Jeffirean Stories
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Again, today is another irritated day because mio minore fratello is too lazy to go downstairs to practise his football on very cool and windy day. That's so silly, since the environment here is fantastic! Maybe should get some mates to come here and play some football...
But let's come back to the topic. Yes, it will be a recall of the Xmas celebrations and like many others, a review of the year with my yearly resolution post. By the way, this is the 268th entry since the inconception of this space... I suppose it's a good way to end such an unbelievable year.
Xmas celebrations began with the 7Seas steamboat gathering at Jinki's place on the 22nd (as usual), and that there was really so much food, and top it up, sponsored by Jinki! Haha, thanks a million to mio majore fratello... The food was fantastic, the people were unusually interesting this time... why? We met Ah Kai's beau, Kevin's beau! Haha, too bad Ah Kai's beau needs more time with us, and Kevin and co came too late. I really cannot imagine the table with the 7Seas and the wives, plus the 7Seas sisters and their husband... it would be a huge table! Nonetheless, the next 10 years we will be looking at weddings, babies and probably many many new experiences as individuals and as a group... hahaha.
Next up on the 23rd was a simple day ktving with the army chaps. Charles kept singing until he complained of some discomfort in his throat =p =p =p Then the amazing thing was to have a newcomer for our ktv pursuits, but he was really too quiet.. and too bad David and co couldnt' come... Overall the guys improved in their singing...esp JX and Heng... haha. I sang a few couple weird songs and a couple of my specialties.. yep. We then went to Yishun central to eat dinner...fantastic chicken rice~
Then until around 9+, Pika summoned me out for a last minute bout of shopping. We went to J8, which surely was insincere in their extended shopping hours, but Marina Square was much better. We managed to see some shops and had a long drive home.. and got some pressies.. I'm really sorry if you got a really silly pressie... or if you got none, =p (c'mon, i'm not Santa nor Bill Gates)
Then the next day was another interesting day at Princess Cow's home (soon to be upgraded to Empress Hippo) with the rabbit family... First up I went to fetch the folks from Bishan and then round up the remaining at YCK. XM (thinking of a title for her..) joined us on Grace's invitation and that upped the interest factor 5-fold. Haha. The trouble began when I missed Pika and Princess Pooh blatantly at YCK as I was driving off due to a full load because of the wet windows on my van... OOPS, anyway, that was destined since I already mentioned it was getting squeezy behind (I drove a van) and our dear Wizardress has yet to reach so the 2nd trip was inevitable. Then we wrote Princess Cow's card and went up in a noisy fashion... It began with some ice cream, and my disastrous attempt at making cheese dip... haha. Disastro! But all was well on my 2nd attempt, and the ice cream was so to say, just good... I guess it was my tastebud. Then the games galore began.... the dai dee was of no-kick until Rachel and Ed came. Ed upped the level with some amazing throws, and yes, perhaps the group had been too cautious all the while..
On the other side, The monopoly group created a ruckus with their mad screaming and laughing.... poor Sir Nihongo... but they sure enjoyed it. XM had to return home before the clock struck 12.... yes, mabbe she should be known as Princess Sing-a-Bella, so I received the honour to send her home with an extra incentive to have Goddess of Trouble of being her escort and my return journey mate... Then we had to run back to the party because 25 Dec was arriving at any moment... The next thing was that I had to dial 1711 to get the correct time because we couldn't agree on our watches.....and guess what, after all the stupid advertisements, the announcer read, 23 59 and 50 secs~! So the countdown began right away....to only culminate into a anticlimax....nobody bothered less Princess Cow.... lol. Funny funny... Then after the games galore the prize presentation began...really sorry to His Majesty Emperor Proko, cos he got a froggy bin from me. haha..but hope it will come in hand in Birmingham where he can throw his frustrations into the bin... that was my idea (and since it's really light, it should save on your shipping costs). Then I got special presents from the Goddess herself.. man, I have yet to bet a single match all the while and her pressie fortifies the idea that I should refrain somemore...haha. Nonetheless everything was really really nicely made, written and just sums up a great day. Took a long ride home driving up northwards together with Rachel and Ed as well, hope the guys enjoyed the chat in the van~~
Interestingly, the day itself was nothing much....just slacked the day away. And also the several days post Xmas, except for those days we went to shop for post Xmas sales and had some ups-and-downs within the group.... and today arrives in a smack on my face....so many stuff yet to complete..
