March 2010 | SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Onemap

Today, a common map platform for public agencies to publish information and deliver map-based services was launched.

The application is an element of the larger "Singapore Geospatial Collaborative Environment" initiative driven by the Singapore Land Authority and the Infocomm Development Authority to establish common standards and policies, for greater sharing and usage of geospatial information among the public agencies.

I believe many Singaporeans will use this application to locate their favorite spots for eating, dining, shopping and movies! All these are favorite hobbies of Singaporeans though more and more Singaporeans are also learning magic, inspired by the famous Taiwanese magician called Liu Qian who keep mouthing “Qi Ji” (Chinese word for miracles), letting their hair go down by reading jokes or learning how to earn more income through online income.

The site is at:

http://www.onemap.sg/

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Adam Khoo on why expats will rule Singapore

Adam Khoo is a person whom I admire: he became a self-made millionaire by the age of 26 and currently runs a slew of training, education, coaching and money-mastery classes at Adam Khoo Learning Technologies, doing the things he loves. While it is common to hear and read Adam Khoo talk about his success story and how to excel in life, it is interesting to read his take on why expatriates will rule Singapore!
Adam Khoo attributed his thinking that expats will rule Singapore based on the very fact that the expats who are currently here in Singapore, much to the discomfort of many Singaporeans who think that the expats are competiting with the locals for jobs, housing and education have the same kind of desire to excel against all odds just like our forefathers. This craving and desire for success is not commonly found in our younger generations these days.
Yup, the integration of the million of foreigners and expatriates with Singaporeans is always a task the government carefully look at to achieve harmonious living in Singapore. To read Adam's article, this is the link:
http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/none/adam-khoo-why-expats-will-rule-singapore-857716

Monday, March 29, 2010

Kite flying in Singapore

As featured in The Sunday Times yesterday, kite flying, as a hobby is witnessing a revival in Singapore and this phenomenon of Singaporeans ‘taking to the skies’ flying kites looks set to grow with more and more public places becoming popular kite flying destinations for both amateur and professional kite flyers here.

Why has kite flying seen a revival in Singapore? I believe the rekindling of the interest in kite flying exemplifies how much Singaporeans love to break out from the mundane shell of digital and internet activities, games and pastimes offered by the plethora of internet technologies. Kite flying offers an attractive option of reverting to the good old days of kampong-spirited social activities, where simple pleasures can be derived without the need of sophiscated technology, take for example, kite flying: all you need is a kite and you will be able to spend hours and hours of your time in pure great fun!

New ‘breeding grounds’ for kite-flying enthusiasts have sprung up in fields off Punggol, Sengkang, parks such as East Coast Park but the No.1 spot for kite flying here in Singapore goes unanimously to the Marina Barrage rooftop!

Much hype has been generated around Marina Barrage as a self-sustaining reservoir and a reservoir for the community. However, I believe that that even the planners are surprised that the reservoir has now garnered a reputation as a good destination for kite flying! To a certain extent, Marina Barrage helps bring back kite-flying to Singapore, with its show-stopping scenery and the strong and powerful winds!

Last Saturday, my wife and I saw for ourselves how Marina Barrage was stormed by an army of kite enthusiast as we made our maiden visit there to fly our own kites!

(to be continued, so stay tuned!)

Writing

With the advent of the computer and its suite of office applications, writing seems to be relegated to the backburner.

By ‘writing’, I mean real writing with a pen or pencil on a sheet of paper and not typing.

It seems just natural these days to start composing one’s thoughts, letters or articles right on the keyboard without first drafting on a piece of paper. It is also second nature for most office executives to start punching into their powerpoint slides or copy ‘lock, stock and barrel’ all of what they have typed in their word document right into their powerpoint slides for a Powerpoint Presentation.

As a result of all the aforementioned activities, what one get at the end of the day is not the best attempt of their efforts.

I believe it is time for all to start drafting their ideas in papers first before transferring to their electronic devices.

