Tagged (an experiment in social networks?)

1. (the person who tagged you is) -Lari

2. (your relationship with him/her is) - Friend from NYF

3. (5 impressions you have of him/her) - chirpy, like a chipmunk / deeply sad in a nice way, like autumn days / different /cute, also like a chipmunk / onz!

4. (the most memorable thing he/she has done for you) - Eh.. help out an old man with a bad memory here....

5. (the most memorable words he/she has said to you) -

“life goes on,
despite all fatigue and sadness
much better if we strive
to find smiles with song" - well, not exactly said, but....

6. (if he/she becomes your lover, you will) - eh.. ah... oh.... be a pedophile?

7. (if he/she becomes your lover, things he/she has to improve on will be) - have more free time to chill, not just busy all the time!

8. (if he/she becomes your enemy, you will) - ignore her and curse her very name?

9. (if he/she becomes your enemy, the reason will be) - cheat me?

10. (the most desirable thing you want to do for him/her now is) - give her a reassuring hug...

11. (your overall impression of him/her is) - very nice lady, but too depressive. Needs a really good friend who stays near enough that he/she can just walk over and give her a hug when necessary. Either that, or a really good bear...

12. (how you think people around you will feel about you) - that gawky/awkward chap who thinks waaaaay too much, and who never seems to realise that nobody actually wants advice!

13. (the characteristic you love about yourself is) - i’m rational.

14. (the characteristic you hate about yourself is) - too competitive... just can't lose well, you know?

15. (the most ideal person you want to be is) - eh.. can't answer that --- little bits of so many people in my life, and I refuse to cheat my way out of this question with a divine being.

16. (for people that care and like you, say something to them) - I love you too... I'm sorry I don't always have time and that I'm so short-tempered...

17. (pass this quiz to 10 people that you wish to know how they feel about you)

1. Keying!
2. Jared
3. Nekki
4. Lari
5. Junx
6. Chester
7. Raymond
8. Peiling
9. Qiwei
10. Qianhui

(who is no.6 having a relationship with?) - Bliss

(Is no.9 a male or female?) - Male.

(If no.7 and 10 are together, will it be a good thing?) - Lol... we were talking about this recently...

(What is no.2 studying?) - Supposed to be philosophy... which means he's slacking in a very cheem kind of way?

(When was the last time you had a chat with no.3?) - yesterday. At Key's party

(What kind of music does no.8 like?) - oh gosh - I dunno! C-Pop? let me know if I'm wrong...

(Does no.1 has any siblings?) - Yes. An older brother.

(Will you woo no.3?) - never. He's a guy. On a funnier note, he's got too much of a tummy. But other than those two things, possibly.

(How about no.7?) - Why are all these things slotted on guys?!!!

(Is no.4 single?) - No! Though probably some people passing her on the street might hope so?

(What’s the surname of no.5?) - Liaw

(What’s the hobby of no.4?) - er. my turn to ask you back? Other than paintball?

(Do no.5 and 9 get along well?) - They don’t know each other.

(Where is no.2 studying at?) - In Florida, sunny Florida. Isn't that nice?

(Say something casual about no.1) - She's got the most heart of anyone I know.

(Have you tried developing feelings for no.8?) - (Finally, a female!) No... just wrong!

(Where does no.9 live?) - Sengkang.

(What colour does no.4 like?) - i don’t know either!

(Are no.5 and 1 best friends?) - No, but they've played golf together!

(Does no.7 like no.2?) - they don’t know each other. But I think they would get along well!

(How did you get to know no.2?) - Schoolmate in secondary school... ran in the same geeky circles, the ones that laugh knowingly when someone says something like "You can't measure wisdom in points"

(Does no.1 have any pets?) - Yes, two adorable little pigs

(Is no.7 the sexiest person in the world?) - I get the impression that the 7th person is supposed to be of the opposite sex...

