~~ Birthday Luck....Lolz!! ~~

I wonder why people always believe in birthday luck and wishes. Guess maybe it does work for them...BUT...why is it that it never works for me! I don't even want to mention how my birthday wishes never did come true for even once for the past 20odds birthdays i remember celebrating. But just to have a bit of luck for the period should not be too much to ask for right. Apparently...someone up there do think it is a unrealistic request. Spare me please. When everything that can possibly go wrong has gone wrong...hahaha. Jiu Jiu Wo Ah!!!

Back to reality, its time for me to work hard again before my other commitments starts to pile up in a few weeks time. The way I see it...I owe it to alot of people to work hard. I hope I can se it through man. Tricia asked me before she left if I had any birthday resolutions. Heh...a flat NO was my response. How can she said...Haha. I guess to me though...resolution is just something symbolic...I prefer to work and adapt along the way because everything will be subjected to changes all the time. I find it hard to stick to a rigid plan that I should set for myself. Probably explains why I have not achieved much in my 23 years...haha.

Anyway...I know things will get better in time to come. Just need to get rid of some of the things I indulge in now. Maybe....just maybe that should be my resolution huh...lolz!~

~~ Another Birthday Gone Past!! ~~

Damn fast man! 22nd August...my 23rd birthday is gone just like that...had a great time celebrating with various groups of friends on various days. Let me recall...

18/08

Met up with Tricia in the wee hours of Thurs morning. Thanks for the mini-cake from Patissier...its really nice. I like the tie as well....though its abit gayish...lolz!!~ Anyway...hope you will enjoy your stay in Canada. Will go look for you if I ever strike 4d and decide to take a long break...:p

Thursday afternoon, met up with former colleagues Ronald and Brandon for coffee at TCC...nice time catching up with u all...and thanks for the "present" Haha!

20/08

Saturday night was spent at Barcelona with Kelvin, Serena and Don. Nice surprise they gave me...the live band singing me a birthday song...and the nice cake from Hans followed by supper at Phin's. Nice steak...certainly worth the money. I like the presents also. Zippo and namecard holder with my name engraved on it. You Gan Dong Du....Wo Heng Xi Huan...hahaha!

21/08

Spent the eve of my birthday having dinner at Marche Suntec with Yaoz, Cherylyn, Ivy, Xiulin, Yanling, Ying and KINGMENG....the other birthday boy. Fancy us having the same birthday....what a small world. Shared a nice Mango Cake from Bengawan Solo at Starbucks later on. Also thanks to Kiat and gf for making the effort to drop by later. Really appreciate it.

22/08!!!

A simple supper at 85 with poly yr3 mates...as usual..haha. Weird choice of location but its the best alternative I could think of due to the varying schedules of all you busy folks. Nonetheless, had a nice time crapping for 2-3hrs over the usual hawker fares available there. Of course I think its a must to mention the $5 fried carrot cake....haha...credits to Rachel. :p No cake this time round though...a special request by me...lolz. Had enough of it the past few days. I was given a nice Braun Buffel Wallet with 22SGD and 1 ringgit inside....the ringgit courtesy of Ivy.

Would really like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to all who made an effort to make my brithday a not so simple one. Even though I wasn't really in the "groove" to celebrate this time round, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised that there were so many people who remembers....thanks to techonology...friendster and birthdayalarm.com. I think that really helps. Many thanks to well-wishers who sent msgs through friendster, MSN, smses and phone calls. You Gan Dong Du wor~

I mean at a time like this when anything can possibly go wrong...at least I know I got friends around me who remembers...heh. Quite comforting.

~~ Project Superstar Grand Finals!! ~~

Yes!!! Kelly got in!!! OMG!!!
I am really happy for her....I mean I do feel for the other contestant Sinhui...but its a popularity contest after all. If this is your everyday karaoke contest...I have no doubt who the winner will be...but like what the hosts always claims...your every votes counts. Alot of people fail to realise that fact...i shall talk about that later.

As announced earlier, Kelly will be pitting herself against Weilian, a guy who came through the competition shrouded by no lesser controversies himself.

Let me talk about Kelly first...her performance hasn't been impressive lately...though her consistency still remains....I mean she has always put up above average performances since the first round...impressing many including me. Of course the fact that she is more pleasant looking does help to a certain extent. I am just trying to say she deserves her place in the final despite having lower score for the night...her rapport with the public was built up not only in one or two nights...rather since day one when the competition started...she had her fair share of supporters already.

