Boonzilla

Tribute to Michael Jackson

2012-01-12T00:36:00.003+08:00

Compilation of Wayne Brady's impersonation of MJ in my favourite show, whose line is it anyway.

And here's the King of Pop himself, when he's at his best.

2011-12-20T23:08:00.001+08:00

It's so hard to say goodbye to your dream.

Maybe it's just not fated.

Perhaps, my kids get their chance.

Hope they get to fulfill their dreams.

Bye, Burkill Hall.

Boon-advisor in Siem Reap, Cambodia

2011-11-30T20:57:00.005+08:00

Cambodian currency is call Riel. However, most businesses in Siem Reap accept US dollars, as well as their own currency. 1 USD is equal to 4000 Riels. Hence if you buy something with 50 cents change, they'll probably return you with 2000 Riels, etc.

Apparently only Jetstar and Silkair fly to Siem Reap. Always plan and purchase your tickets early as you'll be surprise with the amount of visitors to Siem Reap, especially during holidays. Check out Silkair's ticket prices too as they may be cheaper during promotions.

Cambodia locals, whom they call themselves Khmer, are one of the most memorable takeaways of my trip. They're forever so friendly! They may approach you for some business (tuk tuk, massage, shops, etc) initially but even when you have made a clear intention of not dealing with them, they'll still strike a nice conversation with you. We've encountered this a few times during our trip. Initially we were quite defensive, holding our guards against them, thinking that they're out to get your business. But thereafter, we managed to chat with a few locals naturally while we simply strolled along the street and night market.

Food should not be much of an issue as they have all sorts of varieties available. From Chinese 'zhi char', to western food, and Indian, Italian, Mexican (even KFC) restaurants are readily available in town.

There's tons of cheap massage parlours around in town, with rates like 60mins full body massage for USD4 only. But the tradeoff is that the masseuse may not be as skilled, massage may not be as detailed, pillows may not be really clean, etc. I can name a few more if you want. One of the better massage parlour I've experienced is Devatara Spa. Slightly more costly than usual (USD $8), but their skills, services and atmosphere will assure you that your money is well spent. For the record, we have visited them twice during our trip and both times we were highly impressed.

There're a wide range of guesthouses, hotels, villas for both backpackers or tourists around the town, or slightly further. Personally, I'll suggest you to walk in to survey the guesthouse that you've shortlisted and rates can be further negotiated. I strongly believe booking online will cost you more. We stayed in 3 different guesthouses during our trip and let me share with you my personal experience with each.

Ei8ht Rooms (http://www.ei8htrooms.com/home.htm)

Location is quite good. Just a stone throw away from town. Cost us about USD $24/night, but bear in mind we catered for an extra bed. Basic needs like TVs, hot shower facility, aircon, safe, kettle, mini fridge are all covered. Service was quite alright from the staffs. Fixed my TV's audio after a couple of hours. You can borrow DVDs available at the reception counters. However, the guesthouse look relatively old, and you could easily spot a few giant (foot long) lizards just outside your room at night. This totally freaks me out.

Bloom Garden Guest House (www.bloomguesthouse.com)

Good location to stay over if you plan to travel to Angkor Wat, but you'll need tuk tuk services whenever you plan to head to town. More costly (USD $35/night) but I need to emphasize that the room's condition (bed, aircon, shower facilities, etc) are much better. The best thing about Bloom has to be their staffs' excellent service. It's very family orientated and you'll always be greeted with their best service catered to your needs. Once, we woke up late morning (11am+) and they still offered to make breakfast for us! How cool is that!

Neth Socheata Hotel (http://www.nethsocheatahotel.com/)

Location is good. Town is as good as downstairs. Cost us USD $30/night. Room's condition is excellent, given that this hotel is relatively new. We even get to watch BPL matches and WWE in the hotel. Staffs' service is generally good, if not for one particular staff who keep hinting us for tips throughout our stay and especially when we're leaving. Simply pissed us off totally.

As for places to chill, there're a variety of pubs to choose from along Street 8, also known as Pub Street. One such place with great music is Temple Club. For clubbing, there isn't much options around. There's Pyramid Club (which I heard it sucks though I didn't go), and there's ZoneOne and Hiphop Club. I don't really enjoy clubbing there as the music aren't as good as those in pubs, surprisingly. But the beers are really cheap. About USD $5 for a pitcher? And if you go to their local eating hawkers, a pitcher of beer can cost as cheap as USD$2!

Angkor Wat 吴哥寺

2011-11-30T20:57:00.003+08:00

Angkor Wat is one of the main attraction in Cambodia, or in fact in Southeast Asia. It is famous for the temples in the Angkor archaeological area. The temple is vast with a lot of detail work and bas reliefs, all of which are incredibly well-preserved. Bringing a guidebook is essential because you'll want to fully understand the richness of Angkor Wat. This's one of the experiences you'll always remember and definitely worth the price.

Duration
Probably takes slightly more than half a day. Would suggest to set off at around 10am, so you are able to check out a few temples and than settle down at Phnom Bakheng for a majestic view of Angkor Wat's sunset. (must see!)

Food
Food around Angkor Wat is generally more expensive as it is a tourist attraction. It'll be best if you are able to pack some sandwiches along as that will save you some cost. You can reward yourself a nice & affordable dinner somewhere else after a hard day's of visiting.

Admission Fee
You must possess an admission pass (an 'Angkor Pass') to visit the temples and sites in the Angkor Archaeological Park. Passes may be purchased at the main entrance on the road to Angkor Wat. One-day tickets only can be purchased at the secondary tollgate on airport road entrance near Angkor Wat and at Banteay Srey. Passes are sold in one-day ($20), three-day ($40) and seven-day ($60) blocks that must be used on consecutive days. Photo taken on the spot with free of charge is required at time of purchase.

Visiting hours are 5:00AM - 6:00PM. Angkor Wat closes at 6:00PM, Banteay Srey closes at 5:00PM and Kbal Spean at 3:00PM. Always carry your ticket. It will be checked upon each park entry and at major temples. There is a significant fine for not possessing a valid ticket inside the park. A regular admission ticket is not required to visit Phnom Kulen, Koh Ker or Beng Melea, but there is a separate entrance fee of $20, $10 and $5, respectively.

Transport
There're a few temples spreaded out and it'll be costly if you take tuk tuk here and there. By foot will be exhausting and time consuming. Hence, riding a bicycle will be best option in my opinion. You can easily rent a bicycle from any nearby shops for USD$1 for a day. Only catch is you may need to pay a little 'parking fee' to the locals while you go visit the temples. Nevertheless, it's nothing compare to the flexibility you have, and the time and amount you can save.

Route
Plan your route first, and have a map ready. Roads are quite straight forward and consistent to most maps. I'll share with you our route as a suggestion.

(Click picture for larger view)

Sequence of Visits
Checkpoint 1: Angkor Wat
Checkpoint 2: Ta Prohm - The Ancestor Barhma (Jungle Temple)
Checkpoint 3: Angkor Thom
Checkpoint 4: Phnom Bakheng (Sunset watching)

Touch A Life Home

2011-11-30T20:57:00.001+08:00

Will update this soon!

New Chapter Ahead

2011-11-19T01:19:00.001+08:00

Finally able to close this unhappy chapter of mine. True enough, some opportunities were lost. But there are other good things that resulted because of this. I believe that things happen for a reason. There must be some reason why you aren't so smooth sailing towards your goal. It may be simply you're meant to do other things, or maybe it's a sign that there are something bad may happen even if you got your goal.

Or perhaps something else better is coming along the way?

Well, I felt a lot better than previously.
There's no point sulking at something that don't belong to you.

Rather, I should look forward to these next:

1. Cambodia Trip
2. China Trip
3. Wedding Prep

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO~~~~~~

My Pretty Fiancé!

2011-11-18T23:52:00.001+08:00

Lesson Learnt

2011-11-17T18:12:00.001+08:00

Very disappointed with their extreme unprofessional way of handling things.

Yet, there's a lesson learnt. At least I've an answer now.

It's time for me to wake up in this fantasy dreamland.

There won't be such a good offer in reality.

The only reality is you'll only be offered what you worth.

Period.

An Eventful Week of Mixed Feelings

2011-11-15T23:27:00.001+08:00

Just when I thought my career has drastically stretch from a stagnant level to brand new height, it went straight way down to an almost unrecoverable state due to someone's extreme unprofessionalism. I totally mishandle the whole situation the way it should be. Though the success of my recent proposal and ability to secure our future home at our favorable location had somewhat lifted my spirits a little but still, it's really saddening to be reminded of my current career situation everytime...

Sometimes,
I really wish for time travel, so I would not make the same mistake again.

Someone,
I hope will appear, to savage my situation.

Somehow,
I just hope things will be better tomorrow.

Soccer @ Cisco

2011-10-27T03:19:00.003+08:00

Recently, our soccer @ cisco session has become more and more interesting. We have this new rule that whoever with the highest percentage of losing over number of games played at the end of the session, he will have to do up a picture of himself with diamond 3, and post it up as his facebook profile picture. Reason why diamond 3 is because in the game of Big2, diamond 3 is the weakest card and that truly reflects his performance for that night. He will have to suffer this 'humiliation' till the next person to take over this 'throne' after the next game.

So far, I must say this has been very effective! Games become more interesting and competitive, the victim more eager to organise the next session, and more regular soccer sessions means more healthy gatherings!

And here's the record of the past and present's heir to the throne.

Kelvin Lin
Lost 4 out of 5 games.

Current.

Crono Lee

Lost 4 out of 5 games.

Posted for 5 weeks

Let's see who's next!

Deepavali Day = PES2012 + Steamboat

2011-10-27T03:08:00.001+08:00

Spent the day at Crono's house for a day of PES2012 and steamboat. Always feels great to hangout with these bros of mine. Full of laughter and fun. Not to mention the great dinner that Crono's dad prepared just made the day even better. Look forward to our next meet up...=)

Lonely Weekend

2011-10-02T22:07:00.003+08:00

Just washed the clothes, vacuumed & mopped the floor,hanged out the clothes, bathed, watered the plants, went for dinner, read thepapers, keep the clothes… Hmm...what else?

