Burp

I'm burping curry - or at least my burp smells of curry. Actually do you taste or smell your burp? I know others smell your burp, but maybe you taste it before you actually smell it since it travels pass your tongue before getting to your nose.

The above-mentioned burp was a result of my 4 kosong 1 egg prata supper at the famous RK House at Serangoon Gardens. Do a search on youtube.com for RK house if you have no idea what I'm talking about. "No Pork! No Pork!" should help refresh the memory of my memory challenged readers.

Speaking of challenged, I'm speech challenged, as most of you know. I went for my first speech therapy session last Friday after getting a referral from the Hougang Polyclinic where the doctor remarked "but you don't stutter what" when I asked for a referral for speech therapy.

Anyway, some background information on stuttering according to my speech therapist. Stuttering is innate, determined before you were born(layman's term for genetically determined i guess) and is not related to IQ levels. Basically, we stutters aren't dumb! People generally allude intelligence to eloquence, thus the need to clarify this point. It's true though, speak beautifully enough and you can get away with almost anything.

Next, there is no cure for adult stuttering, so if you notice that your kid is stuttering, for the love of all things remotely holy please send him or her(statistics show it's usually a him) for speech therapy. Stuttering in kids is almost 100% treatable compared to the 0% success rate in adults. Adults can only be taught techniques to control their speech, sacrificing naturalness of speech for fluency. This is achieved by what is known as "Smooth Speech" technique where the adult stutterer is first made to draaaggggg oouuttt hiiisss woooorrrddsss and speak really slowly like so. The speed is gradually increased to a comfortable level while still maintaining fluency. Inflections that give emotions to speech are mostly lost, leading to pretty monotonous speech.

My therapist claims that most people who meets a reformed stutterer for the first time would not even notice that he is using Smooth Speech and is/was a stutterer. Yeah, I replied, they would just think him a remarkably boring person. So, be boring, or stutter my way through life. Pragmatism triumphed over aestheticism, and I've decided to proceed with the treatment.

The cost of the treatment will be $600 after subsidy and my agreeing to partake in their research program. Shaun the lab rat! S-s-shaun the stuttering lab rat at that. Anyhow, I have to make two 10-minute audio recordings with individuals of my choice by my next appointment on Friday, one in English and the other in Mandarin. I have no idea how I am going to sustain a ten minute conversation in Mandarin, stutter or no stutter. I barely passed my chinese oral examinations man. Any takers? It's a shot at fame you know =)

My therapist also asked if any of my friends made fun of my stuttering. I remember a few occasions, but I can only remember one name - Janet, who has been innocently(i hope) teasing me every now and then since I was 14. No hard feelings babe, at least nothing a steak and a beer can't soften.

I was asked whether I would be in a different course of study if not for my stuttering. Yes, I said, I would have taken mass communications. Therapist laughed and said yes, many of her patients are IT students.

Oh and here's my supper buddy for tonight, Jeryd the bird Soh, who happily called me the devil while making little horned gestures with his hands. Weeli for good, politically correct advice, and Shaun for biting, realistic ones. He wants to get tattoos of an angel and a devil on his left and right shoulder blades. I suggested that he label the angel Weeli and the devil Shaun.


Ok, to bed! Tomorrow I code, climb, watch pirates, code, try to send strings of data from PC to Phone and get a day older.

Tiger Beer

"The best beer in the world", or so claims the makers of Tiger Beer. Personally, I don't think much of it. I once rejected the beer in an unmarked glass based on smell alone. But then again, how many beers can you identify based solely on smell? It must take a rather unique smelling beer for an untrained nose to do that, no?

Maybe the Tiger beer they serve overseas is of superior quality to the ones served at home. Maybe the pubs in Singapore water down their beer. A good example would be some beer garden in Pasir Ris Park that serves Tiger beer so horrible I suspect they watered it down with soda water.

Check out the rave reviews Tiger Beer gets in other parts of the world.

I bought 3 interesting looking beers from the Tanglin supermarket, let me go take a photo of them..


Oh..see the mess behind the beers? Check out its older brother.

