Three Weddings and a Funeral

Within a period of 6 weeks, attended 3 weddings and a funeral. The celebration of the beginning of a new life for 3 lovely couples and the celebration of the end of a long and wonderful journey for a nice old gentleman all have 1 thing in common - food.

The first wedding in late November was at the Hilton Hotel. The only thing I can remember about the food was that I can't remember a single dish we had that night. That was how normal the food is. Nothing special and nothing bad cos I sure can remember if it is was either.

The second wedding was a lunch last Sunday at the Marriot. The food like in all good hotel was good but not remarkably so but the whole experience was marred when while in the rest room, I saw a chef (in full uniform no less) came out of the toilet. We talking of the WC here and walked out of the toilet, presumably to the kitchen without washing his hand! Did he washed his hands subsequently in the kitchen? I sure hope so. Needless to say, I shot off a letter to the hotel which duly apologise 2 days later. Alamak - and I was hoping they will give a coupon for a free meal:(

The last wedding was just tonight at a traditional Chinese restaurant - the Happy Restaurant at Tanjong Katong. The whole place has been fully renovated since the last time I was there many years ago but other than the decor, nothing else has changed even though they tried to modernize a bite. Somehow, a procession of aunties marching to Kitaro doesn't make it! Alas, old habits die hard and at one stage the auntie was trying to squeeze 3 big plates of food on the table. And towards the end, they were clearing the tables before some of us have finish the food on the plate.

The best food surprisingly was at the traditional feast after the sending off. Even though it was only 4 in the afternoon, the food tasted damn good. Could it be because of the extra 'ingredients' added by the 2 cooks? Both of them were cooking with cigarettes dangling from their mouths and the previous few nights I had observed the ashes falling down while they were cooking. Yeech:(

Swensen Ice Cream Log Cake

I don't like log cake cos half the time they are too creamy.

But got this belated log cake from a vendor and it was heavenly. Combination of ice-cream and chocolate - what more can any one ask for!

Fat

Can't understand what is this Singaporean or is it a world wide obsession with being skinny. Read from a friend's blog that she haven't been exercising recently and is 'pui' liao. The last time I met here was like 3 over weeks ago and back than she was still skinner than this tekko uncle here. Unless she has been eating some supergrowth fish food I don't think she can grow from skinny to pui in less than 1 short month unless she is p..... hmm. And by the way I do think she need to put on some more weight.

Then there is this other girl I bumped into one afternoon at the hawker centre. Again she said she put on weight. Looking at her, I think a strong gush of wind will just blow here away.

Then there is this young lady who eats very little because yah she scare of putting on weight. And mind you, there is no way any body will call her chubby cos she's definitely skinny by any definition.

Finally there is M - she keep on insisting that she is fat! And I have to keep telling her that she can afford to put on another 2 - 3 kgs.

So ladies if you know who I referring to - u are all not fat. Go put on some more weight. The day you hear me calling you pui, than it's time to loose weight otherwise eat up!

Christmas

It's Christmas - the season of giving - gifts and more gifts. Looking at the crowd; the buzz in the malls, time must be good. Everybody seem to be shopping shopping like no tomorrow.

Duh but seriously I wonder how many especially the young knows what is Christmas?

To many, it is probably just another holiday - a nice holiday with gifts with Christmas trees, hollies, light up at Orchard and of course the jolly Santa. So for the record and the uninitiated, on Christmas we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. Maybe got some snow in Bethelem at that time but I am quite certain no Christmas trees and mistletoes.

Nevertheless, to everybody out there - have a blessed and merry Christmas; and Happy Holidays!

The Golden Compass

Got another email from a friend forwarding yet another warning not to watch the Golden Compass. This one came with a 10 pages PDF doc written by a local pastor. At least in this case, the writer appears to be more lucid and more analytical in his writing as compared to the earlier emails which was just parroting the warning from overseas. The main arguments against the movie however is still the same - that the movie promote the belief in atheism; that God is the source of evil and evil is the source of good???; glamorize evil, sorcery, violence, withcraft and steers children toward evil. The writer also rants against the author Phillip Pullman who is a self declared atheist and whose supposingly sole objective in life is to put down God. (Question - if one believe there is no God - then why does one need to keep on trying to destroy God?)

After reading the article, what is one supposed to do? I did the most logical things any kaypoh will do - I promptly went to watch the movie! And I hereby declared that I am now officially an atheist! No I kidding!

None of us came out from the movie agreeing that there was no God or that God was evil. In fact, throughout the show, there was nothing to indicate that the show was anti-God or anything like that. It was just a simple show about kids fighting a more powerful force using magic, witchcraft - like Harry Potter (oops that's another no-no show) so may be like Narnia. So what's the difference between The Golden Compass and Narnia? Both are about children using magic to fight evil and there are magical creatures (polar bear in GC & lion in N). So I guess ultimately, the difference boils down to who is the author - one a self proclaimed atheist and one a famous Christian. So would there be a hooha if the author of this book is a nobody or a Christian?

