents worried and panic, and him sort of overwhelmed with all the stuff that needs to be done. So much that you see (at the photo album) most of the photos are taken from behind, not his face, neither a group photo or what.

So after all the trying-to-squeeze-last-min-items-into-the-bag, sorting and labelling, pad-locking of zip, cards issue, tying of jackets over his neck, paparazzi style photo snapping, a brief good-bye & he's in. ...and still a 20 row length of the airport hall to run to his gate at the left-most, 'A-1'. Time, 11.30pm exact.

Only as he disappears via the glass door and us saying good bye to his parents, then that bit of emo comes in. I wonder how he would be over there? Would his 5 other uni peers in this same program know his 'pattern'? Hopeful, after that 10 over hours of sleep in the cozy SQ flight overnight, he will be recharged, alert and ready to see the First world that awaits him... Better enjoy this exchange trip, else, i thought, all the effort he puts in will be wasted..

With that, we left, and out to ECP carls jr to chill... and froze our brains with that three mind killing quiz jinie gave us.. (which explains all the serious faces you see in the photo album, at the end)

**
The photo journal of what happened that night: CLICK to facebook album ^-^
**

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one of many.

2008-09-12T15:16:00.008+08:00

Recently the magazine-reading me had went back to novel. "The time traveller's wife", by Nifffenegger, to be exact. It was a book i pick up to flip by chance, and end up on my desk at home by accident. Nevertheless once i start i didnt stop reading, amazed by the depth of thought and the abundant of details.

Now just only halfway (still) into the book, here just a portion i would like to share; it was a dialog between Henry, the time traveller, to his wife, with regards the past:

"It's a reminder that the moment i belonged to is dead, and not just dead, but forgotten. (...) That's why I get excited when i see little kids pretending to be punk, because i dont want all to just disappear. (...) Even when I get to do something cool (to travel back in time to the past), like say go to see a concert I missed the first time round, maybe a band that's broken up or somebody that died, it's sad watching them as I know what's going to happen."

This was one of the part that strike me, cos it did resemble what i felt at times. Especially when you had a dream a night, dreaming of the stuff you used to do, or the wonderful gatherings you used to had, and woke up feeling sad cos you know in real time all no longer exist anymore. Or looking at some other younger ones doing stuff that you used to do, and it was all these type of reminders that made you feel glad for the moment.

But eventually, what had passed by means that it is in the past, and soon forgotten. Regardless of how successful or how much Magic you had done, when you left the school/organisation all that is left is just perhaps a name or even nothing.

And well, perhaps that why it's useless to keep looking back at the past. Use the magic you had performed before to push for even more in future..

...As for the book, this small little segment definatly does not conclude about the story, 'cos there are far more themes and other inspirations inside. Just that i have to finish reading it first. 289 pages more to go.

------------------------------------------------------------------

After 5 years of absent, I'm back on P. Ubin again, on Bicycle. That was last Sunday, the 7th Sept. And greeted by a huge rain that soaked us all, within 10 mins of the start of the cycling.

Then as we are dried by Mother nature, we abandoned the tarmac road for the beaten path, where you get to slide on gravel, splash on pool of water and navigate the bike up the puddle of wet mud.

Which was great fun, in my opinion. A big contrast from the beautifully tarmac'd and long and straight path of East Coast Park, cycling at Ubin is such an Adventure. Endless curves and uphill downhills, different sort of terrains, all the crest and teeth-jarring rocks, and never ending routes to explore to get to the different beaches and sights.

And after you conquered each upslopes, you will be rewarded with that fast sweeping down-hill ride. Effortless and yet 'shiok'. & it puts all your apex cornering and braking knowledge to practical use, on 2 wheels.

No wonder, when the sun sets, the weather-wornt and mud-spattered me still feels as enthuastic as before.
...It was only the thought of waking up early next day for work that kills the spirit.

*See the place we covered. Thanks to Sebas Ray Lala lihui & julian for making it possible:
Click to see the gallery of selected photos

** Note:
Seen on papers fews day later (this week) about an accident that took place at ubin on the same day as our visit; Not forgetting also the small injuries our friend suffered as she slipped off the bike at mid-way. Cycling at the terrain of ubin can be risky too..Perhaps we have to be reminded to slow down when approaching corners at all times, and be familiar with the proper braking of the bike.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ever since entering the household in Dec 07, my dear little DVD recorder seems to suffer from some major illness and shown to us how her health was weaken over the months, to eventually a death after my attempted surgery on her failed.

That is how she is now spending nights at the Agent's serving centre, and me and my sister to miss 2 weeks of Tellie Sitcoms and Variety shows.

As only my dad will be free to send it down, and certainly he is not at best explaining the fault, here's the description i wrote to whoever-that-is-going-to-revive-this-piece-of-dead-machine.

Which after writing, i really seems as if i'm doing a slow and painful description of her route to failure. ;p

..............

No break, you break.

2008-08-29T19:09:00.001+08:00

2 years 2 month, 70000 km clocked. Our van is indeed a piece of hard-worked machinery. Day in day out, from sun rise to sun set, shuttling everyone to work, and covering all parts of the island for my dad’s work, there’s no one day that she is allowed to “sleep” for long. No time for servicing.

No wonder, some time later, she starts to felt sluggish & heavy footed. Response is slower, and even that air-con doesn’t like to blow you cool air anymore.

And one day finally my dad brought it to the well over due servicing session. Blackish oil changed, air filter dumped for a clean sparking one. And it was as if she was given a new leash of life.

Just driven it, now every gear change comes with a surge of power; Lane change, no problem, power comes even from 80kmh. Moves with a light-foot, seems ever enthusiastic to take up the new task for today…

…which, I can’t help relating it to humans. You see, when we don’t give ourselves enough rest, isn’t we will start to response poorly, “blur” about things, lose interest, poor management of crisis/problems, and even don’t feel like working anymore?

For a moment I was so, just recently. So much stuff to handle, so much responsibility to take, and so much weekend burnt. Insufficient sleep is one thing, a mind that cant switch off is another thing that made it worse. In the end I kept forgetting things and was careless about some stuff.

Which is getting to be similar like my boss, which is a extended version and a more serious case of what that was mentioned above. So serious that he been working 12 hours everyday, having panics when crisis comes, and perhaps, even affecting his family.

Only until a day off like today, whereby that long sufficient sleep is just like a nice servicing performed on you, after which you would felt better all over again. Mind cleared, ready to take up new task again. Just like the vehicle that had just done servicing.

And a nice tour will be like an overhaul instead. An escape from the familiar city to else where which is in a slower paced, think of nothing that is bothering you but just focus on all the new sights and do what you like… Hopefully refreshes all your senses after the trip, making you ready for new challenges…

This is why, another reason for me to look forward to the Batam trip: A chance to forget any worries or news, and be ready to face the new challenges of new school year, regardless good or bad results.

Trip aside, guess it also a reminder to all to take leave and break when you got too much on hands...whenever possible of course. Derrick you hear me? ^-^

Now who says cars is not like human? If humans don’t take a break, they will break too.

And no wonder, that time after my boss boost that he haven’t taken leave or MC for a year, he fell sick for 2 days there after.

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the brown touch + bdays round the corner

2008-08-19T23:42:00.003+08:00

After the comp was fixed (or rather, changed totally), my sist went back to her usual feed of the Mr brown show.

And we found, even our small-little-ulu-forgotten town of Punggol had received the touch by Mr brown too...

punggol-21-plus-plus/

If this is not that funny, try out the others below. Seems that he really likes to sing recently....

2 many 2 count erp drift
-- as the title suggest'd...

blame it on somebody
-- the mas issue..

Fare game
-- "i dont have bus to change!"

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So as i loggon onto facebook, trying to upload Kent's bday photo (which are taken one month ago) onto the album, to find i've been tagged on WenLing's bday before i uploaded her bday photos, only to be reminded that Dom's bday is coming soon, which means more photos to upload soon.

Ah. This is not a bad thing. Like what i always felt, birthdays are the best time for gathering; the once-in-a-year thing will really ensure pple to gather back again despite how busy we all are. Not that significant for now perhaps, but definately important when we all finish school and starts to work.

And Kudos to that inventor of Digital Camera. Just b'cos photos taking becomes so easy and "unlimited" thanks to the digital storage media, it allows for all sorts of candid and crap photos to be taken at such events.... and dont discard these crappy photos...candid shot is where, i think, the most natural self of one is displayed, and is definatly as memoriable....every pix indeed tells a thousand words.

So there you go...download my pix at birthdays or any gathering..and enjoy 'em for a long time to come ;)

2008-08-02T02:02:00.000+08:00

It's 2am, and i'm just done with back-up -ing this Desktop PC, whose life will be terminated in 2days time. These recent days are so madly busy (cos of my really "fulfilling" internship) til my sleeping hours are so messed up, so it explains why i'm still typing this at this hour.

Anyway, the main point of this portion is to share this: A pix i found some where in the Comp.

Yes, done by my dear sister, 2 years back....After she had explored and learnt totally by herself how to use Photoshop, she did this that same night (til 5am or so)

2 years back i was so damn pissed with her. Especially when she placed it as the windows desktop pix and surprised me next day.

But 2 years later when i chanced apon it again, it was rather funny...and actually, i find it quite well done eh.

Hmm... people do change?

-------------------------------------------------

And it's still 2am, and i'm done with the above post, and i'm still not sleeping yet. Guess even when i sleep my brain dont really rest, coz i do have dreams... The recent theme of my dreams seem to be travelling; That night after i watch'd telle on Norway's Northern Cape of the midnight sun rise, I dreamt of that place that night. And last night, it was Toyko, after an Ep of Top gear,,,

The Tokyo one was rather nasty, coz i lost my way and figured out how to take the public bus all by myself. which was irritating coz the feeling of loneliness was so realistic that it was really not that nice and i kept wondering why am i on a ah-hoc holiday to Tokyo, alone (in the dreams)

Which, when i woke, really made me think about two things. One, how did some people manage to survive alone in a totally foreign land (and risk getting lost all by themselves) and Two, i will never want to travel alone.

And that how, when i'm inspired to travel to (and enjoy the journey towards) destinations such as OZ great ocean road, Norway Northern Cape, etc etc, i do hope i'll be with the best partner and buddies. And the best partner and buddies will always be around in the life-journey.

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service yourself first

2008-07-22T22:32:00.006+08:00

Nothing works tonight. My LG dvd recorder screws up on my once again, wasting the 3 hours of effort last night, and now yousendit is down, delaying all my photos to be sent out. Faced with such frustration, one could simply complaint and yell at any customer service that one can find, but did any one thought before this: What's the point?

Right now, having involved in customer service, i got the opportunity to experience first hand how is it like to sit at the "frontline" counter, thus getting a new insight in the ever "wonderful" human nature, and how pointless somethings can be:

- People demands info from the wrong department:

Percetage of it happening: to a high extent. Most of the time walk in customers will ask you issues that is not under your department. And then they demand you to find it out for them. You see, how would that be better, when (ONE) the info will pass through so many hands, taking the risk of been mis-translated (think of the Pass-the-message Game we played at OGL camp) (TWO) Your case/issue/question will be again mis-interpreted coz the person asking is not the person in question, risking the question being distorted, and (THREE) isnt it is faster if you ask the correct place directly, and no risk of mis-interpretation?

- People gumble or shout and yell or scolds the service officers

Ok, i accept the fact that the person will be displaying such an extreme behaviour due to stress or etc, but other than venting out his frustration, does it solve the issue he has? Bearing in mind, especially for the case of system flaws etc, the service person is not responsible for that, so why should the poor person take all the blame and be shouted at or nasty treated? As if they are the slave or servant, owning the customer in their past lives.

So what happens in the end is that in order to pacify the situation, the service person will keep on apologising (for something they never done). And that another thing; what is the point of an apology that is said for the point of saying? In the first place the scold shld not have taken place; how much can the service officer do? Re-programme the system himself/herself? Re-build the building? Change a policy ownself without management approval?

- People complaints and complaints about anything they dont like

And many times it is not constructive: Ie: throw something at you and say "i dont care, i dont like the way it is now". Right, so what you do suggest it should be? "I dont care, it is your job" . See my point?

Better still is those who creeps behind you, and directly shoots a complaint to the top top HQ, leaving behind only a brief description, a surname and NO contact number. Ok, if it is real flaw, the organisation can change. But what the point of that when you are not allowing further contact for follow up actions, so as to get a better understanding of the complaint and areas to improve on?

- People challenge the service personalle on issues that are fixed (ie: Policies, design of online booking system)

Similiar to earlier point, i didnt understand this part too. Ok, from the perspective of a customer you do feel frustrated when the service personal tells you "this is the limitation, nothing can be done" But when one continue to argue on with the classic statement "it's not about money", what can you get from it? The low low level service person have no ability to do anything. Even if you are the best debator in the world you are just channelling your abilities to the wrong person. In cases, it still ended off with the customer walking off with nothing in return. Worth the saliva to argue there and ruin the poor service guy/girl day?

....
Pardon me for the last time, but at times it did appear to me that those who complaint might to be seen as ignorant..... Rather, the perhaps smarter one will just get the neccessary info and seek help from the correct place, be it getting info or giving constructive feedback... And now, i found myself especially appreciative of those are willingly to seek help themselves, and even more patience to other service personal out there...it is really a tough job.

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bubble dream

2008-07-05T14:51:00.004+08:00

Saturday noon, sat down infront of telly, watched watever that is screening. And CNA is showing the repeated docm on the "boy in the bubble", and after glued to watching it for half an hour, i really got to say my heart sank as i watch the entire account of the boy's 12 years of life in the bubble.

Doctor's narrow minded? too optimistic? or short sighted? Was the boy really happily living for 12 years or it was full of fear? No doubt he contributed significantly to medical research, but the change from a happy jumping kid to a older boy with not much expression makes me feel sorry for it.

When i'm have more time think i'll go read more about this online.. meanwhile, if you are free surfing around, perhaps you want to check it out at wiki or pbs.org (as indicated thru-out the 30min program) .....maybe this incident may inspires you think about many things around us.

wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Vetter
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Dont prefer to be perfect, even for prefects.

2008-07-03T23:15:00.003+08:00

For the benefit of any who are not aware, my 2,3 weeks of absent in updating is because I'm doing my internship now, and for god, it's so tiring...Having depleted of energy after every day and using coffee to perk me up during the day, it was until now then i have the juice to create this post. Which of cos, created also after sufficient inspiration was gathered.

And no prize for forcasting it before you read on, yes, it's gonna be about work life.

So what's does the ever-reflective evoxiang.blogspot.com tells you tonight?
Being Perfect might not be ideal.

How does this idea comes about? It was after i had settled down on my your-job-scope-is-almost-everything-and-you-got-to-multitask-and-do-things-fast-and-be-polite-despite-all-odds job, and started to observe...

..It appears that those who always finish all their task and make leave on time or take time off are seen as slack. For instance, i got a guy here, married with kids, but always not frequently in office. People always seem to ask around has he done his stuff when he's not around, especially when i first entered and not seen him yet, that dont do too good in contributing my impression score of him.

On the other hand, i got another guy, also married with kids. Now this is the first few person i met when i entered, and that moment it got one big word "BUSY" stamped all on him. Always running around, having a room that have piles of document on every usage or non-usage space, having so many things thru his mind, staying back late after work, etc etc...and scaring the shit out of the intern on his first day, thinking that he landed in a very very busy department (it's is really, but not that bad)

As it turns out? Guy number 1 came back from his leave, and now it looks different. When i thought he some one that will avoid job, he didnt. In fact he offers to help when needed... His task was as completed, despite the shorter time he stays in office. As for person number 2, i slowly realise that he has slight signs of a kan-jong spider, have too much things going thru his mind, time management skills is not ideal, and tends take breaks during working time when he has unfinished stuff...

A disclaimer, not that i am now saying person number 2 is bad, but just that sometimes you cant help wondering this: If his time management is better then maybe he wont stay back that late; or even have so much work pile'd up.. He is commitment for sure, his job is tough no doubt, but it can actually not be as bad as it seems right?

Which reminds me of what i learnt in HR.. of a sign known as "presenteem". Studies shown that those who stayed late in office received higher appraisal scores, as compared to those who leave on time, if else kept constant. This also contributes to a culture whereby people feels guilty when leaving early... Bearing in mind, appraisal rating can be contributed not only by real performance but impression scores too.

Implications? Perfect might not do good; Having some imperfections might help you instead.

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car.

2008-06-15T01:07:00.004+08:00

"Car" is a funny thing. Something that i fell in love since birth, for an unknown reason. The moment i came to my senses in 4 or 5 years old, i knew where my vision aims at. And fast forward to today, it's still, to me many other enthusiasts, something alive and multi-dimensional, while it can be simply a tool to the layman.

How much i like it? Look around this blog; the hobby list has it, many posts contains it, the title picture above has it, and even this address came from a car name. So much that sometimes, i'm concern that did i drive away people not interested in car on first sight of this page..

