Tamed for life, set free in the wild .. I am a wild hamster

A new path ...

2009-04-03T16:34:00.004+08:00

They say that life is unpredictable. But what's the reason for that? I think we'll never know. But what I do feel is that the person responsible for this is the big man above. I feel he's been pretty random when it comes to sowing my life with unexpected events and outcomes. Most of the time, it's all been positive however.

Just last week, I had made a decision to stay in my warm and fuzzy corner at my current workplace, a decision spurred by the fact that it was a comfortable place to be and the pay was decent. Also, I was happy.

Of course, in the back of my mind, I still yearned for deliverance - something which I've prayed for ever since I knew how to pray. Indeed, the past couple of years I have been incessantly praying for some divine help to show me where I must go in life.

But then, I also realised that maybe if he showed me the path I also wouldn't know what it would look like.

It's not like he's going to send an angel down to me and the angel will take a classified ad, shove it in my face and say, 'NAH, THIS ONE LAH, WHAT YOU WAITING FOR? THIS HUAN WILL MAKE CHIU HEYPI!'

You get the picture. Still, I did not give up hope.

Then last week, just when I had made a decision to stay, a call came from someone I know about a potential opportunity.

Call it fate, or providence, but it really did come at the exact moment when I was about to relay my decision to commit to my current management. A few days later, I decided to take it up.

In all honesty, I have no idea what I'm doing. It's very much a leap of faith. As Donald Trump says, sometimes, you've just got to trust your instincts. And making this move feels quite right, even though I've been literally ripped out of my comfort zone and thrust into action.

As a consequence, I've had to partake in a flurry of activities over the past few days.

It's pretty exhausting, especially since I have to juggle my new duties with the demands of my current job, which I have to stay in until the date when I officially step out of the door.

But at the same time, it's a happy kind of tired. So far, I'm quite thrilled with what I'm doing.

As I've said before, I don't know where this will lead. But as my new superior says, as long as you have passion, luck will come. So I'm just going to plunge headlong into this and pray once again that I will end up somewhere much better than where I am now in a few years time.

And I must never forget those who made it happen. Especially the big man above, for I am eternally grateful to for having provided for me and my family over these years.

Phases of Life

2009-03-20T17:18:00.003+08:00

Today, I made the decision.. to shelf my earlier decision. Temporarily. I think.

In all honesty, it was made on a whim. Without any clear motivation. I am as undecided about it as I was earlier in the day, or yesterday or the week before. But I had to make a decision, and so I made it.

Going forward, it seems to be a right move to make, though I admit that the lure of a free life was very seductive, and that the path I have taken seems a bit selfish, and its probably going to cost someone (hopefully, not me) dearly (or not dearly, maybe undearly, or deerly, or venison. maybe beefly? or chickenly? wallaby!)

I've not lost my desire to strike it out on my own. After evaluating my position, I feel that I still need some more time to re-evaluate that direction.

It will also give me a chance to further strengthen my available capital, and allow me time to do the things that I want to do, which I feel I may not do even when I am not employed. Self-motivation has always been a problem.

In any case, I have made my choice. At the very least, my situation is slightly different than last year because I have a 'get out' clause, which I can exercise at any time after giving one month's notice. Which means that I always have the option to walk away should I so feel like it.

Maybe a few months is all I need to think about what I really want to do.

But one thing I do know is that I also have another job opportunity which seems very interesting (and in my league) from Stream's friend. If I get the chance to do that job I will probably jump at it.

For now though, I am staying put. For how long more, I do not yet know. Yet I am very much aware that I am not become any younger. And people 10 years younger than me are sailing off into the distance while Im stuck on a sinking sampan.

I am also very much aware that I have to get off at some point lest I drown.

Better collect as much lifesavers before I jump though. Or maybe a life raft. And some clean underwear as well.

Imma certified Glambert

2009-03-19T01:47:00.003+08:00

Ive just finished watching the top 11 performance of American Idol and I have to say this: I believe that there's no one on AI so far that compares to Adam Lambert.

Before the top 13 was determined I was an ardent Danny Gokey fan, but I have now officially switched allegiances to Adam. It started last week after his mindblowing Black and White performance.

But this week. Holy smokes. I'm speechless. His performance of 'Ring of Fire' from Johnny Cash just completely floored me. Although Simon says it blows I find it shockingly addictive. In fact, I just downloaded the MP3 rip of Adam's portion of the show and Im playing it now.

Omg man. Talk about uniqueness. That's an understatement for Adam Lambert. He's bizarre, he's weird, and at the same time he's one of the best singers in the World.

To sum up, here's a perfect comment from one AI viewer:

Ok, so I hate Adam Lambert and his assault on my eardrums screech.

But I have to say that as much as I was determined to hate him, I loved it! It was so weird and bizarre and awful, but in all the right ways. All I know is I can’t stop listening to it. What the hell? I’m so confused right now.

Adam Lambert is like meth. Makes you feel like shit but you just can’t stop.

Winds of change

2009-03-18T11:01:00.002+08:00

Its time to make a change.

I think I have stayed in my comfort zone for too long. I need to venture out, make new discoveries, discover new challenges, challenge new horizons.

What am I going to do next? I have totally no idea. I envy those who know what they want in life. You know, those who already map out their entire future.. their hopes and dreams.. their short, mid and long term goals.

For some reason, I just can't do the same thing. Maybe its because I don't know what I want, though on the flip side I believe that its because I want too many things.

It isn't all murky up ahead though. I've got some ideas on what I think I might do. And most of them don't involve being under someone else's employ. Which is what I really want .. I think. Working independently will mean I have the space to exercise my creative thoughts and ideas, even if they are doomed from the start. Well, that's the way to learn ainit?

I've always felt restricted while working for others. Felt something missing, as if it was wrong, even though it looks right as rain. So maybe working for myself is the best option. Some may call it the arrogance of youth. I prefer to call it entrepreneurship.

