June 9th, 2006
A new life and Doreamon
12:03 am
I woke up really really late today. I guess the last 3 nights of Diablo II really killed me. I’ve been sleeping later and later and later. Although last night I was in bed by 3. All this pirating and diablo-ing really wears on you. Returned some email online for an hour today and was out to the gym by 1445 but because I had to go to the hospital later that evening I had to be done by about 5. I thought ok… why not? New workout shorter time. Turns out the lower sec waterpolo boys were in the gym and hogging everything else. By the time they were done it was already 1600 so I quickly did half a workout and left. Tomorrow it continues. Speaking of which. I got my 1 month pass from Cali Bugis. The grrl there didn’t want to give me the spiel on the sales bit after I gave her my name card so she just walked me around the gym and we talked about her and her work, about working out and the rights and wrongs. Bottomline? 289 for 4 months and 60 every month. I don’t see why i should. I pay 400 a year. But I did the body composition test and I’m 104% obese. Yay!
I got word early this morning that a good friend from a long time ago had her baby yesterday afternoon. It was really wierd too coz I was just messaging her yesterday at between 12noon and 1530hrs… it turns out that her hubby was doing the replying. Wow. It’s pretty amazing. I still can’t get over it whenever this happens. I suppose I should get used to it considering that a lot of my friends are “coming of age” and babies are abound. Vicki and I used to be such great friends in school. She was one of the babes in school that everyone talked about. I didn’t really see the big deal she was and, well up till her pregnancy, flat. She admits it.
Vicki and I were classmates during my first year in JC so that makes her a year younger than I. We had a blast… she always used to hang out with the other RGS girls and they woul sorta gossip. She was one of the grrls who would ask me why I couldn’t be bothered and stuff like that. But she was different, she was simply the matter-of-fact person and she placed no judgements. She was going out with someone who was a year her senior and I remember that when she told me she was going out with Reuben, I was like, “you’re going out with him?? But he’s an ASSHOLE….!!” She gave me this incredulous look and said, “He’s NOT an asshole… but then everyone says he is…. *sigh*” Turns out he WAS an asshole.
We started yapping on the phone and hanging out a little in school and class. I never really really hung out with her outside of school… I guess that’s what I appreciated her for…she valued and understood that a lot of those times I wanted to be alone and to do my own things. She realised that I had my problems and she didn’t judge me like the others, not like the teachers or the so called friends. She stuck by me through and through… silently and from a distance and she rooted me on as a friend. She supported me even when she didn’t agree. I used to call her up and just by the tone of her voice, I’d go, “Oi… you PMS ah?” and she go, “How come you always know?” Coz we’re friends and I could tell something was wrong with her mood.

<– this is indeed a terrible, terrible pic. our prom nite. goodness… that was some terrible makeup. (on her dammit!)
When I was retained in JC1 I thought the friendship would end, but she became my “senior” class and we shared the same LT(6). Whenever 2SCx trooped out of LT6, 1SCx trooped in and we’d pass by in the corridor. During some of the tutorials Vicki and I would be writing little notes, bitching at what was happening in class and during LT, jotting down stuff that’s in our heads, and just “talking” on paper. As we’d pass by in the halls, we’d pass each other our little handwritten notes, sometimes in silence as we continued chatting with our own classmates, somethings we exchanged greetings. She was typically always chirpy and I was typically moody. It was joy to read her little pick me up notes in those, that I consider, the dark days. I had my relationships and she had hers and even through our individual relationships, we’d still write as friends and talk on the phone as friends. I suppose we had less time on the phone when she went to J2 but we still stayed in touch now and then.

After I completed my Promo exams for the second time, I realised how fucked I was. I realised I didn’t even need to come back to school, it was the end of my JC education… there was nothing for it. This was sometime in early october (i think), and I didn’t go to school after that. I went out to work¹. When my classmates paged me and told me I should come back to school coz the results would be released, I took a day off and went back to school. I remember it felt a bit strange but rather heartwarming to wear the uniform again. I don’t remember collecting my results, I only remember I had something like 1 E and F for everything else. There wasn’t a point in staying in school, but I remember that there was one more paper to collect after lunch so I went out and bought my first pack of fags. Gudang Garam. I even went into school, walked up to the top of the stairs on one end of the main building and lit up². Who cared? What could they possibly do to me? Suspend me? Kick me out of school? Guess who I saw as I came down the stairs? Vicki. She came looking for me after my other good friend Pi got worried that I wasn’t in class and I was super moody (again). So she asked Vicki.

