*bloop*

P* EMERGING MARKETS FUND - CESSATION OF INCLUSION UNDER THE CPF INVESTMENT SCHEME

The P* Emerging Markets Fund was launched in May 2005 and is managed by P* and sub-managed by Templeton Asset Management Ltd (“Templeton”).

As at 31 Dec 2007, the Fund size is S$308.1m. ... performance since inception is 22.7% pa on a bid-to-bid basis as at 31 Dec 2007.
New Guidelines on Investment linked Funds Using CPF Monies CPF Board has announced that from 1 January 2008, expense ratios for CPF approved funds must not exceed the expense ratio criterion as tabled below. The stipulated expense ratio for this fund is 1.95%.

Expense Ratios Criterion By Risk Categories / Risk Categories Expense Ratios Criterion (%) [Rounded off to the nearest 0.05]
Higher risk / 1.95
Medium to High Risk / 1.75
Low to Medium Risk / 1.15
Lower Risk / 0.65
Source: CPF website

IMPORTANT:
Please note that the potential de-listing of the fund is not due to any change to the Fund or performance. In fact since January 2008, we have reduced the continuing investment charge from 2.1% to 1.6%. The potential de-listing of the Fund is due to the technical way in which CPF is
calculating the expense ratio for existing funds. Thus there will be NO impact at all to existing customers who are already invested into the Fund regardless of source of monies.

...

Fucking CB. They're doing EVERYTHING in their power to take back or stop the outflow of money from the CPF coffers. This is the PRECISE reason why people SHOULD be taking them out. Remember when they announced that inflation was about 7% at the end of last year or early this year? Well after the budget came out and CPF announced that the interest rates would remain at 2.5% and 4% for the ordinary and special accounts, THEY re-adjusted and announced that inflation was in fact 6.5%. Good news right? Think about it. If inflation was 7% it would mean that the disgusting rates that CPF gives would NOT even beat inflation or stay current. So re-adjust it and voila! all of a sudden our measly interest rates are on par with inflation. Make the people happy by massaging the numbers! Bastards. 2.5+4% equals to what? 6.5% lah. Fuckers.

First they say CPF rates will be pegged to bond rates, but then in GOOD times interest rates are GOOD and Bond rates drop, and vice versa. That's the way it works.
Then they say you MUST have 20K in each account before you can invest the access
Then they come up with CPF LIFE, for fuck's sake. They could at least be more imaginative with the name.
grr...

Losing control

Over the last few months, i think i've done a good job of controlling myself and my sanity. It's now all coming to a head once again. My cousin attempted suicide again, my grandma passed away, issues with looking after a family, 2 jobs that take so much out of me. All in the name of looking after family. The biggest factor here is obviously Chris. I think for sure now that i have depression.

i've suspected it for many years now but never saw anyone about it. It gets triggered by stress events like Chris and money. I've found many a ways to deal with it and they've mostly worked. But on days like today, i find myself trembling from the stress and emotions bull dozing through my head. I don't want to see anyone about it because i don't want to be labelled a nut case. But a nut case i really am. I do my best to shield the people around me from my moods and negative emotions but sometimes i wish i could. No matter xhat i must survive, to live to see tomorrow, to see a better day. Surely there is always hope.

1913-2007

The Grand Old Lady has left the House -- 1913-2007 aged 94. Granny left us tonight - a little past the first hour of the day. My gran was a fighter, I would daresay she was a little chilli padi in her time.

Born during the First World War, she lost my Grandfather during the Second World War aged 28. Raised 5 kids through the war, initially with the help of her mother in law, but when the latter passed away, she was left alone, with neighbours' help. After that it was a matter of time before my uncles grew up and went to work. My eldest uncle and my second uncle left us before she. I guess now she knows. And I guess now, after nearly 70 years of being apart from the man she loved so dearly, they're finally together forever.

I can almost see my Granddad, now in his Singapore Volunteer Corps uniform, medals gleaming, beaming as he gives her a big big hug, as he welcomes her to his side for eternity. There are so many things I remember about my por-por. I wish i could write them all down. In a way i'm relieved she's finally let go; she held on to life so tightly, even till the end. Even when cancer tried to consume her beyond her 90th birthday, she held on, when her eyes and ears failed her she still insisted on going to the loo alone, bathing alone. My grandmother was a tough nut. I'll miss her. But the tears will have to be saved for another day, right now i'm the only son my mummy has around her. I can't let her down.

Dearest Por-Por, you've lived a long long vibrant life, raised 5 wonderful children, had 11 grand children, and 18 great grand children. I for 1 will speak tales of you and your heroic hubby for as long as I live. Rest in Peace. Bye, Por-Por.

arrogance, success, pride

Arrogance, success and pride go hand in hand with money. Success brings money to many people. Success is Money to many people. And although people say "i'll never let money or success change who i am," the fact is it changes people. It's an all encompassing greed that leads me to agree on one of the 7 original sins - Covetesnous. Look it up.

I've lost a good friend to success and although she'll never see it or understand where I'm coming from, I hope she does. And no matter what, whether she's aware or not, I'll be looking on from a distance, wishing her the best whilst shaking my head in sorrow, at the loss of what i used to call a good friend.

rude realisations

I came to a very rude realisation the other day. The day that I returned from Batam. It started simply with a stupid stupid thing that I did. I admit it. It was stupid.

We used to be able to bitch at each other because we were such close friends. But now now that you've considered yourself as successful and I've fallen to an all new low, you've chucked me aside. Oh well that is the way the cookie crumbles isn't it?

"... at least I know what I want in life, do you?"² I simply said No. And I guess that's the truth but at least I know I'm enjoying the learning ride and I'm never going to be Perfect in this life.

My conscience is clear on one standpoint. I apologised for doing sending the wrong message to the wrong person. Apparently the apology was accepted but I was wrong in having an opinion or trying to rescue what I considered to be a precious friendship (in the past). But the realisation was even ruder. That even in THIS circle of "friends," same business and all, where we need the support of team mates the most, there is no such thing as friendship. Only Money. With a capital M.

So here it is. I've been doing some reading. And the book is right about a lot of things. At least the book doesn't patronise me and tell me that I can be saved, if I follow the rules it dictates. It tells me that I dictate the rules. So I sat down the other day and started on my own dictating. Suffice to say that I've told my boss that I'm going to be a lone ranger where the Team is concerned. My idea of Team has always been there but there are people who are up to the job and there are people who are not. I'll save my idea of the Team for my own agency³.

Right now for the most part the gunners of this agency are money grubbers. Plain and simple. I see no point in seeing them otherwise, or to give them the benefit of the doubt. Someone made me realise last night, that a Pi and Vick once said to me that my heart is too big. I take it and I envelope those that I care about. But they also said that I have to be more selective. I used to say, well it's noble and it doesn't hurt to give too much. There's no point in waiting for reciprocity, in fact, there should be no waiting. But there's no point in letting people stab you either. So I'm done. I admit that I popped that dharma pill that Jammy gave me, said a silent prayer and told myself to calm down. My resolve seemed to return. And here I am, in the midst of programming myself.

In my mind I've told myself that I'm am of a certain class and that I should be behaving as such. I know this sounds like I'm an elitist. Perhaps I am an elitist, perhaps I'm a middle class heartlander trying to be someone that I'm not. It doesn't really matter really. I know that I don't have to shove it in anyone's face or anything like that. It's just an opinion that I have to believe in, to believe in myself. I'm not about to let the little people come bug me with their petty little things. Because right now, it's time to put the shades on. The only people who get to see my eyes are those that are close to me, everyone else can fuck off.

9 june 2006 - A new life and Doreamon

June 9th, 2006
A new life and Doreamon
12:03 am
I woke up really really late today. I guess the last 3 nights of Diablo II really killed me. I've been sleeping later and later and later. Although last night I was in bed by 3. All this pirating and diablo-ing really wears on you. Returned some email online for an hour today and was out to the gym by 1445 but because I had to go to the hospital later that evening I had to be done by about 5. I thought ok... why not? New workout shorter time. Turns out the lower sec waterpolo boys were in the gym and hogging everything else. By the time they were done it was already 1600 so I quickly did half a workout and left. :) Tomorrow it continues. Speaking of which. I got my 1 month pass from Cali Bugis. The grrl there didn't want to give me the spiel on the sales bit after I gave her my name card so she just walked me around the gym and we talked about her and her work, about working out and the rights and wrongs. Bottomline? 289 for 4 months and 60 every month. I don't see why i should. I pay 400 a year. But I did the body composition test and I'm 104% obese. Yay! :)

I got word early this morning that a good friend from a long time ago had her baby yesterday afternoon. It was really wierd too coz I was just messaging her yesterday at between 12noon and 1530hrs... it turns out that her hubby was doing the replying. Wow. It's pretty amazing. I still can't get over it whenever this happens. I suppose I should get used to it considering that a lot of my friends are "coming of age" and babies are abound. Vicki and I used to be such great friends in school. She was one of the babes in school that everyone talked about. I didn't really see the big deal she was and, well up till her pregnancy, flat. She admits it. :)

Vicki and I were classmates during my first year in JC so that makes her a year younger than I. We had a blast... she always used to hang out with the other RGS girls and they woul sorta gossip. She was one of the grrls who would ask me why I couldn't be bothered and stuff like that. But she was different, she was simply the matter-of-fact person and she placed no judgements. She was going out with someone who was a year her senior and I remember that when she told me she was going out with Reuben, I was like, "you're going out with him?? But he's an ASSHOLE....!!" She gave me this incredulous look and said, "He's NOT an asshole... but then everyone says he is.... *sigh*" Turns out he WAS an asshole. :)

We started yapping on the phone and hanging out a little in school and class. I never really really hung out with her outside of school... I guess that's what I appreciated her for...she valued and understood that a lot of those times I wanted to be alone and to do my own things. She realised that I had my problems and she didn't judge me like the others, not like the teachers or the so called friends. She stuck by me through and through... silently and from a distance and she rooted me on as a friend. She supported me even when she didn't agree. I used to call her up and just by the tone of her voice, I'd go, "Oi... you PMS ah?" and she go, "How come you always know?" Coz we're friends and I could tell something was wrong with her mood.

