Dear all,
I've decided to return to my poetry roots. From 1999 to 2006 I wrote over 300 pieces of poetry which shared in my joy and got me through my toughest times. Collectively, I put them together into a personal collection of sorts I call The Anthology of Seasons.
I recently dug up my long-forgotten poems, and I while I'm in the midst of rediscovering myself, I would like to share some of them with you. They may be found at these locations:
I've decided to return to my poetry roots. From 1999 to 2006 I wrote over 300 pieces of poetry which shared in my joy and got me through my toughest times. Collectively, I put them together into a personal collection of sorts I call The Anthology of Seasons.
I recently dug up my long-forgotten poems, and I while I'm in the midst of rediscovering myself, I would like to share some of them with you. They may be found at these locations:
The Anthology of Seasons consists of several books, and I will be making some of the poetry available to everyone over time.
In the meantime, I've made a resolution to go back to the Anthology and to find myself again in the process.
I would like to ask everyone to wish me well for this quest.
It’s the end of the year again. And you guys know what this
means.
It means that it’s time for me to do a recap of all (or at
least, most) of the major events that have occurred in my life over the past
year. This, even though I have seem to have neither the time nor the will to
blog as much as I used to.
Okay, I’ll admit that this post is a few days overdue. I’ll
get to that point later on.
So, let’s just do this:
1.
Got married
Yep, I gave up my singlehood status and moved on to the next
phase of my life, namely, marriage.
It’s been (almost exactly) one year, and I still feel newly-married.
Well, that can’t be a very bad thing.
2. Cultural Learnings of Turkey for Make Benefit
Glorious Nation of Singapore
Okay, only Istanbul, but to be sure, that place is awesome
enough for you to spend seven nights at without ever getting sick of it.
There was something for the both of us. For the history buff
(me), there were monuments and places of interest galore from two of the
greatest empires in world history (the Roman and Ottoman Empires).
For the FS, there was the largest permanent bazaar on the
planet.
Oh yeah.
3.
2XU Compression Run
I broke my ‘half-marathons and above only’ rule by taking
part in this run.
The only reason why I took part in this 12km race is because
of the 2XU calf tights and singlet that they were giving out. That’s worth some
serious money, all right?
4. Sundown Marathon
This was a washout that was so promising.
I left home at 8.30pm in order to make it for the 10pm start
time. Unfortunately, traffic management was so bad that I had to sprint the
last three kilometres to the start line (with my gym bag) just to make it in
time for the start.
And it spite of all that, I managed to get a timing of 4 hrs
58 minutes, which was just three minutes off my personal best.
I’m still pretty pissed thinking about it.
5. Cultural Learnings of Malaysia for Make Benefit
Glorious Nation of Singapore (Part I)
This was just a short trip to KL to celebrate the FS’s uncle’s
birthday.
Nothing much to say, except that the trip was pretty smooth
and well-planned.
6. Marina 21k
This was another poorly-organized race. The venue was
poorly-chosen, with the entire race converging into one single lane at many
parts of the race. At one point all the runners had to converge into one single
file.
The organizers tried to manage things at the last minute by
segregating the runners into elite and non-elite categories, but a lot of n00bs
thought too highly of themselves and joined the elite group.
Listen, n00bs. You think too highly of yourselves, you
deserve all the brickbats that you’re getting. I can run 21 clicks in under 2
hours, and I don’t see myself as elite. So if you can’t even match my pace,
then you think too highly of yourselves, and you deserve a buttstroke to the
head.
7. Army Half-Marathon
Finally, one solid, well-organized race. I guess that’s only
to be expected, considering that it was the Army that organized this race, and
they already have many years of experience in this field.
Even better, I hit a new personal best of 1 hr 50 minutes.
Hoo-ah!
8.
Newton 30k
The final race of the year, for me at least. I was aiming
for the Standard Chartered Marathon in December, but it coincided with my
brother’s wedding, so I’m forced to be contented with this race.
I don’t have any major complaints here, barring the fact
that according to my GPS, I ran an extra 2 kilometers. Which is pretty sad,
because that led to a timing of 3 hr 12 minutes, which is 12 minutes over my
target of 3 hours.
9.
High-Key ICT
This was the most siong in-camp I have ever had since I
ORD-ed seven years ago.
The outfield mission wasn’t the worst I ever had. It
consisted of a heli-insertion, a 6-8km bash through the jungle, the attack of a
FIBUA objective, and an all-out defence of the objective (which quite
surprisingly didn’t come under attack).
