Other Recordings

These are two versions of "Song on a Winter's Night" by Gordon Lightfoot. Totally different renditions, new (old) flavours and entirely pop-sy.





This is a version by Joseph Cormier. Very lovely too.



The version by the Robins, from their Christmas CD 'The Robins Sing Christmas Songs' (2007). The Mannheim/Heidelberg based band sing and play their version of Gordon Lightfoot's 'Song For A Winter's Night' with leadsinger and guitarist Daniel Brauch plus Robert Langer (drums), Mani Hurth (bass) and Willy Brauch (guitar, vocals).



The song is mesmerising, I don't know why. But since I found more about it, why not enjoy?

Ramblings

Without dismissing the tragic nature of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, I was surprised to read that she was killed when her head knocked into the sunroof lever while dodging bullets. She was not hit by any bullet or shrapnel. Another source claimed, however, that she was shot in the neck and abdomen.

Apparently, she "could not resist standing up and waving to her supporters through the sun roof". Now I wonder if vanity or shrapnel did her in.

Pussies with Guns

What the reviewer for the movie "Shoot 'em up" forgot to mention was how the lactating prostitute ripped out a PA from a guy's dick without removing the ends, while trying to extract information.

I'd even think that the hired assassins were like the the baddies in the Matrix - they are killed in one scene and yet new ones keep coming back in each continuing scenes. There were in total 80 stuntmen for the whole movie and I think some of them had to die many times in the show.

My only complaint - the movie was not gory enough. The usual, I guess. But still a good show if you just want to give your brain a rest and your eyes a visual treat.

Utterly brainlessly enjoyable.

- - -

"Do you know what I hate?" asks Mr Smith (Clive Owen). "Pussies with guns." That's not all he hates in this fast-paced over-the-top Tarantino-esque action extravaganza. There are 40-year-old Jack-holes wearing ponytails ("The pony tail doesn't make you look hip, young, or cool"), parents who hit their children, men with earrings, people who park in handicapped zones, unkempt toenails, those who slurp their coffee, and reckless drivers in luxury cars. Dogs and carrots are just about all he likes.

In short, the homeless man with a shady past is one pissed off son of a bitch. So when he is unceremoniously dumped with a newborn baby, who for some reason is the target of an insane hit man (Paul Giammatti) and his seemingly endless army of goons, Smith becomes the most badass carrot-chewing British nanny the world has ever seen.

Aided by Donna Quintano (Monica Bellucci), a lactating prostitute (yes, really), he sets out to keep infant Oliver safe and find out why exactly this child is so important. Of course, in the process our gun-toting anti-hero uncovers a conspiracy that would leave the US of A reeling.

Naturally, this is all just a big excuse for over-the-top action sequences, (including a shootout at 10 000 feet, while in freefall) clever Macgyver-esque tricks and witty one-liners.

It's a ludicrous movie, ridiculous in every aspect from Owen and Giammatti’s Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd interplay to makeshift 'hand' guns to the (quite literally) orgasmic gunfight that adds new meaning to the phrase shooting your load.

But 'Shoot 'Em Up' never tries to be anything else — in fact it's proud to be so damn silly and that's exactly what makes it great fun to watch. After all you don’t watch 'Looney Tunes' cartoons for the depth of the storyline.

Suspend your disbelief and go along for the ride — just don’t expect James Bond or Jason Bourne. They’re only pussies with guns anyway.

Review from: http://www.iafrica.com/pls/cms/iac.page?p_t1=5&p_t2=32&p_t3=176&p_t4=0&p_dynamic=Y&p_content_id=633718&p_site_id=2

Introducing Sarah Mclachlan

Hauntingly beautiful "Song on a Winter's Night". Sublime performance, lovely beyond words.

"Song For A Winter's Night"
[Written and first sung by Gordon Lightfoot in 1975]

The lamp is burnin' low upon my table top
The snow is softly fallin'
The air is still within the silence of my room
I hear your voice softly callin'

If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
Upon this winter night with you

The smoke is rising in the shadows overhead
My glass is almost empty
I read again between the lines upon the page
The words of love you sent me

If I could know within my heart
That you were lonely too
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
Upon this winter night with you

The fire is dying now, my lamp is growing dim
The shades of night are liftin'
The mornin' light steals across my windowpane
Where webs of snow are driftin'

If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
And to be once again with with you
To be once again with with you


River is another wonderful recording by the songbird.

I wish I have a river to skate away on. The imagery is so vivid that one could almost feel inside the song.

Sarah Mclachlan really has a voice most suited for the winter. Poignant and superbly expressive. Her voice seems to just penetrate and reverberate in the emptiness that you never thought you had.

Simply divine!

Why don't people understand?

Was at the Upper Pierce Reservoir on 20 Dec. There were many signs asking visitors NOT to feed the monkeys.

These monkeys have become so dependent on hand outs that they are not beneath staking out in the middle of the road to stop cars so that they have a chance of getting something.

Yet there are people feeding the monkeys on the sly. Such flagrant disregard of the signs.

Driving along the road to avoid the monkeys and stopped cars is definitely hazardous to your health and well-being.

Every living thing has a place - the place of the monkeys is in the forest and the forest has more than enough to keep the monkeys fed and full. Why are we playing the food provider here? Once these animals forget how to forage, they will die.

Keep them alive by not feed them.

2007 Gathering

What: Annual 4/6 '04 gathering.
When: 21 Dec 5 pm.
Where: 510233

The Menu

1. Salad - Vege-stick salad - cucumber, celery, tomatoes with thousand island dip.

2. Finger food - Modified "tapas" and bagels with prawn roe cheese, liver pate and scallion cheese. Pringles potato chips!

3. Mains - assorted sausages, honey baked ham (oven warmed), char siew pork.

4. Carbohydrates - potatoes, pasta.

5. Desserts - Honeydew pudding with canned fruits. Possibly chocolates.

6. Drinks - coke, coke light, H&E green tea. Alcohol - BYO.

7. Halal station - pizzas.

Help needed

Cleaning up, milk runs (to clear rubbish) after the party.

Others

Please don't bring gifts and food; bring a hearty appetite, good humour and be ready to have fun.

Cold Storage Meets Hot Dude Part 2

My complaint letter.

Cold Storage Online has provided me the single, most unparalled, and defintely most imbecilic service I have ever experienced.

After my order on 12 Dec, there were many calls between then and 17 Dec regarding items which were not available. I had to agree time and again to wait but still the items were not available. I really question the inventory control processes of the company.

During the first delivery, the delivery guy left my stuff in the rain and stepped into my place without removing his shoes (he did not ask for permission). Your manager, Kelvin, called to apologise and promise that everything would be settled today (21 Dec). The "things to be settled" include exchanging the wet items for dry ones and delivering items owed to me.

Even on 19 Dec, I got calls that a certain replacement item was not available. What? Is Cold Storage a mickey mouse company that I'm dealing with?

This morning (21 Dec), customer service called me and said I provided the wrong address to their delivery guy. How can this be when the first delivery was done successfully?

I checked for your delivery van from my corridor but I don't see anyone. I tried calling your hotline and time and again I could never get through.

Finally, your driver called me and told me he had trouble locating my block, "Block 233 Pasir Panjang". I nearly died - of shock, disbelief and amusement. Never expected my heart to hold out but it did. I am at Block 233, Pasir RIS.

I read and laugh about your CEO's comments about providing service. I quote "“In this highly competitive world, we all need to remember that there is always someone willing to delight your customer if you don’t.” Cold Storage CEO " - (http://www.ps21.gov.sg/challenge/2003_07/focus/services.html)

I guess making innocent customers like me angry and providing us with untimely humour is part of your unbelievable service.

Would I ever shop with you again? Probably after the shock and disappointment wears off, but not before bad mouthing a whole lot about you during my upcoming Christmas parties.

So it's real!

I'm lifting extensively from T F's blog because I don't think I can do any better than him, partly because I never saw these so frequently or in such gory details. My favourite parts are in bold.

The first incident was early on in the shift, around three or four in the afternoon. When my senior partner and I arrived the emergency ambulance crew was hard at work putting a bandage wrapping on the survivor’s head; he’d been shot in the middle of his forehead, the bullet followed his skull around to the back of his head and exited creating a small flap that had minimal bleeding.

His “significant other” had been shot with the same pistol they’d been fighting over. The bullet entered near her wrist, traveled along the bones in her arm, bounced around inside her rib cage for a while prior to slicing her lungs and heart; she was dead before she hit the ground. Does that strike you as even a little odd; the one being shot square in the head was the one doing all the talking while the one shot in the wrist was dead on arrival?

Later in the same shift we were dispatched to another family disturbance where the step dad had begun beating his wife and step child. The little girl was around four years old if memory serves and there had been other calls regarding abuse reported. The wife grabbed a small 25 caliber pistol and emptied it into her husbands chest to get him to stop beating the little girl.

I was new to the business, having been a Houston Police Officer for only a couple of months at the time; I didn’t know how thick blood could look as the newly departed lay in a pool of his own fluids. I remember clearly that you could have dropped a half dollar on the points of entry and covered each bullet hole; great shot group, very efficient use of a small caliber pistol.

