Grouses & Counsel

树大招风。

the sweetest apple attracts the most flies.
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I would love to whine, but unfortunately so many bad things have befell my close friends that my grouses seem to be nothing more but ripples across the lake.

thats the annoying thing abt this job, i can't whine to most of my friends coz they are my clients or clients to be. and i can't whine to some others coz they were insurance agents before and they hold a partisan view of this line.

but thats not the crux of the matter.

one kind soul prodded more into the crisis and i find myself trying to explain the workings of the industry more than my problem.
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with regards to work, and sigh, love,
I have given advice so rapturously these few weeks that I have to add a disclaimer to my advice.

I seldom practise what I preach.

Star of Fortune

i would love to blog more abt why i'm not blogging more.

but i can't.

so i'll hv to make pretend that i'm enjoying my life, watching lots of movies, playing classic computer games and reading books.
(come to think of it, this is quite close to the truth)

currently reading Jeffrey Archer's "Sons of Fortune"

Not one told me that Jeffrey Archer's novels contain romance and hints of sexuality.
just what i need in Dec, i'm pretty sure.
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interestingly, the father of the protagonist is an insurance salesman who worked his way up to a regional manager (by regional, i don't mean an area the size of Ang Mo Kio, mind you).
he spoke abt insurance to, ahem, the President of the United States, in the White House.
sibei hao siao.

President Johnson listened attentively to Nat's father as he explained the problems Americans would be facing if they all lived to the age of ninety and were not properly covered by life insurance. 'In the next century, Americans will spend as long in retirement as they do in work', were the words LBJ repeated to his cabinet the following morning.

but there is another paragraphy that caught my eyes. something that my friends would know when I whine incessantly about the women these days.

......and you're almost the only person I know who always insists on paying his own way. You'd be surprised by how many people assume I'll pick up the tab just because I can afford it. I despise such people......

bags of water

salesgirl: that bag is more pricey because its using premium leather from water buffalo.
neofik proceeds to fondle bag.
cherub: wah, water buffalo leather leh. mai xiao xiao. water buffalo skin must be confirm water-proof right!!

-.-"

neofik: wonder if the black one is cheaper than the brown one.
cherub: nay, the black one should be more expensive. coz black water buffalo more rare than brown water buffalo.

-.-"


actually if the leather is made from dairy milk cows, how?


he's black, he's white.

then they hv to cut the black patches and sew together?


i know i know, i'm a little bit more boliao than usual.

old friendships

[Ed: I have taken away the 2nd part due to distraction from the focus of the title]

neofik: so the army gathering u coming hor....
cherub: eh *arrogant-guy-who-shld-not-be-named* not coming hor
neofik: he not going ba.
neofik: unless he psychic.


haha. i had a good laugh at this comment.
for those a bit slow, it simply implies that he wasn't informed of the army gathering...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

so an army gathering is now on the horizon.

sometimes i wonder the value of friendship to many of my army-mates, and on a larger picture, to many people.

this army gathering has been long overdue, but then, looking back on the past few years of gathering, it has always been the same old people.

and every time, we know that there are some people who would never be caught dead in with us. These are people who condemned their armymates, their 2 1/2 years of hell, and would rather forget every single episode of their short military stint, including any resemblance of friendship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

when i look into my other friendships over time, i tend to see the same pattern, albeit on different scales and significance.

On a primary school gathering, i was told (i failed to attend due to sickness), the same faces turned up. many friends who seldom turned up for other gatherings, err, didn't turn up again for other (more important?) reasons.

some has gf/bf.
some has work.
some has er, dunno lah, other more impt reasons i guess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i always have two school of thoughts around me.
1 is that treasure very friendship, especially the old established ones and those that you spent most time with.

the other school of thought is that u only need a few friends. the rest are just "hi-and-bye" acquaintances. don't bother spending efforts on them.

Well, what kind of a friend do you think u are?

checks & balances

i suppose the whole blogsphere would be crawling with analyses and opinions of the latest report on the NKF, the pseudo charity that funnel only 10% of their funds to the patients.

i have nothing creative to add, except that in the light of the coming General Elections (would the Bishan-ers get to vote? NAY.), i would only emphasis one point.

Power corrupts.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

and then the family is back.

my family is finally back from HK!!

while, i have not slaved (house chores) these few days, the house has been a little too quiet for my taste.
my grandma (who's staying with us after hospitalisation from a bad fall onboard a bus), my maid and me. just the 3 of us.

the food got pretty innovative at times, since the maid was cooking for less, she experimented with some new soups and stuff.
innvative not equal to good hor.

much of the silence can be attributed to the absence of my younger bro. usually when he's around, chaos reign. and he would alway hang around when i battled dragons and save princess on my PC.

not a coincidence i completed my game and saved many worlds from the devasting resurrection of the Old ones, the cruel Lizardmen.

but oh well, its good to have him back.
someone to hold my legs still while i do situps, and to supply me cups of drinking water while I'm busy MSN-ing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my bestest friend, Swiss Miss the slave while the entire family went on holidays (the maid too, on her own holidays back home) has her family back home from china too.

so coincidentally that the family forgot to purchase travel insurance, and they lost a bag.
no insurance, no claims for lost bag.

being an insurance spokesperson, no, i'm not feeling sorry that they didn't buy insurance.

i'm sorry that MY GIFT was in the lost bag.
bloody thief, may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your hair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

amazingly, i think the entire village is away to 'China', and all at the same time too.
this whole month, i've sold countless of travel insurance to taiwan (to emphasis the CCP's stand, Taiwan is a province of China), HK, and china.

and 19th is always the magical date. they are either departing on 19th, or leaving on 19th.

is there something special abt 19/12/05?

The economic guy

I just realised that i refer to my friends in "assigned groups"

my army friends
my sex sec school friends
my primary school friend
my JC friends
my E3 (hostel friends who stayed with me, E3 refer to Block E, level 3) friends.

err.

so i was telling rudewhennude that I would be meeting my economic friends for ice-cream.

she was pretty astonished. "so economic friends are friends you meet to discuss economic?"

NO lah.
actually economic(al) friends are friends who are economical to hang out with.
they are pple who bought insurance from me.

so the other friends are uneconomical friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EH! economic friends are my faculty-mates lah! :P we all graduated from faculty of economics mah.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weird me.
Spent a weekday, an entire thursday outside with friends, chitchat (partly work, partly fun), food, KARAOKE, and geylang supper....out till 3am.

and i spent friday and saturday night at home reading and MSN-ing.
my whole notion of weekends and weekdays is disturbed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How Average Joes can retire rich

Tune out that static. You needn't be an investing genius to retire with a big 401(k) balance.

In fact, when it comes to the three main choices you have in your retirement account -- how much to contribute, how to allocate your money between stocks and bonds and which funds to choose -- a recent study by Putnam Investments shows that investing prowess isn't what matters.

It's how much you sock away.

In other words, saving more leads to, well, more savings. Not exactly a revolutionary idea, true, but it's surprising how big a bang you get by upping the percentage of salary you put in and how slight the payoff is from being a fund savant
(con't here)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Two books that I went through reviews and stuff...that I would really wanna buy.
as long as I cleared my cupboards of all my unwanted stuff.

The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!

Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Two great books! Anyone here who has read these books?

Pool or LAN?

Hmmm.
Anyone has knowledge of operating or opening a pools (Billard or snooker) place, or a LAN shop? basically an entertainment centre.

I have a very good location, but not the knowledge. Email me here (archcherub@hotmail.com)


Anyone?

