Kit Chan mutilation

I remember these cards. Didn't think anyone'd be bored enough to scan in the mutilated cards though :)

(after Semester 2 post-academic dinner smoko in ormond college)

I. am. not. drunk.
So what if i can't walk in a straight line
I. am. merely. erm.

I'm just erm Sleepy! Yeah, that's the ticket! (hic)


Oh, i saw a Babylon 5 DVD with the pilot episode "The gathering" and the spinoff movie featuring the earth-minbari war "In the beginning" on clearance sale in Sanity, a cd shop in town here. Anyone wants it? It's retailing for $20 a piece. Send me a msg or something.

Your search - +"*** ****" +"horse" - did not match any documents. [NB: Name has been edited out to protect the person's privacy]

Suggestions:

* Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
* Try different keywords.
* Try more general keywords.
* Try fewer keywords.

Also, you can try Google Answers for expert help with your search.


"he's the one who tore up a photo of joy chia .... at the rehearsal of musical concoction concert ... i think he didn't like her or something." - On Junbin.

Huh?


Ooo!

And she's listed under "Basses", where Yunxin would go too.

http://www.yale.edu/somethingextra/photos/2001photos/Tap%20Night%202001/babies00web.jpg
http://www.yale.edu/somethingextra/photos/2001photos/Tap%20Night%202001/babies%2700.jpg
http://www.yale.edu/somethingextra/photos/2001photos/retreatandrush/allofus.jpg

She doesn't look so * now. But of course there's nothing wrong with looking *. As Khairul told me, "You look like pig, sound like pig, eat like pig, behave like pig". Or something to that effect.

Please compare with this:




Andrew: whenever i'm sad i think of rabbits (live ones. Specifically live families of them gambolling in meadows). Then i'm happy again !

Me: *Tries to send him video of rabbit getting knocked down by car. But ICQ2GO won't accept my file*


"one consolation now is that our int'l history lecturer is far better than david liew. already i learnt far more from her in 45 mins regarding the vietnam war and copied far more notes than in 3 months at rjc. most of the teachers seem better. SEEM. at least they can teach."

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~chanmier/march2002.htm

Haha! I found out how to get the real URLs despite Asian Prince's ridiculous attempt to mask them.

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~nnguyen/fan2.htm
This crosses the bounds of good taste.

As do the poems:

"Hair so bushy and flowy,
eyes so mushy and glowy,
you are so sexy and hot,
please be my tea while i am your teapot,
everytime i see your site,
i hope that you will marry, you might.
Will you marry me?"

"Oh asian prince Oh asian prince,
how sweet is your face......
your eyes are deep like a hole,
it's like i'm looking into your soul....
Oh asian prince Oh asian prince,
you are so lovely and cute......
your really nice and funny,
please pet me like a bunny.....
Oh asian prince Oh asian prince,
your body is hot and sexy......
i really am in love with you,
you turn me on,
oh yes you do.....
Oh asian prince Oh asian prince,
i want to be with you under your cover,
Oh please asian prince let me be your lover"

and

"your ass is a beautiful sight
your teeth are pearly white
you're so manly and strong
please write me a song
you one bad mother
come lay me, brother
then take me away your private jet"

I think I'll print Wo-Hen Nankan pics for my bunk!

Hypoxia? Hah! Pathology term.

Near-end week post:

Restored Post

My suspicions were confirmed! As I booked in, I saw people making Temasek's kites. Welcome to the SAF sweatshop.

This morning, we were mopping tarpaulin with soapy water and then folding it up, for use during the system run. Horrible experience, it was. The damned weight was the best part of it all. The stench was rather bad, like cow dung, and our hands got all dirty. Maybe I'll get ringworm, tapeworm or assorted other worm infestations, and get MCs. Right. Oh and my shoes, socks and feet got drenched by the dirty soapy water.

I was at Somchaya's store, to dry my shoes, socks and feet after doing sai kang, and I found out that he gets to exchange his preview tickets for Off days! So he now has 4 more. Unfair! I want also. Oh and his nametag cuts his surname into two - "Liemhetcharat" becomes "Liemhet", Most amusing!

I am confined on the 4th of August for being late for the Battalion Life Run. Turns out I read the Routine Orders wrongly - the assembly time was 7:30, not 7:45. Doh! Incidentally, this will be my first confinement/extra duty ever. You can't run away from this sort of things! At least this beats the last batch of new medics, who all signed one extra duty on the first day because they didn't greet our OC.

Thought: Do Pioneer writers have to write more articles when they sign extra duties? :)

5 Tonners have seat belts for the passengers. Argh. But we don't use them anyway, so.

We went down to the National Stadium today. We sat and performed various antics on, the newly repaired choir stage, the one that was partially burnt down. The purpose of our acting as guinea pigs is to assuage any doubts the choir members' parents might have about the stage's safety, even after it's been certified safe. Bah. More likely, weakened by 800 army boys sitting on it, the stage will collapse spectacularly on National Day!

