Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing you & your loved ones a Peaceful & Blessed Christmas.

Afternoon Off

I had the rather rare opportunity last Friday to have the entire afternoon all to myself. Everyone else was either at work or busy with something else.

And since I've been eating barely-passable food for the last 2 weeks, I decided that I would treat myself to a CJ burger (hmmmm.. yum!) and perhaps a movie if there was a good movie with good seats available.

In any case, it felt damn good just wonder around on a Friday afternoon with a great B-grade movie and sinfully-yummy burger thrown in, even tho the company could have been better.

Tropic Thunder - One of the greatest & funniest B-grade movie I've ever seen. hahahhahaaaa...

Wearing Green ok, I'll be off huffing & puffing for 2 weeks, so I don't think I'll be online much.

Sigh...I'm getting too old for this.

Ha ha ha ha

Halloween



It's pretty hard to believe it's been already a year since I popped over to London with M to visit D & S.

To me, it still feels like a rather recent trip - even though so many other things have happened since then.

Anyway, the scary cookies above are the aftermath of an equally creepy but delicious dinner that was brewed up by S.

Certified

One & a half months of slogging twice a week after work and burning most weekends has finally paid off.

I am now 'Certified'. woo hoo... !
(For those of you who have no idea what I'm going on about, email me.)

I was rather anxious yesterday as two of my colleagues who took the exams with me, had already received their results. One didn't make it.

Obviously that made me very very nervous, and anxious to get home to check my mail. But SingPost decided it would be fun to prolong my distress for another day.

And because we had an office event today, which meant that I would probably only get home much later in the evening, I wasn't going to know my fate until at least 9pm.

As I was getting home, my heart was pounding... "what if"s were running through my head.

I ripped the enveloped and just couldn't help but laugh when I saw the first word of letter...

"Congratulations..."

So what does this mean for me?

Well, the first thing I'm going to do is to claim back my exam fees from my company.

hahaha...yes, I know. I'm damn cheap eh. :P

The rest of the career stuff... well.. I don't really know yet.

I decided to take the certification, not so much because of career development although there definitely would be some advantages, but more so because I wanted to validate that my own body of knowledge was of a certain set standard.

Since starting this job, I've been very blessed to have been mentored by, not one but three very knowledgeable and enthusiastic colleagues (Sc, Em & Sj) from whom I've learnt practically everything about the job. So in a way, this certification is for them too.

Thanks people, I definitely couldn't have done it without you.

So where to next? Well, lets wait and see what unfolds.

:)

Classics

Rolleiflex twin lens reflex

Contax I

Leica M3

The MINOX Classic Camera Collection

Explaining the Financial Crisis


The Financial Crisis, as Explained to My Fourteen-Year-Old Sister
by Kevin Nguyen on October 1, 2008

Economist Kevin Nguyen explains the country’s economic woes to his younger sister, using Pokémon as an analogy. Seriously.

via The Bygone Bureau - A Journal of Modern Thought


In the final analysis, it just boils down to this - Be greedy and you'll be fu*ked sooner or later.

ERP – Electronic Road Pricing
(aka Extremely Ridiculous Procedure)

I hate the stoopid ERP system.

Although I’m all for measures to control traffic volume and reduce jams, I'd really hate how it’s been implemented. The issue of whether the ERP system is actually effective or not, is another thing altogether.

I wonder who the dumbass was that designed the ERP system/implementation. I’d really like to kick his/her/their ass if I knew.

As with any system that relies on the user having a stored-value card, the user is bound to either forget to have the card, or have insufficient value on the card.

So why can’t the stoopid engineers make it such that the system can deduct the value at a later stage when the card is available and has sufficient value? Or at the very least, have the ERP fees automatically deducted from a nominated bank account.

And it’s not impossible to do because the “in-car unit” (otherwise know as the ICU) is already identified uniquely to the car and hence, they have the driver’s details etc.

And it's not that I don't want to pay. The system should be flexible enough to collect payment later. If the gahmen is going to have to collect money, then at least it should make it as easy and as simple a process as possible. And not have some restrictive, limited method where if you don't follow the process, the user is fined.

