Slowing Down - MacRitchie Reservoir

Went down to MacRitchie Reservoir two days back.

Last time I went there was about a year ago when we had to participate in a 10km run around part of the reservoir. Aside from that I suppose I've visited the deeper regions of the reservoir about 5 times in my 20 years to date.

Still, I can't say that I was well prepared for the journey. It was sort of a last minute decision to go for the treetop walk and to be honest, I started regretting it about a quarter way through; I was carrying various stuff including my macbook (don't ask me why I brought it along, it's not for the monkeys).

Anyways, the video is a simple compilation of some footage which I took whilst walking around. Deliberately lowered the speed of most of the stuff as I wanted to show that MacRitchie is a nice place to go and just... Slow down... Get in speed with mother nature...

Thought it would be an appropriate thing to share since we're currently living in a society where everyone is always rushing for things to be done... Sure, time is money, but money isn't everything. Learn to appreciate the little things in life and we'll all be happier as a whole I guess.

Cheers

Future leaders of the country

I am... Somewhat concerned of the type of people we will be having for 'future leaders' in their respectful line of works.

This happened just yesterday, while I was on my way home. The bus passes by quite a few junior colleges so it's pretty normal for the bus to get crowded with students.

I overheard two of the students talking to each other, presumably about their mandarin oral examinations. I have to say... It was disturbing for me.

So as it turned out, student A was having trouble with the "open conversation" or topic debate part of his examination. The topic? Wet markets vs supermarkets. The duration? 5 minutes.

He said that he had to pause for 2-3 minutes...

You know what's worse? "aiya I'm also not from china what..."

I'm not sure if it's an issue with not knowing what the issues are regarding the topic of wet markets vs supermarkets, not being able to speak in your mother tongue or thinking that speaking in your mandarin is only for the mainland Chinese. Either way, it's just bad... Especially knowing that these are the "cream of the crop", the "smart thinking people"... Right?... Right?

And student B could still "yalor" to everything student A says...

Is there something I'm missing here? If there's something I should know about please let me know :D

Hawking Punggol and Sengkang

So apparently there have been talk about 'hawker centers' that will be built around the new residential areas in Sengkang and punggol.

Personally, I'm all for it, provided these are true blue hawker centers and not some silly excuse for one.

I'm looking at the one located just 5 minutes' walk from compass point. Sure, the place may be non-air conditioned, there is also a wet market right behind as well.

But the only thing where it fails is price. The rent is so high that it is offset by the food prices. To sum it up, it's a food court disguised as a hawker center.

That said, I hope that the land does not end up being leased to high buffers like kopitiam ie buangkok. It's bound to become another compass point case study.

We need good food at good prices!!
(btw the Yong Tau Fu dish below costs just $3)

Throw Your Blackberry On The Ground

So apparently, the news reported that a Blackberry server crashed few days ago, sending lots'a users into the mobile cold zone without internet, email and their beloved BBM.

Countries affected were South Africa, India, some in the Middle East and some other countries that doesn't include Singapore (Yipee).

So what does this mean? Get an iPhone, or something non-BBed. Why? You can go all angry-villager on the telco when they fail, most of the time resulting in free days that you can exploit :)

CHEERS! I'M BACK

Alphadslr.com 4th Anniversary (XMM shoot)

Thought I should share some of my stuff here Enjoy!

General Anesthesia? *vomits*

*Transfered from my Tumblr*
Hi guys,

sry for the long break… too many things happening (good things) and I haven’t really got the time to sit down and write. apologies on that.

as most of you would’ve seen from the last photo, my right arm is bigger than an x’mas ham. that’s the result of my recent surgery…

boy… surgery sure was a ride! first, i had to register my name n stuff at the day surgery centre. shortly after, they directed me to the holding ward where i’d change into the operating attire (funky lookin’ i might add) and clear my systems.

“sir what is your full name and IC number?”

“do you know what operation you’re going for?”

“mr. bruce lim, can i ask you what time did you stop eating from?”

“what time did you stop drinking from?”

“do you have any metal in your body?

“are you wearing any contacts?”

“are you wearing any jewellery?

“do you have a flu, cough or runny nose?”

“have you passed urine, sir?

yes… they asked me all those… A LOT OF TIMES!!! And the worst is, I get more nervous each time they asked!

Finally they told me that I’m going to the operating theatre… dumbass of me to say that i could walk there on my own… barefeet! of course, the nurse ignored that statement and wheeled me to there (pretty far away, i might add)

Things were cool in the theatre… A caucasian doc administered the anesthesia and he was cool… said something bout “gonna do the michael jackson, only difference is that he’s not with us anymore…” well that sure put my mind at ease… (actually i might have remembered it wrongly but the point is that he made an MJ joke that they understood)

stupid sam told me that the GA would be administered like a gas… well, maybe that was the case for everyone else but not me man! i knocked out even before they put anything on me… think mine was administered via IV instead…

so i closed my eyes and the next thing i knew, 3 hours had passed and i was being wheeled out… Apparently, they had trouble waking me up so I had to stay in there for a lil’ while longer :\

Was fine when I waited for the doctor… Til I started eating… somehow, i started feeling giddy and shortly after puked…

I continued vomiting for a while until i finally reached home… boomer much?

Yellow piece of jackie chan

I have a confession to make,

I am a racist. I like to poke fun at people of the other races.
I do it to my friends mostly, or at the very least, to people who can't hear or see what I'm doing.
They're not targeted at creating hate or anger, nor are they aimed to hurt anyone.
Hell, my friends laugh at my typically small beady eyes (chinese).

Being a racist has made me somewhat sensitive to potentially racist messages. Every gesture that someone makes, a glance, a finger, a snigger, a whisper into his friends' ears, they all get picked up by me. Yes, go ahead, call me paranoid I don't care.

Finally, the training in Australia's over and we're brought around Rocky for our Rest n Recreation.
The very first night, we decided to head over to the very popular 'Bush Inn Bar and Grill' to try our hand at steak the size of our heads. Unfortunately, that didn't happen; the placed was having an event (probably related to the race night) and we weren't let in.

So we decided to walk around to look for food. First person we met at the cross-junction? A young man running past us yelling jackie chan every once in a while, turning around to see if we were angry or not. Soon after that dimwit crossed the road, a black car drove by and rolled open a window. This witch of a woman popped her head out and yelled JACKIE CHAN! It's my first drive-by racist attack and it sure didn't feel good to be on the receiving end of it.

Worst of all, it wasn't even funny! Get some fresh material at the very least, Jackie Chan's old!

That aside, I've heard of cases more violent and it does get on my nerve. Sure, it's human nature to be protective against things that are of a different nature to us, but isn't it going a lil' bit too far when you call them 'yellow pieces of shit' n throw coins at them? Take into account that you're possibly having a bad case of colour deficiency n the fact that aussie coins are huge!

Comon' people, positive racism! That's what I stand by! It's impossible not to have a set of ideas about different groups of people but let's keep the hostility out of each other yeah?