~ Take A Look ~

If you watch stuff on youtube, or if you at least know a little bit of the things that happened in the cyberspace for the past 1-2 years. Take a look at this. See if it can bring about smile or laugh to brighten up your day. =)

~ Khaled Hossieni ~

That was the author of "The Kite Runner". A book i throughly enjoyed and savored. After a looooong wait, i've finally got my hands on his 2nd book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. (It came out last year but i was a cheapskate and wanted to wait for the paperback version. haha). Just in time as i finish "The Logic of Life"

"She would never leave her mark on Mammy's heart the way her brothers had, because Mammy's heart was like a pallid beach where Laila's footprints would forever wash away beneath the waves of sorrow that swelled and crashed, swelled and crashed."

Such is the beauty of Khaled's writing. I love the way he describes places, faces and emotions with such intrinsic detail. Its like watching a show on a HD tv. Hahaha.

The second book revolves around war torn Afghanistan and its people again. However it's focus shifted from father son relationships to the oppressed women in the country. Right now i still prefer kite runner, for its many unexpected and heart wrenching twists. However, i am still just halfway into the book. So we'll see. haha.

~ You Want To Take One Shot, Or Take In Installments ~

(The following long entry consists of parts that can be entirely un-related to each other. *** will be used at the end of every "chapter" for easy reading. haha.)
***

(contd from title) Both also can. Those were the words coming out from a warrant officer at maju camp today. He was referring to the incentive money given to people who got gold for ippt. $400 buckeroos.

Yes. I took my ippt today. But i didn manage gold. lol. but im quite happy with my silver and $200 thank you. =] no nid to go back for 2nd installment. hahaha. not bad ah, 3-4 hrs earn $200. Divide that into monthly pay that roughly translates to 8k/month. LOL. If only i get to do this everyday AND get paid. Thats just for silver. Gold is $400 so double the pay. lol.

Me and godwin both got our silvers, which were our initial targets. So im quite happy that we hit our targets. Daniel failed his running and due to that his whole ippt as well. Maybe going with him when he is ready to take the test again, to give him some moral support.

***

Im reading this book called "The logic of life". Haha. I know it sounds like a corny selfhelp book but in actual fact its not. It sets out to explain the questions in life in as logical a way as possible. Issues like racism, why most guys are inherently more open to sex than most girls are and how the criterias which determine a good partner can be affected. Its written by Tim Harford, who was the writer for "The Undercover Economist". The first book defintely has a cooler sounding name, don't know why the cheesy one for the second, but the contents are definitely worth your time. hah. Do check it out if you find yourself looking for something good to read and you wanna have a look at the cross-section of life.

***

The other day i was with Daniel at work and he had been sneezing and weezing for the past week or so. So it didn surprise me to see him as always trying to find a dry spot on his soaked tissue to maximise, as he would put it his "life".

According to Daneil, the number of tissues he has in his pockets can be seen as his health bar not unlike in a RPG. His "life" diminishes over time and he must finish his "quest"(our collection of data survey forms from the wards) before his life runs out. Do i have to tell you he plays World of Warcraft?

Anyways, as i was saying, it was a typical sniffing day for him but suddenly a realisation hit him. He turned to me and told me...

"I think i know why im like this already."

"why?"

"Not enough cola in my body"

I gave him the -_-

His typical diet will almost always include a bottle or can of coke. Coke(not the drug) to Daniel is like how wine is to the drunken master. There can never be too much coke in the world.

So he decides to buy a bottle of coke(and to top it of a kit kat) to help relieve him of the symptoms. By evening time he was telling me how wonderful the coke was and how much better he felt. Talk about placebo effect. Think that guy's faith in coke is almost as strong as Newton's faith in gravity.

***

Met up with few of the guys just now. They went to watch speed racer but i didn want to. Personally i think its a dumb show. The wachowski brothers started making the film with the intention of making a "real life cartoon". So i had my doubts. Talked to a friend who watched the show already and he was telling me:

"The show is dam cock one la! You know the weapons they use. Its not real weapons. They take bee hive and throw at the opponent one. Its like mario kart racing like that"

Big surprise... haha. And my guess is that rain's role/job in the film is pretty much just to look good.

