Auld Lang Syne!

The usual song to bid the old good bye, and welcome the new and the hope it brings.

From my favourite chick flick (I still believe Carrie should marry Aidan instead of Mr. Big), Though I'm sure the original scottish version is much rowdier..I always like this serene version from Mairi Campbell.

For Auld Lang Syne my Jo!

It became more exciting after 6

It was like a typical day, just a tad bleak compared to the usual. I don't know why too.

6.30pm
(Thats it. Definitely gg to hit after 8 today)
"Ok who wants food?"

There is always someone needing food nowadays

7.30pm

Finishing off the super salty hor fun. That is prob gg to be the last time I order from the zi char place opp. But when your office is situated at a place there is no food establishment within 5 mins drive after 6pm..you are kind of left with no other choice except the trashy mcdees and the likes.

Got to finish at least some good part of my work before the year ends..

8.00pm
Colleauge A "Hey Pauline, I am supposed to work with you on xxxx."
"Ok, when do you need this?"
"Tomorrow morning?"
??????

8.03pm
*another head popped up from her cube hearing me talking to colleauge A*
"Hey Pauline! You know the xxx that I was supposed to reply to you"
"Yeah?"
"I have some questions, need you to clarify. I will send email to you?"
"Ok.."
(...get in line...)

8.15pm
*another non-related email to seek inputs for a powerpoint*
(I thought the boss would have already send the info over?)
[type type type.."(boss) please give me the information of (such such such). I will incorporate into the ppt slides"]
(life of a person at the bottom of the food chain)

8.50pm
*sms.."sorry..can't go down and meet you all today"*
(type type type)

9.30pm
(ok..first draft on colleague A's stuff send out. Can do my own work liao)
(type type type type)

10.30pm
(ok..done for the day)
(Checked email. Someone replied Colleauge A's earlier email, asking for more stuff to be prepared)

That's it.

Walked to the another fellow sufferer's table, bitched and made jokes corny enough befitting two persons who have stayed in the office for too long.

Shut down laptop.

Go home.

Tomorrow is another day, another war to fight.

I think cos it foretell that the new year, or at least the new few months are going to be more like a war zone. Ooo....rubbing my hands in relish. Got to start preparing more corny jokes.

Avatar

Watched Avatar last night (finally!). After all the hype..I would say..

It was worth the 9.30pm-and halfdead after whole day staring at numbers-3hour show! Though was wondering if the 3D one had really any much of a difference from the 2D one..perhaps it would be less distracting without the 3D glasses at the least.

At one part of the movie, when Jake Sulley rode the Toruk to the Tree of Soul to the amazement of the rest of the Na'vi, my friend sitting beside jabbed me and said, "See? Even at that time girls will be awed by the kind of ride you own". I laughed out loud despite in the cinema and all (can probably feel a few evil eyes on me).

xxxxxx

2 more days to end of 2009! I cant wait for this crappy year to end. Wonder at what state will I be at the stroke of midnight - super drunk at Pan Pac or sober somewhere else?

Sunday in the office

It was a long holiday going by the number of days which I didn't touch the office laptop (woot!~). Until yesterday. Darn. It's either having another stay-in before having to go back to reality or risk having a really painful Monday trying to thrash through the woods.

Somestimes ignorance is bliss.

Going back to office on a Sunday can be such a dread, but the usual suspects were in the office, and the umbrella left by another said that she had been back yesterday like she said she would. Haha~ talk about camaderie.

After a few weekends, I realised that working on weekends have its perks:-

• Nobody cares about what you wear to work - the guys in the team came in t-shirt, bermss, slippers like the typical uncles you see in the neighbourhood. And..erm..I tried not to look too aunty-ish. (but it's difficult when you have to lug yourself from home though)
• There is nobody around so you can just shout over the cubicles walls -

"Oi...do you have that xxxx report?" "Yeah, send you now"

"Ay..eat cup noodle dont eat so loud la.." "Cup noodle dont eat so loud not enjoyable leh.."

"Your boss sent out that email already?" "Yes yes..your boss got cc you" (btw we always address our bosses to each other as "your boss")

• Bosses not around! Nobody to hawk around you! No impromptu emails or phone calls!

Still...sometimes I wish I was out there doing other stuff (I think my friends are going to blacklist me soon as one of those who are always unavailable, unless they are willing to start dinner at 9-ish? I have missed a few movie gatherings already! I want to watch Assassins and Bodyguards!). Having some fellow sufferers makes it more bearable, and it's a blessing in disguise that I've got great colleauges who are willing to wade through the cess pool together.

And yeah. I didn't run. I didn't swim. It was raining!

Time to run!

Two wedding meals and one full month celebration later ..I better muster enough discipline to either hit the tracks or the pool tomorrow.

Talking about running, I met this guy on the Friday run of the wedding dinner who was helping his family business. He was one of the NSF during the first few years when I was in uniform ("I was in J when you were in IB" he said. I went like,"Erm....". Darn I really cannot remember.) and he flashed me a picture and asked me "You seen these before?"

I went.."erm..I saw kids playing with them at East Coast before..". "Yup, my family brings them in, sole distributor in Asia; our shop is at Big Splash". Apparently they are really good for people with problems running because of knee problems and stuff cos of the superb cushioning. Check this out. And of course, the other benefits too - this and this.

But I found this to be a real good add on benefit too. hahah~!

But good things dont come cheap..each pair cost about S$300 odd, but the individual parts last for a few good years and all the parts are replaceable.

I asked him how the take-up rate was like. "Nah..Singaporeans just don't like to be stared at...so it's hard to get adults interested".


Well..wondering how it feels running ECP with the bouncy shoes...

Extreme - More than Words

I heard my favourite song last night. It was the song that had accompanied me through adolescent and adulthood, and which had never fail to make the heart string tug a little everytime I hear it.

Other than a brief mention here, I realised that I have never really blogged about it?!




But I must say..somehow the song took on an additional dimension last night. hah~ red t-shirt and serendipity!

That Elusive Christmasy Feeling

As I was crossing the bridge that linked the carpark to the main building, the wind was gustlier than usual and I can actually hear the wind howl. Coupled with the grey skies and droplet of rain sprayed in, it had indeed felt..that christmas is around the corner.

And the small surprise on the table from a colleauge when I reach office sort of hammered home the fact that christmas is indeed here :)

This was one of the rare years that I didnt manage to go buy pressies....
.
.
.
After a frustrating meeting..

"What day is it today?" colleauge threw the question as he continued typing onto his laptop without lifting his head.

"Eve of Christmas eve.."

"What?? This year really dont have the christmas feel"

Of course..we dont even leave the office for lunch. No way to get bombarded and brainwashed by all the commercialised christmas deco and carols blasting over the PA systems. Maybe tomorrow I bring my christmas CD and blast in the office to inject some christmasy feel. It's good to be brainwashed once in a while to think that humid Singapore can indeed have a "white christmas" and that there will really be a Santa who will give presents instead of shooting arrows which he think its his given right to do so *manic laughter*
.
.
.
okok..despite all the irritants, there may be that little spark of christmas spirit in me yet.

I love this christmas carol! Ok this is not the best clip that showcase how smooth Nat King Cole can be (see how the TV called him "the incomparable Nat King Cole" at the start of the clip?), but I ljust love the B&W that represents an era where I don't need to hear Pussycat Dolls sing about meeting Santa and calling him baby *bleh*

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,

To kids from one to ninety-two,

Although its been said many times, many ways,

A very Merry Christmas to you

Merry Christmas! :))))))

五行之- 水

I am the brilliant.
As I reflects with glorious splendour
the sun's warring charges
and the moon's gentle ardours.
Seeing the world through
sharp eyes and cool clarity,
yet moving with mellifluous wisdon.

I am the strong.
For the thousand houses
carried on my glistering back,
rocking to my whim and fancies.
Should Neptune wave his fork
I rise and the world feels
the spectre of my might.

