Johann Low

火曜日, 3月 29, 2005

[Qing Ming]

Its Qing Ming Festival once more (Tombsweeping Festival). To me I do not really like it cos I need to mingle myself in Tzu Du Monastry with a fog of incense smoke,have teary eyes,choke nostrils and tons of people who come for the same reason. My mum and I were supposed to go to the monastry in the afternoon, then it became morning THEN AGAIN, it became afternoon. Nevertheless, there were surprisingly less people there. Anyway, its due to the slight rain.

Before that my mum and I went to buy some "necessities". There was a shop nearby which sells all these neccessitities for other side of the world. In fact this shop was featured on TV once. With modernization, things are different now. When I was young, I only saw those incense paper, some coarse paper with a patch of silver or gold in the middle. Some yellowish paper and of cos bank notes worth trillions of dollars.

Now there are TVs,aeroplanes,stereo systems,DVD players,cam corders,laptops,motorcycles,cars,dim sum set,dentures,cigarettes,computers. Even the brands are familar. I even saw a Hando motorbike..Try switching the place of the A and O and u'll get it.

U can almost find anything to burn to ur ancestors. Its very interesting to see what new stuff comes everytime my mum and I go to temple during Hungry Ghost's,Tombsweeping and my dad's death anniversary. There have a few times when I wanted to buy dentures for my late grandma. Haha..Apparently, we do not know whether our ancestors will recieve all these offerings but its part of Chinese culture and is something one shld not abundane no matter what ur religion is. Of cos Christian beliefs contradict to quite a lot of Chinese traditions.

For me I always believe traditions and religion can co-exist.There are hardly any real tombs left to be "swept" I used to like going to my grandfather's tomb when I was in pri school during tombsweeping day.

elow at 11:30 午後 | (0) comments

火曜日, 3月 22, 2005

[swing swyn swang,swine suen]

An old friend once wrote something abt the names of the finalists of Miss Universe Singapore 2005. I laughed at his entry.

After seeing the who who and who finalists on TV, I am beginning to wonder in awe how in the world can someone come up with a name like Swyn. How do u pronounce it? Swang? Swine? Suen? The Ang Mohs are notoroious for mis pronouncing names. Muslims (moo-su-lims) became "masklims" What a horrible pronounciation! Imagine the compere on stage with billions of people watching the event, Miss "Swine XXX" from Singapore.

We will be the laughing stock of the world. People who understand what swine means will choke on their own saliva.

And wtf is linderrrrrrrrr? Is that supposed to make a common name like linda to be more outstanding so that people will notice you? Blysssss? Well at least this is not that bad. Linderrrrrr, Swine I mean Swyn.

Some of the gals are UGLY. How can someone so ordinary and so plain represent SG? Even if they are not in the finals or whatever..where is the standard to represent SG in this international event. No looks,no boobs and possibly no brains.

The only one who stand out is prob Rebecca lim. The rest are so...typical Uni bimbos.

Sorry, I have no likings for NUS bimbos.

To me, NUS graduates are considered the cream of the crop. To me, they are nothing except those scholars. I have seen countless NUS graduates who do not know how to use a computer, even some of the simplest tasks. To me, they just have the luxury to stride thru an easy life without a need to work hard as they have a ticket called the DEGREE from NUS.

Well if they are humble and have a nice character, fine. Worse some NUS grads behave as if they are from Harvard or MIT. Please loh, the entire streets are filled up with NUS NTU grads like themselves. What's the big deal with ur degree?

Oke put this aside.

A MP said in a NTU session, he mentioned something like, if we were to surive in the next 20 yrs, we cannot copy what others do. We mst invent,innovate blah blah. In other words, be creative. Creativity has very broad terms. To me being creative is to produce something different and different with substance.

Creative's TV ads promoting its plasticky bricks are not "creative" They wanted to be different but they are different with no concepts.

HP's ads are my long time faved and so is the Heineken beer's ad. Can Singapore ever produce something of that standard? Here's a clue : If shit like Pokka's "ECCENTIAL, AAAAAAAhhhhh~!" can be a TV-ad. This spells the end of the local creative scene in terms of producing international standard TV-Ads or whatever.

Still I love Singapore for its stability and food.

elow at 11:39 午後 | (0) comments

[Weddiing dinners and casino]

My cousin is getting married soon. In fact he is legally married as he ROMed last yr. This yr he will be holding his wedding dinner. He is a high-flyer and we had predicted he will prob hold his wedding dinner in one of the most prestigious hotels in SG. His salary per month is abt 3 times mine. But to quite my suprise, he told he actually has a budget and I was even more suprised when he told me how much it was.

