Life Sucks

Many nations have tried and failed to expand from their shores to conquer the rest of the world. Genghis Khan reached only China, the European fared better - dominating East Asia through some sort of alliance. Japan of course was a bit more ambitious and tried to do it by might. When they failed to win the world through their military, they set about doing it with their money. Central to all this? China. Yes in every single major world war that was fought or major conquest, China was inevitably the victim no 1. Japan occupied China in World War 2 and the 8 nations somehow indirectly controlled China during the tail end of the Ching dynasty. So was it any surprised that China retreated from the world and closed itself off? Was it to hide so that no other nations can come after them again? Well, it seems to me like what they did was to do a tactical retreat and regroup and look at them now - they have turned the table on the whole world and conquered it without firing a single bullet!...

Tanjong Katong Road after Dunman Road in the direction of East Coast Road was supposed to receive a new lease of life and become just as popular as its more illustrious cousins East Coast Road and Joo Chiat Road but somehow along the way, it ended up a bit lost I think. Like the other 2 streets, it comprises mainly food outlet but there are many more coffeeshops and food courts and a sprinkling of dedicated food outlets including a Donut Empire, Punggol Nasi Lemak, 3 pizza outlets (Pizza Hut, Dominoes & Canadian). In the day, the place is bustling with students from the schools nearby but at night, it is a tad quiet with hardly any pedestrians. I like this English looking condominium. It always reminds me of those houses in Hugh Grant's movies like Notting Hill; Love Actually and Bridget Jones. There is this supermarket which boast of premium foodstuff but comes with a weird name. Do they think beggar can afford to buy the stuff there? We wanted to have dinner...

It is not my habit to forward those junk email which friends send everyday but once in a while I get a nice one and so I will share it here: Be confounded and confused by the English Language. Something to ponder for the day......... Just think about it......very interesting. THE BEAUTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE UNDONE We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes, But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes. One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, Yet the plural of moose should never be meese. You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice. If the plural of man is always called men, Then shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen? If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet? If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth? Then one may be that, and three would be those, Yet hat in the plural would ...

Toh Puay San & Stanley Yeo, a DPP and a University Don has written a paper arguing their case for decriminalizing Physician Assisted Suicide(PAS). Now that is something new especially coming from people who are supposedly on the side of the gahmen (although they were writing in their own capacity). Singapore already has the Advance Medical Directive (AMD) so do we need the PAS? And then there is Euthanasia. Of course in Singapore and in most part of the world, euthanasia is illegal but what if we extend the debate beyond PAS to euthanasia? So what is the difference between these 3? In YourSingapore, AMD is where a person " sign a legal document in advance to inform the doctor treating (in the event said person become terminally ill and unconscious) that he/she do not want any extraordinary life-sustaining treatment to be used to prolong the life ." The tricky part here is the word 'extraordinary'. Just who decide what is extraordinary? And isn't the doc...

2010: A father asked his 5 year old daughter: "Where does egg comes from?" Daughter: Chicken, of course. Daddy: Actually it's from the mother hen Fast forward 2030: A father asked his 5 year old daughter: "Where does egg comes from?" Daughter: Supermarket, of course. Daddy: Actually it's from a chicken. The mother hen lays the egg. Daughter: What is a chicken????

No if you are expecting a tirade against the foreigners in Singapore, this is the wrong place for it. Although it is true that sometime I really free like a tourist in my own countries what with the babels in the trains and the different color on the streets, I recognised that these people have a very important role to play in our society as they keep the wheel moving. Without them, where will we find the cleaners, the construction workers, the cooks or even the sales staff? Should we really be scare of these foreigners? Remember our forefathers were once like them too. However, if we don't want to be beaten on home turf by them, we need to bear in mind this warning by Adam Khoo otherwise we better be afraid, be very afraid or else.......

M's boss gave this box of beautiful cupcakes. Cupcakes, most of the time, are nice to look at but really not that great to eat cause of the icing sugars on top but these lot are home make and not bad at all.

