uhuh...

"valentines day, a day invented by greeting card companies to make people feel crappy" --eternal sunshine of a spotless mind.
damn right.
i watched the show for about 10 mins and decided to eject the disc.

anyway im having sch break now,
irony 1: breaks in SMU are for students to catchup with work and slog through it
irony 2: i have lots of stuff to read up and do, but don't feel like doing it, and thus not doing it.
irony 3: although ironic, but a break is necessary to keep us sane.

valentines day on mon and bday on fri. not a really cool week. but nonetheless, my church buddies gave me a suprise (masterminded by Mr Foo), that was the last moment before my bday day ends, so it was alright, it offsets the whole day of staying at home and going back to sch for stupid meeting..zzz..

do you realise that adults always like to say that bdays are not very special ( i felt that since like very young..jaded..hah ). one of my friends tell me her reason to feel good about bday is to catchup with friends on that day, but those who remembered my bday are those who are close (can be counted with hands and legs(referring to both those who remember and those who are close)), so nothing much to catchup also.

remember the scene in "catch me if you can", when frank abagnale call carl, he called him on a supposedly special day (to him), christmas eve, because he has no one else to call. hmm.

anyways on the next day after my bday, went to this concert by local bands. the MC is the same DJ that is on power98 FM like now.. called Mario (he passed a cold joke saying you can call him "super" also..) anyways, some bands performed in the concert, the observatory, concave scream, ronin, ugly in the morning etc. check out the ugly in the morning bassist, damn good sia.. he's like brushing the frets, his bass solos.. concave scream is down to 3. heard the guy that plays bass now used to be a very good guitarist, my friend was like "wasted...", then ronin, of course, can't miss the albino lead singer.. he's diff from the rest though.. got good vocals. classic rock.

i hate punk bands. irritating. one played that day. its so off.

nemesis

LTJ has mastered all the best methods of irritating me over the years. he is my nemesis.

yessssss..

yes yes, finally, but well really quite distracted for the past weeks, didn't anticipate the whole sch-is-starting thing, didn't prepare myself emotionally and mentally for it. i guess we are all hit by the tsunami huh.

Andre Pradesh, or more specifically Hyderabad was the place i missed during the last business study mission that i went to india. interestingly, fever 04 (mission trip) was at the same place that i missed. so we went there and had a great time, and as you know, it is also one of the states being hit by the big waves, being in East India.

haha dropped the equity course and took up fixed-income. much more interesting lecturer and subject i guess, enough of discounted cash flow and PVs for a term. for those taking finance major out there, post-corporatereportingACCT201 is a good era. add oil guys.

what's special? well, really nothing. just that some of my friends went to do relief in Sri Lanka and Aceh and all i can do is sulk here back on island S. i just realized that Aceh is the source of Islam in South East Asia. Hmm..

oh haha, under Mr Duncan MacRae for ethics. he told us in class that when he typed his own name in search engine, he saw his name on a SMU student's blog. well if he searches again, mine will be the second or more.

do you really believe in new year resolutions? so what are yours? are goals meant to be fulfilled? well at least stock valuations are usually not true, but that does not stop them being published. but well, i've got my goals for 2005. what 'bout you?

yada yada..

okay, fine. its finally here. exams week, tmr is the first paper--game theory. open book test, but im not arranging the notes, not preparing anything, basically just felt so so sick when i see any materials at all. see the irony, game theory is suppose to teach me how to make decisions rationally. guess emotions are not rational at all eh.

oh yesterday night still watch tv til late, realised that central is actually one of those very interesting channels, got very good programs here and there that are not very well publisized. i watched this dance thing by Akram Khan, apparently some 30 year old cheorographer from London, the genre is alternative Khatak (some indian dance). very interesting, probably the best cheorographed dance i ever seen. he added in sounds, and movements that are in sync with the sounds, so the dancers produce sounds. engages one more of your senses. the instruments used is a percussion, either a indian drum or some pot, with a cello as melody. cool.

now gian-ning nike V10. watch that displays and syncronises with the distance/acceleration measure device that is attach to your shoe. costs $199. US dollars depreciating, last i heard? just realised that all the shops in queensway, having 40% of sales on their watches. originally wanted to see whether they have the latest stuff, i guess not. for those out there who does not know, all the major shops in queensway shopping center has the same owner. oh just told by my friend that b.i.r.d is owned by some indonesian, they are not nike boutiques. the shopkeepers really dunno anything abt nike products by the way.

got a salomon VA comp. didnt manage to get VA PRO-II no size. oh well.

exam weeks are those times that i watch the most tv, and do things that i dont usually do, just to evade touching my materials. gosh.

anyways was watching some sad stories on tv, like tragedies. so i swtich away to another channel. my roomate commented that i am very sheltered from any evil of the world. well, i guess its true, i am very blessed in that sense i guess, good family, good friends. just some insecurities and lack of talents and brains. haha.

talking about family, how do you feel about your family?

exams. idle. dinner?

