Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in xiangwei279's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, July 10th, 2008
11:51 pm	Foreign Talent and the MRT The Singaporean immigration chops are working so fast that  our  new citizens have not had enough time to become familiar with the MRT and how it works yet...  (related to one and two but not really three) 1. this lady was fiddling with the EZ-link card and trying to put it into the Nets paying slot instead of the EZ-link one. I pointed to her. I did not speak to her. I had no idea what language to use... (because it's so unSingaporean to not know the difference between the 2 slots, unless you're the elite 10% who don't ever take the MRT train) 2. another guy tried to come out of the gantry, but coz he's a left-hander, he tried to get out the wrong side.. again i tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out to him the right place to go.. no speech there either.. (am i kind or what? heh) 3. and more scandalous... this super shuaige, tall,  with korean eyes, japanese-style wavy hair and nicely toned and all was with an auntie. like super auntie, like my mum's age but more auntie. i thought they were like mother and son. then they started standing even closer... hm.. i eevesdropped, and wala. the shuaige is not singaporean (accent-wise) but the lady sounds singaporean. not mother and son for sure.. and then the auntie started hugging shuaige closer and closer.. he looked partially willing, but his body language seems like if he wasn't paid he would probably be trying to get away.. what i don't understand is, why are they taking MRT? she probably has a lot of money? no? or are foreign talents really that much cheaper that a regular auntie can afford now, (even though she can't afford the car?!) hm.. unless she's exhibiting her trophy... dunno lah. theories? (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
1:40 pm	sickness. i got really really sick. ambulanced and hospitalized and all that drama. on recovery now. discharged and have been nuahing a few days at home already. my french is really really suffering though. i'm going to class tomorrow. wish me luck! (18 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
8:53 pm	Bon Soir! Moi c'est Christopher. J'habite a Lakeside. Quelle est ma profession? Maintenant, je ne profession pas. Vacance! Ce sa... Et toi? ca va? (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
9:16 pm	the life of late, i've been so bored.. (i've been unemployed for about 2 months now) that you guys have witnessed me talking to my new airconditioning.. reminiscing the niseko powder snow and snowboarding can only bring one so far out of boredom, so i've also been reading all kinds of weird stuff, and watching anime. and nowadays playing stupid and not-so-stupid online games... anyone played the following: 1. Desktop tower defense 1.5: you build a maze like thing with towers forcing little creatures u want to kill to go thru them as your towers fire! www.handdrawngames.com 2. Scramble (on facebook): like boggle, you find words in a 4 by 4 letter tiles thing 3. kdice: something like that boardgame risk but less luck and more strategy www.kdice.com 4. travian: this very long game (i think) that you could probably play in the office www.travian.com anyway, this may or may not continue, since my daily french classes are starting next monday.. heh (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
11:39 am	http://typelogic.com/enfp.html General: ENFPs are both "idea"-people and "people"-people, who see everyone and everything as part of an often bizarre cosmic whole. They want to both help (at least, their own definition of "help") and be liked and admired by other people, on bo th an individual and a humanitarian level. They are interested in new ideas on principle, but ultimately discard most of them for one reason or another. Social/Personal Relationships: ENFPs have a great deal of zany charm, which can ingratiate them to the more stodgy types in spite of their unconventionality. They are outgoing, fun, and genuinely like people. As SOs/mates they are warm, affectionate (l ots of PDA), and disconcertingly spontaneous. However, attention span in relationships can be short; ENFPs are easily intrigued and distracted by new friends and acquaintances, forgetting about the older ones for long stretches at a time. Less mature ENFPs may need to feel they are the center of attention all the time, to reassure them that everyone thinks they're a wonderful and fascinating person. ENFPs often have strong, if unconvential, convictions on various issues related to their Cosmic View. They usually try to use their social skills and contacts to persuade people gently of the rightness of these views; his sometimes results in their negle cting their nearest and dearest while flitting around trying to save the world. Work Environment: ENFPs are pleasant, easygoing, and usually fun to work with. They come up with great ideas, and are a major asset in brainstorming sessions. Followthrough tends to be a problem, however; they tend to get bored quickly, especially if a newer, more interesting project comes along. They also tend to be procrastinators, both about meeting hard deadlines and about performing any small, uninteresting tasks that they've been assigned. ENFPs are at their most useful when working in a group w ith a J or two to take up the slack. ENFPs hate bureaucracy, both in principle and in practice; they will always make a point of launching one of their crusades against some aspect of it. (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
