fugs

...and I'm still around

2007-02-22T09:25:00.000+08:00

...and I'm still around!!

Yep! Only thing is that I've been messing around more with my multiply.com site.

Do visit it for now!

I may return here or I may settle with blogging there (mainly because a lot of my friends have set up their blogs there)... not sure yet.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

Technorati tags : subaudible | multiply

Blogger out of Beta

2007-01-08T12:33:00.000+08:00

But I can not move my blog out of beta!!! Shit! Seems like my blog (here) at Blog*Spot is not able to be migrated to the new Blogger.com layout with new functions YET.

Darn it! It's something to do with accounts that have more than a certain number of posts (>500?). These will have to wait just a while more.Arrghh!

Vandyke reaches level 60 (finally)

2007-01-04T09:41:00.000+08:00

Finally! After getting stucked at 95% of Level 59 for more than a month, I managed to bring Vandyke up to level 60! Phew!

Haha!

Happy 2007!

2006-12-31T17:56:00.000+08:00

Yeah!!! Another year gone by!

I'd like to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
:-)

Back from Cameron Highlands

2006-12-25T17:30:00.000+08:00

Just back from Cameron Highlands.

Not too bad a trip. Had a good time up at the top of Gunung Brinchang. It was really COLD!!! Brrrrrrrr..........! Too bad we had to give Mount Ophir a miss as it was flooding nearby and the access to the mountain was closed for safety reasons (although it was not flooding AT the mountain itself).

Nevermind, next time lor! Haha!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

Technorati tags : xmas | christmas | cameron

Golden Flower 黃金甲

2006-12-19T15:59:00.000+08:00

Jay's new EP CD+MV DVD.

This package consists of a 2 track EP (黃金甲 and 菊花臺), and a 11 track MV DVD of songs from his album 依然範特西 and MV for 黃金甲.

Came with a poster (haven't 'unscrolled' it yet)... can't wait to get home and play the MV to see Lucas dance to it! Haha!

Technorati tags : jay | curseofthegoldenflower

Curse of the Golden Flower

2006-12-18T11:21:00.000+08:00

Jay with ultra cool polearm.

I want to watch Curse of the Golden Flower <<滿城盡帶黃金甲>>.

A new movie from director Zhang Yimou, it stars Gong Li and Chow Yun Fatt. Jay Chou plays a role in this movie as well, and that's one of the reasons why I am watching it - just to see if his acting skills have improved since Initial D.

:)~

However, Jay's not the only reason to watch this movie. The set and costumes seem pretty good too. The overkill load of gold and yellow is really impressive! I believe it will be a good movie for me to watch, irregardless of the storyline.

By the way, did I mention that Jay's polearm is simply cool?!? Damn! I wish I had one like that in MapleStory... blood and goo from all my kills...hahah!

Technorati tags : jaychou | curseofthegoldenflower

Of abductions and breakdowns

2006-12-18T10:42:00.000+08:00

Kyle recently got abducted. Woah, abducted siah! No joke you know?! Haha! But then, it's great getting abducted by JBL's Creature II ain't it? For the moment, I am quite satisfied with my Altec Lansing 621 - not getting abducted anytime soon I guess. :-)

Over at my end, my Yamaha DVD player decided to call it quits. Sent it to the service centre and got the shock of my life. The cost of repairs is at least SGD500.00. What the...?! I might as well get myself a top-of-the-range, brand new DVD recorder!!

The new Yamaha (again?!) DVD-S2700 DVD Player caught my attention while I was looking through their site for support options. Hmm, getting a new AND EXPENSIVE player at this moment seems a bit too much. Especially after blowing SGD1400 on my DSLR recently. Ha!

Maybe got to push till after the Chinese New Year before I buy the player.

Last day for Eddie

2006-12-15T14:37:00.000+08:00

Eddie's last day at the office and we popped by Temasek Towers for him to clear some administrative stuff and to collect a bag (from D&D).

After that, we had our favourite duck rice at Circular Road. The meat was a bit tough today. Not that good but both Teow Meng and myself agreed that the sauce still POWER!!!

Hmm, those people at head office are having a Christmas Party today. How come our miserable suburban office does not? WTF!

Now that the exams are over, I think it is time to start shooting again! Yeah!! Got to get used to the camera before any trips. Don't want to have to figure things out in the field!

Technorati tags : duck rice | singapore

Exhausted

2006-12-13T10:33:00.000+08:00

Tired, stressed out, weak, EXHAUSTED.

After the mugging for the exams, I am flat out like a line. My eyes feel puffy as a puffer fish and I guess I look like one now! Hahaha!

I know what I need! A good, nice, bonus to up my energy levels!

Technorati tags : exams

Before the exams

2006-12-11T14:44:00.000+08:00

Just noticed that using the Digital Set-top box from Starhub gives you TV streams that are about 2 seconds slower (delayed) than if you plugged your TV direct to the wall's TV socket.

Carbide UI Requirements

Hmm... just a round-up of the weekend just passed.

The dinner and dance was 'ok' and I walked away with a miserable 100 dollar Metro Shopping voucher. *sucks*

The Star Awards was a big boo-hoo to me as I felt that by holding the event at St James Power Station, the production crew was not really that ready for it. You get stars walking on the 'blue carpet' en route the event and before they were even properly introduced, another group comes out and an awkward situation of 'shall-I-continue-to-intro-or-not'. During the show, you could hear interruptions from the crew (or someone, a lady) giving instructions... blah, blah...

Oh, and I recently downloaded the Nokia Carbide UI Theme creator for S60 devices. For what, you say? As the name suggests, for theme creation on S60 (includes Nokia phones like N70, N73, N80 etc) devices.

I wanted to create a custom theme for my N70 after the exams and guess what? I happened to read the 'basic' requirements on the download page at the Nokia Developers' Forum and I got a shock... recommended 2GB of RAM?!?! Just for theme creation?!? WTF!!

Or maybe my PC's 'near' 1GB of RAM is passe already?!

Now, back to mugging for exams... shit!

Technorati tags : star awards | carbide | nokia | theme

Swissflex Rainbow Half Rim Type Beta

2006-12-06T16:49:00.000+08:00

I've gotten another Swissflex Rainbow for myself!! Hehehe! This time round, it is the Rainbow Half Rim Type Beta frame that I got.

My combination for this pair of spectacles is #50 (Clear) frame with #65 (Blue Orchid) temples. Not too bad lah. :-) You can also 'build' your own Rainbow here!

The frame looks like this (not the colour I chose).

Technorati tags : swissflex | italee | swissflex rainbow

Fixing Janet's N80

2006-12-05T17:20:00.000+08:00

The N80 sucks.

I have spent almost 2 days trying to find a fix for Janet's problem with her N80 - a non-responsive Contacts list that just won't display the contact names when a call comes in.

Then, I saw it. The repeated entries, even with different names, that have same phone numbers. This totally screwed the Contacts and my 2 days.

Fuck!

So, I manually removed the extra entries and it seems to be working properly (for now). Have to try with Janet's own SIM card to know for sure.

Thanks to Calvin for your help so far!!

Technorati tags : nokia | n80

Le Papillon

2006-12-04T12:09:00.000+08:00

Le Papillon (The Butterfly), taken from the movie of the same title, is a nice and cute little tune. Heard this song sometime back and sort of forgotten about it until I heard it again on KH's car last night.

(See information on the movie at IMDB.)

It is the kind of song that features a cute kiddy voice (a la 吉祥三寶 and Schnappi). Go check it out! Nice to relax the mind and endulge a bit in the carefree mood of the song.

Trailer and music video of Le Papillon.

After a little searching, I found the lyrics on a Chinese website. Accuracy in translation is definitely NOT GUARANTEED! Look around the site and you will find something worth ~~downloading~~ looking for. Hehehheheh! *wink*

歌词：

Hélène helene
☆°．·∴Le Papillon°★． ☆° ∴·

Pourquoi les poules pondent des oeufs?“为什么鸡会下蛋?”
Pour que les oeufs fassent des poules.因为蛋都变成小鸡
Pourquoi les amoureux s’embrassent?“为什么情侣们要亲吻?”
C’est pour que les pigeons roucoulent.因为鸽子们咕咕叫
Pourquoi les jolies fleurs se fanent?“为什么漂亮的花会凋谢?”
Parce que ca fait partie du charme.因为那是游戏的一部分
Pourquoi le diable et le bon Dieu?“为什么会有魔鬼又会有上帝?”
C’est pour faire parler les curieux.是为了让好奇的人有话可说

Pourquoi le feu brule le bois?“为什么木头会在火里燃烧?”
C’est pour bien rechauffer nos coeurs or.是为了我们像毛毯一样的暖
Pourquoi la mer se retire?“为什么大海会有低潮?”
C’est pour qu’on lui dise "Encore."是为了让人们说:“再来点”
Pourquoi le soleil disparait?“为什么太阳会消失?”
Pour l’autre partie du decor.为了地球另一边的装饰
Pourquoi le diable et le bon Dieu?“为什么会有魔鬼又会有上帝?”
C’est pour faire parler les curieux.是为了让好奇的人有话可说

Pourquoi le loup mange l’agneau?“为什么狼要吃小羊?”
Parce qu’il faut bien se nourrir.因为牠们也要吃东西
Pourquoi le lievre et la tortue?“为什么是乌龟和兔子跑?”
Parce que rien ne sert de courir.因为光跑没什么用
Pourquoi les anges ont-ils des ailes?“为什么天使会有翅膀?”
Pour nous faire croire au Pere Noel.为了让我们相信有圣诞老人
Pourquoi le diable et le bon Dieu?“为什么会有魔鬼又会有上帝?”
C’est pour faire parler les curieux.是为了让好奇的人有话可说

☆°．·∴°★． ☆° ∴·

ca t’a plu, le petit voyage“你喜欢我们的旅行吗?“
Ah oui beaucoup!非常喜欢。
Vous avez vu des belles choses? “我们看到了很多漂亮的东西，不是吗？”
J’aurais bien voulu voir des sauterelles可惜我没能看到蟋蟀。
Des sauterelles ? Pourquoi des sauterelles ?“为什么是蟋蟀？”
Et des libellules aussi,还有蜻蜓。
la prochaine fois, d’accord.“也许下一次吧“
D’accord.
Je peux te demander quelque chose?“我能问你点事情吗?“
quoi encore?“又有什么事?“
on continue mais cette fois-ci c’est toi qui chantes.“我们继续,不过由你来唱?“
Pas question.“绝对不可以“
Tu te pleures.“来吧“
Non, mais non.“不不不“
alors, c’est le dernier couplet.　“这是最后一段了“
Tu ne crois pas que tu pousses un peu le pourchas?“你是不是有点得寸进尺了呢?“

☆°．·∴°★． ☆° ∴·

Pourquoi notre coeur fait tic-tac?“为什么我们的心会‘滴答’?”
Parce que la pluie fait flic flac.因为雨会发出“淅沥”声
Pourquoi le temps passe si vite?“为什么时间会跑得这么快？
Parce que le vent lui rend visite.是风把它都吹跑了
Pourquoi tu me prends par la main?“为什么你要我握着你的手?”
Parce qu’avec toi je suis bien.　　因为和你在一起,我感觉很温暖
Pourquoi le diable et le bon Dieu?　　“为什么会有魔鬼又会有上帝?”
C’est pour faire parler les curieux.是为了让好奇的人有话可说

Technorati tags : papillon | lepapillon

Patch day and I need patches too!