its exams period. about 10 days away. i always feel idle when i am having exams. such a contradictory feeling, not because im overly smart, that i dont need much revision or im idle cos i refuse to do my revision (in fact its the opposite). just that there's this bored;idle;sien; whatever-you-wanna-call-it feeling.

and as a sidekick to idle feeling, its really excruciating everytime it reaches dinner, when i have to decide what to eat. lunch is ok most of the time cos BY DEFAULT i'll be eating in sch (YUCKS!). and this i-hate-to-randomly-choose-my-dinner feeling weighs heavier on me during times like this. so sometimes i would ask my friends to have dinner with me, so that the company will lessen my pain on my taste buds and the emotional aftermath that comes. but oh well, i have busy friends and housemates.

maybe its some kind of pre-exam trauma. haha.. or im just weird. but hey, try not to eat at your home for almost 6 full years (i discounted the holidays periods when i go back ipoh), after that, you can qualify to call me picky. hehe..

anyways thru this i realise that i have a short attention span (which i know since young), and i hate to be idle. Oh, and i hate to be indoors for a long period of time (esp in my residence), it'll drive me crazy.

sprained my ankle on tuesday. pains me to walk down that 4 flight of stairs to get lunch or dinner everytime. of course it is the emotional claustraphobia to stay in my residence for more than a certain number of hours that will scath me more. i became so bored from revising and doodling on the laptop that i tried to sleep, but just staring at the darkness and not falling into sleep, then i realise something.

so every night when you lie on your bed and stare at the back of your eyelids, when all you see is darkness, when you turn your body and find a good position to slumber, take a moment to realise again that you can see and walk freely, to enjoy the sight and to travel to anywhere physically pain-free. take a second moment to imagine how would it feel like if you can't see and walk.

then.


Rejoice and Thank God. because He is good to you.

sonic-edge service

date: 30 OCT (SAT)
location: Bukit Merah Touch Community Theatre basement (Magic BOX)

cool stuff, these guys did some electro-art stuff. got 3 characters that acted, with ambient sounds in the backgroud, then some guy will say smtg into a mic, that creates some special effect. really good acting, dedicated people.

then of course our favourite local band, the sonic-edge band, performing, leading worship. like their songs lots, have been listening again and again. waiting for surreal's debut and sonic-edge's second album.

check out:
www.sonic-edge.org
www.surrealonline.blogspot.com

good stuff. you guys oughta come down to magic box one of those last saturdays of the month. last sat of NOV 2004, anyone?

cycle

so there is this friend that told me something about relationship, when i say that there are a lot of people that is in this "vicious cycle" of getting into relationship, so he say is due to these reasons:

the familiarity, the comfort, the security or whatever or even expectations from ppl around

1. duno what he/she wants, but recognises the need for companionship and comfort

2. relationship junkie, can't stand being alone

*i censored 3 and 4 and 5

quite true i guess. so what do you think?

have you found someone?

"so have u found someone u like? hehe... dont try to act shy leh... haha.... but its better to choose carefully rather than regretting later on, esp for u cos u really have your own views and perspects to alot of things... u will really need a very understanding person..."

cut and paste directly from a mail one of my close friends sent me.. oh well.. sigh?

cannot agree more again..

finally someone that really speaks my mind (am i made for marketing or what? :) )
my marketing prof was saying in class that significant difference can be made with good product style. it is something so obvious but yet people always overlook it. he said that maybe sometimes high management people are scholar blind or they just dont really care about aesthetics. last time when ericsson have not merged with sony, they make phones that are not as good looking, causing low sales.

think about it, if IBM can sell with their black boxes laptops, and if one day they come out with designs as pretty as apple's then they will sure sell like hotcakes. not just IBM, but just any wintel laptops or desktops. people are willing to endure a significant amount of hardships (like incompatibility) to continue to stick with products like apple because of their product design.

common' apple is not just chio ok, its user friendly and all wintel fans shut up cos you are all to fixed with the way a wintel machine operate so don't say apple is hard to use. take a kid that have not use a computer before and let him use apple first, then wintel. he will dispise wintel outright.

packaging is a very underused strategy also. look at ipod's packaging, open up, it says "enjoy" on one side, then open up again and you see the gorgeous. its the whole experience of unwrapping that makes people want to buy new stuff again.

please, products are the end products of your company. it is THE THING. goodness, can't a company as big as xxxxxxxxx hire some better industrial designers? at least more than half of the world's companies can be the xxxxxxxx.

spoken. thanks prof.

birthdayyyyy wohooo..

yesterday celebrated birthday for one of my church network's guy aat d'original satay club(really a place that sells bad hawker food and charge premium)and later went over to my good friend's at Olio in Suntec. that guy has got 20 people excluding himself. quite a number huh..

well, what does birthday really means to you? is it a yearly thing to look forward, dread for, or just numb? someone should compile a data on how people feel towards their birthday each year.. if there is such a data please send me.. :)

everybody's free to wear sunscreen

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

feet info

interesting, was reading new balance's website:

if your shoe wears out on the outside sole, you are a over-pronate; inside, under-pronate.
different archs for different shoe.

so if you want to buy a shoe that really fits and feel good, see your arch, high or low or neutral, and the pronate things, there are shoes that adjust how your feet impact the ground. (if you are over pronate, you impact from the outside of your heel, under is the opp.)

they advise that you bring your old shoes for the guy at the shop to recommend. but i wonder how many sales person even know what you are talking about.

don't tell me its not true

today my marketing prof was asking for an example of a product that is very disatisfying but yet pple go back and buy it still. An exchange student beside me say,"Microsoft." and my prof was like cannot be more agreeable.