<-- this is indeed a terrible, terrible pic. our prom nite. goodness... that was some terrible makeup. (on her dammit!)
When I was retained in JC1 I thought the friendship would end, but she became my "senior" class and we shared the same LT(6). Whenever 2SCx trooped out of LT6, 1SCx trooped in and we'd pass by in the corridor. During some of the tutorials Vicki and I would be writing little notes, bitching at what was happening in class and during LT, jotting down stuff that's in our heads, and just "talking" on paper. As we'd pass by in the halls, we'd pass each other our little handwritten notes, sometimes in silence as we continued chatting with our own classmates, somethings we exchanged greetings. She was typically always chirpy and I was typically moody. It was joy to read her little pick me up notes in those, that I consider, the dark days. I had my relationships and she had hers and even through our individual relationships, we'd still write as friends and talk on the phone as friends. I suppose we had less time on the phone when she went to J2 but we still stayed in touch now and then.

After I completed my Promo exams for the second time, I realised how fucked I was. I realised I didn't even need to come back to school, it was the end of my JC education... there was nothing for it. This was sometime in early october (i think), and I didn't go to school after that. I went out to work¹. When my classmates paged me and told me I should come back to school coz the results would be released, I took a day off and went back to school. I remember it felt a bit strange but rather heartwarming to wear the uniform again. I don't remember collecting my results, I only remember I had something like 1 E and F for everything else. There wasn't a point in staying in school, but I remember that there was one more paper to collect after lunch so I went out and bought my first pack of fags. Gudang Garam. I even went into school, walked up to the top of the stairs on one end of the main building and lit up². Who cared? What could they possibly do to me? Suspend me? Kick me out of school? Guess who I saw as I came down the stairs? Vicki. She came looking for me after my other good friend Pi got worried that I wasn't in class and I was super moody (again). So she asked Vicki.

"Were you smoking?" She asked in that distinctive voice of hers... which sort of fluttered when she got excited and went into a near falsetto.
"yes."
"You know you're going to get into a lot of trouble?"
"what could they possibly do? Kick me out of school? I'm already going to be kicked out."
"why?"
"coz I got 1 E and 3F's"
"oh... what did you get the E in?"
"Bio"
"well I'm proud of you...you super flunked bio last year." That's sort of the conversation. I only remember that bit. That was rather sweet of her... always looking on the bright side of things.

Wow. It's been 13 years. I remember she even called me once after I left school the following year. She was in NUS I think and she was thinking of dating another good friend of hers. I even remember warning her about it that it would jeopardize the whole friendship thing if things soured. In fact I reminded her of our conversations about being more than friends. We were pretty glad we didn't. Now that I think of it, I shudder! :P It didn't last for her and Jxxxson. Now she's married and she has little Sarah! :) Time flies. Vicki really is a wonderful wonderful person. I still count her as a friend.. even though we've drifted apart after she went to NUS and I went to NS.

I googled Doreamon and found this. One learns something NEW everyday.

1: I don't know how I pulled it off with my parents but I found me a temp job and I worked.
2: I was already 19 and over the age limit. The 18 legal age legislation only started when I was 19, so that rule never really applied to me.

2nd June 2006 - Insurance Agents are Wankers

June 2nd, 2006
12:25 am

Indeed. Insurance agents are such wankers aren't they? They pester you, they hard sell you, they always seem to be concerned for you and your family, and god forbid that they should ever be concerned for you and the people that surround you. May Hell curse them should then even mention that they are concerned about your friends. They're ALL money grubbing monsters who only do it for the money.

Yes. They're ALL like that, useless pieces of trash that society has rejected because they can't fit into the general scheme of things. Yup, they're like that... just like all "oriental" people in the West cannot speak english and come from China, all "black" people from Africa live in trees, all HIV postive people are gay, and all teachers are losers coz they can't hack it in the proverbial "real" world. Curse to them all.

*Gasp!* Jooles! How can you say such a thing? Well why the hell not? People say it all the time? What makes me any different? I'm chinese and I lived in the West, so therefore I'm am from China. Technically so, isn't it? I am Chinese and I have chinese roots in the Mainland. Go, go Gadget Chairman Mao! Whassup with the Óriental nonsense anyways? I'll tell you what it is... it's a term coined by our former colonial masters for anything that ran EAST of London. No I'm not shitting you, that is the official definition. So who're the real wankers of today? Those that make generalisations in their myopia? Or those that merely choose to go in the other direction?

What is so wrong in the idea that there are people out there who really give a shit — People who really give a damn? People who really care? There certainly are teachers out there who really care about their students and very little about their career advancement. I know one who has a first class degree from Cambridge but he chose to stay in teaching, at the same very school he came from. He even turned down the P position many many times in his career to stay in his chosen field and chosen school. Can I blame him? His boss was his teacher.

But Jooles, you really shouldn't think about what these people say.... Yes indeed. How can you be empathetic and apathetic at the same time? Take the best and throw the best? Indeed. Should I stay or should I go? Break and give in to the social strain/pressure? Break and believe that I gave up? Give in to the challenge? What's wrong in taking the easy way out? If I leave what shall I do with my prized clients/friends? I can't just give up on them like that. But Jooles of course you can. Yes sure I can, but I made a promise to them... I really hope I can keep them. But there're so many considerations to make. So many. But nobody really understands. Life is such isn't it?

Only I have the answers. It's within me, in my heart, in my Soul. Deep within the recesses of my mind and Soul hides the Truth. The truth shall set me free. Or will it?

13 may 2006 - have more kids

2006-05-13 05:59:00

Current mood: apathetic
there really seems to be more babies around these days. Is it because of the baby bonus nonsense? are singaporean so myopic that a cash bribe of a mere $1,500 per child will suffice to entice young marrieds to bring forth new life?

here's the low down on the baby bonus nonsense according to the blurb from
"Children Development Co-Savings (Baby Bonus) Scheme

Singaporeans do want more children. They agree that three would be ideal, according to a Government survey. But the lack of time, energy and money are cited as reasons for not having the dream family size. The Baby Bonus Scheme, first introduced in April 2001, has been enhanced to support parents’ decision to have more children by helping to lighten the financial costs of raising children.

The scheme now also benefits the first and fourth child born on or after 1 August 2004. The first child will receive a cash gift, while the second to fourth child will receive both a cash gift and a co-savings matching contribution from the Government."

Here's my point... you give $1,500 cash to the 1st and 2nd children and $6,000 cash to the 3rd and 4th. Big fat hairy deal. Where does the cash go? Paying the hospital bills? Why? Coz the bloody hospitals know it... so what do they do? They crank up the bills. They bloody charge you for all sorts of nonsense. But that's not my biggest beef. My biggest beef is the stupid "Co-Savings in Children Development Account" crap. From the second child onwards, the Government matches your contribution dollar for dollar up to $6,000 for the 2nd kid and up to $12,000 for the 3rd and 4th kids. So if I stick in $6,000 and/or $12,000, it'll be matched by the Government to give amounts of $12,000 and $24,000 respectively. Wow. Not bad. Right. Here's my philosophy on Money... the Man always wins... the House always wins... you get the idea. Let's lay this out:

A) POSB Only

The account can only be started in POSBank. I'm wondering WHY POSBank and only POSBank? Is it because they merged with DBS and everyone's going to DBS anyways? What's up with the whole sch-bang deal anyways? I maintain it's a means by which to fill up the coffers of POSBank¹. Which not only saw a steady decline in the 50's but saw another decline after the merger in the early 90's. Who says? I bloody say so. Massage the numbers all you want, it's obvious that POSBank targets the heartlanders with their "quantity not quality" syle of management/marketing. What POSBank needs desperately is a serious INFUSION of moola. Just like they did in the early 80's, with the silly squirrel saver campaign². What do banks do with that all that deposit money? Well doesn't it all then boil down to the history of money?³. They invest it and lend it to other buggers. Who's the ultimate winner? Duh! So here's the problem, the Emperor rules the country with an iron fist designed to look and feel like a feather boa, and so there's literally zero competition. Every bank gives you the same low down, effed up rate of a miserable 0.125%. That's 0.00125.

For every $1,000 I stick in POSB, I get a whopping $1.25. Per annum no less. WTF.

B) Approved Institutions

Now this money can't be used by anyone but "approved institutions." That's like saying, "why don't you suck up to me, bribe me legally, pay my fees, get my approval for your 'educational' activities and I'll put you in my 'approved' list." Sheesh. Now let's say this money isn't all used, where does it go? Can you say "EduSave?" Good. Now follow that train of thought, what if EduSave isn't completely used up? Can you say, "CPF?" Why would our children need a shit load of money in CPF starting at such a young age? Coz of the LIBERALISATION of cpf? What the heck is going on? The money we're sticking in is simply being rolled over and over and over, back in to guess who? The Government. Brilliant. And this is on top of the CPF that we contribute. If CPF is so darned good, why do we need to start working towards the Minimum Sum at birth?? WTF?!

Now imagine this... every married couple has an average of 3 kids which might possibly mean they stick in about $18,000 in total. Say there are a miserable 1million couples... that's a $18,000,000,000. Let's say the bank/edusave/cpf invests this insane amount of money at a meagre 10% return per annum.... for 20 years no less. Can you go, "!!!"? Fuck. Even if you match 18,000, spread that over 20 years and it's still about 1,000 a year... now what's 1,000 divided by 18,000? 0.055...? FIVE FUCKING PERCENT? Tsk.

And the Winner is.... *DING* DING*

What did I say? Who da man? Who yo' daddy? The Man. The Man. The MAN. Ah but wait. There is a caveat to this "rule." The Rich. If I was rich enough to drop in the stinking $6,000 and/or $12,000, 1 month after the birth of my children, who cares? What's $6,000? What's $12,000? One slug?⁶.

The Rich

The Rich might also go, "meh... what's a slug or 2?" right? Right. Absolutely. But the Rich didn't become rich by biting the hand that feeds. Who'd go, "you're giving me money? Seriously? No thanks!" Fuck. They'd probably go, "Sure thanks for the money, I really need it to feed my family. *rolls eyes*" Then they'd take another $20,000 they had, stick it in a nice foreign bank⁷ that pays a shit load more interest for a regular savings account. then there're the fixed deposit sort of accounts. Choices aplenty! Of course then they'd take another $20,000 and stick in derivatives or something. No risk, no return!

Jooles you DUMBASS

What? I digressed? Not really. Sorta. Maybe. Kinda. Are there more kids? I think so. I'm pretty sure there are coz Singaporeans, especially of the heartlander inclination, will only see the small stuff, not the cold light of day. Whee! We get $3,000 for having sex and having a child. Myopic indeed.

Notes

1: See history of POSBank according to Wikipedia.org. "The Post Office Savings Bank was established on 1 January 1877 in the General Post Office Building, in Raffles Place by the British Government. The bank had a relatively glorious past; by 1951, the bank had its 100 000th depositor, and followed a slow decline after the reaching its peak in 1955.

