the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs

I recently heard this song and I only listen to this song now.

A quick aside. One of the comments says

The littlest birds do sing the prettiest songs, as they are small they have to sing pretty songs to attract mates!

Not sure what that means. Is the guy saying small birds need to sing nice nice to attract mates from say big birds? Like maybe finches are in direct competition with eagles? I like eagles btw.

sex education

I lost count of all the euphemisms for the 'raised scepter of love' Uncle Andy used.

PS. This is the first time I've seen the banana trick.

PPS. The above scene was from Weeds, which is a great show, which means you'll never ever see it in Singapore.

little boxes

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes, little boxes
Little boxes all the same

There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

And the people in the houses all went to the university
Where they all were put in boxes, little boxes all the same
And there's doctors and there's lawyers and business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same

And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp and then to the university
Where they all got put in boxes, and they all came out the same

And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
In boxes, little boxes, little boxes all the same
There's a green one, and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

LS' news in brief

MM Lee says one freak election results and 5 years is all it takes to ruin Singapore.

He worries needlessly seriously. We survived 40 years of his PAP's rule, we can survive 500 years of anything, even a worst case scenario where we orang utans become our ministers and they plan policy by deciphering the way thrown banana peels land on the floor which introspect may actually be a better form of government than what we are having now. At the very least, bananas are cheap.

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After the guy passed through at least 3 rounds of passport checks with his son's passport at the Budget Terminal, the latest precaution is to have a guy stationed beside every automated clearing machine.

I would think since the automated clearing machine was the only one that did his job on that fateful day, the extra guy should be stationed beside the checkpoints people instead.

Or use orang utans.

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MOH to probe possible lapses in living donor transplant programme

My money's on Yes.

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S$2.8m Active Ageing Centre to be built at Ang Mo Kio

Rumor has it it will be built on the Dragon's Vein which will harness the energy there and distribute it around the centre via the air-con.

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MM Lee's wife in critical condition.

Good riddance [although it's the wrong one].

manila: overall impressions

Generally I get that my travel logs always denigrate into anti-Singaporean expressionism. I promise I'll keep that in, right after I bash Tiger Airways.

Lousy, deceptive, fradulent airline that sent me to Manila (Clark), which is 2 hours away by hot bumpy bus ride from Manila, and which the locals don't consider to be part of Manila. I know, I know, buyer beware, but when you go to some airline webby and choose Singapore to Manila, you really expect them to take you to Manila, that Manila (Clark) is part of Manila. I know I know, I should have done some research, but I'm complacent, as is the trend here: I'm a seasoned traveler afterall, not the sort that carries a Lonely Planet around and reads up on every detail, but the sort that trusts the airline to keep their word, and that for everything else there's Mastercard. I've not even started on the ride experience: I can do hardship, but you cannot separate me and my hand carry bag which is what Tiger did by insisting I put my bag in the stowaway compartment and not block the passage way at the emergency exit. Like, wei? My hand carry bag is literally a handbag the size of my hand. If it blocks anyone at the exit, it means that person is really obese and probably deserves to be blocked. And ok i get that no outside food is allowed on the plane. But you don't have to constantly announce it like we are dogs who deserve no better because we can only afford to fly Tiger [and can't afford your overpriced food]. In any case, if people are still flouting the rules despite your multiple announcements, it's probably because your guy needs to go back to language school. And what's with the spastic announcement: please switch off and keep off all handphones, including those handphones with airplane mode. Why else do we call it airplane mode? In any case, said Tiger staff with language impairment should also learn how to differentiate iPhones with iPod Touches if he wants to enforce the rule.


In any case, this was the nice airport I landed in: DMIA. The temp looking structure with alot of people waiting under is a very permanent waiting area for people waiting to check in. Apparently, DMIA won some airport of the year award last year and rightly so too; all airports should seriously be like this.


Very straightforward. No need to waste time waiting for the plane to berth properly, or for the tunnel thingy to attach itself to the door, or for the feeder bus and the people slowly streaming into it and once in the airport, there's none of the convoluted twisty cavernous labyrinths to actually get to somewhere.

Ok, the truth is I went to Manila for surgery, so most of the time I was confined to my room so I didn't see much, so this post is quite limited.

The people here seems quite friendly though, like naturally from the bottom of the heart friendly. On the strange bus from Clark to Manila, I started appearing all touristy by taking out by map and staring at it. Immediately 2 locals sitting opposite came to my aid and even came me their numbers. After we got off the bus, they helped me get a cab and even told the cab driver not to cheat my money, which he actually totally disregarded, but which a very helpful security guard helped settle. My doctor and his wife brought us to a nice local restaurant where we were pleasantly entertained by a live band with a singer who sounded better than Norah Jones; when she was tired, the waiter filled in for her with a rambunctious song and dance item.

