You Chinese or Angmoh?

Good afternoon, went swimming downstairs and came home for lunch. The swimming pool was pretty much empty and there were no gays swimming there this time... nowadays i feel abit afraid of going swimming downstairs after that gay approached me... Guess it made me abit paranoid. This time there were only a few Angmohs suntaning... Thats where i got my inspiration to write.

The AngMohs were lying on the benches, some were sleeping while others were reading their books. Dun understand why they enjoy reading under the hot sun... I've seen alot of angmohs do that at swimming pools and beach resorts. But i have always felt that angmohs know how to enjoy life quite well.(at least for those i've seen) Some of them like to seat down near the poolside, and sip their wine and just talk about life... To a certain degree, i admire the way Angmohs lifestlye. Thats where i got my inspiration to write abt our disappearing culture.

Have u stumbled upon pple who proudly say:"My chinese(refering to the language) is so sucky, I hate chinese..." Have u heard any of your friends say that?
I am quite disturbed when i hear those words. To me, it shows that the person saying that has already embraced another culture and looks down on his/her own race. I tempted to say to the person:" Go and look at yourself in the mirror, see what race u are... look at your skin colour..."

In Spore, we are influenced by many cultures. But for most Sporeans we tend to follow the lifestyle of Angmohs. We tend to embrace their culture because we are mainly an English speaking society. And maybe due to Globalisation, Spore is not left out. Ok, my definition of Angmohs are Americans, Europeans and Australians. Everyday we are exposed to their culture through the media like tv, movies and advertisments. Most Sporeans communicate and think in English. Our fashion and clothes are also largely shaped by the Angmohs. Sporeans tend to prefer clothes which are also from Angmoh countries. The popular among teenagers would include Billabong, Ripcurl, quiksilver and roxy. For other age grps would be levis, mango(for gers) and Guess.. Too many to name... When i look inside my cupboard of clothes, i observe that most of my clothes are Angmoh brands maybe with the exception of my giordano berms and hangten polo tee. When it comes to food, we have a wide range of Angmoh food to choose from like most obviously, Macdonalds, BK and subway... Too many to name here also. The more expensive would include Tony Romas, Swensens... Ok i'm trying to prove that our lives are largely influenced by Angmoh culture. Its in our language, media, clothes and food... The problem that Globalistion creates in Spore is the appreciation of other cultures and the neglect of our own.
We tend to look up to Angmoh's and we somehow like to follow the way they speak, dress and eat. In a sense, we have been made to believe that Angmohs are better off than us. Its a wrong perception that we have decieved ourselves into believing. Ok, maybe its because the angmohs we see in Spore are rich thats why we feel that way... But thats only because only those rich and capable ones are allowed to becomes expats here....
Don't u notice how some Sporeans in the serviceline are especially nicer to Angmohs?(maybe its becos Sporeans are not as courteous and friendly compared to Angmohs, i dun know...)

In schools, we are taught in English and Mandrain(for chinese) becomes the second language. However, because of the rigid way that chinese was taught previously, most students in Spore(i'm not saying all) tend to memorise the Ci Yu shou ce(a bk that explains chinese vocab) to do well in the chinese language exams. The way chinese has been taught has caused some pple to show a disdain for the Chinese language. Maybe thats why they dun like anything to do with chinese....
As Lao Lee has said:"We have already turned off a generation of Chinese speaking Sporeans, make sure we do not do the same for the next."

From speaking to some pple, they tell me they dont like chinese, they dun like chinese songs... Ya, i'm fine with that... Maybe its because they prefer speaking english to chinese, or maybe they cannot communicate effectively in mandrain...
The point i'm trying to get across is: Don't feel proud that u can't speak chinese. It shows that u do not respect ur own race and u want to be like a Angmoh...I've noticed those pple who dare to say that are usually rich and very angmoh pai. Usually, its the Elite class of Sporeans... but that's only a minority.
Sths i wonder to myself:" Does speaking chinese make these pple feel that they are low class?"

Honey Honey...

Good morning, its been a week since my last entry. I have been watching DVDs at home and meeting friends at orchard for the past few days. Just trying to enjoy the last bit of my holidays b4 sch starts in July. Recently received a package frm ntu which includes all the orientation details for diff camps b4 the sch term starts...

There are at least 5 camps to choose frm... I was considering of nt going for any camp cause i thought it meant paying money to play stupid games, crawl in the mud, getting wet and dirty...
Sounds like NS...

