omgwtfbbq

Monday, April 30, 2007

posted by zyn :: 10:57 PM :: 2 Comments :: permalink

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everybody hates me

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

7pm, and 20cm more to go, but I'm going home to write so I can eat some worms.

As A keeps saying, it's not paranoia if they're really out to get you.

posted by zyn :: 7:08 PM :: 0 Comments :: permalink

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sleepless in singapore

Monday, April 23, 2007

I had a total blast from the past-type weekend with ridiculously little sleep, so it's a good thing I'm on leave today.

Saturday afternoon I went to play the Casino Royale game organised by the Stanford people, with a team of people I hadn't spoken to for years. Along the way I met even more people I hadn't spoken to for years, including a guy from a youth camp I was in waaaaay back in JC days, several secondary school friends, and random other people. The game spanned 19 hours, an entire night, and a large part of Singapore (although, thank goodness, not Tuas).

I actually didn't want to play at first, because me + no sleep = very cranky. But Alex convinced me, and I'm really glad I took part. (So were my parents. They kept saying, "Go play game! It's good to get out there and have a life!" Me: "Hey, World of Warcraft is a life!") Also, I'm happy I somehow miraculously chose the right team. We all got along (surprisingly) swimmingly and had loads of fun, from chilling out in the EDB office cracking our heads over Dove soap to drinking teh at Serangoon Gardens cracking our heads over MRT maps. We also managed to make it to the final checkpoint (just in time, after we spent 10 minutes circling Shenton Way looking for parking), which was awesome.

After the game ended at noon I went home to check on my story and then slept for a few hours before the combined call of WoW and Entourage became too loud to resist. Then at 11pm, in the middle of hunting down a Fel Reaver, I got a call from a friend I haven't seen in months, so I headed out again.


Him: I'll pick you up in 20 min.

Me: Can you make it 45? I need to kill this big metal guy first.

Him: Take ur time. There's no rush. What's impt is that Metallikor is dead.

Me: You're right. Lost perspective for a while back there. Thanks for keeping it real.


Heehee. We ended up staying out till 5am, so I didn't really get much sleep last night either. But what a great weekend.

posted by zyn :: 1:01 PM :: 8 Comments :: permalink

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bear with me while i whine a bit more

Friday, April 20, 2007

You know how sometimes you ask yourself, why the hell am I doing this and what's the point of it all? That's never happened to me. Until this week.

As far as I'm concerned, this woman is subnormal, obstinate and paranoid - and dangerous.

In any case, for the record, I've done everything I could and my conscience is clear.

Well, it's not really. While I condemn all stupid people I also feel sorry for them, because, you know, they can't help being stupid. They're just like that. So maybe I'll have to write something else to make up for this another day.

As I told D (happy birthday!), I'm principally opposed to what's happening to this woman but I'm also principally opposed to stupidity, and the opposition to stupidity is much stronger.

ARGGGHHHHHHH I hate it that I can't just say whatever I want to on this damn blog.

posted by zyn :: 12:27 AM :: 0 Comments :: permalink

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i need a blue sky holiday

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

I'd just like to state for the record that I REALLY REALLY hate stupid people and that for the good of all mankind and its collective blood pressure all the stupid people in this world should not be allowed to propagate.

I'm not talking about people with low IQs who are bad at tests or whatever, but real bleeding morons. If you: (1) have little general knowledge (2) can only talk about yourself because that's the only thing you know about (3) expect other people to always fill in the blanks for you (4) elevate your pathetic tiny little problems to the level of world poverty

THEN YOU ARE A FUCKING BLEEDING MORON.

And one day you will kill me because I will get so frustrated with you that I will spontaneously combust.

