Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Saturday, August 27, 2005
cheap thrill..
today.. i overtook this car on the road...
A male and obviously "ku niang" driver driving the darn yellow convertible boxster at a snail's pace, hogging the middle lane. wat a W.U.S.S ... driving so lousily in such a car... even my trusty OLK2/BOB could overtake him... he should be ashamed of his driving.. if it was me driving (though not one of my dream cars.. but hey.. if you give it to me.. who am i to complain?!!!)... i'd be burning tires man!
*screeching tires*
*waves bye bye*
*smell smoke*
A male and obviously "ku niang" driver driving the darn yellow convertible boxster at a snail's pace, hogging the middle lane. wat a W.U.S.S ... driving so lousily in such a car... even my trusty OLK2/BOB could overtake him... he should be ashamed of his driving.. if it was me driving (though not one of my dream cars.. but hey.. if you give it to me.. who am i to complain?!!!)... i'd be burning tires man!
*screeching tires*
*waves bye bye*
*smell smoke*
Friday, August 26, 2005
so many things happened..
decided to make certain (permanent) changes in my life. wasn't a easy decision to make.. but i had decided to go ahead. hope that they'd turn out well.
and decided to go for the singapore marathon too... well.. let's hope that i get enough training and don't chicken out when the day arrives.
anyway.. was going home after dinner on wednesday when my companions and i came across a strange sight. Now.. i had wanted to take a picture of it.. after all it is not very often that you see things like this on the roads of singapore. But all my friends were going, "No... got policeman.. wait he catches you.. driving and taking pictures.. very dangerous you know!".. etc etc.. so i kept my camera... this is despite of reassurances that i can multi-task. i suppose the flash would have given me away.
Well.. given that i didn't managed to get a picture. i decided to draw wat i saw. Ermm.. haven't drawn for the longest time.. despite of my artistic inclination years ago.. so presenting... the SIDEWAYS CAR!!
That's the police bike, policeman and the sideways car.. it was totally flipped on its side.
As i turned into my road.. it looked like that.. i believe that it was a kind of station wagon. My friends and i figured that it was either the passengers (really heavy ones) were all sitting on the passager side.. causing to flip over.. or the driver u-turned really fast.. and just flipped over.. or maybe it's a combination of both..
har har har.. i don't think that anyone was hurt... no ambulance or anything.. and even the driver wasn't there.. maybe it was just abandoned :)
and decided to go for the singapore marathon too... well.. let's hope that i get enough training and don't chicken out when the day arrives.
anyway.. was going home after dinner on wednesday when my companions and i came across a strange sight. Now.. i had wanted to take a picture of it.. after all it is not very often that you see things like this on the roads of singapore. But all my friends were going, "No... got policeman.. wait he catches you.. driving and taking pictures.. very dangerous you know!".. etc etc.. so i kept my camera... this is despite of reassurances that i can multi-task. i suppose the flash would have given me away.
Well.. given that i didn't managed to get a picture. i decided to draw wat i saw. Ermm.. haven't drawn for the longest time.. despite of my artistic inclination years ago.. so presenting... the SIDEWAYS CAR!!
That's the police bike, policeman and the sideways car.. it was totally flipped on its side.
As i turned into my road.. it looked like that.. i believe that it was a kind of station wagon. My friends and i figured that it was either the passengers (really heavy ones) were all sitting on the passager side.. causing to flip over.. or the driver u-turned really fast.. and just flipped over.. or maybe it's a combination of both..
har har har.. i don't think that anyone was hurt... no ambulance or anything.. and even the driver wasn't there.. maybe it was just abandoned :)
Friday, August 19, 2005
it's out... but not available in Singapore yet.. how?
I want to get this!!
Went and checked out the local dvd stores.. but they are not in stock yet.. sigh... when will it come?
Went and checked out the local dvd stores.. but they are not in stock yet.. sigh... when will it come?
i would have wanted....
i had a friend once who was so in awe and into Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder that he kept buying copies of Sophie's World and giving it to all his friends. He did study philosophy. i do have a copy.. but somehow.. it is one of those books that i could never finish. i tried to make sense.. but guess i was never into philosophy as such... but then, i had read one of Jostein Gaarder's other book, The Solitaire Mystery: a novel about family and destiny, borrowed/snatched from the same fellow just after he bought it. Managed to finish it within a day.. and i really liked and enjoyed the story. It was amazing how a deck of cards could make sense and relate to time months, seasons and such.
