Tuesday, June 28, 2005

 

the golden rule

This is becoming a political hotbed.

I refer all of you to the so-called "common" Golden Rule:

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. - Jesus

Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you. - Socates

One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. - Mencius

None of you believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself. - Islamic Hadith

Now, please pick out the ONE THAT DOESN'T BELONG THERE.


Read more!
 

Anyone read the papers today?

Go read the forums. There's this article by Elgin Toh about the Eligibility of 21 year olds voting for the president later this year:).

Apparently we aren't allowed to vote by some constitutional bullshit.

Democracy is alive and well in Singapore.

And P.S. Elgin Toh was me and Jesse's classmate back in Sec 1 and 2. I remember he donned a "black eye" and had reformasi banners when Anwar was sentenced to jail for screwing butts.

Adious. Peace.


Read more!

Sunday, June 26, 2005

 

goodness gracious me

hallo... this is my FIRST post (so nice). i just arrived only 3 hours ago in singapore, from kunming (having visited chengdu, jiuzhaigou and lijiang) and here i am, deciding to write my inaugural post despite having food poisoning on the second last day of my trip.

Goodness gracious me... whatever happened to photogenic photos and updated updates? Our blog has gone political! "Freedom!" cry the civilians. "Order!" demand the leaders. But even the cops are bailing out! We are on the verge of REVOLUTION!!

Before I continue,
Facts you'd probably didn't know about
1. Beijing is the capital of China, but Chengdu is the capital of Mahjong (SERIOUS)

2. A classic hand-waving Chairman Mao statue lies in the heart of the city of Chengdu. What it means to the people is that Chairman Mao wants them to stop work at 5, raise the stakes to 5 RMB per Tai2, and play mahjong till 5am the next morning.

3. Rabbit heads and their bodies are each sold separately. (batteries not included)

4. Don't EVER take your shoes off in airplanes. The Chinaman will spit anywhere, including carpet-ed flight cabins (witnessed it..gross).

5. Buy travel insurance if intending to travel within China. My flight descent into Lijiang was aborted because of weather conditions (WTF) and the plane flew back to Chengdu. There they re-fuelled the plane while the passengers were onboard (WTF x2), and managed a successful landing operation the second time. Unlucky? Think again. Another plane that tried to land in Lijiang the next day exceeded the landing path and went all the way into the fields nearby (WTF x1232353251234).

I would really want to talk more about Singapore, but putting it on this blog would very much be spamming -_- anyway thx debi for the z4 photos... too bad i dun like that car. If got anyone import a BMW M3 remember to take pic for me can?? haha....


Read more!

Monday, June 20, 2005

 

anyone interested?

sph 24 hour playwriting competition 16th - 17th june 35 bucks registration.

can write your politically charged play or whatever and otherwise can just drink coffee for 24 hrs when i realise it's far too hard for me.


Read more!

Sunday, June 19, 2005

 

Us, back in Singapore after Bali 2004. In Indochina 2005, we got so sick of each other we left immediately on arrival:) lol


Read more!
 

Men (okay boys) in Uniform. lol. This is at the ACPC (Army Certificate Presentation Ceremony) where you proudly declare you shit life as a cadet is over and finally get to enjoy more responsibilities. aahhh screw it


Read more!
 

Looks like Weng's with one huge difference: This one sniffs bombs. Woot!


Read more!
 

What i did in the army. Wear bomb suits, chemical suits and posed with my men who wore them:) haha


Read more!
 

Alex and his tank. Compare to his ex-photos this one is "After" for Marie France


Read more!
 

Doggie style.


Read more!
 

He wears the pants in the house. Yeah.


Read more!
 

My Dream Car. Honda Concept SX something something something. With Lady on top.


Read more!
 

More Info on Cycling

> Hi all :)
>
> I am part of an independent group of youths, who are, under the
> auspices of the Citibank-YMCA Youth For Causes program, organizing a
> night cycling marathon/relay to raise funds for Dover Park Hospice.
>
> Dover Park Hospice (DPH) was founded in 1992 to provide palliative
> care to the terminally ill. It seeks to provide comfort, relief of
> symptoms and palliative care for patients with advanced disease, and
> also to support their grieving families. The hospice needs $2.6
> million in funds a year to cover operational and maintenance costs
> alone, and depends largely on the goodwill of donors as well as on its
> strong team of volunteers to survive.
>
> Our event, entitled Project Sunrise, will last from 10pm on the 23rd
> of July(Sat) to 10am on the 24th of July(Sun), and will be held at
> East Coast Park .
>
> We need you to be one of our cyclists and fundraisers! Cyclists will
> cycle as many rounds of the 10.5km East Coast Park cycling track as
> they can, with a common aim of clocking AS MUCH MILEAGE AS POSSIBLE
> within these 12 hours - sponsors will then pledge a certain amount per
> km all the cyclists cycle in total. As a cyclist, you will also be
> given the opportunity to participate in our fundraising process - each
> cyclist will be given a pledge card to raise funds for our cause from
> your family and friends. (We sincerely hope this does not deter you
> from joining this fun and exciting event - remember the effort put in
> is all for a good cause!)
>
> The registration fee for this event is $10 (without bicycle) or $16
> (with bicycle). All participants will also be provided with some
> refreshments and be given a T-shirt from Dover Park Hospice.
>
> By organising this event, we wish to bring sunshine and warmth into
> the lives of the patients of Dover Park Hospice; we, however, need
> your help to make this event a success. Hence, we look very much
> forward to your favourable response – your help will definitely be
> greatly appreciated by the staff and residents of Dover Park Hospice.
>
> Please Join Us!
>
> Should you be interested, please email projsunrise@yahoo.com.sg asap,
> and we'll get back to you, asap as well.:)
>
> Thank you very much for taking time to read this email - we hope to hear
> from you soon.
>
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> Ming Jing
> on behalf of the Organising Committee of Project Sunrise


Read more!
 

hmmm...

Wow. Some very passionate views about Singapore out there but aren't you guys getting a little too 'anti-Singapore'?

Singapore is not perfect; we've often been described as a nanny state, one in which we have too many rules and regulations governing our political freedom. But is this really so bad? Honestly I don't see what's the big deal about the 5th amendment; look at how its been corrupted and twisted to serve the evil horrible criminals in Law & Order etc. :) As Lippy (2005) mentioned, there are heaps of forums out there for people to talk and vent their frustrations in, so get out there and talk all you want. Want action? Go join the young PA and make your voices heard. It is not only in Singapore that petitions fail to make a difference. Why not try doing things their way instead? As the age-old axiom goes, if you can't beat them, join them.

The print media in Singapore spouts government gibberish which is expected. All newspapers have a slant; the New York Times is liberal leaning and the Economist is liberal as well. Are you going to throw tomatoes at them for representing their news as such? Take what you read with a pinch (or a handful) of salt. Frankly, when u get out of Singapore, you'll miss that you can walk in the streets at night without fear, without worrying that some guy in his car will lean his head out and scream at you Fucking Asian. So much for free speech huh?

Yes, having a perfect government would be nice. But having a meritocratic government isn't so bad. I envy people who can break bonds; at least they have bonds to break anyway. Afterall they've managed to obtain a world-class education and probably will find a great job at some MNC somewhere which pays them 4K a mth (believe me, my housemate earned that in her first SIX months) which basically allows them to pay the government off easily. Remember also that students in America frequently graduate with huge student loans while our students complain because university fees have risen by a couple of percent to a mere couple thousand a year.

Singaporeans feel disenfranchised by the Singaporean system. Is this the voice of the over-privileged? True, exams are stressful and the system is rigidly structured but so what? Its all relative; students elsewhere feel that their systems suck too. It is rare for students here to not hold a job while they study; most students work part-time through school and by school I don't mean Uni. A friend of mine is a brilliant student who, unfortunately, was beaten up last week by a bunch of punks and had temporary amnesia. A day after the incident, he was back in Uni and work without complaint. Tell me, how many Singaporean students can attest to that?

