I’m moving on… This will be my last post here… thanks and appreciate all the comments and visits. For the latest posts and updates, I’ve moved to a new site: Supanova 1-900-NERD-GIRL ROTFL… Protected: Deja vu… This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: Finally on leave… I’m really quite thankful for the CNY that I had this year. Went to see my mum’s parents, and they were really happy to see everyone gather. I must say we’re probably one of the healthier families amongst the rest. My cousins and uncles actually went down to play basketball in our new year clothes, and it was just great fun as my uncles were quite sporting together with my younger cousins. Pretty unconventional for a CNY gathering, but I really look forward to CNY now that we’ve been doing it for 3 years straight. We even played american football on the 2nd day when we went to my aunt’s place. Caught up with my handsome looking cousin who came back from New York, its been a really long time since we caught up with each other. He also invited me to go over to New York sometime in June and show me around. I must say… I’ve always wanted to go to the US… I’d probably feel at home there since I’m the ang mo pai. This year’s CNY was one of the better ones I had. Ang pow collection was also more than usual… not to mention went to EK’s place to play Blackjack, and won $24. *grin* After all the mahjong games I lost before CNY…. Also finally met up with E again since after we went to have yong tau foo at Tanjong Katong. We went to have pomfret “steamboat” (forget the correct name) which I thought was a bit pricey at $38, but nevertheless tantalizing. The fish was really fresh, to the point I was wondering if it was swimming seconds before it arrived on the plate. Another thing that was very obvious, was how skillfully the fish was deboned and sliced cleanly and proportionately. It was really the most proper presentation I’ve ever witnessed. E claimed that once the fish passes by a day, they will fry it and use it for the soup base instead. The soup is darn good. For a carnivorous dude like me, I was impressed at how nice fish soup can be if done really well. But my fav dish of the night was the self-made tofu braised with brocolli, mushroom and dried scallops… my eyes just lit up followed by the sensationalized expression of “its… so… damn… nice…” This is like the definite must order dish next time I’m there. Aside from the food, E’s company was good too. At times I also forget how nice it is to spend time with her. Tried to meet up before CNY but its either too tired or too busy… but its normal being Singaporean and leading a stressful work life. Nevertheless, treasure those precious moments and don’t take them forgranted. Bought English Cumberland sausages on Mon night after meeting RN for supper… sharing about how some customers can be stupid yet smart, and working with an over-generous head chef (makes me wanna go there…) anyway, she asked if the sausages were nice… I think not too bad. Really tastes quite “English”… whatever that means… really have to make sure they’re properly cooked through… there was some rawness in the centre after my first try at pan frying it. I’m still stomped at how hotels have such creamy and fluffy scramble eggs… My craving for American breakfast buffet hasn’t stopped since last year. First of all because no one really wants to wake up that early on a weekend, 2) they think its expensive which is true, 3) they don’t really have the craving like I do. While I’m on leave, I also stumbled upon some funny looking stuff online… These are the ang mo cosplays emulating Naruto. boy do they look freakish compared to these pros below… Kakashi looks so damn cool can………. and Sasuke looks pretty correct here too. And I went ecstatic when I stumbled upon this… Even Optimus Prime is an Arsenal fan!!! ARSENAL FTW!!! Despite painting such a colorful CNY… Microsoft stabbed me at the back when I installed the latest nvidia graphics drivers… Vista simply refused to boot into windows, and I didn’t have any proper restore point saved… thus Vista couldn’t repair the problem… leading me to format my entire hard disk and reinstall all the damn softwares and drivers again. Lucky G came down to help a bit. If that wasn’t troublesome enough, Vista prompted me to install new updates which in the end, didn’t shut down properly and caused me to reboot from DVD multiple times to restore it to the previous working state… Its really the disappointment of 2007. I really should’ve gotten XP 64 bit instead. Screw MS Vista… for now. My advice to everyone out there is to get XP now… I think Vista’s gonna need another few years before it really gets stabilized. Now my Call of Duty 4 saved games all gone…. nooooo…. after all the weapon and ability upgrades… On the bright side… I had to reinstall my Creative Fatal1ty sound card, and realized I’ve been under-utilizing it from the day I installed it. Now that I’ve reinstalled with all the stuff… the sound is just gawking, amazingly great quality. Watch the Transformers DVD and it was almost as if I was in a theatre. Crysis is also running quite smoothly now at High modes with very high sound settings. In some way, the Vista screw up was also sort of a blessing in disguise… though it bloody better not happen the 2nd time. Need to backup stuff… might need another HDD in the near future. Still have 1 more day of leave to go… ^_^ Think you had a bad CNY? These guys were locked up during Chinese New Year. Excerpt from TodayOnline: http://www.todayonline.com/articles/237087.asp Posted a thread on the bar. I got damn emotional after reading the whole thing on the actual paper. That’s just me… cos freedom of rights are there for a reason and its what defines our humanity and our existence. Locking up someone and sending people meals is nothing short of treating people like animals. Additional facts from the printed version: … meals were seen hanging on a hook outside the gate, which the workers inside could reach through a gap… … Under the Penal Code, wrongful confinement involves wrongfully restraining any person in such a manner as to prevent that person from proceeding beyond certain circumscribing limits. If convicted, one could be jailed up to three years, or fined $1000, or both, depending on the length of the confinement. Fined S$1k??? I suppose that can’t be the maximum fine… how can that be sufficient penalty? Assuming if he is guilty, $1k isn’t even a mosquito bite. And just what was the boss doing in HK? working? seriously… HK people are also having CNY celebrations. As for the father of this boss… I’m sure he felt damn stressed out while being interviewed by the press. I admit that I am overreacting to this issue, who knows it might be another conspiracy theory. Notice that there’s no info from the boss, no expressed intention to commit the offence, and simply taking countermeasures to prevent theft. Workers backstabbing the boss? Nevertheless, let justice be served accordingly. The Newpaper… close to rubbish? Yes my blog has quite a bit of rubbish, yet really couldn’t help but notice… but before I carry on this rant.. I admit that my standard of English is going downhill meaning I don’t really have good basis to criticise the newpaper. And as defaming as this post may sound… its merely a personal opinion and should not be taken as hard facts. Nevertheless The Newpaper does pose some entertainment value. I also won’t jump to the conclusion of it being shoddy work since the editors would know better… I don’t read it often anyway. Had to wait over an hour for G to knock off for dinner and thus needed sometime to help pass time. But I couldn’t help notice the small print out of nowhere… Anyway I googled the names and here’s the info on Tan Siew Sin courtesy of Wikipedia : “… later Malaysia’s) first Minister of Commerce and Industry, Finance Minister for 15 years, and president of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA, later Malaysian Chinese Association).” It does seem like Tan Siew Sin was the first finance minister… but then this link proved otherwise… http://www.mca-selangor.org.my/en/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=2 Don’t get me wrong here, people make mistakes and screw up just about everyday. It’s just a matter of how big the screw up is. It just caught the eye because the correction came out of nowhere… “huh?? is this related to the picture?” I also think I’m pretty WOLS… I’m sure that quite a few people already gave up on reading the Newpaper, not just because of petty errors, but the structure and content as well… RN still reads it though… which is reasonable because you can’t always look at things at a single dimension. RN looks at things in just about every dimension possible and makes the best out of it… including newpaper… makes me feel shallow. *grin* Also personally, the choice of articles are just…. “Is this Taiwan?” not really, but close? Though this was quite the profound… “……………………………………………………..” Ok so… try looking from the intellectual social standpoint. Its all about the target audience, and the kind of feeling that editors want to give to readers… (yah rite…) On the other hand quite frankly, it does qualify for a pretty good blog post. My question is… how on earth did this make an entire page of a newspaper!? On a more positive note, thankfully the editors had enough pride not to put this one as the headlines on the front page. