Touching Singaporean story

This is one of the best stories I have ever read which is written by an amateur writer. The setting might be unfamiliar to those people who have not lived or been to Singapore before, but nevertheless it is still a good story overall. If you have read the story and do not know the places mentioned inside, please post up your questions here & I'll try to explain it more.( Also, anyone is welcome to leave your comments here on what you think of the story!)

This is the website:

http://www.i-believe-you.com/mainpage_one.htm

Enjoy!!

Funny arguments on various male toilet walls in Melb. Uni.

I'm always intrigued by the amount (& quality?) of writing that is left behind by all visitors to the various male toilets (Not sure about female's, someone fill in this space!) in Melb. Uni. The arguments range from the current VSU proposal to the political situation in Israel & Iraq. Following are the details on what I've unearthed from the 'goldmine' (Literally...):

1) Topic: Enactment of VSU
Place found: Monash Road Computer Lab
1st writer: Support VSU - gave 4 reasons - the funniest one being 'no more jobs for hacks'
Next reply: WTF? Who?
Reply to the 1st reply: Dunno. Poor golfers?

2) Topic: University, the land of intellectuals (or just bored people?)
Place found: Doug McDonnell
quote: 'You know you are in University when people takes time to enter debates on a wall..'

That's all I can remember now. I''ll update this section as I go around the male toilets to collect more 'scholarly' writings. Female readers, please update this part if you find any notable quotes in your respective quarters (Post it on comments & I'll update it on the blog!)

random pic of the day

WMD proof 

Current thoughts: Striked out ---> August 14, 2005

Had my final qualifying match against Kevin for the AUG selection... & lost it. Tried too many new things during the match, such as getting my net shots as close to the net as possible but ended up sticking it onto the net 90% of the time, and also there was the problem of adjusting to the speed of the shuttle after the competition yesterday in Monash where I could do full drives and not hit it out. On another day I would have won the match because I really feel I was the fitter one between the 2 of us and even when I was making errors it was still a pretty close match. In fact, I was leading 9-2 at a time during the second set (Lost it 14-17) but couldn't adjust to Kev's flick serve and hit most of them out.

Pretty dissapointed with the result. Not only that I can't make it to the AUG team, it also extended my recent tie-break losing record to 4 sets (1st one was when I played Matthew Perry (Vic team, lost 14-16), 2nd & 3rd with Zel (lost to Hero/Ferds 20-22 both sets!!), and the last one to Kev. (14-16)). I think I have a mentality problem when it comes to finishing off games. I was leading in 3 of those 4 sets and the opponents just kept coming back & I did not have the determination to finish them off. This is a big problem I need to rectify soon...

I wasn't feeling so pissed after I lost against Kev. It was probably because I thought Kev actually had more tricks in the bag than me in singles & he would make a good addition to the team if they needed a stronger single player. I haven't even been playing singles for 3 years until after SUG this year and to be fair to myself, I think I've at least improved substantially over the past 2 months. It's a shame that we could not have more time to play more matches before the team is decided, but that's just how life goes I guess. Nothing is ever going to the schedule...

I don't know whether I'll still have much motivation to turn up for training now. Simon told me he would have really liked me in the team because I had shown much effort and also improvement over this year. That comment alone has more than made up for the continuous effort I put in. He'd still like me to turn up for training since I'm still officially the back-up player in case anything goes wrong (not that I want anything to happen of course!!). To be honest, I lack the motivation to train once there is nothing to train for. I suppose there is still Melb. U. tournament coming up soon & I would like to stay in shape for that. After that though, I would be hard-pressed to find a reason to keep training since in my view that won't actually lead anywhere...

That was probably the last team thing I was trying for. My short 'career' as a badminton player has probably ended from today. I'm trying to be optimistic about the future as there's still social sessions + the occassional tournaments to look forward to, but it will definitely not be the same again when I'm not trying to push for a place in the Uni. team. This vision of the future has been further bleakened when I see Tack (a former uni. team player)on Thursdays in CBA and his lack of motivation these days to even show up for socials. I don't really want to end up in that state as I love the game, but I might not have much of a choice at all when I start working soon....

An interesting chapter of my life is ending soon. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time mixing & interacting with all the teammates in MUBC. It's never going to be the same from now on but I'm really happy to be considered for a spot in the team for the past 3 years. Roy Keane, captain of Manchester United FC, once said, "a player can never be bigger than the club". Very true indeed. Every player is part of the club and we just have to make our services available when called upon and not trying to force any personal decisions on the club. I'm a strong advocate of this principle and as such, although I'm not in the team this time, I will be ready whenever the team needs me until the competition is over. Hmmm, I wasn't thinking when I wrote the last sentence.. I think it means that my inner self still wants me to keep fulfilling my duty by turning up to training every week... & I definitely can't just throw away my obligation to the team right now....

