Selected pictures from Australia

Philip Island, Melbourne
Sigh, the footprints was suppose to
show but I guess it was too dark and hence
it is not obvious from the picture.

Somewhere in Adelaide
Taken at a place which I really cannot
remember the name of the place. All I remembered
was the cold and freezing winds forcing us to stay no more than 30 seconds outside the car.




12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road
Taken when I had driven non-stop from adelaide en-route to melbourne. I regretted not taking a vertical shot as I was too tired but the composure should be better if I had done so. Regrets Regrets.





Whispering Wall, Adelaide
B the greedy dog was out for a much needed exercise to prevent him from being overweight...that fat ass....







Dunno-What Jetty, Adelaide
Sea gulls in a parade






Philp Island, Melbourne

BBQ-ing in winter

It was an interesting bbq experience, the drinks get colder without ice, the raw food remains cold without fear of rotting and the best part of it was that the bbq pit is a nice cozy place to gather around. But of course, the catch here is that the temperature must be ard. 6 deg celcius. And the clear dark winter sky dotted by the stars was an added bonus.
















Sunset over The Whispering Wall, a dam which was constructured to create a water reserviour. Standing at one end of the dam with someone talking to you over the other end, you can hear him or her as clearly as if he/she was standing just beside you.

Back from Melbourne

This is the first post since I returned from Melbourne last night. Took tons of photos of which I'll post 'em up once I get back to Singapore. But till then, here is a picture of our trusty steed at Philip Island, some 68km away from Melbourne. This "Island" is larger than Singapore and is home to many different sea life, of which penguins is the star attraction there. We had the opportunity to see cute little penguins returning to their homes from the sea after a hard day's work out at sea fishing.















And this, has got to be the most expensive roast duck noodles I had ever eaten. But hey! I'm not complaining, it's worth every single cent of the Aud$7.80 I paid. The noodles weigh probably a ton, the duck meat generous and thick, unlike those you find in our science canteen which serves ducks that probably were anorexic.

The experience was totally good and i'll definately recommend the great ocean road for those who enjoy beautiful scenic places but of course, got to wait till I get back home to post the pictures I took along the Great Ocean road. Till then =)

Our Trusty Steed to Melbourne

Ok, this will be my last post till 4 days later as we will be going up( actually , going right from adelaide is more correct) to Melbourne. Total distance is 800km and we wil be expected to reach Melbourne on Friday afternoon. Can't wait to view the 12 apostles and enjoy the view along the Great Ocean road into Melbourne!

But, this post is not about the trip but the trusty steed that we rented. It's a white Toyota Camry. A 2.4l V6 engine! No VVT-i though, sadly, but the V6 is enough to make up for it. Funny, the Australians have a perchant for huge capacity engined cars and 2.4l is the smallest here compared to Singapore's 2l camry

more cute dog pictures (as requested by cw)

As requested by cw, here are more cute pictures of B. heh... this dog is wayyy overweight (he look like a sausage in the 2nd pic) and loves to eat whatever we eat. As long as there is food, he will wait patiently for it. His greed knew no bounds =) The pictures you see here are only possible with the use of food as a bribe for him to stay still.
















For car fanatics, this, ladies and gentlemen, is the new Mitsubishi 380 VRX. 3.8L Mivec engine, FF . Developed solely for Australia, the 380 represents the last hope for Mitsubishi Australia to keep their presence in down under. Unfortunately, current sales is at a dismayal 14th position but it seems that Mitsubishi Australia can keep their plant for now =)

Of aphrodisiac and a greedy dog

Glenelg beach has a famous shop selling oysters. The shop name is ... erm... I can't remember...I think it's blue oysters or sth...mmm all well...anyway, they serve very very fresh oysters and you can have them al natural, in kilpatrick style or fried, of which we ordered. Even their fish is fresh, unlike those you find in the NUS science canteen... but of course, the price is also unlike those you find in the science canteen(AUD $4 per piece).















This little greedy dog is hiding under our dinner table waiting for us to feed it food. And boy, it sure is patient. He was waiting patiently thoughout the entire dinner and naturally, he got rewarded at the end. Well, it pays to be patient....

Snake Stew...

