Archive for the 'Things that suck' Category

Shake Shack not very shiok

Published on August 20, 2010 in Things that suck, This I like and Usual Ramblings. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

After hearing so much about Shake Shack from the locals in New York, the chefs and a bunch of us decided to make our way to the popular burger joint in our bid to celebrate the work completed so far. Our plan was to allow the chefs to head back to the hotel for a quick shower after the Lucky Rice Talk + Taste while ST and I make our way there to queue. Upon arrival, ST and I almost passed out as we witnessed one of Singapore’s favourite past time…queuing.

The 80 meters or more queue really did give the chefs ample time to go back, shower and meet us and they arrived 45mins later only to find us smack in the middle. A good half hour later, we found ourselves face to face with the service staff and by that time, we knew exactly what we wanted. We took our seats minutes later and waited for another 15 mins or so before picking up our order at a separate counter.


Left: Somewhere in the middle of the queue | Right: A closer look at Shake Shack

Now one would think that the food served at the Shake Shack must be earth shattering given the long wait time. Unfortunately, we weren’t too impressed with both presentation and taste. Chefs and their experienced palates aside, we all had our fair share of junk food but this one doesn’t seem to cut it with the exception of some such as the Concrete Jungle shake.


Left: You order here… | Right: …and pick up here


Left and right: Our order


Left: Not so nice and greasy Double Cheeseburger | Right: Oh so yummy Concrete Jungle milkshake

However, as a complete food experience, it wasn’t that bad actually. The company was good, the weather was just right and we were fortunate enough to find enough seats without much hassle. After hearing so much about the burger joint, we knew we had to be fair to ourselves and give it at least a go. As a person who believes that taste is a mater of opinion, I suggest you too should give it a try and who knows, you may like them.. :)

More photos in my Flickr album here.

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Protest against Arizona SB 1070

Published on August 12, 2010 in Things that suck and This I like. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

After our adventure at Union Square’s Farmer’s Market, JC and I spotted a protest just right down the road. The 1000 or so crowd mostly making up of Latin Americans were voicing their discontent against a new Arizona Senate Bill 1070. Having born and bred in Singapore, I have never witnessed anything like this and immediately jumped on a chance at photography. Before JC could voice her objection and my safety (very very sweet of her), I was in the crowd trying my best to fire away with Lyn’s (my boo) Panasonic camera. This is one of the moments I wish I brought my D90. Thankfully, the photos were decent… ;)


Left and right: The crowd


Left: A ‘workshop’ on immigration rights inside the tent | Right: Protesters voicing their unhappiness


Left and right: Hand made signs


Left and right: People of all ages joining in


Left: Families involved | Right: A protester relak’ing one corner

More photos in my Flickr album here.

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High Key

Published on May 24, 2010 in Things that suck. 0 Comments

Readers who are not on my Facebook would know that I am currently undergoing a two-week high key In Camp Training (ICT) at Kranji Camp. Thankfully for scheduled posts, I do try to keep my blog updated as often as I can during absence. With me spending another four nights in camp this week beginning yesterday night (yes I would have already been in camp by the time you read this), it is back to scheduling again.

Thankfully this ICT will end a day shorter due to Vesak Day (whoopie!!) and I will be back home on Thursday, but that would also mean spending more time in camp as my commanding officer is one heck of a ‘on’ guy. Yeah it sucks for a person who not only just got married but spent two weeks away from the wife late last month because of my business trip… :(

See you all on Thursday, if I have enough energy to update. Till then…Majulah Singapura!!


Its like packing to go abroad

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A series of heartbreaks after 517 Airport Road

Published on March 26, 2010 in Things that suck and Usual Ramblings. 0 Comments

I knew it was pretty much a day of heartbreaks yesterday morning as I headed to the Traffic Police Vehicle Pound. Thanks to a friendly person called Neighbour X for offering me a ride, we made our way to 517 Airport Road to authorise a tower to take my busted up Chevy to my insurance company’s partner workshop at Sin Ming Road. As the address suggests, the vehicle pound is located at a very sad, secluded and hot location surrounded by military airbases and training schools.

After some help from the GPS in Neighbour X’s car and directions from the security at an airbase, we finally found our way, 10 minutes after the scheduled time. Unfortunately upon arriving, Neighbour X was chased out very rudely by a police officer there saying that he is not allowed to drive in. Nevermind that there are no indications other than a no authorised entry unless on official business sign. However, aren’t we there on official business? And who the heck would want to trespass a property that is so far and has its own climate? Then again, after much thought, I would be cranky if I was posted to a place like the traffic pound. So I empathise…all is forgiven buddy…~pats back~.

