I've been labelling stuff at home with their Korean terms.
Tiger is just literally 'tiger' in Korean, but I had to make up what sounds like Blinky's name in Korean.
'Good Fren' had this look on his face when he came home last evening and saw that I'd labelled our photo frames too.
Coz he's literally 'Tiger Father'. HAHA.
We were at a Korean restaurant over the weekend where I tried to read the Korean menu. 'Good Fren' was like... "Can we not do this now? Very hungry oredi!" =)))
Maybe I should start labelling 'Good Fren's clothes. Imagine his surprise as he tries to put on his office wear for the day. Everything is labelled... From shirt to cuff links to underwear. I suspect I might get a (slight) scolding. =P
Because of City Beat, we were reminded that we hadn't visited the Garden Slug in Telok Kurau.
The meeter-greeter was the resident cat stationed at the entrance.
She was just lazing around nonchalantly. Not even flinching when people patted her head as they walked past her.
Kind of full house (indoors) on a Friday evening. Busy Busy Busy. Service was tardy. No service staff in sight yet.
The crowd was full of people in their 20s. A relaxed vibe... typical of the East.
Finally, we ordered the following:
Soup of the day
Pork Loins
Garden Slug Mixed Grill
Plum drink
Ginger beer
The drinks came together, then the soup... rather quickly... Soup was tasty served with good bread.
Unfortunately, after that, we waited and waited...
This guy came along and told us that because the kitchen had wanted to serve both the pork loin and the mixed grill together, that both were delayed.
We shrugged and continued to wait.
40 minutes from the order, the pork loins arrived... without the Mixed Grill.
Despite the wait, the pork loins were yummy. The peaches were perfectly mushy. The sauce was sweet and savoury to a tee.
After we polished off the pork loins, the wait resumed.
Then this apologetic lady (one of the owners, I presume) came by our table and told us that our Mixed Grill was delayed because it had been served to another table by mistake. O_o
About 70 minutes from point of order, the Garden Slug Mixed Grill was finally served.
Once again, despite the wait, the food did not disappoint. The meat cuts could have been better, but at such prices, we are trained by the food scene not to expect too much.
As an apology for the delay, the apologetic lady served us a plate of complimentary fruit kebabs.
We think the Garden Slug is a great place to hang out at. The food is creative and yummy. However, it needs to sort out its operation (in the kitchen and on the floor) quickly.
I'd say the metaphorical idea used in the film is much more convincing than that of Inception. Yeah yeah yeah... I can hear the jeers oredi... Hey Hey! What you are so obsessed with in Inception is its form (the fancy schmancy CG and matrix-ish brain-twisting plot), not its substance (a stab at life and its (dis)contents). One would think and learn more from the Joneses. At least, I hope so.
Demi Moore and Mr X Files are great. They have a pair of beautiful 'kids' too.
What's not so satisfying, was the ending. I usually prefer something more 'realistic'.
It sounds silly to even be asking this question. But, it's always useful to ask to this question when one is part of a frenzy.
Mr Yong doesn't get it. He believes the education system should help everyone realise his potential. In my experience, that's certainly not true. In fact, our education system does one thing very well. That is to categorise and segregate kids into 'classes'.
And this segregation is what keeps the university degree valuable. If everyone has a uni degree, then yours is definitely worth less. Hence, by allowing more people to get into university may sound popular with the masses, it's merely a temporary high. Because in the long run, these graduates would be faced with broken dreams when they cannot find jobs/lifestyles which match their 'graduate' dream.
Ms Ho's letter to the forum makes more sense. But she makes a huge assumption, i.e. parents are able to accurately assess the potential of their kids. And rightly so, she makes this assumption.
As more 'educated' adults start to move into the ranks of 'parents', shouldn't we expect more enlightened and rational parenting behaviour and decision-making?
If not, it just goes to show how (in)effective all that 'education' mumbo jumbo really is. .....................................................
Scoring an 'A' in any subject means one is able to give the exact answer which the tester is looking for within the test constraints. That's all it is about. It's not about being 'intelligent'. It's certainly not about being different, special, creative etc, i.e. any of those Steve Jobs qualities, if that's what being 'intelligent' means these days.
And having the ability to give the exact answer is hardly a guarantee for a 'better future'. That's an urban myth which many people happen to subscribe to at the same time. A lot of achieving a better future stems from opportunities, and that is more related to networks. Especially, in the Asian context, family network is exceptionally significant.
If you have gone through all those years of 'education', and have not been able to figure this out, that would be the greater tragedy. And not whether your kid gets tuition or 'A' or not. ....................................................
So does this mean you should take your kid out of the tuition class immediately?
You wish that the 'right' answer is that simple. Unfortunately, that's something we, the educated, have not been trained/educated to do, i.e. to be able to Think Independently.
I've been taking Korean Language classes for some time now.