“Were you smoking?” She asked in that distinctive voice of hers… which sort of fluttered when she got excited and went into a near falsetto.
“yes.”
“You know you’re going to get into a lot of trouble?”
“what could they possibly do? Kick me out of school? I’m already going to be kicked out.”
“why?”
“coz I got 1 E and 3F’s”
“oh… what did you get the E in?”
“Bio”
“well I’m proud of you…you super flunked bio last year.” That’s sort of the conversation. I only remember that bit. That was rather sweet of her… always looking on the bright side of things.

Wow. It’s been 13 years. I remember she even called me once after I left school the following year. She was in NUS I think and she was thinking of dating another good friend of hers. I even remember warning her about it that it would jeopardize the whole friendship thing if things soured. In fact I reminded her of our conversations about being more than friends. We were pretty glad we didn’t. Now that I think of it, I shudder! It didn’t last for her and Jxxxson. Now she’s married and she has little Sarah! Time flies. Vicki really is a wonderful wonderful person. I still count her as a friend.. even though we’ve drifted apart after she went to NUS and I went to NS.

I googled Doreamon and found this. One learns something NEW everyday.

1: I don’t know how I pulled it off with my parents but I found me a temp job and I worked.
2: I was already 19 and over the age limit. The 18 legal age legislation only started when I was 19, so that rule never really applied to me.

June 2nd, 2006
12:25 am

Indeed. Insurance agents are such wankers aren’t they? They pester you, they hard sell you, they always seem to be concerned for you and your family, and god forbid that they should ever be concerned for you and the people that surround you. May Hell curse them should then even mention that they are concerned about your friends. They’re ALL money grubbing monsters who only do it for the money.

Yes. They’re ALL like that, useless pieces of trash that society has rejected because they can’t fit into the general scheme of things. Yup, they’re like that… just like all “oriental” people in the West cannot speak english and come from China, all “black” people from Africa live in trees, all HIV postive people are gay, and all teachers are losers coz they can’t hack it in the proverbial “real” world. Curse to them all.

*Gasp!* Jooles! How can you say such a thing? Well why the hell not? People say it all the time? What makes me any different? I’m chinese and I lived in the West, so therefore I’m am from China. Technically so, isn’t it? I am Chinese and I have chinese roots in the Mainland. Go, go Gadget Chairman Mao! Whassup with the Óriental nonsense anyways? I’ll tell you what it is… it’s a term coined by our former colonial masters for anything that ran EAST of London. No I’m not shitting you, that is the official definition. So who’re the real wankers of today? Those that make generalisations in their myopia? Or those that merely choose to go in the other direction?

What is so wrong in the idea that there are people out there who really give a shit — People who really give a damn? People who really care? There certainly are teachers out there who really care about their students and very little about their career advancement. I know one who has a first class degree from Cambridge but he chose to stay in teaching, at the same very school he came from. He even turned down the P position many many times in his career to stay in his chosen field and chosen school. Can I blame him? His boss was his teacher.

But Jooles, you really shouldn’t think about what these people say…. Yes indeed. How can you be empathetic and apathetic at the same time? Take the best and throw the best? Indeed. Should I stay or should I go? Break and give in to the social strain/pressure? Break and believe that I gave up? Give in to the challenge? What’s wrong in taking the easy way out? If I leave what shall I do with my prized clients/friends? I can’t just give up on them like that. But Jooles of course you can. Yes sure I can, but I made a promise to them… I really hope I can keep them. But there’re so many considerations to make. So many. But nobody really understands. Life is such isn’t it?