Spent the weekend (Thurs-Sun) alone at home as my family went to Lombok Island for holiday while Jiaying went to Bangkok with her cousins.

What
are the
chances
of such
freedom
to occur?

Wahahaaa!

Engineering

2011-09-12T17:38:00.004+08:00

Sometimes I just feel I sucked at engineering. Felt completely lost in a meeting.
Should I perservere on or should I just go for something I might excel in?

Marvel Heros Collection (updated)

2011-09-04T02:42:00.001+08:00

1. ~~Wolverine~~
2. ~~Hulk~~
3. Iron Man
4. Captain America
~~5. Thor~~
6. Spider Man
7. Cyclops
~~8. Gambit~~

Who's NEXT?!!

Stressed

2011-09-01T00:24:00.001+08:00

A sign for Re-Kinabalu?

2011-08-22T03:12:00.002+08:00

NOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!

Drawing:Show HERO

2011-08-21T00:01:00.012+08:00

SYNOPSIS

In a cold hearted gray city, every hero who shined people’s heart with their own color has disappeared and there was

nothing left but the dark air in the city. Since then people have been living hopelessly in the same figure and the same

thought without their heroes.

The 4 painters who lived somewhere in the city have decided to build the Drawing Theater in the center of city and give their performances to the people after realized the mission of spreading artistic inspiration and bringing joy back to them. Wearing the clothes reminding of Charlie Chaplin and Michael Jackson, they pass the Time Gate to give people’s memory back to them by drawing the memorable heroes. Everyone who leaves the Drawing Theater after the

performance has full of joy and delight with their faces. In the end, the gray city turned out to be a shining one with its

own color.

Painter 1 : The one who is shy, mysterious and off the wall even though having the tough guy look. He is the first one operating Drawing Theater by drawing light and shadow.

Painter 2 : The one who is loose and full of playful gestures like clown. But sometimes he shows off his talent through completing wonderful paintings at the unexpected moment.

Painter 3 : The one who has always serious look but has the best skill among the characters. He plays the key role to highlight the Drawing Theater by making the finale.

Painter 4 : The one who is the youngest. He is often being odd man out by others because of his exaggerated behavior but he surprises them occasionally by displaying his hidden talent.

Drawing:Show HERO has taken art beyond its spectrum. It is a form of fantasy art that uses various painting techniques and combines them with mind-blowing special effects to tickle your imagination. Throughout the entire 80 minutes of the show, laughter, unexpected turns and a touching storyline will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Paintings come to life through Animated 3D Drawings,200 cubes create new paintings through Cube Art, Bold and vibrant colors bring life on stage through Action Painting, See masterpieces instantly recreated through Reverse Drawing. Architectural Display and Drawing:Show HERO meet for the first time in Singapore.

It's creative, entertaining & inspiring! Go catch them before it's gone!

Backpacking. Foolish or Respect?

2011-08-21T00:00:00.005+08:00

Just came back from supper with my good buddies Weizhong & Guanglong at market 85. It's been quite sometime since the last time we met, probably because Weizhong went for a solo backpacking trip to Cambodia, Laos and Thailand for about a month or so. Kind of admire his adventurous spirit coz it's something that I've always thought of doing before but just never put them into actions...

He shared his backpacking stories with us and I could literally picture the carefree lifestyle that he's experiencing daily. He's also joined some cooking lessons and took part in volunteering work to cook for the village kids. Throughout the trip, he has also met some hardcore backpackers who've been away from home for months. This kind of reminds me of my OCS mate Elgin, who shared with us that he'd work in Singapore as freelance in the film industry for probably 6 months or so, or until he had 'earn' enough. And then he'll leave for his second home, Bangkok, where he'll hop around here and there, taking up Thai language, volunteering to help some of the village people and kids, and live the life of the Thais. And whenever he's short of money, he'll return back to Singapore to start his freelancing routine again.

To a certain extend, I've really have to give it to these kind of people. People who can really 放得下 and have been away from home for months. Years for some. These people whom I prefer to call, backpacking heros. Really hope one day I've the chance to do that.

So backpacking foolish or respect.

Definitely respect.

Uniquely Boon (and Enyu)

2011-07-18T13:39:00.002+08:00

Somehow, someday...

2011-07-03T03:25:00.002+08:00

I'm gonna find the meaning of my life... and a successful one.

Someday.

Golf, the upcoming new sport to learn.

2011-07-01T16:40:00.005+08:00

Recently introduced to a new sport, golf. All thanks to Jia Xian, whom I introduced tennis to. He brought me to Toa Payoh Driving Range to have my first golf experience and gave me a short crash course. After that, I was there practicing and practicing throughout the entire 2hr session.

To my surprise golf can be rather tiring and especially straining on the back. I was so concern initially on getting all the posture and technique right and in turn, my back ended really aching. I felt that golf is a sport that involves a lot of techniques and stamina. Not so much on strength, speed, brains-hands-feet coordination or quick reflexes. What I understand from my first lesson is that if you got your posture right, you'll definitely hit the sweetspot of the ball, and when you apply the force at the right time during your drive, the ball will naturally drive far. All these, require tons of practices.

Different people have different kinds of interest to spend their time & money on. Some loves shopping while some loves to travel. For me, I'm the kind who likes to learn a new sport and try my best to master the basics of it. Just like soccer, badminton, table tennis, rollarblading, dragonboating, canoeing, scuba diving and the recent tennis. Guess golf will be next.

Somehow, playing sports to me is really stressfree.

It cheers me up no matter how bad the day was.

Involve or not to be?

2011-06-30T16:46:00.005+08:00

Today I've learnt something from work.

If it's something that is really out of your jobscope, either you wholeheartedly get involve or you DO NOT get involve totally at all.

Do not get involve a bit here and there. You'll end up being subject to getting more and more arrows, as compared to those who simply do not contribute anything from the start.

You'll be expected to contribute more and more and when you try to push these arrows away, you'll be labelled as irresponsible. In the end, you can only curse in your heart those people who simply contribute nothing (but comment a lot), yet they are the ones who are laughing now.

Be smart next time but don't try to act smart. If you know you aren't able to hold such high responsibilities, no point trying to be helpful or show some leadership by trying to contribute a bit here and there.

Lesson learnt.

HDB Woes

2011-06-11T20:04:00.005+08:00

Am quite sadden by the fact that our bid for Tampines Greenleaf BTO was unsuccessful yet again, despite seeking help from Chai Chee's MP. I believe this is my 6th attempt.

Out of these attempts, I actually got 2 lousy queue nos. that already exceeded the units available. When it's time to select the units, I was left with units of very low levels or units far far away. Because we rejected twice, we are being stripped of '1st timer piority' for 1 year. This means we now belongs to 5% allocated for BTO, instead of the initial 95%. MP even mocked that we are being choosy.

I've friends who bidded for 5 times and they got a good queue no. I've friends who attempted once and they got a good queue. How fair is this. Sometimes I'd rather got NO queue nos than getting a lousy queue no.

We have explained our situation to whoever's concerned and most would understand and sympathized, except HDB and our MP. They just don't bother. It's a screw up system and yes, they are reviewing with new policies. Yet, we suffered under the stupid old system.

Unjustified.

This is damn cool!

2011-06-08T09:25:00.002+08:00

Joke of the Day

2011-06-04T01:21:00.008+08:00

A black man and wife are heading to a Halloween party.

Excited, wife bought two sets of costumes for him the next day.

Snowman and Santa Claus.

Black Man: "Seriously, have you seen a black snowman?"

Wife: "Nope"

Black Man: "Perhaps a black Santa?"

Wife: "Nope"

Pissed, wife took a piece of wood and handed to her man.

"Tell you what. Here, take this and shaft it up your ass."

"You can be Magnum instead."

WAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

X-Men First Class

2011-06-03T23:55:00.009+08:00

Typical X-men movie sequel (or should I say prequel) showcasing many different mutants & their special abilities and this time, emphasize more on their background. Some of the 'new' mutants in the movie are actually very much linked with mutants we are all familiar with.

Mutant Name:

Alexander Summers (Havok)

Mutant Powers:

Ability to absorb cosmic energy and release it as waves of energy that heat the air in their path enough to turn it into plasma.

Relationship Links:

Younger brother of Scotts Summers (Cyclops)

Name:

Raven Darkhölme (Mystique)

Mutant Powers:

Ability to precisely duplicate another person’s retina pattern, finger, palm and skin-pore patterns, vocal cords, any humanoid of either sex, wearing any kind of clothing. In fact, she can eliminate the outward signs of aging with her shape-changing power.

Relationship Links:

Biological mother of Nightcrawler

Mutant Name:

Azazel

Mutant Powers:

Ability to teleport across interdimensional distances, generate bolts and streams of paralyzing energy, as well as destructive energy which causes a form of disintegration, and can disguise his appearance.

Relationship Links:

Biological father of Nightcrawler

Head Youtek Speed Pro

2011-05-31T22:08:00.001+08:00

My new racket. Can't wait to play with it.

5 Languages of Love

2011-05-28T01:10:00.016+08:00

Met up with a good friend of mine for dinner and she shared with me something inspirational and meaningful, call the 5 Languages of Love.

Often, couples tends to face issues in their relationships pertaining to each others' characters or habits, and the degree of unhappiness may leads to stagnant relationships or even someone deciding in calling it quits. As long as you understand clearly his/hers language of love, you can rediscover love and maintaining relationships can be a lot easier.

Language of Affirmation

Some people's thoughts upon situations are naturally more optimistic than others, while some often sink into the worst scenario first. People who speak the language of affirmation are generally more receptive with positive encouragement, rather than insults. Unsolicited compliments like 'You're still beautiful' could mean the world to them. These times, words do speak as loud as actions.

Language of Gifts

Many would agree that upon receiving a gift would bring a smile on anyone's face. However, people who speak the language of gifts thrives a lot on the love, effort, sincerity and thoughtfulness of the incoming gift. A perfect gift would make him/her feel prized beyond whatever was sacrificed before.

