[one of those days]
it's one of those days again...

and no... that's not what i meant... not one of THOSE days....

it's a lovely shooting day... that's my point...



the view from my window... the window to the world...

[new beginning]
in case you readers don't know... i've moved to a new office... i'm now working in hougang....

and i have also got my own desk.... and it's a larger one too....



and look at this!!!



power lah.... "officer" liao... haha....

[lionel at work]
okay... i wanna share this lovely photo with all you soccer fanatics out there....

here's goalie and hunk lionel lewis at the launch of the young team singapore ambassador programme...

he was kindof mobbed by a group of fans and autograph seekers....



remy ong was there too.... however he was kindof low-key there...

[the power of three]
first outing for the band of brothers....

and we were at fish and co. last night soaking in the fun at the glass house...



what more can i say? the food is still as great as before i tell you... and there was even a live band providing entertainment too...



and we ate... and we talked... and shawn was very bloated from all the ginger forfeits... he reeked of ginger after losing three rounds to yours truly in a series of guessing games...



when shall our powers combine again?

[making a banner]
was at church helping grace and nigel and the rest.... the agenda was to paint the banner for our ascension community day on may 7...

it all started at 3pm....



and although it was not completed after four hours we were close to completion...



what a day of fun painting!

join us for a day of fun on may 7 at the coa/sajs field.... it promises to be a fun-filled bond-building and family focused time of games and activities...

[the tds namecard awards]
finally... it is time to announce the winners of the tds namecard awards...

shown here are the top three in each category:



first row: winners in the design category
1st: cai huixin
2nd: tan yiying
3rd: isaiah tay

second row: winners in the graphics category
1st: jacky wee
2nd: candice tang
3rd: justin low

third row: winners in the innovative category
1st: isthiqlal turino isanin
2nd: lindy
3rd: bernice woo

feel that these talented guys and gals deserve it... well done... no prizes though...

[reviews and music]
today is dvd review day... and i sort of spent half of the day watching the dvds that i have to review for playworks... power shows they've got...



and also doing groundwork for my next story for the sp webbie....

and while doing all that i was listening to sly...

sly's gonna fly high as his debut album takes off into the skies with jet star asia...



love his rocker pitch perfect version of jay chou's "silent" which is a tad different from the piano version and his own composition "suo yi" about love at first sight.... was it a song for maia??

now if sly can sing so can you... for me i'll stick to writing first....

[who says singaporeans are not racist]
in the sunday times last week, there was a report on a psc scholar who was under fire for his racist blog entries... so what did he actually write? here's the exclusive that the paper didn't publish...

the guy in question is chua cheng zhan also known as cz in his post below... here's what he wrote:

cz is racist again. if u cannot tolerate my racist remarks, do not read.
pre-amble: i hate all ah bu nehs nehs and ba boo singhs. unless u are H-O-T-T and cute~

Urgent: Mira and Constituional Forefathers
I request that a list of all the people who are running for each positions are released to the general voting populous so that we have ideas on who we want in each position to form the best team for the job. Moreover I request that we have one more Exec board meeting before the end of their term in office. At this meeting I would like to propose constitutional amendments. This meeting can be done at any time before the election and I really hope we can see this thru as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Vivek Kumar

Urgent: please return to the river ganges.
Dear Vivek,
you're an utter pain in the arse.
i request that you ugly species vacate this planet. moreover, since your surface area is so huge yet your brain so small and useless, you are a mere waste of precious resources.

if you sincerely believe that our miraculous miracles is Cleopatra and you are Mark Anthony reigning in the Caesar Forum in Rome, by all means, go forth and propose your "constitutional amendments" to your "populous."

if not, i suggest you smelly goon return to Madras. (oh yah, you aren't even from singapore...and you're running for Singaporean club president~). back in your alleys, you can stink and rot for all you want and be the "forefather" of your own generation of indian bah boo singhs who irritate the hell out of me.

i pray to the god of vishnu that you will be washed into the abyss of the river ganges, where its so dark that even you cannot be seen!
vanakam~~

(help...who turned off the lights)

ahhhh~ that was a good break from my thesis.

