The Field Marshal

Free-rider from Chinatown

Bullying. But Where's the Corporal Punishment? This must be the season for explosing bullies. After reading about the 'Happy Slapping' incident, the floodgates are now open. Bullies beware! If you have bullied someone in the last 14 days, chances are you will become a mini celebrity overnight thanks to our zealous reporters at Straits Times. I do not now what's more depressing. To read about the bullies that roam our streets. Or to be concerned that the most exciting piece of local news is about bullies. While the saying goes that "no news, is good news", I must say that such news are wearing our gray matter down. My mind hungers for insights and ideas that help the nation to grow. Perhaps the agenda at ST is really to help the nation grow by wedding out the bullies? Going back to the issue proper, I read with horror, in reality more like mild boredom, that another kid being bullied story is published in today's ST. Titled "Pupil hurt 3rd time by school bully", the most notable part of the story is the actions taken by the school - Zhangde Primary. Here's an extract, or most of the article, which I found mildly interesting. The school responded by making the boys apologise to each other and writing a detailed report of what happened, but Zhijie's parents feel that this was insufficient punishment. 'All we got was a mumbled apology after the vice-principal asked him to say sorry,' said Mr Chia, a retiree. He wants the bully to get a harsher punishment - caning, or counselling at least. But the vice-principal of Zhangde Primary School, Mr Chong Chin Hong, feels that making the boy reflect on his actions will help him learn. I have to agree the somewhat aged dad of the kid being bullied. Call me an ageist, but I can't help but wonder what's a 68 year old guy have a 12 year old kid. Boggles my mind. That's another red herring, but perhaps the baby bonus is finally paying off. Going back, I totally agree with Daddy Chia that the bully of his boy should have gotten harsher punishment. The school, more correctly, the school's vice-principle, has not heard of the old adage, "spare the rod, spoil the kid". Hope I got that right. This wave of a softer touch, a la western ideals, disciplinary mindset sweeping across asia is doing our young ones more harm than good. Look where softer touches have gotten US and Europe. Stabbing and gun violence are norms in the school environment. It's so bad that schools actually put up signs to 'discourage' kids from bringing weapons to school. Thankfully, our firearms laws in Singapore are pretty stringent. Bring a weapon, especially a firearm, and see what the authorities will do to the kid. Western countries should take a leave or two out of our penal code. Here's another interesting extract. 'It was a scuffle between two boys. One was punched, the other scratched,' said Mr Chong. 'Writing a report will enable them to reflect, then react positively to similar situations in the future. If we are able to achieve that with reflection, it is definitely favourable to meting out heavier punishment.' Would writing a report release the anger and pent up frustration in the kid who eventually blew up by whacking Chia Jr? If writing reports are so effective, why hasn't the Singapore Prisons implemented it as a rehabilitative therapy for our violent criminals? Why is the rotan still use with tender loving care on the butts of criminals? There must be a reason why coporal punishment is still utilised in our prisons. It either means that it is effective, or that our prison officers are sadistic. I choose to believe in the former. I can imagine reading the following in the kids' reports. Sir, I am sorry for hitting Ah Kow on the head. I shouldn't have done done that. But Ah Kow is such an asshole. Always refusing to let me copy his homework. Ah Kow is also such a show-off. Everyone knows he has an IPOD, but no need to show it to me, a Creative Zen user, everyday mah. Bloody hell. The more I think about it, the more I think Ah Kow deserves it. I think I will give him another wallop tomorrow. Make sure he doesn't show me his stupid shiny apple again. Oops. Can I apologise for tomorrow's corrective action for Ah Kow. Signed Your humble student, Ah Buai Song Jokes aside, I can still remember that as a kid, if I did something wrong, or simply stupid, up come the magin wand in my parent's hands. With a hiss the wand lands on the most exposed parts of my bodies. The arms and legs mind you. The red welts apart from teaching me that a particular action is wrong, also serve notice to my friends that I just kena from my parents. Pain and shame became part of growing up and learning the right things in life. Blessed are those kids who learn without the cane. Hope I get one like that in the future. But I believe caning was a norm during my adoloscent and teenage years. As parents got more educated, they think everything can be rationalised by counselling the kids. Look where rationalising has gotten parents in the UK, if you have watched Super Nanny. Nowhere. Parents get abused, physically and emotionally. Or kids just feign contriteness and go back to their good old ways again. I dare propose to the world that the time has come. It's time to dust off the cane's from our storerooms. The reign of the shrinks is over. It's time for a new age. The age of the rod!!! Despite all this tough talk, I, as a potential future parent, will only utilise the rod only as the last resort. I am not going to be a rod-toting parent caning my kid from morning till night. I am no sadist. I am just asking for a more balanced approach to the disciplinary regime. Counselling and caning should go hand in hand. Here's my advice to parents, or wannabe parents. Cane first. Rationalise later. No pain, no gain.

