this is for you, JY

although 1 or 2 lines didn't apply for your situation, the song is almost complete.

江美琪-爱哭鬼

我是爱哭鬼
我要哭掉对你思念
我爱哭
大声的哭
你在身边我敢放肆的哭
电影感人
听情歌我都会哭
我爱哭
偷偷的哭
你清楚却伤我那么离谱
几句话语
我的泪却止不住
你说分手时候
彷佛早就想清楚
留我一个
躲在角落
来不及哭
只能傻住
我是爱哭鬼
我要哭掉对你的思念
看着镜子里面没志气的脸
然后越哭越后悔
我是爱哭鬼
我要哭掉对你的依恋
我也知道自己
这样子不对
却还越哭越认真的
为谁
我不哭
我不敢哭
哭只会让视线变得模糊
视线模糊
记忆却会更清楚
你说分手时候
彷佛早就想清楚
留我一个
躲在角落
来不及哭
只能傻住
我是爱哭鬼
我要哭掉对你的思念
看着镜子里面没志气的脸
然后越哭越后悔
我是爱哭鬼
我要哭掉对你的依恋
我也知道自己
这样子不对
却还越哭越认真的
为谁
可悲



i want a song for myself, but i can't find any suitable one that describes my feelings now.

readings on the late Ong Teng Cheong

when i was a primary school kid in 1993, Mr Ong Teng Cheong was appointed as the first elected President of Singapore.

scant memories of him taking the vows; the media coverage are still in my mind. Very likely, you will remember that he was a strong advocate for the rail system (MRT), a politician who did not waver in strong 'party' pressure during his Presidential term.

he was a excellent husband, father, career architect and politician - there were only glowing testimonials for him.

for years i occasionally thought - how i would improve myself, such that i can balance both work and family life in future. I'm still thinking about this.


someone in HWZ Forums published his eulogy to his late wife - it was a touching read.

When I first met her at a party, she was only 15. She was an attractive and lively girl. It was not long before I discovered that she was a thrifty and highly- principled girl as well. We began dating each other. Often, we would meet in coffee shops. Whenever we had lunch, she would insist on paying for her own lunch. Her argument was that her father gave her pocket money that was for her use only, and that my father gave me pocket money that was for my use. So we should pay for our own lunches. At first, I tried to persuade her otherwise, but after two lunches, during which she stood her ground, I realised that it was futile to argue any further, and we subsequently just went Dutch every time we met for lunch.

...

Today, I wish to quote one of our favourite quotations from Su Dong Bo (苏东坡).
He said that to part is inevitable: 人有悲欢离合, 月有阴晴圆缺, 此事古难全。

But in the simple yet poignant words of Bai Ju Yi (白居易), the loss is an eternal pain: 天长地久有时尽, 此恨绵绵无绝期。

We took pride that we had led a clean and honest life and had taken our marriage vows seriously — we had been husband and wife, for better or for worse, till death did us part.

--------------------------------------------------------

Read more about him in politics, in Asiaweek (March 2000).

Customer Portfolio is updated (finally)

in 2003, i developed this JSP-based application to keep a record of computers i assembled for people. It was also to flex my programming muscle before i flex my physical muscle (hehe) for the next 2.5yrs then.

it was based on a 3 tiered architecture (MVC) implemented as JavaBeans. The initial version was limited to listing the records only; i had to manually edit the database to update information.

in 2004 or 2005, the database was upgraded to MySQL. Due to the tiered concept much less work was done during migration.

in 2007, i decided to add editing capabilities (Add/Edit/Delete) to the records. The task was made more difficult because my list of processors in CPU table was badly outdated. However, editing is still incomplete in the sense that my CPU and Hard disk tables are still manually edited. However it is sufficient for the purpose of the application.

a potential future update might be the use of JSTL or recent techniques to prevent my skills from aging. We'll see then.

v2.0 URL: http://mantou.2y.net/CustPF
v1.0 URL: http://mantou.2y.net/CustPFv1
Guest account to login: guest, guest

read more about the last 2 rigs i assembled.

questions at work

the proverbial monday blues came true.

i'm told of a new arrangement that is not going down quite well for myself.

as i don't want to talk about this publicly, let me just say that the new arrangement is a big disappointment considering my efforts in the past year. Also, the treatment is less than ideal for a worker in an educational environment, even though i'm a part-timer per se.

i'm literally being tossed into tight corners, to do things i cannot disagree nor agree.

full stop.

day out shopping

i planned to wake up at 9am, but still unable to even as i programmed my aircon to turn off at 8.30am! In the end i snoozed till 12pm =x

today was a day i hopped around in many buses and trains (watch in horror as i recap with bus registration plates intact):

- Sv 903, TIB 1140E to Interchange
- Sv 960, TIB 1063U to Bugis
- Sv 33, SBS 0035B to Clarke Quay (transfer)
- NEL to Chinatown (transfer)
- NEL to Dohby Ghaut (transfer)
- Sv 106, TIB 1087B to Suntec
- Sv 36, SBS 2727A to Airport
- Sv 858, TIB 585L to Woodlands
- Private car back home (phew)

i'm not mad, but i'm a mild bus enthusiast who remembers more details. I can tell at most, the bus plate number by its advertisement or engine noise (limited to Woodlands services), that's all!

anyway, my first stop was at Chinatown, to buy some toiletries. It's indeed cheaper than buying from Watsons. Just accumulate or buy a significant number of items to feel the difference.

