had a really cool bonding session with dad.

I had a really cool time with dad just now for a while. Now I'm thinking about applying 'connectivity' at home and work too. Its just... plain amazing. I mean, how the heck did my dad get stamps from North Korea, Kuwait, UAE? He's even got stamps from America, Canada, Netherlands.... as well as regional countries.

And he's even got stamps from pre-independence Singapore. How cool is that? But I suppose there'll be others who have stamps from... 19th century. It'll be cool to map out the relevance, context and meaning from all these camps and make a graph of where my dad has been and his life. Also stamps have special meaning and significance. Like I bet my dad's stamps from Poland have something to do with Pope John Paul II's inauguration.

So cool so cool.

Wish I could say the same for my brother...

random random thoughts

I think I know why local gals are bored at local men. Its because men in singapore are either boring driven overachievers or underachievers, with a stuck mindset the result of years of suffocating love and shelter by their families. And then as a result, the men are actually looking for women like their own mothers...

On another note, I think that few people actually dare to push the boundaries of their thoughts. That could be why we never quite achieve anything. And because we are so sheltered, we don't want to push through the realms of comfort and really do something. I mean, when you can be actually quite comfortable at home, where the parents are there, you don't want lose all that for the sake of something uncertain. It might be suffocating our innovation.

Yes, I happen to know that Acer was started up by Taiwanese company. Kinda puts things into perspective.

What I think enterprising people need is simply encouragement from their families. Use the love, not their money. Because money poisons many a relationships..

i got my macbook! wooh!

Its like what it says and my macbook is peacefully charging now... a few hours ago, was tearing my hair out trying to connect old clunks of PC with macbook. to no avail. they simply refuse to talk to each other despite being tied an umbilical cord (an ethernet cable really). wooh! anyway, its still fun, now.. if only i can transfer my itunes and newspaper articles, i'll be happy... and keep them both updated. i think there's a potential for this somewhere - setting up small personal information networks.

anyway, saw a tony buzan book about mindmapping and embracing change. as i flipped through the pages, it dawns upon me that what people want is self-help computing. they want to help themselves manage their information flows in the way they want it. and once you give them that, they will take it upon themselves to do what they see fit. at least thats what i hope.

meanwhile, a strange voice pops into my head asking me to keep the door open on joining grassroots activity and rising to the calling of serving the country by joing... the... white (i mean, dark) side.... feels really weird. meanwhile, i really savour the life of an 'analyst' meaning, talk whatever i want (of course, having done research) and get paid thousands appearing for a few-second slots on tv. life doesn't seem too bad like that.

thats my dream job, actually - being a high-powered analyst.

meanwhile, another stupid scheme enters my mind. get a group of close-knit friends, maybe 20 or so, ask them to invest 2k each... form like a credit cooperative. let the money invest. and grow and grow, so that in time, everyone can do what they want - set up a company, donate to the school... oh well. if i don't have money to play, might as well dream of playing the money of others. hah.

stupid hare-brained schemes.

keeps me happy and smiley.

meanwhile (again), it has been such a release coming back to cell and God. i think sometime in the past week, i found where i ended, and God came in. Thank You Father!

Hopefully, will make a powerful presentation to show how everything links in my life.

stale thoughts again...

I'm now back into a unproductive mode of having gone through another cycle of thoughts. Just a look back, I have only thought of information visualisating systems and about the geopolitical consequence of climate change.

I badly need a place where I can learn and pursue these ideas. But then again, university isn't all about maximising an individual's potential, is it?

I think I know why Singapore is not exactly a hub of innovation. I guess others have picked up on this, but this time, I'm not going to go into the failings of the government or pragmatism. Rather this time, I think I've really gotten it. Singapore's families are really sheltering their kids too much and parents need to learn to let go. I mean, if kids know that they can always fall back on their parents, then they aren't going to nurture instincts of hunger. Thats why enterprising kids are usually those who have gone overseas by themselves, not the kids who stayed at home.

