The unbearable lightness of nothing

You know how some days, you come home from work, do more work, and then try to surf the net and find absolutely nuffin interesting? Yup. Link contributed by reader Chew LH Master of Disaster from the album "Master of Disaster" by John Hiatt

TODAY: Bloggers without borders

Excerpt:

The winner of the Malaysian bloggers' Blog of the Year Award (www.petalingstreet.org) arrived here on Saturday, informing only a few trusted Singaporean counterparts of his visit. But it is quite silly to trust a blogger, Singaporean or otherwise, as Kenny found out.

Read more here. (PDF version here)

Technorati Tags: kennysia.com, TODAY

Army love me long time

It says here that I have to fast for six hours before 8am tomorrow, when I report to camp (again). The Army loves me. I can't really say it's an unrequited love, though. I'd fast for love, wouldn't you? It also says my employer is obligated by law to let me go back to camp. Gotta tell the boss. Boss say good, make him wake up earlier than usual for once. Damn far, can? It's Just Work For Me from the album "Chavez Ravine" by Ry Cooder Surf stop: aGentX Rambles

Technorati Tags: army, mr miyagi, reservist, singapore

Cross-Strait (not bi) relations: Kenny steals our thunder

The hirsute Kenny Sia took a bus here from KL, wanting to meet mrbrown and me, because anyone who comes to town would want to meet us. But being the prima donnas that we are, we were terrible hosts. I had work till 8, mrbrown had to make sure his kids were tucked in, and who meets up before 9pm on a Saturday night anyway? But Kenny, being the resourceful bugger that he is, and being the swinging, young, single lad that he is, managed to find his way to Hideout, where I found him talking twenty three to the dozen with the beautiful co-owner. I also found that he wasn't as easily swayed as I. Belinda had only managed to get him to buy one beer while he waited for me to battle traffic. Then, all hell broke loose, and a dozen bloggers, following some rumour that he was at Hideout, arrived soon after, clamouring for Kenny's attention. We'd have partied and supped till dawn if not for Xiaxue managing to persuade Kenny to karaoke with her. Without us. Go back to Malaysia, Kenny! The limelight's ours, you hear? Don't come here and anyhowly potong left, right and centre. (Kenny's here till Monday. Interested parties can take him to the night safari Sunday night. Feed him to the hungry animals). Kenny takes time out from the screaming girl fans to take a pic with the boys Soy Luz Y Sombra from the album "Chavez Ravine" by Ry Cooder

Technorati Tags: hideout, kennysia.com, singapore

Demolished

Tonight I am levelled, floored by this awesome new album by Ry Cooder. Here's the blurb on Amazon.com, and you'll know why I already liked it even before I heard one track:

Album Description Ry Cooder's Chavez Ravine is-a post-World War II-era American narrative of "cool cats," radios, UFO sightings, J.Edgar Hoover, red scares, and baseball.Using real and imagined historical characters, Cooder and friends creates an album that recollects various aspects of the poor but vibrant hillside Chicano cummunity, which was bulldozed by developed in the interest of "progress." Ry Cooder might have been tempted to bill this as the Chavez Ravine Social Club. After generating such popular and critical interest in Cuban music of decades past with the Buena Vista Social Club, Cooder applied a similar approach closer to home, extending his fascination with the Mexican-American culture that flourished in 1940s and '50s Los Angeles. The result is an CD that sounds like it's aspiring to be something far more ambitious: a DVD, a theatrical production, even a time machine. Cooder and a cast of seminal Chicano artists present a song cycle that conjures an era of UFOs, the Red Scare, and political machinations that leveled the Chavez Ravine barrio to lure the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles. In his celebration of a vibrant community that doesn't know it's on the verge of displacement, Cooder enlists Thee Midnighters vocalist Little Willie G. (whose songwriting collaboration with Los Lobos's David Hidalgo on "Onda Callejara" highlights the album). and Pachuco patriarchs Don Tosti and Lalo Guerrero, with the latter reviving his dancefloor favorite "Los Chucos Suaves." The accordion of Flaco Jimenez adds conjunto flavor to "Barrio Viejo." Throughout the album, Cooder plays a typically tasteful, understatedly virtuosic guitar, assumes a variety of vocal roles--including a cool Chet Baker homage in duet with pianist Jacky Terrason on "In My Town"--and provides the provocative social context. --Don McLeese