The hawker centre beside OG, 3rd floor - Ocean and LeyWah are very competitive

The savings are substantial, you know

had my early dinner at the hawker itself, Koo Kee yong tau foo. I wanted to patronise the more famed stall (run by 3 brothers), but the sales were so good that they declared sold-out by 5pm.

then went to Suntec's eLife Mall to buy my mouse. I couldn't get $147.90, only $155 (!). Managed to negotiate for $150, but only by cash. Since i spent much effort looking (and walking), i settled for $155 via credit.

it was my 1st time using the Citi card, which i've been putting off as i'm not mentally prepared. Yes, not mentally prepared. I intend to set aside cash for the card charges... not playing with fire since debts can be pretty serious in terms of credit rating and damage to my own life imo.

next zoomed off to airport and did 2hrs of coding there. My Customer Portfolio is up soon; the Add and Update features is completed. Now left the Delete and Webmaster login features. Good training for my CS3214, although it was plain old JSP with MVC design, since it was developed in 2003. Will be releasing for preview soon, if anyone is interested.

just had kopi with Wenqun, GY and Eze. Had quite a fierce discussion on NTUC's Jackpots in AMK Hub, and heard abit on Estate duties. I still feel NTUC has a social responsibility to fulfill, and it is not doing that when it opened that Jackpot room in the heartlands. Especially when NTUC is very much linked to our ruling party in Singapore.

by and large it was quite a fruitful session, although i was feeling bored during the televised football match. No love for football.

friendster and blogroll update

as promised (to myself) i have uploaded some great events that happened in my life during the past 3 months to Friendster.

the blogroll is also updated!

simlim action

many people know simlim is the place to get electronic stuff. But most of them won't know there are so many carrot head choppers lurking around. And some dare you, the customer, to call in police because they know nothing can be done to them for selling water goods/lemons/incomplete packaged goods.

be alert and check! Some don't include GST into the quoted price until you pay the bill, or take some stuff out and attempt to sell to you as "accessories". Like batteries, pouches and what not.

today i went over to shop for the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter 8000. I was in Skylet when i heard a woman saying something over the PA - "all security guards to level 2 NOW"!

then of course, many Singaporeans are busybodies (including me). Word passed around that there was a fight in a Level 2 shop. When i went out, the party has already dispersed to the security counter, where an indian lady was gesturing wildly. I guessed the shopkeeper tried to slap her from her actions. Cool.

in the end, i didn't buy the mouse. Fuwell was selling it at $165, but i remembered somewhere was selling for $147.90. I thought that 'somewhere' was in Funan, but what i found there was $179. Oh no, where did i see that $147.90 sticker???


on the way home i decided to carry out the duties of ticket inspector for SMRT Buses. Was complaining about 960's frequency last weekend, and after visual checking of 4-5 buses coming out from Marina Bay, i'm confident i can get PTC to investigate:

- 15-20 mins frequency, above guaranteed of 12-15 mins
- woodlands bound buses were typically overloaded after Bugis Village bus stop (crazy)
- further violation of overloading and standing on steps rule

SMRT Buses, good luck. I'm really pissed at the service quality yet you proposed a fare hike. Gonna make your corp comms dept suffer.

Dec 2007 travel update

around the same time last month, i was saying Shanghai wasn't possible due to the price tag and limited time (50 hours, round trip on rail is no joke). Since then i relooked into the impossibility (i REALLY want to visit Shanghai), and finally killed off the plan during discussion with HK just now.

- if we took the KCR rail option, the travel time is 25 hours from Hung Hom to Southern Shanghai in 1 way only. The cost is HKD660 (S$132) for soft sleeper class.
- considering we have only 10 days, we have to shave off 25*2=50hrs on the rail travel alone.

- if we took the domestic flight option, the travel time is 4 hours in 1 way (fantastic). The cost, however is HKD3300 (S$660) for economy class on Air China. *vomit blood*

the idea was close to being ridiculous in terms of time and/or money, so Shanghai was removed for good. I'm sorry Renzhi! :(

we took 2.5 hours just to confirm the hotel/hostel and plan first few days. Omg.

our draft itinerary:

18 dec
- 0830: depart via CIA T2
- 1230: immigration clearance, movement to TST via MTR or taxi
- 1530: board ferry to Macau
- 1630: check in to Sintra Hotel
- evening: browsing of Sands Casino

18, 19 and 20 dec
- visit to St Paul's ruins, Macau Tower (+Skywalk), Ma Zhu Temple, Big 38 (i don't know what is this though)
- find Goong's fliming site in Coloane Island
- shopping at Senado Square, Yaohan, Fisherman's Wharf

- return to HK in mid noon, check in to Yesinn Hostel
- victoria peak

21 dec
- 1st half at Lantau Island
- 2nd half shopping at Tung Cheng, Mongkok streets, Symphony of Lights, LKF

22-27 dec (broad idea)
- 1-2 days in Central, Wanchai, Tung Lo Wan, Pau Ma Tei
- 1-2 days in TST, Yau Ma Tei, Mongkok, Wong Tai Sin
- 1 day in New Territories; Wetland/Nature Reserve, Sha Tin/Sai Kung
- 1 day in Shenzhen
- 1 day in Lamma Island

somehow, i realised 10 days seem rather short!

cheers to HK who will be undertaking accomodation logistics.

those who have been to HK/Macau, please let me know any worthy places i might be missing!