Yeap.... it is snake stew... kinda fitting to have it during winter. Yeah... it sounds disguisting but actually it taste a little bit like shark fins soup, with vinegar and pepper. Also the snake meat taste had a normal pork meat texture, with a slightly different and sharp flavour. But hey! At least it's good to keep you warm in winter,

In other unrelated news, some guy buying "Ba-chor-mee" kenna arrested because he said "he doesn't want tee-gua when he never say he doesn't want tee-gua". Now the storeholder suing him for damages. Now THIS is disgusting.

Escapade of the Binks

Sunrise over Alice Springs.

One of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. Before that, the plane I was in was like a tiny speck of white dot, riding a thin line between the earth and the heavens full of stars. Well, until the sun rose, that is.














One of the unfortunate crabs we caught for dinner. But well, at least I didn't played a part in killing 'em, only eating... heh heh.















Nice hot steamboat for the cold weather.... 12 deg on average, and if it rains, it's even colder...which was what happened after we finished eating...

Gateway to Freeedom

ok, this is gonna be a light hearted post. I'm right at the gateway out of Singapore. But....

!@#$^*&%$ never ever eat and drink here, it's daylight robbery!!!! one chicken-mayo sandwich and a cup of tea cost me 5 bucks!! Can eat Mcdonald's liao......duh~

Okay, anyhow, gotta go....

A great man to remember....

Photo src: The Straits Times

The late President of Singapore, Mr Ong Teng Cheong, was(and still is) one of my most respected figurehead of our country. Despite being young and some what neutral(I still am neutral) to politics when he first took office, he had the mysterious charisma that had always held my attention. Voted to the highest post in the Singapore Constitution( I stand corrected) by Singaporeans, he was in every way humble and down to earth and did his duty fearlessly, responsibilty and impartially.

Before being President, Mr Ong was an MP and as an MP, he was a well-liked person with his warm, caring and affirming nature. His genuine care for his people is for all to see. He once said,

"There are so many things to be done. I intend to live every minute of it as fully as I can, and press on with the work, there are so many things to be done."

However, what had me respected him most was his impartiality (which also resulted in fiction within the highest echaleons). By challenging and querying in the way things were supposed to be done in Government, he had shown real and true impartiality despite being groomed from the same ruling political party. His following statement sums up nicely the point I wanted to bring across,

"Some people still ask whether my long previous association with PAP will stop me from acting independently. The answer is no. My loyalty is first and foremost to the people of Singapore; it has always been so and it will always remain so."

No words of gratitude can fully make up for all the sacrifices he had done to help make Singapore a better place to live in. He has my deepest respect for dedicating his life selflessly to people like you and me.

May you watch over Singapore.

Interesting Statistics

What to encourage young people about

Another question in the 2005 Durex survey was about what we should be encouraging our young people to do.

For Singapore,

Abstinence till marriage	24%
Practise safer sex	61%
Regular health check-ups	14%
None of the above	1%

Our Ministries of Health and Education are out on a crusade to press home abstinence, but 61% of Singaporeans think the most needed message to our youth is safer sex.

Unplanned pregnancies

We are in the top league of countries with unplanned pregnancies. To the question "ever had an unplanned pregnancy", Singapore's figures were

At age 16 and below	8%
At age 17 and 18	9%
At age 19 and above	15%

In the age category 16 and below, only China had a figure higher than Singapore, at 17%.

In the 17-18 age group, again only China had a higher figure, at 18%.

In the age category 19 and above, Singapore was in third place. China had 20% and South Africa had 17%.

I have argued elsewhere in Yawning Bread that abstinence campaigns don't work very well; they merely feed moralistic egos.

============================================
Disclaimer: Taken off yawningbread.org

if 61% of Singaporean thinks that teaching our young to practise safer sex, this would imply a shift of mindset from a conservative angle into a more "westernize" perspective on sexual behaviour of us Singaporeans that having sex before marriage is ok. I'm not saying it's not okay, i'm just wondering why i'm not agreeing with the 61% of people surveyed.

Lemme tell you why, 2 reasons

1. Unwanted Pregnancy is a risk, plus you will be essentially killing a life. (we are in top 3 for the most unwanted pregnancy in the WORLD, almost reaching first class)

However, the crux of my reason lies here

2. I believe, rather old fashionly, that the bonding of two person involves more then just physical contact, but rather, consist of both physical contact and an emotional bonding that can only be given to the person whom you truely love. Which naturally, is someone whom you want to be with forever (aka marry). But I don't think many guys see it the way as I do nowadays, for reasons I don't seem to comprehend. Isn't emotional bonding so much more satisfying than physical bonding?

