The Field Marshal

Yesterday's premiere of Steven Spielberg's Taken has prompted me to talk about my interest in all things extraterrestial. Little green men, metallic suits, ray guns, are stuff that have captured my imagination at a very young age. I have no idea where this fascination came from. Graphic dscriptions of humans being forcibly taken or convinced to go away with aliens into their blindingly bright spaceships in countless books on UFOs and alien abductions is perhaps the primary reason for my interest in this. Having such an interest ain't good since many have been labelled mad, or looney, for believing in aliens. I believe that most, 99.9%, of the stories or photos are just stories or fakes concocted by pranksters for a good laugh. But I believe that the unexplained phenomenon observed in that 0.01% points to something which we humans currently can't explain, or even begin to find out. Life in outerspace is something which I believe. If the universe is infinite, I find it incomprehensible that planets in other universes cannot go through Earth's mind boggling odds of creating life. Statistically speaking, if it can happen to Earth, why not planet X, Y, or even Z, millions of lightyears away? Not seeing something doesn't mean that the 'something' does not exist. Many a times, the flashing lights or balls of flames in the sky could perhaps be explained by natural phenomenon, but some are still unexplained. So, the verdict is still out on that. At a personal level, I think it is interesting to know that life can exist in other parts of the universe. But being the worrier that I am, my question is, "would the aliens be the nice cuddly ones, or those that we saw in War of the Worlds." I would definitely not want them to be those featured in the Alien movie series. No thing is going to use my body as a host for incubating an alien baby. On hindsight, such things are actually happening now. There are parasites around us who uses a host, be it an animal, human or plant, to keep itself alive or to leech off the host for food etc. BUT we don't have a parasite which explodes from our chest at birth. What would I do if I come face to face with an alien? Fieldmarshal - Welcome to planet Earth my ugly looking friend! (grins widely) Furry Alien - wheeze, hoot, rasp (raises an appendage with a rock like rod) Fieldmarshal - Errr friend, I am not getting to you dude. And what's with that stick? (a present for Fieldmarshal?) Furry Alien - makes strangling sound while pointing the stupid rock-like object at FM. Fieldmarshal - Oh, my first interplantary gift. Cool, dude. (Grabs the stick from the alien) Furry Alien - screeches in high shrilly tones and start making lots of noise. Fieldmarshal - Ah, my very first alien present. Hey there's sort of a cavity for a finger here. What's that. Feels warm inside. (Fiddles with the stick and sticks finger into the cavity) Furry Alien - screeching like a crazed bird and turning more green (if that's possible) Fieldmarshal - (thinking it is an intergalactic way of greeting starts shouting together with the alien) THANKS YOU MY UGLY GREEN FRIEND. I WILL GIVE YOU A SPECIAL SINGAPOREAN 'FINE CITY' T-SHIRT LATER. I AM SURE YOUR BUDS WILL LOVE IT! AND AS A SHOW OF ETERNAL FRIENDSHIP, LET ME USE YOU STICK TO GREET YOU BACK! (points the stick at the alien and puts finger into the cavity, hears a soft 'psssssssfffff' and a sudden gush of warm air, but turns away from the alien after hearing his name being called) Mydaemon - Dear, who are you talking to? Fieldmarshal - Hey, come and meet this cool alien dude who just gave me this wonderful gift. (turns back to ugly green alien). Mydaemon - Hmmm, I don't see anyone here. Just a huge heap of dried green bird pooh. Fieldmarshal - (loss for words) But.. but... it was right where the bird pooh is now. MR ALIEN! MR ALIEN! WHERE ARE YOU? (still thinks that shouting is the best way of communicating with it) Mydaemon - Stop playing with that piece of rock and clean up the place. (takes the stick from FM's hand and dumps it into the trash can) Fieldmarshal - Darn, I could have sworn I spoke to an alien. (takes up a dustpan and broom to clear the huge pile of bird pooh) 'Huge Bird Pooh' (aka alien after being fried by superduper laser beam that kills humans) - f u c ....... (last sound it made) Tsk tsk, what a dirty mouthed alien.

Sleepy... Woke up at 2.30am this morning to catch the Champions League group match between Liverpool and Chelsea. Darn, was once again fooled by the timing, as the match started only at 2.45am. Anwway, I put the 'extra' 15 mins to good use by ironing my shirt, which I am donning now in office. Given the constant crap from Mourinho about the ball not crossing the goal line when the 2 sides met at Anfield last time, signs were that both teams will be out to get a win and the resultant bragging rights. While Liverpool has improved over the last few months, it continues to be hampered by the lack of goals. This is worrisome as no one ever won the Premier League by drawing the entire season. Coupled with the lack of goalmouth action, visiting Chelsea will boast of Arjen Robben and Damien Duff, both hellishly quick. Hyppia and Carragher will have a tough match shutting out those two. I have sobered sufficiently by the time the match kicked off. Liverpool started off well, and controlled the early proceedings. Chances were at a premium, but at least we kept the 'champions of England' at bay. Having survived the early pressure, Chelsea grew in confidence in the later part of the first half. However, both sides found it tough going forward as the defenders have already shut up shop for the night. Second half was more of the same. Lots of probing and 'cut and thrust' by both sides. However, Liverpool was unable to find the goal to finish off a stubborn Chelsea side. While the blues were quick and dangerous and the break, Liverpool were the ones asking the questions. We were denied 2 penalties. One of which I felt was clearly justified. But football, being the game that it is, is always full of such incidents. However, I have to say that the referee was rather lenient to the blues. The game ended a goaless draw. While I have to admit that I was a tad disappointed, but I consider it a good result. Fact is, up till now, all the teams that met Chelsea have lost to them. Ekking out a draw is a good result. For me, it shows that Liverpool is definitely not far, in terms of footballing standards, from the English champions. What they lack now is a goalscorer to justify all their possession. Keep up the good work Rafa. I am sure the lads will find their feet soon. Am in a daze as I type this in office. Looks like a long sleep day in office for me. Yawn...

