Uncivilised Ang Mo tourist in Singapore

The last transcript from the video clip is the Ang Mo saying "10 Dollars my f***ing ass". First they overloaded this old man tricycle, next they make a mockery out of it, than they bargain and make that old man beg for the money and finally they said "10 Dollars my f***king ass". This 3 AngMo, don't know are they British or Australia but I'm sure its not American from their accent.

I hope you Ang Mo learn to behave in the host country and don't bring shame to your own people. Now we know who are the most "NEOW" people on earth right? Hello? Wake up guys, China can make cheaper product, IT brainy are from India and the Muslim Arabs got the oil... please be humble and gracious. Thank you.

First Impression, Guitar Hero III

Have not even master all the songs in Guitar Hero II and I am already eagerly anticipating the launch of Guitar Hero 3!!! So much that I actually pre-order it on Circuit City Online and just 6 hours ago, on the 28th of Oct (today), I went to Lewisvillie Circuit City and pick it up from the store. It was almost sold out!

Like a excited boy who just got his new toy, I couldn't wait to get home and start rocking and rolling Guitar Hero III on my trusty Playstation 2. This game really breath a new life into an otherwise old console that is overshadowed by XBOX and PS3. Expect many sleepless night ahead...kekekeke

The excited boy and his new toy.

Paid US$89 for the package which include a wireless 'Kramer" guitar, the Guitar Hero III game and a guitar stand exclusively free when you purchase Guitar Hero III package from Circuit City. The Wireless guitar is a major improvement in my opinion. The older 'Gibson' style wired guitar place some limitation to a wild, excited player who have very expressive body language when jamming the guitar. The cord is just too short and that limits the freedom of rocking around the house and the risk of yanking the controller out when the player activate the star power. At less now we all could stand further away from the TV screen, saving those eyes from annihilation from too much radiation when focusing those notes running down the screen.

In the package is the Guitar Hero 3 game, a strap, and the 'Kramer' Guitar in 2 pieces.

For the convenience of bringing my guitar, customized with stickers, my thumb print and palm sweat, the guitar can be detached and carry around in a normal sports bag or small size luggage without looking ridiculous with the handle sticking out. If you think that 2 separate pieces means a shaky handle, rest assured that Red Octane have engineered the pieces to fit together and feel like one solid piece of Guitar replica, in fact, you won't even notice that they are actually 2 separate pieces if you never knew they can be detach. Did I mention that the new guitar does not feel so "plastic" now?

Here is the wireless receiver for the Guitar.

Plug it into the controller port...

Assemble the Guitar and get ready to rock and roll!

Now I have 2 guitar at home, a 'Gibson' Guitar from Guitar Hero II and now the new wireless 'Kramer' Guitar from Guitar Hero III. Invited my housemate Ricky to join me for Co-op career mode of the game, who have absolutely zero experience with Guitar Hero but some experience in the real thing.

Rock star wannabes with zero budget in stage outfits.

We played almost 2 hours till our wrist goes numb and everything we see around us seems to be moving in wavy patterns. Thats what happen when you focus on those running notes on the screen for prolong period of time, when you get you eyes off the tv, vision temporary get a bit distorted. My wrist still sore right now, guess I just went over my limits today with the video games. Oh boy, this week is gonna be a Guitar Hero III for the whole evening after work. Favorite song so far is "When you were Young" from the Killers and "Black Magic Women" from Santana. The starting part of "Black Magic Women" remind me of the hokkien getai of the seventh month. Before the singer arrive, they will play solo base and guitar for a long period. So the only complain was with the last song we played for the day, too much flashing lights from the back ground animation that disorientated me from playing the notes. Otherwise still an excellent and creative game for the Playstation 2 (and also available on PS3, XBOX360 and Nintendo Wii). Check out the song featured in the game from this link. Playing your favourite song is always the best part of the game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_in_Guitar_Hero_III:_Legends_of_Rock

Smile in troubles...

Cheer up friends! Always look on the bright side of life.

Can we buy a Stairway to Heaven?

There is a place above the sky, that we call it the Heaven ,Where the Angel live and watch down on us. There is a song sung by a Rock Band, and its name is Led Zeppelin and the Song name is "Stairway To Heaven". Is Heaven a store? You walk in a pay for the entrance or do you have to earn it?

