Blog Makeover

Do you people think that this blog is a bit archaic and monotonous? As in the design and whatever, to be more exact, it's the blogskin

My chinese painting mountains at the top have vanished for no apparent reason, and it seems that Apple Safari is the only browser that will have it appear. This means that only Macintosh users will get to see it unless you want to be unique like me and download the "world's best browser" declared by Apple themselves on your PC and use it on Windows platform that looks a little weird. In short, only a small amount of people can view the actual look of this blog so I was thinking of changing the blogskin a couple of days ago.

I would prefer light backgrounds, prefably white, and has an urban style with clean looks. Please give me some suggestions as I tried looking for one but with my fussy and perfectionist nature, I just ended up wasting my time. Actually, all ideas are welcomed, you do not need to follow my preference

Look forward to see some interesting ones, you can email to raymondeng@rocketmail.com

さようなら

The day I joined the place that changed me

29 November might be just another ordinary day to you, but it is a rather special day for me

Exactly 1 year ago today, it was my first day of work at Crimsonlogic. The place that I used to spent my time almost everyday after the O levels. Working there has been a memorable and wonderful experience for me. I believe that I came and left the place as a different person. I really learned a lot of new things there and got to understand many things that I will not get to if I had not been working there

To elaborate on the many things which I had learned, one of them is ping pong, or also named table tennis. I had not played that sport before if my failing memory does not recall so in my life. There is a table tennis table in the recreation room in the office, so sometimes during lunch I would pick up the paddle and smack some balls with my colleagues there. Speaking about my colleagues, I can say that I am the youngest male employee there among some 400 plus people in the company. The second youngest males are 2 JC graduates who are awaiting their dreadful A levels and NS.

I have got to know many new people in my life too, or should I say come across? Without them, my Facebook friendlist would have been much less now *laughing*. Since they are all older then me by at least two years, and most of them by a decade, I have more or less gained some valuable knowledge from them, there are too many to list anyway. The generation gap between them and me did not deter us from working together, in fact it worked to be rather desirable from my perception.

There is a poem which I created while working there, it goes "you get to eat, you get to drink, you get to play, and you get paid". During the Christmas season last year, vendors have gave the company lots of gifts and mostly are food like chocolates, tidbits etc. So we(the temp staffs who are also the younger ones)were gobbling all those junk food there everyday while working, in fact I think we are helping to clear out all those food since there was really loads of them. Then it was Chinese New Year, and again more gifts arrive and we have more "work" to do.

The people there are all very amiable and cheerful. Well, this is maybe because of the nature of their work as customer service officers, we pick up calls now and then and have to bear with difficult and demanding users sometimes. Also some tedious and complex problems will make some of them randomly scream in the office to distress, so that is why they keep themselves happy always in the office I think

Through my four months stint there, I had some regrets as I had not accomplished some missions of mine. Although I managed in some way or another to step into the CEO's office when he has yet to arrive in the morning(which many staff there would say is a little impossible), i did not managed to go to other departments for a walk. So during my vacation in September, I returned for another 6 weeks to do some unfinished business and because I really missed the place ad the people there. Then again, i got to know even more people there like new staffs and even people form other departments

As the time is around 11 plus in the morning now while I am typing this, I visualize myself sitting in the meeting room 365 days ago wearing the white shirt with blue stripes awaiting instructions on my first day of work. Actually there is still one thing which i regret not doing even after returning for the second time this year, that is to take some photos there. I did manage to take one on the last day of my work during the first stint on 4 April. See? I am so hardworking, I worked until the very last day of my holidays before I enter Singapore Polytechnic on 7 April for it's orientation. I am certain that I will return again, maybe as IA student this time. Actually, reflecting back on year 2008, I have spent almost half a year at there, which is really long I reckon. That's all, let's all makes better sense


This is the picture I took with the 2 Singpass systems analysts from India on my last day of work, from left, Raghu Narasimhamurthy, Raymond, Kumarpandi Senthikumar. And if you have not noticed, this is the first time I'm posting a photo which has me on this blog

What if I was a minister? Part 2

In today's RealBlurPolitics® column I shall present Part 2 of what if I was a minister?