Being a tourist gives us the leeway to look like idiots. Obviously common ones like wearing the ethnic but inappropriate garb and lugging around a mean looking camera I avoid but we end up committing all new ones. Like frantically looking for our seats in the cinema. I never stopped to think 'FS' is a weird way to label your seat numbers, that both stubs had FS. In the end, FS = free seating. Or how not being able to squeeze into the MRT the 3rd train in as many minutes, I noticed the first few cabins were consistently almost empty, so promptly headed for it the fourth time only to feel chilly daggers at me throughout the whole ride. Looking around the cabin I had some weird suspicious something was terribly wrong; checking a rather concealed signboard after getting off confirmed it: the first few cabins were reserved for women, children and elderly folks. If anything, I was ready with the excuse 'we all like the same things'.

So I watched Fillipino TV most of the time. Channel selection was great: so many great movies like Narnia, Mr Bean's Holiday, 21, Mission Impossible, and drama series as well as talk shows. For example, I managed to catch Grey's Anatomy Desperate Housewives and it seems in Manila, they're almost through with latest seasons of both series [season 4]. I think in Singapore, we're still seeing Drs Burke and Addison. They also had some nice cartoons that I've never seen before, like one called the Avatar, about a world made up of common people and people who can command the elements. But 4 days gets boring: I saw Aladdin and Hercules twice, and there was the Kung Fu fighting MTV trailer for Kung Fu Panda that played in between every show. I even turned to Sellavision for long periods of time; it was somewhat refreshing: they sold products that would take you to the ends of the earth and more in the backdrop of very cheesy acting and even cheesier selection of music. For example, they had a drink that would make you grow taller and they interviewed lots of people unhappy about their heights, or this drink that increases your bust size, or this drink that grows hair back to the song 'here now, there now'. And wait, there's always more of course.

The only place we really went to was Glorietta, on the first day pre-op and last day when I snuck out.



It's not so much a shopping centre, but 4 shopping centres joined together in the middle by a vast concourse and interlinked to one another. Like I'm pretty sure you can find everything here; in case you can't, there's 2 departmental stores nearby, one shopping centre at the Shangri-La hotel, and one more series of mega shopping centres just across. We never got to exploring the whole area. What I did find fascinating was this bookstore [what's with bookstore chains and the colour red?]. They had shelves and shelves of medical, nursing, and psychology textbooks just going for $20 SGD. The interesting thing is many of them are printed in Singapore.

And so I want to end my limited exposure to Manila by talking about the food: simply fabulous.


This is hallo-hallo, a simple dessert consisting of yam ice cream on top of yam paste filled with fried fruits and lots of red bean and atapchee. Very nice.


I forgot the fillipino name of this dish but it's simply a big juicy chunk of pork that's deep fried, then you slice off abit and eat it with some savory soy sauce. Besides that there was also kare-kare, which is some fish in peanut stew you eat with prawn sauce and a beef broth dish which I'm rather ashamed at forgetting the name and not taking any pics because it was best dish I had in Manila. At Glorietta we ate at the foodcourt where I had this rice with sotong stuffed with diced vegetables served with pork bits at the side. Another day I had adobo, which is simply meat marinated in some sauce served with rice, brought to me. How do I know I really liked the food in Manila? The Krispy Kreme test - out of the dozen krispy kreme bought on the first day, there were still 3 left at the end of the trip.

It's really quite a pity that I didn't get to see more of Manila. I would have loved to have gone to the university belt, which is a district filled with universities, quite possibly the birthplace of Fillipino excellence. I'm quite sure it wasn't just nationalistic sentiment when my doctor bemoaned the fact that the Phillippines has so much talent but all of it is either not nurtured, or those that are nurtured are taken by other countries. There's also the night life, which judging by the day life, I'm sure would be excellent too. And the Bay Walk. And all the many many offshore islands and their natural wonders.

I think I should have to go back again. And definitely not by Tiger.

general youtubing

The iPhone really is a wonderous device: for all its supposed flaws and lack of high end tech features everyone else is cramming into their phones these days, it does the one thing it's supposed to do very simply and very nicely: it squeezes in my laptop, iPod and handphone into one device and just works. True, I won't be spreadsheeting or photoshopping or dreamweaving or garagebanding with it, but I can IM, check email, surf the web and even youtube

While I was stuck in Manila recuperating after my surgery, my trusty iPhone saved the day against boredom.

Some notable youtube things I saw:

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Very cool very hot pair of contestants from this reality show Britain's Got Talent. I'd be darn happy if I can be half as good as them.

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Manila's got talent too!

This is their take on promoting Kung Fu Panda. shown on local Manila TV after every show. I quite like his rendition of the song. In terms of effectiveness, I risked sepsis and certain reprimanding when I sneaked out of recuperating on the last day to catch the movie. I also bought the soundtrack [limited Manila edition for 350 pesos or $10SGD].

