September Plans...

As August comes to an end... lots of things have been lost. I still cannot used to this new lifestyle... but what to do? Just do loh...

I've quite a number of things I need to get done in September. I've also taken a short period of leave to settle these things, and of course, give myself a short break. The long break will probably come in October... Haha.

Next 2 weeks or so...

1) Comex's starting tomorrow! Will probably visit it this weekend, just for the sake of it. Not likely to buy anything at the show, but I will get a Phone on the same day. The Phone... well, is almost a necessity now. I only made this decision after a long consideration. It serves 2 very important purpose - makes time goes faster, and makes certain tasks easier. I'm also looking at portable console at this show...

2) 7th September will be my One Year Anniversary. Trying to meet up with my BMT mates for a gathering. Haven't seem them in a long while... some as long as 9 months. Really looking forward to this event~

3) Cancel The Stupid Insurance... god damn this scam... cheated my money for one year. It doesn't even cover dog bite. And the procedure to cancel it is super troublesome... That's what is call "easy to get hook, hard to quit" I suppose... Have to copy this and that and write a letter... just to cancel a policy.

4) Deferment... One major problem I'm facing is that my term ends in September... but the university term starts in August. I'll already talk to boss about this, and he ask me to go find out more from both sides - The government and the school. The truth is, he also doesn't know much about the current policy. I've asked around and no one can give me a concrete answer too. During my break, I'll do some research on this: Call up the officials and see what they got to say, look up on the latest policy, and anything I need to do in advance...etc...

And of course enjoy myself!

When Your Friends Attack Sea...

Nowadays, there's a lot of issue with this 'Attack Sea', 'Attack Sea' thing.

Because there are so many cases (I shall not comment whether they're justifiable or not), relationships will no doubt be strained...

Which makes me come the main point of this post. What I want to say is:

朋友归朋友，有些东西是没有办法商量的。

What are the "some things" that cannot be compromised? Well, a lot. Depending on what stage of your life you're in and many other factors. A typical example would be money. When your best friend is in need of cash, I'm sure you would do your best to help him out. But, if he do it again and again without paying back, your relationships will be strained. You 2 may even turn into enemies if it goes out of control. How long this can go on depends on the tolerance level of the "victim".

This, I tell you, doesn't just limit to money. A lot of things apply as well. Here, I'm talking about some tasks which are your responsibilities, your job to perform. But when the time comes, you go and attack the sea. As a result, your friends and team-mates have to carry this burden for you.

Now, some may questioned the genuinity of the Attack Sea. This is no doubt an important factor. People cannot predict when they will collapse. If it is genuine (and once in a while), then it's perfectly alright. We as friends should help you in this time of need. But you should do your best to repay back once you recovered.

If it is not genuine, please take a moment and reflect on your actions. What you're doing will cause a lot of disturbance in big family. People starts to play "Taiji" - They push, they evade, they divert, they "siam"... They can do whatever pattern they want... BUT...

Eventually yet definitely, the arrow will land on a very unfortunate person. And I can tell you, he will be a very UNHAPPY person.

This is what's happening nowadays. So many people went to attack the sea. And as a result so many arrows are flying around in the air. Everyday I head to the battlefield in fear of getting shot...

Haiz... why does it have to turn out like this...?

Please answer to your conscience.

Please do your friends justice.

Please make this a happier place.

We should work hand in hand as comrades, not kill each other with arrows.

Human Tetris, IPhone Shuffle

I am so stressed out nowadays...

Luckily, there's lot of videos that makes me laugh...

First of, look at this "Stupid Tetris". It's hilarious even when you have no idea what's he talking about.



Next, take a look at this "Human Tetris" variety show... Japanese sure are creative...



Part 2 of the Human Tetris... the final puzzle is golden.



And I bet you've heard of the Apple iPhone and the iPod Shuffle. But have you seen the "iPhone Shuffle"?

Qiang Qiang......

