MEL

This is to announce that I will stop using this blog and have moved to another. If anyone is interested, you may get the url to my new blog from me. Cheers!

It’s been some time coming, but here it is at last. Uploaded our pictures in the new photo album. In case you can’t find it, here is the link:

http://mel_lin.blogs.friendster.com/photos/berjaya_hills_kl_july_07/index.html

You may find more pictures at:

http://pinkipigxi.blogs.friendster.com/photos/berjaya_hills_kl_july_07/index.html

Interesting stories about the trip to follow if I find the inspiration and motivation to post more blog entries…

Cheers!

Was at the National Stadium Tribute cum Closing on the 30th of June to bid it farewell. Kind of mixed feelings…

On one hand was sad to let this Old Dame who had served us so well in the past 3 to 4 decades go. It had held so many memories, good and bad. This was the place I had kind of grown up with, from the Malaysian Cup days where there were uncles going around carrying baskets and shouting, "Drinks, keropok, curry puff!" and buying things from them at reasonable prices till now where they just stay in their stores and charge exhorbitant prices. For the record, on that day curry puffs, which usually went for $1 only a year ago, were selling at $2.50 each! And the auntie had the cheek to tell me rather curtly, "No chilli lah!" even though she was charging such a high price!

This was also the place where I had watched my solitary experience of the National Day Preview eons ago;
where I had been there to catch the S League opening ceremony;
where I had been involved in the NPCC Marching Contingent in one of the SYF parades (including the many gruelling rehearsals);
where we had been providing medical cover for the Army Half Marathon during my NS days;
where I had caught those Tiger/ASEAN Cup games, from those first round matches when the away team was better represented in the number of supporters than our own team to the finals where I witnessed Indra Shahdan scored that goal against Indonesia to seal the Tiger Cup or that sardine-packed terrace which cheered the team on to the penalty-kick win against Malaysia in the semis;
where I had watched that famous 2-0 win against Iraq;
where I had caught those invitational teams in action, like Newcastle, Tottenham Hotspurs, Man United etc;
where i was there cheering my school on in the track and Field meets;
where I had seen true die-hard fans and fair-weathered "fans" alike
and the list goes on…

Of course there were not so happy memories as well like that infamous 4-0 thrashing…

However, sad as I was that it was going to be torn down in a few months, there was also some consolation that it was goping to be rebuilt with a new and hopefully better design. No more dirty toilets, creaky and soggy-when-wet wooden benches and, last i heard, it was going to have a roof! No more watching games in the rain! Well that is progress in our little nation for you. The merciless pushing aside of all things old no matter how much it meant to us, all in the name of progress. However we have to accept, I guess, that this is actually the best way forward because we have got very little resources so we have to make sure whatever we have are all very efficiently used. Those with small homes like me could probably understand that we have to get rid of old things which don’t work as well anymore so that there is space for new and better ones which come with better functions etc. We do not have the luxury of space to leave the old one there in its past glory and having the space to accomodate the new as well.

Oh wells this is getting kind of soppy and incoherent. I shall let my pictures say thousands of words. After all, in a few months these shall be all we have of the National Stadium in its past glory. Check them out in my photo albums!

Posted some pictures under the "Miscellaneous" folder. Feel free to take a look!

Something more important than my school results; my results during the PC Show… Hehe let’s just say I did very well, much better than I had expected. Exceeded my personal target by about 30%. Probably it was the panic-buying before the GST (Government Salary Top-up) increase due in a few weeks’ time + the somehow freakish run of good luck. But anyway, yes I am delighted with my results.

Talking about that, the PC Show was probably also an educational and humbling experience for many. Unsuspecting customers probably did not know that such events are there simply to get them to buy things that they will regret sometime in the future. If I had my way I would call it the PC (Professional Conmen) Show.

