little crumbs of heaven

- posted from my iPhone

swensen's breadbowl soup

- posted from my iPhone

hero for a day

It's not every day that you get to save a life. Tonight, i saved two. Here's a recount of an eventful night.

After supper with Png at Bukit Batok, I was on the way to sending GB home via the PIE. As soon as we got on the highway, I saw a car tyre lying on the road shoulder to my left, and a lot of smoke further up ahead. I slowed down as I approached the accident scene, and saw a red Suzuki Swift with the front all smashed in and a silver truck parked beside it. I found it strange that a truck would be on the right-most lane of the highway.

As I got nearer, I could make out a silhouette of a woman lying on the steering wheel in the Swift, and saw that the engine was on fire. That was when I realised the seriousness of the situation, and felt that I had to help immediately.

I pulled up on the road shoulder, and a black Toyota Vios followed suit in front of me. Mr Vios got out of his car at the same time as I did, and announced to me, "I'm calling the police right now." I nodded and replied, "Good work", then turned towards the Swift. I saw the silver truck drive away from the Swift, and onto the road shoulder a good distance ahead of the Vios.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, there came a silver taxi speeding towards the Swift and couldn't manage to swerve away in time, consequently colliding into the rear of the Swift with great force and eventually bumped it a few metres forward. Now the Swift was lying diagonally across lanes 1 and 2, and I feared for the additional damage the woman might have suffered from that heavy impact. The silver taxi then headed over to the road shoulder, behind the silver truck.

As the flames from the Swift's engine began to grow more intense, I strode over and saw that the driver's door was ajar. A chinese woman in a white tank top and grey shorts sat with her legs out of the car. She was obviously in a daze as I went over to check on her. As I got her out of the car, Mr Vios jogged over and I delegated to him the task of helping the woman to safety away from the burning vehicle.

There was another person in the vehicle, an indian man in a black T-shirt and khaki shorts, who was sprawled face-down on the driver's seat, and his legs were bent at an awkward under the front passenger's seat. I hurried over to the passenger's side and tried to open the door, but it was jammed, so I exerted as much force as I could muster, and managed to pry the door open, feeling some metal parts bending, and damaging the hinges in the process. I then checked on the indian and he responded with weak moans of agony and muttering, "i die, i die.." He had abrasions on his legs and his face was a bloody mess, but at least he was still alive, I thought to myself. I applied pressure to his back and neck, thinking that if he had injured his spinal cord, he'd probably scream out in pain right now. Concluding that it would be alright to tug him out of the car without running the risk of causing further damage to him, I then attempted to lift him out of the car, but he was jammed in the small space between the seat and the bottom of the dashboard.

With his weight now leaning on me, I couldn't get at the underseat clutch to push the seat backwards, so I shouted out to GB for help, who was in the midst of a crowd of bystanders observing from across the highway. GB rushed over with a malay guy and they helped to support the indian while I slid the passenger seat back. GB and the malay guy grabbed the upper half of the man as I lifted his legs, at which point he repeatedly groaned, "Pain, pain!" I muttered under my breath, "Shut up.. You're lucky to be alive.." As we carried him across the highway, the smoke and the smell of burning rubber became more intense, half-choking me as my eyes started to tear.

Upon seeing her battered friend lying on the road shoulder, incessantly calling out "Mama.. Mama..", the female casualty hobbled over anxiously and threw herself on him, meekly calling out "dear, dear" in the process. It wasn't long before more bystanders started gathering around us, casting their opinions on their interpretations of how the accident began. I overheard someone saying that he was the taxi driver who had collided into the rear of the Swift, and he was profusely apologising and claiming that he didn't have enough time to react. He sounded sorry enough, so I didn't bother to direct any accusations towards him. I also found out from the truck driver, who in the beginning had stopped by the Swift, that he was looking to help the woman out, but panicked and drove away from the danger when he saw flames emerging from the engine. I eased his guilt by saying that it was a normal and justifiable reaction.

An ambulance arrived at the scene and tended to the injured couple, with one paramedic particularly frustrated by the woman's inability to cooperate - she was turning hysterical because her boyfriend was in bad shape and wasn't responding to her cries. Fire engines arrived after a while, and the fire-fighters only managed to put out the flames in the engine after about 20 minutes.

