there's something about ..... wife and football

My wife is a football fan. She knows who David Beckham and who Michael Owen is. And she knows they both play for Liverpool.

Yesterday, the News were showing some highlights of some International Games played over the weekend.

And they were showing the Brazilians playing the game against the peru.

My wife saw that bit of news and ask me...

"Jar Jar Bings still playing for Brazil?"

Told you she's a fan.




Ronaldinho a.k.a Jar Jar bings

there's something about ..... that house

Few days ago I went to meet up a prospective landlord in the East, somewhere near Dunman area.

As I was driving up to her house, I drove past this ordinary 2-storey terrace house and there was a "guard house" with a guard in it. A blur looking guard if you ask me. I feel like shouting at him "SHIONG SI MI" but I thought better refrain in case they send me to Sentosa under ISA.

Now, as a patriotic Singaporean, I know who stays where in Singapore.... or so I think I know.

Our MM Lee stays at Oxley Rise. That road is totally out of bounds for non-residents and you could see turk guards (pural) patrolling that road.

SM Goh and PM Lee stays Bukit Timah Namly area.

Our former president Ong stays in Nassim area.

I know Mr Wee Kim Wee stays in the east but dunno where. So immediately I link Wee Kim Wee to that house.

I was thinking "Wah.. not bad... past president also got such benefits."

So I went up to the landlord and after introducing myself, I decided to make small talk.

I always make some small talk to make both parties comfortable.

I ask "wah... nice place you have here". My evergreen opening statement .

She replied "Thanks"

"So, who stays at the house in front with that guard?" Of Course, I already know the answer... but must pretend pretend.

"Oh... our president" She replied matter of fact with a suanning tone like "you dunno meh?"

Damn!! Kenna suan!

In a face-saving defence, I replied "Ah.... Wee Kim Wee."

"No... Our President Nathan!"

End of small talk.

How would I know that our President would only have 1 silly looking guard which is not even a turk, while our Mentor Minister has a "NO ENTRY" Sign at where he stay plus numerous Turks?!?!

t'ssa.....c.d (renovated)

Back in action after 2 days of renovation.

So today is Blog warming.

T'sSA...C.D (UNDER RENOVATION)

Due to itchiness of index fingernail, this blog is under renovation.

This act is highly regrettable. Should have spent some time thinking of a name for the baby.

Boh bian lah, to make things easier, I will choose the First Male Name on the very First Page of the Sports Section of Straits Times on the day my baby is borned. I just hope Straits Times have the decency not to give Local Sports more emphasis in April.

OR (just in case the above came up with names like Sundram, Indra or Malek)

I will choose the First Male Name on the very First Page of World Affairs of Straits Times on the day my baby is borned.

OR (just in case the above came up with names like Osama, Kofi or Bush)

I will name my boy after the first male writer's letter to the FORUM page from the Top Left to Right Sequence.

there's something about ..... gated and guarded

I was at Suntec City the last 3 days on a exhibition trying to sell properties. Now, it's not properties in Singapore. It's properties in Penang!!

My god!! The last time I went to penang was.... 15 years ago and now I have to sell something I have never set my eyes on and not to mention, how Penang looks like since then.

After given a 30 minutes crash course on the product and Penang, I started promoting the houses like a Pro, machiam a Penang Native.

And I'm not boasting.

It's actually very simple.

Buyers who came to our booth not knowing Penang well, wouldn't know how to ask difficult questions that you can't answer.

I just say "This is situated at Bukit Jumbul, a high end residential area in Penang"
They goes " Ohh...."

That's it. Whatever limited things I know will be too much of information to them.

Next, buyers who came to our booth that knows Penang inside out is even easier.

I just say "This is situated at Bukit Jumbul"
They goes "wah... very high end"

That's it. I don't even have to say a single thing about Penang.

During these 3 days, I also learned 2 new terms in Real Estate in Malaysia. It's call "Gated" and "Guarded".

In fact, one neighbour booth which is selling this Condo is called "GGeC". It's an abbrevation for "GATED" "GARDEN" "E-Community"

I almost fainted! On 2 Counts!!

Other than the obvious "Orbitness" of the name, they are not very consistent in Grammer. Should it be "GATED" "GARDENED" "E-Communitied"

Now, to these Malaysian Property Buyers, you really have to speak their language.

