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Out like teens on a midnight date to nowhere

"So this guy was waiting for a bus late at night, and he was getting worried because he wanted to go home, and he thought he missed the last bus, when suddenly, he saw his bus coming towards his bus stop," said the wife, telling me a story as we wait for the second-last feeder bus of the night.

"And then?" I ask.

"It had NO driver!" she says.

"Woah."

"When the bus finally pulled up, he looked behind the bus, and it was the driver and the conductor pushing it!" she laughs.

"Was that a for-real story or was it some joke?"

"I don't know but you can tell it is an old story, right? Got conductor in it. When was the last time you sat in a bus with a conductor?" she says.

The wife and I are chatting at the bus stop, it's close to midnight. At home, she had mentioned ice cream and not having to work tomorrow, and I decided we should just live dangerously and go to the 24-hour MacDs at the interchange for dessert. And we would go by bus.

"We're not driving there?" she asked, when I suggested we bus there and walk home after our midnight date (since we would miss the last bus by then).

"Take bus lah. We used to take bus when we were dating as teens what," I said.

So we took the bus.

It's not like we drive everywhere. The wife takes public transport to work and I ride a bicycle to work daily. But on weekends, we usually drive the family around. Yet it seemed strange that we would go a midnight date, to the interchange, on a weeknight, and NOT drive.

We enjoy the cool night air and talk about everything. I tell her about Ryan sharing some of his army photos with me after he saw my BMT photos on Facebook and Flickr. It was a quiet day in the office with everyone out on Chinese New Year leave.

She, in turn, shares the antics of our kids when she reads to them every night. Isaac would interrupt the wife in the middle of their bedtime story time ritual, and he would nudge Joy with a grin, saying, "Eh, eh, Joy, do your Does Anybody Need Help."

Joy would then make a funny face and use a funny voice to say, "Does anybody need help?"

And the two kids would crack up, disrupting Mommy's story telling.

"What does that phrase mean? Where is it from?" I ask the wife.

"I don't know, but Isaac really laughs out loud when Joy does it," she says,"and it's like an inside joke for the two of them. May be from a tv show. Joy is such an clown."

A 5-year-old and his 3-year-old sibling sharing a private joke only the two of them get. Nice to know they entertain each other.

We get on the bus, reach the Macs, buy our ice creams, and chat like this some more. Then we finished my Oreo ice cream together and we begin our 20-minute walk home, taking a shortcut through the housing estate.

It is almost 1am. There is a cool night wind blowing and I start telling her about the time I rode my bike in Washington DC at 6am in the morning in windy 10°C conditions, wearing only a windbreaker. My nipples shivered, I tell her, it was that cold.

She laughs.

Best date we've had all month.

the mrbrown show: the right package

Go get your recession ang pow at Check it out at mrbrownshow.com!

It's Reunion Dinner time to usher in the Niu Year!

The whole gang is in mom's place for Reunion Dinner and it's a loud and rowdy affair.

This year the abalone was a gift from fourth aunt. So we didn't have to use our petrol station points to redeem a can of abalone. Never mind, we can save the points for next year's meal.

We also welcomed a new member to the family, my sister-in-law, Tricia, who has been promoted to the rank of Ah Sahm (what the kids will call her from now on, instead of Tricia chie-chie).

The newly-weds were thoroughly briefed about their ang pow duties, and how in this family, we don't practise the First Year Exemption custom here.

My second brother and I also loudly and jokingly declared there is going rate for the red packets for our kids, a "guideline" which we made up on the spot.

Above the din and laughter, Joy could be heard singing "Sing tooganna, sing tooganna, sing tooganna, to King of Kings!"

We were a little busy stopping Faith from yanking down the hanging Chinese New Year decorations, to teach Joy how to pronounce "Hosanna".

May you all have a noisy, merry, properous and, joyful Year of the Ox!

You know you are getting old, if during your NS days...

There is a delightful thread on Sammyboy.com about how you can tell you are getting old, based on your National Service days. I added some of my own to the list. The Lau Peng amongst you, feel free to add to the list in the comments section. I also added some photos from my Army days in my Flickr below.

