and Death came riding on a pale horse...

Love Hurts

2007-01-18T11:00:00.000+08:00

Love Hurts
Nazareth

Love hurts, love scars,
Love wounds, and marks,
Any heart, not tough,
Or strong, enough
To take a lot of pain,
Take a lot of pain
Love is like a cloud
Holds a lot of rain
Love hurts, ooh ooh love hurts

Im young, I know,
But even so
I know a thing, or two
I learned, from you
I really learned a lot,
Really learned a lot
Love is like a flame
It burns you when its hot
Love hurts, ooh ooh love hurts

Some fools think of happiness
Blissfulness, togetherness
Some fools fool themselves I guess
Theyre not foolin me

I know it isnt true,
I know it isnt true
Love is just a lie,
Made to make you blue
Love hurts, ooh,ooh love hurts
Ooh,ooh love hurts

[guitar solo]

I know it isnt true,
I know it isnt true
Love is just a lie,
Made to make you blue
Love hurts, ooh ooh love hurts
Ooh ooh love hurts
Ooh ooh...

Just once. Is that too much too ask? :(

2006-11-30T12:38:00.000+08:00

Just Once
James Ingram

I did my best
But I guess my best wasn't good enough
'Cause here we are back where we were before
Seems nothing ever changes
We're back to being strangers
Wondering if we oughta stay
Or head on out the door

Just once can't we figure out what we keep doing wrong
Why we never last for very long
What are we doing wrong
Just once can't we find a way to finally make it right
Make the magic last for more than just one night
If we could just get to it
I know we could break through it

I gave my all
But I think my all may have been too much
'Cause Lord knows we're not getting anywhere
Seems we're always blowing whatever we got going
And seems at times with all we've got
We haven't got a prayer
Just once can't we figure out what we keep doing wrong
Why the goodtimes never last for very long
Seems we're always blowing
Whatever we got going

Just once can't we find a way to finally make it right
Make the magic last for more than just one night
If we could just get to it
I know we could break through it

Just once I want to understand
Why it always come back to good-bye
Why can't we get ourselves in hand
And admit to one another
That we're no good with out the other
Take the best and make it better
Find a way to stay together

Just once can't we find a way to finally make it right
Make the magic last for more than just one night
I know we can break through it
If we could just get to it

Just once
If we could get to it

Just Once...

All Four Seasons In One Day

2006-11-05T23:53:00.000+08:00

All Four Seasons
Sting
(from the album Mercury Falling)

With her smile as sweet as a warm wind in summer
She's got me flying like a bird in a bright June sky
And then just when she thinks that I've got her number
Brings me down to the ground with her wintry eye
That's my baby
She can be all four seasons in one day

And when the nighttime comes with no interference
To our warm summer love with all its charms
But like a thoroughbred horse she can turn on a sixpence
And I find that I'm back in Mistress Winter's arms
That's my baby
She can be all four seasons in one day

How will I know?
How can I tell?
Which side of the bed she takes when the day begins
She can be kind
She can be cruel
She's got me guessing like a game show fool

She can change her mind like she changes her sweaters
From one minute to the next it's hard to tell
She blows hot and cold just like stormy weather
She's my gift from the Lord or a fiend from hell
That's my baby
She can be all four seasons in one day

Watching the weatherman's been no good at all
Winter, spring, summer, I'm bound for a fall
There are no long term predictions for my baby
She can be all four seasons in one day

How will I know?
How can I tell?
Which side of the bed she takes when the day begins
She can be kind
She can be cruel
She's got me guessing like a game show fool

If it's a sunny day I take my umbrella
Just in case the raindrops start to fall
You could say that I'm just a cautious fellow
I don't want to be caught in a sudden squall
That's my baby
She can be all four seasons in one day
That's my baby
She can be all four seasons in one day

A quick update

2006-10-13T12:24:00.000+08:00

So, it's been a while. If you remember, I mentioned something unexpected, etc. etc. might be happening in my life. Well, like all things, it's come and gone. Don't ask.

I've been keeping myself busy. Got a new band now. (Used to have another a while ago, but we stopped).

Got a new job. Will be starting middle of next month. Finally going to work in a proper game development company, which is my lifelong dream. Yay! :)

Met someone. Unfortunately, like every other one I've met so far, it's complicated. In fact, this is possibly the most complicated I've met yet. Unsure exactly how things are gonna turn out, but we'll see. I'm hopeful, but it's gonna take a while.

Why, oh why do I always attract women with a lot of baggage?

In any case, like I said, we'll see what happens. I'm less inclined to rush into things nowadays, and I've built up a certain immunity to getting hurt (or so I like to tell myself).

Sigh...

Why does my life always have to be so friggin' complicated eh?

Anyway, enough wallowing. I'll post again soon. :)

Possibly the best blond joke ever

2006-01-05T23:31:00.000+08:00

Gadgetopia posted what is possibly the best blond joke. EVER.

Check it out!

HOORAY!!!

2005-12-01T15:18:00.000+08:00

A Feast For Crows is finally done! Well, sort of.

Now all that's left is for me to go and get the stuff from my favourite bookstore. :) Or if you're reading this and wondering what to get me for Christmas, A Feast For Crows and (hopefully it's done by then) A Dance With Dragons are pretty high on my Christmas wish list. Though I probably can't wait that long. Heh. :P

But now I realize that since it's been so long, I'll probably want to re-read everything from the beginning to reacquaint myself with the lovely characters from the series.

(George is saying that he'll probably need seven(!) books to finish the story now. Hopefully it wouldn't take him as long to finish the next few books).

Unexpected Nugget of Wisdom

2005-07-13T22:00:00.000+08:00

Me: "Wah... How come your smile so big?"

Some Guy: "Smile need to work, don't smile also need to work. Then smile, lah! Don't stress yourself, be happy!"

Heh.

It's been a while...

2005-07-08T23:22:00.000+08:00

since I wrote in this blog. Work's been keeping me busy, and, well, I guess there really wasn't all that much to write about. (Unless, of course, you've enjoyed reading my complaints about stupid bosses, inconsiderate colleagues, etc.).

Anyways, what've I been doing during this hiatus (yes, yes, besides work)?

Well, I ran into Rex, an old friend of mine from high school, whom I haven't seen for 7 years(!).

I was involved in a theatre production as Assistant Stage Manager.

I've also moved into my new apartment in just-off-the heart of town. This place is awesome. It's a four-storey walkup, and we live on the top floor. And now I have a balcony again! (I love balconies, obviously). And the rental on this place is surprisingly reasonable, too!

I've renewed my contract with the company, and gotten a pay raise. Still waiting to be converted to perm, though. But I think I'll stay with this company for a while yet. So many things to learn still.

I'm also helping Amanda out with her choir for the Vatican Expo. It's tiring and consumes most of my weekend, but fun.

And I think something that's unexpected, yet pleasant, might be happening in my life. I don't know whether or not it's for real yet, but I sure am hoping. ;)

Oooh, ooh, ooh! I almost forgot! Neil Gaiman was in Singapore and I got three books signed! I even shook his hand! Heh. Thanks Gill! Thanks Stef! :D

Gill and me actually gave him gifts (a shotglass, a bag of Famous Amos cookies and a postcard signed by the two of us and Tracy, this girl we met while queueing up for his autograph) to bring back. But he didn't mention us in his journal, though. :(

Etch-A-Sketch

2005-04-17T14:51:00.000+08:00

You're an Etch-a-Sketch!! You're the creative,
artsy type who doesn't need to actually utilize
a single muscle group in order to have fun.
Doesn't matter though, you're still cool.

What childhood toy from the 80s are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Back home?

2004-12-23T09:52:00.000+08:00

So, I've been back from Cambodia for a couple of days now. Cambodia's a really pleasant place to stay in. Nice weather during the day (not humid, sun shining, cool breeze blowing) and really pleasant at night (natural coolness, no need for aircon, so many stars in the sky).

Living the simple life is its own reward, I say. Waking up at dawn, working with your hands, bathing in lake water (well, water taken from the lake and slightly filtered, but yeah), having toads and whatnot in your water tank, working with animals, scraping shit off the bottom of cages, feeding tigers, walking elephants, climbing mountains (well, high hills), learning a new language, breathing fresh air (albeit a bit dusty from the sand and dryness).

What's not to love?

