Jeremy Teo | Just Simply Me

Best When Served Hot

Just like food, blog entries are best when served hot. However more often than not, just when I want to pen these thoughts down, they seem to fizzle away right when I sit myself down in front of WordPress, rendering them into the lost oblivion. Take this week for example. So many things had happened and there were blogging tendencies aplenty, but school work, laziness and the sudden lost of writing inspirations resulted in my entries turning ‘cold’. Nonetheless, I shall attempt to do a week-in-review of these ‘cold dishes’ in one entry.

The two words which filled both small talk and tabloids around the country in the past week, Jack Neo. The news of his affair(s) came as quite a shocker, and despite the nature of the whole thing being terry-bly (pun intended) similar to other famous sportsmen around the world, Jack Neo’s one was closer to Singaporeans’ heart. Admist the whole saga, the one person which stood out was definitely Jack Neo’s wife, Ms Irene Kng. I think she showed tremendous strength and character, and the way she handled the whole matter was really admirable. Wendy Chong and Foyce Le Xuan on the other hand, have chosen to go down an unnecessary path which I think will bring them more shame then fame (if that is what they sought for). Well things will never be the same, for the Neo family, and for Singaporeans’ perception towards Jack Neo and his future productions. After all, one can forgive but will never forget. Then again, time will heal, and I truly hope things will get better for their family.

The Jack Neo saga also brought about much criticisms on the media, and how they handled the whole issue, especially during the press conference. They were reproached for unobjective reporting, for intruding into personal space, and for snapping away at Ms Kng when she collapsed. However, I personally do not see things as negatively as people make them out to be. Sure, you could question morality and ethical conciousness, but the media are just simply carrying out their jobs. The matter of fact is that despite how most of us sympathize with the situation, the public will always be hungry for juicy news stories and scandals, and the media is simply doing what they can to provide for these appetites. We can always leave objective analysis and viewpoints to the newpaper forums, commentary columns or blogs. But if the media reports about factual incidents, how can they really be blamed?

Scandals aside, on a personal note, it was also quite an ‘eventful’ week for me. It was strange how I blogged about graduation the week before last, and straight after that I received a number of phone calls, e-mails and snail mail through the week. These string of calls and mails somewhat laid the path for my post-graduation ‘plans and activities’. For one, the commencement letter reminded me that it was finally going to be my time to throw my mortar hat, something which I never thought was possible since my poly days. Events which involved the throwing of head-dress has always been special for me, during BMT passing-out parade and OCS commisioning parade, and alike those events, this will be another milestone event, and it’ll be another one I dedicate first of all to my parents.

My ‘over-seas’ trip after my final university examinations has also been confirmed. It has been almost 4 years, and I’m feeling rather apprehensive about the whole thing, albeit having a tinge of excitement about what is to come. Also, the whole matter of jobs and interviews surfaced again in the past week. Much has changed and happened since my last entry, and my already narrowed choices have been further scoped down. It’s been a week of hard thinking, and I’m quite sure about what I want now. The lesson learnt is that it is important for one to be true to himself/herself, to listen to what his/her heart says, and to follow his/her gut feelings. A light shines, and I’m hoping it shines till the end.

Love the Weekends

Believe it or not, after 2 months of internship I still can’t really get used to waking up early in the morning to get myself ready for work. So that is why I cherish the weekends much more now. I slept for at least 12 hours last night, as I woke up in the afternoon today. Then it rained for the whole day, and I just lazed in front of the computer and television. How nice!

Lightning actually struck the Merlion today! That’s a first, and it’s amazing on many counts. First of all, of all the things, lightning had to strike one of the iconic statues of our country. Secondly, the Merlion wasn’t that tall to start of with, so how did that really happen? I’m gonna bet that with all the new media hype lately, this is gonna get much coverage on forums and blogs, with people relating this incident to like ‘signs of Singapore being suay’ or ‘the heavens are telling Singaporeans something’ etc. etc.

One Less to Savor

When we came over to HK, one of the first questions we asked Elaine’s local buddy was where we could find Krispy Kremes. I even remember that we specially went all the way to Causeway Bay (and walked a fair bit) just to find the Krispy Kremes outlet mentioned in the guide book, and even ordered a dozen to share among the four of us. The after-thoughts were that it was not as fantastic it was ‘supposed’ to be, but well I was personally satisfied with my doughnuts.

