Cook to win a woman's heart

I have always wanted to be a good cook. To delight my guests' tastebuds when they visit my home.

Truth be told. I can cook, but I'm a lousy cook. Lousy as in "Edible and nothing else". So often when it comes to chalets, I will volunteer and relegate myself to be be the official dish washer and the guy who prepares syrup.

There is this saying that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Well, I think the same can be said for the opposite gender.

Don't ya think a man who can cook is downright sexy?

A man who sweat all out to make his woman ('s stomach) happy?

If the best chefs in the world are Man, sure our superior (Male) species have some inborn cooking qualities, just waiting to be unleashed.

I'll keep working on it. Till then, poor Wifey will have to make do with whatever my cooking pan has to offer.

Random Notes 34

(1) Anyone feel that too much time is dedicated to H1N1 over the news on TV? Not that its not important, but there are so many other news to report about. I'll probably avoid watching news for these few weeks.

(2) Spend quite a bit of time watching Michael Jackson tribute shows on MTV channel. Pity the company who has to spend billions preparing his comeback concert, only to be met with this unfortunate event. I wanna get a CD of his greatest hits, but have this feeling its probably sold out by now. Guess I'll wait.

(3) Do you know that "Googol" is 1 followed by 100 zeros? That's how Google got their name, to reflect their mission to organise the gazillion amount of information on the Web.

(4) I got myself a bicycle, after the previous one got stolen (again). I shall call it the Bicycar. Anyone wants a free ride on my car? =p

(5) I watched "Drag me to hell" with Wifey recently. The storyline is pretty good, compared to recent horror shows. Transformer was kind of a disappointment - the fights were too messy, I'm probably happier watching the cartoons.

(6) Here's a catchy gummy bear video, not to be confused with Disney's own cuties of the same name. Catchy tune, watch the Gummy bear shake his booty, it makes me wanna dance! This song is also avaliable in many other languages.


Enjoy your weekends, friends!

Rest in peace, Michael Jackson

You delighted the world with your music and your dance. I love the world you spin and glide. Thanks for devoting your life for our entertainment.

Now you can really walk on the moon.

Toilet reading.

How many of you people out there enjoy reading while in the toilet cubicle?

I do. Alot.
Be it at home, or in the workplace.

I always have a deep respect for the toilet cubicle. It is a man's cave for me. A place where I can seek solace, gain some inner peace, and do a little reflection on what I have done for the day, and what i will be doing. In fact, it is an inspirational place where I often come up with solutions in a flash.

However, days of reflecting in the toilet cubicle has passed, and I'm moving on to do reading in my little sanctuary. Just like those old uncles reading newspapers in the toilet, I enjoy doing reading either newspapers or printed articles.

While doing "big business" at home, I usually use the time to catch up on those unfinished newspapers. I always made it a point not to throw any newspapers that I have not finished reading. Which is why I am still reading news from months ago. Unread news is still new news to me.

When going to do this at work, its not easy to smuggle a newspaper into the toilet without getting unwanted attention. So I like to print short 1-page articles, fold them up and bring it into the toilet for a short 5-10 minutes reading. It also helps to bring my mind away for a mental break, and I come back to work on a clearer mind.

What do I read on? Bascially anything random. I have read about famous people (Donald J. Trump, Deng Xiaoping etc...), animals (Wifey hate ants), health topics (prostate cancer anyone?), motivational articles etc...

If I spend 5 -10 minutes read about 1 different thing every day, then after a year, there are about 365 things that I have read.

I always pride myself in being knowledgable about life's stuff. Readig makes me feel smart, and it boost my Mr Ego. =p

Anyway, it seems like guys are more likely to multi-task reading in the restroom as compared to gals. Is it because gals find this habit unhygenic?


So what shall I read today?

Welcome to the club, bro.

Last night, Joe (my pal of many many years), our clique and I went for dinner. It was supposed to be a bachelor's night for Joe. And I was the organiser. Wifey had initially suggested me to engage some sleazy strip dancer for him, but I thought the price was a little way too steep.

So we ended up having a guys only, simple vegetarian dinner (one of our friends is a vegetarian). And had a drink in Villa Bali (in Gillman Heights) after that.

