Dr. M Speaks

And we have comments like:

"Bring it on Malaysia!"
"bomb singapore?does he have the guts?or should i say the brains?"

Come on. It's a joke. But then again, if MM Lee made such a joke, we would be embarrassed too. And frankly, my respect for a prominent politician and great ex-leader of Malaysia has just gone down.

lip
ranting

Fuck Switzerland

Why must your damn National Languages be GERMAN, FRENCH, and ITALIAN?!!!!

And all the data I need is in those 3 languages.

Go Google translation software.

Sigh.

lip
ranting

Switzerland Market Report

So here I am slogging away at my Swiss Market Report, due at the end of the internship. Some interesting facts I have learnt thus far:

1) Switzerland has the world's 7th highest GDP Per capita.

2) Switzerland is known for watches, machinery, biotechnology and finance.

3) Switzerland has nice mountains.

4) Switzerland's capital is Bern.

5) Switzerland is probably the best example of direct democracy - citizens vote on everything - from whether the minister should wear white, or whether the country should join the EU.

6) Which brings me to the interesting point that Switzerland is probably the closest example to Marxist communist model today. I'm talking about the real Marx, not Maoism, Stalinism, Leninism or other forms of "suppresive" politics in the world.

I should probably do International Studies, or Politics. I loved my course in Social Sciences, maybe I'll do an intro to IS course to see how much politics I actually like.

Then again, I hate the nitty gritty details of politics, and frankly, all you have to succeed in Politics in SG is to be called a Lee and wear white.

Hey! I've already done that:)

lip
ranting

Absolut 2006

It's just not happening.

UChicago organises a party every year for incoming US students (OMG, I'm using the word incoming, i'm actually feeling pretty USified)... and this year, my batch has not risen to the occasion and done anything of not yet.

Shahidah is now the one running the show, and of course, with our supposed chairman and social chair running off to Thailand. Then again, I ran off to Frankfurt, so let's not invoke the pot/kettle/black argument.

And Kenneth is in Chicago, Calvin is in Chicago, Huiling is in Chicago, Huiying is i-dunno-if-she-wants-to-be-in Chicago. Thong Kai is touring Europe with his girlfriend.

That leaves, Ivan, Shahidah, Kaval, Yikley and Waikeong.

Let's see, who do we have now? No one!

Kudos to Shahidah though. I'm doing absolutely (pardon the pun) nothing at all.

lip
ranting

Exercise

It has come to my attention that my physique, though nothing to shout about, is becoming even more "nothing to shout about".

I attribute this to American food, and Bartlett dining hall. You always talk about the Freshman 15. (For the uninitiated, it is the 15 pounds you CONFIRM CHOPSTAMP GUARANTEED put on on your first year in college.)

My roommate happens to be a wrestler, and so, we have a weighing machine in the bathroom.

I remember when I first went to Chicago, my bodyweight was 160 pounds. Or 72.7 kg.

Now, it is 170 pounds. 77.3 kg

A TOTAL FUCKING WEIGHT GAIN OF 4.6 KG.

My BMI used to be a respectable 21.7. Now it's a staggering 23.1.

Overweight is at 24.9, which is at 83-84 kg.

I think it is time to start my exercise regime again. I used to swim every week. OK YOU GOT ME! (blardy hell) .. change that to every MONTH. But I did go roller blading very often, especially with Sharleen in those days... and after that, I went running and blading alone.

I hate running, I love blading. Blading gives you the sense of speed, and you can get to Parkway and back in half an hour. Furthermore, it doesn't kill your knees. I MUST bring my god damn blades to Chicago with me.

And in the Winter, all thoughts of exercise just get thrown out of my head. Dammit.

Gone are the days I ran 2.4km in 9.15. Gone are the days I ran a marathon. Well, those days are going to be aim again, to exercise more, and to run the Chicago Marathon. (shit, I MISSED THE REGISTRATION DATE) -oh, apparently there's a registration cap of 60000 runners. Dammit. I want to RUN!

Looks like I have to persuade my ice skating gf to start blading:), if not, I will just go blading every Sunday along Lake Shore Drive alone. And the exercise regime will start now!.

Shit. Did 100 push ups. I'm too tired to type. Bye

lip
ranting

Chicago Sears Tower Plot

And so the terrorists have decided to blow up Chicago Sear's tower after bringing New York's WTC to the ground in 2001.