Granted, I will no longer have the security that employment brings. Then again, maybe that's what I need for some major motivation. Besides, if I don't do it now, I may never have the chance to do it when again when I'm older.

Another obstacle is the steep learning curve. I'll pretty much be starting from scratch, and there's LOTS to learn. I like learning new things though, so that's fine.

Finally, there's a good chance that I may fail. But as they say, Fortes fortuna adiuvat. In any case, I will be giving much thought to this decision before I make it. As life changing endeavours go, there is none that will be as big as this.

Ad victoriam!

Shifting..

2009-03-13T11:58:00.002+08:00

Well, as much as I like the old design, I thought it was pretty glaring as well. Mean on the eyes and all..

Besides.. i think a more wild environment would be suitable..

Netbookies be warned

2009-03-11T10:12:00.004+08:00

Its so hard to find a good netbook. And by good I mean one that comes with a SSD. SSD means Solid State Drive. or Solid State Device. or Smooth and Silky Design. Or Safe and Secure Drive.

Many people are jumping for netbooks nowadays coz well, they're cheaper and smaller.

To cut cost and make them seem more attractive, manufacturers are releasing netbooks with normal hard drives in them, and people are snapping these up.

Its a great idea of course. Normal HDs are cheaper and have bigger storage. But what many people fail to realise is that they also have MOVING PARTS.

It doesn't take a lot for a hard disk to fail. In fact, if its processing something all you need is a tap on the laptop to damage it. Yes, its that easy.

For normal desktops, hard disk failure arising from such actions are uncommon(since its probably stuck in an immobile casing.

In a laptop, the risk is higher as you're moving it around all the time. In a NETBOOK, the risk is extreme.

Why? Because netbooks they are small and light, people tend to move them around more often. They often think that netbooks are mobile phones and fling them around like they're indestructible. In fact, I recently saw a guy trying to look cool by walking around with a netbook and watching a video on it.

To be sure, laptop and netbook hard disks are more durable than normal desktop drives. Its a technology thing. However, no matter what technology you put into a normal hard disk, you still can't change its principle of operation.

If your netbook contains an SSD (new type of disk with no movable parts), then good for you. You can play table tennis with your netbook and itll be fine. However, if it contains a normal hard disk, I suggest you NOT MOVE IT WHEN ITS TURNED ON.

All storage disks are equal. But some disks are more equal than others.

Not a random post

2009-03-06T10:45:00.001+08:00

I'm going ....

downstairs to buy a bottle of starfruit juice.

Herd mentality display

2009-02-23T10:44:00.002+08:00

This morning on the way to work I found myself, as usual, standing in a crowd of people at the traffic light.

The light was going to turn green soon ( which meant we could proceed to the other side)

There was this woman who started inching out. She walked a few steps (out onto the road) and stopped. After a few seconds, a few followed, then a few more, then .. the WHOLE CROWD followed.

Then the woman walked forward again and stopped again. She could do this because the traffic wasn't passing directly in front of the traffic light due to road works. Let me explain:

Original situation:

Pavement----------------------------------
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
<-Road
------------------------------------------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
------------------------------------------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
-------------- Pedestrians ---------------
Pavement----------------------------------

So.. frame by frame.. this is what happened:

Pavement----------------------------------
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
<-Road
------------------------------------------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
--------------------X (Woman) ------------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
-------------- Pedestrians ---------------
Pavement----------------------------------

Then:

Pavement----------------------------------
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
<-Road
------------------------------------------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
---------- Some Pedestrians - X(Woman)----
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
-------------- Pedestrians ---------------
Pavement----------------------------------

Then:

Pavement----------------------------------
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
<-Road
------------------------------------------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
---------- Pedestrians - X(Woman)---------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
------------------------------------------
Pavement----------------------------------

Then:

Pavement----------------------------------
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
<-Road
-----------------X (Woman)----------------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
---------------- Pedestrians -------------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
------------------------------------------
Pavement----------------------------------

Then:

Pavement----------------------------------
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
<-Road
-----Some Pedestrians --X(Woman)----------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
--------------- Pedestrians --------------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
------------------------------------------
Pavement----------------------------------

Then:

Pavement----------------------------------
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
Road->
------------------------------------------
<-Road
--------- Pedestrians --X(Woman)----------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
------------------------------------------
<-Blocked-off Road Lane
------------------------------------------
Pavement----------------------------------

After this, the light turned green and everyone crossed to the other side.

There you have it. Herd mentality 101! And I was witness to this marvellous spectacle.. yeah.

Stop wasting

2009-02-13T11:14:00.002+08:00

There is a food shortage around the world. Many people are starving. Many more will soon follow as a result of the financial turmoil as it will mean dwindling donations.

According to my University professor, the Earth's carrying capacity has been exceeded many times over. There's simply not enough food for everyone.

There's no easy way out to this problem.

We can look at producing less children vis-a-vis China's one child policy. Of course, such a thing can be hard to enforce. But nevertheless, it may be attempted via public education. The key is to slow population growth rates until we can find the technology to provide more food per acre of land.

The next solution is better. WE MUST STOP WASTAGE. We must BAN buffets. Don't get me wrong. I love buffets. I love the concept of eating without limits (one look at my tubby midsection can confirm that). But I also know that buffets are places where obnoxious amounts of food wastage takes place.

As a diner, its fine if you completely consume the food you take. But I have visited many buffets and have always found at least one table with unfinished food. Sometimes, its a LOT of unfinished food.

Restaurants too are guilty parties. How much food do they throw away at the end of everyday? I'm not just talking about buffets either. I have seen restaurants emptying loads of cooked, perfectly edible food into rubbish bins.

What about groceries? Bread especially is regularly thrown away, along with other consumables like milk and eggs.

