retro night

annual dinner & dance 2008

retro night

12th december 2008

swissotel the stamford

a night out...

went for nicole's 21st birthday at changi cranwell on friday. it was really nice meeting up with caroline, rodney, amanda & nicole after a long time. think the last time we (rod, mel & carol) met was for melvin's birthday at debz place. as for amanda and nicole, i think it was nicole's birthday last year. .. hehee. oh yes, finally met bianca, the very gal that andi had been talking abt. oh yes, almost forgot abt up and freda aka dada, they came later too. also made some new friends too.. as usual. as usual there is always a drinking game with up being the game master. not sure what was the name of the game but dada saved me twice from the whole mixture of god knows what. thank you for not sending me to dadaland... i'll visit it the next time. =)

on saturday night after meeting my dear crystal for dinner at 925, i went to clark quay - central to meet my colleagues. jason, andy, andrea, jeremy and my dear niece xl was already there. jason brought us to this cool chill up place at central 5th floor, helipad. it was two levels, the first floor is like in this pic and the second floor was the rooftop lounge. we went up to the rooftop lounge and was lucky enough to get a seat with a great view of clark quay. it's different when one is up there looking down. it was really nice. we ordered a vodka blue for the night and played travel scrabble. i know it was lame but we had fun but sadly the place closes at 3am and someone was hungry, so we had a take away from macs.sat down beside singapore river and enjoyed each other's company till 5am before we went our separate ways. rick drove jason, niece xl and me home. it was nice talking to my dear niece again. . =)

next stop = company's dinner and dance on 12th december and corrinne's performance at cafe domus.

wot goes around comes around..

i am just a crazy old fool who invented all this..

and i guess i expected to much from it...

now i've only got myself to blame..

sorry for the hurt that i've caused..

it won't happen again.

Importance of Open Communication

received this email from a friend: - (it's a long post)

"Took me sometime to finish reading this LONG story.... Apparently it is a true story shared by a friend. Worth reading it... "

Part 1...

A fatal misunderstanding and the person who love me the most in this world is gone forever.

Cruel misunderstandings one after another disrupted the blissful footsteps to our family. Our original intend of having Mother enjoy some quiet and peaceful moments in her remaining years with us went terribly wrong as destiny's secret is finally revealed at a price, everything became too late.

Just two years after our marriage, hubby brought up the idea of asking Mother to move from the rural hometown and spend her remaining years with us. Hubby's father passed away while he was still very young. Mother endured much hardship and struggled all on her own to provide for him, see him through to a university degree. You could say that she suffered a great deal and did everything you could expect of a woman to bring hubby to where he is today.I immediately agreed and started packing the spare room, which had a balcony facing the South to let her enjoy the sunshine and plant some greenery.

Hubby stood in the bright room, and suddenly just picked me up and started spinning round and round. As I begged him to put me down, he said: 'Let's go fetch mother.' Hubby is tall and big sized and I love to rest on his chest and enjoy the feeling that he could pick me up at any moment put the tiny me into his pockets. Whenever we have an argument and both of us refuse to back down, he would pick me up and spin me over his head continuously until I surrender and beg for mercy. I became addicted to this kind of panic-joy feeling.

Mother brought along her countryside habits and lifestyle with her. For example; I am so used to buying flowers to decorate the living room, she could not stand it and would comment: 'I do not know how you young people spend your money, why do you buy flowers for? You also can't eat the flowers!' I smiled and said: 'Mum! , with flowers in the house, our mood will also become better.' Mother continues to grumble away, and hubby smiled: 'Mum, this is a city-people's habit; slowly you will get use to it.'

Mother stopped saying anything. But every time thereafter, whenever I came home with flowers, she would ask me how much it costs. I told her and she would shake her head and express displeasure. Sometimes, when I come home with lots of shopping bags, she would ask each and every item how much they cost, I would tell her honestly and she would get even more upset about it. Hubby playfully pinched my nose and said: 'You little fool, just don't tell her the full price of everything would solve it.' There begins the friction to our otherwise happy lifestyle.

Mother hates it most when hubby wakes up early to prepare the breakfast. In your view, how could the man of the house cook for the wife? At the breakfast table, mother facial expression is always like the dark clouds before a thunderstorm and I would pretend not to notice. She would use her chopsticks and make a lot of noise with it as her silent protest. As I am a dance teacher in the Children's Palace and is exhausted from a long day of dancing around, I do not wish to give up the luxury of that additional few
minutes in the comfort of my bed and hence I turned a deaf ear to all the
protest mother makes.

