Christmas decor & underwaterworld
Exams are over, even work has been shifted down one gear by the amount of job advertisements shown on the straits times. It has come to this festive where everyone in the world celebrate Christmas. A season of giving.
Every year we'll see different kinds of decorations inside department stores and outside the malls & streets. One particular store I'll keep a lookout is Tang's whereby they never fail to put up christian verse or meanings to decorate the christmas atmosphere.
This year, the above is quote is Tang's verse. "Even wise men seek Jesus". A short but not many people will think twice about the meaning. What do you think?
http://nderwaterorld.fotopic.net
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click the link to view many more pics)
Last sunday, my parents, sis and I went to sentosa. It's been more than a year since I last went there. Still remember the times when I was a beach boy during the year when I was about to ORD till my 1st year in NTU. Was really great to play beach volleyball, and enjoying the sun, sand & the sea.
This time round, I didn't venture to the beach but to the underwaterworld. Now it's having a 30% offer entrance fee. Just need to produce your Singapore IC and just need to pay $13.40. Promotion till next month I think. Anyway, the fishes have indeed grown much bigger and the new attraction (crabs) definitely made the trip & money worthwhile. (click on my fotopic folder to view more pictures)
At night we were venturing around the island before the night musical fountain show begin and stumbled upon entrance of cinemax. The one whereby 3D rides with motion chairs. Upon walking deeper, I found a pair of colored walls greeting me. However, behind it is a very big plot of carpark specially for coaches and cars to park. Thinking back, fantasy island was residing on that very plot of land more than 10 years ago. It's a real pity that it had to be closed down and ended up being a CARPARK. Even asian village or volanoland are still there. Really missed the rides of fantasy island. I think the best alternative that can be on par with it is our neighbouring country's sunway lagoon. Wild wild wet can't even be compared with it. Well, the saying goes, CHANGE is the only thing that is constant. Things that are not feasible or profitable have to give way to more economic ones. Fantasy island can only be in my memory....
Food for thoughts 1
Have you ever wondered there is such a thing called conscience or sense of guilt?
Does it exist in everyone's heart?
It sets me thinking when I attended service last sat and talked about few things.
1. Does a gambler REALLY know that it's not good to gamble at the back of his mind?
2. Does a smoker REALLY know that it's not good to smoke?
3. Does a drinker REALLY know that it's not good to drink?
Then why do they still do so if they do?
Escape from reality?
Rebel?
Release stress?
I think all these will just serve their temporary pleasures but in the long run, they are just destroying themselves.
Gamble will make u bankrupt if you gamble excessively
Smoking will cause u have lung cancer
Drinking will cause u have liver cancer
All these also cause addictions which are very hard to shake off with your own will. Have heard testimonies and frens saying that after they receive Christ into their hearts, naturally and gradually they kicked the habit with 100% success (with the people i know). I myself was also drawn into gambling due to the world cup 2002 with singapore pools legalizing bets. Though I have no debts, my fingers were burnt when the loss amounted to about 1k (consolidated amount). However, I thank God that He somehow gave me the willpower to kick the habit gradually. Was amazed by the fact that I could just let go of seeing my losses and not think about that. Instead, I had the thought that if I betted one more time in soccer, it will just cause a vicious cycle which will make me lose even more money.
There is no such thing as CONTROL in the above 3 things i mentioned. It can apply when you're mentally & physically ok BUT how about times when we are at our lowest morale? Will just lose that control and on impulse or unintentionally exceed the limit that you set yourself.
What do you think?
Finally finished!!!
4 and half years of uni life...... long and winding road.....
taught me alot of things..... looking at the bright side, I learnt to pick myself up after falling time and time again; making me a better man to face the pressures in the working world.
Today at 1215pm, everything was completed. I finally completed my FYP presentation. There was a huge burden being lifted up, a great sigh of relief. I was praying that the moderator will not "shoot" me to death and thank God although I said "dunno" for 2 questions out of his 10 questions, he still said that it was a good project done. Yeah!!!
Now can really start do alot of things which i wanted to do:
- pack up my room (free of school notes/books)
- sell off whatever that I don't want at yahoo auction (eg. original CDs, VCDs, toys)
- sell of my textbooks at a cheap rate to my hall-mates who may be taking them next sem or next year
-finish my custom work on my 12th repaint toy
- train up for my IPPT so that I can take it this december followed by january after my birthday again. Also have to build up my muscles and burn my fats. biceps and triceps going to disappear and my tummy going to be appear if i do anything soon. oops....
- thinking of what christmas present to buy/do for my girlfriend this year. Last year I done something like this for the first christmas I spent with my girlfren. Nice?
Final paper in Uni done! (hopefully)
After 10days of preparation for my last paper, MP2008 is finally over!!!
Haven't really sink into my mind that it's the end of my uni exams. Maybe due to fact that there's still my FYP presentation to go this friday and then will I feel the total effect.
Like what I tell my friends that this 4.5 years in Uni is like majoring in mechanical aerospace while taking a minor in electrical engineering at the same time(just that it will not be shown in the transcript). How come? I've repeated every electrical module (there's 3) once and the current one is the 3rd module taking the 3rd time. Thus, that would make up a total of 3 subjects taking up a total worth of 21 Acedamic Units. Well, putting them aside for now, I pray that I'll not see it ever again.