FM 好介绍!!! This is a new segment, if I may call that, in my blog. Thr FM 好介绍 segment basically introduces the good makan that I have tried. To kick it off, I will start by introducing one of my favourite noodle stalls - 阿南 特制面, or loosely translated, Ah Lam's Noodle House.

Located within a coffeeshop at Blk 712, Clementi West St 2, Ah Lam's has been packing the crowds in since I started eating there some 1-2 years back. I should thank Mydaemon's parents since it was them who introduced me to such a wonderful makan place. Ah Lam is famous for 2 types of noodles. The first is the abalone noodles. Going for $6 per bowl, the noodles are simply delicious. Not sure where they get their noodles from, but there are really 'springy', or as the Taiwanese would say, very the "Q". The six bucks is well spend especially when you see the slices of real abalone adorning the already mouth watering bowl of noodles. Not sure where he got the lobang for cheap abalones, but they taste great! Apart from the nice noodle texture and generous helpings of abalone, Ah Lam has also perfected the art of making mouth watering soup. Cooked with pork, pig's bones, fruits, yes, I mean fruits like pears, apples etc, the soup is simply heavenly. I can just gulp down a bowl for a meal. It's your loss not to drink the soup. Lastly, I belive what makes a noodle dish great is the sauce that the noodles is mixed in. The sauce is the thing that makes or breaks the dish. Ah Lam doesn't disappoint with his splendid sauce. My inexperienced tongue can't really tell what went into the sauce, except to know that it tastes great! To top it off, you also get pig's liver, minced pork, shredded mushrooms and some fried lard, yummy, in the noodles. Having said all that, the other noodle Ah Lam is famous for is the minced pork noodles. At $3 a bowl, it is simply the hottest selling noodles there. Everyone just can't get enough of it. The only difference between this and the abalone noodles is that the formers is simply san abalone. That's about it. So if you are in the mood to splurge, fork out that $6. It's worth it! But the queue's a bummer though.

Is Technology to Blame for Happy Slapping? It disturbs me to read in today's papers - Let's Talk About Happy Slapping, that there's a 'happy slapping' video, locally produced, that is doing its rounds on the internet. The victim, I have yet to see the video myself, is allegedly a teenage girl being assaulted by a group of girls. I was aware of happy slapping quite sometime back and I am actually surprised, quite pleasantly, that it took such a long time to reach our shores given the tech-savviness of our teenagers. The lag between the first report happy slapping incident in UK and the recent local case gives some small hope that Singapore's moral fabric is still more or less intact. Having been an owner of a camera handphone for the last 2 years, I know the potential of how such a phone can be abused. For me, the phone is simply a gadget for capturing moments which I would like to remember. These can be places I visited, loving moments with Mydaemon, great food I ate and the company I had. But I am aware the such phones have been used for far more undesirable acitivities. One is the purported voyeuristic streak that seems to plague our society today. Peeping toms seem to be on the prowl everywhere. If outraging of a person's modesty is not enough, we are now witnessing the start, hopefully not, of a happy slapping trend in Singapore. Physical abuse is now added to the psychological abuse suffered by the victims of those who abuse their handphones. While bullying is part and parcel of growing up, being bullied and having a video clip of the bullying session circulating around the internet is going a bit far. Fact #1, bullying is a part and parcel of life. I would like to state that despite my size, garguantan since my primary school days, I was never a bully. Actually, I suffered under bullies who laughed at my girth etc. Kids do have a nasty streak in them when they have the protection of a peer group, i.e. the bullying group. I seriously believe that there's a dark side in many of us, one which will surface when we are allowed to indulge in less socially acceptable behaviour, especially in the anaonymous setting of a big group. Bullies draw their 'strength' and courage to carry out their dastardly acts when they know they have kakis backing them. I will never forget who bullied me, but I have more or less made my peace with them, for they know not what they are doing. Enough of my past. Anyway, I believe technology, as with all things, is a double-edged sword. When put to its correct use, a camera handphone, like I mentioned earlier, captures moments of tender love, beauty, basically happy moments. On the flip side, a minority of users give it a bad name. Instead of capturing the beauty surrounding us, the camera now becomes an accomplice to pain, shame, and downright cowardly behaviours. It's a shame that something so wonderful can at the same time be so terrible. It's time society take a more active role in imparting the right values to the younger generation. Families is the first place to start. Parents should spend less time chasing after the next dollar. Spending quality time is never the same as spending quantity time. Have you heard of spending quality time in office? It's time for our materialistic nation to look inward and truly realise what's important. Don't blame technology, or for the fact UK, for what has happened to the poor girl. If anyone's to blame, blame the parents for not imparting the right values to the bullies.

