I went to Cambodia and all I got was the above t-shirt.

Not so when I was in Bangkok though, I got 12 tees!



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A sad day in the local blogosphere. Sondra of Idledays.net has passed away.

I knew Sondra when I volunteered for Bloggers.SG. As one of the editors of tomorrow.sg, she is the only one who made an effort to know the volunteers, even joining us on our first gathering at Hideout. I know I will miss her though I wished I had know her better.

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An educational video on proper words. Get it here. [NSFW]

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I went to Sitex but all I got was this lousy photo. The photo is of a Korean babe by the name Kim Oun Chi.

Really for the first time, I only took one photo at an event so there is no More Photos link below.

Ed's note: The babe is neither Korean nor named Kim Oun Chi. She is actually a friend whom I met at Bloggers.SG, a bloggers convention.

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A Chicken Little Numa Numa video. Get it here.

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Would Darth Tater say, welcome to the dark side or may the force be with you? A late birthday present but still it's better late than never. A big thank you to the friend who gave me this. it now resides on top of my computer.

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After the World Cyber Games, I and Guan Kiat met up with Lynn and The Chicken Maniac for dinner at Miss Clarity Cafe on Purvis Street. I must say the prices were reasonable (S$8.80 dinner set) for the good food they had. The picture above is their pan-seared dory fillet which The Chicken Maniac had. I had the Burger Mania which was equally good.

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Went to the World Cyber Games 2005 to watch the live commentary of some of the games being played.

The above picture is me with Bunny (Kim) of wcreplays.com fame. She is one of the commentators for Warcraft III. Her knowledge of Warcraft is unparallel and I started listening to audio replays from her games. Beauty and brains, a lethal combination.

Also congrats to Tetra (Wilson Chia) for coming in second for the game Dead or Alive.

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Went down to Geylang Serai a few days before Hari Raya Puasa to take some photos when I was told that the market is going to be torn down soon.

Now that I've learned that not only the market is going to be torn down, Blk 1, 2 and 3 is going down as well. Looks like I have to make another trip to get more pictures of those iconic blocks. Anyone wants to come along?

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The contract staff and school attendants organised a Hari Raya Party in school.

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Knowing my penchant for free events, Sarah invited me to a Watoto Concert

Watoto means "The Children". Since 1994, Watoto Children's Choir from Kampala, Uganda, has regularly toured the world. Accompanied by a small team of adults, Watoto's performances are a soulful blend of native African rhythms, contemporary gospel music and ethnic dance.

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No cake lah, lighters will do just fine though.

Got you. There was cake, 2 in fact because it was a joint birthday with Chien Ming who is having hers on 6 Nov. Oh by the way, The Chicken Maniac strikes again.

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Boohoo, have to work on my birthday. Anyway James gave me Merci chocolates, first gift and most probably the only one I will get.

Hey Yuhui, how come Denise gets an e-card and I don't?

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Visited Junaidi and Aidil for Hari Raya Puasa with Chang, Saw and Lynn.

Since Yazid will most probably also read this, "How come didn't invite us to your place har?"

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Hee, I got a 30gigs e-mail account. Why would anyone want 30 gigs of e-mail space? Beats me, but more is never a bad thing.

If you want an account, let me know. I have 7 invites.

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TPJC Annual Dinner was at Meritus Mandarin and the theme was Black or White. Of course as usual not everyone follows the theme.

Took a lot of photos but more than half turn out blur because I hate flash photography. All the photos are taken without flash and in low light conditions require steady hands, which I don't profess to have.

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And the Lord God said, "Let there be light," and lo, there was light. But then the Lord God said, "Wait, what if I make it a sort of rosy, sunset-at-the-beach, filtered half-light, so that everything else I design will look younger?"

"I'm loving that," said Buddha. "It's new."

"You should design a restaurant," added Allah.

Read the rest of Intelligent Design here.

- via The New Yorker.

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Today was a fruitful day, I have learnt a few things. First the word 'Aargh' is a playable word in Scrabble.


Aargh also because I forgot to bring my camera along for the book launch which I when today so the best I could do is to come back and take some pictures of the book itself. The book is 'A Life Less Ordinary' by veteran Sunday Times' features editor Wong Kim Hoh. A Life Less Ordinary made its debut in The Sunday Times in May 2003 and immediately captured public imagination. In the book, Wong Kim Hoh shares with us the triumphs, joys, heartaches and struggles of ordinary Singaporeans who have, by sheer force of will, lived thier lives in ways that made them extraordinary.

My copy of the book signed by the author

Hee, I think I was the only one who got Chantilyn to sign for me too.

