REAL LOVE WORKS @ FORT CANNING

FREE SHUTTLE BUS SERVICE TO

FORT CANNING, FORT GREEN, 20 MARCH 2010

Pick up Point &: City Hall MRT, Exit B, Main Road facing Capitol Building

Drop off Point

Directions: By Train – Alight at City Hall MRT, take Exit B to Pick up Point

By Bus – Alight at bus stop in front of St Andrew’s Cathedral and walk towards City Hall MRT, Exit B

* Kindly note due to limited parking space at Fort Canning, free shuttle bus services have been arranged. Thank you.

Shuttle Bus Service Schedule
Departure from City Hall MRT to Fort Canning	Departure from Fort Canning to City Hall MRT
4.10pm	8.30pm
4.20pm	8.40pm
4.30pm	8.50pm
4.40pm	9.00pm
4.50pm	9.10pm
5.00pm	9.20pm
5.10pm	9.30pm
5.20pm
5.30pm

Shuttle Bus Service Pick up Point

REAL LOVE WORKS @ FORT CANNING

Programme Schedule
Time	Details
4.00 – 5.00pm	Collection of picnic basket / goody bag at Registration Area
5.00pm	Onstage games and activities
6.00pm	Launch of Real Love Works 2010
7.00pm	Lucky Draw
7.15pm	Outdoor Movie Screening - “Music and Lyrics”
8.45pm	End of Event

Map of Fort Canning, Fort Green

Can chanting protect one from devils, demons and gods?

To be honest, when I saw Lighthouse Evangelism Pastor Rony Tan’s video with a Joseph Wee on criticizsng Buddhism, as a Buddhist I was rather enraged by it.

But The Buddha said, “You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger”.

Hence after much thoughts, I have to thank Pastor Rony for giving me the spur to find out more about what the Lord Buddha and Buddhists think about fear.

As such, I am embedding the video below, not to incite others against the Pastor, but rather to point out some of the points raised by the Pastor and Joseph.

At about 1:20, Joseph and Pastor Rony was talking about a particular chant of a word in Pali that Joseph said he didn’t know what it meant nor did his senior Buddhist fellows. According to Joseph, the chant will “protect him against all devils, demons and gods.” Pastor Rony at 2:15 then said that one could chant “ee ee ou ah ah…” to similar effect.

After some research, I think that one word or two words actually could be the mantra chant of “Hari Om” which means to remove fear/uncover bliss.

One can clearly see that “Hari Om” doesn’t come with the intention as a protection chant but rather than a chant to remove fear or uncover bliss.

It is this fear of devils, demons and gods that create a need for us to be wanted to be from protected from them. If we were to remove this fear, wouldn’t it be as good as being protected against this evil spirits?

View on Buddhism wrote,

As fear is based on something that we think may happen in the future, it is clearly a mental process which tries to predict the future - in that sense, the reason of fear is a projection of our mind.

As such, if the chant is enable you to calm your mind to think of only the chant “Hari Om” and therefore  remove your fear of “devils, demons and gods”, why then would you need protection against them?

Also, if one were to chant “ee ee ou ah ah..” as suggested by Pastor Rony, but that makes one mind to focus on the words and forget about the fear of “devils, demons and gods”, then maybe that person should chant “ee ee ou ah ah..”.

As such, if you at from this point of view, both Pastor Rony and Joseph have actually encourage the importance to find peace by controlling the mind and thus removing fear. A fundamental Buddhist teaching.

Here is Ajahn Brahm’s video about fear and how to overcome it.

As I continue to listen to the conversation between Pastor Rony and Joseph Wee, it actually encourages me to find out more about Buddhism as opposed to being disheartened.

For Lord Buddha said,

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Random Shot: Taking Teddy Bear Out For A Sun Tan

Anson loves to bite his teddy bear and it quickly starts to smell..

So his mother had to take the bear out to dry..Sleeping with Mickey Mouse in the afternoon wasn’t the same for Anson.

Early reunion dinner

My brother-in-law will be on bus duty during Chinese New Year so my wife decided to have dinner with him a week early.