Death of the Handphone Without a word, my handphone decided to call it quits on me 2 days back. Since then I have been more or less'uncontactable'. There was, of course, the initial panic attack - "Where's my phone!!! Oh, it's here. Why is it not working!!!! - cause I have become, in my inner-eye, oh-so-self-important that I worried that I might miss some important calls. As the panic attack subsided, I suffered from the 'handphoneless' withdrawal symptom. It feels weird to stuff my hand into my pants pocket only to feel the emptiness of it as my now departed Sony Ericsson K700i rests in peace somewhere in my bag. Further on, as the withdrawal symptom subsides, I am starting to wean myself off the reliance on being contactable 24/7 and vice versa. I find it hard to believe that I actually enjoy being free from holding a handphone right now. The only thing I miss is that I can't contact Mydaemon when we are on the move. That's the major drawback. Apart from that, I find life so much more quieter and peaceful. No more calls from bosses using the "private" numbers, no more spam smses and no more pesty insurance agent trying to sell me another policy. Guess the honeymoon, being a honeymoon that it is, will have to end soon. The death of my trusty, but oft-buggy K700i, has given me an excuse to scout around for a new handphone. Yup, Fieldmarshal is on the prowl for his new gadget! Sorry K700i, it's not that I didn't love you, but life has to go on. Rest in peace and go to handphone heaven. A place when you will no longer have to endure days when I had bad breath or when I accidentally dropped you onto the floor. Since my first handphone in 1995/6, Sony Ericsson, then Ericsson , and Nokia have been my staple brands for handphones. But I am pretty tired with their models. Ericsson models are so formulaic while there's a Nokia phone staring at me wherever I turn. I want to have a phone that is not so common, as in it is used only by 1 person in a 1,000. Guess that's hard to achieve unless I get myself a, oh so bloody expensive, Vertu handphone. Don't think breaking my piggybank for that type of handphone is an option for me. Anyway, who needs a sapphire scratch-proof screen or diamond studded buttons anyway? After scouring the net and a Hi! Singtel shop during lunch, I have zoomed in on 2 models. The first is the Samsung D820. The slimmest sliding phone around. Sexy and sleek. Only drawback is that the camera only comes in 1.3 megapixels. Since I intend to post more photos and videos in my blog, the1.3 mp camera is sort of a drawback. My other option is the Motorola RAZR V3X. Very sexy and slim for a clamshell model. The main pull here is the 2mp camera on the phone. But I have heard of the famed, more like infamous, Motorola interface.

Sexy. Slim. Sleek.Sharp.

