At church today, a friend wanted to interview me about English for her school project. She asked all sorts of questions, which were mostly permutations of what is good English and what is bad Singlish. Together with my two sisters, we had jolly good fun coming up with one-liners for her questions. Here are two of my favourites:
Qn: Where can you find good English?
Ans: Where the dress code is above smart casual.
Qn: What is bad Singlish?
Ans: When you can't differentiate when to use lah, loh, mah, orh or not at all.
I want to blog about how sad I am that the GEP has finally been shut down.
I want to verbalise my thoughts on why it is important to continue to work hard for the country, even though for many of us we could easily settle for lower (but still decent) pay and much better hours.
But I just have no time these days.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
hk girls
I'm a Hong Kong girl. To us technology is like jewellery.
- Friend on why she did not know what the white balance on her digital SLR was for.
- Friend on why she did not know what the white balance on her digital SLR was for.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
packs and packs
Overheard at dinner:
Needless to say, I don't have the six-pack. Sad to say, I'm closer to the family pack. That probably explains why I can no longer do 25 chin ups nor jump 2.75m. But thankfully I can still run my 2.4 in less that 9:45 and can still do 45 situps in 35s. So at least I don't have one of those KFC buckets yet.
Eat more, you still got six-pack;It just cracked me up.
Mine is a family pack.
Needless to say, I don't have the six-pack. Sad to say, I'm closer to the family pack. That probably explains why I can no longer do 25 chin ups nor jump 2.75m. But thankfully I can still run my 2.4 in less that 9:45 and can still do 45 situps in 35s. So at least I don't have one of those KFC buckets yet.
Friday, September 08, 2006
names in the mist
Maybe the folks on the other side have something to comment on this ...
Interesting, it brings back varied memories from a distant past.Where is Annabel?
Straits Times, Sep 7, 2006THEATRE company Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble plans to heat up the arts scene next April with a provocative play based on the life of former porn actress Annabel Chong.
The Singaporean, whose real name is Grace Quek, set a record in 1995 by having sex with 251 men in 10 hours. In a reference to this infamous claim to fame, the play will be titled 251.
Director Loretta Tan, however, is quick to stress that 251 will not be 'a sordid expose'.
'I want the play to have a quirky but intellectual sensibility, and it will try to talk about issues like the public complicity in the porn industry, and what the benchmark of a national icon is,' she says.
Tasked with accomplishing this literary feat is writer Ng Yi-Sheng, 25. He took over the project last week from writer and Institute of Policy Studies senior research fellow Tan Tarn How.
Tan could not accommodate the scriptwriting into his schedule, and had also wanted to talk to Quek before starting on the script.
However, Toy Factory has not been able to get in touch with Quek, 34. She is believed to be working as a web designer in Los Angeles. Numerous phone calls and e-mail to her over the past six months have remained unanswered.
The director is hoping that once they e-mail her a copy of the completed script, Quek will be more receptive to their advances.
'I really want to get her blessing for the project,' she says.
Do you know how Toy Factory can find Annabel Chong? E-mail us at stlife@sph.com.sg, and we will pass on the message.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
sushi suspicions
Have you ever wondered how long that sushi goes around the conveyor belt?
Sitting at Sakae Sushi at 9pm today, the number of plates began to thin out steadily until they reached a steady state of about 20% occupancy. I'm guessing the other patrons, like myself, had begun to eye the belt suspiciously and wonder how long the plates had been on there.
Seriously, there is no timing mechanism on the belt. Theoretically a piece of sushi could circulate from dawn till dusk and no one would be the wiser (until the guy who sinces his teeth into it and contracts salmonella).
No wonder the sushi sometimes looks a little stale
Sitting at Sakae Sushi at 9pm today, the number of plates began to thin out steadily until they reached a steady state of about 20% occupancy. I'm guessing the other patrons, like myself, had begun to eye the belt suspiciously and wonder how long the plates had been on there.
Seriously, there is no timing mechanism on the belt. Theoretically a piece of sushi could circulate from dawn till dusk and no one would be the wiser (until the guy who sinces his teeth into it and contracts salmonella).
No wonder the sushi sometimes looks a little stale
Sunday, September 03, 2006
death and chinese
It started off innocuously enough. She has a Chinese oral coming up, and her Chinese sucks. I can totally empathise, so we spent some time poking fun at the idiosyncracies of the language.
Zuo and You (left and right). If you can remember how to write them, can you remember which is which?
Dong, Nan, Xi, Bei (North, South, East, West). If you gave me a compass rose I wouldn't be able to label the points in Chinese for you.
Chun, Xia, Qiu, Dong (Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring). We all agree that Chun sounds like it should be summer, somehow. And isn't Xia obviously Autumn, when the leaves are falling?
We then branched out into more serious stuff, when I asked a question that has been on my mind of late: "If you were given the choice to renounce your faith or die, what would you choose?"
Awkward silence, so I continued, "It's not so totally impossible wat. Just last week the two Fox journalists in Lebanon were forced to convert to Islam or be killed. Next time you go to Bali, JI might catch you and give you the same options."
She piped up. "Just say you convert lah. Only need to sign the paper or something right? Then they will let you go." And of course, after that you could continue praying, going to church, etc. What's the big deal anyway?
So I said, "But isn't this the same choice the early Christians faced? Renounce your new religion, or be thrown to the lions. And many of them chose the lions. Or the Christians in China who also chose jail, torture and death rather than abandon their faith. Why didn't they choose this option if it is so easy?"
I guess it all boils down to what we truly, truly believe. If we know that we believe in the true God, and we are going to heaven, we should welcome any opportunity not just to proclaim our faith, but also to hasten our journey to a better place. If we truly believe, it would be a joke to renounce our faith to extend our time of suffering on earth. For surely that would be a betrayal of our principles. We would do as the early Christians did and sing hymns all the way to the end.
