TWeaK Me

Wai Keen search on Google still leads here!

2007-11-03T01:27:00.000+08:00

Dear friends,

I noticed there are still a couple of visitors here, so I have to announce...
I am not updating this blog any more. I never have for a couple of months.

For personal stuff with a little bit about Internet Marketing, go to www.tweak-me-site.com
For personal stuff with a little bit on Wedding Videography, go to www.whykeen.com/videography/
For pure personal stuff! (And a copy of this site...) Go to www.whykeen.com

I am not promising updates at these places, but at least they are alive in
my books!

And yes, I have blogged about this in these few places, Google still points
to one of my blog entries for a search on "Wai Keen". Truly amazing.

4400 - A different kind of TV series

2007-06-10T22:46:00.000+08:00

I have started watching 4400, a TV series cross between Heroes, X-Files and Taken.

It is really really similar, you have to have watched these series in order to understand what I mean.

This is from Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_4400

Why am I so busy lately anyway? I am involved in a couple of things.
1. Primarily, I am back at my old job as a part timer. I work two full days a week.
2. I am also doing video editing, and video taking. Because I haven't got too many clients, it's mainly video editing now.
3. I am doing a classified project with an old friend. I can't reveal too much.
4. I am working on another project, building website, and doing marketing for someone. I am working together with Zhiwei on this for a company in Singapore.
5. With Zhiwei, I have signed up for a course by World's No.1 Affiliate Marketer, Ewen Chia. So we would be working on doing marketing for an affilate product.

I realised something lately. Including 2-5, I have tried to start 8 businesses since I started my journey 6 years ago. So in effect, I have failed in 4 businesses, because they couldn't take off.

Yay!

Why am I so happy?

The odds are on my side. They say out of 10 businesses, 9 will fail. So I will have to try 2 more before I get even. :)

Help! A lot of updates!

2007-05-27T23:26:00.000+08:00

Haha...

It's a good challenge, really. We just went for a wealth retreat in Genting, followed quickly by National Achievers' Congress 2007, then followed quickly by World Internet Mega Summit.

I am still in the midst of the WIMS.

From these three main events, I have at least 10 ahas to add.

I recently noticed that viewership had dropped drastically. Haha... I can't complain, really, I haven't updated. But do stay tuned. Lotsa updates coming soon! I promise!

Positivity - The Meaning Of Events Part 2

2007-05-07T11:03:00.000+08:00

So how was it? What were your thoughts on my question?

The difference, in my opinion, is what the event represent.

For example, it's an evening at the shopping mall with your date.
A cleaner barks at you for dirtying the floors with the mud that
you brought in from the outside.

Purely looking at this situation, how will you react?

That depends on what this situation means to you. It could be

---Interpretation 1---

"She's so rude! She's obvously easily annoyed and likes to take
it out on customers. I don't have to take this kind of nonsense.
I can't let this disservice carry on either. I will either
i. Walk away in anger, purposely make the place even dirtier,
ii. Scold her for being rude,
iii. Complain to her manager or
iv. All of the above"

---

You might not do any of the above, but you would probably be at
least a little annoyed, right?

What if I explained what happened to the lady just prior to those
actions you saw before?

---Interpretation 2---

"Before you met Mdm Shelia, she had received a call from the
hospital about her daughter. Her daughter had met with a traffic
accident and was in critical condition. Mdm Shelia had informed her
boss, but was told she had to complete her tasks before she could
leave.

Since it was raining heavily outside, the muddy floors were one of
her final tasks. However, as luck would have it, a bunch of teenagers
were making things difficult for her. The hooligans from a nearby
school had been scolded by Mdm Shelia for dirtying the floors, so
they had taunted her by doing it repeatedly, on purpose.

You happen to come along at the wrong time."

---

That was a very tall story, right? Talk cock? Not likely, right?

But what's the difference between Interpretation 1 and 2, really?

Are not both perceptions a false reality? How can we know if either
reality is real? The only thing that is REAL is what we saw.
She scolded you. We imagined the rest about Mdm Sheila.

Angel or devil, YOU DECIDE.

But once you do... I want to say that you have made it real!

It is real because your heart beats faster due to your feeling angry.
It is real because you write in to complain. It is real because you talk
about it to your friends.

It is real because you feel compassionate. It is real because you ask
yourself how you can make her feel better.

Which version is better? You decide.

I am an S

2007-05-07T10:36:00.000+08:00

The irony of it all. I have quit from my job. But I was
quickly back in the company as a freelancer.

It was only when my former manager asked me to come up
with an invoice about the scope of work and charges that
I realised that this was a sign! It was a sign that I am
indeed in the S quadrant now!

(if by now you still do not know what I am referring to
and what I have been referring to in my previous posts.
ESBÌ are acronyms for different quadrants from Robert
Kiyosaki's Cashflow Quadrant.)

Regardless of how long I can last in this venture into
the S quadrant, it seems like the universe is presenting
itself to me purely because I asked for it.

I would now have to adopt new skills, and a different
mindset toward things. Some things i've discovered pretty
quick:

1. Accountability

o I have to keep track of my income and expense.
For tax and CPF purposes

o A doodad can be tax free! Ok... It must first
be a legitimate business expense of course. But
no one says I cannot use an MP3 recorder which
is business expense for outdoor recording for
my own personal use too, right?

2. Time management

o With no one to tell you what to do, I really
have to become more disciplined with my time.
Now that I am self-employed, it means I can take
my 30 mins power nap, but it could also mean a
2 hour killer nap if I don't watch myself.

3. People Skills

o Ex Managers and colleagues have now become
clients. Managers no longer exist. Partners do.
What is the protocol when discussing work with
partners? Very different than with colleagues or
managers, let me tell you that.

Positivity - The Meaning Of Events

2007-04-23T23:14:00.000+08:00

I know my blog posts are erratic. So just wanted to
put a bit of my thoughts, my AHAs down today.

What is positive thinking to you? Why is positivity
so important??

The way I see it, when I am negative and down...
I feel tired, and not so good in general. When I am
in a negative state, everything seems bad, everyone
seems angry, things seem to get worse, everything
is not going my way.

Murphy's Law seem to work overtime, and it is applied
to me and only me!

When I am feeling good, everything seems to go my way.
I can function so much more efficient, I am much more
creative, I feel happier, I feel alive!

What is the difference between the two experience?

Think it through. Because I am lazy, I will share my
thoughts another day. Please comment away if you have
any thing to share!

A New Beginning - Backdated Blog Entry

2007-04-17T00:09:00.000+08:00

Ok... this is going to be weird. I have had a couple of blog posts since the last one, but did not get to upload it.

Read them and you will see why I was not able to find time to do so since my decision almost two weeks back.

This one is dated 6th of April.

----

It's official. I am going to be out of a job starting from 4th of May.

I can't describe the feeling of relief when I finally told my bosses that I had to go. I've been hiding for so long because I was worried about loss of my bonuses. It feels very wrong and sounds very petty. That is why I am determined not to feel this way again.

What was nice was that someone offered me a job almost immediately. Although I rejected the offer without any hesitation, it felt good to be wanted.

What am I going to do? Real estate sales. I am now in the midst of talking to my future bosses and mentor, so I can't reveal too much, but very exciting.

In the meantime, I will also be training up to become a professional videographer to make ends meet.

Yup, none of it safe or secure. That's how I like it.

Steps into the unknown

2007-04-01T23:35:00.000+08:00

What are the steps to success?

• Have a compelling reason. Checked.
• Have a vision that is made more real than fear. Checked.
• Take massive action. No time.
• Burn all bridges, and don't look back. Er... Don't dare to.

It is what Robert T. Kiyosaki said. Robert G. Allen talked about burning bridges.

All those years of what I'm sure some people will say is brainwashing and I am following that advice.

I am quitting my safe secure programming job, and taking up something that is as different as possible, real estate sales.

Will I succeed? I am certain of it.

(I am fully aware that I am accountable for everything I say in this entry, on public domain, in fact, that is partially why I am saying it. Burn another bridge. You being my witness, there's no going back now.)

To me, it's a massive change.

I have friends who tell me I am crazy. Our wedding is coming in little more than half a year's time. Wedding package, actual day photography, house renovations... Things will get pretty tight very soon.

Of course, it's not as bad as I make it out to be. I have a supportive partner, surprisingly supportive parents and very empowering friends. We have enough savings for the wedding, and a lttle more to last me three months without a paycheck. I have a house that is paying itself, more or less.

But why now?

It gave me goose pimples when I read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" again recently. Robert T. Kiyosaki said to "work to learn and not work for money."

Rich Dad also said that being broke is a temporary condition, but being poor is a mindset. If I am to become broke, doing so before 30 would be best because I will still have time to catch up,

Amazingly... I am following Robert's footsteps, maybe consciously at the start, but now semi consciously now because I am who I wanted to be now, and that person finds what I am doing perfectly reasonable.

I sure don't want to be broke, but in quitting, I am saying I don't mind being broke in order to achieve freedom.

Zombie Republic

2007-03-25T22:39:00.000+08:00

Have you stopped and looked at people around you sometimes?

I've come to a scary realization that there are a lot of zombies in Singapore. I am quite worried that I might end up becoming one. I am close, I tell you.

Have you noticed a scenario like this?

Someone trips on the bus, you see many hands stretched out near that person. But all the owners of these helping hands have expressionless faces. Once the near-victim is standing, and safe. The hands retract. No smile, no 'Thank you', no 'You're welcome'.

How about this?

A cleaning lady clearing tables at a food court. You say 'Thank you'. And she snaps out of her zombie curse, and looks at you in a funny way.

Sometimes she might actually break from her curse and start conversing with you. But most of the time, she goes back to her state. Looking down, at the piece of cloth she is wiping the table with, with a scowl on her face.