Only I have the answers. It’s within me, in my heart, in my Soul. Deep within the recesses of my mind and Soul hides the Truth. The truth shall set me free. Or will it?

2006-05-13 05:59:00

Current mood: apathetic
there really seems to be more babies around these days. Is it because of the baby bonus nonsense? are singaporean so myopic that a cash bribe of a mere $1,500 per child will suffice to entice young marrieds to bring forth new life?

here’s the low down on the baby bonus nonsense according to the blurb from
“Children Development Co-Savings (Baby Bonus) Scheme

Singaporeans do want more children. They agree that three would be ideal, according to a Government survey. But the lack of time, energy and money are cited as reasons for not having the dream family size. The Baby Bonus Scheme, first introduced in April 2001, has been enhanced to support parents’ decision to have more children by helping to lighten the financial costs of raising children.

The scheme now also benefits the first and fourth child born on or after 1 August 2004. The first child will receive a cash gift, while the second to fourth child will receive both a cash gift and a co-savings matching contribution from the Government.”

Here’s my point… you give $1,500 cash to the 1st and 2nd children and $6,000 cash to the 3rd and 4th. Big fat hairy deal. Where does the cash go? Paying the hospital bills? Why? Coz the bloody hospitals know it… so what do they do? They crank up the bills. They bloody charge you for all sorts of nonsense. But that’s not my biggest beef. My biggest beef is the stupid “Co-Savings in Children Development Account” crap. From the second child onwards, the Government matches your contribution dollar for dollar up to $6,000 for the 2nd kid and up to $12,000 for the 3rd and 4th kids. So if I stick in $6,000 and/or $12,000, it’ll be matched by the Government to give amounts of $12,000 and $24,000 respectively. Wow. Not bad. Right. Here’s my philosophy on Money… the Man always wins… the House always wins… you get the idea. Let’s lay this out:

A) POSB Only

The account can only be started in POSBank. I’m wondering WHY POSBank and only POSBank? Is it because they merged with DBS and everyone’s going to DBS anyways? What’s up with the whole sch-bang deal anyways? I maintain it’s a means by which to fill up the coffers of POSBank¹. Which not only saw a steady decline in the 50’s but saw another decline after the merger in the early 90’s. Who says? I bloody say so. Massage the numbers all you want, it’s obvious that POSBank targets the heartlanders with their “quantity not quality” syle of management/marketing. What POSBank needs desperately is a serious INFUSION of moola. Just like they did in the early 80’s, with the silly squirrel saver campaign². What do banks do with that all that deposit money? Well doesn’t it all then boil down to the history of money?³. They invest it and lend it to other buggers. Who’s the ultimate winner? Duh! So here’s the problem, the Emperor rules the country with an iron fist designed to look and feel like a feather boa, and so there’s literally zero competition. Every bank gives you the same low down, effed up rate of a miserable 0.125%. That’s 0.00125.

For every $1,000 I stick in POSB, I get a whopping $1.25. Per annum no less. WTF.

B) Approved Institutions

Now this money can’t be used by anyone but “approved institutions.” That’s like saying, “why don’t you suck up to me, bribe me legally, pay my fees, get my approval for your ‘educational’ activities and I’ll put you in my ‘approved’ list.” Sheesh. Now let’s say this money isn’t all used, where does it go? Can you say “EduSave?” Good. Now follow that train of thought, what if EduSave isn’t completely used up? Can you say, “CPF?” Why would our children need a shit load of money in CPF starting at such a young age? Coz of the LIBERALISATION of cpf? What the heck is going on? The money we’re sticking in is simply being rolled over and over and over, back in to guess who? The Government. Brilliant. And this is on top of the CPF that we contribute. If CPF is so darned good, why do we need to start working towards the Minimum Sum at birth?? WTF?!

Now imagine this… every married couple has an average of 3 kids which might possibly mean they stick in about $18,000 in total. Say there are a miserable 1million couples… that’s a $18,000,000,000. Let’s say the bank/edusave/cpf invests this insane amount of money at a meagre 10% return per annum…. for 20 years no less. Can you go, “!!!”? Fuck. Even if you match 18,000, spread that over 20 years and it’s still about 1,000 a year… now what’s 1,000 divided by 18,000? 0.055…? FIVE FUCKING PERCENT? Tsk.