So why i like it that much? Frankly, the true reason is unknown, as mentioned earlier. But i do guess i attribute it to that fact that i can be a sense of freedom...It's something complicated; designed, engineered and manufactured after a long and complex process just for a simple and short brief: to move people.

Move people from places where other mode of transport cant bring you to. Move people faster and easier than other type of land transport. And Move people (who appreciate it) emotionally, from the design that spark feelings (think Fiat 500 or the MINI) or that sense of excitment from the way it moves throughout the journey...

And this excitment part is how some are not just a tool...it's something which you can feel. Your palms tells you how the steering react in turns, your butt tells how it rolls over surfaces, your ears tells how it sounds when you revv thru a tunnel, and your entire body feels how the car body follows through the cornering and thrust with acceleration. In the more focus'd cars you will not be devote of the above but be rewarded with this multi-dimensional sensation, with everything working in harmony to achieve it. And that excites.

Freedom, also in way of the ability to have control of it. Going to exactly where you want to go, pointing it in the direction you want. Freedom, also as in terms of expressing who you are with the car you drive. A form of self-expression, as learnt in sociology. And a society, in macro sense, it also represented by the cars on the street...A developed, individualist western nation you see sophisticated cars reflecting drivers' personality, while in a developing collective asian nation you see rational and reliable vans that seats 8 (Think toyota avanza/kijang)

And this why, relating to the last point above, that i always think that are no bad cars; each has their own purpose. Just that as i care about the journey as much as the destination, i want something that feels. And perhaps this is how the enthusiasts are differentiated from the rest..

This how this "tool" will always be different in my eyes, and i not stop lovin' it. The complex and dynamic auto industry will be where i'll (try to) belong; The sophisticated machinery will be what i'll appreciated; & Driving sensation will be my getaway from this messy society.

What's yours?

----------------------------------------------------

The other day, i got a chance to lay my hands on this Suzuki Swift, 1.3 auto. And there is it, one of better steering i had tried. Meaty, with feedback on the tarmac as you turn. A neat looking car, it does feel very conti with the solid shapes it has. Interior is very spacious, generous headroom. And fortunately as the "XG" spec, it got all the niceties like digital air con, fuel economy meter, motorised foldable mirrors, etc etc. Nimble car, it is.

Sadly, the 1.3 really struggles under acceleration and uphills; you can feel the auto gear desperately shifting down to get more torque...Guess the 1.5 version will be better. Some perceived quality can be better too, like that powered windows.. And how i wish the car can be slightly more rigid and slightly more stable at high speed...

So would i buy it for my journeys (in future when i got income)? Yes, if it is the 1.5 manual version and if i cant afford the mazda2. And if i can look pass those bit of quality niggles...

the lil' cottage chalet

2008-06-10T00:04:00.005+08:00

Fork n Spoon wrapped in red napkins, freshly cooked spagetti accompanied with tasty roasted chicken on the table, big pot of warm soup waiting to warm our stomach and lighted candles behind on the doorway warm up the heart. With this and big group gathered for dinner, it does reminds you of christmas isnt it?

Only that X'mas is half a year away...This is the OG gathering dinner, not forgetting Stella belated birthday.

Concepted weeks before amid exams, and put together in days right after the last paper, 5th of june was the day we saw the fruit of our labour. Looking at everyone happily gathered at the table for a homely dinner is the reward, and the belated birthday girl smile is the bonus. That's what that makes it worthwhile.

And the best feeling of all is knowing that you got a great team with you to make it happen. Alone you cant have brillant concepts on the theme and decoration & to actually do the deco, the knowledge of food to buy and the actual purchase and cooking, the idea on the gift and the actual making of it, and of cos, the actual clearing up and washing. And, those who willing to come down all way to the ulu ulu changi resort to make the "gathering" really like a "gathering".

The soup warms the stomach, but is the thought of all these that really warms you up. Thank you guys and girls!

(1)...the feast... (2)....the belated one.... (3)....believe it, camera was on a inverted paper cup... (4)..the wishes "enlighted".

---------------------------------------------------------

WISHing for the taxi?

Yes, here is the ever-present-evoxiang.blogspot-talks-about-the-car-he-drove time again.

This time, it's a toyota Wish. No intention to be a family man with a MPV; The toyota rush i booked couldnt be delivered on time in the last minute, so a discount was given for the Wish. That's what they say, unpredictability is risk but opportunity too.

And i'm glad i got the keys to it. Not only it saves the day when i got 7 passengers in the end, it was a comfortable car to cover great miles in ease. The supportive seats holds the driver in comfort, and 170Nm of torque makes expressway speed and overtaking really effortless. Not to forget that smooth and decisive 4spd auto gear. The gear stick itself, like the rest of the interior, is solid and well made in a typical toyota manner...built to last.

The car is heavy (1600kg), making it stable even at slightly above legal motorway speed. But heaviness also makes it very not nimble too; You know the acceleration is 'cos the engine got power but not 'cos the car is light. The steering is not as sharp as what we like too.

Low sitting position makes you forget you are in a 7-seater MPV, but visibility suffers; many times i have to sit up straight when driving thru tight places. A bigger side mirror is prefered, but guess that spoils the styling. 3rd row seats are not too hard to access and not too nasty to sit in, but passengers there sweated and cursed for the absent of cooling air there.

Worth a mention is that i broke my 24hours driving distance again; this time round is 340km (i slept for 1 hour only, within the 24 hr) Thankfully, the car returns 12.2km/l, which is really really good...considering that it is a MPV and 3 rows are occupied, and is a 1.8litre Automatic.

Now i understand why it was, at one time, the best selling parallel imported car in singapore...til the authorised toyota dealership cried.

But, if the fiat punto is a passion lover, then the Wish is the trustworthy business partner...When its time to say goodbye, you would hope to work with the reliable partner again but, you dont exactly miss him and feel sad.

340km...from sunset to sunrise...never felt like a Taxi as much as this before;^)

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Discovery channel

2008-05-31T14:23:00.006+08:00

Discovering Monkeys

I was fascinated when my dad, while watching the news, told me how in the 60's, merchants brought Monkeys out from Indonesia to Singapore, to be sold to Americans.

At the time when Apollo had a taste of Moon's crust, yup, sold to them for space research.

How true? I dont really know.

But how interesting it will be, next time if you come across those pictures showing how they used to experiment with monkey in space suits, and thinking that, well, that the monkey used to breath the same air as you. ;p

Discover Mcdonalds

Was studying in a mac the other day, and focus point came onto the McDelivery person.

To think of it, this is quite a brilliant idea by them... You recruit people to make trips with their own bike, thus, unlike the other food chain, you save on the asset purchase cost and depreciation of own fleet of bikes, and also the logistic trouble to management the fleet (dont forget, bike insurance more tricky than 4-wheels)

And yet, you dont lose your own corporate identity. While competitor put logo'd boxes onto the bike, you simply custom made Backpacks for the riders. Backpack is big and red with the yellow arc, miles away you knew it is mcdelivery. Identity retained, without customing their bike. And flexible too, having able to carry the entire thing upstairs, and also slot directly onto that waist level height counter for food to be inserted.

Numerical flexibility, check. Nicely thought and executed plan, check. A strong brand and service extension, check. ....only if they can make the fries less soggy after the journey...

Discover Airport

Here you are, at Airport terminal 1, bus terminal (no punning intended) . You just reached and saw the bus moving off, missed it by a margin. You knew that the next bus will take forever to come. You also knew that it has to pass through another security check at Terminal 2 entrance, and will stop at T2 for some time cos driver taking toilet break and checking in at office. Would you run over via sky train to T2?

There we are, after a tiring day of studying at airport, in the above mentioned situation. Within the split second, we decided, to make the run to T2.

So we did. Rushing up the escalator, squeezing into the front of sky train, wheaving through the crowd along the passage way, we reached T2 in minutes.....

And here's a quick Evoxiang.blogspot test of the day. If you missed a bus at T1 and attempted to catch up on foot at T2,

dont bother. you'll still miss it, miles apart.

(The worst yet to come.
Within minutes of waiting and panting at the T2 bus bay,
.....the second one came.)

Discover myself

After the conclusion of my second year of exams, i seem to notice a trend.

Those essay paper which i'm confident, i dont do well. Those i'm scared, i did better.

Last year I was anticipating to use great examples for IBM, and i crash thru it. I was worried for sociology, it end up as one of the better done pieces.

This year, I slept well before marketing, and it was a nightmare. I was prepared for a thunderstorm for HRM, in the end it was, not that bad as i thought, like a windy day only.

So with this logic, shouldnt i be scared about everything in life to do well?

"Low confidence is the key to obtain results".... eh, that not suggested in Human resource theories eh.

maybe i think too much bah. -_-"

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hot day + hot marketing + hotter bus

2008-05-10T11:29:00.010+08:00

Last sunday, few more days to the first paper, intensive studying.

The heat is rising in us, and true enough, singapore was very heated too. In the sense of the humid hot day.

Yes you saw it right. Outside temp: 36.5 C !! As warm as our body!

(Alright, the car manual claims that while travelling at low speed, the temp shown is slightly higher than the real one outside, so the actual can be around 35+ C... which is still damn high.)

Oh, that study area at UniSIM was not air con-ed.

So you got to get the fan to work. Believe me, when someone screws the settings it can take delicate fingers and lots of patience to get all 4 to spin.

Some frustrated, some tired but still smile, and some, falls asleep.

And when motion sensor cant detect us amd switch off fans & lights?

The magic arm saves the day, to get the fan back again.

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thanks to wl, got to try out her mazda2 for 15min. (That sunday night, same day at above)

What to say? Really great to drive, handling is as true as what's tested by the Australian mag.

Very responsive throttle,
Engine have mid-range gut which is good for over taking, (despite having 4 pax onboard)
smooth and rapid auto gear change,
nice weighted steering,
Balanced turn in and rigid body that flows with you...as nimble as your limps.
'cos of the weight saving high strength steel?

But how i wish the leather seat can be more gripper. Seems thicker than the non-leather one i sat in roadshow.
And there's no lummination on the auto gear at night, which led to me, the manual gear regular, ashamely forgot the order of PRNDS and was lost for a short moment. Only at HUD they show you which gear you are in now...

& Sadly, when it's good value at Aussie, this wl's Auto Spec-R example cost at much as a base Mazda3 1.6 auto. So hard to argue.

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HOT marketing...

OK, when the real time comes for the real exam paper to be taken, you dont exactly feel hot. Some get cold feet, you get what i mean. Me, having really read through many materials, and having known which is my strength, i'm guess i'm still ok...despite not having a good feeling after i woke up... 6th sense, 6th sense.

Which....my ok was put to an abrupt halt once the paper starts. Just 15mins into it, i was lost. What was thought to be the examiner's favourite topic and what gave me confidence...was not there, at all. I do know the rest i guess, but to think of it now, at that point of time the unsettled me cant think straight and chain of thoughts and writing was not smooth anymore...

15mins, and half the battle was lost.
Never felt so bad in a paper, like trying to crawl through mud.

What to do? That's the limitation of such courses.

No matter how brilliant or how bad you are in the past 1 year,
you screw that 3hours of essay paper, you are screwed.

Once the pen was ordered to be placed on table, it seems to be many people around me look troubled. True enough, friends complained the same problem.. "Cannot finish", "unsure what to write", "Q too general", etc etc.

Seems like the last line of hope now is moderation.

Other than that, Move on.
.....no more "if"s. Just "see how lor."

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How hard can it be, to move to the rear?

This is a really funny thing it observe always, while on bus. What really amuse me is that, abundants of seats (not standing space, but seats) are available at the rear, yet these people just like to crowd around the alighting door.

OK lor, you crowd there, new passengers who board follows/dont bother/too shy to squeeze past, newer passengers stack up to the front door, and even newer passengers cant board the bus at the stop, cos there's no space to enter. When the rear is empty. I repeat, empty with seats.

And what's even more amusing is that from my random observation of samples, 70% of the time such person fits the profile of School girls in uniform with a very big backpack (school bag). Dont ask me why, but it's always so.

The best part is, while some adults who does this did it with that type of attitude that "it's my right to stand here", these girls do rather troubled when they realised that they are blocking passengers who are alighting, and will try to shift quickly for them to alight. After which, move back to the same point at the door, when they still have several more stops to alight.

Why? why dont you just take that seat there, so you wont have to block others?

Oh, our bus companies have those new Euro4 buses that have even more standing place right? At times, it seems worse on them. 'Cos a seat is defined as 1 seat, while place to stand for one pax...well, have no defined area. So MORE crowding occurs. MORE standing nearer to the driver...while, i repeat, there are seats behind....

This not a new issue it seems, 'cos i heard from my dad that at those good old days in the 70's, people do also crowd around in front. But back then, bus drivers would shout out loud in hokkien along the line of:
"Move back lar! Behind got ghost arh?!"

Today? In the era when bus drivers had been given a punch by passengers, you think that is possible again?

Maybe they should get promoter to give free Red Bull at the rear of buses. Or paste at the rear 4 lucky digits for Wed, Sat and Sun.

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council memoir + WQ bday photos is up

2008-04-25T14:30:00.004+08:00

That day, as I was transferring photos to some friends, I open the video file which i havent watched for a real long time.

Yup, it's the video for the council invest. File modified date: 18 july 2003.

More than 5 years ago. Surprising I look young. Everyone look so young too. Full of energy, and fun.

And fun is the key word. Although the term is only a short 12months, to think of it we had done so much so much, creating much memories.....Every scene, every image in the video, i remembered something about, recalled the stories behind them. It was so overwhelming for that 10mins.

5 years later at now, I realised, or rather, thought of a possible reason for it. Back then, we were all so highly motivated. Breaking free of all guidelines from the senior of previous batches, every event was given the freedom to develop. Plus as council, many big or small event of the school had our involvement, so the range was pretty wide...

So one after one we did it, with the motivation, spirit and creativity, creating stuff in events that had never been done before. All those games in orientation with unthinkable logistic, that fire ball that slided down to ablaze the camp fire, that one and only Amazing race around Singapore, that trip to recce Pulau Ubin and the amazing junior's training camp which was held there eventually...

Myself also, the first ever i get to shoot vid with derrick and make short clips, that was compiled into a full length VCD...

In short, nothing was pretty much impossible. Whatever idea generated, it was executed. Sky was the limit, that why possibly it could be the first time some of us had achieved so much. Very rewarding, very fulfilling, very special, and satisfying. And where i found my confidence back..

All in 12 months...Bonding was there, everyday you would just look forward to go that sofa in council room to chill with the guys, whom had travelled with you thru the difficult times and created so much exciting achievements with you....

....Quickly it came, quickly it was over. Exams came, and it was enlistment.

After it was all over, everyone moved on in life. Now while some guys are moving on towards higher achievement (SL made it to America), some other carried on with a mundane working/schooling life.

I tried to find back the feeling again in the club in my current uni now, but it was totally different. No such bonding, no such sense of achievement. Just carried out the event to make it pass.

....which was a good thing isnt it? At least it shows that the great memories are irreplaceable.

...

The day after i watched the vid, there was a notification on my facebook account, inviting to join the SR council group. Thank you to the person or group who created it. This is really very nice.
...very nice to remind yourself of the great times of the past so you can continue to motivate yourself to move on and to greater heights.

This blog is called "learning to reach top of my world", isnt it?

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Wan Qi 21st Birthday pix are all uploaded to facebook!

Ah, this is seriously overdue. No choice, cant send my yousendit cos my current month bandwidth is reaching the limit soon. And with almost 200 shots and clips, it cant fit.

So perhaps next month then i send out the video clip. Now, you can browse thru these galleries first ;)

Facebook photo album -- Wan qi 21st bday
part 1 -
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24351&l=c4820&id=645531772
part 2 -
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24352&l=2ebe1&id=645531772
part 3 -
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24353&l=53a25&id=645531772

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calculative calculator.

2008-04-15T18:28:00.006+08:00

the truth is out.

Now we know the real reason behind the banning of our beloved scientific calculator..

Today, we had an unique, but rather nice maths lecture. Instead of just keep showing the answer of the practice paper, the overseas lecturer spent a portion of the time on the approach to the theory and questions. And some other time talking how him, if in shoes of a student now, rather failing this subject and learn how to use Excel spreadsheet...

Which is pretty true. How much of these maths methods will be tested in our work life, while how much more relevant will be the use of spreadsheet and etc will be? For something that we have to punch into the calculator for 10 mins and draw a big big table to compute, the Forcasting can be done in seconds with a spreadsheet.

That leads to this point: He shared our disbelief regarding the decision by uk side on "use-only-basic-calculator". Simply because, the real reasons behind their rational was that:

...they felt students in some parts of the world may be in a disadvantaged position as they could not afford a scientific calculator...

Right.

When all students around the world paid around 300pounds just for examination fees (not inclusive of other registration fees)，

is it possible that they cannot afford a scientific calculator, that cost 10, 15 pounds (S$30) ??

As quoted from this lecturer, we are all "progressing backwards", so might as well we are told "to use strings with beans" for calculations.

oh, how i love the way they speak.

.

zai... (steady, good)

2008-04-10T23:34:00.007+08:00

Convocation. How weird.

