not yet gone.

It's less than 1 week till I fly off. But the feeling of both anticipation and apprehension makes for a disconcerting feeling to swallow. The unknown is always a terrible factor to handle, given how much I like to source for as much information as possible, and the uber ulu Jonkoping doesn't offer too much of that.

But then again, it's been a fun affair learning how to put my OCD tendencies to good use. Learning how to pack the right way, source out the good deals, learn cooking and choosing food, as well as the ins and outs of visa bureaucracy.

Anyway, on to lighter stuff. Here's tips that I've amassed from exchange preparation!

1. Money exchanging
Seems like the Arcade at Raffles Place and Mustafa is the way to go. Remember to check online Google rates before you go, and check the rates for multiple changers. Flaws in the free market at the arcade still exist for some reason (possibly a cartel?). Also, a long queue does not always mean great rates.

USD and Euros rates are more or less equivalent to Google rates. Rare currencies such as Swedish Krona has a significant discrepancy, but bo bian. Even rarer ones (such as Czech Krona) is unavailable, even at the airport. Most people will change for USD instead (easily convertible, even in Europe)

When withdrawing money overseas, a good card to use is the UOB Campus Debit Visa. Allows 3 free withdrawals monthly (otherwise it's 5 SGD a pop). Most withdrawals conversion are done by converting the home currency to USD, then from USD to SGD. Thus, you suffer twice.

2. Winterwear
Uniqlo turtle necks are good at ten bucks a pop. Adidas winterwear from Korea can be sought out at Song&Song (with outlets in AMK, TPY, Jurong East, Clementi) at 50 apiece. Timberland winter boots are available at up to 70% off at the Timberland Outlet store.

3. Packing
Vacuum packs work wonders for saving space. That and heat packs of 5 are available at Daiso for 2 apiece.

4. Communication
Phoenix Comms is great for cheap calls from Singapore to abroad numbers.
Voipstunt - Free internet calls from foreign countries to Singapore at a rate of 10 EUR for 120 days!

Hopefully, this will prove to be good information for future Googlers going for exchange. Makes life SOOOO much easier if you have all this information.

gobbledydook.

tik-tock, the clock in the background
(why'd most poems begin with sounds, sighs or frowns)
no matter, it'll get better
or it'll clink-clunk straight to the gutter.

not ruby red, but jaded green
if only things were as it seemed
how many ticks, how many sounds
sixty-seven? nah, i've lost count.

puncture me, dear hyphen-
at least you're something i can discern
from the mish-mash of commas, full-stops,
jumble of half-told tales and flops.

gimme inspiration, something like plaith
nay, not the thrice-damned galbraith
always wanted to write about a rook
all the other pieces, i suppose, you took.

so here it ends
stapled incoherence bends
curse sticky-notes, save the stitch
knowledge is a cold-weathered bitch.

aircon and its perils.

sbs employee #1: eh brudder, how should we go about doing the Jurong Point AIRCON interchange ah?
sbs employee #2: dunno leh, aiya, actually very simple one. just put aircon and sliding doors (that might or might not work) can liao. Singaporeans (and other nationalities) very impressed by those high-tech looking things one.
#1: ya hor, and then i just put somemore land space filled with nothing to make it Singapore's biggest AIRCON interchange! wah lau, sure very popular one.
#2: then we put single entry and exit lanes for the buses, and we rotate some bus services so they do a pointless roundabout the entire Jurong Point and the old interchange! wah lau eh, Singaporeans sure love us for this! Extra 10 minutes in an AIRCON bus for FREE leh! and then and then, so many buses and so little lanes, sure jam, then the interchange sure look damn popular with people!
#1: then the bus services that ply the industrial estates and dormitories how ah? since they're 'different' and create long queues, why not transfer them to the old interchange....
#2: shhhhh! so xenophobic! sure kenna whack one! we transfer the ntu buses la! students only mah. they also always so long queue, make so much noise. we achieve the same effect but with less bad press! AHHHH!
#1: then hor, i noticed that the Boon Lay residents have so many bus services available to them! how can? you heard of tyrannry of the majority a not! wah liew so many choices wait they cannot make any! then they miss bus! then they die!
#2: ya! so let's remove 2 of the 4 existing services ok! let them PASS THROUGH THE ROUTE BUT NOT STOP THERE. then the residents will not take SBS for granted liao. they think Singapore so connected without us meh! Also, then next time gahmen can restore the old services as the elections carrot!
#1: ya ya! budden, we cannot be so unfair, wait people write to forums. so let's just remove the services going to the AIRCON interchange from that bus stop, budden for the opposite bus stop, we DON'T TOUCH! Creative solution right? Wah lau, upper management will surely love us for this!