I think many restaurants order excessively because they don't want to run out of food at crucial moments in their operation. The same goes for Supermarkets and other shops or stalls in the food industry. Often, this leads to over-estimation, and food that can't be kept is thrown away as a result.

As a community, we need to see how we can optimise our food consumption so as to reduce wastage. The benefits are widespread. Food costs will be lower as demand drops, making it accessible to more people - especially those living in poverty. Businesses will benefit from lower prices as well. More food will also be available for everyone.

As individuals, what we can do is to ensure we do not waste food. At food courts, order only what you can eat. At buffets, take only what you can consume.

And this applies to non-food items as well.

The other day I bought a drink from 7-Eleven. When I had finished the drink, I took a look at the bottle that had contained it. It was a perfectly solid item. If I had kept it, I could probably use it 10 billion times more. But usually people just throw them away after consuming the liquids within. That's a terrific waste of resources.

We really should step up our recycling efforts. Think about how many thousands of plastic bottles are wasted a day. Think about how the materials used for those bottles can be put to better, long-term use. We should re-look our consumption habits not only for the good of our greater society but also for the benefit of our future generations. What's going to happen when we've used up everything on Earth?

We have to change our mindset. In the past, things were expensive. But they were also solidly built. One of the TVs in my house which my parents bought in the 1980s still works fine. People used to save up to buy these things. However, they are now a dime a dozen, and this has lead to a 'buy now and change later' mentality, which means people don't really think too much about their purchases. They just buy it and use it and if its spoilt, its okay. Because its so cheap, let's go buy another one tomorrow!

This also counts as wastage, because much material goes into making even simple products. We need to refocus our attention on quality. To see how we can make products that last as long as possible without breaking down. This applies to any industry. Look at the fashion realm for example. There's a reason why some people insist on buying branded goods. Yes, they buy it because of the name. But sometimes, its more than just that. The brand represents quality. Some high-cost Italian shoes can last for many years for example as they are hand-made, with careful attention paid to their construction.

I'm not advocating the purchase of branded goods. Don't get me wrong. What I AM suggesting is for us to see how we can invest in quality instead of always looking at the price tag.

There is of course one ultimate solution for wastage. And that is to build a spaceship and go colonise other planets. But I don't see that happening anytime soon. So until that does, there is an urgent need for us to change our lifestyles so that we can last the distance.

Life's a rollercoaster

2009-02-02T16:30:00.002+08:00

When thinking about what to type for my heading.. just thought of this line from one of Ro Keating's songs. Recently.. life has indeed been like a riding on a carriage going up and down the hills of an amusement park ride.

CNY has come and gone. I had expected it to whizz past though as there were just too many things that were happening on those two days. It's a chance to meet up with relatives and just have fun.

I've learnt one thing that you shouldn't do on CNY, which is try venturing into Sentosa. Don't say I didn't warn you. I was there over the entire CNY period and the island was SWARMING with people. Most of the visitors were foreign workers, and a number of them pitched tents everywhere on the beach. I had originally planned to relax on the beach when I got there, but after seeing how the beach was crowded to the max with all sorts of people doing all sorts of things, I decided not to anymore. Sigh.. somehow my plans to let off some steam always seem to be derailed. Maybe I'm doomed to feel stressed for my entire life.

Anyway, trying to get into Sentosa was another headache on its own. There were queues at all the points of embarkation for transport into Singapore. The queue for the Monorail was most horrendous, creeping all over the top floor of Vivocity. So I headed to the Cable Car queue and found that there was a queue there as well. That's not the end. After reaching Sentosa, I found queues stretching for hundreds of metres for the local buses as well. Frustrated, I decided to just hike back to my beach chalet through the Imbiah jungle. Thankfully, it wasn't as arduous as I'd thought it be. In fact, I quite enjoyed it. All in all, it took nearly an hour and a half for me to get to my chalet on Sentosa from Vivocity. If I had waited for the Monorail, it would have probably taken longer.

Another thing which peeved me was the fact that Sentosa took the beach trams off the paths for the two days we were there. This meant that anyone who had beachside accomodation (i.e. Costa Sands Resort or Siloso Beach Resort) had to walk a hell lot just to get a ride off the island or a bite to eat. Thanks Sentosa, for making us feel like valued customers. The reason that they gave for taking the trams offline were pretty illogical as well - it was something along the line of, we took them off because we want people to enjoy the Sentosa Flowers Display.

Huh?

Tram operation on the beach path = people cannot enjoy the Sentosa Flowers Display?

Honestly, they could have just said: "We foresaw the billion and a half people flooding our quaint little island and so as to prevent our trams from becoming MRT trains at peak hours we decided not to run them."

Inevitably, many people had a lot of things to say about the FTs crowding Sentosa on those two days. I don't have a problem with that really. After all, many of them work hard 7 days a week, for almost all of the year and they deserve their rest. Besides, they're as human as any of us, and so should be accorded the same basic rights that we do.

I think it makes sense for many of them to go to Sentosa, because really, its one of the most cost-effective places to go for a day of fun. Apart from the entrance fee + monorail fee, which adds up to around $3, there's nothing else to pay for aside from food and drinks. I mean, that's if all you're looking for is a place to relax and you don't want to slide down the hill on a plank with wheels, or watch a 3-D fish that's dancing on a screen, or touch some dolphins.

But some (read: SOME, not ALL) of the workers were quite unruly and were displaying quite ungracious behavior. Like there was this one guy who just came out of the sea and walked straight to the Luge attraction. I was standing there trying to get a shot of someone and he stood next to me and I could feel all the seawater dripping off him and splashing on me! I admit that I wanted to touch seawater that day, but that wasn't the way I planned to do it.

Probably the most irksome thing that I saw was rampant littering. Of course, not all the foreign workers could be blamed for this. Singaporeans have also been pretty notorious for littering when there is a large crowd around. This is something we really need to be conscious of.