What a feast we had though simple.

First dish – Fried prawn deep in marmite

Next dish is stir fried Broccoli with mushrooms and razor clams..

 

Steamed pomfret in  soya sauce and spring onions..

 

Fried flatten spring rolls..

and finally.. Red and white carrot soup

A little Thai cafe in Bedok

There is a new Thai cafe, Nakhon Kitchen, on Bedok North Avenue 3 that serves authentic yet affordable Thai food and is becoming a sleeper hit among residents in the area.

Nakhon Kitchen started business in early January and long queues are forming over dinner time and during the weekend.

The dishes are quite affordable with the more popular dishes like the Tom Yam soup cost around SGD6. Most Thai restaurants would charge double.

Also there is no GST or service charge and this place offer ice cold plain water.

I usually go the clear Tom Yum seafood but today decided to have a taste of the coconut milk Tom Yam.

The coconut milk used isn’t too strong so you still can linger on the taste of the lemongrass which is classic Tom Yum.

When you put a spoonful in your mouth, your taste buds will immediately feel the two different and distinct flavour of lemongrass and coconut.

The seafood option serves with two medium prawns plus a few cuttlefish and fish bits.

The next dish we tried was the Thai garlic fried chicken. Unfortunately, this was quite a disappointment as we couldn’t taste garlic as described by the name of the dish.

Still the chicken was well cooked and the bite size chunks is also enough to fill you for a meal.

Pineapple rice is a popular dish among the customers. It looks good for 2 but with the other dishes, 1 would do.

My recommendation is to use this dish as a main course to your rice rather as the rice itself. Mix it with white rice and you get a good meal out of this dish.

This is Thai style Kang Kong which is little on the belachan as compared to Singapore style samble belachan Kang Kong.

Looks oily, but there was no tinge of oil felt when we ate it though.

Don’t forget the condiments. The sambal balachan is a blast and a good mix with your dish and rice.

The cost of the dishes above? Only SGD24 without GST or service charge! White rice is at SGD1 a plate.

I would give the place a 4 plates of rice out of 5 and with the dishes served, I won’t be surprised if you down four plates of rice too.

Google Nexus One phone parts cost $174: iSuppli

From Reuters

Google Inc's new Nexus One smartphone, which retails for $529 without a service plan, is built from components that cost about $174, according to a research report.

But analysts said the big gap between the components' costs and the phone's price tag did not necessarily mean the Internet giant was making a hefty profit, since the retail price includes expenses such as licensing fees and marketing costs.

"You can't base margins off of costs alone," said Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek, noting that a variety of expenses are not reflected in so-called teardown reports, which dissect an electronics device and take inventory of the various parts.

Google began selling the Nexus One, which is made by HTC Corp, on its website last week, its first foray into selling electronics devices directly to consumers. The retail price if $529, but if a buyer agrees to a two-year contract with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA, the carrier will subsidize the phone and it costs only $179.

Read more about the real cost of the Google Nexus One phone here.

20 Interesting Shots of Abandoned Toys

From the thephotoargus.com

Christmas time is over and all the good little girls and boys have there shiny new toys to play with.

What happens to the toys that become abandoned.

No they don’t go to the island of the misfit toys. Instead they go to the local dump, abandoned houses, and other unpleasant places.

Below is a collection of sad and a bit creepy photos depicting abandoned toys. This is also a great example of unique and interesting subject matter one can shoot if you use your creativity.

Quasimondo

Urban Chill

More abandoned toys photos can be found here.

Tattoo show back in Singapore

The organisers for the Singapore Tattoo Show 2010 held a press conference today at Zouk Velvet Underground to introduce the celebrity tattoo artists to the local media.

(From left: Kim Saigh - Cherry Bomb Tattoo owner and star of TV series L.A. Ink, Chris Garver - needs no introduction, Bob Tyrrell - L.A. Ink and London Ink and Kirby Lian - brainchild of Singapore Tattoo Show.)

