.: Just Another Teenage Guy :.

Country Kid

2008-08-21T15:18:00.005+08:00

I've been to 5 major cities in Australia, enjoyed every single one of them. Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns. I think I'd like the pace of life in the smaller cities (Perth, Brisbane, Cairns). You have amazing scenery, slow lifestyle, great food, nice changing climate. Farid's over in Perth now. Should be winter there, maybe transitioning to spring later on. I wish I were on holiday. Perhaps in the future... Kathy and Elaine have said we should do a trip in time to come, perhaps Uluru eh (Ayers Rock).

Anyway, Perth. Its a nice city, the one they say dies after 5pm. Pretty true. But I suppose that gives you more time for people instead of using it for shopping and things for yourself. It strikes me as a quiet, peaceful city area. The Margaret River winding through. Oh, and Cicerello's if you're at Mandurah or Fremantle. Fresh seafood. There's something very different about the Fish & Chips you get over in Oz and the Fish & Chips you get here. One major difference is the servings. Try going to LJS here and you get a meagre thing that looks more like a fish stick than fish & chips. Haha. That adds to the charm of Australia and Perth.

Coming back from Sydney earlier this year and seeing all these travel shows to Sydney made me feel that there was soooooo much I didn't get to do and see. I would've loved to have walked across the Harbour Bridge again, climb up to the pylon open for tourists, gone to the botanical gardens, walked around the opera house more and the list continues. At least I'll know what I want to see the next time I go now that I've been there recently. The last time I went was in 1994. I mostly remember Nana's 80th birthday and the numerous birthdays in March that we celebrated in Aunty Dah's northshore home. And how can I forget Boris and Stephy, their dogs?Oh, and Uncle Bob bluffed me that there was a dinosaur in his backyard. Even as a young kid back then, I knew that they didn't exist though. Haha. I remember Aunty Tina buying me a paint set over a helicopter toy too, cause I insisted on it.

Sydney's an interesting metropolis. Next time I go there, I want to attend Hillsongs church. Hopefully I'll be able to drive and can rent a car there to get around instead of relying on public transport. Places like Glenmore Park didn't seem to have much public transport coverage. But its such a big place that you can't expect public transport to serve every single street, unlike here.I loved Sydney. I doubt I'd ever make my home there though.

The recent trip down was my first time to the rest of these cities. Brisbane was another interesting city, kinda like Perth in a way. In the sense that it is a city, but lacks that metropolis feel. Its very different to say, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. You get a busy feeling when you go to such cities (ala Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Washington DC). Brisbane probably feels like some small city in the country like Melaka or Portland maybe (never been there, but trying to find something to compare it to).

The CityCats added a nice touch to the city as well. Great way to see the city too! As they say, you haven't been to Brisbane if you haven't been on the CityCats. Excellent way of getting around. Locally, they'd be similar to our bum boats, just that the Brisbane River is way wider than the Singapore River and able to accomodate bigger boats and I think it seems to lie lower than the Singapore River does. And the Brisbane suburbs were quiet too. Not too far off from the city either.

Melbourne I loved too, maybe more so than Sydney. It seemed to have more character than Sydney did. Culturally, it seemed more vibrant than Sydney too. And it was more compact. Not in the density sense, but it wasn't as sprawling as Sydney was.

Then there's Great Ocean Road in driving distance from Melbourne too. GOR was magnificent. Truly a wonder from God.Words can't describe how awe inspiring it is. Especially when there happens to be a storm out in the sea and the huge waves come crashing against the cliff faces. I don't think you can see that and come away saying that there is no creator. Could man ever think of there being such a beautiful sight?

How can you not love Cairns? Its not really a city at all, but feels like a small town. Quiet, not much traffic or too many things going on. It was rather serene. You feel like you could walk down the middle of one of the streets without getting hit or run over and with people playing guitars or singing here and there, the atmosphere was rather welcoming. You could walk along the Promenade at night and just feel very relaxed. Land constraints here porhibit the availability of such places. Go to East Coast Park, Pasir Ris Park or West Coast Park and you're able to see the lights of freighters on their journey. Not just one, many.. Unlike Cairns where you see maybe one or two boats here and there on their way to the Great Barrier Reef and beyond.

I suppose deep down, I'm more of a country kid that loves and appreciates smaller towns over large metropolises. Why do they appeal to me? Maybe because I simply like taking things slower? Maybe because I don't like feeling as if I have to be constantly busy with something. I think it'd be nice to sometimes just lay back and stare into the sky looking at the clouds or the stars, only that its somewhat impossible here with the climate and development we have here. What is your preference? Country or Metropolis?

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Reality TV season is hitting town

2008-08-06T20:51:00.003+08:00

Its reality TV season again. The Amazing Race Asia joins the list of reality TV shows debuting next month. 10 teams across Asia will once again compete for the prize of US$100,000. That's a heck of a lot of money to be competing for in Asia. What would you do with such a large amount? That's about S$130,000? And since you're a team of two, you get about S$65,000. You'd be taxed for that for sure, but even so, you'd still have quite a bit of money left. Personally, I'd invest some (read: save). And spend some learning how to drive.

Anyway, 1988 babies, next year (if they have another season) we're eligible to send in an audition video. Anyone who does so, let me know yeah (read: Maurice Ong! Do try sign up)? For this season, they're promoting it as the toughest race yet in the series. Looks to be a good season. This cast is somewhat like season 2's cast - rather funky. Also, they don't have as many caucasians on the cast this year. Personally, I feel that they give something more than us Asians do since they're generally more liberal with how they express themselves (not saying that you can't find Asians like that). But as this is the Amazing Race ASIA after all, you can't expect too many caucasians now can you?

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Summer of Love Cycle

2008-08-06T00:22:00.002+08:00

I guess "Singapore's Best Dressed Cafeterian" will be hitting screens a little later after all. Meanwhile, I wonder what possessed Tyra and the producer of top model to go with this theme for the cycle's promotional and publicity materials. It looks all hippie-ish and retro. Apparently, I've heard the promo theme is "Summer of Love". It only lasts long enough for the promo period only though and is never brought into the competition so it doesn't really matter.

The Js look good in there. I'm kinda happy that this cast looks more diverse than other cycles with at least two Asians in the competition. The last Asian we had was quite a kook that didn't really have much to bring to the table. Gina if you didn't know who I was talking about. I like the red-head and the Asian girl next to Mr. Jay based on first impressions. Speaking of the theme this cycle, I find it amusing that this was found in Vogue of all magazines around. Haha.

New cycle, new girls (14 again! yay!). New fights, new challenges. Top Model is coming back soon (and so is SBDC).

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Cafeterians

2008-08-01T16:54:00.003+08:00

Coming soon to you, the search for "Who's the top five Cafeterians". Okay, I am so just kidding. Last night the Cafe group had a meet up to celebrate some birthdays and catch up with each other. We probably had our last full meet up a year ago.

It was good to see the rest of them again and find out how everyone's doing. All the girls will now be in Uni. And us guys will be serving our nation. It's a new season for most of us now. But it'll also be a good experience for sure. Looking forward to the next stage. We had a good time during dinner and having "dessert" at the Vivo City roof top. Glad that they were happy with their presents. As one of them said, it was like Christmas. Haha.

And we decided to do a whirlwind trip around the globe. Our first stop was Pisa to visit the Leaning Tower. Looks hillarious eh?

And then we went all Egyptian in Egypt visiting the Sphynx and Pyramids.

And we ended part one of our tour in Paris by visiting the Eiffel Tower. We'll be back next time with part two of our tour to the African Savannah, Big Ben, the London Eye and Statue of Liberty among others. Had fun meeting up with you guys. Must. Meet. Another time yeah?

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

WALL-E

2008-07-14T02:41:00.005+08:00

It hasn't opened here yet but I've managed to watch the movie. Twice. It's uber cute. A must watch! It'll be here some time next month. So do go catch it if you can. All the details that they pay attention to are awesome.

This is WALL-E. His name stands for Waste-Allocator-Load-Lifter (Earth class). His duty (directive) is to clear and compact any rubbish on earth into cubes and stack them up neatly. Over the course of time though, WALL-E (pronounced Wally) has developed a sense of curiousity - even as he compacts rubbish he is fascinated by many different things. Also, WALL-E is both the last WALL-E robot and the last robot operating on earth.

This is EVE. Her name stands for Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator. Her job is to see any form of plant life outside of the spaceship the Axiom. In order not to spoil too much of the story, I shall not explain what the Axiom is or why EVEs are needed. Anyway, she is the robot that one day mysteriously lands in WALL-E's terrain.

This is MO. I loved MO! His name stands for Microbe Oblirater and his duty (directive) is to clean and make sure that the Axiom and its 'bots are cleared of any 'contaminant'. MO provides a certain level of comic relief to the show. Loved his small squeeky voice. Also, MO can't move his arms individually due to his cleaning element in between them, so when he shakes hands, he needs to move both his arms which is quite funny.

Other things to look out for in the show would be the robot called BURN-E. I'm not sure what his name stands for, but he's the welding robot on the Axiom. He's a small detail, but the fact that they even developed him just shows how much attention to detail they pay.

Music-wise, the tracks kinda surprised me. Early on in the show, there's a segment which sounds like its down right out of a thriller movie. But all in all, it was done really well and I enjoyed the movie since it was so cute. WALL-E should get a 4.5 out of 5 stars from me. Actually, it does get that score.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Cycle 11 promo

2008-07-01T22:11:00.002+08:00

While some say that the silhouttes are fakes, this is apparently an official promo from The CW which uses the same silhouttes. Either its an elaborate hoax or its really the actual picture of the girls. That remains to be determined. We'll probably see the cast reveal next month.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

More Cycle 11 pictures

2008-07-01T00:31:00.003+08:00

Fantastic! It looks like we have 14 new girls this cycle. Look at the shoes on the last girl to the right. Platforms? Wedges? Whatever they are, they remind me of the 10-inch heels during the judging challenge in cycle 6.

I've heard that the theme for this Cycle's promo is "Summer of Love". From the silhouttes though, it looks like they're following this year's Australia's Next Top Model 008 with the Bond girls theme. That's just by looking at the silhouttes though. The real pictures could be different. Cycle 11 is just over 2 months away. Keep your eyes peeled.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

ANTM Cycle 11

2008-06-28T00:45:00.003+08:00

This post contains spoilers on the upcoming cycle of America's Next Top Model, so be careful what you read if you're an avid viewer of ANTM. You wanna be on top? Cycle 11, year 6 for the Top Model series where Ms. Tyra Banks gets to choose another model whose portfolio isn't as strong as her competitor's to win. Tyra, yer getting predictable... And the show too commercial. But whatever, it gives us something to look forward to and bitch about.

Your first picture of the "panel" during casting auditions. Some 30 or so girls will pass through here and they'll show a few interesting ones, some who've "gone through a lot" or "seen every hurt possible". And then some funny girl comes on and starts dancing which intiates a whole sequence where every dance is played in fast forward motion and several girls are shown dancing at once in a multi-screen fashion (last season it was Stacy-Ann). Anyway, enough sarcasm. The casting set looks fantabulous as do Ms. and Mr. Jay. In this case, they are known as the Alpha and Beta Jays. I'm still kind of muddled on who is Alpha and who is Beta though.

Tyra looks good too, in that shot. Ok, so they all look really fab, but how will the girls do? Not so good for some. There was one whom Tyra got really mad at for simply wanting to go on ANTM cause "she sees it on TV and thinks she can do it". You can bet that she's got a big chance of not making it to the next round, whatever that will be (usually top 20 round). I wonder how many girls will get to go into the house this time round. Last cycle there were 14 with the surprise place going to Dominique. Also, last cycle was the first time since cycle 4 that there were 14 in the house.

The international destination this season is *drum roll* Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Tyra wrote a note saying that the pictures you see are not to be believed and that she may be on vacation in this location. She goes on to elaborate that she will be with the Jays, Nigel and Paulina Porizkova on location to film the next cycle of America's Next Top Model. Nice cover up girl. This is apparently during an international go see.

She looks pretty modelesque doesn't she? America's Next Top Model Cycle 11 comes to you on September 3, 2008. Only on the CW ~~and YouTube~~.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

2008-06-27T14:48:00.003+08:00

I know. I'm living under a stone right? I just watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe last night. Like, delay by nearly 3 years Jon? But I was blown away by it. Its just a pity that I never did watch it on the big screen. Hopefully there will be a few more movies and then I can perhaps go for the marathon that they'll have before the final movie.

Before I go into how I liked the movie, here's an update for those who don't know what's coming next. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian came out this year and I think its doing quite well in the cinemas due to the success of the first movie. A third movie will come out summer 2010, which is The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of The Dawn Trader. After that, there should be at least 2 more films - The Silver Chair and The Last Battle. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking of how epic the films will be.

Now diving into a bit of history.... The order in which the books are now labeled does NOT co-respond to the chronological publishing dates. Two lists for you.

Current book order (Narratively correct):
1. The Magician's Nephew
2. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
3. The Horse and His Boy
4. Prince Caspian
5. Voyage of The Dawn Trader
6. The Silver Chair
7. The Last Battle

Chronologically published order:
1. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (1950)
2. Prince Caspian (1951)
3. Voyage of The Dawn Trader (1952)
4. The Silver Chair (1953)
5. The Horse and His Boy (1954)
6. The Magician's Nephew (1955)
7. The Last Battle (1956)

I could go on on how each book was related to each other, but I'll save that for another post some time. I've digressed enough as is.

The movie really brought the story alive for me. And I appreciate how the director stayed really true to the original script - like down to Edmund's liking for Turkish Delights. And I think it was done up really well. Even the acting wasn't too bad. Perhaps the only thing that was not realistic for me was the battle scenes and the lack of gore and blood. With such epic fight scenes, one would expect Peter's sword to be a bit more blood-stained than was shown. However, I do know that this was a movie more targeted at children, hence the lack of that sense of realism.

Apart from that, the soundtrack also blew me away. It's quite chilling really. My favourite tracks would be "Only the beginning of an Adventure", "The Battle", "From western woods to Beaversdam". They're all fantastic and the composer did a fantastic job. So did the editors in using the music to make the scenes jump out more at you. Fantastic job you Narnian-make-it-come-alive people. Love the movie.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Get Smart

2008-06-18T01:07:00.002+08:00

Tonight, my brother and I received tickets to go watch a VIP Access movie - Get Smart. VIP Access, if I'm not wrong, is a show on Star World. Many thanks to Aunty Doris for giving us the tickets.

The movie stars big names - Steve Carrell, Anne Hathaway and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Oh, I forgot to mention... Masi Oka also stars in this (Hiro Nakamura, from Heroes people?). I will say it is pretty entertaining. But if you're looking for something outstandingly funny, I don't think this one quite makes the cut. Unremarkable, yes, for the logic used in certain areas. But overall, it seemed forced to me instead of coming across naturally. Like as though the production team tried a bit too hard to make it obviously funny.

Acting skills were brilliant though and there were many truely funny moments, but there's a lot that I thought weren't as funny either. But as I said, overall, it was entertaining. There are some shows that make you think deeply about things, others that make you laugh at how attrocious they can be and others purely for entertainment. Get Smart falls into this category.

But hats off to Agent 86 and Agent 99. At some points it was predictable but Get Smart gets a rating of 3.5 out of 5 from me. Cheers!

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Nick D'Arcy doesn't make the Australian Olympic team

2008-06-17T00:01:00.004+08:00

CAS rejects D'Arcy's final appeal

Nick D'Arcy's fight to be included in the Australian Olympic team for the Beijing Games is officially over.

The controversial swimmer had his final avenue of appeal rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

An Australian Olympic Committee spokesperson confirmed that the CAS had knocked back D'Arcy's appeal against a decision made last week by the AOC executive board.

That unanimous decision by the 14-member AOC board had backed an earlier decision by its president John Coates to sack him from the team.

Coates stood aside from the decision by the board and did not attend the meeting at which D'Arcy made a personal plea to stay on the Olympic team.

It is the end of a drawn out saga - at least from an Olympic perspective - that started when D'Arcy allegedly assaulted former swimmer Simon Cowley in a Sydney bar incident in the early hours of March 30.

He was subsequently kicked off the team by Coates for bringing himself, his sport and the Olympic team into disrepute.

An initial appeal to CAS found that, while D'Arcy had brought himself into disrepute, in breach of the AOC guidelines, the AOC chief did not have the authority alone to remove the swimmer from the team.

It was then referred back to the AOC executive board who concurred with Coates' view that D'Arcy should not be allowed to compete in Beijing.

D'Arcy immediately appealed that decision.

But he was again unsuccessful after a five-hour CAS hearing in Sydney on Monday.

The CAS has not yet revealed its reasons.

D'Arcy's lawyer Jack Leitner said it was "the end of the line" as far as appeals go.

He said his client was probably torn about what had transpired.

"I can't really comment too much on how he feels but there's probably some mixed emotions - bitter disappointment but perhaps relief it has been resolved," Leitner said.

He was hopeful that D'Arcy, who he described as having "guts and determination" would continue in the sport.

Leitner revealed D'Arcy has already returned with his father Justin to Queensland and would not be present in court on Tuesday for a second hearing over his charge of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm to Cowley, an offence that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' jail.

"His focus has now been turned to criminal proceedings," Leitner said.

"But no, he won't be in court tomorrow."

Reading that article made me somewhat satisfied that the relevant councils saw the gravity of the situation and, in my opinion, took the right actions. However, I can't help but feel slightly pitiful for Nick either. But I think it is important to also know that what you do can affect you in a big way and that he probably should have accounted for his own actions as well. Who knows where his career will be headed now?

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Photographs

2008-06-06T01:34:00.002+08:00

During my trip to Australia my mom got the laptop cleaned out without telling me. So I didn't know and I didn't think much of it. Till I came back. Fine, I got over the initial surprise that most of my files were no longer around (resumes, some videos, some music). And a month or so later, I bring out my hard drive to check my photos. And who'd know, they're no where to be found. I thought I had backed them up to one of my hard drives. Apparently not. So that meant that all my India photos not posted online are now gone. So came a whole new sense of dissapointment and feelings of upset. It happens, sure. But that one just hit me suddenly cause the India trip was something you'd do once in your life. Either that or it was the only time I'd be doing it with my classmates.

