Dream File 0015-AA

A scary dream today. I was sitting in on top of a plane waiting for takeoff. At the other end of the runway was another plane doing the same. If both planes take off, it would have been a head on.

Anyway, we waited for the other plane to take off first. It was raining, and just in the way on its right hand side was a taxied plane with half its body on the runway. The pilot obviously thought that it was okay, as it started its run down the runway. However, at the last minute, the plane swayed hard to avoid the parked plane.

I was now up in the air (even though we have not taken off) and watched the whole thing unfold. The plane skidded in the wet runway, it tipped on its left with the tip of the wing hitting the ground. Sparks were everywhere. Another hundred metre down the runway, both wings snapped off and the body continued to skid. Toward the end of the runway where I was, the body rolled several times and came to a rest on its side. No explosion.

The parked plane was now gone. In place of it was a fat short rocket of sort. It moved slowly across the runway to a bunch of parked planes, where the first parked plane was. It was like a car without a handbrake, slowly going out of control. The fat rocket hit some small plane and flipped upside down. Then a fire broke out. Still no explosion, just fire that engulfed the rocket.

Then I woke up.

Dream File 0014-AA

Very strange dream today. I dreamt that I was on a very busy pedestrian bridge at a busy intersection. It was one of those bridges found in Tokyo. The bridge was crowded with people. And with every crowded places, there were pickpockets around. In fact, there was a gang of pickpocket around me and I could feel them searching my backpocket of my jacket. I was saying out loud something in the effect of "I know what you are doing. So stop doing it."

And they did, even if it was just because I have nothing to steal. My hands were in the side pockets where everything is. There was a MD (or some sort of gadget) in the left pocket, which was more valuable than whatever it was that was in my right pocket (don't know what it is).

The next thing I know, I was in a suburban place (somewhere in England, I think), lying on my belly behind a row of car, monitoring a suspected terrorist of Middle Eastern origin knocking on a door.

All of a sudden, another Middle Eastern man walked out from around the building behind, and the first man came to greet him. Unfortunately, they spotted me. I stood up and pretended nothing happened. I started chatting with both of them, and the second man started preaching (?) me.

A third man joined in, and I was now on what seemed to be level 20 of a skyscraper with a group of office workers looking out the windows at night. All of a sudden the lights from the outside started to shut off. I was glad, because once this building is shut off as well, I can use the darkness to cover my escape.

Unfortunately, this building is too well prepared. The backup generator kicked in. Everyone was saying how good the Deliotte building is. Ah, so I was in a Deliotte building.

Soon after, everyone was dismissed, and I ran for the lift, not wanting to catch it along with the other men. The lift would make a stop on level 10, which might be where the men could be. So I made the decision to go up to the top level, and catch one that only stops on level 12.

I don't know if I got out of the building, because I woke up before then.

What the hell are you protesting on World Youth Day?

So, the World Youth Day is held in Sydney in Australia this week. While it is meant to be a week of "bringing together young people from around the globe to celebrate and learn about their faith", there are some who would hijack the event to highlight their dissatisfaction with the religion.

I understand some of their concerns, like clergy who abused little boys. I think they are just sick bastards. But then there are those who protest because Roman Catholic does not allow birth contraceptives, or the church has a certain view towards a certain group of people. To these protestors, I would say, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

For one, no one is pointing a gun at you and forced you to join the religion. If you don't like the way it is run, start your own religion and stop whining about someone elses'. Protesting against Roman Catholic's take on condoms is like protesting against Hindu for not eating beef, or protesting against Islam for praying so many times during the day, or protesting against Buddist because all the monks have shave their heads.

Each religion has its own sets of doctrine. If you don't like it, don't believe in it. No one is forcing you to believe what you don't believe in. And no one is stopping you from stop believing what you believed in.

And what's the rationale behind blaming the Pope for his "teachings [that] contributed to 67,000 women dying every year from backyard abortions and a suicide rate among gay youth that is seven times the average."? You might as well blame teenage pregnancy on the Pope. Oh, how about the food shortage? Because you know, everyone is fighting for food to feed those who would not normally be born if they were using condoms. Ms Evans, you are an idiot.

If you are not prepared to be parents, don't fuck in the first place. If you do, bear the consequences.

Every person has the right to protest, I respect that. But for God's sake, protest against something more meaningful, like Michael Jackson cleric who like little boys. You are not doing anything constructive by protesting, unless of course, you work for a condom company.

Results are in

Result for my unit (Java Programming) is finally out today. Actually, I got my result via SMS last night. I got a HD (High Distinction)! So happy ^0^. I knew I passed, but I wasn't expecting to get that high. In fact, it is the highest result I've got thus far in my course.

I am quite pleased with myself. Not bad for someone who work full time and study part time.

Honda getting onto the podium? I'd like to see that.

Who would have thought at the beginning of the year that Honda would get a podium in 2008? Their 2007 season was dismal, and the 2008 car is not much better. Just when rumours are flying about that Honda has given up on the 2008 car and moved onto the 2009, Barrichello produced a podium to boost moral. And seeing that Honda F1 factory is just minutes away from the circuit, it's fitting to see that they get a podium finish.

It's funny to see that throughout the post-race conference, Barrichello insisted on more than one occasions that he still loves to race and he still has the speed. It sounds as if he is selling himself, wanting to stay at the outfit (or at least stay in the sports).

Seeing that Coulthard is retiring at the end of this season, Barrichello will probably be the sole remaining driver on the grid currently that has seen the great Senna on the race track.

The podium is definitely a boost in an otherwise uninspiring season for Honda, albeit in bizarre circumstances. Hopefully this will encourage the Honda team to do better for their 2009 car. I'm sure under the leadership of Ross Brawn, the team will do great things.

Power to the users

Users on the Australian eBay site has been informed yesterday of eBay's decision to withdraw its proposal to made PayPal the only payment option (other than cash on delivery) available for the majority of the auctions held on their site.

It's about bloody time. The original idea was stupid to start with, and has outraged many sellers on the site. ACCC has good sense to reject eBay's proposal and eBay finally has bowed to public pressure to withdraw the proposal. They must have realised that their bad PR is taking its toll.

PayPal is still a must on all listings, but at least buyers will still have a choice to pay via other methods.

23 weeks of bowling, 1 night of argument

After 23 weeks of competition, our ten pin bowling season is finally over. We were way down the ladder, but that didn't matter as much as the drama that unfolded during presentation. Apparently, 1st and 2nd place was separated by only half a point. And it seemed like the team that came second wasn't happy with the result, and demanded a recount. They were still not happy after the recount of points over the last two weeks. So they demanded a recount for the whole of the season.

The secretary of the league proceeded to quit over the scoring debacle. So now, 1st and 2nd place still have not been decided, and someone else other than the secretary, who usually doing the scoring, will have to redo all the scores again.

That was a dramatic end to the season. I certainly didn't expect that.