What a RISK that some athletes take...

This is one news that some of us maybe interested to find out.



Basically, It is about doping which some athletes choose it to achieve success. However, it is noticeable that it is probably not wise to do so as side effects far outweighs desired effects. Therefore, a doping control is in place to make sure as far as possible that there is no case of doping.

I am sure no one would really want to suffer any side effects such as liver damage or other psychological changes, ya? Anyway, doping is quite an offence for sure. Don't everyone agree?

7th day of chinese new year

Once again, its chinese new year festive period. Since its 7th day of lunar new year, shall wish everyone a lunar happy human day.(Direct translation, hope u all get the meaning) Anyway, hope you guys and girls enjoy the festive period too. For me though, i has just recovered from my illness which is quite serious at its peak. Hopefully no relapse or else my life gotta get interrupted again. This time, my reservist duties are like screwed up in a way that i dunno will i be fit enough to go for reservist next time as that will depends on what my doctor says on 24feb.

Right now, feeling that my nose are quite sensitive. Always reacts (like sneezing) when dust comes within close range around me. Otherwise, I has obey a healthy diet but has not excercised much due to the hot weather. Meanwhile, I keep myself hydrated by drinking plenty of plain water as the weather is quite scorching. Oh well, anyway look out for my next post regarding another interesting article review but without article scanned. (Due to article too big and wide, i may not scan it but it depends...)

Ok, then... Cya, and have a nice weekend ahead!

Update: Mayb a day of the following week then i blog again as i take a break...

Harmful candies?? or not?

Next up... Candies awareness...



Hope alot of people visiting relatives' or friends' home don't happen to see the above mentioned Blink Pop and Baby flash pop. No doubt, it is pleasant to look at, but to eat the candy is deemed a risk as u may suck up harmful substances if the batteries hiding beneath ever leaks. Thats what AVA deems it as, potential "hazardous" candies.

According to the article some time ago, importers are informed but it seems the message to not sell it is not passed on to retailers locally. Investigations are ongoing thus I will not comment much on who is at fault. Anyway, if you like candies, will you buy such candies if i say the risk of sucking up harmful substances is only maybe just an insignificant percentage? I believe most adults won't, but some may taste it just for its novelty. (Main target group in sg is schooling children though and there are no reported injuries as yet.)

The danger factor which is its light bulb may be swallowed if some people suck it too hard. I personally won't try it as I don't really eat or taste unsafe or deemed unsafe products. Whats the point of trying something which may pose to be perhaps harmful to your own personal health? Better to be safe than never ya? Life is precious and i am sure many people agree prevention is better than cure too. (Although there are alot of people who are more adventurous in tasting food.)

So if anyone wants to be more safe a little more, a check with AVA will probably ensure the candies or other food of unique origins to be purchased is safer to eat or doubtful to the point where it could be harmful. Afterall, a candy that looks visually more appealing cannot be always regarded as safe to eat, don't you all agree? =)

Motorcyclists wear reflective vest = Safer on road?

As a start, i shall start on my first article review. I have already prepared 3 other articles cut out from THE STRAITS TIMES/THE NEW PAPER Feb 6 issues for review/discussion. Pictures or rather snapshots of various articles are not available at the moment as i am still figuring out the best way to post it here... In the meantime, do bear these wordy post though i shall break it into more paragraghs for better viewing... Other things to blog will be interesting stuffs and shall be decided on case by case basis.

Okay, everyone knows driving a car has a better safety edge over riding a motorcycle.(More protection) So the point now made in the recent article is whether motorcyclists's clothing do made a difference to their own safety or not much difference.

Well, personally i do not drive any vehicle. I somehow do feel if motorcyclists wear high visibility reflective vests, their vehicles can be spotted much easier and thus prevent any possible collison that results in a Road Traffic Accident.

How successful is this initiative by Singapore Road Safety Council will probably depends on a few factors such as design and comfort of the aforementioned vests. Certainly, if such vests does not look cool enough, will motorcyclists especially the young adults don it in the first place?

Night riding for motorcyclists will likely be safer if they adhere to the road safety rules. I wonder if luminous/reflective designs on some of their motorcycles' components will help ensure a safer journey? I am particularly concerned about road safety as one of my NS friends passed away recently and he is a motorcyclist. Enough said, I just don't want to see any close friends of mine lose their lives on the road.

Anyway, happy tiger chinese new year to all. Remember to obey road safety rules as there is a chinese saying that goes ... "马路如虎口" which is true especially when it will be the year of tiger real soon... =)

Still alive...

Just back from an unwanted place where sick people undergo treatments...