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not complaining about the standard. I hate the part of being an adult and being bored, anal and just complaining about anything one can complain about. This article just seems quite amusing and am just exploring greater depths with my limited knowledge of how the world works. But what is news fundamentally? Its text and information… its discourse meant for the public. In layman terms, news is one huge plethora of discourses lumped together to tell everyone what’s happening. So does an article about a man not getting his box with his $625 Montblanc qualify as news? Well… then begs the question of definition and qualification… and of course… what’s the point? Where’s the box for the Montblanc? I seriously, still don’t get it. Because even after reading the long article, it merely stated that it was a mistake by the salesperson. Ok so does Montblanc’s service suck? No, despite a pathetic attempt to hint it.. I mean… its so bloody out of context. An article about the art and value of Montblanc pens would have been so much more interesting, and probably have side notes to tell people not to buy a Montblanc without a box… Unless the guy just wants to be known as a person with Montblanc who almost didn’t get a box… uurrgghh… Which led me to conclude… One whole page about nothing! haha! duh… Nevertheless, thank you Newpaper for giving me something to blog about when I’m seriously bored… I wonder if there’s more… 3, 2, 1… ladies and gentlemen, we have lift off… The Asus Silent Knight II If anything, I have to be in the geekiest mood to write this… perhaps most ladies will take a detour out of this entry… nevertheless… I’ve got something pretty “cool” to rave about and here it is… The Asus Silent Knight II. Probably be thinking “what a cheesy name…” but I find the name to be quite creatively appropriate. Its one of the quietest CPU coolers in the market emitting no more than 26 decibels. Yet… its so friggin huge… Its surprising that this beast weighs just 610g, which is great because its so much easier to handle when you install it. There are some beefed up coolers that are just too heavy to the point that mounting it on the motherboard seems like it’ll just make the PCB snap. For those who are really lost reading this post, the Asus Silent Knight II is a CPU heatsink which is dedicated to ensure sufficient cooling on the processor chip in your PC. Processor chips (for e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo) run at extremely fast speeds which in turn generates a lot of heat. Without the heatsink to conduct heat away from the chip, its fry baby fry… I mainly decided to get this because since I’m planning to overclock my processor, its gonna need a very good cooler to preserve the lifespan of my $400+ chip. Just look at it… its like some jet turbine engine out of an F-15… its got a little fan in between to suck in the cool air and expel the heat dissipated through the copper fins… this thing looks insane and yet it’s just a CPU heatsink. However, I will also add, that I have never attempted to physically dismantle a PC before. But I finally got the chance to meddle around dismantling it in order to install the new heatsink. Here’s what the inside of my PC looks like originally: So I had to take out the side panel… So its time to remove the original heatsink. Disconnect all the peripherals/cables and switch off the power… Just took a screwdriver to release the clipped heatsink on top of the processor chip… and then take out the old heatsink. (above: taking off the heatsink revealing the heart of the system. Grey stain is actually thermal paste (acts to conduct heat between the chip and heatsink) Up till this point it seemed pretty easy. Followed by taking out the processor, (above: removing the processor. You must not touch the bottom of it… and hold it along the edges…) I wiped off the old thermal paste with tissue and applied a fresh layer of it (using toothpick below) And then remount it back onto the motherboard securely. I felt pretty good at this point because it was the very first time I had physically handled a processor chip. Next thing was to disconnect all the cabling/video/audio cards and remove the whole motherboard from the PC casing… which was tricky as I had to remember where cables and connectors belonged to when I reassemble everything again after installing the heatsink (the Asus Q connectors helped a ton). Followed the instruction manual which was easy to use and understand, and managed to install the Silent Knight onto the board… Now to get this whole thing back into the casing. Just look at how big the Silent Knight is… looks like some turbo afterburner that’s gonna make the motherboard lift off… Now to reconnect back all the cables/screws/graphics/sound cards… It was easier than I expected thankfully. Hence I tilted back the PC casing upright normally and moved on to connect the keyboards/mice etc… Powered on… vuala! It works! The blue LED fan looks really cool and the airflow in the casing has also improved… It was quite an interesting experience. Looking forward to overclock soon… =) Interesting weekend… Vacuumed my room, washed the laundry, and washed the kitchen floor too. Followed by a trip to the library to catch up on my POA syllabus. Not gonna order Passion Orange freeze anymore from Galilee cos its got bitter after taste despite getting a replacement. But their potato wedges are irresistable and service is not bad. Thumbs up for the Jurong branch so far. Caught my first local play this afternoon… I couldn’t catch all of the gags, but some of ‘em were jaw breaking hilarious. I’d probably catch it again the next time they show a new one. Went together with RN, KM, SM, LP and his Missus (AG). After the show, RN and KM had to rush off, leaving me in a slightly awkward situation with SM together with LP and AG, thankfully we settled at a nearby Starbucks to chat and do the usual crapping with lameness and a bit of pun. LP’s really larky cos AG’s really nice and they just look natural together. Way to go dude. Chatted with SM… and found that she does lots of volunteer work, meeting lots of people with different needs… most of the time in emotional distress, if not plagued by medical conditions that prohibit what we would deem as a normal life. I’ve not met anyone actively doing volunteer work before… and looking at SM who does it on a regular basis and even as a passion… speaks volumes of care and kindness… but also at the expense of some emotional baggage that comes when sometimes doing your best doesn’t yield the results that you hope to achieve… especially when you’re involved with people abandoned, others with genetic defects… etc. When you see sadness, pain and suffering in its various forms and in large numbers, it can get to you and make one look at life so differently from the norm. It even seems like a convenient excuse for us not to do volunteering because of that… Yet she still persists and mentions of having to be an “aunt agony” after receiving an sms when I sent her home. It just made me reflect about what I do nowadays… Despite getting a blister on my toe after this morning’s run, I need continue more often now that my virus is gone. I’m in the worst shape ever since I was a little fat-ass in primary school, and there’s a long way to go to get rid of the belly. Gotta control my diet… But I still crave for american breakfast buffet… uurrrgghh… the temptation… devil is seriously after me… and its about time to fight back. Soulfood… Yes its one of those days where stuff just doesn’t go your way, just about everything feels farked up even though its really not as bad as it seems. You’re just fine… in its “fine” sense. I for one, have found a small outlet of relief from “fineness”. Life didn’t feel that farked up when I had this for dinner before attending my night classes. For those who don’t eat cow… TOO BAD… you can read further below though. But I must express the innate feelings that derived from confounded senses by the aroma that extrudes from Cowabunga… Yes ladies and gentleman… its Beef Fried Rice at its finest when you’re feeling just “FINE”. I… am tehhling you peepurl ah… this beef fried rice is Si beh ho jiak… (die father very tasty). Because this dish brings me all the way back in time where uncles have their meals while resting their foot on the same chair they sit on… no I would’ve ripped my pants if i did that… It just smells of the 1980s… and that’s the time where food is usually cheap and so much nicer than now. It smells fragrant and just the way beef fried rice should be. Simple. But how many of us know that good fried rice = master of a lost art. I’m not completely blown away by the texture and quality of the food, but when the basics are right: not too salty, fragrant, rice not too hard or soft, consistency, tender beef that’s properly marinated, a real proper “he bao dan”… there’s just no need to ask for more here. My colleague claims that the uncle cooks better when the younger (middle aged) lady is helping with the stall… so far, its the same standard with or without that lady. I shall not divulge where to find this place in my blog for fear that I’ll pollute it in the public sphere of madness. (can still ask me personally if you really want to go and try) I really find peace and satisfaction when there’s good food around. Its like everything else can be shitty… but at least I’m not eating shit. I’ve not cooked for quite awhile since M, RN and KM came for a cook-over. Which reminds me, I wanted to blog about it but was just too tired at that time to do so… That was last year in November I think, had a long shopping session at IMM to buy the ingredients… and I personally thought that I tried too hard again… nevertheless the results