My 선생님 (teacher) is a middle-aged Korean lady from Seoul. Her husband and her daughter works and studies in Singapore respectively.
Enunciation of the Korean terms does not come naturally for me, but my 선생님 (teacher)'s infectious energy and personality make one pay attention in class. It helps that she does not speak fluent English because it forces the class to focus on what she's trying to put across, especially when she is describing a Korean term or phenomenon. From what I have gathered, it seems she has a post-graduate degree in Korean linguistics.
The class is made up of say around 25 students mostly in their 20s (=_=) in tables of 4 to 5. There are only 2 guys in the class. Apparently, there is a table of Samsung staff. Also, there is this particular table which is located right in front of our 선생님 (teacher). That table seems to be quite advanced. They know many Korean terms, always finish their homework, and always score highly for the weekly spelling test. (Nabeh.)
Somehow, I ended up at a table at the back, consisting of 3 females (all working in accounting firms), a guy in a software firm (who plays soccer with his Korean colleagues), and me. One of the females at my table has a Korean boyfriend. The girls are obviously K-wave fans. I only know Cruel Temptations, Here Comes Ajumma, Kim Yu Na, and some swear words taught by my Korean MBA classmates (which I tried to teach my table last week when 선생님 (teacher) introduced us to the word 'dog' *evil smile*). Damn! I'm very behind.
And the other day, one of my table mates asked me if I had a blog. O_o
I love being back in class. My mind cannot help but to wonder about South Korea's history, cultural influences, similarities with the Chinese language/dialects, national pride etc. For example, 'radio' is formally known as 라디오 'lah-dee-yo' in Korean. And it is incorrect to pronounce it as 'radio' when you are speaking in Korean.
Now, compare that with how embarrassed we are taught to feel if we cannot speak English/Mandarin 'correctly' in the Singaporean context. I think such self-chastising is symptomatic of underlying and fundamental inferiority complex and insecurity of a people.
Ok, I have to go study... There is a major test next week, and I have only been scrapping past my spelling tests!!
My brain is too slow and my heart is too purist. I have been resisting to memorise the Korean terms, but instead attempting to learn by phonetics. This has proven to be ULTRA inefficient, because whenever I try to give myself mock spelling tests at home, I confuse myself with my own bad pronunciation. Then, during the actual test, I can't recognise what my teacher has read to the class. DUH?! I have to fix my learning technique, i.e. going back to good old rote learning. =_=
An award-winning Taiwanese film. Like eating a well-made lollipop.
I saw it as a pop film where for a moment, the lives of disparate individuals are intertwined in a mess which has no real 'moral of the story'. However, that will be the wrong way for any audience to approach this film.
And perhaps, this is what we really are going through everyday. You may be the lovelorn boy waiting for your love who has left for Paris, the curious bookstore attendant who is led by an infatuation, the retired local gangster looking for that long lost feeling of love, the cop who is having problems with his love, the neighbourhood dork secretly in love with a co-worker etc.
Logically, there is no need for the restaurant to pull such a dangerous publicity stunt, nor put down the blogger for a bad report on its food as the entry on the restaurant has not been published.
Bad behaviour of so-called adults never fails to amaze me.
Regardless, the blogger'll get a spike in online traffic to his website. Good news for his online sponsors. =))
The best German female high jumper was forced to take part in the pre-Olympics training for the 1936 Olympics to be held in Berlin, as the US was pressuring the Nazi regime not to exclude German Jews from the games.
However, to prevent her from qualifying to represent Germany (and even to win a medal for Germany), the Nazi regime replaced her with a MALE peasant in a dress. Yes... like Auntie Lucy, except it's not supposed to be haha-funny. O_o
If you are interested in a bunch of (mostly) former action stars, their forever alpha personalities, occasional flash of their doggy-eyed soft emotional sides, and graphic violence that is 2 notches below Kill Bill, you would like The Expendables... VERY MUCH.
Jet Li's lines are genuinely funny, but, unfortunately, his finesse has not been optimised for the audience's viewing pleasure in this Hollywood action film where brute force, size, big guns and explosives seem to matter more than agility and the kungfu craft.
As part of the Singapore Heritage Festival, National Heritage Board (NHB) puts together a 3-day party in the city. There are food stalls, arts & crafts stalls and concerts set up at the Singapore Art Museum and the green space amidst the Singapore Management University (SMU) campus. See another blogger's take on the event.
On Fri night, while out on our evening walk, 'Good Fren' chanced upon some heavy rocking at SMU. Not sure whether it's due to lack of marketing and/or slight drizzle. The crowd was thin. We saw the programme for Sat night, i.e. what seemed like a Chinese Oldies concert, and decided to drop by on the next night.
So we did.
We got to SMU just past 7pm. Loads of Chinese Baby Boomers (born in the 1950s and 1960s) had gathered, presumably in hope for the Oldies concert to give them a nostalgic jolt of their younger days.
