Customised Shoes, Unique like You

Adidas's invitation

' We would like to invite you to the launch of mi adidas, the programme which brings customised footwear to everyday athletes in terms of function, fit and aesthetics. All feet are unique and have special requirements, so your feet deserve shoes that adhere to your specific needs. You can even personalise the way your shoe looks! So come join us and your fellow athletes at the launch.

Date: Wednesday, 22 June 2005

Time: 7:00pm - 9:30pm

Venue: Tropics Atrium, Suntec City(outside the adidas store, #01-165 to 171)'

I hope i get a customised pair for my unique feet.

I want a pair....for free.

Coach to us: I dun give a damn if you're sick. As long as ure not bedridden…u guys better jolly well sit there, watch the rest train and feel bad about it……

-_-" Wad haf I gotten myself into. :(

Brown's AAD

An invigorating rock journey i shared with the hh, hatta and aaron on sat nite where electrico and and ronin was showcased somewhere in the midst of busy orchard...electrico was a tad disappointing cos they couldn't really drum up much interest in a crowd which was alr on their feet. Ronin session was zany.

Finally got my hands on Angels and Demons at 11 bucks. The 30% discount courtesy of Borders, was put into excellent use...AAD is one of the best reads ever.

The usual Dan Brown...each page will keep you turning to the next. The few twists in the plot were enough but some were not as unexpectable as the others. The cat and mouse action scenes were just great...I just loved the symbolisms and puzzles and especially the ambigrams. The familiar clue-finding-and-solving was just as exciting as in the Da Vinci Code.

The characters were hard to guess. I wasn’t sure who’s who until the ending...and as for the ending...the most unexpected, totally out of nowhere. The most unpredictable of all his books. The conspiracy was just far greater than the one in Deception Point. Just when u thought it was over, u weren’t even at the good part yet. How can Brown think like that? ...just got confused with the Vatican rules he used as compared to the ones publicized last month.

I’m done with Brown for now so tink I’ll be reading some other thrillers of other authors. By the way, just discovered that Dan Brown’s next is titled “The Solomon Key” and its focus will be the Freemasons and it’s set in Washington. '

I'm waiting.

RIP, SGT Ong

“A 24-year-old Army specialist drowned while undergoing special operations training for maritime counter terrorism in the waters of Changi Naval Base.

A safety diver, on standby as part of safety precautions, was immediately activated. The diver found Ong in about five minutes.”

Fellow divers…the frantic revival in the hyperbaric centre and the loss of a brother in arms.

To a person i may have brushed shoulders before...RIP.

God, Science and Astronomy

Randoming...

- with the maximum velocity to do space travel at 2.99x10^8 m/s (forget warp etc.)…we’re technically stuck in a finite vol of space in our own solar system.

- we are designed to populate on planet earth only, given our natural dependence on resources...the 'designer' dun want us to venture far.

- earth's atmosphere is not conducive to receiving/existence of other higher energy space particles like cosmic rays, anti-matter particles…earth's inner core purposely rotated to generate magnetic field, to purposely deflect celestial energy….

- our brain is only ~ 5% active. A deliberate design of a less powerful version of human?

- talk about premonitions. the unexplained supernatural phenomena…such power lies within the 95% of the brain which is purposely disabled?

- earth is not really that big, why must there be different races instead of 1 of the same type?

- why the supreme faction never appear again for millenniums? wanted us to populate but never design a human body that is suitable for space traveling? - we are in a macro prison.... and we could be forgotten. worst case scenario is they haf already obtained their experimental results and abandoned us for good.

I had lunch with Bockie at Bugis and dropped by Kino cos SOME SELF EMPLOYED GUY wanted to look at car mags. A book caught my eye. Adam's Curse by Bryan Skyes. With Y chromosome for getting male babies diminishing centuries by centuries, there will probably be no male 1000 years later…could tis be the effective experiment duration the supreme faction wanted?

not a gripe with god

Religion is amazing.

It can really be such a tool for so many things. I'm not talking abt the macro world-moving incidents like Terrorism or Crusades now. Looking deeper, on the micro-level - family to family…intra-family…the conflict that can arise over this is so massive.

I'm not blaming God…no. I still believe that organised religion is man-made, and man is fallible…and when u tink abt all this, it really IS a tool…Its not God's tool, God has become a tool too - A tool for many purposes…to suit many different people.

Maybe its better to start MY own church. I'll take instruction from above, and ensure that my ppl hear his word. My congregation will consist of only one member. ME. I'll be my own tool, and not someone else's.

Until maybe when alzheimer takes me…perhaps.

$$$ woes

What else is new? After reporting/posting a record profit, SMRT immediately set about applying for a fare (fair?) increase. And once again, our Transport Minister is plugging their case for an increase in fares.

Don't expect our media to do anything because they can't.

There used to be 2 certainties in life; taxes and death, but in Singapore, it's also retrenchments, fare increases, fees hikes, ERP hikes, medical cost hikes, insurance premiums hikes ad infinitum.
Despite all these, service is still mediocre because we are captive customers at the mercy of these GLCs.