I said "This project comes with 24 hours Security Services, manned by Security Guards"

Their response "Huh?"

I summarises "It's Guarded"

"Ohh, I see"

I said "This project comes with Boundary Walls surrounding the estate, giving you exclusivity"

Their response "Huh?"

"It's Gated"

"Ahh.. I see"

there's something about ..... wicker park

Wicker Park DVD

As part of my usual Saturday night routine, I would go rent a DVD from Video Ezy.

As I was rather late tonight, most of the famous or heard-before titles were out and I didn't have time to browse thru the older titles. This was the ONLY one available for rent under the recent releases which I haven't watch, or even heard of it.

I was telling myself... the fact that nobody wanted to rent this among the "1 day" category must be an indication on how bad the show is.

So I have to make a choice..... to walk away and watch our miserable TV programs or rent this and watch a miserable DVD.

Given the sexy DVD cover, I thought... what the heck... even if the show is bad, hopefully something sexy during the show may just be worth it.

How wrong I am.

This is ONE OF THE BEST!!!!! NO KIDDING!!!

You would never have guess a show that is that badly publicise or the lack of any, with a title so boring, is really that fantastic!

It helps that we have little expectations on the show, it also helps that we know nothing about the show. But for a suspense thriller (or so they say), it's better not to know anything.

In fact, for the first half of the show, I was about to curse my stubborness of renting it. It was so patchy initially. Only when the story unfolds, which you realised why the show started that way.

And towards the end, you just can't help loving the show for the way it's being written and directed. And what a great storyline.

I simply love it. And it's highly recommended.

If you think the reason I'm loving it must be the sex scenes. HA! Whatever on the DVD cover is all it has got.

Maybe it's time I invest on a DVD burner!

there's something about ..... meeting up buyers/sellers

And I'm not talking about buyers/sellers of flats.

In case you are wondering, I'm not doing other sidelines as well. I'm just rather active in Yahoo Auctions where I sell my unwanted items or buy things of interest there.

You can buy DVDs, X-box pirated games, shoes, phones, panties (just came across only lah), services, clothings, everything that can be described lah.

And I just sold off my Palm 515 thru the auction and had arranged to meet the buyer today at his place.

I like to do Door Delivery because I will take the opportunity to introduce my real estate services to them and perhaps they will also be keen in selling their home.

This buyer is a middle-age man, you can always tell over the phone, and the chances of him being a home owner is pretty high given that profile.

So I went over to his place in Sembawang today about 11.30am, I was still thinking that this man must be a retiree lah.... how else would he be at home on a Tuesday morning.

And so I try to ask leading questions:

I started "Wah, nice place you have here."

"Thanks"

I continue "Not working today?"

"Oh... I'm a property agent"

My heart "%#@^#"

I replied "Me too"

His heart "&%&^!"

there's something about ..... IT show

Since this blog's title is in small caps, "it show" probably sounds stupid or kinky depending on your sexual orientation. To any geek, they would know it's the IT Show which I suspect they name it as such after the commonly used word "it's".

If you managed to make your way there, Congratulations! You are among the 560,000 who made it into Suntec Convention Hall.

I wasn't that lucky.

Depending how you define your luck, but if you drive about 20 mins into town, pay $1.50 thru the ERP, get stuck in traffic at Bras Basah road for another 30 mins, saw Suntec within sights, decided it's too crowded, make a U-turn at Beach Road, take another 20 mins to reach home, I guess you wouldn't feel too lucky too. And mind you, I'm talking about Friday afternoon.

Also depending how you define your luck, after you managed the above less making that U-turn, You spend another 10 minutes reaching the entrance of Suntec Carpark, another 10 mins of waiting at the entrance, another 30 minutes trying to find a car park lot, and you didn't BUY anything at the IT show. I think you better see a shrink. I would think this would be traumatic to anyone.

Traffic at Brash Basah road on Saturday and Sunday is worse. I know of somebody who took a cab from Lucky Plaza to City Plaza on Sunday afternoon and the ride took 1 hour, passing that route to Suntec and costs $18 for the TAXI ride.

It's reported in the papers today that $26 million worth of sales was chalked up by the exhibitors.

If you do the math, that is $46.42 per exhibitees. Or the price of 2 thumb-drives. If you ask me, that is a pathetic sales figure.

