motoring = marketing?

One night as me and my dad drove down ubi and passed by the Chevrolet showroom, he asked "ai? the brand came back? It was very common in singapore when i was young (1960s) ..! " Only after i told him that they were re-faced Daewoos, then he realise that they are not the chevys he used to know. In fact, most of them didnt even came from the US soil.

If you need a lesson on Marketing, General Motors (GM) would be a good company to learn from. After Daewoo folded and the president ran off, it was bought over by GM, the whole largest car maker. Brands under GM are: Chevrolet, Saab, Opel, Vauxhall, Holden, Buick, Cadillac, GMC, hummer, Pontiac, Saturn, and a certain percentage of Subaru, Isuzu and suzuki. Immediately, GM rebadged all Daewoos in the world to be Chevrolets (except for Korea and Vietnam) and made chevolet to "re-enter" the asian pacific markets again.

This certainly had made the cars more "branded" immediately and got more comsumers interested. But despite all the advertising works and promotions, the cars still look so korean. In fact, most of them are still made in Korea. Better still, for the Optra sedan: Designed in Italy and made in Thailand. Doubt u could feel any Americian from it at all... So much for talking so much about the heritage, when the product itself was done totally by some one else.


Aveo was one of the cars that were made in Korea and shipped to US. Optra on the right

Anyway, this wasnt the first time. We have the Opel Astra for the entire Europe and Asia, but it was known as the Vauxhall Astra in UK and Holden Astra in Australia and New Zealand. Applies for other cars in the Opel range too. And when they lack this certain type of vehicle in the range, they took some other's and simply rebadged it... For instance, in UK, the city car Vauxhall Agila was actually the Suzuki Wagon R.. And at US, the Saab 9-2X is a Subaru Impreza Wagon. Saab, which was always famous for their safe cars and scored no less than full 5 stars for NCAP crash tests, scored 3 stars for the 9-2X. They really need a good reason to answer the press.


Critics favourite name for this car: Saabaru

It's not impossible to prevent all these, just that more time are needed, perhaps? Volkswagen Group, another major car company, have 2 brand groups under it : the Audi brand group, comprises the Audi, SEAT and Lamborghini brands, and the Volkswagen brand group, having Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Škoda, Bentley and Bugatti brands. They shared all the major components, including engines and chassis, but the cars never looks or feels alike to each other. For instance, the VW Golf actually gives birth to the Audi A3, Skoda Octivia, and Seat Altea. The Audi is accepted as the luxury hatchback, while the Altea attracts people looking for a car with a more striking design (at a lower price), and the Golf is still the car for everyone (at least in Europe).


they are all brothers...Clockwise: Golf, Octivia, Altea, A3

On the other hand, i must admit this. Althought the chassis is done up, it still takes time and money to develop the rest of the car. Hence to re-badge a car could be one of the most cost efficient and quick method. Especially for the case of Daewoo, when it's important to turn around the company whose name was already in the drain. At least many jobs are saved, and the factory escaped from being closed down. Time was indeed important for Rover, one of the last surviving brand from UK. It's bread-and-butter car, 45, is ageing, and it's replacement model had been repeatedly delayed. The company was losing money, and in the end, with some other factors, it collasped on April this year. Their Longbridge factory, which used to be the biggest in Europe, closed it's gates to their thousands of workers.

Alright, just for the start. But if this is still been practised in the long run, the soul of the brand and heritage will be lost. And by then, what that was done would really just be some business-marketing tactics, only. Buy a car, any car. They would be all the same.

Nissan Road show + My p-plate

Yesterday, me derrick and iz met up at suntec/marina square for a quick dinner.. As recommended by derrick, we tried the Changing Appetites (CA).. Quite not bad, a pretty cozy cafe with their sofa seats and settings... and interesting menu too. And the drinks are huge! IZ seems so full after finish his cup.. haa..

Anyway, we went to the Nissan Road show too, at Suntec Tower 4.. Well, as u guys know by now, me and derrick always like to go to roadshows to try out the interior of cars...but for this Nissan's this time, it felt more special..,Maybe coz there are too much KIA's roadshow around always, or maybe coz the "super" car is there... Introducing the 350z fairlady.



*drool....*

Even better, we are allowed to take a seat inside


*double drool....*

What else can i say? The supportive (and fully electronic adjustable) sports seat, the sports steering, white dials, BOZE sound system, metal pedals, Punchy but firm gearshift and nice clutch... sadly the some plastic parts make it feels cheap, and the rear-view is quite bad...but oh well, despite that, if i get to hear the engine my heart will still melt... haaha.

Meanwhile, there are 2 guys from this certain JC who are talking to the Sale exec (SE) next to the car... As they seem pretty interested, i thought initially that they are some rich kids.. until i was told later that one of them was actually telling the SE his dad have 25 rolls royces.....according to LTA, there's only 5 RR registed in 2004, and none from 1998 til 2003. Wonder what does the SE thinks.


Back to topic. Not forgetting derrick favourite Cefiro too.. In fact, i think that car have one of the most unique (and nicest) cabin around.. Inspirated by furniture designs, the wood on the dashboard certainly looks as if it came from ikea. And nice cozy seats behind too ;)


Mr executive derrick

We spent some time in the Lasfesta and Presage MPV too...exploring the Auto-sliding door...haa. Not only from the handles on the door, u can control via a button on the grip and from the dashboard... cool. Great for school-runs (lots of kids) and when your hands are full of bags. Finally a competitor to the Toyota Estima.

ah.. after trying all the other cars (and SUVs), guess we had spent around 1.5 hours? paisei ah iz, hope u wasnt too bored.. heez ;p

- + - + - + - + - + - + - + -


And... On 1st Nov, finally my driving licence Probation period is over! Less scary now, since i had 24 penalty points now instead of the risky 12 points during P-plate. And... no more "plaster" (that triangle sign) on the windscreen!


doesnt it looks cleaner now?

it's initial purpose is to allow other drivers to know and give way... but well, since most of the time we always had not been given way...guess also no difference la, with or without the "plaster"? haha...

accident on paya lebar road

(New model mazda MX 5 crashed onto a BMW during test drive, sales exec killed, driver survived)

Another accident again, this time this seems to be causing alot of discussion, as from what i saw from Sgforum (Cars)... 2 threads headings and more than 13000 views in juz around 2 days. While many was angry at the driver, many felt sad for the poor sales girl.

