The Vehicle of Religion

The need for religion exists within the human psyche at a level not too far above that of the need for food and water. It is one of the factors leading to the sensitivity of issues pertaining to religion. It is not just about self-confidence. It is also not just about will-power. Spirituality and the urge to explore beyond our awareness of self are hard-wired into us.

Few individuals possess the ability to disregard that desire in the long run. Many will inevitably choose to question and seek answers to their spiritual queries. Some may suppress that instinct; however, it is just like suppressing your desire to breathe. As this instinct is built into us, we tend towards the direction it leads us.

Many define and scope reality by what they perceive - through sight, hearing, taste, feeling, smell. Is reality just that? There are many things that we do not know as we lack the necessary senses and pre-knowledge to be aware of them. Just as there are always those who shut their minds to the possibilities of things beyond their perceptions, so there will always be those who are always seeking greater awareness by reflecting and then acting on their mortal limitations. Neither is right nor wrong.

It is just how things are, how they were and how they will be.

The Conscience

Corporal laws are set by the entities whom we have all agreed, either by show of non-objection or active acceptance, would possess the power to decide for the entire society/country what is right and wrong so that the necessary system of crime and punishment can be effected. These laws do not denote absolute rights and wrongs but serve as a set of yardsticks by which actions can be evaluated and then accorded punishment if they do not conform to the general accepted behaviour used as the basis for these laws.

When you scold or cane a child because he has done wrong, you impose upon him your own notion of right and wrong which in turn is derived from the notion of right and wrong that you were exposed to and influenced by when you were growing up. As with corporal laws, these are not absolute rights and wrongs but a set of measures which you use to evaluate events that take place in daily life.

What is conscience? A tribesman who grows up feeding on the flesh of his fellow tribesman who has been killed while hunting is taught that this is a means of subsistence and is therefore correct. We do not condone this behaviour because our social values are different from his. His conscience will tell him that eating the flesh of his fellow man who was killed by accident is 'good' while ours tell us that such behaviour is 'evil'. Which conscience is correct?

Ikoi Japanese Restaurant

Today we suddenly had a craving for sashimi and since we have long heard about how great Ikoi is for sashimi, we rang them up to reserve two seats for us. 

When we went in, we didn't expect the place to be so squeezy! The tables were pretty close to each other and worst, we had a counter seat and the counter table was quite small and we had to sit side by side (almost arm to arm) and it felt even more squeezy.

We were offered a few complimentary dishes and we were smart not to take too much of the complimentary dishes because they were soup and rice aimed at making us full more easily lol. 

More spacious seats for the VIPs

Complimentary dish. 

The famous sashimi!!! 

Complimentary hotpot

Cocktail roll & Crabstick roll (Basically just hotdog wrap with bacon...)

Kabocha Tempura & Nasu Tempura

Specially flown from Japan YUZU SHERBET- S$6 

We had around 2-3 rounds of all the types of sashimi. We tried almost all the side dishes which we thought were interesting but dare not try the main dish such as soba and curry rice because we were afraid it would make us too full. Anyway I think we did not eat our worth because our tummies were so small. The meal cost us S$86 in total. Damn expensive for a buffet which we felt were not very special. We would rather pay around S$20 for the sushi at Itacho Sushi where we could enjoy a small piece of premium sashimi instead of forcing these sashimi down our tummy to the point we felt quite sick of the it. 

Luckily we ordered the YUZU SHERBET and I must say it was a pretty good dessert because it helped clear the feeling of sickness from over eating the sashimi. lol

I would say not worth paying $40 for this buffet unless you really really love sashimi and can spam sashimi without feeling sick of it. :)

Rating :

Sashimi: 4/5 (We only liked the salmon and tuna)

Cocktail & crab stick roll: 2/5 

California temaki: 3/5

Chawan mushi: 3/5

Miso soup: 3/5

Broiled tofu: 3/5

Agedashi tofu: 3/5

Ebi Tempura: 4/5

Pumpkin & eggplant tempura: 3/5

Yuzu Sherbet: 5/5 ( Really amazing that it can clear the fishy taste away immediately!) 

Day at Sentosa

I'm blogging really often these days. 

Today YY and I went to Sentosa to recce for places to shoot and also to test out the functions of my new DSLR.

I'm wearing our newly self-manufactured piece! It's great for lazy people like me who cannot be bothered to dress up and gluttons like me who eats a lot (can hide tummy). 