And the Winner is…. *DING* DING*

What did I say? Who da man? Who yo’ daddy? The Man. The Man. The MAN. Ah but wait. There is a caveat to this “rule.” The Rich. If I was rich enough to drop in the stinking $6,000 and/or $12,000, 1 month after the birth of my children, who cares? What’s $6,000? What’s $12,000? One slug?⁶.

The Rich

The Rich might also go, “meh… what’s a slug or 2?” right? Right. Absolutely. But the Rich didn’t become rich by biting the hand that feeds. Who’d go, “you’re giving me money? Seriously? No thanks!” Fuck. They’d probably go, “Sure thanks for the money, I really need it to feed my family. *rolls eyes*” Then they’d take another $20,000 they had, stick it in a nice foreign bank⁷ that pays a shit load more interest for a regular savings account. then there’re the fixed deposit sort of accounts. Choices aplenty! Of course then they’d take another $20,000 and stick in derivatives or something. No risk, no return!

Jooles you DUMBASS

What? I digressed? Not really. Sorta. Maybe. Kinda. Are there more kids? I think so. I’m pretty sure there are coz Singaporeans, especially of the heartlander inclination, will only see the small stuff, not the cold light of day. Whee! We get $3,000 for having sex and having a child. Myopic indeed.

Notes

1: See history of POSBank according to Wikipedia.org. “The Post Office Savings Bank was established on 1 January 1877 in the General Post Office Building, in Raffles Place by the British Government. The bank had a relatively glorious past; by 1951, the bank had its 100 000th depositor, and followed a slow decline after the reaching its peak in 1955.

The bank became part of the Postal Department prior to independence, and it was only after independence when the then Minister for Finance, Goh Keng Swee, who rediscovered the potential of the bank to develop the infrastructure of the infant citystate.

In 1972, the Post Office Savings Bank, or commonly referred as the POSB or POSBank by then, was made a Statutory Board under the Ministry of Communications. Prior to the consolidation, the Post Office Savings Bank Act of 1971 was passed to govern the structure and operational efficiency of the bank. In 1974, POSBank was transferred to become part of the Ministry of Finance; Credit POSB Pte Ltd was established in the same year to provide custom-tailored loans relating to HDB housing ownership.

By 1976, POSBank had one million depositors, while deposits crossed the S$1 billion mark. In 1980, it introduced the Passcard, and set-up the Principal Branch. In 1981, its first Cash-On-Line ATM machine opened at the Newton Branch. In 1983, its headquarters were shifted to the new 8-storey complex, the POSBank Centre at Bras Basah Road. In 1984, the current account facility was introduced, and by 1986, deposits crossed the S$10 billion mark.

The Post Office Savings Bank was renamed as POSBank as of March 1990, and subsequently fully acquired by DBS Bank on 16 November 1998, at the same time, ceased to exist as a statutory board under the Ministry of Finance. POSBank still operates one the highest number of bank branches in Singapore, especially in the suburban neighbourhoods, and operates the highest number of ATM outlets throughout Singapore. The integration of both banks allowed customers of either bank to share the facilities; DBS Bank depositors may use the Cash Deposit Machine installed islandwide in POSBank branches, likewise for POSBank depositors.”

2: Yes I remember the stupid campaign. I still see in my mind’s eye the damned squirrel (which I can’t find an image of… did they bloody get so embarrased with it that they destroyed all evidences of it?)

3: You gotta make money grow; So sometime in history when shells⁴ were the currency of the day, there was this guy — let’s call him BenQue⁵. So BenQue goes to shell-rich CrabMan and says, “Yo, dude. Give me all your shells and I’ll give you 1 shell for every 10 shells you give me. I promise to keep it safe for you and I promise that you’ll get your 10 extra shells for your every shell when Cancer next appears in the heavens. (So there we have the basic idea of interest.) So CrabMan goes, “WTH, why not. What have I got to lose?” and proceeds to give BenQue 1,000 shells.

