Kris

It was just another idyllic Saturday when a MSN messenger pop-up window caught my attention.

3 years. I never heard a word from him and here he was wishing me a happy Gregorian new year.

Let me give you some background information about him. His name is Kris Manios. A Dutchman who is 3 years my senior. I got to know him when he was the boyfriend of my cousin Daphne back in 2000. That relationship did not last long and he flew back to Holland.

During 2000, it was a 6 months waiting period before I entered polytechnic and so, we hang around alot with Daphne and her sister, Faith. He was like a hero that I looked up to because he was indeed someone that I could emulate.

He was patient, he was kind and he was cool to hang around with. He taught me lots of great stuff like the numerical system of Dutch language, hooked me up to broadband & made me a geek and he insulted my guts when I did not dare try contact lenses and he had to show me personally how to wear it when he had no need for glasses and wore my contact lenses to taunt me.

That was such great memories then. Going back to the present, we chatted continuously about what each of has been doing for the past few years. It was great moments catching up on what we were doing. For a period of time, Kris was in band singing and currently, he has 2 more years to go before he completes his degree in Amsterdam now.

Like me, he is still interested in the Japanese culture and he watches Japanese comedies, anime and horror. I have made a pact with him in 2009, we will apply for the JET programme because we are so enamoured with what the culture has to offer us. Even so, if I become married or if he does first, we will invite one another across continents to witness our marital vows.

Until then, a great buddy and pal of mine, Kris Manios.

Now, you can't really expect Kris to be that old. That is his uncle!

What a great start to a new year!

- Benjamin

Reflections

Being a graduating student soon, it is time that I have to think about my future. When you are at a young age, you never put much consideration into what lies down the road but decisions have to make and since it is my life after all and it is a crossroad of my life, it was time to consider my options.

Being a media & communication student, I could have picked the typical route of being a Junior college student but I knew back then it was not my cup of tea. I was not strong in my Chinese literature and text hence my proclivity towards a more fulfilling education of being hands-on.

I was strong in my Mathematics and Science but I knew I didn't imagine myself as a chemist or an engineer as it would be too mundane. Hence, the choice of being in the media and communication field.

Having studied for this diploma in this last 2.5 years, it gave me some perspectives in life as during project work, you had to be mature at hand to take on the task. I feel that I have matured from where I stood back then.

Firstly, what were my interests in the media and communication field? The scope is wide ranging from Video production, Events management, Advertising, Public relations and Journalism. Personally, I have dabbled in each of the following above in my stint in School of Business.

I'm the director for my School of Business video prospectus, I co-organised my school Talentime, I was involved with the Final Year project management to a real client and I am writing and reporting actively for my school newspaper.

To summarise, I feel that I am a jack of all trades and master of none. My interests at the moment right now are slanted towards 3 areas.

Advertising. This is an attractive field that is always on the go like technology, it keeps on your toes and if you will be left behind if you are updated. It is pretty tough to succeed in this industry but it is a challenge that I would not mind considering.

Video Production. I have a strong grasp of the knowledge that I have learnt and I continually practice with it throughout my years here. The only thing though is I'm already tired of it because of the constant editing. On the other hand, I like copywriting and planning for a shoot and one of the strong reasons that keep me from this interest is the pay because if you are a nobody here, there is little you can pocket.

Journalism. I never envision myself in this industry. It can be cutthroat, it can be back-breaking. Deadlines and a strong comprehension of the English language is a must. I never perceive myself as a writer and probably still don't as a strong article writer. I could just take this up as an interest but there is more to explore here though.

After my national service, I would either enter the industry or getting my degree in an Australian university as it would be the most financially viable option if I intend to further my studies. Hence, I have dedicated the topic about where my future lies as school term is about to start and I am about to reach my big 2-0.

I would love to hear feedback from people who know me on where should I go. I know ultimately the choice I make is mine and mine alone but I would like a third person perspective.

- Benjamin

Shopping

It is great to feel fresh for the New Year.

Therefore, I tidied my agglomeration of miscellaneous items I collected for the past year and swept them to the chute. Everything is so neat and tidy! I'm rather ambivalent about cleanliness in my room. , I like the state of messiness because I feel 'proud' of the junk I accumulated but on the other hand, I like to be accessible to the stuff that I keep. Therefore, my attempts to ameliorate my living conditions!

I went back to school today to check on the course video that I'm directing. It is almost done except for some grey areas. After which, I went shopping!

I love shopping. That is not quite typical of a guy but when you are empowered with shopping money and stuck in consumerism land; you cannot help but reach out and grab that window display.

Chinese New Year is approaching and everyone is grabbing something that is red which will represent an auspicious year ahead if you wear it on the first day of the New Year. As my parents are traditionalists, I was adamant to obey my mum's request and had to zealously search for something red.

Retailers and marketers are astute. They know that the season is coming and voila! All clothes that are red are marked up in price while the rest of the dull autumn colours clothing have their prices slashed. My agenda was searching for something that was not a top that you wore only once as people don’t often wear red and that the design or the cutting was unique.

I have a particular taste in clothing, which is why I avoid common brands like Giordano, Bossini and U2. I just don't like the idea of someone along the street wearing the exact same shirt walking past me. If that happens to you, usually both of you will try to look away. For me, it just feels uncomfortable.