So why didn’t they?

I bet you it’s because some dumbass gahmen scholar dodo thought that it would be a great source of “fine” revenue for the gahmen.

At this point, I must admit that the reason why I’m so pissed off now is because I kenna fined $10 for not having the cashcard in my ICU. So instead of paying $2, I have to fork out $10 for nothing.

Blardy hell…



YouTube Link

The Road more commonly traveled

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by.”
Robert Frost

I haven’t been writing much these days. Work and life has been so crazy that I hardly have time to think much about anything else.

I wrote one or two posts but didn’t quite finish them because I seemed to be unable to bring myself to. Even with this midnight post, I’m kinda struggling to find the words.

Lately I’m beginning to get that itch to travel again. I think the whole work routine is starting to get to me again. And it doesn’t quite help when I read articles such as these ones below.

The World’s Most Spectacular Roads

The World’s Most Spectacular Skylines

As usual, the crappy part about the whole situation is that I don’t quite have any spare cash or leave to really travel apart from doing some short trips around the region since I did just hop over to Australia in June and London last November.

Sigh... looks like I'll have to content with just a short weekend trip somewhere.

Just for (morbid) laughs...

Warning: Video contains graphic violence. Not for the faint hearted. Watch at your own risk.



YouTube Link

The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Just when I thought I could finally enjoy a good movie after all these few hectic weeks, I was left wanting.

The Mummy – parts 1 and 2 – had a great deal going for them. A charismatic lead actor and actress, and a rather compelling “Indiana Jones” type of storyline that is rare in movies these days.

So I had expected Part 3 to be at least equally, if not more, entertaining and engaging as the last two.

Sadly this was not to be the case. Part 3 turned out to be a sad mixture of a cheesy one-liners with awfully weak references to the last 2 movies, badly spoken mandarin, poor character developments, predictable situations and unrealistic backdrops… I could just keep going. Sigh.

In a nutshell, if you haven’t seen ‘The Mummy – Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ at the cinema, my advice is, don’t bother.

Just wait for the Dvd release, and rent it from the shops ONLY when it moves to the special offer shelves.





Warning: Movie spoilers ahead. If you still insist on watching The Mummy for yourself to experience the sad excuse of a movie, then please stop reading here.








There were just so many things that they did wrong this time.

The third installment brings us to China, where the “Mummy” takes the form of an resurrected evil emperor in the form of Jet Li. The cute young son from the second series is now grown up man (Luke Ford) and his parents (Brendan Fraser & Maria Bello) are “retired”. The notable supporting cast consist of Michelle Yeoh and Anthony Wong Chau-Sang (Infernal Affairs) and many CGI mummies.

If you are a fan of the first 2 installments, you would immediately notice that Rachel Wise is no longer the Wife. What’s up with that? Brendan and Rachel Weisz had a very engaging on-screen chemistry. They could have been the new “Indiana Jones” type of action-hero-heroine combination. The new stand in - Maria Bello - just doesn’t seem to fit the role at all. The movie tries hard – perhaps too hard - to make her seem like the previous character but fails miserably at it. And all we get is a cheap counterfeit. Perhaps I’m being biased. I like Rachel – I think she’s really attractive but yet funny in the first 2 movies - plus she's got a cute British accent to boot.

Perhaps the Director knew that he had a unbelievably weak storyline, so he tries desperately to compensate by having ridiculously over-the-top CGI chase scenes in Shanghai, and nice-but-still-obviously artificial backdrops for rest of the movie. This is such a far cry from the infinitely more realistic settings of the first 2.

And since the story is set in China, we predictably get the characters attempting to sprout some weak-ass, laughable, poorly-pronounced Mandarin lines. It was so bad that (1) I starting laughing when I heard it. (2) I couldn’t understand the rest of what was said if not for the English subtitles.

I mean, come on people! If you want to do it, then do it correctly lah. Either you get them trained to pronounce properly or just stick to plain old English. The story simply can’t work if you have ‘ang mo’ characters sprouting blah-blah mandarin and a 2000 year old Chinese ‘witch’, who lived in a cave, suddenly speaking almost perfect English.

