脱掉。。。 脱到 K Pop!

Since Alex To 杜德伟 released his smash hit 脱掉 in 2004, it has made its round in East Asia.

Mr To's piece...


Japanese version by DJ Ozma. It's called Age Age Every Knight.


Most recently, the Korean version by DJ Doc. It's called Run to You.

Apparently, this song was so hot in South Korea that major discos played it repeatedly. =)

But I still prefer Alex To's version. =))

主妇的日子

双卜汤. Was inspired by 'Good Fren's attempt when I was uber sick about 2 weeks ago.

.

Can't consume chicken now, so I used pork ribs, instead of chicken. And I added my usual stash of dried wolfberries, dates, huaishan and scallops.

These days, I have to wear gloves when doing the dishes, because ever since my Cambridge days, I had begun to develop 主妇湿疹 very easily. Super tragic.

梅菜猪肉

Where is a good place in Singapore to enjoy this?

Some friends have confused me on Facebook. Confusion as follows:

1. Is Mui Choi Pork Belly a Cantonese dish?
2. Is Mui Choi Pork Belly the same as Kong Bak?
3. Great Mui Choi Pork Belly is available at Beng Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant at Chulia Street. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

I caught Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 in a St Nicks T-shirt and a Cathay theatre full of St Nicks juniors.

Remember the chicks at my table in the Korean class? It turns out that 2 of them were from St Nicks. And they told me about this St Nicks Alumnae event, organised by St Nicks alums from as young as batch of 2004. O_o That's a full 12-year cycle from my batch.

And so, I was inspired and went to the supplier to buy some St Nicks PE T-shirts. I've been waiting to buy those to complete what's left of my uniform.

Before the film started, someone shouted,"St Nicks ROX!"

It's cute. =))

Ok... About the film... I think it's getting lame. The magic and all were intriguing in the first 2 books, but by now, it's almost draggy. The story line is like twisting and turning in a large concrete channel. You know where/how the end is, but the author refuses to take the most direct route.

Instead, she borrows themes and motifs from other great works. This part of the HP series most definitely reeks of Lord of the Rings meets 1984.

And along the way, the author tries to distract you by stitching some laughing moments, such as Harry Potter in a lacy bra, or an imaginary frolicking moment between the young misshapen-ed wizard and his hot best friend witch.


If you are really out for a tightly woven fantasy novel masterpiece, you should read Jin Yong's works. Now, that is a true master story teller. Too bad, you'd need to be culturally in-tuned to appreciate his works in full glory. I wish the West's film-making could be applied to Jin Yong's stories someday.

小姐，我们可以交个朋友吗?

Today, I got into a cab and the driver, probably in his late 40s, started speaking to me in Japanese. I was like... HUH?

He then realised I was Singaporean and proceeded to exclaim how unSingaporean I looked. My usual response to that = I am 100% Singapore and was born in KKH to top it off.

Realising that conversation thread was leading nowhere, Mr Cab Driver started to tell me about his job history. That he used to work in Tokyo, Taipei, somewhere else, and somewhere else. He was a procurement manager of sorts... Blah Blah Blah...

Then Mr Cab Driver started to talk about his trips back to his hometown (Guangdong) in China, and how he had tried to look for a wife back there recently, but has been unsuccessful because they didn't meet his criteria. So I asked him if he was looking for someone who would take care of his folks. He said his folks were dead and he was alone. I had nothing to add to that but didn't want to be rude, so I said something like "If so, it shouldn't be a problem to find a Singaporean wife for companionship." He went on and on about how Singaporean chicks have very high standards... It's very tough to find a good wife...

The cab ride couldn't have lasted more than 15 minutes. Just as he stopped the cab for me to alight, he turned around, flashed his tobacco-stained teeth at me, and asked,"小姐，我们可以交个朋友吗?" THRICE.

I was like... WTF?!! but it came out as "不好啦！不好啦!" I then got off the cab as quickly as I could.

