RK Eating House

Blue Berry

2011-03-21T09:45:00.002+08:00

So what's news?

The Pacific. . . .

2010-11-05T22:07:00.000+08:00

. . . . is crossing the Pacific as I type this.

Expected arrival date is in a couple of weeks or less. Anyone want to organise a screening??

Can I propose we book off a couple of nights around Tsang's birthday to watch all the eps at one go?? hehe.. well, ok lah.. maybe not at one go, but over a few nights / days. like Friday night Sat and maybe Sunday. I think we probably can't tolerate more than 3 eps a session though...

Anyway, just an idea... if you're looking forward to it, its coming.

Hello

2010-10-13T21:24:00.002+08:00

Blog

cause and consequence

2010-05-10T05:15:00.000+08:00

the legtimate struggle of attempting to stay in touch in a rarely used, but readily available, space provided to us by the fruits of technology.

BBC - dot.Rory: Is the iPhone evil?

2010-03-18T16:25:00.000+08:00

BBC - dot.Rory: Is the iPhone evil?: "Is the iPhone evil?"

Interesting article to read and ponder about to all the google and apple fanatics out there like us!

The Social Basis of Tax

2010-02-13T03:01:00.001+08:00

It was Malcolm Gladwell, in his writing for the New Yorker and his fantastic books, The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw, who helped me realise that the majority way of thinking is not always the right way of thinking.

As Tsang, Gabriel, Varun, Shamir and myself met last nite for a short while after steamboat with my singapore bible study group (which consisted of many JC friends), we had some interesting conversations, reminiscing about life, our St Andrews School days and onward to politics and a social commentary on the state of our country.

one of the topics that stuck in my mind was that of taxation. Tsang was saying Singapore was a country where social studies students were taught that indirect taxation helps the poor and those from low income households. He pointed out the incongruity of it all, because for the poor, consummables such as food, water and electricity are the main things they spend on. These are taxed. And, the taxes they pay for consummables form a larger percentage of their income then for the rich. How can indirect taxation be good for the poor?

Well, i said, only if 1) indirect taxation is used to directly fund additional health and medical, education and welfare services that are only available to the poor [some form of means testing determines who is 'poor'], 2) the poor [determined by means testing] are given rebates for the cosummables they spend on, for as long as there exists an indirect tax on consummables, or 3) those who have been means tested and found to be financially lacking are given coupons that waive the Goods and Services Tax when they purchase consummables [and present these coupons] or 4) remove basic consummables like food, water and electricity from the list of taxable items in the GST. But of course, across-the-board application is always inefficient compared to means-testing.

In all our discussions i realised one thing, and that is, what on earth is the justification for taxation of any sort? To be more specific, why do citizens in a democratic country allow their governments to tax them? Most people think that because my government has the power to do so, this ends the matter. Well, what if the government decides it is within their power to legalize murder? Some will say that taxation is there to finance public services and the salaries of public servants. Of course. But thats not close enough to the heart of the matter. We pay taxes so that the administration of the country may ensure that all citizens have basic needs, like healthcare, education and public transport. Taxation is about state intervention in the individual accumulation of private wealth, so that public needs are met for all in the community. The very idea of taxation is against the principle of a laissez faire free market economy.

Secondly, because taxation is state intervention in private wealth for the benefit of the larger public, it is always biased towards those with greater private wealth who may benefit the public most. In other words, the rich pay more because they have more to give, and the poor pay less because they have less to give. Thats also known as income tax. But wait a minute! thats not the case in indirect taxation..every one pays the 3 odd 4 percent in Singapore's GST or the 7 odd percent in the UK's VAT..why? fairness for all? but taxation as a concept can never be fair. Can fairness for all really mean everyone pays the same amount? You wouldnt think of getting someone in the lowest income bracket to pay 49% of tax, the same as the head of a billion dollar firm, in the interests of 'fairness', would you? In fact, to be fair means exactly the opposite, that not everyone pays the same amount of tax.

therefore, whats the end of the matter? the way that the majority of economists think about indirect taxation is wrong. As long as the phrase 'indirect taxation' contains the root word 'tax' and behaves like a tax, intervening in my private wealth on state orders for the benefit of the greater populace, well then, it has to be graduated for different income earners, shouldnt it? so Singapore, take my suggestion and implement one of the first three recommendations i gave above, or some combination of them, won't ya?

iPad

2010-01-28T20:35:00.002+08:00

Well, Tsang,

Its out. let me have a look once you get yourself one.

Message of the Day

2010-01-14T00:08:00.001+08:00

GOD WILLS IT!!!!

my cool KL dream

2010-01-10T02:20:00.000+08:00

a primeval landscape stretches out before me, shorty spiny brownish grass below the edge of a low cliff that faces the sea. the lens pans out and rises to take in a scene of strange wildlife running on the plateau above the sea. Flocking, herding and swarming heedless of danger. No sign of humanity anywhere. next, scenes flash past of mountains and volcanoes and upheavals of the landscape with colourful swirls of gas and lava. i wake. Stumbling blindly for the toilet, i realise in my groggy state of semi-sleep that i've dreamt up a fantastic movie idea.

coming back from my toilet call, i hurriedly jot down the words, veteran film-maker, wild life, scenery, James Cameron before going back to my world of wonders. i've had this dream or something similar to it before. once, when i was really young..only that time, there were dinosaurs in it, namely Allosaurus, a Triassic creature, first of the great flesh eating, rapid hunting bipeds. i had this dream while in my mate Junshoong's house staying when i visited KL recently . i reckon that i must have been influenced by Avatar and from what i wrote in my little diary while half asleep, i probably was. that being said, i think the idea of doing a film documentary of a prehistoric world before man is a fascinating and original idea. Of course, Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Mammals already did something similar, but never before focusing on the landscape. My dream movie indeed.

well, that one goes into my catalogue of dream scapes and dream compositions. wonder if Neil Gaiman's library of all the dream books and compositions ever dreamt really does exist somewhere huh? till next time, sweet dreams.

The Urban Backyard

2009-11-29T21:34:00.000+08:00

my dvd project, which as you know i'm working with Varun on... is almost complete.

must admit there's something in see some tangible result in something from nothing. quite exciting...

don't know what else to say... this blog is dying....

CLEAR!!!

* ZAAAAP! *

Bye Bye Facebook

2009-10-04T00:16:00.000+08:00

Deactivated my facebook account and opted to not receive emails anymore.

Did it after watching Surrogates today. And also figured I want to spend more time to myself doing what I want, like watching DVDs and playing more video games. Clicking buttons on the internet on a social network just doesn't give me the satisfaction I was looking for nor fulfil my desires of believing in a more fulfilling life.

Like I've said before, I live in the movies. :D

So Good bye facebook. Forever I hope.

In-principle

2009-09-17T23:45:00.000+08:00

I have gotten my prospective investors to agree to lending my a large sum of money just to produce one single copy of my DVD.

Now the pressure is to make sure it looks good.

A grand total of about $42k. $30 that I need to return over 2 years with a 7% interest. which is not so bad for me. I think.

Tired. Hope it all works out well. Really tired. Can't say I'm ecstatic. But it is a relief. Now I have to really focus on getting the product out. And on top of that there's still the marketting that has to be planned. The risk is great coz this is just a pilot project only. Baah... hard to say.

Got to push for quality now. hence getting a semi pro to help me... just grad fellow, same as me. from RMIT. paying him a hefty amount a day. he gets just sliiightly less than what i was getting in aussie. haha... but that's besides the point. coz i'm paying him lower than what i'd be paying real professionals. so its still reasonable.

lets see how i can tie in my product with Varun's plans also. I need a marketting expert to really help me take over selling our line of products so that I can just oversee that dept rather than get my hands dirty in it at the sacrifice of the creative side and if i were to call dips on both sides equally i'd be taking a big chunk out of my personal life... balance. baah..

still, one major hurdle crossed. relieved.

RK Eating House

2009-09-02T15:31:00.000+08:00

I want to go to one of these indian muslim eating houses leh... craving for food and neslo peng again... some pattaya or more pratas or something... indian muslim stall in normal kopitiams just don't quite cut it.

baaaah....

I am in USA

2009-08-15T09:24:00.002+08:00

Hey guys,

wonder if you guys are still keen to write into this blog, haha, well now its my turn to be away for abit, in Tsang's and mine favourite English speaking ang moh country, haha.

well, so far have been here for like 9 days, in silicon valley, CA. Been quite good fun here so far, tagged along with my uncle from India who was here visiting too to places like Reno and Lake Tahoe, both a nice places to see.

Once they had left, started driving here too, haha, I really love the 101 (the main freeway from San Fran to LA, it cuts through the valley too). So great driving at 130km/h, I guess its just something I like. Got used to driving on the right side of teh road already, think for us not too difficult still, as we are not set in our ways. So have been driving around quite abit around the valley, to Gilroy (factory outlet), Santa Cruz ('near by' beach) and even dropped my aunt off at the airport and returned home on my own (she's also going to NC). So its really cool. :)

I guess I will just make the occassional post here about wats going on in my life. Also I have started a long-distance relationship with this singaporean punjabi girl who is studying in Adelaide, can say we met through facebook. Guess will wait till I meet her in Jan to 'confirm' our relationship, but she seems like a nice person so I optimistic it will work out. Guess see how it goes. Guess dont want to publically announce it yet, so just keep it among us ya.

banned waterbottles.

2009-07-28T07:28:00.003+08:00

Didn't NSW plastic water bottles recently?

Is that the plastic bottled water industry's new marketting ploy? to make us believe that their water bottles are conscious?

And what morals do a water bottle abide to anyway? Is the water in them under their jurisdiction? So like if the water in the water bottle grows fungi and algae and what not, is that the water's fault or the water bottle's? And like are they responsible for non spills, like when their owner is trying to drink from the bottle in a bumpy vehicle or something, who's moral obligation is it that the water should not spill?

A Morally-Self-Consious-Water-Bottle

2009-07-25T15:26:00.003+08:00

Since i'm in my Cam-Whore Mode before uni begins again wat-the-heck..Saw this while in Jesmond Shops at Cotton On and decided to buy it..because it says, "A Morally Consious Water Bottle"...Ermmm..you mean, a Morally SELF-Conscious Water Bottle that Reeks of Do-Gooder Bullsh*t...as the Pommies(Brit-ish) might say, "Bah, Humbug!"

Opium-eating wallabies

2009-06-27T20:21:00.000+08:00

Opium-eating wallabies get high, make crop circles - Latest News - MSN Singapore News - News:

"Opium-eating wallabies get high, make crop circles

Wallabies are getting 'as high as a kite' on opium in Australian poppy fields and flattening crops as they hop round in circles, according to a report.

The marsupials, which look like small kangaroos, have been getting into medical opium crops in the southern island state of Tasmania and chewing on the plant's intoxicating heads, state officials said.

'We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles,' state attorney-general Lara Giddings told a parliamentary estimates hearing.

'Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high,' local media reported Ms Giddings as saying.

Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legally-grown opium for the pharmaceutical market, with about 500 farms supplying approximately 50 percent of the raw material for morphine and other opiate drugs.

Livestock and other animals, such as deer and sheep, which eat the plants had also been seen acting 'weird,' industry spokesman Rick Rockliff said.
'There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles,' he said."

EOFYS @ Allans

2009-06-10T20:42:00.000+08:00

Allans Music Online - Home Page

My dear Jonathan Tsang, the End of Financial Year sale is up... go visit that site, if there's anything you want within your budget, I can help you get it and bring it back along with me in July or something...

take a look... bought my protools from them.. so they send me these flyers with upcoming sales and new products etc etc...

WRMEA: U.S. Aid to Israel

2009-05-28T00:42:00.000+08:00

WRMEA: U.S. Aid to Israel:

"The same applies to the president, the secretary of state, and the foreign aid administrator. They all submit a budget that includes aid for Israel, which Congress approves, or increases, but never cuts. But no one in the executive branch mentions that of the few remaining U.S. aid recipients worldwide, all of the others are developing nations which either make their military bases available to the U.S., are key members of international alliances in which the U.S. participates, or have suffered some crippling blow of nature to their abilities to feed their people such as earthquakes, floods or droughts.

Israel, whose troubles arise solely from its unwillingness to give back land it seized in the 1967 war in return for peace with its neighbors, does not fit those criteria. In fact, Israel's 1995 per capita gross domestic product was $15,800. That put it below Britain at $19,500 and Italy at $18,700 and just above Ireland at $15,400 and Spain at $14,300.

