The band at Timbre last night did a cover of this song. Luka - The girl who lives on the 2nd Floor. And the lyrics reminded me so much of another girl who lives on the 2nd floor.

Spent half of Saturday playing in a seven-aside tournament organised by NUS.We played mostly JC teams so it wasn't a surprise we won. Collected another medal.

Friday night at Timbre with my pine of Erdinger.

I have just paid $25 dollars to register for the New Balance Real Run joining KenC and Gwen in their marathon madness.

This is one of those songs you wish you had heard earlier.


Stolen/Dashboard Confessional

You watch the season pull up its own stage
And catch the last weekend
Of the last week
Before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced
Another sun soaked season
Fades away

You have stolen my heart
You have stolen my heart

Invitation only, grand farewells
Crash the best one
Of the best ones
Clear liqour and
Cloudy eye
Too early to say goodnight

And from the bottle flow, we are in celebration
One good stretch before our hibernation
Our dreams are sure
And we all will sleep well
We'll sleep well

I watch you spin around
In the highest heels
You are the best one
Of the best ones
We all look like we feel

You have stolen my
You have stolen my
You have stolen my heart

Shisha

Shisha
Originally uploaded by wxlimwx.

Enjoyed myself today. Went around with my singapore-explorer buddy Wanxin. Took some more pictures. Haji Lane is fast becoming my favorite place. We sampled some delicious Egyptian food and even tried Shisha. Fragrant puffs from a phallic pipe which left me light headed and relaxed.

Play it!

Your Heart Is An Empty Room
dcfc

Burn it down till the embers smoke on the ground
And start new when your heart is an empty room
With walls of the deepest blue

Home's face: how it ages when you're away
Spring blooms and you find the love that's true
But you don't know what now to do
Cause the chase is all you know
And she stopped running months ago

And all you see
Is where else you could be
When you're at home
Out on the street
Are so many possibilities
To not be alone

The flames and smoke climbed out of every window
And disappeared with everything that you held dear
And you shed not a single tear for the things that you didn't need
'Cause you knew you were finally free

'Cause all you see is where else you could be when you're at home
Out on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone

And all you see is where else you could be
When you're at home
There on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone

Got this off some blog. Training this morning was hot hot scorching hot. Thank god Tuesday's game is at night. I was panting during the last attack. Well, at least i am enjoying my soccer. Gotta get some sleep. Working the graveyard shift at Attica tonight. 9pm to 4am. 50 dollars.


The Myth of Singapore’s Lack of Resources
Anyone of my generation would recall the copious amounts of indoctrination being applied upon us in school. There is this particular piece of Malthusian absurdity which I would like to debunk today. It is called

“Singapore has no natural resources, and the only thing we have is people, therefore we must make full use of our human resource”

Some think that this is to justify treating human beings like numbers on a balance book. To me, the greater evil that this piece of propaganda has inflicted upon Singaporeans is the creation of a mistrust of capitalism, and an addictive reliance on government meddling in our everyday lives. It is time we discarded that myth that we lack natural resources, and realise that Singapore has never lacked natural resources. The fact is that throughout human history, there has ever only been one natural resource, and that is human ingenuity and creativity.

A lump of iron ore is just a thing lying in the ground. Without human hands to shape it, without human intelligence and ingenuity to put that iron to use, a lump of iron ore has no meaning, no purpose and no use. Crude oil pumped from the ground is just black goo. Prior to the invention of machines that use petroluem as fuel, crude oil had absolutely no value whatsoever, was not considered a “resource”. The only reason why things in the ground and sea can be extracted, and refined, moulded and manipulated into things of value, is because humans have exercised their ingenuity and creativity into thinking up these processes.

Furthermore, evidence from economic history hardly justifies the idea that possessing mineral resources correlates with economic prosperity. A popular term for this phenomena amongst economists is “resource curse“. A clear distinction must be made here: the assertion is not that all countries possessing mineral resources must be poor. Rather, it is those countries in which mineral resources have been wholly controlled and owned by the State which have remained poor, corrupt and inefficient. This contrast is neatly evidenced by comparing countries in sub-Saharan Africa with United States and Australia (the ownership of minerals discovered under the ground in Australia is generally vested in the Crown/the government, but the license permits to mine and exploit the minerals are awarded to independent commercial entities e.g. Rio Tinto or BHP Billiton).