And that got me onto the topic that years ago we used to wait for our photographs to be developed before we knew what they looked like. Nowdays, with digital cameras, you instantly see the photo taken 5 seconds ago. And if it's not nice, you can delete and take it again. There's also the danger that if your card runs out of memory space, you might risk deleting a nice picture instead accidentally. But the point was that I felt it was more fun to send the photos to be developed and wait to see how they turned out. These days since everything is electronic, its almost instantaneous. No more photo developing, no more waiting to see how it turned out. When was the last time you developed a photo? I recall mine being the last week of school when I was rushing to finish my final NCT CA so I could get on with the photos for DMC05 to take home on the last day.

But that's not the real thing, the real thing being taking pictures with a camera with a roll of film inserted inside and not knowing whether they came out blurry or overexposed (when you pulled the film out). That seems eons ago. So long ago that I can't seem to remember the last time I did that. Probably 2003? That's when we got our video camera that came with a still picture function. And in 2005 we got our current 5.1 megapixel SLR-look-alike. So about 5 years ago? Whoosh. What a long time that is! I really think those were fun days though, where your skill could really show perhaps? Regina, one day we need to hang out and use your polaroid camera to take pictures and put them in a montage like the picture at the top and take a digital photo of that.

Polaroids seem really classic somehow. If I'm not wrong, they are no longer produced? I hope that film roll-based cameras never stop being produced. In Zhili's words, "I sound old" when I think that one day those types of cameras will become part of museum exhibits on photography. And that day won't be too far away.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Answer to previous entry

2008-06-02T22:09:00.002+08:00

Monday June 2, 06:25 PM
Artist to exhibit nude photos in protest
By AAP

A Melbourne artist will exhibit a series of nude photographs of 11-year-old children to protest against the recent censorship of the work of photographer Bill Henson.

Thirty to 40 images of two boys, now aged 17, will be projected onto a screen during the exhibition, provocatively titled: "I am not a photographer nor a pedophile but an artist".

The exhibition will take place at The Loop bar in Melbourne's city centre on Tuesday night.

Artist Victoria Larielle, who gave her age as "20-something", said she took the photographs in three separate shoots throughout 2001 but only decided last Monday to exhibit the images publicly.

She was inspired to do so following the furore surrounding Henson's now notorious exhibition from which NSW police last month seized 20 photographs of a naked adolescent girl and boy.

"I felt really upset that Bill has been persecuted so much by the government and Australian people that don't understand art, perhaps," she told AAP.

Larielle said the exhibition was designed as support for Henson and to protest against censorship.

"There are still charges pending on Bill Henson, and I've got a lot of friends in the art world who feel the same way so I'm putting on this exhibition, basically, as a support type of thing," she said.

Larielle said she was not afraid of becoming embroiled in a similar controversy as Henson because "I completely know where my intent is for my art and my images".

She said her intent through her photographs was to show vulnerability and fragility, not just of young people, but of everyone.

"It's like the vulnerable side of everybody, the fragility of us all, we all grow. And I think it's beautiful," she said.

Larielle said her models and their parents had given permission for the images to be used in the exhibition.

She emphasised the photographs were not for sale.

I had to ask and I got my reply. Apparently, a whole lot more perverse than I thought. Don't they get that the main issue is that its not paedeophilia but of the age issue? I think it's somewhat different from taking photos of nude babies. Here, the person has the right to a certain standard of dignity. And their body has matured much more than that of a newborn. And what logic this "protest" has, I'm not sure of. Would lowering the age of the subject really help the cause? If I think how the majority will react, it would make it even worse. I hope the reaction will be worse.

Probably these "artists" feel that the more the public (and authorities) object to the subject, the more they will be enraged by more such "artwork" appearing on the scene. Seriously, if this is the level of maturity these artists have.... I have no idea what else they are capable of producing. I believe in a thing called art within the limits and boundaries. Not some tasteless retort to something of the same nature that was removed prior to being exhibited publically. Sorry artists, you need to practice some degree of self-censorship. There has to be a limit and there need to be boundaries. Some things are just not meant to be looked at in such an angle and do not call me conservative.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

How Perverse will this world get?

2008-05-24T02:30:00.005+08:00

Friday May 23, 03:46 PM

Charges expected over nude child photos

Police say they expect to lay charges after seizing more than 20 photographs from a controversial exhibition in Sydney that features images of naked 12- and 13-year-old girls.

Rose Bay Local Area Commander Allan Sicard said NSW Police expected to prosecute over the images by artist Bill Henson, which were to go on display at the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Paddington on Thursday night.

The exhibition was shut down just before it was due to open.

"Police are investigating this matter and it is likely that we will proceed to prosecution on the offence of publish an indecent article under the Crimes Act," he told reporters.

"This morning police attended the gallery and executed a search warrant and seized several items depicting a child under the age of 16 years of age in a sexual context," Superintendent Sicard said.

Police believe the child is a 13-year-old girl, who is not from NSW. She is believed to be the subject in all the seized pictures.

Henson's exhibition consisted of 41 photographs in all.

"It's likely that a future court attendance notice will be issued ... upon the completion of investigation," Supt Sicard said.

He said commonwealth charges would be laid over the gallery's website and state charges over the photographs.

The photographs were reported to Rose Bay police on Thursday afternoon and gallery owners agreed not to open the exhibition just hours before it was scheduled.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd labelled the images as revolting, when asked to comment on Friday.

The Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery said on Thursday it would withdraw a number of works that have attracted controversy, and re-open without them.

"Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery will remain closed while the current exhibition is re-hung," it said in a statement.

The statement, jointly released by the gallery and Mr Henson himself, defended the photographer's reputation as an internationally acclaimed artist.

"Bill Henson is one of Australia's leading contemporary artists and is internationally respected," it said.

"His works are held in every leading art institution in Australia and are included in the collections of a number of the world's most prestigious art museums.

"The Art Gallery of New South Wales and the

National Gallery of Victoria have both recently held a retrospective of 30 years of the artist's work."

Critics of photographer Bill Henson are using his artwork as a "convenient whipping boy" for wider problems in society, a past curator of his work says.

Judy Annear, the senior curator of photography at the Art Gallery of NSW, curated a major Henson retrospective in 2004-2005 that included similar images and was viewed by 65,000 people with no complaints.

She said people were wrongly deflecting the current concern about paedophilia and child abuse onto his work.

Henson was a major artist who had been exhibiting nationally and internationally for the past 30 years and who represented Australia in the 1995 Biennale, Annear said.

"When we did a major retrospective of Bill's work ... 65,000 people saw that show in Sydney and we had not one single complaint," she said.

"The question has to be, why now and what actually does this furore have to do with Bill?

"People should be focusing on the main game ... if it has to do with paedophilia and the abuse of children they need to be focusing on that.

"Bill's work isn't the problem here, it's just a convenient kind of whipping boy at this particular moment in time.

"To take cheap shots at artists ... won't change whatever the problems are in our social fabric."

Annear said from her experience Henson always sought the permission of his young models and their parents before a shoot.

He found his models "all over the place", she said, including supermarkets, art openings and from personal friends and friends of friends.

Annear said she would never have worked with Henson if there was any concern about his motives or work practices.

"I couldn't work with Bill if I thought he was abusing children," she said.

Annear said despite the public backlash, artists like Henson needed to keep pushing the boundaries and should not be swayed by public opinion.

"The day art museums and artists decide that the only thing they can do is react to public opinion is the day that we are in the same scenario as people were in the 1930s in Germany," she said.

Ms Annear described the controversial images as beautiful and compared them to looking at an

ancient Greek vase.

"They're very beautiful, they're very, very still, they're very formal, they're very classical. They're a bit like looking an ancient Greek Attic vase," she said.

Granted, Australia is not the worst in many respects. But to defend this so called "art work" in which pre-teens were shown topless is a gross disrespect for the basic dignity that one should be allowed. The issue is not paedeophilia, nor is it of whether consent was given or not. It's the issue of whether it is right for pre-teens to be shown in such a manner and branded as art. It speaks of ethics and it is an issue of ethics.

But apart from that, what if there were paedophiles there who entered the gallery? So what if the subject was not from the state where the exhibition were to be held? That is not the point. The very fact that there is a distortion in what people view as permissible is slightly disturbing. "All things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial."

Do the subjects even have the ability to comprehend how posing for such pictures could affect their future? When they go into school they could be labelled with many names and possibly, in future, they may be blacklisted for jobs due to their past. It may or may not happen, I'm not saying that it will. What I'm saying is that these "subjects" would not have the mental capacity to be able to see that far down the road. The guardians of these subjects (a.k.a. Mom & Dad) should have had the foresight to have seen that. There is always choice, there will always be decisions. Parents should have been better informed of what borders on tasteful and distasteful. Now, not only have you blacklisted your child, but yourself for allowing your own flesh and blood to enter into such a situation.

This rant will probably not achieve very much. But really, I was quite incredulous reading that article. Geez man...

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Employed.... for now.

2008-05-21T01:26:00.003+08:00

Since coming back, life has been pretty much busy. Busy with what sometimes I ask myself. Committee meetings don't last all day long. Neither am I out all day long. The days seem to pass me by without me having done much other than laze around the house. But now I have work to do - I'm employed for this week to do calls from home. An RSVP of sorts, similar to what I did at Trigon last year. Only instead of being in charge of making sure everything goes smoothly, I'm the caller this time round. Day 1 seemingly went well. I hope what I did was okay. But anyway, that helps to pass time.

Sunday was spent with the best guy friends anyone could have - the cell group. Went to Sentosa for a day at the beach. Joined them later as I had to run help the committee with sign ups. As you can see, the guys enjoyed themselves while I was not around. It was good fun though. And I don't think I got any darker than I want to be. As is, my skin is dark enough. I don't need to tan to get it that bronzy tint - I have it naturally. But anywho, it was a good day with a good crowd. Lots came and some left early but we managed to get a lot done I'd say.

Well, that's why there's been this void in my blog, almost a month long. There's been nothing really much to blog about hence this post for blogging just for the sake of blogging. I could go on on how I liked Parvati winning Micronesia, but it seems pointless really. That was over and done with so long ago. Anyways, congrats Parv on your win!

PS: Maurice, you look really tired in that picture, like you can drop dead tired. Please get some rest man!
PPS: My air conditioner in my room is giving me problems at the most wrong time - it's leaking when the weather has been so erraticly hot!

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Yeah it was great - Queensland

2008-04-26T23:29:00.004+08:00

Across the water lies the city of Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland state. Queensland is the state at the north-east corner of Australia and Brisbane is situated towards the south, along the coast. Further on below Brisbane would be the Gold Coast and Surfer's Paradise. Brisbane is a lovely city - smaller than Sydney and Melbourne - and has a quaint feel to it. In fact, you could probably spend one day there and be fully oriented with the city.

And that's me with the city in the background. The river you see is the Brisbane river which is murky brown in colour. Behind me, you can see a pontoon out on the river. This is where the CityCat river services stop. Its basically a kind of river taxi system that people can use to get around to places along the river. The CityCat runs from Apollo Road near Hamilton city to the University of Queensland (UQ).

Down south at the Gold Coast, lies several theme parks - Dream World, WhiteWater World, Movie World, Wet'n'Wild Water World and Sea World. As you can see, we went to Movie World.

That's one of the roller coasters we went on - Lethal Weapon. It's essentially a hanging roller coaster where there's no floor beneath you, just air and the wheels are on top of your head. So you can imagine what it's like when you reach the top of the track and start to hurtle down. When you go up the loop, all you see is the sky. I suppose it does give you that extra element of speed, especially when you're closer to the ground and can see it rushing beneath you. Lethal Weapon was good, I really enjoyed that one.

This is the much talked about Superman Escape roller coaster. At 40 metres high, it dominates the skyline at movie world. The ride starts when you board the Metropolis Rapid Transit (interestingly enough, abbreviated to the MRT which is what we call our subway here) amid reports of tremors in the city. As you progress on, you see the various effects of the tremors (cars falling into collapsed sections of the tunnel, burst pipes flooding the tracks) and your train comes to a stop. Then superman's voice can be heard... "There's only one way out of here, I'm going to push you. Fast..... Superman fast. Heads back."

And with the swoosh of the smoke machines, you're shot from 0 kmph to 100 kmph in 2 seconds. The roller coaster shoots up the first peak which they call a top hat and slows as the last car reaches and rollers over to pick up speed when the entire train is on the opposite side of the peak. It then goes over several humps and your picture is taken. There were two people in front of us that were cam-whoring, making faces that kinda take the attention to them in our picture. Haha. But we still had fun going on the roller coaster.

That's the rainforest canopy in Cairns. The Skyrail system takes you through the forest to various stations where you can alight and take a walk around for some time to explore the forest area.

That's the view from one of the Skyrail cars. The system stretches for 7.8km and takes you over a mountain range into the valley where the ride ends at Kuranda village. And the cable cars go pretty high up over the forest.

Hey Derek! Having fun? I betcha. Must be a photographer's dreamland to be on the Skyrail.

Welcome to Barron Falls. The original falls were dammed up to facilitate the operation of a Hydroelectric plant.

You can roughly make out where the Barron Falls used to flow.

As you near Kuranda, you sail over the Barron River while witnessing a scenic view pass by.

Derek while we're crossing the Barron River. He's my cousin who took me all the way to Cairns and Port Douglas. And rented the car and stuff. Thanks millions Derek.

Beautiful butterflies at the butterfly sanctuary in Kuranda.

Chrysalis, pupa, whatyoumaycallit... A butterfly will soon emerge from therein.

There's a stunner on the Great Barrier Reef. Oh My Heck! I went to the Great Barrier Reef!!!

Corals, corals, corals!

And proof of me actually going snorkelling. Yeah, wait till I get better at swimming and I won't need any more floatation devices. The blue suit is for protection against UV rays and jellyfish. And I seriously need to learn; 1) to keep my mouth shut tightly when snorkelling so saltwater doesn't enter; 2) to continuously breathe through your mouth and not rely on your nose.

Underwater, its all about colours.

Fish are friends. Not food! Have you seen the size of those guys?? And the colours they have? My goodness. Such diversity!

This guy was probably one of the hugest I saw out there. Like, seriously big.

Coral grows everywhere. Even on the floating platform area. And the fish come up real close. Too bad they didn't let me touch them.

Derek and I after snorkelling for a bit. Teletubbies much?

An electric blue fish. It really jumps out at you.

You're watching the National Geographic Channel. We now return to, Blue Planet. *Cue David Attenborough*

Are those anemones? If so, Nemo is not home. I doubt they are though.

And that's a picture of a picture of me. One of the divers took that photo while I was inside the observatory. You can see people doing that dive-walk thingy where they put this helmet on their heads and can breathe so easily. But they can't go very far, or their system will die on them leading to their demise... maybe.

After snorkelling off Port Douglas, we spent the night in Cairns before taking our early morning flight out to Brisbane. Derek showed me Mount Coot-tha which had a lovely view of Brisbane city. And then I flew back to Melbourne. So that pretty much rounds up my trip to Australia.

This post will be about Queensland state

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Yeah it was great - Sydney & New South Wales

2008-04-26T23:28:00.003+08:00

This post will be about Sydney & New South Wales state

Welcome to Sydney in the Australian state of New South Wales! As you can see from the map above, Sydney is surrounded by lots of water. The river goes as far in as Parramatta to my knowledge. It's a beautiful place, but not as organised as Melbourne is. And don't complain about public transport prices here. I was supposed to stay with Aunty Dah at Quakers Hill (Quakers Hill station on the Western Line, Richmond Branch, orange colour) but she was in Parramatta for late-night shopping Thursdays when I came, so I took the train from Domestic Airport (on the Airport & East Hills line, green in colour). And how much was the one way ticket? $15.40. So be happy people.

That's the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Bridgewalks across the top of the arch do happen, but I heard that there's a 1 to 2 month waiting list for that so I didn't try it. I had enough cash, so maybe I should have just tried my luck eh? But it was great just to take the time to simply be a pedestrian on the bridge instead of a motorist. Beautiful architecture eh?

This is Kaiha (pronounced as Kai-ya). She's one of Maria's cats. Her coat is the absolutely most brilliant. But she's very scared of anyone unfamiliar in general, and, according to Maria, I was the first male she's ever let pet her and such (yay me!).

And this is Cody, a ginger cat. He's waaaaaaaaaay more outgoing than Kaiha is. Even to the point of climbing onto the dining table during meal times and placing one of his paws on your shoulder or arm to ask for a bite. I think I spoilt both cats while I was around though.

I LOVE helium balloons, don't you? These were for Uncle Harry's actual day Birthday party. We had the big surprise party a few days before, so this was a smaller, simpler family gathering. Nice decor Ava.

And that's his cake. It was a marble log something. I loved the icing. So now you know why I have put on weight the one month I was down under.

Happy 60th birthday Uncle Harry!

And that's him refusing to 1) have a photo of him blowing out the candles and; 2) refusing to blow them out a second time so that we could get the shot.

I loved this part of the National Maritime Museum - the ship and submarine. The museum entry itself was free, but to go on board these crafts you had to pay an extra fee to help with the maintenance. But it's really interesting ain't it? First time I've ever seen a submarine! Woohoo!

And that's the view from the elevated pedestrian bridge across the inlet. Huge things they are!

Welcome to the Sydney Tower! Now you can see what I mean by Sydney being surrounded by water. What you're looking at is the Sydney Harbour. In the foreground is the Sydney Botanical Gardens, which I didn't have time to visit this time round. In the harbour itself lie island fortresses and small islands here and there. It's a really lovely place.

And the harbour bridge makes an appearance as well. It provides such a stunning backdrop I think. And its not something you'd get over easily, unless of course, you live there and run across it each day.

Looking out west towards Parramatta, Penrith and Quakers Hill. Oh, and not forgetting, the Blue Mountains and outback Australia. In the foreground this time should be Darling Harbour.

More parks here and there along with ancient Catherdals in the city area. Love the feel of history they have going there. We only have St. Andrew's Catherdal here and its surrounded by a huge garden that you often don't notice the building at all.