What is happening? I think all the debate about raising our service standards would come to naught if we can't stop the zombie curse. We would just have trained zombies, reading lines, saying thank yous and have a nice days.

It's the frenzied pace we Singaporeans live at la... I think. Anyway this reframing makes me realise that sometimes it's not that Singaporeans don't care, but that they are not aware. Which is actually worse, but makes me feel better about people...

"The Pursuit of Happyness"

2007-03-23T00:24:00.000+08:00

Watched a great movie on our proposal anniversary, and the timing for that movie couldn't be more amazingly coincidental. The title is 'The Pursuit of Happyness', by Will Smith.

It is based upon the life of Chris Gardner. He was a struggling salesman in the 80s who went through hell to get to where he is.

Talk about a wake up call for me. What is the price for success? Will I be willing to pay it?

Right at this juncture of my life when I am deciding when to quit my safe, comfortable job, the timing for this show couldn't have come at a better time.

Chris had a child. He went through countless fights with his wife over making ends meet. Debts were piling. At one point, he was literally homeless, and he had his son with him all along.

His break came in the form of a job opportunity to be a stock broker at Dean Whitters. But he had to undergo training without income, and for a job that wasn't even a certainty. There was only one vacancy, and he had to the best out of 20 interns.

I have quite a 'safe' cushion in terms of finances, I should be able to function without disaster for Hwei Min and I without any income for at least 2 months, and I have a considerably much better network than Chris had. It is still a little intimidating to imagine going without a pay check for training... Which I planned on doing.

Going to 'S' in the cashflow quadrant had been my plan all along, on my path to 'B'. But now I am making the first 'bridge burning' decision.

The movie was nice, but as Tony said, if I had to model after someone, I have to get inside his head, and understand how he ticks. So I am looking for the book now. If I can find the book in Singapore, that will be great, meantime, I found the book at amazon.com.

Here's a video of the actual guy...

Happy Birthday and Proposal Day!

2007-03-22T00:18:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday Peppermint!

One full year ago, today was the day I proposed to Hwei Min. Today is our proposal anniversary.

We went back to the place where I proposed, the roof terrace of Esplanade mall. It was a wonderful day.

I am beginning to believe in my special powers. Hwei Min and I... We can control the weather!! Just last night, we mentioned how nice it would be if on the next day, the weather would be just right for us. There will be rain clouds, there will be a strong breeze... But no rain.

We got EXACTLY that!

Look at the pictures we took. Throw in birds singing, and you can imagine how great it was.

A lazy Saturday at the museum

2007-03-21T00:41:00.000+08:00

Been to the National Museum lately?

You should go. The building had been restored and updated with a modern look and feel, while maintaining the old colonial charm.

Too bad the rest of the museum are camera-unfriendly. The tickets to enter the display areas cost $10 per adult. We didn't even go in. The "no-cameras" signs are a real turn off.

But no loss to us. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously just walking around. Along a huge hallway, I thought I captured a cherubim, a small angel. A cheerful and energetic little boy running around. His dad was very friendly! Can see where the little boy got his cheerfulness from. When I asked for permission to take a picture of this cute boy, he posed for the photos. I have left my email address with him. I hope that he can give me his permission to share the other pictures I have of his cute son here. And I would like to hold to my promise of emailing him the pictures. Please email me! I want to share the photos with you!

Click to take a look at the rest of the pictures I have taken.

Saturday at the Museum

tweak-me-site.com finally up!

2007-03-19T02:53:00.000+08:00

After many days of tinkering around with WordPress... www.tweak-me-site.com is active! Took so long to understand how the hierarchy of pages work. As you can see... it's 3 a.m. already, so I am really really SLOW at learning...

Just a quick check.. with Super Green and Tony Robbins... I have had 20 hyper days and counting.

Enjoying life man... enjoying life.

Read about what I did over the weekend tomorrow! It's time for bed!

27 Year Old Midas

2007-03-15T00:44:00.000+08:00

Have you read this about this 27 year old engineering who gambled on the stock market and lost 700K?? You can read the original article here.

He is no kid, he is about the same age as me. What could have caused him to have so much confidence in himself as to gamble on nothing?

Yes, gamble. There is absolutely no way we can call what he did investment. He gambled on high-risk contra trading. (Contra trading just means selling stock that you ordered but have not paid for within the 3 day period before you have to buy. So despite the bad name caused by irresponsible traders, it is a neutral feature of trading.)

He made some money, 80K to be exact, picking some counters that managed to perform within the 3 days. A few friends called him "Prince Midas". He suddenly felt like he was an expert, and he had the Midas' touch.

Probably enboldened by the 300K from his father's savings, he bought shares with 700K that he didn't have. Crash... boom... bang... hundreds of thousands gone.

Overnight, this guy made his father and himself bankrupt. This guy had been gambling on nothing. Less than nothing is what he has now.

Is this how investments work? Trading? NO. Please do not believe it is!

True investments are logical, emotionless decisions based on clearly defined entry and exit points. True investments are managed carefully, weighing risk appetite and gains.

Zeag has some comments on money management that would be worth reading. He's 27 too. Read to find out how his brain ticks. He doesn't have astronomical gains like the guy in the article did once upon a time. But I'll entrust my money with him, anytime.

Who wants Midas as a friend anyway???

On Google ... PR 0

2007-03-14T00:20:00.000+08:00

Haha...

I've just installed the Google Toolbar for Firefox, and checked my very own PageRank. Zero. Kosong.

Hee hee... What do I expect right? I hardly update this site, and hardly anyone visits anyway.

At the very list, it seems google has at least cached my page, but nothing to be proud of, the cached snapshot was from February, the "Who is Rich Schefren?" post.

So what have I been so busy with these few days? Trying to get my site www.tweak-me-site.com up. You can take a look now... quite empty, but I will be working full steam ahead. The seminar will not be too many days away now. MUST COMPLETE ONE MORE VIDEO!!!

I've decided to redefine myself as a video blogger. Most of it will be posted on tweak-me-site.com. This blog shall remain my personal blog. Hwei Min could be coming on very soon as a guest. She will have a cool 'super hero' name, Pepper Mint.

So this page might be called TWeaK Me and Pepper Mint! Cool?? COol??

Shameless Promotion

2007-03-08T21:26:00.000+08:00

Yeah! I've got my name cards!

Let me tell you, nothing can describe how thrilled I was to get hold of these as they were printed and cut.

I overhead the staff joking as she passed one of my cards to her colleague, "Wanna play poker?" When I hear that... I know I have something good.

I can't wait to give these out. I can't do so until www.tweak-me-site.com is up, though... So full steam ahead!

It's all about hype

2007-03-07T02:10:00.000+08:00

It's been confirmed. I will be going for Stephen Pierce's seminar from the 23rd March to 26th March. So I have a few tasks to complete by that time.

The idea now is to bank on aggressive offline marketing first, to get the first influx of traffic. I am targetting Singaporeans who are interested in Internet Marketing first, since I am going for a couple of seminars this year.

So, I'll be creating hype using a cool name card, and at least 1 fun video which I hope will be viral. I say hope because there is no way you can predict such things...

These are the tasks at hand:-

Print cool name card.
Complete 1 viral video.
Complete 3 training videos.
Complete www.tweak-me-site.com

Sign up for autoresponder.
Set up autoresponder form on site
Write the thank-you email. With free ebook.
Design site.
Put up videos and articles.
Pray hard. :)

So far.. I am behind time.

Cool name card. Done. Not printed.
Completed viral video. Very fun.
Completed 1 training video.
Not started on site.

Raffles Institution

2007-03-04T23:58:00.000+08:00

Just popped by my alma mata Raffles Institution today.

We were viewing a unit at a condominium nearby, and I thought I just walk in to take a look. Wow... a lot has changed. The school is well maintained, (Rich school lah...), looks ten times better than I remembered it. New additions were made, the canteen had the most changes made to it. Now there is a foyer area just above the canteen. I can't really remember what used to be there.

Of course, now that RJC is sharing facilities with RI, the running track had been removed, and the field looks VERY well maintained. So did the tennis court.

But on the whole, everything I remembered was still more or less there. All the old photos (which I did not appear in), all the pictures of former headmasters (Mr. Wijeysingha will always be my favorite), all the classrooms. (some of them seemed air-conditioned, those lucky kids!)

I am thankful that I had a chance to study at RI. I am not sure I will enrol my kid to study there, however, but I do not regret studying at RI at all. I have learned confidence, and leadership at an early age. I was inspired by Mr. Wijeysingha. He managed to exude regality and calm, and yet remain fatherly and kind.

I don't regret not going to RJC, however. I have learnt that RI and RJC attracted a certain group of kids that I nearly became. Thank goodness I came from Ai Tong before that, and YJC after that, so that I ended up pretty balanced. And of course, because I met Hwei Min in YJC, hee hee...

The condominium we visited on the other hand, gave us a very bad impression. Maintenance was poor, that whole place needed a repaint. There was one disgusting bald patch of grass next to the swimming pool. On the newspaper ad, it was stated that the showroom was open from 10 a.m., and when we were there at 12p.m, the guards told us no one came.

Multi Task

2007-02-28T00:31:00.000+08:00

Had a huge aha today as a couple of things i've learnt over the past weeks seem to line up to give me the same insight. All of this is triggered because I observed my friend Hoe Swee when we were in office today. I was sharing with him the power of Tony Robbin's Personal Power program and how I felt a change in me. I asked that he tried the first of the whole series of tapes, and see if it worked for him. "If it works for you, it could well change your life" was what I said.

