Unknown / Private...

been bugged by telemarketers lately... DBS lah... HSBC lah...

no more of such nonsense... will NOT answer my mobile if it's:
1. unknown number (i.e. not registered in my mobile phone book)
2. private number
3. unknown number (i.e. no caller id displayed)

Hiking...

well... being a spoilt mummy's boy, sometimes i wonder how did i survive my past hiking trips to Malaysia (e.g. Berkelah Waterfalls, Mount Ophir, etc)...

i can't... swim...
i can't... cook...
i can't... pitch a tent...

and...

i hate... perspiration...
i hate... the sun...

so ended up i offered my services as a Treasurer... for the coming trip to Terengganu... since i'm an Auditor...

i so believe that we are in this world for a reason... thank God...

Cineleisure Oscar Fever Contest Predictions...

picked up the Oscar Fever Contest from Cineleisure last Saturday... here are my predictions although i didn't take part (in dark blue):

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Capote"
Terrence Howard in "Hustle & Flow"
Heath Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain"
Joaquin Phoenix in "Walk the Line"
David Strathairn in "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
George Clooney in "Syriana"
Matt Dillon in "Crash"
Paul Giamatti in "Cinderella Man"
Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback Mountain"
William Hurt in "A History of Violence"

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Judi Dench in "Mrs. Henderson Presents"
Felicity Huffman in "Transamerica"
Keira Knightley in "Pride & Prejudice"
Charlize Theron in "North Country"
Reese Witherspoon in "Walk the Line"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in "Junebug"
Catherine Keener in "Capote"
Frances McDormand in "North Country"
Rachel Weisz in "The Constant Gardener"
Michelle Williams in "Brokeback Mountain"

Best animated feature film of the year
"Howl's Moving Castle" - Hayao Miyazaki
"Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" - Tim Burton and Mike Johnson
"Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit" - Nick Park and Steve Box

Achievement in art direction
"Good Night, and Good Luck."
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"
"King Kong"
"Memoirs of a Geisha"
"Pride & Prejudice"              

Achievement in costume design
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
"Memoirs of a Geisha"
"Mrs. Henderson Presents"
"Pride & Prejudice"
"Walk the Line"

Best foreign language film of the year
"Don't Tell" - Italy
"Joyeux Noël" - France
"Paradise Now" - Palestine
"Sophie Scholl - The Final Days" - Germany
"Tsotsi" - South Africa

Best motion picture of the year
"Brokeback Mountain"
"Capote"
"Crash"
"Good Night, and Good Luck."
"Munich"

Achievement in visual effects
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"
"King Kong"
"War of the Worlds"

for the full list of nominees, please visit the official website

note:
i've only watched Brokeback Mountain, Mrs Henderson Presents, Capote, Cinderella Man, King Kong, Memoirs Of A Geisha, The Chronicles of Narnia, Syriana and A History of Violence...

Dan Brown...

finally done with Deception Point... such a roller-coaster ride... phew!

have read Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code last year...

now reading Digital Fortress... final one... and i'm done with pop fiction... after that i'll just wait for The Da Vinci Code movie in May 2006...

Sorry #1 On UK Chart

Sorry, Madonna's second single from her Confessions On A Dance Floor album has debuted at #1 on the UK singles chart... this is her 12th #1 single in the UK... Hung Up, the first single off the album also debuted at #1 on the same chart a couple of months earlier...

in case you are wondering, here are her 12 UK #1s...
Into The Groove (1985) - 4 Weeks
Papa Don't Preach (1986)- 3weeks
True Blue (1986) - 1 Week
La Isla Bonita (1987) - 2 Weeks
Who's That Girl (1987) - 1 Week
Like A Prayer (1989) - 3 Weeks
Vogue (1990) - 4 Weeks
Frozen (1998) - 1 Week
American Pie (2000) - 1 Week
Music (2000) - 1 Week
Hung Up (2005) - 3 Weeks
Sorry (2006) - 1 Week (Currently)

Chengal Trip (Terengganu Malaysia) - 3 - 6 March 2006

Saturday afternoon, met up with the group to finalise the details on the coming Chengal Trip in Terengganu, Malaysia...

it's been a long time (about two years) since my last hiking trip with the group... i was sick for most of last year, hence the "disappearing act"... now i am back! not with a vengeance, of course... a lot of caution and probably apprehension... the lack of exercise and training for an entire year was the main reason for the feelings... will give it my best shot...

a little details about the trip... basically, the two main highlights are:
1. the oldest and largest Chengal tree
2. the fireflies...

the tree is 1,300 years old... 16.5m tall and 16.75m in circumference, requiring 13 people to completely "hug" the trunk...

as for the fireflies, i've never seen them in large numbers before... the closest i've ever come to seeing any firefly was at the Singapore Night Safari a couple of years ago... even then, they were scattered and few...

very looking forward to the trip!!

