Siao Lang Geng (Asylum in Hokkien)

To My Son, Shawn Ethan Chua Weijie

2011-09-15T17:58:00.002+08:00

Dear Shawn, Papa love you very much okay? Shawn, don't cry. Papa love you very much okay? Do you know why you do not stay with your own parents like your classmates and friends in school and church? It's all because papa and mummy too lazy to bring you home, when you were a baby, every night after work. It evolved from an arrangement for convenience's sake. That's why it always seems like we have given you up for adoption by your maternal grandparents. But that doesn't mean papa and mummy love you any less, okay? To mummy and me, you have been and always will be our son. To me, you will always be my son. I'm proud of you consistently staying at the top 3 of your class. Well done, son! Keep up the good work! :D Cheers, Your Father

BMW 760Li

2011-06-07T16:46:00.002+08:00

Top of the line model in the 7 series line-up.

Handphone Jealousy

2011-06-07T16:46:00.001+08:00

HTC Peach is considered by some to be better-looking than Galaxy T. But the former is nonetheless jealous of the latter becos the latter is more popular than the former. Ironically, Galaxy T is also jealous of HTC Peach becos Motorola Chocolate thinks HTC Peach is better-looking than Galaxy T.

A Mad Woman

2011-06-07T16:46:00.000+08:00

Picked up a crazy woman this morning at Marine Parade. She asked me to drive her to Terminal 1 at 1st but then changed to T2 after realising T2 is nearer. She wanted to go airport to buy radio ;p Asked her which station she listens to she said Gold 90 show. At 1st she asked if she could pay by NETS. But when she reached there she paid cash. Think she was angry becos i underestimated the fare at around $10. Actual fare was $12.95. She got out of the cab & slammed the door very hard. SIAO JAR BOR!!! Too bad not insane & unsound enough to be locked up in IMH. She said ALL the people working in SG now are Filippinos. Singaporeans all not working becos cannot find job. SIAO!!!

Fare Cheats

2010-09-14T13:20:00.002+08:00

I have been driving a cab since January 2009 and so far I have encountered 2 fare cheats.

The 1st one was a lady whose credit card could not be processed successfully as it had been maxed out. Then she claimed she would transfer the fare she owed me via internet. The transfer never took place.

Last night i picked up a Mat from Marine Crescent to Bedok North Street 3.

Bugger said he would go upstairs to take the money and give me. He gave me $2 first before he got out of the cab. I waited like a fool for almost 10 minutes and he never appeared again.

Mother-fucking bastard!

I'm okay with giving free rides to people who are genuinely needy.

But i hate being taken for free rides. Cabbies do what they do to make a living to support their family. They are not primarily in the business of giving free rides.

Next time, must ask the fucker for his or her IC before they leave the cab and claim they would return with the fare they owe me.

Better still, when they board the cab, ask them, "You got money to take taxi or not? If you have no money, please walk home! Get the fuck outta my cab NOW!"

Singaporeans ‘enslaved’ by YOG organising committee

2010-08-24T12:47:00.002+08:00

August 18th, 2010 | Author: Contributions
Now I know really why the YOG is a utter failure, been hearing on Talkback on 938 live on how people are upset over the budget of 300 over million from the initial 100 million.

Many are also upset over the delay of the sports facility delayed which are supposed for the YOG due to whatever reason. I am a volunteer/temporary staff working for YOG.

This is not my choice but many students like myself are being forced to work for the games saying failing which, you will not get your testimonial and/or may affect your grades. Is this ethical?

[Get instant updates and discussions about the YOG on our Facebook page here]

I was tasked to work night shift (I will not say who I am working for) because I am a guy and they say its better for guys to take the night job as it is unsafe for girls. We were supposed to work for 19 days straight with 2 days off only. With all the tight security, how can it be unsafe for the girls?

Many of the workers I spoke too said they were forced to come to work for the games and they do not have a pay increase although they got transport allowance. What they told me is that they say we should be proud of serving the country rather than asking for more money and its an experience of a life time that money cannot buy.

Budget wise, when I sit on the shuttle bus, I spoke to a few athletes and talked to them heartily. What I found out from some is that all foreigners invited to attend the games would be provided with a SIM card with unlimited local calls. The higher ranks one even gets a cell phone. So, is this where are they spending the money instead of promoting it? The marketing of YOG needs improvement where you can hardly hear any promotion being done. So, where did the money of 300 odd million went to?

The way they are treating the staff is horrendous. We are not allowed to take breaks for more than half hour. If we wanted to drink, we can only do so in the workforce canteen and if we happened to be in the canteen and wanted a drink, they told us cannot even though there are no atheletes and will reprimand us continuously. We are not allowed to sit anywhere near the canteen otherwise it is a violation of rules. The officials however are allowed to sit down even if there are athletes. This is double standard. The YOG committee keeps walking around to scold all kinds of workers and many which I spoke off is very fed-up and they are not sure they will stay on with the current situation or rather they do not know how long they can tolerate this. To me, even if I am not well,

I will not force myself or tell myself to hold on for the games, after all, are we recognised or appreciated?

So ironically, they treat the foreigners so well but the locals badly. Many places are short-handed and those there are force to work harder to make up for the short-fall otherwise they may get a pay cut. So must rules to follow, many are unhappy. Another factor is I know from the place I work is many who are working for YOG are Malaysians or Chinese and not many Singaporeans except we the students and a few top guns. To me, the games is really a failure at one angle.

Please keep my letter confidential if not my personal particulars to be personal as I am afraid to be black-marked (you know what I mean）. I am really afraid to write this letter as if they know I wrote it, they will blacklist me.)

After all, this is just my personal feelings and what I gathered after chatting with many of the various individuals working there. I am writing this just to inform you about happenings from the YOG to vent my frustrations and let people know about it. The more I am scared to write, they more they people would bully the workers. I will be really happy to tell you more by phone if necessary.

John Lim

Editor’s note: The handphone number of the volunteer removed at the writer’s request.

Who Is More Friendly?

2010-08-05T13:09:00.004+08:00

"Don't run away! We are your friends!"

Guess which movie is the above line from?

Ang Mohs are generally more friendly and sociable than their Asian counterparts.

Asians are generally more rude, less courteous and polite than their Ang Moh counterparts. Asians are more reserved and reticent. If ang moh don't like you, he tells it to you in your face, an Asian would keep his negative comments to himself.

Hongkees are more rude, critical and cynical than Sinkies.

Are Indians the rudest, least polite and courteous, in general?

Ang mohs are more outspoken, the Yankees more so than the Brits.

Of course, the above are just mere generalisations from the observations that i have made on all kinds of aliens that have sat in my cab so far.

The taxi is a car of Babel. All kinds of alien languages can be heard inside it.

What does FB stand for to you?

2010-06-16T13:57:00.005+08:00

For someone who sits in front of the computer 12 hours a day, FB stands for Facebook.

For a cabby who sits behind the steering wheel of a cab 12 hours a day, FB stands for Fucking Bastard.

When the cabby can't stop in time and crashes into the rear of the vehicle in front of him along a highway, the FB passenger who asked the cabby to drive as fast as he could, scolds the cabbie "Fucking bastard!"

Tailgaters are idiots. They would rather waste time tailgating you on the extreme right lane of an expressway at 100km/h rather than overtake you on the left side even when there are cars on the next left lane.

Women are multi-taskers? But you probably won't see them waving thanks to you when you give way to them and let them cut into your lane `cos they have to keep both their hands on the steering wheel at all times.

In Singapore, most drivers don't exercise the simple basic courtesy of waving thanks or apology when they cut into somebody else's lane. Only a minority does. It's like, for this rude majority, it would kill them to do so. Imagine having to face all these FBs on the roads and in the cab day in day out. No wonder cabbies die of high blood pressure and heart attack.

Jona Plays With Public Phone At Terminal 3

2010-05-24T11:52:00.002+08:00

Richard Ng Takes My Cab

2010-05-07T13:22:00.004+08:00

Yesternight I picked up Hong Kong comedy cum drama actor, Richard Ng, along Kitchener Road, outside City Square Residences.

He asked me to take him to Great World City.

Actually, it was an ang-moh couple who hailed my cab first. But they let Richard have the cab first as he started waiting for a cab earlier than they did. I commented this to him about how courteous the Caucasians are, in Mandarin. He didn't understand what i said. Guess he speaks only Cantonese and English and maybe some other dialect.

As i looked at him thru the rear-view mirror, i asked him,

"Sir, you remind me of the Hong Kong actor Richard Ng. Are you him?"
"Yes, I am," he replied.

Me: I used to grow up watching your comedy movies. You did quite a lot of nudity sequences. (Personally, i found those nudity sequences highly hilarious.)

He commented about how the nudity sequences make the movie funny and stuff like that.

He told me he migrated to England and lived there for 13 years and recently moved back to Hong Kong as it was his home sweet home.

He told once he witnessed with his own eyes a China man pulling a woman out of a cab just because he wanted to have the cab for himself first.

He also commented on the huge influx of China immigrants into Singapore. He said in time to come, Singapore's crime rate would go up because of these immigrants.

He added the Singapore government was importing bad blood.

By the way, he's in Singapore to do a new comedy drama serial called Silver Lining. MediaCorp actually arranged for him to stay at the City Square Residences. How cool is that?

When we reached Great World City's taxi-stand, he said, "Look! So many people waiting for you!"

And he was sporting enough to let me take a shot of him.

Keep up the good work, Richard!

Lamborghini Reventón

2009-11-20T11:34:00.001+08:00

The Lamborghini Reventón (Spanish pronunciation: [re̞βe̞n̪'t̪õ̞n]) is a mid-engined sports car that debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show. It ranks as the most powerful and expensive Lamborghini road car to date, costing one million euros (US$1.5 million, or £858,000).[1] The official press release stated that only 20 vehicles would be released to the public,[2] with one additional car (marked as 0/20) produced for the Lamborghini Museum.[3] Although early rumours indicated the total number would actually be 100,[2][4][5] each Reventón is clearly stamped with its number in the sequence of 20 between the driver's and passenger's seats.

Despite the exterior being new,[2] almost all the mechanical elements (including the engine) are sourced directly from the Murciélago LP640.[6]. According to the official press release, the Reventón exterior styling was inspired by the "the fastest airplanes".[7] To emphasize this, Lamborghini staged a race between a Reventón and a Panavia Tornado fighter plane.[8]

The Reventón has a 6.5L V12 engine.

Miss 50-Year-Old

2009-10-15T10:06:00.020+08:00

Unbelievably fabulous at 50. Undeniably ravishing and sexually desirable. Would any full-blooded male say no to getting laid with any of these hot babes just because they are 50 years old? Probably not.

What's Up Doc?

2009-08-17T10:49:00.002+08:00

Baby Eats Cereal

2009-07-23T10:19:00.009+08:00

The Mechanical Expression of Humanity

2009-07-15T09:48:00.003+08:00

Chanced upon this brief but superbly-written article from www.snopes.com

This articles describes accurately and not too voluminously, what our car means to us.