Well, he did try listening. He switched it on quite softly (understandable, since we were in office), and he was doing his coding at the same time. After a while, I heard the track repeating from the very beginning again. He was multi-tasking.

Zig Ziglar mentioned in his tapes how some of us do not have goals for the things we are working on now. Some think about their families when working. They lament about missing out on spending time with our loved ones when they are in office. When they are at home, however, they wil start thinking of what they have to do when they get back to office! No wonder they always claim to have no time!

Well, this ties in nicely with what Rich Schefren shared in his preview about the tasks we are doing and how much they are really worth. Basically, if something can be done while ‘multi-tasking’, it is not worth your doing them in the first place.

How much are we guilty of this? I know I am. I’ll be staring at Hwei Min while she is talking, and my mind would wonder off. Otherwise, I’ll be staring at my computer screen while listening to something Hwei Min is saying, and not really concentrating on either. I can accomplish so much more if I gave my 100 percent to each task at one time, and ironically, multi-tasking accomplishes less.

So, reminder to self:-

Regardless of whether for work or for play, concentrate on what I am doing, until that thing is done.

Lion Dance

2007-02-27T18:46:00.000+08:00

I have written this last Saturday, but took such a long time to prepare the video. But hey... I am getting better...

-------------------
Written on 24th February 2007
-------------------
Spent an afternoon at Hwei Min's office today.

Ginza Plaza was hosting a lion dance performance today. Managed to do an hour of work on my introduction to the Internet. It's coming on quite nicely now. Just trying to streamline the information further.

It was quite a disappointing turn out for the lion dance performance. Hwei Min said most of the guests went for their holidays over the weekend. Thankfully, there was a family with kids around. There were three girls who really enjoyed themselves.

Now that I have figured out YouTube. I've decided to piece a short video of the dance troupe together. Enjoy.

AHA - Allowance mentality = employee mindset

2007-02-23T22:17:00.000+08:00

We had a great 'aha' today about financial education.

I was just thinking about my kid's education. Hwei Min and I were discussing on when we should teach our kids to pick up academic skills.

I talked about making learning interesting. We thought about it and realized that maybe the reward system most parents practise (“You get 90 out of hundred for 3 subjects and you will get the latest Superman figurine”) is a way to create short term goals for kids to aim for. In a sick kind of way, it makes learning a little more ‘fun’.

Then I said that I wanted to train our children to like passive income, and we should make the reward passive instead of one off reward.

Suddenly, I realised, isn't child's allowance something like an adult’s paycheck? We go to school to get an allowance. Some kids are not given allowances during school holidays. We go to work to get a paycheck!

If in primary school, we get 5 dollars a week, in secondary school we will get 10 dollars a week. What has changed? Did we study harder? No. We just got older! Now what does that do to our mindset when we start working? We get "greedy"! (Go read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" for the Rich Dad's definition of greedy)

So here lies a very important lesson which we have yet to grasp. We must really rethink the system in which we teach our kids about life, and about money! Maybe we pay allowance based on performance? Maybe the allowance comes in the form of passive income?

Cousins

2007-02-22T00:50:00.000+08:00

This year, we had a couple of new additions to the family. My little cousin, Aaron, and my not so little cousin Terence. Aaron is the life of our party. Just having him around and the rest of us pampering him added a lot of fun and laughter to our gathering. I've noticed that Aaron is quiet, but very smart with his hands. He plays and picks up spatial skills pretty fast. He is shy when trying out new stuff, like new words he learnt for example, but you can see that he understands what you are saying.

I guess this is a problematic age for parents because he is just beginning to understand boundaries and also beginning to test those boundaries. How much discipline to apply? Spare the rod? Will it spoil the kid? Aaron is just at the brink of cuteness turning into naughtiness.

Meanwhile, Terence is a cousin we have not seen for at least 12 years now. The last time we met him, he was only slightly older than Aaron is now. Now at 17, he is a stranger, but still familiar, still family. He still has the same looks, for one. It's as if he got stretched by Willy Wonka's stretching machine because he looks the same except taller, and his face is longer. He's quite handsome too, so it's not as bad as how I am sure you are visualizing in your head now.

Chinese New Year 2007

2007-02-22T00:06:00.000+08:00

I came back last night. As mentioned, a brief update on my chinese new year. How did you spend your new year? Pigging out like me?? :P

A typical chinese new year's eve begins at home with my mom preparing a dish for the reunion meal. I say meal because we usually have lunch instead of dinner.

Then we move off to my grandma's place (Teo Family) in JB at around 10 a.m.

No point going too early, cos my grandma would be making prayers. Nowadays we are helping her, as she is not so mobile any more. Traditionally, the gods will have their meals before the mortals do, and the ancestors before the living. Don’t ask me which gods and which ancestors they are. We lay a few dishes and three sets of chopsticks, whisky and tea. My cousin, Han mentioned that he finally understood who those three sets were for, but that's blasphemous and disrespectful to both Taoists and the Christians, so I shall not mention what he said now.

We move in to the living room shortly after and different sets were laid for the ancestors of the family this time.
Only when all the traditional ceremonies are done do the rest of us eat.

Every year, we have all the meats;- fish, duck, two styles of chicken, roast pork. We would have my mom's dish with mushrooms, fat choy and ho see. And not to forget, the very expensive soup with abalone and sea cucumber in it. Very nice!

By the time we start eating, it's 2pm, so I tend of overeat my first meal.

We will spend the day and the rest of the days at my grandma’s place watching movies together, playing mahjong, eating. Just chilling. Ok… not really chilling cause it is really quite hot in the house, and stuffy at times, what with 18 of us in the small 4 room HDB equivalent sized house. But hey, it’s the only time we get to meet, and I sure do cherish the moments.

Ever since my grandpa (Tham side) passed away, my father’s side of the family meet on the 1st day of lunar new year at my 1st Uncle’s place. Very huge gathering, my 1st Uncle alone has 3 generations under the same roof. I have 9 uncles, my dad is the 7th, and he has 2 elder sisters and 1 foster sister. Each of my dad’s siblings have kids, and some of them have kids, so you can imagine how many people there are in the gathering.

So a lot of ang baos are exchanged. Now that I am getting married, I am thankful that the currency for ang bao exchange is in RM and the norm is 4RM each packet. Phew...

Anyway, I tried the youtube upload again. Ya'tta! It works this time! Enjoy!
(Note : The video takes a while to become active after upload.)

Gong Hei Fatt Choy!

2007-02-16T23:40:00.000+08:00

JB for the Chinese New Year!

So it's a short break for me from blogging not because I don't want to, but because I can't. No Internet there. I will write when I am there and post everything once I come back Tuesday night or Wednesday.

So here is where I shower you with tons of greetings like Gong1 Xi3 Fa1 Cai2, Wan4 Shi4 Ru2 Yi4, Cai2 Yuan2 Gun3 Gun3, yada yada yada.

But most of all, Hong2 Bao1 Yao4 Na3 Lai2!!

Riding Too Hard

2007-02-16T23:14:00.000+08:00

I have started listening to Deepak Chopra, and he was talking about the close relationship between mind and body. Basically, our external reality is affected by our internal representation. So I thought I had it. I am enjoying myself tremendously!

I am learning so much every night. Watching videos online, writing my ebook, writing our story for the video on our wedding, getting regular exercise. I am having fun!

However, I have been pushing my body too hard. For the past week, my body had been showing signals. I had very bad eyebags. My eyes were swollen. It usually doesn't bother me. I don't care so much about how I look, but this time my eyes hurt.

I think I can only say that I have been trying to do too much, too fast. I am cutting on my sleep. I always wondered how successful people can stay awake for 20 hours a day. I guess I'v ebeen trying to accomplish that myself.

Unconsciously, I am walking faster, I am eating faster. I am filling up every second of my time I can fill with something useful. When I walk from Bukit Merah to my office, I am listening to an audio book. In bed, I am reading a book until I can't read any more. Every single moment, I must be hearing, watching or at least thinking something. Unconsciously, I think I must have been breathing faster, my heart must have been beating faster too.

So yesterday, my body finally gave in, and I felt a cold and sore throat developing. Went to see a doctor, infected sinus and throat.

Working at a faster rhythm is great, but I think we have to bear in mind our Human Dynamics too. I am a PE, and I need my natural rhythm. I do not think that increasing my rhythm is a problem, but I guess I need a slow acceleration, rather than a sudden spurt. So when I am home, what did I work on straight away? Slowing my breathing, taking a long rest in bed. My body deserves it. :)

Who is Rich Schefren?

2007-02-12T01:19:00.000+08:00

Watched the Rich Schefren business presentation today while waiting for Hwei Min in her office.

Must say that it is a good reminder for me. It was a revision of Robert Kiyosaki's Casflow Quadrant for me. In the midst of my struggle with the technology and development of my product, I have neglected the importance of treating Internet Marketing as a business. A business with a capital B!

I am reminded to think of the scaleability of the business from the very beginning. Rich says to focus on your core competency and get others to figure out the rest.

For example, I know that that I suck at programming. I really dislike figuring out the technology of IM. I can learn codes, I am trained in the square syntax of prograaming language, so any language should be easier for me to pick up than others who are not technically trained. But I have come to terms with the fact that I find it a struggle to think linearly. I can, with lots of hard work, train myself to pick it up, but I figure I will always be slightly slower than those who are technically inclined.

So instead of forcing myself to work on the technology of it all, I should find someone else to help me. Instead, I should work on the content, I think I do better at that.

Bring back my Animaniacs!

2007-02-09T00:30:00.000+08:00

I really miss that show... Yay for Youtube, i can search for old shows, music that are hard to find.

I can't really pin down the reason why I love it so much. And I will personally hantam anyone who says its a cartoon for kids! It's not!!!

