Hmmm. Technology is indeed an interesting thing.

In the past, during the gameboy era, I used to fret day and night over not being able to complete my Pokedex. The main problem is I am not able to find the right people with the right Pokemon to trade with. Even if I do find one, I would have to arrange to meet up with him because during that time, trading can only take place through the gameboy cables. Most of the time, we are not willing to travel to each other's place just to trade a Pokemon. And travelling to a pre-planned place just to trade Pokemon is pretty "dumb" as well.

So most of the time, I would only be able to carry out Pokemon trading during family gathering events whereby I can trade with all my cousin. Such family gathering is often rare. That translates into incomplete Pokedex.

But now, things are different. With wi-fi compatibility, the Nintendo DS Lite enables me to not only trade Pokemon effortlessly with my friends but also with people around the ENTIRE WORLD! Yes. Its that amazing.

Just this afternoon, I traded a Pichu for a Charmander. The latter is a very rare in the previous games and there is only one in each game. But now, with "Breeding", you can breed many Charmanders! Anyway, the Charmander which I traded... is from California! That means its a CALIFORNIAN Charmander!

How cool is that haha.

If you seen the above person, please call the police immediately. Alternatively, you can also give me a call.

This is Maggie Q.

My chinese new year is just like that lor. Nothing much lah. seems like its getting duller and duller every year. I dunno why. maybe we all cant really be bothered to talk to each other anymore? ahahaha. oh well. what can i say? people change over time. the person who is very close to you in the past might no longer be close to you anymore.

HUAT AH! CHECK OUT MY BRAND NEW HD READT TV MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

ITS NOT AKIRA. ITS NOT PALLADINE BUT ITS SAMSUNG!

SAMSUNG OK DUN PLAY PLAY.

NIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI.

all thats left now is a P S 3!

hur hur. went to watch kung fu dunk on the wee hours of friday morning. then went to watch CJ7 on the wee hours of saturday morning.

both shows not very to my liking. dun really like them. especially kung fu dunk. CJ7 isnt nowhere better.

both films quite crappy bah. not really worth your time to watch if u got better things to do. hahaha. ok.

How sweet. I just woke up at 3pm + and then logged onto MSN and then saw this message which says someone has added me on MSN.

I go check my contacts and saw him online so I asked him who he is. Then I realised his my Maris Stella classmate! A long lost friend haha.

After more interlouction I discovered that its by pure chance that he added me.

Interesting things like this does happen once in awhile.

Then talked abit the past times. So nostalgic.

A good way to start my day haha.

The day will come whereby I will enter the Kremlin and take the Oath of Office:


"I vow, in the performance of my powers as the President of the Russian Federation to respect and protect the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, to observe and protect the Constitution of the Russian Federation, to protect the sovereignty and independence, security and integrity of the state and to serve the people faithfully."


I will unite the world's largest nation and re-establish my country as a superpower in the global arena.


Before that happens, I would like to wish a Happy Chinese New Year to all those that are bored enough on CNY to come see my blog.

Hah. From dragonboater to a patient in Tan Talk and Sing Hospital. What a drastic polar shift eh?

Anyways, when I woke up yesterday morning, I was feeling a bit heh-bei heh-bei already. I felt feverish. In other words, I am ill! Not eel but ILL! It was 7am then. My training begins at 10am.
So I thought I would go consult FREE medical services at Tan Talk and Sing Hospital to see if my condition is serious or not.

I wash my faced, brushed my teeth and took a cab down to TTSH. I was just feeling too lethargic and lousy to take a bus at that time. But I was momentarily returned to life when I arrived at the hospital entrance. Not because the hospital has a healing sphere around it that can cast cure on sick people in close proximity.

BUT BECAUSE THE FREAKING CAB FARE IS $6.00! WHAT THE HECK!

