Who Should Be The Next Icon?

Thousands turned up at the Singapore zoo last Sunday to bid a final farewell to Ah Meng, the famous icon of the zoo. There has been a genuine outpouring of regret at the passing of this wonderful ambassador of Singapore tourism. Why was Ah Meng so special?

To some, she was just a friendly and lovable orang utan who was trained to have breakfast and take pictures with tourists, and promoted as the star attraction by the zoo.

But Ah Meng was not just a friendly ape who happened to be the face of the zoo. Over the 37 years she was with the zoo, Ah Meng had been exposed to, and had interacted with 2 or 3 generations of Singaporeans (not to mention tourists from around the world), and the people had formed an emotional bond with her. Emotional bonds take time to develop and cannot be willed or artificially created.

As such, Ah Meng left big shoes to fill. The zoo has since shortlisted 6 of its more popular residents - Chomel the orang utan, Chawang the bull elephant, Inuka the polar bear, Omar the white tiger, Randall the sealion and Pedro the small-clawed otter - to be its next icon.

The zoo admitted it is not easy to replace Ah Meng (almost impossible) but whichever animal it eventually decides to pick as its next icon, it will live in the shadow of the legacy the great Ah Meng left behind. The zoo can only groom it, promote it and let it interact with visitors. There can be no overnight icon.

Canon IXY Digital L4 Camera Contest

It’s been a while since I entered into blog contest and recently I came across a not-to-be-miss contest with a grand prize of a brand spanking new 7.1 meg Canon IXY Digital L4 Camera giveaway!

The contest is hosted by Neil Duckett of Neil Duckett dot com to promote the launch of his new site Japan Singles, which has a database over 300,000 bilingual Japanese and foreigners living in Japan and a total of 1.5 million members globally.

It is an easy contest with various methods for us to enter. Contest will close on Saturday, 8th of March.

Good luck everyone!

F1 Ticketing Fiasco

It was supposed to be a momentous occasion, one with historic significance for Formula 1 fans all over the world and especially so for local F1 fans who will be witnessing super fast racing machines zooming past up to speed of 300km/hr at their own backyard for the first time.

Singapore will be hosting the first night street race in the history of Formula 1 racing but this upcoming event met its first hurdle when ticket sale which started on 14 Feb had fans in Singapore and abroad crying foul.

The computer sales system crashed on Thursday just moments after tickets went on sale at 9am. Ticket sales ground to a halt at counters, over the phone and online, leaving fans both local and abroad fuming.

This ticketing fiasco led race organizer Singapore GP to place full-page advertisements in the local newspapers apologizing to F1 fans who have been affected by the stuttering ticketing system.

Anti Valentine's Day Cards

To many lovebirds, Valentine's day may be the sweetest and most important day of the entire year. But to many singles, divorced and those cheated out of love, V-Day is a day they got singled out and made to feel ostracized.

Below are some anti V-Day cards presented by Zwinky which will come in handy for the broken-hearted.

Love Is In The Air

Today is Valentine’s Day and millions of love-struck couples all over the world will be exchanging sweet nothings or celebrating the evening with a romantic candlelight dinner.

But if unfortunately, you are fretting over your stagnant relationship and felt that love had fizzled out or that your man is commitment-phobic by not asking you to marry him after all this while, you would do well to identify the stages of the relationship each of you are in, and try to communicate and reconcile the differences in values, if there are any.

According to relationship guru, couples usually go through 4 phases before walking down the aisle. So if you are having doubts whether you have found Mr or Ms Right, try to give the relationship some time so that you can assess yourself and your partner and find the common ground in the relationship where you can both share the same wavelength.

Stage 1: Introductory
Also term as prospecting, this is the time when singles expand their social circles and make first contact with someone they are attracted to.

Tips:
First impression matter, dress well and be conscious of your body language.

Stage 2: Exploration
At this stage, the individual is curtailing his or her options to a select few. He or she may go on several dates with different people to find out if the other party is the one.

Tips:
Find out more about each other, for example, your date’s life philosophies, family background, values and beliefs.

Don’t come across as too clingy, calling your dates 10 times a day.

Go on double dates or group dates with both your friends to observe how your partner interact with others. Your friends can also give you their opinions of your date.

Stage 3: Exclusivity
At this stage, both are committed to each other. Seeing another man or woman as an option is tantamount to double-timming!

Tips:
Be trusting, give each other personal space for his/her own circles of friends.

Ask questions about family planning, household financial planning but be mindful that women tend to move into this stage earlier than men. Make sure your partner is ready for marriage before hinting about marriage or talking about family planning.

Stage 4: Pre-marriage
As the name implies, marriage is almost a done deal.

Tips: Get advice from churches and social counseling centre which usually conduct pre-marital seminars and workshops for couples. Such workshops provide informative advice for the soon-to-wed couples.

Navigate these "minefields" of a relationship with your partner by your side, not one party should proceed too far ahead or lack too far behind.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!!

Fly Away

The Singapore Flyer, a giant observation wheel that features brilliant engineering breakthroughs a world apart from the traditional ferris wheel, took its maiden flight yesterday with 700 people on board.

On a clear day, at 165m aloft, the view will stretch 45km across the island and even into neighboring Malaysia to the north and Indonesia to the south.

Costing $240 million to build, the Singapore Flyer is inspired by the London eye but is 30m taller than its British cousin. It is set to be Asia's most visible iconic visitor attraction, providing breathtaking, panoramic views of Singapore and beyond.

