Having met Tiffany at the bus park in a rush through the traffic jams and all, I was quickly… “transformed” into a motivator with the distinctive red colored T-shirt and a cap! I remembered that the cap was made from recycled materials… but I can’t remember if the T-shirt was too. In either case, I went… “NO WAY!!!”, since the last thing I remembered that was being made from recycled plastics were supposed to be hard water tumblers!

Nevertheless, I hopped onto the Coke Bus, which is really a modded Hippo Bus with totally awesome speakers at the upper deck blasting away music. What surprised me was how everyone on the bus – mostly students from Nanyang Polytechnic, got into the celebratory mood the moment the bus left the bus park. However, I guess everyone got really high when the bus was on the highway… since it isn’t really often that we get to be on the expressway without a roof over us!

Being the high state that we were in, we waved to practically everyone whom we met along the way… the motorists (some of whom looked aghast!), the pedestrians, the commuters on the bus… they probably thought that all of us were high on cocaine (although I kinda suspected that most of us were high on caffine… hahaha…) !

The first stop was at NTU, where 13 specially selected students (of whom, 1 is a fellow volunteer I know) were supposed to bear the torch till out of the campus, from where, the… rest of the non-NTU students take over. What surprised me was the number of people who turned up to support the torch bearers (and we are not talking about just students) as they did their friends, family and everyone else in Singapore proud… (not to mention being the jealous envy of many who didn’t get to be a torch bearer )

While I thought that it was going to be a nice and cool day… I got tricked by the earlier morning mild drizzling that paid a 2 seconds visit and was fried like my favourite “Oo Jian” (fried oyster with omelete.. yum yum) by the time afternoon came… for the second time after being mildly sunburnt a couple of days back. Not to mention that by now, I am shredding so much skin, it puts the snake in the Safari zoo to shame.

Of course, the endless supply of Coca-Cola probably played a part in keeping my spirits high (I had no less than 10 bottles) to the point where… the pain of the sunburns came almost when I have just reached home. Have you ever felt like your arms were so hot they can probably fry and egg on it? Yeah… mine was like that… Red.. and almost medium well

Nevertheless, I have done a music video with the theme song that was played throughout on the bus, and would like to dedicate this to the sportsmen and sportswomen of the Youth Olympic Games, for their passion of the sports. To all youths participating in the games, you are already champions because you dare to excel and believe in yourself.

Hope you guys will like it!

Special thanks to Tiffany from Coca-Cola Singapore and Edel Mooney from Fulford Public Relations

Flood at the junction of Scotts Road and Orchard Road. Photo credit to Vin Go.

Heavy rains in Singapore started since yesterday, but it was only this morning that the flood gates were, well, literally opened. Searches for the term “Orchard Road Flood” would have gained you many more photographs. Fresh in the minds of almost every Singaporean would have been the “freak” flood that happened last year in December at Bukit Timah – resulting in millions worth of cars being sent for repairs or scrapped and tens of students, if not hundreds, being stranded at bus stops. Well, it seems like the freakiness happened again – just that it spread all over Paterson Road, Scotts Road, Orchard Road, (Upper?) Thomson Road and their vicinity.

And oh, I heard that the (yet-to-be-opened?) Wendy’s at Liat Towers is flooded, along with the neighbouring shopping centers; and I thought my friend was kidding when he told me that the cars seemed like they were floating along the AYE; but when I saw the flood of pictures (pun intended) coming in, I was just so glad that I didn’t have to go out today.

Of course, this probably means that I will not be having my regular espresso at the Liat Towers Starbucks anytime soon.

The Starbucks at Liat Towers flooded till the stairs. Worse is Wendy's next to it, which I think hasn't opened yet. Photo credit unknown - please notify the editors if the owner is known

And… I hope you are not a Hermes fan too… More videos after the break.

Hermes at Liat Towers flooded till the stairs. Photo credit unknown - please notify the editors if the owner is known

Editor: I was told this is “水货” redefined. Lol.

More videos

Needless to say, I grew up not enjoying what I subsequently learnt was football – or soccer, depending on which part of the world you are at. Alas, when I was in varsity, the football craze came about and there was nothing much I could do except to join in the late nights with my friends. Gee… even my female counterparts got glued to the telly, which I suspected was the works of their boyfriends.