After posing on the stage, we went down to the field and formed the outline of a heart (as the NDP participants do at one point in the parade, except they form a solid heart and not just an outline) by wearing giant red Mexican hats, which probably aren't washed or otherwise cleaned in between NDP rehearsals.

Apparently the NDP motivators were told that any Army boys asking them for their phone numbers, or pestering them otherwise, would sign 40 extra duties. But then, there's nothing attractive about them, as one of us put it :) Haha.

Looking at the Singapore flag, the thought struck me, as it has before, that our flag would have to change as our country became older. Since the Crescent Moon signifies a young nation, the moon will have to wax at least in our 50th year of nationhood! But then, how old must a nation be to be an old nation? I wonder what East Timor has on its flag - maybe a New Moon, signifying a VERY new nation.


On hearing of my confinement, my dear mother had to gloat about it. I don't know why she is so sadistic and likes to cackle when other people encounter misfortunes.


I think I've found the full version of the stupid "oei" cheer.

http://home.njc.edu.sg/student_council/cheers.htm

NJC OEI

(NJ oei!) oei!
(NJ oei!) oei!
(NJ oei!) Sat! Sat!

Substitute NJC with your desired school name :)

i love my +4 day off... hehehe hope the commander gives the brigade more off for ndp (even if i didnt do anything)
lah di dah.

oh im gonna have a vocation change to System Administrator (Chiong Suah Variant) hehe..

I can't go for College Day/Rafflesian Recall because I've to be at the Indoor Stadium by 9AM. Boo hoo!

Google really doesn't like me. On a search for "phantasy star online patch", I'm 405. Of 405. I'm surprised the person so was desperate he searched all the way to #405.

I'm thinking of putting those descriptions of posters in the sidebar. At this point, it seems incredibly amusing, as we can come up with lines suitably parodying (or imitating, if you prefer) the fluffy, vague and irksome descriptions some people like to have for themselves.


On computer parts:

Athlons have noisy fans.

I like my optical mouse but wireless seems a touch expensive - and to little visible end

Sub-$900 is "ok" for an LCD? Mine was ~$600, bought late last year. $900 seems a tad expensive. If you've WinXP you can have Cleartype! Looks great on screenshots.

DVD: DVD has failed to take off in the PC arena. DVD-RAM and DVD-RW are new and upcoming (as far as I, ensconced in my camp, know), but generally DVDs are only used for watching movies.

My SBLive! cost me ~$50.

Yeah internal modems are evil and screw up your system. I want my expansion slots! Though I won't use em.

I think GeForce 4 is too much for Andrew. One generation less maybe?


Thanks to a certain guardstalker, all of you can enjoy PJ Girl's Cleo article!

It does read like one of those "I'm going to make a statement by writing an article" articles. Do I sense that the writer is trying to give herself advice, or draw parallels with her life? Or maybe I read too much into it, despite not being a lit student.


My mother is being bitchy again. Perhaps this is why I try to stay away when I'm at home.

"You are so mad on the computer, when you go to the U we will sell it, or you will get Henderson (name of a school that has poor results) grades"

I think it hasn't occured to her that one of the reasons I like the computer so much is that it gives me solace from her.

My parents were talking about how all the parents who cry when their children don't get a place in Nanyang Primary. If it counts for anything, the response from ex-pupils is unanimous (but for one lone soul) - Nanyang Primary sucks.

To that, my father said I'm ungrateful and my mother was going on about how parents spend hours on doing work for the school so their students can go in. This is supposed to be evidence of how good nanyang is. But did anyone ask the children? Nooooo.

They claim Nanyang educated me such that I could get into the GEP. However, I am of the opinion that it repressed me, perhaps contributing to my somewhat disturbed present mental state :)

Oh well. Going in to work on Sunday. Due to the screw-up alluded to in previous post, certain server upgrades have been put on hold - as a result, certain tests have to be run on Sunday. Obviously, I volunteered to atone for my earlier transgression.

How depressing - although it DOES provide me with an opportunity to get some work done(I only need to be there for an hour or so). I shall be optimistic!

No charge for the advice, Andrew - now how about that phone?

Curious interlude: I decided, on the imploration of all the virtuous folks here - to call the phone's owner. Now here's the rub - I've tried calling him twice, and both times no one answered. I didn't write down the extension number each time, so I've been going to the toilet to check the notice each time.

Now, that notice on the toilet is gone. I left a message the second time telling his colleague I was calling about the handphone, but forgot to leave a number and name. So if I never contact him again, he may now be filled with the despair of knowing that his phone was close to being restored to his grasp....

