A sabbatical journey

切记当下的感动

2011-12-06T02:01:00.001+08:00

1.成长，最残酷的部份就是，女孩子永远比同年龄的男孩子成熟。而女孩的成熟，没有一个男孩招架得住。

2.我想成为一个很厉害的人, 让这个世界因为有了我而有一点点的改变。而我的世界，不过就是妳的心。

3. 沈佳宜：“柯景腾，你特地办一个比赛，把自己搞受伤，你怎么会这么幼稚阿!”柯景腾：“对幼稚，就是幼稚，很幼稚!”“我就是幼稚，才会喜欢你这种努力用功的女生。”“我就是幼稚，才有办法追你追这么久。”沈佳宜：“那你就不要追了阿! 笨蛋!”柯景腾：“对啦!我就是笨蛋啦!”沈佳宜：“大笨蛋~~~!”柯景腾：“对啦! 我就是大笨蛋才能追你追那么久!”

4.原本我以为我是个超有自信的人。在喜欢的女孩面前，我只是一个胆小鬼。

5.“人生本来就很多事是徒劳无功的啊！”

6.沈佳宜: 谢谢你喜欢我。柯景腾: 我也喜欢当年喜欢著妳的我。

7.“沈佳宜，你相信平行时空吗？或许，在另一个时空，我们是在一起的。”

8. “你不懂了，如果你真心喜欢过一个女生。你就会发现真心祝福她跟别人永远幸福快乐根本是不可能的事。——对啊，像我们这种背后放箭的才叫做真爱。”

9. “我错了，原来当你真的真的真的非常喜欢一个女孩。当她有人疼，有人爱，你会真心祝福她永远幸福快乐。”

余音绕梁，是曾经激动后的余温，是成长中绵延不绝的涟漪

Hello darkness my old friend

2011-09-26T23:27:00.002+08:00

我很好

2010-01-20T00:37:00.000+08:00

陳奕迅-聖誕結

2010-01-04T00:39:00.000+08:00

庆幸。切记。

2009-12-17T21:34:00.003+08:00

惹事生非，喜怒无常。

鬼迷心窍，旁观者清。

智者智语，避过一劫。

庆幸。庆幸。

在还没做好尽职调查前，可兑换债券的投资方式还是最保险的。若一开始就动真刀枪，肯定又是遍体鳞伤。

先拿利息，见好就收。

切记。切记。

答案

2009-12-16T22:19:00.003+08:00

原来只要有风，湖面就不能平静。
但重点不在于那阵风，而是在众多逆风而翔的燕子中，哪一支能造个窝心窝。

疑问

2009-12-16T12:46:00.004+08:00

是滔天巨浪前的涟漪，还是微风掠过后的荡漾？

答案就在今晚。

若你碰到他

2009-11-08T16:04:00.001+08:00

不如不见

2009-11-04T02:12:00.001+08:00

然后怎样2

2009-10-13T23:26:00.005+08:00

Received the ETL for the project I was shoved into when I joined the Newco. Within 6 weeks, I was despatched for my first business trip alone to China to settle outstanding issues with the Listco. And lodged with MAS for a Rights Issue which I was running mainly by myself. Am supposed to be quite happy with myself for the achievements. I made more progress than I ever did in my entire stint in Oldco.

My small boss told me over the phone that I should not be in office after 7. It was my first ETL and I deserve to celebrate. But with whom? Parents were back in AMK. I paused to ponder, but went home alone.

Bought a chicken chop. Grabbed a bubble tea. Watched a movie. With nary a feeling. Deafening silence.

I need some alcohol.

原来

2009-08-15T13:09:00.006+08:00

眼泪可以没理由的飙,
心情可以无止境的坠,
曲终人散后的恭维,
是自我陶醉的狼狈.

当理智战胜了爱情的时候,
几经轮回的眼泪,
天色的黑白蓝灰,
都早已无所谓.

Stress is good

2009-08-13T03:13:00.004+08:00

Just got off work...

Being busy and stress @ work is good... even though it started with inertia, but it takes your mind off everything else, even hunger.

(Mis)Quoting Gekko,

Stress is right.

Stress works.

Stress clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

Stress, in all of its forms -- stress for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind.

