I was doing some housekeeping on my comps today when I came across the Blog "Geylang Boyz" started by our dear KY. Went into the 08 postings.....all the pics , comments (mostly by KY) gave me great pleasure and brought back the fun of being a Geylang Boy.
I only wish that more of us will write something.....anything...thoughts, feelings, things, episodes from the past where we can connect and rememember. Forget abt correct grammar etc....just write.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Horne Mun’s Birthday Lunch @ Tai Seng
It was a very nice and jovial lunch @ Tai Seng (24/June/09). Good Food & Good Company.
And just the right amount of booze consumption……hehehehe!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
My Roving Eye
Oh how I love Wednesdays. That’s the day of the week when I can go to ChinaTown for my Makan (today was lunch with Geylang Boys at Tai Seng)and Foot Reflexology. I usually travel there by bus and was fortunate enough to catch No 2 which goes to China Town via Geylang.
Bus No 2 is normally a double decker and I enjoy sitting by the window watching what’s going on at street level. I was particularly surprised today when passing the lorongs to see that the Chinese female population seems to have deserted the whole area. The normal hustle and bustle was no longer evident and no one was “harrassing” the Ah Peks. All were quiet……..the five foot ways, coffee shops, makan stalls were devoid of the usual activities….no one seems to be hanging out anymore. Is it “recession”?? H1N1 ?? or something more sinister?? will have to investigate …..
But among the newly opened shops in Geylang, I noticed an increased number of New Internet Cafes touting 24/7 at $3 per hour…..but alas they too were empty.
Going further, while passing our former Kallang Gasworks…..it is now some kind of a nursery for new young trees. There were rows and rows of trees planted side by side. What a waste of prime space!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Emperor KangXi
A few of us went to the Asian Civilisation Museum on 25 May 09 to see Emperor KangXi’s artifects.
It’s a pity that no photos were allowed to be taken of the exhibits. But I was quite surprised by some of the things shown. Apart from the Emperor’s garb, old paintings etc there were already scientific instruments already in use. There was a protractor, divider and even a sextant.No wonder China was the centre of the world at that time. Kangxi ruled China from 1662 till 1722 ,a total of 60 years.
He was also a Great Producer. He sired 24 sons and 12 daughters from a number of consorts. Indeed a great role model for Singaporeans.
Nevertheless we were able to take some photos with the “Qing Attendants” ……..
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Hungry People Waiting for Eng’s Wantan Mee
Walau all these Hungry people waited for 45 Minutes to eat Eng’s wantan mee At Dunman Food Centre.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
What's all the twitter about?
What's it all about? I thought, so got on the bandwagon to find out.
As discussed with CK the other day, Twitter is not a big deal. And I believe he concurs. Perhaps I've yet to find out how to use it better, so I'll give it another threee weeks.
This article in today's Straits Times (13 June 2009) tells it more or less how it was for me too the initial hours.
So you've decided to Twitter
A beginner's guide to the hottest social networking site in town - and why I'm bitter about Twitter
By jeremy au yong, jay talking
--ST ILLUSTRATION: ADAM LEE
So you caved.
After weeks of being pestered constantly, and being made to feel like an ancient freak stuck in the stone ages, you finally succumbed. You hopped on the bandwagon, followed the herd, drank the Kool-Aid.
You signed up for an account on the currently in vogue social networking platform Twitter.
Now what?
You stare at the empty box on the web page. Above it is the number 140 indicating the number of characters you have left to write. Next to that, the question: 'What are you doing?'
Well, that's easy enough. What you are doing is racking your brain for something to post on Twitter.
Of course, you can't say that. That's lame and potentially millions of people might be able to read it. So, as a temporary measure, you decide to go with a simple 'Hi'.
You thought awhile about going with a 'Yo' or 'What's up', you know, for some street cred, but decided that it was too contrived.
At any rate, you tell yourself the 'Hi' is only temporary. Once you think of something better, you'll de-tweet (verb: meaning to delete a Twitter post, or to get a bird to shut it) and put up a new one.
