The planets must have aligned themselves again when I agreed to guest blog on Style-Damsel. Note that there is http://www.styledamsel.com and there is http://style-damsel.blogspot.com, which the latter is the blog site of the online shop.

So anyway, me? JayWalk? Write about fashion? What do I know about fashion? Well, to be frank not much to be an authority of sorts. What I will be writing will be just pure common sense observation with a pinch of crystal ball gazing thrown in.

I hope to make this a once-a-month feature coz that is about as much fashion mojo that I can muster up at one go at any one time.

So without further ado, my debut fashion piece. Enjoy while I get a local model xmm to massage my exhausted brain.

Sigh.... things I do for xmms..... 

p.s. You owe me, Dzigna!! 

(24 Jul 2008) - Shanghai-born Du Juan is a Chinese supermodel and the first Oriental model to grace the front cover of the prestigious French Vogue magazine back in 2006. 2 years later in April 2008, she was again featured by French Vogue magazine as Top Model.

Oriental presence in the Western world started humbly in the early days and was led by the men who forayed into Hollywood. Names ranging from Bruce Lee to Chow Yun Fatt to John Woo to Jackie Chan are all familiar household names in the West. The women were not far behind with Joan Chen to Gong Li to Zhang Ziyi, just to name a few.

Perhaps the milestone happened in the year 2000 where the hit movie "Crouch Tiger, Hidden Dragon" scored big at the Academy Awards and the walk of the red carpet prior, an fashion event on its own merit, finally put an Oriental face to glamour fashion.

The rest, if I may steal an old cliché, is history.

So the question now is if the Oriental face will be the next fad in the global fashion industry? What would be the impact?

I would have to say in my humble opinion, yes to the short term and no the long term.

Yes, the Oriental face is the current new curiousity of the fashion world. Move aside Naomi Campbell (African). Step away Adriana Lima (Latina). Get lost Kate Moss (Caucasian)!

It's true that the Western world are more interested in us especially when we are starting to gain more visibility. We had the football World Cup held in Korea and Japan back in 2002 and we now have the Beijing Olympics due to start only in a matter of days. In the past, we see very few Oriental models on the international catwalks is perhaps due to the fact that body shape and size differs too much from their western counter-parts, thus making it extremely difficult to include them as part of the fashion program master plan. This however, is a thing of the past as perhaps with better nutrition, the gap between Oriental and Western body shapes and size are now very very close. Tall Oriental models are easily spotted everywhere these days.

The true pushing force to launch the Oriental face to the global arena is actually MONEY. China's money to be exact.

Over the years, China's economy has grown from strength to strength at such a dizzy pace that it is now merely a matter of time before China surpasses USA as the global leader in the world's economy. We may all end up working for the Chinese Lao Ban one day, like it or not.

The buying power of the Chinese is so great in the modern day that it would be foolish for the fashion houses to ignore this juicy slice of lucrative pie. The proud French have already relented and accepted the Chinese drinking their Bordeaux with 7-UP. So how hard can it be now to put an Oriental face on their latest catwalk?

The Chinese are not only here to stay, they will buy the catwalk too while sipping cognac stirred with green tea.

Long term-wise, it is not that big of a deal as the novelty will eventually die down as human civilisation heads towards homogeneity. By then, the Oriental face will be no more peculiar than a Latino or Caucasian or African.

So no. Not everything will go Oriental at the end of the day, but we will start to see more and more designs with Oriental inspiration.

Man Tou and Camembert, anyone?

JayWalk is a guy who is not stupid enough to ink a refrigeration symbol on his wrist permanently, not rich enough to afford plastic surgery, not popular enough to win an OMY blog nomination, not brave enough to camwhore, not young enough to get away with wRitInG aLtErnAtE cAps, not old enough to get MRT senior citizen discount, not Beng enough to have a pack of Marlboro under the shoulder of his t-shirt nor AngMoh enough to drink tea with the pinkie sticking out. Yet, "All Your XMMs Are Belong To JayWalk" as the Tok Kok King pulls off a literary smoke grenade piece on the fashion world. Go figure.

Image Credit: http://images.nymag.com

I was reading DuaPaiLang & Missus' trip to get an aura reading and the consultant noted that both have not had enough and/or proper sleep in recent months and that health was not at optimum level.

Question is.

Who has?

Perhaps a show of hands if you have been getting enough decent sleep of late and that you are in perfect health?

I am really not surprised if I don't hear even a positive response from anyone.

Blame it on the perils of modern civilisation. We have so many distractions to chase that we are too often than not, short of time to pursue them. All of us in the region of my age demographics (17 to 47) have a big chunk of our day time taken away each day. To some, it's call a job. To the younger ones, it's called school. Even that varies from individual to individual. We hear of nightmare stories of accountancy newbies leaving the office past midnight for months on ends or even a year or two. Or students, especially those who have to juggle work and studies at the same time.

So by right, we aren't left with much time per day to do any other thing and yet we yield to the temptations to all the distractions around us, TV, parties, web surfing, net chatting, blogging(!) etc. which means that we have to dip our hands into the time originally allocated for sleep.

