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Saturday, October 27, 2001

I feel like I'm on a ship - seasick. My head's going up and down, up and down.

eXTREeMe tracking account.

Skin care companies are evil. Salient example - the blue tracing paper used to 'absorb oil'. Tissue probably works better, and people have a tendency to drop the tracing paper on the floor.
No, didn't get a rubber chicken.

I'm no expert (i'm not even a girl), but i remember the study conducted on synchronisation of periods was with college girls living together in single-sex dorms. Dunno what the outcome was in co-ed dorms, though.

What's an eXTREeMe tracking account?

I have a sneaky feeling quite a lot of vain guys use hairbands to keep their floppy fringes off their faces. *hard look*

Apparently the cleanse-tone-moisturise trio isn't totally necessary- it's a marketing promotion by skin care companies for a "comprehensive solution". Cleansing and moisturising are the important ones anyway.
Tea tree oil is good! Though it can be harsh on sensitive skin and doesn't smell nice. It doesn't have any relation to tea at all; comes from a bush/shrub thing in australia used in traditional remedies. Has antiseptic properties.
Been plagued with acne since secondary school.

Agree with julian's argument abt using the term "ripping"

My mum's going to help me buy a copy of BigO this month. I'm told it stands for "before i get old".


Friday, October 26, 2001

Ooo, my sources tell me that RI has a mass swim the other day.

"half the sec three gep level skipped school the other day because of mass swim" - Source.
Now that election time is around the corner, here's some interesting stuff on Singapore Politics.

Google Groups link

A selection of net opinion from BigO Magazine:--

"Do you want to waste your vote on someone who is at the bottom of the learning curve? Pay them thousands to begin their 'Lessons into the Hardship of the Poor Singaporeans'?"
- Monkeyyou on the net talking about the new PAP candidates.

"The ban on rally in CBD has nothing to do with Sept 11...The real reason is that the majority of the people in the financial sector are
so ****ing fed up with PAP that they will not hesitate to show open supports for the opp rally. Workers in the financial sector are the
worst hit this round..."
- Chintsewang on the net

"Didn't they have [CBD] rallies in the so called 'turbulent' '60s? A period when the so-called communism was a so-called 'great threat'.
When so-called 'racial riots' was all over the shop in a non-GRC Singapore."
- Bohemian_SG on the net.

"Tharman 'not a yes man'. Does this mean he admits PAP all along has a bunch of YES men?"
- Roti_Con on the net.

THE MIRROR OF OPINION: Some recent quotable quotes

"Whatever affects the opposition party, also affects the PAP - it's a fair game."
- Gerard Hooi, Young PAP Internet editorial coordinator on the new rules for e-campaigns, nation-builder press Oct 22 2001.

"How about a free press then? What are you afraid of?"
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 22 2001.


"If [$ingapore] were really a nanny state, then all the wards would have run off somewhere else. The fact is, not only are they happy to
live in $ingapore, but many others wish to come and live in $ingapore."
- General Lee Hsien Loong, in the nation-builder press, Oct 5 2000.

"Study and work overseas, but come back to $ingapore. If you don't and this country loses top talent, it will descend into mediocrity and will no longer be able to provide a safe and prosperous home for people says PM Goh Chok Tong."
- The nation-builder press, Apr 13 2001.

"Very poor co-ordination of propaganda."
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 21 2001.


"The Singapore Democratic Party will pay salaries to the jobless, said its chief yesterday, but ask him how, and he turns coy."
- Ex-ISD agent Chua Lee Hoong, nation-builder press, Oct 24 2001.

"When the government offered to lend Indonesia US$10 billion, did you ask where the money came from?"
- SDP chief Chee Soon Juan, Oct 24 2001.

"It is not in the people's interests, in the nation's interest, to detail our assets and their yearly returns... There is total accountability."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, nation-builder press, Apr 27 2001. The GIC sits on US$100 billion of $ingapore's reserves. Mr Lee has only revealed that "the returns are adequate".

"Chee Soon Juan's explanation is also adequate."
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 24 2001.

