Why looks count?

Recently bought a copy of my all-time fav magazine, the BBC Focus magazine at a real dirt cheap price of $5.... $5RM at KL. Those familiar with such imported magazines will know that they typically cost in excess of $10 in S'pore. Among the libraries, I think only Tampines and one other library have those under reference section, the national library at Bugis do not even have them at all. Its a Science magazine in layman language and the best part of it is its Q&A section where experts answer almost any questions the readers may have.

One interesting topic it had in its March 2008 print is regarding the Sexy-son hypothesis. The hypothesis explains females tend to prefer physically attractive males hoping their partner's good looks will be passed on to their offsprings who in turn have a better chance of securing a mate. In short, a sexy dad gives a sexy son who will have no problems carrying on the family line.

With regards to this hypothesis, one would presume that 'ugliness' (assuming a trait) would be naturally eliminated through this process and everyone would be yandaos and chio bus, however it is also said that physical attractiveness is subjective (which is true), and people tend to choose a partner of similar level of attractiveness as themselves. This in turn leads to 2 things:

1) Physically less attractive people are paired up with each other as they find each other attractive in their own perception. Their physical traits are passed on in their children. 'Ugliness' passed on.

2) People with high level of attractiveness have problems finding a partner since their level of attractiveness means there is only a small percentage of the opp sex who can match their attractiveness, counteracting the Sexy-son where attractive means guarantee for mate.

From the Sexy-son hypothesis, comes another spin-off on why females tend to be promiscous. It is said that females prefer a more feminine male as their lifelong partner as they are more likely to provide care for the mother and the children. However such males are not perceived as physically attractive and do not produce sexy-sons, thus putting their offsprings at a disadvantage. Thus it is said that females are biologically tuned to be attracted to masculine males during ovulation with the hope of having offsprings (affair) with a masculine male yet

have a feminine male as a lifelong partner to take care of the children (who aren't his, or maybe some aren't), suggesting females are naturally promiscous in order to encourage evolution. However many have come to believe that females tend to be more faithful in relationships and it is the males that appeared to be more promiscous instead. This debunks the hypothesis and so if you have had the patience to read this thing, I am sorry to tell you that all that is said above is absolutely inconclusive. Happy holidays!

Cubical Maze

This is a story about an intern who is sitting by himself in a room within the office with great views of high rise buildings and forested area.

He is so strategically positioned such that no one can see him from their seats while his boss sits outside without a room of his own(so sad~).

He has a laptop and 2 desktops which he seriously doubts any of those desktops really work.

He is denied access through this particular door but he can access the area behind the door through another door which links to the same area(?!?!)

He is the only one in his department who arrives and leaves on time(they either leave late or come late)

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family tree outline - Free genealogy

Tropic Thunder

Watched Tropic Thunder last Saturday with the alliance before dinner. If you one who purely wished to wind down after getting stressed-up at work, this is it. Basically a star studded-no brainer- no need to know the plot movie. Jack Black is a well-known clown while Robert Downey Jr is freshed from the success of Ironman. Ben Stiller... well... just Ben Stiller. What is amazing is Tom Cruise had a role in it. A fat, balding, super vulgar Tom Cruise(yes, it really is him) dancing like he's on 'So You Think You Can Dance?'

I'm looking for La-Bell

Joker: Excuse me, I'm looking for La-Bell, do you have La-Bell??

Assistant: La-Bell??

Joker: Yes, La-Bell.... L-A-B-E-L..... La-Bell.

Assistant: Oh, Label?

Joker: Ya, La-Bell, A4 size... do you have?

Assistant: Yes, we have...

Came across this funny incident last week when I happened to be walking around in Daiso, Plaza Singapura... I wonder if that joker still pronounce it as La-Bell. Anyway Daiso seems to have almost everything thinkable... amazing.

1st day of F1

4.30pm
Just reached, went from Gate 5 near Raffles Place MRT. Didn't seem like many people were inside the Circuit Park. I caught a glimpse of a wheelchair platform and stood while the other races were carrying on with their practice. F1 only starts at 7pm. Getting bored, I decided to tour around looking for other vintage points for viewing. Before I left, a Caucasian was telling an usher that he would not like to see able-bodied spectators to be on the wheelchair platform because they were blocking their view and they paid good money for wheelchair access. Geez there's a dozen slots for wheelchairs and you're the only one there, not like people are denying u access at all.

5pm
Explored the Padang area and Esplanade area. I can hardly recognise the place now with all the barricades and stuff. Seems like Esplanade Grandstand people got a pretty good deal with free flow drinks for them (I think) just below the stands. Lesson learnt #1: Always carry the map and consult it to avoid walking into a dead end.

6pm
Reached the Singapore Flyer and Paddocks area. Not many people around here either but with plenty of area for walkabout people. Discovered a stand for Walkabout *gasp*, well-protected from the elements and right after bend 21. How nice of them. Checked out Singapore Flyer as well, nothing much to rave about the 'mall' itself but the Ferris Wheel is really quite big.

7pm
Armed with my dinner from Popeye's Chicken its back to the stands as the F1 cars races out of their pits. Its really pretty darn loud, much much louder than those Formula BMW race cars and such. The stands gives a pretty nice view from there and I stayed towards the end of Session 1.