The above is one of the many Singaporean lifes that the book featured. Chantilyn has two brain tumours and has gone through three painful operations. Yet, brave little Chantilyn Ng has never shed a tear because of her illness. See a few other featured Singaporean which I managed to get their autographs under more photos.

Aargh again because I have to use my emergency stash which are old collectible notes to purchase a second book for a friend. This is because Lynn had borrowed my ATM card the day before but I had forgotten to take the card back from her. So the friend who gets the book knows what do to hor. After that I had to go home on a hungry stomach because I got no money liao. Hee.

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Everyone knows I use Flickr for my images.

Now I have found a similar service thanks to Faith for sharing videos. This is the first video I have uploaded, UCKF with guest Cameron Diaz. Enjoy.

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Lynn's friend gave her 2 Beyond VVIP concert tickets which we went on Saturday night. Whoa, the VVIP tickets was on Row 2 in front of the stage! I am a Beyond fan for over 10 years and was very excited at their final World Tour as they are spliting up to pursue their own solo careers.

(L-R): Wong Ka Keung, Yip Sai Wing and Paul Wong

More suprises at the concert as I also met two other colleagues at the concert.

Hilda and her husband Eric

Patricia and friend/husband?

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Google just launched a feed reader and it supports OPML too! Now I don't have to add one by one all of my feeds.

I have tried it and it is not user-friendly at all. I think I will stick with Bloglines.

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Lynn bought me my 4th pair of Havaianas sandals today at the Isetan Sale. The light blue one is the latest pair. Together, we own 6 of these.

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LOST started its season 2 premiere last Wednesday in the States. By all account the opening scene was awesome, even better than the opening scene in season 1 premiere.

The clip is approx. 10MB and is only relevant for those who have finished season 1.

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Today's Sunday Times has an article on the backpage written by Kwee Beng on the above title. Kwee Beng was on the MRT when he saw a woman feeding her son. He laments that what the parent did was wrong and that if kids are to grow up to be socially responsible, we must start them young. His words, 'Teach them the right values. teach them to respect the law. Or the poor child will grow up confused.'

How apt was it that the above article appeared today as I am also going to talk about todays kids' values. I was at a mall when they had an event where kids went up on platforms to joust. The winner is the one who managed to stay on the platform. If after 30 seconds or so and no one falls, the match is declared a draw. The winner gets a toy which cost at most a dollar and the loser a bookmark. If there is a draw, both would get a bookmark each.

While I was there enjoying a few rounds of matches, I noticed 3 ugly Singaporean behaviour in a short span of 10 minutes. One match had a pair of siblings, a younger brother losing to his older sister. Instead of accepting his lost and the bookmark, he created a fuss and refused to leave the area. His mother persuaded his sister to share the toy to no avail and the young brat continued to create a din. The organiser saw what happened and relented by giving the young boy another toy even though he had lost. I can't help by shaking my head at the parent who instead of teaching him the correct value of winning and losing graciously, had condone his behaviour.

I next saw another parent who just brought her too-young-to-joust kid right up to the organiser face and demanded for a toy. Hello! How cheapo can one get? Lastly was a drawn match between two kids. Since the match was a draw, both receive a bookmark but again, one of the parent had the audacity to go up to the organiser and ask for a toy. The parent simplily refused to leave after the organiser explained to her that for drawn matches, both kids would get a bookmark. Still she ignored the fact that the match was a draw and kept harassing the organiser for a toy. The poor organiser could do nothing except relenting yet again by giving her a toy.

Are these the kids we want Singapore's future to be based on? One who does not know the right values or the parent who simplily refused to tell them what is right and what is wrong. Alas, there is no hope for the future generation

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This vocations poster was the brainchild of Father Jonathan Meyer, associate director of youth and young adult ministry for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. No pictures here because the poster is copyrighted.

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Went to collect my car today, a Mazda2 SP.

I am the one who dreams about BMW but can only afford a Mazda.

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I am the one who is still using ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, Skype and Google Talk.

I am the one who is still using manual html coding for blogging, permanent link and rss.

Literary meme started by MercerMachine. Trackbacks via Tomorrow.sg.

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Invited a few colleagues and thier kids to my place for a mooncake tasting session followed by lanterns parade at the park downstairs my block.

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Added a archives table to the menu on the right and took out my DVD list.

Again I seemed to be updating my post 1 day late. Yesterday morning, I went to Kok Sing's wedding with Lynn. Kok Sing is an former Physics teacher with TPJC who has since went on to MOE to seek a better future? Took mainly black and whites pictures as I wanted to try hand colouring the printed photographs. Also I reckon that he would have a lot of photographs in colour so he would enjoy some in black and whites.

After the wedding, I went to Comex 2005, which is a computer and IT exhibition. I did not have anything in mind to buy this time so was just walking around to check out some prices. The event this year was bigger and there was throngs of people. Imagine sardines in a can.


