Wow....what a bigggg ant...

We went for a visit to the showroom of our new place. The place had lots of monkeys, considering that it was beside a nature reserve. We had a tour of the showroom, then decided to go take a look at our unit from outside, as the place was still under construction.







As we went to the site, the ground was covered by a puddle of water, preventing us from getting a good view of our unit under construction. Then, my other half had an idea of going up the trail of the adjacent nature reserve so that we can get an aerial view of the development. We drove over to the Park, and followed the trail.

First thing we noticed was this biggg ant... I mean it was like 3cm... not your ordinary everyday ant.. couldn't get a good picture of it as it was moving about.








Then we went up the trail a little further. It wasn't too difficult for me as I had track shoes on. My other half was wearing high heels.... god bless her...







We came to a small bridge leading to another trail. Just then, she saw something which ended our journey of the nature reserve.. and we had probably had the World Record for the fastest descent... this is the culprit:

300....another crappy 'Phenom'enal article

Was just browsing around, when I found this website on ancient history.

What caught my attention were the details of the historical facts as compared to what was used in the movie "300". Based on Frank Miller's comic book graphics, though most effects seemed surreal and animated, I guess there are some salient points which matched the spirit of history with that of the movie.

“Thermopylae was a pass that the Greeks tried unsuccessfully to defend in battle against the Persians led by Xerxes in 480 B.C. Although the Spartans who led the defense were all killed (and may have known in advance that they would be), their courage provided inspiration to the Greeks, many of whom otherwise might have willingly become part of the Persian Empire. The following year the Greeks did win battles against the Persians.”


The pass of Thermopylae, the actual site.






All the details of the movie seemed to follow historical events, well almost all, except maybe Xerxes. King Xerxes, instead of being bearded and seated at his throne was depicted as a bald, huge and gayish figure, choosing to go to the frontlines rather than be at a distance away from the battlefield. He should've looked like:

this....................... instead of this....................... or this










But then again, a bearded old king on a throne wouldn't make as much of an impact as a Dhalsim look-alike, would it..









"Xerxes' fleet of Persian ships had sailed along the coastline from northern Greece into the Gulf of Malia on the eastern Aegean Sea towards the mountains at Thermopylae. The Greeks faced the Persian army at a narrow pass there that controlled the only road between Thessaly and Central Greece. The Spartan general and king Leonidas in charge of the Greek forces that tried to restrain the vast Persian army and keep them from attacking the rear of the Greek navy (under Athenian control). Leonidas may have hoped to block them long enough that Xerxes would have to sail away for food and water.”

The fact that they were attempting to prevent the attack on the Greek Navy was a little downplayed in the movie. Felt as though they were trying more to be heroic rather than prevent an attack on the Athenians controlling the Greek Navy.

Well, the 300 seemed to be alone at the hot gates to face the Persians. Seemed though that they had an army of 300 pus Thespians and Thebans amounting to close to 7,000 Greeks. Then again, he sent away most of his amassed troops. Probably knew that the Thespians and Thebans were wusses that can't fight.

Leonidas? I think he looks better with the beard.









“Unfortunately for Leonidas, after a couple of days, a medizing traitor named Ephialtes led the Persians around the pass behind the Greek army. The name of Ephialtes' path behind the pass at Thermopylae (which means "hot gates") is Anopaea; its exact location is debated. Leonidas sent away most of the amassed troops.”

Ephialtes was a shepherd and a traitor, but not a deformed figure. Again, its from a comic...







I have to say this looks much much better...







Another observation worth mentioning was the pieces of meat all over the screen. I mean, weren’t hoplites supposed to look like this? Someone give those poor beef some clothes!










I think fitness centres should take some lessons from the Spartans...

"On the third day, Leonidas led his 300 Spartan hoplites (elite troops selected because they had living sons back home) plus the allied Thespians and Thebans against Xerxes and his army of "10,000 Immortals." The Spartan-led forces fought this unstoppable Persian force to their deaths in order to block the pass long enough to keep Xerxes and his army occupied while the rest of the Greek army escaped."
"The Achaemenid Immortals (or Persian Immortals, or simply Immortals) were the Persian elite Imperial Guard regiment during the Greco-Persian Wars. Herodotus describes the Immortals as being heavy infantry led by Hydarnes that were kept constantly in strength of exactly 10,000 men — every killed, seriously wounded or sick member was immediately replaced with a new one, maintaining the cohesion of the unit."

Persian Immortals - heavy infantry, not Japanese, Mexican or Grotesque immortals..








"According to Cartledge, the Spartan Dieneces was so virtuous (aristeia relates to virtue and to the reward given the most honored soldier, which in this battle was Dieneces) that when he was told that there were so many Persian archers that the sky would grow dark with the flying missiles, his laconic reply was: "So much the better -- we shall fight them in the shade." Spartan boys were trained in night raids, so although this was a show of bravery, there was more to it."

Yup....the arrows really did cover the skys.. oh wait, that was in the movie..

"After Leonidas died, there is a story that the Greeks tried to retrieve the corpse in a gesture worthy of the Myrmidons trying to rescue Patroclus in the Iliad XVII, but to no avail. The Thebans surrendered, the Spartans and Thespians retreated and were shot by Persian archers. The body of Leonidas may have been crucified or beheaded on Xerxes' orders. It was retrieved about 40 years later.
Aftermath:
Persians, whose naval fleet had already suffered seriously from storm damage, then (or simultaneously) attacked the Greek fleet at Artemisium, with both sides suffering heavy losses. According to Peter Green, the Spartan Demaratus (on Xerxes staff) recommended splitting the navy and sending part to Sparta, but the Persian navy had been too heavily damaged to do so -- fortunately for the Greeks.
In September of 480, aided by northern Greeks, the Persians marched on Athens and burned it to the ground, but it had been evacuated."