Numb3rs

2009-01-10T00:36:00.007+08:00

I don't know how people can update their blogs everyday. Either they're very free at work, or they don't really do much after work but stay at home, which in the latter case can be a good thing. Nowadays I work till quite late, and then after that meet my SO for dinner, then when I reach home it's too late to do anything productive, let alone write on the blog.

These few nights have been spent sending out job applications. Despite what people tell me (that the job market is bad and I should just apply to ANY job that I fit the requirements for), I still prefer to only apply for jobs that I really want to work in.

Sure, I may be able to do just any job, but I believe that it is my employer's benefit (and mine) if I have real passion for what I'm doing. Only then can I truly excel in my work.

So, the search goes on.

I realise that human life today is pretty worthless. In the past, when the World wasn't so Friedman-flat, and when communities were closely-knitted groups, people really did give a damn about what happened to their workers.

Farmer John, for example, knew each one of those who worked in his corn field. He gave a damn about what they wanted, their hopes and dreams, and their lives. They were all happy and gay.

Even up till the 60s and 70s, companies still treated their employees really well. Take IBM for example - they had a solid record in this area and IBM employees were happy and gay for they knew their bosses would take care of them for life.

Fast forward to current times, and you'll find that the situation's completely different. Many CEOs now pretty much care only for one thing - their paycheck. With this mentality, only one thing can happen when they take a look at their balance sheet and realise that it isn't really that balanced.

Expenses must be cut, which is a statement often mentioned in the same breath as the dreaded exercise known as retrenchment.

In such exercises, they trim employee numbers as though it meant nothing to them, and I'm sure this is more the norm than exception. It's like all they'll say is: 'Hey, let's just get rid of 10,000 of them. There, we're going to save $50 million dollars in this way - problem solved!'

But wait, this goes around in a vicious circle. If A loses his job, he won't be able to buy stuff from B's company, so they lose money and cut B from their payroll. So B loses his job, and he can't buy stuff from C's company, who has dealings with A's former company, and so they cut their dealing, and A's company retrenches more staff.

So after all the retrenchment, who's going to be left with salaries to buy anything? Maybe some of the aforementioned CEOs of course, and let's not forget those financial market types, some of whom destroyed their companies and made millions of people lose trillions of dollars -but still got away with extremely fat paychecks. Where'd you think all that money comes from?

Money doesn't appear magically - it's gotta come from somewhere. Well, my friends, it's people like us, or more specifically those of us who were gullible enough to have our money siphoned off by these so-called brilliant financial engineers.

And its not just money these people had sitting around but money that they've slogged our entire life to earn. Losing all that money.. it's like they've worked for nothing.

Of course, like I said before, they aren't excused from the blame either. They could have chosen NOT to invest in something they didn't understand. But then again, in the financial world, how many people really understand what's happening? How many people read contracts nowadays? How can we? Modern contracts are so long, they can be sent for publishing as a paperback novel.

So as I was saying, many management members now only think about the numbers, and not about the human aspect of their companies. As warped as such a mentality may be, that's how the World works today. People only care about the numbers, or at least, I notice many that do.

People no longer care that much about service, and even if Spencer the salesman smiles all the time and gives a good customer experience, you know you're still going to go to Max, who is nasty as hell but sells the same product for 50 cents less.

Let me add a disclaimer that not everyone is like this. I know of some people who do care about service and will pay a premium for it. Wealthy people, in particular are good examples.

But if you think about it, these wealthy people most likely earned their fortunes by playing around with numbers as well - doing cost-cutting and such, and thinking about how much money they can make off a field of crops grown for bio-fuel, not thinking about how more people are starving because their isn't a great availability of arable land for growing food.

It's a World of numbers, my friends. We are all a statistic, nothing more.

Ah well, maybe I'm thinking too much.

Anyway, this weekend I'll update with my Phuket thing - which I promised earlier but haven't really followed up on it.. oops.

Beach pic musings

2008-12-31T10:53:00.003+08:00

I like to look at my blog.. because of the nice beach pic on top. Of course, that's why I put it there in the first place. Beach pics are so damn soothing. Or at least that's for me anyways.

Hope its the same for you as well, whomever you are that is here. Y' know.. middle of the afternoon.. feeling stressed.. just pull up this nice dreamy beach pic and gaze upon its splendour. Boo ya!

Just came back from phuket.. will post a detailed FR on it later when I got time. Now I got no time. So I come back later and do it.

Lunch and Supper

2008-12-23T15:05:00.004+08:00

Just came back from lunch. Man I'm stuffed. Thanks to me bosses of course.. Lunch with them always means one thing: Great food. Today, their son came for lunch as well, which was great. I happen to admire him a lot as he's very successful. Will I ever get to experience that as well? Probably. Which is the same as most likely not. Oh well, a man can dream can't he?

Had supper with Rake yesterday. Well actually he had supper and not me coz I had already eaten. As usual we went opposite his house for our food, drink and makan. Yesterday's session was pretty short though, coz when we met it was already 12mn. We spent the entire time talking about kung fu and the recession. Awesome combination, these topics are.

It's quite amazing how Rake became one of my super best buddies. We first met in Army through other friends. He was my classmate and sat at the opposite end of the table where I was sitting for our lessons. Truth be told, I never really talked to him till near the end of our course. That's when i realized we had a lot in common.

We were both losers and half-geeks. We had great passion for PC hardware and computer games, RPGs, science-fiction and fantasy... and documentaries. We are also two of the most unfit men around - couldn't jump, couldn't run, couldn't anything.

On the other hand, we were both terrific at enjoying our tea breaks. In our group, nobody appreciated culinary pleasures like we did, and after that we would head to the old arcade machine above the canteen to play some old-school aircraft games.. ah, the life!

Its been awesome having him around. He's dependable, witty, like-minded, utterly corrupt( most important), and isn't afraid to tell it like it is - a rare trait among men these days.