True, the return to paper may not be the most environment friendly but nobody asks you to use new pieces of paper. One can draft on used papers like what I do. Staring at the computer screen will take hours for that flint of the inspiration to come and break the ‘writer’s block’ in you. Also, precious electricity will also be drained and this harms the environment too!

38 killed in twin blasts on Moscow metro

Today, 37 were killed in twin blasts in Moscow metro

After the terrible terrorist attack now known as ‘911’, security guards are deployed at all MRT stations to screen for potential terrorists. I always have a lingering thought as to whether these personnel are well-equipped to deter aggressors? Most of these security guards are old men and ladies, or at the very best, middle-aged men and women. They do not seem to be very fit with a number of them being obese. On some occasions, I even noticed once or twice some of these personnel checking their handphones or talking on phones though the situation has now improved.

I notice everyday how one security guard at my boarding station would only stop passengers lugging briefcases for checks. This is rather an old-fashioned concept of terrorism that bombs are bulky and they can only be placed in briefcases. These days, terrorists are thinking of the most creative and insidious way to wreck as much damage as possible to their targets.

Homefront security is never easy. If you buy a HDB flat, buy a condominium or buy a big bungalow, you can protect your house with a big lock and few big dogs. However for our country, protecting every nook and corner of public places is no mean feat.

I think our policemen should go around patrolling our residential estates on foot more like their counterparts in Hong Kong. I seldom see our policemen patrolling on foot these days, though once a while, I do spot a police car doing patrols but that’s all.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

How To Upload A PDF File On Blogger And WordPress Blog

If you are an avid blogger like me with lots of information and useful tips to share to your fellow readers, it will be soon that one day, you will be looking at uploading some of the information which you have, that are non-textual but are contained in the Word, Excel, Powerpoint or PDF documents into your Blogger or Wordpress blogs.
Currently, I am not able to locate any aid on Blogger which would be able to upload these types of documents into my Blogger blog for sharing with visitors, but with Internet, it seems almost every technical issue can be resolved.
The solution lies in Scribd, a social publishing tool for every netizen. I attach a video below to just show you how easy it is to getting started sharing your documents with others right here on your blog:

Exciting Blogger Blog Templates

As a steadfast Blogger blogger, I have always think that the templates offered by Blogger are not many and exciting. So, it is with great pleasure that I learnt of the slew of new exciting templates on offer coming up on Blogger!
As described, there seems to be quite a suite of new features one can incorporate in his or her blog to make it more appealing and exciting to readers. If you are interested, visit http://bloggerindraft.blogspot.com/ NOW!

How time flies

Today is 28 Mar 2010.

I am shocked! 3 months just passed in the blink of an eye! It seems just yesterday that I was merrily celebrating Chinese New Year with my loved ones, but now it is the end of March!

Reminsicence sets in and I ask myself what I have done in the past 3 months.

I have not achieved much in terms of the goals set for this year. I have not achieved any of my goals set for the year.

Today, I sat, thinking of how to proceed with my life, how to get out of the impasse of my life at this current juncture.

Life is a mix of turns and bends. I was not careful enough to fall into my current rut of my life, being harmed by villians, who earn hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and think that they are the Kings, thinking that they have the power to thwart poorer folks like me.

Effectiveness (doing the right things) is much more important that doing things right (Efficiency), and I must start doing the right things today to improve my life and get out of this rut of my life!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

How to win 4D ?

Every employee has an income to sustain him and his family as well as the monthly mortages when one buy a house. However, who does not want to be rich? To augment one’s income beside the monthly income he earns from his employer, there are many ways people have explored.
Some people have secondary professions or part time jobs after their office hours. However, this secondary profession is acceptable legally only if the main employer gives the nod else it will be called ‘moonlighting’. People who ‘moonlights’ do it quietly and stealthily behind their bosses and colleagues. Such secondary professions can include multi-level marketing, part-time tutoring, part-time real estate and part-time insurance, just to list a few popular choices.

