Merry Christmas.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

TED

It's a week to my finals, but i'm incredibly distracted. My only consolation is that in my distraction, I hope that I'm enriching other aspects of my life as well. Let me introduce you to ted.com.

"We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other." - ted.com



It's not just the case for Africa. Ayittey's controlled outburst towards the incumbents of the continent powerfully and incisively analyzes and deconstructs the corrupted co-dependence of poverty, the abuse of power and despot authoritarianism that is evident in many of our neighbours as well. More than that, he pleads, nay, yells for change in the generation that is to come. This is the future of development. Consultants, offer expertise to governments and state-owned enterprises that define such developing economies. Bankers, create monetary systems that provide locals opportunities to rise above their poverty. The advancement of the nations would spell out an immense amount of wealth for the private sector as well.

Do your part. If not now, then in time to come.

To all drunken mistakes, hook-ups of delusion and times that we wished we had chosen to stay home instead. dayumm.



Memories of MOS, a buddy and a certain transverstite. Good times.

Words of wisdom

Word of advice for the day: Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.

Anticipating Thanksgiving

On Tuesday next week, I'll finally be moving this lethargic lump of meat out of the little college town of Bloomington, first to Indy and then to Chicago. I must say, I'm quite excited to finally be in a city once more. This city-crossing, pavement-pounding pair of legs are well ready for some action.I'm looking forward, as well, to be spending time with old friends and black Friday! No prizes for guessing where and when most of this year's Christmas shopping is going to be done.

Bloomington is starting to get really cold. It's -8 outside now, and it's barely even winter. Leaves are still on the trees and I still have to transverse the campus to get to classes at 8 in the morning. I'll be desperately needing a pair of boots really soon I think. I promise there'll be pictures of what I believe will be an unbelievable week ahead up soon.

Since desperation seems to be the recurring theme in this post, it should also be known that I gave myself a haircut tonight. Having a permanently shielded field of vision and hair constantly poking at your eyes is not the best way to lead one's life. I trimmed the front and sides and trusted Olivia with the back(since I obviously wasn't able to see anything). It looks decent I think, but I really can't say much for the back since I am again, unable to see the back of my head. I think I just might be able to hold up to new york to get a haircut.

Tudung, Lipstick. Giveeemeee yoour munneee, uh-uh!

This is wayyy too hilarious to miss. I haven't laughed so hard in a while.

Well done Singapore.

"He told her to get back in line. But the tudung-clad customer, who had on a coat and gloves, placed a green paper bag on the counter and told him there was a bomb in it.

Despite the lipstick, the voice was clearly that of a man's."

Read more...

The Latest Addiction

Can I just say, trading is truly fun stuff. Monitoring markets and making moves in response to the state of the market, information and certain intuitions gives me a kick like no other, for now. Now, if only I had access to the 64,510 dollars required to buy a single lot of crude.

Swing of Things

Given that I've been here for 3 months now, I'd like to believe that life has fallen into a comfortable rhythm. The truth of the matter however, is that it has not. Certainly, one never gets used to retching one's guts out on a regular basis. Got to watch the drinking. 16 shots a night is not good for one's dignity, finances or liver.

Happy Halloween everyone!

When I Should Be Studying for Astronomy.

Muchly excited am I.

Goodbye Goodbye

To Crab Caesar Salad. Ribeye Steak Sandwich with Grilled Onions Avocado & Wasabi Mayonnaise, Sticky Date Pudding, Crab Pasta, Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake, Cloud Nine, Chocolate Deluxe, Seared Foie Gras on Apple Prune Brioche, Banoffi Pie, Chocolate Truffle, Nutella.

To shiny chairs and tables, green placemats, sparkling silverware.

To pellegrino after squash and reserving and buying cupcakes every friday night in hope of talking to someone.

To strolling past on saturday afternoons.

To hanging out with friends after we all took turns to leave the military and everytime someone flew back.

Goodbye.

Fall

Say hello to Fall.

The Sartorialist

Bah..

Just because

Cabin in the Woods

At the invitation of Mrs Thomas and Lynn, we headed down to this charming cabin down in the woods of Brown County over last weekend. With an amazing home-cooked lunch that came in the form of lasagna, roast beef, potato gratin and freshly-baked buns waiting for us when we arrived, this had to be the best meal I've had in the longest time(subjectively- in light of the crappy life of a college student in the midwest.)



















The countryside here is strangely alluring. While pastoral landscapes never fail tom calm one's nerves, the woods and the occasional gunshots are strangely... appealing.

Evil

Looking at Adam and Eve as a case study. If Eve consumed the fruit without knowledge and understanding the notion of obedience, how then do we define original evil? Is evil an entity that in paradise was separate from humankind? Or does evil stem from the choices we make, regardless of whether we have the knowledge of right and wrong? If the serpent is seen as an the personification of evil that lingered on from primordial chaos, could the serpent not have tempted Adam and Eve to sin in other ways apart from consuming the forbidden fruit?