What made it really terrible was the massive increase in my
combat load due to the increase in the total load of the medical pack I had to
carry. It didn’t help that the stretcher was still old school and doubled the
weight unnecessarily. My shoulders, pecs and back were rippling in pain the
whole way through.
That said, my efforts were rewarded, in a way. I was voted
Best Commander of HQ Platoon for my company. Hoo-ah!
10. Cultural Learnings of Malaysia for Make
Benefit Glorious Nation of Singapore (Part II)
If the first trip was well-planned and executed, I can’t say
the same for this one.
I don’t want to say more, lest I be accused of muckracking
on the public domain. Let’s just say that bad incidents are difficult enough,
but bad responses to those incidents just make things worse.
In a nutshell……
I know you guys are (probably) complaining over how my posts
on this blog are no longer as frequent or as passionate as it once was. Okay, I
know there aren’t that many of you out there who actually follow this blog
religiously even when my posts came fast and furious in the past. But of
course, I’m not exactly writing this blog for anyone else. I’m writing it for
myself.
If that sounds a little selfish, then it probably is meant
to be. The truth is that I write this blog as a means of catharsis after a long
day at school, or work, or whatever it is that I’m doing. And it is that point
that scares me: if I can’t even write for myself anymore, then where does it
leave this blog?
I haven’t forgotten the fate of the Anthology of Seasons. To
those not in the know (and I know most of you aren’t in the know), that is the
name I gave to the collection of poetry that I wrote from 1999 to 2006. It was
THE Web of Fudge before there even was a Web of Fudge. And somewhere along the
way in 2006 I simply lost the will to write in verse any more.
I suppose I no longer find any interest to do the things I
used to enjoy doing because of some health issues I’ve been having. It’s
nothing serious, really, except that it’s not exactly something any of you
would want to have either. Suffice to say that I’m doing my level best to
conquer this problem, but not everything can be conquered easily.
So where does this leave you, Fudgie? Where are you on the
stream of life? Are you letting yourself drift away into nothingness, or are
you going to rise up and stand tall and count for something?
I don’t know. At this point in time, I really don’t know.
That is a question I’m gonna have to answer.
Go, Web!!!!
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death,
in ebb and in flow
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment
- The Stream of Life/ Praan
Rabindranath Tagore, Palbasha Siddique, Garry Schyman
Jason has been getting a lot of people hot under the collar recently.
Unless you haven't been following the chatter on both cyberspace and the print media, you should know which Jason I'm talking about. Yes, Jason Neo, that guy who saw it fit to use a picture of a busload of kids to insult an entire community.
I believe a lot of oil has been poured into this firestorm, and one may say that I'm doing nothing more than to add even more fuel to it by adding this late, late post. However, the way I see it, adding my two cents' worth of fuel to the conflagration should be seen in the context of all the shiploads of oil that has already been spilled by Jason Neo.
Yes, that's right - that's how I see this whole issue: as an oil spill of sorts on our own community. When you tar everyone with the same brush, that counts as blatant and outright discrimination. After all, simple logic dictates that the actions of one cannot be applied to an entire community as a whole.
Lots of people have been baying for his blood, figuratively speaking at least. I'm not one of those people, for we should always strive to be the better person in cases like this. As terrible as his actions were, retaliating in kind just makes the rest of us no better than him. He's just not worth the effort. Besides, I have always felt that cases like this are just too stupid for law enforcement to handle.
After all, if it takes a stupid person to show this level of discrimination and intolerance, then it takes a very stupid person to drag innocent kids into the mix, and it takes a mindblowingly stupid person to blare it out on Facebook. I seriously doubt that a day in court and a few weeks in jail makes a stupid person any smarter. If it does, tossing half the world's population in prison oughta do humanity a whole lot of good.
So, Jason, let me address you directly: I'm a Muslim, and regardless of whatever cynicism I may have about your apology, I'm gonna have to accept it. That said, how am I supposed to look at you directly in the eye should we ever meet? It makes me question why I have to serve 2 1/2 years of NS and 2-3 weeks a years for the next ten years (I'm in my sixth year now) to prepare for external threats when there are threats from within coming from foolhardy miltons like you?
I won't spit on your face, and I won't flip the bird at you. I just refuse to look at you in the eye and show you any respect. I also won't ask for the police to come down on you and slap you with the Sedition Act.
