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Archive for September, 2003

and the moral of the story is…

saturday night entertainment is expensive.

just back from cha ren zhi jia. met huijun and kexin at 9 in tampines to play pool. ended up with a longing to go for a ktv session no thanks in part to the music the girl at the counter chose to play as we were engaged in our two-hour game. (oh btw the game cost $9.90 an hour… as opposed to, oh say, $3.90 per hour on weekday afternoons.)

caught a cab down to cha ren zhi jia and ended up in a room built for more than three people. (the small ones were all taken) factoring in the hourly rental and the incredibly overpriced food, 3 hours of singing cost us $27 <b>each</b>.

left at closing time. (3 am)

both of them shared cab back to hall… presumably to offset costs.

my cab fare home cost me $4.80 (including midnight surcharge)

i mean, what the heck…?

<i>Ankit Fadia, 18 years old, is an independent Computer Security and Digital Intelligence Consultant and has definitive experience in the field of computers. He has authored several best-selling books on Network Security, which have been appreciated by both professionals and industry leaders, the world over. His books have sold a record 80,000 copies across the globe. Fadia is however, more well known for his significant work in the field of digital intelligence. In November 2001, Fadia was consulted by a classified intelligence agency for breaking an encrypted message (believed to have been) sent by one of Osama Bin Laden’s men. Since then, Fadia has been involved in numerous classified projects pertaining to International Security and Computer Networks. He handles the Asia Operations of the classified intelligence agency that he works for.

Moreover, Fadia has also on several occasions delivered lectures on various topics to an audience comprising of international defence personnel (IDSS, InfoSecurity World, Nanyang Technological University, Goa Police, Kerela Police, Andra Pradesh Police Department, APFSL, Pune Police, CFL etc), software professionals (INFOSYS, Satyam Computers HACK 2002, DRDO, Bank of Maharashtra etc) and college students (Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi, Kharagpur & Bombay), Delhi College of Engineering, BITS-Pilani, Banaras Hindu University, Cummins College, PICT, Symbiosis, IIIT Hyderabad etc.

For his exemplary work in the field of computer security, Fadia has been honoured with numerous awards namely: Person of The Year 2002, Limca Book of Records, Silicon India Person of the Week, Embassy State Award, Best Speaker Award (3 occasions), Hall of Fame Award, Outstanding Young Achiever’s Award and many more. Further, Industry leaders like Mr. Phiroze Vandrewala (Chairman, Tata Consultancy Services), Mr. Kiran Karnik (President, NASSCOM) and research pioneers like Jennifer Grannick (Law Professor, Stanford Law School and America Top E-Lawyer) and Dr. A.P.J. Kalam (President of India) have also felicitated Fadia’s work.

Very soon Ankit will be travelling to Australia, Singapore and Malaysia where he will be addressing 400 CEO’s and providing them solutions to protect their network and keep their data safe. Ankit is joining Stanford University this fall, where he will be pursuing his Computer Science Undergraduate degree and will be specializing in the Information Security.

You may access more of Ankit’s work at http://www.ankitfadia.com</i>

Happy Fun Ball!

Happy FUN BALL!
-only $14.95-

Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to Happy Fun Ball.
Caution: Happy Fun Ball may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.
Happy Fun Ball Contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.
Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete.

Discontinue use of Happy Fun Ball if any of the following occurs:
Itching
Vertigo
Dizziness
Tingling in extremities
Loss of balance or coordination
Slurred speech
Temporary blindness
Profuse sweating
Heart palpitations

If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.
Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types of skin.

When not in use, Happy Fun Ball should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration…

Failure to do so relieves the makers of Happy Fun Ball, Wacky Products Incorporated, and its parent company Global Chemical Unlimited, of any and all liability.

Ingredients of Happy Fun Ball include an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.

Happy Fun Ball has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is also being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

Happy Fun Ball comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Happy Fun Ball

ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES!

=)

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. “How much is an ice cream sundae?” he asked.

“Fifty cents,” replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it. “Well how much is a plain dish of ice cream?” he inquired. By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient. “Thirty-five cents,” she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left. When
the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies.

You see, he couldn’t have the sundae because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.

legally blonde 2

no. do not. watch. no. never. ever. do not. no. ever. don’t ever. watch. must not. ever. no. don’t. do not. never. don’t. must not. refrain. never. do not. ever. no. do not. watch. no. never. ever. do not. no. ever. don’t ever. watch. must not. ever. no. don’t. do not. never. don’t. must not. refrain. never. do not. ever. do not. watch. no. never. ever. do not. no. ever. don’t ever. don’t. must not. refrain. never. do not. ever. no. do not. watch. no. never. ever. do not. no. ever. don’t ever. watch. must not. ever. no. don’t. do not. never. don’t. must not. refrain. never. do not. ever. do not.

in other news: reese witherspoon is still quite cute.

toynbee tiles

found out about this phenomenon recently. small, plastic tiles bearing the cryptic message “TOYNBEE IDEAS IN KUBRICK’S 2001 RESSURECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER” are turning up by the hundereds all across north and south america. what’s odd is that they almost always show up at busy road intersections, EMBEDDED INTO THE GROUND. just… set there. by whom, and why? no one seems to know.

very, very, intriguing.

