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am i being an jackass by

1) Saving SIX seats in the library.

2) Eating THREE egg tarts in the library

3) infesting the area with the super aroma of my "Kopi-O, Big one, take away"

4) Taking off my slippers and sitting cross-legged on the seat

5) give everyone who walk pass a menacing stare regardless of whether they are thinking of taking the seats or not.

oh. no. i am one of those jackasses.

As they say it back in my secondary school, Fa-tass!

GO EAT SHIT Chia Teck Leng!

9:20AM

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i thought "Sing a Song of Sang, a Pocketful of Woes?" by Professor Tan had a. erm. interesting title. until i read Rayney Wong, and came across this: "... not relevant only to mitigation in sentencing: see, generally, Simon Bronitt, “Sang is Dead, Loosely Speaking – R v Looseley”".

erm. ok. i guess not only are local judgments getting longer, articles appearing in the local legal journals. are getting. more interesting.

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Background: essentially, one of the counsel argued his case on the basis of Greenwood v Bennet. and the other side replied with this.

from the judgment:

per Young J. at 308

"The plaintiff's reply to this was that Greenwood v Bennet was just wrong, and indeed, with very persuasive advocacy, learned counsel for the plaintiff tried to convince me that it was merely a product of one of those moments where Lord Denning had his eyes far more focused on justice than what the law really was. I am not impressed with this submission"


wow. all i can say is the counsel really got balls. i wonder whether there are similar counsels in Singapore who will argue along similar lines to try and reverse precedents. local precedents.

wonder what will Andrew Phang JA and VK Rajah JA say to such arguments.

la la la la

3:36PM

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Version 1, TNP-style:

A thief learned the mistake of trying to steal a law student's laptop last week after after becoming a punching bag for an Arizona State student he tried to rip off. Armed with a baseball bat, the intruder, Gabriel Saucedo, allegedly climbed through an open window into Alex Botsios' apartment, waking the student and threatening to smash his head in.

Botsios was willing to let Saucedo take his wallet and guitars. Then the robber made the mistake that ultimately landed him in the hospital -- he went for the laptop. According to Botsios, he said "Dude, no -- please, no! I have all my case notes...that's four months of work!" Saucedo, obviously underestimating the fury of an overstressed, overworked first-year, was unsympathetic. That's when Botsios could take no more.

Wrestling Saucdeo to the floor, Botsios separated the bat from the thief and repeatedly punched him in the face. When it was all over, police had to get Saucedo stitched up before charging him with armed robbery and kidnapping, while Botsios only suffered some scrapes and a bruised knuckle. Most importantly, at least to the student, is that his laptop, which he called "his baby," escaped unharmed. Next time, Saucedo might want to try robbing a third-year student, as they're generally more docile.



Version 2, Straits Times "objective" style [Prof Thio's words, not mine]

ASU student pummels would-be robber

November 7th, 2008 @ 9:42am

by KPHO.com

Arizona State University student Alex Botsios said he had no problem giving a nighttime intruder his wallet and guitars.

When the man asked for Botsios' laptop, however, the first-year law student drew the line.

"I was like, 'Dude, no -- please, no!" Botsios said. "I have all my case notes…that's four months of work!"

Police said Gabriel Saucedo entered Botsios' apartment through an open window early Thursday morning. When Botsios woke up, Saucedo threatened him with a baseball bat, police said.

He was just like, 'I'm going to smash your head in,'" Botsios said.

At that point, the law student wrestled the bat away and began punching Saucedo, Botsios said.

"I basically grabbed him and threw him this way, and he held onto the bat so it threw him to the ground," he said.

Police said they took Saucedo to the hospital for stitches before they arrested him on charges of armed robbery and kidnapping. Other than a bruised knuckle and a few scratches, Botsios was unharmed.

Janet Botsios, Botsios' mother, said she took the first flight from Texas as soon as she heard what happened.