BenQue then goes to Swamp (dweller) Loser and says, “Hey dude… I like you, and I think you could do better than living in a dump like this. What say I give you 300 shells and you can move on up the bank away from all this muck and slime, and concentrate on being dry WHILST still managing your slug-farming activites. You can farm more slugs, sell more slugs because you have to spend less time draining the family bedroom of slime, whenever the tide comes in. You could probably sell 5 times more slugs than you normally sell. In return when the Twins — Gemini appear in the sky you give me 2 shells for every shell I give you? How’s that? If you sell your slugs at 1 shell each, instead of making the 10 shells a day, you’d might be able to earn 50 shells a day! Now is that a bargain or what? So Swamp Loser says,”hey… now that’s not a bad idea… the stupid non swamp dweller doesn’t know the business as well as i do… I could probably sell 10times more slugs! And I’d still come up tops!”

So here we have it. Ultimately who wins?

4:No really. Let’s just assume shells were a form of currency. You know the like, usually from animals of class crustacea and their friends of the exoskeletal nature.

5: BenQue… BenQ… Ben-Q… Ban-Q… Banque… BANK?? It’s not as direct as naming a building YENOM, but it’s the same cheena-fied idea. (YENOM… MONEY?? Duh.)

6: See Note 3 on the Swamp (dweller) loser and his Slugs

7: in say, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, or any where else for that matter.

Current mood: cheerful
Current music: Deep Dish - GU021 - Moscow - Deep Dish - CD2

circuit training
I came across this while I was doing a search on human musculature:

“Your Questions Answered about ‘Circuit Training’
The human musculature doesn’t care if resistance is from weights or a piston, but do it the right order to get results.”
Full Article here.

I particularly like this quote: “… if you do not regularly change the stimulus to the muscle, all increases in strength or muscular endurance will plateau …”"

Here’s more though I’m not sure I would actually advise these sort of thing for anyone. Still it’s worth a look.
Combat Obesity
Independent Hydraulic Fitness Gyms Have the Solutions

and then there’s this: The 22-Minute Workout
A training system for both men and women in just 22-minutes, the secret lies in what’s in between the stations.

The thing to to note about these exercises is that they’re good for the general public. So who says working out is for hard core’s?
I think I pulled my lower abs the other day. Everytime I did a leg raise or a sit up there’d be this strain sort of pain. Not quite painful but irritating.

eadwine says I should blog how Im trying to quit smoking.
So here goes:

How did I start? Well I think one day I just went out of the house, tried to look in my bag for my fags and realised, “WTF? I forgot I ran out of fags. I must’ve smoke my last one last night.”

The idea that I’ve been a slave to this habit for the last 10 years or so has been quite shack. I mean I looked at myself and said that I could pick up new stuff, like skiing in a single season, I pick up wakeboarding in less than 3 runs, and I lost weight and got this body in 3 months. If I can do all that shite, why can’t I bloody do WELL for my business AND frigging quit smoking. The idea that I was a slave to something just didn’t sit very well It’s that simple. I didn’t want to be a slave anymore. The shitty thing about it was that I was a voluntary slave.

It’s been about about 3 weeks now? Alright no.. it’s been about 2.5 weeks. I’ve had maybe about 1 fag on the average a day since. But I haven’t bought a pack since. I’ve been close to buying when I get depressed or upset or just plain bored. But the gum has really worked. It tastes like crap after a while but it does help. I was into phase 1 of the withdrawal but that’s over. The typical runny nose, sneezing, coughing and general feel fucked-up-ness. That was over quickly and I must admit that the 1 fag or 2 helped. There were days I had none and there were days I had up to 4. It’s only been 4 days since I had any fags at all. The gum is working. But I’m into phase II of the withdrawal shite now. I get a runny nose if I dont take any stims…. ie: coffee helps, tea helps and Kickstart™ definately helps.

