Had a great dream.

I love you yirin, whoever you may be. :)

I am Hungry

Aren't dreams good? Even nightmares?

I had a night full of dreams I can still roughly recall on awakening. But my head still feels the aftermath of a bad night's sleep.

And this too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia

Just this, and this alone

Some things are so beautiful; they make you think why you gave them up in the first place.

You then proceed to lose sleep over that thought.

Sometimes I run out of ideas for titles

I have been beleaguered by requests to blog (two only, actually), and I myself was getting tired of seeing the post on Singtel's poor services. So here goes, an update of my life in Sillypore:

Of late I have developed an obsession for blog-hopping. I like visiting tommy's blog, which nearly guarantees an update every other day, obsessing over the latest developments in his wonderful life. I also frequently look at greenrawks, hoping for the latest news on her working life so far. I turn to meow, in want for hilarious posts written in traditonal chinese (but usually I am sorely disappointed for he has ceased his blogging adventures for a while).

I then visit arcanewolf, which is a rich source of entertainment, because in contrast to the painful blue shades of her blog, the content is the water colour palette of an overtly imaginative child. I click on '6c35', but am not surprised to see the stark lack of updates. The existing few comprises posts by five promising writers, out of a class of 25. I also frequent the top link on the left, titled 'Life'. It is an ever-evolving piece of canvas. And then there are the others.

I have tired of writing about relationships and people. I shall talk about something which is totally unexpected from me. Let's talk about food.

I had the cheapest western food at beach road, army market. Chicken cutlet with fried rice sets you back by $3.50, and it is quite filling, and tasty too. The rest of the dishes is not exorbitant either, quite the contrary. Then there is the western in some part of Eunos, in the heartlands. I have no idea where it is, so the description stops here.

Talking about western, I have to mention the coffee shop stall in Hougang. Come find me if interested. Other than western, the best char siew rice retails in Kovan, also along the Northeast Line. The stall is called 勿洛熟食; expect lunchtime queues. What's more, the toilets are supposedly one of the cleanest in Singapore.

I like chicken rice. I eat it often. The stall near Hougang Mall sells delicious chicken rice, though it would be overkill to go there just to eat it. But the chicken rice stall at AMK Central is cool. The Hainanese chicken should be recommended over its roasted version. Try the tahu goreng! The congee stall is owned by them too, and it's good stuff.

How about desserts? The soya bean market is dominated by Mr Bean, other than the few weirdos like pinle who thought they were good enough competition to join in the fray. But if you dislike the Mr Bean francise, I might suggest N & B Snacks. I know of two dining areas - one near Serangoon MRT, and the other near Potong Pasir MRT. It's air-conditioned, but rather cramped if you plan to bring more than 3 people with you.

There also happen to be a dessert stall near Potong Pasir MRT (only just opposite). They have quite a variety, but I like the black sesame paste, which I believe is only available on weekends. ): Not many sell black sesame paste, and even lesser sell scrumptious black sesame paste.

Someone's birthday coming? You could visit Rive Gauche for attractive confectionery in Tampines One, though there are also branches in Plaza Sing, Suntec and Taka. The selection is limited, but is more varied and tastes much better than Awfully Chocolate's chocolate cakes.

Well this is it for now.

Complaints!

Call me a nitpicky typical Singaporean, who thinks that five cents of his can buy a mansion, but I have to complain. I don't know why I remain a faithful Singtel subscriber all this while (my residential line is Singtel, all except one mobile subscription in the family had and are Singtel, and our internet, from dial-up till the current 6mbps Mio Home bundle is obviously Singtel) especially when fellow telcos are offering handsets and plans at the same price.