Mental note to self: Never be too chatty with cab driver.

I've never been hit on by a cab driver. This must be a milestone of sorts. A quantum leap for me.

And guess what 'Good Fren' had to say about this? He merely laughed. =_=

Green with Mucus

It's taking really long for this viral infection to go away.

I remember feeling weak halfway through Korean class last Wed, then on Friday, my throat started to hurt really badly and couldn't sleep all night. Since I was awake, I decided to go to the polyclinic on Saturday morning. The clinic is new and still partially under renovation, and was packed with people.

2 hours and $16 later, I was back home with medical advice to rest and 4 types of meds. Afterwards, it was the sleep-eat-sleep cycle for the next 48 hours.

Something funny-scary happened on Sunday night.

While I was drifting in and out of my drowsy sleep cycle, I woke up in my dark bedroom. Just as I turned to my right, I saw a glowing green face staring at me. What the... so I SCREAMED!!!!

... For about 5 seconds... before realising that it was 'Good Fren' playing Robo Defense on his mobile phone. The basic terrain map is green, and therefore illuminating his face with an eerie green glow.

Fear is a tiring response. After screaming, I felt very tired, and went back to sleep almost immediately.

瑛姑 says... Guilt is...

做错事就出家，

难怪世间有那么多出家人。

Reference: 神雕侠侣 (Return of the Condor Heroes) (1959)
......................................................................

While Return of the Condor Heroes is merely fiction, I cannot help but to wonder about how the modern man deals with his guilt? Any type of guilt.

It seems there are a few guilt-soothing tools available:

• Denial
• Forgiveness
• Making amends (direct/indirect)
• Repentance
• Religion

The World's Most Irritating 돼지 & Invaders

These days, I look forward to 'Good Fren's knocking off from work even more than before... Because that means I can get my hands on his Samsung Galaxy for the games.

I have discovered 2 sets of irritating enemies...

That grinning pig from Angry Birds!!! ROOOAAARRR!!

And the flying invaders in Robo Defense!! ROOOARRRR!!

'Good Fren' is not surprised that I took to Angry Birds instantly, coz it resembled LocoRoco, but my obsession with Robo Defense is beyond him.

I feel very happy when I watch the enemy soldiers trudge and get shot at within the cruel maze I have built. I would laugh, and 'Good Fren' would get very amused by my killer satisfaction.

And... Playing Robo Defense when one is high on cough syrup and chlorpheniramine 4mg can bring one to the next level. Ooooooooooh...

I seriously believe there is a rather underdeveloped male nerd deep within my psyche. I bet if I do allow it to develop, I may even become obsessed with computer programming, coz I think the AI for Robo Defense can be smarter. O_o

进了厨房, 然后呢？

St Nick's informal school maxim was drilled into me for 11 years by the former principal and modern founder of St Nicks, Mrs Hwang. The original version is:

进得了厨房，出得了厅堂。

This maxim embodies the ideal St Nick product. A woman, successful in her career, effectively manages her family (life).

Just the other day, the Rafflesian was driving home when he came up with his 'ingenious' version of my school maxim.

进得了厨房，上得了天堂。

Meaning that if the woman can cook, she is of exceptional virtue, and therefore is offered a place in heaven.

I dunno whether to kill him for ruining my school maxim. 

So rude... yet so true.

The Rational Miracle

This little anecdote of mine... I wish to share with you.

I got out of the apartment 40 minutes before an appointment. The cab ride should take no longer than 10 minutes, and it's relatively easy to grab one just outside my place. I thought I was more than prepared for any extraordinary situations.

As you would have figured out by now, the cabs were simply not available. 4.20pm is an exceptionally lousy time to be catching a cab. Most of them are making their way out of the city. To Tampines... to Hougang...

