iTV Takeover Imminent

This is ridiculous la. iTV is a television broadcaster in Thailand under Shin Corp which is majority owned by Temasek Holdings. The Thai court has ordered a back pay of 2.2 billion baht and a whopping 98.1 billion baht fine on the company for certain breaches. What kind of fine goes up to 98.1 billion baht (S$4.39 billion) besides a clear case of extortion? The fine is approximately 50 times the payment problems!!! A penalty of that kind of amount is not meant to arrive at any other solution besides swallowing the business entirely.

It is clear to me that Temasek Holdings, led by Ho Ching again...... is gonna lose out big time. However, it is also clear that Thailand, resorting to such means of dealing with foreign investments.... will also lose out in the long run as they will turn away more than a fair share of investments. Looks like a lose-lose situation is on the cards. The question now is..... would ShinSat and AIS follow the trail of iTV? Between, 96% of Shin Corp cost the Temasek led consortium 143.12 billion baht. This displays the outrageous sum of the penalty imposed on iTV by the court. Sigh....... didn't something like this happen before with regards to Su Zhou or Indonesia? When will our government ever learn? Ho Ching should get the sack man...... but that's a far cry.....

Andrew & Joy are Engaged Too!

Fast and furious la. People getting engaged la, married la.... I really reaching that age liao ah.... stress! hahaha.. but since I so happy-go-lucky, no issue man. This is soooo cute.... you guys who dunno how Joy is like ah should really go get to know her man. She's friendly and easy to get along la.... best of all.... Andrew is still Andrew beside her! hahaha.... Wouldn't feel as good about her man if Andrew becomes a whole different person just to please her. :p Ah well, mebbe if Andrew starts speaking to me nicely without all the sarcasm...... hey Joy! Get Andrew to be nicer la!

Wooo..... another thing, it appears flat shopping is the IN thing now. Everyone's looking out for a flat.... hey guys.... if going to queue for good deals in flats, inform us la, then we all can be neighbours! hahahaha.... If we have $$$, the best is we all buy the same condo unit... and if I have lotsa $$$, I'll take the penthouse! hahaha. Ah.... dreaming again......

Heh..... Andrew will tell me more..... will keep all you nosey pokers updated k? Simi Straits Times la... paparazzi la..... hahaha..... will hafta live up to my role orh..... You people can do to submit entries.... then I can publish for you all..... Drop in at the tagboard with the latest gossips! haaaa

Lobang from Yixiang

Wahahaa...... great news people. Got another lobang for games liao. Yixiang has a friend working in PI and can get a staff discount of 10-15% on games. That's excellent. Now to go back to healthy games and non-cash poker games... hehehe. With the passing of CNY, no more a-chap (see Eliz) and ban-luck..... 2 evil card games that I just keep losing in. Also, be forewarned to stay away from in-between (see Mervin). Well.... at least I'm unbeaten in mahjong over the CNY period. :p

P.S. Did I fail to mention that COE dropped all the way to $5k in my previous mails?

CNY Ang Pows

Not bad not bad...... this year collected over $100 worth of ang pows. Then a further $100 worth of *mahjong* ang pows. Oops...... Xuefeng won't like hearing such big sums from gambling. Must ensure that I don't play so often. Thankfully, passing all 3 papers for ACCA will go some way to showing a greater emphasis on willingness to upgrade and earn steady stream of income! hahaha.

Now for the ranking of ang pows... man, do I have funny ideas or what!
1) Alvan & Eliz - it really does feel damn shiok to get angpow from peers marginally younger!
2) Grandmother - I wanna keep getting ang pow from her, the longer the better.
3) Aunty Siew Kwun - w/o fail, the most consistent in her generous giving spirit in church.
4) Weixiong's dad - he damn funny one la, you should see him when he's playing 'In Between'

Last place goes to....... REUTERS!!! - $2 from such a big company.... I wanna do part-time at Xuefeng's Dua Yee's clinic...... there give $400 ang pow!

P.S. Ashley, will be back to visiting Tampines relative next year - ang pow here I come!