1 advantage of my job

since work is getting super mundane and tiring, i need to remind myself of the advantages of this job.

one of the biggest advantage...

i get discounts in almost all insurance!!! HAHAHA
damn shiok.

beside the usual Life, health, accident insurance, i get discounts in saving plans. and more importantly investment funds!!
cheaper funds for me!


and thats not all, i can get discounts in other insurance!

Car insurance!
u know how shiok it is to get discount on your own car insurance? Hahaha..damn shuang can.
Travel Insurance!
Mortgage Insurance!

damn shiok.

Ok now that i've cheered myself from monday blues...time to go back to work again.
monday monday monday....haih!

And I present all my awards to all my employees!

i've just watched the repeat encore telecast of Stars Awards 2005.
Okok i know i'm a bit slow. paiseh lah, i was working when Stars Awards was telecasted live.

In fact, i remember i was at the client's place, going through the policy when the tv was blaring, and I was quite sian knowing that I have to give it a miss.

nothing like 3-hours of self-praising and gloating.


Pork Barrel Awards 2005

And as usual, Cherub feels like subscribing satellite TV immediately after watching mediacorp's shows.
oh wait, satellite TV's banned here...damnit.

I almost choked when the hosts said something abt how special the awards are, that Channel 8 and Channel U must co-host them together in both channels so that all singaporeans can watch them. something like that lah.

wah liew, u mean got pple somewhere on our island that receive Channel 8 but not channel U?
or pple who can get Channel U but not Channel 8?

CANNOT BE RIGHT?

both are free-to-air broadcast. how many pple could there be with only 1 but not the other free channel?? Pls lah!! want to force pple to watch your company own-awards-give-own-pple show, say so lah.

Really...... i can't, for the sake of entertainment, think of a single good reason from 2 channels broadcasting the same show.

and i can't help but feel its a pork-barrel politics award show.

来啊，来啊。。。。分猪肉啊！！！！！

I have no idea why is our NATIONAL PRESIDENT there? eh, mr nathan, i don't mean to be rude, but do you have better things to do? I mean, you're a president! surely u should be endorsing some more important national event? or maybe, u know go through the constitutions and be a real president? Or do some real work for the people? After all, you're the PEOPLE's PRESIDENT. Ok lah, not really choosen by us, but by a shadow committee that decides who and who are eligible for president *silly me! i always tot thats the role of elections, but hey he's still an "Elected President", elected by the citizen's elected government's 'elected' Presidential Committee.....*

why are u endorsing an entertainment show!!!

and for that matter, why would celebrities be happy about receiving an award from a President?
I mean, if i'm a celebrity, surely I would be very happy if i receive an award from a vetern actor. Or a renowned singer.
or someone who entertains very well lah.

A national president??????

haih, wat does cherub know.....



anyway, my 2cents worth.
programming quality was definitely much better when there were 2 TV rivals.
yes, competition was fierce. money was lost.
but surely that's the singapore way? u know, free and most competitive market?

it was ugly only when each side mustered resources in other avenue (read: newspapers and other print media) to give biased and one-sided reports.
straits times would report on Today's flaws and Channel 8 & 5 problems.
Today would similarly report on SPH when their stocks plummets.

and of course there are other unfair advantages, most notably Mediacorp's government subsidies for social documentary and news productions.
Plus, with liberalisation new and fresh, both rivals are confused and slugging it out.

its ironic that the act on Competitive was unveiled just before the 2 TV stations mergered.

the Compeititive Act would have stabilised the market and give a fairer assessment.
And in any case, the presence of 2 TV stations have given so much more choices and better quality in programming.
How could that be a bad thing?


Maybe if the 2 TV stations are still around, we shld have a real national StarAwards. And each stations would a pro-rated percentage of the subsidies based on each station's performance in the star awards.
then it would be real competition, real fun. and no more pork barrel politics!!
and it would be DAMN ENTERTAINING!!! :D

sigh. we'd never know...

but i do know one thing.


Most Drama Queen 2005! You win!



Zoe Tay, you're damn entertaining lah!!!

#1 reason why I like taiwanese....

my close sec sch friend is venturing overseas to taiwan soon.



taiwan

i asked which city he was going and he told me "台中" (Taizhong, more commonly spelt in english as Taichung)

so i asked him gingerly, "where is Taizhong located? Is it in southern taiwan, or northern?"

he proceeded to stare at me, giving me the dun-think-you-are-my-insurance-agent-then-i-wun-stab-you.

i gave him my innocent look.



he then explained, in a not-so-kind-way.

台中, the name Taizhong already means that its in the centre of Taiwan. The chinese characters for Taizhong is using "Tai" 台 from Taiwan (台湾), and "zhong" 中 , meaning central.

Wah like that also can!
Suddenly, the cogs in my brain turned.

The capital "Taipei" 台北, using the chinese characters for "TAIwan" 台 and "north" 北, because this city is in north of Taiwan!

Wah. Cherub is so clever.

Eh, so i asked in my most sincere way, is there "Tainan" 台南, using the chinese characters for Taiwan and South, referring to a southern city of taiwan.

By then everyone knows cherub is turning into crappy mode and proceeded to ignore me.
(oh btw, I asked abt "Tainan" as a JOKE. and i just googled it and realise that there IS A TAINAN. 台南
Nabeh.)

these taiwanese pple really very lazy to name their cities.

so, i wonder aloud. wat about a city in east Taiwan?
Taidong? 台东 (once again, i thought of this as a joke, but guess what? THERE IS A TAIDONG.)

city in west taiwan? Taixi? 台西？
WAH REALLY GOT TAIXI!!!

what abt northeastern taiwan? Taidongpei?
southwestern? taixinan?

HAHAHAHA.
what about south-south west? (geography students shld remember there is north-north-west, south-south-east kinds of directions)

so shld we call them Tai-nan-nan-xi?

HAHA.
i like taiwanese pple :)


the chinese characters read "guys love binlang" (binlang is "betel nuts", something that taiwanese chew, like tobacco. And the girls selling binlang are dressed sexily. VERY. =)

They use the darnest words.

Taboo Card Game. Sounds a bit erotic...only.

Taboo is this card game where 2 teams play against each other. A player has to describe a word to let his team-mates say out the word(s) on each card, but he cannot use the taboo words listed on same card.

For example, as taken from here:

Example: How do you get your team to say the word BIRTHDAY... if you can't say the words HAPPY, ANNIVERSARY, CANDLES, PRESENTS or CAKE?

You might say: "Friends and family sing to you once each year," or "You celebrate this event by blowing out a fire on top of a frosted dessert." Or you might hum the well-known tune until your team shouts, "Birthday!"

Very interesting game as it reveals what others think of some specific words.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

cherub: something-bob! this something-bob is a cartoon character! he lives in the ocean!
teammates: (gives a lot of guesses but all wrong)

[playword: sponge (face-palm)]

cherub: guys like to see girls wearing this!
teammateR: bikini, g-strings.....
teammateE: nothing!!
teammateE: yah wad, guys like girls to wear nothing...

[playword: mini-skirts]
(teammateE suggested that i should have said "guys are happy when girls wearing this sit opposite them in MRT")

player: big tits are...?
teammate1: boobs?
player: yes. but longer *player proceeds and give more descriptions*
teammate1: booby trap!!

wah "booby traps" also can use "big tits"...damn creative. you deserve this point lah!