Language of Service

Regardless being independent or not, people who speak the language of service often appreciates anything that you offers to do that could ease the burden of their responsibilities. It can be as simple as helping to decide where to have dinner, or by offering help to carry her bags. These actions speak volumes.

Language of Quality Time

People who speak the language of quality time often dislike wasting long hours together but believe that being together, doing things together and focusing in on one another is the best way to show love, even if it is only a short span of time. Basically, quality over quantity.

Language of Touch

First of all, the language of touch is NOT always about the bedroom. It can be a simple stroke on the back, holding hands, or peck on the cheek on these people that will often make them feel much appreciated, concern, and love.

Many couples misunderstood each others' language of love which results in many unhappiness. Maintaining relationships can be simple so long you understands and express your love through his/her language of love.

So rediscover his/her language of love and bring joy back into your relationship now!

Finally...

2011-02-21T20:57:00.003+08:00

The Rock has come back... to WWE!

If ya SMELLLLLLALALALAAA what the Rock is Cookin!

It's all back on Feb 18th.

2011-02-21T20:52:00.009+08:00

Soaking wet.

Paddling hard.

Stroke by stroke.

Longer Pull.

Mental endurance.

Breath Taking.

Body aching.

Back breaking.

Butt blistering.

One more set to go.

I miss(love) this feeling.

Art of Farting (Funny!)

2011-02-20T14:51:00.002+08:00

Surf & Sweat 2011

2011-02-13T23:30:00.017+08:00

For this year's Valentine's day, me & Jiaying decided to take part in one of this year Surf & Sweat's new event, Surf & Hunt Lover's Challenge. Basically, it's like a mini amazing race with stations for couples to clear. Sounds interesting, but not sure if we are able to work as a team. Nevertheless, we went for it.

In the end, we were one of the last few teams to finish. (Ha! WHAT?!)

Alright alright, let me to explain. It's definitely not because we were slow or dumb or what. In fact we were the 2nd fastest team to finish surfing, and the fastest to clear the rubik cube challenge. It's the first clue that kills us. Let me show you exactly what's on the clue card and you think about it.

"I miss getting out tram, so what's next?"

First thought: Missed siloso tram station, so must be alighting next station which is at underwater world. Searched high & low at underwater world yet no station master found. Next thought: Missed tram station, so must be heading back to tram interchange. Searched everywhere at beach station. No station master. Headed back to underwater world to search again. Failed. Back to beach station, still fail. And guess what. We spent almost 2 hours on our bloody first clue.

In the end. The answer to the clue is Tanjong Beach.

(Missed out tram, so next stop is Tanjong pagar. Get it?)

Boon: ........................

Jiaying: .....................

Anyway, we managed to clear the rest of the stations pretty fast (especially the luge ride. I bet I'm travelling like 50-60km/hr?)

One of the main talking point of the whole race is a station where couples have to do a list of questionnaires to test each others' understanding of each other. You know, those typical kind of wedding games. So here's the results of our test.

Boon's answer

Boon Jiaying

Fav Color : Brown Green

Worst Fear : Durians Death

Fav. Season : Winter Winter

Child's Name : Boon Faith

Cartoon Character to be : Donald Duck Minnie Mouse

Last activity on dooms day : Row Boat Watch TV

Partner's physical attraction : Height Height

Top wished vacation venue : South Africa Europe

Jiaying's answer

Boon Jiaying

Fav Color : Brown White

Worst Fear : Snakes Snakes

Fav. Season : Summer Summer

Child's Name : Jay Jolin

Cartoon Character to be : Batman Spiderman

Last activity on dooms day : Gaming Sleep

Partner's physical attraction : Nose Height

Top wished vacation venue : Europe Europe

As you can see. We only got 3 correct. This shows how much we understood each other. Hahaaa... This game had been our talking (more like arguing) point while on the way sending her home. Of course, in a fun way.

Nevertheless, this race filled with fun, sweet, bitter, laughter, agony and fulfillment somehow summarizes our 3 years of journey together. Hopefully one day, we'll get full marks for the same kind of challenge again. (That is, if the questions stay the same. Ha!)

Happy 4th Valentine's Day, Galfren. =)

Would you FIGHT for your affection like these guys?

2010-12-28T02:28:00.005+08:00

Whoever this Ming Ling Lau is, she sure is a lucky lady! Haa!

2011 Resolution

2010-12-13T18:53:00.008+08:00

After much thought, I've decided that these will be my new year resolutions for 2011. Will do a check by the time 2011's coming to an end.

Career

Main Career Objective: Learn more & understand more. Network with more people. Create more opportunities for advancement.

Sideline Objective: Aim to officially launch my TeeDesign business by end 2011.

Family

Objective: Secure a house. Maybe travel with family.

Financial

Objective: Must achieve target amount by end 2011.

Travelling

Objective: Australia and/or Japan. Maybe Bangkok for business.

Skills to Learn

Objective: Laser Sailing, Tennis, Sign Language

IPPT

Objective: GOLD

Standard Chartered Full Marathon

Objective: To finish within 5 hrs.

Others

Objective: Kick off with voluntarily work

2010 Resolution Check

2010-12-13T17:11:00.010+08:00

It's coming an end to 2010 and I'm sure many of you have quite an achievement for this year. As for me, I did not travel as much as I planned nor learn as much skills as I wanted to. Nevertheless, I did clear some of the achievements planned and now it's time to give a check.

Career

Objective: To straighten out my career objectives & plan

Results: Drafted out a realistic plan. Will reveal more in my next post.

Family

Objective: 2sis's wedding and secure a house with Jiaying

Results: 2sis's wedding (a success!)

Reasons: As for house we didn't have much luck. Balloted for punggol BTOs 3 times and we didn't get a good unit. At most 2nd or 3rd level which we both decided against. Screw HDB.

Financial

Results: Did not achieve.

Reasons: No reason. Probably my target a bit unrealistic. Will work hard for 2011!

Travelling

Objective: Australia, Japan, Vietnam

Results: Genting (January), Kelong in Bintan (August), Ho Chin Minh, Vietnam (November)

Reasons: No Aussie & Japan trip is mostly due to bad planning or financial issue bah. I would say this is more of an excuse than reason.

Skills to Learn

Objective: Laser Sailing, Tennis, Scuba Diving, Sign Language

Results: Achieved Open Water & Advance Scuba Diving Certifications

Reasons: I plan to learn laser sailing through PA in November but it actually coincide with my low key reservist. For December, it does not hold any courses due to the weather.

For tennis, I actually signed up with Singapore Sports Council for a 6-weeks tennis level 1 course. But they called me and claimed that the class that I signed up for is actually a refresher course for beginners. Those students that signed up had already gone through the course before and in a way more 'experienced' than me. With me & Jiaying in the same class as first timers, we will actually hinder (yes they did use the word hinder) their pace of learning. I felt so pissed and I cancelled the course straight away.

IPPT

Objective: GOLD

Results: Silver

Reasons: Full marks for all static stations. Missed 2.4km gold timing run by 28 secs. No excuse. Just have to train harder next year. I did achieve my marksmenship ($200) during my reservist, so that probably cover up a little bit.

Standard Chartered Full Marathon

Objective: To finish within 6hrs.

Results: 6hrs 13mins.

Reasons (or excuses): The long, widely open road behind the Marina Bay Golf Course, along with the scorching sun and zero water points, is the part that kills most of the full marathoners. Everyone was as if dragging their feet for survival, every much like those scenes in the movie. Nevertheless, I did finish by 6:13. Not to mention I did wait for my running kahki and walked quite a lot though.

Hello Boonzilla's back!

2010-11-24T02:50:00.002+08:00

I'm testing this program iBlogger from my iPhone that enable iPhone users to blog from their phones, and hopefully this will make me update more often...

I don't understand...

2010-11-02T23:55:00.005+08:00

...why Marina Bay Sands (MBS)

can be built within a short span of 3 years

and my freaking lift upgrading

takes bloody 2 years

and still not yet finish!

David Beckham's Hidden Camera (Funny!)

2010-11-01T13:50:00.004+08:00

CEO's (of J.P Morgan) Fantastic reply to a Pretty Girl

2010-10-28T22:30:00.004+08:00

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum: Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy? I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here. I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you? Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York CityGarden(? ), $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions: 1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym) 2) Which age group should I target? 3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I've met a few girls who doesn't have looks & are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys 4) How do you decide who can be your wife, & who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)

Ms. Pretty

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------

Awesome reply:

Dear Ms. Pretty,

I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here. From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain. Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of "beauty" and "money": Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square. However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later.

By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a "trading position". If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or "leased". Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income.. This has better chance than finding a rich fool.

Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in "leasing" services, do contact me...

signed,

CEO J.P. Morgan

(Don't know how true is this, but absolutely love this particular email forward)

Weird dream...

2010-10-27T23:19:00.004+08:00

Had a weird dream last night.

My mind was so troubled that I decided to end my life by drinking some poison, which will somehow end my life the next day.

I asked my whole ChaCha OG out for a gathering, which all turned up, and I just treat it like a ordinary catch up session without telling them about me leaving the next day.

Quite freaky dream. But maybe this shows how much ChaCha is to me. Ha!

(I apologise for my family, NTU DB, EIs, OCS, etcs... for not appearing in my dream!)

EULOGY BY MINISTER MENTOR AT THE FUNERAL SERVICE OF MRS LEE KUAN YEW, MANDAI CREMATORIUM, 6 OCTOBER 2010

2010-10-26T01:24:00.002+08:00

The last farewell to my wife.

Ancient peoples developed and ritualised mourning practices to express the shared grief of family and friends, and together show not fear or distaste for death, but respect for the dead one; and to give comfort to the living who will miss the deceased. I recall the ritual mourning when my maternal grandmother died some 75 years ago. For five nights the family would gather to sing her praises and wail and mourn at her departure, led by a practised professional mourner. Such rituals are no longer observed. My family’s sorrow is to be expressed in personal tributes to the matriarch of our family. In October 2003 when she had her first stroke, we had a strong intimation of our mortality. My wife and I have been together since 1947 for more than three quarters of our lives. My grief at her passing cannot be expressed in words. But today, when recounting our lives together, I would like to celebrate her life. In our quiet moments, we would revisit our lives and times together. We had been most fortunate. At critical turning points in our lives, fortune favoured us.