Automobiles

They're big, expensive, and breath-taking marvels of engineering, but to view automobiles purely as transportation is to miss their essence. Cars are the first true freedom of the adolescent, and throughout our adult years they continue to represent escape, the ability to speed away from responsibilities and cares. It's no wonder Detroit constantly plays upon this theme in its advertising — they know it sells!

Automobiles are both a means of getting from one place to another and a place in themselves, making them both conveyance and cocoon. We sing along to the radio in them, something we'd likely not dare to do at home. Our first passionate encounters take place in them. And when all other resting places fail us, we sleep in them. Automobiles are as much about private inviolate space as they are about transportation.

The importance of automobiles in our lives secures their place in the lore of our times. They are both practical and whimsical, reliable and frightening, mundane and exciting, necessary and exotic, commonplace and mysterious. They are, in other words, the mechanical expression of humanity.

Revenge of the Fallen

2009-06-25T09:26:00.011+08:00

Sleeping Child.

Chicken White

2009-05-20T21:37:00.003+08:00

Joo Seng.

Promise That I Will Never Wipe You Guys Out With Water Anymore

2009-03-22T18:06:00.001+08:00

Next time, I will wipe you guys out with fire.

Why Cabbies Prefer Malay Passengers

2009-02-03T21:24:00.004+08:00

Even though i have only been driving for less than a month, i have noticed the passengers that i have been picking up comprised more of Malays than Chinese.

This caused me to deduce that Malays are generally more willing than Chinese to spend money on taking taxis to where they want to go.

Then i heard another side of the story. It's a religious one. As Chinese are unbelievers, they are considered to be spiritually unclean. So our good friends are not keen on squeezing with the heathen either on a crowded MRT train or a packed bus.

This is why they would either buy their own car or take taxis to travel around.

Why do cabbies prefer Malay passengers? Simply because they are more courteous and polite than Chinese. Generally it's the Chinese who are more "gao jare" (fussy in Hokkien). The male Chinese are more likely to anal assholes while the female Chinese are more likley to be bitchy bitches. They are the ones who make a cabby's life miserable.

Malays are more "chin chye" (easy-going in Hokkien).

Cabbies are thankful for this. Or at least they ought to be.

Enough said.

Running To & Fro All Over The Island

2009-01-20T22:49:00.005+08:00

Joining the taxi queue at Compass Point.

I had quitted my job of almost 12 years since 31 December 2008.

I've been driving taxi since 05 January 2009.

It's something which i enjoy doing. Driving people to where they need to get to.

It's not easy to make a living this way though.

It came out in the news recently that most people are taking less taxis nowadays because of the economic crunch. People are taking more of buses and MRTs instead of taxis.

It's especially tough if you have to bear the costly rental of $100 a day all alone by yourself as a hirer without any relief driver to share both the costly burden and burdensome cost.

Need to drive for at least about 5 to 6 hours on a normal weekday just to clock the $100 breakeven sum.

Going to switch to be a relief driver instead so i would only pay for $50 rental a day instead of the hefty $100.

Will the Bull Return in the Year of the Bull?

2008-12-31T10:17:00.002+08:00

Things are likely to get worse in the first half of 2009.

Hopefully things would get better in the second half of 2009.

Hope springs eternal.

For all we know, this year of the bull might just be a year full of bull shit instead of bull run.

The Futility Of It All

2008-12-29T17:01:00.002+08:00

Every morning, before I start work, I would wash my car if it’s not raining.

Often, a couple of my colleauges would say stuff like, “No need to wash lah. It’s going to rain already lah.”

I would retort them with, “So does it mean you don’t need to eat when it rains?”

This morning, immediately after I washed my car, it started pouring.

Rice On Matrix

2008-12-26T10:19:00.000+08:00

This morning I wanted to wash my car but since the sky was dark and it looked like it was going to rain soon, I decided not to.

I saw my colleague spraying his car with water. He told me somebody at his block threw rice down on his car so he had to wash it.

I said, “That fellow must be thinking your car was hungry that’s why he threw rice on it for it to eat.”

O Justice Where Art Thou?

2008-12-22T09:50:00.003+08:00

Stupid NTUC Income.

Asshole hit my butt and yet after their preliminary investigation, NTUC claimed the accident was my fault.

The f#@ker filtered left without checking his left blind spot first and yet NTUC still say it's my fault.

Bloody hell.

Looks like i have go to NTUC Income Insurance to bang table already.

Bloody f#@king shit. KNNBCCB!

First For Car Care? Last For Efficiency

2008-12-17T10:32:00.004+08:00

Went to Comfort Delgro to report the accident last Saturday. The lady there told me they would get back to me the latest by following Tuesday.

Yesterday (Tuesday), a guy by the name of Patrick from there called me and said, “Sorry wrong number” and hung up.

This morning I had to go to the workshop again to get things moving.

Patrick told me I had to wait until Monday before I can send my car in for damage assessment to be done by a surveyor.

It’s just crappy. Things are just moving at snail pace.

The only reason why I picked this workshop is because it is just opposite my office at Ubi.

Hit & Tell

2008-12-15T11:12:00.004+08:00

Last Friday, I brought my son to watch Bolt 3-D at GV Tampines.

On the way there, something untoward happened.

As I was watching the road and filtering right, I felt my car being hit from behind on the right.

I stopped the car and saw this black Honda Civic in contact with the right rear of my car.

Apparently, this bugger didn’t check his left blind spot before filtering left.

He claimed it’s not his fault.

As the car did not belong to the driver, his brother called me last night to make some unreasonable demands.

Even though it was his brother who used the front left of his car to hit my right rear and he had the audacity and cheek to ask me to pay for the damage to his car. Bloody mother-f#@king asshole idiot. He thinks I’m a fool. F#@ker even claimed he did not call to quarrel.

It’s bloody f#@king ironic right? You call somebody to make an unreasonable demand and claim you do not want to quarrel?

My message to him is: GO F#@K YOURSELF, YOU BLOODY MOTHER-F#@KING IDIOTIC MORONIC ASSHOLE!

I had already made report at IDAC.

Now can only wait and let the insurance company decide who’s at fault and liable for damages. This can take at least 3 to 6 months.

Why I Prefer Digital Clocks To Analog Ones

2008-12-11T13:22:00.005+08:00

I prefer a digital clock to an analog one because the former is quiet and doesn’t make any sound.

When I have difficulties sleeping at night, the incessant "tick-tock" sounds produced by an analog clock keep me awake.

Sit Down Fall Alseep, Stand Up Stay Awake!

2008-12-04T11:06:00.003+08:00

One of the reasons why we tend to doze off at work especially after lunch is because of the lack of blood circulation to our brains when we are seated down.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we have a standing workstation to help us stay awake and prevent us from dozing off?

A Catchy Song With A Bizarre Story

2008-12-02T09:18:00.004+08:00

“All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You” by Canadian rock band Heart is 1990 a catchy song that has a bizarre story.

In the track, singer Ann Wilson sings of a one-night stand with a man, only to reveal later in the song that her intent all along was to use the encounter as a way to become pregnant. The lyrics explain later, when she reunites with the one-time lover, that her child is the result of their tryst and she did it only because the man she really loves is not able to give her children.

If a couple is unable to have children, either because the man is impotent or the woman is infertile, they can always choose to adopt. But of course, adoption is meant for couples with the financial caliber to do so. For couples who can’t afford to adopt but want babies of their own, they may have no choice but to remain childless for the rest of the fleeting days on earth.

I think the story behind the song is bizarre because no man in his right mind would want his wife to get laid with another man, a stranger, just because he’s not able to impregnate her.

I think he would not mind only if he’s not aware of his own condition of impotence. He doesn’t have erectile dysfunction. It’s just that none of his sperms are able to swim all the way to the uterus to fuse with the woman’s ovum.

But what if the child grows up without any resemblance to him? Wouldn’t he be suspicious? What if he eventually finds out, thru DNA testing, that the child is not his? Wouldn’t he be hurt and devastated?

I guess there could be men who would actually agree, either implicitly or explicitly, to their wives having a one-night stand with a stranger to get pregnant because they themselves are not able to give their wives a baby. Because they love their wives more than they love themselves and their own pride. They want their wives to be happy. They want their wives to have a baby which they themselves are not able to give.

Strange and bizarre. Even Ann Wilson herself commented the band did not like the song because it stood for everything they wanted to get away from.

----------------------
"All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" was a success, spending two weeks at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eight in the UK Singles Chart, and reaching #1 in Canada and Australia. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Group Pop Vocal Performance, and is the only one of Heart's singles to have been certified Gold by the RIAA. On the Adult Contemporary chart, the song climbed to number six, becoming the third of Heart's four top-ten AC hits (after "These Dreams" and "Alone").

In the liner notes of Heart's album The Road Home, Ann Wilson commented on the band's dislike for the song, stating, "Actually we had sworn off it because it kind of stood for everything we wanted to get away from. It was a song by "Mutt" Lange, who we liked, and it was originally written for Don Henley, but there was a lot of pressure on us to do the song at the time."[1]

The single was Heart's last pop chart top ten hit. The band had one more top ten Adult Contemporary chart hit with the follow-up, "Stranded"; "Stranded" and 1994's "Will You Be There (In The Morning)" were also top 10 Album Rock hits.

Thought I Lost My Handphone

2008-12-01T09:09:00.003+08:00

On Friday night, after i got home, i couldn't find my handphone.

I thought I must have left it in the car. As it was around 11pm+ and I was dead tired, I decided to look for the handphone in the car the following morning.

On Saturday morning, when I looked for my handphone in the car, I couldn’t find it.

So I thought I must have dropped it somewhere outside.

When I tried calling my own phone, I kept getting a “We Wish You A Merry Chritmas” tune instead of the usual ringing sound. I thought someone had picked up my phone and took out my SIM card.

I presumed my handphone was stolen. So I called SingTel to have my SIM card deactivated.

I was planning to get another phone at a Hello! SingTel shop after sending my wife to work.

Later when I was sending my wife to work, she spotted my handphone in the car. It was wedged between the driver’s seat and the handbrake. So I didn’t lose my handphone afterall. Of course I got the usual tirade from my wife for not being able to find my handphone even though it was right in the car.

Speaking of which, just one week ago, my wife couldn’t find a black tube of hers in the back seat. When in actual fact, it was right in the center of the rear seat! Talk about 鬼遮眼(ghost cover eye)!

I got my wife to call SingTel to activate my SIM card. They said they would take 3 hours. But in actual fact, it took only an hour.

Thank God I didn’t have to waste money on getting another handphone.

Crank SMS Phone Call

2008-11-27T17:05:00.004+08:00

This morning at around 6am plus, I received a phone call which was a message read out from an SMS sent from a handphone.

The message read out by the SingTel server was in Chinese (I didn’t know their server was capable of reading Chinese SMSes).

It was both a crank and prank SMS phone call.

The message was talking about a meeting to be held later in the day concerning how to get laid and all that crap.