All four of those European countries have contributed a very large share of immigrants to the U.S., yet none has organized an ethnic group to lobby for U.S. foreign aid. Instead, all four send funds and volunteers to do economic development and emergency relief work in other less fortunate parts of the world.
The lobby that Israel and its supporters have built in the United States to make all this aid happen, and to ban discussion of it from the national dialogue, goes far beyond AIPAC, with its $15 million budget, its 150 employees, and its five or six registered lobbyists who manage to visit every member of Congress individually once or twice a year."

http://www.wrmea.com/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm

The above excerpt is just part of a bunch of essays on the site.

another idea

2009-05-27T21:17:00.003+08:00

hey guys,

i dunno if you guys share the same concern for the environment, energy conservation and the poor as I do, but an idea just popped into my mind for a business/charity based on those causes.

I thought I'd like to attempt to help people convert waste heat to do something useful around the house like dry clothes.

An initial attempt would be to channel the coolant from a fridge to a larger area that can be maintained and cleaned so that the clothes can be dried on it.

I reckon this idea will not be immediately attractive as the cost savings will be quite little - maybe under $100 a year? and the initial cost of labor and raw materials to set it up may be way above that order of magnitude (some survey will have to go into this).

There are also several technical and aesthetic/design issues to concern oneself with - whether we can come up with designs for each situation that is functional and simple enough to be of casual utility, and that will be the thing which determines if this idea takes off.

In this climate of tightening belts and of people looking for something worthwhile to do, we can take otherwise unemployed people (ourselves) and apply them to helping the poor whom a few dollars in savings would matter to.

It could serve as a springboard/source of experience to implementing ideas that involve higher tech, more complication and more cost e.g. I envision solar powered windows to absorb energy from the sunlight to power air conditioners, or an external system to aid in cooling the computer, which is becoming the central problem with computing these days (incorporating the home server with the home water heating system). It has the scope of utilizing some of our trainings - varun's business skills, chua's design training, and perhaps shamir could help us market the product using videos - getting the message across to the our target audience.

Doctor uses household drill to save Australian boy - Latest News - MSN Singapore News - News

2009-05-20T14:55:00.000+08:00

Doctor uses household drill to save Australian boy - Latest News - MSN Singapore News - News: "Doctor uses household drill to save Australian boy"

Drilling, anyone?

Here's an idea...

2009-05-11T22:11:00.003+08:00

Don't know how it fits in into the bigger scheme of things... but was just rambling to SJ about it, since he would be one of my candidates. this 'ramble' is of course in context directed at him, but i think i managed to keep the essence of my message. in other words, i'd twist it slightly depending on who i am telling it to.

here goes:

"Well, simply put, I'm interested in. (key word being 'interested in', meaning i have not done anything other than to express interest) in creating a series of videos for our youths to consume. This is mainly in line with what they can do within their capabilities. The main thing of course is 'training', in the sense, showcasing the normal outdoorish stuff every UG learns (or maybe only some UGs). Lighting fires, cooking, knots etc etc etc. But as you have been highlighting in your life's message, which as much as I don't show it, I am actually paying attention to, is about protecting the environment, or at least having a consideration for it. So, I am thinking, if i can think of creating 'categories' for these other 'outdoor' things, like cooking, notes, map reading etc, it is only appropriate to create a segment that is... how shall i put it, that is right up your alley. Besides the big narrative of saving the planet, what I am more interested in is not so much the big scale of things like how to be a 'good scout', or a 'good cook' or a good 'global citizen', but i am more interested in documenting clearly, showcasing objectives, methods, precautions and purposes of the small things that affect the big things. Like, its not about being a sailor that matters to me as much as being someone good at knots and sea navigation. and like wise, its not so much about saving the planet as it is about doing the small things that will end up working towards the same cause. in that context, you can think of a video segment that is about hiking and one of the 'small things' is about bending branches that are in your way out of the way, instead of breaking it or chopping it off, so you can see, how the objectives, methods, precautions and purposes fit in. and so much more... the small simple things. That's what i want to capture. but mainly it is about showcasing basic skills. As for output, I am thinking DVDs inclusive of a 'Disc 2' containing the same videos in iPod/PSP format... portable viewing. and included in the DVD package is, of course, the booklet that contains the same messages in written format. and then selling the final packaging to everyone at a low cost so that students are willing to buy, and instead of making a lot of money for me/us, just enough cover costs... maybe you can see where you might fit in.. maybe you can't. but i must emphasize that this is only an idea that I am very highly interested in doing. but for now, it is only an idea, and it is only interest. I will need to take some concrete steps to make it a reality, first and foremost is selling the idea and forming a team. haha.. you have the priveledge of being the first to hear my idea while its still in its incubation."

Yep.

2009-05-05T23:38:00.002+08:00

Home soon... I want some serious kopitiam food man... and some good solid neslo peng. :P hahaha yeah... home soon... in the process of making plans with Varun to see if we can forge a path for the future... see how see how.

Something more culturally valid

2009-05-05T15:50:00.001+08:00

http://news.sg.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3280532

Yes we're lazy

2009-05-04T17:24:00.001+08:00

I'm an unemployed bum now.. Kinda enjoying it yet feeling worried at the same time.

So you've decided to come home to S'pore? I'll be very happy to see you back here soon man! Seriously.

Jon

Nothing in April.

2009-05-04T17:15:00.001+08:00

No post in april... we are all getting lazy.

Anyway, I have decided that I will return to Singapore and am now in the process of going through the steps of finishing Uni, by June, packing shipping and flying back, hopefully by end june/early july.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I want my Neslo Peng.

Whats going on...

2009-03-10T10:36:00.002+08:00

Exciting ad, considering the recent event at ntu...

Click for Another Australian top story:

back to school

2009-03-04T20:04:00.002+08:00

school's started this week again for me... so that means i've stopped working. quite glad to be back in school really. got alot of free time and get to watch movies and discuss creative things. one of my classes will be right up our alley. philosophy and happiness. just a bunch of talking cock about philosophers and WHAT IS HAPPINESS.

since the class structure has acknowledge there is never going to be any conclusive answers for what we're going to discuss over the next 12 weeks, its almost like... just too simple you know... haha... don't know how to explain it... but you know what i mean. endless discussions... as long as i can talk cock, i should do pretty well.. but shall not get cocky. 20 other people in the class trying to out-talk-cock me.

A girly man to something familiar?

2009-03-02T19:25:00.001+08:00

Another Berlitz viral vid, they are quite nice, Shamir should consider getting into this business...

BIG MONEY BIG MONEY

2009-03-02T17:57:00.002+08:00

Spending splurge.

http://the-bomberman.blogspot.com/2009/03/a2500-week.html

Top Gear takes on our across the causeway frens

2009-02-18T01:36:00.000+08:00

3some

2009-01-12T22:26:00.002+08:00

Went for a play today called 3some, but 2 guys. Was quite abstract, so I think it was about humans and humans perceptions about people from other nationalities. The 2 guys were a German and an Israeli.

The beginning had the German guy saying that the 3rd person, a Palestinian actress pulled out last minute and said the audience was supposed to participate in some part of the play, due to 'the last minute change in plans'. This was different to the synopsis as well. The show started late and at first I believed the actor. I guess this was just to show that things are not always as you read or hear, sometimes very different. Guess the actor was really good at his trade as well...

Another scene had them talking about how people negatively react to their nationalities, and their prejudices prevented these people from understanding the actor's personalities. And when stereotyped, people somehow become something that we actually not.

One last scene I will comment was the part where the Israeli guy was talking about a cat, which he found as a kid and killed when playing with it. My take was that sometimes we adopt the child like innocence, not fully comprehending the impact of our actions.

Having said some thoughts, I think everyone else in the audience would have different thoughts, from different scenes, making a greater impact on how they felt about this play. I found the thing overall as quite unorthodox, maybe cos I have never seen such a thing before. Thankfully there was a dialog session after the play and in answering a question one of the actors said there was no particular point that they were trying to drive home, what you take from the play is what you take from the play.

I guess I would like to watch another 'small-time play' in the near future, when something of interest pops up. Guess they add a very different dimension to what we would consider entertainment.

RAAAARRRR!!!!!!!

2009-01-12T19:52:00.001+08:00

So, what'd you think of the first violent act on a singapore politician in recent history.

Some would go so far as to call it an assasination attempt, others would say its just a variation of an everyday occurance citng verbal abuse as one form of attack.

What do you think?

Interesting article

2009-01-04T20:29:00.000+08:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7808009.stm

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2008-12-31T22:03:00.000+08:00

From Downunder. :D

Parking Idiots

2008-12-28T11:04:00.001+08:00

Stumbled across this blog, is old, but its still gold...
:)
http://parkingidiots.blogspot.com/

To Malacca and back...

2008-12-26T12:01:00.006+08:00

18th Dec – Day 1

The participants met at Serangoon Stadium at 5.30am to begin our expedition. We cycled quite fast in Singapore and were at the checkpoint in just over an hour. We took a long time clearing the immigrations, mainly because we were unfamiliar with the procedure for cyclists and in addition, the new JB checkpoint was confusing in its layout.

It took us about one hour to clear the checkpoint and one we had done that, we went to makan some nasi lemak at a coffeeshop near Danga Bay. From that place, we could still see Singapore.

We headed along Danga Bay and went through Skudai before turning off, to go towards Pontian. Along the way, we stopped at the Shimano factory in Pekan Nanas and the Pineapple Musuem (Muzium Nanas) although that was closed. But we got a gist of what it was about by the pineapples growing at the entrance. It was about pineapples of a great variety, from red ones to green ones to orange ones.

We had lunch just after that at Pontian Kechil and proceeded from there. The route (No. 5) was really flat and not much to see, just a kampong here and stream there, that’s about it.

However, this went on for quite a while and along the way, Kenneth’s front tube punctured and ZheYin started to suffer from cramps. With this our progress for the final parts was slow and we reached Bukit Banang (Darren’s Place) at 1810.

19th Dec - Day 2

ZheYin decided to rest to recover from his cramps so only the 4 of us went to Malacca. He instead joined our host Darren and went to KL with him.

The rest of us set off in the morning at around 6.45 and had breakfast at a nearby coffeeshop. We went down further into Batu Pahat and stopped at their landmark, a giant hammer and chisel (which is where BP got its name from).

On our long and straight road to Muar, Austin encountered a large hole in the road that caused him to fly off his bike. Fortunately, the injuries were superficial and he was able to continue. So we made it to Muar, where we had an early lunch.

After that we crossed the Muar Bridge and continued to Malacca, mostly on the AMJ, a highway that connected Muar to Malacca. Progress was really good on the highway and we reached Malacca’s Plaza Malaka Raya at 1.35pm.

However our hosts were not really ready for our arrival so we met them sometime later and because we could not yet enter the service apartment, we did the main sight seeing in our cycling attire. Alvin, the ARSL of the people hosting us brought us around.

After washing up in the service apartment, we went to makan at Jonker Walk. The food was normal. We went to the Eye on Malaysia after that, so we saw the city view at night. We had a Ramli burger after that for supper, which was ok. We went to sleep after that.

20th Dec – Day 3

We started the Day with some prata with Alvin before continuing our way. Along the AMJ back, Kenneth’s read tire had a puncture, so we stopped there for abit.

We reached Muar and only stayed to take photos of their clock tower. We cycled for around 30 minutes more and reached Bakri, where we had our lunch. We continued through a more inland route rather then the coastal route we did on the way up. It was more hilly but guess it was not too bad.

There was some road construction going close to the end and that slowed us down somewhat. My rear tire had a puncture and so that delayed us further. Kenneth’s chain also broke, but fortunately, we were already in BP and there was a bicycle shop around 800meters from this incident.

We reached Bukit Banang at around 4.40 and met Darren there. We attended a campfire at Yong Peng, which to me was quite an eye opener. I guess I was expecting something similar to our campfire since they are our neighbours, but the campfire had a mass dance component and a long skit. Even I could tell it was very Taiwanese, even though I am not familiar with their culture.

21st Dec – Day 4

So ZheYin joined us back for Day 4. We had our breakfast at the same place. Around an hour into the journey, my rear tire was leaking again. I guess the replaced I used was not done well and after fixing it, I had a slow leak.

So some kampung after Ayer Hitam, I changed my tube again and after that we had lunch there. We had an interesting conversation with some Bangla, who according to Kenneth was sharpening the knife before holding it in his hand and talking to us. I did not see the knife part, but the guy seemed friendly enough.