"I'm like putting my face in my hands, and I just couldn't believe it," she said. "I was like, 'Oh my God.' I'm so glad he watched all those police shows his whole life … He knew how to take care of himself … I'm very, very, very proud of him."

Alex Botsios said he learned one lesson from the incident: don't leave windows open.

Otherwise, he said he is happy that his laptop is unharmed.

"It's my baby," he said. "Don't mess with my computer."




Ouch. yeah. dun steal my laptop. if not. i will. i will.



cry. -wailssssss-

1:17PM

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i was thinking to myself "wow, so there was a time when this certain judge tried to do a Lord Denning."

u see, when he was still a JC, he began one of his judgments with:

"
Introduction

1 Truth, it has been said, is stranger than fiction. This is nowhere better exemplified than in the present proceedings. Indeed, if a label were necessary, the entire saga could not inappropriately be entitled “Of Stray Dogs and Accidents”. As we shall see, it would not be inaccurate to add “, With Experts” as well.

2 It was a clear night along Tampines Avenue 10 on 8 September 2003 at approximately 9.15pm. The plaintiff had just completed what appeared to be a regular jog around Bedok Reservoir and was returning to his company premises. He had presumably done this numerous times before. Tonight, he also had two “companions”. They were two stray dogs that had somehow become “part” of the company in which he worked. They were in fact two of a larger group of approximately six dogs. In the nature of things, they belonged to no particular person, let alone the company. Not formally, in any event. But they had a “relationship” of sorts with the company and were, in fact, periodically fed and even bathed by employees in the company (albeit not by the plaintiff).

3 The dogs in question obviously recognised the plaintiff. Indeed, he stated that when the dogs spotted him going for a jog, they would occasionally “accompany” him. This was one such occasion. As we shall see, one of them is alleged to have played a crucial role in the present proceedings – at least in so far as the defendants are concerned.

4 So much by way of a brief prologue. The actual events which are the subject matter of the present hearing are unfortunate in more ways than one. This should not be surprising as this case involved a traffic accident."


yes. you had to read all the way to paragraph 4 to realise that the case involved a traffic accident.

but. you see the true colours of him at para 68, which says:

"A note on expert evidence

68 It is important to ascertain what precisely constituted the basis for the respective expert reports (and see generally Jeffrey Pinsler, Evidence, Advocacy and the Litigation Process (LexisNexis, 2nd Ed, 2003) at pp 185–187, 553–554 and 646–647; Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore ([66] supra) at paras 120.256 and 120.258; Sarkar’s Law of Evidence (Wadhwa and Company, 15th Ed, 1999), vol 1 at pp 878–880; Sir John Woodroffe & Syed Amir Ali’s Law of Evidence (LexisNexis Butterworths, 17th Ed, 2002), vol 2 at pp 2520–2530; Tristram Hodgkinson, Expert Evidence: Law and Practice (Sweet & Maxwell, 1990) at pp 136–138; and Ian Freckelton & Hugh Selby, “The Basis Rule” in Ian Freckelton & Hugh Selby, The Law of Expert Evidence (LBC Information Services, 1999) at ch 5; and see, by the same authors, Expert Evidence vol 1 (The Law Book Company Limited, Looseleaf Ed, 2001) at ch 11). It is both logical and commonsensical that if the basis or starting-point is either shaky or (worse still) flawed, the conclusion arrived at will be of little or no use to the court. Indeed, if there is in fact something untoward in the starting-point, even the most impeccable reasoning process will be of no avail in so far as the quest for a fair and just result is concerned. This principle is of particular importance with respect to expert reports generally – and especially in the present context of traffic accidents. Unfortunately, however, the general provisions with respect to expert evidence, ss 47 and 48 of the Evidence Act (Cap 97, 1997 Rev Ed), do not furnish us with specific guidance in this particular regard."


yeah. his habit of citing academic authorities is. scary.

oh. its Khoo v Ang. lalalala.

