Respond, respond! :)

I want to know 36 things about you. I don't care if we never talk, or if we already know everything about each other. Short and sweet is fine...I want to know you better!

Comment with your answers.

01) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
02) What was your dream growing up?
03) What talent do you wish you had?
04) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
05) Favorite vegetable?
06) What was the last book you read?
07) What zodiac sign are you?
08) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.
09) Worst Habit?
10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
11) What is your favorite sport?
12) Do you have a Pessimistic or Optimistic attitude?
13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
16) Do you have any pets?
17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?
18) What was your first impression of me?
19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
22) What color eyes do you have?
23) Ever been arrested?
24) Bottle or can soda?
25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
27) What's your favorite place to hang out at?
28) Do you believe in ghosts?
29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30) Do you swear a lot?
31) Biggest pet peeve?
32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
34) Favourite and least favourite food?
35) Do you believe in God?
36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

a loooong hiatus

It's been some time, yes?

 

Somehow I get lazy with this blogging thing, and let it slip for a few months at a time. :(

 

Anyway, let's see if we can get it back on track for a bit....hmm....

Most aghast

Spotted in yesterday's New Paper:

"'It's Not My Fault'

29 April 2008

HE stopped his car abruptly on the fast lane of a busy highway to insert his CashCard.

And it caused an accident that left a woman seriously injured.

But to Mr Lim Huang Khim, 45, it was the 'natural thing' to do. He does not think he did anything wrong.

This, despite being fined for his inconsiderate driving that caused a motorcyclist to slam into the car behind him - which had braked in time to avoid hitting Mr Lim's car.

This, despite a judge ruling in a civil suit that Mr Lim was 50 per cent liable for the accident.

The motorcyclist, Miss Tiong Zhen Cheng, 33, was flung more than 20m and landed beside Mr Lim's car.

The sales executive was warded in the intensive care unit and spent about a week in hospital. She still suffers pain and some memory loss.

Miss Tiong ended up being sued by the driver of the second car, Mr Lye Chiew Meng, for the damage to his Toyota.

His rear windscreen was shattered and the repair bill came to $7,000.

But her insurance company felt Mr Lim should also be liable and he was named as the third party in the civil suit.

SMILED MANY TIMES IN COURT

Earlier this month, Mr Lim, who works as a driver, insisted he was not to blame and smiled several times as he recounted the accident on the stand.

He was chided by District Judge Lim Wee Meng for his cavalier attitude.

Judge Lim said: 'I don't think it's funny. Someone was seriously injured and I don't think it's funny at all.'

The accident happened around 7.50pm on 29 Nov 2006 on the Central Expressway, just before the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantry near the Braddell exit.

Mr Lim was driving a rented silver Mitsubishi car and was travelling on the extreme right lane on his way home with his wife and four children.

When he saw that the gantry was activated, he switched on the car's hazard lights and stopped to slot in his CashCard.

Mr Lye, a finance manager, who was behind him, managed to stop in time. But Miss Tiong's 400cc Honda motorbike crashed into Mr Lye's car.

When cross-examined by Miss Tiong's lawyer, Mr Lim maintained that he was not at fault.

Her lawyer, Mr William Chai, asked: 'A car was damaged, a person was severely and mentally injured, are you saying you are not responsible? Not even 1 per cent?'

Mr Lim replied: 'I'm saying that I'm totally not to be blamed.'

He told the court that he had not inserted his CashCard into the in-vehicle unit (IU) earlier because he did not know that the ERP gantry was activated at that time.

When asked if seeing the activated gantry was a big surprise, Mr Lim said he had seen it from afar and was trying to insert the CashCard in time.

He also told the court that he did not see Miss Tiong's bike behind Mr Lye's car.

He admitted that following the accident, he had purposely left out in his police report the reason for stopping his car as he knew that it was an offence.

Mr Lim, who has been driving for 24 years, was fined $200 by the Traffic Police for inconsiderate driving and given nine demerit points.

But in his affidavit tendered to the court, he said: 'I decided to pay the $200 out of convenience even though I do not believe that I should be responsible for the accident.

'I did not want the trouble to engage a lawyer to contest the claim because this would be time-consuming and the legal fees would definitely exceed $200.'

In contrast, Mr Lye was apologetic about what happened to Miss Tiong. His lawyer, Miss Bonnie Kwok, told the court: 'My client would like to extend his sympathies to Miss Tiong.'

She also said that while Mr Lye could clearly see the traffic conditions in front of him, Miss Tiong could not.

Said Miss Kwok: 'It's not a situation whereby the vehicles were approaching a traffic light junction, so there's no reason for Miss Tiong to anticipate a sudden stopping.

'Mr Lim had created a dangerous situation. I found it rather distasteful that Mr Lim's demeanour in court showed that he couldn't be bothered that Miss Tiong had suffered severe injuries and trauma.'

Before giving his verdict, the judge pointed out that Mr Lim could have gone through the ERP gantry and paid an administrative fee of $10 for not having a CashCard.

LIABLE FOR DAMAGE

He ruled that Mr Lim and Miss Tiong were each 50 per cent liable for the damage caused to Mr Lye's car.

When contacted by The New Paper, Mr Lim insisted that he was not in the wrong.

He said in Mandarin: 'Are you a driver? Have you driven a car before?

'If you have, you should know that it's a driver's natural reaction (when you see an activated gantry).

'You can't say it's right or wrong because there's no right or wrong in such situations. I did switch on the hazard lights to warn the vehicles behind me.'

Mr Lim said that he felt sorry for the injured Miss Tiong, though he did not speak to her in court.

