The Exclamation Mark Blog!

Just this past sunday, 2 days ago, one of the most memorable, remarkable episodes of Oprah Winfrey went on air on Starworld (in Singapore, but probably on other networks for other countries). This episode was a timely breath of fresh air, taking a deviation from the standard sit-you-down-on-a-couch-and-talk-till-you-drop format.

On the latest episode, talk show extraordinaire and household personality Oprah Winfrey was grilling celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and Orlando Bloom as to where their favourite hangouts are. It was really refreshing to see the 'human' side of the celebrities, hanging out at their favourite hangouts, having fun and all, instead of the usually larger than life personalities we often see on tabloid magazines and gossip columns.

Personally, I barely ever watch Oprah Winfrey. Not before this. And part of me just doesn't get the whole concept and purpose of talk shows anyway.

Are people watching her talk show so that they can learn from the woes of others and gain invaluable wisdom? Are they generally trying to glean invaluable nuggets of knowledge from the unpleasant experiences of others? And are they genuinely trying to empathise with the women/couples who go on to her talk show?

Or perhaps, the audiences are simply trying to forget themselves in the pain of others. It's like one big pity party - couples going on air to voice their problems and rant about their dysfunctional marriages, which let's not discredit them, takes courage to do so, and audiences watching on with furrowed eyebrows and scrunched faces, trying to empathise with their pain and misery - everyone seems to be taking consolation in one another.

It kind of disgusts me knowing that people seem to revel in hearing the pain and problems of others on air, not in a schadenfreude way of course, but rather in lowering themselves to the point whereby relief is obtained in comparing plights with others. But then again, I guess it's just all very human ; we all don't want to be alone. When we're going through the valley of the shadow of death, we want to know brimstone and hellfire isn't just raining down on us alone. We want to know there are others going through what we are going through, and perhaps sharing in this solidarity of pain and struggle, we might obtain courage and strength to somehow break free of our shackles.

Still, I don't quite understand those who actually appear on talk shows to voice their woes. Why would anyone want to recover their (often painful) past anyway? These same people who appear on talk shows like Oprah Winfrey's, put themselves through the torture of reliving their past on air - something not much better than hell itself - in the hope that this time, the outcome would be different from the disappointment that life generally turned out to be.

They do it in the hope that they will be liberated and freed from emotional bondages, thinking that mustering up the courage to bare their hurts to the world will actually erase the pain of the past.

Perhaps it works - I'm not an expert in Psychology - but it's something I'd never put myself through. The wounds in my life have scabbed, and scarred, and I do not want to reopen them again.

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Oh anyway, I'm now officially addicted to Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream! Thanks to the influence of Hungry Bunny and lynn!

And it's been more than a week since the passing of the news of Keano's departure, but I'm still in shock. Anyhow, I'll still always keep the faith in them.

A bona fide Red Devils Legend George Best recently passed away, at 59. Ain't soccer players supposed to live longer lives?

When you take a break from blogging because you're exhausted, and swear off blogging-related activities for a while, all of a sudden you feel this obsessive, compulsive need pen down all the unusual sights you encounter and vague thoughts doggedly intruding upon your mind.

I guess this world's a little too crazy to me - it's impossible for me to keep my silence for long.

I didn't quite accomplish the tasks I set out to do in the previous week - who was I kidding anyway? I was simply being overly ambitious wanting to do so many things in such a short span of time. I did catch up a little bit on my book, but besides that, this little sabbatical of mine wasn't exactly what I'd call constructive. then again, breaks are meant for resting and recovery, not pushing yourself to get things done right?

Yet, I've managed to recollect many thoughts and I'll subsequently try to elucidate them in some coherent manner on this blog. the biggest thought I had was, why wasn't I blogging about my friends, my church mates and my faith enough?

Because no one would want to read about them. The internal conflict has been oppressing me for weeks. Revert back to bona fide Moronic style and rant about the world non stop or start to become more personal on my blog.

Later I realized: heck it. I'm not particularly famous a blogger, I wouldn't lose many readers (not that i have many to begin with) by adopting a more personal approach on my blog.

