Monday, November 28, 2005

A Most Extraordinary Wedding Dinner

Attended my cousin's wedding dinner over the weekend and my, was it one of a kind. Never seen anything like it....

It started with the dress code stated on the invitation card: Formal Oriental. My sis and I were going what the hell is that, what are we going to wear. Well, both of us just decided to dress normally since we dun have anything that resemble "formal oriental". As it went, when I reached there, many ppl are dressed in their cheongsams, Zhongshan suit, ma gua etc... Den just when I was seated, I was handed a lucky draw coupon. Well, a lucky draw at a wedding dinner, that's something new, I thot. But that's not all. Soon a lady was moving ard choosing ppl to take part in the costume contest for the best dressed - oriental styled.. It turn out that my parents was chosen for it, my aunt and aunt-in-law too. My aunt-in-law even walked off crowned as the paegant queen for the night. Lucky draw, paegant, I thought that was all, but little did I knew that the climax was yet to come...

What was to come next is something you will never expect, neither did I...A drag queens show!!! Can u believe it?? And they are really good...every pout, every 眼神, every 媚眼 they threw at the audience, damn pro, damn sexy...and they are really funny and good with the crowd...got everybody laughing and many of the guests standing up, dancing with them and even flirting with them...one uncle even pretend to peep up one of their skirts...haha...the whole atmosphere was super high...everyone was having fun, and best of all there were little sexual innuendos, and the few dirty jokes were in dialects which means the kids present couldn't understand, even those were actually quite clean jokes....they even taught the ladies how to make their breasts looks bigger without using expensive wonder bras...haha....

Really a damn cool wedding dinner man...Unforgettable!!!

Friday, November 25, 2005

More or Less

I do not speak up not becos I feel I noe less than other ppl,
But rather I do not allow myself to feel I noe more than other ppl;

There was a time when I feel a need to show that I noe,
A time when I acted as if I noe when I dun;
I found myself showing disdain for ppl who act as if they noe,
Till I realised I was one of them;

Then I made a decision...

It's not impt to know more than others,
Nor show that I know more than others;
It's impt to know more than the "I" of yesterday,
It's impt to be wiser than the "I" of yesterday.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

My Old Blog

Hey...Found the blog I set up a year ago but forgotten abt it, leaving it to collect dust for a year...wiping some of the dust away, these are two of the things I posted there more than a year ago....

The journey is for us to enjoy while the outcome is for others is see. Yet so often we are more concerned about producing the outcome. So often we pressured ourselves to produce the outcome for the mere sake of the sight of others that we forsake our enjoyment of the journey, the very reason that we embark on the journey.

History is written by victors. As such, victors are always protrayed as the good guys. Everything they did is justified and whatever the loser did or did not will become, in the eye of history, wrongdoings or war crimes. How many heros have became villians in defeat and how many villians are being protrayed as heros? Nobody really knows and the truth will be buried deeper and deeper as the years passed, as witnesses passed on, as the written history becomes the recognised truth.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Email Alert Feature

Created a email alert feature you can subscribe to recieve an email whenever I have a new post. It's on the right side of the blog below the archives...

Monday, November 21, 2005

Possessed

Gone to watch the Exorcism of Emily Rose last evening. The pace of the show is ideal and it kept me glued till the end even though I was in urgent need of the loo. It wasn't much of a horror movie, although the little girl sitting beside me was covering her eyes for a large part of the show. Most of the "scary" scenes would have already been shown on the trailer and anyway, the horror ingredients are at most considered the garnish.

The much talked about courtroom drama was indeed something to watch out for. Though brief in my point of view, the counters and anti-counters between the defence and the prosecutor was well-crafted and nevertheless showed the brilliance of both lawyers. Then again, to me, this was still not what the show was about.

The plot revolves ard the subject of possession, in the Christian or Catholic context. Many Christians or Catholics might view that this subject as something close to their heart and treat it as an evidence of the presence of God. Possessions have been cited and occured across all religions and all culture for centuries, be it by the dark forces, by the deities or by spirits of someone we knew. Possessions and supernatural stuff aren't things that are new to me. Having grown up in the family of a fortune telling and feng shui master, I have seen and heard my fair share of possessions, voodoos, spirits and stuff in the Taoist context. Interestingly, all his sons are Christians, thus at the same time, I was being exposed to these things in the Christian context and well. In my varsity years, I also joined a cell group for a year and attended church services for abt 1/2 a yr, where I heard stories from my cell members about occurences of demonic possession and exorcism during their retreat camps. Few months ago, I had the chance of having dinner with a living buddha, a Singaporean. As to whether he really a living buddha, I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, he described to me, or us to be exact, what he saw as possession when he was in Tibet. And of course, my own encounter with the 3rd kind when I was in a Thailand, in some deserted area. At least, at the moment, that was what I thot I saw, it could be my own imagination, I dunno. Back to the movie. While possession was the subject of contention in the entire movie, I still feel that is not the main thing.