 I shouldn't be smiling.
Queued for a bloody 30min at Gongcha!

First time on the Sentosa Boardwalk!

A touristy shot

Palawan beach

I'm quite pleased how this picture kind of looks artistic

At Amara Sanctuary

Ok I totally fail as a model. Lol

I think we were trespassing some villa there...

Peacocks everywhere in Sentosa! 

 Although we only spent around 2-3 hours in Sentosa, we were really tired after walking so much. We headed back to Vivocity and settled for dinner at Imperial Herbal restaurant as my mum raved about the pumpkin tofu there.

Shagged max

Sweet & Sour Pork

Pumpkin Tofu

There's actually a Chinese physician sitting inside the restaurant!

Interesting chairs

Anyway, the meal wasn't really fantastic. Sweet & sour pork's quite average though the pineapple cubes in it were nice. The pumpkin tofu was not bad. The sauce is fragrant and has a hint of pumpkin and butter. The pork floss went pretty well with the tofu and sauce. 

Total bill came up to be around $18 which was quite expensive for 2 dishes and 3 bowls of rice. We did not order any drinks as one pot of tea (refillable) costs $7. An interesting thing about this restaurant is that I read from hungrygowhere that it serves exotic dishes like fried scorpions and black ants and crocodile tail. However, they can't be found in the menu and has to be requested to the waitresses there. 

Oh and the chairs are kind of funny. The interior deco's like any other proper Chinese restaurant but those seats kind of look out of place. I think it's Buddha's hand gesture? Pretty special I guess.

At YY's request

Rating : 

Sweet & sour pork: 3/5

Pumpkin tofu: 4/5

Melben Seafood

I've been pestering YY to visit Melben Seafood since I've been craving for a nice crab meal for quite a while. I love anything with crabs - crabmeat linguine, chilli crab xiao long bao, chilli crab, black pepper crab, butter crab, crabmeat sushi etc. Well, with the exception of the chilli crab sub from Subway which is crap (pardon the pun).

Anyway, it was a really last minute decision to head down to the AMK branch. We arrived at around 8pm and the queue was super long. YY even bought Jack & Jill potato chips to munch on while queueing. We stood outside to queue till around 930pm or so before we got a table and we waited for another 45 minutes to finally have our Claypot Crab Bee Hoon. 

Too bored so we camwhored

We saw Playboy Chicken in the menu.... Hmmmm

The dish finally arrived at 1015pm! OMG. It was quite entertaining watching others eat as they were all so famished that they wolfed down all the food within minutes and they were too busy eating to even have a chat amongst themselves. We also saw a little girl dipping her chopsticks into the fish pond and then put the chopsticks in her mouth several times. YY went to tell her mother about it and it made the little girl cry. Lol.

Anyway, *drumrolls* here comes the dish which made us wait for a grand 2.5 hours. 

My phone camera doesn't do this dish justice. The soup's really good! It's rich, flavoursome and sweet, with all the crab-by goodness in it. YY even exclaimed that it's "holy shit" and wanted to bring his friends over soon. As for the crab, I had the pincers which was HUGE.

The crabmeat's really succulent and had quite a bit of flesh so don't worry about paying for crabs with shells weighing more than the meat. We were actually a little scared as we saw a "no refund" policy in the menu but I guess they're serving really good crabs hence the policy. 

When the waitress took our orders, they actually told us to order 2 crabs for 2 people and that cost $76. We were shocked and in the end, we requested for just 1kg and topped up another $8 for extra bee hoon and soup. Till now, we're wondering if the chinese waitress was out to con us yesterday. We think 1kg of crab for two is actually quite sufficient and we kind of regretted topping up the $8 as it was a whole big bowl of bee hoon and soup but we insisted on finishing them as $8 wasn't cheap. Towards the end, we didn't enjoy the meal as much as the soup had turned cold and we were feeling too bloated.

The whole bill came up to $50 plus for two, including a lime juice. 

We've decided that we wouldn't be returning to the restaurant anytime soon as it got quite sickening after a while and forcing ourselves to finish up the food spoilt the experience. It's just not a very nice feeling to leave feeling so bloated. Overall, it's still quite a good meal and we'd recommend everyone to try it as it's one of the best crabs we've eaten in Singapore. Do call and ask for reservations or reach there early to avoid the 2.5h long queue :)

Lost

Here's my situation.