Cabled and Liberated Finally, Mydaemon and I have free our Mediacorp's shackles by subscribing to Starhub Cablle TV. While I have cable TV at my place for years now, Mydaemon, who conforms to the mantra that too much TV stupefies a person, has not joined the bandwagon last weekend. Well, we have been meaning to 'cable-up' her place since I have been whining about missing Liverpool matches over the weekends for years. Guess the whining paid off. Anyway, I am more than willing to foot the bill. Moreover, the box-set will move with us when our new home is ready. So, in the interim period, it will provide entertainment for Mydaemon, her family and me. Fixing up the box-set was a breeze. It was as simple as wiring it up to the TV and cable point. And voila, you have cable TV. Being the impatient person that I am, I immediately surfed the channels, hoping against all hope that we will get instant access. Well, you can't fault me for having this expectation especially when we have already done an upfront payment for the first month's subscription. Were disappointed in the end as the channels really took 48 hours to activate. Tonight will be the first night that our cable subscription will be put to good use. Yes, I am talking about the 'live' telecast of the Champions League match between Chelsea and Liverpool. Although Channel 5 is also screnning the match, I prefer watching it on SCV as they provide the original commentary from Europe. Which is by far of a better standard than our local commentators. The latter always going into long lapses of silence and funny comment. Listening to the locals is a real bore. Hope Liverpool does well tonight.

Having heard so much about Google Earth, I decided to download it and check it out. After fiddling it with for a while, I actually found out that there's a satelite image of my home. I ain't gonna say where my home is actually located except that it can be found in the north-east area of the photo below. Do try out Google Earth. It's fun to locate the location of your home in it. Have fun!

Who Says Gaming is Bad I have been playing computer games since the good old days of Pac Man, Lode Runner, Digger, Western Bar, Alley Cat, Frogger etc. While not enough to qualify as an addict, I have been known to play a good game for 3-5 hours in one go. Gone are those days since I started working. Currently, I am playing Winning Eleven 8, Call of Duty - Finest Hour, and Prince of Persia on Xbox. Sid Meier's Pirates! comes on and off on my PC whenever I feel like leaving a stream of flotsam and destruction in the Carribbean. By the way, Pirates! is a damn good game. Its original version was released sometime in the early 1990s. Its second incarnation is awesome. My love for electronic gaming, be it on game consoles or PC, is unlikely to wane even as I grow older and into fatherhood in the future. I guess such phenomenon is going the way of mainstream in the coming 5 to 10 years as people in my age group enter middle-age. Anyway, gaming has taken quite a lot of flake from the various interest groups, for obvious reasons. Parents, for one, worry that their kids would become anti-social, develop violent tendencies or become unhealthy due to the lack of exercise. Other social groups argue that there's just too much sex and violence in today's games. Tell that to the developers of Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas. Religious groups have also been vitriolic in lambasting games for being 'satanic', unholy, and downright evil. Yup, there's a call by some churches to produce more Christian themed games. I, for one, will be giving these games a wide berth. Ok, I admit that some games are way too violent and gory. Sexuality is also common with barely dressed beach babes playing beach volleyball in Dead or Alive or Red Ninja.But to me, these are harmless. Granted that some of the scenes are too explicit for young minds. Perhaps that's the reason why all games are rated. If parents don't want their kids playing certain games, they should either, (a) check on the games they are playing, or (b) make sure that their kids can't afford the games. No one's to blame when parents give their kids so much pocket money nowadays. So, if you do not intend to watch what's your kids doing on the PC, then you better keep a tight rein on his pocket money. Many have also argued that gaming takes away too much time for other activities, like, homework, sports, social interactions, and even meals. Well, everything we do takes time. So, the same goes for gaming. But I do agree that there's a limit to how much one should play each day. For me, I used to play until my I cannot stare at the monitor any longer. And that's usually 3-4 hours of non-stop gaming. Actually, the amount of time one can spend on gaming depends on one's ability to cope with life. If a gamer can spend 5 hours on gaming and yet ace his exams, and still play competitive sports, then this fella should continue playing his games. But if the fella flunk every subject each month and is obese, then parental guidance should come in. I do not advocate gaming addiction, but only responsible gaming. A lot of parents ask what's that, or if that's achievable. Well, I can only say that people are unique and a one-size fits all solution ain't the best way to go. Parents, or even adult gamers, should know their kids and themselves. Only with such an understanding of self and their kids would responsible gaming be possible. Having rattled off from the original purpose of this post, which is becoming a habit of sorts for me. I would like to share with concerned parents or spouses out there that one can actually learn something from gaming. Take my example. Was playing Call of Duty the last 2 nights. Was having problem with one of the missions, and had to play it time and again, since the stupid game does not have intelligent save points. Basically, my mission was to take out German soliders who are advancing on my tank factory. The purpose of this mission is to ensure that no Germans get into the factory to destroy the tanks. At first, being the trigger-happy guy that I am, I took down all the soliders, especially those with bazookas threatening to blow the factory's doors off their hinges, that were pouring forth into my sniper rifle's scope. As the mission wore on, I realised that I would be swamped by the flood of Germans who kept pouring towards me. Despite my high 'kill rate', I found that I would eventually miss out that strayed bazooka that would eventually put away my doors. After trying the mission for several times, being the stoopid person that I am, I finally realised something profound. See, told you that gaming is good for all of us. Basically, I realised that I should focus on killing those with the bazookas, or those with the machine guns. Rationale being that these are the units that could inflict the most damage on me. Yeah, yeah, I am not a top rate gamer. Once that dawned on me, I had more success with this mission. Gaming aside, this realisation made me realised that this is a lesson for real life living too. While the management gurus have been harping about the need to focus on the core issues, companies have always had their eyes fixated on the least important of things. With people like me at the bottom of the corporate ladder taking the cue from the big bosses, I would also naturally fall into the same trap. What my gaming experience taught me, was this. Always find out the core issue that needs to be addressed. That's why I am employed by the organisation. To solve problems and not become part of it. Sadly, most middle managers and supervisors are so attuned to the system that they no longer see the real issues. Anyway, my mind has been sharper this few days as the lesson is still fresh in memory. But with time, I am sure it will fade away. The moral of the story is, play more games!!! It is good for you. (To readers: Pls note that the moral of the story is only applicable to those who reflect on the game. It is not valid for addicts and children below certain years of age).