If I was the minister of health

I would legalise euthanasia in Singapore, only under certain conditions. Firstly, the patient and his/her immediate family members must agree that it is the best solution for all parties and not done against their morals and beliefs. Secondly, the patient should be given a one year "grace" to see if there are any miracles before allowing the doctor to send him/her off

Even without considering the physical pain, it is often hard for patients to overcome the emotional pain of losing their independence.Also, the usage of medical staff and hospital beds could be utilized for people whose lives could be rescued instead of continuing the life of others who want to die which increases the general quality of care and shortens hospital waiting lists. Keeping an incurable person, who can no longer contribute to society, alive is a mental weight and stress, particularly if resources used could be spent on a curable ailment

If I was the minister of information, communication and the arts

Some or rather most chinese of the older generation are aware that their children or grandchildren are unable to understand and communicate in dialects. As foreign TV programmes invade our local channels these days, youths are starting to lose their roots. When asked, most will say that it is cool learning Japanese or Korean and old-fashioned and rough picking up Hokkien. This is because of the ban on broadcasting dialect shows like Hong Kong dramas or Taiwan serials some decades ago. The government wants people to speak proper "language", but this plan has backfired

So as ICA minister, I would uplift this ban. I will not immediately allow programmes that contain 100% dialect to be shown on channels, instead I would suggest we have dual sound for such shows like Hong Kong dramas which are in Cantonese. We can have Mandarin and Cantonese for viewers to choose(although most will choose the latter), just like Korean and Japanese dramas which are shown here

Our government has been one of the most stable in the world all these years and their plans and ideas are all well recognized by other countries, but this is the one exceptional plan that sort of backfired. I admit that I am one of those "victims" of this exceptional plan who cannot even speak my own dialect until today

If I was the minister of community development, youth and sports

I would build more sports facilities around neighbourhood areas, especially street soccer courts. Maybe I can discuss with the ministry of national development to get rid of those useless BBQ pits which are hardly used by anyone for so many years and replace them with my football cages and basketball courts.

Also, I think that we should not rely so much on foreign talent to bring glory to the nation. There are definitely many unearthed gems out there in schools dreaming about their future but never really put it into action. They need to be discovered and recognized and they will prove that we are better than foreigners!

If I was the minister of transport

There has been this never-ending issue on polytechnic students' transport fares. They(or rather we, since I'm one of them too)pay more than their peers in JC and ITE. In short, they pay adult fare. So much so of adult fare when we are still not even adults and are only poor students without an income. If you still remember about the saga five years ago during Sars, when poly students have to attend school while JC students can have some bonus school holidays. This is somehow similar to the transport fare issue too, poly students are always at a disadvantage all these years. Numerous petitions have been started, even on Facebook, but there is still no change.

No change can still be sort of acceptable since our government is famous(within the country only)for being stagnant at times(but present an excellent impression to foreigners), but the most hilarious part is that no vaild reason has been given until now. Dumb excuses like because they don't wear uniforms, or their academic calendar is different to they are considered adults are all used and I wonder what will be up their sleeves next

Supposing I am transport minister, I will just scrap this silly thing once and for all

This kind of police

*Lyrics modified from Black Eyed Peas' don't phunk with my heart*

No, no, no, no
This kind of police
No, no, no, no
This kind of police

I wonder if it's Singapore
Would you still be so safe, baby, so safe, baby
I wonder if it's Singapore
Would you still be so safe, baby, so safe, baby

We should not take our safety in the country for granted, it is our responsibility to be alert, those blue uniformed guys are just doing their job for the sake of their ricebowls, they can't be with us everyday

Small Little Lunch

During noon, I went to the hawker centre with my dad for lunch and we ordered fishball noodles.