Ironically, the less time we have for rest, the more we want to "Not-Rest". It is almost unheard of to hear (no pun intended) people going to bed at 10pm and we no longer bad an eyelid to see people staggering into the office after just barely gotten to sleep at 4am earlier.

First to be throw out of the window is sleep time followed by time allocated for exercise.

So thinking about us in the modern society, there is no way one can get enough proper sleep and to be in perfect health.

Agree? 

Image Credit: Flickr - stuartguthrie; http://members.petfinder.org

- Voxeros

• Associated Press (19 Jul 2008) - A 540-Calorie Big Mac? NY Chains Post Calorie Info

New York City recently started enforcing chain restaurants to openly declare the calorie count of their products.

So naturally, I did a calorie search of both McDonald's and Burger King's item offerings.

Taking both restaurant's flagship burgers, it's Big Mac (540 calories) vs Whopper (670 calories). Then again, it must be noted that the Whopper is about 25% bigger than the Big Mac. TehSiSiuDai's favourite Double Cheeseburger weighs in at 440 calories.

A KFC crispy 3-piece meal of a wing, a breast, a drumstick, a side serving of mashed potato, a side serving of cole slaw and a medium Pepsi would set you back by as much as 1300 calories.

• Click Here For Calorie Information of McDonald's products.
• Click Here For Calorie Information of Burger King's products.
• Click Here For Calorie Information of KFC's products.

Frankly, if you ask me, these calorie number don't mean anything to me except that a young adult's daily intake should be 2500 calories i.e. 2 KFC 3-piece meal per day.

I think what the NYC gahmen is trying to do is to "shame" the restaurants with their products' high numbers but seriously if you ask me, it's not going to work.

First of all, we all know that fast food being what it is, is sure to make you put on the kilos if you consume it too frequently. As with all things good and bad, moderation is key and it is not like we are doing a Spurlock, eating junk food breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The moment, we stepped into the restaurant, we know what we are asking for. So let's cut the crap that you are unaware the frequent eating of fast food will bound to pile up the kilos. Hence I was appalled to hear of the case where two girls tried to sue McDonald's for their obesity. 

Secondly, taking in less then the required daily intake of calories doesn't mean you are eating healthily. 2,500 for young adult men and 2,000 for young adult women is what is needed to function normally. Eating less is merely forcing the body to dip into the reserves to top up the shortfall and hence the concept of dieting.

However, food intake is not just about the calories. It is also about the nutrients e.g. vitamins, minerals, fibre etc. So IMHO opinion to maintain or lose weight healthily, the way to do it is not the reduce the calorie intake but to increase the calorie expenditure by exercising more.

p.s. I am sure many have heard the joke where the guy who order the full bucket of fried chicken, asked for Diet Pepsi because he is on diet? Well, actually by switching to diet soda, he did save 180 calories on a medium serving. Yes, it may rather ironic considered how many calories are loaded in that 1 bucket but it still 180 calories saved nevertheless.

- Voxeros

(Click To Enlarge)

I was watching the morning news on the telly when I caught this TVC. This is the sequel to an earlier Ch1nese herbal shampoo TVC, of which they got Jackie Chan to be the spokesperson.

I loved the way Jackie Chan presented himself in the spot as he said that he will not do an ad for a product that he has not tried nor believed. The TVC was done as if it was a behind-the-scene documentary where Jackie Chan was being interviewed in between takes, which of course in this case was the TVC itself. I like that way he said that he discussed with the director to take the shot as is i.e. without post editing to make his hair blacker, shinier and none of that slow motion swinging/flowing of the hair as we so commonly see in other shampoo TVCs. Then he went on to ruffled up his hair with his fingers into a messy head. 

Nice touch.

Still, it was after all a paid advertorial and as such, no matter how Jackie Chan gushed over the product in the quasi-unplugged-documentary-like-ad, a big pinch of salt is recommended. 

The sequel featured a drink tea setting with this girl in black (above) with Jackie Chan. Somewhere in the dialogue, it was revealed that she is an actress from Singapore.

When you are in a foreign land long enough, there are certain keywords that would trigger your brain and perk your ears when you hear it. Understandably, "新加坡" was one of them.

I did a bit of sleuthing on the internet and initially, I thought that was Phyllis Quek. But (1) she doesn't look like the Phyllis Quek that I remembered and (2) where's the forehead mole?

Further digging around the internet and it was eventually discovered that the girl is Irene Ong.

Question: Who is Irene Ong?

Man... I've been away for way too long already. :(

p.s. I tried locating the youtube for the commercial clips but to no avail. Anyone have better luck? 

 - Voxeros

Got this youtube from Gary and it's the trailer for a coming docu-comedy directed by our fellow Singaporean Lian Pek, due to be officially released on 7 Aug 2008, the eve of the opening of the Be1Jing Olymp1c Games.