To extract from SHEA, 17th Aug news, translated by Cmiley:

Ella bought the pakistanian dog near the end 2003 - When she first bought it, she noticed it didn't walk regularly, SHE jokingly nicknamed it [Falling Chain], then discovered Qiang Qiang was actually a female, because internally had more male hormones, it caused the dog to be both male & female, also causing the dog to be more weak and easily ill. So Ella named is "Qiang Qiang", with the same sound when spoken to be "Strong Strong", hoping it's health will be stronger.

Because the hormones were out of balance, the veterinarian suggested Qiang Qiang should perform a vasectomy. It had 2 surgeries previously, but this time it had an anesthetic allergice reaction; and couldn't wake up from the surgery table. On that day's afternoon Ella had to go to Hong Kong for work, and drop by the Hospital to see Qiang Qiang the last time......had tears all the way to the airport.

On the plane and in the work car, completed the song [Qiang Qiang] in her note book in tears...



Such a touching song...

The lyrics and especially the melody for the chorus...It's full of sorrow yet heart-warming at the same time... The words are very simple, yet portrayed the love and memories of the dog so well... You can really detect the sadness in Ella's voice when she's singing, especially chorus portion... And her voice is really really good in this song. Very clear, very Melanchonic.

I fell in love with the song the first time I listened to it. Love it even more when I saw the MV... A tear-jerker for me...

And I believed the main reason I'm so touched by this song is due to what I've been doing all these while... for the past 9 months - taking care of dogs. The bonding you build up, the times you spent together with this "friend" is really indescribable...

I've only been together with my dog for less than 9 months and there's such a strong bond attached already. Ella's been together with Qiang Qiang for 3 years... It's like I can totally relate to her feeling of loss...

All the profits made from this EP will be donated to animal charities... don't know if this EP will make it way to Singapore. If it does I'll definitely support - very meaningful song.

Hope you are happy in the heavens...Qiang Qiang.

Beyond The Sword!

Been spending most of my free time (which frankly, isn't a lot) playing Beyond the Sword, 2nd expansion to Civilization 4. Awesome and deadly addictive... I love all the additions - the espionage system, the new leaders and civilizations, the new artworks and everything. And I haven't even got to experience all of them yet! It's probably going to receive the game of the year or something for being the best expansion in the franchise.

There's actually a twist the name of the expansion. "Beyond The Sword" signifies 2 things. The first focus is the era after the swords, aka late game. The 2nd meaning, of course, is an "alternative to sword/force", which means diplomacy...

Talking about that... We finally signed the peace treaty for World War 9...

As predicted, we lost the war. The deaths are uncountable... we bowed down to our enemies... but we're not totally conquered. Someday, we will rise again and fight once more for our rights...

Well... that was a bit of deviation (I hope I used this word correctly...) for a post about games...

I don't know if I'm slow or what, but only recently do I discovered a new genre (not really genre, but a new input for games) They've been hanging around for quite some time in fact. One of the game is Singstar.

"By using a USB microphone, would-be singers chant directly into the mic and have their voice and pitch analyzed by the console."

"For the first time ever SingStar lets you personalise your playlists by downloading the songs of your choice -- so you can sing along to what you want, when you want it."

"All of the songs have the music video (or in the case of older songs, edited concert footage) to accompany the song. You're judged by your ability to stay in tune, and especially for being able to hit the glittery golden notes that mark some of the trademark sections of the songs you'll be performing."

Sounds interesting for those KBox regulars right... LOL. Pretty cool... and I thought Dance Dance Revolution (the one with censors) is just about as far as it would go...

Imagine next time, when you go KTV... Everytime you finish singing a song, a screen will pop up at the side stating something like:

"Tempo: 60/100, Pitch: 70/100, Grade: B+"

Cool, huh?

Should I Buy - PSP, DS Lite, Handphone?

I've been thinking about it for very long time already. Especially since the "Big Move" and things started going downhill...

Now, every minute during the outings are played out in slow motion...I spend an insane amount of time on the hill and quite a long time traveling.

