Getting there

It took ages of planning and just when we thought that its months away, we are now on our way to Malta to catch our cruise.
As things panned out, we are now on the forth leg of our second plane with 2 transfer each. Loads of fun but we are now close to freaking out and is just less than a hair’s breath to getting into our little air rage mode. And seriously, we are wondering if the whole thing was a diabolical experiment to test the limit of human endurance on how much a person can take, sitting and stuffing their face out. We had 1 supper, 2 breakfast and 1 light meal each and its only 3pm when we arrived.
So far, after taking off from Changi terminal 1, we went passed Colombo, Dropped off at Dubai, saw the impressive airport which is huge and we will have some picture to share after we sorted the,. We just took off from Lanaca, a port of Cyprus and very soon, we will reach Malta, spend the night and board Superstar Libra tomorrow night...

OT is better than Sex

Just came up with 10 reasons why OT is better than sex

1). It is never finished

2). You get shafted royally and sometimes, you dun get paid.

3). You will be too shagged to think about sex

4). Your spouse will be too pissed to think about sex

5). You dun have to fake a headache

6). You dun have to fake an orgasm during OT

7). There isn't a right mood for OT

8). You dun have to come for OT, just stay

9). Your boss still sux even after all those OT

10). Watching all your colleagues goes back while you are still at it totally blows

Putting them at their right place.

Coutesy of some kind soul in SPUG

Which I found quite amusing

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=BGB1wXnZNFI

his reminded me what my primary school chinese teacher once told me.

In a nice way to remind his friend that he has overstayed his welcome, a poet wrote
下雨天留客天留我不留

What he meant was
下雨天留客,天留我不留.

But what his friend interpret was
下雨天留客天,留我不?留!

So his friend stayed on

The moral of the story. Put them, put them right where you want to be...

And if you still have no idea what I am talking about, I meant punctuation.....DUH!

男人不坏，女人不爱

有的时候，一些至理，总是会藏在一些不为人知，甚或风马牛不相及的地方。
好比以下这篇，为男人不坏，女人不爱这句明言作出其精辟的论点。
而这篇竟是从一篇原载在网上的一篇武侠小说，

在此与大家分享。


萧瑟《霸王神枪》
第八十章　情之所锺 的一段

为什么“男人不坏，女人不爱”这句话能够成立？它的基础便是立在女子的好奇和争胜的两种心态上。

　　一般稍有姿色的女子，总认为自己魅力非凡，胜过别的女子，如果让她结识一个花名在外的浪子，起先她会因为好奇而接近这个男子，因为她想要弄清楚他究竟有何魅力，竟能不断的玩弄女性？

　　当这个女子接近这种花间浪子时，眼看他身边聚集三、四个，甚至七、八个女子，她就会生出争强斗胜之心，施出浑身解数想要将他攫获，让他拜倒在自己的石榴裙下。

　　她总认为自己不会像别的女子一样，被这个花间浪子给玩弄之后抛弃，总以为自己的魅力惊人，一定可以让这个男子“改头换面”，把全部的身心都奉献给自己。

　　这种事自古以来层出不穷，它的结果只有两个，一是那个坏男人终於回心转意，从此金盆洗手、不再留连花丛，情归妻子，永爱不渝。而第二个结果则是这个充满自信的女人，仍然和其他的女子一样，被风流浪子玩弄之后，弃如蔽屣。