I can't sleep.

I can't sleep. I have two things bothering me.

1. The upcoming elections. (that's all i'm disclosing)
2. Someone commented that Guys are jerks.

I spent the last 10 mins thinking of what to write, and allowing my confused and frustrated mind to calm down a bit. There are many people in this world and different people behave differently. Hence, Guys are jerks are too sweeping a statement. It's as good as saying that since Saddam Hussan is evil, all humans are evil. But are all humans necessarily evil?

I'm very annoyed by such a sweeping statement because I am a guy and I do not believe this is so. I'm not saying all guys are not jerks, I'm just merely annoyed by a sensless and brainless sweeping comment targetted at us guys.

So, before opening your mouth to say that "All guys are jerks", stop and think carefully. If you hold true to this statement, that means it includes your dad. Cool...Happy Father's day can be called Happy Jerk's day. Also, this also directly implies that you are conceived by a jerk. Quite a compliment I say...

unless of course you go, "All guys are jerks, except my dad". But that will make you sound moronic and childish and you would implicate all your friends and best friend's dad as well.
At this point, you would proberbly think "ok, i'll just exclude whoever I can think of that is not a jerk" and before you know it, your friend adds on the list, your friends friends' adds on the list and you finally have a statement that goes

"All guys are jerks, except all guys"

So! I'll end this rant here without much explanations because they are not needed. However, on a serious note:

Human and human interactions are as complicated as we want it to be simple. The only way to see through the chaos is to understand one's heart. Remember, it is the heart that one sees rightly(TLP) Different people have different agenda and one must understand the intention of the person and act accordingly. It is much better than saying sweeping statements to mow each other down.

In other stupid and disillutioned news, Mordor was taken down because they were complacent and decided to tackle the obvious instead of realising they have a pea for a brain. Why do I say they have a pea for a brain? If the entire human army marched right to your doorstep which is outnumbered by your orcs 10:1, don't you even smell a trap? Not one bit? Sitting so high up in the ivory tower must have made Sauron a complete idiot. Maybe he just need glasses.

"Make him blind to all else that moves"

And what a blind idiot he is. And because of that, he is gone. Outdone by two hobbits who knew only of songs and dance, compared to Sauron who had ruled Mordor for eons. So much for having good credentials! So, having experience as a ruler doesn't matter, it's the motive that counts. Sauron was so blinded by power and to crush the human race that he forgot about basic military warfare.

Dumb ass.

PS: I'm not uttering rubbish.

K-boxing

wahaha....finally get to go KTV after sooooooOOooOOOOoooo long....went with cy,cw, hj and ds.... kewl... initially the time given to us was 3 hrs but since no one came, we had an hour extra =)

wah..interesting email I got.....

Wah...this 2 emails really make my day....
finally kenna "headhunted" whahhahah.....
===========================================
Hi Jarvis,

Thank you for your prompt reply. I appreciate your generousity.

Secondly, TheoZ Conceptz is an events company registered under
a separate entity originated from our other businesses. In our
company, we have retain the culture of having a client
appreciation campaign on an annual basis.

This year, we are going along the line of capturing visuals
of our clients'events, which will then be produce into a
personalised events cd-rom. The cd-rom production is similarly
handled by a group of free lance multimedia
producers who are holding on to full time jobs.

Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to enquire if
you would like to take shots of our clients' events. Of course,
there can be a possible nominal fees and any films required
will be provided by my company. Further details can be discussed
 if you are interested.

Regards,

XXXXX Lee
Managing Director
TheoZ Conceptz

From: XXXXX
Date: Sat 29/04/2006 7:24 PM GMT+08:00
To: xxxxx
Subject: Request to use photo.

Hi,
After having browse through your site, one of your photographs
caught my interest and it looks suitable for the main page of
my company's website.
Out of copyright and courtesy purpose, I would like to seek your
permission
to utilise the photograph as attached, taken by you.

For your consideration.