2006-11-30T09:36:00.000+08:00

Patch day again for Maple Story SEA! See my other blog for more info.

NOTE: I will post future Maple Story updates/news/etc at the subaudible blog.

My sore mouth is badly in need of 'patches' too! Something that can patch those ulcer spots! Urrgghhhh!!!! Damn!!

Technorati tags : maplestory | maple

Re-ORG

2006-11-29T14:13:00.000+08:00

RE-ORGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok. I received emails from some friends asking me to update my 'sites' list. Haha! I guess it's time to reorganize my galleries/blogs/email accounts/etc. Especially after the cancellation of some of my email accounts and the Clubsnap gallery!

For a start, I will close down some sites and maintain only those that I list here.

Portals
- http://nabe-nabe.com (main)
- http://subaudible.multiply.com

Galleries
- http://gallery.nabe-nabe.com
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/hasselblad
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/fugs

Blogs
- http://fugs.blogspot.com
- http://subaudible.wordpress.com

Emails
- petaflopz[at]gmail[dot]com

There you go! The complete (almost) list of my online presence! Hurhurhur!

Technorati tags : blog | sites

I hate going to the dentist

2006-11-27T15:45:00.000+08:00

I hate going to the dentist.

Especially after what happened last Friday. The dentist's assistant was poking my gums with the 'vacuum' so hard that I think my gums were bleeding. Nabeh! I guess I deserved this since I did not make noise at that moment... but well... :-(

Now, I have a mouth full of ulcers and to add on to the suffering, one BIG ulcer right on the lips as I had accidentally bit into my lips last week. Aarrgghhh!!!

Technorati tags : dentist | polyclinic

IKEA Tampines

2006-11-27T00:38:00.000+08:00

We were over at IKEA Tampines on Saturday to help them 'stress test' their crowd handling capabilities. IKEA Tampines in Singapore is not due to open till 30^th November 2006. It is HUGE and is definitely a fresh change from the 'often cramped' Alexandra branch.

Huge entrance sign. Can't miss this

After parking, we had no trouble at all finding the entrance! The sign is big and clear! The carpark is spacious too!

As we were early, we had to do what Singaporeans do... QUEUE. Haha! It was really hot in the afternoon and luckily, there were tents set up to shelter us from the sun. However, the hanging fans were not working. It seems they have installed the fans but not the generators to power them!

(It was too hot... and I did not bother to go out to get a shot of 'IKEA' logo)

A lot of IKEA Tampines staff were there to greet and guide the 'Friends' of IKEA (as their membership is called). If I am not wrong, Mr. Philip Wee was there too... not bad... OH! We were each given a 'heart-shaped' plushie at the entrance.

One important thing to let you guys know is that the CAFE is very much better now! It is almost like my school canteen! It is spacious and we can forget about the 'excuse me' and knocks here and there, at the old Alexandra branch as we squeeze for seats! There are even two queues for people to line up to get their food!

So much for these bits and pieces of the new IKEA at Tampines! See it for yourself on the 30^th lah!

Technorati tags : ikea | tampines

Year End

2006-11-23T15:07:00.000+08:00

Hmm... quite a lot of people I know are either down with a cough, runny noses, sore throats or fever.

THE END OF THE YEAR IS HERE AGAIN!!

*hooray*

*tweet tweet*

I was thinking... maybe I should make the 'fugsvidz' a regular thing on this blog - since it is really easy to put up. What do you think? Say a video upload per week? Sounds good?!?

Read from the papers that Civil servants will get a total of 2.2 months of bonuses this year! That's not bad. I can not even try to imagine the amount I will be getting ~~this year~~ next April.

Yupz! My company's policy on bonus payouts is end of the fiscal year (which is usually end of March or beginning of April - the following year). As such, I do not have the 'luxury' of having spare cash to tide over the New Year.

THIS.REALLY.SUCKS.

Technorati tags : yearend | bonus

Vid #3: Piggy

2006-11-22T15:09:00.000+08:00

My trusty wrist support for mousing. Does not really help though; but the feeling of resting on the piggy's butt is nice wor! Hurhurhur!

P/S: Did you see the 'fireball' at Jurong last night?!

Technorati tags : fugsvidz | piggy | video

Vid #2: Nail Clipper

2006-11-20T17:17:00.000+08:00

It's all in the head... hummmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Technorati tags : fugsvidz | borliao

Happy Belated Birthday Janet!

2006-11-20T11:32:00.000+08:00

Happy Belated Birthday, Janet!

Maple Story SEA Version 0.35 was patched last week.

Technorati tags : janet | birthday

Sick puppy

2006-11-17T11:41:00.000+08:00

I have been a sick puppy for the last two days. :-(

Shucks!

Finally back in office today, everything look alien to me. My keyboard does not feel as 'friendly' as it did 3 days back, my table seems a little low for me, and the water tastes bad. Aarrggghhh!

Even Blogger.com is showing an attitude!

Don't know whether to publish or not to publish? Blogger has the answer for you! I was editing something for a post when I noticed this... haha!

Technorati tags : sick | blogger

The Story of Slimderella

2006-11-14T16:13:00.000+08:00

Interesting comic targetting those planning for slimming courses.
No harm taking a look right?

Taken from http://slimderella.bobbin-comic.com

Technorati tags : slimderella | slimming | singapore

Map Pins

2006-11-14T12:15:00.000+08:00

So, your treatment for boredom is here.

I present, the first of (hopefully) a couple of simply "bor liao" videos for your therapeutic needs - shot entirely on Nokia N70! Hahahaahaha!

I am really bored.....time for kopi!

Technorati tags : video | pins | borliao | bored | fugsvidz

Wild Goose Chase

2006-11-13T15:48:00.000+08:00

During lunch time today, we were at Tampines DBS building to get a stylus for CTM's O2 phone from the 'Challenger' store. Upon reaching, we saw a sign stating that with effect from today, the outlet there will be closed. On the sign, there was a list of other outlets we could visit. Pasir Ris White Sands was one of these.

We decided to go over to White Sands as it was the nearest. When we reached there, we could not find any Challenger outlet at all! It was only moving in after the Tampines branch had closed. Duh! WTF!

Technorati tags : singapore | challenger

Emptiness

2006-11-09T17:10:00.000+08:00

Something really 'bor-liao'.

These few days, I have been feeling tired and rather empty inside. No, not in the stomach! :-) Just the feeling of emptiness in myself. I don't see a clear direction in what I am doing and I certainly feel a little lost.

Nevertheless, I think it would be wise for me to garner up whatever 'energy' I have left to complete the year. It's been a rather hectic year for me and I guess I am in dire need of a good relaxing holiday. When the year ends, I would gladly show 2006 my 'two-fingers' of gratitude and bid it a fucking farewell. Year 2006 has really been a bitch overall!

Is it time for me to once again consider moving on to new working environments? Will everything be fine in the new year to come? Will everything work as planned in 2007?

Only God knows, and he ain't telling me anything!!

!@#$!@%!^*&%@#*(@

*ponders*
*ponders*
*ponders*

Technorati tags : rant | 2006

School Concert

2006-11-08T16:35:00.000+08:00

After getting my hands on a (big mama) flash unit from Cornelius, the school has to come with a letter informing parents that photo/video-graphy are not allowed during the graduation concert! WTF!

And, they are offering the PCD/VCD/DVD of the concert 'taken by professionals' at a price. Sucks! This means we have no choice but to buy the 'professionally-produced' (a.k.a. not cheap) discs from them right?! @#$!@%$!!#%

So Corn, lunch sometime soon to return the flash light to you? Ha! :-)

Technorati tags : school | concerts

Just a token

2006-11-07T14:22:00.000+08:00

Token devices

Just received my 'token' device from DBS. I wonder if other banks will do the same - requiring a second level of authentication for their Internet Banking facilities.

OMFG!!!

This means that if I have accounts from 3 different banks, I will need 3 tokens!! On top of this, I have also got one from the office for secured VPN access. Shit!!

Diao! It's such a sloooooooooooooooooowwwwwww day!! !@#!@#!$#@$@#%

Technorati tags : rsa | banking

Happy Belated Birthday Eugene!

2006-11-06T16:18:00.000+08:00

Happy Belated Birthday to my brother Eugene!

nabe-nabe.com is back online again! Thank goodness it is!

I just noticed that a couple of pictures on this blog are not showing up -probably due to the shutdown/suspension of my Clubsnap account. I will get those fixed soon. :-)

Technorati tags : nabe-nabe | gallery | nephanalysis

Jacky Wu shows on YouTube

2006-11-02T15:38:00.000+08:00

My webhost is having some technical problems. My gallery and main domain site might be unaccessible.

Sux!

Here and here.