As a young man with an interrupted education at Raffles College, and no steady job or profession, her parents did not look upon me as a desirable son-in-law. But she had faith in me. We had committed ourselves to each other. In February 1952, our first son Hsien Loong was born. She took maternity leave for a year. That February, I was asked by John Laycock, the Senior Partner, to take up the case of the Postal and Telecommunications Uniformed Staff Union, the postmen’s union. They were negotiating with the government for better terms and conditions of service. Negotiations were deadlocked and they decided to go on strike. It was a battle for public support. I was able to put across the reasonableness of their case through the press and radio. After a fortnight, they won concessions from the government. Choo, who was at home on maternity leave, pencilled through my draft statements, making them simple and clear.

Over the years, she influenced my writing style. Now I write in short sentences, in the active voice. We gradually influenced each other’s ways and habits as we adjusted and accommodated each other. We knew that we could not stay starry-eyed lovers all our lives; that life was an on-going challenge with new problems to resolve and manage. We had two more children, Wei Ling in 1955 and Hsien Yang in 1957. She brought them up to be well-behaved, polite, considerate and never to throw their weight as the prime minister’s children. As a lawyer, she earned enough, to free me from worries about the future of our children.

She saw the price I paid for not having mastered Mandarin when I was young. We decided to send all three children to Chinese kindergarten and schools. She made sure they learned English and Malay well at home. Her nurturing has equipped them for life in a multi-lingual region.

We never argued over the upbringing of our children, nor over financial matters. Our earnings and assets were jointly held. We were each other’s confidant.

She had simple pleasures. We would walk around the Istana gardens in the evening, and I hit golf balls to relax. Later, when we had grandchildren, she would take them to feed the fish and the swans in the Istana ponds. Then we would swim. She was interested in her surroundings, for instance, that many bird varieties were pushed out by mynahs and crows eating up the insects and vegetation. She discovered the curator of the gardens had cleared wild grasses and swing fogged for mosquitoes, killing off insects they fed on. She stopped this and the bird varieties returned. She surrounded the swimming pool with free flowering scented flowers and derived great pleasure smelling them as she swam. She knew each flower by its popular and botanical names. She had an enormous capacity for words.

She helped me draft the Constitution of the PAP. For the inaugural meeting at Victoria Memorial Hall on 4 November 1954, she gathered the wives of the founder members to sew rosettes for those who were going on stage. In my first election for Tanjong Pagar, our home in Oxley Road, became the HQ to assign cars provided by my supporters to ferry voters to the polling booth. She warned me that I could not trust my new found associates, the leftwing trade unionists led by Lim Chin Siong. She was furious that he never sent their high school student helpers to canvass for me in Tanjong Pagar, yet demanded the use of cars provided by my supporters to ferry my Tanjong Pagar voters. She had an uncanny ability to read the character of a person. She would sometimes warn me to be careful of certain persons; often, she turned out to be right.

When we were about to join Malaysia, she told me that we would not succeed because the UMNO Malay leaders had such different lifestyles and because their politics were communally-based, on race and religion. I replied that we had to make it work as there was no better choice. But she was right. We were asked to leave Malaysia before two years.

When separation was imminent, Eddie Barker, as Law Minister, drew up the draft legislation for the separation. But he did not include an undertaking by the Federation Government to guarantee the observance of the two water agreements between the PUB and the Johor state government. I asked Choo to include this. She drafted the undertaking as part of the constitutional amendment of the Federation of Malaysia Constitution itself. She was precise and meticulous in her choice of words. The amendment statute was annexed to the Separation Agreement, which we then registered with the United Nations.

After her first stroke, she lost her left field of vision. This slowed down her reading. She learned to cope, reading with the help of a ruler. She swam every evening and kept fit. She continued to travel with me, and stayed active despite the stroke. She stayed in touch with her family and old friends. She listened to her collection of CDs, mostly classical, plus some golden oldies. She jocularly divided her life into “before stroke” and “after stroke”, like BC and AD.

She was friendly and considerate to all associated with her. She would banter with her WSOs (woman security officers) and correct their English grammar and pronunciation in a friendly and cheerful way. Her former WSOs visited her when she was at NNI. I thank them all. (Listed in Appendix A) Her second stroke on 12 May 2008 was more disabling. I encouraged and cheered her on, helped by a magnificent team of doctors, surgeons, therapists and nurses. (Listed in Appendix B.)

Her nurses, WSOs and maids all grew fond of her because she was warm and considerate. When she coughed, she would take her small pillow to cover her mouth because she worried for them and did not want to infect them. Her mind remained clear but her voice became weaker. When I kissed her on her cheek, she told me not to come too close to her in case I caught her pneumonia. I assured her that the doctors did not think that was likely because I was active. When given some peaches in hospital, she asked the maid to take one home for my lunch. I was at the centre of her life.

On 24 June 2008, a CT scan revealed another bleed again on the right side of her brain. There was not much more that medicine or surgery could do except to keep her comfortable. I brought her home on 3 July 2008. The doctors expected her to last a few weeks. She lived till 2nd October, 2 years and 3 months. She remained lucid. They gave time for me and my children to come to terms with the inevitable. In the final few months, her faculties declined. She could not speak but her cognition remained. She looked forward to have me talk to her every evening.

Her last wish she shared with me was to enjoin our children to have our ashes placed together, as we were in life. The last two years of her life were the most difficult. She was bedridden after small successive strokes; she could not speak but she was still cognisant. Every night she would wait for me to sit by her to tell her of my day’s activities and to read her favourite poems. Then she would sleep.

I have precious memories of our 63 years together. Without her, I would be a different man, with a different life. She devoted herself to me and our children. She was always there when I needed her. She has lived a life full of warmth and meaning.

I should find solace at her 89 years of her life well lived. But at this moment of the final parting, my heart is heavy with sadness.

When superheros have auditions...

2010-10-17T16:07:00.001+08:00

Updates!

2010-08-05T23:55:00.009+08:00

Hi Boon-natics (Boon's fans, if there's any), I apologised for my long long absence here. It's not that I've been caught by some invaders or something. Just that when one started working, his life more of less become monotonous. There's basically nothing special out of his daily routine life, except to the new place he had his lunch, or what is he going to do after work other than heading home. I wonder if I'm the only one feeling this way. I need to get a life seriously.

I promise myself not to blog anything regarding work, coz you'll never know who is going to read this. Nevertheless today, I'm going to admit that I'm not 100% happy at work. There are times where I'm in doubt in the things I do, whether is it something I really want. Sometimes even question why am I here. Or maybe it is normal for people to like part of their work and dislike the rest. There's no complete job satisfaction. I don't know. I just hope I'll find more reasons to be happy in this job soon.

Anyway, updates updates updates. One of my achievements for this year so far have to be that I'm a true certified open water diver now. I used to be in my comfort zone on land, being able to be in control in whatever activities I do, but diving underwater I have to say, is completely different. Because we are entering a whole new different world. The marine world. We are entering into THEIR world. There are times where I felt really helpless under pressure, only to tell myself to carry on regulating my breathing, as that's the only thing I can do. Which also explains why I did not completely enjoyed my first diving experience. Nevertheless, I'd still want to go for my advance dive course. Perhaps I can experience more things as I go deeper. Probably next year bah.

Other updates. Just went to watch NDP preview with my family. Sorry to disappoint but wasn't really great. I remember I enjoyed myself much more when I watched Youth Day in secondary school times. Guess they focus their efforts and funds more onto YOG this time, so it better be a good one. My parents are going for the opening.

Next up, something about dragonboat. June race 2010, PM CUP.

NTU mens lost their PM cup this year to SIM. Convincing win for them, so nothing much to argue about. Maybe NTU mens indeed did not improve as much as the rest. So we have to train harder next time round, and better luck I guess. I'm actually more bothered about NTU gals team. To win PM cup even by a fraction to NUS last year, to the fact that they have lost almost 2 boats away from NUS this time. It just shows how much they have NOT improved since or simply how much NUS wanted it MORE. And you know what is even more saddening? To see that the girls could quickly get over it after that and started laughing, teasing, posing for pictures everywhere; It just shows what direction the girls team is leading.

I'm not saying you need to sulk the whole day when you lost. I'm just viewing this with a perspective from other teams. It's like you all are sending a message to everyone that losing is fine and we can always try again next year. I know my comments may not please the girls especially, but I believe losing in the first place is never fine to the guys team. It should never be fine for NTU. I just hope I could see the days where NTU mens and ladies start sweeping the golds in all events again. Just like the good old golden days...

Back on my work, as the time goes I'm already reaching my first year at Starhub. Not to talk further about my work, but rather, my annual leaves. I've quite a few days to clear and I'm planning to set aside one week for the month of December for my family trip. (Maybe Japan?) I'm also setting aside one week in November for a trip with my friends. Maybe with my DB mates/OCS mates if the planning goes well. If it doesn't, I'm thinking of heading overseas alone. Maybe to do some voluntary work. Something I always wanted to do. We'll see.

Alright that's all for now. I shall try to update my blog more frequent as and when I'm free. Till the next time, good morning good afternoon and good night!

This is what I call

2010-07-22T23:59:00.003+08:00

"Know your audience and cater your presentation"

Mortal Kombat Fatality (Funny Versions)

2010-06-20T17:35:00.004+08:00

Very creative!

端午节 comes in time!

2010-06-16T15:11:00.012+08:00

After a huge and heavy downpour this morning,

a team of hardcore dragonboaters

were spotted in orchard apparently...

Haaaaaa!!

Coming Soon!

2010-06-14T00:42:00.001+08:00

Should I buy Spain away jersey?

2010-06-10T14:10:00.003+08:00

TEMPTED!

If Street Fighters are on Facebook... (Funny!)

2010-06-03T14:20:00.006+08:00

Check this site out for more funny posts!