I like the slow acoustic guitar playing in the beginning that slowly pick up speed in the middle of the song. Its a nice song. The tune somehow shows LOST, SEPARATION and DECEPTION. Could really play this tune to a video clip of war, death and military funeral. Hmm...sound like an idea for MTV.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LED ZEPPELIIN

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven
And when she gets there she knows if the stores are closed
With a word she can get what she came for

Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
And you know sometimes words have two meanings
In a tree by the brook there's a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven

Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west
And my spirit is crying for leaving
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
And the voices of those who stand looking

Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forest will echo with laughter

And it makes me wonder

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow
Don't be alarmed now
It's just a spring clean for the May Queen

Yes there are two paths you can go by
but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on

Your head is humming and it won't go in case you don't know
The piper's calling you to join him
Dear lady can't you hear the wind blow and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll
Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven
And when she gets there she knows if the stores are closed
With a word she can get what she came for

And she's buying a stairway to heaven, uh uh uh.

Cold Cold Wind and Rain

Wow, I woke up today and it was raining and raining could mean there will be no work for the day! Sadly, no phone call came in this morning for a base stand down and too bad, got to drive 21 miles to base in my Mazda Miata. It was around 30 degree celcius yesterday and within a day the cold front swept in to Dallas and the temperature drop 20 degree to 10 today. With the wind chill factor in, it feels like 5 degree. Weather forecast for this week will be Cold.

Ok, starting to sound like a weather reporter here. Sure hope I could wake up later tomorrow morning while snuggling in the comfort of my cozy bed. Last winter I slept like a hibernating bear everyday and the temperature now makes me wonder did winter came too soon? Ok keep it cool in Dallas and say bye bye to all those warm temperature. Time to bring out all the nice long sleeve clothes and fleece to wear and of course my 战袍，my leather jacket. I don't think there will be even few opportunity to wear black leather jacket in Singapore cause it will be crazy to look cool but sweat like hell in one.

WAAAAAHHHHLLLLLAAAUU....Sian ah....tomorrow have to wake up at 5.30pm and head to work place before 7.30... By the way, here is a very very funny to tears Youtube video about learning Hokkien. Be warned!!! The lesson is R-Rated and could be offensive to women and man.

A Hokkien Lesson In Human Parts

Risk and Judgment

Human are creature of comfort, they get into habit easily and stay in one location almost forever. Most of the time its hard to get out of the comfort zone. People fear risk, taking risk is like taking a dive into a hot lava for many. The fear of losing money, the fear of failing, the fear of death, the fear of injury and the fear of getting caught. There are times when I question myself for doing something crazy, how will others judge me? Play the good, conservative and boring guy all the time, be neutral and receive not judgment at all? Or taking the dip into a the hot lava of risk hoping in turn into a pool of hot chocolate?

I use to fear Judgment for the out of the ordinary thing I did. I felt bad when other say its stupid, it senseless or do I want to get into trouble. So I conform myself to the others around me so far. Like a good piece of jig-saw puzzle that is politically right in the workplace. It brought nothing but just another Joe routine life.

GET OUT OF THE BOX! Take the RISK and fear no JUDGMENT. The only way out of a ordinary life is do some out of the ordinary. Get out of the comfort zone and do something new each week if not every day. Paint a picture, Bungee jump, walk around you office in a Darth Vader costume and play prank on you co-worker, write an article about Risk and Judgment, record your own singing and play back to you or your friend own amusement, drive 100 on a 30 road (hmm...).

Being different either make you famous or notorious. Either good or evil, been different from the others is a kind of special feeling.

This bring me to the topic of acceptance, which is a by-product of judgement...

I think people should accept the way we are and we should accept the way others are.
Unless its something obviously unacceptable like stealing, robbing
car jacking, hacking, murdering, molesting, vandelizing blar blar blar.

Turn out that acceptance is a vague term, what is acceptable by you might not be acceptable by others. Thats why certain people click like magnet while certain people don't.