Regards,

xxxx Lee
Managing Director
TheoZ Conceptz

Sakae Outing

Okie...i know i said it was a Sakae outing...but realised i didn't have any pics of the food we ate...soo, instead, i posted the pics we took at Black Angus, which we were there for desserts.
Sky high muddy pie and apple pie were the order of the day...















Pardon the picture quality, the ambiance(did i spell it correctly? guess not) was so dim that i'm sure I did not know what i'm eating. Anyhow, this is the picture(above) of the sky high mud pie. Very very delightful! But it's best to share because it's too rich to have a slice by oneself. ($9.90 per slice)














This is my fav. dessert! I like the huge chunky apple slices...gosh... it's heavenly... and it's cheaper than the muddy pie by about a dollar. =) And it's not that fattening.... if you don't eat the ice cream that is... ($8.90 per slice)

Maple Madness!!!

This is me getting help from chun cheng...














This is me running away from a mad wild boar....















This is me getting up close and personal with horned mushrooms

Ok... last night was madness...chiong MS like never before...in 5 hours,

kills:
Horned Mushrooms 420
Wild Boar 60
Fire Boar 67
Zombie Mushrooms 63

Mana Potions used:
30 blue potions
40 Salads

HP Potions used:
30 Orange Potions
67 White Potions


Heng in the final few hours my friend, a level 50+ mage helped me with my level up if not i'm gonna be very broke...white pots dun come cheap.

Hey all my SOC friends....

Yoz pplz~~

I will be planning to do a simple video to commerate the end of our journey in NUS....so guys/gals.... if you got any photos taken anytime during the 4 yrs here in NUS...feel free to email the pics to jarvis.seo(gmail account, dun wanna be spammed)

Any pics that can allow us to look back at all the blood and sweat that we had experienced in the past will be excellent!

Those that graduated last year are welcomed to contribute too~

In Remembrance....

Time is the root of all this earth;
These creatures, who from Time had birth,
Within his bosom at the end
Shall sleep; Time hath nor enemy nor friend.

All we in one long caravan
Are journeying since the world began;
We know not whither, but we know
Time guideth at the front, and all must go.

Like as the wind upon the field
Bows every herb, and all must yield,
So we beneath Time’s passing breath
Bow each in turn, – why tears for birth or death?

~Bhartrihari, ‘Time’, tr. Paul Elmer More

===========================================

I know i should be sleeping at this time... but... I realise that my grief haven't really completely gone away. I thought I am fine ever since, yet it seems that I am wrong. My grief has apparently never left me and I do not think that it ever will...

But I do not want to forget. For this is the only connection left to you. If this is a small price to pay for remembrance, then I shall gladly keep this grief with me.

Where ever you are, I just want you to know that you are the best. And that you have given me all that you possibly can. You have raised me up so I can stand on mountains.

Dinner!

Dinner at clementi....a nice little jap restaurant tuck away underneath an old derelict cinema... food serving is generous and price is preety reasonable. Of coz, I didn't went there alone. Only someone like Jianhui will order Agedashi Tofu cos he claims it's what guys eat best... that bugger...

If alcoholic drinks were made in Heaven.....

If alwroholic dreankks were.... *hic*... maaade in Heaven, theen they must hava taaastee *hic* liike tiss ~














Yeapz! This...*hic* .... is delicouswry wonderfulll... *hic*

A Library Trip

Ok, went to Bukit Merah library today to borrow 2 books. The first book I borrowed was "The Little Prince" by Antonie de Saint-Exupery. No, I do not know what it is about yet and i have no idea why I wanted to read this book. I just wanted to, I guess. Naturally, there is a deeper reason to it but I'm too lazy to analyze why this is so... so there.

The second book I borrowed was "Journey of the Wind" by Tomihiro Hoshino. Essentially, the author suffered a terrible accident and the flowers you see in the book are drawn by the author's mouth. And with each page of the book, there lies a different set of paintings, each embedded with the author's own thoughts and reflections about his life... think it will be an interesting read too.

Forget about the last book. it's my textbook for my CS4252 module. I merely used it as a backing :p , and it's definately not an interesting read.
















