灰色地带

Black and White

2008-04-03T23:10:00.002+08:00

My boss asked me today: "Why you must see everything in black and white?"

That question was so wrong in so many levels that I don't know how to retort.

Except to write this:

I see the world in black and white.
I worship logic and reasoning.
I can accept the state of unknown, the fate of uncertainty.
I did not get here by speaking in riddles, diddling in gray shades.

Not knowing is knowing.
No answer is an answer.
An incomplete picture, is still a picture.

If you told me, I need not guess.
If I heard you, I would not ask.
I asked you, because I had not understood.
I challenged you, because it's for my own good.

Quotable quotes 2008

2008-03-24T22:57:00.002+08:00

From Catherim Lim's blog

... as long as Singapore’s leaders do not pay heed to the fundamental needs of the human spirit, they can never be called wise, only clever, and as long as the nation they lead is admired only for its material achievements, it can never be called great, only successful.

Wise or clever? Great or successful?

There is a difference.

Blueys report card

2008-01-12T07:13:00.000+08:00

Where: Blue Mountains (Australia, New South Wales state)
What: Rock climbing, what else?
Duration: Dec 9, 2007 to Jan 7, 2008, a whopping 30 days!!!
Number of crags visited: 14
Number of routes tried: 62 + 5(@ Rain cave)
Favorite crag: Porters Pass - with long routes and technical face/slab climbs!
Non-climbing achievement: Solved Rubik's cube in 3m 11secs

What is the meaning of 'Crux'?

2007-11-19T21:42:00.001+08:00

Was playing the vocab game at FreeRice website (http://www.freerice.com/index.php) and got this question.

Now, why and how is 'unmarried woman' even a possible answer for the meaning of 'Crux'?

I don't know...

It's a breeze

2007-10-13T08:32:00.000+08:00

and a rare treat to skate over miles of smooth tar without having to even pause once.

East Coast Park on a Friday afternoon, lovely.

一人一半, 感情未散

2007-08-25T18:56:00.000+08:00

A saying that I've known since army days. Nice rhyme to it too, if you say it in Hokkien. But I have to hand it to Roystan Tan in his movie "881", to blend these simple words with such an endearing tune that I can't seem to get it out of my head since watching the movie.

There are 2 versions of the song; the Mandrain one was sung by Wu Jia Hui(伍家辉), there's a nice MTV in youtube. But I liked the Hokkien version sung by Liu Ling Ling better. Took me couple of minutes to make out the lyrics. I don't think I did justice to the song with my Chinese translations, I wanted to keep the original words in Hokkien but ended up translating the meaning with Chinese words substitute. I hoped I got most of it right...

这样的人
这样的梦
为何要想到我这样重
为你思念
为你疼痛
你真能狠心放我一人？

越想越乱
越想越茫
为了你心惘惘心沉重
你有所求
你有所梦
你肯当我是你的人？

一人一半
感情不散
一人一咀
永远不分开

Know thy bag

2007-06-01T22:29:00.001+08:00

After 6 agonising days of waiting, phone calls and worrying, my lost luggage finally returned home to me.

In the past 6 days, I have learnt a few things about how airlines handle delayed or missing bags. To us mere passengers on a flight, it may be just as simple as boarding the plane, suffer the cramp quarters, or enjoy the lap of luxury if you travel in First Class, before getting off the plane at your destination. You may not notice but you have legs and can walk yourself on and off the plane. Your bags, unfortunately, have to be man-handled, many times, before they join you at the end of the baggage claim conveyor belt. That means screw ups are part and parcel of the process.

There are 101 ways for your bag to get separated from you. Barring the occurence of thefts, the commonest reason of all - it missed the flight. Specifically, your flight, especially connecting flights. Humans can rush to make tight flight connections, bags can't. If the bag don't make it, it usually comes in the next available flight, which now becomes a delayed baggage.

The next reason - the baggage tag went missing. Yes, that seemingly impossible-to-tear barcode sticker that was wrapped around your bag; it can fall off, intentionally or not. I have learnt, from UA, that the numbers on these baggage tags are recycled after 72 hours. It means if your bag could not reach its final destination after 72 hours, the airline's systems cannot track the bag using the baggage tag id as it might not refer to your bag anymore.