There are so many things wrong with the movie that it’s just simply very, very disappointing.

I was still entertained to a certain extend by the numerous, and probably unintended, comic moments but I had such high expectations from the first 2 movies that I found this round to be such a huge disappointment. If they do make a fourth movie, I’ll be thinking really hard if I want to spend my time and money just to be let down yet again.

Heng ah.. that I watched this on a Wednesday and paid only $7.50. I'd probably be feeling really cheated if I had watched on a Saturday night.

Why I love to travel (& Discovery Channel)


Link

Heel Hell

Every morning for the last four months since my RT, I have been waking up to really tender heels. It's so painful that I have to literally tip toe my way through my morning routine.

...I've come to realize I have a rather low tolerance for pain...

I suspect it is the unfortunate combination of my increased mass, coupled with the fact that I hadn't exercised in a long while and the "intense" running we do during RT had caused this condition - Plantar Fasciitis.

Thank goodness it only last about maybe 15 mins or so when I start walking, after which the pain just subsides and goes away.

The crappy thing about this condition is that there's very little I can do to hurry the healing process. Meds (most likely painkillers) will only help relieve the pain for a while. Steroids can help to reduce the inflammation but has side effects over the long term.

So really, that leaves me with 2 options (short of surgery);-

(1) Total Rest - Which would be great but is, of course, practically impossible;

or

(2) Lose the extra flab - which is "do'able" but also quite hard since I can't run much.

This particular situation reminds me of a scene from the Simpson's movie - where Homer is smashed by a wreaking ball between a Rock and a Hard place.

Sigh...

Wedding Bells

Not mine but D & Z's wedding on 7 June 2008. I finally managed to find some time over the weekend to edit and upload some of the photos. It was a fun wedding (the morning activities), with D being backed by a large group of brothers, and Z's 'sisters' who were also out to 'get' D & the brothers.

Isn't Technology wonderful?

I attended the Microsoft Sharepoint Forum yesterday at Suntec. And I was totally impressed by the all the new technologies that they showcased there.

I think, perhaps in 2-4 years, the work environment, in terms of how we produce, collaborate, share documents and information will be very different from what we have now. If the trends continue the way they are heading, it would really be a paperless office that we will be working in.

And who knows, perhaps in another decade or so, we will be really be totally immersed in a virtual environment ala The Matrix style. Won't that be absolutely cool? No more typing or using the mouse, just point and command the computer with normal, everyday speech.

Just a taste of what they can do with these new technologies. The Hard Rock site above shows off this thing called "Deep Zoom". The picture you see above can be seamlessly zoomed in many many times to see even more details. (See below - running left to right on each row)

Check it out: http://memorabilia.hardrock.com
By the way, you will be prompted to install this softwear called Microsoft Silverlight to see the picture. Microsoft Silverlight is a revolutionary platform for developing next generation web applications.

What the Duck!

© 2008 Aaron Johnson

More 'What the Duck' strips at www.whattheduck.net

Office War


Link

My goodness... this would be so cool if it were to really happen in my office.

There's a couple of people whom I'd frag straight away.

Hmm...I wonder how I can persuade my office to go for a Paint-ball game.

muahahahahahaha......

Should I?


Perhaps it's really time for me to move me.




Warning: Adult language ahead. Proceed only at your own risk.






Customize your own one here: http://yahoorezinr.com/

Favourite Tunes of the moment

I'm Yours
By Jason Mraz

Link

Lovely
By Michelle Tumes

Link

Brisbane Snapshots

Just some pictures around Brisbane City.

There's been quite a lot of changes but it still feels familiar to me.

Skies Downunder

Some pictures taken in flight from my recent trip Downunder.

Food Downunder

Some pictures of the wonderful food from my recent trip Downunder. Yum!

Disappointment

Rain
30 May 2008, Friday

The weather in Brisbane wasn’t the usual sunshine and blue skies when I got there.

Instead, it was grey, wet and cold.

But I suppose Brisbane needed the rain. According to my friends, it had been hot and dry for quite a long while. So apparently my arrival brought along the rains.