I cannot imagine anybody who take the pain to drive there and buy 2 thumb-drives. Of course, I really hope nobody did. But I kinda suspect if I did make my way there and didn't buy my thumbdrive 2 weeks ago, I would really be that moron.

Of course, I suspect a good number of the 560000 exhibitees are there to ogle at some of the exhibitors' exhibitors. I'm sure, true to IT shows custom, many exhibitors will hire models wearing skimpy outfits giving out flyers to teenage boys, young adults, married men, Chee Ko Peh.

Actually IT shows like this is good for the economy. $26m sales aside. If these 560,000 exhibitees spend on average $3 on transport (including frustrated drivers on Car park charges), you are talking about $1.5m spent.

And while you there, why not do some dining. If $10 per exhibitees (some will go foodcourt spending $5 including drinks, some will go RICE TABLE spending $22 including drinks), you are talking about $5.6m spent on food. And I'm just being conservative.

By the way, I got RICE TABLE hangover. Will not eat anything peranakan for the next 1 year!

there's something about ..... logic

My friend send me this email, thought it's funny.


Lessons In Logic

>> If your father is a poor man, it is your fate but,
if your father-in-law is a poor man, it's your stupidity

>> I was born intelligent
education ruined me

>> Practice makes perfect.
But nobody's perfect
so why practice?

>> If it's true that we are here to help others,
then what exactly are the others here for?

>> Since light travels faster than sound,
people appear bright until you hear them speak.

>> How come "abbreviated" is such a long word?

>> Money is not everything.
There's MasterCard & Visa.

>> One should love animals.
They are so tasty.

>> Behind every successful man, there is a woman
And behind every unsuccessful man, there are two.

>> Every man should marry.
After all, happiness is not the only thing in life.

>> The wise never marry.
and when they marry they become otherwise

>> Success is a relative term.
It brings so many relatives.

>> Never put off the work till tomorrow
what you can put off today.

>> "Your future depends on your dreams"
So go to sleep.

>> There should be a better way to start a day
Than waking up every morning.

>> "Hard work never killed anybody"
But why take the risk

>> "Work fascinates me"
I can look at it for hours.

>> God made relatives;
Thank God we can choose our friends.

>> The more you learn, the more you know,
The more you know, the more you forget
The more you forget, the less you know
So... why learn.

>> A bus station is where a bus stops.
A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk, I have a work station.
what more can I say.....

There's something about ..... “他来自江湖”

This is a TVB cantonese comedy serial produced 1988, starring Stephen Chow and Alex Man.

Bought the VCDs recently to keep myself and my wife entertained at night and also to relive those memories.

What to do, due to the TV station merger, there aren't that many good shows after 11pm. You either get a china production drama on Channel 8 or a China production drama on Channel U. No spelling error here.

Suddenly all the good taiwanese variety shows are either canned or move to a different timeslot all together. I believe this is a cost-cutting move or either that, they are fullfilling a niche market for the super-high number of chinese nationals either working here, rooting up here or prostituting here. (of course at 11pm, the latter group is probably contributing to the GDP growth of Singapore)

Anyway, back to the show. I've watched this about twice prior to buying the VCDs recently. Those times I believe is the late 80s and the early 90s, during the pre- era of LD players.

How times have changed. In the show, you actually see the Hong Kong of the 80s, the lives we also lead in the 80s and how these actors have changed over the years.

The handphone they used in the show are the first generation handphones... you know those handphones that double-up as hammer. Also, pagers were the norm back then as well.

Another thing I realised from watching the show is that "Chuo Dai Di" or "Big 2" is also being played during those days. You kinda assumed that this game has at least 17 years history and probably originated from Hong Kong.

I remember back in those days, Alex Man was The Actor. And Stephen Chow had then just started his brand of humour "Mo Lei Tau" and was gaining some prominence.

And of course we now know Stephen Chow is now The Actor, more successful and wealthy than Alex Man of the 80s.

And Alex Man best show to date, must be the TCS produced drama "Golden Pillow". It was so good, it makes history in Singapore as the most watched-for-its-absurb-storyline-that-make-everyone-cringed. His mandarin was like Alan Tam singing chinese songs in the 80s. You can't really fault him. It's TCS fault when they think any good actor would be able to act half their age.