Journey of Faith There's a similarly title post in Zap the Bug, since Mydaemon and I do most things together. Anyway, after much delay, we finally made our way to the Journey of Faith exhibition of Vatican art and artifacts at the Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM) @ Empress Place. Being a Catholic, I was keen to look at some of the art from the Vatican and learn more about my faith. It was my first visit to the Asian Civilisation Museum. Having been to the Singapore Art Museum, which happens to be my old school compound, and the Singapore National Museum, I had no great expectations of the ACM. And having visited both the Britsh Museum and the National Gallery in London it is hard not to compare our local ones with the world's standard. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a well maintained building which actually exudes an aura of heritage, which is somewhat lacking in the other 2 museums. Located at the 2nd-storey, the galleries contained local collections that were displayed based on cultural themes, e.g. Chinese, Malay, Indian etc. I have to agree with Mydaemon that the ambience created by the smart positioning of warm/spot-lights was good. But I still think that it was a tad too dark. This wasn't helped by the smallish font the museum used for information panels. Had to lean close to the panels many a times just to read what the art or artifact was about. The gallery containing the Journey of Faith exhibition, as with the rest, was dark, yet cosy. Playing in the background was a haunting, but beautiful, loops of some hymn sung by a choir. The ambience was about just right. Perhaps being a Catholic helps in my appreciation of the artifacts on display. Could emphatise with most of the themes displayed in the artwork. Learnt that St Peter would usually be depicted as holding the keys and a book, while St Paul would be holding a sword and the letters (Epistles) he wrote. There's a lot of interesting artifacts on display. Perhaps the most intriguing one was that of a gold-coloured crab holding a cross. From what I remember, the crab is a symbol of Christ's death and rebirth, since it sheds it old shell for a new one every so often when it gets older. It's a pity that I could take a snapshot of the crab since photography is not allowed for the exhibition. Might drop by the place again to get a copy of the exhibition catalogue. What's stopped me from getting it last Saturday was the price tag - $32. Took some photos of the museum itself and the publicity banners for the exhibit. Will post it here when I am done downloading them into the PC. Based on my past experience, this could take from between 1 month to never. It all depends on my mood. I highly recommend this exhibition to those who wish to look at really good pieces of art and artifacts, things which are seldom exhibited in our museums. See it before it goes back to the Vatican. Exhibitions ends on 9th October.

This is a song that touches me deeply. Can't explain why it has this effect on me. It has that Truly, Madly, Deeply effect on me. Managed to find the lyrics on the net (see below). There's also this really fabulous flash file with the song too. It's the version sung by Weilian. You can view the clip here (highly recommended).

followed by . . . unagi + rice. . . OOOOOOYISHI!!!

More excitement to come... CHAWANMUSHI... O.. O... O... OYISHIIIII!!!!!!

Haha... it must be easy to tell that I lurrrvvve Japanese food. It was a wonderful meal. I tucked into my dishes with relish. Yum, Yum! Oh, Mydaemon's food was also very 'oyishi'. She ordered for herself a bowl of tempura udon. That's the best picture I can find for her food. The real thing sure looks tastier than this.

Will bring my camera with me everywhere in the future so that I post the 'real deal' here.

Was happily surfing the Gamespot when I came across this (see picture). Jaws drop. OMG!!!! X-Men Legends II is on its way! Release date is stated to be on the 21st Sep! Which means it will hit our shores not too long after that! Frankly, gaming on Xbox has become predictable since we have not purchased another game after Winning Eleven 8, which testifies to its ultra replayability. But that doesn't mean that the fun stops there. Have been hunting around for a new Xbox game for sometime. Halo 2 was high on my 'to buy' list. But it has just dropped a notch since X-Men Legends II is going to be released soon.

Another reason why I look forward to this game is that fact that it allows 2 or more players. This means that Mydaemon and I can team up and do some serious mutant ass-kicking. I am really looking forward to playing my favourite character, the lethal and quick Wolverine, while Mydaemon will retake her role as either Storm or Rogue. Read that Magneto will also be playable in this release. Sounds like a bloody good game already.