Onda Callejera from the album "Chavez Ravine" by Ry Cooder

Technorati Tags: music, chavez ravine, ry cooder

I am Spider-Man

Four shots of espresso. Four! Not all at once lah! But four! Plus two kopi-pengs! The walls aren't high enough. Turned out to be a really nice day despite 3rd Base, Dodger Stadium from the album "Chavez Ravine" by Ry Cooder Surf stop: whatever

Technorati Tags: mr miyagi, espresso

A boy's gotta look nice too

This going on leave business gave me back my life this week and I still don't know what to do with it. By the time I figure it out, it'll be back to work. Getting increasingly frustrated and saddened by matters of the heart and other parts, I did what any boy would want to do - I went and got a haircut. Actually, what prompted the emergency haircut was the TODAY artist's caricature. That upset me a lot this morning. I couldn't eat my breakfast after looking at it. Cheryl the Chio Stylist was too busy to take any appointments, so I settled for Jonathan the guy stylist. Cheryl did say hi and thank me for saying nice things about her (on this blog! she read!) though. Izorg the shampoo boy / apprentice didn't seem as happy. Jonathan ran a comb through my hair and said, 'are you balding or do you have a receding hairline?' So I showed him the TODAY caricature and said, 'See this? Fix it'. And he said, 'OK, I'll give you a fringe'. Having a new, unfamiliar stylist makes you make the obligatory small talk, and today, I offered, 'yeah, my hair is confirm very messy one, and stubborn, because it's the curse of being a Hainanese man'. Jonathan says, 'You Hainanese? Me too? See?', and he takes off the beanie he's wearing to show me his unmanageable hair and receding hairline. You know he's earned his customer's confidence by doing that, and he gets me a pretty decent upgrade on my hairstyle, which I am now still wearing proudly before I sleep and flatten the parts that aren't supposed to be flat. Hopefully I'll still look like Sonic the Hedgehog tomorrow morning. So stylo. Polaroidonizer Sweetest Thing from the album "B-Sides 1980-1990" by U2 Surf stop: textSOAP

Technorati Tags: mr miyagi, Next Salon, singapore

Debuting at your neighbourhood 7-11

Don't go to the 7-11 to pick up a copy of TODAY, because the caricature damn argly, can? Excerpt:

Most blogging services have comments systems which allow readers to leave comments. And some of the comments sections have taken a life of their own, and take up more space than the actual blog entry itself. For example, blogger 'Finicky Feline' (www.finickyfeline.liquidblade.com) talked about her grouchy Sunday, and garnered thirty six comments. I expect even more comments on a later post, one about her wondering 'how come 30+ year old men have mentalities of little kids'. I'm tempted to leave a comment there myself!

Read more here. TODAY newspaper artist/cartoonist nair die before! Paper Thin from the album "Slow Turning" by John Hiatt Surf stop: Talk Rock

Technorati Tags: mr miyagi, TODAY, singapore

If tomorrow's sun doesn't shine

I'm a-kinda at a loss right now as to what to do next. Sure there's work waiting, but I'm on leave, and shouldn't even be thinking about work. I shouldn't be thinking about a lot of things, actually, but you know the ol' blain. The heat's boiled it good and proper. There was that aborted trip to Malaysia with Dad. I enjoyed that. I spent the day in Singapore running errands for Mum, doing some work, and then spending an inordinate amount of time shopping for clothes. I didn't buy any, but my shopping partner did. Just as well, because the clothes she bought just looked like they belonged on her. I really shouldn't be thinking of that beach holiday I can't have. No matter what else, I should still be this cool when I'm 64 if I keep using a Mac Clémentine from the album "Hang On Little Tomato" by Pink Martini Surf stop: Dan Washburn's Shanghai Diaries

Technorati Tags: singapore, trrd

Best laid plans

So Dad says 'No', when I ask him, 'ready to go to Malaysia'? Lucky I have things to do and people to meet. I live with such an impromptu family. Take time out and you'll see beautiful things

Million Miles from the album "Time Out Of Mind" by Bob Dylan Surf stop: Beautiful Amnesia (because got nice photo of me)

