75 Skills every Man should Master Taken from MB: (Bold means I have mastered it. Italics means I am trying to master it.) 1. Give advice that matters in one sentence. 2. Tell if someone is lying. 3. Take a photo. 4. Score a baseball game. 5. Name a book that matters. 6. Know at least one musical group as well as is possible. 7. Cook meat somewhere other than the grill. 8. Not monopolize the conversation. 9. Write a letter. 10. Buy a suit. 11. Swim three different strokes - Learnt, but forgot liao. 12. Show respect without being a suck-up. 13. Throw a punch. - and a kick. And some middle fingers. 14. Chop down a tree. 15. Calculate square footage. (Square meters also accepted) 16. Tie a bow tie. 17. Make one drink, in large batches, very well. 18. Speak a foreign language. - Cantonese is foreign, right? 19. Approach a woman out of his league. 20. Sew a button. 21. Argue with a European without getting xenophobic or insulting soccer. 22. Give a woman an orgasm so that he doesn’t have to ask after it. 23. Be loyal. 24. Know his poison, without standing there, pondering like a dope. 25. Drive an eightpenny nail into a treated two-by-four without thinking about it. 26. Cast a fishing rod without shrieking or sighing or otherwise admitting defeat. 27. Play gin with an old guy. 28. Play go fish with a kid. 29. Understand quantum physics well enough that he can accept that a quarter might, at some point, pass straight through the table when dropped. 30. Feign interest. 31. Make a bed. 32. Describe a glass of wine in one sentence without using the terms nutty, fruity, oaky, finish, or kick. 33. Hit a jump shot in pool. 34. Dress a wound. 35. Jump-start a car (without any drama). Change a flat tire (safely). Change the oil (once). 36. Make three different bets at a craps table. 37. Shuffle a deck of cards. 38. Tell a joke. 39. Know when to split his cards in blackjack. 40. Speak to an eight-year-old so he will hear. 41. Speak to a waiter so he will hear. 42. Talk to a dog so it will hear. - Does cat count? 43. Install: a disposal, an electronic thermostat, or a lighting fixture without asking for help. 44. Ask for help. 45. Break another man’s grip on his wrist. 46. Tell a woman’s dress size. 47. Recite one poem from memory. 48. Remove a stain. 49. Say no. 50. Fry an egg sunny-side up. 51. Build a campfire. 52. Step into a job no one wants to do. 53. Sometimes, kick some ass. 54. Break up a fight. 55. Point to the north at any time. 56. Create a play-list in which ten seemingly random songs provide a secret message to one person. 57. Explain what a light-year is. 58. Avoid boredom. 59. Write a thank-you note. 60. Be brand loyal to at least one product. 61. Cook bacon. - YES! I KNOW HOW TO COOK! 62. Hold a baby. 63. Deliver a eulogy 64. Know that Christopher Columbus was a son of a bitch. 65-67. Throw a baseball over-hand with some snap. Throw a football with a tight spiral. Shoot a 12-foot jump shot reliably. 68. Find his way out of the woods if lost. 69. Tie a knot. 70. Shake hands. 71. Iron a shirt. 72. Stock an emergency bag for the car. 73. Caress a woman’s neck. 74. Know some birds. 75. Negotiate a better price. Geez, I got a long way to go before I can Be A Man. The Warlords (2007) Got the DVD from Gramophone rentals. I’m usually a sucker for award-winning movies, so I wanted to see if the movie deserves the “biggest winner” status in the latest Hong Kong Film Awards. Having watched Protege & Mad Detective (which I highly recommend to watch), Warlords deserved the accolades given. Rating: 4 out of 5 (Big budget movie living up to expectations) WallStraits School For those whom always wanted to find out a simple way of reading prospectus, analyze prospectus, etc. I’m recommending the reading articles at Wallstraits School site. Just click on the icon to learn more. Remember, investing is supposed to be fun! There is no hope From Tuesday’s mypaper, in the “My Say” column, from Mr William Tay Kay Chiak: There is no doubt that foreign workers are important to our economy, but I do not see how the foreign women selling beer at coffeeshops would contribute to our economy. They are encouraging people to drink excessive alcohol, which is bad for their health. Also, they may have an affair with their customers and break up