I'm out of town this weekend!!
Yeah!! Really looking forward to it but then again not really coz I'm not there for to holiday but for medication. I'm going to Indonesia tomorrow. Rais is seeking medication for his son and as for me, I'm getting a cure for my sinus. It means putting the medicine into my nose and letting all the phlegms and my other bodily fluids flow out of my nose. I did it once in Malaysia and its no fun. It worked for a while but after a few months, my sinus returns. Sigh.

I did'nt want to go there coz that means I need to cough up for the airfare. Can't really afford anything what with my pay not confirmed every month. But my mum insisted and she said she will subsidised the trip. Yeah!! Now I really don't understand women. I mean my mum nags at me all the time, but when it comes to this kind of situation, she did come up with the cash. I guess that means she still cares for me. *touchee. But not without some nagging abt changing jobs and not saving and yadda yadda yadda. Sigh.

Its kinda hard if you wanted a good nights out in town but the friends whom you're with have different opinions on where to head out to. Ever caught in the same situation?
It started on last Saturday night. Went to this pub at Orchard Towers called Crazy Horse. I was with Suman, Chandra and Nas. I think most of the women there are prostitutes. There were some lone ang moh sitting at the dark corners of the pub. There was a group of Ah Bengs drinking. There are couples who can actually talk intimately over the loud music. And they even played Vengaboys. At this point we could'nt control ourselves and we laughed. We laughed even harder albeit secretly when the Ah bengs started to dance. True to form, they danced just like Nas always dance when he mimics Ah Bengs, heads moving left and right to the beat and hands in front of the face. Chandra danced too after a few glasses of beer, after some gentle persuasion.

I went to Bar None yesterday at the Marriot Hotel where Douglas Oliviero was performing. The crowd there was good, kinda sophisticated and looked like the jet set kind. Robbie Williams "Rock DJ" was playing when I entered. There was a group of women wearing skimpy dresses whose job I think is to scrutinise potential partner. Just a one night potential. Guess I did'nt fit their description. Its a nice place with an equally good crowd. I'm ok with the place but then someone suggested going somewhere else.

Somewhere else turns out to be Jams2000 at Clarke Quay. At the lift landing, there was this group of young Malay girls, aged 22/21, who looked kinda cool, not surprising since its ladies night after all. But then we saw the guys. Malay, aged 22/21. And they looked like the Malay version of Ah Bengs. I guess that's why these guys were there. And it's pathetic if they do get those girls. It's either the girls are stupid or it shows how well the guys can sustain a conversation. Nah...I don't think so.

So we left and head out to Roar. Someone mentions that Wendi Koh performs nightly. Big mistake. The music they play made you feel like youre in this big tank filled with lights and there's nowhere you can escape except to hear the shitty music the DJ spins all night. Christina Aguielera (remix version....uggghhh), Ricky Martin....you get the picture. But it was just interesting to see people dancing to these tunes. I'm open to new experiences. And there's the club dancers. There are 6 of them I think, all dancing on top of speakers, above the bar and there's one dancing on a raised cage structure. All are guys except for a female dancer. Somehow she managed to make the music sounds good what with prancing and slick moves and all that. And the guys are all pumped with muscles. Bodybuilders who dance? And the funny thing is some of the women actually dance with them! Even touched the guys biceps and stomach muscles. Gosh...they must be the female version of men who like big breasted women. But then again women has always been a mystery.

I met the guy who owns the cheesecake shop (the one besides Pizza Hut at Far East Square). His business must be good coz he ordered a crate of Heineken and offered me a bottle, to which I declined politely. We chatted for a while and he was with a group of police officer whom I know only by face. Nice chap, this guy Don. The woman there aren't exactly interesting. I saw this woman dancing intimately with an ang moh man. And I mean intimate. She was grinding her rump against his pelvis and they danced that way in unison to the beat of Christina Aguielera (remix version....uggghhh). Duh. I guess both of them aren't totally into the music by then. And we did'nt get to see Wendi Koh sing coz her set ends just as we entered the place. Bad bad night. Enough already!!

hmmmm..but i believe u still owe me a dinner. try recall...we made a bet for the best pix award....as i had expected, it turned out that Gladiator is the BEST PIX
soooo....wat shall i have.....? ;))

You shall have no dinner because I have read through our pact and it clearly states that the bet for the Best Picture Award was only for a drink. Please, refer to your notes again.