To say i am down with a viral fever disease is appropriate enough to briefly describe how sick i am as i am here to really blog a simple post. How things really changed in just a months time. I am still alive although certain things are still complicated while some things just turn simpler.

If every thing is simple in life, what does stress mean to everyone? Ok, thats just a qn for everyone to think. A balanced lifestyle should reduce stress but it is not what everyone can achieve due to various commitments in life. Ok, enough said, maybe i should blog on more meaningful and not little insignificant things in my next post...

Perhaps, hmmm, lets see how... =)

Case Study: Blogger KT Challenging OCBC Advertisement

From time to time, I occasionally pick up a copy of local daily/weekend newspaper to read be it chinese or english. But normally, I read my daily fix of news from the internet nowadays... Anyway, saw an article (pg8 of weekend TODAY Jan9-10) about a blogger Kitchen Tigress demanding to get her cake from OCBC bank outlet @Marine Parade and well she did get her cake. =O But whats the point of her doing that anyway?

Probably, she may want OCBC to know that their bday cake ad is too realistic to make a person like her to believe it is true? What if she did not get her cake in the end, will she go around and tell everyone that OCBC is not sincere? (Mayb tats what the supervisor in that OCBC outlet that day is worrying about and therefore pleased her with a cake anyway.)

The OCBC Bday cake advertisement itself probably is not conceptualised well enough, as such it will misled minority people like blogger KT to dare to challenge OCBC bank outlet for a cake. Opportunity wise, OCBC is able to identify but unable to illustrates it in their ad well. So is OCBC bank's definition of giving a bday person a bday cake means OCBC is able to really delight their customers?(some may see it that way) Isn't banks supposed to make customers feel good and cared for whenever any banking transactions take place at all times? (This should be what OCBC probably want to relate to in their ad, but it does not show clearly in their ad though.)

This ad may give an impression that OCBC only makes customer feels good on important occasions. Therefore, using cake to delight customers in this instance is not a wise choice as smart ppl like KT try to exploit any loophole which she found but disgraced herself instead. Maybe she thinks that OCBC is really sincere in buying her a cake since the advertisement feature a logical gesture. (Giving a cake to a customer is possible whenever a bank outlet is open and a cake shop is nearby.)

The ad should probably include simple or impossible things that illustrates usage of creativity well as people generally will be sure whether it can happen in real life or not. For example, u dun see people challenging redbull's company at all for not granting them wings upon drinking their products, don't u? Thats only possible if u are dreaming about having wings though.

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Conclusion: Blogger tries to pull off a stunt(but fails to certain extent) and draws 'unexpected' visitors to her blog. (Mayb she did anticipates that, who knows?)

OCBC bank should have come out with a more simpler or out-of-a-box idea for their ad that will not cause any slightest misintepretation. Especially those who try to exploit any loopholes that may embarass the client to any degree. Ads for any banks in future will probably not feature likely scenarios that is actually not expected to happen. Lucky in this case, its just a cake and not something more expensive. =P

Note: No pics are posted here due to out of respect for both parties involved.

IPPT - Test of endurance only?

IPPT... a fitness 5 stations (before that was 6) test made compulsory since pri sch for healthy & medically able bodied males to be taken at least once annually until when they aged around 34years old in singapore. (Thats when reservist days for guys usually end nowadays, just dunno if we guys still need to go for IPPT after that. Haha) For females, dun ask me cos I am a male. =)

While Shuttle run and Sit ups are my best 2 performing stations, i had mixed results in Standing broad jump, Pull ups and 2.4km Run.

What's difficult in Standing broad jump? Isn't it standing broadly and then jump far? Well, there are techniques to jump far as some of my friends have told me, but I believe ultimately improving leg muscles can help alot. So far I notice whenever I have been cycling regularly before IPPT, I can jump better with much ease. (I can jump anywhere from 210cm - 235cm) Hmmm... Jumping over 215cm can be tricky at times as i often retake my IPPT partly because of this simple station. *Damned it, got to fine tuned my techniques... =X

I wonder if I try to reach for the sky, will
I be able to jump further?

Then comes pull ups - test of strength and muscular endurance in my upper body. I can only manage at best 8 pull ups count at one go when i am fitter during my NS rather than now. For now, i think at best a borderline 6, therefore I should go train my upper arm power soon if not i confirm will fail... Somemore, gym cost about $2.50 per trip. Nowadays, cannot afford it (Its not as if 1 gym session will guaranteed you a pass in IPPT), have to think of other creative ways then...