Just recently a technician came down to my house to install the Mio Setup box and the latest 2Wire modem (which was so modern that it has no switch). All was well until he had to run a RJ11 cable from the modem to the Mio Setup box, which were approximately 10 metres apart. The techie simply clipped the cable to the wall using 3M hooks. I thought that was fine, and that the cable raceways had to be fitted ourselves. When Mum came home she was furious, so we called them up for a trunking job (cover the ugly cables up). But the other techie came down, and before i knew it, he was installing homeplugs! For the uninitiated, homeplugs are the alternative to wifi, making use of the exisitng electrical cables in your house to set up a network. It could be called wireless, but it is really wired. Okay I guess it solved the problem of wiring, and the techie had an easier job, except that now we have to pay an extra $5.35, excluding GST, per month for 12 months. Considering the market price of home plugs I can safely assume that it wasn't exorbitant, but think again, if the trunking was done properly in the first place, do I even need to arrange time for a second techie to come down, and pay that extra charges? These are what I call hidden charges, not even mentioned in fine print.

Also, Singtel staff told me a bigger truth. A trunking was arranged beforehand! But I had homeplugs installed instead, and now have unused hooks on my walls. (And the Mio channels are nothing to shout about. Really.) There was also a mistake on the techie's part, because he brought down a new 2Wire modem. Initially he thought he could just give it to us as a spare, and I thought it was Singtel's gift for loyal and pissed customers, but turned out he had to return it, so he came down again to retrieve it. Now, I am not sure if the modem has safely made its way back to Singtel because there wasn't documentation to state that we didn't take it. Also, I tried to call Singtel's 1688 customer service hotline. Wow, was it hot. I listened to 15 minutes of 'Our customer service officers are not available, are still not available' and 'You may wait or hang up'. What the hell?! Not the exact words, sure, but the message conveyed to me was just that.

Then I tried emailing, but I had to fill in a form. I don't know what is my 'ADSL number' so I didn't fill that in, but I was surprised that I had to key in all that rubbish for a general enquiry. Why couldn't I just emailed them using whatever email client I have, and also employ a better format in writing the email? What's more, after I clicked 'Submit', there wasn't a 'Thank you for your submission' page. I didn't know whether to send again to be sure, or trust that my submission hasn't dissolved into nothingness.

偶尔看一看电视

现在U频道正在播第三部原创的电视电影，戏名为《煮持人》。之前并没有很强的“想看欲”，不过节目开始后便觉得吸引人。

“会做菜的男人，是最有魅力的。”

“专心打拼事业的男人，是最有魅力的。”

- 两个喜欢男主角的女人

最近本地电台能够不断播出新节目，而且是原创的，再加上戏里的本地演员演技似乎超出平常，应该可以间接地满足挑剔的新加坡观众。不过有一点很明显的缺点是，因为是电视电影，所以在短时间内根本无法把角色之间的感情关系发展得淋漓尽致。而且故事情节难免匆促，剧情刚叼住观众的胃口时戏已经接近尾声了，让人觉得结尾并不完整。继续努力吧！我还很期待会有更多的佳作。

小说介绍

近日看了一本“浪漫爱情故事”之类的台湾书籍。哦，忘了告诉你们我有时候会到图书馆逛逛。不是为了借书或看书而去逛逛，也不是因为非常无聊才去，是为了到图书馆才到图书馆去。大家或许都会有这种一时之间的冲动，只要不是嫖妓赌钱或想去偷抢拐骗的冲动，大致上应该是可以接受的。

因为书名有趣，我才拿起这本书的。我不常看书，所以不懂得如何挑书，便以以下这三种方式选书：

1. 封面好看
2. 书名好听
3. 字不要太小
4. （最好有图片，不过许多作家往往担心图片比文字精彩，所以很少能够在成人区里找到这一类书籍）

其实呢，封面难看、书名无趣，字小到让脑神经阻塞，还是可以接受的。最讨厌的是垃圾般的翻译（这点相信杨修晨[不好意思好像打错了]同学可以纠正）。

这本书完全符合我选书的条件。

故事的主人翁有两个“奇特”与“奇怪”的好朋友 -- 爱向女生搭讪的帅哥帅到暴与追求女生死缠烂打的霹雳猪。主角本身是一个再平凡不过的大三学生，长得不帅，没有任何长处，更加没有女友。这点也让他很疑惑；为什么街上看到的美女，身边会跟着一个普通到不行的男生。他们是怎么办到的？故事的发展使两个女生间接地走入他的世界。他会做出什么样的选择？

这本书读起来像是某个普通人写得异常精彩的日记，你或许会觉得故事的情节曾经发生在你的身上。

48 minutes

Watching 向日葵的约定 - a Singaporean production through and through.