Some people have complained that this is a film produced to mock the Ch1nese people for their bad English. However, I thought the contrary as I felt, based on the trailer, that this is a light-hearted and inspiring film. It shows us the effort of the Ch1nese people are putting in to make sure the foreign guests feel welcome and comfortable in Ch1na. Then perhaps some time in the future this generous hospitality may be reciprocated to them when the Ch1nese people go visit them.

Sounds like the perfect world isn't it? Well, yeah and that's the direction that we should be heading for. Peace comes from understanding and embracing, which in turn comes from open communications.

If you look at our history, you would have noticed that conflicts all derived from the various differences. We have the Crusades and the Middle-East conflicts owing to a difference in faith, we have the World Wars and Apartheid owing to a difference in race and we have the Korean, Vietnam and Cold wars owing to a difference in political philosophy.

As terrible as lives are lost in these conflicts, the one thing good that came out from it is that we learn the costs of going to war vs the benefits of maintaining peace. Fortunately/Unfortunately, this learning is still an ongoing process but looking at ourselves from Day 1 to the present day, mankind is significantly less trigger-happy now. We still have quite a bit of ground to cover to the eventual utopia stage of World Peace *bimbo beauty queen wave* but I believe we will get there eventually.

So coming back, the bottom line is all about understanding and embracing each other for who we are and that comes from the fundamental basis of communication. Hence, it is time to work together and tear down the Tower of Babel and reunite as one people again.

Coming back to the trailer. It is very encouraging to see the Ch1nese folks learning to speak English even if it spattered all over the place. At least they are trying. I have know quite a few friends who have migrated to the US for more than 10 years and yet their level of English is quite pathetic. Why? The fear of speaking it. Perhaps it is in the Ch1nese DNA, that losing face when speaking English poorly scares us.

Don't.

Just keep trying and working it along the way for that is the only way to improve. It's a chicken-and-egg situation. You scared to speak, you don't improve. You don't improve, you scared to speak.

I always tell people that as long as you are able to get your message across correctly, the job is done regardless of how the process of delivery is done. The job is done.

Image Credit: http://www.moviexclusive.com

- Voxeros

As we all know that in Western cultures, the number 13 is considered unlucky and as such it is not uncommon to find the 13th storey missing in the older colonial buildings in Singapore.

So the usual practice would be to skip the number 13 entirely or to add an extra level on 12 i.e. Level 12 then Level 12A before going up to Level 14.

Well, it seems that this building that my friend is currently staying in Spitland has more of less the same idea, except that in Ch1nese culture, the number 4 (which symbolises death) is the unlucky number instead.

But wait, it doesn't just stop at the number 4 but all numbers with the number 4 in it.

Hence as you can see in the picture on the left, we have Floors 3F, 13F and 23F to which the ang moh would say is lagi suay since now got not 1 but 2 x Level 13s.

So anyway, my part of Spitland is relatively ulu compared to the big cities like Shanghai, ShenZhen and Beijing i.e.  skyscrapers. I can imagine what they would do to Level 40 to 49 of a 50-storey-or-higher building?

- Voxeros

We have had only about 6 days of dry weather in the last month as summer hits us as angrily as Cakie smiles for the camera and/or eating. :P

Rain, storms (Alerts Yellow, Orange & Red) and typhoon one after another, bodies of water started to appear everywhere. It could be due to poor drainage or potholes or just the natural terrain that turn the slightly depression in the ground into an oasis.

My area is on a furious pace of development which translates into lots and lots of constructions here there and everywhere. Problem is that when this is work being done, there is no warning signs to tell you so. There isn't even the one guy in luminous orange vest waving his little flag. Nothing. Nada.

So here I was, at one end of an uncompleted route where we had to bash through coz the original road that we used to take to go home is gridlocked as a result of...? ... you guessed it. Road works.

This new road is currently completed and fully tarmac-ed in the middle leaving both ends incomplete. We were reaching the other end of this road when we saw this car with its head smacked stuck into a rather deep watery pit.

If you look at the picture closely, the concrete path just behind the sunken car was a main road. Who in the world would have expected a big pit, made invisible by muddy water filling it up to the brim, be right next to the main road?

Well, I am most glad I wasn't the one to have to find out head first (no pun intended).

Click below to enlarge additional pictures from different angles.

Welcome to Spitland.

(Click To Enlarge)

- Voxeros

Not this is not the aftermath of an earthquake.

However to tell this story, I must rewind to the day before where I was on my way home from work. This was on the same street where people were catching fish after Typhoon FengShen broke the reservoir's bank. Given that it has been raining almost everyday since albeit not as heavy, I thought we were encountering another fish catching session when we started to see lots of cars and people gathering.

Only difference was that we were already past the reservoirs already and the folks were crowding around this newly constructed condo. I sensed something not right when we started seeing police cars and trucks and about 60+ police officers in their anti-riot gear, as we got nearer. Truncheons, shields and helmets, the whole nine-yards and they were in ready formation.

Something is definitely not right. 

As it turned out according to my World Champion Chauffeur, the gahmen is tearing down this spankingly new condo project and the riot police were there to neutralised any resistance by force, if necessary.