I just saw the Singaporean attempt at promoting the show: Gurmit Singh [yet again] attempting to appear witty as he interviews the voice actors of the show. Singapore's only got gurmit singh? And what's with the Ch 5 is the official channel for Kung Fu Panda. Is there any chance Vasantham Central could be the official channel?

I'm particularly reminded by something my doctor in Manila said: that the Philippines is simply teaming with talent and it's very very sad the government is not able to harness it. As if on cue, the waiter who was serving us broke into a rapacious song and dance item; his performance easily can win any one of our [un]talent shows here.

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Very catchy lyrics:
There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
And the vermin of the world inhabit it
And its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit
And it goes by the name of London

At the top of the hole sit a privileged few
Making mock of the vermin in the lower zoo
Turning beauty into filth and greed

I find this stuck in my head and repeating itself quite constantly, with the word 'London' replaced with 'Singapore', usually during morning rush hour, and reaching a climax in a meeting with employees of NCSS [note that I don't see people who work for NCSS or any government organization as dignified human beings; these top few who turn beauty into filth].

manila: first impressions

Like SAF-style, my overseas trips seem to have settled into some kind of formulaic pattern: in-processing, training, exercise, out processing. No exception now, other than a very grumpy first day.

This time, thought I would go budget and try Tiger Airways, so I got to experience the Budget Terminal as well. I didn't like the place, even if they had 3 for $10 watches, which is really a very touristy price; I suspect it's $10 for at least 5 elsewhere. It feels very artificial and contrite, like a person trying to be nice by following a checklist of niceness - smile, tone of voice, eye contact, body posture- etc. and the result is niceness alright, but the person seems to have gone elsewhere.

Flying Tiger Airways was also one of my biggest mistake. My past 2 trips were on SIA,and I felt I was becoming abit too pampered for my taste, so for $200 savings from SIA and $100 savings by Jetstar, I choose the Tiger. Big bad mistake. I didn't mind that their seats were like made of wood but because I was sitting next to the exit, the stewardness refused to let me have my handbag by my side and insisted it be stashed in the compartment. I need my handbag for peace of mind; incase the plane goes down I have it with me. I think I was so pissed I forgot to off my phone as it was taking off.

And even though I got the lowest price from Tiger, the end result was not cost effective. I will even go so far to say that I was deceived into flying Tiger. The plane dropped us off at Clark Airport, which on one hand I don't think counts as being in Manila because it is a 2 hours bus ride away; including the waiting time and what not, we touched down at 1 pm, cleared customs by 130 pm and reached Manila at 5.

And taking a taxi to the hotel, the driver decided to do abit of deception of his own. At the end of the journey, he demanded 1200 pesos, which is like $36SGD. We argued, and the good thing was the locals was on our side.

Traffic in Manila is really scary though. There doesn't seem to be any sound sets of signals for anyone to stop. People and cars just go; crossing the road is like a dance, driving/walking and taking turns to stop except at a very frantic pace. In Manila, I think boasting of a 100% safely crossing road record is an achievement. Followed locals mostly, but when they're not present, knowing how bad my timing is, I just dash across the road.

The nice bits: Manila is a really nice city. It's not as clean as Singapore is but it's definitely alot more real, so real that currently I have no pictures because nothing really stands out.

The people are really really friendly. The people on the bus, all locals, approached us when they realized I was local, with the map and all and 2 of them even left their contact number in case. Walking along streets and shopping centres, I don't feel the tendency for onrushing crowd behind breathing down your neck.

There are guards everywhere. Armed guards. In every store, every corner, every underpass. They do everything. They handle queries, they are walking directories, they open doors, they are the store's frontline PR, they count how many customers come into the store, they help settle disputes. Let's just say if our guys were half as talented as these people, a certain someone wouldn't have escaped.

The cost of living really is really really cheap! Just a comparison, for 100 pesos [about $3SGD, you get a Big Mac meal]. For dinner, I had a set meal for 86 pesos [$2.50SGD] which consisted of a big pile of rice, a big pile of vegetables, a mutant sotong stuffed with more vegetables and a pile of pork. For 8 pesos [almost nothing in SGD], I hopped onto one of those jeepneys that took me around the country. For 3 more pesos you can take the MRT. And there's krispy kreme! I bought a dozen yesterday, to last us the whole trip, and because Krispy Kreme seemed to be a little far from the hotel, and it's really cheap. One dozen costs like 250 pesos, which is about 20 pesos each. There's like less than a dollar SGD per dollar. Good thing Tiger didn't kill me because I think I just died and went to Heaven.

Ending on a sad note though: well those expecting Krispy Kreme can kinda forget about it because I don't think the donuts would last the 3 hour bus ride plus 4 hour plane ride. If it did, I don't think the horrible people at Tiger will let it onto the plane.