Other than these, to earn extra income, some would turn to making some few bucks online or adopting a good investment strategy to beat the inflation rates. Having discussed these methods, we should turn to the number 1 method that Singaporeans use to earn extra income …in a quick and lucrative method and that is to buy the lottery which includes TOTO and 4D!

I will not touch on other forms of gambling such as underground casinos or the high-end gambling in the Integrated Resorts, but undeniably 4D and to a little extent, TOTO, are immensely popular with Singaporeans.
Singaporeans being pragmatic, 4D and TOTO is the most appropriate game for Singapore as if one has a lucky number, he would win lots of money in a short time, without much effort, save for the tens of minutes of queuing up.

There are people whom I heard of, analyzing how to win 4D and TOTO. This is actually difficult but it is possible as we are actually trying to make some sense of order to a field of randomness and unpredictability as 4D and TOTO. There are also quite a handful of others who go overseas frequently to pray (and return favours) to strike 4D and TOTO and no kidding you, they have been winning on a regular basis! (but if I were them, I will be scared as we are playing with supernatural powers!).

With weekend coming, I wish you win the 4D if you are a regular punter! Good luck!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Karma

Just two weeks ago, Jack Neo’s affairs with a number of ladies, ranging from hot girls to middle-aged women have hit Singapore like a storm.

In his wrapping-up speech to conclude this messy affair, Jack, has reportedly attributed to his misdeeds being exposed all as a result of Karma and he has commented that he has “reaped what he has sowed”.
As a firm believer of Karma, I believe what Jack Neo has said is absolutely correct!

Karma is the natural law of “cause and effect’. Whatever actions we do, we are implanting the ‘seed’ or ‘cause’ and we will be reaping what we have sowed directly or indirectly, after some time (be it months, years or even decades)! … the long unwavering arms of Karma will catch up with you! Of course, if you do good, you will reap good karma too!
I have been at the receiving end of certain nonsensical people at times. I do not want to waste my time and breath, chastising them or trying to rectify the beliefs of these “lesser mortals”. These people have “squandered an opportunity” in Karma and I would like to state that these nonsense with these people have been “categorically closed” as they will be dealt with by the laws of Karma.

However, not everyone believe in Karma like me as not everyone believe in horoscopes.

Last but not least, if you thought the phrase in “ ” familiar looks quite familar, yes, these are words that have been reported in the newspapers as coming out from the mouth from 1 Minister, 1 Acting Minister and 1 Member of Parliament! As an avid reader of the local newspapers, I picked up some good vocabulary reportedly spoken by our top leaders. The latest word I learnt is the word ‘daft’.

Learning

All of us have an innate passion for learning. As the saying goes, the purposes of man in life are to live, to learn, to love and to leave a legacy. That goes without saying that everyone of us has the need to learn new things in life.

The need to learn is the most expressed when we are children. As children growing up in this multi-faceted world, we are curious about almost everything else and want to learn what we are curious about, childhood is hence the period when we are the most inquisitive and most experimental. Hence, as children, we love to play games where we exercise our creativity to the fullest! (actually, as an adult, I also love to play free online games, to admit!)

Parents have a pivotal role in helping their children to learn. The duties of parents, in facilitating the learning of their children are not just limited to ensuring that their charges receive a formal, good and proper education in schools, parents should facilitate learning of their charges in all phases of life outside school. By this, I do not mean that parents send their children to extra tutorial lessons, enrichment lessons like piano lessons, which is typical of what parents in Singapore do. What parents should give their children is simply the freedom to learn things from all facets of life on their own.

If parents are over-protective of their children since they are young, executing all the things for them, this will ultimately kill the joy of learning of their children. When these children grow up, with every chore taken care of, they will never learn to do these things and worse, they become overtly dependent on their parents. With the enthusiasm of learning being stifled from young, these overly-protected children eventually grow up, without any zest for learning and without any zest for life. Being dependent on their parents, they will consult every decision they need to make in their lives and worse they would even let their parents decide or even implement each and every matter they face in life.