Moral of the story, albeit the interesting twist of things, history remains as history. I prefer to look at their sacrifice as something which was worth it, like a cause for saving the rest of the Spartans, rather than as a sign of bravado and heroism. A take home would probably be to choose to be free, to sacrifice rather than to submit. A matching cantonese proverb would be "ling hor sat put hor yuk" which means "I'd rather be killed than be shamed"....

hehe warned u in the title that this was gonna be crappy...

Dun u feel like Mr Bean sometimes?

Was driving to work in the morning, when we encountered some kind of a deja vu... I remember watching an episode of Mr Bean the previous night of him going down a staircase and being blocked by an old lady.

After struggling for a moment, he decides to overtake the lady by climbing along the ledge of the stairs. He then gets to the past the lady and guess what...



This happens!!

Same thing happened this morning.. I was driving along the road and was blocked by a car travelling at 40kmh at the fast lane of a 60kmh road. It was a senior citizen, judging from the white hair. Driving behind him and getting a little frustrated, I overtook him, only to be blocked by another car travelling at the same speed. Now I overtook the second car, caught a glimpse of another guy with white hair.. only to be blocked by a third car. Lucky for me, this car went from 40kmh to 50kmh... giving me some space to overtake and pass all three of them. Phew.

I mean, the government did announce that the population is getting older, but this is plain ridiculous!

Errr... u sure people wear that?!?

Hehe... just a little something I found at someones house..

Wonder who wears these hehe... I'm not saying, else I face the full brunt of Diablo..

But can you imagine your kid in this? hehehe.. hopefully not male la.. If male might catch a cold.. hehehahaha

Parents, pls inspect the pants before buying.. if no your kid wear dam paiseh la.. hehehehe

Guess whether the hole is front or back....hahahahahhaha...

Life..

Past few months, in particular last week, was very trying time for me. Albeit the smiles and jokes, things were always going wrong one way or the other. I always wonder if I am a dragon, coz people say that this year is a good year for dragons, but things seem to go the other way round. I know of many friends who lost their next of kin this year, and most of them are dragons. I have luck on my side, that has not happened to me. Perhaps I should think what the bug told me to.. that things could've been worse had it not been a good year. Last year was a bad year for dragons, but things seemed to be so much better. Wonder if what they say about zodiacs have any truth in them.
Sometimes I wonder, if any of the things that I think are bad now, will be things that I'd do in future. Years ago, I would tell people off for drinking too much coffee. Now I'm a coffee addict. Life used to be so much more relationship based back when I was computer illiterate. Now I'm a pc geek who spends hours looking at the screen and running multiple blogs. Back then, drinking tea meant spending quality time with friends sharing about experiences, now tea sessions meant nothing but hours of talking cock. Friends then were brothers, friends now feel more like temporary company.
I guess my priorities are all wrong. Where I'm supposed to live the life I want, I'm living the life others want me to. Where I'm supposed to plan my future, others move it away. Maybe spending some time every day reflecting on what I want and where I want to be is what I need. Or maybe my encounters have made me a little mentally unstable. Hope no one has to visit me at IMH anytime soon...hehe..

Real estate..

We have officially shifted to another building! To facilitate renovation of our office, we were relocated to another office for a period of 2 years. Well, I have no complaints on this move except for a few minor details.. well, make that a couple.. no, actually it's quite a lot of complaints but nevermind..we'll leave it at that..

Firstly, lets talk about cubicle size.. I used to have a prime estate cubicle, where people would come over and spend time at my cubicle due to its condusive and strategic location. Not to mention, I used to have at least enough space for a guest chair. This however is what I'm left with..

If my guest was a mouse or a rat, I'd probably have enough space to offer it a seat...

Ok... so good employees don't complain about cubicle sizes... next problem, locality.. I mean, when you get real estate, there are 3 things you consider.. location, location and location right? So this is the situation...













How much more open can anyone be? Whoever assigned me the seat must really really have hated my guts..
Well, in school we were always taught that no matter how diverse the situation, we should find alternatives... while this might not be the best solution, guess I'll have to live with it for quite some time before I either give up and move out or I decide to go for early retirement.


Guess which real estate I'm in!?!

Kana bang also must pay....sian man..

Was heading home on a Friday night to get some well deserved sleep. As I was making a U-turn to go to the HDB car park at Teck Whye, there was a huge impact on the rear of my car, forcing me to swerve and stop the car at the roadside. When I regained composure from the shock, I realised that I was hit by a vehicle coming out of the slip road.

The car that hit me went in front of me and stopped. An old uncle, which I think is in his 60s, came out and asked me what should be done. I didn't have an accident report form at that moment, so, following what is commonly done, I asked for his IC and contact number and took down his car number plate. I did the same for him as the uncle told me he was illiterate and couldn't speak english. The uncle explained that he saw the traffic light turn red and assumed that there were no cars around. So, on the spot, we decided that we would claim insurance as the rear side fender of my car was sunken in.