The bank became part of the Postal Department prior to independence, and it was only after independence when the then Minister for Finance, Goh Keng Swee, who rediscovered the potential of the bank to develop the infrastructure of the infant citystate.

In 1972, the Post Office Savings Bank, or commonly referred as the POSB or POSBank by then, was made a Statutory Board under the Ministry of Communications. Prior to the consolidation, the Post Office Savings Bank Act of 1971 was passed to govern the structure and operational efficiency of the bank. In 1974, POSBank was transferred to become part of the Ministry of Finance; Credit POSB Pte Ltd was established in the same year to provide custom-tailored loans relating to HDB housing ownership.

By 1976, POSBank had one million depositors, while deposits crossed the S$1 billion mark. In 1980, it introduced the Passcard, and set-up the Principal Branch. In 1981, its first Cash-On-Line ATM machine opened at the Newton Branch. In 1983, its headquarters were shifted to the new 8-storey complex, the POSBank Centre at Bras Basah Road. In 1984, the current account facility was introduced, and by 1986, deposits crossed the S$10 billion mark.

The Post Office Savings Bank was renamed as POSBank as of March 1990, and subsequently fully acquired by DBS Bank on 16 November 1998, at the same time, ceased to exist as a statutory board under the Ministry of Finance. POSBank still operates one the highest number of bank branches in Singapore, especially in the suburban neighbourhoods, and operates the highest number of ATM outlets throughout Singapore. The integration of both banks allowed customers of either bank to share the facilities; DBS Bank depositors may use the Cash Deposit Machine installed islandwide in POSBank branches, likewise for POSBank depositors."

2: Yes I remember the stupid campaign. I still see in my mind's eye the damned squirrel (which I can't find an image of... did they bloody get so embarrased with it that they destroyed all evidences of it?)

3: You gotta make money grow; So sometime in history when shells⁴ were the currency of the day, there was this guy -- let's call him BenQue⁵. So BenQue goes to shell-rich CrabMan and says, "Yo, dude. Give me all your shells and I'll give you 1 shell for every 10 shells you give me. I promise to keep it safe for you and I promise that you'll get your 10 extra shells for your every shell when Cancer next appears in the heavens. (So there we have the basic idea of interest.) So CrabMan goes, "WTH, why not. What have I got to lose?" and proceeds to give BenQue 1,000 shells.

BenQue then goes to Swamp (dweller) Loser and says, "Hey dude... I like you, and I think you could do better than living in a dump like this. What say I give you 300 shells and you can move on up the bank away from all this muck and slime, and concentrate on being dry WHILST still managing your slug-farming activites. You can farm more slugs, sell more slugs because you have to spend less time draining the family bedroom of slime, whenever the tide comes in. You could probably sell 5 times more slugs than you normally sell. In return when the Twins -- Gemini appear in the sky you give me 2 shells for every shell I give you? How's that? If you sell your slugs at 1 shell each, instead of making the 10 shells a day, you'd might be able to earn 50 shells a day! Now is that a bargain or what? So Swamp Loser says,"hey... now that's not a bad idea... the stupid non swamp dweller doesn't know the business as well as i do... I could probably sell 10times more slugs! And I'd still come up tops!"

So here we have it. Ultimately who wins?

4:No really. Let's just assume shells were a form of currency. You know the like, usually from animals of class crustacea and their friends of the exoskeletal nature.

5: BenQue... BenQ... Ben-Q... Ban-Q... Banque... BANK?? It's not as direct as naming a building YENOM, but it's the same cheena-fied idea. (YENOM... MONEY?? Duh.)

6: See Note 3 on the Swamp (dweller) loser and his Slugs

7: in say, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, or any where else for that matter.

02 may 2006 - circuit training

Current mood: cheerful
Current music: Deep Dish - GU021 - Moscow - Deep Dish - CD2

circuit training
I came across this while I was doing a search on human musculature:

"Your Questions Answered about 'Circuit Training'
The human musculature doesn't care if resistance is from weights or a piston, but do it the right order to get results."
Full Article here.

I particularly like this quote: "... if you do not regularly change the stimulus to the muscle, all increases in strength or muscular endurance will plateau ...""

Here's more though I'm not sure I would actually advise these sort of thing for anyone. Still it's worth a look.
Combat Obesity
Independent Hydraulic Fitness Gyms Have the Solutions

and then there's this: The 22-Minute Workout
A training system for both men and women in just 22-minutes, the secret lies in what's in between the stations.

The thing to to note about these exercises is that they're good for the general public. So who says working out is for hard core's? :P

I think I pulled my lower abs the other day. Everytime I did a leg raise or a sit up there'd be this strain sort of pain. Not quite painful but irritating.

eadwine says I should blog how Im trying to quit smoking. :P

So here goes:

How did I start? Well I think one day I just went out of the house, tried to look in my bag for my fags and realised, "WTF? I forgot I ran out of fags. I must've smoke my last one last night."

The idea that I've been a slave to this habit for the last 10 years or so has been quite shack. I mean I looked at myself and said that I could pick up new stuff, like skiing in a single season, I pick up wakeboarding in less than 3 runs, and I lost weight and got this body in 3 months. If I can do all that shite, why can't I bloody do WELL for my business AND frigging quit smoking. The idea that I was a slave to something just didn't sit very well It's that simple. I didn't want to be a slave anymore. The shitty thing about it was that I was a voluntary slave.

It's been about about 3 weeks now? Alright no.. it's been about 2.5 weeks. I've had maybe about 1 fag on the average a day since. But I haven't bought a pack since. I've been close to buying when I get depressed or upset or just plain bored. But the gum has really worked. It tastes like crap after a while but it does help. I was into phase 1 of the withdrawal but that's over. The typical runny nose, sneezing, coughing and general feel fucked-up-ness. That was over quickly and I must admit that the 1 fag or 2 helped. There were days I had none and there were days I had up to 4. :P It's only been 4 days since I had any fags at all. The gum is working. But I'm into phase II of the withdrawal shite now. I get a runny nose if I dont take any stims.... ie: coffee helps, tea helps and Kickstart™ definately helps.

I didn't go to work today coz I feel like shitz. The morning coffee helped and I'm starting my 2nd pack of nicorettes (2mg). The mouth is still dryish but not so bad. I Soooooooooooo want a fag now. But chew chew chew! :P So that's it... so far. I've been eating like a pig and my only consolation is that i can still afford it at the moment. I think I'm going to serious switch back to supersets to get some burn and get back to running. It's been a week.

27th apr 2006 - the tong is in town

The Tong is in Town
25 April 2006
My buddy from way back is back in town. Holy smokes! It's really good to see him. We were classmates in acj and we went through a lot together. From his suffering from depression to sharing of our teenage angsts to clowning around town in someone's daddy's car. It was utterly amazing! Thinking about it brings this massive grin to my face. I was talking to M last night about his policy and how he kept postponing me. I told him it had to stop...stop postponing and meet me and let's do up his plan and get it done. When we met up, he seemed nonchalant. But then that's M for you. 14 years and some things just don't change. Good news is that he's decided to take out another plan. Whee! Now the question is when he's going to sign. Anyhoo... he goes,"... in fact L's in town... just got in last night," when I mention that I caught up with Nag to get him some GI for his company, and that he's in London. So I just met up with Leon and Gan. Wow!! What a feeling!

The silly things we used to do.

I remember once that some of them went out in the car, and I think Nag, M, YL and Markus was in the car with L. They had the windows down in M's dad's civic and they were yelling at SPG's. They saw this SPG in a convertible with her guy and just started yelling "SPG! SPG!" Then they decided to drive around town doing just that....waylaying SPG's and their lovers -- "SPG! SPG!" So my friends kept doing that until someone piped up, "Ey. L. Isn't your mudder a SPG, technically?"
L goes, "Ey! you're right man. I think we better stop this shit."
*guffaw* *guffaw* and on with the show....

Another time we were heading to one of them Jam and Hops at NUS. We went in 2 cars. I was in YL's merc with M, and the indian, eurasian, and sri lankan and singh were in the other car. All along the way to NUS we were gesturing and cursing and swearing at each other through wound down windows at traffic lights. We were really laying it on thick and people actually thought that the racist comments we made at each other were for real. We finally came to this light just before NUS and the other chaps jump out of the car, open the boot and whip out the hockey sticks and cricket bats that were there and start to head towards us. The horror on the look of the other motorists were simply classic! Anyways they didn't get 2 metres from their car; as they headed our way the light changed, we went "bye suckers!" and moved off. M in the other car started to move off too and these guys literally threw their shit through the open windows and jumped in head first through the open windows! We were nuts!

As we chatted, L made a comment about how he missed me and that it was good to see me. I said the same damn thing. It was really good to see L. It's been too many years. He said it was funny how we were always the underdogs in school but now we're doing things that weren't really run-off-the-mill. I commented that even when I returned to the old JC our old teacher said something along the lines of, "Y'know it's quite funny how things turn out. It's always YOU rebels that have more fun and be more successful, the academics just lead boring lives." L and I went, "sigh. the poor sods," and guffawed away.

Heard some news about some sod that we know that used to hang out with us. The self same sod that made me pay midnight charge to Zouk, wait for him for 2 hours and not turn up. The same sod that stood me up, cheated me of my money, and basically used me as a brainless, overly loyal friend also said, "you know guys, I don't think we should hang out with L anymore... he's crazy." WTF! L could help being manic depressed. HK was a complete fucker. Time after time he'd come back and tell us how much he's changed and expound how he's so much a better person and how we shd approach life like him. And time after time, we'd let him lie and cheat us. Sheesh. Anyways L was saying how he met HK and his wife some 2 years back when they were on their honeymoon. HK was telling L that he's seen the light, that marriage was the thing to do, that L should get settled down and blah blah blah. Apparently L met HK recently and he's divorced. Hell. It surprised me even but I'm not really sympathetic. The arse.

It's amazing how L lived here for just 5 years. Picked up Singlish. Goes back to Britain for his uni, work there and set up his own firm there, get it to run on it's own, and come back here after 10 years plus and STILL switch the Singlish back on! I'm really amused. We're going to meet up this weekend again and I'm bloody excited!

Memories of days past.

12 April 2006 @ 05:29 am

I couldn't sleep so I went through some old pics and just reminisced (as I karaoked on my own). Thought it'd be nice to post some pics of poignent moments. With friends that have come and gone. Some have remained, some have left. Pain and pleasure all mixed up.

