Ma Vie à Singapour

Christmas Is Here!

2009-12-23T21:56:00.000-08:00

Decorating the X'mas Tree...

getting started...

...in progress...

Done!

Merry Christmas

Happy New Year!

Sebastian's Big Day

2009-12-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

My pal, Sebastian got hitched to his girlfriend, Stephanie @ the Registrar of Marriage on 22nd Dec '09.
Congratulations Sebastian and Stephanie!

Happy Aquarium: I Can Now Keep Fish Online

2009-12-17T05:22:00.000-08:00

Do electric fish dream of electric dreams?

Facebook is kind enough to introduce Happy Aquarium, an aquarium simulation game, for busy people like me who likes keeping fishes but simply has no time to care for the real fishes.

One of my hobbies is keeping fishes. I dream of owning my marine fish aquarium someday. At the moment, I'll settled for Happy Aquarium. It's an easy to use simulation with a gentle learning curve. Just buy baby fish from the store and keep them. Feed, train them and they will mature into adulthood. Thereafter, you may mate them for extra fish. Sell your extra fishes for a profit so that you can buy more expensive fishes to add to your collect. They also generates a higher profit when sold.

Your fish can fall sick if you don't feed them and clean their tank. Sick fishes will die after three days which means no ROI, so you have to check back on your tank regularly. I usually check on my tank once a day.

To me, success in this game is to keep a complete marine aquarium with a full complement of healthy and colorful marine fishes. Nothing beats looking at happy fishes swimming around beautiful coral like in a reef.

It's a simple application that only requires little time and effort. Cleaning the tank and feeding fishes requires just a few clicks. No need to change water, check filter and test for nitrate level.

The only problem is that freshwater fish like goldfish and betta splendens can be kept with marine fish which spoilt the realism a little. Anyway, it's just for good fun.

At the moment, I have 2 clown fish, 2 Angel fish and 2 Butterfly fish in my tank. I'm hoping to earn enough money so that I can acquire my first clown trigger eventually. =)

Storm Riders 2

2009-12-02T05:12:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of OMY paper, I got free tickets to watch The Storm Riders 2 movie recently.

The prequel, The Storm Riders, screened 11 years ago, was a commercial success and an instant cult classic. I remember watching the movie 3 times. Both movies were based on the immensely popular, Wind & Cloud, '风云' comics series.

The Wind & Cloud comic series is like an Asian spin on Marvel superheroes comics series. It describes the fantastic world of Chinese pugilism where the heroes, Wind and Cloud faces incredible opponents and mythical beasts (infrequently) with spectacular martial arts. (If you refer to the movie posters above, Cloud is the main guy on the left). The Storm Rider movie series were live action adaptations.

The Storm Riders 2 adapts its plot from the Japanese invasion arc of the original comics series. A group of highly skilled invaders is threatening the pugilistic world and the destiny of China. Wind, Cloud and their allies must level-up their martial arts to eradicate the invaders. The process of leveling up their skills is fraught with life-threatening risks to themselves and their loved ones. Meanwhile, the invaders' leader, Godless, was sending powerful assassins to kill them before they can succeed. Will Wind & Cloud be able to repel their invaders? I'm not going to give away the ending. Instead I will give my take on the movie here.

I think the movie producers were intentionally paying tribute to the movie 300 by drawing some inspirations from that movie. After all, 300 itself was also based on a graphic novel. In the scene when Godless visits royal mausoleum with his entourage is a parallel of the Persian king entourage scene in 300. Both scenes used elaborate casts and special effects to depict the depth of pompous arrogance and power hunger in the antagonists. In SR2, the scene fell short in the execution part. Kudos to Simon Yam, who performed the part of arrogant Godless well but the special effects failed to create an atmosphere that evokes a similar effect. In this aspect, I felt that SR2 merely achieved a standard below the benchmark set by Hollywood.

One of my movie companion remarked that SR2 had no dialogue and no character development whatsoever. True and true again. Then again, what could the production team do given the source material?

