void of existence

HICS is a division under Honda Motors where I used to work. It operated a wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore for about 6 years before closing up the project.

I was one of the earliest local staff that join the project. It was a good company with a lot of happy moments.

Yesterday, we caught up with each other over dinner when our Japanese director came to town. There was much reminiscing of old times and knowing everyone going on with their lives now that the company no longer operates in Singapore.

There is one particular person who is named as public enemy number one. And I am glad that its not me. I had my share of fights within the company but I am glad to say that after all is said and done, those are buried and no one deem it fit to say that I am a clown. Coz we all did foolish things now and then. Especially since we were all young.

All in all it was a good dinner.

Every household has a story. Sometimes, they have more difficult chapters. Sometimes, they have more loving chapters. Once in a while, they will have a sad chapter.

I visited this nice bungalow housing the grandparents, a married couple and 3 kids. They have a very traditional house. Family is Buddhist. It doesnt take much to notice when they have a 8foot altar sitting right across the main door. The eldest of the 3 daughters followed us around as we visited the rooms. On the second floor, there are 3 rooms: One master, one junior master and a study. Then we proceeded to the rest of the house, which is 3 storey. At the end of the tour, I asked the agent why are the owners selling the house. According to him, the owners have multiple properties. Well, it doesn’t make sense to me. If he has said they got burn in the stock market(negative) or they have wanted to move closer to the city, I would understand completely. What he neglected to check is the whiteboard in the study room which wrote (presumably by one of the daughters): ‘Daddy, Please dun divorce mummy’.

Then there was this Semi-D which I visited. The owner is an old lady, who had lost her husband last year. The house was falling apart. Some part of the ceiling is exposing the reinforcement bar. But it was well clean. It was a big house for the old lady to live alone in. And memories must be painful for her. What amazes me (and surprise as well) was the fact that she has all the old documents of the house. Blue prints, brochures, leaflets, etc in a tin can. All of the papers are turning yellowish. But they are very well kept.

There is also a ‘town house’ which we visited. It was the most horrible home that we have been in. Place is narrow and the family is storing everything along the staircase (which is already very small). Imagining walking around a small table as you travel 4 floors up.

I have had it.

The property market is sliding and things are looking good to get a property. However, there is only so much an agent will do for us. There is not much guarding our interests. A transaction is a profit for them. As long as they close the deal, that is good enough. What we chose is what fits our own preference and liking. They are there to just facilitate the transaction. Nothing more and nothing less.

The banks are careful in providing a loan. Getting a loan can be as difficult or as easy as it is. Depending on your income.

So the toughest part is deciding, for ourselves, which property is suitable for our needs.

Today, we had a discussion about the property for the extended family to live in. It had been tough going. I had a set of priorities that I want to meet. But I am just one of the individuals in the group to be pleased. I found that sharing my opinions are useless in any extended family. People just do not care. They give their preference and expect me to put it in consideration. But if I raised other points for consideration, it is just not necessary. My worries and feelings are not important. To them, at least. The time that I have put into this is not important.

I think its time to fall back to my original plan. It seem like I am the one who is forcing this situation unto them. It is me who wants this to happen.

I have concluded that our biggest obstacle in life of not getting something done is probably ourselves. Most of the time, we get in the way of our own happiness. Recently, I spoke to someone about marriage. There seem to be all kinds of obstacles to get the marriage underway. First, its worrying about the acceptance of the potential spouse by the family. Then, its the issue of wanting their own housing before the wedding. The list goes on.. but the real problem is that there is just uncertainty on the individual part.

Uncertainty of what might happen if we just went ahead to make a call. Will we be happy? Will people understand if we make a mistake. Will there be a escape clause? I do not know. I only know that prolonging a dilemma will just make it worse. For themselves and for the people around them.

Or maybe some people just like to be unhappy. They like to suffer. They like to be the protagonist who can’t make up their mind. So many drama serials are revolving around this theme. They want to be in pain. They want to have everyone saying ‘oh, you so poor thing.’. Well, life is just that. You only live once. Just make the decision. People, who will be there in your life, will continue to be there. If you jump into the deep end of the pool, you will learn how to swim. Probably in record time. If you dun, hopefully someone is around with a life buoy.

