Dear Ben

Dear Ben

I was the one who won in that scissors, paper, stone game. My name was supposed to be first!!!

Yours sincerly
Jerry

***

Go figure this out on your own. If you get it, good for you

Banking reform

Our banking reform should return to its starting point

12 years ago when I deposited the first dollar into my POSBkids savings account (I'm still using that kiddy bank book till today) was the time when the mother of all bank mergers took place

DBS swallowed POSB (I like to use the word swallow instead of take over) in late 1998. It was perceived as a move to ensure survival back then by don't-know-who

To keep duplication of services from transpiring, POSB branches were shutted down one after another. Same goes to ATM machines as they started to look like an endangered species

There were lots of accounts which had little money in them resulting in penalties being implemented to make sure that there was a minimum amount in every account

Ultimately, customers/depositors had to waste more time to use their services. One might ask, so was that merger really necessary and was it advantageous to me at the end of the day?

Of course, everybody make mistakes. Same goes to a bank. Big losses in Thailand investments, High Notes 5 issue, Lehman Brothers scandal and many more

In 2001, DBS Bank acquired Dao Heng Bank of Hong Kong which ended up as some sort of joke in the financial world. The high price paid for the buying resulted in all Hong Kong banks' stock prices soaring overnight as it was thought that bank prices were undervalued

Singapore has only three local banks now. Numerous investors who got scammed by whatever products have no choice but to continue banking with the same organization which made them suffer losses

Banks are the safest place to store your money but also the fastest place to lose it. Parking your cash at Singapore Pools for a night after a soccer match is over may reap you more profits in a shorter span of time

The minimum amount rule should be gone and more ATMs should be built to better serve its customers

We should go back to basics on our banking reform

You should have heard about the news of Mr Abdul Malik Muhammad Ghazali. Who the hell is this guy? You might ask this if you have not been in Singapore for the past few days or you were in Singapore but didn't care to read the news

He was arrested by the police for posting some comments on Facebook about the YOG. People who know about this news but don't know the details will be quick to conclude it as "another guy getting himself into trouble for posting stupid things online"

I can say that I strongly disagree with what you think if you harbour such thoughts. However, I didn't say that you are wrong

Anyway, today's post will take a non-political approach. We shall not dwell on whether Abdul Malik was unjustly treated or what kind of words were deemed as unacceptable to be arrested

So what did Mr Malik post to make himself an overnight celebrity?

Political, social and historical issues aside. I think Malik still did something wrong

He typed all his words in capital letters when everyone else was using lower case! I also believe that he had overused punctuation marks like "!" and "?". Moreover, he spelled Minister Vivian's name as Vivien

So instead of "inciting violence and public disorder" under Section 267 Chapter 244 of the penal code" according to the police, I think he deserves a charge on "inappropriate use of punctuation marks and spelling your minister's name wrongly"

That should be the only thing which is wrong in his comments, nothing else.

hydrocortisone

I received a random sms from some random guy today. This is exactly what was stated in the message

"Dear team,G hydrocortisone is back in stock.however,it was found in normal GDC carton,instead of red label.please check that it is not placed in the wrong place"

That guy must either be a pharmacy staff or maybe some lab assistant.

Maybe the hydrocortisone should have been labelled in red because its main purpose is to increase blood sugar anyway

Well, I called back the guy and he seems stunned on the line

Me: hello
Guy: hello, yes?
awkward pause of silence
Guy: ya who are you looking for?
Me: who're you?
Guy: no who you looking for?
Me: how I know? u sent me one sms
Guy: oh erm got ah?
Me: ya
Guy: I think is sent wrong number
Me Hangs up the line

Content

Earlier in the afternoon today, I received an email from my lecturer. It was regarding her module's assignment which was due last week

Firstly, the title didn't really make sense. There was no link between the title and what she wrote in the email from my point of view

