A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

in a futile attempt to gain credibility, I am going to post interesting facts from now on at the title bar of my post in order to disprove the doubters that blogs do not have educational merit. :P

.........................

paid up for TV licence for our flat today. radio and TV licence is one of those cost of living that I do not quite comprehend. I have no idea why I am paying to have the right to watch television in my home. I even have to pay to operate the radio in my car. who does the money go to? and what does the monies collected do for the MDA (media development authority)?
which begs the question, what does MDA do? what is my money being used for?

"The MDA was established in 2003 to champion the realisation of the Media 21 vision and in the process, transform Singapore into a vibrant global media city. The MDA will achieve this with its dual-function role i.e championing the growth of the media industry through the Media 21 blueprint and manage media content to protect core values and safeguard consumers’ interests."
so am I paying to protect my err..'core values' and 'consumer interest'? moving on...

this is the very same organisation responsible for our archaic censorship laws. MDA is also the one we have to face the music from whenever we bring in 'illegal' video's. MDA also oversees our 'vibrant' local arts scene. in fact it seems any form of popular entertainment falls under the purview of MDA.

MDA's mission? "The MDA’s mission is to develop Singapore into a vibrant global city so as to foster a creative economy and connected society. "
Right.

anyway to make short story long (or should it be the other way round?), why am i paying bloody radio and television licencing fees for?

had a little problem finding out the reason from the official MDA website, as seemingly the server is down, so I had to revert to trustworthy third-part sites for answers:

"MDA collects TV licence fees to ensure that the public has access to quality public service programmes. These are programmes considered socially important and desirable for the public. However, they are often not commercially viable and require considerable support in order to ensure varied and quality programming for everyone, especially in a multi-racial and multi-cultural society. Such broadcasts include minority language programmes, culture, information, current affairs, quality drama and children's programmes which are shown regularly on the free-to-air channels. In total, licence fees go a long way in funding over 4,000 hours of television programmes a year in the four main languages."
so basically i am helping fund tamil, malay and kiddy shows now?

based on the above explanation I am to assume that TCS will go bust if I do not pay my TV licencing fee. I guess all the advertising dollars and sponsorship TCS gets is barely enough to make ends meet. 'Free-to-air' my foot. more like 'Fee-to-air' by the sound of it.

the other puzzle I have is what my radio licencing for Sunny is for. I have to pay it for using a radio in my car, but otherwise a licensing fee is not required for my home, or any other form of radio transmitters. I would assume the stock answer would not be much different from the rationale for TV licences.

or maybe MDA just channels the money into making groundbreaking corporate videos...



Oh the pain!! I give up!!
I will just pay the licence fee and not ask so many silly questions...

.................

i did work out today.swear i did.

did 12 push-ups and 10 curls on the bar bells.

in order not to wear myself out and reduce the chances of injury I may have to pace myself and spread my workout above into 4 days.

weekend warrior indeed.

...................................

wonder how I look bald.
something to contemplate as hairlines rise and bald spots start to become more visible.



..................................

things to bring over to the new flat:

- DVD player
- all the files, bills and documents pertaining to the flat
- my CD/DVD/video collection
- lamps, lights and bulbs
- the colour printer
- weighing scale
- clothes and stuff
- shoes and slippers
- X-box??
- my big lion jig saw puzzle. and to complete it..finally. then hand somewhere.
- our solemnisation stuff
- multi-purpose table
- labeller

(looksies like list just keeps getting longer..and longer more I think about it)

..................................

Over in the north, a Fatal Four Way is looming. The combatants: Dr Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the PM Abdullah Badawi.
Anwar Ibrahim is the crowd favourite and ranked outsider in horse parlance.
Dr Mahathir the old warhorse and still a force to be reckoned despite being retired.
The embattled Prime Minister, Badawi, who needs some reprieve after the worst UMNO showing in history in the aftermath of the last General Elections.
and finally Najib Razak, the heir apparent to the premiership.

ultimately there can only be one to rule. but who?

who will win? who will even survive? and what lies in store for malaysia now? or is it already too late?

.............................

recently added an old friend, Marc Grosse, to my Facebook. We have known one another since we were little kids. and it is really nice to be back in contact again. He is now living in Pasir Ris, which is not too far from my Bedok. In any case he says he will call me some day to have prata at the shop up the road from my house. til then...