Many years ago, I received a phone call from another bugger at around 5am in the morning. Disrupted my sleep early in the morning for nothing. It turned out to be a case of wrong number as the caller spoke in Malay and asked for a Malay lady. My phone number was a recycled one. Back then I had caller ID. So I took revenge by calling the same bugger at 5am the following morning and hung up on him.

Too bad this morning I didn’t take down the handphone number of the bugger who SMS-phoned me the lewd message. Otherwise I would have sent him an SMS with the 4-letter word to give him a piece of my mind.

The Problem With Manual Cars

2008-11-25T08:41:00.003+08:00

Actually, I don’t mind driving a manual car. In fact, I do prefer manual cars to auto cars because of their stronger pick-up power and better fuel-efficiency.

One of the prolems with a manual car is when the gear is put to neutral, the car tends to roll backwards if it has stopped on a road that is sloping upwards, even if it’s slightly. It is also very tiring to drive a manual car in a place like Singapore where there are so many traffic lights. It’s a good thing that new cabs on the roads now all come with automatic transmission.

On several occasions, when I stop behind a manual car at a red light, usually a Toyota Crown taxi, I have had to horn at the driver to prevent his car which is rolling backwards from hitting my car.

Just this morning, I had to horn at the driver of an old Nissan March as his car was rolling backwards and about to hit mine. When he heard my horn, I saw his body jerking upwards. I think I must have given him a shock. He quickly jammed his brakes and inched his car forward. He even had the courtesy to wave me an apology.

When I drive a manual car, I usually pull up the handbrake after shifting the gear to neutral while waiting for the red light to turn green. This is less tiring than having to step on the brakes to prevent the car from rolling backwards.

On an auto car though, we would step on the brakes all the way while waiting for the red light to turn green. Some drivers shift their gear to neutral. Some even to P. Car experts advise us to keep the gear of our auto cars at D while waiting for the red light to turn green. This actually helps to cool down the gear box. It also reduces wear and tear on the gear.

Lots of drivers have been driving auto cars for so long they have forgotten how to handle a manual one. Just hand a manual car to a driver who has been driving an auto car for over 10 years, from the day that he got his driving license, and he would be struggling with the clutch and chaging of the gear shift manually. Chances are, he would stall the car before moving off from standstill.

Somehow, the demand for manual cars will never completely die down even though only 1 out of every 10 new cars that is sold is a manual one. When oil prices are high, more people would opt to buy a manual car over an auto one to save on petrol bills. As at 24 November 2008, oil price is hovering at around US$54 per barrel.

Category A COE Drops To Just $2!

2008-11-20T08:40:00.008+08:00

COEs for Category A have fallen to a historical low of just $2!

Some showroom visitors were unaware that the $2 COEs were only meant for buyers involved in the previous bidding. Those who bought cars over the weekend would likely have missed out on the $2 COEs and would have to make fresh bids, which some predict would see COEs for cars below 1,600cc bounce back to $8,000 to $10,000 levels.

The last 2 times a freak COE like this happened was way back in 1997 and 2001. 1st was the $50 COE for cars with SCR plate in December 1997. And 2nd was the $101 COE for cars with SDK plate in 2001. Just when we thought freak COEs like these are not possible anymore after the bidding process had been changed from a closed one to an open one, a $2 COE pops up. It goes to show how drastically demand has fallen.

A lot of people are hesitant about commiting to a new car purchase because they are doubtful of being able to repay the monthly instalments.

With the credit crunch affecting consumers worldwide, the last thing that anyone wants is to be saddled deep with car loan debts and be unable to pay them off especially if he gets retrenched at work.

Even after the car has been re-possessed, the car buyer would still have to pay off the outstanding car loan. It’s an extremely crappy situation that no one in his right mind would want to get caught in. This is also the reason why lately, car salesmen had a very hard time persuading customers at the showroom to sign on the dotted line.

If I have the money now, I would probably buy a Honda Fit with the $2 COE. It accelerates reasonably fast and is super fuel-efficient.

McDonald's Mega Burgers

2008-11-19T08:37:00.005+08:00

About a month ago, my colleague brought to my attention the mega burgers which Japan’s McDonald’s was selling. I looked at the burgers and was impressed by the size of the Sausage Egg McMuffin and Big Mac.

He asked why Singapore’s McDonald’s doesn’t serve the mega burgers as well.

So I forwarded the link of the Japan’s McDonald’s website of the mega burgers to Singapore McDonald’s on-line customer feedback and suggested that they serve the mega burgers here too. I explained that certain of their customers with bigger appetities are not filled and satisfied with the size of the regular burgers.

They replied they would look into my suggestion.

And wala, now we have the mega burgers in Singapore’s McDonald’s as well.

And Burger King has also joined McDonald's in offering mega burgers.

LJS stands for both Lao Jui Sai and Long John Silver. The latter has joined the mega burger craze as well, albeit later than its competitors. Hmm. Wonder when is KFC going to join this mega burger bandwagon.

Taking Money From The Children

2008-11-13T11:21:00.002+08:00

It is a bad idea to use taxpayers’ money to pay for the bad debts which American financial institutions have incurred from lending money to people with bad credit history to purchase homes beyond their means.

This money is meant for the future generation. It’s akin to taking money from the next generation to pay for the mistakes made by the current generation.

It’s like a terminally-ill poor man who chalks up hundreds of thousands of dollars in hospitalisation bills and dies eventually. All these debts are left by him for his children to pay off. It’s bad enough a man has no inheritance to pass on to his children. It’s just overwhelmingly sucky for a man to pass burdensome and crippling debts down to his children to shoulder and pay off.

This is what’s good about the advanced medical directive. If one knows he’s terminally ill and chances of him recovering from treatment are doubtful and remote, he should choose not to be kept alive as a vegetable and be a burden to his children before and after his death. Especially if he and his children are not rich.

If a man has no financial wealth for his children to inherit upon his death, the least he could do is to avoid chalking up a mountain of hospitalisation debts for his poor children to bear.

Bumbling Robber Fumbles At Heist

2008-11-11T09:09:00.001+08:00

Yesterday at between 3:30pm and 4pm, a man disguised himself as a woman and attempted to rob a branch of United Overseas Bank at City Plaza.

His stubble gave him away as a man. Instead of joining the queue like everybody else did. He walked straight up to a counter and asked for money. He brought a parcel and claimed there was a bomb in it. He said if the teller didn’t give him the money, he would set off the bomb in the parcel with his handphone.

The security guard was already following right behind him when he entered the bank as he could tell that the robber was a man disguised as a woman. When the robber turned around to tell the guard not to interfere, the guard pounced on him and pinned him down with the help of the bank staff until the police arrived.

Bank robberies are rare in Singapore. But as the global recession deepens and its effects on Singapore become more evident and pronounced, would more people attempt to rob the bank?

Would they give in to the notion of “drastic times call for drastic measures?”

The crime rate of any given city in the world is always directly related to its unemployement rate. When unemployment rate is high, crime rate would be high too. When unemployment rate is low, police work is more often than not, a breeze.

Stormy Nights Are Bad Nights

2008-11-10T08:59:00.003+08:00

Some people say they like it when it rains at night when they are sleeping as it’s cooler. My dad even said the sound of raindrops comforts him when he sleeps. But I hate it whenever it rains, especially if it’s a thunderstorm with strong winds.

Here’s why:

Firstly, I have to get up in the middle of the night to close the windows to prevent the rainwater from getting into the apartment.

Secondly, after all the windows are closed, the room gets very stuffy and uncomfortable.

Thirdly, how the hell am I supposed to sleep in peace with all the bright flashes and thundering din going on in the heavens?

So each time there is a thunderstorm in the middle of the night, I would be cursing and swearing agaisnt the CB rain.

Just this past Sunday morning, there was a thunderstorm in the wee hours of the morning. It didn’t happen once but twice. After the first wet and windy downpour, the rain stopped for a while. I opened the windows for ventilation. But I noticed the storm clouds were still hanging heavily in the sky. After a while, my fear came to pass as it poured a second time and I had to repeat the process of shutting all the windows.

As it was stuffy after the windows are closed, my wife kept the fan on throughout the night and that caused me to wake up with a flu.

People get a good night’s rest on Saturday nights. But a restful sleep always seems to elude me one way or the other especially on a Saturday night.

Crap.

I think the best time for a thunderstorm to happen is when I’m working inside my air-con office. Not any other time at all.

Straits Times Versus TODAY

2008-11-05T08:48:00.003+08:00

On Saturday, 01st November, 2008, i read something amusing in the Voices section of TODAY (weekend’s edition).

In it, a VP from SPH by the name of Peter Khoo said SPH newspapers have bucked the trend of falling newspaper readership worldwide, and have managed to maintain a high level of readership in the face of competing demands of readers' time and attention by the Internet,
mobile and cable television.

In actual fact, Straits Times readership has fallen over the recent years. As more readers stop buying Shitty Times, I mean Straits Times, or terminate their subscription of it.

TODAY’s publisher rebutted Peter Khoo’s statement with the following:

“Looking back over the past 10 years, there is no getting away from the fact that The Straits Times’ share of readers has dropped from 46 per cent to the current 39 per cent (Nielsen Media Index 1998 to 2008). Also, The Straits Times’ circulation is at its 10-year low of 377,974 copies, against Today’s highest circulation ever of 300,000. I do not think this amounts to The Straits Times ‘bucking the trend’.”

I think Shitty Times is going the way of the dinosaur if it doesn’t dump its shitty broadsheet format to a tabloid format like TODAY’s. It’s virtually impossible to flip open a copy of the Shitty Times inside a packed train. Broadsheets are also more tiring to hold up than tabloid-sized newspapers.

I have observed another curious thing: Even though SPH has started wire-stitching My Paper (they have obviously been won over by the merits of doing so), they have yet to do the same for their New Paper.

Man Who Masterminded Gruesome Murder Acquitted

2008-11-03T11:43:00.003+08:00

With Abdul Razak Baginda's acquittal and release, it just further entrenches the fact that Malaysia's political and justice system is bleak and full of darkness.

The message is obvious, as long as you have the right political connections, you can turn black into white and get away with murder, regardless of gruesome it may be.
-------------------------------------------------
Malaysian acquitted in Mongolian slaying trial

By EILEEN NG, Associated Press Writer AP

Friday, October 31, 2008

SHAH ALAM, Malaysia - A Malaysian court acquitted a prominent political analyst Friday of abetting the gruesome killing of a Mongolian woman in a case that has drawn intense public speculation about alleged links to top government figures.

Abdul Razak Baginda smiles following his release at the High Court in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Oct. 31, 2008. A Malaysian court has acquitted the prominent political analyst accused of abetting the gruesome killing in October 2006 of a Mongolian woman. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)

Abdul Razak Baginda, a close associate of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, had been charged with abetting the slaying of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a Mongolian interpreter who was shot in October 2006. Two police officers have been on trial for allegedly carrying out the killing.