2010-05-26T02:04:00.004+08:00

Sword Bearers

2010-05-24T23:58:00.015+08:00

Being a sword bearer in a wedding has always been something I wanted to experience in my life. As stuffy and uncomfortable as it can be, I actually enjoy wearing the No.1 uniform everytime as I always find it one of the smartest uniform that any man can wear. I guess it's the slim fit design with the clean, neat and smart look that makes the man 10% more charming and suave naturally. Hahaa... Don't you agree?

I fulfilled this wish of mine by having the honor to be one of the sword bearers in my colleague, Hong Ming's wedding. It was kind of awkward as I do not know the other 7 sword bearers that came from the same batch for most of them. Nevertheless, they are a fun bunch of guys to be with. John, if I didn't remember his name wrongly, was one of the 'loudest' brothers and he's very entertaining that day. Ha...

I had a memorable night.

I do have another wish and I wonder if I'm able to experience it in my life.

I always wanted to be part of the Colors Party (Flag Party) during my army life. I once volunteered myself to be part of the Colors Party during my OCS life, but eventually got rejected as they could not find another 5 person of the same height to have a uniform contingent. Eventually, they settled for 6 others that are slightly shorter. I remembered I was kind of disappointed, while my section mates were saying I'm crazy to volunteer for such 'sai kang'. Hahaa... Maybe it is. But to me, it's an absolute honor and it's just something I wish to experience.

Am I?

老爸's 60th Birthday Celebration

2010-05-09T01:46:00.015+08:00

This year, my 老爸 gathered his close secondary mates and many of his childhood mates at Changi Aloha Chalet to celebrate some of the 'Tigers' 60th birthday, as well as to have a big reunion gathering. Many of his old friends attended with their own families, and some even came all the way from Malaysia just to attend this reunion. I can see 老爸's very happy on that day. After all, the reunion was a success after many weeks of their hard work and plannings.

That's my 老爸 at the right, in red.

My secondary friends came to celebrate too.

and so were the entire Ker family.

Watch this! Funny...

周杰倫《超人不會飛》MV

2010-04-29T01:49:00.008+08:00

作词:周杰伦

作曲:周杰伦

妈妈说很多事别太计较
只是使命感找到了我我睡不着
如果说骂人要有点技巧
我会加点旋律你会觉得超屌

我的枪不会装弹药
所以放心不会有人倒
我拍青锋侠不需要替身
因为自信是我绘画的颜料

我做很多事背后的意义并非你们想象
拍个电视纯为了友情与兄弟间的梦想
收视率在考验来看看我的伟大理想
因为我的人生我需再多一倍的假象

我不知道何时变成了所谓的那榜样
被狗仔拍的那边装着要道歉的模样怎样

我唱的歌词要有点文化
因为随时会被当教材
CNN能不能等英文好一点再访
时代杂志封面能不能重拍

随时随地注意形象
要控制饮食不然就跟杜莎夫人蜡像的我不像
好莱钨的中国戏院地上有很多手印脚印
何时才能看见我的脚 oh~

如果超人会飞
那就让我在空中停一停歇
再次俯瞰这个世界
会让我觉得好一些
拯救地球好累
虽然有些疲惫但我还是会
不要问我哭过了没
因为超人不能流眼泪

唱歌要拿最佳男歌手
拍电影也不能只拿个最佳新人
你不参加颁奖典礼就是没礼貌
你去参加就是代表你很在乎

得奖时你感动落泪
人家就会觉得你夸张做作
你没表情别人就会说太嚣张
如果你天生这表情那些人甚至会怪你妈妈

结果最后是别人在得奖
你也要给予充分的掌声与微笑
开的车不能太好
住的楼不能太高
我到底是一个创作歌手还是好人好事代表

专辑一出就必须是冠军
拍了电影就必须要大卖
只能说当超人真的好难

如果超人会飞
那就让我在空中停一停歇
再次俯瞰这个世界
会让我觉得好一些 oh
拯救地球好累
虽然有些疲惫但我还是会
不要问我哭过了没
因为超人不能有眼泪

This happens when you play LEGO too much...

2010-04-13T00:01:00.001+08:00

Introducing next Taiwan's BIG star... 林育群

2010-04-10T01:23:00.004+08:00

CAUTION: Goosebumps may occur several times! (It's perfectly normal)

Swine Flu Joke

2010-04-09T14:25:00.001+08:00

Dinner @ Jumbo Seafood Restaurant

2010-04-04T01:06:00.000+08:00

Qoutes from Randy Paush's 'Last Lecture'

2010-03-27T02:39:00.009+08:00

"Failures, setbacks or so called 'brickwalls'

that come in between your life

are there for a reason.

They are not there to keep us out.

They are there to give us a chance to show

how badly we wanted something.

These brickwalls are there to stop people

who does not want it badly enough.

These brickwalls are to stop the other people.

Not you."

2010-03-27T01:49:00.008+08:00

Would you wait

for someone

at the same place,

without fail,

for 10 years?

Ultimate Jackass Challenge

2010-03-18T20:25:00.002+08:00

Upcoming Buy List

2010-03-03T00:51:00.029+08:00

LG 42" LCD TV 42LF20

BOUGHT:

$879 (Harvey Norman)

TV Media Player

BOUGHT:

$49 (Sim Lim Square)

Nintendo Wii Complete Set

BOUGHT:

Wii Standard Set +

4 sets of controllers for $384

Component Cable for $12

60 games for $60

Total Cost = $1384

2010-02-22T00:21:00.002+08:00

Joke

2010-02-19T16:10:00.006+08:00

Four friends spend weeks planning the perfect girls getaway trip - shopping, casinos, massages, facials.

Two days before the group is to leave, Mary's husband puts his foot down and tells her she isn't going. Mary's friends are very upset.

Two days later the three get to the hotel only to find Mary sitting in the bar drinking a glass of wine.

"Wow, how long you been here and how did you talk your husband into letting you go?"

"Well, I've been here since last night... Yesterday evening I was sitting on the couch and my husband came up behind me and put his hands over my eyes and said 'Guess who'?"

I pulled his hands off to find all he was wearing was his birthday suit.
He took my hand and lead me to our bedroom. The room was scented with perfume, had two dozen candles and rose pedals all over... On the bed, he had handcuffs and ropes! He told me to tie and cuff him to the bed, so I did...

...And then he said, "Now, you can do whatever you want."

So here I am.

WANTED: Big Nerdy Glasses

2010-02-09T20:58:00.005+08:00

As most of you may have already notice,

big nerdy glasses have become a fashion icon recently.

I'm gonna make one for myself. Swee!

Happy Birthday to ME!~

2010-02-06T13:18:00.003+08:00

=))))

Boon on RazorTV

2010-01-13T22:43:00.004+08:00

Hahaaa... quite cock. Don't ask!

白蚂蚁

2010-01-10T23:15:00.009+08:00

A very simple, lighthearted and funny local Malaysia production where a

new teacher, Ms Cai (pretty!) had to report to a village school with only four

students. Story tells the life within the village and many other simply yet

enriching lessons. Nice...

To all smoker friends.

2010-01-10T00:13:00.004+08:00

To be honest, I've nothing against smoking.

Of course, not if you smoke into my face.

I just hate it when people start commenting they plan to quit but they don't. Some even have the cheek to announce to the whole world in Facebook. Getting sympathy from everyone. And now giving excuses they can't stop because of this and that. Simply rubbish.

I know quitting isn't easy. I've never tried so I won't know in fact. But I know with enough discipline & determination, nothing is impossible. Many have succeeded.

So I suggest you people to quit your complainings & excuses first before you decide what you really want, and start announcing to the whole world.

Ultimately, if you really succeed quitting smoking, I'd seriously respect you.

PERIOD.

Marriage

2010-01-01T01:36:00.020+08:00

I recently got involved with Weiye's wedding and I had the privilege (and honor) to be his brothers OIC + wedding car (BMW) driver + wedding dinner coordinator. The whole day was packed with activities, but thankfully, the good weather and the super ON brothers made everything much easier. It was tiring, but it sure was enriching and satisfying for me. I learned a lot of things that day. And to see Weiye entertaining his guests wholeheartedly while enjoying his wedding day at ease, I believe, that would be the best angbao I had that evening...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I met up with Crono, Weiye and Jiku for dinner yesterday, and naturally this topic of marriage came in. Crono, being a very well exposed and knowledgeable buddy of mine, said something that struck me.

He said he had recently come across quite a few divorce cases, and some of them even happen just few months after their marriage. This made him a little hold back on marriage.

A lot of divorce cases happen because one of them could not withstand the other's certain habits or character. They used to think and believe that they could withstand all marriage hardships after years of dating, but now, they decided that they had enough and it's time to put a stop to it.

"Next time before you decide to tie the knot, think carefully if you're able to withstand this habit of his/hers. If your decision is to bite the bullet, then be prepared to bite the bullet all the way."

So if you happen to ask anyone how's their life after marriage,

I believe the best answer would be.........."still the same as before."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just feel like sharing this with everyone.

I apologise for having these two topics together in the same post.

With all respect & sincerity,

I wish Weiyue all the best for his marriage life.

I can see both Weiyue & Nicole are very blessed and lucky to have each other.

SO ENVY! =)

Dragonboat 06 Batch X'mas Gathering

2009-12-28T16:00:00.025+08:00

All thanks to:

Melvin & his parents.
For letting us host at his place and contributed many things for the BBQ.

Leslie & his food party (Jonah, Jinhan, Yekai & Xinwei)
For all the good food that day! Might consider appoint Leslie again. Ha!

Nick & Denny
For pushing & collecting money from everyone. Seriously got talent! Ha!

Everyone who made an effort to come, even if you're late or you left early.
Really appreciate that many turn up despite other parties to attend.

Message to all 06 Batch:
I know due to other commitments, many of us may not attend weekend trainings as regularly as before. But I hope, as much as possible, 06 batch shall have a gathering at least for every X'mas. Just like this one. Can be done? =)

06 batch. SA!