Yeah yeah, perserve 3 more days in preparing my FYP slides, speech and presentation and hopefully I'll finish my uni chapter of my life.
My first article to ST Forum
This was something I wrote to straits times forum few weeks back. Quite efficient. I sent on 31st October night and it was published on 2ndNovember papers. For those who missed the article, here it is:
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Nov 2, 2005
Easy for under-18 youths to buy cigarettes
RECENTLY, I encountered a coffee-shop owner selling cigarettes to a girl who was clearly underaged.I was studying at a fast-food restaurant with my girlfriend in Serangoon when a group of teenagers sat at the table next to us. They were students hoping to be promoted to Secondary 2 and 3. They pooled their money and chose one of the girls to buy cigarettes.Out of curiosity, I followed the girl and watched in disbelief when she successfully bought a packet of cigarettes at a coffee shop. After the girl left, I approached the coffee-shop owner and asked if he had checked the girl's identification. The man replied that he asked whether she was 18, and she said 'yes'. I was furious. The girl was clearly under 18, but the man had conveniently chosen to ignore the fact. He defended his action by saying that he had no right to check anyone's identification. While this incident was not the norm, it was also not an isolated case. Curbing the sale of cigarettes to minors must go beyond displaying stickers that say 'no selling of cigarettes to persons 18 years and below'. Vendors have to be more willing to ensure that they do not sell to minors. The Singapore Government has been taking steps to discourage Singaporeans from smoking, through the imposition of smoking bans in selected public areas and increased cigarette prices. Youth should therefore be prevented from picking up the habit at an early age. The solution does not lie in increasing the fines for vendors who sell to minors. Vendors have to understand the importance of safeguarding underaged children from the vice. The coffee-shop owner was anxious to know if I was a government or police officer. When I told him that I was neither, he insisted that he never sold cigarettes to underaged children and told me that if I wasn't related to the girl, then 'don't bother'.I hope a random survey can be conducted to see how prevalent such a practice is, perhaps something similar to the survey done on the verification of signatures on credit cards featured in The Sunday Times a few weeks ago.
Nigel
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Got a reply on ST forum 2 days later.
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Nov 5, 2005
TOBACCO PRODUCTS
Report sales to underage persons
I THANK Mr Nigel Lim for his letter, 'Easy for under-18 youths to buy cigarettes' (ST, Nov 2), and for pointing out that tobacco retailers have a responsibility to ensure that tobacco products are not sold to underage persons.
The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) takes a serious view of the illegal sale of tobacco products to underage persons and, consequently, the smoking offences committed by such persons.
Under the Smoking (Control of Advertisements and Sale of Tobacco) Act, anyone who sells any tobacco product to a person below the age of 18 years can be fined up to $5,000 for the first offence and up to $10,000 for subsequent offences. Their tobacco licences can also be suspended or revoked. Underage persons caught buying, possessing or smoking are liable to a fine of up to $300 upon conviction.
Tobacco retailers are reminded to verify the age of tobacco buyers whom they suspect to be below the age of 18 years. Retailers are also constantly reminded of this requirement by our officers during routine checks on the outlets.
Enforcement against illegal sale of tobacco products to underage persons will certainly be more effective with the cooperation of the public. HSA encourages members of the public to report such illegal sale of tobacco products to our Tobacco Regulation Unit on 6866-3501.
Jeannie Thng (Ms)
Deputy Director
Corporate Communications Department
for Chief Executive Officer
Health Sciences Authority
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Subsequently I called up the person in charge at HSA and furnished him with more details. He told me he would investigate and keep a lookout at that specific area. I would encourage everyone to play their part and report to HSA if encounter such cases. If everyone has the mentality of: "No point, there are so many vendors out there how to catch everyone" then our society will not be able to minimise the problem.
Just read the sunday times today, it has a report of "Teens too young to smoke? Not at these cafes". Summary of the report says that two 17 years old tried and succeeded in buying flavoured tobacco at four different cafes around Arab Street. Not once did they have to produce IC, even though tobacco products cannot be sold to those under 18. The experiment underlines a worrying trend among youths: More are lighting up and they have no problem getting their smokes.
Figures from Health Sciences Authority (HSA) show that the number of retailers caught selling tobacco products to those underage has QUADRUPLED in the past three years from 21 in 2002 to 88 last year. More youngsters are lighting up. The number of underage smokers caught went up from 3,349 in 2002 to 5,884 last year. Underaged smokers face up to $300 fine if convicted. Vendors will be fined $5k for first time, subsequent times will be $10 and even suspension of license.
I strongly believe that the numbers are much more than what is reported and the catching of these people will not solve the problem, at least it still acts as a deterrent then no barriers at all.
What do you think? comments?
First post - Introduction
This is the very first post but not my very first blog.
First one was from friendster but realised that it wasn't so "friendly" in terms of efficiency (need to log into friendster, then click on view blog, then click on new post - and all the loading are very slow in friendster).
Yup, a brief introduction of myself.
An undergrad in a local university who can't wait to go out to the working world.
"overdue" for half a year already seeing many of my peers graduated and found jobs.
Initially I find blogging a waste of time, lame and just a trend. However, all these have been overcome by the urge to express my views and share my "creations" to friends who know me but do not have time to catch up with me.
Comments ya?
(click the link to view many more pics)
