台灣流行音樂２００最佳專輯名單 1975 - 2005
(released on 9th Feb 2009)

http://www.musicman.org.tw/musicman/library_detail.php?song_no=67


Cheer Chen's all 4 albums are in!

Not in the City, don't have Vibes, still call CITYVIBE? It's like a plain Jane calling herself Babarella.

From this week's Time Magazine:

In his own life, Ben-Shahar (Harvard professor who taught Positive Psychology there) uses 3 optimalist exercises, which he calls PRP. When he feels down - say, after giving a bad lecture - he grants himself Permission to be human. He reminds himself that not every lecture can be a Nobel winner; some will be less effective than others. Next, is Reconstruction. He parses the weak lectures, learning lessons for the future about what works and what doesn't. Finally, there's Perspective, which involves acknowledging that in the grand scheme of life, one lecture really doesn't matter.


Useful!

Did you get this at your door? Our Christian friends are really good at outreach. I won't ever bother to do such door-to-door stuff for my religion.

不管是晴天，

还是雨天，

书桌旁的烂风景都无法给我启发。

From 新民日报 23/3：

滚石唱片总经理严光华在节目（FM1003）说，本地观众或许因为华文程度比较差，所以对陈绮贞的词曲共鸣不大，也导致陈绮贞演唱会的门票，在本地卖地较慢热。

Well, besides the trivial fact that all the people I know who will be going for the concert are from SAP schools, I think he's got a point. Out of all the Chinese in S'pore I would think it's the Mandarin-speaking who'd listen to Chinese pop. And out of these people there would be some who are looking for different stuff. Yes everyone likes 旅行的意义 but to experience 陈绮贞's music in full one has got to have interest in reading her lyrics and one is more likely to have that interest only when one's standard of Chinese is ok. I don't get many of her lyrics but her choice and arrangement of words never fail to thrill me. 933 is giving away free tickets this week so try your luck!

I should guess 林俊杰's selling better but he's someone I'd like to diss haha. 王力宏 brought in environmentalism and experimented with instruments in his previous efforts. 周杰伦 was involved in movies and brought surprises like 牛仔很忙. 林俊杰 looked different for his 6 albums. Sold some ice cream. And? His simple-tune songs are catchy but they've been the same for so long I think he lacks effort. But whatever, Indoor Stadium will still be packed this Sat.

At food centres and coffee shops the stall aunties generally will ask me 小弟你要吃什么 before I order. Stall uncles don't usually bother. Nowadays there are more and more China-Chinese and Malaysian-Chinese young men who are tending the stalls and they like to use 帅哥你要吃什么 and of course 我听了会爽 but I wonder if they are using it with discretion. Haha. Do you hear that very often too?

This semester I've got plenty of readings about Thailand from all the modules I'm taking. I'm beginning to like the country, and my recent field trips down to Thai temples and the Bangkok experience last year are intensifying this liking. Makes me wonder about my half-hearted fling with French which I can't ditch at the moment. But since I'm only going for Field Studies next year I might as well start the relationship with Thai proper then. Both with populations of around 65m, with distinct art and culture, with beautiful languages, but one feels much closer to home.

I've got 3 more essays for the semester, been working on them and getting my brain to think about them when there's nothing to think about. It'd be ideal if I enjoyed the researching, writing and editing. The topics are indeed interesting and I don't dread those processes, but I do wish I could do them with more love, which is kind of elusive given the opportunity costs and multiple priorities. And it sucks to see the Economics sister carefree and triumphant after conquering her mid-terms. Haha. 2 more weeks to Cheer Chen!

The Japanese friends we made on the ship have been taking turns to visit S'pore! The 5th one came today, Pori, my Solidarity and Discussion groupmate. So a few of us brought her to Sentosa, had dinner at Seah Im Food Centre, and they proceeded to Mt Faber. She was sharing that she paid only altogether USD400 for Vietnam Airlines tickets from Tokyo-Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh-S'pore, KL-Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh-Tokyo. !!! Why is it so cheap. Can consider flying VN if one wants to go Tokyo!

