going the distance

So it seems like I'm going for this Sunday's Stanchart Singapore Marathon after all. A friend who signed up for the half marathon has kindly allowed me to take his place because he doesn't think he's ready.

I'm so excited!

Not like I'm very well prepared myself. I've only started running 6 weeks ago to train for my IPPT, and only learned on Monday that I'll be doing this 21km. That's only six days to the race! So far I've only done one run last Friday that's longer than 10km - a 16km run+5km walk - and that's the longest run in my life. They say you have to train at least 3 or 4 months for it. Rather like a "How not to train for a half marathon" for my case, non?

Talking about last Friday's run, when I had my shower after that, my nipples felt a little sore. I thought I was weird! Later I found out that nipple chafing is a common symptom for long runs, and you'll have to watch what you wear. Some people even experienced bleeding. Ouch!

Hmm.. no more 100% cotton shirts next time. You gals should be thankful you don't get that, ha!

I've been limping since my last 10km run on Monday, with my left knee especially hurting when going down the stairs. A case of too much running in too short a time? I can't explain the pain right now; it's neither like a muscle strain nor a knee joint pain. The knee ligament perhaps? I don't really know. In any case, I can only hope it'll recover in time.

If my knee is okay on that day, I should be fine for the race too. Think complete, not compete!

Meanwhile, I can't run anymore till the day itself. The only sensible thing to do is to get more rest, load up on the carbs and drink plenty of fluids!

oh, you're an amk uncle!

Jeez, not only are we the poorest lot around, now I've become a "blue-collar heartlander" and an Ang Mo Kio uncle as well.

a sober warning

Last week, I mentioned about receiving email from the FBI and CIA. Well, it is reported in today's Digital Life that that's the latest Sober worm going around the Internet. You can also read about it here.

Beware, and don't ever open the attachment!

free lunch with free refills

Quite a few people have asked me about anti-virus software, so I reckon I might as well post about it here for all who bothers to read. Got good things must share! :D

In all likelihood, when you buy your PC or laptop it'll come with free Norton Anti-Virus (sometimes McAfee or Trend Micro), which is the most famous anti-virus program around. However, the subscription to virus updates is usually not free, so after a few months you'll probably be prompted to renew the subscription. Being the cheapskate that you are, you don't want to pay for it. And leaving your virus database outdated is very dangerous because viruses that strike are normally new ones. Not using any is even worse; it's like leaving your front door open while you're out shopping.

There is a good and free alternative. Check out AVG Anti-Virus. The program and updates are totally free (as in beer!) for home users. And it is highly recommended by most software review sites. So go on and use it!

Besides, Norton is soooo sloooow when the computer's loading up.

And while you're at it, you really should scan your PC regularly for spyware and adware as well. The best and free scanners are Spybot and Ad-Aware. I use both. Actually I have 2 or 3 others as well, because I'm really kiasi!

horology: what date is it?

I'm going to talk about horology and, in particular, perpetual calendar watches today. First off, though, is the disclaimer:

I'm not an expert in horology. And I don't own any expensive timepieces.

I can only dream of having one!

But I'm fascinated by them. Every time I visit the dentist, I'll grab the chance to browse through the many copies of The Peak magazine at the shelves whilst waiting. The Peak, by the way, is a magazine for the rich and famous (read: dentists are filthy rich, since they aren't famous), and has pages and pages of advertisements from the likes of Patek Philippe (the Rolls-Royce of watches), Zenith, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, and many others.

First thing you need to know about such timepieces:

What's so special about being Swiss or Swiss Made?

You can't just open a watch factory in Switzerland and start inscribing Swiss Made on all your watches - there're strict regulations governing the usage of such a term. So when you buy a Swiss Made watch, you can be sure that it comes with a seal of quality. Take a look around. Even the plain vanilla ones that only tell the time would cost you a few hundred bucks at least.

Okay, there're many other things you need to know about horology, but I'm not going to talk about them here because I don't know them either, ha! So I'll jump straight to my favourite part: perpetual calendars.

I'm a sucker for perpetual calendar watches. Given a choice between a perpetual calendar and a chronograph watch, I won't hesitate to pick the perpetual calendar even though chronographs normally look better (who uses the chronograph anyway?). Perpetual calendars are so much more useful, and you can get one from Seiko (non-Swiss) for as low as 200 plus bucks here. I have one and I love it!

