[i love mtv]
one of the reasons why i love the people at mtv asia...



see you at zouk out 2004!!! unless of course i give away my tickets...

[a hit]
in the papers today...



THANKS, Singapore Polytechnic.

That is what Singapore Idol finalist Taufik Batisah told his alma mater in a telephone voice message yesterday.

He had called a poly spokesman but could not get through, after finding out what it had done for him.

It had rallied 20 student volunteers to hand out flyers in Orchard Road on Sunday, urging people to vote for him at the finale in the Singapore Indoor Stadium tomorrow.

For two hours from noon, the students walked the stretch of Centrepoint, Orchard Cineleisure and The Heeren, handing out 5,000 flyers.

They read: 'A birthday wish for our 50th anniversary... First Singapore Idol from Singapore's First Poly. Vote Taufik. A Singapore Poly graduate.'

The spokesman told Life! yesterday that the flyer idea was born when e-mail urging support for Taufik was seen circulating among staff members.

They had discovered that he graduated in July 2001 with a diploma in marine engineering.

'He called to say thank you and left a message asking us to call him back so he can thank us personally again,' says the spokesman.

The poly has also hung a giant banner, measuring 12m by 6m, screaming 'Vote Taufik' on a wall of its School Of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

It faces Dover MRT station, which should be visible to many train commuters.

But fans of Sylvester Sim have not been sitting idle.

A small group of teenage girls was also spotted in Orchard Road last Saturday handing out flyers.

Life! spoke to Sim at MediaCorp's make-up room on Sunday and asked if he was aware about this.

'They were actually waiting for me at MediaCorp's reception in the morning and gave me one of their flyers,' he says. 'I didn't know what it was till I took a closer look. It was a shock to me.'

[idol support]
yesterday marked my first stint prior to the attachment at sp starting today...



and it was in a big way i must say...



perhaps the new paper and straits times will publish the story too.... check it out in the following days...

[great worship]
church was really fun today... i just loved the worship once again...

after a hiatus due to the renovations to the super new church complex, i have been out of touch with the word of god...

but today when i went back for my bro's confirmation service, i found the thing that could fill my emptiness...

one particular song's lyrics:

jesus, o, jesus..
i give you my life...
jesus, o, jesus..
i give you my life...

finally... the church will be moving back on christmas day... and so will i...

it's a great feeling to be back in the family... and yes... i'm excited! it's great to be coming back to the heart of worship.... and i can finally promise what i promised to do during my confirmation a few years back...

[idol heats up]
don't be surprised when you see sp students 'demonstrating' along orchard road tomorrow.... it's all part of sp's vote taufik campaign...



guess the topic is now on who will win the competition...

does singapore want someone who can really sing or one who can make girls go crazy?

will taufik project a better image or sly?

can sly compete in world idol with his voice? or will he win fans with his smile?

singapore will vote come dec 1 so stay tuned on channel 5....

[brainy]
at the psb academy wits leader course at the hdb hub at toa payoh today, i learnt about Ned Herrmann’s research.... kindof interesting...

as you know, not everyone is the same.... so Ned Herrman came up with this whole brain model that combines Roger Sperry's left/right brain theory and Paul MacLean's triune model (rational brain, intermediate brain and primitive brain) to produce a quadrant model of the brain. the quadrants are:

Left Cerebral (upper left): the Theorists
These are people who like lectures, facts, and details, critical thinking, textbooks and readings, etc. The brain dominance for theorists is the upper left (cerebral) and they are logical, analytical, quantitative and fact-based..

Left Limbic (lower left): the Organizers
These are people who prefer to learn by outlining, checklists, exercises and problem solving with steps, policies and procedures. People with these preferences have lower left (limbic) brain dominance and they are organised, sequential, planned and detailed...

Right Limbic (lower right): the Humanitarians
Prefer cooperative learning and group discussion, role-playing, and dramatization. Their brain preference is lower right (limbic) and they are emotional, interpersonal, kineathetic and feeling-based...

