A good comment on my blog,

Once in a blue moon, I have vistors make comment to articles in my blog. So once in a blue moon, I will publish them... This fellow blogger "online" name is Velle and you can visit her blog at http://velle.blogspot.com/

Hey there...

I'm a Singaporean living in Canberra, so I've been listening with interest on the whole Qantas-SIA thing... and I agree that it's a crying shame that Qantas won't let SIA in. (I have a vested interest of course, being a Krisflyer member!)

However, I don't think their refusal stems from the Nguyen hanging (that amused me heaps), nor from their seeming ignorance on what the latest Airbus can do.

Rather, I think it's a huge kneejerk reaction to placate the Australia public (that in a large part I feel is fiercely loyal to Qantas the way we are to SIA), and to protect their cash cow. Apparently the Sydney-LA route accounts for 15-20% of Qantas's profit.

Unfair, sure. But there's talks to let Virgin Blue (Australia's budget airline) fly from Sydney to LA, although that might mean having VB link up with Virgin Atlantic... and SIA does own 49% of the latter. ;)

By Velle, at 2:08 PM

and my respone...

Hi Velle! Thanks for your comment. In any case, my blog Article on the recent Qantas vs SIA vs Australia government issue was really a personnal, out of the heart, spontaneous reaction to the news article I read.

Shortly after the announcement, someone actually wrote to TODAY newspaper and mention that it is the symptoms of Ang Mo Supremacy or "Post Ang Mo Colonization Age Syndrome". In short, racist against Asian.

It will be interesting to see how the Dubai "Port take over team" vs US Port and US Congress and US people turn out. But the reaction already shows many thing...

By Riccardo Tan, at 3:14 AM

Garang Little Honey Bee....Ouch!

22/02/06

Dear blog,

It was a mighty hot and humid day and I am off for my afternoon shift. So hot that I have to ride to work with my helmet visor "flipped up" to enjoy that little amount of breeze in the air. It was wednesday and I am already counting down for Friday. It was a boring journey to work, same old road, same old turn, same old hill to ride up to my work place. Boring, uneventful, I thought.

Just when the bordom is going to degrade my brain cells further a strangle little black object just smack into my face while I was negotiating the up slope turns up to Sembawang Airbase. Felt like some kind of shit hitting my face again but this shit can move! A sharp sensation near my right eye almost cause me to lost control of my bike and treaten to send me tumbling down slope. I was in tear, not because I was sad, cause it felt like some idiot have pour tons of chilli powder in my right eyes.

I immediately parked my motorbike and got off to examine my face in the mirror. There lies the dead body of the honorable and Garang Little Honey Bee sticking disgustingly on the right side of my nose and just millimeters away is the Garang Honey Bee's sting, still pulsating all the "wonder juice" into my face. "中马票都没那么准！ Strike Lottery also not so accurate!" I just got stung by a bee, first time in my life!?




As any military personnal or civil servant will, I followed SOP, Standard Operating Procedues at proceeded to my Base Medical Center. Was examine by a pretty young Captain MO (Medical Officer) and promptly send to the treatment room. As the sting was on the face and near to the eye, the MO was worried about any complication that might follows and decided to gave me a Jab of 50ml of "I don't know what but pain as hell" injection. I was held back for 2 long hours in the sick bay for the MO to observe my condition, connected all sorts of gadget, heart rate meter, blood pressure meter. Will I become blind in my right eye? Will there be brain damage? Will I die? Nothing happen....I was released after 2 hours with 2 days MC.

Whee.....2 days MC. Ha ha... Thank you Little Honey Bee
23/02/06

Dear blog,

I woke up with great plans to take advantage of todays MC. I almost fainted when I look at myself in the mirror. Is this me or what?


The place I kanna stung have swelled over night and I look like a totally different person. An alien! Wah lau, cannot go out liao. Now I really have empathy for people who are disfigured. Must go see doctor again but wah lau, paiseh to step out of my house leh....

Heng ah, when I don my specks, my disfigurement don't look so obvious. A bit of a research on the internet reveal that swelling will follow after any insects sting. And just so unfortunately the sting is near my right eye where the skin is pretty thin, thus the swelling tends to spread wider, all the way to my left eye area. Went to consult a private GP and was given more medication and another day of MC. Even if I am capable of going to work, I doubt I will get pass the security at my Air Base entrance with this face of mine.

