又一年。。。

2009年12月31日晚上12点50分，今天陆续收到朋友发来的新年祝福短信。谢谢你们！其中有一则篇幅很长，很用心的特别感谢词，我要在这里借用，来表达我对你们这群好朋友的感谢。在一次谢谢你们的友情！

过完今天......

我们就得和2009年说拜拜了，所以我想对您说......三个感谢。

第一个：

谢谢您让我走入您的生活，做您的朋友，或许我不是您最精彩的，但是我总是尽力做到最好。:-)

第二个：

谢谢您愿意走进我的生活，扮演朋友的角色，直到今天您依然是我生命中唯一不可缺少的部分。:-)

第三个：

谢谢您这一路走来，很多的包容、安慰、关心、支持与鼓励。;-)~~:-*

感恩您~~:-(:'(

因31号肯定很多祝福讯息而让您来不及看所以干脆先给您寄上，新年快乐～2010～

Avatar (3D)

Watched it just now. Really good. Reminds me of Spanish Conquistadors vs Native Americans which exploitation and robbing of other people's resources were done in the name of conquest with the murderous deed of annihilating their cultures. Also reminds me of the Vietnam War where fighting on other people's land was simply a lost cause and unjust no matter what the reason was. The last fight scene gives me the familiarity of the fight scene in the Last Samurai.

Yeah!!! I've achieved competency for CU3a of my ACTA course!!!

I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to make it. Now that I did, I am going for CU4a. Need to find a good slot in my schedule first though.

I want to take this opportunity to apologise to the assessor of CU3a for remembering my assessment session wrongly. I remembered the date but mistook it for Tuesday instead of Monday. Thank you very much for waiting for me and delaying your time to leave

Thank you Jimmy for making the effort to call me and remind me to rush down for the assessment. I owe you one big time.

Note:
CU: Competency unit
ACTA: Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment

I'm watching The Big Bang Theory...

This show is so hilarious that I have to give it five stars. I have never laughed so hard watching a comedy series.

From the CBS website, the show is about:

Leonard and Sheldon are brilliant physicists, the kind of "beautiful minds" that understand how the universe works. But none of that genius helps them interact with people, especially women. All this begins to change when a free-spirited beauty named Penny moves in next door. Sheldon, Leonard's roommate, is quite content spending his nights playing Klingon Boggle with their socially dysfunctional friends, fellow CalTech scientists Wolowitz and Koothrappali. However, Leonard sees in Penny a whole new universe of possibilities... including love.

You can watch The Big Bang Theory online.

Movie + Dinner @ Iluma

Mac OS X Snow Leopard!

I just installed it. I can feel that it's more responsive. I like it.

《你的爱情，我在对面》by橘子

我这个人，鲜少读中文小说，更从来没读过爱情小说。前几个星期，我拿起了一直放在书桌上，未曾开封的这本书。它是我两年前在台北的7－11买的。我也不知道我当时为什么会买它，可能觉得书名特别，对故事好奇吧。到今天我才把它看完。

爱情故事，虚构的，既无聊，又离谱。很难相信现实生活中会发生的故事，就是幻想。可是，幻想何尝不是一种渴望。著者会这样写，表示有人还是渴望且需要这种爱情。即使得不到，或觉得不值得有，还是选择相信。我吗？

故事里的女主角，天真兼无知到现在应该找不到这种女生吧。会有人不知道爱谁比较深？不过现代人的确对自己要的是什么都无头绪。看着看着，突然有台湾偶像剧的感觉浮现在脑海里。哈哈，Selina, Ella, 罗志祥，贺军翔。

会看第二本吗？

Singapore 0-5 Liverpool F.C.

I went to the Singapore National Stadium (yes, the one that is supposed to be demolished last year) to watch Liverpool Football Club played our national team. Well, Singapore played well for the first half but all was crumbled and lost after the first goal was conceded at the end of the first half. When Liverpool unleashed its big guns later on, the flood gates opened.