I realized the primary reason why Christians don't retaliate when the Christian mockers (and let's face it, there're plenty of them) comes up with derogatory comments of posts to mock the faith.

I believe it's not because we're scared to stand up for our faith. Au contrairie, I believe it's because we're strong. Strong enough to withstand the insults and slanders and sit back smug, knowing that we're not gonna be the ones losing in the end. Knowing that starting some great intellectual debate on existence of God is really rather a waste of time; we'll never be able to convince the great intellectuals because the debate will essential end in a stalement.

When you believe in God as much as some militant Atheists disbelieve in Him, you'll probably smug and secure enough not to go around imposing your faith unto other people. even more unlikely is the petty need to retaliate and get into bitter diatribes over God and faith and religion etc.

So yeah, I'm sitting back on my chair, smug as ever.

I've to put blogging related activities on hold for the time being because

1) I'm reading blogs so much that the moment I reach home, I switch on my computer, even before stripping off my socks and dumping them into the laundry basket.

2) I'm consciously thinking of ideas for blog posts wherever I go, and my mind generates exaggerated scenarios based on mildly unusual happenings around me.

3) I've got almost 4 books demanding my attention, with a 5th book ( a collection of local plays, ordered from Popagandhi coming my way.)

4) blog surfing may be a new addiction of mine. Not unlike the other variations and forms of addictions, blog surfing is potentially unhealthy and hazardous too.

5) No one's going to whip up a "GET BACK QUICK SOON" banner for me, or even put it down in my comments, much unlike Xiaxue's loyal legions of largely adolescent readers.

6) There will be no mourning of my quick passing and brief hiatus, so it'll be easier for me to go on break. No more blogging from sheer obligation to gratify readers.

And so, here's what I've resolved to start doing in the next 1 week of blogging break:

1) Catch Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.

2) Finish the books I've set out to read. I've reading a book, Behind The Moon, by a Chinese author. Following that, I'll proceed to complete Memoirs of A Geisha and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Do not say I'm only reading those for the sake of reading because their movie adaptations are coming out. I've finished the entire Chronicles of Narnia in Primary school, mind you. I've also read part of Memoirs of a Geisha way before news of it being adapted into a screenplay was proliferated around the world. But I was doing my GCE 'A' levels back then, and had simply no time to complete it.

3) Sign up for Electone classes again.

4) Brush up on my hokkien and Cantonese for the sake of easy communication with the elderly! For those not in the know, I'm actually a volunteer under a social services assocation and I visit some poor elderly in a district every week.

for a gentang like me, communication with these elderly is a bitch. not because it bores me talking to them - I genuinely love every one of them and its that love that keeps me going - but its almost impossible to engage in something even remotely close to a meaningful conversation if my knowledge of hokkien is so limited.

5) Finish watching my Angel season 5 DVDs!

All right peeps, wish me luck so that I can set out to complete these tasks!

That was a Russell Peters classic line by the way. I've got really crazy friends who love imitating him and trying to perfect their every intonation of words till they achieve a flawless Russell Peters faux Honkey accent. Which is weird, since I didn't think he was really famous. I've never even heard of him before till this year.

On another note, I think my regular blogders (however few of you) will notice I've been posting lots of disjointed posts lately, kind of in true Balderdash! fashion. But hey, if Gabriel's a freaking genius (read: top boys school and junior college, and USP scholar) and posts disjointed, sometimes nonsensical content (ergo the name of his blog), I guess me blogging these senseless stuff would qualify me to be in the league of extraordinary geniuses.

I wanted to do a post on why I don't believe in sports heroes and why I am not crazy over any particular sports team, but I was so happy that Manchester United beat Chelsea some time ago that I just could not bring myself to blog that out because I'd feel a tad hypocritical. That said, I like Manchester United, but I'm not one of those wasted, footloose, hippie nutcases that spends all his time searching out Manchester United related news and his nights at bars drinking and watching soccer matches, and end up not doing anything constructive.

