Foul Language

I will always remember my army platoon Gun Loader - Ah Gu (Cow in hokkian).

Why is he so special?

Because his use of foul language in his speech. Every single sentence that come out from his mouth, there will be foul contents, without fail.

I used to be quite pissed off with him. Just cannot comprehen how come he choose such a bad way to communicate....

That was until...I go to NUS and attend the technical writing module.

After lesson we kind of chit-chat with the tutor on language and I brought up the case of Ah Gu to her attention and see if she can make some sense out of it.

The explaination is : THE FOUL CONTENTS ARE JUST FILLERS.

You see - their brain works slower than their mouth. So while the brain is think very very hard on what to say... their mouth do not feel like stopping as if it will show their weakness. So the mouth throw out those word to fill up the space, take up some time, so that it will allow the brain to have abit more time to think.

So actually those words don't mean a thing to them. Dun let them affect you.

Imagine also a 512 K CPU trying the perform the complicated calculations and the speaker meanwhile generate some noises...

Well funny enough, after listened and accepted the explaination, i am no longer angry with Ah Gu any more...the anger has suddenly subsided and a sense of sorry for him emerge instead.

Funny once you know certain background / info / explaination...one strong emotional feeling can quickly transform into another one...

It has tought me to be open for more input b4 making any strong judgement against anyone. Just to share with you.

Ice Skating Anyone?

Of all the things I have promised u...i think this is the only one still outstanding since CNY.

Now that in the 2nd week of Aug, many of you will be joining the uni and will not be so free then, it's best that we have this outing the week b4 that.

Many of u also have stopped work or planning to stop by end July. So it will also be a convenient time as you are not tied up by work schedule.

Those of u who are working still...have to be like me, take time off to join this outing lah.

OK. Set.

2 Aug 1pm at Jurong East Entertainment Centre ground level meet up.

Leave me a comment to indicate if you are joining us.

If u still are in 1 piece and still can walk / sing properly...other follow up activities will be line up in the late afternoon.

Or else i see you in NUH ER. Good luck.

ZIDANE

Still about WC 2006...although it has finally ended, the talking point is now all about the tainted hero...ZIDANE.

He snapped at the moment when he most shoudn't. Yes he was provoked, but he chose the wrong way to react. Really a pity. He should have known that it was just one of the many dirty tricks the opponents trying to throw at him...

Just wnt to add my few cents worth of own experience...

If only Zidane were a Singaporean (FAS will be dripping with saliva of course).
If he were a Singaporean, then he will then experience what is call national service.
If he were in the SAF, then most likely he will have to lead something call the Hokkian peng.
If he met the cao ah beng hokkian peng, then most likely he will experience how they greet / scold each other with vulgur languages.
After 2 years, he would be like me...immue to the language already.

金庸 once said : Chinese are the best in scolding vulgarity in this world. Consider what the best Japanese can do is scolding "Bagayaro"...really compared to us, it was like kindergarten standards. No fight.

Terrorist? Prostitutes? Mother? Dog? These are the 4 versions appeared on the papaers regarding on what the dirty Italian has said to him...Oh common, how can one react so angrily to such comments...well unless...he have not gone through the army.

Still remember my private soldier in my platoon has used the classic phrase of 10 character hokkian scolding: WKPNLBACCB . Nothing beats that. And U dun want to know what it means.

Many of you also know that I am a hard-core fan of 三国演义。 In this classical noval there is a well know chapter called : 武乡候骂死王朗。 This is a famous story where 诸葛亮 scolded his opponents with logics that 王朗 cannot tahan and (most probably) had a heart attack and died on the spot...no need to say...诸葛亮 win the battle without using a single soldier.

If we still consider we have some ink in our stomach, we should all strive to be like 诸葛亮，not Zidane. That is exchange of scolding at the highest level...almost like an art form.

But of course...like what i said in the very beginning...Zidane was not a Singaporean...
If only he knows hokkian...then maybe it will be the dirty Italian who cry foul instead...who knows...

End of WC e-competition

End of Rd 5 -

QCJ - 520 ------------ overall : - 3 Lunches
Kevin 525 ------------ overall : - 2 Lunches
Christof 530 ------------ overall : + 1 Lunches
LimHan 0 ------------ overall : -2 Lunches
LSL 0 ------------ overall : -1 Lunch
WaiHong 5630 ------------ overall : +1 Lunch
Elaine 10082 ----------- overall : + 1 Lunch
GHH 9458 ----------- overall : + 3 Lunch
BeeBee 8713 ----------- overall : + 2 Lunches

Week 18 study break -- the time we will go out for a good lunch together!!

To me, I have enjoyed organising this and it's fasinating to see how ppl bet. Always good to learn some different betting strategies from different minds.

I hope you all learn something along the way as well...but most of all...i hope u have fun doing this. I do.

