Siao Lang Geng (Asylum in Hokkien)

Lamborghini Reventón

2009-11-20T11:34:00.001+08:00

The Lamborghini Reventón (Spanish pronunciation: [re̞βe̞n̪'t̪õ̞n]) is a mid-engined sports car that debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show. It ranks as the most powerful and expensive Lamborghini road car to date, costing one million euros (US$1.5 million, or £858,000).[1] The official press release stated that only 20 vehicles would be released to the public,[2] with one additional car (marked as 0/20) produced for the Lamborghini Museum.[3] Although early rumours indicated the total number would actually be 100,[2][4][5] each Reventón is clearly stamped with its number in the sequence of 20 between the driver's and passenger's seats.

Despite the exterior being new,[2] almost all the mechanical elements (including the engine) are sourced directly from the Murciélago LP640.[6]. According to the official press release, the Reventón exterior styling was inspired by the "the fastest airplanes".[7] To emphasize this, Lamborghini staged a race between a Reventón and a Panavia Tornado fighter plane.[8]

The Reventón has a 6.5L V12 engine.

Miss 50-Year-Old

2009-10-15T10:06:00.020+08:00

Unbelievably fabulous at 50. Undeniably ravishing and sexually desirable. Would any full-blooded male say no to getting laid with any of these hot babes just because they are 50 years old? Probably not.

What's Up Doc?

2009-08-17T10:49:00.002+08:00

Baby Eats Cereal

2009-07-23T10:19:00.009+08:00

The Mechanical Expression of Humanity

2009-07-15T09:48:00.003+08:00

Chanced upon this brief but superbly-written article from www.snopes.com

This articles describes accurately and not too voluminously, what our car means to us.

Automobiles

They're big, expensive, and breath-taking marvels of engineering, but to view automobiles purely as transportation is to miss their essence. Cars are the first true freedom of the adolescent, and throughout our adult years they continue to represent escape, the ability to speed away from responsibilities and cares. It's no wonder Detroit constantly plays upon this theme in its advertising — they know it sells!

Automobiles are both a means of getting from one place to another and a place in themselves, making them both conveyance and cocoon. We sing along to the radio in them, something we'd likely not dare to do at home. Our first passionate encounters take place in them. And when all other resting places fail us, we sleep in them. Automobiles are as much about private inviolate space as they are about transportation.

The importance of automobiles in our lives secures their place in the lore of our times. They are both practical and whimsical, reliable and frightening, mundane and exciting, necessary and exotic, commonplace and mysterious. They are, in other words, the mechanical expression of humanity.

Revenge of the Fallen

2009-06-25T09:26:00.011+08:00

Sleeping Child.

Chicken White

2009-05-20T21:37:00.003+08:00

Joo Seng.

Promise That I Will Never Wipe You Guys Out With Water Anymore

2009-03-22T18:06:00.001+08:00

Next time, I will wipe you guys out with fire.

Why Cabbies Prefer Malay Passengers

2009-02-03T21:24:00.004+08:00

Even though i have only been driving for less than a month, i have noticed the passengers that i have been picking up comprised more of Malays than Chinese.

This caused me to deduce that Malays are generally more willing than Chinese to spend money on taking taxis to where they want to go.

Then i heard another side of the story. It's a religious one. As Chinese are unbelievers, they are considered to be spiritually unclean. So our good friends are not keen on squeezing with the heathen either on a crowded MRT train or a packed bus.

This is why they would either buy their own car or take taxis to travel around.

Why do cabbies prefer Malay passengers? Simply because they are more courteous and polite than Chinese. Generally it's the Chinese who are more "gao jare" (fussy in Hokkien). The male Chinese are more likely to anal assholes while the female Chinese are more likley to be bitchy bitches. They are the ones who make a cabby's life miserable.

Malays are more "chin chye" (easy-going in Hokkien).

Cabbies are thankful for this. Or at least they ought to be.

Enough said.

Running To & Fro All Over The Island

2009-01-20T22:49:00.005+08:00

Joining the taxi queue at Compass Point.

I had quitted my job of almost 12 years since 31 December 2008.

I've been driving taxi since 05 January 2009.

It's something which i enjoy doing. Driving people to where they need to get to.

It's not easy to make a living this way though.

It came out in the news recently that most people are taking less taxis nowadays because of the economic crunch. People are taking more of buses and MRTs instead of taxis.

It's especially tough if you have to bear the costly rental of $100 a day all alone by yourself as a hirer without any relief driver to share both the costly burden and burdensome cost.

Need to drive for at least about 5 to 6 hours on a normal weekday just to clock the $100 breakeven sum.

Going to switch to be a relief driver instead so i would only pay for $50 rental a day instead of the hefty $100.

