God & household appliance

Source: Google

Life is strange in the funny connections that one makes, joining totally unrelated everyday things with the extraordinary.

After all the hooha over Christmas gifts, car park bullies and short-circuits, I am once-again reminded that the most valuable possession that one can have is relationships, not money. It took a deep-fryer and one tough holiday weekend to drive home this point.

Now when I look at that particular kitchen appliance, I will remember relationships. They are treasured possessions indeed.

Deep-fried tofu, anyone?

Christmas 2006

Source: Google

Hope everyone's safe tonight. Please remember the Christians in Indonesia and Muslims in western countries. Whatever your belief, being persecuted for it by your fellow man is not what God would accept.

God bless.

Anger...

My anger issue surfaced over the past 2 days.

Wife had a less-than-happy conversation about religion with friends during dinner.

Wife's Christmas gift short-circuited the whole apartment.

Short-circuit busted the modem.

Brother caught in Johor's flood while coming to 1984-ville.

Verbal bust-up with rude nouveau riche CHRISTIAN family in mall car park over scratched car (theirs).

Broke down.

Winter solstice

Source: Google

Popularly known as 冬至 among the Chinese community. Legend has it that the birth date of Jesus was moved to 25th December to coincide with winter solstice - the shortest day, after which the sun was "reborn" and daylight hours become longer.

The marking of 冬至 as a holiday was recorded as far back as the Spring-Autumn (春秋) Period (722-481 BC). The Book of Later Han (后汉书) records, "冬至前后，君子安身静体，百官绝事，不听政，择吉辰而后省事." Roughly translated as, "the time around 冬至, the emperor rested and calmed his body, the imperial palace refused to work, the imperial sessions ceased, auspicious dates were selected."

So the concept of "clear leave" is not that modern after all. However, unlike modern workaholics, the annual leave was mandated and presumably enforced. Imagine being forced to go on leave on the pain of death or torture, or bosses being put under the guillotine for not letting staff go on leave!

The Bergeron process

Source: Google

It's been raining for the past 36 hours. I don't recall a time when it rained for that long since February 1987 (a whole week non-stop, if I remember correctly). The thermometer shows 25 degrees Celsius. Just like air-conditioning. This is a wonderful time not just weather-wise. Everyone's in a better mood, especially Faith's. She's been bubbly since Monday when the first drops came down from the sky. Faith's such a "cool" baby. It runs in the family. I am known for being a sulk when it gets warm and humid.

Rain drops keep falling on my head...

Can't get rid of that tune inside my head, not that I'm complaining. I wish it would rain right through Christmas. I love wet and cool weather. Should've been born in some temperate place instead of right smack along the equator. Does anyone live in Vancouver or Toronto? Wish I could live there. Freezing winters, nice summers and maple-leaved autumn.

Mobile blogging

Source: Google

Just got a new phone from Nokia. Supposed to be able to blog from it. Supposed to be able to upload photos to Flickr. Can someone please tell me how?

It's a special feeling, being part of the technologically-challenged minority...

Cheap eats

Photo from Google

11pm.

Just arrived, dazed, at the hotel in the middle of Tsim Sha Tsui.

Stomach growling.

2 x "wanton" noodles
1 x blanched vege with oyster sauce

HK$24/-

Go figure out how much that is in SGD.

Yum...

Hong Kong revisited

Photo from Google

Off for a 4-day runaround Hong Kong SAR with Wifey & Faith. The last (and only) time I visited HK was sometime in the 1970s before "SAR" was suffixed to its name. The only memory I have of it is the crowd. People everywhere. Wonder how things are now, under PRC governance...

Sunny days are here again

It's less stressful taking the family around the island now.

No more:

1. Second-hand smoke from people at bus-stops who're trying to get lung cancer.
2. Bus drivers whose main aim in life is to get everyone puking from motion sickness.
3. Train commuters who use the lifts meant for handicaps or parents with prams.
4. Sleepy cab drivers veering from lane 1 to 4 at 100km/h along the PIE.
5. Cab drivers who sit on their a**es while Wifey desperately tries to load the pram into the boot, holding on to Faith with the other arm.