There is a myriad of things to learn in life outside a formal education. These span from cooking, sports, leisure, socializing, arts and craft, music, technology and so much more. Overly protected children will grow up, to be fearful of new learning. They may grow up to be reclusive of the society (since their overly protective will most likely limit their socialization since young). These children may grow up, to be proper and prime, but they may lack an exciting life as they no longer want to learn new hobbies and skills.
Since overly protective parents may exert a tight rein on their overprotected children, it will really take a fair bit of struggle and courage for the overprotected children to make a stand and tell their parents that ‘enough is enough’. Overly protected children may know it is heart-breaking to defy their overly protective parents and to engage in tiffs with them but if they do not do so, their lives and development will be at stake!
I do not have official statistics for Singapore and for the world on the number of children who feel the pain of being overly protected, but if you are a parent reading this post, please do note to give your children some liberty to learn things on their own. And if you are children who have bored the brunt of ‘over-protectionism’, it is time to stand out and make a choice on how you would want to live your life NOW!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Learn the Na’vi Language

The film Avatar has rocked the world with its impressive box-office showings and its magnificent 3D effects!

It has been about 4 months since the film was first screened and if there is anything constructive to stay, it will unanimously be the Na’vi Language which sees many youngsters these days trying to pick it up.

The most popular Na’vi sentence which everyone will recall is undoubtedly: “ Oel ngati kameie” (I see you.)

And since Avatar movie is about love too, many would have known that Tìyawn is the Na’vi word for 'love' and Nga yawne lu oer means ‘I love you’. To be honest, I do not know these three aforementioned Na’vi love words initially, only searching for them and impressing my loving wife just few minutes ago when the idea of picking up a new language suddenly struck me.

With the booming of China and India, having mastered English and Chinese language, I was pondering what other language I would pick up to enhance my employability in future. A crazy idea creeped in my mind and this language would be Na’vi.

Trawling the internet, I found the aforementioned 3 Na’vi words and there was a smattering of two others:

Ke lu kawtu a nulnivew oe pohu tireapivängkxo äo Utral Aymokriyä. (There's nobody I'd rather commune with under the Tree of Voices.)

Nga za'u fìtseng pxìm srak? (Do you come here often?)

Actually having mastered the few Na’vi words above, you can now walk straight into an employer room for interview!

Employer: “”Why do you want this job”

You (in Na’vi): Oel ngati kameie. Ke lu kawtu a nulnivew oe pohu tireapivängkxo äo Utral Aymokriyä.

And then you can get prepared to be booted out of the interview room, unless the interviewer is a big fan of the Na’vi language!

Anyway, if you are really considering to pick up Na’vi language to enhance your career competencies, here is the link to the Na’vi dictionary: http://www.learnnavi.org/downloads/#dictionary

After mastering the dictionary, do earn lots of money to buy a rocket to Planet Pandora to start your new career there!

Good luck!

Entrepreneurs

I envy entrepreneurs, the entrepreneurs who make not only a living from their passion but large amounts of money all within a matter of few hours everyday!

For these entrepreneurs, it is definitely a win-win situation! First of all, they are able to make huge chunks of money, next they have more time at their disposal.

Like other employees who clock the 9 to 5 routine and more everyday, it is such a wonder to see, read or hear these entrepreneurs earning some $2000 for just few hours of work. What we, normal, typical employees earn per month, these entrepreneurs can earn easily within few hours!

Just yesterday, the Sunday Times reported how the wealthy Success coaches of Singapore can easily $2000 per hour! But before you start to worship these lucky and bold few who decide to cut it out as an entrepreneur, entrepreneurship is not all about successes.