Not so slim. Still sleek. 2mp camera! It's a RAZR. Decisions. Descisions. Decisions. Note: Post was published 2 days late due to the inability to insert photos of my targeted phones. I have already got myself a new phone. Guess what's the model? :)

The Sound of Music Music, especially those with vocals, have been the bane of my mental focus since I started formal education. My mind just cannot concentrate on a task in any environment where loud music is being played. Thus, I have always looked on with envy on friends who study with the discman, yeah it was that long ago, 'plugged' into their heads via the earbuds headphones. This 'affliction' has followed me into my work life. I would always be one of the most irritable person around when someone blares a radio in the office, since most offices are open-concept nowadays. Since there are no walls to muffled the music, I had to suffer in silence as the majority of the people I know enjoy the music as they work. Guess minorities like me will always suffer. FM987 and Power98 are two of the stations which I dislike the most. They are definite noise polluters in any setting. Most of the songs are pop junk that are neither melodious nor nice. Thus, my nerves are always frayed and grated whenever people switch to these channels, which somehow seem to be really popular with younger folks. Perhaps I am getting old? Bless the higher-ups, now I have my own room in office. Ah... silence... peace... no more noise form the 2 highly irritating radio stations. Here comes the contradiction. Despite my obsession with silence, I have to admit that I do enjoy music. I love listening to mostly popular tunes played on Symphony 92.4, Class 95, Gold 90.5, Love 97.2 and sometimes Y.E.S933. Looking at the stations above, I have to admit that my taste in music has changed from, omigosh, 987FM, to these 'old folks' stations. Guess I am really getting old. I am in a conundrum here. I love listening to my favourite tunes but I just can't put my mind on anything when tunes are playing. So it must mean that radio and music is a no-no in my office, which happens to be my modus operandi for the last 5-6 years of office-life. But I want to listen to some music to relieve some of the stress I get everyday. Jia lat! Is my life, work-life that is, destined to be one filled with crypt like silence? To the rescue came The International Channel FM96.3! Playing an eclectic mix of music, classis, J-pop, instrumental covers of pop songs, vocals, jazz etc, the International Channel is definitely music for ears tired of the incessant rubbish that comes out from today's popular stations. Apart from music which I can relate to, the main draw, for me, is the continued streaming of lyric-less, yes no lyrics!!!, music for hours on end. To this, I have to add that I can actually work with music, but only those without vocals. Thus, the music is a perfect match for me. It allows me to relax from the daily stresses at work, which appears to increase everyday, but it also gives me the enjoyment of listening to tunes which I grew up on. Barring the French and German segements, the station is wonderful! The Japanese segment is great since I somehow enjoy the chatter of the talkhosts, despite my total lack of understanding of what's going on. The J-pop is also pretty good. Since this discovery, my office is now filled with music from every morning till evening. There were times when my colleagues must be wondering if I am a talented linguist, especially when I forget to switch channels even when the French and German programmes come on. Well, they have no need to know that I am not one. Now, that's a secret for you and me to know. ;)

Sawadee Ka... Welcome to Thai... oops, I mean Singapore, the land of 4 MILLION SMILES :D You know that Singapore ain't a friendly place when you have the prime minister, in today's Straits Times article - Singapore prepares four-million smiles welcome for IMF, encouraging the citizens to tilt the corners of their lips when foreign visitors flood our shore come the September World Bank and International Monetary Fund Meetings. Cynicism aside, most of my friends, true blue Singaporeans all of them, are people whom have a ready smile for me. By extrapolation, that'd make most Singaporeans nice. Sad truth is that at the private personal level, everyone is likely to be nice to each other. But faced with a strange face, we are likely to see a "Mr Jekyll and My Hyde" pandemic amongst our citizens. Nice to friends, but horrible to the public. I am sure all of us have a brush with the nice Singaporean counter staff who brushes us aside to tend to the ang mohs. 'Whether it is the taxi driver who shares his wealth of knowledge about our global city, or the sales assistant in the department store whose smile and service gives a warm human face to the hurried shopper, or the service staff in the restaurants and hotels who go the extra mile to provide quality service for the delegates after a long day of meetings, or simply the ordinary Singaporean who pauses to give local tips and directions - every contribution counts, every contribution is important.' - extract from the article. I have seen a lot of human faces in malls and shops in my 20-odd years of shopping. Very few of the faces are 'warm'. Physically warm they are, but that's about it. I guess the best service staff that ever attended to me were the ladies at the Takashimaya lingerie section. Actually, they tended to my wife, not me. But they provided a 5-star service. It was an experience that has left a deep impression on me. Perhaps PM Lee should track down these girls to be the ambassadors of the smile campaign. The actual name of the campaign is the Four Million Smiles campaign. Actually it should be Three Million Nine Hundred Ninety Nine Thousand and Nine hundred Ninety Smiles Campaign, since I will be participating in it, cos I don't smile for everyone. Only those dear to me. For those who would like to take part, the website for it is www.smileS2006.com. You can even send your toothy grin in to be included in a huge mural to welcome the guests. Imagine 4 million, make that 3,999,999, photos of faces with teeth baring at your while stepping off your plane at Changi. What a welcome! Let me sign off with a smile for my dear readers here. :) Sawadee ka!