The white tents in the background are food stalls.
'Good Fren' and I bought some food and drinks, then found a dry spot and settled for the evening.
Thai salad and Filipino coconuts were on sale as part of the Heritage theme.
This 65 year old gentleman started off the concert. He is known as 歌迷王子，黄清元. The winner of a HDB-organised national singer competition in 1979.
Later, more locals singers came onstage, ranging from those who were popular in the 60s to current times. One could imagine the organisers' deliberations: Roughly 1 singer from each decade in the past 40 years.
As far as possible, most of them sang either locally-written songs (e.g. the 新谣 people) or Chinese songs which were popular in Singapore during their time. And yes, I thought that was befitting of the theme, i.e. Heritage of Singapore. And at some point, I began to realise that because I knew the lyrics to most of the songs, I must be part of Singapore's heritage.
And as far as we could see, 'Good Fren' and I were the only 2 people who were waving the fans and our hands in the air. The crowd was largely sedate and politely clapped only at the end of each song.
The idea of the Heritage Fest and these music concerts is great. Music and nostalgia flood one with good feelings. However, what I didn't understand was the need to be blatantly politically correct for such events:
(1) If it's about Singapore's Heritage, there is no need to segregate the concerts on different nights according to Race/Culture and Language. Instead, the music concerts could have been grouped together according to Music Genres (folk, love ballads, agogo/disco, rock etc), across time and local cultures.
(2) The need to include a new immigrant singer. The presenter tried to explain that this former PRC immigrant had been in Singapore for 18 years, presumably to highlight that she's already part of us. But once she got on stage, it's quite apparent she's not. Her long wavy tresses, glittering body hugging sleeveless dress. Made you feel like you were watching her sing in 大富豪 or 天安门. No other singers before or after her wore so much make-up, or attempted to be sexy onstage. They merely sang. And of course, it didn't help that she sang very PRC songs (of which I knew the lyrics very well... Remember the commie in me?). If these songs are much appreciated by the local crowd, I'm sure the organisers could have gotten locals to sing it.
(3) The glaring exclusion of dialect songs. Tell me, which Chinese Singaporean does not recognise the classic Hokkien songs or the Cantonese TVB drama theme songs (e.g. the Bund 上海滩)? Even those who resist anything that is vaguely Chinese? Dialect songs are obviously part of our heritage, which have been excluded in last night's so-called Chinese heritage concert. Maybe the official line would be that including dialect songs would have made these concerts resemble too much like getai (especially during this month). *shrugz* To me, dialects are significant part of our true heritage, and cannot be ignored. What's more, the organisers allowed a Korean song, but no dialect songs, to be sung?! O_o
Anyway... Take a few minutes and soak yourself in the politically-neutral, healthy, and wholesome voice of 潘盈.
Someone should do an academic piece on the rise and demise (and current revival attempt) of 新谣. A genuine innovation in the local music scene.
Remember what the feature wall looked like since 2006?
The TV is missing because it's stopped working and we ordered a new one.
The wallpaper people came back this week and stripped the wall bare.
And put up the new wall paper... Almost done...
Ta-dah! We like this new look. It's rather 素-looking. I guess we are kind of over the lush yuppie look.
Come to think of it. This looks rather Muji-ish.
We look ok against the new wallpaper.
My stuffed Buddha looks really at ease against the new wallpaper too. =))
We also got ourselves a new shelf from IKEA and stuck the wall paper on one side.
Decided to stick a couple of cut-outs around for fun.
We also decided that we needed a new door to the utility area as the original door did not allow full access with ease. The carpenters working on the bi-fold door panels before installing them.
Work in progress
New bi-fold door allows unobstructed access to the utility area.
'Good Fren' was exclaiming that we should have done this earlier. =)
Now, we are just waiting for the new TV to be installed.
Your child has been given the chance of a lifetime to experience first hand, elite youth sports at an international level."
And there are 'rules' which the kid must adhere to, in order to experience this 'chance of a lifetime':
The kid must pay a deposit of $5, which will not be returned if he doesn't turn up.
The kid must bring a water bottle, but it cannot have any logo printed on it.
A storybook to keep himself occupied with
The kid cannot bring in outside food and beverages (I guess the water in his water bottle is OK). If he gets hungry, he can buy from the venue, i.e. Singapore Sports School.
I wonder who drafted that consent form (maybe it's the CCA teacher), and whether he/she felt anything while drafting it. It will be very sad if the drafter did it without the slightest hesitation.
Does no one involved in the entire chain of command (from YOG to MOE to school) have any common sense?
If controlling the water bottles were so important, MOE/YOG should have told the kids not bring any water, then give out bottled water with allowable logos. How difficult can that be? Can't cost another $387million for a few bottles of water, right?
I wonder what will happen if the parents kept their kid at home.