[playword: booby trap]

player: vinegar is...?
DLG: ethanoic acid!!
*everyone proceeds to stare at DLG*
(note: DLG graduated with a degree in science. Now we know how useful that is.)

[playword: jealousy]

player: this is DLG, DLG is a.....?
cherub: virgin!
*DLG stares at cherub*

eh say u pure and innocent mah.....

[playword: scientist]


player: teammateE is this!
cherub: cheebye?

[playword: critic]

The most classic:

player: Girls like to eat this.
teammate1: Cum!

excellent deduction.

Greener on the other side - Part 3

A friend of mine made a very sharp observation recently.
almost everyone is unhappy with his job.

Does your dad encourage you to join his line?
Not many dad does.

His father is in accountancy, and he discourages his son strongly.
a mutual friend's dad is doing business in trading, encourage his sons not to do this line.

and we continue to bring out numerous cases where dad discourages sons/daughters to join their industry. we can only think of a few exceptions where family business is involved.

heck, my dad is in construction, and he started his company from scratch, but he doesn't want me to take over: construction is too tough.
even in his latest venture in retailing/trading/groceries, he doesn't want me to join this line too: he says this job is too tough and competitive.

say i make more money doing insurance. haha.

my dad's favourite line:

your dad is as poor as a church mouse.

Born Free

The laws in Singapore are generally quite light on animal abuses, a case highlighted recently where one dog died of heat exhaustion and the owner was left off with just a minor fine.
The AVA (Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority) is also imposing higher annual license fee for unsterilised male dogs, and higher penalties for unlicensed dogs. Traceable microchip tags may be made compulsory too.

The reason why I'm bringing this issue out, is because I have been wanting to write about animals and pets, notably after xiaxue wrote some political incorrect issues about animals.
political incorrect, but how true.


to begin, let me state this statement.
a pet lover is NOT necessarily an animal lover.


People who own pets claim incessantly that they love animals, bullshit. (i'm generalising and will be generalising this whole entry, but i do know that it doesnt apply to all)
you love your pet. you love PETS. its quite a stretch for you to claim you love ANIMALS, isn't it.
as xiaxue would hv termed it, you're a cute-lover, not an animal lover.

to me, you're just a pet lover.

Firstly, being an animal lover mean more than doting on your current dog/cat/fish/bird/small furry creature. to me, it means consciously doing your best to make sure animals are well-treated, or at least reduce ur impact on their lives.

the road to hell is paved with good intentions


they're dying coz they are cute.

First of all, by buying a pet, you are encouraging an industry that actually thrives on trading in animals. although i must agree that your pet may be probably better off, since judging from the varieties of pet food, pet toys, pet grooming etc, i do believe that animals on a whole are worse off. to bring that dog/cat/fish/bird/small furry creatures (aka d/c/f/b/sfa) to the market, chances are, some animals died from birth to transportation to the petshop. even the alives one have to endure pretty bad conditions from his birthplace to your home.

let me give this example. on versak days, some buddhist devouts like to release birds/fishes into their natural habitats. they call it "fang sheng" (放生).
so some enterprising merchants realise that there is a market out there, and there they go, catching wild birds and wild turtles/fishes etc in the weeks before versak day.
i know for certain that the nets used to capture wild birds inevitably maimed and killed some of the birds, deemed not appropriate to sell. of course these birds died needlessly. not to mentioned the luckier alive ones have to live in cages and bad conditions till versak day itself.


Grant them the freedom that was theirs to begin with...


the buddhist devouts' kind intentions have brought much suffering.



More often than not, many pple probably choose their pets on looks.
"oooo so cute!!" blah blah.
how many of these pet lovers would equally dote their love on an uglier animal? not many, i feel. just take a walk around any pet shops, the cutiest, sweetest animals are displayed prominently on display windows. people almost inevitably buy pets based on looks. i mean, i can't blame them, i can't possibly judge a d/c/f/b/sfa's character.....

but reading a few blogs recently, i've came across cases where pet-lovers abandon their rabbits/dogs simply because its no longer cute.....
haih..

i digress a little here.
sometimes for fun, i would like to joke how much I love to eat a dog/rabbit/small furry creatures (rabbits bearing most of my crude remarks since some army course do teach u how to kill a rabbit for food), and then..... people would tell me:

"eee...how can u eat the rabbit? the rabbit so cute!!!"

i absolutely loath it.

what? the chicken deserves to be eaten coz its not nice-looking?? you can eat beef coz cows r ugly izzit? Pork chops for u, madam, coz pigs are disgusting??
how can u discriminate against animals like tat!!! WTF

just because the rabbits cute then cannot eat, then the chicken very kerlian can! they don't deserve to die more than the rabbits ok!!!


now that chicken is cute again, so can we still eat KFC?


Again, when you say you're an animal lover, think again.

Do you try to use comestic or body products that have not been tested on animals?
Think again when u buy that lipstick, it has probably been rubbed in the eyes of lab rabbits.

Do you buy dolphin-safe tuna?

Do you buy paper products that uses recycled papers or from plantations?
Do u stop using Kimberly Clark products after accusations has been hurled that they use trees from ancient virgin forests?

Do you even help out at the local SPCA?


[ed: i'm not against pet-lovers. i do believe that many pet-lovers are having a much better life thanks to their pets. and i know their pets are having a good life too. my stand, however is with animals and to clarify that pet lovers aren't, necessarily animal lovers.]

I'd love to be her client

somewhere, at a meeting in a famous agency of a famous insurance company...

Manager: so tell me DO YOU WANT TO GET THE DEAL?

Chio agent: Yes I do!

Manager: YOU WANT THE DEAL?

Chio agent: Yes I do!

Manager: Would you sleep with your client to clinch the deal?

Chio agent: *ponders* Yes I would.



wah, why can't she be my agent!!
cherub wants a good agent!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

man, i'm becoming such a misogynist, someone is recruiting me to be their club's president.

Greener on the other side - Part 2

Saw this article about a 18yo boy who has NOT completed his diploma and he already won an election for a Mayor of a city.

whooo. 18 yo and he already accomplished what many had only dare dream. (not literally being Mayors lah, but accomplishing what we set out to do)

a mayor.

wonder when would I hv a decision influence in so many people's lives.

Hmmm, my dream in insurance is to hv 400 clients by 2007, and to grow with these clients. even if i managed to reach my target of 400 clients, i can only help to reach the dreams of 400 families.

Not exactly the size of a small city, but oh well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And of course David Letterman got the 18-yo mayor on his show.
and the top ten list, reproduced here for your reading pleasure. :)

Top Ten Good Things About Being An 18-Year-Old Mayor

10. "Parents try to tell me what to do, I raise their taxes"

9. "Every night, a different member of the town council does my homework"

8. "It's every teen's dream: The power to regulate zoning laws"

7. "Goodbye, education budget -- Hello, brand new X-box"

6. "I got a call from Demi Moore"

5. "Trying to get the city hall on an episode of 'MTV Cribs'"

4. "I don't have to wait in line at Applebee's anymore"

3. "School bullies now have to deal with the Feds"

2. "Only victory speech featuring the word 'Dude'"

1. "It's flattering when President Bush calls me for advice"

Its the thoughts.

My only birthday present this year.....


One Ring to rule them all....


A Ring from Neofik!
damn gay, I know!! muahahahhahahahaha....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And since I love gifts so much, I took pics of another gift. A friend's wife just returned from HK and she bought me a souvenir.....


