Auld Lang Syne

Its New Year's Eve!!! (and I am counting the hours till I get off work) I think many people will be looking forward to the coming of the new year. In my opinion its been a tumultous year. Its been a great year for Singapore in terms of sports but other than that I don't like watching or reading the news.

So how will YOU be spending the last few hours of 2008? The usual party at Sentosa or Marina Bay? Any New Year's resolution? I seldom make any resolutions on this day because in my opinion, a hasty resolution made on New Year's eve with the countdown party in mind doesn't mean much does it? In all fairness though maybe before (or after) the booze numbs our brain cells, we should take a little moment to look at life this year from a very NARROW perspective. How good (or bad) have we really been this year? It seems to me that there are many things wrong on Earth. I am not a mover and shaker and neither are most of us. Each of us do have the power in us to change things however. Like the King of Pop croons " I am starting with the man in the mirror....."

So take care and party safe people! Take care of the ladies (and men who still wear spongebob underwear) and lets have a wonderful party! Happy New Year!

The week in a nutshell

Jingle Bells Jingle Bells...

Oh wait! Christmas is over! Aww.... Its back to WORK! Back to the highly political workplace for me. Work here is rather easy I think but relationships between people here is so stressful my hair is dropping! :x Case in point: After an argument with the assistant manager about training a new technician, the senior technician (in my department :x) tendered his resignation on the same day. He also happens to be the only person working in the laboratory. The result? He stayed on with instructions from the manager to people including myself not to disturb his work... Hello? Who's going to do his work if he is sick or on leave if no one including myself is allowed to be trained? Its nonsense!

Ok enough about all the B.S in my workplace. How was Christmas for everyone? I hope most people got the gifts they wanted. Don't forget to give presents to people important to you as well though! It is the season of GIVING after all.

Which reminds me I had a lovely time shopping this year. I know the word recession is being spoken everywhere but I have a job AT THIS MOMENT (may quit next month)and Christmas is once a year so its time to show a little appreciation as best as I can with my meagre salary. I didn't actually buy many gifts since my gifts this year were a little more expensive than most years. I think the gifts were welll received though so that warms my heart. I am a person that feels a lot but expresses very little so gifts are a way for me to express myself. Sadly though Christmas day this year was a very lonely affair for me (very unque thankfully) Why? Well I planned to celebrate with family on Christmas eve and with J on Christmas day. J was going overseas on Christmas day though so I celebrated with J on Chirstmas eve instead. It was rather short since I ended work at Tuas only at 3pm. A very expensive celebration in my opinion but unfortunately probably one of the most forgetable. Presents were not exchanged (we already did that a fewy days before) and there was no log cake, champagne or good music. So comes Christmas day and because its last minute and I am pretty broke I didn't ask anyone out so I pretty much spent 22-23 hours of Christmas day all ALONE! Oh man thats sad. Well determined to celebrate in SOME way, I ordered a Christmas pizza. A similar one I shared with J one or two Christmases before. Now I am a person that loves pizza so such a lot for myself should be a joy right? Wrong!It didn't taste all that great to me after all maybe because its the season for sharing so... just eating alone is sad ( I didn't finish the pizza by the way I am not a glutton!)

Apologies to two good friends of mine,Jingfeng and Alez. I know we don't usually celebrate birthdays but I was planning to treat you guys for your birthdays but
was unfortunately bogged down by work.If you guys read this you can contact me for a belated treat but starting next month ah!

Thanks to snowocean and Kenny Poon for their Christmas smses. I sent out Christmas smses to almost everyone I message often not everyone replied but snowocean and Kenny both of whom I seldom sms recently smsed me! Its a small thing but its sweet. Thanks guys esp Kenny you always remember this friend. If you need a hand in this recession do contact me. I don't know how much I can help but I am sure I can do a little something.

Sleep Debt

I have solved the riddle!!! OK so I've been working for slightly over a month (ahh I can still savour the paycheck but how long will it last???) and I've realised I've been getting rather lethargic especially during the weekends. I sleep like 10 hours on Saturday night the one night in a week I sleep more than 6 hours. So it got me thinking... how can I still be lethargic after so many hours of sleep? Well in typical NTU and UC Berkeley spirit, I went to do a little research (actually it involved mostly flipping through my limited edition Berkeley psychological text and the related websites) and I found my answer! Its a little thing I almost forgot about. Its called sleep debt. You see a person requires about 7-8 hours of sleep a day to function at optimum levels (depending on which research study you believe) If you don't get that the body functions normally but it credits your missing hours of sleep into its psychological bank so eventually you have to "pay" it back in a few days. So take me for example. I typically sleep between 3-6 hours a day. That means by Sunday I normally accumulate about 10 hours of sleep debt! Ok so in layman's terms, I cannot function very well on Sunday because I owe the "bank" too much money and I end up totally lethargic. There is not health problem although some health problems may surface as a result along the road. So my dear friends who are working just as hard especially friends like Kah Wing who are doing shift work... Sleep when you can just like I do and take good care of your health! (which I should do better).