Here's my alter-ego getting ready to kick some nasty mutants ass.

An Indian Rojak Dinner Mydaemon has been putting in the hours at office for the last few weeks. Guess that's sort of a payback for all the hours we slack throughout the year. Cooking was not possible since we reach home rather late, and sandwiches for dinner don't really appeal to her. So, we have been eating out rather frequently over the past week. Being ever the foodie, I have been pining for the sinful meal for quite some time. Here's how I would define sinful foods. Sinful: Any food items that contain hazardous levels of fats, oil, cholesterol, and anything that tastes good but is essentially unhealthy. Read char kway teow, Indian rojak, fried Hokkien mee, roti prata (Field Marshal's favourite), KFC, cheesecakes, coffee - cafe mocha, curry, sweetcakes.... SEDAP!!! My mouth is starting to water just looking at the words. Oops, there goes a stray drip of saliva. Slurp. Ok, back to last night's dinner. After all the hard work, Mydaemon decided that we should have Indian Rojak for dinner. YIPPEE!!!!!!! Having to contain my elation, since performing somersaults and running around like crazy ain't possible in the car, I just said, sure. Don't want to show too much enthusiasm, and have my rojak meal 'revoked'. Once the car was parked, my internal gastronomic radar was switched on to full power. Homing in to the fume emitted by the boiling oil, reused countless of days, used to fry the heavenly little buggers - the rojak, I calculated the shortest trajectory to the rojak stall, with Mydaemon in tow that is. Here again, I had to contain my enthusiasm. Not very sightly to see a full-grown man in smart office attire dashing like a lunatic for something as simple as Indian rojak. Every step was a test of my sheer willpower. It was a conscious effort to keep my legs from running away from me. With much self-control, we finally arrived at the stall. Boy, the sight was heavenly. Laid out nicely in front of me were neat rows fried Indian rojak. Only my lack of Indian vocabluary prevents me from naming the tasty treats staring at me. Mama, I am in heaven. For those who love Indian rojak, you have to try this wonderful stall. It's located at the Ayer Rajah Hawker Centre. Look for stall number 69. The number of the stall is a coincidence, and have nothing to do with any aphrodisiac effects of the rojak. :P Was at a loss on what I should order. I wanted to eat EVERYTHING!!! Again, losing self-control in front of Mydaemon is a definite no-no. Calling down every single ounce of self-control, I started picking off the mouth-watering items onto my plate. Did anyone tell you that choosing the food items from an Indian rojak stall is therapeutic? Try it and you know what I am talking about. The first thing on the plate was this huge fried sotong. Following that, the floodgates opened. In quick succession, I filled the plate with goodies, which I have not names for. Basically, these include those kosong long fair ones, oranged coloured ones stuff with hardboiled eggs and potatoes, tau gua, and tempe. In the end, we ordered $9.50 worth of Indian rojak. And as the saying goes, the rest is history. Burp!

Real Betis 1 - Liverpool 2 Good news greeted me when I checked the Football365 website for an instant update on this morning's European Champions League group stage matches. Given Liverpool's rather staid start to the English Premier League season, I wasn't hopeful for a win against a well-rated Spanish side. But surprise surprise, Liverpool did it again. Go Rafa! Go!

Not sure if any noticed, but Singapore must have been hit by a record number of lightning strikes lat evening. If you believe Straits Times to be the definitive medium in covering news in Singapore, then you are missing out a lot.

Yesterday's evening 'thunderstorm', which I as a trained geographer attest to, is one of the most scariest one I have ever witnessed. Leaving my office at around 6.30pm, the vista from my window was already a picture of inky, oily black, clouds rolling towards my general direction. What's intriguing about this coming storm was the frequency of lightning strikes. From my window, I could already see one lightning after another striking different locations in the general area around Novena, where my office is. Fearing that we could be caught in the rain, I told Mydaemont to pack up and 'evacuate' from the office if we are not to be caught in the middle of a rainstorm.

Once out of the building proper, we witnessed continued flashes of lightning striking places near out office. Lighting up the sky like some flash photographer gone mad, we heard the boom, boom, boom, of the thunders that follow the repeated lightning strikes. It was an uncomfortable experience even when we were under the scant shelter of a covered walkway.

Hoping to reach our car before the rain pours on us, we hastened our footsteps, but the continued flashes and booming kept us huddled under the covered walkway. Fear of a lightning strike kept us from walking on the open route, of wide grass patches, which we needed to take to reach the car. Deciding not to risk ourselves as human lightning rods, since we are likely to be relatively tall targets in the open space, we decided to make a detour through the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, a route which will help to cut the distance of open ground which we need to cross before reaching our car.

Upon reaching the exit of the hospital, we found out that the skies have finally opened up, and were pouring buckets of rain down onto Earth. We were still debating on whether we should risk make a quick dash to the car, which was now around about 400m away. But another rapid fire series of lightning stikes in the immediate vicinity made the decision for us. We will stay in the relatively safer confines of the hospital and wait out this crazy thunderstorm before. Before we headed back into the hospital, we witnessed a spectacle of lightning after lightning stiking buildings around the hospital. There was actually a moment when three bright streaks struck an office building. We were transfixed by the noise of the rain, the flashes of the continuous lightning and the booming of the thunder around us. It was a weird feeling.