Delightful mess eh?

argh

I woke up, bleary-eyed, and realised it was 02:59am. Blinked. Then shot up in bed. SHIT. I was supposed to go to Qingwei's house to work on our project, set my alarm at 22:20, then went back to sleep thinking he will call me when he's done. He didn't! He msged instead, obviously not enough to wake this sleeping log up. Argh. I'm so sorry bro.

I did wake up in time to catch a friend of mine on msn who had just been dumped by his girlfriend claiming that "love is fading". Her loss, I say. Love is sure to fade isn't it, especially after a year together. It takes effort on both sides to keep a relationship going, to fan the fire, to appreciate the commitment. I went with said friend to zouk on wednesday and he was the epitome of an attached-clubber-whose-girlfriend's-not-around. He didn't smoke, didn't drink alcohol, didn't dance with girls, saying he's attached and had to be a good boy. Hah, at least he tried, and has nothing to be guilty about.

My longest relationship lasted a year and four months, so I'm not exactly a guru when it comes to keeping the love alive. I have some theories, but I never did get the chance to put them into practice since that particular break up; the other break-ups were not so much due to "love fading" than to .. things that were pretty much out of my control.

Today, I had my first salsa lesson. Left foot forward tap, right foot on the spot tap, left foot back, right foot backward tap, left food on the spot tap, right foot back, and you have your basic step. Haha. Quite fun, even though liz and I were easily the youngest in the class and I ended up dancing with aunties.

Love game plan: find a pretty, single girl. find out whether she's smart and witty. that's the end of the superficial, but to me, totally necessary part. Then, make sure she's a staunch christian, make sure she's in the same phase of life as me, ie, student and won't graduate before me. make sure she knows me, really know me, and of course, I, her. Ah. We'll see.

ABC

Today's the day of revelation, where it was revealed to me that I am a C+ Java Programmer and a C+ Economist. It can also be derived from my B- grade in maths that God, bless Him, does indeed exist. Me? Shaun the Math Nincompoop and supposed slightly-above-average programmer getting a higher grade for discrete mathematics than for data structures?! Anyway, it also goes to show that writing 4 pages for a 2 hour History essay will net you a B-, and having an adequate grasp of the English language is sufficient for an A in Computing and Society.

All the above combined to pull my CAP up from a disgraceful 2.8 to a slightly more respectable 3.04, which also means I qualify for exchange - more or less, if the school is kind enough to forgive my D grade for last semester's maths.

Sweden..Europe..here i come!! I wannnaaaa fllllyyyyy

The good and the bad

I just finished two books. One horrible, One pretty good.

Horrible - Stephen King's Cell
Pretty Good - Jostein Gaarder's The Ringmaster's Daughter

I ate at The Tapas Tree. Horrible service, stingy portions, mediocre taste, high price.

I watch Two English Girls at the French Festival. Didn't make sense to me.

random byte 02

Pity not the fallen in their misery
for they, having drank
from the cup or mercy
and dined at the feast of grace
turned their back on the Lord
and plunged once more
into moral decadence

-

sounds like something i would write when i was 15 right. look out for more random bytes!

Come to Sheares

random byte 01

Blame not the fool for his folly
nor the unbeliever for his sins

Chastise instead the blinded wise
and the faithful who have fallen

For to whom much has been given,
must is therefore expected

Sheena's 22nd Birthday Party

Pics with the birthday girl are with her, and knowing her ... I'll probably post them up sometime in the next couple of months :)

Btw

In other news, I am now a PADI-certified open water diver! Just came back from Tioman where I did my certification.

And I sucked in Rockmaster, big time. I have supportive team mates though, thankfully.

Me: eh how did you do?
Team mate: okay lor. you?
Me: Disaster man.
Team mate: Yah yours really disaster. Train harder lor.
Me: ...yeah.

It's for support like this that you join a team. =)

Back to cheerier stuff, Happy Birthday Sheena! Her party was an eye-opener, as usual =) and this time I'm not being sarcastic.