Primary school memories coming to the big screen…Woo Hoo!!

My GI Joe figures killed my sister’s barbie dolls many many times.

Now this is worth waiting for…

And the best thing I like about Wolverine..

Basically, I am in the opinion that such ferrying of workers should be banned.

I find that shopping on the Internet to be very exciting.  One can get all sort of information from the Net, from reviews to feedbacks.  Netizens maintain a balance of what is good and what is generally crab.

However, the problem that I encounter from shopping online is that the retailers in the malls may not be carrying the products that one wants.  We really must see what the local market carry most.  Say what you will about following the popular products or wanting to be individual in your choice of products.  The issue comes around (especially for users like me who is not a geek god) when maintenance is needed.

Like a friend said once to me, opinions are like asshole, everyone got one.

The following is the specs of the Lenovo X300 that I bought for Yve.

Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Specifications
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Its Valentine’s day tomorrow.  Lots of people trying to sell me flowers.  Rose….De-thorned.  Somehow that seem ironic to me.  Men give women de-thorned roses for valentine’s.  Yet, a number of women are like roses.  Pretty from far but if you get close enough, you feel the pricks of its thorn.  So does giving de-thorned roses mean that men is hoping their women be more de-thorned?  (No, Evie…I am still not talking about you.  You such a sweetie.)

So I was shopping around for a computer yesterday.  Well, computer parts to be exact.  I want to build a desktop.  I really dun like those bundles deals.  Most of the time, I will end up with the need to upgrade the parts again.  And they aren’t any cheaper.  I went from shop to shop and I noticed that all the salesmen are like people who doesnt really care about the customers.  One word to describe the load of them… bengs.  But it is not true that they are crude.  The place is one that you must know what you want.  You do not necessary need to know what the heck they are about.  The seemingly bored look that a local gets is an illusion.  The sales guys are guessing that we are not the fishes they want to con, so they want to show little interest.  They are also fearful of undercover checks on them.  So that adds to the seemingly lack of interest.  So I went into a shop where 3 salesguys were giving me the ‘I dun think he will buy’ look.  After a few questions from me, they decided to show me their stock.  I had a pretty wonderful time talking to them supposedly bengs salesmen.  From just window shopping, I ended up paying a few thousand dollars for a new notebook for my wife…coz she complained that her notebook computer is too heavy.  No, I still dun believe in Valentine’s.  We should give gifts when we want, not because there is a stupid stipulated date on the calendar.  Valentine’s day is just another day that merchant created to make people spend money.  In fact, Valentine’s day should be banned!  Its bad for emotionally handicapped people, especially those singles who are sad.

I am sure there are a lot of sad people around the world about being alone.  Trust me…you are not alone.  The Aliens are watching…

My thoughts are with you, Mr Glenn Ong.

Yesterday, I went shopping with my bro for a new computer.  He wanted a new netbook for surfing and doing work on spreadsheet applications.  I have not been looking at the IT market for the last 4 years.  My own desktop got a graphic card upgrade last year.  Otherwise, its with a 4 year old spec that is pretty much unchanged.  So looking att the requirements of new games, my computer (which was pretty top of its line 4 years ago) is now a dino.  So I named my computer i’m-Dino over Time, shortform i-DoT.

So I did a bit of shopping yesterday and a bit of research today on the netbook.  Basically, netbook is a fancy name for small, half fark in functionality so its cheaper notebook.  My conclusion is that I will never need a netbook.

But if I ever get one, here’s what I will want in mine:

1)  Biggest screen available…About 10″ at the moment….biggest  ever will probably be 11″.

2)  2GB Ram.  where possible.

3)  SSD for lower heat generation.  I hate heat from notebooks.

4)  6 cell battery for longevity.

5)  Run on XP for stability.

6)  Be the easily available in the local market.  More shops sell them, more chances that it has support, accessories, spare parts and cheap repairs in that local market as and when they are needed.

7) Wifi, Bluetooth and 3.watever G

8)  Touchpad sux.  I have fat palm, so the touchpad is always in the way.  But if it cant be helped, then it cant be helped.  Track point will be nice.