Mine Voice

Kudos to President Nathan (A short post)

2009-02-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

Well, President Nathan finally came forward to explain his rationale for releasing the funds and all but I'm a tat too lazy to write in to praise him for it so I'll just do so on my blog...hehe..

Well, they gave him an entire front page plus centre portion of the Straits Times paper that day. An interview to clarify points and such, not a bad read although I would have preferred more details (it seemed rather general) as to how he came to a conclusion. I would also have preferred to see more private sector CEOs seating on the Council of Presidential Advisors so that President Nathan would be able to get a clearer picture of what's happening in Singapore. Doesn't hurt to have more qualified advisors yeah? After all, the nature of the presidency is not well-disposed to giving out governmental favours (apart from official pardons for parole prisoners), especially not to businesses, so no worries where such advice can be drawn from. Anyway, the President has the final say yeah?

Nevertheless, its a good thing that we're getting more accountability from the government which would doubtlessly benefit all of us in the long run...

Annual Fertility Day!!! (Valentine's Special)

2009-02-17T06:49:00.000-08:00

Ok,I'd readily admit that this post is long overdue but still, with a flurry of activity (and a good dose of laziness) over the past few days, I claim official pardon for this late post...

Valentine's Day conversation (with a friend whom I shall christen L)

L: So you have any plans for tonight? It's Valentine's Day!

Me: No, not quite, no date.Lol!

L: Sure or not? Shouldn't you be out with some hot babe tonight?

Me: Nahz, I'm just came back a few hours back and am currently resting before heading out for a Bachelors' Night Out...Yeah, that's about it...

That rest, is history not worth mentioning...

What started off eons ago as the execution of a priest (St Valentine), who refused to abide a law instituted by the Roman Emperor Claudius II that young men remain single, has morphed into an excuse for cheery flowers, over-stuffed teddy bears and ridiculous couples dressed in ridiculous colour-coordinated outfits.

Oh yeah, you know I'm right, newspapers start to publicise the merger and acquisition of the Social Development Unit (SDU) by the Social Development Service (SDS) as if it just won the Merger of The Century and was the miracle of this recession. Oh, how parents in Singapore are catching up to their counterparts in China in the Curious Case of Match-making. Wasn't that The Fad last millenium? Or was it Fort-millenium?

DeeJays Jamie Yeo and Glenn Ong became the Divorced Couple of the Year while Brad Pitt is going gaga all over the new and improvised Jennifer Aniston in a potential Makeup Couple of the Year (Divorce and Remarried - Reloaded).

Or pity Ugly Betty, who just needed a good nerd to love her (and at least 15 episodes of Extreme Makeover, make it an entire series). When exactly are Christopher Lee and Fann Wong going to get married anyway? They've already done a reel version of it. Arh...reel life VS real life? Apparently, not everyone's heart is capable of going on and on and on like Celine Dion's Energiser operated one.

In case you're wondering, I don't have a cesspit where my heart should be. I do believe in love, at least in the screens and I can do romantic I suppose but no pouncing about the moon or dancing amongst the stars.

Its really strange when you think of the kind of movies Hollywood releases during Valentine's. So Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway are still at it, battling it out in an ongoing war which has been repeating itself for a few weeks now (they really must hate each other) while Andy Lau is discovering that even in this day and age, not everyone takes to the idea of pre-nupital contracts, even if they come from an industry veteran who should probably be halfway into retirement and signing up for the governments' HDB leasing initiative although he probably owns tonnes of properties in Hong Kong.

A Letter Too Sensitive For Publication in the ST Forum???

2009-02-13T01:55:00.001-08:00

Well, I emailed the following letter to the Straits Times forum a few days ago.What spurred me to write in was an article published by the Straits Times main paper (6 Febuary2009) in which I uncovered some distorted logic in Mr Tharman Shanmugam's (Minister of Finance) explanation for declining the release of details of the President's deliberation on the budget.

Keeping to the 400 word limit(I wanted to write more a build up an even more solid case but then again, word limit...), the letter is as follows:

I read the article “Govt details steps leading to President’s OK” (6 February) with grave concern.
Mr Tharman had reportedly dismissed Mr Inderjit Singh’s request for the President’s deliberations, citing that Singaporeans should trust the individuals who are in charge. For a system which has long pride itself on a transparent, efficient and clean government, such a drastic change in its stance has certainly raised eyebrows, especially during these tough times. While I believe few Singaporeans would begrudge Mr Tharman’s well-meaning intention to ensure fiscal responsibility where matters of our reserves are concerned, surely fewer still would want a veil of secrecy surrounding the decision-making process. It is even more essential, during these uncertain times that the public is reassured about how such a landmark decision concerning our nation’s savings was conceived.

With well-respected and trusted leaders such as Mr Bernie Madoff and Mr Chen Shui-bian coming under tight scrutiny for possible abuses of client’s and public funds respectively, public trust has been eroded. One was a businessman who ran a billion-dollar wealth management empire for more than four decades while the other was propelled into Presidential office by a popular vote. These were two figures whom the public trusted enough to handle millions of their hard-earned savings, only to watch it all collapse into nothingness. The public were led to believe that a system of checks and balances was in place to protect their interest but the system failed them.

While it would be vastly unfair to draw parallels to our own President, who by all accounts have Singaporean’s utmost respect, emphasis on accountability should not be neglected under any circumstances. Only then can we continue to build a competitive system beneficial to all Singaporeans and free from taint of corruption and deception. Considering that there are two sets of “keys” to unlock the reserves and a stringent set of requirements to be met before any withdrawal can take place, I’m confident that our reserves would not be so easily squandered on less meritorious purposes overtime even if the President’s deliberations were to be made public. Likewise, I have faith that Singaporeans, with their strong pragmatic mindsets, would not be so easily taken to casually tapping on our reserves.

Hence, I strongly urge the government to release the entire set of deliberations to the public, that our trust in the institution would be further strengthened.

Actually, I had 2 motivations for this letter:
1) I honestly wanted a greater degree of accountability from the government. I mean if MPs can query the government in a logical, civilised manner...why can't I?
2) To verify the rumour that certain letters which deliver the truth are being black out for fear that it would create more work for certain ministries and make themselves more accountable to the public, hence a personal experiment.

The result?
The letter was rejected "due to space constraints".

Yeah, probably that might have been the case had I not stumble upon a letter written by Albert Tye and published on 11 February 2009, Straits Times Forum praising Ms Ho Ching for stepping down from her position as CEO at Temasek and encouraging her to support her husband in state duties.

Like how is a letter praising Ms Ho Ching's resignation more important than one seeking to improve the overall system of Singapore's governance? The same thing happened the last time I wrote in a letter to rebut Mr Janadas Devan's (a Straits Times Editor) logic on a certain article (And I had a super strong argument which totally owned his!)

Argh! I give up, with my personal blog, I can continue my own brand of rebuttals as and when I feel like it...Without "space constraints".

On a side note:
Of course the editors at the Straits Times and the Media Development Authority (the institution which censors publications) reserve the right to decide what goes into the forum and what does not and I have utmost respect for them.Nevertheless I too reserve the right to express my thoughts and stake out my stand on issues, backed by logical arguments, for the betterment of our nation!

'The truth, the truth and nothing but the truth!' Sounds familiar?

Singlish - Singapore's English?

2009-02-08T03:54:00.001-08:00

I'm back! Lots of free time now that NS is over so I'll probably be updating this blog more of often!

Well, call it a steal but I borrowed the concept of 'Singlish' from a friend who blogged about the usage of Singlish...Was asked to comment on it and comment on it I did but at the risk of flooding her comment section, hence may I present....My very own "Singlish" entry!

Today, we shall consult Singlish linguist Sina Kosta...

Introduction

But first, some background information:

Singlish has often been termed a creole interlanguage which has stubbornly defied the government's attempts to put an end to the corruption of the genuine English language as purported by the elite. May I so emphasize that the only ones who probably speak Queen's English these days are the British and those who were educated during the Colonial era. HEck!Even the other "Native Speakers" of the the English language (Australians, Americans,etc) have taken to slangs and colloquialism not unlike Singlish.

A check with wiki's definition of Singlish revealed that someone actually came up with a classification for English speakers in Singapore. Here's the summary:

Acrolectal: British English, less the thick Brit slang. Most often utilised during formal occasions or in business speak to project an image of professionalism.
(Novices in Singlish, if not totally oblivious)
Mesolectal: Halfway there, most commonly utilised form of Singlish in Singapore.
Basilectal: The ultimate graduates and masters of the Singlish language. Most often utilised by the Ah Bengs and Ah Lians of the Singlish World. Often incapable of articulating a proper sentence in perfect English (Just a totally misunderstood lot really).
**WARNING** Average native speaker of English would not be able to understand Basilectal at all - its that powderful**WARNING**

Here's an example of their sentence structure:

Acrolect ("Standard") -"This person's Singlish is very good."
Mesolect" - Dis guy Singlish damn powerful one leh."
Basilect ("Singlish") - "Dis guy Singrish si beh"powderful sia.

And now back to our interview with Sina Kosta...

Singlish is definitely an economical form of communication and I would support its usage as being unique to our motherland, yet easily accessible by recent migrants. Its distinct quality lies in the fact that one can easily identify a fellow Singaporean whilst in a foreign country the moment he/she opens his mouth.