All was well, at least until late afternoon the next day. His "friend" called me to tell talk about the accident. He then went on to explain that he was a claims person and he knew the loopholes to the trade. He started by saying we should not dwell on whos fault it is in the accident. There are only 2 options for this case: One, I send the car to his workshop, where they will not replace the bumper, but will only make good by doing a localised touch up. If it is not satisfactory, then he will give me a little bit of cash to compensate. The second option, if I were to decide to claim insurance, he will put up a claim to say that I U-turned, swerved and scratched his car, which obviously would be a lie, but he would do so just to avoid paying a few hundred dollars more for the reduction in NCB. He further claimed that this case is 50:50 as he can fabricate what story he wants in the report.

Considering that I've already sent the car to the Borneo Motors workshop for assessment, sending the car to his workshop would mean that I'd risk having my warranty revoked. Furthermore I'd have to live with the substandard repairs. If I don't send it to his workshop, then he would lie through his ears to get away with paying the full amount, and likelihood is that I'd have to pay half the amount in repairs which is about $350 and both our NCBs will increase. So either way, I lose.

Of course I'd prefer option 3, where he pays for my full repairs by cash i.e. $700, and I don't claim insurance, but that wishful thinking.

It's just sad to know that when someone bangs your car and decide to lie about it, you'd not only have your car damaged, but have to pay for other peoples fault as well. Worst thing is, there is totally no recourse for such action and you have to live with it. Just wonder why people are willing to do such bad things just to save a few hundred bucks. Hope they get punished in hell.

Hope..

Its that time of the year... the most important time of the year for us to raise our hopes for a better future and to strive for whats most important for us... yes, its the annual toto "Hong Bao Draw". Every year, we get a chance to live our dreams, while we are day-dreaming after buying that toto ticket but before the results are out. "What would you do ah, if you win?" is a common question. My favourite answer would be "I'd wear shorts and a singlet to work...so if you see me in that attire, you'd know I striked toto". Another one of my favourites is to tender my resignation with a letter stating 'I resign. Please see attached' and a copy of the winning ticket attached overleaf.

Singaporepools has ingeniously came up with a 338 hong bao....consisting of 8 numbers of system 9 tickets from the top 8 winning outlets. To get this hong bao, you'd have to download a form, fill in your particulars, fax it to SP, obtain a return fax with a reference number, go over to the outlet indicated, pay $338 and get the hong bao. Well, it's tedious, but being a little greedy once in a year isn't too bad rite? hehe..

I've got a hong bao for myself too....so it's about time for me to check if I'm the next Donald Trump or Bill Gates! Watch out for my singlet yah!

PS: If you noticed, the picture is a placebo..(my colleague's hong bao). The winning ticket is at my home.. hehe

Yeah man! Shippuuden is here!

Had a difficult time getting the remaining episodes of fillers for Naruto after the tipoff from my buddy that Naruto is back on the main plot. Well, it's about time, since we are all terribly bored with rasengan and the same old stuff from the rest of the Genin. So, Naruto grow a few inches taller, and Shippuuden is now on its third episode, but Naruto, albeit having tons of training, is still using a clone assisted Rasengan? You'd have thought, after two years, that he'd be able to execute one without a clone. Anyway, watching them going back to the main plot is a blessing. Bleach has gotten leaps ahead of Naruto in the fan run due to its slow but still palatable filler of the Bounto. Its about time we got more outta the orange shirt guy than another one of his will power induced victories.

Bankai!

Been some time since I've last caught the latest episodes of Bleach and Naruto.. ended somewhere when the Buonto were invading Seireitei and Naruto was and still is in filler mode (bleah! yuck!). At one point, Silmeria on PS2 seemed to be a better choice, considering that the Bounto was a tad bit boring and Naruto was getting on my nerves.

So, after months of anime depravation, and thanks to my good bro in KL for the episodes and a smoke beast for reigniting my Bankai abilities after a battle at RC, I have managed to go back into Bleach mode (I am still sick of Naruto. Why can't those #$@&%$#%$#@ restart the main plot?!?).

Well, we were introduced at the beginning with the Hollows, the Shinigami and the Quincy. Then the Bounto fillers came in. Now that the Bounto are extinct, we now have two new races; the Arrancar, beings created by Aizen which are Hollows with both Shinigami and Hollow powers and the Vizard, Shinigami who have awakened their inner Hollow. Then the giant Hollows or the Menos Grande are also distinct by three subdivisions; the Gillian, footsoldiers of the Menos, the Adjuchas, smaller in numbers and commands the Gillian, and the Vasto Lorde, only few in Hueco Mundo, but with battle abilities greater than the Shinigami Captain Class.

What this really means is that PS2 will be on hold from its stress relief duties, up and till the next Bleach episode is not available....hehe

My england powderful leh..

Went back in kl for cny. While having dinner with my cousins, we had a casual chat which somehow led to my cousin naming cartoon characters like sylvester, goofy and tweety bug. Tweety bug??!? hahaha... reminds me of how anus bug got his name..
The conversation went to a few years back where he was telling us about how good the 'ala-pata' was. Baffled by what he said, he went on to explain that it was a 4 man group that sang with unaccompanied voices. Gave us such a good laugh... In case you are just as blur...he was referring to 'a capella'. Another instance was when he was talking about the Friends actress Courteney Cox.. pronouncing it as 'ku-or-re-te-ney cox' everyone had a hard time understanding which Indian Actress he was referring to.
Anyway, there are tons of others who mispronounce words like Japanese and Selphy (to Ja_Penis and Syphilis in case you are wondering) so its not too bad if we mispronounce a word or two sometimes..saw this on a website for most mispronounced web addresses... these are normal websites...enjoy finding out what they really are:

Therapistfinder.com
Penisland.com
Powergenitalia.com
Molestationnursery.com
Gotahoe.com
Mypenisland.com
Thepenismightier.com

Hehe..

