Rich Beyond My Wildest Dreams!

I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams! Nothing is impossible to buy now! I've the spending power which is the envy of everybody! I can do anything with the money I have! I have my Progress Package! Muahahahahahahahahaha!

(This happens when you have to go to work on Saturdays. Deluded and Insane. And for the record, I do not think that the Progress Package is the 'gahmen's' way of buying votes. Nope, if they really want to buy votes, they'll only give the money to people that are voting right? I'm not voting, so technically, they can't buy my vote! o_0)

Nostalgia

Something really weird happened yesterday. I was at work, and Wee Y msn'ed me.

Tonight you free for dinner?

Should be free. Why?

I'm meeting alc for dinner.

ALC as in Ang Lai Chiang?!?!

Ya.

But how come suddenly meet him? Forgot to hand in your mathes homework is it?? Haha...

For those of you not familiar with my secondary school life, ALC or Ang Lai Chiang was my secondary 3 and 4 mathes teacher. And if there was ever a teacher that left the greatest (good) impression on me, it had to be him. He never fail to give us mathes assignment to do everyday. And the best part is, when we hand in our assignment in the morning, he would return us the assignment by the afternoon on the same day. There were times when we had a test in the morning and we would get our test paper back before the day's end. Talk about being a dedicated teacher.

But Mr Ang would best be remembered for his various 'creative' ways of punishing students for not handing in work. This range from standing on the table for the entire lesson, where the guilty student would be asked how the air was up there, to asking the student to attend the entire class under the table. Yep, really weird kinds of punishment.

Anyway, besides Wee Y and I, another classmate of mine, Zhiwei, also met Mr Ang for dinner at Goodwood Park Hotel. Apparently, Zhiwei was driving along Bukit Timah Road the week before, and suddenly he felt the urge to pay our alma-mater a visit. He managed to have a chat with our form teacher, but was unable to get hold of Mr Ang because he wasn't around. But he did manage to get Mr Ang's handphone number and the rest, as they say, is history.

Its probably a cliché to say this, but during the conversation, we pretty much reminiscence about the time we had in school, how we were subjected to various punishments, how our fellow classmates are doing now, how the school has changed, etc. Its funny, we may have aged, but Mr Ang still looks very much the same. He still speaks with the same quick short and sharp tone. He still has the same spring in his step. Perhaps the one thing that has changed is that he doesn't wear his trademark Power shoes any more.

All in all, it was certainly a great evening, and I'm glad I met them. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over. I guess thats the feeling of nostalgia.

And Poof. Just Like That, He's Gone...

I've just found a new movie to add to my list of all time favourite movies. During my long flight back from LA, I had the opportunity to catch an old classic, The Usual Suspects. I knew that it was a good movie, but I what I didn't know was that the movie is this good. If you haven't watched it, you should. I'm even considering getting the DVD which cost a whopping S$48 bucks... Kevin Spacey absolutely rocks.

And poof. Just like that, he's gone...

Reflection Time...

First off, I would like to point out that Thengz doesn't reflect very well. Mainly because he isn't a smooth surface. In any case, its my last few hours in Panama. It seems like eons ago when I first landed in Panama. The time here have been somewhat mixed. The people are friendly in general, except for the sore loser on the gambling table. I haven't really been surprised by what I see, but don't take that in the bad way, it just means that I was mentally prepared.

Panama City, as a tourist attraction, haven't really got too many places to visit. Either that or I'm a lousy tourist. I've visited the Canal, Panama Viejo and Casco Viejo, and I would say they lived up to my expectations. For an engineer, the Canal is probably the most interesting place to visit. But if you're into the people and culture of Panama, Casco Viejo is the place to visit. I would certainly hope that there would be time for a trip to a real beach for my next (imminent) visit. I've heard that the beaches over at the Carribbean Sea side of Panama are not to be missed.

Damn, I'm right about one thing, I'm not good at reflecting. Probably the lack of emotions and most probably because I would be coming back to Panama in a month's time. Can't wait to get back to Singapore via LA. Santa Monica Bay and East Coast Park here I come! Doesn't have a good ring to it. Haha...

Oh yes, by the way, here's the final score: Casino US$210 - Thengz US$212. Thengz shades it by his nose hair.

Random Gripes from Panama

After spending 3 weeks in Panama, there are a few things that have been bugging me. I have never known myself to be a 'complain king' but hey, everyone has a moment of weakness right? So here are some random gripes I have.

Firstly, why is it that practically every Singaporean Chinese above the age of 30 that I know MUST eat Chinese food when they are in a foreign land? For Christ sake, why travel thousands of miles, just to eat in a dumbass Chinese restaurant? In my opinion, you can eat all the freaking Chinese food that you want when you get back to Singapore. In the meantime, when you're in friggin' Panama/Germany/England/Democratic Republic of Congo, I'll suggest you eat Panamanian/German/Fish & Chips/Democratic Republic of Congolease food! I have the unfortunate task of sharing my meals with 2 old geezers, who have a 'preference' for Chinese food. I guess I'll just have to bare with it for now. OK, thats all for random gripe number 1.

Secondly, how many of you have gone to a Chinese restaurant in a Western country? And how many of you ordered fried rice served on a plate? And how many of you were given a pair of chopsticks and spoon? Holy shite! What the hell are you going to do with the chopsticks? Are you suppose to pick the grain of rice from the plate and eat it? A plate?!?!?! Chopsticks?!?! Nuts...

"Gee Jack, I wonder how those Chinese eat with these sticks?"

"Shush Peter, we're using them so that we can get a more oriental feel, now pass me that grain of rice on your plate will you?"

And then, there is the other extreme. You order fried rice, they give you a fork and a knife. Ok, fork I can understand, cause in most western culture, you eat the rice with the fork right? But the knife? What am I suppose to do with it? Stab the retarded waiter who gave me the cutlery? Or try to cut the rice into smaller grains so that I won't choke on them?

Random gripe number 3. Boy, am I on a roll today. What is it with smokers? You waste 10 minutes smoking before a meal. After the meal, you waste another 10 minute smoking. Then before you leave the office, you smoke again. Every time you leave a place, you smoke. When you just reached a place, you smoke. Damn, I can't understand this. Is this the same theory as me pissing? I piss before and after a meal. I piss before I leave a place/when I reach another place. Hmmmm.... Come to think of it, yeah, its pretty much the same. But pissing is free and I won't get lung cancer if I piss too much...

Panama Canal

After 3 weeks in Panama, I finally got the chance to go to the Panama Canal. Well, at least thats better than my colleague. He has been to Panama 5 times and this is the first time he went to the Canal. Not going to comment much for this post, since a picture speak a thousand words, 40 plus pictures should mean that I have blabbed 40,000 words. I'm too lazy to link the pictures one by one, so here's the link to the pictures on Flickr.

Here's a gist of the trip. The nice looking building in the photos, the one with the flight of stairs, thats called Miraflores. Cool name huh? Sounds something right out of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Anyway, we went to the museum in it, learnt abit about the Canal and then had a long buffet lunch at the restaurant there. Was able to catch 2 or 3 ships passing through the Canal during our lunch.

After that we took a drive near the Canal area, and came to a bridge that crosses the Canal. Apparently this bridge is a new bridge which they completed building last year. Alright, thats all I'm gonna say, hopefully the pictures can fill in the gaps.