Thank you Tiger.

horrible govt stuff

On the train earlier today, a troupe of kids trooped into the MRT and duly occupied the whole portion of empty walkway between any 2 doors on the train. They then proceeded to do what kids do best: make lots of noise, laugh loudly, and generally attract gawking stares from everyone around which they so effortlessly ignore.


A few minutes later, these 2 police ger ger come by and stopped about 3 poles away from the kids and they stayed in the area the whole time the kids were there. I'm not sure what they were doing, but they looked very awkward and sheepish about it; they occasionally glanced kids-side.


At this point the Mas Selamat bad joke machine starts working: seriously if our guards were watching the kids half as hard as they did Mas, he wouldn't have escaped.

Seriously also, I'm not sure what kind of security risk a whole bunch of kids can pose: possibly they might be explosive considering how energetic they all, but that's about all.

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A sms conversation with a friend reminded me of something that happened about last year.

Apparently South West CDC and Akira teamed up to introduce this program where Akira provided households identified by SWCDC with a plethora of household appliances that were low in resource consumption. This Akira team-up was part of SWCDC's holistic client approach; it was just one of many programs that SWCDC tied up with, eg. house keeping from us, financial help from them and so forth.

So there was a launch planned at the open area infront of Blk 45 Henderson Road. They erected a tentage, set up a stage, and invited elderly residents from around the area, as well as elderly inmates from various homes. I'm not sure how long everyone started waiting, but I know most of the elderly folks were already there at around 1 pm, sitting under the tentage in the sweltering sun waiting for the launch to happen.

I reached at around 1:45 being the petulant anti-establishment person that I am, and I and my manager, together with all sorts of other grassroots people, other SWCDC people, Akira people, and various other people went to the multi-storey carpark to await the Guest of Honor, the SW mayor, Amy Khor.

She arrived at about 2 pm and I remember how she looked that day. She looked pristine, resplendent even, with that immaculate make-up and wearing that purple-onyx-ish flowy dress. She stopped her car infront of us, her too big car that is obviously not designed for HDB carparks, made a bad joke about how she will take forever to park if she had to do it herself, had a grassroots fella do the parking for her, and we proceeded.

She bypassed the tentage and went straight for Blk 45, where certain units had been earmarked for her to visit, to illustrate the holistic approach SWCDC takes towards clients. I remember there was this fat SWCDC fella, some kind of sycophant, who was some sort of harbinger, informing the people ahead of Amy Khor's impending arrival, and their respective duties.

3 or so flats were selected in that block. At the first flat, before Amy Khor arrived, our housekeepers were instructed to pretend to be doing some housekeeping. After Amy Khor arrived for awhile, they were redeployed to the next unit to await her visit. The ironic thing is, 2 out of the 3 units earmarked were not even our clients.

The event was also for Akira, so at each unit, the members of the household demonstrated to Amy Khor how they were putting the appliances to good use, while she expressed interest. I liked the part where she begun stirring this curry in the Akira electric cooker.

At 3 pm, she was finally done home-visiting. The sun did not let up all this while, and all the elderly folks were still waiting under the tentage. I remembered what was particularly ironic: they were playing the Hokkien songs from 881, and the one about dying and SGH kept repeating alot.

Amy Khor came, and gave the usual speech. It was a mostly good PR speech, made the Akira people happy and so forth other than the small fact that the audience, the elderly residents, probably did not understand half a word that was said. She did attempt the same speech in Chinese though. Let's just say she makes me look good.

At the end of it all, after waiting more than 2 hours in the sun listening to morbid songs, all the elderly residents got was a meal. What irks more is to many of them, this was a chance to get out of the Home; to the CDC and Amy Khor, they were used to fill up the seats and make themselves look good.

SAW

When you find someone, be sure he complements you.



Meet Alfie: fearless Cockroach Crusader.

In case anyone is wondering: the crude-looking contraption the cockroach is stuck in is not a temporary solution until dad comes back because noone dares to go one on one with the roach; it's a sophisticated device where the weight of the brick is slowly pressing down on the plastic container as it slowly flattens it, allowing the cockroach the chance to slowly experience his life steadily diminishing away as he resigns, reflects and repents on all the foul deeds he and his kind have committed. And, if for some strange reason our friend roach manages to escape, well, i'm not sure he'd prefer that; the last cockroach Alfie played with didn't die, he just didn't have any legs to live with.

Yeah. It sucks to piss me off.

i'm an mrt cheat!

I go home from Cityhall alot, usually after gym. To get myself a seat, I usually take the train 2 stations back to Marina Bay to get back to Woodlands.

According to a A.Raviprakash, I am a MRT cheat. Choice excerpt: "These are the ones who board the train at the station before the last one on the route. They do not alight at the last station, but remain in the trains and continue their journey when the train starts again."