Until this moment, people are still arguing online... While many pushed to blame to driver and refer him as reckless and speeding, there's also his friend who posted that his lane was been cut by a car, hence forcing he to serwe and lost control. Also some other people commented everyone was jumping into conclusion and it could not be the driver fault...and all the cursing and arguement continues..

actually to me, as very much i'm pretty concerned with this news, but i sort of dont understand why some of the forum readers online could get "agitated" over it, such that they are actually arguing about whether the guy was speeding....

What if the families read all these? would they gotten more sad? the girl is dead, and that is a sure fact. And that young guy is living in guilt too...gods know would he ever be able to have the courage to drive again in future.

Anyway, this also shows how much the responsibiltiy one have, while behind the wheel. Anything wrong it would cause lives, especially when perhaps his skills wasnt that "matured" yet, and the road was slippery with the metal plate instead of tarmac (LTA construction going on), and the speed.

What i learnt came into my mind : always anticipate the dangers on the road...

and talking about skills, what we all have might not be enough... so i really hope for a track to be built in SG, so Defensive driving courses could be conducted locally... The feeling of cornering at 40kmh during L-plates days is totally different when you did it at 70,80kmh...and what to do when grip is lost? Even me could not master that right after my short advance course... Need a proper one again in future...

For now, bless those affected.

(p/s: for me as a petrol-head, i was also quite "sad" too to see the first local pictures of the new MX 5 in a disfigured form, before the launch.... wasted for such a great car. Hope it doesnt affect the sales (....but it certainly will.) )

my 20th birthday!

Alright, to me, birthdays arent just birthday... for friends that doesnt see them everyday, it's more than a chance for gatherings. At least it's something other than chinese new yr or xmas that would get people back again for a reason...

So for mine, it seems good, coz being near to jinie's, at least i can tell myself "hey the next gathering is soon" when jinie's ended that day. Indeed, just one week later, another fun day which i look forwarded to.

Hence, here we go... Last sat, 22th October 2005, we went to Sentosa. Although there's only derrick dom iz and me, hey, we had fun!

From just taking photos at the colourful Siloso... (and having some cold sweat for iz, in fear of his head-impact if he slides off)



...to the happening kayak session...



oh my... first me and dom started by figuring out how to turn...2 newbies here...until derrick gave us his guidance from far, from his single seat kayah.

then we changed, with me kayaking with the "pro" iz, whom brought me to the limits,

and lastly to "partner" with derrick, which then, the waves became strong suddenly, and the both of us was just kept been swept back shore as we tried to get on to the kayak and move off... i used all my powers and derrick's leg was bruised from the knockings... Most "jialiak" one was IZ, who fought with the waves bravely with his single seater and.....got swept over....and donated his specs to the Sea God. And lived without specs for the rest of the day.

Kayaking is very relaxing too... As me and derrick move on slowly, we covered the whole area til the next lagoon (yeah). He even tried lying down behind...as quoted from him, "it felt better than osim message chair"... i believe it, coz when i went right side off course and need help in paddling back to the left, there's no response....he-was-asleep-for-the-moment....hahaa...


....to the time on the sand...

A relaxing time to sit down and chat, enjoy the place, and sun tan (for dom and iz)

as dom chose the "traditional" way to tan, IZ did the more "extreme" way... Bury in sand.



yup this is the the first one... as we found it too shallow, we dig a deeper hole nearer to the sea, and tala, a good place for him to lie in.



see the happy faces? haha..

another fun thing... u guys notice before there are some hooks on the shelter's pillars for you to hang your clothes? Hang a camera there instead and take a group photo...and u get a nice angle ^-^



...to the chairlift + luge!!...

If u recalled my previous post (last trip to sentosa) i did mention about this b4... and so, now we tried it! (cheers!) The chairlift part up is the same, even the views are the same, but just that it's faster this time (coz there's no stoppings along e way this time)

And finally the luge....Although it seems simple in design (just a flat thing with a bar, pull back to brake) , but hell, it could go very fast downwards! As just we left the starting point, the "pro" IZ zoommmed off... and i didnt see his shadow for the rest of the journey... ok lo, i just release the brakes later than him mah.. haha..

anyway, it's really fun. The straights were wide, and the hairpins are steep...finally a place for me to put what i had learnt about Apex/cornering in practise...haha! a few turns, i see the brown colour fences and cones... damn, it's approaching the end... so short?? no wonder they gave packages that even have 4 trips in one go...argh.


happy faces (2)...


...the cause of excitment ;)

....to taking photos with sunset!....

something calm after the exciting ride. By now it's already time, just nice for sunset... Took some nice pictures:


My personal favourite....tricks with flash...heehe.


After Sentosa, time to meet the rest of people for dinner, at Cartel Plaza Singapura.
Nice to see also jinie, kent, kelly, benji, and Zhichao! Was a great meal with many chats around... and very worth it too for the item we shared, was so full after it!



Not forgetting zhi hao and angela too... they were having their class gathering nearby and the 2 came over to send me their wishes.. thanks! Good to see our zhi hao to be still as cheerful.. hee.

and the cake came ^-^


...a long wish...

fyi, the cake was very tasty too! The pieces really melts in your mouth...yummy!

The cake was so nice... as nice as everyone who came and spent the day with me. thank you.

