All in a Day's Work

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Toured the township of Toa Payoh today, starting from the HDB Hub at Toa Payoh Central. Strolling along Lorong 1, one can sense the air of nostalgia and be transported a decade back in time. Walking through Toa Payoh Park, I noticed the pathetic state of its pond. It was murky, and covered not with duckweed, but leaves. My walk took me all the way to Potong Pasir, past Kim Keat Estate. I saw the workplace of MP Chiam See Tong, but he was away for the Parliamentary debate on the Casino Issue (Which was given the green light, much to the dismay of many religious and social groups).

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Today, I went down to Outram and Chinatown to meet Bang Zhi for dinner. We chatted on many issues, including that of entrepreneurship and our new hobbies.

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A Penny for my Thoughts? I'll give you my two cents worth

(With reference to my post last week) I was devastated when I saw the price of foot reflexology (SGD3) and body massage (SGD8 to 15) per hour in Batam. The cost of such services there is simply too low!

What Others are Blogging About

Pizza stolen from delivery man's motorcycle in West Coast Rd

NEWSFLASH

New Pope Benedict XVI gives first 'urbi et orbi' blessing

VATICAN CITY : The new Pope Benedict XVI appeared on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica on Tuesday to deliver his first "Urbi et Orbi" blessing as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Joseph Ratzinger, 78, shortly after being elected on the second day of the Vatican's secret conclave, gave the blessing before an ecstatic crowd swelling to well over 100,000 people in St Peter's Square.

"Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II the cardinals have elected me a simple and humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord," he said shortly after his election was announced, after four rounds of voting. - APF /dt

(Source: Channel News Asia)

The Batam Trip (16-17 April 2005)

DAY ONE

After an hour-long voyage, we arrive at the International Ferry Terminal at Sekupang. The town reminds me of the laid-back island of Pulau Ubin, when I was there some six years ago.

First stop is Southlinks Golf & Country Club. We offloaded the golfers before proceeding into the main town of Nagoya for some... ahem, Retail Therapy. First stop is Diamond Shopping Centre.

The design of the Shopping Centre is very poor, considering the fact that the escalators are only one-directional, and there are two 'up' escalators within 50 metres of each other, while the nearest 'down' escalator is quite a distance away.

Another thing I noticed is that most of the shops do not allow patrons to carry their shopping bags in, very much like Singapore circa 1990(An obsession with keeping would-be shoplifters at bay, I guess). The security guard even chased my mum out of the Supermarket and insisted that she kept her HANDBAG (Yep, you read it correctly) at the counter. This turned us off, and we left in a huff... Later on, though, our group of ten-odd rushed into the Supermarket with handbags and shopping bags. Heh, and we managed to beat the system... The hapless security guard could only wave us through with a sigh.

We tried a popular Indonesian dish - Savory fish cake (Pempek Palembang) at the Food Court. At 8,000 Rp apiece (That's around S$1.20), it's not exactly cheap for us, much less the locals.

We went to a Bookshop on the second floor, and bar several English-language magazines, everything else in the shop was in Bahasa! And not surprisingly, there were four shelves devoted to the Islamic Religion.

Haircut is CHEAP in Batam, at 3 bucks (14,000 Rp) for a cut and blow (For women only. I didn't opt for one, since i can get it at the same price at Gedong.). Pirated DVDs are also cheap, costing 15,000 Rp for one produced in Jakarta (Professed to be of inferior quality) and 20,000 Rp if produced in KL. We didn't get any, though, as they'd not be able to clear customs.

Next stop was Robinsons Shopping Centre. It is more upmarket here, as clothes sold here, ranging from 19,900 Rp to 149,000 Rp (S$3.50 to S$35), are pricey. I tried the Sosro Teh botol, which was a sweet, bottled version of our 'teh O bing' (Iced tea black). Apparently, it goes well with the Savory fish cake.

We went back to the Clubhouse for lunch, a sumpteous buffet spread of salmon puffs, stir-fried green leafy vegetables and the like). After lunch, we checked into our hotel - Planet Holiday, a rather nice hotel. We were lucky to be assigned a room on the tenth floor, with a balcony view of the sea and hills in the distance.

With two-odd hours free and easy, we trotted off in search of cheap wares along the back alleys of Nagoya with several of the golfers. But we were soon abandoned, when nearly all of them opted for a session of foot reflexology at a local massage shop.