The main thing about this email was ranting, typing all those words to relieve herself from some unexpected and "backlashed" stress. Yes, she is indeed ranting because she bcc-ed the email to all her students

Now, the main topic about this ranting is the grading criteria. She mentioned that the assignment marking scheme was released a long time ago. And in the marking scheme, it was stated that the contents section is one of the highest weightage components

Our websites have to possess "enough" (don't how how elaborate is her standard of enough) content for her to enjoy reading. Here's the point, she said that many students placed little content in their websites

My take on this issue is that she was expecting to maybe get to know students more (or some of their secrets) through their assignments. She thought that she could easily "gain access" into the minds and worlds of her students

She believed that the websites will be filled with information so informative that she'll never know of. She was so eager to know the lives that her students were leading. She was indirectly trying to infringe their privacy through this "personal website" assignment

Obviously, with such high hopes, she was disappointed when she saw many people putting little content in their sites. She thought that she could be the one and only person enjoying the exclusive privilege of sitting comfortably in front of her computer knowing and understanding every detail about her students

Her only way to rant was to do it directly to the students who caused her disappointment. She wrote lots of stuff, some were written out of a little bit of anger. I study psychology and human being reactions

Now the question is, why did she set such a high weightage for content instead of other areas like technical skills or organization?

It is like assembling a team of basketball players who can dribble really well but none can shoot properly, all are poor at defending and there are no tactics. Is that practical?

My brain tells me that she is making use of this assignment to indirectly know more about her students. I didn't said that that was a bad thing. However, I don't think having such a marking scheme seem to be fair

Some students who are less creative (usually those who speak Mandarin instead of ang moh) might have good technical skills. But with this "biased" grading scheme, the more creative ones (usually those who suck at Chinese) might be able to turn around the tables and score better marks with their impressive writing

In the email, she said that she is the client in this scenario and we the sellers have to follow what she wants. Clearly, she is not happy with the lack of content and uses this as an excuse

Hello? I thought this assignment is called Personal Website? Who are the hell are we doing it for? For ourselves, not you! You are the teacher who is supposed to grade us on our work and not comment on how much details about our history should we disclose in order to pass the assignment

P.S. I am not ranting too, I am just stating a fact and I need lots of words to prove my stance

Cool

Is it me being outdated or does this look very cool to you as well?

Saying this does not mean that I like iPhone, I will still not buy one unless there are no other phones left on earth

Why is this over-hyped iPhone the apple of everyone's I?

YOG football

This is it. I am going to boycott the Youth Olympic Games forever. I arrived at this decision after reading Lainhe Zaobao this morning. Our football team lost in the semi-final! And to who? To tiny little Haiti of all countries?! Ok, the senior teams of both countires are stuck at No. 100 plus place in FIFA rankings but surely the Singapore juniors are much better than their Haitian counterparts right?

I wonder what will those fans who queued up for hours to buy a ticket think when they left the stadium last night. So the final will be Haiti vs. Bolivia. These two countries won't even feature in the World Cup for the next ten years. I hope Bolivia won't end up as Singapore No. 2

There are only 6 teams at the YOG football event. Singapore had the honour to represent the entire Asia at the Olympic level for the first (and maybe last) time. And the old Jalan Besar stadium has ended up as a venue for an Olympic event as far as youths are concerned

Foreign talent cannot make it, local talent also not good enough. What to do? What am I waiting for? I'm gonna make a change. Where is the application form for the coach's job?