Damn Little Honey Bee, make me spend S$26 for medication. Will claim S$10 from my company. Fuck, should let me claim every single cent leh, that fucking Honey Bee is wondering around SAF compound, so SAF must be fully responsible mah cause its SAF property! ha ha....just joking lah, anyway the Bee die already. 死无对证

24/02/06

Dear Blog,

I think I look better today... Hopefully the medication does its job and prevent any futher swelling. Need to go out on Saturday leh...

Singapura Oh Singapura!

"CANBERRA : Australia has moved to protect national airline Qantas by shutting Singapore Airlines out of the lucrative trans-Pacific routes and maintaining a cap on the airline's foreign ownership. "

BLOODY AUSTRALIA GAHMEN!!!

Please click on the above link before reading my blog. Bloody Ang Mo resisting globalization! What? Is it because we recently hang a Vietnamese Australian Drug handler despite numerous appeal from their Gahmen that they decided to wage a business war with us? Are the Australian so bloody emotional like me now, writing this blog? Do they look down on SIA capabilities?

" But he said the government viewed the trans-Pacific route as a "key national asset" and would only negotiate access to the route "when it is in the national interest. "

Oi! John Howard! Wake up lah! This is no longer Globalization Version 1.0! Its version 3.0 now! We got the latest AIRBUS Jet which can fly non stop to US! And what the hell do you mean by National Asset? Do the Australian Gahmen own the pacific ocean or what? Its a matter of time that more LONG HAUL Airlines jet come out of BOEING and AIRBUS production lines (some say Tupolev too!). By than it will be no longer a NATIONAL INTEREST! ITS A NATIONAL DISASTER for over protecting Qantas. Without competition there will be no improvement. It will be like the Ancient Japanese Period long time ago when the first saw Ang Mo and their ship, they thought they saw GOD!


"Today's decision from the Australian Cabinet to not lift protection of Qantas on the Australia-US route is a disappointment in the long journey to opening the aviation market to more competition," it said in a statement.

"The Australian tourism industry and all consumers who pay high fares on the USA route are, again, the losers from today’s decision. The decision offers no prospect for relief from high fares," it said. "

So Australian government must be humble lah! Don't Kiasee that Qantas will die when SIA enter into the Australia Airline market. You never know how much in-efficiency and full of friction Qantas is operating untill SIA come into picture. Throught fair competition and an open market, which unfortunately the gahmen only open "Shell Fish Market", I am sure Qantas will see much improvement in years to come. Nowadays companies can only thrive on competition, with competition comes unqiue features of the different company selling the same product than profits.... Every Cha Kway Teow stall have unique differences (some slight some huge) cater to different die hard customer. I may like stall A but others may like stall B.

"Jetstar Asia, a Qantas associate, also operates out of Singapore in competition with other Singapore carriers. "

See SINGAPORE so humble and generous, allow Jetstar Asia to operate in Changi in competition with Tiger Air Way (which belongs to SIA too!). Australia is just not play fair and square. I give you apple today, you should be appreciative and not give me a rotten banana tomorrow right?

SINGAPORE IS VERY PROFESSIONALLY DISAPPOINTED WITH AUSTRALIA DUE TO THE CLOSING OF THE TRANS PACIFIC AIR ROUTE....which is going to benefit many consumers out there and boost the tourism of Australia in the process, and improve Qantas, and stengthen bilateral relationship.

AUSTRALIA IS VERY INSANELY DISAPPOINTED WITH THE HANGING OF THAT VIETNAMESE WHO SMUGGLE DRUG... so they send a signal to all traffickers and dealers out there that "Hey if you are caught, its won't be as serious as a death sentence"! And they gonna have a whole load of drug problem in the future. So they don't think drug is such a big problem is it?

OH!!! I gonna get you when I am back!

You see, my boss have decided he have enough of me and find me a nuisance and pain in the ass to be around in his department. So much so that he decided to kick me to the front line where work is so F***king boring. Life is so slow in the frontline although you can witness our RSAF mighty Chinook taking off daily and suffer from whatever shit the down wash send to you. 2 more months of idling to go before my Boss decided that I am still too close to him for comfort and decided that I am scheduled to get my ass out of Singapore on 5th of May! Sigh, I am exiled from my beloved Air Base to some strange land in the USA, where the cowboy, cowgirls, cow-beh and cow-bu live and work. Oh....TEXAS....here I come..... OH!!! I GONNA GET YOU WHEN I AM BACK!!! I GONNA GET THE

HONDA VARADERO XL125V


Isn't she a beauty?