But just what is a perpetual calendar?

It can be defined as:

A device that changes the date at the end of each month including the 29th February in leap years.

Simply put, whether the month has 30 or 31 days, the date on the watch will adjust accordingly. And for February, whether it's a leap year or not (28 or 29 days). Absolutely brilliant, non?

So technically speaking, you'll never have to adjust the date on your perpetual calendar watch. Well, almost never anyway, because here comes the caveat:

All perpetual calendar watches in the world will malfunction in the year 2100.

"Holy shite," I hear you exclaim. "Is the world going to end in 2100?"

Don't worry, my little friends, the world won't end in 2100. At least not due to exploding watches! Actually, this is due to a little known fact about the Gregorian Calendar that we follow:

Every year divisible by 100 is not a leap year, unless it is divisible by 400.

That's quite a mouthful, but it simply means that the years 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not leap years, but 1600 and 2000 are. A-ha! I bet most of you didn't know that! While most of us learned ones know that the year 2000 is not really the start of the new millenium, there is something special about that year after all:

The year 2000 was only the second time since the Gregorian calendar was introduced that the "400-year rule" was applied.

Despite that, perpetual calendar watches are still being sold everywhere, mainly because most of us won't live till 2100 (that's reality, so don't choi me). However, in the year 2095, if you happen to consider buying one, think twice because you'll only get five useful years from the watch. Remember what oh (should be old by then, haha) told you 90 years ago!

Heheh, no need to thank me for it. Just a small token of appreciation will do. Like the cheapest Patek Philippe watch you can find. I'm not picky! If I'm not around you can pass it to my grandchildren. After all,

you never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely take care of it for the next generation.

Ha!

You must be wondering why don't they take into account that special non-leap hundredth year. Well, if it were only that simple! There are actually three types of calendar watches:

1. Annual calendars - These take care of the 30 and 31, but not the month of February. So you'll need to adjust them once a year.
2. Perpetual calendars - As what I mentioned above.
3. Secular calendars - These take care of everything, even the special non-leap hundredth years like 2100.

Only the perpetual calendar is common. The annual calendar is rare, but available from a few watchmakers. The secular calendar is even rarer. Even though Patek Philippe holds a patent for such a complication, it's never made a watch with it. So even if you have all the money in the world, you can't buy it.

Don't despair, my little friends. There is one actually. The one and only in the world. It's known as the Perpetuel Secular Calender (deliberate misspelling?) from Svend Andersen.

Well, actually there's another.

It's called Casio - non-Swiss, no complications, nothing. Just plain cheap software!

But that's not horology!

Oh, by the way, I got almost all my information from here. Told you I'm no expert - just good at quoting others!

man city 0, liverpool 1

Following the just concluded match between Manchester City and Liverpool, the Armchair Critic, that is moi, shall have his say.

It's been 1129 minutes and counting for Pete the Bobo Shooter (IA! IA!) to score his first Liverpool goal since arriving for 7 millions pounds. That's 17 matches and almost 19 hours of football. I'm sure even Djimi Traore, if playing in his position, could manage better. After all, who can forget Djimi's Zidane-esque own goal against Burnley last season?

The most baffling thing is, the longer this barren streak runs, the more sympathy and praise the critics and football pundits are showering good-touch-for-a-tall-bloke Pete. "Oh, he's trying very hard, creating chances for his teammates and tormenting opposition defences."

Whatever. I don't care what else you do, just bloody score for Pete's sake!

lavatory breakthrough

The other day I was in the office lavatory sitting on the toilet bowl and staring at the partition door when an idea hit me. Yeah, great ideas come at most unexpected times!

You see, the night before I went prowling the Internet again, this time looking for nice podcasts to tune to on my way to work. Podcasts are all the rage now, although I can't exactly comprehend why. The problem, as far as I'm concerned anyway, is that most podcasts are talkshows with little or no music. Those that do have are largely from the underground indie scene, meaning no record companies will coming suing for copyright infringements. So you'll never find any proper radio shows, let alone top 40 chart shows like Rick Dees, on podcasts. At least not for now anyway. Yeah, as they say, it royally sucks.

So back to the toilet cubicle where I was. Bad odours aside, there was nothing much to contend with. That was when I began thinking about how nice it'd be if I could get Internet radio on my mp3 player, especially my beloved Launchcast. And that's when the idea struck me! Won't it be great if I could record streaming audio into mp3 and load it into my player? (Okay, granted, it's not exactly some ground-breaking idea, but it's still inconceivable how such a thing didn't occur to me earlier.)

