Red Red Red

REFEREE KAYU!

IT's me again at the NDP this year!..

All thanks to STOMP for giving me a pair of tickets to the new NDP venue. @ the Largest floating platform in the WORLD (not another Singapore first...)

I had a field day taking pictures and had the chance to utilize my friend's Canon Zoom Lens (70-200m f4L).. With IMAGE STABILIZER! Which explains why I have so many people shots.

Overall a good show, I especially liked the military segment: F16 Fighting Falcons screaming overhead, Apache helicopter manoeuvres, Commandos jumping off the bridge, Divers jumping into the water from the Chinooks, Coast guard boats doing donuts!... after that it got boring... hehe...

Observation: After the show, the stadium was clean, almost spotless.. unlike other NDPs where there was trash everywhere, people picked up after themselves. Perhaps Singaporeans want to keep their new stadium clean? Strange but I have no idea.

BTW, I hope i win the lucky draw for disposing my trash! when are the results out?

For more pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/thesingaporeidler/

Same Same But Different

The date is 26 June 2007 - it's half past Midnight

I lead an average Joe life with an average Joe job, sometimes meeting up with my average Joe friends after work for a coffee and a I take an average Joe bus home to my average Joe home.

Switch on my avergae Joe computer and start chatting with my friends... and to my shock / surprise my friend reveals to me that she has read the WHOLE of my blog cos' she couldn't sleep one night.

"All about me 101" ...

Some conclusions are drawn about the kind of person I am.

Thankfully nothing incriminating or too embarrasing is uncovered. I look back at my entries with some amusement and humour.

Did I write all that crap?

It was all good.

I then remember a time, before this blog, vaguely.. that the material I wrote was rather depressing, this "alarmed" my friends who used words like "deep" to describe the content. This prompted a quick change and I deleted everything and wrote the happy stuff on my blog to keep people and myself entertained.

Since then I've never looked back,

Now I try hard to recall what I used to write about... is it a good thing that I have forgotten? Should I let the past be past?

- it's raining outside.. Cats and Dogs x 1,000,0000

Made in Singapore

Just like every other year... This Year's NDP was a blast! However, this would have been, the last time it's held at the Kallang Stadium. It's sad to know that the stadium is being torn down to make way for a bigger better one. Afterall many of us grew up with the stadium, I remember the days of the Kallang Wave and fans chanting "OLE.. Ole-Ole- Ole" when my Dad brought us to see the Lions play in the Malaysia Cup matches.

Well, with progress comes change and we have to accept these changes with an open mind and a positive attitude as our Island matures a little - by another year.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

PS. this year's NDP picture set can be viewed at this link, Enjoy!

Not Enough Sleep!

How much is enough sleep? In the Army, a minimum of Seven hours is the magic number (as spelt out in the training doctrine). In University, 3-4 hours will suffice. I slept through many lectures anyway and somehow managed to graduate.

In working life however, I can't afford to even look stoney at the computer. The post lunch hour is hell to get through as the smooth muscles work extra hard to disgest the food, depriving the brain of much needed blood.

The 3 in 1 "GoldRoast" Coffee provided in the pantry then comes in handy. I try to limit my intake to one cuppa everyday. Having a false/forced sense of alertness induced by the caffeine isn't very healthy. That said, I think I better hit the sack now if I don't wanna exceed my "legal" limit tomorrow. Little sleep coupled with the Monday blues.... it's gonna be One Long Day.......

Eye the city exhibition

Hey folks..

"Eye the City" Exhibition is going on at
the Central Lending Library,
National Library (Basement level)
from now till 31 July 2006.
Time: 1000-2100 hours
Admission is Free!


Unevetful

IN case you're wonder wtf I'm talking about,

Eye the city is a visual account of the events that occured on the last day of the year in Singapore. This exhibition features pictures taken on last new year's eve, 31st December 2005... and anyone can take part. 100 pieces are featured at the exibition.. and so is mine!!!! YEAH!