Most people would file a missing bag report immediately at the airport if their bag never turned up. But no one really knows if their bag was just delayed or was lost somewhere in between.

If your bag was delayed with the baggage tag intact, there's high chance that you will get it back within 72 hours after landing. Most people I spoke to have experienced at most a 2-day wait before their bags showed up.

If you were unlucky, like me, where your bag was still missing after 72 hours, the airline is going to assume your baggage tag id is useless and starts tracing with bag description info instead. Therefore, you will greatly help the Lost&Found people in tracking down your bag with the following information when filing your missing bag report:

The type - UA (United Airlines) has a list of bag types, like hard case, hard case with wheels and retractable handles, soft shell with zipper, etc. Identify your bag type as accurately as possible. Airlines (and airports?) seemed to be classifying unclaimed bags according to type first and this also seemed to be the first place to look by the Lost&Found department. Specifying the wrong bag type is going to send them on a wild goose chase.

External descriptions - like your bag's brand, color and any other distinctive features. Some people, like me, don't even know the brand of their own bag! These external features show up as descriptive text on a database search. Being precise here will take a lot of guesswork out in the tracking. Whatever your preference, just spend some effort to mark your bag with something unique, like labeling your first name, your pet's name or your college's decal - all should work, in my opinion. I found that airport personnel may not always be permitted to open your bag to identify by contents so don't count on providing the sundry list of your bag.

Of course, you have to prepare the above before you start your journey! Unfortunately, I have to learn it the hard way.

Just another statistic

2007-05-26T13:50:00.000+08:00

According to the statistics published by the U.S. Dept of Transportation, there's been an increasing trend in lost luggage among airlines in the U.S. See the May 2007 report here.

For UA specifically, it was 4.53 reports per 1000 domestic passengers in 2006 (Jan - Mar); and in 2007 same period, it jumped to 7.77 reports per 1000.

Understandably, there were no numbers for international passengers; but I doubt I missed the mark much if I assumed similar rates.

Why the sudden interest over missing bags? Well, mine never came back with me from Chicago. My new Levis, my new Black Diamond headlamp, Weng's brand new runners and Cranium. I hope it was only delayed. Not lost.

Of all the joys and fun of travelling, losing your bag ~~can be~~ is a real pain.

Thai fish mousse

2007-05-06T18:54:00.000+08:00

Another of my favorite Thai dish found on the internet. Recipe here.

I sampled this delectable dish on the streets of Hatyai in 2005, enroute to Krabi. At that time, I was immediately hooked on the mysterious fragrance emanating from the springy texture of the steamed fish. Today, I know that came from kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil. And today, Thai basil leaves are my favorite ingredient in Thai cusine, more so than lemon grass. It has a subtle frangrance when you sniff its un-assuming raw leaf form. But when you chew it, the aroma simply explodes with surprising vigor. It's a must-have in Thai green curry, Thai beef kway teow soup and of course, my dinner tonight - Thai fish mousse.

Mum got mackerel as the base fish ingredient. The preparation was rather laborious, requiring the frying of the curry paste which Dad obviously did not approve - because it smoked up the house and that meant him having to mop the floor. The recipe called for banana leaf cups as the holder for the fish mousse, which I realised was a tricky item to fabricate. The leaves kept tearing as soon as I folded them. From a process point of view, it was a high yield loss process.

Eventually, 7 cups of exciting reddish paste of fish made it into the steamer, accompanied by much anticipation.

The verdict? Flavour and aroma was there, similar to what I have experienced. However, the fish texture was different, so very different.

Instead of a soft mousse like steamed eggs, it was bouncy and springy! Had I made the paste into a ball, I am sure I can play ping-pong with it. Mum thinks that it needed more 'wet-ness'. Fresh fish tastes like this, she said. I had to 'dilute' the 'toughness' with water probably.

Ah well, no on-sight, but the dinner's still good.

Next time, just add water.