Last thursday, Jinie had her convo, finally. 9 months after she finished her last paper, and 7 after her grad.

So the atrium was converted again, with warm carpet rolled over the cold marble floor and warmed up by the even warmer buffet food. Definately a warmth and happy moment for every grad there with their family, that thunderstorm outside not damping any of the happy mood...

Of cos, considering how hard is it to survive this 3 years (or more) course.

And I do felt happy for my good old pal Jinie too, see-ing her back again, with her achievements.
Happily she went around, taking photos of everything. Yes, LTs, lounge, the gate, and even that new-to-her escalator.

Not everyday you see people taking photos of everything in school I guess. What always seem as a normal sight to you will suddenly be very beautiful on the day of convo. That level 1 area with the backdrop of the 4 storey high corridoors now look very significant. Or is it the rain?

And that green gate on that suppose-to-be main entrance, which few people walk through daily. Untouched and out of sight normally...This normal piece of fitting became a great photo view on the convo day where many took their shots against. Some guy even pull it out more to take more of it.

Through out her family followed along everywhere for the photos. Especially her dad, who was always known to be fierce. Not very approachable, we heard. But that day, he was in high spirited mood, smiling always and kept on suggesting possible shooting angle, and cracking that occasional joke. Very proud of his daughter. Which is a very great sight.

Happy time indeed, but in mind was in sort of a different tune.
Her mind was feeling "how great it was to be schooling, not working..."
while mine was "how great it was not to be schooling, but working..."

How weird. Only at Conovaction.

Nevertheless, Jinie, glad you made it!! Jia you on your career..

When's mine?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Unexpectedly, I made a trip down to bukit batok the day before, via bus.

Yes, bus. Alone.

Which really inspired something out of me... I do really like the feeling of exploration on foot.

Indeed, the place was really like a foreign land to me. Having lived in the North East region for my life, and only been to major West side landmarks, this neighbourhood was the few unventured portion of singapore.

Yet when having to travel down there alone and arriving on a totally unfamiliar place, it wasnt fear or confusion that struck me. Instead, what overwhelmed me was the sense of fascination. It is the desire to explore every inch of a new place.

Journey on bus to the interchange was interesting enough. Where else can you see one big block of hill immedately next to a HDB block of flat, neighbourhood and schools built on a slightly contoured hilly land, with woods everywhere? The town look distinct to be called its own.

And the interchange. A departure from the norm SBStransits ones we always see in our region. Contrasted to the dark Bishan interchange, this one is brightly lit up with that 80's style rounded lamps hanging on that airy tall ceiling. And leading onto the above of the tail ceiling are those tall climbing stairs which looks as those bwlow the platform of Kallang stadium...

Perhaps all these small details fascinates me, that how i get excited. And perhaps that's why I desire exploring new places or taking that untried route, 'cos i will always have new sights.

That's how we conquered Hong Kong 2 years back, walked all the way down Kowloon on our own. And only armed with a MTR map, we even ventured into the less tourist-ly but more residence New Territories...

....Jet Star flies to Melborne @ $58 (w/o tax)....now my eyes really lit up.

Pardon the lousy angle, but here you can see bits of the description i made...

So, what you do for? Well being or results?

2008-03-25T23:01:00.006+08:00

"Nissan GTR vs Porsche 911"...
flip thru any recent car magazines, and chances is that this will be the headline you see... For the benefit of many, Nissan GTR is new sports car launched recently, which re-writes many records and created, sort of, a new legend. A new technological milestone, and fascinates every petrol heads worldwide.

Not that I'm not fascinated by it (had drool over Youtube abt it racing at nurburgring), but rather, i'm more interest about another car currently... it's the Mazda 2. Although it seems like another ordinary 5 door hatchback made for the masses, there's more to the car. Another rule-book rewritten, probably.

While every car had increased in size and weight with every successor, the Mazda 2 is one of the rare one that actually grew smaller and lighter by 100kg, as compared to the previous model it replaces. That's something difficult, because new cars developed nowadays have to meet with increasing tougher crash test (so heavier structure), more consumer demands (so more equipment installed) and less environmental impact (so cleaner engine, less fuel used)

And be lighter is indeed a solution to the problem of pollution... Forget the complex Hybrid system you see in the Prius... Just by reducing the weight of the car, it will need less power (drink less fuel) and become more agile (more fun to drive) . A simple solution, which is not easily done.

Yet those passionate guys at Mazda took up this route. In order to achieve this, the engineers used high strength steel which gives less weight, and reduces weight of everything in the car..including that mirror and stereo speaker, to save 1+ kg. Unneccessary items such as reading lights and hand grip are omitted too. Which gave us that total weight saved.

Brilliantly engineered, great handling, and a proud japanese styling...But did consumers appreciated that? It had received many awards and recognition form the automobile-media world, as the top 5 in Europe's car of the year and Australian 'wheels' mag car of year top 3, but does the consumers know about it? Would the buyer be informed about the weight lost benefit? Rather, what they would care is about the interior hard plastic, the more expensive price, insurance, and those items that they had ommited. And it will not be a fuel effecient car to them, as the Honda Jazz had already been identified as the fuel saver, and mazda is perceived as the drinker.

On the other hand, what is selling like hotcakes are cars that have a well known brand name, spacious, reskined but uses a outdated engine, old auto gear, and heavy. Better still, if the price is low, you dont even need the brand name. That's how those budget car sells, despite being loosely designed and poorly built.

Green car? Perception are, not the light weight one, but one that openly state themselves as one. That is why hybrids are perceived as the world saver when it still drinks as much on motorway, and use much more materials to manufacture, while fuel saving diesels are still not accepted here.

Isnt some events in life similiar too? Many times what deserves the attention and credits are not rewarded. Rather, winners are those who put the effort in whichever areas where the attention is at and which are perceived as the correct thing.

Does an examination really test our knowledge? That first class score do not imply that you know every thing in the subject and is passionate about it; it happens that what you knew well came out. Meanwhile, that true good student did not argue well enough for that question, so thus not so good scores. Like wise, a good car is not the best selling. The best selling one is one that ticks the consumers' box.

And just like car makers needing that sales level to survive, we need that examination score to survive. What it takes is not passion and study with interest, but hitting the correct point and doing it correctly for the examination.... which doesnt quite match the initial intention for further quest for knowledge isnt it?

Anyway, who will really go for studies nowadays for quest of knowledge? Many did a degree 'cos you need it to progress in society, and did business 'cos there's no other better choice.

.....and i'm doing all these so that i can earn enough to buy the under-rated but brillant Mazda2.
How ironic.

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The SUN issue..

2008-03-16T01:10:00.004+08:00

Just yesterday, i got the chance to ride/guide in a rented car.
No prizes for the correct guess, but it's the Fiat Punto again. For the 4th time.

But, i'm not complaining, 'cos it's still a brillant car in my opinion... and this one is the Skydome variant.
...or in Fiat-speak, the sun roof version.

Which is great! It brightens up the car cabin, making it more airy and fresher. In a nice clear day, pop it open and enjoy the fresh air....you do not need to pay high price for a cabriolet to enjoy this benefit. And with the wind defuser, it wouldnt gushes in to mess up your hair.
Just drive below 80kph and it's not noisy.

This two pieces of glasses plus all the mechanism does add more weight, and that's why the car seems to feel slightly heavier when accelerating as comparsed to the previous 'normal' punto i had driven. This time steering does feels less sharp...or is it just me?

Beyond that, this is still a true italian car. From Fiat to Alfa Romeo to Ferrari, they produce fantastic sounds. The Punto's 1.4 8v engine growls superbly great and eager..and even better when rev up hard. It simply feels so alive.

The soul brightens me, but i'm sweating: This rental car was, gotten at the wrong time. First night it was raining non-stop (with singapore at record low 22C degree, til i thought the car thermometer was spoilt) so the roof wasnt opened much. Next day it was hot and shining blindly bright, which the glass created greenhouse effect (even with the sun screen fully drawn). And some one before us broke the aircon fins! Which means aircon could not reach the driver seat at all! What a hot sauna!

So conclusion...with the good equipment level, looks, engine vocal and low end power, and low 2nd hand price, this car seems like a good buy. And this skydome sun roof does serve as a great sweetener, adding that level of sophistication and breeze. Just please, tint the glass more, coz singapore is a sunny island.

the car with opened top......the entire length of sun roof....and that sun.

On the other hand....

Here's the scenery that greeted as i step out of kelvin's residence today.
Snapped it down with my phone immediately.

Seems to tell....no matter what, the sun is always behind the clouds.
Move on, step on, and the rays will guide you to the ulimate brightness.

Symbolic isnt it?

admin admin

2008-03-12T18:05:00.003+08:00

Just realised that, so it is possible to view photos on Facebook, even if you are not a member...

Since i really havent been using that yahoo photo thingy and had moved on to facebook photos, here are links to the Public pages of my photo albums there....for the benefit of the guys and gals who are not facebook members....and insisting on not signing up ;^)

15th SC gathering 28dec07

OG11 Chalet 19dec07

OG11 Chalet (album 2)

OG11 CNY visits 2008 (p1)

OG11 CNY visits 2008 (leg2)

Steamboat @ wen ling hse -- p1

Steamboat @ wen ling hse -- p2

....that's means too that in future, with any new photos, you will see a link here.
Certainly, requests for Zip file of original photos are still accepted. All original photos are fit for 4R size developing.

from...the east to the west, to east, west, east, west, east....

2008-02-17T22:44:00.006+08:00

This is it. Probably the first ever OG11 Chinese New Year Tuang Bai ("inter-visiting", if u insist on the translation) was held on last friday, 15th of Feb 2008, from 8am til 10pm. Covering over 150KM and 6 houses over various parts of the country, it was a fun filled day.

....Alright, I got carried away. Exaggerating language aside, it was indeed a fun day packed with travelling and looking at each other houses (and bedroom). And not forgetting too making it damn damn early by 8am to Liwen's @ hilly Bukit Batok so that most of the people can gather to register for Revision Classes online...And how with 5 laptops and "wall chart" it felt like Soccer/Horse Bet taking...And how hard we laugh and how high we got while playing card (21points)...And how much more we knew about each other after view each other child photos, meet family members and/or living environments...

Certainly a memoriable day.

Thanks thanks again, for everyone there, to "make it happen". ^-^

Any regrets? Two in fact.
One...Me forgetting totally to show the guys the recorded food show about SIM foodcourt (plus Joe's face inside)....not entertaining well 'enuff..

Two...No group photo of everyone taken. So, nothing to show here ;p
(Thankfully, bit and pieces of everyone is still available in abundants. Check out my photo album on FAcebook to view the wonderful journey ^-^ )

The Dual Purpose Car

No review this time round 'cos.....

Yup, it is the exact same car i rented previously on my 3year anniversary last July. Gotten it again this time 'cos it affordable, and more importantly, the memories attached to the car fits nicely for Valentime Day (my date is the night before the Tuang Bai)

For the car, the feeling of getting the same keys back again is like meeting an old flame. After she left she probably had gotten stronger than the last time, but she had gone thru abuses too...the engine is smoother now, but there's bad bents on the body, slightly misaligned bumper, and missing parts. Guess this is the inevitable life of rental car.

Anyway, driving this Manual variant again makes me fond of the car even more. Still appreciate the stable ride thanks to the chassis, the excellent equipments and trip computer, and the torque-ful yet frugal engine. Indeed something which i might buy with my own money...

So for 24hours, i guess i had utilitised it to the brink. I covered 279km...which is really really far. With my new found intelligence i pumped octane 92 petrol this time, and it only drank 20litres of those...thus it had made my date and gathering possible, allowed me to enjoy every minute of the journey in comfort, and yet not burning a big hole in my pocket. Sweet.

Dust, Dirt and Debris ...all on chinese new year

2008-02-08T23:54:00.000+08:00

Which are all, not a bad thing, you will soon find.

First, I should wish everyone reading this here a Happy Chinese New Year! (slightly belated)
May all goes well & smooth for everyone, especially to all the OXs, 'cos this will be a year of good luck, as the predict. Let's cheer ;)

Dust:

On the new year eve, I had decided that the world's dustiest car is not one that been thru Sahara, but those that are sitting on my glass cabinet.. So a big clean up was done.

- Clear'd 'em up and wipe it all through..
- Follow along the arrow and you see the contrast. This is how much dust they accumlated.
- Car of the year 1995...all happen'd to be in a "magazine-mega-photo-shot" pose

As i clean 'em this thought came into my mind. Cleaning 'em on the eve also symbolise clearing up all on my old bad stuff for the past year. Looking forward to a "clean spot-free" great year of rat ahead...bah!

Debris..?

Earlier was with family @ Riverside Hong Bao, on Padang/Merlion park. Happened to be near the time of the fireworks, so we settled down next to the Merlion herself to wait for the show. Just nice, got my camera with me. And thankfully for the Stabliser, still can survive without tripod.

So you can see from the images here, it started pretty well, with the first few shots (left) capturing decent fireworks. But soon it look like Laser/sparks/rockets (centre) ...and eventually my shots just look like one big explosion (last) ...Think i still need tripod. Stabliser 'got' fooled.

There's more. Fireworks was being shot from the Esplande Dr bridge, which's really near to fullerton. So as i shot, the by-product of firework + smoke all flew and landed on all of us...prompting several (included my dad) to attempt to leave the scene of landing before it ends.

Seems like this is what you call multi-sensational...'Sight', 'Hear', 'Touch' & 'Smell'...perhaps even 'Taste', for those kids/aunties looking high up and "wow" with mouth wide open.

Lesson learnt: Bring a tripod and stand far away.

Maybe...on the other hand, see-ing these sensation as some blessing might make one feel better. Just like how many gathered around the giant replica of "God of wealth" waiting to be rain'd with the golden pieces he spews out at intervals.

Dirt..!

Okay...not exactly dirt here, just the amusement i got today as we found Cat Paw prints all over our van. Apparently some meows had climbed from the side, rolled on the roof, and made a descent via the windscreen last night. Last but not least, this dish is decorated with a touch of a bird faeces on the right. How sweet, for a vehicle which was cleaned one day before.

Very interesting, for a blessing by Cat on the first night of year of Rat. Is the Cat jealous? ^-^

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the path out of comfort zone..

2008-01-26T01:01:00.000+08:00

Last week, i was at a friend's birthday chalet at Aloha Loyang. A friend of her called and was asking for directions to her unit. This person, who was lost, wasnt too far away; she was just minutes away at the Reception office. Not being familiar she did not know the way, and my friend too had a hard time describing the way. In the end her boy ran there to bring her in.

Small incident, but it did made me think about it. Actually, if that girl tried to explore around and walk further from the reception, she would have found that the bungolows ran down in order, and thus definately found that unit without guidance. But she didnt.

Just like our daily life. We are given so many opportunities every day to make decisions, and several are never tried before options. Because they are unknown choices, just like that girl who was not familiar, we didnt venture into it. And who knows? It might not be as hard as we thought and we would have yield some benefits out of it. Or saved money or time. ...Just like going to new places/countries to tour or just take up a job offer.

The fact is because people normally do not go beyond their comfort zone. The reception area was the comfort zone to that girl, by exploring beyond there into the darkness (it was night) she would have hit regions of unknown and might get lost. Likewise, what we always do or what other had always done is the comfort zone -- it had been tried and tested. That new job offer might be hard; that financial investment have risk; that driving trip to malaysia might be dangerous.

But so what if that girl ventured and was still lost? She could have re-tracked and went back to that reception area to seek help again. Or simply called for help at where ever she had reached. At least she had taken the opportunity to try. However, similiarities end here and life is not so simple anymore. The job is bounded by contract, you do shit and be stuck for long period; The risk of that investment burnt a big and painful hole on your savings; the trip ended up on accident, injuries, or even robbed and mugged. That's why you cant say just try it.

So are we all going to play safe forever? No of course...we would try to see the risk level and measure the amount i can lose. And certainly that is based on the level of commitment/responsibility we have now. No wonder when my dad was young he tried everything; as a old married man he fears anything.

Or perhaps that why they say "ignorant is bliss"... the less you are aware of the risk the more you dare to try.. and who knows, some are lucky, and do yield something.

Unlucky ones? Learnt it from the hard way.

.

Is JX's msn dead?

2008-01-17T19:52:00.000+08:00

Seen this sight always? Well... my MSN is not dead. Just that i really had not been online for a real long time. Guess i had been missing out alot on interacting with friends and stuff.

Sometimes i do really hope to be there, but whenever i'm online it's either awhile or at more uncommon timing... Or simply really not enough time...The last time i spent the entire night just surfing net and MSN-ing was NS days..

So via the net is this blog became the way to communicate? It's rather passive, in my opinion... Interaction is really welcome'd, do leave a msg on your thoughts on my posts/views if it's debate-able or simply if you like it (i do hope you like it!)

Hence... here's what been in my mind since my last post. Some are sensible, others are sense-less.

1) Handphone = no more headache liao.