12:54 pm	My new sleepmate XW just waking up from a not so good night sleep and feeling a bit moody.. XW:    you are so temperamental! NSM: temperamental? duh. look at me? of course i'm temeramental. one look at me and anyone can tell? how can you not know before? before we started sleeping together? XW:    ok. ok. fine.  it's fine that you blow hot and cold. ok. but but . how is it that when i'm like so heated already and you can still blow bloody hot air at me? and when i look at you with those bloody cold eyes, just when i need a little tinnee bit of warmth from you, you give me the coldest shoulder ever? NSM: whatever ok? you're the brainy one. always coming up with some lousy excuses. i'm just being myself. i'm not even thinking. how can you even blame me as if i deliberately did something? you know what? i don't care anymore. if you don't want to sleep with me anymore, that's perfectly fine. XW:   alright alright. calm down. i guess this is all still new to me... alright alright. sorry ok. you're right. i can't blame you. i guess i've just have to adjust until i feel that everything is good.... NSM: hmph! (28 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
3:48 pm	I guess reflects my pro-gayness and angst against certain christianity-using discriminators (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
2:33 pm	tax returns i just filed my taxes and i realized that IRA has probably made a mistake, and counted too much bonuses for me. however, i was too lazy to do anything, so i paid them something like extra $15 to save myself the hassle of finding out if they really did made a mistake... is that a wise decision? (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 25th, 2008
12:46 am	post-japan 2008 oooh... i miss japan already... i had such a good trip.. i think i spent maybe about 500 more than i planned for (mostly on better food and on shopping... heh). my budget was like 2K snowboarding in niseko is amazing, not to mention the wonderful scenery there and the coldness when you're snowboarding, and the snow and everything.. and also the izakaya there.. loved the atmosphere tokyo itself was quite fun. i'm not that into sights.. so even though it may be great, i don't have much to say about that. experience-wise it was quite interesting.. heh and surprisingly, i had a fun time shopping, never thought i would say that. but ya... so now i'm missing: 1. snowboarding.. together with the snow and snowy scenery 2. shopping in tokyo, plus the experience of the people there and the shirts that fit me so nicely 3. the hands-free toilet experience (heh) 4. atmosphere in izakaya (and yakitori) 5. ramen! in cold weather (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
2:39 pm	The New Year today's the first day of the year, and by the chinese way of counting, i'm already 29. my house is now super crowded as usual, all these people coming to say good things to my grandparents. everybody else is also gambling, including kids (those above the age of 8 or 9, that is..) finally i have my own room. some people have even commented that it's cool. it's also pretty cool, temperature-wise.. yay. new living space.. going to japan next week, right on the last day of my contract with the ministry of manpower. wonderful break and am looking forward to it.. new year and so many new things.. :) hopefully i'll find myself a new wonderful work environment in consultancy soon. in the meantime, i shall enjoy my break, learn japanese, decorate my room, spend more time with my family, and answer and respond to my friends' sms-es/emails/calls more readily... haha i may even have time to play the piano and swim and read beyond the economist.. heh.. let the bank account suffer for a while.. heh and yes, happy new year! (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
6:09 am	weirdness of the world -we would prefer people who don't want power to be in power -we promote the best followers to become managers/leaders at work, instead of looking for the best leader. isn't it ironic? - if u do well in PSLE in singapore, your life is so much better henceforth. u go to a good sec sch etc, and everything just falls much nicely in place. why not like the US, where all the high schools suck, and hence everyone is equal? and education starts in the universities. or like scandinavia, where they have a system in place to ensure that education is rather equal throughout rather than ranking the institutions. why are we so elitist? sigh. inequality by design. -speaking of inequality, do people really think that farmers in poor developing countries will actually benefit from rising food prices? -separately, will financial analysts finally earn less pay with the sub-prime mortgage crisis? when i said my new year resolution is to nuah, i guess it's tongue-in-cheek. but then it also means i don't want to work so hard but go nowhere. i want to think about stuff and stimulate myself. like intellectually. heh. (Singlish translator: nuah means to not do very much, like super-duper laid back lazy. synonyms include lobo and being a slacker.) (Comment on this)
Monday, December 31st, 2007
3:21 am	what movies do u like?  suddenly onto the topic of movies, i'm wondering what kinds of movies i like, (i need to record them down lest i forget their names and all) and also what kinds of movies people around me like. for ease, i'll just list movies i like (and remember): -12 angry men -borat -lust, caution -pitch black -citizen dog -amelie -shrek -before sunset/sunrise -amadeus -hilary and jackie -boogie nights -the full monty -y tu mama tambien -bad education -run, lola, run -children of heaven -aachi & ssipak -old boy -chocolat -quills -grease -gattacca and a lot more less famous films that i liked more, but ironically because i couldnt talk to anyone about them, i forgot their names... argh! (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 28th, 2007
8:18 am	movie review watched my blueberry nights. it was ok. i think all 3 stories were ok. i think all that i don't like is that it is 3 stories instead of 1. in my own life, of course it's terrible to have 3 stories run concurrently, and it feels just as intense. but in a movie, i feel like the focus is diluted. oh well. each story has its merits, but i'll rather just watch one of them at one time. heh. liang zhu can attest that i don't like watching 3 movies consecutively (it makes me puke from focusing too much, serious!) citizen dog is quirky. probably even less people will like it. but somehow perhaps i enjoy augmented reality with humor in it. i think perhaps thats what my world view is. i look at things, a bit overly optimistic and i fantasize a little, then i laugh at it? heh. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 24th, 2007