The traffic pound is huge with warehouses upon warehouses storing all types of vehicles from cars to bikes. I believed they were all segregated according to offences and incidents with those caught for drink driving parked outside. Each tells a sad story and I’m pretty sure its owners wished they could turn back the clock and undo what they did. Of course in my case, it would be to stay at home and eat instant noodles instead of driving out to pick up dinner.

After a quick meet up with the very friendly tow guy (maybe because he saw the state of my car), we made our way to pick up Lyn (my boo) and then to the workshop for insurance reporting. Upon arriving and taking a first look at my car, my heart sank further.  I’m very sure my beloved Chevy is a goner. There is absolutely no way any workshop would be willing to work on a piece of junk like that and rather get the insurance company to write it off. It didn’t help when flashes of the crash began haunting me again and more frequently this time as I inspected the damage in detail. However, I just thank God for giving me this one more chance at living.

After taking the photos, we headed to the workshop office for reporting and claiming. This time round, it was a little more easy given that the police report will suffice. However, we learnt that we need to claim from our insurance company first before approaching the other party’s. From what I gathered, it will be a really really long and very very painful process before we can put this to bed. I’m just praying that the lady who crash into me after beating the red light will come clean with the police. Better if the red light camera is working and captured the offence. I just want my life back. Its all in God’s hands now…

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So what really happened last Friday night…

Published on March 23, 2010 in Things that suck and Usual Ramblings. 17 Comments Tags: , .

Last Friday night, I went through an emotionally and physically painful ordeal that shoke me so vigorously to the point that it made me realise the fragility of life, inviting me to revisit how I manage mine. It all started at 10.50pm when a red Honda Jazz at the opposite lane ran past a red light and slammed into my car while I was making a right turn into my estate after the arrow turned green. Yes, I am (in my opinion) a victim of dangerous driving resulting in a serious accident.


My wrecked car

Given the wreckage, I believed that the driver of the Jazz must have been travelling really fast. I remembered my sister once had a similar accident but leaving only with a minor dent that any workshop guy can fix. The doctor said the impact must have knocked me out since I can’t recall the collision and the airbag in my steering wheel was activated. It was only when when the pungent fumes from the car started escaping from the air conditioning vent did I regain attention.

What caught my eye first was the wrecked front of my car and bright headlamps from the cars opposite, blinding my already unfocused eyes. I glazed to the right and saw one of my gauge hanging down and blurred moving objects outside the car. I turned left, mist pass my lovely but bent head unit, the liquid mess caused by the takeaway hor fun (my late night dinner for two) and then the red Honda Jazz that rammed into me and its damaged front.

Still in a daze, I kept reconfirming if what just happened was a subconscious dream only to be brought into reality with a numbed left arm. I immediately clutched it with my right arm and checked for any signs of irregularity. It was only when I got to the elbow did I realise that it is completely off, more so after failing to successfully move my fingers. Still in a state of shock, it took me a while to notice that someone outside was trying to catch my attention. My immediate words to them were “Call my wife!! Call my wife!!” while passing them my phone.

Before I knew it, Lyn (my boo) came rushing towards me as I stood at the sidewalk gripping my left elbow and resting my head on the lamppost. Workshop touts arrived as fast as the traffic police and ambulance offering both drivers advice and services, only to be constantly turned down by me. Lyn quickly made her way to the car and retrieved most of our valuables just before the traffic police locked the vehicles and made arrangements for towing.

The medics who attended to me tried to immobilise my arm by bandaging it around my chest and stomach. Unfortunately, they had to first cut the sleeves of my Paul Smith shirt, causing me more pain. After about 15 minutes or so, the other driver (who escaped unscathed) and I took a short ride to Tan Tock Seng hospital. They stretchered me to the A&E where two doctors and their staff gave me a number of x-rays and straightened my elbow after putting me out. Next was a CT Scan and then to the observation ward for some rest, finally. I was discharged the very next afternoon and am thankful for Lyn who was with me all night.


Left: My ripped shirt | Right: Why is it always macaroni for breakfast?

