I met 9.33 fm dj Zhou Chong Qing at Toa Payoh swimming pool.

He was my ex colleague.

He just won best Chinese dj awards

And I just won him at swimming.

Talking to him brings back so many forgotten childhood memories about filming. I remembered that he used to play “miao miao bo shi.” an eccentric and old scientist with an egg head, fake cotton moustache and an attitude.

Apparently, this character got his doctorate for doing primary school experiments for his entire lifetime. His primary school probably gave him the doctorate just to get him out of the school after being stuck in primary 3 for half a century. A total disgrace to the education system of “Hula Hula land.” (That’s the fantasy world my show is based on. Its like Hawaii with only kids in tight ugly suits and no girls.)

But I’m just being lame here.

Hey, this is a kids programme and you are suppose to tell lies and make fantasy appears to be a reality or the kids will grow up as dull unimaginative adults. My job is to keep that fantasy world alive for them.

But even still, it wasn’t an easy job explaining science to children especially when they are so fucking curious. I came to realize this when he was always absent from the shoot due to national service and I had to take over his place.

And because of this I no longer ask questions like “ why is the world round”, or “why do we have hair?” or “what’s that misty thingy coming out of the glass of bubbling water?” Together with my other co host who are both much younger than me

Instead, I started asking questions like,”hey do I get more pay?” with an unlit cigarette in my mouth.

After all I have to regurgitate basically the entire science text book to the TV audience while my co actors smile and look at me with their inquisitive eyes, secretly smiling at how easy their job is and how hard is mine.

All right I did not smoke at that time. At least not at that age. But that’s another story.

Opps, and I was suppose to keep that button-to the-top decent smile, clean polite and endearing cute image of mine at all times because if kids who recognized me were to see me squatting beside the staircase at far east plaza spitting and wooing pretty girls might just think that that’s the end of the world.

Besides their parents will probably ban them from watching and the ratings will drop.

Ha… and you think all that glamour does not come with complications

So with all my repressed mischief and sexual desires I grew up and became a bit off.

Anyways, we chatted and he gave me his number; invited me to an exclusive spa, which was a very generous gesture, before we parted.

He is a nice guy. He used to take me and my brother to Swenson’s to eat ice cream.



Now, he hardly shops because he does not like too much attention.

And I get to shop but hardly got anybody’s attention.

Ok, I am not particularly interested in politics neither am I an activist, holding banners walking down the streets protesting against the war(yet)
But I just saw the broadcast of the killing of the American hostage by an Islamic militant group in retaliation to the ill treatment of Iraqi prisoners by the American soldiers and i wanted to puke.
I have always been a pacifist and I firmly believe that war cannot bring about peace; rather it creates more animosity and generates more hate.
With that, the problem of discrimination, insecurity, and fear will aggravate and pretty much send us into a descending spiral.

History will indirectly repeat itself.

The story will be different, but the main root of the problem remains. This problem of conflict between nations/race/religion requires massive efforts and a freaking long time too solve but I believe that it is not impossible.

At least I choose to believe that.

You can see why,” where is the love” by black eye peas remains my all time favorite RnB song. There are examples of solving conflict through non-violence. Take ghandi for instance. I’d only wish there will be more tolerant people around to make this world a better place to live in. It is sick and disgusting to see people die due to political reasons.

For goodness sake, it even isn’t the American hostage’s fault to be executed just because of the publicized photos of Iraqi’s soldiers being ill-treated. And I’m sure the bush administration should have considered the impact and the consequences its war will bring about and also such post war problems would arise. And if so are they saying, that all these newly surfaced problems are worth the war.

It only shows how impulsive and shallow your motives are in the first place.

Stop shooting yourself in the foot you only make a fool of yourself not a hero.

I just started to learn cooking from my Dad.

Considering myself more of a homely person, I was delighted to cook up a meal for my family. In fact I just did and I will be visiting them in the hospital after I finished this entry.

All right, I lied; I did not cook up the meal because I cannot finish cooking lunch before dinnertime comes. I tend to get carried away trying to cut out symmetrical pieces of garlic and ginger. So all I did was to memorize the procedure and study my guru in action who is the da Vinci of the house.

My dad is simply the handiest and most useful person you could have around. He is a great hairdresser/electrician/plumber/housekeeper/painter/chef/anything you want him to be.

In a funny way he reminds me of a transformer robot.

Short and stout, he is rather small in built and a very gentle man who loves to rare birds and fishes and kids. So being inspired all of a sudden by nothing else to do, I decided it is time I become just as useful as he is.

The best part is I realized that doing things together with my family could be really fun as compared to just roaming around town aimlessly. At least now, I can cook ang jiu mee swa (rice noodle with chicken boiled in Chinese red wine). Yang chong zhu rou (pork slices fried in dark sauce and spring onions.) deep fried kong ba,.. and many more (yet).

Beats eating out and definitely a meaningful activity I’d love to do more of. That is if I don’t get all my fingers cut off on the chopping board.

:)

have fun you all, and a personal note to Bush: you got a lot of mess to clean up this time sucker.

" Its not that we had no heart or eyes for pain. We were all afraid. We all had our miseries. But to despair was to wish back for something already lost."------- Amy Tan (Joy luck club)

Which i have to agree fully as there is no point turning back and regret over what you have done. Life is made up of many experiences which are meant to teach us but not hinder our progress. "to move on." is what i have to constantly remind myself. it works if you say it loud and with lots of conviction in the privacy of your own inner world

"Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life.They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them."--------(the curious incident of the dog in the night time)

My training in Taiwan ended with a bang.
Literally.
As Kenny and I lobbed a pretend grenade into a blind spot that we were ordered to clear by our OC, we knew we would die doing so because there were too many enemies and there was only the two of us. We looked at each other, half smiling cheekily at this preposterous suggestion, half saying our prayers not because of the impending doom but secretly thanking God that our ATEC mission (or in layman terms graduation/ORD/fuck off from army mission) is coming to an end. YAHOO!!

We charged the trench, killed 1 enemy and managed to bargain the death of another enemy with the umpire before being declared dead and useless. The umpire, a warrant officer, apparently agitated by our persistence shouted, “ don’t bloody fucking hell tell me how to do my job.”

I won’t, of course, if you know how to do it properly in the bloody first place.

This bloody (no pun intended) mission and another one before this has left me skinnier, tanner and very dirty. I have acquired the skill of walking and sleeping which is different from sleepwalking. However, on the whole, it was not as bad as Brunei and besides I was not particularly active this time. So let’s move on to “rest and recreation”

I practically bought enough clothes to last 3 generations and enough accessories to put the 70’s gypsies to shame. Cycling by the beach in Kenting, the tip of southern most Taiwan under the clouds, which hung pasted across a dome of blue, can revitalize the most worn out soldier.

I visited an amusement park and I was hardly amused at the way the roller coasters were designed. Yes, I’m very much a down to earth person and I prefer to have both my feet firmly planted on the ground. So I only took a kiddy ride that goes round and round, up and down. Yeah… so fun.. -_-

Then there’s a pub called “Pig and Whistle” with a live band performing various hits and relatively cheap beer pouring profusely into glasses which emptied almost immediately. On the whole, I truly enjoyed what I deserved for 35 days of training

and i am glad to be back in town.YEE HAH!!!