Selamat Datang... Malaysia Boleh...

for more details on Terengganu, please visit the following websites:
1. Terengganu Tourism
2. The Twelve Wonders Of Terengganu

---

Chengal Tree


Firefly Sanctuary

Lunch?

there's no free lunch in this world...
welcome to the truths of reality...

Moisturise Or Not To Moisturise...

was talking to my colleague about hand moisturiser...

D: you know ah, after applying moisturiser to my hands... when i go toilet, wash hands and the moisturiser will be gone, right?
C: yalor...
D: then wasted leh...
C: yalor... don't go toilet lor... or don't wash hands lah...
D: *roll eyes*

NYP Saga...

read about the saga a few days ago... was interested in the video...
chatted with colleagues in the office about finding the video...
and one girl went, "i didn't know you are so dirty one..."

*roll eyes*

Malaysian Singers...

found this translation of a song by Malaysian singer, Lin Yu Zhong:

Kao An (靠岸) - pull in to quay

cute!!

---

also read from Sunday's Lianhe Zaobao that Malaysian singer, Gary Cao Ge, who remade Karyn White's Superwoman is a Muslim...

cute!!

S Rajaratnam 1915 - 2006

RIP...

Rajaratnam, Jeyaretnam, Jayakumar... was confusing... now i know who's who... yeah!

SE k750i

Dom was showing us his SE k750i last week at the meeting to discuss the hiking trip to Terrenganu... and i fell in love with the phone, because of the themes... call me shallow, please?!

i wanna get this now:



no more Motorola L7...

Negativity Kills...

negativity kills...

time to distance myself from the negative people / places / things...

or am i also one of the negative people??

她在睡前哭泣

was at K-Box karaoke with Kerry last Saturday night... he sang this song again... and now i am determined to learn it so that we can do a duet... it's time we have a new duet after singing "Tell Him" for so long... (no prize for guessing who's Celine and who's Barbra)

她在睡前哭泣 - 李玟／柯以敏
曲︰陳進興 詞︰姚謙 編︰鮑比達

她在夜裡心不靜　反反覆覆追悼著愛情
心中殘留他的聲音　諾言說得那麼甜蜜

＊她在夢裡淚不停　傷心愛已破碎支離
    至今她仍不能相信　他親手把愛毀棄

＃喔　青春不能太依賴了回憶
    誰都明白這道理
    但是感情往往難由自己
    不小心就淹沒你

＋她在睡前哭泣
    想要藉著眼淚清洗心靈
    她在睡前哭泣
    想在黎明之前忘記了愛情
    〔在睡前哭泣〕

重唱　＊ ＃ ＋ ＋

so who will be CoCo and who will be Mindy leh??

Another Eventful Weekend?

Friday (17 February 2006)

Friday night was out with colleagues for a departmental dinner at Seoul Garden (SG), Marina Square... i was never a fan of SG because of the cooking and the "oily" feel... went purely because it was a departmental dinner... esprits de corp?

after that went window-shopping at HMV, CityLink... saw this 10-DVD TinTin cartoon selling at S$59.95... was tempted to buy... but eventually decided against being impulsive...

supposed to go clubbing at Ministry of Sound (MoS)... scrapped the plan because i have to be back in the office tomorrow from 9am to 5pm for some leadership workshop...

reached home, continued with Dan Brown's Deception Point, before hitting the sack...

i started reading Dan Brown after i finally succumbed to pop fiction last year... The Da Vinci Code (TDVC) was my first... Angels And Demons (AAD) followed suit... AAD was much better than TDVC... still thinking of coming with an ambigram for my name...


Saturday (18 February 2006)

Saturday was spent in the office for a workshop... luckily it ended early, by 3:30pm... so glad...

went to Marina Square to renew my expiring SAFRA membership... decided on the 5-year membership... one hole in my pocket...

paid Raymond a visit at his shop, which was very nicely done up... fell in love with the lights... but at that kind of price, i can very ill-afford it... hehe...

after that called Kerry to find out his plans for the day... nothing on... i suggested dinner and karaoke... we ended up in Changing Appetites for dinner... not very nice food, though big portions... then it was K-Box... 3 hours @ $28 per person... quite reasonable ba?!

during karaoke, received a phone call from Ming... Ju's grandfather had passed away... and Ju's flying back from Texas USA for the funeral... Ju was recently back for CNY... glad to see her again so soon, but the circumstance was not right...

on the way to City Hall MRT, we stopped by HMV... wanted to show Kerry the TinTin DVD... there was only one set on the shelf... impulsively, i grabbed it... yet another hole in my pocket... but the feeling was good...