Since then, we have found many other Krispy Kremes outlet, and started to realise how foolish we were to go all the way to Causeway Bay the first time when there was actually one outlet at Mongkok. So Krispy Kremes became a once in a while affair, and it was better this way too as eating it once every few weeks made it seem tastier each time.

Since our first Krispy Kremes venture, I did raise a point to the others. With Krispy Kreme getting such a big ‘hoo haa’ back at home, and with it being such a hit in many other countries, I was surprised at how empty the Krispy Kremes outlets here were. Almost every time I visit, there will only be a couple of tables filled. In fact, the only time an outlet was full was when it was pouring at Mongkok, and I guess people were there to just take shelter.

So having heard that Krispy Kremes could not make it to Singapore due to high franchise cost, I was serioulsy wondering how could it actually survive here in HK. Well, I got my answer today. It can’t. News just came in that Krispy Kremes in HK just went into liquidation, and have already closed down a majority of their outlets. Oh well, no more doughtnuts. The only saving grace is that the roadside stalls at Mongkok will never close down, and it’s something I’ve really grown to enjoy.

Three’s a Breeze

Today marks the end of the third week of school, and with mid-autumn taking away at least 3 lectures and 2 tutorials, the week was pretty much like the previous two, relaxed. I must admit though that this leaves me a little worried as since the start of school, I have only read 2 pages of my international communication book, and the next most number of pages I’ve read is from the book called ‘Essential Cantonese Phrase Book’.

Some assignments and mid terms will start springing up, but well, I’ll live the days as they come by. Really grateful for what I’m having here, as chats with Chen Guo and Sancia yesterday, together with all the blog posts, msn nicks and facebook statuses, gives me a good gauge about the current stress level at workload back in Singapore.

Just saw some facebook pictures from AGM which happened last night, and it all seems so fast. Kudos to the 28th for a good term, and finally being able to step down. On a personal note, the odds were always stacked against them, and their greatest enemy were always ‘critical views’ from the outside (from the 27th and myself included). But they themselves will soon understand this aspect of ‘can’t help but be critical’ when the 29th’s term kicks in. Some things cannot be undone, and some impressions cannot be changed, but they came a long way, and have in my opinion as a whole MC achieved much more than was expected of them.

On a global level, there seems to huge turmoil around the world. Banks are failing, and babies are ailing. The banking and financial situation looks really bad, and although I have no knowledge about banks and the financial markets, I have read enough to know that it will take at least another 2-3 years for the situation to stabalise. All the news have been surrounding the concerns from traders and world banks, but if we scope it down a little, another main worry lies within the universities. My friends from finance and econs are starting to get a little worried, as most of them are looking to the banking and financial industry upon graduation in about a year’s time. Then again, I’m sure the effects will also be echoed to the other industries.

Just What For?

What was unity in diversity, turned out to be diversed dis-unity. Fingers can be pointed, and to each his own reasons for certain actions and reactions, but seriously, what is all these happening for?

Some good pointers were brought up pertaining to my previous entry. Different situations may call for different responses, and some may feel that my take on the issue was perhaps too simplified, but I still hold by the main point I was trying to bring out. Whatever the situation is, can ‘respect’ really afford to be totally absent?

And apparently, the haunting has come much earlier than I expected, and in a much greater force than I anticipated. What’s worse? It doesn’t stop here, and there’s just no turning back. And to think I tried to put across the point on the dangers of undermining the importance of the people.

On a side note, the YOG games village will no longer be held at the NUS University Town. The rising cost in construction worldwide was cited as the main reason, and NTU will now be hosting the village. No doubt the reason is a valid one, and the decision may be for the good of the YOG as a whole, but I’m sure that it would be a big blow for NUS. There goes the perfect opportunity to have the whole world’s sporting and media spotlight on NUS.

Randomness

Blogging frequency has been at an all time low, I guess it’s because of work. It’s not that I’m very busy at work or anything, but its just that I’m perhaps still not used to spending most of my hours a day at office. Makes me think twice before complaining about school.

Went to collect my CUHK offer package, and that means more forms and more procedures. And I so really need a canto crash course.

