Video.

This clip kinda left a mark on me.

Piping hot.

The soup spoon rules! Though this might sound a little odd, the soup spoon serves delicious sandwiches!

Sentosa.

Shangri-La |ˈ sh a ng gri ˈlä|

a Tibetan utopia in James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon (1933).• [as n. ] ( a Shangri-La) a place regarded as an earthly paradise,esp. when involving a retreat from the pressures of moderncivilization.

(New Oxford American Dictionary)

I'm currently in a hotel on Sentosa (a tiny offshore island that is part of Singapore). The view here is divine! In fact, I'm staying at the Shangri-La Hotel and it is beautiful. I guess the hotel lives up to her name as 'Shangri-La'.

I'll be adjourning to the restaurants in a while for breakfast but before I do, here are 2 images of what view I get from the hotel room's balcony.

"The balconies"

"The pool"

Chocolate!!!

"Food glorious food..."

After a day of work at Rajah and Tann (a law firm), I brought Demas, this PJC student councillor, to Ichiban Boshi and Max Brenner. Skip the Ichiban Boshi thing because 'everyone knows Japanese food rules'. We had our desserts at Max. It is literally a chocolate haven. It's like I've died and came back to life on some chocolate land. The smell was tantalising. It's like there were tendrils of chocolate reaching out of the shop for our noses. Now for those who have read 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and mouth-watered over it, then this place is for you.

"The extraordinary Suckao"

They have something called Suckao which is like a shot of chocolate. It's a cup of melted chocolate (pure milky chocolate) heated by a flame and sucked through a metal straw. In fact, all the drinks here seem to come with a metal straw to suck from. Now that's environmentally conscious. Well, Demas had a vase (the shape of the cup is really like a vase) of banana chocolate latte. It is really good!!! Trust me. This coming from a person who does not fancy bananas, it has got to be divine if I say it's good.

images: https://shop.maxbrenner.com/Data/Images/suckao_right_size.png

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/03/24/souffle_wideweb__430x285.jpg

Greed.

I asked a friend to give me something to talk about, he said greed. I asked him why. He told me he used it for his O level examinations.

Examinations. It is the impetus of our being as Singaporeans. We do well, get a good job, a good life. I beg to differ. A good life?

What constitutes life is, to me, the enjoyment of living. Our education system has literally squeezed every drop of youthful exuberance out of me. Singapore breeds highly skilled conformists and does not nurture sufficient creativity.

Ladies and gentlemen, I now present the top 5 paying jobs in 2008:

Coming up at number 5 we have the General Manager, followed closely by the Commodities Futures Broker at number 4. Clinching 3rd place is the General Surgeon and 2^nd place, the Managing Director. Now for our top earners; the Specialised Surgeons aka Plastic Surgeons.[1]. Now what does that tell us? It tells us that those jobs viewed most worthy, most beneficial to society are ones which are lodged in the world of logic, rules and business. The ones that require a person to stick rigidly to a set of rules and to conform to instructions. Therefore, in Singapore, creativity is not as well nurtured as these businesses. Sadly, creativity is precisely what this ailing world needs to help solve global problems. A factory that churns out workers that have a carbon copy knowledge about a subject can continue to manufacture goods indefinitely, but it cannot solve the environmental problems it has also created? Does it even care? We have more than 5,000 doctors in Singapore, our healthcare system is considered the best in Asia, one of the best in the world, but we have a negligible number of environmentalists and conservationists. Not forgetting that we are the 9^th most polluting country per capita in the world in terms of carbon footprint². Why don’t we have any of the latter – because we don’t value jobs that do not rake in the millions. Because we gear our education system to the knowledge that is required for revenue generating industries.[2]

---

[1] Available at URL:

URL: http://www.salary.sg/2008/best-paying-jobs-in-singapore-2008/

http://www.salary.sg/2008/best-paying-jobs-in-singapore-2008/

[2] Available at URL:

http://www.photius.com/rankings/carbon_footprint_of_countries_per_capita_1980_2005.html

Law Firm.

I'm sitting in a cubicle in Rajah & Tann now and watching news bloopers.

Off With Her Head.

A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.

H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

I have been, over the past few days, attending some law programme for JC students. Yes, that does explain my absence from school and an excuse for not handing in my homework (snickers). Well, it is really interesting to hear and see for one's self the legal profession. I have got to tell you, the pay is really really good. The pricing for 1 hour consultations for some firms may well be in the thousands. $.$ However, the work you have to put in is definitely, if not more, than what one is paid. I'm currently attached to Rajah and Tann LLP (one for the largest and best law firms there is in Singapore *fanfare in the distance). I guess this firm really does take the staffs' welfare into consideration. There are gaming consoles, foosball, pool tables and a cafe made available for the lawyers to enjoy. In fact, there is free breakfast and lunch available for the lawyers at the cafe (interns get only a free breakfast and the menus change daily, by the way :(. But hey! The food is free anyway! :)). These are supposedly tools to help the rather busy lawyers socialise in a less formal setting. Well, we interns use these amenities to satisfy our needs for constant entertainment.

My friends in the other firms, who got to accompany their mentors to court, told me that some times when a lawyer has so many things to carry to court, he would take a cab to court despite the court being just a across the Singapore river. Well, I for one, did get to see the Supreme Court for myself too! The flying saucer is really just a viewing gallery and the courtrooms are not like what you'd see on the telly. The lawyers practically speak with this unfazed, tranquil tone into the microphones. You do not get the expected yelling and tension. The tension one experiences is those really scary sort of tension due to that cold calm tone of the lawyers.