Ok so after all the psychological mumbo jumbo the conclusion is that today is Friday and I don't need to work tomorrow so...... I really should go home and just SLEEP or practise P BUT in typical NTU fashion... it IS friday after all... So lets breakout the vodka baby! Its party time! :> Tooodles for now honeys I am going to tough for the next few hours in the office! Taihen des! :>>

20th November

Ahhh.... Its the 20th of November! Not exactly a big day but a rather significant one I'd say. Well the good things first! Today is...*insert drum roll* ...*insert drumroll again* ok enough enough :> today's PAY DAY!!!!!! (not necessarily the same for next month)

Not a moment too soon either! I am all but broke. The grand total I saved last month was... umm maybe one dollar? lol pathetic eh? This month looks like its going to be expensive as well. I mean the day I get my money for the month I had to pay for cab fare! I better be able to claim it back I need to save a little for Christmas! Oh which reminds me they deducted a 120 plus dollars from my pay!!!! Hey thats a significant amount from my meagre salary ok

Ok so the wonderful monetary gains aside, I have a rant! I am being pulled in by a relatively new colleaguew (still older than me) to be part of an act for the year end dinner. Oh man! yes I can play instruments (which I stupidly admitted D'oh) but I DON'T wanna make a spectacle of myself at such a function! Plus I don't like the other organiser (too bossy) so maybe I'll just find a way to wiggle myself out of it. Somebody please remind me to keep my big mouth shout next time? I cannot keep saying YES! Oh plus I wonder if my manager is PMSing? She's yelled at me TWICE today! Oh and I think just ME? How did I offend her man? I mean come'on she yelled at me from inside her office when I was asking her secretary about something I didn't understand. I mean HALLOOOOO? You didn't tell me the proper hierarchy! My one day orientation wasn't even on site! It was at HQ! Hmm I recommend the next time they put this on their job descripton. " Ideal Employee wanted... Must be able to do work without instruction, withstand scoldings and endure the occassional flying high heeled shoe"

Ok so I was lying about the high heels but you get the picture *LOL* The weekend is coming!!!!!! :>>>>>

Sex on TV leads to Teen sex?

I just read a rather interesting article on the Today newspaper (17th Nov , 2008)According to the article in question, sexual scenes on television leads to a more relaxed attitude to sex in teenagers. My first thought when I read article was..........Its about time! I think we all believe that sex scenes on television does affect the nubile minds of our young, negatively, we simply choose to look the other way. Like unfired clay, their minds are open to suggestion from everywhere, television, internet, friends and more. Many have argued that the growing relaxed attitude to sex is simply an evolutionary thing. Ok... you've probably not studied evolution much then. After all the crux of evolution lies in the propagation of its specific species. The worry with teenage sex is the surprising lack of knowledge or concern when engaging in these acts. This leads to teenage preganancy and other complications. Teeangers are ill equipped to take care of their young so it inhibits species propagation in fact so... evolutionary thing? I think not.

I do believe parents and educators play an important part in educating the young on sex. Yup its a tough and sensitive subject but hey, if you don't do it they may get the info from porn stars instead so... I guess you just gotta grit your teeth and get to it. Another thing to note is that the media should also regualte what is being shown and the show timings. After all the internet is a lot easier to secure with passwords and internet blockage the television lock on the other hand is simply useless. The unfortunate thing is that it isn't only the teens that are easily influenced. Some adults are too and the scary thing is these adults are sometimes educators and mentors, preachers and teachers! We've all heard of teachers, even professors taking upskirt videos of their young students and even pressuring the academically weaker students for sexual favours. Ahh.... maybe we really need more of these articles and discussions. As the hemline of skirts get shorter, perhaps so too do our morals? Its at these times that I become thankful strict Asian families and their morals. Add a dose of compassion to that and we Asians should do okay (or so I hope)

weekend!!!

Argh the weekend is over!!! Not that it was a fantastic weekend in that the usual excitement was lacking. Nonetheless its over and I have a FULL week ahead! Oh man I understand why PC said I will look forward to public holidays once I start working. You're clairvoyant PC! Or maybe you just have the common sense I lack lol.
In any case my weekend wasn't all that great although I had lotsa time this weekend. I was totally free! Personal relationships got in the way of things though and that put me in a bad mood for most of the weekend. Not wanting to waste my weekend, I slept at 4 plus in the morning on saturday (usually the time I get UP on weekdays) and ending up feeling totally hungover the next day which kinda meant that the day was wasted. Towards the end of today I ended up with diarrhoea (super sudden) and I am still wondering what caused it.... hmmm... what?

