according to my self-diagnosis, aided by extensive online research, i have a hyperactive sympathetic nervous system! this explains why i tend to blush easily and, of course, the main pain-in-the-arse symptom - sweaty palms and feet. it's not only when i experience emotional stimuli, or warm weather conditions. to summarise, i would say that i leak like a faulty tap - perpetually. oh, how i dread handshakes.. (but hey, the only good coming out of this condition is that i have an extremely high libido. haha! that's the best excuse to be horny all the time!)
well, i'm not really keen on this, but the cure for it is by undergoing outpatient surgery called endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy, and the average success rate is 98%, with rare cases of a side effect called compensatory sweating, which means that since you don't allow your palms to sweat that much, the sweat will just come out more in other parts of the body - feet, face, groin, armpits, body, etc. apparently, i'd have a 2% chance of that experience.
during the surgery, they would cut 2 holes at either sides of my chest, stick fibre optic cameras in through my ribs, along with some surgical instruments, then clamp down on (reversible), or cut away (irreversible), some nerve chains. sounds like fun. and i'm already sweating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperhidrosis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_nervous_system
http://www.sweaty-palms.com/sweaty_palms.html
http://www.sweaty-palms.com/blushing.html
current mood:
hey i received this sms from my cousin. everyone support if you can.
hey cousins! i'm doing a small sideline business with my friend selling movies, idols, sports and other posters. just setup our new website. feel free to view anytime and if you are interested in getting anything from there, just let me know. posters are all in a1 size, price lists are listed in the web. so please give me your support. thanks!
hall of frame url: http://www.hallofframe.blogspot.com
update: it didn't work out. my cousin took his money back after 2 months.
on my way down to boat quay last night, while waiting for the mrt, scenes of the conversation i had earlier with jl kept running and re-running through my mind. i was rudely distracted from my thoughts when i witnessed a fight between 6-7 indian teens and what looked like 3 thai/cambodian/nepalese men. one of the indians was accusing the other party of staring at him; a heated argument ensued, and following that was one flared-up indian boy throwing punches and kicks at the innocuous- and bewildered-looking thai/camb/nep. it subsequently went on to become quite a noisy and messy scene.
the audacity and senselessness of it actually made my blood boil, and i wanted very much to start slamming a few of the perpetrators against the wall/floor/___(enter very hard and damaging surface here) - instead i just walked away and avoided being a part of the pandemonium. it was slightly amusing that they obviously didn't understand each other's taunts and curses, and it was more than a little bemusing to have encountered such a sad case of immaturity on a national holiday eve, when everyone was supposed to be enjoying their evening out.
you would think it couldn't be more dramatic that this, but when the train arrived, they actually brought the battle into the train, pushing and tussling their way through the carriage doors, inexorably inconveniencing and intimidating the other passengers - it was really frustrating to watch. thankfully, there was an mrt staff nearby who heroically ventured over in urgent strides and single-handedly dismantled the childish skirmishes with quite some authority and professionalism. he deserved some applause from all of us commuters but, being singaporeans, naturally there was no public demonstration of appreciation. fucked up but true.
as it turned out, unfortunately, that wasn't to be the last piece of violence i had to endure before the end of the night. after managing to guzzle down half a bottle of martell neat and lose his sobrierity in 20mins, mr ahl, who had recently experienced a painful breakup, decidedly left vogue to do some pub-hopping. fast-forward to next scene: ahl was in a very bloody mess, a violent rage, and a vicious vice-grip from a visibly flustered rg at the foot of the stairs leading up to the pub. after almost half an hour of anxious persuasion and appeasing from the rest of us, he was finally convinced to be led upstairs to clean up his wounds, and afterwhich, to our great relief, plonked face-first onto the sofa and started snoring away. what a night he's had. hmm. what a night i've had.
sgt desmond from camp vogue issued a recall order tonight. it seems we're going in for another round of ict - intensive consumption of toxins. i've been going down every night since thursday, and tonight will probably be the last time for a long while, but then again, this is the umpteenth time i've said that. last chance?
once i start working, i'll have to tighten the purse strings and set aside some emergency cash - emergency as in being late for work and having to take a cab down. don't smile. it happens to each and every one of us.
this evening, jl came over to return my belongings, and the entire situation was tense and awkward. i still have to retrieve my passport and atm card from her though, probably sometime next week. i hate the fact that i said those hurtful things to her, but i guess it's never easy cutting loose a long relationship. just let it go.