The game showed two things. One, Liverpool's second team is no where as good as its first team and Liverpool needs to toughen up its bench to challenge the long season to come. Two, Singapore needs to be able to concentrate for a much longer period of time and plays its stated formation strictly and not give away the ball cheaply. Singapore is playing Thailand this November and there can be no silly mistakes.

Following are some pictures and videos I took of the stadium's crowd.

SingTel is so f@@ked up!!!

I was reluctant to write this post initially as I thought the lady at SingTel Comcentre had borne enough of my brother's wrath at the IPhone 3GS collection last Saturday. But no... SingTel has to demonstrate to me their stupidity and lousy customer service. Despite me having reserved for an IPhone with a $50 deposit, I was informed I had to wait for 5 to 6 hours in a queue, without air-con, just to collect it. What the hell? Why couldn't SingTel just assign a queue number or an estimated collection time for people who had pre-ordered? Absolutely no common sense... After my brother managed to make enough noise, we were entertained by someone to allow us to buy the phone online and have it delivered to my house. Okay, I was more or less pacified though no less irritated.

Then the SingTel stupidity struck again. Today, I received a call at work by the delivery guy, informing me that he couldn't hand over the phone to my family member at home because I didn't leave any authorisation letter for someone to receive the delivery on my behalf. I couldn't believe this! I already had the phone paid for and SingTel has both a copy of my NRIC and my address on the bill. What's there to verify? My house won't run away even if I am not at home. Besides, I gave my authorisation over the phone and the call is initiated by the delivery guy using the number stated on the invoice. And the thing is I wasn't told to have an authorisation letter ready so who is to blame here?

Anyway, another angry phone call by my brother (by the way, the IPhone is his while using my line to recontract) to the SingTel lady managed to get the delivery guy to come back in the evening after I got home to sign for the delivery. So now all I have to say is that this is the last draw. This is not the first time I had a lousy experience with SingTel customer service so I hereby swear that I will not have any dealings with SingTel again. I will switch to StarHub when my contracts expire one by one.

Kuala Sedili - where my childhood memories were

 

Jetty to Sedili Besar

The only Chinese restaurant still there

I managed to hitch a ride by my uncle-in-law (a last minute rush decision) to go back to Kuala Sedili of Kota Tinggi, Johor, West Malaysia, on Friday. It is a small fishing kampong (village) where my maternal grandmother used to live 20 years ago. My last visit was also more than that, and no one in the family has visited since my grandmother moved out to Johor Bahru. I still remember the 2-hour journeys we had to endure to get there from Singapore, with my dad being the sole driver. We used to go there every Chinese New Year and every alternate school holidays. The Chinese New Year trips were the most trying as they usually involved embarking just past midnight to avoid the massive jams at the Woodlands customs at the causeway. However, all the hardships were worth it as I had some of my best childhood living in the rural environment: looking at the cows and goats, fishing at the jetty, and playing on the secluded bay beach.

The kampong is now a slightly bigger town. There are more people and better facilities though developments are still modest. There is now a bridge linking Kuala Sedili and Sedili Besar where only ferries could reach just a few years ago. Our old house has been taken over by an unknown owner and is in a dilapidated state. What a shame that I wasn't old enough to be able to do something to preserve the house then. Besides, it wouldn't be practical to keep it anyway. There are chalets and resorts at the Jason Bay we used to have so much fun and near the village now so we still can stay the night if we do visit again. Some of my grandmother's neighbours still live there and they do remember my parents well enough so the place is not entirely unfamiliar to us despite the changes.

Childhood memories in an old place...

Fishing boats at the jetty

May Day Trip

It has been a long time, about three or four years, since I last crossed the causeway. Hence I decided to organise a trip with my parents to visit my grandmother in Johor for the Labour Day holiday. It felt so wonderful to be out of the city and be with my grandmother, aunts, and cousins. One and a half day of eating, mahjong and shopping following an hour of driving.

Speaking of shopping, we went to one of the two shopping malls, Jusco @ Bukit Indah. Though only three storeys high, it occupies a huge amount of land area, giving rise to a large floor space of about 70-80 stores per storey.

