Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Which happened to me today:
1) I delivered a WITS presentation at MINDEF today, to one Brigadier-General and like, a hundred colonels. (ok, it was more like 30, but it felt like a hundred). Was nervous as hell, said a few wrong things ("and thus, ladies and gentlemen, our bomb check mirror is better able to check for more mirrors -laughs nervously- er, i mean bombs)
Still, it wasnt THAT screwed up cause my branch and i were awarded $705.00 for our efforts! Couple that with the $250.00 award from Chief Commando Officer and $40.00 unit award, we came up with a grand total of $995.00!! Hotel buffets, here we come.
2) I won 2 tickets for the Nokia Starlight Cinema screenings from Power 98. Was supposed to string together a sentence comprising of the words "radio", "yeah" and "feel good". I feebly managed to come up with: "It was a dark and stormy night, i was sitting in a dark room when my RADIO suddenly went "YEAH!"...suddenly i didnt FEEL GOOD anymore.."
Messaged it to DJ soo wei, who promptly called back and declared that i'd won the most creative sentence of the night! Gawrsh, are Singaporeans THAT bad?
... and i must say, soo wei sounds absolutely LOVELY over the phone. Oh, date me, please.
he rocked the party at 9:03 AM |
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Well, one certainly doesnt expect that after a mere 5 months, it'll boil down to this.
But my conscience is clear, that i've done my part to be the good boyfriend i wanted to be. (Albeit an egotistical, optimistic and self-deluded one, but a good one nevertheless) I've given in to you, loved you dearly, fought for you to stay, and finally, granted you your wish of being free. If that's what you really want.
Indeed, like you said, the only problem lies with you. Though me, along with many others, cannot fathom why you would let go for such a perfect life, you have your reasons, and i respect them. There's no point in forcing love and being part of an unwilling love after all. I've tried hard to keep it, given you all the logical arguments to stay, but alas, you're even more stubborn than me. And its been hurting, sometimes to the point of demeaning myself.
I dont wanna try anymore.
I'll just let it flow, let it start again, let the magic begin again, at its own pace, your own time. Just like how you wanted it. The ball's in your court, madame. I've laid my cards bare, now you decide if this is the life you want or dont want.
But for now, i shall harden my heart and take back my "i love you"s, which were probably uttered a little too early. For now, you dont deserve them.
But you're right, its true that the story hasnt ended. Perhaps those three little words might be uttered in another chapter after all, and it'll be a much happier and secure chapter i hope, perhaps ending with a "happily ever after"? Like i said, the ball's in your court.
he rocked the party at 8:36 AM |
Saturday, August 27, 2005
It aint fair, every time i watch some form of dance performance i get bitten by the dance bug again. Today's Suntec Dance heats were so flava-ful they left me bowled over. I swear the standards keep getting higher with each year. Soon it'll start to rival Funkamania or something. (well, ok la, the standards of MOST groups were high. Some were just gross. In the words of the girlfriend, "I've seen club dances which were better.")
Still, it makes me wonder again why oh why do i waste most of my life working hard at stuff i hate doing when i should be focusing my interests in my passions? If i'd given a little more commitment to dance, would i be up on stage like the rest of them? Because right now dance for me has been reduced to weekly hip-hop classes at Jitterbugs (an expensive hobby indeed) with no prospects of performance or competition. Sad.
One day, gentlemen, one day.
30 weeks more to ORD! (yes, i've started to countdown the weeks)
he rocked the party at 10:35 AM |
Friday, August 26, 2005
I honestly don't know what's gotten into you.
I've tried being the understanding, compromising one.
But apparantly, you dont seem to appreciate that.
Honestly, stop imagining that there's something wrong with us, creating problems when there are none. Perhaps its more like there's something not right with you.
he rocked the party at 9:36 AM |
Thursday, August 25, 2005
In case you didnt know, the title's supposed to be pronounced "Hugo Boss". Dont ask me why.
And in case you didnt know, my boss is the nicest boss in the whole wide world.