然后怎样

2009-08-10T01:23:00.003+08:00

二十七个春夏秋冬后,
自己还在原地兜圈圈.
是时候问问自己,
接下来的日子,
是要春,夏,秋,还是冬.

叶子•可惜不是你

2009-07-31T20:12:00.002+08:00

分手第三天

2009-07-31T01:38:00.001+08:00

因为知道感受后会痛，所以闭而远之。
因为知道努力后会是无奈，所以挣扎着挣扎中的挣扎。
因为知道挣扎是种循环，所以享受麻醉，所以情愿放弃。
以往的以往，以及以后的以后。
因为我才发觉，原来我连要你过得比我好的能力都没有了。

And we both agreed...

2009-07-29T00:46:00.005+08:00

纵有百般不舍，还是选择了割舍。
拥有你记忆中的白纸，上色的却是别人。
不是我不曾爱你，我害怕面对自己，
我的理智，藏着寂寞傻子。
如果我不再爱你，我不会恨我自己，
你的固执，是我呵护的刺。
因为我还是爱你，
我才会笑着祝福，
有种真爱不是我的。
只是当又把回忆翻开，
除了你之外的空白，
还有谁能来教我爱。

The crazy one...

2008-12-03T01:56:00.003+08:00

“I would add that if you don’t regularly feel utterly confused, if you don’t occasionally feel like you’re treading just above water, if you don’t ever feel misunderstood, then you probably aren’t living in life — you’re just observing it.” --- Ben Casnocha

Perhaps the past few months of agony, late nights, self-doubts are just part of living life, again. I need to be able to start "feeling" again.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Think Different

(Apple Computer Ad Campaign)

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.

So maybe I'm just different. Times and again I've asked why can't I be "normal". Am I really different, or simply enjoy, and influence others to think I'm different? Is different simply a case of being the minority? And what if there are no longer "majorities", and instead, sprockets of minorities, would we then be "similarly different"?

To remember...

2008-09-04T20:43:00.001+08:00

Your employer had not hired you to be yourself.

The important, urgent and nonsense

2008-08-21T09:11:00.002+08:00

There are usually 3 kinds of work... the Important, the Urgent and the Nonsense. Too often, the focus is on the Urgent, which unfortunately comprise mainly the Nonsense. I am confident the reason my colleague is leaving is he is going for the Important.

There are usually only 3 reasons: The good, the bad, and the true. Most people are contented with the good.

My Mood

2008-04-28T22:36:00.001+08:00

倔強
作詞：阿信　作曲：阿信　編曲：五月天　演唱：阿信

當　我和世界不一樣　那就讓我不一樣　堅持對我來說　就是以剛克剛
我　如果對自己妥協　如果對自己說謊　即使別人原諒　我也不能原諒

最美的願望　一定最瘋狂
我就是我自己的神　在我活的地方

＊我和我最後的倔強　握緊雙手絕對不放
　下一站是不是天堂　就算失望不能絕望
　我和我驕傲的倔強　我在風中大聲的唱
　這一次為自己瘋狂　就這一次　我和我的倔強

對　愛我的人別緊張　我的固執很善良　我的手越骯髒　眼神越是發光
你　不在乎我的過往　看到了我的翅膀　你說被火燒過　才能出現鳳凰

逆風的方向　更適合飛翔
我不怕千萬人阻擋　只怕自己投降

Repeat ＊　＊

就這一次　讓我大聲唱
啦啦啦... 就算失望　不能絕望
啦啦啦... 就這一次　我和我的倔強

中庸之道

2008-02-24T03:52:00.002+08:00

难也!

Requests to public transport operators

2007-12-09T20:44:00.000+08:00

For years, the Singapore public transport operators had made countless requests. Among which, the more memorable, frequent and recent would be passing on the increase of their operating costs to the consumer by means of increasing fares.

Perhaps it's time for the users to start making valid requests to these operators too, and I'll start by listing just a few.

1) Noise level
The reason to set the Ipod volume at 100 decibels and above? Just to hear what is being played while traveling in an environment that's already at 81 decibels. That is 4 decibels away getting hearing damage from long term exposure. And all along I believed that we're a conservative and cautious society who prefer to err on the safe side.