Zidane's ET encounter??

France's most talented midfielder, Zinedine Zidane, claimed to have spoken to some mysterious beings before he decided to come out of his self-imposed international retirement. Read this website for the full details:



Very interesting. Zidane is probably still the top midfielder in this world and there's nothing wrong in wanting to help your country qualify for the World Cup (given the slumping form France has recently: placed no.4 in a qualifying group that comprises of Ireland, Israel, & Faroe Islands (??)). However, he doesn't really need to come up with any explanation for his return since the France team manager had personally begged him to return. We all love his skills with the ball, but that doesn't mean we can handle another Wacko Jacko in the making! Please Zidane, just let us be awed by your skills on the field (just like how we love Michael for his songs) and not your imaginative thoughts on ETs!

Ozzies can't count!!

Went in to Safeway to get a Vodafone top-up a few days ago (coz they offer 10% off any top-up amount). Had this conversation with the person behind the counter:

Me: Hi. Can I get a Vodafone top-up?
Counter: Sure. How much?
M: 50 bucks
C: Sure. That will be $47.95 please
M: It says there 10% discount
C: You're right. How much does that mean? 46.95?
M: ....... (Before I could say another word, the manager walked in)
Manager: What's the problem here? (he could see the other person looking a bit confused..)
C: He's buying a 50 bucks Vodafone top-up
M2: Let me handle this. That will be $45 thanks

(I handed over the EFTPOS card to the C, manager walked away)

C: Would you like any cash out?
M: NO THANKS!!!

Sure didn't feel like having my money handled by someone who can't figure out how much 10% of $50 is (It's not actually the 1st time I've experienced this here, although the last few experiences were at least not as shocking as this 1!)

5 trick questions..

...that women love to ask men - and their answers

The questions are:

1. What are you thinking about?
2. Do you love me?
3. Do I look fat?
4. Do you think she is prettier than me?
5. What would you do if I died?


What makes these questions so difficult is that every one is guaranteed to explode into a major argument if the man answers incorrect (i.e. tells the truth). Therefore, as a public service, each question is analyzed below, along with possible responses.

1. What are you thinking about?
The proper answer to this, of course, is "I'm sorry if I've been pensive, dear. I was just reflecting on what a warm, wonderful, thoughtful, caring, intelligent woman you are and how lucky I am to have met you."

Inappropriate answers:
a. Baseball
b. Football
c. How fat you are.
d. How much prettier she is than you.
e. How I would spend the insurance money if you died.

(Perhaps the best response to this question was offered by Al Bundy, who once told Peg, "If I wanted you to know what I was thinking, I would be talking to you!")

2. Do you love me?
The proper response is "YES!", or if you feel a more detailed answer is in order "Yes, dear".

Inappropriate responses include:
a. I suppose so.
b. Would it make you feel better if I said yes?
c. That depends on what you mean by love. (Clinton's response)
d. Does it matter?
e. Who, me?

3. Do I look fat?
The correct answer is an emphatic "Of course not!"

Incorrect:
a. Compared to what?
b. I wouldn't call you fat, but you're thighs sure do make a lot of noise.
c. A little extra weight looks good on you.
d. I've seen fatter.
e. Could you repeat the question? I was just thinking about how I would spend the insurance money if you died.

4. Do you think she's prettier than me?
Once again, the proper response is an emphatic "Of course not!"

Incorrect responses:
a. Yes, but you have a better personality.
b. Not prettier, but definitely thinner.
c. Not as pretty as you when you were her age.
d. Define pretty.
e. Could you repeat the question, I was thinking of the insurance money again.

5. What would you do if I died?
A definite no win question here. (The real answer, of course, is "Buy a new Porsche.")

No matter how you answer this question, be prepared for at least an hour of follow-up question, usually along these lines:

Woman: Would you get married again?
Man: Definitely not!
Woman: Why not ... don't you like being married?
Man: Of course, I do.
Woman: Then why wouldn't you re-marry?
Man: OK, I'd get married again.
Woman: YOU WOULD (hurtful look on face)??
Man: Yes, I would.
Woman: Would you put away my pictures, and replace them with hers?
Man: That would seem like the proper thing to do.
Woman: And would you let her use my golf clubs?
Man: She can't use them, she is left handed.

Credit: Dirty Dan

New subject, new job

Amazing. Haven't worked for a single day for the past 2 1/2 years and now I've 2 in a row. Almost finished with one (NAB), and I just found out I'll be attached to Australia Post for the whole of this semester. Haven't found out what project we'll be given exactly yet, but I expect something challenging & fun.

Met my new team members in the lecture today (I've changed group as the previous attachment I was assigned to (Department of Trade, Innovation & Industry (??)) did not match my timetable..) and they seem to be pretty nice people. I guess that's very important since we'll be working together for the whole semester and I really don't want to stuff this up.