Would you believe it? As I discovered later, there're literally tons of websites teaching you how to accomplish that, using the dozens of software out there with such recording capabilities. Talk about Johnny-come-lately! They can even skip the commercials and split up the songs for you!

Check out Replay Music. It's not only able to record Launchcast streams (plus many others), but can even identify the name and artist of each song after recording (although as I found out, most of the time it can't identify correctly).

With a bit of tweaking here and there of the settings, the output tracks are not bad at all. Though not exactly CD-quality, they're certainly on par with what you get on radio, whether on the Internet or through the airwaves. Check out this song I recorded at 128kbps:


-- Third Eye Blind, Jumper

Not bad right?

And here's a bundle of ten consecutive songs straight from my very own customized Launchcast station. I've merged them together at a lower bitrate to reduce the size (17MB).

Anyone who can guess all ten songs correctly gets a treat from me. But you'll have to convince me that you didn't cheat by googling, ha! :D

how do you want to be annoyed today?

You'll think that the makers of Windoze would know a thing or two about multi-tasking. Well.. you are so W.R.O.N.G.

I have several web-based email accounts from the likes of Yahoo!, Gmail, Mail.com, and sadly, Hotmail. The only reason why I still use Hotmail at all is because of MSN Messenger. Since it's not my primary email, it's useful that I can get alerts of the occasional new mail via the messenger. Other that this nice little feature, Hotmail basically sucks.

I don't often send email with it, so I only noticed a while ago that there seems to be a new way it handles sending attachments. Now, a little window pops up showing you that the uploading is in progress. That's all fine and dandy, except that this stupid and otherwise useless window insists on staying "on top" of all other applications.

Please stare at this window while we upload your file

I'm not really interested in staring at it until uploading completes. So I dragged it all the way to the bottom until only its titlebar is visible, and literally forced my way into using another application (by clicking several times on that application) while the uploading continues. This led to its constant blinking on the taskbar. Problem circumvented, but a minor annoyance nevertheless.

Then when the uploading was done, I got an unwelcome surprise of the Hotmail main window suddenly popping up before me again. And the other half of the sentence I was typing in the other application (which is this post) landed in my Hotmail message.

Just earlier today, I sent another email using Hotmail without attachments. Right after I clicked the Send button, the auto-formatting of the message box deleted my whole message and sent an empty email to my recipient. What's this? Cutting edge junk filtering?

Stupid, it's just plain stupid.

caught in the act

I just received two emails with subject lines that grabbed my attention: Your IP was logged and You visit illegal websites.

Oh no, did someone catch me visiting XXX sites?! I was guilt-stricken, sobbing, with my head on the floor when I opened them to have a look:

Dear Sir/Madam,

we have logged your IP-address on more than 30 illegal Websites.

Important:
Please answer our questions!
The list of questions are attached.

Yours faithfully,
Steven Allison

*** Federal Bureau of Investigation -FBI-
*** 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 3220
*** Washington, DC 20535
*** phone: (202) 324-3000

Attachment: list.zip

These two emails are supposedly sent from Department@fbi.gov and Admin@cia.gov. FBI and CIA? Don't play play leh!

Hahaha, I'm dying to open the attachments to see what's inside. Maybe the FBI and CIA offer penis enlargement services now? But I didn't, of course. I think mine's good enough for now. The things spammers do to try fool you!

Wait a minute. What if it really were the FBI and CIA that emailed me?

*shudder*

the cookie crumbles

I sooo shouldn't be dealing in stocks and shares.

Just learned this morning that my favourite counter a-reit has taken a tumble recently. Yes, while I was sleeping for the past 2 months...

Sell, hold, or buy more? Beats me!

While my unit trusts are shooting through the roof, my recent ventures in stocks have all resulted in paper losses. I'm just too lazy to be watching them regularly. No, actually I'm not lazy, it's just that a certain guy called Ben taught us to view long term. You should only review like once every six months or more. Be an intelligent investor and let the value prevail.

Long term my big stinking foot.

Think I'll hold for now.

music trivia (20.11.05)

It's music trivia time again! Yeah, that means I've nothing else to blog about, but still want to.