Explained to the Wizardress that the terms on my blog referred to footballing terms like "Board Expectations" meant targets for the football club for the season and in my idea, it means targets for my birth year staring and ending in Aug. Transfer Targets are stuff I wish to get in the short term... and so on so forth. Let's take a look at them again and see what should I do in the upcoming months..
Well, looking at it, I have yet to lose enough fats (as of now, I've even gained more.. sigh) and yet to set up a new business nor visited any new destination. Yes, losing fats is a ever-ongoing goal that has been on my mind for dunno how many donkey years but if i drafted a chart, you could see a sharp drop in 2002, followed by plateaus in 2003-2005 until it begins to slowly creep up in 2006 (luckily it's slower than the STI =x) Here, in 2007, I am 1000% sure it will fall spectacularly, so come on guys, you can start shortselling me. With that, I will again update my image on and off, to give a fresh look to myself. Yeah.. that's the plan... as for the business part... i have yet to find a concrete plan... not too sure to join the FnB or retailing.. these are some industries with the lower barriers to entry..
As for 2007, other plans include becoming a better chef, a better sportsman, and yes, better time management with more discipline... I guess the details I will keep it in my brain but you can take a look at the board expectation column and stuff..
Oh well, I need to go do some preparations for the EOY celebration..... may all of you enjoy a great year ahead. Again, please let me highlight several Jeffirean services available for the new year... they include:
a. Jeffirean Counselling Services.. (though not professional, we offer a really weird perspective to life and maybe you will learn to live better)
b. Jeffirean Mahjong Classes.. (haha, this is good to help you improve your memory and your decision making process)
c. Jeffirean Cooking Lab.. (here we run a lab making some bizarre stuff that taste good and cheap, good for those who love clearing the fridge for their mothers)
d. Jeffirean Eating Tours.. (hey, join us on our food endeavours in Singapore! Sign up by MSNing me often or visit this space)
e. Jeffirean Matchmaking Services (so far no results yet but c'mon nobody pays us a cent either)
f. Jeffirean Computer Repair Services (again since nobody pays us a cent, we only do really basic stuff)
g. Jeffirean Punting Advisory Board (haha, this is one interesting wing of the myriad of Jeffirean Services, but so far, we only have 3 members on the board and all are part-timers)
h. Jeffirean Singing Classes (so far our most outstanding student is Pika..haha, come come join us singing at Punggol Singing Complex aka my home =p)
i. Jeffirean Football Sessions (oei, all footballers, please sign up by telling me usually when do you want to play, Sat or Sun, mornings or evenings..)
j. Jeffirean Shopping Escorts (here we have an expert on the weirdest fashion combination so feel free to try us out...)
Okie... it's good to be able to stop at J. Yep.... all the best to all of you, my dearest mates... be bathed in His Royal Grandeur, Prince of the Desert, Sabaku no Jeffire. (Lollllllllllllllllllll)
100000000deg celsius Greetings
Alpha Jeffiri, from galaxy X168888888 aka WinAlotMoneyin2007~
Acknowledged my existence at
1:50 PM
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
This seems an interesting topic today to discuss, rather than the usual bantering of the whats-going-on-in-my-life oriented entries. Nonetheless, the topic still arose from my recent experiences and therefore you still can taste a tinge of my life. After all, I intended the blog to be something for me to reflect on in the future...