There is an element of failure and there is no guarantee of a regular paycheck. So before you decide to step out and be a gungho entrepreneur, do take a few minutes to see whether you are ready for the entrepreneurial road ahead!

Meanwhile, to augment your income, you can still continue doing your investment, earn some money online or buy the usual TOTO and hope to strike it big.

Haiz, I am a poor soul, earning a “lesser mortal” salary, but one day, I hope to strike it big.

I am not greedy, just $1 million will do (Singapore has 66,000 and counting millionaires with a net asset of US $1 million in liquidity, not counting property)!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Happy

Are you Happy today? What if your boss give you $500 for your work, will you be Happy? I believe you would be Happy for receiving this extra income.
Now how will you feel if you know that your boss gives $1000 to all of your other colleagues? I bet you will go from being Happy to being Unhappy as you have received an amount much lesser than your counterparts received.
I believe being Happy or not is a choice but influening this choice is all about relativity. Everything people perceive in the world is about relativity. If you compare your income to people with lesser wages than you, you will feel you are more well-to-do. Similarly if you compare your income with multi-millonaires, you may feel unhappy. Thus the world is all about relativity.

Yang Lina dies

Former Mediacorp artiste Yang Lina died of cervical cancer yesterday. She was 47 in age

Indeed in the past week, Singapore has seen how important health is to everyone with Mr Moo Soon Chong, ex-principal of Singapore Sports School and Yang Lina, both famous people Singaporeans know succumbing to cancer.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Cold Weather

These two days, it has been raining cats and dogs throughout the whole of Singapore for hours!

With the incessant rain, it is hence no wonder that the thermometer reading has been heading south!

Temperature in the afternoon today hovers around 25 degree Celsius and the night temperature is even lower, with cold light winds embracing me.

Such cold days and nights are especially rare in Singapore with its perennial hot and humid climate which makes one sweat incessantly. Singaporeans will remember how hot and humid it was in last month.

Such cool nights are hard to come by, so let us tuck in an hour earlier and have a pleasant dream!

Good night!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Moo Soon Chong

The founding principal of Singapore’s Sports School, Mr Moo Soon Chong passed away early yesterday morning at the age of 63, after battling with cancer for about 2 years, leaving behind his wife, two sons in their thirties and grandchildren.

Before heading the Singapore’s Sports School, Mr Moo was the principal of Anglican High School from 1983 till early 2000s. During the early 1990s, Mr Moo started two sports classes in each of the secondary school levels in his school. These sports class provided a curriculum which allowed students in these classes to attend their sports and physical training lessons in Anglican High School’s three core sports: badminton, table tennis and basketball while not compromising their studies. It has always been Mr Moo’s belief of balancing sports and studies in grooming Singapore young sports talent which led to the blossoming of Singapore’s first sports school where he became the founding principal.

Under Mr Moo’s watch and leadership, Singapore Sports School has produced world medalist, Asian games medalists as well as South East Asian medalists. During his watch at Anglican High School, the school has been consistently doing well as a Special Assistance Plan (SAP) school, ranking within the top 20 positions when the school grading system was still being implemented, with it chalking its highest position of the top 10th school back in 1992 when the school grading system first started.

Mr Moo is someone I respect deeply. In the early 1990s and 2000s, while many young scholars were exploring ideas in the academic arena such as the proposal of “Teach Less, learn more” or to revamp the teaching of mother tongues, Mr Moo has looked at the other aspect of Singapore education which might not have been much emphasized: that of integrating sports and studies in a customized way for the budding young athletes. Mr Moo was able to drive his humble belief and passion of providing a customized education for young local sports athletes to groom them into our future local sports talent who have won a number of international and regional accolades in the sporting arena till far.

