My my my... how time flies!~ Been back for almost a month, still feeling the heat back here. I can sweat immediately after a bath, and that's the worst kind of feeling. Prickly heat powder is very effective to solve this problem, keeps me cool and nice!
Dec 6th, is the day we broke up. Well, it's better to move on now to a new life. There's no point in carrying on something that I feel wouldn't work out. It was a rough two years really, probably due much to the fact that we were far apart, but the lack of chemistry just couldn't be patched by a few words & actions.
On another note, it's my 24th birthday tomorrow! Two cycles of the chinese zodiac have passed just like this. It's time to move on to another phase in life, the working phase. Well, I really wonder what I would have become by the time I reach the third cycle, meaning age 36. I look forward to find out...
By the way, I am really annoyed by this recent Nokia advert bus. I was on the bus 14 today heading home, and there was this screen right in front of me, which kept playing loudly (overshadowing the guy behind me who was snoring) these Nokia advertisements. I'm sure I watched the adverts close to ten times. And this same stupid phrase keeps popping up "the next episode is about to begin". Oh yeah, who cares?! who cares about the next episode of whatever is about to begin. It's real, i mean REAL, irritating!
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Saturday, 27 October 2007
Back!
Hi, I know I haven't been blogging for a short while, and anxious people have been telling me to continue blogging. Kinda been busy with tons of assignments and exams are just round the corner. Panic week! Or rather, if you are well prepared, you shouldn't panic right?
Thanks to everyone who continue to tag here even when the blog gets quiet.
Below are some photos of stuff that happened during this period of no-post...
Spartos Night: 3 Tigers on our table, and 3 well-behaved and civilised people
Spartos Night: Daryl and Mr Huh? (with the blur look)
Spartos Night: Me and my two nice neighbours. Yes we're going to have a good time
Valete: DL, the best initials!
Me visiting Uni of Sydney
What a magnificent university with a huge court yard
Diana and me in Sydney
And by the way to people who still haven't heard about it, I'll be going back on Nov 15th. Seeya then
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Off on holiday
Tomorrow, or rather today, I'll be off to Melbourne, the place where I had stayed for half a month in the beginning of this year, for another holiday. Melbourne is a very nice city and definitely worth another visit. But this time I won't be along, as I'm going with Barney, Ting Yi and Zhong. Should be a relax and chill-out trip with lots of jokes and stories to tell.
After that, will be going to Sydney to visit Diana for a couple of days. Haven't seen her in a while, so I'm looking forward to catching up with her.
Anways, been reading this article: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/297259/1/.html
and realised that the US would very likely cut their interest rates soon. This means the Australian dollar would get stronger due to their high interest rate, which also means that anyone with money should buy more AUS$ and sell US$ now. Just a tip, although I haven't got the money. But the AUS$ going up would mean that SGD$ would become weaker relative to the Aussie dollar as well. Thus I reckon one of my good moves this year was to bring over lots of AUD$ so as to gain on the high interest rates which would be more than sufficient to cover all transaction costs. Well done to myself. Haha!
After that, will be going to Sydney to visit Diana for a couple of days. Haven't seen her in a while, so I'm looking forward to catching up with her.
Anways, been reading this article: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/297259/1/.html
and realised that the US would very likely cut their interest rates soon. This means the Australian dollar would get stronger due to their high interest rate, which also means that anyone with money should buy more AUS$ and sell US$ now. Just a tip, although I haven't got the money. But the AUS$ going up would mean that SGD$ would become weaker relative to the Aussie dollar as well. Thus I reckon one of my good moves this year was to bring over lots of AUD$ so as to gain on the high interest rates which would be more than sufficient to cover all transaction costs. Well done to myself. Haha!
Random Picture
Wide-eyed anticipation of entering the workforce for these graduates
Friday, 31 August 2007
Party On...and On...and On
Mid semester exams are over and it's time to party. Had a party last week after the end of my first exam. Bought half a dozen of Strongbow Dry and another half dozen of Toohey's Extra Dry for my mates. Had some good music from our resident DJ Barney. Chips aplenty due to contributions by me, Jared, Tingyi (with his cuttlefish) and Jayshen. Thanks guys. It was a great party. Woot!