You play around with a few lines, trying your best to sound witty, funny and contemplative without appearing to be trying to sound witty, funny and contemplative.
Of course, this is difficult because you, personally, are not a witty, funny, contemplative person. You, personally, are tofu-bland. Strangers would definitely not care what you are doing.
But it doesn't matter. You decided early on in the process that you would embellish the truth a little on Twitter. After all, everybody lies on Twitter.
But what to lie about? All of a sudden 140 characters doesn't seem so short.
After a few more minutes testing out some random thoughts, all of which sounded way funnier in your head, it's time to take a break.
You have Tweeter's block so it's no point trying to force it right now. Perhaps it might help to look through the tweets of others.
You start by scrolling through all the little posts written by your friends, the people whose lives and opinions matter to you. Maybe you can see how they write interesting posts and derive some inspiration.
Still no inspiration. That witty, funny, contemplative problem you are currently grappling with seems to have infected all your friends.
There's no ground-breaking thoughts or updates here, just a bunch of stuff that you cannot imagine them wanting to tell you in real life.
Person: Hello, yes, I just called to tell you that I haven't had a drink all afternoon because I'm so busy with work. I must remember to sip water.
You: Uh, and why are you telling me this?
But of course, the info is not just for you, it's for anybody willing to listen. It's like if you were to buy a new designer handbag. While you only really want to annoy your close friends with this info, you wouldn't mind if a whole bunch of completely random strangers also knew.
Anyway, you didn't buy a handbag recently so you can't tweet about that. Also, you've been sipping water regularly so that's out.
Okay, perhaps you can write about - HOLD UP! What's this? It says on screen that somebody is following you.
'Woo hoo!' your heart gives a little yelp. 'That must mean I'm interesting. I knew my 'Hi' was a work of pure literary genius.'
But now, the pressure is on.
Prior to this, you could still experiment with the medium, take your time. Now, you have an audience. You must not disappoint.
You need to come up with a solid post, something that can live up to the lofty standards set by 'Hi'.
Perhaps you could make some insightful comments about current affairs. You had heard that Twitter was a powerful medium for discussing current affairs.
You decide to write about the death of actor David Carradine. He was found dead in a Bangkok hotel in what one might call a compromising position, and there are suspicions it was a sex game gone wrong.
So you type: 'RIP David Carradine. What a way to go.'
Sure, it's the natural reaction of any normal human being to the story but you somehow feel like you gave your own spin to it. A search to find out what other people are saying about it proves you wrong.
Thousands upon thousands of people have said exactly the same thing about him. In fact, the only thing you learn about David Carradine from Twitter that you haven't already read elsewhere is the sheer number of people who think it was a heck of a way to go.
You delete the post, dejected. As much as you did not want to abandon your sole follower, you log off. You dismiss the entire thing as an impersonal, shallow stream of exaggerated self-centred consciousness.
You tell yourself you are not that narcissistic, and you are too good for Twitter. You go and write a snarky column about it.
But all the while, secretly, deep down, you know the main reason you are so bitter is that you have no followers. You'd be happy if only more people would read you, follow you and maybe drop in to twitter.com/jaytweeting to say 'Hi'... please.
jeremyau@sph.com.sg
As discussed with CK the other day, Twitter is not a big deal. And I believe he concurs. Perhaps I've yet to find out how to use it better, so I'll give it another threee weeks.
This article in today's Straits Times (13 June 2009) tells it more or less how it was for me too the initial hours.
So you've decided to Twitter
A beginner's guide to the hottest social networking site in town - and why I'm bitter about Twitter
By jeremy au yong, jay talking
--ST ILLUSTRATION: ADAM LEESo you caved.
After weeks of being pestered constantly, and being made to feel like an ancient freak stuck in the stone ages, you finally succumbed. You hopped on the bandwagon, followed the herd, drank the Kool-Aid.