After all, it does not take a rocket scientist to tell you that when a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. However there are many people who don’t realise this. They tell you things like another brand is also selling a 42-inch TV at $1500 etc which is much cheaper than yours, even though they don’t know when that $1500 TV was released, whether it is even HD Ready in the first place, or whether it is made in China etc. In other words, they buy simply because it is cheap. To that I would say, go ahead, you idiots. BUT, could you just kindly get out of my sight because I am really not interested to hear your preaching that I should sell my premium brand at the same prices as the pasar malam brands that you talk about etc… If you don’t want to buy and you wish to get cheated that is your problem, but don’t waste my time trying to tell me that it is not right trying to sell something based on quality rather than price because there are many other more discerning people in this world than stupid ones like you. Furthermore, your standing here 20 minutes demonstrating how stupid, ignorant and arrogant you are is simply depriving me of a chance to get another genuine customer!

Also, there is something I really have to say as well. I have found out during this event that Song Brothers is one of the worst places to buy stuff from. It is these scums of the earth that give Sim Lim the bad name that it has, even though there are many other less prominent but honest retailers in the same building. NEVER, ever buy anything from Song Brothers! ANYTHING, really!

Sorry this is mostly about complaining, but I just wish to get this out of me. It is really very frustrating. The time now is 12.30 in the afternoon. I called Starhub at 11am, and again at 11.30am yesterday to ask for some assistance in setting up my new router. During set-up the router the installation process required me to specify some information regarding my internet connection, which they strongly recommended I check with my ISP if I was not sure because otherwise the router would not work properly if the wrong information was provided.

The first time I got through after a 10-minute wait, I was told rather harshly and impatiently that I had got through to the wrong department because the person just told me very curtly and impatiently," In case you didn’t realise this is the mobile phone services department!" When I retorted that during the never-ending pressing of options before I got the option of speaking with a live human being, I had always pressed those that related to technical assistance with MaxOnline and nothing else, he simply dismissed his mistake with possible computer glitches in the customer service system (I didn’t know one ever existed in Starhub) without even making an apology. Then he simply took down my name and contact number and promised to get the right person to "call back soon".

Half hour later I realised it wasn’t getting anywhere I called again, pressing all those same options again and finally getting through to the right person who claimed she didn’t know how to provide technical support and promising to get a technician to call back very soon, at my home number.

More than 25 hours have passed and I still have not heard from any of those 2 people. During this time I have installed, uninstalled etc and finally getting the right configuration of MCQ guesses which would make the router work properly and they have not got back to me for the very first and very straightforward question of whether my internet connection uses a Static or Dynamic IP.

I am not sure about other people, but so far in the previous few experiences I have had to call up Starhub for service support, I have never had even ONE satisfactory experience! Not even ONE! Everytime there must be something to make me very pissed. Not minor oversights or something negligible but always something major which would confirm in my mind that they are VERY FUCKED UP. I wonder why they can still manage to stay in business. Maybe I don’t have to wonder why, maybe I do know the reason…

Any experiences to share, people?

In case anyone is interested, this is it:

2006/2007 Sem 2 Examination for BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 3

CAP: 3.91

Not much comments, except that the 2nd and 3rd grade came as abit of a surprise. I had expected slightly better. Well maybe I did flunk spectacularly for my tests, or less likely, I had been backstabbed during peer evaluation. Whatever it is, nowadays even my IPPT result matters more than my school result, so who cares?

Anyone is still free to comment, though, whatever you want to say. Words of sympathy, commensuration ( I have a feeling I spelt it wrong, but who cares again?   :P), surprise, reporting your own results, feel free to say anything…

Yes, all you Liverpool fans out there, the reason Liverpool lost to AC Milan was:

DIRT Kuyt.

Plain and simple. Too bad. Crouch and Kewell made a difference after they came on, but it was too late. Inzaghi & Kaka vs Kuyt & Kuyt… Doesn’t take a top manager to figure out who will win!

Seems all the top teams have got flops for strikers. Shevchencko, Rooney (somehow only for this season), Kuyt, Adebayor…

BUT, watch out for Thierry Henry’s return! Arsenal’s gonna make it next season. Watch out!