3:16PM

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hitting the wall while doing a free fall.

sob sob.

and.

couples shud stop kissing in the library. hmm. does the hormones somehow rage during exam period? hmm. must be the smell of library books.

6:13PM

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today is a sucky day. eyes are closing. seriously. super unproductive day.

so. when i was running on monday. saw a very uniquely singapore sight. essentially. i was running towards this couple who evidently looked like they were going to kiss. and the girl, who was facing me, obviously knew that i was approaching la. and yet. erm. they kissed. and yet, the girl continued la. but when i ran past them and looked at them, this girl was so freaking pai seh. hmmm. but then i realised that the person who was kissing her, whose back was facing me. that i could see the outline of bra strap through his/her white t-shirt. hmmm.

hungry like fuck.

yawnz.

behind in everything. fuck.

conclusion of roger's essay would look like this "Blah blah climate change preparation important blah blah china should prepare for it blah blah i wish i'd done this 3 weeks ago fullstop."

and yeah. i need to pull myself together. yawnz.

and i was listening to the recordings of the concert. man. some nice memories there.

"You at her, shes wicked.. get her!
[Bring me Dddddddddooooooooowwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn]
No one mourns the wicked, so we'll gonna bring her down
[fllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]"

and she was pitchy towards the end of the tony awards performance.

5:27PM

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its strange how people can say goodbye to love that easily. too many friends have done that in the last couple of weeks. that im starting to feel. kinda. uneasy. and weird. too many that i can almost count with two hands.

maybe as mz said, it really is not that easy. to maintain. and somehow the lunch in school with crappy food turned out to be. a discussion of sort. or is it more of an education? with her correcting. or simply enlightening me about the reality. the harsh reality. or simply. just the reality at the very face of it. no msg, seasoning, or garnish added.

if life is meant to be led simply, or that ppl wants to lead life simply, why are we making it so difficult for ourselves when it comes to affairs of the heart?

《林憶蓮 - 聽說愛情回來過》

在朋友那兒聽說　痴心的你曾回來過
想請他替我向你問候　只為了怕見了說不出口
你對以往的感觸還多不多
曾讓我心碎的你　我依然深愛著

在朋友那兒聽說　痴心的你曾找過我
我要他幫我對你隱瞞　只是怕見了面會更難過
我對以往的感觸還那麼多
曾給我幸福的你　我依然深深愛著

有一種想見不敢見的傷痛
有一種愛還埋藏在我心中
我只能把你放在我的心中

這一種想見不能見的傷痛　
讓我對你的思念越來越濃
我卻只能把你　把你放在我心中

對你的聲音　你的影　你的手
我發誓說我沒有忘記過　而關於你選擇了現在的他
我只能說我有些難過　我也真心真意的等過

simply too much in this classic song to translate into simple english.

and. maybe, quoting from Dixie Chicks: "they say, time will heal everything. But I'm still waiting"

though im quoting out of context here.

12:57PM

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Couldn't help but wonder.

Is it a walk in the park?
Is it thinking what the other person is doing at that very moment?
Is it a stroll in the sunset?
Is it over a Sunday coffee looking at the last few pages of the main section?
Is it over a decision between Hort Park, Sentosa ala Cafe del Mar?
Is it over the seas, over the oceans, over the sky?
Is it a sharing of off-pitch notes, accurate A of the tuning fork, or relative to a 442 oboe's A?
Is it over seasons of Sex and The City, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, or Charmed?
Is it sitting on the couch watching them together?
Is it running side by side over 84km ultra marathon, 42.195km full marathon, 21km half marathon, 15km, 10km, or 750m Kids Dash?
Is it about sharing drinks, sorrows, laughters and tears?
Is it about swimming, swimming trunks, tanning, gymming, bathing or roving eyes?
Is it about the view from the Swissotel, Marina Mandarin, Pac Pacific, Singapore Flyer or Hilton?
Is it all about a bbq, feeding, sharing, or simply cooking for?
Is it about pretending, deceiving, throwing hints, sending mixed signals, deceit or courtship?
Is it about the beach, by the bench, or by the poolside?