My favorite of all husband and wife disturbances was almost surreal in nature. We got to a small single family house, the husband was sucking wind from having been shot several times in the chest as he sat on one side of the living room; an interesting word to describe that portion of the house where they tried to kill each other off. The wife sat in a folding metal chair, similar to the kind found in almost any church or overflow auditorium. Her head was resting against the wall, the back part as flat as the black cast iron frying pan which had been used as a club on her; a large red spot dripped down the pale green painted wall.

We entered the house cautiously and wondered why the ambulance crew was just standing around outside. The two combatants were too proud to admit the need for medical assistance, to the point of making it a chicken match; “first one to pass out or die is the looser”, kind of thing. I almost forgot, the woman’s dear sweet mother was sitting on the sofa in between the two cheering for her daughter as we entered, “Shoot him again, shoot him again!”. A lovely home full of such devotion should have warning signs posted. We did manage to get a second ambulance so that both could be treated and transported at the same time without having to admit defeat.

I could go on and on; the time my partner and I made a shooting where a “threesome” had been living together; husband, wife and girlfriend, all under the same roof. It may have worked for a little while, at least until the wife came home from work and found the two locked in fond embrace in her bed; that was the straw that broke her camel’s back.

I could mention the wife beater who expired, his hands still gripping his wife’s hair in his fist. He neglected to remove her purse prior to beating her half to death in the kitchen, the purse that was on the kitchen counter, the purse she kept her pistol in. That pistol made breathing a new art form as we heard his last breath gurgle out; he sat upright, his eyes all glassed over with nothing left to say, in one of those tubular metal kitchen chairs popular in the late 50’s, chrome with two tone red and white plastic seat and back cushions. I don’t recall getting in a hurry to call for an ambulance as we made sure the scene was safe first, removing the pistol, cuffing the wife, bagging her hands to preserve gunpowder evidence and then we asked the dispatcher to send an ambulance; no, husband and wife shootings are nothing new.

So what we see about family violence on TV shows are pretty close to what really happens. Spouses who are head-bashed against the walls, premeditated murders where spouses use their other halves for arms zeroing, blood and gore, injuries... Only one thing did not impress me - if one assailant used the M16 on the other, the bullet would have created an exit wound the size of a man's palm. That would invariably be more exciting. But that's me.

After witnessing TF's excellent writing and style of humour, I am left with one question - why is T F not writing for Desperate Housewives?

Cold Storage Meets Hot Dude

Cold Storage delivery made me wait from 2 pm to 5 pm before their guy came.

It was raining and guess what?

He took his time to unload and left my items under the rain.

When he came up, many things were wet. The delivery guy entered my place without removing his shoes. He should have at least asked if he could do so. I would have said ok and not made a fuss of it.

The items in carton boxes were relatively unscathed from the rain but items such as my Coke and Coke Light and Pringles were all wet. It's worse than that, but I don't need to bother about stuff in plastic wrappings. That I can accept but not cardboard-y stuff. How do I store them if the cartons are wet? These will make the larder unnecessarily humid and there will be mould!

Hands-up those of you who would like mould to go with your coke!

Eh, hurry up! How come I still see no hands? So you don't like mould with your coke? Neither do I. And so guess what? If you want a mould free can of coke, I would have to wipe them down because some fellow did not keep my goods dry when he delivered them?

No way, Jose! I am so not going to take this lying down and of course, I blasted at the manager for the delivery section.

Wow! It certainly feels good to unload. How unprofessional to mess up the entire delivery. And how incompetent is their inventory control - the supermarket changed my delivery from Friday to today because they were out of stock.

Even at noon today, they called me and told me that they were "only" short of my Olive oil. When I said I could wait for that single bottle of olive oil but they should send the rest of the items, suddenly, they were also short of carrot juice and green tea.

Oh my god! "How do I live life when the convenience I need - which I actually pay for - turns out to provide me with more inconveniences than convenience?" I asked Kelvin the manager.

This is indeed one sucky experience that I'll gladly broadcast to the world - "open your ears, the Bitch has come, let Earth receive his news! (tune to Joy to the World)". This would be easy cos Cold Storage's recent advertisement says "You've got the whole world in your hands, you've got the whole world in your hands..." And the dancing green apple leads the grocery and greengrocery in a cartoony dance - and I thought the jumping cows had the mads - which makes me feel that my broadcasting ain't going to take too much effort.

Kelvin said that they will "settle everything by this Friday" between 9.30 am and 11 am. Let's see what happens then.

Open your ears, the bitch has come
I got the whole world in my hands
Let Earth receive his news
I got the whole world in my hands...

I too remember...

Never forget this dark and barbaric event in the modern world.

And NEVER ALLOW HISTORY TO REPEAT ITSELF.

Snowball Aussie's case dropped

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22923032-5001021,00.html

By Stefanie Balogh in Breckenridge, Colorado

December 14, 2007 07:36am

AUSTRALIAN student Andrew Thistleton is preparing to celebrate with a beer and return home after assault charges in the US against him were dropped for the farcical crime of throwing a snowball at a co-worker.

A relieved Mr Thistleton, 21, smiled and hugged his mother Kim Anderson outside the Summit County Court in Breckenridge, Colorado, after the case that stunned Australia was dismissed at the 11th hour on Thursday morning US time.

Dr Anderson has spent about $20,000 on legal fees, flights and accommodation to fight her son's case over the last 10 months.

Mr Thistleton refused to accept a plea deal on lesser charges because he was determined to clear his name, saying all he had done was throw a snowball.

What's wrong with people these days? Suing a colleague just because he tossed a snowball at you? Well, might as well - with the wonderful global warming, very soon all you get to toss are plastic bags of rain water bombs.

Rock attack ruined my life

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22923723-5001021,00.html

December 14, 2007 01:29pm

BRAVE rock-throwing victim Nicole Miller today spoke for the first time about how her life was ruined by a vicious attack that has left her unable to leave her home alone.

Choking back tears, a fragile Ms Miller gave a moving victim impact statement during a sentencing hearing for rock thrower Peter Lachlan Hodgkins at Wollongong District Court.

The 22-year-old beauty therapist told how she was unable to work, could not properly use her left hand and arm and was left with a constant ringing in her right ear following the attack from a highway overpass at Kiama Downs on July 22.

"Prior to this incident I was very outgoing and looked forward to social occasions," Ms Miller told the court.

"I was a competitive Latin dancer, had modelled bridal gowns ... and was popular local beauty therapist.

"Now I struggle to go into the wider community because of my appearance.

"Often when I dwell on the incident and my injuries I become upset and cry."

Ms Miller was a passenger in a friend's car when a rock thrown by Hodgkins went through a window and struck her in the head, fracturing her skull.

Critically injured, she was in a come and spent months in hospital recovering. She now has a titanium plate inserted in the right side of her head to protect her brain.

Ms Miller's appearance in court today was the first time she had come face to face with Hodgkins, 24, who has pleaded guilty to maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm.

World War 3 has not even taken place and people have resorted to Flintstone era weapons! Looks like Einstein's prediction of stone age to return after WW3 was wrong!

We will we will ROCK you...

Teens stone, kill singer

KAMPHAENG PHET :A cafe singer was killed by a 1.5kg rock thrown by two teenagers who flew into a rage at obscenities she shouted at them.

The attack took place fifteen minutes after midnight yesterday in front of Manida Cafe on Ratchadamnoen road in Muang district.

The victim was identified as Saowapa Phetlek, 20, nicknamed Bia.

Before the attack, Saowapa was sitting in front of the cafe when two teenage boys rode a motorcycle past shouting taunts at her.

In a fit of anger, the singer responded by screaming obscenities at them.

Ten minutes later, they returned and threw the 1.5kg rock which hit her chest very hard and made her lose consciousness.

She was immediately brought to Kamphaeng Phet hospital, but was pronounced dead around 2am.

Pathologists found a large bruise on her chest. They said the impact might have caused internal injuries, leading to her death.

(http://www.bangkokpost.com/131207_News/13Dec2007_news99.php)

Bizarre news one after another.

Can you believe this?

Two former employees of Mitsubishi Motors were found guilty of professional negligence Thursday in the death of a pedestrian crushed by a wheel falling off a truck later recalled by the Japanese automaker. (The Associated Press - 12/13/2007 6:36 AM)

I simply can't rid my head of the chorus of "Jesus Take The Wheel".

Are we so gleeful of our doom that...?

Noted Sea Level Expert Accuses IPCC of Falsifying Data
Michael Asher (Blog) - December 11, 2007 4:48 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Claims IPCC estimates are bunk; Observational data shows no sea level rise trend


Note: Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner has been studying sea level change for 35 years. He is the former head of Stockholm University's department of Paleodeophysics and Geodynamics. Dr. Mörner is and an expert reviewer for the IPCC, leader of the Maldives Sea Level Project, and past president of the INQUA Commission on Sea Level Changes.

A noted expert in sea level change has accused UN's IPCC panel of falsifying and destroying data (PDF) to support the panel's official conclusion of a rising sea level trend. The accusations include surreptitious substitution of datasets, selective use of data, presenting computer model simulations as physical data, and even the destruction of physical markers which fail to demonstrate sea level rise.

The expert, Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner, also raps the IPCC for their selection of 22 authors of their most recent report on sea level rise (SLR), none of which were sea level specialists. According to Mörner, the authors were chosen to "arrive at a predetermined conclusion" of global warming-induced disaster.