For those who goes to movies, movies are just movies - suspend all your belief. It may come as a surprise to some peopl but there is no superman; spiderman; Luke Skywalker; Harry Potter; etc etc. Just sit back with the popcorn and enjoy the movies for its entertainment value. Don't go reading anything more into the movie.

Finally it is not right to boycott a book over the author's belief or religion. There are many wonderful books written by Muslim, Buddhist and we need to broaden our knowledge by exposing ourself to a wide range of differing materials. There is no point in being an ostrich sticking his head in the sand and trying to ignore or will away everything that is against our belief.

19th Annivrersary

Celebrated our 19th Wedding (ROM) anniversary on Monday. Time really flies. Already officially married for 19 year (customary marriage 17th year) and the marriage is getting better and better. I guess like they say 'wine taste better as it aged'. Like any couples, we have our up and down over the years. She was always fearful that I will follow our family tradition and end up with an affair or 2 or worse more than 1 wifes but so far fortunately for her and unfortunately for me:) I prefer not to follow the trend.

As we both have to work, settled for a quiet dinner alone at Spageddies at Marina Square. Not the most romantic dinner but no choice - she has got tons of Christmas shopping to do for her office party and could not afford more time.

Tried the Pepperoni bread which is actually a pizza inside out. Quite nice.

I ordered the Seafood Sizzlelini which comes in a hotpot and filled with mussels, prawns, scallops and crayfish on top of spaghetti cooked in neapolitan sauce.

She has the Crispy Soft Shell Crab "Arrabiatta" which is soft shell crab cooked in black pepper over spaghetti in arrabiatta sauce. Not the most complementary mix though.

Life and Death

Today we cremated a person and celebrate the birthday of another.

This afternoon, we cremated a nice old gentlemen. Unlike most funerals we attended, this one surprisingly there were not much wailing and crying from the relatives. Not that he was not loved. In fact, he was much loved by most people. Even for us, who only see him at most thrice a year (his and his wife's birthday and CNY), he was always jolly and kind with a twinkle in his eyes, the type of old man that people want to hug and protect - not the typical nagging old man. So why no tears for a nice old man. He has 7 children and countless grandchildren and great grand children. I counted total of 63 names listed in the Chinese Obituary. He was not rich rich (as in wealth) just a humble hawker but what he was rich in was love - both for others and others for him. So I think the best send off we can give for this grand old man is not to shed tears but to celebrate his rich life. RIP Ah Kong!

Tonight we celebrated the birthday of Alvin. He is now officially 16, after lagging behind his classmates for almost the whole year, he has finally caught up:). I pretty proud of this boy. Yesterday he got an early birthday present - a good progress award from the MOE(?). So far he has turned out well. Not very brilliant academically, he made up for it by studying hard especially the past 2 years. Despite being almost 1 year in age behind his classmates every year, he has not allow this to put him down and in fact has done better than most of his classmates. He is also the responsible one in the house, feeding the fish when even I got lazy at times. He has willingly took up a job while waiting for his results rather than staying at home with his new toys. Now my only wish for him is that he will be more active in sports. Happy birthday boy!

Tokyo Diaries - The Trip

Day 1: Singapore - Japan

Dragged myself out of bed to go to the airport for the flight to Japan. Lucky thing, this time round no cramps so can walk properly. Even than, squeezed into the small little seat on the plane and stuck there for 7 hours, the legs were suffering and it was with relief that we finally touched down at Narita Airport the next morning.

Day 2: Narita - Akakusa - Kinugawaonsen

Managed to fumble our way and boarded the Keisei Skyliner to Akakusa in Tokyo. With only less than 5 minutes to spare to catch the next outgoing train, decided not to chance it and purchased tickets for a later train. Went for breakfast. Our fast real meal in Japan and what do we eat - MacDonald! Sheesh!

After 2 train rides and 4 hours later, we finally reached our first destination - Kinugawaonsen, a region famous for its Onsen which means hot spring. But it is early winter and temperature here is about 4 degree. Er how to bath in the hotspring in this type of cold? Anyway, after checking in, we took a bus to the Edo Village, a replicate of a typical village during the Edo or Tokugawa period. Cause we arrived in the early afternoon and it being winter where they close early at 4pm, we did not managed to see everything so it wasn't worth the admission price.

By 4 pm, the sky had started to turn dark and by 5 pm, it was dark as night. Back at the hotel, dinner was a buffet spread - nothing special to crow about. Next was my initiation into the Japanese public bath - suffice to say - one can get hooked to it. The hot steamy water + the jacuzzi soothed all the ache from my legs and was good therapy for washing all the aches of the marathon away.