Sunday (19 February 2006)
Sunday was spent sleeping and recuperating... woke up at 1pm!!!!! amazing... saw Panda's SMS, asking me if i was free today... i had tuition at 3:30pm followed by a movie, Syriana, at 7:30pm... hence couldn't meet him...

only WJ turned up for the tuition... think i will ask Shokie not to come anymore... no time for people who are not interested in their study... i was very happy to know that WJ scored 12 out of 15 for his Locus Construction test...

after tuition, showered and left the house... reached Cineleisure to meet T for Syriana... very grateful to T for making all the arrangements...

Syriana was a very powerful movie... a lot of emotions and probably hidden messages which i couldn't really catch... some parts were very confusing cos there were so many parties involved... dirty politics... corruption...

quote from the show:
"Corruption charges. Corruption? Corruption ain't nothing more than government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation. That's Milton Friedman. He's got a god-damn Nobel Prize. We have laws against is precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection! Corruption is what keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are here in the white-hot center of things instead of fighting each other for scraps of meat out there in the streets. Corruption is how we win. "

after the show, we went for dinner at Coffee Club outside California Fitness... chatted quite a bit...

reached home, went online to read blogs, got hold of Guo Mei Mei's Ai Shi Ni Yan Li De Yi Shou Qing Ge... beautiful song... though i didn't really like her singing...

slept at 1am... cos i couldn't put down Dan Brown's Deception Point... argh... gonna feel the tiredness tomorrow...

Movie Titles

was browsing Today newspaper and in the movie listing section, here's what showing at Yangtze cinema:

1. Womb Raider

wonder what's the movie all about... hmmm...

直爽

直爽。。。

当然是直了才会爽啊。。。

Google...

Google is going to come out with a payment system to compete with Paypal and it is going to be called... GBuy!!!

don't think it's true ba?!?!

今天明天

一个友人说：

“今天吃的，明天就poot出来了。。。”

Brits 2006 - Madonna Won!!

Madonna won the International Female Solo Artist award at the Brits 2006... she lost out in the other two categories: Pop Act (James Blunt won) and International Album (that went to Green Day's American
Idiot)...

Congrats, Maddie!!

For full list of winners, please visit 2006 Brits Winners

4D

to buy or not to buy... that is the question, always...

i've decided about a couple of weeks ago that i shall stick to a set of numbers... will bet S$1 Big for the actual numbers and S$3 Big on iBet (for higher chances but lower returns)...

struck 0124 yesterday 2nd prize iBet... cashing out S$125 gross tomorrow... hehehehe....

How To Forgive When Betrayed By A Loved One

just in time for Valentine's Day...

got this from a mailing list... sets me thinking about the past... i'm single on Valentine's Day... but i think i'm feeling okay... or am i not?

________________________________

For www.TheDailyEnlightenment.com
________________________________

How To Forgive When Betrayed By A Loved One

True love encompasses true forgiveness - of the smallest hurt to the greatest betrayal. It always forgives because it always cares, and because bearing resentment (the opposite of love) hurts both parties instead. Most of us are in the process of learning to love and forgive perfectly; few of us can love and forgive anyone instantly. Not yet masters of forgiveness, it is natural to fluctuate between love and hate at times. Finding it hard to forgive does not always means one is unwilling to forgive. If you are struggling, chances are that you seriously want to forgive - that is already love in action to some extent. What needs to be done is to further extend the love and forgiveness.

It is inevitable that a relationship is badly shaken when there is betrayal. But if your partner is sincerely repentant, it would be fair to be equally sincere in accepting any apology. Remember that everyone makes mistakes. What is important is that we learn and grow from them. Not learning from our mistakes would be the real mistake - this is especially important to the "betrayer", so as to not further jeopardise the relationship. As a couple, mutual sincerity during recovery from betrayal is especially crucial - since sincerity or the lack of it further strengthens or weakens the relationship.

If you both feel that your "tested" relationship is worth maintaining, just do it without regret or anger. If you are unsure, regret and anger might pop up time and again, further testing and weakening the already shaken love and trust. If you feel that the relationship has lost its meaningfulness, it is good to part on good terms - with no need to look back in anger - just see it as a precious life experience. It is afterall more noble to love truly than to be truly loved, more wise to be blameless than to blame, more kind to be true than untrue to others.