And boy did it rain. On my first day in Brisbane, it started to pour in the late afternoon and didn’t stop till the next morning. And it pretty much rained most of the time while I was in town.

The first night was damn cold – so cold that I had to bundle up in my jacket and wrap up in the blankets like a “bar zhang” (read: glutinous rice dumpling). Taking a shower took almost super-human effort to not be reduced to a chattering icicle although I think if anyone had seen me come out from the shower, they’d think that I was having a seizure or something – I was clenching my teeth together to stop it from chattering and my body just won’t stop shivering from the cold no matter how much I tried.

Not that I didn’t enjoy the cold weather. It was one of the things that I was looking forward to. But the rain did put a crimp on my planned itinerary. I was looking forward to a visit down to Sunshine coast but seeing the ominous weather report of rains and storms, I had to scratch that trip out.

But I tried to make the best of it. One rainy morning was spent rather comfortably at the Coffee Club – having a leisurely hot aussie brekkie and coffee while checking some work emails and uploading my photos into the laptop. I also had a rather choice seat by the window which allowed me to watch the world go by outside.

You might think that I resented the rains for spoiling my plans. But actually, I’m not sore about it. In fact, I’m rather thankful for it.

Sitting by that café window and just staring at the rain awoke some long forgotten memories. In fact, I had realized that some of my happiest memories had rain in them.

Sometimes, I think the biggest problem with life in Singapore is that we just simply move too fast. It’s only when we slow down and stop, then we are able to recall and appreciate where we’ve been.

I remember this poem that we had learnt in school. I guess it’s only now that I fully appreciate what it means.

Leisure
by W.H Davies

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Brisbane Day One

29 May 08, Thursday

At Changi Airport – I bumped into a little bit of a hassle there. I didn’t realize that you need a visa to visit Australia as a tourist. I always thought that Singaporeans didn’t need one. So you can imagine my horror when the check-in counter staff told me that without a visa, I could be fined A$5000 and immediately deported back to Singapore.

But all I needed to do was to get a visa and the Qantas service counter could do that for $70. Well, obviously, I had to right? Not much of a choice there.

It’s my fault that I didn’t check to make sure I had all the necessary travel documents but heck, I still think it’s a bloody rip off to charge $70 for an online visa application.

Anyway, I paid up, checked in and went on to Duty Free. Porcupine wanted some items from the cosmetic counter. Knowing my very limited cosmetics knowledge, I was armed with a detailed description, so I could simply hand it to the salesgirl, “Get me these items…fast.”

The flight over was pretty smooth after that. Qantas Cattle ..oops… I mean Economy class was cramped as usual. Supper was disappointing. I had expected the asian selection to have some sort of a standard since it was being catered from Singapore. But heck, the beef redang rice was hard, chewy and really bland. I should have gone for the fish instead.

Worse yet, I think my stomach didn’t like the food very much too. And it chose the worst time possible to launch it’s protest – 30mins to touch down and the seat-belt sign is on. Not wanting to shi* my pants, I chose to hurdle over my fellow passenger and quickly sprint into the toilet before any of the stewardess could do anything. I got out just 5mins before the plane touched down.

Brisbane - It’s been almost 4 years since I left and I had heard from my friends that it’s seen much change and developments. The good thing is that while there’s been a lot of new buildings and changes, it’s still very much familiar and I still felt quite at home.

As I walked around the streets and buildings that I had passed almost on a daily basis 4 years back, it brought back so many memories. Sometimes I couldn’t help but to smile and chuckle at certain locations. Some places made me paused and for a moment, I was transported back in time.

I think people must have thought me to be a crazy tourist because I was taking pictures of the most mundane and uninteresting things and scenes there were.

I had a rather late lunch at Kadoya. It was, and still is, a popular eatery in the city that served up the most delicious yet modestly priced Japanese curry rice I’ve had. Back then, I had most of my lunches here…at least 3 times a week. One of my most memorable presents came from here too.

The weather was quite overcast when I arrived in the morning and sure enough, it started to rain in the late afternoon and it continued into the night. I hope the next day’s weather will be better. Even though I was looking forward to the cold weather, it’s just a little too much rain.