For one, it takes a local upbringing to grasp the naunces of Singlish (like whether the 'lah' or 'lidddat' should come at the start or end of a sentence) and not to forget the fact that years of cultivation it takes to master the right tone of a 'har?'...I mean anyone can insert 'lor', 'meh', 'larh' into their sentence but somehow the newly-arrived ang moh expat who lives down the street simply doesn't seem to get it right. Agreed?

The vocabulary of the language in itself is a beauty, a blend of various languages - Baba Malay, Bahasa Melayu, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Tamil and whatnot revolving around and often substituting words from an English core.

Oh, and did I mention economical?
Take for instance a corporate board meeting or school project for that matter...

Head of Operations: Our customers bo chap our latest extra value meal leh

Chairman looks at the Head of Marketing: Liddat how?

Imagine how different the conversation would have been if proper English were used:

Head of Operations: We seem to have a problem attracting customers to buy into our latest extra value meal product.

Chairman looks at the Head of Marketing: Any suggestions from the marketing viewpoint?

Observe the difference? Now you understand why Singapore often tops the chart for efficiency...just imagine a thousand such meetings occurring islandwide?

Another perculiar observation would be the grammatical usage of a "Den" (Singlish for 'then', or perhaps not alway the case...) which really is a very flexible term:
1) As a convenient term for "therefore"
- Late for school den kena scolding mah

2) As a would be verb
- Later den say

3) As a replacement for the comma:
- Suay lah! Was makan-ing my Nasi Lemak this morning. Den hor, got bird shit on my food!

4) As a replacement for "What happened then?"
- Coxta: I was brushing my teeth this morning
- Kosta: Den?

5) As a sarcastic remark (Roughly translated as "If not me, then who?")
- Coxta: Wah! You painted this house on your own arh?
- Kosta: Ah Bah Den?

6) Of course, with Singlish being extremely economical in nature, there's a short-form for the above point 5.
- Coxta: Wah!You painted this house on your own arh?
- Kosta: Dennn?

I shan't go into more details with the "lahs","lorhs","Wat","Mah", "leh", etc but they're all highly interesting and specialised vocabulary unique to Singlish.

Man am I proud to be a Singaporean!

Please note: Sina Kosta is overwhelmingly biased in favour of Singlish and hence you might just want to take his comments with a pinch of salt (or satt)

Singapore IS Overpopulated!!!

2008-10-01T21:37:00.000-07:00

Yeah, you know how its like...All of a sudden, everywhere you go seems to be more crowded with peoples, black, white, yellow, gray, purple, pink people everywhere! Allow me to elaborate...

Was planning to meet up with friends yesterday at Clementi before heading to a birthday party. So I picked up a present at Viviocity around 7.15pm and realising that I was going to be late, decided to hail a cab at the taxi stand...guess what? the queue at the taxi stand seemed to snake on forever and if that wasn't bad enough, taxis were arrviing in a tickle at best, probablye freaked out by the queue of cab-hungry Singaporeans/Foreigners.

Deciding that it would probably be faster transiting via MRT, I hopped onto MRT and did a switching at Outram Park Interchange. That was where the horror begin...

MRT after MRT was packed with people to the max, and no it wasn't anything like Hari Raya last year whereby everyone had space to move about...This year, the trains were packed to the max such that no batch of passengers waiting to board the MRT was every 100% successful, with a few passengers left behind to wait for the next MRT to arrive.

And for your information, most of the people on the MRT car I was in weren't Malays! Call me xenophobic but there happen to be a hell lot of non-Singaporeans hanging around near the entrance of the MRT with no commonsense to move further in where there happened to be an empty space? And you'd think it was just foreigners...apparently, the queue at our polyclinics are equally bad! Imagine having to wait 1 hr to register, 40 mins for your turn to see the doctor for a 7 min consultation before squandering another 20 mins of your life waiting to collect your prescription from the pharmacy....

Productive Time = 7 mins
Unproductive Time = 2hrs (120mins)
Polyclinic Assessment = Screwed!!!

Seriously, I most certainly did not pay my MRT fares to get squeezed and suffocated on a commute, no matter how communal its meant to be. For goodness sake, if the Land Transport Authority wants to increase our transport fees annually, then at least provide us decent transportation services. They can start by increasing the frequency of MRT arrvials. The worst part of this is that the newspapers come out with headlines proclaiming how wonderous and efficient our public transportation is and the need to raise train fares in light of rising global oil prices - I don't see how that's the case now that oil prices have gone below $96 per barrel and considering the number of passengers who have to squeeze into an MRT..now I'm so motivated to get my driving licence and vehicle... Don't remind me of ERPs!

Hiatus!

2008-09-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

I will be taking a break from blogging for the month of Sep 08 to work on another project. Watch out for my come back in October!

Lotsa Love,
Costa

Snapshots For Aug 08~

2008-08-31T08:53:00.000-07:00

It seems like the term "blogging" has often been defined as logging down one's experiences in life, the kind of stuff that would attract voyeurs who want a peek into your life...

While this blog will definitely be less about me and function more like my channel of expression, I've decided to give it a more personal touch in this article...no frisky details,I'm way too lazy for that, just a couple of shots...

Of Hip Diners and Tao Huay

2.30pm - Met up with Han after lunch with my parents at Suntec in an attempt to squeeze our way through the ridiculous crowd at the Comex IT Show but we eventually gave up all the shoving, squeezing and strategic planning to find the most accessible route to the convention hall.

5 pm - Left for church while Han met up with YJ.

7.20 pm - Linked up with Han and YJ at Taka before heading to Cineleisure for dinner @ Hip Diners...Food was disappointing though

Miserable, lousy and oily meatloaf.

Thankfully, Tao Huay at Rochor saved the day and filled our stomachs...I'm too lazy to go into the details or upload anymore photos so that's all for the moment, perhaps I'll modify this portion when I have the time to...

Sharks, Han's head got caught in the pic...wanted to capture YJ's head "floating in the air".

Sam's Birthday BASH @ Zouk

Our first stop was at the American Club where all of us had Hennessy and Heneiken with some really special guests that night. Really REALLY special guest that is.

Posing with the birthday boy for an attitude shot:

My bro here had just gotten elected as NTU's President for Photog!

Jason and his friend

Andy, Adrian and Randall in high spirits

Posing with my bodyguard!

Took this shot with a tip or two from the Photog President.

Look who's shaking

Grandma's Birthday

Celebrated my paternal Grandmother's 80th Birthday @ Man Fu Something Restaurant over at Oriental Hotel. Pictures were posted by Ronda...Can't seem to expand them without disrupting the quality though...hmmm....

Was a rather considerable family gathering but I'm only going to display our family shot.

The menu was Fantastic, with lobster on longevity noodles, double broiled shark fins soup (a hell lot of shark fins ok, entire chunks of them, each about a finger long!)

Once again, would like to wish my Grandmother a wonderous and Blessed Birthday!

HORTPark Reloaded

I had never heard of a "HORT Park" till this month and when I finally heard about it, I visited it twice. The first trip was with YA, which was supposed to be organised by our cell. We started walking from Mt Faber, through Hort Park to Bukit Chandu hill where we visited the museum cum memorial centre at the top of the hill. The memorial centre was a tribute to the soldiers of the 3rd Malay Regiment (If I remembered correctly) for their valient efforts in defending the hill against occupational forces from Japan.Therein we ended with lunch at a zhi cha foodcentre at the base of the hill.

Cell buddies (Psalm not in picture, busy leading the group)

Hilltop Garden

Along the bridge...

HORT Park, which is really Horticulture Park, a rather nice and green place.

Luncheon with Lyn and Ling

Caught up with childhood buddies Lyn and Ling for lunch at Marche, Vivo. We have known each other since we were crawling and are all grown up now. Had a pleasant time chatting with them, not to mention ogling the hamsters and puppies at Pet Safari...esp since Lyn's back for her summer vacation!

A Majestic Drink and Supper

Well not exactly...in fact, the pub was located just next to this designer hotel (the Majestic Hotel). It all began when I received an invitation from Shu Juan, Ian and Shu Sian to explore Arab Street on a Tuesday. However, due to other commitments, I decided to join them for a drink instead at this location which supposedly had a 3-storey tall tree in the centre of the building...makes you wonder how the tree got all the sunlight and water without affecting the patrons, not to mention what steps the managment would have to take to ensure that the tree stayed in shape (and a bald tree is not an excuse for artistic tendencies).

As suspected, the CONCEPT of the bar was that of a 3 -storey tree tall tree rather than the existence of real tree. Kena conned.

Shu Juan with her Gingerbread Martini

Shu Juan and Shu Sian

Me with my "Sweet & Charming" while Ivan strikes a pose with his Hunk Martini, which tasted awful...Thankfuly I opted for "Sweet & Charming" which was light and refreshed the senses with its citrus essence.

Oh No! What's happening??? Radio-cosmic waves are granting the 4 of us new powers!

Myself and Ivan powering up!

And I blew Ivan's head off in a beam of laser!

Act cute.

Act Cool.

Late-night supper served at Maxwell Market. The porriage and siew mai were delicious!

Our best food show host pose.