High Court Judge Mohamad Zaki Yasin ruled Friday that the prosecution failed to establish a case against Abdul Razak following a trial that began nearly two years ago. However, Mohamad Zaki ordered the two policemen to enter their defense.

"I just want to go home," Abdul Razak told reporters after hugging his family.

Abdul Razak, 48, would have faced the death penalty if convicted of abetting the killing of Shaariibuu, with whom he had an eight-month affair.

Opposition leaders had repeatedly tried to link Najib and his wife to Shaariibuu's death. Najib, who is expected to succeed Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in March, has insisted he never knew Shaariibuu and repeatedly denied any involvement in the case.

The case has not directly implicated the government, but Friday's court decision is likely to raise opposition accusations of political interference in the judiciary.

"Regardless of whether it is fair or not, (Abdul Razak's) acquittal will only go further to fuel rumors and speculation about the involvement" of Najib, The Malaysian Insider political news Web site said in a commentary.

The remains of Shaariibuu, who was shot and blown up with military-grade explosives, were found in a jungle clearing near Shah Alam, the capital of central Selangor state.

Abdul Razak has acknowledged having an affair with Shaariibuu. The prosecution had contended that he ordered her killing after she pestered him for money.

Government prosecutor Abdul Majid Hamzah said he would "consider appealing the case" against Abdul Razak's acquittal, stressing that "the fight is not over yet." The prosecution had closed its case in June after 151 days of testimony by 84 witnesses.

The slain woman's father, Shaariibuu Setev, denounced the court's decision, claiming it was a blow to the credibility of Malaysia's judicial system.

"I am not satisfied," he told reporters. "My daughter is dead and (Abdul Razak) is free."

The trial for the two policemen is scheduled to resume Nov. 10.
___

Associated Press writer Sean Yoong contributed to this report.

A New Tube Dress

2008-10-31T11:01:00.003+08:00

Went to Bugis Street Market with wife yesterday as she wanted to get some clothes.

She has been patronising this particular shop run by some Nepalese. The lady boss usually gives a decent discount. My wife has bought around 7 items so far over the past few months from this shop.

Something amusing caught my eye as I was waiting for her to take her pick.

It’s this tube dress which is supposed to be worn with the top hanging around your waist so that your boobs could air and hang loose. Ha, ha, ha…! :D

How To Save On Parking When Shopping At Bugis

2008-10-31T09:05:00.003+08:00

If you want to shop the whole day at Bugis and save on car park charges, you can use the valet parking at KK Hospital which operates from 7:30am to 6pm. Only catch is: It only operates from Monday to Friday.

Regardless of the number of hours you park there, you’re charged a flat rate of $4.

After parking at KK Hospital. Take the free shuttle bus service that goes to Bugis.

Plastic Cover Still Not Taken Out Yet!

2008-10-28T14:40:00.005+08:00

Lunch Is Served wrote about being in such a hurry, after getting her brand new Suzuki Vitara, to get to the nearest petrol station to top up petrol for the car, that she forgot to tear out the plastic covering her car seats.

With regards to plasic cover of new car seats, we usually tear it out once we get the car.

But there aree actually people who don’t tear tear out the plastic cover.

My mother-in-law has had her dining table set for around 7 years already. But to this day, can you imagine that the transparent plastic cover covering her dining leather chairs has still not been torn off yet!

Then she also has a same-block neighbor who drives an SFW plate Suzuki Liana. This car is over 3 years old already. Yet the car owner still has not removed the plastic covering the seats!

Can you believe that such people actually exist!

They would rather let their asses sit in warm discomfort and protect their leather seats, than tear out and discard the plastic cover.

Are these people downright weird or do they cherish their earthly possessions over everything else, including their own butt, too much?

Leather Seats & Alloy Rims

2008-10-28T13:46:00.007+08:00

Nowadys when we buy a new car, the salesman would throw in leather seats and alloy rims and standard “freebies”.

Usually these freebies are only given if you take up a car loan to pay for the car instead of paying for it in one shot. Most people take a loan when buying a new car, so it’s almost a given all the time they would get leather seats and alloy rims that come with the new car.

I always wonder what happens to the orginal factory-fitted fabric seat covers. Do they get removed from the new car and trashed? Afterall, I’m doubtful if such fabric seats, even though they may be brand new from the factory, actually get re-used. Unless it’s used to replace the torn ones in old cars. If that’s the case, it’s probably sold to some other countries. I’m not aware of any used fabric car seat covers available for sale in Singapore. And it’s not even used. It’s brand new from the factory and gets removed and replaced with leather seats.

There's no problem when dealing with alloy rims though. The original factory-fitted steel rims can easily be recycled by burning, melting and re-moulded into something else. Or they can be used by goods vehicles, as they are.

A Cat & Mouse Game

2008-10-28T11:12:00.005+08:00

Motorists are always playing a cat & mouse game with parking wardens.

Whenver we have to put display parking coupons on the dashboard of our car, we are perpetually in a state of alert, on the lookout for these sniveling buggers.

My motto is: It’s better to display at least one coupon to cover your ass than to display none at all.

Afterall, if your coupon has expired, your maximum fine is only $20. But if you don’t display any coupon at all, it’s $30.

Just yesterday, I was at Pasir Ris Park Car park E. I realise this car park requires display of parking coupon(s), even on Sundays and public holidays, unlike car park A which is free.

If you want to park your car at the park whole day in peace without having to worry about parking wardens, better to park at car park A.

At car park E, I saw not 1, but 2 “dastardly” parking wardens making rounds to see if the cars have displayed valid parking coupons. Quite a number of cars got summonses issed to them. I was waiting in my car, accompanying my son who’s alseep. Before they could walk to where my car was, I drove the car away. Then I stopped at a corner & waited for them to leave before returning to the car park. Before I left my car, I decided to tear and display one coupon just in case those “bastards” decide to come back and do a second round of checks.

Each time you get a summon for such a parking offence, either because you did not display any coupon at all, or your coupon(s) was/were insufficient, all you can do is curse and swear.

As for parking warden(s), it’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.

How To Stay Awake At Work

2008-10-23T16:37:00.001+08:00

Struggling to stay awake at work is what a lot of office workers do day in day out. Even though not that many of them readily admit it.

So how to stay awake at work especially after a heavy lunch?

I think we should do something about our air.

We should inject a stimulant that works the same as caffeine into our air-con to help us stay awake.

I wonder if A*STAR is doing research on this.

Wouldn’t it be great if all of us can stay alert and awake at work all day long because of such a stimulant?

Record Turnout At Speakers' Corner

2008-10-22T10:03:00.006+08:00

Many retirees, small-time retail investors, have been badly burnt by the current credit crunch, which caused their savings accumulated over the decades, wiped out by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Speakers' Corner, which usually sees only a few kittens (小猫两三只) among its audience when there is someone making a speech, has seen record turnouts over the past few weekends as former CEO of NTUC Income Insurance Co-Operative, Mr Tan Kin Lian, made speeches against financial institutions that have sold the high-risk mini bonds to small-time retirees, retail investors, who can ill-afford to lose their hard-earned savings.

The sales representatives of these institutions are guilty of fraudulent misrepresentation when they sold these high-risk structured investment products to the retail investors, claiming that the mini bonds were not risky investments.

These retail investors can’t be judged as being greedy since they were clueless about the structured products which the salesmen sold them. The salesmen told them mini bonds can earn high return and bluffed that they were not risky, so the retirees bought the mini bonds loh. Afterall, all they wanted was to get a higher return from investing their savings. This money could have been meant for their children’s tertiary education, their own retirement nest-egg. Now it’s all gone.

These poor retirees can only hope against hope they can get a fraction of their money back.

Okto

2008-10-20T16:02:00.003+08:00

Something “sad” happened today. My son called my wife and asked, “Mummy. How come the TV does not have Okto channel?”

My wife had to tell him, “Because Kids Central has moved to Okto.”

Our son’s grandma doesn’t know how to tune the TV to receive programs of Okto channel.

So our son does not get to watch all his favorite programs which he used to watch on Kids Central.

This is a tragedy. Is it not?

Talking about Kids Central and Arts Central merging to form the new Okto channel, this leaves Vasantham to have its own channel which it used to share with Kids Central and Arts Central.

Why does Vasantham have its own channel? Because there are more Indians, Bangladeshis, living and working in Singapore now. So there is certainly a bigger demand now for Tamil programs.

I think it would be better to move Vasantham to its own channel and let Kids Central and Arts Central retain their original Central channel since the combined audiences of both Kids Central and Arts Central probably outnumber that of Vasantham Central. This would cause inconvenience to fewer TV audience who do not know how to tune their TV to receive the new channel.

Envy

2008-10-17T09:55:00.006+08:00

Human beings are negative by nature. So more often than not, you hear people whining and complaining about what they don’t have.

When we focus on what we don’t have and fail to count our blessings, we grumble and complain.

Counting our blessings is a sure cure for grumbling.

But how can we help but be envious of our neighbors who are better off than us? Those who make much more money than us. Those who drive bigger cars, live in bigger houses, go for expensive holidays in faraway exotic locations.

How can you not be envious of your peers who are doing much better than you financially either by joining the civil service, signing on with SAF as a regular or doing either insurance or property sales?

The bottomline is: It’s hard for someone, who earns peanuts and struggles to make ends meet every month, not to envy his peers whose incomes are much higher than his.

Why The Holdup?

2008-10-16T08:40:00.004+08:00

Every morning when i go to collect a free copy of TODAY and mypaper, i always see people forming long queues, waiting to get their free copies.

The queue can start forming from 7:15am onwards. The distribution of the free papers only starts at 7:30am. I always wonder why is there a need to delay the actual distribution.

What sense does it make?

Scary, Nightmarish Ordeal

2008-10-13T09:26:00.001+08:00

Last night, after my wife and i dropped our son at the in-laws, my wife passed me a plastic bag which i mistakenly thought was garbage to be thrown away. It is a habit which i'm very accustomed to because everytime i leave my mother-in-law's place, i would help her to dispose of one or two plastic bags of garbage.

In actual fact, the plastic bag did not contain garbage to be dumped but my wife's handphone and wallet!

Then i walked to the rubbish chute hopper and casually dumped the bag down the chute.

My wife panicked and screamed "That plastic bag has my wallet and handphone inside!"

It was heart-wrenching to see her panic-stricken face as tears were welling up in her eyes that very instant.

We quickly scurried down to the first floor via the lift and went to the garbage dump.

Opened the shutter. I climbed up the garbage dump and found a door that leads into the pile of garbage. There was a broom lying at the door. I used the broom and fished out the plastic bag with my wife's handphone and wallet intact.

Thank God for letting us retrieve my wife's wallet and handphone without too much trouble.

The dump was pretty disgusting with lots of roaches crawling around. What do you expect? It's a garbage dump.

If we could not access the dump, we we would have to call town council for help. We'd probably have to wait until the the next morning for the dump truck to pick up the rubbish and get the rubbish collectors to help us retrieve the plastic bag.