Day 3: Kinugawaonsen - Zao

After another forgettable buffet breakfast, we set off for Zao - our main destination for this trip. Zao is supposed to be one of the premier ski resort in the country and we were not disappointed. Beautiful sceneries along the way and Zao itself causing us to forget the expensive journey (S$1,800.00 to hire the coach+driver for the 5 hours trip!). Temperature at Zao went below 0 degrees but still all the kids were happily chucking snow ball at each other.

Dinner was exquisite but than it has to be since the room was burning a pocket the size of S$600.00 per night.

After dinner - another trip to the Onsen and this time found out it is possible to walk around stark naked in freezing temperature and not feel cold:)

Day 4 - Day 5 - Zao

Tried our hand at skiing. But it is still early winter and the skiing schools has not open yet so we are left to play around with the skis and snowboard and bucket. Somehow the snow bucket was the easiest. Just sit in it and push off and zoom down the slope. Alicia took to the snowboard like a duck to water and was soon happily sliding down the slope. Everybody had a great time despite the tumble and fall.

Dinner both night was one after exquisite and beautifully arranged affair. This is the life!
More pictures of the food here

Another trip to the Onsen - told you it can get additive - this time to the outdoor volcanic onsen. This one is really bliss even though the sulphur smell was so strong. The sign there claimed soaking in it can cleanse the skin and make the skin smooth. No wonder the ladies are crazy over it. Even M went twice!

Day 6 - Zao - Tokyo: Akihabara - Ueno

Another S$2,200.00 to get the 18 of us back to Tokyo. Sigh... moving around in Japan is so expensive! (We have been warned by friends not to even try taking the taxi!).

Of all the place to stay, we stayed in Ginza - the most prime shopping area in the whole of Japan. Ginza is not comparable to our own Orchard Rd. In fact, our Orchard road is a slump compared to the Ginza! Just witness the size of the LV store. We don't even dare to go in!

In the evening, went over to Akihabara - supposingly the electronic centre of Japan. We walked into this store and it has 7 floors of electronics products + toys. My saliva was drooling at the sight of the Ultraman toys and monsters and Alvin of course got all excited at the gaming section. Er.. how come they got such a wide range of sexily dressed figurines?

From there, we move on to Ueno but by than it was too dark and most of the shops were closing which was a waste. There were many shops selling shoes with shelves after shelves of sport shoes from the major brands. Just wonder - are these for real?

Day 7 - Tokyo: Central Fish Market - Sea Life Park - Shinjuku - Ropponggi

First stop for the day is the Fish Market at Tsuggii where there is a wide range of fish - from tuna to all sort of crabs, shell fish, and exotic fish.
Alicia didn't want to see dead fish so we went to the Sea Life Park. Our train overshot the station or rather we took the wrong train and ended outside Disneyland. So now we can claim we went to Disneyland as well! Back to Sea Life Park where we saw tunas in captivity and many weird looking fishes include a fish with legs and wings (yes wings!)

From there, we made our way to Shinjuku. All of us were awestruck by the size of Isetan. We counted 4 separate buildings - one for the men, one for the ladies, one devoted just to cosmetics and got know what else! Takashimaya was just as huge - 12 storey high with floors after floors of branded goods.

In the evening - we moved over to Ropponggi - the nightlife centre of Tokyo but actually as we don't drink and pub, we didn't really enjoy it. Saw this shop promoting 'grass' or marijuana though. Was told later we should have gone to Ropponggi hill.

Day 8 - Tokyo: Harajuku - Singapore

Finally, after 7 days of freezing our butts off, we enter the last stretch - Harajuku in the morning. Unfortunately, there wasn't many of those kids that made Harajuku such a famous name. Went to the Meiji shrine and was lucky enough to catch a real wedding there. Also, the first sighting of Japanese women in Kimonos! Also, saw 3 separate long queues. Turn out the people are queuing up for some sale at some boutiques!

Bought takeaway lunch at a supermarket before we wind up the trip with a big big hole in the pocket but it was a wonderful experience and I think we all enjoyed it tremendously.

More pictures here

Eighteen Chefs

Went for mini carbo loading at Eighteen Chefs with the family.


Eighteen Chefs is a sort of outlet serving pasta, baked rice etc. It's main claim to fame is that it was run by an ex-convict and it's mission is not just to serve good cheap food but also serve as a job outlet for delinquent youths. Source: ST Stomp Foodies Club

We ordered the calamari rings, a mango salad, black pepper spaghetti; seafood aglio olio; and 2 student set which comes with a drink and ice-cream. The student set was either choice of baked rice or chicken sausage spaghetti in tangy tomato sauce. I felt the aglio olio was a tad too dry. Alicia didn't like the tangy tomato sauce. M liked the baked rice with minced beef but all agreed the black pepper spaghetti was the best.

Donut

Was at Novena Square and saw that there is a new Donut Factory outlet there. Which reminded me that on Sunday at the Suntec City outlet, I did not had to queue to buy the donuts.