Well, actually I do have many thoughts that are occupying my mind, but they're personal you know (ooooh...). So I'll rather write about frivolous stuff than bore you with my laments and babbles. See, I'm so nice to you people!

Anyway, I'm sure you've all heard of the one-hit wonder duo Everything But The Girl, who gave us the dance hit Missing. You know, the one that goes "and I'm a shoe, like the devil is Lorraine"?

Ha ha, just kidding. It should be "and I miss you, like the deserts miss the rain".

But have you ever wondered how they got such an interesting name like Everything But The Girl?

Put simply, they got their name from a sign in the window of a local furniture shop which said: For your bedroom needs, we sell everything but the girl.

Ha!

faraway, so close

I just learned that U2 will never perform in Singapore because they are active human rights campaigners and Singapore is considered a country with human rights contravention. Not sure if it's true, but if it is, boy, that sucks man. I may not be a big fan of theirs, but they're undeniably one of the greatest (if not the greatest) bands around.

Instead, we'll have to make do with phonies and tribute shows. Now that's pathetic, bloody pathetic.

Anyway, since we're on U2, I'm just curious here, but what's your favourite U2 song? Everyone's gotta have one!

Here's my top 3 favourite:

1. One
2. Stay (Faraway, So Close)
3. Stuck In A Moment (You Can't Get Out Of)

But of course, they have many other great songs I've not heard, especially those from the 80s.

free, as in free!

If you're a cheapskate like me who doesn't like paying for books you'll only read once, but unlike me you don't mind reading them in soft-copy, you should check out Project Gutenberg.

As it says on the site, it's the world's first and largest collection of free electronic books. The best thing is most of the books are free, as in beer, AND free, as in speech^* (If you're familiar with open source software, you should know what that means). They're so because their copyrights have expired, so don't expect to find any Dan Browns or John Grishams in there. Instead, you'll find plenty of the likes of Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, etc.

Not bad if you don't mind staring at your computer for hours. But I'll stick to begging, borrowing and stealing my reads. Meanwhile, you enjoy and keep reading!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
^* Free as in beer means it doesn't cost you anything, i.e. FOC. Free as in speech means you can do whatever you want with it (eg: modify it, reprint it, give it to someone else, use to wipe your arse, etc). This is also known as Gratis versus Libre.

dummy's guide to saving blushes

I don't speak the Queen's English. In fact, I'm not even half a yard close. But whenever someone in front of me goes "Re-knot, Re-knot" I have an irrepressible urge to correct him in the face. And I normally do, unless it's the boss, a menacing 90kg bodybuilder, or some tattoo-bodied dude with a parang knife behind his back who said it.

Many of us aspire to drive continental cars. Before we could do so, however, the least we could do is to learn how to pronounce their goddam names. You may not know French, German or Italian, but you really should know their names because they're everywhere. Come on, don't embarrass yourself!

Anyway, as part of a simple prop's public education service, here's a simple guide to correctly pronouncing some commonly mispronounced carmakers. I might be wrong too, in which case I stand corrected. Thank you very much. :)

• Porsche - pronounced as por-shuh (like Portia in The Merchant Of Venice), not as por-shay (it's not french) and definitely NOT as posh.
• Renault - pronounced as rare-kno, not as ree-knot or rare-knot.
• Peugeot - pronounced as perl-geo, not as peo-geo or peo-gurt(?!).
• Proton - pronounced as proton, not as junk or toy-car.
  

Here's a bonus question: Which of the above doesn't belong?

It's a no-brainer, ha!
(See comments for answer)

joke of the day

That would be me. Duh.

I went for a haircut today, and seeing that I had some time to kill I started inquiring about a dye job. The stylist sensed straightaway that she had an easy prey amidst the quiet afternoon and wasted no time coaxing and begging me to get one. I succumbed with barely a whimper.

From previous experience, I knew that the colour normally comes out darker than the one I pick due to my stark black hair. So I picked a lighter colour, telling the stylist that there was no way she could make my hair turn out like that.

Big mistake. It came out way lighter than I expected. Now I look like some Ah Beng punkster. Like Eminem!

"Who you calling a joke?"

diary of the young and restless

I wrote something a few months back about the Young and Restless, that is nous (that is us). This past week alone, I've heard from five friends their aspirations, grumblings and decisions regarding their careers. Consider these five cases (let's assume they're all guys):

1. Aspired for years to join the Big 4 auditing firms. Less than a year after finally getting in he decides he's had enough and wants to leave for good.