...
don't you say why were the old days better
just because you're scared of the unknown
take My hand and walk
Don't live in the past
cause yesterday's gone
wishing memories would last
you're afraid to carry on
.... -- Take My Hand and Walk - The Kry

Current Mood: mellow
Current Music: Bananarama - I Heard A Rumor

ooh look more updates

24 March 2006 @ 03:16 am

dammit. D just cancelled on me for the ride on sat. But hey Ead and Dan are going riding. It's ead's first time and i get to laff. haha. No lah. I won't laugh lah. I'll take lotsa vids and plaster them. :)

I feel bad that I had to cancel on Ed (the boatman). Oh well this'll be the first time I'm riding with the Punggol people. Let's see if what they say is true. I'd like to see what this guy has to say about my riding. I'm not good but I know i'm learning. I swear I'm going to make the stupid wakejump this time.

Current Mood: crazy
Current Music: Humpback Oak - The Last Homegrown Lost Boy
---
23 March 2006 @ 12:41 pm
New 160GB drive means a rip up!

My dad got an old P4 2.4 from a friend and wanted a new case to go along with it so I get to take back the old p3 that I handed to him when I came back from .ca. The old P3 has seem some serious action since I got it way back in 2000 when I was back in sg for a long awaited holiday. Wow. It's been that long and it's funny how my P3 survived in the hands of my dad. Well ok he did destroy the parallel port ¹ but then I haven't tested it yet so I wouldn't know. Last night I got home a little early so I decided I'd take the parts from the HP P4 machine and stick it in the larger medium tower that the P3 was in. What I forgot was that the larger p3 ASUS cuv4x board couldn't fit in the HP case. Bummer... or not! :) haha I decided that since I was going to just use the stupid thing as a storage server then I wouldn't need to access all the cards much at all.

This is considering that I only need to set it up once so that it boots up automatically and that I have remote admin access to that machine. There really isn't much I want to do with that machine anyways. Maybe some times I might need to use it for some spare processing but that's it.

My tech inventory now holds :

Processors
1x Intel P4 2.4GHz
1x Intel P3 733MHz
1x Intel P2 500MHz
3x Intel P2 450MHz

RAM
1x 512MB DDR
5x 256MB DDR
2x 128MB DDR
4x 64MB DDR

HDD
1x 160GB Seagate Barrucuda 7200RPM
2x 80GB Maxtor Calypso 7200RPM
1x 40GB Samsung
1x 30GB Maxtor
1x 8GB IBM

The original P4 had the Samsung in it along with the DVD RW (2nd gen). Then I came back from Canada and stuck in my 2 80GB's and handed my dad the 40GB. Now I've gotten a 160GB and everything's a mess. Now this is what's happened. The P4 has a the Samsung as a boot drive, the 160 and the 80, and of course the DVD RW. I realised I couldn't stick in more memory because this stupid HP m/b comes only with 2 DDR slots. So I'm stuck with 768MB of RAM. I guess I can do more video rendering now what with the 160, i guess I'll prolly use the 80 as a scratch disk. Either way. The P3 has the 10GB as a boot drive, and i've spanned the 80 and 30GB drives together on that one to use as storage and spare processing, the board has 3 slots so I gave it 768MB of RAM too. THe only thing is that I realised that the P4 board is way small and fits into the old Medium tower that the P3 was in, but not vice versa. So I stuck the P3 board in sideways. That is.. the card slots of the P3 now sit facing the bottom of the stand-up case. :P I only need a network card in there anyways.

Now I just have to tie up some loose ends. THe sound card isn't being detected on this P4 Machine so I have to open it up and jiggle the card around a bit.

I went to the gym yesterday and I've decided that I'm going to change my workout. It's time I did anyways, the full body workout gives a great kick but I must admit that it is getting a little boring overall. I spent the time at the gym yesterday trying to figure out how I should further refine my workout and I;m rather excited about the new workout. The first thing that I did was to figure out what are the exercises that I could do (including variations) for the various body parts. Next I had to decide how I wanted to implement the body part idea for each workout. I think I've decided to split the bod up into 3 major areas that over lap into each area.

Day 1: Lower bod (high), abs,and lower back (high), chest, upper back, shoulders (low)
Day 2: abs, core, lower back (low), chest, upper back, shoulders (high), biceps, triceps (low)
Day 3: Chest, shoulders, upper back , shoulders (low), biceps, triceps lower bod (high)

A possible variation would probably be the chest, maybe I might do inclined, declined and regular bench depending. I dont want to get too regimented but I think I want to try this alternating high-low combo. I'm going to try to keep my workouts to 2 hours max now, not including cardio that is. :P

¹ Or so he claims, so much so that he had to get a parallel port card

Current Mood: cheerful
---
12 March 2006 @ 07:16 pm
CCB!. I need new boss filters.

let's continue looking at some rantings and ravings via 500 char sized sms'! All the blah blah blah and all that shite about what to do. if really wanted to do things HIS way then why bloody ask me to do the shit. :P I don't see a point in being so anal and nasty to other people who are providing a service to us.

Maybe I should quit. This isn't worth it at all. Or is it?

WTF. He's even dictating when I should or should not check my emails. WTF. I have a bloody reservist shit to deal with the next day. CB!

>>10 Mar 2006
boss (10/3 14:47): I've sent emails to all BMW committee members. Check them TODAY! I want answers..thanks.
boss (10/3 17:34): The doctor's slides are great but have some repitition which we need him to re-check. We've re-designed and plonked into master. J, D needs your Mom's name. Will email A the master slides for him to get doctor to proof read his slides.
me (10/3 17:43): ok. I already informed A of the length
boss (10/3 18:45): Wait..i've looked through it..the contents are good for us..don't cut it but tell A to inform the doctor to not take longer than required in the program and 'speak energetically faster with impact'. That's why I need the program highlights in order to plan each speakers timing. Sequence should be as the master slides. You just need to work out the timings.
me (10/3 18:47): Roger
boss (10/3 18:52): Can you ask AL to ask M if we happen to stretch longer that day because of time taken to close cases, can we negotiate to not be charged extra? Give AL a list of our enquiries to YWCA so she can handle them at 1 call. The CD player and this. Also, for her to remind May about their tech to hook up audio cable from presenter lap top to mixer board. So we have 3 channels. 1 for lap top audio, 1 for wireless mike, 1 for CD player.
me (10/3 18:55): I won't b able to check email till sat night? Will b back late tonight and got mob tomorrow.
boss (10/3 19:11): Somehow you have to check tonight. Also before I forget, road show rules stipulate that all contracted advisers are to wear lanyards with Authorisation Cards or Business Cards at the event. Have to inform them on Monday.
boss (10/3 19:14): Name tags must also be prepared for CC, BL and D as staff for the event.
me (10/3 19:14): speaking of monday my mum is going to the hosp. I can't attend the meeting
boss (10/3 19:57): What time will u be done with yr mom?
me (10/3 19:59):
boss (10/3 20:04): Just tell me what time and i'll postpone our mtg to suit you. No time already!
me (10/3 20:06): I dunt know. Her appt is usually at 9 and she can wait till 3
boss (10/3 20:07): Then how, J? Suggest something then..this is work, we have to sort things out..
me (10/3 20:09): I'll be there at 9
boss (10/3 20:12): Dear All! This coming Monday morning meeting is off. We will instead have the final brief for BMW extensively on Tues morning 9am-12.30pm. All to attend except Eile who's out of town. Thanks.
boss (10/3 20:16): Dear All! This coming Monday morning meeting is off. We will instead have the final brief for BMW extensively on Tues morning 9am-12.30pm. All to attend except Eile who's out of town. Thanks.
me (10/3 20:20): Roger dat. U didn't have to do that I was making arrangements. Thanks
boss (10/3 20:21): Done..just prepare everything that needs to be prepared for brief on Tuesday.
boss (10/3 23:48): C,(c.c. J & AL) sorry to bug you so late but take note that we'll need about 2 rolls of duck tape with scissors to tape down the connecting cables from projector to my lap top (in tablet mode) placed on the rostrum on the stage and from the lap top to the sound mixer for the commercials to be played. J, i'm just afraid my lap top speed may slow down the commercials so you need to check both ads on my lap top. Thanks.

Here he reserves time for himself. So how am I expected to sell? fucker.
This continued the next day

>> 11 Mar 2005
boss (11/3 16:54): Dear All! Pls take note the Organization activities for the next 2 weeks into your own schedules. Mon 13 March- No Agency Mtg. Tues 14 March 9am-12.30pm BMW training & mtg. Sat 18 March 9am-6pm (Prep for and event time for BMW) Mon 20 March 9am-12pm (tentatively in trng room)guest speaker formerly from Manulife will be present & PFR refresher training. Tues 21 March 9am-2pm, NLP training. Thanks.

I started receiving the first messages at 0845 in the morning and they didn't stop. He sends such long messages that the system can't take it and sends me gibberish. When I tell him that I'm receiving gibberish he sends me the whole fucking schbang AGAIN.

