there's something about ..... celebration

Been rather busy lately. Work was taking up alot of time just before Ghost month started. When ghost month started... I decided to spend more time on "mini" projects. I'm creating 2 more blogs. One private blog of family photos and one specialty blog.

However, seeing National Day around the corner... I have decided to celebrate nation building with this blog.

You see.... I LOVE SINGAPORE.

Along the way, you will get really fed-up with progress (ooopss) and fines, summons and whathaveyou. But generally Singapore is a great place to stay. We need to see war in other countries before realising this.

Along the way, government comes out with great planning details. Some ingenious stuff like ERP, COE etc, that make Singapore so unique. I believe the ERP concept has taken the World by storm and some of the more develop countries are also adopting this approach.

When you have traffic jam here.... easy..... put up ERP gantries. That will ease traffic and will increase your driving speed from 30km/hr to 40km/hr. Even if it doesn't ease traffic woes, who cares... Government will pocket the dues from the ERP and then they will have enough money for PLAN B.

But...... why set up ERP on the way back? How would that impact the government or the economy as a whole? No answers... but it doesn't matter.

But.... what happen after the ERP hours are over in the evening about 8.30pm?

The answer:

IT TAKES A BLOODY 1 HOUR FROM CTE COMING IN FROM CHINATOWN TO ANG MO KIO!!!!

ASSHOLE!!!!!!!

I had just finished dinner in Chinatown last night with family's friends about 9.30pm. And when I enter the CTE in Chinatown about 9.45pm, I was stuck in the tunnel travelling at speed of "STOP...MOVE 1 feet.... STOP... MOVE 1 feet" (I couldn't read the speedometer as it hardly move) for about 30 mins before I could next see the sky at the tunnel portion at the CTE entrance from PLAZA SINGAPURA. 30 MINS between chinatown and plaza Sing.

And it takes me another 30 mins from the tunnel portion behind plaza Sing to exit Ang Mo Kio.

BLOODY ASSHOLE!!!!!!!

I think Government has achieved their aim. Let those rich guys pay the ERP and reach home sooner so that they can have a better quality lifestyles and let those poorer chap get stuck in CTE FOR 1 hour. And if you stay woodland... 1.5 hours in CTE/SLE.

Oh... I forgot..... I'm celebrating nation building. Hooray.... to great planning!!!!!

there's something about ..... PE

Just read that you can now take PE as an "O" level subject.

Wonderful news.

I wonder what they will test you on the Theory.

Q1: What did Materazzi said to Zidane before the Headbutt incident?
a) Mother F%$ker
b) Mother and Sister F$%ker
c) You terrorist
d) No one knows

Q2: Which fictional character does Ronaldinho looks like?
a) Scooby Doo
b) Jar Jar Bing
c) Snoopy
d) Garfield

Q3: How many kids do Fandi Ahmad has?
a) 3
b) 4
c) 5
d) 6

Q4: Which is Singapore National Sports?
a) Shopping
b) Queueing
c) Betting
d) complaining

there's something about ..... brownie

This post is about the brown vs goverment vs today saga. Super duper old news but it's better to make comments now when the dust has settled, anything earlier, it would be too emotional.

Click here for the full transcript of brown

Everybody loves Raymond brown. He is like the Mentor Minister of Blogging. Everybody knows Brown as a humorous chap unless you work for the Ministry for Information, Communications and the Arts. They don't see humour. Which is why "Arts" is added to the ministry but not "Comedy".

But what they do know is that Brown is a very very popular man. And if a very very popular man says something not politically correct, general public may believe him. Blog may not be as accessible as Today. They do not have a computer with Brown as the homepage in all MRT, 7/11s and Mamashops. They realised the influence of Brown and they need to set the records straight.

I read Brown's column via his website all the time. I enjoy it thoroughly. Even when I read his last column, I found it to be humorous tackling on rising costs issue. But I do sense some "red alert" in the article, perhaps testing new boundary of OB?