Now reading: From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas Friedman

天冷就回来 (If There're Seasons)

Caught the Saturday matinee performance of this awesome show - a chinese musical based on the songs of Liang Wen Fu. Really touching.. and found myself thinking, what would I do without dear Key? sigh.

The show's sold out, I think. But do catch it next time if you can. Turns out my mom is catching the show the next weekend as well... Anyway, the website's really cool.. Love the way the links drag towards your mouse, pulled by invisible strings...

Dolphin Restaurant

Beef steak, medium rare, at the Dolphin Restaurant at 81 Genting Lane, Everich Industrial Building. At about $30++ for 300gms of New York Steak, it's not cheap, just about the same price as Hogsbreath or Prime Society... And this despite the setting, which is the 7th floor of an industrial building out at Macpherson area.

Nonetheless, the beef is decent - at least they didn't overcook it and the meat is tender enough to be still worth eating. A decent choice on a Friday or Saturday night when all the town outlets are packed.. though it's closed on Sundays....

Slipping away, like holding water in my fingers

Little pieces of sand and rock
every grain in place
A wall rising imperceptibly

Can you see the house we're building?
Can you feel the story we're writing?
Though every day is a fragment of a single character
Still, the story goes ever on.

Even the spaces serve their role
between the sand, between the words.
Still we're ever moving onward
Rest your heart, and let us keep on.

August HDB flats up - the Hopelessness of Dreaming

August HDB flats are up for sale... good news is: good, new flats in great locations - eg, across from Redhill, Commonwealth, Queenstown MRTs.

Bad news? 354 flats, 8273 applicants and counting... Well done!

New Games: Lost Cities, Ticket to Ride Marklin

Heh - new games again...

清一色

I'm pretty heartless about being manipulated...

and that makes it hard for me to understand why everyone else feels so bound and obligated - and makes me heartless and overly rational in everyone's eyes. Would I trade that so that I won't be so hated? I don't know, don't think so!

Reading: Interesting Times, Terry Pratchett

an interesting excerpt describing an acorn.

"... a tiny soundless voice which said, yes, I am but a small, green, simple object - but I dream about forests."

Much to be said about potential...

Cute custom paint on car

Saw this really nice looking Sistine-Chapel-esque paint job in Vivo parking lot today... followed the link to this site. Check it out, really nice paints!

The Prime Society

Ate at a place at Dempsey Road today, called "The Prime Society". Sounds vaguely Bleach-like, no? The place seems quite posh - and in fact the service and prices are at the posh-level...


But the place doesn't take itself too seriously. Your placemats are these diagrams, ostensibly showing the cuts of beef, pork, fish, and artichokes.. take a closer look (click on the photos and zoom in!) and you'll see that a lot of the comments are pretty silly!



It's a good thing they have different types of mats to keep you entertained, because service is a little slow. We ordered three starters - prime caesar, portobello mushrooms, and calamari. All the dishes were pretty good. I liked the calamari because the squid was fresh and was springy without being chewy.. though Zeal felt the breading was not crispy enough. The portobello mushrooms are pictured here- somewhat after we started eating because I forgot to take a picture!



Here's my ribeye steak! At $36, very pricey, but excellent, fantastic taste. Today I found out the difference in taste between filet mignon and ribeye - which is that mignon is more juicy but also has a strange powdery aftertaste, which can be covered by the sauce to some degree (in this case my sister ordered bearnaise sauce). However, for me, I definitely prefer the ribeye, especially because I like to taste the beef itself without any sauce other than its own juices... And look at where I cut the beef, it's done medium rare really well!



Some more, other than the beef, the carrots, cucumber, mushrooms and potatoes are all very well cooked! The carrots, for instance, were crispy and maintained their taste well, while the seasoning on the fries was just perfect. I wiped out all the veggies - except the eggplant which honestly tasted and felt weird...

Definitely a place to go to eat beef. Try it!