The Khmers themselves are a nice bunch of people as well. Very nice folk, them. Unspoiled, eager to learn, chronically shy (in a polite sort of way). They really embody the concept of "gentle folk".

Of course, there's also the other side. Poverty, child beggars, the nation's painful history, prostitution. But what made me really love Cambodia is the feel of the place. It feels like all the places where I've lived in in Indonesia all rolled into one.

It feels like home.

I'll try to do a (more or less) day-by-day entry of my time in Cambodia, when I have time to do it (probably this weekend).

I'm flying off in 14 hours...

2004-12-02T17:08:00.000+08:00

... AND I STILL HAVEN'T PACKED YET.

OMGOMGOMGOMG

*entering PANIC MODE*

For once, after a very long time...

2004-11-26T17:02:00.000+08:00

I am content.

I've also never been more confused in my life.

*sigh*

My new toy

2004-11-22T01:16:00.000+08:00

Self-portrait of my new Canon Powershot A80. A tad dark, because i have horrible lighting in my room.

Simulated lightning, done using slow shutter speed and manually moving the camera.

The A80 has a really nice macro mode, as can be seen here. Done using Macro AF.

This one is also a macro shot, but done using manual mode. As you can see, the resolution is really good on this baby. My friend saw this and told me to clean up my keyboard. (I never realized how dirty it was. :P)

I'm not really sure what to make of this, but basically what happened was, I forgot to switch off the flash when taking the closeup of the Esc button the first time around, and this is the result. Looks kind of nice, in a strange kind of way.

Here's the first shot that I did using the sepia tone effect. But it's a bit dark...

Ah... Much better with a little over-exposure.

And this is what the scene looks like in black and white.

Oh-kaaayyyyy....

2004-11-17T10:28:00.000+08:00

So... that means Batman and Robin...?

(I always knew there was something wrong with a grown man and a boy in tight shorts fighting crime together. :P)

Finally got around to posting this one...

2004-10-24T02:27:00.000+08:00

Which OS are You?

P.S.: Yes, one of my machines is running Debian. :)

Banana Phone!

2004-10-20T21:29:00.000+08:00

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring
Banana phone
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring
Banana phone

I've got this feeling
So appealing
For us to get together and sing
Sing!

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring
Banana phone
Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding
Danana phone

It grows in bunches
I've got my hunches
It's the best
Beats the rest
Cellular, modular, interactive-odular

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring
Banana phone
Ping pong ping pong ping pong ping
Panana phone

It's no baloney
It ain't a pony
My cellular, bananular phone

Banana Phone Ep. 1
Banana Phone Ep. 2

Man, that really brings back memories for me, seeing as the banana phone (otherwise known as the Nokia 8110) was my first mobile phone. This is the same phone that was popularized (again) in The Matrix.

But that phone, of course, is a far cry from Samsung's SCH-S250, which sports a 5 MegaPixel camera, MP3 support, 3D Games and sounds, and the ability to record up to 100 minutes of video.

Unfortunately, it's only available in Korea, and it only works in CDMA2000 networks.

Here's some more pictures to drool over while we dream of the day that phone will make it to our shores: 1|2|3

... And they're coming for YOU next!

2004-10-18T10:58:00.000+08:00

A Chinese satellite crashed through the roof of a house in Sichuan, China today after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the eternally optimistic owner was quoted by the Xinhua news agency as saying "The satellite landed in our home. Maybe this means we'll have good luck this year."

Right...

But then again:

"The landing technology of our country's satellites is very mature and the precision of the landing point is among the best in the world. Members of the public need not worry about this," it also said, quoting Chinese space experts.

So does this mean they were aiming for the guy's roof?

My version of events goes something like this:

Chinese Government Official 1: "We need to build a highway through this place, but there's a house in the way. I don't think it's gonna be that easy to get rid of it."

Chinese Government Official 2: "Hmmm.... you're right..." *thinks* "Say.... Weren't we going to bring that satellite back down this week?"

CGO1: "Oh my God! You're right! Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

CGO2: "Yes, I do believe I am thinking what you're thinking."

CGO1: "Call the Chinese Space Agency now!"

CGO2: "Already on the speed dial."

Makes you reconsider the advantages of living in a cave, doesn't it? Note particularly under Mobile Objects:

"Have you ever known a cave being demolished by falling space junk? That Chinese satellite that fell last year was targetting your house, and the next has learnt by previous mistakes!!!"

(No, this is NOT the first time this happened. And yes, obviously it DID learn from previous mistakes).

The stone lions in front of the Bank of China building...

2004-10-15T13:36:00.000+08:00

... never fails to make my day. :D

They always somehow manage to take me to my happy place every time I look at them. (I think it should be obvious why.) :P

They kinda look like they're laughing at a private joke, don't they?

I need help

2004-10-09T13:52:00.000+08:00

So here's what happened. My genius landlord decided to cut the phone line at the house on Tuesday night without asking me, because he "wasn't using it".

The same phone line that I was using for my ADSL connection.

The same phone line that I told him I needed for my ADSL connection.

So I was stuck without an internet connection at home. Which would've been OK, except for the fact that the office where my new project is has NO internet connection either. So I went to apply for cable internet on Thursday.

The girl at Starhub told me that the connection will be up by the time I reached home that night. But of course, this being me, it didn't. I called up tech support to check the status of my connection, and I was told that there is a minimum of 24 hours before the connection is activated.

That was when the shakes started...

So the next day I went to Starhub again to ask why my connection wasn't active then. Turns out there was a "problem" and that my connection will only be activated on Saturday morning.

At this point, I was so desperate that I would've probably given literally anything for a bit of bandwith. Luckily, Oktoberfest was on that night in Paulaner Brauhaus, so me and a buncha friends went there. That helped ease the pain a bit, and by the time I got home I was so tired I went straight to bed, and woke up this morning with a screaming hot internet connection.

WOOHOO!!!!

I'm a '90's Geek!

2004-10-03T23:55:00.000+08:00

I'm A 1990s Geek

Cool, confident, and very powerful, you're the sexiest geek ever! Buckle in, your decade is one hell of a ride.

find your geek decade at spacefem.com

Getting to know The Bastard

2004-09-17T15:22:00.000+08:00

Recently, I've been reacquainting myself with my favourite Bastard. The Bastard Operator From Hell, that is.

"It's backup day today so I'm pissed off. Being the BOFH, however, does have it's advantages. I reassign null to be the tape device - it's so much more economical on my time as I don't have to keep getting up to change tapes every 5 minutes. And it speeds up backups too, so it can't be all bad can it? Of course not."

Man, I LOVE this guy. :D

Rock On!

2004-09-15T01:05:00.000+08:00

Went for a jamming session yesterday with a bunch of friends, and it was really cool.

I mean, man, the whole bunch of us managed to gel together pretty well, even though it was the first time we jammed together. Heck, we even wrote a few songs together!

Anyway, this Friday will be jamming again, though with a different band. We'll see how Friday's session goes. It's basically an entirely new band, because most of the other people have left the country. Hopefully this formation is better than the previous one (and more receptive to trying out new stuff, too).

Liar Liar

2004-09-14T14:39:00.000+08:00

Saw this in the papers today about the explosion in North Korea:

"A BBC report said that when Mr. Paek was asked why North Korea had not explained earlier, he told Mr. Rammell that Pyongyang had not done so because all foreign journalists were liars."

Heh. I love those old-school communists. :P

Lesson learnt today

2004-09-09T01:50:00.000+08:00

Can of paint: $11
Paint brush: $1.20
Learning to never EVER open a bottle of black liquid shoe polish anywhere near a white wall: FUCKING PRICELESS

On a lighter note, had THE BEST brownies ever today. Like, EVER. Sure, they were chocolate-flavored concentrated coronaries, but who gives a shit? :P

Radio Free PC Speakers (or something)

2004-09-08T01:04:00.000+08:00

My PC Speakers are receiving some weird Chinese language radio station.

Damn inferior shielding. And it's Altec Lansing, too! You would've expected a bit more quality from them, right?

WOOHOO!!!!

2004-09-02T23:44:00.000+08:00

Got me a second hand machine from a company that's closing down today. Cost me $350, but now I'm finally gonna have a machine to do experiments and development work on. Yay!

Oh, btw, if any of you wants to get one of the machines (they've got 2 left, I think), drop me a line.