Sometimes we just have to force ourselves to accept others due to circumstances...for example if that person is your boss. Excuse me? Pay check at risk my dear friends, better accept who he is. But isn't most people wearing a mask of acceptance? They accept each other way just to survive in the job or the social circle. I think so...

Wolf Man Love Song

One Head Set
One Guitar
One Oakley Half Jacket
One Take
One Crazy Guy
and
One Hour Of Video Editing

My good primary school friend Michelle just got married!!!

Powerline Ethernet Networking

So I blog about Cable vs Wireless networking a few days ago and gave a glimpse of a new networking technology call Powerline Networking. Today, I gonna show you something cool I got from Fry's Electronic just to try it out. Well, 15 days return policy so I pay for nothing to play around with some cool technology gizmos.

This is the Power Ethernet Network Adapter. You need a pair of it to establish a connection between Router/Modem to a remote PC else where in the room. Cost US$140 for a pair.

Plug one of it to the power outlet closes to the Router/Modem, plug in a normal LAN Cable into it.

I plug the other Adapter into the Power outlet just behind my bedroom's PC and run a short LAN cable from it to my PC LAN port. Boot into Windows XP and without any software or hardware configuration, basically just plug and play, I can instantly surf the net and played online games.

It actually make use of the existing electric power line routed behind the walls to send/receive signal between the pair of Power line Networking Adapter.

Toilet Humor In Space

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR,

IT MIGHT BE POOPY FROM AFAR

Oh My God! You Killed Garfield! You Bast@#^@&!

Oh My God! Some say women are the worst drivers while other mention man are bad pedestrian. Whatever the case, please check left and check right before driving on and crossing road.

In today world of broadband and Internet, almost every house is wired to the World Wide Web. For those who have more than 1 PC or laptop at home, using a router is the only way to share the single Internet connection of the broadband modem. In the early days of Network router, everything is wired, just like the early telephone. So you might have the modem in the living room, a cable to the router and 2 or more cables from the router snaking around the house to Papa laptop in the master room and his Daughter PC in the bedroom. In the large family (and rich) where every member wants their own digital world privacy, the house soon looks like a Russian fighter jet with cables running everywhere. Than there was the house pet dog who have a strange appetite for chewing LAN cables and Johnny who kept tripping over it while running crazy around the house.

Thanks to radio wave, nowadays we can take those cables out of the way with a bit more cash in the pocket. Wireless router have so far been the widely use by household and even hotel and small office. First it doesn't need a cable between router and all the PCs that need to be connected to it, Second the PCs or the laptop can surf the Internet anywhere as long as its within the range of the router which usually is around 50m to 80m. Suddenly there is so much freedom and mobility. We are no longer at the Mercy of Ricky Riccardo's Cable. But but but... Wireless bring its disadvantage for example the Range depends on the Antenna power, the old saying holds true, the bigger the better. A big Antenna means more power and more power = to better range. Wireless it may be but any obstruction like walls, tv or door will reduce the power of the transmitted signal and result in poor signal quality in layman term it means the web surfing experience seems a bit slower in your bed room compare using the PC in the living room right next to the router. And for people living in big houses, getting a acceptable signal from one end of the house to another is almost impossible.

So on one hand a cable signal is better because it does not experience lost of strength and could hold high data rate but everyone have to deal with cable management and the ugly sight of LAN cables running around the floor. On the other hand Wireless signal free you from the cable mess and let you surf the net anywhere in the house without worrying about tripping over cables but suffer from poor signal strength if there is just too many wall between you and the router.

Can we have the best of both world? Almost, and the answer lies in the power supply lines routed all around our apartment. There is this neat little device I tried using recently. You see, I have just built a new desktop but unlike my laptop, it does not have WiFi hardware in it, only a Ethernet port that is a standard in all modern PC motherboard. I don't wanna run a cable all the way from the router in my living room to my bedroom just to use the Internet and I want maximum signal strength for online gaming so which means I definitely need a cable signal right? This device that allow me to connect to the Internet through my router, without resorting to wireless, without running cables around the house and give me a data signal strength as good as a direct cable connection is called a Powerline Networking Adapter. Well to be frank its just an excuse by me to try some new networking gizmos and I got this gadget from the local Fry's Electronic Store which give me a 15 days no question ask return policy.