Secondary School X'mas Gathering

2009-12-28T15:56:00.002+08:00

I'm Yours - Best Version

2009-12-10T23:56:00.001+08:00

Last night halfway through my sleep...

2009-12-09T22:18:00.009+08:00

while pulling out my blanket that's underneath me,

my forehead smacked against the side wall.

Don't ask me how.

It smacked real hard.

So hard I couldn't sleep after that.

It's bruised now, and it hurts.

Damn.

Annual Secondary School Gathering @ Dragonfly

2009-12-07T22:00:00.006+08:00

To many's disbelief, this is actually my first time been to Dragonfly @ ST. James Powerhouse. It's quite a nice place to chill and relax. It's like a mini concert. Probably the age group of the people there are more suitable for me, as compared to places like Zouk & dbl0. Anyway, it's our secondary school annual gathering, organised by Roy. I must say he's one of the best person to organise this, and he did a great job. Many of us turned up and in fact, the turn out happens to be even better than last year's BBQ! Hope we can make this annual gathering last, even when we're all grown up with all our families. Hahaaa...

Enjoy the pictures!

Movies

2009-11-30T22:57:00.008+08:00

Recently I've a craving for movies... at home. Last weekend I almost spent my whole day watching movies that I had downloaded but never get to watch. Some of these movies are new, some old, some really old. Here's 3 of them.

Ugly Truth (2009)

Ugly truth? I slept towards the end.

Terminator - Salvation (2008)

Typical hero-will-never-die action movie. Total Termination.

杀人犯 Murderer (2009)

This movie either you'll love it or you'll hate it. It's those typical homicide movie that shows a murder scene at the start, with all the investigating later, and finally the answer to the mystery at the end. Whole movie includes some gruesome scenes (which is a plus point for me) and a twist towards the end, which is rather unrealistic. Watch it only if you're a fan of Aaron Kwok, or if you're a typical gruesome-scenes-shocker lover.

You can check out the movie website here.

(Beware: Not suitable for the feint heart)

The Bucket List

2009-11-28T01:52:00.003+08:00

The day they passed on,

their eyes were closed.

But their heart were open.

Beautiful story.

My Grandmother. My Ah Ma.

2009-11-26T01:14:00.010+08:00

I used to be not close with my grandma. She's just like any other relatives of mine initially. Relatives that you may meet sometimes only once a year during Chinese New year. Or sometimes more, especially when we tagged along with mother to visit Ah Ma during the weekends.

However, most of the time due to all of our busy schedules,
mother always visit Ah Ma alone.

We usually would tag along mother to visit Ah Ma especially when we are about to head on to a long journey ahead, such as when my 2sis is heading to Australia for further studies, my e.sister heading to London for her Masters, myself before going into the army and during overseas exercises, etc. And everytime while we share with Ah Ma our planned journey ahead, with no doubt, Ah Ma would always says this, with a smile.

"Ho la. Ta bi, Mm Zai Le Deng Lai Liao, Wa Ko Wo Di Bo..."
(Gd lah. But not sure whether when you come back, I'm still around or not...)

Ah Ma has always been a cheerful person as far as I know since young. I've never seen or heard her being angry, complaining, nagging or screaming. She's always very cheerful and forever smiling. Did I mention she's also very attentive and always provide good hospitality to us whenever we visit her. She'll make sure we have food, drinks, tissues on the table, TV on, and finally sitting comfortably at the sofa. She knows her house is not in the perfect situation to welcome guests, nevertheless, she always make sure she attend to our needs with whatever she can, whenever.

During these 2 days, I chatted with Ah Ma a lot. In fact, I would say even more than what we have chat before in my entire lifetime. It gives me a sudden feeling of closeness with Ah Ma. A kind of relationship and closessness that's different from how I feel with my mum & dad. It's totally a different feeling, respect and love, which I believe, only you will feel it with your grandma.

I hope this incident will make him, us, and everyone here learn a lesson today.

Never ever take a person for granted.

And try to spend more time with your family & love ones, rather than always going online, doing work, chat with bfren/gfren, etc...

Let me repeat again.

Do not take anyone for granted.
Before you know it's too late and you start to regret why didn't you treat him/her better when you have the chance to previously.

I'm gonna bring Jiaying over to see Ah Ma this Friday. So excited!
Can feel that Ah Ma is excited to see Jiaying too.

=)

2009-11-24T22:14:00.002+08:00

It's hard to control.

Harder to accept.

Even for an adult like me.

Hope this storm will be over.

May the rainbow appear soon.

Boonzilla will be a strong person.

No matter what happens.

Always.

I promise.

老爸 and Mother.

2009-11-17T23:53:00.009+08:00

It's been quite sometime since we had our family gathering. Hence on last Sunday, we brought Mother out to downtown east to have a game of bowling together. It's our first time playing bowling together and we had fun time cheering & laughing especially when someone hits the drain. Haa... Da Niu also showed us his 'super-sey' bowling skills with 2sis doing quite well too. Both of them can score over 100 easily each. Our team, which consist of me, Jiaying & Mother, can only struggle not to widen our total score difference. Ha!

After bowling, we brought Mother to Pasir Ris Park to experience a taste of rollarblading. It's one of her dreams to try rollarblading, as she used to be quite proficient in ice-skating when she was in her teens but never had the chance to try rollarblading before. Her first experience was filled with fear and insecurity initially. Jiaying and I had to hold her arms firmly to ensure she's in our safe hands. But after a short coaching and few practice sessions, she's able to 'rollar-walk' round the small pavilion all by herself! So SMART!

I'm glad mother really enjoyed herself that day. =)

老爸 received Dajie's birthday card all the way from London, exactly on his birthday today. It's only then he remembered that today is actually his birthday. Haa... The card is pretty simple and cute, but it suits him totally if you understand him well enough. Hahaa... I can see he likes the card very much. We also accompanied him to a SingTel roadshow and bought him a new handphone. Hope he likes it too. =)

As I sat beside my parents watching TV, the merciless lines on 老爸 & mother's face suddenly awaken me to realise how much they have aged over the years.

As irritating as they can be, as stubborn as they can be, as naggy as they can be... as their child, no matter how old we are or where we are, we should always treasure the times we have with them, with no regrets.

For they are the ones who gave everything unconditionally for us.

Happy Birthday 老爸 and Mother.

=)))))

FYI:
老爸 and mother's birthday are exactly one week apart.
Jiaying and mine are coincidently exactly one month apart. =)

2009-11-10T23:31:00.005+08:00

Going Home

2009-11-09T00:54:00.010+08:00

If your eyes are teary

after watching this clip,

you are not alone.

Always treasure

your parents & grandparents.

day by day.

Before it's too late...

Happy Birthday Boonsan.

2009-11-03T00:06:00.010+08:00

It's been 2 years, and we still miss you very much.

Especially during trainings.

Today, my colleagues coincidently asked if I knew any of the 5 dragonboaters.

Sadly, I was reminded of the incident again.

Most of 06 batch are alumnis now.

Really hope we can somehow row together again.

Just like old times.

Of course, with you as our pacer.

Takecare bro.

We will always miss you.

Papa Boon does cock things this time.

2009-10-23T00:14:00.006+08:00

.
Papa Boon is a cab driver, for those who don't know.

Today he got a lady passenger.

She spotted a cockroach suddenly.

Damn freaked out.

Papa Boon went to buy a packet of moth balls later.

Placed the whole packet in different corners of the car.

Almost 20 moth balls.

Whole car stinks of moth balls.

Yet, Papa Boon is oblivious.

All passengers started to wind down the window during their rides thereafter.

Papa boon is still clueless.

Until a passenger complained.

Classic.

I seriously think he can beat me anytime.

Tough PSLE Maths Question (Solution)

2009-10-18T01:48:00.013+08:00

Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken.

Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim.

Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates.

The ratio of Jim’s sweets to chocolates became 1:7

and the ratio of Ken’s sweets to chocolates became 1:4.

How many sweets did Ken buy?

2009-10-14T23:56:00.016+08:00

FATE

I always believe somehow, someway,

situations in life you've been into

are all predestinated by God.

This is call fate.

Fate will bring you

upon some situations.

Ultimately,

the way it ends

still solely depends on you.

Today I chance upon this situation,

and I hope my decision for this outcome, is right.

Shall leave the rest to fate bah.

Pray for better luck in Nov & Dec.

Tough PSLE Maths Question

2009-10-12T21:30:00.015+08:00

.

Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken.

Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim.

Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates.

The ratio of Jim’s sweets to chocolates became 1:7

and the ratio of Ken’s sweets to chocolates became 1:4.

How many sweets did Ken buy?

............................................................................
Here's the catch:
............................................................................

Finding the solution is pretty easy by using algebra and eventually solve the two simultaneous equations. Since this is a primary school exam question,

can you find the solution without using algebra?

Answers will be reveal soon.

Have fun. =)

Boon does cock things again.

2009-10-08T23:02:00.013+08:00

.
Went to Starhub gym today after work.

Nothing cock with that.

When he's done, he head to the toilet to bathe.

Realised his number locker could not open after many attempts.

All staffs left the building. Only gymmers left.

Decided to randomly try different numbers again. Not much luck.

Wallet, handphone & house keys were all inside.

Boon Panicked.

Head back to gym. Managed to borrow $2 from colleague to take bus home.

Walking to the bus stop, Boon realised he do not need $2 for the bus ride.

Probably $1.20 will do.

He spotted a coin changing machine at nearby temple.

The faulty coin changing machine eat away his $2 without dropping any coins.

Boon panicked again.

Spotted a temple staff sitting behind a desk with a sign "coin changer".

He witnessed what happened and passed me two $1 coins.

Boon felt paisey if he was to just walk away with the coins.

Eventually bought a packet of joss sticks from the staff. 50cents.

Boon went around praying to different chinese Gods around the temple.

Took bus with the remaining $1.50, feeling more blessed by several Gods.

Boon is so going to complain to his colleagues tomorrow.

Today is the day I get close up with my idols! (Part 1)

2009-10-04T21:58:00.007+08:00

.
...................Michael Jackson
.