I believe the impt thing is the difference perspectives between science and religion with respect to certain happenings. At the same time where each side offer their basis for the reason behind what emily went through, they are also trying the take other side's perspective out of the equation, debunking them totally. Coincidentally, I am currently reading a book called Destructive Emotions, where prominent monks like the Dalai Lama, neroscientists and psychologists gather to discuss about the mental makeup of human. Instead of debunking each others' theory, they worked together to relate each point of view to the other. In the discussion, it opens up possiblities for all three parties, in which they uses the studies and research of the other to attain a better understanding of the issues on hand. I believe this message is put across clearly near the end of the show when the defence made her closing, the idea of possibilities. By focusing too much on the so-called "facts", it shut our mind from all other possibilities. It restricts our perception and causes us to ignore the possibility that the "facts" might not be the right answer.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

A Day In Town

Destination 1: Raffles City

Decided to have lunch at the food court in Raffles City before meeting my friend. Went over to the beef noodle stall, stood there for a while but the auntie seems to be ignore me. I'm sure she saw me but she continued to meddle with her own things and didnt ask for my order. Well, I decided that I shld make my presence more obvious by saying out my order. She got my order wrong the 1st time, I wanted the dry one but she thot I want the soup one..nevertheless, she verified with me and I said "yah" after she say "dry one?" But in the end, I still ended with a soup one. Auntie seems like in a bad mood, so I felt I shldn't make her day worse by kicking up a fuss and just proceed with my beef noodle soup...

Found a seat opposite 2 guys. Interestingly, the guy who was eating hokkien mee was using fork and spoon while his fren eating fried rice is using chopsticks. Just felt it shld be the other way round and this led me to recall an irony that I've read: "We turn on air-con when we sleep at night, yet we on the heater when we bathe in the day"

My friend is late again...Went into Robinsons to take a walk...bad choice...felt an urge to buy several shirts that caught my eyes...fortunately for my innate ability to procrastinate when it comes to spending money, I was spared the outcome of being set back by a couple of hundreds $$...

Destination 2: California Fitness

The same thing I hate happens yet again. I was once again approached during my workout ad tried to sell me their Personal Trainer program. Week after week it happens, no matter how many times I said no. I really felt like hanging a "Do Not Disturb" sign on my neck. Luckily this time, my ordeal last less than 5 mins. Guess he finally realised that I'm just a stingy and penniless bloke. This is not the only bad experience I had with the ppl at Cali. The 1st time I went there, I was supposed to meet a guy (let's just call him "Mr D"). I had an appointment with him yet he was not there to meet me. Another guy attended to me and I put this episode aside. Despite me telling them I have to leave by 7.30pm to attend a concert, the guy continue with his long and standard sales pitch. Even after I agreed to sign up, they took forever to process my application. I end up skipping my dinner and taking a cab down to the concert...was almost late for it. A week later, Mr D set up another appointment with me to pass him some documents. Yet when I got there, he was not there again...Someone else attended to me again this time after I explained my purpose for being there. Yet the next day, Mr D called me, without even apologizing for his absence, ask me to go down again to sign some documents. Since I was meeting my frens in town at 6.45pm, I made an appointment with him for 6pm. I reached there at 6pm, was told that he was busy and told to wait. It was only until 6.30pm that he appeared. Beside him was a girl he was trying to close. Obviously he felt that a prospect is more impt than servicing someone who already signed up. And after the whole thing, he actually has the cheek to ORDER me to fill up all ten entry of a referral lists. I really wonder whether I'm the salesperson and he's the client. It was when I was doing sales, only did I get stood up by my prospect or have to wait for a late prospect. Kaoz!!! After my 1 yr membership ends, its bye to Cali...hello mebbe planet fitness...