You signed up for an account on the currently in vogue social networking platform Twitter.
Now what?
You stare at the empty box on the web page. Above it is the number 140 indicating the number of characters you have left to write. Next to that, the question: 'What are you doing?'
Well, that's easy enough. What you are doing is racking your brain for something to post on Twitter.
Of course, you can't say that. That's lame and potentially millions of people might be able to read it. So, as a temporary measure, you decide to go with a simple 'Hi'.
You thought awhile about going with a 'Yo' or 'What's up', you know, for some street cred, but decided that it was too contrived.
At any rate, you tell yourself the 'Hi' is only temporary. Once you think of something better, you'll de-tweet (verb: meaning to delete a Twitter post, or to get a bird to shut it) and put up a new one.
You play around with a few lines, trying your best to sound witty, funny and contemplative without appearing to be trying to sound witty, funny and contemplative.
Of course, this is difficult because you, personally, are not a witty, funny, contemplative person. You, personally, are tofu-bland. Strangers would definitely not care what you are doing.
But it doesn't matter. You decided early on in the process that you would embellish the truth a little on Twitter. After all, everybody lies on Twitter.
But what to lie about? All of a sudden 140 characters doesn't seem so short.
After a few more minutes testing out some random thoughts, all of which sounded way funnier in your head, it's time to take a break.
You have Tweeter's block so it's no point trying to force it right now. Perhaps it might help to look through the tweets of others.
You start by scrolling through all the little posts written by your friends, the people whose lives and opinions matter to you. Maybe you can see how they write interesting posts and derive some inspiration.
Still no inspiration. That witty, funny, contemplative problem you are currently grappling with seems to have infected all your friends.
There's no ground-breaking thoughts or updates here, just a bunch of stuff that you cannot imagine them wanting to tell you in real life.
Person: Hello, yes, I just called to tell you that I haven't had a drink all afternoon because I'm so busy with work. I must remember to sip water.
You: Uh, and why are you telling me this?
But of course, the info is not just for you, it's for anybody willing to listen. It's like if you were to buy a new designer handbag. While you only really want to annoy your close friends with this info, you wouldn't mind if a whole bunch of completely random strangers also knew.
Anyway, you didn't buy a handbag recently so you can't tweet about that. Also, you've been sipping water regularly so that's out.
Okay, perhaps you can write about - HOLD UP! What's this? It says on screen that somebody is following you.
'Woo hoo!' your heart gives a little yelp. 'That must mean I'm interesting. I knew my 'Hi' was a work of pure literary genius.'
But now, the pressure is on.
Prior to this, you could still experiment with the medium, take your time. Now, you have an audience. You must not disappoint.
You need to come up with a solid post, something that can live up to the lofty standards set by 'Hi'.
Perhaps you could make some insightful comments about current affairs. You had heard that Twitter was a powerful medium for discussing current affairs.
You decide to write about the death of actor David Carradine. He was found dead in a Bangkok hotel in what one might call a compromising position, and there are suspicions it was a sex game gone wrong.
So you type: 'RIP David Carradine. What a way to go.'
Sure, it's the natural reaction of any normal human being to the story but you somehow feel like you gave your own spin to it. A search to find out what other people are saying about it proves you wrong.
Thousands upon thousands of people have said exactly the same thing about him. In fact, the only thing you learn about David Carradine from Twitter that you haven't already read elsewhere is the sheer number of people who think it was a heck of a way to go.
You delete the post, dejected. As much as you did not want to abandon your sole follower, you log off. You dismiss the entire thing as an impersonal, shallow stream of exaggerated self-centred consciousness.
You tell yourself you are not that narcissistic, and you are too good for Twitter. You go and write a snarky column about it.
But all the while, secretly, deep down, you know the main reason you are so bitter is that you have no followers. You'd be happy if only more people would read you, follow you and maybe drop in to twitter.com/jaytweeting to say 'Hi'... please.
jeremyau@sph.com.sg
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