The police finally arrived about 45 minutes after the ambulance, and I was rather bemused to see the unceremonious manner of their arrival. A police officer on a motor-bike skidded and crashed as he approached the Swift and clutched his left arm while writhing in pain. This is lame and embarrassing, I thought. He was rushed onto a police car which promptly sped off to avoid further ridicule from the bystanders, who began passing crude remarks about police efficiency in general. The paramedics approached the girlfriend of Mr Vios for help, saying that she was the only female around, and that they needed someone to help strap the hysterical woman to her seat in the ambulance to prevent her from hindering them in administering first aid to her indian boyfriend, to which Ms Vios willingly obliged.

After a while the ambulance left, and traffic cones were set up to direct traffic away from the accident scene. A white Subaru WRX drove towards the scene a bit too quickly and incensed an aged police officer, who halted the WRX and dished out a proper telling-off to the driver. A female cop came over for eyewitness accounts, and all the other bystanders pointed to me, saying I was here earlier than them, and that I had been the one who rescued the couple of out the car. A few people came up to me with praise and thanks, which made me blush a bit. I gave my summary of events to the cop and was allowed to leave.

Along the way back, GB, too, commended me for being brave, and confessed that he was initially too afraid to approach the burning car because he thought it was about to explode. He asked me how I managed to find the courage to rush in to help those people, and I replied that it wasn't courage that motivated me - it was quite simply the fear of not being able to sleep in peace had I not got those people out of there in time. I also reassured him that he had been brave in rushing over to help me with the indian man, and that he was a true hero for his involvement. We slapped high-fives when he alighted, and I drove home feeling satisfied with what I had done.

I was a hero for a day, or in this case, for a night, and it felt good. =)

broken mirror

a relationship can sometimes be like a mirror,
better left broken than to get hurt piecing it back together,
knowing that the cracks will prevent you from seeing any clearer.

what a one-derful world

I'm on the bus to school and happened to pass by some real estate development called One Commonwealth. How creative, given we've already got One George St, One Marina Boulevard, One Raffles Quay and One Whatever-Else. Why isn't there a One Kampong Bahru or One Syed Alwi? Imagine if they actually started a marketing campaign for One Tanah Merah.. I can already hear the jingle ringing in my head.. pffft. (in case you aren't old enough to get the joke, you might wanna try listening to the chorus of this old classic - Guantanamera on youtube or whatever - operative word here being 'TRY'..)

- posted from my iPhone

hr hoax

I was called up for an interview after submitting my application for an advertised position of HR officer. I ended up with an interviewer who was half an hour late and tried for an hour to convince me to be an insurance agent! wtf!?!? there was no HR post to begin with!!

i'm now on the train home in my newly-bought shirt and tie that cost half of whatever was left in my bank account.. and to think i took half day leave for this!

update: me and my new shirt are, well, totally drenched from the downpour, and the shirt, which hasn't been washed since I bought it yesterday, is making me feel itchy all over. it's fml all over again.

- posted from my iPhone

aurora borealis

i have to go see the northern lights before i die, hopefully during a geomagnetic storm or a coronal mass ejection, when they're at their most intense and spectacular. go google.

- posted from my iPhone

mcdonalds monopoly

i got marina bay!! whoever has sentosa cove m132, email me and we share the winnings!! $25,000 each!!

- posted from my iPhone

conscientiousness

fact:
punctual != productive
BUT
impunctual = unproductive

case study:
they're usually early, but do nothing besides the bare minimum to remain employed. they get better appraisals and
higher bonuses.

i'm usually late for work, but i my work rate and contributions are greater than others, plus i leave the office much later than the others. i lost my job.

conclusion:
find a job that starts late, or find motivation to wake up early.

- posted from my iPhone

mistaken identity

bloody brainless loansharks didn't even bother to check if they had the right address. infuriating!

the police told us that the town council would be responsible for cleaning up but it's still darn embarrassing, having to put up with it over the weekend. what's with my luck these days.. fuck..

- posted from my iPhone

prawning

prawning@bishan

insomnia

i'm quite certain I've landed a great job that'll pay me at least 50% more than my last one, and also provide amazing prospects for learning, exposure and advancement, but they'll only hire me in Jan next year - assuming that I do get the job at all.

so I got a temp job to fill up the overwhelmingly boring spare time I had on my hands..I guess it's a great way to get some money for the festive year-end celebratory parties too.

only problem is, the new workplace is 2 floors down my old office. imagine the awkwardness when I bump into my old colleagues. sigh.. shouldn't have left citi on such a bad note..

and I've been keeping really late nights for the past 2 weeks. it's almost 5 in the morning now and I still haven't got any sleep. having woken up late in the afternoon earlier today is gonna be scant consolation once I make it to midday later on.. and I've still got a lecture on psychology to attend after work.. dreadfully long terms with dreadfully longer definitions.. yawn..

and i don't really like it that my blog has started turning into a personal fmylife.com. what else can I say but c'est la vie..