　　放眼望去，前者居於极少数，后者要占九成以上。

　　所以“男人不坏，女人不爱”这句话，害死了世上多少有自信的美丽女子，所谓“一失足成千古恨，再回头已百年身”，到时候后悔莫及就晚了。

　　奉劝天下美女，迈入情关之际，千万三思，切勿中了“男人不坏，女人不爱”这句话的毒，一个风流浪子永远是坏男人，绝不会因你而变好的……

雨一直下

雨一直下 - 張宇
曲︰張宇
詞︰十一郎

雨一直下　氣氛不算融洽
在同個屋簷下　你漸漸感到心在變化
你愛著他　也許也帶著恨吧
青春耗了一大半　原來只是陪它玩耍

正想離開他　他卻拿著鮮花
說不著邊的話　讓整個場面更加尷尬
不可思議吧　夢在瞬間崩塌
為何當初那麼傻　還一心想要嫁給他

＊就是愛到深處才怨他　捨不捨得都斷了吧
那是從來都沒有後路的懸崖

＃就是愛道深處才由他　碎了心也要放得下
難道忘了那愛他的傷　已密密麻麻

雨一直下　氣氛不算融洽
在同個屋簷下　你漸漸感到心在變化
不可思議吧　夢在瞬間崩塌
為何當初那麼傻　還一心想要嫁給他

重唱　＊,＃

不要再為了他掙扎　不要再為他左牽右掛
今後不管他愛不愛誰　快樂嗎　都隨他

重唱　＃,＊,＃

IE, Who's your daddy?

This is one of those case that might go down in marketing history as the largest coup.

IE7 website asking people to go get firefox.



Saw it first from ZDNET

and if you are wondering where the website is,

its at

http://www.ie7.com/

Beep away the complains

I have wondered if we are now officially the whine hub of Asia if not the world. Our World class Main Stream Media is always quick to tell us ingrates how we should be gratefull and grovel at our feet with all the goods our government does for us.

Its not all serious worships and grovelling, there are times whereby people use the MS and/or online forum to air their grouses and unhappiness towards the government, the transport company and each other.

Thanks to Mr Apollo of Spug, we now get to see 2 sides of the stories at the same time, no need to wait for a reply or robust rebuttal. If this carries on, we will definetly take our Everitt Road culture to its next step of evolution, online.

For those too lasy to read in SPUG, here it is :

Dinner spoilt by beeping fellow diner
THE other day, I was having dinner with my wife and daughter in a coffee house. It was like any other day when we go to enjoy some good Singapore food, and we were having a fine time until another couple came in and sat a table away.
It wasn't their conversation that caught my attention but the loud non-stop electronic beep sounds that came from the man's PDA. It wasn't that he was playing computer games and he may well have been entering or retrieving some legitimate information from his PDA. However,after the non-stop high-pitched beep sounds went on for what seemed like 10 minutes, my nerves were frayed.
My wife is not the confrontational type and did not want me to speak to the man, preferring to avoid any incident that has even the slightest chance of turning into an unpleasant exchange. I did not expect an unpleasant exchange so I politely flagged the man to get his attention and asked him if he would mind turning the sound down on his PDA.
Imagine my shock when he replied: 'Are you telling me to turn off the sound on my PDA? This is a public place. I can do what I like.'
I composed myself and said: 'You're right, this is a public place. And I am not telling you to turn the sound down but I'm requesting you to.'
This man would have continued polluting the environment with his shrill PDA beeps had his food not been served. By this time, my wife was feeling self-conscious, all the while listening to the man and his companion complaining to each other about us.
What would you have done? Would you have suffered in silence or spoken out? Was I wrong to point out to the man his actions?
I went through the process from thinking he was ignorant, to inconsiderate, to downright rude. Perhaps I should have asked a messenger to take the message, and perhaps the waiter would have told him of the effect of his actions on others around him - but would he have cared what other people thought?
I find it hard to believe how much further we have to travel to arrive at what the Prime Minister has called a gracious society, when we cannot even extend consideration to others by reducing the stress level caused by noisy electronic gadgets. It saddens me that rather than be considerate, this man justified his actions based on his right to do as he pleases.
Indeed, courtesy is uncommon and we have a long way to go before we can call ourselves a gracious society.
David Neo Lian Kong


http://www.mycarforum.com/forum/TO_...528064/#1528064
http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/por...000430a0a0aRCRD

This evening, I went to Great World City for my dinner at the Vietai Restaurant just outside GV Grand Cinema. I was led to a seat which was about 1.2-1.3 metres away from a couple (late 30s) and their 6-7 yrs old daughter.

While seated, from the side of my eyes, I could see the wife beckoning the waiter to come over. When the waitress came over, she questioned... 'Why is the Laksa not clear?' She went on to flip open the menu and said it is not what she wanted. I went on with my nonchalant conversation as the waitress LPPL cart away her bowl of laksa and replaced it with Phad Thai. Less than 5 minutes later, I heard her summon the waitress again. This time, the wife complained why her daughter's Pad Thai has chilli? I took a cursory glance and was bemused as her daughter has devoured almost half her food already!