I am having such a bad fucking day.

posted by zyn :: 5:51 PM :: 2 Comments :: permalink

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EPIXXXXXXXXX

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

There are so many blog entries I've written in my mind over the past few days - about how all my kakis have abandoned me to go overseas, how it's awful to love someone you can't respect, how every auntie and uncle (and boss) is jumping into the property market - but all I can think about right now is:

MY HELM IS EPIXXXXXXXXX

After:

Two days to farm Primal Mana x 12
100g for Hardened Adamantite Bar x 8
108g for Primal Earth x 22
200g for Primal Nether + crafting fee
160g for Solid Star of Elune x 2
90g for Glyph of the Defender

MY HELM OUT-EPIXXXXXXXX UR HELM

Now I just need the epixxxxx bracers to go along with it and I'll have THREE EPIXXXXXX. I already have all the mats (three days of farming Primal Life x 20 and 80g on Hardened Adamantite x 6), just waiting for the damn crafter to get the nether. Whoever had the stupid idea to make nether BOP should be shot.

Then need to run TK to get epixxxxx shield, BM for epixxxxx trinket, and SH or heroic ramparts for epixxxxx sword. 13 more Spirit Shard then can also get epixxxxx ring.

MY PRECIOUSSSSS EPIXXXXX

posted by zyn :: 1:47 AM :: 4 Comments :: permalink

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lessons i learned today

Thursday, April 12, 2007

1. Govt agencies suck
2. Never give up
3. It's not what you know, it's who you know
4. Nothing like a crime reporter to put things into perspective
5. Black dresses are great for sleepy mornings

So LHL has pulled the ultimate PR stunt. I take my hat off to him.

And now I go sleep cos I'm really really tired and I gave up free booze at the Oosh launch party (which I actually decided to go to after grappling with my anti-Oosh principles for a long time) for a story. The one of my life.

posted by zyn :: 12:07 AM :: 1 Comments :: permalink

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warning: long rant

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

So I've been mildly annoyed by the issue of raising civil service pay, but not outraged enough to actually feel anything about it. Until now.

The price of the pay rises for Singaporean taxpayers - who, hey, will very soon be paying even more tax - is close to $1 million per minister and millions of dollars more for the 60,000 other civil servants that will benefit.

From what I understand, the powers that charge a million-dollar fee to be have cited three main justifications for the pay hike.

Reason 1: To remove the temptation of corruption

I don't understand why we have to pay our civil servants more to prevent the corruption that isn't taking place now and didn't take place when the pay was lower. And I don't know yet how much the pay rises will amount to in total, but if you add it all up there's a good chance that the bill for corruption would be cheaper.

In any case, I don't think this is really a major reason. As it is, our PM earns six times that of Finland, which ranks above us in transparency and corruption-free-ness. And when Low Thia Khiang head-butted MM with that in Parliament today, MM's non-sequitor response was that the "mediocre" governments of Finland, Denmark and Switzerland would never have been able to do what his "extraordinary" PAP did in bringing Singapore from third world to first world. And anyway those governments could have fallen back on the resources of the other European governments, unlike us in the Asia-Pacific who are surrounded by incompetence.

Thus did he insult several governments in one breath. For that, we're increasing his salary to almost $4 million a year. For a senior citizen whom we should be scared to let out in public because almost every time he opens his mouth Singapore has to apologise for it later.

But that brings us to:

Reason 2: To reward the civil service - in particular the ministers - as they pat themselves on the back for single-handedly creating a $210 billion economy

I have nothing to say to this. Clearly I am too inferior to even argue this point. More importantly, better people have already pointed out that this mentality implies that some people are indispensable and breeds complacency. Hopefully one day MM will wake up and realise that Singapore is not his pet project - before he gets us into a war with someone.

Also, it turns out our president - yes, that guy, you know, who doesn't really do anything except live in prime real estate - gets paid more than the PM. What exactly has he done to boost our economy again?

3. To prevent civil servants from leaving to higher-paying pastures

As MM keeps insisting, "A top lawyer, which I could easily have become, today earns $4 million. And he doesn't have to carry this reponsibility." His current salary has been reported at $2.7 million.