Sea level changes can be detected by a number of methods. Rotational timing is a very precise method, and is based on the fact that a change in the earth's radius will cause minute differences in it's rate of rotation. A rise in sea level increases the radius slightly, and can therefore be detected by precisely timing when the sun rises and sets. This method can detect changes in sea level as small as one millimeter. Data collected in this manner has shown the ocean to have risen and fallen slightly several times since the early 1900s, without any definitive trend.

Satellite altimetry is another method. Mörner says that, in 2003, The IPCC's altimetry dataset, which had previously displayed no clear trend, suddenly changed, with past readings modified to show a strong uplift. Though corrections to datasets are supposed to be clearly announced and identified, this was done secretly, and not labeled. When Mörner inquired about the discrepancy, he was told the readings had been adjusted by a "correction factor".

Where did this factor come from? The least precise method of measuring sea level is tide gauge records. These are problematic as the land under the gauge may itself be rising or falling. Hong Kong maintains six tide gauges, five of which show no trend. The sixth, located on land where compaction is causing the ground to sink, was chosen by the IPCC as the correction factor for global altimetry data.

Tide gauges kept in the sensitive areas of Pacific and Indian Ocean islands show a different story. In Vanuatu, Tegua, and the Tuvalu Islands, gauge records show no trend at all. In the Maldives, tide gauges kept from the 1950s show a small drop in the 1970s, and no change since.

More shocking is Mörner's claim of the destruction of evidence. A famous low-lying tree in the Maldives has long been a marker for sea-level change, and noted in several research papers. But when an Australian team visited the island on a data-gathering trip, they saw the tree and pulled it down, according to local eyewitnesses. Mörner's team later replanted the tree in the same spot.

Climatologist and IPCC Expert Reviewer Dr. Madhav Khandekar, contacted by DailyTech in regards to this story, also believes SLR is being exaggerated by the IPCC. Khandekar says SLR over the next 100 years will be "insignificant" and pointed to recent research demonstrating SLR had actually declined in the latter half of the 20th century.

Dr. Mörner also had harsh words for the Maldives government. When the Maldives Sea Level Project concluded there was no threat to from rising sea levels, a documentary was made to reassure residents. The government, however, banned airing of the film. According to Mörner, the rationale for the ban was financial. The Maldives stands to gain hundreds of millions of dollars in climate change aid from Western governments. "Because they thought that they would lose money." He said, "They accuse the West for putting out carbon dioxide, so they wanted the flooding scenario to go on."

Mörner says it's becoming increasingly hard to perform objective climate research. In the European Community, a prerequisite for research grants is that the focus must be on global warming. Papers which don't support global warming aren't funded. "That's what dictatorships did, autocracies." He added, "They demanded that scientists produce what they wanted."

http://www.dailytech.com/Noted+Sea+Level+Expert+Accuses+IPCC+of+Falsifying+Data/article9978.htm

Fortunately for me, I am neither a believer of global warming - hey I'm in an aircon room most of the time - or a supporter of the green lobby - though I eat my vegetables without complaining. But to resort to falsifying records to bring incite irrational fear of infernal armageddon is really lowly.

Go Green? Too late!

[In support of T. F. Stern's recent article.]

I believe people are barking up the wrong tree.

Why do we start bitching about going Green now?

We should have started such efforts doggedly once we realised that we will run out of oil in 2050 thereabouts.

We are pathetic! We don't even realise that success comes at a price - a price that is beyond our ken to repay.

What I propose is simple - in our final glory years, burn! Harvest and burn all the bloody oil there is on planet earth. Let Earth burn in the wonderful atmosphere of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Let the temperatures rise and the airconditioners go at full blast. Let the Arctic ice caps melt. Let the water levels rise. Let the plates rumble with unabashed glee and welcome the cleansing tsunamis with open arms.

Rejoice! For after that, when we have nothing left, the world will correct the imbalances by itself.

We, yes we, will form the seed of the new oil deposits for the new world. Our children, yes them, will survive the harshest ice ages. Our grandchildren will rediscover new trade routes, our great grandchildren will start colonising the backwaters and erode the traditions of the very people they view as different from them.

One of our descendent generations will go to war and some nation will reinvent the nuclear weapon to use on the perceived perpetrator of war.

We, yes we, will eventually be all used up and our children of millienia in the future will come full circle when the earth next corrects itself.

So, doggone it! I'm living life in abandon. No one can stop me. As I have always believed, the world will only get better after it hits rock bottom. We are still a long way off!

Damned oranges

Was at the wet market on Saturday to buy some oranges before going to the temple for ancestral prayers.

Bent forward slightly to pick those globes and I heard a tearing sound at my lower back.

I've done my chiropractic round but the pain is still lingering. I'm getting better but still I need rest.

Visited the doctor just now. Sigh!

For a teetotaller, I am good!

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Singapore hit by Ella

Salmonella, that is.

A well-known Singapore bakery chain, PrimaDeli, was hit by salmonella. More than 140 Singaporeans have fallen ill after eating the tainted cakes.

Apparently, the hazelnut cream and chocolate cream are laced with the bacteria and 4 (or was it 6) workers were carriers.

Let's hope those who have fallen sick get well soon and PrimaDeli can resume selling its cakes. I think the bakery's business is going to take a hit for some time. But they make great cakes and so I'll still patronise them. (Who would be cleaner than them after the stringent rounds of health checks?)

(But somehow, I think some quarters thought we are hit by Ebola.)

On Heathrow

Question: I heard Heathrow is thinking of adding a third runway.

Reply from top gun of a well-regarded airline: They think too long.

Well, it is already 10 years and counting.

My favourite bureaucrat

His replies to three questions.

"No authority."

"No capacity."

"No interest."

The Hokkien/Teochew equivalent would be:

Bo guan.

Bo eng.

Bo hew.

When is it my turn to reply in this manner?

Speaking Across Cultural Barriers

Mrs Who-who:

"For an airport like yours to be so successful, I notice you have added new infrastructure like terminals. It is important that it's not just the hardware but about the "software" (the people, their work ethics, workplace culture etc)"

An hour later, an airport top-brass said during his presentation to Mrs Who-who:

"So Mrs Who-who is right. Software is very important to the airport. We invest heavily in our computer systems to stay competitive..."

Me: Palm slapmark (own doing) on forehead...

Time and place

Since when is it appropriate to hanker after Michelin Star restaurants for lunch at your own expense in the middle of a work trip?

Or for that matter, since when is it appropriate to suggest that some office holder go to such a restaurant for meals when this person is accompanied by the likes of support staff in the order of "smaller than the eye of an amoeba" and whose pay also belong in the same order?

I never figured that out.

And fortunately, logic and good sense held out.

I decide?

Yeah, I was told to make a decision so that if something goes awry, someone would have me to blame.

Thank you very much.

I wrote directly to the someone and asked for instructions. Why should I guess what that someone wants? But now I do know what the someone wants.

Speechless

I have so much to say but I can only write so little.

There is a need to balance between the need to rant and the need to keep certain things private until a later time.

I'll write in "tongues" (if you would indulge me the conceptual loan) and I'll let you decipher what I am thinking, if you desire.

Pity how this personal space in public is privy to only so few secrets. Nothing is worse than wagging tongues.

Guess is a brand of clothing

It is not a game you play with your subordinates.

If I can guess what you want, then I probably should be a mind reader and not a paper pusher.

Leave of Absence

I'll be in Europe for a work trip from 25 - 30 Nov.

If at all possible, I'd rather give this trip up to someone else. It's to Frankfurt and Amsterdam.

Taiwan lawmaker Li Ao's farewell statement

李敖：「前途有限、後患無窮，可是可以保持這個聯絡，真的你們你們，我覺得你們好可憐，好，再見了，有事情再以後保持聯絡，如果還聯絡的話。」

Loosely translated, Li Ao (who is stepping down as an MP and no longer seeking re-election) said, "My future is limited but the repercussions are many. But we (referring to the reporters) can still keep our contact. Really, you guys, I think you are very pitiful. Ok, goodbye now. We can keep in touch in the future, supposing we are still in contact."

Brilliant guy.

Mental Tsunami: 38 Million Dead

If you think the tsunami of 26 Dec 2004 was bad, look at this:

During the Cultural Revolution in China, the three years beginning with 1959 were known as the Three Years of Natural Disasters（三年自然灾害）. Food was in desperate shortage, and production fell dramatically. By the end of the Three Years of Natural Disasters, which was the direct result of the failed Great Leap Forward campaign, an estimated 38 million people had died from widespread famine.

Millions died! All because the leaders were mentally misguided.

I ranted at TF's Blog

Here's what I wrote in response to what he had posted.

Well, thank you. "Tasteless Western Humor totally lacking in good manners and most definitely not Politically Correct"?

You need a good talking to when I visit. After that, self-criticism might be useful to lower the culpability of having used your mind to think!

This preposterous act calls for a complete mind-washing session a la the Cultural Revolution.

Take out your farming tools! We probably need to burn your books and brainwash you of the ideas that have turned you into an undesirable element of the society. The party hopes that with a life of farming (or digging iron ore for making steel), we can hope to salvage you, we can hope for you to reform.