Oh dear. I hope the Judge, when she's done with CSJ and sister, will have enough reason and logic to show leniency to me.

I just don't have what it takes to get a seat. After gymming, I'm just so tired I just wanna crash in the train for the too long journey back home because I probably have at least 3-5 hours of studying. I'm not cut out to get a seat. I lack the single-mindedness to focus on an empty seat as the train is pulling up. I lack the grit to jostle through the outgoing crowd. I lack the skill to push the competition aside. I mean, you ask me to get straight As, no problem. The problem is they don't teach how to get seats in books. Except maybe in the Muay Thai book.

Anyway, getting a seat is really not as hyped out as it is.

People are getting fatter and fatter, it's really quite hard to get your own seat all to yourself. I mean, I can deal with people who open their legs big big to air their crotch cuz I can leg press ALOT of weights. But fat people there's no pushing them back; they win just by existing.

Once, despite the train being really empty, I choose to seat beside this really slender female. She looked at me like I was a psychopath, and I replied with my 'it's for the best' look. It really was for the best, till she got off at Somerset.

There was another time I sat beside this seat which had a stain that looked suspiciously like blood. Singaporeans avoided the seat like poison and I was left alone for awhile. I was happy. Beware, however, of the one gross enough who dares to sit on blood-like stains.

another me

There is a Me inside of me.

It is a very very angry Me.

This Me flings hot soup at unreasonable meepok aunties, threatens obnoxiously eager commuters pushing from behind with death, snarls at civil servants as the default mode of communication, sinks his butt firmly onto his seat when it's time to 'All rise and welcome the President' and blocks ministerial entourages and jeers at the object of the entourage [LHL]. This is the Me that gives people what they deserve.

I tell Me we must rise above, move on, move forward and be happy for the people who let us down, played us out, and still continuously rubbing it in our faces. Rising above.

This Me hates. He destroys. He taints.

I tell Me that there are bigger things to fight for, that there is a bigger picture: the poor, disenfranchised and the miserable, wretched as they are partly from continuing life mis-choices, but mostly the way they are from that big miasma called Life in Society.

This Me will gladly let the world burn; global warming, nuclear meltdowns and institutional poverty all seem trivial compared to personal affairs.

I fight Me sometimes. I tell him you are just what Dr Freud calls Id, the Thanatos, the unconscious result of unfortunate parenting.

I preoccupy Me, going to muay thai and willingly getting beaten, going to the gym every other day, running during the others, and practically doing something vigorous after and before sleep. No body should have to take that much punishment but mine does.

I pamper Me. With the unfailing security of the latest gadgets - the iPhone, the slr, the iPod and hiding behind the comfort of a laptop.

This Me sees through such deception and sees the ultimate fallibility of all things human and material. This is the Me that killed my mac, almost like tearing a human being and all the falsehoods such a small bundle of skin holds into shreds.

This is Me.

god help the outcast

This song randomly came up on my iTunes and I started feeling things.

This song came from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. I remembered it's the last Disney cartoon feature song and dance which is kinda sad. It's interesting though: the irony is I never watched the movie when it came out then; in fact, I only watched the movie last year when I bought the DVD. I didn't really need to though; when the movie first came out, I bought the soundtrack. I listened to it so many times I could practically see the whole movie in my head.

As everyone who knows me knows, I think that religion is a tool of social control used by the few to control the many. I also think that under the name of religion, under the protection of most national constitutions, no other institution propagates more hatred and discrimination. In this fair country where I live, it seems that there is more possibility of a female PM than a female priest. Once upon a time, we hunted witches for sport; today we hunt homosexuals, albeit in a different way because gays have lots of money they can hide behind.

But for all my talk of science and empiricism, I really do believe there is a higher power. And on this fine Vesak Day, I pray that God help us outcasts.

tissue paper

When I was younger — primary schoolish — I used to try to stimulate fevers on exam-eves: cold showers with clothes on and then sitting infront of the fan. I learnt in the army there's a much simpler method: ingesting toothpaste, though the timing and the amount seems to be a refined art that eludes me.

It used to be a fever used to be a fever. Today you get a fever and it could be any one of these things — SARS, bird flu, dengue, HFMD, shingles etc. It's so weird.

And I've been dreadfully quite sick the past few days; I was perfectly fine on Monday, and I woke up on Tuesday with a sorethroat, which progressively evolved into fever, weakness and body aches. I was gamely dolled up for the night too, for a sumptious meal at the Meritus Mandarain to mark Social Worker's Day [well that's what the SASW is only good for it seems] but alas, the illness took it's toil as the day wore on and I was forced to miss the dinner. On hindsight, it was probably a good thing. There is no telling what I would have done to that useless president. That night I had difficulty sleeping. My body ached and the night was spent not tossing and turning cuz i didn't have the energy for that, but in slight shifts of the body which brought much valued respite, if only for seconds. I discovered my mum's bed took more kindly to mine; the hardness must be the factor.