The original comic series which is still running today is intended for a male working class audience featuring a cast of thousands and each character has his own uniquely convoluted fighting styles that need to be presented graphically. So the back story had to be kept simple with only snippets of conversations in between the spectacular fighting scenes to move the plot along. The only character development afforded was development in martial sense.

When I was reading the original comics series it was more than 10 years ago. I wasn't quite a big fan of the series and borrowed the series from a friend, who had a considerable collection spanning several story arcs. To me, it became a chore that I had to flip through several issues (about 30, 40 plus pages per issue) to discover that a particular fight scene was not resolved yet. A fight scene could last several issues before the next plot point could be picked up.

I was however a fan of the live action movie precisely because it is fast paced and contain the action in condensed form. I'll definitely want a DVD of the movie.

Photo 231109: Genting Highlands

2009-11-23T05:29:00.000-08:00

Genting Highlands
Make: Canon EOS 40D
Shutter Speed:1/3 sec.
Aperture: F/4
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO: 800
Metering Mode: Pattern
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
Date Taken: 20 Nov 2009

This photograph was taken from First World Hotel in Genting Highlands Malaysia. I was staying on the 24th Storey in a World Club Room. The weather was misty and foggy on the first night so the room offered no view. The fog cleared up temporarily on the second night for me to realize that I was able to see the almost the entire Genting Highlands from my room. I'm somewhat pleased with how the picture turned out.

Photo 161109

2009-11-16T03:48:00.000-08:00

Hotel
Make: Canon EOS 40D
Shutter Speed:1/3 sec.
Aperture: F/5
Focal Length: 39 mm
ISO: 400
Metering Mode: Pattern
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
Date Taken: 14 Oct 2009

Cities I've Visited

2009-11-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

I've pinned 75 cities in 19 countries

Anime Revival: Inachuu Ping Pong Club

2009-10-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

Recently, I stumbled upon the entire series of the anime 行け!稲中卓球部 (Go! Inachuu Ping Pong Club) on Youtube and immediately got hooked. I'm currently watching episode 28.

Inachuu Ping Pong club by Furuya Minoru is a 1995 anime about a six member Ping Pong Club in Inachuu High School. The first time I learnt about the anime was through the Japanese Popular Culture module I was taking during my university days. Then, the series was unavailable in it's entirety. After so many years, thanks to P2P technology like You Tube, it was refreshing to be seeing it again and this time finally I get to watch the entire series on demand.

It is an extremely hilarious anime that gained immense popularity in Japan during the 90s and the manga version went on to win the prestigious Kodansha Manga Award. In fact, the series has very few equals. As one You-Tuber puts it, it is like South Park on Crack!

A bit of warning though, the stories contain a lot of perverse hentai humor that only the Japanese can come up with. There are a lot of reference to crap and sexual organs. Characters often exhibit anti-social and eccentric behavior, like dressing up in animal clothings, peeping into women showers, SM bodily acts, body odor attacks and public stripping. (Warning: female nudity in some episodes). Although the depraved acts were done in a light-hearted manner to elicit laughter, there will be others who object to this kind of humor.

The entire series can be viewed on You-Tube (uploaded by a guy called fanofpingpong). You can search Ping Pong Club 1 (1 for episode 1; 2 for episode 2 and so on), or follow this link to fanofpingpong page. English sub-titles are available.

Maeno pulling down his team-mate, Kinoshita's pants

The losers SM club

Maeno and Izawa in animal clothing. A meaningless act that defies logic.

Tanaka going under his teacher's skirt....

And got what he deserves..... hahaha

On The Recent Scuba Diving Tragedy

2009-10-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

I read with a tinge of sadness at the news yesterday about the passing of Dr Marcus Lim, on a Scuba diving trip at the 7 Skies wreck in Malaysia.

From what I could understand from the news, Dr Lim, a 37 years old ophthalmologist, was an experienced diver as well as an avid photographer.

Via Google, I was able to find a website that showcases his excellent underwater photography works. (Follow this Link) Looking at his photography is probably one of the ways to remember him by?

The Singapore diving, photography and medical community had indeed lost a young talent.