So all in all not such a hot weekend (although the weather was super hot) as you can see. Never mind I will find ways to get myself perky again. Although the early mornings are getting on my nerves. I think we should all go to work at 10 am! Anyone agree with me? Well in any case its about time for me to say nighty night. I've got a runny nose (been runny for super long do I have and allergy like Alez?) and a churning stomach. So tata for now and you just keep on coming back to read ok! Good night sleep tight and DON'T let the bedbugs bite (know whose favourtie phrase is this?)

saturday boredom

So yesterday was the wet t shirt contest showdown in Singapore. I think it's the first EVER in Singapore. I did want to go down there. Now before you mistake me for some perv, there is a valid reason :p. As most of us cosmopolitans know, a wet t shirt contest can be pretty wild so to imagine that in conjunction with rather conservative Singapore is well... tough. I didn't go in the end though some waylaid plans meant that I didn't feel quite in the mood.

You know moods can be pretty dangerous in particular two moods. Anger and Sadness. Now anger at least anger that can lead to violence I have more or less curbed. Sometimes I feel it robs me of a little masculinity but I have a good reason to curb violent anger. Anger that leads to harsh words I have not gotten rid of but I am working on it. Now sadness on the other hand I haven't quite gotten it down. We all allow things to get us down. Some of these things may seem trivial to others or even ourselves (in retrospect duh) but nonetheless it makes us feel low. The problem with these two feelings is that it often spills over to others in our life most often loved ones. Take for example, today I was supposed to go out to where I had not decided but I have three different plans. In the end? I stayed home? Why? Two reasons I guess the first is my mood wasn't so good a spillover from yesterday and the second is I told J I would stay at home today. Was it honor that made me stay at home? The inability after years of practice to go back on my word? Or was I trying to elicit a modicum of feeling or maybe pity from J? Bit stupid actually since J prob had great fun today and yesterday.
In any case friends no worries. As you all know I have a bubbly personality its one (hopefully not the only one) redeeming trait that I have so I have no doubt I will bounce back from my melancholy soon. Let me just keep my fingers crossed that it'll happen before the weekend flies by. OK now to watch a movie!

Financial Turmoil?

Ahhh so the World's talking about the financial crisis. There is obviously going to be an economic slowdown affecting most countries (gawsh I sound like a weather forecaster...rain over most areas.. LOL). I agree with Maia though. If you money doesn't mean the world to you (and you are somewhere in the middle income group and uo this financial crisis probably won't affect you all that much. Yes we are all gonna tighten up our belts a little bit (sayonara cherry garden, Oscar's and Renos?)
but we can still lead our happy lives.

Maia got me thinking a little this morning. Where does all my money go? I guess like her I don't think too much on spending with loved ones and I love to travel as well. So yup most of my expenditure falls under three great categories. 1)Transport. I should take public transport a little more often but the crowd can be pretty scary at times. 2) FOOD! Yup I love food and its not just the taste and smell of it that matters to me, the ambience is important too and soo... you gotta pay a price for that eh? 3) Leisure and this includes travel of course! Last minute flights to Thailand, Hong Kong and Australia. . . Movies, bowling and the like in the comfort of Singapore. So all in all it adds up to quite a bit I guess. Maybe its time to look into my finances again.

Talking about last minute trips, I had a chalet planned for today! Its a long weekend after all. I was kinda busy, have several commitments over the weekend but I guess I needed a little time to get away and chill. Working for 9 or more hours a day after months of rest can take a toll on you. In the end....... it was canceled! Oh man that was disappointing I was looking forward to late night movies ... oh well. So the question for this early morning hour is... what shall I do tomorrow?

Work Week!

Ahh good morning Singapore!

I am back in good ol Singapore and eeks I am actually working! Hmm then again I am typing this in the comfort of my office cubicle. Well technically its my break time! TECHNICALLY :>

Working can be a chore (ok I haven't been working long at all so I don't profess that to be any kind of expert)Now thus far the chore for me hasn't been the work. Sure that can be kind of stressful after all I did OT without pay the very first day of work. Nah the chore is the waking up. My best friends know that I ain't no morning person but now I wake up before the sun rises every week day! Ahh no birds chirping on trees of the fresh smell of dew its too early! lol. Lets see how this path develops shall we? Like most of my posts, I don't dwell on the bad things, the good thing is the colleagues here are pretty cool (except when they shove mountains of work over here :p) so thats really nice especially since I like to socialise.