Day 2 was much better but I was still feeling weak so I stayed home. The fever resided, but the cough, sore throat and headache started stealing the limelight.

Day 3 today was the worst. I thought I felt better in the morning, but the lull was probably just an uneasy truce as fever, cough, headache, sorethroat and weakness discussed how to work together. In the afternoon, they did; coughing makes the headache worse, the fever came back and it made me weak so I can't control my coughs. touching my crown sends pain down my head and spine, and they brought along blisters.

Dengue would have killed me, plus my lymph nodes are still not swollen so that rules dengue out. HFMD is something only the young children get; i'm pretty sure the unsanitary years in PAP nursery education would have immuned me against it. It could be shingles. Or maybe some new-fangled bad-assed disease that spreads via the internet.

Interestingly, the symptons for the above conditions all involve loss of appetite; while I have lost my sense of smell and taste, I totally feel hungry all the time. In fact, as I type this, I am craving for the nasi lemak downstairs or the mee pok at North Plaze.

In whatever the case, whatever happens, it's been a good life and I won't miss much.

cheers

Seoul: Food

Interrupt the usual dose of flaming with something nice: more belated pics of Seoul, this time of all the yummy yummy food we had there.

Our very first meal in Seoul.

Assorted grilled stuff. Got egg, got pork, got chicken, got beans. Very nice.

The food in Seoul is really nice; in fact, it is the second fave thing I look forward to everyday, after bed time in our nice cosy hotel. Sadly though, it is quite challenging to find food, or at least, local food.

On the first morning we woke up and started exploring the hotel vicinity. Just outside the hotel, we bypassed a whole street of food stores without eating anything cuz we weren't hungry yet. Big mistake. We got hungry awhile later and could not find a single food store after walking a few blocks. Thanks to some form of convoluted central planning, it seems the streets in Seoul are arranged thematically. We passed by whole streets selling handicrafts, jackets, plants but no luck with food. Eventually we reached the subway station and discovered we had walked 3 subway stops from our hotel.

We found a food store eventually and we encountered the next problem: language. We target stores that have english wordings on the outside [and thus an english menu], but these are few, especially for local local food. This store that we found had english words [yay!] but it seems they were only for show [boo!]. The shop auntie didn't understand a single bit of english. She did understand some Chinese though, so we managed to order some food in the end.


Yummy pork knuckle soup. The pork was really tender and juicy and it literally melts in your mouth. The soup base was flavourful and thick like gravy. This was easily the best dish I had for the whole journey. KM wasn't too impressed though; I think it's because he's a very conservative eater.


KM's cold noodle. He wasn't so lucky. Apparently auntie's chinese was even worse than mine; she understood noodle in chinese, but she ended up serving cold noodles. It's really quite nice but I think being up so early in the morning, walking an hour plus in the spiteful cold kinda makes appreciating cold noodles abit hard.

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Language would continue to haunt us in our neverending quest for local food. There was this time we went into this local store out of desperation. We resorted to using Lonely Planet: pointing at the korean words in this food glossary section. It worked quite well: I got a nice stewed beef rice while KM finally got the hot noodles he craved for.

The irony is where English failed us, we can count of Chinese. Apparently alot of Korean food stores employ Chinese help, abit like how we employ Fillipinos, so on a couple of occasions, we could order through them.

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We did capitulate once or twice. We had Burger King once. And Vietnamese food.


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Another morning we had breakfast at this atas cafe. After we ordered the food at the counter, they gave us this coaster looking thing to bring back to the table.

KM hypothesized that it was just an elaborate token we use to collect our food from the counter when it is done. I felt that it would fly to the counter when our food was ready. Reality was a compromise: it started playing a monophonic tune and flashing lights.


KM had this weird alien-y green tea concoction. He lived to say it tasted weird.

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I can't talk about Seoul food without talking about the donuts. The Seoul people love their donuts! Just beside our hotel was this three storey donut cafe: Doughnut Plant.

The donuts here are so-so lar. I think they appeal to a health-conscious crowd, using whole wheat bread for the donut so generally I think the place sucks.

Just a block away is a 3-storey Krispy Kreme and opposite that is Dunkin Donuts.

Basically hor, I think Dunkin Donuts and the Doughnut Plant live on the leftover crowd from Krispy Kreme. At any one time from 10 am to 10 pm, the queue at Krispy Kreme is super duper long; the only reason I am able to get my daily KK fix is because I live next to it. For some reason, after a certain time, they start giving out donuts. I haven't figured out the exact formula yet [it's not a simple buy one get one free concept], but on average I get at least one extra donut, and there was once I ended up buying 2 donuts and leaving the place with 5. Coolness.