Right, I’m back after a long break. Guess it’s not much of a problem anyway. The purpose of blogs, at least to me is kind of like a forum to share with friends some thoughts, happenings etc. But seems I have an inability to hold an audience, so I have to work on that before I continue much more here. Hands up those who did miss my blogging? Ok there you have it.

Anyway the purpose of this post is mainly to share with anyone who is interested/happened to accidentally stumble in here that my business, which some of you may know about and many might not, is started. We have begun operations but progress is kind of slow. We need the help of our friends to help us spread word of mouth about our services and introduce clients to us. At this infancy stage our resources are very tight and we do not have the financial ability to publicise on a large scale. Therefore any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway we do have a website, www.kebasi.com.sg but it is still very much work-in-progress. Probably one of the teething problems– this is what to expect when you got 3 equally and absolutely clueless people trying to get a business started from scratch. We are still trying to figure out how to get a proper website going among a myriad other problems… So please be patient with us?

OK after all that, what are we doing? Kebasi LLP is about mobile phones. Sale of any kind of mobile phone, as long as you require one without a contract, and it is made available in the Singapore market. Sorry but we do not have the resources to tie up with the service providers yet, so we can’t offer contract. But if you or anyone you know needs a new phone but does not want to be stuck on a contract, you are very welcome to drop us a mail to enquire. We try to offer prices lower than most other retailers and our prices include delivery! No obligations though even if you have made an enquiry!

The second service we provide; the staple of our business actually, is the rental of mobile phones. But not any mobile phone. We offer phones without the camera function for hire. We thought there might be a market for this since every year thousands of able-bodied, mentally-stable, not-chao-geng and not-so-filthy-rich men have to report for reservist In-Camp Training (Yes, girls, now you know if your males friends are so free to go for internships during the vacations with you girls and the foreigners, or if in the course of their full-time jobs they never get interrupted by ICT, they almost definitely don’t belong in at least one of these categories). Then there are those who may have short-term contract work in sensitive installations like Jurong Island, military areas, prisons etc where cameras are a strict no-no. It probably does not make very much sense to buy a brand new mobile phone with one-year warranty just to use for a few weeks that year, and maybe the year after that if the Made-in-China phone can still start up and work continuously for 2 days without shutting itself down at times of the nearest inconvenience. So we are renting our phones to these people at very affordable rates.

To find out more feel free to contact us at sales@kebasi.com.sg for obligation-free quotes or simple enquiries. I personally promise no hard-sell or cheating!

Well that’s about it. Maybe if I feel like it, or if I get some encouragement I may go back to blogging again. For now no comments on the Ministerial pay hike, the GST (Government Salary Top-up?) Tax hike, NUS’ new parking system, EPL tips, people in my life whether close to me; not so close; or used to be close, comments/reviews on the Phantom of the Opera or whatever else. This is it for now.

Oh yes, by the way I will be at the Harvey Norman sale at the Singapore Expo from 28 April - 1 May. Please come show support by bringing friends/relatives who wanna buy TV, Home Theatre, DVD Player, DVD Recorder etc k? Thanks in advance!

There is a certain group of people in this world they call the PRCs. No small group, for that matter. Just wondering, what does PRC really mean or stand for?

From my observation in the past years, here are my attempts at hazarding a guess. Maybe we could take a vote to decide which really is the accurate one:

1) People Rid of Courtesy
2) Producers of Rogue Counterfeits
3) Pests, Rile Conmen
4) Problematic, Retarded Communists
5) Prostitutes, Raunchy Chinawomen
6) Perfectly Redundant Comrades
7) Pathetic Ruiners of Culture

Well the list goes on, but I shall not carry on and insult these creatures. I am pro-animal rights.

I’ve got a feeling this might end up very long. Seems I have many things to say, and I also have a sneaking suspicion I might not be able to remember everything I had to say by the time I complete this.

First up, friendship. I have come to the realisation that there are essentially two types of friends. No, I did not pick this off some article or whatever, but it came from my own meditations, ala Descartes haha.