IM Update - Getting your domain up

2007-02-09T00:14:00.000+08:00

Ok... from what I know, getting a search engine friendly domain name is one of the basic things you can do to optimize your site.

So today, I spent ONE HOUR to sign up for the domain. Ok... I spent half the time checking email, checking forum, doing this blog, searching for a proper domain... talking to Hwei Min...

Speaking of which.. a cool resource is nameboy.com . Go there to try out different combinations of keywords to set up your name with. They will also show you its availability.

The rest is crap however. If you really want to buy a domain, go to godaddy.com. Its cheaper.

Hwei Min and Wai Keen Animation

2007-02-06T00:04:00.000+08:00

Quick updates on my progress on our video montage. It's been confirmed,we will do an interview plus photo montage plus animation on how we met.

For the animation, i've developed a simple character profile for the major characters, in a cross between Toriyama's style of drawing plus South Park style of animation.

Dragon ball meets South Park? Ya la... Its too tough to animate fully like Naruto, Bleach or even the Dragon Ball series. South park seems simpler, the key word being "seems". It's still many frames. Sigh...

Internet Marketing... A fresh new start

2007-02-04T20:02:00.000+08:00

Its official. I am moving into Internet Marketing again. I have put in quite a bit of money, seminar junkie again. In fact, I am at AKLTG attending a lesson on strengthening Internet presence by Stuart Tan.

Don't worry, I will try not to flood this blog with too much about Internet Marketing. But I have set up an account at MySpace.

The IM blog

Take a look. Now nothing there yet lah... but its a start.

Let it blow, let it blow, let it blow

2007-01-30T23:51:00.000+08:00

Oh my goodness, isn't the weather excellent! It feels more like Christmas than December. Winds are strong, temperature maintaining below 30 degrees, even during the day. I have to wear a sweater out in the morning, for goodness sakes! That is a first for me!

And the wonderful thing? Dry weather. Humidity just nice, no rain, not too much sun. What can I say? Perfect as Singaporean weather can be!

Yay, I hope this goes on indefinitely.

Miss Potter - Movie Review

2007-01-28T23:34:00.000+08:00

Just watched Miss Potter yesterday.

Yes... I went blur too. Potter? Harriet Potter? No lah... its the author of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter. Sounds a little more familiar?

"The Tale of Peter Rabbit" is a children's tale wonderfully drawn and written by Beatrix Potter. Her art has become one of the most well known icons for merchandise from Great Britain.

We both found the movie to be quite good. Sweet and simple, moving in some parts. not enough to cause us to tear, but good enough that we felt for the characters. It's been a while since we watched Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor act together in "Down with Love". Their chemistry just works on screen.

We were quite lucky to watch the movie in an empty cinema at The Cathay. Quite scary, actually, when I tried to book for tickets for this show, there were many occupied seats shown on screen, but when we arrived, the cinema was empty. Spooky...

Yes... Once again, it is a story about an author who writes... fantasy. Well I consider stories about clothed rabbits fantasy. I remain inspired... but still trying to get my story down. Hee hee... lots of excuses.

I've been robbed... by the BANK!

2007-01-25T00:45:00.000+08:00

If you have a DBS Cashline account, be very very wary. (Ok... that sounds odd)

Unlike Credit Cards, the interest is charged daily, irregardless of when you receive the statement. Meaning to say, you sign the cheque, transaction is made 20 days ago, you just received the statement, you have to pay 20 effective days of interest, at 17.5% interest p.a.

Ok, my maths really lousy, but that's a LOT OF MONEY LOR!!! In my case, for a loan of $138, in 13 days, it is close to $1 already. Thankfully I called them up immediately after receiving the statement, if I blur blur, and wait a few days more, will be even worse.

Despite being as careful as I could, I've been robbed... again... by the bank.

Latest Influences...

2007-01-21T23:05:00.000+08:00

Phew... It's been a tough week.

Been going down to site almost every single day last week, and OT almost every other day, hence too tired to do anything.

Good thing is that I have more time to read, and I have been reading mainly Isaac Asimov last week. Read Magic, a collection of fantasy short stories as well as articles by him on fantasy as a genre, and I found my inspiration in his writing.

Isaac Asimov? Fantasy? He talks mainly about the structure and idea of magic in stories, and explore that genre with a few formulaic shorts.

So it is quite interesting that the two movies I've watched for the past two weeks were Pan's Labyrinth, and The Illusionist. Both on fantasy. Reviews coming soon... I hope.

But anyway, I have gotten inspired to write. I shall be coming up with some soon. I hope this is the right place to share them.

Oh... just for fun, take a look at these videos. Incidentally, they are all from the same genre of fantasy. Please, take everything with a pinch of salt, especially my Christian friends. :P

F1 Singapore Circuit?

2007-01-15T22:41:00.000+08:00

Cool news... have been reading about this on Today for the past few days, so its hardly counted as news. But I haven't been updating for a while... so it is new. :)

Watching Dr. No (1962) now. Starting to watch everything in order now. No point watching the beginning of the story, Casino Royale if I don't know where it leads. Not bad, but it is quite funny seeing some of the old video effects they used then. Hey, Sean Connery is damn handsome. Yes, I am man enough to be able to admit that. Hwei Min said she did not recognize him. True, he's gotten older, but the same calm, suave gentlemen is still there. In fact, I prefer the older Sean. If only we all can grow old like that.

No fight, man, the new Bond...

Daniel Craig, I can't find a picture where he is NOT HALF NAKED! OK... you have a nicer body. So what? Sean's.... er... wrinklier.

And is it a coincidence? I am considering buying a bug detector and a camera detector.

Don't you find it scary? Nowadays wireless cameras can fit in almost anything. I just saw a set that's selling for less than S$200 at Carrefour.

Sick... Fever ... Diarrhoea

2007-01-11T22:15:00.000+08:00

How to spell diarrhoea? (Wikipedia)

I had problem with that word since goodness knows when. :(

I've had it since Tuesday. Down with recurring fever, stomach bloatedness and diarrhoea. Feel very tired too, so I've not been able to come online pretty much.

Mundane Update ... College Saga!

2007-01-06T23:42:00.000+08:00

A little bit of the mundane setting in as we're settling into the beginning of 2007. As always, it's getting less rainy, getting a little hotter.

Like a carrot to make us run faster, I think these few months make the rest of the year worthwhile. So many holidays squeezed together, ang pows to collect (keeping in mind the change in status soon, its not really something to look forward to), and bonuses, it's all a ploy to make us work harder!

Things are starting to get rough at work. Demanding and impatient users, always a bad combination. I think it is a fine art, trying to balance client expectation with reality, and I honestly think we have not done that at all, so I am stuck directly in the middle, trying to match reality to never-ending-always-and-constant-and-daily absolutely MASSIVE shifts in expectations...

Other than that. Everything's great! :) Nothing much else to add. Just thought that this following clip is cool. You must have played Final Fantasy to really appreciate it though... Enjoy. There are 4 parts to this, so be sure to watch all.

College Saga Episode 1
College Saga Episode 2
College Saga Episode 3
College Saga Episode 4

Return of Ramu’s Curry

2007-01-03T23:58:00.000+08:00

Had a delicious meal at Ramu’s Curry. I don’t know if you’ve been to Ramu’s before. It used to be at Upper Thomson Road, along the row of shophouses at the 7-Eleven near Thomson Plaza. I still have memories of eating at that restaurant many years back then.

Back then, it was a great deal to go for dinner at Ramu's. It was almost an event on itself. After it was closed, we could not find another place for that kind of experience any more.

When you walked into the restaurant, they would serve you by first laying out a piece of banana leaf on the table, then going around serving the rice and the vegetables separately. There are 3 kinds of vegetables that come with the rice set, and this, the waiter would serve in an interesting hand-held container with a ladle.

Well, Ramu kept this practise at his new place. It may not be unique to Ramu's Curry, i've not been to enough South Indian restaurants to know, but it meant a lot to me.

With some stroke of luck, I found Ramu's again from an article featured on Today. Here's a link to their pda version of that article. They've yet to set up a website. I'll try to convince them, I nearly could not find the place! Thankfully Today had kept an online version.

The biryani rice was fabulous! You can taste the fragrance of the herbs in the rice with every mouthful. I believe this to be the best I have had, and believe me, it is good, because I consider biryani one of my top favorite food in Singapore.

Must try the curry fish head. The gravy was appetizing, spicy and sour, and filled with subtle layers of spices. Half a fish at 12, it was more than enough for the five of us. The fish meat was not flaky like how other fish head dishes i've tried felt, the overcooked ones. The meat was still tender, and yet, with the seasoning managing to get infused just right.

Also try the masala chicken. I have run out of descriptive phrases for the chicken, take the earlier part abou the fish, replace curry with gravy, fish with chicken, and you will get what I have to say.

One thing we missed was the fish cutlet, if their standard is intact, try that too!

The greatest fact about Ramu's? It did not burn a hole in my pocket. It was my treat that afternoon, the meal cost 40 plus, and we were all sufficiently full. The great thing is that Ramu's is air-conditioned, clean, (the kitchen was located next door, so no spicey smell on clothing when you are done with your meal), and moderately priced. You can't find many of South Indian restaurants that fit that category in Singapore. Either you have Muthu's Curry at Little India, which cost double for the same group of five, or 20-30 at Casuarina Curry at Casuarina Road, the other end of the spectrum. Ramu's is somewhere in the centre, representing great value for money.

Address that took me so long to find :-

Ramu's Kitchen, 198 Yio Chu Kang Road
Telephone: 6286 9861
Opening hours: 11am to 10pm, daily

On Today today, woo hoo!