From time to time, mother would help out with some housework, but soon her help created additional work for me. For example: she would keep all kinds of plastic bags accumulating them so that she sell them later on, and that resulted in our house being filled with all the trash bags; she would scrimp on dish washing detergent when helping to wash the dishes and so as not to hurt her feelings, I would quietly wash they again.

One day, late at night, mother saw me quietly washing the dishes, and 'Bam' she slams her bedroom door and cried very loudly in her room. Hubby was placed in a difficult position, and after that, he did not speak to me for that entire night. I pretended to be a spoilt child, tried acting cute, but he totally ignored me. I got mad and asked him: 'What did I do wrong?' Hubby stared at me and said: 'Can't you just give in to her once? We couldn't possibly die eating from a bowl however unclean it is, right?'


After that incident, for a long period of time, mother did not speak to me and you can feel that there is a very awkward feeling hanging in the house. During that period of cold war, hubby was caught in dilemma as to who to please. In order to stop her son from having to prepare breakfast, mother took on the 'all important' task of preparing breakfast without any prompting. At the breakfast table, mother would look at hubby happily eating his breakfast and cast that reprimanding stare at me for having failed to perform my duty as a wife. To avoid the embarrassing breakfast situation, I resorted to buying my own breakfast on my way to work.

That night, while in bed, hubby was a little upset and asked me: 'LD, is it because you think that mum's cooking is not clean that's why you chose not to eat at home?' He then turned his back on me and left me alone in tears as feeling of unfairness overwhelmed me. After some time, hubby sighed: 'LD, just for me, can you have breakfast at home?' I am left with no choice but to return to the breakfast table.

The next morning, I was having porridge prepared by mother and I felt a sudden churn in my stomach and everything inside seem to be rushing up my throat. I tried to suppress the urge to throw up but I couldn't. I threw down the bowl and rushed into the washroom and vomited everything out.

Just as I was catching my breath, I saw mother crying and grumbling very loudly in her dialect, hubby was standing at the washroom doorway staring at me with fire burning in his eyes. I opened my mouth but no words came out of it, I really didn't mean it. We had our very first big fight that day; mother took a look at us, then stood up and slowly made her way out of the house. Hubby gave me a final stare in the eye and followed mother down the stairs. For three days, hubby did not return home, not even a phone call. I was so furious, since mother arrived; I had been trying my best and putting up with her, what else do you want me to do? For no reason, I keep having the feeling to throw up and I simply have not appetite for food, coupled with all the events happening at home, I was at the low point in my life. Finally, a colleague said: 'LD, you look terrible, you should go and see a doctor.'

The doctor confirmed that I am pregnant. Now it became clear to me why I threw up that fateful morning, a sense of sadness floated through that otherwise happy news. Why didn't! hubby, and mother who had been through this before, thought of the possibility of this being the reason that day?

At the hospital entrance, I saw my hubby standing there. It had only been three days, but he looked haggard. I had wanted to turn and leave, but one look at him and my heart soften, I couldn't resist and called out to him. He followed my voice and finally found me but he pretended that he doesn't know me; he has that disgusted look in his eyes that cut right through my heart.. I told myself not to look at him anymore, and hail a cab.

At that moment, I have such a strong urge inside me to shout to my hubby: 'Darling, I am having your baby!' and have him lift me up and spin me round in circles of joy. What I wanted didn't happen and as I sat in the cab, my tears started rolling down. Why? Why our love couldn't even withstand the test of one fight? Back home, I lay on the bed thinking about my hubby, and the disgusted look in his eyes. I cried and wet the corner of the blanket.


That night, sound of the drawers opening woke me up. I switched on the lights and I saw hubby with tears rolling down his face. He was removing the money. I stared at him in silence; he ignored me, took the bank deposit book and some money and left the house. Maybe he really intends to leave me for good. What a rational man, so clear-cut in love and money matters. I gave a few dried laugh and tears starting streaming down again.

The next day, I did not go to work. I wanted to clear this out and have a good talk with hubby. I reached his office and his secretary gave me a weird look and said: 'Mr Tan's mother had a traffic accident and is now in the hospital.' I stood there in shock. I rushed to the hospital and by the time I found hubby, mother had already passed away. Hubby did not look at me, his face was expressionless.

