understand your soulz

this notion really got into me when i was shopping with my wife this evening. i was at isetan and most of the products that they sold are from Japan, even the POS is NEC (from Japan) too. this is really how Japan and Korea can flourish, their own people supporting their local brand. it is especially tough for American or European brands to break into these 2 markets for the past decades until recently. look at the cars on the Japanese roads, almost all Japanese brands (Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda). look at the electronics at Japanese stores, Panasonic and Sony are common (or rather commodity). it is like Peugeot (my brand of car now) in France. let's not talk about local food brand (like Old Chang Kee, Bee Cheng Hiang, Sakae Sushi, etc). look at Creative , how many Singaporeans are using their audio equipment? hardly. it is still way behind Apple iPod. most will say that in terms of quality, design and features, Creative player are not on par with iPod. this is really a chicken and

1) imperial herbal restaurant (vivocity 3rd fl) - chinese food serving, overpriced and not value-for-money. crystal jade will be a better bet. 2) go india restaurant (vivocity 1st fl) - indian cuisine, buffett and ala-carte style. buffett only during lunch at SGD18++, worth a try. their indian dishes are quite unique, taste not that strong, food is just nice and good. try the naan.... 3) thai express (tiong bahru plaza, 2nd fl) - thai cuisine, standard still maintain. i took the pineapple rice, not bad. the tom yum kung's standard still there. thai chicken wing was crispy...there is a membership now but i did not join as i seldom frequent them...worth to look at for regulars.

i was with my wife at her company's D&D... theme: dance to da 80's... comparing to their last year's D&D of Bond's theme, this year is less fantastic and fun. i guess Singaporeans or anyone like 'gambling' (last year event).....tokens won are used to exchange for prizes.... old nokia phones can be gotten. .... this year, pasar malam games... so so prizes for exchange.... the best part of the event is Kumar....our local comedian....really no holds barred.... he will joke on anything from races, countries, govt....everything that you can think of... a good one that i like is on Mercedes Benz but it is too racist and global.... its against the rule to write here... every year, Nokia will invite fortune tellers as part of the event.. the queue snaked like crazy....this is the first time that i seeked a fortune teller....career was my topic.... "39 years will be your turning point...from 35 to 50 years old you should be prepared to do big if you focus...

how advance can a game be? try out FFXII... i used to play FFI, II, IV, V and VI. a bit of VII... then FFXII ....everytime i played FF, it's always refreshing in their graphics and gameplay... this version is simply awesome. the storyline.... though i am only at 10% of gameplay is interesting...a lot of side quests.... a cross between traditional RPG (FF type) and Action RPG. same battle screen when you meet enemies. .... using Licenses to build your character according to your preferences and strategies.....earning cash is so difficult... so many armours, weapons, magicks, technicks to buy but no $$$.....*sob*... as always, the graphics from FF always set the trend for all up and coming console games...i always feel that they are at least a generation ahead of all games in the current market.... what's next for FFXIII on PS3??? Square Enix all the way.... what about Mario and Zelda on Wii??? Nintendo, my all time fav also.

need a centerfold girl....here's my recommendation....cheers.

finally got my hands on Carl's Jr Burger....though still expensive at around SGD7 each.... quite a large burger... i took the guacamole burger....not bad...my wife had the mushroom burger....even better than Burger King... i think one burger can fill 2 Asian's stomach. i almost could not walk after that meal. probably will try the chilli burger next time. any beef burger should be good. one of my customer just started an Indian food outlet in VivoCity (near HarbourFront Centre), "Go India" (near Gold Heart).... serving buffett and ala-carte dishes....i think should be Indian food. haven't tried, have to ask for a free trial.. :P PS: Brewerkz's burger also worth a try, price on the high side but one portion is good for 2....

i was stuck at the entry point to Sentosa Island on Tuesday. i told that i needed to provide IT support for Sentosa Spa...i was told to pay S$4 since my vehicle number is not registered in their list of permitted vehicles. i argued that response to customer was important and customer had no time to register my vehicle.....after some arguments and delibration, i paid S$2 unwillingly. on wednesday, an IBM engineer was with me and i entered (my car again) flashing IBM pass and explaining that we were providing support to Sentosa.....this time round, no questions asked and at NO CHARGE.... what is this? does it mean that IBM pass can go into Sentosa freely or providing support to Sentosa is different from Sentosa Spa... now i know what to do....what double standard at the entry point...*sigh*

finally, i understand why my mum used to say that.... when i was a kid, i am the naughtiest among my siblings.... running, climbing, getting into injuries, having the most number of sickness records, *blah, blah*....it never crossed my mind that i was creating lots of problems.... for my parents, of course... my mum used to say, "can you for once stop creating trouble for me?".... i am using this sentence so often now for my girl....we only realise the essence or meanings of what our parents said when we became parents ourselves. their words were ALWAYS "passing thru' our ears".....their advices often rebutted by us....their care for us unappreciated....their wait for us overnight were often chided by us as unfounded....their phonecalls reminding us on dinner were treated as nuisance.... perhaps this is life.... or is it retribution? i am doing (or soon doing) all that they have done.... hahaha.... when we were young, we had always wanted to grow up and be indep