With donut outlets sprouting all over; last count Donut Factory has 3; Summer House has 2; Missy 2 + 2 more opening soon; Munchy has the most with kiosks and counters in shopping mall and supermarkets I think the donut craze will very soon go the way of the cinnamon bun; Portuguese egg tarts; apple strudel; bubble tea and coffee bun.

May the best donut roll over all the others!

Er just for fun - do the poll on the right - in your opinion, who has the best donut?

Sinma Live Frog Porridge

Went with a few colleagues to Geylang. As some wanted to eat frog porridge and some wanted seafood, decided to compromise and went to this place that I have passed a few times but never went in before - Sinma Live Frog Porridge Seafood.

At 7pm, the place was not quite packed but there were a stream of people coming in. Crossed our fingers the food will be satisfactory and reasonably priced.

We ordered 3 frogs which comes with 2 free frogs + 1 porridge (for 3 persons). Cost $22.00. We also ordered the bamboo clam at $10 each; chilli crab after agonising over which version we wanted to try. Cost was $77.00 for 2 medium size Sri Lankan Crab. The waitress recommended the Prawn in bean paste sauce (7 for $48.00), their signature dish. We also have the Tiger Ribs which tasted real good. And no, it's not Tiger Rib but pork rib cooked with Tiger beer!

So cost of the meal shared among the 7 of us including 1 veg, mantou, rice, extra porridge and drinks was just around $36.00 per head which was very reasonable considering that the portion was pretty generous.

Price aside, all of us agreed the food was well done. Not too saltish and most of it uniquely cooked, I especially like the prawn which was big, tender, fresh and delicious. The Tiger Rib was interesting - a bit smoky and tender with a dash of spiciness. The Chilli Crab was so so - although the crabs which was supposed to be small was actually quite big. The sambal kangkong was hot and spicy - just right for all of us chilli lovers. The frog legs was quite normal and not very remarkable certainly not as good as the other one down the street but at 5 frogs for $22.00, it was certainly value for money.

Overall, couldn't mind going back again - especially for the prawn.

Anti-Christianity Movies

Got an email from a friend who had forwarded an email advocating/cajoling people (read Christian) not to watch the movie - The Golden Compass. The zealots are up in arms against it because it supposingly promotes atheism. Now I wondered how they got to this conclusion when the movie has not even premiere yet? They became expert just because they read the book or somebody said so?

This is not the first movie that got 'hit'. I remembered when the movie A1 first came out in 2001, a good friend was writing left/right/centre to every Christians she knows not to watch the show because it implies that robots can become human (or something like that) and therefore it steps on the Christian's belief that only God is the creator of human.

Then of course there is the famous Harry Potter. That time round when the first book came out, a number of churches got into the act and openly advise their congregation not to read the book or watch the movie - why because it promotes witchcraft! I found this out from my niece when she complained her mother refused to let her read the book or watch the movie.

More recently, we have the Da Vinci Code with its supposingly shocking and some say heretical view on the origin of Christ and His descendants.

Anyway, I have read the books and/or saw the movies (except for the Golden Compass) and am not persuaded by the arguments that these people have that there is anything prejudice against Christianity. At the end of the day, I think movie makers and authors are out to make money and the best way to make money is to court controversy. I doubt they have any hidden agenda other than that. The more the people protest, the more interest in the subject is generated and sales increases. So to all those who are making noise and passing judgement, lighten up and look at everything and take everything with a pinch of salt. May be this could also be a good time to test whether your faith can withstand this sort of propaganda (if there really is one in the first place).

To end, I let the reply from my friend who forwarded me the email on the Golden Compass says it all:

Quote:

"anyway, all these hype will only certainly do one thing, create awareness or attention (necessary or unnecessary is another story).....

i strongly believe what said in Romans 8:28.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[a] who[b] have been called according to his purpose.

Can be a good conversation piece to start sharing the good news!" unquote

That's the spirit!

Growing Up

Alvin starts work today (albeit temporary work). So fast.. it was like not so long ago that we see him going to Primary 1 and then Sec 1. Now he has completed his 'O' levels. Time really flies.

is premlim results are so so - his chances of going into a JC in the East side is pretty slim. Somehow, all the better JCs are cluster in town and in the East. He is just 1 point off his L1R5 for Tampines JC (which seems to be the lousiest JC in the East). He can make it to others like Yishun, Jurong etc but those are so far away. Ultimately, I think better for him to go straight to poly. That way, he don't have to go through Chinese. Like father like son. Same weakness. Ha ha.

This morning was joking with M that in a blink of an eye, next things we know, he will be getting married and she will become a young grandma. Another 10 years or less?

I Spy ~ Mucus Flying

Place: City Hall - MRT escalator going downward.

Character: A man in his sixties.

Scene:

He blew his nose. The snot and mucus flew out. Good for him - he covered his nose with his hand - Bare hand.

He tried to flick whatever in his hand into the dustbin next to the escalator. Did he succeed?