- + - + - + - + - + -

23th October, actually day of birthday ...who else can i celebrate it with? of coz shufang! hehe.... Really great to see her, especially after not see-ing her for the past 2 weeks due to her projects. Nevertheless, we had a great day shopping around at bugis/suntec, and had dinner at Mache....yummy! Especially the crepez that she ordered....wah, the berries fillings felt so good in the mouth! Think i got her cravings for ice-creams and crepez back again.. hahah!~

(paisei, no pix for this! Camera down.)

24th October...took a day leave, best way to avoid monday blues and had a good time resting at home, after 2 happening weekends ;) sleeping is shiok! heez.

- + - + - + - + - + -

Thank you IZ for the 2 events that u had planned! hard on you! very much appreciated. Have a good rest this week.
Also, thanks to u and derrick for my gift!~! Really nice for u all to remember my "messenger" bag... ;)

Thank you for everyone who came down on sat. Appreciated! Especially to Dom...despite your busy work and tiriness... take care friend!!!

Soon leong, it's really ok! felt bad instead if u were hurt on the way. Take good CARE!

lastly, Shufang! Thanks alot alot for your gift!! really like it... will take good care of it!~!


That's all, my 20th birthday (^-^)

Juz 4 a laugh (^-^)

(from my email at work, fyi.)

Does your Department have a problem in recruiting the right person for
the
right Job? If yes, try this simple experiment :

Put around 100 bricks in some particular order in a closed room with an
open window. Then send 2-3 candidates into the room and close it from
outside.

Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours, and then analyze the
situation:

If they are counting and recounting the number of bricks - PUT THEM IN
ACCOUNTS DEPT.

If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks - PUT THEM IN
ENGINEERING

If they are arranging the bricks in some other order - PUT THEM IN
PLANNING.

If they are throwing the bricks at each other - PUT THEM IN OPERATIONS.

If they are sleeping - PUT THEM IN SECURITY.

If they have broken the bricks into pieces - PUT THEM IN INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY.

If they are sitting idle - PUT THEM IN HUMAN RESOURCE DEPT.

If they have thrown the b ricks out of the window - PUT THEM IN THE
MATERIALS DEPT.

If they are clinging onto the bricks - PUT THEM IN TREASURY.

If they say they have tried different combinations, yet not a brick has
moved - PUT THEM IN SALES.

If they have already left for the day - PUT THEM IN MARKETING.

If they are staring out of the window - PUT THEM IN STRATEGIC PLANNING

AND last but not least....

If they are talking to each other and not a single brick has been moved
-
PUT THEM IN TOP MANAGEMENT.

Johor + Jinie Bday + my work

3 posts in 1. Here we go.


15/10/2005 Saturday

I havent been to malaysia for more than 10years. And i havent been overseas for 4 years. So when i was asked to go to Johor, i agreed immediately. And yea, saturday i made a trip across the causeway.

We visited City Square shopping centre, which is only a > 5 mins walk from the custom... and surprise... once we stepped in the place felt so like Singapore! Much better than what i expect. It's very modern and BIG...On the 4th or 5th storey there's a whole area similiar to Heerens Annex.. a shopper paradise.. And at the top floor there's Cinema and KTV...and surprise again, the KTV is Neway..Famous Hong Kong's K-box. wow.

And the time we spent in Neway is simply great. In every single way, it much better than KBox. The room is big and cozy, the system is user friendly and good and stable, there's alot of NEW songs, and the Lunch package...Not some delifrance pie or microwave chicken rice, but....a big plate of Chicken Chop Rice with sauce, Chicken Cream soup, salad, watermelon and drinks... all these at RM 14... after tax it's juz less than S$8 per person! And with a much much much more better customer service.

And ya, back to the "Annex" area, there are alot stuff and and shops too, while they are all not cramped up together...the corridoor is wide, so its not crowded & lots of space to move. Lots to see, and i bought shirt for myself...heez. There's a small cafe too, when u r tired in the "annex", similiar to Heerens'..

For the other shops in the mall, many are all the familiar brands we get here... You would realli feel as if you r in Singapore. A point though, there seems to be many Bridal shops too around too..haha..

Wanna make a trip there again!

1 day KTV + shopping at Johor, anyone?


16/10/2005 Sunday

happy birthday to jinie~~!!!


Thanks to our organiser issac, this is the first of the 2 events that we would be having for this 2 weekends. For this jinie's bday, we gathered at K-Box Marina Square and everyone sung their hearts out... shiok!


Yup this is the big room we got. From the right, you see Soon leong, Benji, Derrick, remy, IZ, kent, jinie, kathy, me, and Dom (who's taking this photo)




As we sang, our bday girl got an idea and we started a singing competition... haa... Every single one of us would choose a song of our choice and sing, after which would be judged for the 5 prizes... namely, best courage, best action, best gentlemen, best dressed, and the best of best. haha...



Trust me, i was actually quite anxious...it felt so different between when u sang seated and standing... heez.


Then, here comes the cake! Nice part of the plan again, this was a surprise i guess? Our dear birthday girl was so delighted.




ah, and the cake really tasted very nice ;)


Lastly, here goes the "prize" presentation... here are our following winners... hahaa..

and the group photo:



After the KTV, we went Marina Bay for steamboat. The rain did made the place wet, but it made it very cooling too... Very nice. And thanks to iz, it was since such a long time i ate soooo much prawns... haaha...

yummy!

With this, we ended the day... we had soo much fun... ;)



17/10/2005 Monday, onwards

After a happening weekend, it was back to work again. The monday was still as usual, same amount of faults again and the same bases to go again to tend to faults...

Until the time when the sms comes in to my colleague. Yup, it's not a rumour anymore, i'm offically going over to another section the next day. In short, change of job.

