Counting to 50

So like I said I wasn't going out to take pictures in the freak weather..this is what the situation was like outside Thomson Road yesterday. Everything changes...even 50 years is now shorten to months and Ministers are obviously still overpaid without conscience and poor in maths. Thank God, my carpark was not affected, else I be pretty screwed with the current high COEs and inadequate insurance since drain/canal/barrage failures are considered act of Gods and not due to bad management and regulatory government bodies enjoy poking fun at opposition wards with biased Town Council reports. Because obviously mine didn't do a good job and it's ruled by PAP...can't wait for mine to become an opposition ward, heard they pay less fees and are more kampong-liked. In these days of feeling disconnected in our HDBs, I sure would like to be branded "opposites" and have a feeling of a community in adversity denied of sharks-fin soup.

Flood in my area.

And a couple of friends commented on my Facebook -

Friend A - Please. Obviously it is the fault of the Potong Pasir and Hougang Town Councils! Didn't you read the town council report?
Me - lol but no flood there leh...my area is bishan TC and got floods!!
Friend A - Must be cos Potong Pasir drains are choked - then cause nearby areas such as Bishan and Thomson to flood.

Like that also you dunno meh? Our PAP run Town Councils cannot do wrong one...

Friend B - It's an honest mistake.

Who says Singaporean Men are not humourous? Just that you need to be familiar with the gibberish our overpaid Ministers like to spout occasionally.

Blame it on the Rain

The rain has been going non-stop since early morning. Just wondering if Orchard and Bukit Timah will flood again, all I know it's getting really bad and just outside Thomson Road, it is reported to be flooded - I am not walking out there to take a picture! So perhaps more lame excuses from our overpaid civil servants in the news later, as pictures and reports come in. As I wipe off the overflowing rain into my balcony and blame the once in "50yrs" downpour, I thought maybe these over-indulgent elites should break into a song and humour us instead.

I agree elsewhere in the world is flooded and people are actually drowning unlike ours with merely wet underwears, but let's not forget they have REAL BIG ASS rivers to deal with and not little canals and drains like ours...and they are paid peanuts.

Remember why you are paid millions for, to think ahead; out-of-the-box; think 50 years ahead...why else are we taking shit that you are the most expensive politicians in the WORLD. I for one, won't be sitting on my ass...taking $ to fly around having cooking classes in France. Only in Singapore..uniquely Singapore.

Get ready for Swype

Sick of having fat fingers on small touch screen keypads, creating typos? Get ready for a new wave in text messaging or typing uber quickly on mobile phones.



vs iPhone...apparently Apple doesn't want it in their products. Well the new Motorola Droid X will have it, thus hopefully on Android "Market" soon.



All the tips on how to Swype - videos.

Not more than 3 times

I keep dropping my phones...was planning to get the iPhone 4 in NYC...now having second doubts after watching the video below. And since iOS4 is being released and possibly jailbreak for other models soon, perhaps shall stick on to my Motorola Droid which has survived 2 drops lately.

Strange the glass broke as it was suppose to be of windscreen material. Must be China made windscreens!

Role model

Did not watch this on TV but saw it online, liked it - Respect and filial piety -   孝 (in Chinese)

Engineered Space

Again another showcase of careful engineering and innovative design, fused to create value to the society and saves space.


Just wondering how much they cost and when does it get mass produced.

Kicking Ass

Was catching this movie a couple of months back - KickAss starring Nicolas Cage. And with Mika coming into town, I thought it was appropriate to share this MTV.
Anyway finally got back to Wing Chun after a 2 months hiatus. This time round, I've changed location and learning the Cho Ga Wing Chun, which is a deviated form of Wing Chun, which we do not see in the movies from Ip Man 1,2 and upcoming more movies dedicated to Hong Kong-styled Wing Chun instead. For more information on Cho Ga Wing Chun it is found here - Ban Chung Zheng Dan Kam Cho Ga Wing Chun.

There are many Wing Chun classes in Singapore, springing up in interest due to the onslaught of Wing Chun movies. Clearly marketing helps in all things even martial arts. Well, I do hope this will not be a 5-min interest to all who are currently seen packing the classes. It is always good to learn martial arts for self-defense as well as for keeping in check - discipline and health.

Martial arts can be classified into close range or long range, defensive or offensive. After completing Tae Kwon Do for over 10 years, it is decided that I should choose a reactive close range combat to complement longer range defensive TKD fighting styles. Also because I can't jump anymore; and Wing Chun is really for all gender and all ages.

I am currently learning from Sifu Ken Lau who's lineage is from Ip Chun, son of Ip Man. (Yup the kid who rode a bicycle in Ip Man 1, and passing on Mom's message to Dad to start fighting or else everything in the house would break). Sifu Ken Lau is one of the very few certified Wing Chun instructors here in Singapore teaching both the Hong Kong Ip Man and the China Cao Family (Cho Ga) Wing Chun system. The class schedules can be found here. And his arms are rock solid and fist is probably bigger than some of the students' faces. Hope I can maintain the classes over the next few decades. Martial Arts is a form of combat and art, and together with science, body and mind - it can be very interesting; and it helps to kick asses or prevent your ass from being kicked!

Degrees of Love

There are varying degrees of love, quite often proclaimed in many different ways.

Proclaimed first: I Love You
Responses:
I Love You
I Love you very much
I Love you thissssss much (widen arms) and for wholeeee eternity
Me too
Ditto
Ok
Mmm...
Huh?

Sometimes you wonder why you go into extending measurements or quantifying something such as "LOVE".
It gives you highs and lows as according to 1) the shitty or wonderful day you are having at work; 2) responds to the better half's answers; 3) how sleepy or drunk your partner is; 4) how romantic you are feeling; 5) million and one other reasons...
Isn't it better to just leave things calm and simple. No simple harmonic motion, just a flat line when your answers will always be the same. That way, you will never wonder or question why today's I-Love-You is stronger/weaker than last week's response. Everything is in equilibrium.

