An ordinary man, an normal life, extraordinary thoughts?

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

I have moved!

We have moved (No idea why i use we, but I sounds weird)!

Please proceed to Aaronpeng.org for your daily doses of blogging action from yours truly!

Now you can actually post comments after every post! Voila!

Site is only 50% up, but most of the things are there, so yay! hang on for more updates!

Remember, I have moved. So don't stay here. Proceed over to Aaronpeng.org now!

Friday, October 05, 2007

60 signs you've been in Singapore for too long

Taken from talkingcock.com again, source

60 signs you've been in Singapore too long, especially if you come from a Western country :

1. You know that "cum" means something completely different from what you originally thought.

2. You've lost your sense of irony, sarcasm, and cynicism.

3. You don't know what's lame and what isn't anymore.

4. You think there's nothing wrong with putting chili sauce on everything you eat.

5. You wait for instructions from people in authority before doing anything. Always.

6. You join queues without knowing or caring what the queue is for.

7. You know what "queue" means!!

8. You can type an SMS on your phone as quickly as you would if you had a regular keyboard.

9. Your idea of a good night out consists of having dinner at a hawker centre, drinking beer, and then going to another hawker centre and eating again.

10. You've lost your ability to criticize people in higher positions than you, even if they're wrong.

11. You would buy a $20 product you don't need if it's on sale for $10 just to save the money.

12. You forget to say the last consonant in words like "faCT", "aTE",etc.

13. You think it's okay to have only one meaningful choice on a ballot.

14. Every task you take on and every group you form is incomplete without a mission statement and a cheesy slogan.

15. You think that in a country where young people have little privacy, pornography is completely banned, music and movies are censored, students of the opposite sex in a dorm can't stay in the same room without open doors, and everyone works so much, that people should still want to get laid.

16. "Crossing the country" means taking the MRT to the end of the line.

17. You don't just know what "kiasu" means, you have become it!

18. You think that corn and beans are dessert foods.

19. You would cross the entire country all day to find the places that make the perfect fried noodles, or roti prata, or ice kacang, or chili crab. And none of these places would be close to each other.

20. You have a high tolerance for nagging.

21. Most or all of these acronyms make sense to you: NUS; NTU; ERP; SDU; PAP; MRT; LKY; GCT; PRC; TIBS; SBS; SMS; JB; JBJ; AMK; AYE; PIE; ECP; ISD; ISA; 5 C's; CPF; CHIJMES; SPG; CWO.

22. You use too many acronyms when you talk, or you create new ones.

23. You think that nothing makes a girl or guy more attractive than to dress exactly like hundreds of thousands of other girls and guys who all dress exactly like girls and guys in malls.

24. You think that $100,000 is a reasonable price for a Toyota Corolla and $1,000,000 is a reasonable price for a bungalow, but $5 for a plate of fried noodles is a barbarous outrage.

25. You believe that not being able to get decent roti prata outside Singapore is enough to keep the best and the brightest people from leaving.

26. You see nothing wrong with forming committees of select elite people to deliberate and study ways to stimulate creativity and spontaneity.

27. You justify every argument with the phrase "in order for us to be competitive in the 21st century".

28. You think everything should be "topped up".

29. You have a naive belief that the war against ants will somehow be won.

30. You don't think any dish of Western food is complete without baked beans.

31. You see nothing unusual about an organization of trade unions spending more time owning and operating supermarkets, drugstores, amusement parks, nightclubs, and financial services outlets than planning the next strike.

32. You believe that a lack of land is enough justification for the goverment to do what it wants.

33. You wear winter clothes indoors and summer clothes outdoors.

34. Durian and belachan no longer stink to you.

35. You like to have fun, but not too much fun, since you need to correctly gauge the amount of fun necessary to achieve the optimal result. Any more fun that that would bring shame to your family and your country.

36. Seven french fries with lunch are more than enough for you.

37. You forgot what a city organized around a grid looks like.

38. In a country where people use smart cards for public transit, you have no problem with construction workers riding in the open backs of pickup trucks.

