1800hrs

The prognosis is bad - I've been struck with an incurable disease.

Name:
PPS - Phantom Phone Syndrome.

Symptoms:
Periodic fumbling in pants pocket for mobile phone, feeling vibrations, beeps, rings and all types of sounds from mobile phone when there are none coming from the source.

Ways of infection:
Expecting messages or calls from anyone. Can be compounded if message/call is expected from person(s) afflicted with MPRMS (My Phone Rang Meh? Syndrome). Aggravated exponentially the more times mobile phone is checked for a message that isn't there.

Cure:
None.

1703hrs

Listening to:



Tanya Chua - Jupiter (2002)


This is one of my many CDs that have been missing for a long time. Like the rest, I only had the jewel case with nothing inside. How annoying is that! So imagine my surprise (I literally gasped) when I pressed the "eject" button on my sister's car CD player last night and it popped out. Yay! :)

Jupiter is local singer-songwriter Tanya Chua's last English album. Although she has released two critically-acclaimed Mandarin albums since then (Stranger and Amphibian), Tanya still sounds much more comfortable singing in English.

The album kicks off with an acoustic version of Train's "Drops of Jupiter", and further down on the track list there's also her version of Coldplay's "Yellow". The former is a highly listenable version; the latter proves that sometimes there ain't nothing like the real thing.

Elsewhere on the album, Tanya hits many highs, both with the slower numbers like "Two Of Us" (probably the sexiest song she's ever done, heheh) and the up-tempo ones like "Tell Me" and "Just Like The Movies". The penultimate song is "On This Earth", a jazzy melody with vocals and accompaniment recorded in the studio at the same time -  my favourite track on the album.

And of course, there is a hidden track which I talked about in one of my very first entries here (the fifth, to be exact).

The album can be listened through from start to finish, and it will leave you longing for more. Recommended in a dimly lit room, with lots of cushions all around you and a mug of steaming hot chocolate. :)

(editor's note: between my sis and I, we have every single one of Tanya's albums. Heheh.)

Lester's rating: 4.5/5 stars!

1622hrs

Listening to: Kelly Clarkson - Behind These Hazel Eyes


I was happily cruising along the fast lane of the SLE towards Woodlands last weekend, when I suddenly spotted a striking figure in my rearview mirror:



Wah piang! It's a Lamborghini Gallardo! Even though I was already travelling at about a hundred kilometres an hour, it ate up the distance between us effortlessly within seconds.

Of course, I was not obliged to give way to him (sports car very hao lian issit?), but I wanted to see the back of the car. So I changed lanes and waved him through:



He was past me in a flash, and with a throaty roar; no surprise, considering it can go from 0-100kmh in 4.2 seconds.

By the way, this baby costs about S$850,000 without COE. How's that for some serious bucks! (y)

1704hrs

Listening to: Muse - Hysteria


I was cleaning out my drawers at home the other day and unearthed some interesting stuff.



Lots and lots of letters, notes, cards from friends and special friends over the years. Some of them are written a long time ago by people reading this! Haha.



These two high-tech gadgets were my prized possessions back in secondary school and JC!



A photo sticker stuck onto a phonecard, taken on October 31, 1999. I remember the date well 'cos it was Ben's birthday (hence the "18 liao") and it was the first time we went to Boat Quay and looked at all the pubs, just days before the A levels.


And finally, today is Mothers' Day, so Happy Mothers' Day to my mum! And happy birthday in advance too :)

1505hrs

Why is it that the things that make me angry are always the same things?

Now that's one incoherent sentence.

1015hrs

Listening to: Jay Chou - Shi Jie Mo Ri



(ST photo)

A blast of cool air hit me in the face as I exited Toa Payoh MRT yesterday in the late evening hours. Immediately, I wished that all public places in Singapore were like Toa Payoh interchange and HDB Hub - air-conditioned.

En route to the library to return my overdue books, I noticed there was a huge crowd gathered at the large square in the centre of HDB Hub. "Could it be some Channel U outdoor filming?", I thought to myself. But as I looked up at the huge screen above, I finally realised why there were hundreds and hundreds of people who stopped eating, shopping, and generally just rushing about like all Singaporeans do.

I had arrived during the closing moments of the televised funeral. Our President was presenting the State flag and Mr Wee's medals to his bereaved widow. The TV commentator then called for a minute of silence out of respect for our former President.

And suddenly, the sobre atmosphere became deathly silent. Salegirls from jewellery stores stopped distributing flyers. Staff from Popular Bookstore and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf came out of their shops to take a look at the proceedings on the Jumbotron. On the central square, people young and old bowed their heads, or had their eyes transfixed up above. The only sounds came from the ST photographers who were capturing the scene for today's paper.

The lone bugler sounded The Last Post, and the live broadcast was over just like that. A pre-produced VT on the life of Mr Wee was put on screen.

And as if the "pause" button on a VCR was pushed, everyone at HDB Hub started moving on with their lives again.


(editor's note: try spotting me in the above picture.)

1426hrs


EXCLUSIVE
Agile NUS student nabs handphone thief

SINGAPORE, May 6 - A RECENT spate of missing handphones at a National University of Singapore (NUS) study area ended last week, thanks to the wits and athleticism of an alert student.

Justin Yeoh (below), 23, had been studying for the recent exams at Block EA in NUS' Faculty of Engineering, a popular revision area for students. The third-year Civil Engineering student said: "Over the past three weeks, some people have had their handphones stolen while they were studying here. After one of my friends lost his brand-new phone last week, I decided to try to lure the thief out."

On the afternoon of April 26, Mr Yeoh set up a simple trap - he left his own handphone on one of the study benches and walked away to a vantage point about 20 metres away.

About five minutes later, he saw a dark-skinned man in his 20s walking towards the bench where the handphone was. Mr Yeoh said: "He paused at the bench for just a few seconds, then walked away calmly. I quickly ran to the bench, and found that my phone was gone."

The suspect had taken the lift to the ground floor. From the second level of the EA Block, Mr Yeoh shouted at him to stop walking, but he instead broke into a sprint.

Mr Yeoh then leaped two storeys over a railing onto the ground floor, where he gave chase. He finally caught up with the suspect about 50 metres away from the EA Block and tackled him to the ground. The two men rolled down a slope at the entrance of the Faculty of Engineering.

Cornered, the suspect claimed that he had been running for a taxi. A body search revealed nothing, but Mr Yeoh looked around the area and found his handphone at the top of the slope. By this time, his friends had arrived and they apprehended the suspect until the campus security staff arrived.

Police spokesman Mah Tah Chu said: "Mr Yeoh has shown great bravery and a strong sense of upholding justice. We are recommending him for a Guinness Stout^® Effort Award."

The suspect has been charged in court and is awaiting sentencing.

********

editor's notes: 1) This is a true account.
                     2) My newswriting has gone down the drain. Yikes.