If you guys been to my place before, you would know how close TTSH is to my house. A bus ride would cost around $0.65. And if I want to take it to the extreme, I can even WALK there for FREE. Its almost a 600 PERCENT inflation when I take a cab! What is Singapore coming to? Goodness gracious me. And they still dare to say cabbies are having a hard time!? BULLMANURE!

As the saying goes "If you are a poor man, you either die or live. Because if you were to fall sick, it would be very expensive."

OK. So after that I went to registered with the counter and proceeded into the waiting room to wait. It was 7.30am.

*tick-tock*

8am

*tick-tock*

8.30am

*tick-tock*

9am

*tick-tock*

9.30am

PS: I am reminded of Gwen Stefani. "What you waiting for?"

ARGH! Hello! I am a dying patient here. OK maybe not a dying patient but still a patient patient and my patience is running thin! 2 hours passed and its not my turn yet! But there is like what - about 8 patients in the entire waiting room? What is this man. So much for being a "service with a smile" country!

"No free lunch in the world." Yeah, I second that. I get to seek free medical services but I have to pay with my time!

By then I already felt better (Maybe TTSH do have a healing sphere after all) and I am pissed with waiting. So I decided to go for my training at Kallang River.

PS: The water is freaking salty! But its too small to be called a sea. So thats why Kallang River? Why not Seaver or something.

So off to rowing I went and row I did. Yeah, feels shiok to feel the river breeze and to row again. Blah blah blah. We docked at 12pm for lunch. By then I started to feel heh-bei heh-bei again...

OK. Something's definitely wrong with me. I seek permission from my trainer to report sick and off I went to happy little hospital where the staff all have the surname Tan and they love to Talk and Sing.

I was half expecting them to ask me why did I left in the morning and why did I come back now. But none of this happened. That means they don't really keep a record of people coming in and going out? So guys, next time if you have nothing better to do, then go disturb TTSH. Just register and go then come back again and do is as many times you want LOL.

This time, I waited for 1 hour. Not bad. Got improvement.

"Yong Cheng Jin" "Yong Cheng Jin"

I went into the doctor's room and - Not bad. At least got someone nice to look at in the hospital.

Nice doctor: "Whats wrong with you?"

Me: "Fever."

Nice doctor: "Sore throat?"

Me: "Nope. just fever. No sore throat, no cough, no aches. Just plain fever and abit of runny nose."

Nice doctor: "Runny nose?"

Me: "Yeah. It sort of just infected me while I was waiting just now."

Nice doctor: "..."

Ok nevermind, the whole dialogues is gonna take pages!

So anyway, the doctor took a sethoscope and touched my back. He told me there is something wrong with my heartbeat. I was like "huh? is everything ok?"
He assured me that there is nothing wrong with me. But I need to be X-rayed to be sure. How ironic..

So he put me on a bed and agot a nurse to roll me into the X-ray room. While I was being rolled, I can see the lights and fans on the ceiling whirling past me. Interesting. I saw these scenes on TV before but now that I experienced it.. its no big deal.

So, I was X-rayed and after that, I was pushed to one corner in a room to rest while the X-ray is veing evaluated. I was put on drip and for the first time, I had a needle up my vein in my left arm!

The doctor pushed it carefully and swiftly into my vein and I witnessed the whole procedure.

Not that its very painful but it just feels funny. Its akin to someone stuffing a cucumber up your anal cavity. Yeah. Something like that. And I din't know I was dehydrated. Hmm.

The 2hours wait in that resting corner would have been boring if not for this pretty nurse! Her name is Celine and she's a trainee nurse from NYP. How do I know? I read her nametag. Surprisingly, I can still notice such minor details in my feverish state. But shes really cute. Ahhhhhh. She even took my temperature for me. How sweet. and my blood pressure. and my pulse rate as well. I bet she must be the reason my hearts acting weird.

haha ok kidding. moving on...