And since it was raining, I didn't manage to go out but it was still quite nice just to curl up under the blankets and do up the slideshow for J's wedding.

G'Day Mate!I'm heading off Downunder.

But hopefully, I'll be able to post some holiday entries while I'm out enjoying myself.

There's lots to do - people to meet, food to be savored, places to re-visit, pictures to be taken - it's going to be yet another busy vacation for me.

But heck, at least it's going to be a fun "busy".

Demons of Stupidity all around

I think I cannot take this nonsense any much longer for today.

I feel like I will take my trash bin and tip it over the next moron who irritates me with a problem that isn’t a problem but became (my) problem because the moron cannot follow simple instructions.

Why am I consistently plagued by stoopid idiotic @#%*@% morons at work?

Why can’t people read and follow simple instructions?

Why are people who may be brilliant academically suddenly become more stupid than a Dodo bird with it comes to following simple instructions? And why aren’t these Dodo-humans extinct yet?

How simple must I make my instructions? I think I have made them very simple. I even have full color screenshots and a step-by-step process all nicely described.

Any simpler, then I might as well do the work for them. And they jolly well better take a part of their frigging five-figure salary and pay me.

ARUGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!

Still alive & kicking...just really busy
Gosh, can you believe it's exactly 1 month since my last post. How time flies when you have tons of work to do.

I'm still breathing and kicking - abeit just feeling a little stretched out for time.

So what have I been up to? Hmm... nothing really exciting. Just busy with work, then in the evenings if I'm not hung up with work, then I'm usually with Porcupine, or else I'd be huffing & puffing away at my RT sessions - which have thankfully finished now... but unfortunately I haven't managed to pass my IPPT. sigh...

yeah D, I can imagine you sniggering when you read this. eh..bro, don't laugh so hard ok. At least my 2.4 run is getting there. How's your waist line doing eh? It seems to be pretty prosperous judging from the photos. hahahahah.... :P

Anyway, so now I'm busy trying to finish off as much work as possible before my brief hop Downunder for my pal's wedding and a short visit to M.

I'm looking forward to the trip. It will be a good change in pace after 2 hectic months. I only wish it could be a longer trip... like maybe a month or two...or better yet.. three. Then I would really be able to indulge in a little photography and enjoy the nice cold winter season rather than the scorching hot weather that we've been having.

It's so hot that even the breeze at East Coast Park at 9pm feels like something from a hair-dryer. It's so hot that a 5min walk outside will reduce me to a damp lump of ...ermm... fabric??

It's so hot that I feel like perspiring just thinking about it.

ok... I just need to endure another 7 more days before the nice cool cool weather....ahhhhhhh..

:D

Me as a photo-journalist?
I have another of my pictures published in the media.

Even though it was a commissioned job, even though the newspaper is not found in Singapore - but hey.. that's a plus right? Picture published in a "foreign publication" looks quite good in the resume leh.

woohoo... yet another tiny step towards being a National Geographic photographer. :P

kekeke....

And, no.. I hardly have any idea what the article says. My chinese is really crap.

Monkeying around

My Department had a Team-building exercise at Sentosa last Friday.

I didn't have much expectation about it - I've been though a couple of them in school and NS.

But it turned out to be pretty fun and thought provoking at the same time.

Anyway, here are some of the more "bo-liao" snapshots from that day.

The most southern tip of the Asian continent... closed for "rejuvenation works"

I didn't know that ships needed a lifeguard too

Yours truly trying to have a diva moment...hahaha

Sunset & Coconuts

A crazy evening out

Last Friday saw a group of my colleagues going out for dinner. And while we were waiting for our orders to arrive, we just did some stoopid expressions to past the time.

Of course, there's a lot more hilarious photos of my colleagues but I don't think I'll be posting them here. But here's some of mine.

Note: Usually I'm not crazy but at the end of a hectic week, I have a tendency to do crazy things to unwind. muahahahahaaa....

"...Hmmm...I'm feeling especially hungry today. Looks like my diet plan is taking another serious hit..."