I looked at mother's pale white and thin face and I couldn't control the tears in my eyes. My god, how could this happen? Throughout the funeral, hubby did say a single word to me, with only the occasional disgusted stare at me. I only managed to find out brief facts about the accident from other people. That day, after mother left the house, she walked in dazed toward the bus stop, apparently intending to go back to her old house back in the
countryside. As hubby ran after her, she tried to walk faster and as she tried to cross the street, a public bus came and hit her...

I finally understood how much hubby must hate me, if I had not thrown up that morning, if we had not quarreled, if...

In his heart, I am indirectly the killer of his mother.

Part 2 and end...

Hubby moved into mother's room and came home every night with a strong liquor smell on him. And me, I am buried under the guilt and self pity and could hardly breathe. I wanted to explain to him, tell him that we are going to have our baby soon, but each time, I saw the dead look in his eyes, all the words I have at the brink of my mouth just fell back in. I ad rather he hit me real hard or give me a big and thorough scolding though none of these events happening had been my fault at all. Many days of suffocating silence went by and as the days went by, hubby came home later and later. The deadlock between us continues, we were living together like strangers who don't know each other. I am like the dead knot in his heart..

One day, I passed by a western restaurant, looking into the glass window, I saw hubby and a girl sitting facing each other and he very lightly brushed her hair for her, I understood what it meant. After recovering from that moment of shock, I entered the restaurant, stood in front of my hubby and stared hard at him, not a tear in my eyes. I have nothing to say to him and there is no need to say anything. The girl looked at me, looks at hubby, stands up and wanted to go, hubby stretched out his hand and stopped her. He stared back at me, challenging me. I can only hear my slow heartbeat, beating, one by one as if at the brink of death. I eventually backed down, if I had stood that any longer, I will collapse together with the baby inside me.

That night, he did not come home, he had chosen to use that as a way to indicate to me: Following mother's death, so did our love for each other. He did not come home anymore after that. Sometimes, when I returned home from work, I can tell that the cupboard had been touched - he had returned to take some of his stuff. I no longer wish to call him; the initial desire to explain everything to him vanished. I lived alone; I went to my medical checkups alone, my heart breaks again and again every time I see a guy carefully helping his wife through the physical examination. My office colleagues hinted to me to consider aborting the baby, I told them No, I will not. I insisted on having to this
baby, perhaps it is my way of repaying mother for causing her death.

One day, I came home and I saw hubby sitting in the living room. The whole house was filled with cigarette smoke. On the coffee table, there was this piece of paper. I know what it is all about without even looking at it. In the two months plus of living alone, I have gradually learned to find peace within myself. I looked at him, removed my hat and said: 'You wait a while, I will sign.' He looked at me, mixed feelings in his eyes, just like mine. As I hang up my coat, I keep repeating to myself 'You cannot cry, you cannot cry....' my eyes hurt terribly, but I refused to let tears come out from there..

After I hung up my coat, hubby's eyes stared fixed at my bulging tummy. I smiled, walked over to the coffee table and pull a paper towards me. Without even looking at what it says, I signed my name on it and pushed the paper to him.
'LD, you are pregnant?'

Since mother's accident, this is the first time he spoke to me. I could not control my tears any further and they fell like raindrops. I said: 'Yes, but it's ok, you can leave now.' He did not go, in the dark, we sat facing each other. Hubby slowly moved over me, his tears wet the blanket. In my heart, everything seems so far away, so far that even if I should sprint, I could never reach them. I cannot remember how many times he repeated 'sorry' to me, I had originally thought that I would forgive him, but now I can't. In the western restaurant, in front of that girl, that cold look in his eyes, I will never forget, ever. We have drawn such deep scar in each other's heart. For me, its unintentional; for him, totally intentional.

I had been waiting for this moment of reconciliation, but I realized now, what had gone past is gone forever and could not repeated! Other than the thought of the baby inside me that would bring some warmth to my heart, I am totally cold towards him, I no longer eat anything he buys for me, I don't take any presents from him and I stopped talking to him. From the moment I signed on that piece of paper, marriage and love had vanished from
my heart.

Sometimes, hubby will try to come into the bedroom, but when he walks in, I will walk out to the living room. He had no choice but to sleep in mother's room. At night, from his room, I can hear light sounds of groaning, I keptquiet. This used to be his trick; last time, whenever I ignore him, he would fake illness and I will surrender and find out what is wrong with him, he would then grab me and laugh. He has forgotten that last time, I cared for him and am concerned because there is love, but now, what is there between us?