I figure I have a pretty bad record of keeping in touch with friends from days bygone. not been keeping in touch with people from my last work place, let alone those from school, the army or church.

people I am still looking for:
Christopher Rodrigo
Ian Nicolich
Alexander Wisidagama
Eugene Chow
Keith Colaco
Lionel Chew
Tan Siow Chew
Raj Sunderason
... all I can think of at this time....

.................................................

Plan to get a fixed phone line for the bedok flat.
and then probably get a wireless broadband network as well at the same time.
but who gives the best broadband or mobile internet conection?

Singtel?
M1?
Starhub?

my gut feeling is that Singnet has the most reliable service, but which package to choose?

Singnet has 4 plans for broadband.
then there is Singtel Magix.
above that there is the option for a Mio package (broadband, phone, cable tv)
and then there are the mobile broadband packages. of which there are also 7 from which to choose from.

do not get me started on what M1 and Starhub have to offer...

.................................

movie I/we plan to watch:

Hellboy 2:The Golden Army
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Deception
Wanted
Hancock
The Strangers
Dark Knight
The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Wall-e
Star Wars: The Clone Wars

... that is until August

.........................................

still have loads (no pun intended) of laundry to do at the new flat. curtains. bedsheets....

and still to clean the floors again.

and then the cabinets etc.

maybe drop by the flat tomorrow. or even next weekend.

.................

Nameless, my hamster, is getting on in age. He does not climb as much as he used to do in his Heyday. and eats less. I know he can't live forever, but still it is sad to see a much loved pet pass away. although it is still rather premature to talk about Nameless now, I know the day will come when I have to say goodbye to my furry companion. as it is now he is my one constant companion each night as I sleep.

..........................

reeking of randomness

-there seems to be a cat fight a-brewing between the two standard bearers of the local blogging scene, Xiaxue and dawn yang. One gained notoriety for speaking her mind worse than any sailor ever could,and the other purportedly came into prominence for resembling a Barbie doll and being sugar & spice and all things nice. a match made in heaven if you ask me. if only they had MTV Celebrity Deathmatch in Singapore then we could really let them have a go at it. but alas this is Singapore and we just have to settle for harsh words, points and counterpoints and...lawsuits, before we hear the end of this. Meanwhile let me pull up a chair and sip on my pina colada.

- If ever I do go to Korea, the one place I want to visit is Jeju Island. When there I wanna visit Korea Jeju Loveland! It is like a mini Disneyland for amorous couples. or at least that is the general idea behind this 'theme' park. It is supposed to be a place for newlyweds can go to overcome their initial shyness and maybe gain some ideas. but for us tourist it is just another photo opportunity. and best of all the park is also open at night!
anyway here are pictures...





(pictures from next-thing.net)




(pictures from /www.spiegel.de)

- anyway...
back to more important stuff like..football.
Spain won Euro 08. and for the first time in a long time we have a deserved winner. and euro itself was a rousing success over in Austria and Switzerland. the matches were great and with many upsets along the way. hope to see more from these guys in the world cup and qualification. and did i mention, Spain won? Spain HAD a streak even longer than England's in which they did not win anything or even progress beyond the quarter-finals since like 1964. so it is almost poetic justice that Spain navigated through the tournament and managed to keep up the momentum all the way until the final. kudos too to the Netherlands and Russia for making us believe.

- Agnes is now busy once more. seems like her never-ending-thesis-thingy is never ending. and she now has to submit it again to the boss on the 18th of the month. so what that means is that our next two weekends will be burnt as Agnes burns the figurative midnight oil. which sucks big time for me. and to a greater extent, Agnes. the thing about it that really cheeses me off is how her boss can't really decide what and how to go about it, so it becomes an endless cycle of writing and re-writing, adding and deleting stuff. and then it starts all over again. i could understand if certain parts need more 'meat' or certain paragraphs require re-phrasing, but it is borderline ridiculous how Agnes has been through hell and high-water writing a thesis that under normal circumstances should be 95% done at this point. it is not like she has loads of free time to burn. she has a full-time job for goodness sakes. and on top of that she has her piano exams coming up. and then there is the little issue of me. and a whole lot of other things Agnes has to juggle just to make it through the week.

- i am more or less certain not to keep Sunny beyond his current road tax. but i have been in this position before and rescinded on my initial decision on more times that i care to remember to scrap good ole' Sunny. watch this space.

