Live Life With No Regrets!

I don't gamble, but if I had to bet on tonights game, here is where I would place it.

Updated with results:

1x2: Germany - 2.95 - $10 - wrong
1/2 Goal: Germany (+1.5 goals) - 1.18 - $20 - correct
Totals Goals: 3, 5 - 3.90, 9.40 - $15, $10 - wrong, wrong
Half/Full Time: H-H (Ger-Ger) - 6.90 - $10 - wrong
Pick the Score: 2-1 - 9.50 - $15 - wrong
Championship Winner: Germany - 2.05 - $20 - wrong
Team to score first Goal: Spain - 1.85 - $10 - correct
Total Goals: Over 2.5 - 2.05 - $10 - wrong

Overall: Net loss of 77.90 (It just goes to show, why I never gamble....)

Despite myself heavily favouring Germany to win it, my heart is on Spain. So either way I win.

Posted by Nico at 1:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

However, the movie unravels like teenage juvenile fantasy writing. Starting with the opening, it opens like an Israeli tourism ad, showing bikini babes on the beaches of Israel. Following it, the theatrics of how skillful Zohan is is over the top with a heavy sprinkling of special effects.

The plot is predictable and tries to be politically correct, to spread a message of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. In the wake of Mel Gibson's drunken anti-semitic outburst, it snipes him and his movies a couple of times, which I didn't appreciate since I do like his movies.

There's really nothing new here in this movie. I wasted my money watching this. Rent this movie only if you really have nothing to do except to watch Adam Sandler in his newly buffed body.

One and a half stars out of five.

Posted by Nico at 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A good character in your movie script can do wonders for you to sell it.

Meryl Streep practically begged for the title role in Sophie's Choice. And Captain Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Depp saved the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.

Your character should be so unforgettable, so unique that it carries the movie across. A good character is multi-dimensional with strengths and flaws.

A good character has a rich history, a biography that forms his emotional life. What is his birth like? Childhood? Defining incidents in life? Education?

Next, what is his professional life, his personal life and his private life?

• Professional: What is his job? Are they sad/happy about it? Etc.
• Personal: Marital status, friends, hobbies, etc.
• Private: What does he do alone? Pray? Exercise?

A good character is active not passive. He acts not just reacts to the situation around him.

Four things that make a good character:

• Dramatic Need: What does he/she want?
• Point of View: How does he/she view the world? Anne Frank would differ from HItler
• Attitude: How they feel and act, their opinions that shape their decisions.
• Change: During your screenplay, what change do they undergo?

Every scene, every interaction reveals some aspect of your character. "What is character but the determination of incident? And what is incident but the illumination of character?" - Henry James.

Posted by Nico at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In a game between England and Germany and both sets of supporters pray to God for a win, whose prayers will God answer?

If we pray to win, aren't we praying for the other party to lose? If we pray to be rich, aren't we praying that at least 51% of the world is poorer than us?

The human condition likes to compare itself with another.

Instead of asking to be better than someone else, we should consider being better than ourselves, so that the person we are today is better than the person we were yesterday.

An elite marathon runner runs a marathon in about 2 hours 15 minutes. I run a marathon in 6 hours 20 minutes. I don't need to compare myself with them. I can only compare myself with my previous time.

Life is about becoming the best person you can be.

Being a better husband, lover, than yesterday. Being the most confident, most assured, most knowledgeable, most competent person.

Each day, I should behave in a manner better than what I was yesterday. That's another reason why we should journal. We evaluate who we are at the end of each day and consider how we can become better the next.

Coming back to England and Germany. I am reminded of Olympic sprinter and missionary Eric Liddell's prayer when someone asked him whether he ever prays to win. "I dont pray to win. I pray that God may be glorified."

Posted by Nico at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If I had the chance to pose a question to Bill Gates, it would be this:

"What is business ethics to you? What are the values you would define for ethics? What do you consider 'fair'?"

Posted by Nico at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The question I would ask Lee Kuan Yew, if given a chance is:

"If you were born in Nazi Germany would you have led a rebellion to resist and defeat Hitler? Or rather, how would you resist evil? What is evil to you? Is dictatorship evil? How would you define dictatorship?"

Posted by Nico at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Don't you find it interesting that people call Christianity a Western religion when it originates from a guy who was born and bred in the Middle East?

Posted by Nico at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sometimes I wonder, why is it that when people chase after money so that they can become happy, they become even more unhappy?

Posted by Nico at 2:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Italy vs France McDonald's Downtown East
Originally uploaded by nicodemus_chan.

Posted by Nico at 4:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Suntec City is Packed Cheek by Jowl!
Originally uploaded by nicodemus_chan.

Updated with video on YouTube:

Posted by Nico at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have read articles that say that Abstinence doesn't work in stemming pregnancy and the spread of diseases like AIDS, and other STD's.

What is perplexing is that the language is wrong. I say that Abstinence is 100% effective in preventing these things. At what point does "not having sex" gets you pregnant?