He say that Microsoft was always ranked as one of the best brand of the word, and it is, in his words, ridiculous. Rediculous is an understatement of the tyranny.

He also said that the microsoft website is one of the most frequent visited sites, and its due to the very fact that alot of pple in the world do not know how to change their preset homepage!!!! How funny..

i like this prof man.

India

For those that know, I went to India for Business Study Mission last summers. Its not like great, great, but its kinda nice experience. maybe its because im pro-Asia. no attempt to conceal how shallow and irritating i feel whites are. anyways.

Last summers, its Chennai and Bangalore, for those that have not been, Chennai is a industralised and hot/humid place, while Bangalore is cooling, heard its 20degrees during Oct. However, i missed the Hydrabad part cos i have to come back for a retreat. (flew home myself on Sri Lankan Airs, transit whole day at Sri Lanka, stayed at this hotel by beach, ate exotic buffet for dinner)

oh well interestingly, there is an opening for mission trip for rural area for Hydrabad, so guess im going back to Hydrabad in Dec. I know most of you all don't share the liking for Asia countries and for Indians like i do, but i just feel a heart for them, you know, like when you pass by little India, which one would be your reaction:
a) "please don't take bus 67? we'll be suffocating!"
b) just to observe and feel for these people that congregates, far away from homeland.

i'm not noble or what, but i just feel for them, maybe you feel for people group more, maybe you don't.

what will go wrong

oh my, today is national day and i forgot about it. so many things on my mind.

okay, lets list down the exciting things that happened in the week:
monday--late for class and do not know where, and realise didnt get bid. but got bid for a class that i missed 2 weeks of lesson, how to catch up man

tues--went to sch and realise that forget to bring a book that cost $4 fine per hour. take bus home to get book, take cab to sch, wasted money and late for project meeting.
went to do survey, hated it. people just dont like my face, don't want to do survey for me.
went for a meeting suppose to be lunch meeting, but all gone already left me
fan broke

wed--

thurs--

fri--

璋�

I....

Thank God that things don't go my way because i learn to be patient
Thank God that my ideas are not accepted, because i learn to grow stronger
Thank God for the position that i will fill because i learn servant leadership
Thank God for feeling down and depressed that i know i am living a normal life
Thank God for the opportunity that i do not have that i will fight harder and learn harder
Thank God for the mistakes that i have made that i know i'm still human and i still need Him
Thank God for the foolishness i exposed of myself now when now i'm still nobody
Thank God if any think i'm weird while i can still afford to change
Thank God for my crooked lower leg that i know im so much fortunate than many
Thank God for the run and perspiration that i know i'm healthy
Thank God for friends that i know i'm not lonely

Thank God for God, because there is no one like You.




Do you have something to be thankful of?

complain expert...

was watching "bourne supremacy" on sat night, then half way thru the show, whole filming went out, then resumed after 15 secs or so. after the show, got this guys that went to complain. my friend thinks that they are experts in complaining, saying things like "we want a full refund", "last time we wrote in, all we got was an apology"... hehe..

in the end? we got a free show.

corp reporting

quote this good lecturer:

"if you pay nuts, you get monkeys"

i salute him, he can make such a boring subject become interesting.

*salute. wish i have the capacity to participate more in his class.

friendship?

define friendship?

i think its really sad that the relationship of mankind have developed into a stage of practicality and mechanical way. people see you smile at you, oh fair enough, i won't announce myself as their friends, they are just classmates, school mates, ths guy at work, this girl from my neighbourhood so on and so forth. but its really confusing when people call you friends and all they are interested is to msn or call or sms you when there is a need or help needed.

it is hard to find someone who is genuine, some one that relates to a person in a person way. how many friends of yours are genuinely interested about you as a person? or interested in your life? or simple how-are-yous a matter of fact? in fact i did a small personaly experiement and realise that almost all the people do not expect a answer when they ask how are you. imagine if you ask a person what's the time and the person did not answer you fully, you will surely ask"yeah?" or "uhuh, yes?", but most people that ask how-are-yous, will just turn their head even before the other party replies fully.

i mean some people are just naturally more busy and love to occupy their lives with things, so naturally they don't have the extra time and effort and energy to get to know pple deeper and that's fair. then i feel that it is not apt to just announce yourself as someone elses friend, if you are not interested in that person, as a person. call that person classmate or projectmate or whatever, just don't use the title friends too losely.

i feel.

...

in a period of grief now, something someone said, laptop can't log on school network, mailbox died, things not working well for me, not getting courses, feeling tired.