"...Why is it taking so long for my order to arrive? I want my dinner now!..."

"...I'm so hungry that I could just eat this bunch of serviettes...or maybe I'm just feeling constipated..."

"...yeah baby.. this is what I call a set dinner..."

How's Work?

Changi Airport - Terminal 3

Link (Pics taken with my mobile)

I recently went to the our spanking new, still-got-that-new-building-smell, cutting-edge, humongously large Terminal 3.

What struck me immediately was just the sheer size of the building. It makes the older sliblings, T1 and T2 look like tiny little living rooms. T3 is just this massive cathedral-like space in which even the most claustrophobic would feel relaxed.

If you haven't gone, you should - just to check the sheer size of it all, and of course, all the swanky retail shops.

Huffing & Puffing

How time flies. I'm due again for my physical fitness training - proudly sponsored by Grandpa Lee.

The "Gym"

Today was only the first session. There's another two months of pure physical exertion (1st four weeks - 2x/wk. 2nd four weeks - 3x/wk) ahead for me.

This is going to really strain my social life. However, on the bright side, I really hope this will help me shed a few kilos. I'm not asking for a lot. I just want to move my BMI from 'obese' to 'moderately obese'.

Then maybe I can finally fit into that Zara shirt I got as a birthday present.

Well, that's all from me now - I need to go and paster myself all over with pain relief patches.

Sigh...I'm getting too old for this shit.

Stressed
When the stress levels in the office get too much, we'll do stupid things.
'nuff said.

The Singapore Airshow 2008

I went to the airshow today, got badly sunburnt but it was worth it. The aerial performances were simply breath-taking and the roar from the jet engines when they zoom past just reverberates you inside out.

Anyway, here are the first series of pictures - the Airbus A380 - the world's biggest operational passenger jet. I knew it was suppose to be huge but wah lao eh.. seeing it up close and parked beside some smaller planes, really brings its size into sober perspective - not to mention it gives me the opportunity to actually touch the plane.

Official airshow site

Singapore wins 2010 Youth Olympics bid

Reuters - Friday, February 22

ATHENS, Feb 21 - Singapore will host the first Youth Olympics in 2010 after the city-state won 53 out of 97 postal votes, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge announced on Thursday.

Wild celebrations erupted in Singapore immediately after the announcement with more than 6,000 people watching Rogge on outdoor TV screens pull out the winner's name from an envelope.

The new event, which is Rogge's brainchild, is designed to generate enthusiasm among the world's teenagers who in recent years have turned away from the Games in greater numbers raising the average age of Olympics' television viewers.#

Rogge read out the winner's name at a ceremony held inside the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"This is a key moment for the Olympic Movement", Rogge told reporters. "Singapore has put together a very exciting project.

"Hosting the Youth Olympic Games for the first time is a great responsibility, and I have every confidence in the team in Singapore."

Moscow won 44 votes.

Singapore will host a Games that will have about 3,200 athletes, aged 14-18, competing in 26 sports and will cost about $30 million.

Some 800 judges, referees and delegation officials for the summer editions will also be young people.

"This is a great honour for all of us," said Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at an outdoor rally of cheering Singaporeans dressed in the national colour of red.

"We will be the focus of a new era of sports development. We worked hard to achieve the dream despite the odds."

Singapore has only won one Olympic medal since 1960 but has twice hosted the biennial Southeast Asian Games, with more athletes than the Youth Olympics, and will host them again in 2013.

"I'm a bit surprised and very excited because it is a chance for people from all over the world to gather in Singapore and see what we have to offer," said Rafiuddian Sawal, a student who dressed as an ancient Greek soldier to commemorate the event.

Writing by Karolos Grohmann, Editing by Jon Bramley and Ken Ferris
Yahoo News link

Indiana Jones - Coming Soon


http://www.indianajones.com

The passing of a Singaporean Icon
Ah Meng, icon of Singapore Zoo, dies of old age
By Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 08 February 2008 1828 hrs
Channel NewsAsia article

SINGAPORE: Ah Meng, the Sumatran orang utan that was considered an icon at the Singapore Zoo, died on Friday. She was about 48 years old and had died of old age.