Anyway on thurs nite my first 3 mths Jc classmates fromS73 met up to celebrate weiting's bday. I'm quite surprised that we still meet up like once in 2mths till now. Quite amazed at how our friendships can last till now. So we went to have dinner at cineleisure foodcourt.(bo bian budget...) then Susian arrived with the present for weiting and zaki. She even surprised weiting with flowers... I must say she put in alot of effort this time to buy presents for both of them and even bought the cards for us to write. That's sth i will never have the patience to do... I think gers tend to be able to put more effort in this type of stuff whereas guys will not really bother(maybe not all guys) abt celebrating bdays and getting presents and cards. Or maybe we're just lazy haha...
So later we went to Kbox where there were many funny incidences... Spiceboy and susian were singing wu ding when he decided to change the lyrics of the song... absoultely hilarious. Then Susian sang:

cindi wang's ai ni and honey... her songs are not easy to sing cause she adds a tad of 'act cute' into her voice. Cant really describe it, but its not her normal voice. But she's more of eye candy than anything else, dun think her voice is realli good. She appears in school skirts in her mtv so u prob can guess that she's acting cute... But at least she's cute la...

So we left Kbox at ard 12midnight. Then there was no more bus cause i usually take 190 home from orchard. The last bus was at 1145. So i went to the mrt station to try my luck. thank goodness there was a train but the last stop was at Kranji... I had to take the train cause it was the last train. So when i reached kranji mrt station i decided to be garang and walk home cause i hate taking cabs, esp after midnight.

So i walked from home frm Kranji mrt back to choa chu kang which took me 1hr and 15 min. Followed the 170 route to upper bukit timah then cut thru to yew tee then finally reach cck. Felt like a road march, my thighs were aching and i had abrasion in btw my thighs because of my jeans. i think i walked abt 12km. i was looking out for Banglas and stray dogs... that place wasnt very safe to walk alone at night cause its an industrial area... Didnt want to get robbed and chopped into pieces or get chased by dogs in the middle of the night. Then there were many taxis along that passed by me when i was walking... Most of them stopped to stare at me and one of them even quoted me half price.
Then i concluded that Sporeans are not very helpful cause no one gave me a lift despite seeing someone walking alone on a deserted road in the middle of the nite. Or maybe they tot i was a ghost or sth else, thats why they didnt stop to give me a lift....

I will bring u down to Chinatown...

On sat afternoon i went down to Chinatown for some activity organised by the church. Its actually a game organised so that we can bond with other church members and at the same time it would give us the opportunity to try out the good food at chinatown. Thats where i took this photo...

This was one of the 'pitstops' in the game. This is a stall at the multi-story market at chinatown, it sells nice dessert. Looks like i accidentally included Mr Alvin in the foto, the guy in the blue t-shirt... He looks bored here...
So we ordered a plate of HaoJian(oysters) which was ok, not very oily and the girls ate their desert.

The end point of the game was Maxwell market where i took a pic of Joshua trying to eat the fish that his grp bought. One of the bonus in the game was to buy fish frm an aquarium in Chinatown. There were 6 grps so i think the business at the aquarium should have been quite good that day. Wonder wat they did with all the live fish at the end of the day... So the game ended at abt 530pm and my grp was the last grp. Ok we were last because one of the Checkpts was Outram park mrt but apparently my grp made a mistake and walked to Tanjong Pagar mrt instead. Then frm there we walked again to chinatown and then to Outram Mrt again. The weather was very hot and that made me bloody tired and the back of my shirt was soaked.( ya i know i sound like whimp here) I notice nowadays when i complain after walking abit, my friends will say things like"Hey, u go thru NS liao lei, cannot endure abit meh?" The fact is i did go through NS and the training was tough, but that was invoulntary, we were forced to go thru that. Now civilian life has spoilt me, so i hate the feeling of walking long distances and feeling sweaty and sticky haha... So has NS made me a man or a whimp?

In the evening i went to West Coast hawker centre for dinner. My family ate Zi Cha which was quite gd... We sat near a drink store called 'New Generation Corner'. Its at one of the extreme ends of the hawker centre. The funny thing was that the pple customers at the store were men in thier late forties and early fifties. The store also played some slow nostalgic Hokkien songs and English songs like 'Hotel California'. Apparently the name of the store didnt really suit the place. Then those women serving Beer to the men wore low cut tops and pants that would reveal their figure. Good way to attract customers, esp old men...