Adventures with Silicon Man, Abang, Kungfu Panda and Fat Ahgong (don't ask me why)

Had so much fun with you guys but I'll save our tales for another time....Now for blissful sleep...zzzZZzz

MRT Moral Dilemma resolved! (~Modified~)

2008-08-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

As promised, my solution to the problem (as in yesterday's "MRT Moral Dilemma") was simply to remain seated.

Application of King Solomon's Law - King Solomon threatened to cleave a baby being contested by 2 ladies claiming to be the child's mother into half. In doing so, he managed to identify the real mother (who showed greater love for the child).

By staying seated, everyone didn't have to fight over the seat, as a fare-paying passenger,I didn't need to feel choked by guilt whatsoever and everyone was happy...

Or rather, I hope they were...

Anyway, I ended up vacating my seat for this mother/child duo later on in the journey so yeah,so much for the mental stress...

Moral Dilemma #3

Building on the earlier question as to whether the Old Man, Pregnant Lady or Parent with Toddler should be given priority over the very same seat has led to yet another dilemma...

Within each of these subgroups, how do we prioritise the Right To Seat??? Have you ever wondered what are the criterias one must satisfy in order to fit into the above categories?

Take for instance, the following questions:

How old must you be to be considered an "Old Man"? Someone who looks frail and weak but is actually 60 years old? Or someone who appears physically hale and strong but is 80 years old?

Should a pregnant lady into her 6th month give up her seat to another lady who is 7 months into her pregnancy?

What requirements must a child+parent combo meet before they qualify under the Priority List? Must the child be a baby less than 1 year old? Or conversely, what is the age limit of a "toddler" as we define it in the picture? One who is in kindergarten? Or maybe even lower primary school?

I realised that pitting the 3 groups of needy people would merely result in everyone siding with the Old Man and pregnant lady against the "Parent with Child" would would probably bring to mind the image of a healthy young/mid-aged parent...so I've decided to take things even further by replacing that icon with one depicting a Grandparent with Grandchild/Baby.

Now then, if all 3 groups of "needy" individuals were to contest for the seat (acts of graciousness aside), who is entitled to the seat at the end of the day???

Think about it and feel free to comment (If any)

Chain Laughter

2008-08-25T02:04:00.001-07:00

Laughter is the best medicine yeah?Try NOT to laugh while watching this...

More Videos at ChruDat.com

Did you laugh?

An Idiot's Guide for the Pregnant Lady

2008-08-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

With Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioning how guys can make all the right moves such as helping with the changing of a babies diapers or wearing shoes when out on a dinner date to a fine dining restaurant during his National Day Rally speech, its no wonder that the ladies must have felt left out...

Hence, in this article we shall dispense tips on how to ensure a smooth delivery....

The MRT Moral Dilemma

2008-08-25T00:54:00.001-07:00

Well, was onboard the MRT just last week when it occurred to me that the public transport system does indeed have a rather complicated etiquette...with lots of gray areas.

Senario #1 (Real-life situation with teaser)

Setting:
I boarded the MRT at Boon Lay MRT Station but only managed to get a sit at Jurong East MRT.

There were 3 empty seats vacated by occupants who alighted at Jurong East MRT station. Standing nearest to the centre seat, I naturally laid stake to it, especially when I caught sight of marauding aunties and banglas charging through the breached MRT sliding doors.

My bum had just found a nice place to rest when this young lady sat to my left. Apparently, she had a friend so I thought I'd move to allow them to seat together...But a bangla sat on my right. Apparently, he too was with a friend of his.

Now then, as the modern day knight in green on the far eastern side of the world (albeit a little south)...an act of Chivalry would mean either giving up my seat to the ladies or the banglas, both having equal right as paying passengers to the seat....

What would you do?

My answer will be revealed in tommorrow's article (Not the next article for today!)

Senario #2

Seen this sign before?

It depicts an old man, a pregnant lady and a parent with a child. Just below the sign is yet another label just above the seat with the words: "Priority Seat"

Now if there was a 100-year old man, a lady whom you suspect is 8-months pregnant with triplets and a 2 year old mentally disabled toddler with his parent all standing in front of you, whom would you give up your seat to?

Lets just say the entire train is full of 110-year old elderly folks, ladies pregnant just waiting to give birth to quadruplets and serverely disabled toddlers and you are the only hale and young person around.

Apparently there isn't a table of precedence to inform people who gets priority over the other "priority individuals" yeah?

Miss Nun Universe - A Catholic Pageant

2008-08-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure how this would play out among Catholics, especially the conservative ones in light of a contest for Sisters of an ascetic order which shuns the pleasures of the World. Oh well, its a proposal by a Catholic priest anyway so it should be so much of a problem, I think.

- Vladimar Kosta

Article from the following link:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_271528.html

ROME - THE first beauty pageant for nuns debuts next month with the advent of 'Miss Sister Italy,' aimed at erasing a stereotype of nuns as being old and sad, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
'Nuns are above all women and beauty is a gift from God,' priest Antonio Rungi of the southern Italian diocese of Modragone told the daily Corriere della Sera.
'This contest will be a way to show there isn't just the beauty we see on television but also a more discrete charm,' he added.
Nuns wishing to participate in the contest should send their picture to Rungi, who will publish it on his blog. Internet surfers can then vote for their favorite nun online.
'You really think all nuns are old, stunted and sad? This isn't the case any more, thanks to the arrival in our country of young and vital nuns,' notably from Africa and Latin America, Father Rungi added.
The idea of organising a beauty pageant had been pushed by the nuns themselves, he said, adding he expected roughly 1,000 candidates.
'I hope the next (pageant) won't just take place online but that we can organise a real show that can take place during the Miss Italy contest,' Father Rungi said. -- AFP

Talk about Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act:

7 People Who Kicked DEATH In The Balls!

2008-08-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

Vladimar Kosta links up with Son Tran even as he tracks down the 7 people who have defied death and realises that sky diving without a parachute, sawing off your arm with a pen knife, catching sharks for breakfast and getting shot are just some of the great lengths people go to get killed. NOT.

And of course along the way, our dear reporter offers some brainless commentary...

The lady who sky-dived without a parachute

#7.Vesna Vulovic 1, Mountain 0

Who was she?
Vesna Vulovic was a stewardess back in the '70s working on a Serbian airline.

How She Stared Down Death:
Except for surviving countless ass gropings during her time as a stewardess there was really nothing special about this lady. Oh yeah, except for the fact that she fell 33,000 fucking feet and lived to tell the tale.

On January 26, 1972 our gal was working an extra shift due to a clerical error. She took the shift anyway to earn a little extra scratch, probably to supplement her bear-wrestling hobby or something. Anyway, some terrorists decided to blow up her plane and succeeded in doing so at the worst possible time, when the plane was really high up in the air.

Like this, only six miles in the air

Not only did she survive the explosion that blew the plane into pieces, but she was the only person to live after hitting the side of the mountain. Normally this would totally suck by itself, but it was winter so the mountain was also frozen which probably made it feel like she hit it after falling 33,000 and 10 feet.

Now because we're talking about reality and not a cartoon, she did in fact break a bunch of bones and fell into a coma, but when she woke up she looked around and asked for a cigarette. Apparently flipping Death the bird really gives you cravings.

Not convinced? Did we tell you she was left paralyzed ... but then regained her ability to walk through sheer force of will and balls-out effort? She also didn't suffer any of those New Age, sissy boy "psychological effects" either and continued to fly like nothing happened. As a bonus she collected a Guinness World Record for her troubles.

Want to see if you're as tough? No problem all you have to do is jump off the equivalent of 26 Empire State Buildings.

In case you're wondering, a fall like that takes about three minutes, which should be plenty of time to contemplate death (and every single bad decision you've made in your life) and after that, don't forget to live, break your back, fall into a coma, become paralyzed and then recover, which we figure is the hard part.

Lead actor of the real-life Saw Movie scene

#6.Aron Ralston Hacks Off His Own Fucking Arm

Who was he?
A mechanical engineer at Intel. You know those engineers are renowned for being tough guys.

How He Stared Down Death:
No biggie, all he did was take a hike in the woods and came out five days later, missing an arm, which he had to cut off himself.

Seems Aron was big on mountain climbing, which by itself is pretty manly, but not enough to get him on this list. Except during this particular hike a boulder fell on him, pinning his arm. For five days he worked to push the rock off and finally realized he would die unless he took drastic action.

Because the prospect of cutting off your arm may not impress some of you hardcore readers, we need to point out that he first had to break his arm by snapping it against the same rock pinning him down. Then came the hard part, cutting through the flesh.

Lucky for Aron he had a multi-use tool. Unluckily for Aron it was a piece of crap knock-off that he probably got from an aunt at Christmas. Plus saying that he was lucky to have the tool to cut through his arm is kind of like saying you're lucky to have Chapstick on your lips while your head is on fire.
Death wasn't about to give up easily though, and after cutting through the flesh, Aron had to use the pliers to cut through the tendons that the knife couldn't cut.

Finally he freed himself, gave Death one last manly smile and found some help. He ended up losing the arm but had it replaced by a bitching climbing ax, accomplishing in one step what we hope evolution does for the rest of us over the next few million years.

I'm telling you, the army just can't do without clerks

#5.Jim Thompson POW and Legendary Badass

Who was he?
Jim was just a store clerk, until he decided he could probably impress more girls by telling them he was a Green Beret, which he became.