Didn’t get to watch much of Euro due to matches at the wee hours, but am glad that I still got to watch some really good matches. My prediction? Netherlands. Go Oranje!

With the Lions’ loss to the Saudis, its game over. Many people seem to criticise Singapore’s defeat to the Uzebeks after being mauled 3-7, but for me, I applaud the Lions. I never believed that 2010 was ever possible, but one has to admit that their brave showing during this journey shines some hope for 2014.

SAF deaths. The recent passing of two 20 year old servicemen is tragic. The aftermath of this incident has sparked unhappiness and concerns amongst the public. Fingers are being pointed at safety regulations and training procedures. I for one have had a first hand experience at regulations and procedures on tekong, and I look at the finger pointings as baseless and unnecessary. I have seen people commenting about how ruthless the army is to push the recruits just 5 days after enlistment. I have seen how people have commented that no safety precautions were taken. So untrue. The irony of it all, safety standards as compared the olden days is at least ten fold, but deaths as compared to the olden days? More.

And to those who keep saying how those 2 years are worthless, well its kinda reflects your own personal take on life. No doubt I am also complaining about those 2 years placing us behind our female peers, the choice was for us to make the best out of those 2 years. I’m sure I did, so if any blame is to assigned, start with yourself.

I am in currently in a dilema, which could see me forgo my bonus semester exemption as a diploma holder. What lies ahead?

Back from Bangkok

I’m back from bangkok, and somehow or rather the thai accent and language is still constantly ringing in my head, all the krup and ka. But am too tired to blog about my trip today, I so have to talk about the EPL first, and also the earth quake in China.

All of my predictions in my previous post came true, including the heartbreaking fact that Villa beat Blackburn to the Intertoto spot. Man Utd did indeed beat Wigan to win the title, and Chelsea did infact slip up as I predicted. Villa did beat Blackburn to that precious 6th spot, but it wasn’t via Villa winning. Instead Vill’a draw with West Ham was enough for them, as Blackburn got thrashed. And as predicted, Fulham’s win was enough to keep them alive, and the 8 goals scored between Reading and Birmingham in their final matches was not enough.

Heard about the earthquake in China from the bangkok news, and its shocking to know that 12,000 people have died. This has come after scores of people died in the Myanmar cyclone incident. I remember vaguely that a feng shui master predicted that this will be a year filled with natural disasters and deaths, and the feng shui master has hit the nail head on. It’s really sad how over a short period of 2 weeks, thousands and thousands of people just die like that so unnaturally.

Back Home

I’m finally back home. Had a strange kinda feeling just now when I was walking to YIH to buy dinner. It suddenly dawned upon me that it was perhaps the very last time walking that very path from tower block to YIH to buy dinner. Similarly, it was my very last bath and very last meal in tower block. Ok this may sound stupid and very duhhh, but it felt kinda …..hmm …. sad, haha.

Managed to lug everything back with my parents fetching me home. As my parents have not had their dinner, we went to east coast. And I almost embarassed myself, and almost sinned horribly. When buying satay, I was thinking of what meat to order. You know when you talk about meat, its usually those 3 for me, chicken, pork and beef. Since my dad doesn’t eat beef, there was only chicken and pork left. But oh so blur me forgot that I was ordering satay from a muslim stall! I was thinking to myself chicken alone so boring, so maybe should order half chicken half pork. Thank goodness just before I made the order, the obvious suddenly sank into my brain, and I saved myself from both embarrasment and idiot-cy. Cannot imagine if I made that wrong order.

Was reading the news just now, and the situation in Myanmar is scary. Can you believe it, the cyclone death toll has just hit 22,000 and its still rising. Just yesterday or so, it was 4,000. I was like oh dear, and then just a few hours later, I checked the news again and it rosed to like 10,000. Now, its more than double of 10,000, and its still rising. I know many of us here are not feeling the impact of it. As what I learnt in media writing, there is no ‘relevance and proximity’ factor to deem the news big enough. But 22,000 deaths is just really sad. Prayers to the people at Myanmar, and I really hope the next time I refresh the news the figure stays.