A point to note while shopping in Malaysia though. If you want to pay by credit card, ensure that your credit card is one that contains a smart chip. Singapore does not have this requirement yet so my only card that has such a chip is my Citibank Dividend which I conveniently didn't bring along. The cards I had with me then could not be used so I had to ask my aunt to pay for my purchase first.

Taylor Swift - Tear Drops On My Guitar

好听的旧歌...

百听不厌，回味无穷，也会钩起一些人的层层回忆。

那天在港剧《和味浓情》听到了已故香港巨星陈百强的《深爱着你》，真是悦耳动人。80年代的歌到现在还是能吸引人，好歌就是好歌。陈百强的另一首歌《偏偏喜欢你》也是经典。

Singapore Night Safari

Here is the bunch of us before entering Singapore Night Safari. This was my first time visiting the park so it was quite an enjoyable trip for me. The park was quite well-planned, creating an atmosphere that one doesn't usually get when going to a zoo. The effort going into operating the park could be seen from the lively staff offering vast information and friendly service. The fees we paid were rather on the steep side but considering the number of animals the park has to feed, I have to say the fees were still reasonable. However, it won't be attractive for any returning visitors.

Notes added on 15 Feb:

The operators of both the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari has recently announced that they will be building a third attraction, River Safari. It sounds interesting enough for a visit.

《相思红豆的寄语》

一个长发披肩，二十来岁的女孩冲进了快餐店，看到了要找的人，便一股脑儿地说了几声“对不起”和迟到的理由。说罢，就不顾形象地重重地坐了下来。

“你等了很久吗？”

“没多久。”坐在女孩对面的男孩边吸着可乐，边回答。

“都是〇〇不好，买一样东西都拿不定主意，选了老半天才选好。”

“那他结果买了什么？”

女孩想了想，说：“不太清楚，好像是一条项链。”

“那他一定是在选你的生日礼物才会选那么久。”

“才不呢！他才不会和我一起选我的生日礼物。他八成又是买给不知道第几个干妹妹。”女孩嘟着嘴说到。“好啦，别再说他了。那你呢？你会送什么生日礼物给我呢？”

男孩笑了笑。“待会儿你就会知道了。”

XXX

男孩带着女孩到自己以前就读的中学参观。

“哇！好多相思豆啊！”女孩看着眼前一条被一颗颗红豆覆盖着的小路，宛如是个铺了红地毯的星光大道。

男孩拿出了一个玻璃瓶，然后开始捡起小红豆来。他每捡起一颗小红豆，就在嘴边细细私语一番。之后，他便把小红豆放进瓶子里。

女孩问：“你在干嘛？”

男孩笑了笑，答：“你知道我就要被外派到加拿大工作了。因此我这几天都在忙着收拾行李和处理一些公事，没时间好好地挑选你的生日礼物。于是我便想到了这样的方法来表达我的祝福与心意。你不会嫌弃吧？”

“哪会，礼轻情意重。只要是你送的，我都喜欢。”女孩开心地收下了装满相思红豆的玻璃瓶。

XXX

半年后的某一天，女孩在客厅看电视时，睡房突然传来了一声玻璃破碎的声响。他发现原来是男孩送的瓶子摔落在地上。更重要的是，女孩的被单因为楼上扔下来的烟蒂而起火。女孩随即把火扑灭，然后欲把相思豆捡起。

这时电话声响起，伴随着一地的碎玻璃，女孩有着不安的心情。果然，电话另一端传来的是噩耗。男孩的朋友说：“他出车祸，走了。”女孩傻住了。

XXX

女孩捡起一颗红豆，放在耳边尝试聆听男孩所说的话。她仿佛听到了，听到了他的声音。“你要快乐，天天开开心心。”

相思红豆：它可以记录一个人对另一个人的思念；记录说不出口的爱意；记录着男孩给女孩的祝福与牵挂。“我会是你的守护天使，永远照顾着你。”