Well I guess I’ll start updating on my own life here at this blog, I guess it is important to remember certain issues that happened in my life.

Just yesterday, I met the NJ Clique comprising of Dominic, Zong Yao, Waikit, Jia Hao and I at 2.45pm at Marina Square Swensens outlet. I know, we are supposed to meet at 2.30pm, but the all other than Dom SMSed me to say that they will be late, so I just ended up walking slower and enjoying the aircon. Turned out that I became the latest. Haha.

Anyway the ice cream treat was probably a mad idea by me to have ice cream whilst checking for our results. The NUS results were released for us at 3pm, and we used Dominic’s notebook and Wireless@SG (thank goodness it worked there). We were feeling a great sense of nervousness as we checked our results one by one. Oh did I mention that we were there for the last day of the 1 for 1 Ice Cream Sundae promotion? Hence it become “half-price” for us.

Talking about the results, it was a significant disappointment. I must say, I am “happy” for my worst subject because after taking the paper, I thought I would be gone, since the bulk of the stuff I do not really know, and I wrote a wrong choice for the polymer in part III. Hence I thought I would get a C+ or something, but thankfully I didn’t.

3 other subjects scored worst than expectation though. The first one was a subject I liked, programming, and I actually put in plenty of effort in doing the Take Home Labs, the Sit In Labs as well as the practical exam. I thought I could score, but perhaps other people scored better, and I simply lost to Mr Bell. Ironic that I ate Ding-a-ling-a-ling for the ice cream. Bell’s making fun of me. (On the other hand, if you are taking EG1108, eating that MAY help. Since you can pwn the prof. LOL). The second one is a subject I took in A levels and got A for it. I didn’t get the A now and I’m quite disgusted at myself. It was supposed to be a CAP puller. On second thoughts, it is a CAP puller since I would be worse off if I S/Ued it. But it’s still a disappointment. The third and final one is one that I would have expected to get if I didn’t feel that I had hope after the final paper. It’s because of the final paper, and that I discovered I could do most of the questions, and even the tough proving questions, that I expected more. I feel that this subject is the least of my disappointment since it’s not due to pass successes or interests.

So what can I say? If you want to ask me my grades, let’s just say that I passed. It isn’t something to be happy about since it pulled my CAP (DOWNWARDS). But I guess there is always next sem, where I should end up taking 6 mods and pursue a minor. Judging by my consistency in Math, I should try the Math minor, or should I? Or should I take the Info system’s minor? I don’t know.

Anyway after the results checking and the wonderful ice cream at Swensens, we proceeded to the Bowling alley where Zong Yao and Dominic played 2 games each. The other three of us were too slack, and I must admit I do not have much interest in bowling, plus I should save some money for future outings. Already my previous colleague asked me out for a movie next week, and my Army friends are organizing a meeting on the 4th of June. Hence there is much to save for. Nelson may be back in the middle of June to save me from my boredom bring food for his two brothers here in Singapore, and I would need to spend more money again.

Now for the unlucky Saturday. Firstly I didn’t manage to sleep till it was 11+. I tried to sleep at 10pm. I remember waking up at 12+, and then finally at 5am when I couldn’t sleep again. Total amount of sleep? About 6 hours. (Less than that since I slept at 11+ not 11 sharp) My Casio watch’s strap broke (impending signal of doom).

Dad fetched me to Maju Camp, thank goodness, else I would have to take the bus myself and wake up even earlier. Was the first detail and everything finished in an hour or so. I sprained my neck after sit ups and had to do shuttle run and the 2.4 with a stiff neck. I failed my 2.4 in the end by 8 seconds. So I just failed. I will probably either re take or go for RT. Ah well.

Not to mention that on my way back home, whilst walking outside Maju Camp, a portion of the sole of my favourite (bestest) running shoes came out. I will have to find a way to stick it back. Haiz. Oh well, it was an unlucky Saturday. Let’s hope that the rest of the Saturday today will be much better!

Cheer me up?

