there's something about ..... stadium

photo by redsun81 (flickr)

What a beautiful shot of Singapore National Stadium or should I say:
The-Stadium-that-never-get-demolished
or perhaps
The-Stadium-that-always-reopened-after-saying-that-the-last-game-was-indeed-the-last-game.

First... they have commerative events to mark the end of National Stadium.

Then.. they have Australian national team coming to play as a Swansong game in National Stadium.

Then... they have World Cup qualification games played at National Stadium, the last game being really the last game.

Then... they have Brazilian coming to play as warm-up game for Beijing Olympics, saying the game will really be the last game.

This reminds me of Retailers in some ulu ulu place that always hang up banners saying "Closing Down Sales". But they never close down.

I guess this is Singapore Mentality.

there's something about ..... youtube

I spent probably about 30 mins a day looking at youtube. I always start off with 1 video and later chose any videos from the right hand bar under "related videos" and just go on and go on.

It's very interesting where you ended up watching.

For example,

I was watching this MTV from Peter Cincotti's "Some kind of wonderful". Nice song, nice video. Unfortunately embedded is being denied.

At the side bar, I chosed this MTV from a movie of the same name "Some kind of Wonderful"



After going thru a few others movies clips under "Some kind of Wonderful", I came across "Pretty in Pink".



This led me to:

OMD "if you leave"



After this, I saw "New Order's Bizzare Love Triangle"



Another New Order song "true Faith" which interestingly was one song that was brought to my attention yesterday.



And this series of videos ended.

From watching a modern day jazz singer, I ended up watching a boy band in the 80s.

Another series starts all over again.

there's something about ..... wedding

This wedding shot of Tony Leung and Carina Lau damn cool man! Even if you damn rich, may not even guarantee you can get married at Bhutan. So to pull off a photo like this...

there's something about ..... fannie and freddie

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sounds like distant cousins of Amy Winehouse, or names of the next Batman's villains.

Who would have thought they are nicknames of banks in America, who just recently almost gone bust until the Government bailed them out. see link

Fannie Mae is actually "The Federal National Mortgage Association" while Freddie Mac is "Federal Home Mortgage Corporation"

Only in a matured country like USA could come up with something like that.

Imagine Singapore giving nicknames to POSB and DBS bank.

POSB is Post Office Savings Bank. SO boring!!!
DBS is Development Bank of Singapore. SO F#^% Boring!!!

Must we always take the first letter of every word and put them together to form another shortcut name?

Wouldn't it be cool if we can call POSB...... Po the Orang Utan.

And yes... I finally watched Kung Fu Panda.

Now my kid will grow up normally and will not be laugh at by some Uncles.

there's something about ..... panda

I am a lousy father.

During the lead-up to the premier of Kung Fu Panda, with all the trailers on TV, I got my kid excited about watching the movie on the big screen. I think that was sometime early June.

Sometime middle of June, the pirated DVD from JB surfaced in Singapore. My brother-in-law proudly declared that he has the DVD and played it on the TV for us to watch.

1.) I don't watched pirated DVD filmed from cinema.
2.) I don't watched anything that comes from my brother-in-law.

I told my kid then that I will bring him to watch in the cinema and encourage him not to watch it on TV. He understood and he went on to play.

Sometime in late July, the show seems to have near the end of its run with all movie times either early morning or middle of afternoon, and mostly on weekdays. It was tough as my kid either got school, having his nap, or I was working.

I kinda think he forgot all about it....

...until last Saturday.

I have arranged for a dinner gathering with my friend. The last time we went out with this friend about 6 months ago, we went for a movie together with their kids.

And so when I was getting my kid ready to go out, and I told him that we are meeting this friend and their kids...

My son excited say "We going to watch Kung Fu Panda?'

Both myself and my wife's heart sank so low..... so bloody low......

The good thing is, the show is still showing in local cinemas... and this time round, we promised to bring him to watch it this coming Wednesday.

There is no turning back on our promise now.

Not after our friend repeatedly told my kid how nice the show is. That bastard!

there's something about ..... pharmacist

Last night I have an interesting encounter with a pharmacist.

After coughing like 2 weeks with limited signs of improving, I turned to a pharmacist.

After explaining my problem, she asked if I wanted something to curb my cough or eliminate phelms.

After telling her that I wanted something to curb my cough, she recommended something that can do both!!

?!??!?!?!?!??

And she goes on to say "....NO ALCHOHOL and NO SUGAR....."

To me, it was an obvious instructions. I mean... we should never take medication with alcohol.

But "no sugar"?

So I asked how long before I take the medication should I refrain from sugar-related drinks?

I think she was amused.

She told me that she meant the medication that she recommended DO NOT contained alchohol and sugar.

She should know that she is talking to a sick man and she should be clearer in her explaination!

there's something about ..... alumni gathering

Recently I was invited to attend a social gathering organised by some secondary schoolmates. It has been 20 years since I saw most of them.

I didn't attend. I don't see the point.

If I had wanted to keep in touch with some of them, we would have gotten in touch even after we left school. We didn't. All of us kinda just go on with our own lives. Those days, there aren't facebooks, email, mobile phones... only pagers and house numbers.

And after 20 years, some folks decided to catch up old times.

But... there aren't any old times to start off. So where do we start?

Is it just a gathering to compare achievements?

Or is it just a gathering to get contacts?

I really do not see a point.

there's something about ..... youth of today

Today I saw a disturbing sight.

I was hungry at in the afternoon and decided to go out to grab a bite. With $3 in my pocket, you would be surprised that my choices are pretty limited. Foodcourt nowadays start from $3.50 onwards. However, Macdonald still have affordable bites starting at $2. And so I went to the Macdonald at AMK.