How He Stared Down Death:
During the Vietnam War, Jim was captured and held as a prisoner of war, at which time he was beaten and tortured. The time we're speaking of by the way was a period of nine years, giving him a pretty bittersweet record for being held as a POW.

His plane was shot down in 1964, with Jim taking a bullet and breaking his back in the process. Surviving that part would have been enough of a harrowing story for most people to tell for the rest of their lives. But it was a long way from over for Jim.

After being captured, Jim was held in a jungle camp and jammed into a wooden cage too small for him to sit up or fully stretch out. For months his captors wanted him to sign papers saying that he was treated well. Jim told them to fuck off and in return was beaten and tortured some more. At some point, probably because his voice was sore from telling them to fuck themselves, he finally signed.

Actual photo (of Christopher Walken)

As a reward, he was moved into solitary confinement for four years. He was finally moved into a prison with other prisoners which was great, except that the beatings and torture continued, which pretty much blew. At one point during his captivity, he became so weak that he suffered a heart seizure. Realizing he needed his heart to live, Jim survived that scare and even managed to escape five times.

The time took its toll on Jim though and it looked like Death would win this one. Another prisoner who saw Jim reported that he thought the enemy had placed a corpse in the cell next door. However, Death forgot the fact the Jim was a Green Beret and he held on until he was finally released in 1973. He weighed 90 pounds.

Thompson unfortunately succumbed to death shortly after his release. And by "shortly" we mean 30 years later, of natural causes, in Florida.

Bad day for a fish, or shark

#4.Poon Lim, Cast Away

Who was he?
He was steward on a British ship during World War II, with an unfortunate first name, at least by Western standards.

How He Stared Down Death:
The ship he was working on was blown up by the Germans. Being total assholes, the Germans did this while the ship was far away from land. Surviving the explosion was no biggie for Poon, but it forced him to climb into a life raft and hang out until he was rescued ... 133 fucking days later.

At first there was water in the raft and a few boxes of biscuits. But these ran out quickly and Poon had to get all MacGyver and make himself some fish hooks out of nails and tin cans to catch fish to survive.

Between doing awesome stuff like catching sharks and drinking the blood of birds he caught, he also had to deal with sunburn, seasickness and storms that wrecked his food and water supplies. Eventually he figured he needed to catch more food. For us that would mean more fish. For Poon it meant catching a fucking shark. For Death it meant Poon was not going down easy.

Toothy death or lunch? Depends on who you are.

He could have been rescued sooner but another German U-boat that spotted him offered no help. It was at this point that Poon began to suspect that the Nazis were dicks.

He finally sailed near Brazil and was rescued by some fishermen, and these days the US Navy teaches his survival techniques to its sailors.

Next time you feel like complaining about how small your apartment is, just imagine living for four months on one of these:

When Charcoal tastes like Carl's Jr

#3.The Meng Brothers Eat Coal For Breakfast

Who were they?
A coal miner working in China, which is basically like poking Death in the face on a regular basis for a living.

How They Stared Down Death:
Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou were working hard in a coal mine when the tunnel they were working in collapsed, burying them alive. Generally coal mines anywhere are not safe places to work, but the Mengs were working in an illegal mine, which meant that the safety budget was probably spent on booze and bribes instead of things like oxygen or emergency training.

After the mines collapsed, a rescue team was sent in to try and dig Meng and his brother out, but then quickly gave up. Their fellow miners then gave it a try, and were promptly arrested for illegal mining, presumably on the basis they could accidentally dig up some coal along with the two human beings trapped under it.

So, trapped underground with no food or water and a system too retarded to save them, everyone gave up hope. The Mengs' relatives even conducted burial rites at the mine.

The brothers, however, were still alive. Realizing the rescue effort wasn't coming, the brothers started digging themselves out. Armed with only one pickaxe and their bare hands, they tunneled their way through 66 feet of coal.

In between making jokes about each other's wives and drinking their own urine, they also tried chomping on some coal to take the edge off their hunger. According to Meng, coal tastes great when you're starving to death. Otherwise it tastes like ass.

Once they pulled themselves to the surface, Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou gave Death the double bird salute and gave the officials who called off the rescue a hard stare. Then they went to the hospital, where Meng Xianchen said he crapped coal for a few days.

Thanks for nothing, fuckers.

Bear VS Man = Man Wins!

#2.Brent Case Has Bear-Proof Skin

Who was he?
A surveyor working up in Canada, which is like the US, but with better beer and fewer guns.

How He Stared Down Death:
Brent was minding his own business while working in the forests of British Columbia when Death came to visit in the form of a 900-pound adult grizzly bear.

Brent was carrying an ax at the time, but that probably doesn't help a lot against a bear unless it's the kind of ax that shoots shotgun shells. Brent, knowing better, decided to play dead.

Unfortunately the bear wasn't looking for a fair fight and started munching on Brent's skull. At one point he thought the bear was actually eating his brain. While this may not have been true, from the picture below you can't blame him for thinking this.

The bear took a few more chunks out of Brent, threw him into a bog and jumped on him WWE-style a few times before saying "Screw it" and walking off leaving Brent for dead.

It should be noted that playing dead still probably saved his life, as bears typically won't eat an already-dead victim (we're not sure why, but we think it's considered dishonorable according to the code all bears live by). Regardless, with his scalp hanging in huge flaps from his skull and bleeding heavily, Brent managed to get up and go for help. He got back to his car and drove 15 miles, covered in blood and bear bites. Death could only stand on the side of the road and shake its fist.

Watches heroes?This is the invincible gal...

#1.Alexis Goggins, Invincible Girl

Who was she?
Just an ordinary first grader, attending classes, hanging with her friends.

How She Stared Down Death:
She had to save her mom from some crazy dude. She did this by jumping in front of him and taking six bullets, point blank, including a couple to the head.

It started when some lowlife kidnapped Alexis and her mom (OK, the lowlife was the mom's boyfriend). The mother tried to stall the bad guy and managed to call 911, but the cops said they couldn't send anyone. Apparently they were all busy with more fucked up situations than a man holding a child hostage at gunpoint.

It was at this point that the gunman decided he should stamp his passport into hell and started shooting. Two bullets struck the mother before little Alexis dove between them, begging the shooter to stop. Without hesitation, he shot six times, little Alexis taking the bullets that would have killed her mother. By this time the cops arrived, as they figured things were getting really serious because now someone was actually shooting.

Alexis thought about dying for a second then decided she still had some shit to do. Death could only watch as she grabbed her stuff and headed back to the land of the living, despite some serious injuries that would have killed most of us twice and some of us three times.

This would be jaw-droppingly impressive for a 250-pound Marine combat vet, let alone a seven-year-old girl. And while we would like to cling to our original theory that she's actually an immortal Highlander, the truth is this seven-year-old girl is simply more man than we'll ever be.

WAR!!! Singapore VS Hong Kong

2008-08-24T06:12:00.000-07:00

As the war rages on between Gerogia and Russia...We at mine voice are getting rather bored so we've decided to head down to the next war zone!

Vladimar Kosta reports on the War between Singapore and Hong Kong, a battle which is heating up fast!

Check out the propaganda war cries on both sides...

Arty shot from Singapore!

Return fire from Hong Kong!

Ok fine...perhaps its just light banter in a very creative and entertaining light but if you read though the comments,you'll realise that apparently the Hong Kongers aren't taking it too well...

Just an interesting test....After watching both vids,which tune do you think keeps replaying in your head? The tune which keeps replaying in your head is the more successful propaganda theme song!

Pop World: On Britney Spears wannabe, Ellen DeGeneres and Dark Knight + Find out how YOU can be a part of Avril Lavigne's show in S'pore!

2008-08-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hollywood! Hollywood! That's what we will be covering after all the war action....now for some juicy pieces of Celebrities from the other side of the world in this article - Vladimar Kosta

Thought you knew all about Britney Spears? Well guess who is the real Britney?

Her?

Britney #1

Or her?

Britney #2

Find out in this video:

Well congrats if you guessed Britney #1 cause the Britney #2 is the lead in the video...

The wonders of plastic surgery...Should get ab and pec implants someday...lol!

Ellen Degeneres is MARRIED to Portia de Rossi!!!

In the most well-publicised homosexual marriage, stand-up comedian Ellen is now married! This is what she has to say:

"I do a lot of things differently now ... I say, 'I do' a lot. For example: Who wants to do pilates? I do. Would you like a Mountain Dew? I do. Do you know why I pulled you over? I do. And that was just this morning."

- Describing the excitement she felt on her Big Day. Yer right...I soooo can't wait for night to arrive

"The wedding was everything we hoped it would be. I wish I could've invited all of you. But I have some pictures and video I can show you when Season 6 starts on September 8th. I can't wait to see them too ... it was all a blur."

- Everything you hoped for was a blur?

DARK KNIGHT THRASHED!

Thought The Dark Knight was the "Biggest Movie Of The Year"? Think again.

LOS ANGELES: The action comedy "Tropic Thunder" grabbed the top spot at the box office with $25.8 million, knocking the Batman tale "The Dark Knight" into second-place after four weekends on top.
With a $16.4 million weekend, "The Dark Knight" raised its domestic total to $471.1 million to pass "Star Wars" as No. 2 on the all-time charts behind "Titanic" at $600.8 million.