=============================

Without speculating on whatever happened in the above-mentioned tragedy, I was reminded of my own diving misadventure which was a result of my own complacency and stupidity. It is that kind of complacency that comes along when you begin to think you are getting better at something, and then something bad happens and put you in your rightful place along the learning scale. You start to feel incredibly humble for a while.

Once during a dive, I forgot to ask for a buddy check as per standard procedure. The water condition was choppy so our instructor instructed us to descend immediately to five meters upon exiting the dive boat. This was to avoid staying on the surface as the strong choppy water might pull the group apart.

Once out of the boat, I release all the air in the BCD and descended immediately. I breathed in and suddenly realized that there was no air coming out of my regulator. I had forgotten to turn on my air!

Fortunately, I only panicked a little and began finning a little to keep myself stabilized at a certain depth. I was contemplating losing my weight belt and finning to the surface with whatever air left in my lungs when I spotted my dive buddy. Quickly, I signaled to him I was out of air and also showed him that no air was coming out of my regulator piece. My buddy promptly shared his air as he turned on my tank's air valve.

Reminded of this incident, I'd learnt to become more vigilant in checking my equipments before each dive. Also, I think I need to acquire more training to better enjoy diving.

That being said, I believe that no amount of training and experience can prepare us 100% for freak occurrences. There are always some risks involved in any sporting activity, which training and experience can only manage but not eradicate. The best thing to do when dealing with a life threatening situation is to try an keep a clear head so that training and practice can kick in to deal with it.

Anyway, life is about doing what you enjoy while being mindful of how to deal with the risks involved. Being fearful of risks and consequently not doing what you enjoy for the sake of life preservation is pathetic and not living at all. The Mel Gibson line in "Braveheart" said it all: "Every man dies, but not every man really lives."

Another NHSS Gathering 24 Oct '09

2009-10-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

...another Nan Hua alumni gathering. This time, it was a much bigger cast consisting of school mates from 4E3, 4E6, 4E7, 4E9 & of course 4E8. Nice!

Photos 171009

2009-10-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

Altis 7766
Make: Canon EOS 40D
Shutter Speed:1/64 sec.
Aperture: F/11.3
Focal Length: 44 mm
ISO: 200
Metering Mode: Pattern
Exposure Program: Shutter Priority
Date Taken: 17 Oct 2009

Present
Make: Canon EOS 40D
Shutter Speed:1/16 sec.
Aperture: F/3.5
Focal Length: 21 mm
ISO: 1000
Metering Mode: Pattern
Exposure Program: Shutter Priority
Date Taken: 17 Oct 2009

How I Went Under The Knife To Remove My Lipoma

2009-10-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

Recently, I underwent a day surgical procedure to remove a lipoma on my neck for almost two years.

A lipoma is a benign tumor consist of fatty tissue.

In medical parlance, lipoma is considered harmless but a slight bump is evident on my right neck. At the insistence of my mother, I agreed to have it removed. She feared that it might become malignant.

The entire process began two months ago in August after a visit to the neighborhood polyclinic to get a referral letter and an appointment date at a hospital of my choice. Getting a referral via the polyclinic could offset a significant portion of the cost the hospital would normally charge.

Fast forward to October, I dutifully went for my appointment at Clinic C, Singapore General Hospital. The staff were generally helpful but the number of patients were too many so I had to wait for a long time before my turn. Interestingly, the hospital now has an innovative way to inform patients of their turns. I receive an sms when I'm fourth in line to see the medical officer.

The medical officer basically gave me a rudimentary examination, a diagnosis and a proposal of treatment by surgery. I was then promptly send to schedule a surgery date with the nurse.

Two weeks later, I found myself lying on the surgery table with my back facing up and my head turned right to expose my right neck. At that moment, deep regret for conceding to the surgery did cross my mind as I'd never experience someone holding a knife so near to my neck before. Fortunately, I wouldn't be able to see because the nurses covered me up in hospital cloth with only my neck exposed.

Anesthetics were administered locally so I didn't feel any pain. However, I could tell when the scalpel was cutting in as there was a lot of pressure and then the sound of suction (presumably to suck away blood?).

There was a single moment when the scalpel cut up a part of my skin that was probably not well anesthetized and I felt a searing excruciating pain. When I told the surgeon how I felt, that area was anesthetized again and the pain went away.

