A Child’s Observation

As we grow up, we gain some, we lose some.

Ideally, we should gain more than we lose. But it depends on what we gain and what we lose.

Some things that are lost are actually gains. For example, if we shed those baby fat, we look better and we’re fitter.

But if we lose the sense of observation we had as a knowledge-hungry, eager-to-learn child, then it really is a regret that we have to live with for as long as we don’t find it back.

I got that jolt back to reality a few days ago. A 7-year-old little girl had completely beaten me when she imitated an adult in one of this person’s signature moves – something that had gone past me totally unnoticeable.

It was a very small gesture, yet this little girl had not only noticed it, but she actually remembered it and re-enacted the action as if she was the original creator.

I was very much bemused – how could I not? But, that minute of laughter was shadowed by the realisation that I had probably lost that sense of observation. Or, had I lost that sense of alert to pick up signs that are unusual?

Have I become inept at learning already?

This notion scares me to the core. I cannot become inept at learning, because that will be equivalent to sapping the life away from me. Once a person stops learning, they stop growing.

Regaining the sense of awareness is the first step to finding back that sense of keen observation and enthusiastic attitude towards learning and growing when I had growing up.

At times, all it takes is to become a child again. How hard can it be?

It can, when pride comes in the way. Just look at all the adults around us. 

The false façades in the world

Recently, a friend related to me his experience with one particular IT competition held in a well-known university here. Since it’s an IT competition, the format follows a familiar template: competitors had to create something, and then make a presentation to a panel of judges later on.

Of course, the friend participated along with a few of his other friends. It was a daunting face-off between rivals from other schools, including the usual suspects from the famous institutions.

At this point, you must be quite clueless as to which competition I’m talking about. I seek your understanding that I’m being deliberately vague so that the people and competition itself cannot be identified.

During the presentation, in which competitors could sit in on to watch their rivals’ speeches, my friend witnessed the most incredible phenomenon possible in his 24 years on this island: out-of-this-world claims being eagerly swallowed by thirsty judges.

I kid you not. There are some incredible claims of using lasers to collect lightning for energy needs, and huge arrays of sensors that would, according to the competitors, predict the weather. It is quite unfortunate for me that I wasn’t present during that presentation, because I know that meteorologists have been trying for centuries to accurately predict the weather — and we’re talking about entire organisations with insane amounts of monetary investments annually. Surely if a group of students from Singapore can solve this problem, it would hit the newswire headlines within minutes.

Yet, nary a word. And I’ve only heard this claim second-hand from my friend. Furthermore, from my limited experience with physics in junior college, it is currently not possible for lightning to be harvested with existing technology. Such a so-called “advancement” in technology first requires the over-turning of some well-established theories, which by itself would have the scientific community in a frenzy. Of course, that’s if it were true.

Since nothing has spread beyond the four walls of that competition room, I’m calling the bluff on the project team’s claims. According to my friend, they’ve not even given a convincing demonstration of their project. That’s like me claiming to be able to walk on water, and not even putting my shoes in the water for you to see. In some ways, magicians seem even more convincing than that team. Unfortunately, the judges lapped it all up and gave the first prize to them.

Now, I’m not venting on behalf of my friend, nor am I trying to embarrass anybody. I would like to discuss instead, is an observable phenomenon in Singapore. Some people call it “wayang”, others call it “blowing smoke”, but I believe the rest of the English-speaking world calls it the art of “bull-shitting”.

It has become a part of our way of life. Back during my basic military training, some of my bunk mates were very encouraging and vocal during activities. They shout out stuff like, “come on guys, we can do it!” and bounce about like rabbits with lots of energy. Yet whenever they do that, instead of feeling grateful for the encouragements, all that I’ve felt was an immense amount of irritation.

And it’s not due to my personality. I don’t feel the same resentment to every one of my bunk mates who do that. It’s those that refuse to help out during the daily area cleaning, choosing to sleep while the rest are actually doing productive work. Apparently, these people are only active when the instructors are around.

The double-faced personality these people were showing comes across to me as insincere, and it did speak volumes about the actual amount of effort they were actually putting in towards their goals. These people would later make it to the commander schools in the army, alongside the ones who actually did work hard for their place. I feel the injustice being done to the genuine ones, because many of these slackers whom make it eventually turn out to be poor leaders. Except of course, nobody could actually see the truth, because of their afore-mentioned skills in making shows during evaluations. Yet, this culture seems to be accepted in Singapore, perhaps even encouraged.

I blame the situation on the way our system is being structured. Meritocracy is a sound system for a society, but the current measurement of worth is not well-tuned to keep out the empty vessels. Evaluations of job performance generally comes annually, and while people in general put on their best behaviour around the assessment period, the “wayang” crowd puts on their masks and set up a façade over their poor work performance. In fact, they have created such a perfect illusion of being hardworking to their superiors that they manage to escape elimination for quite a while.

Fortunately, incompetence has a way of leaking through the carefully plastered wall. There will come a time when that system engineer who claims to be able to code in the Java programming language would be asked to handle an emergency in a bank’s operations software. This is the time of reckoning for the undeserving.

Prevention strategy during swine flu crisis

Tragedy in Mexico City: swine flu infection, and now an earthquake—AFP Photo

It was a double whammy that hit Mexico. On Monday, April 27, a 5.6 earthquake rocked the country where the death count from swine flu cases had reached 152, with more than 1,600 people ill.

The virus comes from the same strain that causes seasonal outbreaks in humans. But this newly-detected version contains genetic material from versions of flu which usually affect pigs and birds, say health experts.

New swine flu cases were also confirmed in Canada, Scotland, Spain and the US, where the number of confirmed cases more than doubled to 43.

Tricky virus

The flu virus is perhaps the trickiest known to medical science; it constantly changes form every two to three years to elude the protective antibodies that the body has developed in response to previous exposures to influenza or to influenza vaccines.

Then, at intervals of roughly 10 years, the virus undergoes a major shift that enables it to start re-infecting hundreds of millions of people who suddenly find their antibody defences are useless.

Medical researchers worldwide think that the swine flu virus might mutate into something as deadly as the Spanish flu which killed more than 50 million people worldwide from 1918-1919 (quite recent times when our fathers were young men then).

Causes

Human infection with flu viruses from pigs are most likely to occur when people live and work close to infected pigs. Human-to-human transmission of swine flu can also occur through coughing or sneezing of persons with influenza.

Swine flu infection is contagious. People with infection may be able to spread the flu virus a day before the symptoms appear and up to a week following the onset of illness.

Signs & symptoms

According to the Health Promotion Board, the symptoms include:

High fever
Cough
Muscle pains
Sore throat
Fatigue or tiredness
Headache
Nausea
Vomiting or diarrhoea

Get immediate medical attention if you experience the following:

Breathing difficulty
Confusion
Persistent vomiting
Sudden dizziness

There are anti-viral medications such as oseltamivir or zanamivir that stop the viruses from reproducing in the body. These medications, when taken early in the course of infection may reduce the severity of the infection with faster recovery from the illness, and prevent serious flu complications.