And what do you expect the Government to do? They need to do a job. If this is the Qing Dynasty, Brown would have been taken and he will be beheaded. But in modern Singapore, you only kenna a "scolding" from Ministry and lose your rice-bowl from the same Newspaper who failed to see this coming and approved the article.

I don't see anything wrong with the Goverment's reply. They are government what.... they are not human beings. They function with a set of rules of high order. They are supposed to be rigid like iRobots. "Yes" is "Maybe"... "No" is "No". As I said, they have a job to do.

In fact they did the job the right way. By writing to the forum page of Today. They didn't try to send emails to the boardroom of Today to take action. The reply was also targeting at journalism as a whole, indirectly on the role of Today. They were... transparent about their action. They should be applauded for doing a job, nevermind that it's a unpopular thing to do.

What happen at the board room in TODAY is anyone's guess. Someone has to lose a job. So let's put the blame on the columist, afterall, without his article... they wouldn't be in that sorry situation.

But what about the Editor? The Chief Editor?

Someone must have vetted through the article. What happen to them? If anyone is at fault, it's the editor. Not brown. Otherwise, why give a salary to editor who didn't do the job of editing?

Today's action of terminating Brown is that of a evil "TAI JIAN" or eunuch (dunno how to spell). Very below the belt. (oopss....)

Make TODAY... yesterday's news.

there's something about ..... "the" condo names

Recently I came upon an TV advert for a condominium in the North-east region called "THE QUARTZ", next to buangkok MRT.

I don't envy the project manager in charge of condo project. They have so much to do and so much responsibility and liability, it must have drained off alot of their energy and .... creativity as well.

Come up with a common condo name of the 80s and 90s, and you will have :

XXX garden
XXX court
XXX ville
XXX Vale
XXX park
XXX point
XXX green

And the project may not sell. Not that names matter... but it's nice if the names reflect certain characteristic of the buyer or their liking and thus achieve what the condo was trying to sell.

Then in the early 2000s, you have condo named after city or town of famous countries with foreign-sounding-very-mouthful names like Cote D' Azur (France), Costa Del Sol (spain), The Marbella (Spain), The Azure (france) D'Ecosia (I dunno).

Of course, if the developer is to target heartlanders, it's good to have a heartlander's names like Bishan Park, Bishan Point, Bishan Loft etc.

Lately, naming condo is becoming easy. Just add "THE" in front of anything, and you have a catching sounding name plus the exclusiveness associated with it. "THE" is supposed to illustrate that something is unique of it's kind and there is no comparison, like "THE SUN".

However, I think most developers are taking this a litttttllllleeeee too far. The earlier post shows all the condo/apartment projects in Singapore that started with "The". Some of these are really ridiculous.

I can understand the convenience of naming the condo after the street name just to tell people that any other condos along the same street do not carry the same prestige... but.....

"THE GRANGE" at grange road?
"THE BALMORAL" at balmoral road?
"THE BAYSHORE" at bayshore road?
the most classic.....
"THE CHUAN" at Lorong Chuan road??!?!?!?!?! What is the "Chuan" supposed to mean?

If your rival developer has already named their condo after the streetname... what should you do? How about naming something that is damn difficult to pronounce... that way unique mah...

For example:
THE BECCAGAYLE
THE CALYPSO
THE CARPMAELINA,
THE ELYSIA
THE GERANIUM
THE GLENCAIRD RESIDENCES
THE GRANDIFLORA
THE HACIENDA
THE HELICONIA
THE MADEIRA
THE NEXUS
THE PALLADIUM
THE SHAUGHNESSY
THE SUNNIDORA
THE VERMILION

I'm sure the above has a meaning. I'm too lazy to go find out what each of these mean but I'm sure it meant something to the owner who bought units there.

Friend ask proud owner: Where you stay har?

Proud owner: I stay at The Helicopter.

But what if your rival developer has already named their condo after the streetname and another developer has named their condo after something very cheem.... what to you do? How about a reverse pyschology and named your condo after something simple, something that everyone can pronounce, don't care what it means to the buyer... as long as people know how to read.....like...

THE QUARTZ.