This is certainly a brief but horrendously frantic and nightmarish experience for us.

Little Red Dot Doesn't Buy Red Bull's Bull Shit

2008-10-10T13:15:00.004+08:00

TODAY, Thursday, 09th October, 2008

Sorry Red Bull, but your bull shit cuts no ice.

Last week, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner claimed an electrical surge from a passing underground train affected the gearbox of driver Mark Webber's car, causing the Aussie to retire prematurely from the 2008 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix on Sept 28.

SMRT said it had found nothing to support the claim by Horner.

According to a report in British-based Autosport magazine's website last Thursday, Horner had said an electrical surge from apassing train beneath Turn 13 caused the gearbox of Webber's car to select two gears at once,forcing him to retire after lap 30 of the 61-lap race, the first Formula 1 race held at night.

Horner claimed the same problem affected sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais during the practice sessions on Sept 26.

But an SMRT spokesperson said: "There is no MRT track beneath Turn 13.

"The nearest MRT tunnel is about 200 metres away, with a depth of about 10 metres. In addition, train wheels and running rails are made of metal and therefore do not generate static electricity charges during train operations."

Red Bull may be able get people to put Red Bull into their life and put life into their red bull. But their bull shit has been proven to be of no basis and merit. In fact, it might even be considered outright hilarious and ridiculous.

A Beautiful Girl

2008-10-09T09:19:00.001+08:00

A girl who is really beautiful is one who looks lovely even without smiling. This girl, Lee Eer Ling, is Head Job Re-creator at NTUC Careers.

Eer Ling has the typical Singapore girl-next-door look. Not the plain type but the beautiful type, of course.

Not Really A Bitch Afterall

2008-10-08T10:51:00.001+08:00

Yesterday i wrote that a colleague reversed her boyfriend's black Hyundai Verna and knocked down my pail of car wash effects.

This morning i "confronted" her and asked her why she knocked down my pail.

She said she was blur blur and didn't really notice the pail. She said "Sorry."

i accepted her apology and said, "Nevermind lah."

Looks like she's not really a bitch afterall.

If she's a bitch, she would have bitched me with crap like "Who asked you to place your pail there in the 1st place?!"

If she had done that, this would have developed into an all-out full-blown war.

'Tis The Season For Attacks By Assholes And Bitches

2008-10-07T09:12:00.001+08:00

This has been a really shitty week, i have had to put up with all the shit crap from assholes and bitches around me.

Feel like blowing up and blowing somebody's head off.

This morning after washing my car, a colleague drove into the parking lot and knocked down my pail of stuff which contains the stuff I use to wash my car, car sponge, car shampoo, etc.

And after parking her car, she didn't even bother to put it back into its upright position.

F#@king shit. She must be thinking why the hell did I place my pail and block the path of her car reverse-parking into the lot.

Bloody f#@king hell! I have to kill somebody soon!

Yah. The meaning of life is assholes and bitches being surrounded by assholes and bitches! It's especially crappy, shitty, sucky when all these assholes and bitches start acting against you and concoct all kinds of offenses against you.

This is the reason why people snap and go on a shooting spree and gun down all the assholes and bitches around them.

Do you get angry when somebody calls you idiot? I absolutely abhor it. I usually retaliate in full force when somebody calls me idiot. F#@king crap shit.

Denny & Iris Get Married

2008-10-06T14:09:00.004+08:00

My cousin Denny told me to leave some comments on my blog with regards to his wedding last Saturday. So here they are.

Just attended a lovely wedding at Fairy Point Chalet 7 on past Saturday, 04th October, 2008.

It was very well-organised. The items presented were entertaining.

My only gripe was it was a warm and humid evening with hardly any cool breeze.

If i recall correctly, one of the slide presentations mentioned Denny and Iris meeting 17 years ago! That's almost a lifetime of courtship. Ha, ha, ha...! :D

I think my cousin, Denny, has made good use his organisational skills as a former SAF officer and current boss of 2 movie memorabilia shops, on his own wedding.

Well done, cousin.

If the MC hadn't mentioned that the two rows of buffet food were different, we would have remained on one side thinking that the other side was also serving the same kind of food. One side was meat, the other side was seafood, pastries and desserts.

Here's wishing you two have a great adventurous life ahead as a married couple.

P.S. You should have asked me to proofread your wedding invitation postcards so that the spelling, grammatical mistakes could have been eliminated. i also saw the guest-list at the chalet entrance. My name was spelt wrongly as Micheal instead of Michael. Aiyah. Very common name very commonly misspelt. I also saw Mai Hong spelt wrongly as Man Hong. Nevermind lah. These are all small negligible details. What's important is you got all the major items done beautifully and properly.

Wedding Site Of Denny & Iris
View from the bungalow chalet.

Fruit punch.

Hit By Virus

2008-10-06T12:05:00.001+08:00

My office computer has been sent for repair caused by a virus called autorun.exe

It has already been one week and my computer still has not been returned yet.

Can hardly do my work without all the files that i've stored inside. I did do backup of the files before but that was in May. All the files inside are outdated.

Then there's one crappy beyotch in my company who always asks things from me in a hostile manner like she wants to fight. Always frowning and scowling at me whenever she asks me for stuff.

One of these days, I'm going to blow up and take an iron rod and smash her bloody pig head! Bloody f#@king bitch!

Circus Track

2008-10-03T11:50:00.003+08:00

After reading Singapore Life and Times' The Circus and The Clown which also got published on TODAY, i felt compelled to add some more oil to the fire; rub some more salt on the wound, so to speak.

Ferrari's president, Luca di Montezemolo,

has proven that he's not able to lose gracefully by calling Singapore's F1 Grand Prix track a circus track. Ferarri suffered a humiliated defeat at the Singapore's inaugural night race.

Both Ferarri drivers, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen failed to score a single point from the race.

Mr Montezemolo should remember that by characterising the Singapore F1 race and track a "circus", it makes his drivers look like incompetent monkeys and his Ferrari team a bunch of goondu gorillas who cannot refuel a car properly. I even saw one of the goondu gorillas with a cigarette in his mouth during a pit stop for crying out loud.

Since Mr Montezemolo thinks the Singapore street circuit is a circus track, he and his team should turn up for next year's race dressed up as clowns.

A Daily Simple Pleasure

2008-10-02T09:22:00.001+08:00

One of the things I look forward to doing every weekday morning is to wash my car before I start work. It's one of those tasks which I consider a daily simple pleasure. As my office does not have any sheltered car park for non-management staff, my car is exposed to the elements, the sunlight, rainwater and dust all day long.

That's why each time it rains in the morning when I'm supposed to wash my car, it would spoil my day a bit.

This morning, as I was queing up to get a free copy of TODAY, an old man cut my queue. I tapped on his shoulder and told him off,

“Uncle, please queue up!”
“But I'm only taking one copy.”
“If you want to cut queue, cut behind me, don't cut in front of me!”
“Okay lah. Okay lah.”

Then he moved his ass behind me in the queue.

Someday when I become a senior citizen myself, I would never cut people's queue like that. If I want to get anything in a queue, I jolly well join the queue like everybody else. I have no right whatsoever to cut people's queue just because I'm an old man.

Queing up for something is a very basic social grace. But some Sinkies are just so sorely lacking in it. And I'm not even talking about workers from mainland China.

Stuck In Jam For 1 Hour!

2008-09-30T13:16:00.000+08:00

Last night my wife and I went to Parkway Parade to get her iPhone. Waited in the queue for around 2 hours.

We left Marine Parade at around 10pm but we only managed to get back to Kembangan at 11pm!

There was a terrible jam along Still Road South. Think it's because of the road works at Jalan Eunos.

Sounds ridiculous doesn't it? Parkway Parade and Kembangan are so close to each other, normally I take less than 10 minutes to drive the short distance. But because of the horrendous jam, it took me an hour!

Alonso Wins First Night Race Against All Odds

2008-09-29T09:37:00.003+08:00

The inaugural F1 night race in Singapore was an exciting and highly charged event pumped full of thrills and spills.

Fernando Alonso who performed dismally during the qualifying session on Saturday night due to engine woes clawed all the way from 15 to 1 to win the Singapore's Grand Prix. He was cursing and swearing on Saturday night after his dismal performance, he thought it was all over for him. Fortunately for him, his fortunes were totally reversed and he managed to finish 1st for the actual race.

Felipe Massa made a comical mistake of dashing off the pit-stop with the fuel hose still attached to the fuel gage of his car, causing one of the pit crew to tumble over forcefully. Just imagine if Massa doesn't have constant radio communication with pit control, he could have continued on with the race with the long fuel hose dangling by the side of his car.

I saw something which I thought was extremely odd and dangerous. Just as Ferrari's pit crew was about to attend to one of their cars that just pulled in for a pit stop, one of the crew members had a cigarette in his mouth! I'm not sure if the cigarette is lit or not. But all of us know no one is supposed to smoke at a petrol station where the fumes are coming out of the fuel gauge when the petrol is pumped. If the pit crew was really smoking while performing the pit stop, he would be endangering the lives of everyone. Imagine the blast and explosion that could have occured if the petrol being pumped into the F1 car got ignited. It would be total catastrophic disaster. Crash boom bang of epic proportions.

Kimi Räikkönen crashed out of the race with just 3 laps left to the finishing line.

The closest I got to the race was when I drove over Benajamin Sheares Bridge and exited thru the sliproad into Rochor Road. The roar was deafening but exhilarating. It was so loud my left ear hurt. Nonetheless, this roar is sweet melody compared to the screaming jet fighters flying over my head.

I beg a pardon if my comments made me sound like i'm against people who are totally uninterested in F1. Everyone is free to have his likes and dislikes. I just feel that since the gahmen and certain rich big shot entrepreneurs have put in so much time, effort and money to bring F1 into Singapore, those of us who are totally uninterested could have paid some homage by watching a bit of the LIVE telecast. Then again, even if you don't, nobody has any right to hold it against you and make you feel like you're an alien weirdo. Afterall, not every man is interested in sucker, i mean soccer, either.

Let The Engines Roar!

2008-09-24T08:59:00.000+08:00

F1 is finally here in Singapore. Hope I can hear the thunderous roar of the engines from where I stay. This roar sounds much nicer than the cacophony produced by the jet fighters over our heads almost every day of the week. I work in Ubi with Paya Lebar Airbase nearby. All the fighter planes landing in the airbase fly pass over our building when they are descending towards the airbase. The noise is highly intolerable especially when you’re standing outside the building.

Afterall, the thunderous roar of F1 car engines along the streets of Singapore’s downtown area would only happen once a year.

Nonetheless, I’m sure there would be people who would write in to the forum to complain about the noise produced by F1 cars.

The circuit practice happens on Saturday night (27 September 2008) at 10pm.

Dastardly Litterbugs

2008-09-23T09:52:00.000+08:00

It has been reported in the news that there are people who throw soiled sanitary pads and diapers out their windows onto their neighbors below. Then there’s also curry, people who brush their teeth and spit their gargle out their window.