2006 in review

So Faith has turned one. It's been a wonderful journey. Much of my outlook in life has changed although I don't think the word "mellow" wouldn't apply.

Half-marathon done.

Bought an overprice $12k piece of non-existent paper for private car ownership in 1984-ville.

Survived one year in the education system, standing in front of class.

Found the goodwill of friends and strangers.

Blogged less often.

Dead dad's 35-year-old property went under the hammer and I got zero cents.

Found my long-lost brother.

Made migration plans (adios 1984-ville!).

sigh...

of social status

Photo from The Enduring Vision

So I read that 1984-ville's public housing authority has decided to make it illegal for foreign construction workers to rent public flats.

Before I go on about my personal feelings on this, here are a few scenarios of what might happen when the ban kicks in:

1. Construction cost goes up. This is because construction companies which hire these workers will have the responsibility of providing purpose-built housing for these foreign workers. Every company in Singapore hires foreigners because locals won't do the job. The cost will of course have to be passed on to consumers. The smaller firms who can't afford to do so will go under. So let's brace ourselves for another shake-up in this sector.

2. Employers re-classify their workers when registering with the authorities. One way to overcome the problem of building housing facilities is to register their workers as someone other than a construction worker. Maybe a stone mason, brick-layer etc. This then makes mockery of the ban.

3. Exodus of workers to private housing. If local leasees of public housing complain about the presence of foreign workers in their midst, imagine the kind of noise that the nouveau riche will make when they share cubic space in the sky with foreign faces. Bring out the popcorn for showtime.

4. Further social isolation of foreigners, creating pockets around the island where foreigners dominate and no locals would voluntarily go. This flies in the face of the current government's drive to promote integration of "foreign talents" into local society.

These are just some thoughts off the top of my head.

Back to why I'm against the ban. The public housing authority (and the residents who brought up the "problem") are essentially saying that foreign workers are of a lower class, behave badly, create social disorder and generally responsible for the bulk of crime statistics. This sounds very much like the message that's been sent out by ring-wing anti-immigration groups in Europe.

I walked through my estate at 6 this morning to go to work . I bet my bottom dollar that all the spittle, used tissue paper and general uncleanliness I see was caused by my neighbours - all local born-and-bred 1984-ville denizens.

The bottom line is this: we bleed red and the sewers are equally smelly.

Division

Image from Google

Here's something for mental gymnastics...

Express the following fractions to 3 decimal places, you have 5 minutes:

1/10
2/5
1/3
3/7
1181/3034

I'm sure it took a bit more time for the last one but 5 minutes is plenty for all.

Unless you're in lower primary.

Or a pseudo-premier secondary school.

Why I bought a $10k piece of paper

Image from Google

So the Public Transport Council says 80% of passengers on public buses were satisfied with basic bus services.

I guess that makes me one of the minority.

Satisfied my ass rear-end.

If you follow the press release all the way to the bottom, you'd notice that there were 1661 respondents to the survey. That's out of about 2.1 million passengers in total for the month of February 2006 (when the survey was carried out). Ridership information available here. The survey is highly unrepresentative at 0.07%. And that's only counting SBS passengers. The percentage representation is even lower when you take into consideration TIBS passengers.

I wouldn't give myself a pat on the back just yet if I am a policy-maker.

Somehow, this survey seems to contradict sentiments expressed here where:

"...the authorities hope to reverse...the decline in the share of public transport trips. From 67 per cent in 1997, it has fallen to 63 per cent in 2004 for the morning peak period, despite the heavy investment put into providing a good public transport system..."

Back to my previous claim, satisfied my rear-end.