Weihao's birthday is next week and his friends celebrated his birthday for him in his lab. And lucky me, in the adjacent lab, had a share of the cake too :)

okay, it's a delicious fat-laden coffee cream cake.... time to hit the tracks with my running shoes.

memories II

Yes dude, indeed. How could I ever forget those days? Those WERE the days isn't it? Ah~ what memories! what memories! I can still hear the whirl of the kitchen fan, the "ting" of the toaster at 2am in the morning and the songs that spew out of your laptop..."I know, I know i've let you down...I've been a fool to myself...." Gosh, it still rings in my head now.

Still remember the pineapple tarts? The lousy oven bakes unevenly causing some of the tarts to be under cooked? Or your uncanny ability to "oops" and pour the entire bottle of seasoning into the food and somehow, we still managed to be able to salvage it? And yep, the baked rice. It was as if we stumbled upon a secret receipe and baked our first ever delicious baked rice. It was also our last cos we can't seem to replicate the taste ever since. hahaha....

Of coz, there was the issue of bobby, the pesky little cockroach who eventually turned out to be prince charming...and yes...the security uncle, who seems highly annoyed that us, NUS students, seem not to be able to read English, especially the "No Eating in Room" sign... piangz...he was a classic. I still remembered he pointed to the sign and asked me to read it while I was desperately trying to eat my fries as I didn't had dinner that day.

Over to you dude...

Nights out!

Had my very first outing with my NOC collegues at No.5 bar( between emeralds and centerpoint). Had quite alot of finger food though I guess we were all hungry hence we didn't really take the pics of the crispy chicken wings, soft and moist onion rings and crispy pizzas that seemed to come from Italy... *drool*

However, i hope i redeemed myself by taking a pic of the boring beer bottles and peanut shells which we always throw at Jianhui at the slightest excuse we can conjure up.

*Emptiness*















Emptiness. An entire stretch of void which previously had rows and rows of cars. All gone. It's empty now. Just left me. But at least I found a new friend. His name is loneliness.

My first invite in years...

Got this cute little wedding invitation card. Why cute? notice the cartoonish figure of the bride and bridegroom? it's quite novel to me, considering this is the first invitation i saw with cartoon figures. When my turn comes hor (a big IF), I also want cartoons printed too....

can I have squirt?















In other unrelated news, Linus the NUS lion decided that the new OSIM igallop(tm) massage chair is too expensive an investment so he decided to ask his friend tiggi the tiger to help him out. Viola~ presenting i-can-gallop-too tiggi the massage chair :)

well, with his savings from not buying the chair, he can now get a hair cut on his mane to make it look more like a mane, rather than a mop.

Beginning of an end....

Subject: RE: Final Draft From: xxxl@comp.nus.edu.sg Date: Mon, April 3, 2006 10:09 am To: xxx@comp.nus.edu.sg Priority: Normal

Hi Jarvis,

Thanks for your kind words. I, too, enjoyed working with
you guys. You have been a good sport and worked very hard.
I am very pleased with your work.

Again, good luck with your project.

SL

============================================

I was moved by this email my prof. send me.... I guess it's because this email made me realized that this marks the beginning of the ending of the project, and I'm going to miss all my rantz about my prof... it's quite sad, really.... others may feel happy at this point that the project is finally over...but on the contrary, i feel a numb kind of ache, perhaps a reaction to the fact that all these experiences will not come again. It is a feeling of lost.

But I guess this is just another phase in life, the closing of a chapter and the beginning of another. And during these transitions, i guess part of you will want to stay behind, a lingering wisp of soul,trapped in the past, reminding you of the times that will never be again;
while the rest of you move forward into a new phase of life, manifesting new and wonderful memories as we go along in our journey of life.

And so the cycle repeats.

A walk among the dead ::

Morning foggies from the burning of paper...

we were commenting on why some of the tombstones appear newer besides rows of others that appears to have been neglected for ages....

my 2nd uncle: "some of the tombstones are quite nice, got new cement base hor...."
me: "aiyah....they all got HDB upgrades ma... those that did not have upgrades must be from potong pasir...."
















My 3rd uncle's car and mine's in front of his. Have always wondered the toyota's 1.5l vvt-i engine always outrun my 1.6l no-technology engine despite having a larger displacement.... sigh

Venting my frustrations

In all my blogging days, I have never ever blogged anything of a serious nature. Most of the entries I had were light hearted, occassionally lame and grammatically messed-up. But nothing serious, dark nor gloomy.