- will be bringing over more stuff over to Bedok in the days and weeks to come. then it will truly be a home away from home. or whatever it is.

- will have to do some spring cleaning on this blog (in time for spring perhaps?). mainly referring to the list of favourite blogs which has evolved over time to be quite different from the way it appears right now. and of course to add yet even more links to the cool sites i frequent.

- i put up pictures of the bed sans bedsheets just because.

- life in the office does not resemble life in The Office. never thought I would say this but there are times that I wish life would imitate art.in fact it is quite crappy these days at the orifice. but guess life sometimes be that way. morale is low and people are dropping like flies left and right. but it is always better to see opportunities in situations where others see obstacles and problems, non?

- miss Uncle Ong lately. it has been 3 years since his passing and hardly anyone remembers him except in instances of humour in bad taste. the one thing i been saying alot lately to myself is how I may have taken the pearls of wisdom he gave me a bit more seriously if I had known then what I know now. like they say hindsight is 20/20. perhaps then I would have made better life choices and chose better company which to keep. maybe then I would have been a better friend to someone to whom considered me his best friend in all the world. *sniff*

- on a somewhat lighter (or is it heavier..?) note, I (read:we) miss hong kong. seems like agnes and myself have been trying to recreate our culinary experience we had when we were there, over here in Singapore but to no avail. all the hong kong style cafes here just somehow do not make the cut or even come close to the real thing. funny how orderliness, economics and hygiene can get in the way of truly great food in the local context.

- Bangkok is next on our itinerary. in late July or early August last I heard.

- The last WWE PPV, Night of Champions, the WWE Draft and the recent Raw have been doozies. so much going on in the world of Sports Entertainment. like Bob Dylan once penned, "..the times they are a-changin'...".
Hopefully Vince and his creative team(s) can keep this forward momentum going on in the longer term as professional wrestling is long overdue a changing of the guard. Wrestling as we know it has been in cruise control since the Attitude and WCW/NWO days. although WWE is still king, wrestling now finds itself a bit lost in the shuffle with all the other forms of entertainment and reality-based television. maybe the latest draft changes and new champions will be a breath of fresh air that will literally breathe new life into what was in danger of becoming a niche form of entertainment.

- Agnes now wants a church wedding! Gonna be a toughie to get a place we like at such short notice. most places are either fully booked by now or have pre-requisites which we are unable to fulfill at such short notice to be able to meet the december date.

- and the parents will have to sit down with their daughter-in-law soon to discuss something of the utmost importance to her. although we may have broached the subject a few times before, no headway has been made. this is important to her, and thus it is so to me as well.

- we watched 10 Promises to My Dog last weekend. loved that movie. really touching on so many levels. especially so for us both as we both been through the loss of our beloved pets recently. hard to try so hard to not cry at the climax of the show. Agnes thinks I am heartless for doing so.
after the movie we both made our way to the burial plot at my office. that was the first time my dear agnes has actually come to visit since our pets untimely passing a few months back. needless to say it was an emotional moment for Agnes. but i believe it was a necessary step towards finding some form of closure despite the tears and grief. Agnes still blames herself for what happened to Gege, and still thinks of him..err... her... EVERY NIGHT. and there are still many, many moons ahead until we can even hope to end this period of mourning. if ever.

- thinking about songs for our wedding. the list of recommended songs the hotel gave us is well and good, but if it were entirely up to me, my song list would comprise mainly of soft rock tunes and maybe even alternative tracks. but weddings are supposed to be sappy and boring so probably my song list will never see the light of day.

- UJ is a sucky cat. Nico rules. not quite. but wish he did.

- I like Leonna Lewis and her music. the two singles I heard thus far off her Spirit album are great, Bleeding Love and Better in Time. and don't you just love the name? *hint hint*

pictures of the bed!!

the house we made

a whole lotta pictures from our house.
love the place so much now...


of our living room fan and dining table lamp


the view from the bathroom into the passage leading to the master bedroom


the spotlight(s) of the bathroom mirrors


the mirror from another angle


the view from the living room towards the master bedroom


the air vents of the bomb shelter


our antique looking living room fan


our sofa


the sofa looking from the coffee table


our dining table


all together now!


the opposite angle


our wardrobe


the chandelier in our bedroom


the tv console, sans the tv


the kitchen cabinets


more of the same

washing machine:


water heater:


refrigerator:



my feet!!