Well, this is both a good and bad news. After 1 year and 4 months at the Site Response Team, i had gotten really used to all the stuff and enjoyed all the time travelling outside. And i have a "boss" too (The regular who i'm attached to assist since day 1) too... But recently things had gotten tougher and more complicated, and well, over familiarised = sian. Soo...it's good for a change now, time to learnt new stuff and new challenges. Anyway, my partner is leaving the team too, for another section, later this year. He's much more "sian" than anyone else.. he's already been in site response for 5 years.

Anyway, i'm going over to the comms and computers team... handling accounts and comms. Yup, it gonna be busy, but well, i'm left with 6months of service... so it's alright.

And Tuesday i started my "learnings".... so far so good, pretty ok... but really quite alot to learn... and the style is really very different... This job requires much more customer service skills than what i used to do... And there are much more procedures to know. woh.

But finally, i will be getting my own table... hehe.... Coz since the start til now what i had been using is a shared computer (SLC, self learning centre.. just a point where everyone can surf internet in office) ...so at times pretty hard to do work... have to shift around oftenly... not anymore in future ;)

nevertheless, jiayou to myself! May this sat come quickly oh.....

.

oh children.

i wondered was it that always had been so, or i havent been noticing that until recently,

but... i realise, are children nowadays getting more and more hard to control or teach?

Crying/infants childrens on board trains should be pretty normal and common... but how about one that cries and screams (yes, with a glass breaking pitch) throughout the 30 mins ride? and the parents are doing nothing to ease off the child, while passengers rub their ears...

Crying childrens in shopping centres are very common too, especially for those who had not gotten what they wanted. But previously at Taka, i saw this father pulling along his crying son... and he gotten soo fed up that he just let go of his hands and the child just fell onto the floor, screaming even louder. Ouch.

Some other kids run around. It's normal again, but not when this little girl i saw was running towards the LRT tracks, with no signs of slowing down...The father couldnt hold her on time earlier when she slipped off, but luckily the mother was able to push the pram to block her from infront... phew.

Then, we have children hitting their own parents... In a train again, i saw this young indian boy (5 years?) refusing to sit still on the seat, and keep on hitting his mother , running his palm over her face and pulling her hair. While the grandmother kept nagging at the kid, the mother seems not to do anything drastic... oh my.

Similiarily, there's another boy (6 years?) who kept kicking and "punching" his father, on the LRT platform. As he kicks, he does as if he is the hero killing the dragon and kept entertaining himself with the "dialog"... obviously too much influence from TV... Despite warnings from the father, he still doesnt stops... and it continues all the way on the LRT... sigh, where's the respect..?

And touching on influence of media... i have my last example here... and i guess, the most shocking one...: Outside Cold Storage, a 4 or 5 year old boy hugging and kissing his younger brother...on the lips.... Aghh... i wonder does the mother saw this or not..???

It really takes alot to bring up a child properly...

hmm..

suddenly recalled that i was also quite a naughty child last time... oh no... would what i had done get back to me in future, when it's my turn as the father???


(-_-"")

are you tired?

IN the canteen at my base, there's this young man (but older than me) who handled the Zhu3 Chao3 stall... He is a malaysian (from Sarawak) and would always change from his shirt and shorts into a formal attire after his work..seems to be aheading somewhere else for more stuff/work. Still, guess everyone would see him as just another malaysian worker?

But today, while i was walking to the MRT station, i ran into him (he was in the same direction) and we pick up a chat (quite a friendly guy). As i learnt that he's still proceeding to boon lay for some more matters everyday (despite that he had worked for hte entire day) , i asked him:

"arent you is tired"?

"tired? with a aim you will never get tired."

This sentence left me with a deep impression immediately.

Then he added
"many people live a day and plan a day, but never gets far. But if you plan far and aim for it, you will get very far in your life"

he is indeed very motivated and driven.

And as we chatted on, i realised that he is not just a simple worker. He is full of knowledge and ideas. He had attended talks and had learnt from people regarding their experiences in business... And he's very observant too, certainly. Seems like the type who would venture into business eventually...

His level of sense could even be better than some of the people i know in my office.

Really doesnt sound like what would have come out from the mouth of the person who works in our canteen, to my surprise.

Then he shared with me that at this talk by a Taiwanese businessman, he said
"A person might not suceed with talents, but he will if he believes in his dreams" (with will power too)

So true..

So right when i'm at the time of still deciding on my future...

Anyway, his Zhu3 Chao3 wasnt tasty.. full of MSG always.. but i guess it's ok, 'cos i doubt cooking in the canteen would be his main thing... he is certainly capable of much more...

Hmm...

Wonder how would he be, say 5 years later? Surely would have gotten much more further than now.

.

all in a day's work

recently me and my colleagues seems to be getting tired of the job.

Same thing over and over again everyday. The new management made life worse.

I had been here for 1 year and 3 months...but that's nothing much compared to my colleague's 5 years spent.

Thankfully, we are still able to find some fun from every little thing.. hee..

Just like today, 2 piece of engine parts placed in the workshop can be arranged to look like esplanade



and some inspiration from my colleague turns him into a "salted-egg-superman"



lame hor?

There's more in office..

Look at the example on me:



It all started previously when they referred me as one of the radar tower, 'cos, as they said, i'm pretty tall and always looks over the parition when called... just like the camera on the tower...haa...

By the way, others are not spared too..



.......

haha....

"easy" job...

(written on tuesday, 20th sep, in office... only til today then i have the chance to upload this at home ^-^")

My job for today... to send items for my Department Cross country run and to do shuttle bus service, fetching staff from City Hall mrt.

It's held at the Marina promenade Park (behind Ritz Calton, under the ECP to the part where you have the "entrance" where the duck tour makes her splash. So in order to drive into the park to place the logistic, we have to go in via the ducktour "entrance".