My very 1st BMW...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whoo.....i just realised that i hv many many friends who are november babies.
rats. disproportionately many.
and many clients as well who are born this month...

used to thought I was quite alone in this month...

ahh...maybe its the scorpio effect...
scorpios do love other scorpios after all..........

Futuristic Medieval Song

[Ed: I was informed by Yamato that LOTR took the REMIX version of Lux Aeterna, not the original version. LOTR actually used it only in the trailer, and not in the movie itself. The original version of Lux Aeterna with Kronos quartet, is in the official sountrack for the movie "Requiem for a Dream". He hereby encourages all to watch the movie "Requiem for a Dream" as well.]

Anyone noticed the theme song for the trailer of "Zathura: A Space Adventure"?

Lux Aeterna. By Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream)

it is one of the songs from "Lord of The Ring, The Two Towers".


Funny that a piece could be used for medieval-theme as well as a space-genre movie.

Greener on the other side - Part 1

A coincidence?

In a span of a month, a lot of my friends/clients have lamented to me about their present situations.
and how restless they are.
from different walks, some from the same university, some from overseas, some hv a bright future in their present jobs, some...well, not really.

but they all hv the same background: Young and just started work.

Maybe its the restless minds of the young.
there seems to be a large amount of discontent.

after a long 16years of education, and longing to start a new phrase of our lives, many are simply disappointed in the work we do. some of us are merely pencil-pushers.
or as one puts it, "highly paid clerks".

i can't really complain about my job, given that it has many perks and many aspects of the job fit my character well. everything is nice but sometime, as the Matrix phrased it for me...

"are we destined for greater things?"

at abt 10, i was fixated with cells and division. i read up on biology as much as i could, cranking as much info about tissues and cells as possible. i was very sure i want to spend my life with a microscope, peering at the miracle of life everday.

then i grew up from young reading about alternative renewable energies. i got interested & wanted to do something that matters, to see if i can develop a blueprint for singapore.
heck, i think i know more abt alternative energy than the average engineer.

i got fascinated abt fusion and fission technology, i read about breeder reactors, abt pebble core fuel, about laser fusion and magnetic fusion.

nanotechnology interests me too, its amazing to me how "disruptive" this technology could be. from fighting dieases to combatting pollution and creating structures beyond nature.

and hey, even when i confined myself to my disclipine, i googled economics of oil for fun. i checked out the fundamentals of weather-insurance, crops futures. i read up on real value of virtual economics built up in virtual space by gamers.



but what do you know. turn up that I can't make a big difference in this world after all.

To feed an army

It was a typical day.
After a long day of work, finally its time for dinner. at 11pm plus.

I met up with the primary school gang for supper at Jalan Kayu.

And I saw the waitress carrying a tray with a mountain of pratas, and 2 large plates of curry, with large chunky piece of chicken.

And I thought to myself, an army must have ordered that.


Imagine my surprise when she planked down the food at a table of 2 tiny, little teenager boys.
and the boys started attacking them.

I can't help but walked up to them and asked them "eh friend I've never seen anyone eaten so much pratas before, can I take a picture of your food?"


Pratas. Lots of them.

Yes, they finished every one of them, and the curry was wiped out as well.
And the two boys took a cab home.

I love teenagers.

If he delayed Insurance....

I've just visited a friend in hospital.

wah. cn't believe how close it is. He just bought hospital insurance from me 2 days ago!

2 days! Less than 48hours!!!!!!!!
and now he's hospitalised.

if he had been slightly late, not only would he be uninsured, the company may reject him in the end if he wants to buy later.

wah i feel a slight sense of pride now. heng ah.
but then....really 人算不如天算.
haih.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Off to a good lunch to Shangri-la! My company treating some agents for lunch there..
photos later, I promise.
:)

CORNfirm Corny Joke

Dave is driving down a rural highway late at night. He's been driving for a long, LONG time, and he's starting to get REALLY tired, but he is SO far out in the country that there are no hotels or inns ANYWHERE. So finally he decides that he is tired enough to just pull over at the next house and ask to spend the night. He pulls up at a pink house with pink trim, pink shutters, pink windows, and a pink door. He gets out of his car, walks up the pink sidewalk, up the pink driveway, climbs the pink steps, and rings the pink doorbell. A pink lady comes to answer the pink door. Dave explains to her, "Ma'am, I know it's late, but I'm really tired, and if I could just spend the night, I'd really appreciate it." The pink lady says, "Sure, no problem! Come on inside! Go up the pink stairs, down the pink hallway, and behind the first pink door on your right you'll find a pink bedroom. Inside the pink closet are some pink sheets, pink blankets, and pink pillowcases that you can put on the pink bed and the pink pillows. Sleep well!" So Dave steps inside the pink door, walks up the pink steps, down the pink hallway, and opens the first pink door on the right. He walks into the pink bedroom, goes to the pink closet, and takes out the pink blanket, the pink sheets, and the pink pillowcases. He puts the pink sheets and pink blanket on the bed, and the pink pillowcases on the pink pillows. He climbs under the pink covers, turns out the pink light, and falls immediately asleep.

Time passes. A second man, Bob, is driving down the same highway. He, too, has been driving for quite some time and desperately needs sleep. But there are no hotels or inns anywhere to be found, so Bob decides to pull over at the next house that comes up. He parks in front of the pink house with pink trim, pink shutters, pink windows, and a pink door. He gets out of his car, walks up the pink sidewalk, up the pink driveway, climbs the pink steps, and rings the pink doorbell. The pink lady comes to answer the pink door. Bob explains to her, "Ma'am, I'm really sorry for ringing your doorbell so late at night, but I've been driving for hours and hours, and all I need is to please spend the night?" The pink lady says, "Sure! Come on in! Go up the pink stairs, down the pink hallway, and behind the second pink door on your right you'll find a pink bedroom. In the pink closet are some pink sheets, pink blankets, and pink pillowcases that you can put on the pink bed and the pink pillows. Sleep well!" So Bob steps inside the pink door, walks up the pink steps, down the pink hallway, and opens the second pink door on the right. He walks into the pink bedroom, goes to the pink closet, and takes out the pink blanket, the pink sheets, and the pink pillowcases. He puts the pink sheets and pink blanket on the bed, and the pink pillowcases on the pink pillows. He climbs under the pink covers, turns out the pink light, and falls immediately asleep.

Time passes. A third man, Fred, is driving down the same highway. Like Dave and Bob, Fred has been driving for a long time, only Fred has been driving longer that either Dave or Bob. He can barely keep his eyes open. Because there are no hotels or inns, Fred decides to pull over at the next house. He parks in front of the pink house with pink trim, pink shutters, pink windows, and a pink door. He gets out of his car, walks up the pink sidewalk, up the pink driveway, climbs the pink steps, and rings the pink doorbell. The pink lady comes to answer the pink door. Fred, so tired he can barely speak, manages to stammer out, "Ma'am, I hate to bother you so late at night, but I really need some sleep. Could I stay at your house?" The pink lady says, "Sure! Come on inside! Go up the pink stairs, down the pink hallway, and behind the third pink door on your right you'll find a pink bedroom. In the pink closet are some pink sheets, pink blankets, and pink pillowcases that you can put on the pink bed and the pink pillows. Sleep well!" So Fred staggers through the pink door, walks up the pink stairs, down the pink hallway, and into the third pink door on the right. He walks into the pink bedroom, goes to the pink closet, and takes out the pink blanket, the pink sheets, and the pink pillowcases. He puts the pink sheets and pink blanket on the bed, and the pink pillowcases on the pink pillows. He climbs under the pink covers, turns out the pink light, and falls immediately asleep.

