Ballast

It's a Sunday and this is the time I spend mucking around the house doing a little Tim "The Toolman" Taylor.

Today's assignment was the fluorescent tube in the common bathroom that has gone out the day before. A quick stop at the DIY store across the street and I had the tube replaced in double quick time.

A flick of the switch et...... nothing.

Aw... nuts. It's the ballast that has gone to ballast heaven. The old tube which I now suspect was still alive, was already disposed of already.

So armed with the new tube and the old ballast, I headed down to the store once again.

The tube tested ok and so it was confirmed that the problem was indeed the ballast.

JayWalk: (Showing her the ballast) 我要买这个. 这个叫什么?

China Lady Store Manager: Ballast.

JayWalk: Har? 我也知道叫 "ballast". 中文怎么讲?

Store Manager: 不知道.

JayWalk:  (Gives the "您来自中国不知道这个中文怎么说?" one-raised-eyebrow look).

Store Manager: （Gave back the "七早八早你是来给老娘添乱的是么?" death stare)

JayWalk: *quietly exit stage right*

TIL: Ballast for the fluorescent tube is known as "镇流器“， according to the description on the box.

Image Credit: https://thatssodad.blogspot.com

- Voxeros

Hong Kong's Occupy Movement

The Occupy Movement* in Hong Kong has been going on for a while now and any hope of breaking the stalemate looks destined to diminish with each new day.

* It is supposed to be called the Occupy Central but it has since spread all over the place like Admiralty, Mongkok etc, that I felt simply calling it the Occupy Movement would be more accurate.

The courts finally decided that enough is enough and granted the authorities to start clearing the streets.

I was in a little cafe in the ulu part of Hong Kong near the Chinese border and the TV was screening the morning news. When the news went on to the segment showing the streets where a small group of defiant activists still remained with their tents pitched and not budging, the patrons in the cafe, mostly elderlies over the age of 50, erupted a mini uproar. It was unanimous that they lamented that the group of naive impertinent youngsters are still clogging up the streets and disrupting other people's livelihood.

The way I see it, while it is noble to pursue transparent democracy, disrupting social order just isn't the way to go about doing it.

I find it hypocritical that nobody made any noise when Hong Kong was under British rule where the governor was simply appointment by the crown. Why didn't they make a ruckus back then?

The West kept pushing for Hong Kong to gain full democracy and I'd be hardly surprised if they have a hand funding this. If they were so into pro-democracy, why didn't Britain implement this before 1997 when they were still in power? Again, hypocrites if you ask me.

Anyway, there is no perfect ideology. Even democracy has its weakness too. Look at Taiwan where all they do everyday is to dish out dirt on their political opponents. The televised fights in parliament were a real joy to watch. Even more entertaining than WWE.

We move on to look at the ultimate proponent of democracy. The leader of the free world. The United States of America. The land of the free. The home of the brave. During the years under Bush and Dumb Bush, the country was run into the shit hole. A round of applause for democracy, yah?

While I am not saying that pursuing democracy is wrong, I think that there is a right way and a wrong way to going about it. Knee jerk is certainly not the right way.

The Berlin Wall was seen taken down overnight but perhaps what people failed to see was the years spent deliberating before that final yank.

China gave herself 50 years to go about reintegrating Hong Kong and I believe that there is a logical rationale behind that. It's only 17 years since the hand over and China still has 33 more years to mull things over. I have faith that whatever the eventual arrangement, at the end of the day, by the Chinese government, will be in the best interest of the Hong Kong folks.

I highly doubt if these young kids even know what they are in for. Said for a few, I dare to venture a speculation that most of them do it because it's the trendy thing to do right now.

Let's face it, you get awesome selfies to post on your Facebook page. Chicks dig the scars on your hand as long as you don't tell them it's cuts from the cable ties when you attempted to fasten the barricades together. Or the bloodied nose when you tripped over your own tent and face planted in the darkness of the night. Or the dried streak of tears when you accidentally poke yourself in the eye with that yellow umbrella.

