In the hole....!: November 2005

Gen X

Suddenly, the world is spinning crazily with the Gen Y trend. Live Strong wristbands, Avril Lavigne, Harry Porter, Blogs, Billabong, MSN, pool, MP3/4, J-Pop, K-Pop, and the list goes on...

Now, take a look at what's happening here. Is there a trend that you've spotted? Yes/No? Remember the Baby Boomers? They are the ones who are the trend setters, the trend movers. They are the ones who gave rise to fast food restaurants, real estates, fashion, entertainment, automobile, health supplements, etc... Then you ask yourself this question: Have Gen Y taken over the place of the Baby Boomers? Or have they not?

Let's take a closer look. Who are responsible for the Gen Y? Baby Boomers! *bummer*

What is the need of Gen Y? Originality, understanding, making a point, daring to be different, attention, popularity, lurve, material, enjoyment, trendy... And who will provide the platform to allow Gen Y to sustain all these? The Baby Boomers, sadly. Gen Y has a world on their own. Their world is made up of closely knitted friends both online and offline. Their world is a place where they can make a statement, either in a fashion display physically, or in the point of view on places like blogs, forum, sms, instant messaging, media... And there you have the Gen Y, constantly ranting that they're misunderstood by the Baby Boomers - wait till they can make their own money to indulge in the so-call 'life-style' that the Baby Boomers are currently pursuing, and thanks-but-no-thanks cos they put in so much effort in everything but still isn't what the Baby Boomers expect... On the other hand, while the Baby Boomers are being so hard-working, giving the best of the best to the Gen Y, and trying very hard to pacify and satisfy the Gen Y's crave and desires, in return was given a 'cannot-make-it' response by their innocent Gen Y and feeling hurt but not known...

How I see this "generation gap", is merely a case of meeting each other's expectation, making known to each other of your own expectations and respecting each other's expectation by understanding that this is just an expectation from each other's side, so compromise, try your best, seek understanding, and also understand each other. My motto is to try my very best to meet each other's expectations and respect one other. Give them some space, and they will give you some. You live your life, they live their life. Coming together requires great effort for harmony in the community.

Hey, why am I talking all these....? I dun belong to either group. I'm a Gen X! -_-

Dope...!

Not to rant, but just for the record, some of my pet peeves...

1. Ever eaten a Pak Choy, and then while you're chewing and swallowing at the same time, part of the stalk gets down the throat while the other part got stuck in between two of your molars and the veg is still in one piece with the filament attached? Yah, that's the yukky situation! *cough cough*

2. Using an umbrella to shelter myself from a place to my car on a rainy day, only to get wet on my pants/shorts/skirt/legs (whichever I'm wearing that day) while trying to close my damn door but my umbrella is still very much stuck on the outside of my car and I cleverly shut the umbrella in lightning speed while the water tickles down my elbow and then wetting my pants/shorts/skirt/legs (whichever I'm wearing that day) along the way as I shaft it to the passenger seat! *useless*

3. Waiting for about 29.764 minutes to reach almost 93% of the defragmentation process in my laptop, only to have the screensaver mode suddenly turned on automatically (after half-hour) and I gotta restart the whole defrag thingy again! *arghhhh*

4. Choking on my own saliva or while drinking.

5. Typing like 1,047 words in your blog and you felt that's the best blog ever, and when you publish post suddenly you loose your Internet connection so all your hard work in the typing is gone because you didn't save it as draft.

6. Finishing my milk first before I finish eating my Oreo cookie.
(Another version: Finishing the curry first and I'm left with 2 more slices of french loaf staring at me.)

7. Tearing carpark coupons and 2 seconds later realised that I just went through the ERP carpark gantry when I came into the carpark. *ouch*

8. Finally hitting the ball out of the bunker after three tries, and only to find my ball landing on THE OTHER bunker across the green. -_-

Backside itchy

Sometimes, when you sort of can foresee certain things are gonna happen in the way you expected, you HAVE TO go and knock your head against the wall... you just HAVE TO... afterwhich, you felt like slapping yourself or turn back the clock, you just could have bitten your tongue, or could have think twice, or could have done the extra mile, etc... BUT noooooo... you didn't, you just have to DO IT..! The picture above says it all... -_-

Boredom (Haiku)

Emptiness within
Fingers drumming with rhythm
Ticking of the clock

~ Boredom

November Rain (Haiku)

Trees bustled, doors slammed
Midnight lightning, quick and bright
Window silhouettes

~ November Rain

College Degree vs School of Hardknocks

I was watching the finale of The Apprentice 3 yesterday. (Yah, I know, America is showing The Apprentice 4 right now!) I loved what Kendra Todd said in one of her opinions, "Education lets you learnt from the mistakes of others. Entrepreneurship lets you learnt from the mistakes of your own. I have the 2 ingredients to make it a success." (Just the meaning of it, not exactly quote-unquote.) For full details, read the transcript and the documentation here.