I am the pliant.
Hold me in your hands like
the beloved heart in your palm.
Fingers tightened and
through them I run.
The heart once there
but never again.

五行之-金

I came from the deep bowels of the earth
The objects of your covert
Withstanding the weight of the world
over centuries of time

Rigid and unwavering
I desist the changes you bring
Burning, chipping, electrocuting
In a stand-off to prove the determined

Yet from the fire I reborn
Taking different forms
To your delight.
I can be the brilliant ware that blinds your eyes
The backbone of your ambitions -
the buildings, the flying machines, the knives
that carves out your worlds,
so that you can reach the skies.

Impossible is nothing!
So long as your heart is willing,
to let me take you
further and further away
from my origin
in distance and in faith.

五行之- 土

I am the unchanging.

The meeting point of the sky and the ocean,
as dynasties rise and fall in fleeting moments,
like the changing of the seasons.
In never ending cycles,
I turn my two faces -
one gentle, lilthing to the moon,
as Diana dispels the darkness,
while the ohter, a triumphant face
to Mars, that celebrate the reign of the sun.

The earthy pleasures
I bring forth!
to satify the many sins
that one can think of.
Sparkles and satins to adorn the skins,
like the gems in my cores
and rivers coursing through my veins.
Like the nymphs of the waters,
I tempt your senses,
as my fingers caress your skin, like
the winds as they stroke over the canopies of majestic greens.
I moves! In tender loving symphonies,
as I am the maestro,
the center of the universe.

Just when it cements to an eternity,
like running sands through the hourglass
you become history as I turn the page,
to yet another dynasty.
As you wisped into nothingness,
I will be the last one standing.

For

I am the unchanging.

五行之- 火

I glow with anticipation
as I ignites and cackles,
dancing to the rhythm
of my primitive dance.

In search of dormant pleasures,
dancing from one source to another,
I see my reflection in your eyes
and bears my soul -
the warmth, the light
the joy.

I can feel your pulse
beating like mine.
And I dance
until you loses yourself in me.
Drumming up the tempo,
faster and faster,
fueled by that foolish wind
that swept us in a whirl。
We burn as one,
with impatience and gluttony.
Leaving nothing
but the remnants of our passion -
red cinders and dust.

五行之 - 木

I sprung from water
that runs through my roots;
coming deep from the springs
amongst the tiniest creaks.

I create many littles worlds
with my bountiful branches;
nurturing and creating,
I whisper my wishes as they thrive,
But they hurry in their little lives
as they feed off my prime.

I soak in the scorchful sun
and suffer the chilling moon
I reach out my hopes to them;
they beam down tirelessly
leaving me with my shadow
as as surrogate of their silent replies.

I sway with the wind
as it brings its tidings;
I rustled my dreams in a cacophony
but it rushes
as it heads to lands of beyond
bringing the tales of many, including mine.

I stand, patiently waiting
As I blossoms
and withers,
to see the lives
creating and receding,
my shadows
echoing to my replies,
and the wind

The wind

with more tales of yonder
So that I may dream

又一天过了

累字怎么写 - 十二点疲惫驾着车回家地写。

一天二十四小时根本不够。

Wasted Weekend

I forgot how miserable falling sick was.

What started out as mild food poisoning transgressed to a full blown throbbing headache and fever and totally throw off my weekend plans which includes clearing up work on Sat , followed by a sunday morning dive at Hantu and a equally leisurely Sunday afternoon for some sanity before the hectic week ahead.

Instead I spent most of Sat half-dead on the bed (I dont remember ever having slept so much in a day) and with an equally incapacitating headache Sunday morning, with the dread that work is left uncleared in the office and no leisure to speak of.

Misery galore. Argh.

（累字怎么写 - 是病得不清不楚地写）

Studio Ghibli Film Festival

I forgot how painful food poisoning is. Anyhow I was still debating whether if I should stop being a whim and go office today, but in the end, I decided to cut myself some slack, and also having the comfort of knowing that the bed is just a roll away..

sigh...going to miss the free-flow wine gathering tonight.

Downing down the pills from the doc while reading the papers, I read that Studio Ghibli are going to do a film festival at the Picturehouse! Woohoo~!

Of course, the festival is going to end off with "My neighbour Totoro" which is really the most symbolic work of Studio Ghibli. But really, I think the most memorable one is still "Tombstone of Fireflies". Just remember to bring lots of tissue.

Santa, I have been a good girl..well sort of..

is that why I only got $750 this year to "splurge"? But anyway, just in case you may have miscounted the "naughties" (i didn't swear as much this year...idiotic drivers and other brainless species dont count), here goes:

1. A red holga camera

Sigh.. over S$100 bucks for a starter kit. It's a toy camera for goodness sake! That was originally sold for a few bucks or even given free at petrol kiosk wonder. But the images are wonderful..It's even made more confusing when there is also the Diana, which I donno what is the difference when it comes to film size,the accessorising and what really both cameras will do.

Santa, red is niiiccceeee....oh well, the next time someone goes HK, that is going into the to-buy list.

2. Iphone 3GS

One knows that one is definitely a tech-lagger when 3 mahjong kakis are ALL using Iphone. But was tied down to stupid contract for a lousy taiwan phone that keeps losing contact details for god knows what reason and couldn't switch service provider. Good thing too though..鹤蚌相争，渔翁得利。I think I may recontract with Starhub again, but waiting out for my colleauge to check out the corporate price plan at Singtel too. Gosh..that will make me the ultimate tech lagger after almost maybe half the world is already playing games on their Iphones..but .. a phone is a phone is a phone...so long as my calendar in the current one doesn't start losing its contents, that will be really the last straw.

3. .......

Hm...maybe make the back pain go away? (ah well...I tink that is something one has to just live with. Serve myself right for not taking care and procrastinating signing up for the pilate or yoga to strengthen the back)

4. .......

OK..since it's only $750 and I cant make the back pain go away, Santa, I just want fun and laughter, joy and happiness. Can hor...?

Bittersweet symphony

One of those days when there is just the right song for the mood.

Well actually, it was the whole soundtrack. This movie kick-ass.



累字怎么写 - 腰酸背痛得写 （第一次坐太久而腰痛）

坚持坚持坚持！

还在打曲棍球时，最怕张教练喊，“来！ 十圈！” 每个人当下拉长着脸， 无奈的脱下护腿板， 准备绕着球场跑十圈。

十圈嘛，才不到三千米， 坏的是每跑一圈， 教练要求的速度是越增越快。


“抬脚！跨大一点！蹬起来！”每绕一圈，张教练嚷嚷着督促我们这群黄毛小丫头。

而且他一定会喊这一句...




“坚持！”



听到这句话，每个人是面红耳赤，肺挣的快要爆炸，再咬紧牙根，一脚步，一脚步的跨出去。 十圈下来， 刚开始是趴在草皮地上，觉得好像小命就快没了， 动也动不了。但久而久之， 每个人的速度是越来越快，越跑越起劲 （当然，我还是落在后头猛追这的那个...后卫嘛，那里可能比中前卫快）。

今天面对堆积如山的草稿，不停泛红的email inbox, 突然间， 耳际仿佛又听到

“坚持!"


咬紧牙根..

Emilie Simon

First I got this after seeing her youtube MV for "Flowers" off Joyce's blog.

Then I lent that to a colleauge, who had heard of her and was trying to find her CD but seems like she's not that hot in SG (I guess HMV hadn't stock up after I picked up that last CD off the shlef).

She really liked the disc. Told her friend who happened to have a French friend coming to SG. And that French friend brought these other CDs for her.

And since my colleauge is such a nice person, she lent me all 3 two days ago.

WOOHOO! :D

This is a cool song. So are her other songs.