{ cheng zhan } { 10:53 }

now he had a good laugh and who had the last laugh? i hear you laughing now... i digress...

in the straits times on a saturday two weeks ago, there was a report on racist jokes... and how some people take racism with a pinch of salt in singapore...

however, not all do you know...

this is an account of what happened on the bus to church one sunday:

a chinese lady in her 30s stood up wanting to let a little girl have her seat... also a plump indian lady (in her 80s or so she claims) suddenly went and took the seat...

guess what happened?

the chinese lady got worked up as the seat was given up for the chinese girl and she was spewing vulgarities along the lines of these:

"f**k you indians lah... you fat slops only know how to eat and eat only... the seat is not for your fat ass lah..."

such straightforwardness... she could have tried being a little more polite...

i digress... there are others who are not so racist though...

for example in singapore idol... if singaporeans were racist, not many people would have voted for taufik... yet we see chinese girls rooting for him... and surely it was vice-versa for sly too..

so are singaporeans really racist? you go figure that out yourself... are you racist?

meanwhile, cheng zhan's blog has stopped 'growing' (pun fully intended) into a bigger mountain of mess and racist entries...

he has closed his site and has this to say:
"I am sorry for the remarks I made. They were meant to be inside jokes but were taken out of context. I meant no malice nor harm. Let this be a lesson learnt for me. I sincerely apologize to those hurt by me. At the same time, I thank my friends who have stood by me through all of this."

and yes, this is an ephraim.blogspot.com exclusive report like always... now what does psc say?

[sentosa rain]
was tanning at sentosa yesterday... i found out that it feels good lying on the fine beach sand under the sun... was pretty relaxing...

that is until it started to pour....



the view still looked good even though it was raining....

[what a yawn]
after more than 10 years you tend to get sick and tired of the annual "show of the year"...

the nkf show is quite a yawn this year...

we see repeats of stunts we kindof saw at the president's star charity... and even the outfits look similar...

gone are the thematic shows you get every year... whatever happened to the creativity of the show producers? hope they are not resting on their laurels...

however they still managed to get the money rolling in with ix and vincent and constance in tow...



charity fatigue you say? sort of... now they have got three shows annually...

is nkf getting greedier as the years go by? go figure...

flashback to 1994...
only one telepoll line 1900 112 6868 - $5

fast forward to 2005...
1900 112 6868 - $5
1900 112 6833 - $15
1900 112 6855 - $25
1900 112 6888 - $50
*approximate values...

the only people commendable are perhaps the ones that train hard for the show....

and those who shed real tears for the patients...

[first look]
was at a team singapore gala premiere of the show coach carter yesterday...

and so when you go for a premiere there is exclusive meet and greet session before the show starts... and boy.. i love the lounge where we were at...



not because of the orgy of celebs and a lot of press (me not included) as well as remy ong and other sportsmen and women... we got to take photos too...

and surely you would love the view from the top... breathtaking... diver loved that and the food as well... (and the hot babes too)...



and so the story goes along the usual lines... predictable...

their street. their game. his rules.

old coach wants to retire and needs a new one... and then they deliberate: should i take up the offer? and as fast as you say "i need to consider" the show enters samuel l. jackson as coach carter showing his first day...

he does it his own way like in the movies 'sir'... has his own set of new rules and regulations ... there's even a contract to sign too...

touching that a basketball coach would go that extra mile to ensure that his players do well at school as well as at the sport...

what you actually see as the story unfolds is a coach with a difference... however others in the county don't agree with his harsh methods...

and when he shuts the gym to stop the players from training due to their poor showing at school there is media uproar.... and parents come complaining...

it's a self-reflective story about teen angst... the good and the bad... and of niggers...

throw in the subtle messages highlighting the effets of violence and social issues the storyline is straightforward action-packed and easy to understand...

teamwork and team spirit falls into play and that is portrayed through jackson's role with his motivational talks in the show and his interesting accounts...

and there you have it... that's coach carter...

