My Life Of TV

Samantha Who?
Rita Rocks
Kath & Kim
How I Met Your Mother
Worst Week
Arrested Development
Stacked
The Simpsons
Monk
Heroes
Eli Stone
Californication
Family Guy
Peep Show
The Graham Norton Show
Lead Balloon
Little Britain
Einstein - Documentary
Bad Boys 2 - Movie

All the stuff I watched April 25-26 weekend. Think it's about 13-14 hours worth. Not bad. My faves in the pixes.

Unwitting Facelift 2

I didn't even last a day. But that's ok. This one was more fun to make.

Thanks Sisilia for the Flickr mosaic maker link. :)

Unwitting Facelift

This is my new Twitter background. I was a little bored. I discovered that it was easier to put this together with PowerPoint than a photoediting software. Hence the nasty white lines. Do you need a intro to the images?

Top left corner is Calico, ex-resident of ex-place of work. She was exiled then banished after the ex-CD complained of asthma.

Top right corner is graffiti under my block I think. Or was it Bali Lane?

Bottom left corner is a shot of ships docked at Sembawang Shipyard. I sometimes end up at Sembawang Beach on my long walks on Sunday, adjacent to the magnificent giants of the sea.

Bottom right is an umbrella. I forget where I took this. I suspect it was Mustajab at Tras Street.

I think I'll go back to Twitter basic backgrounds in a few weeks. Time to sleep.

Bookworm Evening

I was at Harris bookstore earlier to make use of a discount voucher. Expires 30 Apr so I'd better make use of it. With no intention of what to get, I simply enter the store and keep my eyes open. Sisilia, and later Nana, came along to influence my decisions.

It was a fun adventure that unfolded as such:

• Upon entry, we were overwhelmed with books on the financial crisis, and some books on Obama.
• A cool title was "What Would Google Do?". Interesting way to run a business I guess.
• Tin Tin is categorised under Humour. I have only ever read one Tin Tin book. I have also only read one Hardy Boys novel - I got that for Christmas 2 years ago.
  
• I nearly bought The Ways Of The Weasel by Scott Adams - more hilarious takes on corporate culture.
  
• There were many different books in the Humour section, some mostly about nothing. Seriously. There are many books that are about crap. One book was titled 1001 Ways To Die, a compilation of strange ways people died. I remember that one Vietnamese man fell into a vat of fish sauce and the four people who tried to save him were overcome by the fumes of fermented fish, fell him and drowned too. How not to laugh? There was another sketch book with loads of dark humour stick figures. One page had a stick figure with a stick figure knife, and black splotches on other stick figures laying slain. The speech bubble read "I think I misplaced my medicine." Good eh. It's not good I appreciate this.
  
• There was only one shelf of Humour books and three shelves for Self Improvement. A sign of the times? Are we really in need of much help? If I didn't up there, would I know I needed help? Goodness.
• Sisilia picked up a self help book with a byline that read "How To Be A Person" or something to that effect. I think a dog wrote that book.
• Nana said that this section makes her feel useless. There was a title staring back that read "How To Not Have A Life That Sucks" or something like that. Horrible isn't it? All these problems you never knew you had that you now had to buy a book or 27 books to solve.
• There was a Dummies' Guide to Work-Life Balance.
• There was a book for husbands to stop beating up their wives. Imagine getting that for Christmas.
• There was a pair of books by two faces I felt compelled to slap. A man, his perfect teeth and his wife with much hair. Too happy, slap slap. They also wanted to make my life better. Slap slap.
• In autobiographies section, it seems like anyone can write. I remember many books about Obama, one from Steven Gerrard.
• We crossed over to Cooking and I discovered anyone who's been on Discovery Travel and Living has got a book out. My dear Nigella had several. That ass Ramsey had a few too.
• Sisilia then pondered submitting reports in a pink folder.
• Nana next confessed to plastic wrapping her books a few years earlier to prevent them from damage.
• I confessed to buying The Book Of Ingredients which is a picture encyclopedia of all foods. And I mean all - from animal parts to jams and pasta. So much fun to look at and imagine eating. I use it to identify spices my mother knows only the Punjabi/Malay/Tamil names of.
  