In fact, I would argue that the primary reason why Singapore has prospered, is precisely because we do not have mineral resources. Given the command and control tendencies of the powers that be, Singapore is truly lucky and blessed that we are free from this resource curse. However, the way in which our natural human ingenuity has been managed certainly leaves much to be desired. Of course, by the metrics of test scores and international prizes, a small segment of our population has done well, but by the more amorphous measure of creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and wealth-creation, we have much less success to boast about.

The question is, given that we have ample amounts of the ONLY real natural resource numbers of people, which is the basis of the only real natural resource, why have we not fared better. The answer lies right in the beginning of this post: because we have all been grouped collectively into this thing called “human resource”. The powers that be are trapped within a Malthusian mindset, and imprisoned by a deficient understanding of the origins of wealth. By managing people as numbers on a balance book, and using their control of the education system to value certain spheres of knowledge over others, they have distorted the free will that drives market processes, and have suppressed the one thing that makes “human resource” truly valuable: our natural human ingenuity.

Brought in the papers this morning. The headlines are all about Lim Kim San passing on. Nothing on the Middle East. If you watched CNN last night, you would have seen Kofi Annan, secretary general of a lame-duck United Nations calling for an end to hostilities for Israel to pull back its troops and stop the killing of civilians. You would have seen the Lebanese ambassador practically begging Israel for a ceasefire. You would have seen the Israeli ambassador defiantly declare that they will not stop till their objectives have been accomplished. A military victory today will only sow the seeds of future hatred, further swelling the ranks of militant groups like Hezbollah, Have the lessons from history been forgotten? War is never a solution to any problem.

Thank You for Smoking. Saw it today. Bloody brilliant movie. Went with David(who's found a job in Deloitte) and Gwen. Coincidentally, Daphne, Gracie and Janice were in the same theatre!

Don't discard your dreams.

I feel better after a nap. Did some exploring yesterday with Wanxin. The photos turned out pretty well.


btw, Winnie if you are reading this, hurry back from Canada! Edmund keeps asking me about you.He must miss you alot :P

I wonder if there is something wrong with me. This morning, I took in the papers and found out about the tsunami yesterday in Java. I waited for my mum to leave for work and then I started sobbing. I am just so fed up with our fucked up world.

This has never happened before. I have always thought myself desensitized, but this morning,I just felt so much grief.

Violent weekend. A horrendous tackle led to a fight. David's mistake was to move away from us. Burly like a bear. there was no way he would have lost in a one on one fight. Spat at, he rushed forward to get at the culprit. Bad decision. They were on him like a pack of hyenas, before any of us could react, kicking punching, scratching. He went down, brutally stamped on, with boots. We rushed in, fending off the kicks. Then more hell, as their substitute rushed in cracking an umbrella down upon David's head. That's when I left the field to get to my handphone, to dial 999.

Baybeats was a disappointment. Electrico are overhyped. Took a lift from Daphne up till Parklane where I caught the bus back home, which smelt as it collected people from along Little India. My CD kept slipping off my lap. I think it's jealous of me listening to music from other people on my ipod.

Grr.

Was at Baybeats tonight for Plain Sunset when I witnessed scenes which made me throb with anger. I imagine Che Guevera must have felt something similar to this when he witness the gross inequality and injustices in South America.