Stephen Chow.... I've watched all his shows, even the bad ones of the 90s. It's the same brand of humour repeated over and over again in different scenarios and settings. But you still want to watch it. You just knew how the joke will start and how it will end, but you still want to watch it. But when you have that same formula with interesting storyline like his last 2 movies, you strike jackpot.

When you are a comedian, acting half your age is funny. And that is the mark of success.

there's something about ..... my blog and ikea

SHIT!! Opps.... better don't say in Parliament, it's unparliamentary!

IKEA read my blog few days ago and decided to spike me by having a sale from today onwards!

Damn!! Now I can't go back there..... I just cannot know how much are those things that I bought discounted for. It's getting very Robinson now.

This is worse than buying a car and COE drop by 4k in the next bidding.

There's something about ..... naming your child

This is probably the biggest dateline ever in my life. At work, late means late lor. No matter what you do, you can't reverse the fact that you are late. In Exams, if you can't finish on time, you may still pass. And if you fail.... sub-paper lor.

This is the kind of attitude in life that is reallllll bad. And now I realised this bad attitude is causing me my pre-natal blues.

Each passing week means I may not have another week to find a name for my baby, as there is always a chance my wife may be entering into labour early. You never know.

And stupid as it may seems, why should government give such tight datelines to give a name for your child. I understand it's 2 weeks from the date of birth.

What is more important? Getting the right name for the child who has to live with it for the rest of his life or so that some admin officer in the hospital could type out the name on the birth certificate so that he won't have a backlog?

Singapore it's too efficient.

While I have shortlisted a few English names, I would still like to give my son a dialect name. And that has to wait for the chinese name to be out, and since we are getting "professional" help, we can only have that once the baby is borned.

2 weeks!!!!

I'm sure even Stamford Raffles take more than 2 weeks to come up with Singapura. Or is it somebody else. My history sucks!

I'm sure MOE take more than 2 weeks to come up with the name Pioneer JC. Duh!

I'm sure SIA take more than 2 weeks to come up with the name TIGER airways. SO ORIGINAL.

Anyway, I just realised another way of finding potential names for the baby. Other than the usual websites, books etc. I'm now looking at all the SPAM Mails that I receive in loads everyday and going thru the sender's name. PROPER NAMES, not "viagra", not "housewives", not "penis".

What to do, when you are desperate for inspiration, everything could be a potential inspiration.

there's something about ..... taking a bus nowadays

My god! I should be transport Minister. My blog is so transportation theme, I'm getting embarrassed. I have mentioned a bike, traffic police, LTA, my headlamp, car park, taxi drivers.... and now... BUS?!

But since my friends' blog also got certain theme like weather, spiderman and gadgets, I supposed theme blog is ok. :)

Today I took a bus. Yes... I send my car for service plus repair of those headlamps that show me what kind of world I'm driving in.

Of course, after years and years of cheating bus fare during my younger days, it's now divine retribution.

I wouldn't call cheating lah, it's just exploiting loopholes in the public transport system. I'm one of those who put in minimum bus-fares and ride from Bishan to say Changi.

And during my Poly days, it was more extreme. Bus drivers always take it for granted that students will have bus pass. And if you are boarding from the Poly Bus stop, the bus driver always take the opportunity to take a break and they don't bother to check every student. So, I go without buying bus stamps on certain months.

Today, I took the first step in repaying what I owe to them from the past.

Right now, when you board the bus, you actually paid full fare first. And just before you alight, you tap your ezlink card and the correct fare will be deducted. If you forgot..... Damn!!

Just say I... Damn!! Damn!! today.

there's something about ..... taxi drivers

Last night, I was driving on a left lane behind a Taxi. But this Taxi was driving so damn slow, I thought maybe he wanted to slow down to find customers. So I decided to overtake him as I needed to turn left at the junction in front.

The moment I overtook him and drive back to the left lane... He FLASHED HIS HEADLIGHTS. I just knew Slow Taxi Drivers are too good to be true.

Tonight, I was driving on the expressway on the further right lane. The Taxi in front of me decided to give way. I thought... "wow... good driver... know when to give way for overtaking vehicle" The moment, I drive past him.... he drove back behind me and FLASHED HIS HEADLIGHTS! Damn... I just knew courteous Taxi Drivers are too good to be true.