Reservist's over!!
No more ungodly early hours and running and marching and sweating under the hot hot sun. And not to mention the tasteless food and soso coffee. But then again I should be thankful that we have something to eat. I mean, if Singapore is in a state of emergency, I can't eat and drink what I like.

I met the guy who commented on my shooting last year. We were queing for coffee and I took the opportunity to buy him one. And I got to know that he works at Starbucks. So I think I can get a free cuppa the next time I'm there at his outlet.

hey! i believe u'll SCORE again for the next shoot. you did not mention anything abt ur IPPT results. how was it? ;)

i think the MIR thingie "crashed" into the open sea with zero casualties and zero damages to properties.

cheers!!

Thanks for believing I could do it. But alas, this year is not mine. I only managed to score 22 out of 30. So that means the dinner treat is off. :D

I AM A GEEK!!
Though I am very tired after days of gruelling exercises, the first thing I did was turning on the computer and get connected. A geek and proud of it. I missed listening to my music. Missed my coffee. Missed reading magazines. But hey, its a good thing I guess. You won't appreciate what you have till they are not there in your life.

Monday there will be a live shoot at this Nee Soon camp. I'm excited cause I scored a perfect score last year! 30/30! I am a certified marksman for the past 5 reservists, 4 times with a normal police revolver and last year with the HK MP5 sub machine gun. I'm gooooodd. ;D. And last Wednesday, a guy from another troop asked me whether I'm scoring another perfect one this Monday. I don't even know this guy! How did he know abt my score? Well...I guess that was my 15 mins of fame.

MIR space station crashed today. It landed safely...how boring.

Another article abt the Russian space station Mir.

I have failed as an aquarist. I had to take leave iust because the tank was in a mess. Unsightly green algae everywhere, my study table constantly wet...but then again I was lazy to go to work. In 2 days, my tank will celebrate its first birthday. But sadly, there won't be any coz all the fishes died, except for one tiny damselfish.

I'm at Mango now writing this blog. It's funny to see how vain most women are. And the one who thinks she's Katie Holmes (current fav actress) usually ain't. For more reference, please watch the recent Ms Universe Spore. Yeah...the mirror lies. That explains the big mirrors near the dressing room. And I saw this woman who was trying out this tight pants but she didn't realise that the security latch is pinned exactly at her butt. And a big one too. Her butt I mean. What a sight!

no lar it is okie. :)
i drank iced kopi todae .. hee*
how about you?

i bought vcds, The Mexican and The Cell. have u watched them?
I was at Holland V this afternoon; colllecting my card which was retained when I entered the wrong PIN number 3 times in one sitting. We had coffee at Starbucks to celebrate coz money is in the bank.

I've watched The Cell. Nice props and costumes. You went to JB too?

hooland V? oooooh* i am getting poor. cheque's not in yet.. monney running low.. so no starbucks for me yet.. U have watched The Cell? i heard it was good.. nah din go JB... bought it from some 'chart chart' stall from tampines...the uncle was yelling LD quality duplicates, not cinema filmed, no ppl go toilet wannn *lol*.. so i got interested checked out the vcds, they had nicer covers then those other pirated ones so thought it looked mrore pro so i bought lors. heheh* the snatch ost sounds quite good when i was at HMV jus now...

Just watched Snatch from the VCD which I bought in JB.
Its a good movie...if you watched the first movie by the director, Guy Ritchie, you can expect the same thing. I like the head gangster in the movie. He looked like Woody Allen, but then he is reaaallly nasty. guess I like that kind of people. Underdogs, still water runs deep kinda people. And I like the wry jokes in the movie, very British, but its refreshing from all those Hollywood movies.

And I was stopped at the immigration with VCDs in the bag I'm holding. The bags were full of tidbits and some other foodstuffs, which if that officer were to probe further, I'm fucked. I got two VCDs and three pirated softwares sandwiched between the items in the bag. Luckily, they were only interested in cigarettes, to which I said (I was really trying to be calm at that time) "Only one". And Suryani also admitted having one, though its my pack. And she was acting cool too in that situation. Never saw that in her before. You were great! And then the officer asked me to open my camera bag, which I dutifully opened, knowing that there won't be anything illegal inside. He took a glance and we're home free. Pheeefuckingeeewwww!!!

the flash thing was not directed at anyone either. i was not angry about u
saying anything,

i was angry about the topic. cos i feel the topic is pure empty talk. am sorry
but everyone can jus comment on something and yet...? is anything done?
comments are easy. and yet as designers i felt we stand by our point of view
and not let someone with not much design sense comment something like that.

sorry too.