Prevention the best policy

Practise good personal hygiene. Take these steps to protect your health:

1. Cover your nose and mouth

2. Cough or sneeze into a tissue and dispose the tissue properly in the trash after use.

2. Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly with soap and water, before and after preparing food, after going to the toilet, before and after eating, after blowing your nose.

3. If you are sick, avoid crowded areas and wear surgical mask.
Stay at home and do not go to work or school if ill.

4. Take more fruit and vegetables, as they are the most power-packed combination of nutrients your body needs for good health.

Global warming — tell me it’s not real

I woke up, my body drenched in sweat. The fan spins helplessly, blasting the hot air in my face.

It’s one of those times I definitely wished that I had air-conditioning in my room. A lot.

As the shower mixed with the streams of salty sweat covered over my body, I thought of the heat. In an effort to make light of my situation, I thought about the people living in the deserts, as well as the absurdity of having to bring cold weather wear for the freezing nights, as well as light shirts for the testy 39° sun-blast.

It’s absolutely not funny to for them, and neither would it be for me much longer. You see, Singapore’s average highest temperature has been inching up for the past 6 years that I’ve been blogging on the Internet, and there’s been no sign that the climate is going to be cooling down anytime soon.

It’s a scary situation, having lived through times when the highest temperature you can get is 32° during the seasonal dry period myself. Yet today, we’re at the shoulder of the dry period, and mercuries are hitting new heights.

At this very time, everybody is fighting each other over whether global warming is real. Which makes me wonder whether the naysayers are people whom spend their time cooped up in their office buildings, with their bloody arctic conditioning? Here I am, a native of the tropics, and I’m having a harder time trying to adjust to each year’s heat season, and there they are, those people in their ivory towers of air-conditioning — freezing alongside most of corporate Singapore — and believing that the world outside is at the same exact temperature as it was in 1980. Of course, that is a beautiful façade held in their hearts until the air handling units in their offices break down.

Until that happens, no matter how much convincing, how many statistics researchers can pull out, or how many anecdotes of global warming would ever turn these people around. Regardless of the cause of the temperature rise, the fact remains that temperatures are going up. So I say we pull the plug on the air-conditioning for just one hour in all buildings across the world. Let these people have a healthy dose of reality.

Animal abuse in Singapore

Is torture such a pleasurable activity for some people, that they hurt animals as much as kleptomaniacs have itchy hands?

It’s something I’m quite curious about. Just last month, I came across a blog by animal lovers detailing the massacre that’s going on right now in Choa Chu Kang. In February, the authors featured the sad end to a cute ginger kitten in the neighbourhood.

Just what the hell is wrong with some people? Is life such an unworthy entity to the animal abusers? Or are they power crazy dominatrix, psychotic masochistic jerks that believe in making animals suffer?

I worry. For the family and friends of the animal abusers. While there isn’t a direct correlation between violence to animals and the way abusers behave towards other human beings, the stark fact that these people are capable of such atrocious behaviour is appalling!

I’m not fear-mongering here. Animals in the modern world take a subservient role in society. Humans move into forests, cut down their natural habitat, and then eat them for food. It’s basic human sense to be respectful to the animals that we’re dominant over. That is, if we’re still interested in having a moral system in the first place.

And along that train of thought, since a part of the definition of being human entails having a moral value system, these animal abusers are by our definitions absolutely inhumane.

Our court systems deal with people whom don’t behave like the human beings that they actually are. However, whether that has actually helped, we do not know. As a third party observer, I see animal advocates continue their campaigns against animal torture. I’m largely guessing, but I’m willing to bet that the most noteworthy things they would rather be writing about would their pets pooping on their carpet, rather than having to deal with the rampant mutilations like the ones happening in Choa Chu Kang these few months.

I sincerely hope that the culprit is caught as soon as possible, not only because it would bring an end to the terror’s reign in the area, but it would also send a strong message of zero tolerance for mistreatment.

Waffle Factory

I love waffles. I mean, who doesn’t?

When done right, they’re fragrant, crispy, tasty and all sorts of ooey-gooey heart-warming adjectives. In fact, while the low pricing and decent ice cream are all plus-points, my main love for Gelare Cafe on Gelare Day (Tuesdays, when their waffles are half-priced) are their hot, steaming waffles drenched in maple syrup and topped with ice cream.

So, when I happen to pass by Paya Lebar MRT that day with some friends and one mentioned having heard of some cheap, good waffle buffet at the Singapore Post building, I just knew we had to try it. I mean, free-flow of waffles at an affordable (very important, in these times) price? I’m so there.

Alas, though, I was to be (slightly) disappointed. To be fair, the food was pretty decent (at first) and the price definitely was cheap, but the waffles left a bad aftertaste (figuratively and, at times, literally) and fouled up the experience.

Upon entering Waffle Factory, you’d be flooded by the accolades the little cafe has received. From newspaper reviews to magazine cutouts and even to variety show recommendations, the shop sure has seen some glowing feedback. The second thing you’ll notice is that, despite these star features and the throngs of crowds they’re sure to have garnered, the shop is remarkably small, with a few tables that can barely contain more than twenty people in total.

Despite the shop’s (sort of) celebrity status, the service personnel were warm-hearted and friendly, offering us a small table at first because there was no space and then “upgrading” us to a larger table when the crowd thinned out. They were also generally pleasant and prompt, although slightly oblivious at times (once, we had to call them three times before we got a response).

Like the staff, the decor of the shop was perky and bright, with vivid colours and large photos of different waffles adorning the wall and a endearing low-budget-but-friendly ambience to the whole place.

The prices are cheap too, especially for the starving looking for a carbo-load. The waffle buffet price (which is applicable daily from 10am to 10pm) is S$8.80, which includes all-you-can-eat ala carte waffles, a one-time-only durian waffle and another one-time-only special dish, which can be either a selection of floats and/or an ice cream wafer basket mix. For an additional S$3 you can get a pasta or a Singaporean dish like laksa or nasi lemak.

I opted for a meatball spaghetti, a mango float and a small selection of waffles for starters (my friends and I, drooling at the prospect of durian in a waffle, ordered three of those).

While later waffles disappointed tremendously (more on that later), that first batch, to me, more than justified the S$12 I had to pay. The spaghetti was tasty, with tangy, chewy meatballs, the mango float was just the right mixture of sweet and zesty (the mango ice cream was great too) and the durian waffle was absolute heaven. The filling, a puree of pure, unadulterated durian (and really good one too) was thick and abundant and the waffles was steaming hot and tasty even on its own. Definitely one of the must-trys there.