However, the beaten finalist Sinhui does deserve our applause as well. I am sure I have never seen a more gracious loser than her....her performances were excellent...her improvements significant. I would have no problem with her in the final as well. I would have just admitted that Kelly were just inferior on the night...and the votes...where its of upmost importance...were lacking. This is a fact I think alot of people fail to digest...She is not out because she is not pretty enough...neither is it because she does not sing well enough...and definitely not because of her NATIONALITY. The only reason IS.....she did not garner enough votes to make it! I mean is this fact really so hard to swallow? I really do not understand. Do your own simple calculations and you will realise that the points advantage Sinhui had over Kelly amounted to just 1% of the final result...and that...I guess is just a matter of less than a hundred votes.

The same goes for the male contestants as well. Everyone is saying how they could let a blind guy eliminate someone like Junyang who is pleasant looking and can sing very very well. Junyang's a hot favourite that I will agree. But again they failed to realise that the THEY that they are accusing now is themselves. Vote more and get him in...as simple as that. It does not help when he gets thousands of people adknowledging his talents BUT do not vote. And it certainly does his image no good if his fans come out and cry foul.

Come on! What blind guy are we talking about? He has a name and he made his name known to many through his hard work all this while. When I say hard work, I mean its the extra effort put in to do what the visually abled are doing. He didn't have his vision to interact with the audience....he even struggled to orientate himself on the stage just so that he could at least reach out to audiences from different directions. He didn't have the luxury of having singing classes to build up his foundation. He deserves to be there...be it through votes casted in appreciation of his talents or due to sympathy. Seriously, if he does not have the talent to begin with, no amount of sympathy will help. Those still in reluctance of accepting the truth...be REALLY ashamed of yourself.

Like it or not, Weilian will be on stage in Indoor Stadium come September 1st. All because his fans worked hard at voting for him while Junyang's fans simply failed to. Nah!

Sometimes the simplest of facts can be so difficult to get across...it baffles me seriously. Whatever the case is...I am soooo looking forward to the grand finals....woohoo~

~~ BENGLISH!! ~~

CHECK THIS OUT MAN!

Something really cool from kennysia

A Benglish translator that translates your anyday normal English webpage to a Benglish page...go check it out man...haha

~~ A wait worthwhile...heh ~~

For almost close to 3 months of non EPL actions...finally the new season kicked off on Saturday. Arranged to meet the usual kakis to meet up at BarCelona our favourite haunt. And what better way to start the season than to have my favourite ManU in action against Everton. Without any silverware last season, ManU was more than determined to make up for it. Same goes for Everton who wants to prove that they are not a one season wonder. Both teams were really hungry and hence produced a great match for my standards. ManU were eventual winners with dear Rooney and good old Van Nistelrooy scoring one each. Heh...made my day. I hope ManU's run will continue.

It was also heartening to see ManU's first Asian first team player, Park Ji Sung, playing his heart out for the team. Determined to prove that he is not brought to ManU just for commerical purposes, he put up a brilliant performance that could jeopardize the place of regulars Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo. Being Asian certainly did not deal him with a disadvantage in any sense. He more than made up for his smaller physique with his blistering pace and precise passing. All that said, I hope he gets a chance to sustain a run in the team and eventually be a permenant fixture in the starting line-up.

So this is a weekend filled with endless soccer actions...the 3 months wait was definitely worth it...I am already looking forward to the next weekend...haha!

~~ National Day...Again ~~

Time seems to fly by so fast and we do not even realise it huh...Its National Day yet again. I still remember National Day last year. I was at the National Stadium. No...not by choice...lolz!~

I was involved in the NDP together with my campmates....those were the days....heh. Memories be it good or bad that were created and meant to stay in my mind for a very long while...

I remember the times when we stayed overnight at the stadium watching over some stupid sound systems which served us well despite being older than me.
I remember sneaking out to KFC with Edwin...and goodness know how we ended up in Pasir Ris with Lionel later on in the night.

I remember waking up in the wee hours of the morning and drove a minibus from dear old Mandai to Deyi Sec where those students had their weekdays rehearsal.
I remember the AMK market we always went to after the rehearsal. I also remember the Singapore Pools outlet that we loved to visit while the rehearsal was still on going.

I remember Haig Girls School and and we had our dinner at Old Airport Market. I also remember how Adam got pissed off by us all the time...wahaha

I remember the times when we had to reach the stadium in the wee hours on weekends and stayed until everyone has gone before we can call it a day. By that I meant close to midnight sometimes.
I remember how cigs and snacks were our only solace as we watched the rehearsals over and over again. It certainly ain't fun.