- posted from my iPhone

update: fmylife. i missed out on the job. "..after due consideration, management has decided to opt for a more experienced candidate to fill the position.."

agyness - absolutely mesmerising

murphy's law

murphy's law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

and so my personal great depression continues, as i woke up late again today and didn't go to work. when i checked my phone, i saw that my boss had called a couple of times and also sent an SMS that gave me an ominous feeling of impending termination. truth is, i've been riding my luck a lot lately, and this time i think i took it too far, so i did the only decent thing i could do - i apologised a thousand times, then told him i'd tender my resignation letter first thing tomorrow morning. i'm already starting to feel the awkwardness and embarrassment of having to serve out the one month's notice - it really sucks.

to add on to that, i just got bailed out from the traffic police station by my mum after a ton of paperwork, mugshot-taking and 2 hours in lock-up, all because i failed to pay a speeding fine. now they've doubled the fine and are taking me to court in a month's time. i swear i remember paying the fine - it was my very first traffic offence, and it was quite a hefty amount as well, but when i checked my bank transaction history, there was no trace of that amount being debited. i guess it got declined or something. tough luck, huh. i must have really offended the gods of fate.

somebody kill me

imagine coming home from over-time work on the eve of a long weekend, thinking of how everyone else might enjoy this festive friday and saturday and sunday, while you have to stay rooted at home and struggle to revise for 2 examinations that you just flunked last month. your sister gives you an earful for accumulating too many traffic fines in a month yet again ($350), and you remember that you have less than $10 in both your bank accounts combined until the next pay day, which is about a month from now.

while facing all these issues, an urge to smoke arises, and that's when you're reminded that you ran out of cigarettes about 8 hours ago. you splash out your pathetic piggy bank of coins, all in denominations of 20c, 10c and 5c, and in depressing fashion, count out a few $1 mounds with one index finger. you find that you have just enough for 1 packet of those money-burning cancer sticks, and so you think 'damn, that's the first positive thing that happened to me today'!

as you walk to your living room to hand your maid the coins and the unenviable task of buying the cigarettes with them, you notice a pile of letters. you flip through the stack, and find that, addressed to you, there is a government letter, as well as an envelope with the name of a law firm printed on the front. you languidly open both envelopes, wondering what the chances are of the government dishing out some more tax rebates, and of you inheriting a sizable fortune from some relative you've never met, but very quickly these thoughts are killed off. upon reading those letters (they're letters of monetary demand), you find yourself with a new debt of approximately $10,000, and the sick realization that the deadline attached to both bills is 14 days from the previous monday. all this, on top of the existing $8,000 you're currently paying off by monthly installment.

while your mind is hovering between the plausibilities of declaring bankruptcy and robbing a bank, your eyes cast their sullen gaze upon an insurance policy approval. the next few moments are spent on ways to die without making it look like suicide so that the insurance company pays out the money.

you feel like a piece of toy that rolled into a forgotten corner under a wardrobe - broken, lost and lonely, as you make your way back to your tiny, messy bedroom. you habitually go on to power up the computer, then sink yourself into the leather armchair, close your eyes, then take a deep drag on the cigarette that your maid had just delivered to you before you entered the room. you think of how you managed to let it all spiral to this eventuality, and of how you could have prevented it by acting on things the moment you realized they were important. now, 'important' has transformed into 'urgent', and desperation looms large upon the horizon of your mental state. woe and despair is procrastination prolonged.

you want to escape somewhere, anywhere, as long as it's away from these problems, but you can no longer ignore their existence, now that they're collectively breathing down your neck. your mood is somewhere between crest-fallen and suicidal, plus you're starting to feel angsty and restless. you have no appetite for the bowl of noodles on your table. you reach past it for the cup of tea. your mind spaces out, and you start feeling very weary, almost sedated, by the lull of the electric fan and the warm tingle of hot tea down your gullet. you lean forward a little, just enough to reach the keyboard, and begin to blog about, possibly, the beginning moments of the worst period of your life. and so, this is an instance of a post blogged within the early stages of your personal great depression.

flu mask

i was on the train to work today, when i noticed a middle-aged woman wearing a surgical mask, presumably to protect herself from the recent pandemic of h1n1. i instinctively looked around to see if there were more like her, but found none.