39. You think paying $50 for a bottle of booze that costs $15 at home is a bargain.

40. You're not confused by a street naming system that locates streets like Clementi Road, Clementi Street, Clementi Crescent, Clementi Lane, Clementi Drive, Clementi Way, and Clementi Avenues 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 all within walking distance of each other.

41. You think that skinny girls and guys are the most attractive of all. (How did they get so skinny in the first place?? Do you know how much oil is in nasi lemak, char kuay teow, duck rice, and your average curry??--ed.)

42. You get irritated if you don't see a sign telling you how long your wait's going to be for a bus, a train, or the expressway to take you where you want to go.

43. You're certain that Holland Village is for hippie bohemian artist types and not overpaid yuppies.

44. When you cross the border into Malaysia, you automatically and deeply fear for your life and your wallet. Especially your wallet!!

45. You think that no vegetable should ever be eaten raw for any reason. Except for cucumbers.

46. No matter what you're doing at the moment, you'd rather be shopping.

47. No matter how miserable you may be here, you thank God you're not in Indonesia.

48. You're impressed by high-rise apartment buildings with actual lobbies instead of bare exposed pillars on the ground floor.

49. You don't have a problem with four different direct payment systems spread out over seven different cards in your wallet.

50. You forgot what chewing gum tastes like.

51. You say "handphone", not "cellphone" And you think there's no such thing as a handphone that's too thin.

52. You're not bothered by the fact that government cares whether you know how to use a toilet or urinal correctly. (People squatting on toilet bowls? What the...???--ed.)

53. You're sure that the best way to change social behaviour is through consistent and comprehensive government-sponsored campaigns that permeate as many aspects of daily life as possible. And when they don't work, you never speak of them again.

54. You think chicken floss, corn, mayonnaise, and tandoori spices are proper pizza toppings.

55. You agree that what the government thinks of your personal habits and lifestyle should determine whether you get a condo and how much you pay for it.

56. You've become a fan of either Arsenal, Man. U., or Liverpool when you barely knew what soccer was before you came to Singapore. And you don't care that none of these teams are Singaporean!

57. You think a bus is incomplete without a TV.

58. You accept that expressways here are cleaner than toilets rather than the other way around.

59. You know why this list needs the following disclaimer:
"This list is intended only as an amusing, light-hearted, and exaggerated look at life in Singapore and is not meant to be taken seriously. There is no intention on the part of the author of this list to make any untrue, misleading, or defamatory statements concerning any person in particular, nor to make any statement intended to cause offense. If any such offense has been caused, the author apologizes and retracts the offending statement. In any event, the author's NOT WORTH SUING, so don't trouble yourself."

60. You understand everything on this list!!

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Singaporean Women and the 5 C's

I knew i said i wouldn't blog much, but i saw this on talkingcock.com and i couldn't resist!

Singaporean Women and the 5 Cs
What you'll never hear Singaporean women
say to their boyfriends or husbands in this day and age:
Honey, I don't care what you do for a living, you can be labourer for all I care, what matters is that I love you!!

I don't care about money! As long as we're together, everything will work out fine; love will see us through!

When we get married, I'll be the best cook and we'll have lots of kids!

Aiyoooo! This Ang Mor fellow at the office try to chase after me you know! I told him I already got a boyfriend!! So disgusting! I damn scared of Ang Mor, eekkk! So big size and hairy like a gorilla!!

Don't worry about these things like a big house and a car, as long as I have you, I'll be the happiest girl on earth!

It's OK, we'll use the money from my personal savings account - my money is your money!

Please put away your wallet dear, since you still haven't got a job after being retrenched, I'll pay for dinner. Please don't feel bad about this.

Aiyah, why you always want to take me to restaurant to eat! Let's save money and eat at the hawker center instead lah!

Alamak, please lah, we can take the MRT home, no need to call a taxi!

Your mother can move in with us, darling. We all have to make sacrifices as a family.

source

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Recent Posts (or lack of)

Hi guys,

Just to let you all know again. I'm slowly shifting my blog over to aaronpeng.org.
And i'm also going through a lot recently, like my last day of work on the 9th of Oct (there's going to be a party after that you know? Or at least i'm going to have a big one~).

I'm still as busy as ever. Haven't got the chance/time to blog about Priscilla's wedding. I really really enjoyed that one.