no, it's not german or dutch. it's just 'finding space' in reverse. clever? poetic? anyway, i just want to say that sometimes friends act as your mirrors, giving you a retrospective glimpse of your past, through the ways they choose to remember you, or how certain things are associated with you, according to them. it's quite a funny thing when you find out about the "keywords" that people identify and remember you with.
take, for example, jo, who saves my mobile number, in her beautiful iphone3g, under the name 'ah`space'. haha! my gosh, that was over a decade ago. i fondly remember chatting from dusk till dawn on irc in #youngndangerous (smile, png.. =), playing pool at monstercue, smoking in school uniform, loitering in shopping centres and game arcades, infatuations, etc - the recollection is making me cringe from the nostalgia of all the foolish things i did during that phase of my life. youth is my crime, and i'm guilty as charged. haha. the sweet thing is, i'll bet she's the only person in the world who remembers me that way. thank you.
ankle tattoo. man utd devil. photoshop. preview. incoherent. smile.
update: thanks for the feedback. i get the message - none of you like it.
you've taken a wrong turn and you're now on the wrong track, but you don't want to have to make a u-turn and admit that you made a mistake. you just want to keep going on and naively hope you'll eventually still get to your dream destination, cruising along with the error and trying to make the best out of a bad situation. along the way, you see a lot of unpleasant incidents that wear out your hopes and confidence, but you blindly persist and trust your flawed judgement, simply disregarding the clear and present reality and the increasing gravity of the situation that you're allowing to spiral out of control, until gradually and painfully, you no longer see the mirage of hope peering out over the horizon, and soon realise your fuel tank is empty and you have no choice but to step out of the vehicle and begin to retrace your steps back to where you came from. as you turn your weary body around to glance back, you see that the returning road is the same cruel, gruelling one that got you here in the first place. it won't be easy, but at least it's in the right direction.
yesterday was a real drainer. here's how it went, chronologically:
- woke up early to catch previous night's champions league highlights
- signed employment contract at centennial tower
- briefed by hr for 1 hour on staff benefits and company culture
- opened staff payroll account at raffles link
- listened to 1 hour preaching on investment plans
- met neo for 30min brunch at subway marina square
- took a 30min walk to raffles place
- underwent 3 hours of medical checkup
- travelled for 1 hour for copy of lost 'o' levels cert at buona vista
- hunted with jo for 5 hours for ig's birthday gift at amk hub
- returned home to wash up and unwind for 1 hour
- rushed down to join bk and png for drinks at boat quay
- finally arrived back home after 5 hours for overdue rest
while i was asleep, my mum tried to wake me up and ask if i wanted to join the family on a last-minute cruise-to-nowhere they were planning to attend tonight, and i simply rejected the idea in my semi-conscious stupor - in retrospect, maybe i should have taken some time to actually consider it. well, they've gone ahead with the plan, and now i'm left all alone at home for the rest of this long weekend, after which would be my first day at my first job. "congrats! you're a part of the rat race now!"
sigh. yawn. double-sigh. hmm? hey, look! at least they left me some bread talk buns! bread? talk? oh, maybe the hotdog buns will start chatting with me if i try hard enough to speak their language. or not. triple-yawn.
current mood:
i woke up really late and missed my driving lesson. i'm also very badly hung over. on the up-side, citibank called to offer me a job, which i accepted without hesitation, and i should expect another call from them tomorrow with regards to the salary. at the moment, i'm not really too concerned with how much they're prepared to pay me, just feeling a tinge of glee and a truckload of relief. like my dad said, now's the time to "ride a cow to find a horse". i'll just have to ride this cow as far as it can bring me.
good luck to the reds, who entertain rivals celtic at the theatre of dreams later tonight. my prediction: 3:0 - and if i get it wrong, i'll just come back and alter this post. =)
update: haha! i didn't even need to cheat! it turned out exactly as i predicted, thanks to berbatov and rooney! glory, glory man united!
current mood:
during his time at chelsea, before being sacked unceremoniously for over-achieving, jose mourinho had tapped on roman abramovich's distinguished list of contacts in an attempt to source for a stylish sports car in which he could travel with his family.
in may this year, as a show of grace and no-hard-feelings, the russian billionaire duly obliged by gifting him this £2 million limited edition ferrari 612 scaglietti, inscribed with the famous words 'the special one'. it is the only four-seater car produced by the italian superbrand, and was initially priced at £250,000 during its launch, before news that there would only be 60 in the world leaked and resulted in the value of the car sky-rocketing - truly a special car for the special one.
good morning! i'm getting ready to go over to my granny's place to celebrate rny's birthday. wli and co bought him a ps3, and i'm quite eager to see the look on the science king's face when he unwraps his gift!