"Fuck this shite! Don't go to school on 19th Aug.
Mummy will take leave and bring you to pierce your ears instead.
After that, we go for high tea and spend some quality mother-daughter time."
'The Outsider' or 'The Stranger' is a short 1942 classical piece which challenges and questions. One could finish reading it in 2 hours.
I wish I could read it the original text in French. I'm pretty sure some nuances have been lost amidst translation.
The character, Meursault, gets annoyed often in the story. While this contributes to one's perception that Meursault is different, i.e. not 'normal', the 'problem' lies in how we have suppressed our feelings in the everyday life and have disallowed ourselves to get annoyed in the honest manner that he does. Should you voice your annoyance, you would be rejected like he was.
I find it strange that Albert Camus left an afterword on this piece, and in 1955. But regardless, it helps the reader to understand Camus' intentions.
........................................................... "A long time ago, I summed up The Outsider in a sentence which I realise is extremely paradoxical: 'In our society any man who doesn't cry at his mother's funeral is liable to be condemned to death.' I simply meant that the hero of the book is condemned be caused he doesn't play the game. In this sense, he is an outsider to the society in which he lives, wondering on the fringe, on one the outskirts of life, solitary and senseless. And for that reason, some readers have been tempted to regard him as a reject. But to get a more accurate picture of his character, or rather one which conforms more closely to his author's intentions, you must as yourself in what way Meursault doesn't play the game. The answer is simple: he refuses to lie. Lying is not only saying what isn't true. It is also, in fact especially, saying more than is true and, in the case of the human heart, saying more than one feels. We all do it, every day, to make life simpler. But contract to appearances, Meursault doesn't want to make life simpler. He says what he is, he refuses to hide his feelings and society immediately feels threatened. For example, he is asked to say that he regrets his crime, in time-honoured fashion. He replies that he feels more annoyance about it than true regret. And it is this nuance that condemns him.
So for me Meursault is not a reject, but a poor and naked man, in love with a sun which leaves no shadows. Far from lacking all sensibility, he is driven by a tenacious and therefore profound passion, the passion for an absolute and for truth. This truth is as yet a negative one, a truth born of living and feeling, but without which no triumph over the self or over the world will ever be possible.
So one wouldn't be far wrong in seeing The Outsider as the story of a man who, without any heroic pretensions, agrees to die for the truth. I also once said, and again paradoxically, that I tried to make my character represent the only Christ that we deserve. It will be understood, after these explanations, that I said it without any intention of blasphemy but simply with the somewhat ironic affection that an artist has a right to feel towards the characters he has created."
Apart from that, I don't get why some people would watch this film twice. It's not that captivating. It's a combination of Vanilla Sky and one of those heist movie plots. Yet another 'what is reality' theme.
What I really want to see are films about absurdity, or questioning of absurdity.
Since I moved out of my folks' place, I haven't been back to the West very much. Last weekend, we had to, because we dropped off our glass desks at the Salvation Army's Praisehaven Family Store. If you want a couple of this glass desk, please head down to Praisehaven asap, and they may still be there.
For dinner, we decided to explore Rail Mall a little, and because we hadn't been there in... erm... years, we were presented with many options.
After about 10 minutes of walking around, we decided on Sweet Salt Spicy. I have a soft spot for Thai food.
Later, after some snooping around online, I realised that Sweet Salty Spicy is meant to be a Deli. That explains the bottles of Thai sauces near the entrance.
Because I have more or less stopped drinking, I went for Ginger Beer. Nothing goes better with spicy foods than... wine... but Ginger Beer comes close... =))
No no no... I have stopped drinking because somehow I don't feel like it anymore. I think it's called aging. Nothing more.
Someone had a lemongrass drink which I stole a few sips from, whenever he wasn't looking.
Oh OH! You HAVE to try this street food sampler plate. Everything tastes amazing with flavours that POP in your mouth. Even if you are not keen on a full-scale dinner, just order this with a few drinks. It will keep the conversation and endorphins flowing.
You see the curry-looking thing with rice crackers and a spoon sticking out of it? It tastes like otah but only better... It's AWESOME!!! I could eat this everyday. Mmmmm...
This is called MIANG. You are supposed to hold it with the leave and send everything into your mouth. It's just bursting with flavourful juicies.
The main course: The curry sampler for 2 or 3 is plenty for 2.
From left: Beef rendang-ish curry with peanut, Green curry and a tangy seafood curry.
As you'd probably have guessed by now, we were pretty happily stuffed. Definitely going back again.
This is my newfound technique for my daily suntanning session. I stick my head under the bed, while I allow the sun's rays to warm up my tummy... Mmmmm... I do it for hours each day... You should try it sometime...
If I'm not looking at you, you are not there... You don't exist.
Run along now... I need to get back to my tanning... I look good in dark fur only, you know!