PSP - Multi entertainment system... can play music, watch videos, play games, etc. It can also play PS1 games, which is a nice touch. Huge catalog of games which include what I wanted to play. Top reviewed games are mostly RPGs and Sports. Lastly, the revised "PSP Slim" is coming out soon... so this is my number one choice~

DS Lite - Was not even in my consideration until I saw Wei Hao playing it... Haha. Then after that MZ mentioned he wanted to get one... It's a pure gaming hand-held. The good/bad thing is most of the games are very casual - simple and easy. I've read up on the top games reviews for DS, and most of them are stuffs like puzzles, simulation, Mario kind. Seriously don't know much about this console...

Handphone - I've always wanted a handphone with multimedia functions (video/music) but WITHOUT camera. Finding one is 10 times harder than what you think. Out of dozens of vendors and hundreds of handphone models, I only found 2 which meet the requirements... But their price really turned me off... Until recently.

Saw SE M600i going up for $328... SE W950i going for $400... Very tempted. But still in a dilemma... If I get a phone, I might as well get a gaming handheld console? 1 Year leh... say long not very long... but say short also not very short... My HP now is very jia lat leh... buttons also need to press harder to come out... The phone is just... well a phone. My plan is actually to get a phone now, then sell it to the younger batch when I'm released...

As of now still haven't muster enough "courage" to hoot any of the item. Haha... maybe wait for the upcoming Comex...

Best Songs Awards II (2006)

My personal opinion on some of the best songs I've heard.

Note that this list is just my own perception of what are best songs I've heard. It has nothing to do with popularity, meaning if I come across this super "ulu" song that's extremely nice, it'll also be listed

And of course, if I haven't heard a particular song before it wouldn't be up here. So the more well known a song is, the more likely I would have heard it... Finally, all song listed are in no particular order.

Honorable Mentions are really great songs that are left out of the top 10 spot. It's almost as good as the Top 10's and probably can replace them. It's just that too many good songs liao...hard to pick the true top 10.

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Top 10 Chinese Songs In 2006

1. Tank - Wo Men Xiao Shi Hou 我们小时候
2. Tank - Zhuan Shu Tian Shi 专属天使
3. Twins - Wo Hen Xiang Ai Ta 我很想爱他
4. Cai Min You - Wo Xiang Yao Shuo 我想要说
5. Cai Min You - Wo Ke Yi 我可以
6. S.H.E - Wo Men Zen Me Le 我们怎么了
7. S.H.E - Yi Yan Wan Nian 一眼万年
8. Zhou Jie Lun - Tui Hou 退后
9. Yang Chen Lin - Ke Ai 可爱
10. Cao Ge - Gua Mu Xiang Kan 刮目相看

Honorable Mentions:
Zhou Jie Lun - Xin Yu 心雨,
Wu Ke Qun - Zhi Pian Ren 纸片人,
Jolin Cai Yi Lin - Jia Zhuang 假装,
Fang Da Tong - Ai Ai Ai 爱爱爱,
Lin Jun Jie - Yuan Lai 原来

Summary: Lots of awesome songs in 2006, especially by those newcomers. (Read: Tank and Cao Ge) The 2 songs by Cai Min You are without doubt top 10 material... The 2 S.H.E ones....don't need to elaborate much. Solid work.

Some tracks listed release date might be a bit controversial. (专属天使 was already release on the OST for Hana Kimi in 2006, but showed up in Tank's album only in 2007. 爱爱爱 album release date was 31st December 2006, serious.)
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Note: If you're a Mando-pop lover, check out my previous post (Best Songs Awards I) for the past few years...

World War 9!

We've been fighting battles after battles... I'm so tired already, but...

The show must go on... Haiz...

First, the frequency gets multiplied 10 times. Then, the duration increases by 25%. And finally, the quantity more than doubled...

How to survive like that? Do until very sick, very tired and very fed up.

Keep getting push around and force into a corner with no chance of retaliation. Yes, we can try to, but all efforts will be in vain...

The spot-lights are on us, we get stabbed by allied units, then we get betrayed by our very own people (the very people we trust that will protect us), then our neighbor dropped a huge nuke on our base, and at this most crucial time of life and death, our strongest defence shield is gone...

We can't even rest in peace in our own territory... spies are everywhere, anytime you might be assassinate... really is 连自己怎么死都不知道...

Haiz... how did our prosperous, rich and carefree homeland become like this?

What can we do to help liberate this land?