So I just decided to pop by to add in some random thoughts of mine. First, the whole Dawn Yeo thing is just going off the roof, because everyone's scampering to do a post on her and adding their 2 cents worth, even though most of them know they're either just reiterating what others have stated before previously or stating the obvious.

Call me stoic, apathetic, indifferent, like a stone, whatever; the whole controversy just doesn't rouse an iota of my interest.

I think its mainly because I believe no one should give a damn as to whether she did go under the knife before, because woopee! that makes her one of the thousands who have? I mean, her before and after pictures aren't even as spectacular as those on Extreme Makeoever. I think the important point is that she lied and we feel cheated.

Or not. It's more like, she lied, people are jealous of her, so they decided to expose her and make a big fuss out of the fact that she lied, because they're saints and have never lied to anyone before. Yes, she is so horrible that she went under the knife, told a lie publicly. Or not.

It's actually the utter maliciousness, jealousy and bitchiness of people jumping on Dawn's back crying bloody murder that disgusts me even more than one lie.

Having said that, kudos to Gabriel for exposing her, because I believe the public deserves to know the truth at all times.

I can honestly say that I am madly, truly, deeply obsessed with Jessica alba.

Did you guys see Her Royal Yumminess on the Tiger Beer advertisement? The splendificlous glorificous (sorry about the absurd words, her countenance has a spellbindingly strong effect on me such that one loses the ability for proper spelling) beauty on the advertisement for a local beer!! We Singaporeans DO have hope!

she looks so hot inside it. Then again, she looks hot anywhere.

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Sorry about not leaving comments on you guys' blogs for such a long time. My internet connection was down this past week, so any blog-related activity was confined to pathetically short periods of usage on internet terminals. I still read your blogs but right now, I'm way too lazy to post comments. Give me some time before I rouse myself from my perpetual jessica-alba-fantasizing induced lull.

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This past week I finally bumped into someone I actually wanted to meet -- my primary school teacher Miss Lam! She taught me for 4 consecutive years from Primary 3 - Primary 6. Strict as she was, she was one figure of authority whom I dearly loved and respected although at times I thought her to be the queen bitch of the universe overly harsh disciplinarian.

I saw her from afar; called out her name, my little yell rising above the cacophony of conversation swirling in a maelstrom of noise, and she responded with a surprised reply.

"Raymond?"

My my. It's certainly shocking to know that a teacher you've not seen in almost 8 years remembers your name so clearly. I in my confounded state just asked her: "you remember me?"

Turns out I was one of only two pairs of twins she's ever thought, thus the vivid memories. Guess being a twin does have its perks after all. And perhaps the mischief and trouble we've wreaked in class might have helped in reinforcing our impressions upon her life.

We chatted, and caught up, and I was pleasantly refreshed to have a conversation from someone from my past. blast from the past, but a pleasant one, you might say. I hope she's proud of my brother and I for making it to the university. After all, after all these years, she's still the teacher I so dearly respect.

It's one of those rare days, when lady lucky's a friend, and people who've left footprints in your heart comes back to leave more profound imprints in your life, when ,for once, you're meeting someone you're not inclined to instinctively avoid, but to simply talk and share, while time freezes still all around you.

It's no hidden fact that I am a geek. You can throw me 2 options : either to go clubbing with friends or stay home playing Warcraft 3 or reading the papers - and it's no mystery which I will choose. (Certainly, that didn't prove much of a difficult choice, considering I never really liked clubbing.)

Certainly, I don't look like a geek. Well I'm not well endowed with the features of a Greek god, but that certainly doesn't make me a Austin Powers too.

Most people do not realize I'm a geek because they seldom see through the facade I put on and neither do they really bother getting to know me on a deeper level. I guess one sign you know that you know me a little better than the rest is that if you know i like reading, or if I openly admit that i'm a nerd at heart. :P

but for any of my friends out there, or blogders-who-will-become-friends eventually, it's no big cause for concern. Let's say I'm not a pure-blood geek? In fact, I'm quite an ambivalent one to boot. I attend lots of concerts, hang out quite a lot with my friends, and I'm not out-of-touch and disengaged from the world as to commit atrocious fashion faux pas, like going out in with shirts buttoned to the collars and tucked into my pants or jeans. there's no reason to alienate me.