Weixiong & Becky are Engaged!!

These 2 dear brother and sister are finally engaged. Expected wedding date would be May 2008. It'll be here before you know it. House hunting is the current priority. Merf will testify to that being no stroll in the park. Announcement was made yesterday at Weixiong's house officially. Funny thing to note though...... Knew Weixiong was shopping for ring around the Christmas period. Knew he purchased the ring before turn of 2007. Knew his anniversary with Becky is early-mid Jan. Asked him if he proposed in mid Jan...... his response was, will tell you guys when he has proposed and all..... He finally updated me in early Feb that he has proposed... and wants me to keep it hush hush so that he can make an announcement YESTERDAY...... Yesterday itself though, he and Becky damn cute la..... both say everyone know already..... no need to announce liao..... hahaha..... They both damn cute hor? :p

During dinner at Pizza Hut, Becky was saying to Weixiong; 'have you told and booked MengYang yet?' clearly referring to helping them out for their wedding stuff. My instinct was like... maybe just help as a brother as well as drive? Weixiong then nicely says... to be his right-hand man. Then I inquired about Alvan's role and Alvan was to be my right-hand man. hahaha.... but.... next thing I hear..... Becky says..... to help with all the Sai Kang! And all Weixiong can do is 'shhhhh' hahaha.... These 2 ah.... damn comical one. It appears then that my role is to cover Weixiong and do ALL his Sai Kang... aka... 'anything that he is suppose to take care of but too busy to deal with' stuff himself.

Ah well..... anything for you la brother. As long as Ang Pow BIG BIG can liao. hahaha.... As Eliz will keep reminding everyone...... MengYang lor..... keep saying he wants to get an ang pow from Alvan & Eliz THIS year. Oh ya.... and I did get an ang pow from them this year. hahaha.... The precedence has been set hor.... Mervin & Huifen, no exemption! :p Must grab the advantage of probably being the last couple of the 4 to get married la. heh... :D

ACCA Results

My exam results are out.... Knew it was gonna be released on the 2nd day of CNY. Didn't really wanna bother with it cause i suspected could fail 1 or 2 papers. Then Gordon on returning from Malaysia gave me a call and said he checked his results and got 70 79 80 for his 3 papers. He wanted to know my results but I was apprehensive about checking as I was afraid of spoiling my day. In the end, it made my day la. Heng heng ah...... got 50 59 54!!! Sibei chio la. 1st sitting I scored 58 55 32..... so the 50 was a retake of the paper that I scored 32. Confirm got moderation one la..... but who cares..... can pass very shiok le. heh..... guess what..... the topic I find the driest...... Information Systems.... was the 59! My All-time high score so far..... so uncanny.

Time to start working on the next 2-3 papers. Haven't decided on the number to attempt yet. With the trip to London coming up..... and the topics getting tougher, I am wondering if I should just concentrate on solely scoring for 2 topics..... Better 2 out of 2 then 1 out of 3. But maybe 2 out of 3 instead of 1 out of 2 is better leh.... So tough this decision.... hahaha......

P.S. Weixiong announced his engagement yesterday at his place..... though a lot people already knew.... heh.... shall be more elaborate and dedicate an entire post on this then. :p

Bohnanza *****

Definitely the leading game amongst all those I currently own. Easy to learn, easy to play, low cost and engaging. Good for all ages. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, this game is another must have on top of Bang! and Citadels. Already managed to convince Weixiong to get this game. hehehe. Priced at S$30 or US$11.38, it is definitely value for money!

This is a very simple game based on trading. Aim of the game is to get the most Gold, in other words, harvest the most from your bean fields. The value of harvest gets better with more of the same type of beans being planted. Premature harvesting will cause you to reap lesser rewards. You are to plant the 1st card in your hand at every turn. In order to avoid premature harvesting and forced planting of new bean types, donating away what you do not intend to plant is necessary to benefit yourself. Heh..... this means the game promotes generosity!