Hubby's groaning came on and off continuing all the way till baby was born. Almost every day, he would buy something for the baby, infant products, children products and books that kids like to read. Bags and bags of it stacked inside his room till it is full.. I know he is trying to use this to reach out to me, but I am no longer moved by his actions. He has no choice but to lock himself in his room and I can hear his typing away on his computer keyboard, maybe he is now addicted to web surfing, but none of that matters to me anymore.

It was sometime towards the end of spring in the following year, one late night, I screamed because of a sudden stomach pain, hubby came rushing into the room, its like he did not change and sleep, and had been waiting for this moment. He carried me and ran down the stairs, stopped a car, holding my hand very tightly and kept wiping the sweat off my brown, throughout the journey to the hospital. Once we reached the hospital, he carried me and hurried into the delivery suite. Lying on the back of his skinny but warmth body, a thought crossed my mind: In my lifetime, who else would love me as much as he did?

He held the delivery suite door opened and watch me go in, his warm eyes caused me to managed a smile at him despite my contraction pain. Coming out of the delivery room, hubby looked at our son and me, his eyes tear with joy and he kept smiling. I reached out and touched his hand. Hubby looked at me, smiling and then he slowly collapsed onto the floor. I cried out for him in pain... He smiled, but without opening that tired eyes of his... I had thought that I would never shed any tear for him, but the truth is, I have never felt a deeper pain cutting through my body at that moment.

Doctor said that by the time hubby discovered he had liver cancer, it was already in terminal stage and it was a miracle that he managed to last this long. I asked the doctor when did he first discover he had cancer? Doctor said about 5 months ago and consoled me saying: 'Prepare for his funeral.'

I disregarded the nurse's objection and rushed home, I went into his room and checked his computer, and a suffocating pain hits me. Hubby's cancer was discovered 5 months ago, his groaning was real, and I had thought that... the computer showed over 200 thousand words he wrote for our son: 'Son, just for you, I have persisted, to be able to take a look at you before I fall, is my biggest wish now... I know that in your life, you will have many happiness and maybe some setbacks, if only I can accompany you throughout that journey, how nice would it be. But daddy now no long has that chance.. Daddy has written inside here all the possible difficulties and problems you may encounter during your lifetime, when you meet with these problems, you can refer to daddy's suggestion... Son, after writing these 200 thousand! words, I feel as if I have accompanied you through your li loves me most...'

From play school to primary school, to secondary, university, to work and even in dealing with questions of love, everything big and small was written there.


Hubby has also written a letter for me:

'My dear, to marry you is my biggest happiness, forgive me for the pain I have caused you, forgive me for not telling you my illness, because I want to see you be in a joyful mood waiting for the arrival of our baby... My dear, if you cried, it means that you have forgiven me and I would smile, thank you for loving me... These presents, I'm afraid I cannot give them to our son personally, could you help me to give some of them to him every year, the dates on what to give when are all written on the packaging...'

Going back to the hospital, hubby is still in coma. I brought our son over and place him beside him. I said: 'Open your eyes and smile, I want our son to remember being in the warmth of your arms...'

He struggled to open his eyes and managed a weak smile. Our son still in his arms was happily waving his tiny hands in the air. I press the button on the camera and the sound of the shutter rang thought the air as tears slowly rolled down my face...

The End...

chivas so regal

looking at the current state of the world, a colleague asked me if we are nearing to the end of the world. well, with so many things happening i wouldn't fault him for saying that as the current events are just leading to it. so we could only hope and pray that there would be peace one day.

anyways, went to watch madagascar: escape 2 africa but i still preferred the first one or maybe i'll go and watch it again. hahaha... hmmm it seems the madagascar 3 will be release in 2011. we like to move it, move it.

after the movie, went down for nicole's surprise birthday party which i thought was in the evening.. =p but we had fun. thanks to cristy n chels for getting the present for nicole. =) i kinda like this picture becoz of the ambience and friends. it gives you the kind of warmly feeling. :)

walked to the train station with melanie, it was good catching up with after so long. she's really sweet and cute. . was stop by this citibank sales rep and i signed up for something that i can't remember now. saw meena too and she is looking great... hmmm. so melanie left for home and i went to boat quay to meet andy, andrea, shu hui n matthew. we headed down to minds cafe for some dinner and card games. ja-son joined us later but we didn't stay there for long as sh's sis asked us to go to victoria @ chinatown. a long walk it was and guess we had a decent time there.