Since we are not able to make our way home, we decided to get some chow into our systems to soothe our frayed nerves. Guess there's always a bright spot in the gloomiest of occasions. For me, the bright spot was the Yong Tou Foo stall in TTSH's foodcourt. I am singling this stall out because the size of its yong tou foo is big. Big, as in 30% or more larger than those we get in other foodcourts. They also have my favourite fried wanton. Yummy. Tucking into my yong tou foo dry beehoon meal, I totally forgotten about the raging thunderstorm which was still wowing people with its brilliant lights show for people in the open. Once my tummy was full, I suggested to Mydaemon that it's time for us to make the trip home. As we made our way to the exit again, we noticed a barrage of flahses, made visible through TTSH's windowed roofing. Darn! Looks like the 'Lightning God' is having a hell of a good time this evening.

When we reached the exit, we were once again treated to the spectacle of continued flashes, thunderous booming and rain. I was like, what that hell... At the rate the lightnings were going off, there must have been at least a few hundred stikes while we were having dinner.

As Mydaemon and I were once again cowed into inaction by the show of force by Mother Nature, we noticed that Singaporeans, from old uncles to schoolkids, simply opening their filmsy umbrellas, filmsy compared to my huge one, and started trudging into the open, making their way to whichever destination they were headed for. And there we were standing under shelter as countless people walked into the open as lightning struck ever which way around the hospital.

I am not sure if my jaw dropped open then, but I was amazed at the actions of my fellow citizens. Did the government fed them something in the water which failed to take effect on my and Mydaemon? These fellas were either very brave, or worryingly foolhardy. Perhaps the constant call by the government to take risks are finally beginning to bear fruit. But I bet the government didn't say what risks not to take, and being the compliant people that we are, most Singaporeans thought takings risks is good for us when the government said so. Guess natural selection is also at play here. If you know what I mean.

After waiting for another 10 minutes, we finally decided to make 'THE' trip. What a normal walk to our car yesterday had become a really bizarre 'trip'. Never in my life was a simple walk turned into such a nerve-racking 'adventure'. As we worked up our guts to step into the open, with only my big but still 'filmsy' umbrella for protection, my only thought was to make it through this experience not being struck by lightning.

We walked as fast we our legs could take us while keeping the umbrella upright. I could feel Mydaemon's iron-like grip on the umbrella. She later told me that she wanted to make sure that we are not the tallest object around. Covering that short distance between the hospital and our car became an eternity. Lightning flashes and thunder were going off all around us. There was an occasion where I felt as if I was in the middle of a photoshoot as the surrounding lit up in a bright flash. I still have no idea where the lightning struck. It was like walking through a war zone with the noise. It felt exactly like the scene in War of the Worlds when the lightning struck Earth. It was that scary. I would be lying if I said that I was not afraid. Hell, I was totally rattled.

After what seemed like a lifetime of walking, we finally reached some shelter. Even under the shelter, the sky refused to let go of us, another bright flash lit up the surrounding around us, putting more spring into our legs to make the final short burst of speed to our car, which was now 20 plus metres away. Even that short a distance was punctuated by flashes and booming thunder. Once inside the car, Mydaemon and I looked at each other, with a look that essentially said, 'we made it'.

At this point, I mentioned that this night, with the storm and lightning, was like a scene plucked out from one of Dean Koontz's books. Yes, the night was really dark, wet and evil. Something was just not right. The car was like a protective cocoon. Boy, I was never that afraid in my life. Even when I was alone with my military vehicle in the training area, and 10 plus stray dogs started surrounding me and started howling in the moonlight. That was freaky, but it was no way as scary as what I experienced last night. It was as if end times were near. As we drove off, we had this surrealistic sensation of being in a horror flick, just like what Tom Cruise experiences ni War of the Worlds. Freaky.

When we reached home. There was nary a drop of rain. The floor around the block was surprisingly dry. It was as if the entire rainstorm existed in our minds. Another freaky moment. It was really a night of a thousand, at least, lightnings.

Hitting the Tracks Running Given the frequency in which I will be hitting the running tracks, I think I will only update the D-Days when I am out jogging with Summerbreeze and Shitake. Today, will be my third jogging session since Mydaemon and I started our permanent healthy lifestyle programme. Wide ranging changes have started to change various areas of our lives, from our diet to the frequency of our exercise sessions. Let me go back to the first jobbing session last Friday. It has been some time since I last jogged in any stadium. Thus, it was a refreshing change from pounding on the gym's treadmill or the gravel track around the Pandan Reservoir. Before I share my running experiece, I just have to share with you on the standard of the toilet facilities at the Toa Payoh Stadium. Being one of the oldest stadiums around, I expected the toilet facilities to be run-down and 'icky'. But I was genuinely surprised when I found out that the toilets were dry, well-ventilated and bright. Residents of Toa Payoh are one lucky lot. Stepping out of the toilet, I had a good view of the stadium itself. Looking around, I realised that Singaporeans are actually quite health conscious, as the number of joggers in the stadium number only around 40-50 people at any given time. There was also an carnival-like feel as there were many parents jogging with their little ones. Also in the jogging fraterinity were retirees, NS boys, students, and office workers. Somehow, it just feels good to be in the stadium partaking in the same activity with my fellow Singaporeans. I started off the session with a super slow pace. The rubberised tracks was really a joy to run on as it absorbed the impact of each of my strides. The first 400m was sort of a warm-up for me as I got my stiff leg muscles to loosen and warm up. Once sufficicently warmed-up, I adopted the fast-slow technique, where I jogged slowly for 100m before picking up my pace for the next 100m. Alternating my speed helped to regulate my breathing and pace as I am sure I would have stopped after 2 rounds if I maintained a 'medium' speed jog. After the 2nd lap, I entered into the 'zone'. This is a sensation when my body becomes attuned to the level of exertion I am imposing on it. All my actions became a fluid motion when my strides and breathing became synchronised. It was a joy to run then. My target was to complete a 2.4km run. No time limit was set since this was the first time I am timing myself after quite a long period of time. At the end, I took 30mins to complete that distance. I am not really disappointed as this is the start, and I believe the my timing will improve with time. My eventual target is to reach a level of fitness where I can complete the run within the IPPT standards, around 12mins. For today's run, I am looking to 28 to 29 minutes. I can't wait to put on my running shoes and start running this evening.

