Freida Amundson - Closer

Newton Faulkner - Teardrop

Love, love is a verb 

Love is a doing word

Fearless on my breath

Gentle impulsion

Shakes me, makes me lighter

Fearless on my breath

Teardrops on the fire
Fearless on my breath

xxxxxxx

Sometimes, some people may just make some random comment, and thereafter forget that they have ever said those words at all. 

Yet, the message get stuck on the recipient. And gets played over and over again. 

Like how somebody just told me that no matter how one can worry or stress, the thing will come and pass, just like that. Not like any amount of worry or stress will make it go away. 

 And this little nugget kept tossing around my mind since then; still waiting for it to take root thought. 

Talk about being mindfucked. But in a good way I guess. 

幽兰

前几天，为一群友人在家里搞了个聚会，聊的天南地北，说到我水盆是我人缘桃花的风水位，风水师叮咛得摆几盆花来增进增进点。

没想到，两天后，其中一位逛Ikea时，就顺便买了一盆兰花送我。

之前，都没真的养过任何花草的。兰花，印象中好想没那么容易照料，万一死掉了，还在风水位，不是赔了夫人又折兵？没法，上网略查了一下，其实即容易，但也满讲究。

容易 － 不用每天浇水，每个月施肥一次。

讲究 － 要注意沥水（最好是用雨水浇水），以防根部浸烂。不能暴晒，但也要阳光足够。看到一篇网页还讲到，如果能效仿兰花在热带雨林凉风习习，有风中摇奕的感觉最好。

心想，不简单的一株兰花，怎么和我一样龟毛 － 总体来讲还满随便，但其中还满挑剔和计较。

又游览了一会，读到孔子特喜爱兰花，为了兰花所代表的特质。所谓 “芝兰生于深谷，不以无人而不芳；君子修道立德，不为困穷而改节”。

那时，自己感慨的说道：飘逸兰花， 没赏识者，兰花依旧清贵优雅。严蓄寒冬，只为蕴含它再度绽放的魅力。

可能友人真的买对了。

The Road Not Taken
- Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And look down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two road diverged in a wood and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Still meandering along.

Jack Johnson Banana Pancakes

My Apple TV is up (finally!) and I now have 

MUSIC

*manic laughter* 

playing from my iTunes library 

on something better than then built in speakers. 

Life takes on a different quality now.

Oh, and the couch. 

And the remote. 

Just lacking now.. that banana pancake. 

At the end of the day, 

when there could be no other reason to be had, 

it may just 

amount to knowing

that 

I can.

Be With Me (2)

Was thinking through some of the more memorable shows that I have been seen so far ( don't know why, but Se7en always comes up - I think it was still considered an indie film then, but check out the cast!) 

Then I remembered this.

I know I blogged about this before (OMG did I really run 7km straight after a hiatus? How did I manage it?! I hate my own 2007-irritating-self already).  But I think what I was thinking then and what I reminiscing now would probably be quite different.

I am still thinking about the solitude of the characters, belying the yearning underneath. But I am reminiscing the different takes of this phrase for each of the character - "Be with me, my beloved"

The old man yearning for his recently gone life partner, still going through his routine of caring for her, preparing her meals, as if she had never gone away.

The girl yearning for her lost forbidden love, looking at all the places where they had been together

The young man yearning for the love who is beyond his reach, and imagining the happy times they could have together.

And Theresa Chan, offering solace with so much love to spare, despite being cut off in all senses except for her sense of touch.

If a good show is one that leaves you going over the various parts and scenes, over and over again, extracting different sense and views each time, then I say Be With Me is really one of the best films I had ever seen so far.

Would love to watch the show again.

点

沉稳一点

宽心一点

利落一点

且慢一点

沉淀一点

心静一点

一点...


快到尽头了...

再加

一点...

The One Eye

In the multitude of blinking Blinds,
(brings to mind a certain idiom)
the One-eyed says
"Come, all subjects  in my kingdom!

Join me, join me
in this campaign,
for our greater good, and
will never be in vain.

Offer all your harvest
in return for the Gods' blessings,
for they would be pleased
to see the plentitude of our sacrificing."

As the king saunters off the dais,
one Blind whispered
through his gritted teeth
"What is left to eat on the morrow's eve?"

"Ah..what is a little starving
when you gets all the blessings!"
the next Blind replied
"But blessings are but wind, and n'er quite filling!"

The second Blind, outraged at the audacity
box the first across the mouth,
"He is king! He sees !
And you are just a blinking unseeing louse!"

And so balance is restored once again
without another whine
nor whimper of any type
In the land of the multitude Blinds.


Yes, I think i pushed it a little with the "louse". But oh well...anyway this was just something that pop into my mind while driving. Nothing to do with any living person/circumstances, whatsoever. 

Sherlock

This combines two of my favourites - sleuth work and the crisp british accent.

But why only 3 episodes per season??

oh great..