were still good though it was tiring. RN and KM took forever to arrive, and M and I were taking forever to cook everything… it was the time I wished I had one of ‘ose big kitchen ovens like Jamie Oliver has. Because we made baked chicken. Looks good right? But I didn’t feel it was as good as the chicken chop that I did the last time round. Nevertheless its the first time experimenting with the recipe so I wasn’t that disappointed. M stir fried some of the leftover veges which I thought was the highlight of dinner… she did it just right and I just wanted to keep eating it. We also steamed the live prawns with hua diao… … which is always good. And doing all this just helps to settle one’s soul… knowing that we’ve still got the basic stuff that we need to move ahead and drive us to greater things. Although things might not look too bright in life, we still have the little things that matter… and no wonder… we can still smile here and there, and remain alive. Cheers to the soul, and to life. Microsoft’s Sidewinder vs Logitech’s G9 Supposed to catch Dan in real life today with E, but end up she’s too tired. Luckily, I went to funan this afternoon and hooted these… Razer eXactMat Xspeed mouse pad (comes with wrist rest), Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse and… I finally got these balls!! WooHoo! Overclocked these babies to 1066 Mhz… *silly grin* Also decided to do some review/comparison with my Microsoft Sidewinder Gaming Mouse. Quite frankly I’m putting myself to shame doing this review, on the basis that my writing sucks now. Nevertheless, I will base this review along this set of criterion: 1) Comfort 2) Functionality 3) Value/Price 4) Features 5) Cool factor Also, I’m strictly reviewing right-handed mice… no offence to lefties. =p here’s the Microsoft Sidewinder up close… Its probably the biggest gaming mouse ever seen in the market as of late. I’ve used this coming to about 2 months without a mouse pad/rest till now, and thankfully nothing bad has happened to it yet (even after slapping the mouse onto the desk when I keep dying while playing Call of Duty 4). Which really makes me pretty glad that the construction is solid. For someone who has longer fingers, I found the grip to be very comfortable, and despite its size, its actually quite light. But that’s really subjective because it might feel a little bit too chunky for others with smaller hands. There’re many other mixed reviews in gaming websites with regards to the Sidewinder. Some say its just too big, whereas some end-users really adore it (think its the bigger hands). Just to set the tone right, its one of those types meant for gamers who have more palm/large movements as opposed to finger/delicate movements. (above) a look at how the mouse fits. Notice that my fingers are quite extended but not reaching the front, and my palm’s fully in contact on the mouse. The Sidewinder has a flurry of buttons that seem to bode really well for the hardcore gamer. Its the 1st mouse to have an LCD display showing the dpi (2000, 800, 400 default) with 3 red led buttons at the topside just behind the mouse wheel to toggle the desired sensitivity. The mouse wheel feels really solid without the side to side clicks found on other mice. I found this to be good because you don’t have to worry about accidentally clicking on the wrong button (cos there isn’t one). There are 2 silver thumb buttons strategically placed and only work if you deliberately click them. In front of the silver buttons is a macro button that I’ve not tried yet. Another really nice touch was the fact that Microsoft actually went the extra mile to think about how to make the mouse even better. They did that by introducing a weighted box that actually clips on to the mouse wire to prevent excessive wire slack that messes up the desk. The box also doubles up as case containing interchangeable weights, and even 2 sets of interchangeable mousefeet. Makes one wonder, if only MS did the same for Windows Vista… (they must be playing too many games with this to do real work…) On the downside, I found that the weights made the mouse too heavy and sluggish. I also felt that the smoothest set of mouse feet, is still brought down to its knees compared to the G9’s slick glide. Its also only 2000 dpi at max, which is kind of low for gaming mice. Having got this at Sitex for S$139 together with Gears of War was a really good deal, now its probably retailing for about S$120 just by itself. Rather average price-value ratio if not for the additional features like the weighted box that solves the wire slack problem. This mouse is a real looker with the Sidewinder logo embedded at the top (actually brings up the Games folder when clicked) and the red lights shining out under the mouse yells out awesome coolness. The macro button is a good idea from MS that separates the Sidewinder from its competition with additional functionality. On a score out of 10… 1) Comfort - 7 2) Functionality - 8 3) Value/Price - 8 4) Features - 8 5) Cool factor - 9 Overall - 8/10 Next up…… Logitech’s G9 Laser Mouse Logitech has been at the forefront of the PC peripheral market churning out tons of gaming hardware (i.e keyboards, speakers, mice, media controllers etc). If there’s any company that knows how to make great mice, its Logitech. Their stuff is always good, and hard to beat. And this G9 mouse is nothing that I’ve ever experienced before. The G9 is light and seems to make more sense in terms of size compared to the Sidewinder. There’s also a box of interchangeable weights that can be inserted for the hardcore gamer. Logitech have also included 2 different types of “grip-casing” which provides a choice of soft satin feel, or rugged dry feel. And both grips are equally comfortable. Its just a matter of preference to which feel you like. Shown above is the soft satin casing, below is the rugged dry casing. Interchangeable weights for the G9 Moving the G9 is a very soft and delicate affair. The mouse is extremely nimble without weights and even though it doesn’t have interchangeable feet, it feels like the mouse is floating on a cushion of air. Its nothing I’ve felt before and its insanely smooth. This thing glides like nobody’s business, and it requires such minimal effort to use. Its ergonomically sound in design and very suitable for those with smaller hands, or those who prefer smaller movements relying on fingers. (above) my palm is hardly touching the mouse so its moving more delicately with my fingers. The buttons also have a softer feel to it, but in no way should be misunderstood as risk to misclicking. Everything about the G9 is simple and delicate. When its movements replicate running your hand through silk, it almost feels feminine and sexy even. The mouse also comes with its own inbuilt memory, and requires no software to install. Just plug and play. There’s a toggle switch on the topside to adjust up to a max of 3200 DPI, and the red led indicates the amount of sensitivity of the mouse. The thumb buttons are in their usual traditional location, and have a very nice solid feel to it as well. Logitech have again produced another strong contender for gaming mice. Aside from the Razers, this thing glides as smooth as butter. Its really the most comfortable mouse I’ve ever used. The high sensitivity also makes it great for quick sharp movements needed for competitive gaming. Despite its rather awkward looks, it should satisfy the most nitty picky gamer looking for a good gaming mouse. However, this is also the most expensive gaming mouse in the market at S$159 (after discount pay in cash only, S$169 on credit) which is really expensive taking into account there’s not as many features as the Sidewinder. On a score out of 10… 1) Comfort - 9.5 2) Functionality - 9 3) Value/Price - 6 4) Features - 7 5) Cool factor - 8.5 Overall - 8/10 Conclusion: At head to head, the Sidewinder loses out to overall performance due to its size compared to the G9. But it does however make up for that with value added features with the box solving wire slack and doubling up as a casing for interchangeable mice and feet. Not to mention the macro button for added functionality. The G9 makes up for lack of features with a sublimely smooth glide and exceptional nimbleness and quickness. But you have to pay a high price for sublime. The interchangeable grip-casings feel fantastic and its very easy to change them whenever you want to. I really have a hard time deciding which is the one to own… so coming to personal preference, I’ll choose the G9. Because this thing feels so good once you use it… nothing else really matters. More details of the products can be found at the following links: Microsoft Sidewinder Gaming Mouse Logitech G9 Laser Mouse Penryn chips coming out… And the 780i nForce SLI motherboards also coming out… also Nvidia came up with a new GPU that has 2 cores (9800 GX2) that runs 30% faster than a pair of 8800GTX Ultras… Urgghh!! the poison!! I just wanna run Crysis in MAX settings and get to play it butter smooth… though Call of Duty 4 is running on max now and looks freaking gorgeous and sublimely real. Playing Crysis for the 2nd time in normal difficulty… made me realize that enemy AI is pretty cockanaden. Probably can starting playing “Hard” and “Delta” difficulties. And… mua finally got my first credit card. *grin* planning to read the thick booklet that came with it when I’m more free. I really wanna try to overclock my PC but just have no time and no balls… despite my intense curiosity to know if Crysis will perform any better at 3 Ghz which a lot of people with the Q6600 have