i caught a glimpse of more than a few sexy cleavages on the train's reflective glass windows, but didn't allow glance to turn into stare - mostly for fear of feeling like a pervert (although i would unabashedly admit that i have done my share of ogling and sometimes sneaky-peeking), and the fact that an erection on public commute during rush hour would be, hmm, mildly embarrassing - to say the least.

anyway, a thought ran through my mind next - was that lady protecting herself from the people around, or protecting the people from whatever flu or illness she was walking around with? another question then popped into my mind: how would it be if an HIV-carrier wore a condom and thought it safe to have casual sex? it took me precisely 0.000003 milliseconds to dismiss the notion that she was protecting others from herself - which meant that she must've been afraid of catching something from the people around her, me included - and that was enough for me to feel slightly indignant.

now, you might ask, what did all these random thoughts lead to?
i proudly conclude: abso-fuckin-lutely nothing, besides an excuse to revive my blog. =)

sigh

need i say more?

UOL BSc Business (Hons)

i recently received my acceptance package from SIM, and just today, i logged on to the student portal to have a look at the notes for the econs and maths bridging courses. the last time i ever touched a textbook or lecture notes was.. hmm.. 4-5 years ago? and i swear i almost cried when i couldn't get past page 2 of the maths equations and explanations.. i feel so dumb and useless!! and the exams are only a month away!! ARGH!

paradigm shift

boldly present the worst in you, and pull no punches doing it -
if you're accepted, offer your very best without reservation;
otherwise, deem them unworthy and cast them into oblivion.

thailand video clips

this is a lame clip we shot during our effing boring 14-hour train ride from bangkok to chiangmai.



and this is tat diving into a waterfall.
(the stream near the end of the clip is NOT the waterfall.)

thailand 2009 comics

the photographic essences of our thailand trip.. enjoy..

hitler and football

this one is about cristiano ronaldo leaving for real madrid.. watch to the end! hahaha!! i love the part about nani!



and this is on lampard joining inter.. and hitler's instructions to 'unfriend' him on facebook.. haha.. classic moment.

king of pop, sploosh, sizzle

that would be the sound of his plastic nose getting waaaay too near the steamboat pot.



update: RIP moonwalker..

home sweet home

i'm back, from the land of smiles, to the island with drinkable tap water. thank god for that. wait. no. we should be thanking lky instead. damn. see how religion and politics always make a mess of things?

anyway, still waiting for tat to burn the pics and vids into dvd, so you guys gotta be patient as well.

i wanna thank everyone involved for making it such a wonderful and enjoyable experience, especially zach and flora for graciously hosting us at their luxurious apartment; andy, joa, and jojo, for turning the clock back to those happiest of days back in nov/dec '08; and most importantly, tat, without whom i would probably have self-destructed on countless occasions. love all of you! muax!

thai trip update

i'm blogging from a guesthouse in mae salong, a rural village northeast of chiangrai, and over 1200m from sea level. before this, we were in chiangmai, which took us 14 hours to get to, by train, from bangkok. we're heading off to the south in a couple of days' time for the full moon party in koh phangan, after which we'll be going back to bangkok for a second visit to zach and flora's wonderful apartment, before finally heading home on friday night.

i know i promised pics and vids galore, but the connection here isn't as fantastic as i thought, and it's a bit too troublesome to resize all the pics in the cam with the pc provided by the guesthouses, so here's a sneak preview:

thailand trip details

SIN departure:
26 feb 09 - 1810 hrs
BKK arrival:
26 feb 09 - 2035 hrs

BKK departure:
13 mar 09 - 2115 hrs
SIN arrival:
14 mar 09 - 0030 hrs

me and my buddy, tat, are going on a 15-day backpacking counter-clockwise trip around thailand.

we'll touchdown in bkk to meet up with my PTB buddies during the first weekend, then proceed to spiral around the central region for a few days, making sure to visit every cam-worthy site of attraction, e.g. ancient ruins and other places of interest, be it in historical or entertainment sense. (i'm counting on you, PTBs, to show me a good time.. hehe..)

we then plan to move out towards the eastern and north-eastern regions, trek through stretches of dense forestation and rough terrain, as well as pay a visit to the khorat plateau - the least-visited lands in the country, before hiking off to chiang mai to top up our supplies and commence the second half of our expedition. (oh, how i wish i never saw 'cannibal holocaust'..)