NEXT TIME WHEN I RETIRE FROM TEACHING...I CAN CONSIDER BEING A TOUR GUIDE, A MAGICIAN OR A BOOKIE!!!! (ALL LIKELY TO BE END UP BANKRUPT ANYWAY) HEHE.

What time is it??? It's VIVA time!!!!!

So!! It's week 12 of the semester. Common test marking finiahed. Safety Video watching completed. Final term test of the non- core modules hasn't started yet....

So what time is it?? It's VIVA time for Industrial Safety of course!!!
































This year I have shown the students 8 videos. Not sure for those of you who have already graduated, can still remember the titles, let alone the contents.

Major Malfunction / Death by Design / Chemical Scythe / Flixborough / Atomic Inferno / Marchioness / Spirial to disaster / Crash in the dark. Hey...does that bring back some fond memories to you??

Not sure why students seems to find VIVA such a stressful event to secure marks.

This semester about 30% opt in to try scoring better than 70. Only 85% manage to get better. Abit dissappointed by the performance of afew...they seemed less well prepared compared to the previous few semesters' students. No full marks!!!

Just like PBP presentation, i guess one can make it worse by adopt a tactic of :

1. put a camera on the table
2. pretend not to smile
3. keep shaking your head when they answer the question
4. appear in disagreement with their opinions / views
5. tell them still have some more points that they missed

that still definitely stress many of them out. Haha. Some voices are visibly shaken.

I guess i will also not able to control myself when faced with a ugly dirty old man that has a unfriendly / sinister look. Oh...i remember...that day...France didn't draw in the semi finals.

No matter what, I must admit that I actually enjoyed conducting VIVA. Good to hear the students' voices (not those noises in lectures) and opinions. It's actually a way to see their characters and strength too.

This year afew flip flops and not knowing really to join in or not...unlike last year the students know what they wanted. In the end, I must say 30% is a good turn out rate. Anything more than that...i will have to be more stringent in awarding marks and some will have to suffer if they are not prepared.

Next semester...i will still want to conduct this. :)

Last 2 matches of WC '06

So...final of this year WC 2006 - Italy vs France. I told u so, didn't I.

My choice of the eventual winner...?? I will go for Italy. Will set aside some of my winnings...the rest will show hand on Italy as Champion. They are just better actors, and fitter too. :)

On the e-betting competition, with 2 more matches to go...here are the standings:

QCJ - 1720
Christof - 770
LSL - 0
LimHan - 200
WaiHong- 5050
Elaine - 4732
GHH - 7730
BeeBee - 8013
Kevin- 1000

it's now basically a match of 2 halves. Some bet in tens...and some bet in hundreds and thousands...and one cannot even bet.

2 lunches at stake for the top 2 winners...and only 2 more matches to go...think carefully on your next move.

For me? - I will try something funny in the Germany "final" match. I can afford to. Most likely will watch the game in Christof's place again...as usual, play my part as the party spoiler. Haha.

After this, will be planning the early Aug ice skating outing. Watch out for it.

WC update

Time flies...with a blink of the eye, the much anticipated WC 2006 has now reached semi finals stage. Four more matches to go and I regcon each will be a tough game - to play and to bet...hehe.

Looking back the past 2 weeks, so far in this tournament, I have been rather lucky. Because of the very bad experience of being burnt in Korea 2002, I have somehow developed a better sense of detecting upsets...they say you learn more when you fail...that is so true. I have paid the price before and now able to be more sensible in my bets. Both the e-points and real $$.

Also i have promised someone to keep a sum of $$ aside...couple with the e-points betting with a close goup of friends, that is enough to distract me from heavy betting in real dollars.

Betting is a very funny thing...as soon as the greed factor get into the way...one will somehow blind by the potential gains. In this year games, I tried very much to keep away from thinking big gains and just do it for fun sake. Also I tell myself there is a limit and the money is required to use for someything more meaningful and important. Somehow that helped me alot compared to the last WC.

4 more matches to go and I am eexpect to win a couple of lunches in the e-bets. $$$ wise...gained some hard-earn $$ during the last 2 QF days...even though Brazil / Eng / Argentina all crashed out. Maybe will stick to play play mode and try my best to end up in the blue zone fir the WC. At least can buy some lunches for others to celebrate the gains.

last 2 nights had been watching the 11 pm matches at Christof's house. CJ / Kevin was also there and is a good atmosphere where all 4 of us watch and moan and curse and jumping around. Too bad the games did live up to expectation...but the tense moments still come once awhile to prevent us from feeling too sleepy. I enjoyed the baked lemon cake / pizza more then the game actually. hahaha.

With four teams left..i actually fancy Italy vs France in the final...but Germany as the host can very likely to sprung a surprise as well. I guess will just stick to going for both SF matches as draw.