First, let me ask you, my dear friends, will you be offended if someone calls you 'uncle', or 'auntie', when you are obviously not married, not old, and still young and lively?
Both Pika and me, in our library jobs, were referred by parents of children as 'uncles'. Again, here I quote a conversation between me and my dear SMU buddy Leslie:
Me: and the uncle called me uncle la
Me: in e library got the parents alwiz tell their children 'wait the uncle scold u'
Me: 'go and ask the uncle'
Me: do i look uncleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Me: anyway i m gonna blog abt it sometime soon
L: haa
L: guess we're all loOkng old
Me: NAAA
Me: it's cos they got a lack of vocab
L: like kor kor?
Me: they dun wan to teach their kids dialect
L: then use brudder
Me: sounds army
Me: haha, our conv shall be quoted on my next blog entry
L: i am getting famous... yeah right
L: haa
So you see, we then tried to discuss some terms to use when addressing people of our age but without using local colloquials. Like you see above, I thought "brother", "bro", "sister" and "sis" seems quite NS-ed, or Christian-ed. Then an idea struck me. Thinking along the lines of the Chinese way of addressing one another ("comrade" or "tong zhi"), I have some suggestions here which I mentioned to Leslie:
a. Sings
b. Poreans
But "Sing" will be confused with the "Singhs" and "Poreans" seem quite weird, maybe sounds like "Koreans" and also could have an denotation -> are we full of holes? Haha.
So that returns the thinking process to zero again. How should we deal with this? How should we educate our parents that there are different people of different age groups, so that you do not call every adult man you see 'uncle' (not related in anyway too). It will be easier perhaps to use the occupational names like 'waiter', 'service assistant', 'helper' but kids and parents today do not want to hassle themselves with so many different words to remember. Somemore these service occupations are usually looked down upon, not like professionals. In the clinic the parent may tell their children, "say thank you to the doctor" but at the supermarket at the cashier, they would tell their children "quick pay money to the uncle (or auntie, usually)" when the cashier could be a 15 year old part-timer. And to the many non-Chinese (or some act-angmoh Chinese), using "korkor" and "jehjeh" seems unfitting.
Here I put forward my humble suggestions, especially to ALL THE STUPID SINGAPOREAN PARENTS (or other stupid people)which should help make the addressing simpler, with the female equivalents in brackets:
general - gentleman (lady)
"say thank you to this gentleman"
situational - use occupational terms
"say thank you to the waiter (waitress)"
flattering - handsome (belle)
"say thank you to this handsome" [seems abit colloquial though, can also substitute with dialect]
friendly - ask for a name, duh!(or look at the name tag)
"sorry, may I have your name?" "*****" "say thank you to ******" [is that so difficult?]
Hope this helps you people with limited vocabulary.
The other thing to complain about is my residential area. We all know recently it's the rainy season, and it has not stopped for days. Here, as one of the newest , hip, upcoming residential areas in Singapore, I see:
a. FLOODING of pavement, is there something wrong with your gradient marker, dear Mr Contractor? Can't you slant your pavement slightly so that the water can go to the drain?
b. Unsheltered walkways, this is the designer or urban planner's fault. Whoever he/she is, I guess must be some brainless guy who must be living in a fancy place. Thank you HDB for building a linkway from the carpark 3rd level to the 3rd level of my flat, and THANK YOU VERY MUCH for not building a shelter for that walkway, be it rain or shine, I still get to see the sky.
c. Earthworms, on the concrete, tiled void deck of my block, every day I am training myself to dodge earthworms... While I do not necessary find them nauseating (better than cockroaches right?), it is so funny to see earthworms in my modern, urbanised seaside town boasting of the name PUNGGOL 21. I say we call the area PUNGGOL -21, retro right? (My block looks like a factory anyway)
d. Exploitation by SBS, due to the lack of huge trees and sights, people here rarely walk the 5-10min to or from the MRT station, so they take the LRT, or the bus, which means more money spent taking that bus/LRT which takes aeons to arrive. I think maybe that's how they earn so much profit... THANK YOU. Maybe I should start buying SBS shares (ComfortDelgro Group).