Really looking forward to the work experience, but I'm not really thrilled with how the subject is assessed though. In fact, it's a bit of a joke really. Since this subject has no exam component, I had expected our employer's feedback to form quite a big part of the assessment. Reality: not taken into consideration at all. These are what we'll be assessed on:

Group
1) 6 Class presentation 5%
2) Video 10%
3) Final report 25%

Individual
1) CV 5%
2) Personal Journal 35%
3) File 15%

1st, if you calculated the total to be 95%, you are right. Apparently the lecturer hasn't decided on how to assess us and didn't bother to total it up after she came up with the breakdown. 2nd, just looking at the list of the things up for assessment above, i'm sure you could pick up what's wrong with them. These are the ones I found damn outright stupid:

1) CV
we're supposed to give the employer our CV on our 1st day of work. It's nothing much really, basically just what a normal CV would look like. I'm wondering what's there to be assessed on this 1 really. I mean, does it mean that people with more work experience and could speak more languages would get the top mark out of this category? It just doesn't make any sense at all!

2) Personal journal
we'll be given sort of a review worksheet every week to reflect on what we've learnt for the past week and also indicate how many hours we spend, as a team and individually, on the subject. This is the dumbest part of assessment in my view, because we could do an absolute shit job at the organization and then write some of the world's greatest bullcrap on this worksheet to get the top mark in this subject. I mean, it's a good thing to reflect on what we've done, but to be giving away most of the marks in the subject to something so subjective is just not acceptable. Honestly, I believe this is the only subject in the whole commerce faculty that doesn't depend on our degree of understanding towards what we do, rather it's assessed on how well we can bullsh*** our way to the top.

3) Class presentations
We're supposed to present progress report to the class for 6 times, which is only worth 5% in total. This is just damn outright stupid. Since this subject is about work experience, shouldn't this be the most important part of the assessment along with the written report? Even if we manage to overhaul the whole company's faulty systems, we'd only be getting 5% for our effort. Instead of doing that, I reckon all the people would rather spend time on thinking how to crap their way to the top marks through the personal journal part rather than spending time on this. Enough said..

Had really high expectation for this subject at 1st, but not anymore. In fact, I'd have quitted if not for the chance to work. Just found out too that apparently Oz Post is not ready for us to start tomorrow, so our group will be starting next week instead when all the other groups will be beginning theirs this week. Great, just great. Everything is going from bad to worse. Hopefully this is the worst it could get to..

On the bright side, I have another idea for the MiniInnovation part. Since I've been blogging for more than an hour today, I think I'd leave it till next time though. Stay tuned!!

leonhart's MiniInnovation: Room humidity controller

Was rushing out to school this morning when I came up with this idea. When I was halfway between my place and Uni, I was trying to remember whether I did or didn't turn off the heater in my room before I left. I had once left it on when I was out for the whole day and Derrick told me he had to turn it off coz he could virtually feel the heat enveloping the whole apartment :) & he also correctly pointed out that it could potentially lead to fire burning down the whole place as my heater doesn't have any stand and so it's resting on the carpet floor (it did come with the stand, but I couldn't figure out how to install it & so I just left it alone...).

& as I was thinking of that, an idea just popped up in my mind: what if the room humidity is so high that it's impossible to start a fire? It would work well when people are out of their houses and they have forgotten to turn their dangerous appliances off (eg. heater, toaster, oven, etc).

More analysis:

Product: Room humidity controller

Uses: Automatically switched on when people exit the door (so there is a sensor connected to the door to switch on the controller), this device could help prevent small fire from starting up in the first place, which in turn could stop other things from catching fire and burn down the whole place. Obviously this device would have to be turned off when there are people inside since it'd be intolerable for them (equivalent of staying in Singapore or Indonesia... Wonder how people still survive there..).

Product specification: Controller connected to some sort of water sprinkler to keep humidity at high level when people exit the building or room. Built in duct to suck away the moisture really fast (5 mins. max.) when people enter the room to make it comfortable for people to stay inside again.

Commercial analysis: I'd think that this idea would work well if some product engineers could come up with the right equipment as I specified. Imagine if every house or building has one of these devices installed (& they pay me 20% royalty), I'd be a millionaire in a few years time! A bit too far-fetched perhaps, but I really think this idea could work. It would save a lot of buildings from being burned down due to some minor accidents relating to fire and possibly save lives too. Imagine a toddler being left in the house and small fire started somewhere inside it. With this device, it could save the baby & the property at the same time. Hmm, I'm getting a bit enthusiastic about this idea now.

Suggestions & comments people? (Incentives: I might make you guys partners in my hypothetical firm!!)