Cmon....its okay. I'll buy you drinks at Ya Kun on Monday after lunch okay?

oops. i guess the wallpaper i did fer Media Arts would have fully irritated you. hiaks*
i was getting bored. i'm in one of my rebellious moods. i din like how all the designers'
sites looked alike somehow nowadays.. and i hate all the same style everyone's doin,
but another insight would be, everyone's doing it, and looking at it does not mean
knowing how to do it nor able to do it. cos, i have tried some styles i have seen
and was not able to achieve it. i guess in singapore as designers, we can't do
much but keep up with at least the latest trends and knowledge, not a season late
but at the same pace...so i felt being able to try the style u see thn from there work
from it would be what designers in singapore shld achieve..u may not agree?

one's own style being achieved would definitely be the most commendable. to find
one's style, there would be much exlporation, testings, and 'copying'. i agree that
accessibilty to users are very very important. and from knowing such problems like
you do, u can create a much better design from the trend, the new method u learned,
with ur knowldge in accessibilty fer users ain't it?

tok about accessiblity and ez user usage, i'm sorry, correct me.. thn wouldn't flash be
a crap programme to work on? apart from it being soo vector friendly??? yesh one day
everyone in the world may install flash.. one day... but yet have user's connection speed
being considered?? how many wonderful wonderful flash sites full of gadgets can be viewed
simply even fer some of us at home now? based on the average of people connecting at
56kps.how about people in poorer countries? will flash make it impossible for them to surf?
simple vectors make file size small everyone says,..dun you feel it restricts one's expression
in graphics? admit it simple flat vectors ain't that pretty. thn i wonder, what's this big wooha
about flash...? i really need to know...

what's happened to the pure art of graphics itself? what's the point being restricted by
technology? yesh it is interactive but how flash sites are actually friendly for people of all
ages...? some of the scrolls bars can't even be understood how it shld be used? and
most gadgets made in flash are jus moving stuff pretending to be interactive? yet the
alternative could be simplicity, speed and ez access...with fast loading time, not having
to go to www.macromedia.com to download anything before u wait like a blardy long 10
mins just to load a page... it only fully frustrates a user.

i was jus wondering.. what flash is really all about...

Hey.hey hey...slow down here. It was never my intention to blast at anyones design. I was reading the article from the Xplane's website and I agree with the writer that content was secondary on most websites. I am sorry if you feel the sting, though it wasn't directed at you...nor anyone for that matter.

I hate "designers" websites.
I hate all the flashy 3D, the Photoshopped effects, the illegible fonts. Lately I've been reading articles from site, (xplane.com) articles which discuss about the latest development in the web scene. This particular article caught my attention.

I was doing the HSBC thingie at the office last Monday. Got the brief from Vish (Flash guru), which was to provide a simple and engaging way for users to work their maths when they decide to take a loan from the bank. Basically, the user just enter certain figures and the amount to be paid monthly will be calculated for the user based on what the user inputs. I worked on it on Tuesday (public holiday) and on Wednesday morning, got word from my boss (a certain Marc Baptista), that a gadgety look will be better. i mean, come on!! A bank won't be like interested in those kind of things! Fast forward to today. I have read the article from Xplane site and was stumped as to how my boss runs the company. He doesn't have the slightest idea what he's talking about. All his ideas abt the gadgety thing is useless. If only he reads this article, that might change his thinking somewhat.

I think I had enough of the flashy graphics that are posted on most design agencies. I like the shapes, colours and everything, but thats abt what I like I guess. And I had enough of new products that eschews three in one things...like a handphone cum MP3 player cum camera cum lighter, anyway you get the idea.

And I read the free issue of this month Upload magazine. This is another magazine which is promoting the so called "digital lifestyle" I like their links, reviews of websites et all but the articles are way too cliched. take for example when they review laptop users. They use terms like "road warrior", "mobile professional" "digital treats" "digital darlings". I cringed with disgust everytime they use words in their magazine. Maybe I'm getting old. Anyways......

...For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.

Cruelty has a Human Heart,
and Jealousy a Human Face,
Terror, the Human Face Divine,
and Secrecy the Human Dress.

The Human Dress is a forged Iron,
The Human Form a fiery Forge,
The Human Face a Furnace seal'd,
The Human Heart its hungry Gorge.

-William Blake, Songs of Experience (A Divine Image)