Stay tune the next blog when I talk about this Powerline Networking Adapter.

Absolute Fear, Absolute Dictatorship and total Brain-wash!

After a game of Scrabble with the guys yesterday night and exhausting my brain cells of all vocabulary plus a few rounds of wine, I am totally worn out. I just sat there in front of my PC and went around randomly click websites. Sat back and watched a video titled "Undercover In North Korea", it totally caught my attention and I couldn't believe the among of brain washing and absolute dictatorship the North Korea leader, Kim Jong Il had over his people! He is almost worshiped like a God. This is a must see video of life inside North Korea and its really shocking how powerful the voice and control of a single Dictator could Unified and Conform the mind of every one in this country, but was it just fear than respect and admiration?

UNDER COVER IN NORTH KOREA

The Poet Society

Perhaps the most eloquent and happy go lucky Encik I ever met in RSAF, his name is Encik Neo and he heads the RSAF Peace Prairie Detachment, Radio Coms Section. He sings, he smile and he write poems which even won him an International award! Ha ha, never knew what talent we got around us sometimes, isn't it? So today, I decided to share a poem he wrote about "Troubled"...

~~Troubled~~

Life is nothing but a suffering to me
After all these years of living
I have begun to see
The wicked, cunning, sinful side of human beings.

So quiet and calm is the sea
That's the place I'be longed to be
Let it washes away my sorrow and worries
and sets my troubled mind free.

and on a lighter note of life a local flavored poem of love and dating,

~~FIRST DATE~~

Remember our first date at the Changi Beach
I was attracted to your sweet smile and loving cheeks
Under the quiet, peaceful moonlit night
No other people were in sight

I hed you by the hand
And walked our way along the sand
It was then the world of two
For we could do the things we wanted to do

Your eyes closed, your lips moved
Just prompted me what to do
My mouth on yours and yours on mine
And we really enjoyed our good time.

Take note!!! Share the poem if you want to, I mean I can't stop you from copy and pasting the Poems into e-mails, forum and blogs. Please do remember to give credit to Encik Neo A.T who have generously shared his creation with me and allowed me to post on my blog for all to see.

Megadeth-Hangar 18

Next to Gun and Roses "Sweet Child Of Mine", my next favorite Guitar Heroes 2 song will be Megadeth - "Hangar 18". Just love the opening guitar riffs which definitely will wake even the most sleepy minds up.

Sadly due to my work commitment, I have not been able to play Guitar Hero until yesterday when Lee drop by my place to pass me fried carrot cake Shirlene made. Never picked up a 5 button guitar before in his life so he took the opportunity to play Guitar Hero 2. Funny thing is earlier on before both of them came, I also though of playing Guitar Hero!!! My turn to play which turn out to be a bit of a let down. Ha ha...skill rusty already...so long never play. Could not even beat my second or third best score for most of the songs.

Anyway, I am right now eagerly awaiting the release of Guitar Hero III this month! Can't wait to play Rolling Stones "Paint It Black". Its the opening theme song of a pretty old War Drama "Tour Of Duty".

Heading back to Singapore for Holiday!

"Excuse me, may I have your attention please.... Will the real slim shady please stand up? I repeat, will the real slim shady please stand up? Err..We gonna have a problem.." -- Eminem

Got your attention? Hey! My fellow Singaporean brother and sis, friends and foes, I will be back for a 1 week short holiday from 19th December to 30th December. First to meet up all my friends back home, second to go on a one week binge eating and third which is most important, to meet mum and dad and sis and have Christmas Dinner together.

Air ticket is ready and I almost could not get the ticket for US domestic flights due to the peak holiday season. The air ticket must be really expensive at the moment but what gives? Its free!!! Ha ha...cost me 0.000000001% of the tax money (so is yours). Some said, why go back for such a short period? Might as well spend the leave travelling in USA? Well, I gonna save up before I head back, its been a more than a year of crazy spending and low savings, wanna be uncle scrooge for a while so that means no more travelling for now. The home trip still got to take it right? Otherwise the air ticket cost will go back to the government coffin (hmm...did I spell that correctly?), might as well come to my pocket mah.

Ho sei lah...Singapore here I come! Food glorious food!