Lost wisdom

2004-09-01T09:44:00.000+08:00

I had a very strange dream last night. In my dream, I was reading (writing?) a story, and this is how it went:

"The Boy asked his Father (for his Father was a wise man, learned in all the ways of the world): 'Father, why are people so cruel? Why do they hurt each other so? Why do they persist in doing so, knowing it hurts themselves and others; especially those nearest to them, the ones they care about the most and the ones who care for them the most?'

"And his Father smiled, and sagely replied..."

At this moment, I inexplicably woke up, and try as I might, I couldn't go back and pick up the dream where I left off. And now, all I feel is a profound sadness, knowing that I've probably lost that nugget of dream wisdom forever.

Ouch

2004-09-01T00:00:00.000+08:00

~~One~~ Two more people got hit by a train today.

This is starting to become a very disturbing trend....

The wonders of globalization and our multiracial society

2004-08-30T23:29:00.000+08:00

Traditional Nasi Padang Di Indonesia

and below that:

This Cusine Cooked by Western Chef

Ah... the wonders of globalization...

(Naturally, said Nasi Padang was not spicy at all. What were you expecting? :P)

In case you haven't noticed...

2004-08-25T19:10:00.000+08:00

I've fixed the recent problem with the layout on my blog. If you're still seeing a seriously screwed up page, hit Ctrl+F5.

Lemme know if you still have any problems. :)

I feel sick

2004-08-25T10:36:00.000+08:00

I think I'm coming down with a cold. I'm at that stage where you're not that sick yet, but you know you're going to have your brain oozing out of your nose in a few days and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop it from happening.

Which, I think, is the worst part. Because, after all, the anticipation is always worse than the actual thing.

Right now, my nose can't decide what it wants: My right nostril is running like an Olympic marathon gold medalist with a full bladder, an angry bee in his pants and a pack of rabid wild dogs high on angel dust on his heels. My left nostril, on the other hand, is blocked like the arsehole of a constipated goat with a tin can, some rocks and videotapes of the entire run of Days Of Our Lives in its digestive tract.

Ah, well, must persevere. With any luck, it'll go away quickly. Otherwise, well, a day or two's worth of sick leave never hurt anyone, right? :)

"Set phasers on stun"

2004-08-19T17:01:00.000+08:00

Found this article recently on Wired News.

Apparently, it won't be long before directed energy weapons (i.e. phasers) become a reality.

WOOHOO!!!

Gotcha!

2004-08-17T23:34:00.000+08:00

Got home a little earlier than usual today. It was that magical hour when the kids are already home, but the parents aren't back from work yet. My flat is one level below the floor where the lift stops, so I have to take the stairs down to get to my floor.

When I walked down the stairs, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a flash of hands coming out of a school skirt, hastily pulling up pants, and then throwing arms around each other. That was when I noticed the smell of sex hanging heavily in the air. I glanced over and saw the two school kids who were very obviously, until I interrupted them, engaged in a spot of mutual masturbation on the stairwell. Guilty faces still flushed, breathing still heavy, trying to look nonchalant, acting as if it was the most normal thing in the world for a couple to be hugging tightly in the middle of a stairwell in the middle of the bloody afternoon.

(The real reason, judging by the state of their clothing, is that her blouse still wasn't buttoned up properly yet, and his pants were also still unzipped and was in danger of sliding down to his ankles.)

Not willing to be hurried, I went on walking at the same pace, sorting through my mail. (I bet they thought that it was some perverse kind of torture. :P). And as I walked past them, I felt the urge to do the whole "Jeez, get a room, willya?" thing, but fought it down. Think they've got enough excitement for one day, eh?

Man... I feel like such a voyeur. >:D

I HATE MACS

2004-08-16T23:59:00.000+08:00

What kind of geniuses designed such an unintuitive interface, anyway?

Once again, proof that I'm so averagely average

2004-08-16T23:53:00.000+08:00

20 Questions to being a Better Person

Your score as a human being is 74.45.

Middle of the road, eh? Does that mean you're yellow? Yellow as a salamander frying on blacktop? Yellow as a urinal cake? Yellow as a delicious marshmallow Peep? Mmmm. Peep. Sometimes I think if it weren't for Just Born candy, I would just expel my life force and expire. Hot Tamales. Mike and Ikes.

But I digress.

Nicely done. You are robustly average, and I approve of it.

Down with Bush!

2004-08-13T01:59:00.000+08:00

Caught Fahrenheit 9/11 with Len last week. I personally prefer this one to Bowling With Columbine. (Len thinks Bowling was better). While in Bowling, Moore comes across as kinda pretentious and preachy, on Fahrenheit he's a lot better.

But then again, maybe it's because of the subject matter this time. :P

In Fahrenheit, Bush is shown as the incompetent nitwit that he is, and the politicians on the Hill and in the White House as, well, politicians. After the show ended, the entire theatre broke into spontaneous applause. Something that I've only seen happen for The Matrix. The original one, that is.

Wow, goes to show how much people hate Bush. I hope the two Johns win this election. It'll be the best thing that happens to America in quite a while.

Speaking of elections, I've got a theory why Americans elected Bush in the last elections. In the last election, it was Gore versus Bush, and, of course, during the presidential debates it became obvious what each candidate was like. Gore is a robot, and Bush is a clown. What I figure the swing voters think when they decide who to vote for is: "Hmmm... I wonder which one would make better TV. The robot? Or the clown?" But then again, that's just one man's theory.

Anyhoo, recently, there was yet another famous Bush gaffe that made the rounds. It went like this: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

Hmmm.... :P

A post with a personal touch

2004-08-13T01:36:00.000+08:00

Yan complained today that I haven't posted for a long time, and that my last few postings have been pretty technical. So I'm gonna do the decent thing and do a more personal posting.

And, of course, when I do a personal posting, more often than not, I rant, so here goes. I was supposed to take a certification exam last Saturday, but the week before that (on the Thursday, in fact), my boss told me that I had to go for training for the entire following week. So I called the test center, to check if there are any dates available in the near future. I was told there was, and given an email address to send the rescheduling info to.

So I sent an email to the address given to me, and since there was no bounce message, I thought everything was cool. I couldn't check my email for the week after that, and I figured, since the last time I had to reschedule they took their own sweet time getting back to me, why worry?

Imagine my surprise when I checked my email last Monday, and found an email with my test results for a test that I didn't take. At this point, I started panicking. It was late at night, so I couldn't call them. And also, I've already failed my CCNA exam, which means that I'm gonna have to pay for the retake for that one, so there was no fuckin' way I was gonna pay for this one either.

So I called up the next morning, and that was when I found out that the person who gave me the email address earlier gave me the wrong email address. And this person is the Operations Manager, which means, of course, that she should know better than the underling I spoke to. After ranting over the phone, I was told to email the details of my situation to them, which I did.

The next day, I called, to see if anything was moving with the appeal. And the person doesn't even remember what my problem was. So I had to repeat my story all over again before she remembers who I am and what the problem was. That was when she told me that she was about to call the test provider to appeal for a reschedule. "Yeah, right," I thought, "Sure you were."

Thankfully, she called me about an hour later, to tell me that the appeal was successful and that my exam has been rescheduled. Well, goody. Yay. Break out the wine and all that crap.

Oh, well. Hope I'll actually pass this exam. I don't think I'll be able to afford dropping another $250 or so for another test. Sheesh...

More on the Webmail Wars

2004-07-06T22:07:00.000+08:00

Hotmail has struck back with 250MB free email space.

Again, not quite 1GB yet.

Also, again, the customers win.

The case for Firefox (and against IE)

2004-06-23T20:10:00.000+08:00

Found this great article from SecurityFocus.com about why everyone should dump IE for Firefox (or Opera, or Konqueror, or Netscape, or Mozilla, etc.).

The part I like best?

"I could go on and on. Look, let's be honest with each other. We all know this is true: IE is a buggy, insecure, dangerous piece of software, and the source of many of the headaches that security pros have to endure (I'm not even going to go into its poor support for Web standards; let that be a rant for another day). Yes, I know Microsoft patches holes as they are found. Great. But far too many are found. And yes, I know that Microsoft has promised that it has changed its ways, and that it will now focus on "Trustworthy Computing." But I've heard too many of Microsoft's promises and seen the results too many times. You know, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Who's shamed when it's "fool me the 432nd time"? Who's the fool?"