In the room that I was in, there were several other patients. Around 4 to 5. And all of them are senior citizens. and for some reason, they kept staring at me. I bet you are thinking what I am thinking eh. A young man... inside this resting room full of senior citizens?

Am I dying! NO. dun be dumb. WHY SHOULD THE WORLD EXIST WITHOUT ME! THAT WOULDNT BE FAIR! Someone's feeling abit godlike here.

So, after that two hours, the nice doctor came again and he told me that I can go home now because my lungs appear to be OK from the x-rays. However, the x-ray will be forwarded to a radiologist for closer scrutiny. If there is anything wrong, I will be called back again. He also added that I have an infection but he do not know where that infection is because I only have one sympton; fever. So he presribed some antibiotics and paracetomol for me and off I go out of the hospital.

Bye bye Celine.

It was around 5pm.

I was very hungry after that cause I only ate a piece of bread from morning till now. So I went to eat Pizza Hut. But hey, there is no sore throat and the doctor did mentioned "Don't worry about the food. Eat what you want." And just nice, I have a craving for some pizza so yeah.

Yay! I will be going for Dragonboat training!

I signed up for my inter-division dragonboat competition and the training starts tomorrow. So shiok! I get to re-live the moment as a dragonboater once more!

The sun, the Kallang river and the... disemboweled body parts?

Ahahahaha. Hope can catch some hunky dragonboaters tomorrow! [Winks at Ted]

EVEN BETTER! Hunky female boaters!

How often do you get to see something iconic cruising through the streets at 100 kph? Not very often in real life but very often to apocalyptic and end-of-the-world movies. The day after tomorrow and Independence Day just to name a few.

The newest addition to that list would be the upcoming film "Cloverfield". The film itself is shrouded in mystery because the trailer only shows a bunch of people partying at a friend's house and then suddenly, an explosion occurs on the other end of the city. The next thing they know, the head of the Statue of Liberty came flying through the street. As you all have already guessed, all hell breaks loose next.

But we don't know exactly what that 'hell' is.

The directors show us just enough to fuel our sense of curiosity. But not enough to let us know the gist of the film. I should have known earlier that it is a scam by the directors to lure unknowing victims like me to a rather sucky movie...

All I can say about Cloverfield is it is not really a show worth watching. However, if you like to hear the narrator constantly nags and exclaims at the tiniest bit of things, shaky scenes, utter chaos, illogical happenings and a total lack of plot, then Cloverfield is the show for you. If not, it would be better for you to listen to my summary.

Rob was reveling himself in his party when an explosion occurs on the other end of the city. and Rob looks out of the window just in time to see a building collapse. The entire film after that, and before this actually, was shot on a video cam carried by his best friend Hudd. I have to give the directors credit for this because the film really look like it was shot on video cam; the shaky scenes and the occasional glimpses of Hudd's groin when he drops his hand.

To sum it up, Manhattan is under siege by an unknown monster that eats any human it sees. Rob's girlfriend, Beth, was trap in her house when the wall fell on her (how she survived that I wonder) because of tremors caused by the monster's stomping. So, as the heroic boyfriend, Rob ran towards the city centre to save Beth even though we all know that the monster is lurking around the, you guess it, city centre.

The military was called in. The military fought. Rob saved his girl. Friends of Rob killed by the monster. The military lost. The government decides to abandon and annihillate the city along with the monster. Rob and his girl got left behind. Rob and his girl died after they told each other "I love you."

End of movie. No explanations on the origins of the monster. No ending. Nothing. A total disappointment and an anti-climatical show, not that there is much climax to talk about.

To quote Sher, the film is like the 2nd episode of a trilogy. No beginning and no ending. We were guessing that there might a Cloverfield 2 and 3. But who knows how good the film will be?

In the end, its better to spend your $9.50 on better films. Le Grand Chef is a very nice show.

Some, or rather most, think that my NS life is very slack because I am
an OC. Thats what I thought in the first place too.