My point is, while I'm not a PAP sycophant, why concentrate on the bad? Slow down, smell the flowers and look on the bright side. I love Singapore not only because I grew up there and my family is there, but because its a nice oasis of regulated calm in the craziness of the world. Yes we do have our crazy rich people who run around taking secondhand textbooks, but we also have crazy rich people stealing donated stuff from Salvos stores. Crazy rich nuts do not only grow in Singapore.

Glass is half full people. Not half empty.


Read more!

Saturday, June 18, 2005

 

Singapore - My home?

Wow! Since when did the class blog become a "I hate my country" blog? Ok, since I am already not physically in Singapore i can safely say whatever I want and not fear any persecution. At least till my visa expires. So here goes.

I have been in Germany for 19 days. What do I miss? Aside from family and friends, I long for a bowl of laksa, sambal kangkong, my mom's steamed fish. I regret not eating the AMK ave 3 crabs. Tao huay. Wanton mee. You get the point.

Aside from friends and family (and rather obviously, food), Singapore means nothing to me. Why should she? We have no culture, history or unity. We pretend to live harmoniously with other races. We act moral, lambasting government plans for a casino, and book a ticket to Genting the next day. We are, by law, forced to vote – and there can only be one outcome. We get all heated up when some (misquoted) scholar says that the guys whine too much (which they do if you ask me). We have had the same superstar actress idol since I was born. We always blame weak economic growth on external influences. We give money, but not help to the needy. We force our children to study so much, they all become myopic. We do everything the government says. We can’t be bothered to express our opinions in public. We drive Mercedes cars to collect free used textbooks. We never smile to strangers, unless they are ang mohs. We call the NKF hotline and think we are saints. We have no original variety shows on TV. We cannot survive without the maid. The government collects our tax money and happily keeps it in their vaults. The youth complain that there is no free speech, but are stumped when countered with, "Have you ever tried posting something in the Forum page of The Straits Times?"We just look at our bank accounts and think that is all to life.

So is that a place I can proudly call home?



Read more!
 

Re:

Disclaimer: This is a highly opinionated piece intended to make a point and may not necessarily embody the full extent of the author's views. Readers should take it with a pinch of salt.

To tell you the truth, I have no idea why I am responding.

I am still physically in Singapore, but I'm quite certain my heart is not here, or if it ever was, has left some time ago.

Is that supposed to bother me? I know some people who actively try to make this an issue. Apparently there are quite a few here who think it is an issue, otherwise no one would bother to include in discourse such things as fare hikes and casinos and Dr. Chee Soon Juan and why Singaporean society has so many problems and is so inadequate etc.

People have asked me why I want so much to leave. The honest truth is: I don't know. It could have been a combination of the factors mentioned by the people above. What I do know is that because my heart isn't here, I can't care about or feel for anything that happens here. "But you grew up here," they assert. "Why don't you feel any sense of home, of belonging?"

Well, I have always had the feeling I don't belong here. When I went to secondary school, my fees were much higher than everybody else's, even though I went to a private independent school. My family doesn't enjoy subsidies of any type. We cannot buy property directly from the government. When the HDB wanted to upgrade the lift in my block, we have to pay 90% more than everyone else, and we didn't even have the say in the matter, because PRs are not allowed to vote, even if it was just for the say in upgrading a lift in the block we live in. Some say PRs are second-class citizens, I say there's no difference between us and foreigners, except for that little document that states you are allowed to live here permanently, but even that has to be renewed every 10 years, subject to factors like your income.

"Well, if you don't like being a PR," people ask, "why don't you apply for citizenship?" Well, I can't do it because I'm not of legal age yet. "Why don't you ask you father to apply?" Well, my mother tried to, but they refused her application, because apparently she doesn't earn enough to be "eligible". Even though she has lived and worked here for the past 30 years, and has apparently made enough to own a house and send her son to college in America.

But the strange thing is that even though I don't enjoy all the "benefits", I have to serve in the military like every other male citizen. At the end though, they dangle the carrot of "citizenship", maybe just to make me feel good about it.

Ironically, now that I am officially a Singaporean citizen, something which I once dreamt about being, I feel no desire to be one. The good thing about it, I think, is that when the time is right for me to leave for another country, I'll be more welcome if I say I'm from Singapore than from Malaysia.

"Still", people say, "the sense of home is more than a status. Won't you miss anything in Singapore?" Well, I guess I'll miss some of the food, and the safety and stability, and of course my family and friends. However, I do not think that these are necessarily the things that tie you to a place, that make you want to make somewhere your home. In any case, at this point I'm really irritated. It might be where I "come from", but I know Singapore is not where I want to make my home. There's no need for any explanation.

Frankly, I am puzzled why there is an inherent need to justify why you want to leave. There is simply no need to explain to anyone, or try to persuade them to see your point of view, because it matters more to the people who are asking you that question -- it means there seems to be something wrong with the society they are living in. You can simply ignore them and carry on with your business. The only reason you might want to acquiesce them is that you still consider yourself part of that society, and still hope you can have a better life in it. In that case, don't be hypocritical and deceive yourself. Many cynics whine because they refuse to do anything to improve their lives other than complain about it, giving the excuse that nothing will change no matter what. (That said, I step off the pedestal of moral high ground and state, for the record, that people have the freedom to choose the type of life they wish to live. And there really is no good or bad about it, as long as they are comfortable and satisfied with it.)

Right now, if you ask me what I think about the casino issue, I say it means I have somewhere new to go when I visit Singapore again. If you ask me about the fare hikes, I empathise and say too bad for everyone. If you ask me about free speech, I roll my eyes. If you still don't get the hint and ask me what I think of one-party democracy, depending on my mood, you could either get a shrug or a sucker punch.

Looks like I've been, and still am, an outsider. No wonder I don't feel like home.


Author's Note:
Regardless of everything I've said above, nothing will change the fact that I think Singapore is a great place to live in. It's clean, it's orderly, it's politically stable and it's relatively safe, from some of the worst of both humanity and mother nature. Many people, from both the wealthier and more impoverished countries, have come to proudly make Singapore their home. It is a young nation of only 40 years, and I think despite the cosmopolitan feel the city exudes (4 million people is a large city by world standards, and more so when you compare to some of the traditional cities in the West), there is a small-town vibe within the tiny nation. This is what I will remember about Singapore, and everyone -- patriots, stayers, quitters, immigrants, tourists, the world -- would do well to remember. As I get ready to depart, I inadvertently keep in mind that there's a reason for the adage: "The grass is always greener on the other side."


Read more!
 

Ok so let's do something about it!

Right. So we have decided to do something about it!

Fifth admenment? Sure we'll support it! I for one, will give carte blanche to every single fucker who wants to voice their opinion, no matter how diverse, how politically incorrect, and no matter how flaming it is.

You want to flame me? I'll take you on, public forums, blogs, newspaper articles etc etc. You see.

It's not that we don't have a diverse view on Singapore.

Check out tomorrow.sg, singaporeink, singabloodypore and thousands and thousands of politically (in)correct books out there such as "This is my home too" By Dr. CSJ (Chee Soon Juan), JBJ and other more recently exiled politicians.

The point is, the government actively discourages political talk and open/diverse views.

Look at Catherine Lim. Want to write political articles? Sorry, section blah blah blah says you have to join a political party to write political articles. You want to air your view in the PAP? sorry dude, you have to follow the party whip.

You want to set up a blog and air your grievances? Sorry dude. We'll threaten to sue you and take your blog down. Case in point: Chen Jiahao.

The point is that, Singapore has too many apathetic citizens in our society today. What happened to roundtable? What happened to political parties? What happened to diverse and different views debated in the open?