It is just that I am a "brand" person, the type that goes for brand. Usually when you go for branded stuff, there is less chances that people around you will have the same particular item and hence, my penchant for unique clothes. Decent, not flamboyant, not overtly pricey and unique. It is hard to understand my sense of clothing but think Abercrombie & Fitch, Quiksilver and Adidas. Minimalism. Imagine shoes designed by Kenneth Cole.

I ended up buying 1 singlet from Guess and 1 Quiksilver top from Flash & Splash. Splurging a total of $80 for both tees was heart-wrenching as I am eyeing on the idea of getting a PDA so that I can jot down my ideas and random ramblings wherever I am. I guess that has to wait.

Today made me realise something. Shopping alone is really pathetic. Yes, some may argue that by oneself, one can do as they please and shop wherever they want at any interval but I refute that shopping alone is a misery.

There is no one to give you a second person perspective, no one to bring you back to earth on an impulse expensive purchase, no one to idly be by your side scouring the racks of shirts. Companionship, be it boy or girl, is a requisite if you ever go shopping. At least there is someone who will buy a red top at an exorbitant price together!

- Benjamin

Resolutions

Every new year, resolutions are always made. And broken. I read up from somewhere that 80% of the resolutions are broken by the end of February. And only 3% survive to daylight to see the next year.

To begin with, I have no resolutions. Just live life as it is and hope for the better. A moment at a time. Choose your crossroads as you encounter them. However, on a slight note, I'm planning for my route to university after national service by sourcing out which are the good ones for my industry so you could say i'm having some foresight for the years ahead.

On another side note this time, I am looking forward to kick my bootie back in school with only 2 more modules to master and 4 months of back-breaking-child-slavery internship work to do. Really looking forward to that.

Not a very interesting post so I shall load up the remaining pictures of last night's "havoc".

How I achieve the pyramid hairstyle

SARS temperature taking in process

A sight for sore eyes

On another side side-note, Xiaxue is back to blogging !

- Benjamin

P.S. The gal on the picture is not my girlfriend. Just a very close course buddy of mine whom I invited to the countdown party.

Underwear

Just back from the countdown party from school ....

Yup ! you heard me right. A party in S-C-H-O-O-L .... oxymoronic if you tell me. It's like saying homework is fun.

Have photos to show you the 'fun' I had. Scroll down to see it.

I'm upset I didn't win the PDA from the lucky draw. In fact, I am upset I didn't win ANYTHING at all.

I didn't know why I was so unlucky. They had 26 prizes and I had 3 coupons to strike. It was only then I realized when I reach home. At this very moment as I'm typing this blog while unzipping my jeans that I knew the answer to my unlucky streak.

I wore my briefs, backwards.

Now, it is lucky if you wear your underwear backwards, according to hearsay, somehow, I only feel damn upset paying $26.80 for the cab ride home and $5 for an extra lucky draw coupon to get nothing in return. I will remind myself before I leave my house to check which side my underwear is facing.

My friend, Ephraim has some of the good photos that we took at the party. I will post it up later when I get them as he is laying in a slumber. For the moment, this 3 photos taken by my vampiric-battery-powered-Olympus camera will suffice for now.

Someone gave me a wedgie

Muscle-bound Ben attracts the ladies

Ephraim & Me showing what love is all about

- Benjamin

P.S. Will post more when I wake up, I have so much to blog about !!!

Dates

I think it is time for me to develop my love life.

I can ascertain some things though. Some things are just not meant to be forced, if there is no chemistry from someone I met online, chat online, or happen to accidentally bump online. If it is not meant to be, it is not meant to be. At least I know that I have made a valiant effort to try to connect with people if all things fail to evolve.

To answer my question of what I want in a date, is for someone to be herself. The whole package of a personality that has the potential to progress to a persevering partnership. By reflecting their true personality, at least we are truthful to ourselves and if no chemistry bubbles, then leave it, don't force an equation that will end up in disaster.
Is that asking too much for someone to be themselves?

If you're really an ugly person inside, the bitchy type, the clingy type, the virgin type, then let it show. I have my own personal preference of course but then again, I view situation from an overall perspective and accept a person for who she is, as it turns out, I might like your aggressive bitchy tendencies. Who knows ?

I just do have one slight preference though. It might sound demanding but at least I know what I want from someone.

I wish that she would be able to conduct intellectual chat with me.
Yup, not those conversations that discusses the GDP of Singapore or alternate life in the solar systems but conversations that make sense. Like the movie, Mona Lisa Smile, an inspirational movie with the theme of feminism. We could chatter on light stuff like their acting and the cinematography or have a deeper scope like feminism in Singapore, stuff like that. That would be an ideal scenario that I use as an example of course. Chemistry is more important of course.

Am I picky? Maybe. But it is my life after all, and I need to know and choose who I want to spent of my next 50 years with. So do you too! If you can't click with my personality or cannot see eye to eye, then I wish you best wishes on finding your life partner. After all, your life is the only thing that you are in control of life.

- Benjamin

Tragedy

The world just had to do this to me. My daily amusement of my dear friend "Xiaxue" is gone from the blogging world.

She is so talented. It's unbelivable. She possess great humour and writing skills.

Yet, she is condemned by a certain group of people who was not able to swallow down her type of antidote.

This group of people are depiscable as they flame her, critique her and even insulted her.

All she did was be honest, phrase her daily life in a humourous manner and sees the light side of life.

But no no no. These people had to hate her. They wrote in forums to publicly insult her stupidity and her naiveness.

Puhlez! She has better things to do but yet, she makes a conscious effort to allow everyone to see the light side of her life.

