80,763 le...
December 2004 Archives
+Big bad news..... more than 70,000 confirmed dead.... more to be added i am quite sure..... let's hope the increment starts to drop and the number dun grow more and more as each day pass us by...
Guys do wat you can to help ok ?
-by donating money/food/old clothes to the Red Cross so that they can send it over to the needy (saw this from xian mei's blog)
-NTUC also provide such service whereby you can buy foodstuffs and they'll gather it and send over (overheard this when I went to buy things just now, kinda touch by it to hear that there are still people who cares..)
*But at the same time do take note.... although this is a time for sympathy, there are still bastards out there who come and cheat our $$$ saying its to help the victims of the disaster, so guys and gals, double check their credibility before you donate ya ?*
+ Went to get a new haircut today! cost me $8! but saw a new saloon that just opened in the vicinity! and they used Lo'real products!!!!! OMG!!! Fav brand wor! hehe! Cut and Wash I think $12 nia! gotta give it a try the next time around!
+ Singapore won Myammar 4-3! 2-2 in the first half and 1 red card in the game! Well, the lions played well! although their defence was kinda leaky... dun care la *hee hee* win is good! hope the coming match , which is to be played in Singapore, they will win it too!
Ya, Aimar wants Benitez to buy him! Hope Liverpool can manage to get him! He'll sure add another dimension to Liverpool's midfield and creativity!
+Thinking of going to expose some flims again! Itchy hand! hehe. Wanna have 12 nice similar theme works , so that I can create a year-calender/planner with them! havent go thru my works yet, gonna go thru them and see how many i still need!
Image of the moment.
Confirmed deaths from Asia's tsunami catastrophe soared past 70,000 Wednesday and experts predicted much worse to come as the world's biggest ever relief operation stuttered into life against enormous odds.
With 71,763 dead, rotting corpses, smashed sewers, contaminated water and a lack of food and shelter, along with mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria, could wipe out weakened survivors in their tens of thousands, UN and other experts warned.
In Indonesia alone, the United Nations said the death toll from the gigantic earthquake and tidal waves it spawned that hit on Sunday could be as high as 80,000.
"According to information received by OCHA from local government officials, the death toll could be between 50 to 80,000," Oliver Lacey-Hall, a spokesman for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told AFP.
By the hour the confirmed tolls ticked up relentlessly in other hard-hit countries, including Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, where the stench of death and mass burials combined with traumatic grief and looting to create an apocalyptic vision for overwhelmed relief workers.
"The immediate terror associated with the tsunamis and the earthquake itself may be dwarfed by the longer term suffering of the affected communities," said David Nabarro, the top official at the World Health Organisation dealing with humanitarian crises.
Food and medicine were already desperately short in many stricken areas.
The task of preventing this second wave of suffering is unprecedented, with UN disaster relief coordinator Jan Egeland saying relief operations would be the biggest in history.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan joined the chorus of warnings that the death toll could rise dramatically, adding that the victims were "looking to the international community to respond and respond generously".
"Down the line, I think we are going to need billions. Billions of dollars," he said.
While the aid organisations made their plans and governments around the world pledged cash and despatched ships and aircraft to help, the millions of bereaved and homeless faced a seemingly hopeless task of rebuilding shattered lives amidst utter chaos.
Half of the confirmed dead -- more than 36,000 -- were in the Indonesian province of Aceh, close to the epicentre of the biggest earthquake in 40 years which sparked the tsunami waves that devastated coastal villages and resorts across the Indian Ocean.
Sri Lanka has 22,493 dead, India more than 10,800, but the tragedy struck not only the poor eking out a living on Asia's coasts.
The rich holidaying on tropical islands once considered paradise also fell victim to the waves, with western tourists accounting for most of Thailand's 1,829 dead, officials said, with a further 5,000 missing.
There were stories of miraculous escapes, such as that of a 13-year-old girl who survived after spending two days clinging to a wooden door in the Indian Ocean after being swept off a remote island.
But there were far more stories of unspeakable horror, with mass burials underway everywhere with little formality but accompanied by huge outpourings of grief from people who had lost their entire families, homes and livelihoods.
In Indonesia's Aceh province, fast emerging as the quake's ground zero, survivors scrabbled for food among mud and corpses. Great tracts of land remain under surging waters and there has been no word from many isolated
communities.
The first shipments of international aid were arriving in the city of Banda Aceh, 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) northwest of Jakarta Wednesday, but with no trucks or fuel to distribute it, starvation loomed for thousands.