1. "Tropic Thunder," Paramount, $25,812,796, 3,319 locations, $7,777 average, $36,845,588, one week.
2. "The Dark Knight," Warner Bros., $16,379,293, 3,590 locations, $4,562 average, $471,082,150, five weeks.

-AP

Not Cool Enough compared to....

This?

Familiar ain't it?Like a snapshot from local comedy production "Army Daze". For once, Singapore's Movie Industry(Raintree or some Angsana Tree I think...or was it Apple Tree?) is ahead of Hollywood!

With Avril Lavigne coming to Singapore, who doesn't want to be part of the action? Now YOU can be involved!

987fm THE BEST DAMN DANCE

Date: 31st August 2008

Time: 3:00:00 PM

Venue: Cathay Cineleisure Orchard

987fm is looking for an opening act at the Avril Lavigne concert!Form a dance crew or a cheerleading squad of up to 6 members.This is YOUR chance to be the opening act for Avril Lavigne’s concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, hang out with Avril Lavigne, exclusive merchandise, concert tickets and other cool stuff!*Dance routine should not cross 5 minutes and has to include an Avril Lavigne song.

Send in your application NOW with your group name, contact and song item to 987fm@mediacorp.com.sg

Avril Lavigne concert is on 7 September 2008 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, 8pm.

Get your tickets at sistic.com

And this is Vladimar Kosta reporting live from Hollywood. In the next article, we dig out the rivalries between port cities Singapore and Hong Kong!

When Angmoh's try karate

2008-08-18T08:22:00.001-07:00

Don't quite know how to link the video onto my blog (anyone can help?)

But here's the link:

Interview on the Gerogia VS Russia War

2008-08-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

Just in case you're wondering, Georgia (a little East European country) and Russia(if you don't know where it is,I seriously can't help you) are at war. Which basically means people die and children cry.

Your News Correspondent Vladimar Kosta takes you beyond enemy lies, round the galaxy, in and out of history and all over the planet to find out what some of the World's most prominent figures have to say:

For Georgia

Yoda: Attacked you must be. Idiots.

Britney Spears: I'd get Stronger and tell Russia Gimme More, cause we're Overprotected by USA. *shaves head bald*

Dawn Yong: Just act cute in front of the international media, give your best plastic smile! I can recommend you my plastic surgeon! Oh! And if all else fails, just sue them like how I decided to take out a lawyer's letter against some bimbotic fake blonde.

Letter from Obameh:

Dear Mr Putin,

As the most likely and well celebrated future President of the most diverse nation in the world,it has been most distressing to see your dear neighbour Georgia being bombed and pulverised by your latest Russain prototype tanks. As it is, I believe you're not very familiar with my campaign for Change. Allow me to enlighten you.

The Georgians are our brothers as are the Russians and despite the depth of your hatred for one another, I believe we can all hug and make up.YES WE CAN! This is the kind of change we can believe in! A world were black,white,grey and purple can all live in perfect harmony with each other. A world which will materialise once I get elected (a definite senario,I give you Hollywood's word on this). Your current actions are interfering with my Chi and you must stop at once if we're to Change this world and if I'm ever going to enjoy my vacation in Hawaii without reporters bugging me every minute to say comment on the current war.

I've yet to inspect your eyes the way Mr Bush has so I can't resolutely declare to the whole that you're trustworthy....nor have I sensed your soul for that matter. I assure you that I'm unlike the current President and would gladly reach out to all the loss sheep in the world, preferably from the Oval Office in the White House, which was built for me.

I can't give you the details of how I'm about to do it but you can always order my motivational speeches at 1800-hope-obameh

For World Peace,
President-within-a-matter-of-months Obameh

For Russia

Yoda: Attack you must. Idiots.

Joker: Why so serious? Just make Georgia disappear!Let me show you how with my pencil-in-the-table trick...

Britney Spears: Aim missiles...And Fire!Oops! I did it again....Baby one more time!

Terminator: Hasta La Vista Georgia!

Anwar-e: We will take over the current government soon!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
1 Year Later:
Anwar-ed: We will take over the current government soon!

And this is Vladimar Kosta reporting live from Mine Voice.

TAGGED!!!

2008-08-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

Argh! I've been tagged! Whatever that means....let's have a look at the the instructions from Kelvin's/Sis Blog (Two Skinny Lattes):

"So here it is. The rules of the tag is as follows:

.State 15 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself.

. The 10 people I tag are to then to follow my footsteps and write their own 15 weird things/habits and little known facts.

. No tag backs."

You're kidding me....sounds like playing catching all over again,with rules. Do I get to twist?

Ok,nvm,I shal attempt to humor you with my (oops! MINE) take on life with pictorial descriptions helpfully extracted from the web... I took the effort to search for the most appropriate one hor!

1. I'm one of them

2. I so love conversations:And give you a full refund for your bull**** if you're not satisfied with my services.

3. Minus the usual complains of how people hate hypocrites,backstabbers,blah,blah,blah...there are more things to fear
4. If you see me talking aloud to myself, don't worry, I ain't crazy, just trying to sort out the clutter...I think communication studies has a term for this....

5. No, I'm not trying to act blur when you call me...I'm partially deaf!

6. My excuse for whacking your head early this morning and sprinkling water on you right out of the loo in the afternoon

7. I hereby challenge anyone in my office, make it across all the offices, who dares to lay claim to this badge:I thought so...I'm the winner again...darn!

Ever felt like that ever morning?

Mine Solution

9. Something I picked up from my boss:

10. How I cope with points 7 to 9...somehow the uppermost comment doesn't seem to apply...11. I can clear off tonnes of chocolates and ice-creams on a good day...

12.

I could have married this girl if I met her when I was 9...we had so much in common back then...

13. My political affiliation:

Republican.Not Elephant...for political nutcases.

14. A hardcore animal lover, for cute animals only. Delusional humans need not apply.

15. And finally,I present to you Life's Greatest Advice:

Man!So many events have been occurring in my life but I've yet to blog about them, probably have to do it over the weekend...haiz...

Till then...you've been TAGGED!!!

Demythification - Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH)

2008-08-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

Source: from artposters.com

For those of you who have never read or forgot the story...A synopsis of the Story as told by the brothers Grimm (source from wiki, modified with some details ):

Source: Red Riding Hood and her mother-- from Trina Schart Hyman, Little Red Riding Hood (Holiday House, 1986)

It is about a girl called Little Red Riding Hood, after the red hooded cape or cloak she wears. The girl is told by her mother to deliver food to her sick grandmother who warns her to be careful of wolves in the forest.

In the first place, why would any mother allow her daughter, who is like just 5-years old lah, to deliver anything to anybody on her own? Much less via a forest infested with wolves who can talk! What are her motives for doing so? Why didn't she accompany her daughter to visit the Old Grandmother? What other matter could be more pressing than the safety of her daughter?

Source: Wiki

A wolf wants to eat the girl but is afraid to do so in public.

Wait, shouldn't wolves be hunting bunnies and hamsters instead of humans?Wolves don't usually eat humans unless they are freaking hungry and have to....makes sense to eat smaller animals no? What? The wolf read Adolf Hitler's Mien Kampf or something? (Hey,if Mr Wolf can talk, outwit old granny, wear Granny's nightgown AND tie her bonnet onto his head, why can't he read?)

He approaches the girl, and she naïvely tells him where she is going. He suggests the girl pick some flowers, which she does.

Hmmm, if LRRH is so obedient...Might as well ask the girl to drop dead, follow him to some quiet place or better yet,keep still while he eats her yeah? Apparently he is smart enough to devise a plot to trap her but not smart enough to do so efficiently. And the girl....is she a blonde or something?

In the meantime, he goes to the grandmother's house and gains entry by pretending to be the girl.

Idiosyncracy must run in the family...enough said...

Source: Gustave

He swallows the grandmother whole, and waits for the girl, disguised as the grandmother. When the girl arrives, he swallows her whole too (after all the "Oh Grandmother! What big eyes/nose/teeth/hairy arms you have!")
A hunter, however, comes to the rescue and cuts the wolf's belly open. Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother emerge unharmed. They fill the wolf's body with heavy stones, which kill him. Other versions of the story have had the grandmother shut in the closet instead of eaten, and some have Little Red Riding Hood saved by the hunter as the wolf advances on her rather than after she is eaten.

Hmmm, don't you go running, screaming and bursting into hysteria after being freed from a WOLF's STOMACH??? Who on Earth calmly gathers stones and filling the wolf (who must have been bleeding like hell after being cut opened) with them? Even if you take to the second version of the story in which the girl never got the chance to peek into the wolf's stomach, the experience must be traumatising enough to render her stunned or at least temporarily scared of wolves. If you ask me, such behaviour reflect the sadistic tendencies of LRRH and her grandmother (which probably explains why LRRH's mother sent her into a wolf-infested woods in the first place, they've been plotting to kill each other right from the beginning). In which case, the premise should be that wolves should steer clear of little girls and their grandmothers rather than the other way around.

Anyway, if LRRH and her entire family had an IQ that low, its surprising they managed to stay alive for so long, especially the Grandmother.

And they lived HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

Oi!You retarded or what?!?! No one "lives happily ever after" after such a traumatising experience...definitely not the quillions of abuse victims out there.

Source: Wiki

Basically what all these children have been reading is a tale with non-existential logic, cloaking its darker roots.Personally, its good to explore such aspects of fairy tales and give a harmless outlet to logical(or was it illogical?) discrepancies but I'm of the opinion that having said that, fairy tales should be read as they are, innocent and illogical.