Definitely a good place to eat! Go there for some

Nicest dinner place in Australia - Oliver's

Rather belated post - meant to make people really hungry! Anyway, this is Oliver's Australian Fine Cuisine, a really nice place which Georg over at the Nigana recommended to us. Address is 5/63 Abbott St, Cairns, of course.



By the way, this was where I popped the question... does the background look familiar?



Starter - bacon wrappen in chicken - I think! (My memory fails me - not surprising a month after having this meal!) I remember the skin was super crispy and the meat extremely tender, a fantastic combination.




My second course centred on a piece of egg tofu...



And the main course - three mini-steaks, complete with pumpkin sauce. The steaks' natural juices were already fantastic, savoury and full of the flavour of charcoal and beef. Then when you eat it with the pumpkin sauce, the flavour changes entirely and you're enjoying the beef texture with the sweetness of the pumpkin.



And you can see, medium rare really was medium rare - not like some other steakhouse I recently ate at. (But duh, pay peanuts get monkeys!)



Dessert - I honestly forgot what this was!



And here's our party of four with the boss, Mr Oliver Schreiber. Because Georg helped us book a table, he came over to chat with us, made a wine recommendation, and also talked with us about some of his personal life - like how he'd considered setting up a restaurant in Singapore at an earlier time. Sigh -- definitely our loss!



All in all, a really fantastic meal! Expensive too.. inclusive of a bottle of good white wine, we spent about $400 for four persons. But I thought it was definitely worth it!

Read: The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson

I just finished reading The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson. This is the same guy who wrote Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, and basically I've been pretty impressed by his writing.

One recurrent theme between Snow Crash and The Diamond Age is the idea that stories have power - a theme that is shared with American Gods (Neil Gaiman). In particular, I liked the concept, that in the stories told by our ancestors, cleverness and technology are often linked to the same "gods" - Coyote, Brer Rabbit, Enki, Athena, Loki / Odin among others. The Diamond Age added to this, when in one section, a Chinese character, Dr X, says that:

When our society was based upon planting, it could trul be said, as the Master [Confucius] did, 'Virtue is the root; wealth is the result.' But under the Western ti, wealth comes not from virtue but from cleverness.

The implication is that the root Chinese society emphasises virtue over cleverness. Looking back at our chinese myths, the question then is, who are our deities of cunning and cleverness. To me, it seems that we should look at Sun Wukong and Zhuge Liang - one, an almost certainly mythical character, the other, probably a real person translated into myth in the same way as Homer translated the Greek heroes into the Iliad. In the case of the Monkey God, his cunning is related in his monkey origins, playful nature, transformative magic; whereas in Zhuge Liang's case, his is the strategic vision, the tactical prowess, the military technology. And in both cases, we have a clear case of virtue trumping cunning.

In Sun Wukong's case, first he is quelled by Buddha. Then he is restrained by his golden circlet, controlled by the meditations of his monk master Tripitaka. And lastly, there is the Journey to the West itself, to regain the scriptures, a quest where he finally acknowledges his duty to Tripitaka and is elevated to godhood. In Zhuge Liang's case, we first see the success of his strategems when working for Liu Bei, and later, the undermining of his brilliance by his steadfast loyalty to Liu Bei's son, the "hun jun" Ah Dou.

Yet in each case both virtue and cleverness are necessary ingredients for success. To quote, out of context, the protagonist of the story:

Both ways are simple-minded - they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity.

If I could teach my children one thing, it would be how to deal/resolve/cope with contradiction and ambiguity...

Modern Art and Cash n Guns

I bought two new games! Modern Art, and Cash n Guns. Heh. more, when I actually get to play them.

Borscht Steakhouse - cheap, but looks like it's more worth it to pay for good steaks!

Eh.. Borscht, opposite Chomp Chomp at Serangoon Gardens. Set dinner at about $13, beef was quite tough and was not tasty or juicy. I think this is pretty much it for me in terms of cheap beef - better to head for the slightly pricier places in order to get a good steak!