attained easily. But I might need to get custom CPU cooling to be safe. My 8800GT stock cooling also sucks… feels like its always running at 60-70 degrees celsius (card is so hot even at idle). Going to be quite occupied this weekend again, dinner with M, C and E, then Sat badminton… plus have to help mum with CNY shopping, and gotta mug my principles of accounting. Reservist call-up came and I’ll be away for my “holidays” come late April. Hate Jurong camp. New Games I’m looking forward to: 1) The Witcher 2) Mass Effect 3) Assassin’s Creed but then… I still haven’t completed all my current games yet… so much to play and so little time… Daily happenings… Week has been rather fine. If not rather uneventful… There’s somewhat a sense of serenity for the past few days. We haven’t had an upset customer since the new year… which I think will be jinxed after I write this… I’ve managed to force my unwilling and awfully reluctant body to class yesterday. Again there are sick people in the office… boss went off after an interview in the morning, and colleague was also down sick on MC. I’ve finished my antibiotics and am almost cough free… almost… Crude oil is now US$100 and on its way up… property markets are still up… a lot of stuff seems to be… up. Except for my stomach. (i need to get well before i can go running again). Don’t feel like thinking or talking about life at the moment. Because interestingly it almost feels like utopia this week. However my temper has gotten a little bit shorter than it used to be… perhaps in a good way because there are things in life that just are not supposed to be tolerated. I’ve been known to be too accepting and too nice… but for the wrong reasons. And yes… I am freakin restless. I need to run and play sports again… very very badly. I’ve been feeling this strong sense of awkwardness about me since I fell sick late last year. Its just gets me so off rhythm… I can’t really set my mind… ahh… why do I have to constantly manage myself when life can be in fact a lot simpler than it is. Perhaps I really worry too much… really. I gotta just relax… and to W I didn’t mean to leave the comment in a bad way… and yes its plain irritating and insensitive… I feel bad that work hasn’t been going well for W. She’s been under the constant repetitive blather of parents going to the extreme of getting their kids into the school that she works in. Its a not a job for impatient people… and also not for the most patient either. Go figure. But she really shouldn’t be fired (no she’s not fired yet) just because the rich fags go all the way to get what they want, and are finally unable to get it because they don’t follow the rules and conditions set by the school. Imagine not just 1 rich fag parent (not saying that all rich ppl are like that), but a bunch of them nagging, complaining, yelling/screaming, calling non-stop, and you have to keep re-iterating over and over again the school’s entry policy… they still keep on pushing you to bend the rules, bribing you, threatening you, even belittling you… and you have to just tolerate it because that’s just part of the job. So yeah… when you have such rough days it just gets worse if a friend says something wrong at the wrong time whether he meant it or not. You’ve had enough stupidity for the whole week, and u just need people around you not to be stupid. Sorry W I really hope things get better for you, so just hang in there. Quite sometime ago I wanted to write about the steak at Hog’s Breath Cafe. I had the one with BBQ sauce… didn’t really like the sauce, but the medium rare steak was certainly tender. It gets better when you’re with a bunch of friends and have a few beers after the meal and start crapping about life and all that other stuff.  The setting of the restaurant at Vivocity is very casual and western. Its just the sort of place that yells out “BEER!”…… yet… very interestingly, they don’t seem to have any pork in their menu at all. *ponder* Hog’s breath… no hog? Also, I went to Rocky’s pizza at Sunset way with KM and RN… the pizza we ordered was huge… and there were actually juices flowing out onto the pan. Its simply quite good, and looking at the kitchen from the dining area was interesting. You can see the system they employ to keep track of the orders. It felt rather homely being a place in the neighbourhood… Sunset way has quite a few little restaurants with a nice, quiet and getaway setting from all the buzz in the city. Miss playing pool too… perhaps this weekend… after I study. Little things that make me happy Yes its another meme… I have no idea how to pronounce it. This one’s “10 things that makes me happy on a regular basis”. In no order of importance: 1) Alcohol and jokes with friends. 2) Break and run out a rack of 9 ball. 3) Kiwi (RN’s cat) resting on my lap while watching TV. I find it therapeutic and calming. 4) A sweaty workout (running, bball) 5) Taking a drive on a sunny Saturday morning to have breakfast. 6) Payday. 7) Using my uber Quad core PC. Knocking off for the week on Friday. 9) Watching the sunset at a coastline. 10) Being good company and having good company at the same time. So, pass to these people. You may choose to tag others or respond at your own free will… and you will NOT be cursed if u decide not to carry on. I just think its nice to appreciate the simple things in life that matters to us. a) http://allocohappybutt.blogspot.com/ b)  http://www.mybrainisstillat.blogspot.com/ c) http://ianlum.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/ d) http://lexandria.wordpress.com/ e)  http://fleaflyflooflum.wordpress.com/ Aimless and full of doubt… Its finally 2008… with what I thought was a bad start to the year being sick and all… Time really flies when you’re having fun, and I admit I’ve had lots of fun in 2007. But then comes the crux of what really matters in this stage of my life. What achievements I’ve gotten and what goals to look forward to next. Again I’ve not spent much time planning 3-5 years ahead, other than the assurance of keeping my current job. However, even as it is, work is about to become a little more complex and challenging that it was before. People are going to expect more from you, and perhaps vice versa as well… which kind of bodes further risk for misunderstandings and lotsa bitching in the near future. Why? Because we always struggle to meet expectations due to our own differences, even though we’re actually after the same goal and destination. Also, a number of people have gone ahead of me and graduated with their degrees and moved on with their life and career. At times, I will wonder why am I so slow… and I know all the reason too well. Acceptance is a big part of life. It even determines your destiny and how you evolve as a person. I for one, think I have been too accepting towards many things in life, in the expense of being influential at times. I realized that you can either be an adaptive person, or, you can be an influential person. For the time being, I’m beginning to think that the latter has the greater power. Though of course, being adaptive has its own perks. I’d say I’ve been rather adaptive throughout most of my life… and now that I have think of ways and means to be more influential in my workplace, has caused some mental conflicts with how I deal with my life in general. The roles we play in our lives, says a lot about who we are, and where we come from. In another few years, I’ll be in my 30s… and I think about what people are going to think about me when I’m 30. Does it really matter? Just how valuable are my representations? Because ultimately, when we communicate with others, we want to be listened to, and not have to listen all the time. When I reach that stage, I wonder… How am I going to face up to people, how am I going to earn the respect that I’ve given to people who deserve it. I’m no longer a person who has to be led… but a person who most probably has to show the way ahead for the younger generation. To be studying part-time, is really such a toil… and I’m just doing it to ensure I have a brighter future ahead. However, I’m not really working as hard as many other individuals who make sure they pass everything. And it really simply shows how lazy and care-less I am about my future… perhaps mainly because I still don’t really have any passion to look forward to fulfill… perhaps I just don’t dream big enough, and maybe I get easily bogged down by all the negativity that’s been seeping through my emotional walls. In short I’m in a pretty bad mood… and yes its probably because of the drugs I’m on to get well from this accursed virus. But I’ll be a lot better when this crap goes away. Still down with the FREAKIN FLU I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick…I hate being sick!!!! Its been a very mixed year… simplicity, complexity… The year’s coming to an end, and I just feel like writing stuff down about the things that happened this year be it good, bad, ugly, beautiful… etc. Starting with a quiet but nice Christmas. I’ve known E since I was in TMC doing my higher diploma in Mass Communications, I recall that we met in 2002. We met up a few times for breakfast and supper if time permitted, but after a year or so we lost contact with each other, despite pinging her many many times but no reply. But having learnt my lessson with W, at times people just need to be with the people they’re with. Its just fate… but it never means that you’ve lost a friend. I guess real friends stay friends for life… really… and I’m glad that W still remains as one of the best of friends, even though we don’t meet as often as the rest