The Webmail Wars continue...

2004-06-23T19:12:00.000+08:00

Found out recently that Yahoo! has been redirecting Gmail invites to its Junk folder, and yesterday I learned from the Gmail Swap website that Gmail invites sent to Hotmail and MSN accounts has been rejected and returned to the sender.

Hmmm.... Guerilla warfare?

Opportunity knocked, and I turned him away

2004-06-18T00:55:00.000+08:00

A headhunter called me today, offering a position in "one of these Taiwanese companies" as a J2ME developer. When asked if the job involves making games, he vaguely mentioned that games are "part of their products and services". I politely turned him down, because I'm holding out for some opportunities that are promised to me down the pipeline by my current boss.

But after I hung up, I realized that it could probably have been what I've been waiting for. A job at a company that makes games, and being Taiwanese, it could mean a stepping stone for me to go regional, or even global, considering Taiwan's relationship with the US. Of course, another factor is the current political situation in Taiwan, and between Taiwan and China. I'm not sure if it would be the best time to be employed by a Taiwanese company.

But like I said earlier, I'm holding out for those opportunities that are coming down the pipeline. The problem is, of course, if those things never happened, I'm gonna be really hard on myself for missing out on this job.

*sigh*

Right now, I'm thinking I should've learned more about the job and the company, at least, or maybe even gone for an interview to meet the boss and see if I like him. (According to one of my colleagues, Taiwanese companies have this bad habit of only caring about the bottom line. Meaning really tight and well nigh impossible deadlines, like at my first job. At least, in my current job I can look forward to fairly steady working hours and transport compensation.).

Oh well, my friends say that if they really need someone with my skills, they might call again (and they might sweeten the pot a little bit, too.). We'll see.

The beginning of the Webmail Wars?

2004-06-18T00:46:00.000+08:00

After Google announced Gmail, which will have advanced search features and 1GB of space, sometime back, Yahoo has finally retaliated on Wednesday by expanding the size of its Yahoo!Mail accounts to 100MB.

Not a lot, true, but it's the first counterattack in what could become the Webmail Wars.

One thing's for sure, though, when the dust settles, it'll be the users who win. Right now, I'm enjoying my 1.1GB of webmail space. >:D

"You must be working in IT"

2004-06-11T00:38:00.000+08:00

... said the taxi driver.

He then laughed at the how-did-you-know? look on my face.

"It's written all over your face," said he. "I can tell that you're not getting enough sleep."

Well... that is kinda true. :/

Now I'll know how many people actually care

2004-06-01T09:58:00.000+08:00

Added Trackbacks to the site, courtesy of HaloScan

I've got my own button!

2004-05-31T23:03:00.000+08:00

Scroll down. It's somewhere near the bottom of the sidebar. Please use them when you're linking to my blog. Thanks! :)

Courtesy of Kalsey Consulting

Hello BloggerBot: Good v.s. Bad

2004-05-31T22:32:00.000+08:00

Good:

Very easy to use, pretty much idiot-proof (except maybe the worst idiots)
Free photo storage!

Bad:

Only supports JPEG
Doesn't take advantage of the title and link fields in Blogger

Now, all I need is a digital camera and/or a camera phone, so I can actually use it. Anyone wanna give me a free one?

Testing out Hello BloggerBot

2004-05-31T22:28:00.000+08:00

WOOHOOO!!!

The Dawn of a New Age?

2004-05-31T13:10:00.000+08:00

So, it's official. PM Goh will be stepping down, and PAP MPs have "unanimously supported" DPM Lee Hsian Loong to be the next PM. The handover will be done some time in July, but the exact date has not been fixed yet.

Let's see where this change is gonna lead us.

(I can't help but wonder: Will Singapore's 4th PM be a Goh again? That'll be a pretty interesting pattern, dontcha think?)

Blogger's new features

2004-05-30T14:04:00.000+08:00

*phew*

Finally finished refactoring and republishing my blog to take advantage of some of Blogger's new features. It would've been nice if Blogger automated some of the things though, like allowing you to apply the changes to all your old postings automatically, rather than making you do it manually.

Next: Start playing with the Hello BloggerBot.

Do you want these people to run your country?

2004-05-30T01:44:00.000+08:00

Earlier this week, Bush delivered a speech at the War College about the White House policy on Iraq. He only mentioned Abu Ghraib, the prison notorious for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, three times in the entire speech. And yet, in typical Bush fashion, he managed to butcher the pronunciation all three times. First, it was "Abugha-rayp". Then it was "Abu Garon". And finally, it was "Abu Garah". (Most Americans prononounce it as "Abu Grabe").

No wonder he picked the War College for that speech. Anywhere else, and at least half the audience would've been rolling in the aisles.

But inept politicians are not just an American thing. In India, also earlier this week, a politician announced that he refuses to accept the portfolio of minister of heavy industries and state enterprises because he found out that another politician has also been appointed for the same position.

And yet the next day, he was sitting in the minister's chair. His explanation? "I spoke to Sonia [Gandhi] and Congress, and they told me to run the office until they sort everything out".

Yeah, right.

I HAVE GMAIL!

2004-05-28T15:15:00.000+08:00

WOOHOO!!!! :D

Liberdad!

2004-05-23T01:31:00.000+08:00

Yet another one of my ex-colleagues has left the company, and as usual, it was a reason to celebrate. (Quite shocked to find out last week that another ex-colleague left the company several weeks prior, too). We went to Embargo yesterday, and it was a pretty fun night, meeting all the old folks again. Plus, I also got some blog addresses. (Keat, if you're seeing this, the link should say "LiQuid!'s blog". Thanks. :P).

Well, anyway, I should be getting to bed now. Gotta be awake for my class at 9.00 a.m. I know I shouldn't be complaining, because I really want to do this, but bloody hell! I'll be glad when this is over. Well, 2 more weeks to go. Then, exams. Cisco's exam questions look pretty tough. Well, tricky, more than anything. And you can't go back if you happen to miss out on some small nuance in the question and picked the wrong answer. Which seriously sucks, of course. (Cisco certification exams are the only ones where you can't go back and correct your answer).

OK, enough. I really ought to be going off now. G'nite!

I have lost something very dear to me

2004-05-23T01:10:00.000+08:00

On Wednesday night, I stayed back at the office to finish up on some work, and I had to take a cab home. I got off the cab, went to the Cheers store nearby to get a drink, before turning in. When I got out of the store, I realized that I've dropped my Zippo. In a panic, I retraced my steps, hoping that it might have dropped along the way, but of course it wasn't there. I called up the lost and found department, and when they asked me if I have the taxi number, I told them that I didn't.

But the thing is, of course, I did.

I only realized the next morning, when I was in the shower, that I do have the taxi number. Since the company is paying for my taxi fare, I asked for a receipt before I got off. And the taxi number, of course, was on the receipt! I quickly got out of the shower and called them up again, giving them the taxi number. Of course, by this time it was too late, but I was still holding on to that sliver of hope. But, of course, as the way thing always go, the driver couldn't find it. My Zippo, the one that my friends gave to me for my 21st, the one with my name etched on the side.

I can't help banging my head over it, especially over how stupid I was. If I'd remembered about the receipt before I went to bed, I could've at least had a better chance of getting it back. (Plus, I did stay up pretty late that night, worried as I was. Think I turned in at about 3.00 a.m.).

So now, I am Zippo-less and feel like a total bloody idiot. Not a very good way to start the weekend.

P.S.: Seems like Blogger has a new interface. Kinda like the old one better, not too many tabs to click, and you can do everything from one page. Ah well... such is the price of progress (and marketing).

Little Blessings

2004-04-26T22:12:00.000+08:00

Today was shaping up to be a hellishly hot day. When I went out of my room this morning, I was struck by a wall of heat that seemed to emanate from every single object around me. The sun not so much a warm yellow, but a steel-hot white. I had to steel myself and plunge into the boiling sea of air to reach the meagre coolness of the shower. Stepping out of the house, I knew this was going to be a long and arduous day for me.

And then the sky suddenly darkened and a light rain fell like a gentle mist upon the scorched earth.

Thank goodness for little blessings. :)

P.S.: The office was also peacably quiet today. (Especially since that loud, annoying cow is not here today. Let's hope it stays this way for a while). Yet another little blessing. This turned out to be one of the better Mondays, after all.