You know what? I joined the Youth Roundtable forum. I take part actively in discussions. I bemoan the fact the there are a lot of others like me who have views.

But they don't air them

Why? Fear of rebuttal. Fear of prosecution. Fear of everything and anything the government can throw at you.

The point is, Singapore has become such a staid city that the rulers of this city have carte blanche to do almost everything in the name of "Good"

Casino debate? Fuck I put my fucking name down in the CAsi-NO petition and it didn't even reach the fucking toenails of the cabinet.

You see, we have been cowered, and downright blessed over the past 30 years. Singapore had the luck to have a good and tough leader like LKY in the past 30 years. We had another good leader in GCT.

And now, we have more leaders than ever before. LSL, Balakrishnan, George Yeo. etc etc.

But why are we losing in the global scale? Because after all these years of growth and prosperity, the people have gotten complacent!

We decide not to change, to be more liberal, to have people making decisions for themselves.

We decide we have to be a nanny state. We ban Car racing, car modding, implement COE, ban drugs with death sentences. etc etc etc,

The Point is.

In an open and pragmatic and MATURE society, the people are the ones who decide for themselves, they make their own decisions and the result of their own decisions are their undoing themselves.

You see, we have no such people.

Nowadays, the typical student goes through

6 years of Pri school
4 years of Sec School
2 years of JC/ 3 years of Poly
4 years Uni

Work

Why? Because people are our only resource. Of course. So in order to squeeze out as much from out only resource as possible, we have to exploit them as much as possible. Graduates can't get jobs, Architects are retrenched, Taxi drivers are out of jobs and can't pay their rents.

And we are stuck here. Why? HDB home ownership scheme. COE. Taxes. NS. blah blah blah.

I must applaud the government for making my life so predicatable and easy.

After all, I am lucky. blessed. I managed to climb to almost the top of the socio-economic tree. When I try to make changes to benefit society, I can't. I am not a decision maker. I am constricted by rule number 12024 and various societal norms of a "confucian society".

I manage to be at the very top of a service oriented economy. Where my talents can be rewarded with a $3k a month salary and probably a car (with COE paid) after 2 years of working and a stable job until I am 30 years old.

And while all these is happening, I have to serve my NS reservist and be obligated to serve (because I am bonded to, not necessarily because I have the passion to) my nation.

Now, is this the citizens we want?

Or do we want citizens to have an active role in Singapore? To have buskers by Clarke Quay? To have poets expousing their wares along Bras Basah? To have demonstrations against casinos, to have dissidents against fare hikes, to protest against latest ERP charges, to demand the right to smoke even if it kills us, to have the right to rant against the government?

Or do we want to hold our peace, do what we are obliged to do, do nothing, be apathetic, and have absolutely no qualms living the way we do with the usual complaining?

It's not the complaints. It's the way Singapore IS. My roundtable group is almost dead, with nothing posted on the forums since April. Activists are few and far between. Casino views are held silent and most now AGREE with the "goodness" that casinos will bring our economy. Bus fairs are $144.10 for a typical 4 person family, when I spend almost $80 myself a month.

It's not about stayers and quitters. It's "what is here left to stay for" that begs an answer.

lip


Read more!

Friday, June 17, 2005

 

I dun realli like the media, but I can't stand my brethren (and myself) even more

Since we're at it, I might as well air my long-hidden opinions since the philip yeo 'mini-saga'...

The first time I read his comments, my initial reaction was anger, then realisation, and eventually a grudging acknowledgement that what the man said was essentially, well, true.

Perhaps I should set this straight. I am not chewing on sour grapes here, neither have I converted to any 'mainstream politically-correct' side that so many of my self-important peers seem to presume is beneath them. I respect scholars for their talents, envy them for the opportunities bequeathed them, and for those who choose to stick by their bonds, their sense of responsibility and moral obligation. But I do not envy them for the scrutiny they have to put up with, the bonds they have to serve, the obligations that they have to fulfil. It takes special qualities to become a scholar, and obviously these r qualities that I lack, so no one shld deny them the due respect they deserve. But with that respect comes expectations, and my pt is, some of them simply fail those expectations.

Philip Yeo was probably off the mark with his sweeping generalisation, but honestly guys, how many times have we all whined (myself included) abt the army, the media, the govt, the girls, even the damn s'pore soccer team? No transparency? Blame the media. No freedom? Blame the govt. No pride? Blame the Lions. Blame blame blame. Yather yather yather...

We don't have a fifth amendment? We lack transparency and freedom of speech? That's prob true... so how come no one seems to want to do anything abt it? Isn't our brightest supposed to be initiating positive changes? (And correct me if I'm wrong, but by virtue of their achievements I actually deem scholars to be in this category). And I feel so gratified to see so many of our best and brightest breaking their bonds, renouncing their citizenships, escaping their NS, doing every thing they can possibly do to bring the tides of change. Add those to heartening remarks like "screw u taxpayers" and "leave if u can", and all of a sudden I have this immense sense of pride. Gosh if only Moses, Martin Luther King and our very own MM Lee were so enlightened... then e world today would prob have 1 less religion, race and 'tiny red dot' to worry abt... Sigh

Truth be told, I've grumbled countless times abt e army, e system, e whole world as a matter of fact, more than I'd care to admit. That's why I prob resemble e grp that philip Yeo was making a swipe at (only diff being I'm not even half as smart as e scholars). And that's wat realli irritated me. The realisation that he's right. That most of us, having come out of e army, have evolved into nothing more than whiney wimps with e kop-out mentality. COOL. Add that to e fact that to date, I have not heard any whining frm ANY of e female scholars that I personally know (perhaps this has to do with my limited contacts wif e opp sex, maybe), and it just gets better.

But hey! They didn't serve NS!
So?
So they haven't served their due!
So what?
So that gives US e divine right to walk out and screw off, duh?!
So u can't stand this place?
Hell yeah!
U can't stand e govt, e whole freakin system?
Duh!
So how do u intend to get out?
Hey I'm going places u noe, like Chicago, soon.
Gosh that's a lot of money!
Yeah, but e taxpayers r paying for it, hehe.
Taxpayers? U mean e govt? e ppl?
Yep...
Din u just say u hated them?
So?
Okkaaayyy... pt taken.

Cheers gentlemen. Ama et fac quod vis.

P.S: Pls dun take this personally Lip, u noe I still love u. And oh, thanks for not misquoting me Mich. See, our media aint that bad actually. :)


Read more!

Thursday, June 16, 2005

 

it's like fire, useful, but just be careful.

my point about the media is that it has the unenviable task of bridging the gap between the moms and dads and rulers of the country that read the straits times (i know we do, but...) the zaobao and whatever, and some of the things which actually do happen in singapore but go under the radar. and the recent spate of blog incidents bode well, because it shows opinion is flowing from isolated youth rants into the public domain. unfortunately, the more young and well connected among us feel it's all too late, when we know these thoughts and opinions have been going on for ages.

i don't care if the papers spout a government line, as long as its a sensible one. i think the media is doing a fairly good job of evolving. what i think the media should do though, is to report more "scandals" and "provocative comments" until we're all sick of it. and the poor sods who're the victims of public opinion are going to have to be learn to be strong in the face of withering public criticism and defend themselves well with the quill, a good example of which is miss sarongpartygirl. and we can then take debate beyond the level of "the cinema's on fire, quick, let's rush for the exit door" and think "the cinema's on fire, quick, let's put it out/let's call 995/let's rush for the exit door then call 995".


Read more!
 

Sorry to michelle

But I just can't stand the local media.

Lol.

It's not just the Sarong Party Girl incident. It's not just the Phillip Yeo "All guys are wimps" Comment (although that did get my pretty riled up and now i'm fucking sure I want to break my bond:) *screw you taxpayers out there*. (hope my scholarship body doesn't see this:) lol., it's not the twins without help, the *lack of* political opinions besides catherine lim, the *lack of* debate on media, the always pro-government line. etc etc etc.