陈绮贞4月4日将在新加坡室内体育馆开唱，为大家带来精彩演出。主办单位滚石唱片推出“买CD说故事送门票”活动，让你有机会免费观赏这场演唱会。

你只要即日起至本月21日，到HMV唱片行购买陈绮贞最新专辑《太阳》，连同购买单据，在本月21日当天到The Heeren 1楼中央舞台，告诉评审为什么主办单位应该送你一张演唱会门票。只要你的故事感动评审，滚石唱片将现场送出一张门票，100张门票送完为止。

送票活动早上11时至下午3时举行，三个评审包括《联合晚报》、omy.sg及滚石唱片代表。


Free Cheer Chen tickets for grabs. =/

VJC will be implementing its own 6 year programme within 5 years. So if Dunman High doesn't buck up on its 'A' levels I fear all the top PSLE kids in the east will flock to be purebred Victorians. Please don't let that happen haha.

It's becoming a biennial for me! 12th - 17th May family (guided) vacation in Taiwan! 6D5N Taipei/Kaohsiung/Hualien/Taizhong + Cathay transit flight @ $793. Sounds like a good deal, hope it is. And I just realised Sun Yanzi's 2009 巡回演唱会 at 小巨蛋 is on the 15th and 16th! Haha such exciting possibilities. 2 more months!

I watched this Japanese movie "Departures" which clinced the Best Foreign Film at the recent Oscars. Very simple movie, yet very touching, and it made me and most of the audience tear. Plus I get to revisit the sceneries of Japan! I'm rather determined to catch every Southeast Asian (less Thai horror) and Japanese (less animations) movie screening here. And I hope S'poreans would be more receptive to such not-so-mainstream movies which admittedly can't excite the senses but have much to set one into self-reflection.

"O ti kha to ti. O kho kha to kho."

(Eat from forest, must preserve the forest. Eat from water, must preserve the water.)

Karen Proverb.

So in the queue I was wondering should I say anything at all to 陈绮贞. Was contemplating
"你是华人的骄傲", "世界需要多点像你这样的女人", "为什么你会喜欢钟成虎?". Ok in the end I just said "谢谢你给我们的启发" and I wasn't even sure she heard it. She's a goddess. She sang "After 17", "让我想一想", "太阳" and this song.

With the double deaths at NTU School of EEE within a week, I guess it's going to be awkward at the unis' Open House next weekend. If applicants thus decide to shun this particular faculty, borderline students can give it a try.

I guess Dunman High did ok for its first batch of 'A' levels. Though 1 in 3 with at least 3As (as reported in this video) is a far cry from the 7 in 10 for Raffles and Hwa Chong. Not easy for the pioneer batch, but no more excuses for the subsequent batches! 德明加油!

It was only at SE2214 lecture just now when I found out that the exchange student from PGP who passed away was a fellow tutorial mate. I remember at the first tutorial, he was sharing with us the Jewish equivalent of the Bible, and that he has a passion for learning about other cultures and religions and that's why he chose multi-everything S'pore as his exchange country. He took initiative to help the tutor to set up the projector and he built up on a random point I said in class. A guy who gives really positive vibes. Rest in peace Scott.

The 36th Ship For Southeast Asian Youth Programme

陳綺貞《太陽》演唱會專輯新加坡造勢簽唱會

Date: 8th Mar 09 (Sunday)
Time: 6pm
Venue: Bugis Junction, Bugis Square Level 1

凡持有 陳綺貞 新加坡演唱會門票/太陽專輯(限新加坡版) 可上台索取綺貞簽名….

I don't like taps with save-water mechanisms that upon sensing or one pressing, it just gives impotent drizzles. Just like one needs a powerful hose to clean off the sand in a kayak. Just like one needs a thunderstorm to make all things dirty disappear. HOW ARE MY HANDS GOING TO BE CLEAN WITH THESE STUPID TAPS!

Grades aren't everything and profs I would like to believe are innocent. 路一直都在!

“If as spiritual practitioners we ignore the discoveries of science, our practice is also impoverished, as this mind-set can lead to fundamentalism. This is one of the reasons I encourage my Buddhist colleagues to undertake the study of science so that its insights can be integrated into the Buddhist worldview.”

"I have often said that if science proves facts that conflict with Buddhist understanding, Buddhism must change accordingly."


From His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. A belief system ups its appeal to me when there isn't any intellectual compromise to be made. Buddhist rituals you see are all merely skillful means.