2007-01-02T23:53:00.000+08:00

I have sent a feedback letter to Today and SMRT concurrently, regarding the bus I took not too long ago.

I didn't notice, but it was published last week! Woo hoo!

In case you didn't read it either, I have attached it here. :)

New Year's Eve Shopping

2007-01-01T22:45:00.000+08:00

Originally written on the 31^st of December 2006, at Raffles City.

At shopping with Hwei Min on New Year's Eve. At Raffles City now. Spent the first half an hour looking at bedlinen, cutlery, even baby items at Robinson's to plan how to spend her voucher she won during her company's dinner and dance. I enjoyed myself marginally for that, but well ... I am bored already.

Now I am standing outside G2000 waiting for her. I would much rather watch people than look at clothes. We've been in G2000 so many times already! I don't want to buy anything! She doesn't want to buy anything either!

Once again, this is an example of the fundamental difference between Hwei Min and myself, and judging from experiences recounted by all our friends, most men and women as well.

First of all, I think the common misconception that men hate shopping is wholly untrue. It's just that men and women have a different definition of the word "shopping".

When men shop, we look for something at the shop, find it, buy it. Men ENJOY the satisfaction of getting what we want tremendously. We want to go home immediately to use the new device or gadget (usually) that we have bought.

When women shop, they mean walking around, looking around at things that catch their eye, buy something that catches their eye. And the words ‘SALE’ or ‘OFFER’ or ‘… % OFF!’ really catches their eyes. Usually, the words are in red, but they don’t always have to be. Never ask a woman if they need something, or what they want to achieve from the shopping trip. They don’t know most of the time.

Now I don’t know about other men, though I suspect it to be the same for them. I do not enjoy women’s way of shopping. In fact, it causes real pain to my back. Mysteriously, my lower back aches faster than it normally does when I am just walking around, waiting for Hwei Min to shop.

I found that my back aches are alleviated 50% almost as soon as I stepped out of the shop. The pain is then alleviated a further 25% if I am looking at electronic devices, music CDs, games or DVDs. If I were to sit down somewhere where I can play at a LAN shop, or if I were to go to some new historical site and I can take my pictures, the pain will be 100% gone!

If what I read from ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’ is true, then this is very easy to explain. Men are motivated by a goal. Women are motivated by senses.

So to a man, shopping without a goal is, literally, a pain. Our testosterone levels drop tremendously, and thus I feel the backache.

Women however, need the shopping to raise their oxytocin levels. They need the flood to their senses. In fact, women actually enjoy talking, and asking for opinions on what to buy. They enjoy the feeling of togetherness.

So a proposal for couples…

- State how much time you spend shopping together at the start (SENSORY), so that men can aim to complete that time (GOAL).

- Then the men can go wander off and do something else that has a purpose, like maybe play a game, or even get a drink, (a GOAL) while the ladies can continue their shopping (SENSORY)

- Then, meet together again at a stated time and place. (a GOAL).

- Then the men can help the ladies make a choice on what to buy, of all those things that she has found. (SENSORY).

Wonderful? Hope that this works for you. Now to convince Hwei Min that we should follow this.

New Year Resolutions

2006-12-28T23:51:00.000+08:00

It's 2007 in 3 days time. How about some resolutions to launch the year with?

1. Update the blog, blockhead!
Hai.... Yes... I know. Number 1 resolution should be updating blogs. What can I say... I am busy. How do people do this everyday?? Limited time is spent on either living life, or writing about living life. You need 2 hours of the experience of living life in order to write about that 2 hours of living life. You probably need another 1 hour to write about that 2 hours of life. So there is some cheem formula here...

Live life... No time to write.
Write.... No time to live life.

Ok... I am being too extreme... but you get my point.

So the best time for me to write, draw and write songs is when I am feeling sad, depressed and unable to live life fully. So

happy TWeaK = no-updates TWeaK

Back to the resolutions.

2. Get back in shape

I feel bloated now. I feel fat and lazy. My digestive system had been giving me problems since just before the Cameron Highlands trip. Not going to the toilet often enough.

Too many wedding dinners, family dinners at Cameron Highlands and other miscellaneous celebrations combined with too little exercise got me to where I am now.

I have been giving myself the excuse of having a bad back problem for too long. Now I am recovered. Have to start getting my act together!!!

Started on the rebounder, since it had been raining this whole period. Starting to feel good again. Cutting on carbohydrates intake, upping my greens.

3. Using spare time wisely

Someone once said or written that businesses are made after working hours. What we do with the times we are off working for money makes all the difference whether we work for money for the rest of our lives.

Ashamedly, I have not been following this advice. I have been watching too much Boston Legal, and not spending time learning Internet Marketing or the Stock Market.

Again... no excuse. It's time to restart my engine again.

4. Stop talking, take action.

'nuff said. Action.

Now ar? No lah... Of course sleep first lah... Its late.

(Here we go again.)

A late Christmas post... Warm Story

2006-12-27T00:53:00.000+08:00

A late Christmas post.

Ok... I've even passed Boxing Day... So this post is beri beri late... But aiyah... good story so must share right?

Its borrowed from an email from Robert G. Allen and Mark Victor Hansen's EWI, Enlightened Wealth Institute. It talks about Enlightened Giving, and if you read the books by the authors, you will see why. And people from EMC would understand why this story means so much to me. Hmm... its also a little biased towards Christianity, but I think the story is warm just the same.

How much am I giving? I think it's a question I need to answer myself.

------------------------

Adventure With Grandma

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb:

"There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let’s go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous, cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, “and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten- dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.
I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, and the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.
Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough, and he didn't have a coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!
I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes," I replied shyly. "It's....for Bobby." The nice lady smiled at me. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it -- Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers. General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, “and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten- dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, and the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.

Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough, and he didn't have a coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes," I replied shyly. "It's....for Bobby." The nice lady smiled at me. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it -- Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.
Fifty years haven’t dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous.
Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the tag tucked inside: $19.95.
---
"He who has no Christmas in his heart will never find Christmas under a tree."
-author unknown-

---

Cameron Highlands Day One

2006-12-20T23:24:00.000+08:00

We woke up early in the morning at 5am. Hwei min and I were the first to wake up, very gan cheong, I think we were both too excited in anticipation of the trip.

Checked the webcam for the traffic condition, found Tuas to be relatively lighter. Anyway, that was nearer to 8U’s (8th Uncle, dad’s younger brother) place. So we waited for his car and left in convoy. It is the same usual group this time, 8U, 8A, their daughters Wan Ying and Wan Mei, my 2A(2nd Aunt, dad’s elder sister) and my own family of five. We would be joined by my 1A(1st Aunt, dad’s eldest sister) and 1AU(1st Uncle, Aunt’s husband) when we reach their place later.

West Sword Fish Balls
Originally uploaded by tweak.Singapore.

The first place we aimed for was Yong Peng. A quick stop here, mainly for breakfast. Ah…. if you have never tried, must try sai doh (Chinese literal translation : West Sword, don’t ask me why…) fish balls. Fish balls made from fresh sai doh fish. Their fish cakes are delicious too.

The trip did not start well for me actually. I had a bad digestion problem throughout the trip. Felt bloated. Had to clear my bowels, but I could not release unless I was very comfortable with the toilet. Thankfully the toilet at the said oh place was clean…

I ran into the toilet the moment I stepped into my 1A’s place. This might sound strange, but though it was a different physical place from the one I visited two years ago (they moved to a new home), the place smelled familiar. Strange hor? To think that I remember how places smell, and my body automatically feels comfortable.

Ken and his granny
Originally uploaded by tweak.Singapore.

It's scary how fast we ... Grow. My little nephew, Ken Li, grew up. Last time we spent hours playing toy cars with Ken, now we spent hours playing toy cars with his little sis, Rou Ting, no doubt influenced by her brother.

My dear aunts are visibly aging as well. More wrinkles... They were the happy kind of wrinkles near their eyes and their mouths because they laugh a lot.

2nd Aunt Laugh to Tears
Originally uploaded by tweak.Singapore.

Funny how its acceptable socially to tell someone :-

'Oh, boy boy has grown taller hor?' when they are from 0 to 18, then …
'Oh, ah girl so pretty' or 'ah boy so handsome' till they are about 25,

Then … silence from the years on.

Never 'Oh, auntie has new wrinkles just above your eyes now, ooh... you look very wise lei.' Or in my case, ‘Auntie, you have happy wrinkles. You are aging gracefully, and I want to be like you when I grow old.’

I mean it. And I have told Hwei Min as well… If we can live our golden years half as happy as my aunts are, we will be so fortunate.

YK and Puppy
Originally uploaded by tweak.Singapore.

What else had changed? There is one additional new member of the family since I last visited, a friendly and handsome Doberman pup. He’s a friendly puppy almost as tall as an adult when walking on hind legs. Very powerful dog that takes my uncle for a walk rather than the other way around.

I can no longer get away with sleeping in the living room like I used to anymore... Like some ancient rite of passage, I get the honour of having a room all to ourselves together with Hwei Min.

Predictably, my 1AU brought us out a grand tze char dinner, offering the best that KL can offer, and we spent the rest of the night, the younger kids playing Uno, the older kids playing gin rummy, a recent Tham family vacation tradition. That was what the trip was about, a fine predictable vacation, with family.

Eragon ... Movie Review

2006-12-18T23:54:00.000+08:00

"Eragon" is based on a novel by Christopher Paolini. The story's about this young farmer boy by the name of Eragon. Grew up with his uncle, lost both his parents somehow. Found some special powers, uncle dies. Swears revenge... Old mysterious man becomes his mentor. Saves a beautiful girl. Fights an incredible evil king who has a mysterious magic wielding henchman.

Do I have to Force the imagery further?

You want to try harder? There is no try... only do or do not...