Here are some basic truths:

1. Money doesn't fix problems.

2. Survey results are highly subjective.

3. Having the traffic police block roads when you move around clouds your perception of things.

Picking up from where I left off

I've been thinking about my One City, One Lens project.

Maybe I should fire it up again during the upcoming trip to Hong Kong in December? There's just so much energy there. I remember Taiwan/28 and Melbourne/20. HK would be rich pickings.

I can smell the vibrancy already...

Remaining sane in a crazy world

Here's how...


Photo courtesy of CQ

on private property

There are times when people tell me what do to with my property. Depending on the weather, my feelings have ranged from bemusement to a metaphorical fist-in-the-face response.

I came close to the latter feeling yesterday when someone updated me on the situation of the MRT track jumper's widow.

It seems that, with half-a-million voluntary donations to the widow, some green-eyed monsters are calling for the creation of a trust fund, essentially limiting the amount that the widow may withdraw at any one time.

I don't care if she spends it all at the casinos.

Has it occurred to anyone that telling a person what he/she can or cannot do with his/her property is communism?

The big man & the boys

Photo from Google

Just done reservist military training. Preparing for and going to war is not something to be taken lightly. What's most irritating, to put it mildly, is that a war may be started by politicians who don't watch their mouths.

Sending young and not-so-young boys to die in the field of battle over some careless remark is nuts.

Having failed my Chinese Language for much of school years, here's an advice from a not-so-Chinese Chinese: 识时务者为俊杰. When your time's over, please leave the stage or the applause will turn into boos.

coup in Thailand

It's not so much that it has happened but getting fresh news & photos from a bunch of first-hand witnesses. Talk about up-to-date news.

It's about time that mainstream media wake up.
It's about time that dictators wake up.

And in case you're wondering, no I wouldn't welcome dictators here.

Oh, and one more thing: Suntec City Got Traffic Jam

Suntec City Got Traffic Jam

Photo from Google

A seemingly innocuous article about Suri (Tom Cruise + Katie Holmes' baby) in the Life! section of yesterday's broadsheet (Baby Blues, page 8) caught my eye. It wasn't because the family had gone public. I wonder how much Vanity Fair paid the Cruises for those shots of the family? The antics of Hollywood celebrities are about as predictable as the weather.

Anyway what got my attention was the way which the report was slanted. The rags are all commenting about how "Asian" Suri looks. An excerpt from the report: "Somewhere in the gene pool of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, some Asian influence has crept in," it said, refering to the child's "delicate, almond-shaped eyes, the milky, pale-ish skin tone, the striking mane of dark, dark hair".

Does anyone even have a firm grasp on the concept of being Asian? If you were to ask anyone in Asia, you'd probably get as many opinions as there are Asians. In the UK when someone uses the term "Asian" he or she most probably means a person from the Indian sub-continent. To the Americans, being Asian means someone from the Far East, for example China, Korea or Japan. To some others, people from the Middle East are Asians.

Being Asian is something which cannot be understood easily. There is no cookie cutter that produces a nicely defined Asian identity. It is easy to fall into prejudice when dealing with something or someone alien. For example, people with Down's Syndrome were known as Mongoloids and the condition was called Mongolism. These terms came about because an English physician thought that people with Down's Syndrome looked like Mongolians and Mongolians suffered from arrested development.

We are still working towards an age of enlightenment.

Technorati tag: Singapore2006

Suntec City Got Traffic Jam

Faith has her own mail now. So adult! Very soon she'd be making her own commercial transaction. I remember the first time I bought something (not with my own cash) was a 70-cent loaf of bread from the bakery behind the old flat in Queenstown.

Milestones in childhood. I am beginning to miss Faith's first months, already...

Technorati tag: Singapore2006

Suntec City Got Traffic Jam

Photo from Google

So the traffic blockade around Suntec City and Nicol Highway has begun. Commuting through earlier today, the 3pm traffic felt like 6pm traffic on a normal weekday. I wonder how the 6pm traffic will feel like over the next 10 days...