I hesitated to watch it, perhaps because of the strangely unbelievable plot: A sweet 19-year old intellectually-disabled girl falls in love with a introverted and aspiring young artist.

The brutal truth is that there can be no relationship between two such people in the world, other than a platonic one. The kindest man will bestow upon his intellectually-disabled counterpart respect and extend a hand of friendship. Anything beyond just does not happen.

The main characters are fresh, good-looking and better actors than the usual crop from Mediacorp, while the casting of other characters like Wenyuan's dad and Mr. Ken is a nice touch to the edges of the story. I enjoyed this short production, although The Will could be a better watch. As an audience used to drama and soap operas, I was expecting a less subtle ending to both films.

A tab abuser is you!

Mervyn has kindly provided me with a guide to undervolting:

The "Undervolting" Guide

It should be useful for those with heat issues on your notebooks. Because notebook manufacturers would not want you to toy about and overclock your machines (and you would be crazy to want to overclock your notebook anyway) the CPU multipliers come locked and you would not be able to adjust voltage supplied and/or physical clock frequency. As a result you would also not be able to reduce the voltage supplied via the BIOS. According to the guide standard VCORE factory settings of CPUs are sometimes too high, so you might want to reduce them to lower your CPU temperature. Doing so will increase not only your battery life on the go, but also the life of your hardware components in the long run.

*Remember: Water is the number one killer of notebooks; heat is the second.

*Statistics all doctored by me and me alone.

As a comparison with my Acer, below is a screenshot of Orthos CPU Loader running and the measurement of my sister's Toshiba Portege:

All this while running the computer smoothly. I have been complaining about this machine since forever. It was very sluggish! But after running Orthos for more than 20 minutes it is apparent that the system lives up to its Centrino Duo 2 label; the maximum temperature hovers around 44 deg celsius.

This is thegatheroffood

After two years of inactivity, dhsnpccncos0607 sprang into action once again! What can I say, it was a whale of a time. At first it was decided on seoul garden, but the price was too steep, so we changed to another buffet-style eatery, which had roughly the same price, and extra charges for ice cream! Being mindful of my distended stomach I had to watch what I eat, but still we managed to stay there for 3 hours?

And uh, gift exchange! I got stuffs from jolene while huiling got my stuffs. And we spent the night being a bunch of rowdy kids (qiwen would be greatly displeased). Greg flaunted his charm when getting two ladies to take a photo with; winky charmed a hot woman too. And jumping jacks in the middle of an open area for a forfeit? I would be just too shy. :]

okay let's bake cake tmr. Tmr I will get my MioTV setup box. Not very keen though.

Edit: I got a very nice dream by sleeping on the sofa, in return for a spltting headache and a sore skull. A pity the pain is real and the dream will never come true.

明天是冬至。

(ballie things)

我无味的生活

让我觉得应该出去走走。待在家里只会令我胡思乱想。我心里好像堆满了好多话想要跟别人说，就像现在想把整个部落格都填满密密麻麻的字。其实都是一些不关紧要的话，我真正想做的只不过是与友人（有空的人？）共享一些美好的回忆罢了。近日有些预料中的事情发生了，例如有位友人恋爱了。虽然她大概不会游览我的博客，但是我还是要很诚恳地祝福她永远幸福；不论是现在，或是将来。

这样也是好的。

凉风习习，夜空低垂，似乎要大雨倾盆。

Because I have nothing to blog about, let me show you how hot my Acer can get:

The person I was

If i told you things i did before

told you how i used to be

would you go along with someone like me

if you knew my story word for word

had all of my history

would you go along with someone like me

- Young Folks

Lyrics seem good, and I liked the whistling part, but the tune is plain 'ol rubbish.