Tell me the truth.

Is there really one?

6:35PM

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i left the library and decided to reach home earlier, skip ugly betty, and decided to go for a run.

i've given up the possibility of me waking up at 6am just for a run. its almost not possible. i would often, just switch off the alarm and go back to sleep.

and it was 50 mins of. weirdness. somehow.

ran around my neighbourhood, with almost no clear idea where to go. it was a very random run. and scary too. coz i ran past the 153 bus route, which essentially means a small cluster of private estates, with a lot of construction site. eerie, and the some parts of the entire stretch of road was not properly lit. and right after running through that stretch of road, all thoughts of running a few rounds along the same stretch of road vanished into tiny air. instead, decided to run towards Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre. ok. that was the initial plan, until i realised the area surrounding the ulu shopping centre was still dark dark de. like last time like that. so yeah. almost wanted to run to kovan there. but. again. decided not to.

and ran past some new cafe along Yio Chu Kang Road. PLU Cafe? hmm. apparently it stands for people like us. but it looks very empty though. AND. ran past Highland Centre. hmmm. i figure Mr Aw's shop is no longer there liao. or so i heard. that place looked very run-down anyway.

and. it was another random run past Serangoon Stadium, Serangoon Swimming Complex, until i decided to turn into Serangoon Ave 4. at the back of my mind, i was wonder, what happened to the old Zhonghua Secondary School campus liao. last i heard, Peicai Secondary, moved out of that premise a couple of years back. was wondering whether the place is not deserted or something. so i ran. and ran. along the old familiar path which used to take me 7 or 8 minutes. just to walk into the school from the main road. i ran past the pillar where they used to be a phone - the very phone which Clemence called his mother, telling her that he is going jalan jalan with me and a few other friends i think (or is it just us? think its just us), and for some weird reason, his mother asked to speak me. apparently his mother refused to let him go out with girls. wonder why. but in retrospect, i KNOW why lo. think she was trying to hear whether i girl a not. and since i couldn't locate the phone, i circled blk 222 to find one. hmmm. i did find one la, but was pai seh to walk near coz a couple was kissing, or about to kiss when i was approaching the phone. talk about bad timing.

and then i approached the school compound. omg. they are undergoing renovation. ok. not exactly renovation. in a nutshell, they demolished the entire hall + concourse part of the school. sigh. and i see a lot of foreign workers in the remaining part of the school compound. hmmm. i must have stared at the entire scene for a good 2 mins. and my shuffle was playing "The Winner Takes It All". how apt. considering i must came across Abba back in secondary school, at the school compound. hmmm. eh. wait. meaning they even tore down the extension block wor! hmmm. maybe i should go get a closer look another day.

and. it was running back home after that. with a heavy heart? i dun know. things have changed. many years have passed. and i know i usually get overly sentimental. more so than usual during oct-dec period. something about the end of the year just gets to me. i dun know whats all that about though.

just that the whole run around my neighbour, a lot of memories came flooding back la. why go all the way to botanic gardens to run, or even run down the entire stretch of orchard all the way to singapore flyer, when the entire run around my neighbour seems so much more enjoyable. but i need to invent, or find new running routes.

and it seem like the fish noodles store that is sort of near my place is open 24 hours. hmmm. maybe next time i shud da bao fish soup back home. haha.

damn. im freaking hungry now. and thats after eating a packet of noodles and a banana after i reached home. FREAKING HUNGRY!!

okok. if this entry is very incoherent and dun know whats wrong with the sentence structure. its just that im tired. and exhausted all my good-sentence-structure ammo for my personal property essay.

peace out.

12:43PM

[title - the tagline to The Cider House Rules]

Smileys

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