Eventually, I succumbed to the evil side my peers and decided to watch the game seriously for once. Seriously – because instead of watching 22 people or so, running after a ball, I decided to learn more about the sport. Frankly, I didn’t get to retain much of what I learnt. “Off-side”, “throw-in” and “penalties” are probably all that I can remember now, and frankly, I can’t really remember what an “off-side” is, although I am sure I know what a “sunny-side up” is

However, as recent as a couple of years back, my dad lost interest in watching football. I remembered calling up Starhub to purchase what would have been the remaining few telecasts of the matches ‘live’, before I headed off out of the town for a short trip – amidst all the late nights that my friends would have engaged. I figured that it’d have been better for me to spend some late nights elsewhere shopping

Just as I thought this would have been a good idea, I found out to my dismay that… English is no longer the language of the world – at least not during football season. What in fact is, is the language of football! Pubs, night markets and even 24-hour convenience stores all seemed to have that little telly broadcasting ‘live’ matches of the omniscient sport.

*palm faced*

Fast-forwarding to today… soccer – which I clearly remember was quite affordable in the last decade, somehow became a multi-billion dollar industry. Well, perhaps it had always been this way, but I guess it was only when news broke between Singtel, Starhub and Fifa + World Cup that I was introduced to the capitalism behind it. The thought of consumers having to fork out potentially up to a hundred bucks for ‘live’ matches almost irks me… although the reality today is that it’s probably going to be a lot more cheaper.

What people will not be looking forward to – I suspect, are the late nights that are going to happen during ‘live’ matches: people – probably ah beks, gathering at coffee shops with glasses of Tiger beer and peanut shells spread all over the table, people who have probably never eaten McDonald’s burgers for their entire lives glueing their eyes on the LCD TV inside 24-hours McDonald’s restaurants, or perhaps pubs filled to the brim with yuppies who drive flashy BMWs. Of course, I am just generalizing. There is however, one thing that I can’t refute… and that is the pseudo-sense of euphoria that you get whenever the entire neighbourhood screams in ecstasy when their favourite team scores a goal.

“And it’s a gooooooooooooooooooooal !!!! What a beautiful pass that was….. !” Oh yeah… going to be hearing that soon

The luggage ended up being just a little over 10kg, while my day pack was just a little under that. Heh. I think I get enough training every day from all the carrying around. Anyway, I digress.

My trip to Shanghai is on Singapore Airlines and I somehow wonder if I will meet anyone familiar on board. Hmm.. oh well.

12:50pm: Argh! I am late. Got hijacked by my land lady to have her mmmmmm.. nice Chicken Rice. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the car was out of petrol and I had to top it up at the nearby petrol kiosk. The rain didn’t help much at all, but I am glad I got to my parents’ place at just 20 minutes to 2pm.

3:25pm: Got to the airport on time. Heh. I did an e-check-in earlier and decided to join WY and LS for lunch. I took the duck of my duck rice and passed the rice to LS – who had a rather small portion of rice for her mixed rice. Well, I guess food is either expensive at airport, or cheap but little in serving. We were contemplating Popeye’s, but I think LS preferred the foodcourt, WY, being the least fussy amongst us, went along with whatever choice we made

One thing I dislike about traveling to a conference is the need to carry in my poster on board. Today, I decided to just check it in – and it got through! Yay! No more fumbling of poster holders in the cabin! Woohoo!

5:25pm: Found out that I forgot to pass LS the ticket stub to be mailed back to Japan! Argh! Needless to say, I had to go through the procedures of getting out of the restricted area if I wanted to go out, which will almost certainly mean that I miss my flight! Thank goodness there was a postal-on-wheels in the transit area and I got my stub sent to Japan. Hopefully it gets there in 1 piece

It’s been a while since I was last on an SQ flight. Ah… brings back memories. The seats do seem more crammed than China Airlines’ and Qantas for some strange reason. I always thought that SQ had one of the more comfortable seating arrangements… but perhaps I “thought” wrongly. The familiar chattering of the cabin crew makes the entire cabin livelier, although some people might start to mistake it for a fish market.

Then again, perhaps my ears were a little sensitive today.

7:30pm: Saw my Prof on the same flight! I kinda thought he would be on this flight and if I have chosen the front seats, I would have been seated just 1 seat in front of him! Anyway, he was rushing through his grant application while I was rushing through my exam revision. Time flies when you are having fun regardless if you are having fun or not and my exams are just barely a month away! Oh dear!

And oh, you know what? Remember that SQ used to have one of the better KrisWorld Entertainment System on board? Well, their Video-On-Demand just became a pseudo-VOD! It seems that despite you going through their Interactive menu, the system still brings you back to the movie that is playing half way! Oh, what a bummer.