The change in the tube worked and I did not have any troubles after that. So we continued our journey, through the plantations and as we got closer and closer to JB, the road started to become wider and more crowded until we were in a highway.

But the good thing was that the people actually gave way when we needed to filter left or right. I guess Malaysian drivers are actually better than Singaporeans. Malaysians don’t follow the law, but they understand that the road is meant to be shared among all users. Singaporeans on the other hand are forced by the laws to be law compliant; however most of them assume their father’s own the road.

The route to the new checkpoint was fairly straight forward and we clear it much faster on the way back. We made it back to near Serangoon Stadium at 6.20 and that was the end of our journey.

End of camping Nov

2008-12-03T16:11:00.001+08:00

November is over together with the 2 camps I went for.

The Woodbadge Residential camp was a single camp. It was pretty much like attending the camp as a scout (not refering to the troop camp in sec 1). Just pitch a tent, do your own cooking, some pioneering, a hike and a campfire to end it.

I guess the thing I will remember most about this camp is the food. It was the best food I have ever eaten in a camp thanks to an aunty (senior citizen) who attended the camp with us. The food we were having for each meal was way better then the catered food.

The other camp I attended was the National Patrol Camp 2008. It has been going on since 1997, but our troop never attended it before, maybe cos we had better things to do or the ALs were to internally focused. Anyways, we got a Silver banding, which means we are above average. I guess what is great is that the ALs had little help in preparing the patrol sent in, the PLs put in the effort to organise the trainings. So kudos to them.

As for myself, I attended the camp as part of the programme department. This was the department that made sure things were running on time and we ran the competitions. There was a competitions committee who planned the scoring and judges were appointed to give scores. The only event I was fully IC of was the backwoodsman competition, which I ran and it went well I guess. Other then that was helping out the main IC. I guess the main thing I picked up from the camp is the importance of having a competent HQ (the other part being operational [on the ground]). The people on the ground depend on the HQ to support them in doing the activities.

Overall both camps were quite slack so they were kind of a holiday.

Yesterday I drove to Malacca to recce the route we will take for the cycling. Will be meeting the participants later today, need to iron out some details, the main 2 being shifting the dates 1 day forward and the other is whether we will have a safety vechicle driver. We are not able to find one right now, so the options is not to have 1 or to rotate among the participants to drive. There are 3 of us who can drive, so if this is the option we choose, I guess I might end up driving for 2 days. See how, maybe will see if the national rover council (our sponsors) could help us solve this problem.

Getting my results tmr, see how that turns out.

Batman

2008-11-13T09:15:00.002+08:00

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/mayor-of-batman-takes-on-the-might-of-gotham-city-1015835.html

Some cock is trying to take on batman...

on my end

2008-11-07T20:35:00.002+08:00

anyway, on my side... started my new temp job... its ok.. not mentally hard.. but physically quite challenging..

racing against time.. coz i'm alone and i have to repack 1,200 will packets, from a collection of 6,000... then

1) label the 1,200 new packets... fastest i can do is about 35/hr
2) take out the 1,200 from the collection of 6,000.... about 120/hr.
3) put (2) into (1).... fastest i can do is about 20/hr
4) send the remaining 4,800 will packets to be scanned
5) send the 1,200 newly labelled will packets to be scanned...

*note, 4 and 5 has to happen simultaneously. infact (1)-(5) has to happen simultaneously so as to maintain the will packets in alphabetical order for normal office use.

the tricky bit is, see my timing, that's me working alone... the scanning crew, a professional scanning crew hired to do this project, takes about 5 seconds to scan one will packet and all its contents, or less.

and on top of that I have to do the movement of the packets from the strongroom to the scanning room and back.

The scanning team is going to catch up with me really really soon. Scanning only starts on monday and of the 6,000 only about 200 in total is ready to go. and yet today in their test run they already scanned 25 packets.

oh man.... company has been around for 125 years but now a temp employee has no time.

Yeah, exams are over.

2008-11-05T19:38:00.003+08:00

Yeah, exams are over. Wait for a month, get the results and see how this semester was...

Well, on good news, my marks for another module will be improved, hopefully improved enough that it jumps a grade, that would really be great. The would be more realistic to get the GPA of 3.5 I am aiming to get. Well, see how things go, still have at minimum one semester more.

Busy November it will be for me.
Will be in camp for 10 days this month, Woodbadge Course and helping out at the National Patrol Camp.
Some relatives from my mom side coming over, will definitely spend at least 3-4 days

so 14 out of the remaining 25 gone for this month. Well, December should be more slack, can get other stuff done...

Got to level 21 in Kangaroo Jack, think there is no end to this cheap game...

New online presence

2008-11-01T23:02:00.002+08:00

Created an online CV/Portfolio thingy....

still in the works of being tweaked and all...

check it out here

http://muhammad-shamir.blogspot.com

More Australian Entertainment

2008-10-19T21:48:00.001+08:00

I laughed when I read this...

2008-10-04T10:56:00.001+08:00

I guess it can only happen in Australia.

http://www.straitstimes.com/World/Story/STIStory_285685.html

Edited: Added the whole article.

Oct 4, 2008

Boy, 7, feeds zoo creatures to croc

SYDNEY: A seven-year-old boy broke into a popular outback zoo, fed a string of animals to the resident crocodile and bashed several lizards to death with a rock, the zoo's director said yesterday.

The boy jumped over a security fence at the Alice Springs Reptile Centre in central Australia early on Wednesday, and then went on a 30-minute killing spree, using a rock to slay three lizards, including the zoo's beloved 20-year-old goanna, which he then fed to 'Terry', a 3m-long, 200kg saltwater crocodile, said zoo director Rex Neindorf.

The boy, whose deadly acts were caught on the zoo's security camera, also threw several live animals to Terry over the two fences surrounding the crocodile's enclosure, at one point climbing over the outer fence to get closer to the giant reptile.

In the footage, the boy's face remains largely blank, Mr Neindorf said. It 'was like he was playing a game'.

The zoo's security system relies on sensors and probably did not detect the boy as he was so small, he said.

The boy caused the death of 13 animals worth around A$7,000 (S$7,900), including a turtle, bearded dragons and thorny devil lizards. Although none was rare, some will be difficult to replace, said Mr Neindorf. 'We're horrified that anyone can do this, and saddened by the age of the child,' he said.

Alice Springs police said they had identified the boy, who lives in the area, but were unable to press charges because of his age.

The zoo is planning to sue the boy's parents. 'If we can't put the blame on the child, then someone has to accept responsibility,' said Mr Neindorf.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In memory of a hero...

2008-10-02T22:44:00.000+08:00

It’s been 2 days since a patriot of Singapore died. Rest in peace JBJ.

We were told that we need to pay millions of dollars every year for
each of our leaders in order to ensure that the best people are always
in power. You proved them wrong. You gave up your cushy government job
and your money only to be insulted and treated with disdain. In my eyes
you were more qualified than any other to be our leader.

Thanks for everything.

JBJ

Being in the opposition in Singapore all these years has
cost you dearly and you even had to sell off your properties. Any
regrets?

I did not have many properties but I had to sell a bungalow in a
very fashionable area in Singapore to pay the judgement obtained by
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. Having sold that, three years later I
bought a small apartment, and then I had to sell that too. All in, I
had easily about 12 to 13 suits to pay off. Some people say I was a
fool. All I can say is I do not regret it because, to me, life is not
all about making money and acquiring wealth. Life is doing something
for the people around you.

Source: The Star

What does Jack and Girly Man have in common?

2008-09-28T16:11:00.004+08:00

Time to get a Samsung phone.

2008-09-26T11:19:00.002+08:00

It can do everything!

Kangaroo Jack Game

2008-09-25T20:09:00.004+08:00

Some of you all might have tried the exciting kangaroo jack game, and barely made it past level 1, if at all. If the owner of Jack did not get AUD 1 cent for everyone 1000 games played, we may not even have wanted to play the game.

But ahaha, I made it to Level 12 as shown above, after I got into god mode, unlimited lives! But even if I had 1000 lives, I doubt I could complete level 12. I figure that if a kangaroo wore your red jacket and ran away and you have to go through this to get that kangaroo, you would be more like to catch Osama and get the $25 mil then catch the kangaroo with the $50k.

So while the game has great music and an exciting intro, I give it 2 out of 5 stars for being so difficult to complete...

It's a bird, It's a plane, No! It's.....

2008-09-18T18:57:00.000+08:00

Indian Superman!!!!!!!!

Indian Superman Part 2

Mutton goes YAY!

2008-09-12T18:48:00.002+08:00

I don't get this. Cockster doesn't explain the link... I think he's just pulling this cock and bull story up coz he's a vegetarian himself.

Eat less meat to fight climate change: UN expert

People should cut their consumption of meat to help combat climate change, a top United Nations expert told a British Sunday newspaper.
Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told The Observer that people should start by having one meat-free day per week then cut back further.

The 68-year-old Indian economist, who is a vegetarian, said diet change was important in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental problems associated with rearing cattle and other animals.

"Give up meat for one day (per week) initially, and decrease it from there," he said.

"In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity."
Other small-scale lifestyle changes would also help to combat climate change, he said without elaborating.

"That's what I want to emphasise: we really have to bring about reductions in every sector of the economy."

Pachauri is due to give a speech in London on Monday under the title: "Global Warning: the impact of meat production and consumption on climate change".

Pachauri, who was re-elected for a second term six-year term as IPCC chairman last week, has headed the organisation since 2002 and oversaw its seminal assessment report in 2007 which gave graphic forecasts of the risks posed by global warming.

The IPCC warned then that without action the planet's rising temperatures could unleash potentially catastrophic change to earth's climate system, leading to hunger, drought, storms and massive species loss.

The organisation also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 along with former US vice president Al Gore.

Swiss Doughnut

2008-09-11T03:30:00.002+08:00

Wonder what Gab thinks of this experiment going on in Switzerland.... heck, If only Gordon Freeman was there... maybe something interesting might go on to create a good story for Half-Life 3, the only means the scientist can hope to recover their losses.

Or this could be the end of the world as we know it... particle collision creates Earth's largest nuclear explosion and a new black hole where Earth used to be. Or so the Tabloid on Mars will read before it too gets sucked up...

If that's the case... Good bye Gentlemen. Its been a priveledge flying with you.

Sprained my Ankle

2008-09-07T11:07:00.000+08:00

Yup, sprained it during my first RT session on Saturday. So just need to wait for a week or two for it to recover. See how it goes...

something right up our alley.

2008-09-05T00:21:00.001+08:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7592579.stm

read the article then read the user added comments below. if all of them constantly think like that then i fear we have some serious competition. :P

255% left to go

2008-08-29T16:04:00.002+08:00

Right now some groupmates of mine are printing out a 50% group assignment to be submitted in under an hour. Quite interesting, wonder why people like doing things so last minute. Maybe its the thrill of working till the last moment. More likely its laziness. Or its just cos ppl are not bother with producing quality. Nothing comes free and hardwork usually translates into good results (although I have been proven wrong both ways). I guess if I get a HD for this cheap module I wont really complain and just look past the issue, so see what comes.

This group had quite an interesting politics going on. On Wednesday, the main leader (a woman) confronted one of the members and asked him why he claimed that another group member did not do his work (more of a misunderstanding then the guy not really doing his work). So that was quite interesting. I am quite neutral to the particular matter, but I am kinda of support the accused guy, mainly cos he has done a better job in the project then the woman.

The woman was also quite interesting. Saying things like the guy will sabotage the project, so exclude him. I am think that is quite cock, cos he did do a better job then her in the 1st place and with so little time, keeping good quality ppl is essential. I guess instead of making assumptions in the matter, the woman should have found out the reasoning and thought about the matter objectively. And she should have put in more effort into her parts of the project. Diplomacy with a stick, thats always important.

Well, yesterday they seem to have sorted the episode for now, although the woman and the group member who 'did not do his part' left the group for like 30min, definately to discuss what to do with him. At least they have agreed to have a session next week to discuss the issue.

Well, at least this is over, still got 4 more of these project to finish. Can't wait for October.

Closing Hymn

2008-08-25T20:24:00.002+08:00

(Note, A Disclaimer: this post is a copy of the one on my blog so i do apologise if it sounds too overtly Christian but it is not my intention to convert here but to eulogize...)