I just ignored them and ordered my food with the next available waiter. While waiting, I thought I will check on my calendar and do a little house keeping on my PDA mobile phone. While clicking here and there on my HP, I heard a loud voice.. 'Excuse Me! Excuse Me!' Oh, this time, the husband at that table is calling out to me.. in my mind, I was thinking.. now what do u want? He went on to say, 'Stop using your PDA. The beep is irritating me!' I was like, who the fcuk do u think u are? Just cause I am dressed in a polo shirt and look a little shabby doesnt mean I am a push over. I replied, 'This is a common area, I am free to do what I want. How does this affect u?' He went on to say.. 'It is irritating...' I told him off that I don't owe u a living and I have the right to do what I want. *** is wrong with these people? *** is this blatant display of snootiness? Why didnt this asswipe go ask the management to shut the loud music blaring from the speakers of the restaurant? It really pissed me off big time to have met such people who thinks we should pander to their whims and fancy. What would u have done if it happened to u? I am really ashamed to be Singaporean especially one who happened to be a family of complain kings!

http://www.mycarforum.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1523020#1523020

Tradeshow and me

Here I am, on my way to Sim Lim Square, and I just can’t help but to reflect on what brings about this journey and the events leading up to it. It all boils down to one of those things that had been there throughout my formative years, Trade-shows, and to be more specific, Comex.

Ever since I was first shown a home built Apple II by my uncle, it wooden housing, cassette tape drive and all, I have always been fascinated by computers. So much so that it is one of my greatest obsession and career. While others will be happy to just own a computer and use it, I probably can’t be happy until I get around dismembering it and figures out how to tweak and coax an additional ounce of performance out of it all because, I could.

For the longest time since getting the family notebook with little thanks to Starhub, I have wanted to tweak it and make it work even better, this is all because that even with a respectful 512mb of ram and all its purported 64bit processing powers its still running slower than a turtle with 2 shells. The cause of it, Ram not enough as it has to share its 512MB between applications and graphics. For  the uninitiated, while ram sharing is serious infringement to casual computing, it is considered cardinal sin for any performance computing if that’s your cup of tea and a definite death sentence with eternal purgatory after which if you are a serious gamer (No, I don’t mean a mean game of bejeweled). As such, what better reason is there to lug myself out of my cozy Saturday morning bed, kiss my sleepy wife before heading out across the entire island just so I can jostle my way with thousands of people in the sea of computer, gadgets, offers and other peripherals? No, I don’t think so.

Comex is now in its 14 incarnation and with every passing years, I weep for its lost and unfortunate soulless existence.

Comex, as with PC shows and other computer events in Singapore owes its existence to a bunch of computer companies to showcase their latest offering and a bunch of computer enthusiast and practitioners of the arcane art of computing for them to pay homage and make offerings with their wallet so that they own the latest piece of computing must have which they coveted for so long, also allows them to grope and gawk at those shinny blink blinks which they could have only drool at on the pages of magazines. In fact, I always suspected that without all these tradeshows, geeks might not even step into places like World Trade center then, Suntec City for some time, and Expo for now. In fact, you can even consider it a form of conspiracy with the owners of these places to attract the geeks to spend.

However, as time that flows, change ensures, and computing evolved from the arcane to the mass market and eventually to the mundane and while I still believe that it is mandatory for people who wants to use a computer to be trained, pass a test and gets a license before they are allowed to even touch a keyboard and mouse, I have to say that the mass-market ownerships of computers allows me to stay gainfully employed and to also allow me to even contemplate to start a business on computing.

Soon, the computer fiestas became that of a printer bonanza, seems like in every show, there will be a great many mindless minions tat deemed that their printer is too slow, too colorless, too big or just plain too last year that they need to buy a new one. As times changed, the minions of printers gave way to the minions of Notebook, the minions of LCDs and today, the minions of MP3 Players. Yes, how time has changed and you will now go into a tradeshow with choke full of credit card pushers, MP3 dealers and cartridge replacements. Seems like computer is now nothing more than an afterthought instead of the main attraction in a computer trade show.

