Quit - Smoking.

There's been much criticism over Singapore NEA's recent hard-hitting anti-smoking campaign which includes the use of the graphic television advertisement showing a lady suffering from mouth cancer.

When I first saw that ad on TV, it was pretty startling for me especially when I was half surfing the net only to turn my head to the screen to see the part where they already zoomed in on the mouth. Like most of the people who wrote in to Today, I had thought it's the trailer for another horror movie. I can imagine the impact it will have on young impressionable kids.

Using scare tactics to attempt to make people quit smoking - my own feel - may not achieve it's desired effect.

I feel it would be better to showcase the plight of the family members/love ones of the smokers should the smoker be diagnosed with smoking related illness. A friend once said, 'when you're ill, it's your love ones who suffer most' - which I agree.

So if you're a smoker, think of your love ones.......not just the 2nd hand smoke aspect but how they will feel should anything happen to you, the mental anguish they will suffer.

I'm calling on behalf of XXX Bank, are you holding any XXX bank's Credit card?

They called me on my mobile using a 'caller-number non display' line, identified themselves as 'calling on behalf of XXX bank' and yet asks if I carry XXX bank's credit card.

Firstly I don't even know where exactly they are calling from, especially since they choose to 'hide' their calling number.

Claims to be representing XXX bank yet they do not know if you're already the bank's customer and expects you to divulge personal and confidential information.

It has happened to me a few occasions and I'll shoot them down with the points I raised above. One time, the caller actually agrees with me! hah!

Last week, it happened again and this time this guy's more persistent. Saying that they are offering existing card members a chance to get a supp. card with waiver of annual fees and they are giving away a free passport holder with each successful application......duh! Don't mean to appear snobbish here but who cares for a passport holder. (which most likely will be embossed with the bank's logo on it?)

I know it's nothing new, some banks have outsourced their card's membership drive to agencies. Some of them may even have gotten our infor from Lucky draw coupons that we filled up.(some do ask you to indicate if you paid via Visa/Master - since you qualify for one card, you should qualify for the other banks). Guess that's the mode of operations for these agencies. I think, well maybe they are authentic and are not fraudsters but I think their approach needs some fine tunning.

Also just the other day a lady from this pretty well known bank to offer me balance transfer facilities 'at low interest rate'. When I turned down the offer citing reason being 'no plans for usage at the moment', she tried to hard sell me their plan where should you lose your wallet especially with all your credit cards (any bank), you just need to call one number and they will cancel all your cards for you and even protection against fraudulent use of your cards. Agian I turn her down.

And she goes like:

"Sir you mean you don't own a lot of other bank's credit cards?" I was thinking, "none of your business!" but still I politely told her I still don't see any need for it (especially not when you need to pay $49 a year!)

"Sir you mean you don't travel a lot and so is not scared of potential risk of losing your wallet overseas?" at this point, I was actually quite upset with her and almost went

"You there, you mean you don't know you're being very rude?"

2nd day of the IT show at Suntec Convention Hall

2nd day of the IT show at Suntec. The place is crowded, littered and crazy. Most environmentally unfriendly event. See the brochures littered indiscriminately on the floor.

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

My new hobby. Making orchid potted plants

My new hobby. Making orchid plant from artificial 'orchid'. Want to buy one?

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Gong Xi Gong Xi! Happy Lunar New Year.

ICT

Having my ICT from 29 Jan til 10 Feb and I already felt the heat when I saw what's th programme like online from www.ns.sg .

Today is off-in lieu as this weekend (starting tomorrow morning) til the coming Friday (9th Feb) will be out field.......

To that sargent who called me and those excused field duties (by the MO) lobos - Yes we excused field duties but you think your breakfast that morning found its way to the store all by itself (so that you guys can wake up at 9am and not miss it?) bloody hell; yes you all went for training till very late, but I also did not get to sleep until you guys return and yet I had to wake up at 6.30am to go cook house to ta pau breakfast for the whole company. There are those guys who are also lobos and stayed in their bunk the whole time and who only show their faces during meals time and booking out, why I never see you get them to help with the chairs moving thing?

Use your brain!

KL and Port Dickson

Went to KL 2 weekends ago and it was the first time I went to The Curve - which is rather near 1 Utama.

The Water Chalets


Also my first visit to Port Dickson ......Stayed at the A'villion Village Resort.

Very neat and tidy room that even comes with a day bed (near the window overlooking the sea).The rooms are very clean and tidy...only some of the desk, cupboard looks a bit old. Even so its a very nice and well maintained resort. One thing I like very much about this resort (amongst other things) is that the pool (one of the two pools within the resort) is open 24 hours.

The Village Pool

A view of the bathtub & Shower from the room

U can see the stars when you shower at night....

Went for a walk during low tide.........