Funny stuff...Me already in tears now....hahah! *stomach pain*

Technorati tags : youtube | jacky wu

Rain

2006-11-02T14:39:00.000+08:00

Looks like the rainy season is coming... :-) This is both good and bad news.

Good
- Cleared the hazy conditions.
- Cooler weather.

Bad
- Laundry don't dry easily.
- Lesser chance of taking outdoor photographs.

Technorati tags : weather | singapore

Just my SGD2.00 worth...

2006-11-01T10:53:00.000+08:00

Just received a call from NEA officer. He told me that the stall I mentioned had already received quite a handful of warnings and tickets from NEA before and I was definitely not the only one to lodge a complaint about the hygiene issue.

The previous post was put up at tomorrow.sg and received responses from people. Those who posted there generally felt that I over-reacted and was kind of petty in asking for the SGD2.00.

Can I stress that I did not ASK for SGD2.00? I demanded from him what he was going to do now that he has spat into my bowl of dessert. (I had half expected him to apologize but..) His first reaction was not to apologize but to ask me how much was that bowl of dessert. Like I mentioned in tomorrow.sg, I was too angered by his earlier actions to think properly - so I just told him 'two dollars' and when he passed me SGD2.00, I took it without thinking.

I agree that I should not have taken the SGD2.00, and I really regretted taking it. Well I was angry then and just simply took it without much thought.

Why would I want his SGD2.00 anyway? I was just too pissed by his behaviour.

Maybe people are not understanding what I really meant in my previous post. His unhygienic handling of food and inconsiderate shouting were the main points. I have come across a lot of hawkers who do tout but not in this way, and I did not complain against them! But well... :-)

Something was brought up on tomorrow.sg by Anonymous Monkey. He/She mentioned that the "non-elite/neighbourhood poor/average IQ ppl must always conform to highly educated standard..."

Erm, I don't remember ever mentioning anywhere that I was 'highly educated'... :-( I am not an elite in any sense and definitely not highly educated. So, I was not trying to make anyone conform to any 'highly educated standard'!

For the record, I AM NOT AN ELITIST and I don't want anything to do with any 'WSM-ism'!!! :-) I'm just an ordinary guy relating a bad hawker experience!

Technorati tags : singapore | hawker

Sugarcane Juice

2006-10-30T15:47:00.000+08:00

On Saturday, we visited Ang Mo Kio Central's Food Centre for dinner. Dinner was simple fare, but the experience we got was nowhere near simple.

Almost immediately upon our arrival, we were greeted with a very loud and startling, "來! 甘蔗水!?"

WTF! This guy was trying to get us to buy sugarcane juice from his stall. Since we'd only just arrived, I simply told him we will decide later. We found a table near the sugarcane stall (most unfortunately) and ordered our food.

Less than 5 minutes later, the same guy came along to our table and shouted (YES! S-H-O-U-T-E-D!), "來! 甘蔗水!?" This really startled Janet and she actually jumped upon hearing the sudden shouting of the man. I waved him off, signalling him that we will decide later (again). We finished our food and by then, I was already very pissed by his frequent "來! 甘蔗水!?" to other customers at the tables near his stall.

I decided to order the sugarcane juice from another stall instead. A while later, Mr. 甘蔗水 came behind Janet and shouted the same fucking sentence to another table. This really scared her a lot so I changed seats with her. A short while later, Mr. 甘蔗水 again did the same thing behind her - but this time, his shouting sprinkled many drops of saliva into Janet's food and body. Feeling pissed, Janet asked him to stop shouting as this was both very irritating and unhygienic as he was 'spraying' his saliva all over the place.

He ignored her and went back to his stall while still shouting "來! 甘蔗水!?" to anyone who passes by his stall. I took the bowl of dessert that Janet was eating and demanded him to pay me for that as he had 'deposited' his saliva into it and there was no way anyone could eat that anymore. He paid me SGD2.00 for that and I went back to my table.

By this time, the other stall holders beside him were talking to Janet. They were saying that he does this very frequently and many customers were scared a lot by his 'antics' and touting methods. Seeing Janet speaking to the other stall holders, Mr. 甘蔗水 shouted from his stall to her, telling her not to speak to the others now that we have received his SGD2.00. WTF! Nabeh! You really think we want your SGD2.00?

Janet, though as calm as she was always, lost it and shouted back at him that she has the rights to speak to anyone she pleases. Jeez! This guy really needs help!

Anyway, we left after that and I have since started contacting the NEA for the procedures to lodge a complaint.

Some things I noted:
- Mr. 甘蔗水 seems to be on bad terms with his stall neighbours - he kept shouting "甘蔗水買完了!" to the other drink stalls.
- Mr. 甘蔗水 is very unhygienic as he used his bare hands to clear the table in front of his stall and without washing them, proceeded to prepare sugarcan juice for customers.
- Mr. 甘蔗水 swept all the leftover food on the table to the floor and seats dirtying them. Hmmph! That's one 'neat' way to clear the table.

Technorati tags : hawker | singapore

Gallery Updated!

2006-10-30T11:24:00.000+08:00

Took some shots of the kids on Sunday at the playground. Go here to see.

Yi Na was quite expressive...

Chu Hui was quiet...

Eugene was climbing everywhere...

Lucas was nowhere...(actually he was running around way too much)
But, had something from the VivoCity trip to show...

Valerie was happy hanging here and there..

Chu Tuan could not be pictured as he was full of mosquito bites! Haha!

I have this feeling the UV filter is a bit overkill in the evening light. Will try removing it the next time I shoot during early evenings. As usual, my WB settings are killing me! Shit!

Technorati tags : E500 | olympus

Fun at VivoCity

2006-10-26T12:18:00.000+08:00

Taken at the water sprouts area at VivoCity's children's playground. I was trying out the Continuous Auto-Focus (C-AF) mode using the 40-150mm lens. A little tricky to catch the way C-AF works, but if you play a little more with it, this function should not be a problem.

Technorati tags : nabe-nabe | vivocity

Get Crabby!!

2006-10-20T09:42:00.000+08:00

Don't know if you've come across this before, but...

Crab Game

Split your brains!!! Haha!

Technorati tags : flash | games

Red Lantern

2006-10-19T14:55:00.000+08:00

New on the gallery...

Camera Make: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
Camera Model: E-500
Image Date: 2006:10:18 14:38:31
Flash Used: No (Auto)
Focal Length: 113.0mm
Exposure Time: 0.0004 s (1/2500)
Aperture: f/4.5
ISO equiv: 400
White Balance: Manual
Light Source: Fine Weather
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

I'm still not used to the White Balance (WB) settings on the camera. Must play more! :p

Technorati tags : nabe-nabe | photography | street | E500 | olympus

PSI

2006-10-17T17:06:00.000+08:00

*cough*

The Pretty Scary Index rose to above 100 points again this afternoon. I guess I will have to thank Indonesia for this right? WTF!

Anyway, please drink plenty of water, and stay indoors if you have no business going out! :-)

Meanwhile, Marcus and family are ‘enjoying themselves’ at Bintan…

Technorati tags : haze | singapore

A new (expensive) toy

2006-10-16T09:34:00.000+08:00

I bought a new camera over the weekend.

Olympus E-500

After much 'research', I finally decided on the Olympus E-System with the E-500 D-SLR. At 8.0 megapixels, it should capture enough detail for my usage.

I was considering the Canon 400D too but, eventually went with my heart and bought the Oly instead. Out of the box, the E-500 gives the most natural colours one can find on the current range of D-SLRs (normal consumer cameras too!). The auto-focus (AF) system was a tad bit slower than the 400D's though. Other differences include 10.1MP vs. 8.0MP, CMOS vs CCD sensors, and of course, the price!

I bought the E-500 for SGD1399.00 including GST and it came with:

E-500 Body
14-45mm Zuiko Digital (kit) lens
40-150mm Zuiko Digital lens
1 x battery
2 x Hoya UV filters
2GB Kingston 50x CF Card
1 x camera bag
1 x Olympus E-System padded camera strap
1 x xD card reader

This is cheaper than Canon's package of the 400D with just a single lens and a 1GB card at SGD1500.00 with GST.

Well, hope I have a lot of fun with my 'new toy' and post more new pictures to the gallery!

Technorati tags : olympus | e500

Trying out WordPress

2006-10-11T11:29:00.000+08:00

Giving WordPress a go. I will be testing out the features of WordPress at http://subaudible.wordpress.com.

Do drop by and leave some comments if you want!

Damn the bloody haze! My throat feels like some shithead's been rubbing sandpaper all over its walls! @!@#!@#!!!

My nose is runny, my throat is coarse, head's spinning like hell, and what else?! Yah, stupid James Blunt screaming "...you're beautiful!" over the headphones. Ohh! Shut up!!

*click*

Technorati tags : wordpress | haze

Happy Birthday Valerie!

2006-10-03T08:54:00.000+08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VALERIE!!!

Technorati tags : birthday | valerie

Maple Story SEA v0.34

2006-09-28T08:50:00.000+08:00

The patch from 0.33 to 0.34 was a BIG PAIN IN THE ASS!! Yup! All 61MB+ of it!!

It screwed my 0.33 installation and thank goodness I had a backup copy of that to re-install with! Jeez!! 0.34 introduced several interesting stuff which you can read here.

Well, after the patch and all the disconnection problems surfacing, many people could not get a line into the MS servers, so it was quite quiet around the towns for a while when I got in.

After getting about 10 orihalcon ore drops, 2 white t-shirts and 2 wooden clubs, I got a Blue Tai from the Dark Stone Golems! Hehehe! Useless to me but it was a Level 60 item nonetheless. Besides, I had been hunting at Sleepywood Dungeon for way too long without a decent drop. Sniper pots don't count right!?!? Bleah!

The introduction of the new (maybe not so new as I heard that KMS/GMS already had this long ago) beginner skills and the addition of the Monster Piece drop from Gachapon machines top my list of 'GOODIES' for this versional upgrade!

