TAR - Fear Factor style

4th Team to go... 

Phew, unknowingly; we have come to the 4th week of The Amazing Race.
 
You can't help but notice that the teams are more scheming & definitely more competitive.  They are strategizing more than the teams in previous series. 
 
Brandon & Nicky just showed how true that was on this week's race.  They were originally in a pact with 3 other teams (Colin/Christie, Chip/Kim & Marshall/Lance).  Colin/Christie managed to get the 3 teams bus tickets which departed later but arrived at the destination at the same time.  The time gained gave them time to hop to the travel agent to discuss & get their flight bookings to St. Petersburg, Russia.
 
In the end, Colin & Christie were given the gracious go-ahead from the 3 teams on the earliest flight.  Brandon & Nicky were the smarter team out of the remaining 3 teams & scooted off to the airport earlier to secure them the second earliest flight out to St. Petersburg.
 
However, the 2-pound of cavier at the Roadblock was the bomb.  Colin/Christie & Brandon/Nicole lost their lead at the cavier.  They would never advance if this was Fear Factor, hah!
 
Anyway, was kinda sad to see Bob & Joyce getting eliminated.  They were the slow & steady type whom everyone likes.  Nonethless, they have at least got each other for the rest of their life now.  Sure everyone is glad for them.
  

Ouch ouch

 
Ouch 

Today has got to be one of those painful days.  I missed my aerobics class due to the usual lousy work commitments, was feeling moody the whole day & finally had to suffer the pain of my recent ear piercing.

My left ear lobe was swollen so badly that i had no choice but to remove the earring from the 2-week old pierced hole.  True enough, it had began to swell badly & had pus oozing out from the hole.  It was horrific & painful to watch, according to my younger sister (who happened to have 10 ear piercings; both ears combined) whom helped me to remove the stud; at least i was spared from watching the mildly gruesome scene, phew!

Now, I have another pair of earrings on.  Hopefully, they hold up & i'm able to keep the piercing.  I certainly do not hope to go through the suffering again, it sucked pretty bad.    

TAR - Jim & Marsha Eliminated

Eliminated -- I Love Them !! 

What a shame!  The father & daughter tag team of Jim & Marsha were eliminated this week on Amazing Race.

Marsha was confused at the ticket counter at the airport & got Brandon/Nicole confirmed places on the flight; but missed out hers.  What a pity!!  So much for being nice.

Both Jim & Marsha were great during the 3 weeks they managed to stay in the Race.  Jim survived a terrible gash on his knee in the 1st week & managed to climb up to the 3rd place in the 2nd week, before getting eliminated in this week.

Well, i guess the race goes on for them after the elimination; at least they seem to have known each other better during the race; judging from their parting comments.  Good for them. 

JC's Showcase

Jazzy Jamie  
 
I was at Aquadisiac at Wisma last Fri for Jamie Cullum's exclusive showcase in Asia.  It was simply awesome, i never knew jazz could be so appealing & welcomed by the young.
 
The crowd were mostly youngsters in their mid-20s, though there were groups of older crowd; but i dare say that the younger crowd definitely outnumbered them.  Young Jamie Cullum was so full of energy & friendly, he played the piano with soul & spiced it up with jazz & pop sound; simply irresistable.  It sounded so good that you could almost hear his songs over & over again.
 
The recent success of young jazz artistes like Michael Buble & Diana Krall may have paved the path for Jamie.  However, Jamie made his songs more interesting with an element of pop; probably that's why he's so well-received by both the young & old.
 
Anyway, Jamie's CD is what i have in my discman now..."I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain, what a glorious feeling; i'm happy again"....(JC -- Singin' in the Rain)   

Baby Ryston

Baby Ryston
 
Baby Ryston is my elder brother's first child, ain't he cute?
 
I'm still in denial that my brother is now a dad, he still has that cheeky appearance; time really flies.
 

Pool ; Loop

The "Lion"
 
Recently, I was caught up with watching the World Pool Championship on cable.  I never knew i had an interest in 9-ball pool.  It was certainly interesting.
 