Then he placed his hand (yes the same hand) on the handguard of the escalator.

And no - he didn't wipe his hand before that.

I never ever going to hold another escalator's handguard forever!

Asia Civilisation Museum

Managed to find some time to go down to the Asia Civilisation Museum at Empress Place over the weekend with the family. There is an exhibition on Buddhism. The exhibition traces the journey of the monks, Faxian, Xuanzang, Yijing as they travel from China to India via the Silk Road. It features the Buddhist sights that they might have seen along the way. Also the various different Buddhist artifacts of the different regions and countries from China, South Asia and South East Asia.

Unfortunately, for security reasons (or so it say outside the main exhibition hall), no photography allowed and we had to hand over the camera and even handphones so couldn't take any photos inside. Not sure what they paranoid about? Understand the no photography rule cos flash can be very distracting but 'security'? What do they think visitors will do to the antiques with their cameras?

Anyway, still managed to take some photographs in the other halls where photography is allowed.

There a Sucker born every minute

Today newspapers' had some interesting reports.

First one was a lady who got conned in one of those lucky draw scam that is so common nowadays. Now if it is some illiterate old folk, I might understand but this one is a teacher! I don't understand how she got conned putting sum after sum of money in the hope of getting the lottery windfall. She claimed she is not greedy but just trusting - so trusting that she dumped a total of $60,000.00! She also claimed she has not heard about this scam. Come on - where has she been all this while? If this is the calibre of teacher we are turning out - I fear for our kids! But I think her competency is not in question here - I think at the end of the day, although she denied it, she was just plain greedy - like thousand of others who got suckered daily in to one of the many quick rich schemes.

Than there was the report of people paying for a Malaysian physiotherapist to cane them. I guess when it comes to one health, any thing for a quick cure. There is the magnetic bed, magic bracelet and the list goes on. Which is also why people have been conned into paying big bucks for noni juice, wheatgrass and now mangosteen juice. Surely it is much cheaper to just buy the fruit and juice it instead of paying like $80.00 for a bottle of juice!

Finally, a report about a man who slipped into bed with his best friend's wife and the lady claimed she didn't realised it was not her husband and ended up having sex with him. A similar case was also reported in a Malaysia's paper recently. I think if a lady doesn't even know how her hubby looks or feel like in the dark and in bed - something must be wrong some where with their relationship. Most likely, she was just pure frisky!

I can never understand how people get conned so easily. I think where it comes to money and health, people will do anything to get them. I guess this people will never learn that there's no short cut to wealth or health and if they conned - they certainly deserve it!

Oh by the way, I charged only $10.00 for those who want me to cane them. Free cane to bring home after the canning. Any takers?

Botak Jones

Since we were in Toa Payoh, decided to go to the new Botak Jones outlet there for dinner. Had a little bit of difficulty locating the place. Eventually found it inside a JTC industrial factory next to SPH.
There were a few other stalls but unlike other factory canteen with the usual local food stalls, other than the Botak Jones outlet, there was a pizza stall, a Thai, a Japanese, and a cake stall as well as a beer garden. It seems like they has taken over the whole factory canteen.

The food took almost an hour to come. And the portion was big. We ordered 1 barbecue chicken, 1 cajun chicken, 1 tenderloin steak and 1 fish and chip & a salmon steak. All the food came with a huge heap of spicy French Fries and an extremely big portion of coleslaws.

The advertisement promised good food at cheap price but except for the fish and chip and the chicken, the rest were will not exactly cheap. They cancelled the tenderloin and replaced it with the ribeye subsequently and that 200gm piece of meat cost $34.00 comparable to normal steak house. The meat was rather tender and soft though. The fish was good - in fact very good. But overall, didn't think it was worth the long wait.
Cajun Chicken
Ribeye Steak
Fish & Chips
Salmon Steak
Barbecue Chicken
The pizza at the next stall looks good though. Might just go back there to try that.

Cat Killer

This mad guy arrested and jailed twice for abusing or should I say torturing cats have been arrested a third time - again for torturing another kitten. The newspaper reported that a neighbour who had set up a group to watch over him had initially stopped him from bringing the kitten home but was dissuaded by well meaning neighbours who wanted to give him a "chance". And who was going to give that poor little kitty a chance!

As for this guy, notwithstanding that he may be a mental case - for the protection of the cats and dogs out there and maybe even children (if he moves on to bigger things to abuse!) a jail term is not going to help. Jailing him is not going to cure him of his 'affliction'.

A better solution is to put him in IMH for long term treatment.... hmm but then again a far far better solution might be to put him in a room filled with a lot of cats...and I not talking about little kitties here but big cats.. lion, tiger, leopard, puma, cheetah... and let him have a taste of his own medicine! That would probably cure him of his problem once and for all!

About Gays

So the gahmen has as expected refused to make any changes to Section 377A. "Whew" I can hear the sigh of relief from all the conservatives and religious groups. "What the %#*^#!" This is probably the words coming out of every gays here and all over the world who are following the scene being played out here.