If you don't like it, then click the X on the top right corner of the window. Nobody is forcing you to read it anyway.

And then you argue, the internet is a free domain and yes, you can do what you please. Hack her, flame her, spam her. Whatever. But she is entitled to her OWN freedom of speech to and damn you assholes who do not want her to give her that basic human right that everyone has.

Well, the tragedy here is that Xiaxue has closed down her blog. However, the good news is that she is going to have a private blog to allow her good friends to see. This is a lost cause here. The internet has lost a good blogger. A person who shared her funny personality to cure us from a bad day.

This is her parting message. Xiaxue's last public breath

Xiaxue aka Yan yan, if you're reading this, take heart that there are people by your side who will always support you no matter what you do. I'm one of them.

- Benjamin

Evolution

It took me 4 hours to revamp this.

Yessire, the need for change is evident from the previous webby that looks too yellow. I personally like the colour orange and hence, a tangy colour but it seems nobody appreciates that vibrant colour, giving me "bright" complaints.

Hence, i opt for my secondary colour. Blue. Using my lacklustre photoshop skills, I have done up a banner featuring my toothy grin and the groovy fonts. All that said and done, i'm proud of my accomplishment although any html freak can exclaim this was a piece of cake, it took loads of trial and error before I could get it done. Back to my dronings about daily life.

I have been wanting to write about this for a long time, I just never got about writing it. That is until now. I have been scraping the surface of this issue but now, I feel it is time to get downright dirty with this issue. My lovelife. To those who don't wish to read this entry, turn onto Channel 5 and see Brothers 4 and puke at their hilarity or you can choose to puke at my whinings about love here. To those who wish to continue reading this entry, please refrain from throwing up. I need your support, not vomit.

When I was back in secondary school, I was a flirt. I could chat, yak, gabber and amuse gals with the flick of my tongue. I have the gift of the gab. Be it introverts, ah lians, the untouchables, the goody-two-shoes or the cool chicks, I always have the ability to chat up with them. Least to say, that is not happening now.

Graduating from there, I entered a new phase of my life, the polytechnic. I had a bet with my 3 close secondary school mates who all went to junior college that each one of us will end up having a girlfriend. I was the most eligible then in terms of what girls were looking for then and as it seems, chances were high when I got accepted in School of Business, renown for their beautiful babes.

WRONG ! It seems out of us 4, I was the last to get hitch. I approached 2 gals during my current 2.5 years there and I got downright rejected because the girl felt we had a "compatatbility issue". They were right somehow, chemistry is the most important thing in a relationship and I also felt similarly that we didn't share a strong one.

Technically, I have 2 more months left in my school as I will be having my 4 month attachment from March. To simply lay out the issue, I will then be serving my national service for the next 2.5 years. I foresee me leading a very lonely life ahead.

Now, you all must be thinking the issue that im churning about is on my lovelife.
WRONG AGAIN! The issue here is why can't being single be a good thing?

With me not being emotionally tied down, I was able to accomplish many stuff. Like my CCAs and projects that I excel in. That came at the expense of not having a loved one but the primary purpose of going to school is to get an education, which I did !

Being single is practically a crime when you are nearing 40. It is also a crime that if you stick yourself with couples that are lovey-dovey. You see, with their feeding-one-another, show-of-affection and little-secret-chatter, you can only sit there and gap at what is happening around you, grasping nothing from the conversation. I don't hate all my attached friends but sometimes, it is just downright degrading when they throw you options like "XXXXXX can be your girlfriend you know."

To put it simply, i will let fate create its decisions for me. Be it impulse or bubbling chemistry, I will make the approach when I see fit even though I know my rate of success isn't high. At least I know I tried. For now, I'm happy to remain single and you can sue me if I slap any couples who are trying to grope one another when I so happen not to look at their direction. Until then, I am still looking for my significant other and will hope that the winds of fate will blow in my direction.

- Benjamin

"Life is not a box of chocolates. There aren't much choices in life anyway."

Frenzy

Something really bad happened today.

My laptop almost joined a heap of junk. Yup, I spilled a small drop of water from the cup I was drinking and kaboom !, the screen gave me a bare look of barely 5 seconds. 3 blinks and poof ! It waved me goodbye with a black screen that loomed over the stunned look on my face.

It was a mad scramble after that. The tissues and the harried fussing over where the water spots dripped to. When all seemed well, I pressed the power button. It greeted me with no fuss, but what preceeded after that brought me to my knees. It wouldn't start at all.

That one hour was like hell. My life depended clung onto the oxygen as well as my laptops' intake of electrodes. No internet, no life, no me, no more blog. I had two options. I took the immediate one. The screwdriver kit.

I'm no mechanic thats for sure. But somehow somewhere inside of me wanted to dry up the bloody mess I created due to pure carelessness and off I went unscrewing the 17 screws off my laptop. Yeah, yeah stupid me. I should have left it to the professionals. After I unscrewed everything, the lid refuses to come off. I could use force to unhinge the back cover. I restraint myself. And i screwed everything back. I didn't want to screw the software AND the hardware in less than an hour.

And so, I press the power button back again. A miracle ensues, the Windows XP screen greeted me. I wiped sweat off my brow. I waited in reeked anticipation for my login screen. Screen blinks again. Voila ! It works !!! It's alive , it's alive!!!

Now, the calamity wasn't over yet. I had to type in my password. 5 simple words. I knew my keyboard on my laptop was screwed somehow. It was indeed. I couldn't type in my password. The liquid had seeped into the keyboard circuit, most likely screwing itself over the wonderful keys. I restrained myself hitting my head on the wall.

