Happy Birthday Singapore

Source: NDP official site

I wish Singapore a prosperous year ahead. This is especially important -in my case- as I will be actively seeking a job in Singapore fairly soon.

On the news:

• Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in his National Day message, warns of a tough year ahead for Singapore, and that GDP growth forecast for 2008 has been cut to between 4% and 5%.
• The new generation of iPhone faces trouble, watch out what ya buying.
• Elvis Presley's most treasured performance costume was sold for $300,000.
• Relatives of US Olympic coach were attacked in Beijing, killing one and injuring the other, by a knife-wielding Chinese man who then committed suicide by throwing himself from the second storey of the site (the 13th century Drum Tower, just five miles from the main Olympics site).
• Geekology way of marriage proposal: man uses Google maps in marriage bid.

Oh.. It Is The Special Day

Source: Beijing Olympic official site

Has everyone seen the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympic? OMG, it was magnificent, so breath-taking and truly amazing. I was stunned and had goose bump sensation throughout the ceremony. I didn't expect such a spectacular ceremony from China and it was like telling the whole world that China is capable of doing anything at its best. Having watched just the opening ceremony, I see some of the US$40 billion is well spent.

Auspicious Date

Source: 2008 TVB Calender uploaded by TVB2008 on Flickr

08-08-08 (which is tommorrow, by the way) must be an auspicious time of the year. Why so? Well, maybe this date (which contains only 1 or 2 numerical digits at most) is easier to remember than a date with many different digits. Or maybe this date looks and sounds special, therefore it will last longer in our memory. Or maybe '8' signifies a positive sign in some cultures. I would say, each of the above plays a part to the popularity of 08-08-08. Anyway, I will list down some -and definitely more, if I have time to rake them - news to support the statement above:

1. Needless to say, media-swamped Beijing Olympic Games will officially launch on 08-08-08 at 08:08PM. The number '8' homonymies good fortune in Mandarin and Cantonese. Unfortunately, there are many (controversial but skewed to negative) issues on the current Olympic Games hosted by Beijing. Given spare time, I may discuss on this matter as a separate entry.

2. As point 1 suggested the digit '8' denoting good fortune for Chinese, China Daily reported more than 16,400 Beijing couples have applied to register their marriages on 08-08-08. This is to compare with just 3,390 couples registered their nuptials for the same date last year. Well, this puzzles me, I would see starting up a business on 08-08-08 is far more correlated than registering marriages. Isn't marriage is about happiness and longevity? Too bad, I don't know where to find data on business start-up date, otherwise, it is possible to test my hypothesis. On a side note, Hindu astrology finds no muhurtham (auspicious time for a wedding) on 08-08-08; besides, it falls in the 7th month of the lunar calender, the month of the Hungry Ghost when the gates of hell are said to be opened (source: AsiaOne).

3. Narrowing to local region, the most significant player in the newspaper industry, the Straits Times Singapore, will be sporting a whole-new-look for its newspaper and website on 08-08-08. The lively refreshing new website covers features such as free breaking news and blogs (the Strait Times).

4. Last but by no means the least, F.I.R. (a popular Taiwanese band) will hold a concert in Singapore on 08-08-08 at 08:00PM (source: Sistic).

Home Lonesome Home

Just reached Singapore from a serene, harmonious and not-so-polluted city (or it could be just the small community I stayed over, more on this below) in China. Background story wise, I have been dreaming to visit this good friend of mine, lets call her Z, for over a year and finally decided to pay her a visit ... during her most busy work period. I didn't know about this until I reached her place and yet, Z welcomed me in the most hospitable ways (that include neglected her work). On a weekend, we stayed in a villa purchased by her family for (I think) retirement. It is situated in a less city area but comes with great advantages like fresh air and even a man-made lake; life was so great that I have almost forgotten all my troubles.

And back to home I am, albeit an empty ones. All my family members are scattered around the world busying themselves.

Wonders of Macau

My current location is in Macau's Venetian resort - just for a short gateway to relieve (the I myself can't identify) stress. Well, there is nothing to be comment about this trip because 1) nothing special has happened so far and 2) I have been staying at Venetian too many times since it was launched last year.

Update: Spotted an attractive sales assistant in one of the Venetian's malls. He is working for a trendy, hippy and definitely caters for youngsters clothing store, do check him out. I was quite taken aback, but pleased at the same time - considering i dressed sloppily and he had no idea on my background- that he virtually followed me everywhere around the shop and tried to make small talk with me. Having said that, I guess he is cute in a generic way because I can't seem to recall his look now. If I remember right, he has dark skin and curly hair, a brit (judging from the british accent) who speaks freaking flawless cantonese.

Fame

Source: Bitten and Bound

When one member in the family is famous, the other members usually share some sort of fame too. Some famous people are respectable souls but fame does not necessarily always involve with pleasant matters. It is definitely an embarrassing week for the Lohan family; having a troubled child is terrible enough and now papa Lohan went for (and awaiting result of) a DNA test to determine if he is the biological father of 13-year-old Ashley Kaufmann (pictured above). Ashley's mother, Kristi Kaufmann (who papa Lohan admitted having sexual affair with during separation with mama Lohan) tried over the years to get Michael to live up to his obligations as a father. At the same time, Lindsay Lohan is said to be taking the news of a-possible-half-sister very hard and Michael Lohan has threatened to sue Kaufmann if it turns out that he is not Ashley's biological father.

Source: Dlisted

Yes, I have been ignorant and I am now utterly shocked. Ellen Lee DeGeneres made public the fact that she is a lesbian ten years ago and I didn't know that! I love Ellen; she is funny and I make a point to watch her talk show whenever I am free but it never crossed my mind that she is a lesbian. Having said that, by no means I will love her less. No ... no, I will not discriminate people in regards to their sexuality preference, there was once I thought I might be a lesbian too (aha!).

Alleviate Poverty

Source: Free Rice

I donated 5100 grains of rice today just by playing a vocabulary game. It is fun, it is educating and it is alleviating poverty. I suggest do play and donate rice in Free Rice.

On the news:

• A Taiwanese loses 30 cm of tresses while watching Kung Fu Panda movie. I suspect the mysterious barber has kung fu too.
• Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim filed complaints for the latest accusation of sodomy (not again?!) as part of a political campaign to destabilise his bid to return to power. 23-year-old Saiful Bukhary lodged a police report against Anwar Ibrahim; apparently, the former aide is engaged to Janna Syafiyah who vows to stand by him in her blog.
• eBay is to pay 38.6 million euros to LVMH for allowing the sale of fake merchandise. I swear this firm is a proficient money maker. Note that eBay was ordered to pay handbag maker Hermes 20k euros for the similar issue just a month ago.