Here's a rose for you. One that will never wither and never fade. Thank you for being my Valentine.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day
I wish to wish my 宝贝a happy Valentine's Day! Surprise!
Here's a rose for you. One that will never wither and never fade. Thank you for being my Valentine.
Here's a rose for you. One that will never wither and never fade. Thank you for being my Valentine.
Happy Birthday to All
Yesterday the 13th of February happens to be the 7th day of the first month of the Chinese Lunar Calender.
According to traditions we call this day 人日 (rén rì), or the day of the people. On this day, all of us celebrate our birthday. Therefore I would like to wish all my family and friends a Happy Birthday.
Chinese traditions call for us to celebrate today by having a bowl of vermicelli. The long never-ending vermicelli supposedly symbolises longevity and good health. In Singapore, however, we have a localised way of celebration. On this day, the family would gather around and 捞鱼生 (lāo yú shēng). 鱼生 meaning raw fish and 捞 meaning to scope. The higher we scope , the better.
The dish actually includes more than raw fish. Other ingredients include shredded carrot, radish, and cucumber, grinded peanuts, a sweet sauce and others. Each ingredient symbolises a wish for the coming year. For example, 鱼生 sounds like and symbolises 年年有余 (nían nían yŏu yú)，风升水起 (fēng shēng shuĭ qĭ), which translate into abundance and prosperity.
Therefore, in addition to good health and a happy birthday, I hope we all have a great and abundant year ahead!
According to traditions we call this day 人日 (rén rì), or the day of the people. On this day, all of us celebrate our birthday. Therefore I would like to wish all my family and friends a Happy Birthday.
Chinese traditions call for us to celebrate today by having a bowl of vermicelli. The long never-ending vermicelli supposedly symbolises longevity and good health. In Singapore, however, we have a localised way of celebration. On this day, the family would gather around and 捞鱼生 (lāo yú shēng). 鱼生 meaning raw fish and 捞 meaning to scope. The higher we scope , the better.
The dish actually includes more than raw fish. Other ingredients include shredded carrot, radish, and cucumber, grinded peanuts, a sweet sauce and others. Each ingredient symbolises a wish for the coming year. For example, 鱼生 sounds like and symbolises 年年有余 (nían nían yŏu yú)，风升水起 (fēng shēng shuĭ qĭ), which translate into abundance and prosperity.
Therefore, in addition to good health and a happy birthday, I hope we all have a great and abundant year ahead!
The End: Hollywood's writer strike over
This is the headlines on Yahoo! News today.
The scriptwriters strike over the past 3 months is finally over. The strike cripple the American television production and cost billions of dollars. Most importantly, it rendered me without my favourite TV series, keeping me ins suspense over what's happening next in Boston Legal and Grey's Anatomy.
To recall, the issue was over remunerations of the scriptwriters for the distribution of their work via online media. Previously they were not paid, from now on they will be.
A joyous result for a joyous festival.
The scriptwriters strike over the past 3 months is finally over. The strike cripple the American television production and cost billions of dollars. Most importantly, it rendered me without my favourite TV series, keeping me ins suspense over what's happening next in Boston Legal and Grey's Anatomy.
To recall, the issue was over remunerations of the scriptwriters for the distribution of their work via online media. Previously they were not paid, from now on they will be.
A joyous result for a joyous festival.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Happy Chinese New Year
I would like to wish all my family and friends a very Happy Chinese New Year.
In accordance to our customs, I hope the new year brings forth happiness, luck, wealth and good health.
Past years saw me send out tons of SMSes wishing eveyone that mattered a holiday greeting. This year I did not send out any, except to reply those who sent me. However, nothing's change and all you family and friends are still in my heart, less the formality.
As we all grow older, please remember to take care of yourself, as I have sadly, fallen under the weather before and now, during the holiday season. Unlike what my friend Dan says, we can do without the constant boozing. Moderation is better and makes drinking much more enjoyable.
I am sorry my dear friends that I have not been out with you guys for this new year. It is a busy year and I am typing this in school on a Sunday afternoon on the fourth day of new year. I also took this time to rest well, making up for lost sleep, which seems to be a luxury nowadays.
Short is the holiday, so make good use of this last day before work resumes tomorrow. Though the holiday is ending I hope the enjoyment will not.
With love from Loon
In accordance to our customs, I hope the new year brings forth happiness, luck, wealth and good health.
Past years saw me send out tons of SMSes wishing eveyone that mattered a holiday greeting. This year I did not send out any, except to reply those who sent me. However, nothing's change and all you family and friends are still in my heart, less the formality.
As we all grow older, please remember to take care of yourself, as I have sadly, fallen under the weather before and now, during the holiday season. Unlike what my friend Dan says, we can do without the constant boozing. Moderation is better and makes drinking much more enjoyable.
I am sorry my dear friends that I have not been out with you guys for this new year. It is a busy year and I am typing this in school on a Sunday afternoon on the fourth day of new year. I also took this time to rest well, making up for lost sleep, which seems to be a luxury nowadays.
Short is the holiday, so make good use of this last day before work resumes tomorrow. Though the holiday is ending I hope the enjoyment will not.
With love from Loon
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
We are on top again
Presenting the current league leader: Arsenal
After a wonderful 3-1 victory beating Manchester City at their home ground, Arsenal has overtaken Manchester United to lead the EPL. This win follows a series of matches where Arsenal scores 3 goals in each match. The previous being 2 3-0 wins over Newcastle.
In addition, this is the first time this season that the blue side of Manchester lost at their home ground, Eastlands.
The weekend also saw the red side of Manchester held to a 1-1 draw, thanks to luck, for Carlos Tevez had scored with literally the last touch for Manchester United. To top it off it was arch-rival Tottenham who had held Man U to the draw. It was sweet to see the 2 teams tear each other apart. For once Man U's talismanic winger Cristiano Ronaldo was not able to save it as Tottenham was the better team throughout the night, with Robbie Keane wasting wonderful chances.
At the end of the night it was a well-deserved win by Arsenal as both Chelsea and Man U could not keep up.
After a wonderful 3-1 victory beating Manchester City at their home ground, Arsenal has overtaken Manchester United to lead the EPL. This win follows a series of matches where Arsenal scores 3 goals in each match. The previous being 2 3-0 wins over Newcastle.
In addition, this is the first time this season that the blue side of Manchester lost at their home ground, Eastlands.
The weekend also saw the red side of Manchester held to a 1-1 draw, thanks to luck, for Carlos Tevez had scored with literally the last touch for Manchester United. To top it off it was arch-rival Tottenham who had held Man U to the draw. It was sweet to see the 2 teams tear each other apart. For once Man U's talismanic winger Cristiano Ronaldo was not able to save it as Tottenham was the better team throughout the night, with Robbie Keane wasting wonderful chances.
At the end of the night it was a well-deserved win by Arsenal as both Chelsea and Man U could not keep up.
Friday, February 01, 2008
How to read a newspaper
Today in my War and Diplomacy class, my professor told us a story of the most important lesson he ever had during his university days. According to him, the name of the module was "How to read a newspaper".
For this module, he and his classmates each had to read a newspaper daily for a certain period of time. During this time, they made observations of the presentation of the news in the papers. He told us that this lesson taught him a lot and is still pertinent today, many years later. In fact, according to him, our local papers still use the same methods, intentionally or otherwise.
The methods of writing/ publishing are:
1) The juxtaposition of opposition.
The example he raised was the recent article in the Straits Time about fees hike for the public transportation due to rising fuel price. Right next to that article on the same page, there was another article that said something to the effect of SIA record profits due to falling fuel price. On the same page here you have 2 different articles stating the exact opposite. According to him, this method was often used deliberating by editors to make a point about current issues in society. By giving 2 contrasting stories, the editors of the newspaper are telling the readers to think about what is happening and go figure, not taking things at face value.
2) Discontinuity of argument
He told us that he had been in Singapore for quite a few years and there was once, if anyone can remember, when the Suzhou Industrial Park was everything that you could read about in the local papers. Then suddenly, one day, Suzhou disappeared from the face of Singapore. From that moment on, he knew something was wrong. True enough, it was soon revealed that Suzhou was going very badly. The telling sign was the change in the plane of the argument. So next time when you read papers, look out for any changes in the argument to know that something is wrong.
3) Locutional-intentionalist
In short, locutional-intentionalist means the opposite of whatever said is true. Locutional-intentionalist statements are often prescriptive and not descriptive. That is to say, they do not reflect the actual state of society but what it should be. By extension, whatever is stated in a locutional-intentionalist is not present in the society and therefore not true. His example was the "Speak Mandarin Campaign". Looking at a banner with his friend, his friend exclaimed to the slogan of "Speak Mandarin, Use It Don't Lose It", "How do I lose something that I don't even have to begin with." In short, many Singaporean Chinese can't speak Mandarin here in Singapore though we should be able to.
4) Don't believe anything until it's officially denied
If a thing is not true, there is no need to deny it. The moment you deny it, it signals that the incident is plausible, but "not" true. Case in point. So next time look out for official denials.
For this module, he and his classmates each had to read a newspaper daily for a certain period of time. During this time, they made observations of the presentation of the news in the papers. He told us that this lesson taught him a lot and is still pertinent today, many years later. In fact, according to him, our local papers still use the same methods, intentionally or otherwise.
The methods of writing/ publishing are:
1) The juxtaposition of opposition.
The example he raised was the recent article in the Straits Time about fees hike for the public transportation due to rising fuel price. Right next to that article on the same page, there was another article that said something to the effect of SIA record profits due to falling fuel price. On the same page here you have 2 different articles stating the exact opposite. According to him, this method was often used deliberating by editors to make a point about current issues in society. By giving 2 contrasting stories, the editors of the newspaper are telling the readers to think about what is happening and go figure, not taking things at face value.
2) Discontinuity of argument
He told us that he had been in Singapore for quite a few years and there was once, if anyone can remember, when the Suzhou Industrial Park was everything that you could read about in the local papers. Then suddenly, one day, Suzhou disappeared from the face of Singapore. From that moment on, he knew something was wrong. True enough, it was soon revealed that Suzhou was going very badly. The telling sign was the change in the plane of the argument. So next time when you read papers, look out for any changes in the argument to know that something is wrong.
3) Locutional-intentionalist
In short, locutional-intentionalist means the opposite of whatever said is true. Locutional-intentionalist statements are often prescriptive and not descriptive. That is to say, they do not reflect the actual state of society but what it should be. By extension, whatever is stated in a locutional-intentionalist is not present in the society and therefore not true. His example was the "Speak Mandarin Campaign". Looking at a banner with his friend, his friend exclaimed to the slogan of "Speak Mandarin, Use It Don't Lose It", "How do I lose something that I don't even have to begin with." In short, many Singaporean Chinese can't speak Mandarin here in Singapore though we should be able to.
4) Don't believe anything until it's officially denied
If a thing is not true, there is no need to deny it. The moment you deny it, it signals that the incident is plausible, but "not" true. Case in point. So next time look out for official denials.
Another post on food hygiene
If you read the previous post, you would know how disgusted I was with the level of food hygiene at the Muslim coffee shop in Bedok Reservoir. However, an incident yesterday let me feel that hope is not lost.
You know how you often see food sellers handle both food and money with the same pair of gloves?
Ever since a few years ago (maybe more, I can't remember), when the government decided to start improving the standard of hygiene in the food handling industry, we started seeing stalls and restaurants getting graded for the level of cleanliness of their food preparation area. Typically, restaurants get As and stalls in food centres and coffee shops get Bs, with a few Cs and seldom Ds. They later introduced the rule that required food handlers to wear gloves.
The irony is, despite the goodwill and intention of improving food safety standards, the plan was not well thought out enough. In the implementation of these regulations, the authorities forgot about the most important aspect, proper education for the food sellers.
What we got instead, were food sellers who followed the regulations blindly. So very often I have seen the sellers preparing my orders with gloves on, then went on to collect money with the same pair of gloves. Other times I saw them put on their gloves and never removed them till the end of the day, in the meantime wearing it to eat, shit and do everything else. What then may I ask, is the purpose of having the gloves on? In the end, instead of ensuring that the food is clean, it seems more like they are ensuring that their hands are clean.
So what's the hope-reigniting incident that I encountered?
Yesterday I was introduced to a stall in Bukit Panjang that sells excellent rojak. But this is no ordinary stall. It was run by an elderly uncle whose stall included nothing more than 2 tables under the covered walkway of a HDB estate.
The thing is, this uncle, running an illegal stall, under no supervision or administration of any authorities, was nonetheless using gloves while preparing his rojak. Unlike the regulated stalls in coffee shops and food centres, he was, in a sense not required to do so. Even more delighting, was the fact that he understood the rational behind the usage of gloves. As I stood there waiting for my turn to be served, I witnessed the uncle use his gloves only for food handling and nothing else. What's more, he changed his pair of gloves for every packet of rojak that he dished out. In addition, every once in a short while, he would turn around and wash his hands in a bucket of water that he had prepared earlier. A quick survey of his "stall" also found it to be no messier or dirtier than the average food stall.
This may only be a little thing, that people might not usually noticed, but for us, in a time when so many food handlers out there still do not have the common sense of using a simple pair of gloves properly and are consistently endangering consumers' lives with their unhygienic habits, I found the uncle's behaviour reassuring, refreshing and uplifting.
I am not asking all food handlers' to follow in his footstep, using more than a hundred pairs of gloves everyday. All I am asking for is that they use their gloves only for handling food, and not money, which is the foulest thing. Or wearing it and walking around. Some simple common sense and a little effort are all that's required.
You know how you often see food sellers handle both food and money with the same pair of gloves?
Ever since a few years ago (maybe more, I can't remember), when the government decided to start improving the standard of hygiene in the food handling industry, we started seeing stalls and restaurants getting graded for the level of cleanliness of their food preparation area. Typically, restaurants get As and stalls in food centres and coffee shops get Bs, with a few Cs and seldom Ds. They later introduced the rule that required food handlers to wear gloves.
The irony is, despite the goodwill and intention of improving food safety standards, the plan was not well thought out enough. In the implementation of these regulations, the authorities forgot about the most important aspect, proper education for the food sellers.
What we got instead, were food sellers who followed the regulations blindly. So very often I have seen the sellers preparing my orders with gloves on, then went on to collect money with the same pair of gloves. Other times I saw them put on their gloves and never removed them till the end of the day, in the meantime wearing it to eat, shit and do everything else. What then may I ask, is the purpose of having the gloves on? In the end, instead of ensuring that the food is clean, it seems more like they are ensuring that their hands are clean.
So what's the hope-reigniting incident that I encountered?
Yesterday I was introduced to a stall in Bukit Panjang that sells excellent rojak. But this is no ordinary stall. It was run by an elderly uncle whose stall included nothing more than 2 tables under the covered walkway of a HDB estate.
The thing is, this uncle, running an illegal stall, under no supervision or administration of any authorities, was nonetheless using gloves while preparing his rojak. Unlike the regulated stalls in coffee shops and food centres, he was, in a sense not required to do so. Even more delighting, was the fact that he understood the rational behind the usage of gloves. As I stood there waiting for my turn to be served, I witnessed the uncle use his gloves only for food handling and nothing else. What's more, he changed his pair of gloves for every packet of rojak that he dished out. In addition, every once in a short while, he would turn around and wash his hands in a bucket of water that he had prepared earlier. A quick survey of his "stall" also found it to be no messier or dirtier than the average food stall.
This may only be a little thing, that people might not usually noticed, but for us, in a time when so many food handlers out there still do not have the common sense of using a simple pair of gloves properly and are consistently endangering consumers' lives with their unhygienic habits, I found the uncle's behaviour reassuring, refreshing and uplifting.
I am not asking all food handlers' to follow in his footstep, using more than a hundred pairs of gloves everyday. All I am asking for is that they use their gloves only for handling food, and not money, which is the foulest thing. Or wearing it and walking around. Some simple common sense and a little effort are all that's required.
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