There was this army of tiny little crabs scrurrying with their own agenda.....they were very quick to zip into their hideouts or dig fresh ones when you approach.....like the ones you see above are about the diammeter of a 5 cent coin or so - think the biggest was just slightly bigger than a 10 cent coin.

The Swedish Ship East Indiaman Götheborg docking at Vivo City.

Boxing Day - Earthquakes

I sometimes wonder what kind of society are we becoming if the top story of the day is "how our communications via the internet to the outside world is disrupted by an earthquake" and people's main concern are "how they can't trade online/the trouble they took to perform trading orders" instead of "what is happening to Taiwan now/how are the victims coping" etc.

Heard from the radio a very sad case of a mother who died whilst falling debris fell on her body and it was believed that she died while trying shield her child from the falling debris. When they were found, the mother was still holding on to her child.

My prayers for them.

Miscomm and Misunderstooded...

The problem with me is that sometimes I never think too seriously about how what I say may sound to the listener. Sometimes when I'll be better off being quiet, I'll proceed to shoot my own foot. Then there are times I feel I should have said something but yet I let it go only to regret later.

I used to hang out with this gang of pretty good friends. As with any group there may sometimes be conflicts (quite minimal....in fact non existence for them), also laughter and joy that we shared. (some of them still take the time to read my blog....hehe....which I'm very thankful for)

During that period when I was taking up my part-time degree programme, (which actually was the 3rd time I took up a part-time degree course - I gave up half way the first 2 instance). I decided that I must really make it this time and pass all my exams. There were many instances when this particular group of friends asked me out but I turned them down without properly explaining why.

One instance I even met them by chance and I really spoke from my heart when I said I'm really appreciative of the fact they keep trying to ask me out tho I can seldom make it. I also made the silly remarks that "other people would have given up trying long ago". I did not realise how that may have sounded as I really mean it when I said I'm very touched by them for not giving up on me......in the end they misconstrued that I was being sarcastic and snobbish. Who can blame them. Thinking back, I realise (at a tortoise's rate) how silly of me to make those remarks.

I wish to express my apologies to them. In fact to everyone whom I've offended in anyway with the things I may have said expressly or otherwise.

hmmm....I think I know what my 2007's resolution will be.

Contradictions

Friends are precious……
You only realise how precious they are usually only upon losing them…….
Treasure your friendship…..and so they say……
Respect and never Expect……easier said then done.
Life’s so full of contradictions……the irony of it all is that the people who contradict themselves do not realise it themselves.
People who can afford it are stingy, people who are poor are generous.

Saw a beautiful Rainbow while walking home last evening.......what a beautiful sight to end a day..:)

KL 2006

Went to KL over the weekend.....click on the photo above to view the album......just testing out this picasaweb album.

Krabi - La Playa Resort

Over this long weekend, I went to Krabi with my friend.

We managed to book couple of months back, rather inexpensive air tickets from Tiger Airways and book from NTUC Income their special promos - 3 Nights stay at Krabi La Playa Resort. Sunday to Wednesday (22nd - 25th Oct).

Krabi is indeed a beautiful place to visit. The resort we stayed in is in the Ao Nang area of Krabi.

Day 1
Our flight departs 4.10pm and (an hour and 40 mins or so later) we arrived at Krabi Airport at 4.25pm (local time - like Bangkok, it's one hour behind Singapore time. However after clearing customs and waiting for other tourists under the same local tour operator to gather, we only reached the resort almost close to 7pm. Nothing much to do then but to walk around to hunt for local food for dinner. Right outside our resort we found those mobile stalls selling "Thai Pancakes" - similar to our Prata actually except you'll be spoilt with the choice of fillings like banana, mango, coconut, chocolate, strawberry etc and they will add a generous dribble of chocolate sauce /condensed milk / sugar etc. We had banana filling with chocolate sauce - heavenly - and it's only 15 baht. We walked around Ao Nang area and although there's no difficulty finding many restaurants, we decided we want to try some local food and settled for a open air hawker like eating place very near our resort. There were about 4 - 6 "stall operators" there who sells almost identical types of food. Our dinner was a simple Phad Thai with a plate of Banana fried rice with a coconut drink and a thai iced tea and it only cost us 120 baht.

After dinner stroll saw many similar shops - tailors, laundry shops, small local tour operators, bars and painting galleries. We chance upon one of the many Massage Place which was brightly lit and seems pretty crowded. So we took up a foot massage for 250 baht that lasted an hour.

We didn't quite like the room we were given....we requested for sea view but we were given one where the view from the balcony is a constuction site. We requested for a room change.....which wasn't easy, not especially when the staff have difficulty speaking in English. We were told that the resort is full and they promise us they'll look into it tomorrow and let us have the room change.

Day 2

We took up a half day 4 Island Hopping by speed boat tour.....