8pm
Time to head out and source for other places to view the race. Turn 5 gives a nice opportunity for photographs. Pondered my way to Gate 2 so went back the way to Marina Bay Platform, the area around Turn 19 was flooded with people as the cars made their final practice before the break. Then people started jostling to move to other parts of the circuit, some to find fuel for themselves while others like me just wanna explore other viewing points.

9pm
I'm still at the Marina Bay area due to unhumanely congested roads. Apparently the officials are slacking somewhere else and spectators started climbing over fences and fall all over the shop. Some managed to sneak into Ritz Carlton trying to find another way out while some 'hero' managed to open a gate into Marina Square. So CX managed to bypass the congestion to turn up at Gate 7. The young officials decided to overlook that I did not have the UV stamp and let me through. Lesson Learnt #2: Always take a detour from outside the Circuit Park.Now the Padang area seems more crowded especially the merchandise stalls. The girls manning those stalls are quite pretty, all of them, I wonder if they're former participants of the Singtel Grid Girls or something.

9.30pm
Back at Fullerton to catch Session 2. Saw a bunch of stupid "Ah Nehs"(no racism intended) but they were acting real stupid, whenever a McLaren passes by they raised their arms in a rather odd manner (I can't put them in words). Its just free practice for goodness sake. One Fullerton was the best place to catch free action when dozens of people started climbing up the other side of Anderson Bridge or stood by the fence to watch. They really got a good view compared to the free viewers outside the Asian Civilisation Museum or Marina Square.

10.30pm
CX realises he had enough of seeing cars for today and decided to hop onto the train from Raffles Place before hordes of people tried to exit the Circuit Park.

*There's no pictures because the memory card died just now, along with all the shots I took today. Great!

Possible PSLE maths question for this year

Q: If the Singapore F1 race circuit passes through 5 ERP gantries which charges cars at $2 each, how much ERP toll must the winning car pay? (The first car which finishes 61 laps wins)

Viewers who have watch Channel 5's The Noose, pls refrain from answering.

F1 comes to Singapore

3 more days til F1 kickstarts in Singapore!

Heard that the $168 3 days walkabout tickets I bought now sells at $250/set on ebay... Darn, should have made some 'investments' if I knew.

The media has reported that the excitement for the race have not actually hit home, foreigners are more excited about it than we do. Pretty true actually, since there are some people who do not even have an inkling that the race will be over this weekend(like my mom).

Anyway I felt it was pretty unscrupulous for SMRT to exercise an $5 surcharge for its taxi flagged down in the race area during this period. A darn blood-sucking move indeed, either way SMRT wins since those who refused to pay will most likely have to take MRT and the fares again goes to you know who.

Anyway my guess for the race is Ferrari will win if the sky is all clear, if it rains darn Hamiliton who have proved to be the wet master will probably hit it home.

Viewers' discretion is Advised

Just wanted to share some nice 'retro' pictures one of my fren uploaded on facebook. These exude such nostalgia that would probably raise eyebrows even though they were taken 'not too long ago' (say 8-9 years). Time really flies and so does fashion and everything else. Those from NAS would probably recognise some familiar faces other than mine of course.

Look how popular I am with 3 wanting to pose with me.
Actually that's the only available place to sit!


Good old Mr Phua at the corner, don't you just miss the school?

This is in Toa Payoh and definitely not some old estate from the 1980s
You're suppose to loook at the camera not me, Aloysius

How many steps does it take to uncover your F1 pass??

Step 1: Collect the parcel... looking back at Sept 11, I seriously thought there might be a bomb in there. But then again I also thought since its such a big box, there much be some memorabilia inside, maybe a shirt or something.

Step 2: Open the box. First thought: What the F***! Did I buy the F1 ticket on April 1? Then you realise there's another small black box at the side. Apt example for a WHITE ELEPHANT!
Step 3: Take out the black box and scrutinise it, afterall I did pay $168 for it.

Step 4: Open the black box and be fascinated!

Step 5: Then you take a closer look at the pass.

Step 6: You prop up the passes and take a picture of it, if you want, blog about it ;)


For the record, the F1 passes really did came in that big white box.

The undying Trojan Horse seems to be rather 'immortal', not wanting to risk my computer crashing, I've to keep offline while I kill the Malware with the help of an expert probably on the other side of the globe. Anyway its back to School for me and as usual NUS is still the same old campus, no big changes anywhere, not that I realised anyway. But I do realise that even NUS has succumb to the pressure of inflation and most prices are on the rise in NUS since the holidays. Now food here do not cost that much different from the hawkers centres outside, Indonesian food at Engin now cost at least $3 now for those who miss it. Haven't had a chance to try though, I wonder if its the Freshies this year, NUS really seems more crowded. That will be more for now, until that stinky parasite is killed at least.

Red Cliff - A Flop

Watched Red Cliff today with Eugene and I was utterly disappointed at the show. Same sentiments with viewers in China, the show was more of a comedy than an epic. A more Hollywood-style chinese movie but definitely a joke if they are showing this to the chinese where the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of four top chinese literature works. I believe its failure could be traced to a few factors:

1. Weak cast. Other than Tony Leung, Zhang FengYi(Cao Cao) and Hu Jun(Zhao Yun), the other cast do not have the acting chops to carry off a decent period movie. The portrayal of certain characters are laughable most of the times, like Guan Yu lacks an some arrogance.
   