All in all, the programme is really an eye-opener. It's really so cool and exciting that words cannot convey it. By the way, I made new friends through the programme! There are really cool people from all sorts of schools all over Singapore! Shaun of Hwa Chong Institution and his friend Margaux (french name!!!) thought that Zafran and I were RJCians! Well, Z and I are, however, from SRJC (super raffles junior college), some private school somewhere near Pedra Branca (it's one of those places you can use to get that 'timbuktu' feeling). In the practice group (aka department)that Z and I were posted to was a PJC guy named Demas. Interesting dude with rather cool braces. Yes, I have something for braces, fingers, hairstyles and colours. Truth be known, the fingers are the sexiest body part to me. :P

Moleskine.

"Watercolour Art"

Not too long ago, I was in Kinokuniya looking for some good reads when I stumbled upon a couple of notebooks. The back-cover had 'Moleskine' embossed on it. Moleskines are notebooks that look rather classy. There is even a Moleskine website. The website was where I came across the above image. Don't you think it looks beautiful? It's amazing what the human hand can produce. So, this inspired me to pick up watercolouring (trying out soon)! Oh yes, the image also got me thinking. If others are blessed with the ability to create such materials, well, I should write stories then. To draw and paint is an art, to craft stories is also art, to make a pact with myself that I'll stay true to my words is also an art. (I have no idea why I typed the sentence preceding this)

The point is that I bought 2 Moleskines at the price of $30. That's right. Notebooks for that sum. I do not know what is the reason that propelled me to buy the books for that sum but trust me I will use it. Especially for my trips to Japan and Sarawak. In fact, I'll try to make it a point to bring Japan to your screens by blogging every night when I'll be there. This reminds me of the vaccination I had to take in school today. I had a seasonal flu jab (costs $15). The irony is that I am currently having flu! Surprisingly, injections do not hurt as much as blood tests, in fact, injections barely hurt.

Some time back when I was in Hougang Mall with Edna and Charine, a nice lady approached us. Now, she was those nice older ladies with genial smiles and wrinkles that make their faces look like extensions of the rays of the sun. But, be fooled not by their seemingly docile appearance! She asked my friends and I to test our blood to determine if we could be possible bone marrow donors. "It's just a prick and you'll be on your way." Just a prick. Well, the experience was more like you were being stapled on your finger and to literally rub your bleeding (bloody) finger over some rather coarse paper to blot your blood out. The paper was the slightly larger than a 50c coin and the blood that was blotted onto the paper would be sent for tests. In retrospect, I'd rather get a jab than get pricked.

image:http://www.moleskine.com/mymoleskine/community/090919_04.jpg

Love Lockdown.

T-Pain and Kanye West have tapped on the ability to tweak you tune. Think about how Lil' Wayne sounds so funny in the song Down. All this is done using machines and software created by the company Antares. T-pain was, in fact, credited for popularising the brain child of Antares. Well Auto Tune, so it's called, has fixed the vocals of so many. Is it right? Are we embracing the coming a technology that provides a chance for those not blessed with the best larynx but the best face, to make it big in the music industry? Or, this technology really going to revolutionise our music scene. Perhaps, newer genres? Well, for the unacquainted, here is Ellen Degeneres to clear the air.

Talent.

Talents are born not bred. Talent is innate.

I have had friends who attained grade 8 in music yet, they play with little conviction. They do not love their art. They are coerced to take it up. Yet there are those who can let their fingers do the walking. People who can let music flow right out of their hands. People like Brendon Urie. He truly is a talent and great musician. Panic! at the Disco has apparently had quite a rough time. The 2 frontmen, Ryan Ross and Brendon Urie are now in 2 different bands. The former in a new band called The Young Veins whilst the latter, still in Panic! at the Disco.

The Young Veins sounds rather old school to me. In fact, they seem to remind me of The Kooks and The Beatles. Well, judge it for yourself.

Faces.

It's funny how people claim to be skin deep. Do we really ignore how others look? Is it fair to say that we are guilty for find beauty amongst others and try to match up? Striving to attain a certain look. Never comfortable or happy with one's current looks. It fuels the multi-million dollar beauty industry. Keep this up and the plastic surgeons may never have the word 'recession' found in their dictionaries.

Self-esteem then comes into play. Will we ever feel good enough?

Man, do I have issues.

Eyes.

"Fields of Gold"

Sclera, ciliary muscles, pupil, cornea, retina, vitreous fluid... The eye is truly an extremely complex organ. So many components functioning together to give you vision. The window. The bridge between the world and our person. Each individual, a unique vision. A different colour. Different hues colouring our lives in different perspectives.

Is it not a wonderment to actually see! Everyday, as the going gets tough and I forget about what really matters in life, I turn myopic. I cease to accept and begin to impose. For that, I must apologise.

I personally feel that the greatest vision anyone can have is that of children. Children look upon the world in bemusement. They look at everything in awe. I was on the train today when I saw a child staring at me. He stared at me for minutes! It's so beautiful to see people just looking in amazement and smiling. It shows the thoughts of a person. It is signs of reflection. Every twitch of my facial muscle was scrutinised by the child. Details meant something when you were young. Everything else that did not matter fades into the backdrop. It's like the aperture of a camera set to only concentrate with a small area.

However, as we grow up, we look at the world as a really big mess. We develop tendencies to look at all the negativities. Have we lost the child-like bemusement?

image: http://tostandalone.deviantart.com/art/Fields-Of-Gold-85264814