Here's a screenshot of the beginner skills

Oh, and did you check out the Ranking pages on the Maple SEA webby? MrYandao is tops (as expected) at Level 185 o.0

P/S: CTM is in DA HOUSE! Hahah! Finally, he has decided to come over to Bootes!

Technorati tags : maplestory | maplesesa

Scam alert!

2006-09-27T13:13:00.000+08:00

Read on the papers today that there are some stupid fucks from China who are making unsolicited IDD calls to our mobile phones and then hanging up on first ring.

This will create a MISSED CALL item on our phones. If we returned the call, we will usually hear some recorded messages of some sort (go read the Straits Times), and all this while you are connected to a Premium line (means must pay premium $$$ also lah!)

According to the report, these scam numbers usually start with "+861", just like this one I received.

However, it seems like these calls are useless against users in Singapore as there are some levels of check in place (really?!) - like an agreement between the operator there and our local ones, before the call is connected and charged. How true, I don't know.

Technorati tags : scams | mobile phone

Reminiscing school day songs

2006-09-26T17:28:00.000+08:00

What are your memories from your school days?

For me, those memories are largely connected in one way or another to music and songs. Music because I was with the school's military band, and songs because, well, every other teenager tunes in to the radio stations right?!

Through the years, songs of the past still remain most memorable. Especially more so for those during your years in Secondary school and college/polytechnic.

My memory of the songs during those times were a mingled mish-mash of anything and everything from classical pieces to hard-core heavy metal music. Every now and then, I come across these songs on the radio (from the 'ah-pek' stations, some say) and it never fails to bring about bittersweet memories for me.

Let me list a few songs of different genres that I have deep impressions of from that age.

Gonna make you sweat - C&C Music Factory

^*
This was THE piece for any reputable disco goer! Haha! I still remember the way my friends used to crank up the radio in anticipation of the signature "EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!" introduction line of this song. Cool!
Everything I do, I do it for you - Bryan Adams

For most people of my age, this is a song which would probably be the one that was playing when they had their first romantic dance with a girl. This sabo piece was always played during get-togethers and parties to get couples and would-be couples to dance together.

*Did you also notice that these kinds of songs are always played/requested by those who have no partners at the parties? Haha!
Don't Cry - Guns 'n' Roses

Not forgetting us rockers, we always had GNR to rock to! In this case, Mr. Rose and company gave us not only a dose but TWO doses of this fantastic (slow) rock piece! There were two versions of Don't Cry and each was available on each of the two Use Your Illusion albums from GNR.
U Can't Touch This - MC Hammer

Ok, think baggy pants. Think super duper, big balls baggy pants! Hahah! Yup! Hammer with this rap song that er, got me interested in rap music. *faints*

Ya, I was digging him before Vanilla Ice came into the scene. Thinking back, both were equally disastrous in their choice of wardrobe and image. Hammer with his big balls pants, and Vanilla Ice even more so with his 'kuey-tao'¹ on top of his equally big balls pants with the America flag print!!

What were your favourites during that period of time?

I think everyone will have a different list of songs that they fancied - but one thing will be the same. I am sure everyone will agree that songs played a big part of our teenage years.

^* Courtesy of Radio.Blog.Club
¹ Chicken head

Technorati tags : songs | music

Best of Best Tau Sar Piah

2006-09-25T11:14:00.000+08:00

I arrived, I queued, I waited, for 35 FUCKING minutes, from queue number 17 to number 7, but I did not buy.

CRAP.

SHIT.

LIFE'S FULL OF IT.

Technorati tags : pastry | singapore

Crab Hunting at Florina Beach

2006-09-22T11:03:00.000+08:00

It's been some time since I last updated on our Maple Story progress.

Nabenabe is semi-retirement liao... Janet's busy with K-dramas and sewing dresses for Valerie and herself. So it is stuck at level 57.

I think Jeff is at level 58 with slayer70, Eddie is at level 52/53 with Dinoputt, and Eugene's Jumas is at level 46.

As for mine, Vandyke is at level 56, and mucking around Florina Beach hitting at crabs! Heheh!

Sadly though, I did not chance upon any Korean Fan drops there. Duh!

Mr. Chua has also decided to try his hand at Maple Story, though his character was created in Aquila instead of at Bootes. WTF!

Technorati tags : maplestory | gaming

nabe-nabe.com update

2006-09-19T16:48:00.000+08:00

nabe-nabe.com gets a new start page .

Simple and... SIMPLE. Just simple and just the way I like it. *smuck*

A few new photos have been added to the gallery. Check them out.

Technorati tags : nabenabe | photography

Radio.Blog.Club

2006-09-19T14:27:00.000+08:00

Recently, I have been checking out Radio Blog Club. The site offers free-to-play songs, searchable from what seems like a mountain of songs that they have.

If you were to complete a simple (and free) registration, you will be able to add songs to your playlist and listen to them later. The streams are generally very stable even on my office's crappy Internet connection.

You can see a permanent link to my personal playlist on the right column of this site, right under the RadioBlogClub chicklet. Or you may also go to http://www.radioblogclub.com/fav/0/1114693/0 direct.

Technorati tags : radioblogclub | mp3

iPod Nano Remastered

2006-09-18T12:44:00.000+08:00

I read from Little Dowager's blog this morning about the new, remastered iPod Nano from Apple.

Grrr!!! Now no extra $$$. Sianz ½!

View the official advert here.

I think blue is nice!

Technorati tags : ipod | nano

The Alien Invasion

2006-09-14T15:00:00.000+08:00

After a long long lifetime of watching movies where aliens attack western cultures (more specifically, AMERICA), wouldn't it be nice to finally watch one that has aliens attacking Asia instead?

Richmanclub Studios presents The Alien Invasion - an absurd movie of a galactic war, between the aliens and us Asians! Haha! No, no more we are the Americans and we save America, save the world bullshit!

The best thing about this digital short film is that it is available on a couple of platforms - iPod, PSP, Smart Phones/PDAs, 3G Phones, and online viewing on your PC!! Phew!!

I'm downloading now so I can watch on my N70 on the way to campus. 92MB for a 'high-quality' WMV version for PDAs and a 83MB MP4 version for iPods and my N70! wah! I hope it is worth the download.

Technorati tags : richmanclubstudios | alien invasion

Back from Desaru

2006-09-13T01:03:00.000+08:00

Why no updates since I returned from Desaru? Ha! I was unfortunate enough to injure my back TWICE in two days! So, I had to rest at home on Monday and Tuesday. Ouch!!

So, I had no choice but to go down to Chinatown to get my back rubbed and man-handled by some guys...ouch ouch!!

*sucks*

Anyway...

The trip to Desaru over the weekend was ok. The food was a little on the lousy side and the lack of an automobile to our disposal meant that we were stuck with either the food at the restaurant in the hotel, or the food from the small stall just beside the chalet further down the road.

Some pictures from the trip can be found here.

Desaru-Pengerang International Long Distance Triathlon
Kim Hong finished 9th overall for his age group category and was the 4th Singaporean triathlete to complete the course for that category.^*

^* This should be accurate. I only had a glance at the results but this should be very close, if not accurate.

Technorati tags : desaru | triathlon

To Desaru

2006-09-07T17:17:00.000+08:00

Almost time to knock off... off for my short break in Desaru! We will be leaving Singapore on Friday morning at around 1030hrs, and will be back on Sunday.

Meanwhile... you guys be good!

Technorati tags : desaru | malaysia

Death of the Croc Hunter

2006-09-05T11:12:00.000+08:00

~ Steve Irwin (February 22, 1962 – September 4, 2006) ~

The loss of Steve Irwin is shocking and sad to a lot of people.

He was probably more famous than the Prime Minister of Australia. Most of the kids who watched Discovery Channel should know him well. I know my kids do.

He will be missed but his works and conservation efforts never forgotten.

Goodbye Steve and God bless his family!

Technorati tags : steve irwin | crocodile

List of weird shit to do

2006-09-04T17:01:00.000+08:00

This is going to dip my position on the popularity charts with the ladies... er, HA! As if I have A LOT of female readers (or male for that matter)!! Bleah!

Here is my list of favourite weird things to do.

Good vibrations
I like the feeling of my teeth clattering whenever the bus (or any vehicle I am in) vibrates when it is in a stationary position with the engine running.

Throw in the ticklish feeling of your earwax being slowly vibrated out of your ear, wah simply shiok!
Exotic Aromatherapy
The smell of my fart when it comes out warm. Hmm.... careful when it comes out wet and warm though.

(C'mon!! I'm a man! Heheheh!)
Getting Corny
Cutting away corns on my feet and hands!

These guys get pretty annoying once they get to a certain size. The dead skin becomes hard and I tend to develop a habit to start feeling and scratching them. Cutting them off with a nail clipper always soothes and smooths EVERYTHING!
I read, I read, and I read!
Reading a paragraph in a book many times over. The idea is to see how many times I can repeat reading a paragraph before getting real sick of it.
Nostril Deforestation
You know those longer-than-others nostril hairs that stick out? Well, I like to pull them out using only my index finger and thumb! This usually makes me tear but it is a strange and nice feeling when you see that long and an eyesore of a hair getting up-rooted.

*PLUCK*
*TEARS*
*PLUCK AGAIN*

Ha! There you go!! Heheheheh!
More Deforestation
I like to pull hair out of moles too! Just can't wait till the next hair-ling starts to grow out of the middle of this particular mole on my arm... Hahah!

*PLUCK*
*PLUCK*

What weird shit do you fancy? Deh!

P/S: NO, I DO NOT EAT STUFF THAT CAME FROM MY NOSE! Hehehe!

Technorati tags : bullshit | disgusting | bored

Kluang visit

2006-09-04T11:17:00.000+08:00

Congratulations to Kim Hong and Alvin!
They came in 2^nd in the Subaru Action Asia Challenge Race held in Singapore on 3 September 2006.

Read all about it here.

Must get KH to give treat liao...hahah!

I am back from Kluang and feeling all achy.

Short clip from the trek.
The old joints are creaky and making noise with every step that I take. Gunung Lambak's ascend is much tougher than expected. I would say it was steeper than Bukit Teresek at Taman Negara.