Now where are my Madame Mao glasses?

Woo-hoo!

Two Sides of the Same Coin

Rubbish comes along to fill a vacuum.

vs

Don't let it hold you back for thinking what's sensible but don't count on it the whole time.

Size is a matter of perception

I'm referring to the size of a person's ego.

How do we know if our egos are larger than us when the people around us keep stoking their growth by pandering to our whims and fancies?

I want out.

Like the Chinese saying goes, a crow that flies up the top branch thinks it has become a phoenix. It is very important to keep a keen sense of one's true value.

Belated Halloween Stuff

- Courtesy of Common Sense Cowboy

For all you ghouls and goblins, here are some rules to keep you safe on Halloween:

1.When it appears that you have killed the monster, never check to see if it’s really dead. It isn’t.

2.Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.

3.Do not search the basement or attic, even if the power is out.

4.If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language that they should not know, shoot them immediately. Shooting them will save you much grief in the long run; however, it will take several rounds to kill them, so be prepared. This tip also applies to anyone who speaks with someone else’s voice.

5.When you have the benefit of numbers, never pair off and go alone.

6.As a general rule, don’t solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.

7.Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. This rule also applies to any other house of the dead.

8.If you are searching for something that caused a loud noise and find out that it was just the cat, get the hell out. Expeditiously.

9.If appliances start operating by themselves, do not check for short circuits. Again, get the hell out.

10.Do not take anything from the dead. No matter how much you like it, it’s bound to disagree with you sooner or later.

11.If you find a town that looks deserted, there’s probably a good reason for it. Don’t stop and look around.

12.Don’t fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you’re sure you know what you’re doing.

13.If you’re running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice–more if you are of the female persuasion. Also note that despite the fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along, it’s still moving fast enough to catch up with you.

14.If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination with blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness, and so on, kill them immediately.

15.Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Haddonfield, Transylvania, Nilbog (you’re in trouble if you recognize this one), anywhere in Texas where chainsaws are sold, the Bermuda Triangle, and any small town in Maine, Maryland, and Massachusetts.

16.If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road, do not go to the nearby deserted-looking house to use the telephone. If you think that it is strange you ran out of gas because you thought you had most of a tank, shoot yourself in the head. You are going to die anyway and most likely be eaten.

17.Beware of strangers bearing strange tools like chainsaws, staple guns, hedge trimmers, electric carving knives, combines, lawn mowers, butane torches, soldering irons, and ice picks.

18.If you discover that your house is built upon a cemetery, now is the time to move in with the in-laws. This rule also applies to previous inhabitants who went mad or committed suicide or died in some horrible fashion.

19. If there are supernatural elements going on around you, don’t have sex. Especially if you are a blond.

20. If you are a blond, dye your hair! You have a much better chance of survival if you are a brunette, or redhead. (I guess we don’t taste as good or something…)

21. Stay out of cornfields, woods and bodies of water. These are locations where no one will hear you if you scream, or if the do hear you, they will never find you in time.

22. Stay out of big old scary looking mansions, nothing good ever comes from your visit, no matter how considerate a houseguest you are.

23. Never back slowly down stairs, around corners, or through doorways. You have just been where you are coming from and you should know that the threat is not there.

24. If the phone goes dead just when you are about to call for help, don’t waist time jiggling the receiver cradle and shouting “Hello” into the receiver. Giving away your position while masking the sounds of the opponents approach is NOT a good tactic.

25. For Heaven’s sake, listen to us Moors residents when we tell you to “Keep to the roads, lads!”

26. Stay away from dusty old tomes with questionable fabric covers.

27. Never try to read aloud from books when they are written in some obscure dead language, even if you are a linguistics expert. There are reasons why certain languages are dead.

28. Never say, “It could be worse,” because it will get much worse.

29. Never turn your back on stuffed animals, dolls or clowns. They may seem innocent enough, but they are really demons laying in wait.

30. Do not try destroying same dolls, animals or clowns with fire, water, or exorcism, as this only pisses them off. Just resign yourself to the fact that your life is over.

31. Never invite a ghost or spirit to show itself. It may think that you want it to stay and will make itself at home…

32. Never go camping in the woods on Halloween.

33. Ignore the others who say it will be fun and never go to one of those creepy looking traveling funhouses on Halloween, either. Boo!

34. If the phone rings, don’t bother answering it. Go curl up in a corner and resign yourself to the end. It’s the killer and he is already in the house, or is outside watching you.

35. If you forget/drop/lose something while a monster is on the loose, it probably isn’t the wisest idea to go looking for it later. This principle especially applies to cats.

36. Beware of people in masks. It might not actually be a mask…

37. Never investigate old broken down mansions, especially in Texas. In fact, it’s best to stay out of Texas, New Orleans or any sort of swamp like area all-together.

38. Don’t ever watch unfamiliar and bizarre videotapes.

39. Never let the little bitch out of the well.

40. Never trust computers with little girl avatars

41. Never stroll from room to room, searching for your boyfriend/girlfriend whilst simultaneously calling their name.

Example:

“Tommy? Are your in there? Tommy? Is that you?”

And…if this is happening immediately after sex, resign yourself to your fate immediately and dispatch yourself before the monster gets the chance.

42. Never be the only person at a supernatural outing (whether intentional or unintentional) wearing a red shirt.

43. Never have sex with the overtly horny camp counselor. She will inevitably die first, but you can count on being next in line

44. Donald Pleasance shows up, just recognize you’re in a whole lot of great big trouble.

45. Never help a clown out of a drain hole - all clowns are evil!

46. Don’t make fun of or play with dead things.

47. If you see a town that looks deserted except for children, do not try to ‘help’ them - they will eat you.

48. If you walk into the local abandoned-looking church to seek help or shelter, and you notice that the crucifix is mounted upside down, turn around and go back outside as quietly as possible.

49. Never have sex in the bunk beds of recently renovated summer camps.

50. Whenever you land on a distant planet and find some objects that look like eggs, leave them alone.

51. Do not allow crewmates back aboard the craft if and after you have found a hideous parasite attached to his/her body.

52. Be forewarned that a gun is only good for ALMOST killing the monster, never for COMPLETELY killing it. Be sure to have an extra weapon, preferably one with “flair” (a knife, a harpoon, a heavy box, razor confetti, pop tarts…)

53. Don’t open the closed door, especially if you hear scratching, heavy breathing, or the voice of a dear relative whom you THOUGHT was dead.

54. Never bathe, especially when in the house alone.

55. If you are a female, never expose yourself. Easy women die fast.

56. Never camp or build homes on Indian burial grounds.

Leave of Absence

I'll be in China for a work trip from 11 - 14 Nov.

I'll be missing you guys.

Trauma Injury

I had an excruciating tooth ache yesterday. I thought all my top front teeth were in trouble yesterday for they gave me such pain. It is as though I just had my braces tightened too hard a day ago. The pain was still there this morning, despite me coating the tooth with some toothpaste last night. (This is a sure way of knowing if it is tooth sensitivity. Coating sensitive teeth with toothpaste can help reduce the sensitivity.)

For two days, I looked myself and my teeth in the mirror to check for any sign of tooth problems that could point out why I am in such misery. Could there be a crack or fracture? There are no lines or breaks or even blood. Could it be gum problems? My gums are healthy. Could it be cavities? There is no sensitivities to cold bursts of air. Could it be root death? Hm...

Finally, I called my trusty dentist today; yesterday being Deepavali, he was closed. There are two Doctor Tans in my life whom I can't do without - my family doctor Dr Tan and my dentist Dr Tan. Thank goodness for the alignments of the stars today. I managed to get slotted in at 10.30 am this morning to see him.

He went through a very very thorough round of checks today. Electrical current test, ice test, light test and even an x-ray. Nothing. The tooth was firmly in place and there are no outward or internal injuries.

He then did scaling and polishing. Man! No blood. Good sign. In fact, it means the gums are not cluttered with tartar, which when removed tended to cause some gum bleeding. The second visit in a row I came off clean. He even said that my oral hygiene was ok, no problem. The nightly flossing pays off!

The tooth problem is still unsettled. And as we eliminated possibilities, I told him that when I told him earlier about my biting into fried chicken, I did not tell him that the chicken slipped and I bit right into the thigh bone. Then the pieces started to fall into place.

His tentative diagnosis is trauma to front tooth. It should heal in a week or so by itself. No worries about hot/cold sweet/sour food. The ligaments holding the tooth will heal and get better.

If not, I'll go back to him.

I think I'd rather get punched in my gut then to suffer another tooth injury.

The Con Job

Still hadn't found time to update that the air con blowers (the units that spew out the cold air in the rooms) were fixed up last Saturday.

The guys came and we immediately gave them CLEAR instructions that if they needed help with keeping the place clean, we could assist. We offered to hold vacuum cleaners up so that whatever as much concrete dust they drilled out of the wall as possible could be sucked up by the vacuum cleaner to reduce the fall out. We offered wet/damp cloths if they prefer to drill and catch these bits from underneath. Another contractor we use actually pasted an open plastic bag under the hole he is drilling to collect dust.

The two guys declined, insisting that there would not be much dust.

Lo and behold, we ended up having to do a full vacuuming of the whole house, two rounds of mopping with extensive water changing, 4 loads of laundry and a whole lot of other cleaning.

