Olympic Dreams

What excitement over the humble ping pong ball!

It was really nail biting stuff with Feng Tianwei winning her Korean opponent easily and Li Jiawei trashing out till the very very last minute in what was to be a repeat of Athens, where Jiawei lost.

I've to give her a thumbs up to her perserverance, really. At one point during the last of 5 sets, the commentator went "can we bear to watch?" and the very next moment Jiawei loses a point only to gain it back right after that. It was 10 - 7 to the Koreans. And she fought all the way to 10-9 before her opponent decided enough was enough and shut her down.

And the doubles. I could have sworn the third set nearly had every other neighbour screaming like skittish monkeys. In the words of the commentator, "One world, one dream and the dream continues for Singapore."

Before I could take a breather, Feng Tienwei was up again with her last set to alter history. As if they thought the normal match was not exciting enough they had to invoke the expedite rule! Ultimately, after an intense rally that threatened to push enough adrenaline to drive me to do another internship(=p), Feng won rather anticlimatically as the Korean's serve ended up on the ground.

With the cinematic ending over-the-shoulder shots of the team waving their appreciation, hugging their coach and threatening to cry, Singapore is assured of her very own medal since 1960.

Well done you guys!

See you Sunday, 1930pm, Channel U.

SgWalkers

Not that I want to say but walking the Southern Ridges is really an experience that I won't forget in a hurry. To put things in perspective let's just say it is the highlight of my 3 month holiday! =)

Updates here soon@ sgwalkers.blogspot.com
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Time needed: ~ 4 hrs
Getting there: Alight at Harbourfront MRT station (exit D)

Stuff you'll see:
1. Marang Trail
2. Faber Walk
3. Mount Faber Park
4. Henderson Waves
5. Telk Blangah Hill Park
6. Forest Walk
7. Alexandra Arch
8. HortPark
9. Flora Walk(inside HortPark)
10. Canopy Walk
11. Kent Ridge Park
12. Reflections at Bukit Chandu

Getting home: Take the steep staircase down all the way from the front of the entrance to arrive at Pasir Panjang road.

Homecoming

Coming home on Fridays is always a wonderful experience not only because of the Nasi lemak but also because of the sense of familiarity whenever I step into Eastpoint. I have lost the number of times I have popped into KFC for a spot of zinger and come out a happier man.

It is fitting therefore to dedicate an entry to this neighbourhood I have called home for a good 6 years.

Simei or 四美 gets it's name from the four beauties in Chinese history, Xishi(西施), Wang Zhaojun(王昭君), Diao Chan(貂蝉) and Yang Guifei(杨贵妃).

The history of these four beauties are replete with amazing stories.

It is said that Xi shi's beauty was so resplendent that while leaning over a balcony to look at the fish in the pond, the fish would be so dazzled that they forgot to swim and gradually sunk away from the surface, birds would forget to fly and fall from the sky and the moon would fade. To complete the already jaw-dropping imagery, flowers have been said to close their petals in ignominy when near her.

I don't know about petals closing but the neighbourhood that I have come to love is quiet, tranquil and honestly, I am satisfied with that. Back in my army days , I would meet my friend at Eastpoint and after a quick bite we would traipse to one of the seats in the void decks and there he would teach me a magic trick or two. The four beauties would smile upon us as I tried to palm a card and I remember clearly wondering what the devil they were doing there. It looked like the decorative wall of a olden day Chinese brothel. Suffice to say, I happily forgot most of the magic tricks.

Simei is not without it's fun side. Just a few hours ago as I was walking past the same spot, I saw a couple canoodling each other as a team of Sepat Takraw players behind them got their match on the way. I postulated that maybe the couple got high to the shouts and the occasional squeal that emanated behind them. I never got round to confirming it as a Sepat Takraw ball whizzed past my head and narrowly missed my left ear.

According to Wikipedia,the town planners originally named some roads in Simei after the four beauties but replaced it because the non Chinese population had difficulties pronouncing them. That was a masterstroke. I can almost picture the scenario .

"How to get to she-she street ah?"

I would imagine inhabitants of the blocks along that street would be none too pleased.Now, we have Simei streets 1 to 6. Not a terribly windswept and debonair affair to begin with but at least it works.

Near my home is the only park in Simei, creatively called the Simei park. It consists of a playground, an elderly fitness corner and jogging tracks that is as minimalistic as one can get. They were just concrete walkpaths with one addition -distance markings. That is why I normally go for my jogs around the estate instead of in the park itself. It is too monotonous.