Right Cerebral (upper right): the Innovators
Innovators prefer brainstorming, metaphors, illustrations and pictures, mind mapping and synthesis, and holistic approaches. The brain dominance for innovators is upper right (cerebral) and they are holistic, see the big picture, intuitive and intergrative...

fact is, i have and will soon be going for more upgrading courses as my ord date approaches... and i will not just stay at home and slack.... so far, there are two more courses coming up... first one is an economics course by ntu and another team communication course by np...

just some of the benefits that the saf offers.... well, a chance at upgrading... why not?

[idol judges judged]
yes... those four idol judges were judged in an online poll and if you didn't read the article sour idol by scribe sujin thomas in the sunday times yesterday, here's what it reported:

Singapore, you have voted online. And your favourite Singapore Idol judge is Ken Lim. Stiff and sour-faced, he has more fans than the other three judges put together

THE votes are in, and Singapore has voted for... Ken Lim.

The 40-year-old director of Hype Records got the most votes in a Straits Times Interactive poll on the four Singapore Idol judges.

This despite his sour demeanour and lecturing, school teacher remarks each week.

The other judges - entertainer Dick Lee, radio executive Florence Lian and singer Douglas Oliveiro - were not a match in any of the categories.

Lim was voted the 'wittiest and most constructive' judge and the one with the 'best fashion sense' and 'most sex appeal'.

The poll received more than 5,000 responses when it was opened from last Wednesday night to Friday morning.

Lim's fans aren't surprised.

'He gives good comments that aren't biased,' says Elsie Lim, 19, a Temasek Polytechnic student.

'He treats everyone fairly, unlike the other judges who sometimes favour contestants.'

National serviceman Loy Suan Je Ephraim, 22, notes that Lim's comments are valuable because he's in the music industry.

'He gives tips on how to improve. And while he can be corny, that's what makes it entertaining.'

And being the judge who gives his comments last, Lim enjoys the power to turn the tide, says Mr Sebastian Aloysius, 27, a project manager at an advertising company.

But how did Lim earn the most sexy tag given his bookish looks, constant scowl and ugly sweaters?

A Singapore Idol fan site, www.singaporeidol.net , has a discussion thread on his sex appeal, with one posting waxing lyrical about his habit of rubbing his arms.

Other less graphic postings cite how he has 'brains and character', contributing to his sex appeal.

But not everyone is convinced.

Among them is Mr Hans Ebert, executive director of EMI Music South East Asia, who described him in an e-mail to The Straits Times as a 'miserable old sod'.

'Is he suffering from acute depression? Has his pet poodle been run down?' asks Mr Ebert.

Others say Lim is trying too hard to be Singapore's version of Simon Cowell, the dour British-born judge in American Idol.

Mr Melvin Leong, 26, who works for Nanyang Technological University as a researcher, says:

'He can get mean and make unconstructive comments.'

So should the results, which are so wildly in favour of Lim, be taken with a pinch of salt?

The Straits Times Interactive team, which compiled the results, warned that online results may be skewed when tech-savvy pollers vote more than once.

This could have caused Lim's votes to soar into the thousands.

'But at the end of the day, he has created controversy and that makes him interesting to watch,' says Ms Irene Ang, 20, a business student at the National University of Singapore.

Ms Mary Ann Chan, 32, an assistant marketing manager, agrees: 'I watch to see if he is guiding people in the right way. His scowling is all part of the package.'

notice something? i actually revealed my full name in the report... oops... quite an accident....

anyway in the idol race, two idol contestants are now left.... sly and taufik....

so is taufik really gay like what anonymous claims? go figure...

kindof scared later straits times quote this blog... then die liao... i will be famous overnight!! anyway, i may be interviewing him soon and i will surely ask him that sensitive question....

stay tuned...

[monday madness]
come monday, i will be a super busy person... firstly, i've got to attend a WITs leader course which is supposed to be ongoing the whole day cause someone can't make it at the last minute..

but since i will be having a unit anniversary rehearsal, i will have to rush back to camp in the afternoon... and i'll have to spend the weekend memorising my script!

then, there is also some assignment in school which i declined due to my many commitments....