their family. Wow. The foreign beer lady has become the 21st century butler-who-did-it. Why not blame the coffeeshop, who ‘forced’ the foreign workers sell beer, else they won’t get paid? Or the inventor of beer, for his creation has caused gazillons of deaths & failed marriages? I has got to wonder why this letter was allowed to be published, instead of other note-worthy contributions. Update: Seems like someone’s shot back on Tuesday’s MyPaper: As for the breaking up of families, the men who have affairs with these foreign women only have themselves to blame for not being able to control themselves or know their limits. Why So Serious? There is only 1 movie I’m dying to catch this summer, and here’s the latest trailer from that movie: Nothing beats the bat. Iron Man Great special effects, and great casting of the characters. However, something was lacking with the movie, which I couldn’t really pinpoint. A good movie, but not great, although I suppose the lady who sat behind me would disagree. “Oh no, won’t it kill him?” “Oh, there’s “Stark Industries” printed on the weapons?” “They’re gonna kiss! They’re gonna kiss!!!” Sigh. Rating: 3.5 out of 5. (I’ll be catching Part 2.) SPOILER ALERT!!! For those who didn’t know, there was an extra scene played after the end of credits. & it’s worth the wait!!! New Shopping Mall in Town? If you need a place, Just to park your car, Where would you park? At PARKLA! When you’re drive to town, And you can’t find space, Where would you go? PARKLA! (In case you’re wondering, the ‘new’ mall is actually Park Lane. I guess the management outta replace the lights…) Pancake Delight Kitten prepared a scrump-deli-icious pancake breakfast yesterday, much better than my disastrous attempt at it on May Day. My maiden attempt saw me either flipping the pancake too early (resulting in crumbles of flour), or too late (resulting in crumbles of tar). The sweet delight of pancakes, choco sauce, mixed with a healthy dose of banana & tomatoes. Ah, it may seem like a sin, but I really needed some perk-me-up food after working 8 days a week. (& of cos, some loving-love-love from Kitten. I think I need to brush up on my cooking skills though. My current “cookbook” consists of Maggi + Egg. I don’t think I can survive by eating this everyday…Any tips for this ignorant cooker? GIC != Buffett? From today’s Straits Times, a Bloomberg interview with Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew: ‘[Buffett] has a different view. He has to give returns to his investors year by year. We don’t have to. We have to think in terms of the next 10, 20, 30 years. We are buying into something which we intend to keep for the next two, three decades and grow with them.’ Year by year? Warren Buffet’s philosophy has ALWAYS been “to look for outstanding businesses that he can buy at a fair price with the intent of holding them for a long time—“ideally forever.” Taking a breather Now I truly understand what does it mean by a 75-hour-workweek. Oh, breather’s over. Time to head back to work. Mayday’s coming back to earth… Can’t wait for Saturday….Mayday concert! Ocular Migraine From AllAboutVision: People with ocular migraines can experience a variety of visual symptoms. Classically, you will see a small, enlarging blind spot (scotoma) in your central vision with bright, flickering lights (scintillations) or a shimmering zig-zag line (metamorphopsia) inside the blind spot. The blind spot usually enlarges and may move across your field of vision. This entire migraine phenomenon can resolve within only a few minutes, but usually lasts as long as about 20-30 minutes. Ocular migraines generally are considered harmless. They are typically painless, cause no permanent visual or brain damage and usually do not require treatment. Nevertheless, always consult your eye doctor when you have unusual vision symptoms, because it’s possible that you have another condition requiring treatment, such as a retinal detachment, which should be checked out immediately. Just had another attack yesterday, my 2nd attack in 3 weeks, and this migraine has been affecting me at least once every 2 weeks. On bad days, vomiting will accompany my headaches. Went to see a neuro-specialist yesterday, and I’ll be on medication for the next 1 month. Hope