i didn't get much sleep last night, but i'm still in a good mood, because man utd won again! 4:0 over wba! back into the top four, and back on track to defend our crown! the best thing is, both roon and ron got on the scoresheet! i feel kind of sad for tevez - after all those point-saving/match-winning goals he got for us last season, he's now warming the bench and can't even get a proper contract sorted out. oh well. that's sacrificing for the greater good. and berbatov is starting to look like he might justify his mammoth price tag. he'd better do so!
the poly gang are meeting up for coffee at 4pm, then we're having pasta at creations for dinner. lt and jon will be arriving in the evening, after they knock off work, and i'm expecting jl to join us before 7pm. she went to a company chalet last night and only got home around 3am. the party animal must be so exhausted. i hope she won't feel touchy later on.
anyway, i'm off to amk in jeans and my new everlast canvas shoes!
current mood:
a few days back (or was it just yesterday? i'm gradually losing concept of time), wli and i explored arab street on xy's recommendation. after miles of probing and buckets of perspiration, we finally managed to locate the lane lined with stores that purportedly had some nice and interesting clothes. to our dismay, xy didn't warn us that they catered mostly to females, so we left empty-handed and disappointed. jl would have loved to come here though. the stores look like her cup of tea, very similar to the boutiques at far east plaza that she'd always drag me into. (baby, i'm not complaining.. i just wish they'd have sofas for bored boyfriends.)
over coffee, wli and i concluded that character-driven movies are by far more engaging than plot-driven ones, and he also wishes to expand his list of good movies seen. i haven't actually caught too many films myself, but just to share, here are some of my favourites:
the exorcist
stephen king's it
meet joe black
lord of the rings series
rise of the footsoldier
goodfellas
pirates of the caribbean series
silence of the lambs
top gun
interview with the vampire
the langoliers
the green mile
se7en
forrest gump
pan's labyrinth
transformers
a few good men
wasabi
breakfast at tiffany's
stardust
the devil wears prada
giant
pretty woman
my best friend's wedding
serendipity
the devil's advocate
trainspotting
philadelphia
yamakasi
edward scissorhands
james bond series
a beautiful mind
big fish
taxi driver
rocky series
bonnie and clyde
sleepers
godfather series
i should also include my favourite stephen chow and chow yun-fatt films, the timeless classics that are hayao miyazaki animes, as well as the young and dangerous series, but there are just too many to name one by one.. anyhow, here's a list of movies i think i should catch:
the shawshank redemption
the bucket list
schindler's list
pulp fiction
fight club
citizen kane
saving private ryan
brokeback mountain
monster
sleepless in seattle
city of god
got any more to recommend?
my wonderful auntie pam bought me this pair of cargo shorts from river island when we went shopping at vivo the other day. i simply love it! i've been wearing it everywhere for 3 days straight, even in my sleep! haha!
to my dear auntie pam, here's a big, public, sincere THANK YOU!
current mood:
living on the first level, the one day i dread most is when the fumigation people come around and fog the refuse dumps. it triggers off this chaotic chain of events - the frenzied swarm of cockroaches squeeze their way into my house through every seam imaginable; we arm ourselves with brooms and slippers, ready to squash every creepy-crawly in sight; i get to use the water hose and be responsible for gunning down all the roaches scurrying along the walls and ceilings - and it's no fun at all.
before it happens, you think you're safe from the invasion with adequate preparations, but you end up staring aghast at the sight of those bloody insects squirming their way under the scotch tape, through the gaps of the window corners and under the front door.
initially, they just trickle in, a few at a time, but before you realise how they do it, they storm in by the dozens, wave after wave of glossy dark-brown aliens with hairy feet and probing antennaes. you wanna shout out "FUCK!" at the top of your voice, but on second thought, wisen up to the very real possibility of them free-falling from the ceiling and down into your throat. this bottled angst sparks a rage and the killing spree begins, marking the start of a very tense and jumpy afternoon.
by the time the squishing and splatting is done, the kitchen area looks like a ravaged war-zone - bottles, cans, plastic bags, all strewn around the nauseating mounds of mutilated, flattened bug remains - i won't even begin to describe the horrendous yellowish bug juice that's squirted onto the floor, and sometimes our toes, when the innards and brains pop out. ugh.. yucks.. the words "overkill" and "massacre" come to mind.
we're done with the cleaning up, and now i'm gonna take a long, hot shower to rid myself of the bloody goosebumps. i'm just blogging while puffing on a rewarding cigarette and waiting for the heater.