After going through a number of recounts with my friends, showing them the photo of the wreckage and receiving their take on how close I was to death, my main takeaway was that I should be glad that I am still alive only to suffer from a dislocated elbow and that I should cherish my life more…a lot more. Needless to say, I agreed. With police investigations and insurance claims to settle for next few months (or longer), life is going to get more painful. Adding to that, while my elbow may heal, I wonder how long more will it take before the constant flashes of the pre-collision go away. It gets freakier by the day injecting more fear of driving. Only time will tell I guess. Meanwhile, its back to church for me. Yeah….

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Slingers torched as Dragons hands them their first home loss

Published on November 24, 2009 in Things that suck and Usual Ramblings. 8 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I’m pretty sure the media had field day reporting about the Singapore’s Slingers’ first loss at home to the KL Dragons with a tonne of  ‘sizzling’ title wordplay. There’s so much one can do with the word Dragons and anything related to burning, fire, etc. Here’s my continuation after my previous post on how Singapore Slingers and fans got owned on their own soil. But first, much thanks to Nic and Daphne for organising and scoring us fantastic passes.

If the Dragons’ performance on Sunday is any indication of how their style of play is going to be like for the rest of their ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) campaign, the other teams better watch out. With strong inside presence and a tonne of scoring options, I reckon their current 4th position in the ABL ladder would slowly climb to top seed. Yes the Dragons are hungry and they could be a force to be reckoned with.

With a full squad and the return of point guard Wei Long after his chicken pox saga (welcome back dude), the number one Singapore Slingers have absolutely no reason why they should lose sunday’s game – especially at home and to a team that seem to be heading towards the wooden spoon award. But I guess in the case of yesterday’s game, complacency could possibly be an issue as the home team were caught with their guard down totalling 16 turnovers and a shooting average of under 50%.

Len and I have always discussed about a key element missing in the Slingers squad – big inside presence. KL’s #30 Jamal Brown who was once a Slinger is the kind of guy we believed the team needed, and ironically made his ex-team pay dearly for defaulting him before the Dragons picked him up. Together with a supporting cast of big men including #3 Chris Danial Kuete Lonichi and #33 Chee Lee Wei (mad hops dude!!), the Slingers had to work doubly hard getting inside.

Slingers’ imports #31 Kyle Jeffers and #33 Michael LeBlanc were held to just 12 and 13 points respectively, together with low shooting percentages. Despite Jeffers’ double-double efforts with 16 rebounds, the home team still found difficulty getting points in the paint. However, local boy #10 Hong Wei Jian stepped up to the plate and finished with a season-high 18 points and 4 rebounds, perhaps the first in Slingers’ history did a local outscore their imports (I can’t verify that, hope someone can). #11 Michael Wong (sorry, unable to take any photos of you) also contributed with 10 points, making 50% of his shots and Philippine sensation #19 Al Vergara had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.


Left: Wei Jian takes it to the rim | Right: Challenges his ex-teammate in the paint


Left: LeBlanc had to fire from the outside | Right: Al fights to the rim

At the other end the Dragons roughed it out with the Slingers as Kuete and #10 Rudy Lingganay put up 20 and 21 points. Rudy whom I believe hailed from the Philippines was totally sick with his inside scoring. How he managed to get inside in the presence of big defense, I’ll never know. Together with Kuete they both contributed from beyond the arc with six treys. Brown too had a double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds (oh, he got three blocks too). Most importantly, his intimidating presence and iron curtain defence played a huge role in preventing inside points, something that statistics will never show.


Left: Kuete takes it to the hole | Right: Brown with a block in his name while Kuete jumps in a bid to swat


Left: Brown can’t get it? No problem, Kuete is on his way up for a block | Right: Brown contributes from the baseline

On a lighter note, I can’t help but wonder why I didn’t take as many photos as I would have for other games. I think might have spent a majority of the time ball watching than shooting (hey, it was an intense game and we needed numbers), something I should shake off for future games. I’m pretty sure I missed plenty of good shots.

The Slingers will take a two-week break before hosting the Thailand Tigers on 7 Dec at the Indoor Stadium. Currently placed last, the Tigers have the same record as the KL Dragons before they met the home team on Sunday. Will the Slingers put their guard down again and repeat another defeat by a statistically weaker team, or will they find some time for self reflection and redeem themselves with a win? There is only one way to find out. Tickets are available at Sistic. Of course KL Dragons fans are more than welcome to visit. But this time, cheer for us yah? ;) Goooooo Slingers!!

More photos in my Flickr album here.

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Singapore Slingers and fans got owned at home

Published on November 23, 2009 in Things that suck and Usual Ramblings. 11 Comments Tags: , , , .