   
2. Not living up the name. It didn't help that the 1995 100 episodes drama serial of Romance of the Three Kingdoms was so good that the style of each characters are deeply etched in fans.
   
   
3. Modern dialogue. Imagine MacBeth played out in modern english dialogues in those school skits. You laugh right? Period shows should adopt a style of language suitable for the era it represents. In Red Cliff the style is often too casual.
   
   
4. Funnies. No one forbids jokes/funny stunts in epic movies but at the very least it should be kept to a minimal yet introduced at suitable times. Legolas using a shield as a skateboard was done so nicely that it enhanced viewers' perception of his abilities. Recall the scene where the soldiers throw ropes, pulling enemies in and killing them; leaving one looking around to find out where his comrades have gone to before falling prey. Come on!
   
   
5. Lousy fight scenes. Guan Yu, Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei are valiant but they're not indestructible and certainly do not enjoy fighting alone. The show is more of giving the actors more screen time doing their 'I can kill everyone' stunts than portraying a better fight scene. Even War and Beauty starring Kelly Chen does this better.
   
   
6. Too lengthy. Many scenes can actually be done away without affecting the story much. There are just too many redundant scenes in the movie. Who cares how a horse give birth? I think that scene alone took up like 10 mins of the show.
   

So for those who have not watched, its certainly not worth the money.

1 month of absence

I shall commerate 1 month of absence with a post... haha!

Busy the past month on my present job as a surveyor for MOM. It certainly is hard work but I'm still around becoz of the pay and flexible hours. But there are times when you feel so down when you work from the afternoon til late night(9pm) and people just show you attitude even when you're on government service. There are a few nice fellows once in a while which kinda keeps you going.

Well, this job brings me to some exciting places like Geylang showing a side of Singapore I bet most of you people have never seen with your eyes. I've been 1-room, 2-rooms, maisionette, shophouses, etc. Quite an eye-opener esp the 1-room flats which we normally only get to see on TV. Gosh, they're really quite small yet some had to squeeze entire families in there. Geylang is another eye-opener. For those who only roam about there in the comfort of their 4-wheelers, try walking through the alleys at night, you will be greatly amazed; though I haven't had the chance to interview a 'brothel' (unlike someone), guess they're not 'lucky' enough to be randomly chosen.

Tried some great food in the area as well, most notably the sliced fish soup stall at Aljunied Crescent Blk 119 which also serves braised duck. Their fish is either of top-notch quality or supreme freshness, or both. The texture is truly superb, even fussy Eugene said its good, so it has to be. If you're there, try the fish soup and braised duck over a bowl of rice topped with the braised duck sauce.

One thing I realised through the survey, most couples I've interviewed had the wife older than the husbands, I wonder if its a geographical trend or otherwise.

Lastly, congrats to Benjamin on his graduation and thanks for inviting us over for lunch, we had fun on your Nintendo DS and uncovering the 'porn' pictures on your laptop. ;)

Haven't been updating for a really long time now... sloth has caught up in this aspect. Well, I've haven't start work for now, but went for some job training already, I'll be doing surveys for MOM for their June Labour Force Survey and though it pays well, it certainly isn't going to be smooth-sailing. Survey is going to start on Tuesday and its kinda flexible where I can call respondents from home unless its those troublesome cases where I can't locate the respondents by phone that requires me to head down for a house visit but there's not going to happen soon anyway. Hope I get allocated to somewhere near, Tampines, Simei or Pasir Ris would be ideal.

Backdated

Some backdated stuff here which I had wanted to blog about but just plain lazy to upload the pics from my HP...
First up is the dinner I once had at Adam Rd Food centre before the exams. If you're wondering why I took this picture from the sides, it becoz it was actually raining outside. Its a rather small food centre with about 10 odd stalls but out of this small number, there's already about 2 nasi-lemak stalls and 4-5 mutton soup stalls so the variety is actually really small here. Probably great for those craving for some mutton (there's chinese, malay and indian versions here). Tried the Dum Briyani (no, the rice is not stupid but the mutton is cooked while covered in rice) and maggie goreng. Briyani was not bad but the same can't be said for the goreng(u have been warned). So sticking to mutton soup or nasi lemak should be a wiser choice... oh I heard the prawn noodles are pretty good but at $6-7 a bowl its on the high side actually.

Tried the half-spring chicken($2.80) from THE DECK(FASS canteen) the other day, wanted to order my fav chicken cutlet but the spring chicken was beaconing me to eat it which I did and regretted. Don't be fooled by its KFC-lookalike appearance though, the meat tasted bland yet its was still bleeding at the joints(Ewww!). I should just stick to chicken cutlet.

The last day of exams was spent at Vivocity watching Ironman and trying out new food. Seriously, Ironman was really quite phenomenal, from the story, its flow, the graphics... its was just great, even tough critic Eugene said so. So for those who haven't watched it, do head down to the cinema to catch one, I can guarantee you its definitely worth that $7-9 bucks(depending when you watch it). Do remember to catch the prelude to Ironman 2 shown after the credits!

Stir-fried noodles with Black Pepper Chicken was good.

Beef Hor-fun in black bean sauce was less fantastic.