This is a chain reaction. Increases one after another. Soon, those hawkers will also join in citing as usual, operating costs have gone up.

I do not know what are the reasons.. but lets me try to haf a balanced argument here…below are just some of the reasons I can think of for a fare increment.

1) The oil prices is increasing...thus we have to increase the prices too..

2) Operation cost has increase, see now got lift, got security personnel, got CCTV that can record, got to play more announcement reminding public not to venture into the tracks…etc..etc..

3) To improve our services, we haf to increase the prices...put GPS system in bus, put advance traffic warning system in bus..

4) Our profits may be up…but its still not up to our projected level.. so must increase prices.

5) Its the time of the year to review our prices.. and compare to other countries like US, UK, Aust.. our prices are still consider cheap…so we have to increase to catch up with them..(wait a min... considering tis, does everyone suffer from a lack of consciousness that though ppl lament abt the long distance they have to travel from pasir ris to jurong…spore is still ‘a tiny red dot’ c.f. with the continents? (quoted by friendly neighbour from the south)...shorter distance = less energy consumption?

6) World-class transport system WILL never come cheap…

SMRT and Comfort Delgro are NOT private companies. These are MONOPOLIES created with public funds. These companies owe the public the obligation to remain lean and trim and non-profiteering. It is heaven and hell between running a private company and a monopoly. There is no cost/effectiveness and competition in monopoly.

Buses and MRT are essential services in Spore. Any further increases are definitely going to increase the cost of living to the majority and may even cause hardships to a certain section of the community. With the exception of the gov sector, salary in the private sector had remain stagnant for years, some even went downwards. SMRT should instead look at how to penetrate overseas markets and squeeze more profits from other markets rather than Singapore's!

Surely, SMRT can look into other ways of reducing costs instead of looking at the consumers as the cash cows. How much longer can the Providers of essential services continue to milk the cows?

Cows like me are growing old and running dry liao.

50 things to savor before u die

BBC listed its top 50 list of things that everyone wants to eat before they die. Fresh fish, lobster, steak, Thai food and Chinese food are at the top 5 of the list. Looking through it, I saw some interesting choices. I would definitely like to try some of them within my lifetime.

Bugs are fine but kangaroo, guinea pig and reindeer are er........

Burning my love away

Good night
Things are exactly as they seem
But I’m nowhere around
Hello
You’re where I was told to go
If I don’t want to be found
There’s no end to the winter
Waking at the break of dawn
In the middle of summer
Living at the speed of light

Someday we may
See each other and look the other way
But I’ll love you just the same
And if you hate your life
Just remember there used to be a time
When we could not feel a thing

In my heart is a hunger
I will never give away
Just try and stop from going under
’till the dawn of judgment day
Living at the speed of light
Living at the speed of light
Living at the speed of light
And burning your love on the way
Burning your love away

Speed of Light by Joseph Arthur

Rivers and Goals

I was browsing in parkway mph while waiting when I came across some self-help book written by by Earl Nightingale. I found an excerpt that he penned strikingly familiar…something I’ve learnt or heard somewhere before.

I rummaged the web to find anything that would better enlighten myself on his analogy of the 2 types of people in the world. He explained that there are two types of people: river people and goal people…and that both types of people can experience personal fulfilment and success in life, although in different ways.

Goal People

Most of us are undoubtedly familiar with goal people. They’re the individuals who write down their objectives and timetables for reaching them, and then focus on attaining them, one by one…by laying out a roadmap of future achievements in front of them, goal people give their creative minds a clear set of stimuli to work on. Their subconscious minds can then get to work incubating ideas and insights that will help them to reach their goals.

River People

River people, on the other hand, dun like to follow such a structured route to success. They are called river people because they are happiest and most fulfilled when they are wading in a rich "river" of interest - a subject or profession about which they are very passionate…while they may not have a concrete plan with measurable goals, river people are often successful because they are so passionate about their area of interest.

River people are explorers, continually seeking out learning opportunities and new experiences. For river people, joy comes from the journey, not from reaching the destination – the exact opposite of goal people.

So beautifully written.

I tink its important to not just understand that there are just these 2 kinds of pp ard…it also helps to recognize that both qualities exists in ppl - Most people are a combination of these two personality types…but how much of each?

At least I know ppl who are happen to be much more river than goal…and I can tell u that it can be absolutely delightful to see this seemingly rare breed display themselves in this strategically necessitated society of ours. Hmm, reminded me abt another story about the black swan amongst the white (another something about the unthinkable and the unimaginable and the possible). Goal ppl are more commonplace, or so it seems. The generation Ys of today seem to be sparking off a new direction and purpose – rivering towards their goals.

In my current job, I am expected to be goal oriented. I have specific personal and departmental objectives for which I'm responsible…at the same time, however, I get the most "juice" out of being an explorer, learning new skills, collecting information and writing about innovation and technology.

So I guess I am a bit of both…river and goal personas dominate in different situational contexts. Is that bad? What about you?