In this shot, just before the coast should lie Bondi beach. Without doubt, that's one of the most famous beaches in Australia. And they have TV shows about it too, what was it? Bondi Rescue? Haha. Too bad I didn't get to see what that was like.

I'm on top of Sydney folks. High, high above. Ooh, look! Harbour bridge!

Another astounding landmark of Sydney is the Opera House. This time I went right up to the Opera House itself. It looked fantastic!

The harbour bridge as seen from the Opera House. I managed to catch the sun setting here at 5.20pm. That's kind of early in relation to sunset here, but well, all the better - you get to see it and you don't have to wait too long.

Dazzle dazzle. Be dazzled!

That's the Circular Quay OZ JetBoat. Vanessa and I went on that before and it's 30 minutes of fun fun fun. The boat does fish tails (swivelling from side to side while travelling forward), dunks (yes, dunks!) and spins. Sitting in the front row, Vanessa and I got pretty wet when the driver decided to dunk the nose of the boat in the harbour. Its designed so that the water runs up the nose and flies over the cabin area without submerging the vessel. I could literally see a wall of water rushing up towards us (there is no windscreen).

Sunset at Circular Quay. My lens was not wide enough to capture both the sun and the entire Harbour Bridge from where I was. Not like I could change the lens either... Beautiful isn't it?

This is Circular Quay, the start of the Central Business District. The way I remember it, it looks exactly the same as when I visited it in 1994.

Can anyone tell me what that is? I happened to see it on my way back to the train station from the Opera House and wondered what exactly it was. For now, its definitely a UFO (not a flying saucer UFO, which has become common to describe flying saucers of alien origin).

And here's that streak again. Perhaps an air craft of some sort? The airport happens to be relatively near to the city so planes do fly low.

Circular Quay again as the lights start to come on. Its a nice water front area for sure.

The blue mountains' famed three sisters. Vanessa, how many times do you plan to visit them exactly?

And here we are, 4 day-trippers at the 3 sisters. Thanks for the trip Ava and Duane!

Fernandez-side cousins at the 3 sisters.

And here we are, climbing down to the 3 sisters. Steep, steep, steep.

We saw that while at the sister closest to the cliff. Notice that brightly coloured thing hanging at the side of the cliff? That's just a rubbish bin. No idea why that helicopter went to hover around the bin for awhile.

And here are some autumn colours. Reds, yellows, oranges and browns. Spectacular! I love autumn.

The cableway was awesome as you glided up from the valley to the top. Marvelous views.

Autumn blooms again. Why can't we have seasons here. We don't need a full blown winter, but coming back from 15 degree celcius temperatures to temperatures in excess of 30 degrees celcius is no joke!

The 3 sisters as seen from the cableway. The sun also came out from behind the clouds to make it all the more sweeter for photo-taking.

This was Ava's idea and doing. She was going to the Street Kings movie premiere...

And I saw Keanu Reeves. He was looking at me. Hahaha. Be jealous all of you.

Do you think he's 40 years old? I don't think he looks it at all.

And for the record, he's actually gone past 40 already. Taking the video made me get some needed exercise in the arms. I think I held it up vertically for like over half an hour.

I also got my hair highlighted in Sydney. Maria, Kathy and Vanessa pretty much sat me down in a hairdressing salon and told the guy what to do. But I love the colour and that it's something fresh. Only now it has grown much longer and much, much thicker. I need to do something to it now.

Aunty Dah also took Vanessa and I to Featherdale Wildlife Park and the IMAX. But uploading photos is such a pain recently. Blogger seems to take such a long time to process everything. Anyway, Fano, I did see kangaroos at the park and I hand fed one. I can understand why you like them so much.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Yeah it was great - Melbourne & Victoria

2008-04-26T23:27:00.004+08:00

Welcome to Melbourne! It's a fantastic city in the state of Victoria - the garden state of Australia. Its fairly easy to get around Melbourne too and the city is gorgeous. While I was there, I stayed with relatives who lived in the north-eastern suburb. Its a few kilometers to the nearest station (Epping or Lalor), but its really convenient to get to it by bus. In addition to buses and trains, they have an extensive tram system as well which is very charming. Loved taking the trams for the first time.

Here's a suburban view from Mill Park in the city of Whittlesea. Lovely sky eh?

Meet Blind Bella (front) and Missy (back), my aunt's two fox terriers that look like cows. Its interesting that these dogs (these 2 particular ones) love vegetables. And I must say that Bella is a real glutton.

Although Australia is a temperate country, it is not void of rainforests either. Here I am at the Maits Rest Rainforest in the Great Otway Range along the Great Ocean Road. It was a pretty place that was dense with different kinds of plants - ferns, tall trees and eucalptus trees.

Of course, no visit to the Great Ocean Road is complete without a visit to the 12 apostles. Magnificent eh? Look at the ocean and the surf. Beautiful.

This is Loch Ard Gorge. Again, look at that spray from a wave dashing against the rock. It was somewhat hypnotising to watch it.

For some reason, I really love this shot. It's on the other side of Loch Ard Gorge. Perhaps its because of the play on the shadows? But nevertheless, it was a sight to behold as well.

Being touristy with the Great Ocean Road sign.

London Bridge and its famous story. The story behind it was that years ago, when that section you see out at sea was still connected to the mainland, a group of people walked out to the furthest point out. Just as 3 of the 5 of them walked onto mainland, the middle section crumbled and collapsed leaving 2 of them on that section isolated. The media soon caught hold of it and rushed out to film this man and lady stranded on the London Bridge to which they tried to hide their identity. Why? Apparently they were both married to other people and not each other. Heh.

The Melbourne Aquarium was awesome. Loved the range of fish they showcased there, but most of all, the huge tank with huge sting rays. I'm sorry, but Underwater World Sentosa does not hold anything up to the Australian Aquariums. The one in Sydney rocked too.

Jellyfish looking like a type of fungus in the jellyfish display section.

That day, I met up with Arisya and her friend Lydia who were also in Melbourne. I had a great time guys! Note the HUGE ass shark behind in the background.

This is St. Kilda beach, where the 3 of us went to after the aquarium. Not the best of beaches - I found a used syringe in the sand. And you can see the pesky seagulls which have a reputation in Australia.

We tried to eat fish & chips on the beach. But the seagulls bothered us too much. Anyway, nice picture.

Now, this is us trying to be artistic after I saw one of Kathy's pictures against the sunset in Costa Rica. Well, this one seems okay.

But Arisya seems to have a really nice silhoute (sp?) with the reflection off the ocean as well.

One of a few views of Melbourne from the Melbourne 360 Observation Deck at the Rialto building on the 55th floor.

Well, looks like how the Empire State building would look. So good substitute. Hey, I've been to the Empire State look out people (NOT!).

Another day, another destination. This time, the seaside town of - you guessed it, Williamstown. This was also Arisya and Lydia's last full day in Melbourne.

This was at Sovereign Hill, Ballarat. Doesn't look like I'm falling does it? But it's kinda funny. I remember Kathy and I laughing heaps over this.

That is a gold bar being formed. Its really hot, so our demonstrator was showing how things could still actually catch fire if they touched the hot ingot.

An interesting sign at Sovereign Hill. The whole theme seemed really charming too. Ye Olde Working Days.

See what I mean? They even have a stage coach ride and the people dress like they were in the 1800s.

This was the sweet making demonstration. I thought the whole thing was pretty sweet. Over there, you see Mark (the presentor) dusting the Raspberry Drops in flour to stop them absorbing the moisture in the air.

A close up of the dusted Raspberry Drops. There's over 2000 of them there from one batch altogether.

Here's our completed bar of gold - an ingot. Doesn't look very shiny does it?

Here I am, once again. I'm panning for Gold pieces. (sign to tune of Kelly Clarkson's song)

That was an interesting drink. I'm not too sure how to describe the taste exactly.

Sunset on the way home to Mill Park from Ballarat. And so concluded my stay in Melbourne and Australia as I flew home the next day.

This post will be about Melbourne & Victoria state

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

G'day Mate

2008-04-21T02:00:00.001+08:00

Hi, if yer wondering where the heck I am... I've extended my stay down under till 24th. What have i done? Lots! More to come when I get home. But I'm just gonna do a shout out to Mark, Sandhya, Derek, Aunty Devina, Aunty Dah, Maria, Uncle Harry, Aunty Avey, Ava, Harvey, Sarah, Duane, Uncle Kit, Aunty Tina, Diane, Zlat, David, Kathy, Cheryl. You guys are awesome, have made this trip fantastic and I love all of you guys. Vanessa, you too. You've been a great travel companion. Ok, more later then.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

I'm off to the Down Under

2008-03-25T16:14:00.002+08:00

If I had flown to Sydney first and by SIA, I might have gotten on that plane model. But whatever. It's just a 7 to 8 hour flight through the sky. I'll be away till the 13th of April. Hasta lavista people. See you when I get back with loads of photos to share. AF, TFOS, Cafe, will miss you peeps!

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

ANTM 10 update

2008-03-21T18:32:00.003+08:00

America's Next Top Model cycle 10 ain't bad so far. The makeovers were a bit HUH though. If you watch, you'll see what I mean. A lot of similar colours. Oh well. The house looks nice with the ticker tape LED for Tyra Mails. Pretty cool idea.

The first panel was really weird. The promise of the most shocking panel holds... somewhat. I suppose that's as shocking a panel can get though. Haha. Some of the eliminations have been expected, others pulled out from no where. But at least some of my favourites are still hanging in there. Tyra has been really secretive this season so whatever spoilers out there have been rampant rumours which is not bad really. I mean, what's the fun if its spoiled fully eh?

Apart from that, we got a nice new theme and intro style. Makes you wonder what they'd do for cycle 11 and 12. I've heard that this show is confirmed till cycle 14.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Australia trip coming & Fei Long buff

2008-03-19T14:52:00.004+08:00

Visa - Check.
Virgin Blue Melbourne to Sydney return ticket - Check.
Survivor: China Fei Long buff - huh? Yes, I can't believe I actually have ordered this. More on this later.

Seems like I'm mostly ready to go to Australia. Have bought more clothes as needed and I dunno what else I could need at the moment. I suppose I could start planning more where I want to go. But Diane's helped with that for now.

1. Great Ocean Road
2. Phillip Island
3. Ballarat
4. Yarra Valley & Dandenong Range
5. Melbourne International Comedy Festival
6. Markets
7. Shopping
8. Melbourne Town Centre
9. Sydney Opera House
10. Jet Boat ride in Sydney Harbour
11. Museums

That ain't enough? Haha. Bring me ice-skating or something if possible. Yeah, so it seems as though I more or less have my list of things to do for Melbourne out at least. Whoo! OH! Will there be any footy games I can attend?

Now, for that Survivor: China Fei Long buff. Yes, I ordered it online. Sheesh. I can't believe I did that. But it was at a marked down price. Too bad they don't have the black Hae Da Fung buff which seemed cooler out of the three available (Red, Yellow, Black). And China is my favourite season so far from the cast to the game play to the theme. It had the whole package. So why not get a part of it? Haha. Goodness, I'm such a fan now.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

It's, like, a week away?!

2008-03-17T21:50:00.004+08:00

I've been so busy lately that I've almost let the Australia trip slip my mind. I know, I've been telling people I'll be away from 25th March to 13th April but what hasn't registered is:

1) March is halfway through already
2) I leave in about a week's time

So, yes. It's now that close and I have yet to settle my internal flight nor my VISA. VISA I'll have to get it done tomorrow and internal flight, I hope I can book tonight when mom comes home. I need a credit card for it. And I think I need to go out with mom one day to get all the necessary stuff. I only have 1 pair of jeans, and what seems to look like 1 pair of berms now.

The past week was somewhat busy seeing that I went for L-camp and the weekend was taken up with Church and Cell stuff. So yes, as to why I'm left with one pair of berms... L-camp was super fun. I think initially I kind of dreaded it hearing that at one point we'd need to jump into the mud-pond and stuff but over time, I grew to like it. Loved my group - SURGE. They're great people. The weather didn't help either, raining on both days of the camp so things were rather muddy. Accommodation was in A-huts with mattress-less bunks so we used our sleeping bags instead. All in all, I'm really glad that I went for LEAP.

So, for the up coming Australia trip, I'm going to Melbourne and Sydney for roughly 2 and a half weeks. Arisya will be going as well, while I arrive on the 26th, she arrives on the 27th. So maybe we could meet up in Melbourne town or something. Personally, I have no idea what to expect as I've never been to Melbourne before! As such, I have to rely on others and the internet to let me know what there is to do down under in Victoria. It's going to be lovely for sure, but yeah. I should start thinking of what I want to do there.

The picture above, shows Great Ocean Road. I heard that the views there are spectacular and it's a must visit. Mom, Dad and Frederick went there in 2005 while I was stuck in school-term. They took a helicopter ride out there. How lucky! I don't think I'll have enough money to do such stuff. Great Ocean Road is about 2 hours away from where my relatives stay so maybe if they don't mind taking me there one day, I could go. That'd be nice for sure.

I do know that I want to go to Phillip Island for sure. Penguins stay there and I'd love for a change of wildlife. Some how, I just can't seem to appreciate the cockatoo that wakes me up around 8am every day outside my window. Maybe its the screeching? Anyway, penguins would be a welcome change. Can't wait to see them funnies. And I ought to see lots of Kangaroos and Koalas too. You can't get enough of them creatures only seen in the down under. Too bad I ain't going to Ayer's Rock. How is that spelt now? Not too sure which part of Australia that is in, I just know it's somewhere central.

In Sydney, I'm going to have to see if it's possible to walk across the harbour bridge. I won't be going for the Bridge Climb this time, but I'd love to walk across, stop in the middle and admire the view. Can you imagine looking across the harbour with the Opera House in view? I can't that's for sure. I need to see it for myself. And since the last time I was in Sydney in 1994, I didn't go to the Opera House, a visit is warranted this time. Along with a jet boat ride in the harbour. Vanessa has offered to go with me on that one. What else is there to do in Sydney, I'm not too sure. I suppose I could use the time to go to some of the museums and stuff like that. Some one please get me a new camera, I don't like the idea of lugging that FujiPix camera around, that fake-SLR... Oh, and not forgetting, the amount of shopping to be done as well.

This trip is going to be great and I'm sure I'll enjoy myself there and come home with lots of memories and pictures to share.

PS: I wanna get one of those Survivor-buffs again.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

ANTM 10 in New York

2008-02-27T13:32:00.004+08:00

ANTM moves back to New York City - the city that started it all. And the models this cycle are really up to it. You've got a lot of them wanting it so bad. Take a look at the auditions.

This is Kimberly. She's one of the oddballs out there, being a blur girl.... as you will notice.

A rather poor clip, but the only one of the "Lap Dance".

And here's some highlights from the next episode, episode 1 was casting.

Go Katarzyna, go Anya!

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

The sounds of Jungle Love

2008-02-16T00:44:00.004+08:00

Jungle love. Turned out to be a whole lot of kissing. I think maybe they caught more but it wasn't that suitable for 8 'o' clock G-rated programming. Ah well...

As predicted, Mary is gone. She kind of appeared to be a nobody to me. Not much personality. And you know what? She's engaged to Survivor: Pearl Islands contestant Ryan Opray thanks to Jonny Fairplay a.k.a. Jon Dalton.

Joel, what can I say? I get a very Judd vibe from him being the big guy who likes to be in control. When others do what he doesn't like he gets annoyed. Kind of like a control freak. I don't really like him much. And I think he made his move too early. I hope it comes back to bite him HARD. Please be out before the merge. And please do not find the exile island hidden immunity idol. I wouldn't like that.

The favourites seem to be holding up quite well otherwise. I think we need to see more of a balance come next episode. Episode 1 was all the favourites, episode 2 was all the fans.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

You guys are Dumber than you look

2008-02-10T23:38:00.001+08:00

Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs Favorites has premiered. I think it's promising, but they need more air time to get people familiar with everyone. Cirie, Natalie and Mary lacked confessionals in episode 1. Some got shown here and there only. Alexis was shown at the beginning and not at all later on. The fans - we saw very little of them. Episode 1 focused on the favourites heavily. I think a 1.5 hour premiere episode would have been good, but it wasn't that so what can you do?

I have some predictions but I'm lazy to post them now. I'll get around to it sometime. For now, I can't wait till the next episode. Stoked!

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

ANTM10 - Back to Basics

2008-01-19T00:06:00.001+08:00

America's Next Top Model Cycle 10's promo for the top 14 girls. Who are they? Read below to find out more. What's the promo theme? Its tagged as back to basics. Love the vintage clothes.

We have Aimee, Allison, Amis, Anya, Atalya, Claire, Dominique, Fatima, Katarznya, Kimberly, Lauren, Marvita, Stacy Ann and Whitney. If convention follows, we shall have a new intro sequence and theme. Hope they show the winners segment for this.

ANTM brings cycle 10 back to New York and pushes the number of top girls entering the house to 14. The last cycle based in New York was cycle 3 and the last cycle with a top 14 was cycle 4. The biggest change? Bye bye Twiggy, Hello Paulina Porizkova.

America's Next Top Model Cycle 10 debuts February 20th.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

UNESCO World Heritage sites and I Wanna Dos

2008-01-16T21:43:00.000+08:00

I was on Wikipedia the other day looking at the pages on Ancient Indian gems - the Taj Mahal and the Qutab Minar (actually, I was originally looking at Bhangarh). And I found out that they were UNESCO World Heritage Sites. And so I wondered what the others are.

So I took a look at the list and realised that I've probably only ever been to 3 or 4 of them. The other being the Greater Blue Mountains Area in Australia. Well, I hope that I can up the count. They don't get placed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list for no reason. Next up? Probably the Sydney Opera House. I wanna go there for sure. I've seen it but not been in it. And since I will be in Sydney in April, why not?

Which brings me to my list of I wanna dos. What things do I wanna do?