JUST BECAUSE THOSE SON OF A B*TCH MOTHERF*CKERS REFUSED TO FOLLOW SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS.

They were in such a rush they left gaping holes in our walls, they affected our paint works and did not ask for paint to touch up.

We have lodged a complaint and if remediation is not coming soon, we will go on to the consumers' association.

A letter of complaint to a taxi company

This is a feedback regarding on 3 Nov at about 12.35pm.

My friend was driving along (road) when we saw the above cab travelling along the right lane near the SPC fuel station, in the direction towards (road).

As we needed to make a right turn further ahead, my friend changed lane and went behind the cab in the right lane. Once he did that, the cab slowed down considerably.

The cab driver slowed so much that my friend tooted his horn at him. Only then did he stop at a road opening, switch on his right signal light (it was off all along), move the cab forward by a bit and suddenly stopped. This is despite the other side of the road being entirely clear.

Your driver must have hoped that my friend would follow the cab very closely, fail to stop in time and then hit into his rear.

Seeing that my friend moved into the left lane to drive on, the cab driver carried on driving.

I tried calling your (hot) line to lodge a complaint right after the incident but after being told your customer service officers are busy for 4 min 22 sec, the call was abruptly cut off.

We are very disappointed with the way (company name) hires drivers and with your hotline service. Nonetheless, I'll leave you to decide the best way to remind your drivers on good driving habits and road courtesy.

After all, in this case, cabs are equipped with signal lights, the main function of which are to signal INTENTION in ADVANCE.

A driving theory test for your drivers might really help improve their habits, for when you punish them, they cannot feign ignorance on what is expected of them for driving behaviour.

Please do not cause the cab driver to lose his job for this is not my intention when I write this feedback.

I just hope that if your cabs can't make our roads safer, at least they don't make them unnecessarily more dangerous.

Yours sincerely,

Drugs

Martina Hinggis is retiring from tennis after she tested positive for cocaine at the Wimbeldon this year.

I still find it hard to believe. Hinggis is not one of the players I like or support - give me Monica "Grunter" Seles any time. Still, to see her in the throes of misery because of this is still painful.

I have always found it hard to believe that tennis players would abuse cocaine as this is definitely not a drug you would use to enhance your endurance, whatever the post-use euphoria that you could get. How does one play when one is flighty and flummoxed? That's why I find it hard to fathom that the Swiss Miss would do something that stupid.

Anyway, hopefully some light would come out of this.

Another drug that I find stupid to abuse is testosterone. If you (guys, of course) inject yourself with synthetic testosterone, you are basically turning yourself into an eunuch except that you'll keep your balls.

The body will recognise the artificial hormone in the body and think that enough of it is there. And what the body does to maintain equilibrium is to shut the factory - basically your nuts/gonads/balls/testicles whatever - down. And over a prolonged period of time, the factory forgets to resume operations even when the hormones are depleted.

Hm... I'd rather keep my ability to enjoy myself than to have strapping muscles or a big one.

Anyhow, I'd meant to dedicate this post to St. Vicodine Fraser Stern. Remember his constant reminder for me to take two vicodin and then call him, get rest, whatever? I just wanted to declare here that I'm off painkillers since last night and I have been feeling fine.

There is no recurring or nagging or imminent pain. I'm happy that I've stayed clean for the past two days and it looks positive that my vicodin (or whatever painkillers I'm on) popping days can stay canned.

But of course, I may speak too soon for part two of the move - my housemate's - is next Saturday.

I think I found it

Last night, I saw ants, big ones, crawling out of a crack at the sink area.

The entire kitchen area had been given a good once-over and there is hardly any traces of food left, I bet. The ants were lethargic and I noticed a trail of them - sporadic ants in an Indian file about a feet and a half apart between them - but the trail was obvious. It must be the well-trodden path from nest to food.

I sprayed kitchen cleaning agent into the crack where I suspected the nest to be. Once the ammonia enriched stuff hit the hole, more ants, big ones, crawled out. They were rather dazed, from human perspective.

I quickly boiled a cup of water in the microwave - and I was also boiling a kettle of water - and then poured the boiling water over the hole, letting the boiling water seep into the hole. I then repeated with another cup of boiling water.

Then I gave that place a good clean with the kitchen cleaning agent. Yet, I still saw ants making their way back to the nest. I think it must be the nest. So I took the entire kettle of boiling water and slowly and methodically flushed the entire area once over, flushing away the cleaning agent and anything that is still stuck in between the cracks.

After the hot water evaporated, the entire sink area is bone dry. Ok, the last of the grease and grime are gone; if you wish, oil free. Still there is the ant trail on the wall. I had repeatedly squashed many ants on that trail during the time I flushed the sink area with hot water. Still, the ants came.

They must have come from the food area. I have not found the other end of the rainbow, I mean, ant trail and so I do not know where it ends. But once the nest is bust, I think we are close to complete annihilation.

I must think of a more permanent solution to get rid of these ants. I searched around for my ant bait. It was a long hard search but I did finally find four pellets of it. I cut one out and cut the pellet open. I feel so happy - funny I would not even feel the tiniest bit guilty for the massacre that I am about to commit - and carefully spread two parallel lines of bait on the tiles and left the pellet with the remainder in between them.

This morning, the ants were either asleep or asleep. I didn't see any of them crawling around.

I'll just wait and see. And I'll go get some ant chalk - wonderful stuff - to draw all around the house so that it is ant-proofed.

Meanwhile, I'll see if we can "silicon grout" the area. Thanks for the suggestion, Bob.

It's Midweek

Day 2 of work.

I had to pry my eyes open. Soon, I need something stronger to have them open.

I was so solidly stuck in bed I had problems reaching to my alarm clock under the bed. My arms were numb and as I got up I felt the pins and needles as blood rushed back in. I must have slept in an awkward position again. And not to say I must have been way too tired to even realise that.

The laundry is set down to wash this morning. I'll have them spun dry later this evening so that I can hang them up to dry. Man, I never dreaded doing laundry that much until now. But at least yesterday was no laundry day, which is a small victory for me. This means life is slowly creeping back to its normality. (Oh, please, "normalcy" is not really in the correct form - it is bad English to use it.)

The dust from the floor seems to be thinning out and I am beginning to feel the tile surfaces. The cleaning must be helping.

Finally took out the rubbish this morning. I suppose the best way of remembering to do it is to hang it on the main gate and on the way out, the bags of rubbish go out.

Still monitoring for ant trails. We have battled the ants for a long time and had limited success. I am so really determined to win this battle, so I'm going to do another thorough cleaning of the suspicious places soon.

I have nearly fallen asleep at my desk at work today. That's a bad sign. But on a brighter note, things are moving along. I hope to kill off all the outstanding stuff soon, especially when the deadlines loom. If I had my way, things would have been done a long time ago!

Two more days. Hanging in there...

It's Sunny But It's Raining

This is exactly how I am feeling right now. A mixed kind of feeling.

The painkillers are irritating the shit out of me already. Take it literally - I'm having some mild wind and the runs. Probably also because I had been too hungry yesterday.

The fridge is not stocked with the right stuff. My freezer is empty. I think I need to raid Cold Storage soon for some stuff. Nothing is more comforting than seeing some frozen meat/ham/sausages in the freezer.

We do not have a rubbish chute in the house. We now need to be more alert to take out the trash. I forgot twice already and soon the house will be a dump.

I need to clean the corridor of the wine stains. The movers broke a bottle of white wine during the move on Saturday and I can still see the stains. The wine is very dry - it wasn't even sticky. Amazing!

It's high time to reorganise the boxes in the work room so that I can move the laptops over and set up a proper work area. It is so inconducive for the bedroom to double as a work room.

Given our habits of not putting on more than a pair of shorts in the house, housemate is keeping the windows all shut. Modesty issue for him. Sigh.

I bet the electricity bill is shooting through the roof this month, given that I have the fans turned on at full blast all the while. I'd fry in my own fats otherwise.

The neatest room in the house is the storeroom. A million thanks to the same foursome who really put me to shame in house organisation.

It's been a mad mad mad mad time for the past few days. And I believe things should get better until my housemate officially moves in on 10 Nov. I'll need to do more sanity checks.

Work

The alarm went off at 5.40 am this morning. I would never have had to get up earlier than 7 am when I was at Telok Blangah Drive.

Seriously, I am so tired now I could fall into a thousand year sleeping spell and never wake up until...

I think I'd need to get out of the house by 6.30 am if I ever dream of being on time. I'll try that tomorrow, since my housemate drove me to work today and I arrived just after 7 am.

I need to get used to this...

Craziness Revisited

I had to pry my eyes open at 9 am yesterday as I had something on at 10 am. Had meant to take the bus to get there but in the end, gave in to the sloth in me and took a cab instead. Fortunately, it cost $4. Thank goodness! The bus journey would probably cost a third as much but hey, I'm so tired I would break up into a million pieces any time.

Came back at noon and started doing more washing and unpacking before my next appointment at 5 pm. And I had meant to take the train but in the end, gave in to the sloth in me and took a cab instead. Unfortunately, it cost $10.60. Bad move! The bus-train journey would probably cost an eighth as much but still, I'm so tired I would break up into a million and one pieces any time. I waited more than an hour for that appointment but it was still good.