6:22 pm	hm... so it seems that i keep having problems with stuff. and i'm emotional like angry and sad and super happy and all.  i also seem to recall that i used to have a carefree life... so, is it: 1. impossible to have a carefree life once you're grown-up? OR 2. that it always seem like the past was carefree, since you no longer care about those problems, but then the present is always care-full? (heh) (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 15th, 2007
2:34 pm	Forum Drama and Racism I just went last night to see this forum drama with a theme of racism at the substation. it was like a play, they acted it once first. and then the second time round, people in the audience can participate by intervening at any time, supposedly to "try to make it better". the context of the play was terrorism, on the mrt. in the play, 2 weeks ago, they found a bomb at raffles place, and people were thus jittery when there was a technical fault on the mrt train. the characters, this chinese ah beng looking guy with an indian wife-to-be. a chinese auntie with a malay colleague. and a malay man, more religiously-affiliated, dressed up like what some of us narrow-minded people would imagine a jihad terrorist to dress up like. he also carried a black bag. (just like how the advertisements on the mrt warning us about terrorists have people leaving black bags behind). ironically though, all 5 characters were carrying black bags, not that most of us actually noticed... anyway, i think i was quite saddened by the play, but even more so by the intervening audience. for one, many times they seem to make the situation worse rather than better, demonstrating how they are more racist than the production crew imagined. one girl even commented that she doesn't hire malay women, because they were more family-oriented and not suitable for the fast-paced job nature of her company.  but that is not all, i think in all, except one, of the situations, intervening spec-actors were trying to solve the problem by removing the target of discrimination rather than the perpetrator. for example, rather than replacing the chinese guy who was randomly accusing the malay guy, they chose to replace the malay guy, showing his stuff to the rest of the people. it's as if that just because you're a minority race, you would have to explain yourself all the time. what was worse came when people were trying to replace the malay colleague, starting to explain to the other malay guy that because we're malay we should have no choice but to keep being on our toes to explain we are innocent. the question is, when there is a problem like this, why do we keep assuming that it is the minority's race fault for "causing" the trouble. couldn't it have been just as easily solved if the chinese guy just stopped jumping to conclusions? cannot we, as chinese people, not fathom that other races are just people like us trying to get thru their daily lives? if that suspected terrorist malay guy became a chinese guy dressed up like a buddhist monk, would he still be a suspected terrrorist? it's all about reputation management isn't it? not just as an individual, but as a social group. if you're black, you better have a big dick. if you're indian, you better be furry. if you're asian, you better be good in maths, and if you're white, you better be rich. if you're malay, you jolly well be muslim. and if you're malay and muslim, you better not carry any black bags on mrts any more. the world is such a crazy place.. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 14th, 2007
9:33 am	ooh. NS almost done living in this conscription country.. so i had close to 2 weeks in the military, aka national service, as it's going to come to an end today.. yay. all i need to do is to go to this army family day thing today, and that's the end of it all for this year.. also, i'm finally going to get my blood tested. if my blood disorder is bad enough, hopefully i won't need to be serving this thing any more.. :) (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 30th, 2007
10:54 am	The story from my perspective Friends, forgive me. I know, of late, I have missed group gatherings. Just a little tired of socializing, for a while. I’ve gone out on one-to-one sessions though.   The past few weeks. Two critical significant occurrences connected and linked by a third.   First, career crossroads. Long an explosion waiting to happen, ignited by incongruent relations with the superior. Eventually, I sought advice and found some. That was merely the logical though.   Emotionally, I had to deal too. Even though I believe feelings should not have a high place in the professional world, I felt. And I was bothered. I needed to talk to someone. I seized the reflections-hiatus opportunity- “I’m bored”. And I got a call back. And a seemingly innocent exchange ensued.   Second, a sudden death. Shocked. Not really sad. Applied for urgent leave. Was alone. Reflected on career options. Reconsidered anything with any possibility of leaving this island- that’s the last thing I wanted to do at that moment. Thought about other potential deaths. Thought about going back to sleeping in the living room.   Needed to get out. Went to lunch. Noticed the absence (should have read my email) and was slightly disappointed. O I didn’t think I did much, but I did enjoy reading the book. Then an enjoyable dinner.   Hence these two very significant critical occurrences, making me totally not in the mood for the third thing, or even stuff closely related to it, in fact actually led me to a third significant critical even more troubling path. C’est La Vie.   