The main foundation of a democracy, correct me if I am wrong, is that the minority yields to the majority.

So here we have a group of activists proclaiming to speak out on behalf of the people of Hong Kong. The highest head count on the Occupy Movement is somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000. The huge discrepancy is due to the police having a tendency to play it down while the activists tending to exaggerate.

So for the sake of argument, we take the figure of 500,000. How is that the voice of the majority in a land of 7 million population?

Can you spell. I.R.O.N.Y?


Caveat: This is just my personal view on the situation. I hope that people with a problem with my view respect my take on the situation as much as I respect your right to disagree. Let's not start throwing stones at each other. I only wish for the best for our Hong Kong friends and not be under-happy like the rest of us on the tiny red dot.

- Voxeros

End Of Another Chapter

I was planning a long entry to document the end of my second tour of duty in QQland.

The news shocked many when I sent out an message blast via WeChat and it took me almost 3 hours to finish replying everybody's "Why? What happened?", which by the way was mostly congratulatory.

Well, that was just WeChat. I haven't gone on to the rest of my friends, associates and colleagues on QQ, LINE and email yet.

So anyway, just as I was about to begin putting pen to paper, figuratively speaking, when I stumbled unto this article which summed up exactly what I was feeling.

• Five Stars And A Moon (17 Nov 2014) - Employers: Do You Wonder Why Your Employees Are So Switched Off?

In short, I checked out.

I feel sorry for the old towkay who brought me in. I worry his idiot son is going to squander away the business by sheer brute force stupidity so much so that the old towkay will finish his remaining days in destitute.

At the same time I am baffled why old towkay is so blind to the ice berg that his newly minted captain son is steering towards.

Lastly, I am disappointed with the old towkay for being the coward, hiding from me to hear what I have to say where this ship is heading.

Cowardice and denial.

RMS Titanic.

- Voxeros

Seeds And Nuts 2.0

• JayWalk Online (17 Feb 2011) - Seeds And Nuts
• JayWalk Online (16 Mar 2011) - Seeds And Nuts - Thereafter

Just when I thought the last time I had "Bird Food" was just a while ago, it dawned on me that 3 years have already flown by.

Wow. How time passes!

So anyway, during my last trip back in June 2014, I decided to pack more seeds and nuts back to QQland.

This time round, my mix is:

• Walnuts
• Cashew Nuts
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Almonds
• Wolfberries

I did away with black sesame seeds as they have a tendency to get stuck in between you teeth and really ugly when you smile. I added wolfberries for its health benefits and also the fact that there was a special offer.

No pine nuts nor sunflower seeds as there was no stock that day.

As usual, all of them are unsalted with the exception of the pumpkin seeds.

The wolfberries are quite nice but I made the mistake of buying too much which made the entire mix tasted off. It didn't help that they have a tendency to clump together and so you can imagine when I bit into a big chunk of it.

p.s. Yeah. It was the same tupperware, I used the last time round. Still good and tight sealed as ever.

- Voxeros

Hong Kong Tennis Open 2014

By right, I should be featuring the match winning point above but Lisicki won that on account of Schiavone's double fault and so essentially, it wasn't a point worth my top billing. Instead, I put up Schiavone's save of the first match point.

I was in Hong Kong two weeks ago to watch the semi-final games but was too busy to update it on my blog until now.

Anyway, the other semi-final was between relatively unknown duo of Pliskova (Karolina) and Van Uytvanck.

Er.... who?

Anyway, it was a b-o-r-i-n-g match and kudos to the organisers for having the foresight to place them as the first semi-final of the day where at 3pm in the hot afternoon, the place was about 1/4 filled.

There were sparks of brilliance from time to time between these two ITF graduates but they have a long way to go as far as paying their dues is concerned before being able to be regarded as serious contenders in the big league.

The disparity in levels between Lisicki and Pliskova was evident in the final the next day as latter young padawan was schooled 7-5, 6-3.