A case in point to illustrate the two kinds of friends. Just a case in point! No reference to anyone in particular. Just a case that one of my buddies (I would put her under Type A) and I were using as an example. Scenario is planning a project meeting, when you are not around to influence the situation. Here goes:

Good friend Type A will be the one who fights for your rights. He will try to avoid suggesting those days you will prefer to be left alone, for example your free days when you have no lessons and do not have to turn up in school. If someone does suggest one the day you are free, he will speak up for you and remind them it’s your free day and get everyone to avoid picking that day if possible. If in the end that day still gets picked you will know your good friend had really tried his best to fight for your rights but it was really a situation in which if he had insisted on your rights it might have bordered on unreasonable behaviour. Well you don’t want you and your good friend to look like unreasonable people don’t you?

Well the other type, the Type B "good friend". He will be very understanding when the others say things like they have to finish up their individual work or go to work or do tuition on their free days. He then feels you are more capable of planning your time and even though you have got to do all of the above as well, he shows the greatest empathy for the other people and assure them that he will be able to persuade you to give up your free day so that they can spend their free days doing their own time. After all he is your "buddy" and can convince you very easily! He doesn’t even bother to mention to them you told him when he offered to represent you at the decision making that you have got stuff to do on your free day.

So, what type are you according to my definition? What type are your friends? I can’t help feeling that while 1 type makes you feel pampered and protected, the other makes you feel suckered and exploited. Quite similar to those China girls we see on TV who play the emotion card and tell their "prey" that "if you loved me you would give me the money". I think it feels the worst when you are trying your best to be the Type A and your "buddy" turns out time and again to display the Type B characteristics!

OK enough of that. Moral of the story: Choose your friends wisely and don’t be a sucker!

Next up, I think we have all heard our Prime Minister’s recent speech. That touching part about how his family and relatives rallied around him when he was down with cancer and tried to provide support in every possible way, especially that relative of his who visited him daily with was it bird’s nest soup or something?. It was really a heartwarming story, and I really mean that. No sarcasm here. I agree with him that support from the family could work wonders, even better than anything a welfare state can offer.

However I sort of think it was abit too simplistic, the story that is. I seriously think it is one thing to be diagnosed with cancer and have all your relatives rallying around you when you are the son of a Prime Minister vs when you are the son of a $2000-a-month civil servant for example. I am not saying his relative had ulterior motives or that I doubt her character. There definitely are undoubtedly very kind and caring people around, and that relative of his may have just been one of those. However I am just raising the issue that not everyone may be as lucky as him. There are relatives who avoid you like anything when you fall ill and have nothing in your medisave and your father is barely making ends meet. I can claim to have seen my fair share of these fair-weathered relatives and friends!

So what’s the point here? I think his intention was definitely good. No doubt about that. Telling a story about how a family banded together to ride out a crisis united. he probably wanted to motivate people and also bring across the point that a warm and united family is better than anything the state can offer.

However, and this is a big however, maybe he had failed to recognise that he could be putting himself kinda out of touch with us common people on the ground without influential and/or rich families. That the manner in which he had grown up and the "privileges" that he had always enjoyed might not be applicable to all of us. He may even have touched a couple of raw nerves among those people lying in hospital with the same condition as he had, and whose relatives would not touch them even with the proverbial ten-foot pole, aimply because they are penniless and who did not have similarly protected upbringing.

OK I think you all get what I’m trying to say. That’s why I seriously believe our government needs to learn better PR skills. Many of their policies I believe started off with good intentions (and may even derive positive consequences), but because of the way they communicate it they end up making people unhappy instead.

Hmm… I forgot what else I had to say already. So guess I shall stop here till I remember and when I have got free time again when I do not have to spend my free time accomodating others so that they can spend their free time doing their own stuff.

Whatever it is, I shall end by saying that despite all these, there has been a wonderful person who has always stood by me and encouraged and supported me and who really makes life alot more bearable for me. Without her I may have given up on many things a long time ago and I might also not be so tolerant towards those jerks and bitches hanging around me! She knows who she is, and she probably also knows how thankful I am that I have her in my life…