Eat and Climb

2007-05-02T22:55:00.000+08:00

Noticed that eating came first before climbing?

This was what I went through for long weekend of May day. It has been a long time since I last went on a road trip like this one...

We left Singapore on Friday night, reached Ipoh on Saturday morning. Spent Sat and Sun climbing the insanely long routes at the Lost World of Tambun, interviewing taxi driver for the origins of 芽菜鸡 and 怡保河粉. Savoured the juicy 叉烧包 and 猪肠粉 of 富山茶楼. Left for Kangar on the 8pm bus, arriving at midnight. Headed to Bt Keteri late Monday morning, climbed 4 routes there, returned to Kangar and broked my 6-month abstinence of fast food by having KFC . Then, it was heading south for KL on the 10pm bus, starting Tuesday morning with another dim sum session in Jalan Petaling, pampering ourselves with foot massage at Bt Bintang, finally finishing the KL leg with 2 bowls of delicious beef hor fun.

In the 4 days, we traversed almost the entired length of Pennisular Malaysia, in search of good climbing. At the end, the good company and even better food was all that I remembered.

Lost World of Tambun & Bt Keteri 2007 Apr

Weekend Road trip

2007-03-18T21:40:00.000+08:00

Weekend trip to KL with Wee Chuan and Jo. Door to door 36 hours.
Total expenditure - RM170. Good food, great climbing. No jams at border.

Much better experience than that crappy Tampin bouldering trip I went last year.

KL 2007 Mar

Always close, never closed?

2007-02-13T07:10:00.000+08:00

Well, maybe, depends...

Remember the joke about 7-11? If it's a 24-hour-always-open store, why does it need locks on the doors?

I suppose I found the answer last Sunday, at SMU campus.

Kindergarden homework

2007-01-31T21:21:00.000+08:00

Do you still remember your days when you were in kindergarden? You were probably 5 or 6 years old then. A kid. Those days should be full of fun and play. ABCs and 123s were learnt in sing-along sessions. The word 'Science' is not part of your vocabulary. The books you flipped have more pictures than words and were no thicker than the the daily newspapers.

Look at what I found when browsing through the local bookstore last weekend.

For scale, compare my thumb size to that book's thickness.

时代真的变得那么快吗？
连上幼稚圆的小孩也有作业吗？
现在的儿童的童年还有玩荡秋千和跳飞机吗？

Dirty rice & Gai Yang

2007-01-28T19:28:00.000+08:00

No, it's not a new Hollywood production.

Rather, it was my dinner today.

According to this link, Dirty rice used to be a popular dish in some southern states of US but has lost its appeal due to the ingredients used - chicken gizzards and livers.

Ha, gizzards and livers? Not a problem for Asians like me. It was a must-try for me after reading the recipe. And it certainly didn't disappoint. Savoury and fluffy butter rice interspersed with soft liver bits and chewy gizzards, thoughts about calories and cholesterol was the last thing on my mind.

Gai Yang, the ubiquitous barbecued chicken on the streets of Thailand; loved it the first time I tasted it in Ao Nang, Krabi. However, its recipe has eluded me for a long time since I don't know what it was called. The power of Google is helpless against descriptions like "street-side bbq chicken thighs, Thailand". But I must have accumulated enough good karma lately that I chanced upon the real recipe here.

And now I am fully convinced I have hit the jackpot. Even the chili sauce tastes like the one in Thailand.

Two great recipes to share with mom & dad. A happy and satisfying finish to the weekend.

Cold

2007-01-06T13:50:00.000+08:00

Just came back from Kiwiland, camping and bouldering. It is supposed to be summer in NZ now. Ah, summer. The season where the sun shines brightly, days are longer than nights. Supposed to be warm, toasty, maybe even hot.

Yet, the days spent camping at Craigieburn Forest park could still prompt me to write this:

The wood sizzles, a flame flickers,
pink ambers beneath glowers.
The light is feeble,
fire's warmth hardly reaches.
The water stood still, within the pot,
a sip of tea is only a thought.

I rub my hands in earnest,
wtih hope of some friction may bring,
comfort to my fingers,
numbed in the glacial stream.
My knees hug together, the limbs out of sight,
bracing myself, to endure the long cold night.