Haven't got the chance to blog about my last dental appointment at AH, my most horrible birthday chalet experience, my movie review of Balls of Fury, my visit to Brookes Business School.. and to backtrack a bit, the children's day event at gracehaven, the bbq at west coast park, my meeting with kelvin and cat.. and her 2 kids.

Wow. Thinking of all that is giving me a headache already, but yea, i'm taking a short break from blogging for a bit. And yes, most likely i won't be updating this site that much anymore, ever since it took me an hour to upload and organise some 20+ pics here on blogger.

You can slowly check out my progress at aaronpeng.org. Thanks for the support and i hope to see you soon~

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Thursday, October 04, 2007

Free Burma



For my dear readers that doesn't know what's happening in Myanmar now. The monks have risen against the millitary government, who has been in power for the past 40+ years.

There has been a media blackout in Myanmar since a few days ago, but reports can be seen floating around the internet, that thousands of monks have been rounded up, thousands killed, and many of them have gone into hiding as civilians.

Basically this feels like a repeat of the Tiananman massacre some time back.

I do not condone violence, and killing of thousands of people who are just protesting peacefully is wrong. Wrong!

The junta in myanmar should TALK to the monks and negotiate! Instead of shooting them on sight!

Free burma!

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Friday, September 28, 2007

Pictures for the earlier post

The Four Hosts, with their mikes toned up to the max.


The "Opera" Singer


Chinese Dance


Snacks, lanterns, candles, everything in one goodie bag.


A little close-up


Mooncakes or...


"Tau sar" bun?


A "Qoo" lantern, just one of the many patterns lying around.


The stage.


Little close-up at the stage


No, these aren't food, but cups for tea~


Queueing up for the walk-about with your lanterns with Mr Low.




You'll never guess what this is..


A little close-up, can you tell?


Garlic and Lemon Mussels..


Chang'E a.k.a Birthday Girl


Seafood platter for one~


Design done by the great 'mixer'


I helped with this! Happy Birthday!


Another angle~


We wrote our troubles on a box, and it all burned away. Now we're trouble free!


Pictures..


I'm not going to stick my tongue out again.

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Collation done by Jaslyn~

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updates - 21st to 26th Sept

I suppose its time I updated you guys about my happenings of the past few days… namely what happened from Friday til yesterday, Wednesday.

I’ve been really really busy lately, and when I reach home I just don’t feel like blogging. Even now I’m feeling so nua, but for the sake of some of my loyal readers (you know who you are!), here’s what I did.

Friday –
Stayed back later at work cause I was persuaded to attend the mid-lantern festival celebration by the Chinese cultural group of my work/school.

The thing started at 7pm, so I went over and reached at around 7:05pm. They started introducing the VIPs, and had half of them give speeches. Phew.

By the time the first performance started, it was 7:30pm.

The beginning was a song performed by a young lady with amazing vocal talent. You know the old Chinese songs where people starts screaming? Okay, that’s a very bad term for it. Think… Chinese soprano. Yeap.

She was really good. But unfortunately the people who were paid to do the backup for sound did not know WHEN to turn down the volume, so despite it being a wonderful performance, most of our eardrums nearly shattered.

In quick succession were various dances (hip-hop, break dance, random weird dances, Chinese dance, latino), song singing, xiang sheng (the unofficial toilet breaks), and yea, that’s about it.

All in all, it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t mean to stay til the end, and was supposed to join Jack for badminton at 8+pm. But when I called him, there wasn’t any reply, so I safely presumed he was sleeping.

After the event ended, I cleared up a bit with Kelvin, before we made our way down to Clementi for dinner.

Only at 11:30pm, after my dinner did Jack call, awake from his slumber.

I was feeling pretty tired at that time, so I said see you next time…

Went home, checked for mails, pinged a bit, then went to sleep.

Saturday –

Met Zacky at PS for lunch at around 3+pm. We caught up a bit, he passed me the brochure for the mass comm. Degree in SMa, which I’ll most likely be doing, and we walked around PS to look for his clock after that.

Walked around til it was time to leave for my event, so I bade goodbye to him and took the NEL to Hougang.