We live in interesting times

2004-04-20T22:52:00.000+08:00

Was at the office earlier when a convoy of fire engines and ambulances screamed past the window. Turns out, that a portion of the highway near my old office collapsed. (My new office is about 15 minutes away from my old office). The first thing that people thought was that it was a terrorist attack. What happened, though, was that a tunnel they were excavating for the new train line collapsed, and the stress proved too much on the surrounding area. The traffic jams are gonna be pretty bad for a while, I guess. There were massive blackouts in the surrounding area, too.

Weird thing is, my ex-colleagues from the old office had no idea what was going on until I told them. Talk about the typical ignorant Singaporean. :P

Another thing, my flat is near yet another construction site for the same tunnel. Woah... that can't be good. :\

I feel like I'm back in school again...

2004-04-17T21:51:00.000+08:00

So, I went for my Cisco lessons today, and just before we finished, the instructor gave us an assignment to do for next week.

Hoo boy, I feel like I'm back in school again! :P

Firefox

2004-04-15T22:46:00.000+08:00

Finally upgraded to Firefox 0.8 after much procrastination, and it's just getting better and better. (For the uninformed, Firefox used to be Firebird, and before that it was Phoenix. They kept the version ordering though). I didn't see any large improvements on Thunderbird 0.5, though, barring better stability and speed.

Try them out! It'll be the best thing you've ever done for yourself (and your PC).

Death to the American infidels!

2004-04-15T22:22:00.000+08:00

So, I heard on the news today that a new (purported) Osama tape was aired, where he offered a truce to Europe, provided they stop attacking Muslims. But, naturally, there will be "no truce for the U.S.!". Heh.

Speaking of which, apparently Bush finally admitted that he would've gone into Iraq whether or not there were weapons of mass destruction there. So what I've been telling you guys all this time is true, after all. He just wants to prove that he's a bigger man than his dad and finish the invasion of Iraq. :P

Resistance is futile

2004-04-15T22:14:00.000+08:00

Despite not caring one whit about NKF's annual charity shows, I seem to run into them year after year. Last year, it was the bicycle cage thing in Bugis Junction. This year, it's the bunch of people in orange jumpsuits rappelling up and down a HDB block near my place. I saw them on my way home today, and all I could think was, "Who the heck is gonna wash the windows after they're done?" :P

Never talk to strangers

2004-04-15T01:13:00.000+08:00

Went to the NTUC near my place last Friday to get some shampoo and stuff. As I was searching for the stuff that I need, I felt a pair of eyes looking at me. I turned and saw a little girl of about 4 or 5 staring at me. I spotted her mum a little way away looking through the stuff on the shelves as well. So I waved to little girl and said "Hi". Little girl stared for a little longer as I went back to what I was doing, then ran back to her mummy shouting, "Mummy, mummy, stranger talk to me I never talk back!" Mummy looked up, surprised, and smiled drily at me.

Oh-kay....

I hate bugs

2004-04-15T00:46:00.000+08:00

Not the kind that has more than 4 legs, but the one that creates problems in software (or in Microsoft's case, the one that becomes "features"). I've been fixing bugs for the past few weeks, and they never stop coming! Man, I can't wait for this project to be over....

Jazz and Jesus

2004-04-15T00:28:00.000+08:00

OK. This is gonna be a long update, because I have been putting off updating for a really long time.

Last last Thursday (that's 2 weeks ago, just to be clear), I met Len for drinks at Jazz@South Bridge. I'm sorry to say that I've never even heard of the place until Len asked me if I wanted to go there. When we got there, I found out that an old acquaintance of mine is the drummer for the house band! (Talk about a small world, eh?) The music was great, and we really enjoyed it. I haven't been to a Jazz pub ever since Eldee Young last came to Somerset's Bar (which has since been closed down), so it was a real treat.

But that was just the appetizer.

When the band had their break, Boon Gee, my drummer friend, came over to talk with us, and we got to talking about Jeremy Monteiro, who I last saw at Somerset's Bar, having a drink and enjoying Eldee Youngs's music. And who should walk in, but the man himself! He's put on weight since I last saw him. A lot of weight. But the owner of the bar convinced him to play that night and that was a real treat. He played a whole set before the house pianist took over again, and he was awesome. Afterwards, the owner sat down with us and chatted for a bit, before he was accosted by the people from the next table.

Jazz@South Bridge is a real jazz club and I'm definitely going back there one of these days.

The next day, my project team had a buffet dinner at Hotel Plaza Parkroyal to celebrate the completion of the main bulk of coding for the project, and man that was a great buffet. They even had sashimi, which was really, really fresh. I managed to embarass myself by taking pictures using an empty camera, and only realizing it halfway through the dinner. :P

Anyhoo, after that, we went to watch The Passion of the Christ for free, because one of my colleagues has a friend who can get free tickets for the show. I secured 4 tickets for me and some friends, and I met up with them at the cinema. The show itself was really interesting, despite being almost entirely in Aramaic and Latin, that even Esther, who warned us that she might just walk out in the middle of the show if it's too boring stayed on to watch it until the end. (I said "almost", because in the beginning I heard Jesus saying "Not tonight, not tonight". I could be wrong, though).

(Just a bit of trivia. Jim Caviezel, who plays Jesus in The Passion..., is starring next in a movie called Bobby Jones, about a golfer of the same name who retired at 28. Talk about versatility.).

Of course, the downside was that we had to work on Saturday, and naturally, everyone who watched the show came late. :P

Last week, on the other hand, was a long weekend. On Friday, Len introduced me to Yan, a friend of his from primary school. The three of us went to watch Taking Lives, which, incidentally, was a sucky movie. The ending was stupid, and Kiefer Sutherland was wasted in this movie. Kiefer Sutherland appeared only briefly -- not much more than a cameo, really. But I guess they put his name on the posters to sell the movie. The plot started off showing pretty good promise, but it was thrown away at about the 2/3 point of the show. The ending was absolutely duh and it was a total waste of money.

The next day, I went for my first Cisco certification session. The whole thing lasted from 1.30-9.00 p.m., but it was worth it. I learned a lot of new stuff from just one session and I'm looking forward for more. I just hope I'll pass the exam on the first try, because to have to retake it would be really expensive. Ah well... something to keep me occupied. Plus it looks great on my resume. :P

Going back to basics

2004-03-31T22:39:00.000+08:00

Eagles are the most long-lived bird in the world. By the time they reach 40 years old, their claws started to age, losing their effectiveness making it hard for them to catch their preys. The lifespan of an eagle is up to 70 years old. But in order to live this long, the eagle must make the toughest decision when its at 40.

Their beaks began to grow long and curvy to the point that it reached its chest. Its wings are extremely heavy due to thickened and long feathers making flying extremely difficult. The eagle is left with 2 choices - Do nothing and await is death or go through a painful period of transformation and renewal.

For 150 days, it first trained itself to fly beyond the high mountains,build and live in its nest and cease all flying activities. It then began to knock its beak against granite rocks till its old beak completely removed. When the new beak is grown, it would use it to remove all its old claws and await quietly for all new claws to be fully grown.

When new claws are fully grown it would use these to remove all its feathers, one by one 5 months later, when feathers are fully grown, with renewed strength, it began soaring in the sky yet once again and was able to live for the next 30 years. In life, as individual or an organisation, sometimes,we have to learn to make difficult decisions so as to make room for changes. Changes bring about renewal. And the only way for us to soar again is to let go of old ways, old habits, old life.
For as long as we are prepared to put aside our old baggage (past glory or shame, past success or failures), be willing to become zero, with an empty cup mentality, we will be able to discover our potentials and head towards a renewed perspective in any aspect of our lives.

I've got so much shit it's fuckin' ridiculous

2004-03-31T00:19:00.000+08:00

You know how to realize you have too much stuff? Move into a smaller room.

So, my landlord's decided to move back in and kicked me out of the master bedroom into a smaller room. And after moving over, I realized that I have too much stuff. I literally have to shove things off the bed just to be able to sleep, and then pile them back on in the morning so that I can get to the door. I'll eventually get it all sorted out, but it's gonna take time.

Ah, well, at least I have a place to stay, so I can't complain. Plus, sorting through my stuff now and getting rid of all the shit I don't need will make it easier when I eventually move out.