Well, as long as there are still good deals to be have in a computer trade show, I shall still be the sucker that is being drawn to it like a moth to fire.  I did get a pretty good deal for another 512MB for my notebook but unfortunately it did not fit, and I was just told at the shop that they are not able to help me today as their technicians will not be in until Friday. Well, anyway, I just got the namecard and the logo for my new business ready (That will be another entry). And I will now dutifully rush home to meet the people that is suppose to fix the main gate of the house, just hope that they can get it fix.

One Liners (Part1......I Hope)

I realized that for the longest time, I have been sprouting one-liners. Not sure if they are unique, but I guess I will just put up a few that I remember and add to it as I go along:

On what started this Blog
Well, let me put it this way…..

On Technology
Technology is only meaningful if they are applied; otherwise, they are just plain BuangKok

On Price of services
Its never too cheap when you want it, and never too expensive when you need it.

On Service Charge
Why is it mandatory that I pay for service that is either abysmal or non-existence when the best services I get are for free.

On Holy Mistake
As far as I am concern, there is only 1 holy mistake and we are it; thank GOD its never being corrected.

And thats all for now, folks........

Men's rules for women

Thanks to Minky from SPUG and I copied the entire thing from this thread, we now have rules to help our better half(ves) to understand us better

We always hear "the rules" from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules:
Please note... these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Breasts are for looking at and that is why we do it. Don't try to change that.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Saturday = sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
JUST SAY IT!

1. 'Yes' and 'No' are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colours, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a colour. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine, Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as:
Sex,
Sport, or
Cars

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round is a shape.


Thank you for reading this; Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight, but did you know men really don't mind that, it's like camping.


Pass this to as many men as you can - to give them a laugh.
Pass this to as many women as you can - to give them an education.

I am 70% boy

Saw it from HWZ

You Are 70% Boyish and 30% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Singapore Mee Siam

Singapore Mee Siam
The word of my prime Minister inspired and move us, as such, I shall try this feeble attempt to update an age-old dish to make it uniquely Singapore.

The original recipe can be found from
http://www.makantime.com/meesiam4.htm

My apologies to Siva for screwing up this great dish

Ingredients:
1       pkt mee hoon
300g    bean sprout - remove the tail
250g    fresh prawn - if you wish
100g  fresh cockles –you must

100g    dried chilli    }       blend
50g     dried prawn     }       these
4       nos. onion      }       four
4       nos. garlic     }       together
200g    tau-choo
12      oz oil
2       pcs tauhu - fry it
20 cents koo-chye
20 cents lime
little bit of salt and aji no moto

Method

1   Heat the pan and fry the blended mixture till crispy or well,
    then add in water and stir
2   When its thick, add in prawn, salt and aji no moto
3   Add in the mee, bean sprout and koo-chye and fry till it
    cook or dry

MEE SIAM GRAVY

Ingredients:
100g    dried chilli    }       blend
3       nos. onion      }       these
4       nos. garlic     }       four
200g    tau-cheo        }       together
3       pcs. small tauhu - pressed little bit of salt, tamarind seeds,
        sugar and aji no moto

Method

1       Heat the pan and fry the blended mixture till crispy or well,
        then add in water, and let it to thicken
2       Add in the tauhu, sugar, tamarind water, salt and aji no moto,
        let it to cook

Serving

1. Prepare the dish with the fried mee siam.


2. Put the raw cockles on top


3. Add gravy to it


4. Or you can always serve it as mee siam mai hum

Kids not paying enough

Kids not paying enough

For their seats that it.


Disclaimer :  This  post is a satirical polemics aimed at voice my demused observation. If you are not happy with it, you are welcome to leave your comment. If you really need to quote, thanks to quote the entire post.


Due to a certain disappointment that I felt towards our freely distributed Today, I now almost stop picking it up and declined the offer of a quick peek by my well-intentioned colleagues.

However, as I broke my self-imposed sanction today, I found that even the casual writer to the papers had started to not just whined about how the system and this fair island is not getting it right, but offered interesting solutions to the problem.

I would say that the words by our dear Ms Bhavani of MICA were neither taken lightly nor forgotten. The problem at hand has to do with the age-old problem of the allocation of seats on the bus. It seems that as usual, seat today were allocated based on a first come first get basis, seniority, time due for delivery, laden load of passengers and for that matter fare paid were not part of the equation. This is truly a problem that despite many decades of courtesy campaign and the many revision to the signboards on our world-class public transport failed to address.