it was nice seeing shu yi and eedaric again. we order a bottle of chivas and i am sure that i didn't drink that much but i guess it was the last glass that killed me, was trying to finish the bottle. after vic, jason, andy, andrea n me walked to maxwell market to have some porridge. i don't think i remember finishing the porridge or coffee. andrea left first and then much later, we hailed a cab for andy. so it was me and jason.. but i didn't feel sober enough to take a cab so we walked on, stopping over a 7-11 to grab an orange juice and carried on walking to clark quay where we sat by singapore river. guess i knocked out for abt an hour or so.. and when i got up it was sevenish. we took the train and i bought breakfast home. it's has been more than 12 hours but i still can taste the chivas in my taste buds... ja-son told me something that i would keep in mind and see where i stand. . . i guess there will be some changes but i am not sure if its gonna be good.

slide....

for some reasons... i am glad it's the weekend. so i don't have to keep on wondering how to react coz i really don't know how things stand at the moment... shld i let it, slide.

we're gonna party like it's 1999!!

The Official Countdown to The End of The World December 21, 2012

Welcome. Have a seat. Enjoy the view because the curtains are about to close and life as you know it will be no more. Pop some corn. Chug a shake. Do whatever you want. It no longer matters.


It is a great time to be alive. A wonderful time. And though time may be money, membership in the group is FREE. Your membership includes FREE updates of the coming end. FREE in-depth coverage of humanity in denial. FREE ideas on how to spend your final days on earth. FREE suggestions on how to say ‘goodbye’ to loved ones, friends, even strangers. FREE insights into the many mistakes humans have made throughout history. FREE suggestions to avoid repeating those sordid mistakes if humans are given another chance (doubtful). Well, it is about time to invite your family, friends, and neighbors to join. And don't forget, it is FREE — while food, water, and oxygen supplies lasts.

2012

My bro showed me this trailer ytd and I was wondering how could anyone survive anything like that. I did a google search on 2012 and it came out with this date, December 21 2012; yes they have a website dedicated to this date. It seems that a certain Mayan Calendar ends its cycle on this date, whilst some believes it ends on 23 December of 2012 but whats the diff, it's just two days apart.

NASA also predicts a great solar activity in 2012, the strongest since the historic maximum in 1958; Intense auroras over Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1958.. wonder how it will be in 2012. There's also talks abt Planet X (a.k.a. Nibiru). It was spotted by astronomers in the early 1980's in the outermost reaches of the Solar System. It has been tracked by infrared observatories; seen lurking around in the Kuiper Belt and now it is speeding right toward us and will enter the inner Solar System in 2012.

Years ago, people said that world would end in 2000 but here we are closer to 2009 even closer to 2012. On July 9, 2008, Fox News mocked many who believe the world will end in 2012. Well, as for me, I am certainly not looking forward to Nibiru but i still certainly like to see the skies light up just like in 1958.

i like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony..

celebrated my niece, chiara's 5th birthday ytd at my place. we had pizzas, the birthday cake and wine. even my youngest niece had a zip of red wine from her mum and she didn't have any expression after having a zip... hmmm.

i spend my saturday cleaning up the house before my brother's family. started about 4pm, vacuum the whole house including the balcony, then i mopped the place and add a personal touch to my balcony. sigh, forgot to take a picture of it. spend abt 2½ hours doing, had my shower then went out to get drinks n ice cream.. just in time for the celebration. my other brother arrived later with his family. my eldest niece would be celebrating her birthday next week, she going to be 10 yrs old, i think.

after everything, i sat down with a chill can of carlsberg and it tasted so good. the last time i remember doing this, was with my eldest sister early this year. so i sat down in front of my comp and was chatting away with my bro ja-son who filled me in on arena after i left.. all he could tell me was he glad that i wasn't around to see him pissed drunk. i replied that if i was around, i would have joined him... or maybe there won't be enough drinks for the both of us to get us pissed drunk. all in all, they had lots of fun... but sadly i heard v never drank otherwise she would have stop talking and it made the night more enjoyable.... i noe i am cruel. jeremy, do us a favor and get hitched to her... lol.

anyways, i am glad to have received the sms from xl ytd and i will not make the same mistake again... i saved yr message as a constant reminder to me that i don't want to lose someone precious to me, u are like a family to me and i really do cherish you.

if this is goodbye...