Sausage breaded with French Fries from Dong Dae Mun was way over-rated!

Dinner was spent at Central @ Vivo, a HK cafe with quite a few outlets I think, including one at TM top floor. Nothing special worth mentioning actually, its menu was pathetically limited. Hill-top HK cafe at the Tampines CC trashed it hands down in terms of food, price and variety. Read about a new Korean snack chain opening up in Singapore from the papers the other day, Dong Dae Mun, so decided to try it. Again this Breaded sausage is as 'good' as that spring chicken I had, if you just had to try it I suggest you dump lotsa mayo on it, its practically tasteless. The chicken skewers were much better, it comes in sweet or spicy sauce, but we tried the sweet one and its good. The ones you see at the counter are actually only half-cooked after which they will 'peng' it for a while before coating the sauce of your choice so it comes pipping hot.


Back to the bonus question from the last post : 用什么抹窗最干净??

The Answer: 用力抹窗最干净... haha... you gotta admit that it really makes sense!

Why don't ghosts swing their arm while 'walking'

Have you ever wondered why ghosts are depicted to be motionless while 'moving' around. Note the '' '' here which I will explain later as well. Some would probably say that this is just something scriptwriters and movie directors came up with to differentiate real living people from those dead ones. But if you think about it from the scientific aspects, it actually make some sense.

There are actually 2 problems here... 1) Why don't they swing their arms? 2) Do they even walk?

The only way for someone to travel from place to place without any mechanical aid(eg. skateboard, roller blades, etc) is to walk. We all agree that right? Then again, we don't really classify them as people, but let's assume they are for now. So why don't they swing their arms like us? Scientifically it is accurate, let me show you. Firstly, we don't assume ghosts have any weight, isn't it? They can float and do other funny stuff so let's assume they are weightless, or rather mass-less. But what makes people swing their arms is actually due to the moment generated by our legs as we walk, so to counter this moment, our arms swing or else we will be turning as we walk and can never reach our destination. To generate moment, we need a force and a perpendicular distance from the force to the pivot(from one leg to the other).

Then we go back to our 2nd question, do they ghosts really walk?? Let's first assume they do, so with each step they generate a moment and so on... but wait, they were mass-less, right? So by Newton's 2nd law, F = ma, they cannot generate any force so no moment and no counter-moment from the arms. Question 1, check!

Then we go back to our first assumption that they walk, so now we assume they don't, if you watched enough movies they actually float around since they can defy gravity with their lack of mass(sometimes they crawl too, think THE RING). So they move, but their arms still don't swing, why? Remember I said the swing of arm is due to the moment from the movement of the legs, so since their legs don't move, why the hell you get that moment you need to swing those arms??

Then back to Qn 2, do they walk? We need to go back to Newton's 2nd law to explain this. If you paid enough attention in your physics class in secondary school, you should know you need a force to move, since ghosts are mass-less, they generate no force and thus they cannot walk. Therefore the notion that they float is more accurate than say Sadako crawling out of the TV.
Question 2, check!

**Explaining the Paranormal with Science is proudly brought to you by LAMESHIT School of Thought, any truth is purely coincidental**

Hope you guys managed to de-stress in this exam period!

PS: LAMESHIT School of Thought is looking for more myths and legends that need explaining with science.

Bonus Qn : 用什么抹窗最干净?? Answer will be out with the next post.

Eee PC

Easy to Learn, Work and Play
Excellent Internet Experience
Excellent Mobile Computing Experience

These 3 phrases describes the EEE of the Asus sub-laptop which I saw someone in NUS carrying. At 7", weighing 920g, looking like your MacBook in its pure white chassis, this is one darn cool laptop. It should be noted that they do not contain any optical drives for storage, instead uses the same technology as your thumbdrive in data storage. This results in the smaller than normal size while boasting a cooler machine and faster startup. For those who are interested the 4gb version carries a S$598 tag with the 8gb going to hit S'pore shores real soon(maybe it alr did).

For more information, click here.

The Answers

Well, since the test do not display the answers, I shall do the honour of revealing the answers since I'm stuck in the computer lab in YIH.

1) My real name is of course Changxiong, no space in between but sadly most people add a space to it and the banks don't even care if there's a space.

2) If you know me after JC, you shall be forgiven... Swimming is the answer, it dominated my life from sec 1 way over JC.

3) If you have read the blog, you would know that I've done diving way back in 2005.

4) Watermelon has been my favourite since young, cos its juicy, sweet and you can get seedless ones!

5) Unlike most guys I'm not interested in soccer, golf is too boring, tennis is not commonly on Ch 5... they used to have F1 on TV back in my secondary school days and I have a Ferrari flag at home, courtesy of Jon.

6) Living in Tampines my whole life, commuting to NUS is really punishing sometimes. No bonus to knowing why I chose NUS over NTU. I shall forgive those who thinks Tampines is in the West as well ;)

7) Again the answer can be found on the blog. Munich will play host to me next year.

8) If you have been reading this blog, this should not be too hard either. Since I've compared Xiao Long Bao from Imperial Treasure, Crystal Jade, Ding Tai Feng and some other places.

9) Boring CX will definitely be in the most boring faculty in NUS. ENGINEERING of cos. Indulging myself with Fluids Mechanics, Nyquist Stability Criterion and if Newton is alive, I would salute him since he actually came out with his laws just by looking at an apple falling from a tree, I think.