Imagine someone with a monthly salary of 4-5k, not to mention his spouse who is prob earning 3-4K per month. Most would predict they will prb hold their wedding dinner @ Pan Pac, Meritus Mandarin, Fullerton. But understandlingly due to his committment at home, he had to really cut down. His mum needs long term medication and various check-ups and they are certainly not cheap.

Imagine me, a polygrad who does not even earn $2k per month. If I were the son, can I afford to keep up a monthly medical bill of a few thousands? Imagine a young couple who are both poly grads both earning abt the same amt of money. How long do they need to save up to so call hold a proper decent wedding dinner at some 4-5 star hotels? Wedding dinners are not cheap, of cos it depends on the location as well. But still, not cheap.

To me wedding dinners are totally unneccesary. I do not see the need to pull off a huge expensive party with relatives,distant relatives,closed friends,not so closed friends to come and eat then fuck off. What's the point? Marriage is a big event yes. But considering the fact that wedding dinners are so expensive. Dumping tens of thousands of dollars for some 9 course dinner is really impractical.

There's no need to invite people whom u have not seen for 10-20 yrs just for a meal. And often the bride and bridegroom do not have so much time to enjoy the delicacies. they will have to move ard, take pictures, toasted and get drunk in the end. They will be so dead tired in the end to do anything later. *ahem* hehe.

Thus most young couples these days rather do away wif such formalities. Just a normal buffet dinner or small wedding dinner at a resturant or hotel wil suffice. The most important thing is the atmosphere and who you are celebrating with. Its the quality of the celebration, not quantity.

Now abt the recent hot topic of building a casino. As mentioned by QQ, they are going to build it anyway. Why bother to ask so many opinions? Religious grps of cos WILL oppose. Christianians,Muslims,catholics WILL OPPOSE.

Oppose oppose la, if the gahment ARE going to build in the end, what can they do? Rally? Riot? go to the streets to protest? No, this is Singapore. Anyway, I do not see anything wrong with building one casino here. Typical local peasants are reading too much into it. Our dear gahment has mentioned, the casino will be only one of the selling points in a theme park/entertainment center. The main objective is to make SG attractive to lure in the big bucks.

The gahment prob fear more than anyone else that opening a casino will cause society instability. They will implement a whole set of facilities and regulations to make sure all these so called negativity of gambling will be kept to a min. Building a casino will greatly boost the economy of SG esp the tourism industry.

Singaporeans are gambling all these while. Buying 4D,horse,soccer betting. Of cos there will be people who are buying it for a fling or thrill. I believe most people who bet are betting for the fun of it. There will be extreme cases of cos. Gambling is already here, it will not make a big difference if they are going to open a casino or not.

Saw something abt opening the elite grps in SG. What a joke! The elites of SG will be confined to the local Uni like NUS n NTU. That's all. Why? Cos most people still think anyone with great academic results is an elite. And these elites are from JCs,NUS. Broaden the circle of elites? Perhaps its easier to spread the legs of those NUS bimbos.

Fuck the elites.

elow at 12:11 午前 | (0) comments

日曜日, 3月 20, 2005

[Forest Fire!]

Its another hot,stuffy and lazy Sun afternoon. The type which u will rather stay at home n nap rather than going out to anywhere, at least for me.

While I was surfing in my room after an early lunch, my mum came into my room telling me that there was a forest fire at the patch of forested land behind the bus stop opposite my block. I looked out the window and i see tongues of the fire flickering thru the little patch of forest. There was a discerning crackling sound while the fire razed the trees,grasses and shrubs.

Soon the fire got bigger and it was spreading fast to the left engulfing more n more trees. The smoke thickened and raised into the air like a column of gray clouds. Bits n pieces of the ashed remains of the grasses and trees flow all over like conffetti into my kitchen and some into my room. My mum panicked upon seeing all these soot and quickly closed the windowz to prevent more from coming it. She just cleaned our flat this ytd.

I made a call to 995. Well I was assured that the firemen were on the way. In less than 2 min after I made the call, they came n immediately went on to spray jets of water onto the fire. Oh yeah, I rem there was a hornet or wasp which flew into my room minutes b4 the fire. Mayb some smoke was already present then?

Anyway, this little incident also made me to realise the importance of having a fire extinguisher in my home. I should be getting one soon at Singpost.

elow at 11:03 午後 | (0) comments

水曜日, 3月 16, 2005

[reminising]

Somehow or rather,as I was almost bored to tears in my office. I began to think back abt my NS life. There was even a tinge of longing for it. I think I mst be nuts. But thinking back did bring back a smile.