What fails is really the human heart. It is humanity that is fallen, humanity that is imperfect.

Safe-sex and condom use is a secondary barrier. It is a secondary defense against the fallen human nature.

Abstinence has the power to wipe out AIDS in a single generation. Not only AIDS, but syphilis, gonorrhoea, and a host of other STDs. There are still 3 other incurable STDs, Hepatitis B, genital herpes, and Human Papilloma Virus.

In one single generation, AIDS could become a distant memory; and the power and responsibility is in the hands of everyone. You and me. Not the government, not researchers, not social workers. And the cost? Zero. Not a single dime need to be spent to hire researchers, do clinical trials, etc.

Perhaps one reason why people perceive that abstinence is a pie-in-the-sky goal is that of the perception of society around. They say that teens cannot control themselves. They say everyone around is having sex, you can't stop it. The message of abstinence isn't to not have sex. It's to not have sex until you are married and faithful to one partner.

If we liken it to another habit, spitting, perhaps we should say that Beijing is wasting its time trying to educate people not to spit indiscriminately and issue portable spittoons to everyone in China. Let's practice safe spitting. After all, everyone in China spits. We can't help it.

Posted by Nico at 8:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Crowd at McDonald's Downtown East
Originally uploaded by nicodemus_chan.

Posted by Nico at 4:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sometimes I wonder where does diplomacy, tact and politeness end and where does lying start?

It seems that in life lies are everywhere. I read of Ted Haggard, that disgraced pastor in the USA who couldn't stop lying even after being fired. He continued to lie by asking for money to support himself, claiming he needed it to support himself in University... which happened to be an online university! Not only that, his church had already agreed to pay him his salary for a year after being fired.

Then there's Hillary Clinton who "misspoke" about dodging sniper fire when clearly archived footage showed no such thing.

Let's not forget about her husband Bill "I did not have sex with that woman" Clinton.

I think the reality is that there are lies everywhere. From salespeople, to parents, to boyfriends and girlfriends, to bosses, to CEOs, to politicians, to schoolkids. What people should have with them is a good lie detector. Not just to tell whether someone is lying. It should be able to differentiate and give a lie-rating perhaps somewhere along the lines of the following:

1. Prevarication - avoiding telling the truthful answer.
2. Spin - Turning the facts into a more positive light.
3. Exaggeration - Extending the facts to a greater degree.
4. Bullshit - A cockamamie story that manages to stay logically coherent with a lot of duct tape.
5. Half-Truth - Not telling all the facts thereby leading to a different conclusion.
6. Bald Headed Lie - A straight lie.
7. Fabrication - A lie that includes supporting lies.

Posted by Nico at 4:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I talked to a friend of mine who did her university project research on prostitution in South East Asia.

A lot of prostitutes go into prostitution because of economic hardship. Sad to say, some families sell their daughters because of economic hardship.

When money is hard to come by, crime does abound. Not just prostitution, gangs, robbery, burglary. If people have nothing to do, they may vent their frustration in whatever methods necessary. Idle hands do make the devil's tools.

So I think that doing honest business, seeking to bless others economically, to prosper abundantly is good and even necessary.

Posted by Nico at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sundown Marathon Medal (Front)
Originally uploaded by nicodemus_chan.

Completed the Sundown Marathon in 6 hours 23 minutes. That's 4 minutes longer than my Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon in December.

My problem isn't the first 20km. I did that in about 2 1/2 hours. Extrapolating to 42km. I should have done it in about 5 1/2 hours.

My problem really is the second half. It is painful. You can't breeze along the next half, when every step is painful. It isn't the energy levels, there's enough 100-plus, bananas, power gels along the way. It isn't the lung capacity either. It's the pain and soreness. When you go long distances, your feet and legs become more sensitive to the ground. The feeling of each bump, gravel and stone you step on is doubled or tripled.

The Sundown Marathon was also the first time I had to endure a shower while running. 4km from the finish, it started raining. So it was cold as well. Not only that, rain soaked my sweat band on my forehead, releasing the sweat inside and stinging my eyes.

I didn't like the finish point as there was this narrow bridge which could only accommodate two abreast. With people using the bridge to come out, runners had to run over it single file. There wasn't enough directions to the shuttle bus back as well, I had to walk around to figure where it was.

Anyway, an interesting fact to note that there were several public figures running in the race:

Senior Parlimentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck (Ultramarathon) - records only show he did it up to 29km in 3' 54"

MP Michael Palmer (Marathon) - Completed in 5' 34"

MP Jessica Tan (Marathon) - Completed in 5' 20"

MP Christopher de Souza (10km Team) - Completed in 1' 09"

Creative Technologies Founder Sim Wong Hoo (Ultramarathon) - no records found. (Pulled out at the last minute or injured?)

Posted by Nico at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sundown Marathon Start
Originally uploaded by nicodemus_chan.

Updated:

Finished in about 6 1/2 hours. Not a good time. Night running was slower and some of the pathways were narrower. Will report more later. Now I've got to rest!

Posted by Nico at 1:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)