I want everyone to like me

I am on leave! This is the first break I've had in a long, long time, and I've been so busy for such a long, long time that now, there's so many things I want to do that I don't know where to start. So, blog lor. The past coupla days have been a whirlwind of work and after hours activities, so much that I don't think I've met so many different new people in so short a time. And here's the rub. Ordinarily, you wouldn't have been able to follow up on a first meeting with so many people. But y'know, nowsaday, after you've gone out and met so many people, you come home and you check your blog subscriptions to see what they've said about meeting you, so you're able to gauge if they like you or if they think you're a complete wanker. So far, I haven't found any blog post that says I'm a complete wanker. In return, I'm not going to describe anyone I've met recently as a complete wanker. Dannybunny describes me as 'pint-sized', though. Nabeh. The last person I heard described as 'pint-sized' was Kylie Minogue. I'll have you know, I'm over 5ft tall, can? As it is with most meetings of people lately, I met a lot of people at Hideout in the last two nights. It was good seeing some friends lose their inhibitions and dance like there was no tomorrow. Alvin Chan, your lisco lamsing very solid. People will pay money to come watch you. You should lams more. So many things to do. But yay, I am on leave. The mic is too high, kenah poke in the eye... (before you know it, I'm a poet)

iTunes is playing: I Want Everyone To Like Me from the album "Bad Love" by Randy Newman Surf stop: SMLXL

Technorati Tags: complete wanker, mr miyagi

Snippets from a stint at a talent and event company

Lately, more than one person has asked how come I don't run an events company or consider working in one, seeing as I've got the network and the skill at bullshitting. I did work at an events company. It was an events company that was also a talent agency. I liked some bits of the work, and didn't like some others. And tonight, I found this which I wrote a while ago: Very early into my job at the company, I was tasked with the menial chore of compiling on the computer the information from all business cards of all the journalists that one of the directors of the company had met. No mean feat despite the fact that there aren’t that many publications around. Bleary eyed and plugging away, I overheard (speak softly and you tend to be a good eavesdropper) a loud, low but grating voice talking about ‘The Merchant of Venice’. It was a ‘business contact’ talking to one of the directors about the possibility of adapting the play into a local film tentatively (but frightfully) entitled ‘The Merchant of Venice of the East’. The voice continued to speak of the merits of such a project, given the alleged ‘similarities between Jewish and Chinese merchants’. Such a project, he said, would then ‘also sell Singapore as a tourist destination’, and we could thus also ask the Tourism Board for funding. What amazed me was that my company director entertained this idea and sounded genuinely interested in participating. I should have resigned on the spot, but even more amazingly chose instead to give the company the benefit of doubt. On hindsight (you can see forever), I realise now that there have been many more dud ideas that don’t even reach half-baked status. Sure there’s a sucker born every minute, but the alarming regularity at which these ideas conceived by the company are actually sold to clients defies comprehension. Take the ‘Shopping King and Queen’ promotion at the Causeway Point Shopping Centre. We ‘conceptualised’ a shopping ‘king and queen’ contest and publicised it over several weekends using ‘silver-painted human statues’ that rode on crowded MRT carriages, inadvertently smearing sweaty silver paint all over trains and commuters alike. Seeing as most carriages are painted silver already, the commuters were the ones that came off second best. The ‘event’, as the company calls these projects, culminated in a twenty minute ‘stand-up comedy performance’ which, for mine, seemed rather more stand-up than comic, by one of the company directors who happened to also be a ‘celebrity’. What happened was really one snafu after another. The stage area was supposed to be ringed by sets of ‘human statues’ (which, by the way, was meant to symbolise the ‘kings and queens’, although I cannot comprehend why people would use ‘human statues’ instead of statue statues, since the latter can keep still without much effort) before the comedy performance began. Obviously, no one foresaw the delays caused by weekend crowds on the MRT, and that it would take at least an hour for a round trip on the trains from Orchard to Boon Lay and back to Woodlands, whether or not you were a silver painted statue in a silver toga and silver pvc cape. So, the comedian/director was on stage performing the usual inane prattle to a crowd more interested in the free gifts than in whatever she was saying, and one by one, the zombified statues, looking worse for wear and staining all and sundry silver, dragged themselves to the stage area, where they promptly went into statue mode, and, I swear, started dozing off while standing up. One of the models/statues woke up just in time or he would have fallen on his face and left a silver silhouette print of himself on the floor. He then absent-mindedly rubbed his eyes with his silver painted fingers and blinded himself, but to his credit, still managed to maintain some composure, albeit with tears streaming down his face and threatening his make-up. (I thought it added to the authenticity of the statue, what with the tears looking as if a bird had defecated on his face, something that real statues have to put up with). Unforeseen (and this should be the company motto) by all in charge of the ‘event’, most of the models/statues were Muslim, and it was halfway through Puasa, and this had to be the hottest afternoon that month. The poor statues were dehydrated, exhausted and famished, and worse, had their collective dignities stripped bare and painted silver. (The ‘event’ ended in chaos when a member of the audience was hit in the head by a flying free gift thrown by the comedian/director, but that’s another story.) Philosophers Stone from the album "Wonder Boys [Soundtrack]" by Van Morrison