Just a few of us guys doing some male bonding, without the other halves. Was fun, but got home pretty late.

Today, Wifey and I will be attending Joe's ROM later. Here's me wishing him and Eel unlimited bliss in their upcoming (an inevitable) union. ^_^

Welcome to the club, bro.

50-50-90 Rule

How many of you have heard of Andy Rooney's 50-50-90 rule?

Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

For instance, you are new to business, but have a innovative product that you are 50%confident of making a business empire out of it. According to the rule, chances are that if you ACTUALLY work on the idea, there is a 90% probability that you will not make something big out of it.

Why is this so?

Because there will be alot of obstacles that you are ignorant of before you embark into unchartered waters.

An inventor is not a businessman. Act of God, government policy and red tape, inefficiency, cultures, competition, sabotage, trust issues, copyright, piracy, theft, marketing issues, guan xi (relationship) etc… there will be plenty of problems that will stumble on his way.

So how do you increase the probability of succeeding?

NEVER go about solving a problem on your own, be it about work, life or health. Get a mentor who is versed in the topic you are dealing with. The mentor can be someone who is versed in the situation you are in, or could even be a potential customer of your product. A good way to get mentors is to join relevant associations or network with experts you befriend online.

If you are embarking on something new, its best not to reinvent the wheel of mistakes that you could avoid by listening and reading up. If you are getting a flat, getting married, or going to some country for the first time, you can also read up from the Internet.

Same goes for those patent ideas you might have. Someone else in another part of the world could have independently come up with some similar ideas. While being excited about your creation, the last thing you want to have is to be sued for modifying someone else's ideas (without knowing someone else has thought of it), or selling something that is sold cheaper and more readily on the Net.

Ask more, and work less.

Spend more time, and end up paying less cash.

Or if you are down with cancer and have a 50-50 chance to survive, go find out what cancer survivors did to beat the odds.

Do not doubt the power of DUPLICATION – the art of picking up (or copying) best practises from experts. That will greatly increase your chances of success.

Make 50-50-90 a 50-50-50, or something much better.

What you need to know about the environment.

(1) Why throw when you can recycle?
Better still, why recycle when you can re-use?
Or if you can't re-use, why not reduce?

(2) Plastic bags are over-rated.
And karma is under-rated.

(3) If dinosaurs were wiped out by meteorites, then human will be wiped out by garbage.

(4) Stop saying that you want to save the Earth.
Because what you are really want is to save yourself and your descendants.

Getting a second opinion.

Read a really funny health post at Nino's.

Have shamelessly copied an excerpt below. Go read it, it's really funny.

"Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it… don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster.
Want to live longer? Take a nap."

DDR Freestyling

Many of you know that I have quitted active gaming, to free up more time and gain some sanity.

However, one of the things I can never give up is playing DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). Dancing's in my blood. And I wanna dance as long as my legs can take me.

Have attached a nice Japan freestyle DDR, which basically restricts a dancer's moves to a DDR game, but allows unlimited flexibility to showcase his moves.



Great stuff.

Don't call me lucky.

How do you feel when someone says you are a lucky person?

"You are lucky to win the Toto jackpot."
For me to win the Toto first prize, well it doesn't really matter what people say. I'm already in my own world planning what to do with this whirlwind fortune.
That said, luck plays a REALLY big part, though it is common sense that to strike the Toto, the first thing you have to do is to buy a ticket. Buying more increases your chance, other than that its up to the Man above to decide your fate.

"You are so lucky that you were born in a rich family."
Complement? Not really. I see that as a degrading term, a "you wouldn't have made it so far without a spoon in your mouth."
It takes NO SKILL to be born rich, only SKILL (and luck) to be rich. I have a friend born in a very rich family, and naturally who inherited a CEO position of a supermarket upon university graduation. It gave him a good start in life working on bigger things in life, while most of his peers were working from the foot of the hierachy.
You probably can sense some sour grape, hey I don't deny that. ^_^

Luck and skill are essential ingredients to a successful life.
And "successful" doesn't neccessarily have to be monetary, it could be your love life, your satisfaction in life, your popularity, the respect you get and so forth.