What's with these Taxi drivers' ego? Why must they always take offence so easily. Why can't they allow other drivers to have faulty headlamps.

Recently, taxi companies were fined by the LTA as these same Taxis that flashed their headlights at me, were deem to be reckless on the roads. The LTA has a points system to gauge how these TAXI companies behave on the road.

So, these Taxi drivers came out in the papers to say that LTA has been too strict.

MY GOD. Do they really believe that any of us will show sympathy towards them?

They are the inspiration behind those Arcade games where you must drive from Point A to Point B in the shortest time possible, knocking down all the trees, barriers, cars along the way.

They make braking hard an art. And not to mention cutting your lane in the mean time. They like to come from no where from your blind spot, cut into your lane and braking it hard just so that they could pick up the customer in front about 10 to 20 metres in front.

Not to mention, they are the one that like to flash their headlights at innocent drivers with a faulty headlamps.

I think it's time I put cut-out stickers with the word "Sorry, my headlamp spoiled" spelled backwards, and paste it on my headlamps. So the moment I switch on my headlights, the shadows of the words will appear on their rear-mirror.

Will go patent this idea tomorrow.

there's something about ..... the decision process of buying anything

Now that my buddyress Lily has finally announced their (lily and family) new purchase, it's about time I joke about it. :)

It's not just any other normal purchases like Ipod, camera, DVD recorder, portable DVD player..... hey... I almost listed all Lily's purchase in the last 6 months.... It's a house!

But.. you must be thinking... "so? it's a Singaporean Hobby." "Everybody buy a house."

You see...

It takes me years to buy a DVD player, I don't even own a LD player during those days.

It took me 4 months to buy a car.

My family took 2 years to find a house.

Last Saturday, I walk around for 2 hours exploring about 5 handphone shops in Toa Payoh, trying to buy a new Handphone. I failed.

However, Lily and Fang Saw it, and conquer it.... all within 1 hour! And this is on their very first day of house hunting, and on the second stop of their house hunting!

1 hour is not even enough for me to start my decision process!

But I can understand their decision, I went with my wife the next day with them and I must say it's a fantastic house! And I can't wait!!! I have already pleaded with them to reserve 1 room for me.

1 hour or not, it doesn't matter. It's the right decision that matters. And I think they make the best decision ever!

There's something about ..... ikea

Went Ikea yesterday morning..... alone. I was around the corner after meeting up with a client and I thought why not.

I'm always quite impressed with Ikea. They make simple-looking, sometimes cheap looking, furnitures looks good. And while they kept emphasizing that the reason why you self-carry is so that we are not charged for transportation and labour, thus keeping cost low, you can't help feeling that they are quite expensive sometimes. That to me, it's the best business model, of course losing out to one government body that earn huge profits by taking photographs!

While you think going to Ikea about 11 plus in the morning should be beat the crowds. You would be surprised to know that you actually still have to queue to drive into their carparks.

I almost turn away but thinking that I got no other plans or appointments (business is bad), I decided to stay on and boost the Retail Sector.

And when I drive into the carpark, I realised it wasn't the crowd that cause the queue as the Carpark was half-full. It's the EPS or the Electronice Payment System of the Car Park that is lunatic. They kept saying it's ERP system but I can't understand why I still have to:

• find the window button
• wind down my window
• take the cash-card out of the IU
• insert into the machine
• Machine says "insert wrongly"
• I try again.
• Wait for donkey years
• take the cash card back and put it into the IU
• find my window button.
• Window wind back

For an establishment so damn rich, they should just overhaul this system.

Of course, shopping in Ikea is an enriching experience. How enriching, I could write a book on it. A thin one lah.

But you always.... always.... 100% of the times..... without fail...... see a handful of couples.... gay couples. Should one day Ikea be bombed, it will kill off half the gay population in Singapore.

And mind you, Ikea is probably more than happy to be associated with them.

Today one of my client in the Luxury Goods Industry commented to me that Gay has one of the best taste in lifestyles. And since gay like Ikea, it probably means Ikea stuffs are tasteful.

Gays aside. The cafeteria there is so famous, I wonder why. They serve nice chicken wings... but which other chicken wings elsewhere are not nice.

They serve their famous sweden meatballs. They are meatballs in beef sauce. This same dish will not survive 1 year if they are sold in Parkmall.