Barcelona potato chips

Yeah, I bought a pack of Barcelona potato chips at NTUC supermarket yesterday. Actually I had chosen the Real Madrid one but its expiry date was like less than two months from now so I chose the Catalonia one instead. It was on offer so I decided to try it out

Not as salty as the usual Pringles or Jack 'n' Jill. However, it is also not as bland as those tapioca crackers stored in transparent packets. A good alternative snack if you are sick of the all common junk food that can be found in Singapore

By the way, the chips are in yellow colour, not red and blue

JJ Lin

It's been a long time since I last blogged. Well, I was busy doing some projects. Anyway, I am not sure if you had seen this TV commercial featuring JJ Lin. If you had not seen it before, watch the video first before reading

I think those crushed papers in the wastepaper basket at 0:08 of the video were the lyrics of the Singapore YOG cheer. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah! He must have thought that how could he, as a professional singer, had come up with such a childish and lame song

He tried to rewrite a new one but it was fruitless so he ended up composing 加油 to give himself some artificial confidence. Ha ha ha

I am so evil...

EPL

The 2010/2011 season of the widely-popular English Premier league has started. 90% of the first-round matches have ended with Manchester United and Newcastle being the only teams who have yet to play. Let's do a review

Tottenham and Man City: Brothers United

These two teams really resemble two buddies who have lots of similarities. They invest heavily on new players, fight hard when they play a Big Four team and aim to qualify for the Champions League.

They played the opening game on a Saturday noon and it was one high tempo match. The players passed the ball as if they were shooting it. Luckily, nobody was seriously injured during the 90 minutes of fighting

Tottenham will be playing the Champions League this season but expect them to crash out in the group stages. They should crash out anyway if their priority is the Premier League. Only experienced and consistent teams like Manchester United can play in both competitions

Manchester City have signed a few players whom are all overpriced. One of their newbies, Toure Yaya, is said to be earning £200,000 a week making him one of the highest-paid players in the world. It should be a tough season for them if they want to finish top four

Judging from Saturday's performance, it is no doubt that Spurs' Gareth Bale and Man City's Joe Hart are the best players of their teams.

Bale was deployed as a left-sided midfielder (he's a left-back) and boy, it was a wonderful tactical switch. He had more opportunities to cross the ball and I must his crosses are of David Beckham standard.

The ball just swirl into the penalty box like drawing a banana. Bale also ghosts to the centre and one would need to mark him at the far post. Who says England has no more talents other than Rooney? Bale will prove you wrong.

Joe Hart was picked as the goalkeeper instead of Shay Given and he ensured that the manager made the right decision will numerous fine saves. Although still not the in the region of the world's best, Hart will surely be a big threat to Robert Green for England's No. 1

So much so for Manchester City and their spending when their best player is a goalie whom they bought from Shrewsbury Town (huh? what strawberry team?) 4 years ago.

Big Four: Still the big four

Chelsea needs a new defender, Manchester United needs a new midfielder, Arsenal needs a new goalkeeper and Liverpool needs a new owner.

The Blues are currently facing a shortage of centre-backs. They have signed Ramires, a decent defensive midfielder whom I regard as the next Patrick Vieira. Chelsea should buy one more player before the transfer window closes, most probably a centre-back.

Anyway, their attack looks strong enough to compensate any flaws in their defence. Frank Lampard alone is enough to destroy an entire defence, let alone Didier Drogba plus Nicolas Anelka.

Manchester United are still the same old Man U. Yes, the average age of this team is getting older every year. Fortunately, Alex Ferguson was right about sticking with his old guards. They dismantled Chelsea 3:1 in Community Shield with a commendable performance.

Javier Hernández looks like a good buy. He possess the instincts of a natural goalscorer and is a rare two-footed striker in the Premier League. Maybe the best Michael Owen can do for Man U is to give advice to his Mexican colleague if he ever gets injured again.

Arsenal look sort of weaker than last season. 4 defenders have left them in the summer, they had only signed one new one so far. Defence aside, their attacking force do not look formidable at all. They still need a top-class striker but choices are limited in the market.

I foresee Samir Nasri to be the key player this season. With captain Fabregas having his mind pondering about Barcelona, Nasri should be playing in a more central role this time like what he did against Liverpool yesterday. Check out Jack Wishere too.