I really don't know...

Blog Post Of The Year - HK Lucky Draw Scam (Kennysia)

If you don't know who Kennysia is, let me tell you that he's easily one of the most entertaining bloggers around. At the very least he's much better than some Xia La... thrash.

Anyway, just about a week ago he wrote one of the most awesome blog post I've ever read in my life. It's hilarious and really reflects this thread in society today. It consists of both entertainment and educational value.

Reading the post is like watching a movie, witnessing the plot unfolds before your very eyes. You'll definitely learn something from this post and laugh your head off...

KennySia.com: Cheated By The Hong Kong Lucky Draw Scam

It's definitely "blog post of the year" material if there's ever an award like this. And the video showing the accountant attitude, from total politeness and patience until he nearly went bonkers is unbeatable.

This is a definitely MUST MUST MUST READ!

After you're done, here are some other misc clips I found lurking around the net...

- National Video by 933 DJ, Jia Hui & Chong Qing

- Jay Chou falls during his concert

Permission From Ken...

After listening to Ben's comment I reckon I really should seek permission from Ken first before using any of his stuff...

So, that's what I did 5 mins ago...



There you go... explicit permission given by Ken himself...

The story should actually end here.

But there's actually a 2nd portion when Ken probe further...

And it's damn funny...

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Ken Shi Qin says: u use for wat? lol
Me says: need to ask permission mah....copyright haha. Else I use later people say I never ask
Ken Shi Qin says:lol u using them for?
Me says: hahaz
Me says: i not doing any editing to the pic don't worry
Me says: i just want to put ur pic side by side with another pic
Me says: and compare
Ken Shi Qin says: ....
Ken Shi Qin says: dun tell me huang qiu shen
Me says: OMG
Me says: how u know!
Ken Shi Qin says: u cb....
Ken Shi Qin says: i get it all the time
Ken Shi Qin says: dun post it on ur msn la
Me says: LOL!
Me says: no la i put s.h.e
Me says: :P
Ken Shi Qin says:

Multimedia Programs Evolution...

I still can recall... when I first entered the Poly, my first lesson was GDIT (Graphic Design).

That was the first time I ever touched a graphic design program (aside from maybe "Paint")...

A professional graphic design program - Photoshop. At that time, it was only "Photoshop 7"... Throughout the years in the Poly I've use many many programs ranging from design to web to programming...

Last few months, I've revisited quite a number of those Multimedia Program sites just to check things out, and so many things have changed.

Photoshop has grown from 7 to CS to CS2 and finally now CS3 early this year after taking over Macromedia. Now all their product lines naming are standardized with "CS3".

Flash and Dreamweaver went from MX to MX2004 to 8 and finally, the developers got sick of it and sold out to Adobe. Haha, joined under the CS3 line. Unfortunately, I think the latest CS3 is just an attempt to give the products a similar name, so there isn't any significant improvement (as compared to the previous jumps in versions).

3DMax was only at 5 when I first enrolled in the Poly. The last time I check, it was already "3d Max 8". Now I check again, they're already selling "3d Max 2008". I guess Autodesk figured out that if they keep increasing the number it would probably reach "3D Max 13" by now, which sounds darn awful. So they decide to start using the year for simplicity.

The advantage of using the year of course is you'll never run of "newer versions". But the bad thing is you can't release 2 versions in 1 year...

A lot of other products like JBuilder also underwent the same fate. Keep on releasing new versions. Now I also don't know where the heck they are liao.

Macromedia Director is dead I think... thank god. That piece of thrash. (and that module)

Anyway... it's been a long long time since I touched any of those programs. (except Flash)

So when I finally completed my download of the evaluation copy of Adobe Photoshop today...

Hand a bit itchy... so I start up the program and play around a while (first time I use a design program on my Widescreen! Wee...)

Er... this pic...

Must explain a bit.

Was surfing Ken's blog when I come across his post and saw this photo. And his comment wrote there look like Huang Qiu Sheng...

What does everyone think?

Talk About Respect...

There's a lot of talk about "getting respect" lately...

Respect to me... comes in many forms. You can respect a person for a lot of different things.

