Dumb doo dee doo dumb dumb…
28/02/2004
Surveying Teenagers
Had dinner with VS today – was supposed to meet the ex-colleagues but Lisa couldn’t make it – and we sat at the Raffles Place courtyard thing deciding where to go. So for some strange reason, V generally feels sorry for the people who stand around and give out fliers or conduct surveys. And today, at the Raffles Place thingey – there were a couple of barely-teenagers conducting some shopping survey.
When we walked by the first time, I turned one of the girls down. V called me a “bad person” for not giving her the time of the day. I replied that it was better for her to find out we’re all assholes anyway while she was young, instead of being disappointed later in life. He insisted it was a mean thing to do.
So when a different girl walks over the second time, he gamely entertained the surveyor.
She goes through some routine questions. Which is your favourite shopping center? How often do you visit Orchard Road? What is the main attraction at Orchard Road? Are you single or married? To all these – she read him multiple-choiced answers. When it came to age, she assumed out loud – over 30?
At which, my friend cooly replied, “No, under 25″. I tried not to break a vessel laughing. The girl counters, “You got so young meh?”.
Well, if this is under 25…
Survivor update
Richard Hatch got voted out today. I was so disappointed. He is so entertaining! And it’s still early in the game. I mean, it’s probably all in the editing, but this is what I don’t get -
So ok, today Rupert led his brow-beaten team to build an pretty darn un-aerodymanic raft, losing the reward challenge, and as a result had his tribe disbanded and merged into the other two tribes. Richard’s team (Mogo Mogo) chooses Ethan and Jerri to join their tribe. Colby pretty much decided this, and his rationale was that this way, he’d have control over when they lose Ethan. They chose Jerri because she seemed like the one he bonded least with. Who knew Colby had half a brain?
Anyway. So Mogo Mogo lose the immunity challenge and need to vote someone off. Colby goes to Ethan and proposes they vote Richard Hatch out. Why? He’s a “snake in the grass” and a “cancer”. So basically, they’re sure they won’t be able to outwit Richard later on, and need to do it while they’ve some power in manipulating the masses. Ethan is like “whatever takes the heat off me” so he goes along with it. And Lex is into it as well. They approach Jerri, who agrees in their faces, but then realises she might go further turning the chicks against Colby since she and Colby didn’t quite get along way back in Africa. She rustles Shi Ann and Kathy who were surprised that (a) they’re voting Richard Hatch and (b) Colby assumed a position of leadership and is calling the shots. So Jerri tries to get the chicks into voting Colby and lets Richard in on the deal. Richard is annoyed at Colby’s insolence, so he’s ready to write Colby’s name on the parchment and he’s confident that it’s Colby’s ass on the line.
Tribal council was funny, only because Richard Hatch was a constant source of entertainment. He’s obviously bright and funny, but I suppose a bit too confident. He was certainly surprised when he got voted out, but he took it like he lost a game of scrabble and didn’t get all upset and whiney. He did shout “I’ve been bamboozled!” whatever that means and gave Colby a good hard tap on the back when he was walking out. Then he sauntered off into the night.
And that was the end of my favourite Survivor this season. I hope they bring the Outcasts back.
First Cut is the deepest – not!
So this is the second First Cuts I’m missing. I mean, the stories all sound great, and the trailers always make me want to watch it – but 15 minutes is all I can bear.
Last week (Sweet Dreams and Turtle Soup) it was the awkward script and acting.
This week (Love Poetry) it’s the complete and utter lack of realism. I like it when art imitates life. These scripts read like they’re written by people bored with life and just want to escape into some surreal universe. Well, keep a blog, or a journal, or leave it in a book! On TV, not only do we have to put up with strange Asian / Singaporean looking faces spewing strange un-Singaporean dialogue in a foreign un-Singaporean twang in a setting and surrounding that is totally Singaporean, and forgive the chopping switches of points of view, we’re subjected to someone’s fantasy that isn’t even entertaining.
I know I’m going to offend my friends who are scriptwriters (and the one who works with me in the office is truly a scary being when annoyed) but you guys write better than this, and even though VR-Man and all isn’t Scrubs or Malcolm in the Middle or The West Wing calibre, it sure beat all these wannabes! At least I sat through Triple Nine, and until the last season I used to watch it religiously. And it wasn’t just because of James Lye!
This isn’t to say we’ve no local talent. I loved 12 Storeys and even Forever Fever. (Ok, to admit I liked the Jack Neo movies would be pushing it.) But these 2 instalments of First Cuts is sad! I’m not sure if I can bring myself to watch another one.
Scenes from Raffles Place
I like these sky shots. Makes me feel so small.
This was what we were looking at, when the almost-teenage surveyor approached us.
The same place, after dinner.
It’s a long day
26/02/2004
The stuff you learn on the Internet
Sometimes I wonder what people used to do before the Internet. How would people in those days pass their time in the office? Now almost everyone I know has a connection to the Internet from their PCs. All that information at their fingertips can certainly make days pass by awfully quickly.
I mean, you can read about Murderous Women, the movies related to these murderous women, what the actresses who pay these murderous women receive for getting nominated for an Oscar. There’s never been a better or easier time to be an information junkie.
It’s more like guidelines…
24/02/2004
First Mate!
Johnny Depp won the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award for Best Lead Film Actor, pipping the likes of Bill Murray and Sean Penn. While I really liked Bill Murray in Lost in Translation – he really did seem that jaded anyway, so that doesn’t really count as acting, does it? At least Johnny Depp had an accent. 
Well, Johnny is up against Ben Kingsley, Jude Law (who looks so mean, he’s ugly), Bill Murray and Sean Penn again come Oscar time. I hope he’ll win it, just for the fun of it, but I think Bill Murray will get it.