Liverpool have imported many erm, people this summer. First was a manager in Roy Hodgson. Then came Joe Cole, no doubt the biggest transfer for the Reds before Christian Poulsen joined them.

There is also the highly-rated Milan Jovanovic who replaces the unhappy-at-Anfield Yossi Benayoun. Next to join in the party has got to be a new owner or the Reds will have no money. David N'Gog is starting to show signs of the next Torres. But it'll still be same old Stevie Gerrard doing all the work.

TOG

All characters appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional. Believing the facts in this post is like believing that the seventh month is not scary

Once upon a time, four friends met up at the peak of Bukit Timah Hill (because the rest of Bukit Timah was flooded). They were Ah Mok, Fernando-Glen, Teck Teck and Ray. So what did they talk about? Of course, it's none other than the upcoming Teenage Only-Pigs Games

Mok: @#$% lah, ^&*~ the TOG! Yesterday I driving to my pool competition venue from my house...
FG: And then?
Mok: My house carpark only got one entry point from main road then I was about to turn out then suddenly a few TOG buses just move up and occupy one lane
TT: It is the TOG, forgive them, it's celebration time!
Mok: @#$%^, then I say never mind, I can still turn out but then one bus just move in front and sit inside the yellow box at the entry point
Ray: So no one can drive in or out?
Mok: Yes, the whole @#$%^&* thing lasted for 15 minutes. My car only Nissan, not Lamborghini, reach there late liao
FG: Stupid one. My estate there also got those double-decker buses pass by. The people on it all blowing @#$%^& vuvuzelas and some more got irritating blasting music
TT: Come on, isn't Chinese New Year also like this? It is just temporary.
Ray: Ya and the police there aren't even from Lion State's Police Force. They're just cops-for-rent from Cisco Certis.
TT: People, why are you like this?
FG: What you mean like this or that? This event is screwed up. The torchbearers are screwed up. They run out from a lorry with the torch.
Ray: Huh? I thought supposed to be run and pass around one.
Mok: Screwed up mah.
FG: Two days ago, my school inform me I need stand near the road in the afternoon to welcome the torchbearers.
TT: They need our support. We are one united Lion State citizens.
FG: Your head, this should be done truthfully. They are forcing me and other school students to do sai kang.
Ray: Students and NS men are always the first to be exploited by the gahmen.
FG: Exactly, 35 out of 39 people in my class can't be bothered with TOG.
Mok: Might as well watch EPL.
TT: This is the first TOG, we should be proud that we're the host.
Ray: I would be proud-er if a true blue Lion State citizen wins a gold at the Summer Only Pigs.
FG: Haiz, what to do? Later school fail us how? No choice lah even if I have to stand under the sun like a retard.
Mok: To prepare you for your 2-year National Slavery (NS).
TT: Guys, allow me to say something.
Ray: Say lor.
TT: We should look at TOG with a positive mindset. We are a young nation so hosting the TOG is certainly acceptable. We should all be proud...
FG: proud your head, lim bei don't give a damn.
TT: It is the first. We should feel honoured to the first hosts like Athens.
Mok: Athens at where ah? Africa?
TT: Some of the most exciting players today were discovered as youths and the TOG is an exciting new platform for potential young talents to display their skills.
Ray: But they were discovered at academies, not during competitions.
FG: Ya, they're not even professionals, why bother watching?
TT: It is the Olympic spirit. We have to support it.
Ray: No, I have no mood. I'm already very fed up being a volunteer.
Mok: Why?
Ray: My school force me to volunteer as an usher for matches
TT: That's good.
FG: Suay lor.
Ray: It's like we kena auto sign up by the school. We didn't even choose to.
Mok: I heard that volunteer's food are like...
Ray: Yeah, I think even hospitals serve better food.
FG: The gahmen won't appreciate your help, they just want face.
TT: It is a meaningful sacrifice.
Ray: Teachers are all sibeh on as if they will get extra bonuses as civil servants for this @#$%
TT: You people think too negatively.
Mok, FG, Ray: You're the naive one!