It's every single freaking thing.

It's sad when the media reports a pro "gahmen" line because it shows that singapore doesn't really have a fifth admendment. Not that we ever had one.

And frankly, everyone is leaving Singapore:)

We should too, guys and girls, those bright enough, talented enought to leave.

It's not about stayers and quitters. Have you seen the UWCs and the Singapore American School enrollment rates?

Dropping

Have you seen the number of expats living in my estate?

Dropping

Have you seen the number of Singaporeans leaving?

Rising.

Oh well. But i still have reservist to do:)

*i know this should be in my own blog, but i was lazy*

And i thought i put in my 2 cents after jesse's below post.

Feel free to spam.


Read more!
 

Another thing

I've settled most of my admin and caught up on reading the past few day's newspapers. I notice the media's new obsession is "finding" stunning new revelations on people's blogs and telling us "see this is what s'poreans are."

I don't know how right it is, but I did read sarongpartygirl.blogspot.com and I think it's an excellent piece of writing. It's a shame the spotlight turned to the pictures which frankly aren't that objectionable. No it doesn't deserve to be "Singapore's best blog" or some other perfunctory title like that, but I like it because it is honest, refreshing and original, and serves a niche audience. No matter if you disagree with the morality of the entire thing let us be aware that this is someone who has, through her writing at least, reasoned reasonably well and although we may not lead the same lifestyles she was never trying to convert anyone.

I guess blogs are dangerous because they can show you the real variety of life people lead, and how well they write, without the hassle of finding a publisher to affirm your talents or your supposed popularity. I sometimes have a problem with overtly exhibitionistic people until I tell myself that, I guess, each person takes their own pride, whether in being a good person or being a succesful one or simply a hot, sexy one, and after watching peacocks display their feathers in a garden, you have to accept that sometimes the world plays by such rules.



Read more!
 

long de chuan ren

I just touched down and the first thing I thought of was to read the class blog (really!) Well, other than check my mail and do all the other things a web-deprived person (adsl in china sucks) does. Because I don't know what to do next until time for lunch arrives.

Of course I love the disorientation I get when I read so many things and go wow so much has been written (must read!).

China is bleeding scary. What do they do with a 100 billion trade surplus, and one of the largest holdings of American debt and foreign reserves. They build and they consume. I thought Singapore was mad for rebuilding every overhead bridge twice every year... but I get the impression they're constructing 8000+ hotel floors for the Olympics, expandable skyscrapers so they'll always have the tallest one in the world, and lots and lost of residences for their ever growing urban population, and digging subways such that the ground starts to resemble Swiss cheese.

Fear this: partly because of this has the price of steel tripled (from its previous low which admittedly was also caused by low cost Chinese steel producers, but guess what, there's a shortage even now), nto to mention copper and other commodities. Oil is at 40+/50 dollars a barrel thanks to.... yes... so they can create enough electricity to shine endless spotlights into the Shanghai night sky and light up every damn people's monument from Hongkong to Harbin.
That's until they complete Three Gorges, flooding 6000 sq km and generating 1 third of their electricity capacity. I think that's about 70 nuclear power plants.

There's a lot to say about Chinese culture and stuff... films and stuff (maybe because the Shanghai film festival happened to be one when I was there), but my lasting impression of urban China is their insane ambition when it comes to commerce and economics... and the sights of millions of students mugging for their uni entrance exams causes me to tremble.

Of course it probably conceals the beauty of rural China that I often see on film, and the lives of 800 million people in rural China who miss out on this sort of growth (maybe not that bad, maybe those unlucky enough to be born in Gansu or Xinjiang). Still, before I lament/applaud the intense drive of the Chinese to succeed financially and economically, let's not forget I bought a nice 30's Shanghai-inspired tumbler from... Starbucks.

Make trade wars not bloody war. Peace.


Read more!

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

 

i really have to say this

ALEX REALLY LOOKS LIKE CHOW YUEN FATT.
at least chow yuen fatt when he was young. especially the candid shot of him in red, posted by michelle. Yes, alex...sorry but...ya... :P


Read more!
 

Anyone for overnight cycling?

Hi all :)

I am part of an independent group of youths, who are,
under the auspices of the Citibank-YMCA Youth For Causes program, organizing a
night cycling marathon/relay to raise funds for Dover Park Hospice.

Dover Park Hospice (DPH) was founded in 1992 to provide palliative care
to the terminally ill. It seeks to provide comfort, relief of symptoms and
palliative care for patients with advanced disease, and also to support their
grieving families. The hospice needs $2.6 million in funds a year to cover
operational and maintenance costs alone, and depends largely on the goodwill of
donors as well as on its strong team of volunteers to survive.


Our
event, entitled Project Sunrise, will last from 10pm on the 23rd of July(Sat) to
10am on the 24th of July(Sun), and will be held at East Coast Park .

We
need you to be one of our cyclists! Cyclists will cycle on the tracks of East
Coast Park for as long as they can , with a common aim of clocking AS MUCH
MILEAGE AS POSSIBLE within these 12 hours.


By organising this event,
we wish to bring sunshine and warmth into the lives of the patients of Dover
Park Hospice; we, however, need your help to make this event a success. Hence,
we look very much forward to your favourable response – your help will
definitely be greatly appreciated by the staff and residents of Dover Park
Hospice.



Please Join Us!

Should you be interested,
please email projsunrise@yahoo.com.sg asap, and we'll get back to you, asap as
well.:)



Thank you very much for taking time to read this email -
we hope to hear from you soon.



Your sincerely,

Ming Jing

on behalf of the Organising Committee of Project Sunrise.


Anyone wanna join? I should be joining for overnight cycling already. So those who want to get fit and sweat a little at night without the sex just email me or the project manager:)


Read more!
 

i don't wanna get hurt - i just wanna hurt animals in an extremely unfair and one-sided way.


Read more!

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

 

Double Cross

We weren't really friends. Cohorts maybe. Thrown together in a small town, with no other boys our own age, we got into mischief together.

Nothing unusual, just ordinary kid trouble that we always faced together, thus cementing our relationship.

Now, forty-some years later, I find that Tom has siphoned off our income, leveraging the winery, and the vineyard, for increasingly bigger "improvement" loans, $300,000 of which went to his private account in Belize.

His part in our business was to run the winery and accounting, whereas my responsibility was the vineyard operations.

I found out about this because being in serious personal financial trouble, I was unable to sleep last night. I got out of bed, went to the office, and for once, really looked at the books to see if we were healthy enough that I might beg Tom to let the company bail me out. As I found item after item where he had siphoned off the $300,000 leaving our company broke, my shock turned to fury.

I waited for him to arrive in the morning.

Upon confronting him, we fought, and as usual I lost. He trussed me up; the man never could tie a decent knot, but had plenty of rope to make up the difference, and cleared out what was in our safe. One item I could see was a plane ticket, no doubt to Belize.

"You always were a weakling, and a little slow, physically and mentally," he said. He gave me a two fingered salute, and headed for the door. "Goodbye, brother, have a good life."

He was right. He was always stronger and quicker than me. But one thing about me that he didn't know was that I am a compulsive gambler. I don't know how I got that way, it just sort of crept up on me over the years. I've gambled away every cent that I've ever owned, and I owe the "people" from New York serious money.

Earlier last night, a seedy little guy from whom I sometimes buy gambling tips approached me with literally the tip of my life. New York had decided that I didn't have the ability to repay their money, so had issued a contract out on me. Plans were for the execution of the contract to take place this morning, as I left the office for my usual Wednesday morning workout at the local gym.

Let's see, according to the clock on the wall, that would be about right now.

Well, what are identical twins good for anyway?

Gee, he sure used a lot of knots.



Read more!
 