This comic life

This piece of software's been around for a bit, but I've just downloaded it, and maaaaan, no need to sleep already! Comic Life is da bomb! Here's what happened last Saturday at Hideout, comic-style:

Surf stop: The Sari Party Girl

iTunes is playing: Why Don't You Try Me from the album "Borderline" by Ry Cooder

Technorati Tags: hideout, comic life, singapore

The Electronic Nipple

Some bloggers and non-bloggers have been asking me what I made of the fuss about Sarong Party Girl's nude pictures. There has also been a flurry of emails exchanged talking about what her nipples look like. Serious discussion, mind you, not the infantile stuff. (Aunty Lily for one was pretty excited about the story in the papers, and went, 'Wah, this ingterneck, terok. Can post all kinds of neh neh.') The Straits Times called me a few days before the story was published, and asked if I had read and seen Sarong Party Girl's breasts and what I thought of them and her and how and why. Sadly, when it comes to breasts, I'm usually gobsmacked, so there was no quoteworthy response from me. Instead, I asked the Straits Times to contact mrbrown and Agagooga, thinking they'd be more familiar with the topic, and would give a more intelligent response than the one forming in my mind. (Which went along the lines of 'Eat Drink Man Woman'). So anyway, I'm excluding myself from weighing in on the discussion because I'm a consumer, not a commentator. I have two really nice ones

Surf stop: For want of a better title

iTunes is playing Till the Heart Caves In from the album "Drag" by k.d. lang

Technorati Tags: mr miyagi, nude, internet, singapore, singapore

Uniform Saturday

Me and the boys were so looking forward to it. Right after our phones rang, beeped and crackled with the recorded orders (Personnel with the following code words.... 'Silent Panty'...) to report back to camp, we started making arrangements to meet up for coffee/beer/chat after reporting. Meeting up in reservist camp is always great fun on a Saturday afternoon, even more so when it's a hot Saturday afternoon, and you've been told to report in Full Battle Order. Me and the boys lugged ourselves and our gear up and down several flights of stairs, complaining as we went along, then making post-mobilisation beer arrangements while we queued to in-process and out-process ourselves. As with the best-laid reservist plans, this is what happens: All of us suddenly remember we have our separate civilian lives, and don't actually meet up for beer after. And I don't have a bad separate civilian life either. Saturday 5.30pm, Mobilisation Exercise: Classified Location Saturday 6pm, Post-Mobilisation: Location Classified Saturday 10.20pm, ZaobaoNow interview, TCC Circular Road Saturday 10.45pm, putting on the uniform, TCC Circular Road Saturday 10.45pm, dunno how to tie, TCC Circular Road Saturday 11.35pm: worth dressing up for, Hideout Sunday 1am? Hideout Surf stop: Blinkymummy 夜上海 from the album "既興皇后 Night Queen" by 上官萍

Technorati Tags: mr miyagi, hideout, singapore

I am still myself

Mad Malaysian blogger Kenny Sia keeps up the Malaysian obsession with Singapore blogs. (Quick, Malaysian hate mail, please). I tried my darndest to escape myself on his quiz, but what to do? Personality so strong, how to run away?

Congratulations , you are... Mr Miyagi of myveryownglob.blogspot.com You are witty, and you know people from places. Those two qualities and others make you a very popular person among your peers, because they want to hear you dish out filthy backstage gossips. You also have a knack for inventing new words to suit yourself. You are a very loyal friend, and would jump into the ocean if your friend asked you to. And that's probably gonna happen if your friend gets too jealous of you getting all the girls/guys. Which Singaporean Blogger Are You?