[the final showdown]
warning: long story with photos...

finally... the weather was kind for the police challenge trophy for the 'b' division rugby finals... and God is great...

it was the showdown between acsi and the saints yesterday evening...



and they didn't really get close to the ball though...



they tried hard to get it...



they nearly got it...



now... now... did they get it??

spare them lah... they do get brownie points for trying (pun not fully intended) though...

ok... so you know now... the saints won... and wow... they had a lot of supporters... they kindof surrounded close to two-thirds of perimeter of the field...



i hope desmond is not reading this... no offence mate...

[casino in singapore]
the rest say YES... and so do i... why?

in a channel news asia report last night...

A survey shows that more than half of Singaporeans gamble, but only two in 100 are at risk of gambling addiction and only a small minority (2.1%) of them reported symptoms suggesting probable pathological gambling and are at risk of being addicted to gambling.

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) says that although only a small minority may be at risk of being addicted to gambling, more can be done to address the problem.

It says government measures to tackle gambling problems will be announced in Parliament next week.

MCYS Minister, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said: "Gambling is not something new, something novel, something unusual in Singapore. A large number of people already embark on it but are well able to control themselves. What this shows is that for that small minority who are at risk, we need to identify them. This is something we need to do, with or without the casino."

in another channel news asia report....

A sociologist said he hoped whatever the case, social programmes will be put in place to deal with the problems of gambling addiction.

Associate Professor Ngiam Tee Leng, Department of Social Work and Psychology at the National University of Singapore, said: "I think from all the hints given, that it is 'yes'. The decision is obviously a very painful one that that Cabinet had to make."

and finally in the new paper....

In five days' time, the Government will reveal its biggest policy decision since the start of the millennium.

Bigger than granting a five-day week, equal medical benefits for civil servants, or the cutting of classroom sizes.

Bigger than reversing the bans on bar-top dancing and Sex And The City.

I daresay it's an even bigger decision than allowing a Speakers' Corner in 2000.

Yup, I'm referring to the much-talked-about casino. And my guess is that it will get the green light in Parliament come Monday.

so it is now no more casiNO... what do you think? my guess is that the casino will be built in the marina area as past reports in the papers hint...

and while the strong views against it in a petition of some 30,000 signatures, we will only know how much of that was taken into consideration on April 18 when the final decision is made known...

Source: CNA and The New Paper

[rain]
oh why did it rain?



guess the people at the police academy had their spirits dampened with the postponement of the 'b' division rugby finals...

[singapore's 40 birthday]
on august 9 2005 the padang will be the place to be...

as the national day parade moves back to the padang this year expect to see the very much anticipated moblie column that showcases all the different types of saf vehicles like tanks and rovers... though it probably means a lot more work for the guys doing national service...



did you know that as part of the celebrations there's also a commemorative book of singaporeans born on august 9 through the years...

even pck has his own show at the indoor stadium this year...

[tds 05]
at the temasek design show during the weekend... wow... first time seeing such creativity and art oozing out... i went round a few times checking the pieces out...



from visual communiation pieces....



and even product and real life shop window designs....



the students also have their own really creative personalised namecards too... more on that in another post soon when i am free...



it rocked my week man... if only sp has these kindof shows for me to attend... i'd definitely go sia...

[in the mood to shoot]
here i go again... yup... it shooting time... kindof got into the mood of shooting again... and hope the photos are getting better... haha... hopefully they are lah...

i saw this and had to shoot it...



the other shot was taken at the nus pool while interviewing members of the national canoe polo team from sp...

[want publicity]
this is my desk at work where all publicity materials like posters and stuff end up...