Sack my pencil case

I changed a new pencil case a couple of days ago. Like my calculator and optical mouses, here's a farewell message to erm, alamak I just realized that I didn't give my old pencil case a name. My apologies

I, your owner, hereby terminate our partnership due to various reasons and current circumstances. It was with deep regret that I declare that you are no longer part of the organization

I would like to thank you for the services you have rendered for the past 4 and a half years and wish you all the best in your future endeavours. I have prepared a place in my store room for you to rest and enjoy your retirement

You will still be considered for reinstatement if there is a need to fulfil a vacant position similar to yours in the future

Best Regards,
Your Owner

***

This is my new pencil case by the way. Don't ask me why I have a preference for cute-looking ones because cool-looking have cool-looking price tags on them

Went to school today and took some photos with my phone

NDP

My Singapore celebrated her 45th birthday last night. The party was held at the Padang aka old City hall area. It was also the venue of the first National Day Parade

Every year, NDP looks more or less the same to me but this year was different. It was way below standard considering that 27000 pairs of eyes are watching from the stands and thousands more on national TV

The marching did not look pleasant and professional. You can clearly see that a couple of arms were lifted up a couple of split seconds slower/faster than the rest. Maybe it's that couple of guys' fault, maybe it's the timer's fault, maybe it's the organizers' fault

That female platoon commander of the NPCC contingent kept moving her eyeballs when they were marching out towards Marina Bay. She was caught on camera and I saw it. NCC is definitely always the better uniform group or maybe the best

Sezari Sezali was at one of his worst moments when he was singing some songs with fellow Singapore Idol finalist, Sylvia Ratonel. If last night was the finals, Ratonel would have easily pulled off a win. Her voice obviously overpowered Sezari's trying-to-act-soft vocals

And if you did realize, the lyrics should be "We have a goal for Singapore" and not "We have a hope for Singapore". Wonder if it was sang wrongly on purpose

Oh yes, and Corrine May proved to everyone that her singing performance was pre-recorded. She opened and closed her mouth too slowly. I consider that as a failure

Last of all, I am not sure if I am correct but I think Taufik Batisah sang berseru instead of bersatu again. Yes, I think he did it again

Ok, that's all for my post-NDP commentary. See you again next year

National Day Rally

Every year since 44 years ago, the second Sunday after 9th of August is always unique for Singapore. The University Cultural Centre at NUS would be packed with people ever since 2001. All the TV channels have to sacrifice their programmes for this "national event". The entire Sunday evening would be extremely boring

All thanks to one man, our dear Prime Minister. There is only one group of people who will need to listen to his talking, the journalists. They are responsible for bringing us news on this annual "national event". We just read the papers to know what are the highlights of the talk

Seriously, when I was in secondary school, the principal asked how many people stayed up to watch LHL talk during the following Monday's assembly and only 3 hands raised up

Maybe there were more people who watched it but didn't feel like there's a need for everyone to know. Why wasn't there a need for everyone to know? It looks dumb. Why does it look dumb? Because that is displaying fake patriotism!

Every year, people hang flags outside their HDB flats. Some are "fortunate" to have RC (aka dogs) members visiting their houses to remind them and even provide free flags. Hanging your country's flag outside your house won't make you love your country more

Same goes to listening to your PM talk. I think that there are many other meaningful things that we can do during that evening. Anyway, we will forget what we have heard during the speech after a month or so. Might as well do something that will be beneficial in the future

What are you waiting for?

Watching this 3 minute video is better than watching Lee Hsien Loong talk for 3 hours during his National Day Rally speech

Even the young ones have spoken, what are you waiting for? Make a change, the power is in your hands, are you really happy with the current situation?

Why use Yonex?