10) I would say this, along with the fruit question should be the hardest. I think I mentioned Prison Break and Ghost Whisperer before and I finished the whole of season I and II of Heroes. Desperate Housewives are just beyond me in terms of content and time(I'm always busy at 10pm).

Sakura Orchard

Happened to be in town yesterday and decided to try out Sakura at Orchard Shopping Centre which is just opposite Cineleisure. Weekend Dinner was pretty expensive at $29.95 per head.

The ambience was pretty okay, you will not have the feeling of eating in a sardine can and the place was done up pretty nicely. Seated by the window I was treated to a nice view of the surrounding shopping centres and the endless stream of people walking along the streets(dun expect too much). Service was also prompt and staff were courteous most of the time. Some of them were wearing face masks, hopefully that was to maintain hygiene not becoz of SARS or somthing.

Most importantly, the FOOD!

Well, generally it was a pleasant meal which I felt was definitely worth the price even for a weekend one. The Jap food bar has lotsa items to choose from, about 15 different types of sushi, a decent variety of Sashimi with squid, prawn, salmon, snapper and I dunno wad. There's also Cold Soba noodles, smoked duck and some appetizers like Fruit salad, scallop and abalone salad which I found really nice.

Then there's the western bar with pizzas(Ham and chicken I think), grilled scallops(w or w/o cheese or raw), mussels(grilled or raw), salads and its other condiments.

Next up would be what I think is the asian food area with roast duck(nice!), cray fish, mutton redang, beancurd with sauce, steamed fish with sauce and some dim sum(mainly siew mai, beancurd roll and pao).

As with the other Sakura outlets, there's the tepanyaki/grill corner with a wide variety of meats to choose from. There's satay(mutton and chicken), beef(not steak), lamb chop, dory fillet, unagi, mackerel(nice!), squid(not the panggang type) and some other meats as well. Adjacent to the grill is the fried food corner where there's fried prawns and fish and other common items but no fries.

The deserts section is split into 2 with the ice cream and sherbet at one side and the fruits on the other. There was about 6 different types of ice cream like peppermint and 2 sherbets(lime and orange) with choco rice or nuts toppings. The fruits section has at least 10 types of fruits with other items like 'gui ling gao', mango pudding, yam paste and thai sweet tapioca.

There's also a variety of drinks to choose from, soft drinks, cold teas or just the normal coffee and tea.

Overall experience was good with my personal liking to the roast duck, lamb chops, yam paste, appetizers, sherbet and mackerel. Apparently I saw some people having laksa and seafood soup which I have no idea where its from, but i presume it should be ordered from the grill section area. Grills are fuss free, no queuing as one just need to attach your table clips to your order and it will be delivered to u once its done. The entrance is hidden away since there's no indication of its entrance but it beside teh 7-11 and there's actually a small flight of stairs before a waitress will attend to u then u make your payment and take the escalator up to the restaurant. Do have a try.

Video from NTU

Video by NTU students on the triple bunking proposal. Very funny.

SUBWAY ...... Eat Fresh!

I remembered I first tried Subway back in secondary school at the newly(at that time) opened pioneer outlet at Suntec. I tried the meatball Sandwich which wasn't that fantastic and since then I haven't tried Subway again. That holds true until maybe I enrolled into NUS. With NUS students discounts and our very own in-house outlet here, I decided to give it another try. My second try of the Italian BMT wasn't so bad, better than the first time. Probably becoz of my new liking to vegetables which Subway sandwiches are loaded with. With time, I tried others on the menu, Subway Melt, all the different breads, different sauces like honey mustard and chili, 6inches to foot long, the cookies they had... One of the best combinations I've tried so far is the Cold Cut trio with BBQ and sweet onion sauce. Not too salty like Italian BMT yet also not as guilty as Subway Melt. Though there's still plenty of other items I haven't tried yet but yes the NUS outlet is better than the other outlets out there. Do try it if u happen to pass by.

New Homegrown Movie

NOW SHOWING
at all parks, wooded and secluded areas near you. Catch it while you still can.
Co-starring: Police Gurkha Contingent, Special Operations Command AND your normal 'Ma-ta'.
Guest Appearance: SAF Guardsmen, Military Police AND the 'cute' dogs from the K9 unit.

Shock and awe

I've seen some really interesting and shocking things the past couple of weeks.

Shock #1

As I was running at the park beside my house, I smelled cigarette smoke. Looking around I saw no old uncle smoking, the other people nearby were another guy running in front(pretty impossible to be him) and a small kid walking in front as well. Guess what, the young KID was puffing from a cigarette like a young Chao Ah Beng from Jack Neo's new movie. My guess on his age puts him at 10 years old, at most 13. I've seen the plenty of secondary school students smoking, but someone of his tender age totally took me by surprise.

Surprise #2

Walked past the 201 area the other day while buying dinner and passed by the Singapore Pools outlet. Happened to see that they're expanding their revenue by opening up on F1 betting. Yes, the very sport which is coming to Singapore this Sept. With the decision to allow casino in Singapore, the bookmarking(its the gambling version la, bookworm!) industry is really opening up here.