Will the Bull Return in the Year of the Bull?

2008-12-31T10:17:00.002+08:00

Things are likely to get worse in the first half of 2009.

Hopefully things would get better in the second half of 2009.

Hope springs eternal.

For all we know, this year of the bull might just be a year full of bull shit instead of bull run.

The Futility Of It All

2008-12-29T17:01:00.002+08:00

Every morning, before I start work, I would wash my car if it’s not raining.

Often, a couple of my colleauges would say stuff like, “No need to wash lah. It’s going to rain already lah.”

I would retort them with, “So does it mean you don’t need to eat when it rains?”

This morning, immediately after I washed my car, it started pouring.

Rice On Matrix

2008-12-26T10:19:00.000+08:00

This morning I wanted to wash my car but since the sky was dark and it looked like it was going to rain soon, I decided not to.

I saw my colleague spraying his car with water. He told me somebody at his block threw rice down on his car so he had to wash it.

I said, “That fellow must be thinking your car was hungry that’s why he threw rice on it for it to eat.”

O Justice Where Art Thou?

2008-12-22T09:50:00.003+08:00

Stupid NTUC Income.

Asshole hit my butt and yet after their preliminary investigation, NTUC claimed the accident was my fault.

The f#@ker filtered left without checking his left blind spot first and yet NTUC still say it's my fault.

Bloody hell.

Looks like i have go to NTUC Income Insurance to bang table already.

Bloody f#@king shit. KNNBCCB!

First For Car Care? Last For Efficiency

2008-12-17T10:32:00.004+08:00

Went to Comfort Delgro to report the accident last Saturday. The lady there told me they would get back to me the latest by following Tuesday.

Yesterday (Tuesday), a guy by the name of Patrick from there called me and said, “Sorry wrong number” and hung up.

This morning I had to go to the workshop again to get things moving.

Patrick told me I had to wait until Monday before I can send my car in for damage assessment to be done by a surveyor.

It’s just crappy. Things are just moving at snail pace.

The only reason why I picked this workshop is because it is just opposite my office at Ubi.

Hit & Tell

2008-12-15T11:12:00.004+08:00

Last Friday, I brought my son to watch Bolt 3-D at GV Tampines.

On the way there, something untoward happened.

As I was watching the road and filtering right, I felt my car being hit from behind on the right.

I stopped the car and saw this black Honda Civic in contact with the right rear of my car.

Apparently, this bugger didn’t check his left blind spot before filtering left.

He claimed it’s not his fault.

As the car did not belong to the driver, his brother called me last night to make some unreasonable demands.

Even though it was his brother who used the front left of his car to hit my right rear and he had the audacity and cheek to ask me to pay for the damage to his car. Bloody mother-f#@king asshole idiot. He thinks I’m a fool. F#@ker even claimed he did not call to quarrel.

It’s bloody f#@king ironic right? You call somebody to make an unreasonable demand and claim you do not want to quarrel?

My message to him is: GO F#@K YOURSELF, YOU BLOODY MOTHER-F#@KING IDIOTIC MORONIC ASSHOLE!

I had already made report at IDAC.

Now can only wait and let the insurance company decide who’s at fault and liable for damages. This can take at least 3 to 6 months.

Why I Prefer Digital Clocks To Analog Ones

2008-12-11T13:22:00.005+08:00

I prefer a digital clock to an analog one because the former is quiet and doesn’t make any sound.

When I have difficulties sleeping at night, the incessant "tick-tock" sounds produced by an analog clock keep me awake.

Sit Down Fall Alseep, Stand Up Stay Awake!

2008-12-04T11:06:00.003+08:00

One of the reasons why we tend to doze off at work especially after lunch is because of the lack of blood circulation to our brains when we are seated down.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we have a standing workstation to help us stay awake and prevent us from dozing off?

A Catchy Song With A Bizarre Story

2008-12-02T09:18:00.004+08:00

“All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You” by Canadian rock band Heart is 1990 a catchy song that has a bizarre story.

In the track, singer Ann Wilson sings of a one-night stand with a man, only to reveal later in the song that her intent all along was to use the encounter as a way to become pregnant. The lyrics explain later, when she reunites with the one-time lover, that her child is the result of their tryst and she did it only because the man she really loves is not able to give her children.

If a couple is unable to have children, either because the man is impotent or the woman is infertile, they can always choose to adopt. But of course, adoption is meant for couples with the financial caliber to do so. For couples who can’t afford to adopt but want babies of their own, they may have no choice but to remain childless for the rest of the fleeting days on earth.

I think the story behind the song is bizarre because no man in his right mind would want his wife to get laid with another man, a stranger, just because he’s not able to impregnate her.