[Visit http://www.bigo.com.sg/thisweek/images/gic.jpg for a clearer

And what happened to this $10 billion investment?

"Good time to prove [SingTel] sceptics wrong."
- Nation-builder Tammy Tan on why paying $10 billion for goodwill in buying Optus was a good deal, March 27 2001.

"850 Optus staff may lose their jobs today."
- The nation-builder press, Oct 10 2001. Optus said it would miss its 'profit forecast'.

"Will SingTel write down Optus investment?... the Australian phone company['s] perceived value has fallen by up to 43 per cent since
- The nation-builder press, Oct 24 2001.

"What if the sceptics are right?"
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 24 2001.


"$ingapore slips two notches to rank fourth in global competitiveness."
- The nation-builder press, Oct 19 2001.

"And after the ministers wanted a pay rise from $27.8 million to $34 million a year. Why aren't we paying our monkeys, peanuts?"
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 19 2001.


"Laid-off? Your health bills can be cut again by up to half says General Lee."
- The nation-builder press, Oct 19 2001.

"Please sir, I want some more."
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 19 2001.


"SIA share of Air New Zealand losses revised downwards to $286 million."
- The nation-builder press, Oct 19 2001.

"Not a great way to fly - downwards."
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 19 2001.


"$ingapore to grow by 7% this year: Experts."
- The nation-builder press quoting NUS economists, Jan 6 2001.

"Singapore economy could grow by 4.4% next year: NUS."
- The nation-builder press quoting NUS economists again, Oct 24 2001.

"It is a bold - and incredible - assertion for a man armed only with a doctorate in physiological psychology from the University of Georgia, facing off against the many trained economists the government is consulting."
- Ex-ISD agent Chua Lee Hoong commenting on Chee Soon Juan, nation-builder press, Oct 24 2001.

"4.4 in Cantonese is 'see-see'. Translated: Die Die. Prophecy?"
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 24 2001.


"... with politicians like Dr Chee around, I can understand why the PAP government feels the need to ensure that the reserves it works
hard to build are locked up securely..."
- - Ex-ISD agent Chua Lee Hoong commenting on Chee Soon Juan,
nation-builder press, Oct 24 2001.

"$1 billion in Mindef irregularities due mainly to human error; 10% attributed to fraud..."
- The nation-builder press, Oct 13 2001.

"10% of $1 billion is $100 million. Why is there no public inquiry over the missing millions in Mindef?"
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 24 2001.


"Suppose that the secondhand car you bought kept breaking down. Would you buy another from the same dealer? The same question might apply to economic forecasters. A year ago, most expected the American economy to grow by 3.5% in 2001. By early this year, they thought that a sharper slowdown, but still a soft landing, was likely; even in early September, almost all still ruled out a recession. Today, however, most believe that a recession was already under way before Sept 11. When these same people confidently tell you that this recession will be short and mild - indeed, that it will be one of the mildest in 50 years - why would you believe them?"
- The Economist, Oct 13 2001

"Vote for more good years."
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 13 2001.


"SM Lee calls on Chiam, Low to run in a GRC... if they are serious about forming a viable alternative.."
- The nation-builder press, Oct 21 2001.

"If they truly believe opposition parties are 'spoilers', why don't SM Lee stand in Potong Pasir and General Lee in Hougang to defeat their opponents."
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 21 2001.


"If they [the opposition] are serious, they must grow. They can't just be spoilers."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, the nation-builder press, Oct 21 2001.

"JB Jeyaretnam has already lost everything except his life. It is more pertinent to ask whether the PAP believes in 'building a democratic society... based on justice and equality.' Otherwise what kind of society are you building?"
- The Mirror of Opinion, Oct 21 2001.

Because I'm too lazy to type everything myself, I'll just quote Shawn:

"On the subject of apathy - I reckon it's an appropriate response to unfairness. And there's much in the upcoming elections that hint at a smidgen of unfairness. Aren't 9 days an appallingly short period of time for an opposition party to carry out its hustings? Hasn't the one contentious ward of the previous election been gerrymandered to avoid a repeat? Has the ruling party shown a willingness to use the judiciary to smother democracy? Is the election deposit of $13,000 a check on democracy? Isn't the mandatory voting system a violation of a person's right not to vote - which should be as equally inviolable as his right to vote?