All I need to do is to just oversee my underlings and make sure they do their jobs. Occasionally, I just need to sign one or more leave forms, authorise them to draw arms and scold them for their wrongdoings. I would just have to sit in the office all day long and make sure all the paper work and administration stuff are done. No outfield, no patrolling and no physical training for me.

Piece of cake eh? Think again.

The days whereby "I am your god-damn OC and whatever I see you follow" is over. People knows how to argue back now and they know their constitutional rights. Subordinates no longer simply take in whatever their superiors tell them. They know how to refute and argue back.

But thats not so bad because after all, I still have my rank to subdue them. Even so, using my rank to subdue them only reflects on my incapabilities to handle them personally; I can't, in the capacity as their OC, subdue them. In other words, if I do not have my rank, I would become a lame duck. What's the point then?

The Chinese says 好事成双(good things come in pairs) but I say bad things come in pairs too.

I may be a senior officer on paper but in reality, nobody gives a hoot about me. Back at training side, the instructors were stressing how significant a role we play as senior officers and that we are a very important asset to the organisation.

Bullocks. Utter bullocks.

The trend now is that NS guys are merely just NS guys. Why care so much about them?
NS guys are expandable assets. My career as a regular officer is more important. If there is any shit, I will just throw them to the NS guys. They after all will be leaving after 2 years; a tainted record will not be as devastating to them as it will be to a regular officer.

What a twisted mentality people have nowadays.

They have to wake up their bloody idea and understand that NS guys are there to supplement the regular force. Without us the bloody organisation will just crumble.

Article 10, clause 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore states that "All forms of forced labour are prohibited, but Parliament may by law provide for compulsory service for national purposes."

National purpose. Yeah, to become stepping stones for others to fulfill their ambitons in the organisation is a glorious thing indeed.

But never mind. I am still surviving. What doesn't kills me makes me stronger. At least now I know about office politics and dirty tricks that people pull on one another.

Vexille... its a nice show. Must watch!

I have been wanting to blog for the past few days but I can't seem to find an appropriate topic to blog on. Then this morning, I was browsing through the net and came across this forum which gave me ample inspiration to create a new entry! Isn't is miraculous?

Is it pure coincidence or is there something larger at work here... Anyway, lets move on.

This forum which I was reading is on " How to detect fake branded (think LV/PRADA/CHANEL etc) products. There were several interesting opinions from different people in the forum but its the final post that really caught my attention.

It is testament to the fer-ark upp country that it is. Which country I am talking about, you guys should roughly know. It is well-known for its never-ending list of imitations (they are even going to copy the city of Paris! Do a google search and you'll know), lead-filled food, pollution and many other problems.

What a disgrace... If I am the leader of the sole superpower today, I would ally myself with Eurasia to vanquish that good-for-nothing-cock-sucking-mule-ferarking nation.

Sheez. I can be quite extreme at times. Please dun mind me.

The forum is http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=31066&PN=2

Gentlemen and ladies, boys and girls, I will gear myself to get a PS3 in the near future. I manage to find a HD ready TV that costs $588 only! And the good thing is, I won't be paying for the HD ready TV. I will just tell my parents "Hey mom! Our LIVING ROOM TV is too old. Why don't YOU get this super cheap HD TV from Akira?"

Nihihihi. Little did she know that I have other intentions...

First things first: Merry Christmas to all you people.

Ok.

I am so grateful for this particular body part. Most of us seem to just take it for granted and only reveal it when they need to. Other than that, we will just keep this body part tuck away in our clothings, never showing it to others. Why? Because we deem it to be a shameful act.

By now I assume most of you would roughly know what I am talking about.
Yes, its our cheeks.

I used to take my cheeks for granted too until I took up loller brading last week.
It help to reduce the impact of my fall and thanks to it, I got to feel the existence of my butt
for the first time since many years. And I am talking about my butt cheeks. Not our face cheeks.
(How we can use our face cheeks to break our fall I have no idea)

These pair of natural cushions given to us is such a miraculous thing.