later tonight, we're off to COCA at TAKA for seafood steamboat buffet. hungry after digesting this post? bon appétit! =)
ever visualised verbal abuse as actual weapons instead of mere syllables?
here are examples of different forms of weapons that might be transformed from a person's spiteful remarks or vulgar insults, based on the way they wield their words.
me:
my style would probably be alluded to the rapier - a cold, relentless blade, deceptively hidden in its sheath, patiently awaiting the opportune moment to impale with one lethal thrust.
png:
png's form of verbal abuse would be likened to the formidable nanchaku - a pummel of blunt, disorienting attacks, often allied with confounding spins and twirls, and always aiming to deliver stunning and silencing strikes.
bk:
for him, the ideal weapon would be the whip - a tirade of stinging lashes intent on separating flesh from bone, seemingly looking to maim and torture, and a propensity to constrict with a deadly strangle to finish things off.
what is your weapon of choice?
from left to right, we've got:
happy, smirk, surprise, hmm, fear, and sad!
you must think i'm fucking bored out of my mind.
you know, you are fucking right. spot-on.
anyway, i went for driving lessons at noon, then came back to jog. nothing heavy or intense, but i'm determined to get back into ideal shape, and i think i made a good start today. i have an urge to do a few more laps before turning in tonight, but i think i'll conserve my energy for tomorrow's session instead.
"damn mirror, you're not gonna scare me anymore!"
current mood:
last night, my dinner had some disagreement with my stomach, so i went into the toilet looking to resolve that particularly discomforting conflict. while closing the toilet door, i startled a lizard/gecko/whatever-fuck-you-wanna-call-it. the bloody thing panicked and promptly zoomed up the toilet wall, but its escape was quite literally at break-neck speed, and when it hit the ceiling, it sort of bounced off and fell all the way back down to the floor, spiralling in a dramatic slow-motion fashion.
my natural reaction was to execute an evasive half-leap/half-sidestep as the rubbery, pale-green reptile barely missed me and landed in close proximity to my foot with a muted thud, before taking great effort to crawl anxiously along the floor towards the nearest wall. then it stopped short of the corner where floor meets wall, and just lay there motionless. after a long while, i began to think that it was probably dead from the fall, and just wanted to flush it out of sight so i could get on with my business, so i grabbed the shower hose and sprayed. after a few torrents, it abruptly awoke from its state of shock and escaped out the gap under the door at lightning pace.
the mood was, by now, a little awkward and surreal, so i settled my nerves with a cigarette while calm and order was gradually restored. the conditions finally became more conducive, i was relieved enough to relieve myself, and thus the motion was passed without further incident.
for all of you out there who have a habit of assuming things before they happen, this is gonna make you blush with embarrassment.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/460854
(click 'watch this movie' then find the flash button that says 'fuck')
kudos to png for his amusing discovery, and cheers to sober october!
earlier this morning, i had to go for a redundant 2nd interview with citibank. apparently, the 1st interview i had with them was conducted by the number 2 in the department, and now the number 1 wanted to have a look at me for herself. so i got up early, squeezed with the other sardines commuting in the can, perspired profusely under the formal office wear, and arrived at the place 10mins early, all flush and flustered.
after a short conversation with the hr staff, she led me to the office where i met the head of the department that was looking to hiring me. the meeting with number 1 lasted barely 6mins, as she quickly went through the job scope and expectations of the post. the briefness of the whole encounter got me worried. i couldn't resist asking her, rather candidly, how likely i was to land the job, and she revealed that my chances were quite high, although she would have to review a few other candidates before she could reach her final decision. how political.
all in all, i thought it was a major waste of time and effort, having been disappointed by such a hopelessly short and inconclusive meeting. at the end of it, i was advised to wait for another 2 weeks, on top of the 4 weeks of edginess i had already gone through since the 1st interview. right now, i'm feeling rather discouraged by all the uncertainties presented before me, but what can i do? just wait and see lor.. =|
well, the singtel plan expired months ago, and my w880i is turning faulty. it heats up really quickly after a few minutes on the line, and it can't read memory cards anymore, which takes the 'w' out of w880i, since the phone memory is insufficient for my music library, not to mention limited space for photos and videos. i thought i'd replace it with the iphone 3g for christmas.(dad santa, are you reading this?)
iphone 3g
pros:
exciting aesthetics
simplistic usability
crystal-clear voice calls
blistering connections
huge display screen
no calculator-like keyboard
competitive pricing
cons:
short battery life
no video calls
grainy camera quality
barely-audible speakers
incompatible with other brands
hmm.. is it really worth the hype?