But guess what, Jason? That isn't up to me. Three different people have filed police reports against you, one of whom includes the principal of the kindergarten in question.
Good luck trying to sleep at night.
Wrong Jason.
Unless you haven't been following the chatter on both cyberspace and the print media, you should know which Jason I'm talking about. Yes, Jason Neo, that guy who saw it fit to use a picture of a busload of kids to insult an entire community.
I believe a lot of oil has been poured into this firestorm, and one may say that I'm doing nothing more than to add even more fuel to it by adding this late, late post. However, the way I see it, adding my two cents' worth of fuel to the conflagration should be seen in the context of all the shiploads of oil that has already been spilled by Jason Neo.
Yes, that's right - that's how I see this whole issue: as an oil spill of sorts on our own community. When you tar everyone with the same brush, that counts as blatant and outright discrimination. After all, simple logic dictates that the actions of one cannot be applied to an entire community as a whole.
Lots of people have been baying for his blood, figuratively speaking at least. I'm not one of those people, for we should always strive to be the better person in cases like this. As terrible as his actions were, retaliating in kind just makes the rest of us no better than him. He's just not worth the effort. Besides, I have always felt that cases like this are just too stupid for law enforcement to handle.
After all, if it takes a stupid person to show this level of discrimination and intolerance, then it takes a very stupid person to drag innocent kids into the mix, and it takes a mindblowingly stupid person to blare it out on Facebook. I seriously doubt that a day in court and a few weeks in jail makes a stupid person any smarter. If it does, tossing half the world's population in prison oughta do humanity a whole lot of good.
So, Jason, let me address you directly: I'm a Muslim, and regardless of whatever cynicism I may have about your apology, I'm gonna have to accept it. That said, how am I supposed to look at you directly in the eye should we ever meet? It makes me question why I have to serve 2 1/2 years of NS and 2-3 weeks a years for the next ten years (I'm in my sixth year now) to prepare for external threats when there are threats from within coming from foolhardy miltons like you?
I won't spit on your face, and I won't flip the bird at you. I just refuse to look at you in the eye and show you any respect. I also won't ask for the police to come down on you and slap you with the Sedition Act.
But guess what, Jason? That isn't up to me. Three different people have filed police reports against you, one of whom includes the principal of the kindergarten in question.
Good luck trying to sleep at night.
Goodness me. TWO months of not posting? This has got to be a new record.
The problem is that I've been extremely busy with work/teaching my students/training for long distance runs/all other things that make up my busy life. And when I'm actually free to do whatever I want, I'm just too pooped out to try to knock out a blog entry.
That said, I was induced to write an entry after reading this article:
Entice me and I'll come to pray
To summarize the article, it's all about the experiences of a certain Malaysian Muslim when it comes to prayer. Among other things, he found that the khatib of Friday prayers can sometimes be boring enough to induce sleep in him. On top of that, the poor delivery of the Azan for Subuh by one of his peers during his boarding school days made him cringe every subsequent time he heard the Azan in the years to come. I strongly suggest reading the article in full to get a feel of it so as not to risk misunderstanding the context I am writing this blog entry in.
To summarize the article, it's all about the experiences of a certain Malaysian Muslim when it comes to prayer. Among other things, he found that the khatib of Friday prayers can sometimes be boring enough to induce sleep in him. On top of that, the poor delivery of the Azan for Subuh by one of his peers during his boarding school days made him cringe every subsequent time he heard the Azan in the years to come. I strongly suggest reading the article in full to get a feel of it so as not to risk misunderstanding the context I am writing this blog entry in.
An example of a khutbah Jumaat.
Well, he has the right to make his thoughts known.
And so do I. Now, let me toss in my dua sen on all this.
MAS doesn't produce one-cent coins anymore, so US cents will have to do.
First of all, it's really conduct unbecoming for one to criticize the poor delivery of the khatib for khutbah Jumaat. Now, don't get me wrong; I do agree that some imams can deliver their khutbahs in a droning, snore-inducing tone of voice, and it can take a considerable effort to stay awake during the khutbah, let alone pay close attention. For instance, I attended yesterday's Friday prayers in a state of illness, sleep-deprivation, and a half-dead brain after a full morning of energy-sapping lab experiments. It was all I could do to not fall asleep during the khutbah when the imam delivered his sermon in a monotone, sleep-inducing voice.