Next time, you pass by Seletar expressway, at Woodlands Avenue and admire the impressive Sports School building with its Olympics sized swimming pool and comprehensive sports facilities, do remember that this is the legacy and contributions to Singapore’s sports arena that Mr Moo Soon Chong has left for Singapore in his own humble ways!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Your Singapore

Just a week ago, the Singapore Tourism Board has unveiled a new branding campaign or rather tagline for Singapore. The good old "Uniquely Singapore" tagline which has been used for many years has now given way to "Your Singapore"
This new tagline, to promote and market Singapore to the world as a leading tourist destination has drawn flak from many Singaporeans and foreigners branding experts including. Their beef is that the new tagline has lost the soul of what defines the Singapore's experience. The taglines of other countries have almost remain unchanged and therein lies the value of their marketing tagline and the branding.
"Amazing Thailand", "Malaysia-Truly Asia" and now for Singapore, the branding reads "Your Singapore".
Personally I understand the aims of the team in coming out with the new Singapore branding tagline. The team wants each tourist coming to Singapore to plan his own itineries to explore the Singapore he or she wants to see.
I find the new branding slogan quite plain and it can only make sense to a more educated tourist who knows that this tagline means that Singapore has all that he or she wants to see and to explore. However, for the typical tourist, this tagline and branding may sound a tad too plain. The new branding to me is like an empty glass which Singapore Tourism Board hopes that each tourist coming to Singapore can fill it with either coke, orange juice, Pepsi, etc depending on his or her own tastes and preferences. However, as I say, a customer being offered the empty glass may choose to ignore it at all while pursuing other glasses filled with other beverages afforded by other countries.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Singapore Sex

The news these days is centred on the juicy news of Sex!

We have heard of the shocking news of how some young Singapore girls actually sell their bodies for monies and men looking for their preys in chat rooms.

We have also heard of how some Singapore men, especially the affluent ones have mistresses in China and visit these China girls often, showering them with monies and purchases.

It is also not uncommon to know Singapore men going to overseas places such as Batam and Thailand red light districts for easy and cheap sex.

An as adolescents, it can also be common for Singapore young boys to watch some uncensored adult movies, especially so at this age when internet is so commonplace and videos featuring Japanese sex always catch the imagination of these young boys.

When the aforementioned incidents happen, they may be known to only one person, the perpetuator and his partner(s), or it can be known to many others, e.g. with close friends etc or when it is known to the perpetuators’ loved ones, these incidents immediately become painful incidents.

But this week, while there may still be a lot of “going-ons” unknown to a large part of the society as what I have mentioned: internet chatroom sex, rich men having mistress, men going to red light districts and young curious boys watching some adult movies, and only a few handful know of what is going on in each of these incidents, the whole Singapore and possibly many others in the region now come to know of Jack Neo’s sex scandal.

Being a director of many award-winning movies, Jack Neo, has shot films advocating good moral values, hence it came across to Singaporeans as a rude shock as one by one, women from beautiful ladies to aunties, across the spectrum of 20s to 40s, in the number of 10s, came out to tell the press what Jack has done to them from having sex to some form of sexual harassment. The latest news at this writing is that even a transsexual has stepped forward to share his(or her) story!

No doubt, Jack has cobbled up a fast press interview with his wife to issue a public apology and statement, but that was done quick but that even made matters worse as the media viewed his apology as being unsincere.

I do not really pity Jack Neo as he has “reaped what he has sowed”. I pitied Jack Neo’s wife as being a loyal wife who has always given good moral support and love to Jack’s family, she has to suffer all the philandering that Jack Neo has done. It was reported that Jack’s wife has known of Jack’s affair for close to a year but just that she has turned a blind eye all for the sake of her family.

Can you imagine how much hurt Jack Neo’s wife has gone through? I think Jack should not have ‘dragged’ his wife along to the press conference to make her withstand the intense public and media scrutiny which caused her to faint during the conference. Jack should have carried out the conference himself and at most his wife could be in the audience to lend support to him.

Pity too are Jack Neo’s children! Jack has a child who is just 3 to 4 years younger than the ladies Jack Neo has an affair with. Imagine what his child could think of his father having affairs with a person who can easily be the child’s friend in terms of age!