Ok ok... you get the point already.

Good? OK lar...
Worth
S$6.00 (mostly for the visual effects)
Movies in Singapore are from a range of S$6.50 to S$9.00 depending on the day and time you watch it on.

There have been many comparisons made between Eragon and Star Wars (for the plot), Lord Of the Rings (for the fantasy world) and even Harry Potter (for the popularity)... I don't know if I am affected by all these reviews... I probably am. I could not help sniggering when I saw a scene of Eragon in the setting sun sitting by a field, orchestra music playing in the background.

Still... Keeping my mind open, I thought that the movie lacked depth. Running less than 2 hours, the movie tried to do too many things in too little time, sometimes making ridiculous shortcuts just to smoothen the plot. There was not enough time to develop the wide array of characters in the plot, Eragon (Ed Speeler), his mentor, Brom(Jeremy Irons), his dragon Saphira (Rachel Weisz), his future love interest (Sienna Guillory), two antagonists King Galbatorix(John Malkovich) and Durza (Robert Carlyle) and additional characters like Murtagh etc...

Though the cast included some great actors, they were not really allowed to shine... with some corny lines, especially from John Malkovich,

"As long as I am King... Disloyalty will be punishable... by

DEATH..."

and lousy plots, for example, Murtagh was imprisoned for being suspicious one moment, and 15 minutes of running movie time later, he gets accepted as a comrade??? Its these kinds of shortcuts that were a little hard to swallow.

For the recent Harry Potter movies, I was able to appreciate the movie a little better even though it felt like there was a lot crammed in as well. That was because I read the Harry Potter books, so I was able to take the movie as a short visual tour of what I got from the book. It probably felt empty for someone who hadn't read the book too.

Regardless, as a movie, I felt that the directors and script writers could have done better to keep the pace going while giving a reasonable amount of coverage for the wide array of characters. I think Peter Jackson and his team did a fairly good job with LOTR. Thus I was quite amused to read an interview of the director Stefen Fangmeier, where he commented that he felt frustrated that the last episode of the LOTR trilogy took too long to end. Well... I think with his visual effects expertise, he would go far if he just learnt a little from Peter's story telling.

So the saving point? The wonderful visual effects. Of course, the director is the expert. (He comes with experience from ILM with a string of movies under his belt as the visual effects sups). Saphira the dragon was wonderfully rendered. The interplay between life action and effects had been merged so seamlessly I did not stop to wonder how they did it.

But why did they have to waste Rachel Weisz as only a voice actress!??

Interesting blog

2006-12-18T02:37:00.000+08:00

Should read this blog by this guy, Shaon.

Advanced blogger... in terms of usage of technology. Like his profile pic, for example. How does he just crop a pic without editing it, so that when you click on the pic, you get to see the full pic!? I'm looking at the html, but don't understand at all. :P

http://fmshaon.blogspot.com/

I found this guy while looking for... erm... some ways... to get around some... things. :P

Try out the Qwerty Warriors game he recommends. A fun way to waste your time..

Sentosa... NPCC Gathering...

2006-12-18T02:09:00.000+08:00

Lots have happened yesterday. Went to Sentosa with Hwei Min for my company's Family Day celebrations. Then went for her boss's pre-Christmas party, and her ex Secondary NPCC schoolmates' gathering.

Yes... I have taken some pics, but I am now facing a serious problem of 'not enough time'. I am taking more pictures than I am able to edit.

Hwei Min ... keep on reminding me about the Hong Kong trip photos taken in March. Hahah....

Let me rest my tired feet, oh ... let me rest...

2006-12-14T23:51:00.000+08:00

Phew...

Feel like I've been all around the world and back now. Just got back home yesterday night at 9.30 pm. After discovering that the two fridges at home have been off throughout the duration of our trip because of a power trip, Hwei Min and I slept early to wake up in the morning to bring away all the bad food.

So I woke up early this morning... 5.30 a.m.

Left for work, and immediately after reaching office, I was told that we had to go off to site. I shall not mention where it is, but believe me... it was darn far.

Work dragged on to 6.30p.m, and I had to drive back to office to return the company car. By the time I left office, it was 7.30p.m. and I have yet to have had my dinner. Received an SMS from my parents and my sis who just got back from KL today, saying they were going to attend a wake service for my half uncle, so after grabbing a quick bite, I took off again to Bedok to attend the service.

Just left the place and so here I am... right where I started, promising updates from my trip, but too darn shag to do anything, except maybe just share one pic I took when I was in Cameron Highlands, when I was more relaxed.

Ah... I miss my holidays already.

Success! T&M's wedding

2006-12-09T00:16:00.000+08:00

Did not write in yesterday because I was dead tired.

In fact, I still am, but I thought I would write in a little something just before I leave for Cameron Highlands later today.

Yup... Going to Cameron Highlands for a short trip with family, and will be back next Wednesday night.

I just realised... all the pictures I took for the wedding two days ago are at SMALL RES!!! ARGH!!! But I took mostly videos anyway, since I have given up taken photos indoors most of the time. Anyway, most of what I took are rejected... so I have nothing to show for it... crap happens...

Ok. Got to go and sleep now. Have a pleasant holidays my friends, good nite!

Tony and Madeline's Wedding Video

2006-12-04T00:49:00.000+08:00

Yup... quick update.

Spent 3 days working on it. Last bit that I am still working on now. Almost complete. I've only got two more renders left to do, one without, and one with subtitling.

It's been extremely fun. As I was telling Hwei Min, I have put in everything I have learnt from sound engineering, video editing, photo editing, photography and videography into this short 8 mins clip. It's been a rewarding experience...

I hope for nothing less than tear drops from the audience this Thursday!!!

Will check with the couple if they mind me sharing their video here. Hopefully they don't. I don't mind some teardrops from you either.

:P

Destin And Jessie's Wedding Photos

2006-12-04T00:34:00.001+08:00

D&J's Wedding Couple Portrait
Originally uploaded by tweak.Singapore.

As promised, I have uploaded some pics at Flickr, and more at Shutterfly.

Take a look. What you see here are the 'not-so-sucky' pics. After taking a look at the professional photographer's photos... I'm having second thoughts about sharing these... :P

I have dumped a lot into the recycle bin because they were badly taken. There are a lot more which I have not put up, so be sure to call me or email me if you need them. Those that I am sharing could be at lower res, as well, I am not too sure about Shutterfly.

Band Of Brothers
Originally uploaded by tweak.Singapore.

You'll notice that I did not take much shots indoors. My built in flash unit sucks!

Really wonder if I should get a slave flash unit for my camera. Taking indoor shots are a pain...

In the name of competition...

2006-11-29T23:42:00.000+08:00

Now countless pleas have gone unheeded. It's an argument that is old, but yet unanswered.

Is the privatisation of public transportation really for the good of Singapore?

The situation now is the rising prices for taking public transport. Now i'll just list down some of my observations.

What they say :

Rising oil prices and other operation costs.

What we see :

Duplication of resources. An MRT engineer at SMRT does almost exactly the same thing as an SBSTransit engineer.
Wasteful 'competition'.

A free shuttle service is provided for commuters between dhoby ghaut, little india and chinatown.
The route is already provided for by SBSTransit's north east line. Thus, adding a free shuttle service is a wasteful cost to SMRT.

What they say :

Introducing more than one service provider introduces competition, thereby forcing existing providers to become more efficient, and provide a greater level of service.

What we see :

Unique routes. To get from point to point, there are not really a lot of real alternatives to take. Hence, each company has a monopoly on their individual routes, so there really is no real incentive to improve efficincies.

This is a point I will not be able to prove. As a commuter, I see no tangible improvement in the service provided by either company. The grumpy impatient driver driving the bus I have take ten years ago is the same grumpy, impatient driver that he is, only a little grumpier and a little older. Previously, he was a TransIsland driver. Now, he's an SMRT driver. Same difference...

Before you think that I am blaming the 'gahmen' for wasting money etc... Let me try to balance the argument up a little.

The short term suffering of the middle to lower income aside, our 'gahmen' is once again guilty of nothing more than the usual foresight at 'doing what's best for the nation'.

Privatisation allows the companies to venture out of our tiny red dot, to do business.

Profit-motivated companies will face less restrictions at venturing than a stat board would. SingTel is doing this. SPServices is doing the same. DelGro Corporation, the parent company of SBS Transit is actively doing business overseas as well.

So, don't expect the gahmen to Nationalize (define :- Opposite of Privatize) our public transport companies, ever.

In the end, "LPPL"... Logic still works out for the greater good of singapore. Aiyah, poor people in Singapore, work harder la. Don't take bus lor, walk lah... GST increase? Work harder la. Don't eat lor. Charge us for air? Don't breathe lor.

Update

2006-11-27T23:40:00.000+08:00

It's been almost three weeks since i've written in, and what an eventful three weeks it had been.

Helped out at Destin and Jessie's wedding, project deadlines, begin helping out with Tony and Madeline's wedding. Wow... It's been fun, but tiring.

Did not realise that a wedding could be so complex. Most of D&J's wedding had run smoothly enough because it was relatively simple and also due to their excellent planning. T&M's would be tougher but more interesting as well. From their plans, there would be more chinese customs, stuff like getting a 'tong zhi' (young boy) to jump on their bridal bed, pee into a traditional urinal bowl with an egg inside, and eat that egg all for the belief that it would make the couple conceive early.

Hmm... He will receive an ang bao... But even a thousand dollars would not be enough for me to even consider eating an egg half cooked by my own urine!

If I get no objections, I would place some of the photos I've taken from D&J's wedding soon. So stay with me for a bit.

And dear readers... what spurs me on to write is the fact that I know there are friends out there reading. Thank you very much for reading! I will try my best to carry on writing.