And today: >> 12 Mar 2006
boss (8:47): J, I need to see you for a working meeting tomorrow in the afternoon, anytime for Tues briefing. Inform me when.
boss (8:57): Here's the agenda that must be planned and settled BY tomorrow. 1. Door Gift List for insertion into bags. 2. Pre-Show Program - Loading of Road Show Props & stationary & forms (what forms? Do we have enough? Letterheads. Spare ink cartridges?)- Cars (what goes into whose cars?)- IT equipment (lap tops for program and printer) 3. Individual Adviser Must-Do List- Lanyards & Name Cards and/or Authorization Cards - Staff Name Tags (Colin Chuan & Brian's including names of DermaCare staff) - all suited. 4. Programme Highlights for each guest at table. 5. Programme Highlights for each adviser & staff- From set up time, programme briefing etc 6. Work Group Plan (disseminate labor work plan-what is to be set up by who?) 7. Ensure DQÇC(Å1fÖ£¥ìM\Xi4
2ThM"n and they must follow the plan for set-up and registration must know the ushering process. 8. Ushering Process (since there is no@\SigmaChøFfÖÇè'
"9ø_\XiC&øint name tags for especially DermaCare's guests)
boss (9:56): Pls coordinate with julian today on the time to meet me tomorrow for final brief b4 tues. Timing to yr convenience. I'm ok whole day. Cc. Julian.
me (11:43): ur msg was 2 long & got garbled.This is wat I rec'd: 8. Ushering Process (since there is no@\SigmaChøFfÖÇè' "9ø_\XiC&øint name tags for especially DermaCare's guests)
boss (11:44): Here's the agenda that must be planned and settled BY tomorrow. 1. Door Gift List for insertion into bags. 2. Pre-Show Program - Loading of Road Show Props & stationary & forms (what forms? Do we have enough? Letterheads. Spare ink cartridges?)- Cars (what goes into whose cars?)- IT equipment (lap tops for program and printer)
boss (11:46): 3. Individual Adviser Must-Do List- Lanyards & Name Cards and/or Authorization Cards - Staff Name Tags (Colin Chuan & Brian's including names of DermaCare staff) - all suited. 4. Programme Highlights for each guest at table.
boss (11:47): 5. Programme Highlights for each adviser & staff- From set up time, programme briefing etc 6. Work Group Plan (disseminate labor work plan-what is to be set up by who?) 7. Ensure DermaCare knows the plan and they must follow the plan for set-up and registration must know the ushering process. 8. Ushering Process (since there is no time to design and print name tags for especially DermaCare's guests)
me (11:49): Roger dat. Thanks
boss (11:49): One more thing..-Sitting arrangements for our guests to our advisers.
me (11:53): May we meet outside of the office please?
boss (11:55): If u wan to, bring yr laptop along & minute the meeting. Coffee bean. Coordinate with the rest & let me know the time.
me (11:56): I meant outside the office bldg
boss (11:57): why?
me (12:03): Will be @ fx b/w 1500 & 1600. Colin b there pls.
boss (12:05): Are u saying meeting will be from 1500 - 1600? Or will u be there between 1500 - 1600? 1 hr is not enough .
me (12:07): i'll be there between 15-1600hrs.
boss (12:09): I think u should be fair & tell them wat time specifically. If u can only make it @ 1600, then meet then. If not,they will be waiting for an hour.
Current Mood: cynical
---
10 March 2006 @ 12:28 pm
random ramblings
tuesday's gym session was short. I was tired and I felt the strain at my deltoids where I pulled something the last time. I'm going to take a week's break from gym and maybe do a little cardio instead.

seated calf extension 380lbs 3x10
ab ball crunch 3x15
dumbell press 20kg 3x8
lat pull down 110lbs 3x8
side bends 18kh 3x8
upright pec flys 63kg 3x8

I lost the 84K case to an independant financial planning group. The only supposed consolation is that they too were formerly from Pru. It sucks that I chased this guy for the last 9 months diligently and patiently waiting for him. Still he gave me the API that he required so it's not so bad.

I'm sitting outside at CoffeeBean at Suntec instead of being IN the seminar. My consolation is that I've heard this speaker before. Fuck. Chief Agency Officer is here smoking too and I think he spotted me. Damn C for making me so well known to him! At my stage of the game I shouldn't be recognisable to the corporate staff much less to the CAO and CEO. I've never been one to crave this much attention. Maybe CAO will think that I'm supposed to be here for the afternoon session (which is my proper time slot)... yeh I wish.

My submissions this month so far total $7373 and I have another $3543 awaiting signatures and submission. Bringing my total up to $10,916. Of which $10,776 is API. Effectively I've just given myself a pay raise of $449.

Argh. CAO spotted me! Came over to have coffee and fags no less. "I didn't see u here," says he. So after yammering with him about the old days of selling, marlin & sailfish fishing and the good ol' days of the SAF. So now I'm back upstairs at The Rock Auditorium. I'm cranky and I don't even know why.

I wonder if it because I've declared a haitus from the gym and because I can't go swim/suntan coz I'm still peeling from that wakeboarding session with dufusgufus and D. Days after that I went suntanning again. Not because I was itching for a serious burn but because I plastered SPF 50 during wakeboarding and I thought another session would be nice. Oh well. I'm peeling a little, even my hands.

It's been a while since I blathered ( on )

I need some bits of me to get bigger. just a little. My chest for one. And the biceps too, I'm losing that cut that divides the deltiods, triceps and biceps. That means I'm making progress in that area but argh.... it's that age-old wanna-be-bigger-but-want-definition complaint. I guess until I hear from Visa about that possible TV commercial and from Cobalt about that photoshoot I have to stay lean. I want more shoots!

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]


Current Mood: Bored

I need a new pair of virtual ear plugs and sound filters

09 March 2006 @ 05:46 pm

he has a penchant for sending bloody long text messages. and using the fucking ! sign. and for being super naggy. wtf. he broke my virtual ear plugs and destroyed my "theBoss" sound filters.

dBoss (11:55): Pls arrange with YWCA for CD player to be hooked up to sound board for fanfares when speakers are announced to go up besides the piped music. Negotiate for it to come for free. Thanks.
me: I dont think they have a proper soundboard.
dBoss (12:16): Of course they do. They have full range speakers.
(it's the fucking ywca they have shit conference facilities. THe room is shit and the equipment is shit. I'm already working with what I got and am almost at my wits end dealing with this stupid project.)
--
dBoss (12:17): Guys! For any ILP products, you're supposed to provide the fund information booklet BEFORE the client signs on the proposal form. Ensure, pls! Thanks.
like DUH.
--
dBoss (15:06): How come the rest of you are not in OCS today. I'm not joking when I told you all to attend ALL training in your curriculum!
wtf. even he gets to decide what courses i have to take.
--
dBoss (17:17): Guys! Tomorrow's seminar is bloody good! Open up your ears, write notes, pay attention and apply them straight away! A lot to learn and very exciting! Nobody gets off half-way!
i honestly don't need a running commentary of the course that you're in. i'll find out about it tomorrow. why does he always have to give us running commentaries?? WTF??


Current Mood: irritated

mass updates: jan 2006

29 January 2006 @ 05:11 pm
Lonely People
I'm taking a breather at a muslim (obviously) coffee shop across the road from Great World city. And it's still somewhat strange to see the streets practically empty while knowing that in 75% of the households in Singapore, there is a buzz of activity as chinese families move around making (polite/political) conversations. But there are the lonely people out there...

The foreigners and those without family or friends. to visit. Sitting in this coffeeshop, is a man decently dressed, carries himself well, with thinning hair. He wears pretty funky looking spectacles with rather outdated circular, thick lenses. He's tall and skinny, and has got that today-is-a-holiday-so-I-shan't-need-to-shave stubble. He's eating a plate of Nasi Padang rather primly and he now and then pulls a tissue out of his shirt pocket and dabs his mouth. Now and then he stops and clasps his hands together as he looks into some distant vision and chews. Nothing extraordinary about this man except a deep look of loneliness, both resolute and desolate at the sane time. He doesn't need my pity nor anyone elses but I still wonder "what's up?" as he takes in his surroundings and watches the people come and go into this coffee shop; there're the young couples, parents both young and old and their offspring. He chews slowly like someone who relishes his food, someone who's watching the world pass by. What's up, indeed.

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]


Current Mood: sleepy
------

24 January 2006 @ 02:47 am
of past pain and self destruction
An extreme few number of people know of my past paths of self destruction and desolate pain. I speak nothing of it these days, preferring to use those past emotions as tools towards self awareness instead of reasons to strike out. I've struck out too much as it is in the past. Vengence is a powerful emotion, but like phosphorous in hot water, it burns bright, hot and short. Lonliness is more like a slow burn, meticulous and tedious at the same time, like a cancer that eats you away from the inside. Faithlessness is a desolation greater than the sea of tranquility, the vastness of Space. All that led to one thing in the past -- Angst. That then led to Anger, and eventually imploded to Wrath. Indeed one of the original 7 sins and one Sin I am most guilty of in the past. Wrath leads to Hate. I hated Life, I hated Them, I hated me. I Hated. But Hate got me nowhere. At some point I learned to begin to stop hating. I won't go back. I won't go back to that desolation, that pain, nor to the paths of intended self destruction. I will not hate.

"Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose sitting in that chair, watching mind numbing spirit crushing gameshows, wondering who the fuck yer are on a sunday morning.... Choose Life."

Current Mood: contemplative

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]
------
24 January 2006 @ 01:43 am
My Baby's Back!
9 years after it left my hands I've finally gotten it back. This was the guit that I had when i was in school. It's been on a very very long journey. Nag borrowed it from me way back in 97, and it's been to Birmingham, London, France. It's been stored behind doors, in closets, and cupboards and even hung up on the wall as decor for a gay couple that Nag rented a room from! It's been played by my old friend Leon, and forgotten by Nag that he left it with Leon. Leon really took care of it... wiped it down, cleaned it, played it, restrung it. It's been fantastic and it's great just having it back again. This was the guitar that I lugged around in JC. Instead of my files and books, I lugged my guitar bag and this baby was in it! :) Wheeeee!

I had a pretty good day today... well it was shitty at first but I met up with and old Scout of mine and we yapped and yapped in the evening. He just might be my first recruit. :) Then I went to meet Nag and we yapped for 3.5 hours. It was excellent just catching up with and old friend. Wow. It's been 13 years since we were classmates. I heard the story of his grandpa and stuff back in Sri Lanka. That was excellent and a real inspiration.

Current Mood: satisfied
-----

31 December 2005 @ 08:58 pm
Great way to end the year.
Went wakeboarding with cowie, yubin & D today. Practised jumping from toeside again and I must say I know pretty much got the mechanics of it. Thanks to D who was brilliant on the water, I managed to pick up some tips on how to execute my jumps. Thanks! I didn't realise that it was as simple as edge out, pause, edge in, straighten up and *pop*. Coolies! Still I can't pop as high as D but it was good just seeing him do it and learning from it.

By 1530 the tide was way low and yubin got sorta mired in black mud... at least we think it's mud. haha! So Ed suggested we head out to Seletar island instead. There was a bright pink boat out there but that's another story. So this time I went out and according to cowie, I was out there for 45mins or so and hogged the slot. Oops. I didn't realise it. The water out there was choppier and I found it easier to ride with the wind at my back than into the wind. I got dunked many a time this second set but I was tired and I used the shorter board and it felt different. Glided more and it feels tighter,though not as responsive. Damn. I just realised I forgot to ask Ed his opinion if I should get my own board. Oh well, mental note: take the white hyperlite next time! Anyways by the time we got to Seletar it started to rain so it was really chilly riding but after some runs, I warmed up a little. It didn't help that I was already sniffling when I boarded the boat. Haha! :)

By the time we all got ashore and got washed up and changed, it was 1725hrs and we all decided we'd get a bite and some hot drinks. So we went to a coffeeshop by yubin's and sat for a while. I had to go get some groceries for the home so I decided to take the long way round, coming back past Kembangan to SingExpo and onto the TPE, SLE, BKE, KJE and to the NTUC at Lot 1. Who says it's not easy buying women's pads? And fruits. haha! I haven't forgotten how to grocery shop! :) Home for a fishy dinner (egg fried with ikan selah, beansprouts with salted fish, and fried fish... thanks mum!) Now my lips are slightly swollen thanks to my slight allergy. I'm lying in bed trying to get some rest after popping an Actifed to stop ze sniffles. Bleh. nap time! :)

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]


Current Mood: satisfied

spawn

I've been thinking and thinking, mulling things over in my head since I left the house. Why do we as human beings choose to judge people and be judgemental? Do we have a right? On what basis do we have a right to say, "that is a satanic act, or "that is a symbol of the devil." What benchmark do we use? Does the Bible not say, "Do not judge."? Does it not also say, that we have to keep our own houses in order first? And that we have to "take that plank out of" our own eyes before we point out that "speck of dust" in our brothers? Life is already a struggle when we consider our own houses, that being not just, literally, our own homes, our own families but as well, ourselves. On a most fundamental of levels, it the chaos within ourselves that we must first sort out, then and only then should we begin to bring to order the hearts of others. Surely we must believe that we can multi task enough to help others but can we truly say that I am (near) perfect so I can judge you? Are we all not waiting for Judgement day to arrive? What has happened to Humilty, not just false humility for the sake of garnering comments such as "wow, that man is so humble," but true Humility where we do not, in any small way believe, that we are entitled in that way referred to.