I have observed for awhile this grp of pple who hang out at coffee shops and hawkers centres esp those near residental areas. They are the Lao Hokkien, Chinese men in their late forties and early fifties. They will seat at these places and drink beer, eat peanuts and smoke. They have a certain way of dressing. They usually wear flowery shirts and they usually like to unbutton their shirts. The Lao Hokkien also like to wear alot of jewellery like gold watches, gold necklaces and rings with big jade. They also talk quite loudly and their faces are usually very red(prob after drinking beer). They are rugged looking and they look quite fierce, most prob because most of them hold jobs like contractors or hard labour jobs. Sometimes they seat with at least one leg up and if they are alone they will be staring into space. Next time u go to hawker centre and coffeeshops to eat, see if u can spot these grp of men...The Lao Hokkien.

Who says NS is useless?

yea!!! ord lo!!! finally... got my pink ic back. but not after paying five dollars for an id tag. Didnt know that the new ruling now is "No id tag, no pink ic" Wat the heck rite... why would the SAF want such a small item back for. So that they can issue it back to us when we go to war? Wierd... looking back at my ns life i wonder wat i have learnt frm my last two yrs? wat have i gained frm the past two yrs?

1) How to endure lack of sleep. During Bmt, we slept at 1plus sometimes and wake up at 430 in the morning to draw rifles everyday. Sometimes the sergeant himself can't wake up(despite being called up) so we end up waiting for him for abt an hr. He's in his bed, while we are standing there in the file waiting for him... Then u start to see some pple fall asleep while standing. Then the diver course started and we have to wake up at 3 in the morning to run 6km in 27min. And during hellweek no sleep for five days... How the heck did i go thru all that? Nowadays i sleep at 12midnite and wake up at 11 in the morning....

2)How to endure being cold, wet and hungry.(Therefore appreciate Spore better) There was this exercise in some reservoir where we stayed in the water from 9pm till 3 am for all three days of the exercise. That was the worst experience. I remember most of the guys were peeing in the water just to keep ourselves warm... sick.. swimming in our own pee(just realised that). Then my friend Yak(his name), vomitted in the water after eating combat rations. Can rem the smell of his puke... Pasta with tomato sauce... Then i was eating the Khong Guan biscuits cause i was really too hungry... Wat an experience, eating while floating in some deserted reservoir. Lucky we didnt see any crocodiles, the water was so dark so maybe cannot see...
Then there was Brunei, survival training. Three days w/o food in the jungle(i know ocs go thru 5 days so im not complaining much) They put us in the jungle for three days with a parang and of course our SBOs, fieldpack and rifle. Then made us build houses out of Logs and leaves.(sounds like the movie castaway) The worst part was not the hunger but the cold we had to endure because it rained everyday. When our uniform became abit dry, it would start to rain again. I remember the jungle started flooding and then me, Loy and Clarence huddled together at nite. Shivering and trying to admire fireflies we saw... At night, i would wake up shivering because it was too bloody cold. In the morning, we would cook soup using rainwater and instant noodles seasoning(we smuggled that in our First aid dressing(FAD)). Then we ate raw ferns that the instructors gave us as rewards and put the ferns in the soup. We started the fire using our notebook which was also wet. Kept the fire gg by feeding more paper frm the notebook till we ran out of paper. Yummy... Seriously it was the best soup i had tasted... My friend said sth very funny when we got out of the jungle,"If my mother sees me suffering like that, i think she will cry..."

3)How to work when your superiors are ard. 'Wayang' or 'showmanship' is very important. I'm not saying we shouldnt work when your superiors are not ard... but then again not everyone shares the same view. There are those who work irregardless of the situation(These are the pple who get things done). There are pple who skive when no one is watching and only work when their superiors are ard(These pple are smart but they can be a pain in the ass) . Then there are those who never work. One thing is for sure, if u do not work when ur superiors are ard, u will be deemed as having a negative attitude towards ur work.

4)How to be a taiji master. Ok, this may sound abit wierd but when Higher ranking pple assign tasks to us, sths its not even our duty to carry them out. So we have to push the responsiblity of completing the tasks to the appropriate pple.(taiji)

5)How to endure inefficiency. Wait and wait and wait... no need for much explaination here.

6)You get to meet alot of guys.

7)How to keep a straight face infront of pple u do not like. Refer to my entry i posted last mth abt officers and specialists in Ndu.

ha... i'm tired of typing.. maybe next time, till i think of more things i have learnt frm NS. For now, this is it... Ya anyway was watching a highlight frm a French show abt this 2 gays(wat a coincidence, i met one that day w/o knowing(see previous entry)). Its a special feature in a dvd my friend lent me...Cant tell u who, if not u might think his gay too.. Tot that this part frm a song he was singing to another gay was quite nice... The title of the movie is A Summer Dress.