1. Go on a hot air balloon and look around for miles and miles to come.
2. Do the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb.
3. Go bungee jumping.
4. Go to Bhangarh (one of the most haunted areas in India).
5. Go to the Herbert River Falls.
6. Visit more UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
7. Go on a cruise once.
8. Ride on one of those jet boats that takes corners at really high speeds.
9. Snorkel off Pulau Redang.
10. Watch turtles lay eggs in Terengganu.
11. *I can't think of anymore now but I'm sure I have more*

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Survivor Half All Stars

2008-01-06T08:09:00.000+08:00

The cast of Survivor: Micronesia - Fans versus Favourites has been revealed. 10 ultimate fans against 10 experts. On all fronts of expertise. Fans make up the Airai tribe while the Favourites are the Malakal tribe.

The Airai tribe.
Back: Michael Bortone, Chet Welch, Joel Anderson, Kathleen Sleckman, Erik Reichenbach
Front: Mary Sartain, Tracy Hughes-Wolf, Natalie Bolton, Jason Siska, Alexis Jones

Favourite fans: Alexis, Erik

The Malakal tribe.
Back: Jonathan Penner (Survivor: Cook Islands), Amanda Kimmel (Survivor: China), James Clement (Survivor: China)
Front: Cirie Fields (Survivor: Panama - Exile Island), Eliza Orlins (Survivor: Vanuatu), Jon Dalton (Survivor: Pearl Islands), Parvati Shallow (Survivor: Cook Islands), Ozzy Lusth (Survivor: Cook Islands), Ami Cusack (Survivor: Vanuatu), Yau-Man Chan (Survivor: Fiji)

Palau is not represented as "favourites" Bobby Jon and Stephenie returned in Survivor: Guatemala. Guatemala is not represented as it was surprisingly unpopular or, according to Dalton Ross, "lowly regarded". Pff. Palau I can understand, but Guatemala I do not. Parvati didn't earn her place there first time round. Give me Amy O'Hara anytime. And Brian Corridan over Jon Dalton.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Ghim Moh Secondary School

2008-01-01T00:28:00.000+08:00

New Year's Eve, so what's a better occasion than to invite some of the ex-classmates over? James, Luigi, Antonius, Stephen, Yen Hao, Esther, Shi Hao, thank you for coming. Each of you is a really great friend and there are many fond memories of years gone past when we were in secondary school. Lots of you have changed in various ways. But meeting you guys again has just reminded me of the fact that I may not have very many friends (certainly not like those friendster-whores), but the friends that I do have are friends who I can relate to.

Let's see if I can remember who was in 4/2, class of 2004.
1. Kenny
2. Jin Hui
3. James
4. Antonius
5. Stephen
6. Victoria
7. Carol
8. Debbie
9. Edmund
10. Sharmaine
11. Beng Loong
12. Syaza
13. Esther
14. Willie
15. Jun Wei
16. Ho Mun
17. Dephanie
18. Yu Ting
19. Febe
20. Kimberly
21. Ben
22. Chun Yang
23. Shi Hao
24. Tjahyadi
25. Yen Hao
26. Shu Hui
27. Kum Hong
28. Ying Shin
29. Yvonne
30. Yessita

That's a heck of a lot of people and I hope that I've remembered everyone. :) Well, it'd be nice to see where everyone is and what their plans for the future are. Hope all of you are doing well and that you'll have a good year ahead. Happy New Year.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Home Alone movies

2007-12-29T22:40:00.000+08:00

To date, there have been 4 Home Alone movies produced over a period of 12 years. You can tell that it just gets crappier and crappier as it goes along. According to Wikipedia, there's supposed to be a Home Alone 5. Sure, you watch, you laugh. But its not laughing cause its funny, its laughing at the sheer stupidity of it all.

Home Alone, the original, was great. Everyone loved it. It was new and the kid was cute. Then came the sequel. Same family, same kid, different city. This time due to a mix up, the kid goes to New York City meets the bad guys and kicks their butt. And the family is reunited once again after rushing to wherever the kid is. It introduced the new stuff like the TV versus the hotel staff scene. And the location was somewhere other than a familiar home.

Along came Home Alone 3, which marked the retardation of the series. New family, new kid, new home. Stupid plot, stupid new bad guys. All a bunch of baloney.

And to make things worse, the fourth installment came along. Back to the old family, new city, new house. The original family was so big but this edition features only 5 members. Some seem to have age-reversed. The kid looks smaller than ever. Predictable and hillariously stupid, not to mention an irritating main character. When is enough enough? They should have left it at the second installment. That, or come up with horrendously better plots. Like, why don't they ever use a set of twins? Talk about new dimensions for confusing the already confused bad guys.

Hope that one and all had a good Christmas.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and more Survivor babble

2007-12-23T12:24:00.001+08:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all. This is going to be a really different year for me, the first time ever that we're not going to spend Christmas with mom's family in KL. There's a rather absent feeling. On Christmas day we're going to go to church and then for lunch at someone's place and after that there's nothing happening really. Whereas over in KL we'd go for service, then spend the afternoon with a quiet lunch and then at night have a big family dinner with everyone till late in the night.

But I suppose its good to do things differently for once... Eh? When did Christmas become all about gift giving anyway? I haven't had time to go buy anything for anyone these days.

How does a show manage to do it? 15 seasons down, a 16th in post production and at least 2 more in development. Beats me. Billy Garcia from Cook Islands and Leslie Nease from China replied emails to them. That's nice of them. At least they aren't the stuck up sort who think since they've been on TV they're in another dimension and they aren't the famewhore types (JOHNNY ROTTEN anyone?). The guy's career is listed as reality TV contestant, can it get more obvious than that?

He was a serious casting mistake and to date, no one comes close to him for hate value. Not even Dre. Or Shane. No.

Borneo - Having watched this finally was interesting. One group of people who knew what they were doing and another who were completely ignorant.
Australia - If I remember correctly, this was a really good season but not as great as Pearl Islands or China for some reason. Need to rewatch it.
Africa - I might watch this for the second time next. Its been awhile since I remembered anything from Africa.
Marquesas - I didn't follow the entire season the first time round, but watching it for a second time changed my opinion but underscored the fact that I hate a domination pre-merge (read Ulonging).
Thailand - Perhaps watching the second time round would be better.
Amazon - I think the gender bender twist had an effect on how the game played out somewhat.
Pearl Islands - Nearly done watching the season for a second time. Would be done if the software wasn't giving problems. Sad to say, this season has been bumped to second favourite now.
All Stars - Well, interesting concept but not enough to salvage the season I think.
Vanuatu - A lot of people hated the hilly billy season but I still don't get it really.
Palau - Didn't like it cause of the Ulonging.
Guatemala - Another season people didn't really like but I enjoyed and it produced the only female winner after All Stars.
Panama - Hated, hated, hated it. But even then, not as much as I would hate Fiji.
Cook Islands - The racial division caused a lot of furore but in the end it was very well balanced. Loved how the season played out.
Fiji - Absolutely most hated season of all.
China - Favourite season of all time. Great cast, great theme, great editing, great outcome. Okay, so I can't stop gushing now can I?

So if I were to pick a favourite from each season...
Borneo - Sean. Alphabet strategy was funny and completely ignorant but he did come around in the end although it was a case of too little too late.
Australia - Hands down, Colby. Should have won as well but that nurse grabbed it instead.
Africa - I need to get back on this one.
Marquesas - I'd have to say John. He had an idea how to play the game but was eventually too cocky.
Thailand - Shii Ann. The most entertainment value for sure.
Amazon - Rob for being so informed about the game and very cunning.
Pearl Islands - Sandra for being a spit fire and dodging a lot of the votes.
All Stars - Kathy. She was the most spunky player of her previous season and this season it would have been her or Colby I'd liked to have seen win.
Vanuatu - Ami since she was rather cut-throat.
Palau - Hands down, Coby Archa. Just oozes personality. Close behind would be Jenn Lyon.
Guatemala - Danni. Funny but also entertaining.
Panama - Cirie as she gave good confessionals and was entertaining somewhat.
Cook Islands - Yul as he seemed really smart for someone who had never really watched how this game was played.
Fiji - Yau-Man. How can you not like him?
China - Todd had been my favourite from the beginning, before it even aired. A close one is Amanda.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Ancient Voices behind the scenes

2007-12-23T00:24:00.000+08:00

The behind the scenes of the China theme.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Survivor: China finale, Survivor: Micronesia & I Am Legend

2007-12-19T21:01:00.000+08:00

One of the best seasons in a long time. I'm sad. Survivor: China is over. But as they say, all good things come to an end. I'm happy Todd won. He was my pre-season favourite and he won in the end. Way to go T-Roc! I loved the top 3. Sorry Denise, but I didn't see it fit for you to be there. If you were there instead of Todd though, Amanda would have won. This season had an awesome cast ala Pearl Islands. Each person was something else. And Jaime and Erik are dating! Whoooooooooohoooo!

Chicken - I felt mixed over you. On one hand you had the best ever tribal council exit (damn!), but on the other your wife cheated on you with none other than your dad.
Ashley - Interesting diva indeed. WWE star on Survivor. Didn't last long but you provided some fun for sure.
Leslie - Survivor fan, another one of those I liked. I respected you for doing what you think was right in that Buddhist ceremony.
Dave - Crazy Dave indeed! But I like I liked you better "off" screen than "on".
Aaron - The twist screwed you over eh? If anyone deserved second chance from Fei Long, it is you.
Sherea - Now who can forget you running and yelling at Dave? Drama you made.
Jaime - You're kind of funny. At least you knew how to play the game. Cool that you're dating Erik.
Jean-Robert - Like Dave, I like you better "off" screen than "on". Man did I dislike you while you were in the game.
Frosti - Cool young athletic Asian dude. Very cool man.
James - I was glad to see you go, seriously. But another one who I like better "off" screen than "on".
Erik - You're a nice guy, in every sense. Maybe we'd get along well eh? You reminded me of Dirk a little. Momma Leslie would be proud of you.
Peih-Gee - Throwing that immunity when on Zhan Hu was not a bad move like they said now was it? Strategic player. PG!
Denise - It would be in your best interests to clear that scandal you have on your hands. Probably blown out of proportion, but better to do so nonetheless. Your game wasn't much unfortunately.
Amanda - If Todd didn't win out of that final four, it should have been you. You're a favourite.
Courtney - Your edit came around much later. I grew to like you.
Todd - A game well played. Nice to see a fan win the game. Now that you're in the alumni, go talk to fellow fan Brian. Man, I'd give to see the both of you on a season together. Think of all the scheming! Congrats, I'm glad you won.

As one season closes, another is waiting. Survivor heads back to Palau next season for Survivor: Micronesia - Fans versus Favourites.

Who will be returning? Highlight to read.
Johnny Fairplay - Pearl Islands
Eliza Orlins - Vanuatu
Ami Cusack - Vanuatu
Cirie Fields - Panama
Ozzy Lusth - Cook Islands
Parvati Shallow - Cook Islands
Jonathan Penner - Cook Islands
Yau-Man - Fiji
James Clement - China
Amanda Kimmel - China

Returnees, DO THE RIGHT THING. You know what I mean. Boot, boot, boot! Off with the head!

Yesterday we went to watch the show I Am Legend. The premise was good, it was not a bad story. Just that the end was too abrupt as Faye put it. I think it would have done to have been developed further. It was as though the build up was so long just for it to be resolved all too quickly. But good effect I'll say.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

The Show that started it All

2007-12-15T22:49:00.000+08:00

I just managed to finish watching the first ever season of the show which I, without doubt, follow the most closely. And even as this season has concluded, the latest one is about to do so tomorrow in the US and the sixteenth season will debut in less than 2 months time. But anyway, we shan't talk about the latest seasons of TV's longest running reality show now. There will be time for it later on.

This season was quite enjoyable. From the way it was produced to how it was edited (have I said that the official soundtrack sounded fab?). Though the sets looked like they were produced with a lower budget than now, it was quality versus quantity as seen is some of the later seasons (Fiji much?). It also introduced the now familiar theme known as the Survivor song to the casual viewers. But from the overall product, I'm not surprised that it was a hit when it debuted. Really, who would have thought of marooning 16 Americans on a deserted island for 39 days and the sole survivor being the million dollar winner? Who would have?

The two tribes had really distinct ways of operating. Pagong, the younger tribe, wanted to play fair and go with the gut feel rather than have safety in numbers. Tagi, the generally older tribe, on the other hand went with the numbers game and emerged the top 5 out of the group of 16. It was amusing to see all the castaways struggle with voting through an alliance. Years after this season aired, no one gives a hoot about getting into an alliance. That was a fresh difference I suppose.

As for the challenges, they seemed different from the typical ones these days. There used to be the individual fire-making challenge for a couple of seasons, but that doesn't happen any more. The mud volcano challenge was used again in Cook Islands though. Those were interesting challenges. The army-built obstacle course was brilliant though. Loved the challenges.

1. Sonja - Never really knew her as she only spent 3 days (1 episode) there. But she did seem like a very likable lady.
2. BB - He, on the other spectrum, got on my nerves. I'm not surprised he was voted out when he was. How could you not grate on people's nerves when you're shouting at them to work 16 hours out of 24? And he knew what this game was about, its not about making your life more comfortable. I never did get why he was out there. Oh, right. For all the wrong reasons.
3. Stacey - Maybe she tried too hard, too early? Then again, it is very hard to tell when is the right time to make a move in the game. And with no prior season to act as a reference, it would have been all the more difficult.
4. Ramona - She did try, you have to give her credit. I think it would have been difficult to vote any one out of this tribe.
5. Dirk - I'll say too bad we didn't see him longer. He was nice and you have to take your hat off to him. Bringing a bible all the way out there, sticking to values. In this day with all the influences, its commendable that he sticks to his values. Even one of the other contestants expressed their surprise.
6. Joel - The tribe's foresight got cut off before the merge. Gervase should have taken this spot instead and no, its not racism.
7. Gretchen - Big character. She was different from what I was expecting really.
8. Greg - Very interesting personality. Its almost as if he were a split personality at times. Hah.
9. Jenna - She came off more likable here than she did All Stars. Also, I think she had gotten over the moral thingy when it came to alliances then. It didn't seem to bother her as much. But as one of the All Stars, it was interesting to see the differences.
10. Gervase - I didn't like him really. Possibly the only thing I liked was his voting confessional at the final tribal council. That just cracked me up.
11. Colleen - How did she get the title America's Sweetheart? I liked Elizabeth more than I liked her. But with her snaps at Richard and Kelly, she did give a few laughs here and there. Especially in the final tribal voting confessional - "Go buy a raft, start some tour or something, maybe that will make you nicer".
12. Sean - Loved this guy's character. So whacko. From the alphabet voting strategy to the pure blindness to the alliance.
13. Susan - Not surprised she was an All Star castaway. Goodness, was she funny.
14. Rudy - The oldest Survivor castaway I can think of. You need to take your hat off to him for being so plucky to go out there and survive as long as he did. I remember thinking he was bitchy and grouchy when I first watched but now it doesn't seem as bad as I thought it was.
15. Kelly - I think she should have won really. Or maybe not. Just as she was confused in playing the game, so am I about whether she should have won or not.
16. Richard - Not surprised he won given his profession of being a corporate communications consultant. Gave the best PR speech at the final tribal closing statements. He came in knowing what he was getting into and knowing what he wanted.

Great season indeed. No wonder I love this show.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Cycle 9 over, Cycle 10 coming

2007-12-14T23:24:00.000+08:00

And the winner of top model cycle 9 is... Saleisha. As one season closes, another comes. Like Survivor, 2 months later comes ANTM Cycle 10. The local channel here only just concluded ANTM Cycle 8 so I've had to follow this Cycle on youtube.

Chantal, Sarah, Bianca, Mila, Lisa, Saleisha, Kimberly, Heather, Ebony, Janet, Ambreal, Jenah, Victoria are the models of the season.

1. Ambreal - Vibrant personality. Definitely one of those who stands out.
2. Bianca - I didn't like her... as much as the others. Most of them this season were likable.
3. Chantal - Loved her. Total package. Enough said.
4. Ebony - Its either she looks like Kamesh at certain angles or Kamesh looks like her at certain angles. Heh.
5. Heather - Loved her as well. Watch for her story.
6. Janet - The mom figure. She was rather likable.
7. Jenah - One of the youngest in the group but seems so polished.
8. Kimberly - Didn't really like her either.
9. Lisa - She was nice, but I think that was just it.
10. Mila - Say hello to the robot man.
11. Saleisha - Perhaps she has the most experience in the industry?
12. Sarah - You'd think that having the most common top model name would make you stand out more.
13. Victoria - Ms. Yale "I don't have a prickly disposition".

Good season this cycle. Looking out for Cycle 10. If tradition holds, a new intro is in store. I liked this version though.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Project Runway 4

2007-12-11T23:33:00.000+08:00

Project Runway 4 is more drama packed than any season before this. But the designs are just as good as the drama. There are some very distinct personalities on this season, some a bit quieter. But they did a good job avoiding the love-to-hate-that-badlies like Santino Rice. Or even Wendy Peppers.

1. Simone - She was okay. Seemed a bit all over the place in her design though, like, she was unsure.
2. Marion - The nice, shy guy. I wish he would have spoken up more or that he had more air time.
3. Carmen - Looks like she had potential but the odds were against her in the type of tasks they had to do.
4. Chris - Likable guy. Project Runway's version of Rupert if you may. Design wise he was okay.
5. Christian - I can't stand his drawl or how he thinks so highly of himself. Like the Sarah Jessica Parker episode where he was like, "Yes, but I WANT to hear what Sarah Jessica has to say." As if she's gonna give you want you expect.
6. Elisa - She surprised me somewhat. With her early drama and then fading out faster than she came in.
7. Jack - One of my, if not my, favourite. Great designs, great personality and the overall package is great as well. Sexay much.
8. Jillian - She's the cute one that has great ideas. Kinda liking her as well.
9. Kit - Gotta love Pistol. She's awesome as well.
10. Kevin - Silent but packs a punch. Clothes are awesome. Also the only straight guy as of episode 3, LOL.
11. Rami - Another guy with superb designs. Excellent man.
12. Ricky - Yet another one I can't stand much. Like Christian, thinks that he's somewhat good. Can't stand his facial expressions either. Maybe that's getting personal, but it gets on my nerves.
13. Steven - If Jack is my favourite, he's my second favourite. Not too much from the fashion stand, but from the entertainment stand. Love that redhead.
14. Sweet P - She's another character. Heidi says, "Sweet P, who do you think should go?" Sweet P whispers, "Can I do eneey, meeney, miney, mo?" "Sweet P!" "Ahhh!"
15. Victorya - She's no Chloe Dao, neither is she a Diana Eng. Maybe she's more typical Asian. Whatever it is, Project Runway sure is good at showing different types of Asians with different personalities.