Another miracle happened though. Luckily, my password was entered, I manage to get to the desktop interface. First thing I did, went to Microsoft Word to type out what wasn't working. I calculated a total of 10 keys that weren't working. I knew i was so screwed.

I went to the acer website to salvage whatever information i could gather. The thing was, I couldnt type out the URL because some alphabets were keys that I couldnt type. Like an ancient typewriter, I copied and paste each alphabet that wasn't working. The doom I faced just felt like a vortex.

The vortex vanished like evaporation. As time trickles, keys started working again and the whole system looks like it is pretty normal. I'm now contemplating whether I should go to Jurong and use my warranty or save the trip. Still thinking though.

This whole incident taught me a big lesson. It is the small things in life that we don't appreciate that we end up in the end moaning about. I have a laptop and I use it lazily on my bed. I do practically everything on my bed except my baths, excretions and disposal of waste. Having lunch on the bed while surfing the internet IS definently not a good idea. I'm making a few changes to this bed-everything policy. No more doing anything toxic or radioactive near the laptop. Unless you enjoy a day like me where you feel like screwing something or screwing yourself.

- Benjamin

Benevolence

Arrgghhh, i wrote a long post and blogger did not register it. Re-writing it miserably again now in the wee hours of Christmas.

Christmas season. I don't give a hoot. A season to be joyful, a season filled with glee. My response. Bah humbug!

All I can say is that Christmas is a great marketing ploy conjured up by some 1960s salesmen in America who were thinking of a reason on how to increase better sales in their snow plower and candy canes. What they didnt realize that 40 years down the road, they gave reason for people to buy junk for other people they loved, on the road at ridiculous prices.

In Christmas there are essentially 2 type of people, the giver and the receiver.

The giver is the person who is very deluded. They believe that they can wash away their sins of what they did to people by amending their relationships with bar soaps, awful dark chocolate and useless ornaments in exchange for forgivenance. They are suckers to advertisements and have loads of experience lining up at gift wrapping service counters so they scringe from spending more effort by asking strangers to have the honour of wrapping gifts on their behalf. The giver is also a loyal member of their credit card company as they love accumulating interest so that they can lie in a pile of debt every chrisstmas.

The receiever aka me, is the person who is a realist. They believe that Christmas is bullshit. That is why they don't have many friends or have much of a religion. They have this ideology of the action of giving presents can be done any single period of the year and must not wait until the end of the year to suddenly splurge on gifts at jacked up prices. They put more sincerity when they give out presents (any time of the year) as they put much thought in the gift. They would choose the gift carefully instead of charging to the departmental store special section of festive gifts.

Of course there are many type of genres, but im only describing two here. The giver is like a sheep among packs of a million sheeps. If people start giving gifts, they would also have to start giving gifts or they will have irrepressable guilt that they have live through the next 364 days. Hence, everyone is sucked into the vortex of the season to give. Sigh, its a horrid consumer world out there.

On a side note, I went to watch Mona Lisa's Smile. A great chick movie. Not that i enjoy the fact it is a great chick flick but the very fact that it had a strong cast of Julia Roberts, Julia Stilles, Kirsten Dunst to name a few who were E-X-C-E-L-L-E-N-T. Furthermore, a believable movie plot which was not predictable with few twists and turns that made the whole movie enjoyable. I'm more of a SNAG than a typical caveman so i really enjoyed the movie. The other 4 pals of me who were the typical "You Jane, Me Tarzan, I go fetch banana, you clean banana" chauvanists blamed me for recommending such a show to them. Hell to them, I love Julia Roberts. She is just FANTASTIC !!!

After the movie, it was like 11 pm. Decemeber 25th will hit a bumper in about an hour. As we parked our car at Borders and the movie was at Cathay Cineleisure, there was quite a distance to cover and a humongous crowd to conquer. Yup, you heard me right. The pavement was congested with families, more families, and families who brought along other families. Amongst them, there was the fake snow party can sprayers (FSPCS). They were the irritants of the crowd.

Theses FSPCS were just party people who were high on fake snow. They just kept spraying it to people. To hit on some hot chick or just to make someone blind, they love twitching that button to spray loads of fake snow onto innocent pedestrains (me) making their way back safely. The foam created from these FSPCS made the whole entire Orchard Road dirty with litter spraycans and the gooey stuff that dried up after the fake snow cringe after usage. It was havoc out there. I'm glad to have lived to tell the story. At least i know where to NOT go next year.

After the great Mona Lisa and the horrendous Crowda Shita, we visited Pros Vista. Yup, the holy grail of prostitutes, Geylang. Yup, it was just some cheap thrill of young teenagers just to watch prostitues up close in person on Christmas Day. Yes, it is THAT cheap. We practically circled or the streets (Lorongs) and sad to say, I only saw like 2 or 3 peddling for business. It seems that either prostitutes are in the festive mood and are part of the FSPCS contingent or that business was so good that we see so many queues outside those red-lantered houses. Anyway, all I say was bunch of lechers that were old men or Bangla workers checking the scene like us, having their own cheap thrill.

All said and done, it has been a great Christams Eve, I wish for the spirit of sharing and giving to be spread throughout the year and not only until the end of this week.

Bless you all with good wishes,
Benjamin

Brainwash

Went for my medical check-up today.

