Good times
31/07/2006
It’s rolling up to August now and I’m left wondering where the time went. Really. Where did my year go?
Later this week, yet another head of my department will be leaving. I am starting to hope it’s not me.
Last night we had our farewell party at Scratchy’s, and Mrs Paul made a smashing kim bap. I loves it. I brought the leftovers home and I can’t stop eating it.
We went to Funan today and got a few more fans. Now we can stay cool.
I need to get more Kiwifruit, we’re fresh out.
Tomorrow I’m going to get my new notebook at work. Yay.
How’s your August looking?
Chukka Hae Yo!
28/07/2006
Big congratulations to Mr and Mrs Eeevahn Tan!
On the arrival of their newborn.
Well, as a side note – and a public service announcement – if you are thinking of having kids, please restrain yourself in the months of July, August and October to have your kids. There are just too many birthdays in April, May and July. December is a good month for conception, because you increase your chances of having a Virgo. And we all know Virgos are the superior lot.
Ok. Chukka hae yoh to the happy parents. I’m outta here.
Full House
26/07/2006
I had a really long day. My new phone *tee hee hee* is now my new alarm clock and I’ve gotta say it is effective. I woke up at 7.15am today. I don’t know what came over me. Stupidity mostly.
I managed to take the 8am bus from the bus stop downstairs and got to the office before 8.30am. I even had time to make a stop for breakfast.
I will attempt this feat again tomorrow.
Generally, I feel fatigued. Things are going on in the office at the usual breakneck pace. I feel neither sorry nor sympathetic for the NP in the office. Introducing, a brand new character, the Nutty Person. I bet there’s one in every office, more in a stat board. You know the NP. The one that just doesn’t fit in, either because of the things they say, or the weirdass giggling after every sentence or point made or the talking to him or herself.
Then there are loose cannons. Firing to the left of you, firing to the right of you, firing for the heck of firing, I’m not sure at what. It’s chaotic! And you find yourself developing the reflexes to duck. It’s creepy what a little conditioning can do (and I don’t mean for your hair).
Anyway. I’ve to stop griping at some point, and there’s no time like the present. After all, KF is going to put a couple of songs into my new and neato phone. Loves it! Just wait till I fix it to email to flickr. Yay!
Gold Kiwifruit and black grapes
25/07/2006
Sharks says the yellow kiwifruit are an abomination – and go against its very grain. She says Kiwifuit are meant to be tart, anything else is a cop out.
Well I have just discovered today I like my Kiwifruit yellow. Yes, I’m a cop out, but it’s not to say the yellow ones are a walk down saccharin lane – they’re pretty tart too. It’s just right.
Anyway. While we’re on the subject of Kiwifruit – did you know
- that the fruit is actually native to Southern China
- it was only planted commercially in New Zealand in the 40s
- it was originally known as the Chinese Gooseberry outside China
- in China, it’s known as a weird fruit, monkey peach, and sometimes called the same thing as Carambola which is better known as star fruit in our parts
- you can use it as a meat tenderiser
- that like green tea, it’s a good source of flavanoid antioxidents
Again. What would life be without Wikipedia?
Anyway. Have a kiwi today. They taste better than grapes any day.
kin chan nah
24/07/2006
I went Raffles City this weekend and boy is it a different place. The entire basement turned into 3 basements. I miss the old office so badly. I miss walking to Raffles City after a long day. I miss it all.
Something struck me while I was at MPH. There were rows and rows of new age business books – not your Management Principles or Organisational Behaviour. But rows of How to make money on Google. What is kick ass advertising. How to start an internet business. How to make money on Ebay. How to win like Apple. How to be like Jack Welch.
It pains me that there wasn’t a Yahoo! book anywhere in sight. There have been books about Yahoo!, and a few about the famous Jerry and Filo, but they’ve all fizzled out along with the .com bubble.
Have they lost their loving feeling? Is there nothing awe-inspiring about the worlds biggest internet company anymore?
That was a painful jolt back to reality. Just when you think you’re walking on sunshine you’ll step into a puddle and trip on your face. Because life has a sense of humour.
Happy Birthday Lil’murmurs
22/07/2006
Ah Neo Haseo!
Sang il chukka haeyo!
Moon River
20/07/2006
My brother is five years older than I am, and while I was growing up he ignored me a lot. I couldn’t understand why then. I mean, I was cute enough, everyone wanted to hang out with me, what the hell was his problem?
It started when I started school. I was in Primary 1 and he was in Primary 6, and though I’m not sure exactly how he conducted himself before I went to school, from almost my first day his female classmates who were appointed the prefects (or like councillors) in school flocked on me like old crows to deadmeat.