Haiku unveiled

Apparently, there's more knowledge and insights to haiku. I would have been quite irresponsible to say that I know haiku just from superficial knowledge. Here's an extract of what some people think of haiku (with rules), I'll try to abide the following pointers which I'm comfortable with. http://www.ahapoetry.com/haiku.htm#comego>

Point 3: Seventeen syllables written in three lines divided into 5-7-5
Point 22: Save the "punch line" for the end line
Point 23: Work to find the most fascinating and eye-catching first lines
Point 29: Attempt to have levels of meaning in the haiku. On the surface it is a set of simple images; underneath a philosophy or lesson of life.
Point 38: Telling it as it is in the real world around us
Point 46: Capitalize the first word of every line
Point 57: Write haiku only from an "ah-ha" moment

Now, let's take a second look on my first Haiku attempt last week:

Fever for five days
Kevin lying on the bed
A bad mosquito

This haiku was definitely written from an "ah-ha" moment. I tried to have a punch line, giving the reason why Kevin was having the fever, also adding the word "bad" to the mosquito, relating how bad the consequence had become. Now, looking at Point 29 is what I'm gonna achieve in my future haikus because I feel that that could just bring out the underlying reason for the haiku, to make a point or lesson for life.

Lexus Cup marshal volunteering

I'll be volunteering again for marshal for the Lexus Cup 2005 @ TMCC on 9, 10, 11 Dec.

Format is as follows: Friday (December 9) will consist of six four ball better ball matches, followed by six foursomes matches on Saturday (December 10) and on Sunday (December 11) will be 12 singles matches.

The prize money is a handsome US$720,000 (US$40,000 for each member of the winning team, US$20,000 for the members of the other team). Basically, it's gonna be two teams, Asia vs International. Grace Park will be the captain for the Asia team, while Annika Sorenstam will be the captain for the International team.

I'm pretty excited and looking forward to this event. For one, I've marshalled for the Singapore Open, now it'll be my first time to marshal for the ladies. To be able to watch up close and personel the LPGA number one, Annika Sorenstam, is something that I could look forward to. Also, to be able to admire the fashion of the ladies, with Paula Creamer around, I would expect to see her entire pink wardrobe during the three days! Of course, not to mention the free game (hopefully there is) plus the volunteer goodies... =P

Love Haiku

I quite like Haiku
Five, Seven, Five syllabus
Short and sweet, quite cool!

My third Haiku ~ I got the hang of it! Low commitment, short and sweet.

Conversations heard in my class

"Cher! Give us A leh!"
"Don't be lame lah... Cheapskate lor!"
My students' lingo

My second Haiku ~ written in class.

My first Haiku

Fever for five days
Kevin lying on the bed
A bad mosquito

My first Haiku ~ dedicated to my nephew.

Wacky t-shirt design

I bumped into the site called The Funny Designs. Check out some wacky t-shirt designs...

BK pics

Good evening, dis is xxx speaking. I'm please to welcome chu to TigerAirways, flight TR116. We'll be leaving the airport vely shortly. Please be reminded to fasten your seat belts. The exit signs are as follows. If you need to purchase some beverages or light snacks on board, we'll be delighted to serve chu. Remember, for the lowest airfares, always log on to http://www.tigerairways.com. Have a save journey! <"Cabin crew, taking off now, return to your positions!">

First 2005 Asian Indoor Games Posters in the center of Bangkok's city street.

First stop, Chao Phraya River.

Feeding the hungry fish with bread.

Temples - it's called WAT in Thai.

Me and Mummy in the river cruise on Chao Phraya River. Arrghhh... I have double chins! *shucks* this is the smallest pic size that it can go. -_-

Food, glorious food! *Cheap cheap* 1000 Baht is S$40 for dinner for 4. Tom Yam Soup, Brocolli with prawns, Thai Fish Cake, Claypot Prawns (not in pic), Sweet 'n' Sour Fish (not in pic).

Thailand transportation - Bus, Taxi, Tuk-Tuk, Skytrain, River Taxi, etc.

More food - in Chinatown. BBQ Prawns and Curry Powder Crab. You may have guessed it by now that I love good. All the food pics are large in size. *yummy*

Some local barang barang - Fashion chains (4 for 100 Baht), Wet Market selling from fish, sotong, goreng pisang, to handphone covers, clothes and bags.

From markets to upper-class shopping centres. Gaysorn Plaza (LV and Gucci), Soccer Sports Shop, Hard Rock Cafe @ Siam Square, Mah Boon Khrong (MBK Center).