I was queuing behind 3 NYJC students. As another counter was available, one of these NYJC students went over to place his order. I went over as well and was queuing behind him. Let's name him "A".

After he placed his order, he was whispering to his friend "B" over at the next counter. The cashier was waiting for "A" to pay before proceeding to collect the order.

I was also waiting rather impatiently. Couldn't "A" wait till everything is over before talking to "B".

That is when I realised "A" was actually borrowing money from "B". The order was $5. "B" took out $4 worth of notes and was struggling to come out $1 worth of coins. But finally "B" manages.

And "A" went on to give to the cashier. The cashier counted and realised that it's only $4.90.

But then, "B" has already taken his order and has walked away.

"A" decided to ask "C" who is still waiting for his food for 10cents.

"C" struggled and finally came out with 2 5cents.

This is too disturbing on many counts.

• You have to F%^! borrow money to EAT MACDONALD!!
• A JC student do not have any money with him, not even 10 cents and he F#%! want to eat Macdonald!!
• If you have to F^#% borrow money to eat Macdonald, you order the cheapest possible which is a chicken burger at $2, and not a $5 set meal!!!
• I only have $3 in my pocket and 2 of these students have a total of $15. (all three of them ordered $5 set meals) 5 times more than what I have?!?!?!

This is too disturbing.

there's something about ..... naming your kid

If only naming your kid is as easy as what nicole kidman did. She simply named her newborned daughter Sunday .

Interestingly the baby girl was borned on Monday.

Currently myself and my wife are thinking about names for our second child coming in August.

It's not as stressful as the first. You simply either followed the first letter of the elder's name or you follow along something that sounds similar.

I always thought Jeff's naming of the 2 kids is very clever. Elder girl is called Ella. Second one is called Emma. Even if you follow the alphabet sequence, "m" comes right after "l". So smart.

I tried using that approach for my son's name and it didn't quite turn out that way.

During my first kid, I joked about getting a random name from Straits Times, and I almost named my son "Paul", "Justine" and "Gerard"

I think I will continue with that formula to see which other names I can derive from Straits Times. If this failed, I can always fall back on the day he is borned. I like Monday and Friday.

there's something about ..... customer service

It was an eventful trip to Chinatown.

I went into this Giordano section and they were clearing stocks at clearing price. I didn't want to waste time and I asked the salesperson if they have jeans that are baggy.

This salesperson must be a part-timer. He don't seems to know the products very well.

He hold out a jeans for me and said "I think this is quite baggy".

I obliged and took it from him.

Of course it's baggy.... it's F#$% 38 inch waist.

At least he tried.

there's something about ..... eating

Went chinatown and saw this.

Seriously, I am really tempted. But I have too many questions to ask and wasn't too sure whether they will entertain...

U see, I am very particular about my chicken rice.

I need to know if this is roasted chicken or white chicken. Got chilli? got Black sauce? Which part of the chicken will be served?

there's something about ..... algae bloom

This is the first time I heard of Algae Bloom. But look at the magnitude of it.

I know China is a predominately a agriculture country, but algae...?

And this happen at Beijing. They have to get 10,000 folks to get the river ready by 8.8.08.

there's something about ..... channel 5

Thursday's Contender Asia was fabulous. John Wayne Parr vs Mr Maia Lee. Not a close match but the array of skills from John Wayne is scantillating.

Just when I was looking forward to the trailer to the next espisode, Channel 5 has to spoil it.

The bloody trailer actually show the result of the next fight!! Just because one of the contestant got a bad knockout resulting him being escorted to the hospital doesn't mean they must show:

1.) That PUNCH that knock the contestant out.

2.) Which contestant got knock out!

I bloody already know who will win the match and how it ended. ALL in that 5 seconds TRAILER!!!

DAMN IT!!

Channel 5 has my brother-in-law's mentality.

there's something about ..... genetic

Last Sunday, I borrowed 2 dvds so that I could watch them at my in-laws.

Just so when I was about to start watching, my sister-in-law's son who is in his early teens, came over to see what I was watching and exclaimed "我 看 过 了.”

I thought perhaps I got amnesia. I don't remember asking for his permission nor asking him to join me in my movie. I don't remember ever talking to him since he was in Primary School. In fact, I try to condition myself so that he always remain invisible.

And so I continue watching.

About 1 over hour later, this teenager's father arrived, or you can say my brother-in-law arrived.

He saw on the table the other DVD which I borrowed and exclaimed "我 看过了.........." He continued with an executive summary of the movie.

WTF?!?!?!?!?!??!

N0.1 : I realised I do not have Amnesia.

No.2 : These people like to let other people know VOLUNTARILY what they have done and not done.

No.3: These people don't realised that other people do not care and didn't bother to ask them about their preferences. In fact, they don't care about their arrivals at all.

No. 4: These people don't realised that other people can get totally pissed off when you let out the storyline of a movie which that other people have not watched.

No. 5: I believe the saying "like father ... like son"

So now you know why I hate going to my in-laws.

There's something about ..... normal

Euro is over.... life is back to normal for now....

Haven't been writing for a while because other than soccer in the last 3 weeks, nothing else seems interesting.

Not even why a Typhoon has a chinese name called "Fengshan" but first attack is on Phillipines. Or a Typhoon named after a Singapore Primary School.

Or why Anwar sought refuge in Turkey Embassy. Is it because how Turkey performed in EURO and he realised that Turkish people likes to fight back.. till the last second? Perhaps he should have waited till the Final. Then, he would have sought refuge in Spain Embassy. Sure win!

Anyway, I'm glad life is normal now.

At least for another month or so before my wife delivers in August.