I couldn’t really understand what the fuss was about. They asked me the stupidest, most inane things about him. He eats dinner at home like everyone else. I don’t know what he likes to eat. I don’t know what he does, he doesn’t let me in his room. Yes he’s mean, he won’t let me hang out with him, yeah, he drools when he sleeps on his pillow…
That little incident and a culmination of years of alleged sibling abuse made my brother resolve to ignore me some more. It lasted a few years – well mostly till I was old enough to understand that following him around embarressed him. So it would’ve been another 10 years. Anyhoo…
Good thing my cousins were closer to my age. Growing up they were more suitable elders brothers. They did all the fun stuff with me like play football and hide and seek. We used to cover the marble floors with talc to skate on. We used to dig a hole in my grandmother’s backyard, and while I filled it with water, they’d run off to the aquarium to get little frogs (overgrown tadpoles for feeding arrowana). We’d throw them into our pond and for the next 2 hours or so, try to catch them as they hopped out of our pond. It was hilarious.
They told me about the birds and bees. That was hilarious too. Before they told me, they made me promise to forget it after they said it.
They never forgot my birthday. They always got my a little something no matter what it was – a pair of sunglasses from the cornershop, or a box of chocolate or a small can of fragrance or something.
Those were good times. I think I had a happy childhood partially because of my brothers.
My brothers are now all heftily overgrown and happily married. And because of them, I’ll always have a soft spot for Bryans and Rodneys.
And strangely, Moon River always reminds me of all those happy days. Maybe because it’s a great song. Mostly because inevitably one of my brothers would date some chick called Regina or something. You know Regina. Right? You know, Regina. Wider than a mile. I’m crossing you in style, someday.
Happy Birthday Netjackal!
18/07/2006
Here’s how you know you’re old – when your friends are old. It’s a little depressing, I’ve come quite a long ways from being the youngest in the department to being in the middle.
AAARRRGGGHHH
What’s more disturbing is that most of the way to hot Korean actors on those serials I’ve been watching are younger than I am. Not that I have the younger guy hang-up anymore. I’ve good genes.
My favourite du jour is Chun Jung Myung. He plays the bad boy in the formulaic love square. I won’t spoil it for you in case you want to watch it for yourself, but suffice to say they gave him plenty of shower and bare torso scenes for a really good reason. I mean, ok. The torso is academic. But the goofy grin is just cute. Plus, you gotta love a guy who’d get a buzz cut. Scruffy is hot.
On a lighter note, Yahoo! Answers has this contest thing, and one of the celebs asked How can Singaporean TV shows be as compelling as Korean drama series. Oooohhhh.
For my next trick
16/07/2006
I’m going to have a conversation in Korean
That’s going to take a while, and a lot of patience from Paul.
Learning a whole new language with someone there to verify stuff and serials to watch is so much easier than learning it off a phrasebook and a tape. On the flipside those are the very same resources I had when learning Mandarin – so I suppose I speak fluent foreigner Korean.
Still stuck on Fashion 70s – think I’ve about 3 dvds to go. It’s a waste to buy Korean serials on dvd. Those damn distributors encode video cd quality crap on dvd and pass it off as dvd. But most of the time if you want English/Engrish subs you’ll have to fork it out for the dvds.
Anyway. Let me know if there’s anything I should be watching. The key should be funny – not sappy the girl dies after she’s finally reunited with her lover type stuff.
Video Killed the Radio Star
15/07/2006
I’m a little disappointed I’ve only caught on with the whole Krama thing after Heesun has left, so I’ve only Paul to harrass now. I’m happy to report I can now understand 5% of what they’re saying on the show.
Like sorry. And don’t go. And let’s go. And fatty. And dumb-ass. All the good stuff. Paul also said that the sentence structure for Korean is different. The noun comes first, then the adjective.
Some of the words sound like Hokkien. And some of it sounds like Mandarin. On the whole it’s a complicated language, according to Paul. He doesn’t get why we assault him with our almost-daily sessions (which I’ve so assiduously uploaded onto Y! Video).
Which brings me to the whole Yahoo! Video thing. It’s weird. Some of the videos aren’t playing the audio. So I’ve noticed with the vids taken with my S1, the sound plays on both Firefox and IE, but when I uploaded videos taken with KF’s Ixus 800, the audio doesn’t play on Firefox. Very annoying. Mozz has the same problem with videos from his G5. What’s up with Y! Video?
Had dinner with Roger, Andrea and little Sara tonight. Sara’s really grown since the last time we saw her, which was probably a year back. She’s walking around, and doesn’t not seem to be able to sit still, mostly like Roger.