You know you are getting old, if during your NS days:

1. You were trained to use M16 and have no idea what SAR21 is.
2. You used an AR-15 before.
3. You used a metal tray for meals, and you had to wash them after use.
4. You were "served" by army regulars (who will show you a f**k face and scold you for not holding your tray properly) during mealtimes in cookhouse.
5. You joked about having ice cream for lunch in the cookhouse... and now they do.
6. Your cookhouse food was cooked by actual army cooks.
7. Your sergeant was simply known as "Sergeant", and had only 3-stripes.
8. You did not hear of any NSman "dying suddenly".
9. You were known as the "second-generation thinking soldiers".
10. You had to do "area cleaning" every morning.
11. You were ferried from one place to another in 3-tonners, not air-con buses.
12. Your 3-tonners sat more than 30 people.
13. You had to queue to use the public phone whenever you have to make a call.
14. Your combat rations consisted of "dog biscuits" + canned sardines + canned pork cubes.
15. You wore dog-tags because you were told to do so and had no choice; not because it was "fashionable".
16. You were issued those cheapo China-made black PT shoes (and yet you were able to pass IPPT using them).
17. You ogled at the canteen Ah Soh with lust because she was the only woman in the camp.
18. You even found the Chief Clerk attractive.
19. You carried the same made-in-China plastic mug for brushing the teeth, drinking tap water, cooking instant noodles, drinking some lame diluted beverage from the chow line, and slurping up night snack.
20. You wore No. 4 uniform that was meant for colder climate and had a rubbery inner lining which caused heatstroke during a 10k run.
21. You wore a WW2 American helmet.
22. Your Skeleton Battle Order (SBO) was called "the bra".
23. Your stand-by-bed had safety pins all under the bedsheet.
24. Your S1 office had typewriters.
25. You wore green PT t-shirts that expanded after a few washings.
26. Your made-in-China PT shorts were all blue and made of very thin material.
27. Your swimming trunks were black and look like tight shorts.
28. Your Ali Baba bag had no wheels.
29. Your Ali Baba bag was a long khaki sack.
30. Your boots had to be polished till you could see your reflection in it.
31. You used a heated metal spoon and kiwi to polish your boots.
32. You know what a Change Parade is.
33. Your name tag was handwritten with a black marker and a stencil.
34. Your bedsheets had a funky smell even when they were newly washed.
35. You got $20 for acing your IPPT, not $400.
36. You zeroed your weapon with a Canadian bull (or k*-n*-n*-b*) instead of an electronic oscilloscope.
37. You were part of butt parties during range.
38. You don't know what ORD is, but you know what ROD is.

An early New Year's Day Eve "company" lunch of Teochew porridge

It is a quiet day at the office. Most of the guys have gone home, as it's a half day for the Eve of Eve of Eve of Chinese New Year.

There is only Ryan, Bobbin and me around so we pop over to Geylang Lorong 37 for some Teochew porridge lunch.

That is probably as close to a company New Year lunch we small business owners will have this year. It's a nice and quiet way to spend the Friday before the CNY long weekend.

Green is the new Pink Bike-a-Thon

I met Geok Shan from NTU (she is the one on the left) on the MRT when I was going to a meeting with my folding bike and she approached me to tell me about a bicycle event she is doing as part of her Final Year Project at NTU, with her friends.

Green is the new Pink Bike-a-Thon is organised in conjunction with NParks and sponsors Speedmatrix (the Dahon guys) to promote the Eastern Coastal Park Connector Network and bike riding. Oh, also romance (Valentine's Day lah).

Date: 14 Feb 2009 Saturday (Valentine's Day)
Start point: Sun Plaza park
End point/picnic ground: East Coast Park Area C4
Distance: 28km
Reporting time: 6.45am
Flag-off: 8.00am

Registration fee is $15 which covers bike and helmet rental and comes with an attractive goodie bag with event t-shirt, free lunch, free flow of popcorn and candy floss for all participants (er, doesn't that ADD the calories back?).

It's $10 if you bring your own bicycle.

And there are folding bicycles to be won.