New on the PA System - 大长今 OST The music and songs in the Korean drama 大长今 (Da Chang Jin) is really well composed and written. While I have no idea what the lyrics is about, the tone and tune of the main theme is a very touching piece. It kindles in me a feeling of challenges, dreams, hope, love and peace. Don't ask me where I get all these feelings from, but I just innately feel them whenever the 长今 faces a new ordeal or tribulation, or when she shares a happy moment with Ming Zheng Hao, or even when she's slicing away in the Imperial Kitchen. Having vowed not to spend too much money on CDs in recent years, I decided to get myself a copy of the 大长今 OST yesterday. My only other Korean OST being that of My Sassy Girl, I have full confidence that the OST for the hit drama should not disappoint. And it sure didn'tdisappoint. The music is exactly what I hear on every expisode. A flood of memories and scenes hit me when a particular track is played. It's really an enjoyable CD. In fact, it's still playing on my PC now, having ripped it into my mediaplayer. I like the Chinese version of the theme - 娃娃. The translated version was meaningful as the lyrics spoke of 长今's longing for her parent, who she lost at a very young age. I found this line especially meaningful, "想爸爸，想妈妈，想要回家". In the context of the drama, you will understand this deep sense of longing. While no tears are welling in my eyes, but I feel this warm fuzzy feeling deep in me. Better stop here.

D-MINUS 1 HR 45 MINS TO D-DAY ONE The day of reckoning is here. In another hour and forty-five minutes, I will be pounding the tracks of Toa Payoh Stadium in my first planned exercise session of the year. Looking out the window of my office, I can see the sun shining brightly on the trees and buildings. What a wonderful weather for a jog. I can almost feel the warmth of the sun in the freezingly cold environment of my office. Can't wait to put on my track shoes and start eating up the track. Looks like I am going to have an enjoyable evening. What's missing is a Ipod Nano on my arm. Nah, I'd still rather have it bigger brother or Zen Vision. Shucks, gotta stop thinking about them! Perhaps some exertion on the tracks will clense my mind of such 'evil' thoughts!

Every week, around 500 plus people are knocked out by this little pesky bugger, aka Aedes mosquito, in Singapore. Hospitals are getting so crowded with dengue fever patients that Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan has made a statement that all non-critical surgery will be postponed in public hospitals in order to free up space for a potential surge of dengue patients in the coming weeks.

Personally, I also have a bone to pick with this insect. Firstly, my housing estate falls within one of the identified dengue hotzones. Tough luck. Anyway, blocks just a street away have been declared as a dengue affected zones. So, my family are at risk. Secondly, my dad recently developed high fever and a horrible rash on his ankle. We were quite worried that it was dengue fever since rashes and inflammation are symptoms of this viral infection. A blood test at the polyclinic cleared my dad of the infection. But the rash has not subsided. So, we are still kind of worried. The only thing we can do now is to make sure that we take extra precaution and immediately see a doctor if we start exhibiting symptoms common to dengue fever.

Now, at the more macro leve, we, as in Singaporeans, have been exhorted by the authorities, namely MOH, to play our role as responsible citizens, to look out for any potential mosquito breeding areas and take the necessary actions to clean up the place. Rationale is that these pesky little creatures have an effective range of around 100 plus metres, and if all of us do our part, Singapore will be aedes-free.

I think that we should all play a part in this battle. At our level, we should check that all the water collection plates of our potted plants are drained frequently. Containers holding water in the open should be covered properly. For landed properties, owners should check their drainage, roofs and ledges that could collect water. If not for the public, owners should do this for their own families. I believe these actions should put a dent on the dengue scourge. However, I think the Town Councils should take on a more active role too. Frankly, I have not heard the hums of thermal fogging in my neighbourhood for months. This is puzzling especially when I live around the 'hot' zones. The only consolation is that fogging could be carried out during the weekdays while I am at work. But if that's the case, how is it possible that there are still mosquitoes, of the non-aedes type, feeding on my blood while I sleep. Go figure.

While I fully support the above public initiatives, I am also worried about the potential erosion of privacy which can happen due to this development. Well, my concern basically stems from a statement contained in Mr Khaw's anti-aedes speech. Basically, he thinks that mosquitoes could be breeding in houses that have been left vacant for extended periods of time. And since no one could access these houses, he mooted the possibility of giving enforcement agencies the power to 'access' (for me, break into) those vacant houses.

