One should never be a bit too adventurous and explore new things especially if it has to do with one's image. I learnt this the hard way.
Feeling that my hair has become somewhat a bit long behind, I desperately need a hair trim. As I passed by Boon Lay station, I was partially on the look-out for salons which might answer my call. I seemed to have it my way, as a small little promotion sign soon caught my attention and it said, $7 for students.
Thinking it was really a real deal, I stepped in and confirmed that NIE students do get the promotional price.
I already thought I did explain that I only wanted slopes for my sides and back, but this obnoxious "barber" (I soon realised a saloon ought to have better trained stylists) soon gleefully found his way into shaving a large part of my hair off, and proceeded to style it (or should I say salvage) when the deed was done. I nearly died when the boy in the mirror stared back at me.
This buffon barber of fleet street must have realised it himself that the haircut was shitty through and through as he said even before my mouth opened, "Ermmm... i'm sure you must not have been used to this new style hor?"
WHO ASK YOU TO GIVE ME A NEW STYLE??!!!?!?!?!
And tomorrow I had to take a mug shot for my lecturer who will keep the pictures for records.
Of all times, and of all place...
Never ever again!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
NODA
It transpired over an evening coffee on Valentine's Day with SL LLG where I was grousing how the day was all about people trying to outdo one another. As you would appreciate, in NIE where trainee teachers are pseudo-students with a big wallets, guys and girls were armed with their "I'm off the shelf big time" by having big balloons, giant bouquets, humongous teddy bears, enormous chocolate kits etc etc... with no apologies that they have been the winners and accentuating the fact that size does matter (I do not need to repeat that their balloons are big, bouquets are giant, teddy bears are humongous and chocolate kits enormous, which is essentially what I am doing now)...
Anyway, as soon as I finished class in NIE, I zipped to the other campus for evening class. As you would appreciate, NUS students also believe in "If you have it, flaunt it" mentality. In an almost deliberate manner, some girls came into the class halfway through the lecture, adorned like a Christmas tree except that there are balloons and big bouquets.
If you think that I am just jealous of these people, you are half right - where do their bf get all the $$ from? I assume they must be damn rich or damn V-day trapped. Either way, it would have blown a hole in my wallet if I indulge like these people... then again I have no one to indulge on.. haha.. so it may not be a bad thing after all.
As I met up with SL LLG, the propaganda part of me started to scare the ShiL out of the Loong. I reminded him of the NODA conversation we held a few months back. Then, starting almost innocently with a question, "Have you heard of this organization called NODA?" SL LLG was most perplexed. I explained that it is an acronym for "No one dies alone" and it is an organization started by some nurses who would stay around some moribund patients so they they do not die alone. Obviously, only those without kin would render the service of NODA. This immediately sent SL LLG a shiver down his spine.
But he was astute enough to use NODA as his defense weapon when his ingenuous students asked in a matter-of-fact manner earlier in the day whether he would be lonely and friendless in his old age (Students nowadays are so resourceful - whether you are single, eat Ferraro Roche choc, has a blog, travel to Vanuatu, live with your mother, has bad relations with other teachers... they read you like a book or should I say stalk you as if you are Edison Chen)
Anyway, despite this smugness in deflecting the students' sugar-coated realism, SL LLG was crumbling inside. But I assured him that he wouldn't have NODA knocking at his door... After all, I would be at his deathbed singing hymns and seeing him take his last journey!
Anyway, as soon as I finished class in NIE, I zipped to the other campus for evening class. As you would appreciate, NUS students also believe in "If you have it, flaunt it" mentality. In an almost deliberate manner, some girls came into the class halfway through the lecture, adorned like a Christmas tree except that there are balloons and big bouquets.
If you think that I am just jealous of these people, you are half right - where do their bf get all the $$ from? I assume they must be damn rich or damn V-day trapped. Either way, it would have blown a hole in my wallet if I indulge like these people... then again I have no one to indulge on.. haha.. so it may not be a bad thing after all.
As I met up with SL LLG, the propaganda part of me started to scare the ShiL out of the Loong. I reminded him of the NODA conversation we held a few months back. Then, starting almost innocently with a question, "Have you heard of this organization called NODA?" SL LLG was most perplexed. I explained that it is an acronym for "No one dies alone" and it is an organization started by some nurses who would stay around some moribund patients so they they do not die alone. Obviously, only those without kin would render the service of NODA. This immediately sent SL LLG a shiver down his spine.