So, I started to walk towards the shopping centres. I'm sure I could grab a cab at the cab-stand. No... I was wrong. The queue at the cab-stand looked impatiently stagnant. I continued to walk. Perhaps the main road would be better. Orchard Road is a fertile stretch for cabs!!

I must have walked for 2km in heels, and was just only beginning to accept my lousy luck...

"NB!!... This is not happening... KNN!! I'm perspiring like a pig... My heels hurt... I wish someone would stop and pick me up," I thought to myself desperately. 

"Don't be stupid," my rational heart scolded. "Just keep your arm stuck out there and keep walking."

Just then, I heard the loud sound of a car horn, and a grey Mazda stopped by. I immediately dismissed it as a case of mistaken identity, and kept walking, scratching the view for that coveted blue/green cab light.

A minute later, my phone rang. It's my DAGE 大哥.

DG: Was that you?

BM: NO WAY!! NO WAY!!

DG: HAHAAHHAA!
BM: NO WAY!! 不会吧？怎么可能? 这么巧 meh?!!

DG: Where are you now?
BM: Still there lor...

DG: Where are you going?
BM: I'm going to XXX for an important XXX appointment, and I am so damn late.

DG: Still no cab?
BM: No.

DG: You wait there. I come get you.

BM: No need la. 

DG: You just wait there.

So sometimes... One has to rationally believe in miracles.

Megamind

Did I mention that I like Dreamworks' productions?
Is it because Puss in Boots in Shrek looks too much as Tiger?
Or because Toothless in How to Train Your Dragon is in fact Blinky's last life?
I'm so biased but that's just symptomatic of a fan being.

Megamind doesn't have the most original storyline, nor jokes, but I am happy before, during and after the 3D film. So I think it's worth 'Good Fren's buck!

Somehow, Megamind reminds me of Mark Zuckerberg... At least that Zuckerberg in the Social Network. Maybe it's the braininess... Maybe it's the blue colour... You tell me.

1 in 10 of Singaporeans is OBESE

• 1 in 10 Singaporeans is obese
• Obesity rates in the US will reach 42% (Now at 34%)

Read these 2 articles on obesity rates today?

Why is the Singaporean obesity rate higher than those of Japan and South Korea?

Singapore = 10.8%
Japan = 3.4%
South Korea = 3.8%











Does one become obese solely because one lacks self-control?
In my earlier working days, one of the bosses commented that X was not a good worker because it was clear that X lacked self-disciplined. The visible symptom was X's body mass.

If so, do Singaporeans have much less self-control than Japanese or South Koreans?

Or perhaps, the problem is not because the individual lacks self-control, but society lacks 'harshness'. In simpler terms, perhaps the Singaporean society is more tolerant of obesity, and so the individuals care less about becoming obese in Singapore.
不是个人的疏忽，而是社会的纵容.

Or perhaps, that "10% of Singapore" is a misnomer. Those 10% of Singaporeans who are obese are not really Singaporeans. Maybe they are PRs or new citizens?

What is the profile of the obese Singaporean?
What are the plausible contributing factors? Any regression analysis done?
It is a fact in other developed countries that the obese individuals tend to be from the lower income group as they make less money and tend to consume mainly cheap processed foods (usually infused with fats to improve taste).

I always wonder how many pieces of confectionery does Breadtalk have to sell in the span of just a few years for its owner to able to afford a Good-Class Bungalow worth more than S$20m. Imagine how many people have consumed how much saturated fats from those pork-floss buns. Those buns are priced and placed just right for people to keep buying them. Brilliant.

Regardless what the real causes of obesity are, I know for sure that skinny people would love to put down and discriminate against fat people. Same goes for people with good grades, of a certain class/race/looks etc. These people tend to exclude people without those 'assets' from their activities (e.g. jobs, promotion, social mingling, facebook maybe?). Refer to the example cited above. Ironically, such 'haves' do not have self-control over their obese egos.

What's wrong with being obese?
The last thing anyone should do is to feel inferior about one's lack of assets. These days, most assets can be bought, tweaked, and enhanced. Even race. I am serious.