Forward...no oops... Reply to all...click...aiyak!!

Ever tried flaming someone on the mail, and then sending the mail straight back to that person? I remember some years back when a colleague was complaining about a consultant, on how stupid and idiotic the consultant was. Well of course, his intent was to vent his frustrations to us but somehow, having a sudden disability of motor skills, he clicked on the 'reply to all' followed by the 'send' button on his mail. 2 seconds later, a state of panic commences and he goes round all our cubicles asking us... "Die la what to do..". Lucky thing was that the consultant replied to say that he was sorry he caused so much trouble and that he would buck up to improve.

Just a while ago, the same thing happened to another colleague. Recieving a task we were all dreading to accept, the colleague wanted to inform everyone that she had been arrowed. Having the same distorted motor skills as the guy in the first para, she clicked on the two dreaded combinations.. 'reply to all' and 'send'. Well, all goes to say, the archer recieved the note on his arrow. Once again, luck was on her side considering that the archer had a sense of humor.

It does happen to everyone once in a while, so the best thing to do is.... look at the receipients before you click 'send' la!!! hehehe..

Professional Grooming

Try typing "professional grooming" into yahoo's search box and you'd probably get links to Professional dog grooming or Pet grooming.

Quoting from the article 'Professional Grooming - Not Just for Puffy Pooches' By Janice Biniok on CentralPets.com, Jan. 2003, "If you think professional dog grooming applies only to certain breeds, here's good news for you: any dog can benefit from a professional grooming, even dogs with low-maintenance coats! And there are plenty of advantages for their owners as well." Well, I presume she was referring to owners being more obedient after watching their pets go through a grooming session.

Well, why the sudden interest with grooming? My colleague got a pet and has been talking about it for days, I've just attended a professional grooming course and after a long bout of diarrhoea, I'm feeling a bit distorted from the amount of chores I've been having lately.

Ok, back to the topic. I was at this professional grooming course conducted by an image consultant. Well, the lady wasn't half bad, as most people came out laughing and saying that the course was better then expected. I went in a little late, and as I sat down, they started with the major turn offs for men and women. For men, there were things like greasy hair (thank god I just cut mine before the course), unironed shirt (mine is very tidy... my grandma and aunt transferred the art of ironing level 8 to me at the age of 16), and non-matching socks (my dark blue socks looked black, so the lady mistook that I had good color sense). For ladies, messy hair (is that really a problem?), too much make up (yes, totally), armpit hair??? etc etc.. I guess the ladies have far worse problems than we men do...hehehe...

Then we went on to color combination, and what colors suit you.. we learnt about warm and cool colors and how that matched our dressing. Mine is definitely cool as mint... I only have black, white, grey and blue clothes...no other color. In another time and era, I would've thought that I was boring, but here, it seemed like color was on my side.

Then there was the face shape. Someone queried on the difference of a trangular face and a heart shape face. The lady drew some faces on the board. And finally, I understand that a person with a heart shape face is a person that has a triangular face plus a receding hairline!

We moved on to etiquette and manners. Seemed like everyone had difficulty to answer a phone call. We have variations like:
a) Hello, I am X, what you want?
b) Good Morning, who r u?
c) Good Morning, I am X, from company Y. How can I help you?
All 3 variations were wrong. Stopping at company Y in variation 3 would be sufficient. Adding the 'How can I help you' statement is deemed to be superficial.

Then it came to introduction of friends and colleagues. Wow...it baffled me watching some colleagues going. "This Tarzan, This Jane"...well except of course their names were not Tarzan and Jane. Very primitive way of introducing people to others. The lady preferred a description say "This Tarzan, Jungle Boy, This Jane, White Babe" which gave better clarity of what each of them were. I do agree though that many times, when we meet friends, we don't introduce our other halfs creating an awkward situation for our partners. Guys out there, remember to intro your gfs when you meet friends!

We moved on further to handshakes, sitting postures and many other things. While I actually dread courses sometimes, especially ones that aren't technical in nature, I guess this one course wasn't all that bad. At the least, it gave me some humor, some peace of mind and a break from problems in everyday life.

Communication.. 101

Lesson 1 in communication: Seek first to understand what others understand, before you think you understand what other understand from you.

We were heading to a convention when a collegue messaged us that he had arrived. The message went "Go to K4....etc etc". So, the moment we drove into the carpark, the first thing we looked out for was a K. Looming ahead us was this sign on the column that showed L10...and obviously beside it was K10. Going in the right direction, we headed past a few more columns and reached K4. Not seeing my colleagues car anywhere, we started cursing and complaining that he had not arrived. As we walked to the carpark staircase, we gave him a call and hey, guess what.. they were at Carrefour..

Lesson 2: It's not what you say, it's not even how you say it. It's how much flak you can say it with..