And,

usually when things has gone this far

people tend to disappear

So many people have disappeared. And it is all my fault.

Dimensions

A copy of Linux Ubuntu 9.10

就连一张平凡的光碟都会有两面，何况是人？只是光碟的一面是用不着的。球就不一样了，一个光滑的表面，不论什么角度，任人如何踢，都能腾空飞翔，翱翔于天际。古人说：画虎画皮难画骨，知人知面不知心。有时候很渴望自己是一颗球，不管别人怎样踢，你都还是一个表面。有时却希望，别人是一颗球，不喜欢什么就当面说出来，就好像球踢不好就会歪掉、踢不进龙门一样。装作没事后来又唠叨的人会让人心里很不是味道。

He does everything you do, he is your alternative shadow

A suave little dude

They say clothes make the man.

But the man in the mirror who looks back at me, is one haggard fellow. The faint beginning of eye circles paints a bleak look under the tired pupils. Stray hairs gather at the bottom of thick sideburns, and at the top edge of the eyebrows, skewed in multiple directions. The small nose does not have the handsomeness of one with a high bridge, nor the cuteness of a button nose. Below it is a mouth that cannot smile. A lower lip that is longer than the upper lip tries to position itself such that the malocclusion is unobservable.

The round shoulders are a sign of defeat, and a habitual slouch crawls onto the back when he walks. The slouch is apparent even when viewed from the front. I reeled in horror at the sight of the man in the reflective panels at the train station just now. The man in the mirror - he reeked of insecurities.

~

Happy birthday linwei :))

The sultry fellow

Right now I am enjoying a certain amount of solitude, segregated from the remains of 6c35, hidden in my small corner on the Mac, talking to weijie online and reading beautiful photoblogs. I thought this photoblog that was only recently introduced to me is extraordinary in its own way; some of the posts fill in the gaps in our lives, perhaps providing us with answers, and sometimes springing questions upon us when we least expect it.

Have you ever wished that someone else stood in your shoes? Have you missed out someone who has always been around you since forever, loving and loyal, but never seemed to exist truly on his or her own because this person has spent too much time on you? Explore the ideas, concepts here:

I Wrote This For You

The numerous paths of life, all have a common destination.

Went to run today; quite a failed run.

Went to enjoy the sun a bit, which ended up with a stroll from paya lebar to suntec, and a rather delicious lunch/dinner. Going to a class 'chalet' later on.

The above vaguely sums up the kind of meandering life that I lead.

I should use twitter instead of blogger if this continues.

Updates..

Went to play Left 4 Dead 2 yesterday; was easily the noobest guy around, dying the most number of times and always requiring assistance. In the end we switched to easy mode and even then only one guy survived the campaign.

Wanted to go out today, but ended up configuring the mac, spending hours figuring out why the FAT32 partition wouldn't work, why XP couldn't install, turning to NTFS in the end, installing XP after assuming that it should be SP2, and then getting wireless to work. Not leading a very fulfilling or meaningful life, you would say, but enriching enough. And going out with friend tmr.

And that's about all. My life of fingertip exercises.

Edit: The 9400M coupled with the P8400 2.26 GHz (not to mention the DDR3-1067 RAM) can handle Left 4 Dead (not 2) at a combination of high and medium settings, if you can tolerate the occasional screen freeze, that is. The frame rate is acceptable for average gamers, but it should run better if you turn down the eye candy to a hybrid of medium and low settings.

And eh, after using snow leopard for a couple of days, I have to say that I love the interface, and even more so the effort Apple put into manufacturing their products. But deep down I am still a windows user, having used it for the rest of my life minus 2 days minus the days I did not know what a computer is. I might switch in the future, but not turn into a fanboy who advertises for Apple for free.