Well... i would have wanted to meet Jostein Gaarder (like how this librarian did) and gotten him to autograph a copy of Sophie's World to give it to my friend.
Well... i would have wanted to meet Jostein Gaarder (like how this librarian did) and gotten him to autograph a copy of Sophie's World to give it to my friend.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Time to catch..
March of the Penguins
Quick.. it's showing now.. heart warming and highly acclaimed documentary.
err.. even though i hate birds.. i still think that i will go and catch it... i'm so pro-national geographic now.
P/S.. did i tell you that i missed catching Steve McCurry once?? i was very upset then too..
Oh.. and i managed to catch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory too.. kinda surreal.. can't tell whether i liked it or not.. the part about Willy Wonka's background and childhood. am still in 2 minds about that.
Quick.. it's showing now.. heart warming and highly acclaimed documentary.
err.. even though i hate birds.. i still think that i will go and catch it... i'm so pro-national geographic now.
P/S.. did i tell you that i missed catching Steve McCurry once?? i was very upset then too..
Oh.. and i managed to catch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory too.. kinda surreal.. can't tell whether i liked it or not.. the part about Willy Wonka's background and childhood. am still in 2 minds about that.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
photography extraordinaire
i'm so upset today... it started out as a really good day. i managed to attend a talk by the renowned national geographic photographer, Michael Yamashita. it was a really good talk and he shared with the attendees stories whilst on the Marco Polo assignment back in 2001 (or rather, a story that was published back in 2001).
Yamashita was in the new national library courtesy of HP photosmart printers (i want one too!!! it's really amazing.. the print quality.. but i don't think that i can afford the ink or the paper.. so forget it!) to talk about his marco polo assignment. Needless to say.. people in the attendance was swept away by his pictures, sense of adventure and humour.
i wish that i had gotten the nerve to ask him what kind of preparation is needed when one embarks on such a journey. seems that he needed to know intimately the details and such of marco polo's journey. basically, living and breathing the details of marco polo's book. And of course knowing and planning the type of pictures to take. Sometimes it's luck...just happened to be there at the right time and the right subject just pops out. More often then not.. lots of planning.. as in knowing what kind of story you want to tell and such. And of cos.. having a endless supply of rolls of film helps too. He actually shot over 2000 rolls of film for the marco polo assignment.
The library also had an exhibition of his pictures...
i wanna make my way to Venice one of these days..
Anyway.. so why am i upset??
After attending his talk.. i was inspired to look for reading materials on his photographic journeys. So.... i tracked down Yamashita's book, MARCO POLO: A PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNEY.. where he traces his marco polo assignment.
i even got 2005, july's issue of national geographic cos there was a photographic assignment on Zheng He by Yamashita. BTW, he is currently on a Zheng He's video assignment.
So i went home and flipped through my pile of national geographic issues and guess what? I FOUND MY MINT COPIES OF THE MARCO POLO FEATURE!!! May and June issues 2001. i should have checked my national geographic issues first and then brought them down for Yamashita to sign.
sigh...one lost opportunity...
Anyway.. Yamashita told a funny story about the camels in the desert picture.. apparently the silk route is so commericalised that there are thousands of tourists in the sand dunes and each camel is labelled with numbers. he waited til sunset to take that picture so that the numbers on the camels wouldn't be seen. :) hee hee hee.. well mum and dad are going on the silk route next month.. so maybe their pictures will show the real story :)
FYI, there's tons of exhibitions in the new national library now. From the Zheng He to 160 Years of the Straits Times in Pictures... amazing stuff.. i need to find time to go and check them out.
p/s i am inspired to go and renew my national geographic subscription!!
p/s/s i'm still upset about how i didn't get Yamashit'a autograph on my magazines..
Yamashita was in the new national library courtesy of HP photosmart printers (i want one too!!! it's really amazing.. the print quality.. but i don't think that i can afford the ink or the paper.. so forget it!) to talk about his marco polo assignment. Needless to say.. people in the attendance was swept away by his pictures, sense of adventure and humour.
i wish that i had gotten the nerve to ask him what kind of preparation is needed when one embarks on such a journey. seems that he needed to know intimately the details and such of marco polo's journey. basically, living and breathing the details of marco polo's book. And of course knowing and planning the type of pictures to take. Sometimes it's luck...just happened to be there at the right time and the right subject just pops out. More often then not.. lots of planning.. as in knowing what kind of story you want to tell and such. And of cos.. having a endless supply of rolls of film helps too. He actually shot over 2000 rolls of film for the marco polo assignment.
