This just came in and I’m not sure what’s exactly the idea. Graceful way to retire the tired Singa mascot? The government finally realising that kindness and courtesy campaigns do not work? Some new overzealous fresh grad government officer’s brilliant idea to provoke thought and inducing guilt?

I don’t know but here’s the letter;

From the desk of SINGA

Subject: Open Letter to Singapore – I Quit

Dear Singapore,

I quit.

I need a long break, and you could probably use a break from me too. I get it. No one likes being nagged at, even if it’s about being kind and gracious.

I suppose it’s about time. After all, I’ve been doing this for over 30 years – first, as the Courtesy Lion, and more recently, as your mascot for kindness. I’m just too tired to continue facing an increasingly angry and disagreeable society.

It’s been said that kindness shouldn’t be a campaign. That kindness should be a part of values education. That people in authority – at work, in school, at home and in government – should lead by example.

Fair enough. I suppose it’s time for real people to step up, and for the mascot to step aside.

It’s not that we aren’t a gracious society, or that kindess is not innate in all of us. But some days it feels like not very many of us believe in or care about expressing kindnesss. We say, “We have so many problems. How can we be kind?”. Or “Fix my problems first, then we can talk about being kind.”

Should we let kindness and graciousness disappear while we fix these “bigger” problems? Is kindless only for the good times? Does graciousness come with terms and conditions? If we can only be nice if other people are nice to us first, who will start the ball rolling? Or can we rise above our differences and be gracious, even in challenging times?

A final word before I go. Let’s be responsible for our actions. We can refuse to give up our seats on the train if we don’t want to, but let’s not blame it on the crowd. We can go online and be rude to others, but let’s not think it “doesn’t count” because it’s anonymous. We can let our anger and disagreement dictate the kind of people and society we want to be, or we can decide to be gracious, even when frustrated.

We are responsible for the sort of society we encourage and create. It is our choices that determine who we are.

All the best, Singapore.

Your friend,
Singa

After so many years, the show’s creators have finally given us a glimpse of the woman Ted Mosby eventually marries – the mother of How I Met Your Mother. The show’s sadly turned to shit in the latest season and the only reason I’m watching it to find out who’s the mother, and now to see how it all plays out.

Even though I almost never watch any local TV programmes these days, I did grew up watching many of his. R.I.P.

Addendum: 《红星大奖2013》 where his wife and daughter were present to accept an Honorary Award for his contributions to the acting industry and also the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes Award.

In a move to ease the peak hour crowds, the LTA announced a one year trial, beginning 24 June 2013, whereby commuters who end their journeys at 16 designated MRT stations in the city area before 0745 on weekends will enjoy free travel. Commuters who exit between 0745 and 0800 will be given a discount of up to $0.50.

As of now, I am positive of the 14 out of 16 stations will be the following;

Orchard

Somerset

Dhoby Ghaut

City Hall

Raffles Place

Lavender

Bugis

Tanjong Pagar

Outram Park

Bayfront

Bras Basah

Esplanade

Marina Bay

Promenade

???

???

Ideas?

So I received a Nintendo 3DS XL for my birthday which may or may not my long absence. It was the very nifty blue/black version bundled with the always timeless Mario Kart 7.

Quickly realising that no one on the Internets have yet to be able to crack (or release) a functional 3DS ROM for homebrew systems. I ordered the Supercard DSTWO anyway, (probably the most versatile 3DS flashcard currently on the market?) from “Real Hot Stuff”, received it promptly and instantly was able to access thousands of ROMs from my 3DS.

Started playing around with the system and learnt of this ongoing Club Nintendo 3DS XL Promotion. Turns out there was this whole bunch of region restrictions in place, as one is compelled to expect from the gaming/app industry;

If I set my 3DS’s region to Singapore, I would not be able to access the eShop at all. To access the benefits from Club Nintendo and take advantage of the promo and the rewards, I would have to set my 3DS’s region to the United States. However, besides that and downloading free demos, I was not able to make any purchases with my hard-earned money unless I set my 3DS’s region to Brazil.

Clearly, this whole region restriction thing is complete bullshit when I am able to circumvent it so easily. Hope this information is useful to other new Singapore 3DS owners.

Pity he couldn’t finished off the Governor but then again, we’d all knew the Governor wouldn’t have died so easily. The ending scene with Daryl was so sad, and I had to pretend I was eating onions when my mum saw me crying.

R.I.P. Merle. You’ll be sorely missed.

Are you fucking kidding me ?

Whatever petition or initiations will likely not have any effect on Google’s decision so it’s probably time to look for a replacement. NewsBlur seems to come highly recommended by almost everyone but it’s only 12 subscriptions with the free standard account? Fuck that shit.

Aren’t there any other simple bare bones web or desktop RSS reader with a decent Android app out there?

Addendum: Please, please come out with something good Reeder.

I know I’m like 6 months late with this but what a disappointing final episode for such a brilliant and funny series. It’s like Jenji Kohan suddenly ran out of ideas to continue milking the franchise, either that or Mary-Louise Parker is just getting too old to play the hot drug dealer MILF anymore?

Thank you Nancy Botwin.

DISNEYLAND SINGAPORE: Disneyland May Be Built At Marina East

Walt Disney confirmed that Disneyland is in talks with the Singapore Government to build a theme park in Singapore.

Singapore Tourism Board says they are looking at all avenues to bring tourism growth into Singapore to achieve the 2015 Tourism target.

Disney says they are totally not interested in building a theme park in Malaysia, and has never started any negotiations with the Malaysians.

According to sources, Disneyland Singapore will be constructed next to Marina Bay Golf Course.

This piece of land is very near to the city. Across the waters will be the new Marina Bay Downtown. And facing the land is a unobstructed view of the sea. Behind the land is the high end Tanjong Rhu residential area. It takes less than 30 minutes to travel from Changi Airport to the potential site. And this piece of land is an exceptionally golden piece of prime land.

For example, the 20.6 hectres of land for the Marina Bay Sands was sold to Las Vegas Sands at S$1.2 billion. And last year, the 3.55 hectres of land from the new Marina Bay Downtown was sold off to conglomerates at S$1.8 billion.

The land size the Govenrment will allocate to Walt Disney is still under discussion, but sources revealed that the size of Disneyland Singapore will be roughly the same as Disneyland Tokyo.

Disneyland Singapore will be a more compact theme park with some of its attraction built inside buildings.

As the Marina East land is next to the sea, Disneyland Singapore will most probably have a sea theme or a futuristic theme to it.

Analysts say that the Marina Bay Golf Course may be returned to the Government once their lease is up, so that Disneyland Singapore can begin construction of the second phase of their theme park.

Say real one?