The sadism deepens.

I'll try to drudge up the number over the next couple of days.. I hope. In the meantime, all you kind readers keep up the relentless moral assault on the vile hordes of evil.

Word of the day: "hypoxia"

I think I've done a decent job of cleaning up most of my more embarrassing traces in the public domain, leaving only a couple of vague hints to pique public interest:) My university homepage is long gone, as is my connection to the Gavrilo Princip Society among other subversive materials. Unfortunately, newsgroups are another matter - but what the hell, the stuff I used to post under my own name there is stuff I don't mind people reading. Juvenile opinions are my stock in trade:)

Thanks to the plethora of free email services around, creating a pseudo-account for posting is terribly easy - I defy you to find all my posts to alt.sex.aluminum.baseball.

A testament to the power of interactive marketing and product placement.

Today was a more miserable day at work thus far - the projects are piling up, the office politics are hitting a Macchiavellian pitch, and I still spend far too much time surfing the web and blogging. A couple of screw-ups made a few days ago have snowballed exponentially into a major headache at present. Some of my work involves verifying and entering values and calculations into a server which generates a whole set of other calculations and values for use in day-to-day trading activity, monitoring and valuation.. and a few mistranscriptions two days ago by my careless self have now blossomed into a nightmare in which our bank's VAR(Value At Risk) went up about 14 times. As the alarm bells rang, I hunkered down for the inevitable hammering. The whole debacle required a system re-run for the last 48 hours to regenerate the correct data sets.

Basically, I have some work of significance to do - but as the new guy, most of those projects are being snowed under by the little everyday tasks that "new guys" are saddled with. As a result, the (reasonably intersting) work I was originally employed for is now taking a distant second to the far more banal sai kang routines heaped on me. Still, I will prevail - despite feeling like I've hit a mid-life crisis in my early twenties.

On top of it, there is a serious logomachy going on between departments, with a lot of my seniors caught in the crossfire; battles over turf, conflicting requirements, personality clashes, and people trying too hard to prove personal points. Thankfully, I'm far too junior to be enmeshed in this kind of corporate politicking - I simply go about my daily labours and go unnoticed for now.

Andrew - agh. That foul concoction known as bubble tea has finally infiltrated my favourite copy shop! Before I left, it was already making inroads into Australian society, or at least the Asian-student demographic. I hear that the shop near Hoyt's is owned by some enterprising students and they reportedly rake in about 10k profit a month. Goes to show that Asian-student stupidity has great market potential - remember that Neoprint shop next to Mind Games on Swanston?

As for computer parts; here are my opinions:

a) Pentium 4.... 2.0 gHz or higher. (Or should i get an athlon?) - Athlon. Definitely. It's cheaper, and they survive longer in temperate climes. Make sure you don't get a stock fan - buy a decent brand like Thermaltake. The swap meets should have them on sale.

b) optical mouse - Go for wireless!:) If you don't mind changing batteries.

c) LCD monitor. If the price is okay... like sub $900 i guess...? = Sub $900 is doable for a 15" - probably around low 800s. But frankly, I find LCD monitors a bit.. irritating to my eyes. It's highly subjective, but I personally prefer a cheaper, flat-screen CRT monitor. You'll have to peer into many monitors to ascertain what you're comfortable with. While CRTs may look less funky, they're easier on my eyes at least, and for the same price as a 15" LCD I can jack up to a 19" model equivalent.

d) CD-RW and 16x DVD drive(s). Separately? Separately, of course - how are you going to do on-the-fly CD-to-CD copies otherwise? Ripping an image onto HD takes time. I'd recommend a Lite-on CD-burner; they're the best value for money and they're good quality as well - particularly if you can't afford a Plextor like most normal humans or non-Indonesian students. Same goes for DVD-ROM

e) Printer, inkjet, sub $200... about $100. You could get a low-end Lexmark or Canon for $100, but I suggest forking out a little more and getting a decent Epson Stylus 480 or thereabouts. A decent printer is an investment you will not regret as a student.

f) Reasonable soundcard. About $100. These are dirt cheap. An SB Live! Value will be just fine.

g) 56k Modem. Internal or external? Either would do. With voice/data/fax. Sub ... 100. Internal modems are evil. Evil! They can mess up your system in all sorts of ways and they take up space you might want to use next time. Don't skimp - get a US Robotics 56k Fax/Data for about $150 or thereabouts. You won't regret it. Or better still, get broadband.. but I know how restrictive the connections at hostels are.

h) Ethernet card (hrm, i saw one selling for $30 at the computer shop in the union) For your usage level it doesn't really matter. Get a cheap 100BaseT card anywhere.

i) Video card (i know nuts about them, what is good?) + j) 3D card HAHAHAHAHA. Long gone are the days when you had to get an Orchid Righteous 3D card with that mondo thick pass-through cable to plug onto your S3 Trio OEM. Erm... as far as I can tell , your gaming needs are fairly simplistic, so go for a half-way decent GeForce 4 MX 440, They're about $220-$270AUD depending on which brand - shop around a little. Make sure you ask if they have OEM cards as they'll be cheaper - but it's not easy to find for new graphics cards. If thats a little too steep, downgrade to a GeForce 4 MX 400 for about $150 or so - Leadtek retails at that price, I believe.