Dinner was a pack and eat at home affair since someone wanted to buy the metal bed frame.

Really, this move was even more unbelievable because of the things that happened - there was a "sale" on our end.

On the day of the move, some lady came and bought the 6 feet wardrobe off me. I had had mixed feelings about taking that huge wardrobe along with me to the new place. One, space was tight. Two, it didn't really fit in - it was more the elaborate 60's type of design which would look really good if you liked wardrobes with elaborate roofs and designs and carvings. I sold it for $250, having bought it at $800. Painful, but somehow, if the old doesn't go, the new wouldn't even have a chance.

On the same day, we managed to dispose off a bed frame for $60. This was left behind by the old houseowner at our request. We had immediately regretted making that request. We ended up with two bed frames which one was supposed to be a free gift with the wardrobe. In the end, this one went.

The black metal one which I had bought for $99 went for $50. Not too bad. And then we sold off a new, completely unopened Ikea table and four legs for $40 (U.P. $90). It was not a spur of the moment sale. I had used one of the tables before but it was not my type - not heavy duty enough for heavyweight users like me. So I was glad it found a good home.

The curtains are up in the new place and I have not managed to get used to the heat coming out of those 32W and 40W lights. Man, they really make me sweat.

The kitchen is almost functional except for gas supply, which I had resisted even now, and for a good reason. Once there is gas, the temptation to cook becomes stronger. Thank you Gerald, Justin, Wei Qiang and Kian Eng for the kitchen session.

The rooms are not functional. Not a single room is functional, though I have been sleeping amongst the mess. The toilets are great. The best rooms in the house are the rest rooms. Those AMS loos and sinks are great!

I have broadband access and TV too - thank you Gerald and Justin for twiddling and getting most of it right. It helped a lot nonetheless.

My electric toothbrush charger is still MIA despite me opening up every single box to check. I really wonder where it might be. I hope to find it soon, before I go mad.

We need more shelves - the teak wood book shelf at the Helping Hands for repair now needs to come back fast. My sliding door wardrobe is bursting at its seams already. I need more storage. I also need to throw away more stuff.

Oh yes, our former landlady who is now our dear friend has returned our deposit after finding her house in a good condition. In fact, over 5 quarters, we replaced her water heater, replaced faulty switches, repaired faulty sockets, and replaced doorknobs and locks so that the entire place is safe. We didn't mind it that much as she was gracious enough to let us have the place at a rental price lower than what she wanted - because that was all we could afford. One good turn deserves another!

I am babbling now. Time to get off.

Updates

Here's a quick update before I give in to the Z monster.

The movers came yesterday and they moved most of the stuff over in two trips.

icloud, OKE, Justin and Wei Qiang were such angels - they helped with the unpacking in the kitchen. I am very very grateful for their help.

We went back to the old place to clean up till close to 11 pm before coming back to the new place.

I carried on with the cleaning and went to bed at almost 2 am today.

Woke up and cleaned and unpacked even more today.

I'm entirely bushed now and I'll be hitting the sack once I log out.

Moving is such a pain.

The works

The entire house is littered with boxes now.

The move is coming soon.

The backache meds I've been taking prophylactically is helping. My back is sore but I'm not hurting.

I can't wait to move so that I can start living again!

Directions

If you can meet up at the bus-stop outside Vivocity at around 10.45 am and then call me, we will drive over and pick you all up.

If you prefer to do the lone ranger, here are the directions.

From the nearest MRT station

NE Line - Harbourfront Station
Bus 131 or 145 on the Vivocity/Harbourfront side.
Alight at the first bus-stop after bus turns right to Henderson Road.
Turn left after alighting.
My flat is the point block that faces the Chinese Guanyin Temple.

EW Line - Redhill Station (most convenient)
Bus 145 on the side of the MRT station.
The bus will turn right and then will go past, in order, DSTA/CMPB on your right and then SAFRA Mount Faber on your left.
From SAFRA, alight at the 2nd bus-stop.
Your bus-stop is opposite the bus-stop above (NE line).
Turn right after alighting. Cross the road at the pedestrian crossing.
My flat is the point block that faces the Chinese Guanyin Temple.

If you miss this, the bus would turn left and you will alight at the 3rd bus-stop after the Shell Station along Telok Blangah Road. By then, you would have passed my block and you'd know how to reverse navigate.

EW Line - Tanjong Pagar (nearest station)
Take bus 131 at the bus-stop opposite the Temasek Towers (the round building) and near a karaoke joint. It's an underground maze to navigate at the station, so.
This bus will go to Harbourfront and follow the instructions from there.

New Chemical Element Discovered

by William DeBuvitz

This bit of humor was written in April 1988 and appeared in the January 1989 issue of The Physics Teacher. William DeBuvitz is a physics professor at Middlesex County College in Edison, New Jersey (USA). He retired in June of 2000.

The heaviest element known to science was recently discovered by investigators at a major U.S. research university. The element, tentatively named administratium, has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of 0. However, it does have one neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons and 111 assistant vice neutrons, which gives it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson-like particles called morons.

Since it has no electrons, administratium is inert. However, it can be detected chemically as it impedes every reaction it comes in contact with. According to the discoverers, a minute amount of administratium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would have normally occurred in less than a second.

Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately three years, at which time it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which assistant neutrons, vice neutrons and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. Some studies have shown that the atomic mass actually increases after each reorganization.

Research at other laboratories indicates that administratium occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It tends to concentrate at certain points such as government agencies, large corporations, and universities. It can usually be found in the newest, best appointed, and best maintained buildings.

Scientists point out that administratium is known to be toxic at any level of concentration and can easily destroy any productive reaction where it is allowed to accumulate. Attempts are being made to determine how administratium can be controlled to prevent irreversible damage, but results to date are not promising.

Source: http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/administ.htm

[Blogger's Note: It's almost 20 years since the discovery of administratium and it is amazing the abundance of this element. If the world ran on administratium rather than on oil, we would live on forever and ever...]

I'm just so tired

I feel as though I'm crumbling to pieces like a overbaked cookie...

Too much to do in too little time, too little sleep.

Too much emotions and these outbursts or restraining these outburts take too much energy. They consume you.

I want to just go to bed and stay asleep.

Waking up is like facing a firing squad, which I dread.

A lull period

I'll be on and off here for at least the coming fortnight.

I've been visiting the place, which is currently under renovation, about 4 to 5 times a week with the owner. We are both getting a little aback by the speed of the renovation. The lack of speed, that is. We are also partly to blame, having bought items in drips and draps and bringing them in for the contractors to put up. It's hard work for them but it is equally hard for us as we scramble to accumulate what we need in the little daylight hours left after we knock off from work.

While the contractors are confident that everything would be done by our stipulated deadlines, I'm more circumspect. I keep a running list of the list of things to-do and the completion. We are not even half in green yet although whatever has been accomplished are very much to our liking.

I'll be moving to my new place on 27 Oct and I've arranged for packing to be done on 20 Oct. Meanwhile, I've designated 22 and 29 Oct as "recovery" days and 19 and 26 Oct as preparation days. I've become a relocation cynic - and I'm most functional when I'm desperately out of time. I'm approaching that.

I hope this will be one move that will last quite some time.

Work-wise, everything is not moving as they should. It is as though the floodgates are still held shut by a straw, which I'm trying to break, before the pressure builds up beyond the point of salvation.

I fear the deluge when the gates finally fly open and I'm caught flat-footed. I've sent a great many chasers but I can only do that much.

I'm intending to see the doctor for this minor throat irritation - I hope it is not what my deepest fears conjure. But then, like all things in life, when god closes a door, he usually slams it in your face. Just don't be blinded by the door knob or you can't find the window he opens for you after that.

Oh well, what will be, will be.

And then I found out...

that the Nobel Peace prize (or was it all Nobel Prizes) could only be given to people who are still alive (that's why Ghandi didn't get his Peace Prize - the committee didn't give any award for that year in the end) and that they could only give out awards to people who used "peaceful" means.

Sigh.

Who blinded the Nobel Prize Selectors?

How could Al Gore be a joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his works on Global Warming when he is a major contributor to it?

I'd also nominate a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize for Hitler helping with population control!

Is it going to be a right decision?

Often, when we decide on something that would make us very happy for the moment of the decision, we think we have made the correct decision.

However, there are some decisions that are made in the POINT of time and then, what happens later you have absolutely no idea or control. In such a case, how do we know if we have made a correct decision?

Fleeting Memories

去年今日此门中,人面桃花相应红。
人面不知何处去，桃花依旧笑春风。

In this house last year, the (people's) faces and the peach blossoms were rosy
The faces are now all gone although the peach blossoms are in full bloom in the spring breeze.

The impermanence of life is very well captured in this four-line poem. It always reminds me that things change very fast. In fact, people come and go so quickly that they hardly make a dent in their environment.

Hanging on is futile. Unless one finds the mythical Shangri La.

Humans are born to walk in circles

Wonder if there are times in your lives when you felt as if you have gone on a huge detour of the world only to end up at the same place?

A note to myself

A translation of what I had written below. I can only hope I have captured the essence and nuances aptly.