Housing a home, now and then

2006-10-29T22:38:00.000+08:00

In 1980, my parents bought our first and current 4-room HDB flat. It costs $27000 then. After down payment, they took a 15-year loan for the remaining $18000 with monthly installments at about $120. Dad's salary then was about $800 per month. In those days, total monthly CPF contributions (employee + employer) was about 40 to 50%. So I figured that, after monthly installments, there was still about $300 going towards Dad's Ordinary Account (OA).

Fast forward to present 2006. My colleague was describing to me the situation of his brother-in-law (let's call him 'X'). X and his wife's monthly take-home is about $2000. 3 years ago, X was looking at getting a HDB flat. Then, a new 4-room flat costs $110K-140K. If they took a loan of $100K, over 25 years, monthly installments would take off almost 70% of their monthly CPF contribution, leaving something like $200 per month to grow their OA from zero. Not very comforting.

As a very very very rough estimate, with an average of 1.5% yearly inflation rate, $800 in 1980 has the same buying power as $1200 in 2006. $300 in 1980 is worth maybe $440 today. So, dollar-for-dollar, X's income of $2000 today give him more purchasing power than my Dad in his days. However, if X has taken up the flat, he actually has less to save in his OA than my dad did. And this means X's CPF will grow slower than people of 26 years ago, and X will have to work more years before he can think of retirement.

I know my calculations are not accurate but I don't think they over-estimated the actual situation. If Singapore has progressed over the past 26 years, and if by progress, it meant changing for the better, then how come last time my poorer parents can afford a flat whereas a family today with seemingly stronger purchasing power cannot? Or reluctant?

I know, last time policemen wear shorts. Admit it, you want to tell me that.

Update [2006-10-30 11pm]
Prompted by Gecko, I looked up Singapore's historical trend in Consumer Price Index between 1980 and 2005 (available here). It was 65.7 in 1980 vs 100.4 in 2005, a 52%-increase. If I used the CPI as my indicator of purchasing power, the $800 in 1980 is roughly equivalent to $1600 by 2006.

Just free

2006-09-29T02:38:00.000+08:00

I don't know what prompted me to spout this but I know I wont sleep if I don't get it all worked out. In the middle of writing it, I felt that somehow, a fellow friend who has what it takes, but will soon stop moulding the Nation's future might know what I am trashing here... (Yo, cher, this is for ya...)

I will not be that sheep
grazing within confined greenery.
Seemingly contended,
towards an eventual end of being fleeced.

Let me be that stream
meandering across mountain ranges.
Effortlessly flowing,
admist withered flowers and season changes.

I will not be that clog
jammed among gears and bearings, an interface.
Perpetually churning,
only till the day to be replaced.

Let me be that breeze
whistling over dainty daisies.
Endlessly in motion,
without purpose or need, just free.

Ok, better sleep...

Half full or half empty?

2006-09-12T08:00:00.000+08:00

Ah, sounds familiar? Many many moons ago, someone told me:

An optimist sees the glass as half full. A pessimist, half empty.

I supposed the idea was to encourage people to see opportunities rather crisis in everything. Some kind of feel-good and upbeat pep-talk in the dark times.

However, by the 'loose' definition above, I must be a pessimist. I tend to see faults, short-comings, gaps in almost everything. When I fail to finish a climb, I see it as I am not strong enough, my sequences are wrong, my endurance needs more work. See? Deficiencies, mistakes, imperfections.

But does that stop me from improving? The answer is definitely NO!

To me, being aware of my faults and gaps makes me want to improve. It spurs me to work harder, to fill the gaps and bridge the difference. So what's so bad or wrong to see a 'half-empty' glass?

I believe the current state of the glass don't mean shit. Rather, it is what do I want the glass to be in the next 10 minutes, 10 hours or 10 days that matters.

Realising it is not my desired state is more important and I would want to change that. To the best of my abilities, of course.

Whether you are a pessimist or an optimist isn't defined by what you see. It's what you do after seeing that counts.