My dear O2 PDA phone made me realise this... Buying a phone is like buying a car... Buy something popular like a Honda, its easy to sell it. Buy something infamous or rare, like some budget asian car, it's either it loses her value overnight, or dealer simply dont even want it.

Yup my phone belong to the latter. After almost 4months of usage, i gave up. It drank batteries for breakfast and dinner til the charger is my best companion; it sleeps and never wake up and left phone call coming in without records; and in the last days it rejects all my calls for me and tells me it's a "miss call"...til friends thought i hate them.

With people selling on Online auctions $300SGD, i was optimistic at first... Until i went to handphone/PDA shops, where they offered $150 highest without looking... others say "no". One even said "please dont sell to me?" ....seems like it's a nightmare to sell this second hand phone, which still fetch almost $600 brand new now at Sim Lim...

Singtel's trade-in price of $200 looked very attractive instead, and there it goes... And out came a Nokia N81 at a very "affordable" price after trade-in. Phew...

I'm back to Nokia then. Why do i need to make myself suffer with crappy sound, poor battery life, useless camera quality, bimbotic and unstable software? I might have lost the excellent Windows Mobile ability to add and customise software, but that was for me to customise the Empty OS to have functions, which were already there in a Symbian OS when in factory.

So lesson learnt: Dont jump into purchases next time simply because it is cheap @ IT fair.

And may my new Nokia last me for 3years.
.......no more line to sign contract in the family liao.

2) i'm in car magazine mailbox!

Only an inspiration at that moment, i wrote an e-mail into carma (singapore local car magazine) regarding some issues....and i got my mail published as the "mail of month". The joy of having the recogition is simply marvelous...

Hoping my ability can match my passion, and i can achieve more in future...

My mind ask... So is it realistic or just another "building-castle-in-the air" day dream? Only the future knows.

3) i want a non-basic basic calculator

...before the future reaches, let's handle the current problem now instead. As those local students in the UOL courses know, last year some one in london had banned everyone the use of scientific calculators...No, not those F-maths Graphic calculator, but our beloved scientific calculators that had seen us through O and A-levels ( Poly too for some people) Only basic calculators now.

No big deal you may ask, the basic "provision-shop uncle's" calculator should be ok. It might seem so, but no anymore when you lost the brackets and fraction key. Try one on any o-level maths paper and you get the idea.

Was doing management mathematics recently and me and my friend are going crazy. The sums are so long (data analysis of a 8x8 grid) with '+' & 'X' are everywhere. No brackets means doing them all individually and if one is wrong, there's no reverse key... you got to repeat the damn thing again. Fractions? Convert it yourself. And having happily using the calculator to find tan30 & cos60 for 6 years, it mean re-memorizing the tan cos sin table again. Arghh!

Hence, a new task is born. Weekend shopping now includes task of finding a basic calculator that have Brackets and Fraction keys....if it exist.

If it exist, i'll be getting the world down to buy it. Or even buy in bulk and sell it during Bazaar for a profit. Imagine how many lives will be spared. How many tears and sweat will be saved.

Or even get all the thousand over candidates to write a petition in to Sharp/Casio...for a customised Basic calculator with Brackets and Fractions. And it must have rubberised silent keys so not to annoy others at exam. Must have OFF key and Solar power too so it wont die on us during our once-in-a-lifetime (almost) exam. It must have all that allow us to calculate Basically efficiently and effortlessly...and still be called as a basic calculator.

If all else fails, then may I master the basic Aurora i have on hand now and....stop complaining.

The old but now defunct Sharp EL-546...miss it.

4) i want to drive to cameron

In new Nokia phones, there's Nokia Maps, which is actually Navigator for those phones with GPS. Even without GPS, it's still useful, coz it serve as a street directory with Petrol Kiosk ATMs etc locations stored and can even simulate a navigation of a route.

Having downloaded Malaysia and Singapore maps (FOC ^-^) into it, I was playing with it one lazy morning and realised....i'm fascinated with M'sia routes.
Perhaps it was influenced by thoughts of the possibilities of driving trips up north in future...that's something which i always been wanting to do, but unable right now.

First one should be to Genting. More than 350km, 4hours of driving. And that 22km route up mountain.
The last time i been up there was more than a decade ago. Hopeful the next time i'm there will be in car?

That should be a practise, cos the next one that always linger in my mind is Cameron Highlands.
More than 500km, 7+hours of driving, with 1+ hour just on going up the mountain
(around 50+ km according to nokia maps)

This type of journey is what good cars are engineered for....
....and for drivers to enjoy the journey and the destination... My sist was there (via coach) and is still in love with the perfect weather, sights and trekking.

Last one should be Penang i supposed? 600km away...and is really far. Browsed with button on the phone and found many interesting places within the island, including a Hotel which has the name "singapore hotel"... Worth a try.....when i'm really really seasoned.

But the major problem is, even Genting is not some where "i-say-today-i-go-tomorrow"... You will really either need huge Budget or huge Balls to go in a rental car. So that is reserved til I hold the keys to my very own set of wheels.

And i need a co-driver certainly too. Getting caught in a local jam for 2 hours kills me already, let alone a continuous 7hours one. Who will be that person? Anyone?

Nevertheless, all these shall only remains as part of my fanastication now. And imagination via Nokia maps.

When that day comes you will know....or perhaps, you? or you? or you?? ...might be driving with me?

.

The big 15th SC gathering.

2007-12-29T23:29:00.000+08:00

Years since SRJC ended : 4 years
Time since the last SC gathering: > 1.5 years
Period of time kent took to organise: 3 weeks
Time taken for me to get down to Heerens : 1 hour (horrible jams)
Cost of dinner on that table : $12

Having almost everyone which you havent seen for a long time on the same table :
Priceless & un-measurable.

This is the 15th Student council gathering, after a long break. Last night, 28dec 07, at Orchard Heerens Vila'ge.

Was really glad to be there, just sadly I was tired before it and had to rush back earlier than my normal timing.

Still, many Kudos once again to Kent for making it happen! To have more than half of total 25 SCs to attend is really good.

Hope the next one comes soon!

Great little chalet + SF Drive of life

2007-12-22T23:37:00.000+08:00

I always like chalet with good friends. Not only there's unlimited time for the night and no need to rush back, you can just spend all the time talking, playing, and achieving stuff that you cant do normally. Cue in the recent SIM og11 Chalet and you tick all box above.

Held on wed 19th dec at Costa Sands, it was not a big place. But as the first ever chalet with the guys, it was great fun. 1 hour plus after check in and we were on the road: first for dinner at Old airport road, next the surprise birthday for guan hui (kelvin's famous line to Guan: "we bring the chalet to you", to send liwen back and lastly CCK for supper for that famous Kou Loh Yok Rice.

There was 2,3 cars all the time, that's why such trips was possible. And such was what i always been looking forward (and hoping) for... a parade of cars to bring the entire group all around to many places which is normally inaccessible and activities normally not possible.

And Guan hui & raymond birthday cake too; guess it was really a surprise for both of them. Imagine stepping out of your house at 11pm to see 12 friends in 3 cars (aka wedding day) at your doorstep. Plus when earlier you gave unit number cos someone told you you got a job..that's a white lie.

And the process on the road when wenling have to follow my car (cos she unfamiliar with east) . The excitment of trying to make sure she can follow me, and same time think of the route, and them following and thinking why i went by the wrong way. (which happens again en route to Bukit batok, that i really screwed the route ;p)

And finally finding the Roy's much anticipated pork rice at CCK. A really very malaysia old style restaurant by the road side ( somewhere which i didnt even know it existed) we tasted the rice + lime juice ....to find that it was, well, not too bad.

And later back in chalet, all the PS2 games they played, the exciting poker card games that made them high (i was bathing, damn) and lastly them waking up to watch sun rise that didnt appear that morning (i was too tiredly asleep ;p )

All the little things sum up to a great and memorable event, to him (gh raymond roy), me and others i believe.

Really, my stable life never had been so happening, all in a night. That's why i like chalets.

When's next?

The wedding aka birthday surprise team.

------------------------------------------------------------

Next day there's more for me. Having passed her licence, the car keys was handed over to Shufang and I became the driving instructor with great responsibility: To train up this new green horn.

But hey, i'm really proud. Months of encouragement and anticipation and now your own guided girlfriend is driving you...this feeling is indescribable.

Yes it's an Auto, but it wasnt easy to manage the traffic too, especially having to learn to move from the L-plate 40kmh to the normal driving 70kmh on roads. I got an Auto so there's no clutching to distract in this learning stage.

Overall, she's good. Warmed up fast, minus some steer guide at tricky parts she can do it...as long as it's not night. Well, cos she did not had any lessons during night previously. And parking wise...i better not mention it first ;p

But no worries, cos this is certainly not the last! More cars are coming up whenever time and finance are ok, and me this instructor will have more to be busy with ;)

This is my salary: Joy.

----------------------------------------------------------

The hardworked car. Honda Fit 1.3A

Why i had gotten this Fit this time is for 2 reasons: Emotional attachment, and fuel.

Emotion because this is a car which was closely associated with shufang, so as her virgin drive, there's not other better alternative. And since i cant get a diesel during this season of historial high petrol price, this perceived most fuel efficient car, fits (no punning intended) the bill.

So how was Honda fit like?
1) Got to mention first this wasnt in the best condition. Suspected been abused thus engine bearing was loose, the engine rattle like a Washing Machine whenever it moved off....So performance and our ears suffered.

2) But that aside, the handling is good. Having driven the Honda City (sedan version) which was happily sailing and lifting on motor way, this hatchback is so much more stable on motorway. Steering is light and precise, plus the excellent visibility, this is a very relaxing car to drive.
But steering been short of feel and slightly light on motorway took away the perfect feel for handling.

3) Performance wise, the 980kg weight does it merit. It has a rapid pick up from rest and power was there through out accelerating. But having a CVT gearbox, it doesnt like sudden accelerator input, else it just doesnt "bite".

4) ....which means for the auto-box, drive it smoothly and you will be rewarded with quick and very smooth gear change. (much smoother than the Fiat Punto!) Hooliegen driving is not for here.
Which ease of driving around town with this auto box did really sway me towards favouring auto car...damn.

5) And as a city car it really does it job well. Space is perfect inside. Leg room and head room are surprising in abundants, and the flexible seats made it the one of the most unique cars around. Flat fold rear seats as standard, you can even lift the rear bench upwards to throw in tall vertical items. You can also single handed-ly push the front seats forward from rear...very smart and convenient.
Storage space are perfect...I must mention it is really rare to find a hatchback (and even some bigger car) that can fit in my 0.8l bottle in the dashboard...There's accomdation for parking coupons display on dashboard, and even a slot on the door to fit in an entire a4 plastic box file. Tested and tried.

6) But sadly, the fuel consumption did not live up to expectation...The commonly accepted figure is around 18km/l, i expect 15km/l, but in the end it was....almost 12, only.
I could thought of the few explanation:
a) The car is on thicker aftermarket tyres + rims.
b) The car is aged and abused. See how the engine rattles?
c) The car is carrying 4 passengers at many times.
d) The driver is useless (that's me). Only found how to drive it smoother and slower on the day of return to rental shop.

Despite all, it's still a desirable car. Very easy to live with, Honda reliability and resale value, good looks, and (i still believe) the low fuel cost. The Fit/Jazz is having a high turnover rate on the re-sale market, being snatched up faster as compared to other makes; a Manual one is even more rare. (i visited Sgcarmart.com.sg)

So it's gonna live on my dream list as a even stronger competitor to the fiat punto now...rather, it had always been there.

.

Be clear with Clarity...yummy.

2007-12-16T11:56:00.000+08:00

It's been raining...and raining non stop recently, we got gloomy skies and gloomy guys (& gals). But here's a cafe in town, which the name does fit in... to "clear" and cheer people up with good food... and it is? Ms CLARity cafe.

Found through magazine reviews that gave good ratings, we decided to try it out. Located in 3 locations (all shophouses) of SG, this cafe does take some effort to find initially; but once found it's easy to go.

So how do they differentiate? As stated, they hope to bring Restaurant standard of dine in affordable prices. So certainly, the items are nothing but bland. Just like the item i got, the Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Cripsy chicken breast meat, stuffed with melted cheese and ham, and clothed with a sause. Being chicken breast, it will not get very XXXX NI as you eat, and yet it's not that hard as expected. And what I really like is the Kou Gan...as you bite the melted cheese lands right onto the centre of your tougue...complemented with the chewy chicken on the side. Splendid.
By the way it served with healthier roasted potato and veggies...although you can request to swap it with fries if you want.

The other dish my partner tried is this, the Red wine risotto with scallops. Cooked with abundance (almost) of Sallops, the rice is cooked in red wine...Which smells came rushing to you the moment the dish is served. And scallop is very fresh too. Certainly a dish that can fill you up, if that red wine didnt overwhelm you first.

Ambience? Simple yet cheerful and colourful. Evening time it will be filled by candle lights, with gives a nice warm glow, as you seen in the pix. Seats are not that abundant, so do go slightly earlier to avoid disappointment.

Price? Earlier you read the word "affordable", and it's really is. My item is $8.80 and all prices are NETT, that is no GST nor Service charge. Other ala carte meal course on the menu starts from $6+,7 , and you can add on $3 to make it a set with drinks dessert and starter. (there's even option of Ben and Jerry ice cream with additional fee) And if you do commonly find yourself asking for more plain water in cafes always, good news here cos they serve you one big jar of iced water right from the start...

In a nutshell, worth going. Try it.

No. 5 Purvis Street, #01-04 (Next to National Library)

Possibly the most unbelievable thing on earth

2007-12-07T11:56:00.000+08:00

Alright, the title is misleading of course. Most likely you might just say "Chey" at the end of this, but it's still unbelievable to me...but then, it's true...

Shufang had passed her driving. On the infamous Ubi circuit (as congested as India), with Manual car, Private Instructor, FIRST attempt. Oh yes, it's test route 7 (for those who knew it, the longest and toughest possibly)

And add on to anyone's insult, it's 12 points. Passing is 18, lower the better. I got 14, the others i knew is around this figure, or even 18 too.

Her instructor? Latest figures shows out of 31 students he took.....6 passed. Down from previous year's 7.

Further more she comes from a car-less family and no contact of motoring before...As matter of fact, just before she starts learning she still ignorant about the gear ratios....

Still, she done it.

After the entire morning of pacing up and down, the months and guiding and advicing and motivating, the joy of getting such results is really indescribable for both of us.... better than lottery.

But i still do hope lottery will come, coz as the start of a new phrase.....rental cars will be coming in. Now there's really more things to look forward to in life, for this considerably near future.

Yeah.

Now, who says we should seal one's fate before the test took place?

.

So, finally i been to KPE..

2007-11-26T17:58:00.000+08:00

....And found that the speeding limit is really strict.

1) This is recorded by SF, for your extra knowledge ^0^
2) As u can see here, everyone is moving at 70kmh exactly. So...
3) it captured the slowest lane changing by a taxi in Singapore, &
4) The most orderly queue of cars moving behind and next to me in Singapore.
5) And yet there's still tail gating despite all the slow motion...

Despite so, this new thing is really cool. Cant wait for the entire tunnel to open in years time...By then i can travel from my ulu tip to rochor seamlessly...shld be in my own car by then? hopeful?

.

Yes, it is sickening.

2007-11-18T00:12:00.000+08:00

Does all this happens to you too?

1) You knew something is wrong, and wanted to tell/warn your friends about it. But they wouldnt believe you, or they would be stronger in their arguement. So you chose to keep quiet simply b'cos you cannot argue. You cant support the facts, cant express strongly.
You can only wait til everything happen as what you had predicted, but even you can say "see i told you so" by then, nothing helps.

2) You knew someone was doing something not right. You wanted to just confront him and split everything out on the table. You should have done that cos all evidences are with you and it's a definate victory. But you cannot express/argue well. The person is good in twisting facts towards his advantage. In the end you kept quiet and lost it. And become an escaping coward.

Yes, I confronted someone before. Damn myself i cannot talk. I lost it terribly. And now for all that other events that followed i choose to stay quiet against them. On the fear of bombastic return fires that i cant simply handle. On the fear of lost.

It's not a good feeling ok. I cant be someone who ran away forever. But running is always the easiest yet hard way to do it.

I did mentioned this before:
"Knowledge is nothing without knowing how to express it"

...i'll expand on it now further: "Knowledge" is evidence, and "express" is to argue. So what if i knew everything? If i cant argue with my points i'm no worse than a fool.

If i can always support my thinking and points, i no longer need to live with my head down. No longer need to live in fear of losing. And escapes.

I better learn how to argue. It helps not only in all the damn essays, but everyday life.

Sickening.

.

A reason why go CDC to learn driving

2007-11-12T19:35:00.000+08:00

Yes we know the road there are terrible, but isnt this special?? No ordinary mouse or that irritating touch screen...

.....the "toyota vios" is in control under your palm....literally.
As much as many L-plate driver hopes.

....still, a nice one. Although it's just some corperate thingy?

Daily trips: Does it trickle madness?