But that said, it does not mean that one should use that as an excuse for falling asleep during khutbah Jumaat. If you truly find it hard to pay attention, then at the very least just focus on staying awake out of respect to the khatib/imam. After all, put yourself in his shoes - would you truly enjoy it should your audience fall asleep while you're giving a public presentation?
'Don't mind Darth Cheney. My Axis of Evil speeches always bore him'.
I also have to take issue with the writer's treatment of the muezzin who could not give the Azan properly due to his sleepiness and grogginess. After all, the muezzin was certainly just as groggy as the writer was, and perhaps even more so, considering that he had to wake up even earlier. Let me put it simply: if you think you can do a better job than the muezzin, then you should ask the muezzin to stand aside and call out the Azan yourself.
At the very least, see it this way: the poor chap who had to be the muezzin woke up earlier and set aside his grogginess and lack of sleep to call on you to perform your religious obligations. Instead of publicly berating him for making you unenthusiastic about prayer, you should be thanking him for reminding you to pray. If what he did was an act of charity towards you, then all that criticism of him was totally uncalled for.
I will agree that worship should not be something that is to be forced. I will also agree that the khatib Jumaat should learn how to deliver his khutbah in an effective manner so as to properly engage the jemaah at the mosque. I will even agree that whoever has to give the Azan should be someone who can do it capably.
However, I will have to stress on this point: at the end of the day, the act of worship is primarily your own responsibility. It may well be the imam's responsibility to engage the jemaah properly during khutbah Jumaat, but it is also your responsibility to stay awake and to pay attention. It may well be the responsibility of the muezzin to call out a proper Azan, but if he can't, then it is your responsibility to either do it yourself or to assign someone else who can do a better job.
We all have our responsibilities. While we may take others to task for not performing theirs, we should never forget our own responsibilities.
Now that the fasting month of Ramadan has started, you tend to see advertisements such as this:
Restaurants will be falling all over themselves trying to sell special 'Ramadan Buffet' promotions or what have you, promising free flow of drinks and a wide array of dishes in an 'all-you-can-eat' format.
Truth be told, I have nothing but contempt for such promotions.
The way I see it, the term 'Ramadan Buffet' itself is a self-contradicting phrase..... an oxymoron, if you will. Ramadan is a time for you to do plenty of self-reflection on your character, while a buffet is an invitation towards gluttony. I just find it highly cynical to be engaging in self-restraint throughout the day only to stuff oneself to the gills once the azan for Maghrib sounds on the radio.
In fact, I'm not just targeting buffets in particular; I'm targeting gluttony in general. The way I see it, it kinda defeats the whole purpose of fasting when you stuff yourself full with food at both Sahur and Iftar. I can't speak for Allah Almighty, but the way I see it, the whole point of fasting is to teach yourself the value of self-restraint, to learn empathy for those who are less fortunate who are in a perpetually poor and hungry state, and to count your blessings and be grateful for what you have. At Imsak, when you scarf down a huge plate of chicken rice three times the portion you would normally eat, these lessons are kinda lost to you.
In the first place, Rasullulah (peace be upon him) did enjoin upon us all to eat in moderation. To quote a well-known hadith:
A man does not fill any vessel worse than his stomach. It is sufficient for the son of Adam to eat enough to keep him alive. But if he must do that, then one-third for his food, one-third for his drink and one-third for his air. (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2380; Ibn Maajah, 3349)
My point here is simple: at Iftar during Maghrib, eat just enough to silence the pain of hunger, and no more. If you wish to go for Round 2 (Round 1 being Iftar), then please do so after Tarawih prayers. If that seems a bit too late for you, then at least pray Maghrib first before you eat some more.
And please don't say things like 'Tarawih is exhausting; I need my energy by eating a lot at Iftar'. Yes, I agree that Tarawih prayers can be quite a bit of a workout, with a total of 31 rakaats to be conducted at the mosque (In order: 2x Solat Sunat (upon arrival) + 2x Solat Sunat (after azan) + 4x Isyak + 2x Sunat (after Isyak) + 20x Tarawih + 3x Witir).
But then again, Rasullulah (peace be upon him) got on just fine with three dates and a glass of water. Certainly a simple tuna sandwich or a small plate of rice ought to be enough to carry you through the night.