'She might think that I have an ulterior motive if I went up to her and apologised,' he said.

Just two days before the accident involving Miss Tiong, Mr Lim said he was involved in a similar accident along the East Coast Parkway.

Mr Lim told The New Paper that the car in front of his had slowed down suddenly.

'So I also braked and stopped my car to take a closer look at what the driver was up to and to take down his licence plate number,' he said.

'But the car behind me couldn't stop in time and ended up crashing into the rear of my car.'

Mr Lim said the first car then drove off. His car, a Honda Stream, ended up at the workshop for five days.

That was why he was driving a rented car, which did not have a CashCard in the IU.

Mr Lim added: 'If I was driving my car, this wouldn't have happened because I always have the CashCard inside the IU.'”


I am MOST aghast. If I weren’t bound by laws and morality, I would seek out Mr Lim and beat the daylights out of him. And then do it again. Especially given that he appears to have no sense of morality whatsoever.

What is up with stopping on the extreme right lane of the expressway just to insert a cashcard?? It is dangerous, inconsiderate and very illegal. In fact, I am shocked he got away with a 200-dollar fine and 9 demerit points. It doesn’t even result in a suspension, which means he can continue terrorising other motorists with his cavalier attitude towards safety! Shall go do some research and lodged a complaint with the Traffic Police if there are grounds for a more severe penalty.

O-M-G

Just learnt some information which is most exciting.  It is thrilling, risky and uncertain, but damn it sounds like fun.  My only regret is that my current position does not allow me to participate in this, for now.  But it sure does open up a whole new possibility for the future, and I can only hope that it might happen one day.  Till then, I'm just looking on with envy....

more than meets the ears

the score from the transformers movie arranged in piano....fantastic!

songbird

Now THIS is what I call a really great voice....

random post

Ok so I didn't manage to continue with my executive summary that night. But I'll get round to it very soon. ;)

As an aside, check out this brilliant firm to work in: http://anonymouslawfirm.com/index.php. Grabbed the link off the vine, and it offers some much needed comic relief in the midst of these mind-boggling thoughts of career options.

This being a random post, I shall touch on some random issues I saw in the Straits Times today.

Random Issue #1

"THREE polytechnic students have come together to solve a bugbear for people in wheelchairs and those pushing prams.

A ramp they have designed can be attached to MRT carriages to prevent the bothersome - and dangerous - tendency of wheels getting stuck in the gap between the train and the platform.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will test the ramp in the coming months to see if it can be used in a big way.

The invention won the three final-year students from Temasek Polytechnic's Intelligent Building Design course a $500 cash prize at this year's LTA-Polytechnics Collaboration contest."

500 lousy buckaroos?? The LTA could possibly install these on all their trains, and all these students get for their innovative effort is 500 bucks? I certainly hope the students get some good advice from an IP-savvy person to go patent their device or something, and get properly compensated for their work. Shocking.

Random Issue #2

"Rethink plan for artificial turf in schools

ABOUT three years ago, I wrote to the Forum to highlight that many schools prohibited their students from playing in the school field outside of Physical Education lessons ('Pray, let the children play'; ST, July 8, 2004 ). In several schools, the fields were fenced and locked most of the time.

The schools' excuses for keeping the fields locked were, firstly, to prevent the children from hurting themselves; secondly, teachers' dislike of sweaty and muddied students in class and, thirdly, school fields being very expensive to maintain.

After my letter appeared, there was a strong push to let children play. Hence, my surprise when I learnt of the Ministry of Education's plans to replace the fields with artificial turf. While this may please both parents and the ministry, it comes at a cost.

Besides the environmental cost, there is the developmental cost to our kids. Why the paranoia about kids getting hurt while playing? That is part and parcel of growing up. If the worry is about parents complaining, then get all parents to sign a letter of indemnity before they enrol their kids in the school. Also, make personal accident insurance compulsory.

I remember my national-service days when the platoon sergeant made us crawl through muddy water as part of a training exercise. Our bodies, including our faces, were caked in mud. For those of us that grew up playing football in muddy fields, this was no big deal.

I dread the day when our NS boys are so afraid of getting muddied that they tiptoe around puddles of water because they grew up in an environment where they could not get hurt or muddied.

I send my kids to school not just to achieve good grades. I send them to school so that they can receive a broad education and be prepared to face the challenges of life.

If cost of maintaining the fields is the primary concern, get the children involved in replanting the grass. Working in the fields brings lots of benefits and valuable life lessons - they learn to use their hands, they learn about the environment and the laws of nature (you reap what you sow and you can't shortchange nature) and they end up tougher.

I appeal to the ministry to drop its plan to replace fields with artificial turf. The hidden costs outweigh any savings on maintenance.

Patrick Tan Siong Kuan"

Well done, Patrick. I echo his sentiments completely. Kids these days are just overly pampered and protected. In the unlikely event that I do hire a maid in future, her job will be solely to alleviate the burden of my wife, and not to pander to the kids' whims and fancies. Want a drink? Go get it yourself. Spilt some milk? Get a rag and wipe it up.

Come on, face up to reality. The kids nowadays are fast growing up to be devoid of self-reliance, but simply hollering for someone, anyone, to do everything for them, simply because they have never been told to do it themselves!

And going back to Patrick's point, it would be a sad sad day when all the new recruits balk at the idea of running through a muddy field. And so I say again - stop being over-protective, stop spoiling the kids. Let them learn that the world does not revolve around them, that people do fall down, people do get scraped knees, but pick yourselves up, brush it off, and you'll live.


Ok, I'll get round to the continuation of the executive summary soon. Have a nice Thursday.