A race was on to reach the isolated northwestern shores of Sumatra where the first contact was made after three days of worrying silence from an area buried by towers of water reaching 10 metres (33 feet) high.
An Indonesian navy warship has brought food and water to the town of Meulaboh, on the western coast, which is more than three-quarters destroyed.
In Nagapattinam, one of the hardest hit areas of India's Tamil Nadu state, four orphans who lost their parents, grandmother and two sisters when the ocean swept away their fishing village, swore they never want to see the sea again.
"I'm scared of the sea," Maghadevi, 13, told AFP. "I never want to see it again. Even if they give me a free house on the beach, I shall not take it."
Masked grave diggers worked at whirring speed in the area, heaping bodies into mass graves with no ceremony amid flattened coconut palms and wreckage of flimsy fishermen's shacks. Others helped pile up wood for mass cremations.
The biggest question mark hung over the fate of people in India's far-flung Andaman and Nicobar islands which lie near the epicentre of the quake.
Six large aftershocks on Wednesday jolted the islands which were home to many tribes already threatened by extinction.
There has still been no communication with many parts of the chain since the tsunami hit. The Andamans, famed for emerald seas, has a population of 350,000.
The death toll on the archipelago was at least 4,000. Many thousands more were unaccounted for.
Sri Lanka pressed its entire public service and the military into an unprecedented relief operation.
Relief co-ordinator Tilak Ranavirajah who was appointed overnight to lead the mammoth effort conceded that officials were still trying to come to grips with scale of the task ahead.
"We can't even think of guessing the size of the destruction," Ranavirajah told AFP. "The priority is to get the supplies to the people in most need. We
have the entire public service and the military mobilised for the job."
Throughout the region, hundreds of rescue ships, helicopters and planes were mobilised on relief missions.
The US military said it had diverted an aircraft carrier, other ships, at least 20 aircraft and thousands of sailors and marines to affected Asian countries, pledged an initial 35 million dollars in aid and denied a suggestion by a UN official that it was "stingy".
In a sign of the brutal disconnect between investors and the poor who suffered the tragedy, however, Indonesian and Indian stock markets were hitting record highs on perceived economic good times.
The earthquake so powerful it literally changed the map of Asia has been duly noted and shrugged off by markets more moved by news that Americans went on an unexpectedly large shopping splurge for Christmas. - AFP
-Taken from Channel News Asia
+Went to watch Stephen Chow's Kungfu Hustler today!
Hmmmm i will just give it 3.5/5 bah.....
pros :
-nice authentic kungfu stuffs! (except the part about the stupid buddha's palm)
-funny! really slapstick stuffs!
cons :
-no plot...
-damn short.... just slightly over 1 and a half hours...
+Was channel surfing just now when i came across the news on the recent earthquake and tsunamis that's affecting asia....
currently from internet news, 44000 deaths had already occured from the disaster-hit area, namely sumatra, phuket, penang, sri lanka and india .... and more is expected..... thus we can only see the number rising......
i almost cried when i saw the news.... it is heartbreaking to die just like that..... so unexpectedly..... i felt the pain again which i once experienced when my dad passed away..... it could only be much worse for those who lost the whole of their family.... like 1 indian lady who lost her grandma, mum and grandchild in a day.....
but at the same time it is heart warming to see the asian countries cooperating and lending a hand to this disaster , sending in volunteering troops, medical aids and food supplies!
At the same time , more important is to see the various organisations in singapore doing their part, donating $$$ and food stuffs! of course this is true giving, compared to the charity shows by the tv stations..... looks so fake....
it will take a lot of time to rebuild resort paradise like phuket and the maldives island..... i could nv see wat they are like anymore..... more importantly.... it will take even a longer time, for the people who lost their love ones to get over it...
hope the best will happen and the death toll will go down! *prays*
is this a belated xmas gift from above? or is it an advance one for new year? this is an act of god isnt it?? if there's a god.... wtf is he doing now ??
*drinking my chrysanthemun tea*
ok one final entry for the night b4 i go to dream land to recuperate my energy for work tomorrow.
been surfing thru various blogs of friends.
realised one thing - I merely exist but aint part of the group/circle.
To put it simpler, my existence is known, just that I am not the kind that you will think of when you want someone to hang out with. =)
Actually I didn't get much greetings this yr.. sent out quite a lot of smses, but only a dozen or so replied, mostly my sec friends.
Joey being the first to msg me! knew that she's still someone who really understand me, can rely on ba, not as a gf, but as the very best of friend. :) hmm monkey replied also, but think other than her, Jesslin and Sarah (hope I didn't miss out others), no one else from the "online world" replied or bother le. haha. well well...