10:30pm: The plane finally landed after a 5 hour flight. I spent the remaining hours on flight doing my revision since there wasn’t much of a movie to talk about. I chatted with a cabin crew who would have been my junior. Heh. She was supposed to be on stand-by and had been called up to do a turn. Apparently, she had been doing so many turns that if she did a couple more, it would have been turn-turn-turn-turn (ok, old internal joke here). The small talk was quite nice and I ended up being almost the last one to leave the plane. That chat really made the flight pleasant.

11:30pm: The airport is a pretty new one and there’s no special clearance for diplomats. Oh well, at least the clearance was fast! I got my luggage without much of a hassle. There was apparently a diplomat channel *after* the immigration clearance, but no way am I going to go through that. I saw my Prof and quickly got out of the restricted area. There was someone waiting for him and I got a lift to the hotel too. Along the way, my Prof asked if I could speak Mandarin and he was surprised when I said I could

The trip to the airport took a little over 40 minutes along what seemed like a newly built expressway with lots of speed cameras built into it. In fact, the speed cameras kept flashing and I wondered if the taxi driver actually bothered with it. Apparently, it’s very hard to get a taxi from the airport and according to my Prof, the queue could take up to an hour to clear and if you are unlucky, you’d end up being one of the last few to leave the airport. Also, there are apparently taxi drivers/touts who would promise you cheaper fares to the city centre, but that’s allegedly a sham. After hearing this, I was quite pretty glad that I met my Prof on the same flight.

1:30pm: Shanghai turned out to be rather warm. It actually is! I got to the nearby 24-hour convenience store with nothing more than just my polo shirt, jeans and the school jacket! The winds were a little too much though, but nothing that a school jacket can’t handle

I got a couple of flavours of cup noodles and a row of Yakult-like stuff. I didn’t get the original Yakult because I remembered not liking terrible. After I got all my stuff and made myself more satisfied from pacifying my tummy, I got on to investigating how I could make the network work for me. As with Murphy’s Law, the brand new RJ-45 Cat 5e cable from Challenger turned out to be a fluke. It didn’t work at all and I spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out if my Mac was having some problem. Shame on Challenger! They should have at least tested the connectivity of their cable!

To add to that, the mobile router didn’t work as well! Argh! Seems like I have to get some other ways of getting the wireless up. The Mac can probably run wired, but the iPhone is giving a little headache. Damn. I will just have to make do with the wired connection for now.

2:10am: Heh. I experienced first hand the effects of the Great Firewall of China. Facebook – banned. Twitter – banned. Google groups – banned. Plurk – banned. Oh wait, why in the world would they want to ban Plurk?!?! Thank goodness MSN is still alive Apparently many people have found various ways to jump over the Firewall, but most of them just end up falling flat on their faces. Now, the Firewall comes with barbed wire

The only thing that is left to do is to get myself registered tomorrow. Let’s hope things go on well. Argh. Exams…

In the last year that I hadn’t been there, many things have indeed changed – starting from the monorail station, to the stations on the sunny island that’s set in the… sea, to the landscape at Sentosa. I remembered going there frequently with a friend, and his friends for games of beach volleyball. However, he has since married and I guess that’s when the ball stops to.

Oh well…

Thankfully, I am going over to Sentosa for more fun things last Sunday! As everyone knows… the latest attraction at Sentosa is…

The Resort World The Universal Studios…

Well, actually, both the Resort World and the Universal Studios are probably the newest attractions at Sentosa. The only thing is – I don’t gamble and the rides are not ready. At least not till… when? July? Nonetheless, despite me not getting squashed in the queue just to get a view of the Studios for 10 bucks, and not knowing that I can now use my EZ-Link card for the monorail ride; and not knowing that I do not have to keep the card for re-entry into each of the stations on the sunny island, I did get to try out an attraction that was new to me!

It’s the Sentosa 4D magix, thing of a magic (or thingymajiggy).

Of course, this is not to be confused with Singnet’s Singtel Magix, which is all about having at least 512kbps direct ATM connection straight to your doorstep without you having to share your bandwidth with 138,034 other people in the estate that you stay in – or 1,231,928 other people near where you are staying!

Sorry, I digressed.

So, while we were all on the monorail to Imbiah Station, we caught a glimpse of Resort World Sentosa (RWS) and all the construction work around it. We met Mr. Merlion after we got off, and after crossing a river and climbing 2 hills, we reached what I thought was Sentosa’s 4D Magix after a short walk.

