if you thought that last post made more sense than the usual stuff i post - you're probably right: it was generated by some random sentence generator program i came across on the web.. hehe

the reason why i post it? well.. just been coming some stuff lately that's really been scrambling my brain.. can't post them cos it concerns other people's personal stuff, and not something i can put nicely in words either..

another reason why i posted all that goobledygook? hidden among them contains keywords that make the address to my new blog. yeah.. i've been meaning to close down this one for quite some time now, and i came very close to doing it a few months back.. the oni thing that held me back was the thought that it's kinda the main way my frens stay in touch with wat's been happening in my life. but gradually over the past few months, i just feel that i can't keep up that slapstick way of posting anymore and i just dunno who's reading it anymore - maybe it's just me, but it seems to be a lot of baggage for something as silly as a blog. so i decided - out with the old and in with the new! i might still post in here once in a while - but that's a very big MIGHT.. not that i promise to post regularly in my new one either, but that's another matter altogether lah.. hehe.. i'll still keep the chatterbox up until it dies a natural death from being neglected..

so the clue to deciphering the keywords to my new blog's URL.. i've made it hard for obvious reasons.. and no, this is not the usual 'reading with the mouse' trick.. there's something about certain letters that make them different from the all of the others is all i can say.. there are ways of cheating of cos, but i'm not gonna tell u how.. and if you're smart enuff to figure out how, well then.. good for you lah! haha

so i guess that's pretty much it people - it's been good while it lasted.. c'ya on the new blog if you ever get there..

Introduction

The burglar near an eggplant

A nation defined by a hole puncher

A wheelbarrow

Conclusions

When you see a photon, it means that some skyscraper inside a pork chop sweeps the floor. An earring buys an expensive gift for another makeshift asteroid, because an apartment building throws the federal power drill at a tabloid. Indeed, an asteroid graduates from a scythe near a tape recorder. For example, a turkey about the grizzly bear indicates that the burglar makes love to a vacuum cleaner defined by a line dancer.

some calculations someone showed me recently...

assuming age you want to retire at = 55 --- (1)

average life expectancy of the S'porean male = 80 --- (2)

estimated monthly expenditure = $1,500 --- (3)

therefore, total amount that you need to retire
= no. of years in retirement * months per year * monthly expenditure
= [ (2) - (1) ] * 12 * (3)
= [ 80 - 55 ] * 12 * $1,500
= $450,000 --- (4)

figure after adjusting for inflation
= (4) * 2
= $450,000 * 2
= $900,000 --- (5)

your age next birthday = 26 --- (6)

therefore, years you have to work = (1) - (6) = 55 - 26 = 29 --- (7)

therefore, amount you need to save each month
= amount needed for retirement / number of months until retirement
= $900,000 / [ (7) * 12 ]
= $900,000 / [ 29 * 12 ]
~= $2,586

ya, so this basically means that i should be saving everything i earn for the next 29 years for my retirement. haha.. all right, all right, so there are a lot of places in the calculations where you can poke holes at. but still, it's a sobering thought..

welcome to the rest of your life.. lol

played badminton today with gab, jon and boar-y. yea~ finally got a chance to try out my new Wilson badminton racket that i bought a few months. and it's not bad, not bad at all.. hehe

come to think of it - my Prince racket has been with me since Sec 1 or 2. which means it's been.. 12, 13 years? already?? sheesh!

btw, did i mention before that my first and only sporting award is for badminton? haha. that's right - all the way back donkey years ago in primary 5. guess it was training for the competition and then afterwards winning the trophy that really made me stick with the sport and get good at it. can still remember the days when we would be playing before class, during recess and after class somemore. really fanatical, i tell u.

thinking about the whole mastery process. definitely not easy, is it? at first you suck at it, but then slowly you start to get better and one day you look back and go hey, i've become pretty good at this now, haven't i? and you can't remember the days when you were just learning the stuff. ya, something to keep in mind as i embark on learning how to rollerblade. God help me with all the tumbles i'm gonna take.. haha

went to Chinatown last nite with the office folks. bad choice! jammed packed with bo liao people catching the lighting ceremony and some concert. sigh.. but that just begs the question: what does that make us, the people who are there together with them at the place? hm..

but just to clarify: we were there to check out the bazaar lah. just so happened it turned out to be the day of the lighting ceremony. guess it was a bonus we were nearby when the fireworks went off. i think it must have been a sight to see groups of people standing in the rain staring at the fireworks up in the sky getting their faces wet. haha

it's weird - all of a sudden, my xiao shi mei starts talking to me about God because of problems she's been having recently. and it's weird because we never talk about such things before, not even wat religion we belong to as far as i can remember.

now suddenly she wants to talk about God, and she finds me to do it. and she says she knows to look for me to talk about it. hm.. do i like have something written on my face that identifies me as being Christian or Catholic? haha. or maybe, just maybe, i'm doing something right afterall?

got back results of the Customer Satisfaction Survey today for my project team.. and i have to honestly say.. i'm very disappointed by it.

don't wanna go into specifics, but there are basically 4 grades - A, B, C and F on a scale of scores from 1 to 5. if you get grade A, you get a certain amount of incentive, grade B another amount, C another, and F doesn't even get u a cup of kopi from the vending machine.

long story short we got a C.. we were that close to getting a B - a difference of oni 0.1 or even 0.01. since only one person was giving us scores for the survey, so that means if he had oni given us one more point on any of the questions, we would have gotten a B.

some try to console by saying "oh, the survey was done in September, you guys only came in in June, so of course there wasn't much to judge you on. besides, there was only one guy doing the survey so it's not statistically representative." but somehow or another, i'm not comforted by that argument.

don't get me wrong - i'm not blaming anyone here - least of all, my teammate. but after all the initial bitching and whining about our bad luck, i can't help but question: why didn't we deserve that one higher score in the first place?

and somehow, in attempting to answer that question, i think it sparked off something in me - something i haven't quite felt in a while. and that is a certain fire and a motivation to want to achieve a goal. i think for the past 6 months, i have been going about rather aimlessly with no definite goal in sight. and now, one has presented itself.

thank God for allowing me to see that in the midst of everything that has happened. was feeling quite lousy until that point - would have totally ruined my nice long weekend ahead..