ICT Day Seven - Ten : Out Pro lor!

2006-11-03T19:44:00.000+08:00

Finally out processed today. The hardest day to get through by far. Back hurts like hell today. Spent the entire morning playing 'bluff'. Tricked Michael Thiam like crazy.

Questions :-
1) Why did the entire battalion have to play cohesion games at the very last hour of the very last day of ICT, when the rest of the day was spent doing nothing?

For cohesion. Depends on what cohesion means. The entire bunch of reservists felt cohesive enough. As I was f**king out loud about the inefficiency of the out process. Someone from another company, another platoon whom I have never seen before told me to "relax... last day liao. Just tong finish this stupid thing, and get out."

2) Why were meals indented for the entire battalion for the entire ICT when we could have left early for most of the days?

Must be because SFI kao bei that they waste resources and earn too little, since most reservist personnels do not want their food. "Right hand pocket, put to the left hand pocket"

3) Why survey is done before out processing?

Because out processing is the most time consuming, and has the most inefficiency.

4) Video cameras and phones are really banned in camps because of security meh? In out ICT camp, need security one meh?

No.

SAF Spent a lot of money on these series of commercials to make soldiers look damn garang...

some bloody idiots make stupid video clips... makes soldiers look damn gu niang...

Aiyah... whatever it is... its over. Now its time to focus back on work. and focusing on getting my back healed by Monday.

ICT Day Six : Report Sick

2006-10-31T08:38:00.000+08:00

Nothing much to say. Except that in one day, I managed to read half of the book I had started one week ago. "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" by John Gray.

I stayed overnight in bunk on Sunday. Reported sick on Monday. I must say that the waiting time at the Medical Centre had shortened tremendously.

I used to complain to anyone who would listen about my bad experience with the medical centre last year. The system at the medical centre in camp was extremely inefficient. I had reported sick last ICT in the morning at 8.30a.m, and only received my status printout and medication at 3p.m. in the afternoon. By 10a.m. I had seen the MO, and was waiting for the results. Having waited an hour, I asked the medic on duty periodically for the results, starting from 11a.m.

By the fourth time I asked, at around 12.30p.m. The medic told me that everyone went for lunch. (Including the medic who was around at 12p.m. whom I was checking with constantly) Somehow, he, and the others who was there, neglected to tell me. I was waiting like a idiot for so long, and they happily went for lunch without telling the supposedly sick patient. (I had a fever, by the way.)

Anyway, this time round, the whole process at the medical centre took less than one hour. I got my "Attend C" status (can go home) and some medication by 9.30 a.m.

But why could I finish half a book, you ask?

This time it is the procedure of my unit that is the problem. Since my company is off for exercise, I come under the jurisdiction of the ME Platoon for that day. However, the ME Platoon was leaving in the afternoon, they were handing over the 'sick party' (the lost and wounded) to a Warrant Officer in charge of the ICT unit.

Thus "the sick" were told to wait for instructions as we were to have a briefing with him. Estimated time of arrival? 11.30 a.m.

I was told, "Why don't you sit around the office, and relax? We will be leaving at noon, then the warrant officer would brief all of you."

The time was 9.45a.m. when he said that. 2 hours away from time of arrival of the esteemed warrant O'. Of course I didn't wait. I went to bunk to finish half of my book, had a short nap, and still made it in time to meet my guardian for the next 3 days.

At the office, the warrant officer basically said that, since the rest of the unit is out for exercise, we cannot possibly join them. However, we cannot possibly "zhuo bor lan" (his exact words) either.

I am not sure if he got confused over our medical status, or whether he was genuinely being nice to us sick folks. In the end, he allowed the "Attend C" to go home and report to him after their "Attend C" status is over, but asked those on other excuse to report to him thrice per day, although meals were not provided.

Whatever, I was just happy to leave. My back was killing me, I was coughing pretty badly, and the MO gave me lozenges and gargling solution for it. Up till today, the medical centre still maintain the policy of 'no antibiotics'.

I am staring to sound like a old lady. (Literally...)

Hope in Fear?

2006-10-29T16:01:00.000+08:00

Now I am sitting in front of my computer, I feel tired, but cannot sleep. That's because when I lie down, I feel nerve firings through my legs, my neck, my hands randomly.

The worst attack I have ever had was when I twisted in my sleep. An intense shot of pain shot through my nerves in my body, and no matter what position I lie in, I feel the pain. Hwei Min was there and I was literally screaming, and sobbing, not knowing what to do.

Whenever I lie down and I feel an ache in my back sometimes, I feel an overwhelming sense of fear rush over me. I start to imagine the worst, I start visualizing what is causing the pain in my spine. I start to imagine what will happen if i lose my ability to move my limbs. I think of the consequences to my family.

Knowing what I learnt from "The Secret", I know I should not focus on it too much, and instead, look forward to a full recovery. But lying down, feeling and jolting at every single tingle of my nerves, it's hard, you know?

So I am sitting in front of the pc... googling for information about my injury. I came to looking for news about Michael J. Fox, and somehow found some inspiration from watching an interview of him on Youtube.

ICT Day Five : Back Problem

2006-10-29T15:37:00.000+08:00

Supposed to go back tonight, and be staying overnight in camp before going out field for exercise tomorrow.

My back problem is worsening. Last few days, I just felt a slight backache. Today, I start feeling muscular and nervous spasms all over my body when I lie down. Not good.

I think I will have to report sick. Don't think I want to go out field. Don't feel good dropping out like a loser, but I don't want to injure myself for life over a few days of maintaining my ego.

ICT Day Three/Four : Training - Appreciation

2006-10-29T11:16:00.000+08:00

Past two days were spent doing basic engineering tasks. Not too bad, mainly refreshers, we forgot most of the procedures but our past knowledge kicked in shortly after 'hands on'.

As usual, though, lots of time spent waiting. The standard SAF motto, "Rush to wait, wait to rush" applies all the time. It seems no matter how much planning you put into arranging your tasks, so as to speed things up, SAF just seems to break everything back down and slow you down. It's very interesting, you know?

Once you put on the uniform, you suddenly become a little more stupid, and time seems to flow slower.

However, someone put things into a very positive perspective yesterday.

We were in a training shed, and it just happened to be breezy. That guy (i can't remember who) said that he treated ICTs like a retreat, a time to reflect. It's true... The training shed we were in was in the middle of a field, and when I heard that observation, the trees, the grass, the breeze quite suddenly become quite surreal.

After being introduced to it by Kok Boon, I watched a movie called "The Secret" not too long ago. (www.thesecret.tv) It describes the secret to success. I shall not reveal too much, you can take a look at the video at youtube, but having watched the movie, I found that ICT served another purpose.

The Secret

ICT takes away things I take for granted. Things like freedom of time, ability to keep clean, having a nicely cooked meal and all the other comforts of modern life, but much more importantly, time with family.

It is a part of human nature that we take things for granted after having it for a while. From what I recall from studying psychology, that's how our brain functions. Our thoughts and sensations being 'electrical signals' in the brain... after many times of repetitive 'signals' of the same kind, our brain builds a huge trunking line between the parts of the brain that are involved in that signal. This is so to make our brain process this information faster, and allow more of the adaptive parts of our brain to take in new information.

In short, we are wired to just accept certain sensations as the norm, after repeating it too many times.

The problem with that is that we tend to forget what we already have, and we tend to focus on things that we do not want. We then complain about things that are now not going on too well in our lives.

The more we focus on the things we DO NOT want, the unhappier we become, and the more the things we do not want become a reality.

To me, we need to constantly remind ourselves of the things we already have, the things that are going on well, and have been going on well. We are thus, training our minds to become in-tuned with the things that we DO want.

Sounds cheem? I think not. Think about it and I think you can find dozen examples of people who are unhappier and unhappier, and are thus becoming unhappier and unhappier still. Nothing mystical about that!

ICT Day Two : Day at the Range, Leadership in the SAF

2006-10-26T22:47:00.000+08:00

Spent the whole day at the range.

Interesting new format now, makes the whole shoot feel more like an arcade game. It just got harder to get Marksman now.

Anyway, got a call from Chye Kwang to tell me everything is smooth in office. Glad to know that everything is ok, even though Teck Yew is on leave too.

Just got home. Its 10.30pm by the time I reached. I stay within 15 mins bus ride away from the camp. I can't imagine the others.

Tomorrow book in again at 7.00 a.m.

Anyway, I noticed something in the range opposite to ours today. Another company was having a shoot. A 2LT officer was arguing with a Staff Sergeant over something to do with ops.

Watching from a distance, of course, I could not really figure out what they were talking about. However, this triggered an insight I got from watching commanders lead in my years of the NS experience. Being of the rank of a corporal, I could, obviously, watch everything, and just pass judgement... but I have seen some really bad commanders in my NS cycle.

The kind of commander that totally sucks is a combination of

one who cannot say no to the superiors, and is "super siao on" at trying to impress

one who cannot admit that he does not have as much experience in certain areas as, say, a NCO, who could have been in service for more years than he, and could have a better approach to do things, or have an insight on situations.

The problem with this combination is that, on one hand, while trying to impress his superiors, he could fall flat on his face because he might not be realistic when setting a task, and his subordinates fail at achieving the unrealistic targets that he promised. On the other hand, he would also lose any respect that the subordinates originally had of him.

So? Complete failure...

Of course, in the Army, subordinates cannot leave his charge so easily, neither could they disobey his orders directly, so things would go on looking fine on the surface.

In the long run, the net result would be inefficiency. You would have people who cannot lead at all, in leadership positions. These people would not leave, since they know that they are inefficient, and would not survive in the real world. Instead, they would serve long and well in their positions and depend on their ranks to lead.