It was a rather uneventful walk, the only draw being that of a dried foodstuff wholesaler that caught the eyes of my mum, who rampaged the shop mercilessly.

Dinner was at "Golden Prawn 555". To our dismay, the 'golden prawns' (fried crumbed prawns) were no larger than shrimps, the crab that was meant to feed ten SINGAPOREANS looked like it came from a Set Dinner for Two (I managed to lay my hands on a pincer, though), and the fruit platter was a pittance - There was hardly a piece of assorted fruit per diner. A disappointment!

DAY TWO

We started off the day with a buffet breakfast, before beginning our search for Pempek. At a local PemPek Palembang shop, our group ended up probably paying for the shop's rent for the month. Heh, the (Spending) power of tourism.

We went down to Diamond again. THis time round, I tried the curly fries at their A&W. True to its name, it is much better than our MacDonald's variant. And they packed Chili Sauce in little Ziplock bags together with the fries!

Lunch was a rushed affair, as we had to catch the 1525 ferry. The Prize presentation, which ended up being messed up, had to be conducted on board the ferry, and Dad won a Third placing in his Division, which came as a surprise even to himself.

All in a Day's Work

Spent an entire day hunting down people to sign my ORD clearance, but to no avail. The Quartermaster Platoon was on cohesion programme, and those that remained in BHQ were newbies who claimed incompetence to clear me. Bah, I guess I'll have to go back mid-week the next time round.

I dined with Guo Chuan and Terence at Lot1's Let's Eat Restaurant. The plate of chicken fried rice and fried baby squids was washed down with a bowl of delightfully sinful Thai Red Ruby and equally rich Thai Tapioca. On a whole, it was a rather enjoyable meal.

I can sense stress and tension building up within my understudy... Well, I guess he'll have to delegate some of his worries to his new understudy.

I had a rather wonderful ride back to Ang Mo Kio this evening, coupled with the fact that the train I was on terminated at Ang Mo Kio (How wonderful). This meant that there were fewer passengers on board, and for the first time in quite a while, I was able to find a seat on the MRT (Main track).

Will be out of town for the weekend.

A Penny for my Thoughts? I'll give you my Two Cents worth:

Me:
... a business plan sprung up in my mind when I was on the bus home...

It can make you 30-40 bucks an hour, after costs and administrative charges. Haha... It's basically a Mobile Wellness Centre, or MobileSpa (Read: Masseurs). First, you need to read up on the topic of Massage, and learn the fine art of massaging...Then you basically have to experiment with oils (can use fresh ingedients from the supermarket; cheaper but still highly effective) and armonas.

Spend some time researching on the effects of various fruits and vegetables... and create a unique "blend"...


Someone:
okie..BUT..do u think ppl r receptive to the idea.

Me:
Hey, Wellness Centres are springing up everywhere.

Someone:
1.ppl prefer woman
2.ppl might prefer to go to spa themselves rather then their home

Me:
1. I beg to differ. Men masseurs have been known to be more through than their female counterparts at the art of acupressure massage.

2. You create an affordable Spa right in the home of the client. Not-so-well-to-do Tai Tais no longer have to live in envy of their richer counterparts. If you need a female masseur, one can be hired. Just send her through an intensive course and send her to work for a third of the charge, which is on average, one buck a minute

Someone:
but i still think e idea not viable enough

Me:
Well, you have to think of the middle- and lower- income groups. It's a social responsibility...

Someone:
but u ve to factor in e part abt assuring ppl it's safe to do it at home.. cos there's always ppl who r wary abt it

Me:
Haha... as I said, it was just an idea, probably has many holes here and there, but it popped to mind... (I had seen an ad earlier in the day)

That's one factor to consider.

Are you for or against the idea of a Mobile Wellness Centre in Singapore? Post your comments!

All in a Day's Work

Met up with Weizhang and the Misters yesterday at The Mall a Thousand Miles from home to get Dennis' Birthday present. After that, we trotted all the way down to Geylang in search of what the district is well-known for - Great Food. We ended up having our dinner at a certain self-proclaimed "Tian Xia Di Yi" (World's Best) Steamboat centre. After painstakinglytrying to introduce us to the various dishes (Yes, it was an ala-carte Steamboat), the waiter threw up his arms in anguish and gave us an English menu (Thank Goodness!), which was much easier to comprehend than his accented mandarin. A quick look around the place revealed a surprisingly high number of PRCs (Mainlanders). All in all, dinner was not too bad, but I'd recommend the 'Hot and Spicy Base' with additional chilli for anyone daring to venture into Vice City. According to our hosts, they serve a similar base back in the Mainland (which must explain the large PRC turn-out), the only difference being it's 100% oil back in the Mainland (Ours was about half oil and the other half chillis and a spicy Soup base).

