Wallace and Gromit - Curse of the Were-rabbit

is a good show to watch. Recommended, if a good laugh is preferred.

Ranting

Frank's first attempt at golfing.

Played golf at a driving range at Sin ming after Narnia with Kelli, Mike, Lynn, Stanley, and James. Once again felt like a fish out of water/monkey robbing a bank/banana in a teapot, being the charlie chaplin who makes surprisingly accurate hits at the grass patch BESIDE the golf ball.

Does Eu know James Koh, the tennis pro? I have certain impulses to pull Eu into my JC clique, which is surprisingly increasing in members - there's Stanley when Lynn's around; Kenneth's a new mahjong khaki; James' a tennis khaki of Lynn+Stanley's.

Mike is "spreading his resources too thinly" managing his "stocks portfolio", going dragonboating, learning tennis, learning inline-skating, wakeboarding, on top of his MA work at stanchart. Makes me think of myself spreading my resources too thinly as well - jogging, gymming, hanging out with the clowns, windsurfing, inline-skating, wakeboarding(not really for a long time!) But my main resource constraints is more money than time, although I foresee an impending payback period to my FYP. And the v-day roses thingy again. Haiz. But they are necessary evils, for my degree and for more money respectively.


On a side note, I have been watching too much movies/anime. You know that when you have dreams of kongs and little chickens wearing spectacles engaging in the freedom fight in Narnia, with Naruto and his kage bunshin no jitsu on the opposing side - with Jacky Cheung singing a sad love song in the background.

Help. My hat's on fire.

The Biggest Loser

On Christmas eve, I lost my favourite watch at PA SSC at East Coast after my windsurfing session there. I bought it many years ago, a few months before I sat for my O levels, and it has followed me faithfully for a good 9 years ever since.

For these 9 years, it was my only analog timepiece - being absolutely in love with it, I could not set my eyes on another. Sure, there were occassional eyeing of other beautiful timepieces, but I kept faithful to it as it did to me throughout. During these years, any other watches on my hand were digitals, worn purely for functional reasons. Me and my Seiko, we had a thing. The capacitant died a few times and water seeped in a few times too, but we were good after the repair jobs.

And I am saddened by the loss, like I've lost a part of me. Its chunky metal watchstrap, its scratched and chipped glass covercase, its luminous hands and dial, its constant admonishment when I got lazy (it's a Kinetic which loses power when I stay sedentary for too long), are all so familiar to me. I'm not sure if I can cope with the loss.

And when I get a new watch, it will never be the same as with my favourite Seiko.

Merry Christmas~!

Ah... how time flies and sting us on our bottoms all the time.

Once again, we are at the festive season where little children whine about not having ridiculously priced toys which existence is based on parents' guilt of inattention; where consumers get to be foolish kings and queens to profiteering manufacturers; where sad sods hope to land (in vain) a kiss from their imaginary cinderellas under mistletoes strategically placed by them beneath every entrance/exits; where happy people gather to be happy together, and lonely people gather to be lonely together; and where picture frames are given, thanked for, and kept forever in the deepest recesses of the most remote cabinet.

If there's anything to be happy about, it's the long weekend of scampering northwards/southwards to restock on DVDs, chewing gums, and a healthy dose of cholesterol.

...and don't forget to make your New Year Resolutions which you will never manage to keep, yah? Have a jovial season with your friends.

Merry Christmas

Definition: Merlion

1: n. The merlion is a statue with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Its name comes from a portmanteau of mermaid and lion.

The Merlion

2: v. Eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth; "After drinking too much, the students merlioned"; "He merlioned continuously"; "The patient merlioned the food we gave him last night" [syn: vomit, vomit up, purge, cast, sick, cat, be sick, disgorge, regorge, retch, barf, spew, spue, chuck, upchuck, honk, regurgitate, throw up] [ant: keep down]

Frank merlioned after eating too much briyani rice for lunch

Confusion

Wah.
When I expect a A- for mobile computing, I get a B+.
When I expect a B for Signals, I get a A.

Wtf?

So I'm still in the middle of no where for my grades. Tmd.

I love the 7-eleven...

"Ding dong~~!"

at NUH because they sell cheaper and better food than the NUH cafeteria does. Did you know? At the Nasi Padang stall in NUH, a plate of rice + chicken wing + sunny-side-up will set you back by $3.50? Let's do a calculation, shall we?

Chicken wing = (inflated outside price) * (more inflation) = ($1.50) * 1.2 = $1.80
Egg = (inflated outside price) * (more inflation) = ($0.50) * 1.2 = $0.60
Rice = (inflated outside price) * (more inflation) = ($0.50) * 1.2 = $0.60
TWICE INFLATED TOTAL = 1.8 + 0.6 + 0.6 = $3
Selling price = $3.50 = TWICE INFLATED TOTAL + SERVICE CHARGE = $3 + $0.50

=>SERVICE CHARGE FOR NON-EXISTENT SERVICE ON A MEASLY PLATE OF (RICE + CHICKEN WING + EGG) ALREADY CHARGED AT TWICE-INFLATED PRICES= $0.50

"You were expecting this? Fat hope, or $7."