Coming back to the semi-final between Lisicki and Schiavone, everyone was rooting for the underdog Italian as the 34 year-old put up a gutsy display against the German who is 9 years younger.

We were awed by her never-say-die attitude as she hunted down every stray ball covering every squared inch of the court.

Win or lose, as far as the point was concerned, was met with big applause from everyone. Perhaps it was everyone's way, including mine, giving her an "A" for effort.

Eventually, youthfulness triumphed as Lisicki takes the title 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

My thought next, goes to the tournament itself. The Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open 2014 is a tiny tournament where the winner goes home with just 280 ranking points. This compared to the Grand Slams (2000 points) and the WTA Premier Events e.g. the current ongoing Wuhan Open 2014 (900 points). The down side to this is that with fewer ranking points and smaller prize money, you aren't going to attract as many big names. In fact, for this particular tournament the top seed was eventual Sabine Lisicki and she was ranked back then as 28th. We won't be expecting the likes of Sharapova, Williams, Kvitova etc to grace the event.

The up side on the other hand is that smaller tournament means smaller venue, means we are up closer to the action. And yeah, cheaper ticket prices too.

p.s. My favourite day of the tournament is actually the quarter-finals where, IMHO, the ticket price gives you the best value for money. The price of the ticket grants you 4 matches to watch in a single sitting. Compare this to the more expensive semi-finals (2 matches) and most expensive ticket final (1 match). Earlier rounds can be boring as players hold back on the throttle to avoid peaking too early and so the quarter-finals is the turning point where players step up their gear in terms of play intensity as they are just a mere two steps from victory. 

Click Here To See --> The rest of the HK Open 2014 photos as well as the video of the match point between Pliskova (Karolina) and Van Uytvanck.

- Voxeros

Talent Uncovered

This is a video of Faith's drawing. It is a time-lapsed video capture and so no. She didn't draw THAT fast.

We started noticing her interest in drawing anime characters and her obsession with creating stuff on Minecraft. For those who have fallen behind in terms of technology, it's a digital low-res version of lego or nanoblocks.

Anyway, when we first saw her drawings, we were like...

... this kid's got a bit of talent. What I initially thought was just a knack coupled with hours and hours spent glued to youtube tutorials (which kinda explained her plunging grades in P5).

After watching this video, I stand corrected.

I don't recall us sending her to any art classes after school. I believed she just happened to pick things up herself.

I am impressed.

Perhaps yellow brick road is laid down for her already. Let's send her to arts school. Yes?

Who knows she may even be in the CGI FX team for Star Wars IX. Who knows?


p.s. I can see the generation gap getting wider. Gone are the days where it is just a pencil/pen and paper.

p.p.s. Perhaps I should get her to meet Grasshopper?

Image Credit: http://www.knowyourmeme.com

- Voxeros

Happy National Day 2014

Happy National Day, Singapore!

Granted this song isn't going to be remembered a year from now (or even a month from now), it is nevertheless a commendable effort.

p.s. I would recommend turning on the captions to read the lyrics as the song runs along. Click on "cc" below the time line bar.

- Voxeros

BarRun 2015 - Prelude

It's been two months since the Sundown Marathon where I completed the 10K with fellow Barflies. It was great fun and my decent timing improvement over last year was the cherry on top.

I enjoyed the run. Not so much about the timing but rather the fact that a few good friends are running together and who can say no to supper thereafter?

That brings me to looking forward to next year. Assuming my work dates don't clash with the event, I am torn between running 10K again or going up the next rung to 21K.

The 2014 Sundown saw the 10K event had an earlier start than the 21K Half and 42K Full Marathon, where the latter starts after the 10K has finished.

If I were to take up the 21K challenge, it would very much mean flying (or in this case running) solo. It won't be as fun as starting off together and going for supper there after.

And if I were to take up the 10K again, it would mean missing out on the chance to challenge myself further and this opportunity diminishes with every year I grow older.

So how?