You answer the questions. How do neutral foreign newspapers report our election? Because the term "landslide victory" isn't going to be enough"

The "Mirror of Opinion" does ramble and become irrelevant (and just plain petulant) sometimes, but it does make some good points.

And I, who live in Lower Delta, am part of Tanjong Pagar GRC. My sister's workplace, TCS (Braddel Heights, which was won only narrowly by the PAP last election) is part of... drumroll. Marine Parade GRC! Well done.

Though the opposition seems to have trouble even filling in a simple form (one page, 5 blanks). Not sure about the technicalities of needing a Justice of the Peace to witness the filling in and such.

No, I'm not going mad. I just thought the announcer's phrases to be hilarious. I hope the people in Japan don't seriously think that other speakers of English actually talk like that. Well, at least not like that ALL the time.

I'm not sure which free webspace providers have SSI support. What can be done with SSI that can't be done with other languages? Hm.

You know what? I think reusing your own code can't be termed "Ripping" :) Ripping seems like you're blatantly stealing someone else's code, but if I'm just reusing my own code, I don't see why not. Maybe its a bit lazy, but I really hope I don't get accused to ripping my own code the next time someone downloads both Light and Normal versions of my PSO section ID calculator (basecode is the same :)

OK. With the Aid of Gabriel (without which this would not have happened) I have discovered an arrangement of words that sounds extremely phrase-like. See, its not REALLY a phrase, it just sounds that way. It sounds cool, too. So... without further ado, here is the phrase: Ellipsis in Parenthesis. (...)

Cool, eh? I know some of you are thinking "..." and "This guy needs to see a therapist". Listen to my explanation before you dismiss me as a total lunatic and stop reading. See, its one of those pseudo-phrases that sound cool, seem interesting, apparently have more meaning than "just the words", probably embody some sort of philosophy, but in actuality make no sense whatsoever. Thats the reason why its absolutely suitable as a name for a webpage-template. Did I mention that it sounds cool, too?

Alright, before someone starts accusing me of going mad again (I'm not, really! See, the purple polka dotted giraffe sitting next to me named Chumpy agrees. I'm not mad, am I, Chumpy?) I'm going to sign off now. Oh yeah, my usual interesting link for the post:

Horizons was a fantastically ambitious MMORPG - I say was, because apparently its scope is being narrowed so its more realistic. Also, there were worries of it being Vapourware as Artifact Entertainment (the makers of Horizons) did not release much except artwork :P Not the best way to maintain community interest / faith, yes? Anyway, now they've released prototype animations, and notable ones include the Dragon (its quite big) and Saris (the race I intend to play as). Here it is:

Horizons Vault - Prototype Animations

Alright, I'm going. Say goodbye, Chumpy. There's a good zebra.
My attempts to use SSIs to have the links to "Archives" at the navbar at the left have failed. Looks like Tripod doesn't support them. Ah well, at least they have CGI support! (Not likely that I'll use it anytime soon though...)

Bah. Played a Palm game promoting 'Spygame', some upcoming movie. Looked suspiciously like one 'Agent-Z' game. Looked in the credits and guess what. It was developed by that fella. He just ripped his own code! Bah. ("Developed by Ellams Software. Produced by [some company]")

Thursday, October 25, 2001

Prac sucks. I think most of us will agree :)

Has Xephyris gone mad? He'll probably do better than me in prac anyway. Too bad we can't, "I knew using Chin Yung's values was the right thing to do" for the exams...

I was punching the blue/green curtain thing-y (the one separating the area outside the labs with the outside world) after prac and almost hit Killer, who was bending down. Ah well.

And I saw these disgusting shoes worn by one 2S05B girl. I think it's the one who has someone with the same First and Last names in her class.

They were white, with these blue-green veins running around them, like the vessels sustaining some Frankenstein-ish creation of a mad scientist. With imagination, I could even see the bodily fluids dripping along, and see the shoe throbbing... Ugh. At least she wasn't wearing Hot Socks.