Although i didn go for the movie i think overall it was still a nice evening out with some of the guys. The turnout rate tonight was rather pathethic given that its a saturday. haha. Im starting to enjoy more quality non-wow and even non-army conversations with some of them now! hurrah! Shaun talked to me about how he cooked his first steak the other day. All the searing and stuff. Makes me wanna cook steak too. lol. Bob just got his new guitar so we were discussing about its specs and whether or not Yamaha really sold Ibanez guitars. Seno and i talked about many things, among them, CHUCK NORRIS! haha. Ofcourse army talk always manages to slip in but at least we were talking more bout the tactics we've seen ppl use to keng. haha.

***

I was just thinking about the issue of "foreign talents"(FTs) in Singapore the other day. It seems that with the relaxing of rules regulating influx of FTs since last year, the FT population has been growing at alarming rates. Consequently, but not surprisingly, we hear more and more people from different walks of life complaining about the competition they face with rivals from abroad. Some of these complaints are not too friendly as well.

Let's step back and take a look at things. Singapore is not the first country in history to embrace FTs. A good example would be America. The kind of situation we have is somewhat similar to what America has with its immigrants from Mexico, China or other parts of the world. America to Mexicans are like... Singapore to Ah Tiongs(There i've said it). Will the kind of dissent we are having and growing head in the same direction as the kind of dissent and racism some of them have for their FTs.

We look at countries like these and see their racism and say, thats just f*cked up la. Then we go back home and curse and swear at the "Ah Tiong who stole my job". Im not saying im supporting or against the issue ppl have with FTs. Just saying that i find some things similar.

In retrospect, the Halocaust could have been supported by such dissent and anger as well. Argued in a perverse way, it is just a blown up version of anger against FTs. My views on such issues may change once i enter a different phase of life, but for now i leave you with a thought. What will happen if a second hitler gets hold of such a chance to find support for his cause.

~ So Long My Friend ~

Hmmm. First things first. I wish to dedicate this post to Jordan Tay Yong Ming. My friend, and ex-colleague from parkway health corporate comms, who passed away yesterday, due to a traffic accident.

At first I thought it was some rumours that was just being spread around but later i msged jith and the news was confirmed. The guy was only in his twenties, with lots of passion and flair. He once told me that he would stay in corp comms just long enough to get him a good resume and quickly change jobs(cos of the boss issue). Well he just quit bout few months ago only. hai... My friend, if only you'd seen it coming, maybe you could've quit sooner. hah.

Speaking of the boss, i bumped into him just now at Mt. E. He asked me if i was heading over to the wake and stuff. Then passed me $50 for dinner. ~_~

So i used the $50 to take a cab down and gave $20 as "white gold". hah.

Well at least i bumped into him(Jordan) in the streets awhile back over the weekend when he quit Corp Comms. Was glad to see that guy again, didn expect that to be the last time though =\

Well, thats my first, friend's funeral which i attended. Hopefully there wont be any in a long time to come. Like wth la. I haven even attended a first "friend's wedding" hai...


In other news, my grandfather is in a hospice, transferred from a hospital due to a fall. Last weekend we went to visit him and he just seemed so out of whack, his talking reduced to mumbling and the kind of things he talked bout sometimes didn makes sense. Now he cant take solid foods so his "meals" are just nutrient fluids passed down an angi-tube which is connected through his nose. I dont know if i got the spelling right but yea i guess its the same thing iron man pulled out of his nose after he woke up from the terrorist attack...

As you can prolly imagine, having a tube stuck all the way down from your nose is gonna be quite uncomfortable. So i guess thats why my gramps made attempts to remove it... =\ Its not an A class ward so they don't have one nurse to one patient so they cant keep an eye on him all the time. So to prevent him from removing the tube, they tied his hands to the bed frame... And you just feel like fuck when you see those eyes screaming "PLEASE DONT TIE ME UP ANYMORE" so... yea. Well when we're there we can untie the knots and wheel him out to look look see see. But when no one is there to take care of him i guess they go back to routine. It seems quite common for patients there to be tied up in one way or another. My parent's friend's dad was there too and apparently he tried to commit suicide or wad =\ so they belted him down to the bed.

Ohhh, and my mom told me the other day they found some tumour growing at her liver now... Have to go for op again and this time the chemo will be the drip kind instead of oral medication. Dammit.

So yea. Life has never been better.