At the very least, if you feel compelled to go for buffet dinners for Iftar, please do exercise a degree of self-restraint. Do not fill your plates high with food, and do not eat so much till your stomach bloats and you feel as though you could fill in for the whale in Free Willy. If the thought of exercising self-restraint makes you feel that you're not getting your money's worth, then here's a thought: don't eat at an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. Just get yourself a small and cheap meal at a nice little mom-and-pop establishment.
Or better still, cook your own food and eat at home with your family. Use Iftar during Ramadan as a means of bonding with your family over a home-cooked meal.
I hope that everyone is getting the point that I'm trying to bring across here. I'm not saying that it's wrong to eat during Sahur and Iftar - if anything, you should eat Sahur just prior to Subuh, and you should eat Iftar immediately when the azan for Maghrib is heard. Neither am I saying that you should limit yourself to tiny scraps of food at either meal.
All I'm saying is, one should refrain from gluttony at all times, and even more so during Ramadan. From my point of view, it kinda defeats the whole point of Ramadan to engage in gluttony during the month of self-restraint and personal discipline.
Restaurants will be falling all over themselves trying to sell special 'Ramadan Buffet' promotions or what have you, promising free flow of drinks and a wide array of dishes in an 'all-you-can-eat' format.
Truth be told, I have nothing but contempt for such promotions.
The way I see it, the term 'Ramadan Buffet' itself is a self-contradicting phrase..... an oxymoron, if you will. Ramadan is a time for you to do plenty of self-reflection on your character, while a buffet is an invitation towards gluttony. I just find it highly cynical to be engaging in self-restraint throughout the day only to stuff oneself to the gills once the azan for Maghrib sounds on the radio.
In fact, I'm not just targeting buffets in particular; I'm targeting gluttony in general. The way I see it, it kinda defeats the whole purpose of fasting when you stuff yourself full with food at both Sahur and Iftar. I can't speak for Allah Almighty, but the way I see it, the whole point of fasting is to teach yourself the value of self-restraint, to learn empathy for those who are less fortunate who are in a perpetually poor and hungry state, and to count your blessings and be grateful for what you have. At Imsak, when you scarf down a huge plate of chicken rice three times the portion you would normally eat, these lessons are kinda lost to you.
In the first place, Rasullulah (peace be upon him) did enjoin upon us all to eat in moderation. To quote a well-known hadith:
A man does not fill any vessel worse than his stomach. It is sufficient for the son of Adam to eat enough to keep him alive. But if he must do that, then one-third for his food, one-third for his drink and one-third for his air. (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2380; Ibn Maajah, 3349)
My point here is simple: at Iftar during Maghrib, eat just enough to silence the pain of hunger, and no more. If you wish to go for Round 2 (Round 1 being Iftar), then please do so after Tarawih prayers. If that seems a bit too late for you, then at least pray Maghrib first before you eat some more.
And please don't say things like 'Tarawih is exhausting; I need my energy by eating a lot at Iftar'. Yes, I agree that Tarawih prayers can be quite a bit of a workout, with a total of 31 rakaats to be conducted at the mosque (In order: 2x Solat Sunat (upon arrival) + 2x Solat Sunat (after azan) + 4x Isyak + 2x Sunat (after Isyak) + 20x Tarawih + 3x Witir).
But then again, Rasullulah (peace be upon him) got on just fine with three dates and a glass of water. Certainly a simple tuna sandwich or a small plate of rice ought to be enough to carry you through the night.
At the very least, if you feel compelled to go for buffet dinners for Iftar, please do exercise a degree of self-restraint. Do not fill your plates high with food, and do not eat so much till your stomach bloats and you feel as though you could fill in for the whale in Free Willy. If the thought of exercising self-restraint makes you feel that you're not getting your money's worth, then here's a thought: don't eat at an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. Just get yourself a small and cheap meal at a nice little mom-and-pop establishment.
Or better still, cook your own food and eat at home with your family. Use Iftar during Ramadan as a means of bonding with your family over a home-cooked meal.
I hope that everyone is getting the point that I'm trying to bring across here. I'm not saying that it's wrong to eat during Sahur and Iftar - if anything, you should eat Sahur just prior to Subuh, and you should eat Iftar immediately when the azan for Maghrib is heard. Neither am I saying that you should limit yourself to tiny scraps of food at either meal.
All I'm saying is, one should refrain from gluttony at all times, and even more so during Ramadan. From my point of view, it kinda defeats the whole point of Ramadan to engage in gluttony during the month of self-restraint and personal discipline.
I ran the Marina 21k run last Saturday.