(And I only managed to rip it tonight...cos have been staying late at work. Gosh..累字怎么写...是趴着写)

萧敬腾-善男信女

那片山谷 入口处清楚刻著伤心人的墓
那片浓雾 隔绝了其实可以忘了爱的醒悟 别哭
那片乐土 是不是至少能让眼泪都停住
祝福 什麼都不再记住
祝福 下一次总会幸福
祝福 爱情的信徒
那善男信女都别再继续受苦

The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want

Good times for a change
See, the luck I've had
Can make a good man
Turn bad

So please please please
Let me, let me, let me
Let me get what I want
This time

Haven't had a dream in a long time
See, the life I've had
Can make a good man bad

So for once in my life
Let me get what I want
Lord knows, it would be the first time
Lord knows, it would be the first time

The joy of having a good book to look forward to.

Was facing a literary drought and the latest book I bought (on impulse) lay unread for so many days no matter how many times I tried to turn the page. But the story was so slow...that I decided that I need something more ...erm..quirky.

So that day drove past the national library and decided to make an impromptu stop. The first shelf I hit was under "P"..but all the Terry Pratchett books were gone!!!! Gosh..Just when I thought Terry Pratchett is still relatively unknown in SG (never saw his books hit the top ten list here). But I know that NLB has his latest novel "Making Money"..now it between placing that book on reservation list on NLB or buying it next time I go Kino or Borders. I wonder how the audiobook sounds like though..?

But then it was easy to to go from "P" to my next hit - "R". I love the gruff like John Rebus in Ian Rankin's books. I accidently picked up one of his books (I think it will be "Mortal Causes") for a seemingly good sypnosis, and I have been going back for more. I think one of these days I will start John Rebus novels from his very first appearance in "Knots and Crosses".

I ended up with two Rankin, one Virginia Woolf, and another Scottish author. That will solve the drought for a while...and to prevent me from buying books on impulse!

(btw I wonder if Wind in the Willows will be a good book to read? Somehow the theme song from the BBC series kept coming into my head)

榴莲小星亮相咯！（另类版）

他是一个五岁的小男孩， 因为非常爱吃榴莲， 所以他那音乐家的妈妈帮他缝制了这套“榴莲装”， 也顺便怀念怀念她每每演奏的场地 - 榴莲...哦不..滨海音乐艺术中心。所以他的朋友们也就顺便昵称他为 "stinky but cute 榴莲头”。"Stinky but cute?" 这句话让他音乐家的妈妈好忧心 - 明明是好有艺术的东西， 为什么讲成 stinky 呢？所以她索性就跟小星的爸爸， 带小星优游全世界去演奏。 等他十八岁的时候再决定要不要让他回国服兵役， 还是留在国外继续发展， 就别牺牲那宝贵的两年了。

当然， 身上流着新加坡人的血统， 从小就体现出新加坡的精神 -“血拼” 是一个少不了的生活技能。而他也认同不分种族的概念。所以他最近在上海认识了一个好朋友， 蓝肤色绝对不是个问题。

但他们也同感深受 （还是同病相怜？），被人误会的感觉 （"为什么他长得像避孕套...")。

（ok..我好无聊。 但我今早看到straits times wrote "liu lian xiao xing"..I thought it was a dead ringer for "crayon shin chan". 人有蜡笔小新 我们有榴莲小星！)

榴莲小星亮相咯！

榴莲成为2010年上海世界博览会新加坡馆吉祥物，卫生部长许文远在上海出席世界博览会新加坡馆吉祥物揭晓仪式，与吉祥物“榴莲小星”（中）、上海世界博览会吉祥物“海宝”在一起留影。（图／中新社）

上海世博会新加坡馆结构封顶: "距离明年5月的上海世界博览会只有156天，新加坡馆昨天在上海浦东香格里拉酒店举行结构封顶仪式"

2010年世博会时间: 2010年 5月 1日 – 10月 30日

地点: 中国上海（浦东）

何为世界博览会?
世界博览会是一个大型的全球非商业展览会。它的宗旨是促进思想的交流和世界经济、文化和科技的发展，使各国和地区有机会宣传展示他们的成就，同时改善国际关系。 迄今为止，已经有 180多个国家地区和 34个国际组织确定参加 2010年世博会，在为期 6个多月的时间内，预计会吸引 7000万参观者。

http://www.singaporeatworldexpo.com/

I cant help but link this back to the current ruckus on learning Chinese.

The Boohoo on Chinese Learning

Things that tell you that this is it..

When you type a piece of work for one and a half hour. Then you went to open a word doc to check on some reference for about a minute. You return to the monitor bar to look for the first document. And realise it wasn't there And you hadn't saved it at any juncture.

wtf..

-----------------

Grouses aside.

Yesterday I was working on another piece on work, and I was stuck for a while. I was trying to say - In addition to whatever was presented during the last meeting, we've got new stuff tht we got to add in and these are the new stuff blahblahblahblah.....

The problem is of course I cant really put that in...and there must a word that means everything I wanted to say in all that. In the end, the thesarus was my saviour and I settled for "addendum". I already was sqeezing my brains out to try not to use repeat the words used in the doc and that was when I wish my vocabulary set is more formidable. When I was driving home (yes I think most of the time when I was driving) I was still pondering over words like "adjunct", thinking that one can only get to learn to use those words if he ever devour the dictionary as a whole - go through all the words in the dictionary and drilling them into the the brain for storage, to be pulled out when the need arise.

I recall my vocabulary set were first nurtured through all the list of words we were forced to study for spelling tests, got stretched a bit more during the Lit classes in secondary school, got nudged forward by GP..I thought my vocab will be enough for reading frivalous fictions, but eventually nothing would beat having to churn out 20 over pieces of job descriptions within 1 month for project at work. My vocabulary jumped leaps and bounds with words like "metamophosis", "convoluted", "exacerbated"...sometimes I wish I had learnt and spell all these words when I was younger.

Hmm..hey..that seemed to be what all the boohoos were about on MM's apology on Mandarin, on his policy of adopting a rote-learning process for 听写，默写. With the influx of writers to the forum, one cant help but think that Singaporean Chinese were an oppressed lots, forced to go through communist styled drill-schooling to learn the language they were imposed on just cos their forefathers came from China. Like a curse.

OK, I cannot comprehend what is so different was that from the spelling we had to do when were in primary school, and how come nobody complained about spelling test? I remember rote learning all the letters of the words in the spelling list, not knowing what the words mean sometimes -at least there is 造句in Chinese class then. And was English class interesting last time?? Dont think so. We were still required to read sentence by sentence in class, do comprehsion by picking out the line to copy from the paragraphs, and hand in handwork in compositions like it's another pain in the ass.

It could be easier for me cos I grew up with 联合早报. But having come from a Mandarin speaking family with non-too educated parents, English should have been a struggle for me, but it wasn't. Of course, I cant hold a proper conversation in English for nuts until I was in JC, though I did written English sufficiently well to make it all the way. Of course it became easier along the way cos English became the main medium for school work and projects, but still I would say that looking at my background, since I know zilt english before I started school, I would have find it so hard to learn in school where everthing is in English, I should have refused to study cos I dont understand anything and I should have dropped out of school by primary 1.

What if the subject, instead of Chinese, had been something like Maths? Some people simply cant understand the concepts, even though it's laid out in plain English, and struggle to keep up with the advancing curriculum. What to do? Remember all the workings by heart, even if you dont understand the rationale behind it . Trust me, it can be done. I have done that for at least the last 4 years of my institutional schooling, without understand how the hell is integration is ever going to useful in reality. My maths teachers weren't of much help, but writing formulas and workings on and on. I was probably scarred for life when I had to go to a teacher when one of my homework had a few wrong calculations (the rote learning didn't work, the formular was all screwed up). He went through once with me, and when I told him that I still didn;t understand, he went,"How come so easy you still don't understand?".