But he was astute enough to use NODA as his defense weapon when his ingenuous students asked in a matter-of-fact manner earlier in the day whether he would be lonely and friendless in his old age (Students nowadays are so resourceful - whether you are single, eat Ferraro Roche choc, has a blog, travel to Vanuatu, live with your mother, has bad relations with other teachers... they read you like a book or should I say stalk you as if you are Edison Chen)
Anyway, despite this smugness in deflecting the students' sugar-coated realism, SL LLG was crumbling inside. But I assured him that he wouldn't have NODA knocking at his door... After all, I would be at his deathbed singing hymns and seeing him take his last journey!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Pretty disturbed
Made a phone call on Friday to a friend, MS whom I have not kept in contact for long. The intention was to ask to see if I could arrive at her house earlier than the rest who are also planning to visit her that evening. The reason for the visit? One of my friends, DW said she had a brain op last year and it would be good to drop by to see how she was coping.
The thing is, DW did not impress upon us enough how serious the condition MS was in.
The phone call nearly left me in tears. What came from the other end of the line was a weak, feeble voice speaking very slowly, a voice which most could easily recognize as coming from a half-paralyzed person.
What happened to the once bubbly MS? Remembering MS as a tremendously witty girl from RGS with the all too natural sincere heart, she has not been given the kind of life she should live for.. What made me sank further into distraught was after she revealed that it was not convenient for me to come down as her granny has just passed away. This is double whammy information for me. A nice girl who has been wasted to that level and now having lost a granny in CNY period....
That was it. I decided to go straight to the wake. Inside me, I had the most dreaded feeling of how she would look like. I imagined half her hair shaven clean with an exposed skull. Certainly I was not prepared to see a beautiful, intelligent girl being reduced to that state.
Arriving there, I was greeted by the relatives. MS was still at home and I got some chance to learn more about her. She was a "hopeless case" as deemed by the doctors, but one matron pleaded with them to try their best. The docs did, and a miracle came. Not only did she recover, she was able to have some recollections of the past and was even able to use her fore limbs.
Soon she arrived in a wheelchair.
Bracing myself, I turned my head..
Phew! It wasn't so bad. She still looked equally radiant. The hair had grown back, and save for putting some slight weight, she was still as MS as ever.... Nothing was lost.. her smile was there.. her cheerfulness and optimism continued to shine beyond her disability.
We spent some time chatting and catching up the good old days... She still remember the huge termite mound which we took pictures with. And yes, she mentioned the many Indian children we took picture too. Her recollection was simply impressive, and it was just this goodness of sincerity, of kindness, of nature, of children.. that makes her as endearing as she was to all of us.
Time flew while little conversations were made. Her pet hermit crab in a tank made her charged up about it and she was telling me to quietly observe it. She was eager to introduce ALL her relatives to me...
MS taught me the ignonimities of life. Sure, I have read many books, Chicken soup for the soul, etc... but this was a friend whom in my entire life, is the first to have experienced this transformation. It has never felt so real. Another friend who called me to arrange for a gathering told me she cried after speaking to her on the phone. But I'm determined to bring as many people to visit her as much as possible. All of us want good things to happen to MS. She deserves it and we all think so.
The thing is, DW did not impress upon us enough how serious the condition MS was in.
The phone call nearly left me in tears. What came from the other end of the line was a weak, feeble voice speaking very slowly, a voice which most could easily recognize as coming from a half-paralyzed person.
What happened to the once bubbly MS? Remembering MS as a tremendously witty girl from RGS with the all too natural sincere heart, she has not been given the kind of life she should live for.. What made me sank further into distraught was after she revealed that it was not convenient for me to come down as her granny has just passed away. This is double whammy information for me. A nice girl who has been wasted to that level and now having lost a granny in CNY period....
That was it. I decided to go straight to the wake. Inside me, I had the most dreaded feeling of how she would look like. I imagined half her hair shaven clean with an exposed skull. Certainly I was not prepared to see a beautiful, intelligent girl being reduced to that state.
Arriving there, I was greeted by the relatives. MS was still at home and I got some chance to learn more about her. She was a "hopeless case" as deemed by the doctors, but one matron pleaded with them to try their best. The docs did, and a miracle came. Not only did she recover, she was able to have some recollections of the past and was even able to use her fore limbs.
Soon she arrived in a wheelchair.
Bracing myself, I turned my head..