Fear not, our people traveled far and wide and have one of the brightest minds, if we cannot invent new ways to solve the problem; we merely borrow them from other places. While their law is unsuitable as a reference despite both sprang from the common of the crown, their method in ensuring fair seating might prove a good reference.

How that goes you might ask. We simply reinvent the sign and remind our young impressionable students that as they pay only a percentage of the fare that is subsidized by the rest of the commuters, they would do well to not hog the seats and give it out. If there are elderly and pregnant ladies or for that matter, full-fare paying adult with bunches of durian in tow, they do very well to give up those seats to the more deserving ones. Brilliant stroke I would say, unfortunately, there are a few minor flaws to this ingenious line of reasoning.

First off, we are having the reasoning that as students paid concession fares, they are less entitled to a fair concession of seats. May I remind one that senior citizens are also paying concession rate fares and if such a rationale to be used across the board, the senior citizen should be standing during off-peak hours. If we expand on this rationale a step further, people below the height of 0.9m should basically only be allowed on public transport when there is empty space as they are traveling for free. Pregnant ladies should also give up their seats when there are more deserving people in need of the seat as they themselves are paying one fare where in fact, 2 or maybe more are traveling.  This minor inconsistence can be overlook as the rule of fair seating based on fare need not apply as they are deemed more deserving of a seat. Well, we might need to have means testing of seats for people that takes public transport and those who fails should just get off the nearest MRT station or Bus-stops right this instance to make way for the more deserving.

Next comes the judgment of more deserving of the seats, we are herewith, entrusting the judgment of the neediness of seats to students which among others are not worthy of seats. We might need to ensure that they be trained and be qualified through testing to ensure that they are able to judge on who is more in need of the seat instead of them. During which, we might also need to train them professionally so that they are able to do it while dozing off in the train/ bus and/or reading and/or engross in their PSPs, Nintendo DS and their PMPs.

While those were just some of the minor inconsistencies which I believe our well intented Ms Tan should have some great ideas from some other far off land whose law we need not follow or apply, there are merits to this. This will be the ability to spot fare cheats that are using concessionary passed undeservingly. Meaning working (or for that matter non working) adults using student passes or senior citizens that is yet 65 using senior citizen pass. As concessionary pass holders are now required to give up their seats to deserving full paying commuters, those who are neither student nor senior citizens who gave up their seats can be labeled hence as fare cheats and be bought to the nearest police station for questioning.

I do think that this lady is indeed a genius and is worthy to be a minister (except law) and I will be observing her career with great interest from henceforth.

Back and needing some bashing

Back and needing something to smash

Did a quick check and realized that it has been slightly more than a month from my last post. It seems like I am not yet forgotten.

It was not a particular busy month for me but it was a month that sees my level of tolerance and temper sliding southwards and feeling that anger rising up with greater ease at each passing day.

I was under the belief that people tends to mellow and are slower to temper as they age, I guess it is not applied universally. I just feel that I need to reach out and trash something.

In the meantime, to ensure that I do not actually causes physical harm, I have taken up a new online addiction called “Conquer Online” Simply put it is Diablo Online with a Oriental twist. You get to bash people up with 2 weapons being a Trojan, Wear thick armor and take awful lots of damage as a warrior, kill from afar being an archer or cast magic being a Taoist.  

The graphics is well but a bit dated. IT is the mindless bashing that interests me. As the game allows players to settle their grievances by killing each other, the lower level character gets to die a lot. This adds on to the impetus to level up, becoming more powerful to be able to hit back at those that tries to PK (Player-kill) you.

The pixilated killing helps to take some of the edge off but I feel that even that, might not be sufficient. Just hope that this whole spell of slow spiraling madness can dispel soon enough.

Anyway, the bottom-line is that, I am back, and I do hope that I can post more often without so much of a block.

