Gamble on, SIN-gapore

In case you have not heard, Singapore is having not one, but TWO casinos!!! Oops, I mean "integrated resorts" which casinos is only a teeny-weeny part of it...bleh <_<

Went to Las Vegas just 1+ month ago, and was really dazzled by the magnificent casinos. Each of it is really "chio" in its own right, and you feel like a king even if you are not spending much there, because there is plenty of free entertainment enticing and hynotizing you, so much so that you will just surrender your money without even realizing it...frankly, it is quite difficult to live up to a reputation like Las Vegas, and Macau is too low-class an act to follow given its high accessibility and shabby facades. But we shall see what happens in 2009...

Viva La SIN-gapura! hiakz..

Funny parodied Jay song

You really gotta give it to them...a X-rated parody of Jay Chou's song, lyrics written by someone from China...not for under-18, you have been warned! =P

(PS: no offence to Jay's fans, just something I got off the net for a laugh)

Weekend comes...

Went KTV with hubby, sis-in-law and her hubby for a short 3-hr session yesterday. Have been going ktv with them recently since we live only a few mins' walk from them, and for the same reason, we also engage in occasional mahjong sessions.

Went to Sim Lim Sq to get a wireless router but the connection to the laptop was intermittent while I was filling in a long AC Nielsen survey online, and frustration kicked in when the connection dropped for the 3rd time.

Anyway, we had a hearty weekend eating session as usual. We went Bugis area to pray at the Guan Yin temple, but not before stopping by the Ice Monster for a mango ice and mixed fruit ice. At around $5 each, they were a welcoming and cooling treat. The service was pretty good too. We also enjoyed some good mince meat noodles at our fave stall in the SLS basement, and after that went on for some Rochor tao huey.

Along the way, we discovered a lovely confectionery in Middle Road called Le Cafe (near the famous Chinese prata stall). The durian puffs were nice (according to hubby and granny, since I don't like the spiky one), and the pineapple "golf balls" (as they are shaped as such) were really delicious! They also offered us their new creation, Beancurd Tarts (done in the same way as eggtarts) to sample. The beancurd topping was smooth and the pastry crust was done just right. Highly recommended! Their tiramisu cakes are selling at $21 for half-kg, and look really tempting...hmm, considering to get it for Mother's Day =)

Sigh (football chit)

Well, Liverpool only managed to draw Spurs 2-2 last night...could see they were trying hard, but what's the use when the table didn't reflect such? My heart really went out to Gerrard when he missed the penalty and his shot hit the post in the dying moments.

Guess they were all tired out by the mid-week triumph over Juve...it was a remarkable feat considering the Reds were the underdogs before going into the game, but now they are into the semi of CL, facing the arrogant "Chelski" bunch. Mourinho is typical of what Chinese would call "hao lian", riding on the backing of a rich Russian. tsk tsk, now we are seeing a lot of Chelsea fans sprouting out from everywhere, in the same fashion about a decade ago when every other fan claimed to support Blackburn...yeah, in the season when they were champs of course. Now they are the present-day Wimbledon, tackling and studding their way to impede permanent injuries on their opponents. They were a pretty respectable team before, what had Mark Hughes done to them? The game vs Arsenal was a disgraceful display of football brutality at its best (or worst). It was justice that Arsenal thumped them 3-0, giving them a good lesson on how football should be played, sans violence.

Talking about talking cock...

Talk about selective reporting (and talking cock *roll eyes*): look no further than this piece from TalkingCock. Starts off with an innocent request by a journalist to an interviewee on his views on a certain issue, and ends with the same journalist/his editor who decides to use only the most "controversial" (and political bum-rubbing?) opinions to construe a skewed article. Remarkable insights on the internal workings of the 'interview-to-article' process...

Amazing Race *bam bam bam*

Amazing Race day today...a pity Brian and Greg was kicked out in the last round. IMO they were among the strongest contenders for the million-dollar prize, but initial loofiness and misfortunes later resulted in their downfall. And thanks to the article in TODAY, I confirmed my suspicions that he was the same goofball in the Heineken ad with Jennifer Aniston where he snagged the last carton of beer from the shelves from her. Oh, how I hope the nasty pair of Rob and Amber won't win the race...hmphz* "Who will be eliminated...next?"

Belated birthday dinner with friends...and some after-thoughts

Had dinner with buddy, kelly and leo in Terra Cafe. Thanks to them all for putting aside time to celebrate a belated birthday with me...esp leo, who had to go to US "soon" *roll eyes*

I once thought that past-20, one would become less and less inclined to celebrate birthdays. I mean, what's the big deal? It's just another day!...However, the recent disasters like the tsunami and Nias earthquake make me realize that birthdays are, indeed, worth celebrating. Everytime you celebrate being a year older, think about how fortunate you are that you are still able to have your loved ones and friends around you on this day, as compared to people who have barely enough to eat and are struggling to survive, not to even mention about celebrating birthdays.