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Another bit of funny-ness. We were at this ginseng chicken restaurant. Seriously, you know you are allergic to alcohol, people put one small cup of clear yellow-ish liquid that is cold, you gulp it down in one second before anyone can react: you are asking for a very bad allergy reaction.

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Last meal:

From Seoul: Food

Option T.

more general flaming

Damn, flaming sure is addictive. This time, on this article DPM Jayakumar urges S'poreans to keep perspective on Mas Selamat's escape that appeared on CNA.

Here we go:

'...Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar called on them [them being the sg public] not to overlook the other good work done by the agencies.'

Yeah. Other good work. Like the Huang Na killer escaping. Or the fine responses our Sg police never fail to give our fave opposition politician.

'After the attack, the IRA claimed responsibility for the attacks and issued a warning saying they only had to be lucky once whereas security agencies had to be lucky all of the time.

Recalling that incident, Professor Jayakumar who is also Co-ordinating Minister for National Security said that is something security agencies have to always bear in mind.'

It must've been Mas Selamat's lucky day. Very lucky day.

'While Professor Jayakumar had no conclusions yet from the inquiries taking place, he commended the thousands of officers involved in the efforts to locate the fugitive.'

Like noone commends me when I home visit my clients in their dank and dark quarters, talk to them, befriend them and offer them slight slight solace. Oh right. Cuz that's my job.

'He added that he was heartened by Singaporeans' efforts in coming together for the search.'

This weekend I'm organizing a Search Party for Mas Selamat. $25/person. First drink free. Email for details.

'Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations, said: "There is no government on earth that will have enough money, enough personnel, enough organisational capacity to take care of everybody. It will literally come down to "Do you know your neighbours? Do you know who's needy? Are you there to help them? Do you know how to take care of your family?” And then when the dust is settled, we will see what's left of government."'

Noone is expecting the government to take care of everybody [i personally know my clients aren't at least]. We just expect them to take care of that one person in their prison.

Maybe the ISD should consider outsourcing. I hear the KKK is looking for employment. At least they don't let their targets go.

general flaming for the week

I don't generally comment on political/media stuff [yeah, right] because people generally only comment when things get really stupid [looking at you PAP] and I don't feel like posting 10 times a day. Besides my lecturer always says 'flame the argument, not the person' but you know how it is with me and fire; always out of hand.

Apparently, NUS magazine Ridge covers some silly political forum in their online portal about 2 months ago. At this point, we should all have already moved on and focus on bigger issues like blaming ourselves for Mas Selamat's escape and if there's leftover time, maybe fighting global warming. Apparently dengue this year is gonna be meaner so we should also be doing something about it since LKY says we shouldn't trust the government to get things done.

But no. Cuz 2 months later, SDP accuses the Ridge of censorship because apparently one of the Ridge's reporter had requested an interview with Chee Soon Juan, but the transcript of that interview was not published at all so that must be censorship because everyone else does it in Singapore. So maybe now we could all get a good laugh and move on since actually the interview was just to get a better understanding of the silly political forum which was what the article was about.

The Ridge replies recently and says so too. Mostly it was a good reply other than the very lack of expletives and vulgarities.

Of course the SDP must have the last say [as of now] and the plot thickens: the Ridge reporter who had asked for the interview promised it would be published, only for his editor to not want to use it. I particularly liked the reporter's email apology that the SDP produced saying that he was sorry to '...Mr Chee for having spent some of his personal time for an unpublished interview'. I'm sure Mr Chee has lots of personal time actually, when he is not behind bars.

Ok. Editors are always gonna have a final say in what appears and what doesn't, and when something doesn't appear, it doesn't necessarily mean censorship. I can think of so many reasons for an editor not to want to use an article, in this case, Chee's interview: the reporter did extra work, no more space le, not newsworthy, not auspicious etc etc. In this case, I think it was a matter of taste [has anyone read the interview? i can't believe the dude is a phd].

And like. Chee is so last century opposition? Now everyone is talking about JBJ lor.

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And here's the bit my flames get really out of hand: this really is like a playground squabble: the bigger kid from the broken home with all his issues picking on the tiny tot happily minding his own business in the sand pit. Like all broken kids, they do their best work only in the playground.

chatterbox

Alot of things to say but tomorrow must wake up early early to kick some butt [or get kicked] so I will just talk about the funnest thing today: Chatterbox at Meritus Mandarin! Thanks to my wonderful colleague.


They shifted le. To their ex-revolving restaurant on the 38th floor. Here we can still see the mechanisms in place. The new location has alot more ambience than the old one; it's no longer literally a chatterbox because the seats are more spaced out. Only slight bad thing: the floor creaks.

















We had lobster laksa which is alot nicer than it looks on the already very nice picture except the serving is quite small even for a small eater like me.