And hence it began.   Exchanges, of so many different avenues. Distracted. Happy, so happy. Warm and fuzzy. Tears. Getting lost deliberately, literally and figuratively. I wanted to appear seemingly in control, even just a little, perhaps I managed in façade? But really, I’m totally lost.   Perhaps I’ve taken too many people on rollercoasters, and this is their revenge.   I’ve even gone to the extent of stopping puffing, because I knew it would be undesirable. (I had wanted to before, but did not have the will to. Besides, I had gone a little more than social puffs due to the previous two significant occurrences.) It may not seem a significant act on its own. But it’s significant to me because it was truly out of myself, because I wanted to do something. Not for me. And when was the last time I did that? Eons ago.   I contemplated locking this entry. But yea. I wanted you to gain access to my life. And so here it is. (18 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007
10:21 am	http://quiz.ivillage.co.uk/cgi-bin/uk_work/tests/career.pl i was doing this career quiz and found it immensely accurate. Specifically, BEFORE doing this quiz, i was considering the following options: 1. hotel & hospitality 2. consulting 3. teaching 4. studying or taking a break from work so.hey. they were quite right! ****************************** You would most enjoy a career that allows you to meet new people. You would also be happiest in a career that allows you to be free and flexible, and allows you to be extremely creative. Some careers that would be perfect for you are: Stockbroker Secretary Receptionist Director Recruitment Consultant Politician Marketing Human Resources Manager Religious Minister Teacher Lawyer Advertising Consultant Financial Adviser Financial Planner GP Physical Therapy Occupational Therapy Public Relations Estate Agent Travel Agent Restauranteur Hotel Manager Events Organiser You are a great leader. You genuinely enjoy being around other people. Your relationships with others are very important to you. You love talking and meeting new people. You are very enthusiastic about work and about all that you do and have in your life. You love being the focus of attention. You enjoy a fast pace. You are very socially oriented. Therefore, you are much happier being with others than you are alone. You crave interaction with others. You are very spontaneous and often act before you think. You are always quick to answer when you are asked a question, even if you aren't sure of the answer. It is easier for you to improvise as you go along. You enjoy thinking out loud, and are most creative when brainstorming with friends or colleagues. You enjoy being involved in many activities. You are very easy to read, and often wear your heart on your sleeve. You are never afraid to tell people what you think. You are very empathetic and genuine. You can sometimes be seen as over-emotional or too involved by others. But that is only because you tend to get so involved in the things you do that they become personal. You want to be adored, loved and appreciated. You like to please others and to make sure people are happy. You trust your gut instincts. You are easily inspired and trust that inspiration. You are very innovative. You analyse things by looking at the big picture. You are concerned about how what you do affects others. You worry about your actions and the future. You tend to use a lot of metaphors and are very descriptive and colourful in your choice of language. You are very creative, and get bored easily if you don't get to express yourself. You like to learn new things. You don't like the same old routine. You like to leave your options open. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 26th, 2007
11:13 pm	belonging to the other sometimes i get this sense of pointlessness. what am i doing with my career? what am i doing with my life? am i happy? i'm wondering why i'm doing anything at all. it just feels so meaningless sometimes. and i also feel so different. so different i feel alone. so alone it's a near-impossible task finding someone alike. i went to berkeley to feel singaporean. and then i came back and felt so berkeleyan. it's getting annoying. it's getting annoying that it's annoying. i feel like going to the beach to shout out loud, and at the same time i feel like total inaction- going thru daily life in a zombie state. please, someone who's been thru something similar. please come and talk to me and relieve/join my insanity. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 25th, 2007
5:56 pm	my thoughts on 377a it's funny how i hold on to this remote glimmer of hope that 377a will be repealed when the chances of that is close to zilch. i guess i'm just that kind of person. i shall prepare myself for the eventual disappointment when the news is broken. but that aside, it's kinda cool that finally there's going to be some part of the law, that people here in singapore will actually be able to remember by the number. when i was in california, it seemed that every now and then, people will talk about some legislation, that they actually know the number. so thats going to be a first for singapore. secondly, i think this is an avenue for civil debate. even though there are lots of people who want to continue to criminalize gay sex, and i am sad at that, i'm happy that there is an interesting debate going on. perhaps we're not as un-opinionated as we imagined.  perhaps there is hope for civil society after all. oh well, i will try my best to give more useful information to people i interact with. i'm ok with people having differing opinions from mine, as long as they understand the situation to a suitable level. if they perceive a certain sub-group to be  very bad because they have limited understanding or awareness, then i think it's my job to increase understanding, and hopefully the world will become a better place. dang, i should go join miss universe.  "WORLD PEACE!" (2 Comments |Comment on this)