"oh gawd. jooles is being excessively noble again." Yes indeed. Comments as such, I have already deemed as inevitable, and therefore, as far as possible, I shall not judge, nor even attempt to.1 I am not perfect, not even close to near-perfect. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say I was -100. I remember Lama said to me once, about 10 years ago, (when I asked him if I was "sway.") "Let's put it this way, if I have one in ten chance of winning 4D, you have minus 100." That said, I do honestly believe that my greatest failing is my ego, which then leads to my being arrogant.

But returning to the argument at hand; let me bring in my first guest Logician -- the venerable Mr. Spock of the Federation Starship Enterprise.

a) (The Bible says that) worshipping idols is wrong.
b) (The Church interprets this as:) having any figurine or symbol of a figurine is wrong.
c) (The Church also interprets,) "wrong," as ungodly, un-christ-like, and therefore Evil.
d) Evil stems from the Devil aka Lucifer, aka The Fallen Angel aka Satan.
e) any act of Satan is Satanic.
-----------
Now we bring in another venerable (half) Vulcan - Lt Commander Tuvok of the Federation Starship Voyager.
therefore:
a) any evil act is Satanic
b) worshipping idols is Satanic
c) having any figurines or symbols of any sort (especially those depicting religious characters) is idol worshipping
d) which then implies that religions that practice having an alter where candles and offerings are made are Satanic. These would therefore include, the Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Anglicans, Catholics, the Jewish and hey, a lot more.

Oh dear, what have our Vulcan guests gone and done? They've opened a veritable Pandora's box, haven't they? But wait, aren't the religions mentioned above older than Christianity? Ah. Ok so hmm, what shall we do? I know. Let's help spread the Word. Force the people to denouce their Faiths. Condemn them all for being evil, oops, I meant Evil. No, that's not right -- Satanic.

Hooray for the Crusades, afterall we could do with a little more rape and pillage, all in the name of God. Hooray too, for ethnic cleansing -- Let's all make Adolf Hitler a saint. Saint Hitler or Saint Adolf... it just rolls of the tongue and they do have a nice ring to it doesn't it? What we need is another Bosnia/Croatia, perhaps a Concentration camp or 2 would be a nice dollop of cream on the cake. Indeed, it'd be nice to have a Saint Saddam... now there's a saintly name that rolls off the tongue. (And a living Saint at that).

Learn to Judge ourselves, pull that plank out of our own eyes. I'm so going to find that quote and print it on a tshirt and wear it church. It's going to have the "don't judge" quote on the front and the "plank" quote on the back. Both complete with the Books, Chapters and Verses. The shirt shall be sleeveless, so that I can show off my tatoo2.

1: True enough, I bitch and whine -- perhaps even excessively, but I blog, I write not for the sake of others. And this is truly a justification of the existance of this blog. I do not wish for a listful of comments that go, "wah so deep."
2: It does say that having a mark on the body is a sign of the Devil. A tattoo a mark and hence I am spawn of the Devil.

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]
Mood:Contemplative

Really, I like Pain.

No prizes to guess what I did on Saturday! :)

Started off the ride with a little warm up to feel up the board and the water. The water was awesome (well relatively considering that we were riding in a large long-kang!) But still. The tide was high and the water was heading inland and not the other way. Went out toe-side to practise what I learnt the last time. Cutting out and coming back in... the trick for me was to get it done smoothly. By the end of the morning, I realised that I was going out far to fast, way to far and coming back in abruptly. Too many variables for me to think about out, so when I cut out the distance from the wake, and heeded Ed's advice on cutting out, easing out and coming back all in gradual steps I managed to get the hang of it more. I still need to work on standing upright when I hit the wake to perfect my jump, right now I'm still hitting the wake with bent knees and a skooch-ed down... way to far down. I suppose this was coz I was trying to remember to keep my knees supple and bent while riding out. The last time I went out, the problem with R was that he was standing upright most of the time and tended to lean back, this time he remembered to keep it supple a little more.

By the time I hit the second set, I was starting to feel a little ache in my lower back and I had to tell myself that I had to fight the pain and get the silly jump right. I did take a break midway and went back heel-side to surf the wake a little. I kept having to remind myself that I had to feel the ride instead of making things too technical. All in all it was a good ride.

R and J were riders before but hadn't done so as much recently. Anyways J was pretty good... very easy rider kinda style. S was the virgin rider and was a little apprehensive about getting up on the board, but by the end of the day he was up and riding a little! :) It was an excellent day! I had a blast. :)

Started out riding easy... getting a feel of things, but I was soon raring to head out toeside to get a feel of edging out and coming in.

Heading on out and heading back in... the problem was that I kept chickening out intially! :P bleh!

My posture was really bad. Had to keep being reminded!

Practising my jumps was tough, I have to admit. I was pretty quick in picking up the fundamentals of riding, like getting up on the board and edging out and stuff but once you take that and combine it with other stuff like jumping and jumping right, it gets complicated and very tiring. :P Still, no pain no gain... literally! After a couple of tumbles in the form of face-plants, 1 cartwheels and several handle slips (that's when I lose hold of the handle and gradually slip into the water in slow-mo), my posture improved somewhat but I wasn't bending my knees enough. Sigh. I like Pain.

This is one of them times I decided to take a wee break to just chill a little to feel the ride. I was crashing too much and I was being too technical, thinking about stuff. So i declared a time out for myself.

And then it was back to practising the jumps, over and over and over and... over again! :) I love it!

Dec. 5th, 2005 | 02:03 am
mood: cheerful
music: Guns N' Roses - You're Crazy

perverse women

Giant/Super Set: bench press, calf raises
bench kg: 40-45-50-55-60-65-40
calf raises lbs: 210-220-230-240-250-260-210
reps: 15-12-10-8-6-4-8
(diminished) superset combo: leg press/leg extension
lbs: 220/50
reps: 8x5sets
diminished Superset: inclined bench, cable flys
kgs: 15 and 18
reps: 8x5
superset: hanging leg raise/exercise ball crunches/(cable) side bends
reps: 20x5 sets each, 18kg (side bends)
giant set: weighted dips
kg: 5-7.5-10-12.5-15-17.5-20-5
reps: 15-12-10-8-6-6-6-12
double superset combo: lat pull-down,standing cable tricep extensions, reverse flyes, lying barbell tricep extension
lbs/kgs: 90lbs, 60lbs, 38kg, 15kg
reps: 8x5 sets
double superset combo: lateral raises, dumbell bicep curls, front raises, overhand dumbell bicep curls, dumbell shoulder press, z- barbell curls
kgs: 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 10, 15
reps: 8, 8, 8, 8, 10, 8
---
Today was the first time I tried combining giant and super sets. Well sorta. I kinda melded the non stop exercise changes of supersets with the increment in weights required in giant sets the other day and realised what a killer it was. So today I just did sort of diminished supersets where I used regular weights but non stop exercises changes. It's pretty good I think. I also tried melding supersets for 2 different body parts together, so instead of light weights, 3 exercises non stop, I used medium weights and alternated between the 2 body parts -- for example, one shoulder, one bicep, one shoulder, one bicep and so on, as long as I do at least 3 exercises on each body part.

After my workout today, as usual, I went to the showers. As I walked in, the silly woman at the counter there screams at me and asks what I'm doing in there. WTF? I'm in the showers to take a bloody shower! Geez. She proceeds to ask me what right have I to shower there. I'm a member of the gym, I says. She says members can't shower or swim there. I'm thinking "WTF?!" I ask since when? I've been coming here and showering here for over a year now. She says she doesn't recognise me. HUH?? I gym every 3 days, woman! I'm there at least twice a week! For the last year and more! I tell her she could go and verify with the gym staff if she doesn't believe me. I'm like wassup widdat?? BLEH! Even the security staff recognise me, the gym staff as well as the external swim and fitness instructors! She says she doesn't recognise me and that I should tell her if I'm using the loo. WHAT? I says I know for a fact that I only need to inform her if I'm going swimming and I know that as a rule. Bloody hell! grrr! She's really daft. She's about 50+ so she's NOT that old enough to be that forgetful! I'm incensed. The school takes her own sweet time to get me my parking label even if I paid for it (it's been 3 months and I'm still waiting for it), they bloody make life difficult for me as a volunteer and as a paying member of the gym by making me sign in every time, they have an old pervert of a woman who walks in when men and boys are changing and showering, to spray the floor with soap and water, and they say I can't use the pool as a gym member till after 7pm when the shower room closes at 2030 hrs! I've a good mind to walk into the administrative office to bitch at someone. It's ridiculous.

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]

demonic speeding

speed demon-ing
Nov. 26th, 2005 | 02:48 pm
mood: nonchanlant

While speeding home last night, I realised what a hell driver I had become. It's been a while since I drove like this, it's taken me some time but I've learnt to realise that it's not the best thing to be a speed demon -- not that I'm a serious rex-type-evo-type speed demon -- it's just that optimal cruising speed in Singapore tends to be approximately 2000rpms in overdrive. It's fuel efficient; especially with the windows wound down. So for the last month or two, I've managed to knock down my comsumption from an already excellent 7.5L/100km to 6.9L/100km.1 Still it felt good, knowing that I can still do it well, enough to get me out of tight situations. It occurs to me that "everybody wants a piece of the Action, but nobody can deal with it." Generic isn't it? Brilliant. Now that I have it written down, it's out of my head and I won't have this niggling thing hiding in the recesses of my already psychotic mind. Bleh.