I never really had the passion to enter national slavery. After today, that mindset has changed.
I didn't had a choice between the red pill or the blue pill but while I was awaiting for a grown man to pull my shorts down to see if my penis was in working order, I awaited while watching a video detailing the whole procedure of Basic military training.

Simply put, I was impressed. In reality, I was motivated. Some part of that motivation is to protect my homeland, another part of it is that it looks so impressive. Yes, i'm THAT easily dissuaded. I was brainwashed to tell you the truth and the fact is, I like the truth.

Now, I can only hope that people with lazy eyes can get selected to be combat fit. Every part of my limbs and fibre are raring to go. I have heard that recruits with lazy eyes end up behind desks. I can only hope, pray, and see that my lazy eye isn't that much of a slacker when it comes down to the gauntlet.

On another side note, I went to watch the final installment of the trilogy, Lord of the Rings. I never watch the first 2 shows and it was manical that I watched the last chapter. It is like bungee jumping but you only feel that thrill of your bounce upwards.

Anyway, the cinematography was fabulous. The plot was fantastic. Peter Jackson destroyed the integrity of the show with the ending. Not that i'm a Hobbit fanatic but somehow, the filming of the ending could have been more spiced up professionally, especially how they uesd the fading in transitions. It didn't gel well with the front part of the movie which I would have to give 11 marks out of 5 in terms of editing and camera angles.

On another side note, there is a high possibility that I might get to own a dog. It's not confirmed yet but it might be a Jack Russell. Let's pray for good tidings on less fussiness on my slacking eye, more LOTR films and a Russell that I can finally hug to sleep.

- Ben

Slack

I have been slacking the whole day. Sleeping and playing computer games.

Tommorrow, i need to shift the gear stick and start going 100 km/h. All this slacking is not good for my health. Period.

I know i promised a photo of my new hairstyle. But, feedback from many people says it is still relatively the same. My hairstylist said if it grows longer, it will look nicer. So, i'll take a photo of it and post it another time when the army boy becomes nice-hairy boy.

Okay, my mumblings today is extermly boring. I blame the harmful slacking that has got over my head.

Another time then,
Ben

Bloated

I have a new hair cut. = )

I look like an army boy. Period. Aka half david beckham, half cockerel.

What inspired me to cut my hair was my laziness to gel my hair everytime I go to school to edit the clips.

Most of the time, I wear a cap. If i wear my cap too much, my brain cells won't have much oxygen to generate intelligence and hence, my reluctance to wear a cap everyday to cover my ill-lazily-styled-hair.

Voila ! New hairdo. I promise to post up pics of my new hairdo. Bite me. I'm narcissitic.

Topic of the day: Buffet

One of the top ten favourite words of Singaporeans. One mention of the word "buffet" would perk up anyone's day from slacker mode to ready to cut queue mode.

I went to a buffet dinner today at Koshin-Bo. Not for the faint-walleted. For the 5 of us, we chalked up a bill of S$170, that is like $34 per person.

Anyway, although Koshin-Bo was a rather civilized place where the prim and proper had their Japanese cuisine, there was still much shoving around during the peak period that I went.

I am guilty of it too as my first order consisted of Teriyaki Udon, 4 unagi sushi, 2 tako sushi, 4 "satay sticks" and 1 sprite. That was just the appetiser. I tore through the buffet menu. I was simply ferocious.

Well, that is not as compared to the neighbours who sat next to me as they were equally munching, and not even taking a moment to swallow.

Our Singaporean culture is to never lose out to the other. That means beat the rest. Do better than what others do. Convert that to buffet language, the etiquette is to pile or order as much as you can, and then eat every single thing until your stomach explodes.

My stomach was bloated as I left but come to think of it, was it money well spent? I mean come on, the meal was so expensive, I deserve my consumer right to order as much as I want !!!

Kiasu or not. Hungry or not. I'm entitled to my money's worth.

Anyone up for another buffet ?

Bloggers

Currently busy in school right now editing videos.

While i was having a short break, I slowly blended in with a group of Coursemates who were busy gossiping.

The gossip dribbled to how other classmates write their blogs and stuff and that got me thinking.

How many people out there are blogging ? How many people out there only read blogs ?
How many people out there are blogging about other bloggers? How many people out there don't even know what is a blog ?

Well, as I didn't know my coursemates that were gossiping very well, I made a verbal guess on who had a blog and who didn't.
I was absolutely correct with all my 6 guesses.

I have come to a basic theory on how to identify fellow bloggers from the people who refrain to be entrapped in the virtual world and also from the people who only enjoy reading about blogs. Basically, a blogger has reasons for their blog.

A. You are very expressive and has loads to chat and jibber about.
B. You are very conceited and an exhibitionist
C. You are very closeted with your circle of friends and use your blog as means of expression.

Usually you can identify from their body language to distinguish themselves from other bloggers.

Also, if a person is an IT-idiot and is a very busy-with-practically-anything-person, then you also can rule out the possibility of them having a blog too.

Won't it be wonderful if people with blogs meet up? Look at it in this manner. These batch of people are willing to talk about their life, views, opinions and perceptions on certain issues. They are very open in thier views and if we bring these views into the real world, we wouldn't need to second guess through how people feel.

In this way, you know immediately if you have some sort of disgust towards another individual, have some sort of crush with a certain someone or even express irriation over a bugger. A blogger is like an open virtual book, it reflects the soul of their own belief sysem.

If onlt everyone was a blogger in real life, put their feelings out there, have more emotions. The world would then be a more chaotic but brutally honest place to live in. I prefer honesty.