Aw, hell, who am I kidding? I've always known I had too much shit. But living in a big room meant that I can ignore the issue. So it's time to tell myself: "Buck up, buddy. You have too much shit and it's time to get rid of 'em."

*sigh...* I am so NOT looking forward to this. There goes my weekends.... :(

Learning the lingo

2004-03-29T23:28:00.000+08:00

So, I bought a whole bunch of self-study language thingies yesterday. Kinokuniya was having this $10 off language packs promotion thingy, and I just couldn't resist. I got French and German for myself, and Esther asked me to get the Italian pack for her. And after that, I went to Borders to pick up the Spanish pack (which was the one I really wanted, anyway), because Kino ran out of the CD version of it.

So now, I have 4 languages to learn. (If I can somehow find the time to do it. Got a book to finish and return to the library. Plus my friend is plying me with really good books to read; but, hey, I'm nothing if not flexible. I've been known to read up to 4 books at the same time.). Anyhoo, I've already started listening to the Spanish CD yesterday. Kinda hard to follow without the book, so basically I have to sit with my hand on the keyboard, ready to rewind anytime I missed something. But that's ok. It's kinda fun when you think of it.

Plus, hopefully, I'll be able to watch El Mariachi without subtitles soon.

Women and work: The missing link discovered?

2004-03-29T22:44:00.000+08:00

I bumped into several girls that I knew in school over the last few weeks, and one thing that struck me was this: Those that are still in school has maintained their figure and look exactly the way I remembered them. But those who had graduated and are working have put on weight. And I don't mean a pound or two of flesh, I mean really putting in weight.

Please, indulge me. Let me give you one example. One of them is this girl who was a runner and a swimmer. She was a skinny little thing. Now, she's got double chin and an overhang (you know, like when your tummy dribbles over your waistband?)! Is it something that strikes women when they start working? Or is it some chemical thing that happens to them after a certain age and/or milestone has been passed? Or is it just the combination of stress plus ice cream/chocolate/insert-your-favorite-comfort-food-here?

This is a mystery to me and I aim to solve it, dammit!

Ladies, leave your thoughts, please. Tell me why this happens, and if this is a common thing or it just happens to my friends? Guys, does this happen to the girls you knew in school as well? Muchas gracias!

In the news...

2004-03-21T02:30:00.000+08:00

So, this week's been a pretty busy week for news. First, there's the mobilization of 700 troops (and 12 dogs!) to look for 3 fugitives in a small island off the coast of Singapore. Then, someone in the government decided to play hardball and kick someone they deem as a troublemaker out of the country.

But the most interesting thing this week is the Taiwanese elections.

President Chen Shui Bian was shot while campaigning yesterday (or the day before yesterday, depending on how you look at it). And today (or yesterday) was election day. I'm subscribed to news alerts on my mobile, so first I got an alert saying that Lien Chan (the opposition) is in the lead, then I've got one saying that insider sources in the Lien campaign said that Lien is going to concede the election and admit defeat. Forty minutes later, there was another alert saying that Lien is going to contest the results and move for the votes to be nullified. Twenty minutes after that, it turns out that although Chen won, the majority was not sufficient for a referendum to be passed on Taiwan's secession from China. Talk about drama! And this is the culmination of weeks of mudslinging by both sides.

Politics amuse me. Politicians even more so.

Well? What are you waiting for? :P

2004-03-21T01:57:00.000+08:00

P.S.: I'm still available! Haha.... :P

I believe my mouse is possessed

2004-03-16T23:29:00.000+08:00

That's right, boys and girls, my mouse is possessed. A few weeks ago, I bought an optical mouse for use at work, because the one that came with my workstation sucks big time.

I have come to rue that decision ever since.

The mouse has a positively disturbing tendency to move the cursor around on its own, especially if you weren't holding it. This has made life very difficult, to say the least.

But then again, I did get the accursed thing for $14. So I guess you get what you pay for, huh?

I think the mouse just winked at me. Oh dear God! It knows! If something happens to me, let this be my explanation of what happened.

I better get back to work and pretend that everything's alright.

It's staring at me through that evil, malicious red eye again....

Angels With Broken Wings...

2004-03-15T01:50:00.000+08:00

Your wings are BROKEN and tattered. You are
an angelic spirit who has fallen from grace for
one reason or another - possibly, you made one
tragic mistake that cost you everything. Or
maybe you were blamed for a crime you didn't
commit. In any case, you are faithless and
joyless. You find no happiness, love, or
acceptance in your love or in yourself. Most
days are a burden and you wonder when the
hurting will end. Sweet, beautiful and
sorrowful, you paint a tragic and touching
picture. You are the one that few understand.
Those that do know you are likely to love you
deeply and wish that they could do something to
ease your pain. You are constantly living in
memories of better times and a better world.
You are hard on yourself and self-critical or
self-loathing. Feeling rejected and unloved,
you are sensitive, caring, deep, and despite
your tainted nature, your soul is
breathtakingly beautiful.

Image is a painting by Natalya Nesterova,
source:ca80.lehman.cuny.edu/.../
images/fallen_angel.jpg

*~*~*Claim Your Wings - Pics and Long Answers*~*~*
brought to you by Quizilla

I feel so naked today

2004-03-05T23:36:00.000+08:00

I'm experiencing the early stages of mobile phone withdrawal syndrome. I forgot to take my phone with me today and it's shaping out to be a pretty bad day for me.

What's worse is that I'm expecting a couple of phone calls and/or SMSes today.

You know how they say you won't miss it till it's gone? Well, they could easily have been talking about mobile phones.

At least I still have my PDA...

Critical Update?

2004-02-15T00:49:00.000+08:00

Microsoft announced some time ago that it's providing a removal tool for the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font because it contains 2 swastikas. The odd thing is that it didn't mention that the font also contains the Star of David which is part of the font.

Hmmm...

But the weirdest thing is that now it qualifies as a critical update. I mean, c'mon. Why the need to make it mandatory to remove the whole font? There's more meaning to the swastika than as a symbol for the Nazi movement. And who's supposed to find it offensive? Jews who are pissed off that the swastikas are in the same font with the Star of David? Or skinheads who are pissed off because the Star of David is in the same font as the swastikas?

Makes you think, dunnit?

Hooray for technology

2004-02-14T00:14:00.000+08:00

I am using my PDA to write this. (Notice how it says "write" and not "type"). Avantblog is awesome.

As for why I have a PDA, that's an interesting story. My brother is leaving for Melbourne (Australia, in case you were wondering) to study medicine. He used to own this PDA, but as of 2 nights ago, it's mine. Thing is, he hardly ever used it, other than as an MP3 player, so I finally convinced him to let me have it. (Since he won it in a lucky draw, anyway).

Hopefully, this means I'll be posting more often. But first of all, I need to figure out how to make sure the PDA doesn't get confused between "O" and "G", "E" and "S", "B" and "R", "P" and "D", etc.

(In case you're interested, my PDA is a Sony Cli� PEG-T665C/G running Palm OS(R) 4.1 on a Dragonball(TM) Super VZ 66MHz).

Gainfully employed, once again

2004-02-01T20:09:00.000+08:00

This last week has been a little crazy, folks, lemme tell ya. Well, to be exact, it's the last two days of the week that's absolutely nuckin' futs. The first few days were just normal. But I'm rambling on! Anyhoo, on Thursday around 5.00 p.m., someone from some staffing company I never even heard of called me up, gave me a phone interview and told me that a company's interested me and asked if I was available the next day for an interview. So I said, sure, why not? He promised to try to call me later on in the day, but he didn't. So no big loss, I thought.

The next day, the same fella called me. Asked me a few more questions, and told me the interview is on at 4.00 p.m. He also told me that the company in question is a Japanese-based multinational. So I went for the interview, and 5 minutes into the interview, they practically hired me on the spot. They wanted me to start straight away (3 Feb, Tuesday. Monday's a public holiday here), and to drop by the office to sign some papers on Tuesday before I started working.

It's not exactly the job that I would've chosen for myself (yet another programming job), but like I told my mom and my friends, a job's a job, y'know? So, well, it's the exposure that counts. Being a consulting firm, it means that I'll have plenty of chances to deal with people from different companies plus it's a big company, so it's all good.

I only hope I don't need to give the staffing company any money....

Ain't that the truth!