Ok, better not say too much else people think I'm going to do a Duan Bei.

Tonight.. X'mas rehearsals!

Of fubbin and other nonsensical whims

2008-12-22T10:26:00.002+08:00

I feel that facebook is having a net negative influence on my life, in more than ways that anyone can fathom, including myself. But those few ways that I have already comprehended already makes me feel that I should not fb too much. Hence, I shall stop fubbing.

I shall redirect my textual inclination towards something more productive (I hope), like my stories. As a matter of fact, I have just created a new story though I think that its eventual publishing may cause some ruckus among the authorities. Should I continue with it? I guess I should.. but whether I'll release it or not is another matter.

Someone asked me the other day what I really wanted to do in life. I was shocked that I couldn't reply him. Well actually, I was only half shocked. Because I know I'm as confused as a hamster in a maze. What do I really want to do? I guess my difficult in answering this question is not a lack of options but rather too many of them. I feel like doing everything, though that's not how the World works.. sigh.

I read a report the other day on how the Wall Street peeps are getting millions in bonuses despite the recession. Where'd you think all that money comes from? Stolen from hard-working people that's what. Of course, those who got their fingers burnt should also shoulder some of the blame as they willingly let themselves be sucked into this money-sucking void.

At the end of the day, what's responsible is greed, and all of us are guilty for stoking these flames. Yes, all of us. Except maybe the Gregorian monks. Why? Here's a case in point:

I was having dinner with my SO (disclaimer: usage of this term does not imply that I am a flowerpod.com.sg fan, although I concede that I have been spending some time in their forums) yesterday at the city area and we overheard this guy trying to psycho his friend into joining him in his business. He said something like:

"I tell you ah, I only need to make one deal every few months, because I can get about $40,000 each time. Then after that I slack. Wake up late.. surf the net, do what I want. Damn shiok."

"Really meh?"

"Yah, I even use the money to buy a car, go holiday, do whatever I want. Not enough money then do more transaction lor."

One word: Glamourization, which invokes envy and further along the line motivates others to yearn and eventually work for that kind of lifestyle. Glamourization can be seen everywhere now - in the movies, in magazines, on TV, and many other places. I recall someone telling me that she saw a programme about the lifestyles of the richest youngest celebrities, the list of which includes -unsurprisingly- the Olsen twins, Miley Cyrus and Daniel Radcliffe. I wonder how many teenagers who watch this show are going to want the same things that the stars are enjoying. Maybe someone should tell them that for every one Daniel Radcliffe, there are hundreds of thousands more actors who fail.

Yeah sure, someone says that we should look at the half-full glass. I'm not opposing positivity, but I feel that we should also be realistic. Statistically speaking, someone's chances of being a Hollywood A-lister is lesser than striking Toto.

Anyway, I'm digressing. How many times have we talked to each other about oh, I'm going for this holiday and thinking of buying a new car, and gush about investing in new property and all that. I know because I have been guilty of it myself. How many minds do we seed with thoughts of envy? And in the follow-up, in the search for extravagance -we sometimes lose our rationality.

Of course, in this pursuit not everyone loses. No, not everyone. Only the smartest, the most scheming survives. In our society, it is represented by those who have held the reins of our economy - the high-powered finance executives who put those useless financial instruments together and sold them as if they were things of great value.

Then, they got their compensation and they walked away.

I pity most of all, those who are in the lower echelons. During times of excess, in the previous years of excessive growth, they did not benefit much from it. Instead, all they could do is watch from the sidelines as their superiors redistributed the lion's share of profits among themselves, then lived the high life, buying new cars, houses and other expensive things, with enough to put aside for rainy days.

Then, when the shit hits the fan, these same employees - who had played a part in helping their companies grow and had not shared in the spoils - get a pay cut, or worse, are retrenched. Ah, the joys of Capitalism - a word that describes nothing more than the intelligent and advantaged exploiting those who are not.

buffet week

2008-11-28T14:27:00.002+08:00

or at least, it seems like its buffet week

On Sunday I went for breakfast after church with Estima and his parents. We were supposed to eat at Taka, but end up his parents wanted to eat at Suntec. End up we ate at Conrad hotel.

What a buffet that was.

I think its one of the most awesome ever. It had almost everything anyone could dream about eating. Goose liver, crayfish, lobster, prime ribs, roasted beef, and so much more.

What blew me away was the different types of oysters that they had. Most buffets would just lay out oysters. End of story. But their oysters come from 4 different countries (2 french regions, tasmania in aussie and ireland).. awesome shit man!

Estima's dad keep laying on the goose livers.. endless rounds of goose livers. In fact, long after we stumbled out from the restaurant i swear i had goose liver on my breath.

Another thing he kept coming was the free flow of champagne and wine. Yeah, free flow baby. I don't really like drinking in the day, but heck la.. free flow man, bring it on!

The dessert bar was out of this world. They had warm, creamy creme brulee, waffles, ice-cream (OMG THE ICE CREAM IS SO AWESOME), a huge variety of chocolates, cakes, tarts, pies, walao they got everything!

So, after this super rich (in-terms of cost, cholesterol and calories - hey, three Cs!) buffet, I dragged my drunk, delirious self back to Dear's house.

That very same day, we celebrated Mei's birthday, and so we went for .. another buffet. kaoz, you must be thinking i'm crazy to go for two buffets in one day. honestly i thought i was also crazy. but surprisingly i ate quite a lot. coz its a steamboat buffet.. and so its not stuffable, whatever that means.

The steamboat buffet was at Joaquim's at Suntec City. Not a bad place.. I didn't have a good impression of the place in the past, but the service seem to have improved slightly, though the food selection is still pretty meagre.

That was the 2nd buffet.