1: That's something like 13.33km per litre to 14.45km per litre which means to say that I can get an additional 56km per tank of gas, increasing from 667km to 723km. At today's gas prices of $1.62/L that's like saving $6.20 plus per tank. Considering I travel approx 3800km per month instead of spending $462 on gas, I spend $426! I save $36, enough for another 22L or 321km.

updates

I stubbed my shin
Nov. 10th, 2005 | 10:16 pm
mood: happy

yup I stubbed my shin. Just as I walked out of the silly chalet. I was putting on my sunglasses and I walked right into one of them low benches. Vain me. *ow*

The sessions with the kids were pretty good. I stuck in the Inner Journey CD and played it at the beach. I got the boys to sit in a horseshoe and I got them to close their eyes, take deep breaths and listen to their breathing and their pulsing hearts... whee! They responded! Ramli and Fendi came down too. I wanted to get some feedback from Ramli. He said the CD was playing too softly but it looked like the kids responded.

Did the Image Workshop with the kids in the morning. I shocked them when I walked in wearing the school uniform! The shirt was 2 sizes 2 big, the pants were sized 34! I think I made an impact. I saw some of the evaluation forms and they liked it. Wheee! I had to stay over at the chalet though... they brought my sessions forward. I think I'm going to take a nap before heading back.

I got asked for another casting shoot today. And I bloody paid for an hour's parking. Crap. It only took 15mins. Sigh. Now I'm sweating my arse off at the coffeeshop round the corner. They want a midsection shot. Hmm I think I know which part I need to insure now...haha!

Thanks to [snip] for the first shoot! :)

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]

---
Harry Pot[s]ter
Nov. 13th, 2005 | 01:16 am
mood: Sleepy
music: Nothing Compares to You - Sinead O'Conner

We just finished watching Harry Potter... and the Goblet of Fire. On digitally remastered IMAX. On the Omnimax screen. Free. :) (and i meant just... a preview before the preview...is that sweet or what?)

It's worth watching...well sorta. Effects are pretty good. Storyline was rather anti-climatic to a certain degree. But I'm told it's accurate to the story in the book. Hmm.

Went wakeboarding today in the morning. Someone cancelled on E last night and he text-ed me to see if I could find 4 riders to fill up the slot. I found 1 other and so E offered me $50 per person for 2 sets each. I say it was enough! Focused on perfecting my jump process today on the toeside. My back now hurts slightly. After coffee with my colleague, I went to Sentosa with some of the Scouts. I was in Sentosa by about 2, changed back into my wet beach shorts and hung out with them till about 1630. Then dinner with G and then the movie.

It's been a really really long week. Meeting on Monday with the boss, then the gym, then headed to Changi Village for the offsite scout camp. Held a sort of meditation/hypnosis thing at the beach. The kids loved it. :) Then plans for the camp changed. I had another session on image and how to carry oneself (read NLP) on Wed, but it had to be brought forward to Tuesday. So I stayed overnight.

Bleh. My back is killing me.

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]

---
Back Pain and Neck Aches.
Nov. 15th, 2005 | 12:40 pm
mood: calm
music: Higher Love - Depeche Mode

I think I did more than just over work my back and neck muscles. The ache in my lower back progressed to serious pain on Sunday and Monday. The neck too. I think what happened was that I got myself somewhat hurt when I did that last cartwheel while wake boarding. Come to think of it, I think it was a combination of several things that led to my injuries, it's interesting really how one thing can lead to another.

I went for the camp with already a lack of sleep on Monday night, to top it off I went to the gym that Monday before I went to the camp too. Obviously, as with all Scout camps, I never get enough sleep. I'm either clowning with the kids or running around like a headless chicken making things work. So anyways, after my session on Tuesday with the kids, I had to run off to town to get some casting shots done. I was called up for another casting shot involving the midsection area again. Apparently this is for some beer ad... believe it or not. I think I got sabo-ed. I was asked to go down in smart casuals and I went down in pants and polo's, only to find out that the other guys were coming down in jeans and t shirts! :P Fark. It's already been a week and I haven't heard a peep from them. The agent tells me that the client hasn't decided... bleh!

On Wednesday morning, I decided that I was getting too tubby and told YD that I'd go with him to bring the kiddies for a jog. They were [snip], I'm a [snip] and I made the bloody 800m run, and the 3 sprints up the teeny hill. They didn't even try, didn't even attempt to try. That's what really sucked, not that they couldn't physically do it but they found all sorts of excuses not to even bloody try. They got an earful from me and I decided they wouldn't have the benefit of my instruction for the day. :P I went to sleep at 11am and promptly woke up at 1600! HAH! :) Stayed in camp till they broke camp on Thursday and I was really dead tired. Went for lunch and then headed back home for some much needed sleep. Friday was spent as best man for A's wedding so I didn't get much sleep there. I was actually planning to go for the morning thing, then maybe catch some z's at the hotel or walk over to the guild hse there and tan/sleep but that didn't work as well. We had to run around like headless chickens and up till 1730 we were burning songs for the dinner. A good thing happened at the dinner though, I winged the best man speech and was rewarded with some tears. Then I was asked if I could do a show (upon approval) on radio. :) Haha. :) *cross my fingers*

Effectively I did ZERO work. :P That sucks. I need to see more people and I need more referrals from my clients. I've always been promised some names from my clients and I always say I'll go back to them, but then they never come back to me with names. Sigh. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Am I doing such a lousy job that people can't be bothered to help me out and give me names? I don't understand why some people can't understand that if I don't have any names, I don't have business and if I don't have business I can't help the people that have placed their trust in me as my clients in the first place. It's a catch-22. Sigh. It's human nature I guess.

So there... it all started with the silly sprinting up the hill, which buggered my really weak hamstrings, the lack of sleep, which threw my back out and caused me to cartwheel while riding. :P Cause and Effect! I haven't gone to the gym in a week. I want to go. I wonder if I can go and not hurt my back? :P Then the weak back caused the cartwheel and so on.

Gotta run for an appointment. Then maybe go pay my road tax! Bleh.

The Heart of a Volunteer (is a crock of shite)

Oct. 19th, 2005 | 04:27 pm
mood: irritated
music: You're Crazy - Guns N Roses

I'm feeling rather irritated today for some reason. Probably a little dejected. I met one of my first clients last night who I seriously regret selling to. I have no heart to sell her any more or for her to be my client. She's absolutlely neurotic. She tells me to meet at 1820 and at at 1823 she goes berserk saying that she doesn't even tolerate it when her boyfriend is late. "Fuck you," I think. But I keep my cool and tell her "fine. this will only take 5 mins if you care to listen." So there we were standing in front of the MRT station, and I just run through her policy and the fact that she could lose money. Before I end I say, "you know what? you tell me u waited for me because you're my friend. That's not fair, and I have to tell you that. All these years I've stood by you listening to you, (bailing you out of your shit, from all your sleazy ex's, their jealous girlfriends who you won the former from, my so called friends you slept with, your shitty family, from your father to your slutty sisters). I've not cast a stone, I've not said a thing but to be there for you and now you do this. I can tell you this much, this product you bought is my pet product. I sell it and I sell it well, I train people how to sell it. So you want advice with regards to this product you ask me, but I think it's best you find another agent, someone else who you can go berserk on."
"OK. Fine. So?"
"So? so what do you want to do?"
"Just leave it lah."
"Ok. but I'm telling you, you will lose money eventually."
"OK why don't we find somewhere to sit, since I'm here."

I closed her for an increase in regular premiums and an extra investment element. She ordered 2 fucking glasses of wine and I'm sure she did it out of spite. $60 is what I paid for a change in policy details that'll garner me $26.75 for the next year. Bitch.

Fuckup2: I can't collect my iPod. C owes me money and he's only paid me a fraction. My account has only a total of $54.00 and it'll take another 2 days to transfer from the other one.

fuckup3: c and d are taking forever to hand me the replacement iPaq. I gave mine to C coz he was impatient for his own free iPaq. He said he give it to me in a week. That was a month ago. This week, I have to set aside time to pick it up or meet them in the middle to get it. This is after I go all the way to their place to fix their pc, take it home and back to them. This is after I fix all the machines and administer the network in the office. I live way out NW, they live at Bayshore. They can't fucking come to my place? What the fuck is up with that? I'm not doing anymore favours for anyone and going out of my way for ungrateful people like that. Selfish, inconsiderate and penny pinching. Even tomorrow D says she has to drop it in my office. I am never making the effort to drive to East Coast to meet them.

C just tried to call. Twice. I'm not taking it.

Fuckup3: my appointments got postponed today. And I'm not in the mood to make phone calls anymore. I was supposed to go get a little sun before I head out to somewhere quiet to make calls. That didn't happen. then Nano didn't happen and tht stupid text conversation with D over my iPaq.

Fuck'em Volunteerism is dead.

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]

i read your blog on friendster. ha ha

sure you do. lotsa people do. But then i've decided that since friendster supports RSS feeds, i'll just feed my regular blog to friendster. oh every now and then (this is a now and then period), I'll stick something in friendster, which usually I lock out on Livejournal (after I've done some cuts and splices that is!) :)

getting air

I have a slight stiff neck, my earlobes smart and my shoulders too. Wakeboarding with the guys was AWESOME. I said I was going to get some air this time, and I did. Ed the instructor/boatman, was as usual excellent. My third time riding and he's teaching me air. He warned me however that this is when the fun begins BUT it's when you get hurt the most. Hence the stiff neck. I executed a small leap that was supposed to take me from (my weaker) toe-side to the the middle of the wake directly behind the boat. First I had to get used to riding toe-side, since I ride goofy (my master leg is in front) that'll mean riding on the port side. That was quite the thing, and my most valuable lesson for the day. Ed was telling me that my posture was pretty fucked up early on in the day, once I realised that I had to keep my chest and hips in line and moving as one in the intended direction, everything took off from there! (pun intended!)