This season rocks totally, so far at least. And the next episode previews promise even more drama.
Coming up: America's Next Top Model cycle 9 finale

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

2007-12-10T00:42:00.000+08:00

I'm watching Survivor: Borneo for the time being and for the first time. The show was showing on TV when we had just moved back to Singapore and I knew it was popular cause my uncle had asked me to watch it when it was on (Thursday, 8pm people? Borneo then showed in the US at Wednesday, 8ET). I vaguely remember Ramona and Gervase and the rats one episode, and another was someone getting voted out and asking to be sent out of the rain, Jenna I think. That's probably all I ever watched. Never even knew who won. Then came Australia and that's when I began watching from the Maralyn boot onwards.

It was high concept for sure. Who would ever have thought of taking 16 people, dumping them in the jungle for real and asking them to play this Lord of the Flies game for TV? No one! No surprise it was a reality hit and boosted the demand for reality tv. But looking at the production sets nowdays compared to what was Borneo, that season looks kinda ghetto now. But its all good. Survivor South Africa seems to be headed in the same direction (the second season's sets looked the same as what was Borneo). Hope they go for another season and experiment with colours.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

The art of remembering

2007-11-19T23:37:00.000+08:00

Have you ever thought of how you will be remembered? Or what you will be remembered for? Eh? I really have no idea. And I'm not talking about parting for good, for the future beyond. I'm talking down the road, in 5, 10 years' time. Heck, even 1 year's time. Will you even be remembered? By whom?

Good reputation, bad reputation. Something's gotta remain in people's memory. Unless you never ever created an impression in the first place. What do people remember me for? How do they remember me? Do my secondary school classmates even remember me now? Its been about 3 years now.

On the other hand, what strikes me about the other people?

Zhao Jie - Tall, strong & honest.

Weijie - Commitment to band.

Gajan - Playful.

Shaun - Comic.

Aung - Serious. He looks serious anyway but has a light hearted side to him.

Kamesh - Genuine. One of the first friends in the class.

Carol - BIG heart. Very big. Very positive.

Xin Le - Bubbly. You can't forget how bubbly she is and what she's like when excited.

Regina - Stands out from the crowd. There are many sides to her, you never know which she's going to play.

Arisya - Diligent. Enough said.

Nad - Very Neleh-like. She may be sweet but don't let that fool you and its not a facade either. Its the true her.

Ifah - Happy-go-lucky.

Zhili - Creative flair.

Nicole - Popular with a lot of people. Its not a bad thing, the good kind of popular. =)

Dione - Tall, has a point of view and is rather sensible.

Seejun - Very active in sports and leadership.

Kay Miang - Super enthusiastic about the things she does (sealed with trademark voice).

Esther - Strong leader. Always been the leader.

Shwee - Hard working. Period.

Yessie - The supporter. Without the supporter there would be no leader.

Yen Hao - The rock with a tinge of humour.

Luigi - Yes Yes Yes, I can do it all. Always up to pushing his limits.

Lilin - Smart Chinese friend.

James - Cunning. Silent observer but when he has a comment, can be rather witty or down right true.

Antonius - Genuine, takes it easy.

Phyllis - Ms. Go Getter.

Shawn - Mr. Go Getter.

Janice - Cheerful personality.

Joannah - Bubbly as well.

Alvin - Reserved but packs a punch too.

Farid - The nice guy.

Jessica - Very quiet but she'll surprise you.

Willie - Musically talented, Mr. 4/2 Idol.

Syaza - Ms. 4/2 Idol.

Actually, going through that list made me realise one thing. Kinda peculiar. How is it that both my groups from poly and secondary school are groups of 5? We have The 5 Of Us - Carol, Kamesh, Reg, Xin Le & I; and the Cafe - Esther, Shwee, Yessie, Yen Hao & I. Funny eh?

But anyway, that's probably the first thing I'd think of when I remember the people. Its all good peeps. Nothing bad.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Khun Hyber Khaun - Heeyah!

2007-11-19T21:01:00.000+08:00

I just finished watching Survivor: Marquesas today. I missed most of that season and only watched snatches of it. Why didn't I like it back in 2002? Well, cause Maraamu kept losing. It gets boring when one tribe keeps losing challenges. Similarly why I hate Palau and Fiji years later. But at least when the switch happened in this season it helped things out a little.

Peter - Neutral. He did come off as a whacko though.
Patricia - She was likable. Very mom-like and probably the Maraamu mom.
Hunter - Liked him off the bat. Various reasons. Voted off too early, but Maraamu's make up was like Ulong's.
Sarah - Did not like her from the get go. She was cleopatra alright.
Gabriel - Liked the guy. Pity we didn't get to see much of him.
Gina - She was likable too. She should have made the merge at least.
Rob - I know why they brought him back for All Stars. Very much a player. Did I like him? No.
John - Loved the guy. Great moments especially the "I need someone who needs to pee". I thought he came off as likable.
Zoe - Loved her too. Hard worker and generally a nice person.
Tammy - She came across as rather angsty and kinda mad all the time.
Robert - Liked the guy as well. He was nice in a different sort of way. Can't exactly explain it.
Sean - Complains a lot and is heck lazy. Race would not have been as big an issue if he hadn't said anything about it. Can't say I liked him.
Paschal - Started off okay, got a bit less likable towards the end.
Kathy - One of my favourites. Still is. She was rather spunky and ready to jump into the thick of things and so sporting.
Neleh - Sweet Pea. Don't let her fool you. Blonde but knows how to use it.
Vecepia - Neutral. But I felt she didn't deserve to win, her or Neleh.

I think the season was rather good after watching it. Maybe it was the I didn't watch it years ago but can now spin that made it good. Whatever it is, I enjoyed watching it. On to Vanuatu.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Lunch buddies

2007-11-15T00:45:00.000+08:00

I remember the time during PP some one raised the idea of going for lunch alone. Yeah, I've had to go for lunch alone several times but for different reasons. In any case, I always have my lunch buddies. Thanks to you lovely buncha lunch buddies. =)

Who are they? A couple of 05-ers and some others.

Carol - Always ready to go for lunch. Loves to eat at different locations. Thanks for eating with me and taking time to actually walk all the way to wherever we agree to meet. Its always good to see a fellow 05-er.

Ifah - I love eating with Ifah, she's so entertaining. Like Carol, she has a lot of stories to tell also. Very fun. Love her random-ness too.

Aung - I know he works at Outram, but he came all the way to Funan to eat with us today! Thanks so much!

Fiona - To be one soon. =)

How has internship been 1.5 weeks in? To sum it up in one word, tiring. I'm tired each day after work. Glad they gave us a starting week with 1 public holiday in it.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Reflecting back

2007-11-08T11:20:00.000+08:00

Now looking back, I do miss all the 05-ers. Did I think I'd miss all of them? No, coming in I didn't think I'd miss them if at all. Oh, how our perceptions change eh? But definitely, the past 3 years have changed me as a person for sure. I think I've been exposed to a lot more stuff than if I had gone to JC. Like Hatch Communications where we worked for real clients. And in Trigon where we worked on a multi-million dollar project.

But what's the best thing I'll take away from the last 3 years? The friends. The skills we may have learnt, but friends are far more valuable than those. And if I've been overly hard with any of you, or had very little patience, do forgive me. I know a few people who did get on my nerves and I got fed up of, but really, I think that probably wasn't the best side of me coming out. So my apologies to those of you who I mayn't have given a second thought about. I love all of you aight? Even miss all of you as we go through week 1 of the internship.

And as Arisya has mentioned on her blog, I hope we can remain in contact for as long as possible. But it is inevitable that we will go our own special ways. But that doesn't mean that we're not friends. We can always meet up for Christmas or even still celebrate birthdays together. Bottom line, you guys have been real good friends the last 3 years and I wanna keep in touch with all of you.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

I miss 05, Shawn, Phyllis, Farid, Joannah & all the lecturers

2007-11-04T00:57:00.000+08:00

Its Saturday, but who gives a damn about school? Me. Cause I miss every single one of them in one way or other. Yesterday was an awesome day with every single one of them. During the interview CA, we got to spend at least 5 minutes with Ms. Nga, Ms. Ng and Rajan. We had lecture with Ms. Kwa and Ms. Peter lectured us in dining etiquette. Mr. Ang, Mr. Wong, Mr. Loh and Ms. Low were also on hand to take pictures with.

As dinner ended, it became a mad dash for everyone to take photos. 05 practically dominated the stage when it came to taking class photos. And before I knew it, I was giving out the pictures to them and some wanted to take pictures with me thereafter. I only wish I remembered with whom I had taken those pictures cause it all seems to be a blur now. Rushing here, rushing there to get pictures with everyone.

But looking back on the last three years, I am blessed to have known each of you. All of you are special indeed and I regard the lot of you as really good friends. I hope that we'll be able to keep in touch for a long time to come and that we'll have reunions and enjoy catching up on everything happening. This includes the lecturers as well. Its just sad to say goodbye. Usually on Saturdays I don't think much of school, but today was different...

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

3 is the number

2007-11-02T00:44:00.001+08:00

Its already November. How quickly time has passed. So swiftly it has come and gone. Where did it go to? To all the 05-ers, I am gonna miss you crazy buncha peeps the next three months. Here's another emo post to be added to the countless number of us who blog about how sad we are that our time together as a class is drawing to an end. Of course we will meet for dinner dates, but it's not going to be the same. The times when we were in lectures and in tutorials were also the times where we bonded - helping each other calculate how many lessons from a module we can skip, all hoping that the lecturer would not call us to answer a question and fighting to be noticed for PM at yet other times.

Anyway, here's a recount of the last three years that we have been together....

Orientation Programme
The first person I talked to was Arisya. She said Hi to me first and we started talking. At this point, I had already noticed Kamesh, Gajan and Shaun, not knowing they were also 05-ers. There was a lot of confusion. Anyway, to the conversation... Arisya talked about how she had gone to JC first and knew some one else in this course. Who else but Halimah? Haha. And then the facs gathered all the 05-ers to sit down. Soon after, we were talking to Weijie and Zhao Jie. Arisya asked ZJ if he had an English name and I remember this so well, he said she could call him Aaron. I really thought his English name was Aaron... HAHA!

And soon it was time for indoor games. Sitting in a circle, we introduced ourselves. It was Nad, Ifah, Kamesh, Arisya and then I forget who else. But soon we had to play the remember the list of names game and go around the circle. The further it gets, the longer the list you had to recite. Remember the "She is Sharina, she is Sabarina, she is Jia Ying, she is Nad, she is Ifah..."?

And the body parts game which I "had" to turn a notch up. I vaguely remember someone having to kiss someone's sole and Kamesh writing "tongue" but ending up kissing Arisya's ass instead. And so on and so forth, we know what comes next so I don't need to go into details there.

Outdoor games were memorable as well. Gajan broke his arm and Shaun chased Alison throwing water bombs at her. By the end of the day, they were pegged to be the class couple. Regina was selected to participate in MMSB along with Gajan who was eventually replaced by Shaun due to injury. The second day was really crap as we all were in the Convention Centre waiting for MMSB so we could cheer Shaun and Regina (Way to go REG!!).

Day three and we were doing the president's challenge flag day at Bukit Merah. The town was really dead. Anyone remember all of us taking 198 to the interchange together? And then us gathering at McDonald's and learning that Carrie Underwood was America's Idol. Hahaha. I remember Kamesh had a few conversations with an old man while selling her flags and I went around with some of them. I can't remember who now.

As the official school term started, we were surprised by a late addition to the class, none other than Zhili! That brought our numbers up to 18 and we've never looked lower than that since.

Three years later, and many many projects later, you have DMC3B05. We're one of the most united classes in the cohort (I kid you not) and we're a fun bunch of crazy kids. I'm gonna miss the entire buncha bozos loads. You guys must meet for dinner ever so often! Or, I'll kill you next time I see you.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Internship draws near

2007-10-30T23:36:00.000+08:00

Its now my turn to be emotional as they say. Today was the Specialist Diploma feedback forum where the entire class sat down with the director to give feedback on the course and watch the final projects of all 4 groups. It was nice to see the class again. You'd think that we'd be able to see each other during lecture again but going through the feedback for each module just brought back memories of this course we took together. How we had to make new friends from the different classes and work together.

I think that the spec dip was a good way for us to get to know people from other classes. Through it I got to know Farid, Jessica, Devon, Joanne and got to know Shawn a lot more than when Shwee introduced us the other time at Ngee Ann. And of course, got to know the 05 sisters, Arisya and Dione, even more.

Then came the picture taking session where we took the first spec dip class photo. Can you believe? One and a half years and we haven't taken a photo of the entire class? Oh well... It was fun really. And I must say that the other stories weren't bad, the final projects I mean. Interesting stuff. Kinda like our own mini-cinema. And the school provided us with several pizzas and rodeo wings and Pepsi to enjoy as well.

What am I gonna miss most? I think it'd be working together with TwentytwO on projects and the whole balancing of the main diploma with the specialist one. As Ms. Peter said, we should all congratulate ourselves. While the top ranking students retained their top ranks, I've more or less maintained my grades. Could I have done better? Sure, but I suppose through it all, I'm happy with how I've done.

So, to end off, here are a few shout-outs to those who can read them.

Shout Outs
Twenty twO productions - I'm really gonna miss you guys for sure without fail. The last semester I suppose was when we became really close and you guys are FUN. So I'll miss all the energy and lame-ass stuff we did together.

The rest of the spec dippers - You guys were fun to have class with. As Ms. Peter also said, we tried to hoodwink Chet by saying e-learning week meant no classes for us and what not. Hah! I'll remember watching The Departed with y'all.

Ms Kwa, Mr Loh & Chet - Thanks for the enthusiastic approach to lessons and the countless hours of guidance provided. Very much appreciated and hopefully one day, we'll all do something you guys can be proud of.

Now I shall go and be sad about leaving.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

What Hurts The Most

2007-10-13T10:35:00.000+08:00

I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house
That don’t bother me
I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out
I’m not afraid to cry every once in a while
Even though going on with you gone still upsets me
There are days every now and again I pretend I’m ok
But that’s not what gets me

What hurts the most
Was being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was tryin’ to do

It’s hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go
But I’m doin’ It
It’s hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I’m alone
Still Harder
Getting up, getting dressed, livin’ with this regret
But I know if I could do it over
I would trade give away all the words that I saved in my heart
That I left unspoken

What hurts the most
Is being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do

What hurts the most
Is being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do

Not seeing that loving you
That’s what I was trying to do

Each time I hear this song it never fails to make me slow down and think of two people. Never. It just has that impact. And one of the worst parts was not being able to say good bye to one of them. Yeah, the song is that powerful.

Dear Nana,
Y'know I really miss having you around. You always had something good to say about people, even the most socially inept (you know who I'm talking about). You always gave a lot from yourself, sacrificing too. Your patience and understanding are qualities that are missed.

Love,
Jono.

Dear bro,
Every time I hear that song it gets to me. Not being able to say good bye was one of the hardest things, cause eventually we ran out of time. I know you were trying to be and were strong. Anyway, you're missed and I liked having your opinions around.

Love,
Jono.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

What?!

2007-10-11T03:22:00.001+08:00

Internship posting turned out to SO be not what I expected. Maybe I'm just being a diva and making too big a deal out of nothing. So screw me. Maybe I just need time to say, okay, this is what you've got - deal with it. Y'know sometimes you just feel lousy about yourself, guess this is another one of those times. You just gotta get up, move on and continue walking. Most probably away from it.

Anyway, something to be happy about. The 5 Of Us had a baking session today. We baked brownies, not too bad I'd say. Could do a little better perhaps. And had lunch and watched Moulin Rouge. Fantastic show. Enjoyed the day for that part pretty much. The brownie's mostly gone by now, just a little left in the fridge.

Have you ever wondered how cyclical things can be? Take a look at technology. Let's ask this question, is technology really for the good of mankind or is it just for the good of its inventors (who pocket the earnings)? Let's look at mobile phones in particular. A model with 3.2 megapixel camera comes out. Then comes the 5 megapixel camera model less than a year later. Then a video phone, phone with this function, that function. Never ending. And since things are constantly being upgraded, if you don't keep up you lose out. How? Depreciation. What a 3.2 megapixel camera phone was once worth is higher than what it is worth now thanks to the arrival of the 5 megapixel camera phone. The longer you keep it, the lesser value it holds. And so repeats the cycle. Before you know it, a phone with more features comes out into the market and the value of the set you own currently goes down again.

And how about education? You start of slow, progress to increasingly difficult levels. And the further you go, the more you have to cope with. Gotta leave time for this project, that assignment, study group, mid-term, and whatever rubbish that is thrown at you. You get a break here, then go back for another term of bashing you with loads of assignments, projects, mid-terms, what-have-yous. Come out of education, work till you're dead. You take a break, feel refreshed. Return to the mundane job. You need a break again. The world is a cycle. And it seems as though it is progressing towards a cycle of mundanity, depression and destruction.

Do you seriously need technology to do everything for you? It may be more efficient, sure, but it lacks personality. It lacks emotion. One day, technology is going to overtake mankind. Be way too advanced for the commoner to understand. Only the elite inventors will understand it..

Obviously, I'm ranting which shows I'm not in that great a mood. But I think that the worst is over for now. On to happy thoughts of the night, also known as dreams.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Internship - The industrail attachment programme

2007-10-10T02:14:00.000+08:00

Its become too important to ignore any more. It just a few weeks I won't be going to school anymore, it'll be going to work. Not too sure how that will go down. Tomorrow brings us one step closer to that. Actually its today, depending how you look at it. I was all okay with it telling others how the postings will be okay and it will be fun. That is, till I saw someone's blog and I thought of something else. I dunno, its suddenly kind of scary to think you'll be working. You have no idea what the company expects of you or what hours you will have to work and how much time you'd have to do the things you want to do. I'll admit it, I'm a tad scared of what lies ahead. Tomorrow, during the briefing and postings revelation, I suppose we shall see. I just hope that I get a good company which I can learn from that allows me to have some time to myself. I doubt that they'd push us in slowly. Events companies are desperate for people (I wonder why) and they need manpower.