Phew! It wasn't so bad. She still looked equally radiant. The hair had grown back, and save for putting some slight weight, she was still as MS as ever.... Nothing was lost.. her smile was there.. her cheerfulness and optimism continued to shine beyond her disability.
We spent some time chatting and catching up the good old days... She still remember the huge termite mound which we took pictures with. And yes, she mentioned the many Indian children we took picture too. Her recollection was simply impressive, and it was just this goodness of sincerity, of kindness, of nature, of children.. that makes her as endearing as she was to all of us.
Time flew while little conversations were made. Her pet hermit crab in a tank made her charged up about it and she was telling me to quietly observe it. She was eager to introduce ALL her relatives to me...
MS taught me the ignonimities of life. Sure, I have read many books, Chicken soup for the soul, etc... but this was a friend whom in my entire life, is the first to have experienced this transformation. It has never felt so real. Another friend who called me to arrange for a gathering told me she cried after speaking to her on the phone. But I'm determined to bring as many people to visit her as much as possible. All of us want good things to happen to MS. She deserves it and we all think so.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Creepy!
This one put Singapore on the world map, all for the wrong reasons! Wouldn't have heard about this antics by Steven Lim if not for the reporting made by the media.
What was funny was that someone was trying to smear Steven Lim's name by coming up with an alternative video under the same heading of "STOP BULLYING EDISON CHEN! 不要在欺负陈冠希了！" Scroll down to read more about it! If you think you have met a gila one, you obviously have not met this one!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Can I have a cup of tea please?
SL LLG started to feel the forlorness of the great bachelorhood towering over him and before he knew it, he had proceeded to call the most 讲义气 of his friend 席 for a night chat - the indispensable WL LLG. After all, this luminary shares the same Myer Briggs personality as Oprah Winfrey, and any exigency for a listening ear is always obligated.
The first question posed to SL LLG during our consultation session was, "Are you single?"- to which SL LLG gave the most inexcrutiable look that deserved nothing less than pity, before nodding his head in reluctant resignance.
Shilpa Shetty once famously told the Queen of Britain, "I am single and ready to mingle"
Grateful for the company, SL LLG treated me to Chai tea at Coffeebean, which was a refreshing brew reminding me of the Far East spices that were highly sought after by the East India Company. But that was many years ago and if I had been Raffles making my voyage to the Far East, I guess I would ask for a head and shoulder massage in Bali before another corporeal experience at the beach. Anyway....
We spoke of how the commencement of work and the financial independence that accompanied it could leave you thinking... really thinking about your priorities, your desiratums, your reconciliation with failures, etc.. and they could lead you to heave a sigh of "O' how mundane life is" or "What a long journey ahead to do all these". I guess that is the reason why people change because they realise that what they hold dearly before are not quite as important.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Oprah trivial: Oprah was interviewing a vegetarian on one of her shows in 1996 when she commented that what she heard "just stopped me cold from eating another burger". The price of beef dropped over 10% the following day.
A WL LLG trivial: WL LLG had such an elephatine memory that he could pull out details of past confabulations held with SL LLG with such great accuracy that he left SL LLG cold when he recited all of the things ad verbatim that SL LLG thought WL LLG would have forgotten.
The first question posed to SL LLG during our consultation session was, "Are you single?"- to which SL LLG gave the most inexcrutiable look that deserved nothing less than pity, before nodding his head in reluctant resignance.
"Then you must be ready to mingle!"
Shilpa Shetty once famously told the Queen of Britain, "I am single and ready to mingle"
Grateful for the company, SL LLG treated me to Chai tea at Coffeebean, which was a refreshing brew reminding me of the Far East spices that were highly sought after by the East India Company. But that was many years ago and if I had been Raffles making my voyage to the Far East, I guess I would ask for a head and shoulder massage in Bali before another corporeal experience at the beach. Anyway....
We spoke of how the commencement of work and the financial independence that accompanied it could leave you thinking... really thinking about your priorities, your desiratums, your reconciliation with failures, etc.. and they could lead you to heave a sigh of "O' how mundane life is" or "What a long journey ahead to do all these". I guess that is the reason why people change because they realise that what they hold dearly before are not quite as important.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Oprah trivial: Oprah was interviewing a vegetarian on one of her shows in 1996 when she commented that what she heard "just stopped me cold from eating another burger". The price of beef dropped over 10% the following day.
A WL LLG trivial: WL LLG had such an elephatine memory that he could pull out details of past confabulations held with SL LLG with such great accuracy that he left SL LLG cold when he recited all of the things ad verbatim that SL LLG thought WL LLG would have forgotten.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Mocha anyone?