Secured  my first job in a big company right after my final exams. Quit my job after 3 weeks of work. Now I'm back to square one and I'm going through the whole sending resume and interviewing process all over again.

The people around me do know of my situation. Some have been really nice and have constantly shared job openings with me, others were kpo and asked why I quit my job and whether I've found a new job already. And I always feel rather awkward answering people. I mean I'm fine with sharing but it's not really nice to talk bad about others, especially since the industry's rather small. Some people have also been urging me to just settle for any job as the economy is getting worse by the day and I should not be picky anymore.

I'd like to take things in my own stride if possible.

After going for several interviews, somehow every job scope just doesn't appeal to me. I mean I do not mind doing those jobs but it is not something which I would love to do. Perhaps I'm being too idealistic as people often tell me it's very tough to find a job which I love. 

After the previous work stint, I'm really afraid of having to work under someone with total control over me again. Being thrown tasks to do, getting scolded for not doing it right, having no say in the things that have to be done. There's so many things that can be improved but I was scolded for suggesting new ways of doing things. I should have known. A newbie in the office should just be submissive and do things in the way it has been done for years. If it has been working all these years, why change?

Some people have thought that it is ridiculous of me to leave in such a short time. They tell me it's part and parcel of working life. Sups would never want the newbies to climb above them. Also, they'll not pass on all the knowledge they have for they might lose their role if the newbies outperform them. 

Am I too naive and idealistic? Is this how the corporate world functions? All these hierarchy and office politics. I was taught to challenge existing ways of doing things and improve on them when I was in school. I guess they do not apply to the real world. 

On a more positive note, I should be glad that I have more time to enjoy as this is the only holiday I have which I can play for as long as I want to. I'm gonna enjoy it and make full use of my time :) Meanwhile, I shall continue to hunt for jobs and I really hope to find one which I like soon. Job searching is such an agonising process but I shall stay positive. Go away negativity. Shoooo

Guiding principles to life

Attaining the Balance

There are an infinite number of "what-ifs" and "who-knows-if" that we can ask of any imaginable situation. To just think about all possibilities will already take us our entire lifetimes, not to mention the resolutions to the problems that lie in such possibilities. I cannot answer your question exhaustively on what will happen if such technology becomes de facto. I might be able to cite certain possible situations but that is all that I am capable of.

The key to maintaining harmony in the world exists in us practising moderation in all spheres of activities and thoughts. The more we have of people who subscribe to moderated thought and actions, the closer we move towards a peaceful world. Nonetheless, even the hypothetical end result of a peaceful existence can be questioned. Is peace truly the right goal that we should work towards? It might be the goal that we should work towards right now just to restore balance to a violence-stricken world but what next after achieving peace?

Where technology is concerned, we can likewise fret for the rest of our lives and worry that it might be abused. We know for sure that technology will continue to progress in spite of our fretting and lamenting. Trying to stop the progress of technology will be more difficult than trying to stop the movement of a huge ice glacier on the downslope. It will likely be a futile and pointless exercise.

Women are equal to men. And they are not. They are stronger than men in certain areas and weaker in others. In areas which they are weaker, they deserve protection and help just as men require the same in those which they are not as strong. Let's think of how they are the same instead of how they are different. This applies to many aspects of life, especially lines of segregation across human kind - race, religion and creed to name a few. Our natural tendencies to view others from the perspective of how different they are from us make an already difficult existence even more so.

Art Science Museum

Art Science Museum

It must have been the earliest day we woke up for the past month. We had to wake up at 8am and try to reach art science museum by 930am because we were afraid there would be too many people queuing up there!

Art Science Museum is currently offering 46 pairs of free tix to all their 3 exhibits for FREE!!!

When we arrived, there were only 20 plus people queuing up. :)

 

Yeah! finally got tix after queuing under the hot sun! We decided to not enter the Museum and go for Macdonald breakfast which we have not had for ages! 

 A long journey from MBS all the way to Marina Square under the hot sun and my gf was complaining all the way!

 And finally we went into the Museum.

Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds

 Van Gogh Alive - The Exhibition

 Dalí: Mind of a Genius – The Exhibition

 Some random exhibit

Overall, we did not feel it is worth it to pay S$28 to visit the museum but the free tix was worth it!

Also, it was quite disappointing because we thought that there will be a viewing gallery on the museum but there was none. Also there was no actual painting in Van Gogh Alive-Exhibit as compared to the Netherland one which we visited.