Ok thats all for now its back to work!

Yesterday at the Olympics

What an interesting day it has been in the Olympics overall. The table tennis matches are starting to heat up as more men and women are getting disqualified and the winners are beginning to emerge. A disappointing day overall in basketball where many teams were trounced completely including Angola by Spain and very surprisingly Lithuania who lose by an embarrassing 31 points to Australia ending their undefeated 4-0 run. Understandably, the Lithuanians have a lot less to play for since they already qualify for the next stage whereas Austrlia's win secures them the fourth and final place in the quarter finals within their group. Bogut performed superbly during the entire game and three pointers seem to reach their targets from everywhere on the court by any member of the Australian team. I have a sneaky suspicion that this loss was cleverly engineered by the Lithuanian coach though. Not needing the match to qualify and allowing the Australian team to destroy the power Lithuanian team means two things. First, Australia will play undefeated U.S.A with great confidence. Second, this pits the U.S.A against their strongest rival thus far at these games, Australia. This means that both these teams will have a hard fought match. Assuming that America does win as expected, their players will be somewhat spent when they do meet Lithuania, increasing Lithuania's chances for gold by a small percentage. Hey its the Olympics, every LITTLE bit counts.

The real action to me though took place in the athletics section courtesy of the two great athletes shown below, Irving Saladino from Panama and of course Yelena Isinbayeva from Russia.




Irving Saladino is no doubt the hero of Panama and his face will be splashed across Panaman newspapers as this man created history by securing for Panama its first ever Olympic gold medal. It is true that this young man is the 2007 World Champion but his jump of 8.34m ahead of South Africa's Khotso Mokoena who managed a decent jump of 8.24m securing him the silver medal was no mean feat either.

However, the truly heroine yesterday, was formar Russian Lieutenant, Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia. This outstanding 26 year old Russian and the darling of the Pole Vault was expected to win the gold medal. And why shouldn't she? She is the only pole vaulter to have cleared more the 5.00m and holds the world record going into the competition. And win it she did. Early into the competition, Yelena secured her gold medal in only her second jump, easily clearing the 4.85m hurdle. Now this is where it really gets interesting. Not satisfied with that, she placed the bar at 4.95m to break the Olympic Record. After managing to break that on her third and final attempt she truly got the crowd going. The audience screamed louder at each of her attempts to break the world record at an unprecedented 5.05m. After two unsuccessful attempts, Yelena proceeded to wrap herself under a quilt. After two minutes, she emerged with new resolve in her eyes and before she jumped, I told myseld (as did many others in the crowd I believe) she is DEFINITELY going to clear it. I don't know why but I was just so confident of it. She did. And the 91,000 strong crowd of mixed nationalities burst into raucous applause. This young Russian is truly in a league of her own in the pole vault. Winning at 5.05m well ahead of the next best at a decent 4.80m she truly showed the world what mental and physical toughness can achieve. For her drive and spirit I salute her like so many others. Congratulations Yelena!

The Olympic Dream

The Olympics are finally over. Well for one man and perhaps one nation anyway. In a Herculean effort, an unassuming Baltimore boy has set two records that looks rock solid for many years to come. At such a young age, not only did he achieve his seemingly impossible dream of eight gold medals at one Olympics, he also holds the record for the most number of gold medals ever won and he did it by surpassing seven world records, just one shy of besting Mark Spitz's seven world record breaking attempts. The Olympics have always drawn a huge crowd and I am one such ardent fan. I have been meaning to blog about the many scenes I have viewed at the Olympics over the days but I was simply too immersed in the action. It has been full of action for sure. From a dazzling display during the opening ceremony to audacious goals being set to upsets, this is one Olympic games, many will remember. Back to the hero of this Olympic Games. To me, what makes this sportsman a true Olympic hero is not in the records that he has set, but how he did it. All Olympic athletes train hard, that is a given. This athlete not just trained hard, he never ever lost sight of his goal all through his 17 swims and he stuck close to his roots always finishing with a kiss and hug with his family and handing over his bouquet to them. His winning smile, his attitude, his humility and the way he has us all hanging by our seats whether he cruises to victory 1.89 secs ahead of his competitor of barely winning it by 0.1 seconds, this man stands among greats like Carl Lewis, for they embody the spirit of the Olympic games, the sportsmanship, the effort, the dedication. This man. The man of the Beijing Olympic Games. Michael Phelps.