Thanks to Andrew anyway for the MALIS CRIMAS! *haha* damn cute man!
My one and only tagboard greetings! haha
hmmm i tried to make up with you , but it seems the effort are not appreciated..
i tried... i did tried...
it takes two hands to clap...
well.... if u dun appreciate it , so be it ba.... nothing else i can do....
someone once said that i shld think about hw i treat pple...
actually i think i treat friends quite well *lol*
but maybe this is just my kinda life perhaps?
At the point of writing, I am not sad or angry blah blah blah, just kinda "ren4 ming4" bah..
ok gotta slp le, night guys! tomorrow is sunday, but dun play till too late ya? ciaoz!
ps : yg terakhir, selamat nakal kepada semua kawan-sahabatku!
First of all! Merry Christmas to all my friends! Think most of you all got my sms already last night! If you never got it, dun angry hor! Cause most probably i dun have your contact no. or missed you la! So before Christmas ended, here's my wishing to you guys! :)
Hmmm its my 22nd Christmas, nothing special... dun really feel that it is christmas loh... spent yesterdat and today working.... hw special can that be? hehe
But used to it le, so ok la. :P
Hmmmm, this few days also nothing much la, but still must update ya! *lol*
22nd - Sick these few days but still go to work nonetheless, still doing my usual stuffs.
Morning - Participated in the "Inter-Company" Basketball tournament, as usual we were the champ la, and I got the Player of the tournament..... well not i good la, cos got a better player, old but still good! and also because most of the players aint that good thats why i got the chance to take the award. *lol*
Afternoon - Took a nap ... dunno why so shack, shld be due to the medicine ba.
Evening - Met up with Alice's sis, Cindy to makan, saw Yi Xuan mei mei outside Heeren, nv call her la, but as usual ka jiao her loh thru hp! Then went Marche to eat loh. kinda missed Marche's food. Had my usual dosage of Rosti!!! hehe! *yum yum*
After which went walk walk..... bought a "Rocky Road" Brownie from The Brownie's Factory and treat her to my fav Orange Chocolate Cake from St Leaven's cos she wanted to try ma.
A cake that left an impression on me, cos when Joey and me was together, she got the cake for me on my birthday. Sweet memories ya? :)
That's all ba.
Saw a few nice stuff but no $$$ to buy! haha.
Saw a nice tee from Pony, a nice slipper from Tommy Hilfiger, a nice Polo from Nautica (which Cindy said it looks kinda too old for me....) A chain from Zara, perfumes from Issey Miyaki!!! so many things but no $$$... haiz..... nvm..... endure 3-4 more months! the end is so so NEAR!!!!!!!! *muakz*
Ya, next month on can buy books by Wu Ruo Quan le! He's stories style are kinda similar to those in the LOST series, think YunQi will like them! *hehe* (Xiao jie, yao jie ma?) :P
That's all, no more le! hehe
PS : Now playing Last Christmas, my fav version! By the Beatles! Enjoy all and have a Merry Merry Christmas!~
16th - Work midnight shift on the 15th, so came home and slept till evening ba. Last minute decided to catch a late show with viki. Watched Alexander!
Slow show... but i found it to be quite nice despite its slow rythem. But only worth a 3/5 rating la. The show was rated M-18..... think it was rated because of its contents on homosexuality and also the boobs-showing ba. after show, go home and orh orh lo. that's all for 16th.
17th - Went out with ex, had dinner with her at The Soup Restaurant at DFS Scotts Walk. Good place for food wor! Really delicious stuffs! especially their herbal soup (although I only tried one). hehe. would love to go back there and try their other soups!
That's all ba.
These few days working.... yesterday work noon.... today noon... tomorrow morning..... sianz... gotta zzzz le.....
down with cough , slight sore throat.... now totally no voice ...... haiz....... its really a torture for someone as talkative as i am. haha.
good nite dudez!
*YAWNS*
Just woke up at around 7pm?
Morning just came back from midnight shift, that's why i had a sleep till 7pm loh.
Mum's friend's kid messed up my planted tank..... really torn some of my plants apart.... kaoz.... they were growing well...... until he came... the feeling was like , someone hurting ur child like tat..... damn tu lan one loh..... now the tank is still in a mess...
cloudy water... uprooted plants... haizz.....