Key in hand, I would sneak past Eastpoint and upon reaching Changi General Hospital , scuttle across the road to Chankat Changi Secondary School ,make a loop for ITE College East and reach home base just in time for breakfast. The route was great as long as the storm clouds kept their distance and the school children out of the way.

Now, it is not my nature to boast but I am convinced that the vegetarian beehoon below the block next to mine is one of the very best. I should know - I spent many a beautiful morning there beehoon on the table, nursing my Milo Dinosaur.

Next to it, we have surprise surprise, a barber. It is one of those old school barbers who still has the very prominent red and blue spinning cylinders which I think borders on being hypnotic. I have lost count the number of times I sat on the plastic chairs of the beehoon store and upon looking at the trance-inducing thing be overcome by an overbearing desire to have my hair trimmed. It is most peculiar.

Being one of the questions I have always wanted to ask let me state for the record the scientific name of the harmless looking thing. It is called a Barber Pole. And it is not found only in Singapore. A quick search led me back to the medieval times. During those days, barbers also performed surgery on customers as well as tooth extractions. Assuredly a more intricate affair than today's barber, the pole itself also represents the staff that the patient gripped during the procedure to encourage blood flow.

Wikipedia also states that the red and white stripes symbolize the bandages used during the procedure: red for the blood-stained and white for the clean bandages. Originally, these bandages were hung out on the pole to dry after washing and as the bandages blew in the wind, they would twist together to form the spiral pattern similar to the stripes in the modern day barber pole. This was ground breaking stuff and it was all happening 10 stories below. I bet you never knew. That makes two of us before today.

If you were to ask me to pick between the barber downstairs and the 10 min QB house at Eastpoint I would beyond a shadow of a doubt pick the barber below. Those uncles sure can chat more than the face-masked aunties of QB any day, free comb not withstanding. Besides, I do not like the idea that I am paying SGD 1 dollar for every minute. With the uncles, I am sure I am getting my money's worth with colourful updates to the political scene thrown in absolutely free of charge.

These two already take the cake for interesting shops 2 minutes from my doorstep but careful government planning has also placed not one but 2 grocery shops and a clinic whose doctor is about the only one in Singapore who can cure my uclers. He would take a cursory peek at my lips ,write the prescription ,in his doctor's handwriting no less and within minutes I would be out of there, medication in hand like a happy school boy. I would have a bath, put slapped on a bit of cream and the very next day I would be ready for a KFC family feast. I once visited the neighbour polyclinic , gleefully went home for having saved enough for 2 zinger meals and the very next day found 2 more daughter uclers . It is most upsetting.

Then we lose the rent a place and run your business concept and trade for the run your business from your own living room concept. Just 2 steps away from ucler healer's HQ is a home-based Roller Blading School. That is all well and good but it would be better if the sweaty knee guards and rollerskates did not stink up the 2 metres of corridor. I have had the misfortune of walking into the dank wall of air and had a fleeting glimpse of the deadland marshes in Lord of the rings. I nearly fell into their Koi pond.

When I am not terrorising the friendly storekeepers of street 1, I am beside the Simei MRT at Eastpoint level 1. This is almost always a given. With the heavenly( and I am not joking when I say this) aromas of KFC beckoning me, it is always hard to find my way up the other floors. Another must visit is the Pet Safari hidden just behind the Burger King. They had just undergone a face lift and if I may say something from a purely objective point of view, the Pet Safari before rocked. The one now, flopped. Thankfully it still has the cute hamsters which never fails to amuse anyone regardless of age, language or religion.

Not 5 metres from Eastpoint is the row of shops, one of which I get my weekly dose of Nasi Lemak at. That stretch could easily replace Eastpoint without a bat of an eyelid. There are not 1, not 2 but 3 coffee shops, 2 handphone shops, a salon, a VCD rental outlet, a confectionary , a vegetable stall, a photoshop cum past year's test papers shop, a dentist, a hardware outfit, a groceries place and to top it all off, my mum's favourite hang out, a baker's wonderland, Phoon Huat.

I thought I have Phoon Huat to thank for all the cookies my mum has baked but it's website told me otherwise . Steeped in history and tradition, the company was established in 1947 by a certain Wong Tai Fuang when he moved to Singapore from Hainan Island in China and set up a shop at Middle road. So thank you Mr. Wong. You rock.