What the hell is the "QUARTZ"? That everything in the condo works like a clock...every security guard will be on time for their duty. The flood lights at the tennis clock will switch off exactly at 10pm?

Maybe they should have named it "The Buang" or "The Kok" or "The white elephants".

there's something about ..... the

THE 101, THE ABERDEEN, THE ABODE AT DEVONSHIRE, THE ALBANY, THE ALBRACCA, THE ALCOVE, THE AMSTON, THE ANCHORAGE, THE ANSLEY, THE ARC AT DRAYCOTT, THE ARCADIA, THE ARDMORE, THE ARECA, THE ARMADALE, THE ARRIS, THE ASPINE, THE ASTON, THE ATRIA AT MEYER, THE AZURE, THE BALMORAL, THE BALMORAL SPRING, THE BAYCOURT, THE BAYRON, THE BAYSHORE, THE BEAUMONT, THE BECCAGAYLE, THE BELLEFORTE, THE BELMONT, THE BELVEDERE, THE BENCOOLEN, THE BERTH BY THE COVE, THE BERTHSIDE, THE BLISSVILLE, THE BOTANIC ON LLOYD, THE BOULEVARD RESIDENCE, THE BOUNGAINVILLE, THE CALLISTA, THE CALROSE, THE CALYPSO, THE CAPRI, THE CARPMAELINA, THE CASSANDRA, THE CHAMPAGNE, THE CHANCERY RESIDENCE, THE CHERRYWOOD, THE CHUAN, THE CITRINE, THE CLAYMORE, THE CLAYTON, THE CLEARWATER, THE CLEMENTVALE, THE CORNWALL, THE COSMOPOLITAN, THE COUNTRYSIDE, THE COURTYARD, THE DAFFODIL, THE DAIRY FARM, THE DEW, THE DRAYCOTT, THE EASTSIDE, THE EDEN AT TAMPINES, THE EDGE ON CAIRNHILL, THE EDGEWATER, THE ELEGANCE @ CHANGI, THE ELYSIA, THE EQUATORIAL, THE ESPARIS, THE ESQUIRE, THE ESTA, THE ESTIVA, THE ESTORIL, THE FLORAVALE, THE FLORIDA, THE FOLIAGE, THE GARDENS AT BISHAN, THE GARDENS AT GERALD, THE GERANIUM, THE GLACIER, THE GLENCAIRD RESIDENCES, THE GLENWOOD, THE GRANDHILL, THE GRANDIFLORA, THE GRANGE, THE GREENWOOD, THE HABITAT II, THE HACIENDA, THE HAMLET, THE HELICONIA, THE HERMITAGE, THE HILLSIDE, THE HORIZON, THE HUNTINGTON, THE IMPERIAL, THE INFINITI, THE INGLEWOOD, THE JADE, THE LADYHILL, THE LAKESHORE, THE LEGACY, THE LEGEND, THE LEVELZ, THE LIGHT @ CAIRNHILL, THE LINC, THE LINCOLN MODERN, THE LINEAR, THE LOFT, THE MADEIRA, THE MAKENA, THE MARBELLA, THE MAYFAIR, THE MAYLEA, THE MERASAGA, THE MERGUI, THE METZ, THE MEYER PLACE, THE MIDAS, THE MONDRIAN, THE MONTANA, THE MORNING DEW, THE MORNING GLORY, THE MORNINGSIDE, THE MORNINGTON, THE NCLAVE, THE NEXUS, THE OLD HOUSE, THE ORANGE GROVE, THE OXLEY, THE PALLADIUM, THE PARK VALE, THE PATERSON, THE PATERSON EDGE, THE PEAK, THE PEARL @ MOUNT FABER, THE PETALS, THE PIER AT ROBERTSON, THE PLAZA, THE PRESTIGE COLLECTION, THE PRINCETON, THE PROMINENCE, THE QUARTZ, THE QUAYSIDE, THE QUINTET, THE RAINTREE, THE REGALIA, THE RICHMOND, THE RIVERINA, THE RIVERSIDE PIAZZA, THE RIVERVALE, THE RIVERWALK, THE SAIL @ MARINA BAY, THE SAPPHIRE, THE SEA VIEW, THE SENTINEL, THE SERENADE @ HOLLAND, THE SHAUGHNESSY, THE SHELFORD, THE SIERRA, THE SOVEREIGN, THE SPECTRUM, THE SPINNAKER, THE SPRINGBLOOM, THE SPRINGFIELD, THE SPRINGS, THE SPRINGSIDE, THE STELLAR, THE STERLING, THE SUMMIT, THE SUNFLOWER, THE SUNNIDORA, THE SUNNIFLORA, THE SUNNY SPRING, THE SUNNYDALE, THE SUNSHINE, THE TAIPAN, THE TANAMERA, THE TENERIFFE, THE TESSARINA, THE TOMLINSON, THE TREVOSE, THE TROPIC GARDENS, THE TROPICA, THE TRUMPS, THE TWINS, THE VANTAGE, THE VERMILION, THE VILLAGE, THE VILLAS @ SENTOSA COVE, THE VINES, THE WARREN, THE WATERDALE, THE WATERINA, THE WATERSIDE, THE WESTRIDGE, THE WILSHIRE, THE WINDSOR, THE WOODGROVE, THE YARDLEY