While I claim to be liberal and prefer to live and let live, I am getting very uncomfortable with the stance and the noise coming from the pro camp. I have no quarrel with people who choose to live their lifestyle differently. I also understand why they are pushing for society to accept them but what I don't understand is why are the non-gays fighting so aggressively for them? It is one thing for people to want to lead alternative lifestyle but to enlist the help of others in society to help them with their cause?

Just yesterday there was this news about a group of SMU students who are doing a booklet on gays. All the students claimed to be 'normal'. Then there are the numerous artistes and people in the circle who have been actively speaking out (and very loudly too) for their gay friends. Even a NMP has stepped in to speak up for them. It will be a sad day if the voices of the vocal minority become so loud that their voices and opinion becomes 'public opinion' and their position are accepted openly into society. God forbids that we were ever to sink so low as to have gays bars, gay only clubs or worse have gay marriages!

They choose their life and they should not expect other people to openly embrace them. For those fighting for them, I think there are better and more better causes to root for - like say the environment, poverty, child prostitution.

Exam Panic

The furore over the PSLE papers is still ongoing. Every year it is the same. Some kiasu parents will write to the press to complain this or that question is too difficult and their precious darling don't understand the question and is stressed and therefore cannot do well.

Do these parents really think that their little baby will continue to get full marks for every papers they sat for? Come on.. wake up.. this is the real world. Where in the world is exam suppose to be easy? Exams are set at a wide range of difficulty to weed out the good and the not so good - so if the poor child don't understand - it's simply mean the little fella is not up to that standard yet! Don't blame the setters, the teachers or anything. Just accept it and move it.

And for those kids who freaked out over a few tough questions, time for them to be sent to boot camp to be toughen up!

And who am I to criticize? Having put 2 kids through the PSLE and 1 now sitting for the 'O' level, let me state that it's not the end of the world if the children cannot answer every questions and consequently cannot get the 7 or 8 As or whatever.

Let the kids grow up and cope with life's nook and crannies and don't shelter them from all the storms. They will come out stronger and better for it regardless of what results they get and which schools they eventually get to.

Office

At last I see the light:)

A Little Bit of Nostalgia

Went with the ladies after the race to Red Star Restaurant at Chin Swee Road for dimsum. Can't really remember whether I had been there before, maybe neons ago when policeman wore shorts?

The place looks typically like a what else - chinese restaurant of course. But one of the few places left here that still serve dim sum from a trolley cart. Quite quaint. The dim sum was not too bad - the long queue at the door can't be that wrong and it was pretty reasonably priced - we had 17 dishes including 1 pipa duck and it costed only about $78.00 which works out to only $15 per pax.

After that, went over to Keong Siak Road in Chinatown. Keong Saik Road as most people know was and still is one of Singapore's most famous red light areas.According to Ah Roo, it is also now one of the happening hangout place for gays. But broad daylight nothing to see except some extra-large door signs. Maybe should come back one of the evening to catch the excitement?

We had coffee and kaya toast at a dingy coffee shop which had a newspaper article proudly proclaiming 'One of the top 10 places for kopi'. I beg to differ though. Give me my CMC coffee and kaya bun anytime!

Section 377A

This section has gathered a lot of interest.

Hot on the heel of the petition to repeal Section 377, there is now an opposing camp with their own petition.

Last count @ 19 October 2007 1.00 pm there are 1420 petitions against repealing Section 377 and 6423 for. No prize for guessing who's going to win right?

Fortunately for the losing camp and unfortunately for the pro number, this is not a number game. Ultimately our dear gahmen will decided and I can bet you my retired Nike that Section 377A is not going to be repelled.

Time is not ripe yet. But it will come. Matter of time.

And which side am I on? The silent majority or the vocal minority?

Ultimate Singapore Food Song

For all lovers of Singapore food - this has got to be the ultimate food anthem.




Click to play.

Imagined Image

The Net is now literally ablaze with talk of the image of Pope John Paul II appearing in a bonfire in Poland, the home country of the Pope. Apparently, the Vatican has taken it so seriously that it has send a Priest to investigate. More about it here


Looks like the real thing? Right?

Back home, we have our very own monkey spirit in the tree + a few other that cropped up soon after resembling various spirits and deities.
Photo from Society of Paranormal Investigator website.
See the resemblance? Is it our imagination or the real thing?

How about cloud images? Which one of us have not seen images perceived or otherwise in the cloud? What do you see in this cloud?


Fire, tree, clouds, even bread and cheese - er how about fruits?
This one quite obvious but I shall leave it to your imagination. Ha Ha!

Asia Chamber Building

Asia Chamber building was the building that M worked in for what - the past 15 years before they moved over to MAS building? It is just 3 buildings away from my own office and when the first barrier came up, a colleague had jokingly said - better not to walk too close in case debris from the demolition crashed through.