Goodbye Ah Meng

Friday, Feb 8, 2008 marked the passing of a Singapore legend. She was a great looking Singapore girl who rubbed shoulders with royalty, movie stars and statesmen. Among those who dropped in on her were Britain's Prince Philip, pop superstar Michael Jackson and actress Elizabeth Taylor.

She was featured in almost 30 travel films and more than 270 write-ups worldwide. Her name was Ah Meng, and she was the famous Sumatran orang utan who is the face of the Singapore zoo. Ah Meng died at age 48 (which is 95 in human terms) and it marked the end of an era at the Singapore Zoological Gardens.

Ah Meng is survived by four children and six grandchildren.

Rubber Gloves

Next time you use a pair of rubber gloves, you're going to smile when you think of this:


A dentist noticed that his next patient, a little old lady, was nervous so he decided to tell her a little joke as he put on his gloves.

'Do you know how they make these gloves?' he asked.

'No, I don't,' she replied.

'Well,' he spoofed, 'there's a building in Canada with a big tank of latex and workers of all hand sizes walk up to the tank, dip in their hands, let them dry, then peel off the gloves and throw them into boxes of the right size.'

She didn't crack a smile.

'Oh, well. I tried,' he thought.

But five minutes later, during a delicate portion of the procedure, she burst out laughing.

'What's so funny?' he asked

'I was just envisioning how condoms are made!'

Gotta watch those little old ladies! Their minds are always working!

Health Warning!

Beware!! This is what you will fart if you swallow chewing gum!

My Personality Bubbles

How well does your profile communicate your personality?

I took a personality test at a site called You Just Get Me and here's some informal interpretations of my traits by a guest psychologist:

About those "Casual" and "Disciplined" bubbles...
Conscientiousness is not one of your defining traits, meaning that you are neither anal retentive nor anal expulsive. What does that mean? In a nutshell, you keep it together fairly well, but you do not suffer too much if you let things fall through the cracks every once in a while. If you make plans with a friend, chances are good that you will show up at the designated time. Then again, something better may come up or you just might forget. Either way, you're good.

Another possibility is that you are very conscientious about some things, but more relaxed about other things. For example, you might demand the utmost rigor and discipline in your scholarly/work life, but keep your home looking like a garage sale gone terribly awry, with various articles of clothing and personal belonging strewn about. Where's Fido? Hopefully he hasn't been eaten by the alien life that has developed since the last cleaning.

About those "Traditional" and "Alternative" bubbles...
Openness is not one of your defining traits. This means that while you do value creativity and artistic expressions to some degree, you are also equally comfortable with conservatism and things that are more plain and simple. Depending on the context, you may be more interested in concrete ideas versus abstract thinking, and vice versa.

It could also be that you are highly open in some areas, and more conservative in other areas of your life. Maybe you're the type of person who has quite the vivid imagination and are chock-full of enthusiasm for different concepts, but prefer to stick to "safer" foods that you recognize. Raw fish anyone? NOT.

About those "Unemotional" and "Neurotic" bubbles...
To quote the Hershey chocolate company, "sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't." That pretty much sums up your score on the trait of emotional stability. There are times when you feel such intensity of emotions, mostly negative, that you just want to lie down and spend the day thinking about how you can score Prozac. In other contexts (like when you are on your meds), you feel just fine - calm, happy, ready to face the day.

The emotions cancel each other out and you look like you are dealing with life fairly well statistically. Another possibility for your middle scores on emotional stability is that some things push your button more than others and when your buttons get pushed, you stress and freak. What's that I hear? Is that your mom calling? For the most part though, you are the epitome of grace under pressure.

About that "Cooperative" bubble...
Your scores would suggest that you tend to be more agreeable than you are competitive. What does that mean? For starters, it means that you have a fairly strong tendency to believe in social harmony and cooperation. You are a nice person. You want people to get along and do the right thing - for each other, for the greater humanity. That's not to say that you are a total pushover, but that you believe in the niceties of life. This is probably why you are very popular with people and have many friends.

The difference between you and someone who is very high in agreeableness is that you have a bit of an edge. Maybe you laugh when people fall down and hurt themselves, maybe you secretly occasionally think people suck. Whatever it is that's holding you back from winning Ms. or Mr. Congeniality, that's also what makes you more interesting.

About that "Introverted" bubble...
For the most part, you are a fairly reserved person, who thinks before you speak and cogitates on all the facts before you act. You may be very successful and work hard for your goals and dreams, but prefer to celebrate your successes outside of the limelight as you do not like to bring attention to yourself. Is it difficult for you to meet people because you have to force yourself to greet the world on its terms? You may fall into one of two categories - you secretly wish that people would talk to you so that they can see what an absolutely wonderful, interesting, and charming creature you are OR you secretly (not so secretly wish) that people would just go away.

It's not inaccurate to say that the life of an introvert is much like being underwater at a community pool, which is somewhat isolating but tranquil until you reach the surface of the pool and have to contend with the "noises" of everyday life. Because you have some extroverted tendencies, you may find the world at large a little more welcoming than your introvert "thoroughbred" sisters and brothers.

My personality tendencies in a nutshell...

You enjoy making plans and commitments but you sometimes don't follow through. You feel comfortable with routine, but you are also quite receptive to new experiences. You are calm and logical for the most part, but some things worry you more than others. You are typically respectful toward others and dislike confrontation. You show some tendency towards being reserved in most social situations.