House Call

She dialed the number and waited. Two rings, three -- maybe he wasn't in on a Saturday. Maybe --

Hello? Dr. Reed? This is Joe's mother, Mrs. Forte. Yes. Well, please, you've got to come over and see my Joe! He looks awful bad and I'm so worried. What? Oh, no, he can't come to your office. He's--he don't look good at all. You can come here, maybe? You will? In a half hour? Oh, thank you, thank you so much, Doctor!"

She hung up the telephone slowly and smoothed back stray strands of gray hair. Her fingers were gnarled, but strong and muscular from forty years of taking care of her boys. Her boys. There had been five of them once, but now all she had left with her was her Joe. A good boy, he was; nothing bad would ever happen to her Joe. That's why she had to make the doctor come to her home, had to get everything taken care of.

She tiptoed down the hall to Joe's bedroom and carefully opened the door. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his body rigid and his face as vacant as it had been the last five times she'd looked in on him.

"Joe?" she whispered.

He didn't look at her.

"Joe, everything will be all right. You wait and see. I'll take care of you."

Closing the door as softly as she had opened it, she looked at the hand of the old clock in the hall. Twenty-five minutes to wait. She'd go crazy just sitting, waiting --

Going into the living room she picked up her knitting and began to work on the sweater she'd started the week before. A bright shade of blue, it was Joe's favorite color. He'd be real surprised when he saw it.

"Oh, Ma," he'd say, "you shouldn't have gone to all that trouble for me!"

But he'd slip it over his head and grin at her like a little boy. Yes, her Joe would be pleased with the sweater. It was worth the pain from the arthritis in her fingers to make her boy happy. After all, what's a mother for, if it isn't to take care of her boys?

She dropped the yarn when the doorbell rang and went to the door. Peeking around the side of the curtain, she ws relieved to see the doctor standing there.

"Dr. Reed, oh, thank you so much for coming over so quick. I'm so grateful --"

He brushed past her and strode into the hall.

"That's all right, Mrs. Forte. Where is he?"

"What?"

"Joe. Where is he?"

"Oh. Well, if you could -- if we could just talk for a bit first, in the kitchen, maybe?"

He sighed impatiently.

"I really haven't too much time, Mrs. Forte. It is Saturday afternoon, you know, and my office hours were supposed to be over an hour ago."

"Please, Doctor?"

She stood there, her eyes pleading, and when she turned and went ahead of him into the kitchen he shrugged and followed her.

"A cup of coffee for you, Doctor?"

"No, I --"

"Ah, coffee for the good doctor. No matter how rich and important he gets, he still comes to our house to take care of us. For the good doctor a nice cup of coffee. Here, let me --"

She poured the steaming liquid into one of her two best china cups and pushed it across the table to him.

Sighing again, he picked it up and sipped. "These old women. These old women!" he thought with exasperation. "'A cup of tea? A cup of coffee?' And if you decline their hospitality they get so damned offended."

"Now," he said aloud. "What about Joe?"

"He's in his room, Doctor, just sitting on his bed, staring at nothing. Been like that since he got home last night. He wouldn't talk to me or nothing. Couple of hours ago he sort of came out of it for a few minutes and told me what the matter was, but then he turned his head away. He had tears in his eyes -- tears! My Joe!"

She shook her head and closed her eyes with the memory of it.

"You're not drinking your coffee, Doctor," she said then.

"I am. I am. Please go on."

"Well, my Joe, he's an important man, really. In this group, you know?"

"No, I don't know." He drank the last of the coffee and started to rise.

"Doctor!"

The tone of her voice startled him, and he sat down.

"The group," she went on, "they call it 'Our Thing'."

Ignoring the intent look on the man's face she said, "They -- the bosses -- they gave Joe a job to do. And he has to do it. When they say do something, you do it or else, right?"

"Uh-huh," replied the doctor.

"But my Joe, he's so sensitive! He was always the most delicate of my boys."

She smiled, remembering. "You remember the time when, oh, he was only eight or nine, he fell off his bike and you had to sew up his knee? He fainted, remember? That's how he is, Doctor. A real man, you understand, but so sensitive."

Dr. Reed grunted.

Well, it seems like there's this man around the neighborhood who's been -- how did Joe put it? -- 'horning in on the drug traffic' or something like that. And, see, they told Joe to get rid of him -- to kill him, you know. Because they don't like no competition, they don't like that at all.

"But my Joe, he just couldn't do it. 'Maybe a stranger, Ma,' he said, 'but not --' And he started to cry. Cry! Think of how I felt, his mother, when I saw the tears running down his face!"

"Ah," said the doctor.

"This man Joe's supposed to kill, he's a real respected man around here. A doctor...Doctor?"

She watched impassively as the doctor slid off the chair and landed on her kitchen floor with a thud.

He hadn't, she noted with relief, broken her china cup in his fall. She picked it up and carried it over to the sink, scoured it and the coffee pot with extra care; then, stepping over the doctor, she went to her son's room.

"Joe? Joe!"

He turned and looked at her dully.

"What, Ma?"

"It's all taken care of, just like I said. Come into the kitchen and look!"

That's Ma for you. She always takes care of her boys.



Read more!
 

Last Respects

Sadie stamped snow from her shoes and entered the back door of the funeral home. She passed the crematorium, the morgue, and the casket display room. Ignoring the acrid odor of embalming fluid, she eyed the steep steps to the first floor and decided to take the elevator. After 40 years as secretary-receptionist at Courtland Funeral Home, she should be used to the place, but she felt jittery; she seldom returned so late at night.

Being here now was her own fault. Leaving the elevator, she entered her office at the top of the steps and jotted a note on a memo pad. Had she remembered to place the address where Sam Jackson's services were to be held the next day on his casket where the hearse driver expected to find them, she would have been home now watching TV. She walked past the front reception desk and into the chapel. Poor Sam. His wife was one of the unlucky victims Sid had pressured into buying his most expensive casket. How unfair. That hadn't been old Mr. Courtland's way.

After taping the address to the casket, Sadie was heading toward the elevator when the front door opened and she heard Ruth and Sid's angry voices. Their arguments had grown more frequent recently, and now she debated on coughing to announce her presence or momentarily hiding in her closet to save everyone embarrassment.

As the voices grew louder and closer, she opted for the closet, leaving the door open a crack so she could see into the hallway. Surely they'd leave soon. Although she and Ruth had coffee together every morning, Sadie never pried into Ruth's private affairs. And Ruth never mentioned her arguments with Sid. That was as it should be. It would be unseemly for an employee to take sides in a marital dispute.

She had enjoyed working for Ruth's father, old Mr. Courtland, but she had disliked Sid Dedrick ever since she had seen him dining with another woman in the city. Luckily, he hadn't seen her and she had told no one of the incident. She also hated the way his business practices were driving Courtland into the ground in spite of the customer's paying top dollar. Ruth had turned all business arrangements over to Sid and Sadie wondered if Ruth knew they were facing bankruptcy.

"We can't afford it," Sid shouted. "I'm not made of money."

"Where does our money go?" Ruth asked. "We deserve a vacation. We barely had a honeymoon -- three days at the World Series. You hardly knew I was there."

"I saw enough of you, that's for sure," he snarled. They were in clear view of the closet door now, and Sadie saw Sid's face flush as suddenly he stepped behind Ruth, placed both hands on her shoulders and shoved. At first Sadie thought it was she who had screamed, then she realized the sound had come from Ruth. The scream seemed to last forever; then when it stopped, Sadie heard Ruth's body tumble down more stairs and thud against the morgue door. Fear paralyzed her. Was Ruth dead? What could she do? Dial 911? Sid would say Ruth fell. He might even say Sadie pushed her. It would be his word against hers. Before she could work out a plan, Sid entered her office, picked up the conference phone.

"Cassie, is that you?" Sid's voice gritted. "It's done. She just had an accidental fall. A very bad fall."