Jack Neo has been ‘conferred’ the “Tiger Woods of Singapore” for his philandering deeds. It is ironical that out of the many films that Jack Neo has directed, this is the real big blockbuster of his life! But unfortunately, he is no Director, he plays the protagonist with his family, the girls he has affairs with, his cast and Singaporeans, the audience.

Just as Jack Neo, each of us is like an actor in our daily lives. The script is really dependent on us. We have a choice on how we want to live our own lives. As William Shakespeare said:

“All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts... "

William Shakespeare, "As You Like It", Act 2 scene 7Greatest English dramatist & poet (1564 - 1616)

Friday, March 12, 2010

Singapore Weather

This February has been an usually hot month, with temperatures soaring to a maximum of 35.2 degree Celsius!
The hot and arid temperatures have seen Singapore’s water consumption increasing, more bush fires which in turn created a number of hazy days for Singapore.
Pity the grasses: they were really fried to the crisp with the drought of rain. What is worse, when they ignite and go up in flames!
After my jog these days, I noticed a lady, apparently returning home after her work. Seeing a large patch of burnt grass, she took out her bottle of water and splashed a portion of it on the burnt patch, in a bid to water them. The water she poured was quite small though although it was kind of her to do that. Then an amazing thing came when her young son told her that he also wanted to contribute. “Mum, I can do it better than you in quantity and quality of water!” Without hesitation, he unbuttoned his pants, and took out his “noozle” to splash a large amount of fertilizer water!

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

R Burger

It has been few months since I read of TCS artiste Adam Chen launching a brand new burger in Singapore at Ion Orchard Shopping centre. The new burger is R burger with the letter ‘R’ representing the word ‘revolution’ from what I have read.
Adam has first encountered the burger at one of the many R burger fast food restaurants in Bangkok outside Siam Square. Enamored of the great tasting bun as well as the suite of accompanying desserts like the tofu nuggets, the entrepreneurial streak in him catapulted him into bring the burger to Singapore.

Describing the bun as healthy and the perfect burger, Adam has me craving for the R burger or at least to taste a bite too. However, I did not have the opportunity or time to stop by for a taste of the burger at Ion Orchard being busy but guess what, I still did have my maiden taste of the burger recently with my wife at the Sukhumvit airport in none other than Thailand itself!

It was the period before our departure from Thailand and after our check-in. Scheduling to take the 8pm flight home, my wife and I wandered in and searched the spacious airport for a quick bite of dinner. When I saw the ‘R’ burger restaurant at the airport, my choice became clear and we settled for a R burger set each together with authentic Thai dishes (Phay Thai they called it… similar to Char Kway Teow as we Singaporeans know). It was quick unique as the R burger restaurant serves both R burger sets and Thai dishes in the same restaurant.

If you been to Popeye restaurant, you would know the restaurant screens the Popeye cartoons at its premises. The R-burger restaurant that my wife and I were at also screened a show. You will be surprised that the show screened is none other than the hit comedy serial “Mr Bean” and hence it is quite relaxing to dine at the restaurant watching the comedy and dining at the same time.
As usual, the food was served to us only after some time. Finally I had a taste of the R burger. The bun was soft and tasted like Chinese bun (‘bao’). The meat was salty and was quite identical to the minced meat you find in bao. The verdict: ‘R’ burger is really like a compressed small Chinese bao. Even at Thailand, we pay international food prices for such a burger set. As such, the whole experience of R burger was not very impressive to me. I would rather settle for a big Chinese bao at $1.20 which has rich filling than a R burger. Nevertheless, if you have not eaten R burger, do still give it a try, you may like it and continue to buy more of them. Note: I like the R burger but the fact of paying a high premium of something which is similar to Chinese bao is not a reconciliation to me.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

International Women's Day

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, and Singapore Short Stories would like to wish all women in the world a Happy International Women’s Day!
I would also want to express my wishes to two women whom have showered me with lots of tender love and care in my life and they are none other than my mother and my wife!
Gone are the days when women were considered inferior to men. Nowadays, more and more women are helming the top positions in many companies and I must really salute those women who can really multi-task their chores and manage their priorities: work, family, kid and for some, community commitments really well!