Except for that, the surgery otherwise went smoothly. The stitching was also quite painful. The doc told me that since it was a deep cut, they had to sew up from the inside and then the outside. I overheard the surgeon chatting with his nurses about his choice of stitching thread as he went along. He likes to use thread that self dissolved. Yey! That meant I didn't have to get the stitches removed.

I couldn't remember how long was the procedure but later found out it lasted about 45 minutes. Right after the surgery, I was talking with the surgeon. I asked to be shown the removed lipoma which would be sent for pathological testing. The surgeon described it to be 3 cm by diameter. The lump of yellow fat looked like an egg yolk with blood trails on the surface. I very much wanted to take a snap shot of it and post it here but unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to bring in my phone camera into the operation theater.

That was the last time I saw my lipoma after it was lodged in my neck for 2 years.

Today was the follow-up appointment. I returned to Clinic C and met with another medical officer. It was another long afternoon of waiting. This medical officer was as prompt as the previous. She just gave my surgery wound a cursory examination, told me that my lump wasn't cancerous and promptly discharge me.

Oct 6: Taken just after the surgery. My wound was dressed by a big woolly waterproof bandage

Oct 11: Taken 4 days after the surgery, the external bandage has been removed. The wound is still covered by small strips of bandage. The faint but visible blue circle was marked by the surgeon to indicate the lipoma lump and where to incise

Oct 22: Taken after the follow-up examination. The remaining bandage were removed. The wound was swabbed clean with alcohol. It looks like the stitching had healed well. What is left is a 2.5 inch stitch

Singaporeans In Algeria

2009-08-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

Finally, there is press coverage on Singaporeans who are willing to "rough it out" in Algeria. During our Prime Minister Rally Speech on 16 Aug, he made special mention of Singaporean men and women who are ready to face challenges in working in the distant land.

The article kind of evoke a special feeling in me and made me want to shout out: "I've been there and done that! Woohoooo!!!!"

The Straits Times - 17 August 2009

Singaporeans are ready to rough it out - even 'in the middle of nowhere'
By Sue-Ann Chia

(Picture: Singaporeans employed by local firm Hyflux are helping to build the world's largest seawater desalination plant in a remote village in Algeria. In yesterday's Rally speech, PM Lee noted the willingness of the team in Souk Tleta to face challenges to keep up the bottom line. - Photo: Hyflux)

They are employees of local water treatment company Hyflux, which is building the world's largest seawater desalination plant in the village in Algeria.

The village is in Souk Tleta, near the Algerian border with Morocco.

It is a long way from Singapore, but local companies such as Hyflux are growing and flexing their muscles abroad, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Rally yesterday.

He was giving an example of how some Singapore companies are doing well despite the downturn.

Relating his exchange with a Hyflux engineer last month, Mr Lee said he found out that the company was seeking new business opportunities to build water facilities all over the world.

He asked which was the most challenging project, and the engineer replied that it was the one in Algeria.

It is 'in the middle of nowhere', said Mr Lee, showing a picture of the remote village. 'The nearest town is three hours' drive away on a bad road.'

The 22 Singaporeans - including two women - live in dormitories, and play basketball and computer games for leisure.

'There is no alcohol,' he added, as Algeria is a Muslim country.

But the hardship is worth it.

'Because of this and other projects, Hyflux is doing well and hiring engineers,' he said.

'It shows there is work to be had, if we are prepared to rough it out.'

Robot Chicken Star Wars

2009-07-28T01:23:00.000-07:00

I came across this Star Wars spoof on youtube recently. It's called Robot Chicken Star Wars special and it features the vocal talent of Seth Green.

My favorite scene was the exchange on Cloud City where Darth Vader told Lando Calrissian, "I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further!"

Watch the video uploaded by Eualalia via this link. It's really hilarious!

For some reasons, part 1 cannot be loaded. If you are interested in more clips, you can go directly to adult swim dot com for more Robot Chicken Star Wars clips.