If I had a choice, I would have dropped Maths if I could. But of course I couldn't. In the end? I survived. If I dont remember wrongly, my AO Maths was a respectable B3. All rote-learning to make sure I can have a chance of that ticket to go to university.

Rote learning for Chinese seems to be the bane for Chinese class. I still remember the time when we had to memorise the paragraphs and then try to reporduce everything in 听写默写. No difference from spelling. But then Chinese is a language that is so endowed with pictorial meanings - 单手旁，船字旁，草字头etc..默写basically drills your mind in memorising the lines, getting used to the phrasing and structure in the process. Without these two, how long of creative learning of deciphering pop song lyrics, going through newspaper articles will it take for kids to be able to articulate his thoughts in proper structured Chinese in writing?

Anyhow, I just think it's not fair to only blame the way how Chinese was taught and that how the teacher made it boring that you are hampered and scarred for life. Accept the fact that you were simply not proficient to begin with, that the child you were then refused to learn and you blame the teacher for your inability to ever learn that subject.

Of course creative learning is still way more fun that rote-learning, But if the need calls for it, there still nothing wrong with 听写默写。

A tough balance

Friday night was good (other than the fact that I left office earlier then usual compared to other days of the week. The usual was 10pm btw). We had a one year anniversary gathering for our HTAC course (woohoo!~ gosh..it's one year already?) al fresco along the Singapore River. And it sorta marked 1 year from the point when I was planning to take a different route.

One year on, I was whining over some beer beside the River, about how last minute and fickle things were at work. Much later that evening, somehow someone somewhen dropped a one-liner - 忙好过“pah bang" (beat mosquitos)

Well..that kinda put stuff into perspective once again for me. 忙是好事，只要不是瞎忙。Don't tell me that I had become such a softie after the 2 years of lousy postings that I have practically stagnated in terms of career development (but I have to qualify, I met great colleauges who become friends during that 2 years. It's the work that sucked), that I start to break under pressure of tight deadline.

But then again, I can feel my work ethos taking on a different slant - 生命有了什么才充实？绝对不是工作。 Which explain probably why I resent it when my free time is burnt..especially when work to be delegated could have been structured better.

It's a tough balance. Whereas I could sacrifice sleep and play for work before, I am definitely less reluctant now. However so, the workaholic cow in my starsign refuse to be tagged to such shoddy behaviour of not being able to meet deadline.

So after squeezing my brain dry for a report, its time to put on a CD (the mood calls for some Joanna Wang), and go read some books involving a character call Peter and his friends (that I found in some picturesque Cotswold Village. My brain calls for something plain, simple and old school).

What occupied my thots as I was driving home from work at 1030pm

ineedagoodbook
ineedamassage
ineedtorun
ineedtogetsomesun
ineedanothergoodsong
ineedtogoshopping
ineedtogogetaway
ineedsomeinspiration
ineedanothergoodcd
ineedtowashmycar
ineedthingstostopshiftingsomuch
ineedabreak
ineedtostaypositive
ineedthatsomedivineintervention
ineedbothnumbskullstocomearound
ineedadrink
ineedsomedinner
ineedtovent
ineedtostopgoinghomesolate
ineedtosomebkktherapy
ineedtocatchthatshow
ineedalaptop
ineedanewphone
ineedsomeethinginteresting
ineedamiracle
.
.
.
.
NEED!!!!

Google opens new chapter as millions of books go into its online library - Times Online

Google opens new chapter as millions of books go into its online library - Times Online

My first thought was, "oh no..will I ever be able to bring a Kindle to the beach?"

To me, reading seems to be a whole experience - from the cover, the feel of the book in your hand, to the touch of flipping the pages.

Gone will be the days of browsing books by the look of how the spine of THE BOOK stands out amongst rows and shelves of them, all fighting for to catch your eye, to entice you to pick them up with the promise of an exciting adventure.

Of course, it'll then be books on demand (Woot!~). But I know I would surely miss having to hold a book physically in my hand should that day ever come.

When will I ever learn..

Blaze sparked to an inferno;
the ground cowers and shakes;
its sulphuric bowels,
spits out the devil and its kinds

Throwing smokes and fire,
working in concerto,
quickening the blood pulse,
blinding the mind.

Daggers and forked tongues,
slashing and cajoling.
Wielding their wiles,
the evils having a whale of a time.

But oh!
When the breath
dropped to an even pace,
I mourn the irrevisible of words;
the devil nowhere but in the depth of my own eyes.





My temper will be the death of me yet.

若你碰到他

I cant believe my luck. I finally lay my hands on 蔡建雅 [若你 碰到他] CD in a totally random event. And after cheapo me ripped the songs, I immediately regretted. Shucks.

I should have bought the CD. The whole album is better than I expcted.

But..I ripped the songs already, why would I need the CD for?

But..I really like the songs in CD!

So..??! You got the songs already mah.

Huh...but I really feel like buying the CD!

Totally irrational consumerism behaviour to satisfy the impulse of owning something. Must be submlimal influence from working next to a radio for 12 hours straight.




And yes, if I see this CD I will buy！

(gosh his looks were quite off during 星光大道. What's with the hair?? But I think his rendition of the song was actually quite good too during that PK segment. This will probably be the next hottest k song）

Oto-what?

The answer to my giddiness - loosened otolith in the saccule or utricle due to the too frequent repeated change in pressure.

Although if according to google, the affliction appear to point to this instead.

Sesame Street is 40!

Sesame Street had to be the coolest kid show around. I still remember every sat morning is reserved as sesame street day and I always run to the tv in time to catch the retro-looking-kids-with-a-super-big-dog running around NYC opening credit.

Over the radio today - once in the morning when Idrove to work, and again at night when I drove home, the DJs were receving smses over air from people out there on who is their favourite Sesame Street character.

(anyway side tracking a bit, I wonder what is the age group spectrum of the people who sms in to the radio station. Do kids nowadays watch Sesame Street? Would the term "sesame street kid" only stick for a certain strata of age group??)

And I wonder why so many people like Elmo?? OKok...maybe it cos Elmo didn't exist when I first started watching Sesame Street, but there's so many other one-of-a-kind muppets around! ?

Like the cant be bothered gruffy Oscar who lives in a wondeful trash can that can turn up a lot of cool stuff.

And his friend the Worm.




The Honkers!

(Dont bruff..I am sure you pretended you were a honker at least once when you were watching Sesame Street last time..)




"It's.............Guy Smiley!"

"Thank you! Thank you!"



I just had to google for "Super Grover".





Hapless Gonzo. I always wonder what kind of animal is he suposed to be.

I cant find the picture of him in his chair, the one with the lightning and thunder in the background.

Animal!

And of course, the famous (so gayish) couple - "Bernie".

(gosh...2 men staying together, playing with a rubber duckie..Check out that picture in the background)

Of course, there are the others like Big Bird, Snuffy, Kermit & Piggy ( I associate them more with Muppets than Sesame Street though..but of course they are the same thing.)

This was the cast that I grew up watching. I still remember there was this lady who hand-signs. See that big dog at the back? That's the dog I was talking about at the start. This pic sure is nostalgic.

Hmm..I wonder if anybody can remember Electric Company..

抛物线

Never really like Tanya Chua - I always have this impression that she is the bossy and 霸道type. But then her songs are just so melacholic that they feel like the balm for your soul when you are tired and weary. From 无底洞，双栖动物，到Hello and Goodbye 的达尔文．．．．

但此歌类不宜多听， 会越听越伤感。





I wonder when the 10 bucks China-parallel-import CD is coming..!!!

Oh! That pain in the head

I cant start describing this headache and dizziness spell that I have been having since Monday. Yeah. THAT LOUSY MONDAY.