In 1971, Ah Meng was confiscated from a family which had illegally kept her as a pet. She then found her home at the Singapore Zoo.

Ah Meng was the first to host the Zoo's famous 'Breakfast With An Orang Utan' programme. She soon became a celebrity, both locally and internationally.

She had been featured in over 30 travel films and 'interviewed' by more than 300 writers.

In 1992, Ah Meng received a special award from the Singapore Tourism Board in recognition of her contribution towards tourism in Singapore.

As an icon of the Singapore Zoo, Ah Meng has met numerous foreign dignitaries and world-renowned celebrities such as Prince Philip, David Copperfield, Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor.

Ah Meng also contributed to the Singapore Zoo's captive breeding programme. She had five children and became a grandmother in 1990.

As a tribute to her, the next orang utan to be born at the Singapore Zoo shall be named Ah Meng Junior.

And to commemorate Ah Meng's efforts towards generating a greater awareness on the plight of orang utans in the wild, the Singapore Zoo will intensify its conservation work for orang utans.

The public can see their beloved orang utan for the last time at the Zoo on Sunday, 11am. She will be buried on the same day.

Fanny Lai, Group CEO of Wildlife Reserves Singapore, said: "We mourn the passing of Ah Meng. She has touched the hearts of everyone who has met her and contributed immensely in helping to promote awareness of how each and every one of us can play a role in anti-poaching, anti-deforestation and conservation matters. We will miss her dearly."

Alagappasamy s/o Chellaiyah, who is also known as Sam, said: "I have taken care of Ah Meng since she first came to the Zoo. Her departure makes me extremely sad and it will take a long while for me to adjust to not having her around. On the other hand, I am very happy that I have had the opportunity to take care of Ah Meng and her family all these years."

Ah Meng will certainly be missed by many, including President S R Nathan, who spoke to reporters at the Istana Open House on Friday afternoon.

He said: "Ah Meng has been so much of a symbol of the Zoo. A lot of people – locals and foreigners – have enjoyed her company. I'm sure the patrons of the Zoo will miss her a great deal. But that's life."


During this festive period, a piece of sad news made the headlines. Ah Meng, the iconic star of the Singapore Zoo had passed away.

Reflecting the paths of so many Singaporeans, she had come into Singapore as a immigrant and had managed to do very well (2 sons, 2 daughters and 6 grandchildren).

Last year, I had the opportunity to take her photograph. Like a wonderfully graceful & classy lady, she was not in the least perturbed by the sight of a large lens barrel staring down at her. Instead, she give me the gentlest of smiles before hiding shyly behind her hand.

She will be missed.

Remembering Ah Meng

Happy Lunar New Year

Just some pictures from the annual Chinese New Year market in Chinatown, Singapore

Wishing you & all your Family Happiness, Health, & Prosperity for the Chinese New Year!
Gong Xi Fa Cai!

It's Pinkie's Birthday!


Dearest Pinkie,

Happy (belated) Birthday!

I'm truly sorry to have missed your birthday. I feel somewhat a bit like a lowly Orc since even you remembered mine and rang me up.

But my lame excuse was that I was occupied with other 'matters of importance' that weekend, and I did superpoke you with a cake earlier on in Facebook right? And I even bought (and ate) a cupcake on your behalf too. Not bad right? :P

I really hope that you had a riotous birthday weekend and "got some", although I have a sneaky feeling that it is more likely to be quite mundane. hee..prove me wrong.

In any case, I suppose when people reach their thirties (like us old birds), birthdays have morphed into this rather ominous sign of aging.

But then again for you, I suppose you are still in denial of your true age, and you are still insisting that you are only in your late twenties. Well, denial is one way to stay young. heeheee...

Anyway, in addition to all the usual wishes of presents, happiness blah blah blah, I also hope that God will give you a fantastic job soon, and change your status from 'Bum' to 'gainfully employed'. That way, you'll be able to treat me if I do pop by for a visit.

;-)

Take care, have fun always!
Hugs..
Hobbes

Going birdie


Just sharing some bird pictures from London.