Red Wine Bread

2006-08-26T17:25:00.000+08:00

Red wine in bread? Sounds really interesting.

Ben was describing this bread recipe that he found from “Confessions of a French Baker”, by Peter Mayle(Writer) and Gerard Auzet(Baker). The recipe calls for equal amounts of red wine and water, no sugar or oil.

In my past baking adventures, I have learnt that breads turn out dense, and even tough, if oil/butter was omitted. But I admit that it was the wine that perked my interest in wanting to try out Ben's find. Also a good excuse to finish that quarter bottle of red wine. Incidentally, I googled for "Red Wine Bread recipes" without any finds. Seemed like it's going to be an 'off-the-beaten-path' adventure today.

The recipe called for strong flour, with Ben recommending unbleached. However, I decided to change it to whole meal instead, hoping to up the nutrition index a bit more. While shopping for the flour in my neighborhood, I dropped by a newly opened food store that sells Organic food. I came out $6.05 poorer, with 1kg of organic whole meal flour and organic dried yeast. And I decided that I shall also use distilled water, instead of PUB’s sky juice for the dough. Wow, I think my nutrition index just shot through the roof.

Recipe was straightforward. Mix everything, knead for 10mins. Proof the dough. Beat down. Let it rise again. Into the oven and out. Tada! Fresh, soft, wholesome, nutrition-loaded, home baked, whole meal bread like those of Gardenia or Sunshine. Right?

Not quite.

Although the wine flavour wasn't evident, I still think the bread tasted fine and no lacking in nutrition. But the softness I was looking for wasn’t there.

Where did I go wrong?

Whole meal flour has less protein than normal plain flours and therefore develops lesser gluten. Gluten is formed when flour is mixed with water and gives breads the typical “web” or “spongy” structure that trap the CO2 released during the leavening process. When I used 100% whole meal flour, it is not surprising that the bread turned out rather coarse and dense. Maybe I didn’t knead enough. Maybe I could have used more yeast. Maybe I should let the dough rise longer. Or maybe I should have just follow instructions.

Ah, the world of what-if scenarios and hindsight. I shall ponder them over tea and my home-baked bread.

You think the standard of English in Sg is bad?

2006-06-30T18:38:00.000+08:00

Screen capture of an email I recieved at work. This was written by someone who has lived and worked in the USA for a number of years. I hope the standard of English in Singapore is not this bad.

Oy, Oy, Oysters!

2006-06-07T22:54:00.000+08:00

My brother came today with 12 frozen oysters. He ate 6 after thawing. Raw. That was too fresh for my liking.

I decided my oysters shall be baked, with a little bit of minced garlic, a slice of butter and topped with a sprinkle of cheese, 15 mins in the oven, add a dash of lemon - ah... that's how I like them!

Slices of Sillypore 002 - Can comprain a'not?

2006-05-13T19:15:00.000+08:00

This was taken from my kitchen window this morning.

The act was not what I would normally call 'silly'. It is plain inconsideration. Nothing more.

When I told Suzanne about it, she suggests that maybe the poor neighbour did not have a tumbler to spin dry their laundry...

Right. Maybe my neighbour is too weak/old to wring it by hand. So I should have a bit a more compassion and tolerance, and suck it up.

Afterall, I can always move my laundry to another slot. Surely my other neighbours have washing machines to tumble-dry theirs, right?

爱的代价

2006-05-10T22:31:00.000+08:00

A phone call came in yesterday morning, at 6am. It was my brother informing us that little Joey was running a fever. Mom and Dad immediately took off to bro's place. Later in the day, I found that they had took Joey to KK hospital. They were worried that she had a scare (from nightmare???) - Chinese call this "惊风" and kids diagosed with this problem are fed the ubiqutous "惊风散". Luckily, after rounds of blood and urine tests, nothing amiss was discovered. The doc prescribed some pills to control the fever and by evening, Joey was back to her usual active brat again.

Sigh. The price of having kids. 小不点的稍微风吹草动, 发烧流鼻涕, 爸爸妈妈爷爷奶奶就有得忙了.