P.S. As long as you don't play this game like Kenneth, who perpetually loses every game by a margin of 10 Gold or so, you are a fine player. hahaha

Valentine's Day

Time for the secrets to be revealed. Surprised Xuefeng with a very simple job. Baked her cookies and muffins...... at Kenneth's (Gordon's gay friend) place. Used those instant mix kind, easy to do for beginners. Ah well, if got chance.... maybe will learn higher level stuff from bakers like Ashley.... though not fully keen... the slacker that I am. hehe...

Initial plan was not to take leave as Xuefeng has school till 5pm. However, due to the simple problem of needing time to bake, had to use my last day of leave leftover from last year. After picking Xuefeng up and heading to IMM for dinner at PepperLunch, we walked around and got drawn to the VCD screening "Huang Jin Jia" aka "Curse of the Golden Flower". Ended up buying that VCD and watching it at my place. Between, their English sucks la. Why named Chrysanthemum as Golden Flower? So lame.....

Newsflash - cheeky Cheow Sheng jio-ed both Xuemei and Ching out as his Valentine's Day dates. Now that's what I call double-dating! hahaha

Xueyan and Yibao are Back for CNY

This photo was taken when Xueyan and Yibao came back last in Sep 06. Yesterday, we went to the same place for Chili Crab once again. Can tell from the pic where we went people?

Xuefeng was commenting that it feels like Xueyan never really left and their relationship don't feel the distance at all. I guess that could only be due to the simple fact that Xueyan calls Xuefeng every Saturday. It will be interesting for you people to see Xueyan. She looks so Jap-like now with her new haircut. Not to be missed. It appears now that Xuemei is the eldest and Xueyan the youngest of the 3 sisters. hehehe

Reservist Briefing

Having my reservist briefing today at SAFRA Tampines. Can't really remember whether I've been in there before. Seems like yes, yet no recollection of the place inside. Reservist in 1 & 1/2 month's time. IPPT in 1/2 month's time. Whoooosh.... time flies. Siam RT last year, but looks like will be having RT this year loh..... bleah

Exam Results - 19th Feb

These people ah...... releasing the ACCA results on Chinese New Year...... Don't know what to say about them man..... Time to sit tight and cross fingers liao. 12 more days.... Ah well, time to start studying again I guess.

Carcassonne Tile Replaced

Free replacement leh. So nice ah. Went down to Paradigm Infinitum (PI) yesterday with Weixiong and told the staff I've a missing tile from Carcassonne the River expansion. That expansion was no longer in production, so quite tough to get replacement. Great thing is, the PI staff upon hearing mine has a missing tile from the original packing kindly offered to just take from their shop's game and replaced mine for nothing. Anyway, I did intend to get a game from them that day so here's to Blokus Duo aka Travel Blokus!

Between, there was ample time to psycho Weixiong into parting with $30 for Bohnanza.... the Bean game. I'm sure he'll enjoy it, as I have. Took a look at the RPG games available.... Would love to get started on an RPG, but must find other like-minded ones who are willing to come together often enough to enjoy this game together. The book manual sure looks great. Ah, not to mention, RPG requires someone to take on the role of gamemaster right? I want to play leh..... sigh. Time to psycho someone else to buy and be gamemaster then I just join and play. hehehe.

Wah Best ~14.7km/l

Great news! After clocking 10km/l and 10.5km/l for the 1st 2 tanks of fuel, I've managed a very good 14.7km/l for my 3rd tank. Will continue to use SPC 92 for now till after the 1st servicing. Anyway, that would be this coming Saturday. After which 1 more full tank before testing out SPC 95. So far so good with SPC 92 though. Just wanna test and see if there is any point in switching to a higher octane. Getting so used to owning a car now that I can't see myself ever going back to purely bus and MRT anymore. Maybe once in a while.... but definitely nothing more.

More Best Shots!