Anyway, drawing inspiration from the Remember Prison Got No Broadband meme by mrbrown, I think I will chronicle the events outside of the IMF/World Bank meet. I'm sure everyone's probably had enough of Singapore2006, Smile Campaign etc. So from now until 20 September I will blog about everything else commercial EXCEPT the IMF/World Bank meet and title my blog entries as Suntec City Got Traffic Jam.

I hope my faithful readers (consisting of me, wifey and daughter) will follow this meme. Here are the conditions:

1. From now until 20 September 2006, title your blog entries Suntec City Got Traffic Jam.
2. Blog about anything except Singapore2006.
3. Include some reference about money, commerce or trade but keep point 2 in mind.
4. Tag your entry as Singapore2006.

Tag: Singapore2006

A topsy turvy world

Photo from Google

I always say this to people who try to solicit political opinions from me:

When big boys play politics the ordinary people suffer.

It's strange how, 5 years on from 9/11, things have a way of coming around to haunt us. Even a small red dot isn't spared. Here's why.

On the English broadsheet this morning, two reports on local happenings got my attention. The first was about the IMF/World Bank meet (as usual, ad nauseam), about how the authorities in 1984-ville are putting much effort in physically fencing off areas around Suntec City with steel fences, to protect foreign delegates. A second story reported on how a family, consisting of a local man, a Thai woman and their small child, is about to be broken apart by uncompromising immigration laws. The mother is about to be deported while the citizenship status of the child is in limbo.

We cannot claim to have a compassionate society when the welfare of the everyday man, the working class folk is left undefended while "bigger" (read: hoity-toity) issues are pondered over.

Governments are growing bigger everywhere. The threat to the everyday man has never been bigger than now. It looks like the real fallout of 9/11 is the growth of governments at the expense of personal space and welfare. Every aspect of collective human decency and compassion, it seems, can be given up in the name of fighting terror.

I leave you with an excerpt of a speech given by Bo Wang, an academic, at the Iowa University in 1984, about the phenomenon of the Ugly Chinaman. The full text is available from here.

"The quality of the fruit is determined by the quality of the soil in which the tree grows. Similarly, people are the 'fruit' of the societies in which they live. The citizens of a country should cultivate the ability to judge their leaders; otherwise, they only have themselves to blame for the consequences. If we are willing to shout our praises for a man who is unworthy of our respect, who is to blame if he rides roughshod over us?"

Remember to run for cover when the big boys play politics.

Fall in at 4am!

Photo from Google

Read the BBC report which tickled me.

A widely circulated story about NS had a CO ordering his battalion to fall in at the parade square by 7am the next morning. One kiasu company commander then ordered that his company should fall in by 6am. The sergeant major, affected by the KS mentality, ordered that all men should fall in at 5am. The men, not wanting to sacrifice their precious weekend off by being late, got ready in full parade regalia at 4am the next morning.

Reminds me of a Chinese saying that the emperor remains unfazed while the eunuchs are panicking: 皇帝不急太监急

So what's happening? Nothing. That's it, nothing. And it seems that the IMF itself is getting irritated by the actions of our wise leaders in quashing every hint of dissent by locals or foreign talents alike. It's funny because I thought the 1984-ville leadership always kowtow to foreigners, even protesters. Well, perhaps this protest ban is an indication of the leadership slowly growing a backbone, at last.

Subsonic boom

Photo from Google

So I was packing things in the study when I heard jet planes coming in to land at Paya Lebar Airbase. Nothing unusual since the flat's directly under the flight path. However the engine sounded very different. More muffled, not as sharp as the usual F5's. Didn't have the propeller drone of the C-130's. Piqued, I glanced through the window and caught the tail silhouette. Two tail fins, twin engine exhaust. Unmistakably the F18 Hornet. Altogther 6 of them.

Looks like either the Yankees or Aussies are here for the weekend.

Protecting delegates for the IMF World Bank meet? Go figure...