check out
<a href=”http://www.toynbee.net”>toynbee.net</a>
<a href=”http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/living/special_packages/starmagazine/6693767.htm”>kansas city star article</a>
and
<a href=”http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?lastnode_id=124&node_id=1200294″>everything2.com article</a>
for more information.

worth the read, i tell you.

home.

home for the weekends. somehow it feels… foreign here. should make an effort to come back more.

suddenly feel like cheonging. bleah.

the longest weekend of my life.

chronology of it all, or, a blow-by-blow account of why i skipped three lectures and a tutorial this morning:

<lj-cut>it all began friday night, around 1 am, after the JCRC co-option. drank in jared’s room with kexin, david, gavin and sebastian. tianyun joined us at around 4 am, and left shortly after. sean came in around 4.30 and three of us (jared, sean, myself) carried on till about 8.

went back to my room to wash up, then joined the jcrc members for the video shoot at 8.30… with the buzz of tequila in my head. nearly died. managed to crawl back to my room at around 11 and crash… for all of 3 hours.

woke at 2 and cycled down to the SRC to watch the inter-block swimming competition. was pretty much operating on auto-pilot by now, drawn far beyond the limits of tiredness as defined by modern-day urban living.

back in room by 3.30. played some games, watched a little johnny english, and coordinated timings with the rest of the nike run gang.

left hall at 6.45 with gavin and kexin to meet dawei at harbourfront. the rest of the nike run ppl would be turning up later. jared entirely forgot he had a convo ball to attend, so threw a huge spanner in the works at the last minute.

7.58 pm. arrived at harbourfront station and met up with dawei shortly after. had dinner at pastamania (cheese tortollini good!) and shopped around till about 9.30. bossini was having a sale. bought stuff for 25 bucks.

got on the bus to sentosa at around 9.40. tianyun, weixiong, yunjia and gina now en-route to meet us from wherever in doby ghaut they were having dinner.

got off at the merlion stop and headed towards merlion walk, getting a little lost in the process. ended up walking through some pitch dark route behind the holiday chalets.

finally found merlion walk. spent some time there listening to the bells and exploring the scented garden. time now around 11.

headed off to palawan beach and rendezvous-ed with yunjia, gina, weixiong and tianyun outside the 7-E. talked a lot. laughed at gina. weixiong bought this cheapo frisbee from 7-E. played a bit. frisbee sucked. stopped.

went to explore the twin towers after shower, in the hope of finding a place to sleep. towers crowded as hell, so wandered back to the mainland, before finally settling on the monorail station. (lightning was a main persuasion)

hammocks up by 12.30. thunderstorm rolled in by around 12.45.. nice and cosy. bought hot food from the 7-E, and we sat around talking nonsense till around 1.30.

tried to sleep. woken at 4.50 am by huijun messaging saying she was pretty high after a night of cheonging and wouldn’t be joining us at all.

up and about by 6.30. after rousing the whole lot and grabbing breakfast, we set off for the nike run start point by 7.30.

nike run. never have i seen so many people on the stoopid sentosa causeway. thousands of people milling around… whole thing involved a lot of waiting but we were flagged off on time at 8.45.

chased weixiong through most of the route. gah. anyway lost sight of him by the end of the uphill climb. some girl in front of me decided to run side by side with her boyfriend. took up so much space… hmph.

weixiong ended up in first place in the recreational category. the “fastest of the slowest”, as he put it. i trailed behind him by 5 places to end 6th. we were the first 2 to collect our goodie bags. by the time the hundereds of rec runners started streaming in, the goodie bag queue had swollen to an unbelievable size.

tried to claim our bags from the bag deposit truck. it was a logistical nightmare. hundreds of bags got mixed up, and the whole world was trampling around trying to find theirs. finally got sorted out an hour later.

lunch at BK. time now nearly 12 pm.

took monorail to palawan beach, only to find it packed with people attending the warna family day, so walked over to siloso beach.

played with sucky frisbee for a while, cos no one wanted to pay 20 bucks to rent a volleyball for 2 hours.

showered, then left sentosa by 1 something.

shopped a while at harbourfront, cos the girls heard of the ongoing sales. gavin and gina headed back to hall. bought another top from bossini. only 10 bucks.

second lunch (sigh.) at macdonalds.

party split up soon after. yunjia and weixiong went home, while tianyun, dawei and i caught a train to the esplanade.

3.40 pm: esplanade. headed to the senses cafe on the second level to take part in an a cappella session conducted by members of the singapore a cappella society. jared and samuel joined us. very tired by now. bordering on lethargy. kept nodding off while the guy was teaching us to sing. whoops.

session over by 6. samuel left, while jared, dawei, tianyun and myself trekked on over to marina square to buy tix for the 9.20 screening of S.W.A.T. (note to self: why?!)

taxi to marina south for bbq steamboat buffet. nice. =)

taxi back to marina square for the movie. slept through most of the commercials.

show over by 11.30 pm. WALKED all the way to collyer quay to catch the 196… which would bring us to the no. 30 bus stop. (planned to take 30 back to boon lay. cheaper.)

missed the last bus. time now around 12.10 am. caught a cab back to hall… reached at 12.45

bathed, and knocked myself out by 1.30.</lj-cut>

woke at 12.45 this afternoon only cos julynn called, asking about a cable modem.

sigh.. still kinda tired.