Not Today, Mr. Brown

I looked at the last Friday’s edition of Today with a bit of longing, regret and spite. I know that the column which I find solace and a good laugh is no more. As a sign of support and solidarity, I will now fly the ribbon high on this blog to show that yes, I support Mr. Brown and I am not afraid to show it. And I also just received confirmed news that his good buddy and fellow blogger, Mr. Miyagi has also quitted his regular column on Today as well.
All these are but the latest events in the series of events that has taken place after a witty column titled “Singapore are fed, up with progress” which among others, bring a light hearted look to the latest series of price hikes that are going or had taken placed.
Apparently, MICA does not think so and their press secretary came out with a rather strong rebuttal on the column. Soon after, Mr. Brown’s column is being suspended.
Till date, there is still no comments on whys and specifics of the suspension and all enquiries by the interested public to Today’s Editors has been answered with nothing more than a short reply that all enquiries should be directed Ms Bhavani of MICA instead of Today.
In fact, the lack of published letters on the matters just goes to show how the matter is now considered taboo and should be white washed as far as possible. This time, the entire Brown affair has spoken in volume when it says nothing at all, from the voices of concerned public.
Serving public office has its many perks, one of which is that you can say things and make it the official and only voice on the issue (and this case the only voice as the other side has been silenced). This purportedly makes it sounds like Mr. Brown caused a number of unhappiness when he talks about the rising cost and how they coincide with the timing of the elections. The unhappy part was right on the dollar, but more with how everything followed the patterns so described by Mr. Brown.
You asked for people to make comment to stand up and prepare to defend their position when you remove their voice. You talked about the rights to state your view as long as I am responsible for it. Well, now we want to be responsible, we want a voice and we are silenced. Unlike 10 years ago where information can be fenced inside a border, today, information demands its birth right to flow freely to where they are sorted and they will. If the local MSM deems this something to be whitewashed, the blogger will take it upon themselves to make their voice heard. Already, I hear the low roar of the distant wave that will sweep us. We ask not for a revolution, we ask not for strife, riot or to displace the establishment. All we ask is for the silence to be lifted and for our voice to be heard. Hear us while we speak rationally and understand that we take to task not just the words said at the rally but for their actual manifestation for all to see. Failing that, it is nothing more than words. Well, If not today, maybe tomorrow or the next , or the day after, but as long as we start and strive, we will have our voice and place.

Evaded by sleep

It is probably one of those nights again where sandman failed to drop by to blow some dust on me to send me into lala land. No, I do not fault him for that as I am probably the one at fault.

It probably started off with the hours I kept while in Europe. With the day long, night short and the long schedule, I spent no more than 4 hours a day asleep while I was there. The meetings and drinkings did not helped either.

While I stayed away longer, I can't help but felt surreal the moment that I came home that I felt a sense of detachment. It does seems like there is a think veil between the reality and myself. Nothing seems real anymore and the sense of detachment while abated slightly, is still there nagging at me.

I cannot really tell what is wrong with me, or for that matter, what is wrong with those around me. I do hope that I get to the bottom of it and soon.

Some associate it with the sense of fatigue, but I do know that there has to be a second wind somewhere and I do hope that I catch it soon during this 2 weeks of ICT.

I really do not know what is wrong, or maybe, just maybe, I know but I am just blocking it out as repression is a way the mind deals with problems that it does not wish to cope.

Either way, I sure hope that I can get all these fixed and real soon.

The Five Love Languages

Just came across this test Ifind it interesting

The Five Love Languages

My primary love languages are probably
Physical Touch and Quality Time.

Complete set of results

Physical Touch:		7
Quality Time:		7
Acts of Service:		6
Receiving Gifts:		6
Words of Affirmation:		3

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

But what I feel is that, there is a need always to communicate and feel love which make us who we are. What have we here is the tools to cut the distance and time which were boundaries to communicate to work as a jail rather than a tool.

As we get more connected, we get ever more lonely

Gomezgate

Seems like it is tough being James Gomez.
First off, he did not hand in a form on National TV.  Neither did his apologies managed to soothe the angry mo out there baying for his blood. Being called a liar by our founding father and losing the election at 12-percentage point (some call it landslide in some countries). And now, it seems like he might just very well lose his job and that either a big chunk of money or his freedom for a couple of year and even both. This indeed is a dark time for him.