Depending on response, the next part of the series will likely examine:

Cinderella

Demythification Series

2008-08-08T03:35:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Do not attempt to read any further if your intention is to retain your blissful memories of Fairy Tales...The Demythification Series promises to change your perspective of Fairy Tales such that you'll never view them in the same light ever again.

I happened upon the Little Red Riding Hood story just the other day and discovered over wiki that the fairy tale as we know it (as told by the Grimm brothers) actually had darker cousins preluding the tamed version of today.

So I was thinking :"Why not explore the realm of Fairy Tales once again? This time round, looking at the story in detail and examining the various aspects and hidden connotations of the story". Surprisingly, close inspection of the story reviewed numerous illogical, even sinister implications!!!

As such, I've decided to start on this series to further dissect the various Fairy Tale stories but it shall be interspersed over a period of time rather than in one large dosage.

Deeper introspection and analysis of our culture has led to even greater perspectives on how our minds have been exposed to various elements which have in turn allowed us to perceive things from a different angle...resulting in my formulation of 2 resulting explanations....

Pleasant Explanation - The gift of education and exposure to various cultures and behaviours has shaped our minds and allowed us to mature intellectually.

Nasty Explanation - The same exposure and experiences have corrupted our minds over the years and allowed us to view things from a vastly different (and darker) perspective as our innocent selves decades back.

The Conclusion:
For Christians, it is telling in the book of Genesis, the Holy Bible, that when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Tree of Good and Evil in the centre of the Garden of Eden, innocence was forever lost. Both the above explanations are equally valid, and serve to reinforce the fact the the Bible was not lying. For Man has gained both good and evil knowledge.

Christ is real.

Believe it.

Travelogue: San Francisco!!! (Long Post)

2008-07-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

Yupz, here's my first Travelogue entry (probably won't have many due to NS constraints) to:

SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco?Why?

The original plan was to traverse the white,sandy beaches of Phuket,Thailand with a group of friends....what better way to relax than to laze around on a tropical coast, sipping lemonade, swimming with mermaids and chatting up water sprites erh?

But that was not to be for Bangkok was the destination my friends settled upon after much deliberation...a destination I wasn't so enthusiastic about since it was all shopping and yeah, shopping...not really my idea of a vacation...

Enter my parents who were planning to head for San Francisco so I thought it wouldn't be such a bad idea to join them, especially since its technically free (I didn't have to fork out a cent)

DAY 1

Up into the Sky!

Take off!

Sky

Above the clouds

Cam Whoring

Sky

Sky (See how the sunlight reflects off the clouds and those black penguin-like things seem to be swimming among the clouds? Of course you can't lah,there aren't any black penguin like things)

Black and White Sky

Bart?What Bart?

This is THE BART machine:

Sounds like some word you'd use to describe a naughty kid or you know,THAT Bart who stars in The Simpsons?But is actually like your EZ-Link top-up machine at your MRT station.

The Bart itself is rather unspectacular so I couldn't be bothered to snap a shot,looks like....a train (Ok fine,perhaps I did forget to snap a shot of it but it really isn't spectacular on the outside)

Dad and Mum in the Bart.They were standing when I took the shot...the truth is the Bart has more seating than standing space available...and the bart wasn't even a quarter-occupied...

Anyway,I managed to snatch some well-shot pictures from wiki (so useful!):

THE BART

Interior

Ticket (Chao old school - Paper one with magnet strip hor)

On the Bart

At Club Quarters Hotel

We had a pretty good location,somewhere within the busting financial district and very near Chinatown.

Ok,once again, nothing spectacular...just shot...as in one shot...

Makan @ some Nameless Restaurant

Had Italian food at some restaurant near our hotel for our first meal (and a lot of subsequent meals as you'll see later on).It was by far the only disappointing meal amongst all the food we had tried over in San Francisco.Both dishes were a little too salty:

Beef Lasagna (Left) and Spaghetti (Right)

Financial District

Artistic shot

Artistic Black & White Shot

Music and Records Store

Borders Bookstore (Much bigger than its Singaporean cousin as you can see)

Union Square

Macys and Macys...Had to take them together,side by side....oh,there are 2 other Macys buildings over at the other side of the street but I didn't snap them...one for ladies and another for men so its like 4 Macys along the same street in total!!!Macys owner is one rich kid!I gotta marry her!

Other Buildings in Union Square

Victoria's Secret

Shots taken from the Cheesecake Factory on the top floor of one of the Macys building (the Cheesecake Factory serves up gorgeous food which I'll cover below...)

Insane Public Parking Lot prices...I saw one which charged US$100+ for 6 hours but didn't snap it.

What's this?

A News Stand!Artistic shot of a guy walking right past and conveniently blocking the newspaper peddler.

Tram

Cute Fire Engine

Dinner @ Tadich Grill

The Oldest Restaurant in San Francisco established since 1849 and still going strong...average waiting time is like an hour plus...with streams of patrons itching for a meal or just a good douse of alcohol along its long wooden bartop.Forgot to take pictures of its interior and the food though.

Menu:

House Bread and Butter

Clam Chowder thick and creamy

Turbot fish baked golden with assorted vegetables and rice,topped with cheese.

Fresh pan fried Scallops in red wine, served with rice

Coupled with old victorian eatery architecture (with coat hooks and oil lamps)...dinner was definitely a pleasure.

DAY 2

Elephant & Castle

That would be breakfast...

Menu:

Left - Pancakes served with honey and bacon

Right - French Toast with honey and sausages

Delicious!

Inside the castle:

Ferry Building

At Night

My dad supports Obama?

Inside the Ferry

Sausages

Chocolates

More Chocolate

Caviar

Random Flower Cart Shot

Street Market aka Pasar

Its this market which operates only twice a week just outside ferry building,arrhh,the sights,sounds and smells!

Pickles

Pasta

Pastries

And Knife Sharpening? You mean people actually bring their knives all the way to Ferry Building just to get it sharpened?Mind you,Ferry Building is called just that because its near the bloody ocean and pretty far away from the residential areas!

Fruits

Performer

Fisherman's Wharf

On our way there...

Rest.

Finally!

Lunch @ Bourdins

Parents pose

Menu:

Clam Chowder in a Sourdough Bowl

Salad tossed with walnuts,goat cheese and cranberries(As you can see, everything comes with bread...E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G)

And now,for a walk down the lane....

GAP...An entire building on its own!

Had some ice-cream at Ben & Jerry's

Ok, just to get things straight, we actually went to Pier 39 BEFORE going to Fisherman's Wharf

Merchants @ Pier 39

Bought lots of berries here!

Obama sure is hot here in San Francisco

Ahoy! Ship into the Sea!

And off we go!

All that tracking across a good portion of San Francisco left us hungry and so we set off to fine this French restaurant mum had read up about. So we searched.

And Searched

And Searched.

But couldn't find it, instead passing by Chinatown (which we swore we'd visit the following day) and Columbus Street which was really Little Italy (Think Little India.With pasta).Therin we discovered...

Stinking Rose!

Lots of garlic in that place....almost forgot to take a picture of the food so as you can see, half the dish is gone:

Au Dinner

Menu:

1) Silence of the Lamb Shanks with a generous portion of buttered mashed potatoes and marinated spinach

2) Foreground: Fetuccine with garlic and herbs

3) Background: Tomato-based Spaghetti with garlic,olives and dates

Sorry for the terrible and rather gross pictures but all the food look and taste gorgeous. Shall have to improve on my photography skills!Anyone cares to coach me?

Satisfied customers:

Red light (not gay) district we walked past after dinner, absolutely sanctioned by my parents! (They asked me to take it hor)

DAY 3

Falungong in Chinatown!
Yup, you read it right..the Falungong (a religious grouping banned in China) was carrying out a demonstration against the Communist Party of China right there in San Francisco's Chinatown!
All decked out in blue and waving placards decrying the Communists, the demonstrators were led by a vanguard of musicians all the way to a nearby park. It was rather amazing, especially since a demonstration isn't something you get to see everyday in Singapore...much less a Falungong one.

That was the last shot I managed to snap before my NV4 Camera battery died =(

But we did make a second trip to Chinatown...here are some snapshots!

Anyway, my parents and I were heading for lunch (we woke up late so no breakfast on the menu) along Market Street which was further up the lane...unfortunately,most of the food stores were closed on a Sunday...so we decided to dine at Quezno sub, a mexican interpretation of Subway, wherin we had chicken and beef wraps,sandwiches and soda,no pics to show for it though...

Then it was shopping at South of Market Street at this factory outlet where the prices for branded goods were really low but their clothes size was decidedly American (which basically means too big for me lah...

Alright, I'm too lazy to elaborate on the rest of the day, which satisfied the Singaporean cravings of shopping and eating.

DAY 4

Golden Gate Bridge

Walruses lazying on wooden floating platforms in the waters near Fisherman's Wharf
The all famous Alcatraz which is this standalone island out in the sea which once served as the ultimate prison for America's most notorious prisoners.

Up the Hills!

The road from up on the hill

Lambard Street with the zigzag road
A wooden car

View from the top

They probably had cars rolling down the hill at some point in their experience with gravity...Too lazy to turn it upright...