It was 7pm, i'd just come back from dinner intending to show the boss some powerpoint presentation i did up for him. (and mind you, its an important presentation, literally worth a little more that $1000! That is, if the presentation goes smoothly and pays off)
Boss: Ah lionel, simi taiji? (loosely translated into "what's your problem?" but in his terms, it means "how can i help you solve your problem?")
Me: Sir, just need to show you the powerpoint presentation for the Pride Conference for you to vet through la..
Boss: When is it due?
Me: I need to send it over tomorrow.
Boss: Ok, then tomorrow then show me. Go out and enjoy yourself! What're you still doing in the office? Go, relax, have dinner, go out with your friends.. You're not supposed to work so late now. Because towards the end of the year you're gonna be burning lots of nights, so might as well enjoy yourself now. Go la, go!
So nice right? I love my boss.
On another happy note: I managed to do a para jump today! Its been almost a year since my last one. Almost forgot the thrill of leaping out into the bright blue sky. Would have been a perfect jump if i hadnt almost flown dangerously close to another jumper, which would have caused both our canopies to collapse, causing us to plummet to the ground. But its a good thing God saved me. Mental note never take life for granted again.
he rocked the party at 5:22 AM |
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
The dream: I was running away from some mean-looking people, grasping THE TREASURE, a small engraved disc broken into two. A fat friend (unidentified) and i sprinted to Changi Villiage, panting, desperate to escape but knowing that the abovementioned mean-looking people must not get their hands on our treasure.
We stopped at the carpark outside Changi Village, scanning the vicinity for a place to hide the treasure. My fat friend spotted an inconspicous blue pickup and slowly, sneakily dumped his half of the TREASURE into the back of the pickup. Realising that i had to retrieve the treasure later, i studied the number plate of the pickup: 7614.
And then i woke up.
Realising the significance of a dream-given 4 digit number, i hastily messaged the girlfriend to ask her mother if she could buy 4D for me. Feeling reckless, I decided to buy BIG.. a good investment? Possibly.
Teletext revealed that the second prize for the day was the direct OPPOSITE of the number i'd picked: 4167! Oh gawwrsh.. The pain, the anguish, and the overall freakiness of the whole episode almost killed me. Then i remembered that numbers appear back to front in dreams now, dont they? Or perhaps that dreams are the opposite of reality, or something.
Ahh.. so wasted. $10,000 indeed!..Could have had, would have gotten.. But not to be. :(
he rocked the party at 6:24 AM |
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Taken from an email:
"The Moneytree Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched a brand new Singapore Dollar bill, which has been named the "Peanut Series". Each peanut series bill is legal tender equivalent to 600,000 Singapore Dollars, henceforth known as 1 Peanut.
The CEOs across the Republic have been quick to applaud the launch of the 1 Peanut bill. In an interview with a Mr. Durai, a CEO of a philanthropic organisation, who wished to remain anonymous, he said, "Now, i dont have to carry suitcases of money home. Prior to the issuing on the Peanut, i had to carry a whole suitcase of small change home every month. This is because the people who paid me tend to do so in small amounts, like $5 each time, and it can be very irritating. Now i am just paid 1 Peanut with a single bill, slip it quickly into my wallet and off I go. It's very convenient!"
The reaction by the general public was however cool. Most said that it is unlikely that they will ever use a 1 Peanut bill. With an average national income of S$3000 (0.005 Peanut), the average Singaporean will need about 2 lifetimes to save a Peanut. Said a Mr Tan, who is a plumber, "The other day, i installed a golden tap in some CEO's bathroom and he paid me using 1 Peanut for the $1000 golden tap. I tell him where got enough change?"
Watch out for the newest security features on the 1 Peanut note, including a new watermark which replaces the traditional lion head. The new watermark can only been seen under an intense bright light and close scrutiny because of its extreme lack of transparency.
According to an MAS spokesman, the added security features are extremely important given that 1 Peanut can probably buy three 4-room HDB flats, or 10 Nissan Sunnies, the average Singaporean will be very tempted to lay their hands on a Peanut."