Old stuff btw.

I did not enjoy being a newbie soldier there when pple there were oredi old birds. Life being a clerk was not as easy as one will think. There are always 2 sides of the story. After I took over the post of MT-Line clerk in SAFAB, things finally began to settle down.

What i enjoy most was going out on dispatch trips. Dispatch trips were often in the afternoon,together wif clerks from other departments. What I did was simply follow them as sometimes we go to the same places. I enjoy going to CMPB, some car service stations, like Chia Service, Jesson and Jabson(?), Indecco and this repair shop in Jurong. Sometimes the dispatch trips will be very long as there will be quite a no. of places. For me, I juz follow as I do not have so many places to go. If I am sititing at the back, its a excellent chance to sleep. HAHAHAHA.

Tokking abt sleeping, when my 2nd MTO just came in and overtook everything. Things were actually quite good and slack in my department. I rem there was a driver who was once SOL (stoppage of leave) due to an accident. He even brought his PS2 back to play in camp. PS2 in 2001 was a luxury. I rem my MTO and fellow drivers playing GT3 at the mechanic's office.

Behind the mechanics' office was some sort of store. It was also a place where my MTO,drivers and mechanics will take a nap there when it was rainy or not. Life was good man! My OC hardly disturbed us and other departments dared not try to be funny cos my MTO was on good terms with my camp 2IC.

Being one of the longest serving personnel there, I saw countless drivers ORD before me. As I was more familar with the "newer" drivers there, I remember fondly some names, Eric,Jim, Samuel Lim Say Beng, Daniel. These were some of the drivers who were on better terms with me. Later came some newer drivers with abit of attitude problems but nevertheless quite skilled. Of cos not to forget, the new MT Sergeant Staff Sarah. He was super garang when he came in and made quite alot of changes. Then later, he had some issues and he really slacked. Luckily, I was on quite quite good terms with him and I manage to get quite abit of off when he began to slack. He always like to say, " Kah Cheng wu sai boh?" ( Ur ass got shit?) haha.

On the day when I ORD. I almost could not believe i have spent my 21st, 22nd birthday, 3 Chinese New Years, 3 X Mas, 2 National Day there at that small little camp on top of Bukit Timah.

elow at 11:57 午後 | (0) comments

日曜日, 3月 13, 2005

[Bargaining]

I am incalculated the "value" of bargaining by my mum since I was young. When I was a child shopping wif my mum from markets to shopping centres, I would see my mum bargaining. Sometimes it could be quite agressive bargaining and I would feel embarassed. At times, I would wonder in awe how in the world cld my mum make a pair of shoes selling at $40 to become $20+. Somehow I understand cos when i was in pri school, my family was not too well-off. So my mum tried to save as much money as she could.

So now whenever I buy stuff, I would be like my mum. To bargain as much as I could but often less aggressive thus maybe not as sucessful. haha..I got a friend who dislikes bargaining. To me people who dun like to bargain are affluent people. To me a poor person, bargaining makes me feel I am spending every worth of my money. Yes me a poor man.

Ever since I got my PowerMac, I have thought of saving up $1.8K to purchase a matching high end 20" Apple Cinema Display. It is until recently I gave up this idea. Yes the Apple Cinema Display is one of the best out there but $1.8k is simply too much. After all, it is stil a display with USB and Firewire hubs. Thus ever since the IT Show which began last Thurs, I thought of getting myself a good deal during this event. I guess I was wrong.

Going to Suntec this afternoon was quite a mistake. The place was phuqing full of people. There were some sections where the flow of peope was like a severely clogged artery. Movement was restricted to minor steps, as if u are wearing a kimono. Becos school holidays has started, families who wanted to get a good deal or those who enjoyed crowds and being rubbed against sweaty sticky skin to sweaty sticky skin or those fathers who wanted to get some good deals all gathered in Suntec. I reckon there were easily 100k people today.

The worst thing was I could find the Viewsonic booth! And I could not get the silver Samsung 710T silver! Even if I buy, I was not allowed to test the lcd on the spot! Too bad for the $45 off retail price in SimLim. Big hairy deal, pie and me went to simlim to purchase my lcd. I regretted bringing pie wif me to simlim and suntec. I didn't know most gals do not like jostling with the crowd to buy computer products until my senior told me.

Oke so I pissed pie off and later my mum when I lost my temper after hearing her nag upon the news of me buying a lcd.