- Voxeros

In Defence Of NCPG "Boo Boo"

Singapore's NCPG, acronym for National Council for Problem Gambling, recently has an ad which picked Germany to be supposedly the wrong team to bet on.

In gambling, as you all would know, is a problem only if you lose. In this particular case, Germany kept winning.

Oops.

Perhaps Germany was picked because in the entire history of World Cup, no European team has ever won on the soil of the Americas i.e both North and South America. Goldman Sachs predicted a Brazil-Argentina final and so we can imagine the shock when Brazil got handed a 7-1 spanking by the Germans.

Yes, the ad and the irony of it all is funny. We make jokes of the ad but perhaps we should step back and think for a while the message that was originally intended.

Jimmy Fallon ridiculed the ad saying how much savings does a 8-year old child have? $17.25? But think about it from another angle. If the father has to dip his fingers into the kid's piggy bank, what does it say about the rest of the money in the household?

Not so funny now, huh?

The way I see it, our fellow ministers may have jumped on the wrong bandwagon joining the netizen mob in poking fun at the ad. Sure, it's funny and fun for now but bear in mind, there is still one more game to play.

For those who has dabbled in a punt or two, you know how it is like to be on a streak. You feel invincible. This string of victories gives you sense of false bravado and the final wager this coming Sunday/Monday may just be the undoing of every win leading up to this match.

Sure. Germany looks like they have God-status mode turned on right now when they trashed super powerhouse Brazil not by the odd goal or two but freaking 7-1. Mind you, while Germany was indeed the better team that day, they won only because Brazil imploded. The Brazilian team this year is probably the worst team ever assembled for the World Cup. Without Neymar and Captain Silva, they are nothing. People have been singing praises of David Luiz throughout this tournament but I reiterate my stance this lazy fella has been a cancer cell in the Chelsea squad. He is not that good as people made him out to be.

Also, if you look at Argentina-Germany's last 8 international head-to-heads (friendlies included), Argentina has won 7 of them.

Bookies are making Germany to be the favourite here and I am sure majority of the punts will go in favour of them.

Odds always favour the house and so I am thinking bookies will clean everybody out when Argentina lift the trophy come Sunday/Monday.

So. Perhaps it is too early to ridicule the NCPG ad?

I may be wrong with my prediction but the message intended behind the NCPG ad is definitely right.

Think deeper. Don't be so shallow.

-Voxeros

BarRun 2014 - Sundown Marathon 2014

Yup, this year is still the Fantastic Four of us doing the BarRun. Word has it that Airpork no longer run and we are in the midst of recruiting new people for next year's.

This run this year was much better, the change the running route and we were running clockwise this year instead.

Our 10K run was also flagged off earlier at 22:30 so that we finish before 0:00 for the actual Marathon and half marathon to start at 01:30 and 00:30 respectively.

Result? No bottlenecks! Good. For some strange reason, we found ourselves near the front of the starting pack and that turned out to be a blessing as well. No start-off traffic jam too.

• JayWalk Online (03 Jun 2013) - BarRun 2013 - Sundown Marathon 2013

My time this year at 64:15 was an awesome improvement from last year where I came in at 78:14. From 2699th to a whopping 589th! By interpolation, I am estimating that I improved from 1933th to 310th in the Male category and 337th to 50th in the Male 40-49 Age Group category.

Perhaps the only disappointment is the missing infographic analyst of your run that usually comes with the official release of your results. They had it last year and I believe the year before too. It was loads of fun to read.



I have always liked Sundown Marathon's tank top as the material is really comfortable. This year's look better than last although I fear the back decals may start to peel after a few washes.


Special mention goes out to my Wahoo BlueHR Bluetooth 4.0 Heart Rate Monitor which again, worked flawlessly. Guess what? It is still on its first battery since I bought it in Apr 2013 and it's not like I haven't been using it regularly. I have over 50 runs amounting to over 40 hours of running and it's still going on strong.

Kudos!

- Voxeros