I will change all that today by writing out some of my inner-most thoughts (memory purge) which I have kept to myself since yester-years. Best of all, it might not make sense to most of you. Save two.

It is useless fighting the inevitable. There is not any way I could escape from the situation I am in. In short, I am like a fly trapped in a spider's web. A web of emotions. I have always known that emotions are like ice cream toppings. They make eating the ice-cream a delightful experience. Similarly, emotions allows you to experience a plethodra of happiness, sadness and everything in between. All thrown into the delicious ice-cream we call life. And I had just eaten a sour prune in this ice-cream. I guess that is what makes life balanced. Too much sweet toppings and you will be diabetic in no time. Too much salty or sour toppings makes you prone to kidney failure. But boy, do I hate this sour prune.

I have always thought of myself as a deep ponderer (think stoning) and if I could analyse this sour prune from a cold and logical perspective, I would have known that there can only be one ending. And dealt with it swiftly and decisively at that point in time. Yet I had hesitated. I am not a cold, lifeless machine. I am human afterall. I waited. And waited. And waited. The sour prune was closer. Closer. And now I am eating it. Yummy.

The line must be drawn here. No more emotional weakness. I will remove this sour prune from my mouth as cleanly as a surgeon amputates a limb from a body. I had already done what I needed to do. Now I will go and be at peace with myself.

Aut viam inveniam aut faciam.

P.S: Seriously, i'm not dangling any one's appetite (think chinese?). But seriously, stop guessing. Take it as an interesting read and think nothing of it(I hope I don't sound snobbish, I wrote it because I want to let it out, not irritate anyone). But to the two of you who knows, the only link had been severed. I'll be (try) at peace now.

Big Ships!

These pics were taken outside my mum's office... heh... the boats are at least 3 stories high ....not something you will see often =) these were build by the company my mum's working in...i'll like to have one too...considering it's quite cheap... how cheap? try a BMW 3 series.... the catch? you only get the hull... but with the amount of change left over, i've sure it will get you a decent engine





























Okay, this is not a ship but so happened to be a pic of my car taken at cy's place... too bad the background is not the wide open sea or something.... sigh....

Damn confusing LEH!!!!

Excerpt from CNA:

January retail sales rise 4.8% year-on-year on subdued car purchases

SINGAPORE : Retail sales in Singapore rose 4.8 percent in January compared with the same period a year ago.

This is according to latest data from the Department of Statistics.

The number was largely in line with expectations.

The muted rise in retail sales was largely because Singaporeans did not rush out to buy big ticket items such as cars.

Minus the car sales figures, retail sales rose 9.7 percent on year in January.

The boost came from higher sales of food and beverages over the Chinese New Year period which fell in that month.

According to the data, supermarkets and department stores reported a roaring trade.

Food and beverage sales rose 34 percent on year in January while department store sales increased nearly 12 percent.

On a seasonally-adjusted basis, retail sales fell 3.9% in January compared with December last year.
================================


I do not know about you guys but this article is really confusing me. Just look at the sentences in bold and you will know what i mean. If we have a drop in retail sales from last december, just say so, dun have to say we are better than last year january or that retails sales is good without car purchases...I mean, after all, we want to know the bottom line, but I think all we are getting is a confusing line.

Zhnnnng my moo-moo : Stage 1

ok. hand itchy. changed my car interior speedometer lights to blue Leds.

I hate this Laptop ( Just dun ask what brand it is)

A brand new laptop which I had my hands on. Clean and fresh off the box. Was going to do a routine installation of the necessary softwares which our department uses, but it was definately not a routine installation.

Firstly, it was plain sailing, managed to join the NUS domain, logged in with my account and prepare to install acrobat prof. from the web shopping, then suddenly, this BOD came up right at the start of the installation. Shit.

Nvm. reboot. BOD. SHiT. reboot. Safe mode. BOD.SHIT SHIT SHIT. reboot. windows recovery.BOD.SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT. Format laptop. reinstalled EVERYTHING. log on with nusnet a/c. Compulsary Trend Micro AV installation. clicked install.

BOD.

!@#$%^&*(&^. STUFF LAPPY BACK INTO BOX.

Interesting read

Nine ways of marrying the wrong person
By Rabbi Dov Heller, M.A.