Conversations with elite students

Teacher: Could you hand me that scissors please?

Student: (passing scissors over, sharp end first) Here.

T: Hey, don't you know how to pass scissors around safely

S: How?

T: Pass it with the handle first, like you would a knife. Didn't anyone show you? (groan)

S: (protesting) Yah, knife I know, but nobody taught me how to handle scissors!

T: (writhing on the floor, spewing blood)

The politicization of education

Photo from The History Place

Governments all over the world have no business poking their noses into classrooms. It is a dangerous mix, politics and education, when people in apparent power decide what youths should and should not learn. Disasters are engineered this way. Hitler's youths, Mao's Red Guards, Japanese Revisionist textbooks. I don't need to write anything more to prove the point.

If you're in government and reading this: get your butt out!

Oh, and Happy Teacher's Day.

20th century - the 1910s

Photo from The Warder Collection, New York

Too much of my historical knowledge was gleaned from western sources. I probably know more about the American Revolution than what went on in China during the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

The ascension of modern China began in tumultous times - the end of dynasties and the focible opening of a nation cocooned since time immemorial. We talk about how the dragon in the east is roaring to life. The 1910s were a time where China was known as the sick man of the east.

Sun Yat-Sen. A man who tried to bring China into the modern world. A man who was frustrated by self-serving warlords. He must have felt a tinge of helplessness, just like how small he looks in this photo, surrounded by guns and military men all with their own agenda. Millions more would have to lay down their lives before a dream of a strong China came to fruition.

Sun Yat-Sen, father of modern China. I wonder what he'd think of the China now?

20th century - the 1900s

Photo from archives of Wright State University Libraries

Flight.

What is your reaction when you think of that word? What about these names/date: Leonardo da Vinci, Heinkel HE 178, Chuck Yeager, Yuri Gagarin, September 11?

Who could have guessed then that a couple of brothers in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA would bridge the chasm between myth and reality in 1903?

The sky is not the limit.

Death of a photojournalist

Photo from www.iwojima.com

The death of Joe Rosenthal was reported by yl. I do not know much about the man behind the most recognisable photograph of World War 2, if not the 20th century itself. One trait of successful war photographers is serendipity. Right place, right time.

This event got me thinking. Maybe I'll run through memorable photos from the 20th century. One photo for every decade. One photo which is instantly recognisable as representative of that period in time.

Suggestions welcomed.

Journeys in life

Image from The Hoplites

So I made from second commute to work on foot this morning. After last week's fiasco with underestimating the distance and overestimating my stamina, I ran a shorter route. Reached the office about 20 minutes before time. Much better than walking in, dripping wet with perspiration, to the curious stares of my colleagues.

Let's hope I make the distance at Stanchart later this year.

On other news, maybe looking for an opening in China. Those of you in the know, please pray for us...

Theory versus reality...

Image from Google

..don't really match up. That's so very true of driving school and what transpires on the roads everyday. Do I signal before filtering? Do I stop at every stop sign? What about letting some other car filter in front of mine when it signals? *snigger*

So that much is the feeling that runs through most of my colleagues' minds during pedogogical training 2 weekends ago. There will be 2 more weekends of such training. *yawn* Can't really say anything much because I'm not a bona-fide certified teacher, just some two-bit con artist making some dough every month.

Anyway, after winging my way through class for 6 months I really think most education trainers and the training methods are out of touch with what goes on in reality. Much like the disparity between what is mapped on a sand-table and the hell the goes on in the trenches of war. I just read D-Day by Stephen Ambrose, the guy who wrote Band of Brothers on which the TV series was based. They don't really teach you how to react when the guy next to you gets blown up, much like how we don't get taught how to deal with students who:

1. Eat their test papers
2. Hug pillars
3. Walk around with their flies unzipped

Ah...the wonders of dealing with socially-clueless kids...