At that point, heartened by the positive turnout, my friends and I began our barrage of orders for different waffles (some of which you can’t even begin to guess at from the names). Turns out, though, that other than the durian waffle, everything else feels (and tastes) pretty homemade (and not in a good way).

Out of the several I tried, the apple cinnamon waffle was just a waffle wrapping the MacDonalds apple pie filling, the butter raisin combo was dripping with a horrifying amount of oil and most of the others were just waffles topped with sugary icing, with a bit of the “star” ingredients (the ones the waffles are named after) added. While none of these waffles were really all that bad (the fruit loops one, inexplicably, worked), they all tasted pretty cheap and manufactured.

My main problem with the waffles, other than the fact that some of the toppings and ingredients weren’t of very high grade (although, to be fair, it IS a really cheap buffet) is that they were too thick. While they were nicely made and the first one was excellent, the rest just felt excessive and, although tasting the same, began to lose their lustre. Plus, because they were so thick, they dwarfed their fillings and made every bite seem like two parts flour, one part filling. After just three or four more, I was so jelak I couldn’t even finish my last one.

So, while the service is good and the buffet is great for the really hungry ghosts and those looking for a decent bite, it really isn’t that great after a few more waffles. If you do go, take my advice and just stick to three or four at most. That way, you’d be happy with the price you paid and won’t leave the place feeling so bloated and stuffed like I did.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Earle Swenson’s

For me, just like for many Singaporeans I know, eating at Swenson’s was a treat in primary school for good behaviour or outstanding academic performance and almost a staple in secondary school for the occasions when we wanted to splurge but didn’t have the big wallet to plunge into.

Now, I think everyone would agree with me that the main attraction of Swenson’s has been their ice cream. Sure, their baked rice dishes, fries and sandwiches are pretty well-loved but the main draw of the place has always been their Topless 5s (five scoops of ice cream from a huge list of flavours with no topping, served at a decent price) and their Earthquakes (a monstrous concoction of ice cream and toppings galore).

That’s the idea I had when I went to Earle Swenson’s at Vivocity, a decidedly more fancifully-named outlet of the restaurant (actually, that is the full name of the founder of the chain) and with more fanciful prices to match. At this slightly swankier outlet, I decided to forego the ice creams and go for the dishes instead, wanting to savour what a pricey Swenson’s is capable of.

While I wasn’t blown away by the quality of the food, I have to say it wasn’t too bad neither.

Firstly, my order (and my mum’s, who was there with me) came with a free helping to the all-you-can-eat salad bar. While I’m not normally a fan of paying for salad bars (especially one which, like this one, cost over S$10), I’m a sucker for anything free with my meal and, making my way to the bar, was really glad it was included.

The salad bar’s range was rather impressive, with the usual garden veggies and dressings sharing space with Thai beef salads, pastas, teriyaki chicken salads and even the odd nachos. The food from the bar was filling, surprisingly good (thanks to a high turnover rate with constant replenishings) and was even provided for a decent dessert (fruits and all).

My main course, the Earle’s Poultry Combo, cost a whopping S$26. The combo, which contains a chicken snail sausage (which looked slightly like a turd), tender sliced smoked duck, chicken thigh strips and breast, was large in portions and taste as well, though that might not necessarily be a good thing.

The sausage was meaty yet chewy and was done just nicely. The chicken breast, the largest piece of the dish, was amazingly succulent and juicy and every bite was a burst of flavour. While half the dish was good, though, the other half was pretty underwhelming. The smoked duck slices were bland and limp while the chicken thigh strips, perhaps overcompensating, were so salty that I couldn’t even finish them up.

My mum’s order of the Surf & Turf (a mixture of beef steak and grilled seafood) was met with positive reviews but since I didn’t try it I’m unable to comment on that.

The strawberry spritzer (a strawberry flavoured soda with a large strawberry thrown in) that the two of us shared was fantastic, refreshing and sweet yet not overly cloy.

So, while Earle Swenson’s might not be the best value-for-money around, it definitely has some good food and, if you can afford it, is worth it just for the salad bar.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Listening

One of the most important things you can do in life is to simply listen. I realize that I am listening to a fire alarm outside as I type this, but that won’t enter into this blog post. But I will digress here, because the alarm has been going on for at least 5 minutes and I don’t see (or hear) anyone gathering outside in the opposite residences. What happened to the “Fall in, line up, take roll call, and then TURN OFF the alarm?”



Back to topic.

Sometimes, we are too caught up in ourselves. We want to solve problems. We want action immediately. We go ahead with our plans, sometimes individually, and sometimes in groups. But sometimes, we do not listen.

In University life, I have found the art of listening (is there even an art?) to be very useful.

One of the best things you can do as a friend is to listen. When others pour out their grievances and troubles at you, most of the time they need a listening ear and support, instead of action, advice, or any sort of judgment. Sometimes however, we forget this, and immediately go and jump the gun, forming hasty judgments and giving advice / looking at how to solve problems.  You really have to put yourself into the other person’s shoes. We want to do things, but remember, it that what is really needed? Just listen. That’s the best thing you can do, and if help is needed, give. To put it in Singlish, “Don’t gey kiang do something which is not needed.”

Another way in which listening helps is to listen to advice which can save you a lot of grief. Usually, when we are set on our plans, if we are headstrong enough, we tend not to listen to others cautioning us or warning us against our plans. And the funny thing is, if we succeed, we rub it in and tell them “Hah, I did it”. But if we fail in our plans, we deserve it, for we were given warnings, sometimes more than once. There are numerous examples of this, in Uni, and out of Uni.

Simple example, specialists warning men not to sleep in bunks, and then when CSM comes round and gives the men 3 extras, the specs get blamed, first by the men for not warning them, and secondly by CSM for letting them sleep. What caused this? Failure to listen to specialists, and even taking their “Don’t sleep in bunks” as background noise to be tuned out and ignored.

Other examples at Uni are too numerous, and here are a few of them.

a) Listen to friends who caution you to go to lectures.

b) Listen to the admin clerk who warned you enough times not to take too many free sandwiches from the postgraduate room.

c) Listen to friends who caution you not to chase after this girl / boy.

d) Listen to coursemates who bug you to do your assignments way before the deadline, because they noticed a tricky question inside them.

e) Listen to the badminton execs in not stepping over the red line.

f) Listen to the construction worker who tells you not to move the barrier and walk through.