It is useful to remember this - "Feeling anger punishes both yourself and your partner. It is senseless to punish each other indefinitely." Tell yourself gently but firmly that it is high time you stop punishing each other. Tell it to yourself and your partner sincerely to express this resolution, and do your best to live up to it. Ask him or her to help you in whatever ways s/he can. A relationship is afterall the responsibility of both parties. When there are relapses of anger, just express your resolution again - it helps to formalise and actualise your determination to forgive and forget, and to get on with living and loving. No need to be angry at yourself for being repeatedly angry - for this only feeds the demon of anger repeatedly. Just be mindful of anger when it arises and let it go as instantly as you would drop painful hot coals. One day, you will find the need to forgive no longer there, that you have truly let go of the pain.

Any pain we have for having been hurt in the past is actually a "phantom pain" - illusory mental anguish which is only as painful as your unmindful clinging and prolonging of it. Such pain is sustained by a conflicting mix of attachment (to having been hurt) and aversion (to the hurt). The past has already passed. If we do not let the unhappy past go, it will not let us go - it will only make our present moment always unhappy. There is a simple but wonderful teaching from the Buddha on forgiveness - "You too shall pass away. Knowing this, how can you quarrel (have conflict with others, or within oneself)?" Life is too short to live in self-sustained phantom pain.

One of the most important things to know in life is that no one withholds any happiness from us - not even our most loved ones. Our happiness is our charge. While we often place our happiness in the charge of others, it is us who voluntarily do that - and we can take this responsibility back to own it. Be good to yourself because nobody else has the power to make you truly happy - or sad. Only when we mindfully see and take up this personal responsibility, can we truly love - both ourselves and others.

- Shen Shi'an

Yet Another Eventful Weekend...

the weekend flew by so quickly, especially when one is enjoying it to the fullest... no wonder Madonna sang that "time goes by so slowly for those who wait..." hahahaha...


Friday 10 February 2006

celebrating Kerry's birthday with a dinner at Top Of The M (Meritus Mandarin 39th floor)... a place where we have always wanted to try...

very fine dining it turned out to be... we had quite a fun time figuring out which fork / knife for which course... and the ambience was dim and romantic, no wonder my colleague said that it was quite salah for two men to be dining there... hahahaha... of course the live band was serenading from table to table... we gave them the "duh" look when they were at our table, prompting the lead to leave us alone to enjoy the privacy...

the highlight of the restaurant is that it revolves... as i was seated against the turning, i had a hard time trying to enjoy my dinner... i was feeling giddy throughout the entire dinner... luckily managed to keep the conversation going... the food was good, except for the fish that was a little too hard... the fun part was the salmon salad where we had to figure out how to cut the vegetables without toppling the plate... damn paiseh sia...

the house red wine wasn't good though... ans i was so tempted to bring back the Evian 2005 special bottle since we've paid S$18+++ for it... hahahaha...

another highlight was when the fireworks went off at the Esplanade and we were directly facing it... what a view!!!!!

the entire bill came up to quite a hefty sum, even after a 15% discount with my UOB credit card...

an interesting experience... which i don't think i will ever want to go through again...

with my head "spinning" after 4 hours of going round and round, it was home to rest...


Saturday 11 February 2006

woke up at around 11am... to prepare the place for the gathering with Pat, Mel and Andrew... mum had invited them over for afternoon tea, dinner and mahjong... younger brother's colleagues were to come too... big gathering...

Mel came first to do some blogging on my notebook cos his PC was down... then came Pat (with the Absolut Peach i had asked him to buy for me on his trip back from Phuket)... Andrew came shortly after... mum had cooked curry chicken and bought some fried bee hoon for afternoon tea... Pat helped me to open the red wine... apparently we had to slit the cork and place a coin in it for good luck (which eventually came true cos only Pat and i won at the mahjong sessions later)...

we played two rounds of mahjong after tea... then it was dinner... quite a spread that mum had cooked... i was so proud of her... sad that i didn't get the chance to learn her culinary skills... we had prawn omelette, curry chicken, duck with salted vegetable soup, ngoh hiang, deep fried fish in soya sauce, vegetables...

after dinner, it was another two rounds of mahjong... i ended up the big winner of $110 while Pat won $90... Mel was the biggest loser (sorry, dude) and Andrew lost a little (after recuperating at least $150 in the last round)...

i had too much of Absolut Peach... was feeling the world spinning and had to go to sleep quickly...

would like to thank Pat, Mel and Andrew for making to the gathering...

most of all, would like to thank MUM for all the hard work she has put in to make the gathering such a success!!


Sunday 12 February 2006

most of my Sunday was spent reading The Sunday Times and resting, while waiting for my student to come for tuition at 4pm...