• I went to pay and found a little fact book filled with precious gems like "What does 'Wuthering' mean?" and "What's the origin of cinnamon?". You could know all this for $12.30.

We left for dinner next.

Oh I ended up buying "MBA in 80mins". I'll be a master soon. Woof. At 25% off some more.

Stuff That Happens At The Office

"What's the use of having power?" - Danko

"So that you can screw with people." - Sylar

That's from Heroes season 3.

I was talking to a friend about office politics and how some people are asses. They talk a lot, do little, schmooze with the right people, stick their feet out so other can trip (figuratively of course), go around with daggers to stab people they can't get along with (figuratively of course), taiji and other shenanigans. Oh yes, not much gets done in terms of work. Yeah you met them.

I thought about our conversation from another perspective - why are some people like that? Maybe it's the way we are brought up, especially in Singapore where the need to be number one starts early. Kids have tests when they are in kindergarten. They get tuition classes in primary 1, not because they need it but because every other kid is getting some help on the side. The assessment book industry thrives on this madness. They rush into trains to plonk asses on seats and concurrently scream "I win" as brother or sister or cousin comes in second. Whatever it takes to be number one. Moving forward a couple of decades, kids might turn into conniving adults who wield power at the boardroom. Well, office. From the cube in the corner.

It could also have been the army. Rank has a powerful influence over how maladjusted one's perceptions become about social hierarchy. The discovery that someone has to do what you order them to do opens up the ego for further expansion. Yes, power is nothing without control - line from a tyre ad. Self-control perhaps is lacking in these asses.

So with the winner, there must be losers. Someone's got to pay the price. I blame our need for social acceptance. Sometimes it is like high school at work. Being part of the gang takes you further. In fact, more companies are putting relationships with peers as appraisal criteria. If you can't make the right friends, your career might not go as far as you imagine with the effort you put in. And perhaps not opening your mouth at the right time. A lot of credibility can be lost in mere minutes when one chooses to remain silent. Stand up and hold your ground, even if people don't want to eat lunch with you no more. Hopefully the right people are listening.

Someone told me that in a big organisation, it's important that what you do is seen by the right people, not necessarily just my boss. The human brain is programmed to remember the bad things more than the good, a matter of self-preservation. So if you fark up at work, people are more likely to remember that than when you saved the company $100K with a little initiative for example. So blowing one's trumpet could have its place in corporate culture. It might even save your job.

So work isn't all about getting things done no more. It's a complex, dynamic social experience. Makes you wanna be a farmer sometimes.

A Look At Hard Surfaces

I think the pink flamingoes have always been there.

The boxed-in approach houses 80% of the population. We add colour where we can.

I reduced the exposure to get this shot of Capital Square in Church St. Citibank is there. Looks aptly moodier now.

All the little people who make things happen.

More buildings under Singapore Thru My Lens >>

Kaaarphooi!

I got the flu. Or rather had one. I dunno anymore.

Last last weekend, I managed to acquire a sore throat. There was much feasting that weekend, Arnold's fried chicken included. By the end of Sunday, I developed a sore throat. The sore throat is my Achilles' heel, not that I stick my foot in my mouth. (Metaphorically, yes, many times). Exposed to the dastardly dry office air on Monday, the sore throat took a turn for the worse - some airborne spawn of biological evil probably latched on to the tender membranes of trachea and multiplied.

By end day last Monday, I was sneezing and had a massive headache. That night a fever.

On Tuesday, I went to see the doctor. Being cheap, the company doctor. I waited 2 hours almost to enter room 5 where a rather mature lady asked me what was wrong with me and if was the actor. *Roll eyes* She also 'taught' me how to depress my tongue so that she could see the back of my throat without using an ice cream stick. Weird but friendly woman this one. She took my temperature with what looked like a barcode reader - she pointed it at my forehead, clicked and 36.7 deg showed up on the digital display. But I feel like a 38.5! Dammit.