USB ports and stuff, umm can't think of anything else. Hard drive? Keyboard? Speakers? HD space depends on your budget; as for keyboard get a decent Logitech one if you can afford it - it'll last - and speakers also depends onyour budget. Try to find the old Altec Lansing ACS45 sets - 4 satellite + subwoofer. It's quite decent value for money. Some of the older ones even still have wood subwoofers, which add greater resonance.

Go to this site for some comparison shopping.

And, finally, if you're not above second-hand stuff, check out this page. It also details when the monthly swap meets occur - that's where you can get some really good prices. They also sell a few odds and ends on occasion you might like to pick up - like antique 386 RAM:)

Lunch time.

I'm irritated. Clicking on one of Gabriel's damn links has totally erased the post I was writing. Fudgecakes.

Why would anyone want to convert a BAT to COM? I mean, who uses BAT files anymore? The only one I have left is a little thingamajig I whipped up a few years back to organise my mp3s, and nowadays there are heaps of freeware utilities that can carry out this function more effectively. But then again, I suppose as a genuflection to the technogeek aesthetic, we should be promoting such technical trivia....

For reasons too complicated to explain, I was scouring the web today for pics of straitjackets(specifically a Kansas gallows vest), or of medical orderlies in mental hospitals. It was surprisingly difficult to find one that was non-pornographic - I cannot begin to describe some of the degeneracy I had to wade through. This only goes to prove the Internet's power as a force for creating communities; even for freaks and perverts with the most outre of tastes. As a friend of mine once said: "These days you can not only find people who share your taste in sex with goats, but people who like the same *colour* of goat." Here's one of the more disturbing ones - disturbing precisely because it isn't so overtly depraved, but has more sinister overtones.

Well, I assure you most of the money raised in Islamic banking (at least in Malaysia) goes into very secular pockets:) But yes, there ARE a lot of rich Islamic merchants around using their money to fund terrorist activity. Sad, but true.

You know and I know money-lending isn't getting something for nothing - but we're approaching it from a modern, Econs-educated sensibility. As you pointed out, no one in the Dark Ages understood Economics. To them, it was witchcraft: money being used to generate more money without any form of concrete investment. To be frank, it does sometimes seem like witchcraft to me today:) You do know that in our society, after you make your first million, it's generally easier to make more millions. This was probably more true in the Middle Ages - the Black Death and internecine warfare notwithstanding

I was going to describe today's goings-on, but it was eliminated by Gabriel's evil link. Damn him. So I'll have to give the short version: went for a mid-afternoon karaoke session with some of my colleagues. Shall not depersonalise them but instead address them by name: Saravanan (aka Sara), Reza, Simon, and an ex-colleague, Ian, who was my predecessor at the department I work in. Now, this karaoke bar we went to is called the Red Box - it's this surreally techno-congested place with lots of perspex, blinking lights, transparent walls around a central area which contains the LD banks, their network server, as well as the automatic feeder arms, and a generally technosleazy motif. It reminds me oddly of the Cheap Hotel in William Gibson's Neuromancer - all the karaoke rooms are extremely small, yet comfortable coffins equipped with fake-leather seats, a 29" television set and a control panel for song selection. Nothing does the job of relieving a week of stress like belting out Queen's "We are the Champions" at 1:30 in the afternoon while still in afternoon garb. I think we were the loudest group there - when going to the toilet I could hear Simon screaming the lyrics to Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name". It's remarkably cheap too - 10RM per person for the room plus a meal, soup and soft drinks. However, the karaoke captions had more spelling mistakes than in the whole of Gabriel's "Improve Your English" section. I kid you not.

Beep. Neverwinter Night calls. And I *still* didn't get any work done today.