Even before it was served to our table, my dad told me that the amount was tragically little while he watched the guy cooking. Of course he won't lie, when the woman who was serving placed the bowl in front of me, I got a shock of my life. It was truly an eye-opener for me, the noodles were(exaggerately)just like two strands? My running speed might be one of the slowest among other guys who are of same age as me, but when it comes to eating, only my father can beat me. So I finished the whole thing in less than two minutes and my father was much faster than that. I have came across numerous noodle stalls which serve mini portions but today is the first time I encounter a microscopic portion of noodles. I did not take a photo of it as I did not want to attract attention in the hawker centre. We decided to order carrot cake to fill up our half-empty stomachs, and it tastes rather bland and soft! What a day dining outside!

My grandmother, uncle and auntie will be coming over to my house for dinner in about two hours time, and I shall go jogging now, long time no exercise. There will be some celebration show on channel 8 at night, I'm gonna stick in front of the TV later

What if I was a minister? Part 1

So here is my first entry in my weekly RealBlurPolitics® column and I will present Part 1 of what if I was a minister?

If I was the minister of defence

I would not make National Service compulsory to all males in the country. Instead, I would require these boys(or men) to attend an obligatory 1 to 2 week camp at various army camps islandwide(no need the hassle to travel to another island, you know what I mean). During their time-sacrificing stay there, they would be tasked to do various kinds of exercises, or should I say sports? Whatever, let's just say training, BMT, body and muscle training. Of course there will be rewards(with rewards then there will be motivation and motivation breeds good results) for those who do well and achieve good results from the camp, which is some money and a welcome letter to join the republic's army permanently for the next 2 years of their lives.

I think that in this way, we can truly get the best "army" in the country. There are some loyal citizens out there in this nation dying to enter the army and serve the country but for most of the common boys(or men), we think that it is really time-sacrificing or rather time-wasting. Since that is the case, why force people to join the army? Yes, and why only males?

If I was the minister of education

Alright, this is one of my all time favourites. Firstly, I believe that there is a need for streaming in schools as different students have different levels of competence academically. It gives the child a more comfortable environment to blend into and excelling his/her potential will be easier.

Next, more PE lessons is a must, whether it is primary, secondary or tertiary(and polytechnics should have it too). A typical secondary student would have two 30 minutes lessons per week, minus the time for changing, resting and the teacher's talking, it would only be about 30 to 40 minutes per week. How can that be adequate for students at an age where they should exercise more as they are still growing? Can we really trust them to do exercise during their own free time in this modern "e-world"?

Thirdly, I would make Moral Education in primary schools optional, it seems that subjects starting with "M" are normally the top dislikes among kids, Maths, Mother Tongue, Music etc. So having one less "M" would be much desirable. Anyway, how many people actually remember what they studied in Moral Education in primary school a decade later when they grow up? Parents should play the teacher's role instead and home should be the classroom

Lastly, every student's favourite, and maybe teachers as well...Shorter schools hours, needless to explain, the reason is obvious since our parents' time

If I was the minister of finance

Well, I'll just make sure we(cabinet) spend wisely and usefully although it is quite hard to decipher the genuine meaning of "wisely and usefully" but I can see we are on the right track most of the times, but not everytime


If I was the minister of foreign affairs

It does not need a rocket scientist to discover that the country has good ties with almost every other nation on earth. Wherever and whenever our country leaders meet their counterparts, they will definitely stress all the "good ties and relations....." that both countries share. This is something precious that we must cherish. If you look at other countries, the situation here and there are in stark juxtaposition. So as the FA minister, it is my responsibility to maintain these wonderful ties and create more opportunities for people here to interact with others from overseas