[idol direction]
in line with sp's direction to promote singapore idol finalist taufik, who was an ex-sp student, the webmaster decided to do something out of the ordinary...

so i shall also follow their direction too...

[exercise and the lack of it]
supposed to be going for this particular exercise body odour (not the real name) and that's why i needed to go back to camp this week... but apparently, i'm in camp and not activated at all... and i'm spending my time doing paperwork....

after getting best soldier, i have gotten one big arrow... someone has requested me to help write a report to be submitted to co... and i guess i'll have to do it at home...

i spent almost the whole day in office today... and was busy fiddling with my log clerk's computer in the office... and there is this program that counts down to your ord date...

so i decide to enter my details... and i only have 31 days left to ord!!!!

take away my off and leave days and i only have 7 more days to go back to camp!!! that is of course if everything goes smoothly and does not require my immediate attention...

also, i got another understudy to take over my pride stuff... say y-e-a-h, yeah!!! hope that he'll do a good job... and carry on from where i left off... another best soldier in the making?

point to ponder: life is meaningless without dreams... but what if your dreams have already come true? go figure...

[spot on]
yes... after tonight's installment of singapore idol, only three remain..

and it is goodbye to....



bye daphne... though i didn't catch the show, i guess it would have been a sad ending.... but she had it coming... so it wasn't a shocker...

there's only olinda, sylvester and taufik left.... who will be the singapore idol?

sly has the fans rooting for him but with his singing will he win?

oli has the best voice but does she have the overall package to be an idol?

will singapore let taufik, who is malay to represent her at world final?

and just like what gurmit will say.... stay tuned to idol....

[elimination]
who will it be? only time will tell...

personally, this time, my 2 cents worth, here's my verdict:

i liked sly's performance.... eight upon 10... however, he needs to vary his performance or else it gets too boring as the weeks go by... but he has a strong fan base... if he gets top two, i will root for him till the end...

olinda still has her style and strong voice...

taufik tends to get on my nerves with the way he closes his eyes and moves his jaws...

and daphne is too nasal and cutesy....



note: the above mentioned were in the order from best to worst... you geddit?

[view from the top]
this is what i see from my balcony everyday at night... cool night breeze and view calms the stressed out nerves...



think i am getting sick liao.... caught the flu bug today and took some medicine... hope i will be super recharged when i wake up tomorrow...

p.s. according to my editor, i cannot be an associate editor as i tend to shorten my articles.... he says that a good associate editor is one that can make articles go longer by adding in what i think is crap... hey, i kindof learnt that being concise is the key... real life is sometimes so contradictory...

guess i'll just have to take it with a pinch of salt...

[work load]
been really busy with work so have not been updating... anyway, here's a cool and artistic shot inspired by val's blog...

[the cream of the crop]
too many words just can't sum up the experience... the feeling is just like winning star awards...

recognition.... at last...

after hoping so much to get my title of associate editor to no avail, at least this comforts me...



well, it's just a title anyway... but four years and still tiaw as a reporter is not really that fun... hope for the best when i serve my attachment there doing the new layout and ads...

a super cool experience... at least that is what i will have, which will do just fine too...

[affinity]
there's something about 3sg chin weihao... other than our ranks...

we were in the same kindergarten... we were in the same primary school... we were in the same secondary school.... in the same poly and now in the same unit....

come 9 november, we will receive the same thing...

coincidental or what? go figure...

[a new month]
it's a new month and one that is so full of surprises....

surprise one: i need to go back to camp tomorrow although i am on leave for some wits thingy...

surprise two: i got to cover an exciting event on campus tomorrow morning...

surprise three: i am actually hooked on caesar III and stayed at home and played the whole day... knowing me i never ever play games... man...

and of course, while i am not playing, i am designing stuff.... here's my new logo!!!

[dreaming]
here's my latest dream machine that keeps me awake and excited all night...

the peugeot 206 cc... a hell-of-a super cool machine...