Because I'm a perfectly normal human - and thank God most of my friends realize that, despite my unusually high tendencies to start discussing about psychological, sociological and political issues. If I see that you're of the like mind as mine, its inevitable our conversations will naturally gravitate towards something of a more intellectual or deeper nature. Be it politics, philosophy, Buffy! or God, i love having a good conversation with people.

Exalting myself by showing off knowledge isn't really my thing though, that's why I don't go around talking about all these 'cheem' things all the time. In fact, though I love talking about such things, as I said, I'll only do it if you're of a similar mind who appreciates things like this. And it's nothing wrong not to, because everyone has different interests. Don't expect me to talk about Bertrand Russell's mumbo jumbo essays to a person whose daily cognitive activity is restricted to obsessing over the beauty of Thierry Henry's goal.

So yeah, I love playing computer games, blogging, spending the precious days of my lives on the internet. I love reading, the newspapers, or fiction, or Time magazine or the Bible.

And however potentially hazardous to my perception of self identity, I also enjoy very non-geeky (stereotypically speaking) activities like occasionally going for concerts, trawling the streets with my friends for good buys, body combat classes and football matches with my family.

I don't do much beer-guzzling, or pubbing, clubbing or partying, not because I think it's a waste of time (which i do, but so is playing computer games, right?), but rather because it's just not something I'm very inclined to do anyway. But it's not like I think it makes me less 'happening' because you know what? I think geeks are way freaking cool.

I am a geek and I absolutely love it.

This photograph depicts a men's restroom at a Sofitel (a chain of 5-star hotels operated by Accor Hotels) in Queenstown, New Zealand, which has attracted a fair bit of interest and commotion:

Five star hotels are normally famous for their opulence and their design but the new $45 million Sofitel in Queenstown is gaining notoriety for its little boys room.

It has brought the hotel a couple of complaints from church goers and a couple of hundred people wanting to take a look.

It's the most popular room in the five star hotel.

In recent years businesses such as restaurants and hotels have tried to "liven up" their public restrooms with catchy or unusual decor, many of which play on our expectations of privacy while engaging in bathroom-related functions. A favorite set-up is to install mirrored glass panels around the urinals in men's rooms that allow restroom patrons to view the crowds milling around the adjacent restaurant or hotel lobby and create the impression that those crowds can see into the restroom as well. (In fact, the panels are mirrored on the outside, so all the restaurant or hotel customers see are their own.

The clever artwork around the urinals in the men's restroom pictured above plays not only on our fears of being observed (particularly by members of the opposite sex) in the bathroom, but also on specifically male fears of having the size of their "equipment" viewed and judged by women — especially women who, as in this case, are evidently well-prepared to measure, photograph, and poke fun at "equipment" they deem to be inadequately sized.

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It's funny how we males are sometimes at the losing end of a never-ending gender war. I mean sure, there are many companies where males still predominantly take up all the positions of power, but females are increasingly competitive and more and more are climbing up the corporate ladder, carving out a successful career for themselves.

Anyhow, I find the whole bullshitty length of penis= level of masculinity absolutely bollocks. And guess what, everyone knows its bollocks too. But somehow, for some reason or another, that kinda dumb stereotype is so ingrained in our mindsets, entrenched into our culture, we can't seem to discard that mentality.

Really, I think the concept that a male's worth and masculinity being based on the length of what's behind his pants absolutely crippling -- not because I've got a small one (in which case even if its true I'll never admit it)-- because it is something you can never change. And i know you guys are thinking about those penis enlargement treatments, but seriously my theory is that what grows in lengths shrinks in width, so I don't want to have a very long chopstick like penis because it's absolutely useless in sex.

And I also think that whole concept was first perpetrated by feminists who want to get back at males, for reasons too many to be named.