"Oh, Sid. Are you sure she's dead?"

"Of course, I'm sure. Broken neck."

"Did you check for a pulse?"

"I didn't need to. I could tell she's dead. Tomorrow Sadie will find her body when she arrives for work."

"What will you tell the police?"

"The story we planned -- we had argued and I thought Ruth had left me."

"This better work, Sid. I'm through waiting for you."

"Now, Cassie, you know it'll take some months to settle her estate with all her money being tied up in a trust fund. But I've enough cash to set you up in Des Moines."

"Des Moines! You're kidding! What about Rio?"

"Des Moines for now, Cassie. I'll join you on weekends. Once the estate's settled, we'll be rich, but until then we'll be living on a short string."

Once Sid left her office, Sadie wiped sweat from her upper lip. She waited until she heard the front door close. Then she waited a while longer, fearful and grieving for Ruth. She couldn't prove Sid had shoved her. If she called the police they'd ask what she was doing here and maybe they'd blame her. And once Sid learned she had witnessed his act, she might be the next one to take a fall.

Was there a chance that Ruth was still alive? Forcing calmness, Sadie inched down the steps. Slowly. Cautiously. She knew from the grotesque twist of Ruth's neck that she was dead and she wasn't surprised when she felt no pulse. Anger and sorrow formed an aching ball in her chest as she sat thinking. She formed a plan, but if it backfired, she might be the one accused of murder. She stepped into the morgue and found a pair of plastic gloves.

It was almost midnight by the time Sadie walked the short distance home. She had a hard time getting to sleep. The next morning she arrived at work promptly. The groundskeeper had cleared snow from the parking lot and the sidewalk. The hearse driver had come and gone. At 9:15 Sid called. Sadie willed her voice to be firm, normal.

"Sadie, have you seen Ruth this morning?"

"Why, no, I haven't. Is there a problem?"

The wire hummed for a long time before Sid spoke again. "Well, of course, I don't think... I don't know... It's just that Ruth was here when we went to bed, but she isn't here now. Her bed's made, but it isn't like her to go off without me."

"That's strange."

"Uh... Um... Look in her office, will you?"

"Of course. Hold on a second." Sadie walked to Ruth's office and back so the time span would seem correct. "She's not there, Mr. Dedrick."

"I'll... I'll be right down." He hung up.

When Sid arrived, Sadie hurried to the door to meet him. "Any news of her?"

"None." He passed the receptionist's desk on his way to check in his own office, then in Ruth's. "Let's take a look in the business office, Sadie."

"I went there first thing. Ruth wasn't there." She watched Sid walk down the hall and take a covert look down the stairs. His face had a green tinge.

"Maybe you should call the police, Mr. Dedrick. If she's truly missing..."

"What do you mean, truly missing?"

"Oh, nothing really. It's just that many people who are reported missing turn up of their own free will in a day or two. Maybe Ruth has just gone to visit family."

Sid looked sick. "This can't be happening. I mean, this isn't a bit like Ruth."

"Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Yes. Yes, there is, Sadie. Would you represent me at the Jackson service in Centerville? The Jacksons will understand once they hear the circumstances."

"Of course. I'll be glad to do that."

Sadie mourned for Ruth all the way to Centerville. And as she slipped into the back pew at the church, she thought it ironic that Sid had manipulated the Jacksons into choosing an expensive casket -- plenty of room for two bodies. And no danger of the second one's being discovered, since Sam's family wanted a closed-casket service.

As the organ began to play and the fragrance of candle wax drifted through the sanctuary, Ruth wondered if Sid realized that a missing person couldn't be declared legally dead for seven years. Somehow she doubted that Cassie would wait. And what if, after six years or so, the police received an anonymous tip as to the whereabouts of Ruth's body?


Read more!
 

Best of Friends

I just knew Maggie hadn't done it.

Everybody in our little Pennsylvania town of Genoa Falls was talking about my best friend Maggie's murdered husband. What made it frustrating for me is that they were whispering among themselves about it. As her best friend, I needed to know what they were saying so I could set them straight.

Maggie was devastated. "Sandy, if it weren't for you," she sobbed on my shoulder, "I'd probably lose my mind. Everyone in town thinks I killed Dave. The police keep asking me questions. Thank God somebody believes me."

Maggie and I had been friends since our third-grade teacher placed us next to each other in class. We graduated from middle school together, fought over the same high school boyfriends, and forgave each other, many times. She mostly had to forgive me. I seemed to be the one who kept taking her boyfriends.

When I went off to college, Maggie stayed behind, but she wrote to me every month, even when I didn't always answer. She was my best friend, after all.

Even when Maggie married smart, well-to-do Dave Alton, we remained close. I lived in sophisticated New York, having made a name for myself as a personal trainer for the rich and beautiful, but I made frequent trips home. On one of those occasions, Dave asked me to help him get in top physical shape for the upcoming state senator's campaign. He wanted to make a good impression on the voters.

After workouts, we'd have fruit juice and talk about things in his office. At first I thought it was going to be like old times. I didn't realize that Dave meant exactly what he said -- he wanted to get into shape for the election. Dave informed me that he loved Maggie. He said he never meant to lead me into thinking he wanted more than my physical fitness expertise. He insisted we keep it professional.

Well, what did sweet, mousy, small-town Maggie have that was keeping Dave so loyal? It'd been no contest before when I wanted one of her boyfriends, and in high school, Dave had been one of them.

Then I realized -- all the times I'd approached Dave had been at his office. He was hoping to be elected to an important position and everyone was watching him closely. People did bug offices and Dave wouldn't want to be caught.

So I tried to work on him at his home -- get him to see that we could have a lot of fun together, just like we had in the old days. Under the pretense of taking him some new weights to try, I went over to see him when I knew Maggie wouldn't be home. I couldn't believe it, after I'd gone to all that trouble. Dave told me again that he was completely faithful to Maggie. He actually ordered me to leave!

Then he turned his back on me.

I don't think I really meant to hurt him, but his attitude was just too much for me to take. And I did work out. The weights I'd brought over as an excuse were just sitting there on the floor where I'd laid them. Just waiting to be used.

I must have hit him harder than I thought -- he wasn't moving. I backed out of the room and stopped to think. I knew I had to make sure I didn't take the fall for his stupidity. I mean, if I wasn't going to have some fun with him, I'd just have to go back to New York and find someone there. I'd make do with one of the rich men eager to snap up the treasure that Dave had neglected.

But first, I had to take care of my friend Maggie. She'd be unhappy when she found out Dave was gone. I really should help her.

It was easy. Having been in Maggie and Dave's home many times, I knew where everything was. The maid had left for the day and I ran upstairs unobserved to get one of Maggie's bracelets. I broke the clasp and dropped it under Dave's body. Then I made sure the door lock clicked when I left the house and went to lunch -- with my best friend Maggie.

Maggie told the police that she'd arrived at the Arboretum's duck pond to find me waiting. The two of us had decided to have a picnic lunch. No. No one had seen us. We had lunched alone. What had we talked about? Oh, just girl talk about men and their needs. She told them that after lunch she had gone home and found her husband on the floor -- dead.

In my interview with the police, I said I hadn't seen Dave that day and backed up Maggie's story about lunch. I made sure to keep lowering my head as though I weren't telling the truth. The police would be sure to think that I was trying to protect an old friend.

The whole town knew that Maggie had never relished going to the State capital to live the life of a politician's wife. All she wanted to do was stay in Genoa Falls and raise children. What they didn't know -- and I made sure not to tell them-- was that Maggie had told me at lunch that she had just changed her mind and decided to fully support Dave in his bid for public office. She felt if this was what he really wanted, she would help him as much as she could.

She'd only told me about her change of heart, so I figured Maggie had motive, means, opportunity -- and her bracelet on the floor where Dave lay dead. What more could the police want? It was just a matter of time till they charged her.

