just a quickie

mm.. word association.. quickie makes me think of quiche.. and how you pronounce it. haha. anyway, just a short update. things are still same old same old. taking driving lessons, getting better at the whole biz. the test is supposed to be pretty straightforward at any rate. plus it's fun. such a lovely orderly place. haha.

prepping for GMAT, the date's set for March 12, 2pm. dun dun dun. the reckoning. oh well, i'll see how that goes.

on other other news, gmail isn't working well for some reason.. and my spam count is increasing. hehe. ah well. bound to happen when i use that address for everything.

and finally, i've caught up with my episodes of d. gray-man, which is a pretty good anime, explores interesting themes. though i'm getting worried it's going to get sucked into that power-tripping cycle where the focus goes into how uber everything and everyone is ala dragonball rather than character and theme development.

i've gotten curious over ghost in a shell and started looking at that. seems great. shaping up to be quite the serious anime plus anything that was an inspiration for the matrix has got to be cool (apparently the Wachowski brothers showed the ghost in a shell movie to Joel Silver to give him an idea of the style they wanted for the matrix. how cool is that?).

and that's all for tonight. this is your blogger, joe, signing off.

Tutoring

I just found out that the dad of the kid I was tutoring is a phd holder. a little shocked, yes. but it makes so much sense now.. why he was so scary. haha! i feel quite honoured that he liked me. i think. i hope he does. i just got him to write me a reference letter. that i won't see. and i only found this out because i forgot to send him my details for the letter.

i'll just go bite my nails in the corner now. haha. paranoid. did i forget something *again*? hmm.. go hide better. hehehe.

Keep Walking

I'd been impressed with Johnnie Walker's Keep Walking ad campaigns from my very first glimpse. Minimalist and meaningful. Wish I took photos given that I haven't had much luck finding any online from LA or Perth. At any rate, googling saw a different, and inspiring like the others, advertisement by Johnnie Walker.

What does it mean to look good?

There's a show called How to Look Good Naked that's rather interesting. It's like self-image therapy for women. Essentially, a woman is selected per episode, talks about how she doesn't look good then the host shows her that she is indeed is beautiful and that it's her perception that's flawed.

I haven't seen much of it, only one episode, but it seems like the right step forward. You can check out this review for more information.

If anything, the trend seems to be slowly going back to the more natural look, i.e. less photoshop, more realism (a very good thing). The first sign of this that I saw was the Dove Evolution ad which was part of the Campaign for Real Beauty. Good? :)

Criminal Bungler?

I was just going through the Singapore Penal Code (don't ask me why) and I came across this rather funny section. Funny, in that weird warped sense that you can only obtain after having skimmed all sorts of punishable crimes and rather depressing situations (this is the last section of the Penal Code):

ATTEMPTS TO COMMIT OFFENCES

Punishment for attempting to commit offences.
511. —(1) Subject to subsection (2), whoever attempts to commit an offence punishable by this Code or by any other written law with imprisonment or fine or with a combination of such punishments, or attempts to cause such an offence to be committed, and in such attempt does any act towards the commission of the offence, shall, where no express provision is made by this Code or by such other written law, as the case may be, for the punishment of such attempt, be punished with such punishment as is provided for the offence.

(2) The longest term of imprisonment that may be imposed under subsection (1) shall not exceed —

(a) 15 years where such attempt is in relation to an offence punishable with imprisonment for life; or

(b) one-half of the longest term provided for the offence in any other case.

Illustrations
(a) A makes an attempt to steal some jewels by breaking open a box, and finds after so opening the box that there is no jewel in it. He has done an act towards the commission of theft, and therefore is guilty under this section.

(b) A makes an attempt to pick the pocket of Z by thrusting his hand into Z’s pocket. A fails in the attempt in consequence of Z’s having nothing in his pocket. A is guilty under this section.

So the criminal bungler, i.e. he bungles his crime, is let off lighter than the criminal burgler. hehe. hrm. i should stop playing with words.

on other notes, Singapore seems like a really good place for women to live in, just looking at the law. which just makes this article, Workplace Sexual Harassment in Singapore: The Legal Challenge all the more confusing. anyhoo, I'm tired. gonna find piece together all the loopholes i've... erm, never found. yes. i'm sleeping. hehehehe.

Cute Quote

i was trying to find a quote i vaguely remember about how loving a queen is tricky since she may want to be treated as a woman, flung over your shoulders, etc. but at other times, she wants to be treated as a queen and if the man gets it wrong either way...

i thought at first it was about Queen Victoria but belatedly i realized it's Thom Merrilin speaking about loving Queen Morgase from the Wheel of Time series. At any rate, while i was randomly googling i found a really cute quote.

Does he leave the mobile off? Tick.
Does he smell good? Tick.
Good grip on the English language? Tick.
Self absorbed? Ciao.
Does he have buck teeth? True Lerve.