of our good friends. Till recently, E started to initiate hi’s and hello’s. We’ve not had a real, proper conversation for a few years, and only a few months ago we start to know about what’s going on in each other’s lives. It’d been about 5 years since our last meeting, and we finally decided to meet at the last minute on Christmas Eve. I was watching “Hero” which is a very old jap serial about this public attorney… got an sms from E and went online to see if she was there, since we’re both so pathetically alone on a Christmas eve, we decided to meet up nearby at a multistorey carpark to have beer and ciggies on the top floor. The moon was full and the air was fresh, and the conversation… quite amazing… there was chemistry and it was intellectually stimulating. A fine example of doing the right thing at the right time, at the right place. It’s been a really long time since I’ve had such a good conversation. Feel quite lucky to have met up with E during Christmas… perhaps the best company I’ve had in the past 5 years. Looking back at the year, feels like its gone by in a flash. I have to think really hard about the stuff that’s happened in 2007, basically because I tend to take things too easily. In terms of work, quite a few colleagues have left for other companies, and quite a few new faces in the office at the moment. It does feel like a year of transition with my GM having left the company and replaced by another one… new procedures and rules put into place… basically quite a bit of new things came up in 2007. Not just colleagues but also spending time with new people like LP, M, Princess, KM, and just recently E… and I have to say life has become a lot more colorful being around such mixed personalities. I also decided to stop thinking too much about life… and just live the life that I want to live, to the fullest and just appreciate the good and get around the bad. On the other hand, I’ve also stopped going to church. For various reasons that seem hard to comprehend… in my personal opinion, I don’t see much difference in me being christian as compared to other non-christians. In fact we are all the same people, with the same sinful nature who can never escape from the so called “devil’s grasp” till the day we re-unite with the heavenly Father. The bible seems too paradoxical and profound at times… in fact too profound for any human being to comprehend, not even sparing the religious leaders, pastors and priests. My belief in a higher power still stands… but I have doubts that anything of this world can comprehend that power… yet in the bible it says that we are made in God’s image, and its because of that we can comprehend… its only because of sin that we can’t comprehend… That I do agree. But yet, God has allowed evil to take place, not because He approves of evil, but He hopes that by His word we can learn. And if knowing that isn’t enough, living out the word in the flesh… Its plain impossible to be like Jesus, to be like that of a saint… at least for me that’s the case. I’ve since looked at churches as social institutions instead of God’s temple, and I just can’t help it. But I do believe in due time, I might finally understand what this is all about. Its been a great year for friendships, I feel much more alive than before. I’ve done just about most of the things that I wanted to do other than travelling… and I’m just really glad that I didn’t continue the relationship with S. I would have missed out too much on the new friends and the new discourses… In terms of money, I definitely have a mountain to climb… with less than a thousand dollars saved in the entire year, it’s not a good sign for the future. On the bright side, I now know how impt it is to prioritize and get your life right… and I’ve got the things I’ve always wanted and saved for. Lasik surgery has made life feel completely different, its given me a boost of confidence and assurance… and aside from visual clarity, I felt a lot more clear about life’s principles and who I am and where I belong. Anyway… I still gotta save more dosh for… ehem… marrying my soulmate if I do find her eventually. Of course its not been a year of flowery optimism… 2 of my ex-colleagues have filed for divorce, and one my sec sch mates, Clauson, just passed away due to a very rare condition that has hounded him since childhood. The condition he had prevented him from growing normally… he looked like he was still in primary sch when in fact he was already in his late teens. People with his condition would live to a max of 28 years old… I believe he was 26 when he passed on. As for my divorced ex-colleagues, both ladies, it makes one ponder how fragile a marriage can be… and the divorce wasn’t due to something like having an extra-marital affair, or whatever that seems understandable… but it was the realization that they cannot continue living together anymore, and that living together would stunt their growth and aspirations for the future. Of course at this time and age its really common to get a divorce… but as a romanticist, I’ve always believed that marriage is more than just 2 people getting together. Its about finding your soul mate, your partner for the rest of your life… someone not just there for emotional punching or excess baggage to throw onto… but someone to grow with you and live life with. No offence I’m sure that everyone thinks about this before getting married… don’t they? I realize probably not after listening to S’s account on why she got a divorce… which is of cos too private to reveal. Though perhaps a determining factor was getting married at a rather young age. There’s just a lot of things to write but I just can’t seem to regurgitate anymore highlights of the year… but I’m thankful that friends like G, W, RN, E, I, WQ, M, L, are still around, asking how I’m doing, asking me to hang out and have fun. I’m really lucky to have great friends. I’ve not much luck with love… but I do believe that the appropriate person and time will come by… besides being single is just so awesome. I get to meet anyone just about any time and place… I get to do whatever I wanna do whenever I want, I get to buy things without having to think too much about the future. I get to play pool, play games, basketball, watch football… the stuff that many women just can’t understand why we men love to do. Well, I guess all there is now is to look back once in awhile, and move forward towards what I’m destined for… which I’m still in the process of finding out… What’s life without music? RN got me this new CD by Shin (lead singer from Xin Yue Tuan). Ok… I know I jiak kan tang, but when something is good, it certainly gets my stamp of approval including chinese songs. This dude ROCKS! And I’m quite sure that this album’s gonna be one of those “look back in time and reminded of one of life’s stages”. Just like Luna Sea sends me back to my poly days, Chage and Aska back to sec sch days. At times, the tracks I listen to regularly just can’t seem to represent that mood or feeling… doesn’t really perk up the mood… and I keep surfing for a song to fill that void… this album has filled that void. I’m damn glad to find the right music at the right time. Thanks RN! Xmas wish list This is in no way asking you to buy me a present. I really mean it. Just listing only for fun. 1) Barracuda Juggernaut Mousepad 2) Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars 3) Call of duty 4 4) Supreme Commander Forged Alliance 5) Creative Live! Cam Optia webcam 6) Creative Aurvana X-Fi Headphones 7) Xin Yue Tuan CD Erdinger Pack Thanks RN! 9) Transformers movie Dvd 10) The full Matrix Dvd collection 11) A friggin drawer… need to buy that. 12) A new chair 13) Mahjong Table + foldable chairs… gonna get it soon 14) Lost in Translation poster How materialistic can one possibly get? Beware: Extreme Poison below Finally managed to install Bluetooth and post pics of my new PC Asus P5K-Pro Motherboard Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4Ghz) 4GB Kingston DDR2 667Mhz RAM Western Digital 320 GB HD SATAII MSI nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB OC Edition Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Xtremegamer (64mb X-RAM) Creative Gigaworks T40 (2.0 Speakers) Coolermaster Centurion 5 casing Antec 650W Power Supply Unit LG 20x DVD RW Viewsonic VX2235wm 22″ LCD monitor Logitech G15 gaming keyboard Microsoft Sidewinder gaming mouse Yup did a couple more upgrades compared to the previous post. Speakers are just insane. In fact the whole setup looks insane… proof that I’m a typical Taurus single male. Now I seriously love my room. Creative Gigaworks T40 speakers at an angle. The 2nd gen Logitech G15. Microsoft Sidewinder. Sleek and poised for action. The heart of the tiger, where all the stuff happens. Quad core processor, Geforce 8800GT, X-Fi sound card… etc. Gets pretty hot with just stock cooling. Crysis. The game of all games… currently. Beats the crap out of my PC specs. Damn shiok. I wanna play all day… all week… grrrr… New poison… muahaha It has since made me extremely broke. But this really tops off the feeling of getting a new custom cue by miles. Asus P5K-Pro Motherboard Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4Ghz) 3GB Kingston DDR2 667Mhz RAM Western Digital 320 GB HD SATAII MSI nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB OC Edition Coolermaster Centurion 5 casing Antec 650W Power Supply Unit Viewsonic VX2235wm 22″ LCD monitor w inbuilt speakers LG 20x DVD RW Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 4000 Microsoft Sidewinder Gaming Mouse And its true. Windows Vista is pretty