The story, as I was told, was that this project was built without the local gahmen's approval. The developer, obviously thinking that he had the backing of some official, high in the ranks, decided to push ahead with the project despite lacking the necessary permits and numerous warnings.

So what the local gahmen decided to do at the end of the day was to wait for the developer to complete the project before sending the troops with the demolition cranes to tear everything down.

Sibeh guai lan. Must purposely wait until people "seal roof" then send in the muscles to tear it down. Then again, maybe it was a case of you guai lan me, I guai lan you back lor.

I had originally wanted to take pictures of the riot police stand off but didn't dare as there were police everywhere and I may get hauled up by them for taking pictures.

So instead, I only have pictures of the aftermath the day after.

More pictures below to give you an idea how big this condo project was.

(Click Each Picture To Enlarge)

- Voxeros

So I was on my way to the ShenZhen airport from D0ngGuan where we have to go through the tunnel as the airport is on the other side.

We were there around late afternoon and the traffic was getting pretty heavy as there is a highway interchange further ahead aggravating the whole traffic situation further. It wasn't exactly a traffic jam in the sense of a gridlock but merely of a moving jam.

So here the thing about my World Champion Chauffeur. He is the type who die die must be first to leave the blocks when the lights turn green. He is the type who die die must close up the gap between him and the car before him if he sees a signal light from the next lane. He is the type who die die must change lane in front of the car in the next lane rather than behind.

Oh. He is also the dumbass who chalked up 52 traffic tickets (@ RMB 200 ) each in a single year.

Anyway, coming back to the tunnel. We had an asshole in the black Toyota who decided to switch lane at the last minute without signaling and cutting into our lane and at a time when my World Champion Chauffeur was trying to close up the gap in front of him to prevent people coming into his lane.

As anyone would have expected it, BONK!

So in the middle of the tunnel of the already jammed tunnel, these two jokers suddenly stopped the car in the middle of the traffic-jammed tunnel to access the damage. Fortunately, given that we were traveling pretty slowly to begin with, then was no damage to our respective rubber bumpers.

Welcome to Spitland. 

- Voxeros

Hair For Hope is an annual event (5th year running) organised by the Children's Cancer Foundation.

It is an event where volunteers from the public step forward to shave off their hair as a show of support.

So why the unusual act of shaving off the locks? Well, for starters, Children's Cancer Foundation as the name suggests is geared towards supporting of children patient of cancer and hair loss is a common trait as a result of chemotherapy treatment.

In a way, it is just an attention-grabbing event but for a good reason. Now that people are noticing, the Children's Cancer Foundation hopes to use the platform of this publicity to create awareness of children's cancer.

From there, they hope to get support from well wishers financially and/or otherwise.

This year's Hair For Hope is held at VeloCity@Novena Square where fellow Barflies Gary, Shelly and Nash, together with baby Barfly Joshua and Joshua's grand-uncle Henry were all there to give up their locks in a show of solidarity.

KUDOS!!

So anyway, to show my support, I am plugging this and hopefully you can do the following:

1. Visit the Children's Cancer Foundation to learn more about what they are doing. Perhaps this is somewhere you can offer your volunteer services?
   
   
2. Donate to the Children's Cancer Foundation if you are looking for some place to make a donation.
   
   
3. Plug this on your respective blog and spread the word around. I feel that this is a good message that should be share with all.

- Voxeros

Getting better!

Natalie is the daughter of a friend of Sheylara. She was born with a cleft lip which means that she will be going through countless number of surgeries until she is 18 in order to get it fixed.

The bad news is the trauma of endless surgeries (not to forget the accumulated magnitude of the medical bills) but the good news is that all will be good at the end of the day and Natalie will be able to lead a normal life like everybody else eventually, unlike some other conditions where there is no cure. 

It is a trying time also for the parents and families. Being a person who is also going through something similar, I know how that feels.

I am plugging this as a show of support to Sheylara who is plugging this as well.

Well, this is merely the introduction of the plug.

What we are really plugging today is to urge you to do the following

1. Spare a few minutes and visit the Operation Smile website to learn about the condition. Donations are welcome.
   
   
2. Check out the WAFF Carnival which is a fund raiser event for the Cleft and Craniofacial Support Group. The event will be held at *scape Youth Park, on July 13, 2008. WAFF stands for "Warm And Fuzzy Feeling" and it is an organisation geared towards creating awareness and educating the public of cleft lip and palate conditions.
   
   
3. Also mark your calendar for 25 & 26 July 2008 as the IGNITE Music Festival 2008 will be held at Republic Polytechnic. Festival also supportsthe cause. Do go down on either or both days to check it out.
   
   
4. Spread the word about this. And/or plug this on your blog. Come on people! Let's make this happen!

Image Credit: http://www.sheylara.com 

- Voxeros 

(Click To Enlarge)

My thanks to KosherJellyFish, MsVindicta and her sister (got blog?) for trying to help with above spoof ad. Thanks!

It was hilarious when KosherJellyFish cried out that she couldn't bend my "twitter". Too hard! Genghis Khan Horse!! LOL!!