At the individual level, the point of losing any weight is not to join the skinny group so as to feel superior about oneself. But to lose excess weight so that it does not choke you to death with its physical and health consequences, which will negatively affect you and your loved ones.

Nonetheless, if one cannot stop oneself from feeling superior by losing weight or self-righteous about being fat or simply 'discriminated against', then there is something wrong with one's self-control.

At the societal level, it will be useful to determine the root causes of increase in obesity level. Not point just making assumptions and then proceeding to spend loads of money on 'promoting healthy living'. Leaving it vague or alluding that it's up to the individual ain't gonna solve the 'problem'.

Istana is looking for a Butler

I came across this rare job posting.

Do you have:

• Singapore Citizen
• GCE 'N' level
• Professional Certificate in Food and Beverage Service in Professional Institution/NITEC; and
• Two years relevant working experience, eg Assistant Restaurant Manager, Restaurant Captain?

Then you can apply to be a Senior Butler at the Istana and expect to be paid a gross monthly salary between $1,880 - $2,180.

Don't you wonder about what such rare jobs entail? What kind of people they meet? What kind of work stress there is? What kind of encounters they would have?

Should Members of Parliament serve Foreigners?

"In my Meet-the-People sessions,

I see more appeals by foreigners who can not get permanent residency."

~ MP Indranee Rajah,

NUS Forum "Economic growth: At what cost?", 3 Nov 2010,

(Refer to ST, 4 Nov 2010, Page B5)

I cannot help but ask, why are our members of parliament spending time on attending to foreigners' appeals?

Shouldn't MPs be devoting 100% of their Meet-the-people session time to Singaporeans instead?
That's the point of giving them our votes, right?
That is to represent us in the greater governance and decision-making system.

This is hardly the same as, say, foreigners utilising government hospitals/polyclinics and depriving the Singaporean to be served first. In the healthcare context, minimally, the policy-makers can presumably argue that foreigners pay 'full-price', and so deserve to be treated equally at government hospitals/polyclinics.
*Foreigners pay 'full price' the consultation fees at public hospitals/polyclinics. However, because meds and other charges are at the same price, the price differentiation between the Singaporean and foreigner patient's bills isn't really that great, but that's a separate topic altogether.

But here... at the Meet-the-People sessions... Each MP devotes only a precious X no. of hours each week. It's invaluable time, and should entirely and exclusively be expended on Singaporeans, and no one else. If not, what's so sacred about the vote each Singaporean has???

Of course, if the MP has a foreigner friend who wishes to appeal to the Singapore Government for xyz purposes, the former can help by forwarding the appeal to his/her (political) contacts in the Government in his/her personal capacity. Whether such requests ought to be forwarded or dealt with, will then depend on the MP's code (if there is such a thing) or the appeal policy of the respective ministry/public agency.

The point remains that the Meet-the-People session ought to remain exclusive to Singapore Citizens only.

Furthermore, each session is also staffed by volunteers. The grassroots people. Are they also keen on serving foreigners? Or do the MPs have the power to decide for all involved?

Even if some foreigners are indeed being 'marginalised' and require representation to the Singapore Government for appeals, requests etc, they should be doing so through their own embassies, or perhaps election of their own representative.

In the words of MP Dr Amy Khor some years ago, this is indeed 'betrayal'. It's just plain wrong.

The Social Network

The Social Network attempts to paint a dramatic picture of the birth of Facebook.

That aside, what kept hitting me throughout the film was relentless aggression in various forms. The story seems to suggest that, regardless of IQ and SAT scores, sexual desire, catalysed by ego, results in extreme aggression, which sometimes lead to great inventions in the internet world. (Refer to creation of Napster and Facebook as told in the film.)

You don't hear about guys inventing a cure for cancer to impress that special chick. Although that would be most romantic.