The question is then: why didn't he go become a top lawyer? Why, instead, take on this thankless task where the only adequate reward appears to be hard cash? There must be something about being a minister or a top civil servant that attracts people. (Possibly the huge pensions or guaranteed GLC seats after their political careers.)

Also, this justification begs the question: how many top civil servants have actually left the civil service, and how many of those have cited pay as a reason? I find it hard to imagine that more than 5 per cent of top civil servants would have left, and probably none because of the pay.


So, then, what should be done? One suggested solution is to give out rewards commensurate to an individual's marketability to the private sector. So PSC scholars nearing the end of their bond; over-performing civil servants; brilliant ministers and MPs that may actually be, if not indispensable, hard to replace - if these people got pay rises, I don't think anyone would quibble over them.

But the reason we have no choice over this - NO CHOICE - is that we voted in this government, whose pseudo-proposed pay rises don't extend to opposition party members. Because, as everyone well knows, you're either for the PAP or you're against it. And if you're against it, better transfer your money to a Swiss bank account now.

The worst thing is that by the time the next elections come around, everyone will have forgotten about the GST increases, the public transport fee hikes and the massive pay rises for civil servants, barely months after the government protested the cost of becoming a welfare state and pursed its lips over the emerging dual economy.

SO DON'T FORGET. They say we get the government we deserve. Maybe we deserve better. Or maybe, as MM says, we deserve a good dose of incompetent government. But the truth is, we'll never know until we get it, right? If MM was the benevolent patriarch he likes to paint himself out to be, shouldn't he let his ignorant kids learn from experience rather than through high-handed preaching?

Btw I'm not the only one outraged, as is apparent from the headlines around the world. The New Zealand Herald carried the story under "Singapore PM demands boost to $2 million salary". The Bangkok Post summed it up in "Singapore's millionaire ministers". Most other news agencies used "Singapore PM to earn five times more than Bush". The International Herald Tribune, of course, one-upped everyone else with "In Singapore, it pays to work in government", and started the article by asking, "How much money does it take to keep a Singapore government minister happy?"

The IHT report contains other gems like:

"In this nation where the bottom line is truly the bottom line..."

"Defending the system last month against an unusual yelp of pain, he (Lee Kuan Yew) painted a horrifying picture of a Singapore governed by ministers who earned no more than ministers anywhere else. 'Your apartment will be worth a fraction of what it is,' he said, 'your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people's countries.'"

"Money may buy happiness for a government minister, but some Singaporeans suggested that other motivations should also come into play for government service."

IHT rocks.

Okay okay sorry for the sheer length of the post. I was running Mechanar while writing it so it's probably completely incoherent but I don't have the energy to go back and fix it now so I'll just leave it here for posterity. Lol.

posted by zyn :: 2:34 AM :: 4 Comments :: permalink

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homesick - kings of convenience

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

For some reason this song always reminds me of you.


I'll lose some sales and my boss won't be happy
But I can't stop listening to the sound
Of two soft voices blended in perfection
From the reels of this record that I've found

Every day there's a boy in the mirror asking me
What are you doing here
Finding all my previous motives
Growing increasingly unclear

I've traveled far and I've burned all the bridges
I believed as soon as I hit land
All the other options held before me
Would wither in the light of my plan

So I'll lose some sales and my boss won't be happy
But there's only one thing on my mind
Searching boxes underneath the counter,
On a chance that on a tape I'd find

A song for someone who needs somewhere to long for
Homesick
Cos I no longer know where home is

posted by zyn :: 9:19 PM :: 0 Comments :: permalink

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since the blog has proved useful for this before...

Monday, April 02, 2007

Are there any accountants out there? I need to find out if I should and how to do ACCA. Free primal might if you can help. Lol.

posted by zyn :: 11:32 PM :: 1 Comments :: permalink

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speaks

without thinking

stores

without purpose

stalks

without malice

steals

without offense