After hearing Mom's account of the day, I made a remark, "We weren't so troublesome when we were babies, right?"

Gosh. Bad move. Really bad move.

From my mom's retort, I found out that, when my brothers and I were babies,

I threw up whenever I cry. Every time. And my vomit stank really bad.
I had this 'pox' condition at 11 month where my mom, who was already pregnant with my brother, had to take me to the doc every week.
I get coughs very often.
My 2nd bro had 'worms' in him, giving him bad stomach aches. On one occassion, my parents dug out one wriggly-wiggly out of his mouth in the middle of the night.
My 3rd brother had fevers whenever he got a new tooth. So that's about 28 times for a kid?

From this 'extensive' list of examples, my mom rebutted my "kids-last-time-were-tougher-than-kids-nowadays" theory. In her mind, all kids go through the same shit, now or then. All parents will have their fair share of pain in bringing up a child.

Last I heard tonight, Joey was running another high fever, again. Another night of worry for my bro and his wife.

Sigh. The price of being parents.

I hope this entry stays around long enough for Joey to grow up to read, and appreciate what her mom and dad has done for her.

Slices of Sillypore 001 - Riding in the Rain

2006-05-05T17:15:00.000+08:00

Well, Sillypore isn't going to be silly without silly acts and people, right?

Now that my phone has a camera, although a pathetic one, but it's good enough for my purpose - capturing silly things and people.

So the first entry to my Slices of Sillypore series - Riding in the Rain.

The ground's wet. The sky's still raining (although the picture didn't show it). At peak hour traffic, she rides a 1-gear 'Flying pigeon' bicycle, steering single-handed, umbrella in the other hand, squeezes between 2 columns of cars and makes a right turn at the traffic junction.

Guts? Or goodu?

未央歌说唱会

2006-04-22T21:02:00.000+08:00

黄舒骏的歌, 是大学时代, 去chalet 和BBQ的时候, 如果有人带了吉他就一定会弹唱到的. 喜欢他歌词的幽默, 有时很啰唆, 有时又很有墨水, 很有深度. 去年的3场说唱会都爆满, 我昨天看的那场也坐有九成以上, 可见欣赏他的大有人在.

现场的伴奏, 唱唱谈谈, 虽然说的话可能跟唱的歌一样多, 虽然我和Albert都坐在speakers的前面, 虽然半途有点尿急, 还好, 夜晚还过得挺'enjoy'的.

But what made me wanted to blog about the event was the ending Q&A session with the audience.

Someone asked 黄舒骏 if he (the audience who asked) could work with 黄舒骏 to make some music. This guy, in his words, is a '音乐人' and '玩音乐有4,5年了'.

So 黄舒骏 asked him immediately, '有带你的作品来吗?'

音乐人 replied, '电脑当机了...', which meant to say his works were lost after his computer crashed.

黄舒骏 humorously said that in his time, music was made using pen and paper. To which, 音乐人 claimed he's got about 60 or so works on paper. So 黄舒骏 asked if he's got that with him. Well, the bummer, 音乐人didn't bring it. Dud...

As the saying goes, the best has yet to come.

黄舒骏 says he's still around the next day, hinting that they can still meet up to look at 音乐人's works and discuss about it -- to which 音乐人replied, "噢, 我明天飞台北了..."

*face palm*

I don't know who is this 音乐人, he never introduced his name. However, I didn't think too much of his sincerity in wanting to partner with 黄舒骏.

What went through my mind was : 朋友, 你的诚意在那里? You wanted to partner with another artist, and an accomplished one like 黄舒骏. Good for you. You think his concert might be an opportunity to ask, but yet you couldnt't even prepare yourself properly for it? Stored all your works on computer? Tech geek eh? Apparently you have never heard of back-ups, or you would have come a back-up plan - with your works on paper, CD or mp3 player. Or maybe you expected 黄舒骏 to believe you were a worthy partner with just your words?

And did someone say on national TV that the PAP "was arrogant"?

Of course, 黄舒骏 was much more eloquent and polite in his reply. He didn't say all that above. He just chuckled and said, '噢, 我好忙啊!'

Sweet.