this harmless nuisance can go away soon ba… Take a breather from the Market… There was once a very promising trader. He was very good at Technical Analysis. In fact, he was very accurate with it. When all his signals are aligned, he has never been wrong. One day, he met a very experienced and guru trader. They started to discuss on their strategies. They were looking at the price of wheat contracts. It so happened that at that exact moment, all the TA signals were correct for that young trader. “Buy!” he screamed. He bought 20 contracts at $20/bushel. Young Trader: You have to buy now, all the TA signals are correct. Sure to go up. Old Trader: You mean to say because you have the MA crossover, RSI turning up, price hit the fibonacci retracement and blah blah, the price will go up? YT: Yes! OT: Watch this. (picks up the phone) Sell 100,000 contracts of wheat now. Price of wheat falls to $15. YT gasp and faints. Rock Climbing Adventure Yesterday, kitten arranged for me and my sister to have a rock climbing session at Climb Adventure. Being newbies in climbing (me being a 1st-timer), we’ve took the 2-hour Climbing Workshop. Now, if you noticed, it’s going to be extremely difficult for my sis or kitten to belay me, since I outweigh both of them by almost 20kg, and don’t forget to include the gravitational pull when I fall down. Hence, the instructor volunteered his services as my belayer. The 1st few walls seemed easy, but my fingers & thighs soon ache, & I find myself slipping MANY TIMES…and when you’re tired, it’s hard for one to focus on how to prevent oneself from smashing against the walls. Left Kneecap Right Kneecap Heh, one more to be added to my injury portfolio. Definitely, Maybe Been a while since I’ve reviewed movies which I’ve watched. Interestingly, it was me who wanted to watch this chick-flick, not kitten. Perhaps it was the allure of the trailers that made it so appealing to catch the preview. Unfortunately, it doesn’t turn out the way I wanted it to be, despite it having great reviews from Rotten Tomatoes (which had a 72% rating). I wanted something more interesting than a narrative movie, though the little twists & the Little Miss Sunshine gal makes it more enjoyable to watch. Sadly, there was no Oasis in the soundtrack. Rating: 3 out of 5 (Would I have watched it, if I’ve turned back time? Definitely a Maybe.) Ric Flair’s Farewell Ric Flair - 35 years of legend. My Stomach Flu Away… Yes, I’m down once again. Perhaps I can even keep a blog on how often my body succumb to illness. I really outta do a full body check up soon. Still lagging Yes, I’m back in Singapore again, though I’m pretty shagged out due to me climbing up to extreme altitudes that require oxygen masks, traveling by bus over 3 continents, through 24 time-zones. Hey, but I had fun! Will blogged more about it once I’ve recovered. Live from Gentings! It’s Cold. I see Clouds. Tour de Malaysia I’m off to our neighbouring country for 6 days, globetrotting across continents a few states, with “pitstops” located at where famous hor fun are at, taking a sneak peek at how Singapore will look like in a few years time, and finally, going straight to the heart of it all. I’ll see you when I see you. 7 wonders of world…in candies! Ah Siao decided to recreate some “Wonders of the World” for his cousin’s engagement party, and the resulting products looks damn fabulous! The Taj Mahal His creation of Taj Mahal Check out the rest of his works here! Wu Bai! (x500) Note: Could anyone help? I can’t blog in Chinese, and am wondering what are the steps required, so that I could write in Chinese characters. Thanks in advance! Before the days of S.H.Ella & MayDay, Wu Bai ruled my playlist in my mp3 player & karaoka-able songs. Who could forget the evergreen classic of “Tong Ku De Ren“, “Lang Ren Qing Ge” & “Nor Wei De Shen Lin“? I’ve even gotten my hokkien-speaking friends to help me translate some of his hits using Han Yu Ping Ying, so that I could croon “Se Gai Deh Yi Ding“. Unfortunately, Wu Bai has become a distant memory these days, no thanks to my hectic workload, and other bands have taken over their status in my heart. That is, until last Friday, when someone dedicated one of my favorite classic hit in a KTV-pub. Kitten was amazed (or was that