2. Worked for a few years in the Big 4, but left (presumably because he couldn't stand it too) to join a GLC. Now he's sick of his job and wants to go back to Big 4, but will quit without a job even if he couldn't.

3. Went on attachment to learn the trades of his chosen field. But a year after finishing his attachment, he decided he's had enough of the world outside and goes into teaching.

4. Works for one of the biggest companies in the world, and reportedly one of the best to work for. But he's not too happy too and wants a change.

5. Worked for a few years in a cushy job and decided to leave. After joining the wicked outside world for 3 months, he's feeling really miserable now.

And these are just the case studies from this past week alone. I could quote you even more examples, including that of yours truly, from the past year or so.

I'm not a career consultant, nor a therapist, but what's my point here? Well, can't you see what's common from the examples above? The thing is, we're seldom satisfied with what we have, and wish for something else. But after getting that something else, we often find ourselves back to square one wishing for other things again.

Anyway, I think that's inevitable sometimes. Because if you've never tried, how would you know if that's really the thing you want, non? What's important is that if you want something, go for it! Just make sure you don't regret your decision in future, whether you end up better off or worse off. Personally I'd rather have tried and failed, than lead a life of what-ifs (I know, very cliche).

Most importantly, remember to have fun while you're at it! :D

all in a day's work

Now, why is Oh online when he should be guarding our seas? Do the ships have wireless networks onboard these days?

No, not quite. We are technologically advanced, but not to that extent. However, we do have an efficient defence force. So efficient, in fact, that we do things in triple quick time.

0930H: Book in
0930H -1030H: Canteen breakfast
1030H - 1130H: Hang around squadron office
1130H - 1330H: Lunch
1330H - 1400H: Debrief
1400H: Secure (i.e. Home Sweet Home)

A little sacrifice on our part goes a long way. Well, all for the safety and sovereignty of our nation!

the goddam problem of small things

I went prowling the Internet in search of an mp3 player. My requirements are simple:

1. 1GB of flash memory or more
2. FM radio
3. Onboard usb plug (i.e. cable not required)
   
4. Built-in rechargeable battery

Not asking a lot, right? You'll be surprised, as I was, that such a player doesn't exist! Or at least I've not found it. The problem is that most player with onboard usb plug (such as the Creative MuVo TX FM) are usually small and slim like a thumb drive. And such small players tend to use AAA batteries, or so it seems.

Anyway, I've gotten a spare no-frills player from round head. So the case is adjourned indefinitely.

But if you're aware of one that meets the above, let me know!

et wrote home

The Forum surprises again. This time, we actually got a letter from an extraterrestrial, under the disguise of a common name.

How did I tell? Because everyone on this planet will know that fries and drinks can be charged differently for different combo meals!

In a combo meal, the fries and drinks are already discounted from their standalone prices, so the restaurants can charge as they deem fit. But of course, we can't expect ET to know that. He's been away for too long!

reader's indigestion

All of you who've been waiting with bated breath can rest easy now - Oh's back home safely and soundly. Despite weathering a perfect storm on Wednesday night (you all got pray for me or not?), I'm still alive and very much kicking. Thank you very much. :)

I just got back home, and awaiting me in the mailbox (the snail one, not the electronic one) is a pile of letters. It's the usual bills, bank statements, death threats and marriage proposals. Normally I'll just glimpse through and dispose. But one of the letters caught my attention - an international mail from.. huh? Sweden?

To the best of my knowledge, I don't know nobody from Sweden and have no affiliations there. Well, except one fellow. It might have been a letter from Sven Goran Eriksson calling me up to the England squad (again). Although I've long informed him of my loyalty to our Lions, the man can be quite persistent sometimes. I hate to tell him this, but methinks we have a much better chance at winning the World Cup than his overrated and overpaid team. We just have to offer the whole Brazilian team citizenship here!

But no, it wasn't him. Instead, it's a letter from the NatGeo magazine offering me discounted subscription. I've never had any relationship with them, so how on earth did they get my name and address? Being well versed in the art of finger-pointing, I know straightaway who's the culprit here. It's non other than the widely-acclaimed RD!