Of course this is based on my observation but still, I find it rather interesting and blog worthy. The Singapore Slingers experienced their first ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) loss at home to the KL Dragons today, 74-86. Apart from great plays by the visiting team and the Slingers being owned on the boards with strong rebounds from the Dragons’ Jamal Brown, who once donned a Slinger jersey (more of that in another article), the 1,000 if not more Singapore Slingers fans were completely owned by a small group of KL Dragons in team t-shirts cheering for their team and waving their flags. From what I gathered, they actually travelled all the way from KL to Singapore for the game (can anyone verify that?).

What seemed to be an home court advantage became an away game for the Singapore Slingers as cheers from the 50 or more strong KL Dragon fans drowned the somewhat quiet home fans. After the game, Singapore fans were taunted by Dragons’ fans rhythmically outside the Indoor Stadium entrance as they banged on drums and symbols (yes, they brought musical instruments down) in their bid to create more hype, which they did pretty well.

Nice sounding “Wicked Aura Batucada” like tunes aside (well I kinda liked it), I wished I could say that the Dragons’ fans are just celebrating the win, but with chants like “Who won today? KL Dragons!!”, followed by cheers by our visitors, I think that qualifies as taunting (hey…I could be wrong). As for the Singapore fans, they just stood there, watched and some even cheered after they stopped playing. Of course as friendly competition goes, in addition to Singapore being a safe country and the fact that there are really no super hardcore Slinger fans, there were no fights or incidents…thankfully ~wipes brow~.


Left: The small but strong KL Dragons fans cheering for their team | Right: I think the only time Singapore Slingers fans every stood up and cheered was for free t-shirts


Left: KL Dragons fans cheering after the game ended | Right: The celebration continues outside the Indoor Stadium

I know its not soccer and I have always wished for a strong Slinger fan base especially at home and a completely sell out crowd at the Indoor stadium chanting “Let’s go Slingers!! Let’s go!!”. But at the rate how things are going, I reckon that Singapore fans will continue to be owned by fans from visiting teams as the ASEAN Basketball League carries on until the end of season. Oddly, for a country that produces the loudest and proudest complainers, Singaporeans are rather quiet eh? ;)

My report on the game coming soon. Once I get the statistics… :)

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Shell’s $1 per litre adventure

Published on October 26, 2009 in Things that suck and This I like. 5 Comments Tags: , .

As the title suggests, I was one of the few thousand dumb ass motorists who queued up for Shell’s $1 per litre offer on Saturday to the displeasure of others, especially public transport drivers. Seriously, I am not one of the many who find joy queuing for a good half hour while leaving our engine idling and wasting more fuel (and killing the environment) just to take advantage of such gimmicks. But when you fuel tank is about to be empty after procrastinating for days (my bad my bad), and your tight night activity requires long drives, I guess I don’t have much of a choice.

Of course another option is to pump elsewhere but I’d rather pump at Shell. Yes, they got me and I’m stubborn like that. Thankfully, there was a Shell station about a good 2km away from my home that does not cause much trouble to the other motorists. Hence, I decided to take that route. 20 minutes later, I departed happily with a full tank and looking forward to my night outing.


Left: Told you I was running out | Right: View of the queue at the back (see, clear road lanes, we don’t bug other motorists)


Left: View of the queue at the front | Right: Poor girl advertising for Shell under the scorching sun


Left: Nearing the station, and yes, its $1 per litre | Right: Waiting for my turn


Left: Shell engaged a number of Cisco Security folks to manage the queue | Right: My profit, it would have caused me a good $69

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Vengeance is Ginebra’s

Published on October 2, 2009 in Things that suck, This I like and Usual Ramblings. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

As always, thanks to Nic and especially Daphne for organising this, Len and I plus a few fellow Spartans (my basketball team) popped over to the Indoor Stadium on Wednesday night to catch a rematch between the Singapore Slingers and Ginebra. The two teams first met in mid-January this year with the visiting team taking a 100-68 pounding. Playing like the loss is still fresh in their minds, Ginebra returned with a vengeance and a ‘take no prisoners’ mentality, dishing an extremely disappointing loss to the home team, 72-77.