Choosing your words carefully

Image from Google

Logo and tagline on a truck belonging to a construction company:

Where a man can enter, we can put up a pile

*ouch*

Weekend just past

Micrograph from Google

There's a virus running loose in wifey's & my stomach. Came down with fever on Friday night, diarrhea over the weekend and still feeling the effects of it today while wifey is sick in bed, having diarrhea & vomitting.
Stomach flu is quite debilitating. Let's hope that Faith doesn't get it.

***

Logo from IBFAN website

Wifey took part in World Breasfeeding Week activities organized by Breastfeeding Mothers' Support Group in Singapore. It was interesting to see families from different walks of life turning up in Tampines West CC. Given the importance of breastfeeding, especially in the face of aggressive marketing of formula milk, the event would have reached more people had it been held in a shopping mall in town. But it's difficult to get sponsorships from big companies when the activity that you're promoting (i.e. breastfeeding) does not directly result in large-scale consumer spending. Think about it, how much are you spending on formula milk per week? A can of Enfalac HA for 0-12 months costs about $15 and lasts about 10 days. That's $45 a month excluding visits to the family doctor (I leave it up to you to figure the link between formula milk and visits to the family doctor). Compare that with how much a family would have saved by breastfeeding. It doesn't make commercial sense for big-name companies to sponsor such an event.

Well, to paraphrase someone, it's about doing small things with big love and not about doing big things with little love.

Not really idling

Image from Google

Let's write something before this blog really dies. It's been a month or so.

Work is more or less becoming a routine. Good and bad. Hope I don't settle into a mood of counting the days before the next pay check.

On other news, the pounding continues in the Middle East. How many lives need to be lost before people come to their senses to end this Jacob vs. Ishmael feud?

May God have mercy on us all

The last step of a 1000-mile journey...

Picture from BBC article

A moment of madness ended the career of the symbol of hope to near middle-agers like me and others who believed that age is a state of mind.

Why, oh why? You had already done enough, taking a bunch of 30-somethings through all 7 matches of this football fest. You had redeemed yourself of the inglorious exit from the last edition. Most of all, you put belief in my heart that hope is more powerful than youthful hormones.

Why, oh why?

Drinking (water)

Faith has now learnt how to hold a cup and drink from it! Hooray! No more bottles!

Being married

So the first year of marriage has come and gone. Should think of some nice stuff to do with Wifey. It's a bit difficult with Faith crying for attention when Wifey's out of her sight.

*

It's a curiosity here where, for many couples, the day of their wedding ceremony does not coincide with the date of marriage registration. We often hear two terms:

1. ROM
2. "Traditional" ceremony

Questions like:

When's your ROM?
When's the ceremony?

would mean something only if you've been living here for some time.

As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing traditional about the "traditional" ceremony. It consists mostly of getting all stressed up over organizing some pseudo-lavish banquet where a blur of faces flash around before collapsing either in deep fatigue or drunken stupor.

So much of tradition...

Anyway, I'm rambling. Gotta go work...

Video link test post

A test post of YouTube's embedding function...

Faith at 7 months

I am a happy man.

June 6, 1944

Photo by Robert Capa

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother;

-Henry V

I am il (sic)...

Image from Google

Spiking fever + body aches = dengue?

So it would seem. I can hardly sit still to type this and this plague has been bugging me since last Thursday. 37.0 degrees one moment, 39.2 the next, then back to 37.0...

Very, very tiring...

Whatever the case may be, let's hope everyone else that I come into contact with does not fall ill.

The role of schools

Image from www.twainquotes.com

Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned
- Mark Twain

*

What is education?
What enables a person to regard himself as an educated person?

I spent most of my life around the school environment and the most valuable lesson learnt is that there are as many opinions about what education is as there are people.

Acquiring textbook facts
Getting a degree
Getting a socially acceptable job
Keeping up with the Jones'

So, if you're a parent with kids of school-going age, ask yourself these questions:

Why am I sending my child to school?
Am I letting the school do my duty as a parent?