Long ago, before i went thru my dark period in the army, there was a time when i was a Saint...not a saint as in a godly Christian guy...but a Saint as in a son of St Andrews School (SAS)..also called the Fighting Saints, the place where boys became men, the House of St Andrews, the blue and white, the SA Commonality..n i was a very self-righteous loyalist back in those days

Of course, over the years a lot of things have changed and God has changed me also..however, the 3 men who still made the most important impact on my life remain Jesus Christ, Harry Tan and John Calvin (well my own human father also but he's different, being my dad)...

Harry Tan, our former principal before Priscilla Krempl, passed away of cancer on the 7th of August. He was never my principal, having left the year before i entered the halls of St Andrews, but he came back on and off and taught a few after-school classes in Additional Mathematics which i attended, so he was my teacher at least.I remember him being full of wisdom and insight, being fast on his feet, a real thinker and a godly man who gave fiery devotions from the pulpit at morning devotion(n i was privileged to hear just one of these when he was invited back). His most famous quote was, "if you only had 5 seconds before the examiner said 'pens down!' how would u go about solving this equation?"generations of A-maths students survived and even did well thanks to Harry.And he was an avid commentator on sports, especially rugby, which was a quaint sport in Singapore, a left-over from British days, quite unlike here in Australia where it is the contemporary secular religion..oh n those stories every National Day! (when a boxing ring was set up in the quadrangle and where the boxing club gave a display of their prowess) Those stories of how Harry used to drag boys caught in gang fights and after school scuffles into the quadrangle and have them slug it out in front of the whole school..den they'd have a taste of wat a real fight was like..every son of St Andrews aspired to be like Harry, the epitome of Christian manhood, back in the day..

and he's gone...like dat..thus ends an era of our House's history..the days that are upon us bring no end of challenge and adversity, while we must needs make do without our principal,gone on to be with our Lord in the bosom of heaven..Oh, dat one day when we have finished our journey here on Earth, we also might join in with Harry in God's presence thru Jesus..oh..dat the grief of having Harry taken from us in such manner will be comforted by the thought of the infinite joys of heaven, the least of which is to see him again..dear Saints, brothers and sisters, from Harry's example learn trust, grace and readiness...while in this tent of flesh let us never put away our hope for the Day of Redemption that is to come..

May the final word go to the last stanza of the St Andrews Hymn,

Before us and beside us,
Still holden by Thy hand,
A cloud of unseen witness,
Our elder comrades stand;
One family unbroken,
We join in one acclaim;
One heart, one voice uplifting
To glorify Thy name.

Re: ten years on!

2008-08-16T05:55:00.002+08:00

thanks for bringing back the nostelgia... by the way, where are you guys now? I know jc and shamir are in australia, what about varun and tsang?

i just came back from china, was running english camps there with a missions orientation, and it was very enjoyable too. but life is such that everything is transient, including such enjoyable things, and the best we can make of these occasions are fonds memories to treasure.

I'm glad that even as I'm back home, there are people whom I can share memories of similar extents of fondness with. though each of us try to find our own path through life, we are still able to take the time to reminiese the past whenever events trigger the flashbacks.

Well, such is life, and lets make the most of it... I remember a time when life beyond secondary school was an abstract notion, I never even pondered the question of whether we would still remain in touch and if we would still be friends, but now I find it easier to extrapolate the situation to the rest of our lives... can see us wrinkled and white haired, attending each others funerals... hm... wonder which of us would go first.

Now as I start upon my chosen way,
In all I do, my thoughts, my work, my play,
Grant as I promise, courage new for me
To be the best, the best that I can be.

anyway, just so that i do not end the entry on the warped note, wanna ask who is/would be in singapore and can meet up before I return in October?

One Day

2008-08-14T04:36:00.002+08:00

They need to stop calling themselves Worker's Party and change their name to the Labour Party of Singapore again or Singapore Labour..a bit more polishing and maybe a Kevin Rudd like character to run as PM and best of luck at the next General Elections..you noe whom to vote yeah? Lightning bolt la then..

10 years on!

2008-08-12T01:35:00.001+08:00

Oh man! has it been that long already? I feel old!

I really do miss those days in SAS. Scouts was my life in those days and looking back, I, like Chua wish I had done things better. But I guess I should just leave the past and press on for the best possible future ya?

To Chua: I'm sure we'll all be just as friendly 10 years down the road la. There's not many opportunities to create new friendships that could possibly be as close as the frens you make in Secondary school right?

As for NDP, I remember the KFC and pizza hut and all the cool gifts we got. Back then, I thought that was the highlight of the show for me. But now, I realise the memory lives on even with the freebies long gone. Of course, when I watch the PAP banners in NDP, my mind is filled with disgust! We've matured somewhat!

Re-Reply: 10 years to this day

2008-08-10T10:00:00.002+08:00

Can't remember who was the head of state for that parade, it was SR's first? What I remember about the parade itself was observing Lam (diagonally infront of me) look up at the planes flying past. Alot of toe wriggling and alot of free food during the trainings. Early teenagers wont work for peanuts, but they work well for free pizza hut or KFC meals. Throw in the bonus can drinks and black jelly and they are highly motivated to stand still for one hour.

To more important matters, I considered the training for the parades we did (Gab did one, Chua none [not leaving out you guys ;)]} the starting point of our friendship. Not that we did not know each other in sec 1s, remember comparing which patrol had to do the most push-ups (clement always had plenty to give), but the footdrill trainings was THE FIRST event to bond us together. Of course AFGMs, PLTC, Orientation Camps, RTC, PLCs and dealing with the ah-beng scouts one batch lower provided the problems that required us working together and thus a strong level of trust was formed as we tackled these problems together. Thats how I look at it and I think its about right...

10 Years On

2008-08-10T01:47:00.002+08:00

Time moves onward as we all know full well..10 years is a long time to recall..i wish i'd done things better and more boldly..n i feel thankful that some of the frens i was with 10 years ago are still with mi today..of course, we've all changed in our own ways..some things dun of course, like Varun and his wisecracks that never fail to get under my skin..

i've found it much harder to make frens as i get older..n i find i need human beings less than when i did at 14..in fact, going my own way seems to be preferrable to doing wat the crowd does..n sometimes i feel nostalgic for those naive, innocent days in SAS..

10 years time i do hope that we'll all be equally close n frenli..den again, who knows?

Reply: 10 years to this day

2008-08-09T23:48:00.002+08:00

I remember trying to turn my head but not look like i was turning my head to see Nathan as he drove in his car just behind our contingent... we were in the back end of all the contingents i remember.. and we were the last few years to have our own Scout contingent.. and not have it mixed up with the guides...

if i remember correctly...

and all that free food....

:) Good old days... just before my life too a drastic change.... so i guess i'm coming to the first decade of a new me...

10 years to this day

2008-08-09T20:25:00.002+08:00

Was watching the NDP parade just now and was thinking about what some of us were doing 10 years ago. Long way since then...

Been very busy recently, this sem has so many projects. I guess tests/exams are better than having much assignments as they take up alot of time. One of my assignments seems fun, writing about a leader and his/her style. The business plan assignment has good practical value and hence I see it as a positive exercise. Got another 2 about integrating theory with the real world, finished one, got one more. A real chore, cheap assignments...

Oh well, I guess once this month is over, will be less taxing in sch, 3 assignments and 2 tests will be down and my sats will free up. Will have 3 more assignments to complete, but I think it will be relatively more free. But going to have more exercising to do in Sep with RT and cycling training coming up, so that will be taking alot of my energy (at least not mental energy, :)).

Small but Tough

2008-08-05T23:24:00.001+08:00

i like commercials with a dark twist

Albi, Albi...

2008-07-21T21:37:00.001+08:00

...Laughed the Little Albanian Boy

A post

2008-07-16T08:33:00.001+08:00

Yup, good on you Shamir, make sure you get a kiss from your Gaylong friend. I am sure he will be delighted. Always good to get grades you deserve, anything higher is a bonus.

As for me, nothing much is really happening, just bogged down by 2 assignments. Really heavy stuff. On the plus side, once I clear them, I will only have 3 modules to contend with, so that will be great. Hope to clear them by next week. Once I clear them, can back to working on my biz. :)

Woah

2008-07-15T22:54:00.001+08:00

Excellent grades Shamir! I've never ever got that kinda results ever in my life! goodness!

hahaha, for the scrabble game i'm not really looking for a bingo or anything. I just have shitty tiles. You're doing much better for real dude.

toodaloo!

2008-07-14T23:11:00.003+08:00

yo peeps..

got my grades today.. did better than i expected... 4 HDs out of 4 modules... guess i can't get better than that unless i'm the top student or something..

Production Project 1 - HD
Media Industries 1 - HD
Adventures in Asian Popular Culture - HD
Popular Music and Society - HD

and now just 2 more sems to go... got my timetabling to do in a few hours.. but I've got nothing to slot on Mondays so at least i'm going to have mondays free.

then Tuesdays only 3 hours in the morning, and Wednesdays are 2 mid/early afternoon lectures and Thursdays is the one I can schedule.. either I have a weird ass long break in between the day or I can schedule classes for the morning or afternoon... ending at 13.30 or 15.30... see what i can get. Fridays are also decent, with only a morning seminar thingy...

so it looks like contact hours wise, next sem is going to be ok.. but then workload wise, its probably going to remain a killer. see how it goes.

as for other things... finally I seem to be doing better than Tsang in our scrabble game... he's like beaten me for the past 10 games and this one i seeeeem to be doing slightly better.. .but i think he's just waiting for an opening and then he'll bingo me and i'll be screwed again. hahaha...

the love birds are still here, haven't seen them in a week though.... wonder how they're doing...

toodaloo!

Nice Pictures

2008-07-01T15:17:00.004+08:00

Some interesting photos to see, the black guy must have missed this sign when he went to Sparta. The next time you Look at what the cat has dragged in, check to see if it is a bandicoot...
*Chua can also be on the look out for bandicoots...
On a bright note, school is starting tmr. :)
Hope Shamir has fun with his friends...

The week gone by...

2008-06-24T18:32:00.005+08:00

Had a busy week since i was back on tue.
tue had a slack day, just to recover
thu shamir's friend was setting up the rack in the cage, so i was involved in that for the whole day
fri - prep for the malacca recce, also had the AAR for group camp at night
sat - sun - drove to malacca from along the west coast of malaysia, was quite a good trip, went with alex and liz. It was quite a fun trip, went to Tanjong Piai, Batu Pahat, Muar, Malacca town centre area and A Famosa (some resort place). Good trip, all in all the cycling trip will be around 480km, so i think that is fine for a 4 day trip.
Grateful to Alex for coming along and helping out with the driving and getting the Malaysian contacts. Hopefully he also benefited by checking out the Ultra-lights at A Famosa and might have found a plot of land he could do flying. Liz also was great company keeping the trip lively and enjoyable. Hopefully she had fun on a budget.
On Monday I got out the plan for the cycling trip, will meet my partner ZheYin on Sat to work out the details. We managed to win the 1k subsidy from the national rover council, so that should cover a fair bit of the expenses, especially if only a few of us go for the trip (hopefully 10).
On Tue - Thu this week I have the Standard 1st Aid Course, just doing it for the cert, but its a good refresher and chance to correct any mistakes I would have done. So I have Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday free before I start on my next semester, hopefully I will do better than the last one, in terms of GPA.
^Only 1 type of result will meet the requirements. :)

Australia Trip ~ June 08

2008-06-19T23:28:00.003+08:00

Day 1 0506 - Landed in Darwin and Melbourne
Flew Tiger Airways to Melbourne via Darwin on an overnight flight. Landed in Melbourne airport at around 7. Tiger really was cutting costs by using Terminal 4, where the bag collection area was just a fenced up sheltered area.
Shamir woke up late, so I made my way to Southern Cross station on the Sky Bus instead of meeting him at the airport. All the better I suppose, since the Sky Bus costs a lot to travel on. Melbourne was pleasantly cool with some fog on that day. So I met Shamir at Southern Cross and from there we went to his place to dump my stuff. Walked around the area while waiting.
We decided that the day would be spent walking around. So we first went to RMIT campus, which was just a bunch of buildings close together, cos it was smack in the city. After strolling through the campus, we went to Queen Victoria Market, which sold all kinds of stuff. Saw some normal stuff and some unusual stuff including Kangaroo skins and Carpet Pythons. There were 2 sections, one that was like a permanent Pasar Malam and the other a proper building, mainly selling food stuff.
We walked to Flinders Street Station from QVM and walked through Melbourne's shopping district. There was not really anything exciting going on. From Flinders, we took a tram to St. Hilda's. We got some cakes and went to the beach to have them. Shamir did not eat his poppy cake. We just slacked at the beach, looking into the day, watching the sea gulls fight amongst themselves. It was quite entertaining watching an aggressive gull fighting against the rest.
We then walked down Chapel Street, another shopping district. Saw a man on blades being dragged by 2 small dogs along that road. On the other end, we met Karen, Shamir's friend in Melbourne. Her friend Alice was visiting her. Together, we headed to Chadstone, which was the largest shopping mall in the Southern Hemisphere. I was just interested in looking at the supermarket. Went back home after that.