The fries there are thicker than Macdonalds. But it's not so much their credit but more of a discredit to Macdonalds for having thin fries.

Their coffee came from coffee-maker.

Don't get me wrong. I love to dine there. But I don't necessary agee that they are THAT good. Maybe because there is a lack of options and since they serve complete meals, why not. If you realised, all other eating establishment in Ikea enjoy good business. But does that mean Burger King is the best?

Finally, I hate to pay up at Ikea. Not because I have to part with my money for something I felt it's too expensive. It's because they always ask you..."Are you a member?"

I can't stand it. I've been there numerous times and spend so much money and never have I been invited to join them as member.

And I can't help it wondering what kind of discount I'm not getting and thus over paying.

And why am I penalised for coming here numerous times spending good money each time but deem to be not so important than someone who comes once a year spending more PER receipt?

I'm just sour.

Will I go Ikea again, so that I can be frustrated at the Car park, see Gay, wait 20 mins for a table at the Cafe eating ordinary food, feel angry at the cashier because they ask an innocent question?

Yes.

there's something about ..... Pre-Natal Blues

And I'm not talking about my wife.

I'm talking about myself.

I'm about 1 over month away from being a father. And right now, the jittery I'm getting is like few years ago before my wedding. Back then, it was the counting down of bachelorhood.

Now, I'm counting down to the end of childish behaviours. It's like I'm supposed to set good examples to my kid soon. And I dunno what are good examples. Am I supposed to play xbox like a gentleman, no shouting, no screaming and no cursing? Things like that.

Also, I have just started searching for baby names after putting this off for months. I always tell myself that I have time, take it easy. And now I realised I got no time. 1 over month to find a suitable name for my kid, a name that hopefully have good meaning, sound nice, suitable, easy to pronounce, easy to remember, easy to spell, but profound in meaning, a little bit harder to pronounce but still easy, a little unique but must also be easy to spell and easy to remember, maybe not too unique... urrggghhh.

Christian names? English names? Spanish names? footballer names? basketballer names? Dialect names? urrrggghhhhh

Chinese characters? urrrrgggghhhhhhh

And I'm so damn curious on how my baby will look like. From long ago, I've always being curious how one day my offsprings will looks like. It's like you match my face with someone's face and you get this equation of look. And each time, equation changes and your next offspring will have another look. It's amazing.

One thing I do know is that he will have my nose. Not exactly my most flattering feature. Poor kid. Of all things he inherited, he inherited my nose.

Eventhough I have a 3-D scan of him few months ago, I'm still curious to see his full face.

Will post the scan soon.

there's something about ..... thumb-drive

I bought thumb-drives.... yes...drives with the "s". I bought 2 to be exact.

Friends who know me would know that this is another quantum leap for me in 2005, after the blog thing.

You see... I'm a flobby-disk user. In fact, my desktop computer at home is Pentium I. In fact, this Pentium was actually an upgrade from whatever name before Pentium.

So why did I buy not 1 but 2 thumb-drives?

Because somebody in my office, in fact 2 of them, over 50 years old commented out loud "Nobody uses flobby disks anymore" to me. So I bought 2 to remind me that 2 Old Men were "Suaning" me.

Actually, I bought 2 because I realised a thumb-drive costs just about 18 cents per Mb. Safe Superstore was selling them supposedly at a 51% discount for $23 for a 128Mb Kingston drive.

How cheap is that!! So out of impulse, I bought 2.

Now, I have 2 regrets in my drawer.

Thumb-drive is only as useful if ALL COMPUTERS IN YOUR OFFICE (or anywhere for that matter) HAVE USB PORTS IN FRONT OF THE CASING and not at the back!!

I realised all PCs in my office have computers with USB at the back of the casing, and all the casing is under the desk.

That means for me to even attempt to save anything in my thumb-drive, I have to:

1. squad down.
2. go under the table.
3. turn the casing around.
4. find the usb ports under poor lighting conditions.
5. try to fit the thumb-drive into the ports (which it's not exactly easy)
6. Go to the washroom to wash my hands after getting all the dusts and dirts.

And after using the thumb-drive, I realised I have only used about 3% and I run out of things to save.

So.... 1 unopened thumb-drive 128Mb for sale. $23 anyone?

there's something about ..... the amazing race

I'm a super big fan of The Amazing Race. Super Big!