Because well, while we can get away with the above most of the time, perhaps inwardly we know that what we are doing is not right, but feel happy that we are succeeding, until we
:

i) Can’t revise at all for EOYs because the material skipped during lecture is hard to self-study, as well as missing surprise in-lecture tests which count towards your EOY grade, ending up failing your first year, and having to retake.


ii) Get caught by academic supervisor for eating too many sandwiches, and given stern warning, and having the transgression written into your student records at University, making it difficult for you to get a good reference from your tutor, and a job when you graduate.

iii) Get rejected by girl / boy, perhaps for the umpteenth time, with them stating clearly that they are not interested in you, and what you are doing is way too clingy and annoying, making a complete fool of yourself.

iv) End up with 0 for assignments, because you were rushing that tricky question before the deadline, and missed deadline completely, failing your assessed work for the term, and giving your lecturer and supervisor a bad impression of you.

v) Get whacked on the head hard with a badminton racket swung by an over-enthusiastic player, suffering a skull fracture, and missing a few weeks of lectures because of hospitalization, and paying for your treatment for what happened was not covered under insurance.

vi) Get hit by a chunk of falling concrete because you wanted to take a short-cut, and walked into an area off-limits to the general public, without even wearing a helmet, and enter a coma for an undetermined period of time.

And if any of these situations happen to us, well, we deserve it for simply not listening, and treating what others say (especially our friends) as background noise to be ignored, and have no one to blame but ourselves. Thankfully, none of the above situations have happened to me yet, but that is no reason to not listen to others.

In fact, I vow to go to every lecture in the next academic year (I think my housemate will force me to), but again, I digress.

But overall, listening is an integral part of our lives, and we would do well to sometimes just stop, listen, and think.

Carlos Tevez considers move away from Manchester United

Carlos Tevez, the Argentine forward who is currently on a two year loan from Kia Joorabchian’s Media Sports Investments (MSI), which will end at the end of this current season, and Tevez admits that he will be moving to another club as he is not playing in important matches with United.

The 25 year old forward, who has a hefty price tag of 30 million pounds on him will be forced to leave as Manchester United has already purchase Dimitar Berbatov for 32 million pounds, and with England striker Wayne Rooney being the favourite of the trio, Tevez’s future is definitely in doubt.

Carlos Tevez - loved by fans worldwide

Speaking to Radio Del Plata, Tevez said: “I have many offers, not only from Spain: I need to see which club I can go to and what can be done. We must not only consider the money, I also have to ensure my family feel comfortable, especially my daughter. So I have a lot to think about.

“Even if you score three or four goals, you do not play in another game. There are many very good players but I need to play. I have trained every day and never said anything against my team-mates or anyone but it is true that there are other options for next season.

“There are many players and they all need to play but I have not lost my place because of what I did when I played. I have not played in important matches. The ‘clasico’ against Chelsea, I did not play. Those are the games that I like to play in.” Tevez said.

Its a shame really… as Berbatov is the only striker hated by many United supporters! Many felt that the pairing of Rooney and Tevez last season, coupled with Cristiano Ronaldo’s form, is the key in United’s double winning season, where they captured the English Premier League title and UEFA Champions League title. This time round, the only consolation for United fans would be that Berbatov is the top scorer for United’s Champions League campaign, but many argued that Tevez doesn’t start as much as Berbatov.

Again this goes down to chance. Many believe that Tevez wasn’t treated fair enough and wasn’t given enough chance this season due to the fact the Sir Alex Ferguson have to prove to the world that the 32 million pounds purchase of Berbatov isn’t one that goes to waste.

Franck Ribery

Karim Benzema

From the looks of it, United’s owner, who are ironically in debts, will not spend another 30 million on Carlos Tevez when his loan ends at the end of the season… and with speculations about Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery moving to the Red Devils next season, Tevez’s chance of staying with the Red Devils is very low!

Andrei Arshavin - Another Wenger’s Classy Purchase

For those who missed the match between Liverpool and Arsenal, you missed A LOT! Eight goals to be exact.

In the absence of Arsenal strike pair Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor, it was new signing Andrei Arshavin who delivered the goods for Arsenal yesterday morning!

Andrei Arshavin - Another gem found by Wenger

Andrei Arshavin scored four goals to help Arsenal draw with Premier League contenders Liverpool and gave Manchester United a golden opportunity to go three points clear with a game in hand later tonight. Arshavin’s purchase from Arsenal is now officially one of the classic buy from transfer market expert Arsene Wenger. Knowing that Zenit St Petersburg isn’t the right club for the Russian International, and having his transfer speculation been alarming throughout the season, Wenger saw bite and determination in the Russian playmaker.

The failure in his move to Barcelona at the end of the European Competition devastated him as the Catalans refused to pay the 20 million euros price tag on him. His entire first half of the season was in Russia and Arsene Wenger took the opportunity to purchase him at a lower cost. His four goals could have won any game in the Premier League, if not for Liverpool’s Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun, both scoring a brace each to prevent a famous victory for him.

Emmanuel Petit

Henry

Marc Overmars

Fabregas

If you look at Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Petit, Marc Overmars, Patrick Viera, Nicolas Anelka, and Cesc Fabragas, Arshavin is another golden purchase by the Arsenal manager. Without doubt, if you compare the purchase of Arshavin and Berbatov, Wenger wins the “Best Purchase of the Season” award.

So, He Thinks He Is Funny?

After punching in my message, I tapped my fingers impatiently on the table, waiting for the reply.

Soon I heard the familiar tweet from the iPhone. 

“Well E (my friend’s name) is in coma after climbing Mount Everest so Spiderman is using his phone for the time being.”

“Ok. So can Spiderman tell me that young man’s age?” I replied.

“Old enough to legally marry you. So do you want this?”

“I’m married thank u. Can u pls give me the golden no cos I’m rushing the story now and waiting for this? Tks.”

“Well there is something called polygamy.”

It dawned on me that I was dealing with someone who obviously thought that he was very funny.

I called the number that I SMSed to and was curtly rejected on the second ring.

I didn’t reply the SMS anymore. After a while, he called. He had the nerve to return the rejected call, yes. 

To do what?

To reaffirm that he isn’t E but Spiderman!

This could have been a usual case of sending a text message to a wrong number, where the recipient would politely reply saying “I think you’ve sent to the wrong person” and the sender would follow up with a sincere apology.

Instead, Spiderman decided to send a barrage of nonsensical messages. Even when he knew that I was waiting for a critical piece of information for work, he stubbornly refused to admit his identity and continued I supposed what he thought was flirting.

So, was he flirting? Yes if the recipient, in this case, yours truly, had found it engaging and entertaining. Alas, my reality was far from his fantasy.

I was annoyed, and rightly so. Firstly, I was not in the mood to flirt, having an article to rush. Secondly, he wasn’t funny, really. Thirdly, he could have shown a bit of sensitivity from the tone of my messages that I was enquiring about work and not play. Lastly, he didn’t sound at all apologetic that he had wasted at least 10 minutes of my precious time (and money) on those unhelpful SMSes and at the end, he still had the cheek to reaffirm he was Superman and yes, he wasn’t the intended person.

I’m really glad that he is probably one of the few Singapore men who are clueless about flirting and still are thick-skinned enough to continue stepping on the toes of the opposite gender. 

Where is my shining knight in armour?  

Give Me That Handsome Suit!