Sometimes I do not understand myself on why my temper can get so bad. When I am pissed, I obviously do not care whoever the person is. I do not enjoy losing my temper to my mum or to anyone else. Losing my temper often give me headaches later. Stress also give me headaches.

There are times when I really detest myself.

Mayb I need anger management classes.

elow at 10:42 午後 | (0) comments

土曜日, 3月 12, 2005

[Japanese Food]

At long last, I treated pie to the Japanese resturant which I told her I will be giving her a treat since many months ago. The name of the resturant is called Sakanaya. Its located at Liang Seah Street, opposite MOS Burger in Bugis Junction.

I went there in ard Dec in 2002 with a few of my close friends. I had katsudon there and it was quite good. Basically katsudon is Japanese pork chop served wif rice,eggs,miso soup and some fruits in a box like container. I was thinking of getting this katsudon or whatever don was there BUT!!! They removed this don set from their menu! WTF!

what was left in the menu were alcoholic drinks, sashimi,side dishes and noodles. I have no liking to Japanese noodles except ramen but ramen is considered as Chinese noodles. Besides ramen i also like curry rice which of cos is not really authentic Japanese food.

Anyway, I ordered, stewed pumpkin, stewed beancurd in shabu and fried chicken and of cos rice. The pumkin came wif in 2 pieces,one piece of chicken,2 long peas and 1 mushroom. It tasted not bad actually.
Then came the chicken, it was good of cos as its some unhealthy oily deep fried food. The last dish to arrive was the shabu beancurd. It was good!!!! The beancurd was soaked in hot soup which is quite salty (shoyu perhaps?). It was covered with a layer of egg, topped with mushrooms (those long type) and some shreds of seaweed. The beancurd was extremely soft and almost tasted it was being made in the resturant.

The dishes like Japanese food came in small and exquisite servings. In fact I thought the servings were so small I alone could finish everything. Surprisingly I was quite full. I think it is the rice as Japanese rice is different from the rice we normally eat. Its definitely more filling and fragrant.

I will also be getting one lcd display for my Mac. No more Apple Cinema Display, its way too expensive for one display despite the fact I know it is good good good. I dun need a 20" who also happen to cost $1800. I can buy one decent 17", one router, 2 new computer tables and even some left for ipod shuffle with $1800!

elow at 10:53 午前 | (0) comments

日曜日, 3月 06, 2005

[fool of myself]

I almost made a fool outta myself ytd at my Jpn class. Last week's homework was to find an interesting phrase which children and adult will know. Being lazy I decided to leave this until the following Fri. Initially, I knew all along to think of one idiom or phrase but somehow this got really smudged and dillusioned.

On Fri in my office, I did my homework. Instead of using idioms or phrases, I used Hokkien phrases instead, no its not something vulgar. I wrote 3 Hokkien phrases in fact.

[1] Chin Chye la ! = 何でもいいです
[2] Lim Peh　＝　あなたの親父
[3] Ho Seh Boh!　＝元気か？

During the lesson, as they are asked to go up to write on the whiteboard, i realise my classmates were all using idioms mainly Chinese idioms, one Malay idiom and one in Cantonese. I panicked as what I wrote were not even idioms! They are some hokkien casual phrases. ahahhahahaha..anyway i thought of using "Yin Shui Xi Yuan" but i cld not explain it well enough.

Met up wif an old friend to watch Howl's Moving Castle. Since he was doing some photoshoot for his products, I went to meet him at The Art House. Later we went to Suntec hoping to buy the tickets. Suntec ytd was jam packed with 40% of Singaporeans there. It was unbelievably packed!! We made a long way to the cinemas and we saw this whole stretch of people streaming from somewhere. This stretch went all the way to the 2 or 3 shop outside the cinemas. Its only when we went up, then we realised it was frm the ticketing booths!

Irked by the whole line of humans. We turned back to decide another location for this movie. As somehow i cld not get my GPRS to log into e-ideas, we managed to borrow a newspaper from the information counter to check for cinemas showing this movie. We ended up to Sun Plaza to catch the 9.30pm slot. The movie was good and the meticulous water coloured backgrounds and buildings are astonshing and seem almost humanly impossible. There was sososo much detail in some scenes even when this scene is only 1 to 2 seconds of screen time. Some of the characters were interesting, like this dog which sounded like its having asthma.

Before watching the show, we had dinner at sunplaza food court. I ate healthy ban mian, one fruit juice and 2 otahs which were so spicy it really burnt my guts.

The movie lasted abt 2 hours. I did not really catch the movie that well becos i was tired after a bz day in office, 3 hrs of jpn lesson...