I didn’t go to work today coz I feel like shitz. The morning coffee helped and I’m starting my 2nd pack of nicorettes (2mg). The mouth is still dryish but not so bad. I Soooooooooooo want a fag now. But chew chew chew! So that’s it… so far. I’ve been eating like a pig and my only consolation is that i can still afford it at the moment. I think I’m going to serious switch back to supersets to get some burn and get back to running. It’s been a week.

The Tong is in Town
25 April 2006
My buddy from way back is back in town. Holy smokes! It’s really good to see him. We were classmates in acj and we went through a lot together. From his suffering from depression to sharing of our teenage angsts to clowning around town in someone’s daddy’s car. It was utterly amazing! Thinking about it brings this massive grin to my face. I was talking to M last night about his policy and how he kept postponing me. I told him it had to stop…stop postponing and meet me and let’s do up his plan and get it done. When we met up, he seemed nonchalant. But then that’s M for you. 14 years and some things just don’t change. Good news is that he’s decided to take out another plan. Whee! Now the question is when he’s going to sign. Anyhoo… he goes,”… in fact L’s in town… just got in last night,” when I mention that I caught up with Nag to get him some GI for his company, and that he’s in London. So I just met up with Leon and Gan. Wow!! What a feeling!

The silly things we used to do.

I remember once that some of them went out in the car, and I think Nag, M, YL and Markus was in the car with L. They had the windows down in M’s dad’s civic and they were yelling at SPG’s. They saw this SPG in a convertible with her guy and just started yelling “SPG! SPG!” Then they decided to drive around town doing just that….waylaying SPG’s and their lovers — “SPG! SPG!” So my friends kept doing that until someone piped up, “Ey. L. Isn’t your mudder a SPG, technically?”
L goes, “Ey! you’re right man. I think we better stop this shit.”
*guffaw* *guffaw* and on with the show….

Another time we were heading to one of them Jam and Hops at NUS. We went in 2 cars. I was in YL’s merc with M, and the indian, eurasian, and sri lankan and singh were in the other car. All along the way to NUS we were gesturing and cursing and swearing at each other through wound down windows at traffic lights. We were really laying it on thick and people actually thought that the racist comments we made at each other were for real. We finally came to this light just before NUS and the other chaps jump out of the car, open the boot and whip out the hockey sticks and cricket bats that were there and start to head towards us. The horror on the look of the other motorists were simply classic! Anyways they didn’t get 2 metres from their car; as they headed our way the light changed, we went “bye suckers!” and moved off. M in the other car started to move off too and these guys literally threw their shit through the open windows and jumped in head first through the open windows! We were nuts!

As we chatted, L made a comment about how he missed me and that it was good to see me. I said the same damn thing. It was really good to see L. It’s been too many years. He said it was funny how we were always the underdogs in school but now we’re doing things that weren’t really run-off-the-mill. I commented that even when I returned to the old JC our old teacher said something along the lines of, “Y’know it’s quite funny how things turn out. It’s always YOU rebels that have more fun and be more successful, the academics just lead boring lives.” L and I went, “sigh. the poor sods,” and guffawed away.

Heard some news about some sod that we know that used to hang out with us. The self same sod that made me pay midnight charge to Zouk, wait for him for 2 hours and not turn up. The same sod that stood me up, cheated me of my money, and basically used me as a brainless, overly loyal friend also said, “you know guys, I don’t think we should hang out with L anymore… he’s crazy.” WTF! L could help being manic depressed. HK was a complete fucker. Time after time he’d come back and tell us how much he’s changed and expound how he’s so much a better person and how we shd approach life like him. And time after time, we’d let him lie and cheat us. Sheesh. Anyways L was saying how he met HK and his wife some 2 years back when they were on their honeymoon. HK was telling L that he’s seen the light, that marriage was the thing to do, that L should get settled down and blah blah blah. Apparently L met HK recently and he’s divorced. Hell. It surprised me even but I’m not really sympathetic. The arse.

It’s amazing how L lived here for just 5 years. Picked up Singlish. Goes back to Britain for his uni, work there and set up his own firm there, get it to run on it’s own, and come back here after 10 years plus and STILL switch the Singlish back on! I’m really amused. We’re going to meet up this weekend again and I’m bloody excited!