Personally, I like Facemash. It's like this 'A' or 'B' game I like to play with people during drinking sessions, as conversation topics dried up quickly. Coz regardless of context, culture, age etc, people enjoy that simple game. It's accessible and most importantly, it's rude.

What I didn't understand was that if Mark Zuckerberg's background was definitely upper-middle class (folks are psychiatrist and dentist), why didn't he come up with the first $1,000 to fund Facebook?

Those 'Harvard Gentlemen' who sued Mark Zuckerberg for 'stealing' their Facebook idea? The Winklevoss twins? Their antics remind me much of what I had observed during the Cambridge MBA. This "Smart-Stud" syndrome is outstanding. While I thought it's a largely undergraduate thing, I remember quite a few of my MBA classmates attempting to get on their college rowing team. One even came to class with a serious nosebleed coz he had been rowing too hard in the cold. No blood, no glory. Ooh Gaa Ooh Gaa! Oozing Aggression. And chicks are supposed to dig that?! Different strokes for different folks. O_o

By the way, the Winklevoss twins eventually headed for Oxford, and read the MBA at Said Business School in 2009 (after their 6th in the world rowing ranking at Beijing Olympics), while rowing for the ultra powerful Christ Church (aka where Harry Potter was filmed). And yes, the twins have Facebook accounts, with Tyler Winklevoss having more than 2,000 Facebook friends.

Back in Singapore...

I had the good fortune of catching the Social Network alone at the Grand Cathay on a Tuesday afternoon at all but the price of S$6. The theatre was half-filled with groups of young adults in their early 20s and late teens. Some of them were taking pics before the film started. I used to do that before the age of the digicam. Some used to comment that I was trying so hard, and now it's a norm?!

Anyway, I was flanked by a group with a chick on my left and a pair of boys on my right.

During the scene where Erica Albright was trying to break up with Mark Zuckerberg, he told her that he had a perfect SAT score of 1600, and that she didn't have to leave him that night to go study for her SAT coz she was gonna end up in Boston University anyway (i.e. not good enough for Harvard). The scene was meant to demonstrate the assholic side of Zuckerberg.

Just then, the chick on my left whispered loudly to her friends,

"But Boston U is better than NUS, RIGHT??"

I was like... WTFBBQ?! I laughed very hard and loudly.

After the film, the pair of boys on my right started to move in their seats after being relatively silent for the past 121 minutes, except for some delayed laughing moments during the film.

Boy (away from BM): *stretching* So... What you think of the film?
Boy (next to BM with huge yuppie watch): ... Yeah... It's... errr... good.
Boy (away from BM): *mumbles something*
Boy (with yuppie watch): Yeah... So he's not the bad guy, rrrriiiight?!

O_o

Do catch the Social Network, especially at the Grand Cathay on a Tuesday afternoon.

Menya Shinchan

Menya Shinchan is tucked away in an odd corner of Riverside View.

We chanced upon it while wondering around the river bank.

Judging from the Japanese to non-Japanese ratio of 7:3, it's probably pretty authentic.

Very Japanese indeed.

Complete with Japanese comics to keep your kids or you occupied while you waited for your food.

'Good Fren' said this was probably a poem. I then asked him if his Japanese was better than my Korean (which is very very basic). =))

It's one of those rare places in Singapore where Pepsi is served once you order a cola.

There were some multiple coloured shochu and shochu cocktails in the menu. But as you know, this former alcoholic has been on a sabbatical since her year in the UK, no shochu were ordered. =_=

I ordered this irresistible bowl: No. 31, Madam Sinjiro.

The fatty pork simply melts in your mouth. The noodles is steeped in a rich garlicky savory broth. And each mouthful is crunchy, thanks to the beansprouts and veges. Mmmm...

'Good Fren' ordered Senma Noodles, which somehow looked like Hor Fun to me because of its slightly starchy sauce.

绊脚猫

He doesn't give a damn whether he is in the way.