I always admired people who could speak well. Sometimes, with just the right words at the right time, things could be settled just like that! We met up with an agent for a viewing, an agent which we didn't really see eye to eye with and had frequent if not many arguments with. Half way through the conversation, her boss appears driving a huge Mercedes. As usual, we continued with our ever inquisitive barrage of questions to the agent and this new fella. What baffled us was that he sold 8 units on the ground floor where other agents were having difficulties selling them. His response was.. well .. "At the hierarchy of pyramids, as you grow older, you'd realise that having a place that your kids can run around, while you observe them at the safety of the ground floor, might be a blessing. Furthermore, regulations state that you cannot have a physical wall at the ground floor to demarcate your territory. However, no one mentioned anything about creepers. So, with a natural boundary made by the creepers, the patio is practically all yours." Had a hard time avoiding all the smoke he was releasing.. pity the 8 guys who bought the ground floor units from him.

Lesson 3: Diagnosis must precede prescription

We were at a Teppanyaki restaurant having our dinner. One of the special dishes involved the waiter putting flame on the meat using matches and alcohol. The waiter took out some match sticks and nonchalantly lighted them with one hand and held a bottle of cooking wine in another. Having seen this before, me and my other half instinctively moved our chairs back a little. The chef made a giggle and told us that "If there's anyone that is in danger, that would be me....not you." Having said that, he proceeded to put some cooking wine on the meat, lighted the wine and scalded his finger. Feeling sheepish, he turned around and poured some gravy on his finger. This chef kept quiet the rest of the evening.

Some music, a book and a nice warm cup of coffee?

Was going out for lunch when a colleague asked if I wanted to pop by Starbucks to get a cup of coffee. Another colleague exclaimed that I have had my 2nd cup of coffee already and that having too much coffee is "serious". Well, having 2-3 cups a day isn't too bad, but raising it to 6-8 cups a day might be a little excessive.

That reminded me of my recent trip to Italy, where coffee was like $3-$5 Euros, translated to about S$6- S$8 for a small cup of miracle juice. Considering the price of coffee and not wanting to pay double for a drink, we resorted to having coke and water instead.

Having had my fair share of coffee over the past few months, cutting out this caffein supply was not a good idea. It seems that my mood swings actually increased, and I was a little gloomy on one of the days on tour. Then came the time when we went to the local convenience store for some tidbits and I got myself a movenpick coffee ice-cream. You would be surprised at the effects of having some coffee ice-cream in your mouth after days of abstaining from it.

That being said, here are some articles that coffee addicts like me would console ourselves with:

Well, for me, I'd stick to cutting down on coffee but 2-3 cups a day wouldn't be too bad, would it?

Annual Lunch Performance

I'm back! It's been reeeeaallllyyy busy since I got back, with tons of work piling up. Anyway, we took some time off at the office to prepare for an annual lunch performance. The newbies in the division were all arrowed to perform a sketch, song or something. Tweedle dee wonder dummy came up with an idea of doing a hokkien song, and the song we chose was 'ji ki shio ho sua'... or 'one small umbrella'. As you can see, we ran out of small umbrellas...

Here's a link to the video. It takes heck of a long time to load but it's worth it (Cough...cough..).

I'm Back!

The title sez it all.... Still a bit lethargic, so I guess you'd be hearing just that little bit from me.. until I recover to full blogging capacity...hehe

Holiday!!....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all family, friends and fellow bloggers!!!!

Won't be around up till after the New Year... so I will only be able to respond to your comments next year.... will be somewhere far from Singapore and Malaysia.. hehe.. so enjoy yourselves and have a good year end!

Where am I going? Take a guess..

Picture perfect..

Just got my company ID card and can't help but recall what happened during the photo shoot for the card..

When we first came in, there was a request for us to hop over to a branch office to get our pictures taken. Being new, you'd normally just follow instructions, so we made our way to the branch office and went to this room where a nice uncle was supposed to do a photo shoot for out IDs... A few colleagues went first, and uneventfully had their photos taken. Then, there was this guy who was a little concerned of his looks, went up to the cameraman and took a look at his photo, then asked for a retake. I was the last in line, and considering that it was a digital camera, I reckoned that theres no harm in taking more than one pic.

So my turn came finally, I went in and nonchalantly stood there like a stick ready for the photo shoot.

'Click'.. and the uncle said "One more time... no eye".. its pretty normal to squint a little considering that the flash was a bit too bright.

'Click'... "Again...still no eye".. I thought to myself, "Eh better keep the eyes open la"..and told the uncle to retake.

'Click'.. "Still no eye leh". Deep inside I was applauding the uncle for his patience.

This time I was convinced that I'd have 'eye'. After all, this was the fourth shot... and enough was enough.. so, I opened my eyes really wide.. and 'Click'.. "Funny leh...no eye".. Aaarrrggghhh..

"One more time uncle, this time sure ok wan"... 'Click'.. "No eye leh"..

'Click'.. '"No eye"..

'Click'.. '"No eye"..

Finally... 'Click'... "Ah this one ok la... got a bit of eye"...and that is the photo in my ID card..

Driving School..

You guys have probably seen this clip like a million times, but it makes me laugh at how well it portrays reality..

Well, a few buddies of mine were just discussing on the topic of drivers in Singapore and how they behave on the road. It all started with the comment that I made regarding a driver who signalled right and turned left, and another who signalled right and then left and went straight.

The conversation went on with what we saw as the most common behavior of drivers here, and we came to a conclusion that whenever a driver sees a vehicle signalling to turn right or left, he will accelerate to prevent the vehicle from turning. On the other hand, if you didn't signal, they won't accelerate. Which means that you could either a) Don't signal and turn and get horned for turning or b) Signal and watch the vehicle beside you accelerate. Don't believe me? Try it on any Singapore road..