The library also had an exhibition of his pictures...
i wanna make my way to Venice one of these days..
Anyway.. so why am i upset??
After attending his talk.. i was inspired to look for reading materials on his photographic journeys. So.... i tracked down Yamashita's book, MARCO POLO: A PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNEY.. where he traces his marco polo assignment.
i even got 2005, july's issue of national geographic cos there was a photographic assignment on Zheng He by Yamashita. BTW, he is currently on a Zheng He's video assignment.
So i went home and flipped through my pile of national geographic issues and guess what? I FOUND MY MINT COPIES OF THE MARCO POLO FEATURE!!! May and June issues 2001. i should have checked my national geographic issues first and then brought them down for Yamashita to sign.
sigh...one lost opportunity...
Anyway.. Yamashita told a funny story about the camels in the desert picture.. apparently the silk route is so commericalised that there are thousands of tourists in the sand dunes and each camel is labelled with numbers. he waited til sunset to take that picture so that the numbers on the camels wouldn't be seen. :) hee hee hee.. well mum and dad are going on the silk route next month.. so maybe their pictures will show the real story :)
FYI, there's tons of exhibitions in the new national library now. From the Zheng He to 160 Years of the Straits Times in Pictures... amazing stuff.. i need to find time to go and check them out.
p/s i am inspired to go and renew my national geographic subscription!!
p/s/s i'm still upset about how i didn't get Yamashit'a autograph on my magazines..
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Kids, Not Parents, Imagine Barbie as a Librarian — August 9, 2005
Taken from the Library Journal..
--------------------------------------------
Maybe it’s that kids have good experiences with children’s librarians, and their parents are too harried to do more than order books online. Or maybe parents can be just a little, uh, snooty. For whatever reason, a recent poll at the Barbie.com web site concerning a new career for Barbie showed that kids much more readily imagined Barbie as a librarian than did their parents. Similarly, a good number of kids also wanted Barbie to a cop, while their parents overwhelmingly voted for architect. (How many buildings would Barbie design?). The results as of last week showed 37 percent of kids voted for librarian, 37 percent for policewomen, and 25 percent for architect, while 93 percent of parents voted for architect, 3 percent for librarian, and 2 percent for policewomen.
-----------------------------------
i did a screen shot on today (13 Aug 2005)
i think that it's cool.. i would be the first one to go and get it.. hee hee .. and i had mentioned it previously in my posts (here and here).... it's great to know that librarians around the world are having a positive impact and influence on the kids. it is times like these that i find it fulfilling to be a librarian.
--------------------------------------------
Maybe it’s that kids have good experiences with children’s librarians, and their parents are too harried to do more than order books online. Or maybe parents can be just a little, uh, snooty. For whatever reason, a recent poll at the Barbie.com web site concerning a new career for Barbie showed that kids much more readily imagined Barbie as a librarian than did their parents. Similarly, a good number of kids also wanted Barbie to a cop, while their parents overwhelmingly voted for architect. (How many buildings would Barbie design?). The results as of last week showed 37 percent of kids voted for librarian, 37 percent for policewomen, and 25 percent for architect, while 93 percent of parents voted for architect, 3 percent for librarian, and 2 percent for policewomen.
-----------------------------------
i did a screen shot on today (13 Aug 2005)
i think that it's cool.. i would be the first one to go and get it.. hee hee .. and i had mentioned it previously in my posts (here and here).... it's great to know that librarians around the world are having a positive impact and influence on the kids. it is times like these that i find it fulfilling to be a librarian.
Friday, August 12, 2005
how to make your mark in the literary world
Well.. you don't need to be a writer to make your mark in the literary world. why slog when you can just bid to have your name in books by established authors (all in the name of charity)?
There are several authors who are auctioning characters and names in their upcoming books.