Well, it looks like the CowBoyBar is making a mass exodus over from Twitter to Plurk. Possibly due to the frustrating frequent downtimes of the former servers for all sorts of reasons ranging from server overload, to technical maintenance, to blah blah blah.

Sorry Twitter, we are not patient people who just sit around waiting for you guys to figure this out.

Still Twitter does have it's advantages, one of which is the ability to receive twits via SMS. The interface is also neater and less tiresome from having to click all over the place. 

However, this is just the initial stages as I slowly gotten used to moving around Plurk already and not be as flustered as before.

Ready to sound the death knell of Twitter then? Well, perhaps not quite yet as I am still using Twitter's feed widget for my blog on the right side column. For some strange reason, the script from Plurk's feed widget interferes with the script of my Tagboard. Dunno why.

So for now, I am using Plurk and through Feedtwitter to relay the feed from Plurk over to Twitter.

Come join the CowBoyBar on Plurk today!

- Voxeros

(Click To Enlarge)

There is a contest organised by the good people of HP and posted on Sheylara's blog.

The above is my entry for the contest although I am not exactly sure if the suits at HP will appreciate the humour.

Probably not and there goes my chance of winning one of these babies. Bah humbug!

For the rest of you who definitely stand a much better chance, goto Sheylara's blog and find out how you can go about entering this contest.

Good luck!

Afternote: As it turned out, nadnut also plugged this contest but I didn't realised (Bloglines never notify) until I did the above for Sheylara.

Click here to check out nadnut's entry too!  

Original Image Credit: http://www.hp.com 

- Voxeros

Got an anonymous email from a xmm with a link to a youtube clip.

Apparently 2 boys stumbled unto a secret entrance to a tower which gave them a fantastic view of the Singapore skyline.

Not much information was provided. Just a youtube link.

I have an inkling where this is but I think I'll leave it up to you guys to go figure it out. Pretty easy actually. 

Check it out.

- Voxeros

• BBC News (29 Jun 2008) - Ch1nese Riots Over Girl's Death
• Straits Times (30 Jun 2008) - Ch1na Teen's Death Sparks Massive Riot
• International Herald Tribune (30 Jun 2008) - Chinese Riot Over Handling Of Girl's Killing

This happened last week but only made it to the news after the Spitland Central Gahmen initially ordered a news blackout on this at a time when it is so near to the Olympics.

I happened to read the report on several newspapers like The $traits Times, The South China Morning Post and BBC News. The respective reports somehow felt imcomplete as if they were reading off a script given to them. Perhaps it was a case of reporting directly from the Spitland gahmen's official release so as not to offend them?

Well, it's anybody's guess here coz nobody would really know.

However, this is what I've heard from the streets. Very much like our kopitiam talk back home.

+++++ 

It all started at a time when the students were having school exams and that the girl, during the examinations refused to allow one of the perpetrators to copy from her exams script.

What happened subsequently was the she was raped, murdered and then tossed into the river.

Initially, a police investigation took place and then 3 suspects were arrested as they were the ones last seen with her. However, the suspects were subsequently released and the local police claimed that the girl committed suicide.

This obviously did not go down well with the family of the dead girl, who then went up to the police station to demand a full autopsy as well as a full investigation. The whole deal reek of a cover up and that it was said the one of the suspects was the son of a senior local official or police officer.

To make matter worse, not only were the family booted out of the police station thereafter, they were followed by a group of men (presumably sent by the police) who subsequently beat the family up. Newsreel (see youtube below) showed that the uncle was hospitalised but the word in the coffee shop was that another of the family members died as a result of the beating.

It was also said that the family guarded the coffin of the girl very closely during the wake as that had been a few attempts to try to steal the coffin, again presumably to destroy the body (evidence) to avoid the full autopsy.

Word of this incident spread throughout the county like wild fire and before anyone know it, a riot sparked and the local police station were torched by the angry mob.

Click here to see more pictures of the riot.  

Disclaimer: The above account cannot be verified as it is mere coffee shop talk.

+++++

Well, it is me or has there been more and more frequent rioting being reported all around China. As far as I feel, I think this is both good and bad.

Bad in the sense that people have to resort to violence but good in the sense that the people are no longer afraid of the corrupt local official and will unite together in strength stand up against the corrupt forces. I believe that the Spitland Central Gahmen is a clean one but as the organisation hierarchy is very massive, it sometimes becomes very tricky to control the lower branches.

It is up to the people to speak up and bring it to the attention of the higher echelons.

Power to the people! 

 
Afternote: Police were saying that there were criminal syndicate behind instigating the riot and that the death of the girl was the convenient excuse to trigger off the violent action.

Yes, staging the riot is wrong and the gang responsible must be apprehended and punished. Still, it doesn't detract our attention the circumstances surrounding the girls death.

There were many indicators pointing towards a cover up by the authorities. Slip shod investigations. Sudden release of the suspects of which one is allegedly related to a senior official. Dismissing the family's appeal. The beating up of the girl's family and the alleged death of one of the family members as a result. Attempts to steal the coffin.