I think such a legislation is too extreme for my liking. How can the state be given powers, or even harbour the thought, to enter the private homes of the citizens. To me, privacy is a sacred right that all citizens should have. Unless it is an emergency situation, where martial law has already been enacted, then I would more than readily agree to such a legislation. But to forcibly enter our home, albeit legally for a reason as insignificant as this, is not right. Our rights to privacy should be respected.

If such a legislation can be pushed through the parliament so easily, what's there to stop the government from pushing through more draconian laws, in the name of public safety and welfare. The government should review all possible solutions before even considering such a drastic act. For example, have they considered whether increased thermal fogging at the surrounding premises of these vacant homes would be effective against the aedes mosquitoes?

I would rather pay a little more, as if there's a need to, income tax to pay for this, than to have a law which essentially allows legal access into my home whenever the government thinks there's some insect breeding in it. I would feel violated at a very basic level if my home is ever forcibly accessed for the name of 'public good'.

To satisfy the likes of Mydaemon and Naniecheng, I have found a photo of Colin Firth in the Brit production of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch (1997). Looks kinda goofy. With a look like this, I am sure the movie is a blast.

Fat cells beware, I am coming after you! Yesterday evening, Mydaemon and I finally overcame our inertia and went for a walk-a-jog. Months must have passed since the last time we exercised together. So, restarting a healthy regime needed much mental psyching since I have not in anyway, exercised for a long time. As I dusted the imaginary cobwebs away from my track shoes, I felt a sense of purpose in the jogging session. Well, as most of you know by now, Mydaemon and I are getting married in the near future, but we have yet to get many things sorted out in our lives. Health has been an issue between us since I have gout and a hint of high blood pressure. Guess that the price I had to pay for being the foodie that I am and being overweight for much of my life. It has been a difficult last 2 years when I had almost monthly gout attacks. These attacks are horrible! Some joint on my body will get inflamed and swollen. The skin around the joint will turn an ugly angry red. One thing that gout sufferers has to sacrifice is the consumption of protein, read red meat, alcohol, bean related produce etc. This has been the hardest part of the journey since I love soya bean milk, steaks, seafood, nuts and beans. And all these are on the restricted diet list. Sigh... Being the greedy guy that I am, I often often beyond the amount that I can 'safely' take. The end result is visits to doctors and consuming tonnes of painkillers. Thankfully, that episode is behind me now. My last attack was 3-4 months back. Going back to an attack-free lifestyle is a relief. Not only that I am more active physically, I am happier as a person now. It is not easy to live with constant pain. Pains inevitably wears down the person. I do actually feel helpless and depressed when the attacks just refused to go away. For gout sufferers out there, my advice is listen to the doctor. Take your allopurinol properly, and life can go on as normal. Back to th exercise regime. Well, I see the purpose of the regime as easing myself back to a healthy state. I stringly believe that a healthy body is one of the foundations for happiness in life. Thus, it is my responsibility to Mydaemon to remain fit and healthy for our future family unit. While I know that Mydaemon will always be there for me, in health or in sickness, I do not want to tire her with such concerns which can be avoided if I put in more effort. With that in mind, we outfitted ourselves in comfy attire, ready to take on the jogging track ahead of us. The jogging track we took was the dirt/gravel track bordering the Padan Reservoir. At the beginning of our job, I thought that a slow jog would be a piece of cake. But I realised that my calf, thigh and leg muscles have all atrophied since my last exercise session. The first 100-200m was ok. But as I progressed, the going got tough. And since I am not an Energizer Bunny, the tough got tougher. As I laboured on, I could hear Mydaemon's steady footsteps behind me. Come to think of it, we must have made an interesting sight. Interesting in that she was walking at the speed that I was jogging, or vice versa. I have to admit that my speed is really slow, but this only shows that Mydaemon is still pretty fit. Well, fitter than me at least. We jogged/walked for 25 minutes. In terms of distance, I think it should be in the region of 2km or more. For me, that's already a very good start. Now my legs are all rubbery and tired. I am just glad that my job doesn't require me to run around much. Hopefully, my legs would have regained their strength by this Friday, when Mydaemon, Summer Breeze, Shitake and I meet up for the 'planned' jogging session. If not, then I will have to find someway to move around the jogging tracks. Hmmm... perhaps I will be the first Singaporean to set a Guiness record for rolling the longest distance on a jogging track.

Caught this movie with Mydaemon on Sunday. Been a long time since a nice romanc comeday came our way. The Perfect Catch is a movie about the relationship between a crazy high-school teacher cum fanatical Red Sox fan - Ben Wrightman (Jimmy Fallon) and type-A go-getter Lindsey Meeks (Drew Barrymore).

The movie does a pretty good job in parodying real-life relationships between men who are obsessed with a certain sporting team, and women, who are generally clueless as to why their men are so crazy about a bunch of people who don't even know they - the men - exist.

Perfect Catch is a movie I can closely emphatise with since I am very much like Ben in real life. Having been a Liverpool supporter since their glory days in the mid-1980s, I have rooted for them since. The advent of cable TV did not help since every Saturday night is THE night for football. You can imagine the times I have to wrench myself from home spend time with Mydaemon on weekends. Don't read this wrong. I enjoy the times I am out with Mydaemon when 'live' matches of Liverpool are shown on cable. But I'd be lying if I say that no part of me would like to rush home and catch the match.

Lastly, I chose the photo above since it is just like a snapshot of Mydaemon and I in bed. Looking at the picture, I can see myself reading some trashy novel while Mydaemon sharpens her mind with books of wisdom by the cutting edge thinkers. This is indeed a case of art imitating life, or is it the other way round?