------------------
Hee hee hee .. well, at least we can safely say Mr Durai was paid "peanuts"..
he rocked the party at 10:49 AM |
Lyrics heard on Perfect 10's Motorola Hour on friday:
"I dont know which is better:
Getting paid or getting laid.
But i know when i'm getting one,
the other goes away."
he rocked the party at 10:47 AM |
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Why do people say "why, thank you"? I've heard the phrase so often but i've only thought about it now. Why do we have to question a "thank you" with a totally unrelated "why"? Then again, the "why" portion isn't really a question, but logically it SHOULD be a question, aint it? So why's the "why" there when its not a question? Golly gee.. I'm getting a headache.
-gasp- I've got to get my ass down to the School of Military Intelligence at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning! Such an oxymoron aint it? Military Intelligence..
he rocked the party at 8:45 AM |
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Although i've probably never told You
Its one of life's simple untold pleasures
To hear your tinkling voice on the line
A declaration of childlike happiness,
of delight, of love, of need
A whine, an exclamation, a coo, a whisper.
They bring a smile to my lips
on every lonely bus ride back home.
We've spent hours talking about absolutely nothing
but childish retorts, bizare theories, self invented words,
mushy terms of endearment, and articulation of feelings..
There's no need for intellectualism in our little world
No basis for judgement, no worry to impress.
It's lovely to just be ourselves, lost in those childlike conversations.
Every guy needs one of these at the end of the day after all.
So Thank You.
he rocked the party at 9:51 AM |
Friday, August 12, 2005
There's a certain sadistic pleasure in staying late till 10 in the office doing work work work. The Battalion block's deserted, the lights are on, air-conditioning's cold, and my Int Warrant's hip-hop (yes, a warrant officer who listens to hip-hop!) CD is blasting from the speakers he rigged up in the office.
Today's big "arrow" (army term for "task") by S3 left me typing furiously away in the middle of the night, employing Word and Excel tricks i never knew existed till my boss taught them to me recently. Thick binder files are spread across the desk, with 4 separate stacks of papers in between. I'm coming up with Annexes, standardizing bullets and fonts, drawing tables and graphs, clearing emails, and updating charts.
Pure bliss.
(Oh wait, in case you get the wrong idea, i'm posting this at home, recounting what i was doing 4 hours ago.. in case my post seems otherwise. Sorry it sounds stupid but i just HAD to point that out)
Really. It's a real pleasure to do staff work. Real therapeutic. The way one systematically accomplishes tasks, slowly crafting out that chart or document. The final product is that stack of freshly printed paper, neatly stapled and ready to be read and admired by all. A display of one's dexterity in IT and language indeed.
Ah, to be a Dy S2.
Told ya that the only jungle i was made for is a concrete one.
he rocked the party at 10:46 AM |
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
How lucky can a guy get:
To have a girl who's receptive to my every need
To have a girl who calls me in the middle of the day to whine
To have a girl who buries her head in my shoulder on long train rides
To have a girl who doesn't argue, but talks things out
To have a girl who's in touch with her inner child
To have a girl who's totally honest with me
To have a girl to hold, to take care of, to confide in and to love
To have a girl like You.
he rocked the party at 8:45 AM |
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Sign found in the ocs cookhouse. Uniquely Singaporean indeed.. (ok i cheated, i know i've posted this pic b4.. couldnt resist it.)
he rocked the party at 9:30 AM |
the red and the white.
he rocked the party at 9:25 AM |
National Day is:
- The spectacular NDP PARADE a few weeks ago. Okay, it was just the rehearsal, but it was enough to spark of a heartfelt sense of patriotism and commando pride all the same.
- Waking up at the crack of dawn on the 8th of Aug for a disgustingly army-fied "Observance Parade" and a sleepy rendition of the Pledge which ive proclaimed with so much gusto back in school.
- Forcing myself to leave the office at 2pm even though I still have a ton of work left to do.