Sounds simple isnt it? Indeed it is. Provided if i'm lucky....

But i'm not. as i was driving the van along the ducktour track to move out, suddenly there's a van (no seen just now) parked in the centre. Obviously the driver was finding a place to rest... Nevermind, i just squeeze past you lo. But that's not the end. At the end of the road there's another car parked there (new one, again) Now it's too narrow to squeeze through it... so i have to make a detour on the grass patch...

and... the van got stuck in the soil. Damn it.

My colleague hop off to check on it. The right rear wheels was in the soft soil.. No matter how i rev, it's still spinning on the spot..

The best thing is, on this sight, instead of helping, that van driver and that stupid car driver drove off asap.... &*#$%#@$#

So we have no choice but to use whatever we could find... stone, pranks, tree branch, etc...placed under the wheel, dig and dig the soil, forward, reverse, it still doesnt move...

Called up my colleague (the in charge for the event, who's already stressed up enough) and he would be on the way down, on foot....

so 20 over minutes passed, until some of the other people from my department happened to pass by.. they were on their way to the event. With them helping to push...we are finnally released.. phew... was still afraid that i might have to see the head of transport if anything happens to the van... luckily still in a piece with no damage ^-^

But in the end, coz of the time spent, i didnt get to do the 2 rounds of shuttle service... -_-"... Luckily there's 2 other vans doing it..

stiil, haiz, feel damn bad after the event... seems to have caused more trouble.. haa...

charging done, sentosa!

trust me, for early last week, i was nearly on the edge of collasping already.

no energy (mentally) no energy (physically) no energy (in work) no energy (for everything)

Other than the problem at my family side, i guess it was also due to my workplace getting shitter and shitter. (this's another story.)

Luckily, my pre-planned 3 days leave came right nicely on time... and yeah... on leave for 14 - 16th.

More time to sleep, to recharge and refresh, and to go out with shufang ;) *happy*
(she having holidays too)

Dying for a friends gathering too... So when Dom sms us for a trip to sentosa on the coming saturday, i "signed up" for it immediately.

Initially i intended to go down at 830am for breakfast with dom and gang.., but as a sudden situation arises at my grandma's on friday night (in which we stayed til very late) i went down at the later timing, with the rest of the people..

The first activity for us started with a game of captain ball... With all the energetic guys and girls, it was so....fast paced.. hhaha...towards the end of the game i was really losing breathe... but it was fun... havent had such a "workout" for ages.

Half time for the game and some rest...with some photo taking here n there... ^-^



After it, we treked down the beach, where most of us had a kayaking session...except for me, kent and Lynette (jinie's friend). And yup, i was made the offical photographer, from the shore.. haha... except for the time whereby i felt tired (and sun-burnt) and went back to the comfortable mat where kent n lyn r seated...only to be shouted back...to continue with the photo shooting.. hahah...



wah, jinie n kenneth very pro huh, but iz and yan jun seems to have problems with the direction at first.. they seems to get further and further at the start... haha.. and as the 2 kayak take turns to come nearer to me for photo taking, each of them nearly went in to this same 2 person (who were in the sea), at the same spot... guess they certainly werent too happy... haha...

And derrick... (who went in sea later due to the lack of single seat kayak) was having difficulty to get into the kayak and to move out to sea...despite help from me, he was still been repeatly washed up shore.. hahah... until jinie and kenneth came down and helped him... haha... was really a fun time.

(better dun comment anymore, coz i didnt even go into the sea... haha... if it's me, certainly i'll have created the joke of the day...)

After the fun time on sea... we went on to take the chairlift ride uphill. This is really new i guess? didnt even know its existance.. haha... As the name suggest its something like a bench that carries you up the hill..like those you see at those snow ski mountains.. so other than the rod that holds you, there's nothing else...with your legs dangling in the air... hehe...



sound scary right? First impression was indeed abit. But as we started to move uphill, it was all ok for me....perhaps because of those towers that i had climbed at work? And certainly derrick have no problems too coz he (lucky guy) had already taken such rides during his ski at Korea.. It was pretty peaceful, except when kent shouted my name from behind several times...haha...and i shouted back his too. Anyway it was pretty fun to shout on the hills... stress releasing??

The view was really great... wah.. saw the new construction for the train station, the PSA/CBD view, and the great down hill tracks which you could travel down on a Luge (like a motor-less go-kart to me) after the chairlift ride, if we pay $2 more just now (3 for $15, while one uphill chairlift is $3/pax). Wah...see-ing the hairpin turns really reminded me of initial D...;) .. wanna try that next time!!



With this, we ended our day in sentosa. A shuttle bus ride and train took us to orchard, where we had dinner at mache ;) Ok guess i might sound like a mountain turtle now, but the food is really nice! and the price wasnt too ex too somemore... Had a great time there, with all the jokes and laughter..

Not forgetting, kent got his girl to come down to join us all for dinner too... hey kent, finally get to see your girl... congraluation for getting such a nice girl!! she's sort of similiar to you...from my impression? cheers!

After dinner, we had some walks around in heerens and cine, and day ended with everyone heading back home... guess everyone was already very tired by then! Me too, was already in quite a blur mind le.. haha

Frankly, it was really such a long time since i had been out in a big group for outing for an entire day.. It does bring me back memories of the past... Or could i just felt it so strong now coz i was in the stage of my life? Or i just...think too much le...

No matter what, i still enjoyed the day. Alot.

Thanks to everyone..

sigh.

hi guys.

It's been more than a week since i had update this blog. Or rather, since i had laid my hands on my comp... I had one of the most tiring and worst week in fact... My maternal grandmother suffered from a stroke and me and my family went down to hospital every night. And we had to face one of the worst relatives we had in the world... here's why..

(hope u dont mind this long post...allow me to vent out all the frustrations...)