(note: I've just realised that I can't post from home again. And this is despite going into safe mode. So I guess from now on all posts, even late night ones, will have to be done from work the following morning. Nevermind; Internet access is my inalienable right as a constructive member of the workforce)

I was browsing in the newspaper for computer prices, and they.... aren't so bad.
Okay... so far i want a

a) Pentium 4.... 2.0 gHz or higher. (Or should i get an athlon?)
b) optical mouse
c) webcam (actually, strike that, unless it's a more expensive detachable one i'll only use it for taking silly pictures of myself at the computer)

c) LCD monitor. If the price is okay... like sub $900 i guess...?
d) CD-RW and 16x DVD drive(s). Separately? .
e) Printer, inkjet, sub $200... about $100.
f) Reasonable soundcard. About $100.
g) 56k Modem. Internal or external? Either would do. With voice/data/fax. Sub ... 100.
h) Ethernet card (hrm, i saw one selling for $30 at the computer shop in the union)
i) Video card (i know nuts about them, what is good?)
j) 3D card
USB ports and stuff, umm can't think of anything else.

David Thian has been awarded, for his Physical Employment Status, a grade of "E". In layman's terms, PES E!

!@#$%^&*()

1 week of lectures for BMT, no wearing of No 4, stayout and best of all, NO RESERVIST!

That's just a step above PES F (the SAF doesn't want you at all, not even as a road sweeper).

Naturally, he is upset he will never get knocked down, will never injure himself during SOC, will never get soil disease while outfield and will never choke on the acrid smoke of gumpowder.


Money lending isn't getting something for nothing - you forfeit the potentially profitable use of your capital for the interest you get. But then no one in the Dark Ages understood Economics.

And I was referring to distaste of money lending, not of merchants in general - Mohammad was married to an owner of many caravans. Who incidentally was older than him :)

I suspect much of the money which goes for "betterment of society" goes to Islamic charities, which, as we all know, are fronts for terrorist funding :))


Of this is so embarrassing.

I feel like burying my head in a hole.

Then again, we have this:

" Let's say I set up a site "VirginMen", it's very simple aim is to flatter
men, and for the girls to flock in. And here I have the contributions
section, of which men can contribute their own photos or other ppl's photo
as long as no girl(identities shall be kept confidential) opposed the fact
that they are "virgin", of which otherwise the guy shall be blacklisted. On
a deeper level, it serves to a)offend some men (why should they be offended?
It's harmless!), b)invade their privacy. And of course, nominated top male
virgin of the week....mister nw.t! Tell me, will you want your name off the
list? :) And who in this case, will be the really "humiliated" ones (Chief
aka Sex God of JCGirls, supporters of JCGirls)?"

My mobile bill for the month preceding 19th July is $138.30. Oh dear.

Maybe I should switch from the Prime plan to the Ultimate plan. Ugh.


I am currently pink as a lobster from sitting in the sun at Marina South earlier today. Bah.

http://www.centerforbookculture.org/context/no6/frank.html
The above has given me a headache. I need to rest.


Clarification: Dom is anti-England and pro-Third World in the realm of football. And I got all those juicy bits off his sister's page. Specifically this part.


Geeky tool of the day from the Langalist:

BAT to COM file convertor

"Converting them to the .com format makes them execute faster, and also hides the actual contents of the batch file from prying eyes, should you have that need. On the other hand, leaving batch files as plain text makes them easier to understand, modify and debug.... See also http://www.computing.net/dos/wwwboard/forum/9854.html "

And weird site.

Third word of the day: "adiaphoron"

What the hell? Try here instead. If that doesn't work, go to Kazaa and download it yourself- after all, you're on broadband and I'm not. Remember - the *cello* instrumental, not the original.

One of my more dysfunctional comrades from the frontlines in Singapore breezed into town on a Tioman wind. He's here to unwind, gratis, before heading over to the UK for some bizarre PR job with a telco. I am mildly destitute, but the demands of protocol insist that I show him a decent time here. Have managed to cunningly swap out my working Saturday with another of my colleagues, so we'll probably go shopping - he has some bizarre purchasing requirements before heading Britanniaside. Nevermind; I shall relish the chance to spend a weekend with an old friend like a normal human being.

This morning, something happened that made me feel part of my homeland in a way that I have never experienced. As I was driving into the open lot where I park, I made an illegal U-turn as I do every morning. This time, however, the long arm of the law caught up with me - in the form of a police officer(Malay, naturally), riding his motorcycle up as I pulled over to the curb in sour disgust.

He ambled over casually, and as I lowered the window, the conversation went something like thus:

The below is translated from Malay/English pidgin. It's a pity, because the conversation can only be fully appreciated in all its subtle intricacy in the original form. Still - for comprehension's sake...

"License and IC please."

I fumbled in my wallet for my drivers' license and IC. He accepted both documents and walked in controlled strides to the front of my car where he proceeded to scribble what I presume was my license plate number industriously into his notebook. Following some intense transcription, he walked back to the window.

"Do you know that what you did can be fined up to 500RM?"

Now, despite being still rather naive and wet behind the ears as far as living back home is concerned, there were basic precautions even *I* knew how to perform in such an exigency. As soon as I saw his lights flashing in the mirror, I had rapidly pulled out my wallet and stuffed all the notes contained within save two into my glove compartment. Some of you can already see where this is leading, I'm sure...