FULL TIME - England 1 - Paraguay 0 The match was played at a frenetic pace in the first half. England dominated most of the possession then. Applied lots of pressure on the Paraguayans. Had only one goal to show for the pressure though, and an 'own goal' by Gamarra at that. Well, beggers can't be choosers. Not sure what the Paraguayan coach said to his team, or for that matter, fed them. Paraguay came charging out of the fitting room. England had a few hairy moments in the second half. Crouch had a fine game although the referee seemed to have a personal grouch with Crouch's height, or his own lack of it. Anyway, England was penalised once and again for the most innocent of challenges while the Paraguayans escaped unpunished. This kind of reminded me of what happened during the 2002 World Cup when referees sided with Japan and Korea in most matches. The 1-0 scoreline is a respectable one. Although England had to do most of the defending towards the end, it was a job well done. Now to Trinidad and Tobago.

LATEST UPDATE!!! OMIGOSH!!! ENGLAND SCORED WITHIN THE 4TH MINUTE. A DAVID BECKHAM FREE-KICK!!! GOAALLLLL!!!!

Pre-match Report - England vs Paraguay I am looking forward to the England vs Paraguay match. Although I would never publicly declare my allegiance to the Lions, which the English is presumably called, my heart goes to them every four years when the World Cup swings by. Guess how many times my heart has been mended since. Anyway, my love for them stems from the fact that there are usually one or two Liverpool players donning the red and white stripes(?) of the English team. Steven Gerrard aka "Captain Fantastic" and Peter Crouch aka "Bean Pole" will be the two of the more notable Liverpudians on the pitch today. Jamie Carragher may just get a match. "Eight minutes to kick-off", at least that's what the time on my monitor is telling me. Gotta go and warm myself up for this match. Perhaps a cup of English Breakfast Tea to usher in the English team. Talk about being superstitious. Till half time then. Adious!

D-Day for World Cup 2006!!! After a 4-year hiatus, World Cup fever is going to grip us again! I can still remember the days when Mydaemon and I jumping around in estastically when 'our' team scored, or hanging our heads despondently when 'our' teams lost. The latter was most profound when Spain and Italy was dumped out of the competition by the asian hosts - Japan and Korea. 'Cheat' was written all over those two matches. We were totally gutted! But that's then. All the action will kick-off tonight with Germany's match against the Costa Rican minnows. We can only hope for an upset, and a major one at that for the central americans to put one over the Germans. Used to be a fan of Germany, when it played under the guise of West Germany. United Germany ain't that great to watch somehow. As for the team, actually teams, I am cheering for this year, it's the usual suspects... England (which I think has no hope), Spain (always the unachiever), Italy (look at all the good looking men with oily scalps out there), and maybe Argentina (heard that they have a strong team). Deep down inside me, I am always a fan of England. Guess growing up with a staple diet of the English Premier League has somewhat determined the choice of team to get my shouts and tears. Wish I didn't have to go through the heartache again and again. I can't wait for all the action to unfold in the next few weeks. Heroes will be celebrated while villains will scorned. This is one single events where the most heroes and villains emerge. Look for players who decided to apply for Chinese citizenship by adopting the favourite Chinese past-time of public excretion of nasal mucus. There will be those poor souls who will miss that critical penalty, or the villanous one who scores with the 'hand of God'. Look for wrestling moves which would have made pro wrestlers with the WWE proud. Villains aside, on show will be generous souls who console the losing team. Sportmanship showing how human should ideally treat one another, albeit in a sporting arena. Hilarious moments, which always happen, when someone does something really weird. The smiles and the laughs by player as they clap each other on the back at the end of the match for a job well done. Whew... that's long. Anyway, the next few weeks are going to be tough. Have yet to formulate a plan to ensure maximum rest while watching the maximum games. It's times like these when I wished I am back at school...