I am as big a fan of the East Coast PCN as they are, so that is why I am telling you about their Bike-a-Thon.

Registration details at their blog: makegreenthenewpink.wordpress.com.

Obrownma sez, Yes We Can!

Having fun with obamicon.me.

the mrbrown show: hard to burn

If you think an Member of Parliament has a cushy job, you lesser mortals are wrong! Check it out at mrbrownshow.com!

Should Mr Tan Yong Soon apologise?

I saw this in a Facebook status thread about whether Mr Tan Yong Soon should apologise for "boasting" about his Paris holiday. Joseph C wrote:

An apology would be welcome but hardly necessary. It's not like he let a suspected dangerous terrorist escape from custody and then failed miserably in the dissemination of information and the recapture of the suspect. It's not like he lost S$12 million of taxpayer's money in misinvestments. Maybe, he should just say he's sorry it has happened, or regrets that some people have found it insensitive. And add that now that it has happened, what to do? So let's move on...

MP Charles Chong: maybe lesser mortals jealous of Perm Sec's French holiday

More news from the Le Cordon Bleu holiday story, as Mr Tan Yong Soon's bosses weigh in: CNA: "Civil servant rapped over cooking holiday"

Also seen in TODAY's piece on it, "Ill-timed article cooks up a storm", an MP also said:

Agreeing that the rebuke in Parliament was “harsh”, MP Charles Chong noted that in the article, Mr Tan did not “brag” about how expensive the trip was. “Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a little bit boastful,” he said. “Would people have taken offence if his wife (a senior investment counsellor at a bank) had paid for everything?”

<--Photo of the god-like MP Charles Chong from Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

Ya lor, all you lesser mortals who complain the Perm Sec about his holiday, why liddat? When you reach superior mortal status, then you will have the right to comment about a highly paid public servant devoting several pages writing about his expensive family holiday, in a mainstream newspaper, during a recession, ok?

Lesser mortals are so annoying sometimes hor?

Man wanted by Interpol for making one too many V-signs in photographs

If you see this man, a Mr Jerry Ee, please inform Interpol, who is assisting the Singapore gahmen in looking for him.

This man is wanted for crimes against humanity, for perpetuating the peace-sign/v-sign photo taking pose, and taking a photo like this at his workplace.

Ok, his ex-workplace.

Oh, and he is also wanted in connection with the Cortina Watch S$7.9 million heist.

I don't know what is a worse outcome for that crime: being wanted by Interpol or getting a dorky photo like this posted online as your Wanted shot.

Featured Comment from reader UnwantedPhoto: "I think Interpol purposely put that photo to make him so paiseh that he give himself up to ask them change the photo."

Singapore gahmen becomes famous overseas for its French cooking skills

Who said our senior civil servants are just boring bureaucrats? Look at the international coverage about how one such talent acquired French cooking skills from Paris, for mere peanuts.

Reuters: Bureaucrat's cooking trip sparks outcry

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singaporean bureaucrat who wrote about taking his family on an expensive cooking course in France has sparked ire from locals, with some accusing him of extravagance given the city-state is in recession. Tan Yong Soon, a senior official at Singapore's Environment Ministry, learnt to truss chicken and cut vegetables at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in Paris with his wife and son, and wrote about it in the Straits Times newspaper earlier this month. "Taking five weeks leave from work is not as difficult as one thinks. Most times when you are at the top, you think you are indispensable. But if you are a good leader who has built up a good team, it is possible," Tan wrote in the newspaper. His article raised eyebrows given the five-week course for three at the prestigious French cooking school cost more than S$46,000 (US$30,930).

You can read the rest at the Reuters website.

Seah Chiang Nee of Littlespeck.com also wrote about it in his column in Malaysia's The Star newspaper:

Seah Chiang Nee: Widened by hard times

Excerpt:

A GOVERNMENT elite has stirred ripples by talking of his expensive cooking lessons in France, revealing how hard times are deepening class differences in Singapore. Inadvertently creating controversy was the permanent secretary at the Environment and Water Resources Ministry, one of the highest ranking civil servants. Tan Yong Soon had related how he had spent S$46,000 for himself, his wife and son for a five-day trip to learn fine French cooking. In ordinary times, this leisurely – but rather insensitive – account would not have amounted to anything much but these days are, of course, far from normal.