Well, things aren't as simple as you wish it would be.

Hard Love

Now I know why Chinese love to drink Turtle soup.

They should have filmed all the way to the post-sex and see how the Tortoise react after the Wok "bochups" him!

Meaning and Defining

min·ion: Middle French Origin.


Date: circa 1500
1 : a servile dependent, follower, or underling
2 : one highly favored
3 : a subordinate or petty official

slave: Middle English Origin, from Anglo-French or Medieval Latin


Date: 14th century
1 : a person held in servitude as the chattel of another
2 : one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence

Now which is better off?

Breeze

Always trust a Breeze to ruffle a few leaves, and a few hungry and grumpy bloggers on a Saturday morning for brunch(suppose to be breakfast but the spread was just too much to be labelled that! Please see upcoming pictures). Was invited for a bloggers event together with Jase over at Vivocity@The Queen & Mangosteen. The gourmet British eatery is very appropriate, given that it was about the launch of the Standard Chartered Bank's first iPhone mobile banking app called the Breeze.

Usually besides basketball and some geeky gadgets, I do not really bother to attend such events. But I am a StanChart customer and I do a lot of online banking, I was actually interested to find out what this app can do for me as a consumer. Oh and I forgot to mentioned that an iPad was up for grabs and unfortunately...I did not win!! Crap..some lucky dude won instead.

Ruffling the leaves

 ruf·fle- An irregularity or a slight disturbance of a surface

Like what it meant, it was suppose to be a slight disturbance, nothing fancy or overstressed, just a slight ruffle of leaves. So what it did was to test some boundaries, evoke some thoughts and managed some expectations. Like a little whirlwind running through a town, you are not sure if it will grow into something stronger like a tornado and rip out everything. So it is important like I mentioned previously to have ruffles, to test that the doors, fixtures, establishments and fences that are in place are secured against strong winds. Over time you will have upgraded your straw houses into wooden ones and before you know it, into brick ones. So ruffling of leaves is an important activity; just remember to make sure at the end of the day...the magic stays.

Geeks rule!

This is absolutely hilarious. 2 of the biggest honchos in our technology world having a conversation.

Watching the world go by

I can sit here all night checking out the view and watching the world buzz by. View from GFBFF's cool place.

Had a nice quiet weekend couple of weeks ago, spending time with loved ones and just catching up.
Sis has gone away and moved to NY, and the house seems quieter though she isn't as noisy as she used to be. Going to have to deal with the fact she will always be 21 hours away. Change is unavoidable and we all have to learn to deal with it - good or bad.

The moment just reminds me of a song I used to repeat it over and over again in my music player.

If I lay here.
If I just lay here.
Would you lie with me,
And just forget the world?
~ Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

Apple does it again

Just when I switched out my iPhone 2G to an Android, Steve Jobs did it again. Damn you Apple!
FaceTime looks really good...this will be good for late night calls to catch me dozing off!!

Can't wait for Google to launch something even better, but seriously Apple streamlines everything from product design to manufacturing...their control over a product launch is not just an OS.

Cool Joy

This is way cool.

British Transparency

Since we were British ruled before...I hope we reach the plateau of transparency soon with acknowledgement that this is necessary for generations of Singaporeans to come.

Government reveals 172 civil servants earn more than PM

Meanwhile, Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the British TaxPayers' Alliance, said the move to publish public spending data "is long overdue but is nevertheless extremely welcome".

"Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent and anyone earning a large amount of money in government should have their pay packet open to public scrutiny, so people can judge whether they are providing good value for money," he said.

Source.

So apparently ours is the highest paid cabinet; politicians; civil servants in the world. So we Sillyporeans have every right to demand nothing but the best.

Kudos to the Singapore Police Force in catching 5 knives-wielding foreign workers around Kallang area, and hope they can catch the remaining 2. But it is no relief that 2 were caught trying to sneak back into Singapore, means they did a Mas Selamat? Or worse..they walked straight out of immigration exits. I just applaud the way Shitty Times write their stories...quoted "It is not known why they try to come back". One would expect more investigative-type questions to the police on how did they leave in the first place, instead of questioning criminal stupidity? So now crazy foreign workers can come in and out of Singapore holding weapons to terrorise our heartlands? Soon we will need police patrol all over our island to prevent such acts which reminded me of Mumbai, India... just that ours is crazier as we do have millions of foreign workers living in our midst from Serangoon to Jurong. I do hope well-known high budgeted military spending can come to good use in that seemingly likely event. Looks like I need to spend more time with my loved ones and practising my Wing Chun!

Belonging to someone

Often wonder how worlds can revolve around each other and yet remain totally spinning on its own axis?

The return to normalcy as your sleeping time reverts; your weekly routines start to take shape with new timetables, and somehow realising you ain't missing much as schedules which went away isn't worth your time anyhow. What was seemingly important at a certain point in time, somehow isn't anymore.



Recent days have been great and you wonder how much happier you have become as past blog entries appear way too invested, too crappy. You start to have more days of wondering-how-could-24-hours-just-pass-like-that? Days like those could not have been possible...your usual skepticism has thinned within months and you have moments classified as nothing short of a miracle.

The careful slow steps you take is slowly leading up to a mad pace towards an imaginary finishing line which somehow seem unreachable...then you pause for sanity and start to breath deeper and ponder with walks of patience.

Over time, the perfection I once knew, erodes with the attrition of compromises, yet the inner stubborn nature never relented, praying and holding on. Then suddenly with a sneaky accurate strike of an arrow, hitting you in an unlikely fashion - you belong to someone...perfect.