Ditch those bulges and fatty underarms. So long as you’re willing to forsake your identity, you can become the most desirable dude in this planet. All you need to do is step into a handsome suit and viola! you become more delicious than Brad Pitt and George Clooney combined.

Yearning for some real relaxation, I did the unusual and succumbed to the tempting ‘brainless, pure entertainment’ movie genre when I sauntered happily to watch the Japanese film Handsome Suit.

I had expected at most an hour-and-a-half of brainless comedy, but I was sorely disappointed. Running for 115 minutes, the film has its laughing moments. But it is far from a brainless and purely entertaining production. It actually seeks to delve deeper into the human mind and find out what is more important – looks, or character.

Takuro (Muga Tsukaji) is the ugly protagonist who, after donning a specially made handsome suit, morphs into a striking Annin Hikariyama (Shosuke Tanihara) – the famous model.

Takuro falls in love at first sight with the soft-spoken and beautiful Hiroko (Keiko Kitagawa), who also has a hidden dual identity as the cute-cute plumpish Motoe (Miyuki Oshima) with a heart of gold and charm that matches perfectly with her generous laughter and warm smile she carries wherever she goes.

After having a taste of a king-like treatment by others when he’s the gorgeous-looking Annin, Takuro finds himself wavering in his stance to continue to be who he is – the ugly yet kind-hearted chef who only wants to serve heart-warming dishes the way his mother had cooked it.

Hence the question of morality kicks in – do we sacrifice the real character that makes who we are special for the perfect superficial appearance that makes others fall in love with how we look?

I remember when I was running my dating agency, we come across this question many times too. While we advocate presenting a good and attractive image to others, especially on the first few meetings with someone new, we also stress on the importance of personality and character matching.

There was even a female member who went all the way to “uglify” herself so that the guy whom she was meeting would get to know her and not be misled by how pretty she looked.

Well, I wouldn’t encourage such behaviour, but I always tell singles going on dates to “just be themselves”. The most tiring thing a person can do is to put on a mask and be someone whom they’re not, and never will be. 

I guess the debate on brains or brawns will not end, handsome suit or not. Even before the birth of cosmetics, women are already using natural ingredients to make them look more appealing in their quest for a good husband.

That only goes to show that while character prevails, good looks still have its advantages. 

Well, at least the handsome suit is really, by any measure, cute and adorable! Before it assumes the human form, that is. 

Obstacles – What Do They Mean?

I’ve been in a bit of confusion lately, since the start of the year. Recurring thoughts that disturbed me in the middle of one night made me realise the intensity of the issue. I had brushed them aside – labelling them as distractions – or engaged myself in loads of positive self-talk to get myself out of the nagging situation.

Until that night when the same old thoughts were racing in my head and threatening to give me another sleepless night, then I realised that was the tip of the iceberg. 

Making a big time decision is never easy, especially when it involves major changes and the chosen road ahead looks to be long and full of unknowns. The uncertainty can be crippling yet at the same time exciting.

Then after many rounds of deliberation, discussing with family and friends and getting all the advices you need (or don’t need), you make up your mind.

But it is usually as this point when you thought you have made up your mind, or when you’re about to say “OK, this is it. This is what I’m going to do” that one obstacle will appear. It may come in the form of a temptation for you to stay where you are or continuing what you’re doing; or it may appear as a bigger shroud of uncertainty and fear that wraps you up in anxiety and makes you want to rethink your decision.

When this happens, does it mean that you’re not going forward with your decision or does it mean that it’s only a test to see how much of the new thing in life you wanted and to what extent would you go for it?

Let me give you an example. A person in a sales job may be contemplating to resign for some time and follow his passion to be a social worker. Yet each time he is resolved to throw in the letter, a new tender would come up and he would tell himself “Ok, let me deal with this first”. Maybe he has been handling small deals all along, and when he’s about to tell his boss “I quit”, there comes along a potential deal that is worth few times more than all the deals he had done for the past 6 months. 

He’s thrown into a dilemma. Does he stay on his job, handle that big tender and add a few thousand bucks to his savings while remaining unhappy, or does he proceed with his resignation? What is the purpose of that tender?

We wouldn’t know, because we’re not God. But what we can do is to really look into ourselves and ask: What is it that I can offer?

Someone told me that obstacles are a test of how much you wanted something. I agree. At the same time, obstacles are also there to reveal the inner voice that we have been suppressing all along.

Maybe it’s time to unleash that giant within us, as what Anthony Robbins likes to say.

A Wake Up Call

Singaporeans sure had a very rude wake up call – to think that eating contaminated food could lead to death was appalling. What would have been diarrhoea and a day of bed confinement led to two deaths and one miscarriage instead.

From the news reports, one could gather that the public sentiments toward the hawker were more of understanding than reprimanding. However, what was more inexcusable was the fact that rats had been invading that territory, right under the noses of National Environment Agency (NEA).

Why do we always have to wait to be given a tight slap? When we look around, it’s not hard to find that this attitude of complacency has taken its root in almost every individual.

Couples don’t divorce overnight. People don’t get a heart attack by bingeing on fat the day before. Students don’t fail their final examination because they skipped one lesson.

It is the lacklustre attitude over a certain period that culminates in a situation that makes people sorry.

The question is: What happened to those signs and symptoms that were screaming for attention? Why are they sidelined? Why aren’t they accorded the due attention when they surface? 

If only everyone could be on their toes, then things usually wouldn’t turn out that bad. That said, we all know that it’s easier said than done.

Society pressure has given us more reasons to go easy when things are well. We are constantly on the look out to achieve more than we already have. In the process of doing so, we begin to overlook many things around us and start to take them for granted. Hygiene is a good example.

Well, hopefully, this serves as not just a good lesson, but one that really hits everyone so hard that we’ll all remember it and apply the due diligence every day for the rest of our lives.

Then again, the effect of this case will still vary from person to person. Because while it may hit some at the spot where it hurts the most, for the others, it’s just a scratch on the skin. Slightly itchy, yes. Painful, maybe still some way to go. 

Exams at University

Exams. That dreadful word rears up again and again throughout academic life, from primary school, and even up to University.

For a course like MMORSE, I have exams too. Thankfully, they are not essays, which the Economics and Law people have, nor case studies like Sociology, but just exam papers on mathematics.

Think of O level and A level math. There, you have a 2 hour (or 3 hour paper) on mathematics, with each question set on a particular topic. Say, a question on differential equations, another on linear algebra, and yet another on probability. If you couldn’t do a topic, you just skipped that question, and then try to finish the other questions on other topics you are familiar with.

In JC, I used to like math exam papers, because they were so logical and straightforward, and fumbled at Economics instead. Maybe that’s why I received a C for my economics, but As for my math based subjects.