Singtel has written a response letter today to The Straits Times forum, explaining why there’s a 20 cents extra charge for a charity show. Apparently, it has to do with the 1900 telepoll service.

After reading this, I think this is a big smoke. Bottom line is, “As a business, we exercise care and prudence in meeting the needs of all our stakeholders.” What this means is Singtel cares about its profits.

Anything below that sentence is just to show how charitable Singtel actually is, which is not really needed because they are profiteering from charity calls. Of which is a huge ethical issue.

The main question in my head is, who does Singtel pay for the 1900 telepoll service? Do they pay some global body or the government? Or it a service they provide themselves? Hmm. After knowing this answer, perhaps we can then decide for ourselves how we look at Singtel.

SingTel explains call charges for charity show
I REFER to Wednesday’s letter, ‘Charity show – pay to donate’ by Mr James Wong. We thank Mr Wong for this opportunity to clarify the charging principle of the Telepoll service.

Event organisers pay a fee for using the 1900 Telepoll service.

The fee comprises a fixed charge and a usage fee.

The organisers decide if the usage fee is to be borne by themselves or the callers.

As a business, we exercise care and prudence in meeting the needs of all our stakeholders.

Under SingTel’s umbrella philanthropy programme, the SingTel Touching Lives Fund, we donated $2.4 million to charities last year.

Since its launch in 2002, we have raised a total of $12.7 million for 18 charities affiliated to the National Council of Social Service.

We have recently donated S$200,000 to help China’s relief and reconstruction efforts after the earthquake in the Sichuan province.

SingTel, through our wholly owned subsidiary NCS which has operations in Chengdu, is working with the local authorities to help families and those affected by the earthquake.

We thank Mr Wong for his feedback and support for the quake victims.

Cheam Tze Hui (Ms)
Corporate Communications Manager,
SingTel

I just finished watching this Japan Drama, which is more commonly known as Hana Kimi, on Tuesday night. This is also the Japanese version of Hua Yang Shao Nian Shao Nv, where Ella from S.H.E. acted as Ashiya Mizuki. In the Japan version, my favourite Japan actress, Horikita Maki, acts as Ashiya Mizuki.

This is a 12 episode drama, as compared to 15 for the Taiwanese version. I have no idea which version is the “proper” one, since I have not seen the manga that this drama is based on, but there seems to be slight difference from the 1/2 an hour which I watched on TV for the Tw version. In my opinion, the Japan version seems much better. Or can I say, I enjoy the flavour brought out by the Japanese actors, especially on the character Natkatsu, who keeps thinking he is homosexual when he falls for Mizuki.

To be perfectly honest, Maki is a kawaii girl that doesn’t really seem very boyish. Natkatsu likes to talk to himself, and keeps doing hand signs when he talks to himself in his head. Most of the time he thinks positively of himself and his relationship with Mizuki (something I will do also in his position), but everytime it’s just his own thoughts. Mizuki treats him as a best friend and nothing else.

Mizuki is a Japanese girl from America, and transferred to Osaka High, an all boys school for a particular guy Sano Izumi. She pretends to be a guy, even wearing this tight thing underneath her clothes so that she looks flatter. In the past, Sano saved her once and ended up being knifed at the leg. From then on, Sano stopped high jumping, which Mizuki felt is a pity because Sano’s really good at high jumping.

Through joining Osaka High, and coincidentally ending up in the same dorm room as Sano, she manages to get into Sano’s world despite his cool personality. Sano ended up going for the high jump again, though he only managed to get a 2nd place in his first try.

The enjoyable part is that every episode has a different sub plot, typical of Japan Dramas, which I like. Every episode, something different will be done and there is much space for many characters to develop. The things that they do, like inter-dorm activities are pretty fun too. Somehow it makes me want to join them.

However I feel that the last episode (which is 2 hours long) is a little not-as-good. I feel that the ending could be more fun, but I shan’t be picky. There is much screen time of Maki too, and that is good. The last episode shows how they discovered Mizuki is a girl, and how they initially could not accept that they were deceived, to forgiving Mizuki and treating her completely like a guy!