On Wednesday, I went for another 'buffet' at Sakae Sushi. This one is pretty well-known, so probably no need to say anything about it. Note the quotation marks, because it was supposed to be buffet, but end up they didn't have buffet, but in the end end I still managed to eat a psuedo-buffet because i ate a hell lot of food and had a buffet-like feeling.

Finally, yesterday evening was Kor's birthday, so ate the Suki Sushi buffet at Shaw plaza. The spread didn't seem as wide as the one at Jurong, but its still quite alright. I particularly enjoyed the paper steamboat thing, whatever its called.

So! BUFFET WEEK! HAH!

Tonight going to pick up the Baron from Airport, and stopping at SITEX on the way.. whee!

Where's the UFO?

2008-10-15T15:15:00.002+08:00

A UFO was supposed to reveal itself yesterday. Or at least that was the plan according to this psychic called Blossom Goodchild (woo! that name is so retro!) who apparently (and allegedly) has been receiving messages from this intergalactic space organisation called the Federation of Light.

Once again, my inner geek is getting excited.

But once again, again, it also looks like its just another hoax. Its like 3pm, Oct 15. No UFO anywhere. You must be asking me why I'm siao ah? Believe in UFO?

I feel that the Universe is so big.. there should surely be life elsewhere.. right? Anyway I believe. And that's enough. But so far.. no substantial evidence has surfaced to prove their existence. That's pretty disappointing.

Well yeah, there are videos and pictures that supposedly show UFOs. But a bunch of lights can hardly qualify as solid evidence. Someone should give these UFOlogists some telescopic lenses. (Or maybe some huge ass spotlights)

Anyway, I still believe they exist. I tell you solemnly, happy are those who do not see but yet believe.

Oh yah.. for those females out there. Do yourself a favour and go for a pap smear test. I was just interviewing a cervical cancer survivor today and as it turns out, that innocuous little test can be a PHENOMENAL help in avoiding cervical cancer.

And please do it at NCCS (National Cancer Centre Singapore). I don't know why anyone would go anywhere else for cancer-related consultation. Isn't it obvious that there ain't nowhere else better for that than at the NATIONAL CANCER CENTRE?

Wild Hamster

Multi-disciplinary update

2008-10-13T16:58:00.002+08:00

I feel the urge to write something (got to leh.. its been 10 days) but I have no idea what.

Its not like Ive got nothing to write about. In fact, I think I've got too many things to write about.

I guess Im supposed to bleh the whole thing out at the end of the day, but the problem is that after work each day Im just too damn tired. Weekends are busy as well, though this weekend it was especially so.

So let me see.. what I can extract out from my pretty useless memory of the past week.

Hmm..

Monday (6 Oct) was a pretty happening day. One of my company's clients had a product launch and I was there to help out. The product line is called Methode Jeanne Piaubert and its a French brand that seems to have been on the market for ages and ages (and ages).

My inner geek finds it pretty impressive, since the whole beauty/cleaning/whatever process is based on some scientific method thing. It makes the whole process look so .. healthy. Yeah.

And.. its pretty expensive too. I guess for that price, they had better make it do something impressive eh?

Met Ephraim, my old friend from Secondary School at the launch too. Hes quite famous now (or infamous) as hes stirred up some attention by sharing his blog with a Foreign Minister. Hmm.

But this guy has always been stirring up attention, even during our sec school days. I shall not say why out of respect for him. But you should know from that sentence that whatever it was that he did it must've been pretty scandalous. Well, I don't think its scandalous. Just.. strange. O_O

Anyway.. Friday I served the Bishop memorial mass. Pretty hectic time and ended up getting screwed by the priests in charge. I have no idea what they're called really. but I know they're specialized in liturgy. Anyway, getting screwed as a server don't really affect me after 15 years.. its just an occupational hazard.

Last week, it was finally made official that we are now in a recession. OMG WHY NOW WHEN I JUST GRADUATED? WHY NOW WHEN I AM AT THE TAIL END OF MY CURRENT CONTRACT? Ah well, guess I just have to weather the storm I guess.

There's a buge <--- ah ha! a new word! BUGE!BIG + HUGE = BUGE! -- debate going on right now about what to do the those evil bankers who brought this upon us. Some suggest that they should be jailed while others want them to pay a fine. Yet still others want them to be burnt at the stake. ouch.

I agree that these damn bankers should pay for what they've done. I especially agree that these CEOs who are paid so much to do a job shouldn't be paid because they haven't done their damned job. In fact, I think they did the opposite.

The American people are now picking up the tab for bailing out the banks, who are paying their CEOS hundreds of millions of dollars in severance. I think that the compensation is pretty obscene, and that money could be put to better use (such as stopping up the gap they left when they.. left)

Now the common man on the street is having to stop up that gap, with money that could have been used for education, or helping the poor. Thus, as the saying goes nowadays, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

There are those of course that believe that if you're not rich it means its your damn fault. It means you're not working hard enough, not born with the correct genes, not touched by lady luck, whatever. It just means you created your own situation.

Well I believe that is true to a certain extent, as in many of us (including myself) like to think about making it in life but lack the motivation to push ourselves to get there.

But some assistance would help. Of course, for some people, no matter how hard you push them they just don't want to go for it. But for others, sometimes all it takes is a little kick off the chair, or something less dramatic but equally effective.

Anyway, I hope to survive the recession.. and hope that my future house will become cheaper because of it also. (Fat hope right?)

Wild Hamster

First SINGAPORE F1 GRAND PRIX experience!

2008-09-29T12:18:00.002+08:00

Well, its Monday morning again. The weekend certainly sped past faster than the F1 cars I was watching yesterday. It was really, really fast. The weekend I mean. Everyone knows F1 cars are fast.

And loud. I thought that I would be able to handle the sound without ear-plugs. Boy was I wrong. After 1 or 2 laps my ear drums felt like they were going to break, so on went those cute orange plugs that came in my $2 survival kit.