If they had succeeded, it would make 2 in the family who have seen skyscrapers go down in America, after my Mum's Manhatten trip in 2001.

This shows us that we still live in a dangerous world, where the rules of terror are becoming more and more... fluid.

Then again, it may just be an intelligence mistake by the US government, which wouldn't surprise me.

lip
ranting

Video Broadcast

Video Quality Kinda Sucks. I used DivX Compression. Anyone can suggest a better compression?

lip
ranting

New Creative Webcam

And so I bought a webcam.

:) And I bought Creative. Bad CHOICE. It took almost an hour to set up the damn camera with all the drivers... But the result is one very happy girl, one amused sister and mum, and a very very angry boss.. ooops.



Balls to you!





lip
ranting

Cool Mums

6/20/2006		8:06:24 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		hello
6/20/2006		8:06:24 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		who is this new girlfriend?
6/20/2006		8:06:37 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		smth like that
6/20/2006		8:06:39 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		haha..
6/20/2006		8:06:47 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		who
6/20/2006		8:06:55 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		girl la
6/20/2006		8:06:56 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		then?
6/20/2006		8:07:01 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		her name is wincy
6/20/2006		8:07:05 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		the artist i sent u the pictures of
6/20/2006		8:07:12 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		from where huh
6/20/2006		8:07:17 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		HK/SG
6/20/2006		8:07:19 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		lol.
6/20/2006		8:07:30 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		RGS RJC girl la
6/20/2006		8:07:35 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		good lah i am not objecting
6/20/2006		8:07:43 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		go for ti
6/20/2006		8:07:47 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		at least not black right
6/20/2006		8:07:48 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		ehh
6/20/2006		8:07:53 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		sounds like what sis would say
6/20/2006		8:07:59 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		how tall huh
6/20/2006		8:08:05 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		about ying's height
6/20/2006		8:08:06 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		1.7
6/20/2006		8:08:21 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		nice
6/20/2006		8:08:21 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ok lah approve
6/20/2006		8:08:45 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		...
6/20/2006		8:08:47 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		need u to approve one meh
6/20/2006		8:08:48 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		haha
6/20/2006		8:09:02 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		i think she'll earn more than me in the future though
6/20/2006		8:09:05 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		if i'm stuck in IE
6/20/2006		8:09:06 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		but take it easy this time huh
6/20/2006		8:09:07 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		sian
6/20/2006		8:09:09 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		duh*
6/20/2006		8:09:32 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		be positive lah

6/20/2006		8:09:59 AM		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		ling-		she wants to learn drawing from u hahaha..
6/20/2006		8:10:24 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		good good
6/20/2006		8:10:50 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		next time i probably have studio
6/20/2006		8:10:50 AM		ling-		Lip Jin: Frankfurt		she can paint too

Imagination

My imagination has been running kinda wild since ermm.. this morning. It's amazing how I can be so obsessive about a single thought. You can call it "single-mindedness" in a euphemistic sense, or rather, I might just have OCD. You never know:).

And yeah, I realise I can't take stress on stress's own terms. I can stay calm, but at the same time, I just want to get my plate cleaned up and all the excess annoyances done with. I think I thrive under stress, but then again, I prefer not to be stressed out.

And the gf sure knows me well. ARGHH... =p. And I realise that many of my closer friends know me very very well too, from my idiosyncracies to my penchant for moodiness and general idiotic-ness.

Sigh. Phone bill is going to be $600 bucks this month. Fuck.

P.S. Some people are Java idiots. I hate it when Firefox crashes due to a Java Error.

lip
ranting

Working in Frankfurt

Somehow, I feel that working in a Govt Agency is sooo... Boring.

It's all paperwork, and it's about mixing and matching, and looking through databases, and creating opportunities for firms to talk to each other.

Problem is, if the firm itself is looking to internationalise, it should already have it's own resources and it's own drive in looking to internationalise. Oh well. So what we are doing is just... ermm.. paperwork.

Kinda sad.

lip
ranting

I need a webcam

lip
ranting

Cooking and Buying Groceries

With much difficulty over the past week, I finally managed to find myself the Kaufhof - or in English - a supermarket.

And an egg in this Supermarket is Super expensive - 33 cents. Which works out to around 66 cents in SGD. Awesome.