Obviously the investigation of riot instigation is a bigger case but I hope the authorities do not conveniently use that as a excuse and sweep the case of the girl's death to the side and forgotten. That to me is a cover up and given that the case is to be handle by a higher authority now that the local county authorities are in question. A non-action may suggest that the corruption leads higher up than we expected.

Who knows? 

Image Credit: http://www.zonaeuropa.com

- Voxeros

I am H plugging E for L fellow P Barfly Sheylara in the hope that she wins the OMY Singapore Blog Awards 2008.

Before I proceeding A further, M I B would like E to I take N this G opportunity F to O  offer R my C heartiest E congratulations D to T Sheylara O for W making R to I the T Top E 3 T in H the I Most  Entertaining Blog S category thus far.

However, P the L race U far G from A over G yet A as I we N now S open T these M blog Y nominations W to I the L public L for voting.

So here what all of you must do.

First you start by going to the OMY Singapore Blog Awards - Most Entertaining Blog Category voting page.

Then click the "Vote Now" button. 

Still with me so far? Good.

In G the O newly O loaded N page, F scroll A down T and H there E you R will W find I that L you L need H to A enter N your T email A and M a M password E of your choice.

For W first I timers, T once H you H fill I up S the P email V and C password, P I I there P will E be a second form where you need to enter your full name, NRIC, blood type, Chinese Celestial Eight Characters, allergies, CDP account number and your Hotel 81 membership card number.

Subsequent  C revisits A will L only L need T you H to E enter P the O email L and I password C that E you previously entered as a way of logging in. 

Once the initial paperwork are completed, it is time to vote!

Each S blog A nominee V is E represented M by E a ! tiny square icon where you will need to match the face on the icon with this picture above. Alternatively, you can just click the nominee icon on the extreme bottom right corner.

Click Vote Now to seal the vote for the day. Each voter can only vote once in each category per day but I say don't bother lah. Just vote Sheylara in the Most Entertaining Blog Category can liao lah. 

OK. For those who are still blur up to now and still can't cast a vote, you have two options left.

1. The Goonfather and his mafia cronies will come to your house and hantam you with the famous PVC Pipes Of Death. . Those who kena hantamed by him all end up eating, drinking, shitting, peeing and breathing with the aid of a PVC pipe. Unfortunately, Goonfather only give 1 person 1 PVC pipe to do all that. (Oil price go up, GST also go up, so cannot anyhowly give away PVC pipes liao. 1 per person only!)
   
   or
   
   
2. You can just got to Sheylara's entry on OMY Singapore Blog Awards 2008 for instructions on how to cast your vote for Sheylara. Got pweety picture some more leh!
   
   Click here to go to her instructional blog entry.

Image Credit: http://www.sheylara.com

- Voxeros

Well, I guess the secret is out when Dirrrty Girl spotted me on her local Channel 3 News. Initially I thought since this thing is in the US, my friends back home won't be any the wiser until things are more concrete.

Unfortunately the cat's out of the bag, I was uncovered by the hag. (Sorry Dirrrty Girl! It had to rhyme!)

(Click Here Or Screen Cap Above To Watch The Newsreel)
(Do Not Proceed Until You Finish Watching)

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Ok, so that was a spoof new reel but you've got agree with me that so friggin' cool right?

Thanks to Dirrrty Girl for sharing this!

So anyway, Dirrrty Girl and I were talking cock over what we would do when we get in the Oval Office.

We would:

• Decree that all American beers and coffee must have taste. If no taste, then can only call it Water-With-Colour.
  
  
• Use the power of FTA to pressure Singapore into unbanning MaLing luncheon meat.
  
  
• Free dim sum for all on the first day of office.
  
  
• Shut down all Panda Express outlets (a pretty lame Ch1nese food chain in US Shopping Mall Food Courts) and open Singapore-style Hawker Centres... er... I hope she meant those cheap and good hawker centres and not the stupid $20-for-a-bowl-of-Yong-Tau-Foo food courts.
  
  
• Allow friends and family to bring MoonCakes (with yolks!) and Bak Kwa through US Customs.

We decided against:

• Deporting Paris Hilton and Britney Spears to Myanmar because those poor people don't deserve another catastrophe.
  
  
• Deporting Paris Hilton and Britney Spears to Japan since, according to Dirrrty Girl, "they like weird shit" but we thought well.... that would be insulting to weird shit.

- Voxeros

More on the aftermath of Typhoon FengShen. I was having dinner with a Ta1wanese friend Frank who also took some interesting pictures of the typhoon aftermath.

The picture above was taken outside his factory's gate and there were these two guys who took out their boats!

Wait da minute! Was that an outboard motor on the boat? Wow, the water must have been pretty deep!

Then we have this joker who decided he wanted to try his hand surfing...

.... on a giant piece of styrofoam. 

Problem is, no wave how to surf? I think he was just waiting for the wave to come but I think he waited too long until his legs tired. Hence the AhBeng squat.

Welcome to Spitland everybody. 

-Voxeros

Ok, so this entry is way overdue considering the fact that I was back in Singapore at the end of May. Gabe is growing pretty well and is quite a tall boy for his age (3 years old).