I replied(and here I have to use the original Malay phrasing), "Boleh tolong, bang?" ("dis donc. Can you help, brother?")

Now, in Malaysia, those three words represent the underlying foundation of all interactions between the private and public sector; or, to be more accurate, of all interactions between anyone vested with the authority of government; and the governed themselves. In those three words are conveyed a fatalistic recognition that everyone is part of a brutal Hobbesian world; a world in which everyone is a mere cog in a mechanism of oppression - and the authority figure is simply carrying out the task that Fate has chosen for him as the arbiter of arbitrary rules... he's simply doing his job. His own personal sympathies may lie squarely with the poor citizen who was simply trying to live perfectly in an imperfect world. Yet not all is doom and gloom - for implicit in that statement is also the understanding that, despite the roles assigned to us, we are all still men of honest features and noble hearts, and that between such brothers-in-arms forced into opposing roles by cruel Kismet, some Pareto-efficient outcome can be achieved, to the joy of everyone, despite the rigours and hardships of everyday life.

Upon my invocation of confiteor, he replied, "So how do you want to play it?" ("Nak bagaimana?" - it's NOT a literal translation, obviously:)

I opened my wallet to reveal the paucity of money in my wallet. Hastily, I plucked out the two notes(totalling 60RM), and proffered them to him with the cantata cry:
"This is all I have."

Immediately he waved at me frantically, his features in a grimace: "Eh.. don't wave that so high lah. People are watching. This is your first time, is it?" I detected a faintly paternal tone in his voice, the voice of a kind passerby educating a young waif in the ways of the world.

Then he brandished his clipboard and gestured with his head in a very loaded manner. Ah, the amazing way in which we can "condense meaning from the vapour of nuance" in such a simple bodily movement!

I nodded, and he walked lazily to the rear of the car, taking down more notes. I later caught a glimpse of the notebook and, as some of you brighter ones can probably guess, there was nothing on it save a kidney-shaped scrawl. Then he returned to me, continued with the "wayang"(pavane) of industriously enforcing traffic law and making more scribbles. At length, he passed his clipboard to me through the window, with my license and ID fastened to it by a metal caliper at its top. Wordlessly, I took the clipboard onto my lap, unclipped my license and ID before taking it back, and slipped the two notes into the caliper before passing the whole clipboard back to him. He took it with a grunt, and admonished me, "Next time be more careful. You got off cheap for the car you're driving." He then strode back to his motorcycle, and I continued my interrupted process of parking.

Now, after this, I felt nothing but a completely warm glow of patriotism that not even our lacklustre National Day propaganda festivals have failed to engender in me. I'm totally serious here. It was a profound love for a nation and society that so valued the spirit of free enterprise and libertarian principle. And like some enlightened Singaporeans can make the distinction; loving a society, even as it currently stands, does not necessarily entail support for the government. After all; consider the net result -

a) I had certainly learned my lesson in the dangers of breaking traffic laws(I'm definitely going to take a longer route around the block for the next few months)
b) The policeman had earned his due as an enforcer of the moral principle embodied in (a)
c) We had circumvented an oppressive and totalitarian government who would have screwed me out of a considerable amount of money, and the police officer of his rightful due as the hand of justice.

What a wonderful country I live in!

Actually, there's another interesting little event of the day to relate, but I'll save it for a later entry. On to the "reply" phase.

You saved.. 74 cents, Andrew. Actually, that's not a bad way to go - in your time there, you WILL consume massive amounts of photocopying services. Building a little parsimony in your thinking at this stage vis-a-vis photocopying will help you in the long run. If you don't mind the walk, get stuff out of Bailieu reserve(you can haul it out for two hours or so) and bring it to one of the copy shops on Swanston street or the one on Bouverie next to the IS department.

I know who the chao keng army clerk is; I think - and I definitely know who the chao keng Pioneer writer is - but who's "the chao keng army storeman"?

Dom is so NOT pro third-world or anti-england in any way:) He actually just attended a symposium organised by the SG government on questions of reshaping the civil polity of Singaporean society. He has some amused insights, but they are his to share, if he so chooses.

Who are all the silent inactives?

Oh, I called the guy who owns the handphone. He wasn't at his desk. My brief spurt of morality is starting to fade like an orgasm.