.
Michael Jackson has always been one of my idols in the past and I'm not ashame to admit to that. I like to watch videos on his dance performances and always got fascinated on his near perfect dance moves everytime. The day when he passed on, I was really affected in some ways. Furthermore with his promised 'This is it' concert which is not accomplish, it felt like some unfinished business to me. It's like something he promised but owe us when he left...

I always dream of witnessing his dance moves in person and today I did! (literally)

Changi Airport Group organised this small tribute session to Michael Jackson by bringing in one of the world best MJ impersonator, Edward Moss, and he's REALLY GOOD! Not only his dance moves are near perfect (believe me, I've watched enough MJ's videos to say this), he himself look really like the actual King of Pop! I really enjoyed myself throughout the whole 30mins performance.

Besides that, I was so so so lucky that I was picked and had the chance to head up to the stage to have a picture with him! I praised him for doing such a good job, and also thanked him for bringing Michael Jackson back alive again. Though he may not be the real king of pop, to me, I felt that this dream of mine had already been fulfilled.

.............
.............

Today is the day I felt like a little boy again!

Today is the day I get close up with my idols! (Part 2)

2009-10-04T21:47:00.018+08:00

Ronald Cheng 郑中基

I've been listening to 郑中基's songs since my secondary school days and I still keep many of his original CDs with me. It was then when he sang a lot of classic emotional songs like 最愛的人不是你, 絕口不提！愛你, 戒情人, 別愛我 & many others. These songs have in turn become my all-time KTV 必点songs. Ha!

When I first heard of his upcoming concert together with another really good cantopop singer 蘇永康, I knew I must be part of it. Jiaying also very sportingly accompany me for our first concert experience together and it turned out to be a really good concert indeed! They sang a lot of their classic chinese songs as well as cantonese songs which pleased a lot of their cantonese fans. Damn worth the money. By the way we paid for middle class section seats for $90 each and the view was quite good. Everytime the singers walked down to the audience section to shake hands, many fans (including me & Jiaying) ran through their section barricade and eventually get really close up with them to take pics! It's really so close that I even get to shake my idol 郑中基's hands!

There were many highlights of the show and one which I particularly like was the part where 郑中基 sang his once hit song 別愛我. When it reaches the chorus he pointed his mic at us and everyone were singing along without any lyrics. I know this is a very normal scene especially when you watch concerts on DVDs at home. But having that experience in a live concert is simply.... indescribable. I believe this has made me to really look forward to our next concert.

It sure is a lucky day for me to have a chance to be really up close with 2 of my idols. I mean, what are the chances of doing that in a lifetime? I really doubt so.

Today I really live my life to the fullest. =)

First Aid for Asthma Attack

2009-09-29T22:21:00.004+08:00

It's my second experience witnessing someone beside me having asthma attack and for both times, not only me but many other people were around at the scene too. Yet it's always common to see the 'lost' look on many faces when encountering such cases, and mostly just stood there looking shock.

Probably most people till now are not aware of what to do when someone starts to experience a asthma attack. So here are the 4 steps of first aid that you can render to help. You can save a life!

Darth Vader Vs Police (Funny!)

2009-09-27T01:52:00.001+08:00

This is so ah-boon kind of joke. Enjoy!

Beware

2009-09-23T22:03:00.009+08:00

of every Wednesday 10pm...
.
.
.
.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.

...coz it's TIME TO BOOK COURTS!!!

SCRAM!!!!

Dragonboat Xperience

2009-09-20T21:57:00.010+08:00

I was looking through all the pictures taken during our annual NTU Dragonboat Xperience in year 2007, 2008 and the most recent 2009, it gives me a feeling of how much I miss those dragonboating days. That is why I make it a point to go back to DB trainings every week. Although it will never give me the same feeling when I used to be part of the main team (the competitiveness, the fitness, the sweat, the fun, the brotherhood, the glory...etc), it still feels good to be able to see some of the remaining brothers left in the team, and still able to talkcock, I mean, row in the same boat. Hahaa... Let's hope I'll be able to join them for every weekend trainings as long as possible, like our much respected senior Junjie.

Dragonboat Xperience 2007

Dragonboat Xperience 2008

Dragonboat Xperience 2009

By the way, GREAT JOB to our NTU DB all-time publicity officer, Melvin Tan!

My 1st Pay!

2009-09-20T03:25:00.005+08:00

It's time for some updates on Boon's life! It's been slightly more than a month since I started working and it feels great to receive my first pay! I was constantly checking my iBank account statement (like machiam waiting for 4D/Toto results) and there it comes! Right at the dot! hahaa...

Nothing beats the feeling of feeling rich again.
Only for a few days I guess. Haa!

Not to worry, those people close to me will know I'm not the spendthrift kind of person, but someone who spends only necesarily and I do save a lot. That's why I always tell people that if one day I happen to be rich, it's because I always make an effort to save and not because I earn a lot. Hahaa...

Anyway, besides my payday, I do have some other not-so-happy news to share. My dad's relief taxi driver (Uncle Ah Soon) was involved in an accident. His taxi got hit at high speed from the back, spun around twice, and finally landed into a drain. The vehicle was so badly damaged that the car mechanic, upon receiving the towed taxi, was quite certain that the driver would either be dead or at least half dead. Uncle Ah Soon was so fortunate to be alive but with injuries that will require months to recover...

This affects my dad as he's being forced to be temporary jobless. Both of my 2sis and myself are now helping to support our family for now. So far, everything is still managable. No worries... =)

I guess I should stop my updates here for the time being. It's already 3am and tomorrow is Sunday, which means I can sleep till I wake up naturally. SWEEE.

And Monday is HOLIDAY! (MORE SWEEEEEEEEEEEEE!)

Enjoy the long weekend everyone! =)

Super Baozi's 龍拳!

2009-09-10T22:58:00.003+08:00

Dragon Fist from sun haipeng on Vimeo.

Cha Cha Dinner @ Wong Kok Bugis

2009-09-07T02:02:00.013+08:00

Cha Cha

never fails

to make me

smile =)

Gadgets!

2009-09-06T15:48:00.012+08:00

.
I know I've been saying this many times.

But really.

I JUST CAN'T WAIT FOR COMEX 2009!

Here are the list of things I plan to get.

1. Cordless Mouse ($10-20)

2. Laptop - For Jiaying (~$1K)

3. Laptop Ball Stands - For 2sis (~$5)

4. Ipod Touch Decals (~$10)

5. Sensonic Cordless Slim Keyboard ($39)

Btw, do check out the price list of the past PC Show 2009

to have a rough gauge of the price list for coming Comex.

http://www.bootstrike.com/itfairsg/pcshow2009/

Personality test results

2009-09-02T17:07:00.002+08:00

Ta-dah, my personality type is ISFJ!

Introverted (I) 93%
Extraverted (E) 7%

Sensing (S) 64%
Intuitive (N) 36%

Feeling (F) 85%
Thinking (T) 15%

Judging (J) 86%
Perceiving (P) 14%

Try yourself!
http://kisa.ca/personality/index.php

Stay interested in the world, take on a challenge.

2009-08-25T11:47:00.012+08:00

Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew
This story was first published on Jan 12, 2008.

MY CONCERN today is, what is it I can tell you which can add to your knowledge about ageing and what ageing societies can do.

You know more about this subject than I do. A lot of it is out in the media, Internet and books. So I thought the best way would be to take a personal standpoint and tell you how I approach this question of ageing.

If I cast my mind back, I can see turning points in my physical and mental health. You know, when you're young, I didn't bother, I assumed good health was God-given and would always be there. When I was about - '57 that was - I was about 34, we were competing in elections, and I was really fond of drinking beer and smoking. And after the election campaign, in Victoria Memorial Hall - we had won the election, the City Council election - I couldn't thank the voters because I had lost my voice. I'd been smoking furiously.

I'd take a packet of 10 to deceive myself, but I'd run through the packet just sitting on the stage, watching the crowd, getting the feeling, the mood before I speak. In other words, there were three speeches a night. Three speeches a night, 30 cigarettes, a lot of beer after that, and the voice was gone.

I remember I had a case in Kuching, Sarawak . So I took the flight and I felt awful. I had to make up my mind whether I was going to be an effective campaigner and a lawyer, in which case I cannot destroy my voice, and I can't go on. So I stopped smoking.

It was a tremendous deprivation because I was addicted to it. And I used to wake up dreaming...the nightmare was I resumed smoking. But I made a choice and said, if I continue this, I will not be able to do my job. I didn't know anything about cancer of the throat or oesophagus or the lungs, etc. But it turned out it had many other deleterious effects.

Strangely enough after that, I became very allergic, hyper-allergic to smoking, so much so that I would plead with my Cabinet ministers not to smoke in the Cabinet room. You want to smoke, please go out, because I am allergic.

Then one day I was at the home of my colleague, Mr Rajaratnam, meeting foreign correspondents including some from the London Times and they took a picture of me and I had a big belly like that (puts his hands in front of his belly), a beer belly. I felt no, no, this will not do.

So I started playing more golf, hit hundreds of balls on the practice tee. But this didn't go down. There was only one way it could go down: consume less, burn up more.

Another turning point came when -this was 1976, after the general election - I was feeling tired. I was breathing deeply at the Istana, on the lawns. My daughter, who at that time just graduating as a doctor, said: 'What are you trying to do?' I said: 'I feel an effort to breathe in more oxygen.'
She said: 'Don't play golf. Run. Aerobics.'

So she gave me a book, quite a famous book and, then, very current in America on how you score aerobic points swimming, running, whatever it is, cycling. I looked at it sceptically.

I wasn't very keen on running. I was keen on golf. So I said, 'Let's try'.
So in-between golf shots while playing on my own, sometimes nine holes at the Istana, I would try and walk fast between shots. Then I began to run between shots. And I felt better. After a while, I said: 'Okay, after my golf, I run.' And after a few years, I said: 'Golf takes so long. The running takes 15 minutes. Let's cut out the golf and let's run.'

I think the most important thing in ageing is you got to understand yourself. And the knowledge now is all there. When I was growing up, the knowledge wasn't there. I had to get the knowledge from friends, from doctors.