X-Men vs Spiderman Here you have Spiderman gatecrashing X-Men's hour of glory.

A sumptuous dinner Cooking is something which I look forward to everyday. But the rigours of worklife means that I can only cook 2-3 times a week. And tonight is the night for me to take up the spatula and do my stuff in the kitchen. In order to cut down on the prep time, Mydaemon and I washed and cut all the ingredients yesterday. The chye sim were de-wormed, the kailan washed, the carrot peeled and diced, ditto for the garlic and celery. All I had to do was to put everything into my pot and cook. Yeah, I wished it was as simple as that. Let me introduce you to the 3 dishes I had tonight. Dish #1 Stir fried chye sim. (Top centre) One of the easiest dishes to cook. But one of the hardest to prepare, unless one is prepared to eat worms or their eggs. Here's what you need to cook it. Ingredients 1 packet of chye sim 2 cloves of garlic - diced 2/3 tablespoon of dark soy sauce (which has been proven to be good for our health) Slightly less than a tablespoon of Lee Kum Kee Oyster sauce. Cooking Instructions Heat up the wok with some olive oil in it. As the oil gets hot, put in the diced garlic and fry it till it gives off that wonderful aroma. As the garlic starts to turn golden brown at the corners, it's time to put in the stem and stalks of the chye sim. As you stir fry, you will notice that the wok will get progressively dry. This is a sign that water should now be added. Cook the stem for a while more before putting in the leaves. The stem should be around 40% cooked by the time the leaves go in. Don't ask me how a 40% cooked stem looked like. I only know when they are cooked around that percentile. Guess that's why cooking is an art.

Once the leaves are in, it's time for more water. Ignore this at your own peril, or you have a penchant for eating charred chye sim. As the water starts to steam, which is usually instantaneous, add in the dark soy sauce. The sauce not only gives the dish it's colour, but also much of it's taste. This is followed by the oyster sauce and a dash of sugar. Continue to cook the vegetables by stirring them continuously. Watch the amount of gravy you have as it is likely to dry up very fast.

Cook for another few minutes and the dish is ready.

Who's exactly the real 'offender' here? It has been sometime since I last read stories along the lines of students filming their cher putting them down in class. So I naturally read with interest when The Sunday Times carried the story - Teacher warned for having 'sexy legs' banter with JC girl. Afterall some of my best buddies are in the teaching profession. First, I have to categorically say that whatever the teacher, in Tampines JC, did was wrong. Even if the student has the longest legs in Singapore, he should still have kept his comments to himself. Afterall, he's her teacher, and one should never compromise oneself, especially when one is put in a position of power and trust. He should just keep his thoughts to himself. Frankly, I am not surprised that they are other teachers out there who are 'admiring' their students of opposite sex. That's hormones working overtime for you. My advice to this particular teacher is to approach the girl after she has completed her JC course. That would have removed any charges of any perceived favourtism or unethical behaviour. I don't see any wrong in that as long as the teacher concerned does not 'groom' the person he's interested in while she's still schooling. Anyway, such incidents are commonplace in university. I have known of students getting married to their lecturers. So, what's the difference? Bot are minor since most girls only turn 21 at year 3. The lecturers must have started wooing them much earlier. Get the point? Looking at this incident from a different perspective, I realised that the fella, who blew this into the open, ain't such an angel himself. This 2nd year science student apparently stumbled upon the girl's intranet chat, when the latter forgot to log out from. Instead of doing the right thing, which is to log off for the girl, he went on to read her messages. That's invasion of privacy! What was he hoping to glean from reading her messages? Was he trying to fish for info on the girl himself? This very act itself is breaking the Computer Misuse Act as the person has unauthorised access to another person's online account. This kid should be punished. As if reading another person's private messages ain't enough. He proceeded to forward them to his classmates. This guy is nothing but a person who delights in gossip, and enjoys getting into trouble. I seriously believe that exposing the teacher wasn't on his mind, this kid ain't that noble. A responsible person would have either raised this to another teacher or the principal. Only a person of low IQ or of a mean spirit would circulate the messages the way it did. The only good thing that came out of this was the fact that the teacher has been warned and counselled. All thanks to this chap, the entire episode has affected the girl's social and academic life. So tell me, who's the real offender here?