guess i am about to lose someone precious to me and i am not sure how can i salvage it, without getting hurt any deeper... i am afraid to talk to her too, afraid to be told off in the face cause i don't think my heart can take it anymore... i remember a friend once telling me, 'if this is goodbye, then we were never friends'. of couse, it wasn't goodbye, coz goodbye are such harsh words.. so i hope it will be the same here but i am not sure what else to do... the heart is getting old and it's slowly dying inside.. years ago, i thought that something special would happen and that i would be a part of it... now the situation has change and i feel the world is going to crash on me one day....

this is me and i am dead to the world..

stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid

sleepy n tired...

went to watch 'tropic thunder' with ja-son ytd at gv yishun. meena was supposed to join us but she was not feeling well. i would say that it was a rollercoast ride with dry humours all around. the surpise was tom cruise as les grossman ... "The universe... is talking to us right now. You just gotta listen" neve really like ben stiller's movies but this was one rocks! we're thinking of getting the dvd and play it at out next get together..

was really stoned the whole day today at work.. dozed off on a few occassion but recovered later part of the day... unfortunately, my chest pain started to act up again so i didn't stay back for ot and went back with my niece sh who is going to celebrate her bf's birthday tmr. hope it doesn't rain so that she have a nice day out with matthew. after she alighted at kranji, the weather got real bad and the sound of thunders were really loud. it made me hope that my other niece was keeping herself safe and covering her ears from the thunders. also wish i was there to shield her from the storm. .

although it didnt cause any major damage, it didnt make a few traffice lights go bonkers and it was a challenge crossing the road without any traffic lights. when i reached home, my neighbour's house were affected too by the thunder n lightning. i tried to on the main switch again but it didn't work. told my neighbour to switch off everything and tried again, but the button refuse to stay. so i called town council who came and make it all so easy. So finally light cam on and the kids went back to their own place.

i hate this part

was happy to see u today but i realised that things are still not the same and i'm not sure where do i stand.. not really sure what must i do to gain ur trust again... my emotions are mixed and the heart hurts..

Kaspersky Lab Detects New Worms Attacking MySpace and Facebook

New worms target both MySpace and Facebook users


Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management systems, has detected two variants of a new worm, Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.a. and Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.b, which attack MySpace and Facebook respectively. As part of their malicious payload, the worms transform victim machines into zombie computers to form botnets.

Even though the worms are currently only infecting MySpace and Facebook users, Kaspersky Lab analysts are warning users that the worms are designed to upload additional malicious modules with other functionality via the Internet. It is highly probable that victim machines will not only be used for spreading links via these social networking sites, but the botnets will also be used for other malicious purposes.

Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.a spreads when a user accesses his/her MySpace account. The worm creates a range of commentaries to friends' accounts. Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.b, which targets Facebook users, creates spam messages and sends them to the infected users' friends via the Facebook site. The messages and comments include texts such as Paris Hilton Tosses Dwarf On The Street; Examiners Caught Downloading Grades From The Internet; Hello; You must see it!!! LOL. My friend catched you on hidden cam; Is it really celebrity? Funny Moments and many others.

Messages and comments on MySpace and Facebook include links to http://youtube.[skip].pl. If the user clicks on this link, s/he is redirected to http://youtube.[skip].ru, a site which purportedly contains a video clip. If the user tries to watch it, a message appears saying that s/he needs the latest version of Flash Player in order to watch the clip. However, instead of the latest version of Flash Player, a file called codecsetup.exe is downloaded to the victim machine; this file is also a network worm. The result is that users who have come to the site via Facebook will have the MySpace worm downloaded to their machines, and vice versa.

“Unfortunately, users are very trusting of messages left by 'friends' on social networking sites. So the likelihood of a user clicking on a link like this is very high”, says Alexander Gostev, Senior Virus Analyst at Kaspersky Lab. “At the beginning of 2008 we predicted that we'd see an increase in cybercriminals exploiting MySpace, Facebook and similar sites, and we're now seeing evidence of this. I'm sure that this is simply the first step, and that virus writers will continue to target these resources with increased intensity”.

