yeah....Things will only get better

Ok.. the weekends are coming.

The days are getting colder and the nights are getting longer. Seems like winter's approaching soon. But well.. Where got Winter in Singapore one ?

As long as the weather gets colder, with more rain, it worth taking note of.

Damn. Speaking of rain, there was a thunderstorm last nigth. Visibilty was low, reports of various car accidents blared over the radio and well, many mosquitoes. It doesn't help that the dengue outbreak is still very much present in Singapore. Perhaps the rain can do us a favour and wash the mosquitoes away? haha.....

Now.. what's the connection bewteen weekends, winter, rain and mosquitoes??

Well, you can think of several possible links. However, the biggest explaination is that.. yeah.. I'm bored... anything also can link.. haha

As the title suggests, I've never thought of posting an entry in such a manner.

I never understood the reason why bloggers would love to share a certain portion of lyrics of a particular song, or for that matter, the whole chunk of lyrics on their blog. I mean.. surely your readers don't come to see some lyrics right? One can always download them ?

Anyway.. I've been listening to these 2 songs on replay mode recently. Can't understand myself either and yes.. I shall torture you my readers with the lyrics.. haha

The first song actually brought back fond memories of my JC days. Was introduced to this song by this Australian teacher. Nope, he didn't taught me. Somehow, there was this "cultural sharing" session during one the mass assmebly and he shared this song. It stuck on me... till this very day. I remember my pals, Nicholas and Fang-Ming. The 3 of us would sing this song aloud.. oblivious of the fact that people were looking at us.. haha.. the power of youth.. or rather the thick-skiness.

I've heard the acoustic version, the classical version or even the ah beng techno version. But somehow this song evokes strong feelings from my Asutralian friends. They call this their 2nd National Anthem.. or the unofficial one. I still remember this scene from the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.

To begin with.. I didn't really catch much of it.. I was serving NS and didn't have access to TV. Was too tired to watch anyway. Had supported Beijing to win the bid when the decision went to Sydney.. so didn't really want to watch this Games anyway. But I caught the closing ceremony... don't ask me why. I think was clearing some offs.

And I think the sexy Kylie Minogue led the song and the whole stadium errupted into a single united voice.

Waltzing Matilda

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

....................

Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

.....................

Up rode the squatter mounted on his thorough-bred
Down came the troopers One Two Three
Whose that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
Whose that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker-bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

......................

Up jumped the swagman sprang in to the billabong
You'll never catch me alive said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

I played a clip of this for Liptor the other day . And I'm sure it changed his mood. It brought back memories for him I'm sure.

I'm not Australian.. but it did bring back memories for me.



****************************************************


P?karekare ana
ng? wai o Waiapu,
Whiti atu koe hine
marino ana e.
E hine e
hoki mai ra.
Ka mate ahau i
te aroha e.

Tuhituhi raku reta
tuku atu taku r?ngi,
Kia kite t? iwi
raru raru ana e.

E hine e...

E kore te aroha
e maroke i te r?,
M?kükü tonu i
aku roimata e.

E hine e...

Whati whati taku pene
ka pau aku pepa,
Ko taku aroha
mau tonu ana e.

E hine e...

Translation:


They are agitated
the waters of Waiapu,
cross over girl
'tis calm.
Oh girl
return (to me),
I could die
of love (for you).

I have written my letter
I have sent my ring,
so that your people can see
(that I am) troubled.

Oh girl ...

(My) love will never
be dried by the sun,
It will be forever moistened
by my tears.

Oh girl...

My pen is broken,
I have no more paper
(But) my love
is still steadfast.

Oh girl...


And I discovered Hayley Westernra. A bit late but better late than never. Her angelic voice is defintely God sent.

If someone can teach me how to put a player here, I'll upload the songs...

Ok... I am here... today.




What the F am I doing here on a Sunday Afternoon?

Well ok lah.. reminiscing about the good old days whereby I had to decide among which machine I had to purchase my favourtite drinks and snacks from. I know, they say Arts Canteen food is nice. Well.. they say lah.

When you have to queue up for 15 minutes for your food and spend another 10 minutes searching for a seat ( don't tell me do it concurrently, I've tried it before and no use. To sum it up, don't go to Arts Canteen during lunch).

So what is my next alternative?



This for lunch also not bad lah.

And I had to choose between which drinks.



OR



Got lotsa pulp somemore ah..

Also they say one... i mean the can says one.

So how? Choose which one?

I think I still prefer this one





Cheers Mate!!

This small gal simply loves taking pictures and playing with my handphone... because it had this function.



Nice pose there.. haha



Wah... scary face!!

Yeah.. Here I come!!

This is interesting!

Oct 1, 2005
Take your pick: Compassvale Drive or Zhi Nan Zhen (compass in Mandarin)

I refer to Mr Chia Yong Soong's letter about the difficulty in pronouncing some street names (ST Sept 27).

The letter seems to affirm the common belief in our country that government must make the first move.

In the colonial days, the education level was low and we had a British government over our heads. Most if not all the street names were named after the kings and queens of the British Empire.

So we got Queen Street, Victoria Street, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street.

What did we natives do? Write to the press and hope to get help from the colonial government? At that time, writing to the press in English was out of the question.

So we did the renaming ourselves. Victoria Street became Jee Beh Loh (second street in Hokkien), Queen Street became Sar Beh Loh (third street), Sepoy Line became See Bai Po (four rows of slope), Serangoon Garden became Ang Sa Li (red zinc roof) and Thomson Garden became Goh Bark Keng (500 units).

This is like Hong Kong's Admiralty, known locally as Kum Chong (in Cantonese Golden bell, probably the brass bell usually found on a ship).

So use our imagination and creativity. Start using locally acceptable names for those funny-sounding English street names.

If houses in Compassvale Drive are painted red, we can call it Hong Wu (red house in Mandarin) or Zhi Nan Zhen (compass in Mandarin).

But please don't go overboard and give the names a direct translation from their pronounciation, as in Duo Mei Ge (many beautiful songs) for Dobby Ghuat!

The street names have been legislated. I can bet my last dollar that they cannot and will not be changed.

Lee Chee Chee