I remember seeing most of my bunkmates slogging hard laying the lines for communications at the stadium while I had the easier task of setting up sound systems. I remember their faces when they came back from the stadium after a hard day's work. I also remember being impressed by their work when I had the chance to see it for myself. Its certainly no easy feat...some of the things they do. And I remember the only solace I could offer them is a puff and that's about all it takes to relieve them. Boy...those were the days.

That's not all man...I am not about to stop...haha

I remember how we cursed and sweared when we slogged day in day out and yet did not receive due recognitions for our efforts. However, all issues were rectified somehow or rather. I remember how we were made to undertake alot of responsibilties that we were not expected to. NS is Killing Singapore!! Haha...

I remember the times the extra responsibilties were too much for us and we had to shuttle between locations with limited resources and manpower. I remember how we managed to fufill them in the end and how Marcus got extra offs for us...haha

I remember how those CMTL fuckers(in charge of vehicles) loved to make trouble for us and kinda expected to screw us up each and every time. Nontheless, they were usually disappointed I guess. Now DO U ALL REMEMBER??? haha

I remember how all these shit were clean forgotten when we had the Primary 5 students with us during one National Education Show. I remember how they screamed at everything little thing. It really made our day. I also remember that the actual day itself seem to go past much faster than initally thought. All 7-8mths of hard work...all for one night. I remember how Goh Chok Tong bade his final farewell in the capacity of Prime Minister. We bade farewell as well....to all the shit we have gone through just to make the show right...heh.

I am sure there are many many more things that can be added on...but my hands are tired of typing already...feel free to add on though...NDP 04 people....

To be frank, I feel fortunate to be involved with NDP with most of my campmates....well not solely because of the off days i got..that's a plus I must admit. But I am more appreciative of the fact that it provided us with a better opportunity to bond together....I am sure many will agree. :)

Ban Smoking! Ban it!!

I just read news about smoking being banned in kopitiams and hawker centers soon...and its gonna be extended to all nightspots and entertainment outlets from next year onwards. Wooohooo!!~~ But I say its definitely not enough...why not impose more extreme measures??

I provided some pointers for the authorities in case the situation in Singapore does not improve.


1. Just god damn ban smoking in Singapore...don't impose so much regulations lah...waste of time...just ban the sale of cigarettes in Singapore man...well of course that would mean the government would lose a significant avenue of income from tobacco tax...but no worries...just increase the various taxes available...u got COE, ERP, property tax, income tax! Among the many that they get to choose from.


2. Impose a reward system....tax rebate for non-smokers! I am sure that will work...


3. Increase the price of cigarettes. Make smoking a luxury. Cmon man...$11 per pack for a packet of Malboro or Dunhill is way too cheap and it will not deter anyone from smoking! Make it $20!


4. Cigarettes rationing. Each citizen is only entitled to a certain amount of cigarettes per week. Anymore and you have to pay a levy...and the levy should be set ridiculously high so that people will think twice about smoking more than they should.


5. Impose an air-pollution tax. Do not let smokers get away with polluting the air...or at least charge them for it so that our nation's reserves will actually benefit from the pollution. Anyway...they can simply account for it by saying they will use the money to grow more trees to freshen the air. Or some other ways which they do not need to let us know...we are not supposed to understand anyway.


6. Restrict the avenue to purchase cigarettes. You can practically get cigarettes anywhere now. How is that supposed to help deter smoking? Make it somewhere inaccesible...like Pulau Ubin or Tuas or Lim Chu Kang. Who would wanna drive or travel all the way there just to get their daily dose of cigarettes? The ciggy rationing should also apply here in case people buy in bulk. I know of people who buy in slots for the sake of convenience.


7. Make smokers wear a "I am a smoker" tag. That way, the general public can have the option to isolate smokers because they can be identified with relative ease.


8. Make use of the mass media. Propaganda works! So run daily advertisements on TV and print media on the harmful effects of smoking. Reveal the daily statistics of people dying from lung cancer and heart-related diseases. That should scare the shit out of smokers.


9. Introduce another form of addictive. Promote alternatives like morphine or ketamin(not sure of the spelling). It is abit extreme but it sure could be an effective though desperate measure. The kick from it should be better than smoking....and it does not result in passive smoking...smokers happy from the extra kick...non smokers happy because it wun affect them...isn't that a win-win situation?


Hmmm...I am sure one of these ideas should work well. And I got more ideas that should come in handy as well. But I need a break first. Nb...why is my Dunhill sold out everywhere? Now I gotta make do with Malboro...sux man.