Of Rivets and Responsibility Recently, news of people rushing to retrofit their windows with new rivets started to resurface in our media as the deadline for retrofitting draws nearer. Being one of those who are affected, I note with some concern over my dad's, who's the head of the family, lack of reaction to the impending change in legislation, which essentially makes the owner of the flat liable if the window rivets have not been changed to approved specifications. After much cajoling, and a lot of noise making on my part, my dad finally called up HDB to check if we needed to have our rivets changed. His initial resistance to take action partly due to his 'anti-establishment' mentality as well as his misguided 'gut' feel that our rivets are safe since we had changed our windows before. His argument was that why should the government penalise the flat owner for problems with the rivets when it was the government, a la HDB, would fitted thousands of flats with substandard rivets in the first place. On this count, I have to agree with him. Firstly, how can HDB tender the building projects to the lowest bidders and expect the contractors to build the flats with the best available materials? Only a fool of a businessman would do such a thing when profit margins are razor thin. Lowest bids would only mean shoddy materials, those that just barely pass the specifications. Like the saying goes, when you pay peanuts, you get a T T Durai. So, when the government pay peanuts for thousands of flats, we get aluminum rivets, not steel ones. So, it should not come as a surprise when our substandard rivets start corroding and windows start raining down HBD estates. If my memory serves me right, I think one of my kitchen windows threatened to commit suicide some years back. It was then when my home got a new set of windows, which thankfully are not supplied by HDB contractors. Going back to the story, my dad made a call to HDB to check on whether our rivets needed to be changed. Basically, what he did was to inform them that our windows were not the original, crappy set, installed by HDB, and asked how we can verify if the current set of rivets would meet the new specifications. I am not sure what to make of this, but HDB told my dad to try scratching the rivets with a piece of metal. If it doesn't scratch, it is ok. He scratched, and the rivets stayed pristine. However, does scratching the rivet really show that it is made from steel or aluminum? If you happen to be a materials engineer, please let me know if that's true. And if there's a lawyer reading this post, I would greatly appreciate some free advice on whether we can use the defence that we followed HDB's advice on this. And if our rivets should turn out to be made of aluminum at least we have some form of recourse. My fear is that with no written record, we are bound to lose any appeal if the garman decides to slap the ridiculous $5000 fine on us for a stupid defect which was not of our doing in the first place. The more I write about this, the moreI smell the stink in the system. How can we be expected to dig ourselves out of some crappy problem generated by HDB? Why should the onus fall on us, the homeowners, when the 'problem creator' gets off scot-free. How can the Ministry of National Development simply solve the problems by passing a bill which made it mandatory for the homeowners to bear full responsibility while absolving the responsibility of HDB from the defects that came with the flats when it sold them to people like my dad. Tell me, where's the logic in this. On hindsight, the hotlines and media onslaught reminding us to do the right things is all one big ridiculous ruse to coerce us into giving up our right to question HDB, and the government, on what they should have done. Instead we are made to feel like criminals who have to needlessly worry about breaking the stupid law which shouldn't be passed if not for shoddy workmanship. This is so 1984.

Ever Expanding Sidebar I think the sidebar is the greatest invention after blogs. Why do I say that? Well, it is the only place on the blog where I can keep piling things into! For a HTML-idiot like me, it is a miracle that I have deciphered how to make simple alterations to the template. Once that 'talent', call me thick-skinned, is unlocked, things have never been the same again. Suffering the greatest abuse from my '皮毛' HTML skills, is my trusty sidebar. For those who have followed this blog (thanks for the support), you would have noticed that my sidebar has been getting 'fatter' vertically over the past 2-3 weeks. Today's latest addition is the Stuff I Want section. Basically, it will showcase some of the things that have caught my eye and plans are being made to 'procure' them. Ssssh.... don't let Mydaemon know since she's rather disapproving of me splurging on tech toys. Oops, forgotten she's linked to here. Hee Hee :P I know she will understand one lah. Right, dear? Anyway, what you will see listed there is the Zen Vision ($799) and the white Ipod ($528). Yes, both of them perform roughly the same functions. The only difference being that Zen Vision plays videos and have 10GB more space. But the price is $200 more too. As to why I want them. Well, I need storage for digital photos when I am overseas, being the trigger happy person that I am. Moreover, I am not willing to get a 1GB CF Card, which is prohibitively expensive and slows down the speed of the camera. So, I am looking at MP3 players that functions as a storage device as well as displays the photos I have taken. The contenders have always been clear. It is between the cool, and ever sexy, Ipod, or the new, and yes, hard to believe, sexy, Zen Vision, which comes in 2 colours, black or white. Since I am still recovering from the purchase of the Palm Tungsten E2s, my acquisition of a MP3 player, which is of very low priority, will have to wait. But at least this is something which I am looking forward to. I will be following up with a poll to let all of you vote on whether I should get Ipod or Zen Vision. But the decision of the buyer, that's me, will still be final regardless of the poll. But your votes may just swing my decision, which is currently tilting towatd Ipod. Last but not least, here are the contenders... On the left corner, Steve Job's ever cool and damn sexy IPOD!!!! On the right corner, we have Wong Hoo's up and come 'Ipod-killer' wannabe, the ZEN VISION (in black overalls)... Who will triumph? Will Wong Hoo's Zen Vision finally put a dent in the sexy white casing of Steve's Ipod? The saga continues.