1. You pick the wrong person because you expect him/her to change after you're married. The classic mistake: Never marry potential. The golden rule is, if you can't be happy with the person the way he or she is now, don't get married. As a colleague of mine so wisely put it, "You actually can expect people to change after they're married... for the worst!" So when it comes to the other person's spirituality, character, personal hygiene, communication skills, and personal habits, make sure you can live with these as they are now.

2. You pick the wrong person because you focus more on chemistry than on character. Chemistry ignites the fire, but good character keeps it burning. Beware of the "I! 'm in love" syndrome. "I'm in love" often means, "I'm in lust." Attraction is there, but have you carefully checked out this person's character? Here are four character traits to definitely check for:
Humility: Does this person believe that "doing the right thing" is more important than personal comfort? Do I want to be more like this person? Would I like my child to turn out like him or her?
Kindness: Does this person enjoy giving pleasure to other people? How does s/he treat people s/he doesn't have to be nice to? Does s/he do volunteer work? Give charity?
Responsibility: Can I depend on this person to do what s/he says s/he's going to do?
Happiness: Does this person like himself? Does s/he enjoy life? Is s/he emotionally stable? Ask yourself: Do I want to be more like this person? Do I want to have a child with this person? Would I like my child to turn out like him or her?

3. You pick the wrong person because the man doesn't understand what a woman needs most. Men and women have unique emotional needs, and more often than not, it is the man who just doesn't "get it." Jewish tradition places the onus on the man to understand the emotional needs of a woman and to satisfy them. The unique need of a woman is to be loved -- to feel that she is the most important person in her husband's life. The husband needs to give her consistent, quality attention. This is most apparent in Judaism's approach to sexual intimacy. The Torah obligates the husband to meet the sexual needs of his wife. Sexual intimacy is always on the woman's terms. Men are goal-oriented, especially when it comes to this area. As a wise woman once pointed out, "Men have two speeds: on and off." Women are experience-oriented. When a man is able to switch gears and become more experience-oriented, he will discover what makes his wife very happy. When the man forgets about his own needs and focuses on giving his wife pleasure, amazing things happen.

4. You choose the wrong person because you do not share a common life goals and priorities. There are three basic ways we connect with another person:
-chemistry and compatibility
-share common interests
-share common life goal
Make sure you share the deeper level of connection that sharing life goals provide. After marriage, the two of you will either grow together or grow apart. To avoid growing apart, you must figure out what you're "living for," while you're single -- and then find someone who has come to the same conclusion as you. This is the true definition of a "soul mate." A soul mate is a goal mate -- two people who ultimately share the same understanding of life's purpose and therefore share the same priorities, values and goals.

5. You pick the wrong person because you do not have a deeper emotional connection with this person. To evaluate whether you have a deeper emotional connection or not, ask: "Do I respect and admire this person?" This does not mean, "Am I impressed by this person?" We are impressed by a Mercedes. We do not respect someone because they own a Mercedes. You should be impressed by qualities of creativity, loyalty, determination, etc.
Also ask:
"Do I trust this person?" This also means, "Is he/she emotionally stable? Do I feel I can rely on him/her?

6. You pick the wrong person because you choose someone with whom you don't feel emotionally safe. Ask yourself the following questions: Do I feel calm, peaceful and relaxed with this person? Can I fully express myself with this person? Does this person make me feel good about myself? Do you have a really close friend who does make you feel this way? Make sure the person you marry makes you feel the same way! Are you afraid of this person in any way? You should not feel you need to monitor what you say because you are afraid of how the other person will view it. If you're afraid to express your feelings and opinions openly, there's a problem with the relationship.
Be on the look out for someone who is always trying to change you. Another aspect of feeling safe is that you don't feel the other person is trying to control you. Controlling behaviors are a sign of an abusive person. Be on the look out for someone who is always trying to change you. There's a big difference between "controlling" and "making suggestions." A suggestion is made for your benefit; a control statement is made for their benefit.