I totally cleaned the bowl.

The view is also uber [pity the restaurant doesn't revolve anymore]. Who needs the silly Singapore Flyer to get a good view when you can just come to the Chatterbox? I think it costs $38 for a 30 minutes ride, $62 to add in a cocktail [i imagine you get one teensy cocktail to last you the whole experience]. For the reasonable cost of Chatterbox meal, you get the same view while eating yummy good. Good things in life don't have to be priceless.


Note this other pic. The green patch of greenery which the black patch of clouds seems to have taken a liking to is the Istana. Something wicked this way comes.


Misc musings: HSBC and UOB cardholders get discount. High tea on Saturdays and Sundays at $29.90++.

seoul: seodaemun prison

Abit overdue but here's some of the pics I took in Seoul. I start with the 3rd day lar cuz the first 2 days were mostly spent in-processing [very very long stories].


Here's me in my nice plushy new set of winter wear. Despite having been to the States during winter and considering myself a seasoned traveller, I think I must have been undone by my too low body fat composition; longjohn + tshirt + sweater + jacket + scarf failed to repel the Seoul cold and threatened to undermine my holiday. Never skim on the winter clothings folks. So I bought:
$80: fleece
$300: 2 in 1 jacket with fleece and a windbreaker
$30: nice gloves
Which really worked wonders. [digression: i used the super uber 2-in-1 jacket in singapore and i now face meetings in air-conditioned government offices and classrooms with confidence.]

We went to the Seodaemun prison after my winter shopping spree.

This is the hospital opposite the prison the moment we got out of the train station. SGH. Seoul General Hospital. Seriously speaking the other day I went to our SGH to visit a client. it's like you have to get past the chasm of never ending cars, and walk miles along the road to get to where you want to go. Bad hospital.

Park before the prison.



History lesson: Seodaemun Prison was built by the Japanese last time. So the Japanese and the Chinese were fighting over Korea which resulted in the Sino-Jap war of 1895 which the Japanese won. Apparently unlike the Chinese they were not just satisfied with regular tribute; they made many Koreans unhappy who started rebelling and so the Japanese had to built prisons like these all over the country to house these rebels which they caught. I think there's about 300 such prisons all over the country, most not in use liao, a couple still functions as a prison, and a couple more turned into tourist attractions like these [not really touristy though since local visitors outnumbered foreigners like 100:1].

Anywayz. So the place consists of wax figures re-enacting the torture scenes.

One of the many prison buildings. They all look the same though so take one take all liao. The Japanese built them though and you will note the functional simplicity of the design. Very interestingly hor. Dunnoe how the Japanese design the buildings: inside is way colder than outside. I think that's the most efficient torture ever. 30 minutes and I will confess to whatever you want me to confess liao.

aces go places

There's a letter in today's ST forum by an Ace Kindred Cheong scolding
this guy for locking up the national library from the inside. Besides
being wrong, he was wrong because what if the library caught fire?

Ace Kindred is a prolific forum writer. I first came across him when
he admonised Steven Spielberg for mixing politics in pulling out of
the Beijing Olympics video. I'm sure wherever corner of LA he is in,
Spielberg must have seen this letter and felt awful.

I googled 'Ace Kindred' and also this letter condemning a local
footballer dude for kicking his opponent, saying he should be in muay
thai instead. I think Ace misses a point: Local footballer was
unsporting and I can't think of any sport that condones that.

Before I left for Seoul I came across this letter scolding the guy who
burned the palace down. I didn't even have to read it to know who
wrote it. The next person who wants to burn the Merlion down better
think twice or else Ace will scold you.

With such a moral compass like Ace vigorously pointing the way, I can
sleep better at night. Even if Mas Selamat is still on the run. I know
I can trust Ace to scold him for toying with the feelings of his
captors and for willfully evading the efforts of Singapore's finests.

Ace is clearly against people who are unsporting, mixes politics with
everything, and who anyhow destroys things. That sounds alot like our
ministers. Go Ace go!

When I googled 'Ace Kindred' I was curious whether it was some sort of
honorific like Fuhrer or if it was some sort of rank in some
organization. I'm still not sure today.

saycheesecake

Lovely dinner at


Laksa Chowder. Easily the best dish I had in a long time, and the best dish the place offers.


Royal Lobster Bisque. Finally, lobster bisque in Singapore that's better than the one I used to have almost daily at HK MacDonald's, which was really good.



The main course! Classic palle or something like that. Basically italian short grain [riso] with seafood and chicken. This was the dish that attracted our attention in the first place, and I think expectations were too high: it was quite a disappointment. The rice was too dry for riso, there were not enough peppers, and the tastes were not subtle enough.


Desert! Green Apple Crumple. Well the place is called cheesecake so you know the cheesecake has to be good. And it is.