2) Acknowledge that they are monopolies in their respective mode of transport (Read: Comfortdelgro, SMRT)
Facts: From Comfordelgro, Annual Report 2006
a) Profit from Diesel sales - 4.1% of total profits or $14.6million.
What it means - Divided equally among all 15,000 Comfortdelgro taxis in Singapore, each cabbie will be about $973 richer in 2006.

b) Profit from taxi operations - $109 million
Revenue from taxi operations - $866.5 million
Profit margin from taxi operations - 12.6%
Group Operating profits - $305.4 million
Group Revenue - $2761.8 million
Group Profit margin - 11%
What it means - taxi operation is one of the more profitable business segments for the company, which brings us back to the question, who is more directly involved in affecting the cabbie's take-home pay? Who decides the cabbies' cost structure? Reducing the profit margin by 1.6% to 11% will save the cabbies $13.7million in 2006. That's $913 each. Including savings from the profit from diesel sales, that's $1886/cabbie. Sounds like a reasonable 13th month bonus.

c) Energy and fuel cost - $196 million
Staff cost - $862.9 million
Staff cost of top 6 Executives (taken at the lowest end of the renumeration band)
- $1,750,000 + $750,000 + $500,000 x 3 + $250,000 = $4.25 million
Operating Cost - $2487 million
Energy cost as a percentage of operating cost - 7.9%
Staff cost as a percentage of operating cost - 34.7%
What it means - 7.9% didn't seem as much a pressing concern or room for improvements compared to 34.7%. But increasing staff cost without increasing revenue will be hard to explain to shareholders. Increasing fares in a monopoly market to maintain/increase margins sits in better with shareholders and subsequently, performance-based renumeration. A monkey can run such an operation. The difference is you just need to pay the monkey peanuts.

Question at the end of the day: Why do you corporatize a national interest which happens to operate in a monopoly market, and then set up a Public Transport Council to oversee it? Politically sensitive strategy to enter overseas market? A fool will see through the cover with GLCs as the major shareholders.

3) Improve hygiene level
Is there a need for us to go through another SARS to keep our buses clean? It is hard-pressed to believe that a bus was cleansed frequently when you see the amount of grim accumulated on a 8am bus.

4) Be part of the new Clean & Green Singapore 2007
It continues to baffle me on the restriction of private vehicles to petrol-powered engines, while public transport continues their pollution with their diesel engines. Granted that new diesel engines might be cleaner than existing petrol engines but the majority of our buses and taxis hardly looks new. The state of our buses and taxis brings us back to point number 1 & 3. A quick & dirty Google search will yield this.

Anyone care to add any more to the list?

Are birds afraid of heights?

2007-08-09T10:33:00.000+08:00

For those scientifically-inclined and critical minds, NO. Obviously those flightless birds are excluded to begin with. So think parrots, sparrows, and your usual birds that has the ability to shit on your head.

Boss not included.

Birds shouldn't be afraid of heights. It is as second nature to them as water is to fish. The air is their playground. High or low, they simply cannot be imagined to have fallen to their death; just as you can't drown the fish.

But I thought I had just seen a tinge of fear in my pet parrot, as its devilishly curious owner brought the unwitting furball up the stairs and set it alone on the railings looking 5m down to a silly grin and constant encouragement for it to make the jump.

5m? That's not too much of a height until we put things into perspective. The little furball is less than 10cm in height and 5m is 50 times its bodily height. Consider yourself at the top of a 28th storey building waiting to make the jump and tell me convincingly that death never crossed your mind.

For those in the know, yes, my bird had fallen off 11 stories from my window, by its own ingenuity and over-enthusiasm. But the conditions were different. There are space constrains. Try landing a Boeing 747 within a 50m runway.

Before the SPCAs decided to ask Google for my IP address, my pet parrot just had breakfast with me on my shoulder.

It jumped. And made a pompous landing on my dad's shoulder with lots of fowl language.

It is not the destination that frightens us, but the journey.

VENT!

2007-06-27T18:57:00.000+08:00

There isn't a time when I don't feel like telling you,

1) You've got an ego that's way too large for your capability
2) Your sense of logic is just about as accurate as a deaf recognising the works of Beethoven
3) Your questions had been the best detours anyone can have in a discussion
4) Last but not least, your humor had been as entertaining as a dead fish in a tank

My new wish...

2007-06-14T20:14:00.000+08:00

Beijing air pollution is slowly killing me...

The constant nonsensical chatter of people is bothering me...