Kaspersky Internet Security detected these threats proactively and signatures were added to the database on July 31, 2008.

the weekend in short

celebrated fong ee's birthday ytd at kbox @ suntec. . . was so tired that i caught a few winks here but it was quite nice and the cake was yummy. unfortunately we didnt take a group pic not sure why. after singing our lungs out, we went to eat at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Suntec). to feel our tummy. after dinner, we went to the arcade for a while and then we went our separate ways.

my niece and jeremy went to meet their other friends, think andrea shared the cab with jenny and andy, whilst jason and me took a walk to chijmes for a drink or two. forgot the place we went but the waitress had the outfit like maids or something. the west ham & everton match was being aired when we came and i'm still puzzled how west ham lost that match when they dominated the first half. well, that football, was delighted when i heard from the waitress that man united lost to arsenal in the previous match. that means man united are 8 points behind liverpool and arsenal six points. with chelsea beating blackburn a few hours ago, it brought them back to the top of table with liverpool as joint leaders. liverpool needs to start trashing teams to compete with chelsea, man united and arsenal who have a better goal difference. well it's going to be an interesting season ahead and liverpool will be champions!! :)

anyways, it's back to work tmr and i don't have the privilege of coming in at 9am anymore as the email team work five days starting this week which also means doing overtime everyday. well, at least i will have more to save for my trip next year to uk but of course clear all my debts first before that. oh yes, we'll be going to arena next friday which is organised by the company. it's like those private parties kinda thingi, where dinner and drink are free and free flows of beer. i've never been to arena so its going to be fun coz the fun people will be there. haha.. think this would be our follow up from our last outing at double o which we had lots of fun. wish i had camera though so that i could capture the special moments.. well, will save for it.

oh yes, my phone is acting weird again. first my navigation buttons plays tricks on me and now the phone itself as natasha couldn't hear me when i answered it. will bring it back to fion to see what happened to it. anyways, another work week and i get to see my niece sh again as she was on leave celebrating her one yr anniversary with her bf matthew. before i go, the extension of the northpoint unofficially opened today and a few shops have started operating already. what excites me is that there's going to be a 24 hours cafe opening too. guess it will be our next fav hang out place.

Spam on Facebook

To everyone on my facebook account who received a message about ur photos being featured at some website, please ignore it. Seems like my comp has been affected by some virus and i've spent the whole day cleaning my comp. I've also changed to Windows Live One Care from AVG Edition which didn't help that much. Hope it will never happen again and I apologies to everyone out there.. Thanks to Natasha for calling me and alerting me.

the new office..

Our rest and relax area

My desk and everything on it...

november

it's november already and soon it will be christmas. anyways, met joanne for dinner ytd in yishun. before dinner we were at kiddy palace, nortpoint as joanne was picking some kiddy stuff for someone. i began to do some shopping too and ended up with $120 worth of items from kiddy palace - for my nephew and nieces. oh yes, i got myself a member card too and its 10% off non-promotional items. so we had dinner at the coffee shop nearby and soon later a cat joined us at our table.. maybe we invaded the cat's territory. okie, i zonked out, will be back to update more soon.

my life is your entertainment

guess i really screwed up big time... not really sure how am i going to amend myself... maybe i won't get a chance... yes i do hate being me coz i don't really understand myself or the reason why am i here... yes sometimes i do wish i was born into a rich family, so money won't be an issue and everything else would fall into place. get myself some wheels and every gal would be future-ex... but right now, i am just shit... so might as well shoot this shit up to the high heavens. i am not worth to anyone or anything... even hell will outcast me. the truth is not really cares or bothers anymore in this world... i am going to be four decades old soon... yes i will never get married coz i am just a useless ass with no future... and i noe ppl are laughing behind my backs... yes, do have a fun time at my expense... my life is your entertainment!!

a saturday with colleagues

the was my phone's screen which cracked two weeks ago. yes i still do have the screen for memories.. haha. i got my phone fixed through my colleague and i'm so glad to have my phone working again. so yes, i am contactable again..

had a deepavali lunch at my ex-colleague's place at corrinne's block. actually it was a late lunch and early dinner.. haha. the food was so good that i went for thirds and jason went for seconds. we were also watching a shah rukh khan novie, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna but didn't manage to complete it so we borrowed it and carried on @ catherine's place at ave 5 (my soon to be new neighbour). it was a nice movie and of course, there were teary eyes. all in all, it was a nice fun filled saturday.

looking forward to tmr's bbq session at changi. =)

oh yes, Spurs ended Liverpool's unbeaten run at White Heart Lane and with Chelsea hammering Sunderland 5-0; we are again on level points with Chelsea having the better goal difference. With Man U and Arsenal breathing down our necks, it's gonna be an interesting season.