Discovered that the poor chap who was crushed to death athere last week was M's sister's husband's god-brother. Everybody said it's his fate. Just like the 'hero' who died in the Nicoll Highway collapse. Coincidentally, he is known to M's family as well. He was a classmate of M's brother and a good friend of the family.

Should I said small world? Hmmm.... maybe there is a connection somewhere?

Otto Fong - coming out

A NMP in a Singapore first, is going to present a Parliamentary Petition to repeal Section 377A. Section 377A states that it is a crime for men to have sex with each other, whether in public or in private. This follows the coming out of Otto Fong, a teacher in a famous boy's school. Then there is this online campaign to get signatories for an open letter to the PM to repeal Section 377A.

Mr Fong's came clean in his blog, which incidentally has now been deleted ostensibly by order of either the school or the good people from MOE in return for keeping his job. Apparently, he came out because he was much encouraged by MM Lee who in April this year called homosexuality a “genetic variation”, questioning the validity of criminalising gay sex. The blog may have been deleted but his post can still be found all over the net. Try this or this.

While I admired his courage and guts in coming out, I strongly felt that what he has done in coming out is totally wrong.. and I am not talking about his losing his job, friends and relatives.

His sexual preference is his own. However, as a teacher charge with leading young impressionable teens with raging hormones, what type of message will he be sending across to these boys? Teachers like religious leaders set the example and lead the way for their students/followers. In a boys school where there is no female students, I can't imagine the confused thoughts running through students' head each time they form a friendship with another student? Am I gay? Am I in love with him? etc etc Will they mistake genuine affection for friends as 'love'? Can good old fashion male bonding be mistaken for 'love'? Yes definitely. Will they accept that homosexuality is an accepted social behaviour? Yes why not? - if dear Sir is, it can't be wrong, right?

One of the biggest argument put forward by gays are that they love each other. Right and there is nothing wrong in loving another person, be it man or woman. Human beings have been created with a big capacity for love, in fact multiple love - be it to their children, partners, friends and pets. However, just because you love your children, parents, friends and pets does not mean that you make love to them.... and that is precisely the problem with men in love. Man and woman are created by God or for the non-believer; nature to be different and yet to be a perfect match (at least where certain parts of the body is concerned) - don't need to spell out right?. By virtue of just looking at the body parts alone, one can safely conclude that sex between men is wrong since the body parts simply don't fit! Imagine trying to fit the male end of a plug into another plug? You get the drift? - No? The male end of the plug is designed to fit into the female end of a power socket or another plug!

Moving on to another common argument - they are born that way. I beg to disagree. Yes, there are people who are born 'trans gender' i.e. somehow the genes are all mixed up and they are either a man in a woman's body or vice versa. Such person ultimately will need a sex change and that is perfectly fine. However, for the gays and lesbian, there is no such inclinations. They are perfectly happy with their body and in fact for the guys, I think they pay a lot of attention to their bodies to buff it up for their mates. So they are not born that way. Somewhere along the road of life, they are led either consciously or unconsciously to the conclusion that they 'love' somebody of the same sex and there is love, there must be sex and so the 'sex' thingy. I guess this is where I feel the influence of people like Otto comes in play and this is why I don't think he should have come out like that though as I understand it, it was already an open secret in the school.

Having said that, I also don't agree with keeping Section 377A because it makes no sense to have a toothless law. What adults do in their personal lives should not concern the state and criminalizing it would simply make the country look like idiots to the rest of the world.

So what am I trying to get across here? Everybody is entitled to live their own lives they way they want to but not if in the process they hurt or influence someone to do something that could be illegal or morally unacceptable.

So I wish teacher Fong all the best and hope he is happy and that he will do the right thing to ensure his students know what is right and wrong. Hmm.. and I wonder - is dear teach still teaching there?

N = C + {fb(cm) . fb(tc)} + fb(Ts) + fc . ta

N = C+{fb(cm).fb(tc)}+ fb(Ts)+ fc.ta

The formula for a secret formula - perhaps for the fountain of youth? or a formula to cure cancer?

No. Nothing of that sort. In fact, it is the formula for the scientific way to make the perfect bacon buttie. A buttie by the way is just several pieces of bacon fried crispy and make into a sandwich.

You think those scientists have nothing better to do than to conduct experiments to find the best way to make bacon buttie!

Thank goodness such things will never happen in Singapore.

Dengue

A colleague is down with dengue. This is the 2nd time somebody in the office has come down with it - the last was a few years ago.

Last year, my estate was in the affected cluster when 2 cases were reported. This mosquitoes thing is damn annoying. I called the NEA to complain of mosquitoes and those buggers actually came and checked my house. As if I was going to breed mosquitoes in my house and foolish enough to invite them to come and catch me! But the mosquitoes threat is real enough for me to discard all my potted plants rather than take the risk.

Hopefully nobody else I know will come down with it.