I think he would not mind only if he’s not aware of his own condition of impotence. He doesn’t have erectile dysfunction. It’s just that none of his sperms are able to swim all the way to the uterus to fuse with the woman’s ovum.

But what if the child grows up without any resemblance to him? Wouldn’t he be suspicious? What if he eventually finds out, thru DNA testing, that the child is not his? Wouldn’t he be hurt and devastated?

I guess there could be men who would actually agree, either implicitly or explicitly, to their wives having a one-night stand with a stranger to get pregnant because they themselves are not able to give their wives a baby. Because they love their wives more than they love themselves and their own pride. They want their wives to be happy. They want their wives to have a baby which they themselves are not able to give.

Strange and bizarre. Even Ann Wilson herself commented the band did not like the song because it stood for everything they wanted to get away from.

----------------------
"All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" was a success, spending two weeks at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eight in the UK Singles Chart, and reaching #1 in Canada and Australia. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Group Pop Vocal Performance, and is the only one of Heart's singles to have been certified Gold by the RIAA. On the Adult Contemporary chart, the song climbed to number six, becoming the third of Heart's four top-ten AC hits (after "These Dreams" and "Alone").

In the liner notes of Heart's album The Road Home, Ann Wilson commented on the band's dislike for the song, stating, "Actually we had sworn off it because it kind of stood for everything we wanted to get away from. It was a song by "Mutt" Lange, who we liked, and it was originally written for Don Henley, but there was a lot of pressure on us to do the song at the time."[1]

The single was Heart's last pop chart top ten hit. The band had one more top ten Adult Contemporary chart hit with the follow-up, "Stranded"; "Stranded" and 1994's "Will You Be There (In The Morning)" were also top 10 Album Rock hits.

Thought I Lost My Handphone

2008-12-01T09:09:00.003+08:00

On Friday night, after i got home, i couldn't find my handphone.

I thought I must have left it in the car. As it was around 11pm+ and I was dead tired, I decided to look for the handphone in the car the following morning.

On Saturday morning, when I looked for my handphone in the car, I couldn’t find it.

So I thought I must have dropped it somewhere outside.

When I tried calling my own phone, I kept getting a “We Wish You A Merry Chritmas” tune instead of the usual ringing sound. I thought someone had picked up my phone and took out my SIM card.

I presumed my handphone was stolen. So I called SingTel to have my SIM card deactivated.

I was planning to get another phone at a Hello! SingTel shop after sending my wife to work.

Later when I was sending my wife to work, she spotted my handphone in the car. It was wedged between the driver’s seat and the handbrake. So I didn’t lose my handphone afterall. Of course I got the usual tirade from my wife for not being able to find my handphone even though it was right in the car.

Speaking of which, just one week ago, my wife couldn’t find a black tube of hers in the back seat. When in actual fact, it was right in the center of the rear seat! Talk about 鬼遮眼(ghost cover eye)!

I got my wife to call SingTel to activate my SIM card. They said they would take 3 hours. But in actual fact, it took only an hour.

Thank God I didn’t have to waste money on getting another handphone.

Crank SMS Phone Call

2008-11-27T17:05:00.004+08:00

This morning at around 6am plus, I received a phone call which was a message read out from an SMS sent from a handphone.

The message read out by the SingTel server was in Chinese (I didn’t know their server was capable of reading Chinese SMSes).

It was both a crank and prank SMS phone call.

The message was talking about a meeting to be held later in the day concerning how to get laid and all that crap.

Many years ago, I received a phone call from another bugger at around 5am in the morning. Disrupted my sleep early in the morning for nothing. It turned out to be a case of wrong number as the caller spoke in Malay and asked for a Malay lady. My phone number was a recycled one. Back then I had caller ID. So I took revenge by calling the same bugger at 5am the following morning and hung up on him.

Too bad this morning I didn’t take down the handphone number of the bugger who SMS-phoned me the lewd message. Otherwise I would have sent him an SMS with the 4-letter word to give him a piece of my mind.

The Problem With Manual Cars

2008-11-25T08:41:00.003+08:00

Actually, I don’t mind driving a manual car. In fact, I do prefer manual cars to auto cars because of their stronger pick-up power and better fuel-efficiency.

One of the prolems with a manual car is when the gear is put to neutral, the car tends to roll backwards if it has stopped on a road that is sloping upwards, even if it’s slightly. It is also very tiring to drive a manual car in a place like Singapore where there are so many traffic lights. It’s a good thing that new cabs on the roads now all come with automatic transmission.

On several occasions, when I stop behind a manual car at a red light, usually a Toyota Crown taxi, I have had to horn at the driver to prevent his car which is rolling backwards from hitting my car.