Thank you for your authoritative statement on Islamic banking (too bad there isn't a sarcasm tag in HTML), Gabriel - I actually have to say that I'm quite a fond admirer of some of the verbal and conceptual loops Islamic banking takes in order to fit with the letter AND spirit of the Koran. Now, I will TRY not to lecture(the same way I will TRY to be a better person and TRY to eat less luncheon meat) but the basic tenet behind the prohibition of usury is a distaste for rent-seeking behaviour ie. something for nothing; which modern economists acknowledge as being disruptive to the functioning of a free market. And in Koranic days, the most cheapskate form of rent-seeking behaviour(short of being a despotic ruler) was to be a money-lender - something for nothing. Now, granted, the letter of Islam is obviously unalterable to take into account the evolution of the modern capital market, in which interest on monies paid is no longer a function of such behaviour, but rather a legitimate recognition of investment. Which Islam DOES encourage - in fact this emphasis on returns on investment as opposed to simple interest gathering underlies a host of products such as Mudharabah, Al-bai Bithaman Aijil, and many others. Again, I will not go into a comprehensive overview of the various products available under Islamic banking, but when you speak of gratuity payments, you are probably referring to a very specific Islamic concept sometimes called al-Wadiah; which refers to the giving of a gift in exchange for trust. It is the principle
underlying most Islamic savings accounts. Bonds, NIDCs(negotiable instruments of deposit) and term loans all use other Islamic concepts in which gratuities play no part.

Now, I normally have an intense distaste for most of what Islam represents, and I will definitely acknowledge that there is sophistry being toyed with here in the letter of Koranic law, but Islam was a religion of merchants for a very long time before the fanatic waves culminating in the Wahhabism of today's Osamas. It was also the most tolerant religious structure in medieval times - Jews were treated better in Jerusalem than they were under the Christian papacy. And there are *many* tenets in Islam which encourage trade, entrepeneurship, and even some lines extolling the virtue of merchants who get rich and subsequently use this wealth for the betterment of society. Classic trickle-down economics. You've got it backward, Gabriel - Islamic banking is an example of people following the spirit of Islam while playing games with the letter of religious text; and we could do with a lot more of this.

"Sembahyang" means "pray"

Alright, have to go now. Sub umbra alarum tuarum.

Today was our Life Run, held at Marina South.

For once, I was a few minutes late, arriving 5 minutes later than the stipulated timing, both because my father'd taken a wrong turn and he'd been unwilling to stop banging at his stocks and shares for some minutes before we left. Oh well, the most that can happen is that I'll be confined or sign one extra (the first that I'd have signed in my indenture, by the way).

The significance of the concept of Life (Lifelong Investment in Fitness and Exercise) still eludes me, but I suppose the powers that be thought it a cute acronym.

I was, and still am, aching in at least 4 places - the extremes of my chest where my arms meet my shoulders, and my inner thighs, the former courtesy of IPPT and the latter kindly given to me by unarmed combat. As such, the Life run became a Life walk for me, and I joined the suspiciously large walking contingent.

The SAF Music and Drama Company came down to teach the Battallion the not-so-fun dance. The response from us was grudging and lukewarm at best, even with the bubbly enthusiasm of the MDC people. I think the only thing that excited most people was seeing the MDC girls. One of them was rather unnerving - whenever she lifted her arms, you could see part of a tattoo starting underneath her belly button. Where it went to, or what it depicted, I have no interest in knowing. When I pointed the tattoo out, Sinsiang said I was very "observant". Bah.

Later, during "Connect" time (see earlier entries for an explanation of this), the CO asked us to close in around the MDCers and "connect" with them. Everyone suddenly became very animated and swamped the poor few MDCers. And later we were chided by the CO:

"Next time we connect, and there are ladies present, do not behave as if you haven't seen ladies for 20 years"

There was a kite making competition. How novel. And HQ lost. Again. Even though we have the most men :)


Quotes:

"When I contacted Jenny [Someone: Gay boy] (Zaini)"

"All those of RSM calibre. Regimental's shortest man (Regiment's)"

"Firstly, did you all enjoy the fundance? [Silence ensues] You all didn't enjoy the fundance."


My parents are trying to persuade me to take up driving lessons. When I voiced my lack of interest,

"You must learn to take an interest in something. Everything also 'not interested'."

Sigh.

I am very tired after my LIFE walk and Games Day, though I can't seem to fall asleep. So I will again rattle on.

Daniel? Why doesn't he call himself, say, Nebuchadnezzar!

Will 'Daniel' have to go back and do NS?

Wth's "sembahyang"?

The dear macross file refuses to play. Incidentally, I used to have the original version, sent to me by Julian, but it gave me a headache and I deleted it. He sends me stuff now and then, but they do induce migraines sometimes, so the next time I get one from one of his ingame mp3s or other new age music, I'll delete it, together with my Shostakovich directory!

wt can have my Abdominiser. One of the few Sellavision products my parents ever bought, because it was recommended by my auntie. Not that it did me any good :)

Islamic banking involves gratuity payments I believe. So we have yet another example of people following Islam to the letter and not to the spirit. Rather a pity, because actually the spirit of Islam is relatively tolerant and liberal, considering the socio-economic-historical context of its founding. It's just that people seem to be obsessed with following what is said - not caring about what is not said. I'm sure if Mohammad were alive today, he'd ban smoking, but since he didn't explicitly forbid smoking, Muslims happily smoke their lungs black, while imbibing just a few drops of alcohol is considered to be sinful.