TIME PASSES. The sun rises. Dave wakes up. He climbs out of the pink bed, strips the pink blankets and pink sheets off the pink bed, and takes the pink pillowcases off the pink pillows. He puts the pink blankets, pink sheets, and pink pillowcases into the pink closet, and leaves the pink bedroom. He walks down the pink hallway, down the pink stairs, takes a left, and walks into a pink kitchen with pink cabinets, a pink floor, pink shelves, pink fixtures, and the pink lady, going through the motions of making breakfast. The pink lady says, "Good morning! What would you like for breakfast? We have Honey Stars or Frosties." Dave says, "Frosties, please." The pink lady goes to the pink cupboard and takes out a pink bowl. She goes to the pink silverware drawer and takes out a pink spoon. She pours some Frosties out of a pink box into the pink bowl, goes to the refrigerator and takes out a pink milk carton, pours the milk into the pink bowl and sets the pink bowl and pink spoon in front of Dave. Dave sits down on the pink chair at the pink table and eats his Frosties. He finishes, thanks the pink lady, goes out of the pink kitchen, out the pink door, down the pink steps, down the pink driveway, down the pink sidewalk, gets into his car and drives away.

A little while later, Bob wakes up. He climbs out of the pink bed, strips the pink blankets and pink sheets off the pink bed, and takes the pink pillowcases off the pink pillows. He puts the pink blankets, pink sheets, and pink pillowcases into the pink closet, and leaves the pink bedroom. He walks down the pink hallway, down the pink stairs, takes a left, and walks into a pink kitchen with pink cabinets, a pink floor, pink shelves, pink fixtures, and the pink lady, going through the motions of making breakfast. The pink lady says, "Good morning! What would you like for breakfast? We have Honey Stars or Frosties." Bob says, "Frosties, please." The pink lady goes to the pink cupboard and takes out a pink bowl. She goes to the pink silverware drawer and takes out a pink spoon. She pours some Frosties out of a pink box into the pink bowl, goes to the refrigerator and takes out a pink milk carton, pours the milk into the pink bowl and sets the pink bowl and pink spoon in front of Bob. Bob sits down on the pink chair at the pink table and eats his Frosties. He finishes, thanks the pink lady, goes out of the pink kitchen, out the pink door, down the pink steps, down the pink driveway, down the pink sidewalk, gets into his car and drives away.

Finally, Fred wakes up after a long sleep. He climbs out of the pink bed, strips the pink blankets and pink sheets off the pink bed, and takes the pink pillowcases off the pink pillows. He puts the pink blankets, pink sheets, and pink pillowcases into the pink closet, and leaves the pink bedroom. He walks down the pink hallway, down the pink stairs, takes a left, and walks into a pink kitchen with pink cabinets, a pink floor, pink shelves, pink fixtures, and the pink lady, going through the motions of making breakfast. The pink lady says, "Good morning! What would you like for breakfast? We have Honey Stars or Frosties." Fred says, "Honey Stars, please." The pink lady goes to the pink cupboard and takes out a pink bowl. She goes to the pink silverware drawer and takes out a pink spoon. She pours some Honey Stars out of a pink box into the pink bowl, goes to the refrigerator and takes out a pink milk carton, pours the milk into the pink bowl and sets the pink bowl and pink spoon in front of Fred. Fred sits down on the pink chair at the pink table and eats his Honey Stars. He finishes, thanks the pink lady, goes out of the pink kitchen, out the pink door, down the pink steps, down the pink driveway, down the pink sidewalk, gets into his car and drives away.


What is the moral of the story?
Two out of three people prefer Frosties to Honey Stars

Increase your hotmail account for non-US resident.

Hotmail has upgraded the email account size to 200mbytes a very long time ago, but until now, it has only applied to US residents.

For non-US residents, we are still stuck with 2mbyte file size which is simply too little. If you're not willing to go through the hassle of migrating to Gmail or Yahoo, or simply because that hotmail account is your MSN account as well, here is a simple way for you to get the free upgrade.

Just follow the instructions below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Sign in to your hotmail account & change your personal profile in e Options as follows:

Country: United States
State: Florida (choose another state if you want - http://www.50states.com/)

Zip Code: 33332 (choose another zip code if you want - http://www.downloadzipcode.com/). Needless to say, you need to enter e zip code that belongs to e state you've chosen.

2. Then get to e Language options & make it English if it's not.

3. If you don't want to lose your Inbox, click Put in folder.
From the menu, choose New Folder.
Create your new folder & go back to your Inbox.
Select e emails that you don't want to lose & click Put in folder once more.
Choose e folder you have just created & e emails you have chosen will be moved to that folder.
You can move them to your Inbox again later by e same method.

4. Before signing out, paste e link below into e address bar & press "enter" key. When e new screen pops up, click on "Close my account".
Your account will be deactivated.
http://by17fd.bay17.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/Accountclose

5. Now visit e address http://www.hotmail.com again.
Enter your username & password.
The activation page will load.
Follow e instructions & click on "continue" to activate your mail account.

6. You're done !
Now your mail account capacity has grown to 25 MB & in a month or so it will be 250 MB.
Enjoy your "enlarged" hotmail account!

7. You might wish to switch back to ur original personal profile after you are done with "enlarging" your hotmail account.

The court Jester

Everyone loves him, but not that way.

He jokes and he creates fun.
He speaks simple revelation in the midst of gibberish.

everyone loves him because he's so entertaining.
but everyone wants to marry the prince.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sigh.

No ice cream for you

Fun Fact: A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

Source: Original Juice

The flawless cake.

I come from such a typical Asian family.

You know, the family members do love each other, but there is no expression of such.
no "i love you mummy daddy", no hugs, no outright expression of concerns.
(except towards my brother, but he's 9. we'll stop soon, i know)

Sooo typical Asian!!!


So on my birthday, when my family bought me a cake, they mean it.
really "bought me a cake".

No birthday songs. No candles! No gathering to blow candles and birthday wishes those kind.
We're asians, wad.

the cake was bought, and stayed in the fridge.

so when everyone's asleep, i hv to go to the fridge and take the cake out. Cake still in box, ah.... box still in plastic bag!!!
Open it, throw away the candles, and cut a slice for myself.



Flawless. No candle marks, no cuts.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To my dear friends,
thanks for trying to organise a gathering for my bday, but I really prefer to spend this special day of mine alone.

Let me use an analogy. I love chicken rice, u guys love western food.
Cannot be my bday, i sacrifice come eat western food with u guys right?
so my bday, of course i wanna eat my chicken rice.

I really love to spend my special day alone. No reason, and its not because I have any problem! And its NOT because I have PMS.
I wanna celebrate u guys' bdays coz i love celebrating bdays...:P
but my own bday, i love to do it my own special way... i'm absolutely fine and I truly enjoy my bday this way.

I'm clarifying this coz it would be the same for the next 75 years. :)

lastly, really appreciate the efforts and grateful to all my friends. thank you all, especially e3.