For those out there following this case, some might just reckon that he is finally served his comeuppance and that he deserved to be thrown into the darkest corner of Changi and with the keys thrown away.

Now the fun part was that, all along, his detractors called him a liar and a one-man wayang. However, instead of pressing charges like misleading the Election Board or for that matter, lying and cheating, he has been slapped with criminal intimidation. Which is interesting to see that someone pointing a finger at an official and swearing that there will be consequences have hell to pay while his lying and cheating ways and the gross disregard for the whole election process, the act of misleading the public is being looked over.

While the jury is still out on him intimidating someone with criminal intent and that if he is truly a liar and a cheat despite what the founding father said. One thing is for sure that he will not be going anywhere far and that his political career is being impounded as with his passport.

And the vote is cast

And the vote is cast

With the last count of the vote done and all the result announced, it seems like the distribution of power did not change with the passing of the election.

However, an obvious trend that did not go unnoticed was the increase in the percentage of votes garnered by the oppositions had gone up noticeably. While the Prime Minister walked away to what he claims to be a strong mandate, the opposition probably celebrated their baby step towards a long road to having more voice in the opposition.
For Mr Chiam, what it meant for him is that the people in Potong Pasir wanted him to stay and while Mr Setoh and Mr Low (Eric) would need to work harder to hand out even more goodies till the next election, either that, or their chief might just have them replaced as they made little headway to winning back the 2 seats after 10 years of hard work.

What I am looking forward to would be:

1). Would Steve Chia make good his word and exit politics altogether?
2). Who will be the new NCMPs and will we have 5 instead of 1?
3). Would Potong Pasir be drawn into a GRC in the next time?
4). Or would Mr Chiam be SERS out of another victory?
5). Will SDP finally become a opposition party that walk into the history
6). Will it be 200 Million dollar carrot for Hougang in 2011.
7). Will Gomez be sent to jail?

Anyway, it has been an interesting election and as we go back to life as usual, I do hope that the oppositions take this as a shot in the arm to spur them on and does not trip over themselves, falling flat and disappoint the people anymore.

And I do hope that those being put in power understand the underlying sentiments the numbers in the poll, the slight swing and knows that while carrots and candies are nice, but we prefer not to have a drumstick only to return a chicken or 2 even.

Why my vote matters and why I don't give a damn

Why my vote matters and why I don give a damn

In another 10 hours, all the talks shall see its culmination into the number of votes each side. If there is a common underlying message from all aspiring and veteran politician taken to stage for the last 2 week, it will be that the people’s vote matter. 1.22 million Votes will be cast with 37 seats being the prize.

Take a step back to a week earlier, where son and father take to the media and engage the people. While the Prime Minister had a good time taking on people from all walks of life on a feel good session, where with a few quick promises were made and delivered quickly.

His father and mentor took on a younger generation which consist mainly of first and second time voters, some never see the inside of a voting station ever since walkover becomes a term as popular as elections. While they try to ask tough question to the battle-hardened old battle-axe, they seems to be more trying to step on themselves and each others. They came across as a bunch of uncouth, camera hogging ingrates trying to act like adults asking childish spoilt brats. In fact, my own take is that someone has just put a bunch of sheep into the den of a lion and all of them spoiling for a fight and hoping that they can win; not a prayer. However, if they are to be used as gauge for the sentiment of this generation of voters, it is obvious that there exist an extremely wide gulf, more of a chasm in the thinking between the old and the young. While the old guy assumes that we want a fight and a more lively parliament at the cost of political and hence national stability, I feel that what we are hoping is for once, to have a voice that check and balance the system; a parliament that will not gives you an answer that what is decided had been decided and there are reasons, full stops. All we want is in simple truth, to have a government that not just delivers, but willing to stop and listen for once before shoving what they feel is right down our throat. We can only bite so many bullets before 1 slip past and blow our head out. That is not really a tall order for a world-class government, is it?

As the time draws near, one opposition party unfurled its party manifestos quietly at its website leading to criticisms from the incumbent and asked the opposition to withdraw its manifestos citing its dangerous thinking and seditious nature. And it is this expose from the incumbent that the rest of the populace heard and learnt of the manifestos.