I saw #1, #5, #6 and #7 in the library today! And Paul Wong and Mengchuan too. Why's everyone loitering in school?

Wanted to laugh at the queues just before Prac. The Girls' toilet queue extended way out, to the water cooler. On going in, I saw Killer, but she was 2 persons' depth into the toilet, so I couldn't wave and laugh :) But on the way out, I saw Kaimun at the end of the queue and so could make my remark. Heh. Maybe someone should start a 'shorter toilet queues for females' movement, getting them to stop dallying. What do they do in there anyway? Splash water, comb their hair, change their pads, talk to people, clean with tissue (something many or most guys don't do)...

Someone is discovering the joys of the Tampines Home. Ooo. I think I've been there twice. Once in Sec 1 when Janki Tamilselvan (She now goes by Nandwani Tamilselvan methinks - yeh!) brought us there to learn about the less privileged. I think it was after the lecture on how students from the THE Chinese High School school were nicer, more mannered, less rowdy and did more homework than us (a talk similar to the one they probably get from their teachers about how RI boys are little angels). And the second time was last year, in J1 when we needed 2 more hours for Com. Service (I got the first 4 almost free by turning up late [accidentally, I might add] for the Ghim Moh Newspaper Collection). And all of us chose to fold clothes or scour beds rather than to interact with the residents. I wonder why...
"This Battle is about to explode. Fight!"

Physics practical - Cambridge decided that the last batch taking this should go with a bang, so they gave a rather interesting curve on the second question, and a rather interesting design experiment for the second one, too.

Live and let die, go for broke!
Does anyone else 'sides me think it was "interesting" too?
I need to voice the fact that IT IS THE LAST PHYSICS PRACTICAL I WILL EVER DO! WOOOOO~! Yeah!!! Alright! (For good measure: WOOOOOOOOOOO~!)

Ok. Back to looking at Capcom vs Snk 2 artwork for me now. Here it is, for anyone else who's interested (Its the art off the Fan Disk.)

Capcom vs SNK 2 artwork:
Capcom's Artist, whatsisname (:P Is it Akiman/Bengus?)
SNK's Artist, Shinkiro (I'm quite sure.)

This post was brought to you by Capcom vs SNK 2's annoying announcer! To end off, here's a few more quotes from that guy: "Behold the art of the combination attack!" ... "This is what we like to caaaaall... BIG DAMAGE!", and "I knew that groove was IN YOUR HEART!". Finally... "A new player has interrupted da tournament
You must crush them!"


Wednesday, October 24, 2001

Doh. Didn't get my own copy of 1999. Ah well.

A lot of people complain about the lousy quality. Hrm. Both of Jane's fell apart. Bah. So much for the ads on the inside front and inside back covers.

Tuesday, October 23, 2001

I always thought modem was pronounced "Moh - derm" -> short for Modulator / Demodulator, so we also derive the pronounciation from both words. Then again, don't take my word for it. I tend to mix things up and sometimes call it a "Moh-Damn" like Gabriel, and some times call it a "Moh-Derm" when I'm trying to act technical.
[Ed: Check Merriam-Webster if you aren't satisfied - www.m-w.com]

Whoa, John Proctor. A name from a time long past - I absolutely hated that story. Don't know why. It's eey-rational. Just didn't like it. Wound up studying "Global Tales" like crazy. Can't believe you just quoted (well, sort of) from it. Its so horrible my mind is blanking it out. Go away, scary person.