The acerbic aroma of mocha can be piquant, but what piqued my interest most was mocca.com.
Day in day out on the bus to NIE campus, the advert for mocca would either show this pretty decent looking wench or this flesh-proliferated beefcake calling in entries for Valentine's Day video.
So with this, I decided to make a stop at the website, and were simply in awe of the type of ads that blatantly sell off whatever wares they paddle, if not with a hint of clumsy subtleness in their message - "Pretty SG Cheryl" or "Fiona Discrete 21 massage". This one got my vote for the most brassy ad - "HK Maggie Q Massage @80. Description: HK actress Maggie Q lookalik providing massage".
Liddat also can. Then for me, it will be "HK Daniel Wu massage @ 8000000. HK actor Daniel Wu lookalike providing massage". I wonder why there are so many pseudo pirated copies around. $80 some more. Chey!
Day in day out on the bus to NIE campus, the advert for mocca would either show this pretty decent looking wench or this flesh-proliferated beefcake calling in entries for Valentine's Day video.
So with this, I decided to make a stop at the website, and were simply in awe of the type of ads that blatantly sell off whatever wares they paddle, if not with a hint of clumsy subtleness in their message - "Pretty SG Cheryl" or "Fiona Discrete 21 massage". This one got my vote for the most brassy ad - "HK Maggie Q Massage @80. Description: HK actress Maggie Q lookalik providing massage".
Liddat also can. Then for me, it will be "HK Daniel Wu massage @ 8000000. HK actor Daniel Wu lookalike providing massage". I wonder why there are so many pseudo pirated copies around. $80 some more. Chey!
Friday, February 1, 2008
Business Rival
The breeze was brushing through my limp body when my phone registered a gentle chime. Being roused by many of my fan 席 is workaday and I would usually not be too bothered, but it was the message that was not.
Getting out from my bed, I read the message that instantly froze my heart and my mind became clear-headed in an instant..... for the message portends that the world's stiffest competition could potentially start.
It read, "Yo bro, did you pose for NUS fusion poster?"
Out of courtesy, I replied no, that wasn't me.. maybe it was someone else.....
The unnerving realization that there is actually someone out there who could possess a face that has a proximity to my 名模's prepossessive countenance and mien sank in. As the proverbial Michael Porter from Harvard Business School describes and which many business theories still continue to refer to it, there are five key forces that determine (including threatening) business competitiveness. One of them is product substitutes. Of course Forest Rienhardt, another HBS fella suggests a way to fend off competition from substitutes and that is to making systemic changes that re-characterize market competition.
Though such ideas would take some time, I shudder to think of how my mini-me lookalikes would use my face, or rather his face but ten times cheaper. Of course, I wouldn't mind posing for NUS fusion poster even for free since it's my alma mater after all, and knowing how desperate they can be in looking for fusion faces.
After all, under different lightning.... my countenance can easily morph from pan-Asian, to pan-Pacific, to distintly Oriental...just by changing the angle and lightning intensity.
I must find out who this fella is in the interest of my career.
Vocabulary
名模: Famous Model
Fusion Face: 汇合的脸
Getting out from my bed, I read the message that instantly froze my heart and my mind became clear-headed in an instant..... for the message portends that the world's stiffest competition could potentially start.
It read, "Yo bro, did you pose for NUS fusion poster?"
Out of courtesy, I replied no, that wasn't me.. maybe it was someone else.....
The unnerving realization that there is actually someone out there who could possess a face that has a proximity to my 名模's prepossessive countenance and mien sank in. As the proverbial Michael Porter from Harvard Business School describes and which many business theories still continue to refer to it, there are five key forces that determine (including threatening) business competitiveness. One of them is product substitutes. Of course Forest Rienhardt, another HBS fella suggests a way to fend off competition from substitutes and that is to making systemic changes that re-characterize market competition.
Though such ideas would take some time, I shudder to think of how my mini-me lookalikes would use my face, or rather his face but ten times cheaper. Of course, I wouldn't mind posing for NUS fusion poster even for free since it's my alma mater after all, and knowing how desperate they can be in looking for fusion faces.
After all, under different lightning.... my countenance can easily morph from pan-Asian, to pan-Pacific, to distintly Oriental...just by changing the angle and lightning intensity.
I must find out who this fella is in the interest of my career.
Vocabulary
名模: Famous Model
Fusion Face: 汇合的脸
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