Day 2 0606 - GOR
Today we went to the Great Ocean Road (GOR). Karen had lent us her car (without us asking no less), and I drove. Shamir was V comm. He only screwed up once, but we only went an additional 700m, which is nothing when driving. Went down to M1, which was the main highway leading to Geelong from Melbourne. I realised that the car had a slow pick-up speed and I was keen to try using the 2nd gear option that John had explained the night before, although I wanted to use it on the open road, when noone was around. When we reached GOR, I did try it out and it worked perfectly, like going on a low gear and stepping on the accelerator, so there was alot of power.
GOR was a windy scenic road, really quite a pleasant drive. We stopped here and thee along the way to take pictures and take in the view. The weather was not great till abit after lunch, which we had at Apollo Bay. The weather changed when we went through the forest and the glare of the sun was quite scary. When it first blocked our view, I was about 10m and just before a sharp right turn. The only thing that guided me was the sign board in front. Luckily there was also no oncoming traffic. After that incident there was a few more glaring moments but I had the over shades on so it was not too bad. We reached the 12 Apostles at around 2 and the view was spectacular. It was worth while driving the distance to see it. There was also a blow hole nearby and we saw an island that had mutton birds on it, aptly named Mutton Bird Island.
We made our way back via Port Campbell and hit the A1. Around 50km from Geelong, we were stopped at a police road block. Had my licensed checked and was given the green light by the officer. Guess there is no better way to confirm that a Singapore's driving license is valid in Australia. Also switched on the lights properly, before which I was driving on the parking lights. Cheap Toyotas had a different lights system. GOR was excellent; I enjoyed the sights, the drive and the experience. 9 hours on the road and over 500km covered.

Day 3 0706 - Yarra Valley
Karen wanted to go to the Yarra Valley and kindly invited Shamir, his family and I to go along. We went to Green Point, a vineyard, where we had a tour of the wine processing. Learnt some interesting stuff like red wine got its colouring from fermenting of its skin, as the fruit part of all grapes is white. Also some wine is riddled, which means fermented for a second time and after doing so, the yeast has to be removed. Tasted a few types of wine as well, with a white one that had a really interesting taste.
We had lunch after the tour at Healesville, a nearby village. After that, we went to Miss Marples, which was in the mountain nearby. Miss Marples is a quaint English Cafe that was supposed to be common a long time ago. Unfortunately, it was too crowded, so we decided to skip having anything there. We instead went to a tea speciality shop just beside Miss Marples. It stored a huge variety of teas, mixed with different ingredients to give them interesting tastes.
We went to a Jazz Club in the city at night and it was a blast to say the least. I was fascinated by the guy playing the bass (with a Cello like instrument) who did a solo. Really impressive. And he was the boss, who was going to get married the next day and was going to close the club the next day for the first time in 15 years. Impressive record he had.

Day 4 - 0806 - Philip Island
Had lunch today with Shamir's mum's sister's collegue, a Frenchman and his Chinese wife. After that we went to Philip Island, which John drove us to. First we went to see Noobies, which was a place the penguins were living on. Saw a few chicks in their burrows. After that we went to the Penguin Parade. It was cute to see the penguins come out of the sea. I found it interesting, how they built up the place to showcase something natural. As we came quite late, we started by standing from quite far behind initially. As people left after a short while, we moved forward, till the 2nd row. So I guess that was good, we waited for less then 5 minutes, saw the penguins from far and eventually from nearby. The penguins waited for a cluster to form before crossing the beach. Guess they want the protection before doing the dangerous crossing.

Day 5 - 0906 - Flying to Sydney
Did not do much today, just flew from Melbourne to Sydney. Sort of a rest day. Went to a place in the Northern suburbs and stayed with a woman, Rhonda, whom I found on couchsurfing.com. A nice 58 woman who let foreign strangers stay with her. She was kind enough to offer a bed and even provide a towel. I just took the day off to map out my plans in Sydney.

Day 6 - 1006 - Blue Mountains
Went to the blue mountains (BM) today, was a 3.5hr train journey to get to Katoomba, the main station to get around BM. Used my seesydneycard to pay for the Explorer Bus which was a bus that drove around and on which you could get on or off at different stops to take a look around those places. When I arrived there, I thought it would be a bad day at the Blue Mountains as it rained on the train ride in. Katoomba was just misty and fortunately for me, the mist cleared by mid day. Took the steepest train ride down and took the cable car back up. BM was a beautiful place, with every lookout point and turn presenting beautiful views. A nice place to visit for a day or 2 it is.

Day 7 - 1106 - Sydney Central
Went to Sydney Central area today with the aim of maximizing the seesydneycard. My first stop, the world famous Sydney Opera House for a tour of the place. While I am not a fan of opera and the likes, I am a fan of world famous places and the Opera House is right on. As I would see later on, the building is beautiful from all angles and at all times. The tour was great, got to know more about its history saw the theatres inside and even saw a school band practising for their performance later that night. Great tour, well worth the time.
After that I went to the Rocks, which is just across the ferry terminal for the Rocks Walking Tour. Another excellent tour in which I found out more about the oldest district in Australia and what life was like in the early days.
Went on the Jet Boat cruise from Circular Key after the tour, was a good open deck tour of the harbour area. After reaching Shark Island, the boat went into full gear. It was nothing compared to the RHIBs I was used to, but I did get a splash of water on me, haha, also nothing compared to my days at CNB. An Indian lady stared at me as if it were shocking that I got wet.
I went to the Sydney Museum after that. Was a small museum, on the historical development of the Sydney. Not highly recommended unless you can get in for free, like me.
I quickly rushed over to the Pylon Lookout, which was really great. There were great views of the Opera House, the bay areas and the Harbour Bridge from the side. Worth-while seeing, maybe more so than the Harbour Bridge Climb.
I took the ferry from Circular Quay to Darling Harbour to visit the Sydney Aquarium. The aquarium was fairly interesting, with seals and nurse sharks to view from underwater and above.
Went to the Sydney Tower after that and had a view of Sydney at night. Nice views from the tower.

Day 8 - Sydney and beyond
Went to town early today, to catch the bus tour departing from Star City (the casino) which started at 0830. The tour covered several suburbs of Sydney which had beautiful views of the bay from their front doors. Went to Arabanoo Lookout, a point facing the Pacific Ocean. After that the tour went to Manly Beach, which was a nice beach with a shopping strip (The Corso) separating the 2 Manly beaches. Went to the art museum there which had an exhibition on food, so there were some interesting paintings related to food. Went to Ocean World after that which was like the Sydney Aquarium but had some reptiles in there and did not have seals. The unique thing it had was a clear bottom under its tunnel, so one can see the sea bed creatures resting on the sea bed.
Took a ferry back to Circular Quay after the aquarium visit and headed straight to Wildlife World, which housed native Australian animals. Fairly interesting place where I saw some Wallabies fighting among themselves.
I walked to the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) which is a shopping centre built within one of the city's oldest markets. I went on the guided tour, in which I happened to be the only touring member. So it was an interesting tour in which the tour guide was plainly talking to me. I found the tour to be quite informative, with insights that Chinese were in Australia early on as miners, there was a bomb blast just outside the building in 1979 and the building is owned by Singapore.
After the tour, I had just enough time to visit the Powerhouse Museum, which was a museum showcasing exhibits relevant to Australians. Apparently its free after 4, but it closes at 5, so only can have a short visit when there.
Went back to Chinatown after visiting the museum and bought a packet of dried red chillies which I used to cook dinner for Rhonda and her family, Vegetarian Ravioli and Chilly Chicken.

Day 9 - Meeting Sydneyers
David drove me to the city today, since he worked there and so from Town Hall station, I made my way to Central Station, where I met Arjun, a friend I had made from Utopia. It was my first time meeting him. We took a bus to UNSW where I toured his campus before bidding him farewell as he had an exam later. We were supposed to meet again later in the evening but he had a guest at his place he had to entertain, so we did not meet again. After visiting UNSW, I walked to Randwick Circus and went on to Coogee Beach from where I began the Coogee-Bondi cliff walk. The walk was great, with good views of the cliffs and beaches along the way. The weather threatened to rain, but it did not rain. In fact it was warm enough for me to comfortable wear a t-shirt for the entire duration of the walk. Bondi was a disappointment, since it was deserted mostly, but I guess that’s how it is on a winter's Friday. I had tuna steak at Bondi, which was something I had always wanted to try. Also tried Kirk's passion fruit drink, that is a good drink to try, not too sweet or gassy, but had a good taste.
Went back to town area after Bondi and since I had plenty of time, I went walking around and walked to Circular Quay, where I went for a joy ride on the ferry to Parramatta. It was quite dark so I guess I did not see the inner harbour well, but what I found interesting was trees growing in the waters, like a mangrove swamp, but without the smell. Never knew such kind of plants existed.
I met Chua and his Swedish friend at Central Station and we walked over to Chinatown to have a Korean BBQ dinner. That was a good meal, cooked the Seoul Garden way, cooking your own meal. When Chua put salad over the meat, the waitress asked if that’s how we BBQ in our country. Chua explained that he had learnt this from another Korean place. So I guess it was a difference between North and South.
After that we went to Sydney Square, which was a revolving lounge. It had great views of the harbour bridge, opera house and the surrounding buildings. We were there for 2 hours and that’s how long it took to make a full circle.
Almost missed my stop on the way back, as I was sleeping on the train, so when it pulled at the Warrawee station, I opened my eyes to find that I was on my stop and quickly ran out of the train. Made it like 1 second before the doors closed.

Day 10 - Back to Melbourne
Woke up at 4.30am to say goodbye to Rhonda who was leaving earlier that day for work. Thanked her for the accommodation and hosting me. I woke up much later in the morning, to take the train to the airport for flying off.
Arrived in Melbourne abit late, due to a series of delays including long boarding time, waiting time before taking off due to heavy traffic and the pilot stopped short of the aerobridge in Melbourne. Just went to Chadstone later that night to watch Narnia, which I thought was quite a good movie to catch.

Day 11 - Melbourne Again
Went to the Sunday Market at St. Kilda's. Quite an interesting market. All goods sold has to be handmade. Ended up buying some presents for Shamir's family, a Thorny Devil for Shamir, Bilby for Sherhan and 2 mugs for his mother and step dad. I also was given a mug for myself.
We went to the Shrine of Remembrance, which is a tribute to all the soldiers from Victoria who have died for their country. It is an impressive building with sculptures and displays with great meaning.
We went to the Eureka Tower after that, and got a bird's eye view of Melbourne. We went to the Edge, which was a horizontal lift that carries people outside of the building itself. Had a nice look down through the glass. 8 seconds for us to hit the bottom if we jumped out. Also went to an open area of the building. Enjoyed some strong cold winds out there. After that went back and tried charcoal chicken before flying off to Darwin.

Day 12 - Darwin
Slept in Darwin airport for the night, rather uncomfortable sleep on the carpet. I decided to do a walkabout in Darwin and did so with my bag, which was not too heavy, only 9kg. So I walked out of the airport. I found that stretch interesting as it looked like the typical Australian outback, maybe abit more vegetation. Red soil, interesting trees and a bright sun shine. I walked towards the town centre, going from the eastern beaches. There was one part where I noticed the tracks of people ran out and I found out why. There was a rocky outcrop between the beaches. So I crossed that carefully, slipping once only.
I reached the town centre around 4 hours after setting off. There was not really much going on there, so I decided to go to Casuarina. It was a suburb which I found to be bigger than I expected. Took me 40min to walk from the centre to the beach which was huge and mostly empty. Spent sometime just stoning there.
Went back to the city centre after that and walked around there for abit. All the shops closed by 5pm in the main road, except unsurprisingly, a Chinese restaurant.
Before heading on the public bus that stops relatively near to the airport, I saw the ruins of a building near the bus terminal. It was a former government building destroyed by Cyclone Tracey in 1975. Just to look at the ruins was quite impressive display of the power of the cyclone.
Darwin is also a good place to see the true picture of Australia’s aboriginal people. Saw a group of men walking to the beach with a carton of beer and a bag of ice in the morning and in the evening. Guess they have yet to find their place in the new Australia.
On my walk in to the airport, I had a pleasant surprise waiting in front of me. It was a Western Brown Snake. It was laying still just in front of where I was walking and fortunately for me, I stopped 2m before it. Gave it a wide berth before carrying on my journey. I was on the look out for them as I knew I was in their territory and they were nocturnal.
My kiasuism in lining up for tickets early paid off as I got an emergency exit seat, which was good expect that the seat could not lean back, but had more leg room.