A person with no luck and no skill is a complete loser.
If Lady Luck doesn't shine on you, the last thing you should do is to sulk, not work on the skills, and end up with a self-fulfilling prophecy - fail to try, and thus destined to fail.
You can't always control what Life gives you, but skill is something that can be built on. You got to work on your worse enemy - and that's you.

A person with luck and no skill is a lucky gambler.
You can throw a "6" on the dice consecutively for a few turns, but sooner or later, your lucky streak will break. And that is when your lack of skill will show.

A person with skill and no luck is a guy who overestimates his capabilities.
I always believe that with the correct skills and mindset, ANYONE can be successful.
The more failures you make (blame it on "bad luck"), the closer you are to success. People who are successful tend to be those who failed more attempts than others, thats how they hone their skills to perfection.
I'm sure you have read about people who used to be bankrupts but are now a millionaire. So if you didn't used to be bankrupt, why aren't you better off than a millionaire?
Even the "most brilliant man" in the world has something to learn from.

A person with skill and luck is what I call a successful guy.
I have often seen ugly not as handsome guy holding the hands of a cute girl or hot babe. Well, you may not like him and think he's just lucky, but the truth is he got skill, and thats why he's lucky.

In short, my advice is this.
Do not waste time envying others for their luck.
Do not feel depressed on having low luck yourself.
Instead, FORGET ABOUT LUCK AND WORK ON SKILL.

And the skill wiill bring better luck.

Gaming recovery centre

Given Singapore' economic progress, most households have a computer, and a ready access to Internet. And being a small island, this country doesn't have as much hobbies to engage in, as compared to other countries.

And so many of us started gaming, something we can do at the comfort of our own home, regardless of rain or hot sun.

There are PLENTY of gamers in Singapore, tried googling around but couldn't get a statistic to quantify. And I'm sure there are many others who have made gaming such a big part of their lives that their live has unknowingly been turned upside down.

People who didn't have time to study, homeowners who didn't have time to do the chores, spouses who have no time to build on relationships, parents who didn't have time to pay more attention to the kids. The list of neglect goes on.

While Singapore has help centres for people with drug, smoking and gambling addictions, I do not know of a similar centre for dealing with a video gaming addiction.

To be fair, its kind of tough too, because we can't expect the addict to throw his computer away, or be locked up in a room with no access to gaming.

Which is why one of the first things that recovering gaming addicts should do is to join the many establishing websites that share the pain and fear of fellow gaming addicts.

OLGA (On-Line Gamers Anonymous) is a link I got from Nino's website.

Gamers who lost friends, families, money and jobs.
And some even harbour suicidal thoughts.
Withdrawal symptoms and "repeat offenders".

One of the sad truth in life is that people don't realised that they have a problem. Especially egoistic gamers, I used to be one.

And then there are those who know they have a problem, but give plenty of excuses on why the solution should be put on hold.

Most smokers can go ahead with their lives, they just need smoke breaks here and there. They only suffer the pain when age, and resultant degenerative diseases catch up with them.

Gaming? Its worse in a sense that the side-effects (negligence of more important things in life) are felt immediately.

You can play all you want, but you will never be able to buy back lost youth.

Higher than high

Anyone realised that many tall girls like wearing high heels to look even taller?

Hole in the wall

Wifey and I have been wanting to mount the TV in my room onto the wall, so that it will be on eye level when we stand up and play DDR (dance dance revolution) in the room.

So my father-in-law came over and helped us drilled a hole. He's a great handyman to have around, He has been helping us with the drilling and electrical wiring around the flat all these while.

While he was drilling a hole in the room wall, he accidentally overshot and created a see-through hole into the master bedroom. Ouch. =p

That was when I realised the walls built by HDB (housing development board) between the 2 rooms was not exactly too thick.

So anyway, he helped us to seal the hole created in the master bedroom with some of the leftover coney powder in our storeroom.

Anyway, I'm wondering what those wall-mounting TV guys will do if they accidentally created a similar see-through hole. Will they seal the hole back for us?

About the Author: Shingo T thinks wall mount TVs look so much cooler than TVs resting on TV consoles.