First stop...the Pra Nang Cave.....Ao Phra Nang Beach, Chicken Island, Poda Island.......

we got to Snorkel ............ more snorkeling and ........more snorkeling with lotsa Sand, Sun and Crystal clear Sea......

Finally we got our room changed.......

At least it's hill and sea view and not the ugly construction site where the construction starts as early as 8am. Oh and we did not request for morning call but we got one anyway at about 8.30am.....

Day 3

The weather is rather predictable during this part of the year....light showers in the afternoon that goes off as quickly as it falls. We decided to take up kayaking and booked it the night before at a small local tour operator. It was supposed to set us back 650 baht per pax but we manage to bargain with a friend's help down to 450 baht. Only drinking water and fruits provided for the half day kayaking at Ao Thalen.

Day 4

Today we're supposed to go on the city tour that's included in resort stay package. It was managed by a local tour operator See Tho Holidays. We are supposed to be brought to 2 local product stores and a thai silk and jewellery shop, thereafter we'll have lunch at a famous local duck noodles eating place.

It was pretty delicious. The duck was cooked til tender. However I think the rice noodle was not as good as I expected it to be cos the first night I chanced upon a mobile stall selling chicken noodles and the rice noodle from that stall was very "q" compared to the duck noodle.

After lunch, we were brought to the Krabi town and had the choice of shopping at the Fruits Market or the one and only shopping complex there.

Overall I would say that it was a pretty enjoyable trip and I think I would definitely be visiting Krabi again - there's still many places I've yet to explore and activities do try.

Why you say that?

Sometimes I think it's funny ..........when someone made a comment on you and the comment is not true, do you keep asking "why you say it? why?" shouldn't you highlight and prove the person wrong by presenting facts and say "hey, look here ..............and so your comments aren't true."

When you ask people "why you say that", in a way it's admission that "oh what you said is true, but you shouldn't have said it"

Have you tried the River Crossing Puzzle?

http://freeweb.siol.net/danej/riverIQGame.swf

Leave the solution in comments or ask and I'll provide the solution:P

Singapore Idol 2006 - Hardy Mirza

I think he has the right moves, versatility and unique voice to sing any genre.

His rendition of "You Gave Me Wings" was soulful and touching. (thou I was wondering if it will be the new ad song for Whisper.......:P just kidding)

Hardy Mirza - Singapore Idol 2006!

Hong Kong Hong Kong

Hong Kong is just a wonderful city to visit. It's vibrant and fast paced. People there tend to walk very fast.

I've been to Hong Kong a few times, I think I prefer it during the cooler season. Mid Oct onwards. However during which shopping for clothing wise would be pretty limited as clothes of thicker materials or longer sleeves would be 'in' fashion then - which would then be not very applicable for our all summer type of climate back here in Singapore. Still if you like to walk down a long stretch of shopping belt like as if the whole street is 'air-conditioned' or like Genting Highlands, then it would be a nice time to visit Hong Kong.

In any case, this visit during Jun saw a hotter climate in Hong Kong. As I've visited Victoria Peak during my previous trip there, I decided to give it a miss this round.

Instead I went to the Disneyland there - it's my first visit to any Disneyland.



I went during a Sunday and was found out that contrary to what I had thought, Sunday (or weekends) Disneyland would see a lesser crowd due to the higher admission charges.





To get there, we took the MTR and you have to switch to the special Disney Train.

At the main entrance it reads "HERE YOU LEAVE TODAY AND ENTER THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY, TOMORROW AND FANTASY."

The queue for Winnie the Pooh ride was 40 mins.......phew.....shows how popular Winnie is.

One of the attractions that I like there was the 4-D theatre. Think we have something similar in Sentosa which I've yet been to.....but I really enjoyed the 4-D (not the ToTo or 4-D by Singapore Pools) theatre..... I felt like a kid again while watching the show. You have to put on the special glasses and you'll be treated to sights and smells and spurts of water at your face, very well coordinated with the scripts of the show.

Screaming Audience

A reader wrote in to TODAY with regards to the screaming audience during the recent President's All Star Charity Show and how they spoilt her viewing experience.

I think the same goes for Singapore Idol audiences. They don't seem to know when to stop screaming....in fact they don't stop at all. They scream when the idol hopefuls appear, when the idols are singing, even when the judges are giving them advice. Look at American idol, do you see Ryan Seacrest shouting when he hosts the show? Gurmit sometimes have to shout in order to be heard.

Pls lah, give the judges a chance to speak even tho sometimes we don't necessarily agree with what they have to say. Show some maturity.

Steve Irwin - The Crocodile Hunter

It's so sad to hear of his demise. I love watching Steve Irwin's documentaries.

My condolences to the Australian Zoo and Steve's family.