All in all, the trip to Australia was excellent, definitely one with fun and exciting moments to remember. It did capture the essence of the travelling I like doing, which is encountering genuine problems and having to use my wits to get over them to reap the rewards of travelling.

--Chua to send me photos from the restaurant and Sydney Square--

~~~~Check out shamir's blog for melb pictures~~~~

so why did the chicken cross the road?

2008-06-19T19:57:00.001+08:00

BARACK OBAMA:
The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken
wanted CHANGE!

JOHN MC CAIN:
My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to
engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side
of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON:
When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the
road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure -- right from
Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves
to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.......

DR. PHIL:
The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must
first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after
the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him
realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems
before adding 'NEW' problems.

OPRAH:
Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he
wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn
from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to
give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and
not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

GEORGE W. BUSH:
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to
know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is
either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

COLIN POWELL:
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image
of the chicken crossing the road...

ANDERSON COOPER - CNN:
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been
allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

JOHN KERRY:
Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it!
It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken ' s
intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

NANCY GRACE:
That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his
eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART:
No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a
standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price
dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the
chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To die in the rain. Alone.

JERRY FALWELL:
Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth?'
That's why they call it the 'other side.' Yes, my friends, that chicken
is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we
boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal
media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like ' the other side.
That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as
simple as that.

GRANDPA:
In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told
us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS:
Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the
chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it
experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its
life long dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON:
Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES:
I have just released eChicken2008, which will not only cross roads, but
will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check
book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken. This new
platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% .........
reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN:
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the
chicken?

BILL CLINTON:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of
chicken?

AL GORE:
I invented the chicken!

COLONEL SANDERS:
Did I miss one?

DICK CHENEY:
Where's my gun?

AL SHARPTON:
Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

OneRepublic

2008-06-12T04:53:00.002+08:00

Jono's song recommendation of the week is One Republic's Stop and Stare for its catchy lyrics, melody and down-tempo pseudo-accoustic beat..

2008-06-08T23:12:00.002+08:00

the most dumb piece-o-crap i discovered this sem is the fact that appeals for extension to a submission date are approved or denied after the submission date has passed...even if its submitted with the supporting documentation early..like 2 weeks early...ridiculous university administration is juz more trouble den its worth..i figure its part of an amazin conspiracy plan where the trouble u've got to go thru to get a time extension approved is so high that students will juz submit their work in on time even if they're half dead with flu or suicidal from family issues or if their families have gone bankrupt..nevermind it all...die if u must...juz get the work in on time..

i wonder if i shd really juz drop the whole damn course and go work in an architectural design firm for a year or 2..forget the whole damn thing and university...screw it all to hell man..i can draught and get a decent pay and juz continue studyin design and architecture on my own time and own terms without worryin bout anythin like deadlines and lousy criticism..screw it all man..

forget it..i'm rantin..but really, i should do more to get an internship in a firm..been watchin quite a bit of House and Battlestar Galactica recently..should find time to squeeze in lines like "you need a plastic surgeon more than you need friends" during decent conversation to maybe spice it up a little..mean? mean is what you call someone who doesn't really care..i do...just as much as you would really care for public criticism..which isn't much but still is there..

so then..i'll talk to anyone who can tell mi how screwed up life really is..but if you're optimist...too bad for ya..i should get some sleep...am heading to Sydney tm..

Group Camp + Tang Dynasty Burns

2008-05-29T18:20:00.002+08:00

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singaporeseen/viewContent.jsp?id=23966

Good to see some rebelious scouts burning down a chief cockster's home...

It has been quite a busy holiday so far, been busy preparing for the camp and finding out about setting up my business. Busier than school timings, haha.

Well the main bulk will end on Monday, so at least I have led the group camp as a main coordinator once, and can claim to have done it properly, unlike Shamir's good friend. Coming camps should have enough of these ppl to be the main organisers, clement, kcf, shamir and by then should be some new guys around.

May Work

2008-05-28T14:53:00.001+08:00

arrgghhhhhhh. can i just scream that there's so much work to do!!! not because there really is a lot of work to do but because i'm procrastinating like crazy and that i think i'm certainly doing more than some of my group mates!!

GRRRR!!!!!!!!!

LOTR ~ Parallel Universe

2008-05-15T23:22:00.002+08:00

Another night of WOTR and yet a completely different story it turned out to be.

Saruman started by coming out early, and being aggressive. The uruk hai made short work of Rohan, completely overrunning them, with no chance of survival. It was quick and unfortunate, Rohan was history so quickly.

Saruman then moved to defend himself, from the dangerous trees, haha, but he did not need it. Aragon made it to Minas Tirith to be crowned and Gondor stood strong, too strong for 20 sauron units, 10 southerons and 6 elite isengard units to take it. It was a deadlock.

So the battle raged North. Lorien was whacked by the Balrog and the forces from Dol Guldor made short work of those remaining. Rivendale fell next, under that same force, which was lead by the Mouth of Sauron. Interesting his encounter must have been with Elron. Forces from Angmar and Mount Gundabad came down on the shire and conquered it easily. Far north east, Dale was left unguarded and the Eastlings took it easily. The Free Peoples lost when Peligar fell. Gondor too contributed to their demise.

Listening Modes

2008-05-05T21:08:00.002+08:00

Tsang would find this interesting. I got to do this listening assignments and this is part of the notes for it. But maybe the rest of you will too... coz its not just music.. but can be listening of any kind... like listening in a lecture or whatever.

****
Listening mode: a distinctive attitude or approach that can be brought to bear on a listening experience. Some simple possible listening modes:

Distracted listening.
Distracted listening occurs where the listener pays no conscious attention whatsoever to the music. Typically, the listener is occupied with other tasks, and may even be unaware of the existence of the music.

Tangential listening.
Tangential listening is similar to distracted listening except that the listener is engaged in thought whose origin can be traced to the music, but the thought is largely tangential to the perceptual experience itself. An auditor is engaged in tangential listening when preoccupied with thoughts such as: why did the concert organizers program me this work? Isn't that the oboist who played at the last chamber music concert? I wonder how much money the guest artist makes in a year? Tangential listening behaviors may occasionally approach what might be called metaphysical listening:

Metaphysical listening.
Metaphysical listening is also similar to distracted listening insofar as the listener may not be especially attentive to the on-going perceptual experience. But the listener may be engaged in thinking about questions of some importance related to the work, such as: what motivated the composer to write this work? what does this music mean? why do I find this work so appealing? etc.

Signal listening.
Truax coined the term "listening-in-readiness" to denote the state of a listener waiting for some expected auditory event. E.g., rather than laboriously count hundreds of bars of rest, a percussionist may recognize a certain musical passage as a cue or "alarm" -- signaling the need to prepare to perform. In effect, the music is heard in terms of a set of signals or sign-posts. Similarly, a dance couple may wait for a dance tune with a desired tempo before proceeding on to the dance floor. A more sophisticated example of signal listening occurs whe listening to a work known or assumed to be in sonata-allegro form; the listener will wait for features in the music that signal the advent of the next structural division, such as the advent of the development section, or the beginning of the second theme in the recapitulation.

Sing-along listening.
This form of listening is characterized by the listener mentally "singing-along" with the music. This mode of listening presupposes that the listener is already familiar with the work. Distinctive of this listening mode is a highly linear conception of the work in which a replay of memory is synchronized with an actual rendition. The listener's behavior is not unlike that of a recording which, when started at any given point in the music, can continue forward to the end of the work. Where a work is particularly well known to a listener, sing-along listening may occur as a purely mental activity without the mnemonic assistance of an actual performance. (See the work of Andrea Halpern.)

Lyric listening.
In music containing a vocal text, a listener may pay special attention to "catching" the lyrics and attending to their meaning. Lyric listening is possible only when the music contains lyrics in a language which is understood by the listener. Where the lyrics of a work are well known to a listener, the lyrics themselves may act as mnemonics for a form of "sing-along listening."

Programmatic listening.
While listening to music, many listeners imagine certain situations or visualize certain scenes -- such as rolling waves, mountain vistas, city streets, and so forth. In programmatic listening the listening experience is dominated by such forms of non-musical referentiality. Musical works that are overtly programmatic in construction may be assumed to enhance or promote such a listening mode. However, programmatic listening may arise even in the case of ostensibly non-programmatic works.

Allusive listening.
Allusive listening may be said to occur where a listener relates moments or features of the music to similar moments or features in other musical works. (`This reminds me of a passage in Bartók ...'). Allusive listening may be viewed as a form of referential listening in which the referential connection is made to the domain of music itself. Philip Tagg (1979) has made extensive use of allusive listening as a tool for studying musical meaning. Tagg has created musical "dictionaries" by asking listeners to construct lists of musical works of which a given work reminds them.

Reminiscent listening.
In reminiscent listening, music serves to remind the auditor of past experiences or circumstances in which the music was previously heard or encountered. The reminiscent listener's primary focus of attention is on the remembrance of past events -- or more particularly, on the remembrance of emotions experienced in conjunction with the past events.

Identity listening.
A listener engaged in asking any "what is" question regarding the music is engaged in what might be called "identity listening." Typical "what is" questions are: What is this instrument I am listening to? Is that a Neapolitan sixth chord? What is the meter signature? What language are the lyrics in? Who might the composer be? What is the style of this music called? etc. Identity listening often employs allusive listening as a problem-solving tactic.

Retentive listening.
The goal of "retentive listening" is to remember what is being heard. Retentive listening is most commonly encountered when music students perform ear training or dictation exercises. Unlike many other modes of listening, retentive listening is very much a problem-solving behavior. A composer in the process of improvising might use retentive listening skills to recall a fleeting passage or an appealing juxtaposition of notes.

Fault listening.
Fault listening occurs where the listener is mentally keeping a leger of faults or problems. A high-fidelity buff may note problems in sound reproduction. A conservatory teacher may note mistakes in execution, problems of intonation, ensemble balance, phrasing, etc. A composer is apt to identify what might be considered lapses of skill or instances of poor musical judgment. Fault listening tends to be adopted as a strategy under three circumstances: 1) where an obvious fault has occurred, the listener switches from a previous listening mode and becomes vigilant for the occurrence of more faults (this is a type of signal listening); 2) where the role of the listener is necessarily critical -- as in tutors, conductors, or music critics; or 3) where the listener has some a priori reason to mistrust the skill or integrity of the composer, performer, conductor, audio system, etc.

Feature listening.
This type of listening is characterized by the listener's disposition to identify major "features" that occur in the work -- such as motifs, distinctive rhythms, instrumentation, etc. The listener identifies the recurrence of such features, and also identifies the evolutions or changes which the features undergo. The "feature listening" mode may be considered superficially to be a creative union of two other listening modes: retentive listening (identification and remembrance of features), and signal listening (recognition of previously occurring features).

Innovation listening.