disgust) that I’ve actually know how to sing it. LOL! (P.S: Kelvin, you should remember this song ba. :P) Now, I know that they’re coming for a concert on 5th April. Does this mean I’ll be splashing cash to revisit the golden oldie? No way, especially since I’m not even attending Mayday’s concert. (FYI, this will be the 1st Mayday concert I’m actually skipping). Oh well, I’ll definitely go for their farewell concert, if they ever have one. For Wu Bai is the “King of Rock”! Ya Kun bans photography From a post in SGFunds: At Mount Faber Safra Ya Kun, I ordered a coffee, egg plus bread set. Going to read up on one of my book and enjoy the nice cosy Singapore style coffee stall with aircon. I took out my newly bought digital SLR, try to take some pictures for non-commercial viewing. A staff came over to me, telling me photography is not allowed. The post-starter was trying to take a photo of 2x half boiled eggs, but was stopped by staff. That’s pretty surprising to me, as quite a number of bloggers, including myself, have often took food photos for review. In fact, I remember taking group photos in Ya Kun at the Funan Centre branch. Anyone else experienced similar problems before? Weird Injury Yesterday morning, I bought a bottle herbal tea from a shop near my office. To my disgust, it tasted extremely sour, as though it was spoilt…so I took another sip to confirm it. (I blamed it on the lack of caffeine in my body to do crazy stuff.) Wrong move, dude; I suffered extreme stomach cramps & vomited late at night, and I took 1 day MC for today. “Wait, but isn’t your title about an injury? Food poisoning isn’t an injury” Yea, I know. Now here’s the reason for my MC: 1) Mild food poisoning. 2) Neck sprain. However crazy it may sound, I’ve actually sprained my neck while vomiting. What utter bad luck…. How to create bargains in stock market Yesterday’s headlines: Malaysian shares dive 10% after election upset. Today’s headlines: Malaysian shares close up 2.8% on bargain hunting. Plan Friday: Sell all shares. Saturday: Vote for Opposition. Sunday: Read sensational headlines. Set up shortlist & target prices for stocks. Monday: Pick up bargains. Tuesday: Sell for profit. Disclaimer: This blogger is politically neutral and does not endorse any political party. Does 710 look familiar to you? From Chicken Soup for Your Soul: A few days ago I was having some work done at my local garage. A blonde came in and asked for a seven-hundred-ten. We all looked at each other and another customer asked, ‘What is a seven-hundred-ten?’ She replied, ‘You know, the little piece in the middle of the engine, I have lost it and need a new one..’ She replied that she did not know exactly what it was, but this piece had always been there. The mechanic gave her a piece of paper and a pen and asked her to draw what the piece looked like. She drew a circle and in the middle of it wrote 710. He then took her over to another car which had its hood up and asked ‘is there a 710 on this car?’ She pointed and said, ‘Of course, its right there.’ If you’re not sure what a 710 is, click here. Heh, hope you’ve guessed it. I Am Legend’s Alternative Ending This is what the ending should have been, to make it a GREAT show! After 9 long years… Yes, I’m still in camp. But I could not contain my jubilation about Tottenham winning their 1st cup under Ramos, and their 1st in 9 long years. Too bad I wasn’t able to catch the match live, as I was in camp when the celebrations occur. At least my parents are helping me to record the replays. It’s the beginning of a new era under Ramos….COME ON YOU SPURS!!!!! Kitten’s diamond ring I’m sure some of you have taken notice of the ring which I have purchased for Kitten recently. For her own safety, I’ve told her not to take it out too often, as: 1) Her hand will sprain from prolonged wearing of the heavy ring. 2) The diamond will attract unwanted attention from thieves. 3) I want to remain humble. But I’ve taken a photo to satisfy the curiosity of the majority of the rest who have yet to see it…so here ya go! 1 more week of reservist…see you guys in a week’s time! Eduardo’s injury (Photo) Ouch. It was so gross that TV refuse to replay the incident. Despite him being an Arsenal player, I wish him all the best for a speedy recovery.