Word of God

Obviously this is almost hypocritical coming from me, but I sat through one of the best sermons in my life today and thought I'll pen it down before I forget. Focus on the message, not the far from perfect author, both in grammar and character -wan smile-

The word of God. Before the world was created there was the Word, and the Word was God. Ok, this is not very accurate, but the gist of it is there la huh, bear with me. Essentially, Jesus is God personified, and Jesus was the Word before he was begotten and became man for 33 short years. Only through Jesus can one know God, and thus, only through the Word can one know God. Confused? I hope not!

The speaker today spoke of how Christianity is a word-based religion. Everything is based on words. Your faith is based on words. God speaks through his word, either spiritually or through reading of the Bible(His Word). He went on to say that if a preacher comes and performs signs and wonders without speaking from God's Word, send him away and never invite him back. For God works through his Word.

Scripture time! 2 Timothy 3:16 says "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." The speaker, who, incidentally, did not go to bible college but displays a remarkable degree of biblical knowledge said, very passionately, that one does not have to go to a bible college to study God's word. Furthermore, no where in the bible was it stated that the preachers have to know more than the congregation. EVERYBODY should study God's word, and be equally grounded in it. All you need to do is to sit down with the bible and the holy spirit will guide you and bring the words to life. I know I sound like I'm repeating the same ol crap you hear every now and then, but personally I don't sit down with God's Word often, and hope to remedy that.

I love the next bible verse. Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked;
Who can know it?

Man, as I always say, are essentially evil, not good. It is through civilization that we adopt the appearance of .. decency. When push comes to shove, Man will do anything it takes to get what he wants. The heart is deceitful, and desperately wicked. Only through the word of God can the heart be changed, and made pure. Psalms 19: 7

The law of the Lord(His Word) is perfect(complete),
converting the soul(the deceitful heart)

Ok. One of my many sins is sloth, and it's striking again. I shall leave you here .. anyway the rest of the sermon more or less builds on what I've just said.

I only realised this morning the poetic beauty of God's word.

The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked.

Beautiful.

Geekified

Daryl, Jianming, Qingwei and I have been turned up the geek-o-meter several notches by hanging out at Minds Cafe every friday night and playing increasingly geekier games.

Our latest addiction is "Shadows over Camelot". Awesomely addictive.

Nerds rule :D

Rockmaster 2007

This Sunday, my friends, is Rockmaster 2007, the annual bouldering competition organized by the small-handholds-loving long-span-favoring Singapore Polytechnic.

Going to climb now with jayjay/jayfif/jellypeed/jpeg/jap/japheth. What a crowd.

I'm such a cliche. I'm feeling nostalgic. Perhaps it's the combined factors of ending both a year's stay in hostel and a six month relationship that stirred this loneliness, this sense of emptiness. This is what happens when you get attached to things of the world, things that are transient, love which is conditional, treasures that rot and pursuits likened to a chasing after the wind.

We need those things to survive. We need money, we need companionship, we need a sense of belonging to groups, cliques where you feel understood, where you feel secure. What is within our control is the paths we choose to take in those pursuits. How do we select a companion, how do we decide how much money is enough, and how do we obtain that money. Who we choose to fellowship with determines the kind of person we become. And so on .. and so forth.

The ending of my exams feel more like a pebble sliding off my back instead of the proverbial huge load. I feel just as stressed, just as many things in my life. In fact, the exams were almost a respite, an excuse to indulge in books, in attempts to study, to lament together with everybody that the exams are a major pain in the butt. Now, I have real stuff to settle, something which my lazy, lazy ass is finding extremely hard to handle. I will though, don't worry. Less time being emo, more time working!

Smallville

Six seasons into the series and still Smallville never fails to wrench my heart like a dripping dish towel. The music and great acting coupled with an ever increasingly sadistic script makes for a eye watering, fist clenching experience where you know that there will be no happy ending yet can't help wishing against hope that somehow.. the beautiful Lana will end up with Clark.

At the same time, you're exposed to the vulnerability of Lex whose only anchor to sanity and the remnants of his conscience is Lana.

Sigh. Smallville. I've been deprived of it for the longest time while I was stuck in no-torrent NUS, and have downloaded 5 episodes of it since I came home Thursday night. I just watched Season 6 Episode 16. Sigh, tragedy.

Don't go to Taiwan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wk51lfLfIQ&mode=related&search=