I'm afraid such questions go deep. If you don't understand the significance then the best thing to do now is to get re-acquainted with meaning of parenthood...

Homecoming

Photo from Google

Wifey and Faith will be back in less than an hour.

Missed them over the weekend...

Getting your news...

As part of the on-going effort to raise awareness of good news sources, I've created convenient links along the sidebar to established newsrooms. You might want to drop by regularly to wash off parochialism and incomplete truths.

Go on, take the red pill. Welcome to the real world.

ich bin ein Berliner

Source: www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,407488,00.jpg

"The East German guard asked if we had documents. I handed him my Danish cat's vaccination documents, in Danish. He waved us through."

Andreas Ramos, an eyewitness to the collapse of the Berlin Wall

*

The world is closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers
The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change

Winds of Change by The Scorpions

*

The seeds of a climate change has been planted. It is now up to everyone who's responsible enough to ensure its growth and eventual flowering. If you were there that night, remember your Pledge.

Remember, Prison Got No Pristine Beaches

Source: http://www.voorbeginners.info/thailand/phuket.jpg

So Wifey, Faith & Mum-in-law flew off to Phuket for the weekend. Ahhh...the bliss of sipping coconut juice while lazing on a beach...

The early Friday morning flight on a budget airline was delayed for almost 3 hours due to the generic "technical fault". Managed to scare the scatological mess out from me when Wifey called up around 9+, still in Changi, to inform of the delay. Her words, over the mobile, were something like, "...delay due to a technical fault, I can see some men with spanners hovering around the propeller..."

Suddenly I lost my appetite for watching Lost...*CHOI!*

To cut the long story short, they touched down at Phuket International safely and are apparently enjoying themselves silly...

Anyway, it was quite a fun Friday. For once, meaningful discussion was carried out during the staff meeting in the afternoon. Short, sharp and relevant. Why can't all meetings be like that?

I need a holiday...

Technorati tag: singaporeelections

Remember, Prison Got No Grammar Class

Got this off The Dinner Table:



Straight from the Speak Good English Movement website

Shouldn't "vegetable" be spelt without an "s"?

Meanwhile, boys and girls, eat adequate vair-gee-tay-ber to ensure smooth production of NEWater...

Technorati tag: singaporeelections

Remember, Prison Got No 9-to-5 Job

Photo from Google

Woke up slightly late this morning after the previous night's attempt at watching TV. It's been so long since the family watched TV that it felt very weird tuning in. Perhaps we need to sell the TV before it disintegrates from disuse. Not much on the telly nowadays except cheesy Chinese serials.

Anyway, because of the late-start, I was travelling on a congestion-free public transport system. Funny how going to work half-an-hour late does wonders in cutting down the dreary morning commute. So maybe from now, I'll leave home 30 minutes later than usual...

Technorati tag: singaporeelections

Remember, Prison Got No Cushion Sofa

Second-hand furniture never felt so good. Especially if it's an old but colourful sofa. There are many ways to sit on a sofa and it just makes TV-watching a more pleasant experience. And I WILL be tuning in on the night of May 6th while Wifey, Faith and Mom-in-law party away in Phuket.

By the way, Kenny Sia's got a pretty cool write up about his recent experience there.

Technorati tag: singaporeelections

Remember, Prison Got No Pizza Delivery

Photo from Google

It's the long weekend.

Had a disrupted sleep last night. Spent the waking hours thinking of the family's future. I've had many major life events since last November. Time for a serious break. I need a holiday to nowhere, a workout at the gym, a marathon to run, anything to get me away from:

1. Relocation (Nov 05)
2. New born (Nov 05)
3. Completing postgrad (Dec 05)
4. New job (Jan 06)
5. Infantcare (Feb - Apr 06)

Well, whatever.

Passed by the betting outlet this morning. The queue was formidable. Looks like the only big winners from the Progress Package cash-out are the bookmakers. Damn...and I haven't even got enough to buy an iPod...