However, in university, all my exams are module based, and each paper focuses on a different topic. So I can have one exam paper fully on Linear Algebra, and another on say, Analysis. It’s somewhat the same, but instead of one paper, many questions on different topics, it is now one paper, many questions on different aspects of the same topic. It’s more in depth.

You really need to understand the material, before you can do the paper. Memorizing is still possible, in the sense that you can memorize the entire encyclopedia to study for SATs. Pointless, and would be much harder than just if you sit down, and try to understand.

And that’s what I’ve been doing for my holidays. It’s not just practicing, for any Tom, Dick, and Harry can just blindly memorize formulae, and apply them. It’s about understanding the concepts, and knowing how to apply what you have learnt. In fact, mathematics at university is just an application of logic.

You are given a few rules (axioms). From them, you construct a chain of logic. It’s quite fun studying and revising mathematics modules, when you just take what you have learnt in the first week, derive and come out with what has been covered in the subsequent weeks, and apply them to the questions. Masochistic? Perhaps. But it’s good fun, and furthermore, you’re also helping yourself study/learn effectively.

It’s not really about the exams, but how much you really understand, and how you apply what you have learnt.

Your treasures on the Silk Road

The old Silk Road between China and Central Asia has come to symbolise a route where treasures are being conveyed from one destination to another. Today, the Internet is the landscape where various Silk Roads can be constructed. MySpace and Facebook are veritable Silk Roads where your personal treasures (photos, music and video clips, blogs, and your network of friends and contacts) are being displayed and “enjoyed” by many others the world over.

The danger of course is when your treasures get “stolen”. For instance, you spent creative effort in producing a video clip and someone downloads it, snips away your credits, adds his own, and uses the revised video for his own commercial purpose. What evidence do you have that the clip was your original work?

I have already seen this happening to my many articles that I published in my Bystander Web site. Some of the articles have been seen in other sites without any acknowledgement of my authorship. This is really cake-sim, since it is not worth my effort or my expense to pursue and sue the culprit. These sites don’t even have have names and addresses of the people or organisations responsible.

In the old days, caravans often hired armed escorts, especially along stretches of the journey rife with brigands. You should therefore consider safeguards for your online treasures, too. Some preventive measures, like watermarks of your images, are time-consuming and tedious to implement. What other ways can you implement.

Detroit Metal City

Japanese shows are known to be quirky. They’re often wacky, over-the-top, and I’m not even talking about the comedies or variety shows. Detroit Metal City, despite its decidedly not-comedic name and heavy metal theme, is one such quirky show.

Based on a manga and anime of the same name, Detroit Metal City is the story of Soichi Negishi, an idealistic, slightly effeminate singer whose greatest dream is to release a CD of happy songs filled with bouncy tunes and cutesy, fluffy lyrics (about cakes and so on).

To realise this dream, he leaves his countryside home to study in Tokyo, where he hopes to break into the music scene. Somehow though, after graduation, he ends up getting into a heavy metal band, where he is the heavily made-up lead singer who sings about rape and murder. Despite the fact that he hates his job and that his manager is a screaming maniac who puts out cigarettes on her tongue, the band, the titular Detroit Metal City, gets immensely popular, garnering its cult following of devil-worshippers.

As Negishi tries to figure out how to realise his true dream, he meets the girl of his dreams, a classmate from university who is now working for a magazine. He then spends the rest of the movie trying to hide his identity as lead singer of such a vulgar band from her as well as the usual finding-the-dream motif that such movies seem to be built around.

The plotline might not be terribly original or even very exciting, the Japanese execution of the movie itself is highly entertaining, if not much stimulation for the brain.

The script is hilarious (although take heed that there are several vulgarities littering the dialogues and the lyrics of some of the songs from DMC are highly questionable), peppered with typical Japanese absurdities and over-the-top exchanges, perhaps with homage to its anime roots.

The characters are pretty endearing and much credit has to be given not only to the script writers but also the actors. Ken’Ichi Matsuyama, whose breakthrough role as L in the Death Note movie series catapulted him to instant fame, does a total 180 degrees turn here. His super dramatic, over-the-top (which seems to be the keyword for this whole movie) portrayal of Negishi does take a while to swallow but by the end of the movie you’d be rooting for the oddball.

The supporting cast is fantastic too, with Negishi’s two band mates a hoot and Matsuyuki Yasuko, who plays the afore-mentioned, sadistic harpy of a manager, is hilarious. Look out, too, for Gene Simmons, famous co-founder of Kiss, a real rock band.

The music, while not something I’d listen to after this show (although it has to be said that I’m neither a fan of heavy metal and/or that weird, happy fluff that Negishi kept singing in his own guise) is suitable for the movie, lending quite a bit of credence to the music-based film.

Overall, while Detroit Metal City might not be the best movie of the year, it is a highly entertaining watch, if only for that unique brand of over-the-top (there it is, again) Japanese humour.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Confessions Of A Shopaholic

I’m not usually a big fan of going to cinemas to watch movies. It’s not that I’ve got anything against movies per se (although on principle I like TV series more since they’re more expansive). It’s just that, with the rising cost of movie tickets as well as the feelign of being stuck in the cinema seat for those two odd hours, I’d much rather rent a DVD to watch at home or something.

Still, when life gives you lemons, you sqeeze as much lemonade as you can right? So, when I was given a complimentary movie pass for a single movie ticket as a Golden Village member (hey, just because I don’t usually go to the movies doesn’t mean I can’t have a card which gives me discounts on the rare occasions that I do, k?), I trooped down to Jurong Point to enjoy my first ever solo movie viewing experience.

Alas, there weren’t that many movies showing at this time and even less that were eligible for a free pass and so, not only did I pop my solo watching cherry, I had to do it while watching a chick flick based on a book that I hadn’t read before and that gave me a distinct feeling of being a rip-off amalgamation of The Devil Wears Prada and Sex & The City.

Nonetheless, Confessions Of A Shopaholic proved a decent watch which, while maybe not worth a full weekend price, certainly was worth using the complimentary pass on.

Starring Isla Fisher (better known as Mrs. Sasha Baron “Borat” Cohen) in the titular role, shopaholic journalist Rebecca Greenwood, who just HAS to have anything she sees that’s drapped on a mannequin.

Wanting to land a job at top fashion magazine Alette and heavily in debt from her spending, she interviews for Successful Savings, a finance magazine in the same company but on a lower rung on the ladder and from there, hopes to work her way up. Along the way, she discovers her prince charming, the editor of SS magazine, as well as buys her way to more and more mayhem, escaping from her debtors and keeping up false appearances to keep the job she’s suddenly doing very well at (despite not having any sort of financial knowledge and being severely in debt herself).

The plot is formulaic and thoroughly predictable, with the ending obvious to anyone who has ever watched any movie. Still, it is an enjoyable ride for the most part. The dialogue, while cheesy and forced at times, is light-hearted and has a few moments of true hilarity and quirkiness (the talking mannequins are an odd touch) while the scripting is fluffy but not a drag to watch. The show does slow down a bit in the middle, though it soons picks up again. The characters, while mostly one-dimensional, are oddball-ish but lovable, with the whole cast of supporting characters a delightful mix.