The anti-killer-litter campaign has been propagated since the 1980s, and it has managed to reduce the number of such incidents that speak of outright anti-social behavior.

But it seems that such crappy behavior is rearing its ugly head in Singapore again. I wonder if the foreign workers from PRC could be the culprits as littering and spitting in public is a norm for them back in mainland China.

What should we do to these buggers who anyhow throw such crappy litter out their windows at the expense of their neighbors below?

I think throwing shit on their doorstep would be nice.

How about throwing a Molotov cocktail on their doorstep? Lovely, heh?

Former Beauty Queen Can't Get A Date

2008-09-19T09:19:00.001+08:00

Former Miss Singapore, Teo Ser Lee, is not able to get a date. And that’s not because she’s not beautiful.

On the contrary, she has the looks. But at the same time, she’s also a successful entrepreneur.

It’s not because she doesn’t want to get married.

It’s just because no man has enough guts and confidence to approach her.

Most men just assume that a woman with her beauty probably already has tons of suitors. So they don’t dare to court her for fear of being rejected.

Besides her good looks, there is also the issue of her success and wealth. To be able to hold a candle up to her, the man who wants to court her needs to be just as good-looking, successful and wealthy as her, if not more so.

Men have big ego by nature. What if a man makes advances towards her and gets rejected? He just can’t swallow the embarrassment. Worse still if she tells her associates, colleagues, family members and friends about it. The poor guy who’s not in her league and gets rejected by her, would be a laughing stock, derided and ridiculed by them.

Unless some handsome, rich, successful hunk comes to “rescue” her from her single-hood, it looks like Ser Lee may have no choice but to remain single for years to come. Maybe even for life, which is not necessarily a bad thing, considering the numerous financially stable and happy singles in our midst.

Sleepy At Work

2008-09-17T15:03:00.001+08:00

What do you do when you feel sleepy at work?

Do you rest your head forward down and take a nap?

Or do you wash your face, drink coffee, etc.

i think one of the most effective ways to stay awake is to chit chat with colleagues. But that's one of the things we don't do much.

So day in day out, it’s a constant struggle to stay awake at work.

That's the problem with a deskbound job. Insufficient blood circulation. Feel sleepy almost the whole day.

Having to travel around all day long definitely helps to keep one awake. A delivery man gets to do just that. Some of them drive to one shady corner, leave the vehicle’s air-con running and take a nap during lunch time.

Can't Stop Talking

2008-09-17T10:09:00.002+08:00

Our son, Shaw, is now 5-years-old plus.

He can't stop talking. He's always asking questions, most of which we have no answers to.

Questions like:

"Why the taxi behind us?"

"Why the red light so fast?"

"Why your stomach so big?" (He asks his mother this as she's around 6 months pregnant. Even though we have told him his younger brother is inside, he still keeps asking. He said he wants to ask her this same question one million times.)

Can't stay still. Can't keep quiet. Must talk all the time.

When we ask him, "Shawn why must you talk all the time?"

He would reply, "Because I like."

My Paper Has Wire-Stitching

2008-09-16T12:04:00.000+08:00

i was pleasantly surprised with the free copy of my paper i got this morning. After flipping through it, i realised that the papers are wire-stitched together like TODAY. Cool. No more flipping through loose pages that drop and fly all over the place.

Wedding Dinner at Rasa Sentosa

2008-09-15T10:01:00.001+08:00

Last night I attended a wedding dinner of my cousin at Rasa Sentosa.

It was originally planned to be an outdoor event with lantern decorations and stuff.

But it rained. So they had to move everything indoors to a basement ballroom.

The buffet dinner was supposed to start at 7pm. I was hopeful it could end early at around 9pm +.

But because of the shift, it only started at 9pm. So after all the items, videos, thanksgiving speeches, etc, the dinner ended at 11pm, slightly earlier than a traditional Chinese wedding dinner.

So much for wanting to stuff oneself silly at a buffet dinner and leaving promptly when one is full.

A buffet dinner is so much better than a traditional dish-by-dish kind of dinner where the first dish normally starts around 9pm and each subsequent dish comes in every 15 minutes. For a 9 course dinner, the last dish would only get served at 11pm. Eating such a dinner is such a laborious chore. Wouldn’t it be great if all the dishes can get served in one shot?

My Son Deletes All The Missions I Accomplished

2008-09-15T09:04:00.000+08:00

As i've been playing both Grand Theft Auto Vice City and Liberty City Stories these past few weeks, i've accomplished quite a fair number of missions. After completing these missions, i saved the game.

My son went to delete all these game stages which i had saved.

Crap. Now i have to replay all these stages from the beginning again.

He and his itchy hands.

I need to get another memory stick to store all these game stages to prevent him from deleting them again.

Would probably get another 4GB stick, as 8GB is terribly expenisve at $100+.

With a separate memory stick, i can bar him from playing the GTA games, since they are not meant to be played by a 5-year-old anyway.

A $5 Note Slips Away

2008-09-15T08:54:00.000+08:00

This morning i went to Bedok to get free papers and bought some kueh for my wife for her breakfast. I got $5 change which i put in my right pocket. Just a couple of minutes later, when i reached into the same pocket to pay for a pack of Fisherman's Friend, i realise the $5 note is gone. Damn. It must have slipped out of my pocket somehow. Crap.

And yesterday i tapau 2 packets of hor fun from the coffee shop downstairs. My son loves to eat hor fun.

But when his grandma opened the 2 packets, they turned out to be fried rice instead. The 煮炒char bor must have heard me wrongly. Ow ee ai.

My son was upset he called me to ask why there was no hor fun. Next time i buy from them i must make sure they give me exactly what i ordered.

Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway

2008-09-12T13:54:00.000+08:00

Finally, the construction of KPE, which started all the way back in 2001, is completed. It will be fully open to traffic come Saturday, 20th September, 2008.

This 12-km expressway connects ECP in the south and TPE in the north, of which 8.5km are underground. This makes it the longest subterranean road tunnel in Southeast Asia.

It's a pain having to drive at 70km/h along this expressway. It's a pain for motorists who are used to crusing along the underground sections of CTE at 100km/h.

KPE's underground section is fitted with digital speed cameras that operate 24 hours throughout the day to enforce the 70 km/h speed limit (lower if safety advisories display so).

In the first week of phase 1 operation 3,400 motorists were caught speeding in the KPE, consisting of 3% of the total traffic which alarmed the Traffic Police. 45 of the speed violators were caught driving at 110km/h.

These speedsters received court summons, while others received either a traffic summons or a warning letter from LTA.

Playing Cheat On Grand Theft Auto

2008-09-11T12:12:00.001+08:00

I'm now heavily addicted to playing Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

Found on the net how to get cheat codes. Now i could get free money, weapons, health, armor, etc. Best of all is the Rhino tank. With this tank, i'm invincible, i can just drive the tank into any vehicle and cause them to blow up. All the police cars that try to stop me get blown away, literally. The explosions are really cool.

Came to a part entitled "No son of mine" where the mother of the main character Toni, which i'm playing, ordered a hit on him. This was one part which was very hard to play as i was surrounded by dozens of mafia hitmen raining bullets on and throwing grenades at me. So how did i get out of the mess alive?

By spawning a Rhino tank and driving over all the mafia hitmen. Ha, ha, ha...! :D But after killing all the hitmen, i was busted by the police.

A Former Colleague Jumps To Her Death

2008-09-11T12:05:00.000+08:00

Received a call yesterday evening from an ex-colleague who’s making big bucks now by being a stockbroker, telling me that a former colleague of ours from China, had committed suicide by jumping from the 13th floor.

All of us in the office are shocked. She was sacked a few years ago because her work performance was deemed less than satisfactory by the management. I was told ever since she was sacked, she had gone through a very rough period in her life.

She was 40. She had a 12-year-old son whom she sent back to her mother’s place in China some time ago.

She’s divorced from her husband because of his ex-marital affairs. It was reported in the papers that she had recently been fired from her job as a production operator. Her ex-husband was present at the time when she jumped. He even tried to pull her in from the ledge. But she struggled free from his grip and plunged to her death.

Guess she must have very much weighed down by all the crap which drove her into depression. We are shocked by her suicide because we all know her as a cheerful and friendly person. She’s someone who’s quite chatty. Even another colleague, who's close to her, also claimed that each time she calls her up, she would sound cheery. Guess she’s probably hiding all the hurts and depression behind her smiles and laughter.

All of life’s problems are temporary because life itself will end someday. Committing suicide is dealing a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Only God alone, the Giver of life, reserves the right to end one’s life.

Seat Fan

2008-09-10T11:53:00.001+08:00

Does anyone know where i can find this USB seat fan?

I wonder if i can find it at Sim Lim Square.

It's such a wonderfully fantastic thing to be able to sit down whole day and have your ass cooled.

I hate to sit on warm seats. When i travel on the MRT train or bus, i avoid having to put my ass in a seat that has just been vacated by a previous passenger. This is why i hate parking my car in the sun. The seat gets so hot it can fry your ass.

Word says the new Nissan Teana has this feature.

High-end Lexus models have this feature for many years already, if i'm not mistaken. I even read long ago that this fan-seat was actually a feature which was first introduced in American trucks where the drivers had to drive for many hours at end to get from one coast to the other.

Babylon A.D.

2008-09-10T11:29:00.001+08:00

Watched Nuffnang's free screening of Babylon A.D. at Lido last night.

It's a really terrible show with a horrible plot. Its action sequences are its only saving grace.

Vin Diesel must be cursing himself for dropping out of Hitman which did better than Babylon A.D. even though both have been panned by critics.

Even the director of Babylon A.D., Mathieu Kassovitz, was very unhappy with the distributors, 20th Century Fox, producers and other partners. He described the film as "pure violence and stupidity" and that "parts of the movie are like a bad episode of 24."

This movie has got to be one of the biggest turkeys of 2008.

Black Book

2008-09-09T10:10:00.001+08:00

Just watched Paul Verhoeven’s “Black Book” last night. Long movie. 145 minutes.

The story is about a young Jewish woman in the Netherlands who becomes a spy for the resistance during World War II, when tragedy befalls her after an encounter with the Nazis.

It’s a bit similar to Ang Lee’s “Lust, Caution” which was also set in World War II but in Shanghai, China, where a young woman Mak is a member of a resistance group who plot to kill a Japanese collaborator, Yee, played by Tony Leung (whose balls could be seen in one sex sequence).

Mak starts a love affair with Yee for this purpose. However, she really falls in love with him, and just before her comrades try to kill him she warns him. He escapes and has the whole group executed, including Mak.

Even though it might seem like one movie has copied the other, but I think their similarities are more coincidental than intentional.

Ironically, “Lust, Caution”, a Chinese movie, has more sex scenes than “Black Book”, an ang-moh movie.