Yeah, I know. It's been months since my UK holiday and yet I'm still posting pictures from that trip??

Well, too bad. I've been too busy with work to take any new ones lately.

Work sucks

...and that's an under-statement.

I told you soSome Bosses are indeed living in another parallel universe even though they seem to be able to co-exist in the "employee" universe.

And sometimes, you really have to wonder if they speak a different language or perhaps the Employee-universe language terms have a different meaning in the Boss-universe. So while you are saying one thing in Employee-universe, the same sentence could take on a subtle but significantly different meaning in Boss-universe.

So you can imagine the frustration and pain us Employee-universe people have to go through in order to make a Boss-universe person understand why some things have to be done in a certain manner and why simply "banging the table" does not have any magic power to make the illogical decisions, logical, and to warp the space-time continum such that a full year's work can be compressed into a 3 month assignment.

sigh...

Strike Strike Strike!

Brain's intense negotiations with Neck to end the week long strike have broken down with Neck extending their strike action.

A Neck's spokesman said that the compromised as offered by Brain falls far short of Neck's demands.

"We have been putting in very long hours to support Brain's activities, and yet Brain does nothing to relieve us. Instead, Brain not only reduces our rest time but worsens our workload by sitting still in front of the computer screen."

Firm supporters of Neck's strike action, Back and Eyes, have echoed the same sentiments.

"We are also considering joint strike action if the situation does not improve." said a visibly fatigued Back representative. "This will show management that they can't just sit on us and take things for granted anymore."

A rather red-looking Eye's spokesman broke down into tears before he could comment.

When asked to comment on Neck's decision to extend the strike action, Brain could only issue a written statement - stating that they are well aware of the issues and that they are taking steps to alleviate the workload, including the use of temporary relief measures and a slew of work incentives. However, the more permanent relief measures can only take place over the next few months.

This is 10Fingers News reporting.

Ba Ba Black Sheep Redux

Here is Cheekyboo with her encore performance of Ba Ba Blacksheep... in clearer, stereo sound!

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And here is her latest release - Snails

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Ain't she just sooo adorable?
:)

&$@%^@ Neck stain!!!

Sign... I absolutely hate it when my neck decides that it's time to strike.

I woke up this morning with a stiff neck - which gradually upgraded itself to a full sprain later in the morning.

Now, I can hardly turn my head to the right. I have to turn my body in order to look right. Looking left is not so bad but I can still feel the muscles tense up.

And today, in addition to the usual Monday blues, I have some crap at work to deal with as well as a stupid 2hr reservist thing that I need to do during lunch time and in uniform too!

Sigh...days like this, I wish I was far far away on holiday in some exotic country taking pictures.

Le Grand ChefIf you love food, especially Korean food, then this is a movie that you should not miss. Obviously the movie's central theme revolves around food but it's not the only ingredient that makes this movie work. A witty and funny storyline with a sprinkling of heartfelt stories makes this one sumptuous feast for the mind.

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After being so inspired by the movie, we went to hunt around for some Korean food. Our hunt brought us to Nul Bom Korean restaurant at Telok Ayer Street. It's quite a quaint little place, not flashy at all. I think it's probably as authentic as can be because - apart from the korean waitress, there were these four korean guys - most likely businessmen having dinner after their golf game (because of the huge golf bags) - who obviously had a lot of eat and quite obviously a little drunk too.

As you can see, the food is really very good - at least as far as I can tell. The Bi bim-ba is the best so far I've had in S'pore. The ginseng chicken broth was excellent - the chicken was so tender that it literally melts from the bone. The omelette had squid, vegetables, chili and prawns pan-fried to golden crispy perfection. The side-dishes of kim chi were very yummy too. It was a rather pricey dinner but well worth it.

Dinner @ Fosters, Holland Village
Dinner at Fosters to celebrate my hatch day.

Heehee... guess who...

The main course of my set dinner - the Steak... so tender... so juicy...so tasty....

The dessert - Apple struddle with ice-cream

The finale - A fruit & cream cake from Crystal Jade bakery

Wishes

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