At the top of Gunung Lambak

It was hot and humid over the weekend at Kluang. Not much clouds in the sky. We were quite sticky after spending about 10 minutes outside.

We had the chance to visit a vegetable farm and 'bought' lots of greens (well, M's sister and mum refused to take our money for these). It was an enjoyable trip, thanks to our good host and friend M. Thanks also to nephy for the ride there and back!

My flickr.com set is available for viewing at http://www.flickr.com/photos/94687482@N00/sets/72157594267320555/.

Technorati tags : kluang | trek

Twang twang! Goes the F***ing music...

2006-09-01T17:25:00.000+08:00

Finally!!!

At approximately 1711hrs, that fellow in my office finally switched off the stupid Persian/Peruvian/Indian/Egyptian/...watdafuckuwannacallit music he has been 'piping' F.O.C. throughout the day.

Aaarrggghhhh!

I am surprised no one made noise about this all afternoon! >.<
(Ok, I'm just too annoyed to care. There's a major problem from one of our customers...)

Oh shit! Just when I thought he'd switched it off... here it comes again!! This time I am bloody sure it's Bollywood stuff. KNN!

Technorati tags : office | stress

Malaysian weekends for me

2006-08-30T11:09:00.000+08:00

We will probably be headed for Kluang this weekend. Found ourselves a 'tourguide' for the weekend and we will be going up the 510m Gunung Lambak for a short trek.

I have long heard about the fantastic bread toast, half-boiled eggs and coffee being served at an old coffee shop at the train station. That I will not miss as well! Heehee!

On the 8th of September, we will head for Desaru. KH will go for his race while the rest of us will go laze around the beach. I think I will give the Ostrich farm a miss.

The sunny beach and sea should be enough for the weekend. Oh, and maybe catch some fireflies at night (at Kota Tinggi?) Mum and Dad will be out ~~gambling~~ at Genting Highlands (again) with the church-going folks.

Ha, so much for the "no gambling since we are Catholics..." rule some of these guys always tell my parents.. bah! Nothing but a load of hypocritical cow crap! The moment they reach Genting Highlands, they will step into the casinos and start gambling! !@#!@#!$%!$

Technorati tags : kluang | trekking | genting | malaysia

Indignation 2006 - Talking cock in Parliament

2006-08-29T14:31:00.000+08:00

I meant to put this post on sooner but it just slipped my mind... what the heow!

Anyway, some low-quality vidz from Saltwetfish, good effort nonetheless. And, Mr. Brown will release the high-quality ones soon (I hope).

Blog reviews and Flickr photo sets of this event are also available here.

DAMN!! I wish I was there!

Technorati tags : talkingcock | indignation2006

Jay, Fei and the junk in my bag

2006-08-29T10:58:00.000+08:00

Bumpz...

Heard this over the radio this morning ~ Jay Chou introducing his new song 《千里之外》 "Faraway". This is a collaboration between him and Taiwanese crooner 費玉清 Fei Yu Qing. Eewww!

The track however, is a pretty ok mix of Jay's R&B style and Fei's smooth crooning, with a strong tinge of nostalgia in it. This song is quite similar in terms of sadness, with Jay's other song 《发如雪》 "Hair Like Snow".

And the fantastic YouTube has the video for this!!! Haha!

Just realized how much junk I lug around everyday... here's a glimpse at what I carry in my bag.

1. Mini-SD Card for mobile phone
2. 18-in-1 card reader with my CF and xD cards still inside
3. World Cup event lanyard
4. SecurID token card
5. Screwdriver set (!?)
6. Earphones
7. Wallet
8. Multi-purpose mini toolkit (little black box just beside my SecurID token card)
9. Nokia mobile phone USB data cable
10. LED mini torch
11. Mobile phone charger
12. Black pouch to store all the above

Apart from these, I also have an umbrella, a water bottle, breath fresheners, scientific calculator and a pencil case, all stashed into my bag!

No wonder it feels heavy sometimes.

Technorati tags : jaychou | youtube

Where's my Pluto?

2006-08-25T09:09:00.000+08:00

Ok, can you name me the 8 planets in our solar system? Yes, EIGHT!!! Not NINE anymore!!

They are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Hey, where's Pluto?? Well, officially, the IAU (International Astronomical Union) has come to a decision over the debate of whether Pluto qualifies as a planet! It has now been classified as a 'dwarf planet', and a process will be set up to properly name these objects.

Technorati tags : iau | astronomy

Shitty drugs

2006-08-23T15:06:00.000+08:00

A man was arrested¹ for trying to smuggle Subutex and other controlled drugs into Singapore - by stuffing the restricted pills contained in a plastic tube, up in his anus!!! OMFG!!!

This brings about whole new meanings to these phrases...

"You're going to inject that shit into you?!?"

"This shit is going to kill you!"

Haha!

Just imagine that he managed to get into Singapore and tries to sell the pills. While 'extracting' the pills, an 'accident' happened and some pills got 'contaminated'. Heeehee! Eeewwww!

¹Source: Channel NewsAsia

Technorati tags : subutex | singapore

Service 163 and 163A (again)!

2006-08-18T12:24:00.000+08:00

Damn! I hate to do this complaining stuff, but... WTF is wrong with the bus service in Sengkang?!?!?

I have to take bus Service 163 to send Lucas to school every morning. Service 163A was introduced to the Sengkang part of Service 163's route recently. "More trips at times that matter" - that's what the signboard says. Yah, but what is the use when the extra 'short trips' come so closely behind the standard one?

Here is an example.

Service 163 (standard route) comes along at its normal 15-20 minute interval. Service 163A (short trip route) comes almost immediately behind it. This will make sense if the problem for this particular service was overloading, but apparently, it is not. The problem with Service 163 (at least for the Sengkang part of its route) is that usually, we had to wait at least 15-20 minutes in the morning for the bus. Service 163 is the only bus from Fernvale Road (Sengkang) that connects the bus interchange at Compass Point.

For some residents who are going to Sengkang Eastway, etc., they will either have to take Service 163 or take the LRT (West loop) and transit to another LRT (East loop) service at Sengkang centre. Therefore, the wait for the bus, especially in the morning rush hour, can be very frustrating.

Another 'aggravating' factor to the frustration is that the Service 163A bus will usually wait at the bus stop (red star) before the one it is supposed to start its service (yellow star). People waiting at the bus stop (yellow star) can see it waiting there. Sometimes, it stops there for at least 25 minutes, and moving off only when Service 163 comes along.

- The red star is where Service 163A waits
- The yellow star is where we wait for the bus
- Solid arrowed line is normal Service 163 route
- Dotted arrowed line is where Service 163A joins the route

Things that I hear people grumble about while waiting at (yellow star):

Auntie going to market...
"Why have extra service when it comes only when the normal one comes?"

A mother with her kid...
"If it (Service 163A) has to wait there, why not wait at interchange until time is right then come out?"

Uncle smoking Marlboro...
Nah beh! Pay more money get lousier service!

I know it sounds like I made those up, but NO I did not! These are what I hear almost daily from the people waiting at the bus stop!

It is a frustrating life indeed!

Technorati tags : sbstransit | sbs | singapore

DVDs in China

2006-08-18T11:24:00.000+08:00

Kenny has VERY sharp eyes! Read his latest post about what he noticed while shopping in Shanghai.

Technorati tags : kennysia | shanghai

No news is bad news

2006-08-17T15:09:00.000+08:00

I sent a complaint letter (email) to the town council on the 4th of August regarding poor estate cleaning services. No reply till date. Fuck. Not even an acknowledgement of receipt for the email. So much for 'customer service quality' in Singapore!

I have yet to video clip Mr. I-drag-the-broom, but I will definitely get that done when I have the chance! And when I do, I will make sure that he becomes a star on YouTube! !@#$!%$^$%&#$*

Speaking of YouTube, have you tried it? It is not bad you know? I managed to find the video for Green Jello's (aka Green Jelly) version of "Three Little Pigs". Though the story is a skewed and distorted version of the original classic story, the video and the lyrics sure kicked ass!

Here's a line from the song, where Rambo makes an appearance and blasts the hell out of the wolf with his machine gun. Hahah!

"YO, WOLF-FACE, I'M YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE, YOUR ASS IS MINE!!!"

Technorati tags : three little pigs | singapore | green jelly | green jello

Fucked up Zen V

2006-08-15T09:27:00.000+08:00

WTF!!! After less than a week of usage, the display of the Creative Zen V just went dead. DEAD!! What the fuck!

So, I had it sent for servicing at the service centre yesterday and guess what? I was told that they would replace the set for me - but I will have to wait 2 weeks! Duh! Er, but I thought I saw some sets on sale in the Creative shop just beside the service centre?

The worst bit came this morning when I surfed by Tomorrow.sg. Titus Phoon has a similar situation and has already waited at least TWENTY days for his replacement! OMFG!!

Lisa: Yup! I kena your Creative problem liao! Hahaha! That bloody player's display just went kapooot!

Let's see how long I have to wait for my replacement! I will make noise if I don't get it fast!

Technorati tags : creative | zen v

The Lake House

2006-08-11T11:17:00.000+08:00

Janet and I watched the movie The Lake House yesterday. It was nice to have a day off from the kids and some time to ourselves.

Despite the many low-ratings I've gotten from friends about the movie, I found it quite to my liking. Maybe I'm a sucker for such movies. Hehehe! Or maybe, it was the chemistry between Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock - I've always liked them as an on-screen pair.

How do you hold on to someone you've never met?

Technorati tags : lakehouse | keanu reeves | sandra bullock

Blog on drowsy mode

2006-08-07T14:42:00.000+08:00

Migrating gallery... blog on drowsy mode.
*switches the drowsy button ON*

Technorati tags : blog | gallery

Cleaning up the cleaner

2006-08-04T16:08:00.000+08:00

Woot! End of the week again! Yup! It's here once again! Haha! And I have to work overtime today... :( Eeeks! Bummer! Never mind, I want to get my mind off this migration project anyway. So, I might as well get it over and done with. Once and for all.