Surprise #3

For those who have taken a test in a Lecture theatre while not being forced to sit alternately will definitely find the test very 'open'. Not that its open book but rather copying is so so rampant in such environment. But a test I took on Wednesday changed my opinion, the Professors and tutors finally put their minds together for a countermeasure. The gave the question papers out to alternate students. Meaning there's 2 different papers and the only the 3rd person sitting away from u would get the same questions as u. Those who might be crying foul here, rest assured that the 2 papers are awfully similar save some numbers changed and diagrams altered slightly otherwise they're the same. Now to add another element of surprise we realised that those doing the 'same' papers were not exactly the same as the answers may still be jumbled up(MCQ). So there's probably 4 different sets of papers out there. But then again, when its time to hand in the papers, it was so chaotic that many people were comparing answers and discussing them.

Malcolm Park under siege

The biggest news for the month of Feburary has to go to the escape of the JI head Mas Kastari (sorry Youth Olympic 2010). Chances are every Singaporean or just anyone staying on this island will be tuning in to the news about how a fugitive actually bolted out from detention centre and managed to evade thousands of policemen, Gurkhas, military police and Guardsmen for not one day but two and counting(yes, he's still not caught). For the less news-savvy, here's the summary so far:

1. Mas Kastari was going to the toilet enroute to his family visitation
2. He managed to escape from the toilet, dunno how, maybe he knows the ancient Chinese art of "Soft Bone"
3. Either the entire building is not fenced up or somehow our JI leader here managed to climb/crawl/fly past the fence. (The ancient Chinese art of "Ground digging" may be the culprit)
4. Mr JI leader then managed to disappear maybe into Malcolm Park for maybe somewhere else in Singapore though the authorities suppose he will try to escape to Indonesia
5. Only after 4 hours after his escape did our Mr JI leader became the no.1 Billboard champion in Singapore. Literally 'famous' overnight.
6. Large police cordon at Whitley and Dunearn Road through the night as police do house visits(after CNY, tsk tsk)
7. On Thur morning, police, Gurkha and members from the army locked down on Malcolm Park with personnel standing around Malcolm park facing inwards(looking out for Mr Fugitive less he walks out on his own).
8. Last time I heard about this incident is that the cordon around Malcolm Park was withdrew without explanation(what else? he's not there la, duh!)

Well, I haven't mentioned that Mr Fugitive here is a limp(maybe its just to fake ppl) so that made his escape all the more unbelievable. I mean an Internal Security dention centre that actually managed to let a limp escape through a bloody toilet? Fire the janitor! No lah, we should not speculate at this point since the entire picture is not known. At least he didn't walk out through the main gate, that would have been very embarrassing. Anyway there are bound to be people who have to bear the responsibility for such a security lapse, we'll know soon who it will be. If he actually escapes to Indonesia or any other country, Singapore will bear a bad reputation on internal security and probably will face repercussions from its neighbours.

Then again, it might all be a ploy by the authorities to let him escape. My alternative theory would be that they did it on purpose for 2 reasons. One, to get the already complacent Singapore population back on the alert level while testing the operational level for such emergency internal security operation. Second, to lure any JI remnants in Singapore or any like-minded people to make contact with Mr JI head in order to secure his escape out of Singapore, then the police can catch everyone in a swoop. Nice huh, just my own guess though, dun think the authorities will put the safety of the population at risk. Sleep tight everyone, the NSFs on duty will keep us safe, hopefully if they dun doze off on duty.

Digging the grave

Took a look at my old blog from my own link... saw this interesting post which I wrote last year. Thot i share it with those who haven't seen it yet, for those who already did, u can close this window now.... tune in to the next post!

Story from CTW

For ppl who have no idea wad CTW refers to, its actually critical thinking and writing, its a requirement for all engin students to take to grad. So my lesson in CTW pretty much revolves around a story mi tutor said.

The story began with 2 boats and its 5 passengers, boat 1 has a chio-bu, an old man and a sailor. Boat 2 has the chio-bu's bf and his best fren, dun ask why the bf and the gal are not on the same boat that's just the case. So the 2 boats were at sea and encountered a heavy storm where the 2 boats got separated and washed ashore to 2 deserted islands. Boat 1 was damaged during the storm, and the chio-bu wants to be with her bf on the other island so she approached the sailor to help repair the boat. The sailor agreed readily but his condition is that she must sleep with him. Confused, the gal approached the old man for advice. The old man upon told her that he could not tell her exactly wad to do but if she should follow her heart. So the gal decided to sleep with the sailor and the next day the sailor repaired the boat as promised and they set sail to the other island. When the gal met her bf, she cried and told him everything that had happened. The bf was furious and slapped the gal and broke up with her. The gal ran to the beach and sat there crying, at this time the best fren came up to her and comforted her. He said he would help her patch up with him but in the meantime he would take care of her. That's was the end of the story.

So who among the 5 ppl mentioned did the RIGHT thing? Ponder about it for a while at first thought many ppl would prob choose the old man or the gal, so did i, but after discussing it with mi classmates for a while i realised that the sailor was the only one who did the right thing and actually that's the correct answer. If you were to base ur arguments on facts from the story alone the sailor kept his word though he did ask for a high price for repairing the boat but he was honest abt it. the old man gave a on the fence answer while the gal was rather irrational abt her decision. The best fren obviously have some ulterior motives, so the horny but honest sailor who kept his word wins the day!

