what is important to Singaporeans these days:
H ealth
D iet
B alanced life
F amily
L ove
A chievement
T ravel
give it to me embeetee!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
they don't wither!
valentine's day can mean very many different things to different people. for some, it is a day of happy surprises, of pretty flowers and candlelit dinners. for some, it is a day of realization, that the person you have spent years with is really the person you've wasted years with. for some, it is a day of nervousness and cold sweat, of wondering if what you have prepared is a sufficient display of sincerity. for some, it is a day of camaraderie and gratefulness, for friends and family who tolerate your shit without question. for some it is loneliness, envy, and self-doubt. for some it is a revenue-generating opportunity, and for some it is a pocket-burning calamity.
for me, valentine's day has been most of the above, at one point or another. but this year, i'm just so glad that the person i wanted most to spend valentine's day with spent it with me. i hope you liked your present. it cost me next to nothing, and gave me only happiness while i was making it.
thank you for making me want to celebrate valentine's day!
...and for those who would like to try this out at home:
description:
these flowers bloom and "wither" when sprayed with water, and when inverted, they close up and harden in their pre-bloom form. you can do it over and over again, no more dead flowers to throw away after vday!
materials:
1. super absorbent chamois (reused)
2. 2 wooden sticks (reused)
3. chinese new year prawn roll bottle (reused)
4. pebbles and gravel (excess from another project)
5. twine (excess)
6. thread
7. permanent markers
8. heart
*no staples or adhesives were used in this project
cost:
less than 5 dollars
for me, valentine's day has been most of the above, at one point or another. but this year, i'm just so glad that the person i wanted most to spend valentine's day with spent it with me. i hope you liked your present. it cost me next to nothing, and gave me only happiness while i was making it.
thank you for making me want to celebrate valentine's day!...and for those who would like to try this out at home:
description:
these flowers bloom and "wither" when sprayed with water, and when inverted, they close up and harden in their pre-bloom form. you can do it over and over again, no more dead flowers to throw away after vday!
materials:
1. super absorbent chamois (reused)
2. 2 wooden sticks (reused)
3. chinese new year prawn roll bottle (reused)
4. pebbles and gravel (excess from another project)
5. twine (excess)
6. thread
7. permanent markers
8. heart
*no staples or adhesives were used in this project
cost:
less than 5 dollars
Monday, February 15, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
smile
i was driving home alone, the brilliant sun in my eyes, when this song played over the radio. it made me think of you, which made me laugh, and cry, at the same time, for the very first time in my life. what a wonderful feeling.
give love
this chinese new year/valentines day, i want to thank God (again) for dragging you into my life, because that must be one of the greatest blessings i've had. ever. i also thank God for friends, who pray with me, who play with me. and for couples, because love is so important in life. and for extra stashes of chinese new year goodies woohoo!
hw, no expensive valentine's day flowers for you. because i'm donating (along with yy) 100USD (i know it's not much) to red cross, to help the suffering people in Haiti. and i know you will be happy about this because you are the most wonderful girl in the world.
to everyone else reading this blog, please show your love in a big way this valentine's day.
hw, no expensive valentine's day flowers for you. because i'm donating (along with yy) 100USD (i know it's not much) to red cross, to help the suffering people in Haiti. and i know you will be happy about this because you are the most wonderful girl in the world.
to everyone else reading this blog, please show your love in a big way this valentine's day.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
let us ride!
this is what we need in singapore. distinct, dedicated bike paths like the one above (in buenos aires) do not come easy anywhere in the world -- they cause money, reduce space for cars, and often risk the humiliation of under-usage. but it has become a reality in several brave new frontiers of our increasingly burdened world, and in my opinion, singapore is an ideal place for a bicycle culture to blossom. we are a small country, where work and residence are often nearenough that one does not have to spend half a day cycling to work. we have an intricate network of well-planned roads, which has already successfully implemented the idea of bus lanes. we have a growing traffic problem, which our electronic road pricing gantries do not seem to alleviate much. we have an educated population, that no doubt is aware of the global warming all we need now is for some brave soul in our enlightened government to really do something about it.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
alternative movie/tv posters
i love the jurassic park poster. if there's one thing i'll never forget about that movie, it's those beautiful tiny ripples in that glass cup before we all get eaten up! i think it's interesting how these posters are kinda like "hindsight ads" -- if you haven't watched the movies, you'd probably not appreciate the posters because what has jurassic park got to do with a two-thirds full cup? which is kinda silly in a way cos if you've seen the movie, you probably won't watch it again anyway, so all it becomes is a little private joke you share with the artist.