2004-01-27T01:33:00.000+08:00

"There's the truth, and then there's the truth you wouldn't tell in front of your drinking buddies."
-- Taken off some website

Oh, by the way, check out Neorest, the Rolls Royce of toilets.

Major case of disconnect

2004-01-20T22:41:00.000+08:00

I've been having problems with my DSL connection. It's been disconnecting extremely regularly every 2 hours, which is annoying to say the least.

Tech support isn't much help, and I've tried everything I can think of to fix it, but no such luck.

So if you're having the same problem and/or know of a solution, drop us a line or leave a comment eh?

Vegas Weddings

2004-01-19T06:51:00.000+08:00

"You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on."
-- Dean Martin

Here's an interesting article about Vegas Weddings. It's bloody hilarious, and a great way to start (or end, or take a break from) your day.

Enjoy! :P

A Thousand Marbles

2004-01-19T06:36:00.000+08:00

Here's something that someone sent to me. One of the better e-mail forward thingies.

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement ham-shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it. I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net.

Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital" he continued. "Let me tell you something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."

And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years. "Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays."

"I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear."

"Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

The Microsoft Saga

2004-01-19T06:35:00.000+08:00

[Act I: The News]
Friend calls me saying that he may have a job for me. "I've recommended you for the position and I told them that you're my first choice for the job."

[Act II: The First Waiting]
Waited for more than one month before they finally called me.

[Act III: The Call]
+ "Can you come down for an interview on the 5th?"
- "The 5th sounds good."
+ "The 5th it is then. Morning or afternoon?"
- "Afternoon."
+ "OK then. We'll see you on 2.00 p.m. on the 5th."
- "Thanks."

[Act IV: The Pre-Interview Jitters]
"Oh my God.... What if I screw it up?!"

[Act V: The Interview]
To self: "I thought there was supposed to be only one interviewer? And why are they teaming up on me like this? Ohgodiamsonervousiamsonervousiamsonervous."

"OK. If you pass this round, the next round will be sometime next week." (With very strong emphasis on "if").

[Act VI: The Second (And Worse) Waiting]
"Dammit! Why was I so fecking nervous? I'm never gonna get past the friggin' first round!"

[Act VII: The Rejection]
+ "Hey, have you heard anything about the job? I haven't heard from them yet and it's Thursday. Is that bad? I'm not sure if i should start worrying yet or if I should wait another week."
- "Hey, I'm afraid it's bad news. They're having the final round of interviews today and you didn't get in. They said you were too nervous during the interview."
+ ("Yeah, tell me something I don't know.") "Oh well.... Dammit!"
- "Sorry, bro. Don't worry, just because they don't think you're qualified for this job doesn't mean you're not qualified for other jobs. I'll keep you posted."
+ "Thanks, man. Lemme know if you hear anything. Sorry for letting you down."
- "Hey, man, don't worry about it."
+ "OK. Well, thanks."
- "Yeah, thanks."
*click*

Farewell

2004-01-19T06:23:00.000+08:00

On 27 Dec '03, my family comitted the ashes of four relatives to the sea: my grandparents on my mother's side; my aunt, who's my mom's youngest sister; and my cousin, the youngest daughter of the aforementioned aunt. The day started with an early morning mass in Bandung (Here, here, and a hand-drawn map here). After which we retrieved their ashes from a colombarium maintained by the church, and drove up to Jakarta. Thankfully, the roads weren't too crowded with traffic and we arrived in Jakarta in relatively short time.

We did it off the coast of one of the islands in Pulau Seribu (literally, Thousand Islands) (More info here and here). My uncle, the widow of said aunt, chartered a boat for us. He's a marine engineer, and I think the boat belongs to his company. The coordinates, if you're interested, is: South 05� 57.135, East 106� 51.129.

Incidentally, Pulau Seribu is a relatively well-known diving and deep-sea fishing spot.

Later on in the evening, we had mass at another aunt's house, after which there was a reminiscence session friends and relatives who were there related their memories and anecdotes about them, and the letters from those who couldn't be there were read. Most of them was about my grandad, who died when I was 9, just when I was old enough to begin to realize what a wonderful person he was. And listening to the others speak of him, I realized that he was a greater man than I could have possibly known.

And for the first time in years, I cried.

Regretting that I never had the chance to really know him.

Regretting that he died before I was old enough to understand him.

But that's the thing about regrets, isn't it? It doesn't solve anything. And I guess the best I can do is to try to live up to his ideals so that when I'm gone, people will remember me just as they remember him.

So long, you guys. I'll miss you, and I'll always remember you.

Travel(Horror)ogue

2004-01-19T04:26:00.000+08:00

Date: 14.12.2003

[Time: 08.30 AM SGT]
Woke up late. Dammit.

[Time: 09.30 AM SGT]
Reached WTC just in time to check in. Couldn't find passengers I was supposed to help check in as a favour for parent's friend.

[Time: 09.50 AM SGT]
Turns out they've already gone inside.

[Time: 10.10 AM SGT]
Ferry pulls out of harbor, a little late as usual.

[Time: 11.00 AM SGT (10.00 AM Local)]
Reached Batam. Got into waiting van for ride to airport. Chatted with aforementioned fellow passengers, Americans from Florida, father and 13-year-old youngest daughter.

The father works for CalTex Indonesia and is in charge of all their labs in Duri (Map) and has three degrees in Chemistry. Explained how I nearly failed Chemistry in my final year of High School.

[Time: 11.30 AM SGT (10.30 AM Local)]
Reached Hang Nadim International Airport, Batam. 2nd van carrying luggage (fellow passengers has 36 pieces(!) of luggage) is late. Turns out that van is prone to overheating and cannot go beyond a fairly sedate 40-60 km/h. Driver asked me to explain this to the Americans, which I did.

[Time: 12.00 PM SGT (11.00 PM Local)]
All checked in and ready to go. Turns out that my name was somehow removed from the list, which explains heated argument between travel agent and counter staff. Which also explains why I'm Mr. R. Duane on my boarding pass.

[Time: 12.30 AM SGT (11.30 AM Local)]
Flight was supposed to leave Batam at 12.00 PM Local, but still hasn't landed yet. Fellow passenger starting to worry.

[Time: 1.00 PM SGT (12.00 PM Local)]
Time to take off and still no plane. Fellow passenger starting to complain.

[Time: 1.15 PM SGT (12.15 PM Local)]
Official-looking man came into boarding lounge to make an announcement. Turns out the plane was delayed out of Jakarta and just took off minutes ago. Flight will be delayed to 3.00 PM Local. Also that all passengers on that flight has a free lunch at the airport restaurant. Fellow passenger starting to really bitch now.

[Time: 1.30 PM SGT (12.30 PM Local)]
Had a fairly decent lunch of rice with beef rendang and cassava leaves in coconut gravy. I really missed Indonesian food.

[Time: 2.00 PM SGT (1.00 PM Local)]
Back in boarding lounge.

[Time: 2.30 PM SGT (1.30 PM Local)]
Official-looking man is back with another announcement. All passengers for Lion Air flight to Pekanbaru to move to boarding lounge at other end of airport, because the plane's gonna be parked at that gate instead of where we are now. Fellow passenger's bitching becomes more vehement.

[Time: 2.45 PM SGT (1.45 PM Local)]
Settled into new boarding lounge.

[Time: 3.00 PM SGT (2.00 PM Local)]
Plane's finally landed. Hooray!

Just looked up from my book and looked left. Saw a Buddhist monk with mobile phone in hand and hands-free earpiece in ear chatting with another person. I thought they were supposed to have a vow of poverty or something?

[Time: 3.15 PM SGT (2.15 PM Local)]
Plane is unloading cargo.

Looked up from my book again and looked up. Opposite me is mother and intelectually-challenged daughter, probably mid-20s and about 200 kilos. Said daughter glowered at me with what I can only call a malicious fatness. Imagine being stared down by Jabba the Hutt after you've referred to his mother's mating habits and you'll have an idea of what I mean.

[Time: 3.30 PM SGT (2.30 PM Local)]
Plane is still unloading cargo. Jaysus! If you're going to take in so much cargo on a passenger flight, why don't you just open a freight airline instead of a passenger airline, dickheads?

Jabba the Hutt still staring at me with unmitigated hate. What the fuck did I do?

[Time: 3.45 PM SGT (2.54 PM Local)]
Boarding call. Fina-fuckin'-ly!