This 12 part series is easy to digest and fun to watch. If you have the time, why not watch it? Hmm..Did I do something wrong?

Things are changing. Companies are evolving. Some companies are getting into social media, getting bloggers to attend their events and play with their products. Other companies are becoming more socially conscious, or even environmentally conscious. It is not strange to see a company having a policy on charity. At least one online advertising company is playing it’s part by giving members the chance to show advertisements for public service? (See Google Adsense).

The other day I went back to my former company JD Power Asia Pacific and I noticed that they have this volunteering day, where employees can volunteer to do charitable or community work for the entire day instead of staying in the company and work. Such is an example of how companies can also do their part for charities.

However, whilst watching the charity shows on the 25th of May (the last past Sunday), I realized that one company isn’t exactly very “nice”. We all know that we can call specific numbers to donate a specific sum to the charity organization, or in this case, donate the money to a fund for the Orphans of the Si Chuan earthquake. We also know that we have to pay a 20cents charge to the telecommunications provider as charges for the call.

I wonder, why are we being charged that 20 cents? It’s not that I’m being a miser, but we are doing charity, are we not? Can’t the company do some charitable deeds by providing a toll free number? I hate to think that a company is profiteering from our pity and kind heartedness. Imagine the amount of money they will earn just based on the few hours that night!

I mean, it makes no sense if they say they are also going to donate the 20cents to charity isn’t it? We might as well declare at the very beginning that its $6.20 instead of $6, and call it a toll free line. Hence, it is just used as revenue isn’t it? Profiteering from other people’s pity towards the earthquake victims?

Sad I say. Sometimes, we can just waive the 20 cents, and we won’t gain so much bad karma. Profiting from pity has got to be one of the worse things one can do.

The examination results for Semester 2 is coming in 2 days time on the 30th of May, and I know I’m stressed out over it. The last time I had a dream that I got 2 Cs and I felt utterly terrible. Just last night I had another dream which made me feel that I am seriously too stressed out.

The reason why I think it’s a sign of stress is because it has the essence of 2 dramas and 1 anime that I just watched. 2 dramas being 仙剑奇侠传 and Hana Kimi (the review will be posted tomorrow). The anime is Bleach, which I have been consistently watching.

The dream started in 古装, which means those Olden Chinese costumes. The army was marching, headed by 唐钰小宝. (See, told you it’s weird. That guy’s from Xian Jian). As we walked on towards I don’t know where, an arrow came and landed beside someone’s leg. In Hana Kimi, they send Osaka High’s newsletter via arrow with the newsletter tied to the arrow. (Don’t ask me, it’s weird). Then we got ambushed and were captured as prisoners of war.

Don’t ask me why but we got captured by Japanese. (Must be the Japan dramas). I was holding on to an important artefact, and the Japanese demanded that I give it to them. I refused, and they tried to wrestle it out of me and suddenly, (like Bleach), I released my Bankai. I know, it’s weird. So they were all killed, and someone tried to escape. I even used Senbonzakura to transport the escapee back to my front.

I know all these isn’t going to make sense, but the dream is a mash up of 3 different shows. It must be the stress. I couldn’t think of what other reason for me to dream of that. Or, perhaps, the almighty is telling me that I’m a Shinigami in disguise? Hahaha.

I think I’m mad. 2 days to d-day.

I watched this movie yesterday with my “Royal Family” clique comprising of godsis Cheng Ying, as well as Michelle and Taiman. We met at Vivocity and Taiman actually got lost. We were supposed to have dinner together at Kopitiam but he ended up walking to HarbourFront and then found GV before Kopitiam. Hence he bought the hot dog from the GV Candy Bar.

Anyway the movie “started” at 6.45pm, but it was full of advertisements (GV leh), hence it only started proper about 20 minutes later. The real movie lasted about 2 hours, and by 9pm the movie was showing the credits.