Riccardo GO KART!!!

Full throttle down the second straight! 40m, 30m, 20m, 10m... I position to the extreme left side of the tarmac like any professional racer will and applied full brakes two the puny wheels. With eagle instinct, turning right into the same apex the 5th time. Suddenly I sense the rear wheel spinning and slipping wildly to the left. With that same eagle instinct I attempt to counter-steer like Takumi in his AE86 down Akina mountain. Its seems to be chicken instinct this time, the rear slipped even more violently sending the vehicle into a corkscrew before slamming into the tyre barrier. "Damn it", I grumbled, I should have know well not to step on the accelerator too much while entering a turn.

Welcome to the world of Go Karting, where the rubber meet the tarmac and every senses in you is stimulated to tackle the tight turns and wild acceleration amid the hot sunny weather of KartWorld, Jurong.

I thought its gonna be another boring saturday for me window shopping aimlessly at Sim Lim Square or Taka or burying myself in books at the National Library. Thats when I decided that every weekend, I gonna do something new above the routine. Thus time for my first Go Kart Session at KartWorld, Jurong www.kartworld.com.sg

Head down to Corporation Road (thats where its located) with my Honda Wave and it almost took a bloody 30mins for me to reach Kartworld. I can attest to how remotely located it is. Alas the place don't look as fantastic in my opinion as the fancy website. Just 3 Container (those use at PSA Port) as office and storage, a grandstand like those found in African country a small parking lots for the Go Karts and of course the winding track.

I just go to the manager and ask for the rates. S$25 for kids and a Junior kart, S$35 for adult and a Single Engine 4 stroke kart and S$40 for adult and a Twin Engine 4 Stroke kart. I choose the S$35 package, saving the S$5 for lunch and of course is apprenhensive of my experience with racing. The manager gave me a ticket which I use to exchange with the track assistant for a Go Kart to drive on. Some how I was expecting Sports bucket seats, Honda Mugen pedals and F1 style tyres but was presented with a pretty "kampong" (run-down look) style Go Kart...no fanciful stuff, just 4 wheels, an engine, a plastic chair looking like those we sat on in Secondary school with out the legs, a steering wheel and two stick that was suppose to be the pedals. Was offered the company's helmet for use but I rejected and decided to use my own... you guys really have to check out the condition of the helmet there, worst that SSDC. Better bring your own or wear a plastic bag first before donning their helmets.

Nothing too difficult with the race track, I went through the first five laps with not much of an effort, just like playing computer games but with the G Force in every turn. I do like to mention that although it may seems slow to a third person view point, as a driver I felt like I am accelerating and chewing up the tarmac at more than 80km/hr!!!

I was not alone on the track. There is two ang mo kids in full racing suit, full face helmet and beautiful looking, privately owned Go Karts zipping past me numerous time. This kids must be training to be the future F1 racers, most of them started with Go Karting. No wonder F1 race are dominated by Ang Mos, can't even see single Asian face on the track today except mine and I am too old to be the next F1 racer. This kids are fast, real fast! I felt like an African Elephant been chase by two cheetahs. Don't mind been overlapped by this two kids so many times since I knew how underpowered my go kart are compare to theirs. We are talking 12HP vs 25HP.

10mins seems short but appear length when you are actually racing on the track. It was overall a pretty nice experience for me, a first timer in Go Karting. I would recommend this activity as a company corporate events or chill out session but not really for individuals. Maybe for the first timers, its good to try it out for the fun and refreshing challenge it provide. The rate are just too high compare to what our neighbours in Johore and Batam is providing not to mention the duration.

Dummy guide to preparation for Heaven Praying

Its the time of the year again, the 9th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year or 初九, where Chinese all around the world make offerings and offer prayers to the Heaven God 天公 or 天神 or 玉皇大帝 asking for protection, fortune , good health and peace for the whole family and also to celebrate 玉皇大帝 birthday. My family have been going through this ceremony ever since I was born and quite ashame to say that I have for my 24 years on earth, never took the effort to find out how to prepare for this important ceremony although I did offer hands and legs. Thus this year will be different for me, I have paid the school fees (actually fully financing this year praying session) and will ensure I learn and carry on this important traditon in the future. And here we are!!!!

DUMMY GUIDE PREPARATION TO 拜天公!!