- Benjamin

Monogamy

I did not intend to blog today. Just before I was about to lay in my coffin, one word caught my eye as I read someone's blog. The word was "monogamous".

For those English-impaired, monogamous as defined by dictionary.com as the condition of being married to only one person at a time or having sexual relations one at a time, (I presume one partner the whole lifetime.)

Now, imagine if the whole world was monogamous. There would be no sex-crazed offences, no prostitutes and no wonderful shows like 'Sex and the City'. Women would be even more picky about the guy they would eventually end up with the whole lifetime as they have to be selective about their climax partner.

This is an insane issue that I'm throwing up here but if defined properly by the Romantic Society, there is only One love out there. The person's true love. So, do i have to scan through the World population of 4 billion profiles before i know where is my true love ? That is then there and there I will have a monogamous relationship.

Going back to the monogamous world, if everyone is only entitled to only one sexual partner, will that make the world a better place ? Let's evaluate together.

The perks are that the gals will NEVER every complain about bad sex or having not climax with their male counterparts during sex. As they only have one experience to speak of, if the partner they choose is a bad hog who lets the women do the work or an aggressive bull humping the whole night long, nobody can really define what is good OR bad sex. In other words, the world is a better place, with less Aunt Aggie column's of "My honeymoon lasted a minute" or "How to fake a climax" articles.

Furthermore, with the rule of One women only, Men can NEVER EVER make anyone else pregnant unless they have chosen "The One". Thus, men will be faithful and divorce rates are likely to stay at 0%. Men will spend less time picking up gals and bringing them home in taxis in the wee morning and will sleep early and get up with more energy to boost productivity.

Are you in support of monogamy ?

This is the downside.

For women, if one can only have one sexual partner, they would be VERY choosy and hence, 30% of the women will end up as lesbians or bachelorettes for life. They spent more time shopping if their husbands are awful in bed and having high credit expenditure which eventually causes bad debt and increase the economy's bankruptcy population. This is because as identified by experts, if women have bad sex or they don't get any at all, they seek other pleasures like Chocolate cake, ice-cream or blow-up dolls. We all know how inflated the prices are as years go by. Back then, one Snickers bar cost $0.70. Now, it is an amazing $1.50.

For men, the downside of having no women to experiement would lead to giving VERY bad sex to the final woman they choose. Initially, they would pump and give it their best shot, as encounters go by in bed, they weaken and lose interest and hence, bad sex. This in turn, leads to the above forementioned effect on women. Also, suicidal rate in the country will peak to a limit as they cannot divorce their women and they have to hear them nagged about the "slug in bed" or "limping kangaroo" insults which would hurt men's ego and cause them to jump down from high-storey buildings, join politics or intake too much viagra and hence, death.

For the economy, it will be a deep decline with our tourism industry taking the biggest cut. A cutback on the Geylang, Bugis, Chinatown and Changi Village income from foreigners is the main reason. Furthermore, there is no need for condom, contraceptive pills or Hotel 81. Besides that, divorce lawyers have to switch their careers to toilet cleaners and dating services and hotlines will cease to exist with little business.

Imagine the world monogamous.

I'm a monogamous person. If I really love someone, I will stick through her thick and thin, till death do us part. Of course, there will be furtive glances at other attractive gals once in a while but I always know that my heart has already been given away. Unless it's broken and then I have to mend it and give it to someone else. Come to think of it, monogamy is a virture worth valuing.

- Ben

P.S. Monogamy has always been linked to conservatism. Call me old-fashioned, call me a stick in the mud. I truly feel loving only one person is giving AND receiving TRUE happiness.

Run

I ran at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon today.

Waking up in the active hours of an Owl, I was eager to soar through the mini marathon which I signed up with. Let me give you a little background of my athletic incapabilities.

When I was back in St. Stephens Primary School, my whole afternoon consisted of running around playing in the big open field of running. "Cops and robbers" was the most popular game that I recall and I earned the nickname, "Cheetah" because of my ferocious speed.

My speedy antics halted the moment I went to Secondary School. I was firstly overwhelmed with all the CCAs and I hesitated. I didn't had any interest to join any sports or uniform group. I joined the band after 7 months because the music teacher caught my wanderlust interest and I joined the band. There I blew my clarinet for 4 faithful years.

During my upper sec years, we had to take our physical fitness test. To sum it all up, blowing the clarinet was detrimental to my health it seems as I barely scraped bottom for gettting a point for my 2.4 km run. Least to say, my stamina weaken to a strand and worsen to a tinge during the lull period of 7 months awaiting for poly to start.

With a hectic 3 years poly life, it was suicidal to join a sports related club. Look what I have turned out to be, a scrawny guy filled with sacarsm and insecurity about his fitness. I'm gathering names to see who is willing to bet me that I would be sick and disgusting with all types of diseases by 28.

Back to now, I was determined to finish as fast as possible. For 10 km, i had estimated a range of 1hr and 15 mins. I took less than an hour. It is pathetic considering that "industry standard". I lost my buddy, Petrina whom I was suppose to meet from the start and I ended up finding her at the end. We told ourselves that we will improve our time by at least 10 minutes.

Hence, my dedication now lies for 2 things. My fitness and my education. I have studied like hell for my diploma even though they reflect grades of a slacker and I'm gonna start improving my stamina. The only way to go is no more procrastination.

Yes, I will exercise. I'm already scringing at the thought of it but the very fact that having good health and an appealing body would help up my stakes in the other realm of my life, my love life. Which i am putting that on hold for the moment even though I'm deeply in love with someone.