Then it was onto Jiayun's birthday party yesterday, where we had a cake, chips and some orange juice before heading out to King O Malleys, a local pub. Great place to sit around with plenty of friends and just drink. Drank more than the previous 2 days combined, with pints of beer, stout, shots of tequilla and even absinth minded, this cocktail which contained absinth (green fairy). Crazy and fun night man. Woot!
The arsenal of alcohol for the night
Having a drink brings out all the smiles, except Jayshen who was quite unhappy about Barney
The host of the party (me) enjoying the night
Jared drinking wine straight from the bottle (hmm...)
Then it was onto Jiayun's birthday party yesterday, where we had a cake, chips and some orange juice before heading out to King O Malleys, a local pub. Great place to sit around with plenty of friends and just drink. Drank more than the previous 2 days combined, with pints of beer, stout, shots of tequilla and even absinth minded, this cocktail which contained absinth (green fairy). Crazy and fun night man. Woot!
Monday, 27 August 2007
The truth is out!
Refer to: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/specialreport/news/288515_8/1/.html for what I'm about to say.
It has been months since UNSW pulled out of Singapore within a short period of the start of operations, leading to shocks among many students who had enrolled in the university. However, I guess the largest shock had arose from EDB as it fathomed the consequences of this pull-out, so much so that it could not lift it's curtain of silence until recently, to reveal the amount of damage that was done. In a country like Singapore where actions by the government or goverment-related organisations would be sure to attract speculations and rumours, the amount of the loan is of great interest as punters rub their hands in anticipation.
A failed investment is common in the business world. A failed investment by a seemingly "solid and efficient" government in a culture where a poor child gets 99 instead of the full 100 marks in a test gets reprimanded is unacceptable, or at least to the people. The brings us to the saga of NKF again where a certain minister's wife was the patron. Now what went wrong in this case? Although a failed investment of around $15m can be considered small considering the amount of assets the EDB possesses, it is significant in the eyes of the common folks who may never see $1m in their lifetime.
I would speculate that it is the failure of checks within the system that caused the damage. Just as a factory needs a supervisor to supervise the entire manufacturing process, there needs to be someone to check if investments are sound before loans and grants are lent or given. Saying "Investors know their business better than the government. In this case, UNSW – as the investor and the operator – is in the best position to assess the viability of its business plan. (The) government's role is to facilitate and support investors in their decisions, not to second-guess or guide those decisions." is the sign of shirking of responsibility. When banks loan out monies to businesses, they too make checks on the backgrounds of the company. Is it too difficult for the EDB to undertake such a task?
Of course trying to forecast if an investment will be a success or not is not a straightforward mission, and you can at most allocate a probability to it. But signalling for a pull-out within less than a month after operations shows signs that this probability is close to 100%. How could this not be detected unless checks weren't even made in the first place.
Another source of fault lies in the MOE. The eagerness of the MOE to turn Singapore into an education hub [What's this thing about creating Singapore into hubs for everything from medical to MICE to education? I say just focus on what you can.] in recent times has led to the search for the creation of a 4th university after SMU. Maybe the market in Singapore is indeed too small for a 4th one? Has anybody considered that? And when UNSW comes knocking on the door, it is put into plan without market analysis perhaps. This would probably pressure EDB to fork out the enormous loan and grants to UNSW as an incentive for them to build the building just so that Singapore will have a 4th university. Again, is it needed? Look at the damage it has done.
Taxpayers' money goes into that building and now it is an empty shell waiting to be filled. Even though I have not joined the ranks of a taxpayer, I will in the future, and if something like this happens to my money, you will definitely want some explanation and a decent one. But so far, nothing of the sort. Just the usual concern for their reputation. After that, it is back to the search for another university to fill the gap. Sigh.
It has been months since UNSW pulled out of Singapore within a short period of the start of operations, leading to shocks among many students who had enrolled in the university. However, I guess the largest shock had arose from EDB as it fathomed the consequences of this pull-out, so much so that it could not lift it's curtain of silence until recently, to reveal the amount of damage that was done. In a country like Singapore where actions by the government or goverment-related organisations would be sure to attract speculations and rumours, the amount of the loan is of great interest as punters rub their hands in anticipation.
A failed investment is common in the business world. A failed investment by a seemingly "solid and efficient" government in a culture where a poor child gets 99 instead of the full 100 marks in a test gets reprimanded is unacceptable, or at least to the people. The brings us to the saga of NKF again where a certain minister's wife was the patron. Now what went wrong in this case? Although a failed investment of around $15m can be considered small considering the amount of assets the EDB possesses, it is significant in the eyes of the common folks who may never see $1m in their lifetime.
