A day of swimming, cats and scategeries!

Petra's House - 23 March 2008

We went to Petra's (Jasmine's church friend) house all the way at Armadale for a swim!! It was a long 40mins car ride to her house, which was situated halway up a hill.



The backyard that seems like it overlooks the whole of Perth...


With freshy plucked chilli padi and sweet potato leaves which we had for lunch...



A not very successful pic of the 4 of us.

After lunch we went swimming!! Have not been swimming in a pool for sooooo long!




I have to set the timer, jump into the pool and wade across to take this picture. Kinda funny coz the boat was floating away because of the currents I caused. =p





After swimming and cleaning up, we went to play with Petra's cats. 3 of them!


The old cat which was lame. Really poor thing to see it skidding across the parquet floor coz the hind legs were really weak.

My favourite: Asha!

It looks eveil here!




Very very cuddly, but it drops lots of fur! *sneeze!


Cootie, who was really tame and doggie-like.


It's rather huge.




A handsome pic of Cootie. It looks like a mini tiger.

After that we played a few rounds of Scategories. It really tests your general knowledge as well as creativity! First you pick a list of 12 categories and an example of a list looks like this:

1. animals
2. states
3. words associated with money
4. clothes
5. girl's name

(all the way to number 12)

The you'll have to roll a dice and the dice will give u an alphabet. So for example, if you roll the alphabet "c". On another piece of blank paper, you will have to think of words that belong to the categories, beginning with the letter "c".

1. cheetah
2. chicago
3. cash
4. cardigan
5. corrinne

Sounds easy? It's not. To score a point, your answer must not be the same as another person who is playing. So you have to think of special words so as not to be the same as other people. And funny words came out. Like chocolate coloured horse for animals. Can't really remember what are the weird words but it was real fun! Rui was the ultimate scategory player coz she always manages to think of such words.

This semester has been really tough on the 4 of us. Need to keep going out to look for real people and workplaces to work with. Of course, the experience gained is good. But finding people or workplaces are difficult due to our limited contacts and ability to travel (no car!). And we have already handed up two assignments within 5 weeks of school.

Anyway, pictures of YY's and Cindy's birthday party/potluck on 22 March will be up as soon as I get hold of them!

The package from down under...

The special celebration package that came early...

A lovely card, a perth souvenir pin, 2 packets of Cadbury pods, 6 starbursts packs of 3 different kinds, one eclipse orange one eclipse cinammon and 2 empty eclipse mint boxes containing a sticker and a pretty sea shell.

I am the luckiest man in the world... Thank YOU for making that possible...

Randomlocities

Its been raining on and off these days... And it has 'disrupted' my running routine. So to know whether it will rain tomorrow, ask if I'm plan to go jogging the next day. If I plan to jog, surely it will rain. More zhun than the weather man - guaranteed.


Recent picture of obese Moocakes sleeping on his back under a table at his favourite kopitiam.


And he was dreaming. Because he suddenly twitched and grabbed the leg of the chair while its eyes remained closed. After a big yawn he returned to a solemn slumber. Must be dreaming of chasing a running chicken wing or something.


My elder bro's new ride. A Mitsubishi Lancer Ex.


And his recent win. A Xiao Si Xi with double flower points. Another new 'FOO Family' mahjong record, a super limit unseen since Jermaine's Jade Dragon win at last year's Chinese New Year. When is my turn coming???

Dad is still churning culinary wonders after wonders. I forgot watsiname again. But I do know it contains wine, chicken and brocolli. And I also know how to eat and how to wash the plate after that. Hahaha.


Jermaine returns from his 6-week overseas naval expedition as part of his naval officer cadet course across South East Asia onboard RSS Endurance. Was he ever gone??? Returned with a nice Beer Chang singlet from Bangkok and Braun Buffel wallet for myself. Neat. He has officially began his 'stories for grandchildren' account with many stories accumulated from this expedition. Picture seen here (with elder bro) on the day of his departure.


And introducing my new best friend. Can't help not bringing her wherever with me. Bonjela sounds girlish right??? Well its the best companion while there's like 4 simultaneous ulcers in the mouth. OUCH. She will do until better medication for ulcers can be found. I'm willing to try anything except the table salt. Someone should damn well invent a vaccine for mouth ulcers. Arrgh.

Last but not least, Liverpool plays Man United tonight! Followed by another epic battle between Chelsea and Arsenal RIGHT after that. And I finally have the time to meet the usual gang at Simpang tonight. Gosh. Used to be almost weekly but turns out to be the FIRST time this semester. Work is really catching up with all of us. But work or not no one misses Super Sunday! MAY LIVERPOOL WIN and CHELSEA DRAW WITH ARSENAL!!! (So I can laugh in Weasel's SMUG ManUnited-ted face) Hahaha.