sucky, but luckily not sucky to the point that I cannot run anything. Internet Explorer 7 on the other hand, is incredibly and undeniably horrendous. It kept hanging and lagging which makes the simplicity of web surfing terribly irritating. I’ve since switch to the FireFox web browser, thank God for non-monopolization. In the past week, Vista hasn’t really hung up on me yet, but today I couldn’t get one of the latest updates from Microsoft (using the auto update). Had to troubleshoot a little bit in order to get the update downloaded and properly installed. I freaked out a little bit when I ran Hellgate and the game just wouldn’t start up before that. I’ve got 3 new games. Hellgate London, Crysis and Gears of War for the PC. I’ve not tried GOW yet… cos Hellgate and Crysis are such great games to occupy my time. Crysis is a really gorgeous game. Realistic terrain and enemy AI… seriously tests the limits of the latest graphics cards out there in the market. The weapons in Crysis are astoundingly detailed, and Halo 3 really can’t be compared to this game (Halo fans included). Just think about how cool it is to actually be wearing a nanosuit that can give you the ability to cloak, possess super strength, possess super speed, and provide armor against incoming fire. I was very apprehensive to get the Sidewinder mouse. There’d been a lot of mixed reviews about it’s huge size, and the reviews for the Logitech G9 mouse seem to be more consistent throughout hardware sites. I decided to go for the Sidewinder in the end cos the G9 was ridiculously expensive. Got this at Sitex as it came as a bundle with Gears of War. The award winning Xbox 360 game has since been beefed up for the PC and has a better overall gameplay as compared to the Xbox 360 version. Looking forward to this one. Also, I’ve been wanting to play Company of Heroes for the longest time since it’s release. Also looking forward to get Command and Conquer 3… the game that swooned me over once video previews were released. So many games to play and so little time… I’m living the typical male single life here. Life is good… Also, the first person to read this entry will be 1500th hit on my blog. Thank you for reading guys! Its a sick world out there! Seriously… I’m not talking about the moral dimension… but since saturday, I’ve met about 5 people who are all sick, not sparing 3 of my office colleagues, boss included. All caught the freakin flu. The result is the development of an itchy throat after having a cup of kopi-o. Gurgled listerine hoping to eliminate as much germs as possible and popped 2000 mgs of vitamin c… dammit… i hate being sick. Drinking as much water as humanly possible. In spite of the flu bug, life has not fallen short of surprises… One of my closer ex colleagues, S, is getting a divorce… and is thinking about getting her marriage annulled even. On a brighter note, another friend might be getting married soon. My office has turned from female dominated to possibly male dominated. I sold my custom cue (the biggest surprise). Saw a black Ferrari F430 spyder parked at the basement of the office today… *drool… Also, another good pal, quit his job to pursue classical music as a career. However, he contracted a medical condition at a very bad time, and needs to pay over 300 bucks for medication per month. One word. Shiong. Frankly I wondered why he made such a huge sacrifice to pursue a dream that has no guarantee of materializing… but of course, I shouldn’t be entitled to such judgement. It’s someone’s desire and passion we’re talking about here and not some sort of impulse no matter how much it looks like one. Although I did question him on how he was going to survive through with his financial liabilities just to be sure he didn’t go wacko. In my mind I was thinking… without money, u can’t really realize any dream here. Really hope when he succeeds to enter MOE, the rest will eventually be taken care of. Work has gotten a little more hectic since the temp asst left. More paperwork and filing to be done. Got a new guy but haven’t got enough time to train yet. My colleague who just switched roles to my dept hasn’t been fully trained yet… still need to find some time to teach her other facets of her new role. Its like a whole new office now compared to a year ago. Lots of colleagues left, and new faces appear. Sad thing is that finance dept is gonna lose one more key person… not to mention they just recruited new contract staff. Been reading up on PC technology… still pondering if its wise to get a new PC at the end of the year or just wait till there’s some stability in the market. Which seems to be asking for a lot cos tech advancements never do stop. The recent release of nvidia 8800GT cards are all sold out, to the point that retailers in Sim Lim Square are jacking up prices on the new cards. Some go up as high as 10-20% of the original SRP. Caveat emptor (let the buyer beware). Release of the ATI HD3870 is also in very high demand but insufficient supply… same jacking up going around. I’m waiting for the release of the new nvidia 8800GTS G92 gfx card… which is going to be fastest card in the market… yeah rite… for like 3 mths? I just wanna play Crysis. The newest and most gorgeous looking FPS game in the market today. However, even the hardest hardcore enthusiast now can’t even play the game in its highest detail settings due to the lack of driver optimisation of the graphics engine in the game. Heard that LP is downloading Crysis for free… =p bro if u can even run the game i salute you. Finally take a break… My home laptop has gotten extremely laggy for the past year. After doing some research online, I realized how much technology has moved ahead. From a single chip going past 1.6 Ghz, to having a quad processor running at 2.0Ghz. From a generous 1 Gb ram, moving on to 2 Gb just to run the horrendous Windows Vista (takes up entire 2 Gb of ram just to operate). Now I’m using the latest Internet Explorer from MS which has tabbed browsing… which I thought was nice at the beginning, but became a nuisance when it caused other apps a lot longer to load. I’ve also not been able to run the latest windows update from MS due to a bug that I have no idea how to solve. Add to that, the ATI graphics card inside just gets extremely hot and it becomes quite uncomfortable to use it after a while. But at least… it still works. However I’ve resorted to using my work laptop, which is a lot faster with the new Core 2 Duo processor, but not able to install MSN messenger and other apps that I feel might be useful for home use like games etc. Yeap… I really smell a new desktop PC coming up. In fact, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time reading up on parts i.e. motherboards, graphic cards… the stuff that geeks seem to immerse themselves in. There’s a ton of great games out there in the PC market now… including Gears of War for the PC, which had been further improved since the release for the Xbox 360. Hellgate London was just released, and Crysis is about to be released this holiday season. Its not easy to get a “self built” PC from Sim Lim square. People who run a business in that sort of environment really have their wits about them. It can be nice haven for value, yet turn into a slaughterhouse if you don’t know what you’re dealing with. Yet, the leading PC brands are also reputable for using cheap parts (part supplies are outsourced afterall). Thus, might as well determine your own fate. Build it yourself. Not so easy. I was only familiar with 2 or 3 previous generations of technology, and skipped all the stuff in-between into the present. Apparently now, going into the Windows Vista generation… requires some real beefing up of hardware. Windows Vista requires a min of 2 Gb RAM to run, which to me is just a ridiculous requirement because the jump from the all hailed 1 Gb memory to become less than a minimum requirement was tough to swallow. Coupled with the fact that almost everyone hated Windows Vista and wanted to switch back to Windows XP. After reading up on PC stuff, and it just seems as if software technology keeps surpassing hardware technology. There’re games out there in the market that probably massacre the best GFX card in the market with an overload of processes. In short… technological advances never do end. Its just like Singapore… keep pushing past boundaries leaving benchmarks. My mum actually asked me whether I plan to get married perhaps in the near future. I replied “Maybe”… and she went “huh…  you mean you’re not sure?” And I replied “Hopefully lah”. After which a random thought came up. Should someone ask “Do I love someone?” or “Can I love someone?”. Both questions don’t mean the same thing, but address the same subject of love.  ”Do you love me?” or “Can you love me?”