Surf stop: kennysia.com

Come Home To You from the album "The Tiki Bar Is Open" by John Hiatt

Technorati Tags: mr miyagi, kennysia.com, singapore

A sense of wellness and security

It's not often you eat a pizza and feel good after. It is Friday night, and I've just finished work for the day, and I've driven to Sixth Avenue, parked the car, walked in the drizzle and plonked myself outside Pizza da Donato's hole in the wall. Dinner for one Life's pretty good, because someone saw me with Adri at Orchard Cineleisure. You don't deny something that good. So I won't say I wasn't with Adri at Orchard Cineleisure. I also won't say I don't have this 'super cool look, and I mean grunge kind of look'. 'Grunge kind of look' leh! I wonder what the Regimental Sergeant Major will say if I report for tomorrow's Mobilisation exercise with a 'grunge kind of look'. That's right folks, it's one of the two weeks in the year where our nation's security is in the hands of Mr Miyagi and his mates. We will keeping you safe.

Surf stop: Sarong Party Girl (oh my...)

Solo Flight from the album "Clarinet a' la king" by Benny Goodman

Technorati Tags: mr miyagi, popagandhi, donato pizza, singapore

Don't know how to play hijack

Last night there was only me and Dad at home. It was a good, quiet dinner with a good chat about everything we could muster, seeing as we get to talk maybe only once a week at best. We talked about how tired I was, and how I was 'cannot go on like this', and 'cannot go on like this still want to go out at night', and 'you go out at night do what', and 'must be careful go out at night a lot of gangsters'. After dinner, we chatted some more, about business, and how I should 'set up a school teaching people how to gamble' because 'casino coming up'. I told Dad that would be the funniest idea, seeing as I don't gamble, don't know how to gamble, and won't even touch playing cards even if we're not playing for money. His eyes lit up as he told me, 'I also! I don't even know how to play hijack!' Elvis is safe

Surf stop: Are you going to Bloggers.SG?

iTunes is playing It Feels Like Rain from the album "Warm Your Heart" by Aaron Neville

Technorati Tags: mr miyagi, casino, singapore

Being on the move is da bomb

This mobile computing shit is da bomb. Dunno how I managed before this. As recent posts show, I've been really busy and really tired, but with this brand-spanking-new computer of mine, which is small, but which has all the mod cons built-in, I'm able to like do a lot of stuff while I'm away from my office and home. There are so many things I could do that I don't know where to begin. So, blog lor. This wi-fi thing is also da bomb. I'm having a double-mac and a muffin while logged on to Starhub's wifi thing at The Coffee Leaf & Tea Bean, which is also da bomb. The other thing you can do at The Leaf (Guthrie House) is people-watch. There are nice people to watch today, two of whom are sitting across from me. I know them. They're from my junior college. They must be quite eng, being at a cafe at this hour in t-shirt and shorts and gucci bag and all with kid in tow. Good thing they only almost recognise me (stare and stare but don't register, y'know). Din dare take photo of chio bu behind Powerbook, cos sekali kenah whack

Surf stop: betterdays

iTunes is playing: Before I Go from the album “Crossing Muddy Waters” by John Hiatt

Technorati Tags: mr miyagi, powerbook, coffee+bean+tea+leaf

Diary of a (physically) broken man

I've said this before already, and I'm tired of saying I'm tired, and some more, this new computer is not giving me the chance to catch up with sleep yet.

I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go.

Getting one of these first, of course

Surf stop: Expat at Large iTunes is playing 千言萬語 from the album "鄧麗君漫步人生３步曲 (1)" by 鄧麗君

Technorati Tags: mr miyagi, trrd

So Brand New

No need to sleep liao. New computer. New software. New blog editor software. But don't worry. Old blog content. Come fly with me, she said. Ok lor, I said