I think its likely that we'd be on the front line, manning booths, running around doing setting up or waiting on people do help them get seated. Make coffee for anyone, wash the dishes, mop the floor? I don't think so. You've heard stories of how interns have to do that when they go for their attachment, but I don't think the events companies would do that. Unless I'm sorely mistaken. But I think what's open is to go in to the company with a good attitude, just be yourself, learn what you can, make the mistakes that you will make, admit to making the mistakes and take whatever "feedback" you get with an open mind. Okay, so here's to tomorrows announcement of our postings to our companies. =/

Lord help me. No social life for 3 months I foresee.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Uggh, How Stupid Can I Get?

2007-10-06T00:25:00.001+08:00

Wireless communication - you thought it'd be something fun and easy to talk about, come up with activities that revolve around it and get people to talk about. Not so straight forward. I feel really helpless about the topic. The other day, just talking to Ms. Kwa for consultation on the topic, I felt embarrassed that I wasn't more independent. Looking at how others are handling their courses in pre-med or psychology or what have you, I question myself - are you lazy or is your course just slack at the moment? Hmmmm..... Maybe I'm just moody now. But yeah, I feel kind of stupid and maybe I'm lazy or the course is slack for the mo.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Technology - K850i

2007-10-04T11:06:00.000+08:00

Since we're doing the wireless communications presentation for NCT on Monday, this totally fits the topic. Have you heard about the new K850i phone from Sony Ericsson? Its a new phone released under the cyber shot branch which features a 5 megapixel camera. How awesome eh?

The phone is available in 2 colours - luminous green and velvet blue. Design wise, the phone ain't bad either eh? Compared to the first cyber shot phone released, the K800i which I'm using, this one beats it flat for design asthetics. But what about functionality?

When it comes down to phone functions, the basic thing you want to do is to make calls and send or receive text messages. I'm sure making calls is a given with any phone already in or about to enter the market. Its standard cause they're not called phones if you can't call with it. For text messaging, I feel that the K800i will fare better due to its larger buttons. The K850's buttons seem small and if you were to type out a long message, I'm not sure if you'd escape sore thumbs after the exercise routine.

However, when it comes down to additional features, the phone is once again tops. With a 5 megapixel camera (not bad for a phone), in built MP3 player and the capability to watch TV on your phone, its additional functions are definitely more advanced than what is available currently. It seems as though more and more features are being added to the phones these days as each month passes.

All in all, seeing the preview of this phone nearly made my jaw drop. Okay, fine, it did make my jaw drop. It even has this feature that rotates the screen according to if you hold the phone vertically or horizontally for the media tab. Not sure about the others. It also has touch screen keys but I wonder how reliable those are.

A preview video of the phone.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

The Ultimate Apple Pancake

2007-09-30T22:55:00.000+08:00

Another one for cousin L. Enjoy.

German Apple Puff Pancake
(serves 2)

1 large or 2 medium, firm apples such as Fuji, Braeburn, or Delicious

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup milk, at room temperature

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.

3. Peel the apples and cut into 1/4-inch slices.

4. Melt the butter in a skillet that's 8 or 9 inches at the base. Add the apple slices so they cover the bottom of the skillet completely. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over the apples. Saute the apples about 4 or 5 minutes, until they soften and become light golden brown on both sides.

5. Pour the batter over the apples and place the pan in the hot oven.

6. Bake approximately 18 minutes. Don't open the oven door while it's baking. Turn on your oven light to see if it's done. The pancake should no longer appear wet on top.

7. To serve, invert the pan over a large round plate. If using the pie plate or regular pan, run a spatula under the pancake before flipping to make sure the apples don't stick to the pan.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

The Birthday

2007-09-30T22:37:00.000+08:00

So I owe a big thanks to the following people:
JNJ
Fano
Smack
Fairplay
Tela
llano
Spyne
Survivorgirl
Canadian Bacon

Joannah
Alvin

Arisya
Carol
Nad
Gajan
Weijie
Nicole
Kay Miang
Ifah
Zhili
Kamesh
Xin Le
Regina

Mom
Dad
Frederick
Aunty Tina
Aunty Dah
Uncle Jerome
Elaine
David Durong
Diane
Kathy
Maria
Duane

Shoban
Shakira
Aunty Sathia
Uncle Ravi

Esther
Yessie
Shwee
Yen Hao

Thanks all for remembering. Jo and Alvin, thanks for the super huge gift and the lunch. 05-ers, thank you for Mad Munkie Mattie McCurry. Mom and dad, thanks for the dinner.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

One funny convo

2007-09-29T01:18:00.000+08:00

Survivorfreak | Canadian Bacon | You're the one who makes me shine says:
jonathan chua has thrown a goose at regina leong
Dita Von Teese is my idol. says:
THATS NOT FAIRRRR
Survivorfreak | Canadian Bacon | You're the one who makes me shine says:
lol
Dita Von Teese is my idol. says:
i'm not even on facebooook!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dita Von Teese is my idol. says:
you BRAINWASHED xinle!
Survivorfreak | Canadian Bacon | You're the one who makes me shine says:
lol
Dita Von Teese is my idol. says:
she KARATE CHOPPED meee
Survivorfreak | Canadian Bacon | You're the one who makes me shine says:
oh dear
Survivorfreak | Canadian Bacon | You're the one who makes me shine says:
do you need medical assistance?
Dita Von Teese is my idol. says:
no
Dita Von Teese is my idol. says:
i shall get carol to moon the both of you as revenge

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Food Fiesta

2007-09-29T00:26:00.000+08:00

This post shall be for all the people who like cooking and experimenting, especially for cousin L! You hear?

Cabanossi Pasta

Ingredients

500g packet spiral pasta
1 tablespoon oil
250g packet cabanossi (5 x 14cm sticks), sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 cups frozen peas and corn
575g jar tomato pasta sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
fresh herbs to garnish

Method
1. Add pasta to a large saucepan of boiling, salted water. Boil, uncovered, until pasta is tender. Drain well.
2. Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add cabanossi, onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, until onion is soft.
3. Add peas and corn, pasta sauce and water. Bring to boil, then simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Add pasta. Stir over heat until hot.
4. Serve pasta topped with parmesan cheese. Garnish with fresh herbs.

Hint. Add any combination of vegetables to the pasta, such as broccoli florets, diced carrots, sliced mushrooms and capsicum. For a spicy flavour, substitute chopped Spanish salami for the cabanossi.

Spaghetti with creamy ham sauce

ngredients

500g spaghetti
Olive oil spray
1 medium brown onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tblsp cornflour
550ml Carnation Light and Creamy
Evaporated Milk
250g sliced lean ham, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup finely chopped chives
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1 Cook the pasta as per the packet instructions. Drain and keep warm.
2 Spray your wok with oil and heat to
a high temperature. Add the onion and garlic and saute for 1 minute.
3 Place cornflour in a small bowl, add cup of evaporated milk and mix well. Add the remaining milk to the pan and gradually add cornflour mix, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. The sauce will thicken as it reaches boiling point. Add the ham and the chopped chives and season to taste.
4 Divide the spaghetti over 4 bowls and pour over the creamy ham sauce. Garnish with extra pepper and fresh green herbs if desired. Serve immediately.

Tuna Fried Rice

Ingredients

3 eggs, lightly beaten
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tblsps olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
100g button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, halved and sliced on diagonal
270g can sweet corn kernels, drained
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup kecap manis
2 tblsps oyster sauce
1 tblsp sesame oil
3 cups cold cooked brown rice
425g can John West tuna in springwater
Green spring onion strips, to garnish

Method
1 Place eggs in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Heat half the olive oil in a large wok or frying pan. Add eggs, then cook and stir until set. Remove from wok, break into small pieces and set aside.

2 Heat remaining olive oil in same wok. Add onion, garlic and mushrooms and stir-fry till onion is soft. Add carrot, corn, peas, kecap manis, oyster sauce and sesame oil, then stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Add rice to wok, cook until heated through, then gently stir in egg and tuna.

3 Serve fried rice garnished with spring onion strips.

Hint: You will need 1 1/2 cups of uncooked rice to make the 3 cups for this recipe. When rice is cold, spread over a tray and place a tea towel over the top. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight to dry rice.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Happy Birthday Zhili & Aunty Tina

2007-09-26T09:54:00.001+08:00

Since its Zhili's and Aunty Tina's birthday today, here's a cake to make everyone's mouth water. Hope both of you are having a great day and are treated like royalty. Enjoy your day!

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Its like a weekend but during the weekdays

2007-09-25T22:03:00.000+08:00

Probably the best way to describe the DMC/FT/3B/05 timetable. Haha. "Its like a weekend but during the weekdays". Referring to the double free days of Wednesday and Thursday, which seems like its a weekend during the middle of the week. 3 days of school a week ain't bad. And as they calculated, its only 18 school days out of 30. 2 days down and 16 to go. This is going to pass real quick. On average, we have about 3.5 hours of school a day. Wow. Three days a week and about 3.5 hours a day. Hahaha. 05 has it good this time around.

Glad to see everyone - Nicole, Kay Miang, Dione, Seejun, Zhao Jie, Gajan, Weijie, Aung, Shaun, Regina, Carol, Kamesh, Xin Le, Zhili, Ifah, Nad, Arisya. =)

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

6 weeks

2007-09-23T23:57:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow starts the six weeks of lessons, the last ever for the diploma. We've come that far already, wow. And after these six weeks (which will pass by real quick), its internship with some company. What to expect? Where will it be? What will I do? Who will I be with? But that's six weeks later. Right now, its going to be a heck of six weeks. Rajan's gonna whip us into professional shape and it'll be interview after interview. Making sure we look professional and have our portfolio's all ready up and done. And Ms. Kwa is gonna drill new communication technology into us so that we're well versed with anything our companies throw at us. Only six weeks more to be stuck with the 05-ers. Only six weeks more of foodcourt six and Dover station. Only six weeks more of SB lift jams. Only six weeks more of school starting at 9am while we have to report to our company at goodness knows what time. Only six weeks more of classes ending by 3pm. Only six weeks more of no school Wednesdays and Thursdays. Only six weeks more of being told what to do and not be judged for what we do without severe consequences. Six weeks, six weeks, six weeks. School, here we come. I don't feel like this holiday has been much of a vacation.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Asians and systemisation

2007-09-23T01:33:00.001+08:00

I think Peih-Gee is a typical Asian. Or at least fits the stereotype of a typical Asian. Ever noticed the need for everything to be in a system or a particular manner. So organised. Neat, tidy. Is it something that comes naturally to us, to the point it becomes clinical and technical? Its not exactly OCD, but it may be very close to it. In the first episode of Survivor: China she already was saying we should keep things here so we know where to find them. Probably a good way to describe this behaviour would be practical.

Looking at forums on the internet, Singaporeans seem to have an inherent need to keep things organised. I'm not too sure about other Asians and perhaps I'm making a generalisation here. But I know Singaporeans love things to be systematic, almost symmetrical if you may. It must be in this manner, this method. I'm not sure if the way I organise my folders on the computer is for convenience, by matter of habit of organising or for practicality. I've been told before that I'm neat and orderly. But its not OCD I know. My mom often nags me to clear up my room, so it can't be OCD.

Going back to being technical, clinical. Is it fueled by generations before us who have inculcated this value of prefectionism amongst us? Look at April from America's Next Top Model cycle 2. The judges often felt that what she did was very "clinical", as though she were more of a technician than a model. Could her drive to win and succeed in doing the best for every aspect be seen as too clean, too excellent or in their words, too clinical? Another thing that she was chided for amongst her fellow models was that she tended to over-analyse things. I know I am guilty of this.

Why do we over-analyse things? What prompts us to do that? More questions than answers on Asian behaviour. I need to talk to a psychologist about this. Well, at least there are 2 in the family.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Happy Birthday Dakota

2007-09-22T12:01:00.001+08:00

Dear little Dakota, happy birthday to you, you cute boy. 2 years old now that its officially your birthday. Enjoy your childhood while you can.

Dear Nan,
I wonder how yer doing. Its been a long time, yet my memory of you is still very fresh. I can remember your voice and how you used to do things. Your generousity is a trait that flows through the family. We miss ya.

Love,
Jono.

Dear bro,
Its his second birthday today eh? Sigh. It makes me sad that you didn't even get to see his first. But well, things have been going good lately. I haven't forgotten you, no. I still remember and treasure what you used to say, the conversations, everything. Anyway, I hope yer doing good from where you are up above. Yer missed too bro.

Love,
Jono.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Episode 1: A Chicken's A Little Bit Smarter

2007-09-22T02:23:00.000+08:00

I can totally see where the title comes from. Chicken thought that his tribe didn't want to listen to his opinions so he flat out stopped giving them even when he was asked. The old man didn't fit in at all. At least the tribe gave Ashley a chance for that bout of illness she had. Maybe it will be good for the next episode, seeing that it involves wrestling to some extent.

Todd remains my favourite post-premiere as well. Dude, don't get too cocky though! That bit about making Aaron the leader, maybe its good. But don't let the game get to you that you have to be playing it full on all the time.

James is silent but likable. The dude is ripped too. Let's hope he goes far.

Leslie, Leslie. I take my hat off to her for sticking up for what she believes in and for having the guts to excuse herself from an uncomfortable situation that could make you stick out like a sore thumb. Lets see how far you get eh? Go Leslie.

And Denise! I dunno, I get a good vibe from her. I don't think she'll be one of those who will be making the moves but I don't see her in a Cassandra type of way either. Maybe she's like the white version of Cirie?

And I just realised that all my favourites are from Fei Long. The Zhan Hus don't really have it going and don't do much for me. Zhan Hu to me is like what Casaya was. The tribe is also younger than the Fei Long tribe in average age, maybe that's why its showing signs of cracking up at the fault lines already.

The tribal council exit was awesome for a premiere. The best TC exit for any premiere may I say. And I liked the way this episode went. I totally had no idea if it was gonna be Chicken, Ashley or Peih-Gee! And that's with the spoilers saying Chicken too. But this season will be boot spoiler free. Good start CHINA! Awesome theme, awesome intro, awesome location, awesome season. I look forward to Fridays for more reasons from now on.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Survivor China Intro

2007-09-21T16:32:00.000+08:00

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Survivor: China - Ancient Voices

2007-09-20T21:20:00.001+08:00

If you haven't at least heard the preview yet, you should. This season Russ Landau did a TERRIFIC job. This one could possibly become my favourite theme ever. Even better than Pearl Islands. The starting sounds like the extended Borneo theme, then it veers away from the normal themes. It has a very adventurous feel to the beginning with strings highlighting different sides of the theme you never heard previously. And this time the ancient voices "song" can be heard better than say in Fiji, in CHINESE. The middle to end part is also good, you hear the Fiji-esque yell, the one where Michelle's credits are shown in the Fiji intro, followed by some drum beats. A Chinese flute can then be heard before it dies down to a few yells and some kind of chimes. Great job Russ!

Ancient Voices of China

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Train ride gripes

2007-09-16T17:14:00.000+08:00

Ok, so here we go complaining again. I promise, not too long.

1. The Clementi Curve - just when the train is coming to Clementi, there's this tight curve that SMRT simply loves to speed their trains around. Do they realise that at times the trains feels like its going to fly off the track and that a lot of the commuters have problems standing on their feet at this part of ride?

2. The Armpit View - some people love to hold the overhead railing with both hands, nearly like being crucified. They look unpleasant and goodness knows if they stink as well!

3. Gas Attack - bodily odours, enough said. When people, tired after a day's work, hop on the train, they want to just reach home as soon as possible and look forward to a couch or a bed. And I'm talking taking the train back after work at 10pm, not 6pm. It is understandable for BO to be around during rush hour when there's lots more people, but at 10, nearly 11, pm?

That aside, why do patrons have to PAY to get into the booth area for the NATAS fair? Don't those people want to sell the holiday packages and air tickets and tours? Or is that just a way to recoup "losses" incurred from discounts? I can't believe I went all the way there to find out that you have to pay $3 for an entrance ticket to get into a sales promotion fair. And the queue was bloody long as well.

Oh well... What can you do eh? Just think about something nice I suppose, and you'll be fine. Once again, thanks to one of the best friends around. Such a rare catch these days.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Ryandan

2007-09-16T17:08:00.000+08:00

To one of my best friends, if not THE best friend, out there, this song is for you:

Like The Sun ~ Ryandan

I tried to hide from you
but i failed
i tried to lie to you
but how i failed
and even in my darkest time
you gave me light
i never knew this kinda love could feel so right
when i'm in your arms
i find myself believe it
we could be anywhere
so i can keep on dreaming

(Chorus)
whenever your close to me, you`re like the sun
you feel like the sun
and everyday you telling me
i am the one
i am the one who makes you shine

and i know
whenever you want me to, i'll go
and even when your not with me
i feel you there
i only have to look and see
and i'll know where
when i'm holding you
the world can stop it's turning
you`re always gonna pull me through
and i won't be returning

(Chorus)
whenever your close to me, your like the sun
you feel like the sun
and everyday you`re telling me
i am the one
i am the one who makes you shine

you`re like the sun
you keep me warm
you`re telling me

when i'm in your arms
we can be anywhere (2x)

(Chorus)
whenever your close to me, you`re like the sun
you feel like the sun
and everyday you`re telling me
i am the one
i am the one who makes you shine (2x)

your like the sun (2x)

Its so beautiful and powerful, the song. Cheers to you, and thank you for everything. *hugs*

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Mambo jambo

2007-09-14T23:20:00.000+08:00

This week/holiday/past month has been crazy. So many thoughts run through the head, so little time to ponder about them. Anyway, I shall try to collect them now, where ever they have run off to, and to get them down.