stop screwing around with 'innovations' and 'service enhancements' and gimme back what worked in the past, SBS.

chinese opera.

from whence did the suona
begin their song
clashing cymbals heralding
the curtain draw?

whereupon did we adopt
roles of sheng and dan
speak in sing-song vernacular
and walk the pretentious gait?

did we roll up our water sleeves
to draw the false rouge red?
or was it to prune
the wretched pheasant feather hat?

if only we could tell
sharp eyebrow from
withered frown.

(but we didn't)
and so we circle the motions,
a linear timeline.
tri-sided relationships
paraded on rectangle stage

how we turn our backs
only to stare at
the once-familiar, once-detested, once-contemptuous,
the once-upon-a-time.

'do i know you?'
cue the endless tragedy of the deja vu.

metahegemony.

you know the world has gone to nuts when the elitists find nothing better to do than to critique their own.

not the guy in the bowler hat.

As much as it's useful to claim some sort of portfolio (i have none, still), it's more important to quell an interesting rumour (and the resulting implications on my political leanings) and also to have peace of mind at night.

So, here goes: i'm not the kj on toc.

There are some similarities in prose and style (he does have a fiery breath which i lost somewhere transversing youth), but I'm too old and cynical to write pure dissident posts and take up the mantle of change (or liberty. or freedom. or whatever else high-minded tenet). But i can't bring myself to critique his work, because that would incur the armchair sin.

Ok, no need to fear the knocks on my door now. :)

strangely fitting.

i write obituaries. if you need an eulogy, go find someone else.

just noodling.

something that flew out of just noodles. very raw, but we prefer to proclaim the freshness of the words themselves.

stilettos, twice removed
so does your height betray you
but your appearance rings true
to the bells of your soul
how-do-you-do.

the weathers, fine.
i hope you see it, true and through
don't follow, follow me.
as i skip to the loo.
all i am, you gobble, gobbledygook.

you live life in a reflector
strapped to earth, naked wings, nestled poo.
where the lights light too, too bright for you
step back before you break apart,
bones & sinew.

on the woodchipper's block
chop chop chop chops of you
your barbed-wire heart, we melt in devil's brew
and then piece it whole anew
demon girl, you are your own peril.

train to Auschwitz
for your life, inferior and skewed.
enjoy that breath of fresh air,
lest I beat you like a red-headed Jew
or march you down to the Maginot Line,
like that kiddy game you play,
(Pew-pew-pew.)

all the world's a stage, baby
but hey, you're not Shakespeare's fool
nay, no fool like you waxes lyrics.
you're a Tussuad's child waxen, a Greek statue
with two full centuries to pursue

goodbye-see-you
the choir invisible has sung
so the curtain must too.
you have no understudy, lady
Tragic-comedy, there's no number two.

what it means.

things have come and gone. yet cynicism decides to make itself a permanent resident, amidst all the fanfare.

for what it's worth

It's funny how just a random, very overdue outing can set one thinking so much.

No photo-whoring, no silence (even when there is, shortly broken by a laugh and more banter). Just an publicly unacknowledged fact that we've grown up. But for that four hours or so, how young we have once been. When passion dominated more of our nerves and veins, than the stilted slumber that we call maturity. When raging fires have died down to reveal only glowing embers and a mere acceptance of our life, along with the vivid expectations of what's to come.

We have, devolved, I suppose.