The degree of ache is not to the extent decapacitating - I can still go about doing my normal stuff, even survived hockey training (though I thought I would more likely die from muscle pull than anything) and a 45 mins run today. But it hurts when I try to concentrate, like when driving, like when trying to 'guard' my down-kah during MJ, like when I try not to swoon (not from the sight of hunk. That leads to my next point.)

Of course, then it's the dizziness. I sometimes wonder if the dizziness is caused by the headache, or vice versa. It seemed that when the headache is getting worse, the degree of swooning also went up. And the same otherwise, depends on which one I noticed first.

I also realise that it's tiring trying to counter dizziness. Determined not to be put down by a neither here -nor-there ailment, I was at the beach today with mum, sister and dog. I can feel the dizziness here and there, and especially at that point in time when I missed one exit after another during the roundabout (shit, I used to have impeccable sense of direction). By the time I got home I was so tired that I just laid down in the living room and snoozed for half and hour.

What if they become a permanent fixture. That thought had been popping up..too often, especially after every time when I find myself dropping stuff, having that split second delay in reacting, or even like now, having that irritating pain in the head and wishing that my head will stop swirling.

That's the reason why I went for hockey training, went running, went to the beach..Sometimes you take the simplest things for granted, until they are not there anymore.

Like another day of no headache.

Lousy Wednesday

I hate it when I don't voice out all my thoughts, further hampered by a semi-imparing dizziness, and find myself backing into a corner. And I find that I end up saying or doing things that I was unwilling to in the first place, I get really upset why I didn't say how I really feel in the first instance.

I hate it when I have to critic myself. I mean I do, and even doing it every now and then these few days (should I have done this? could I have avoided this?). But when it had felt like writing my own after action report, I realised then why we always have a 3rd party to come in as recorder to write all those reports - only then can the 3rd party be truly devoid of subjectivity, without any emotional attachments.

I hate it when I have to pass judgement, when I am still so emotionally charged. It tends to drive me off the edge and I usually retort back in the worst possible manner, which I always regret once the words leave my mouth.

Most of all, I hate it when I feel that I have to accountable, but I can't account for anything. That is the worst feeling that one can ever get.

I know I will see all these objectively one day. But sorry, not now. This may just be the lowest point for me yet.

Lousy Monday

I took Monday off, thinking that I'll get plenty of time to do my dive map, clean up my room, bring the dog out, go for a jog..

Instead I was in a miserable chamber. And 1K poorer. And didn't get to do any of the above. And still doesn't solve my dizzines.

Dammit.

Do you have special friends to play with?

ROFL!

When life throws you lemons..make lemonade.

So how when life throws you disgusting shit....make cesspool??

(You sure you want me to google for a image to put here?)

500 days of Summer.

I finally had the chance to catch this movie. Yes, the disclaimer that appeared at the beginning of the show should be there - it wasn't supposed to be a love story. Rightly so.

I cant believe that a love story can be so sad but yet not the tear inducing kind. I can hear the hearts breaking in the movie theatre (or maybe it was only my own. I literally gasped.) when Thomas saw the proposal ring on Summer. Thank god for the light hearted treatment of the whole show. If not I would have to invent some phantom super-bug-50-days-old-cold or something.

But then again, all's fair in love. Or whatever that L-letter thing is (I think I am forgetting how it's like anymore). No any more pushing or imagining will make it materialise. And...I wouldn't want to be like Summer in the show! "Just try" will never happen again. Will accumulate too many bad karma.

Oh crap. No wonder I'm still single....

阿密特：女人最大的悲伤...

...就是只剩下追求躯体上的慰籍。然后， 当对方的体温在枕边消失，又得再重新面对心里更巨大的黑洞与寂寞。 这是世界动物的本能， 但是这种感受， 却是人类专属的。

玩世不恭

妈的。为什么最近尽招惹一票玩世不恭的人。

我的样子有那么轻浮吗？！

无聊。

离我远一点。

Super Junior - Sorry Sorry

During the latest K-song session, some decided to slot in the "Nobody" song by Wondergirls ("Nobody. Nobody but Choo.." Oh..did you just managed to get the song out of your head after so long, and I had to remind you of it again?)

We had good time singing and clapping to that song :D.

And after that for no reason why, this other song below (which has no relevance whatsoever other than it's also a k-pop) had been playing in my head since then.




Anyway, I might just as well put this in :)



haha~ dont blame me if the song get stuck in your head-Nobody nobody but choo *clapclap* (just try to keep down the urge to kick up that leg :D)

I'm good!

After one good massage, my evil aura took a turn for the better. If you have those gimicky gadgety stuff that tells the colour of the aura, I probably had turned a fiery red to a more soothing blue or something.

What's more, just as I was turning out of the carpark after the session, I got a call from my ex-boss Rebecca from CCG days (I wasn't always in the uniform service you know, I had a great one year living the high energy life at this outfit right after I graduated. A unique one at that.). I was supposed to meet her to catch up after I last saw her almost 2 years ago, but the meetup had to be cancelled when Suntec area was hit by that tremor from the recent earthquake. But at 10pm?? That's kinda weird. Oh well.."Hello Bec!"

"Oi! Look in front! Do you see me?" One fella was standing at the front of the eat out place next to the shop I was at just now, one hand on the handphone and the other arm flinging from side to side.

I can't believe it. While I was at the massage, she and a few others from CCG were drinking and eating at the place next door. And she saw me walking out (must be the good aura), took a while to be confused (if she saw the right person. It's so her), and decided to call me before I drove off for good.

What serendipity.

So I had another great hour with half a mooncake (don't ask) and a bottle of beer, catching up.

:)

差。碴。叉。我叉！！

Taurus Overview 13 Oct 2009:

It may be too hard to resist the impulse to tell others off today -- though they aren't hearing you! At least you don't have to stew in your rage when you can release it for all the world to see.

无奈。

-----------------------

当你走进一个人的近范围内，那个人，削掉他耀眼，让人迷惑的光芒后，竟然是懵懂懂，不知所措，不负责任， 一个毫不起眼的伪君子。呸！

厌恶。

-----------------------

使骥不得伯乐，安得千里之足。可遇不可求。

漫然。

----------------------

在玩家家酒啊？！ 一下要冲向东， 一下要驶向西。你们不累，我可累了！

无聊。

----------------------

答应过的，为什么可以这么容易推掉？就算是不起眼的小事，出尔反尔， 诚心在那里？

失望。

---------------------

Hat Trick!

3 weekends of diving in a roll! And all 3 different spots of the West Malaysia dive sites: Aur-Tioman-Dayang. Until my body clock adjust itself to wake up just as we reach Mersing :/ It feels like I have completed a circuit of some sort.

Its amazing how you meet different people for vastly different background on ocassions like this.

This latest trip saw me leading a leisure diver, all the way from UK, who squeezed in a few days dive post business trip and celebrated his 100th dive on the very last dive of the trip.

On Friday just as I rushed into the shop from work to RV for the trip, I met these couple who I had met during the confined pool session. Ok, I am bad with names after a few days, but I remember that the girl is a teacher in training and the guy is in NTU. And we were talking like nothing has passed since the 5 (or was it 6?) weeks that we met.

Weekends spent on the sea with nice weather, blue waters, and fishes (and of course the people too) are good.

---------------

So looking forward to the goodies this week - pork knuckles on Tuesday (Guys, dont change the date anymore!), massage on Wed (I had the appointent pinned to my cube wall since one month back. I NEED THE MASSAGE!)

Just hope that the foot heals in time for the next dive. And oh yeah..clock more sleep!

Fancy a dance on the overhead bridge?

My friend sent me this link to youtube thru MSN after I logged off to crash. Other than the fact that I am starting to question his musical taste, I never knew that Singapore overhead bridges were ever good for filiming an MV?? LOL!



p/s : I am so sleep deprived...

Don't try to mother me

Sometimes someone would just say something that will draw out the rebel in me.