As the words of this song go.. "I will never forget, Bang Bang!"
I will never forget my NS days. Good link eh...

My Friend, He's interested in you...

One more day before i ord, yea!!! finally gonna complete my service after so long... Well there are some qualities that i learn frm there like how to endure long hrs without sleep, obeying instructions which sometimes make no sense at all and i've learnt that pple are mostly never wat they seem to be on the surface...

So in the afternoon i went swimming downstairs just to get some exercise. Swam for about 45min. The pool was in a really bad state. Think they hadnt washed the pool for 2 weeks. There were three guys slighty older than me who were suntaning there. Heard them talking and i heard a few words like, "Yeeyucks... Its disgusting..." Tot that sounded abit sissy...
So after the swim, i sat to rest on the chair beside the pool and also try to get abit of a tan. Then of the guys who was suntaning came up to me and introduced himself as A******(better not put his full name in case he sees this). He was well built, had nice strong arms, tanned and his handshake was abit too firm. he's quite handsome also...
i cringed with pain after the handshake cause i never expected the handshake to be so hard... Usually my handshake is quite firm cause i heard frm someone that its only manners to give a firm handshake.(some ettiquette stuff) Ya anyway, so A****** asked me whether i stayed at northvale and he said he saw me ard the condo before. So we chit chatted for awhlie and a found out he was frm NUS second yr. So he asked me for my number and told me that the next time he and his friend's came to swim we could swim together. So i gave him my number and went up to bathe.
Half an hr later he called me and asked if i wanted to have lunch together with he and his friends. I couldnt go cause i had to fill up my application stuff for Ntu. Then later in the afternoon he sms me this msg(exact words here)

A******: A friend of mine is interested in you. But its ok if i'm asking too
too personal a question...

Me: What?? Who??

A******: Sorry hope u're not offended. Just that my friend is very interested to know
you. I know its wierd but i'm asking for his sake. Is it possible??

Me:No. sorry, i dont go for guys...

A******: Hey no worries! I know its wierd but just asking for my friend. pls dun be
offended k? Take carez ya! And i really jus hope to be frens. See ya!

So i was quite stunned to know that a guy is actually interested me. First time this kind of thing happen to me. I know a few of my friends have actually been approached by guys before. last time my friend chongyou got approached by this guy called marcus outside HMV who followed him to the toilet. The guy was staring at him all the way while he was peeing and while he was washing his hands. They exchanged numbers and while the guy was leaving he kinda slapped my friend's dick... Fierce sia, wonder how come chong you didnt beat him up... Think there are more and more homosexuals these days sia... or maybe they have always existed in Spore but never dared to go public till now... Yikes, feels wierd to know that there are actually guys looking at other guys for other reasons. I mean i knew there are always guys like that when i hear frm my friends but i never really talked to them... Tot Spore wasnt that open a society compared to those ang moh countries... Ok i wont say i hate them cause no one asked to be born a homosexual rite. its not their fault that they are like that... cause i heard many pple discriminate against gays before. calling them chao ah gua, faggot.... Think pple shouldnt do that la, nobody ever asked to be born a homosexual... I admit i ever call them names like gayshit, faggot and ahgua also. Maybe becos everyone does that and dat becomes the common reaction of pple when they hear abt homosexuals. Its hard for pple to accept homosexuality in Spore i guess...
ok i'm not gonna talk abt whether we should accept homosexuality here... that would be another story to tell.
This whole thing kinda reminds of me of Sodom and Gommorah... yikes... Will we eventually end up like that?

How come they sell cars at Pasar Malam?

Good evening... I'm all alone at home cause my whole family went to malaysia for holiday over the weekend. That means no one to fight over the pc with me!

The girl on the right thats my sis, looks like she's she's telling me not to use the pc, and that's my cousin on the left... Ha, too bad... I had enough of malaysia already, so now i can stay home and use the pc.