totally useless but totally fun! i like!
more at francesco mugnai
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
DAM you for destroying my land!
the NEW advantages of being a developing country with acres and acres of pristine, unspoiled nature -- you can get a contractor to build monstrous structures on top of this land, then get them to pay you millions of dollars in compensation for destroying your precious natural environment which you hold so dear. the paltry compensation sum can then be used for creating national parks, monitor forests and benefit communities affected by the dam put to good use.
sometimes, it does take quite a lot of ingenuity to do the really stupid things.
Brazil confirms huge and controversial hydroelectric dam in the Amazon -- TreeHugger
sometimes, it does take quite a lot of ingenuity to do the really stupid things.
Brazil confirms huge and controversial hydroelectric dam in the Amazon -- TreeHugger
we're not scared!
here's what the key players in our carbon emitting world are pledging to do about their emissions, post COP15. what does this show? it shows we're not scared! give us what you got, Earth, we don't fear you! only wimps are afraid of global warming and rising sea levels. we've all watched waterworld, and kevin costner has showed us we can still float around on boats even if there's no more land!
Nations Carbon Emissions Reduction Checklist
* India has pledged carbon intensity cuts of 20-25 percent by 2020.
* Brazil has pledge absolute emissions cuts of emissions by 39 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, mainly through measures to slow deforestation.
* South Africa reportedly plans to submit a target of 34 percent below projected levels by 2020, though there's some concern whether it can back that ambitious target with action.
* Japan reiterated its plan to achieve absolute emissions cuts of 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, provided other major emitters pledge ambitious plans as well.
* Indonesia may be late, it's said to be contemplating a cut of 26 percent below projected levels by 2020.
* Canada will submit the same lame target as the U.S.: 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. [Although, as Matt points out today, this actually allows Canada to emit more carbon than before]
* Australia has pledged absolute emissions cuts of at least 5 percent below 2000 levels by 2020, up to 25 percent contingent on the actions of other countries.
* China said it "will endeavour to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP ["carbon intensity"] by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 compared to the 2005 level." That would, of course, allow China's emissions to continue rising in absolute terms; it has said it foresees emissions peaking in 2030.
The EU has pledged to reduce emissions 20% below 1990 levels by 2020.
The island nations the Maldives will reduce emissions by 100% by 2020, making them the first carbon neutral nation.
And of course, the US brings up the rear of the industrialized world by offering a paltry 17% below 2005 levels by 2020.
So that's where all the cards lay at the moment--scattered, too weak to prevent a great temperature rise (with the given reductions, temperatures would rise 3.5 C this century, which is considered to be disastrous), and discouraging enough to prompt critics to claim there will be no global climate treaty this year, either. The only nation that could feasibly inspire real, necessary change at the moment is the US--and we all know how eager the Senate is to help the US lead on climate issues. So for the time being, it looks like the so-called 'global climate accord' is a piecemeal agreement of stitched-together promises and voluntary pledges.
more from TreeHugger.
Nations Carbon Emissions Reduction Checklist
* India has pledged carbon intensity cuts of 20-25 percent by 2020.
* Brazil has pledge absolute emissions cuts of emissions by 39 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, mainly through measures to slow deforestation.
* South Africa reportedly plans to submit a target of 34 percent below projected levels by 2020, though there's some concern whether it can back that ambitious target with action.
* Japan reiterated its plan to achieve absolute emissions cuts of 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, provided other major emitters pledge ambitious plans as well.
* Indonesia may be late, it's said to be contemplating a cut of 26 percent below projected levels by 2020.
* Canada will submit the same lame target as the U.S.: 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. [Although, as Matt points out today, this actually allows Canada to emit more carbon than before]
* Australia has pledged absolute emissions cuts of at least 5 percent below 2000 levels by 2020, up to 25 percent contingent on the actions of other countries.
* China said it "will endeavour to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP ["carbon intensity"] by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 compared to the 2005 level." That would, of course, allow China's emissions to continue rising in absolute terms; it has said it foresees emissions peaking in 2030.
The EU has pledged to reduce emissions 20% below 1990 levels by 2020.
The island nations the Maldives will reduce emissions by 100% by 2020, making them the first carbon neutral nation.
And of course, the US brings up the rear of the industrialized world by offering a paltry 17% below 2005 levels by 2020.
So that's where all the cards lay at the moment--scattered, too weak to prevent a great temperature rise (with the given reductions, temperatures would rise 3.5 C this century, which is considered to be disastrous), and discouraging enough to prompt critics to claim there will be no global climate treaty this year, either. The only nation that could feasibly inspire real, necessary change at the moment is the US--and we all know how eager the Senate is to help the US lead on climate issues. So for the time being, it looks like the so-called 'global climate accord' is a piecemeal agreement of stitched-together promises and voluntary pledges.
more from TreeHugger.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Home
a few days ago ago, i watched Home, a beautiful film about us that is at once documentary, science fiction, drama, thriller and horror. directed by yann arthus bertrand, this moving journey through our own world felt as though i was drifting across the kind of surreal pandorean landscape that could only be imagined with a US$300 million budget.
in two hours, the little computer screen in my room (i had inexplicably passed up a chance to watch Home in the cinema last year in an event organized by my own company) showed me more about my planet than possibly any other thing i've read or watched. i stared in growing amazement as the narrator told the story of my Earth, accompanied by a gripping soundtrack and real-life aerial footage that often looked so bizarre that they might as well have been CGI images.
i had no idea that all this was, in fact, my own backyard.the world that i have grown so familiar with is one of brick and concrete lined superfluously with neat rows of rainforest trees that shade not the rainforest, but fast-moving metal boxes on painted asphalt. and while we bask in our government's assurance that this self-proclaimed "garden city" is doing its part in protecting the fragile balance of nature that sustains our lives, it really isn't. we are one of the worst polluters in the world, but the nature of our economy makes it very difficult for us to take concrete steps to save this planet, so say our leaders. for instance, our booming population and our affluent way of life puts us way up there in terms of carbon emissions per capita, relative to other countries. but for the sake of the economy, we are encouraged (often explicitly) to have more and more children, each of them wearing elephant-sized carbon boots. topics relating to public transport and hybrid cars appear occasionally in the news, but most of the time it is to announce yet another hike in prices. bicycle lanes have been tried out in small neighborhoods, but most of singapore is still a cyclist's worst nightmare.
and the bad news is, it's like that everywhere else -- only sometimes a lot worse.
in the meantime, the real world, the beautiful eden that few of us have ever really experienced, is disappearing. it chilled me to my bones to hear the narrator in Home talk about ice sheets disintegrating, of low-lying nations (like ours) submerged in the sea, of rainforests being completely wiped out -- all in a matter of decades. decades as in 10 to 20 years, not 80 to 90 years. which means that within our lifetime, the world as we have barely had time to know it will be gone, and the beautiful creatures that fascinated us in our childhood would be mere legends when we talk about them to our children.
what was made brutally clear at the end of this film (as well as in An Inconvenient Truth which i had watched a week before) was that this is our home, and that there is ONLY ONE of it. once it's gone (and it's going), there's no back-up Earth. that's it.
it's frightening. and what's more frightening is that i don't know what to do about it.
Monday, January 25, 2010
i'm home again!
it's so amazing that a non-christian has brought me back to church. what is more amazing is that Jesus never gives up on me.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Avatar causes depression
this must make james cameron very happy! and it also makes me think -- we spend close to half our livespan sleeping and dreaming. if only there are safe, inexpensive ways for us to control our dreams, so we can have hot, blue alien love every day!
Jan 14, 2010
Avatar is causing depression
PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX
LOS ANGELES - THE perfection of an idyllic planet populated by perfect blue aliens at one with nature and each other from the hugely successful movie Avatar, is causing ordinary humans to become depressed, reported entertainment media on Thursday.
Jan 14, 2010
Avatar is causing depression
PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX
LOS ANGELES - THE perfection of an idyllic planet populated by perfect blue aliens at one with nature and each other from the hugely successful movie Avatar, is causing ordinary humans to become depressed, reported entertainment media on Thursday.
The world created by director James Cameron is so perfect that entire support groups have sprung up to help fans cope with the fact that it doesn't exist.
According to an article in The Daily Telegraph, fans of the film have inundated dedicated websites with their confused and depressed postings, setting up discussion threads like 'Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible', which already has more than 1,000 posts.
In another forum a user wrote: 'When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed grey. It just seems so meaningless. I still don't really see any reason to keep doing things at all. I live in a dying world.' Other fans are even more affected by the situation, reported The Daily Telegraph, with one posting: 'I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora.'
Another report in The Daily Mail newspaper said that the detailed visual realism could be leading viewers to become particularly attached to the idea of the world.
Dr Stephan Quentzel, psychiatrist and Medical Director for the Louis Armstrong Centre for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Centre in New York told CNN: 'Virtual life is not real life and it never will be, but this is the pinnacle of what we can build in a virtual presentation so far. It has taken the best of our technology to create this virtual world and real life will never be as utopian as it seems onscreen. It makes real life seem more imperfect.'Sunday, January 10, 2010
"my black is the blue black!"
yesterday (+ today morning) marks probably the first nights of my life that i designated myself the designated driver. which meant roughtly 1/4 glass of port + 1/4 glass of moscato + 1/4 glass of ice wine + lots of water. feels good! but it also meant that i had to take repeated trips out of sera's house (to the rubbish bin outside) to throw away plastic bags of vomit. which would be ok actually if not for the 5 drunk chinese men loitering outside for like 1 hour. *shudder*
Saturday, January 09, 2010
long way down
i know i should be asleep (hehe) but i was suddenly struck with this inexplicable and unrelenting urge to pick up my guitar, to which i inevitably succumbed.
hence this little song which is in no way a representation of our relationship now, nor in the past, nor in the conceivable future. i just liked the rhyming, that's all :)
so there. first stanza plus chorus, awaiting further inspiration! i haven't written a single song in months, but this is proof, no matter how feeble, that i can still make music while happy and in love!
i don't wanna wake up alone
i miss you hanging up the phone
my heart isn't made up of stone
it hurts when you pretend not to know
there must be a way to atone
it can't be the end of the show
plus i forgot where i put all my clothes
i can't just pack up and go
i'm a long way long way down
i'm lost in lost and found
i'm a long way long way down
and i could use some help right now
hence this little song which is in no way a representation of our relationship now, nor in the past, nor in the conceivable future. i just liked the rhyming, that's all :)
so there. first stanza plus chorus, awaiting further inspiration! i haven't written a single song in months, but this is proof, no matter how feeble, that i can still make music while happy and in love!
i don't wanna wake up alone
i miss you hanging up the phone
my heart isn't made up of stone
it hurts when you pretend not to know
there must be a way to atone
it can't be the end of the show
plus i forgot where i put all my clothes
i can't just pack up and go
i'm a long way long way down
i'm lost in lost and found
i'm a long way long way down
and i could use some help right now
Thursday, January 07, 2010
sunny days ahead please!
i'm in a state of head-bobbing, spasmodic twitching, cold-sweating excitement about Megazip Adventure Saturday. i'm so excited i just want to call in sick and sit at home curled up in my bed with a silly smile on my face until 10am, 9 January 2010 (which actually doesn't say much because that's pretty much my default feeling these days).
the bad news is, my level of excitement is very often inversely proportional to the probability of things going well. therefore, the following are most likely to happen this saturday:
1. it's going to rain
2. i'm going to be violently sick
3. north korea is going to nuke singapore by accident, triggering a nuclear winter and the next ice age. hence closing down megazip adventure park.
the bad news is, my level of excitement is very often inversely proportional to the probability of things going well. therefore, the following are most likely to happen this saturday:
1. it's going to rain
2. i'm going to be violently sick
3. north korea is going to nuke singapore by accident, triggering a nuclear winter and the next ice age. hence closing down megazip adventure park.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
breathe
what is it about breathing slowly in and out that makes frustration/anger go away so quickly?
i don't know, but if you haven't tried doing this yet, do it! it really works! and it also helps to have a wonderful girl (or guy i suppose) by your side. the ultimate cure-all.
in other news -- remember the avatar floating rocks post i did awhile back, in which i noticed their uncanny similarity to the not-floating rocks in ZhangJiaJie?
i subsequently found out:
1. that some other dude in china freaks out when james cameron acknowledged that the avatar rocks were from china, but claimed they were taken from Huangshan instead.
2. that steve messing, the genius guy in james cameron's team who did the concept art for the whole floating rocks world, actually posted a reply to my random forum post at this random forum, that yes he actually hiked through that region and took photos for the film!
3. that this cute lil rock has a name, and it is "The Column of Southern Sky" or 南天一柱.
4. that i am a freak! why the heck am i obsessed about a stupid piece of stone?!
talking about freaks, this japanese guy just got himself married to a lovely girl....who happens to be a video game character. yes a video game character. in a VIDEO GAME. her name is nene (pronounced neh neh) anegasaki and i bet she doesn't ever ask him to take out the trash, or unclog the toilet bowl. which sounds pretty awesome actually, except i wonder if he realizes that hundreds, maybe thousands of other japanese freakos also play with her EVERYDAY? wake up dude she hooks up with strangers every single day! and she's most likely bi too. but maybe that's ok for him i dunno!
i don't know, but if you haven't tried doing this yet, do it! it really works! and it also helps to have a wonderful girl (or guy i suppose) by your side. the ultimate cure-all.
in other news -- remember the avatar floating rocks post i did awhile back, in which i noticed their uncanny similarity to the not-floating rocks in ZhangJiaJie?
i subsequently found out:
1. that some other dude in china freaks out when james cameron acknowledged that the avatar rocks were from china, but claimed they were taken from Huangshan instead.
2. that steve messing, the genius guy in james cameron's team who did the concept art for the whole floating rocks world, actually posted a reply to my random forum post at this random forum, that yes he actually hiked through that region and took photos for the film!
3. that this cute lil rock has a name, and it is "The Column of Southern Sky" or 南天一柱.
4. that i am a freak! why the heck am i obsessed about a stupid piece of stone?!
talking about freaks, this japanese guy just got himself married to a lovely girl....who happens to be a video game character. yes a video game character. in a VIDEO GAME. her name is nene (pronounced neh neh) anegasaki and i bet she doesn't ever ask him to take out the trash, or unclog the toilet bowl. which sounds pretty awesome actually, except i wonder if he realizes that hundreds, maybe thousands of other japanese freakos also play with her EVERYDAY? wake up dude she hooks up with strangers every single day! and she's most likely bi too. but maybe that's ok for him i dunno!
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
i can do this.
in line with my new year resolution #1, i now have a skipping rope right beside my bed. i have also found a tight little corner of my room where i can skip without sending the overly complex ceiling light crashing down to the floor. God bless me and my still ballooning body this year!
Sunday, January 03, 2010
christmas presents -- the inexpensive sort
this is the first painting i've done in about a decade. and it's dedicated to my wonderful 雯雯 without whom 2009 would probably have been a rather miserable year. please don't ever stop loving me, and please don't ever stop letting me love you!
work-in-progress
all done!
and this is what i got for christmas! so pretty, and now elfies can be together again :)
and this is what 雯雯 and i made for our dear P10 -- if you turn the shoes around, you get chinese costumes (with white striped boxers?)!
and this is what P10 made for us (see lamp below), cos they're the best. 雯雯's lamp has not been activated yet, so pictures shall be uploaded soon! the terrarium behind was just made today during our terrarium workshop with this cute man called Harry, and the gnome globe in front was, if you remember, made by 雯雯 because she loves me.
i heart us.
work-in-progress
all done!and this is what i got for christmas! so pretty, and now elfies can be together again :)
and this is what 雯雯 and i made for our dear P10 -- if you turn the shoes around, you get chinese costumes (with white striped boxers?)!
and this is what P10 made for us (see lamp below), cos they're the best. 雯雯's lamp has not been activated yet, so pictures shall be uploaded soon! the terrarium behind was just made today during our terrarium workshop with this cute man called Harry, and the gnome globe in front was, if you remember, made by 雯雯 because she loves me.
i heart us.
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