Result?

Inefficient SAF.
Fucked up person who will be ill equipped for the real world when age finally catches up and he has to leave the forces. His only skill? Managing people, which we know he can't do very well anyway.

By the way, I am not really passing any judgement on such leaders. By the sixth one I meet, I have already gone past that. I just find it kind of sad?

There are a lot of personnel stuck in these kinds of position. The whole problem is... many of them might not even realise the truth, since they are sheltered by the system.

Thankfully its not like I am in the Army. It is much better in the 'real world'.

"The Departed" VS "Infernal Affairs"

2006-10-25T21:35:00.000+08:00

The Departed

VS

Infernal Affairs

I started out doing a review for "The Departed" ... but I think any comparisons with "Infernal Affairs" would be inevitable, since I've watched both.

On its own, "The Departed" is a great movie. The movie is worth
S$8.00
Movies in Singapore are from a range of S$6.50 to S$9.00 depending on the day and time you watch it on.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan, an Irish American who goes undercover into the Boston mob.

Matt Damon plays Colin Sullivan, groomed by Jack Nicholson's Frank Costello into becoming an informer for him.

Nicholson is a contained nuclear reactor as Costello. On the verge of blowing up, keeping the audience guessing as to when he is going to blow. This relationship keeps the tension on Costigan as he goes through close shave after close shave. Reminds me of The Joker in the original Batman movie.

In comparison with the Hong Kong original, "The Departed" departed on what drives the two main characters' actions. The timeline is different, for one. This accounts for the difference since in the Infernal Affairs movie, both characters started going undercover at around the same time, and the movie starts at least 8-10 years after they've been undercover.

Leonardo DiCaprio was great at portraying the role of Costigan. Always in constant danger, his internal conflicts are barely below the surface. However at times, I am a little lost on what drives Costigan. Tony Leung's character, the undercover cop, wants to be a cop... and faces an identity crisis, and internal conflict for not being able to say that he is one. He's been in the triads for 9 years. And there are plenty of opportunities for him to show that he really wants to be a cop. Costigan has been undercover in the mafia, for over 2 years? And he wants to quit the force after that. It is a little difficult to empathise with Costigan's pain.

Similarly for the role of the informer. I felt that the motives for Sullivan were too vaguely shown, and hence I could not really feel for the character. Matt Damon did a good job at whatever material he had, playing the two-faced character pretty well. But what the movie lacked, again, was what drives Sullivan? Andy Lau's character was more well developed in that as the audience, throughout the film, you understand that he really wants to be a 'good guy' too, and had been forced to be in the position he is in.

It could be due to a difference between the American and Asian culture, but I would say that I derived more tension from Scorsese's "The Departed", because Boston is portrayed as a grittier, more violent place as compared to Hong Kong. The locations and sets the movie was filmed in was dirtier, granier, closer to reality.

Andrew Lau's "Infernal Affairs" portrayed a less gritty Hong Kong, the locations and sets are cleaner, neater. The costumes and make up for the actors also leave a clean, cool feel on screen.

In my opinion, the latter allows the story to be told, whereas I found the grittiness a distraction in the former, especially in the dealing of the movie's main characters.

It is just interesting that the same plot (most of the plot keypoints are there) can be treated with such a vast difference. So what we have here are essentially two movies, both great, and both worth watching for different reasons, however, if I have to make a choice, it will have to be "Infernal Affairs" on any given day.

ICT Day One

2006-10-25T21:21:00.000+08:00

1313 hrs

Just hours into my ICT, and I remember why I hate this so much. Procedures and protocol... Time-wasting... Procedures and protocol... Time-wasting...

Very annoying.

I guess I will not be able to furnish too much details about my training, but i'll do my best to give sketchy details without sensitive information.

Oh, and I might not be able to bring my pda into camp, so I don't even know if I can even blog.

1922 hrs

Confirmed. Though the official word is sketchy at best, and the only certain order is that no CAMERA phones are allowed. In general, everyone gets jittery when I bring a pda into camp.

Bah... I shall do without one then. I shall do things the old way… pen and paper.

Anyway... long day tomorrow...

Range.

Death Note Movie Review

2006-10-24T12:32:00.000+08:00

, the movie is based on a highly popular Japanese Manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata of the same name.

Good? Quite...
Worth
S$9.00
Movies in Singapore are from a range of S$6.50 to S$9.00 depending on the day and time you watch it on.

In order to enjoy this movie, you have to suspend your logic, and just enjoy the plot.

The story, in a nutshell, is about a note book, labelled 'Death Note'. Death Notes (I can only assume there are many) are used by Death Gods (Shinigamis) (again, I assume there are more than one). If a name is written on it, the person whose name is on it shall die. The 'Death Note', comes with instructions rules on how to use it... in English...

Ermm... (like I said... suspend your logic...)

The book was dropped by a Shinigami, Ryuk, and intended for Raito (Light) Yagami to pick it up. He was skeptical about the book, but eventually uses it to start on a mission to cleanse all evil from the world as Kira, his alter-ego on the Internet.

L (Eru), an eccentric, top rated detective is the one who was tasked on the job to find Kira. There are other characters that come into the plot, like Light's father, who happens to be the captain of the investigative team looking for Kira, Light's girlfriend, L's helper, and a cute teenage TV starlet Misa Amane, whom I suspect will have a major role in the following sequels.

Because I have not read the manga series, I am unable to compare between the two mediums, but I say that as a movie, Death Note was well made.

The movie starts with a high tempo, showing one mysterious death after another, then explaining the reason in flashbacks. The pacing for the plot was good, giving enough time for character building, and tension building. The use of silence, which I observed in many Japanese anime and films. as a tool story telling was not too excessive but was very effectively placed.

CG animation was not too excessive. According to my friend, the animation for the Shinigami Ryuk, was done exactly as how he was drawn in the manga series. Even his love of apples had been faithfully depicted.

Tatsuya Fujiwara was very convincing in the role of Light Yagami. Kenichi Matsuyama was also excellent as L. Portraying the odd quirks and mannerisms without over-acting must be a very difficult job. Supported by the rest of the cast, they have managed to make the incredible premise of the film, plausible, at least.

A sidenote... but I think Shunji Fujiwara, the actor in the role of L's helper Watari, really looks like the late Singaporean comedian Wang Sa.

Without revealing the plot too much, I think the movie was very well made to have made me change allegiance within the duration of the movie.

The end of the movie is but the beginning of the next. So don't expect the story to end with this one... this is only part one.

But I can't wait for part two. It is slated to be released in November of this year. Don't know when it will be released to Singapore, since the first one took 4 months to come, but I can't wait... :)

Incredible Weekend

2006-10-22T23:55:00.000+08:00

Pic from Far East Website
Spent an incredible weekend with Hwei Min at the Far East Plaza Service Apartments.

Had thought of having another barbeque at the balcony, but thought otherwise because we had a heavy buffet lunch at Goodwood Park Hotel with my parents.

Madeline and Tony came over to join us for a game of Cashflow 101. Tony chose to sit out of the game. While Madeline played with us, he took a nap. We played a standard two hour game, first half, and second half. Tried to explain the game mechanics, and the underlying implications to our everyday lives. I think she understands a little, but not too sure if she really got it.

Madeline said that we were two friends that Tony ‘approved’ of, and was willing to join us for a get-together. Quite a nice feeling, that.

I sincerely hope, and Hwei Min does too… that Tony would eventually be able to listen to some of the financial literacy stuff that we are talking about, and Madeline is just getting the hang of now. I think it is great that Madeline wants to find out, but it will be great if the both of them are in this together.

That’s one big reason why I love Hwei Min so much. She has her faults, she might falter a little in our path, heck, I do too sometimes. But we are both on the same path, and if what our friends say is true, this kind of partnership is worth millions.

We watched a total of two movies this weekend. “Deathnote”, and “The Departed”. I’ll be coming up with the reviews shortly, a little too much for the week. I will get down to the other two movies that I’ve watched soon. Watched “Rob-B-Hood” on Tuesday, and “Talladega Nights : The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” on Wednesday.

Note to myself … blog on the day things happen, not after!!!

The haze... Do we have a right to blame?

2006-10-15T23:27:00.000+08:00

Just a quick note after such a long time of not posting.

Been busy lately, and really pushing myself to write down my thoughts before I lose them.

Anyway, the stupid haze had been coming back and forth for weeks now. Who is to blame for this? The Indonesian government? The farmers?

I don't know. But I was downright dissapointed with Singaporeans who added to the problem. Last Friday was the Chinese Lantern Festival. Was at West Coast Park with a couple of friends for a barbeque.

Saw some people throwing sparkling fireworks onto trees. It had not been raining for days now.

Dry trees + Sparklers

=

Fire + Smoke + Burnt Tree

Wah lau... I mean, at least when Indonesian farmers are doing the burning, it is for a reason, right? They want to clear the land for their crops, right?

What's with these Singaporeans? Do it because they damn bor liao or what? The funny thing is ... these are probably the people who kao beh about the haze ... and the loudest lor...

Firstly...

2006-10-01T23:59:00.000+08:00

This being my first post, I should introduce myself.

I am ...
an E going to S, to B and to I,
a PE,
a non-traditional Budhist philosopher,
a trained Software Engineer,
aspiring artist,
aspiring musician,
aspiring photographer,
a Martian...
and the list goes on.

Who am I?

Who really understands who I am anyway? Me? My wife? My close friends? My parents? I guess the question is who are you? Whoever the reader is would understand whoever I am.

Thus this blog.. Random rantings about everything under the sun, hopefully it can help me define who I am, and help my friends and family understand the different perspectives that form up the whole of me, TWeaK.