The dry and hot weather is sucking the life out of anyone who dares venture out of the artificial air-conditioned cocoon...

I can't solve all the problems... But at least this new baby can... I want it!!!

When I say I don't know...

2007-06-12T19:44:00.000+08:00

When I say I don't know / I'm not sure...

It means:
1) I respect you as one of my peers in terms of knowledge and would like to engage in an intellectual conversation with you, willingly and humbly accept any mistakes or misinformed judgement I might have.
2) This might be despite the fact that I know that I'm more well-read and informed than you are.

Don't mistake my respect for your opinion as a sign of weakness.

Hilarious writings

2007-03-15T17:57:00.000+08:00

Just for laughs... ;)

1. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

2. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

3. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

4. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

5. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

6. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

7. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

8. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

9. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

My 10 sec of fame...

2007-03-15T00:51:00.000+08:00

bah.. thank god for the 4:3 aspect that mypaper crew is using.. at least i'm not looking half as fat!

anyway, had my first encounter with the media. check out mypaper.sg for the vodcast on the 豆花。

frankly, i was quite impressed by mypaper's articles. juicy and entertaining tabloid but with a much more professional journalistic angle to their article, unlike their more established counterpart, The Not-so-New Paper.

Microsoft VS Firefox

2007-03-12T08:58:00.000+08:00

If you're a Firefox user, Microsoft thinks that if you're smart enough to use a more secured browser, there's really no need for you to patch and secure their leaky OS.

Quote from Jack Welch

2007-03-04T01:18:00.000+08:00

“Too often we measure everything and understand nothing. The three most important things you need to measure in a business are customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and cash flow. If you’re growing customer satisfaction, your global market share is sure to grow, too. Employee satisfaction gets you productivity, quality, pride, and creativity. And cash flow is the pulse—the key vital sign of a company.” -- JACK WELCH --

Structure is strategy is slow motion

2007-02-04T11:24:00.000+08:00

“Structure is strategy in slow motion.” - ex-GM executive.

What can USD$1.2 trillion buy?

2007-01-17T11:49:00.000+08:00

What can $1.2trillion buy?

To all US citizens, for all your scientific progress and development, sadly speaking, majority are stupid. Period. Which explains whom you vote in to represent your interest internationally.

January 17, 2007
What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy

By DAVID LEONHARDT

The human mind isn’t very well equipped to make sense of a figure like $1.2 trillion. We don’t deal with a trillion of anything in our daily lives, and so when we come across such a big number, it is hard to distinguish it from any other big number. Millions, billions, a trillion — they all start to sound the same.

The way to come to grips with $1.2 trillion is to forget about the number itself and think instead about what you could buy with the money. When you do that, a trillion stops sounding anything like millions or billions.

For starters, $1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign — a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children’s lives.
Combined, the cost of running those programs for a decade wouldn’t use up even half our money pot. So we could then turn to poverty and education, starting with universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds.

The final big chunk of the money could go to national security. The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place — better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation — could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban’s recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur.

All that would be one way to spend $1.2 trillion. Here would be another:
The war in Iraq.

In the days before the war almost five years ago, the Pentagon estimated that it would cost about $50 billion. Democratic staff members in Congress largely agreed.
Lawrence Lindsey, a White House economic adviser, was a bit more realistic, predicting that the cost could go as high as $200 billion, but President Bush fired him in part for saying so.
These estimates probably would have turned out to be too optimistic even if the war had gone well. Throughout history, people have typically underestimated the cost of war, as William Nordhaus, a Yale economist, has pointed out.

But the deteriorating situation in Iraq has caused the initial predictions to be off the mark by a scale that is difficult to fathom. The operation itself — the helicopters, the tanks, the fuel needed to run them, the combat pay for enlisted troops, the salaries of reservists and contractors, the rebuilding of Iraq — is costing more than $300 million a day, estimates Scott Wallsten, an economist in Washington.

That translates into a couple of billion dollars a week and, over the full course of the war, an eventual total of $700 billion in direct spending.

The two best-known analyses of the war’s costs agree on this figure, but they diverge from there. Linda Bilmes, at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate and former Clinton administration adviser, put a total price tag of more than $2 trillion on the war. They include a number of indirect costs, like the economic stimulus that the war funds would have provided if they had been spent in this country.