You may respect someone simply because he's older than you. You may respect someone because he has been doing something for longer than you do. You may respect him/her for the skills/proficiency you don't have. Or respect him for his attitude, his passion, his character...Lots of things. Sometimes, respecting him in one area doesn't mean respecting him in everything.

You must think I'm very bo liao... what the hell am I talking about. Example, a student respects a teacher because he is "older" and "more knowledgeable about a certain topic". But if this student got like extreme talent in drawing/music the teacher doesn't have, the teacher can shwo the same respect to the student skills.

Okay, I'm getting to my main point, which is: Respecting someone doesn't mean you're inferior to him. Respecting a person for his skill doesn't mean you respect his character, his attitude, etc...

A very famous quote going around here: 有理由就是XX，没有理由就是XX

XX contains certain vulgarities...so not very convenient to type it out. It talks about seniority and reason. Those who know will know. LOL.

Back to the topic. There's a lot of people that I respect for their skills. Like skill in soccer, skill in 把妹, the ability to talk their way out of anything, the ability to instantly build rapport with everyone, etc... But it doesn't mean I condone or agree with their behavior.

Nobody wants to be the bad guy I believe, but eventually someone have to be one in order to get things down. Example, which parents would want to beat their kids if the kid follow everything they do?

But remember, being the bad guy doesn't mean you have to be a bully. It doesn't mean pressing your authority and beating down everyone else. And then you talk of the disrespect you get.

When you want respect, you need to do "swee swee" for other people to see also. Only then will people respect you. Not "talk one way do another way"...

In the end, I think the "BEST RESPECT" is when people respect you in entirety as a person. It definitely beats those "numerical respect" like seniority, age, status, salary, etc...

The One And Only Language, Singlish!

Was browsing YouTube when I come across this Jack Neo song I heard long time ago... It's a tribute to our "National" language, Singlish. It'll definitely put a smile across your face.

Jack Neo - Why We Talk Like That

The one and only language, Singlish!
The one and only language, Singlish!
Why we talk like that, why we talk like that
Why we talk like that, why we talk like that
Eh why we talk like that?

Singapore is our country, and we all talk like that
This is something unique, and we are used to that
In fact we know that the grammar we use, is something is incorrect
Why like that, why like that?
I think is because of, Dialect! Die Die Lect!
Don't you feel that Singlish has become a language new format
And we are the only people in the world, talk like that!
As long as when we talk, you and me can catch! (Can catch meh?)
Singlish also means, "Simple English", do you know that?

As you know, some educated people also talk like that (Really ah?)
People like me half pass six, what do you expect? (Nothing lah!)
Look at those, white collar lah blue collar and no collar
Either at the hawker center or right inside message parlor
From the Cambridge Girl (?), so we call the PR officer
To the doctor, civil servant and all our teenagers (So many meh)
Including my grandfather and my grandmother
Also using Singlish, like nobody business!

In fact some of the "dua tao kay", also talk like that (but)
When they talk to the "ang moh", their English become damn slang
Actually the whole world know that their English is very bad
But just because, they are the boss
The whole world got to keep quiet and listen
I got the car and big house, I know how to make big money
So what if my English, is one piece one piece
That's what I say, that's what I say
You don't need to know the proper English
Because when I got the money I can buy the perfect ABC! (What the fish!)

Last time my friend speak English, act very bombastic (Mai hao lian lah!)
Those word he use, in the dictionary can't even find it! (Jia lat loh!)
And the poor thing is, he still think he's damn unique
He doesn't believe what he talk, make people feel so sick!
Actually the English I say is just a little bit
Don't you feel that my talking style... (I want to feel vomit)
What did you say? (Vomit!)
I thought I sound like BBC (Excuse me ah, do you know the word S.H.I.T)

Please don't ever ask me, who made us talk like that (So how?)
Also don't ask me, who should be blame for that (Then how?)
In terms of proper English, we better go step by step
So that Singaporeans conversation will one day be the best!

Are we born like that? Are we born like that?
Why we talk like that? Why we talk like that?

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Hungry for more songs describing Singaporeans, check out this "Typical Singaporean".