Ultimately, critical thinking is about looking at things in a unbiased view, looking at things from the facts, ignoring all social/moral stigma that may otherwise cloud your judgment.

Mid-term break in a flash

This blog is kinda dormant for the last 2 weeks huh.... been rather busy with school stuff with projects, reports, tutorials and other stuff. I was hoping to catch up some work during the CNY but sadly it was no possible. So now its the mid-term break, I feel this shall be the most productive mid-term break for me ever. I've planned revisions from mon-fri with tutorials to be done during the weekends (of cos sat is reserved for the special someone). So this semester shall see my most productive mid-term break ever. FYI I was totally slacking last mid-term break as there was no test AT ALL! There's 2 tests coming up next week plus another online quiz real soon as well. There's no time to lose, full-time enjoyment shall be fulfilled next year in the midst of the beautiful landscape of Deutschland(Germany).

Some interesting 'events' that happened since the last post includes CNY visit to Alex's party @ Sentosa Cove(pics not uploaded yet), CNY 'gamb-thering' at Kian's place(no pics taken, though sheila brought her camera, maybe she used it to do an edison imitation while her bf was in town), Fireworks @ Esplanade on 2nd day of CNY.

For the super kaypohs (e.g. crystal & maybel) who might question me later, V-day was spent at CHOMP CHOMP. Yes the very renowned hawker centre in Serangoon as german classes which were un-skippable ended at 8pm.

One last important message applicable to all single girls who are looking for Lurve and/or companionship only. Pls refer to "My Fluffy Pillows Classified Advert Subject Ref: 001 posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 " here for a super-duper knock-off deal!

Its that time of the year again!

Once again, its that time of the year again where people start dressing in bright red colours, hands carrying 2 odd looking(sometimes) mandarin oranges, hanging out at your relatives' collecting ang pao though for some its giving out those pesky red packets full of cash.

Its the Chinese New Year!

Its time to go about the usual routine I always does each year. The same people would be visiting and I would be visiting the same people as usual.

Wishing all a Happy Chinese New Year!

The 101st post

Unknowingly its the 101st post for this blog, so I shall share something really interesting I came across. A word scramble I came across in the NUS FASS' bulletin. It re-arranges word(s) to form other words that quite aptly relates to the former one. Enjoy.

After Arranging

Dormitory : Dirty Room

Astronomer: Moon Starer

Desperation: A Rope Ends It

The Eyes: They See

The Morse Code: Here Comes the Dots

Slot Machines: Cash Lost in Me

Election Results: Lies - Let's Recount

Snooze Alarms: Alas! No More Z's

Eleven Plus Two: Twelve Plus One

Mother-in-Law: Woman Hitler

Leaders & Managers

I once read an article that points out the differences between a leader and a manager which I find rather apt. A manager is one who maintains a system that has already been put in place and ensures its smooth running(think factory). His main role is only to ensure the smooth running of the system and could only solve minor problems that could have arise. A leader on the other hand would most probably be the one who came up with that system and deals with any major problems that can pop up.

From my opinion a leader should be one who do not have to be the best in everything within the team, his role is to be able to bring the whole team together and utilize every members' talents and abilities to bring out the full potential of the team. Of course the leader himself must know a basic minimum of everything in order to be able to communicate with the rest of the team and come up with a plan/strategy. He should also be one who solves problems met by the team by either from his own experience/thinking or by tapping on the expertise of the other members. At no point can he push the blame to the other members, rather he should be the one who accepts all responsibilities on behalf of the team. The leader must not micro-manage but should always supervise the progress of the team. As the link between the various members in the team, he should also be the one who mediate any conflicts and be willing to accept all ideas. Only then can he command the respect of the team in order to lead them.

Actually I'm just venting some steam from a recent encounter where a 'leader' enforces others to his idea, giving out instructions to all. When problems started coming up, he simply start to show his attitude and pushes the blame to others for not listening and supporting him where in fact everyone were acting on his instructions. The now-mellow CX would most definitely avoid confrontation at all cost for the sake of peace and harmony, but should I be on a bad mood that day, I would most definitely flame his ass and throw him out. Leader? MY ASS!

Botak Jones + Katong HK Cafe

Went to Botak Jones Clementi last nite to try it out, first impression is that its probably the main draw of the coffee shop. Staff are all youngsters, bringing a breath of fresh air into the coffeeshop culture here. They set up a nice counter at the entrance, probably to prevent long queue from forming inside which may disrupt the biz of other stalls. The counter has a sample of some of their dishes, probably the more famous ones and also provide with numerous copies of the menu for waiting customers to read. Service wise is considered superb if you're comparing within the coffeeshop culture, polite and prompt. Price wise I find it to be rather reasonable considering the serving. Taste wise I've only tried the Botak Burger with Cheese. Initial bite was rather delicious with succulent and juicy patty but after a while the thick patty starts to get on your nerves a little as it gets more and more messy as u eat. Coleslaw was bad, rather tasteless, one of the worst I've eaten so far. Fries were normal though they said it was topped with their own mix of spices but its probably just the common cajun spice.