China is one of the crucial countries that we must be noteworthy of, their people, market, economy and whatever indirectly affects us in a way or another. Actually, more and more China nationals have landed on our shores recently and they are starting to be part and parcel of our daily lives. The young lad who delivers newspapers at dawn, the bus driver that fetches us to school or work, our classmates and co-workers, the man who cooks and sells you your lunch at the "zhap cai peng" stall in the foodcourt, the lady that owns the bakery where you buy a snack for your high-tea, the security guard that says goodbye to you after work at the exit, the pet shop managed by the couple where you buy the bird/fish/cat/rabbit food for your pet. And upon reaching home, switching on the TV, it is still China actors, actresses, hosts, news anchors and the list goes on

Strategy of today

During my Oral Communication lesson today, the lecturer wanted us to brainstorm a topic for our individual presentation. We were supposed to write down what we decided on but in the end we all ended up doing other things. Maybe not all of my classmates but at least the two who juxtaposed with me in the row did not, one was playing computer games while the other handphone games. I think that for this kind of project, a ten minutes brainstorming session would not work, what one requires is inspiration. Just like composing songs, when you catch it, it will be there, or you will easily forget, it is a "now or never" fact

Creative and innovative people like me do not need this type of extra time in class to strategize my project. The strategy is simple, if you know the quote from The Art of War(Sun Zi Bing Fa). 知彼知己，百战不殆 means if you know both yourself and your enemy, you can come out of hundreds of battles without danger. This can be applied to our daily life and for instance in my case, I just have to come up with a topic that I'm farmiliar with and the audience(my class) have some knowledge about it too. So easy, I don't comprehend why the lecturer wants us to ponder in class just for this?

Starting tomorrow, I will be launching my RealBlurPolitics® column which is rated PG as there is sarcastic content which I had said there will be in this blog in my first post. Hope everybody will enjoy it

I shall end this post with the most "in" Christmas song you can sing to your friends

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why
Recession is coming to town

It's hitting you once
It's hitting you twice
It doesn't care if you've been careful and wise
Recession is coming to town

It's worthless if you've got shares
It's worthless if you've got bonds
It's worse if you've got little to spare
So be thrifty for goodness sake

Logically Complex

In the morning I had psychology lesson and it was group presentation today. So the lecturer would be the one sitting down listening to the students talk(provided if she does listen attentively and the students speak sensibly). My group was the last out of five groups to present so I had the privilege of watching how other groups screw up their work and learning from their accidental mistakes

Somehow, I think my group had the best show, we clearly portray the different kinds of characters in our skit and I think my "old lady" voice when acting as the mother sounds so cool, so sensational, so auntie. Then had Maths(enough said) and Computer Hardware before the favourite part of the day, lunchtime arrives. In the CH lesson, I heard the lecturer mentioning my name and something about my blog I think, but he did not sound clear enough though so I did not care too

Then it was Web Publishing and the lecturer really rocks big time man, he looks more like one of our peers and has a very casual way of conducting lessons, having frequent breaks in the middle of the class

If you are aware of the current news, Taiwan's ex-president, Chen Shui Bian has been admitted to hospital after he went on a hunger strike for 4 days. Some way or another, I have a feeling that he did ate something during his "strike' after all. Maybe his 12 security guards, who work on a 1 person 1 shift way, secretly passed him some biscuits in the prison, maybe only. Note, maybe also imply maybe not. Politics is so complex, Lee Hsien Yang was fortunate to make the right decision not to join his father and brother in it

Oh and did you see the Health Minister, Khaw Boon Wan's new hairstyle? I think he coloured his hair, I saw him on TV in the parliament yesterday, so cool, so sensational, so... that's all, politics is complex

Shop Wisely

Went to the West Coast Plaza this morning. 3 words to describe it, no big deal. Unless you think you are quite opulent, but in these days, who will still have this kind of mentality?