The organisers hopes that the 3-day event, held 8^th to 10^th January 2010 in Hall 6B of the Singapore Expo hopes to advocates the act of responsible tattooing and to educate the public about tattoo as a form of body art appreciation and culture.

 (From right – Jeremy - traditional hand tattoo artist from Borneo and Matt Booth – founder of Room 101,)

The show is set to feature a stellar lineup of an industry experts including star tattoo celebrities such as Kim Saigh (L.A. Ink/ High Voltage Tattoos, USA) and Tim Hendricks (Guest Artist in Miami Ink/ Gold Rush Tattoo, USA) who will be in Singapore for the first time, as well as returning guests Chris Garver (Miami Ink/ Love Hate Tattoo Studio, USA) and Bob Tyrrell (Night Gallery, USA). Other notable guests include industry icons from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, China and Taiwan.

Kim Saigh showing off her favourite tattoo to the media

Kim Saigh is the Singapore Tattoo Show 2010’s new ambassador.

Kim’s tattoo career began the day she received her first tattoo at the age of 16. She remembers wanting to take the machine out of the guy's hand and do it herself, and ended up backseat driving the tattoo. Two years later, her dream of holding the machine became a reality when she was offered an apprenticeship based on a drawing for a friend's tattoo.

Kim opened Cherry Bomb Tattoo after several years, and went on the star in reality TV series L.A. Ink. She is now a well-respected artist in the tattoo trade which she has been part of for 16 years.

Despite being a self-confessed metal head, Kim cultivated a deep passion for yoga over the years, and has even called it her ‘saving grace’.

Daniel Browning Smith (aka Rubber Boy) was one of the highlights of the press conference with his body twisting tricks entertaining the media.

Rubber Boy  has been titled the most flexible man alive. He has three Guinness World Records for his flexibility. While most contortionists are generally trained to bend in one direction, Rubber boy has trained extensively to bend in all directions. He can bend so far backwards that he can kiss his own butt!

His other claims to fame include dislocating his arms to crawl through an unstrung tennis racket, as well as performing contortion handstands and unique acrobatics. He can even cram his body in to a box 13.5 x 16 x 19.5 inches!

Rubber Boy combines all his special skills to put on an amazing and hilarious show. The Singapore Tat2 Show 2010 will be Rubber Boy’s first Show in Singapore, and he is looking forward to performing for local media and show-goers.

For more information on the Singapore Tat2 2010 Show, please visit http://tattoo.com.sg/ or join in the conversation with daily updates and worldwide Tattoo industry news & chatter on facebook – http://facebook.com/TattooPride.

Get Your Healthy Herbal Fix at DianXaoEr

The family were returning to Singapore and we thought of having dinner at Terminal 3 before leaving for home.

We chanced upon DianXaoEr restaurant and decided on the Healthy Set option where the dishes were served with less salt.

Too bad we went late as they ran out of their main specialty – their famous roast duck. We substituted it with drunken mushrooms.

 

The first dish, Chinese Spinach in Superior Stock, was served with a generous serving of wolfberries and spinach set. Just as the menu said, it didn’t taste that salty either.

The fish slices in the second dish, Old Style Steamed Fish Slices, were neither too thick to thin. The sliced ginger added to the taste of the dish.

The third dish, Drunken Mushrooms, was served with a variety of mushrooms. It felt like mocked drunken duck.

The final dish was the GuiLing Herbal Jelly which was black clear you could see your own reflection at the right angle.

I give DinXiaoEr 4 out of 5 for the food but 2 out of 5 for service. The staff was rushing to close the shop as the clock struck 10. They were also quite slow on the orders as it took awhile for them to be served.

The GuiLing Herbal Jelly only came like asking the staff three times before it was served.

Miss Tattoo Asia 2009- Preview

Who will be the first ever Miss Tattoo Asia 2009?

Catch the preview below.

Putrajaya Random Shots

Putrajaya is in the state of Selangor and is the federal administration center of Malaysia.

The place is also known for the building and bridges which are common venues for photo shoots.

Here are some selected shots taken (with my relatives-in-laws) there.