Then we proceeded to discuss on drivers who didn't know how to use their right or left turn signals. Some drivers seem to not know how to differentiate left from right. They signal right, you think its safe to go on straight, and you see them inching towards the left.. wonder who taught them directions in school. A better scenario was when a driver decided to turn. Instead of signalling, the only thing that moved was her windscreen wiper! Scary man...

Then there are the road hoggers. More and more of these species seems to blossom these days. They inch their way to the fast lane, and drive at 40kmph.. and you'd think that they intend to turn out somewhere, but noooo... they're going straight.. all the way straight at 40kmph at a 70kmph road. Maybe they have some sight problem that makes the 7 look like a 4... or maybe they're just darn daft..

That being said, this is not a gender biased post..I have removed all instances of 'lady' in front of the word 'driver'...

Sick, ugly, disgusting people..

I wonder if it has something to do with astrological signs or the weather or some omen, but lately, I have been meeting up with lots of sick, ugly and disgusting people. I'm not referring to looks per say, but the really ugly side of people; their actions.

Just last week, after office hours, we were heading back to the office carpark to get my car, when the security officer told us that we cannot use the carpark entrance and had to detour to use the other entrance because his supervisor said so. I mean, my car is 5 mins walk from the entrance, and going the detour would be to turn one huge round, go inside the compound, take a lift downstairs to the other side of the carpark and get my car. So told him I was working in the building, showed him my working pass and asked if I can use the entrance. His answer was "no, my boss say no one can use". Wanting to get an explanation, I asked him why? and his reponse was "To stop you damn idiots from using this entrance!". That drew the line. I told him it was inappropriate to use such language, and he responded by showing me his security pass and saying "You want to complain complain la. At most kana fire only ma, I got cert wan. Nah, take my number la". I took down his name and ID, walk to the other entrance and left the building. I have since lodged a complaint and am waiting for action to be taken, if those people get to doing anything at all.

Just this morning, as I was preparing for work and after taking a shower, I got out of the restroom and caught the other tenant of the HDB unit I was staying in sneaking out of my room. In the panic of being caught, the only excuse she could come up with was that she heard a ringing sound from my room. I mean, what is your business to sneak in my room even if there's a ringing sound? Then the story changed to her hearing her rabbit in my room. I gave her a stern warning against going into my room and reminded her that people break in to other peoples rooms to steal things. Then, because I was hurrying for work, I went in the room and continued to prepare for work. When I got out, she apologised and gave yet another excuse. She said she just woke up from a dream that her rabbit was in my room, got into my room to check, then came out. I mean, what worse lies can you make? I am planning to set a webcam on 24 hours to make sure that nothing is stolen from my room.

Can't these people just understand simple courtesy and respect others? Do I need to lock the door everytime I use the restroom? Can't people explain on the rationale on why they do things without using foul and demeaning language? I really don't understand whats wrong with these people....sigh..

Memorable Places..

In case you're wondering if you got into the wrong website, yep this IS Phenom's blog. Wanted to give the old website a facelift.. so I spent hours dabbling with the html code, just to come up with a simple layout like this.

Well, today's post is on memorable places. Ever moved on to a new place and missed the smallest, most minute thing like a coffee shop or an arcade joint? There is always a place in every stage of life that I can remember of ... like the arcade beside Chao Yang in SS2, where we had our first Street Fighter 1 game; Rasa Sayang, where we got caught for being underage in the arcade; reservoir in DU introduced by CU, where ...hehe.. ; field opposite SMSAS, where we had Duel Masters' fights every morning before going for classes; Grandy's where we had BM study groups before SPM; Cyber cafe in Bangsar, where we had our competitions on the max number of hits we could make in an hour; McD near Puduraya, where we had a sweet on a stick; and so many more places that making a list would go on forever...

Everytime we move on to a new place, there seems to be something in the old place that brings back some good memories. But we never seem to appreciate the finer side of things while we were there. When it's gone, it might be a little late to reminisce. So, looking ahead, I guess I should start appreciating the things I have now... like 'Rendang Corner'....

A few steps away from the place I'm working now is a place that is kinda cozy and the people are kinda nice.. probably due to the coffee. Past one corner and you'd see the street name sign below....

I guess its a sign to tell us that the 'goreng pisang' (or 'keng cheow') is ready.. and that we should be on our way there... wonder who comes up with these kind of street names though.





After a couple of steps, turning right into an adjoining lane is the next street, which is appropriately named as....



(Are those guys serious?)



And well, if you get past wondering how they named the streets, then you'd eventually reach.....RENDANG CORNER!!!

This is where most of our problems and worries are dissolved... where we have our most important dose of caffein and most of all, where the new and old guys all bond.. (dun think dirty ah.. )

So, years down the line, when I look back and I am no longer in the job I am in now, I will still be able to find a post of this place in this blog... (Dunno why today sooo crappy.. must be lack of caffein..hehe)..

Travelling..

Just back from kl after attending a bugdy's wedding.. Got in to the office early today, so thought I'd just pen some random thoughts on some things that crossed my mind..

Was an interesting trip all in all, and considering that I have been well rested after switching to my new job, this was something a little different. As usual, going back to kl is a chore; getting a bus ticket, making sure the car has sufficient petrol when I get back from kl, getting gifts, packing up.. that just filled my Friday evening up to the brim and when I finally was ready, I had half an hour to get to the bus station for departure. Lucky for me, the single seater beside my seat was not taken. And I hopped over and had a nice comfortable trip back.