In fact, I had just finished watching the extremely exciting quarter-final between Alex Pagulayan (CAN) & Chao (TPE).  It was certainly nail-biting, I was rooting for Alex.  The young Canadian didn't disappoint, he won the game in the end; just edging the no. 1 seed, Chao by 1 rack.
 
Tomorrow, the 4 semi-finalists would play the the semi & final, almost back-to-back.  Hopefully, the Lion keeps up to his amazing performance & win the title.
 
I'll definitely be watching. 
 

The Amazing Race -- 2nd week

another young team ELIMINATED

It's the 2nd week of The Amazing Race.

As usual, some teams hurry off to a great start & catching up; while some fall behind & never made up for the lost time.

It's a pity to see another young team getting eliminated again. Donny & Alison were first at pit-stop last week. What a change of events & turn-around!! They made several time-wasting mistakes & weren't able to get back to where they started from.

Also, the cousins & the twin sisters are getting on my nerves now...hope they go soon. Ok, another week of anticipation, till next Wednesday.

The Amazing Race - Awesome

Dennis & Erika : Eliminated First 

The season premiere of The Amazing Race 5 was simply awesome! I watched the whole 90mins of it twice! Once on AXN on cable & another time on Mediacorp Channel 5, it was simply too good to be missed & extremely pulsating to watch it twice.

For this time, there were only 11 teams of 2, instead of the usual 12 teams of 2. Wonder if 1 team backed out or they couldn't get enough applicants (not likely). Anyway, if I ever get the chance to go to the States, I would do anything to get myself in TAR. It must be th best thing it would have happened to me IF I'm successful during the selection process.

I'm so excited that I don't even know what I'm talking about, hahaha!!

Unfortunately, it has to be one of the younger teams whom was eliminated first. Dennis & Erika are such eye candy to start with & they lost because they were too nice to let every other team get their taxi first; you can't be nice on TAR, it would cause your demise.

Nonetheless, I'm so looking forward to next week's show....can't wait.

Are We Really That Great ?

I'm not sure if you realised, our habitat is getting worse. The environmental damage & abuse of our already limited natural sources of engery is ongoing everyday, God knows how long we can keep it going.

With global warming & the waning of our energy sources, experts & scientists have predicted that the end is nearing and could happen within this century or the next.

Indeed, we are are still taking things easy. No sign of worrying or scrabbling among us as yet. Of course, that's understandable. The population of Singapore is so sheltered under the "great wing" of protection under the ruling party, PAP. It's no wonder, they are not at all worried or having the jitters yet, until PAP says so.

If we look at how the major blackout last week left almost 3/4 of Singapore in complete darkness, it just shows how vulnerable our small island is. Anyone harbouring the thought of dealing Singapore with a blow to the economy & internationally can just strategise to bring the natural gas supply from Indonesia to a halt & disrupt the water supply from Malaysia. There, we would be without electricity & water. The 2 most fundamentals of our daily essentials.

To think that we have always professed ourselves to be the business/economy hub of South East Asia & a cosmopolitian country. What would we be if we are without the sources of energy & water from neighbouring countries.

Probably it's time for us to ponder upon instead of being just being contented with being the "best" in the region.

The Little Kid in Me

Merciless time wait for no man, how true & realistic can this statment be.

Try as i might, I can no longer pretend to be young. I'm already in my mid-20s, soon the dreaded "30" wil come and go; without me even noticing it.

However, there would always be a little part of me that refuses to grow up. I would always wished that I'm still a child and be freed from the annoying and vexing problems of adulthood, don't you too?

I have just finished reading "Harry Potter : The Prisoner of Azkaban" yesterday. I've never expected to be so absorbed in the story like a little kid. I started on it & I simply can't wait to finish the book. I thought this kinda excitement was only reserved for kids 1/2 my age. However, I have to admit that J.K. Rowling is a damn good author.

Well, it's grow-up time. I gotta go & scan through the classifieds, hopefully there would be a few suitable job openings I can try applying for.

Ciao for now!