On another note, life has been pretty hectic for me. Most of my weekends are burned. I enjoy my current job/business very much even though at this stage, I haven't seen my rewards yet. Neverthless, I like what I'm doing and I am confident that eventually, I will be quite successful if I keep at it! =)

Mother's Day Dinner

2009-05-18T08:06:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Mother's Day a week later @ New York New York @ AMK Hub yesterday. My sister has the membership and a discount voucher. It was my first Mother's Day dinner since 2005 when I left for overseas. It looks as though I am going to be a heartlander from now on...=P

The food was not as good as the Citylink branch but Amy the waitress waiting at our table was a real world class service professional.

A simple family dinner: all about the family, not about the food

Angus the nephew pigging out

My nephews enjoying their free cotton candy

Star Trek Motivational Poster

2009-05-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

Granted, I'm not a trekkie but who doesn't know something from Star Trek growing up watching TV in the 80s and 90s?

And then I came across some motivational posters the guys at the Movie Blog created about Star Trek. Just priceless. I copied some of them here:

Meeting My Old School Mates From Nan Hua (17 April)

2009-04-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

A few of us had not met after parting ways since we graduated from Nan Hua secondary school at 15 years old. Now we're in our 30s and we found each other using Facebook. I'm hoping for more reunions to come and more ex-classmates to join.

Bazaar

2009-04-17T02:41:00.000-07:00

Did you know you can make money by selling off old stuff? Yeah, at a bazaar.

This is our 2nd bazaar this year. It was organized by Bishan Community Center last Sunday (April 12).

Although we didn't make as much money as the first time, it was still a good and interesting experience doing sales. Also we took more pictures this time. Enjoy...

We really had a lot of stuff to sell...well eventually a lot made it to the Salvation Army

Our partners: D6's mom and sis

Working hard to sell

but goof around a lot too...

Photography Excursion To The Zoo

2009-04-08T02:10:00.000-07:00

I was invited by my friend to participate in a photography excursion to the Singapore zoo organized by members of Canon Singapore. They brought some heavy weight zoom lens which were a lot of fun to play with.

Leaf
Make: Canon EOS 40D
Shutter Speed: 1/332 sec.
Aperture: F/5.7
Focal Length: 250 mm
ISO: 200
Metering Mode: Pattern
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
Date Taken: 8 Mar 2009

White Tiger
Make: Canon EOS 40D
Shutter Speed: 1/166 sec.
Aperture: F/5
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO: 200
Metering Mode: Pattern
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
Date Taken: 8 Mar 2009

I Am Going To The Movies Tonight

2009-04-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Information and picture source: http://www.moviexclusive.com/review/thesniper/thesniper.htm

Got a pair of free tickets to catch The Sniper this evening. The film stars Ritchie Ren and Edison Chen, who months ago caused a major scandal in the Asian entertainment industry. (Just wiki his name to find out more)

Synopsis:

HARTMAN (RICHIE JEN) is known as the top shooter in the police force. But behind the legend lies a skeleton in the closet. His former teammate and superb marksman LINCOLN (HUANG XIAOMING), who was jailed for accidentally killing a hostage, has just been released. With only vengeance in his mind, Lincoln determines to take on Hartman and the police, believing they are the real culprits for his fall.

When a high-security prisoner transfer is sabotaged by a mysterious sniper and a major convict has escaped, Hartman and his team are dispatched to profile the suspect. OJ (EDISON CHEN), the hot-headed rookie on the team, surprises everyone by accurately replicating the suspect’s impossible shots. Hartman sees the potential in this youngster and decides to take him under his wing. Yet when OJ becomes fascinated by Lincoln and determines to top his shooting skills, he might become another wild card on the loose.

I'll let you know what I think about it after watching the movie.

(Update - 9 April 2009)
I watched the movie and thought it was fair. Especially, I enjoyed the performance of Huang Xiao Ming as Lincoln. Overall, the movie fails to appeal to hardcore military-techno buffs as its treatment of its subject matter lacks technical or tactical realism.

For instance, sniper units are special tactical units that thrive best when they operate from long distance and in stealth. The set-up in the movie's final plot scene where the entire sniper unit went charging after the antagonist for a showdown is ridiculous and unconvincing.