The only thing thats bothering me now is the techno music from across the street. Fortuantely, the music stopped before 11pm so no need to call police. Stupid Pasar Malam and funfair across the road creating so much problems for the residents staying opposite. I dont blame the pasar malam la, its only the location that i'm unhappy with... here's why
First, its loud and noisy. The bass beat frm techno music gets on my nerves... Sometimes in the afternoon i can hear a man on the microphone trying to convince the crowd to buy his statues and crystals, the crowd, i noticed when i walk past there are mostly chinese old folks.
Secondly, it blocks the pathway frm the mrt station and Lot1. The stores and the crowd occupy the whole pathway leading frm the mrt station to Northvale. Can u actually believe that they are selling cars at the pasar malam? Shud be Hyundai Getz and a few other car models if i'm not wrong. They actually display the cars in the Pasar Malam... Wierd...I was thinking rite, if u bought a car frm there rite... Then next time ur friend ask u where u bought ur new car frm, then u say u bought it at a pasar malam, isn't that wierd. Dont they sell cars at showrooms? Anyway now i have to walk another longer route to get home...
Thirdly, the illegally parked cars on the side of the road are a road hazard. The traffic police come and they are forced to leave... Few minutes later as soon as the TP leaves, cars start parking along the road again... Pls, this is not malaysia lei. Law abiding Sporeans like me love peace and order... Abit of disorder will make me whine.
Anyway remember to check out the pasar malam when u drop by cck soon, the finger food is reasonably cheap and there's ramly burger where many queue up for. Should be nice la...

Jet Li, A DOG? I tot he was Wang Fei Hong?

Last night, went with brendan and chongyou to watch Jet Li's new movie Unleashed. In the show, Jet Li is a 'Dog". A liitle boy who was kept as a Dog in a cage by Hooligans in the UK and trained to kill rival gangs and jewellery dealers when his leash was removed. He eats, behaves and moves like a dog literally. He then meets Morgan Freeman who's daughter and Freeman himself help him unlock his past. Not bad, simple storyline with streetfights occasionally. Jet Li spoke little english and had to show the emotional side of him in the show. To me, similar to most english movies with chinese actors, the show seems to thicken the stereotype around the world that Chinese pple are a bunch of fighters who speak little english and know alot of Kung Fu. No choice la, i guess maybe thats the only way Chinese actors can get the audience glued to the screen, with their high flying KungFu kicks and deadly fists. Thats how Jackie Chan broke into the Hollywood spotlight too rite. But Jet Li really stooped to a all time low this time, acting like a dog for Ang mohs. A startling contrast to his Wang Fei Hong days in the HongKong wu xia shows.

Where Are My Earplugs?

Good afternoon, its a quiet afternoon at home. I hear the familiar chinese songs on the computer, the bird in my neighbour's house chirping away, the soothing sound of the fountain downstairs and occasionally the mrt stopping at cck station. I stand at the window and look out, i suddenly feel a sense of dismay. When i look opposite my house now, i think all that peace and quiet will be lost for the next few weeks. Noise awaits the residents staying nearby...

The open patch of grass beside Lot1 is often used for funfairs and exhibitions. Its location is somewhat perfect because its near the mrt, shopping centre and bus interchange. But the town council doesnt realise its also near a residential area. This picture taken frm my house... Look they are setting up tents again...

Last yr it was a funfair with roller coasters along with other thrilling rides(worst i've seen). Techno music accompanies the funfair(i mean what is a funfair w/o music) and somehow the music lasts till slighty after 11 oclock at night everyday. The techno music produces a kind of bass beat that will irritate even the most patient person if he's trying to study for his/her exams. Sometimes there will also be fireworks which are nice to see but not good when heard. Pls this is a residential area, not Kallang Stadium.
Recently, it was Ge tai(the lao Hokkien kind with old men and women screaming into the mics). No problem, i can live with that because i dont really mind the songs, they are only loud and out tune. Probably because they are 'singing to the dead' or are half deaf...

Now it looks like it another funfair or pasar malam. Looks like there wont be anything short of loud music, cars horning each other when they park at the roadside and a man screaming over a mic when there is an auction(those kind selling chinese statues and crystals, wonder why pple want to buy these stuff anyway) . Not only does the funfair bring with it noise, it also creates a traffic congestion when vehicles park along the side of the road at their own convinience. They block vehicles(which include buses returning to the interchange) and become road hazards.
They only leave when someone calls the police and the police come and chase the illegally parked vehicles away.
What is the town council doing abt all this? Hey this is not like those weddings or funerals held at the void decks of HDB flats which last for at most 2-3 days. These pasar malam or funfairs last at least 2-3 weeks. Shouldnt they limit the amount of noise produced for the comfort of the residents staying nearby? (In my case, less than 100 hundred metres away) Ya sure, rent out the place and earn all the rent at the expense of the welfare of the residents staying nearby... Maybe the pasar malam or funfair should cease all activity after 10pm.(some old folks or children sleep early rite) Or may i suggest they relocate all these events away from residential areas. There's a open space beside causeway pt with no residential areas nearby. Can't they have it there...

If the noise and music lasts after 12 midnite, maybe i'll call the police... I'm sure they will be of great help...