Taking people and things for granted has already become a way of life for most of us. We expect our loved ones and friends to be with us on that special day, we expect expensive pressies, delicious birthday cakes and fancy meals, we expect others should know that we are celebrating our birthdays and therefore we are the kings for that day and everyone should abide to our whims...but come to think of it, who are we to demand such from others? We are just the luckier ones who are fortunate enough to be alive still on our birthdays and have people love and accept us for who we are...the same people who are magnanimous enough to forgive our mistakes and bad behaviour, gush about our brilliance to others, rejoice with us when we are having the best of times and share our sorrows when we are down in the dumps...

Take a moment to reflect on how you have treated your loved ones thus far....afterall, they have given us so much of their time, love and efforts, so surely, this is not too much to ask of...or is it?

Some sports updates for the uninitiated

• Barca lost 2-4 to Real (darn).
• Tiger nicked the Masters.
• Liverpool is playing without their injured captain Steven Gerrard against Juve for the 2nd leg of CL quarter-finals.
• AC Milan's captain Paolo Maldini is fit to face Inter.
• ...

Correlating donating to charity shows with "have you got a heart" quotient

NKF raised >S$ 6 million in yesterday's show. Ya lah, I admit I watched it for 5566 LoL, but my namesake's performance really blew me away. That is what I call a super-diva. A pity they didn't invite Luo Dayou to sing "Hai Shang Hua" with her, afterall he was the composer of this classic song.

As usual, dangerous stunts were the roosts of the day. As expected, there would be initial fluff ups which made audiences sit on the edge of their seats and frantically reaching for the handphones to make donation calls. When they finally finish the acts (triumphantly of course), audiences would break into rapturous applause and needless to say, make even more donation calls. It really makes me wonder if Singaporeans are really that sadistic that the riskier the stunts are (and the more attractive the prizes), the more they will then donate?

Don't be mistaken, I have an empathizing heart and strongly believe that "giving is better than receiving". However, lengthening charity shows to more than 3 hrs per show, and now they even have 3 shows (so I've heard) for the same fund-raising event, all these do not go down well with me. That's a grand total of 10 hours of charity show devoted to a single NKF cause, spanning nearly one entire month. And I have yet to mention other charity shows like the "President's Challenge" and "Children's Medical Fund" (by NKF again). Don't they realize that charity overdrive for these few exclusive organizations will just cannibalize into the fund-raising efforts of other just-as-needy organizations?

I still routinely donate to such shows, though I have actually started to experience "charity shows lethargy" since 2 years ago. Soon the charity shows overdose will trigger off negative marginal utility (hah! Econs!) in me, and it will just totally turn me off from donating to such shows ever again, notwithstanding the hosts constantly screaming, "Haven't you got a heart? Haven't you got a phone? If you have, please call in to donate NOW!!" I have a heart, I have a phone, but it's my choice who I want to donate to. If I should need any reason to donate, it is only because I believe in the work of the charity organization, not for how fanciful the fund-raising shows are.

(All opinions expressed are solely my own. They are not meant to offend anyone. Thank You.)

Some news from China (I am not politically apathetic, yeah)

Read some interesting news on the Greater China region in Lianhe Zaobao.

• One of the biggest anti-Japan rally in China was sparked in protest against Japan's approval of the school syllabus glossing over Japan's wartime atrocities during WWII. Granted, the violence to the Japanese establishments in China was rather uncalled for, and the China government could have done more to curb such a riotous situation, but what was unbelieveable is that after so many years, Japan still refused to apologize for their wartime atrocities and even claimed the war as an act "to free the Chinese". Tut tut. GWB (read: America's biggest moron) must have learnt the art of word-twisting from these people.
• Taiwanese were up in arms to protest against Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Su Chin-chiang's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan. He claimed to be paying his respects to the Taiwan soldiers who died while being forced to serve in the Japanese military during Japan's colonial rule over the province, particularly during WWII. However, that didn't quite cut with the Chinese population, not only in Taiwan but also China who suffered from the atrocities of the Japanese military during WWII. They saw the act as cordoning the horrid WWII atrocities by Japan and a way to "carry Japan's balls". Needless to say, this moron was pelted with eggs by the outrageous public when he returned to Taiwan.
• A China teacher jumped in front of a car which was speeding towards her students and acted as a human shield in between the car and the students. She eventually died from serious injuries and the whole province mourned for the noble act of the teacher. It's hard to imagine that such a selfless person still exists in this "world is me, I'm the world" society, but it's also because of such benevolent souls that I believe "hope springs eternal".

One moronic nation and one stupid man could have easily spoilt my day, but the heroics of one single teacher makes me realize that not everything is beyond hope.

Debut post. Liverpool lost. Duh.

I don't know why I have to choose the day after Liverpool lost to a last-minute goal by Man City to start my debut post, but well...I am not so much of a football fanatic, though I really do enjoy watching the game (most of the times anyway, unless a team stacks 10 players in defence in front of the keeper). Been a Liverpool fan for more than 10 years, I did not have the chance to witness the Reds' glory days back in the 70s and 80s, but I am really contented to be part of the Red's supporting brigade. Win, lose or draw, you'll never walk alone. "Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart..."