I got my MC and 40 pills to swallow or suck. I took the ones for the headache and went home to sleep the day away. I missed a meeting with the company president and the global department head that day. (Career over?) My friends found me oddly online at office hours (my place of work bans messaging) and told me to take more MCs.

The next day till today, I have been having stuffed sinuses. I do the old man throathy conjuring of the sticky mucus and spit, but the body seems to produce more. The cursed virus festers on in my cavities, gloating and laughing at my feeble attempts at phlegm reduction.

I feel a headache coming on. Sniff snort sniff.

SG --> KL --> SG

Going up to KL by plane is fine. Takes an hour from Changi and another hour from KLIA by taxi. But coming back by plane isn't such a good idea. Takes an hour plus to reach the airport and another hour to clear immigration (LCC is a bigger mess) and by the time you're touching down in Changi, you would have lost 4-5 hours of your precious life, not to mention your weekend. Take the bus back. It's more comfy.

(been meaning to post this info since Mar 15)

30. Memories Are Made Of This

Synopsis - Alicia went to Greece and visited the Parthenon. It looked better from far then near she thought. Wait, she didn't go to Greece. Instead she got a memory transplant from her friend Mayte who was the actual traveller. They've exchanged memories so often that Alicia remembers many episodes of Mayte's experiences. But surely she doesn't feel like she owns Mayte's memories?

This story's a little complex. Psychological reductionism requires the continuation of mental lives as opposed to the conventional physical self as a matter of defining the self. An interesting thought - is your existence defined by what you remember? If you woke up one day and couldn't remember your past, would you still be you?

Read more >>

Food Of KL

I was there with friends for a wedding dinner. We took the opportunity to fatten ourselves up. Congratulations Cheryl and Che Kin! (Note the big pix of charsiew below - it's from heaven. Heaven is at Jalan Imbi, Oversea Restaurant)

Womanizer

Franz Ferdinand version

Lily Allen version

Original Britney


No, not a proper Britney fan I am, just think this song is catchy. Way catchy. I sing it to my nephew except I change 'Womanizer' to 'Fingerbiter'. He's teething and has duly destroyed the furniture.

Monday And Tuesday Funny Things

1. On Sunday I set my alarm clock to wake up me early. At about what I guess to be 6am-ish, I saw a little light peep in through my window and went back to sleep, safe in the knowledge my alarm clock would save me from tardiness on the first work day of the week. Wrong. I left it on the 'alarm set mode' and it didn't beep me out of slumber. I arrive at work about 9-ish with my boss' boss making a speech about HR clamping down on latecomers. She went on to say 'work starts at 830am, so everyone better be here at 830am'. Yikes.

2. On Monday, I went to bed with the knowledge of turning on the alarm clock. Same setting as the night before and now turned on. At 521am I woke up, quite suddenly. I looked at the clock and thought it's too early and tried to activate the sandman once more. I woke up with sunlight glaring past the curtains at 720am. Damn, I didn't even turn the alarm on! Blimey. What was going on? I got to work in the same lift as my boss' boss. Woof. Heng ah.

3. I keep seeing people in purple. Is it like the new black? Is it a sign? What does it mean? The last time it was significant was 4D related. But I don't tempt myself that way no more. Unless Toto hits $3 million or higher.

4. On Monday, I had lunch at Golden Shoe. It's always some kind of event when you're there mostly because everyone is vying for seats at lunchtime. With tissues and newspaper, I was prepared for the task. Then a sequence of dumb things happened. One, the good Jap food stall had a short queue. But I hadn't got a seat yet. I was contemplating ordering my Katsu-don and looking for a seat in the meantime. At the same time, I noticed a cackle of 3 aunties nearby, seated on a table for 4. I hestitated in asking if I could take the seat, shy lah. I went to look for another seat that was more obviously not taken. In those brief moments, mere seconds, the queue at Don & Set (yes, it's a quirky name) grew long. Aargh. I found a seat quite far away, facing a pillar (how unglam) and staked my claim with the copy of Today I had. I joined the extended queue behind this woman with big hair. Just then the aunties got up and left. Basket, why did I not ask them for the seat earlier. Double basket, when I found out that the lady with the big hair ordered 6 tarpau sets. That took like forever to dish out (it is Jap food after all). So I missed a good seat and lost time. Double whammies in opportunities lost. Take a chance man, take a chance!