Singaporeans and the Environment Since my undergraduate days, when I was still filled with ideals and hope, I have already consigned myself to the fact that Singapore, its people and government, have not much love for the environment. Yes, we do have campaigns about keeping Singapore clean and green, and tree planting sessions, which essentially are photo opportunities for politicians. To me these are all lip-service. As our urban sprawl grows and green areas shrink, I was appalled to Sunday Times' Ignatius Low's piece "Want Orchard Road buzz? Cut down the trees". Ignatius, who apparently put some thought, which ain't very much, into this after listening to his friend's comments on Orchard Road not being as iconic as other shopping districts in other parts of the world. Going on to show that he konws the reasons on why we have trees there, citing the heat, tradition, Orchard Road being an orchard literally etc., he rationalises that these are now irrelevant and the trees just gotta go. Reading his piece, I can't help but think of the pragmatism drilled into our brains during our years in the formal educational system. Sadly, Ignatius is just another 'robot' produce by the system. A robot with no love for heritage, culture and history. Everything can, and should, be done for the economic well-being of Singapore. Personally, I think the trees add something to the road where we rush to each June and July. This small sliver of greenery disrupts the boring skyline of concrete and glass structure which are 'iconic' and repetitious in all major shopping districts around the world. Orchard Road is unique precisely because of the trees which line both sides of the road. Just imagine. No trees. What can one see? Nothing. The glare from the sun would pierce the eyeballs of any idiot, including Ignatius and his no-brainer friend, who wants to look into the not so iconic structures lining the road. If you want an iconic structure, go to our famous Esplanade aka Durian, or the lion headed fish called the Merlion at Merlion Park. One can always turn to the Singapore Arts Museum or St Andrew's Cathedral for some colonial structures. Having said all that, I have a question for Ignatius. Why does Singapore need to mimick others to have the so-called buzz? Shouldn't we create our own source of buzz and let the others mimick us? We should lead from the front and not play catch up all the time. It's people like Ignatius and his friend which prevents Singapore from having its own culture and heritage. All they want is a spanking and gleaming city, just like any other around the world, where we need to go to the park to see the trees.

The box...

The 'real' thing...

My yummy za jiang mian....

I was raring to go once my belly was sufficiently full. The crowd swelled as we approached the escalators leading up to the hallowed, gadget packed, halls. By the time we reached the entrace of the exhibition hall, the place was packed.

Future 'hubbers'. Starhub must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Being the consumate shopper that I am, I dived into the show without a clear idea what I had in mind. Somewhere in the grey matter was the idea that I should get a 1Gb SD card for my palm, or an external hard-drive to serve as data back-up for the pc. I was starting to get a high from looking at all the stuff supposedly on sale. Everything was on sale!!! Snap out of it!!! Thankfully, I did.

Having regained my footing, I directed my focus on seeking out the Seagate or Maxtor booths, since both are the industry standard for hard-disk drive. Alas! Global economics do indeed percolate down to us humble consumers. With the recent merger and aquisition of Maxtor by Seagate, Maxtor is no more. Guess we will have to make do with the market leader. Not a bad proposition at all.

Having finally sighted the Seagate booth, we headed to it, like a shark which had a sniff of fresh blood in the water. Or should I say we were like sheeps going to the corporate slaughter house of profits. Whatever perspective that was taken, we made our way there. At the booth, we inquire about the products that Seagate carried. After some discussion, we finally decided on getting the 200Gb Seagate External Hard Drive, which happens to be sitting pretty beside my monitor as I type now.

This baby costs me $249. To me, every cent is worth it as I have experience the pain of losing all my data when my hard-drive crashed in my old PC. Apart from backing up all my data, the new drive will mark a new era in computing for Fieldmarshal's household. An era marked by digitalisation of every piece of CD ever own by Mydaemon and I, as well as the archival of photos that were ever taken.

Habit 1 - Be Proactive Stimulus leads to response. A trait of animals. Stimulus, deciding how one feels and finally arriving at a conscious response. A trait of an independent person. The above were gleaned from Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And I have to admit that those 2 simple lines have changed me more than all the books I have ever read in my entire life. I am finally in control.