I hate being mothered, what's more if the intention sounds warped. Blame the free-spiritedness in the Horse zodia ccoupled with the stubborness of a Taurean.

How can a diving trip be so different from a shopping trip, that I must inform bosses whenever I go diving?? What dangerous?! A bus trip up Genting may prob be just as probable to meet with an accident. I feel as if I am reporting to my mother. I'm not a freaking 15 year old! Argh...

I just hope that that my face hasn't turned shades of black too soon before I tried to turn on some self control. It would have been awkward if I had replied that even my mother let me have some freedom thank you very much. I almost couldn't help it but it would have been the ultimate CSM (career suicidal move) wouldn't it..but I sensed that some animosity vibe must have crept to that person, cos he then quickly made his exit move after mumbling something.

I so hate being mothered....

Of Yellow and PEACOCK Blue

Met up with a JC mate last week, and sometime during the dinner, he said, "You know what, after so many years of boys' school (9 that I knew of - 4 years of studying in one, and 5 years of teaching in another), I am going to the other side."

"What?" I replied in between mouthful of pizza and beer (I is super hungry then..gosh so unglam) "Make sure you dont end up getting caned at the end of the day!"

"Choy..I'm not that stupid!" he quipped. "Guess where I am going?"

I looked at him looking expectantly at me..."You are going to Crescent??" He smiled gleefully "Yup. The school with the yellow shirt and blue skirt!"And just then, he pointed to someone walking past where we were sitting, strolling down Lorong Mambong, obviously way past the time she was let off from school, "That's from Crescent right?" I turned, looked, laughed and said, "It's not blue! It's PEACOCK blue! And that kid is not from Crescent - she's from Fairfield Methodist la.."

And it's confirmed by wiki. No matter that the school song says that school colour is blue..cos I am sure that's just cos the composer can't fit the whole phrase "peacock blue" for aesthetical reasons. That's what sets us apart from other yellow and blues such as Fairfield (think it's only between Crescent and Fairfield?).

And that was last week. Today, out of the blue I was trying to recall how my school song went...I thought I lost it until I heard the first line of the "Oh let us join our school to praise.." and the rest just came flowing. 4 years of weekly singing during school assembly had some how ingrained the tune and words into obscure corners of the brain, but you never lose them totally :)

Oh...and so many other memories! As a Crescentian, I existed during the time of the 武则天 Mrs Ng Gek Tiang, whom left me the everlasting impression that education is a number game, and Mr Samat - the small Malay man whose son went to Taonan Primary and my first ever hockey coach. Mrs Wong the ever so nice Arts teacher, Mrs Loo the feasome discipline mistress (and I suffered once when I fell asleep in her history class..), Mr and Mrs Kit the married teacher-couple. Our temporary school site along Queensway, where I spent 3 out of 4 years, our small hockey room at the back of the canteen and subsequently near the bamboo grove (with many incidents of snakes..), our CLDS sessions on Saturday mornings (the most memorable year was the one when I had to devour the whole book on 杨贵妃 to come up with a script in 快板 for a drama depicting her life story. Shit I should have kept that script. It's amazing how I managed to do it). The irritating rotunda at the new site (where the school stands now) that led to our "exclusive" classrooms for the graduating classes at the highest floor. And our infamous cheer on the hockey pitch, which was so distinctive that I ever had a ACS boy my age repeating that to me once like just 2 months ago ("Oh you played hockey in Crescent? C-R-E-S-C-E-N-T Crescent! Can never forget that". I was seriously stumped and lost for words at that instance :/)

What I always remember is what Mrs Ng Gek Tiang said once. Though the 武则天's take on education was purely how the school stood in ranking, she said this, "You would never forget the school that you graduated from, no matter how long you have left the school for". (Ok, and she continued by saying "So you all better perform well so that next time after you graduate you wont feel shameful that you graduated from a bad school" Yes. She really said that.)

"The day when we must part,
May Crescent remain in our hearts"

Oh well, it's true that a bit of that yellow and peacock blue will always be there.

C-R-E-S-C-E-N-T CRESCENT!

Recovery Monday

After a weekend of bumpy boat rides, scrapped fingers/foot/knee ..the luxury of sleeping in on a Monday morning after a hectic week :) Too bad this luxury won't be too oft, don't think boss will be too pleased if I take Mondays off too frequent. Oh well...company was good and the experience brought a wider perspective for me after the first DMT trip.

The only thing is..I wonder where all the training from the uniform had gone to..did staff work for too long?

Laptop up!

yay! brother helped me changed the keyboard (the old one was probably way clogged with the dust, bits of chips, cottonwool, coagulated nail polish.....)and my laptop is up and running again! No more irritating "r"s!

The last 2 nights sans laptop were well spent nonetheless - 1st night I caught up on reading, last night I decided to do some introspective soul searching (not referring to sleep! though I must say the lack of distraction from the ingterneck kinda prompted early sleepy..vs now =.=").

Anyways..I wanna watch this!

Laptop down..

My laptop went crazy. The letter "r" is jammed and that irritating letter multiplies itself whenever it has a chance too.

Tried calling Dell service center, and realised that unless you have a valid warranty, the autobot manning your call dont care a hoot even if you are the Sultan of Brunei. For a 4 year old laptop, I wonder if there's any value in getting a new warranty.. guess obviously not.

Argh.. get a new laptop? seems like a bit overdoing it since it's only the keyboard. But then it's tempting since the laptop is like quite old already, and there are so many sweet-young..er.. new gizmo out there. But I am still sentimentally attached to this old fogey..well ok..more like the reluctance to re-learn getting used to a new laptop.

And why did it have to happen when COMEX just ended??

First thing first, got to backup all my previous MP3 and pics..and twiddle my thumb until my impulse draws me in the right direction - buy or repair?

BOOMZ!

When I first read about Ris Low in Sunday Times, I thought, what's the big deal...we are never gonna win any international beauty pageant anyway. Then someone in the office today was making jokes about "preen"-ing documents. So curiosity piqued, I went to check out Razor TV.

And I went..OMG..has the judges' tastes gone to the gutters?? Photoshop and makeup aside (which hadn't helped her during this interview clip at all)(and cant the makeup artiste find a pair of more natural falsies?), she could have won if she had been eloquent, smarty, charismatic...whatever. But when she start to speak, I realise why had there been such a big hooha. By 1.30mins (after the "read bi-gi-ni", "boomz", "about ME!"..I dont think she can pronounce "fashionista" too), I was squirming inside hoping that the presenter would stop asking her questions already. And then that's when the "leopard preens" came out.=.="

Well Ris Low could have been a really nice person for all that I know; I feel kinda sad for her that she has to put up with so much public scrutiny and lambaste. And that she is going to rep Singapore! I just hope that South Africans don't think she is the typical Singaporean gal, and that she loves the safari as much as she loves wearing"read bi-gi-ni".

剪掉

The hair was getting heavy, and somewhat irritating the hell out of me (one good thing that came out of it was that it kept my hands warm - I tuck them into my hair when the office gets too cold :p). So when the half day course ended early, I popped over to my usual place for a quick trim.

However, 5 mins out of the place, I immediately regretted it.. suddenly I had the urge to chop off my locks, get a bob or something. Darn..why didn't the urge come earlier?! I could have saved one trip and the $$ for one hair cut.

剪掉...

Anyway this was a site that I have visiting and fantasizing about the different hairstyles I can do - girly, punkish, chic, sassy...blahblahblah..Whereas I used to guess what some of the words ared trying to say, thank god for google translate now!

Case of missing phone numbers

There was this time when I tried to sync my handphone. "Tried" - cos everytime when I tried to sync my phone, I always get error messages that either some records cannot be found or some other systemactic problems that the workings behind the cosmic nature of computer and handphone technology, which are just beyond me.