Drawn to this project when I viewed the previous year's work, I signed up and set off on a little walk around town in the late morning on the last day of 2005. To be honest with you, it was a shitty day for picture taking.. town was quiet, the blind dude busking at the Orchard Road underpass was taking a break, the underground space @ the Esplanade where teenagers practiced their breakdancing and juggling skills was empty... and the air was humid and still, a prelude to the unusually heavy monsoon rain storm that was to follow that afternoon.

So, the last place I ended up was @ the Singapore River.. where people were just sittting around and watching the half empty tour boats zip by, a bridal car was parked outside the Fullerton Hotel, some Indian tourists were taking pictures at a bronze Bullock cart statue (if I remember correctly.. or was it Buffalo?). This was where I took that picture you see above. A picture among all those that I've taken that best described the mood that day.

If you look back another year, things were very different. The Tsunami of 26 Dec 2004 brought a sense of gloom and doom to the region and most of Asia. Troops and aid were to be shipped out to the affected areas in the days to come. Large scale fund raising was being carried out, and the world was in a frenzy. In contrasting this with 2005's last day... it was uneventful and boring, but it was a smooth transition into 2006 and I think we didn't mind one bit.

Ransom

Back in the 50's we used gather to watch a large TV screen in the village. At that time RTS (the local broadcasting company) just started operations.. Paraphrasing what the taxi driver said to me as we passed by the crowded coffee shop at the foot of a block flats near my home... The world cup match between Australia and Japan was underway.

BUT IT'S STILL THE SAME! I exclaimed, pointing my finger at the crowd of beer drinking uncles as the taxi cruised by.

4 years ago, it was free, now we have to pay to watch. There was nothing I could do or think about as I was too pissed. So this is what we're doing to promote sports in Singapore? So this is going to help Goal 2010? (Singapore's plan to play in the next world cup... hahahahahahhahahhaha)

The day the Singapore National team lost my support was the day we pulled out of the Malaysia-Cup and formed the S-League. Gone were the days when I felt for my team, gone were they days of watching OUR team face off against the mighty teams from Malaysia at the Kallang stadium. Gone is the Kallang wave.

In my opinion, our local soccer scene took a backward step in the soccer evolutionary process when we left the M-cup. No one in our already tiny country cared for their neighbourhood teams as much as they used to care for their national team. No one gave a shit if the Sembawang Rangers won the Tampines Rovers.

One thing did kick off and improve though; the legalised soccer betting system.

SO... when a huge event like the World Cup happens once every four years, I look forward to the team spirit and camaraderie reminiscent of the Malaysia Cup days. Singapore is too shitty to qualify, so I give my support to the Asian teams. I give my support to the underdogs and the dark horses that give the big names a run for their money. I gave my support to Senegal who destroyed the defending French team 4 years ago in the opening match of the tournament. And this isn't because I bet on games.. No No.. One major misconception is that many people who watch soccer in Singapore do so because money is at stake, well, not for me at least.

And in the same spirit that the underdog teams embrace as they face uphill struggles all the time, we're saying NO to the TV companies who have decided to own the rights to broadcast "the beautiful game".

We'll find a way to get by.. take it off the airwaves from Indonesia, watch it over the Internet or visit the coffeeshop (as a last resort), we don't need to pay for something that should rightfully be 100% Free.


Pass the Tiger and Chips

Friday

There's a place I like to go on Friday nights after work.
Dark and often bypassed by the daily commute, it's nestled between Centrepoint shopping centre and Orchard Emerald. The Peranakan place as the alley is known hosts a few pubs where beers and cocktails are served, where yuppies go after a hard day's work to chill out.

My favourite place is to sit outside the Acid bar, when the lady sings with the guy on guitar... I don't know her name but she belts out familiar tunes in an unplugged fashion that sets my mind at ease. They don't have Hoegaarden here so the next best thing on the Beer menu is an Erdinger. As it sit back in my chair, everything melts away in the background and to me, it's perfect.

And though it's a Sunday night, I don't feel gloomy as I get ready to face the challenges of the week ahead, for I know that I will play hard come the weekend

and that Friday doesn't seem so far away.


Nothing beats live