Just this morning, I had to horn at the driver of an old Nissan March as his car was rolling backwards and about to hit mine. When he heard my horn, I saw his body jerking upwards. I think I must have given him a shock. He quickly jammed his brakes and inched his car forward. He even had the courtesy to wave me an apology.

When I drive a manual car, I usually pull up the handbrake after shifting the gear to neutral while waiting for the red light to turn green. This is less tiring than having to step on the brakes to prevent the car from rolling backwards.

On an auto car though, we would step on the brakes all the way while waiting for the red light to turn green. Some drivers shift their gear to neutral. Some even to P. Car experts advise us to keep the gear of our auto cars at D while waiting for the red light to turn green. This actually helps to cool down the gear box. It also reduces wear and tear on the gear.

Lots of drivers have been driving auto cars for so long they have forgotten how to handle a manual one. Just hand a manual car to a driver who has been driving an auto car for over 10 years, from the day that he got his driving license, and he would be struggling with the clutch and chaging of the gear shift manually. Chances are, he would stall the car before moving off from standstill.

Somehow, the demand for manual cars will never completely die down even though only 1 out of every 10 new cars that is sold is a manual one. When oil prices are high, more people would opt to buy a manual car over an auto one to save on petrol bills. As at 24 November 2008, oil price is hovering at around US$54 per barrel.

Category A COE Drops To Just $2!

2008-11-20T08:40:00.008+08:00

COEs for Category A have fallen to a historical low of just $2!

Some showroom visitors were unaware that the $2 COEs were only meant for buyers involved in the previous bidding. Those who bought cars over the weekend would likely have missed out on the $2 COEs and would have to make fresh bids, which some predict would see COEs for cars below 1,600cc bounce back to $8,000 to $10,000 levels.

The last 2 times a freak COE like this happened was way back in 1997 and 2001. 1st was the $50 COE for cars with SCR plate in December 1997. And 2nd was the $101 COE for cars with SDK plate in 2001. Just when we thought freak COEs like these are not possible anymore after the bidding process had been changed from a closed one to an open one, a $2 COE pops up. It goes to show how drastically demand has fallen.

A lot of people are hesitant about commiting to a new car purchase because they are doubtful of being able to repay the monthly instalments.

With the credit crunch affecting consumers worldwide, the last thing that anyone wants is to be saddled deep with car loan debts and be unable to pay them off especially if he gets retrenched at work.

Even after the car has been re-possessed, the car buyer would still have to pay off the outstanding car loan. It’s an extremely crappy situation that no one in his right mind would want to get caught in. This is also the reason why lately, car salesmen had a very hard time persuading customers at the showroom to sign on the dotted line.

If I have the money now, I would probably buy a Honda Fit with the $2 COE. It accelerates reasonably fast and is super fuel-efficient.

McDonald's Mega Burgers

2008-11-19T08:37:00.005+08:00

About a month ago, my colleague brought to my attention the mega burgers which Japan’s McDonald’s was selling. I looked at the burgers and was impressed by the size of the Sausage Egg McMuffin and Big Mac.

He asked why Singapore’s McDonald’s doesn’t serve the mega burgers as well.

So I forwarded the link of the Japan’s McDonald’s website of the mega burgers to Singapore McDonald’s on-line customer feedback and suggested that they serve the mega burgers here too. I explained that certain of their customers with bigger appetities are not filled and satisfied with the size of the regular burgers.

They replied they would look into my suggestion.

And wala, now we have the mega burgers in Singapore’s McDonald’s as well.

And Burger King has also joined McDonald's in offering mega burgers.

LJS stands for both Lao Jui Sai and Long John Silver. The latter has joined the mega burger craze as well, albeit later than its competitors. Hmm. Wonder when is KFC going to join this mega burger bandwagon.

Taking Money From The Children

2008-11-13T11:21:00.002+08:00

It is a bad idea to use taxpayers’ money to pay for the bad debts which American financial institutions have incurred from lending money to people with bad credit history to purchase homes beyond their means.

This money is meant for the future generation. It’s akin to taking money from the next generation to pay for the mistakes made by the current generation.

It’s like a terminally-ill poor man who chalks up hundreds of thousands of dollars in hospitalisation bills and dies eventually. All these debts are left by him for his children to pay off. It’s bad enough a man has no inheritance to pass on to his children. It’s just overwhelmingly sucky for a man to pass burdensome and crippling debts down to his children to shoulder and pay off.

This is what’s good about the advanced medical directive. If one knows he’s terminally ill and chances of him recovering from treatment are doubtful and remote, he should choose not to be kept alive as a vegetable and be a burden to his children before and after his death. Especially if he and his children are not rich.

If a man has no financial wealth for his children to inherit upon his death, the least he could do is to avoid chalking up a mountain of hospitalisation debts for his poor children to bear.