After the Comex Exhibition, Lynn left for work and I met up with Chien Ming and Weiyun to go for a talk on "Copyright and the Future of Media" by Cory Doctorow at the National Library. Interesting ideas were imparted by Cory and the talk ended with a interesting questions and answers session. I even got a book signed by Cory and finally was able to take a nice picture with him. The book is "A Place So Foreign and Eight More". Cory Doctorow was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best Science Fiction Writer for this book which consists on 9 short stories.

Kok Sing's Wedding | Copyright and the Future of Media
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I went to the panel discussion on "Communication & The Internet - Online Journalism & Other Writings On The World Wide Web" yesterday evening at The National Library.

The panel members were made up of Dominque Wolton, a Research Director at France's Centre National de Recherche Scientifique. He is the author that study the relationship between communication, society, culture and politics, including Internet et apres?

The 2nd panelist is Aniruddha Bahal who had an extraordinary career as an investigative reporter with the controversial website Tehelka, best known for a sting operation that caught several Indian defense officials on the take. He is also the founder and editor in chief of Cobrapost, an Indian news site.

The last panelist I had hope needs no introduction but was thoroughly disappointed when I asked several students and teachers but no one had heard of him. Duh, it's Cory Doctorow leh. One student was surprised that he even had a wikepedia page. Cory Doctorow is an award-winning writer, an activist, a public speaker and a legendary blogger. A prolific writer who appears on the mastheads at Wired, Make and Popular Science magazines, Cory's science fiction novels have won the John W. Campbell and Locus Award and been nominated for the Nebula Award. His short story collection, A Place So Foreign and Eight More, won Canada's Sunburst Award for Best Science Fiction Book. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog, Boing Boing. He is also European Affairs Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a member-supported nonprofit group that works to uphold civil liberties values in technology law, policy and standards. Additionally he is a visiting lecturer at Yale University Engineering, a fellow at Stanhope Center in London, and a co-founder of the open source P2P technology company, OpenCola. His personal blog can be found at Craphound.com.

The moderator was Cherian George. As the panelist each held their own opinions, there were lively repartee even among themselves. All in all an excellent talk.

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Some pictures I took at the TPJC Teachers' Day Dinner at OCBC Executive Club.

As the dinner was besides Boat Quay, a few of us went to Hideoout after the dinner for this. All in all, I had an enjoyable night.

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Was with Lynn at the Womad In The Heartlands at Sengkang yesterday. Great atmosphere and I wish they would continue with this next year. Realised at the event that I am a cheapskate, hee. The real Womad festival at Fort Canning Park is a paid event. I seems to be always looking out for free events to go. This year, I've been to Show Reel Asia, Bloggers.SG (I got a free t-shirt for being a volunteer), Contra|Diction, Screen Singapore and now this event all for free. Hey, why go to a paid event when you can go to a free one. I even got a free photo taken with Cara Dillon. :)

WOMAD stands for World of Music, Arts and Dance. It was started in 1980 by Peter Gabriel, Thomas Brooman and Bob Horton who believed that many others would share their enthusiasm of music from around the world if only they had the opportunity to listen to these global sounds. WOMAD Festivals are family-oriented, diverse and active musical events which includes participatory workshops and special events for children that creates an experience both educational and entertaining. Click here for more information on WOMAD Singapore 2005.

Now on to my next free event, Nokia Starlight Cinema. Entry is FREE if you come dressed as a character from Batman Begins or Fantastic Four on 17 September!

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I attended Michael Yamashita Portraits of Colour Workshop cum Exhibition today at the National Library. While the workshop was held at one of the seminar rooms at 5th floor, the exhibition itself was on the 16th floor also known as The Pod.

I must say Mr Yamashita is a good story-teller. I have attended workshops by Russell Wong and other Straits Times photographers before. Most of the time, they are more interested to tell you how good they are and whom they have met and whom they have took photos of instead of telling you the story and their techniques.

Not Mr Yamashita. He was entertaining and he was telling the audience the story of Marco Polo's journeys along the silk road through his photographs. He cracked jokes at appropriate times and imparted his knowledge on how he goes about taking some of his shots. I've learned quite a fair bit about how a professional photographer works. Visit Michael Yamashita's website here.

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This has been bugging me since the National Day Parade. Why is President Nathan not singing the National Anthem when the whole nation is singing it? There I got it off my chest. Hope I do not get ISDed.

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Hee. I am going for this. I first saw Michael Yamashita's works on National Geographic documentary on Marco Polo journey along the Silk Road.

The workshop is held at National Library - The POD. More photos of The POD can be found here. The POD is on the 16th floor of the National Library and is not open to the public though an organisation can rent it for their functions or events.