I had promised Maggie that I'd come over and sit with her again. Another one of my comforting calls to my beleaguered best friend. The police were already there.

Maggie was sitting on the sofa in the library, hardly able to lift her head and look at me. The police looked like they had finally put it together. I came into the library feeling quite satisfied until Detective Cutler turned to me and in an official voice started reading me my rights.

What? My rights?

Detective Cutler was saying something about them knowing all along that I had murdered Dave. People had been whispering all right. Whispering about Dave telling his best friend about my advances and how he'd rejected them. Whispering that Dave's secretary had overheard Dave's and my conversations in his office. Conversations in which Dave had asked me to leave him alone. But that was all circumstantial.

Yes, until the police had checked on a few things. Things like the fibers on Dave and Maggie's bed. Fibers from the dress I had worn on the day Dave was murdered. The bed I'd sat on when I was rifling through Maggie's drawer to get a bracelet to set her up? The maid had changed the linen and spread that day -- before I had arrived. I was a suspect.

That meant they could get a search warrant to check my bags. The bags where I'd stored my weights -- one in particular that had been used to help Dave see things my way, and hadn't. I'd thought storing it in my bags until I left town would be smarter than dropping it somewhere they might find it.

Dave had been a friend of Detective Cutler's. There was pain in his voice as he asked me, "Why'd you have to hit him twice? He'd have been alive if you hadn't hit him twice."

If I hadn't hit him twice, Dave would be alive. If I hadn't hit him... twice? But I'd only hit him once.

As the police led me past Maggie, she lifted her head and looked at me. Did I imagine it or was there a touch of humor in her sad eyes? She touched her handkerchief gently to them and said forlornly, "And I thought we were the best of friends."


Read more!
 

chain story again

Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in ulu ulu land. It was so ulu that the prince who tried to find her went to holland. and after he went to holland, he had a lot of sex and drugs. he then learnt how to play the guitar so he could rock and roll as well. and then, he went to....

Mount Everest where he could not find anyone to have sex with or drugs to inhale/inject/whatever. High in the clouds and engulfed by the thin mountain air, he realised that the excessive sex had left him high and dry - he had no more desire. (hee)So he decided to become a monk. Ascetism would rule. No sex No drink No good food No enjoyment. The more frugal life was, the more at peace he would be with the elements, and then life would not be meaningless.
So he made his way down the montain to the country and then to town and did not eat or bathe and he was dirty and ragged and hungry.
Then he saw a poster of the princess!! She was clean! And in nice clothes! And a bit plump! And really lovely. He didn't want to be a monk anymore. Bah. Maybe he'd be happy with just one nice little princess. woohoo

Meanwhile, his nice little princess was wearing a nice little pink dress. But in reality, the nice little princess was actually not nice at all. She was an evil evil witch and had turned many many ascetics into frogs before. And her favourite colour was not pink -- it was actually green! WHAT AN EVIL PRINCESS SHE IS!

One day, as the evil ulu ulu princess-cum-witch flounced around in her big pink dress and pinched the ears of her servant boys, there was a heavy knock on her chamber door.
She commanded the servant to open it, and lo and behold!
It was the mother of all evils, the dark sorceror, the wicked loathesom Wizard LIP!!

THe tall, but ugly, shrivelled and wrinked old wizard strode into the chamber in his fine cobalt blue robes, with heavy rings bearing gel-like gems that twisted and writhed in the light.
"So tell me, young princess, my dear protege, what evil have you been up to today," he whispered in a sickening voice, his long twig-like fingers reaching for our princess' neck.
"DO me proud and spread my evil legacy, or.... die!!"

SO! IT was actually the disgusting evil malicious WIZARD LIP that was forcing the princess to be evil! She had no choice because he was keeping her in bondange and making her to his bidding under threat of death and the destruction of her kingdom!!! Who will save her??!?!?!


Read more!

Monday, June 13, 2005

 

cartloads and carriages of cabbages

i just felt like posting and rambling on abt life and cabbage soup.

i cooked 2 roti prata (the pre-packed kind) and i managed to burn the bum off one of them. one step closer to a life riddled with cancer. then i had cabbage soup which i made with a KILO of chicken bones and half a mutant Aussie cabbage. now im suffering from cabbage delusions... my little brain feels pressurised by the massive cabbage buildup in my body. i swear aussie veggies are all freaking crazy. i saw a watermelon so big i couldnt even lift it. it must be all the chemicals that they put into the veggies to make them grow bigger and faster. but it would be cool if they managed to make pple high from eating salad...

cabbage... gooooooooddd


Read more!

Sunday, June 12, 2005

 

HCJC Voices!

Hey dudes! Check out this webpage for HCJC voices. A collection of voices from HCJC's past. Quite cool.

SKy posted there. So did i:)

lip
http://home.pacific.net.sg/~tengo/voices.html


Read more!
 

lip was here. Posted by Hello


Read more!
 

caught unawares!!!! haha, and such a nice pic too. Posted by Hello


Read more!
 

Jesse gamely posing for my camera Posted by Hello


Read more!
 

Jesse and the v shy alex Posted by Hello


Read more!

Saturday, June 11, 2005

 

Proof that jesse did run the marathon in 2004:)


Read more!
 

Our group at Sapa with our guides


Read more!
 

CHain Story

Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in ulu ulu land. It was so ulu that the prince who tried to find her went to holland. and after he went to holland, he had a lot of sex and drugs. he then learnt how to play the guitar so he could rock and roll as well. and then, he went to....

Mount Everest where he could not find anyone to have sex with or drugs to inhale/inject/whatever. High in the clouds and engulfed by the thin mountain air, he realised that the excessive sex had left him high and dry - he had no more desire. (hee)
So he decided to become a monk. Ascetism would rule. No sex No drink No good food No enjoyment. The more frugal life was, the more at peace he would be with the elements, and then life would not be meaningless. So he made his way down the montain to the country and then to town and did not eat or bathe and he was dirty and ragged and hungry.
Then he saw a poster of the princess!! She was clean! And in nice clothes! And a bit plump! And really lovely. He didn't want to be a monk anymore. Bah. Maybe he'd be happy with just one nice little princess. woohoo

Meanwhile, his nice little princess was wearing a nice little pink dress. But in reality, the nice little princess was actually not nice at all. She was an evil evil witch and had turned many many ascetics into frogs before. And her favourite colour was not pink -- it was actually green! WHAT AN EVIL PRINCESS SHE IS!


Read more!

Thursday, June 09, 2005

 

memory, malaysia and meeting

This flurry of activity is heartening.

I am grateful to the rest of you who have graciously given us a detailed update on your life 2 years after JC, and do hope you'll continue to monopolise blogspot.com's server space, you can read more about my post-army and pre-university journey on my own blog. Nothing more than a neat housemaking decision; less of a clutter.

Congratulations to those who have finally clocked 21 revolutions round the sun. It'll be my turn soon!! :p

I'll be away in Malaysia next week. My first proper overseas trip since 2002! (The Army sent me to Brunei. Twice. Don't ask.)

A quick thought before I leave. With all this blogging and MSNing, we can't really do interesting stuff. Y'know, like vow to meet back at HCI in 11/11/11 at 11:11pm, regardless of what God has given to us these years. There's no need if we RSS our lives on this blog.

Do correct me if I'm wrong.


Read more!

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

 

chain story part II

Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in ulu ulu land. It was so ulu that the prince who tried to find her went to holland. and after he went to holland, he had a lot of sex and drugs. he then learnt how to play the guitar so he could rock and roll as well. and then, he went to....