As for me, I'll be trying to avoid the overload of pizza and fried chicken at a (non-political) party this afternoon.

Technorati tag: singaporeelections

Remember, Prison Got No Broadband

Photo from Google

Bade farewell to the teachers at the infant care earlier this evening. Funny how in 3 months, I've turned from being a cynic about sending Faith to be cared for by strangers to feeling sad about having to leave. You know, through this episode of sadness, I've learnt again that, really, love is a universal language.

Stayed behind in the car while Wifey went into the centre to fetch Faith and say her goodbyes. I knew that I'd break down in tears if I was around.

Thanks for all the love and concern.


Technorati tag: singaporeelections

Remember, Prison Got No Broadband

Just following mrbrown's call

Well, it's another mundane day for me. Finished setting the exam papers last week and conveniently forgot to proof-read the thing. Now I'm scrambling to recall the paper from the printers. Damn, I'm really bad at such things...

On to more interesting news...wifey and I are looking forward to 1st May, Labour Day and ironically the first day of her new job - of being a full-time homemaker. I thank God and her for blessing a clueless man like myself. Nothing beats the feeling of knowing that the home and baby is well-taken care of. No maids, no relatives, no infant-care centres. To be honest, though, the infant care has been doing a splendid job of taking care of Faith during the day and the care-givers have consistently gone out of their way to accomodate our demands. And all for what? A peanut pay of $800 a month? These are the unsung heroes of our society.

So here's a big THANK YOU to the staff of Wee First Infant Care Centre!

Technorati tag: singaporeelections

The art of trivia...

Image from Google


My head's bursting with random nuggets of totally useless information right now and I'll be glad for a forced diarrhea soon.

After setting MCQ questions for the coming mid-terms, I've come to the conclusion that teachers make the best trivia pursuit players. No, really,...

...try this...

Where are the rotator cuffs located?

The longest bone in the body is...

What part of the eye lacks blood supply but gets nourishment from the secretions of the lacrimal glands?

What type of joint is in the ankle?

What is the average daily production of stomach acid?

How fast do nerve impulses move?

Doing the quiz is fun but not SETTING them!

argh...I need to brain freeze...

(Update: due to underwhelming response, the answers are provided in the comments section)

Speaking up...

Image from Google

An interesting entry from Yawning Bread.

Statistics is a fun game when you don't have to sit for an exam...

My family

...was looking through some textbooks while setting mid-term exam questions when I came across a picture of a histologically-stained specimen of the human fetal skeleton. Somewhere, some time ago a human life was lost making that picture. That led me to think about how sad it would be to lose my family. Love opens up the possibility of being hurt along the way.

Maybe I don't tell my wife and daughter enough about how much I love them.

Hope I never get the chance to regret not doing so.

Forget politics.
Forget workplace frustrations.
Forget overseas holidays.

Hope I never get to regret not telling them enough.

Beware of phishing...

Got this off mrbrown. Apparently Mr Miyagi got scammed and his blog is currently inaccessible, probably under repair.

I've been receiving such spam mails too but didn't pay much attention to them. DO NOT ever give out your email passwords. Sys ads of banks & legit websites do not need your passwords to perform administrative tasks with your accounts. I'll say it again...

I.T. PEOPLE DON'T NEED YOUR PASSWORDS TO SERVICE YOUR ACCOUNTS

Happy Easter Sunday

It is finished!

Photo from Google

I chose the gallows to the aisle
thought that love would never find
hanging ropes will never keep you
and your love of a jealous kind

Jealous Kind by Jars of Clay

*

And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

...and liberation was bought at a terrible price.

Maunday Thursday

Photo from Google

So tie me to a tree and let the smoke and ash collect
No, I won't regret to let love do what love will let

Show you love by Jars of Clay

*

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

...and with these words, the eternal problem of sin was solved by the One who said them.

Who do we need to love today? Go and do it.

*

Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.