Have uploaded pictures of Xuefeng and myself previously. Now for the indoor ones taken during Alvan's and Eliz's wedding as well. It is not often that I really like photos of myself man.... hahaha

Xuefeng was complaining that the previous one her photo not so nice..... Now she can't complain anymore? I hope. hehehe

Games Arrived

My games are in. And many thanks to Andrew and his friend Errol. Ooooh, and I can't wait to try out this game! Carcassonne, with such great reviews and this is like 1 monster of a set. Andrew's right in saying that the volumetric weight of this is a killer. The box is monstrous in size. 1 good thing and 1 bad thing though..... I thought I subscribed to a Ding & Dent version to shave US$7 off the price. Good news is, there are no cosmetic damage to the box at all. Bad news is, I have 1 missing tile!!! Ding & Dent was not supposed to have any missing items though..... How am I supposed to get Thoughthammer of US to produce that 1 tile of a replacement now..... Grrrr...... Looks like I have to find my own ways and means. I hate incompleteness...... Sigh.....

It's Always Ching!

This photo was taken on the week the camera was purchased. Taken outside Holland V NYDC where the gals had their dessert before they left for Eliz's place for some bachelorette stay over party. Oh yes, they were discussing the wedding plans and how to tekan the guys during the 'fetch the bride' session. Me, being the patient gentleman just stood outside and waited a FULL 20 min. Man, what a record. Decided against going in and intruding on their discussions as both Ching and Huifen were there. Those monstrosities will simply bark at me? hahaha.... Wouldn't want to experience the whining prowess of Becky and Xuemei either. bleah.... the only nice people who would not 'suan' me might be my dear and the bride-to-be.... then again... the bride-to-be seems to have taken to attacking me verbally these days as well... Must be under the bad influence of Ching. It's always Ching..... sigh.... :p

Cell Group

This was taken during Christmas with my cell group. The 1 person missing in the photo is Julian. Had to borrow this pink pig from Sebastian to help 'beautify' the picture. And heh..... I just notice that we are all in white that day...

As we embark on a new chapter for the cell group, I certainly hope to see Jiahui and Julian coming regularly. They'd better!!! Gonna start on the book of Gideon soon. hmmm, just realised I hardly know anything about Gideon except that he is a Judge. Oh well, we all learn some day.

Singapore vs Thailand

Was at Gordon's place last night watching Singapore vs Thailand. It was a pure disgrace to the game in SE Asia. Especially that coming from the acknowledged powerhouse of the region, Thailand. What happened was that the Thai players all refused to come back onto the pitch to play the match at the 83rd minute when a penalty was harshly given. The players contested the penalty decision and their coach was furious with the call. Noted that this is quite common in the sport these days, the appalling part was that the coach encouraged the players to storm off the pitch and stall the game. It was a blatant threat to force the referee to rescind the call. What a shame.

These people are all supposedly professionals. The coach in my opinion should take the biggest fall encouraging his players to walk off. The 15 minutes wasted was just not acceptable. This is a game where the referee is given the authority to control the match. For the Thais to act like this, they ought to be disqualified outright. Future bans should also be given to the Thai team to make it clear such actions are intolerable in the sport. Disciplinary action must be taken to curb such behaviour. In all my years following soccer, I've never actually seen a worse case for a live telecast of the game failing than this match.

The next disgraceful part is when the Thais were interviewed about this affair. None of the Thais were willing to admit to their blame in this incident. That would be an even greater failure. There is nothing that can possibly defend the Thais in this incident. I understand that there would always be dubious calls and decisions. Yet, I don't think we should ever condone such actions as that of the Thais in the sporting arena. There is no room for such antics. Just imagine if everyone was to act like the Thais here, there would never be a soccer match that will play out its full 90 minutes as wrong calls happen all the time... Honestly, I've seen worst calls then this one before even.

The referee was too 'kind' in my opinion. He would have been in his own right to card the perpetrators of the rebelling and even call off the match and award Singapore a 3-0 scoreline for walkover. My guess is, the referee is stuck here as any further action against the Thais would aggravate matters only. What I can hope to see now is the footballing authorities in the region take action disciplinary against the Thai team. If this doesn't come about, there is no way the sport can move forward in the near future.