So anyway, I tried to sync my handphone. And true to be, some error message popped up about some handphone records couldn't be sync or something. There was no other option other than to click the "OK" button. SO I did. And held my breath for 2 second. Phone didn't crash. Good! And so life went on...

Until a few days later, I tried to look for a colleague's number, and realised that I couldn't find it, which was damn weird cos I definitely sms-ed her a few days earlier during lunch time. And progressively I realised that I lost more than a few - when I saw smses from unknown contacts, calls from people. It's damn difficult to figure out what numbers I lost, since some are people from long ago, and whom I only contact sparodically, while some I may not even need to contact anymore. But it was just darn too inconvenient. Whenever I get an sms from a number I dont have in my phone book, and I had to ask the person to identify himself/herself.

And there were numbers from people, like whom you know you haven't kept in touch for so long, but you know that if the chance comes, you would definitely want to touch base again. Like how I was supposed to contact my ex-boss from my first job for a meetup after we were talking about it one of the rare times she was online on MSN, but after that I realised that I lost her number during "that" sync. She probably think that I didn't take that promise seriously. Sigh..

Argh...never going to buy HTC ever again!

Be Be Your Love

Suddenly thought of this song and dug through many CDs. Darn, I still havent gotten down to grabbing her latest CD.

And Youtube sucks. It damn difficult to get onto the site nowadays. Bleh.

If I could take you away
Pretend I was queen
What would you say
Would you think I'm unreal
'Cause everybody's got their way I should feel

Everybody's talking how I, can't, can't be your love
But I want, want, want to be your love
Want to be your love, for real
Everybody's talking how I, can't, can't be your love
But I want, want, want to be your love
Want to be your love for real
Want to be your everything

Everything...

Be Be Your Love - Rachael Yamagata

The Cove

Do we really need to dolphins in captive? Just so that we can go "Awww..." whenever the dolphin do a backflip, keeping us entertained for the 30mins we paid for? The easiest retort may be that "It's easier to educate the public". The public should be taught the dolphins ought to remain where they should be - in the wild.

In the show, many Japaneses are unaware that their fellow countrymen are killing dolphins. These people are unaware that as consumers, they are perpectuating the massacre of one of the mascot they are promoting in the tourist town of Taiji. It's an irony that the little girl was patting the dolphin softie in the souvenir shop, when at the dolphin site, hundred of dolphines are murdered with multiple stabs, dying slow deaths. Are our lives so compartmentalised..that we may be unaware that we are actually part of an ugly chain of events? Sea Worlds and marine parks as fronts for an ugly dolphin trade, rapid deforestation to support commercial demand for wood, over-fishing to provide that fresh salmon or tuna on a dining table half a globe away, global warming due to our massive use of fossil fuels..what other deeds are we doing, that in our frenzy of consumer buzz, we forget that whatever we are taking in, are depleting our natural resources?


Sometimes I think it's really the time to look at how man should live with nature..instead of trying to lord over it. It is definitely not right that dolphins, and other animals as well, should be slaughtered just for our unjustified incessant and excessive needs. Like, do we really need to eat sharksfins? Or was that just a extravagant way of showing off our affluence? If this goes on, will there be a point, beyond which the planet we live in loses the ability to regenerate itself any more?

I remember that someone told me, that people who chose to watch a certain documentary they are already choosing to believe what is the being said. I say that it's a reminder, to see what we fail to see or choose not to see.

(p.s. - this reminds me of another show..Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, from my favourite Gibli Studio; showing how the Earth struggle to regenerate itself. I cant believe that Google Video has the whole clip! But voiced over in English. The original one in Jap is a must watch)

While on MC at home...

You know things are bad when someone younger than you is telling you on MSN....

(cy2) says:
seng yut yiu yim hei yun
gum yeung dim duc ah
(cy2) says:
yiu kao kei d!

(in Cantonese please...)

Ok, CY, like what I say, I will turn on my engine and switch on my charm to the max k? (minus the stand by road side and hilt skirt higher. hahah~)

Gosh..it's good to be on MC when it's raining so heavily...at least I'm spared from the blasting aircon in the office..KO on med and maybe some DVD therapy..

无聊的发烧

这几天一直发无聊的烧。

拜五就开始发一个莫名的小烧。到了拜六我开始担心还能不能去演唱会 。一月就买了票，等了七个月的唉！ 硬着头皮到了室内体育场， 烧开始不知不觉地退了。演唱会站了全场，喊破了喉咙，挥手臂到不行， 回到家呼呼的倒在床上。隔天演唱会的后遗症，要去实习却睡过头，不像平常早上包青天脸，心情还特别好，五月天的歌一直在Ipod 没停过， 就算实习时淋了一整天的雨，在池里冻得半死， 也觉得ok 。

哪知道，星期一， 这莫名的小烧又回来了。 折腾了我一整天， 魂不守舍，没精打采。

看来，我是对工作敏感，而五月天的歌是解药。 为了治好我的敏感症，我要罢工， 整天躺在床上听五月天的歌！

(其实“发烧”是个动词，还是一个名词？我在“发烧” / 我在发一个“烧”？？呸。不管了.....）

五月天 DNA 创造 演唱会

hmm..how should I say..

I stood for 3hrs 45 mins through the concert (effectively rendering the money for the seat to basically paying for that spot to stand), sang along with the mass of people in the Indoor Stadium, and waved my light stick till both my arms ache (of course, if one arm is tired you wave with the other arm mah..)
(all that would explain my poor timing for my last stamina test at the pool today =.=").

But then I felt a bit letdown by the end of the concert..

Anyway it was worthed it cos the concert was good!:-
- it was a full solid 3hr and 45mins of Mayday songs, with a lot of good songs from their older albums, and a good mix with their latest.
- as usual, they had brought the concert to a high towards the end
- they sang 出头天!
- they sang 如烟！
- they sang 雌雄同体！and 一颗苹果！ and 人生海海！and 温柔！ :D

But then I was disappointed cos:-
- the second day concert just isnt the same as if it had been the first or only day concert. The band members seemed to be going through the motion....sigh..feels conned for buying the pre-sale voucher.
- there were too much stage effects - pyro, confetti, streamers, pyro, confetti.. like huh?Erm..I'm here to watch the band sing, not see some D&D show.
- the story-video is so gimmicky..I mean..OMG..I'm sure that the band doesn't have to resort to that? Ok, maybe even if the production company wants to make the concert a bit more interesting, maybe only the opening video is enough, or a short video interlude.
- Erm..the LOVE game was used last year, as well as the 新歌飚唱会this year liao...I love you all but you all have to try something next time...

But the main thing is..........................为什么我没拿到那张信封去后台和五月天拍照???!!!

可是我还是爱你们的啦！ :D

(no..no photos cos I thought my cam batt has enough battery when I checked in the afternoon - 2 bars. But then the 2 bar died on me before the concert starts. argh...)

My next tattoo..

may just be this.

Hope / Faith Ambigram Tattoo Design at WowTattoos.com

生命有一种绝对

如果我不曾走过这一遍
生命中还有多少苦和甜美
那风中的歌声孤单哽咽的声音是谁
回忆中那个少年为何依然不停的追

想要征服的世界始终都没有改变
那地上无声蒸发我的泪
黑暗中期待光线生命有一种绝对
等待我请等待我
直到约定融化成笑颜*

那生命灿烂烟火般上演
你和我最后都要回归地平线
那留下的足迹浪花冲走回忆海岸线
靠近我再拥抱我
请不要让我的心冷却

想要征服的世界始终都没有改变
那地上无声蒸发我的泪
黑暗中期待光线生命有一种绝对
等待我请等待我
靠近我再拥抱我
不要走请不要走
直到约定融化成笑颜

直到我看见生命的绝对

Disquiet

There is this sense of disquiet today..I have been playing the Lisa Ekdhal CD that I finally hunted down, over and over again. Even though I am tired physically..I can feel the restlessness and agitation coursing through me, like atoms colliding against one another.