Simple enough, one might think. They lived in innocence before the fall, with no concept of right and wrong or good and evil. They only sinned when they disobeyed God's one single commandment! Let's reconsider that. Since innocence and ignorance absolved them from guilt in the garden, wouldn't innocence have then absolved them from the sin of lust(for the fruit) as well? After all, the concept of obedience can only be understood when placed next to the notion of disobedience, and disobedience did not exist, intellectually as a sin, for they were ignorant of good and evil as they had not consumed of the fruit. One can only exist with the coexistence or absence but foreknowledge of the other. True goodness only exists with the knowledge of evil, darkness only exists in the absence of light, obedience is only obedience when there is the deliberate denial of disobedience.

What then, if we view the serpent as an externalisation of our implicit desires, instead of the temptress and the instigator of evil? Is there then a way to give ourselves an explanation that might allow us to have a clearer picture of what sin truly is?

Consider.

Hohoho

In The Know: Should We Be Shaming Obese Children More?

Welcome to Foster Shea

So this is what Foster Shea looks like. And that's what we do at 4 am in the morning when the entire floor comes back intoxicated and not so sane, more often than not back only because all the parties in town have been busted by cops (Do notice the 2 very drunk boys in the background of the picture). Welcome to college life in a small town. No zouk, no mos, no attica, no arena, no clinic, not even the faintest whiff of an establishment like timbre. Just 200 sweaty bodies packed into the same house and getting high on keystone light.

Nasty really.




On an entirely different and unrelated tangent altogether,

Boremington

I know that this is not the best way to start of my college life here, but perhaps you'll understand after I reveal to you exactly how I have spent the past 2 days here.
Wednesday-Walked 30 min to get to downtown for a relatively more decent meal and 30 min to get back to the room.
Sat in car for 40 min from 11 onwards for lack of a better place to hang out(everything apart from the hospital's a&e dept is closed(on second thoughts, that might be closed as well)).
Thursday-Woke up at 930.
Looked for a place to have brunch at at 11. Most shops were still closed. Substandard sandwich which I did not finish.
Went back to bed from 12 to 3pm
Played squash from 3 to 5pm
Typed out inane blog entry at 706pm
Shall go to have pizza for dinner at 8pm

Ok, fine I saw a wild fox running through the grounds as I was walking back from downtown last night and it was really quite magnificent. One silver lining in the oppressive cloud that I fear might be iub. But I'm saving judgment for after the whole rhythm of school kicks in.

Oh and people are quite nice.

p.s. I'm singaporean, not korean damnnit!

Why We Love the Irish

I was walking down Fisherman's wharf today and saw this letter hanging at the window of an Irish gift shop. Hilarious much =)




Dear Son,

Just a few lines to let you know I'm still alive. I'm writing this letter slowly because I know you can't read fast. We are all doing very well.

You won't recognise the house when you get home - we have moved. Your dad read in the newspaper that most accidents happen within 20 miles from your home, so we moved. I won't be able to send you the address because the last Irish family that lived here took the house numbers when they moved so that they wouldn't have to change their address.

This place is really nice. It even has a washing machine. I'm not sure it works so well though: last week I put a load in and pulled the chain and haven't seen them since.

Your father's got a really good job now. He's got 500 men under him. He's cutting the grass at the cemetery.

Your sister Mary had a baby this morning but I haven't found out if it's a boy or a girl, so I don't know whether you are an auntie or an uncle.

Your brother Tom is still in the army. He's only been there a short while and they've already made him a court martial!

Your Uncle Patrick drowned last week in a vat of whiskey in the Dublin Brewery. Some of his workmates tried to save him but he fought them off bravely. They cremated him and it took three days to put out the fire.

I'm sorry to say that your cousin Seamus was arrested while riding his bicycle last week. They are charging him with dope peddling.

I went to the doctor on Thursday and your father went with me. The doctor put a small tube in my mouth and told me not to talk for ten minutes. Your father offered to buy it from him.

The weather isn't bad here. It only rained twice this week, first for three days and then for four days. Monday was so windy one of the chickens laid the same egg four times.

We had a letter from the under-taker. He said if the last payment on your Grandmother's plot wasn't paid in seven days, up she comes.

About that coat you wanted me to send you, your Uncle Stanley said it would be too heavy to send in the mail with the buttons on, so we cut them off and put them in the pockets.

John locked his keys in the car yesterday. We were really worried because it took him two hours to get me and your father out.

Three of your friends went off a bridge in a pick-up truck. Ralph was driving. He rolled down the window and swam to safety. Your other two friends were in back. They drowned because they couldn't get the tailgate down.

There isn't much more news at this time. Nothing much has happened.

Your loving Mum

P.S. I was going to send you some money but I had already sealed the envelope.

Woohoo!

The parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here the parentals are here! And I'm broke no more =)

More Of

At this very kerb, I learnt my very first lesson in this country. People here are very direct. VERY. Don't feel insulted then, when they offend your finer asian tendencies. Boo. They're still generally good at heart though, and try their best to help you when you do need help.

The Palace of The Legion of Honour was well worth the trek down to the other end of the island. Paintings, sculptures, Trojan amphorae, decorative art. I'm not about to bore you with the details of the exhibits and my uneducated opinions on them, so here are the pictures!