Perhaps they are banking on the patronism of patients from the brain-damage ward, or desperate muslims in need of food less hazardous than normal hospital fare.

Hmm... come to think of it, there's quite a lot of malay stalls selling food at higher than prevailing prices. Thinking aloud if it's because malays can only eat halal food and thus have limited options in sourcing for eligible alternative eating places... Some sort of supply-demand thingy?

Anyway, back to the 7-eleven. After extensive groundwork and meticulous research into the NUMEROUS afterdark feeding areas (3 of them) around SoC, I have arrived at the indisputable (unless you're a vegetarian [in which case you would do well with a pair of shears]) conclusion that the best after-dark makan deal would be the NASI BRIYANI + BIG GULP combination in the NUH 7-eleven. Second place would be the Dodo instant noodles in the same 7-eleven.

WHY NUH wins:
1) Nearest location to SoC.
2) Got ATM to draw money (but this point is now invalid since there's ATM @ SoC)
3) SOMETIMES got pretty nurses. Biggest draw.

Why NASI BRIYANI + BIG GULP win? Cos they got promotional offer at a bundle price of $2.80, which is much cheaper than any food-resembling item sold at exorbitant prices at the cafeteria.

Why Dodo instant noodles? 2 dollars by itself. Good eating, if a drink is not preferred.



All this being said, we must question the motivation for such an analysis given above.

And the motivation is simple: All sad blokes working on their f***king FYP 24/7 in SoC have to feed some time or another.

Having fun working on a glorious weekend

Nothing like a deprived childhood to brighten your day...

Went back to Toa Payoh (old home) to have lunch last Sunday after church. The food's still cheap there.

It is one of the few untouched hawker centres left in Singapore (the others are mostly upgraded and have lost the authentic taste [and prices] of yesteryears.) where they serve excellent tasting food in the absence of hygiene. Had my favourite pig trotters there, and I have, after sampling a number of pig trotter-serving stalls in Singapore, come to think it as one of the best in this small island.

"Mommy, mommy... I want pig trotters..."

Pig trotters. One of the few foods where you can comment “老板！你的猪脚炖得好烂!" and receive thanks from the cook.

I've always liked pig trotters, but never did have enough of them when I was young. Maybe it was unhealthy or expensive or because no one else in the family liked them? I dunno. But I'm making up for my deprivation now by gorging on them whenever I have a chance to now.

It's the same for Nutella hazelnut chocolate. I'd remember them coming in small rectangular plastic packaging where you scoop them into your mouth with a small spatula of sorts. It's always a source of delight for me after my kindergarten session, but I only have them on days when I'm good. Which is not often. Haha... Hmm.... maybe I should buy a bottle of it, stick a spoon into it, and leave it on my table so I can eat it whenever I feel like it.

"Mommy, mommy... I want Nutella..."

Somehow, I think all of us SHOULD be deprived of some things when we were young. Makes life more interesting that way, and you learn to treasure them when you grow up.

And what can be more satisfying than drinking a 5-pack Vitagen using a single straw, while they are still tightly clinging together in the 5-pack shrinkwrap? Oh.. the envy you see in little children's eyes...

"Mommy, mommy... I want Vitagen..."

Is it just me or does avocado juice taste like Brand's Essence of Chicken?

I dunno. You try the avocado juice at Science canteen in NUS and tell me. $1.10 only (better than buying all those packaged drinks, IMHO.)

Funny guy.

He has a rather cute blog.

And no, I'm not gay.

Standard Chartered Run Time

Distance: 10km
Chip Time / Gun Time: 55m:40s / 1h:5m:58s
PLACING IN THE ENTIRE FIELD: 540TH / 6846 => 7.9% finish faster (chip time)
PLACING IN GENDER (MALE): 444TH / 3725 => 11.9% finish faster (chip time)
DIVISION PLACING (MEN/SIN): 287TH / 2735 => 10.5% finish faster (chip time)

Timing could have been better if I had started earlier (started 10min later) and not be blocked by the massive turnout. Had to zig zag my way/ run on grass sides/ be stopped, while running. Quite fed up about that.

I think the Standard Chartered Marathon is a very professionally organised event. The timing system in place is quite impressive; the roads were good; the water points are adequate; and the chio bus are there... haha...
And the website is good lah~~! Really detailed statistics of your run, and even have a bird eye view of your position at the finishing line.

Only bad thing is the crowd. Too much people who were not interested to be there being there. Companies shouldn't force their employees to go for the event if they are not interested. Ended up blocking the roads, reducing the timings of those behind, like me. Grr...

What will happen

if 30 years down the road, your teenage son/daughter chances upon your present-days written blog and realises how silly and outrageous you had been?

"Was this you, Dad?!?"

Hmmm....

Room pictures

Pictures taken of my room before it's gone...

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2116818042

Action plan.

This came up when me and SOMEONE was bored studying in PGP and he started telling me about this gal he's interested in, who seems to be interested in him also... haha..or so he thinks. =P

It's sort of a one month action plan to get to know her better. Try and decipher what we are writing about... quite cute. Two relatively inexperienced blokes trying to brainstorm over BGR issues, what can be more sure-fail?? =)

But this plan was never carried out, thank goodness. No prize for guessing whose it is. =D