After dinner, we walked around a little, taking in the sights and sounds (Some of the guys were trying very hard to differentiate between the male and female 'service hawkers' outside one of the Karaoke Lounge). Apparently, they have decided to expand into ... ahem, newer markets. We stopped by a dessert shop along the way back and ordered some soya bean curd, You Tiao to go with a bowl of Soya Bean Milk, Carrot Cake (Which came with a generous helping of 'chai poh', or fried preserved raddish) and several Tea-leave Eggs (so called because they have been soaked in tea for an extended period of time).

And guess who we saw strolling in No.3 uniform at Jurong Point at 4.30 pm? Heh, it was an officer from my camp...

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This morning, Jian Ming and I went down to Sunshine Plaza to attend a 'Beginner Professional Plastic Modelling Course' conducted by Bernard. It only commenced at two, so we had our lunch at the food outlet nearby, famous for its wanton mee (okay, probably not THAT famous, but it was rather popular, and for 3 bucks you can have dried and wet wanton, char siew and a generous serving of vegetables). Our course lasted two hours, and Bernard did a rather good job of advising us on the finer points of plastic modelling, effectively correcting our mistakes along the way.

Well, will be booking in tonight to get my clearance done.

All in a Day's Work

Grandma was discharged from The Ward today. After ten harrowing days, and countless tests, X-rays and scans, the doctor diagnosed her with a mild stroke.

On Freedom of Speech:

Someone: lol...for me, there are no such thing as the censors... if you censor something, you will be wasting the effort of the person. might as well totally don't put.

me: just look at the online gambling sites. They freely advertise their services (read: spam) on the unmoderated comments posts of unsuspecting bloggers...

Someone: anyways, if you are fearful that such things would happen, then it would be better not to have your personal blog/website...

On being paid to do little / nothing:

An American company actually PAYS temps to walk all over their carpets, for up to 8 hours or 18 miles a day. The pay? 5 buckeroos an hour! I want to join in their research team! Finally, a weight loss programme that PAYS dividends! ... Too bad they do not have a research facility in Singapore... (but then again)The jobless ah pehs will beat me to the job anyway...

Someone: duh....there are people who are paid to do silly things like singing stupid songs and making a fool of themselves....

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What is stroke?

Stroke is the fourth most common cause of death and the biggest cause of long term disability in Singapore. Each year approximately 10,400 people are admitted to Singapore hospitals. Click here</a> to find out more.

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What Others are Blogging About

"Welcome to Pen Island, the best place to get custom made pens on the internet!"
Comments from someone: "I thought an island shaped like a manhood..."

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Quote of the day

"He who thinks he has seen everything sees nothing; He who sees the least sees the most." - Anonymous

All in a Day's Work

Rushed all the way down to Orchard MRT from The Ward to pass my pager to Jun Fa. Sigh.

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What Others are Blogging About

On National Slavery:

"The March 2002 archives have been restored. 4 months down, 9 months to go.

Some gems:

"There were 3 charged personnel who came for the Staff Parade during Guard Duty. One of them was charged for the sin of, lets wait for it, EATING CUP NOODLES. Gasp. The morning after field camp, they were supposed to consume field rations, but he had cup noodles and was charged for that."

"There was some talk of supernatural stuff during the first night, when our [uber nice] OC talked to us... As would be expected, much of the talk was about sex. I'm wondering if it's too explicit to publish here. Also, there's the matter of privacy :) Ah, this is a family blog, so I'll just let most of it lie in my notebook." [Ed: I'm not sure if I still have the notebook.]

