I was at the Singapore Flyer yesterday. While at the top, got to see parts of the rehearsal of YOG opening. It set me thinking back to where I was 1 year ago.

Sometime last year, I was offered the job to be part of the EXCO team to run the recreational village for the young Olympians at the NTI premises. As much as I was estatic to the offer, I had to turn it down coz at first they wanted me to be a Volunteer....... (for a whole year?) WTF?! Later on, they offered a sum of $2k/mth with a minimum working hours of 12hr/day. In short, I put aside the whole idea of joining the team. Anyway, that's not the point.

Today, I didn't regret it a bit even though I'm still unemployed. Don't get me wrong, it's great that Singapore is the venue for the inaugaural Youth Olympics. I was kinda excited about it, especially with all the hype, events and support for the younger athletes. The city looks nice and ready to open up to the world.

What made me lose interest and embarassed about this whole thing is....................









THE STUPID JJ LIN SONG AND IT'S ACTIONS!!!! KNNBCCB!!!!!



No offence, but this is insanely irritating!!!

High on Controllerism


Few weeks back I posted about the availability of the Reloop Digital Jockey 2 IE on the Embrace pages and a few other forums. The response was unexpectedly overwhelming and fast that we ran out of the controller in 3 days. No thanks to the people in Jakarta as they bought all the 15pcs of excess stocks.

Apparently, the jocks in Jakarta are fast getting into the digital set-ups. To them, having the versatility of playing with analog and digital is a commendable trait. Unfortunately, that can't be said the same way here. Some people here, detest DJs playing with softwares or digital set-ups. They will only make friends or allow other DJs to be part of their 'circle of trust' only if you're purely vinyl or CD. Well, it's alright. I detest boys smelling other boy's bootie...... whatever suit your style, aite. (btw, to those boys..... if you wanna smell my vinyl collection, let mw know, aite....)

Anyway, this morning I got a couple of emails from potential customers threatening to buy the out-of-stock controllers from other dealers. In fact, they even asked for big discounts because they, as customers, have been waiting for 2 weeks for the new stocks to arrive and they demand their 'rights'!!

Frankly, I'm really sorry that the stocks are late as it has to be shipped down from Germany and go through all the unnecessary red-tapes. I know how it feels..... 'the agony of waiting!' If I may, I would definitely throw in some freebies or something to pacify the addiction. On a different note, I don't remember Apple giving discounts to it's customers when iPad goes out-of-stock and we all have to wait for another month or two?? Oh, wait a minute..... we're not Apple. But then again......... ;-)

So there it is...... the new stocks will not be in for another few days. Either you guys wait, or, go get it from another dealer. Be prepared to pay $200 more, work with an older firmware, and, keep my mobile number coz you need to call me for after-sales support......... coz they will not give you any.

Some asked why I'm being too nice to these boys (who are my customers). The younger generation need support from seasoned people like us. Its a pity to see them get scounded by dealers whose only interest is to get rid of their stock, without offering any advise or support.


Come for a visit, you'll understand why it's not a retail shop........ it is the EMBRACE Showroom.

Thank You Note.

Just got back from a quick visit to Saigon for the PALME Vietnam exhibition. It has been a long time since I actually feel the vibe at the exhibition, but of course, no thanks to the organizers. It's the friends that made it worthwhile. It was also the first time in so many years that we saw a queue outside the exhibition hall before it opens.

Gotta say a big thanks to the E-Tech Magazine boys, Clarence, Thomas and Dennis. It was the right time to hang-out together and laugh at yourself!

Kamal Mahtani from KLOTZ Cables, my bro, we waited for 15yrs to have that drink. Finally!!

Jack and Colin - Medusa..... awesome night and thanks for the drinks!

Keegan and Josh - Pioneer DJ ....... it goes beyond the brand, bro.

Peter Wong, Lee - Performance Audio ...... ready to Rock??!

Juan & Ron - DAS Audio ........ please explain what is 'urgent' speaker demo?? hahahh!!!


Thub & Sebastien - d&b audioteknik ...... always the friend when u need one.

Glenn & TSM Marketing ...... good to see you guys again.

the management of ICE BLUE Bar Saigon - thank you for the hospitality!

WHAT'S NEW??!

Friend : Bro, got new club opening tonight. Let's go check it out!

Me : Check what out??

Friend : Check la.... see what they have, who DJ,what system, drink prices, bla, bla, bla.....

Me : Err..... isn't it the same everywhere?

Friend : But it's new..... maybe got something new.....

Me : Bro.... same operators from those clubs before.....

Friend : Maybe they are smarter now?

Me : What's new? Servers wear only G-strings? DJ, music, system? People all trying to look cool, hold 1 glass of champagne all night? Whatever they have at the bar, I'm sure there are other bars have it also. Whatever new music they play, I'm sure it will change in 3 mths time. Looking at the history of the previous clubs, it's gonna be 'hit & run' again??

Friend : Just go la, bro. Check how the girls are......

Me : Errr.... same la, bro. Unless the girls have that 'thing' down there that can talk or sing like Lady Gaga.... I'll go.