But as usual, what can kids really do about it? I don't know. I guess some people need to go through some kind of personal hell before they amount to anything.

Meanwhile, it took me quite a while, but I know realise that I actually have been living in a nice ideal place which of course, isn't real. So when I enter NUS, I know I'll be in the real world, and it will suck a lot. Oh well.

another... boring... sunday... where... i'm... expected... to... be... at... home...

Its Sunday and I'm bored at home, essentially just another warm body sitting in front of the computer typing away while mother and sis plays with baby and bro zones away on the psp's three kingdoms.

I'm following tech news, and everyday it becomes more apparent that people want a life-manager on their computer that syncs their offline life with their online life. Oh well.

sigh. I would like very much an intellectual atmosphere absent vested interests and talk about... stuff. and then grab a few buddies and go begging from VCs? haha. isn't it how it all begins? but first, get a degree

Meanwhile, a second major in geography instead of political science looks... tempting.

after a highly depressing.....

here's an emo blog for once, i think, supposedly full of angst and related shit. then again, i'm not really an emo- kinda guy...

going through a harrowing phase in my life when you're faced by an unsupportive brother and a dependent father. aargh. then again, life is never a bed of roses. now, army life seems kinda tempting, especially in its isolation from the outside world. strangely. how weird. when you're out sometimes you wanna go back in again. every once in a while.

and then in the phase where i just wanna go into this shell and not come out. sigh. here and now is not a good place to be in.

this is a real fluffy post.

barrier to dreams

What are the barriers of dreams to Singapore? Is Singapore a graveyard of dreams? Of pragmatism gaining the victories so far against idealism? There really is no compromise between the two. Over time, pragmatism kills idealism, and a person might not be capable of dreaming again. Do we want a Singapore where dreams die a slow death?

All too often, people are asked, somehow, by pressing circumstances, to choose between pragmatism and idealism. We love to dream, but we fear the consequences of failure - when all our efforts to pursue our dreams were in vain. It is so easy to say, 'better to have tried than not to have tried at all', but when the consequences for trying are so severe, is it any surprise that people would rather their dreams die than to live the consequences of failure? Oh well.

I can see that. I can why people would be afraid to truly pursue their dreams. For every successful Google, there must be a thousand other wannabes, who fail big time.



How far can an idea go by its own strength? Ideas must become graspable and understandable by people if they were to even try to bcome sticky.

shtuck stuck

stuck again. no new ideas. need new perspectives again. surprised myself can still think while stuck at home.

feeling a little zombiefied

Chronicling the day...

I woke up feeling really heavy on my head. A really bad headache. A really bad sore throat. aargh.

I go to the doc and he gives me the medicine after which i take a nap and wake up feeling real slow and heavy, like a zombie.

I didn't manage to get any real work done today, and was just wondering if there are any male equivalent stories of cinderella - you know, the poor kid who's overworked at home, but manages to do something outside his home enough to warrant attention from some rich girl of sorts, goes to a party, grabs the girl's attention, but has to go home at night to do yet more household chores. meanwhile, the guy leaves a.... notebook? behind and has to figure out the identity of the guy. So... the girl starts to find the guy and... succeeds, and they live quite happily ever after, or something like that

haha... a stupid fantasy.

anyhow, thats how i feel like sometimes. like i simply dun feel like staying at home. whats the point of a home if nobody there bothers to ask you what you really want. but it is a really self-centred selfish kinda feeling, which i try to shrug aside and love my family. but it still comes back.

oh well.

oh! gasp! its been 2 wks?!?

aarrhh... its been so long since i blogged! oh dear. been occupied. rushing out proposals, facing dilemmas, and all.

i am going to be foolish. i'll be making decisions that will look like bad calls of judgment. But no matter, i'll stand by them. whether i fail or succeed, God is there. so i have no fear. thats faith, i think, and its part of the growing process. arh well. thats all i can say.

and woohoo! a friend is coming back from overseas! yeah!