Forget it.

i'm the boy.

i'm the boy.


i'm the boy who had a normal childhood, a normal family, and a normal life (at least compared to others, i think).

i'm the boy that studied in a "branded" primary school.
i'm the boy that got streamed into a "lousier" class at primary 6.

i'm the boy that my parents promised me a PC (pc are uncommon and expensive then) if i get into a SAP sch (PSLE minimum score of 250), because no one thought I could do it.
i'm the boy that did it, just to prove everyone wrong.

i'm the boy that joined NCC coz I love the army.
i'm the boy who got condemned in NCC.

i'm the boy who fell in love in my jc.
i'm the boy who found the one to marry when i was in jc.

i'm the boy who screwed up my maths C (AO pass, thats as good as failing)
i'm the boy who still secured a place in NUS. (i'm blessed)

i'm the boy that promised to love her till the end.
i'm also the boy that promised to end her life.

i'm the boy who almost got charged in army.
i'm the boy who worked hard to survive the army charges.

i'm the boy who was suicidal once.
i'm the boy who didn't try.

i'm the boy who don't bother socialising, not in sec, not in jc. not in his life.
i'm the boy who socialised too much in university.

i'm the boy who gave up everything for the one he loves.
including the one.

i'm the boy who tears through growing up.
i'm the boy who hasn't stop, i think.

i'm the boy buaya.
i'm the boy they said, is a good friend, but not a good boyfriend.

i'm the boy who loves love.
i'm the boy which love doesn't love.

i'm the little boy.
i'm the birthday boy.

some girls really irritate me

was talking to a female friend and just realised how much i am irritated by female friendships.
i got lots of female friends, but only a very small percentage are true blue friends....

platonic r/s, my ass.

i have moved out of hostel for 2 years, and frankly, barely any of the female hostel friends took the initative to maintain the friendship.
i have like 40 pple from my hall on my MSN, and very seldom a female would bother to msg to catch up and chill.

the rare few msg i received is ALWAYS about some laptop problems and requests for troubleshooting.

A close friend of mine, lets call him Mr Cute. He was damn popular with girls and stuff, and he rents an apartment with 2 very close female friends that have forged a friendship with him for the past 3 university years (i think). And now, he's sourcing for an apartment away from the 2 girls, because they have grown distant ever since graduation, despite staying at the same apartment everyday!!

they spent time alone in their room, never bothering to socialise with Mr Cute.

girls, don't u bother to maintain a friendship???????
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i hv a hostel mate (nicked CH) tat grew very close to me while i was in year 1. i dunno whether it had anything to do, but i felt that she totally withdrew from me after she got attached.
and her friend (nicked V) too, whom i tot was quite interesting because she is one of the rare few who possess a great interest and knowledge in history (surprise, i may be an economist but i love history). and then this friend too totally forgot abt me. i saw her at NIE once, but she just hi and bye. can't remember when, but i guessed she totally lost this friendship after she got attached.

i mean, harlow!??!?

i cn't believe CH and V can suddenly lose this friend here, and another friend TF, she was wondering what happened and she approached CH and asked her how come she don't talk to me anymore (this happened 3 years ago)

and CH said "cherub seems weird, he changed"

watever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i have a few close friends right now, and day-in, day-out, i hear them complaining abt their bfs banning them from seeing which guy friends or from doing some activities. Like clubbing or going shopping, or just meeting new pple. hello people, get a life, losers (referring to the bfs), if u have to be so insecure abt ur gf dumping u, u need to play less playstation, and grow up a little more.

and the girls, sorry but u're equally stupid. your world doesn't revolve around ur bf. don't lose any friend just because u're attached. if u hv to live ur life according to a standard of your bf, then obviously he found the wrong girl, so you either accept that and stop complaining or u ditch him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i am gonna get slammed so much for this, but its the truth. female can't make their own decision. no matter wat it is, they will have to ask their bf, mother, father, friends and whatsoever before deciding whether they should -watever-

and some females can listen to others pple opinion before deciding whether this person is good or bad. don't u hv a mind of your own? if u can listen to flamers, or some rumours and then decided that cherub is a bad guy, wahlao, i hope u enjoy your tofu before choking on it. i absolutely hate it when a trust is misplaced simply because the girl rather listen to other pple...

and no, so far, i havent seen any man that actually do this -they-say-so-then-i-must-listen-shit-
so pls dun prove me wrong on this....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and yes, if you don't treasure this friendship, please for god's sake, delete me from your hp and msn, don't bother msg me again. don't irritate me to call me and ask me for computer problems.
kindly do yourself a favour and google for the answer.

and yes, some men do have this problem too. i have 2 close army mates who blocked me on msn for watever reasons. fark lah. after all these years of friendship and hardship (fark lor, army mates lor, u see them 18 hrs a day for 2 years) you can destroy a friendship coz of watever reason.
i respect u lah.


i dun think i would ever marry. seriously.

a love story

wat can i say? i'm a sucker for love stories. :')
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



On my wedding day, I carried my wife in my arms. The bridal car stopped in front of our one-room flat. My buddies insisted that I carry her out of the car in my arms. So I carried her into our home. She was then plump and shy. I was a strong and happy bridegroom.

This was the scene of ten years ago.

The following days were as simple as a cup of pure water: we had a kid, I went into business and tried to make more money. When the assets were steadily increasing, the affections between us seemed to ebb. She was a civil servant. Every morning we left home together and got home almost at the same time. Our kid was studying in a boarding school.

Our marriage life seemed to be enviably happy. But the calm life was more likely to be affected by unpredictable changes.

Dew came into my life.

It was a sunny day. I stood on a spacious balcony. Dew hugged me from behind. My heart once again was immersed in her stream of love. This was the apartment I bought for her.

Dew said, You are the kind of man who best draws girls eyeballs. Her words suddenly reminded me of my wife. When we just married, my wife said, Men like you, once successful, will be very attractive to girls. Thinking of this, I became somewhat hesitant. I knew I had betrayed my wife. But I couldn t help doing so.

I moved Dew s hands aside and said, You go to select some furniture, O.K.? I ve got something to do in the company. Obviously she was unhappy, because I had promised her to go and see with her. At the moment, the idea of divorce became clearer in my mind although it used to be something impossible to me.

However, I found it rather difficult to tell my wife about it. No matter how mildly I mentioned it to her, she would be deeply hurt. Honestly, she was a good wife. Every evening she was busy preparing dinner. I was sitting in front of the TV. The dinner was ready soon. Then we watched TV together. Or, I was lounging before the computer, visualizing Dew s body. This was the means of my entertainment.

One day I said to her in a slight joking way, suppose we divorce, what will you do? She stared at me for a few seconds without a word. Apparently she believed that divorce was something too far away from her. I couldn t imagine how she would react once she got to know I was serious.

When my wife went to my office, Dew had just stepped out. Almost all the staff looked at my wife with a sympathetic eye and tried to hide something while talking with her. She seemed to have got some hint. She gently smiled at my subordinates. But I read some hurt in her eyes.

Once again, Dew said to me, He Ning, divorce her, O.K.? Then we live together. I nodded. I knew I could not hesitate any more.

When my wife served the last dish, I held her hand. I ve got something to tell you, I said.

She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly I didn t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want to divorce. I raised a serious topic calmly. She didn t seem to be much annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? . I m serious. I avoided her question. This so-called answer turned her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man!

At that night, we didn t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer, because my heart had gone to Dew.

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. I felt a pain in my heart. The woman who had been living ten years with me would become a stranger one day. But I could not take back what I had said.

Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer.

A late night, I came back home after entertaining my clients. I saw her writing something at the table. I fell asleep fast. When I woke up, I found she was still there. I turned over and was asleep again.

She brought up her divorce conditions: she didn t want anything from me, but I was supposed to give her one month s time before divorce, and in the month s time we must live as normal life as possible. Her reason was simple: our son would finish his summer vacation a month later and she didn t want him to see our marriage was broken.