. If a person “does” love, should mean that love is already in the works. But if a person “can” love, just means that love hasn’t come to work yet. People in general can love… but whether we do love is a different thing. Anyway… as of this moment. I do love my friends. But none of them in that special way. Gong Bao Ji: The verdict. (plus wild card entries) I didn’t think I’m that good… but I guess I’m not too bad. Followed the planned recipe below but without the scallops, as I was finally convinced that the sauce will just be too overpowering for scallops. It was kinda fun… I nearly cried while chopping onions, and almost choked to death while frying the dried chillies. As usual, aromatic smoke engulfed my entire kitchen. Apparently I seem to be really hardcore, but really I’m not… I just believe that cooking is good for the soul. And although KM was sick, RN had a stomachache at the last minute, M nearly forgot but already made plans, and L couldn’t make it… my bro was around with his friend to enjoy the humble homecooked fare. I realized that my mum had kept this extremely good chinese rice vinegar, and it seemed to have the x factor that created that depth of flavour. On the the other hand, I realize that I can’t dice chicken meat for nuts… its either my knife was too blunt, or I was just doing it wrong. Aside from stupidly forgetting the chilli sauce, I thought this was really good for a first timer. The spiciness mainly came from the szechuan pepper and the dried chillies. The sauce was just the way I wanted it to be, thick and full of flavor… In fact I think its probably better to leave out the chilli sauce, unless you really like spicyness. And I thank God that I have a lid for the wok, otherwise I might’ve fainted from the choking aroma of the dried chillies. My bro and his friend fueled my ego by rating this dish 8/10. Its a simple joy eating this with rice. Also thanks to RN for suggesting salt-free cashew nuts! This one’s a no brainer. It will always taste the same, and its always good. Its not so nice with asparagus so I realized, but consistently delightful with the “golden” mushrooms. All that wasn’t really enough for 3 people, at least not for me and my bro’s friend. While shopping for these ingredients at Giant (IMM) with RN, the tank of live glass prawns drew me to buy about half a kg which I so happily did. So since the food wasn’t enough, surely I oughta pull out the big guns. I added huadiao, some light soy sauce and sesame oil to marinate the prawns just a little over 8 minutes, pulled them out and put them on a plate and steamed it. After playing 6 mins of Pro Evo Soccer ‘08 on the PS2, prawns were done. They really tasted like what you get from a chinese restaurant. Peel and dip them in light soy with a few drops of sesame oil… felt like I was in heaven for a moment. Not expensive, plus I still have somemore prawns left. Too bad my original invites didn’t show… missed a real treat here. Parents touching down at 12.20 am later. Maybe cook these for them tomorrow to try. Sweeeet day today. Will this really work? A few days ago, I ordered Kung Pao chicken for lunch at the food court.. and it really wasn’t that good because the chicken was dry and overcooked. I remember saying to my colleagues, that I can probably do a better job… so did a little research online for recipes for kung pao chicken… and noticed the word “scallops” in one of the recipes, thus decided to include that into the dish. Here’s a draft of what I’m probably going to do for the dish, plan to execute it next Sat at home while my parents are away. Kung Pao chicken with scallops 2-3 boneless chicken thigh/drumstick 200 gm scallops Salt and pepper Oyster sauce Chinese vinegar Chinese cooking wine (shaoxing/hua diao) Sugar Szechuan pepper Dark and Light soy sauce Cornstarch Dried Chillies Spring onions Shallots/Onions Red bell pepper Cashew nuts Corn and sesame oil Garlic and ginger Garlic chilli sauce (can use leftover ones from Mcdonalds) First and foremost, cut chicken into bite size chunks. Rub a little salt and white pepper in there, then a little oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. Dash of the hot Szechuan pepper. Splash some shaoxing/huadiao. A little sesame oil in there for added fragrance as well. Add some sugar. A little garlic will be nice too. Leave it to marinade for about 25-30 mins. After 20 mins, rub salt and pepper onto the scallops. Won’t be doing too much so as to retain the scallops’ original flavor. Add the cornstarch to both the marinated chicken and scallops. Done in seperate bowls. Chop up the dried chillies, spring onion, shallots/onion and red bell pepper. Chop garlic and slice some ginger as well. Heat the wok till very hot at high heat. Add some oil, and throw it 2-3 slices of ginger. Once aromatic, throw in chopped garlic… once aromatic, throw in the dried chillies, shallots/onions, red bell pepper and stir fry. Once the fragrance exudes, add some shaoxing/huadiao followed by some dark/light soy sauce. Once the wine shows signs of reducing, add in the chicken and stir fry at high heat till the chicken is 60-70% cooked. Put in as much Szechuan pepper as you want here, determines how spicy the dish will be. The chicken should absorb the aroma of the fragrant ingredients. Lastly add in the cashew nuts, chopped spring onions, followed by the scallops. Scallops are put in last because putting it earlier will overpower the scallops’ original taste. While cooking, quickly prepare a small bowl and mix dark soy, light soy, oyster sauce, chinese vinegar, sugar, garlic chili sauce, add a quarter cup of water, and add cornstarch. Mix it up and pour the sauce into the wok. Stir fry till the sauce reduces, then put in a few more splashes of huadiao/shaoxing wine and fry till everything is super hot. Sauce should be dark and thick to go with rice. Will this really work? We’ll find out soon next week… Time to start afresh… Parents flying off in an hour’s time to Shanghai… will be gone for 8 days leaving bro and I to the family car. And yes its finally my turn to wash the car. The past week of work had revolved around my company’s inventory, in which has turned rather chaotic since I’ve not been able to keep track of 100% of the stock movements in and out. Luckily after the stock take and some tracing work, there weren’t too many problems to resolve and the boss was happy that it wasn’t as bad as they thought it was (still bad though). Since then I’ve made a promise to myself, to take analism to the next level…. with regards to stock going in and out of the inventory… (is that even a word?) Took a few days leave in Nov, planning to go on a short getaway on my own. Partly because no one else is free to come along, and it was a last minute decision since I have leave to clear. I need to go on more holidays… in the space of perhaps 3 years I’ve only gone to Genting for 3 days… which I think is quite pathetic, if it weren’t for the purpose of saving more leave for my exam period. Since I’m converted to permanent staff, I’ve got extra 5 days of personal leave which I’m able to use for exams, and also 2 extra days of annual leave. The year has passed by in a flash, and its less than 3 months till the end of the year… when I was sending my parents to the airport, my brain was suddenly filled with memories of S… a year ago, those days when I specially took time to go all the way to the airport to fetch her… I just couldn’t stop thinking about her on the way to the airport… she would’ve arrived, and be smiling ear to ear, and my favorite part of a relationship is that happy and loving look from my partner. Its always something special, and I realize that’s one memory that I can never get rid of. The look of pure love… Also, my posts are getting more and more boring… don’t I have anything more interesting to write other than about me? Some reality checks… We live in a place called Earth. Not a place called Heaven. Yet… I sometimes confuse both of them, thinking that its possible for the planet to turn into heaven. I’ve come to believe that will never happen in this lifetime, because I’ve lost quite a bit of faith. However… I do believe in good and bad. I do realize that good is hard to come by, and bad just comes in a millisecond. I’ve not blogged for awhile… mainly because I was afraid of channelling unnecessary energy to confuse myself. I basically tried to heed W’s advice, and just chill. And yes life did become a little more easier and enjoyable. Once in awhile I’ll read Paulo Coelho’s Warrior of Light, which helped to set my blurrs into perspective. I think the most enjoyable day this week was having a dinner with M, and having her join RN, LP, Princess, KM and r3gular for mahjong and insane ranting, which sort of resembled like an episode from Friends. Sent M back at around 4+ in the morning… drove back to RN’s place… and simply crashed. I was awoken by my phone at 8am, my dad asked where the car was… and found Kiwi (RN’s cat) sleeping on top of my buttocks. RN had also gotten me the latest iPod classic at a very good price, only to find out that M could’ve gotten it for me even cheaper… arrggh… will be paying RN back later in the month… nevertheless, the new iPod Classic is simply stunning, and the sexiest thing I’ve ever held in my hand (how sad is that). Met up with my financial advisor, and “confessed” as to very poor personal financial management… but hoping to change all that by saving at least 10% every month for a start. Apparently, I didn’t really change for myself when I was with S… I was merely changing for the better of her… and perhaps both of us. As RN would put it, I’ve been overcompensating for the past year. But I don’t feel that all that was a waste, looking at the percentage of where the money went to. Most of it went for a good cause… and I feel that I’ve done my part. Eventually, I will need cash to get my own place… and also for my retirement. At the moment… I think I’ve gotten the material stuff that I’ve wanted/needed. I am nevertheless thankful… Also caught up with H, my msian colleague who sometimes drops by in SG for extra technical support. He’s married with 2 kids… and we caught up a little as to how our walk with God has been. Recently he felt that some of his beliefs being challenged, or rather, that the pastor that he follows was heavily criticised by many other christian leaders… I too shared with him my utter confusion of doctrines and