Mount Everest where he could not find anyone to have sex with or drugs to inhale/inject/whatever. High in the clouds and engulfed by the thin mountain air, he realised that the excessive sex had left him high and dry - he had no more desire. (hee)
So he decided to become a monk. Ascetism would rule. No sex No drink No good food No enjoyment. The more frugal life was, the more at peace he would be with the elements, and then life would not be meaningless. So he made his way down the montain to the country and then to town and did not eat or bathe and he was dirty and ragged and hungry.
Then he saw a poster of the princess!! She was clean! And in nice clothes! And a bit plump! And really lovely. He didn't want to be a monk anymore. Bah. Maybe he'd be happy with just one nice little princess. woohoo


Read more!

Monday, June 06, 2005

 

http://s69.blogspot.com/

found 3 hcjc blogs so far.

http://01s77.blogspot.com, Us and Them.

Phenomenal.


Read more!
 

Let's start a chain story.

Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in ulu ulu land. It was so ulu that the prince who tried to find her went to holland. and after he went to holland, he had a lot of sex and drugs. he then learnt how to play the guitar so he could rock and roll as well. and then, he went to....


feel free to continue. copy, paste and continue

by lip
p.s. i'm bored


Read more!

Sunday, June 05, 2005

 

A comprehensive list of what people are doing.

Okay, since we all are now more or less connected via this blog, let's see what everyone is doing at the current moment, shall we?

In Class Register Order

Kay Sing: Occupational Therapy at NYP? Degree Course in Aus.

Irene: Ermm life science? right? haha (okay i got it wrong) Economics at NUS

Jenny: wait wait wait i know this. NUSASS. right? (life sciences.) fwine. i got it wrong. sorry jen

Weimin: Where is she? NUS...a dentist-to-be

Sylvia: Professional Games player at Settler's Cafe. Economics as well. Thanks Sylvia, you could have edited it you know:)

Maria: Australia. Business. Sydney/Melbourne Uni.

Zhengyan: Nepal Backpacking. Climbing up to base camp. Going to Upenn (which hopefully will get to join him there)

Joses: Church Internship. Going to Brown University. Hopefully will become like mrbrown

Zhenliang: SalesMAN at G2k suntec. Look for him for discount. NUS law.

Lip: Chicago University. Professional Bummer and supper eater. Anyone game for supper please call me.

Sinyi: PHYSIO-therapy. Same Poly as Kay Sing. Same Uni as Kay Sing.

Michelle: New Paper Intern. Meets edwin yeo everyday. Gets free soccer tickets to Singapore VS Malaysia. NTU Mass Comms. So we should get her to organise stuff next time since she's good at massive communicating.

Zining: Working at One of the big four. (can't remember which one). PwC? Nope...at kpmg...having fun in midst of work..haha. Accountancy at NTU.

Hongyan: Studying at NUSASS (ass). Some European History Thingy. Flies around looking for Poor children to save. Very humanitarian.

Huili: Medicine. Cutting up Dead people. Sticking fingers up sick people's anuses. Has fun doing so.

Debi: Working at BMW. Gets to drive one to work everyday. Let's bug her now.

Weng: Vet-to-be. Enjoys digging cow manure and dissecting pigs. Talks in funny animalistic slant nowadays. Avoid at all costs.

Jesse: Working part time, sleeping the other half. Going to China in June to use the Visa he bought back in March. Going to LSE, London.

Jieying: ERmmm... Life sciences? Doesn't like frogs. ALl readi to go somewhere but i dunno where. (Chemistry. Ahh.. rudy lee will be so happy. soooo can u do logarithms in your head?)

Zhenying: USA. Having lots of fun.

Wendy: Sweden. Having lots of fun.

Chan lek: Cambridge. Having lots of fun.

Hung Yi: Noww.. I can't remember where she is:) SMU?

Agnes: Did u go taiwan? Funny Chinese nicknames on MSN

Alexander: Tmd. Bought the same laptop as me, same backpack as me.

Jeff: Bored to tears. Michigan. Forensics. Will work with huili in the future.

Jianrong: Germany. Looking at cute german babes.

And the First 3 monthers.

Chong Han: Medicine. Cute gf. Must ask Weng. Haven't seen him in ages.

Kevin: Medicine. Finished NS. Golden Hair. Waiter at a high class bar that we'll never be able to step into.

Serene: Any info on her? NUS right? NTU studying something.

Sharleen: SMU. Who wants to crash the SMU orientation go through her.

Hilda: Ermm any info? Heard she finished her Unis.

And of course: MS Wong.

Has a fancy title and sits at the HoD table. Still as dedicated as ever:)

Mr Yeow: Any NEWS?

Ms. Tey: Happily married. Striving for baby bonus

Mr. Rudy Lee: Formulating Logarithms and scaring J1s.

Mrs. Nirmala Ong: Still doesn't know who jianrong is.

Mr. Huang (or what): Ex student Maths Teacher. Dunno where liao.

The chinese teacher who let us watch Zhang Zi Yi and her cute lil running style.

Feel free to add or edit this post as deemed neccessary. try to use a different colour:)

[Jeff: I think you forgot about Ms Rachel Tan. But I don't know where she is now either. Last I heard she married some guy and moved overseas.]


Read more!

Friday, June 03, 2005

 

hallo to everyone

Hello everyone, it’s my second day in Mannheim, Germany and it has been a very new experience for me thus far. For one, the lousy Germans really can’t speak much English. I feel like an idiot. I can’t even order a kebab properly…

Well, Mannheim has turned out to be just as small as I expected it to be. It is possible to walk from one end to the other in about an hour. The air is really fresh, even though the locals claim it is not. The first thing that struck me was how environmentally the people are. The dustbins are more likely to be recycling bins than rubbish bins. I had to pay 12 euro cents to get a plastic bag even though I bought some stuff from the supermarket. There is even less litter and more blooming flowers than our so-called clean garden city. They don’t drive SUVs.

The best part is that the girls are really pretty. Almost everyone looks good. Seriously. It’s amazing. I wonder why there are so few famous german models.

All that said, it has been much tougher than I thought. It really is depressing when there is no one to turn to for help. The vegetables they sell are crap. Everything is so expensive. I have no money, because it takes six darned weeks to process the demand draft I brought from home. And there is no way to spontaneously make friends because we don’t have a common language. I suddenly miss home.



Read more!
 

Whitewater rafting @ Bali!! From left: our guide, me, John (the BF! haha n yah he looks v toot here heheh), our frens Gerald n Mel. (got more pics on my blog)

 Posted by Hello


Read more!

Thursday, June 02, 2005

 

the antisocial one

i've been in ulu-land....
after viewing all those pics, i realise that many things have occurred to you guys without me having the slightest knowledge... *SOB* i'm lousy... but hey! on second thoughts, i cant be everywhere anyway so yesh, its good enough that i know what's been happening NOW. heh heh heh...
And JIANRONG, enjoy yourself in Germany, take care and please put up a post whenever you are coming back (same applies to the others overseas) so that even if i cant meet you up i will know that you've set foot back back on home land recently.. :-)


Read more!

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

 

i came back alive!!!

Hey all!
Just wanna shout out and say that I'm back alive from Bali after all!
No bomb blasts there, and I didn't drown during whitewater rafting or get my nose shaved off (we had to lean back) when the raft went under those super low bridges.
Hm, I also had my first ever spa and massage experience, it hurt!!!!
I've never had my thighs and calves 'kneaded' like that....
And full body is really full body man.... *ugh...*

btw me will upload pix soon! Camera died halfway durihng the trip and so I'll have to wait for my friends to send me those they took of us...


Read more!
 
oh. i forgot to say i am zhenying. in case u think zy=zhengyan


Read more!
 
Been having inconsistent internet access for this two weeks... so when the blog was finally checked up, what do I see? Everyone seems to have grown much more feminine (read=pretty) or macho! Esp Sylvia... couldn't really recognise the photo! A lot of photos =) Everyone transformed into adults liao la....
Um anw I'm in California now... prolly travelling around for a while... so won't be back in Sg until end of june.


Read more!

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?