from the north, we'll take a south-bound train ride and catch some rest before we hit the party-hardy and, also, more recently, restive south, diving into the rich indulgences being offered in phuket, hatyai, and most significantly, at the full moon party on koh pha ngan. (i'm betting on a 'time-of-our-lives experience' here..)

after all the partying and exploring, we should then head back up to bangkok for last-minute shopping and other miscellaneous activities before heading home to singapore. (home sweet home!)

we'll be doing a travelogue here (pics and vids galore!), so mark those dates and keep your RSS feeds and refresh buttons busy!

puppy love

jf says (8:25 PM):
i was looking at old pics and started thinking: you know puppy love?
jf says (8:25 PM):
i think i just understood why they call it puppy love.
jo trl says (8:25 PM):
why
jf says (8:25 PM):
because there’s no doggy involved.

my assumption might be discrepant, because in hindsight, if you allow puppy love to grow, then you should be getting doggy/doggied too, no?

luck = random

png says (8:59 PM):
do u tink luck is random.
jf says (9:00 PM):
yes. i do think luck is random.
jf says (9:00 PM):
or perhaps there's no such thing as luck.
jf says (9:00 PM):
it's only a word people use to describe, or more often, to blame on, random events.
jf says (9:01 PM):
it's like, anyone could be hit by a falling object. that's random.
jf says (9:01 PM):
but we describe it as lucky, or in this case, unlucky.
jf says (9:01 PM):
anyone who buys a lottery ticket has an equal chance of striking it.
jf says (9:01 PM):
random odds. but we term it lucky, or unlucky, depending on outcome.
jf says (9:01 PM):
luck = random.
png says (9:01 PM):
but random>luck. rite?
jf says (9:01 PM):
yeah. random means more than luck. but luck itself is random.
jf says (9:02 PM):
like picking a book from a library. that's random. not about luck.
jf says (9:02 PM):
but if the book has a significant impact on your life, then you can call it luck.
jf says (9:03 PM):
if it's a life-changing story, or an inspiring tale that improved the way you lived your life, then you might say it's lucky you picked that book out of so many.
png says (9:03 PM):
so the more random u are, the more chances the mind thinks it gets lucky?
jf says (9:03 PM):
nah. depends on circumstances.
jf says (9:03 PM):
if the random event is significant in a good way, you'll probably feel lucky. and vice versa.
png says (9:05 PM):
im random here.

patrick hughes - signs

a gun is not for self-protection - or is it?

zy says (11:08 PM):
u go hatyai n krabi be careful
zy says (11:09 PM):
there not as safe
jf says (11:09 PM):
yeah i heard it's complicated there.
zy says (11:09 PM):
yah lor
zy says (11:10 PM):
basically southern areas la, songkla province all that
jf says (11:10 PM):
phuket still alright?
zy says (11:10 PM):
muslims fighting for seperatist state, wanna merge w malaysia
zy says (11:10 PM):
yup phuket fine
jf says (11:10 PM):
lol.
zy says (11:10 PM):
the furthest north is hatyai already la, further up all pretty decent
jf says (11:11 PM):
south la.
jf says (11:11 PM):
not north.
zy says (11:11 PM):
n u see, thailand economy n all the rich n influential biz men mainly chinese
zy says (11:11 PM):
so they were targetting chinese to try to cause a collapse on the economy there
zy says (11:11 PM):
got drive by shootings all that la
jf says (11:12 PM):
terrible.
jf says (11:12 PM):
so i might get shot there.
zy says (11:16 PM):
go buy gun

jf says (11:12 PM):
coooool mannn.
zy says (11:16 PM):
protect urself
zy says (11:16 PM):
i think 6000 baht
jf says (11:16 PM):
lol.
jf says (11:17 PM):
what would a gun do to prevent people from shooting me?
jf says (11:17 PM):
all it does is allow me to shoot them back.
jf says (11:17 PM):
which i don't wanna do.
jf says (11:17 PM):
because it'll provoke even more people to shoot at me.
zy says (11:19 PM):
no
zy says (11:19 PM):
u play safe
zy says (11:19 PM):
when u see malay guy
zy says (11:19 PM):
on motorbike
zy says (11:19 PM):
shoot first!
jf says (11:20 PM):
lollll.. mr zy, i'm gonna paste this conversation on my blog.

day-dreaming

i want to live freely without a single care in the world.
i want to visit every part of the planet and meet all kinds of people.
i want to ride around europe aimlessly on a black ducati 999.
i want to have a big glass house by a beach of golden sand.
i want to be reborn as a brazilian footballer and grow up in jamaica.