What style of music is Goldenburg Variations?
[Ed: GOLDberg. Goldberg Variations - 30 Variations played on the pianoforte. Composed by J.S. Bach to help this insomniac nobleman sleep]

And: Pimple cream doesn't work :P For me, anyway. Go try using Australian Tea Tree oil, and facewash with Salycic (is this how you spell it?) acid in it, like Neutrogena.
[Ed: Tea tree smells disgusting. Well, oftentimes]

Interesting facts:
The word "yaoi" itself is an acronym from "YAma nashi, Ochi nashi, Imi nashi" - "no culminaton (peak), no meaning, no conclusion". I believe that it was originally a demeaning term used by fans. Now, its being used more (possibly due to the internet). Generally, non-professional yaoi is manga about well-known pretty guys - characters from popular manga and anime series for guys, but told from the viewpoint of homosexual relationships. I believe it became known as "yaoi" only because, unlike manga for guys, "yaoi" less frequently observes the classical concepts of the construction of a literary work. The first series off of which there appeared a lot of yaoi manga was the anime "Mobile Suit Gundam" (Kido Senshi Gundam (1979-1980) (which is a nice anime series about robots, which I like. Didn't know it was so "popular" though ^_^;;;)

How do I know about this? A quick search on google quickly enlightened me. Amazing what google can do.
[Ed: To save everyone trouble - http://gwu.edu/~koulikom/wyaoi.html
Argh. These yearbooks are of terrible quality. 2 pages fell out! The pages at the back weren't bound properly...

I may get my own copy tomorrow if there are still extras! Woo. Kairen offered me one (98 methinks) a while back, but he seems to have retracted the offer :)
My attempts to find mp3s of Glenn Gould's playing with the famed humming have not been successful. Trying to get the full Goldberg Variations from Morpheus MusicCity. Maybe I'll find him humming there. [Update: Nope, no humming. Maybe tis an Urban Legend]

Listening to the Variations is making me sleeeeeepy... *yawn*

Monday, October 22, 2001

This from someone who used to preen and arrange and gel hair in the mirror every morning :)

No, Kairen, I don't use "cleanser/toner/moisturiser", but that's because I'm too lazy.
When John Proctor made that reference to a "lump of vanity", I'm sure he had you in mind. Pimple cream!

Finally found a use for the black hairband that I found cast off in school - to hold fringe back to avoid touching pimple cream.

And checked up the pronunciation of 'modem'. My sister claimed 'moh-damn' was wrong, but one of the 2 wavs from Merriam Webster's on 'modem' came out as 'moh-damn'. So I looped it. Muahaha. "It sounds awful!" - Sister

Sunday, October 21, 2001

Geraldine suggested to me the other time that I ask Killer (Wanlin) whether she reads Romance Novels. Turns out she does. Ooo.

And she has a good point - "haha u learn from it that if they write about it means that it doesn't exist in real life... muahaha quite farney..".

Apparently they're not all stereotyped (though my impression of them is limited to reading through 2 of my sister's raunchy ones). I actually wanted to sit in the canteen and read one, and see what people said.

And there are 4 types: "got hte good the bad the lousy the sleazy"

I went to Shangri-la Coffee House for dinner, and a table away was a 9-ish boy with a m505. Wah. Maybe I should have beamed him a message, like I did to these 3 RJ girls who were playing Hardball in school. I beamed a "Hnnng..." memo.

And I got zapped by the cradle because I touched the charging surface.
Ooo, I've gotten 2 references to PMS at this time of month from RGS (Secondary 3 GEP) girls today. Could my theory be true?

Twas in Secondary 2 (?) that we were shown this video showing girls splashing around a waterfall, and the narrator was saying how the periods of girls who interacted a lot were synchronised.

Fast forward to early 2000, when I was walking out to Jelita with 1-2 friends. There were 3 Henry Park girls in front of us.

I was telling them about the synchronisation thing, and since RGS girls met each other ever day, the whole school would have synchronised periods.

"One day in Raffles Guys... *utters loud cry of pain and bends over clutching stomach*". The 3 girls yelped and ran forward.

The immediate analysis by my friend was that they were scared by 3 things:
- the word "menstruation"
- "Raffles Guys School" and
- of course, the cry of pain

Comment by someone, "You shouldn't scare young girls like that!!!!!!"

JCguide (aka V.A.G.I.N.A) has finally put up my review (with some modifications on their part)!

"Thursday, October 18, 2001

Someone sent us the RJC review (whoa automatic) and JCGuide touched up on its humour. Ooh yeah, finally."
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