I seriously don't understand what this obsession over somebody's sex life is about. Be it Tiger Wood, John Terry or Jack Neo, what they do or rather who they do it with in bed; is it anybody business? Is it worth the front page headline? Surely there are better news to report on? And the big hue and cry by the public? Come on, surely by now it should be no big shock to everybody that celebrities all over the world have looser moral than normal people (or maybe it get published more) and this has been going on since King Arthur's time. All this cry mother cry father about being a bad role model and loose moral. Since when did this people said they are role model? And loose moral? Let those who have no sins cast the first stone! I think the main thing is hate the sin, love the sinner. If they have done wrong and apologise for it, forgive and move on. Get a life. There are better things to do than writing and talking about who sleeping with who.

Thank God, the boy was found safe and sound at Clementi but exactly when and how he got there is still a mystery. At about 3 am while combing through Downtown East, his mum got a call from the police that he had been found and was in Clementi Police Station. Turned out he had somehow made his way there apparently without a single cent or an ezylink card on him. How did he get through in and out of the 2 MRT stations without anybody noticing? Fortunately for him, at around 2 am, he finally got hungry and walked up to a MacDonald outlet and asked for a Coke and Burger. The serving staff on realising that he had no money and couldn't respond to their other questions managed to coax him into the restaurant where they searched his bag and failing to find any ID called the police and fed him with a big cup of coke, chicken, burger and fries while waiting for the cops to arrive. Arising from this small incident, I am glad to have my faith in the goodness of the human heart restored. So ...

We watched movies and even read reports of lost children and somehow while we feel sad, it is not real and we can never feel the distress of the parents until it hits home like now. My nephew, Bryan Tan Ming Ming, 16 who is autistic went missing from school this afternoon and as of now is still missing despite a massive effort by relatives and friends looking all over the east. Ordinarily, a missing 16 years old boy is not really a cause for concern but because of his severe autism, he cannot communicates well and I think does not know how to buy food and drinks, if he has the money in the first place. For the same reason, he will not be able to find his way home even though from Metta School to his house in Tampines is just a short distance away. And by a quirk of fate, his ID tag went missing a few days ago and has yet to be replaced which means there is no way of identifying him. Just exactly what happened his parents are not sure. Between the teacher and school bus driver, some...

Maybe it is a sign of old age but it comes as no surprise that my favourite place for steak is a just as old steak house in an even older looking building in bustling Orchard Road.  Shashlik Restaurant is an old Russian theme Hainanese restaturant. Possibly one of only 2 Russian theme western food restaurant left here (the other one is in Serangoon Garden), it used to have ancient looking Hainanese gentlemen as serving staff. These gruff looking uncles would take your order without a smile and woe behold you if you have the audacity to walk in during dinner without a reservation. Now only 1 old uncle is left and the serving staff are now slightly more cheerful looking aunties. Still no sweet young thing but the people who goes there are not there to ogle at gals but to slurp down the wonderfully prepared and resonably priced food. Probably the most famous of their Russian theme food is the Borsch soup (centre picture). It is a smorgash of vegetables and beef. Throw in a dollop of...

This was a building that I feared going to a lot. Guess what it was? This photo was taken from the back not the usual front which faces Outram Road. And it used to be the Institute of Dental Health where we students were the guinea pigs for the nurses and trainee dentists! My most vivid memory of this place was one time when I was there for a tooth extraction. The nurse put 3 jabs into me and I could still feel the pain when she tried to extract the teeth. After I protested, she gave me another jab and tried again.  My God, the pain was excruciating and after another unsuccessful attempt, she finally gave up and asked me to come back another day! Just 2 buildings away is this church, Jubilee Presbyterian Church where I spent many weekends there during my school days. Most of my Christian classmates worshiped here and I follow suit. It was from this church that the now infamous Rony Tan came from. He left Jubilee to start Lighthouse Evangelism and I remembered...

As I trawled the internet for the latest on the Rony Tan saga, one thing strike me. On blogs and especially forums, the attacks come fast and furious. There are plenty of name calling, hate mail, flame and most of it were 1 way - towards Rony Tan and in many instances, Christianity and the churches. The response by Christians in contrast were more muted. And this remind me of the Aware saga where the takeover of  Aware became an attack on not just the challengers but on Christianity. Which is interesting. Where are the police reports filed against these people? Or is it alright to bash Christian but not alright for Christian to bash others? Or is it because Christian are perceived to be easy target (turn the other cheek?) and can be bullied? Or is it that Christians have made themselves so unpopular with their 'superior than thou' attitude and 'you sinners, we believers' mentality that they have become the boxing bag for everybody? But thankfully here in SG, Christi...