Sacrifice is the way to go, it seems. I lead a cruel world. I am feeling the aches of the run, i will feel it for more months to come.

- Ben

Children

I have been at the chalet for the last 4 days.

It was an impromptu invitation from my secondary school sweetheart and hence, my acceptance in going. However, there was some hesitation too as it seems i'm the only one staying. You see, the whole entire family is situated there. I'm the odd chess piece that don't fit onto the board. Strangely enough, I was encouraged to stay on the first day and for the rest of the remaining period.

Okay, i'm sure anyone reading this would wanna know what happened and just sip into the dribble of the juicy gossip. To provide at least some decency, I shall stop you from salivating and tell you that NOTHING HAPPENED.

But these 4 days away from home made me see the world more. As ironic as it is even though home was barely 15 minutes away, it gave me perspective while travelling to and fro from school. (I had to return to school frequently).

One thing that really got me thinking was Kids.

Mischevious and cunning, innocent but back-stabbing, children cannot be preceived as the innocent angels as they are. My secondary school sweetheart (aka Miss Z) had a little brother called Irritant Q. He is barely primary 2 and he is a spoiled brat. Yup, more spoiled than any kid than i ever know. Even the kid in me.

He is an attention grabbing, tantrum throwing and a prissy little prick if i may add. He is obnoxious and oblivious to proper manners. This is because he is pampered alot and Q is a prick in my ass as he annoy even the patient me. If he is alone and I have burst my limits, i would take my masking tape and wrap his fragile face and throw him out of the second floor chalet. Thank god i'm writing this from the comforts of my school instead of a prison.

If children as this time and age are so spoiled and arrogant, what would become the next generation also aka my future offspring. Should i burden myself of letting my sperm grow out of his head to be an unfillal and useless human being with corrupted human values or should i content myself of having no care and concern for dirty pampers and boiled breast milk?

The question really lies on how you educate your children. If it were up to me, I would be a strict discplinarian like my mother was. She didn't spare the rod when i was rude and disobedient. Q climbed all over the mother's head just to get his way of playing Xbox, snatching sweets off the shelve and forcing his rule on people accompanying him to the baby pool. It is a real headache with him being around, I wish children would grow up and mature faster. They do not have any innocence left in them from how the pampering their parents shower upon them.

The reason why children are so overtly pampered is because parents spent too much time at work and they only can give monetary compensation to their kids through toys and junk food. Kids nowadays are smarter and if they cant get your money, they will want your attention by embarrasing you in the departmental store, MRT or threatening to place their parents in foster care when they are old.

I was a kid once. I know. But not anymore, this time, I embarass them by not having grandkids forever. See what can they do about that !

- Ben

Stalemate

As expected, things didn't budge an inch. At all. No matter how long time flows.

A Secondary School class gathering after 3 years, I met up with loads of old classmates that I haven't seen for ages. There was NO change in their looks, maturity level or social interaction. There were some who are spotted with new hairdos, like me but other than that, everyone's personality changed the same.

Clicks still remain and nothing much has change. Let me review the history together with you. I was relatively a loner in my class. Being placed in a class where most of them interacted more on Chinese, i was practically hanging by the social ladder. School wasn't a popularity contest back then but if you had the charisma, you could have bunch of friends and clicks just band together and scrutinise the other loners.

I was never in good terms with the guys with my class. They eat, live, smell and stank of soccer. I liked watching soccer but not to the extent of playing it every week. I'm no sporty lad but just an average joe trying to make an impact in this big globe.

On the other hand, i pride myself as being the only guy that makes an effort to interact with the gals at my class. I'm not a flirt and i don't have any ill intentions but I feel that i relate and interact better with the feminine side of my class. It is their maturity level it seems that keeps me still breathing while the rest are forcing me to drown in the depths of immaturity and popularity stakes.

Well, things never do change as I hoped. Somehow, i feel that the guys are against me for some reason or another. They are on the brink of total acquaintance only and never made an effort with me to gather more about our friendship. I remember a time where we could crap the whole day long, but it seems time has changed the tide and the wave is long forgotten.

It's interesting to see how life evolve and I wish all me classmates a good endeavour to succeed in their life. I, on the other hand, will not dwell at the past and look forward to all my new friends.

Life is indeed wonderful.

- Benjamin

Photogenic

I'm not handsome or cute. Period.

People who knows how I look like all know that I'm just a pretty average looking boy with weird facial features that is disproportionate. I have untrimmed thick eyebrows, snotty nose, crooked teeth, normal eyes, messed-up hair, thick lips and weak chin. All in all, I just don't look like a future movie star, just someone who works in a shitty 9 to 5 job waiting for retrenchment and struggling for office ventilated air. Somehow, something on the contrary happened to me.

I was at a photoshoot, kind of being selected by my dear editor to be one of the faces featured in NextStop, a publication that features all SP diplomas that is distributed to all Secondary school 'O' level prospective students looking out for their next step into the future. First of all, I don't smile nice at all. My smile simply sucks. 70% of all my photos contain me and my goofy smile with my protruding front teeth. I look like i just escapted from a retarded institution. So how can i even look good with my barely attractive facial features and my goofy appearance?