She passed me the agreement she drafted, and then asked me, He Ning, do you still remember how I entered our bridal room on the wedding day? This question suddenly brought back all those wonderful memories to me. I nodded and said, I remember . You carried me in your arms, she continued, so, I have a requirement, that is, you carry me out in your arms on the day when we divorce. From now to the end of this month, you must carry me out from the bedroom to the door every morning.

I accepted with a smile. I knew she missed those sweet days and wished to end her marriage with a romantic form.

I told Dew about my wife s divorce conditions. She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she does, she has to face the result of divorce, she said scornfully. Her words more or less made me feel uncomfortable.

My wife and I hadn t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. We even treated each other as a stranger. So when I carried her out for the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mummy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly, Let us start from today, don t tell our son. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for bus, I drove to office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. We were so close that I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn t looked at this intimate woman carefully for a long time. I found she was not young any more. There were some fine wrinkles on her face.

On the third day, she whispered to me, The outside garden is being demolished. Be careful when you pass there.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I seemed to feel that we were still an intimate couple and I was holding my sweetheart in my arms. The visualization of Dew became vaguer.

On the fifth and sixth day, she kept reminding me something, such as, where she put the ironed shirts, I should be careful while cooking, etc. I nodded. The sense of intimacy was even stronger.

I didn t tell Dew about this.

I felt it was easier to carry her. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger. I said to her, It seems not difficult to carry you now.

She was picking her dresses. I was waiting to carry her out. She tried quite a few but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, All my dresses have grown fatter. I smiled. But I suddenly realized that it was because she was thinner that I could carry her more easily, not because I was stronger. I knew she had buried all the bitterness in her heart. Again, I felt a sense of pain. Subconsciously I reached out a hand to touch her head.

Our son came in at the moment. Dad, it s time to carry mum out. He said. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had been an essential part of his life. She gestured our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face because I was afraid I would change my mind at the last minute. I held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly, as if we came back to our wedding day. But her much lighter weight made me sad.

On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. She said, Actually I hope you will hold me in your arms until we are old.

I held her tightly and said, Both you and I didn t notice that our life was lack of such intimacy.

I jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my decision. I walked upstairs. Dew opened the door. I said to her, Sorry, Dew, I won t divorce. I m serious.

She looked at me, astonished. The she touched my forehead. You got no fever. She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Dew, I said, I can only say sorry to you, I won t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn t value the details of life, not because we didn t love each other any more. Now I understand that since I carried her into the home, she gave birth to our child, I am supposed to hold her until I am old. So I have to say sorry to you.

Dew seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into cry. I walked downstairs and drove to the office.

When I passed the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet for my wife which was her favorite. The salesgirl asked me to write the greeting words on the card. I smiled and wrote, I ll carry you out every morning until we are old.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i'll carry you out every morning till we are old too........ as long as i've figured out who you are...

As poor as a church mouse Part 2

Lenin would be proud of me.

The 2nd reason why I'm so poor... this is what u get when u shop alone.
in bangkok, no less.

now u know why I got a court restraint order against shopping alone?

As poor as a church mouse Part 1

Now you know why I'm so broke.

Fines, bills, lots of money gone. I'm really broke now.

on a boring saturday

neofik says:
what hot dates u got lined up later

cherub says:
let's see, a female human paladin. a male human wizard, and a female cleric.

neofik says:
wow
exciting

cherub says:
wat abt u?
is wow ur plan?

neofik says:
oh, mine's just so so
have a date with a male ninja, a female courtesan, a tang dynasty general
well, i could invite s male wizard, female thief and an orc barbarian if i want
or a vigilante vampire hunter or renegade devil spawn if i want

cherub says:
see, thats where we get nerdy

Back to the school days..

I promised I would blog about the School Uniform Party at Rouge, and here it is...

Firstly, the party was organised by the bodytalks, a dance school. They do many different type of dances, including exotic dances.
So when a batch of their students graduated, they have to perform for a crowd, hence the school organised a theme party for their students to perform.

"Be Naughty" Night.




my classmates for the day night.



And there was the orientation, the beginning where we mingled and waited in anticipation.
yes, the pub was dark, but then i can't recall any pub where its well-lit and cheery.
what i found it lacking was that the place was pretty small, and it couldn't afford many schoolmates a proper view of the performing area.
Once the dancers got down lying onto the ground, most people couldn't see a thing. (Trust me, they go down on the floor a lot, and from what I heard, i missed a lot. ta-ma-de)




There was an oohtique corner where we could explore before the performance. Oohtique displayed many nice sexy wear and female, ahem, toys (not for kids). I guess its a pretty good business idea.


So the cheerleaders came to welcome us! Oooo, all the cheerleaders are the dance teachers.
cheerleaders! teachers! students! all in 1 nite.
you can tell that I almost died that night.


After waiting for ages, and taking 10,000 fotos, the 1st dance finally commenced!



And hmmm, they wore these proper and prim top. u know, nice sweet outfit.
so guai....



AND SO THEY TOOK IT OFF! 1st dance, mind u.


And then after some other performances (i have no energy to take pictures of all performances lah), its dance time for these sweet little things.
you know the outfits they were wearing? the kinda sweater in bright cheery colours. with a collar shirt inside the sweater... Very demure, very sweet!


Sweet right.


SWEETER RIGHT? haha.
You can see that there were a lot of stripping done in this party. nice, artistic kind ones, of course. not those pron kind...


well done girls, that was one of the more coordinated and exotic dance of the night.

to be honest, there were too many dances for the night. after an hour of standing there, most of the audience got bored. it didn't help that most performances were not that well practised. but oh well, its a dancing school and the performers are fresh graduates.
quantity over quality. I hope that they will reduce the number of performances nxt time..


Anyway, halfway into the performance, they started a contest and pulled in girls from the crowd in this contest......supposed to perform some sexy acts to canvass for votes...


These are some of the contestants, pulled from the crowd that day. chio right? actually the fun part of this theme party is that most of the crowd are very onz, a large majority sticked to the theme and come dressed in school uniforms. more fun mah!!
so kudos to all these girls who come dressed to the theme, and boy, are they hot.
If you have to know, the hot babe in green won.


Halfway into the performance, i stumbled into a, ahem, convent cave. haha. i can't believe i met my JC seniors in this party.


and I also met my primary school classmate at the party, would you believe that. No pictures of her though...



And yes, my classmates are really hot.

Articles, articles...

Money, is it overrated? Economics research focuses on what makes people happy :

A critical factor in personal happiness appears to be marriage — or at least a monogamous sexual relationship. A widowed or divorced person would have to make an extra $100,000 a year to be as happy as a comparable married person, Blanchflower and co-author Andrew Oswald estimated.

Blanchflower and Oswald also looked at surveys of sexual activity and found that in general, “The more sex, the happier the person.”

“People who have no sexual activity are noticeably less happy than average,” they declared.

No wonder!! no wonder I'm not happy, and ahem, that i have many depressed female friends. Depressed ladies, look no further! email me here!
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A friend of mine emailed me the story below. Kinda interesting, although I feel that the article, or rather, the association misses out a strong point. A lot of people invests in Whole Life insurnace as a retirement tool. And parents build life insurance for kids as a saving and investment tools. And wealthy people loves to use insurance as part of their assets portfolio.