Destination 3: Takashimaya

Was walking towards Orchard MRT when I decided to go to the toilet in Taka. Was abt to leave when I saw the signboard of Hermes so I decided to check out the brand that women ard the world are crazy abt. Stayed outside Hermes and saw several ladies inside, and thot to myself that these ppl are quite rich eh...walked a few steps down and saw Gucci...Boy!! The shop was swarming with women eager to be the owner of another Gucci bag. Can someone pls enlighten me on the charm of all these branded handbags which can cost a few thousands? I do agree that some the designs are really nice and that it does have quality. But what has puzzled me for some time was abt LV bag. There are some LV design which I've seen that are quite nice, but why are majority of the ladies going for those that have the most common design, the brown colour one with the LV logos all ard? Its not nice, its not unique, in fact, its so common that ppl might mistake urs for a pirated one. Yet it seems to be a must-have for every woman. Why? Why? Why? Can someone pls give me some ans?

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Platinum Card 4 Me?

Wow, a bank actually called me up and offer me their Platinum card even though they knew my income doesn't qualfy...But it does make a lot of marketing sense doesn't it? They can still cap my credit limit, thus limiting their risk. And by giving me a Platinum card, they will entice me to use their card for purchase in preference over my other card...Flash platinum card will give one a false sense of elevating one's social status...as if more high class like that...consumer psychology...cool...

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Wedding Bells

Attended two weddings during the weekend. The first was a ROM ceremony held at some place called Freemason. When I arrived, I saw a bride at the entrance but something wasn't quite right. She don't look like the girl my friend was marrying. Either he's marrying someone else (quite impossible) or I'm at the wrong place. A bit panic at that time cos I was almost late liao...Luckily as I was about to leave the place, I caught sight of my friend and realised that there are many couples holding their ceremonies there. Phew!

Felt really happy seeing the both of them getting married to each other and was very honoured when I realised that I was one of the only 4 frens whom the groom invited. At the reception that follows, almost like a speed dating session where we were introduced to the girlfriends of the bride, sitting beside us. But alas, haha, no chance to know them better as I have to rush to attend the 2nd wedding.

The 2nd wedding was held at a church, a new one I guess cos it wasn't on the map...almost couldn't find it. Really felt like a reunion over there, meeting all the frens that I haven't seen in a long time, even met an opponent of the past, hah.. although basking in the joyous moments, couldn't help by feeling a bit bored by the pastor's long "sermon". But at one point, one verse of the bible mentioned sent my mind thinking a bit.

From Ephesians 5.22 "Wives, submit to ur husbands as the the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the churc, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives shld submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love ur wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her."

And the pastor went on to give examples of how the wife shld submit and let the husband make the final decision and so on. At this point, I was thinking of who is making more sacrifices. Its seems to be the wife who have to submit to the husband's decisions, den again, from Christianity point of view, Christ made the largest sacrifice...At this point, I realised that for 2 persons in love, it doesn't matter who sacrifice more...Btw, I'm not a christian...

Anyway, it feels great to see my frens finding their happiness...May they live happily ever after....

New Link - Books

Added a new link "Books I Read Recently". It is a site where I constantly update the books that I am reading or have read recently and found to be quite interesting that I want to recommend to ppl. All the comments and reviews are my own...Take a look if you have the time

Friday, November 11, 2005

Battle Won

After 4 1/2 hrs of intense fighting, the enemies were finally annihilated. It was a tough long battle...but fortunately victory lies with the righteous...and the war was won!!!

Fending off Legions of Trojans and Worms

Mayday!! Mayday!! Facing an onslaught of trojans and worms right now!! just couldn't seems to get rid of them completely...after killing one division of them, another division appears...fast running out of ammo...adaware, virus scan have been deployed but enemies continues to elude them...getting fresh troops from the web...may I emerge victorious from this war....

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Met my old BMT buddy

talk abt coincidence...bump into my old BMT buddy, zhiyuan on the train on my way to work. Haven't met him for I think ard 5 yrs liao. Just a few days ago, somehow I was thinking of him and couldn't recall his name no matter how hard I think. But the moment I saw him this morning, the name just appear...haha and he didnt remember mine...And to make it all the more qiao3 (coincidental), I actually went to the carriage which I normally dun go to, the last time I use that was like 2 months ago. And he told me that's the 1st time he board the train at that time, normally he goes to work earlier. Qiao3 rite? Really feels good to meet up with an old pal, someone I swept the floor outside the company line with every morning for 3 months.

My First Blog

I guess its time I start my own blog too...got to keep up with the times..haha. Actually started one before about a year ago but forgot the url after a few postings. So here's a new start..

My thoughts, my feelings, my philosophies, for the 1st time will be revealed to all. Machiam like the "Secrets of Magician Revealed". Anyway this will act as an outlet to express all my thoughts, (my pillow and bolster need some break listening to all my nonsense) and as a record for myself in case i lose my memories one day. And for you reading my postings, feel free to disagree with any of my views, comments as you wish..

Let my blogging begin.....