Friend : Ya la.... KNN!!

Why Malay women choose foreign partners
(taken from Berita Minggu 11th July 2010)

The headline reads "LELAKI MELAYU TAK GUNA!!" (Malay men are useless!!)

First of all, this is not a debate to show the male ego side of me, nor it is to correct the writer, Ms Lulu Marlya. As it has all been in this blog, I'm looking at it from a different perspective, different environment and a sub-culture which is not favoured by our people.

Some of the reasons why Malay women opt for the non-Malays are :-

- Lack of academic qualifications
- Failure to communicate broadly due to the lack of knowledge
- Malay men are more egoistic compared to other races
- Malay men thinks they are of higher status than women
- the more qualified men are all taken.....

To be frank, I do agree with those reason to a certain extent. I, myself have come across Malay men who has the failure to communicate due to their limitations of knowledge, superbly-egoistic (we called it Mat-Champion), lack of academic qualifications and such. But..... I have also met many who are the opposites. Does this writer heard of the single guys at APM, 4PM or even Mendaki? The women interviewed also mentioned that the good ones are all taken..... hmm. Wait a minute...... are these reports taken from the 12 women she interviewed or.... her perceptions from the thesis she did??

Anyway, looking at the writer's pic, her name, dress-sense and family profile.... the 'foreign-factor' does play a part in her findings. But again, this is just me being judgemental and stereotyping of the Malay women. In fact, how these women socialize does have a great influence in what kind of men they prefer.

(actually, I wrote a 300-words rebuttal of these report. but I soon realize that it is useless to post them as the report was written based from an egoistic view of a Malay women who thinks that she's 'all-that'. On a different note, we should have a drink and discuss 'things', no?)

Moving on, some women would prefer to lead or when thinks she is in a better position to lead due to her qualifications, position at work or how much income she brings back for the family. If it works for the particular family, good for them. If it doesn't...... well, move on. Many forget about the mutual respect, love and compassion they had for each other. Driven by the society we live in, family values are left forgotten, love took a back seat and when all is gone, we'll blame others instead of looking at the mirror first.

I believe there are still a few good men out there. Some are hidden, some are still waiting, and some are as confuse as I am. Those who think there aren't any left, I think you're looking at the wrong places or haven't look hard enough. Those who have found these men and made them wait so that you can find a better man, (there aren't any better men). Those women who have been hiding these few good men for their own benefits - make sure these men are well-rewarded (with extra benefits). There are no such thing as a 100%-man. If you got a man with 80% attributes, be thankful......... coz the 20% will come from the women who loves her man.

Maybe we should learn to be thankful with what we got ....... Syukur Alhamdulillah.

"a few good men...."

Project 2010?



Few years ago, there was a project called 2010. Not really sure what the real details are but it's something about the sports fraction aiming for the 2010 World Cup. Yup, the target was for the Singapore National soccer team to qualify for the World Cup. So, here we are and Singapore doesn't even come close to beating war-torn Iraq. What happen to the project? God knows......

On a different note, looking at all the big soccer stars and soccer nations, most of the players actually come from humble beginnings or even hardships. They are the ones who had nothing at all, and soccer was their way out to success. Their hunger for making life a lil' bit better for their family was the first reason these guys gave everything to soccer, and achieving it. These guys are always very hungry to achieve something, even when they reached the status of God-like players.

In some countries, like the USA, parents pay for their kids to play soccer. Some of these kids don't even want to play soccer but were made to do that as part of their curricular activities. These are the kids who come from middle-income families to all the rich ones. Most of them play soccer coz they have to or just for the fun of it such as socializing. How many of them would have the hunger to achieve success and give it all?? As much as the US team are in the World Cup, they will never reach the standards of Argentina, Brazil or Uruguay. If you wonder why teams like Nigeria are not successful anymore, it's because the players are rich people now and they got nothing much to fight for themselves. Ever wonder why the French team acted like they did in the WC2010? Well, it didn't help coz they're just French.

Coming back to Singapore, I notice that for the past 3 years, the soccer culture has become familiar like the one in US. Parents here pay for their kids to be in well-known soccer schools, mixing with expat families or train under ex-soccer celebrities whose only aim is to make sure they earn enough for a car, condo, annual holidays and dining in restaurants every other day. Do you think the new generation will be hungry to achieve all this? By that, means a whole lot of sacrifices, determination and discipline.

I still remember those days where we see kids playing soccer at the void decks, basketball courts, carpark, etc. Name it, well make a pitch out of it. Nowadays, u don't even see them anywhere. Sometimes, not even on the futsal courts coz the Mat-Reps are there to loiter and create nuisance. Not forgetting we have to pay like a gazillion dollars just to play soccer on a proper pitch. With all these, what actually make you think that we gonna be in the world cup in the near future??

There's more to be said but, would anybody even bother? Where's the hunger?? Hungry?? Or just 'hung-out-to-dry'?? Let's see whose hungry enough to win this year's WC2010?? Vamos Argentina!!!!!