Upon closer inspection and an in depth analysis I think to replace Eastpoint would be a mistake. It is the KFC. I cannot live without it.

Singapore GaGa

Happiness is watching Singapore Gaga with your grandpa and grandma.

GoThere

Gothere.sg is so great.

It shows me the bus route I take every morning since the end of the exams to SadTown , presumably to make myself sadder. I have such a great sadomasochistic streak, it scares me sometimes.

It shows me the route I walked the other day I missed the bus and decided against my better judgement to walk in because hailing a cab takes forever. The same day it rained as I was tackling my 3th hill crest. Now I know how long it takes to walk in- 40 mins.

It shows me life doesn't really end with the shut down of streetdirectory.com. It begins then really.

All you got to do then is to find something better to replace it.

Sinema@OldSchool

Getting to Sinema feels a little like a pilgrimage because you got to negotiate your way up what seems like a few million steps. I can almost put myself in the shoes of "Po" in Kungfu Panda climbing up to Shaolin Temple( Or was it some other temple? hmz).



It's a long way up( or from my perspective down) but the view you get when you reach the top really is quite extraordinary! My 3.2 megapixel phone camera doesn't do the panoramic view justice. Really.



RC and I were there to catch the last screening of the Singapore International Film Festival(SIFF) winners and after watching them it is my sincere opinion that there's hope yet for Singapore Films.

I particularly like Keluar Baris and Silent Girls. Ahem. They're nice films alright! =)

Next show: 雨の味

A different kind of Bus

Last week while I was making my way from my tutee's place(which accounts for 50% of all my destinations, the other 50% is to work) back home I took a ride on a whole new kind of transport.


It felt extremely spacious, cafe-like, homely even. Now all that's missing is a menu and a table and when that happens, I can see myself ordering a Vanilla milkshake. But please, no excessive reading please, I might get bus-sick.

Museum Libre

One of the things you appreciate infinitely more when you start to work are the weekends. That is why my last one was packed to brim with activities. It was quite marvelous.

An alumni band practice on Saturday morning started the weekend, following which was tuition. A message from the other party, however, safely left me with nothing to do for the next 4 to 5 hours save perhaps walking around TM (which got dull after an hour or two of oh-ing and ah-ing at the various cameras in Courts).

So after learning that 31st May was also International Museum Day, which meant free admission to all museums , I made my way down to the National Museum of Singapore.

Originally the Raffles Library and Museum, it underwent a major revamp in 2005. I have never seen the building in my life, but a quick browse in it's website got me pretty interested in it's architecture.

In a twist of fate, by the time I got there, it started to rain. As luck would have it, I met my friend and we went to Burger King to have a drink. We finished, he needed to meet another friend and I made my way down to National Museum of Singapore, umbrella in arm.

Now for the record I don't usually go to museums but that Saturday surely saw visitor numbers swell to incredible levels. It was wonderful to not know exactly how to go there and get there eventually, courtesy of the family in front of me.

This family of three was sharing an umbrella and if anything, they looked like they were walking the tightrope because the umbrella was exceedingly small. Before long, the wife had a quarrel about the husband not knowing how to hold the umbrella properly and the daughter of age 13 played peacemaker to the entire affair. I had been stalking the family for grand total of 5 minutes listening in to their colourful conversation when ahead of us, the National Museum of Singapore stood.



I was quite simply blown away. It was beautiful.

And that was just the facade. What greeted visitors at the lobby was a red cloth replica of Michelangelo's statue of David.



I thought the statue was pretty worth my trip down in itself.

But time was running short and so I made my way into the various exhibition venues on the second level. The museum's exhibits looks at Singapore's history through the lens of Fashion, Movies, Family and of course, Food.

In Fashion I saw the retro outfits of yester year and in Movies, old movie reels and Wayang headdress accessories were on display. The Family section saw the exhibition space filled with old family portraits and my favourite section ,food made me very hungry. I saw for the first time how the Roti Prata dough is made!

It was with a hungry stomach that I made my way out of the museum for what-else? Mayday Marathon at K box! I K-ed till I nearly died with Rong chen and Jinyang. Too much Mayday can cause a protracted Adrenaline rush and a bad sore throat.