So I rode on heel side a little, getting used to riding again, pick up speed, slow down, come into the wake, out, and finally just riding the wake. Up,down, up,down, up, down.... then the crossing over and finally how to lean out, pick up speed, round out the power bend, come back in hit the wake as perpendicular as I can and *pop* AWESOME!! So initially, I tried to launch from atop the wake and promptly face planted on landing. I got told off nicely for that, "too advanced, don't try to launch yet, just stiffen out and come in slow." Call me retarded, I couldn't get the come in slow part, but I did lay off the launches. So instead of landing in the middle of the wake, I managed to clear the wake and hit the second one on the starboard side. Wheeeeeeee! The feeling was bloody marvellous. We took videos but I haven't decoded them yet, besides, E got a little seasick looking through the lens so he didn't capture me "flying." Next time! At least I managed to get 3 more guys hooked to the sport! :) YAY! So the rest of my time on the board was spent trying to fly, and land properly. The second last time I flew I landed tip in the water, hooked it and somersaulted. Ed said, "You remember the guy I told you about who burst his ear drum?" Yes? "Well that was exactly how it happened, fortunately you had the instinct to turn your head in...." Hence my stiff neck on one side. At first when i tried to jump, I chickened out quite a bit, coming out of my comfort zone of just riding on heel side was tough. But then I told myself, "Screw it. I'm out here to learn and to have fun and if I wipeout, so I wipeout! If I get hurt I get hurt... LET'S GET HURT!" :D Very smart of me! Awesome!! :) wheeeeeeeeeee! So I managed to get air. I'm so frickin' happy.

I've been hanging out with M, E, Emm, and P quite a bit the last 2 weeks. E just POP-ed from BMTC so he's on leave for a while. Come Monday he goes to OCS. It's been excellent, friends are certainly wonderful aren't they? :) Emm took some shots as I was attempting all my jumps and some how they came together almost perfectly. The following pics are not in sequence chronologically but they look grrrrrrrrrr-eat! :)

Laptop's running out of batts but more on this later! wheeeeeeeeeeee!

feelin': accomplished

of face plants and pain

saturday going you know?

whip out the cam, the sunblock and the noseplugs. it's time for face plants, and pain! Where can I borrow a video cam from? Oooooh YEH!!! let's see if I can land this time!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

oh. and i sold my wifi card. some sod bought it for 90 bucks. i bought it brand new for 80. :) i think the shop sold me at the wrong price. :)

I fucked around with my Treo again...

Bought the silly PalmOne WiFi SDIO card for my Treo yesterday believing that the stupid hack from Shadowmite might work. Actually it did work. What I failed to realise was that this was the typical American who hacks away with brute force. Sheesh. No bloody finesse. The hack made the WiFi work for the Treo¹ but it killed the GPRS functionality for the Blazer web browser function AND it buggered the Bluetooth function. I can't have that can I? I'm already driving on the brink of a cliff wall when I sms with this phone² while driving. Anyways it doesn't really work very well. The crap that I had to go through included the following:

• unannounced and unwarranted resets. (and sometimes i didn't even touch the stupid thing)
  
• it crashes like crazy
  
• it wouldn't detect my wireless AP even if I was sitting right in front of it
  
• it wouldn't register changes in the SSID
  
• sometimes it registered changes
  
• sometimes it worked

So the bottomline is, go ahead and get the fucking hack from Shadowmite if a) you don't need bluetooth
b) you don't use GPRS
c) you don't mind fucking around with your Palm Treo

That is to say, if you treat your Treo like a fracking toy and not a tool. Americans! BAH!

So what happened? I lost about a month's worth of calender data, because coupled with this shit that happened, my stupid laptop has problems recognising USB shit. Go figure, it's Windows. Not much got lost, some unimportant numbers which I managed to get back and a weeks worth of calender data for future appointments. I remember them so "mehhh!" (frick. I smell bacon, ham and eggs and I haven't gotten out of bed since I woke up at 12! haha. I was working on my laptop in bed last night.) Now I'm selling the silly WiFi card on Yahoo Auctions. SOMEONE PLEASE BUY IT! FRICK! >:/

I have this massive blister the size of a 5 cent coin which I woke up with. It's the stupid new SAF New Balance shoes that I bought. I used them in the gym yesterday. I only had a short workout. It was kind of an experimental workout for me, short because I had to meet Chris at Bedok to buy the 42" Plasma TV for the office. *drool* I get to set it up with the presentations that are going to be on it. yippee. :P I guess I just have to get used to the stupid shoes. Tried the rowing machine yesterday, it's a fantastic workout if you don't mind looking like an idiot. I don't it's a farking good workout. And you burn calories like mad. The back and arms get a pretty decent workout! I swear!!

3779m in 15mins

average watts per hour

calories per hour

time per 500 m

Random Pics from my phone

premiums!

walking Lego Star Wars AT-AT walker

this guy has a sense of humour.

¹ Apparently Palm caved in to the bitching of the American mobile telephony companies.
It seems that if WiFi were enabled, it'd mean that telcos can't charge their slaves
addicts apparently unseemingly unwitting "customers," thousands of dollars a year racked
up in GPRS packet data. Not to mention GPRS data plans and perhaps even PCMCIA cards for laptops and
other various accessories!

2: Think tiny QWERTY keyboard
Wordsworth was probably high on opium again. Wheee!

Daffodils

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
- William Wordsworth. 1770–1850

mood: content

aug 30th

Brilliant indeed. I was reading this to Gabs last night. We read some other ones but this one really stood out. :) Blake brilliant here. And it struck the right chord. Isn't it brilliant too, what the "Del" key does? Hee hee.

<pre>
<b>A Poison Tree</b>

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I water'd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.

  -- William Blake
</pre>

Someone stole my apple! :)

So anyways after leaving the office last night I popped over to Nav's to return him his iPod Shuffle. Apparently he hurt himself at the gym coz some chick went "Boo!" to her boyfriend who was just behind Nav. Nav was in the midst of raising 30kg dumbells to do his flys. The effect was that he dropped the dumbells on his hips and wrenched his shoulders and his wrist. Then he called me and blamed me. "If I was plugged into my iPod I wouldn't have been hurt!" He was kidding. After Nav's I went and said a quiet prayer. Then it all went away today. So that was it.

Went to the office early today, set up the machines and got to know the new assistant over coffee. Afterwhich I went to collect premiums from a client and headed down to Esplanade. I got a call from Ramli who told me that Fendi was performing at the concert hall. It's this Lunchbox thing that happens on the last Tuesday of the month. It was good! Munir was playing the guits and generally the band was cohesive. Excellent! I went to the gym after that. :)

At the gym I met this guy who I recognised as my junior in secondary school. He's a PE teacher and get this: he's the one that engaged the company that does the outdoor camps that I instruct at. The next time they want this camp done, they'll request specifically for US! Hah! is that like awesome or what? I'm now at Balaclava waiting for N and A, and Ramli to arrive.

Sigh. Things have been mixed today and generally good. My mind's clear and my prayer's answered. It's all good once I decided that little people and little things only make up white noise. Irritating but inconsequential. Patience is a skill that's hard to prefect but it's worth it! I'm in a good mood. What did Freddie Mercury sing? "Don't stop me now....I'm Mr Farenheit...." Wheeeeeeee! :)

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]

rebirth. gearing up @ the gym and fat girls.

2005-08-17 17:20:00
Current mood: horny
Current music: Queen - Bicycle Race

I went to Border's last night after Manoj postponed his appointment with me from 1900 to 2100. Actually I had arrived just on time and was waiting at Starfuck's at Liat Towers. I had just sat down with my green tea when he sent word that he'll be late. So anyways I was at Borders. And I walked over to the travel section and saw this discovery guide on Canada. Flipped through it and when images of Calgary, Banff and the Rockies came up, I surprised myself and teared uncontrollably. I miss Calgary.

Been trying to wake up early the last 2 days. Woke up at 7 plus, breakfast and then carry on with my day. Not too bad actually. I got a lot more done in a sense. But I still haven't found business for this month. Sigh. A's been postponing like mad, but I guess she can't help it, she's a journalist. Gotta call her again later.

Went to the gym on Monday to follow through on that workout I did on friday. Started with cardio again, and took lots of breaks in between my giant sets. Looks like I can do heavier weights now, i'm quite happy. Then I went again yesterday, I guess it was coz I was really ansty from not smoking. It's been 65 hours. :P I did about 30 mins on the bike but i cranked it up to level 13 instead of my usual 10 and did the hill routine again. Again, lotsa breaks but I did a slower/lower workout routine. Dropped my weights by about 60% and did 5 reps of 10 each for each exercise. Not bad, I say. Dosed up on my Endurox and then my L-Glutamine later that night. I went to the office at about 2300 and stayed till 0500. I was trying to get the stupid network up again. Sigh.

Does anyone have MS Windows Server 2000? Please?? :P

Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen
Oh you gonna take me home tonight
Oh down beside that red firelight
Oh you gonna let it all hang out
Fat bottomed girls
You make the rockin’ world go round

Hey I was just a skinny lad
Never knew no good from bad
But I knew life before I left my nursery
Left alone with big fat fanny
She was such a naughty nanny
Heap big woman you made a bad boy out of me

I’ve been singing with my band
Across the wire across the land
I seen ev’ry blue eyed floozy on the way
But their beauty and their style
Went kind of smooth after a while
Take me to them dirty ladies every time

Oh won’t you take me home tonight?
Oh down beside your red firelight
Oh and you give it all you got
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin’ world go round
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin’ world go round

Hey listen here
Now your mortgages and homes
I got stiffness in the bones
Ain’t no beauty queens in this locality (I tell you)
Oh but I still get my pleasure
Still got my greatest treasure
Heap big woman you gonna make a big man out of me
Now get this

Oh you gonna take me home tonight (please)
Oh down beside your red firelight
Oh you gonna let it all hang out
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin’ world go round
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin’ world go round

Get on your bikes and ride

Oooh yeah them fat bottomed girls
Fat bottomed girls
Yeah yeah yeah
Fat bottomed girls
Yes yes

memories of canada

I was looking through some old pics of my time in Calgary. Sigh.

my car before i ripped the dash out.

my car after i ripped the dashboard out

another shot of the car with the dashboard ripped out

one summer we rented a huge assed truck :) awesome!

standing on a lake in late winter

shot of a dried out old stump. took then when i took a camping trip up into the mountains.

the temperature outside one summer. 44C

Yesterday I was so bored I popped into Jurong point to see if I could take a look at SDIO WiFi cards for my Treo. Found the CyberActiv shop that was willing to let me test. It didn't work. So I came home, got mum and picked up G for dinner. At Jurong Point nonetheless. This time I was armed with the hack. Apparently Treo didn't put in any WiFi drivers because the cellphone carriers were bitching that if WiFi were supported then they couldn't charge exorbitant prices for GPRS services. Fucked up isn't it? Yes it is. But someone found a hack. And he goes by the name of Shadowmite. So anyways I installed it the software and went back to the shop, despite the fact that the stupid made in china box said, for windows CE devices only. Stubborn me. It didn't work. :P

So after I dropped the f