Mr. Wallsten, who worked with Katrina Kosec, another economist, argues for a figure closer to $1 trillion in today’s dollars. My own estimate falls on the conservative side, largely because it focuses on the actual money that Americans would have been able to spend in the absence of a war. I didn’t even attempt to put a monetary value on the more than 3,000 American deaths in the war.

Besides the direct military spending, I’m including the gas tax that the war has effectively imposed on American families (to the benefit of oil-producing countries like Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia). At the start of 2003, a barrel of oil was selling for $30. Since then, the average price has been about $50. Attributing even $5 of this difference to the conflict adds another $150 billion to the war’s price tag, Ms. Bilmes and Mr. Stiglitz say. The war has also guaranteed some big future expenses. Replacing the hardware used in Iraq and otherwise getting the United States military back into its prewar fighting shape could cost $100 billion. And if this war’s veterans receive disability payments and medical care at the same rate as veterans of the first gulf war, their health costs will add up to $250 billion. If the disability rate matches Vietnam’s, the number climbs higher. Either way, Ms. Bilmes says, “It’s like a miniature Medicare.”

In economic terms, you can think of these medical costs as the difference between how productive the soldiers would have been as, say, computer programmers or firefighters and how productive they will be as wounded veterans. In human terms, you can think of soldiers like Jason Poole, a young corporal profiled in The New York Times last year. Before the war, he had planned to be a teacher. After being hit by a roadside bomb in 2004, he spent hundreds of hours learning to walk and talk again, and he now splits his time between a community college and a hospital in Northern California.

Whatever number you use for the war’s total cost, it will tower over costs that normally seem prohibitive. Right now, including everything, the war is costing about $200 billion a year.
Treating heart disease and diabetes, by contrast, would probably cost about $50 billion a year. The remaining 9/11 Commission recommendations — held up in Congress because of their cost — might cost somewhat less. Universal preschool would be $35 billion. In Afghanistan, $10 billion could make a real difference. At the National Cancer Institute, annual budget is about $6 billion.

“This war has skewed our thinking about resources,” said Mr. Wallsten, a senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a conservative-leaning research group. “In the context of the war, $20 billion is nothing.”

As it happens, $20 billion is not a bad ballpark estimate for the added cost of Mr. Bush’s planned surge in troops. By itself, of course, that price tag doesn’t mean the surge is a bad idea. If it offers the best chance to stabilize Iraq, then it may well be the right option.

But the standard shouldn’t simply be whether a surge is better than the most popular alternative — a far-less-expensive political strategy that includes getting tough with the Iraqi government. The standard should be whether the surge would be better than the political strategy plus whatever else might be accomplished with the $20 billion.

This time, it would be nice to have that discussion before the troops reach Iraq.

from me to you

2007-01-11T23:00:00.000+08:00

不知道你现在好不好
是不是也一样没烦恼
像个孩子似的神情忘不掉
你的笑对我一生很重要

这些年你过得好不好
偶而是不是也感觉有些老
像个大人般的恋爱有时心情遭
请你相信我在你身边别忘了
只要你过得比我好
过得比我好
什么是都难不倒所有快乐在你身边围绕
只要你过得比我好过得比我好
什么是都难不倒一直到老啦...

What sucks better than your vacuum cleaner?

2007-01-09T00:11:00.000+08:00

1) Citibank Credit Card & Customer Service

2) Qatar ground and cabin crew

3) Singnet sales and marketing department and Customer Service

I'll explain the fiascos in a short while. No. 1 & 3 is CIP (complain - in - progress). No. 2 is the worst. Can't even access their website to send them feedbacks. So much for an international company. 5 star airline my foot.

Heck-ed haha.

2006-12-19T15:55:00.000+08:00

Rah!

Miss Kee speaking. haha. Kangming you forgot to log out off your blogger account when you used my laptop! So here is an un-authorized entry from me.

Lan is aneroxic guys! Feed him food when he returns to Singapore!

0_O

Nice quote..

2006-12-16T15:27:00.001+08:00

"I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly,

or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. "

- Chuang Tse

Poem of the day...

2006-12-16T08:05:00.000+08:00

Never thought it would happen to me... even though it was man-made.

No grass on the busy road,

No hair on the clever brain.