In this weblog, besides the 3 active posters, we have one relatively active poster - the chao keng army clerk, one occasional poster - the chao keng army storeman, and rounding out the slave chattel, the chao keng Pioneer writer! Apart from that, we have an aureate not so screwed up girl with an oh-so-slight accent who pops in now and then to utter one liners and an anti-england and pro third-world guy in christ's cambridge who hates anakin skywalker and has posted once. And some silent inactives, of course.

mum was right, although the advice came at 12 something last night and i told her i thought it was being too kancheong. This morning i went down to the office

Andrew: Hi, i was wondering since daniel (chaowan) is leaving...
nice new woman in office: Yeah...-
Andrew: if i could move to his room?
nice new woman in office: My you're fast. What an opportunist! (But all in a kind friendly tone since she's friend-ly!) You'll have to see mary (house manager) for that.

Mary said it's tight, v. tight ... but she'll check it out for me. 'Cos i'll have to move out of my room and into his room by tomorrow (friday), before the cleaners leave at 3pm (so they can clean my room) so the fresher (new student) who might have been allocated his room could go to my room instead. And i have classes until 1pm tomorrow. I hope i can!! Actually, i feel like calling mary up to say i'll vacuum my room (hell, i just vacuumed it yesterday!) so the cleaners don't *have* to do much cleaning. And anyway i keep my room neat and clean (comments from other people)

Yay.... i hope... if i get his room (his room is the same size as mine) i'll be on the 1st floor instead of the 4th floor, and i'll get an extra study room! But i'll be losing nice neighbours ... sally and sophie and (the invisible) Ian (who has only been seen a) doing student service; b) walking outside for dinner; c) taking baths at 11.30pm).
Study room also means i'll only have to move my belongings into the study during holidays, instead of packing everything and dragging them to trunk rooms.

I was so embarrassed by the untidiness of my room last weekend (when i moved back in) i put up a notice outside my door saying "ANDREW is not entertaining visitors until his room is tidied up ... just joking, but mind the mess~!"

Hahaha! Thought nobody would notice it - i needed to copy last year's exam paper from the library and photocopying's exorbitant at 12 cents a page. And each question was on a new page. So I photocopied the 2 long questions and typed the rest into blogger (not keen on emailing it to myself like i used to- the library computers disabled everything except for Netscape and yahoo mail formats all yr text to fit the 80 (?) character width thingy). And cut out the text and printed the questions out in ormond. Instead of spending 9*12= $1.08 i spent 2*12 + 10 = $0.34 !!!

I see Andrew has deleted the questions from his exam paper that he, for some unknown reason, put up. :) Wise choice, methinks - next time wait till at least a week after the paper, hmm? But do click "publish" next time.


Someone was pointing me to threads on the Sammyboy forum a while ago. Though the other parts of the site aren't very savory, I must say the template for a letter to the Straits Times is very funny.

"The Straits Times "Letters to the Editor" template. Use the template below to compose your letter. The publication of your letter is guaranteed! All you need to do is to fill in the blanks. What could be simpler.

Dear Editor of the Straits Times,

I fully agree with the govt's stand on ______________.

The Singapore govt has led Singapore to become one of the most successful nations in the world. This would not have been possible without the leadership provided by the govt since independence.

Mr. __________, in a letter to your forum dated ________, said that we should allow more freedom and more political space in the area of_____________________. He also suggested that__________.

I do not agree with him at all. Singapore's political situation is unique and to take a more liberal stand regarding____________ would be playing right into the hands of Singapore's enemies.

We are very fortunate to have the PAP govt to lead the country through_____________. Without the PAP, Singapore would still be a fishing village.

To Quote the Hon BG___________, Minister of ____________, Who stated...."_________________________". I agree with the Hon BG___________ 100%.

We are lucky that we have people like him who are loyal and committed to Singapore.

Had he decided to go into the private sector, he would be earning a lot more. However, he was willing to make considerable sacrifices in order to be given the opportunity to lead Singapore.

Let us not be mislead by people like __________ who claim that Singaporeans have no political freedom. The fact that free and fair elections are held every few years shows that the country is democratic.

Ideas such as those proposed by ______________ should be nipped at the bud. To allow such ideas to take hold would cause the country to fall apart.

Singapore is my home and I have 100% faith in the govt to lead us through________________.

Let us all rally behind the govt. They have the interests of all Singaporeans at heart.

TAN TU LAN."