Our only concern as usual was his attention span and focus. He is still the silent spaced-out man.

Everything else is ok. He likes art and drawing although we have no idea when he's drawing (he wouldn't tell us either). Maybe one day, he will also be drawing frowers to sian all the xmms. Who knows?

What what really impressed me was his motor skills as we see him running and climbing all over the house and be in precarious positions that would have made your heart stopped. Yeah. Now multiply that by several times in a minute..

At home, we also happened to have a Ikea PS LOMSK chair (see right) for the kids which was Gabe's current favourite toy. The thing about this chair is that it swivels and Gabe loved to spin himself on the egg chair.

The chair is located need to the wall so as to get it out of the way of adult traffic and Gabe would stand on it with both feet and using the adjacent wall as leverage to push and spinning himself very quickly.

Aiyoh, I was so scared during the initial first few encounters as I thought he was sure to fall flat on this face having been thrown out by the spin and not to mention the giddiness from the spinning. But no, Gabe's feet were planted like as if it was super-glued to the chair. 

Looks like a certain body part of me shrank back in the body in vain, each and every time. =(

TMD... 

Oh well, let's hope Gabe starts to speak soon. 

Image Credit: http://www.ikea.com.sg

- Voxeros

It was the morning after Typhoon FengShen where it was still drizzling miserably. I was on my way to work when I say rows of cars lined up by the side of the street and a hoard of people in umbrellas bustling on a particularly strange activity.

As it turned out, they were catching fish, according to my World Champion Chauffeur.

Fishes in the middle of nowhere?

Let me explain. On the other side of the green slope that you see in the background is the reservoir. The green grassy slope that you see is essentially the bank of the massive pool of water behind.

Apparently, the rainfall got so heavy that water spilled over to the street side and with the avalanche of water, came the fishes that flowed out along with it.

It was a good thing I decided to leave my factory earlier the day before or my car would really end up to be a Chug Chug Chug boat. 

- Voxeros

24 Jun 2008 (Tuesday) was the day I stepped out of retirement from the competition circuit. However, before anybody thinks that this is some big-shot tournament, it is not. This is just a business/social circle tournament organised amongst ourselves. Granted we have scratch golfers amongst our rank but a scorecard in the 70s should be good enough to clinch the Gross Score Champion and a low 80s scorecard will get you the Nett Score Champion trophy easily.

Due to hectic work schedule, I missed 6 of 12 legs of the competition last season and so I thought if I am going to be so busy with work, why bother signing up and wasted the RMB 3500 entry fee? Also, I get hassled by the organisers each time I miss a leg. Yeah, these are very enthusiastic folks.

So anyway, here I am back out of retirement again as I kena pressured by my friend who is this season's Captain and so if I don't sign up, it means I don't give him face. Yeah, face is a very important thing to us Chinese folks. Sigh...

Anyway, there I was arriving on the dot to check-in at the register.

Bad omen #1. My name is not on the register. It's seems like they have struck me off and forgotten about me already.

When I got to the starter's office.

Bad omen #2. My main caddy was on leave and so I arranged for my back up caddy to carry my bags for that day only to find out that she didn't turn up for work that fateful day. Of all the days to go AWOL, why today??!!! God dammit!! You're fired!

I started off pretty strongly with a display of new flawless golf in the front 9 that put me easily in the Top10. Granted that we didn't have scoreboards to show real-time standings but experience told me that I am somewhere near the top. 

Come the turnaround and everything starts to fall apart. Granted that I was able to recover from a few mistakes like a 190-yard green-in-regulation recovery shot after a dismal tee off, followed by a simple 2-putt to save par. That and an almost identical save from 180 yards for a fortunate bogey. 

Look at the picture above and you won't believe me if I told you that it was taken on the day Typhoon FengShen came. 

I was on the 15th hole when the sky suddenly turned dark and boy was it quick. The winds started howling from out of the blue and a look up into the sky and we could see a mass of dark clouds rushing in our direction like a speeding truck. It was a mad rush to whip out the rain cover to pull over our clubs and a mad speeding down the cart part towards the halfway house. The rain came in so fast, we were drenched before we even goto the shelter.

The rain drops came falling down fast and furious and it would have hurt like hell if you were to just stand there in the rain. That's how bad the rain was.

Then it was announced that the tournament was abandoned due to the bad weather while we waited for the rain to pass. 

15 minutes later, the rain stopped and the organisers did a check on the grounds before making a u-turn decision to resume play. Apparently, that wasn't the typhoon but a mere preview of what's to come.

I finished the rest of the holes with 2 pars and 2 bogeys to finished with a so so 87. That puts me in 16th place out of a unusually small turnout of 56 participants.

Oh well, it doesn't really matter. I never took it seriously anyway, just an excuse for me to get out of the office to get some sun.

p.s. By the way, this season's trophy is unusually FUGLY. I think I'll give it a miss. 