"They were very evil. It's their last chance to torture us before they hand us over to the tender ministrations of the Regimental Sergeant Major and then we pass out. They had a turnout at about 11, after a suspiciously early lights off at 9:15. We rode away in the store tonner to scenes of torture that would not be out of place in a medieval prison. Pushups, crunches, alternate leg thrusts and the lot. It was much worse than the first field camp. Emmanual was lazy to join the Attn B / excused personnel in our doing of "sai gang", so he, with an official excuse, was punished along with everyone." "

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On Religion:

Prayer of the Fear-Filled Fundamentalist

"A fundamentalist Christian once came to my house and I offered him some food. “I hope you don’t mind,” he declined, saying, “I’d like to go home and pray about it first.”

Huh?

I too, grew up a Christian. I too, pray and give thanks before my meals. But this man was talking about a different sort of prayer. He needed to pray for guidance and discernment before he decided whether it was okay to eat the food that I had prepared.

He was afraid. He was afraid my food might be “unclean” because I might have been an agent of the devil...

She related how, if her son were to buy a house, he had to make sure that his neighbours were not Buddhists, Taoists or Hindus. He also had to make sure that, along the way from his home to the office, he would not have to pass by any Chinese or Indian temples.

Well, what if his neighbour decides to sell the house to a Buddhist, Taoist or Hindu? What if his company relocates? What if some non-Christian group decides to build a temple midway between his home and office?"

This sounds more like Saudi Arabia than Singapore.

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On People Management:

People Are Like Teabags
Author Unknown

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there. They serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or help you figure out who you are or who you want to become.

You never know who these people may be: roommate, neighbor, professor, friend, lover. Even a complete stranger who, when you lock eyes with them, you know in that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way.

And sometimes things happen to you, and at the time they may seem horrible, painful, and unfair. But in reflection you realize that without overcoming those obstacles, you would have never realized your potential, strength, will power, or heart.

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of good or bad luck. Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness, and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without these small tests, life would be like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to nowhere...safe and comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless. The people you meet who affect your life, and the successes and downfalls you experience, create who you are. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. Those lessons are the hardest and probably the most important ones.

"People are like tea bags-you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are."

Went down to Alliance Francaise building this afternoon to have a look at Professor Leong Weng Kee's "Chinese Calligraphy and paintings".

The canal that runs through Newton Circus is rather muddy, quite unlike the one near my place, which is shallow, fully concrete and very clean.

Grandma's condition has improved tremendously over the past couple of days. She's able to walk (assisted, of course) and eat. Doctor says she is suffering from dementia.

All the data from my Palmtop has been erased, thanks to a flat battery.


Argh! All my records from Cairns have been wiped out. Sigh...

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Crossed over to Funan the IT Mall to collect my 2 Balduvian trading posts and browse through the latest in IT.

The KFC at Funan sells Pizza Hut meals! Gotta check that out, ya Crust-dough lovers! Unfortunately, I was not able to find alliance member, Taco Bell's, wares.

Grandma is showing signs of recovery. After two days ofdrifting into a subconscious state, she spoke her first coherent sentence to us this afternoon!

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Went back to SRJC to contribute to a sharing session. Ahem... stuttered quite a bit in the LT, so I guess I'll have to work on public speaking (especially in front of a large audience). The tutorial-sized session was not too bad, considering the fact that I was just 'warmed up' to the audience.

Grandma was rather chirpy the whole afternoon. The Speech therapist came down to take a look at her, putting Grandma through a series of tests, including sipping and acceptance of fluids through the mouth (Grandma actually gulped down the water, and rightfully so; She hadn't drunk a drop in four days!) and the chewing of wheatmeal biscuits. Several of my distant cousins paid her a visit just before dinner. And for dinner, she took her first physically visible meal in three days - porrridge with mashed vegetables and minced meat. At night, she got all sentimental and broke into sobs, handing out bits and pieces of advice to all present, each different from the previous one. I suspect there is more to the human brain. Apparently, she could remember what to tell each and every one of us (something that I believe has been kept in a corner of her brain for cold storage) even though she's unable to repeat something she had mentioned half a minute ago. The power of human memory!

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Went back to Serangoon Junior College to visit some of my teachers. Was handed a recommendation form for Mr Tay's President's Award for Teachers and invited to return the following week to give a motivational speech to the JC 2 students.

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Final Duty. It was a rather peaceful Thursday as usual, right until four pm. Someone slashed and snapped his finger tendon with a parang. There was also another fella who came in with an Ingrown Toenail, and he had the offending toenail clipped by Dr Chris himself.

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Grandma's down with fever and generalised weakness, so we sent her to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for a check-up and observation.