One thing I cannot help noticing though. The eyes. Look at the eyes of the saint in the painting and of the boy that is the sculpture.

Haunting isn't it? Just looking at the photo makes my hair stand.

Now it just wouldn't do to end of this post like that won't it? So, say hello to the double chin! Oh and I'm sorry Liang but when I saw this amphora I couldn't help but draw certain parallels.

on a side note, banana republic here doesn't have the invisible socks.=( I did however, get a pair of loafer socks. No more olfactory assaults when wearing the blue pair of deck shoes!

More of Francisco

The route for today: Bryant Street-The Embarcadero-Valleyjo Street-Montgomery Street-Grant Ave-Filbert Street-Coit Tower-Greenwich Street-Powell Street-Lombard Street-Hyde Street-Jefferson Street-The Embarcadero-Bayside Village.

Highest Point Reached: 485 Feet.

San Francisco is really THE Hilly City. Having walked a total of 12 or so km today, I am praying very hard that all the walking on highly irregular terrain is helping me stay in shape and burn calories.

Damn sad. Taking a self-shot because I'm alllll byyy myyselllf.

On another note, the mac's coming soon! =)

San Francisco oh oh oh oh.

You've got to love the city of San Francisco. The weather, the waterfront, the gelato and the restaurants, woohoo! I had as well, my first taste of Korean food. Imagine having to travel 9000 miles just to have Korean down in Oakland. Goodness. But it was oh-so-good!

The Farmers' Market down by the ferry terminal was amazing as well. Never have i seen such a large variety of tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, pluots, plums and berries. It's currently peach and tomato season here in California, so as you might be able to imagine, it's quite a piece of peachylicious heaven here.



Off to a great start- The folks at united decided to upgrade me to business on the narita-sf leg of my flight! God bless their souls. The sky was gorgeous, but due to the insane brightness and my not-so-competent camera taking skills, you can't see that here.

The highly generous brother is indeed most knowledgeable when it comes to wining and dining(and some, fine, many other things of course). We went for dinner at One Market on the second night and may I say, the food was nothing short of excellent. The wood-grilled lamb that I had, brilliant. Together with the 2005 Tudor Pinot Noir, the restaurant earned my instant patronage! More importantly, it has the approval of the folks behind the Michelin stars as well. Located at the junction between The Embarcadero and Market Street, One Market is a must must go.
















Photos from the Farmers' Market that goes on at the ferry terminal building every weekend. So, what goes on here is that the farmers from all over California gather on saturdays to sell their produce, and with California being the home of the hippie-movement and organic farming, the produce is fantastically fresh and yummy!(jamie you'd love it)=)



Lastly, look at what I found at the counter of one of the oyster bars at the ferry terminal. Pretty funny much. Oh, but the shop has pretty decent ahi tuna poke.










p.s. dear all who sent me off at the airport, thank you so so much for the thought and gesture. Even my granny didn't send me off=p The book was an amazing parting gift and I believe I almost shed a tear as I was looking at it on the plane.




Oh, the places you'll go.

Secret Asian Man

No Better Way

With the activities, parties and multiple last minute errands that have to be run before I leave piling up, one hardly has any time to breathe. Anyhoos, I've decided to put up some pictures from the crazyy weekend that was last Saturday and Sunday!


















As I'm sure you can tell, Widjaja's pre-21st and farewell was an absolute blast.




On top of that, Sunday was the last trip to Keyaki that I'll be making in a while. Emo-ness.

Good-bye to my favourite Japanese restaurant for the next 3 months(hopefully) or 9 months, if I'm not so fortunate.=(







Signing off with a picture that perhaps best describes my last days here in Singapore,

Ernest R. Xue

I Wish You Bluebirds

Charging By

For some of the best tempura in town, head down to Tenshin at The Regent. No one here does it like them. A cosy little place on the 3rd floor of the hotel, it sits approximately 30 or so i think, so do try to make reservations if you are thinking of heading down during the weekend!



Food aside, it looks like I've sung in my last awef for in the near and probably even extended future as well. =/ To the alumni there, thank you for the music. The night was really quite precious to me. So, 3 weeks more till I leave sunny Singapore for the shores of America to San Francisco and Indi-middleofnowhere-ana.

Typing this entry brings my memory back to exactly this time last year, when a whole other bunch of friends were about to leave for overseas and how we would mock and laugh as we read out their highly emotional 2000-word long goodbyes on their blogs. Surreal then, that i am close to having to eat my words a year down. But in the event that you are eagerly anticipating an opportunity to tease me, nuh-uh. This is not about to degenerate into that. This is about me reflecting on how fulfilling life can be when it is spent doing all of the items listed below
1) Not neglecting the bible
2)Having to work only one or two days a week, and for a period of 5 hours each time at that
3)Spending time with close friends before I leave
4)Getting to spend time with brother, although it might only have been for 3 days
5)Getting back in the mood of studying. Here's a list of books I have to clear before heading over
-The Guide to Understanding Financial Statements
-The Merrill Lynch Guide to Understanding Financial Reports
-Perspectives on Strategy from The Boston Consulting Group
-Payback, Reaping the Rewards of Innovation

Envy me-.-