Posted by: Suzi on August 16, 2006 12:42 PM

http://blogs.theage.com.au/lifestyle/allmenareliars/archives/2006/08/how_much_do_you.html?page=3#comments

first practical driving lesson!

yayz! i just got off from my first 2 hours of driving in suburban america and the verdict is.. it's great! so orderly! no people randomly jostling here and there! rules are followed. it's wonderful! weee! driving auto also makes it much easier. i'll contemplate manual after i get more experience in. haha. i happy.

*note: all this happiness only makes sense if you know my personality and have heard me describe my experiences learning to drive in the Philippines. haha!

anyhoo, my instructor has the calmest drone ever. he can easily take on all those meditation tape dudes. haha, of course, after 10 years (i asked) i'm pretty sure he's got his system done pat. calm down the kanchiong spider, don't let him crash. hehehe. today is shaping up to be a great day, getting study in plus a great lesson. :)

Actors doing Music

i was wondering what to post then my friend passed me a link... if you've watched action movies in the past, you'd know the guy in this music video. SINGING. i was caught off-guard by this one. haha.



then again, almost anything is better than David "Don't Hassle the Hoff" Hasselhoff's music. then again, it was pretty catchy. here i'll post it. haha.



lol, maybe the world will one day be like Hong Kong and all the actors/actresses sing and vice versa.

i passed my written test!

yay! i passed the written test for my driver's license. now for the bigger written test, the GMAT. haha. i'd take a shot of my learner's permit but i'll do it sometime later. i'm gonna have to put a slot into my planner for "blogging". hehe.

i'm forgetful but i've got lots of stuff to do so i've been looking into goal-setting software. the one with a free trial had some promising looking bubble mapping system but no room for SMART goals! and i couldn't put priorities in! and it was a demo for the premium product! ekh.

i think the one without the demo is better but it's for businesses and not only too much functionality for me but too expensive for my needs (USD$95 per user per year). haha. so i'm now using a spreadsheet and i've slotted in a goal for writing my own goal-setting software since a spreadsheet is just too darn clunky. lol.

Edit: eh, i realized that this is a very vague post. haha, i'll add some concrete references in tomorrow. it be late now and i be sleepy. hehe.

Chinatown

Today I went down to Chinatown for the first time and boy, it exceeded my expectations by far. They started late by about 45 minutes but boy, when they started... let's just say, I started with taking a few pictures then I soon went to trying to take movies. Of course taking movies one handed above eye level without support does end up a little... unviewable. Haha, I'll see what can be done. As a teaser, I've cut a little scene out.



Haha, nothing too special in this day where the very best can be easily viewed online but pretty intense in person. I like to let a little wonder brighten my day. :)

For those interested in video editing, here's what I did:

1. A Lot of Googling.
2. To cut out a particular scene: Download AviCutty
3. To encode the scene to a decent size: Download VirtualDub
4. To get a nice compression codec I went for Xvid

And wah lah. At any rate, these are links to the download page so they might not last very long but you can just google the name anyhow. Second, the steps will take a bit of figuring out but shouldn't be too hard. If it is or I'm just plain unclear just post comments and I'll edit accordingly. Haha.

At any rate, that's that for now. I sleepy. Long day. :D

P.S. It seems I have trouble with blogspot's direct video upload.. ah well. manual google video upload then... which is taking a long while. Anyhow, if you see this page before google video is settled, do mention if the video's working. It might just be my machine since the video works for previews.

P.S.S. Aren't all these addendums just annoying? Anyway, google video is up. Enjoy. :)

The Place Around Me

anyways, i've finally walked outside of the house to go get some lunch. not too far, forgot to time (take that cpt jack), but it didn't feel much farther than what i walked in perth. it was a pleasant walk. saw a nice house:


i like the wood theme. there was a house in perth i saw with a japanese bent that i really liked. this reminded me of that. hehe. and then on with the big archways!


hehe, traipsing around, i've yet to see a freehold home in singapore that screams big. then again, i think i haven't been around enough. hehe. so finally, i got to the place. this is me espying it from afar.


in hindsight, it's a lousy shot. trees blocked too much. ah well. but there's a lot of cars. the car culture thing is something i have to get used to. cars are not a luxury here as they are in singapore -- they are a necessity. ratio's around 1.8 persons : 1 car. perth's about the same though the total population is smaller so the gridlock problems aren't as significant as they are here. on the other hand, it makes mega stores a lot more workable than in singapore. good boot space. :) anyhoo, here's my lunch.


makes me think of my $2 vegetable rice really except it cost about 2.5 times as much. of course it tasted better and the portions are pretty big and i get soup. hehe. ah well, i'm learning to cook dumplings now. i'll take pictures when i finally get them decent. lol.