This movie is the fourth installation of the Indiana Jones series, and it is much hyped over. The first was Indiana Jones and the raiders of the lost ark, then Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, then Indiana Jones and the last crusade. I very much preferred the last one (The Last Crusade), and after watching the movie, I still think The Last Crusade is better.

What can I say? I feel that the movie is a little too short to satisfy. Come on, Indiana Jones has been MIA since 1989, and all we can do is this? The hype balloon is claimed to be much bigger than it really is. But, I don’t think Harrison Ford is too old. He’s a great actor and fits the Indiana Jones character really well. The problem does not lie with him, but with the plot. If, the plot is thicker, perhaps I will find it deserving of the hype.

The movie seems to be very much action. Perhaps I just enjoyed the mysteries of the Last Crusade better than this latest one. However, even if I enjoyed the 3rd better than the 4th, let it be known that I enjoyed myself very much with this movie too. The plot is good, just that it could be better and longer (satisfying fans worldwide).

As a whole, I’m rating this a 7.5/10. It’s a good movie to catch, especially if you have been faithfully, like me, watching the past 3 Wednesday’s Channel 5 re-runs of Indiana Jones.

I went to watch Made Of Honour (external link: Wiki) yesterday with my parents at Jurong Point. I must say that it’s a pretty nice movie, though the ending is cliché. I think you can guess the ending because I guessed it too. Let’s just say that such love stories usually end with them going happily ever after. But, the way it ended is really cliché. That, I leave it to you all to watch or guess. Give comments and I will verify.

Basically, Tom, the leading man, is a Casanova. He sleeps with girls every day of the week, and one of his rules is that no consecutive girls in the same week. This means, 7 days a week, 7 different girls to go to bed to. His best friend is Hannah, a girl, whom he cherishes the friendship with and hence does not have any sex with her.

When Hannah goes to Scotland on a business trip, he finds that his life is boring. The girls of his life does not satisfy him (not sexually, but I mean they just cannot replace Hannah in his life as his close friend). That is when he realizes that he can’t do without Hannah. He decides to confess his feelings for her when she comes back, but when she does, he discovers that some bloke proposed to her (only knowing each other for weeks) and she agreed.

He becomes her maid of honour, and tries to sabotage the relationship. Ok, maybe not sabotage, but what he does is to make her feel that he is the one who understands her, not him. She starts to realize the difference too in the middle of the movie, when the Scottish man she is marrying hunts deer, and she herself is pretty anti-violence towards animals.

In the end the two of them get together of course, but how I shall not say. But they do get together and live happily ever after.

I rate this movie a 8/10 based on the funny parts of the movie, as well as the feelings and thoughts that I have after I watched it.

My own thoughts and feelings

After watching this movie, I felt that perhaps it is always good to have close female friends, and have this period of seriously understanding each other first before getting attached and deciding to get married? I realize that teenagers tend to have a wrong view of what love is, and their relationships end up really shaky. Hence I thought it is important to make sure you know who you are loving?

I thought it was rather sweet too that they progressed from good friends to best mates for life. But let’s not kid ourselves, sometimes that is hard to get. I mean, how much time do you have to cultivate a good friendship with a particular person, and what are the chances that both may be compatible as a couple? One may be close friends but not best mates for life.

But of course, I too, realized how inferior I am. Even though I am not a Cassanova (effectively I should rank better than Tom), but I do not have a life. As you see, Tom (other than the sex life), has friends and they go play basketball together..blabla. But I don’t really meet up with my own friends that much to even exercise? Nor go on parties together, visit other friends blabla. Somehow, I’m a total geek. Gah.

Anyway this is a pretty interesting movie despite it’s ending. If you have cash to spare, do watch it. It’s a nice romantic comedy. One of my favourite genres.

I watched this via Crunchyroll for the past week. It has 34 episodes, and its alternate names include: Chinese Paladin or The Magic Sword and The Chivalrous Youth or The Sword and the Fairy. In my understanding, this drama serial is based on the game of the same name, and the drama only spans 1/4 of the entire game.