 Pardon me for my lack of artistic talent


Went to school to play badminton with Marcius today. Played until my right hand very erm, I don't know how to describe. You know, it's just that kind of feeling after you exercise a lot

Being a creative and innovative person, I tried using my head to head the shuttlecock over the net during one part. Tried to use my leg as if I was playing chapteh but ended up making myself paiseh

As I have a habit of not doing warm-up before playing any sports or exercising, I thought I would suffer terribly after playing. However, I still feel rather energetic until now. Just that I can crack my knuckles every five minutes now instead of the usual one-hour interval

Speaking of which, I think (no I confirm) that I am the only person who has never own/buy a Yonex racket before. Every darn person whom I have played with uses a darn Yonex racket. Seems that badminton has only Yonex and Yonex is just badminton

Unlike running or tennis, there is only one good brand which everybody should use for badminton. What's really so great about Yonex rackets? Even in badminton competitions, Lin Dan and everybody else uses this brand as well

I don't deny that Yonex rackets are made of better material but as long your forehand, backhand and smashing techniques are good, any racket would be suitable

I am not saying my skills are good (they are below average) but I don't see myself playing worse than another guy who hits shuttlecocks with a Yonex in his hand

In conclusion, buy products of branded sports brands only if you are rich. Ah who cares, no one is going to listen to me anyway

Two things happened to my block today

The first occurred at around 4 in the morning. I was busy trying out my dream within a dream act adapted from the Inception movie when I smelled something. I awoke and heard my neighbours taking outside my house. They were like talking about a fire

I got up and looked out of the window but saw nothing special so I went back to bed. I tried "inception-ing" again but this time it failed (gonna try again tonight)

In the morning after I woke up, I learnt that the tenth floor of my block was on fire. Damn that auntie for putting so many things outside her house. It is not the first time that area was on fire

The second thing was a blackout this afternoon. I was watching TV halfway when it just suddenly switched off. My fridge was also down at the same time so were the lights

Well, it just lasted for about ten minutes. I am glad that I am still alive now

Unriddle

I think that the new Channel 8 drama, Unriddle, looks awesome enough to watch. I always liked detective shows and have watched most of Mediacorp's ones. The last time Channel 8 had one was back in 2008 which had Tay Ping Hui and Dawn Yeoh starring in it

Unriddle should even better, maybe even better than the award-winning Metamorphosis in 2007 which also stars Rui En. Mediacorp has been doing lots of publicity and promotion for this upcoming drama so i believe we will not be let down

It is well-crafted and the plot is quite fast-moving. Each episode starts with the ending before taking us back to hours/days before the event transpired. Interesting way to catch the audience's attention

The actors are all superbly professional. Tay Ping Hui should score another nomination for Best Actor Award with his role in Unriddle while Rui En and Chen Liping are also worthy of suggestion for Best Actress

The main thing here is recommending you to watch Unriddle. Yeah, it is definitely going to be better than The Little Nyonya

SEEE Soccer League

It's official! Singapore Polytechnic's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (SEEE)'s 2010 Soccer League will kick off on 20th September and Raymond the Legend is participating in it

Fortunately or unfortunately, my team was drawn to play the opening match. We have 20 players in the squad including me, more than enough to have competition for the starting line-up. It is a 2-group round robin format where the top two sides of each group advance to the semi-finals

I don't deny that I am excited and hope to play in the first game. However, first of all, I have to work hard during training. Easier said than done because it was 17 months ago that I last kicked a ball. Skills are all rusty already (they are already rusty ever since I left secondary school)

Even before the competition starts, we already have a problem in our team. There is a lack of goalkeepers. Nobody wants to be a goalie except one guy so far. Definitely not me because of my height and phobia at catching balls directed at me with my hands

As for myself, I am also facing a problem. What should my squad number be? It is currently 15 which is my favourite number but I thought of switching it to 6  because it is an even number (Chinese superstition). I am also wondering what name should I have on my shirt. My first name or surname, or both? In full or short form?

It's a nice problem to have