Luckily, I have my MP3 player here today. Can groove to Gnarls Barkley while working late. Hopefully, the servers don't go kaput on me during the migration!!

I wrote an email to the town council today. The cleaners at my neighbourhood have unfortunately gotten my attention (again). This time, I decided that it was to be the last straw. I will not keep quiet anymore. I have to COMPLAIN!!

Here's the situation.

The cleaner 'assigned' to my block sweeps the floors everyday (almost). But, if you were to pay attention to how he does it, you will definitely be pissed off. How does he do it? Well, he drags the broom behind him and not making any obvious efforts to actually 'sweep' the floor. KNN!!! Even the lifts are also not properly cleaned! WTF!! Nabeh!! I pay S&C charges for what??

The only place he seems to be cleaning is the floor just outside one of my neighbour's flat. This neighbour of mine had 'nagged' at his way of sweeping before. And since then, the cleaner made very sure to clean his area. Maybe I should do the same??

Guess what Janet saw this morning?! Said cleaner walked past my flat, dragging his broom as usual, and started sweeping the floor outside this neighbour's house. Not did he sweep the floor, he started picking and re-arranging the shoes and slippers for him!! What the fuck!?!? So, does it mean that I have to make noise at him and offer him cigarettes to make him get his ass around to sweeping the floor properly??

I am not jealous at him doing this for my neighbour but isn't it his job to be sweeping the floor for the whole of this block? I mean, you are a cleaner, so you clean the place right? KNN! Think about it also made me fed up!

I have already made plans to try to take a video of him doing his 'broom-walk' this weekend. I will make this fucker regret being lazy. I know that some may argue that it is everyone's responsibility to keep the neighbourhood clean - YES I definitely agree. But in this case, I am talking about him doing his job for what his job is. I am not arguing about whose fault it is that there is litter around the area or who should be held responsible for causing the litter.

This is about a cleaner not doing his job!

Technorati tags : town council | singapore | hdb

Go see my new site

2006-08-02T17:03:00.000+08:00

I'm moving again.

Nope! Not moving (house) but rather, moving my online gallery.

I have mentioned before that I will be looking for a new web host to host my photographs and I have finally settled for W3Hub. The SGD60.00/year basic package that I signed up for includes 100MB of storage, unlimited number of MySQL databases, quite a handful of installable script packages, gallery support, blog support, as well as POP email accounts. Very basic for some, but quite enough for me - someone who has been paying SGD65.00/year for much lesser services rendered.

Oh, and the best thing that came with the new package? A free web domain for me! Hahah! The only letdown is that the first choices that Janet and I wanted were all taken up! :-( WTF!!!

These include fugs.com, nabenabe.com, junhao.com, luan.com, etc...

Finally, I had to settle for http://nabe-nabe.com. (Bookmark this ok!?)

As at now, nothing much is on the main site. But the migration process for the gallery is already hot on the go!!! The new gallery site has been configured at http://gallery.nabe-nabe.com. Do drop by to have a look!

By now, some of you might be thinking why the hell 'nabe'?? Well, nabe is simply the Japanese word for 'pot'. So, the idea behind nabe-nabe.com is just that everything is mixed together there like in a pot... all the good and nice essences (gossips and noises mainly!!) all in one place!

Technorati tags : nabe-nabe.com | nabe | photography

Creative Zen V

2006-08-01T10:57:00.000+08:00

Creative Zen V 1GB

Bought the new Creative Zen V from the Creative online store last Friday. Not bad overall. See the review by Dickson because I am too lazy to write one. Besides, he has already written a whole chunk of good information there.

The player should come in handy for Janet when she goes for her jogs. Before this, we were sharing one miserable MP3 player, which is pretty 'war-torn' by now. Haha!

I transferred the track Crazy by Gnarls Barkley and WTF! The earphones really can not make it!! The bass sounded really flat and dead...duh! Changed to her Sony MDR-NX1/W earphones and it sounded waaaaaaaaaay better!

Now, I am waiting for them to release the armstrap and casing for the set!

Technorati tags : creativezenv | Creative Zen V | creative.com

EmailCashPro in Singapore

2006-07-28T11:30:00.000+08:00

Click on banner and sign up!

Saw the ad on the MRT the other day. Think it is harmless to give it a try... what do you think? I have already signed up.

Click on the banner above if you are interested too. Let's make some moolah together!

Technorati tags : emailcashpro | money

Going at the gollems

2006-07-26T10:08:00.000+08:00

Screenshot of vandyke's stats at L52

Vandyke (pronounced van-dike, not van-deekee or vandy-ke!) a.k.a. HA-Cleric, having fun at Sleepy Dungeon with the Dark Stone Gollems.

Where are the Ancient Scrolls? Where are the Tobis? Aargghh! I will get them one day! Hahaah! Ok, I know this is soooo lame lor! Hurhurhur!

So guys, how far are you now in MS? Jumas?!

Technorati tags : maplestory | gaming

Punk wannabe

2006-07-24T10:54:00.000+08:00

Punk-wannabe!

'nuff said!

Technorati tags : punk | lucas

I screwed up

2006-07-20T14:46:00.000+08:00

Thursday, busy, busy, busy, busy and BUSY!

Aargggghhh! And the stooopidest thing I have done till date? I deleted my entire Java project's files as well as the backups. How's that for fuck-ups of all fuck-ups!?!?!

Shit! Now I have to re-do my project with only a handful of days left till submission on Monday 24^th!!! My oh my oh my oh my!!!

KNNBCCB!!!!!

Technorati tags : fuckup | projects | java

Congratulations to Kelvin and Silvia!

2006-07-18T14:37:00.000+08:00

My good friend Kelvin from Secondary days got married on Saturday. We were invited to Part Two of Three wedding dinners that he had to hold - one for his family (part one), one for his/her friends (part two), and one in Taiwan where the missus is from (part three).

Congratulations to my buddy Kelvin and his wife Silvia!

To be able to meet someone you can love and trust in this life is really a fantastic thing to happen. Cherish the moments that you spend together forever!

This came a little late (3 days niah!) as I have been real busy lately... sorry lah Kelvin! Ha! Ha!

The dinner was great as a whole, though I find the food a little on the saltish side. The live band was good and the vocalist had a nice voice. Very nice for romantic songs (but leave out the Jazz and R&B, please!)

We were laughing at how Cornelius' name had been shortened to 'Corn' when I reached my seat and saw this...

WTF! Mose?!? Not Moe, Moses, but Mose?! How about Moose?!

Hahaha!

I have been listening a lot to the radio nowadays. The MP3 has been semi-permanently passed over to Janet since she has more use for it - jogging, exercising, etc. I, as with many other married men, have decided to help out with the housework while the wife has 'some time of her own'.

*yah yah yah...excuses from a lazy man!*

Anyway, I heard a live performance recording of a group called 'Soler' on the radio last night. Not bad at all! Did some research on the web and found out that they (Julio and Dino) were of Italian and Burmese descent.

These two brothers can speak and sing in no less than SEVEN languages! Phew!! Mandarin is one of them and they can speak it very well too! Of the tracks I heard off the radio, I liked 《海啸》and 《陌生人》 the most. I guess their album should be worth checking out.

Ok! Ok! Please!!! No pun was intended for the choice of 《海啸》(Tsunami).

Visit their website at http://www.solermusic.com.

Technorati tags : wedding | soler

Getting my hands dirty

2006-07-13T17:26:00.000+08:00

For the past two days, I have been keeping myself busy installing servers. Heavy, old and dusty machines. Damn! Getting my eyes and nose all irritated and watery.

Setting up servers/PCs was something that was very 'natural' to me a couple of years back. Pass me a machine, the setup CDs and pop, I will get it up. Nowadays, I find that the dust and the amount of physical work I have to go through is nothing but shit - and a big load of shit it is! Ha! I guess too much of the 'good life' as a programmer really made me lazy.

Anyway, just imagine this. I am trying to install Windows Server 2003 on a 2xPentium II processor machine, running on a pathetic 512MB of RAM (ONLY!!!). Gosh! Copying the Windows setup files alone took almost ten minutes!

No choice lah. When you have to get it done, you'll just have to do it! You're paid to do the (any) job! That's why yours truly is getting his hands dirty on this one!

Technorati tags : windows 2003 | computers

Flash mobs

2006-07-11T16:56:00.000+08:00

We were talking about flash mobs over lunch today. The idea is not new, but to the bunch of uncles that we were, it is quite an interesting difference to our boring everyday lives.

In case you do not already know what this is about...

The basic idea of a flash mob is:

A message gets sent around (computers, mobile networks, etc)
In the message, people are asked to gather at a certain place, at a certain time, and to do a certain thing (e.g. clapping their hands for 2 minutes, laugh out loud for 1 minute, etc.)
When time's up, everyone disperses and everything is back to normal.

That's it! Simple, easy and plain boring to some! Haha! Anyone interested in organising one? Haha!

Technorati tags : flashmobs | singapore

Goating around

2006-07-10T12:24:00.000+08:00

~~France~~ Italy won the World Cup!!! This means that the total amount I lost for this World Cup is SGD15.00... thought I could have at least made a hundred bucks but, well....

It was raining here in Singapore all through the night. Had to wake up and close the windows (yah, I did not stay up to watch THE MATCH of the year). And, because of the rain (and THE MATCH), the bus was exceptionally crowded today. Usually, the earlier buses at my place are more crowded... but today, everyone's taking the later bus! Sucks!

Having nothing better to do.

We were at Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve yesterday. Not too bad. Overcast weather, breezy and not too humid. Did not cover all the routes as it began to rain halfway through and we had to take a shortcut out. Ha! After leaving the reserve, we visited a vegetable farm, and then stopped by Hay's Goat Farm. The goats were not as strong smelling as those at the zoo. I guess the huge fans they have placed near the stalls helped to lessen the strong 'goaty' smells.

Technorati tags : singapore | sungei buloh | nature reserve | worldcup

Back in business

2006-07-07T14:30:00.000+08:00

Wah, super busy leh! No time to put a post up here...haiz! So many things happening all around, everyone's been busy, busy, BUSY!