Easily said of course. But if it really comes down to that, I am still wondering what I would do.
Zuo and You (left and right). If you can remember how to write them, can you remember which is which?
Dong, Nan, Xi, Bei (North, South, East, West). If you gave me a compass rose I wouldn't be able to label the points in Chinese for you.
Chun, Xia, Qiu, Dong (Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring). We all agree that Chun sounds like it should be summer, somehow. And isn't Xia obviously Autumn, when the leaves are falling?
We then branched out into more serious stuff, when I asked a question that has been on my mind of late: "If you were given the choice to renounce your faith or die, what would you choose?"
Awkward silence, so I continued, "It's not so totally impossible wat. Just last week the two Fox journalists in Lebanon were forced to convert to Islam or be killed. Next time you go to Bali, JI might catch you and give you the same options."
She piped up. "Just say you convert lah. Only need to sign the paper or something right? Then they will let you go." And of course, after that you could continue praying, going to church, etc. What's the big deal anyway?
So I said, "But isn't this the same choice the early Christians faced? Renounce your new religion, or be thrown to the lions. And many of them chose the lions. Or the Christians in China who also chose jail, torture and death rather than abandon their faith. Why didn't they choose this option if it is so easy?"
I guess it all boils down to what we truly, truly believe. If we know that we believe in the true God, and we are going to heaven, we should welcome any opportunity not just to proclaim our faith, but also to hasten our journey to a better place. If we truly believe, it would be a joke to renounce our faith to extend our time of suffering on earth. For surely that would be a betrayal of our principles. We would do as the early Christians did and sing hymns all the way to the end.
Easily said of course. But if it really comes down to that, I am still wondering what I would do.
pachelbel’s canon
When I first heard the rock version of Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major, I was mesmirised. But I did not know who had arranged it, or who was playing it, and so I promptly forgot about it. Until now.
Through dsng, I came across the NYTimes article on the history behind the composition. And also the video of the guitarist in action. It is utterly captivating, and I highly recommend music lovers to check it out.
Warning: Do not watch at 2am. This is not exactly a lullaby.
Edit: I wondered at first why twofun got such high acclaim for doing a cover when the piece was originally arranged by jerryc. But now that I have seen the original, which is pretty good in itself, I can fully appreciate the sheer genius of the latter.
Through dsng, I came across the NYTimes article on the history behind the composition. And also the video of the guitarist in action. It is utterly captivating, and I highly recommend music lovers to check it out.
Warning: Do not watch at 2am. This is not exactly a lullaby.
Edit: I wondered at first why twofun got such high acclaim for doing a cover when the piece was originally arranged by jerryc. But now that I have seen the original, which is pretty good in itself, I can fully appreciate the sheer genius of the latter.
leadership
When I was in school, I could never understand all the hype about leadership abilities. I couldn't fathom why they were such an important factor in scholarship applications. And why the fact that I had a gold medal meant nothing since I was not captain of the team. Personally, I had no interest in leadership roles, and I enjoyed being an irresponsible free spirit.
A couple of miles into the rat race and it has become strikingly apparent to me why this intangible virtue is valued so highly. One man, on his own, can only do so much. No matter his talents or intellect, he only has 24 hours in a day, one brain and two hands. The only way to transcend the physical limitations of our human body is to further our purposes through others. Too many cooks will spoil the broth unless the head chef is able to mould them into a cohesive and integral team. And that is the job of the leader.
The other job of the leader is to motivate. Having worked under several, I begin to discern the good leaders from the bad ones. And the good ones will keep you working and energised even if they are not there in the office with you at 10pm at night - you do it not even because you think the work is meaningful, but out of love and respect for the man. And because you may not understand his plans, but you have faith in hisdecisions. I hope one day to be that kind of leader.
Many schools of leadership teach leadership by example. Lead from the front. Come On not Go On. I think that is all bullshit. A true leader would not need to be there. It would be good, of course, but a team should not rely on the leader's presence for motivation. The leader is only truly effective when he has made himself redundant.
A couple of miles into the rat race and it has become strikingly apparent to me why this intangible virtue is valued so highly. One man, on his own, can only do so much. No matter his talents or intellect, he only has 24 hours in a day, one brain and two hands. The only way to transcend the physical limitations of our human body is to further our purposes through others. Too many cooks will spoil the broth unless the head chef is able to mould them into a cohesive and integral team. And that is the job of the leader.
The other job of the leader is to motivate. Having worked under several, I begin to discern the good leaders from the bad ones. And the good ones will keep you working and energised even if they are not there in the office with you at 10pm at night - you do it not even because you think the work is meaningful, but out of love and respect for the man. And because you may not understand his plans, but you have faith in hisdecisions. I hope one day to be that kind of leader.
Many schools of leadership teach leadership by example. Lead from the front. Come On not Go On. I think that is all bullshit. A true leader would not need to be there. It would be good, of course, but a team should not rely on the leader's presence for motivation. The leader is only truly effective when he has made himself redundant.
ribena
It came to my attention recently that Ribena is a product of GlaxoSmithKine, the pharmaceutical company. It's in really tiny print on the bottles.
From the branding angle, I was just curious what impact it would have if GSK tried to capitalise on the parent brand. Would people suddenly see Ribena favourably as a healthy drink? Or would they shun it as some chemical concoction. What congnitive associations, conscious or otherwise, would people make with the brand?
From the branding angle, I was just curious what impact it would have if GSK tried to capitalise on the parent brand. Would people suddenly see Ribena favourably as a healthy drink? Or would they shun it as some chemical concoction. What congnitive associations, conscious or otherwise, would people make with the brand?
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