2007-11-06T23:47:00.000+08:00

Was at facebook, saw this flyer ad for Tagxe, a SG community helping people to find others living nearby to share cab to cut cost. Followed link to the site (www.tagxe.com), whose humorous comparsion chart inspired this...

Do take a look there after here. Oh yes, the team is non for profit.

------------------------------

So, after spending considerable amount of time on travelling for the past 1.5 years to school, here some interesting or rather annoying observations...

Facts and Figures (Really-real time figures. Includes bus/train transfer timing)

Punggol to/fro SIM

Bus:
average : 1h 15m
fastest : 1h 5m
slowest : 1h 55m

Train:
average = fastest = slowest : 1h 25m

Car:
average: 45m
fastest: 40m
slowest: 1h20m

1) Despite some debates, the preferred mode of transport for me is still bus, over train. In my case the train takes longer during off peak and during peak i have to stand all the way for the entire 1.5hours. And cost more. And walk more. Simple b'cos my house is not next to the LRT station, let alone PG train station.

2) And for that high variation in bus timing, the weakest link is actually that bus 62, which is the only bus that move from Hougang to this part of Punggol. Waiting time can be as long as 25mins. All for a journey that last slightly more than 5mins.
My mum tried it once from somewhere in Sengkang, and swore to walk back ever since.

3) So if you add up all the worst cases' waiting-time together:

74 waiting : 15
62 waiting : 25
= 40 mins
= Time taken to drive home, all during the time when i'm not moving.

4) There's actually an express service 74e. But for a higher fee there's not much difference in timing simply b'cos....although it avoided all the jams on/after lornie rd, it plunge itself onto the long long long jam on PIE. And took a longer detour via thomson road.

5) Many guys experienced it right? The time you waited for the next bus is not neccessarily the amount of time you reach later. Sadly, that's the unavoidable fact about bus: traffic condition varies and affects it's timing.

For instance, once i took 74 at 7am, and i reach on 820am. Another day took at 6.50am, and reached at 7.50am.

Not forgetting buses overtaking each other. It can make you reach even later, or much earlier than those who boarded the earlier bus.

6) Which reminded me about what liwen told me before. When she was still going to SA back then, it's either that she arrived very early or late for school. Because by taking the one next train, she will see the connecting train leaving in her sight, and then misses again the connecting bus. .....Compared to mine, her case sounds worse.

7) So does this makes driving the king? No actually.
Despite the much faster overall timing (Morning 1h20m but at least on way home is off peak aka 40min) and the disapearance of waiting time, driving during morning peak hours is tough. Jams everywhere and everyone cuts their way through, demadning all time focus...while you are happily sleeping or munching into your breakfast on the bus.
And did i mention fuel is at all time high? Petrol now stands at $1.89 per litre, after discount. Compared to the $1.3/$1.4 of just couple of years back.

Conclusion? Seems like bikers have some edge here now. No jams, cheaper fuel, even cheaper parking (65c per day!) No wonder i know someone with ability to drive is taking moto test. Too bad i just dont have the guts, and not ever imagine my flu on the visor.

As a normal income kid, bus is still here to stay, no problems with that. Advantages are valid, and will hope for improvement in timing etc. And continue spot for the occasional special cars...or fall asleep.

.

Diesel Cars in Singapore: Is this hope?

2007-10-25T23:55:00.000+08:00

Spotted this R&D Volkswagen Passat TDI on bus, along AMK, 2 days back.

reads on the side: "Clean Diesel Power. Singapore research on Bio Diesel Fuel" or something.

Today on Lornie road, spotted another one with same words. But is a VW Toureg.
Overtakes traffic and flew up the flyover with ease.
Must be the V10 Diesel. Pooower.

.

The 22nd year of my life (ie: Birthday)

2007-10-25T23:44:00.000+08:00

Life is always about comparsion isnt it? Here one for you

21st bday : Big Aloha chalet, Big crowd, big budget, Lots of foods and options
22nd bday : Small chalet (aloha too), 7 pax, small budget and one steamboat.

But i'm not complaining. As a matter of fact, i enjoy it more. Planning is still involved but less intense. More importantly, less quantity = more quality. Quality time with quality people; how better can that be?

A thank you to the "old folks" there on 19oct. Especially those who squeeezed their time to come. Although everything including the program was damn simple, hope u guys had enjoyed the time, the food, and the company. ;)

....derrick, kent, dom, zw, sf....Not in pix, Wailing.

.....is aloha gonna be an annual booking?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

...And i gave myself a little Birthday Present..

Yes, the fiat punto again, this time in the semi auto disguise. Just nice for a small comparsion since after i had driven the manual previously 2 months back.

So how's my first time with something clutchless?

1) The usual: It's a godsend during traffic jams.
Especially when the clutch of the manual version is so hard to modulate.

2) ...But there's a tendency to shift later than what u want. Step only slightly harder it holds beyond 3k rpm. Not good for fuel.

3) Jerk during hard driving. So drive gently and leave it to it own device. Smooth is definately attainable, after I've gotten used to it.

4) Manual mode. Push it to right and select via +/.
Fun yes, but why is it in opposite direction? So unnatural to push forward to change up, when forces are pulling u back.

5) ...And if i'm not wrong, surprising manual mode not quick as real manual. I tried changing gear and lifting the accelerater as if it was manual, but i get jerks.
None if i release it longer. Is the change slow or sys confused? Didnt get to find out..

6) The standard car beeps whenever seat belt not fasten etc. Now, there's more stuff to beep about...: Not stepping on brakes while shifting to reverse, Not shifting to 1 when engine starts, Not shifting back from neutral when engines shuts, Not shifting to correct gear in manual, etc etc. The passengers and drivers are equally annoyed.

7) Advert claims that the Semi auto is more fuel saving than manual one. Result, auto 11.5km/l vs manual 13.2 .... Not quite it seems. But to give it some credit, i covered more smooth expressway kilos in the manual back then than this time.

Still, the rest of the car is still great. Bar the weaker built quality in glove box and some ergonomics niggles, it's : Stable, effortless, comfy, and uniquely striking looking. Just dont buy a black one. It blends away all her gorgeous curves.

-------------------------------------------------------

And i go straight to the point. One day before my chalet, I broke the bumper of the car.

It was really bad luck. The Punto was parked with butt over kerb, and we got the guy to transfer to rear seat. I didnt check before moving off, so the sunken back was being pulled out by the kerb.

KRAAK it went. It crumbles with my heart. Sounds like exactly the same as my previous accident with that van and taxi.

Broke the assembly on the outer side of bumper, and broke too the plans for the night. Oh yes, the car was only 2months old from registration. Guess how obivious is the damage.

But what memoriable was what happens next.
We spent the next 2,3 hours trying to fix the bumper. We went on kneels to inspect, analyize, and fix.
Even to search on the ground of any dropped parts.

Honestly, i would really really be lost if i was alone. No question asked, no fingers pointed, just fix the problem together. I really appreaciate it.

After rushing to kelvin house for tools and eventually amk hub to buy that special screw, it was being put back.

If only the car wasnt that new and shop wasnt that sharp, we could have sailed through it.

The misalignment gave it away. And we were $180 poorer.

NEvertheless, thank you very much.

Not in order of merit: Kelvin, GH, Raymond & WQ.

.

Live for life.

2007-09-30T12:25:00.000+08:00

Quoted and summarised from an article i read somewhere:

We always give nicknames to other peers during our childhood days don't we? And many labels are always based on the characteristics we view of others, like 4-eyed chicken or fat boy or blur sotong. As much as they disagree, time and time again it became an acceptance, something they grew up accepting it as what they are.

And that's how it became; We view ourselves as not what we think we are, and not what people hope we are; Rather, we are, other's perception of us, in our view.

....and it's different from what people really think we are. Back to that children's example, labels/nicknames could be given on the instance. Not something from the heart; yet to the person in limelight it possibly had went into his heart. That's how such "small" things stick with that person for a long time.

Pretty negative? At times i do agree. More sad is how some people had carried the label on and gave up on his/her life. That shouldnt be the way; we only live for the people that cares for us right?

Easier said to be done, that's why at times i do really admire those who can persist to think who they are in their own idea, unaffected by everyone's view around them.

...Especially when all individuals are part of a society, learning and getting "ideas of living" from all members of the group. That's how we know how a man should behave, vice versa for girl, for instance.

So, how did they do that?

.

The power issue

2007-09-22T13:17:00.000+08:00

The power of our body.

Frankly, i'm really amazed If u recalled, previously i fell sick just one day before my Final Econs Exams, and recovered within a day to be fit for the paper next day.

Now, 2nd week into school, here i go again. Woke up on Tues nite with fever. Forced myself to sleep, drank lots and lots of water in the morning, and went to school. Thank heaven for Kent's car ride.

And suffered the longest 3 hours of lecture in school. Body aching, and kept fighting to keep awake.

Once back home, went into sleeping mode again. And that night i slept for 11 hours.

Next day woke up, cleared the throat, and i'm totally ok. Wow.

Just sleeping and water, without a single pill, and i'm cured. Isnt the power of our body self healing amazing?

Power of mobility.

The fortunate kent got his desirable driving licence recently, with good scores and first attempt.
Once again it restated to me...How wonderful is the power of mobility.

Yes, it's one of the easiest way to experience freedom and convenience....
Go anywhere where buses or foot cant take you to!
Explore anywhere that you had never seen or been before!
Reach places in record times you never attain by public transport!
Be dry even in the heaviest thunderstorm!

Sadly, things arent that innocent.
Step out on the wrong time of the day and you are struck all way in Traffic jams. What freedom are all reduced to mere confinement.
Start paying for petrol and cashcard and burn a pocket hole as big as Java island volcano.
Trying finding for parking lots in town, either you tear coupons as if there's no tomorrow, or pay as much as dinner+lunch, or end up walking further than marathon.

How i wish i live in Australia. Where car is neccessary, not a luxury.

But looking back at Kent, for the moment all these thoughts are flung far away. Freedom is how you define it; piloting the car at which ever lane you want it to move on can still be freedom. At least traffic jams and ERP can be avoided with correct planning of route,
and SIM have a basement carpark...which is free.

Power of advertising.

Anyone still remembers that Prudential Adv shown more than 13years ago? Thanks to the adv song "my life story" by Dick Lee, some still remembers it....well, at least my friends, as we chatted on this topic that day over dinner.

Songs accompanying adv are really one of the most classic example of marketing, and it really works. Either people get interested in the ad because their idol is singing for it, or simply that customised tune is so catchy. Throw in a jazz song and some Ang Moh in the ad and your brand feels continental. With James Browns's "I feel Good", I thought Benq comes from the states...When it's actually Taiwanese.

And whenever I drove pass this road and saw this signboard, that song came to me again. Again and again it spins in my mind for the rest of the day. grr.

"....If you need somebody....Mr invertor, mr invertor, mr invertor...."

It's such relevances in our life that make Marketing such an interest subject to study. I guess i'll like it for the rest of the term....Only if uol have BSC Marketing.

Best.

2007-09-09T12:44:00.000+08:00

We always save the best til the end, dont we?

Just like we always save that tasty drum stick of the nasi lemak as the last portion to be eaten with that last patch of chilli.

Just like mothers, who save the best part of the meat for the child to be eaten in the end.

Just like drama series, which the script writer save the best scene/action to the finale climax with a bang.

Just like we always save the kiss til the end of the date.

And just like me, who saved the best lunch (in my view) til the end. The lunch time of my last day at work.

This is it. The last day of my 3month assignment. From filled library to packed to empty. Alongside I tasted different stalls at different hawkers/ food court, each with different results. Some tasty, some not. Some really expensive, some value for money.

So where did I decided to go on the last day? Amoy Street Hawker. That Fried Rice stall on first level.

Yes, the fried rice with Zi2 Cha4 quality. Despite ordering the smallest portion, fillings and rice are abundant. Big yes to value for money. Further more, not overly salty, nor oily, yet is still filled with taste. In which is evenly spread out. You do know, in some fried rice you get lumps of unfried white rice here and there, or even just taste salty. Not this.
Best of all, the uncle is certainly not unfriendly. Yummy.

.......And it's not opened on that day.

Damn.

.

the long story about my phone.

2007-09-09T12:33:00.000+08:00

Throughout my train ride home, i stared all over my phone. Rewind an hour earlier, i was in the office flipping Today, and saw the adv: "High Trade in!....Nokia 6260 -- $130" ....130? That's 40% of what I paid for it 2+ years back....while considering others lost 40% on the first month of purchase.... Is my phone so wonderful?

That really makes me wonder about this trade of handphones. Dont you wonder at times how they determine all these trade-in prices? Dont dis-regard it; you never know when it can save you from tight times or simply help u get rid of your phone which u regretted buying...Unless you are the type who keeps all your previous phones in house and circulate among your family (yes DT, you know who you are)

So does brand really sells? Is Nokia so strong (bcoz everyone takes it) that it always the higher price fetcher? And uncommon stuff like benq/siemens have pit bottom prices?

Does features really play such a big part? Just like sun-roof & metallic paint adds resell value to a car, Bluetooth, FM, 3G are nirvana to phone trade in prices? For a phone made >2 years back, 6260 have every technology available then. And how do you judge new stuff like GPS? How will you know if it's still desirable in the future?

Model number? Higher in the nokia range means better price? Buy a 3 or a 5 series and it seems more likely depreciation is down the pit...

....but of coz with exceptions... Anyone still remember the ancient 3310? Heard back then it fetch more than anything, coz it sparks off new demand elsewhere like Philippines... Probably wat changed hands are all exported...

And, the more phones in range, the faster the prices falls? Nokia have so much models to choose from, and prices of new phone change as fast as stocks. Yet SonyEricsson never seems to budge so much, as it has a small range of models?

Indeed, i'm no expert in this trade... But it seems to serve a reminder.. .dont jump straight into the first pretty newly launched phone you see... Do some research online if possible, and wait for the price to fall and stabilise... You wouldnt want to sell and make a big lost, or be stuck with it for the next 21 months if u hate it, dont you?

------------

And what a typical case of "read the fine print". The next day I realised that to qualify for $130, it must have 9months more of warranty to go. huh?

Anything else it's minus 30 bucks off. Alright, sounds decent still, but that's before they deduct for your scatches, paint peel, etc etc etc.

-------------

Then I saw the ad by Starhub for the COMEX trade show: "PDAs for $88!"

Too good to be true? I thought so too. This time round I flip up and down and scan through all fine prints. It's real: It only require a 2 year normal mobile plan contract renew, but while stocks last.

Quick check online; With exception of a few, the PDAs offered are aged models...But hey, there are decents ones inside too. Like the O2 stealth. At least it's black, Slider, launched in yr06, have WIFI and Windows mobile 5. Sweet.

So come Sat and we joined the rest of Singapore (I do mean, rest of entire SG) and flocked down to suntec. What a crowd! And what a Queue at Starhub! And the phone is out of stock! Expected.

Hence we shopped around elsewhere for other stuff, & we came back again with the intention to buy the remaining older $88 pda....

...And miraculously it re-stocks again, after 4 hours!

Staff hands me the order sheet, and here we starts, the long queue that eventually last for 2,3 hours. Check in 1908, check out 2145.

At least i got a new PDA. $88. Mr Red selling online? $698. Cheers.

--------------

Not the end of story. At night, it's spoilt. SIM card inside, phone refuses to wake up from sleep mode. SIM outside, phone restarts whenever it tries to sleep. Grr.

Next day, to Starhub customer service centre. First time i utilise the policy of handset exchange within 8 days of purchase. And was told there's no stock, will call me again when stock comes in. So now i have a PDA that only surfs net. Hmmm....

Agitated me? Not really. Even if it takes a month to repair, it's still ok... Not forgetting the price i paid for it, there's no free lunch in the world.

One week later. I'm still waiting.

What happens next? watch this space.

Who else's phone purchase saga is so long?
.

3months. 1 exam. 1 result.

2007-09-04T23:14:00.000+08:00

I was actually typing another post for my old-phone-new-phone-purchase saga, but it gotten abit long & detailed so i guess i spend time editing it next time.

Now something to announce... after 3 months, my exams results are out today.

Guess every other SIM UOL students had been pacing up and down for it for the past 3months, and that everyone flocked in to check the portal whenever it was the supposed time it was posted there. After much delays, it was finally up today.

IF u are one of them, i wish u good luck, hope u had really did well.

As for me.... i passed everything.....but without flying colours. In fact, pretty not-so-flying colours.

Especially when you kept feeling that you could have done better.

Oh well, what the heck, at least I passed everything!

Including:
that crazily mad Econs,
that heart-killing twisted IBM,
that handcappied (no sci calculator suddenly) Statistics,
and that "disappearing-question" Sociology!

Still, it's an alarm. Buck up for the next 2 years! Focus work hard! Thankfully foundation units doesnt weight as much as Further units, so there's still chance for me....and those brothers/sisters like me. Jia you!

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A stone's throw away

2007-08-26T15:44:00.000+08:00

We all know what rush hour means. The time when everyone travels to CBD to work, pathway leading out of the train station is crowded. Try walking in the reverse direction and you know what i mean. But have anyone ever considered, that Lunch time might be worse? It's the same: A common time where everyone would be walking on the ground. But people are all everywhere, in different directions: There's only a way out of the station, but eateries are everywhere.