KM-dictionary

2006-12-16T07:52:00.000+08:00

Self-reinforcement: -

the process of reassuring yourself that you did a good job by persuading your client to believe so too...

KM-Dictionary

2006-12-16T07:49:00.000+08:00

Man-made disaster: -

A deadly combination of Xiaolin, blunt scissors and your hair. The end result is rumored to be inspired by Forrest Gump.

In love...

2006-12-12T05:06:00.000+08:00

"If heaven isn't what it's cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald"

'Nuff said.

I did it

2006-11-30T06:09:00.000+08:00

Where else in the world, can you
1) pop your hand out of ya window, grab a bottle of coke and drink it chilled?
2) without having to worry about the condensation on your cup that will soon form into droplets of water threatening the very security of your laptop?

No where else but my little cosy corner I called home for the last 3 months or so. Think I'll seriously miss this place. Peeling open my eyes to the morning sun, opening the window for the cool breeze that wakes the rest of your body up. No where else, except my little Chambre 229, Ango Residence.

Moulin Rouge

One Day I'll Fly Away --Nicole Kidman

I follow the night

Can't stand the light

When will I begin to live again

One day I'll fly away

Leave all this to yesterday

What more could your love do for me

When will love be through with me

Why live life from dream to dream

And dread the day when dreaming ends

One day I'll fly away

Leave all this to yesterday

Why live life from dream to dream

And dread the day when dreaming ends

One day I'll fly away

Fly fly away...

I flew. This was my dream. And all dreams end. Am I dreading the day when it ends? I don't know. I just know that I will know in due course. In the mean time, I just want to continue my dream...

三人行，必有我师

2006-11-25T08:32:00.000+08:00

How many times have you learnt about some things, only to forget about it after the passage of time? I decided not to anymore. Not when my friends had taught me so much. So here's a new label named "I learnt" which contains snippets of inspirations my dear friends had either wittingly or unwittingly taught me.

First to start with -

Courage is not the absence of fear, but is acting in spite of it. - Chong Choon.

Think the original came from Mark Twain and Nelson Mandela. Anyway, following my subsequent interest in the subject, just want to share with my friends a passage.

"The one fear we must all guard against is the fear of ourselves. Don't let the sensation of fear convince you that you're too weak to have courage. Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice." - Abstract from "In search of Courage" by John McCain.

Home & Roots

2006-11-20T15:02:00.000+08:00

short entry before i go for oenology exam. well... once in a while, i would wake up to the morning and just feel blessed for all the chinese lang teachers i had, especially back in Catholic High days.

十年树木，百年树人。

They had really been the bedrock of many of my beliefs. Just this morning, the phrase "勿以善小而不为，勿以恶小而为之" from Mr. Chan Tep Kok somehow pops in my head. And of coz, the then irritating Mr. Pan Kah Hock nagging me to "严于律己，宽于待人", something to my embarrassment that though years had past, I still couldn't do it.

Maybe it's coz I mainly returned to Rouen with a jaded heart, taking things more granted than they should be. Thank you, Mr. Chan Tep Kok and Mr. Pan Kah Hock. I'm just glad that you were in my life and left a definite footprint in how I should conduct myself.

My respect to all Chinese teachers in Singapore, for standing firm in educating the next generation even though most chosed to ignore you.

叶子

2006-11-19T17:52:00.000+08:00

For you Szemin, from Rouen: -

叶子的离去，是树的不挽留，还是风的不止？

都无所谓。留只彩笔在心中，就永远永远不会有黑白。

What's colder than cold?

2006-11-19T16:37:00.000+08:00

Ans: At 6°C, the cold emanates from within.

Anyway, was looking around in my incredibly messy HD for resume and cover letter to apply for Beijing Qi Xia when I recalled those songs I got when I was in S'pore. Got to know these new songs from UFM1003's radio drama, 2530的未来. Nice drama with compelling script and fantastic voiceover from those incredible people Mediacorp once had but failed to take note. Well, enjoy the 4 songs below.