K off to Simpang now. GO REDS!

Happy Easter Holidays!!

It's a week long easter holiday here (starting today), and it just have to coincide with my contact free week. Boos to one less holiday.

New Rules for Employment

I must thank Kang for sending mails like these. Getting sick of mails regarding projects. Heh.

SICKNESS AND RELATED LEAVE: We will no longer accept a doctor statement as proof of sickness.If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work. SURGERY: Operations are now banned. As long as you are an employee here, you need all your organs.You should not consider removing anything. We hired you intact.To have something removed constitutes a breach of employment.

BEREAVEMENT LEAVE: This is no excuse for missing work.There is nothing you can do for dead friends, Relatives or coworkers.Every effort should be made to have non-employees attend to the arrangements.In rare cases, where employee involvement is necessary, the funeral should be scheduled in the late afternoon.We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hourand subsequently leave one hour early, provided your share of the work is done enough.

YOUR OWN DEATH: This will be accepted as an excuse.However, we require at least two weeks notice as it is your duty to train your own replacement.

RESTROOM USE: Entirely too much time is being spent in the restroom.In the future, we will follow the practice of going in alphabetical order.For instance, all employees whose names begin with ''''''''''''''''A'''''''''''''''' will go from 8:00 to 8:10,employees whose names begin with ''''''''''''''''B'''''''''''''''' will go from 8:10 to 8:20 and so on.If you''''''''''''''''re unable to go at your allotted time, it will be necessary to wait until the next day when your turn comes again.In extreme emergencies employees may swap their time with a coworker.Both employees'''''''''''''''' supervisors in writing must approve this exchange.In addition, there is now a strict 3-minute time limit in the stalls.At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, and the stall door will open.

PAYCHECK GUIDE: The following helpful guide has been prepared to help our employees better understand their paychecks:

Item Amount Gross pay $1,222.02
Income tax $244.40
Outgo tax $45.21
State tax $11.61
Interstate tax $61.10
County tax $6.11
City tax $12.22
Rural tax $4.44
Back tax $1.11
Front tax $1.16
Side tax $1.61
Up tax $1.08
Down tax $1.14
Tic-Tacs $1.98
Thumbtacks $3.93
Carpet tacks $0.98
Stadium tax $0.69
Flat tax $8.32
Surtax $2.23
Ma''''''''''''''''am tax $1.23
Corporate tax $2.60
Parking fee $5.00
F.I.C.A. $81.88
T.G.I.F. Fund $9.95
Life insurance $5.85
Health insurance $16.23
Dental insurance $4.50
Mental insurance $4.33
Disability $2.50
Ability $0.25
Liability $3.41
Coffee $6.85
Coffee Cups $66.51
Floor rental $16.85
Chair rental $0.32
Desk rental $4.32
Union dues $5.85
Union don''''''''''''''''ts $3.77
Cash advance $0.69
Cash retreats $121.35
Overtime $1.26
Undertime $54.83
Eastern time $9.00
Central time $8.00
Mountain time $7.00
Pacific time $6.00
Time Out $12.21
Oxygen $10.02
Water $16.54
Heat $51.42
Cool air $26.83
Hot air $20.00
Miscellaneous $113.29
Various $8.01
Sundry $12.09

Net Take Home Pay = $0.02

Thank you for your loyalty to our company. We are here to provide a positive employment experience.Therefore, all questions, comments, concerns, complaints, frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations,allegations, accusations, contemplations, consternations, or input should be directed elsewhere. Have a nice week.

The Management

I wonder which company is this! LOL. Hope I ever won't work in one like that. Sorry for the Bo Sim (or issit even BO blogging???) blogging on my part these days. Been terriblly overwhelmed and flummoxed with projects I don't even know what the city looks like anymore.

I will return shortly so hang in there! =)

A Collection of Lousy Australian English

• Manual Handelling
• Expatations (this is written by a tutor!!!)
• Regulation 3.1 has being breached
• Gage the temperature
• SMSes which goes : hi kalene how are you today we are meeting in the common room at 3pm is it ok with you
• This may be considered an engineering control as your modifying the equipment
• Allright

And they dare say English is not our 1st language.

Did you wear GREEN today?

Happy St Patrick's Day!

On another (depressing) note, they stopped showing Supernatural!! I want my weekly dose of Sam Winchester!!

Current want

Found the perfect one in Myer, but it costs AUD$25!! Costs too much for such a little thing! Rui, you are so correct, Myer is evil!!

I miss

Exploring....


A good teh-peng at night...


Acting like tourists....




Taking pics of bus stop posters....


With you.

And it's time like this, in the dead of the night while churning out assignments that these feelings overwhelm. I wish I could be back home in the comforts of my house, with all my family around me. At the same time, I'm dreading to go home because going back means starting work.