Just read from the papers today that Mr Brown's column for the papers got suspended - wah piang eh! Life is tough man...kekekek! Hopefully, everything will go well for him+family.

Nothing much for this post except maybe to leave you guys/gals with a link for an interesting video clip of Dr. Mahathir (ex-PM of Malaysia), as well as some posts on Hardwarezone regarding his comments in the clips.

I shall not be held responsible for the opinions expressed by the readers and writers on Hardwarezone forums. It is their own responsibility hor!

Technorati tags : singapore | youtube

Screenshot whoring

2006-06-28T16:40:00.000+08:00

A screenshot of my N70

Haha, more 'whoring' of my phone...hahahhahha!

Installed a screenshot application and thought I should share my current theme/wallpaper. It is a Brushed Mac theme for the N70 with a customised wallpaper of nabenabe and vandyke (our Maple Story characters - as they look now in the game,... erm, well close enough lah! Hee!).

We are currently at level 40-ish and at the moment are hunting monsters real hard because of the Maple Story SEA Birthday specials that are happening right now!

Technorati tags : maplestory | n70

A weekend at Genting Highlands

2006-06-27T10:55:00.000+08:00

Brrrr...

The entire family was at Genting Highlands over the last weekend of the school holidays. We had initially planned to go on the trip the week before but could not get our hands on the hotel room bookings, so we had to make do with this.

We could not see what's in front of us!

The weather was pretty fine when we arrived but after a short while, it started pouring! In a way, it was good that it did because it would not be as cold if there was no rain! The downpour on Friday made the place very foggy. Great!

Something not great was that the things there are getting more and more expensive! Shit! A bowl of noodles at a certain eatery costs RM13.00! For a small bowl ok!?!? Blardy hell!

I guess the kids had a great time there (theme park). The cold weather added to the fun as you do not sweat at all! Hahah!

Technorati tags : genting highlands | malaysia

N70 Internet Connection via PC

2006-06-26T17:19:00.000+08:00

WiFi on the Nokia N80 - yah.

WiFi on the Nokia N70 - Nope, but getting to the Internet without using 3G is possible too! Haha! I have managed to configure my N70 to use my Internet connection at home to access the Internet!

To do this, you will need:

PC connected to the Internet
Bluetooth dongle
gnubox - (I lost the link to it but I have the .SIS file if you want)
m-Router
Part 2 of a total of 4 excellent detailed guides on the N70 from "Crazy Little World of Mine" by abdulmueid

That's all you need! Follow the instructions on this post and you should have no problems!

All the parts of abdulmueid's N70 guides: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Technorati tags : N70 | nokia | crazylittleworld | gnubox | m-router

Attack of the Green Ones

2006-06-21T11:08:00.000+08:00

Woah! The Alocasia plants (or Elephant Ears) around my neighbourhood are being attacked by big green caterpillars!!! Eeeeewwwww!!!

Just look at the size of these huge green wrigglys! Each one is about the size of my finger!

At first glance, you will probably think that these are nothing but the droppings of a bird/animal but look closer and you will see the real thing!

*Sorry ah, my phone cam not 'focusable'... *

Big Green Caterpillars!

My guess is that these are the larvae of a kind of Hawk Moth. Which kind exactly? I don't know. Heehee! Any expert care to give an opinion on this?

Technorati tags : alocasia | caterpillars | singapore

Lucas skates

2006-06-19T15:12:00.000+08:00

When you are five and terrorists mean nothing to you, stuff like these will seem to be very fun!

And believe me, he did this for the entire evening when we were at Pasir Ris Park.

*amazed*

Technorati tags : singapore | skating

Green in the office

2006-06-16T14:57:00.000+08:00

The greens in my office

I was taking some photographs around the office today when the plants on a small cupboard caught my attention. These guys are the only green around the office - besides the fugly looking ones that are placed beside the water dispensing machine.

The small ones have been that size since they were first brought in about half a year ago. No growth, vertical or horizontal. None at all. Does this signify something about the work and growth opportunities here as well?

Hmm.... *ponders*

Technorati tags : plants | office

Make Your Own World Cup Ball

2006-06-14T11:32:00.000+08:00

Surfed by Kennysia.com just now and saw this.

Haha! It's funny and it's the first thing on the World Cup 2006 that I've posted so far! Kenny's good! No doubt!

Technorati tags : kenny sia | world cup 2006

Diet Coke and Mentos

2006-06-14T10:19:00.000+08:00

You've probably read this on the news sites somewhere. Have you tried it?

Make a Diet Coke + Mentos fountain

Go find yourselves about 3-5 pieces of Mentos.
Get a bottle of Diet Coke.
Drop the Mentos into the Coke bottle.

And there you have it! Your very own Diet Coke + Mentos fountain! It really shoots VERY high up! Oh, and please please be ready to get really wet and my advise is to do this in the open and not at home! I don't do cleaning up for you! Haha!

Watch how others do it!

Technorati tags : Diet Coke | mentos

I have bought my phone

2006-06-13T15:09:00.000+08:00

Ok, I got my phone!

Yup! I spent almost 2 hours on Sunday queueing up just for upgrading my phone at the M1 Shop at Compass Point...sheeez!!!

In the end, I got myself the Nokia N70. Not a particularly 'new' model by today's standards but it definitely is a good phone for me - way too good. Oh ya, and so it's "~~Buy Buy~~Bye bye Chocolate!" for me! Heh!

And thanks to all who have sent me their suggestions for my phone purchase!

Now that I have got the phone, what next? Hmm... earn more money?!? Heehee!

Technorati tags : Nokia | singapore

I need a new mobile

2006-06-09T17:21:00.000+08:00

As some of you might have already known, I am looking to buy a new mobile phone to replace my Sony Ericsson T630. I happened to flip through the papers yesterday and saw an advertisement for Starhub MaxOnline services.

Starhub's bundling iPaqs (at reduced prices) with subscription to their MaxOnline Ultimate and 6500 plans! Wow! The iPaq 6818 costs only SGD99.00 with a 2-year subscription plan to the broadband service and the 6965 (which boasts an onboard GPS and WiFi functions) costs only SGD199.00!

Shucks! Anyone signing up for the services but do not want the phone?? Huh? Huh?? Heehee!

Technorati tags : starhub | ipaq

Back from Taman Negara

2006-06-06T14:34:00.000+08:00

Back in Singapore!! Ha!

On the whole, the trip was quite a learning experience for my kids. They had the chance to experience how different life can be in a different environment and how the basic living conditions that we have here in Singapore are far more than what we actually require to get by.

The journey to Taman Negara started way off track. We nearly gave up on the whole trip and head back to Singapore! Let me give a re-cap of the whole trip.

WARNING!! This is potentially a very long read!

01 June 2006 - Getting to Taman Negara
We arrived at the train station in Johor Bahru (JB) before 1956hrs (our scheduled train departure time). Upon reaching the station, we approached the ticket usher and asked if our train was on time. We were told that the train would be delayed by half an hour. So we waited. About 15 minutes later, I approached the usher again. This time, he told me that the train would arrive in approximately 10 minutes. And so we waited again.

About 15 minutes later, a train stopped by the station. I approached the usher and was told that that was not the train for us. I showed him my tickets again and he took a look before repeating that it was not the train. By now, it was almost 2100hrs. After the train left, we decided to approach an immigration officer for help. Guess what?!? He told us that our train was the one that left the station a while ago!! Aarrggghhh!

He directed us to the Station Master's office where we found out that the usher had screwed up our schedule because he 'thought' that ours was a different train. He 'saw' wrongly. What the fuck!!! There was nothing the Station Master could do but offer to give us free tickets to Gemas where we were supposed to find our way to Taman Negara ourselves, or to refund to us the full price of the tickets we'd bought. Since this was not originally planned, we decided to go for the refund. We got back the money for tickets for both directions since we were not sure whether we wanted to continue or to turn back to Singapore.

Angry and disappointed, we left the station and started discussing the possibilities we had. Finally, we decided to catch a coach from JB to Kuala Lumpur (KL) where we would take another transport to Jerantut.

Bus schedule at Jerantut

This roundabout took us 5 hours just to get to KL (at RM180.00) and another 3 hours by taxi (at RM600.00!!!) to Jerantut town. Yes, the taxi driver agreed to take all 8 of us in his car. Nice chap but I still feel we kena 'chop' by him... RM600...walau! Fucking KTM usher screwed our budget! Anyway, we arrived at Jerantut earlier than expected and had some breakfast before taking a local cheap bus service to Taman Negara at RM6.00 (notice the decimal place? Ha!) each.

02 June 2006

Janet hurt her ankle
Ouch!
Rapid shooting - (RM120-RM180)
We get into a boat, sitting in pairs, and go shooting the rapids! Rapid shooting is basically taking a boat ride against the currents and of course, the boatmen will always look for the wildest waves and swirls to hit so as to produce the most amount of splash on the passengers!

All of us got wet and as we found out, the ones sitting nearer the back of the boat get the most of the splashes.
Night Safari in the Oil Palm Plantations (RM120-RM150)
We had luck enough to see quite a handful of animals. We saw a few domestic cats, 1 big toad, 1 barn owl, a few x Tailor birds, 1 x Magpie Robin, 1 x Kingfisher, 1 x Tree Frog, 2 x Leopard Cats, 1 x Paradise Tree Snake and 1 x Wild Boar. We had no chance to see any Civet cats though.

03 June 2006

Trek to Bukit Teresek

Hot at the top!
The top is HOT, HOT, HOT!!! The sun nearly burnt us up! Hahah!

Oh, the place was also full of honey bees and other flying insects. Keep your mouths closed! You don't want to get insects crawling in your mouths do you? Hee!
Canopy Walkway

Canopy Walkway
The majority of the visitors to this attraction will obey the 'Keep 5 metres from person in front' rule. But we happened to meet some pig-headed asses who just could not understand this!!!

They kept getting close to our group, swinging and jumping on the walkway, and making it swing like mad!!!