Well, it seems my personality speaks louder than looks. There were 4 guys & 4 gals. I was chosen to be the first batch of 2 guys and 2 gals. I just posed in front of the camera, just being comfortable with the whole thing but the other 3 were somehow edgy and uncomfortable and took quite a few encouraging words from the cameraman to get them warmed up to flash a natural smile. The art director and the cameraman liked me. Strangely enough, it was because I just got into my role by jumping into the sea and started paddling then drowning, I just posed naturally and smiled decently, but me, I just didn't care how goofy I looked anyway.

Somehow or another, since I was a tall fella, they asked me to move to the front and wow, I became a centrepiece. Amazingly enough, I was a natural model for them. Just without the built or looks but the instinct to know when to smile, glare, pose and tease the lenses. The art director and the cameraman just kept asking the rest to adjust and while i just did my "thang" and pose, act cute and basically look like a kooky prick.

Well my group was finished and the second group was having their turn and guess what? The art director asked me to join the second group !!! Wow, am i that good ? or was it because they needed a geeky looking guy in the photos ? It seems that both of them commented that I was the personficiation of a "poly student". Hmmm .... I take that as a compliment somehow.

I know I have been praising myself above but all of it are true facts, not a dream! I was at Raffles Place, MediaCorp's Today press studio on the 28th floor. Well, besides that boost of confidence I met loads of great-looking individuals. I can safely say the guys were model mannequin material and the gals were gushing gorgeous gigglers. There was this girl I was kinda attracted to. I forgot her name but she kept giggling at my lame jokes.

I made an effort to kept the atmosphere as light as possible by throwing in lame comments and jokes and the gal, a 3rd year CLS student, well was quite endearing. I like her personality and was really interested in knowing her more. Anyways, I know I have no hope since attractive gals are most often hooked up to some ugly boyfriend who beat me to it. (Look at my archive or my theory of pretty gal/ugly boyfriend theory). If you (3rd year CLS gal) somehow got wind of reading this blog, contact me through friendster or email. Haha, i sound so desperate.



The gal on i'm referring to is wearing dark blue top on the left. Isn't she a wonder ? Anyway, this is a pic of the wonderful people that went for the photo shoot. All of them looked so beautifully crafted by God right ? Well, i am an atheist and i blame my mother's embryo and my father's lazy sperm. A great big thank you to Val the Violent Gal for this wonderful pic and yes, pulling your arms will make you grow taller. And yah, there is a God out there.

What even made my day BETTER was like a dream come true. I met my favourite columnist !!! Neil Humphreys. I have been a big fan of his sacarstical humour-laden style which I have learn to adopt and adapt with my own writing style and well we were just rounding up the photo shoot when Ms. Val, ahem, told the photographer whether if Neil was in because I was lika a big fan of him. Well, I became speechless in the next few seconds as the photographer just picked up the phone, dial an extension and Neil was over here in less than a minute. Well, he was a tall fella and well, standing next to him was, a towering experience to begin with.

Well here is a photo with the man himself, Mr Neil Funnies.



It was an amazing day. I would like to thank my editor, Chin Kar for the exposure. Talk more tommorrow, i'm meeting my secondary school friends and its weird seeing how we have changed in the last 3 years !!!

- Benjamin

Stranger

Well with my final year project over, there is still one more agenda to accomplish.

My video club duties. Barely less than 24 hours where the stress mounted to insurmountable heights to my presentation, i was thrown back into the duty coming face to face with the year 2s. And i was still wishing for some reasonable amount of rest but no. I got to wake up by 7 tommorrow to reach school by 9. Sigh, I lead a wonderful but tiring life.

Topic of the day: Approaching Strangers

Well due to lots of schdeuling problems here and there, it was a last minute decision to audition for people for the course video i'm doing for my school. You see, i'm the director aka leader of the project of doing up a School Course video for secondary school to come to SP. Well, as it was a last minute decision, and everything needed to be rushed, I personally called the talents myself.

This was where the problem lies. And i'm sure everyone has it too. It is something that your mother warns you not to do but you still do it anyway. Talking to strangers. At my disposal was 20 phone numbers, of beautiful people (or so called recommended by Section Heads) and I had to well, dialled their number.

It is always strange when you are talking to someone new, someone who might seem older, stranger and weirder. Everyone builds up a comfortable circle of friends and a majority simply refuses to open the gate for anybody new when they know they have enough. So, wherever you meet someone new, there is always that tinge of hesitation and struggle for acceptance to open that gate.

Strangers always seem like strangers. They have that distance away from you, be it age, race or even brain matter. People simply just cannot accept anything new in their social boundaries. Imagine someone calling you out of the blue, the first thing on your mind is to figure in this order:

A. Who is he/she?
B. What does she want from me?
C. How can I end this phone conversation as civil as possible?

Well, I called like 30+ numbers and the first thing was bewilderement, followed by shock and then fake modesty. I called them because they were beautiful and we needed them. Some were decent and polite, some were just brash and rude.

C'mon. I'm a stranger to you but is it so hard to accept one. Even though i'm asking a favour from you, I am not going to ask you to cut off your limbs, get fake boobs or strip for me. All I ask is to allow me to show me your God glorified face for a video and get out of there before I use a jackhammer to frustrate for god's unfairness to me. Other than that, accept a stranger for who they are. If someone calls my number, even by accident, I would ask them whether were they looking for me. If not, I would ask them to go to hell because they just wasted my bloody time where I could go pester more strangers for the video.

- Ben

P.S. Strangers reading this, please note. Call my number if you are beautiful because I need you for the video. Please dial 1900-GOD-PUNISH-ME-FOR-BEING-BEAUTIFUL. Thanks