A variant form of allusive listening is one based, not upon the recognition of similarities to previous compositions, but upon the identification of significant musical novelty. Innovation listening is characterized by a vigilant listening-in-readiness for a musical feature, gesture, or technique that is unprecedented in the listener's experience. Composers may be especially prone to engage in innovation listening.

Memory scan listening.
When an auditor knows a work by memory, a special type of signal listening called scan listening is possible. An auditor may approach a memorized work with a question concerning the occurrence of a certain event: For example, the auditor may be interested in knowing whether the composer has used timpani in a given work; or does the word "but" occur in the lyrics to "Row Row Row Your Boat?" The scan listener will mentally execute a speedy rendition of a work in order to answer a given question. What distinguishes scan listening from signal listening is that the auditor tends to be impatient: the tempo of the music can be doubled or quadrupled to advantage for the scan listener.

Directed listening.
Directed listening entails a form of selective attention to one element of a complex texture; the listener purposely excludes or ignores other aspects of the music. For example, the auditor may attend to a single instrument for a short or prolonged period of time. Directed listening may ensue as a result of a listener's special interest, or may result from suggestions made by others. When a listener is concurrently viewing a notated score, it is possible that a visual attraction or interest in a particular aspect of a score may cause the listener to selectively attend to the corresponding sounds. The Norton Scores use a highlighting method to draw attention to various parts in orchestral scores. These scores thus dispose listeners to adopt a directed listening mode.

Distance listening.
Distance listening is characterized by an ongoing iterative recapitulation of the music up to the current moment in the work. As the music unfolds, the listener attempts to thread together past events and to build a complete scenario or over-view of the entire work. The distance listener is apt to make mental notes of the advent of new "sections" in the work. Distance listening may be likened to the task of memorizing a list of words. Beginning with a few words, the memorized words are iteratively repeated, each time adding a new word to the memorized list.

Ecstatic listening.
The term `ecstatic listening' is meant here in a very concrete and technical way. On occasion music will elicit a sensation of "shivers" localized in the back, neck and shoulders of an aroused listener -- a physiological response technically called frisson. The frisson experience normally has a duration of no more than four or five seconds. It begins as a flexing of the skin in the lower back, rising upward, inward from the shoulders, up the neck, and sometimes across to the cheeks and onto the scalp. The face may become flush, hair follicles flex the hairs into standing position, and goose bumps may appear (piloerection). Frequently, a series of `waves' will rise up the back in rapid succession. The listener feels the music to have elicited an ecstatic moment and tends to regard the experience as involuntary. Goldstein (1980) has shown that some listeners report reduced excitement when under a clinically-administered dose of an opiate receptor antagonist, naloxone -- suggesting that music engenders endogenous opioid peptides characteristic of pleasurable experiences. Sloboda (1991) has found evidence linking "shivers" responses to works especially loved by subjects.

Emotional listening.
Emotional listening is characterized by deeply felt emotion. The music engenders feels of sorrow or joy, resignation, great satisfaction. Occasionally there will be overt signs of emotion, such as the sensation of a lump in one's throat, imminent or overt weeping, or smiling. The emotions may be related to current events in the listener's life, but the feelings are more apt to seem non-specific and to arise `from nowhere'.

Kinesthetic listening.
This form of listening is characterized by the auditor's compulsion to move. Feet may tap, hands may conduct, or the listener may feel the urge to dance. The experience is not so much one of `listening' to the music, as the music `permeating' the body. Kinesthetic listening is best described as `motivation' rather than `contemplation'.

Performance listening.
When performers listen to works that are part of their own repertoire, they may experience a form of vicarious performance. For conductors, instrumentalists, and vocalists, arms, fingers, and vocal cords may subliminally re-create the gestures and performance actions involved during actual performance. In such cases, listening may be mediated by an acute awareness of the listener's body. For example, musical passages that are difficult to execute may evoke a heightened sense of tension -- whether or not the sonic gesture conveys some musical tension.

N.B. This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

****

0.50

2008-04-29T15:14:00.002+08:00

I have 2 papers left(11 actually, but thats for the whole course, unless they change the syllabus, which I hope they do, then I have 10 papers left). So far it has been going well, I suppose, but definately not perfect, haha. Why can't humans be perfect? Well, instead of finding out why, lets just accept the fact and live with it.

Interestingly, I have noticed that some students seem to be better then the rest of the students. They confidently leave the lecture hall half-way into the paper, while I am still struggling to write my answers! Well, maybe I should learn how to summarise my answers to be like them, so I too can leave earlier. After all, the examiners should have given us more then sufficient time right?

Stats papers was ok, just that 4 questions that came out for the MCQ was something I had never seen before. Granted it was a tutorial question as I found out later. Maybe I should not have ONLY read the lecture notes and done the 4 year series, I should have done the tutorial. I could blame the lecturer who claimed that the lecture notes go in one direction, the tutorials go in one direction and the exam papers go in one direction. Other then that, the rest seemed to go fine. I guess HD is possible, if I did not make much calcualtion errors, if not I will have to settle for a D...

As for today's paper, History of Management Thought, I think overall, it went well. But not perfectly. Haha. I had to cut my last answer by around 20% due to lack of time. So I guess my timing was off by 5 minutes. But I guess since I elaborated ALL my other answers, most of them double what was expected, I think they should be able to pull up whatever I may have left out on the last question. Hopefully a HD. The only thing that worries me is that I did not circle which answers I did on the front page. I hope that does not deny me the HD(if I deserve it). If it does, I guess I will appeal, citing that the exam answer booklets were too short and thus I had to use 3 of them and tie them together (amazingly some people found 1 to be sufficient). So I wasted my time writing my name etc and tieing the booklets instead of circling the answers I attempted. Wait till the results are out (tentatively 4th June)...

So thats good bye to HMT, which while was taught by a cockster, is really a very fundenmental subject for any management student. So I find it irritating when someone in the course asks, why do we have to study this? Almost everyone asks that, possiblely because everyone failed the test. Very seldom do you question what you do when you are doing it well. To me, it is the foundation of 5 modules we will take till we graduate. It lays the foundation of what happened, why it happened and why we have things like Organisational Theory, strategic management and ethics. If any student can't see the value of these, clearly they have choosen the wrong course. Not that they cannot become managers or whatever in the future, but truely they don't deserve to call themselves management students. They should have done something that is more relevant to 'real-life', accounting or finance. Maybe this is what Shamir felt when he had some cock friends in his FSV course wanting to be prison officers. WTF are they in the course? Of course those who are lazy are another group all together.

Just left Mirco econs and entpreneurship. I am actually most worried about econs, not cause it is hard, but cos it is easy. Too easy. Too easy that anyone cock can do well in it, meaning to get the HD, have to score close to full marks! Entrepreneurship should be ok, just another memory subject. With half the class hailing from Indonesia, doing relatively better is not a huge problem.

Some good news, won the Earth Elemental. Paid $42 SGD for it, so maybe Tsang could pay $20 and the rest is a gift from me. ;)
Now to hunt for the hill giant...

Strait Times focus on a certain group

2008-04-23T08:10:00.002+08:00

"Relax, don't be Stressed"
That was on the recruit page of the classifieds, guess the content was about going to a corner at work.

"The last 16 years was something of a yo-yo for ..."
Interestingly, the person in question was not 16 years old...

Dumtiddly dum dum dum.... TOODALOO!!!!

2008-04-20T22:50:00.004+08:00

What have been the key effects of digital technology on the hundred-year-old music industry model?

This is a question I am getting sick of. I don't have to write an essay about it, thankfully. But I do have to find 10 resources, describe them and give a conclusion.

So Tsang, maybe you will be interested in the articles I have found so far. Hahahaha. When I have done all 10 and summarised them I shall copy and paste the links for you, though I think you won't be able to look at the journal articles coz I get access to the full text through RMIT.

Its been a terribly long weekend because of this stupid assignment. AND TOMORROW, a new week begins!! New project to start with too. It will be a more intensive half semester than the previous one has been. Kinda looking forward to it coz i feel it will be a mad rush right before the abyss of the holidays.

Shamir is beyond lucky

2008-04-16T12:58:00.003+08:00

Some people ask for a car for their birthday, other for money or health, but Shamir got something more then he could imagine. Well, actually he had it coming.

He is going to get a Rambo 2 DVD!!!!!!! ULTIMATE EDITION, no less. With Survival mode and Early Warning System (EWS). This gift is beyond comparison. ;)

triple dot, or ...

2008-04-05T20:34:00.002+08:00

Hello,

has been a relatively busy week and look, its April!

haha, had 2 assignments due and a test over the week, been busy at that...
now all my classes are over, exams are in 3 weeks time, stretching till 12th may...
will be 'free' after that, but still planning alot of things to do...

in the week after my exams, need to complete the planning for group camp and also want to do the recki for the planned cycling trip in dec. 3,4 days for that. want to work out the details for the cycling trip also

the on the weekend onwards, will be looking at the feasibility of setting up an online retail venture, looking at selling custimized outdoor stuff. venture with jj and alex. so should it be found to be feasible, want to get it up in that week itself, think it is possible, but just abit cramped..

after that its late may, my cousin from austria, who has been in south america for like a 6 months holiday is coming, should see her for abit, together with troop camp.

late 3rd june going to aussie, for 2 weeks.

return from aussie, want to go for a 1st aid course, see if i can get into one then.

after that still considering whether i should go for the indo rover moot, seems like a decent deal, 10 days in somewhere near jakarta.

and what do you know, its a new semester!

haha, will be a hard and fast holiday, looking forward to it.
;)

just came back from kan seng's buttercup shop. not bad stuff he has on sale. shop is at s2, which is at novena. the crepe was good, so thats worth chewing on. he is quite busy, there 13 hours a day, so not expecting much from him in terms of scouting. wish him the best.

oh well, now i can just enjoy my study break! haha...

2008-04-02T22:35:00.002+08:00

you guys should have felt the wind today. If not for my bulk i think i'd have been tossed around. Super funky!! quite funny to see people actually holding onto railings/fences just to walk...

Sigh...

2008-03-23T00:54:00.001+08:00

I know it sounds like the typical thing that I always say. "This week's been really busy!!!" As always, the statement holds true.

I mean, I had meetings after meetings and I've got assignments and projects due on Good Friday and Easter (1 Each!!!) How culturally insensitive can professors get man??? Ah well, I spent most of good friday at meetings and the rest of the time was spent resting because I didn't sleep much the nights before..

I wonder why SMU students don't kill themselves more.

Friendster 0 Facebook 1

2008-03-22T19:49:00.002+08:00

Finally gotten round to deleting my Friendster account since I've had no use of it for more than 2 years already...

Went to Batam

2008-03-21T21:05:00.002+08:00

went to batam for like 2 days 1 night, cos my uncle and aunty from Austria were visiting us, so we just went there to see.

We stayed at Batam View resort, which was quite a good resort, by the sea and the rooms were decent.

The 1st day was spent around their malls and shops, not too interesting. Then we visited the bridge that linked batam to the southern islands, the one i cycled across last yr in june.

After that we had a full body massage, which was a quite good feeling after. Also had some seafood dinner.

The next day we did not do much, just walked around the resort's property, beach and all and spent sometime swimming. Then came back in the afternoon.

It was quite a good trip, relaxing, so that was good. ;)

School

2008-03-19T10:44:00.002+08:00

Tsang will like one of the modules I'm doing...

Popular Music & Society... these few weeks we're learning about the birth of Rock 'n' Roll and the music industry structure. really quite interesting...

I didn't know that the Beatles came from liverpool and that they were the group to export British Rock n Roll to America... and that British rock n Roll developed somewhat differently from the american one coz of their lack of a strong black population...

all very interesting. :D

Google Scholar

2008-03-06T21:39:00.001+08:00

Don't know if you guys have heard about this...

but there's this google sub search engine.

It limits your searches to only academic journals and articles... might be useful for us since we're all in uni.

http://scholar.google.com.au/
http://scholar.google.com.sg/

On facebook

2008-03-04T21:35:00.002+08:00

***Open Quote***

Group Info
Name:
Instant ORD for MAS SELAMAT CAPTURE
Type:
Just for Fun - Totally Pointless
Description:
A little background on this fellow MAS 'the mat bomber' SELAMAT: Singapore's most dangerous man, who once plotted to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport was thrown into jail, and was not heard of till he masterminded one of the greatest escapes in modern history; walking out of the back door of a detention centre's toilet. The man with a limp in his left leg has been able to evade the authorities since. Commandos, Guards, Gurkhas and thousands of policemen have been on the lookout for him, some standing 5 metres apart just in case The Flash blitzes past them.

Still, we feel our comrades in arms could do better, so we have outlined a detailed proposal to the government:

MINDEF SHOULD OFFER AN INSTANT ORD FOR HIS CAPTURE!OUR SOLDIERS NEED MORE MOTIVATION!!!

OR Promise Selamat 40 virgins NOW!

NOT when he reaches heaven.

I'm sure he'll turn himself in!

recent News include

On a more serious note,lets capture the BASTARD.So ladies and gentlemen, give me your 2 cents on his possible location. My take is pretty obvious, "one corner"
------------------------------------------------------------------
PEOPLE! This is becoming abit of a HIT, so much so, that facebook groups "searching" for him like this, got a mention in the straits times front page article today(sunday 2 march 2008).

it read " on poplular social networking site Facebook, about 200 people have joined five groups which set out to join the hunt. They have put up pictures and news articles of Mas Selamat and held forum discussions"

Obviously our intentions arent as noble as stated above but i would like to think that we're creating awareness among facebook users and well youth in general...

and no i'm not saying this so that i'll be spared by mindef intelligence agents...KEEP POSTING!

***Close Quote***

I love the "One Corner" remark!! hahahaaha

Some stuff!

2008-03-03T20:08:00.002+08:00

Just read an email aung sent to shamir, giving him good advise, like take any job offers given, even by the vietnamese government to work while in uni.

For Tsang, the free streaming site:
http://www.watch-movies.net/

On sunday Tsang and myself went to play battlelore, a tactical warfare game, was not bad. Tsang said he will get it, so once he does, we could play it. Good that it is also a 2 player game...

accepted into RMIT

2008-03-01T00:13:00.002+08:00

so i got the call on thurs afternoon.. yesterday.. that i got accepted into the course i wanted, BComm Media.. a bit rushed.. coz i was told that there's an orientation today and classes start next monday, 3rd march...

made some appointments via email, got my enrolment package.. they didn't have time to mail it to me so i just got it over the desk at the uni tiself... then the orientation itself which was cheap..
our tour guide just abandoned us on one of the streets and i hooked up with some other manjans, mostly from malaysia and hong kong, to go look for the lawn party. .which was also quite cheap... then we just left and went to slack at the canteen for a while and during that time i got an appointment to see some lecturer who was gonna run me down on my program map...

that went well... so now i understand how it works and what i'll be doing for the 3 semesters.. which is really good.. Graduate in june 2009.. so that's pretty much confirmed unless i fail some modules and have to repeat.. touchwood!!

and so it goes... just a weekend to change my mindset from slacker to student and to get all the little stuff i need like stationary etc etc... also need to get a printer too..,. and some files...

my room's got to change layout slightly from gaming entertainment center to media work/student center.... should be fun. :D

I'm looking forward to it.

RTC / Skills Camp

2008-02-25T17:49:00.005+08:00

Hello!

Was at the school for these 2 camps from 22 to 24th Feb. They went alright, together with investiture.

22nd Feb ~ Its Founder's Day, 101 Years...
Nothing much happened on 22nd. Skills camp ppl came late, so they cooked their meals till late. After that they setup their campsite and that was more or less it.

23rd Feb
In the morning, we had the investiture ceremony, due to the lack of senior people around, got arrowed to be the one giving the commands. Did not really bother me, but rather be slacking somewhere or something, haha.

Then after that was the group-level games. That went alright. I ran my checkpoint of tracking, in which one team had to follow a route set by the 1st team. I went off for my class half-way through the game.

When I came back, the recruits (11 of them) were doing cooking while the sec 2s were being taken tests. After that the sec 2s started their outdoor cooking. They took quite long to complete that, thereby extending the start of the campfire. Had to scold the ICs running both camps for being too relak-jack about the inefficiency.

Was talking cock to Kenneth and Aung during the CF, did not really pay attention to what they were doing. After the CF, the skill camps people had a hike. It went alright, with some of them unable to read the checkpoints given. One group called to say their checkpoint was in the middle of the sea. They obviously did not know what they were doing.

On the last day was just clearing and cleaning up, nothing else. Think the camps were average, guess thats the problem with camping in school, too many people around...

Saw this package in the den, white powder in a plastic bag with the wording, "Use Wisely". Guess the scouts were wasting the powder and did not know the street value of it.

Ali

2008-02-15T21:58:00.001+08:00

finally watched Ali today.... not too bad a movie. you guys should check it out.

but i feel its not an accurate portrayal of Muhammad Ali. Its very focused on celebrating his life as a boxer...

Will Smith as ever, was a great actor. very easy to see the Muhammad Ali in him. hahaha

Visit to SW Johor (Pontian District) Nature Parks ~ Mangroove Swamps

2008-02-08T12:58:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, Day 1 of CNY, my sis and I went to visit Tanjung Piai National Park and Pulau Kukup, both of which are mangroove swamps located in the Pontian District in Johor.

So we went there from the 2nd link, in my mind I thought that we could reach there quite quickly by going to Gelang Patah and there would be a direct route to the park. Took around 30min in total to clear the Singapore side of the immigration, MY side took 5 minutes. I guess we just had a bad line with illegal immigrants wanting to leave country, so it took sometime to arrest them and delayed our line.

Once across the border, it was quite smooth driving. We went to Gelang Patah for lunch and settled on Roti Prata/Mutabak. The Mutabak I had was quite good and interestingly, was served with Thai-like chili, which I found to be a good combination.

So after that we proceeded towards Piai. We ended up going northwards and towards Pontian. We realised we were going in the wrong direction so we tried to purchase a map from a Carltex that was along the way. Unfortunately that petrol pump did not sell maps. On thinking about it, it would be more profitable not to see maps as lost cars consume more petrol.

Anyways, we found our way to Kukup. We found out from a tourist office that we missed the turn about 2km back, so it was not a big loss. It was a good mistake nonetheless as after walking in Piai, we had time, so we went to Pulau Kukup, with the help of this lady.

So we went down to Piai, the only exciting thing would be a road designed for one-way traffic but was a two-way road. Lucky there were only 3 cars for me to practise precision driving.

The park itself was like Sungai Buloh, definately much bigger, but the part with the broadwalks could not be larger then Sungai Buloh. There were monkeys moving around, mud skippers and crabs. The cranes and fising birds were also present. I found their Southern-most tip of mainland asia to be quite interesting. They were fighting with Palawan beach for the title that really does not mean anything.

They build a platform there, where there were several people fishing. I guess its a good area to fish, as the fish like to be near mangroove swamps, to breed. Tuas was also visible.

There was also a campsite in the swamp, so the scouts could 1 day camp here and enjoy the swamp as it should be.

We went to Kukup after the swamp trek as we had time to kill. So we went to the information woman who helped us board the correct boat to bring us to Pulau Kukup, which was around 200 meters from the mainland.

She was a talkative woman, speaking in malay no less. But I understood from her that Purple and Brown jellyfish were toxic while white ones were harmless. It was their seasons, so a glance in the water and you could spot 5 of them.

The boat came and picked us up and fetched us across through the kelong clogged waterway. There was an ah lian who took that boat and interestingly, she wore high-heeled boots. I guess someone was not too specific when he advised her to wear boots for trekking.

So we had to pay double entry fees to the island as we said we were from Singapore. I guess you should always say you are local, speak some malay and be more relaxed when visiting these places, if not you waste more money then you should.

Pulau Kukup was also an expanse of mangroove swamp. But here there was a 5 storey tower, from which you could see Karimun (Indonesia). That was a good view. We also took a ride in a motor sampan through the channel that cut through the swamp. 5 minutes for 3RM, ok deal I guess. Also, there was a 20 meter suspension bridge.

On our way back, we were brought around the water-way to see the kelongs. We dropped off on one of the kelongs, which had the fish that shoots water. They were a cool school. All the homes there were built on stilts or pillars. I guess if they had more money, they would be like Venice.

We had dinner at Kukup, Kangkong Belachan, Udang Garam (was soso, too plain flavoured) and mee soto (labeled on the menu as Hong Kong mee). The food was very well decorated, I guess the cook must have wanted to be an artist. I don't place any value on presentation, so even after the cook dies, he value of the food presentation would not go up, even after changing to a modern art piece.

So after that we headed to JB to cross the border from there. I learnt one new lesson that day, keep on the right most lane. Due to the poor traffic flow design of Malaysia, that lane alone expands to 6 counters, as opposed to 2 counters for the other 2 lanes.

I also realised that conducting the driving test by getting the testee to cross and return would be a great way to test a driver. The narrow lane filters, lack of lane discipline by most drivers and poor quality roads would be great to test anyone's driving competency.

berlitz viral vids

2008-02-08T12:37:00.000+08:00

Some funny vids from a language company...

Facebook - Scrabble

2008-02-03T22:16:00.000+08:00

Varun should join facebook just so that we can all play scrabble together. haha.. :P

anything happening lately?

i'm going down to RMIT tmr to see what i can do about getting in... not too optimistic about a feb intake but not pessimistic also.. going with an open mind so see how it goes... no idea how the system here works also so can't really foresee my chances... quite blind on this one.

finally going to get round to blogging about the grampians.. so that'll be up.. can see the vids.. mostly just going to post those and see how it goes.

Rambo!

2008-01-30T20:14:00.001+08:00

Nice article on the strait times life today, Shamir's hero! Note the bad guy has one of Shamir's friend's name.

2008-01-28T20:40:00.000+08:00

Took this pic for you guys... Sirhaan and his best fried.

Pic taken at Hall's Gap (Pop: 300), a small town sitting in Grampians National Park.

learners...

2008-01-25T10:57:00.000+08:00

went for my learner's permit yesterday...

quite the ok... the VicRoads office was quite effiecient, considering the crowd. got 100% for the theory test of 32 questions. was a bit bo chap about it so even i was surprised. its exactly the same set of qns on the online practise ones, so i didn't study the book but i did the online practise ones quite a few times. john and mum were like so ecstatic and in true cock parent fashion when i got my card they soo wanted to see it. the leycheyness of having to take it out of my wallet was really not worth it. morons. like as though they don't have their own cards to see...

so well, i can go start driving now... learning that is. no circuits here, its straight onto the road. need to go find an instructor though.. don't want john or mum to be supervising me for the first few times.

after that went to watch Sweeny Todd. haha.. in classic Tim Burton style, he pulled it off. i found myself laughing at the end of the movie... and then my bro after sitting through the whole movie silently laughed also.. like.. don't know what he suddenly found funny during the credits. don't know lah... he got all personal on me when i told him i didn't want to have a chupa chup with him coz i only eat chupa chups with some else.

going to the Grampians National Park for the long weekend coz its Australia Day tmr, so monday is a public holiday. show you pics of the place when i'm back. its some big park thingy with canyons and such, about a 3 hour+drive from Melb, waaaaaaaaaaaaay past Geelong.

don't think i'll have internet access there but i'll still be bringing my lappy anyway. see how it goes.. john's gonna be forcing us to go for like walks and dont' know what... they also have some cessna flights over the area so if we get to go on that it'll be cool also.

NLP

2008-01-21T11:24:00.000+08:00

Over Sat and Sun, I attended a Neuro-Linguistic Program(NLP). It was quite a long course for both days, spanning over 2 full days(14 hours or so per day).
The course was to raise self-awareness of the way you and everyone else thinks so that your thinking can improve the way you live your life.
I guess due to the short nature of the course, the contents we learnt were abit scattered.
What I did learn was:

The Law of Attraction - The concept that you will get what you think about most, which at the very minimum would mean that you should think positively to get positive results

Anagram - Which fits what kind of characteristics a person has and the way that influences a persons way of thinking and the way to deal with people of different anagram types. I guess the difference with MBTI is that MBTI has 4 seperate planes which this is a single plane in which you could be closer to one point but still have characteristics of others.

Reframing - Which is to think positively of what would normally be thought of as negative thought. Eg. I am poor could be changed to I have nothing to lose, so I can do anything that I want to.

Writing a Eulogy - This was quite emotional for some of the girls, who cried, but as I have thought of such a thing before, I was not too bothered with it. I guess it is maybe cos I wont have any regrets of my life should I die today, so based on that, I was not bothered with those thoughts. *I would rather not die today. ;)

Meta-Mirror - Which is a process to think from another person's point of view instead of just your own. Eg. Shamir is unhappy with his best friend. So he will 1st adopt his own point of view, then move over to his best friends position and think what his best friend is thinking, and finally move to a 3rd persons point of view which is to think in an unbiased and objective manner about the issue at hand. After doing so, shamir will return to his friend's point of view before returning to his own feet. Once he reaches back to himself, he should reflect on the new info and hopefully resolve whatever the contention may have been

Self-Anchoring - The process to help some to be motivated by looking back at his own past when he was motivated and form an anchor, or a sub-consious 'switch' to switch on the motivation

Overall I think it was time well-spent and of course I must thank Alex Choo for organising such an course. I guess in terms of the objective to gel the crew together, it was not really met, but it could well be a foundation for the crew team dynamics to build on.

*****UPDATED 23rd Jan*****

Adding a photo taken during the final activity which was breaking an arrow with your neck. ;)