While the storyline is just passable, the acting pulls up the movie. The two leads are adequately endearing, with Isla the not-as-dumb-as-you’d-think-but-still-dumb spendthrift and Hugh Dancy, as Greenwood’s suave, capable and gentlemanly editor Luke Brandon, is a better-looking, cooler Hugh Grant. The supporting cast, though, is what really lights up the show.

Krysten Ritter, a slight Anne Hathaway lookalike, is fantastic as Greenwood’s best friend who tries to get her to stop spending so much, with a whole range of performances from the perfectly-executed comedic moments to the more emotional scenes she has nearing the end of the movie. Kristin Scott Thomas, as magazine editor Alette herself, is a hilarious mix of odd accents and even odder personality.

The bevy of guest star cameos, too, while not adding much to the show, are cute. John Lithgow, as head of the entire magazine conglomerate, Joan Cusack and John Goodman as Rebecca’s parents and Ed Helms of The Office fame as a self-help guru on a DVD for financial management all lend their star power to the film.

So, while Confessions Of A Shopaholic might not warrant a full price ticket (and I’ve heard that the book is much better), it doesn’t fare too bad as perhaps a DVD rental or a discounted ticket price.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Pokemon Platinum

As I’ve written in my post about the Wii game Pokemon Battle Revolution, I’m an unabashedly huge fan of the Pokemon video game series which, contrary to what most people think, actually has a lot more depth and competitive potential to it than the kiddy-game facade it sports to most people.

Now, in every generation of Nintendo handheld devices, Nintendo releases one series of Pokemon games (not counting the usually-mediocre spin-offs like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Pokemon Ranger). While two of them will come out at the same time and sport very minor differences between each other (usually regarding the Pokemon available for capture), a third will come out about a year later, touting new features and slightly upgraded gameplay, sort of like a version 2.0.

Pokemon Platinum, the series’ latest offering that got released two weeks ago, is one such “third game”, a follow-up to the phenomenally successfully (and critically raved about) Pokemon Diamond / Pearl, which apparently, looking through this blog’s history, I somehow didn’t review despite having chocked up more than 200+ hours on it since it arrived in Singapore.

As games in aging (yet popular) franchises go, Pokemon Platinum is one of the best. In fact, I’d go on a limb and say it’s the best Pokemon game yet.

For the uninitiated, the premise of the game is simple. Launching the game, you’re put into the shoes of a Pokemon trainer starting out on his journey to become the greatest trainer and battler the land has ever seen. Along the way, you’ll meet different Pokemon (most of which you can battle and capture to add to your team), different trainers and you’ll have to beat eight different gyms in order to qualify for the Pokemon League, where you’ll meet the five most powerful trainers of all.

Story has never been the strong suit of the Pokemon series (despite its label as a role-playing game) but there’s an adequate amounf of it here to move the game along.

Of course, the meat of the game has always been in its gameplay, which admittedly hasn’t changed much since the first game more than ten years ago. But then again, if it ain’t broke and all that right? Despite the core gameplay remaining the same (there’s still loads of Pokemon to capture, nearly 500 in this case; a billion ways to train them and movesets to teach them; a gajillion ways to assemble a team; and loads of trainers to battle), Platinum has added a few more features to make it the most polished entry in the series yet.

For starters (and I’m talking about the differences between Platinum and Diamond / Pearl here, FYI. If I have to talk about this entire generation’s improvements over the last, it would take another ten pages), a whole new section of the world has been added to the game, a new dimension called the Distorted World, featuring a revamped version of a legendary Pokemon (ie. darn powerful and hard to catch) from the DP games. The wireless capabilities of the game have also been updated, with a battle recorder that takes down your latest battle with a friend for your own viewing pleasure.

Then, there’s alternate forms for some old Pokemon. Some of the gyms have been revamped with new puzzles to solve to reach the gym leader. Some items and Pokemon have been shuffled around, with several being able to be caught much earlier in the game. Plus, gym leaders and the Elite Four, not to mention your rival, can be battled over and over again, with higher levels each time. And these are just the more obvious changes. Nintendo has subtly tweaked the game here and there to make it a very polished product and even better than its predecessors, although not terribly obviously.

Although graphics in the Pokemon series have never been bad and in fact been pretty pleasing on the eyes, they have never been a defining point to the series, never pushing the system to its limits like other RPGs have. Still, Nintendo has once again tweaked the graphics of the game slightly, making it just that bit nicer to look at. The Pokemon sprites have been updated, the Poketch item (which fills your bottom screen) now looks niftier and there are a few small graphical touches here and there which are pretty cool to notice.

Like the graphics, sound and music has never been the series’ main strength. Still, while there aren’t any orchestral numbers here a la the Final Fantasy series, the in-game music is strangely addictive, with pleasant soothing tunes for the journeying moments and frantic, exciting music for the battles.

While all the changes and improvements made in Pokemon Platinum are small and subtle, they are innumerable and, as I’ve said, make it the best Pokemon game ever. For those who have never touched a Pokemon game before, there’s no excuse not to try this one. For the hardcore fans who are wondering if the game is worth another purchase (especially for those already have it), take my word for it that it’s worth the price. For the casual gamers who already own Pokemon Diamond / Pearl, though, it might be advisable to try the game out first.

Still, whether or not it warrants a buy after Pokemon Diamond / Pearl, it still stands that Pokemon Platinum is one fantastic game and deserves my first perfect score ever (fitting, for my 100th post). Be warned, though, you can say goodbye to your social life, if you have one, once you get the game. Pokemon Diamond easily sucked more than 200 hours of my life away and this game is only going to do more.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

It’s about your loved ones

Yasmin Ahmad is renown in Singapore and Malaysia for her short videos that play on commercial television. I find her works full of feelings and emotions, yet not overpowering at the same time. She simply paces the audience along, able to control the output of our reactions to her clips with absolute mastery. In fact, I’m not even sure if there’s a film maker who’s even on par with her ability to showcase the little things in life without sounding cliché, or having to butcher everything into mindless flicks like Hollywood.

I love the little twists that come right at you; at the start, you’re absolutely sure that the video’s another rip-off of some well-worn scene: it might be an apparently misbehaving child at school whom refuses to complete his artwork on an “ideal reunion dinner”. Through the middle of the film, you realise that the kid was not intentionally being difficult during class.

It’s social commentary well-done.

Which leads me to another point. Part of the reason why these videos have such a huge impact is that what they portray isn’t some far-fetched, crazy scenario. It’s all about the things happening right now, in our society. We identify with the messages in the videos, because we know that as a collective whole, we’ve not done enough for our families. And I’m not talking about providing for the family’s material needs. Be it coming home for dinner with the entire family, talking to each other more often: it’s about the aspect of family life Singaporeans and Malaysians are both lacking.