“Black Book” is great fun, an old-fashioned war movie in parts, but with deep undercurrents about fugitive Jews, the Resistance, collaborators and the messy politics of war. This being Verhoeven, there's lots of sex and a scene in which the extremely attractive star (Carice van Houten) dyes her pubic hair blond.

“Black Book” has a happy ending where the heroine settled down in Israel where she got married and had 2 kids. Whereas the heroine in “Lust, Caution”, after warning Tony Leung, the traitor, about the danger he’s in, gets executed along with the entire resistance team.

Incidentally, the actress from “Lust, Caution” Tang Wei got herself into deep trouble, she received death threats, after her bold and daring portrayal of the heroine in the movie with numerous raunchy sex scenes with Tony Leung. For this reason, she moved her ass down to Hong Kong.

The villain Ludwig Müntze played by Sebastian Koch, was also not a 100% bad guy as he tried to prevent the resistance captives from being executed. And for that, he himself got executed.

Personally, I much prefer “Black Book” to “Lust, Caution” as it is more of a thriller than the latter. “Lust, Caution” was more of a drama with tons of dialogue and less action. I also think Carice van Houten

is more beautiful than Tang Wei.

My wife prefers the latter as it has more sex scenes.

Wall-E

2008-09-08T11:07:00.001+08:00

Shawn told his mum that he wanted to watch Wall-E last week.

So yesterday, we brought him to the cineplex at E-Hub to watch it.

Terribly expensive. Each of us had to pay $10, including our 5-year-old son.

This was the very first time Shawn has ever watched a movie inside a cinema. All along we were afraid he would be not be able to sit through the movie from beginning to end. We thought he would want to leave the cinema halfway through the movie.

When we first entered the cinema and the ads were shown, Shawn asked, “Why the TV screen so big one?”

Had to tell him it’s not a TV screen but a projector screen.

The movie is typical Pixar fanfare. 97 minute long. A bit too long for Shawn though. He asked his mum a few times, “Why so long one?”

Other than that, Shawn actually managed to sit through the whole movie without making us leave halfway and waste the ticket(s).

Grand Theft Auto

2008-09-08T08:53:00.002+08:00

I've been running low on sleep for the past few weeks or so. I've been staying up late until 1am to 2am playing Grand Theft Auto Liberty City and Vice City.

This game is really highly addictive. Everyday i'm a zombie at work and on weekends.

My 5-year-old son is hooked on it too. Even though he doesn't really know how to play the game. He's never even fulfiled a single mission before. He's always running around and taking the subway train instead of driving. Getting busted by police and wasted.

Found some cheat codes on the internet and got some free money, free weapons, free health, etc. Ha, ha, ha...! :D It's really fun to cheat. Becos even with all this cheating, i still get busted and wasted every now and then. It just goes to show the game is not really easy to play. Either that or the fact of the matter is i completely suck at playing such games.

The good thing about playing it on the handheld PSP instead of Xbox or PS3 is the battery will always run flat after a few hours. Then i would have no choice but to charge the PSP and go to sleep.

Just read a few days ago that a hardcore teenage gamer's record at playing such video games non-stop is 22 hours. I'm sure there are those who have even gone beyond that.

This begs the question: How does a hardcore gaming addict get rid of and overcome his seemingly incurable and overwhelming addiction?

Saying "Thank You" To The Driver

2008-09-05T11:52:00.004+08:00

Have you had the following experience?

You give someone a lift in your car. And after sending that someone to his desired destination, he doesn’t thank you at all.

I think it’s basic courtesy to say “Thank you” to the driver who gives you a lift. I always thank the driver who gives me a lift.

But somehow I have a friend who has not thanked me on at least 2 counts after I have given her a lift. Maybe I should stop giving lift to her? Nah. That would be nasty.

There are just certain people who are quick to say “Thank you” to the driver after being given a lift and those who don’t do so at all either because they have totally forgotten about it or they just can’t be bothered with exercising such a basic pleasantry.

Forgetting to say “Thank you” is quite inexcusable under the following circumstance:

2 persons are getting the lift and they are both alighting at the same place.

One would say “Thank you” to the driver while the other doesn’t do so.

I think if someone doesn’t thank you at all for giving them a lift in your car, you would probably be a bit upset too, wouldn’t you? You might even curse at the person after you drive your car off and vow never to give the same person any more lift.

Leech Friend

2008-09-04T08:58:00.002+08:00

Do you have a leech friend who's always asking for favors (monetary or otherwise)?

He would always be borrowing money from you. Or when he has some problem he can’t fix, he expects and wants you to fix it for him. For example, computer problem, etc.

And when you decide not to help him, he gets upset with you. As if the reason for your existence is to owe him favors. Such a leech has no qualms about troubling his friends for help. He doesn't feel bad at all about imposing upon his friends for help.

Would you keep your distance from such a leech friend? Would you avoid him at all costs? Or would you willingly let him suck your blood?

When I have troubles of my own, I don’t impose on my friends to help me. They owe me nothing. I would ask them for help nicely. If they can’t or don’t or choose not to help me, I would hold nothing against them at all.

正所谓靠人不如靠自己。(It’s always better to depend on oneself then on somebody else.)

The best way to keep a friend is to lend them nothing and owe them nothing.

Unpaid debts sour relationships, even the best of friendships.

Nuffnang Movie Screening: Babylon A.D.

2008-09-03T08:57:00.000+08:00

Nuffnang is giving a free screening of Vin Diesel’s new movie, Babylon A.D.

Date: Tuesday, 09th September, 2008
Time: 1930 hours
Venue: Shaw Lido @ Scotts Road, Hall 1.

Twentieth Century Fox: Babylon A.D.

I want to watch this movie because Vin Diesel is in it.

Somehow Diesel hasn’t been able to repeat his success with Fast & Furious and XXX.

Hopefully, it would be similar to Bruce Willis’ Fifth Element, which I enjoyed very much.

Can't Sleep In Peace

2008-09-02T14:41:00.001+08:00

This past weekend, was not able to take afternoon nap because of the fighter jets’ flyby.

Paya Lebar Airbase had an open house.

The F-5E and F-16 fighters made hell lot of noise.

It’s a hell of a thing to make tons of money by being a fighter pilot and being a pain in the ass of a lot of people. Okay, maybe not ass but ears.

Looking For Baby Posters

2008-09-02T10:51:00.000+08:00

I've been looking for baby posters but have not been able to find them either at Kiddy Palace or Popular Bookstore.

Does any of you know where i can find them?

Today No TODAY

2008-08-28T10:01:00.001+08:00

Was not able to get a copy of TODAY at the bus-stop opposite Bedok MRT station this morning at 7:20am. I guess the delivery van might have broken down somewhere. Maybe it's the printing press problem. Couldn't get the papers printed out in time.

Lots of people in a queue that didn't move since there was no TODAY for distribution. It only moved because those who realised there was no TODAY, left the queue.

Somehow such technical faults don't seem to happen to Straits Times heh?

Hungry Ghosts At Press Briefing Buffet

2008-08-27T12:05:00.000+08:00

One of the things I get to do, working for a magazine, is to get invited to press briefings hosted by various companies listed on the Singapore Exchange.

When these companies announce their results, they are required to hold press briefings. The generous ones like Banyan Tree Holdings, Qian Hu Corp, etc. would throw in either a sumptuous lunch buffet or dinner buffet at the briefings. The cheapskate, stingy ones (usually foreign ones) would even deprive the press of tea and coffee.

When a decent feast is thrown in, if the briefing is not meant only for just the analysts, shareholders in their 60s and 70s would attack the feast like hungry ghosts. No need to wait for the Lunar 7th Month for hungry ghosts to roam the earth. These uncles and aunties would whack down all these free food and even blatantly “ta pau” home to eat some more later.

When I see these hungry ghost uncles and aunties in full force action, I lose my appetite. They don’t attend the briefings to listen to what the directors have got to say. They only attend the briefings for the food. Immediately after the briefing, they would swarm to the food like bees and vultures. Some of them don’t even bother to queue up properly. They would grab as much as food as they can and wolf down the food like wild boars. All proper courtesy and etiquette are thrown out the window. Nevermind the food served may be classy and the venue may be a classy hotel.

Inching Forward To Let Vehicle Behind Turn

2008-08-26T08:55:00.001+08:00

There are certain lanes at traffic lights junctions which are meant for both going straight and turning either left or right.

What do you do when you've come to a stop at such a lane as the traffic lights are red because you are going straight, and there is a either a left or right turn arrow that is on, at this junction?

Do you inch forward across the line to let the vehicle(s) behind you make their turn?

Or do you hold your ground without budging and hold up the traffic behind you that wants to make a turn?

For me, I would inch forward to let the vehicle(s) behind make their turn.

But I don’t always reap what I sow because every now and then I would get inconsiderate pricks who refuse to budge and prevent me from making my turn even though the left or right turn arrow is on.

And what happens if you want to make a turn but the vehicle in front of you refuses to budge? Do you horn and flash your high beam at him or her? If you do, the driver in front of you just might show you a middle finger.

HDB Hub Basement Car Park

2008-08-22T13:35:00.000+08:00

Having read in Lunch Is Served’s blog entry about visitors who park at the Fusionopolis’s basement car park, having difficulties finding the elevator as it’s concealed in one corner, I also want to write something on HDB Hub’s basement car park.

I’ve parked at this car park countless times already since HDB Hub has been around for years now. But almost every time, I have difficulties getting out of the car park because I couldn’t find the exit. I would follow the exit signs, one states “Toa Payoh Central”, while another states “Lorong 6 Toa Payoh”, but these signs would take me round and round instead of getting me to the exit ramp.

So I almost always have to drive one additional round inside the car park just to find this rather “obscure” exit ramp.

Such is a design flaw which I have to live with as long as I go to HDB Hub basement car park to park my car.

Of course I would have no such problem if I work at HDB Hub and have to park my car there every day.

Now to avoid this problem, I would park at Block 190’s multi-storey car park instead, provided it’s not full.

Inflate Your Tyres

2008-08-21T10:23:00.001+08:00

One of the ways to save on petrol bills is to ensure that your tyres are correctly inflated.

One of the reasons why certain cars consume more petrol than they are supposed to, is because their tyres are under-inflated, causing more resistance on the road.

How many drivers actually regularly pump air into their tyres to ensure they are correctly inflated?

I guess drivers who do so are probably outnumbered by those who don’t.

It would seem most men drivers don’t pump air into their tyres on a regular basis. If that is so, what about women drivers? Most of them, if not all, probably never pump air into their tyres at all.

I guess drivers who don’t pump air into their tyres probably think it’s a hassle to do so. Or they think there’s no need for it. One reason why we don’t have problem steering our cars around even though the tyres are under-inflated is because they come with power-steering.

If you drive a car or vehicle without power-steering, you would immediately feel the heavy steering each time your front tyres are under-inflated. This could perhaps be one of the advantages of driving a vehicle that has no power-assisted steering. It forces you to pump air into your tyres to ensure they are correctly inflated at all times.