there's something about ..... being cheeky

Wah biang.... this entry by cheeky ..... damn funny. Show my wife and she can't stop laughing.

Welcome back dude!!

there's something about ..... lost and found

On the topic of food again. After my bad experience with Mr Chicken Rice, I recalled another "bad" experience with another famous food about 1-2 months ago.

This is not your famous famous kind of food but it was featured in Makan places: Lost and Found in Channel 5, hosted by Gurmit Singh and Michelle Chia. The show is about finding some of the famous foodstalls that were relocated.

This stall in question was at Lavender Food Centre.

After our hearty meal, decided that our mouth is still abit itchy, we decided to order some light food just to keep our fingers and mouth active.

We saw this POPIAH store with the sign that says "Makan Places: Lost and Found".

We thought "hor say liao.... un-intended also can eat good food", and so we ordered.

After taking a first bite... I look at my wife and ask her to try.

She took a first bite... she look back at me.

It's a scene that we often saw in Korean TV production of the romantic sort.

However, its far from romantic.

The POPIAH... TASTE LIKE.......

POPIAH!!!!!

Ninabeh. Now I know why this STALL WAS LOST in the first place. Maybe the food was so ordinary that they have to move to another location in search of some dumb-bells.

Just think about it. I open a popiah stall in Ang Mo Kio. After 3 months, my stall close down because my food taste horrible (which nobody will admit). I decided to relocate.

I find another stall in Jurong. I called it ANG MO KIO POPIAH. Consumers thought... "WAH.. must be very good hor... got name after a town one leh". Same old lousy food. Business flourish.

Singaporeans are blinded by popularity (but no substance) food.

For good Popiah... I personally like the one by CHI JI. (translation in chinese: Miracle) Though the standard can vary depending on who is preparing.

there's something about ..... zidane

Why did Zidane do it? There are many speculations. Below are some of the different versions:

"He was taunting me throughout the game saying he saw dandruffs on my shoulders"

"I was too tired and they have already make 3 substitutions, so I just have to come out"

"I have won the World Cup, Euro, Champions League, everything.... I just want to do something extraordinary to end my career. Scoring the winning goal is too boring"

"It's an unfair decision. I didn't headbutt him... his chest headbutt my head. He should be the one that got sent off!"

"I betted for 1 red card to happen in the game and I thought Italy will make it happen but didn't, so I take matters in my own head"

"I reckon the only way I can get near the World Cup trophy is to get sent off and walk past it."

there's something about ..... Mr chicken rice

Lucky me!

I have heard about former Mandarin-Hotel's Chatterbox's chicken rice chef opening his own stall at Pasir Ris Downtown East, that I kept telling myself to go there one day to eat.

I mean.... surely it can't be Mandarin Hotel's price. And even travelling down to Pasir Ris to and fro, it must still be worth the trip.