We need to start being more emotionally involved with our beloved ones.

Federico Macheda - The New Van Nistelrooy or Rossi?

Federico Macheda‘s name has been the name every English Premier League Football fan is talking about. His last minute goal against European Cup hopefuls Aston Villa two days ago earned Manchester United three all so precious points, as the world’s biggest football league comes to a near end.

Almost unheard of worldwide until two days ago, the Italian centre forward was plucked from Italian Serie A club Lazio’s youth system, when he was just only 15 years old. Two years later, he is now Manchester United’s fifth striker in the season where Sir Alex Ferguson hunts for his third UEFA Champions League title, and 11th Premier League titles. He is known as Kiko by most of his team mates.

Federico Macheda - Hero now, but will his status fall under the double edged hands of Sir Alex?

Here’s a little more about Federico Macheda that everyone should know about. Rome was his birthplace, and playing for Lazio’s youth club was one of his dreams. However, due to strict regulations in Italy, players under the age of 18 were not allowed to be offered professional football contracts. The Manchester United scout did their jobs and stole a gem, then unknown, from the Italian club. He was signed by Manchester United of England, where regulations permit the signing of players aged 16 and up.

At age 16, he went straight into the United under 18 squad, and scored on his debut in a 1-0 victory over Barnsley. In his first season with the club, he finished as the Under-18s’ top scorer with a total of 12 goals in 21 appearances for the under-18s. A staggering achievement for someone his age. He was under the constant care of United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

He earned his first senior call up against Aston Villa a couple of days ago, after outstanding performances in the reserves team, and little did he know that he is going to earn Manchester United three of the most important points in this season’s Premier League race.

Now, many will be wondering if he is going to be a success in the ranks of Manchester United? or is he going to be one of the players whom Sir Alex Ferguson groom, and sell for huge profits. Players like Ruud Van Nistelrooy became a superstar under the influence of Sir Alex Ferguson, and made it to the best in the world under him. Players like Giuseppe Rossi made huge impressions in United’s first team, but was sold off for profit just because there was no space for him due to the superstars in the United squad. We will just have to wait and see. Therefore, being with Sir Alex Ferguson has its pros and cons. Good players like Gerard Pique, Chris Eagles and Giuseppe Rossi fell short, but they are making waves now at their current clubs.  Being under Ferguson is definately putting your career on a double edged weapon.

Macheda stands to be given his first taste on the Champions league circuit tonight as United face FC Porto in the first leg of the quarter-finals. After his performance against Villa, Sir Alex Ferguson said it would be almost impossible to leave him out.

Cooking Risotto

Another week slowly passes by in the Easter holidays, and I hear someone saying: “Risotto, isn’t that just high class porridge?”.

Then I think.

Porridge - that’s easy.

Risotto - I haven’t cooked that before.

Before that day was out, I scouted out the ingredients needed to make basic Risotto, and found another Singaporean to cook that with.

Here is a list of ingredients which we used. This should make about 3-4 servings of risotto.

1 large onion
4 cloves of garlic
Cheese
125 ml of white wine
2 cups of American rice (though, other long grained rice are better, but hey, we are students on a budget)
1.5 l of chicken stock
2 tablespoons of butter
Salt
Pepper

And in the kitchen, this is what we did.

Grate the cheese, and put the grated cheese in a bowl.

Chop up the onions and garlic cloves into fine pieces.

Stir fry the onions and garlic until they are golden in a pan.

4. Add the rice into the pan. (At first, we thought that the rice had to be boiled, but putting trust into our recipe, we dumped the dry rice into the pan.)

5. Mix the rice well with the onions and garlic.

6. Pour in the white wine, as well as about 125 ml of chicken stock. (Useful to use a measuring cup like this)

7. Keep on stirring the rice, until the white wine and chicken stock have been absorbed.

8. Pour about 200 ml of chicken stock onto the rice, and stir the rice until the chicken stock has been absorbed.

9. Repeat step 8 until all the chicken stock (1.5 l) have been used up.

At this stage, the rice should become thicker and thicker, progressing from

to

and to

10. Add in the grated cheese and butter into the risotto, and stir well.

11. Add in salt and pepper.

Tada. Basic risotto!

Of course, eating by itself would be rather bland, so it was quite lucky that I also prepared Mexican chicken on the side,

and we ended up having a simple two course meal at the table.

Although there were just two of us, we made too much risotto, so we put the rest on a third plate. The extra risotto was later stored in a tupperware, and consumed during supper, but that’s another tale to tell.

The first taste of risotto wasn’t what was expected, for it definitely wasn’t high class porridge, unless high class porridge meant that it was so high class the porridge became rice. It was more of cheesy fried rice, with a slight tang of spice to it, but definitely something new to tingle the taste buds. Of course, having a contrasting spicy dish (Mexican chicken) helped as well.

For me, I think it was the type of rice used, which caused the risotto to not be as porridgy as it should be, but again, we are students on a budget. I suppose the solution would be to either add in more liquid (chicken stock, or wine), or use a different kind of rice.

Bearing this in mind, the next time I cook risotto again, I will add in more chicken stock, and perhaps toss in some seafood as well into the pan.

After all, cooking should be about improvisations, and not following recipes blindly.

David Beckham - 32.4 million euros a year

A report from France Football stated that at an aging age of 33 years old, David Beckham is still the highest earner in football. It is the fourth time since 1999 that the ex captain of England topped the earners chart. Even young starlet Lionel Messi and World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo falls short to him.

It is estimated that David Beckham earns around €32 million annualy. Unlike Lionel Messi. If you add up all commercial earnings from Becks, his paycheck is around €32,4 million per year.

Beckham with his recent loan club AC Milan

Lionel Messi is number two on the rankings with an estimated earnings of €28,6 million per year, including commercial activities.

In 2008 that title went to AC Milan player Ronaldinho, who is now third on the list.

From this, we can definitely see that the world is shallow.. looks matter the most!

Another Spanish Soccer Youngster Superstar

Another spanish soccer youngster superstar has caught the eye of many big football clubs in Europe, well English teams to be precise.

Real Murcia striker Daniel Aquino is attracting the interest of a handful of English clubs with Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton all showing interest in signing him in the next transfer window. Known for his pace on the left side of midfield, he recently just scored his first senior goal in the Segunda Division. That is why many clubs are keeping a close eye on him.

Daniel Aquino playing for the Spanish U19 squad early this year

It is known to many that Aquino will be going to Spanish giants Real Madrid at the end of the season, but scouts from England has not given up hope. The Spanish Under 19 wonderkid is priced at 11 million pounds by Murcia for his high future prospect. Well we all know the English teams have no problem paying that sum of money, recession or no recession.