Going back to Singapore is an entirely different experience. No single seater, had an aunty and her two aunty friends sitting beside me going "ah boy ah.. blanket hai pin tou ah, ah boy ah.... toilet hai pin tou ah". By the fifth "ah boy ah.." I had to pretend that I was asleep. And there was this 'niang niang chiang' guy talking on the phone behind me in cantonese... he was talking so loud and uttering so much obscenities, I wished for that moment that I didn't know cantonese. The guy beside him didn't seem to mind though, or obviously, he didn't know cantonese.

Finally, when I got back, it felt really nice... took a nice hot bath and got to bed..

Guests...102

I remember writing a post on guests with some animal pics.... well, back then, the bug was still available... tomorrow, I'll be travelling back to my hometown to go for the bug's big day. Somehow, I just feel glad that he is tying the knot... not that I can finally get rid of him, but the bug needs someone to make sure he collects enough corn for the winter.. I guess this time, the bug got hitched with a nice ladybug, one that appreciates anime and watches inuyasha..


The chicken who was awol the other time, will continue to be awol this time... no worries.. we all know he is tending to his baby chick and probably playing magic with ah sou in Taiping.. but the next time we meet... the chicken better be ready with the chick and six decks of Timespiral Block constructed... wonder if married bug will do better than single bug...


The bunny thought it was a trend to go awol, and decided to go awol after reading some comments on the cbox..

The old bug...

Whilst having breakfast with some colleagues this morning, we were visited by an old friend.. one that was crawling on the wall right beside where we our food was.. instinctively, we got up and out and decided to shift to somewhere else... conversation on the topic of our old friend, better known as 'the roach' started off with us confiding that we were all afraid of roaches..
Recalling an incident, a colleague mentioned that he once had a visit from our flying friend whilst having a bath... then another colleague mentioned that the HDB void deck was a frequent flyer congregation joint..
I distinctively remembered, during schooling days, having a roach climb into my shoe...and having it removed only two hours later at school when I felt something prickly under the sole of my feet.. that old bug probably suffocated under the pressure or smell of my socks..
So, it isn't that bad that everyone was in a way or two affected by the bug.. we even had some time to discuss on effective ways of removal of our friend...
SO if you're out there and have a fear of roaches... don't worry, you are not alone..

Good Days...

Got an e-mail this morning from one of my former bosses with a joke and a note that read "Just wanted to keep in touch with you" or something like that. Just ringed a bell that I haven't spent much time contacting my buddies from my previous company... well, moving to a new place is what most people would want, considering that the grass looks greener on the other side, but there are things that you'd have to give up each and every time you move.
One of those things are buddies and friends. Well, just yesterday, my other half asked if I kept in touch with a friend.. and it caught me that, apart from some morning e-mails that didn't last five seconds, I really haven't heard from most of my buddies!... or put it another way, they probably haven't heard from me! I do miss them though... wonderful guys and girls whose priceless conversations and jokes were nothing short of being memorable. Well, I know they know this is not the last they will see from me, but keeping that in mind, I guess I'll start sending some e-mails or calling up some colleagues and friends when I have the time...
Lastly, guys and girls, whoever you are, if you're reading this, don't just sit there! Start writing! hehehe...

Eek... Black Cloud!...

Last Saturday was one of those days, when you get up on the wrong side of the bed and realise that a cloud hangs above you.

First, a wonderful colleague gives me a call early in the morning before I woke up to tell me that my name is in the first page of the Straits Times for commiting a crime and that I should get a copy of the newspapers. Not that I am guilty or something, but I went down to the shop just to get a copy of the papers, just in case. After reading the front page, I realised that my colleague had a reading problem and that he didn't realise that my name is not Tan Tun Jin! (Apologies Steven....for the newspaper cutting I sent years ago..)





In the process of getting the paper however, I was blocked by this lady carrying a baby. When I moved left, she moved left, when I moved right, she moved right... It was only when she said "Hoi" that I realise that she was my ex-classmate.. blur... had a brief chat and just as I headed up the steps, her hubby sms'es me to tell me that I received a parking fine... After getting the newspapers, I got to the car and drove out. Being distraught over the days happenings, I almost crossed a red light but managed to brake just in time. Got a headache that afternoon and decided to swallow some panadol and sleep the day off... On the flip side, managed to catch Jewel in the Palace though... which was a ray of light in the cloud..

Snake Eater....not the ps2 guy..

When people make a comment like "kia lai kia ke ah?" when they see me, I usually get flustered and feel insulted. The statement meant 'loitering around' which indirectly hinted that you were 'eating snake' or 'lazing from work'. Now, in my new company, 'eating snake' takes a whole new perspective.
Firstly, we have defined a fixed schedule of which we should eat parts of the snake at different time schedules, once at 10.30am and another at 3.00pm. This part of the snake is actually quite important in that we have an opportunity to build relationships over a nice cup of hot tea.
Of course, there are impromptu 'snake eating' activities throughout the day.. these events happen once in a blue moon and are called 'attending courses'. Of course then, it would be better to choose correct parts of a snake to eat... coz eating a wrong part may cause indigestion and require you to do something called 'work' or 'present your findings'.
Then there are those little snakes called 'discussions', which you make an instant cup of coffee or tea and have small talks over menial issues to resolve and decide what are defined as good and bad snakes.
Just last week, we had some colleagues complaining just how bad the snakes they ate were. Until they realise that there is no good point to eating bad snakes, these people would probably continue eating bad snakes.
Ok now you know I'm damned bored.. plus I have a viral infection which is probably affecting my brain...haha
Gotta go for the next session... it's 3.30pm!