A Different Kind of Egg Tarts

First there was the ordinary egg tart, the most famous of which must be Tong Heng.

Then came the war of the Portuguese egg tart.

Now we have the latest kid on the block - Fancy Delight - where they sell egg tarts that comes with all sort of toppings. Moreover, instead of the usual shallow crust shell, it comes in a small cup shape shell. Toppings available include chocolate, kaya, mushroom and plain Portuguese. It is less sweet than most other egg tarts available.

I didn't really like the mushroom - it was almost like the minced meat steam egg that we eat with rice. I guess egg tarts should be sweet.

At $1.20 each, it is fairly decent priced since it is at least double the size of the normal egg tart.

Christianity vs

Just a thought.

1. The Taoist and Buddhist consider anybody who holds a joss stick or pray at any festivals or temple as one of their own
2. A person born into a Indian or Muslim household automatically follow the main religion of the household
3. Some more for the Muslim - once a Muslim forever a Muslim even if a person want to disown his religion also cannot
4. A person who stop practising any of his religion or breach any of its rules is gladly welcomed back anytime
5. Dress shabbily at any of these places and you are still warmly welcomed and nobody bat an eyelid

But....

For the Christian, who are supposed to be the most evangelical people among the the major religious groups, they

1. You are not considered a Christian until you are 1) born again and 2) baptized
2. You may be born into a Christian family but still need to be baptized before being considered a Christian
3. The minute you stop doing 'Christianly' things like going to Church, you are marked as an 'backslider'
4. Breach its rules and some Christian communities even ostracize you!
5. Dress shabbily in Churches and see the frown. Worse still if they start treating you like a charity case.

Is it any wonder that society in general see Christianity as a religion only for the high and mighty.

Jalan Tua Kong Mee Pok

One of the senior big shot in the Company asked me to go for lunch. Big shot asked got no choice. Went with him. Wondered which nice place we were going to. Ended up almost at my door step at Bedok Simpang for mee pok :(

But not any mee pok. This one is the famous Jalan Tua Kong Mee Pok. The only problem is, just like its cousin, the laksa - there is at least count 3 other Jalan Tua Kong Mee Pok and 2 of them are at Bedok Simpang! Read more about the war of the mee pok here

So is the one we ate the authentic and original Jalan Tua Kong Mee Pok? I don't know. It wasn't that great in the first place and having also tried the one at Soy Eu Tua Coffeeshop, I am not blown away by any of them.

I think I still prefer the mee pok from the fishball noodle stall at the hawker centre at Bedok South (opposite Temasek JC).

Mute

Totally down with a bad throat. Can't even croak now. Have not been hit with this for a long time. Guess the kids will be happy not to have their old man nagging at them to study and the folks in office as well - nobody to shout at them:) But how to answer phone calls?

Mooncakes

Mooncakes Mooncakes. This year economy must be real good. First time in my life that we get flooded with so many boxes of them. It started small though.

First M bought home this small box of a single moon cake from the famous Kee Wah of Hongkong.

 

Than Alvin's teacher came with another single moon cake - this one from Yue Hwa Chinese Product. Never tried this before. Not too bad.

 

Surprisingly, the third moon cake that came our way was also a single mooncake = this one from M's colleague - a mooncake from The Baker's Cottage of Malaysia.

 

Then the floodgate opens. First a business contact came with one of the best mooncake I ever tasted from the famous Peach Garden. This was real good but I shared it with the office people and did not bring any home.

 

The next one that came my way was from another business contact. The first combo mooncake comprising a spicy floss; a chocolate; a green tea and a sesame. Shared the spicy floss and the mini green tea in the office and took home the chocolate and the sesame. These lot not too bad. Not very sweet and very unique.
Following that was a box from Li Bai at Sheraton Towers. This one also not too bad. Shared it with the office people again. Too many to eat at home already!
Luckily never brought that home cos for some unknown reasons, M went to buy a box from her colleague. This one from Amway of Malaysia. Never did get to try this though. In the end, gave it away.

 

Now what is a mooncake festival without the traditional teochew mooncake which Uncle me loves. So this one from Malaysia Kedap Kek Lee Meng

Came home on Wednesday to find 2 more new boxes on the table. First one from little sis. A box of no yolk mooncake from Carlton Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant. Just nice for us since non of us at home like the egg yolk.

 

The most exquisite one came in from M's boss. Also from Li Bai of Sheraton but this one came in a Chinese style chest.

 

 

Actually, none of us at home don't really enjoy mooncake although I wanted to try the Starbucks Cheese mooncake but with so many already don't really want to buy any. Most time we are more captivated by the design of the boxes and paper bag than the mooncake itself. Beside, God knows how long ago the mooncakes were made and kept in cold storage for this seasons and that's not even considering the amount of cholesterol that is in it!
With 2 more days to go, wonder whether there be any more coming? And hopefully 1 from Starbucks?