Shades of Tiffany

Where we purchased our Tiffany stained-glass set in wrought metal lamp

Satisfied Customers!

Dinner @ Italian Restaurant AGAIN

Forgot the exact ingredients which went into the dishes but it was good stuff

Menu:

Pasta...

Dinner is served:

Presenting to you
More Pasta....

DAY 5

Some random architecture

Cheesecake Factory

Sorry, its rather dim

This wonderful establishment served up some of the most sumptous and value-for-money food on top of one of the Macys Buildings situated within Union Square.

Menu:

Meatloaf served with a generous portion of Mashed Potatoes and stir-fried Nuts and Fruits

Grilled Salmon with Herbs and fresh Asparagus over a large scoop of Mashed potatoes

Shepherd's Pie

All of which were seriously large portions,at least by Asian standards...

A variety of cheesecakes of which we bought some.

Dinner

Reflections:

A wonderful and thoroughly refreshing experience in being able to revisit San Francisco once again and enjoy the great weather, good food, good sleep, good-looking people and good buys!

Although I probably won't visit San Francisco again in a long time (would rather move on to new places), but it was nevertheless, a wonderful trip =)

Oh, and a glimpse of our future:

And finally, have a nice day! Nice sporting pic of a performer near the Ferry Building

Intellectual Read: UnFulfiLlED DrEams.....

2008-07-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to be something other then what you're now?

Or perhaps do something you've always wanted to do but never got down to it because of parental disapproval, lack of financial support, procrastination, sloth or plain excuses?

Well,one man had the courage to pursue his dream....

He is:

ZOHAN!!!

Or rather....Mr SilkySmooth who'd always wanted to be a hairdresser (barber lah) but never got down to it as a result of National Commitments and the oh so shameful reason of parental disapproval (like hello, we're old enough to make our own decisions?)

Well, the same goes for so many of us who have dreams unfulfilled...To be that tennis star smacking his way to the Wimbledon trophy,

that Valedictorian who got the honor of a lifetime,

the artiste who crooned and grooved to millions of screaming fans.

Or perhaps on a lesser scale, the desire to learn how to play the guitar,

the urge to grow lean and slim or perhaps just passing the science quiz tommorrow morning....

And on an even lesser scale, the malnourished kid (of any colour) who just wants to fill his rumbling stomach with a few spoonfuls of rice,

the cancer-stricken patient who wishes for a cure and a healthy body,

the old lady next door who yearns for the company of her children who have all but forgotten about her...

On a scientific note, our dreams are defined by our yearns and wants, shaped in turn by events occurring amidst our lives, knowledge and societal norms. Just as a child brought up in a tribal village which calls the Amazon Jungle its home wouldn't yearn for a Porsche as he and his tribesmen have no prior knowledge of what a locomotive is, neither would a urbanite relaxing on a divan in his posh Manhattan home constructed within the concrete jungle, which we term the Big Apple,appreciate the emphasis of traditional values and respect for nature held by the the Amazon tribesmen nor seek to understand it...a result of societal pressures to pursue wealth above all cost.

Our happiness is thus determined by the fulfillment of expectations we set for ourselves, subjected yet again to comparisons with our peers. Why do we seek high-performance cars,

exclusive condominiums,

limited edition watches,
branded accessories and private jets?

For comfort (which the elite classes often delude themselves into believing)?Or prestige (which has overtones of arrogance - a frowned upon trait)? While no one disputes that comfort is definitely part of the exclusive package, its true value lies in providing its owners with something others don't possess...a sense of self-worth determined by material goods (or if you prefer a more positive term, physical representations of one's uniqueness).

Yet this is not an affliction which infects only the elite class but a global pandemic particularly endemic in developed countries where individuals at almost every strata of society trade their freedom and happiness on a stock market which fluctuates with an intensity of a Mexican Jumping Bean. A stock market so volatile that the lifespan of each share is about 70 years and shaped by far more factors than Wall Street, Shenton Way and every other stock market in the world put together. To this end, we end up living for others rather than ourselves. Even those who believe themselves to be the mavericks of the society are playing just the role society has set aside for them, with the rebel subculture being embraced, celebrated and commericalised by advertisers and businessmen into T-shirts,music,mugs and advertisements on Coke-Cola and Pepsi...

Nevertheless, not all is lost, all gloomy and bleak....We've been given a choice since the beginning of time to determine how happy we want to be, how we define happiness as it is. To savour the simple pleasures of life, of God's creation and the countless miracles we encounter every single day of our lives...

Of course, there will be detractors who proclaim that such privilege is only for those who do not have to face life's trials of famine, murder, being borne in a land and into a family where they live in fear everyday as a result of religion (eg. persecution of Coptic Christians by Muslims in Egypt), race (genocide of Jews by Nazis during the Holocaust) or nationality(Immigrants settling in a country away from their native homeland).

Such detractors have but fallen into the trap we've been discussing all these while, that our happiness should not be pegged to that of others. While its true that disasters such as being struck down by cancer might bring a patient and his family grief, his life need not spiral downhill. They've been so many cancer-stricken individuals, Elizabeth Choy amongst them, who've never once given up in their pursuit of happiness while healthy youths fall into debt,drugs and depression. We see the poverty-stricken citizens of Bhutan and The Philippines leading an amish life with smiles on their faces while the wealthy grumble about how they've to constantly keep up with the Joneses and gossip endlessly about each other. The comparisons should of course, not be taken as a generalisation of the wealthy and the poor, the healthy and the afflicted but rather as a stout rejection of the generalisation that materialism brings with it happiness and satisfaction in life.

We can choose this day to live life anew, waking up each day to beautiful weather, a shelter over one's head, a full stomach and yet not falling into complacency and entrophy but rather, a self-driven initiative to make the best out of one's life...

~Bliss~

Dairy Entry - Virgin Party @ Zouk!!!

2008-06-07T03:52:00.000-07:00

Last niiiight was a great niiiiight...

Had some drinks with my be Sec school friends and grooved to the music (see below for comments about the music)...lots of bouncing and shaking and just plain fooling around.Met up with a really pretty babe from sec school whom I haven't seen in ages!!!

And mind is she pretty... my type in terms of physical beauty definitely! But yeah, I suppose we differ in terms of interest and a certain language barrier (she leans towards Mandarin while I towards English).Nevertheless, her beauty remains undiminshed (even after all the drinks!). Uh-oh,is this a crush?Haha!Love transcends all boundaries (even linguistic ones) no?

Ok, I better stop gushing and oratory on my mental orgasmic experience sounding all superficial...

Made a male (unfortunately) schoolmate whom I'd probably seen for the first time and was like myself, a noob at Zouk. Although I can probably arrogantly proclaim that I'm more pro coz at least I had drunk before! I shall christen him QH, coz he looks so much like another friend of mine. Anyway, QH was pretty high after all the drinks, well in general, the guys got high first while the gals were pretty sober.

Total no. of drinks: (2 jugs of beer + 1 jug of lime vokha(with ALOT of ice) + 1 jug of tequila lime)with ALOT of ice) + 1 glass of ribena vohka) / 5 pax ( 2 girls + 3 guys) = High guys,sleepy girls!

Shu Juan tried to initiate a drinking game but it fell flat,no thanks in the least to Ivan whose sexy(uncensored) dance moves were all too hooooot for Adeline!Hahah!Yeah, he spent the entire night shamelessly flirting with her!Haha!Kudos to Adeline though for her easy-going nature and hotness!!! (Oh no, here we go again)

The thing about clubs is that everyone turns up late for the party and dancing proper only starts around 12am which means that Cinderella types end up missing out on a hell lot of fun, poor girl would have spent the evening drowning herself in alcohol had she lived in the 21st Century. Never understood why everyone have to start dancing so late...I mean its understandable that most people would want to stay till late but still, everyone should hit the dance floor by 10pm!

Talk about earning more money...it would make more sense for clubs to open earlier and make more money no? It would also encourage clubbers to jump from one party to the next in another club, increasing mobility and allowing those who have to work the next day the opportunity to drink and dance away before heading home to catch enough rest for work the following day, hence the potential to earn more profit at the end of the day... simple business theory and yet most club owners decide to allow entry only after 11pm...like duh! Should lauch a open-your-club-early campaign someday.

Anyway,back to the topic:
So we hit the dancefloor and rocked on each with our grooves and moves but our DJ for the night wasn't feeling very rythmically inclined, opting instead to to play relatively monotonous tunes and launching screeching sounds which assaulted a number of us party-goers, not a few of whom covered their ears. Apart from the green lasers and usual smoke, it got rather borng after awhile... haiz, the DJ really should have pumped up hotter beats...

Anyway, headed home around 2am and was feeling pretty great and surprisingly not in the least bit drunk at all.Bathed, changed and conquered an rival gang's territory in Grand Theft Auto before heading to bed.

Total expenditure for the night : $18.

Experience: Priceless

Recollections

2008-03-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

Oh my!!!Its been sometime since I've returned to blogging and have yet to officially launch it!!!

Anyway,I've been trying to get a life outside camp and been rather successful,except that the exercise preparations are taking up far too much of my time and making too many people mad!
So tensions are raised and tempers flared,misunderstandings run rampant and the innocent are implicated....Hence the wonders of human interactions,minus the fun part...