But it sure is fun hanging out with old friends, even acquaintances. I guess it's partly due to how we at least have more similarities than acquaintances now. And how we're learned to live and forget, due to the many other sins we've experienced and committed.

But mostly because it harks back to the old, golden age of our civilisation. Back when we were young, dreams weren't fleeting, and we were raring to go forth.

To what? The future? If only things didn't work by relative comparisons.

Daddy

you came, and then you left.
hollow man, were you ever there?

in-between, television's fuzzing
you were the fleeting.
the one momma warned about
the telly's blurry image,
blacked-white, washed-out.

7/24, your clock on the brink
dreaming nothing but the kitchen sink
the one you couldn't fix
(actually, beyond that, there's more
like the kid who wanted Trix)

(forth-and-back, my pen begins its spin
the ink bleeds out, my disjointed limb
reality's fabric tears at the seams
i really can't make of you
unless with bad synonyms)

dormant volcano, spewing no ash.
your eruptions died a trillion years ago, there's only rehash
'tis a reminder of all things past
an empty wallet
dooming us to a lower caste

glowing embers, a familiar slope
you light up (yours, not mine) hope
smoke rings float gently to the top
guardian angel
i'd pray, but you're not.

sparkling white, your porcelain throne
also known as the beaten dog's bone
the sole solace to fornicate dreams-
plebeian fantasies,
i suppose, but it's my ice-cream

i've been flagging, can't you see?
taxi, taxi, taxi
drop me off, i'll pay the fare
or leave us both
breathing noxious fumes of despair.

but i grew roots, i grew shoots
i grew and grew, till i'm taller than you
taller than frail health, receding youth
all prestige has abandoned his name
except the silver age of sixty-two

the old sea barrel, it begins to burst
the fog above begins its choking curse
you've squirmed life of such a deal
a funny tattooist fate is, to give me
imprints of you

the lego i never had
the scooter i never sat
hey daddy,
c'mon,
play with me.

you missed~

the bulls-eye, the point, the sharpie edge, the birds, the bees, the trees, mas selamat, and even the overhead bridge.

the sheep calling the flock black.

this never gets old.

selectively pruning the holy book for the numerous verses that counter 'the' numerous verses, and then drawing a suddenly extremely clear boundary. All this done, while casting out the exiles and blasphemers (which harks back to that era the book detailed), and declaring oneself the sacred truth.

so who's the authority here?
and whatever happened to tolerance of all views that was championed, even the ones perceived as naive, bigoted ones?

so now that the big ugly has reared its head, it's time for the baby to be thrown out along with the bathwater, and brand 'ignorance' as unchristian?

I'm not quite sure how such posturing and demonstration of faith dexterity affects the final sum. You mean one can still be against homosexuality, but not ok when people impose their anti-gay beliefs upon others, because others should be able to do as they please? that sounds a lot like bending over backwards.

but the bright side, of course, is that compassion and rational thought did somewhat prevail in this polarised issue, albeit with some flag-changing and alliance-shifting.

Hardworking Also Guilty.

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

going high res.

for the new year -

charlie will finally spring clean his 640x480 real estate (not in virtual life)
amy will glean over her 1024 dresses, and maybe donate 768 pieces to charity (which she never wore, but shopped online anyway)
lucy hopes to make her life a bit brighter, maybe like her new glossy lcd screen
andy hopes to get a bit of the colour in his best friend's life, which is in 32 bit (HIGHEST) colour
johnny wants to monitor his life a bit better. you know, like taking charge. like staying off facebook, or something. you know right? if not, nevermind. his online pals probably would.

(X)
me out.
they never tick.
you'll see, you'll see.
when i come again.

wanderlust.

perhaps that is fate, or
an inaction in weaving our own strands.

the pentameter draws to a still
the seven steps slows to a crawl, and then

nothing.

our notes doomed to obscurity.
poets of virtual unknown,
bodies of brimming ideas,
wheeled into the mortuary of eternal slumber

sealed shut.

we rhyme ourselves out of existence.

are we there yet?
no. where were we going again?
but these endless limericks,
these catchy riffs that only we share
they par the course.

we can only hope,
and wonder.