To be frank, I really can't remember how Chatterbox's chicken rice taste like. To be even more frank, I thought most chicken rice taste very similar.

To me, chicken rice is categorised as "VERY GOOD", "GOOD" and "BAD".

Fortunately most chicken rice to me belongs to "Good" and above. Thus my lack of motivation to eat at expensive Chicken Rice in Mandarin Hotel. And since it's so infrequent, I really do not remember whether Chatterbox is good or bad.

Anyway... why did I say "Lucky me".

I was lucky because I didn't have to travel all the way to Pasir Ris to try the chicken rice because they opened up a second branch in BISHAN.

And BOY... ain't I lucky. Otherwise I would imagine myself travelling all the way to Pasir Ris, eat the chicken rice.... and CURSE ALL THE WAY BACK HOME!!!!!!

The stall is called "MR CHICKEN RICE". After eating the chicken rice, I almost want to wreck his signboard.

The rice is ordinary.

The chicken is less than ordinary.

The chilli is standard chicken rice chilli.

The black sauce is the cheapest kind. Super watery.

The soup is vegetable soup.

I couldn't believe I was eating a supposedly famous chicken rice. I try to be partial and not place the hype on the brandname and judge the food accordingly.

However, based on my taste bud for chicken rice, this would have been categorised as "BAD". And the fact that this is by somebody supposedly good, I will have to rank this "VERY BAD".

Boon Tong Kee is so much better in comparison.

No wonder chatterbox has to sack him.

there's something about ..... football

It's been a busy month. It's no joke when World Cup is in town. It's no wonder that they said the market is usually quieter when the World Cup beckons, except if your market is Kopitiam Business, Pub business or if you are a Doctor. I heard the the flu bug is at the highest this June than ever before.

Anyway, I saw this advertisement by Coca Cola and I almost have a surreal experience with my brother-in-law. This is a funny advert. Note that the one on TV is a shorter version.



You see.... my relationship with my in-laws.... at best.... at most tactful.... you could call it "friendly".

We don't chat. We exchange pleasantries... if we happens to have eye-contact. On average, minus away the pleasantries, our conversation surrounded this word "Bye Bye".

However, when it comes to Football.... Football basically unite strangers. One of my brother-in-law, who is my wife's sister's husband, whom I only met during CNY.... will call me once every 2 years. The last time I received a call from him was EURO 2004. And again, he called me last night, after a 2 years absense.

I treasure such calls. I ranked them high up along calls from Telemarketeers.

You see, I'm a soccer fan. I analyse soccer games with theories. I analyse the tactics, the players the feng shui, the History. And I'm a small time puntits. I punt from Singapore Pools like $50 per game. And I strategise my betting in such a way that if I lost... I lost minimum and if I win, I win a bit more. Essentially.... I think too much.

My this brother-in-law is different. He don't analyse. Whichever team that offers a better odds, he will go for it. He went all out for a France win, against Brazil. He won handsomely. I went with Brazil win, I lost $8. The last time at EURO Final. He betted $1k for a Greece win and he won $8k. I betted for a portugal win and I lost $50.

Maybe that is why he likes to call me during football seasons. He reckons he just need to reaffirm his bets. Whatever I bet, he bet the opposite.

Anyway, back to the call. I had already placed my bets with Singapore Pools for a draw last night for Germany-Italy game, before he called. He told me that there is no way Italy will lose and he was ultra-confident Italy will win in 90 mins. He went on to tell me about his bets and how much he betted and he encouraged me to bet for Italy.

I got influenced. I mean this chap is a Big and Lucky Puntit. Surely I can't go too wrong by following him. Off I went to Singapore Pools again at about 9.45pm last night. Thinking that my "draw" slip will not earn me any money, I decided to buy alot more for an ITALY win to cover my bets for a goalless draw game.

And of course, everyone knows now that Italy did win... but only in extra-time, and full-time score was indeed a draw. I lost money.

I wish I can embrace him like the coca cola advert. when I next see him, probably next year's CNY.

But... I think I shall just stick to "Hi" and "bye"