So yah, batman would build a large insurance coverage, although if I am the underwriter, i will decline his case lor. knn, fly here fly there, sure die soon one...
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Who needs life insurance most?
Jack Naudi St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (KRT)
Date: October 04, 2005

Oct. 4--Batman risks his life almost every day. Fred Flintstone doesn't.
So, which one needs life insurance more?

In a recent survey, more people chose the unmarried, wealthy Bruce Wayne over the working class, Stone-Age husband and father. And that choice, say insurers, is dead wrong.

Silly on the surface, the survey conducted by the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education conveyed a serious message: Most people don't know whether life insurance is right for them.

In the survey, released last week, more than 1,000 people were asked which of five fictional characters needed life insurance the most.
Respondents placed Spiderman first, followed by Batman, Fred Flintstone, Harry Potter and Marge Simpson.

The Life and Health Insurance Foundation issued those results with a news release titled: "Holy cow Batman! Americans think superheroes need life insurance more than moms and dads."

David Woods, president of the Washington-based foundation, said that without question, family-man Fred Flintstone would need life insurance more than the rest.
As the sole breadwinner, Fred's death would have a much greater economic effect than the demise of the others, Woods said.
Daigle said the right answer was simple. "The only one I see that jumps out is Fred Flintstone. He's married, and he's got a young child."


The most distressing ranking in the survey, Woods said, was Marge Simpson's spot at the bottom of the list. Undervaluing the economic importance of a stay-at-home spouse, Woods said, "is a huge problem."
"What would have to be replaced if she died?" Woods said. "Would there have to be day care? Would there have to be cleaning services? Would somebody have to do the shopping?"

By Daigle's reckoning, Marge is worth probably $3,000 a month to the Simpson household. With one rule of thumb saying life insurance should pay for 10 years of lost income, Daigle said the Simpsons need about $360,000 of life insurance for Marge, mother of three.

It's likely that Spiderman needs insurance, but perhaps not for the reasons considered by respondents, insurance experts said. His alter ego, Peter Parker, supports an aging aunt who would be financially devastated by Spidey's death.

Woods said he did not judge the survey respondents too harshly for putting Spiderman at No. 1. "He's swinging from buildings; I understand it," he said. "Good Lord, he's in trouble all the time."

But the need for life insurance has little in common with the dangers of a person's profession, Woods said. "The test always is that if somebody is dependent on you financially, then you better take a hard look at whether you need life insurance."

Two characters on the list don't need life insurance, Woods said: Harry Potter, a child, and the wealthy Batman. "Batman, being a single guy, he doesn't need money for a family," said Daigle, adding that Bruce Wayne's wealth was "irrelevant" to whether he needed life insurance.




Spiderman, 28 percent of survey respondents
David Woods, president, Life and Health Insurance Foundation: "Peter Parker probably needs life insurance to ensure that if his super powers ever failed him and he died, his aunt could stay in their home and be cared for."

Batman, 18 percent
Woods: "Batman doesn't have anyone who depends on him financially and therefore probably doesn't need life insurance."

Fred Flintstone, 16 percent
Woods: "Fred has a pressing need for life insurance to ensure that Wilma and Pebbles could maintain their standards of living if he were no longer able to provide for them."

Harry Potter, 15 percent
Woods: "A full-time student with no siblings or parents who might be affected financially by his premature death, Harry Potter doesn't have a need for life insurance."

Marge Simpson, 11 percent
Woods: "Stay-at-home parents like Marge perform many household services that would expensive to replace, and consequently have a significant need for life insurance."

Note: 13 percent did not know

KRviaNewsEdge

and the butterfly flies away.

i think i'm addicted to blogging at the airport.

is it me, or are the air stewardness getting chio-er and chio-er?
man, i think its the uniform.
and oh boy, girls in uniform are really, really hot.



i hate travelling alone.
bangkok, here i come.

and the butterfly hides again.

eh, how to reveal, you tell me, how to??

1) bloggers kanna charged for their blogs.

2) someone (friend of friend) almost got sacked (actually expelled but appealed back) from a local university due to his blogging about his "Industrial Attachment".

3) most recently, a friend of mine almost broke up with his gf (that he was going to propose) due to his, ahem, secret blog.


How to reveal myself? u tell me!
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saw this line of wisdom from blinkymummy.

If Religion is Opium for the Masses,
L.O.V.E. is Bread for the Poor.

the cocoon is breaking.

Out of the blue, Mandy asked me the other day,

"cherub, I ask you..why you always sound so depress leh.."

you know for a girl who talks to me less than 10 times a year (previously), she sure knows me deeper than most. know me little, but know me a lot....
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and then recently when we mixed around more (ahem, school uniform party), she asked me another cheem question.

"cherub, why your blog is those 'informative' kind, not those personal blog huh? u got another private blog is it?"

hmm. i used to hv some personal blog but I've since stopped. but you know, she got me thinking, i have never revealed my name, my photos on my blog. this blog is not very personal for various reasons (mainly, i don't feel like it). and for a good reason, i tried my best not to blog about depressing stuff, ONLY happy stuff.

No name, NO photos of cherub.

All these are going to change.

Its the army, stupid.

(Addendum: I decided to write down a specific action that the army clerk did. Scroll down below to read.)


And its back to green.

Dear Army,

Yes, I know that you are involved in the highly revolutionary "paperless" system, so you no longer send out call-ups via letters. But a single SMS for me to remember a callup months ahead? I'm so glad of your immense trust in my memory.
Perhaps you can send a 2nd sms reminder when the date is near?

And you call me up, as noted, for an "IPPT Briefing".
There is nowhere on that electronic call-up that requested me to be ready for an IPPT test!
Hello? IPPT Briefing is very different from an IPPT test.
You know how stupid I feel when I turn up in camouflage uniform, only to find most of the people there dressed in PE attires.

and yes, I wasted an hour driving to and fro, because of your unclear instructions.

And please do let the guards know that you are making such a mistake in the future, because the poor guard has no idea what is an IPPT Briefing, and directed me to park my vehicle and sign in, only to be told by another person to drive ahead and park at the Parade Square.

I forgot to mention that my car is a Mitshibitsu Lancer, NOT an armoured vehicle. I have no idea how to park at the Parade Square when its surrounded by concertina wires. hey, even a tank's track can be damaged if it rushes into concertina barricade. To fulfil my role as an operational ready NSman, I promise I will include a wire-cutter set and gloves in my combat pack in the near future.

And if its not too troublesome, can u lower the humps on the roads in your camp!! for god's sake, not all civilian cars are as high as your army vehicles! but I am definitely not the first civilian car to scrap the hump, judging by the numerous deep cuts in the humps.

And I hate army clerks. You are already exempted from combat roles, do you mind respecting yourself and handle us with efficiency and proper service?
[Addendum] Yes, I know my NRIC card is "spoilt", the cracks are pretty obvious to any one, but thanks anyway for your value-added service in pointing that out. But I really think that you don't have to bend and flex my already-damaged NRIC in front of me to prove the point. And you have to state accurately that you hv nothing to do with the damage, WHILE flexing the card around. Don't worry, I am sure you have absolutely nothing to do with my cracked broken card.

So I spent a precious afternoon from work, and achieved nothing. Now I have to prepare for another IPPT "briefing" on my own, at another camp.

Yours readily,
man-in-green
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So, I've decided to train hard for my coming IPPT. Maybe I should start with some weight lifting and short-distance running.


Preparing for the next IPPT
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I have lots to blog. Abt the School Uniform Party, about the Orient Express, but Blogger is cranking up, and I'm irritated by it.