I have decided not to buy the expensive 1.8K 20 inch Apple Cinema Display. Its not that I cannot afford it but I dun see a need to have a looming 20" lcd on my desk. Its not like I am doing some serious video editing or graphics stuff on it. I know how good it is...but 1.8K is too much for a display right? Apple is not selling its 17" anymore. Anyway I got my answer on DVI-I and DVI-D receptacles and connectors which i was paranoid abt compatibility issues.

Viewsonic here I come!

elow at 11:51 午後 | (0) comments

土曜日, 3月 05, 2005

[Ban Fen Zhi Yi Yuan Fen]

This is truely one of the better shows on TV. Anyway, its another gahment gimmick to get the young people esp those of very marriagable age to quickly get married n settle down n secure Singapore's future with their eggs and sperms.

Let me comment on the 3 sisters.

Da Jie Hao MeiMan - she is prob the icon of today's highly successful career woman. Have the looks,intelligence and character to be all great and successful. A role model to her sisters and a pillar in the family. Of cos she wishes for the right one, but none has met her expectations.

Er Jie Hao Mei Li - How can someone as gorgeous as Jacelyn Tay tranform into someone as repulsive as her!? Someone who is not blessed with looks but blessed with a heart of gold. But honestly, who will fall to someone like her when she will not even attract any guys in the 1st place? I am sure someone like her DO exist...gals need to doll up really. Not only so but also to refine oneself.

Hao Mei De - The typical NUS bitch. Stuckup,full of herself,selfish,bitch,bitch bitch. A perfect example of the typical NUS/NTU bitch in SG. Blessed with abit of looks and armed with a degree from NUS/NTU, she think she can rule the world. As for someone to be her guy, he needs to be goodlooking,rich (good career), possess a car, a condo,house,credit cards.

A typical gal who thinks she knows it all but deep down, she is juz an empty shell/vase/bimbo. Someone who resolves her world in dating guys and socialising. These are the gals who will pick and pick and pick her bfs until she is like nearing 30 or mid 30s.

Then she will realise suddenly, she does not have much say now in choosing her "ideal" partner and might even settle for anyone.Rui En made the character to be so alive that I am impressed by her acting. Or was she just being herself?

elow at 12:10 午前 | (0) comments

水曜日, 3月 02, 2005

[Ads Bashing]

Its time again for TV-Ads bashing! Considering this is the Xth time I did this, it goes to show local creativity circle is pathetic. This evening's No.1 TV ad to be bashed is :

1) Pokka Eccential - "Drink Eccential, AHHHHH~!" How can anyone come up with something as demoralising and sub terrain stardard. I almost choked when I saw this part of the ad for the 1st time. It is downright lame,tasteless,uncreative. I can say this is one serious contender for 2005 Worst TV Commercials. I am utterly ashamed and appalled by this on TV. The initial part of introducing the benefits is still oke.

2) KFC. WHAT THE PHUQ does going to the gym,lift one dumbell once and then go to KFC to eat chicken salad gotta do with the chicken salad?!

3) M1, did I say this before? Oh well, since it sucks so much I shall renominate it into the top 3 list of the SG Most Shitty TV Ads. This ad is abt, a wireless mobile virus which also have the ability to affect the human brain. An SMS is sent to M1 users which will make them to have invisible internal hormonal and genetic changes. This change will also cause them to go to Clarke Quay to lay eggs.

Can someone enlighten me on the concepts (if any) of the above ads?

I wore a tie today! WHAHAHHAHA. My manager asked me to bring a tie ytd and I wore it today to a hotel where one Jpn soccer team was staying. I went there to make sure the lunch buffet is setup properly. The food was oke but I declined to eat there becos I was ill-prepared to meet the manager n so on. The food was not that attractive anyway. Fancy wearing a tie and eat, considering the fact I got a short neck, I almost worry I might not be able to swallow. WHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I saw this kid on a train yesterday. I almost went up to smack him. He is abt 4-5 yrs old and he was making such a din abt wanting to eat chocolates. He was wailing,crying,stamping,jumping,shrieking...in a evening train packed with tired souls. YET the mother was trying to use the language of love to reason with him. Love my ass! I would have given a tight slap on this bastard if I were the father! Reason with a 4 yr old? Education of love to your 1-4 yr old child is simply the marketing gimmick by-product of over-protective parents.

Over protective parents will give rise to selfish brats and bastards who have no respect to pple,selfish and too prone to depression. They are too weak to take anything, physically and mentally.

elow at 10:53 午後 | (0) comments