5. Today nothing much. My boss went to visit a cruise ship and had lobster bisque among other delicious things. He didn't ask me along (he felt bad) but that's ok because I had lots of work to get done by 530pm. Speaking of 530pm, my yoga lesson was all reserved out! First time, and by 1230pm some more. Hence the need to dash out at the appointed end of day and make it the studio to stake claim to my mat. (The reserve list doesn't cover all the places, heng ah). Early, I signed in, chit chatted to the recep girls and roaming instructors, changed, and went barefoot to buy H20 from the Cold Storage downstairs.

Hello Wednesday.

Faces Of Bangkok

Just mostly us :) More of Bangkok at my Flickr.

Lily Allen - The Fear

I think this is a really good song because of what she sings about. Here's a rundown and commentary of the lyrics.

I want to be rich and I want lots of money
I don’t care about clever I don’t care about funny
I want loads of clothes and i want fuckloads of diamonds
I heard people die while they are trying to find them

It's a curious problem we have in this day and age when there are polarized communities who lead very different lives - one out for glam and money, the other struggling to make a living. The former knows all that's going on because of the info overload we are subject to on a daily basis and because of technology and the Internet. The latter does anything to stay alive, even putting themselves through danger and peril to meet the desires of the 'people on the other side' - the rich consumers who live on clean streets and eat 3 meals a day. But don't really care where their desirables come from.

And i’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless
Cuz everyone knows that’s how you get famous
I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror
I’m on the right track yeah I’m on to a winner

Haha, probably a swipe at Paris Hilton. But seriously if you make a nudie and you're famous, you'll be even more famous. Any publicity is good publicity. In the end, no one really cares it seems. It also bring young peoples attitude to sex to the fore. It's become no big deal anymore. Kids at 12 are doing it. I don't think it's progress. Some might call it erosion.

[Chorus]
I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When do you think it will all become clear?
‘Cuz I’m being taken over by The Fear

"The Fear"! Of what? I think it's being alone, of not getting any attention. Sort of like being a teenager. Social acceptance and exaltation. Doing anything to make that 15 minutes of fame last longer than it should. The media has turned kids on themselves - if you're not being Facebooked, Twittered, Orkuted, MySpaced, Googled, texted about, you're not worth being around with. The price of fame is living in Fear.

Life’s about film stars and less about mothers
It’s all about fast cars and cussing each other
But it doesn’t matter cause I’m packing plastic
and that’s what makes my life so fucking fantastic

We all wanna know what's happening to the stars. Somehow getting a cup of coffee is different when you're famous. Imagine if the paparazzi stalked ordinary mothers, making them famous. Haha. Packing plastic caused the economic crises we're in. Credit is king; buy now pay later; buy everything now, don't worry about it, you deserve it.

And I am a weapon of massive consumption
And its not my fault it’s how I’m programmed to function
I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror
I’m on the right track yeah we're on to a winner

I love that line "weapon of massive consumption". And the next line testifies to what we grow up learning - get a job, get money to buy the things you want. That's it. 2nd reference to sun and mirror. When you face the sun, you're blind to all around you but everyone else see you. When you look in the mirror, you see yourself, and you want that self to look good. Ego-stroking.

Chorus again

Forget about guns and forget ammunition
Cause I’m killing them all on my own little mission
Now I’m not a saint but I’m not a sinner
Now everything's cool as long as I’m gettin thinner

Sounds like she has a plan. I think many people do, to somehow make it, be famous. Especially young people these days. Am I generalising? Once again, looking pretty and acceptable takes the cake. It's all good as long as you're thin. Haha. Thin people can get sick too. Better to be fit and aware then thin and in despair.

Chorus again

So will people change? I doubt it. Sort of ironic this song, since she'll be more famous for highlighting this issue facing modern folk of today. Ultimately, I guess we need to change the way we think about our short lives on this planet. Is it all about being popular? Is it about helping one another?