And the mess that he created almost caused me to be late..... damn jialat loh..... heng i still made it on time... gotta tabao too... cause no time to makan dinner at home....
work was normal la.
that's all loh... working day, nothing much, just a stupid incident.
got new things i update later! :D
If you keep on waiting on someone, you will be worn out eventually. A r/ship is a 2 way thing. Both parties must make effort to keep it going on!
Finally decided to blog again.
Got back my internet connection around the 7th of Dec I think.... So this past week i had not been blogging wor.
hmmm, the usual shit la, work work work.
just update brieftly
+ watch "Shutter" with viki
Nice movie! Good plot! But sorta predictable at times. I will give it a rating of 4/5 ba.
It kinda appeals to me as I like supernaturals stuffs, somemore it kinda centers around photography stuffs! yum yum.
I wanna be like Thun, not the bad things he do though! haha. so artistic wor! *dreams on* or *fight on* ? I wanna fight on! hehe
+ Bought an MP3 player, the Creative C100 Sports 256MB.. well it was cheap to began with, and it allows a 512MB MMC add-on. Somemore I cant find the Muvo X-trainer .... so decided to just buy that in the end.
+ On the same day that I got back my internet connection, i received a letter from SAFRA! Informing me that I had won 2 free movie pass for "Blade Trinity!" SONG~~ :P~ hehe
+ Feeling sick for the past 2 days, well getting better i guess..... it gotta be better! haha. later going to work midnight shift le, most senior today.... sianz..... gotta take up responsibility again.....
blog again, ciaoz , take care all!
PS : Hope Liverpool thrash Portsmouth tonight! You'll Never Walk Alone!
"It is always good to persist in life and believing in what you are doing is right and worth it, but sometimes you need to take a third person's perspective.... is it really worth it ? When it is not wat you want since the beginning... Why not go for something that you want ?"
Heaven by DJ Sammy
Baby, you're all that I want
When you're lyin' here in my arms,
I'm findin' it hard to believe
We're in heaven
(We're in heaven)
Oh, thinkin' about all our younger years,
There was only you and me,
We were young and wild and free
Now nothin' can take you away from me
We've been down that road before
But that's over now,
You keep me comin' back for more
Baby, you're all that I want
When you're lyin' here in my arms,
I'm findin' it hard to believe
We're in heaven
And love is all that I need,
And I found it there in your heart
It isn't too hard to see
We're in heaven
(We're in heaven)
Now nothin' could change what you mean to me uh,
there's lots that I could say
But just hold me now,
Cause our love will light the way
Baby you're all that I want
When you're lyin' here in my arms,
I'm findin' it hard to believe
We're in heaven
And love is all that I need,
And I found it there in your heart
It isn't too hard to see
We're in heaven
heaven
Now our dreams are comin' true,
Through the good times and the bad,
I'll be standin' there by you
(We're in heaven)
And love is all that I need,
And I found it there in your heart
It isn't too hard to see
We're in heaven
We're in heaven
Which one will you choose ? (Can only choose either one!)
Pls comment okie ? :)
Was quite surprised last night to find that I am still able to log in! :)
Qala will let me used the connection till 4th Dec! Then have to wait till 7th Dec for Singnet's activation! Then I will be on Singnet le~
Well today work loh till 10+pm.
Then come home, gave away some upside-down catfish to my camp-mate and threw away 2 terratial (forgot how to spell, not for aquatic la the meaning) plants.
So right now my plant tank lacks background plants.... shld be getting some Nanas! hehe! Aiming those with leaves thats very close to "Heart-shape" de!
Nowadays aqua-planting had become quite a daily thing for me! its satisfactory to see your plants become a "live" piece of painting! Your plants thriving! hehe
Ok ok, that's all on my plants la!
Last night spent quite some time finding ways to convert mp3's bitrate, convert to WMA and such! Wanna stream my favourite tracks for the moment on my blog and dun wanna the download to take too long a time thus gotta test-and-try to see which setting is good.
In the end settle for WMA la.
From my own testing, dropping in bitrate for mp3 will result in quite an audible difference, while WMA wont really sound too different. Differences is just minimal.
Tried a 5MB WMA file and a 1.6MB WMA file of the same song, well, very small diff la, can hear, but aint distinct! At least during streaming it sounds almost the same! hehe.
Ok loh, that's all!
Gotta see wats on my to-do list le! Need to work hard and do all the things I planned to do!
GANBATTE ALL!
Some quite bastard vid to share!
I feel its quite bastard la....
Song of the Moment - Heaven [Candlelight Version] (DJ Sammy)
Show of the Moment - Jiu Wu Zhi Zun (Hongkong Serial)