I didn’t read what Sentosa 4D Magix was all about because I thought that it would spoil all the fun. After all, there’s always the famous circular statement of “expecting the unexpected”, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to put myself in such a situation. I somehow suspect that my attitude towards this has something to do with how mundane Singapore has been; but after looking at Chile and Haiti, Bangkok and Indonesia, I think mundane is good (speaking of which, I really hope that the victims can get the help that they need and it’s really be an unfortunate event ).

Nonetheless, it turned out that there were going to be 3 shows instead of just the 4D Magix. There were the Desperados, which was a shooting game and the Extreme Log Ride (”Himalaya-Amazon”?). If you have joined a Wii Party before, Desperados is just like one helluva Wii Party + Ride, where 21 people, seated in a dark room on a 20-cent kiddy horse back, tries to shoot targets with a Wii gun. The horse back actually moved! And while I was expecting a Rodeo-style ride, thank goodness it didn’t do more than just shaking vigourously

Not claiming marksmanship, I came in 2nd for the 2 games in Desperados. Heh.

The second ride was a “log ride”. There were about 9 “cabins”, each seating 6 people in a cinema-like threatre, where each cabin is one of those machines which probably has the ability to propel you onto the screen if you didn’t have t0 fasten your seat belt. Heh. I took no chances and kept my precioussssssss Nikon close to me. The thing about this log ride is that it’s 3D and if you immerse yourself into the ride, it really feels like you are on a roller coaster – minus the fear.

Of course, when the 2nd ride was over, I was almost screaming for more. While I am almost tempted to blurt out what to expect, I think this will really spoil the fun. I mean, we all know that there are 3D movies and they are not as novel as they used to be – despite still having absolutely fabulous effects; have you ever wondered what 4D is all about?

For a good whole week before the trip, I was wondering what dimenions there are. We have visual and sounds already, then dimensionality for the 3D effects. Smell? Time travel? Space travel? While I will prefer not to blurt it out (although I kinda suspect that some 1,349 people have already talked about it in their blogs), I am going to give a teaser.

If you have watched Avatar in 3D and if you remember the part where you were supposed to be flying in 3D… well, what is 3D without the elements of the surrounding? What if you could… feel the wind… smell the smell and taste the water? Or what if you could feel *pain* when the person in the movie is being hit? Sounds scary eh? *ouch*

Spilling a little more… I was pretty afraid when insects and nocturnal creatures started appearing in front of me in a menacing manner. It felt as if I was going to be stung by it – and it’s not just about the sheer size of the insects on the screen, but the feeling of them being right next to you!

So without spoiling the fun, perhaps it’s a good time to check out the place before the Universal Studio opens and the entire island gets packed with people. And while you are checking out, bring along a jacket, a cap and wear long pants or jeans if you are easily crept out.

Special thanks go out to 24seven for organizing this outing, and to Kris who had to burn his weekend attending to us and making sure that we were well fed and giving ample warnings that the best place for our cameras during the show… is the bag

A pregnant man. Or rather, another pregnant man. Again.

Quite obviously, this isn’t the first time that an event like this had happened. In the not too distant past, Thomas Beatie, became the headlines when he declared to the whole world that he was expecting because his wife allegedly could not conceive. Biologically female, and not having undergone hysterectomy, it is of little surprise that he is able to conceive; since all he needed was just a donor sperm.

Of course, there were public objections when Thomas and his wife broke the news on TV but many others seem to be more vocal about Scott Moore and his partner Thomas (not to be confused with the earlier Thomas Beatie) this time round, at least according to the number of comments objecting to their being.

However, the stories are a little different. While Thomas Beatie of the first couple, was the husband and the pregnant man; here, Thomas of Scott Moore, who is also the husband, is not the pregnant one. Instead, his lawfully married wife, Scott Moore, is the one who is expecting – which seems to be logical and conforming to expectations of society.

Only thing is, Scott Moore (male sounding name but female legally), born Jessica, spots short hair and a beard.

Almost within a week, news of this spread like wild-fire and ugly comments could be read everywhere. If such an event, that happened in California – where it is supposedly one of the most gay-friendly places in the world, could spread all the way to Singapore – more than 18 hours by flight on the other side of the world, it’s really got to be a huge thing there.

So, how would the reactions be like should such a thing happen in Singapore? Firstly, I’d think that it’s going to be a hush-hush event – seemingly upholding a long-held policy in many organizations – don’t ask, don’t tell. But, should any couple be even as adventurous to let the media get wind of it… well, we probably had a taste of it not too long ago.

Remember the AWARE incident? It was just a lot of talk, without any forms of manifestation, but it got Singaporeans into a frenzy. Bring in the churches and it nearly became a riot in the making. Inevitably, a pastor got a little carried away and was accused of getting the church to rally behind the father-mother-family model, which was seemingly harmless, but hinted that he was beginning to mix religion and secular activities.