*****

It all started on last Monday (5th sep), when i received a call from my sister that my grandma had a stroke, and was on the way to TTSH.. After work i rushed down, and she's already awaiting treatment at A & E. No, it didnt happen suddenly. As a matter of fact, it happened the day before (sunday). When those uncles were been called down, they "thought" she was simply choked with phlegm and didnt "bothered" to send her to the hospital...Why? Money. Decision? Wait and see how first. We didnt even know about it at that night then...it was only when my father and sist came on monday afternoon that they realise it wasnt as simple....

Fine. And when she's sent to the hospital? Only one of my uncle (4th uncle), my big aunt (wife of the 1st uncle), one of my cousin and my family were there. The 4 other uncles was un-seen. My 3rd uncle (who was my grandma favourite son, and the always most bossy but never took any responsibility) only said "call me when there's any need" and stayed at home. Ya right, when we called you later in the night your stupid phone was already off.

For nuts , she's their own mother!! Doesnt him (or them) be even more worried?? Taking their money seems more painful than their mother's condition. F**K.

Now's about my that big aunt. My grandma had been living with her first son family, hence you can say it was under my big aunt care...She had hired a maid to take care of her, but we all know she was never good to my grandma, other than when the rest of the relatives were present... True enough, when the A&E doctor came out, she was trying her best to claim credits and act fillal... wah lao, if she's really that good, my grandma wouldnt be in such a state.

From the doctor, it was confirmed that she suffered from a stroke in her right brain, hence the left part of her body is paralysed. Also, now she have difficulty in shallowing and speaking.. So she had to be hospitalised for further treatment.

As we waited in the ward for the doctor (doing his night time rounds) to come, the nurse does her checks and settles all the arrangements for contacts... comes the part when she ask for a volunteer to be the learner person (to understand the condition), no ones volunteers. Yes, even that aunt (who's been living with her and taking credits) didnt step forward, until she's been pushed to do so... Or else, my sister would already had volunteered, when things shouldnt be in this way (we are already considered outside of the family, cos it's the maternal side.)

And when the doctor finally came, he did his checks... and his atitude and tone was really bad...sounds more than a cop questioning criminals as he asked us questions...ok, guess he look young and is really stressed out. Once again, that aunt was just there saying "i took care of her this and that".... and when he asked why my grandma wasnt been observed more carefully, she pushed all to the poor maid, who just kept quiet.

Please la, cut the act... we knew since day one. By this time my cousin was already having a real black face, and stood aside quietly... She was real concerned with our grandma, much more than those sons. Further more, she knew all the stuff too, when to assert her rights as a client for things to be done (ie: call for neurologist to assess my grandma), with all the right tone to get things done. Perhaps it's her career, and also from all her experiences...her own mother (my eldest aunt) had passed away with cancer; and she had been running in and out of hospitals due to her mother and her in-laws.. I really respect her.

And my sister too... Not only her knowledge from her dip course in physiotherapy was put into practise, her unlimited care and gentle-ness was much better than any nurse there... Throughout the entire night she just hold on to my grandma palm and rubbing it to show that we are all there... kept telling her it's ok and communicating with her.

The most heart broken should be my mum... Actually, she had been blaming herself for moving out 2 years ago... When i was still at Hougang, our unit was just next door to my grandma and my 1st uncle's unit. Back then, whatever happens it would be us to settle....they just never bother much and we was taken for granted...further more, during then my grandma didnt appreciate my mum...she only "see" her favourite son...eventually my mum couldnt take it anymore (many stuff happened) and so we shifted out, leave it all for "those-who-lived-nearby" to handle. Who knows, after we left that aunt changed her face...

Still, what filled her now was more anger than grief.

By the time everything was settled, it was already pass midnight...Before we left, we asked my grandma who she wants to see.. apon the mention of her favourite son, she shook her head hard. Real hard. Guess she was finally disappointed with him. My cousin said something very true... "It's ok, that guy will grow old one day too." Very true. We will just stand aside by then and watch his fate. Or maybe i would already had forgotten about his presence.

*****

Up to wed, she was in state of dizziness still, drifting in and out of sleeps for the entire day... It was until thursday that she gotten better, and had a clearer mind, complaining about her hunger and could still check that we are fine when we visited her...

Certainly, the maid was very much happy too... she had been attached to her for slightly more than a year now, and she had already take it as if she is her own grandmother... She was soo worried that she actually cried when my grandma "woke up" from her long "sleep" that day... it was such a heartwarming moment...

There was this moment that i couldnt take it too... it was thursday, when it was the first time that she suddenly called for me... as i move over and held her palm, she cried suddenly, and it took us all by surprise... Why, we kept asking but she just didnt say (or we didnt catch it).. trust me, i nearly cried too.... My father guessed that she cried 'cos she was sad why all those sons of my uncles didnt come, but instead it was all those from the female side who came almost daily... And i believed it. She always been so traditional, and the "wai sun"s (external) will never be better than those "ne sun"s (internal). Perhaps this event had really changed her thinking.


Initially, it was already expected that she would be discharged on sat. But friday she was down with fever due to infection, and she went back to the state of dizziness... The discharge date was delayed, until monday (12th sep). The fever was gone on the day of discharge, but she was still not quite "awake" yet...until now. haIx. With my mum having off from work tomorrow, we would be going down to visit her at hougang, and i hope to see her be better.

*****

This, indeed, had changed alot of stuff. Physically, not only she could not move her left side limps, she cant speak properly now and had lost the ability to eat... "Food", in form of "liquid milk", had to be inserted by the means of a tube, directly into her throat. On the other hand, she had seen all the true colours of the people around... which son doesnt care, which is a fake, which son have the heart but not the money and energy to support it... (you xin wu li) , and who are those that really cares.

And my dear friends.. please cherish those kins you have around you... frankly, only now then i kind of regretted not spending more time with my grandma when i was younger, at my old hougang house...when she still could do everything...