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Yesterday I was walking in Roxy Square when I saw a shop selling betta fish exclusively. Went in for a look and ended up buying 2 betta fish. The one on the left cost $40 and the one on the right is $60.

Betta Fish is more commonly known as fighting fish though I can assure you I am buying them for ornamental purposes rather than for fighting. I am suppose to sit down infront of them after a long day at work and relax while staring at their gracious movements and body colours.

I have not named them though. Any suggestions? The colour on the left betta fish is silver white while the one on the right is golden orange.

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Went to the HSBC Tree-Tp Walk early in the morning with colleagues, their family and friends. After which I had lunch with Justin, Lin Ee, Sonya (thier daughter) and a few OAS friends as Justin and Lin Ee are leaving for Boston next week for 4 years!


After that I met Lynn at Ubi to test drive some cars. Yup we are looking to get a car soon.

Tree-Top Walk Photos | Lunch Photos
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Alfian Sa'at was one of the poets at Contra/Diction and did an excellent piece titled 'Nonok'. Right click and 'save target as' on the file below to download the file which I had recorded using my Ipod. Do note that 'Nonok' is of a mature content and don't flame me for the lousy recording as I am not a sound engineer. File is approx. 5.6MB.

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Went to 'Contra/Diction: A Night With Gay Poets' with Evelyn and Joanna. Contra/Diction is part of Indignation Pride Month 2005.

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Started to run again after a long lay-off due to injuries. Ran 2 round at the track today. What? Only 2 rounds? Well I suppose I have to start slow before I get injured again and have to stop exercising for another month.

After the 2 rounds, I went to the gym and James orientated Junaidi and me to the new equipment the College had bought. He even offered to work out a programme for me to strengthen my weak knees and back.

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Miyagi: myveryownglob.blogspot.com
Me
mr brown: mrbrown.com

Preetamrai: www.preetamrai.com/weblog

Kenny Sia: www.kennysia.com

Adri (Adrianna): popagandhi.com

Wendy Cheng (Xiaxue): xiaxue.blogspot.com

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I was a volunteer in the Blogger.SG 2005 convention and my duty was to sell t-shirts with the gang above. Namely from left to right: Me, Gabriel, Jo and LT

These are the rest of the volunteers and bloggers I met during the event and their webpages.

Gabriel (Team Leader and Organiser): gssq.blogspot.com
Jo: natsuumi.liquidblade.com
LT: barffie.liquidblade.com
Yew Jin: yewjin.com
Yuhui: yuhuibc.blogspot.com
Jeffrey Yen: jeffyen.blogspot.com
Eddy Teo: eddyteo.blogspot.com
Kelly Chan: kellchan.blogspot.com
Tracy: mercuranium.blogspot.com
Terrence: metrosexualme.blogspot.com
Angela: sotongqueen.blogspot.com
Yan Ying: Would like to keep her blog private. At least I hope I did not get her name wrong this time. :)

Of course I took some more photos and met up with other bloggers but the rest are those whom are very popular in the local blogosphere so I guess there is no need to intro them. For the rest of the photos, go to my Flickr page or just wait a day more as I would like to give credit to lesser known bloggers first.

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Finally uploaded the photos of my visit to Hong Kong and Shenzhen during the school holidays.

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Apparently someone was such a fan that he not only bought a Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno or simply 'Hachijuu-roku'(86 in Japanese) as it is more popularly known as but painted it exactly like the car Takumi drove in the manga 'Initial D'.

Saw the car parked in Tampines JC when I was going home midway through the Cultural Night performance.

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No you do not

Sometimes it just takes a subtle reminder to bring you back from those unrealistic clouds everyone's been on.
Have you ever seen a small boy who's lost his leg because of kidney failure?
Are you taking your legs for granted then?
Ever been so terrified you started crying?
If I told you that you have cancer right now, would you want to cry?
Would you be ready?
Would you still be thinking of that sale, that haircut, or that pair of shoes you wanted for so long?

Yesterday my mind was full of 'I wished I could...'
Then I reaslied that I am lucky that I can afford to just sit for my O levels this year.
How many kids out there would be somewhere in some part of the world searching for things to eat/wear/use in fetid, possibly radioactive garbage field while I am sitting in the hall writing my answers for my Social Studies essay?
Give me a statistic, you may.
But you're never sure.

"There are people who are better off than you. But there are people who are worse off than you too."
My mother's words ring very true.
- ningx

ningx is 15/16 years old but her writings are a lot more mature than belies her age.

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A few of us went out for dinner with June as she is going off to Cornell for her Masters. We went for Steamboat at Beach Road and TCC for coffee after.

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