WJ came at 3:30pm... apparently he had changed his tuition before mine to an earlier time... he came alone, cos the other two couldn't make it... WJ was my ex-student from a secondary school where i was doing relief teaching for 2 months back in 2003... back then, i was teaching them English... and WJ, Don and Shokie had approached me to teach them Maths... i took up the challenge, all for a good cause, since they were so willing to learn... but we stopped last year June after i lost my hearing... tough time for me...

after the N levels results were released, i chatted with WJ on MSN and he told me that he was unable to find a suitable Maths tutor and asked me to help him... i decided to do it once again... i knew it was gonna be tough since this year would be their O levels... and being a typical Sagittarius, i simply couldn't commit to anything... and keeping all my Sunday afternoons free could be a real problem... but heck lah, take it as doing charity ba...

WJ stayed for dinner after the tuition... and we chatted quite a bit just to keep ourselves updated on each other and the rest of the gang... i accompanied him to the bus stop at 8pm, before heading home for more reading...

it was bedtime by 11:30pm...

'O' Level Results...

the 'O' level results were released today... received an SMS from my cousin (whom i was tutoring Maths for a while last year) that she got As for both her A Maths and E Maths...

i am glad for her... and for me...

just like when my 'N' level students managed to pass their exams and move on to Secondary Five...

2006 Valentine's Swatch

on Wednesday, dad saw the 2006 Valentine's Swatch on i magazine... asked me to check out the price for him...

on Thursday, SMSed dad that the Swatch costs S$109... dad asked me to buy one for him... went to Raffles City Swatch store and it was out of stock... after work went to Chinatown with the Australian intern to see the CNY light-up... passed by a watch store and asked for the Swatch... bought one at S$98...

passed dad the Swatch and he gave it to mum... so sweet...

here's how the Swatch looks like:




the silver heart "chimes" when you shake it... the package comes with a piece of cleaning cloth some more...

Is Life A Bed Of Roses?

yes, with all thorns thrown in as well...

48th Grammy Awards

so nice that Mariah Carey won 3 Grammys today... all in the R&B category...

together with the group Gorillaz, Madonna opened the show with her hit song Hung Up... Maddie was not nominated in any category this year because Confessions On A Dance Floor was released after the qualifying period... next year perhaps??

U2 won 5 Grammys *yawn yawn*

Ministry Of Sound?

a female "cheena" colleague came to ask me what is Ministry of Sound...

i told her it is a new government ministry set up to regulate the clubs as well as to license the DJs...

and she gave me the "duh" look...

How Boyish Or Girlish Are You?

You Are 50% Boyish and 50% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

凤飞飞 Concert...

Feng Fei Fei concert @ Singapore Indoor Stadium
8 April 2006 Saturday 8pm

Standard - S$170, S$150, S$130, S$100, S$80 (including $2 sistic fee)

any takers?

CNY 2006

so many things to write about CNY 2006... some of the highlights:

1. had rashes after reunion dinner (due to earlier allergy 2 days before CNY eve)... yet went clubbing with Kerry and Jensen...

2. went to Chinatown at 3:30am, after clubbing... still very crowded... (wanted to buy some cheap clearance CNY goodies... but didn't...)

3. visited my uncle... and his Pri 3 son asked me to install MapleStory so that i can play with him? *roll eyes* (eventually i did install MapleStory to find out what it was all about... played up to level 9 and my interest was lost... probably that explains my singlehood...)

4. visited relatives from Day 2 onwards... 3 places on Day 2; 3 places on Day 3... exhausted... (contemplating going overseas during CNY from 2007...)

5. Day 2 night... went to Zouk for Paul Van Dyk... rocked the house down... enjoyed the music to the highest... (loved the crowd... they were so wild)

6. Day 8 afternoon... had a gathering of my secondary school classmates at home... chit chatted... caught up with each other... looked at our old photos... had great fun... (really hope to see you guys more often...)

7. Day 8 night... prayers for the Heavenly King... slept at 1am... (it was pouring when we went down to burn the incense papers... Dad and younger brother went out in the rain to bring in the big barrel for burning... so sweet of them...)

8. Day 10... Grandma's death anniversary... prayers at home... relatives were here for prayers... (Grandma was murdered back in 1983... due to some gambling debts dispute... her story appeared in the book, Sisters In Crime...)

and of course, i realised that most of the relatives i only meet them once a year... majority of them it's usually at least 4 times a year: CNY, Ching Ming, Grandma's death anniversary prayers; Grandpa death anniversary prayers...

i also realised that with technology, i am now more able to keep in touch with my cousins... through my blog as well as MSN chat... really glad...