Geocities is out...

So I have to store images here.. aiks..

'Fai chai choong geh fai chai'... direct translated, 'retarded stick of retarded sticks'

This probably fits into my top ten list of most excruciating moments of my working life!... It is quite common for organisations to hire consultants and specialists to guide them on new initiatives.. this week was one of those weeks where my company had hired a specialist to give us a talk on 'the way forward' and what we were supposed to do to progress in our field of work. So, they arranged a 2 day session in which the 'consultant' who graduated from Harvard and had a long list of accolades to share his experiences and give us some guidance on his expert topic.
On the first day of his lecture, he started off with some background material which we thought were basic but would probably last for just a few slides before we went into material proper. The next few slides were again of the same basic material which consisted of general statement on what we were doing. Giving the 'consultant' the benefit of doubt, we listened on, hoping that we would get some information that would help us on what we were doing. An hour passed, and he was still going on and on repeating the same basic material which had no substance and not even the inkling of knowledge of which a person of his stature would have. Two hours passed, an he was still talking about things which everyone, including those that have just joined the company, knew. Four hours later, and after a long day of going through what seemed to be an english literature lesson rather than a seminar from a professional, he changed the topic. While everyone was hoping that the seminar would finally start with some good material, he went on talking about a topic which was totally unrelated to what we are doing. Seems like his strategy was to speak profusely and incoherently, confuse everyone and hope that no one would notice. Everytime someone made an query, he would answer with a 'yes, I totally agree' or 'thank you, thats a very good point'. And every sentence seemed to start of with 'I don't know much about this' or 'I don't know anything about this'. The half day session ended with everyone wondering what we would be exposed to the following day.
Day 2. After sitting through day 1, it felt as though higher management had given up and decided to dissapear from the talk. Less than half the management that came for day 1 turned up. Wonder if it is due to work responsibilities. This time it was a little different. When I say a little, I really mean 'a little'! The expert drew the same things he drew on day 1, spoke the same stuff he did in day 1, and continued on and on like there was no tomorrow and his life depended on it. Half the people in the room were asleep this time. And he had the audacity to make sarcastic comments like, 'I hope the back people are all tested on this'. Basically, as one of my buddies put it, the entire day could probably be summarised into 3 words. Well, its a skill for him to be able to talk about 3 words for 3 days! It's like a bloody 1 word per day! I told a buddy that the only thing that I probably gained from the entire lecture is a flowchart which looked pretty good, which I could use as a template for my future slides. He had probably 20 odd slides to go before the end of the day, and with one sentence, ' you guys could probably read this yourself', he teleported his presentation to the last page and ended his presentation.
Day 3. This time, even at the beginning of the morning, most attendees were asleep. Not that I was asleep. I was just in deep thought. It was a half day session, and foreseeing that this was the last day of torture, most of us were glad that this is ending soon. He started off with some material, and a few guys actually raised some questions. This is an example of how it went;
------------
Attendee: I would like to ask if you could share your experience on how to make noodles.
Torturer: Lets see, noodles is in this book and here it is, the definition of noodles is a flour like material, and I'm not good at noodles. You may consider making pasta, and if you like rice, you can also make nasi lemak instead of noodles. Alternatively, if you don't like food, you can go fishing. Now where were we...
Attendee and entire lecture hall: *Blur*
-----------
Half way through, i was restraining myself and getting help from the person beside me to prevent me from going to the front and hitting him. Its a miracle that organisations pay tons of money to engage such @#&^%% (I can't even describe them) to give talks and lectures. I have been through so many talks by local experts and they are so much better and give better insight to their topic of interest. This kinda guy, I seriously wonder if he payed his way through Harvard.

We are queueing for...?

Went for the NATAS Travel Fair at the Expo last Saturday. Getting advice from the local newspapers, we decided to head there at 9am in the morning to beat the crowd and have early breakfast. The travel fair was scheduled to open at 10am, and we reached on time, got a parking space within the Expo carpark and had our breakfast. We chatted a little, and when we finished breakfast, going through the newspapers and some idle chat, we realised that some people were already queueing at the ticket stands at about 930am. We joined the queue at about 945am and waited till 10am when they started selling the entrance tickets. We got in, went to the booth of the tour agent we intended to book the trip from, and got our tickets to Switzerland and Italy. As payment was made by credit card, certain gifts or freebies could be collected based on the credit card used. We proceeded to the redemption booth to get the freebies, which consisted of some travel bags. Just then, there was a sign placed at one of the booths for free tote bags, if you flash a certain credit card. The time was 11.00am and the guy at the booth indicated that the bags would be given out at 11.30am. At about 11.10am, a queue started forming at the tote bag counter. The queue got longer and longer, spilling over to the next area. At about 11.30am, I overheard the guy at the booth mentioning to his colleague, "It's not my fault, they started queueing themselves!".. and later on at about 11.45am, "Look at the queue, and the bags only arrived 5 mins ago!".. at about 12.00pm, everyone got their tote bags, and you could see the dissapointment in their faces when they found out that they were queueing for almost an hour for a small canvas bag... hahaha...