1. Blessings
I don't really get why suddenly its as though my whole family has been blessed. Not in small amounts, in a much bigger quantity. My parents have been receiving gifts for the house from friends - steamer, sound system, DVD player, oven, fax machine. And me? Job offer after job offer. First was Maxsphere from Farid, then Senses through Aunty Doris and now Nine-V from Henry. And Lee Lian has just asked me to do part time, more subtitling. I really wonder why all of a sudden. Oh yeah, while working for Senses I actually had another call from Maxsphere. Can you believe?

2. Celebrity "attacks"
Well, there have been some scandals, some dramas, some whackos out in the world of glitz and glamour - Hollywood and the media industry.

- Britney Spears' attempt at a come back at the MTV VMA
- Vanessa Hudgens from Disney's High School Musical's furore
- Lindsey Lohan's upside down tango with rehab

I believe in some cases, the media should let it rest for awhile, let the celeb get time to get a hold of themselves. Britney's been in the scrutiny for quite some time now. I think that its somewhat of a nasty cycle. She's sunk low, the media scrutinises and criticises her. She needs to prove herself, redeem her image. So she attempts something, doesn't work out right and she gets criticised again. Why does the media criticise her so, and follow her in such a tabloid manner? For the inside scoop? For something to talk about? Its all about sales and little regard for someone's personal life. That girl need some time alone to think about what she wants to do to salvage her life. She needs to think about her kids, her financial future. Sure, come back may bring that but what's the use if its a desperate attempt? It'd be better to produce something that you would be proud of, something you can take time and put in effort to make it good.

Lindsey, however, is on the other side of the spectrum I feel. I feel as though she's been given several chances over, but she just seems to blow every chance as though its a useless piece of waste paper. She too, could do with some time alone to rethink about her life. However, unlike Britney, she seems to want to be in the limelight.

**The above thoughts are purely my opinion**

3. What's in a name?
Have you wondered how many different names you are called? Probably if you have a Chinese name and only a Chinese name, you'd be called the same name all the time. Not abbreviated versions of some name. I just find it interesting the number of ways people can call your name.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Spec Dip Final results

2007-09-13T00:58:00.000+08:00

Module Code - Credit Unit - Grade
---------------------------------
BA0605 - 3 - B - DTC
BA0606 - 4 - B+ - PROJ

SEMESTER GPA: 3.286
CUMULATIVE GPA: 3.342

Goodbye spec dip, we're done with you. I dunno whether I'll miss you, but I'm thankful extra hours are over. Twenty twO, thanks for the good times.

Ms. Kwa, Mr. Loh and Chet, thanks very much for the past 1.5 years of extra, insightful lessons.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Year 3, Semester 1 results

2007-09-12T03:03:00.000+08:00

Module Code - Credit Unit - Grade
---------------------------------
BA0196 - 4 - B - ICM
BA0228 - 3 - B - CIBM
BA0230 - 3 - B - MIA
BA0233 - 3 - B - ICMT
CP001S - 2 - B+ - NUTW
BA0266 - 4 - B+ - WFM

SEMESTER GPA: 3.158
CUMULATIVE GPA: 3.165

Happy? Not very. I could've done better. Oh well, at least its maintaining. Not doing worse. But still not too happy about it. Goodnight.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Long days

2007-09-10T23:09:00.000+08:00

I love lighthouses. The one above is charming isn't it? It signifies a long day over. I just want this week over. I'm tired, really, really tired out. Work is long and now the extra help has been stopped, so we have a lot to do. Oh well... This song is kinda nice.

You'll Be In My Heart - Phil Collins

Come stop your crying, it will be all right
Just take my hand, hold it tight
I will protect you from all around you
I will be here dont you cry

For one so small,you seem so strong
My arms will hold you keep you safe and warm
This bond between us cant be broken
I will be here dont you cry

And youll be in my heart
Yes, youll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more
Youll be in my heart
No matter what they say
Youll be here in my heart
Always

Why cant they understand the way we feel
They just dont trust what they cant explain
I know were different but deep inside us
Were not that different at all

And youll be in my heart
Yes, youll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more
Youll be in my heart
No matter what they say
Youll be here in my heart
Always

Dont listen to them, cause what do they know
We need each other, to have and to hold
Theyll see in time, I know

When destiny calls you, you must be strong
I may not be with you, but you gotta hold on
Theyll see in time, I know

Well show them together cuz...

Youll be in my heart
I believe, youll be in my heart
Ill be there from this day on
Now and forever more

Youll be in my heart
No matter what they say
Youll be here in my heart always

Always...
Ill be with you
Ill be there for you always
Always and always
Just look over your shoulder
Just look over your shoulder
Just look over your shoulder
Ill be there always

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Work, Rambles and Trips

2007-09-04T22:27:00.000+08:00

Finally, one day that I'm home early. After coming back from KL its like I've been home but not yet been home if you know what I mean. I'm here but not in the house. Been working hard at different jobs. So many things going through my head now that its been such a long time since I last posted anything here. Let's do lists then. Lists are so orderly, heh.

1. I spent quite some time in KL kinda bored since I didn't have much money. But I saw Kathy. And Mr. Andrew! Man, I missed his antics and Kathy's a bunch of her own fun too.
2. I came back on Wednesday night at went to work Thursday morning till Sunday at the Comex fair 2007 for StarHub. Made great friends there. Will upload some pictures when I'm not so busy. Jon Yap, Precy, Bee Leng, June, Henry and all the other guys.
3. Had Monday off but got another call to start work today doing subtitling for videos.
4. Now my dad is in my room fiddling around with something. I hate how my "study table" is always full. Of what? Computer monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, printer. No space!!! And now he's trying to put a lamp there. =_="
5. I'm kinda tired out after working so long. Anyone feel like going to Sakae the week before school reopens? While working I had a sudden craving for Sakae's soba. And I need that week to relax before the last semester of school opens. Last semester of school?!?!?!?! EEEEEE! *freaks out*
6. Survivor: China in under 3 weeks! My favourite pre-season is Todd Herzog! A survivor fan, so I hope he does well. More on Survivor....

Zhan Hu (Fighting Tiger)
1. Ashley
2. Dave
3. Erik
4. Frosti
5. Jaime
6. Peih Gee
7. Sherea
8. Steve/Chicken (what kind of name is CHICKEN?!)

Fei Long (Flying Dragon)
1. Aaron
2. Amanda
3. Courtney
4. Denise
5. James
6. Jean Robert
7. Leslie
8. Todd

Aight then, enough for one night.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Transformers

2007-08-21T20:42:00.000+08:00

Today I watched Transformers! Like, finally! Elaine, Vinder, Su, Sheryl, Yin, Ting, I could hug you guys for watching that show. It was awesome, totally loved it. It could have been sweeter but, well, I won't complain. I already got part I of my wish, so yeah. Later then. Dial up ain't stable.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Friends

2007-08-16T21:28:00.000+08:00

Has anyone thought of how you classify friends before? I remember Carol once asking me over MSN how would I classify friends. Good friends, close friends, best friends, acquaintances, buddies, boyfriend, girlfriend, anything else?

Well, I'm not exactly sure of my own classifications. What I know is that I don't just have one best friend. I have a few. I don't have hundreds and hundreds of friends, but I have several close ones. Among my friends there are the good ones, the bad ones. From there there are the friends I consider my best friends, the friends I consider close friends, those whom I consider good friends, others whom I consider acquaintances... Are you able to tell which category you fall into? Heh.

My apologies for the not too great above picture of some of my friends. But yeah, that's a picture of some of my friends. I treasure most of them a lot. But well, what would you do without friends right?

Best friends: I hope you guys know who you are. Cause I like knowing each of you and thanks for the great times we've had.

Close friends: I don't think you guys would know who are exactly, but in any case, thanks for being the great people you are. You guys are fun for sure.

Good friends: Probably a lot of you would fall into this category.

Acquaintances: Its nice knowing you.

I wonder what you guys would say. =) Reply? Heh.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Its all over

2007-08-15T00:47:00.001+08:00

Today
The supposed class outing was supposed to occur today. But we were on "budget" and thus had to come up with other ideas than ice-skating and karaoke sessions to entertain ourselves at the beginning of the holiday. So, we decided to descend upon Eunosville, which is none other than Arisya's home on a floor of a block in Eunosville. Thanks for opening up yer home Arisya!

What was supposed to be a class outing turned into a class hangout as only 4 people turned up - Ifah, Zhili, Me and Arisya. Here we are busy playing Spongebob Monopoly while watching White Chicks on TV. The movie was hillarious. Its the type which has a plot, but a very mild one at that and is made up mostly of 99% nonsense. But y'know, sometimes you NEED to watch nonsense. Rephrasing something Carol said, you need to watch nonsense so that next time you will know what is nonsense. LOL.

This is what the board looked like near the end of the game when we were gonna go to City Hall for some Half-Priced Gelare Waffle Tuesday. The whole Spongebob theme is pretty whacky eh?

For instance, instead of houses you build pineapples. The sites are also of things like Sandy's Treedome and as you can very well see, Krusty Krab. Another one would be Prank Palace. Heh.

Also, hotels have become Krusty Krab outlets. The figurines are of famous SpongeBob characters. Sponge Bob, Patrick, Gary, Plankton, Squidward... I can't remember anything else actually. But yeah, a pretty entertaining game for an entertaining day.

Sunday
Sunday was spent with the ICM group cooped up in Xin Le's room from 2pm onwards preparing for yesterday's presentation.

Pretty obvious that the room looked like a war zone eh? We had 4 laptops all running and 6 people in the room. You can imagine how that looked like when you had all of us in there from 2pm to as late as 10pm. Cabin fever starts to set in. People get stressed and need to destress by taking pictures and having mannicures. Lol. Did I spell that correctly?

Here's an example of the stuff we had to come up with for the online website. Ya Low's Yellow Line Dilemma is a game produced for the website and the picture above is the opening page. Remember, this is only a prototype, not the whole damn actual thing.

A plan screen shot of the game in which you must rid Cheong Ya Low of the virus by keeping him behind the yellow line. Obstacles will push him closer to the line and he can score points by doing good deeds. For instance, picking up litter.

Yet another view of the station platform for Ya Low's Yellow Line Dilemma. How's that for a title eh?

And we had pizza for dinner. And Pepsi to go along. Dinner was short with us only stopping for about 15 minutes max, before returning to the task at hand. Dinner was also rather late, at 9+ in the night.

On the Way Down ~ Ryan Cabrera
Sick and Tired of this world
There's no more air
Trippin' over myself
Goin' nowhere
Waiting
Suffocating
No direction
And I took a dive

And on the way down
I saw you
And you saved me
From myself
And I won't forget
The way you loved me
On the way down
I almost fell right through
But I held onto you

I've been wondering why
It's only me
Have you always been inside
Waiting to breathe
It's alright
Sunlight
On my face
I wake up and yeah, I'm alive

'cause on the way down
I saw you
And you saved me
From myself
And I won't forget
The way you loved me
On the way down
I almost fell right through
But I held onto you

I was so afraid
Of going under
But now
The weight of the world
Feels like nothing, no, nothing

Down, down, down
You're all I wanted
Down, down, down
You're all I needed
Down, down, down
You're all I wanted
You're all I needed

And I won't forget the way you loved me

All that I wanted
All that I needed

On the way down
I saw you
And you saved me
From myself
And I won't forget
The way you loved me
On the way down
I almost fell right through
But I held onto you

Down, down, down
But I held onto you
Down, down, down
But I held onto you

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

New House

2007-08-12T12:43:00.000+08:00

Okay, so after nearly a year of living in a nice spacious home, but at the price of accessibility, we finally moved yesterday to a new place which isn't as spacious but far more accessible. And accessibility ranks high in my book. No more 30 minute walks to get to the metro! Not that I don't like walking, but imagine coming back really late (after 11pm) and having to walk 30 minutes when yer damned tired through a black jungle by the canal with minimal lighting just to get home. And bus service doesn't come that close either. Now, its just a 10 minute walk to the metro and a 5 minute walk to the bus stop. Cheers!

The picture above is our new living room. Of course, it was still incomplete as of yesterday since they had just put up the mirrors and the supporting wood would be there a further 3 days. The table colour mom wanted was out of stock so the company gave us a temporary one.

And here is the dining room without the dining table. This picture was taken before the arrival of the 6-seater dining set. I like the set and it looks like it goes well with the finishings of the house.

My room. Yeah, I know it looks dark but it isn't really. Doesn't help that the blind that is down can't be raised as someone ripped one of the strings out trying to pull the thing down... I think its kind of utilitarian though, the feel of the room.

Another view of the wardrobe and the table where that ugly desktop is going to be. At least I have the printer in my room so I can use it when needed. Then again, when school reopens its going to be attachment so I doubt anyone would be sending me stuff overnight to print for submission. But... You never know eh?

The door way and the 'rents' room beyond which is done in cream and brown. See, the room's not as dark as it seems in the first picture. What I don't like is the cupboards at the side. The doors stick out somewhat and are not flushed with the rest of the cupboard. There are gaps near the hinge area and wide gaps, not small ones. Well, you can't really complain can you? The overall look of the place is quite nice. I'll put up some of the bar next time then. Its still not yet done as the solid top needs to go on. But generally, the house is quite nice and its nice to be able to call a place yours. The own room thing especially. So here's to thanking the 'rents' for purchasing this place and pimping it up somewhat.

Shout outs:
Dak: Eh, hope yer doing okay and not stressing out. IMUB.
Fano: Hope the wordsearch game is going good.
ICM group: Lets go kick ass peeps!
Anyone else: I'm sorry, the net company won't be transferring the connection over till Tuesday (as opposed to the cable TV which did it within 24 hours.... Kill ST!!) so I might or might not be online. As of now, I'm in the old place using the net since mom needed me to come here for something. Cheers peeps.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Travel issues

2007-08-04T03:43:00.000+08:00

Let's all give a round of applause to our very own DMC05 designer for coming up with this year's new DMC05 poster. Cool eh? Absolutely love the new concept, over the previous years' boxes with us in it. I also like the glassy effect and the photos chosen were fabulous! Hats off to Ms. Zhili.

Anyway, I just did some quick calculations. I have some money in the bank, and some which I need to claim back from spec dip budget. Then there's also some to be put in the bank as a lump sum with the spec dip claims. Factoring in internship allowance (hopefully which I save all away), I should get roughly between $1200 and $1500. That's if luck's on my side and being really optimistic with the figures. You never know what the company will be like. They may be nice, or totally the opposite. So, with the amount that I have in my bank at the moment, the conclusion is that I can go to the US with the supposed amount that I'll save. Not factoring in other possible cost-cutting measures that can be put in place to further boost up the funds in the bank. The conclusion? Please, if you're thinking of me, give me cash this year. Haha.

On the other hand, I'm much better today than I was yesterday or the past week. Thank you to all those who have been worrying. But I'm okay. Thanks though, especially you guys who are my rocks out there. You know who you are.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Depressed

2007-08-02T22:34:00.001+08:00

Okay. I'll admit it. The past few days I've not been myself exactly. Maybe I look fine on the outside, but on the side its uggh. So, to anyone, if I've flared up unnecessarily over the past week, I apologise. Aight? Please don't take it to heart. I'm burnt out. I don't remember the last time I just laid back and did nothing. I've not had a "break" break in 23 weeks. It was Trigon and then immediately straight to school with just a weekend to come back home and fit into things again. Someone, please ask me to go out and just let it loose. I might feel better then.

It also kinda sucks that I've missed catching Transformers. Its a really big peeve of mine. I'm gonna try catch it tomorrow. Or Saturday. NO ONE PLEASE DISTURB ME ON SATURDAY. I'm going to watch it or else... Or else I'll be miserable. As is, I'm already tired, drained and really out of my mind.

Shout Outs:
Dak: I'm really sorry I haven't been myself the past week. I'll make it up somehow. None closer than you aight?
Ifah: Thanks for helping cool me down the other day. I think that day has really affected me this whole week.
Carol: Thanks for being the listener.
Gabe: Thanks bro for the prayers.
L: Thanks for listening too. And sympathising, haha. When I'm up you'll help entertain me a bit?

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Crunch time

2007-08-01T01:53:00.000+08:00

Its been awhile since I've ever posted anything... But today was a really hectic day. And doing an assignment, listening to some music a certain song just made me think of you guys. Its been so long. In a few days it'll be a year since Nan was gone and its already more than a year since bro was gone. Maybe I'm just a little emo today. I dunno...

Dear Nan,
I can't believe that its almost a year now. Such a long time ago... Yeah, we all miss you. I miss playing scrabble with you.

Love,
Jono.

Dear bro,
Can I ever express how different it is these days? I doubt I can. But yeah, we wish you were around. For sure. Miss ya man.

Love,
Jono.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

More ANTM

2007-07-28T02:29:00.001+08:00

I'm done with watching cycle 8. Channel 5 hasn't even shown it yet. But cycle 8 wasn't bad. I still prefer cycle 7 to cycle 8 though. Look out for all the cameos in cycle 8. They look really professional in some of the photoshoots. Like the one after their makeovers. Sometimes videos get to me, as in, some videos are able to move you somewhat. One video kinda did that. Its more than just the models being professional, the whole production behind each season/cycle. Sometimes it makes you want to be a part of the production since its such a success.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

i, colin by TwentytwO productions

2007-07-23T23:23:00.000+08:00

This weekend, TwentytwO productions was busy filming a short show called "i, colin". Haha, its the spec dip project. Our own production. Its on the tail-end already, next to wrapping up and entering post-production. I'll be glad when it's over really. Its just been a lot of work into producing that short thing. And the thing is that we have to do it all by ourselves. Its not as though we have an editing team and a film team and so on.

Burn shoes burn! Go up in flames! Burn shoes burn! Interested now?

Logging the different shots, the time on the tape the shot began, the time it ended. Thanks guys for being really flexible and open to logging!

Nice shot eh? So DMC-posterish! Having a laugh at one of the shots.

Here's another hint. Can you guess what the story is about? The others just checking through another shot.

And the lemon cheesecake I made for them. I liked the way it turned out. Will add less lemon next time though. We nearly called ourselves Lemon Cheesecake Productions (tagline; we're not that cheesy). Like, we hit the epitome of cheesiness!