I would speculate that it is the failure of checks within the system that caused the damage. Just as a factory needs a supervisor to supervise the entire manufacturing process, there needs to be someone to check if investments are sound before loans and grants are lent or given. Saying "Investors know their business better than the government. In this case, UNSW – as the investor and the operator – is in the best position to assess the viability of its business plan. (The) government's role is to facilitate and support investors in their decisions, not to second-guess or guide those decisions." is the sign of shirking of responsibility. When banks loan out monies to businesses, they too make checks on the backgrounds of the company. Is it too difficult for the EDB to undertake such a task?
Of course trying to forecast if an investment will be a success or not is not a straightforward mission, and you can at most allocate a probability to it. But signalling for a pull-out within less than a month after operations shows signs that this probability is close to 100%. How could this not be detected unless checks weren't even made in the first place.
Another source of fault lies in the MOE. The eagerness of the MOE to turn Singapore into an education hub [What's this thing about creating Singapore into hubs for everything from medical to MICE to education? I say just focus on what you can.] in recent times has led to the search for the creation of a 4th university after SMU. Maybe the market in Singapore is indeed too small for a 4th one? Has anybody considered that? And when UNSW comes knocking on the door, it is put into plan without market analysis perhaps. This would probably pressure EDB to fork out the enormous loan and grants to UNSW as an incentive for them to build the building just so that Singapore will have a 4th university. Again, is it needed? Look at the damage it has done.
Taxpayers' money goes into that building and now it is an empty shell waiting to be filled. Even though I have not joined the ranks of a taxpayer, I will in the future, and if something like this happens to my money, you will definitely want some explanation and a decent one. But so far, nothing of the sort. Just the usual concern for their reputation. After that, it is back to the search for another university to fill the gap. Sigh.
Sunday, 26 August 2007
Ursies Ball 2007
Ursies Ball this year was held on the 17th of August at Thoroughbred Park. Place was alright, food was good, free-flow red wine, white wine, champagne, beer, lemon lime and bitters, and sky juice, and the live! band was awesome. So nothing to complain about, except that there was too little time. But this once in a year event was definitely worth the go and perhaps more worth it than the international ball which was held on the same day. Anyway, below are some pictures of the night.
Ready for the ball
With an insurance salesman (Jay Shen and me)
From left: Barney, me, Derrig (Ursies President for 2007), John (my senior resident), Hannah (international representative 2007) and Daryl (Malaysian student of the year 2007?)
Black gloves have 2 functions: They keep you from feeling the coldness on your hands (they don't actually keep your hands warm), and they go with the hitman theme (notice the red tie as well)
Huw and me (He's learning Chinese and is really good. He comes to me for help sometimes)
Going back in the cool neon-lighted double-decker bus
Ready for the ball 
With an insurance salesman (Jay Shen and me)
Classmates for 7 semesters (Jia Yun and me)
Blue is the colour of royalty (Eun Hae and me)
Two hitman posers (black gloves sold separately)
From left: Barney, me, Derrig (Ursies President for 2007), John (my senior resident), Hannah (international representative 2007) and Daryl (Malaysian student of the year 2007?) 
Morgie and his dance moves
Let the fire begin
Studs out for a puff
Black gloves have 2 functions: They keep you from feeling the coldness on your hands (they don't actually keep your hands warm), and they go with the hitman theme (notice the red tie as well)Huw and me (He's learning Chinese and is really good. He comes to me for help sometimes)Going back in the cool neon-lighted double-decker bus
Monday, 20 August 2007
ball video
I just typed out a post and due to weak wireless connection, the draft was not saved. Kinda annoyed again. Now I have to recall what I typed..
But the stuff that I wanted to say is that (pardon my use of point form):
But the stuff that I wanted to say is that (pardon my use of point form):
- Roger Federer won his 50th title
- I received letters from friends
- Should not always just the bad things but should remember good things that happen. So keep those bird's nest with rock sugar coming!
- Inspired and loved the Ursies ball video 2007 as this is my last year here
- Inspired to produce a post ball video of my own. Throw in some pictures and videos, and interview people regarding their feelings about the ball, and of course the theme song.
Yep that's the gist. Hope this doesn't fail me again...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