And take care of your parents... It really very bad for anyone to suffer such a pain at such a age.

*

quick info quick quick updates

first of all, happy teachers day..!! wonder how many of you guys went back to our old schools today? unfortunately, i wasnt able to, coz of meetings today and lack of manpower...

i n f o . . .

1) Chicken pie lovers, read here! With a recommendation from my colleague, last sat me dom and derrick visited "Don Your Personal Pie Club", located at China Square Central. Paisei huh, dom and derrick, i lost my way a few times as we walk from raffles place mrt, and made both of you to walk a big round with me... hehe... Anyway, the Chicken Pie is very very nice~!! Crisy exterior, with juicy fillings... big chicken pieces forms the great kou2 gan3, accompanied with half a boiled egg... and all these at $3.80, for a quarter, & $15+ for the whole pie. (a quarter size slightly bigger than a Polar Puff.) Must try!! (cakes and coffee are available too...heard the cakes are nice, havent get to try..)

Don Your Personal Pie Club Pte Ltd
20 Cross Street #01-34/35/36
China Square Central
(Far East Square opp)
Tel: 63274344
www.donpieclub.com.sg
mon-fri: 8am to 9pm, sat/sun/PH: 8am to 5pm


2) Wanton mee lovers, your turn now: today other of my colleague brought us all to his favourite wanton mee stall, at ubi. And no wonder it's his favourite, 'cos it's cheap & good! At $2.50, other than the char siew, you have alot of chai xin, mushrooms, shreded chicken & chicken feet..& it's not only 3 wanton in the soup, but 7 or 8..! Most importantly, it taste good. The noodles neither have the taste of the "powder" (common mistake from other stalls), nor like plastic, but is nicely cooked. The soup doesnt only taste of MSG like other stalls...it's pretty Qing1 Tan4. Unfortunatly, the place wasnt too accessible (it's in the industrial park)...it would only be convenient when you happen to pass by... and the opening hours are short.

HENG KEE Wanton Stall
Blk 3021, Ubi ave 2
First stall to the left in the coffeeshop #01-0139 (if not wrong)
Up to around 2,3pm for weekdays, half day for sat, and closed for sun.


u p d a t e s . . .

1) Bought myself a USB Bluetooth adapter from sim lim the other day. "yeah.,finally can transfer files to my computer liao.." ya right, first my nokia software cannot detect the Bluetooth drive, now the software cant even be installed... nevermind, sort it out slowly...

2) ...but new things are good too. Saw the brand new Kia Rio.. wah, great improvement over the last model... door closed with a nice "thump" and the cabin was not too bad...a bright interier.. The rear of the hatchback seems to look like the new Opel Astra though... a good bargain @ $47000 plus.. hope the insurance would not be expensive (common "problem" for KIAs) ..private cars are better coz at times they can go faster, especially for long highway trips...

3) ...like P-I-E (not pie) which is quite long...guess i was too bored on the road during work that day, cos i start to "measure" the distance while we travelled from one end (TUAS) to the other (loyang)... it's around 45 to 50km... anyway, this shows how "big" singapore is too... haha... but still...

4) ...despite the distance, driving is getting more expensive with the recently rise in petrol price... OMG.. pump in premium grade ones and it's nearly $1.80 per litre...nearly 170% of diesel ($1.053 per litre). Hope that the hurricanes would be over soon, or else things would get really bad.. For now, i can only switch off the aircon (when it's cool) and be light footed... driving seems to get less enjoyable....

5) ....and my sister tries to lighten up the driving experience...as she pasted a doramon sticker on my dad's van window... -_-" Aircon-man with a doramon?? hahaha...

Dom's 20th Birthday!

First,

Happy birthday to dom~!!

Last saturday, 20th Aug, we celebrated Dom's 20th Birthday, at the Fish n Co Glasshouse branch. As we all know, Fish n Co staff are good at birthday thingy, so it seems to be a great place for birthday celebrations (i'll go to all these later)

Quite a number of people came, and i had really havent seen quite a number of them for a really long time..! The list includes: Dom, derrick, jinie, kathy, jasmine, pearlyn, kent, IZ, soon leong, benji, and me.



Really have to thank kent soon leong and jinie. Coz in order to buy the cake and pass it to the counter at the 1st storey, snd still without to be seen by our birthday girl, they have to come in later after we had enter the restaurant.. Once they arrived, everyone settled down quickly and had a great time catching up with each other, with photos snapped here and there

And there's really a lot of photos... haha... this is the first time i had my entire memory card used up by a single event~! to be exact, 125 of them...and not all moments are captured by the way. And part of the time mine and derrick's camera wasnt with us.. as soon as they were laid on the table, they would be taken and photos are been shot at the other end of the table..haha! Sure you guys had fun! (p/s: hope u guys have no problems getting your shots from the online album!)



Not forgetting, the food was great! yummy...( see the happy face? haha...)



After we were done with our food, the moment came. The staff came with the cake, and dom was been made to stand on her chair, while the birthday song was sung loudly! Yup, the whole level knew who's the star tonight..!
(The staff are good.. not only they allow "outside" cake, they knew when to bring it up, what to do (cheer and sing), plates and utensils are provided too! And this is widely known, coz other people had similiar celebrations too... That night alone we seen/heard 2 or 3 other people standing and birthday songs/cheers too ^_^ )



Dom was certainly not empty handed too. Check out e picture for the amount of gift she received! (on way back she seems as if she just went shopping)



And of cos, the best is derrick's for sure... Not only it's a specially made (only 1 in e world) MTV of her, it was nicely wrapped up and even "broadcasted" on the spot! Woh, dom was melted... haha!!



After the dinner and spending some time at Plaza Singapura, sadly i have to make a move first.. Heard there's more after it.. The remaining people was chilling out at TCC...wish i was there!