*yawn*

okay, okay.. i'm waking up to reality.. sigh.

brasil 2014

on the day of my 30th birthday, i'll be in rio de janeiro, brazil, watching the world cup final between spain and argentina england and brazil, with over 100,000 other spectators in the maracanã. where will you be?

left 4 dead

rainbow six meets resident evil = awesome game. enough said.

man utd 3 - 0 chelsea

omg.. tonight i'm gonna have multiple wet dreams from all the euphoria..
one more title, and the toothless scouse shites shall bark no more!

business management lessons

after spending slightly more than 2 months in a bank, i've decided that the prospect of building my career in the banking industry simply does not appeal to me. at all. in fact, i've decided to change my mind with regards to my academic pursuits - from the intially-planned b.sc. in banking & finance, to a b.sc. in business.

in more ways than i ever cared to consider prior to joining citi, choosing the latter as my next course of studies should align my educational path with my main career objective of running my own business, so it really does make more sense than me having to study banking & finance, especially when i don't see myself working for much longer in the industry.

having said that, though, i've always felt that being a businessman takes a lot more than just paper qualifications and theoretical knowledge, both of which are impertinent to running a business in the real world - or so i've heard from the handful of entrepreneurs i've come across. what you really need is vision, resilience, and really good networking skills. or lots and lots of money. preferably all of the above.

just for fun, i've included these 3 lessons for those of you carrying on the climb up the corporate ladder. enjoy! =P


lesson #1

a crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day.
a small rabbit noticed the crow and asked, "can i sit like you and do nothing all day long?"
the crow answered, "sure, why not."

so the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow and rested.
all of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

moral of the story:
to be sitting around and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.


lesson #2

a turkey was chatting with a bull. "i would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but i haven't got the energy."

"well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull, "they're packed with nutrients."

the turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree. the next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. finally, after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

soon, though, the turkey was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

moral of the story:
bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.


lesson #3

when the body was first created, all the parts wanted to be the boss.

the brain said, "i should be the boss because i control all of the body's responses and functions."

the feet said, "we should be the boss since we carry the brain about and get him to where he wants to go."

the hands said, "we should be the boss because we do all the work and earn all the money."

this went on with the heart, lungs and all the other body parts voicing out their reasons for being the boss.

finally, the asshole spoke up. all the parts laughed at the idea of the asshole being the boss. in protest, the asshole went on strike, blocked itself up and refused to work.

within a short time, the eyes became crossed, the hands clenched, the feet twitched, the heart and lungs began to panic, and the brain fevered.

eventually, they all decided that the asshole should be the boss, so the motion was passed. all the other parts did all the work while the boss just sat around and passed out the shit!

moral of the story:
you don't need brains to be a boss - any asshole will do.

business idea #1

business idea #1:
street lamp advertising

lately, i've been pondering over the prospect of quitting my job and starting my own business. one random night, while cruising down a random road, randomly watching street lamps whisk past one by one, a random thought popped into my mind: why aren't there any advertisements on these poles?

i'm not talking about pasting flyers with pathetic little cut-out strips of contact numbers promoting tuition classes or room vacancies - i'm thinking corporate advertisements, like those JC Decaux poster boards we always see at the bus stops.

give it some thought: what if i could convince LTA (or whoever owns those lamps) to allow me the rights to affix and manage similar poster boards on the lamp posts? subsequently, what if i could convince the big guns (Apple, Pepsi, Nike, Sony, Nokia, Adidas, etc) to stick their ads on said boards? finally, what should i buy with my new-found millions? okay. back to the harshness of reality.

an established firm would probably outbid me for the tender, and they'd tweak it a bit and shamelessly market the idea as their own invention - internationally, no less. their rivals would then attempt to grab a slice of the deliciously lucrative pie i baked, by which time street lamp adverts would be a global phenomenon, and the market would become overly saturated and it becomes a run-of-the-mill aspect of commercial advertising. eventually i'd end up as a loser who can only helplessly sigh about what might have been, if only my daddy was filthy rich.

oh well. i guess i'd better stick to my current job. i believe, however, that one day, someone will make this happen, and it'll either be yours truly, the visionary entrepreneur, or it won't. whatever it is, you guys better remember where you saw it first.

ps: ad agencies out there, if you feel i have what it takes to be your marketing or creative director, please don't hesitate to let me know.. expected salary: $2mil p.a., negotiable. email: gregory.zheng@gmail.com