From Neil Gaiman's website
----------------------------------------
Have you ever wanted to be in a Stephen King book? (You must be female in order to die, though.) What he's offering:"One (and only one) character name in a novel called CELL, which is now in work and which will appear in either 2006 or 2007. Buyer should be aware that CELL is a violent piece of work, which comes complete with zombies set in motion by bad cell phone signals that destroy the human brain. Like cheap whiskey, it's very nasty and extremely satisfying. Character can be male or female, but a buyer who wants to die must in this case be female. In any case, I'll require physical description of auction winner, including any nickname (can be made up, I don't give a rip)."When you can bid:September 8-18
Or a Lemony Snicket book? What he's offering:"An utterance by Sunny Baudelaire in Book the Thirteenth. Pronunciation and/or spelling may be slightly 'mutilated.' An example of this is in The Grim Grotto when Sunny utters 'Bushcheney.' Target publication date is Fall 2006."When you can bid:September 8-18
Or a Jonathan Lethem-written Marvel comic? What he's offering:"I need the name of a Columbia University professor for a comic book I'm writing for Marvel. It can be your name or the name of a friend -- but if it's a friend, I need to hear from them with their permission."When you can bid:September 8-18
From Neil Gaiman himself? What he is promising to put your name onto a gravestone in his next children's novel, THE GRAVEYARD BOOK.
The schedule (and the complete list of authors) is as follows:
September 1-10: Michael Chabon, Amy Tan, Peter Straub, Andrew Sean Greer, Karen Joy Fowler
September 8-18: Stephen King, Lemony Snicket, Dorothy Allison, Jonathan Lethem, Ayelet Waldman
September 15-25: John Grisham, Nora Roberts, Neil Gaiman, Dave Eggers, Rick Moody, ZZ Packer And all the information is up at http://www.ebay.com/fap (or at http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=auctioncause). It's a perfect birthday present, graduation present, retirement present, way to impress a boyfriend, girlfriend, parent, child. And it's for an extremely good cause.
-------------------------------------------
anyone want to bid and put olkgal in the neil gaiman/lemony snicket/amy tan/stephen king (prob i'd never read his book)books???!!!!????
There are several authors who are auctioning characters and names in their upcoming books.
From Neil Gaiman's website
----------------------------------------
Have you ever wanted to be in a Stephen King book? (You must be female in order to die, though.) What he's offering:"One (and only one) character name in a novel called CELL, which is now in work and which will appear in either 2006 or 2007. Buyer should be aware that CELL is a violent piece of work, which comes complete with zombies set in motion by bad cell phone signals that destroy the human brain. Like cheap whiskey, it's very nasty and extremely satisfying. Character can be male or female, but a buyer who wants to die must in this case be female. In any case, I'll require physical description of auction winner, including any nickname (can be made up, I don't give a rip)."When you can bid:September 8-18
Or a Lemony Snicket book? What he's offering:"An utterance by Sunny Baudelaire in Book the Thirteenth. Pronunciation and/or spelling may be slightly 'mutilated.' An example of this is in The Grim Grotto when Sunny utters 'Bushcheney.' Target publication date is Fall 2006."When you can bid:September 8-18
Or a Jonathan Lethem-written Marvel comic? What he's offering:"I need the name of a Columbia University professor for a comic book I'm writing for Marvel. It can be your name or the name of a friend -- but if it's a friend, I need to hear from them with their permission."When you can bid:September 8-18
From Neil Gaiman himself? What he is promising to put your name onto a gravestone in his next children's novel, THE GRAVEYARD BOOK.
The schedule (and the complete list of authors) is as follows:
September 1-10: Michael Chabon, Amy Tan, Peter Straub, Andrew Sean Greer, Karen Joy Fowler
September 8-18: Stephen King, Lemony Snicket, Dorothy Allison, Jonathan Lethem, Ayelet Waldman
September 15-25: John Grisham, Nora Roberts, Neil Gaiman, Dave Eggers, Rick Moody, ZZ Packer And all the information is up at http://www.ebay.com/fap (or at http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=auctioncause). It's a perfect birthday present, graduation present, retirement present, way to impress a boyfriend, girlfriend, parent, child. And it's for an extremely good cause.
-------------------------------------------
anyone want to bid and put olkgal in the neil gaiman/lemony snicket/amy tan/stephen king (prob i'd never read his book)books???!!!!????