I'll be brutally blunt here: it was the worst-organized race I had ever attended, and I would never, EVER recommend it to anyone, be it the weekend road warrior or the really dedicated professional runner.
The problems started well before the starting point. Considering that the race location was at the really hard-to-get Marina Bay Gardens in the East, most of us had to take the free shuttle bus. And the only information about the shuttle bus was that the pick-up point was at Mountbatten MRT.
Alright, fair enough, I thought. At the very least, there would some signs and/or a couple of marshallers to guide the people to the pick-up point. But.... no, there was none of the sort. So I got lost, along with a whole lot of other people.
So, we finally boarded the bus, which dropped us near the starting point. And here's the next problem.... we couldn't find the starting point. Again, zilch marshallers and/or signs pointing us in the right direction.
Then, I went to the starting point, getting myself all pumped up for the start time of 7.30 pm. Except that..... there was now several waves of runners based on race category and tag number. So I found myself being in the 7.50 pm race category. Seriously..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
Then, the route itself was so profoundly weird that it would be an insult to weirdness to call it so. Firstly, you cannot call it the 'Marina 21k' when the route is mostly in Tanjong Rhu and Kallang. Secondly, there were many, many hairpin turns. Third, the running route was down to a single lane on the road.... for both incoming and outgoing directions. You can guess what happened: I was on constant EVASIVE ACTION mode the whole way, trying to overtake guniangs who attached themselves to the first wave even though it was supposedly reserved for elite runners.
Yes, to all those who attached themselves to the first wave even though they knew they couldn't run fast enough.... I'm insulting you. If you're too self-centered and think too highly of yourselves to run in the first wave, then you deserve all the flaming that I'm laying on you, you weaklings. I can run 21 clicks in less than 2 hours, and I don't see myself as an elite runner.
So how DARE YOU attach yourself to the elites when you can't even run the whole way without stopping?
Man, this sucks. Instead of writing a proper AAR about the Marina 21k run, I end up writing a b*tchfest of an article.
1 hr 58 minutes was my timing here.
Here's to hoping that I get a better timing in the Army Half Marathon.
I'll be brutally blunt here: it was the worst-organized race I had ever attended, and I would never, EVER recommend it to anyone, be it the weekend road warrior or the really dedicated professional runner.
The problems started well before the starting point. Considering that the race location was at the really hard-to-get Marina Bay Gardens in the East, most of us had to take the free shuttle bus. And the only information about the shuttle bus was that the pick-up point was at Mountbatten MRT.
Alright, fair enough, I thought. At the very least, there would some signs and/or a couple of marshallers to guide the people to the pick-up point. But.... no, there was none of the sort. So I got lost, along with a whole lot of other people.
So, we finally boarded the bus, which dropped us near the starting point. And here's the next problem.... we couldn't find the starting point. Again, zilch marshallers and/or signs pointing us in the right direction.
Then, I went to the starting point, getting myself all pumped up for the start time of 7.30 pm. Except that..... there was now several waves of runners based on race category and tag number. So I found myself being in the 7.50 pm race category. Seriously..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
Then, the route itself was so profoundly weird that it would be an insult to weirdness to call it so. Firstly, you cannot call it the 'Marina 21k' when the route is mostly in Tanjong Rhu and Kallang. Secondly, there were many, many hairpin turns. Third, the running route was down to a single lane on the road.... for both incoming and outgoing directions. You can guess what happened: I was on constant EVASIVE ACTION mode the whole way, trying to overtake guniangs who attached themselves to the first wave even though it was supposedly reserved for elite runners.
Yes, to all those who attached themselves to the first wave even though they knew they couldn't run fast enough.... I'm insulting you. If you're too self-centered and think too highly of yourselves to run in the first wave, then you deserve all the flaming that I'm laying on you, you weaklings. I can run 21 clicks in less than 2 hours, and I don't see myself as an elite runner.
So how DARE YOU attach yourself to the elites when you can't even run the whole way without stopping?
Man, this sucks. Instead of writing a proper AAR about the Marina 21k run, I end up writing a b*tchfest of an article.
1 hr 58 minutes was my timing here.
Here's to hoping that I get a better timing in the Army Half Marathon.
With reference to my previous blog post, I am glad to say that wiser heads have prevailed among the NDP Committee. They have decided to pull the totally-ridiculous 'Fun Pack Song' from its lineup.