With people everywhere, how would you rest during the 1 hour time-slot that is supposed to be "resting time"? Unless you considered eyes off the computer screen as resting, there's not much place for you can to get peace. Except for this place: The river side behind UOB plaza.

What a wonder, as I always wondered, how possible is it that on a side of the building are crowds and traffic all over, but just a stone's throw away; a few steps to the other side facing the river, you get a peaceful view of the river, people strolling and tourists taking photos. Yes, this is part of CBD. What a rapid change in the ambience.... A nice place for white collars to take a breath of natural air, or to enjoy the packaged lunch, while smoking or talking to colleagues. Or for me the temp staff who had enough of artificial lightings. No matter what, it is a nice place to rest. Provided, it doesnt Rain...for god's sake.

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the new way to cut a cake.

2007-08-26T15:25:00.000+08:00

Last sat, the few of us gathered for dom's 22nd bday. A simple dinner, few frens put together on a short notice, and present bought with BF's guidance. Still, it was a great time.

Especially the special program after the dinner at marina bay steamboat. Dining there strategically to coincide with the fireworks that night, we managed to get a few glances of the fireworks shot high up the night skies, above the trees. Only if the music could spread over the river to our bay, it would be perfect.

But not in the plan was the jam that proceeded after it. Small road + huge crowds = traffic disaster. To make matters worse, the driver (that is, me) made a wrong turn and we rejoined the queue again. Thus we gave up on our intended destination to cut the cake and decided to do it on the spot -- Yes, the carpark.

Make-shift table from my dad's van's toolbox, candle lighter from the car cigarette lighter (that doesnt work), and ambience from the nearby cars' roar & honks as they stuck in jam. This is the Bday celebration. But the bday's girl happiness and smiles was there, and that was what mattered. If she is happy, then we friends (& her bf) are glad.

Happy 22nd to dom! Good luck in your career and may a smooth sailing life follows!

working now, work then?

2007-08-09T14:50:00.000+08:00

That little cushion chair in SGX library, my workplace, had seated me for the past 2 months. Except the times when packing have to be done standing, it had seen the dust and documents with me while i was packing. Man, even i was surprised by the amount we had cleared... and strange enough, fulfilment is found from those pile and pile of boxes.

Thankfully, the main bulk is over, so from time to time, in between the next coming tasks (more packing, i meant) I had some freedom to take a break. Some freedom I emphasised, or rather, not much choices. No computer, let alone Internet. No desk phone, no TV nearby, and certainly no sleeping. So its left with one of the most primitive ways to break: Read.

Yes, it's a library, so for sure there are tons of good stuff to read. Trust me, never have i read so much in my life before in the name of leisure. And now i suppose you would find me a geek if i tell you i do like The Economist..No, me too didnt expect it to be interesting in the first place. Nevertheless now I do know the stable Europe does have possible threats by natural gas; Why america do not stop the use of guns so easily as we perceive; Singapore Pools is actually created to fund the construction of Kallang Stadium and eventually Esplanade; And in 1984 the current SGX building i'm sitting on was, well, part of the sea.

Magazines/Newspaper readings later, I do get tired; and box packings later I do get tired and non-motivated. And this is when the mind goes to hibernation and wanders off. Thoughts set in, questions about future are raised: Yes, i'm working now, it had not been a straight forward process and luck was involved, etc etc...but what about future? What do I want to do, and am I going to do it?

The fact that I'm on a "non-specialised" business course says it all. As quoted from a role in a HK movie we watched last time, he says "....those who took up general business degree are mostly lost people..." And it's true. A wide scope means you have many paths ahead of you to take, but it means too that you are still unsure of the coming path. What do i want to do? Right, after this job, I'm certain it's definately not anything Finance/Bank related... But then what?

Many say, it will be a job to have your hobby as your career. Yup, it's ideal: imagine do what you like everyday and yet yielding income out of it. Great, and my interest is Photography and cars, so that quite a number of lines available too. But is this really the case?

No job is without stress, so under stress would your hobby still be interesting? Would an Engineer still enjoy his work when his ideal Car is totally restricted by safety/environmental legislation, marketeers enforcement supported by customers requests, or simply cost & dateline constraints. Or a car sales executive, would he still enjoy selling when he have to sell something he knew that it's rubbish, or under pressure by the sales targets? Or in the case of the management, where the soul of motoring are all reduced to mere figures of sales, market share and profits, and satisfying stakeholders.
Overdose might just kills the hobby. Anyway for the case of engineer, at this stage of my life it is already more or less certain I cant become one.

Perhaps the ideal case is still to get a totally non-hobby related job and enjoy the hobby at ease on off days/weekends. Then the hobby would still be fresh and interesting when you go for it to relax. Well, in the first place perhaps the job will have to allow energy and time for the hobby. So it's a no-no for a IT support job (you ever see a Network Server downtime during weekdays office hours?) And please, the job certainly got to at least let me be interested to work on it for years in the first place too. So as mentioned, no "deep" financially stuff too.

Minus those, there's still plenty of choices i guess? All shall appear for me to dig more as my graduation month approaches.

Hope to find inspiration from more books now. After I finish packing that new pile over at the water dispenser ....And that pile next to that shelf too?

Pix: a hobby or carrer?

cant think of a title for this week. Gulp.

2007-07-29T15:30:00.000+08:00

23 July Monday.

Now I declare, it's our 3rd year lor!!! Times flies and it's really quick. After all the roller coaster, what you have now is really what you would appreciate. Guess the coming 3 years and more would fly even faster..

Anyway, just to share! If you like nice scenery to dine, Cosy bay at Tanjong Rhu can be a nice place to go. Enjoy the sea view as you dig into your chicken. But do note it's more a pub than a cafe, so speciality would be more on drinks rather than food...

...And dont take a bus there, coz you cant (and you wouldnt want). Drive if you can.

24 July Tuesday.

One special day after another. One big big congrats to Dom, for her Graduation day at NTU! A grand day, and a day to make her mum really really proud. All the best to her future!!

On Both days...

A petrol head I am, so I got myself a car to drive for these 2 special days.. Never did I expect, it was rather emotional. Like "falling in love"

When i first got the key, I really didnt like the Fiat Punto. Other than the rigid chassis, the car was hard to drive. First the seat height cant be adjusted coz the lever had been broken, leaving me in imperfect position. Then the clutch was hard to moderate, giving a jerky ride. Gear shift is as soggy as overnight French Fries, and controls are so not egonomical. Windows switch is so far apart that i kept opening the rear windows when I want to insert cash card thru the front one.

Just like lovers converting from sworn enermies, after a night of driving (for the annv), the car began to grew on you. Despite all the flaws, other points triumph over them.. It feels sophisticated, the interior is inviting and very comfortable. It looks small but you never feel claustrophobic, in fact spacious in front. Nice details are found, like that Punto logo which represents a stick man driving.. And the great chassis, suspension and that eager and torque-ful engine that pulls strongly from low rev. It's light at 1000kg yet it ever stable even beyond 100kmh... And you dont see something like this Italian design on the road. It's got soul.

Yes, in the end We miss the car so much when it's time to return her. This never happens before, when I return the Honda City before it was simpler; never before i forgive a car for the flaws in areas which I took as most important. Yet we still miss it. The Orange Punto with a Orangey smell. Now in pocket is not that Key Fob, is the Ez-Link card.

Thursday..

So since i'm back to a normal daily commute to work, but on this morning I saw something that rather annoys me.

The staircase leading from Punggol LRT to MRT has 2 paths, and each is wide enough for 2 persons to move through. Every morning there would be crowd going down on an arrival of a LRT.

In front of me, on this particular day, was a couple. The guy was obviously rushing to the train (despite it leaving 4 minutes later), from his attempt to rush down the stairs, and pulling his girlfriend/wife along by hand. But the poor lady was in heels, so she was desperately holding on to the railings and couldnt keep up. Instead of waiting for her, he just pulled her along, only from time to time he turned and look back at her; not for concern, but with a look to get her faster. And he was blocking the entire path of stairs.

Oh for god's sake, cant he understand that she's wearing heels?? Does she have to roll off the stairs to bring the point across? Even if he's urgent, why cant he walk behind or in front of her to urge/guide her? The poor lady look like she's in a tight spot, yet she didnt' blew up i guess.

Guys; heels are difficult to walk on. Yet Girls wear it for guys to see.

(quoted from that her)

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summaries summaries

2007-07-01T13:17:00.000+08:00

I owe this blog an update...

After the previous post, I took days to find jobs, went interviews, and finally found one at SGX now. Tiring at first, but getting used to it. Guess it that waking-up-too-early-in-the-morning thing that is slaughtering me. gee.

So what's below are all the stuff that went into my mind for the past few weeks, which are all jotted down on my almost trusty phone.

When finding job...

Intelligence is not what or how much you know; It's simply how you know to use your knowledge and apply them.

Some stuff might need to be twisted when required..

It might not be new to me, but they were repeatedly re-emphasized during this period..

Working on my job (packing boxes in library)

The person who invented Masking tape should be given a Noble prize award. It is soo useful that you can use it anywhere, other than taping and sealing boxes. It's made of paper, so you can use it as a label or "correction tape", or just to cover cracks.

Inventor of water dispenser is smart too. As you go and change it, you will notice that there is a catch on the tip so that the 5 gallons of water would not gush out as you turn it over; but only comes out when you push into the Dispenser. And it will not get broken only once, when it pull the bottle out again that catch goes back again, so you can remove without emptying the contents.

...And who says the Lion Dance is dead? No, you dont only see them during chinese new year. When Chinese Companies get listed on the stock market, you get them inside the Exchange when the gong is striked. And one company's dance gets bigger than longer than the other (and so is the HongBao I guess...)

Working in CBD...

CBD is very crowded, be it be morning rush hour, lunch time hour, or evening back home hour... Yes you feel the energy at the start, but after getting used to it, I start to desire working at Industrial parks... Perhaps that lack of public transport doesnt matter anymore..

..But nothing still beats that sight of many exotic cars. Porsches are in abundance.. Ferraris, Lambo, Bentley, Rolls etc... Imagine while waiting at the pedestrian red light, that Lamborghini Gallardo rev pass and the concrete buildings echo her presence of her loud exhaust...

...still, I'm a Temp staff. So when on budget, which lunch place is best value for money? Market street is cheapest, and Amoy Street is best for nice and special food. Yummy.

Misc....

Life, still, is not all about work. Weekend comes, and several weeks ago me and shufang went ECP to cycle, by bringing my that "uncle" style Single Gear bicycle to cycle... As i re-emphasise, it is Single geared, so up slopes and high speed are killer for my legs. Ok, it's good exercise... But the dumbest thing at the end of the day is that: I brought the bicyle chain without the keys...! So... No Mac for me... only 7-11 and standing out the shop with the bike. Tiring..

...And got 2 new ambition; First is to buy a Condo at Tajong Rhu.. Went there that night during date and the place, the view, the atmosphere is simply great... Imagine overlooking the colourful Kallang River every night from your Pent House Balcony...OK no need penthouse, even with the smallest unit there is good enough. For now, some weeks later we will go to the Cosy Bay cafe to dine...

Next is to have a self drive trip all the way from SG to Cameron Highlands! My sister just spent a weekend there with her friends and I got to say, the view is simply magnificent... And the great fresh air, moist dew on flowers and the sunrise... Not forgetting the twisty motor-route there, which the bus took 1,2 hours to complete... Calling drivers...

...Since we are talking about drivers, here's a interesting info: Read on a Magazine that there a British research done on young brits, and found for those who played driving simulator PS games are more likely to commit speeding on road, on the same time, they are also more likely to pass their Driving test on first time... So if you are a L-plate now, try playing some Driving games; it might work.

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The Exam note (read "Death note")

2007-05-24T17:12:00.000+08:00

100 days: 29 Jan. Another absolutely normal day in school. Normal lessons have not finished, Most mock papers are a month away, let alone the final exams.

87 days : 12th Feb, first paper of mock exams. Paper wasnt too hard, people wasnt stress with it. Chinese new year coming too.

71 days : 28th Feb, Econs Mock exams. Proves how much we dont know about econs.

64 days : End of mock papers. Short break and start reading...

50-60+ days : Read all on Socio and that tough and hard Econs Study guide. Many days later, gave up in that 400page study guide and dug into lecture notes.

44 days : 26 march, start of revision month. Long time no see friends, all first greeting questions are: "how had your studying been?"

20+ to 40+ days :
And you see, the most "no-life" period of all students. Everyday you see people in school, taking up every possible bench in all storey, or every desk in library. All self-studying. Including weekends. Towards the latter part, to get a bench you have to be in school before 9am. No joke. A super motivated environment to study. And I'm there, some of the days.

As for the revision lessons, part was by own local lecturers, and others are by UK lecturers, flown in from the London Uni. Do really want to note that, while some was dry, some was sacrastically oftensive (in name of our good-ness, they say), the socio ones was superb. Rosemary is the alive elder lady who almost "jump" about and make it interesting and understandable, and Steve almost felt like a BBC host. Just a lesson and all crystal clear. Really.

And if you are a potential student coming here, do remember, when you have revision class on Sunday or public holidays, please know someone who drives. The school canteen is closed, the cafe offers special lunch box; but with all the students you get a Queue like lunch time at an Army Camp Cook house. Ngee Ann Poly closed, Mac is 3 bus stops away, and hawker centre is a 5min drive. Walking is possible, but you have to eat faster and pray there's no rain.

This is also the time where by you will be introduced to the branch of SIM, known as Management House, on Namly Ave. Located behind Hwa Chong, it was normally not used for UOL courses, but due to the lack of rooms/lecture halls for revision period, they open up lectures at this branch. If you are going by bus, merry chirstmas to you, there's a long long stretch to cover from the bus stop. That's why, many will be late and many cars had been squeezed to their maximum seating capacity. So, do car pool. You have been advised.
...but beyond this, the place is actually very very nice. I like the building circular design, and the surroundings is actually very peaceful. Like a country club though.

1 to 19 days:
Almost the end of the revision classes, so my intensive studies spread around the island. As I gradually lost the ability to study at home, I found friends and joined their study groups. So outside school, it includes Jurong East library, Harbourfront, and even Queentown library. Queentown was actually one of the nicest place; The library was quiet and empty (before students come in and ruin every piece of the peace) and the mac along queenway road is good. I saw the polyclinic, which possibly one of the oldest standing I guess? Looks more than a friendly village to me:

As for travelling, if I were to insist on bus only, I realise no matter to anywhere from Punggol, it takes around 1.5 hours. Be it Town, Queensways or Jurong East. Really. Furthermore I picked my travelling to take place during off peak hours (After 10am) ...So the smooth journeys actually became a form of theorpy for me....please recall my interest as punched on the left.

Weekends are not spared too. Thanks to the understanding of girl, Saturdays was half shopping and libraries: Orchard+Orchard library, or Bugis/suntec + central library.
Sundays are driving days, so it's either Central library again, or any library in the North/West like Bukit Panjang, Yishun, Sembawang, etc etc.

All in all, I guess I had went to almost every National libraries in Singapore...

....I had never studied so much in my life. Not even for A-levels'. .....
Everyone learns their lesson; because we are at where we are.

2 days:
Receives a call from friend. Just 3 days before our statistic paper, it was confirmed that we cannot use our Scientific Calculator, but instead, Basic Conventional ones (aka groceries shop uncle's calculator). That means say good-bye to the Fraction key, Edit key, Square/Cube key, etc etc etc. So encouraging 2 days before Econs and 3 days before Stats.

Once home at night, found that convental calculator and starts practising. To Cube, press digit, "X", and "=" 3 times. This something new. And all steps to be wrote down now, no more jumping. Time to put my new scientific calculator to sleep for long too.

1 day :
Imagine, a day before your exams, you felt you want to practise more, yet you ran a fever and couldnt get off the bed. Yes it happened to me and it was a very very bad feeling. It overcomes all emotions, and in the end I slept and went to the Hall without any anxious-ness...
....The waters are calm....after you had sank deeper than the turbulence...

0 day - D-day : ~~This is the day! This is day that we all had waited.....~~

9th may. Economics paper, possibly the most feared of all.
Here's the weird bit. Because of my practise and study of the lecture notes, I actually did not felt any fear during the paper itself; It was rather smooth to me. But when it's over, some people around me found it was difficult for them. So did I do it wrongly?? Or had the lecture notes over simplified everything, thereby I will lose marks?

-1 day : 10th may, statistic paper. Horrible speed. Me, like many others, did not finish. I was commenting, if they mark us against 70marks instead of 100, we all will do well, coz on average we lost 20+ marks due to incompletion.

-3 days : 12th may, no papers.
Initial intentions was to study at National library; needed a table for the other friends, so it's my first time going and queueing for the "opening" at 10am. As the clock strikes 9.59am and the door opens, I'm amazing at the speed those girls Ran towards the tables...By 10.01am All tables filled. Damn.