To not slave over a flower in full bloom
To take big strides into the unknown fields

To not pace up and down on a crowded well trodden path
To go out and explore the big world out there

Leaving, letting go, can also bring happiness

A note to myself

不空守着一朵繁盛的花
放大脚步涉掠青踪绿野

不愿徘徊在匆促拥挤的康庄大道
去追求一片放眼无际的天涯

放下离开也会有快乐

Double Whammy

Guess what? While battling the aching back and painful inner thighs, I came to my apartment lobby to realise that the only lift serving the 25 storey block of flats was OUT OF ORDER!

@#$*!

One other lift was being upgraded to serve residents on level 25 - the lifts used to call on each floor up to level 24.

So I had to climb 19 storeys up.

What luck!

Pain...

My back is hurting. The sides are hurting.

The pain shoots down the inner thighs.

I'm so miserable.

The Wisteria Lane Slut Didn't Die...

Oh my god, my god, my god.

I was rolling with laughter last night when I watched the season 4 premier of Desperate Housewives.

Bloody Edie Brit didn't die! How can that be? She must die!

And how can Carlos be so dumb? Does he have the IQ of a real moron?

I laughed out really really loud when Lynette puked into another bitch's handbag at her son's play. She was feeling really sick as she was on chemo.

Bree was good as usual but she has competition!

And Mike's plumbing works was great - Susan's pregnant.

I also can't wait for Gabrielle to start her antics.

But most of all, I just want the neighbourhood slut dead.

Oh, I heard they will be introducing a gay couple in this season! It should be interesting. Two new housewives?

But then I forget...

I don't know about you guys but every time I tell myself that I have something that I must blog about, I log in and can never remember what I had wanted to blog.

A part of this can be attributed to sleep deprivation.

Another part of this is probably the desire to blog about the issue is not as intense as the want to merely bitch about it. Therefore, one does not remember to bitch about the lesser things.

The last part I believe is ageing.

I think I am falling...

in love? Maybe not.

sick? Looks that way.

asleep? Bingo.

I'm so tired now but I've got a pile of papers to look through.

Sigh.

Drowning

It's raining work.

And I'm flooded with requests.

I'm drowning.

Am I losing my marbles?

I thought I read Fraser's entry on "Hillary has lost her marbles" quite some time back.

Was it really only on 29 September that the post was written?

I doubt it. I honestly doubt it.

Am I losing my marbles?

*Checks!* Thank god the balls are still there.

I gained it by eating...

Someone gave me some dates which Muslims ate before breaking fast.

They were ripe and crushed. And covered with some caramelly stuff. The dates were not too sweet and they were simply delectable and gorgeous.

I had so much joy eating it.

Then I was told this was from a royal farm in the middle east where, apparently, the royals ate such dates when they broke fast.

OMG!

I think I have earned the "Royal" part of my moniker His Royal Highnes The Supreme Bitch. At last!

What happened?

Al asked,

"Tef! The place looks different, somehow! What happened?"

Er... is it because it had been too long since you've last visited? The reason for the looks was because I messed up my old template and lost it.

The content of the posts have gone all haywire, like my mind. Ok, not exactly my mind but I've allowed myself to have brain diarrhoea here. I'm offloading the mixed-up misfiring neurons on my blog so that I don't go (even more) neurotic.

So there, that's what happened.

The truth is in the details

I think Ron got it very very right here. I quote wholesale from his blog:

"I am now about to annihilate another old Bull---t cliche. The Devil is not in the details.

"The Devil hates details and he likes the ambiguity of generalities. It gives Satan plenty of room to maneuver and pull his lying @$$ s--t.

"No......the TRUTH is in the details. This is where things add up or don't. The place where the lies stand out like broken records.

"That is why I spend so much time examining everything I can down to the molecular level even trying to understand what the truth really is.

"That is why laws should be very simple straight forward and easy to understand like as in thou shall not. The more wordy a law gets the easier it is for the Devil to manipulate the situation.

"The rest should be left up to the people to decide what is the truth and to accept or reject what people say and do or to patronize or not patronize."

The problem with a holiday is...

it ends.

How I wish there is a holiday that doesn't end.

The paradise in my mind...

I thought I would have no problems at all espousing what the paradise would be.

Before I started writing this, I had fragments of this paradise: tonnes of self-renewing money, idyllic days by the beach, me liposuctioned and body sculpted, tanned, blemish-free skin, blond coloured hair, deck chair under a parasol by the sea with the waves lapping near my feet, behind me - a thousand suite eco-hotel offering incredible spa treatments nestled among the trees and the cliffs and fronting the sea, a private landing strip for special charters, nature and astrological observatories - my property, butlers and servants in full serviced suites...

But then my paradise might not be another person's paradise. For why would the poor butler need to suffer me or work for me? Perhaps in his paradise, I'm the useless fat oaf working for and being abused by him. And what sin to own a hotel of that magnitude and imagine that I am protecting nature when I am just a bloody sucker who extracts every last remaining iota of life out of the lands through my action. Yeah. Think about it, where would the mud from the mud spa go? Where would the aromatherapy oils flow to? How will the fishes in the sea live? Would my marigolds give out ylang ylang scent eventually? Why are my dogs so tired? Perhaps it too much lavender...

So paradise is a relative concept. And I must redefine paradise without needing to encroach on others. After all, Gandhi said, "There is enough for everyone's need but not enough for everyone's greed." I must not be greedy. So perhaps I should refine my description of my paradise.

Perhaps a self-generating, self-renewing income without me having to do any work would be a great start. I know money is the root of all evil. And many of you are hoping to go to heaven right? Ok, I can go to hell. I think I'm already there. You can make me a permanent fixture there. Give me all your money. Without money to hinder you, you can be heaven bound! No? Ok, too bad. Hope to see you soon, neighbour!

A constant income stream without work would give me lots of time to do what I really like. For instance, I'll buy land and build a thosand suite eco-hotel in some pristine jungle in the Amazon where there is a small sliver of beach by the side and I'll build a private landing strip, offer spa services and employ butlers to provide full services. And I'll go for my liposuction and body sculpting and colour my hair blond... Why does this look so familiar?

Maybe I could pay the butlers more than the usual market rate. Perhaps they wouldn't mind working for me. Perhaps I'll fly my guests in on specially ordered Airbus 380 and Boeing 787 aircraft since they promise to harm the environment more. Perhaps I'll plant more trees in Africa for the damage I'm causing here. I'll build an independent cess pool to drain off the unsavoury after products of the spa treatment so I do not harm the surroundings. I'll just go to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and pour everything down the universal rubbish dump.

Looks like this plan is more viable now, isn't it? By paying people more, I keep them happy and when they are happy, there are less likely to kill me although I am just a leech of the world. I'll be a proud owner of A380 and B787 aircraft. I have my own airports. And while doing all these, I have remained true to my pledge to stay green.

I know, I know. I am just cheating myself. There is no surprise. But I am just enjoying this paradise in my mind, a paradise where people constantly kid themselves through self-glorification, self-gratification and self-justification. Don't tell me you are even going to deprive me of some plain clean fun?

I broke a g-string while fingering a minor

Well, the g-string was already quite old and the action was on the hard side. The fingering speed also had to be fast.

Ok, to be honest, I've procrastinated in getting a new g-string since the old one held up pretty nicely. It withstood the rigours when I fingered other minors. Perhaps it is the nature of this minor, when it had to be fingered with enough oomph and speed to keep going.

I pressed it hard of course and kept it from sliding out. It was an awkward position to be in, especially perched on top of a chair with one foot to the ground.

It was very embarrassing as I had nearly come to the climax when the g-string broke and I had to stop and apologise. It was not a pretty sight or sound but fortunately, there was little protest. Accidents like these occur.

Having the g-string break on my guitar when I was fingering the minor chord at the climax of the musical piece was probably the worst moment of my performing career.

What were you thinking?

Media Bloopers

Marijuana Issue Sent To A Joint Committee (Toronto Star headline)

Publicize your business absolutely free! Send $6. (Entrepreneur Magazine ad)

Messiah Climaxes In Chorus Of Hallelujahs (The Anchorage, Alaska Times)

Married Priests In Catholic Church A Long Time Coming (The New Haven, Connecticut Register)

Would She Climb To The Top Of Mr. Everest Again? Absolutely! (The Houston Chronicle)

Governor's Penis Busy [should be "Pen Is"] (The New Haven, Connecticut Register)

Thanks To President Clinton, Staff Sgt. Fruer Now Has A Son

Clinton Places Dickey In Gore's Hands (Bangor Maine News)

Starr Aghast At First Lady Sex Position (The Washington Times)

Clinton Stiff On Withdrawal (The Bosnia Bugle)

Long Island Stiffens For Lili's Blow (Newsday)

Organ Festival Ends In Smashing Climax (San Antonio Times)

Rose Petroleum Jelly Keeps Idle Tools Rust-free (Chicago Daily News)

Textron Inc. Makes Offer To Screw Company Stockholders (The Miami Herald)

Source: http://humormatters.com/newspaper.htm

Despot 101 - Media Management

A smirking Ahmadinejad suckers the U.S. media

By Jon Friedman, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:01 AM ET Sep 26, 2007

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Politicians, pundits, journalists, diplomats, talk-show bookers, historians and social scientists all paid rapt attention to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the U.S. this week. I suspect some shrewd crisis-management experts were watching the proceedings, too.