I got my directions messed up a bit, and arrived at the wrong place. Argh. Eventually got my bearings right and got there. Basically I was in charge of distributing the goodies, and also to make sure that the lantern walking procession was okay later.

Well, the whole event was pretty fun. I must say I saw around 150-180 residents turn up. And they looked like they had fun. I ate some ice cream too, and thoroughly enjoyed our little walk holding up the Qoo, Hello Kitty and Doraemon lanterns~

Won’t elaborate too much on this, else this entry will take forever to complete.

Waited for Kelvin to fetch me later, and he came together with Michael, Jaslyn and Cat. Actually went to DBL-O, but Michael was in slippers, so we went to a thai pub in golden mile instead.

Oh my, it’s the first time I’ve ever been to a Thai pub, but it sure was interesting. Lets just say it was much better than heading over to some normal pub and trying to dance. I’m just not a dancing person k?

Throughout the time we spent there, we had quite a lot to drink. Just beers actually, but yea, I drank a lot.

Went to had some prata afterwards, and then Kelvin drove me home. I was so tired I just laid down on the backseat… and vomited twice at home.

I tell you, it’s the first time I ever drank so much. And the feeling sucked like hell. Thankfully I didn’t have any hangovers the next day. Despite sleeping at 7am, I woke up at 12+, only to sleep again a bit later.

Woke up at dunno what time, and headed over to Jack’s place (no, not the restaurant), to pass him some stuff. We then walked over to the infamous Monkey Tree at Jurong West St.42, and I realized that the trees were directly opposite a Taoist temple. Interesting.

Most of the trees were pretty empty, although they were adorned with many fancy Buddhist trinklets?

The main attraction was the monkey tree itself of course, where a man there was well, to give him some respect, infused with the monkey spirit, and was just walking and chit-chattering around.

Walked over to the Prata place near the Polyclinic where we had some prata, and then walked back to his house, before taking the bus home.

I reached home feeling pretty tired =/ But satisfied :)

Monday –
Normal work day, just that I had to go down to HQ at night for a “wrap-up meeting” for the Children’s day event on Saturday.

Sweebee, Lilian and me actually had dim sum for dinner oen of the nearby shops. It was pretty affordable and the food is quite nice. Definitely worth going next time.

I stayed on for half an hour after the meeting, talking to Shawn and Perry, before heading home.

Told mom & dad what I decided to study, and then went to sleep.

Tuesday –

Comtemplated about quitting, and finally got the letter done up.
It wasn’t until Boss was about to leave that I told him about it though.

Somehow it was very hard for me to gather that last bit of courage to tell him I want to quit. It was like trying to tell a girl you liked her.

Thanks to help from Lilian and Mandy, I eventually told him about it though.

I think he saw it coming, so he didn’t say much.

Today’s the day where I meet Jaslyn for her birthday dinner (even though it wasn’t until Sunday).

Met her at Fish & Co, and we had a pretty sumptuous dinner of a ‘Seafood platter for one’ and a plate of ‘Garlic & Lemon mussels’.

Surprisingly, it was pretty filling. That despite having it with a girl mind you.

It was a pretty relaxed dinner. I tell you ar, Jaslyn is someone you can just er, relax yourself to? How do I put it. I don’t have to pretend to be somebody I’m not, or go out of my way to entertain her lor. She entertains herself (and myself), and my comments entertain her. And that’s what I like about going out with her.

Maybe its because we’re both Librians~ Easy to get along mah.

After the dinner in which I used my Citibank Clear card for the first time (I thought got 15% discount? Weird, how come don’t have ar?), we walked back to her area, trying to look for battery operated lanterns on the way.

Despite our best efforts, it was not meant to be. Just couldn’t find any battery operated lanterns.

So we walked up to a carpark, and played with some candles and sparklers.
It was slow relaxing fun. And I feel young again :D

I joined weiquan, budee, qs, choykeet and Jo at the Canal after that, and we just talked, played with sparklers again, and had some moon cake~

Reached home at 12+, and slept at 1am.

Wednesday –

Did up my resignation letter, called HR about it at around 12. They were going to have a meeting at 2pm to discuss about my confirmation, but I think they can save it. I won’t be staying long here.