1) Fruit preparation

No one plan to fail but people fail to plan thus this bring us to our first topic, fruits preparation.

Luckily we all not longer have to do the harvesting ourselves. Fruit stalls are just walking distance within our neighbourhood! The amount of fruits to purchase is up to individual sincerity and wallet power. Some of the standards item to buy can be found below,

1. Heaven's Banana or 天公焦. Its basically normal green banana with a markup price for the occasion. S$7.80 per bunch
2. Pineapple. Bloody cheap I realise. Just S$1.50
3. Peaches and Oranges
   
4. Apples. For the occasion, the apples went through Cosmetic surgery...

The most important 2 fruits to buy are "Yiu Zhi" and "Buddha's Finger"! Never forget to get both this fruits cause its believe to bring "Abundance Fortune" (Yiu Zhi) and protect the family from evil spirits and poor health (Buddha's Finger).

Yiu Zhi

Buddha's Finger

For good luck, take the effort to wrap red paper around the fruits and place the fruits on red plates if possible. Lastly avoid getting durians.

2) 6 Vegetables and 6 Snacks

Next, we will need 6 small bowl of Chinese traditional veges and 6 chinese traditional Snacks to be use as offerings. This are the kind of Chinese food consume by our ancient's ancestors since long long time ago and will be excellent for 天公 taste bud since he is part of the ancients. The 6 small bowl of Chinese traditonal veges and the 6 snacks are shown below.


Again, for good luck reasons, do stick red papers on each individual bowl. The shape of the red paper is up to individual creativity. My dad attempted to cut a "Yuan Bao" 元寶 shape but for those SUPER devoted ones, you can try cutting 福.

3) Food offerings preparation (optional)

Ultimately any praying ceremony should be conducted with a sincere heart thus even a modest offering of just fruits will suffice. However there are passionate devotees (like me) who felt that any major religion ceremony will be pretty dull without food offerings. In my list of "MUST" have are the following,

Roasted "Babe"

Roasted "Donald Duck" and "Chicken Little"

4) Altar Preparation
Here we go, the stage where this grand ceremony will be conducted. Just like any grand musical concert, the Altar have to be properly setup as a reflection of our sincerity to god. The life of the Altar starts with an improvised table, not an exciting or attractive sight but with strong solid foundation.

Most of you will have notice that long length of sugar canes are up for sales in supermarket specially for the 拜天公 ceremony. Why sugar canes? Apparently it was believe that long long time ago, when 天公 and his subordinates descent to earth to fight the demons, he lost his first battle and seek refuge among the sugar canes plantation which apparently protected him from been spotted by the marauding demons. It was among the sugar canes plantation that 天公 was able to regroup his subordinates (call them Angels in Christianity concept), made a come back and win a decisive battle against the demons, freeing the comman man and women from evil's grip. Sugar Canes therefore is a symbol of Good triumph over Evil although I will prefer to associate it with a very popular drink at Ang Mo Kio hawker center. 1 Sugar canes will be place at each side of the Altar.

Up goes the skirting around the table to give it a good traditional red chinese look with embroidery of dragons and the "8 immortals crossing the sea" (八仙過海）. Also useful to hid whatever garbage underneath the table.


天公 probably is 1000000 years old but I am sure he must have kept up with the latest technology of our era, IT! To ensure 天公 can recieve the prayers and wishes from the million of chinese devotees around the world, offering of 天公金 (God's Money) and 天公元寳 (God's gold) will assist him in the yearly upgrade of his IT department. This will ensure our yearly prayers for our friends and family will be recieved without information overload on the otherside, think Santa Claus and the million of children sending him mails each year.

天公金 and its hanging position

天公元寳 and its hanging position

Next up is 天公 and his new office... with no gold tap for sure.


Just add candles and 3 big joss stick + all the foods and fruits we prepared earlier on, and we are done! The big joss sticks are like fiber optics link to the heaven.



And there you have it! A Dummy Guide Preparation to 拜天公!!!

Disclaimer: This is a preparation guide and by no means a guide to proper conduct of the prayer ceremony. Content will be added to this guide in the future at the writers discretion. For further consultation, please contact Master Riccardo at 91392381 or visit our website at www.tianggong.com

Girls in Arm forces around the world!!!

Pretty girls in army all around the world!!! Now, where is our Singapore ladies???

http://www.irandefence.net/showthread.php?t=29