Oh well, there's more to talk about but I'm happy living here for the wind, the serenity, and Punggol Plaza's quite comprehensive too. And being the starting point of NEL means I get a seat usually on the way out. Still not too bad for a town I call Punggol -21.
Finally, just let me update some stuff in life..
a. been reading history and histories of arts and mathematics... i should had done that when i was younger, then i would have appreciated what I have been learning so far... i guess perhaps we need to tell our kids how do those stuff learnt in school originated from...
b. yesterday's badminton was not too bad, less my oversight to not book 2 courts simultaneously rather than to had book a single court for 2hrs. To ask for some sympathy, please let me mention that until now nobody offered to pay a single cent for the booking. Oh, and there was a big hoo-ha caused by my insensitivity to Grace by insisting on having a competitive game rather than a relaxation game.. ah well, am really sorry about it, as it eventually snowballed to a counselling session by many of the people who turned up for the badminton session. And next week there should be another session coming up, hope it will be better... And probably I have to collect a gathering fund soon as I always have to pre-pay stuff for the group...
c. been fighting wars with karkars (cockroaches) at home...i supposed it's my family's habit of 1. not having a covered rubbish bin 2. a moistureful, dark and warm cabinet 3. misfortune - once one egg is layed, you have a lot more to battle against.. sigh. anyone got any good idea on this: no need to kill the cockroaches, and yet deter them from my home?
Wow, this is a long post...hope you have enjoyed reading it so far. Merry Christmas to all of you~!
Seasons Greetings
Jeffire
Acknowledged my existence at
1:21 AM
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Last week was quite a normal week in which a little bit of work had been done and alot fun had been enjoyed.
First memorable incident: Playing badminton!
ZC, Ms E, Ms My-Birthday-Is-Coming (MBIC) and I gathered on Wed to play some badminton. Oh boy oh boy. I managed to solve my 'pak jiao' problem (kept missing foreham smashes) and we had some nice rallies hitting the ball to and fro. The aftermath? Aching hands (and bodies for some) for all. Hahaha. We should get together and play somemore badminton again!
Second memorable incident: Eating Ice-cream at Icekimo
This little ice cream cafe sits in Sin Ming Plaza, near to the eating zone of Thomson Village. They have so many interesting flavours! The ice cream there is full-bodied and not too artificial, nor too rich. The cafe will host Ms MBIC's birthday which will feature an ice cream buffet, ice cream cake, and also strawberry dessert wine! Haha. Look forward to more ice cream soon!
Third memorable incident: War of In-Laws
This is a HK serial which I think I mentioned before. The show is finishing soon and so there comes the climax of the story... can't believe in order to catch one missed episode I waited till 2.40am for its replay! To think I am not a fan of the tv when it's not playing football matches...
Fourth memorable incident: Games Nite @ Gerald's
The dai-dee night saw the attendance of only 4, Ms MBIC, Pika, His Majesty G and me. Apart from the usual galore of dinner, the night was peppered with bubble tea and an unexpected turnabout by Pika, who finally overcomes his losing streak at dai-dee. Haha. Anyway, Ms MBIC and HMG wants to introduce bridge to the group and I guess we will be playing a new game soon... but when?
Upcoming Stories:
Wed - Going to NTU for InvestCube Opening Ceremony. FREAK la, 930am must get from one end of Singapore (Punggol) to the other end (Jurong West). Following it will be an outing to Vivocity with the Rabbit gang. Will meet Jiaxing for the ceremony! Haha, so long never seen him since I moved from Yishun..
Think that's about all I want to say now.. going Yoga class in a jiffy... laptop battery running out too...
Ciaoooo, enjoy your holidays~ Don't waste it!
Lotsa Pikapika Piaks
Jeffire
Acknowledged my existence at
6:18 PM