This drama is an adventure based kind of show, and if you are looking for some serious wu xia serials, you may probably want to head down to Waikit’s blog. There are some nice wu xia serials which he has reviewed. This drama serial is less serious, and there doesn’t seem to be much wu xia heroes inside.

This drama is less serious because there is more emphasis on the love triangles in the story, and the main topic is on love. The antagonist keeps wondering if love is present in this world, and believes that humans are so bad that there isn’t love in the world. At times, I wonder if he is conducting a love experiment.

There are many tmm scenes. (Tian Mi Mi or 甜蜜蜜) Simply put, sometimes the scenes are sweet but sad, and emo comes into play many times because of the sad nature of its story as well as its ending.

However I won’t deny that I watched it for the eye candy in the form of Liu Yi Fei, who recently acted in The Forbidden Kingdom.

Anyway, it’s just like a adventure/comedy kind of show. Perhaps not really comedy, but it brought some smiles occasionally, and of course emo at other times. Overall it’s a sad show. Sometimes I wonder why Liu Yi Fei shows have to have the guy get seperated from the girl (like 神雕侠侣), and many other stuffs.

If I were to rate this, I guess I will rate it a 6.5/10. It’s good enough to kill my time and get me focused on something.

This layout has been with me for over a year or so if I remember correctly. The past few layouts I have done are all not fully completed due to my own laziness. This time, since it is the holiday season, I shall create a newer personal layout for myself.

This time, I will learn more about WordPress functions, and then I shall proceed on to configure even my comments page, which I have always neglected to edit. I shall organize everything more properly, perhaps reconfigure my categories and organize them into sub categories, or do a tag cloud, blabla. Perhaps twitter?

I also need to reconfigure my blogroll, because the blogs that I faithfully read are increasing in number, and perhaps I shall add a sub-blogroll of Pingsters whose blog I read?

I will also go and change my wordpress to version 2.5. The installatron doesn’t seem to support 2.5 yet, so perhaps I will do it manually.

In the past few years, we have been talking about transport problems, problems regarding Advertising Companies , blabla. It’s time for The Ignorantsoup to give some credit when credit is due. Especially in the case when people earn peanuts, sometimes peanut earners do good stuff too.

I’m talking about the anti-smoking ads. From since I can remember, the Health Ministry has been playing some part in trying to reduce the number of smokers, by using anti-smoking advertisements as a shock tactic to make people think twice before puffing that cigarette.

The first few advertisements I remember was of the shock kind. They put photos, scary ones no doubt, on cigarette packs, so that people look at the photos before they open the box. Television ads were those that show the brain of a smoker and non smoker, with the blood oozing out (or is that tar..blood I think) from the smoker’s brains. Or the amount of tar that comes out of a smoker’s lungs. Disgusting, but effective in ensuring that I will never touch any cigarette.

The next kind was the one that we had recently. The one about Mohd Abdooh (I hope I spelled his name correctly, I’m sorry if I didn’t), where he bravely came on television to personally urge people not to smoke or else they will end up like them. After he passed away, his wife continued the series of ads which, if I remember correctly, portrays the mood that dreams can be fulfilled if he had not died due to excessive smoking.

The latest one was the chronic lung problem man. It shows a FPS, First Person Shooter Smoker, view where the guy has problems with even pouring a cup of coffee for himself. Then it goes to show in Third Person view of the unlucky man who smoked and earned himself this sad disease.

Don’t you think that there has been plenty of effort to deal with such health issues? Even the dengue ads are playing frequently. I’m not going to discuss if they are effective, or whether they are a waste of tax payers money. I’m saying that we should give them credit because they come up with something, and stuck to it for so long, trying to make us stop smoking or breeding mosquitoes.

What have others done except to raise ERP charges? Or to ask us to take public transport when the public transport is horrendous at certain hours? Hence, let us for once, be appreciative of these series of smoking related ads, and try our best to ensure that our future generation will not pick up this ghastly habit.