...the night was real fun.. More importantly, glad dom had enjoyed it alot too!!

3 days quickly

Quick updates of myself... As mentioned earlier, monday i was having flu, and tuesday morning it gotten worse so in the end i was on MC. But well, at least i can sleep for the entire day and to recharge back all the energy i had lost over the past few days... ^-^

Wednesday i was back at office, but still with the tipsy-ness from those pills..grr. The entire office was getting crazy too, 'cos our new director had came out with this "SPOTIN" thing (sounds like "Blogging" ah.), which requires everyone from the entire department (yes all. HQ, maritime, cantoment, Traffic...) to create a webpage in the intranet about themselves...and the dateline is 26th august morning (tommorrow). As all my pic are at home, i rushed out one last night...a 4-page-with-frames webpage...And since i was running out of ideas, i just scanned my security pass for my "face"... hope it doesnt look too corny... ;p

Meanwhile, my lucky sister...just received her pre-launch copy of the Initial D movie DVD too, by post..happy girl haha.. i only have time to watch the "making of"... but it was already good enough! ;) I realised there are many deleted scenes from the movie, and Jay Chou dubbed his own voice for the Cantonese version. And the behind the scenes stuff are...cool.

Today... the crazy-ness continues... at 4+ pm everyone in my division (maritime) were busy with their sites... For those early birds, they did nice flash animated pages... those busy ones got a template from the net and edited with their info. One created a crossword puzzle with his info as the answers. One shaped all his stuff into the shape of his initials (and the words cant be seen. too small.) Some just place a photo and 3 lines of text, against white background. Some just place a simple "testing page" or "under construction", only to fill up their "place". The best? "You are not authorised to view this page"... haha...

Should be all back to normal tomorrow?

paisei oh, heez.

There's always a chain reaction for things, so are for tiriness too...

First, friday night i gotten activated for standby duty, after which when i finally gotten home it's already 3am.. Sat we had great fun at dom's bday, but was so tired after it... For the whole of sunday i was at Jurong, and today.... down with a runny nose... *sniff*.

...So that's why you see i havent got to update you guys about sat event (dom's birthday) til now... hehez...paisei huh, will get a nice one up here asap... tomorrow night hopefully oh...

p/s: anyway, i had just uploaded all the 125(!) photos from dom's birthday. ;-) Now all are up at my Yahoo Photos. Please do follow the link on the top left side!! Any photos u want to develop? Drop me a email and i'll email them to u... :)

bye siemens, hello nokia

last week, i told myself i had enough... my siemens wasnt still quite that stable (ya it hung on me again, and again), it lacks quite a number of stuff, and battery life wasnt that good... But, the trade-in value looks good... so before the price drops any further, why not i trade it in for another brand new phone with more features (from another brand, of coz.) And make it a flip phone too as might well.

A flip phone had been my ideal shape actually... but i always cant find one with a balance between price and features... The new Sony Ericssons (K750 included) are too pricy for me... for the other brands, either they lack in the software (connectivity) or the stuff they have..

So, after some research, the best choice appears... Nokia 6260. Nice price, and it have all the features i need ;)

And saturday, i bought the phone, with my SL65 traded-in and a 2 year plan signed (on my mum's new line) Actually, it was slightly a "risk" for me.. While normally i would find a real sample of the phone and tried it out first, i didnt this time... all my info was from the net.. From what i heard, the major complains were the bad build quality, the difficulty in single hand use, and the camera resolution...but hey, thankfully it wasnt that bad at all..! In fact, the camera was much better than my SL65's... at least i can take up to 640X480, and the colour and viewfinder are much better than the SL65.. Anyway, if i'm really to take proper pictures, i would have taken them with my digi-camera. True, some of the buttons do not feel that good, but it's still acceptable... Overall, the casing quantity feel is good. And guess my palm is big... i could sms with my right hand only.. hehe...

2 days now, and no problem. Been using siemens since my first phone, so i wasnt too used to it at first... but now i'm adapting it fast... indeed nokia is user friendly ^-^ More importantly, no screws up, no data lost, no hangings, very stable.

But.. if the package includes a data cable, it would be perfect... For the whole of yesterday, i been living with a few phone numbers and a empty set only.. haha..until i'm able to borrow shufang's laptop to transfer in my address book (exported from SL65) and a few ringtones and stuff ...gonna buy a USB-bluetooth soon.

Nevertheless, one happy owner now. heehe. ^_^

.

camera away

I realise that i have more events coming up real soon that requires the need for my camera (and my hand is getting itchy too...)

so, during lunch time today, a trip to Canon service centre @ Keppel Bay Tower



Perhaps as today is a school holiday, there are quite a number of kids in the quite crowded waiting area (as u can see in the foreground, a kid and a pram... there are more) Of cos, other than kids and fathers, there are white collars, well dressed ladies, and some pros too, with their dSLR... woh.

Anyway, the service was quite not bad... Despite the number of people there, waiting time wasnt too long actually. Plus, there are cozy sofas, newspapers, and free flow of coffee (from a coffee maker) to make waiting time seems short.

(Just to add on, the best i had seen so far is Hewlett-Packard's, at Alexandra Technopark... for this, on top of the sofa and coffee, there's even "cater-style" snacks and internet access from several computers...and free parking, if you drove there. That's why last time, you get 4 person from my office just to service one PDA... haha..i'm one of them)

Back to my camera... fault found to be Lens problem... and as it's already soo long after warranty, it's $130 (includ. service charge)... Guess i would fix it first, since getting a new decent camera would cost me 400,500 dollars...

and they would contact me again in one week.. hmm... who knows, scully they would give me the offer like my colleague's. But even they dont, it's ok, 'cos i do like my present camera... she had seen soo much stuff together with me, over this short 2 years....

.