Never say goodbye - 动力火车

风还在吹着

天多久亮呢

这一切都有理由

是我们不晓得

爱不会累得

我耐心的等

渴望还能够一起

看看明年花开的颜色

Never say goodbye

Please don't say goodbye

要是错过幸福会有多遗憾

当眼泪流下来

让勇气走出来

我真的愿意相信奇迹的存在

Never say goodbye

Please don't say goodbye

故事没有说完不可以离开

我望着天

想要答案

想知道明天太阳还会不会出来

跟我说爱我 - 阿桑

曾在門外徘回　

終究進得門內

這不是一場夢　

只求時光你別

走但願它不是　

一個結束的開始

緊握住這一刻

譜成了永恆的歌

春風吹呀吹　

吹動樹枝頭

抖落一地愁　

煩惱不再有

心跳的節奏　

是無言的交流

彷彿你已開口跟我說　

愛我

不准哭 - 同恩

我把自己反锁在空荡荡的房屋

感谢你让我想个清楚

因为爱你所以我不做你的包袱

我不需要谁温柔安抚

请放心我很快就能恢复

找到一个人陪我漫步

不准哭我不要装可怜无辜

挡住你的路挡不住你追逐

不准哭我更应该微笑祝福

祝你找到对的幸福

如果我消失不见

你在乎不在乎

别含含糊糊我很在乎

因为爱你所以我选另外一条路

离开是我的最後让步

爱情就到这里结束

我们不得不不得不屈服只能笑

不准哭我不要装可怜无辜

挡住你的路挡不住你追逐

不准哭我学不会微笑祝福

祝你找到祝你找到对的幸福

一下下 - 同恩

最後一班懸浮火車　滿載懸在空氣中的不捨

我們卻像陌路旅客　在月台分開站著毫無牽扯

現在的我能說什麼　徘徊你們之間的流浪者

說決定是給你的　卻要你給我留下來的許可

＊我只想再哭一下下　把記憶徹底地分化　

等哭完我就會回家　眼淚我會替自己擦

我只想再哭一下下　假如你不反對的話

以後我不會再牽掛　可知我有多努力啊

只有這辦法　才不再想他

我希望你是諒解我的　感動過的痕跡很難割捨

一顆心就要愛你了　暫停一下並不算出爾反爾

Repeat ＊

我只想再哭一下下　假如你不反對的話

以後我不會再牽掛　可知我有多努力啊

Repeat ＊

我只想默哀一下下　假如你不反對的話

以後我不會再牽掛　可知我有多努力啊

只有這辦法　才不再想他

Jet-lag

2006-11-16T13:34:00.000+08:00

Never thought that I would be a victim of that, given my inborn ability to sleep anywhere anytime. In any case, jetlag gave a brand new meaning to 早睡早起.

8pm to 3am is now my sleeping time.

Day 1 - Paris - Madrid

2006-09-28T05:59:00.000+08:00

Crazy day. Woke up damn early in the morning to a shivering cold breeze coming into my room. Thinking that a hot shower will do me good, I went to Ellen's bathroom. She had warned yesterday that there's something wrong with the shower and that cold water might come on for a few seconds before reverting back to the hot water. Darn, I must be the first person to experience otherwise. The hot water came on for a few seconds, and it's freezing cold water for the rest of it. Perhaps Singapore should ban water heater and we can immediately see a reduction in water usage.

Anyhow, it is another mad rush to find where Blue Marble, our luggage storage place is with Ellen's parents. Peishi had her luggage missing and frankly, I was quite worried about her. But she arrived at the Blue Marble faster than we did despite the fact that she's much further away from Blue Marble, much thanks to the efficient (they had got to be @ 40 euros for a trip like that) taxi. The 3 of us are really indebted to our hosts. They spent like nearly 1 hour driving back and forth, asking around, kenna horn by other people and kissed their bumper to a small metal sticking out from nowhere, just to get us to Blue Marble. Whoever said that French are snobbish have obviously not met them before.

Our gracious hosts before we bid farewell outside Blue Marble.

A nice flight on Easyjet (albeit costing us quite a bit for budget airlines) brought us to Madrid. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So when we're in Spain, we followed fellow Spainards and cheated on the metro system. They are still using turnstiles and all 4 of us can pass through the turnstiles when it remains half-rotated. Bah, before you cast that disapproving look of yours, please bear in mind we're all poor asians students trying to make ends meet. Besides, we did not do it often... Not when the station controller is around anyway... ;)

Our Madrid Home

Plaza Mayor & took a candid pic of Xiaolin as she poses for the camera.