7. You pick the wrong person because you don't put everything on the table. Anything that bothers you about the relationship must be brought up for discussion. Bringing up the uncomfortable stuff is the only way. To evaluate how well the two of you communicate, negotiate, and work together. Over the course of a lifetime, difficulties will inevitably arise. You need to know now, before making a commitment: Can you resolve your differences and find compromises that work for both of you? Never be afraid to let the person know what bothers you. This is also a way for you to test how vulnerable you can be with this person. If you can't be vulnerable, then you can't be intimate. The two go hand in hand.

8. You pick the wrong person because you use the relationship to escape from personal problems and unhappiness. If you are unhappy and single, you'll probably be unhappy and married, too. Marriage does not fix personal, psychological and emotional problems. If anything, marriage will exacerbate them. If you are not happy with yourself and your life, take responsibility to fix it now while you are single. You'll feel better, and your future spouse will thank you.

9. You pick the wrong person because he/she is involved in a triangle. To be "triangulated" means a person is emotionally dependent on someone
or something else while trying to develop another relationship. A person who hasn't separated from his or her parents is the classic example of triangulation. People can also be triangulated with things as well, such as work, drugs, Internet, hobbies, sports or money. Be careful that you and your partner are free of triangles. The person caught in the triangle cannot be fully emotionally available to you. You will not be their number one priority. And that's no basis for a marriage.

- Now, why isn't such good stuff available everywhere? It will save some heartache.

Breakfast at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel

Woke up damn frigging early on Friday as OAR had a CASE event held at the hotel. Reached the place at 7.30am (never ever wake up so damn early since BMT days). Had buffet breakfast (a pity, i was too sleepy to really enjoyed the breakfast)















Well, as you can see, i didn't take much(not that it was nice anyway). Lamb sauage, pork sauage, hash brown, fried salmon with sea salt(no idea what the hell that is. all salt is from the sea.. no?) and a pastry that is quite sweet and refreshing. However, the pineapple juice was a tad too sour(well at least that woke me up... heheh)














The event posters. They had many of such posters there. Too many to count. Actually, I don't think anyone will be so bo-liao as to count them.















The room where i was posted to man the stupid "cybercafe" and where all the participants mingle. Well, at least I got to chat with some of the participants, especially the exotic looking woman from dunno where at the right side of the photo (She is in the middle of 2 women, with one wearing a red blanket :P). Didn't managed to find out where she is from as I was yanked to help in some other stuff !@#$%^&* Ah well, at least we had a nice chat by the window facing the river.

Dinner at West Coast

My friend was returning to Australia so we had a farewell dinner at west coast last Thursday. The only reason why we were there was because of the prawn paste chicken ($8 for 8 pieces). This is probably the beste prawn paste chicken we have ever tasted. We also ordered a veggie (nothing fancy) and a hot-plate chilli squid... yummy!

Very relevent song

A very relevant song. Enjoy. Just like summer breeze.

"White Flag" - By Dido

I know you think that I shouldn't still love you,
Or tell you that.But if I didn't say it,
well I'd still have felt it where's the sense in that?
I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder
Or return to where we were

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess and destruction to come back again
And I caused nothing but trouble
I understand if you can't talk to me again
And if you live by the rules of "it's over"
then I'm sure that that makes sense

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

And when we meet
Which I'm sure we will
All that was there
Will be there still
I'll let it pass
And hold my tongue
And you will think
That I've moved on....

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be (x3)

Dinner at Ritz Carlton

Had Seafood Buffet Dinner at one of the restaurants in Ritz Carlton. First time going to Ritz Carlton and I've to admit that the car park charges is cheap (@ $2 per entry) and the parking lots spacious (Very). The seafood spread is very solid. Just take a look at the type of fresh seafood they offered.

From left: Prawns, mussels, white mussels, tiny crayfish, large crayfish, black mussles and flower crab. (not in picture: Fresh oysters)






As you can see, this is the only picture i've taken as I was busy eating, trying to sample as many dishes as I can. Besides seafood, they have a simple spread of sashimi and sushi. Even their main courses are good. Black Pepper crab(we conclude that the crabs are fried as they are not that fresh), steam fish, beef, duck in beehoon and others which I can remember. Even their dessert spread is solid. They have intriguing selections of dessets, choco mousse, dessets in a cup, cheesecake and also a spread of chocolates pieces (Those Sins lookalike).

Damage? $68+++ per person.
Total bill? approx. $380 for 5 persons (Heng not I pay..if not eat grass liaoz)