SMU students are too free...

WAHAHAHA... This is way cool...

But no offence to SMU folks. Nobadee's Engrish's purfect.

Oogle Number 2 - Jared Padalecki

Jared Tristan Padalecki (born 19 July, 1982)

Or Sam Winchester in Supernatural.



I guess many others prefer Dean to Sam. But somehow Sam always got "bullied" in the show (eg. the ultra bad luck after losing the rabbit's foot, witnessing Dean die many many times over many many Tuesdays), and thus my soft spot for him.



Ok, Dean looks really good here....


One of the infamous scenes in Supernatural where he went shirtless.

Sam Winchester makes my Monday nights better.

From the electronic mailbox...

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here. I'm 25 this year.

I'm very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York . My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you? Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden , $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions:

1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)
2) Which age group should I target?
3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I've met a few girls who doesn't have looks and are not interesting, but they are able marry rich guys
4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)

Ms. Pretty

Here's a reply from a Wall Street Financial guy:

Dear Ms. Pretty,

I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyze your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here. From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain.

Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of' beauty' and 'money': Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square. However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later. By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has aposition, dating with you is also a 'trading position'. If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or 'leased'. Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with the $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool. Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in 'leasing' services, do contact me.

Signed, J.P. Morgan

This is so darn true... Hahahaha...

Something to share

Ripped from mrbrown's blog!

27-year-old Amanda Baggs is autistic and doesn't speak, but she can communicate by typing 120 words a minute on her DynaVox VMax computer which then outputs the text into a synthesised voice. In this video, she gives a fascinating and rare inside look at what goes on in her head, and what her interactions with her surroundings mean to her. Amanda argues that these forms of nonverbal stimuli make up her "native language" and are just different from spoken language, no better or worse. And yet her inability to speak is seen as a problem or disorder, while other people's failure to learn her language is seen as natural and acceptable.

Wired magazine wrote about this video and Amanda in a column entitled "The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know". This is an excerpt (read the rest of it at Wired):

"I've said a million times that I'm not trapped in my own world,'" Baggs says. "Yet what do most of these news stories lead with? Saying exactly that."

I tell her that I asked one of the world's leading authorities on autism to check out the video. The expert's opinion: Baggs must have had outside help creating it, perhaps from one of her caregivers. Her inability to talk, coupled with repetitive behaviors, lack of eye contact, and the need for assistance with everyday tasks are telltale signs of severe autism. Among all autistics, 75 percent are expected to score in the mentally retarded range on standard intelligence tests — that's an IQ of 70 or less.

People like Baggs fall at one end of an array of developmental syndromes known as autism spectrum disorders. The spectrum ranges from someone with severe disability and cognitive impairment to the socially awkward eccentric with Asperger's syndrome.

After I explain the scientist's doubts, Baggs grunts, and her mouth forms just a hint of a smirk as she lets loose a salvo on the keyboard. No one helped her shoot the video, edit it, and upload it to YouTube. She used a Sony Cybershot DSC-T1, a digital camera that can record up to 90 seconds of video (she has since upgraded). She then patched the footage together using the editing programs RAD Video Tools, VirtualDub, and DivXLand Media Subtitler. "My care provider wouldn't even know how to work the software," she says.

And she has a blog too! Check them out, otties!

Internal Bungling Department

He must have limped away very quickly, at a speed faster than our police cars. That's why after 4 days there's still no news of him.

Minister George Yeo: "There will be a proper inquiry and what can be made public, will be made public. We will put things right."

Since nothing is made public except of the fact that he has escaped, Shaulock Holmes hereby concludes that his fast limping is the cause of our police's disarray.

QED

Iceskating and lotsa pizza

Today we went ice-skating!! It was my 2nd time on the ice. The first time was while I was in Sec 1 or 2... wow.. nearly a decade ago!!!


At Cockburn Ice Arena


All ready to go!!




Zooming by while i take a rest...







I fell a total of TWO times. Haha. Coz most of the time, I was holding on to either Tricia, the sides, HuiHui or Rui.

Rui got into a collision with another person and slid onto the ice. Whole of her left side was wet, and burnt from the ice, and her face was scratched. Worst thing is, now she can't bite as her teeth feels painful. A really bad thing for someone who loves food much more than me. =p

17 family pizzas for less than 30 people!

And we can't finish them. Brought some back for dinner.

Today was also the first time I saw someone in fits, and on the ice arena somemore. And it was someone I know. Luckily there were many people who know what to do. Not sure what happened, but it was during a game of tag on the arena. I guessed he fell, knocked his head and got unconsious. Found out later that his head was bleeding. He regained consciousness soon after, but was sent to the hospital for monitoring. Hope he is okay now.