Overall I would say its value for money in terms of service, taste and serving though they compare their taste to those of restaurants, which I feel based on the burger set is so-so only but I would go try its other dishes for a more well-rounded opinion.

Botak Burger set at $7, plus $1 for cheese

Tried the HK cafe at Katong, located just behind ROXY Sq which in turn is opp Parkway Parade. Ambience wise is not bad with lotsa old HK singers posters like Jacky Cheung and god knows who. Service was prompt and staff was rather polite. Price wise was reasonable as well and the menu has pictures for many of the items which is good for people who have no idea wad they're ordering. Food was rather tasty and most importantly all are served piping hot.

Sorry no pics for that, too hungry to remember to take them. But ordered a dry noodles in X.O sauce, curry noodles, guo tie(pan-fried dumpling) and siew mai. The dim sum were really good, esp the siew mai, its like eating prawns la, pretty fresh as well, guo tie was alright. They serve steamboat alfresco style and the traditional HK CNY dish, Peng Cai(literally vegetables in a basin) but its more than just vegetables, there's meat like cured meat and roast meat in there as well. I saw a nice looking roasted duck drumbstick.

Birthdays surprises

During the tough military trainings, the only occasion worth celebrating(at all) would be people's birthdays. It provides us with a chance to experience life, normal life in the harsh conditions in camp trainings. So normally these goes out in a bang.


Birthday Surprise 1
Victim: LTA(NS) Yap Weihao aka Mr 13
Location: Somewhere in Taiwan

The Plan:
This surprise was hatched almost the moment we reached camp in Taiwan, his best pal Nat had already informed everyone about the plan. Everyone were roped in, including the instructors. It happened the night before the live firing were to commence. Instructors who went back to camp to bathe drop by to purchase nice food for the party, stuff like Chicken Cutlets, spicy tofu and a big birthday cake. Then as everyone gathered to rehearse the sequence for live firing(dangerous leh) everyone surrounded weihao as the food stuff and cake were unloaded. There wasn't a need actually since he was already in a daze with lack of sleep. Seeing this, LTA Heng our instructor saw an opportunity and started scolding him for not paying attention(you shld look at weihao's face) then all of a sudden 'Happy Birthday to You'..... To be honest most of us were already feeling low morale at that time, cold weather, lousy food, lack of sleep, daily rantings. That party boosted our morale tremendously.

Birthday Boy Yap on the left
Food courtesy of Yap's Bday.

Birthday Surprise 2
Victim: LTA(NS) Chua Hanxiang
Location: Somewhere in Singapore

The Plan:
Someone noticed hanxiang's Bday from his 11B(military IC), so planned this really impromptu surprise for him. The chance came when he went to bathe, alone. The entire room jumped into action, removing everything from his cupboard(refer to pic below) including his bedsheets and pillow case. Then someone went to call him to fall in, meaning to gather while he's bathing. He quickly came out and went to his cupboard shocked to find everything gone. That's when everyone started bursting out in laughter. For the record, we didn't help him put his stuff back, haha.

Moving out

All clear

Birthday Surprise 3
Victim: 2LT(NS) Wang Changxiong (Yes, its me, I fell for it too!)
Location: Somewhere in Singapore

The Plan:
Ok, from what I've gathered is that, someone saw my D.O.B from my 11B. But it was already over at that time so they had a belated one for me. I completely had no idea they planned something behind my back. We went to our sand model room for debriefing for the day, reading the routine orders for the day. It was a really weird routine order, it said something about a thief stealing something on this particular day(my birthday) and it was something really serious. Then they faked a call and told me my Commanding officer wants to see me and another person now(at 10pm). So we went out with me totally muddled with what's going on. My friend was all-smiles already(I didn't know why at that time). Then before we even went up the stairs, they called me back. When I entered the room, it was pitch black with candles on chocolate cup cakes. That's all they could get in camp, but it was real sweet of them to do this. No photos for this one.


I was reminded of this becoz of a surprise party someone is throwing this sat and I'm invited to be part of it. I shan't say who, in case this person is reading this, though I think that is 99.9% impossible but just in case!

Lighthouse Family - High

New Yr Eve steamboat grill

Had a steamboat grill at Sheila's for this New Yr Eve, super duper impromptu with most ingredients acquired at NTUC before heading to her house to prepare them. The feast was proudly presented by Chef Wang, Sous Chef Elson, Kitchen Helper Kian and Sheila the maid. I must say the meat for Shabu Shabu(jap steamboat) tastes way better after grilling it, my 'magic sauce' played a major role in that as well. I personally like the prawns(shelled by the 3), the shabu meat and the crab leg meat best. The steamboat grill set, magic sauce(special jap grill sauce) and vodka provided by myself. I left for home before they set up the mahjong den. I think we can do more of this.

The 2 Chefs hard at work

Sous Chef elson trying to be funny behind

The spread we prepared

Sous Chef elson, Chef Wang, kitchen helper kian and sheila the maid

Chef Wang as part time photographer

Now you see 1
Then 2

Lastly 3 (we need someone to take the photo ya?)

The blurriness is what makes this special

More on Berkelah

Clara and me

The lousy food at Stonegrill City Sq

The tired Colin

Campsite before leaving (committe is last as usual)

Our 'tent-mates'

One part of the treacherous rapid

Happy new year to all

I had a good start so far ;)