You see, some years back, I made the foolish decision of subscribing to RD. Besides the monthly dose of miracle tales and sob stories, I also received an unwanted but substantial amount of junk mail from them. It was always the same old stuff: the Sweepstakes draw. Once your name gets into their list, the nightmare begins. Every month you'll get letters from them saying you're the luckiest man on the planet for being chosen and asking you to reply to qualify for the next round. Occasionally you're asked to do some scratching and winning, pasting some stickers, or dropping some keys into small pockets in their return envelopes as well. But the problem is, even if you don't reply, you're still the luckiest man alive and get into the next round. Like it or not, the letters keep coming. As a matter of fact, two years after I canceled my subscription, I still get such letters now and then.

Therefore, I have to warn you if you've thought of subscribing. Beware! (I'm not making this up. Check out here and here.)

Can't really blame me for pointing the finger at them, non? They're guilty until proven otherwise!

starry eyed oh

I'm on "reverse" routine today, so I get the day off before booking in later in the afternoon. Sailing off at 1800hr and slated to reach back base at 0600hr tomorrow morning. Then I get off again tomorrow afternoon and repeat the same routine in the evening till Friday morning. So if you guys don't hear from me after Friday, remember to po mata (report police) ok?

And while we're at it, help me pray to the hor sin (housefly 雨神) for no rain tonight. That piece of junk I'm sailing on has no shelter at all, so if it rains things will get really miserable!

And don't say I bo jio. Here's a really groovy track for you. Join me for the star-gazing and partying tonight!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oooh La La
I see stars
Tonight, I’m seeing stars x6

Once again, I find myself with my friends, dancing the night away,
Its like the party never ends.
Then again we don’t want it to stop, 'cause tonight’s the night it goes sweatbox, laser beams, flashing lights, wild cards,
Men from Mars, dressed in Stars and stripes,
Eclectic electric
Ladies of the evening
drinking booze and mingling...

Mashing to the music, I can do anything
Freaky dicky star speckles and pink butterflies
and life is nice, so nice.
I walk into a club and I’ve found paradise,
I’m seeing stars, I can’t believe my eyes.

Oh my starry eyed surprise, sundown to sunrise,
Dance all night, we’re gonna dance all night, dance all night to this DJ.
Ah Sugar, dance all night to this DJ.
Oh my starry eyed surprise, sundown to sunrise,
Dance all night, we’re gonna dance all night, dance all night to this DJ,
Ah Sugar, dance all night to this DJ, dance all night to this DJ, lover dance all night to this DJ.

Like the record spins on the trails we blaze
The walls are closing in but that’s ok because I’ve been waiting all week to feel this way and it feels so good, so good.
I’m on top of the world the coolest kid in the neighbourhood
So let me be your star for one night that’s right.
Sweatbox, laser beams, flashing lights, you’ve got to feel the rush, feel the spice of life.
Love-life, Shifty rolls the dice snake eyes surprise.
Iceing..Mesmorizing. the minds are sick ones 'cause what we are, is victims of fun.
Come on, come on, the fun is just begun; come on the fun is just begun. Ha Ha!!


-- Paul Oakenfold, Starry Eyed Surprise

much ado about music and phones

It's time to break the piggy bank again. :(

My 18 months old mp3 player went kaput completely today. It couldn't start at all, with a message saying "Formatting: Disk Check. Wait...". While it's nice to know that the player has built-in disk error checking, the problem is it stays that way! Now all of a sudden I'm faced with a dilemma.

You see, I've been toying with the idea of getting a new phone. So I could either choose to:

a) get a separate phone and an mp3 player, or
b) buy a phone with FM radio and huge memory to double as an mp3 player.

The problem with a) is that there's currently no player out there that I really like. If I do buy one, I'll probably get one with gigabytes of memory. I could do with a Zen Neeon, but then I'm not crazy about it. And I'm not going to buy those expensive, fruity gadgets because I'm not falling for their marketing shenanigans. At least not until they decide to put in the FM radio anyway!

Speaking of fruity gadgets, you've probably heard about this high profile court case. While I understand that that is a not-happy-will-sue nation, we all know what happen to fools and their money. If you don't do your bloody research before buying, don't blame others if you get a crappy product!

Anyway I prefer everything together, so I would rather choose b). As I've mentioned previously, Nokia's coming up with the N91, a.k.a. Steve Jobs' wet dream (some weird fetish if you ask me!). But then that won't arrive till mid next year, and it'll probably cost a bomb or two even after trading in the kitchen sink. And Oh's neither filthy nor rich.