The big players in the team are all the costly ones, like Cold Storage, Starbucks and other "ang moh pai" shops for high class people. I walked into Cold Storage and came out in less than 15 minutes, it is really more for ang mohs and those high class people that live in bungalows and speak Engish most of the time. By the way, Cold Storage is definitely not the supermarket to shop in if you self-proclaim to be poor and come from an ordinary family like your fellow neighbours staying left, right, on top and below you in HDB flats. The prices there are at least 10% higher than Fairprice or Sheng Siong. Let me explain it to you, take the broccoli for example

NTUC's one was priced at 28 cents per 100 grams as advertised in the papers last Friday

Giant Hypermart had it's one at 26 cents per 100 grams somewhere during last week too

Shop n Save made it 27 cents per 100 grams 2 weeks ago

Sheng Siong amounted the veggie at 30 cents per 100 grams

and for the mighty Cold Storage, the fresh food people, it costs 99cents per 100 grams!!!

I think it is 99 cents if I am not wrong, I do not really remember, but the price is around 90 plus cents. See the significant difference? Yes, this example should be sufficient enough to prove to you how "cheap" a thing can cost at one place and another. If you still doubt my words, feel free to head down to any branch and check it out yourself while I'll be at Fairprice buying the cheaper NTUC housebrand

Oasis in the west

In less than 24 hours, West Coast Plaza(formely known as Ginza Plaza) will be opened. Located at West Coast, of course, it is just a short distance from west coast park and the neighbourhood nearby. When it was under the name Ginza Plaza before undergoing renovation, it was not exactly the ideal shopping centre for a whole family. It is much more popular among youths as it is filled with LAN gaming shops, game shops, arcades and many other shops related to fun and enjoyment.

I still recall I bought my first(which is also the only one) Gameboy Color there at the Lee xiao Chun shop just beside the entrance, and I immediately switched it on to play the Pokemon Yellow Version in the cardrige which I bought too. I sat with my friend at the benches near the so called fountain area and played like it is the only game in the world

During secondary school days, many of the guys in my class will meet up on almost every Saturday morning there to play Warcraft. They would reach there as early as 9am in the morning as the LAN shop would have just opened for the day and it will be relatively empty.

Then there is a bakery located at 1st floor which had a Japanese name, and it's bread were all so delicious, everytime I passed by there, I would surely turn and look inside and visualize myself eating something from the shelves of bread

There will be free shuttle service to the shopping centre so I bet there will be more people going there although some people just want to take a free ride there for other purposes I know. Whether the old Ginza Plaza will be a total contrast from it's successor is still unknown, but one thing for sure, I will be going there

Today in school

Today went to school as usual. The first lesson, Oral Communication, was shifted to 8.30am as many of my classmates are always late so the lecturer decided on this, but still there will be latecomers in the end. The lecturer just showed us presentations done by other students who took the module before and pointed their strengths and flaws, like this girl is what what what, that guy did not this this this etc.

Then went for Maths and listened to the old witch babble about like a machine gun. Seriously, her teaching is not suitable for the majority of modern students and she does not comprehend the polytechnic style of teaching and learning. She suits more for primary school kids(not even secondary schools where students are young adults). I guess she came to poly to teach as the salary here is higher than secondary schools, her face tells it all, she has a very sly and shrewd face

After Maths, I had lunch and McDonald's fish burger was it. Speaking about it, I realized something during noon, either the size of the burger has shrinked or my hand has grown bigger. It should be the former, the burger was gobbled up by me in less than five bites and five minutes. It did not literally make a difference between eating it and not eating it to me, as I was still kind of hungry. Well, due to rising global food prices, one cannot complain about the amount so long as it does not contain melamine or any other non-edible chemicals

Next was Data Comm after my "little lunch", the lecturer talked about shampoos at the start which I wonder how it could be linked to computers? Computers do not have hair, do they? He shared with us how he bought shampoo in the supermarket when he was young which is absolutely not related to the syllabus. Then it was Character Developement again, the lecturer was late so while waiting outside the classroom, my classmates found something to entertain themselves in the meantime


At last, it was home sweet home after a long day

It is cold

For the past 3 days, I naturally woke up at 4 plus in the morning. On Monday morning it was 4.30am, tuesday was 4.45am, today was 4.15am(yeah!!! new record set!). Wonder what time will it be for Thursday?