Btw if you’re still not sure what I’m talking about, I was at the first ever Singapore F1 grand prix yesterday, 28 September 2008. First ever night race as well – and it was absolutely stunning.

Reached there in the afternoon just after the gates open (kiasu Singaporean) with Moreen, Spencer and Dear and we went spot-shopping, as in trying to see which is a good spot to camp for the next few hours.

Actually nothing much to see wor.. the F1 village was pretty messy. But on a positive note, we managed to get ourselves some Uniquely Singapore flags! Food was pretty expensive as well, with carrot cake and chicken rice sets going for $8 and a cup of coke going for $3.

But I guess its targeted more towards tourists. After all they already spend many Ks to come here, what’s another $8 for a plate of chicken rice from a ‘world-class’ food-court?

Heck, I even saw some tourists lugging along that portable TV set which costs $150 a day to rent!

Anyway, around 3 plus we made our way to our chosen spot, which is on a bleacher at Turn 13. Quite a happening atmosphere there with the place already taken up by a group of Indian guys who were having a good time just bumming around.

So we found a nice spot near the front and start camping, watching the Aston Martin Cup, Formula BMW and Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Races and just talking rubbish.

But as time wore on, people started coming up the bleacher and try to jostle for a place where we were. I quite admire their determination and stealth-pushing abilities. For instance, just around the start of the Formula BMW race, we suddenly found in our presence this secondary school kid armed with a Canon DSLR.

I was initially irritated that he never even said excuse me or what and just squeezed himself between Moreen and Dear, but in the end I felt okay with it, and all of us even managed to chat with him.

In fact, he would prove to be a good blocker later when two ladies tried to squeeze into our space when the F1 race was just about to start. Together with Spencer, all three of us guys decided to just use our massive presences (and girth) to our advantage. The two ladies wandered somewhere else.

Maybe you could call us selfish, but hey, we were there camping under the hot sun for this place so you can understand how we feel when people try to come at the last minute to block us off.

Anyway, the support races were pretty exciting, especially during the Aston Martin race when a car smashed into the wall where we were at! The Formula BMW cars were pretty loud (and fast) as well.

The F1 experience though was unbeatable. Nothing can beat the sensation of feeling the earth tremble as those raw beasts thundered through our section. Loud, powerful, fast, that’s how one can sum up the feeling there.

Of course, that is when you overlook the squeezing, jabbing, pushing that was going on around us. And smoking – obviously some of the tourists didn’t know about the ban. Dear and Moreen were relocating all over the bleacher when the F1 race started coz they kana prodded and kicked (they sat down most of the time) and also felt quite hot. (The back of the bleacher was pretty cool)

A funny moment happened when Rubens Barichello’s Honda car ran out of fuel abt 50 metres from where we were and they had to drag the car past us to the corner. Barichello came out of his car and walked towards us, where he flung his glove out supposedly to the crowd -but it landed in the river!

Actually I think the commentator got it wrong. It was not the wind that blew it into the river. From my position I can clearly see that he threw it in the wrong direction. Maybe he was a bit disoriented or something.

But it was an exhilarating race. Massa driving off from the pit with his refueling hose attached to his car. Coulthard doing the same thing. Piquet ramming into the wall in a horrific crash, with Raikonnen following suit near the end. Guess it was pretty exhausting for them, especially in our hot and humid atmosphere.

In the end Alonso from Renault took the chequered flag. Well-deserved … and lucky.

After the race, we got our pretty easily coz we were near the exit (like 100m away) and we went to Lau Pa Sat for dinner/supper. All of us were pretty famished at that point.

Well, that was one of the best experiences ever. At the very least, I can say that I WAS THERE AT THE FIRST EVER SINGAPORE FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX and the FIRST EVER FORMULA ONE NIGHT RACE.

28 SEPTEMBER 2008 – A date I will forever remember.

I will enter a post on Saturday’s happenings later!

Wild Hamster

Not my day today, but not yesterday

2008-09-26T14:30:00.002+08:00

Its been a long time coming, but I FORGOT TO BRING MY DAMN HOUSEKEYS OUT this morning.
Yeah, its a real lock-cock situation, and only a lock-cock person like me can do stupid things like this.

Well I blame it on my LCD for it has displaced the usual location where I put my everyday stuff. Well, actually again, its not the LCD but the CRT which is sitting behind it.

Why is my CRT sitting behind my LCD? Coz i got nowhere to put it for now. I had planned to stuff it into my closet but I was clearing out stuff and the whole thing COLLAPSED. There you go. Structural integrity in the 21st Century. Thank the heavens for the wonderful invention called warranty.

But as it stands, it has caused my LCD and CRT to form a close (bossy)union, thereby displacing all other thingamabobs on my table. Eeek!

Hence, the relocation of my 'Power 3' (i.e. wallet+keys+HP) and hence the overlooking of remembering to bring all three said products out when I went to work this morning.

On a side note, my 'new' cupboard built in 2002 didn't really look sturdy to me when they were HANGING it. Just FYI, the cupboard is nothing more than a hole in the wall with hooks stuck on the back of the hole and shelves stuck on the hooks. No prizes for guessing how much weight those teeny hooks can hold.

My old cupboard could previously hold an elephant (or two). The new one can barely hold a couple of hamsters. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but you get the picture.

Anyway, back to what happened this morning. I came to work, realise (in shock no less) that I had forgotten to bring my keys. Took a taxi home again. Waited for my brother to show up (heng he was still on his way to work), took his keys, went up to my house, took my keys, took a taxi back to office.. where I found out my lady boss had arrived 5 mins prior to my 2nd arrival and had opened the door.

Wah lao. Anyway, I'm totally bashing myself for this stupid idiotic behavior.

To make matters worse, my handphone - which was already giving me problems - started to cause more problems for me this morning. My calculator feature disappeared for one, and the wallpaper disappeared, and the whole style thing started screwing up. What the hell lah?