Trip to Spain won't be complete without Tapas & Tortillas

One thing I'll never get sick of is their crystal clear deep blue sky.

It was quite about 5+ pm when we finally reached our hostel and the pic above was taken @ about 8+pm. New experience for me to still be in the sun @ 8pm.

Plaza Mayor at night. Should have more of such places in Singapore. Best place to jio char boh.

As we walked the streets of Madrid, we found this shop owned by some Chinese from Zhejiang. Friendly lady who taught us a few Spanish phrases. Rather refreshing to talk to someone in Mandarin and rather surprising, to know that there're so many Chinese in Madrid. Ah well, as the saying goes, 有太阳的地方，就有中国人.

Yes, the famed alfresco dining with a musician available at the snap of your fingers, and of "cost" (pun-intended), some euros. Romance costs... :(

Afternote: damn dulan.. can't get the Youtube thingy aligned.. go to the website for the full view of the video.. if you got solution, email me yar.. thanks...

Day 0

2006-09-12T17:00:00.000+08:00

Thanks Adrian! Thanks Ritchie! Thanks Szemin! Thanks Herman! Thanks Suiying! Thanks Jasmin! Thanks Sijia! For coming in the most ungodly hours to send us off! And dear Geraldine who called to bid me farewell.
And of course, my most generous sponsors Mom and Dad, who made sure I had brought enough stuff to keep me comfortable during my stay in Rouen. Really appreciate all of that! :) Missing you guys right now...

Not forgetting our kind Qatar ground crew who upgraded me to my first Business Class seat (fordie>> if you're reading this, yes... Business class is SHOIK de! see below for pictorial illustration!)

It's not the number of times they serve you food, but the quality of food! Damn, so fresh is the strawberry juice that you immediately feel healthier! The frommage (French for cheese) & the smoked salmon is ooommm... bah.. the only complain i can have is that after we transit at DOHA, we will be back to normal.. squeezy economical class.

THAT toy is fun. It allows you to adjust your seat to fit all your weird bodily shape and comes complete with massage function. It also has 2 quick buttons that pops you up and be ready for the delicious food, or return you to your slumbering position for movie and sleep. And seriously, what jet-lag? Travel once in Business Class and I'm sure none will want to return to Economy Class. No wonder those business execs all want to fly Biz Class.

Landed in DOHA @ about 7+am and the sun is like so bright already. No wonder they need tudung. Most of their buildings are in light colors, mostly white. Interesting country. Watched a documentary in-flight on "Should the international community accept Hamas as a political partner?".

It is part of the DOHA Debate as Qatar as a country sincerely believes that it is in the position to do something for the peace process in Middle East. It also fulfils part of Qatar Foundation’s mission to encourage participatory education in the region, with the goal of creating well informed, engaged citizens. Small country, great ambitions. Extremly contrasting to our highly paid "professional job-finder for Singaporeans".

Another reason why Singapore can never be a developed nation and Mediacorp will always be in the red. Anyway, it's a great show. The panel speakers are all high profiled people as follows:-

For the motion, "This House believes that the international
community must accept Hamas as a political partner".

Stanley L. Cohen, a New York-based lawyer who is best
known for his defense of Mousa Abu Marzook the head of the political wing of Hamas.

Dr. Mohammad‐Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, Associate Director of the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research.

Opposing the motion

David Frum, former special assistant to President George W.Bush. He is also a bestselling author and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Salim Mansur, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He is a regular columnist in North American newspapers and contributor to international journals.

You gotta love this Stanley L. Cohen guy. If this debate is Manhunt 2006, I'll award him the most Intelligent Speaking and Charismatic trophies. And if you ever wonder why Bush sounds so stupid everytime he speaks, you gotta know who he surrounds himself with. That David guy, stutters, "ermm", used wrong examples that kick himself in the balls, and well.. basically, a bon à rien (good-for-nothing)

Needless to say, the house voted for the motion. No one feels sorry for the 2 dumbasses. I would vote for the motion too, for the love of mankind, but even more so for the price of the damn bloody petrol we're paying.

Back to being "sardined".

Toilet with a view

Our kind host and friend Ellen brought us to the Eiffel!

Replica of the flame on Statue of Liberty marks the place where Princess Diana was killed

I will never forget this fabulous meal and extremely warm family. Thanks.