Singapore, First Youth Olmypics Games Host

Before I write about the happier stuff, lemme first talk about the not so happy stuff first. The crisis management assignments is kinda taking up alot of my time and energy. No doubt I will admit that the lecturers did a great job coming up with this concept, and coming up with the narration. However, 3 assignments in 4 days is no joke. And assuming that my guess is right and that there will be a final one tomorrow, it will be 4 assignments in 5 days. Some people may say the percentage of each of the assignment is small, so its not much of a problem. But that’s not the case for me. You see for any assignments, I do not really care what the percentage is. It can be 1%, 10% or more, I will still want to give it my best. Even if its leaving it to the very last minute (which I always do), I will still want to ensure that I make use of every single of the last few minutes to come up with something good. I guess thats just me, so it inevitably causes me much headache in this crisis communication assignment. In fact, I am left a little scared now whenever I hear the word ‘crisis’.

Ok on to the happier stuff. Yes! Singapore has won the bid for hosting the first ever Youth Olympics Games! I was waiting for the results for quite a while already, and was keeping my fingers crossed, as I felt that Moscow was definitely the favourite. But deep down, I still had high hopes for Singapore, as I think a good point was made regarding how Moscow already has the ability to host a bigger scale main olympics, so Singapore should actually be given the chance to host the smaller scale youth olympics. Furthermore, I am sure a young and vibrant country like ours would suit the youth olympics better. And yes, the IOC chose Singapore!

Thanks to Bing De, I managed to view some videos, together with the one on channelnewsasia. I share much of my sentiments already been pinned down by Bing De on his blog. It is through these kinda situations whereby you feel so proud to be a Singaporean again, where you feel the patriotism usually lacking in the very shy and reserved Singaporeans, and where you feel the joy and warmth of home. It’s such a good feeling, but sadly I only manage to get this warm feeling during National Day parades, the SEA Games and the Tiger Cup. Oh and one other thing that I am happy about, I am sure winning this bid will see a major facelift in sports facilities in Singapore, something which we so dearly need. I hope to see more upgrades in stadiums and swimming pools, and other sports facilities around Singapore. I am no sport fanatic, but it is always nice and exciting to see such changes around the country. Watching the videos was some what euphoric yet emotional. Can’t wait to read the papers tomorrow.

The second happy thing to mention, is of course Dota. Had quite a few nice games of Dota with the guys today, and I enjoyed myself. Despite still being noobish, I managed to up my level abit to join in the fun of killing. As mentioned in a previous post, the feeling was so much like poly. Fun and games in school, instead of assignments and grades. Of course, it is important to know where and when to stop. It was real fun. Hock did mention today that maybe I am not feeling all so stressed because I am enjoying myself more this semester with Dota and such. Well maybe it did help a little, but I guess the main reason is really still the sudden decrease in the amount of assignments this semester, for now at least.

First Blood …. Monster Kill …. Ownage!

Back to School, Back to Reality

Its a very lethargic return to school for me and many of the rest, probably all still in the chinese new year holiday mood. Nothing much really happened, but just some random thoughts.

A singaporean icon passed away. Ah Meng, and its amazing how she lived till 48. I guess her keeper of 38 years should be feeling the most about her passing. Quite sad to hear about it, but what amazes me is that almost 4000 people turned up for her funeral. Wow! Rest in peace Ah Meng.

The Singapore Flyer is up and spinning. Fully booked for the first few months already, but once the hype is over, I so want to go and catch a ride on it with my gf. Clips from the news shows that the view is real nice.

My legendary handphone just failed on me again, and this time I have decided to give up on it. Saturday was the last straw when the phone blanked out on me again. It also cannot be charged properly, and the joy stick seems to have problems moving up and down. Real frustrating. Managed to get a spare phone from dad, but my old sim card has very little memory and its a pain transfering all the numbers manually. So if any of you call me and I go like ‘who is this?’, pardon me as my phonebook is in a mess now.

One last thing, I am feeling a little worried. As I type this, the words are looking real blur. Most of you probably know I have this habit of blinking my eyes alot when I am very tired. Because when I am tired, my eyes get real dry, and blinking kinda makes it feel better. Gotta stop this habit though, because Im not sure because of blinking, or some other reason, my vision is starting to blur. I certainly hope its due to fatigue, and all will be better tomorrow. I still want my perfect eyesight, eventhough its not that perfect now.

If only, if only, if only … Powerful but hateful pair of words. I have to remember that I am living in reality, and reality moves in only one direction, forward.