Geez! I swear I could have killed them there and then if they made me lose my balance and drop my camera!!
Gua Telinga (Ear Cave)

Gua Telinga (Ear Cave)
This was one helluva challenge for us! We took a boat ride from our favourite restaurant cum river taxi stop (Lia's Restaurant) to a drop off jetty near the cave. A 20 minute trek took us to the entrance of the cave. Kim Hong, Janet, Valerie, Lucas, Chu Hui and myself went into the cave.

Anna had to wait outside with Chu Tuang as the little boy was sleeping. Lucky for her!

Edit: Added new pictures to Flickr.com album.

Bats in the cave, Janet and Valerie making their way through the cave

It was difficult right from the start as this was not a cave where you can just 'walk' in to. You have to crawl you way in! The inner parts of the cave was also pretty small with jutting rocks here and there. Claustrophobic people please do not attempt!

There were lots of bats in the cave and YES!!! I have finally had a chance at my guano!!! Woohoo! Heeheehee! In the cave, I accidentally pressed on a snake and it quickly got itself away from me. Good for me! Ha!

04 June 2006

Trek to Lubok Simpon

Valerie and Lucas having fun in
the river.
A short 15-20 minutes trek from Mutiara Resort will lead you to Lubok Simpon. A scenic river spot where the kids can have fun in the water.

The river bed is generally full of pebbles here and you will get the occassional tour boat going past. Although the current here is a little bit on the strong side, it is still pretty safe for the kids. Just keep an eye out for them.
Check out of resort and start back to Singapore
Bye bye, Taman Negara!

More pictures of this trip are available at my Flickr album.

Technorati tags : Taman Negara | malaysia | holiday

One more before I go on leave

2006-05-31T12:34:00.000+08:00

Ok people! Just one more post before I go for my trip! Haha!

There will not be any updates until 6 June 2006 (unless I can get Internet access in the forest!!!).

See ya!

Technorati tags : taman negara | holiday

Chocolate

2006-05-30T15:51:00.000+08:00

Leaving on Thursday and I have yet to pack my bag!! Haha! Lazy me!

Kenny Sia has already reviewed the LG Chocolate. Yummy! But when will I have a chance to finally hold it? Sigh...

Technorati tags : LG | Chocolate

A short work day

2006-05-26T14:07:00.000+08:00

It is a relatively short work day today.

In the morning, there was a fire drill carried out by the building's management. Every one had to like clear the building in the shortest time possible. I had breakfast and returned to the building just in time for the drill. Haha! I did not have to walk down the stairs with the others.

A difference between having a fire drill here and back at Equity Plaza (aka old office). Everyone was 'issued' with a packet drink after the drill but over here at Paya Lebar, no such thing. The Fire Safety Officer (what he is called) was trying to catch everyone's attention by using the megaphone.. seems useless to me. No one seemed to be able to hear him! Ha! Anyway, everything was back to normal in just a couple of minutes. Beginning to end, the drill took about 10 minutes.

After lunch, it will be another 1 hour before I have to leave for Capitol Tower. Staff meeting today followed by TGIF event at one of the pubs. I have been missing quite a few of these already, so, I thought I should show up... haha!

Technorati tags : TGIF | singapore

Walk behind the line

2006-05-24T14:00:00.000+08:00

There is this line, a fine but clear line, that everyone must learn to keep to. A line where a person's patience and tolerance is worn thin as a thread. Tripping or crossing that line is never a good idea.

Then, there is this kind of person, shitty as fuck, who simply can not resist testing the limits of this line. Crossing it has always been on his mind, but simply wearing it thin to the limits is what he seems to enjoy more. This person pokes at the line in different ways, and the most irritating thing is that he is always given a leeway for his actions.

Pampered, that's what you call such a person. Fucking pampered, stupid fuck of a person. He needs to be taught where he stands in the social pyramid/circle and be taught that in this story of life, he alone MAKES NO DIFFERENCE. No one gives two hoots who he is, what he does, and whether or not he looks like 'Kermit' or is he going for his fucking honeymoon - except maybe his over-pampering mother.

He needs to understand that he is just one tiny little fuck right here in this world together with the rest of us. And he had better learn to behave and accept that the world DOES NOT have to go the way he wants it to.

Crossing my line was the last thing he could have done. No man, especially not when he has gotten too personal in his words. He can speak to his mother this way, he can speak to his siblings like this too, but no, NOT TO ME. I am someone who believes in RESPECT FOR RESPECT. Don't expect respect from me just because you are an elder in the family.

FUCK YOU OK?!?

You want me to respect you? Show that you deserve that respect first! You crossed my line when you said those words to me. Fuck you asshole! Don't expect any bit of respect from me! Shithead!

Just go for your fucking 'honeymoon' and stop your barking!

My apologies to my friends and readers. Just needed to vent my anger on a particular 'Kermit' person I know of - else I explode! Don't take offence at the language used please! Thanks!

Technorati tags : anger management | fury

Think of a domain name

2006-05-23T11:52:00.000+08:00

I mentioned here that I will be moving my photo gallery to a different web host. I guess I have more or less decided on which host to use.

To me (for my current requirements), SGD5.00 per month is a reasonable amount of money to pay for the web space, considering I am getting my OWN DOMAIN NAME, storage space for my pages/images/files/etc., unlimited email accounts... Bottomline is, it is definitely cheaper than my current one and what's more, it gives me my own domain name! Haha! Don't know if their service is reliable... got to try to find out!

Anyway, I am trying to come up with a nice domain name for my site. Do you have any suggestions for me? Stuff I expect to be hosting there include a photo gallery, a mini-wiki board, this blog (maybe).

If you are interested to find out more about this web hosting company, you can visit their website here. Please note that I am in no way affilliated or connected to them!

Your use of their service(s) is entirely up to your own discretion and I shall not be held responsible for any problems that you might encounter with them.

Technorati tags : webhost | domain

Getting ready for Taman Negara

2006-05-22T15:03:00.000+08:00

It is now slightly more than a week before we set off for Taman Negara, and there are lots of stuff I have to take care of before we leave.

There are presentations to finish in the office, meet-the-parents sessions at the kids' schools to attend, things to buy in preparation for the trip, and definitely more that I must have forgotten already! Haha!

Busy, busy, busy!

Things I have yet to buy for the trip:

AA-sized batteries x 8
AAA-sized batteries x 4
Janet's sandals (Chaco or Source brands still available in Singapore? Anyone?)
~~New DSLR Camera~~ forget it! Ha!
<reserved>
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An update on our Maple Story advancements. We have all moved on since acquiring our new jobs at Level 30. The warriors seem to be having a hard time moving forward. Work hard fellows! Levels 50+ should see you guys having more fun! Most of us are between levels 37-40 now, with the exception of WSF and Carebear. I think Carebear already Level 50 liao! Jumas is advancing very quickly too!

While shopping around the Free Market yesterday, I came across a number of 'older' gamers, mostly between 27-40 years old... proof that MS is not just for the kids!

Technorati tags : Taman Negara | Maple Story

My desktop

2006-05-17T17:16:00.000+08:00

Not in the mood to work today... ha! Feeling 'bor-liao' so I thought it would be even more 'bor-liao' to share with you what's on my desk right now...

Like it or not...

Things on my desk:

Crumpler Bag - Barney Rustle Blanket
Uncle Toby's Strawberry Yoghurt Topps
RSA SecurID Authenticator
Ragged Desktop Calendar
Citizen Calculator
Hand-me-down PABX phone
Coffee cup + H₂0 mug
Regular office desk clutter (incl. keyboard, mouse, LCD monitor, CDs, coins, pens, papers, staplers, etc.)

There! Now you must be feeling as bored as me! Hahah!

Technorati tags : office | crumpler

Haiku

2006-05-16T11:55:00.000+08:00

I've been reading up a bit on haiku recently.

The experience I got from reading these verses are somewhat engaging, and yet relaxing. While trying to visualize the scene from a verse, you are 'transported' into its mini-world.

To better understand the differences between hokku, haikai and haiku, the Wikipedia article on haiku will help a lot.

Classical hokku verses by Matsuo Bashō 松尾芭蕉

古池や蛙飛込む水の音
Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto
an old pond—
the sound of a frog jumping
into water

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

初しぐれ猿も小蓑をほしげ也
Hatsu shigure saru mo komino wo hoshige nari
the first cold shower;
even the monkey seems to want
a little coat of straw.

Modern haiku by Shiki, Masaoka 正岡子規

I want to sleep
Swat the flies
Softly, please.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After killing
a spider, how lonely I feel
in the cold of night!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For love and for hate
I swat a fly and offer it
to an ant.

Traditionally (and I think it still is), haiku verses written in the Japanese language have to follow a rule of having 3 phrases (or less?) and consisting of 5-7-5 syllables in each phrase accordingly.

A (really bad) example by me...

The Sun shines on us
Makes us sweat we curse and swear
Lousy May weather.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My stomach growls loud
Full of stuff that needs to go
And so I farted.

Hahahahaha! That was waaaaaaaaaaay tooooooooooooo uncouth!!! Shiki will DEFINITELY turn in the grave!!! Heheh!

Technorati tags : hokku | haiku

Vesak Weekend

2006-05-11T16:20:00.000+08:00

Valerie took her last paper for the mid-year exams today. And boy, will she be relieved after this! Haha!

This is also the last working day for the week for most of us (5-day workers) in Singapore. Friday, 12^th May, is Vesak Day, and it is a holiday! Woah! Yet another long weekend for us!

Samsung D520 - Image from www.samsung.com.sg

I might be going to the temple tonight. Hopefully, I can capture some nice pictures of the lights and procession. Have to get my camera warmed up for the coming trip in June!

After lunch today, I was at Kovan when I came across an upcoming phone from Samsung - the D520. *drool*

This is a slim slide-up phone, and though memory expansions are not available (per specifications available), its slim factor more than makes up for it! I know people will argue that Motorola's V3i series is only 11.5mm thin...yayaya... I totally agree, and I am not saying that the D520's the slimmest anyway! Heeh! I like the design of the D520, simple as that.

Oh, and have you tasted the Chocolate yet?

Boy am I getting the influence of Korean dramas or what!!!

Technorati tags : samsung | vesak