But perhaps the most important bit of knowledge that the doctor gave me was one day, when I said: 'Look, I'm feeling slower and sluggish.' So he gave me a medical encyclopaedia and he turned the pages to ageing. I read it up and it was illuminating. A lot of it was difficult jargon but I just skimmed through to get the gist of it.

As you grow, you reach 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and then, thereafter, you are on a gradual slope down physically. Mentally, you carry on and on and on until I don't know what age, but mathematicians will tell you that they know their best output is when they're in their 20s and 30s when your mental energy is powerful and you haven't lost many neurons.

That's what they tell me. So, as you acquire more knowledge, you then craft a programme for yourself to maximise what you have. It's just common sense. I never planned to live till 85 or 84. I just didn't think about it. I said: 'Well, my mother died when she was 74, she had a stroke. My father died when he was 94.' But I saw him, and he lived a long life, well, maybe it was his DNA. But more than that, he swam every day and he kept himself busy. He was working for the Shell company. He was in charge, he was a superintendent of an oil depot. When he retired, he started becoming a salesman.. So people used to tell me: 'Your father is selling watches at BP de Silva.' My father was then living with me. But it kept him busy. He had that routine: He meets people, he sells watches, he buys and sells all kinds of semi-precious stones, he circulates coins. And he keeps going. But at 87, 88, he fell, going down the steps from his room to the dining room, broke his arm, three months incapacitated. Thereafter, he couldn't go back to swimming.

Then he became wheelchair-bound. Then it became a problem because my house was constructed that way. So my brother - who's a doctor and had a flat (one-level) house - took him in. And he lived on till 94. But towards the end, he had gradual loss of mental powers.

So my calculations, I'm somewhere between 74 and 94. And I've reached the halfway point now. But have I? Well, 1996 when I was 73, I was cycling and I felt tightening on the neck. Oh, I must retire today. So I stopped. Next day, I returned to the bicycle. After five minutes it became worse. So I said, no, no, this is something serious, it's got to do with the blood vessels. Rung up my doctor, who said, 'Come tomorrow'.

Went tomorrow, he checked me, and said: 'Come back tomorrow for an angiogram.' I said: 'What's that?' He said: 'We'll pump something in and we'll see whether the coronary arteries are cleared or blocked.'

I was going to go home. But an MP who was a cardiologist happened to be around, so he came in and said: 'What are you doing here?' I said: 'I've got this.' He said: 'Don't go home. You stay here tonight. I've sent patients home and they never came back. Just stay here. They'll put you on the monitor. They'll watch your heart. And if anything, an emergency arises, they will take you straight to the theatre. You go home. You've got no such monitor. You may never come back.'

So I stayed there. Pumped in the dye, yes it was blocked, the left circumflex, not the critical, lead one. So that's lucky for me. Two weeks later, I was walking around, I felt it's coming back. Yes it has come back, it had occluded. So this time they said: 'We'll put in a stent.' I'm one of the first few in Singapore to have the stent, so it was a brand new operation. Fortunately, the man who invented the stent was out here selling his stent. He was from San Jose , La Jolla something or the other. So my doctor got hold of him and he supervised the operation. He said put the stent in. My doctor did the operation, he just watched it all and then that's that. That was before all this problem about lining the stent to make sure that it doesn't occlude and create a disturbance.

So at each stage, I learnt something more about myself and I stored that. I said: 'Oh, this is now a danger point.'

So all right, cut out fats, change diet, went to see a specialist in Boston , Massachusetts General Hospital .

He said: 'Take statins.'
I said: 'What's that?'
He said: '(They) help to reduce your cholesterol.'
My doctors were concerned. They said: 'You don't need it.. Your cholesterol levels are okay.'

Two years later, more medical evidence came out. So the doctors said: 'Take statins.' Had there been no angioplasty, had I not known that something was up and I cycled on, I might have gone at 74 like my mother. So I missed that deadline.

So next deadline: my father's fall at 87.

I'm very careful now because sometimes when I turn around too fast, I feel as if I'm going to get off balance. So my daughter, a neurologist, she took me to the NNI, there's this nerve conduction test, put electrodes here and there. The transmission of the messages between the feet and the brain has slowed down.

So all the exercise, everything, effort put in, I'm fit, I swim, I cycle. But I can't prevent this losing of conductivity of the nerves and this transmission.

So just go slow.

So when I climb up the steps, I have no problem. When I go down the steps, I need to be sure that I've got something I can hang on to, just in case. So it's a constant process of adjustment.

But I think the most important single lesson I learnt in life was that if you isolate yourself, you're done for. The human being is a social animal - he needs stimuli, he needs to meet people, to catch up with the world.

I don't much like travel but I travel very frequently despite the jet lag, because I get to meet people of great interest to me, who will help me in my work as chairman of our GIC. So I know, I'm on several boards of banks, international advisory boards of banks, of oil companies and so on. And I meet them and I get to understand what's happening in the world, what has changed since I was here one month ago, one year ago. I go to India, I go to China .

And that stimuli brings me to the world of today. I'm not living in the world, when I was active, more active 20, 30 years ago. So I tell my wife. She woke up late today. I said: 'Never mind, you come along by 12 o'clock. I go first.'

If you sit back - because part of the ending part of the encyclopaedia which I read was very depressing - as you get old, you withdraw from everything and then all you will have is your bedroom and the photographs and the furniture that you know, and that's your world. So if you've got to go to hospital, the doctor advises you to bring some photographs so that you'll know you're not lost in a different world, that this is like your bedroom.

I'm determined that I will not, as long as I can, to be reduced, to have my horizons closed on me like that. It is the stimuli, it is the constant interaction with people across the world that keeps me aware and alive to what's going on and what we can do to adjust to this different world.

In other words, you must have an interest in life. If you believe that at 55, you're retiring, you're going to read books, play golf and drink wine, then I think you're done for. So statistically they will show you that all the people who retire and lead sedentary lives, the pensioners die off very quickly.

So we now have a social problem with medical sciences, new procedures, new drugs, many more people are going to live long lives. If the mindset is that when I reach retirement age 62, I'm old, I can't work anymore, I don't have to work, I just sit back, now is the time I'll enjoy life, I think you're making the biggest mistake of your life. After one month, or after two months, even if you go travelling with nothing to do, with no purpose in life, you will just degrade, you'll go to seed.

The human being needs a challenge, and my advice to every person in Singapore and elsewhere: Keep yourself interested, have a challenge. If you're not interested in the world and the world is not interested in you, the biggest punishment a man can receive is total isolation in a dungeon, black and complete withdrawal of all stimuli, that's real torture.

So when I read that people believe, Singaporeans say: 'Oh, 62 I'm retiring.' I say to them: 'You really want to die quickly?' If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli to keep going.'

-Obtained from 小K's blog. (Thanks!)

The Ron Clark Story

2009-08-24T21:35:00.017+08:00

.
This movie is a true story based on real events in the life of a dedicated teacher who saves a group of downtrodden youngsters from themselves and the system. Just feel like sharing this inspiring movie with all my teachers-friends.

One day while you're tasked to take on

the most unruly and lowest-scoring class,

You give up, walk out of the classroom

and says, "You win."

This, however, is not the end of course for Mr Clark in the movie. He returns and eventually succeeds. You have to watch the movie to see how he did it.

Thou I'm not fated to be a teacher, I still believe it takes a whole lot of passion to be a teacher, and needless to say, a great teacher.

Hence, to all my teachers-friends in advance,

Happy Teachers' Day =)

Boonzilla

Tribute to Michael Jackson

Boon-advisor in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Angkor Wat 吴哥寺

Touch A Life Home

New Chapter Ahead

My Pretty Fiancé!

Lesson Learnt

An Eventful Week of Mixed Feelings

Soccer @ Cisco

Deepavali Day = PES2012 + Steamboat

Lonely Weekend

Engineering

Marvel Heros Collection (updated)

Stressed

A sign for Re-Kinabalu?

Drawing:Show HERO

Backpacking. Foolish or Respect?

Uniquely Boon (and Enyu)

Somehow, someday...

Golf, the upcoming new sport to learn.

Involve or not to be?

HDB Woes

This is damn cool!

Joke of the Day

X-Men First Class

Head Youtek Speed Pro

5 Languages of Love

Finally...

It's all back on Feb 18th.

Art of Farting (Funny!)

Surf & Sweat 2011

Would you FIGHT for your affection like these guys?

2011 Resolution

2010 Resolution Check

Hello Boonzilla's back!

I don't understand...

David Beckham's Hidden Camera (Funny!)

CEO's (of J.P Morgan) Fantastic reply to a Pretty Girl

Weird dream...

EULOGY BY MINISTER MENTOR AT THE FUNERAL SERVICE OF MRS LEE KUAN YEW, MANDAI CREMATORIUM, 6 OCTOBER 2010

When superheros have auditions...

Updates!

This is what I call

Mortal Kombat Fatality (Funny Versions)

端午节 comes in time!

Coming Soon!

Should I buy Spain away jersey?

If Street Fighters are on Facebook... (Funny!)

Sword Bearers

老爸's 60th Birthday Celebration

周杰倫 《超人不會飛》MV

This happens when you play LEGO too much...

Introducing next Taiwan's BIG star... 林育群

Swine Flu Joke

Dinner @ Jumbo Seafood Restaurant

Qoutes from Randy Paush's 'Last Lecture'

Ultimate Jackass Challenge

Upcoming Buy List

Joke

WANTED: Big Nerdy Glasses

Happy Birthday to ME!~

Boon on RazorTV

白蚂蚁

To all smoker friends.

Marriage

Dragonboat 06 Batch X'mas Gathering

Secondary School X'mas Gathering

I'm Yours - Best Version

Last night halfway through my sleep...

Annual Secondary School Gathering @ Dragonfly

Movies

The Bucket List

My Grandmother. My Ah Ma.

老爸 and Mother.

Going Home

Happy Birthday Boonsan.

Papa Boon does cock things this time.

Tough PSLE Maths Question (Solution)

Tough PSLE Maths Question

周杰倫《超人不會飛》MV