Anyway, I still returned to sleeping mode after turning and tossing on the bed for an hour or more,in the end, I had to wake up after entering dreamland for less than 30 minutes.

For today, it was extremely cold when i woke up in the morning, it feels like I'm in England or maybe even Iceland. I guess I needed three blankets to keep myself warm at that time, but after a while it was alright. I managed to survive the ephemeral chilliness, I think it's a mental problem that was bugging me. The weather forecast states that temperatures range from 23 to 28 degrees, so I think it's my imagination after all

Change™ is the only constant

In a time when

Japan disclaims it's war atrocities against fellow Asian people,

Thailand's respected ex PM is facing some big problem in his hometown and has fled to some other part of the world,

Russia "gostunned" the democratic achievements it accomplished over the previous decade,

Political uncertainity and not so good relations still haunts China and Taiwan and their people,

Arsenal proved their critics wrong by defeating Manchester United(this one is a little irrelevant)
.
.
.
America shows the world that it is still the most powerful country to date, it has been more than 4 days since Obama became the country's first black president. By electing the Democrat, its people have proven that the genuine power of the nation still lies in one of it's most valuable resource, the people themselves.

After years of leadership under Bush and Clinton, the people want a change, and sending Mr Barack to the White House through election has shown that they are ready for a change, a revolution, well maybe just an alteration. They are ready for an African-American leader to govern them. But is Singapore ready for a change? A PM of a minority race to bring us to greater heights?

This question is rather unanswerable by myself at the moment, not in the near future I reckon, how about you?

Cannot change MSN display name

I have a problem, not a really big one that endangers life but one that makes me feel rather uneasy recently. It has occured about one week ago. I cannot change my msn display name! Actually, I can change it, but it will just "naturally" change back to the old one after a minute. I asked my friend to sign in his account using my computer and try changing his name, and the same problem happens.

It is only the msn on my windows vista in my laptop that has this problem, I have absolutely no issue with changing the display name when using windows xp. I tried the uninstall and reinstall method but the problem still persists. Does anybody know how to solve this problem? If you, reading this post now, know of any solution, please tell me

US presidential election

Somewhere just after noon today, reports on the winner of the US presidential election were announced around the world, firstly I would like to congratulate Barack Obama for becoming America's first black president

His inauguration, however, will only occur somewhere in the beginning of next year if I'm correct. Oh, and he will acquire one of the worst economy crisis, ensure that he brings change like what he promised during the campaign and think of how to deal with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars

Ironically, I was keen to know the result by myself and made sure that nobody but myself informed me of the winner firsthand, but in the end it wasn't. My friend who was sitting adjacent to me in the library surfing the net told me that Obama has won the California state, which is the largest I think, he actually did not notice that the Democrat has already chalked up more than 270 votes(it was about 300 plus then), and I spotted it and told him, and there was a little comotion between both of us for half a second. So, he had indirectly notified me of the winner...arghh...looks like I'll have to wait for another 4 years

Tomorrow will be terrific Thursday and I can't wait for it to arrive as I will be having Character Development class yet again, so maybe there will be more nice pictures in store

Pictures taken at the right time in class

Here are some photos of my boring Character Development lecturer in class taken by my potential professional photographer classmate, Nasrullah


Bargaining in the market


Yes! I'm pointing at you!



Act Cute

The start of a new week, bring it on!

2 pleasant days have passed, and the writer of this post will have to lose some beauty sleep and wake up earlier than usual(actually that's the usual) for school, but compared to my other classmates who live much further in other parts of Singapore, I am considered rather fortunate. I live the nearest to school among my classmates, at least I beat them in something, hahaha

Enough said, this shall be a short one, I am heading to dreamland soon after I brush my teeth, which happens after I switch off the computer, which happens after I type this sentence, which happens by the time you read this word