So I could get something like the Sony Ericsson K750i or W800i. Then I'd add a 2GB Memory Stick Pro Duo. But that stick'll cost like 300 bucks, and I could get a standalone 1GB mp3 player for less than that amount! What a dilemma!

And I'm not finished yet. Recently I've started listening to my player while running (Is that why it went kaput in the first place?), so if I'm going to buy such a phone I'll probably still get a really cheap 256MB flash player just for the running.

WTF, I hear you say. Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?

music trivia (07.11.05)

I'm suffering from blogger's block (and boredom from a supposed big football match), so just thought I'll give a little music trivia.

Ever wondered what Losing My Religion means? Allow the Trivia Buff, that is moi, to do the googling for you!

Losing My Religion is a common saying in the American South that means to be at the end of my tether, like in "I could lose my religion waiting for Peter Crouch to score his first goal for Liverpool!" or "I almost lost my religion asking you bunch of misers to help feed the poor!". The song itself is said to be about having a crush on someone.

In local parlance, the equivalent would be to be very, very pek chek.

So there you go. More trivia the next time!

history revisited

Talk about a coincidence!

Somewhere along Beach Road, near the place with buses to Malaysia, is Kampong Glam CC. This CC has just been renovated and it features a little known tennis court. We went there to play this evening for the first time. The unusual thing about the tennis court is that it isn't in the main compound of the CC, but stands alone a distance away. In between the court and the CC lies a mosque, and while walking towards the court we looked at its architecture and discussed about it briefly.

Then back home, just a while ago, zx sent me a scanned photo taken while we were on excursion in Primary 4 (zx's not in the pic, but he's a bloody voyeur). When I saw it, I thought I find the background familiar. And then I realized - I just went there a few hours ago! That is the famous Hajjah Fatimah Mosque next to the tennis court!

these shoes are made for running

I went to the SAF eMart to get running shoes today. Back in my NS time, they only had the now classic (read: ugly) white and blue New Balance running shoe. Now they've added the Brooks Maximus cross-trainer to the line-up. And it's so frigging cheap at $39.90!

It not only looks good, but it's much more comfortable than the previous NB I bought from eMart two years back. I just got back from running; now I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!

On the shoe box, it says it's suitable for all types of feet, whether you pronate, supinate (under-pronate) or are neutral, though it seems more like a marketing lie to me. For me, I supinate, quite badly in fact, meaning I tend to walk with the outsides of my shoes (you can easily tell if you've seen my worn shoes). So I need shoes with very good support. This is something I learned from the Marathoner, and he keeps telling me that I need better shoes than those Brooks if I'm into serious running. I think they'll do for now, though. And I think even if he ends up as a failed Marathoner, he still makes a decent shoes salesman. Heheh.

The white Fitness For Life socks there are even cheaper - at just $1.35 per pair!

Haiz, my IPPT has been brought forward to this Friday. Dammit, now I don't think I've enough time to train for my target time. Wish me luck anyway!

two-hit wonders

What about two-hit wonders? The thing is, they're quite rare compared to the number of one-hit wonders!

I browsed through my (small) music collection and came up with a list of two-hit wonders from the 90s:

1. KLF - 3AM Eternal, Justified And Ancient
2. Indecent Obsession - Lady Rain, Fixing A Broken Heart
3. D'ream - Things Can Only Get Better, UR The Best Thing
4. Southern Sons - You Were There, Wildest Love
5. Lene Marlin - Sitting Down Here, Unforgivable Sinner

(I previously said Toad The Wet Sprocket was two-hit, but realized they had more)

Ah, it's so much harder to get that second hit, non? You could be stuck with none or one, but once you get past the second hit, you're on your way to music super-stardom. So if you're an aspiring artiste, forget about that first hit, start working on the second one now!

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Some lists of one-hit wonders I found:

1. VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders. [link]
   
2. Another all time greatest list. [link]
   
3. USA Today's list for the 90s [link]
   
4. Another list for the 90s. [link]
   

santa claus just came to town

He didn't just come, but he left a gift as well, right at my door steps. But to be honest, I had no idea if he came personally, or he asked his little helper to do the task.

Considering I hardly know him, I'm terribly grateful. To begin with, I felt bad about requesting such a big favour. Now I can only say a big THANK YOU! :)

For all the evils in the world, there's hope left in the box after all!