So Brand New from the album "Angel Blood [UK]" by Leonardo's Bride

Technorati Tags: powerbook, mr miyagi

Press the Face: Interview I: Janice Wong

You know how the newspapers have been full of stories about blogs and bloggers and this thing about blogs being online diaries? Well, it's time the tables were turned, said a friend of mine. So, I turned the table and nothing happened and everything looked the same. So my friend told me, no dude, I didn't mean turn the table clockwise or anti-clockwise. Turn the table upside down, like this. Press The Face is a series of interviews with real-life news journalists. Yes, you heard me. Real journos. For real newspapers. Not bloggers and not wannabes like ourselves. Also, being the really honest feller than I am, I have to tell you the title comes from a segment of a comedy skit programme in Australia called 'Full Frontal' (where Eric Bana made his name). Also, the style of the interview mirrors that of the Sunday Times' email interview, y'know, the one where they give you questions to sabo yourself? That also means that it is not quite the same as a real back and forth conversation. The questions are composed, emailed, and the answers are emailed back. No follow up questions. So, anyhoo, the subject of the maiden Press The Face interview is Janice Wong, formerly a journalist for the top broadsheet and some of the top tabloids in Singapore. She has written for Streats, The Straits Times and The New Paper. Like you, Janice has also asked why she, of all the top journalists in Singapore, is being interviewed first. Simple. Janice has written for three, not one, newspapers. How many top journalists can boast that? So what if she's no longer a journo? She's been there, done all that liao! Actually, Janice was the first journo to say yes, and I've yet to receive a response from any of the others I emailed. As you can already tell, Janice is a real sport. More importantly, Janice has a "cyber-journal" too, where she keeps copies of some of her favourite articles as well as a frequently updated "random thoughts" section. And since it's already there, we'll jump right into the interview now:

What do you like for breakfast?

McDonald's Big Breakfast, if it's a non-working day and I can wake up by 11am (which is rare). And no, it's not for the Happy Meal toy. It's for the fibre content.

You are Hakka by dialect origin. Transcribe phonetically in Hakka the following English sentence: "Hi, I'm Janice, and I'm a 28 year old Scorpio who once was one of Female Magazine's 50 most gorgeous people."

Sorry, I can't speak Hakka but I can swear in Hokkien. Do I get some brownie points?

On your 'online journal', you write that you want to publish a book 'about a twenty-something career woman like me and her unceasing search for love'. Would that woman actually be you? Would the book elucidate why love is so elusive for you? Are you a bitter woman?

Yes, the book is autobiographical. Mr Miyagi, that's quite a no-brainer guess, eh? The book traces my columns over the last 5 years and my new thoughts relative to my old opinions. There are other topics besides love, like career and friends. Actually no publisher has inked a deal with me (yet?), so this discussion is a little premature. My book may never see the light of day. I think I am bittersweet, like Valrhona dark chocolate - enough sugar to be palatable, and enough cocoa to be sophisticated.

Would your benefactor - the one who wants to finance your book, and who shall remain unnamed - be one of your suitors/admirers? Is he the same person who proposed to you and got rejected?

He's just a friend. (Why do I feel like Fann Wong talking about Christopher Lee?!) And, no, different guy.

How many times have you been proposed to? Have you ever said yes? If yes, when? If no, why not? And don't lie. If Mr Miyagi can find out the truth about Steph Song, Mr Miyagi can find out anything!

Four times, but never formally, like with a diamond ring, if that is what you have in mind. Not that a ring makes a difference to the decision. The first two times, I felt that I was too young to settle down. The last two times, I wasn't in love with the men. It boils down to mismatching rather than a lack of desire. At 28 (I am really 28!), I feel that I am finally ready for the commitment. Now all I need is someone to fall in love with.

You'd read the instructions on a tampon box if you couldn't get hold of a book. Have you found inconsistencies in instructions between different brands of tampons? Has your life improved after reading these instructions?

No, the last time I read, all brands still advise not flushing a used tampon down the toilet bowl. Of course, my life improved. No more choked pipes.

Just yesterday, you were a cyber-bimbo, today, you have an online journal. Do you know what an RSS feed is? (You are not allowed to Google this one, or ask your friend Ash, 'the creative brain behind your website')

Since I can't call a friend, can I go for 50/50? Seriously, no.

One day, you were an 'air-stewardess, then a journalist the next, and now, a marketing executive'. Are you upset at this rapid regression?

Not at all. After the neuron-burning intellectual activities associated with being a cabin crew, my brains, or what passes for my brains, needed a break. So I went into journalism. But my brains still couldn't cope, and I moved down the food chain again. The rapid regression was necessary. I have settled nicely into marketing and have no regrets experiencing such vastly different professions.

"I must do one kind deed a week without telling anyone about it. I must dance more, eat more vegetables, chew slowly, complain less, gossip even less and be unreservedly patient with people who are stupid. I must be more organised and keep in touch with my contacts. I must wake up early every day to exercise and read the newspapers leisurely. I must believe that I was created for a purpose, however insignificant, and seek to fulfil that purpose." - How are the New Year's resolutions doing? Good?