So after the noon time, we migrated to SMU. Now, this is a good place. Get a bench on the first floor; Hungry? Subway or mr.bean is behind you. Peace? You have it. But just dont rain. The humidity before rain is quite bad that day...left you sweating.

-5 days : 14th may. Maths paper....actually at this time of typing now I cant remember much of it (cos of the latter better incidents that took place) ... I guess should be ok ?

Went Airport afterwards. Was brought to Terminal 1 BK by another friend. Found another great place to study, and best of all, it wasnt difficult to get home from there. Marks the start of my week long daily (almost) trips to Airport...

-6 days : 15th May, the classic day. Sociology paper.

As you might had seen on the NewPaper, there was a printing error on the script, leaving out 2 questions of the intended 8 in Section C. The topic, which the school had selected for us and taught us, is one of the 2 Q which had been ommited. The examiners on the spot could not do anything, so we all had to "do our best" on what's available. Caused some unrest certainly, and many choosen to leave the hall early.

So some got the media's attention, and others had flooded the respective agency's mailbox.

We were told that "moderation" will be in place to "not put anyone in a disadvantage position". Fingers crossed.

Oh yes, other than Section C, Section A (50 marks) was very unique this year... So lots of smoking and twisting took place. Hope i'll be well..

-7 to -12 days:
Other than a day which I went down to job agencies and the weekend, I was at Airport. It was the most intensive week; 'cos that was the only time left to study for our last Management paper, which we had rarely touched previously... You will be surprised at how much the human brain can take in.

.

2007-05-24T17:11:00.000+08:00

-13 days: 22nd May. Management paper. aka The LAST day!!

Yes, after this paper, you can sleep, play, club, and keep all your notes in a box ready for recycling/burning, provided that you pass them all.

But before all the celebrations, conquer the paper first. Which is another bad news.

Why do they have to be so ambigious? Before we could start to pen, we have to interpret the Q first, and that cost time. As a result, I have very bad time management, and the latter Qs were rushed through.

During which, I realised that in desperation, I had great skills in twisting facts and smoke the hack out of some parts....But would the British buys it or not, it's yet to be proven....

We shall know then, my fingers are still crossed..

But I threw all the thoughts behind, and went straight out. As the exact day of Derrick's birthday, I had a great dinner and night with him and company. After 87 days, 1 night is enough to make one really really happy.

Its all over!

(ah...usual stuff, photos all in my yahoo album.)

.

lift's life.

2007-04-24T00:01:00.000+08:00

Remember in my previous post, I said that the common lifespan of a handphone is 2years? Well, right now i might have to extend my claim: The lifespan of electronics is around 5 years.

Nope, nothing is wrong with my phone, but it is for the elevator in my flat. Just nice to mark the 5th anniversary of shifting into the new town.

Previously, the "down" button of one of them here first gave up. So what happens is that whenever we pressed it, nothing happens. And we are not aware of it, until the realisation that no lifts are coming (which evolves, into accusation of each other:- "oei, why forget to press huhh??") ...It was until the button was found faulty then the innocent was proven not guilty.

Then, recently, the door of another lift here refuses to close.

Ok, you may think now, "Just walk out and use another lift la." Easy, but the problem is, the system refuses to send another lift to the floor, 'cos there's already one here!

So, that is, you are stuck with this one. It was only after some knocking and pushing (manually of cos) then the door decided to get back to work...and close.

For the first time, you would start to choose which of the 3 lift to take (when all is available at 1st floor)....

When your handphone spoils, you simply get it replaced at your friendly Hello! shop near you.
When your elevator spoils, it's not that simple anymore. Gulp.

Now i hope my claim is false.

If it decides to be true, then i hope i'm not inside the lift when it decides to stop work!

.

Zeng My Phone...software wise.

2007-04-17T19:31:00.000+08:00

Right, my dear Nokia 6260 is almost 2 years now.

Electronically it's called the end of the life-span cycle, but realistically it's still going strong. So no plans to change any time soon.
(Its not a car to me, so as long as it moves it's great...gee)

So how do you keep it fresh??

1) As you can see, it's heavily utilised. Havent been deleting messages... So to keep space for them to keep rolling, ALL others (yes all) had been shifted to the memory card. Thank god i have 128mb there.

2) Changed the wallpaper (yes again)

3, 4) Added lots of new songs, as ringtone and full song....Pop have season too, so guess when the songs gets old they have to go....For ringtone to ring at the chorus, they have been cropped, that's why the name "short" ^-^

5) ...And discovered new functions! Never knew that icons can be changed for the past almost 2 years....and default ones (like inbox) can have the name changed! ...but they do look kinda kiddish right.....

6) ...Lastly added a small frog to it. Sister gave it to me as gift. GF calls it Kermit the frog.

..

merc cab? merc boat?

2007-03-29T23:09:00.000+08:00

Ah. Allow me to take a break from studies now.

- - - -

Just a day before, was talking to my sis that, if I have a chance to take a cab, I would rather wait for anything but the good old toyota crowns we have all over. Hey, of coz someone like me would be so interested to try out all those new hyundai VW or merc turbo-diesels...

So, the next day (last sat) my chance came. Was out and after a long story, just need a cab. And great, spotted the "green" merc cab (those CNG ones). Hop on.

Well, from the papers, they says these cars started life as a petrol engined car. They fixed in a gas tank, modified some parts, and wola: A green car running on CNG that emit no pollutants. All that happens is that the car loses 10% of power but is quieter, cheaper to run (CNG is cheaper per kg compared to petrol) and trees are happy and humans will not get cancer.

It's right; from the ride we had in the cab, there's really isnt any engine noise. And since it's a merc E200, it really comfortable, very well built, very smooth auto gear change, and the car is very very stable on the move. Our toyota crowns is as comfortable as a school bus, in comparsion.

But that's not the end to it.... Power is truely lacking. There is moment when the driver was coming out of the filter lane. Accelerator down, smooooth auto gear kickdown, and.....nothing. Engine was just struggling but there isnt any "thrust" felt. You would know what I mean when you do the same thing to a coventional car.

merc cab? merc boat? ...cont.

2007-03-29T23:08:00.000+08:00

Ok fine, it's a taxi. I'm not the driver, I'm the passenger. So no power, not my business. But now this is what that really irritates. That noise. Engine is quiet, correct. But the thing below me that draw the gas from the tank isnt. ....Just imagine you are sitting on a hundred gas pipes in the toilet and the value in kitchen is being broken. That gushing noise...it just makes the entire thing sounds like a.....jet boat. Gush and gush whenever the "gas" pedal is being step on. And oh yes. it's loud. This something is really a surprise. Is it faulty? Or is just 'cos of where i sat on?

Anyway, quite an experience. Certainly good to see more "green" cab around, after having saw personally how cleaner (and quieter) HK gets after their cabs ran on LPG (another gas). But if I have a petrol car now, will I spend a thousand dollars to convert it to CNG?

No thanks, I'm a petrol-head. I need the power and not a jet boat.

.

---------------------------------------
Weird.. Even long text-only posting will produce problems with blogger. Now i have to split into half....hmmm....let it be.

Sunday: My ass hurts.

2007-03-20T23:30:00.000+08:00

...And that's because we went cycling, and thanks to me wrongly adjusted the bike seat to a less optimum height.

Which cause lots of stop after not-too-long-a-distance, until I fixed the seat (with was towards the end of the ride)

Still, was a fun day at Pasir Ris Park. Was months since we last cycled, and thus the decision to do so in hope to shave off some fats.

A change from our usual East coast park does bring some surprises, as I had not visited paris ris park for a long time and many parts had been different now. For a start, we actually had to walk a long long distance from the main road to find a kiosk, due to some relocation. What a way to tire out under the hot sun before the actual cycle.

Then, off we explored the edge.

Rewarded with really a nice scenary. See the Kelong behind?

And found the new horse riding range.. The Gallop Stable, built off the old cycling track for children. (My track...my childhood fun!)

(continue)

2007-03-20T23:29:00.000+08:00

Low tide at the shore.... Which suddenly seems as if we made a trip to Australia....Minus that abandoned tyre, please.

Also happened to find this angle for a shot, which could easily be made into an advert print. Just nice, a "clean" Prius next to a "green" tree.

End of the day, me and the two bike. Lost any weight?

.

Finally! Cheap and decent parking in Orchard

2007-03-20T23:16:00.000+08:00

....Which we found last saturday. Considered cheaper in comparision with other car park in Orchard area, and not some with hopelessly few lots. In fact, there are so many storeys that lots are very sufficient. Best of all, it doesnt involve walking long distance to shopping action.

But what's the imperfection part of this story? The lots are very small.

First you see many passengers alighting mid way to guide the driver reversing into the lot.
(Really, we just saw people guiding as we past by)

And after you had parked, you require a Marie-France Bodyline advertisement style of exit.

(Both parked in centre of lot. And as if many just had synchronized to fold their mirrors...)

Most interesting bit is this:

It actually states there "For small vehicle only"....

I mean, well, how "small" is small? And well, do you actually pause and think: "hmmm, my car is smaller than that SUV, so i should squeeze?"

Looks more like it's design for Morris Mini or Datsun 100A in mind..

Still, no matter what, it's still cheaper than the rest, so we, like many many others, dont mind about it ^-^ ....So singaporean right?

(If you notice, i didnt mention where is it... So if you need it too, feel free drop me a mail~)

.

Before the final exam studies...

2007-03-12T16:19:00.000+08:00

After all the magazines and Top Gear, it's time to move to something more intelligent and indepth:

"Car design yearbook", loaned from NLB;
The book about Design... the trends, philosophy, and who's who.

....Ironically, reccommended by Top gear magazine. Gee.

Power of mind

2007-03-09T20:57:00.000+08:00

Honda says Power of Dreams. We say Power of mind.

Our mind can actually change our day and reactions..

Look at it this way:

You woke up in morning, bad hair day, or just not feeling good.
You ran and miss the bus, and curse and swear it, anxious that you be late.

Or,

You woke up and it just a good day, feeling great.
So you ran too and miss the bus, but you could just brush it off and wait for the next one, 'cos the frequency is good and you got time to spare; or simply, it's maths and you know that lecturer will shut eyes to late-ness.

another illustration:

One is unhappy cos he riding the bus, not able to afford the comfort of car.
One can be happy too cos by riding bus, he knows he need not worry about ERP or parking later.

So, perhaps it just all about how we view things?

If we can just control our thoughts, then many unhappiness and misunderstanding will not happen?

Another view or way of thinking will give a totally different story...

Well, IF. Easier said than done.

Normal days, small issue, still ok. But say at work? Pressure under office politics?
Sadly many times we will just be overwhelmed by emotions, or depression.
Even myself is learning how to do this.

Guess this is just the ideal and optimisic way? Or only when we reach 70,80 of age then we can master this??

On this bombshell, enjoy this clip from TANK.

Something very real indeed... and absolute fanastic videography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MlsJacSoBQ
(Blogger dont support me to throw in the embedded clip here... dunno why.)

P/s: Ah... and in my MInd now is all TANK 专属天使... thanks to SF always on Wu Zun and my sist on Da Zhong....

.

new cam + jasmine bday

2007-02-18T12:06:00.002+08:00

It's New Year Eve....type type DC DC...past midnight...become New year liao!!! So....

Wishing all and more a HAPPY chinese new year!!!

May it be a better year for the year of PIG, for all of us! Not a lazy one please.

----------------------------------

Some things just cant get better.

Just after the day i called Canon Hq to order my new camera, the next morning i got a sms from them, informing that she's ready for collection. How great! Just nice to make it to Jasmine bday chalet...

And here is it... A sparking brand new Canon Powershot A710 IS, with image stabilizer, 2.5"LCD, 6x zoom, made in Japan, all and more at 26.71% off the list price
(Thanks to the Canon trade-in program, whereby they still take in my faulty old camera, with body wear and more than 8000 photos taken...)

And not forgetting, they still top it up with additional 1GB SD card and GP 2500 battery charger! That's really hell lot of kit and discount.

Marketing taught us Customer Loyalty. Canon certainly will see loyal customers coming back.

----------------------------------

new cam + jasmine bday

2007-02-18T12:06:00.001+08:00

So in continuation, we was at Harbourfront Canon Hq. Right after that went straight down to Jasmine's bday at downtown east. Wah, ECP jam with stomach gruning is not good...

Anyway we made it there. Although time spent at chalet wasnt too long, but still it was quite a fun time there. It had been since some period that I havent got so much fun and playing and posing for photos....from the small gathering that had assemblied.

HAPPY 21st Birthday to Jasmine Tan!
Thanks for your invitation! Finally you are 21 year old already huh! Still as pretty. Gee.
....and nice work decolating the cozy place!! I like the helium balloons ^-^

(more photos at the old usual Yahoo Album --- click on that rusty link on the left panel. Go find at sparky new folder "Bday-Jasmine 21st".......Oh man, havent touched this album for ages.)

--------------------------------

mock exam and few days later...

2007-02-14T19:35:00.000+08:00

First, for those that knew and are concerned, dont worry, we are ok already.

Remember during O-level times? First time writing papers for the British? Was told must write clearly and use black pens... 'cos Blue will be too bright over at snow filled british land...

Well, years later, we are still writing to the British... First paper of mock exams (management paper) on monday night... which, well, i'm still using a black pen, but produced a perfectly ugly handwriting... havent written for 3 hours straight for like so long...

For the paper not that bad i guess, except for the lots of "smoking" around... which wasnt too uncommon among others too... Obivously caused by the disability to remember all facts within this period of time. ;^p

Anyway the next one is the 28th feb, econs. Got quite some time to the day, so for now take some break this few days before CNY bah.
(It's time...to pack up my room...)

Then V-day... spent a nice evening yesterday ^-^

Today...:
If you guys remembered, i'm been without camera for some period already... Thus a ring to Canon to ask whether they still want my faulty cam? Surprise, surprise, with a ring I can trade her in for a brand new with a huge discount. New toy coming in days, so watch this space.

And afternoon, father at home, i free, so washed our dear van (finally) for the new year:

Before wash, see so dull -- At the bay -- And 20 cents for a 40 seconds of water

At height of 183cm, you need ladder -- And rim is freed from brake dust again ;)

Done! Sparking clean again ^-^

(courtesy of Nokia handphone...praise the person who invent VGA handphone camera)
....

The hundred-th Post!!

2007-02-06T17:35:00.000+08:00

Finally... after some posts here and there, i have reached my 100th post.

So in this season of, erm, milestone-ing, here's summary over the years..thru the eyes of my handphone.. Yup, all the photos u see below are from Nokia, which had never seen the light outside... (that is, never been uploaded or shown anywhere else.)

15 dec 05 -- A nice dinner with derrick and dom, and taken this photo of sunset. Yup, cant expect a great shot actually from Marina Square, food court.
(those were the days of NS... so carefree...so relax...)

29 dec 05 -- On way back from kallang office in colleague's car, near singpost HQ.. quite "effect-full" rite?

8 jan 06 -- Taken a shot of the rental car just minutes before the return of the key... ok, people first time rent car ok... some more not some shitty car lor.

23 jan 06 -- Yes, in the mood of lunar New year... some colleague decorated his parition... must had betted on 4D.. (Oh yes... 2007 CNY is coming soon...)

26 feb 06 -- How free can i be then, walking along Jurong East interchange during Date and taken this photo of intercrossing MRT tracks... but not too bad rite?

5 april 06 -- Finally shifted to new base. And finally a nice and big table all for myself! And all these and more, just 2 weeks before i ORD. Damn.

7 april 06 -- KTV! K-box! It's thursday night and you sing until it closes way past mid-night, just for $10+ !! Pix taken at 1.08AM... see how died everyone is.... but can do that again?

26 jun 06 -- The last last shot of our Toyota litace Van... with the tow-truck coming soon to pick it up. Had been a totally reliable roundabout since 1999...and had seen so much including me as a lousy P-plate driver (back then) ...Blame the rising cost of Petrol (and tat's why the new Caddy van is Diesel...)

23 july 06 -- The end of my first long temp job, the courier van driver. This is the hdb season parking disc, taken before the van is returned.
Oh, how i miss the freedom of mobility....

8 Oct 06 -- Bought a new pair of Puma leather shoes. Ok, it's my first puma product, but hey, their box is really interesting lor.

9 Oct 06 -- In school! Management Lecture, taken by a mate. Candid shot... Mr byron next to me, obviously unobvious of the shot.

11 Oct 06 -- Coz of the bday chalet, got to dig out old photos to pin on the Memories board.... and yes!!! this is the young me!! Damn, where did the dimples went...
And amid the photo hunt, found lots and lots of childhood memories with my sis... what an afternoon...missing childhood.

12 Nov 06 -- Shot of our very own Caddy, below own flat. Thereby becomes the new Handphone Wallpaper.

7 Jan 07 -- Just to show how kind my dad is. Been buying up 3-for-$1 tissues from the elderly selling at hawker centres...til the van is full of 'em. Hey it's not a bad thing k...