That burning smell
23/02/2004
The haze is back
And every where there’s a faint smell of burning wood/plastic or something. Aromatherapy in the office today smelled funny. Ergh. I hate this. They say the PSI was 45. Felt like much higher.
Prancing ponies and stuff
22/02/2004
Brat pack
Another weekend with the folks, the sibling and his kids. Not one with the endless supply of patience, the job of entertaining the elder kid Ernie generally falls on KF’s shoulders (sometimes literally). Just 2 things that pop into mind:
1. They’re awfully cute before they learn to walk, that’s for sure. Ed, the younger one, spends most of the time sleeping, that’s a real relief.
2. Keep them off the sugar. I’m willing to wager that while Ernie was at my brother’s in-law’s she probably had a soft drink or candy. She was just bouncing off the walls (and the bed) today. That makes the whole caretaking effort doubly tricky – on the one hand you’ve got a bunch of adults who’re busy catching up on what’s new with each other and how their golf game went, and on the other you’ve a kid who’s got too much energy and no real way to work it off, and who incidentally enjoys being the center of attention.
Times like those you’d wish they would subtitle everything on TV, too.
Happy Days!
22/02/2004
Happy Thinking Day
To all ex- and current Girl Guides out there. I never knew its significance, but figured it was pretty apt anyway, given I always remember it (and my Girl Guide friends) despite never having been a Girl Guide. My mom was petrified that I might spend my weekends and after school hours busy with Girl Guide activities and totally forget about home so she raised violent objections about my interest in joining the Guides. We had a huge fight (big by a 12 year olds’ standards, anyway) and well, I ended up in something lame like the Language and Drama club. I’m still convinced that those could’ve been the best years of my life – learning to build fires, running around, meeting Boy Scouts…
Happy Birthday Michael Chang
It’s also coincidentally Michael Chang’s birthday. The dude turns 32 this year (that makes him a Rat in the Chinese horoscope) and looks like he’s found a new love in golf.
Miscellaney
Things on my mind right now:
- a bacon sandwich (toasted, with a light spread of laughing cow cheese)
- chocolate milk to go along? or campbells cream of chicken?
- this is going to add up and I’m going to get fat(ter)
- but will that matter in the whole grand scheme of life?
- just thought of what to do with my homepage (and all that space I still have on netjackal)
- I think I spelt miscellaney wrong
- Tony Leung is on tv in some inane Hong Kong movie, but he’s still cute
- I should get cracking on that sandwich
Down and dirty
20/02/2004
Rob was robbed!
I’m sad, Rob C. got voted out of Survivor: All Stars. He was so totally set up, and I think it worked against him that everyone knew he was intelligent and wily. So what even if Rob “The Mob” formed an alliance with Rob C and shook on it. He turned around and it was bye bye Rob C.
Well Survivor is fun cos the karma isn’t so instant, but it’s so much a microcosm of life, that you can be sure what goes around comes around.
Well. That was one of the horses I was betting on, and now that he’s gone, it leaves Lex on the list. Hope he makes it to the end. But then again I haven’t been very good at picking the winners.
Engineers just want to have fun
20/02/2004
Finally Friday!
If you ever wanted to know, these are what engineers do for kicks (or hits):
- Bat the penguin
- Spank the Monkey
- Compare scores and laugh at each other
In comparison, mere mortals like me just try to break out.
Angels and Visitations
Took a long trip from the north of the island to work today, and I think I kinda miss it. Of course it’s easy to say that since I don’t do it everyday anymore. I didn’t expect to derive so much pleasure in taking the bus and train for 45 minutes on my own. It was fun to just watch the people, listen to my mp3s and pretend I was in school again.
Maybe I’ll find a convincing excuse and skive off from work once a week to do this.
The things I do for work
19/02/2004
Way too early
10am, and already in a conference call. That sucks, even though it’s mildy entertaining with all those accents on the call.
Life, or something like that
Found this short story on Neil Gaiman’s blog. I think it’s going to be the highlight of my day.
Clawing my way out
19/02/2004
Progress Report
I’m pleased with my progress today. I went from blog-hunting to just blog-browsing, which is a vast improvement! Of course I couldn’t completely stamp it out, but I think it’s balancing out well. All work and no play makes Qoo a dull monster.
3 days to Michael Chang‘s birthday
He’ll be 32 this year. And I would’ve kept tabs on him for 14 years. Funny how time flies.
Being social
I keep running into people who used to be my classmates or schoolmates on the streets. Instead of saying the niceties like “Hi, how’re you” like a normal big-hearted person, I usually either look away or deliberately not register any recognition (if it’s too late and they’re already looking my direction). It’s gotten to the point where it’s hard to control now. It’s the default setting and to do otherwise takes some effort.
I know I’m being small, even though I still believe I’m completely justified in saying that the definition of friends brings along some measure of free-will, unlike your family where you usually don’t get to choose. So my usual excuses are – why bother. They weren’t really even people I would’ve chosen to hang out with. It’s been so long – and I really don’t want to get into a conversation where they start prying about my life Oh, so where do you work now? Married? Kids? Does it matter? I guess knowing I’m happy isn’t good enough. And most of the time it’s true. I’ll always run into acquaintances I don’t care to meet. Singapore is too small.
Then VS related a really cool story just now.
you know its like the two monks were on a journey
and a beautiful lady needed help in crossing a stream
so one of the monks carried her across..
after like 3 hrs after crossing the river
the other monk turned and said “why did you carry the woman across? do you not know that you should not have contact with females?”
and the reply was “i put her down when i crossed the river.. why havent you?”
you havent heard this one?
No, I didn’t. But it’s a good one.