Really makes you wonder how people react under various environments...One of my friends once mentioned that in this world,there are two types of people:
1) Those who Work

AND

2) Those who Don't

Granted that our priorities in life are different,yet how much effort do we really invest in the time we've been given?How well do we utilise our time.Talk about stewardship of our lives... Are we being good stewards of the time and talents we've been bestowed with?Or are we just wasting it all away?

And an age-old question:
Why is life so unfair?Why are slackers rewarded?Why do the wealthy have everything going their way?Why has God treated some of us worse than others if He turly is a fair and just God?

Yet somehow,it seemed as if God has everything all planned out...and things work out in a fair way,somehow...yet not all the time...it is true that those who are less privileged have to work much harder just to attain the same degree of success as their more wealth-off and often better connected peers...and sometimes, these rags-to-riches stories do not end good.

It would seem as if life favoured some while rejecting others.Near-perfection and adoration are bestowed upon some while most languish with some physical defect or other.

Nevertheless,if you think about it, how many people are truly capable of looking beyond these physical and material blessings and search for that which is cannot be bought and far above monetary value?Too few I tell you,for in humans are the tendency to compare,to compete, to strife for Better rather than the Best.So too is it true that humans are visually stimulated creatures programmed for that which bring pleasure to the sight.Our senses avail us to suffering, yet immense pleasure...

And are we really good stewards after all?

It makes you ponder whether there are yet two other groups of people:
1) Those who are consumed by a hobby once they take to it.

AND

2) Those who move from one hobby to another with ease.

(To be Continued....)

Blasphemy!!!

2008-02-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

I was thoroughly disgusted by the leader of the Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury's suggestion that Syariah Law should be implemented within Birtish society to ensure that all social cohesion among the various religious groups is maintained...

As a lifelong Anglican myself, one born and bred within the Anglican church, it is simply sacrilegious to propose the partial implementation of Syariah Law over that of British State Law, which, despite its secular nature, incorporated key Christian concepts which has since defined British society and kept peace in the land. It would seem like Christian leaders in Europe have long abandoned the cross for the coin and coiffure offered by the secular world, claiming to propagate inclusion and embrace all races and religions. It was the same pacifist attitude which European political and religious leaders(especially those in the United Kingdom) took during the early 19th century which allowed Adolf Hitler to initiate what has long been acknowledged as one of the worse war and genocide (of gays, jews and gypsies) in history!!!

As if the row over the ordination of homosexual bishops within the episcopal church was insufficient a controversy and worst!An ordination which far trespassed the grounds of blasphemy and blatant disregard for biblical truths. I myself might be a moderate at heart and be at peace with homosexuals but where faith and the Word of God is concerned, there can be no let-ups....for to do so would be to demonstrate the greatest form of arrogance in presuming to create a designer religion of falsehood under the banner of Christianity...utterly unacceptable.

Yes, we should encourage and promote racial and religious tolerance but there are acceptable limits as to how far we should go about it and violation of God's Word is a definite nono...

On a more logical and objective note:
Who are we to dictate how syariah law should be made applicable to certain religious or ethnic groups? In a secular socity such as that of United Kingdom, can I not be a Liberal-minded Pakistani Muslim who desires to be liberated from the shackles and binding regulations of Syariah Law, hence my rationale for migrating to UK from my native country in the first place? Likewise,on a secular note, if faith is a relationship between God and Man, then what right those one man have to punish another in the name of God?Surely to make such an assumption would be to unintentionally but surely violate the rights of individuals who have chosen by free will to be excluded from Syariah Law.Perhaps such individuals would be considered to be deviants or even heretics but under British laws, aren't such individuals deserving of protection as well?

Of course, there might be dissidents who might argue that if that was the case, we should make Syariah Law applicable only to those who desire to subject themselves to it.However, such a senario would give rise to numerous problems:

1) If citizens are allowed to pick and choose what laws they desire to abide by, then what is the point of having a defined set of laws in the first place? So lets say stealing is punishable by death in accordance with Law A but is punishable with a fine in Law B, wouldn't it make perfect sense for the criminal or everyone in general(take note that we're assuming that the law would only apply to the citizen who chooses it) to choose Law B?

2) What happens when 2 individuals who adhere to 2 different set of laws get into a fight? how should the case be evaluated and judged?Such a senario(and I ensure you it won't just be an isolated incident) would certainly stir up a serious case of judicial headache!

3) What's the point of having and nurturing a common national identity if everyone abides by different laws such that not everyone is "equal" before the law?

4) If Civic and common law is enforced by the police, surely "moral police" as in most conservative Muslim countries would be responsible for enforcing Syariah Law? Should that happen, we would likely see a variety of cases in which an individual's privacy has been invaded (this is based on numerous news reports) even though they might not be Muslims?

Granted that integration and assimilation of the various interest groups is of essence to maintainance of peace and harmony in any society,it is vital to ensure that everyone is given equal opportunity to develop himself/herself to the fulless of one's capabilities. Security and hence, equality before the law is of utmost importance.

Even the partial implementation of Syariah Law could serverely disrupt the harmony within a society and challenge the traditions of another culture...a very minor yet significant example would be the recent furore raised over a certain primary school's notice to convert the school canteen to a 100% halal zone and in doing so, discriminated against non-Muslim kids who might have had a preference for non-halal food.

Of course, one could argue that it was an isolated case and I certainly do hope that this is the case but such occurences,no matter how isolated, have the possibility of ripping the fabric of tolerance, further etching into the minds of some, the unreasonable notion that all Muslims were intolerant and disrespectful of other religious and cultural beliefs and practices.

Hence, I would strongly urge Archbishop Rowan Williams to concentrate on healing the divide and righting the wrongs within the Anglican diocese and to consider very carefully his words before making any comments whatsoever.

Note: I entirely respect Islam and count Muslims among my friends and this article seeks to highlight the concerns as mentioned above rather then to propagate any form of hatred.

For Ladies: Pee Like a MAN!!!!

2008-01-30T06:43:00.000-08:00

Yup!That's right ladies!Ever wanted to expirence how its like to pee standing up like a guy???

Check out the latest product over this website:

http://www.whizbiz.com.au/

For day-to-day usage,check out the standard Whizbix...with its anti-bacterial surfacing, you can just:

1) Align it in line of your range

2) Pee

3) Shake dry

4) Roll it up (its made from some flexi material)

5) Drop it into your handbag!!!

Just 5 Easy steps!!! Plus, its washing machine washable!!!

Or if you have the cash, better yet!Try the Whiz Plus!!!Its got this "high-tech plasma coating that REPELS ALL LIQUID so it always remains dry"... like WTF?!?! That means its more powerful than gravity!!!Its Anti-gravity(Terms and Conditions apply: to liquid only,solid objects not included)! Think droplets of urine suspended in air!!!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

But then again, I wouldn't stick anything with a cool name like "plasma" near my vitals if I were you.....

Who knows? The same company might come up with a device which would allow a guy to MENSTRUATE and undergo the expirence of a full menstrual cycle!!! Think its an insane idea??? I have a feeling it'd be a sell!What with so many attached straight men raking their brains trying to figure out how the female mind works, I'd throw in the entire female hormonal cycle and PMS into the invention and bet that it'd be the invention of the century...Wealth + A reputation in encyclopedias and fertility treatment clinics all over the world!!!

Perhaps It would one day be selected as the best method of treatment for couples whose marriages are hitting the rocks and need some progesterone and ostrogen to steer away from the tip of the iceberg!

Ok, I'm drifting but its a possible theory yeah?

Oh...talking about menstruation...found this song about menstruation by this Indie singer....to be honest,I only understand the english parts but yeah,its a freaking song about menstruation,check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgjUq12FUPM

Makes you wonder about the numerous other songs people can compose... Like "Shitting Oh so Shiok", "Wonderous Adventures of Digging Into the Depths of My Nose", The Colour Of My Nose Snot" or how about "A Tribute to Farting in Public"

The Beginning

2008-01-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

Woah!My first blog!!! So I wanna make it a bash but no ones gonna find out about my blog anytime this week so its just gonna be me and my monologue!

Been thinking of how best I should create a blog which would amplify my thoughts and put into written form my expressions, goals(world peace anyone?) and creative juices when I finally thought....What the hell...I'm just gonna start one...and write as I wish so here it goes...

The Breakdown:

100% Pure Entertainment

100% Pure Reporting

50% Political and Social Ramblings

50% Well-written Crap

20% Satire

20% Latest Updates around the World

20% Theological and Ideological Debates

20% Poetic Me

20% Personal Life

So its not going to be all facts and essays but lotsa fun and insane/inane nonsense as well!And no, its not gonna be a blog which describes my life so knock it off.

Cue: Everyone say "YAY"

Personal Updates:
I feel like my area is becoming some frontdesk for all enquires in my branch!Darn!!!Endless streams of phone calls and lotsa people asking you to to transfer them to the people they want to speak to....Which is why sometimes....

(The above pic is courtesy of post secrets blog)
..... But I do a far better job....I slam the phone.

A typical day at work starts like this:

Sitting beside the phone
Heard the ring tone

Picked up the damn call
Feeling freaking sore

Answering in a pleasant tone
With a face like a stone

Realised it wasn't for me
And no it ain't funny

Tranferred the call with a groan
And started work with a moan

Then again, the above is just crap filtering through my mind at like 12am in the morning on a friday night so I can be forgiven.