Read the rest of the column at Littlespeck.com.

Funny, I didn't read about this outrage in the Straits Times leh.

the mrbrown show: heroes of the economy

Government secretary shows us how to live it up in this recession, at mrbrownshow.com!

New Youth Olympics logo got a lot of meaning

The new Youth Olympics logo has been revealed and it is loaded with meaning.

As you can see from the logo, there is a purple bird with its head on fire. It represents young people who are suffering from heatstroke.

Below the purple bird, there is this green swoosh. This swoosh is necessary in all government logos as it represents dynamism. Also, it is a reminder that the grass is slippery after rain, so be careful when you run on it.

The informal handwriting symbolises the careless yet vibrant penmanship of young people.

The five rings below represent unity, all-roundedness, the unbroken circle of trust, international global-ness and a personal pan pizza.

"And they came for me" by Lasantha Wickramatunga

On January 8, 2009, Lasantha Wickramatunga the editor of The Sunday Leader in Sri Lanka, was shot dead by two gunmen on a motorcycle (see also Huffington Post).

This is an editorial he wrote, chillingly written with an awareness that his days were numbered.

And they came for me
Editorial by Lasantha Wickramatunga

No other profession calls on its practitioners to lay down their lives for their art save the armed forces and, in Sri Lanka, journalism. In the course of the past few years, the independent media have increasingly come under attack. Electronic and print-media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last.

Telling my silly stories to some cool SIM/RMIT mass comms students

It's my third time guest lecturing at this course and it's always a blast. This time I was invited by lecturers Lisa French and Mark Poole. The last time I was here, it was in 2006 and in a few years, you can see the difference in the web-savviness of this new batch.

Not to say the previous batches were any less fun and or less intelligent an audience lah.

I found myself having to update many of my stories and slides (Apple's Keynote 09 rules, by the way) because time flies in the internet world. New technologies and new forms of social media has impacted even my little corner of the web. So I added my stories of Twitter and Qik.

But one thing doesn't change. It's still about communicating and about connecting people.

I rode home from SIM and rewarded myself to some nice Punggol Nasi Lemak at Upper Serangoon Road. And didn't even have to move my bicycle when they shouted that the Parking Auntie Stormtroopers have arrived.

It was fun to see people rushing to move their illegally-parked cars from the double-yellow-zigzag-lined road, while I enjoyed my dinner.

In case you're wondering, Lisa, yes this was blogged from my mobile phone, haha.

Talking about The Webbys on Prime Time Morning, CNA

This morning, my friend Melvyn, Creative Director of OgilvyOne, and I were on Channel NewsAsia's Prime Time Morning program to talk about The Webby Awards.

The last time I was on the show was in 2005, with Miyagi, to talk about the Singapore Writers Festival.

I tried to talk as if I knew a lot about the Webbys but to be honest, I just got asked to be a judge recently. So I decided heck, I will go in there and make stuff up.

I did get to play with my Creative Vado HD camera though, and shot a little video of our brief time there with hosts Steve Chia and Joanne Leow, who were very nice.

This time, I remembered not to wear blue.

Riding through Shanghai in style

Model Elyse Sewell, from America's Next Top Model's season 1, rode her bicycle through the streets of Shanghai and shot this little video.

You can also check out her LJ blog.

(via)

the mrbrown show: helping us cope

Get some help from gahmen at mrbrownshow.com!

Tai Keng Gardens has such a nice park

On Saturday, we took the kids to Tai Keng Gardens, a quiet private housing estate at the back of our flat because in my bicycle rides through the estate (a short cut for me), I realised they had this lovely park there.

There was a playground, an exercise area, and lots of grassy space for the kids to run freely.

I took Joy and Isaac on short rides on my Xootr kick scooter too, since you could fit an adult and a child on its huge platform.

Funny how you miss these little discoveries when you drive. Take a walk or a bike ride around your home, you may discover places you never knew were there.