11 Jan 07 -- Zhiwei Bday!! And in celebration got ourselves a nice Honda City for the day. Minus all the rain + traffic jam it was a cruising fun day~

14 Jan 07 -- School club's Camp Discovery... A camp to discover leaders and yourself. I was there, and certainly discovered alot about myself. A vocal person who stood out, i'm not. Hmmm...

19 Jan 07 -- ...And then Dinner and Dance @ Hilton hotel! Celebration for all events done for the first year and the handover ceremony for the new Exco, discovered from the discovery camp. Great to see all the deserving guys make it up there, congrats!

20 Jan 07 -- And lastly...another rainy day during the weekend, outside Orchard MRT... Can someone do something about the massive human jam???

4 feb 07 -- Went the new Central at Clark Quay.. and the place is nice! Worth a revisit when all shops are up. Took a shot at the building carpark, and of coz another one of the van (coz surroundings look like where magazine will go for photoshoot)

5 feb 07 -- My sis Motorola V3x finally came! Price was a great bargain at Singtelshop online mid-night discount... but pumpkin colour was a debate. Anyway, she happily added the Deathnote "L" sticker, which was bought way in advance in anticipation of the phone arrival. Finally "L" saw the light.

...And Yup that all for summarising... Especially after the digi cam is gone, guess more shots will end up in the phone memory...

But no matter where, photos will always be a great way to look how had things progress in life i guess?

Til then, now is time to back to the Study Guides....
Argh, mock exams!!!

.

Drive and frown or smile?

2007-01-05T16:08:00.000+08:00

So i had a small one and half week of school break last week, after included Xmas and new year. Went out and drove on weekends and public holiday days, which i had found to be not so enjoyable... why?

I dont know too. Seriously, seems like recently in this festival of joy, interacting with other road users wasnt that joyful as it was. Lane change with checks, enetering into main road without sight, inpatience with tailgating and less tolerant to mistakes...all around. In the end my usage of honks really increased by much, (and i think i'm addicted) and if you realise i'm someone who was commented by his girl on his inabilities to use the honk. Not to mention that i had been honked too.

It's not the increase of traffic. The in office hours morning/evening peak times, there are much more cars on road, but they exist and interact in a more orderly manner... unlike this holiday period?

And yes, i realise my parallel skills had seriously detoriated. Twice i had problems and rubbed tyres on the kerb, taking record times to complete the park.

The worst time was this: Imagine you had lost your way briefly, trying to figure out the route, handling the clutch (there was junctions and red lights) and stiil, fighting with the other cars. For that moment (and only that moment) i have desire for taking a sbs bus.

Anyway! It's not tat bad lar, at least there's still times of enjoyment. The same old stuff cheers me up --- spotting great cars.

Nothing beats the feeling when you hear in real time a Lamborgini sped pass, opening up the values that stir up your heartbeat. Or that cute little metallic pink Vitz (jap made toyota Yaris) ran past to provide a alternative car (and colour) out of the sea of altis-es.

And of coz the sleek new new new Audi TT. Imagine the night before you just read about it on the magazine and next day it's living alive next (drove pass) you.

ok lar, abit far rite? After getting my girl to get her cammera (mine's down remember) switch on and shot and etc, ...better than nothing.

It's true, little things makes you smile.

.

Merry X'mas! and etc etc...

2006-12-25T11:56:00.000+08:00

It's Christmas again~!! Merry X'mas to all and wishes come true~~

And here's a little sms joke to make you laugh (if the substain inside works.)

HOHOHO!
Jingle pau, jingle pau
Jingle Char Siew pau..

Lin Yoong pau, tau sa pau..
Loh mai Kai...

HEY!!

Merry X'mas!!! Cheers!

---------------------------

Etc 1:

I found a reason why one should not buy the car they like. Coz when it's being punched with holes or whatever, one sure feel the ache in heart.

And as folows, our dear Caddy gotten a kiss from someone else, while my dad's driving on Sat:

It's not big, yet enough to cause pain. And i havent mention about some sratch mark by some passers by on the side. Ouch.

Merry X'MAS!!! and etc etc..

2006-12-25T11:55:00.000+08:00

Etc 2:

With today's society been threatened with Internet banking risk, made insecure by reports on hacking by criminal, it's certainly a great sign to tighten the security.
And for sharing purposes, this is what my sister received from DBS on morning

Right, a PIN generator. To log in, key in (in order):
1) User ID
2) existing password
3) Serial number of the above Generator
4) And the PIN generated, with a squeeze of the button.

So that means that she and friends have to bring it out whenever they go out. Troublesome? no choice, in name of security.

Well, at least they provide it with a Key chain hook (and add on to my sister already big chunk of keys and key chains)

..and 4 stickers, so that you can choose the colour of the "face". She sticked on Pink, as shown.

"cool" huh? (HP laptop TV adv voice)

etc 3:

Yesterday, i was really glad to receive a new GP charger and a set of 2100s battery, in replacement of my aged 1800s which is losing the capacity. (see number of times my camera warned low batt?)

But. What would go wrong??

Charging successful.
Switching on camera successful.
Switching on screen....black.
Taking a photo....black.

The exact fault is back. The last time was sent to Canon Service and costed $123 (really 123) Now, again.

Damn.

...on x'mas eve, right before a chain of incoming events. Grr..

...no choice, loh. ^-^

.

pardon me with calculator

2006-12-22T23:11:00.000+08:00

It's a raining thursday morning. A perfect day for sleeping with the mist and rain, in fact, it had been raining since god-knows-when. So much that it could flood the island.

Anyway, yup it's rainy thursday morning, and it's Statistics lecture. I have to say, we got a very detailed lecturer, so detailed that we could pass Statistic Theory Essay paper (if there's any). Just unfortunatly, she also have the power to put students to sleep.

So i'm there, listening, and overloaded with too many. Hypothesis, alternate hyp, H0 H1, T-test, Z-test, Table 5 on Pg 35, etc etc... and lots and lots of "So," and "Suppose," in the questions...They really like to "suppose" huh.

And my attention turned to the calculator...

1. 2.
1.Sharp EL-509. Comes in varios colours.
2.Have a long equation? Connect up a second calculator to extend your screen! Right click, select Display Properties, select secondary display.

Guess the seat is cursed. Was told that our friend (who was absent that day) always played with his calculator unneccessarily when he sat there. Hmmm.

Ok lar. Very lame right. Purely for entertainment purposes. (^-^)
Effect of too much runny nose? Stupid weather.

.

day day bus

2006-12-14T13:46:00.000+08:00

So what happened to me? Everyday school, everyday rush here and there...
Actually at times realli start to think should i had spreaded my school days?

and yup, as a matter of fact i'm still in school, suppose to type an essay, yet i'm blogging.

Anyway to support my daily (almost) trips to school, my mode of transport is that long bus ride... which for that 1 hour plus the seat became your private space...
Read notes (if possible) eat breakfast, sleep, or watch tv mobile and laugh at the just for gags

And at times, especially when seated at upper deck cruising along Lornie road, it just really felt like floating...just like a boat ride... that constant humphing from engine, that light rain drops on the windows, the leaning of left and right just as if it hits the wave... On the way to SIM resort...i wish.

How nice if the seats are better... those individual cushioned coach seat, aka those on Hong Kong Airport shuttle services double deck buses.. Or even opening a small tray for me to hold my breakfast just like Airplane Econ class seat.. and a small screen for different TVmobile channels.. TVm1 TVm2 etc etc..

And drive faster too, like those in Hong Kong... Over there, particularly at TST, the drivers just accelerate til you heard that turbo whine from the engine... so loud that it could make a baby cry... Acceleration and deccelaration are done with great G forces.., very fast.

And perhaps when all these "facilities" happens, fare stages increase very fast too. Like Hong Kong, fare of a trip would be 4.80 too. Just that theirs is in HK dollar and our the same numbers in SG dollar.

hmm.....

Time to wake up....

.

S D H -- ohohoh Get high!

2006-11-23T00:46:00.000+08:00

Ah... Been telling myself, once i could update my blog, i must write on the Motorshow 2006, which i went last week.. but as u guys had seen by now, i havent been doing it!! Paisei oh, if u been checking here and see-ing the same thing ;p

Anyway! Here's something my sister had put up in her Mulitply page, and here u read:
(since i'm involved in it too.. hee)

-------------
SDH

a recently coined-up term. proud idea of my bro and me. SDH ! Sei 到HIGH !

sleep is a luxury given our schedules. and when one gets sleep-deprived, one does insane acts. and yet weariness is no longer felt. this is where we have reached the SDH state.

insane acts including doing shopping with relatives from overseas in Mustafa @ midnight and start to do bollywoood dances rite inside the heart of the store.

insane acts such as shireking xmas carols in a sardine-packed vehicle of 8 pax.

im sure many of you get SDH too. heh.

--------------

And yup, that brings me to a point. For those poor fellows whom i had thrown you to my "3rd row" treatment of my Van before, you will be glad to hear that I myself got this treatment last night...

"sardine-packed vehicle of 8 pax" --> 3rd row: me and my sis.

Now i understand what's the feeling of squeezing next to cargo and having that rear wiper as entertainment.

STill, quite fun lar. haha.

.

The venture is over.

2006-10-31T23:34:00.000+08:00

28th Oct. Our very own City Venture event (SIM amazing race) took place and done.

Months of preparation and rushing and late sleeps, all for this day.

It went as planned, and was pretty nice...excluding the screw ups and etc.
...well, nothing is perfect right? There are stuff we did well, like the avoidance of team clashing and etc.

So expectingly, there are certainly praises and complains. So got After Action Review soon.

Back to main point. Really got to say, the team was great. For the last month or so, we were all drilled and pushed to levels unthinkable previously. Many of us certainly had learnt alot from the event. And had put in alot. As boss said, we all deserved a pad on back. Great to worked with u guys.

And yup, it's over. Upcoming would be our sister event and helping up some other event?

Til then, it's back to studying. Which had never been easy.

Study group anyone??

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As the "transportation and logistic" guy, one of the major screw up was from me. I had a Crisis Management Lesson.

Let's reel back the tape.

Remember last year in NS i got a Nissan Van stuck in mud? Then months later i got the same Nissan van, and a lorry crashed onto it's rear?

Then on July i had a $300 crash onto a Nissan Taxi?

This time, during the event, my rental lorry broke down.

No prize for the correct guess. Yup, it's a Cabstar lorry. NISSAN Cabstar.

So it was early into the event, sending several Game Masters and team mate to Orchard then ECP. Just one junction away from Orchard road, it decided to die, during red light, on right most lane of Clemeneau Road.

What a way to cause a jam on a peak hour morning. That includes the stopping of all traffic so that the brokes from SIM could push it to the left ahead. Oh yes, the orchard team had to go orchard on foot.

Nevertheless, glad to have a great team with me. Helped me alot, in organising of people and especially when with talks with the rental company for replacement vehicle..thank you...

Anyway, the entire thing wasted a great deal of time. After it i was rushing up and down for fetching and delivery...

Lesson learnt: Dont save money on Rental vehicle. And Lin Jingxiang never to drive a Diesel Nissan, again.
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i am 21!

2006-10-23T23:23:00.000+08:00

For Post #92,

Happy 21st birthday to me!

Welcome to adulthood, where power comes with responsibility... haa

Anyway, had changed my details on the left panel. Check it out orh ^-^

(Dear friends, thanks for all yours messages and calls!)

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Mine + Jine Bday chalet

2006-10-14T23:55:00.000+08:00

(as usual, all photos up at Yahoo Album -- Bday-Me Jinie 21st.)

Yesterday, Friday the 13th October, we had our early Birthday Celebration, at Aloha Loyang.

Big Place, Big Deco, Big spirit.

It was really special coz i never really did an event for myself (of coz in partnership with jinie) ...was like good or bad it's goes to me....so must really do it well even more.

At the end of day, realli fanastic...

Still,
Apologises for not able to entertain you guys fully (ran about too much) , and making any grp felt left out....

&,
Thank you for everyone who turned up, and for all your lovely gift.

Really appreciated ^-^

(Y post so short? Energy all drained from the entire day of running abt and entire night of not sleeping! haa..... May i recovered and hopeful to do more details on it...)

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100min hour + DEBT!

2006-10-05T15:38:00.000+08:00

Today:-

Morning (just now):

There's a small maths test this morning @ 9am, and i woke up late....

Rushed all way and reached there minutes after it had started.

Thankfully, i thought....there's only 4 questions, to be completed in 1 hour.... so 1 question 25mins.

And i worked on, completing the first Q at 9.27am... Not too bad, i was in time, 25min per Q.

Is it?

No!! 1 hour is 60! not 100! Supposed to be 15min, not 25!!

so i got 30 left for the remaining 3 Q...

what a silly mistake... hahaha.....

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Afternoon (now) :-

Meeting with Jinie, for our coming chalet...

Jinie: hi guys. im the special guest for this blog entry.

And yup, i'm in debt cos of this "special guest" :

arrrrrrrrh. Cant escape.

hahahaha........

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Evening (later) :-

City venture meeting coming up at 5pm..... busy day.... (-_-).....

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SSS: some small stuff

2006-09-27T20:29:00.000+08:00

Oops! Havent been updating here...

So what had been going on?

Occupied with school nowadays...
Rate of study: Like never before.
(Hope i'm studying correctly, otherwise it wouldnt turn out good.... -_- )

And... now in school src club, preparing for event City Venture.. something like Amazing race, so will be really fun... certainly rang back lots of bell in me now... just like the ones we did 3 years back.. hmm...

Looking forward to it.
(if you from SIM, must support ok?? haa)

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SSS1:

As time of sleep get lesser, I got back to caffeine again. Last time, 50cent glass of Kopi for breakfast. Now it's in form of paper cups, during the break time of lectures.

Advantage: Tea is the popular choice, so there's sure Coffee left
Disadvantage: Smell in breathe.

mmmmm...

--------

SSS2:

And today... i cut my hair.

Sure felt the layer is thinner now, easier to wash...

but Interestingly, it still look the same. huh?

---------

SSS3:

will be getting Wireless network in home... Next week!

No more unplugging the poor modem to and fro CPU and laptop, anymore.

No more waiting for sister to finish work and vice versa before she/me can be online

Finally can see my sister online on MSN... haa..

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SSS4:

One of my lastest favourite one is the BBC Top Gear motor show...

Attracted ever since watched it on Flight from HK this May, and now watching on Youtube whenever i got 30mins to spare..

Sadly one of the guys Hamond (nickname hamster) was injuried after a 300mph (500kph?) crash, now in hospital.

Certainly he got a nation wide response. Other than being overwhelmed with flowers and donation, right after the accident the News channels there had debates on the dangers of stunts in recent TV shows, etc etc.

How funny the another channel could quote a line on the TG website, which initially meant as a joke, into something serious...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf52wKocoDs
Twist the facts, zoom into some words, and entire meaning is different. Great.

Still, guess the team wouldnt be bothered?

Hope he get well soon and the delayed show be on air soon... and dont cut off my "small" entertainment.

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Priority.

2006-09-17T17:23:00.000+08:00

My old problem is surfacing again...to set my priority right on stuff..

When you get tired, get too many stuff on the mind (because you might think too much at times) this starts to happen, you start to do some "wrong" decision...

Unlike last time which my wrong choice might only affect myself, for sometimes, now i would be afraid that i might affect other people here now.

So how??

Have to tell myself, to relax on my mind, clear "junks" inside, and prioritise things properly....

Things wouldnt turn out to be that bad?

As long as they are no being over-done, and correct stuff are done.

just R e l a x .

zzzzz.

CLICK my life.

2006-09-05T01:11:00.000+08:00

Hollywood movies....Normally i just dont quite able to link them up with my life and those around me. Either that it will be too much of a fantasy but good for entertainment (think Spiderman) or closer to heart of Americans (think those teenage college life movies)
But. There's one recently and it does makes me think. It's "Click".

(If you had watched it, go to next paragraph)
In the movie, the main guy was given this remote control which empowers him to fast forward the part of his life which he doesnt like. But after all the fast forwarding, he realised that he had missed out alot in his life and the relationshops between him and his beloved one went downhill as he wasnt "there" most of the time. He regretted it and he had a sad ending (supposed-ly)

This movie does have an impact, and made me feel with it. Doesnt we all are similiar? Many a times we are so occupied with our work or studies that alot of stuff happened around us without our knowledge, just as if we had "fast-forwarded" that part...

Simple example: Today. Living Room.
Me: "Eh, where's that fan which our aunt had given us when we shifted house?"
Moither: "That one? Spoilt dont know how many years ago and thrown away already.."
Me: "Huh?"

So this shown how much I know about my own house. That at times i had to wonder where are the sissors kept. Not been around at much as compared to my old house.

This is only a simple example... There could be more serious implications... Like realising you havent spent time with some one, only after that person had passed away. Cos you had been too busy. You havent been "there".

So ideally, what we have to do now is just like the ending of that movie... Realising that family should be the priority, spend more time with family rather than work.

But it's really ideal. In this new society which is ruled by Captialism, it will not be that easy to achieve....so how?

Let's see what the future brings me.... lor.

Or perhaps i need Time Management courses when time comes.

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