HAH.

I bought a pair of loller brades today!

Went to practice just now and found out that its harder than it looks.
After a few good slams to the tarmac and many yoga-like positions to save my ass from the floor, I barely learned to skate in a stable manner.

Looks like I've got lots of practicing to do.

I have been spending alot recently.. Hmm

Ha.

I am down with Pharyngitis and is on two days medical leave.
I will only be reporting back to work on Thursday.
Hmm. But I am feeling better already. Perhaps I should resume work tomorrow?

I wonder..

My name is Cheng Jin. I come from an average family in Singapore.
I live a decent live and is generally self-sufficient; I am neither poor nor rich,
just somewhere in the middle.

This is my phone. I spent $568 on it when it was first released back in July 2007. I spent a few weeks lamenting on amount which I paid for this phone because it sapped away close to 70% of my minute salary for that month. But ultimately, I am happy with my phone because it satifies my needs for media entertainment on the go.

This is the Nokia 8800, a phone which costs around $1000. Despite its price, it offers less functions than my Nokia 5700. The main reason behind its steep price tag is its design which I won't deny, it looks sleek and cool. Made from titanium metal with a scratch-proof screen, it even comes with its own unique set of ringtone which no other Nokia phone has. It is dubbed the "poor man's Vertu" but paying so much for something that looks good is not something I will do. Its just so un-me.

This is the Nokia Sirocco 8800 Gold edition. Despite its revised name, the phone is identical to the Nokia 8800. The main differences between the two is that the Gold edition, as its name suggests, is gold plated and it costs around $1600, $600 more than its titanium counterpart. I haven't seen anyone using it yet. It is definitely not something I would buy. I mean, come on, the gold makes it look more like an ah-pek's phone than a unique, one of a kind phone.

Nokia 8800 Arte

Arte Sapphire

As if trying to attract all those uber-rich consumers which doesn't asks for the price when shopping, Nokia is releasing another two high end phones; the Nokia 8800 Arte and the Nokia 8800 Arte Sapphire. In essence, these two phones are identical to the Nokia 8800 and Nokia 8800 Gold edition. Flamboyant phones that has nothing but looks. The Nokia 8800 Arte Sapphire even has a blue gem embedded into its keypad. How cool is that?

Sometimes, the difference between poor and rich can be colossal. The poor men's Vertu costs $1000. The rich men's ones have prices starting from $10000. With prices like that, you might think that these Vertu phones are super-phones. Then you are sorely mistaken. Other than having more leather, gems, satins, velvet and "ergonomics engineering", these obscenely expensive phones still has nothing much to fight my Nokia 5700 in terms of functionality. The things that a Vertu owener can boast about is its exhorbitant cost and how rich the owner is. Thats all.

Just when you think luxury has a limit in the mobile phone arena, you are in for a surprise. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the Goldvish Illusion! The ultimate luxury mobile phone made of 18k gold, set with top quality diamonds and incorporating advanced quad band technology. The fusion of exclusive Swiss watch-making and high technology. The back of the phone is covered in sting ray or crocodile skin giving it a unique texture. The specs of the phone are far better than the Vertu due to the fact that it is relatively new. Wow! Better specs! But still pales in comparison to MY phone!

When you are finally certain that things couldn't get any snobbier, flashier, bling-ier and gem-mier, you are SO TUAPEKGONG-DAMN WRONG! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Behold! The limited edition (with only 3 in the whole wide world) 'Le Million' Piece Unique. Nope, Batman is not going bling-bling, this is not his new Bat Boomarang. Trust me, its a TUAPEKGONG-DAMN mobile phone!