- Irritating earworm-inducing National Day song "Reach Out for the Sky" on every radio station, every mrt station and everywhere else imaginable. Rui En's voice is hauntingly nice in a weird sort of way, while I still stand by the fact that Taufik's makeup makes him look gay. The dance moves are yuckingly choreographed for mass dance purposes, but can you help not doing it when everyone else is?
- Wearing a RED top, true to tradition. Unfortunately, failure to overlook the fact that my top says "American Beach". Now is that my imagination or are people on the bus giving me dirty looks?
- A delicious Singaporean crispy prata breakfast. Its hard not to be proud of our food.
- Fireworks later!
National Day's one holiday where there's nothing planned in the itinery, but you just cant help but get involved in all that hype. And unlike most others, it feels really good in a smarmy cheesy patriotic sort of way. No matter how much i criticise about this little red dot, its still home and i love it.
Happy National Day!
he rocked the party at 12:39 AM |
Friday, August 05, 2005
Does anyone know how i can configure blogger to archive my entries monthly instead of weekly? I've noticed that my archives column is getting too huge to be funny.
I've checked the blogger site completely and cant seem to find the option to re-configure my archives!
he rocked the party at 7:49 PM |
Blogging has lost it. I mean, really.
A long, long, time ago (like in 2003) blogging was a blissfully unknown practice, exclusive to our little circles of blogs, whereby links to our friends' blogs were limited to a humble 10. Everyone updated it every day, not because we knew thousands of people would read it, but for the sake of that little circle of 10 (or 20, or 30) friends who'd visit and read it religiously, and perhaps leave some comments at the bottom of the post. Remember those? Where visitors' comments were limited to the actual CONTENT of that particular post, and perhaps the occasional "Hey! Nice blog! Interesting posts you have here.. could i like you?" comments.
Back then, blogging had purpose, bloggers spent every effort trying to phrase each sentence into a beautifully crafted post. Blogs were extremely useful in glorifying the mundane, and exaggerating the little gripes of life. They were the updating tools for long lost secondary school friends, topics of discussion of those you see in school everyday, and avenues of bitching about those you hated and knew were reading it. I marvelled how certain bloggers were able to eloquently shape their posts and longed to blog like them. The best reads were those full of anguish, or with some form of political agenda.
2005 saw the crumbling of that seemingly untouchable niche. I dont exactly know what happened, but blogging has degenerated into the realms of "commonhood", in the very ranks of MSN (ugh), ICQ (double ugh) and IRC (huh?). I suppose it is us, the very bloggers who started it all, who've destoryed this beautiful craft with our blind ambition for more links and readers in our delusion that people actually DO visit our blogs because they care about our lives.
Then came the "blogereties" which is such a big phenomenon now, not to mention a blogging conference, COLLEGE-wide blogs, and a blogger writing for a newspaper column? Oh phu-leeze, doesnt everyone see that these are the very contradictions of what a blog is supposed to be: an online journal where you can effectively express (more or less politically correct) feelings with an exclusive readership?
Then again, these people did no crime but to blog well; they were the very people i envied when i first started blog-surfing. But the whole writing for newspaper thing is really pushing it (and as everyone knows, when u cant express your in-your-face blog views in a newspaper, it just gets, how do you put it, boring.) and a blogging conference is just contradictory to the "personalism", if there is such a word, of our blogs.
That aside, let's talk about popularity and the crap it brings. 'Course, everyone wants a piece of the action, and everyone thinks they're REALLY interesting. All hail the arrival of that dreaded publication, The Event Blog. Always equipped with a detailed (read: boring) description of the day's events, supplemented with a few blurred clubbing photos with pimply friends, and they believe that's called blogging. Suddenly everyone's a writer.
Ugh. Let's get our act together. Things that were meant to be read by the whole world are under the catagory: Publications and Websites. Blogs are, well, blogs. Let's not desecrate this fine art any further now, shall we? I'll start by hiding that horrendous visitor counter on the right. Does it matter how many readers i get?
There, i've done my part.
he rocked the party at 9:19 AM |