I can't speak about the first resolution cos I will be contradicting myself if I do, no? Is yoga a dance? Is French fries a vegetable? If so, checked, checked. I have been very patient with you so far, haven't I? *grin* Like everyone, I have good days and bad days in terms of self-discipline. The last resolution was put in as a reminder to myself. My mood tends to become pensive, especially on rainy days. I question life's purpose, the existence of God and hit nihilism. Life can seem so pointless, if we think deeply enough about it. Do you get what I mean? Never mind.

What do you think of Xiaxue?

She is clearly a talented blogger with a strong command of the language and a rare populist touch. I like her frankness but sometimes she can get a little overboard. There is a fine line between dry wit and wicked sarcasm. If she can temper her style (without losing her original identity that makes her so refreshing and disarming) and seize the right opportunities, she will go far.

What do you think of Sumiko Tan?

I interacted with Sumiko briefly when I was working for The Straits Times' Life section. She struck me as capable and hardworking, single-handedly leading a team of about 30. That's a heavy responsibility. Unknown to many people, she is also the author of some 10 books, ranging from crimes to politics. I am impressed by how prolific and versatile she is.

What do you think of Mr Miyagi? [Ed: This question was appended by Janice, who didn't know you cannot anyhowly add your own questions to a Press The Face email interview.]

I think it is sweet of him to ask me for an interview, considering that I am not anywhere near the same top league as Fiona Xie, or even Steph Song. Thank you. And judging from pictures, he is marginally better looking than Mr Brown.

Janice Wong's 'cyberjournal'

Technorati tag:Janice Wong

Surf stop: SSSnakeByte

Online diarrhea

I learnt something at work today. The ink from the inkpad for the Pocahontas rubber stamp is very difficult to wash off. I now have two smudged Pocahontas tattoos on both feet, it's gonna take several showers before it's washed off completely. Life could be worse though. There could be another newspaper article in the morning that calls this an 'online diary'. I can't imagine how anyone could possibly think this an online diary. The original Sarong Party Girl

Surf stop: Beautiful Amnesia

iTunes party shuffle is playing a copy of: While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles - 1967-1970 Disc 2, of which I have the original CD and therefore didn't steal music

Bloggers.SG venue being prepped

The place is almost ready. The interrogation convention hall has been furnished. Don't worry. The air-con will be strong, and refreshments will be provided. Convention Hall 1

Surf stop: Technorati tag: sgblogconspiracy

iTunes party shuffle is playing a copy of: These Are Days - 10,000 Maniacs - These Are Days [Single], of which I have the original CD and therefore didn't steal music

Trackback has been added to this glob

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog. Yes... trackback. All your comments are belong to us.

sgBlogConspiracy: Chapter 3: Enter the Silencer

It has begun. A few days ago, I was summoned to synchronise the start of Operation Blogger Con. It has been brought forward a few weeks because there is a mole among us. But not to worry. He will be flushed out and silenced like the sick dog that he is. I will make it so. Training for my purpose began a long, long time ago. Sometimes in far flung places. Sometimes right under your noses. I was chosen for my traits. I am a small, quiet, killing machine. Now that the Operation is in full swing, you will say what we want you to say. Those that don't or won't, you know who you are. I know who you are. Blogicides will be rife. Blogicides are already rife. Now you know why.

Popagandhi Life at Ngee Ann Bubblemunche Idle Days Ma vie en direct Steven McDermott

Agent Miyagi, Recce Trooper, Attila Recce Team, circa 1990
Originally uploaded by One Niner Charlie.

Surf stop: Technorati tag: sgblogconspiracy

iTunes party shuffle is playing a copy of: Spy Boy - John Hiatt - Living a Little, Laughing a Little (1974 - 1985), of which I have the original CD and therefore didn't steal music

Still tired

The moral of tonight's story is: do not have any alcohol when you're suffering a little heat exhaustion and sunburn. And even though you've only had one beer and one whiskey & water, it is good to have a coupla friends come over and drive you home. They're very insistent, these friends. They go like 'No, no, don't worry about it. We drive you home, then we drive him to his car, then he drive home', and make you feel so bad, you swear never to drive to a pub again.

Tired face again Originally uploaded by Mr Miyagi.

Surf stop: Mezzalaneous Equation

iTunes party shuffle is playing a copy of: Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup - Natalie Cole - Unforgettable: With Love, of which I have the original CD and therefore didn't steal music