Moving ahead in time, as the incumbent shows its hand and introduces new faces while retiring old ones, they were taunting the oppositions to do the same and that the oppositions, probably wiser as they are now experienced, choose not to answer the taunt and hold their card close. But while the new faces from the incumbent goes to show that they are serious about self-renewal, the oppositions’ new faces are considered wet behind the ears, unknown and lack of a proven track record, so much for consistencies in definitions. While we have people in the parliament that stays on even past 80s, some opposition parliament members have served too long and should leave making way for younger members of the incumbent.

Even nomination did not go on without much fan fare and hullabaloos. There were surprises as some supposedly hot constituencies were given a miss while some were challenged. One surprises was the challenge by young first time opposition against the Prime minister and his team. This however, pales in comparison to an opposition candidate, a form to prove that he is of minority origin, a video that proves that he put it back into his bag and a phone tapping which he told of the consequences to the ELD officials. This took the center stage in the entire campaign till 2 days before the polling date while everything else took a backseat. Every single member of the incumbent took up arms and had a jab demanding for apologies and at a latter stage, a withdrawal. So much so, that the Minister of Home Affair even made a statement that 4 member team can run in a 5seat GRCs, which is only later being refuted by the Minister for Foreign Affair. It really does leads 1 to wonder if there really is a rule to the game or that one side can make it up and change it as they goes along. Of course, one can always claim that the Election Department is independent and neutral. But the Gomezgate issue leads 1 to wonder how independent it is and that promises made on certain constituencies will stay as single seat instead of being merged into neighboring GRCs leads one to consider that the electoral boundaries can be influenced.

IF there is another name for the time of rally, it will be called the time of wonders whereby for contested constituencies, their MPs suddenly appear everyday to shake hand, and if you have a problem, you can talk to them and they might just simply whisk it away with a little magic wand. This is also the time where other than abalone porridges, they get million dollar upgrade and estate improvement plan if they happens to be an opposition ward and that they will only get it if the incumbent’s candidate gets voted in. Our Prime Minister once commented that money politics and pork barreling had been the scourge of Japan politics. While here, the 100 Million dollar carrot is nothing more than improvement plan for the estate and that progress package is nothing more than to share the fruits of the nation’s success despite the obvious coincidence that the payout is done a week before the nation goes to the poll. Besides fielding candidates where some put the party and the leader’s integrity to question, the oppositions, if elected in greater numbers will also become a problem of which requires our Prime Minister’s personal attention and fixing (ok, should read countering after the secretary correct it a day after) and that they are a great distraction which will hinder the countries progress. The thought of oppositions in the parliament getting spayed and neutered was a bit disturbing.

One of the issues that were scantly mentioned was the NKF debacle. This could well be because of the recent high profile defamation suite bought against the infamous Chee brother and sister as well as the rest of the SDP. The possibility of sub judice could play an important factor in making it a taboo subject.  The issue is not about the government but more of transparency. While the Minster for Health managed to sort it out in 1 afternoon as the old NKF management seek him out and resigned en-mass and left him to appoint an interim management which went about cleaning up the mess. The question that failed to answer was that, with a few whistle being blown in the past, why wasn’t the issue being bought out in the open and that do we have enough check and balance to prevent a similar incident to happen and in its worst possibility, a government agencies. We had seen the passing of Sarbane Oxley in the wake of Enron and MCI but yet little is being done here in the matter of legislative measures being taken in the wake of NKF.

If there is one thing I agree with, it will be that the whole election is and will always be about the future. While it is important to know who brought about the success this nation has enjoyed in the past, it is even more important to consider what we want for the next 5 years and the 5 years after. Is it stability that we want? Check and balance? Uncertainty as we vote in the unknown? I do know that despite the great turn out in the Opposition’s rally is by no means a given that they will be voted in. But I am heartened to see that the oppositions are slowly getting its act together and they are now on their long road to getting their credibility a boost. However, as not all oppositions are created equal, I do hope that this election will see some clowns making curtain calls and bowed out as it is way overdue for them to get off the political stage of Singapore. As for me, polling day is truly a vacation as I am in a GRC that is a walkover. Which is why, despite all these, I don’t really give a damn…. I am sure the MPs of this constituency don’t care as well, at least for the next 5 years.

For those that are voting, have a care and vote carefully.