beliefs in christianity… that so many more conflicts occur inside as compared to the outside… that I’ve gotten very tired of too many principles and notions that’s being hammered across time and time again… that its got me to a point where I’m just lost. But he shared with me that doesn’t mean I should completely give up on God (which I never really did), and told me that its normal at times to feel disappointment doubt when the time comes, and to keep trusting that God’s love is real and His will happens for a purpose. Well… I just wanna stop being confused. I think… that I’ve been on a bit of the dark side lately… been a little more sarcastic I think… with the intention of dark humor in mind. Must be too much Boston Legal… “Denny Crane”… Protected: Did I spend too much this year? This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: I dropped my iPod. Yes. The one that I won 1st prize in my company lucky draw during Christmas about 2 years back… Its really sad. But I must admit I’ve not been anal enough about protecting my iPod. Apparently the silicon casing that you see still on, wasn’t enough protection to withstand a 5 foot drop from my chest (hooked on a lanyard). I was shopping for groceries to cook this weekend for friends and family. I was just reaching down to pick up some paprika from the herbs section at NTUC, which was immensely crowded as usual on Friday nights. And I was “wearing” my iPod using a lanyard like I always do, hooked and dangling. As I stood up, it caught the trolley handle, snapped off and just hit the floor. As anyone would say… “shit…” followed by a heavy sigh… did all of that… Apparently a $20 silicone casing doesn’t prevent LCD leakage if dropped. On the bright side. It still works fine. Just pray that the leakage doesn’t spread across the screen. Thankfully was not bothered by it too much. Got home to marinate the boneless chicken legs. Spent an entire hour marinating the meat (bought 2 kg frozen legs). This one is different from last week’s marinade. By the time I was done it was 12 am and I felt like puking. Too much rawness… Felt better the next morning. Chicken has marinated overnight. So did a trial run for brunch. Very low fire, skin down, lid on for about 12 mins… vuala… Skin was nice and crisp and the meat was succulent. Mum thoroughly enjoyed it too. Its actually very nice, but I realized that dried rosemary, oregano and basil was definitely secondary to the original fresh versions you see on Jamie Oliver. The ones I did at RN’s place didn’t have that crispyness on the skin. The wok, stove fire, and lid were all completely different from what I use at home. Plus I could not recreate the sauce I did last sunday because Campbell mushroom soup wasn’t part of the menu (now you know how I make my sauce). RN helped to solve my sauce problem while I was almost unsuccessful trying out Lee Kum Kee black pepper sauce. Cooked for RN and KM only because I wasn’t that hungry, and got a little sick of my own cooking. After dinner at RNs place, went to east coast together with KM and RN to try out some very good home made ice cream at east coast. Its actually at the ground floor of a condominium named Ocean Park. I must say damn good because I thought it was better than Ben and Jerrys. Ordered mint and chocolate. And the cool thing was they had those “freeze stoves” like the one at Yuki Yaki where you make your own ice cream. They also had lots of topping/mixing choices. I mixed both my chosen flavors with oreos… and it just blew me away. KM was really tired so sent him back first, then went with RN to ABC Brickworks food centre to have my dinner. Was walking around and came across the aroma of something that I’ve wanted to eat weeks ago… Authentic claypot rice. woo hoo… God is good. To think we had no idea where to go for dinner after sending KM back. RN was still full and as always, its not easy to think of what to eat at times.  But when this baby arrived at our table… RN simply said “Ok now I’m hungry!” LP lived in the neighbourhood so came down to join us. Thankfully he didn’t want to eat claypot rice… hahaha. I mean… this dish was just fantastic… chicken was nice and tender, perfect blend of sauces… kiam hir (salted fish), and lap chiong (chinese sausages)…. woooot… it was damn satisfying. Thinking of what I wanna try cooking next weekend. Already done meats… how about some fish… hmm… thinking salmon and cod. Not easy to do nice fish… also thought of doing vongole… also craving for Riciotti at the Riverwalk. Need to learn how to use paprika too… seems like a very nice spice to use but can go wrong if the combinations aren’t right. How on earth did he do that? Insanely talented beatboxing. Enjoy. *Gawking A single’s week… The week went by as though I’d gone into hyperspace, with a lot of things happening everyday… Sunday: Discovered new sauce recipe for chicken chop. Also discovered new method of ensuring the skin on the chicken chop is crisp and irresistable. Monday: Our supplier in UK short shipped radioactive goods to us (without informing us as usual), luckily the customers were very nice and didn’t scold us or force any impossible requests. Tuesday:  Our supplier for chillers screwed up and almost didn’t deliver on schedule. Its part of a big instrument package deal with the company’s image at stake. Basically the biggest single invoice I have ever billed. I already made arrangements for them to deliver on this day 3 weeks ago, and still reminded them last week to confirm delivery on this date/time/location. On the day itself, called them to find out that they didn’t plan it, and wanted to deliver the next day, giving the excuse that they thought I will call them to reconfirm again, which is ridiculous because I don’t see why I have to double confirm so many times. Spent an entire hour alternating phone calls back and forth to get the chillers to the big customers. Each time we insisted, they tried to talk their way out of it, and to me it was rather unprofessional… they tried to handle the situation themselves, and I think they tried to keep the screw up from the management. I got really fired up, but I didn’t blast them, just told them firmly I’ll want to speak to the manager if they weren’t able to fulfill our arrangement that I confirmed twice. After putting the pressure on them, they called back their delivery contractors to pick up and deliver immediately. Frankly, as a supplier myself, I know that such last minute requests are very inefficient, and nobody likes to do them. I felt for them, yet, I wasn’t the least happy that they tried to evade their mistake and hung up on me twice on the phone. So rude. That itself already made a bad morning, but then another supplier who wanted to send frozen samples to us repeated the same mistake a week ago when they wrongly declared the address on the proforma invoice… have already told them its not necessary to put customs clearing agent’s address if they’re already going via Fedex. Plus other interrupting requests and phone calls in between the chaos was just irritating and my colleagues could clearly hear my moaning and frustration. Felt a lot better when the morning ordeal was over and it was lunchtime. Back to normal in the afternoon. Went for MSM class after work. Wednesday: General manager was in for the week so had lunchtime meeting in the office. Ordered packed Japanese bentos… chose the unagi with sushi. Meeting went fine. Couple of hours after the meeting had to lao sai… bad sushi. Craved Subway again, got a footlong Italian BMT for dinner+supper, went for POA class. Lecturer is the corniest one ever… Thursday: First time having lunch in an Indian restaurant (Khansama). Service manager’s treat to 5 of us. Food is good… and was reminded of the high content of sugar, fat and cholestrol of Indian cuisine… but once in awhile is ok. After work, had dinner at Hog’s Breath Cafe with 3 of my closer colleagues, my ex-partner T who resigned also came. Had beers after dinner with my colleagues for the first time. Ate and drank a lot… Again… once in awhile is ok… lol Friday: TGIF. Pretty much the highlight of the week. Half day at work. Medical appt in the afternoon for me. Morning session with my GM and sales manager, and broke the news I’ve been waiting for the past 2 years… FINALLY going to be accepted as permanent staff (has better benefits package). Was really glad to hear the news. Went to salon after the medical. Shiok. Saturday: Searched fundsupermart.com to read up more on the investment stuff. Watched Evan Almighty and The Pursuit of Happyness. Went to RN’s place for mahjong. Seriously, I don’t really play money games since I “za hu” and ”bao” back during “O” level days (dunno how to play and still play money). However, today I ended up the biggest winner in total. Think around $14? =p I’ll bet RN and FS looking for revenge very soon… esp FS… heh.. well at least LP and I treated them to supper at Al Azhar. Oh yes… and a lot of R21 content. FS came back from business trip from Vietnam and Philippines… started to talk abt red light district and stuff, then talk about Geylang… like those pros will come up and whisper dirty things like “shuai ge, yao bu yao chui ah?”, “lai mah, 3 ge ren wo gen ni da zhe”… and us guys just kept repeating that crap over and over again each turn during the game… hilarious… Sunday: Just chill at home, and blog… Liverpool drew 0-0 again… *faint* but Arsenal… woo hoo… 5-0 against Derby. I keep watching the wrong games man. My credit card application rejected… but new account with Citibank setup and got me first chequebook (bloody sua ku). Its a nice week.