I have read a book that women are more adept at multi-tasking than man and it is regrettable that in some countries and societies, there is still a inferior notion given to women that they are not as good as men.
When it comes to the retail market, just look at the assortment of goods, and you can see that a large bulk of it is dedicated to women, from fashion, cosmetic, bags, jewellery and more! What is more, movies are more and more geared towards ladies and females in terms of plots. Sentimental romantic movies like Titanic and Twilight, cartoons like Alice in Wonderland are real treats for ladies and can make ladies become crying babies or laugh heartily though their husbands and boyfriends sitting next to them can never fathom what is so sad or so funny about these plots. Worst, some boyfriends and husbands fall sleep during such romantic or cartoon shows, hehe, lucky I am not one of them.
Anyway, this is a light post brought to you by Singapore Short Stories, in celebration of International Women’s Day, hope you enjoy it!

Female Cosmetics

Cosmetics are used by women and the reason is simple, women want to look great! As a result, women’s cosmetics are still one of the best buys for women, never mind whether they are cheap or not, female cosmetics are always being lapped by ladies readily!
But is it really necessary for females to don on cosmetics, such as facial makeups, lip sticks and other stuff that I as a typical man may not know. Well, for me, I think most of the ladies, especially working ladies don on such cosmetics for work everyday, though it may be really uncomfortable for them when their make-ups melt under the sweltering afternoon heat as they may want to conform to social norms (that women need to have at least some make-ups). Ladies also would want to make a good impression to their superiors, colleagues and customers.
Facial creams, cosmetics and makeup do lend some degree of confidence to ladies though I would want to say ladies without any trace of cosmetic have even more confidence!

You may want to ask me why I, a man is writing on something related to ladies which I may not know at all as the famous saying goes: :Men are from Mars and Women from Venus”, well, I am writing this post to celebrate international women’s day which falls on tomorrow!
Well, I have not grudges whether ladies want to put on cosmetics or not as it is ultimately their choices. But I do want to caution ladies to choose cosmetics carefully before applying them on your skin for some cosmetics from dubious sources may have certain harmful chemicals which may damage your health insidiously unnoticeably. Well chemicals are always not good, thus the maxim of life is moderation in everything.

If you are a lady, Happy International Women’s day to you! though my bouquets of roses are reserved for my mother and honey, hehe…

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Real Love Works 2010

Above video features the prelude event to Real Love Works 2010. And Yes, I have shared with readers on my pleasant and fun experience at Real Love Works 2009 last year. Good news is here! Real Love works, an initiative by Marriage Central, a unit under the Ministry of Community, Youths and Sports, is back for the 2nd time this year!

Yes, it is time once again to embrace and encourage couples, yes, you and your other half, in Singapore to celebrate your marriages!

Whether you and your partners have already celebrated your 50th wedding anniversary or are tying your wedding knots soon, you and your other half are invited to:

“Real Love Works @ Fort Canning”
Venue: Fort Canning Fort Green
Date: 20 March 2010, Saturday
Time: 4.00pm

Enjoy a romantic sunset picnic for you and your lovely half and be among the first to experience an exclusive couple game and discover things about your partner that you never knew before! Other programmes include the Recipe for Real Love which is a contest for the public to vote for their best recipe.

Friday, March 05, 2010

Career and Training 2010

Career and Training 2010 is now on at Suntec City from 4 Mar 10 to 7 Mar 10.
If you are looking for good jobs to venture out from your stagnant work positions or are looking actively for one job, this is one of the best opportunities not to be missed.
Get the jobs you want! Come on down to Career and Training 2010 now!

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