It isn’t so much the loss that ground my gears but rather the fourth quarter choke from both our locals and imports. To be honest, I was really really ticked. Heck, I even had to rely on the tasty Brewerkz beer that the Slingers have so kindly provided to keep my composure (you guys should really pick those up during the game ;) ). The Slingers unfortunately caved in to Ginebra’s strong pressure defence at the start of the last 12 minutes producing bad plays and careless passes, which resulted in hefty unnecessary turnovers. What began as an encouraging five-point lead became a five-point loss in regulation time. Yes, the Slingers could have played better. But as newly reorganised teams go, there are loads of teething issues to address and I hope they do it soon.

Singapore Slingers + Brewerkz = iHappy (or iCalmer, whichever comes first)

The Ginebra team on the other hand were on form with regulars turning up in full force (or at least the prominent ones). #47 Caguioa and #71 Tubid were the stars of their team pouring in 24 and 17 points respectively. Slightly bigger, faster and stronger than the Slingers, Ginebra played superbly owning much of the boards both offensively and defensively with clever under the rim positioning and box outs. With two effective rebounders from the Slingers’ side (both imports), our local boys must make an effort to contribute more.


Left and right: Tubid’s breakaway layups on both sides


Left: Caguioa heads to the rim | Right: Speedy Caguioa


Left: Menk spins away from Pathman |Right: Another easy layup from Villanueva


Ginebra before tip off

However, it was not all Ginebra as the Singapore Slingers too had their moments. Despite my skepticism on whether their signing was a good choice (which oh by the way still stands today), #30 Jeffers and #9 LeBlanc still led the Slingers’ pride with 20 and 19 points, the only two double digit numbers for a Slingers player that night. Still one of my favourite imports, Philippine sensation Al Vegara was at his best with stable ball control and off balance shots (how the heck does he do that?) churning out nine points. As for Marcus Ng, the brother of Darren ‘The Doctor’ Ng, let’s just say don’t get me started. Maybe its me but I will reserve my comments until the Asean Basketball League (ABL) starts. Sorry dude, nothing personal.

The local boys although were lackluster in performance during the fourth quarter were great during the first three throwing tight defence at the Ginebra players. Their offence weren’t too shabby with #12 Wei Jian hitting five points and #14 Steven putting up four. I hope they will gain enough confidence to get double digits soon. What I really need from them is to make their decisions quicker whenever they receive the ball. That split second hesitation can be a bit detrimental to the team’s plays.


Left and right: Jeffers taking it to the rim


Left and right: LeBlanc lays them up


Left: One of Al’s ‘off balance – no worries’ shot | Right: Al cruises by Cruz


Left: Wei Jian taking it to the hole | Right: Stable yet somewhat wild shot from Steven (but he got it in anyway)


Left and right: Two of many million dollar moves by Marcus…but five cent finish

With just one last game against the San Miguel Beermen this Sunday, I hope the Slingers will up their game and complete the Singapore challenge Series with two wins and two losses before heading to the ABL. I don’t think the Slingers have ever met the Beermen in my recent memory but they did pop down to face off with Talk ‘N’ Text early December last year in a double header (here and here). Despite the disappointing loss on Wednesday, I’m still all Slingers and look forward to better games ~cross fingers~. Gooooo SLINGERS!!

Tickets are available at Sistic. I will be getting my hands on two pairs of tickets to one of the games so stay tuned for more on that.

Alot more photos in my Flickr album here and here.

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Langkawi Day 1 (Part 1) – Someone forgot to turn off the tap

Published on September 5, 2009 in Things that suck, This I like and Usual Ramblings. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

So now we got the teaser out of the way, here’s the truth. Yes it was raining most of the time during our Langkawi stay and never mind that we spent most of our time mucking around indoors, the bottom line is – we had a great deal of fun and will return again… :) . Given that I have taken quite a number of photos for day one which is enough to tell the story (or at least the first part) and that I’m just too lazy to craft a long entry, let’s just leave it to pics and captions for this entry shall we?


Left: Yes I must brag, the person who previously sat in my seat must be pudgy… :P | Right: Lunch on Air Asia for us was chicken focaccia. Not ideal while reading about porterhouse steaks…tsk


Left: It began raining when we arrived… | Right: …and everyone disembarked with umbrellas.


Left: The rain continued as we headed to our resort. | Right: Flooded roads, not exactly a good sign


Left and Right: Our experience didn’t get any better when we discovered that the entire resort was flooded…


Left:…only to find out that it can get worse with the waters threatening to invade our room. | Right: But we managed to find some humour amid the depressing start.

Stay tuned for Part 2 – Making the best out of an opened floodgate… ;)

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