However, it wasn't for reasons of sanity that they did so. It was because it turns out that while they had paid the rights for airing the original 'Bad Romance' song, they did not have the rights to actually modify its lyrics into 'The Fun Pack Song'.
Since MINDEF is in charge of this fiasco, this photo seems oddly.... appropriate.
Let me get this straight..... the powers-that-be had no idea that 'rights to air a song' is not the same as 'rights to air a modified version of the song'? Any monkey who ever listens to music and reads news related to the music industry knows how seriously copyright rules are taken in the music world.
For one thing, remember the uber-awesome Ghostbusters theme we all rocked to back when we were all kids?
Ghostbusting makes me feel good!
Ray Parker Jr was sued for ripping the guitar riff off from another song. And he lost the suit.
You don't even need to rip off an entire guitar riff to get sued. Robbie Williams was taken to court for lifting one single line from an existing song. And he lost the case, giving up 25% of royalties earned from that song in the process.
Bottom line is, if you want to rip off someone else's song, make sure you have the full clearance to do so first. You also need to make sure that you have full permission to modify the lyrics while negotiating for the clearance. This situation that the NDP organizers got themselves in can only be described as a bad case of 'I thought, you think, who confirm?' If my legendary BMT platoon sergeant had been in charge, the next thing that would have happened would be that we would all be knocked into a 'half-left down position' and have to hump the floor repeatedly.
Or to go forth and grope a faraway tree.
The threat of litigation from Lady Gaga's parent company isn't an idle one, either. Try clicking on the Youtube link in my previous post - it has been taken down, by order of Sony ATV. If Sony felt moved enough to order Youtube to remove the song, think about what they could do to the original perpetrators of this fiasco.
Legal issues aside, I also have a very big question to ask the NDP organizing committee: what the heck were they thinking? 'Lady Gaga == cool == let's pay the legal fees and rip it off'? Would it kill them to just hire a local songwriter to create a perfectly-original song? If anything, it would probably cost less, the money would have remained within our economy, and it would be certainly a lot more creative than just ripping off a foreign song.
In the end, I believe Adolf here kind of speaks for everyone:
Either Chan Mali Chan or Geylang Sipaku Geylang would have been far better choices.
However, it wasn't for reasons of sanity that they did so. It was because it turns out that while they had paid the rights for airing the original 'Bad Romance' song, they did not have the rights to actually modify its lyrics into 'The Fun Pack Song'.
Since MINDEF is in charge of this fiasco, this photo seems oddly.... appropriate.Let me get this straight..... the powers-that-be had no idea that 'rights to air a song' is not the same as 'rights to air a modified version of the song'? Any monkey who ever listens to music and reads news related to the music industry knows how seriously copyright rules are taken in the music world.
For one thing, remember the uber-awesome Ghostbusters theme we all rocked to back when we were all kids?
Ghostbusting makes me feel good!
Ray Parker Jr was sued for ripping the guitar riff off from another song. And he lost the suit.
You don't even need to rip off an entire guitar riff to get sued. Robbie Williams was taken to court for lifting one single line from an existing song. And he lost the case, giving up 25% of royalties earned from that song in the process.
Bottom line is, if you want to rip off someone else's song, make sure you have the full clearance to do so first. You also need to make sure that you have full permission to modify the lyrics while negotiating for the clearance. This situation that the NDP organizers got themselves in can only be described as a bad case of 'I thought, you think, who confirm?' If my legendary BMT platoon sergeant had been in charge, the next thing that would have happened would be that we would all be knocked into a 'half-left down position' and have to hump the floor repeatedly.
Or to go forth and grope a faraway tree.The threat of litigation from Lady Gaga's parent company isn't an idle one, either. Try clicking on the Youtube link in my previous post - it has been taken down, by order of Sony ATV. If Sony felt moved enough to order Youtube to remove the song, think about what they could do to the original perpetrators of this fiasco.
Legal issues aside, I also have a very big question to ask the NDP organizing committee: what the heck were they thinking? 'Lady Gaga == cool == let's pay the legal fees and rip it off'? Would it kill them to just hire a local songwriter to create a perfectly-original song? If anything, it would probably cost less, the money would have remained within our economy, and it would be certainly a lot more creative than just ripping off a foreign song.
In the end, I believe Adolf here kind of speaks for everyone:
Either Chan Mali Chan or Geylang Sipaku Geylang would have been far better choices.
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Muhammad Fadzli Hassan
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