The despot gave an enlightening lesson in how to manage the U.S. media: Be vague. Obfuscate. Smile mindlessly -- a lot. Be friendly. Nod wisely instead of speaking foolishly. Say absolutely nothing threatening or menacing. Turn their image of you on its head. And, for God's sake, man, say nothing of substance.

Maybe, instead, the lesson was how to sucker the U.S. media. The man played us for suckers -- just like any PR-hungry celebrity who spins reporters and editors. The bottom line was that he knew more about how the American media works than they knew about him.

Revealing nothing

Whether he was being interviewed or delivering a controversial speech at Columbia University, the Iranian leader revealed nothing about his widely rumored plans to build and eventually launch nuclear weapons, his alleged blueprint for peace in the Middle East or his hatred for America and Western democracy.

Oh, all was not lost, though. The tyrant sort of/kind of/in a way allowed that the Holocaust might have taken place, after all. But in one of his few concrete statements of the week, he asserted that, of course, the world should do more research before confirming that the Holocaust indeed happened.

Mostly, he smirked cryptically.

Don't Break The Magic!

How often do you make plans for an anticipated "lull" period only to be entirely thrown off-guard?

That happened to me. I was thinking of catching up with some backlog but suddenly, I was inundated with work that are way beyond my payscale.

And yet, people were going, "It's so quiet today. The bosses are not around..."

Hey! It is not quiet for me. Come to my theatre of war of a cubicle!

I think I've just managed to take a deep breath now.

And don't you go break the magic!

The curse of Good Food

A moment on your lips, a lifetime on your hips!

Indulge!

The Invisible Guiding Hand

Most bloggers leave gems in their entries. However, they did not know they had left those precious gems there until when they return to them again one fine day and realise what treasure they have buried in this virtual garden.

I had posted a little entry a couple of days ago "I didn't mean the police" and this led T. F. Stern to recall an entry he had written in Dec 05 called Call If You Need Help. He did not know where the story came from but it sure is a good story!

Thank you, T. F.

Do you think I hate you enough...?

Couldn't help but did some reflection after reading Quinsy's rant about her Heat & Mass Transfer teacher who probably had enough "somethings" against her and decided to fail her when she took a second module he taught.

Hm...

I couldn't help but remember the kids that I really really hated when I was still teaching. I still remember them (and their parents) but did I actually go out to fail them?

To be honest. No. Not a single chance, not a single one, not even a single thought devoted to that.

At least for me.

I get no benefits, no joy, no rewards, no satisfaction whatsoever from flunking students. I want them to move on and torture someone else! Why would I need to do something that evil, just in case I am condemned to teaching the class that kiddo is stuck in the year after? OMG!

But to be fair, I have a confession to make.

My tests always require sound fundamentals and if anyone tries to cheat, they would invariably fall flat. So students self-destruct because they would not bother to get their basics right.

Some learn, others don't.

Still, I have enough "blood" on my hands... :)

Bye bye Jose Mourinho!

Well, well, well. Enough said.

I wait with bated breath to see Chelsea self-destruct next.

Let it be soon!

I didn't mean the POLICE!

You have to see this!

Another Numbers Quiz

1. What is the two second rule?

A. If you place your hand under an automatic hand dryer, the time taken for warm air to be blown at your hand is about two seconds.
B. If you approach a junction with traffic lights, the minimum time that the amber light must show before it turns red is about two seconds.
C. If you are on a dry, clear road and you reach the same fixed point before you have counted to two seconds, then you are too close and need to drop further back
D. If you are on a landing aircraft, the time between the rear wheels and the front wheels touching the tarmac is about two seconds.

2. What is the three second rule?

A. In soccer, the three second rules requires a player who has dribbed the ball into the opponent's penalty box to take a shot in no more than three seconds.
B. In tennis, the serving player must hit the ball within three seconds of tossing it up in the air.
C. In basketball, the three-second rule prohibits offensive players from remaining in their opponents' restricted area for longer than three seconds.
D. In the planes, the time lapse between the dropping of the oxygen masks and the delivery of oxygen is at least three seconds.

3. What is the four second rule?

A. In snooker, the time between adopting cue position and hitting the cue ball must be within four seconds.
B. In biology, most plants deliver sap to heal the wound caused by the removal of a healthy leaf in about four seconds.
C. In running, most runners' paces per every 400 meters will increase by about four seconds as they move up from one "classic" race distance to the next (e.g. from 800 m to 1500m).
D. In Olympic 10 m freestyle platform diving, the time between the diver leaping off the platform and entering the water is about four seconds.

4. What is the five second rule?

A. If the guy withdraws before he can count to five, the woman will not get pregnant.
B. If you approach a junction with traffic lights, the minimum time that elapses for the transition of the green to the red lights is about five seconds.
C. If you pick up a dropped piece of food, it is all right to eat it if it is on the floor for five seconds or less.
D. If you subject the AIDS virus to pure oxygen and you count to five, the AIDS virus will be dead.

5. What is the six second rule?

A. In basketball, the umpire gets to throw the ball back in play if the same team in possession of the ball is unable to make a scoring attempt within six seconds.
B. In waterpolo, the umpire gets to throw the ball back in play if the same team in possession of the ball is unable to make a scoring attempt within six seconds.
C. In soccer, goalkeepers must release the ball within six seconds to avoid a violation.
D. In soccer, players making a free throw must relase the ball within six seconds or the other team gains possession.

6. What is the ten second rule?

A. On a cruise liner, the time between the final whistle and the move off must be within ten seconds.
B. On an aircraft, the time between the front wheel and the rear wheels lifting off the tarmac is about ten seconds.
C. In basketball, the team, having gained control of the ball in its own backcourt, must bring it across the centre line within ten seconds to avoid a violation.
D. In basketball, each time a time-out is called, the total duration of play is extended by ten seconds.

It didn't work!

I had a scoop each of chocolate and strawberry ice-cream.

I'm still cranky.

I need my raspberry ice-cream bad...

Who are you to decide what concerto I play...

A truly enlightened society has the responsibility to have laws to protect those who are not capable of protecting themselves.

However, when they come of age to make informed decisions, individuals have the right to decide what they want to do, so long as it is legitimate and does not harm other people.

Paedophiles and sexual predators are to be punished. Because young children and innocent prey are not able to protect themselves.

If, for example, I decide to have a fling with Miss Pretty Woman, what is the government to care? Since time immemorial, prostitution had always been there. Just visit the Pompeii ruins. Read up on the harlems that the Emperors and rulers used to to keep. The sex trade is probably as old as any other trade in the world. So why should prostitution be illegal?

If you need to legalise, license the prostitutes. Maybe this way.

"Hi, I am Anita Blowercort. I want to apply for the P-license."

"Age, height, weight, identification papers."

"There you are."

"Ok. Wait for your medical check up."

After medical check up.

"Miss Blowercort, you are clean. I need to you go to meet a counsellor before you can get your license."

Or "Miss Blowercort, you have syphillis. I need to refer you to the Communicable Disease Centre for more treatment."

This is how you regulate!

Ok, this may be overly simplified. But there are other ways to keep the population in check. Just like how we intend to tackle the gambling problem before we even open our casino doors. For instance,

"Hello, can I speak with Mrs Normus?"

"Yes, Mrs Normus. Your husband, Mr E. Normus wants to engage the services of Miss Anita Blowercort. Are you aware?"

OR

"Hello Mr Normus, can I see the permission slip that your wife has given to you?"

OR

"Mr Normus, you have been banned from all s-organ pubs in Singapore. Please do not come here again or I will need to call the police."

What's the big deal? Do you think there aren't the underground ones? Of course there will be, if not already are. And aren't there now?

With the new laws, we are now letting straight couples do more stunts. But why, oh why, are we letting the Penal Code - a document enacted in 1871 - rule our bedroom lives?

So long as both men do it knowingly and without coercion, what is the big deal? Why hang that large cloud of doubt over their heads?

Who are you to decide what concerto I play with my sex organ?

Aw... C'mon!

The Straits Times (Sep 18 2007)
Home, H11

Male homosexual sex to remain a crime (An excerpt)

The public has spoken: Homosexual sex will remain a crime in Singapore.

The government has decided to retain Section 377A of the Penal Code which makes it an offence for any male to "commit an act of gross indecency" with another male, either in public or private.

The public feedback on the issue had been "emotional, divided and strongly expressed", with the majority of them calling for the section to be retained.

The status quo was arrived at after "looking at the interests of the community as a whole" but the police would not actively prosecute people under that section.

* * *

It just brings back yet another episode (among numerous) when the government did not yield to the public's outcry. Despite the public outcry against raising public transportation prices, the price increase went ahead.

So it looks like what one of the Nominated Members of Parliament said was set to be prophetic.

* * *

The move to retain homosexuality as a crime was a "pity" and a "lost opportunity". It "shows up Singapore as being behind the rest of the world."

As even Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew also noted that homosexuals are "mostly born that way" and that "no public purpose is served in interfering in their private lives", the NMP asked, "Do we need to wait another 23 years for homosexual sex to be decriminalised?"

* * *

I applaud the NMP's efforts but I think 23 years is very conservative. Unless the pink sector really shows what they feel, change may not even come in this lifetime!