Thank God for a Lebensmittel (a smaller supermarket) near my place, and now I have to figure out where the hell to get washing detergent from, because I didn't find anything in the Kaufhof - or maybe, it wasn't in the food section.

Talking about food, I've decided to subsist on peanut butter and bread for my entire stay in Frankfurt, until I looked at the receipt and saw that Erdnusscreme - Peanut butter - costs €2.99 for 350g. Which wouldn't last me for a week. Ouch. And Bread costs €1.29. double ouch.

Compared to a Bratwurst for €2.50 and a coke for €1.30, I think I'll have to survive on Peanut Butter and Bread.

Dad, send money.

lip
ranting

WM 2006

Which by the way, stands for World Cup in Deutsch.

People have been asking me how Frankfurt is like. Frankly, (pardon the pun), rather boring.

Here's why: Although it's the World Cup, firstly, I'm not all that interested in soccer, and secondly, it's boring to watch soccer without friends. Being in Frankfurt alone just means you have to find things to do on your own, and after awhile, that becomes kinda tedious. Sigh.


Fressgas - the "eating street" of Frankfurt.


My quiet little Esslinger Strasse - Outside my window.

Oh! And I managed to cook my self-recipe dish. After buying luncheon meat, eggs and sprouts, well, I managed to cook myself a delicious noodle dish!



1) Boil noodles with sprouts
2) Fry egg with luncheon meat
3) Fry noodles with egg and luncheon meat
4) Add oyster sauce.

Tada! Cooking by myself never seemed so... satisfying:)

Trying to persuade the girlfriend to come Frankfurt:) haha. Poll the audience here: Who thinks if 4th of July is a Tuesday, that everyone should take leave on Monday 3rd of July? Comment! :)

lip
ranting

Frankfurt!

Life in Frankfurt is great. I'm having loads of fun, and the people in the office are nice, and most importantly, IT'S THE DAMN WORLD CUP!

But then again, by the time the matches end, I'm already back in my apartment:). Oh well.

Just a peek into my life.




My little room in 11 Esslinger Strasse, Frankfurt.




My office, with my window seat and my own research corner. I'll be doing market research on Austria and Switzerland, I think:)



The office when empty. 2 cubicles for Annette and Elena, and the office for Tim. =)

lip
ranting

In Frankfurt

Short post, because my internet here costs around $2 euro for 15 minutes.

1) In Frankfurt, lugguage with all my business stuff inside still in London. I have no shirt. I shall report to work on Wednesday now. Maybe I'll pop by Hugo Boss and get a shirt. Hugo Boss store is just beneath my workplace.

2) Missing my girl in Chicago. It's an awesome summer with World Cup and Internship, and just an important piece missing in the puzzle.



Back together in SG in 9 weeks time. Sigh. It's always the distance. Why why why?!?!?

:) To hell with popular opinion, because what you think doesn't matter to me. (Actually it does, so please don't think bad thoughts:)

3) HANXUE!!! My damn wireless router. Please!

And yes, it's true.

lip
ranting

A look back

1 year on, and I'm done with 1 year in Chicago. I'm off to Frankfurt on Sunday, and I'm finaly done packing my life into little boxes.

Packing is such a bitch, especially when you have bought so much stuff over the past 8 months you kinda forget how hard it is to bring everything back. I came here with 3 suitcases, and I leave with 15 boxes and 3 suitcases. Talk about consumerism.

Meanwhile, my collection of junk has increased. (weighing scale anyone?) and I also have an ironing board, and various little things that make your life convenient and you don't really care about until you start moving them. Then they suddenly increase in mass and bulk, till all you can do is curse and swear.

I'm excited for Frankfurt, but I leave Chicago with a sense of ... loss I guess. But then again, we will have to lead our own separate lives again, till the day comes when we are back together.

Cheers. it's 2 am, I'm done packing, having a car is just GREAT (though everyone clamors to use it, I get first option though:). Life is just awesome.

See you later, Chicago.

lip
ranting

Car Problems Part 3

And so my car is gone yet again.

Yes. The battery died. I tried jump starting it, it died after I switched off the engine. Then it died in the middle of the road while on the way to the mechanic.

Thank god for Brian and Alex who helped me all the way. Thanks to Adela, Ming and Jason too, who helped me through this shitty period of car troubles.

A car is just like a gf, after a break down, or a break up, you need your friends beside you to recover.

Thanks all. I'm just so lucky to have friends.

lip
ranting