In the midst of the gunfire, a Nominated Member of Parliament, Siew Kum Hong, was accused of taking sides (with the supposedly pro-lesbianism stand) and was subsequently not renewed for another term in Parliament; although this event purportedly did not contribute to his non-renewal.

On the contrary, Singaporeans are generally mindful of their own businesses, especially in times when people are more concerned with getting hold of the next condominium or government HDB flats at low affordable prices and hoping to sell it for a 200% profit. No double, news of pregnant men may disturb the tranquility for a while – perhaps getting a shot from pro- and anti-same genetic sex marriage camps (a female in Singapore can be considered legally male if she has met certain criteria in her transition), most people should probably get back to getting about their own businesses in no time.

After all, kaypoh* news do have very short shelf-lives compared to blunders made by prominent persons. Unless the pregnant man happens to involve a prominent figure, it will probably be whisked under the carpet before you can say “Majulah Singapura”.

Photo of Scott Moore and Thomas are copyrights of its respective owners. Obtained from website on 30 January 2010.

* kaypoh – colloquial for “nosey”

1. iPad Maxi – comes with additional firewall to ensure that your data remains safe in your iPad. You can leave your worries behind when you carry your iPad with you, without ever brooding over whether your data will be leaked.

2. iPad Overnight – need that extra boost to help you tide through the night? Get that iPad overnight that will ensure that you have enough power to last you through the night (12 hours for regular consumption, power may drain faster for larger consumption)

3. iPad Wings – ever wonder if your iPad will slip off? Worry no more with iPad Wings to give you that extra grip whenever you need it, wherever you go. Ultra grip means that you get your iPad in regular size with that extra hold that ensures that you’ll never have to worry giving it the slip!

4. iPad UltraSlim (thanks @Winterfirz) – the slimmer version of the same, fabulous iPad! Rumored to be launched soon after they have conducted enough Blue Test – a secret measurement of the reliability of the iPad. It’s so slim, you won’t even feel it when you bring it around in your bag (it’s been also rumored that it could be called the iPad-Air).

Yes, I can see the iPad being avoided like the plague by male punters. After all, they still have their iPhones to give them their 4D/Toto updates in Hokkien

However, such memories were jotted back into me when I had to go for a Service Excellence training at Singapore Polytechnic, School of Business, Level 2, MLT9. I was a little late because I couldn’t find the signs leading to the venue, and consequently, violated one of the attributes of service excellence – respect. Apparently, and quite rightfully so, being late is being disrepectful of the other person’s time – food for thought eh?

I got to know quite a number of people during the 4-hour lecture, which was so full of activities! There was barely a moment where I was doing nothing – it was either copying notes, or discussing with my partner on some role acting, or being involved in 1 group activity or another; kinda not what I was expecting for a training session.

Definitely not boring! The “trainer” was great and to some extend, fun-loving, but some of the committee members do look quite “no-nonsense” – so that sort of keep things in check. Surprisingly, I am looking forward to the next training, but definitely not liking how the varsity is making us go back for another weekend just so that they can confirm who is committed.

Erm, how “un-committed” can we be if we had been doing our e-learnings, going for trainings and accepted a position? Hmm…

Apparently, a “semi-transparent array, including an LED” has been embedded into a contact lens. What this means is that displays, or computer images, can be sent wirelessly to the contact lens, which will then appear in your vision (and making you feel like a cyborg, which could really be a cool thing). This miniature device, which requires about 330 microwatts, can apparently be powered wirelessly from a nearby RF transmitter.

Of course, there is no mention of a power-surge protector.

The only thing that is missing from all these, besides connection from a GPS and perhaps your mobile phone, is a motorized pair of shoes that allows you to travel at 90km per hour (any faster and you might get a ticket for speeding violations in Singapore). And oh, a rocket-pack would be good too.

[via SlashGear]

As with all other 1,236,309 contests there are, there’s always a “deadline” and a “quiz”. So, here’s the deal. I’d need you to tell me if you would use this (and why, if possible):

Go on and click on it Of course, watch your back first… It’s not NSFW, but still…

You can either comment in this post, or click here if you do not wish to let others know what your answer is And how long more will this giveaway last? Well, it’s about this number of days more:

Which is actually the number of days left to World AIDS Day! So, do send in your answers quick so that I can give away all 5 pairs of tickets to an awesome event to commemorate World AIDS Day, to be aware of what HIV/AIDS is and to to support people living with HIV.