The Games are also over effectively for a small island nation with a competitive (some say kiasu) attitude. The sunny country of Singapore has finally won its second Olympic medal in a draught spanning 48 years. After coming within inches of a medal at the Athens Olympics, Singapore darling Li JiaWei joined forces with Feng Tian Wei and comrade Wang Yuegu winning in an exciting match against South Korea. The finals saw China cruising to victory largely due to the efforts of Zhang Yi Ning, another athlete I commend for her determination under fire and her sportsmanship. The story of the day however, belongs to Jia Wei and her comrades for ending a small nation's medal hopes after a long 48 years. The background story is of course that all six of the contenders in the gold medal match were born in the same country and most were trained in similar fashions. The similar style of playing was obvious. While the birthplace of Singapore's players may come under fire, no one can deny that these three women did their best and Singaporeans should feel proud to see their flag flying high.

The Olympic Dream

Flowers flowers everywhere

So Valentine's day's just over and people are recovering from the aftermath of excessive chocolates, the aroma from fresh roses and overt shows of affection and romance from normally passive local guys. Oh and overwhelming commercialization of the whole event! :>
I've noticed an interesting trend in the dating scene in my college in Sinapore recently. I am in the gradutaing class and in the midst of all the preparation and hard work for this busy semester, I've noticed more and more people holding hands both in the lecture theatres and out. Nope its not in anticipation of V day or the aftermath of it. People are generally seeming to be getting in relationships more this time of the year. Perhaps its like one of my guy friends said to me "Now that we're graduating, its best to try and get a girl while the playing field's still quite large" (and in his unspoken words the playing field's still quite young). Perhaps he does have a point since we enigneersl tend to work in male dominated arenas, well unless you choose to take on a job in a different sector which incidentally is not too uncommon. Yet, a word of warning guys, love is not one to be rushed, lust on the the other hand is tough to slow down. So now that we're finishing college and the college jock years are over, maybe its time to think about a serious relationship, stop and pause for a moment, before you say those three special words that could change your lives, and someone elses. :>
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

train disruption

Okay so by now I am sure all of you have heard about the train disruption today. Yep and I was caught up in it and the ironic thing was I was actually earlier than usual today! I guess its like the song by Alanis Morissette. I am too lazy to post any pictures but search on the internet and you'll find a whole bunch. I think the sight of the crowd at the bus stop will overwhelm you. I was actually patient and waited for 45 mins like a typical obedient Singaporean when I finally gave up and tried to flag a cab. You guessed it though no cabs! I was wondering if the dispatch would have been kind enough to divert them here where many people were waiting patiently (or otherwise) for cabs. Oh yah and furthermore we were directed to the bus stops where we were told would ferry us from Tampines mrt to Pasir Ris or Simei. Thank goodness I decided to take the SBS bus to bedok instead! Not that I am clairvoyant, in case you did wonder.
So hours passed and the day dragged by like a typical ol schoolday until mid afternoon when I met an old pal for a cuppa java and we talked about our respective relationships; i.e his budding one and my well...not so blossoming one. It was a good kinda talk though I was mostly on the listening end (which is atypical) but I was happy to be a listening ear what I was unhappy about was, that I was late for training! Twice in a day! I ended almost made it via public transport but I missed the bus and after fruitlessly waiting took a cab. So I missed warm up and almost couldn't take the grading. Worst part? I got kicked in the groin and kicked in the head. One of the guys from NUS is really aggressive While I admire his obvious resolve... I do think he oughta leave that "fire" for competitions :P
So all in all it hasn't been such a great day BUT
as they say there's a silver cloud in every lining ... true!
As I end my blog entry Its early morning, a new day with new fresh hope! :>

fist and legs

As I sit in front of my computer filling in my rather neglected bloggy, aching pain seems to swell my ribs. Hmm the reason? Got punched again in the ribs. The drawbacks of being a martial artist I suppose. Many people believe that martial artists, well.... at least those that have trained for some time are more hardy. I definitely think that is true but.... I guess sometimes they forget, martial artists are humans too, you know blood, bones, tissues? Which means to say... we hurt too!!! Another thing I don't quite understand, why do people like to spar with me? It is true that I have practised for quite a while but I think I am one of the lousier ones not to mention that I tend to hold back when sparring. Hmm..... its called sparring to advise you to hold back!!
Hmm had a long drive today with lotsa uncles trying to "bully" me on the roads. Hmm sometimes the carefree feeling of driving is really spoilt by rude and inconsiderate drivers. for example a driver with a banged up car overtook me today. No big deal right? Well... here's the deal. He overtook me on the left at high speed when the right lane was empty and he over took me in a one way lane! The other lane was going in the opposit direction and it wasn't like I was going that slow either. "Must he go at 80 kph on a small road?