This is my complaint to the Esplanade:

I was at Baybeats'06 on Saturday 15 July, at the main stage at about 9:30pm where Plain Sunset were playing and I witnessed disgraceful behaviour by your security officers from Focus Security Group. I was standing in the front area which had been cordoned up and from there I saw your bouncer throwing punches into the crowd who were pushing to get into the area. Perhaps the most shocking scene was when I saw 2 burly bouncers pull in a malay youth who was trying to get in and swinging him around ,basically manhandling him and as they got closer I could see that he was bleeding from the eye, probably an injury inflicted by your bouncer thugs. This is clearly unacceptable, for fans at a concert like this to be treated thus. At the end of the set, you could see the crowd outside clearly angry and who wouldn't be given the treatment by the thugs from Focal Security Group. Perhaps some of the crowd had behaved rowdily, but you would have expected the security officers to practise crowd control, rather than to thrash or throw punches at the crowd made up mainly of youths who responded to your advertisements and were there to enjoy the music. I feel that the Esplanade should apologize to the fans for this disgraceful treatment. I intend to highlight this incident to the press.

The highlight of the first day of Baybeats was Tiramisu. They were wildly entertaining with their lead singer appearing in drag - blond wig, pink sequin top, lime green super tight capris, high heels; prancing around the stage, shaking his ass ridiculously. Halfway thru a song he kicked off his heels, which flew 10 metres into the air and landed in the crowd onto the head of a very surprised lady. Hilarious. The music was pretty good also. Mr Fantesticles?

At the end of KL band, Fern's set, I turned and looked to the left, at the full moon, the purple lights, people crowded around the stage, Sheares bridge above shimmering water; I was struck by a overwhelming sense of familiarity. For that split second, I was sure, the image before my eyes, I had seen it in a dream, a recent dream. And then in the next moment I wasn't so sure. Deja Vu.

"Why did life bring me back here?" I never expected to go back there. On Reservist Duty.The HSBC treetop walk. Seven months have passed, and yet the memory is still vivid. It was then that I knew my heart belonged to her. Why bring me back now? To tell me something? To tell me I miss her? Looking out from The Jelutong Tower, I missed her, as much as ever. Trying not to remember but the memories flood back. Bursting out of the jungle, we exit into the valley where directly above us the bridge hung and I remember when a showy monkey performed tricks for us and I thought I was the Luckiest.

Your Heart Is An Empty Room
dcfc

Burn it down till the embers smoke on the ground
And start new when your heart is an empty room
With walls of the deepest blue

Home's face: how it ages when you're away
Spring blooms and you find the love that's true
But you don't know what now to do
Cause the chase is all you know
And she stopped running months ago

And all you see
Is where else you could be
When you're at home
Out on the street
Are so many possibilities
To not be alone

The flames and smoke climbed out of every window
And disappeared with everything that you held dear
And you shed not a single tear for the things that you didn't need
'Cause you knew you were finally free

'Cause all you see is where else you could be when you're at home
Out on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone

And all you see is where else you could be
When you're at home
There on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone

I was sent off today. (Playing for the Tiger Beer team in the Sunday league. I was late for the game and only came on in the 2nd Half. Was at Bedok Reservoir supporting the Dragon Boat Team. Got the free T-Shirt. Too bad NTU won.) The first time in my life. To think I was discussing the Argentina Germany match with Fiona that day and I commented that the behavior of the Argentinian players was disgraceful and childish. Like them I was caught up in the heat of the moment. Perhaps I had more reason. It was a bad tempered match mainly due to the inept refereeing. Towards the end, I was hacked down from behind after I had run with the ball down the line. It was blatant with no intention to get the ball. After I fell, the bugger kicked the ball against my back, and I lost control. I stood up, rushed over and shoved him. Chaos ensued as the other players rushed over, some to confront me, and some to pull the people apart. There was alot of pushing and shouting, I even threw a punch. The referee did something right for once. He sent the both of us off.


Going for Reservist tomorrow. 10 days with some in the Jungle :(


Myanmar postal service is slooow. I got Shuying's postcard today,a couple of days after she returned to Singapore. (thanks! It may sound funny, but I like to receive stuff by snail mail.)

Over lunch, my answer to Wynne's question; I said 90%. I don't think you can put percentages on that. But like I told Shuying the other day, the past is made of the precious moments of our life. The past is who we were, and defines who we are now. We should not forget but accept. The bittersweet memories we recall; precious times we hold dear in our hearts, silent images we hope will never fade; the sadness we feel from loss a reaffirmation.