The official reasons is that I’m going to study mass comm at SMa, secondary reason would be the below market rate pay they’re giving me.

Unofficial reasons are too many to list.

Anyways I’m just really glad I’m leaving this place. My morale shook up by 100% actually~

Met up with Kefeng and Bendy at JP for dinner, and also to get a pair of No.3 shoes from Kefeng. Supposed to go to subway, but as there was a very limited seating capacity, we decided to go to Crystal Jade instead.

Waited for a few minutes before we went in, and who did I see but Colin and Darkforce. Small world eh? We chatted a bit, promised to meet up for badminton, and I rejoined them.

All in all we had quite a lot of fun catching up with each other. And I’m thankful I’m not there with them now, because our resident Sgt has become much more unbearable now that he’s in charge.

He always had a bone to pick with me, so it gave me an easy reason to dislike him.

Oh, enough about the past, time to move on to the present.

After the dinner, we escorted Bendy down to get his XXL chicken cutlet, and then Kefeng and I took the bus back.

I played some P3 on my ps2 (I’m so glad to see you up and running old friend), and slept pretty late.~

And that’s all for Wed.

Pictures at the next post.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Young punk spits on Cat, what next?

No, there are no pictures. But i am SO enraged!

As i took bus service No. 198 from home, the bus stopped at every bus stop, thanks to an unknown trigger happy kid.

And when i saw a trio of 3 noisy young kids alight, i had no doubt in my mind that it was they who pressed the bell.

They weren't that young either, around 14-15 no doubt.
2 young boys, 1 young girl. The girl was in her secondary school t-shirt. But i shall not disclose them, since i'm not STOMPing here.

The poor cat was in the middle of the bus stop, sitting serenely. While i must say the cat had no reason to be there, THAT DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO SPIT ON THE CAT! The kid just looked at his two friends in bewilderment when he saw the cat, then nonchalantly spitted on it.

I was seriously very tempted to whip out my phone, or to go out and shout at the young punk. But it happened too fast, and do you really want to see how they look like?

This incident happened at around 5:48pm at the bus stop at the overhead bridge besides Parc Oasis.

I told Karen about it, and she identified the cat as a weird one who likes to hang out there. She saw the spittle on the cat as well, and helped to wipe it off.

Reports (unsourced) say that people who mistreat animals when they are young will end up similarly abusing other humans when they grow up.

I have no doubt in my mind that he'll spit at a younger kid if the kid is smaller than he is.

They are our future? I'm crying inside.

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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Recent Coffeeshop topics, CPF-Annuities

http://freedom-for-man.blogspot.com/2007/09/letter-to-today.html
http://freedom-for-man.blogspot.com/2007/09/cpf-lies.html

One of the better entries i've seen detailing what actually happens in the two most talked about coffeeshop topics: Annuities, and also about changes to our CPF.

Guys, stop saying bo bian! Ever wondered why and how this word gets uttered so often?
Whenever the govt implements something that's unfavourable to us, or we think its ridiculous, we say bo bian, suck thumb.

That's a passively stupid attitude if you ask me.
However, that also happens to be my attitude for a long time. I'll say this is part of what makes us Uniquely Singaporean as well.

There IS a choice. Its right there in front of you. And its just waiting for you to reach out to her.

Oh, and not to mention what happens 3-4 years down the line of course.

I don't even want to say 'what next', because i'm afraid. There hasn't been anything positive so far, and even if there is, its because of the greater 'bad'.

Deep down, i'm still waiting to see how GST helps the 'poor'. And also why, when our economy is in its 'golden peak', is our employer CPF contribution not raised back to 20%.

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Monday, September 24, 2007

I couldn't resist



Taken from WackySingapore.com Exact article can be found here.

SG couple decides to go big on wedding day.

This couple definitely made heads turn. What is to be a boring, dull, and flower speckled bridal car is further ‘zhnged‘ (enhanced) with huge decals of their wedding photos. We would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to newlyweds Jessica Kwan, 35, and Michael Phoon, 46. If only we had their plate number, we’d definitely give a big angpow if we strike it big.





Isn't it cool? I think everyone will know he's getting married. Haha.

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