One problem after the next (lag, hang, lag, hang, contacts disappear, MP3 software can't work, battery died, etc), and for a 'fashion' phone targeted at the high-end (or semi-high-end) market, that's pretty shameless.

Come high or hell water, I'm going to change my phone end of this year. And it's NOT GOING TO BE A NOKIA. ANTI-NOKIA FROM NOW ON. I've been a fan of their phones since the 90s but the 90s Nokia and 00s Nokia just ain't the same company.

Damn their QC! Damn the service staff also who have no idea what they are doing! All they seem to like to do is flash the software and their teeth!

Iphone, here I come! SH better start offering it soon k?

Yesterday was a better day. Yesterday I went to view the F1 track (and touch it OMG) before the zooming and zaaming starts today. Took a couple of shots too.. might consider uploading it later.

Wild Hamster

2008-09-24T10:47:00.004+08:00

I have finally upgraded my aging CRT to a spanking new LCD. Awesome stuff.. felt like I was using a new computer altogether. Many people have asked me why I've been using the CRT until now.

Sentimental value lah.. I won it in a contest! Anyway I'm still gonna keep it around for emergencies.. nothing beats the durability and staying power of OLD TECH.

This morning I just had another random thought in the shower (seems like thats where all my ideas hit me, which isn't really a good thing as I got no place to jot it down . I did once try to gouge it on my bar of soap though.. that didn't really work out.)

Can a non-Christian really go to heaven? People have always been asking that. The truth is, I bet even the priests don't know. It's not their fault of course. There simply hasn't been any clear revelation on this issue, no clarification from the Almighty one above.

Jesus, bless his kind soul, offered some insight when he was here on Earth, although being the wise guy that he is, it was all pretty vague and cryptic and so could really mean anything.

Example:

Sentences like "Those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted" and "the last will be first, and the first will be last"

Also think about various parables like the one about the Shepherd chionging out to find his lost lamb and the long-lost son who after finish clubbing realise he boh lui liao and decide to crawl back to his lao pei

All of these seem to suggest that God welcomes almost anyone to the eternal club in the sky, as long as they meet the entry requirement of course.

Unfortunately (or not), this doesn't seem to include being a Christian. Or does it? If this theory holds true, then shouldn't all good men go to heaven despite not stepping into church even once in their lives?

I'm guessing that the key term here is awareness. As in, if you have lived a good life but did not go to church because you were not aware of such a thing as a one true God (possibly influenced by your peers, parents, etc) then maybe you've got a chance at paradise

However, if you KNOW that you have to go to church, not sin, etc and still intentionally run afoul of the heavenly laws, then you might not get so lucky

Am I sure about this. Hell no. But sounds logical ainit?

Wild Hamster

feeling wasted

2008-09-22T11:08:00.002+08:00

Was restricted to a horizontal position for most of the weekend. Bloody horrible feeling. The worst thing in the world is to be sick. Everytime I swallowed I felt like someone was ripping my throat open.

Anyway, after resting these few days, I'm feeling better. I was already feeling better yesterday in fact, and had lunch at the Raffles City foodcourt after church. Yeah, come hell or high water I will always go to church on Sundays.

I won't forget this lunch though, for the extremely vinegar'ish shui jiao soup. The shui jiao itself tasted like it was doused in vinegar for a thousand years before it was served to us.. utterly inedible. I'll post a pic up when i can. Yes I know its boh liao, but..

Its a quiet morning here in my office. Most people might say that Mondays are usually quiet, as everyone is depressed. Thankfully, I don't get hit by that affliction, though it could only be a matter of time.

Once I'm 37 or something maybe I'll just one day sit in my office and start screaming like a girl on a Monday morning, lamenting how lame my life is. Is this what mid-life crisis is all about?

Anyway, I can feel (and I think my boss does too) that with regard to my current employment stint.. I am almost done. When I do eventually leave, I can do so happily, not just because I feel that I have given my all to my company (and learnt much along the way) but also because my new colleague is infinitely capable, and I'm sure she's more than able to handle all the company matters on her own. Of course, that's assuming she's staying.

Now all I've got to do is secure my next gig.. mmmm ..

Oh yah, but before that.. Phuket in December!

theWildHamster

simply not the best

2008-09-18T10:48:00.003+08:00

That's what I'm feeling right now... which sucks. Not just because I'm in pain (argh! my throat! my ears! the suffering!) but also because I have always prided myself on having an extremely robust immune system.

I used to fall sick only once a year. This year I've fallen sick more than twice. Maybe its the lack of sleep, or lack of exercise, or lack of Vitamin C or the bacteria stuck on my office keyboard, or the weather. Or maybe its the combination of them all?

Got to see a doctor later. On a side note, let me put in a few words about Jimmy's wedding.

Jimmy is a good friend. Hell, he's more than a good friend. He's the kind of friend (to me neways) that I can feel a connection with. Doesn't matter how long we haven't talked coz everytime we meet we seem to have something to talk about.

Neways, Jimmy's just got married last saturday 13 Sept 08 and I was asked to be brother! Awesome right? Anyway, most of the day was spent travelling here and there.

Albeit the most siong part of the day was trying to choke down the dao-you-soaked bittergourd and glass of 'healthy' ginger-onion-donnowhatelse mix for 'breakfast'.

Thanks, Clarissa+co for that.

It was a pleasant day indeed. Really had tons of fun, esp with fellow brothers Nick, GKO and Jeff.

Neways, congrats Jimmy and Charie on your wedding. Thanks bro for inviting me to be your brother. As I have said, it's one of the greatest honours I have ever had.

Preliminaries

2008-09-16T17:17:00.001+08:00

Ok after fiddling around with this blogger thing I have managed to get some decent things up. I have no idea why I'm even fiddling with this blogger thing. Anyway, who cares.

Gonna do some more editing before posting anything concrete.

Wild Hamster