Running has by far been quite ok for me if i do run/cycle regularly from now till my IPPT date. (Maybe it will be one of the days during last week of Jan if i managed to book a day, else it will be held at a "much difficult to run" track during 1st week of Feb when i go for my reservist!) Best timing so far in my life is only 10:30mins, which is also attained during my NS period. =( Shall currently aim to run better than 11:40mins if i am gonna get at least a bronze award hopefully...

Ok, there isn't much motivation for me to excercise these few days due to massive spring cleaning operation. But I can still find motivation somehow, though I feel its more productive if i do train with a friend. Maybe I shall start cycling again to find my excercising momentum, or maybe I shall devise some unique healthy excercising plan... At any costs, I have decided on doing different excercises to really motivate myself to excercise various parts of muscles, else impending IPPT failure awaits me...

One of the better sunrise shots taken few years back by my friend... Hope my future will be brighter soon... Within 1 - 2 years, I suppose...

P/s: Sorry for lack of relevant photos for this post. (That shows how busy or rather slack I am in training, but I will be sure to increase training soon to keep fit in time for tough challenges ahead...) Who take pics of IPPT stations anyway... =P

KittyLab 35th anniversary - An unique experience for me

Okay dokie, to start the new year on a bright note, i think everyone wants to read about something refreshing and adorable rather than something that is scary and nothing special right? So without typing a whole lot of irrelevant nonsense to welcome the start of a brand new year, I shall straight away start off with an amazing experience of mine in late yr 2009. (I know its yr2010 now, but its only Jan 3 to have any conclusive awesome experience in a new year yet ya? =P)

So anyway, why would a young guy like me be @ KittyLab Expo instead of @ IT fair on 27Nov09 for? Good question right? Well not that I am free enough to go there (need to have a break in midst of exam prep stress!) and also not because I 100% like Hello Kitty okay! (Jus curious to know whether is there Dear Daniel also or not, but sadly only got other friends of Hello Kitty) Hmmm, maybe got Dear Daniel hiding somewhere but i just cannot locate it. Okay anyway, that's not the main reason but it is still a sub reason. =X

Who is cuter? Definitely not me for sure =P

The main reason is actually my friend got an extra booked ticket with no taker for it. Since every other friend seems to be either uninterested about the exhibition to go with 2 young friendly ladies or busy on that day itself, i am invited to go at the expense of $42+-(includes online booking fee) which i am willing to go and see for myself why would Hello Kitty come visit Singapore when there are better locations to visit elsewhere. Merchandise are cute but a little overpriced for most students, popular products are sold too fast(understocked somemore) and unpopular products are aplenty just outside the KittyLab exhibition!!! (A survey beforehand on what local kitty fans do prefer buying will likely help boost sales.)

Thats not really important to some people I believe. Move on... ... My experience is still unique despite any of the above shortcomings. =) Firstly, the three of us happily explore the KittyLab exhibition admiring all the small bitsy wonders of it. But REALLY, the intro story plot at the beginning is just too brief and could be made alot more mysterious to make all Kitty fans squealed in more delight. (I am not a Kitty fan as yet, I only find that Kitty and friends are interesting sanrio characters though)

Where is the story plot???

All the stations for our adventure inside actually do test whether any of us are observant, fast in reacting, how well we performed various tasks, etc... (Don't ask me how i know, it is just what I feel as to a certain extent, it is logical enough to derive at the eventual personality of the kitty in gold-printed Kitty ID card that each paid visitor really do deserve.) Other than that, the mini locations around the kitty tower do look stunningly cute and a little too real not to imagine how living in such a dream place would turn out to be. (But its only a few steps from location to location)

After a supposedly fast completion of all tasks & exploration (50mins compared to the limit of under 35mins or so to attain a good citizens badge), proceeding to the KittyLab customs to check out is also surprisingly unique. Its basically handing over the KTA reader at the counter which we used it to record our choice of kitty costume progress at the various stations as we complete the tasks with curiosity!!! It is also then that i found out that i did not achieved my "maybe too ambitious" target of getting a kittyLab good citizen badge. I do get a nice Kitty ID card as a consolation though. (I am not that depressed over not receiving a good citizen as it does not really matters! Seriously, its the experience that counts!!)

Am I a Kitty in disguise? heheh

Overall, my simple verdict would be that it is an exhibition worth to visit once because you don't really experience such cutesy thrills locally often. Not that it is really value for ticket price though(nothing much to explore), which is a little disappointing indeed... =)

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***Food for thought Qn: How would you feel if you went through the above same amusing adventure in place of me?

(Don't say you will never go for such exhibition as if you are a person not curious enough to experience something unique =O )