Watching the opening sequence and the last leg of the race always give me the goose-bumps. Even on repeats.

I think why I'm such a big fan it's because the show encompasses 3 elements that is very ME. Travel, competition and spontaneity.

I'm such a big fan I actually downloaded the application form from the website when they were doing casting for Amazing Race 8. I reckon 1 month away from work ain't that bad if I win 1 million dollars. If I don't, I reckon I'm probably away for only 2 to 3 weeks. Just take it as a holiday lor.

I reckon they have never featured an Asian and if I can find another crazy fellow, get ourself into some stupid relationship like agent-client, colleague-colleague, married cousins, distant cousins, vulgar buddies whatever, we stand a good chance.

But I guess I could only dream on.... one of the criteria states that You have to be an American!

Today is the start of AR 8. Of course, the media has been hyping up this season because of the participation of Survivors All Star winner Amber and runner up Rob, who are both engaged.

After watching it, I felt the Survivors pair is obnoxious. They keep talking about Survivors and their 1 million dollars, and how they will win AR8. This makes good TV and I think they will be the most hated pair. My tip for top 3 finishing.

Surprise... Surprise. Also featuring in this race, with no publicity AT ALL, is that Geek from that Heneiken Advertisement featuring Jennifer Aniston. You know that one where Aniston couldn't reach for the Heneiken on the higher shelf and this geek, who look so smitten, went over to take it for himself. He and his brother looks very strong and none of that geeky personality.

This will be the most exciting race yet!

there's something about ..... that "debate" on Casino

First of all, there is never a debate.

It's what we call a setup. A setup so that everyone in Singapore will know the economic benefits it will bring to Singapore. A setup so that everyone in Singapore knows that it will not have any social impact.

We use this "debate" as a vehicle to inform everyone of the benefits. Why do you think they are heavily trying to publicise the Channel news asia program on Thursday at 8pm?

Of course, PM Lee has already said the decision will be made in April whether the Casino will go ahead.

We also know that concept plans and proposals in excess of $3billion dollars have been submitted to the government, not just 1 but 15 proposals.

We also know that some of the government-link companies like Capitaland, Keppel Land have join forces with international companies to submit bids. Keppel Land has even submitted a Model together with the proposal.

Let's talk sense.

PM Lee said the decision will be made in April because they need time to examine the proposals. Of course. This will then follow by saying "Yes, we are going ahead".

Also, who would say no to $3billion and further economic spin-off from employment, tourism etc. Afterall, we say yes to $600 million to build a durian with no economic spin-off.

Of course, they say It's a Mega Resort with Entertainment Centre. Realised the word Casino is missing.

But would 2 government-link companies tied up with Casino Operators and bid for a Mega Resort with Entertainment Centre without a casino?

Also, would big International Companies travel all the way from as Far as US, come to Singapore, put them up in 5 star Hotels, examine the Site at Marina Bay and Sentosa, spend thousands of money preparing Proposals, spend hours negotiating with local government-link companies, spend money preparing the legal documents, so that they can bid for a Casino that MAY NOT even be approved?

This would seriously dent Singapore's Government's reputation.

Some groups in Singapore are lobbying against the Casino because of potential social ills.

HELLOOOOOO. Anybody Home?

We have Singapore Pools selling 4Ds and Totos. Tempting innocent people like me to spend $70 during Chinese New Year on their $10m TOTO and you are talking about social ills?

We have Geylang and legalised prostitution and you are talking about social ills?

We have Joo Chiat and illegalised prostitution and you are talking about social ills?

We have internet and broadband access to most homes and pornographic at a button and you are talking about social ills?

We have EPL every week and you see players diving, cursing, coach taunting the fans........................ ills?

We have 15 days a year to celebrate Chinese New Year where Gambling at Homes is a Norm and........... ills?

We have computer games that are so violent............ ills?

We have RA movies in Chinatown so that old man can ogle ......... ills?

We have traffic police.................. ills?

Now you know why government has to come up with programs like what Channel News Asia to educate everyone.

Seriously, I'm for it. And I know the government is for it. So let's cut the crab and build it.

For a supposedly unbiased debate on "Casino, yes or no" tuned in to Channel news asia this Thursday 8pm.