Keluar Baris

Yesterday while I was (happily) studying, an identified number on my handphone interrupted my chain of thoughts. It was an Indian lady and she wanted to know if I was free in November for an in-camp training. Honestly, I was quite sian despite the fact that I could defer.

In other news,I have been wanting to watch Keluar Baris , a film shot by Singaporean film maker Boo Junfeng. From the 21st SIFF website,

Translating to “fall out” in Malay and the last command in National Service, Keluar Baris tells the personal struggles of a boy serving compulsory military in Singapore and his personal liberty. Boo Junfeng is a prolific independent filmmaker based in Singapore, and this film tells his personal journey to the army.

But the Singapore International Film Festival(SIFF) is over! So I e-mailed him, and what do you know? Sinema will be rescreening all the Singapore Short Film Finalists in mid-May! Happiness is watching movies you want to watch.

mrbrown

I have decided that listening to his podcasts in school isn't a good idea , especially if you are in the computer centre because you can't laugh out loud! Oh man, the torture.

If you are wondering , I was listening to this one.

Singapore dreaming

I have never watched the movie. But I chanced upon an essay my friend sent me through e-mail that inspired it. It was written in 2000 for the Singapore International Foundation's 10th anniversary book.

The couple who wrote, directed and produced the film, also founded the satirical and highly irreverent Web site, Talkingcock.com that has been featured in Time Magazine, The Economist, The BBC and other international media.

Despite the numerous awards the movie won, what resonated with me most when I read the essay was how true it was.

The best paragraph I read?

"If there is any blame to be laid, it is the upholding of a compliant,
unquestioning culture; that some people should never be challenged because of age, status or whatever. It is not solely the establishment's fault; all political parties are entitled to play politics. But it is wholly our fault for
not fighting for what we believe in."

I damn near cried.

Singapura

OK. So this is a little dated. So what ? It's still darn funny la. =)

Complaints Choir Singapore

So the Singapore police banned the Singapore Complaints Choir's foreign members from singing complaints alongside Singaporeans, and they had to perform in private at the Old Parliament House debating chamber . Here is the unedited video of their performance via atomipommi (watch for the edited version at www.complaintschoir.org) and the lyrics (via chillycraps.com) for you to sing along!

I simply dig the part at 7:12. Enjoy!

We get fined for almost anything
Drivers won't give chance when you want to change lane
The indoors are cold, the outdoors are hot;
And the humid air, it wrecks my hair
Those answering machines always make you hold
Only to hang up on you

When a pregnant lady gets on the train
Everyone pretends to be asleep
I'm stuck with my parents till I'm 35
Cause I can't apply for HDB
We don't recycle any plastic bags
But we purify our pee

*chorus:
What's wrong with Singapore?
Losing always makes me feel so sore
Cause if you're not the best
Then you're just one of the rest

My oh my Singapore
What exactly are we voting for?
What's not expressly permitted
is prohibited

"Ooh"

When I'm hungry at the food court, I see
People chope seats with their tissue paper
To the auntie staying upstairs:
Your laundry's dripping on my bed sheets
Please don't squat on the toilet seats
And don't clip your nails on MRT

Stray cats get into noisy affairs
At night my neighbor makes weird animal sounds
People put on fake accents to sound posh
And queue up 3 hours for donuts
Will I ever live till eighty five
to collect CPF?

*chorus

Singaporeans too kiasu! (so scared to lose)
Singaporeans too kiasi! (so scared to die)
Singaporeans too kiabor! (scared of their wives)
Maybe we’re just too stressed out! (even the kids)

"Ooh"

Old National Library was replaced by an ugly tunnel
Singaporean men can’t take independent women
People blow their nose into the swimming pool (and pee too)
And fall asleep on my shoulder in the train

Singapore’s national bird is the crane (the one with yellow steel girders)
Real estate agents’ leaflets clogging up my mailbox (en bloc, en bloc, en bloc, en bloc)
Why can’t we be buried when we die?
No one wants to climb Bukit Timah with me

*chorus

There are not enough public holidays
My neighbor sings KTV all night
Wedding dinners never start on time
My hair is always cut shorter than I want
Channel 5 commercials are way too long
Why do men turn bald?

At first it was to speak more mandarin
Then it was to speak proper English
What’s wrong with my powderful Singlish?

People sit down during rock concerts
We have to pay for tap water at restaurants
ERP gantries are everywhere
But I can still see traffic jams on the road
All the bus stops have tilted benches
Cannot access playboy.com

*chorus