Why Photography?

2009-04-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

source: http://elenril.deviantart.com/art/Guinea-Photography-25561829

If someone were to ask me how I got interested in learning photography? My answer would be, Prague happened.

It was March 2008 when I visited Czech Republic. I blogged and posted pictures here, here and here.

As I looked back on the photos, I thought that I was in one of the most beautiful places in Europe and the pictures I took sucked.

They sucked because:

My antiquated but trusty Ixus 2 megapixel got lost and I took all my pictures in Prague with the built-in camera (also 2 mp incidentally) of my Motorola V3x mobile phone.

I have no idea how picture composition and ISO/Aperture/Shutter triangle works.

So I resolved to learn more about taking good pictures from then on. Today, I'm still learning.

Wish me good luck!

Damn it! My Notebook Has Finally Konked Out!

2009-04-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

It's official!

After almost 4 years of active service and seeing action in exotic locations such as the greenline in Beirut and the shores of Algerie, my Toshiba Satellite M50 notebook has finally konked out.

The notebook has repeatedly shut down abruptly without proper power down-ing. =(

Today, I brought it to Toshiba service center for repairs. The preliminary verdict? A faulty fan which allowed the notebook's hard disk and motherboard to overheat. Upon overheating, the notebook shuts down to prevent the hard disk and motherboard from damage. Yes, the notebook has seen some pretty dusty places so hence the faulty fan.

I hope that with the repairs, which don't come cheap, my notebook could be in working condition again.

(Update 27 April 09)
Half a month and $730 later, I got my notebook from Toshiba service center complete with a new motherboard replacement as the previous motherboard burnt out. Finally, it is in working condition again and I'm all smiles =D

Final Fantasy Tactics

2009-04-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Pictures source: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Tactics:_The_War_of_the_Lions

Lately, Singaporeans are hooked to the PSP (Playstation Portable). Many, including working adults, can been seen playing the PSP on the commute in the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) and buses.

It would be an interesting exercise to compare the PSP penetration rates between different countries. I wouldn't be surprised if we have a higher PSP per capita then Japan.

Having said that, I have no qualms admitting that when there is nothing to do, I too spent much time on the PSP, especially on the game Final Fantasy Tactics - War of the Lions. =P

The artwork of the game is pretty decent. I especially like the cut-scenes which were rendered in cell animation.

The gameplay is also another draw. The unique character class system allows players to develop their characters in a non-linear manner. What this means is that a supporting character i.e. a healer is not limited to developing only healing magic but can also acquire pretty awesome attacking skills and vice versa. The player is allowed to develop up to 24 characters.

I realized that I appreciated the plot more as I went along. A lot of Machiavellian NPC villians. The plot is complex but not enough to bog down players unnecessarily.

The in-game characters speaks in a dramatic and archaic diction added depth to the medieval backdrop and struck the right note for fantasy buffs like me.

The only drawbacks are the gameplay music and the fact that it is taking too damn long for me to complete the game.

Hello! Time For A Sequel?

2009-03-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

source: http://seven350.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/brand_new_blog.jpg

I am starting to blog again. =)

When I was working in the Middle-East & North Africa (MENA), I kept a blog (found here) detailing my 3 years experience overseas. It kept track of my experiences, pleasant and unpleasant, that otherwise might be forgotten over time.

I thought then that it was a pretty good idea to continue blogging when I return to Singapore.

...hence Ma Vie à Singapour...

Which is French for My Life in Singapore.

I chose to name my blog in French not because I want to sound pretentious. It is a habit of mine when it comes to naming my blogs that I tend to draw some inspiration from prior experience.

For example, my other blog is inspired by work terminology ("jyukyu") used by my previous company. Dry, huh? In a similar vein, I named this blog in French because I spent time in Francophile countries (Morocco, Lebanon and Algeria).

Regrettably, besides naming my blog in French, my French ability is extremely limited to undecipherable smutterings....=P

I would be posting at least once a week about topics on my various interests. For example, I am going to blog about my own development as a budding amateur photographer. =P

Eventually, I hope I can post more frequently when I had become more established in my own business and have more flexible time.