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Win some, lose something...
the sale came and went.
it is the only time that i had spent so little at a book sale. i was going to say that maybe the selection wasn't there or due to the fact that i went late..But maybe it was me.. instead of the usual early beaver or even due to the fact that i hadn't had much time to read. i wish that it was a simple matter of just allocating time.. but recently.. i don't seem to be able to muster the interest to read any of the books that i had bought/ borrowed recently. instead.. just vegeing out.. watching tons of mtv ... lazing around... going for walks...
but .. i did get some books.. though honestly speaking i don't know when i will be reading them.
Uncle Tungsten : Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks
The Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa, Adriana Hunter (Translator)
And.. my best buy...
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell, Dustin Thomason
it was only at S$5
despite of getting good buys... i lost something.. a tiffany earring to be exact.. naturally it was a gift.. and it wasn't the first time that i had lost it. i had gotten a replacement after i'd lost my earring the first time round. And losing it a second time round is really upsetting.
Maybe it's a sign...
i don't think that i will get it replaced at all.. just leave it be.. got to keep reminding myself...旧的不去, 新的不来
it is the only time that i had spent so little at a book sale. i was going to say that maybe the selection wasn't there or due to the fact that i went late..But maybe it was me.. instead of the usual early beaver or even due to the fact that i hadn't had much time to read. i wish that it was a simple matter of just allocating time.. but recently.. i don't seem to be able to muster the interest to read any of the books that i had bought/ borrowed recently. instead.. just vegeing out.. watching tons of mtv ... lazing around... going for walks...
but .. i did get some books.. though honestly speaking i don't know when i will be reading them.
Uncle Tungsten : Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks
The Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa, Adriana Hunter (Translator)
And.. my best buy...
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell, Dustin Thomason
it was only at S$5
despite of getting good buys... i lost something.. a tiffany earring to be exact.. naturally it was a gift.. and it wasn't the first time that i had lost it. i had gotten a replacement after i'd lost my earring the first time round. And losing it a second time round is really upsetting.
Maybe it's a sign...
i don't think that i will get it replaced at all.. just leave it be.. got to keep reminding myself...旧的不去, 新的不来
Thursday, August 04, 2005
HEAR HEAR!!
i love what was written in QQ*Librarian's blog on the New National Library and why there's only one level of lending collection.
Read all about it here...
And i quote from her,
Thank you for this gem.. i will remember it.
Read all about it here...
And i quote from her,
“Your library so big, got 16 floors and only ONE lending section at the basement ah?” They (the duh users of the new national library) emphasized the ONE, just to prove their point in our erroneous judgment.
To these people, I replied.
“Sir, there are more than 20 public lending libraries in the whole country, do you think it’s too much to have just ONE non-lending reference library for the whole of Singapore?” I said all these in a gentle manner and still flashed my megawatt smile.
Most people become very sheepish after that when they realized the logic of the whole matter. One even asked, “Oh… so, huh, I can go to other libraries to borrow books then.” And I gently reminded him, “No you don’t have to, we still have one lending section at the basement.”
Thank you for this gem.. i will remember it.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Upcoming book sale
Upcoming book sale at the Singapore Expo over the National Day weekend as informed by the organisors...
Times Book Sale
Hall 4B
06 - 09 Aug 2005
From 10am - 9pm
--------------------------------------
Wondering wat kind of books i will be getting this time round. Will definitelybe looking for Harry Potter and the Globet of Fire (hopefully at $7).i sure regret no getting it previously. My hardback cover fell off while i was re-reading the book recently.
Hrrmmpp... re-reading definitely has it benefits... there were so many details and clues that Rowling had included in the previous books. Stuff like regarding the Vanishing cupboard. Despite of its important part in the Half-blood prince, did you know that it had made its appearance much much earlier in the previous books?
hrrmmmppp...
Times Book Sale
Hall 4B
06 - 09 Aug 2005
From 10am - 9pm
--------------------------------------
Wondering wat kind of books i will be getting this time round. Will definitelybe looking for Harry Potter and the Globet of Fire (hopefully at $7).i sure regret no getting it previously. My hardback cover fell off while i was re-reading the book recently.
Hrrmmpp... re-reading definitely has it benefits... there were so many details and clues that Rowling had included in the previous books. Stuff like regarding the Vanishing cupboard. Despite of its important part in the Half-blood prince, did you know that it had made its appearance much much earlier in the previous books?
hrrmmmppp...
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