Was what happened a sign? To tell me that its about time to change how I view my life, what I should do moving on?

I know it probably should, but somehow I still get can't my mind around to it. It's funny how the mind works - sometimes the rational and emotional part just cannot come to the same meeting point.

Probably this sense of disquiet comes from the din of this internal battle.

Life in Mono

They both looked stonily straight ahead from their car seats. The morning traffic caterpillared forward, everybody trying to gain that extra distance to get to their destination, to fulfill their livelihood obligation for the day, and they were waiting for their turn to move ahead.

She took in air, before breathing out again silently. Their lives had been like this for the past few years. He would drop her at work, before he headed to his office. Both of them would go through the rigours of office politics and other corporate what-nots, and he would pick her up after work; they then head to either in-laws place for dinner. Their topics of conversation has never strayed far from their schedules, their obligations to their own parents, the daily mundane things of life. So routine that she felt the crushing weight of the unspoken desires, dreams and thoughts.

She could feel that his mind was faraway. Somewhere where she couldn't reach out to, or understand. It had been a while..that they talked about what they wanted to do, their aspiration, and their plans for the future. Had reality finally set in? They were now more concerned talking about their bonuses, and the tax reliefs which they could claim come every April. There were still a few romantic moments now and then, which had often happened enough to keep their sex life reasonably satisfied, but she missed the kind of connection..when they just talked. About anything.

She took in another breathe, about to blurt out something that would break the silent monotony of this routine morning drive. But just as the words were on the tip of her tongue, she caught herself. It seemed pointless - things were ok now, why rock the boat and create unnecessary trouble. So the words wisped into thin air, and blown away with her exhaled breath.

She continued staring at the traffic ahead, waiting for the traffic light to change its the colour, and blend into the anonymous mass of morning traffic.


(Inspired by this couple I saw from the rear view mirror during my drive to work this morning. What was that phrase about the characters being fictional, and any coincidence to any real persons are..concidence? Oh well..you know that)

(Anyway I still cant get the mental image out of my mind, seemed like there was still a little something..so here's my final take)

He stared stonily ahead...he had to reach her office soon, if not he would be late for the 9am meeting. And only one thing ran through his mind relentlessly..


Why didn't his EPL team score that goal last night??

(Mars vs Venus..the world will never be equal)

两个星期！

真不敢相信。我在看MV的时候， 933 尽然一起播出这首歌。



倒数两个星期！woohoo~!

Burnt!

My face never felt so burnt before. Usually I would definitely have a cap on if I need to be under the sun, a habit from undergoing morning trainings since the days of centralised training camps prior to tournaments. I hated it when the sun was in the eye, adding to the headache from the glare off the pitch and the heat overhead. The habit carried on - I never was without a cap at the beach, any outdoor games that i need to be under the sun for any extended period of time. So any major peeling would be any other parts of the body like the shoulder or back, rather than the face. Of course, I learnt later that direct sunlight is always the predecessor for early onset of wrinkles, so thank god for the early initiative arising from necessity.

But I forgot that 7 hours of the sun in the pool, though mostly overcast and not that sunny, can cause the sun-burn!

I think my face hasn't gone through such an ordeal since I was maybe in....JC? Uni?? Even when we were playing Wooden Shoe or the National sixes in the open fields, the team would also try to find shade whenever we could in between the games. So I really couldn't think of another time when I was so burnt.

Sometimes I wonder why so many people like to sun tan under direct sun exposure. Especially the ang mohs who seriously looked 100% COOKED and yet they looked super happy having just grilled (and destroyed) their epidermis. It's so bad for the skin! Just enjoy the sea breeze and the warmth of the sun under the nice coconut tree shade. It's definitely more skin friendly! And sun block! SPF 50 and above! (Sheesh..I sound so auntie...)

Now my nose bridge is seriously painful to touch. I just hope that it doesn't develop to fever..

Saturday Brunch

F is back in Sg. What was supposed to be a short stop over for her before returning to London became a one week ordeal of getting documentations done when her serviced apartment in Jkt (Marriot) was burglared in the most absurb manner that I wouldn't have thought would happen in such a reputable hotel.


Anyway we decided to grab brunch yesterday (though I was most reluctant to get up early..yeah! i know i know..bad friend! boo!) since most of last week was quite tied up for me; so I called along C and we decided to hit PS cafe at Palais Renaissance since it was the most convenient for both of them.

But in the end, I was the one who was early :/

It being quite overcast instead of being too sunny, I decided to sit in the open area, overlooking the Thai Embassy. Being early is good as well, since there weren't much people around and it felt really serene and laid back. Brunch is supposed to feel this way :)





I would like to come here one day with a book..





































While waiting for the rest to come.

































I lurve places with high ceilings. It just give that sense of airyness.


































I wouldn't say that the service was good.. In fact, I was quite put off by the fact that the server forgot our water, menu, and my hand was in the air like for a full minute before someone saw us. Yes, the place was busy but busy shou;dn't be an excuse for bad service.

Anyway the place aside, we sat and talked for 3 hours..F is seeing someone now and I'm actually quite glad for her. Hope that things will work out fine this time round, despite the age difference, its not easy to stay alone so far away.

Sometimes fate works in mysterious ways..like how we three were the most unlikely friends, sometimes I wonder what had kept us together after all these years - C being the chi chi branded stuff lover, F the totally girl-iness personified, me being always the athletic one.

Oh well, hope F's plan to be married by 2012 comes true :))

Love of Siam

I blogged about the song almost 2 years ago, and its still one of the songs that frequently get played on my Ipod. And on Wednesday I finally caught the show!! :D

I was surfing the GV website looking at something else, when I suddenly saw something familiar somewhere at the bottom of the listing....what?! Since when has the show been showing in the theatre? (like since 16 Jul..already 3 weeks!) And then it was a flurry of smses to Jun zi who was the one who gave me the MP3 (but she had to cover a soccer match..) and then to a few colleagues who might have been interested. My email to them went something like - It was a hit in Bkk in 2007. It is a show about 2 gay boys. The song is very nice!

And in the end 3 dear colleagues decided to join me for the 3 hour show starting from 9.15pm, without even knowing what the movie title was, cos I forgot to give that info in the hurry that I was sending out the email. Haha!

There are some universal themes, and love will always be one that revolves around anybody's life. The story centers around the 2 boys, Tong and Mew, but the theme manifest itself throughout the film. Love for someone - your family, your loved ones, your friends, and the other emotions that run with it - hope when you just secretly watches someone, pain when you know that the loved one will never return, guilt when you wish you can turn back time and undo the wrongs, sadness when unrequited.

It's painful to watch the ending, when both apparently love each other , for one of them to tell the other, that they can't be together, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't love him. Sigh..

Anyway, the show was beautifully shot. Though the movie was a bit slow, but the plot develop at its own pace for its own reasons and there was never a dull moment or bland screen shot. And with the scores that tug at the heart strings, it's really an enjoyable movie. Of course it helped that the two main characters are cute. ha!~ But my favourite scene is still the one when Mew's grandmother sat with him at the piano, telling him that every song played tells the listerner something. She then played the song that Mew's grandfather used to play to her, and asked Mew to listen for the message in the song. Mew listened, and said quietly, "Grandfather is saying that he misses you".

It's good that we finally caught the show on Wed, cos from then onwards, the show is going to be screened only in the afternoon at about 1pm. Good thing was, the 3 colleauges liked the show, so that kinda relieved my guilt of having to leave the theatre only at 12 midnight. :))

I want the soundtrack!

(The only thing that marred the show was..the people in the theatre grovelling and snickering when the 2 boys kissed during one shot. I mean, come on! You know what the show is about, and with all the ratings and advisories, you would have known what is likely to come up during the movie. If you are not prepared for it, then don't watch! Inconsiderate idiots..)