GoldVish, an uber-luxury communication company out of Geneva Switzerland manufactured what may be the most expensive cell phone in the world; costing more than $2,000,000. That’s enough to feed a relatively small country (think Singapore? maybe not) for a few weeks. The one of kind GoldVish phone is plastered with 120 carats of VVS-1 grade diamonds, while the casing is made of white gold. Despite its breathtaking price - IT STILL CANT COMPETE WITH MY NOKIA 5700 IN TERMS OF FUNCTIONALITY! GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME, FOR A PHONE THAT COSTS THIS MUCH, I WOULD EXPECT IT TO DO SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY. LIKE SHOOT A ROCKET OR SOMETHING.

But pushing on one of the precious stones unlocks a secret compartment that can be used for carrying medicine or jewels.


Oh, and if you ever want to buy this beauty, you’ll need a Swiss bank account with over $2,000,000. GoldVish doesn’t take Visa or Matercards.

Concluding statement: I may not be rich but I am pragmatic. I won't spend my money on some products that can't even spell goldfish correctly.

BUSH WARNS MYANMAR OF WORLD SANCTIONS... IF IT CONTINUES TO IGNORE CALLS FOR A DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION

Agence France-Presse - 12/12/2007 1:57 AM

"The United States will spearhead a global campaign to step up sanctions against Myanmar's military regime if it continues to ignore calls for a democratic transition, President George W. Bush warned Tuesday.

The threat came after the US House of Representatives Tuesday adopted sanctions against Myanmar's multi-million dollar gemstone exports and natural gas industry, in response to the military junta's lethal crackdown on September pro-democracy protests.

At least 31 people were killed and 74 missing in the suppression of protests that were led by Buddhist monks, according to a UN report.

Bush repeated his call for the regime to release all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest."

Goodness gracious me. It seems to me that Bush is not yet satisfied with his ailing Afghanistan-Iraq endeavor. Now, he has decided to shift America's hegemonic weight to South-East Asia, namely Myanmar for some unknown reasons. Perhaps he wants to seek some vindication for his failur... I mean misadventure in the Middle East. Or he simply wants to spread (impose) Democracy around the world. Maybe he just wants to show whose the Boss.

Dear Mr. Bush, please wake up your idea.

As a president, you should know better than to start creating another problem when you still got your hands full on existing ones, namely Iraq and Afghanistan. On the surface, America seems to have full control over Iraq. But in reality, America only controls Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. Outside the those capital walls, lawlessness rules. Tribal chiefs decapitate people like pigs and the terrorists group launches surprise attacks every now and then on the US Army. 5 years into the Iraq War and the death toll has never dropped. More and more soldiers "die for their country" with each passing day.

Now, the most powerful administration in the world is in a deadlock. Bush can choose to stay in Iraq, but doing so will only mean more soldiers are going to get killed. Seeing the situation, its going to take the US Army a long long time to eradicate all threats in Iraq. Think about the number of soldiers that are going to die and the amount of money that is going to be wasted. Eventually, Americans at home are going to complain about the situation in Iraq. Alternatively, the President can choose to pull out of Iraq, but doing so will create a power vacuum and will eventually lead to a civil war between all the factions in Iraq. America will be criticized internationally as a "a country that invaded for no reason and left shit for the Iraqis".

I appreaciate the American president for his firm belief in democracy but he has to right to impose his belief in other countries. Whether other nations want to endorse democracy or not is up to them to decide. How a government wants to rules its country is its internal affairs. Therefore, Bush has no reason to demand other country to turn democratic. At best, he can only suggest. He is in no position vto say democracy is good and communism is evil. Such ideas are subjective. One man's fish might be another man's anthrax. One interesting fact; so far, the countries Bush invaded, for being totalitarian, are weak, third world countries. Russia is also another country with conflicting political system with America. The same goes for China. So why don't I see Bush trying to preach to Vladimir Putin and Hu Jingtao?

Please Mr. Bush, take care of your own family matters first before trying to kay-poh into other people's affairs. For all you know, you might be the infamous president that brings America's reputation to a record low in the course of the nation's history.