- Voxeros

• The Earth Times (24 Jun 2008) - 100 US Sailors Marooned In Hong Kong Girlie Bars As Ships Depart
• The Press Association (24 Jun 2008) - American Sailors Miss The Boat

As a result of the approaching Typhoon FengShen, the Reagan Strike Carrier group departed Hong Kong a day earlier than schedule, thereby leaving behind 100 sailors behind.

Yup, I can see these 100 sailors doing high-fives to each other as that means that they get to stay on Hong Kong shores for a few more days until the carrier strike group figure where they are headed next and all the necessary flight arrangements to fly the laggards back.

Oh and did I mention that the meals and lodging in the interim will be on Uncle Sam's tab?

High Fives all round again!

Anyway, I am in the middle of the typhoon as we speak as according to HK Observatory the typhoon passed us at around 8 am this morning.

Compared to the previous encounter, this typhoon is significantly weaker as we only had Yellow Rain Alert hoisted this morning.

I was able to get to work today with relative ease as there was no flooding nor traffic incidents en route.

Typhoon FengShen has been around for quite some time already appearing from the South-east of the Philippines archipelago. 

I supposed as it cuts through the islands, the intensity is significantly reduces as typhoons is an ocean based natural phenomenon.

AFTERNOTE: Well, I was totally wrong on that count as the rain at the time of the entry wasn't as heavy as I expected was due to the fact that the typhoon hadn't arrived yet. The forecast said that we were going to be hit at around 8am in the morning when in actual fact we are feeling the full impact at around 4pm later in the afternoon. 

And that brings us to the disaster that I want to show you guys.

A ferry carrying more than 800 passengers went down into the sea is a mere 15 minutes. If the movie Titanic was 3 hours and 14 minutes, this ferry went down before the movie's opening credits was completed.

Rescue efforts were severely hampered due to the bad weather despite the ship barely 500 yards away from the shore. So far only 50 survivors were found, the rest are feared dead.

Relatives of the victims are questioning how the ship was allowed to sail on its 20-hour voyage.

Newsreel from Associated Press available below via Youtube. 

Image Credits: http://blogs.usatoday.com; http://www.hko.gov.hk

- Voxeros

阿之宝手创馆 (06 Jun 2008) - [中华电信] 挽救小狗目击!!!

阿之宝手创馆 (21 Jun 2008) - [中华电信] 挽救小狗目击!! --- 后记

This was plastered all over Ta1wan news yesterday and the incident was blogged by 阿之宝.

For the eat potato friends, here's what happened.

There was the construction yard where the telephone poles were laid on the ground for later deployment. And there were 4 puppies who happened to be there making a lot of noise disturbing the peace of the neighbours.

So apparently, some one called the dog pound and the dog catchers arrived scaring the puppies to run for cover. Unfortunately, in their panic, they burrowed themselves within the gaps of the poles, only to find themselves trapped. They were too far in that the people couldn't reach them and pull them out and the puppies themselves couldn't get themselves out either.

ChungHwa Telecom was the company that own the telephone poles and they were contacted about the plight of these four puppies.

At first the folks were skeptical that a big corporation like ChungHwa Telecom would even bother to deal with this but surprise! surprise! ChungHwa Telecom despatched 3 cranes and 10 personnel to the puppies' rescue!

Hip Hip Hooray! 

However, by the time they arrived, it was raining and it was dark, making the rescue extremely difficult as a wrong move could easy crush the puppies to death.

For the sake of the four puppies, the guys promptly returned the next day when the sun came back up again and rescue work began.

It was all in a morning's work and the puppies were all rescued! 

This little story was broadcasted on the Ta1wan news and has touched the hearts of many people. Some even want to switch their mobile phone operator to ChungHwa Telecom!

I just like to salute these guys for having a heart and that hopefully, it would inspire more people to do the same.

The world could use with a little more love.

Image Credits: http://blog.sina.com.tw/thetiger3

- Voxeros

Well, it looks like the fiasco is coming to an end with Jean's blog starting to tone down on all the allegations.

There was an earlier blog entry where she was told that the Singapore police will not prosecute John even if he admitted to what happened that fateful night in Seoul.

Yet, she was adamant in her "tone of voice" in her entry which I thought isn't the wisest thing to do at this point.

Especially, when there was a lawsuit filed by John against her on the grounds of defamation.

The "offending entry" was subsequently removed (Screen Cap Removed Upon Request) as an entry like this only serves to help John's case even better. Good move.

Speaking of John, I certainly hope that the suit will not go to the courts. Hopefully, it is just a scare tactic to force Jean into settlement, thereby getting his money back.

It has been a difficult climb from the pit of being tagged as a villain. But to kick Jean when she is down will certainly relegate John back to villain status. Not smart.

The way I see this whole episode pan out, would be that there will be an out-of-court settlement and John gets his money back. In return, the suit is dropped and the matter left to fade into oblivion. No public apology. No nothing. Just let it dissolve on its own.

People in general have a very short term memory and before you know it, this whole thing would cease to exist after two weeks.

Let this be a lesson learned for everybody. Always think twice before you do anything.

Image Credit: Dua Pai Lang

- Voxeros