[Time: 4.00 PM SGT (3.00 PM Local)]
Plane finally took off.

[Time: 4.30 PM SGT (3.30 PM Local)]
Landed in Sultan Syarif Qasim II Airport, Pekanbaru. Proceeded to arrival lounge where Mom and Cousin are waiting. Turns out that fellow passenger knows Mom's cousin who works at same installation.

I never check in any luggage, so we go straight to our car and went home. Drew oath from Mom to never ever book me on a Lion Air flight again.

[Time: 5.00 PM SGT (4.00 PM Local)]
Settled into my room and unpacking. When I should've been doing that 3 hours ago. Anyhoo, back home now, nothing much left to do except check email every day to see if any prospective employers have dropped me an email. Oh, and also enjoy time at home.

I know, I know

2004-01-19T03:33:00.000+08:00

Yes... I know I haven't been updating in a long time.

Well, get ready. I'm about to write down everything that I've meant to write (and never really got around to until now).

Wisdom comes suddenly (and painfully)

2003-11-23T12:32:00.000+08:00

So, it's been roughly 2 weeks since I quit my job. And oddly enough, my wisdom tooth suddenly decided to grow and break through the gumline on the night after I quit. One of my former colleagues thinks that it probably means that quitting the job was the wisest decision I've made in my life so far. I prefer to think that I've gone away from the job wiser than I ever was before in my life.

Whatever.

Anyhoo, just for a quick update, I know I complained before about how my (former) boss wasn't going to pay me. But they did, in the end. And that was the end of that.

So, what have I been doing with all my free time, you say? Nothing much, really. Looking for a new job, watching movies, reading, playing games, etc., etc. In other words, just bumming around.

Oh, and I did this on the night I quit. It was the most fun I've ever had in a long time. :P

Regrets

2003-10-16T22:23:00.000+08:00

Dammit!

*slaps forehead*

*kicks self in the ass*

ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Misery loves company

2003-10-11T04:56:00.000+08:00

Met a friend of mine today, whom I haven't seen in a while, and had a nice long talk.

It's good to know that there are others out there who are as miserable, pissed off and disgruntled as I am.

I know I shouldn't feel that way, but I guess I'm just jaded....

Anyway, 26 days to go.

The Governator

2003-10-10T14:11:00.000+08:00

Well, well, they've got Governor Arnold "I'll Be Backed" Schwartzenegger in California now. And despite the major attacks on his campaign, too.

Just speaks volumes about the power of fandom eh?

Now, Californians are gonna have to learn to pronounce his surname (and spell it, too!)

"And now, I would like to welcome Governor Schwartzne... Schartze... Governor Arnie."

:P

BlogBack is awesome.

2003-10-09T23:35:00.000+08:00

'Nuff sed.

(Thanks, PJ!)

And for my next trick... I shall run faster than a speeding bullet!

2003-10-09T23:31:00.000+08:00

Jeezus H. Christ!

It's not as if the deadlines were not already ridiculous before, but this really takes the cake.

*sigh*

There goes another weekend...

Worse, my boss is trying to stiff me again before I leave. Saying that under labour laws annual leave is not an entitlement, and that I'm not entitled to clear my leave nor to be compensated for not being allowed to do so. And when I showed her what the labour laws really say, she said that she's dissapointed in me because I actually went and checked up on it.

I mean, c'mon, seriously! Haven't you guys stiffed me enough already?

On another note, met up with PJ and some of the other MASIG people again... finally! :p

Oh, and did I tell you that Firebird rocks? Oh, and Thunderbird is awesome as well.

So long Internet Explorer! So long Outlook Express! I've got a new love in my life now!

I've got a song in my heart...

2003-10-07T08:29:00.000+08:00

And a spring to my step.

Quake in fear, Redmond...

2003-09-30T23:42:00.000+08:00

For the Firebird has arrived!

Well, kind of. The latest milestone build was 0.6.1, and it's still got some bugs and some unfinished features. But man, even at this stage of development, it's already very impressive. When it reaches the release stage, I'm willing to bet it's gonna blow IE out of the water.

My favourite feature? No more whack-a-mole!

So go on, love yourself a little: Go download this nifty application. It'll be the best thing you've ever done for your PC (and for yourself). ;)

Thanks for ruining my mood for the whole day...

2003-09-10T13:27:00.000+08:00

Bastard.

I feel cheated.

2003-09-07T22:53:00.000+08:00

For two weeks I've been trying to get a glimpse of Mars, but no dice. The weather's been so cloudy and smoky that I can't even see the moon! Even on the day that Mars was supposed to be nearest! And then a coupla days ago, I can finally see the moon. But guess what? That's right, no Mars to be seen.

This sucks.

What?! Not another one...!

2003-08-25T23:30:00.000+08:00

Micro$oft just announced yet ANOTHER security flaw in Windows.

At the rate this is going, I'm seriously thinking of downgrading my home PC to Windows 98 SE... Or better yet, upgrading to linux.

'Course, I'll miss the games that I can play on Windows. And also the fact that linux doesn't have a decent port of QuickTime player, and considering that most trailers are in .mov format, this is quite a drag. (If anybody reading this knows of a decent linux app that plays .mov files, lemme know here. Cheers.).

Anyhoo, that's what you have dual-booting for, right? I've been telling myself that I'm gonna setup my PC for linux-readiness, but until now, I still haven't done so. Mostly because there still isn't a really easy way to do Windows-based things on a linux machine, even if you have a dual-boot system. The best, of course, is still rebooting.

Another peeve I have is that there's no package out there that allows you to write to your other OS's partition. Reading is fine (with explore2fs for reading my linux partition from windows and kernel-ntfs for windows from linux), but I still haven't found one that supports writing yet, even in root mode. Even though I did an smbmount with rw permissions and the proper mask set. Again, if anybody knows of something that does this (or if someone knows how to do it right so that it'll write as well, lemme know here. Thanks. :)).

And last, but not least, I still dunno how to get non-latin characters (read: chinese/jap/etc. characters) to display properly. Nor how to get non-latin input on linux. Which is why I still need to switch back to Windows at work now and again to do some work using Asian fonts.

Don't get me wrong, though. Despite all these things, I love using linux. It's fast and stable, which is more than what I can say for certain other OSs. :P

Anyhoo, until I've figured out how to do all these things without going back to Windows, I'll still keep using dual-boot.

Long live dual-boot! (What'll us on-the-fence-ers do without it? ;))

ouch

2003-08-05T12:36:00.001+08:00

Ow... Brain... leaking... out... through... nose....

X|

30 July 2003

2003-08-05T12:36:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Happy birthday to me.

Well, someone should care...

Vivid dreams

2003-05-24T23:37:00.000+08:00

Have you ever had a dream so real, that it stays with you for your whole life? The kind of dream that you can recall anytime you want, recalling every single detail, every single word, every single sensation, every single emotion? All the peoples, places & events?

* There was actually more here, but my connection died as I was posting it. I can't remember what I typed anymore, and it's probably best to leave it at that.

It has begun...

2003-03-20T12:29:00.000+08:00

Well, so Shrub ("little Bush", geddit?) has finally gone loco on Iraq.

So much for the efforts that a lot of people has made (NUS for Peace, Masturbate for Peace) to prevent it from happening.

Oh, well...

"May God have mercy on us all."
-- JFK, and many other US Presidents upon announcing that the US is going to war.

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

2003-02-28T20:51:00.000+08:00

You are a Dubliner.

What's your Inner European?
brought to you by Quizilla

Random Thoughts

2003-02-28T20:50:00.000+08:00

man... you know, you realize something when you're still at work after most everybody has left and you have a FREE ticket to a party for that day.

a li'l background:

anyway, the story is, i was with my brother last sunday in orchard
we were walking towards heeren for dinner after visiting a relative at mt. elizabeth's hospital.

you know how they always have this open area for promotions and events and stuff next to heeren?
these people were doing it there, and i got accosted by the emcee :P
long story short, i got "coerced" into participating in a game (blow a baloon and see whose pop first), lost, but got a free ticket anyway :P

The Verdict (Continued)

2003-02-24T03:16:00.000+08:00

No late nights.

No watching movies until 6.00 a.m.

The only good thing is that you have a steady source of income.

No sitting in cafes sipping on a nice cuppa and enjoying the view.

No...