Just rounding up with a few shout outs:
Farid
Arisya
Ifah
Nad
Zhili
Kamesh
Cawo
Xin Le
Regina
Seejun
Dione
Nicole
Kaymiang
Weijie
Zhaojie
Gajan
Shaun
Fano
CB

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Supermarket thoughts

2007-07-18T23:57:00.000+08:00

Is there anyone besides me who loves going to supermarkets? Today I was at the Tanglin Marketplace. Its nice to see all the imported stuff, the meringue pies, Sara Lee cakes. I could just stay there and be happy. Heh. Have you ever thought of how fun it is to buy all the stuff at the store, bring it back home and see your kitchen shelves stocked with stuff? I just wondered if anyone had the same thoughts about supermarkets as me. Maybe I'm just off tangent?

Other than that, shooting has commenced with a vengence. We tackled one of the shots from a scene today at Tanglin Mall. Here's the aftermath of the shoot. Camera, paper, less than half alive crew and many more decisions to go. Arrrrgh. Oh the days of being a student eh?

The "dinner". I love the spec dip groupmates. They share stuff. Arisya got a Java Chip, it tasted like wow. Potato salad was good, fries were good, lemon tart was awesome. Barbeque, sweet and sour, curry sauces. Mayo, ketchup. Lovely condiments if they can be called that.

And thereafter camwhoring galore. Hello Arisya and Farid. Nice sweater. Love the brilliant colour.

And toys at the Starbucks. He calls them boy toys. Or something like that. Jessica found a book that went, "The prince found Cinderella and her heart began to beat". I didn't know Cinderella had a heart that didn't beat.

More big kiddo shots. Let's play with the whatever that is.

Oh, seems like I have entered the camwhoring phase too. Only one photo man, only one photo. Aight then, I'd like to post a shout out to the spec dip group. Hey guys, I know its kinda tough fitting in this extra shoot and planning. But I really wanna thank y'all for the effort and dedication, for the good times and the bad times. So just press on yeah? Cause we can do it. Smiles all of ya.

Shout Outs:
Dak: Happy second to you. Enjoy and have fun.
Spec dip project group: Love the times with you guys.
Cawo: BIG THANK YOU to you and your cousin for saving our asses. I owe you sista.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Heroes - Not the show

2007-07-13T00:16:00.000+08:00

Heroes. Today I was just wondering who I considered my heroes. What about you? Have you considered who your heroes are? For me, they're people who have been strong and so full of life. They gave a lot, asked for little in return. They were wonderful people. People that I'd treasure forever, remember if they were gone and always, always hold them in my heart. They're different from good friends. What causes that distinguish-ment, I have no idea. But they're just different all together. I love my heroes. A lot.

The weeks and days are going by in blurs. I don't remember is Tuesday was yesterday or if Tuesday was last week. Did Tuesday happen? I don't remember. Maybe my brain's overloaded. I seem to be semi-aware of what's going on, not fully aware. Whatever this is, this sucks.

Dear bro,
I still do think about ya. Its nice of you to give him the car. Y'know, it still kinda hurts that yer not around... You were... different. Somehow. Love ya always.

Love,
Jono.

Dear Nan,
I can hardly believe its been over a year since I last saw you. And I'm not going to get that chance anymore. I wish people wouldn't be grabbed away from us, but its one of the sad facts of life. Did you deserve to go, did others deserve to go? Probably not. Questions like why did you have to go will be asked, but never answered. Does it matter? Yes. It does. Cause its losing someone we love till we meet again years later. Years take a long time. A very long time. I miss you and bro a lot.

Love,
Jono.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Carpe Diem Communications & Ogiu Communications

2007-07-11T23:02:00.000+08:00

Ogiu Communications

The four beauties posing in dramatic style. Yeah, this is yer friendster picture, yer SB school poster. You just need to add some texture to the picture and walah. Its a piece of art.

The new logo we designed. Pretty snazzy eh? It looks kinda elegant yet modern in a minimalist style I think. Love the black in there. C'mon, you love it don't you?

Carpe Diem Communications

Carpe Diem Communications' SMRT team. Awesomeness man! You guys rock!
Project Manager = Ifah
Assistant Project Manager = Gajan
Creative Director = Zhili
Public Relations Officer = Nad
Events Co-ordinator = Xin Le
Finance Manager = Me.

Me and Xin Le. Don't we all look so corporate? Now, look at those eye bags...

Neege Communications, Carpe Diem Communications and Ms. Doris Nga! Sadly, Hula Communications left about an hour earlier and were not around to be in the photo as well.

ICM, CIBM. Down, down down! We have 3.5 weeks left to the term, the semester. Woooooh. I so cannot wait for a time to rest and to just lay back for awhile. And hopefully I'll be back at Trigon again. Anyway...

Ogiu Communications - Corporate Identity and Brand Management agency
I have no idea how they came up with the name "Ogiu". It was apparently something Xin Le wanted to name a dog. Ogiu? Haha. So yeah, we had to revamp the school logo for an assignment (no, the school has no intention of changing the logo).

Carpe Diem Communications - Integrated Communications Marketing agency
This one Ifah came up with since a song to do with Carpe Diem was stuck in her head when we needed a group name. For this one, we had to develop a 2-month integrated communications campaign for the client. I wonder how they liked our idea....

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Time

2007-07-06T11:56:00.001+08:00

Time,
None as precious as yours and mine.
Twenty-four hours a day,
Time to work and; Time to play.

They say that time heals,
But right now,
Thats not how it feels,
All I feel is ow, ow, ow.

Time,
It can be spent watching a pantomime.
Time,
None as precious as yours and mine.

Busy, busy people,
Trying to study.
Busy, busy people,
Trying to earn money.

Time,
None as precious as yours and mine.
Twenty-four hours a day,
Time to work and; Time to play.

Well, there's some closure for the way some things turned out. Thanks for that, really. I have a better understanding now.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Independence day - The day I got my own room

2007-07-05T23:53:00.000+08:00

I would've posted these yesterday since it was the day I did get to view the room. But I've been so bogged down I've not had time for much. As it is, I left the house before 8am today and returned home only after 11pm. And even then the work is not done yet. I now have to sit in semi-darkness, rumage in my bag for a list of numbers and calculate figures to see if we are within budget. Nice eh? Oh yeah, just send someone along to make it less painful, thanks eh.

Anyway, yes. Independence Day is the day I got my own room. Not moved in yet, but well, I have my own room now. Its more than 1/2 the size of the room I share with my brother now. I need to get used to that. There's a nice big wardrobe next to the door that should do for storage and the view is okay. Not exactly that great but at least some open space. I need help in deciding colours and stuff. I really do cause I'm at a loss for which to pick.

On another note, thank goodness for classmates! I love my ICM group, they're the best. Today we had a very productive meeting. According to Ifah, the most productive meeting to date. Why? Cause it was also the longest. It started after buying mid-day meals from Junction 8 and bringing back to Nad's house. From 3-ish we worked till 9.45pm when we bade goodbye to Nad and her family. Now you see why its the most productive meeting eh? But yeah, thank goodness for them and their good sense of humour. It helps to get through the tough times when we're all drained and we persevere together. Then there's the stoning chair, ahahaha. The one where everyone will stone unless you are Jonathan. And I'm supposedly not human. Wow. Thanks or yuck? Someone tell me. LOL. Right, I gotta get started on accounting.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Friends and more...

2007-07-02T21:57:00.001+08:00

Wow. Just wow. Today a classmate popped up on MSN and said did you know *someone* committed suicide? And that person happened to be close to another classmate. Like wow. I was shocked. That brought back memories of how many people have been grabbed away... It may have been their time, but that doesn't make it any easier. I can only imagine what others may be feeling. I'm still kinda shocked at it. I never knew the person really, but its still shocking to know what happened. I know what its like to have someone you were close to leave for good... Moreover if it were sudden. ZL, hope yer doing good.

The roses are to remember those who are dearly departed.

On another note, in the words of another classmate, "she is an evil woman!". That describes another classmate today, M. M told untruths about someone to a lecturer when we were talking. Way off made up untruths. How spiteful can you get? Fine, maybe you don't like the person. Maybe you're jealous to come up with such untruths. But you don't attack a person by saying false things about them to a LECTURER. That is just outrageous. And good for M to get a scolding by a few others later on. Its about time. That just crossed the line. It wasn't even done in good taste!

"I think --- is mixing with the wrong company. --- has many adult friends. --- meets up with people online and has many ----. They do stuff..." Urgh. Horribleness. And M can think that M is right after it all. If you don't know, just say you DON'T KNOW instead of making up stuff and giving a VERY WRONG IMAGE. Do you have any IDEA how hard it is to bear with you without you making things worse for yourself by doing such stupid things? Seriously, get a life... Somewhere where people appreciate you doing such things. People won't trust you after this, as if they don't distrust you enough already. Hope you're happy.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Techno Bytes

2007-06-30T22:27:00.000+08:00

I remember having this as my first phone. The Motorola V2288. We got it free during the Mr. Kiasu meal era, where you got this coupon when you bought the meal and got the phone free after signing a contract for a line for one year I think. Anyway, this was my first mobile that I shared with mom in 2001.

The Nokia 8250. Mom upgraded our phone to this which was not bad and it works PERFECTLY today. This was in 2001 as well. That phone is famous for the Star Wars ringtones we downloaded onto it. She used this phone for a damn long time man. All the way till last year when she got her new Nokia clam shell phone from Aunty Ivy.

In 2002, my parents decided that it was time I get my own phone. So, the trusty Nokia 3310 came into possession. It was second hand, purchased from Uncle Shino. So, it must've served him a good several years. In any case, Frederick kept dropping the phone so that konked out as you can imagine.

The Nokia 3100 was the first phone I bought with my own money. I got it in December 2003 and it was the first colour screen phone. Colour screens seemed to be a big thing in those days as previously there were only green, blue or white back light screens. This was yet another great phone as it served well, that is, till I decided to let it drop several storeys and that was the end of it. But it was cool for sure. I even got the camera attachment for it!

The Nokia 6111 was awesome as it looked like a camera. Incredibly small and compact. However, as with all slide phones, the mechanism wears out before long. At least mine could slide well still, unlike some others they use for display at the phone shops. Those are in horrible states. Uggh, poor phones. But I traded it off after a year of using it before its value depreciated as the mechanism was wearing out.

The arrival of the K800i is when Nokia lost me as a consumer. Sony Ericsson is fast chasing Nokia for market share and the thing is, people ARE buying into Sony Ericsson's products. They were the originators of the MP3 after all. Look who's followed in their footsteps - Nokia and now Apple with their iPhone. Anyway, the k800i comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera, which is the sole reason this phone grabbed my attention over the Nokia MP3 one. I think that one is pretty neat too, sleek yet funky design. But Nokia could work on their operations a bit more.

Mr. Andrew had that phone. But when I was there, it kinda crashed on him. The thing that Sony Ericsson has an edge over Nokia is that they allow you to update the phone's software when you want, where you want. As for Nokia, you need to do it every 3 months, at the Nokia service shops. You can't do it yourself unlike Sony Ericsson.

Of the three brands of phones that I've used, I like Nokia and Sony Ercisson the best. Motorola lost my confidence after having the phone repaired, some stuff else failed. But I expect that's because it was a "free" phone after all. Everyone knows that they give lousy models as free phones. Only me, when I was 13, was oblivious to that fact. Heh.

Today Joannah, Aung and I met up for MIA. On the way back to City Hall, we were discussing about something when the discussion shifted to how technology had advanced. Everyone used to look forward to the year 2000, where things would be so futuristic - flying cars, teleportation, jet packs. 2000 has come and gone, but no flying cars, no jet packs and we're still using public transport. Then someone said that the only thing that seems to have advanced are phones. Green back light, blue back light, white back light, colour screen, camera phone, MP3 phone, 3.2 megapixel phone, touch screen phone, 5 megapixel phone, iPhone. Phones have come a long way. And if you think that 3G is nothing much. Think back to the days of the good old Nokia 3310.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Drama and other things

2007-06-30T02:19:00.000+08:00

Well, would you know it? A week has passed. Another week that is... Its nearly July. Where has half of '07 gone?! Into history would be a possible answer don't ya think, eh? Bring on July, leave behind all forms of hot weather. The heat is kinda getting to me. Funny eh? Too hot, you take a siesta, too cold, you hibernate. Its a case of either or I suppose.

But yeah, things are crazy these days. Tell me what isn't. My schedule is one. Project after project after project. Throw in an odd rehearsal here and there to the mix and you get a whole tangle of things. To my project members, I'm sorry for having to bail out early from meetings over the past two days. But I made a commitment which I have to fulfill. Not that I'm not committed to our projects. I am and I am pleased with the progress made. Especially for SDFTV gang.

Played Out... Reality Bites is going pretty good. The rehearsals are coming together and things are getting smoother. Its kinda exciting waiting for the day the curtains go up. Will be waiting for that and then the race for the week up to presentation days and such.

Here's today's song, Yellowcard's Only One. Nice song.

Acoustic version:

Full version:

Dear Nan,
Its almost a year now. That's kinda fast. Do I wish you were still around? Yeah I do. Totally. Tonight I'm just remembering you again. Its good to remember is it not? At least I think it is, cause then, you'd remember the things you ought to be thankful for. I seem to be going in circles, but then again, when don't I go in circles eh? We love you Nan.

Love,
Jono.

Dear Bro,
Its been a long time I know. Sometimes things come up that cause you to remember someone, something eh? Triggers... I think you know what I speak about. Yeah, well, I guess you could say that there've been several triggers. Its good to remember you though. Sometimes, I just don't know what to say anymore... Hope you understand what I mean.

Love,
Jono.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Mr Bobdawgsta

2007-06-27T21:51:00.000+08:00

Haha. I'm quite clueless really. I just realised that Mr. Bobby Mason, from Survivor: Panama - Exile Island fame, added me as a friend on Youtube. It was only when he sent me a message that I realised a Survivor castaway had added me. Hahaha. I'm sorry Bobdawg. I've talked to Coby a bit here and there and he's incredibly nice. What can you expect actually, they're just everyday people who've been on television. =)

Mr. Bobby Mason, Survivor: Panama - Exile Island
Viveros tribe
Casaya tribe

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Mhhhnnnnhhhh

2007-06-27T01:18:00.001+08:00

The past few days have been tiring and the rest of the week seems the same. From now on, the only free day is Saturday which I hope to fill up with CIBM. Seriously, nothing is getting accomplished for that project. Sheesh. Not to diss or disrepute my projectmates, its more of the horror that the project hasn't moved much.

Wed - Stories Stories festival (10am to 6pm), MIA meeting (6pm to ???)
Thu - ICMT meeting (10/11am to 4pm), ICM meeting (4pm to 7pm), Played Out rehearsal (7pm to 10pm)
Friday - SDFTV meeting (??? to 7pm), Played Out rehearsal (7pm to 10pm)
Saturday - CIBM?
Sunday - SDFTV meeting? (???), Played Out prep (???), Played Out event (4pm to 6pm)

The best and fastest moving project is ICM. The worst moving project is SDFTV (try haven't even touched?). And I still have NUTW to finish, check with Joshua about the menu (vegans eat fish?). Then there's MIA to write, CIBM to complete and ICMT to discuss and complete.

On Monday, the class outing got canceled. Sadness. It was something I was looking forward to. But yeah, I shall shut up here and now about it. Transformers is opening soon, Thursday I think. No moolah to go watch this week either. Ah well, nite all.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Reality Bites (mini version)

2007-06-22T01:32:00.001+08:00

Currently showing on CBS in USA is Pirate Master a.k.a. Sinking Pirate Ship Show (SPSS anyone?). SPSS is a statistics software. Anyway, premise is that these pirates have to participate in challenges to hunt for treasure that the crew of the legendary Captain Henry Steele hid around Dominica. Henry Steele locked the keys to all the treasure chests with associated maps in a treasure chest called the "Chest of Zanzibar". Its called that cause it was bought in Zanzibar. Anyway, the chest has 13 compartments so each compartment held the map to the next treasure chest. Found one, you got the map to the next one and so on and so forth.

Each week, these pirates have to split into two crews, the red crew or the black crew and oppose each other to be the successful team to bring in the loot. A captain is chosen from the winning team who gains 50% of the treasure found and two officers are chosen by the captain who gain 25% of the haul. The remainder is split among the remaining team members. What the captain and his/her officers do with their share is up to them. The captain and officers them move out of the crew quarters and into the captain's cabin. And its up to the captain how the ship is run. Of course, if you take the aristocratic means you'll have a lot of unhappy people which then means they can mutiny you. But anyway, the captain and officers then decide which pirate earns a black spot. The three pirates then ~~make their case~~ plead to the other pirates not to kick them off the ship.

The remaining pirates (minus the captain, officers and three black-spotted pirates) vote for someone to be set adrift. The pirate with the highest number of votes is then cast off. Here, the pirates have the power to cut someone adrift or unamiously mutiny against the captain in which case the captain is set adrift instead.

Somehow, the show has fallen flat within the first three episodes as the premise has quickly tired. JD is pretty lucky given his first time as captain he already assumed an aristocratic style of leadership. But in the end, SPSS is a good way to describe Pirate Master. And this is the show that's supposed to take over Survivor. Forget it really, reality tv is dying anyway.

The Amazing Race Asia is coming back for a second season. Applications were open to include Japanese this time round. Hopefully this race they have more teams and continue with the excellent casting choices from the previous season. Production is supposed to take place in either June or July and the new season to debut in the fourth quarter of 2007! I can hardly wait, hah. Season 1 was superb, so here's to hoping that season 2 will be well worth the wait since TAR 12 isn't coming out till next year.

Survivor: China kicks off filming on Monday for 39 days at Zhelin lake in Jiangxi, China. It remains to be seen whether this will be a highly gimmicky season of Survivor.

Project Runway Malaysia is set to debut in August this year. Applications were due in April or May. Here's to hoping I can watch the show.

Not reality TV, but its one of my favourite shows. Heroes season 2, Generations, is supposed to come in September. Since we're on drama now, Lost season 3 is here (like finally! I've forgotten what happened in seasons 1 and 2 already, Channel 5...)...

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud