20mins to....

the year of the Tiger. Well, according to the Chinese Calendar at least. For those of you out there who are non-Chinese, every Lunar Year is represented by an Animal. The coming year is represented by the big cat above... The current year is represented by the Ox and the year after the Tiger would be the Rabbit...

It is a tradition for ALL Chinese families to gather on the eve of the Lunar New Year (LNY) for a special dinner known as the Reunion Dinner.... and we are no exception. This year, again, dinner's over at my place. Reason being the dinner table is the biggest amongst my siblings :p.

Starting from 5pm, the noisy and activity level in the house began building up, climax-ing at about 8pm before subsiding briefly and ended with a final bang around 10pm :) Apparently, one of my Sister arrived at 5pm to help out with the preparation for the dinner. My eldest Sis arrived slightly later to join in the "fun". My Bro finally arrived around 7pm and that's the moment the noisy level peaked.... it kind of subsided after we had our dinner as everyone's full beyond capacity and could not even muster any strength to make any noise, except the kids....The noisy level went up for one finally rally as we had the traditional tossing of the raw fish salad aka Yu Sheng for good luck. We are supposed to say/shout/scream/etc auspicious words or phrases as we toss the salad... the higher you toss it before dropping it back to the plate, the better it is supposed to be. As such, its not surprising to sometimes find someone voiceless or hands full of salad post-toss. :p

Tomorrow's going to be another long day.... My relatives are going come over and visit Hero. For me, I'm mentally preparing to answer the usual questions from them. As for what they'd be asking, no prizes for the correct guesses :)

Happy Lunar New Year to you and your folks. May the year of the Tiger brings to you immerse prosperity, health and good luck in whatever you do.....

Under the Red Umbrella

During the Sunshine era....

Now under the Red Umbrella...

'nuff said.

Bye Bye Sunshine, Hello Red Umbrella....

Remember "Walking on Sunshine" & "Walking on Sunshine - Part 2"? This time, its Bye Bye Sunshine, Hello Red Umbrella....

Apparently, there should be a "Walking on Sunshine - Part 3" which I never put up. Anyway, here's a quick update of it : After M1's "Signal Boost", there is still no improvement in my web surfing experience and I continued to complain. I even gave them 3 alternatives :

• Switch me to Fixed Broadband (FBB); or
• Terminate me; or
• Suggest other alternatives

They offered me a $10 discount until the end of my contract. That DID IT for me... I relented and took up the offer, paying some $25 a month for 7.2Mbps in the end.

However, I've been getting more and more frustrated with the speed. It seems like its slowing down even further. For the sake of comparison, I did a speed test on the Mobile Broadband (MBB) and then used my iPhone's tethering function to get online and perform another speed test. To my disgust, the iPhone's speed is FASTER than the STUPID MBB even though the former's only 500Kbps!!

Back to M1 I complained... I demanded pretty much the same old things :

• Switch me to FBB; or
• Terminate me 

The conversation with the CSO goes as follows :

CSO : Mr Lee, .... we are unable to switch your existing plan to FBB...

Me : Ok... then terminate me.

CSO : Mr Lee, do take note that for early termination, there will be a penalty charge.... 

Me : Oh ok, sure... go ahead and charge me. I'd not pay a single cent. Its either you switch me to FBB or terminate me without penalty.

CSO : ... let me highlight this to my boss and revert....

Me : Sure, thanks!

They pondered over my requests for a few days before calling me up again :

CSO : Mr Lee... I've spoken to my boss with regards to....

Me : Yes, ok...

CSO : As mentioned earlier, we are unable to switch you to FBB, however, we would like to inform you that we will allow your termination of MBB without penalty. Please return the equipment to our service centre....

With that, my search for a new ISP begins.... The choice is pretty much a toss-up between Starhub's Cable Technology or Singnet's ADSL Technology, the latter which I've been using all along before my disastrous migration to M1.

Yesterday, I decided that I'd head back to Singnet, back under the fold of the Giant Red Umbrella....6Mbps FBB, here I come!!!

Amazing Facts About Bill Gates

1. Bill Gates earns US$250 every SECOND, that's about US$20 Million a DAY and US$7.8 Billion a YEAR!

2. If he drops a thousand dollars, he won't even bother to pick it up because during the 4 seconds he picks it, he would've already earned it back.

3. The US national debt is about 5.62 trillion dollars, if Bill Gates were to pay the debt by himself, he will finish it in less then 10 years.

4. He can donate US$15 to everyone on earth but still be left with US$ 5 Million for his pocket money.

5. Michael Jordan is the highest paid athlete in US. If he doesn't drink and eat, and keeps up his annual income i.e. US$30 Million, he'll have to wait for 277 years to become as rich as Bill Gates is now.

6. If Bill Gates was a country, he would be the 37th richest country on earth.

7. If you change all of Bill Gate's money to US$1 notes, you can make a road from the earth to moon, 14 times back and forth. But you have to make that road non-stop for 1,400 years, and use a total of 713 BOEING 747 planes to transport all the money.

8. Bill Gates is 55 this year. If we assume that he will live for another 35 years, he has to spend US$6.78 Million per day to finish all his money before he goes to heaven.

And the last one...

9. If Microsoft Windows' users can claim US$1 for every time their computers hang because of Microsoft Windows, Bill Gates will be bankrupt in 3 years..

Body Worlds & The Cycle of Life

Been wanting to visit the exhibition for quite a while and it wasn't until Irene's visit here 2weeks ago that I finally went. It turned out that she's been dying to visit too :)

For the un-initiated, this exhibition had been in town since 23 October 2009 and will still be around at the Singapore Science Centre in Jurong East until 06 March 2010.  Entrance Fee @ $20 or $21 if you wanna visit the Science Centre too.

I've read some pretty good reviews about Body Worlds as well as concerns about its morbidity. A friend even told me he's staying off the exhibition in case something 'follows' him home!! OMG!!! I must say I've not regretted one bit about paying to attend this event. Not only is it educational, but it also sets me thinking about myself, my family and friends too....

The setup of the exhibition is such that it guides the viewer thru the passages of life, from pre-natal to adulthood, along the way showing the viewer the various parts of the human body, the nervous system, the skeleton, the various organs, etc. One particular exhibit leave a pretty deeply-entrenched impression in my mind and that's one which talked about our skin and how it's a protective layer shielding our body from the harshness of the environment in which we lived. Without it, our body would have been ravaged by viruses and bacteria, not to mention the dust and dirt collecting on our naked flesh. I'm immersely thankful for this approximately 4mm layer of shield on me.....

Another exhibit that struck a cord in my heart was that of the brain. I'm particularly interested in this aspect of the exhibition because Hero's suffering from early stages of dementia and one heading on a poster REALLY got my eyes near to tears....

The poster said, "Dementia, a long goodbye..."

That's it, this line DID IT FOR ME... I stood there, stoned for a few minutes thinking about the eventual day when Hero would possibly forget who we all are...... From the moment I saw that line onwards, I couldn't really get back to my pre-poster mood anymore. It's that dramatic for me.

If you have not visited the exhibition, I'd strongly encourage you to. Its definitely worth the $.

Sabo-ed by Sulyn

Who on earth is Sulyn? Well, she's my Sister-In-Law......

How did she sabo me? She said : "Let's go Lot 1 eat ice cream.... Lawrence says its on him!!"

Before I could react or protest, everyone cheered and started getting all ready to go... what more can I say? Anyway, how much can desserts at Lot 1 cost? The sum is not important, the important thing is as long as everybody is happy, what's spending a few dollars to treat the whole family some desserts?

There are many things money CANNOT buy, family together-ness is one of them.....

Review of 2009

2009 came along and then went by in a flash it seemed. There are many things that happened around or to me in the past year and in this post, I'd try to re-collect my 2009....

January :

A new addition to the family as Hero's PA, Zarah arrives from the Philippines. Hero's had been pretty much a changed person since his surgery in Nov 2008. Having her around, the house is now in much tidier condition, the fridge is stocked with much more food, much of the manual chores had been freed from Hero and me.... Not that we're abusing her, but having an extra pair of hands really DOES make a difference.

Meanwhile, my brother had moved in with us as he's new house isn't ready yet. Its a long time since all the rooms in the house is occupied and the noise level being somewhat higher and that is due to his very own 'new addition' to his family back in December 08, Baby Elkan!!

February :

I've always loved February for the very simple reason that it's my birthday month. A certain Ms Wu from the gym had taken up a challenge I threw her to convince the instructor to play my All-Time BC Favourite Tracks on my birthday, which she easily accomplished. Kudos to her for that. THANKS RL!! It was certainly an un-forgettable birthday present from you. :)

March :

I attended my VERY FIRST BC Launch ever! I've never been able to attend it in the past for somehow, there would be something hindering me on launch-day :( However, for BC39, there's nothing to stop me from attending the launch classes, 2 to be precise.

My brother, who had been living with us, is moved out and into his own house since the renovation's completed. With his moving out, I can now move back into my original room, the Master's Bedroom, which I've been occupying in the past until my bro's moving in with us. I let them have the room as the attached toilet would come in extremely handy for them, especially with Baby Elkan around....

Moving back into my original room, I took the opportunity to change out the old Single bed and replace it with a bigger Super Single :) I've initially wanted to get a Queen but that would mean a very congested room with barely enough space to walk.

April :

Most of April was spent arguing with M1 over the speed of my Mobile Broadband. Well, I've signed up their fastest plan at that time, 7.2Mbps at 50% off during the PC Show last month. Despite the bandwidth supposed to be 7.2Mbps, actually hitting that speed would be a fantasy. A more realistic speed would be in the region of 4-5Mbps. However, day in day out, I'm getting speeds of barely 2Mbps and it's totally un-acceptable!! As such, I've been complaining to M1, doing speed-tests and haggling with them over my service expectations and the likes....

May :

The long awaited confirmation of my department's re-org finally came. And I'm finally saved from hell and put into heaven (or so I think, back then). I've been plucked from under that Piece-of-Shit's team and transferred over to the IT Security team, boosting the latter strength to 3.

June :

This month, there's the annual Mega Combat held at the Fountain of Wealth, Suntec City organised by the gym. This event was held by Planet Fitness previously before its acquisition by the True Group. The 4 of us, Garion, Alan, Shaw and myself, besides being dressed in the event top, also made ourselves the 'xmas tree' of the events by dressing ourselves up with some Muay Thai gears.

Hero's not been the same since his operation, this we all know. But one particularly worrying sign is that he's been easily agitated since. And he isn't ready to listen to reasoning. To him, his reasons is the way to do things. As if it's not hard enough to live with him, now, it had just gotten harder....

H1N1's been all over the papers recently and the population's pretty much on high alert. What I've heard and read so far are from the news and papers about the fight and how to be socially responsible if you're one of those who had been in close contact with an infected person. It wasn't until my potentially close brush with one infected person who had visited XXX that reality sunk in on me about the who H1N1 thingy. It got me all fearful and helpless now that I could potentially be infected. Well, from this incident on, I paid full attention to all related news and broadcasts from the authorities. I wouldn't want to be 'caught out in the rain' again.

July :

Having been with the IT Security team for the past 2mths, I'm starting to get the hang of the job although might be abit slow in picking things up. It's with much help from one of my seniors in the team that I was barely able to catch up on the Ins & Outs. He's the kind of person who preaches passion for IT Security if you want to succeed in the role. This, it seems, is my biggest problem. To him, IT Security is a passion while to me, its only a job....

August :

This month can be considered the most significant month of the year for me because it is in this month that my BC journey takes itself to the next level. The level where I transit from being a mere member to a member who had attended the BC Instructor's Training. Nevermind about not being able to cut it as an instructor. The mere thoughts of being eligible to purchase legitimate BC DVDs, attend the quarterly workshops and other instructor-level activities suffices for me. And that's not even mentioning about my improved techniques and better understanding of the program.

September :

Hero's oddity continues as he initiates the removal of the Deity's portrait and also the tablets of both my Mom and Grandma from the altar. He had been the staunchest of Buddhist for the most years of his life and to 'U-Turn' now seems really odd and surprising to everyone of us.

October :

Learnt a good lesson this month : If there are a few windows of opportunity to execute a plan, please execute it at the earliest possible window so that in case that chosen window doesn't fit in, you'd still have the remaining windows to execute. Do not be a goon like me to wait until the last possible window only to be thwarted by the STUPID WEATHER!!

November :

A friend of mine's mum is in hospital, SGH to be exact. I tried to visit her but she doesn't seemed to welcome visitors. So I sat in the lobby, waiting for my friend while she spends some time with her mum. As I sat there waiting, sad memories of the past started flowing back from the deepest corner of my mind. Memories which had been buried deep down in that corner for the past 21yrs somehow just floated to the surface once again. The amazing thing is that those memories are still SO FRESH in my mind as if they had just happened 5mins ago. And did I forget to mention that those events took place while I was only 8?

December :

This month marks another first in my BC Journey for I've not only attended my very first Les Mills Quarterly Workshop, but I've also met up with the 2 Program Directors for BC in KL when they were there for it. My decision to go up to KL for the workshops is based purely on meeting them 2, otherwise, I'd probably give it a miss. The trip's a pretty insightful one all thanks to Irene for showing us around!!

This is my review of 2009. Going forward, I hope to be able to do such reviews yearly if I'm able to.