So most people just change their tyres and drive around until it’s time for the tyres to be changed without pumping any air into the tyres at all. They don’t mind chalking more on their petrol bills due to under-inflated tyres.

At old petrol stations, the air-pump is installed right next to the petrol pump, this facilitates the inflating the tyres with air by the pump attendant. But such an arrangement causes a car to hog a pump for a longer time.

I guess petrol stations probably did away with such an arrangement so that more cars can get filled up with petrol in a shorter time.

Then there are those who park at the lots meant for pumping air, and take their sweet time shopping for groceries, hindering drivers who need to pump air into their tyres.

Increased Paternity Leave

2008-08-20T16:37:00.002+08:00

Child care leave has been increased from 2 days to 6 days.

So will fathers use the leave to help take care of the small one?

Or will he use it to play golf instead?

Olympic Medal Drought Ends After 48 Years

2008-08-18T13:23:00.003+08:00

After almost half a century, Singapore has finally won in another Olympic event.

All three table-tennis players are China-born foreign talents. This begs the question: Can we depend on local talents to bring in the medals?

Afterall, in 1960, even Tan Howe Liang,

the first Singaporean to win an Olympic Games medal, was also born in Shantou, China in the 1930s.

The table-tennis team representing Singapore gets S$750,000 as reward for winning the Olympic silver medals.

That's S$250,000 for each player. After 20% deduction by Singapore Sports Council, each player gets S$200,000.

Opel Combo See Bae Gao Jao*!

2008-08-14T09:20:00.001+08:00

The 1.6L(M) Opel Combo is one hell of a sprinter.

Despite the fact it’s just a van of sorts, its acceleration power is certainly not to be snuffed at.

Nevermind that in Singapore, it is registered as a G-plate goods vehicle and has a speed limit of 70km/h imposed upon it.

It can easily move off from a traffic lights, turning from red to green, and overtake a 1.6L(A) car.

Its 70km/h legal speed limit does not hinder its drivers from taking it to 100km/h and beyond on the expressway. Such speedsters get away with such antics most of the time anyway.

* "See Bae Gao Jao" means can run very fast in Hokkien.

Visual Effects Used For Beijing Olympics

2008-08-13T16:58:00.001+08:00

I was awed and stunned by the spectacular grandeur of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony.

There was this sequence where there was a relay of fireworks in the city outside the Bird’s Nest Stadium. I thought they were real. In actual fact, they were indeed real. But on TV, it was actually done by visual effects.

I bet I wasn’t the only one who had been fooled into thinking the footage was real. Millions of viewers worldwide thought it was real too. It was so flawlessly done, no one would have thought it was actually done by computer generated visual effects.

Amazing.

And the pretty girl, Lin Miaoke, who sang at the ceremony was actually lip-synching. She appeared on stage in the stadium instead of the actual girl, Yang Peiyi, who sang the song because she was much prettier.

Yaloh. Every detail must be perfect. Can't let a plain-looking girl with a missing tooth spoil the show, can they?

TODAY, Tuesday, 12th August, 2008
TRICK OF A TREAT – THOSE FIREWORKS
------------------------------------
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
BEIJING — As the Olympics opening ceremony last Friday got underway with a dramatic, drummed countdown, viewers watching at home and on giant screens inside the Bird's Nest National Stadium watched as a series of giant footprints, outlined in fireworks, processed gloriously above Beijing from Tiananmen Square.
What they did not realise was that what they were watching was in fact computer graphics, meticulously created over a period of months and inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment.
The fireworks were there for real, outside the stadium. But those responsible for filming the extravaganza decided in advance it would be impossible to capture all 29 footprints from the air.
As a result, only the last, visible from the camera stands inside the Bird's Nest was captured on film.
The trick was revealed in a local Chinese newspaper, the Beijing Times, at the weekend.
Mr Gao Xiaolong, head of the visual effects team for the ceremony, said it had taken almost a year to create the 55-second sequence. Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible — they sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to recreate the hazy effects of Beijing's smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter.
"Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks," he said. "But most of the audience thought it was filmed live — so that was mission accomplished."
One adviser to the Beijing Olympic Committee defended the decision to use make-believe to impress the viewer. "It would have been prohibitive to have tried to film it live," he said. "We could not put the helicopter pilot at risk by making him try to follow the firework route."

Good Guy Kills Bad Guy

2008-08-12T10:29:00.001+08:00

I get satisfaction from watching revenge movies where the good guy kills the bad guy decisively without any hesitation.

I feel frustrated when the good guy hesitates to kill the bad guy because of mercy and pity. If the bad guy was merciless when he killed the good guy’s loved ones in the first place, why should the good guy show him any mercy since the villain doesn't deserve any at all?

There’s only one thing to do all villains:

ANNHILATE! KILL! KILL! KILL!

Women Wearing Low Cut Dresses

2008-08-08T09:08:00.001+08:00

What do men do when they come across women, especially those with big boobs, wearing low cut clothes?

They would stare of course. Some would stare blatantly. While others would do so discreetly by glancing repeatedly at those boobs.

Some women get offended when they wear low-cut attire and catch men ogling at their boobs.

Is it not an irony? Why do women wear revealing clothes and then get upset when men stare at their body? If they are uncomfortable with men staring at their body, shouldn’t they refrain from dressing scantily?

Catch Wall-E in cinemas from 28 August 2008.

Originator blog: Matthew Zachary

Henderson Waves & Alexandra Arch

2008-08-06T15:24:00.003+08:00

Blue sky, white clouds.

Went to Henderson Waves on Monday afternoon. Parked my car at Mount Faber and started walking. The signs were not very helpful. In fact, I was misled by one. I followed one sign that pointed towards Henderson Waves and ended up going down the staircase to Telok Blangah Way instead. So I had to walk to Henderson Road and climbed up the hill that led towards Henderson Waves.

Henderson Waves is a woody experience whereas the tree-top walk to Alexandra Arch is a metallic one.

Sedia!

2008-08-06T09:18:00.001+08:00

In Lionel de Souza's letter which appeared on TODAY (Tuesday, 06th August, 2008), he wrote about how some people were totally disrespectful of Singapore's national anthem, Majullah Singapura (no, it’s not Mari Kita). This happened at two GRC dinners which the writer attended. These disrespectful pricks were walking and talking as though there were oblivious to the National Anthem.

I wonder if these pricks were Singaporeans born in Singapore or foreign immigrants who became Singapore citizens.

It’s more unforgiveable for Singaporeans born in Singapore to show utter disrespect when the National Anthem is being sung by standing still in the “sedia” position. Chances of foreign immigrants being unfamiliar with Singapore’s national anthem are definitely higher than locally-born and bred Singaporeans who are unfamiliar with the song.

This brings me to the point of the trend where more foreigners are immigrating to Singapore and adopting Singapore citizenship. If locally-born and bred Singaporeans can’t even show some basic respect to the national anthem by standing still when it’s being sung, how can we expect the same from foreign immigrants? And as more immigrants come into Singapore, would this mean more talking and walking around at GRC dinners and similar events when the national anthem is being sung?

Why I Love Malaysia

2008-08-04T11:18:00.002+08:00

Want to win a free new book on Boleh Land, Malaysia? Then go to TheMalaysiaPage.

I love Malaysia because it has Petronas Twin Towers even though I haven't got the chance to go up its skybridge yet because the last time i was there, they finished giving out the free tickets before my turn in the queue came.

I love Malaysia because it has a theme park on Genting Highlands.

I love Malaysia because it has a long North South Highway for driving on and dozing off on. Can drive one's Ferrari or Lamborghini and maximise its power and prowess. Unlike on Singapore's Pan Island Expressway (PIE) where one risks driving off into the sea after engaging the 4th gear. PIE's speed limit is much lower too.

I love Malaysia because in KL, there is Berjaya Times Square which has an indoor roller coaster. My wife and I took the ride 3 times in a row. We will definitely take the ride again the next time we go to Berjaya Times Square.

Malaysia boleh!

Cabbies Should Whack Passengers Back

2008-08-04T09:29:00.000+08:00

It has been reported that more cabbies are getting assaulted by passengers of late.

To keep this problem from worsening, I think cabbies should be allowed to arm themselves with certain weapons to deter their would-be attackers.

How about arming the cabby with an axe, chopper or parang to behead his attacker? That would be nice. But of course, that’s absolutely crazy and over the top.

But sometimes, all these attackers who think they can get away with punching up cabbies ought to be served some severely just desserts.

The cabby should at least be armed with a metal rod right beside him so that if any passenger tries to be funny with him, he can whip out the rod and crush the passenger’s skull and beat his head into a pulp. The cabby is in the clear because he’s merely doing it out of self-defence.

If cases of assault against cabbies keep rising, I guess fewer cabbies would want to drive during the graveyard shift since they can’t do it in safety.

Chances of cabbies picking up drunk, unruly passengers between 12 midnight and 6am are much higher than during daytime.

www.streetdirectory.com is back!

2008-08-01T08:36:00.000+08:00

www.Street Directory.com has finally come back after having its maps suspended over the past several months.

Thank God.

This time round, SD.com would probably not have any more copyright infringement issue because its maps were made from scratch completely using satellite images.

Residents Of Older Estates Live Longer

2008-07-31T14:23:00.000+08:00

Research studies have shown that residents of housing estates that are built in the 1960s and earlier, generally live longer than those from housing estates built after the 1960s. Examples of such estates are Queenstown, Tiong Bahru, Toa Payoh.

Reason for residents of such estates living longer is: These estates were designed to be more pedestrian-friendly. This means residents of such estates got to walk around more than residents of newer estates.

Newer estates are designed with the car in mind. So it is much easier to drive than walk around in a newer estate.

Does this mean residents of newer estates like Sengkang, Punggol will not live as long as the residents of Queenstown, Toa Payoh? I think people who would prefer to have a short and sweet life rather than a long but sickly one, would not mind staying in a newer estate.

Clearing The Table After Eating

2008-07-30T08:53:00.000+08:00

It’s a common sight to see uncleared tables strewn with unfinished food or food that has been chewed and rejected and spat on the table.

Why do most Singaporeans don’t bother to clear the tables at a food court after they have eaten? It’s just another sign to show how much we are lacking in social graces.

Clearing one’s table after eating at a public dining area is a social norm in Japan, US, Europe but certainly not so in Singapore.

If everyone in Singapore decides to clear their tables after eating, most if not all of the uncles and aunties who work as table cleaners would be out of a job.

There was a man who wanted to clear his table after eating at a fast food joint but was stopped by a cleaner. The cleaner was obviously afraid that his job would be redundant if every patron clears his own table after eating.

If we clear the table, it’s not because we are civic-minded or public-spirited or anything like that. We only do so simply because we ourselves need to use the table to place our food and eat.

Personally, I don’t think it’s a big deal at all to clear my table after eating. I do so whenever I patronise a fast food joint, which I seldom patronise anyway nowadays. I’m not a fan of junk fast food.

When we were in school and the army, we clear the table after eating. But after leaving school and national service, we throw this basic social grace out the window.