At this moment, I am sitting glassy eyed, half-dazed, on the floor (cos the couch didn't get delivered in time for me to dash out of the door for that particular work site meeting) (btw boconcept you suck) and resisting the urge to slide and splay onto the floor.

A person's life shouldn't be squandered on work that doesn't matter more than what it accounts for than the year-end work review.

And yet, the words that lingered and linchpin the whole situation:-

responsibility

doing a good job


Just make the best out of it I guess.

魏如萱 Downtown Cafe

I love LUSH 99.5.

曲婉婷 我的歌声里

能在iTunes下载整张专辑现在是那么的轻而易举，又买了一张。

第一次听到曲婉婷是 “Life is Like a Song", 之后看春娇与志明时，听到 "Drenched"。感性的声音，好听！

This aside...

以前想要买一张专辑，要get my lazy ass 到唱片行 （懒惰有时也真能省钱），到了唱片行还会想大半个小时 （“真的要买吗？买了不听会不会又堆积在墙角？”），兜了那间点两三圈，才舍得拿一张CD去付钱 。

现在不费吹灰之力，懒洋洋的赖在家里，不用顾虑CD占位子，也让我“一鼓作气”，乘我还兴致勃勃时，弹指间，十二块就没了。

吓。真为月底的信用卡帐单，和我的荷包担心。

Ingrid Michaelson Concert!

So glad that I eventually managed to catch Ingrid Michaelson live.

Although one thing that I didn't expect was the average age of audience in the seat category I was in - Since both me and the friend that I managed to grab the concert with were kinda keen but not that familiar with Ingrid Michaelson, we decided to go for the cheapest category seats.

And found ourselves amidst like super indie juveniles (who, as my friend commented, would deck out in red stockings) who flash out their smart phone at every juncture to take pics/videos. Gosh, I whispered to my friend, and here we were, 2 working adults who had hammed and hewed before forking out that 100 bucks each. And how did Ingrid Michaelson end up being appealing to kiddos?

That aside, Ingrid Michaelson was every bit the kooky artiste that she is. Full of personality and anecdotal sharings of songs that she wrote.  And her voice, clear and soaring, was really a balm to sooth a weary Monday.

Too bad that the event had to start only at 9pm, and ended at 11pm. The two working adults had to go home to sleep in order to be able to survive the next working day in the dreary world again. Not like the kids who probably managed to catch Ingrid Michaelson for autographs. But I didn't know that they were selling her album at the concert! If I had known I would have definitely squashed in with the kids and grab a copy of the CD.

Now I will just have to contend with downloading from iTunes (and my first ever purchase and download from iTunes stores at that!)

Two songs I liked from the concert: The Chain and The Light in Me. Can't find nice vid for the Chain, so here's the other one.

Do and do not

Do,

and do not think about the whys afterwards

It's past and you can't "think"it away

Do not,

and be at one with the choice.

You have chose that by logic or some little random switch wired in your brain, and it happens for a reason.

Slava's Snow Show

Was intrigued by the review on Slava's Snow Show and managed to grab a friend to catch it during its short run here. 

What a visual theatrical feast! Each scene was so dream-like, and the colours and music! Was a bit let down by the antics though, cos both me and the friend couldn't really get the plot, but obviously that didn't stop the kids in the theatre from laughing out loud. I wonder if that's cos we are already pass the age of innocence to grasp the joy of laughing at the simplest things.

The last part saw the adults having equally, if not more fun than the kids, when the giant balls rolled out from the stage. I saw one man in his 50s literally ran from the side of the theatre to the centre twice just to have a push at the giant balls, and boy, did he look happy! 

(best possible pics I could have tried taking using my 3GS. I tried to take a vid but it wasn't captured properly! Darn!)

Nonetheless, there was indeed something magical at that moment. Talk about just having a few giant balls bouncing around the theatre, everybody, kids and adult alike, was thrilled, laughing and grinning, and truly enjoying themselves. Perhaps there was a time when to us, the rubber balls that we played with were that big in our universe then, and we were brought back to that time momentarily when we know nothing yet but joy.

    

Ingrid Michaelson - Turn to Stone

Feels surprisingly grounded today, and gave a little thanks for this oasis from nowhere. 

Amen. 

The morning path

The flutter of wings
catches the eye
as the wind caress the thin canopy,
rustling the sleepy leaves,
giving chance for the sun to peek through,
throwing shadows playing chase
on the dark pavement.

The wind continues
as it heads to its destination,
so do I,
a passerby in this scene,
a story of a morning
glorious and content
in its own quiet splendour.


I can never quite manage to take a decent photo of this path that I take sometimes on the way to work. You get to see some birds in flights sometimes, squirrels jumping tree to tree, and the cicadas loud and clear, bringing me to times and places of yore. That short stretch lasting a few minutes walk is probably the best part of the mornings, where after that it just goes all the way downhill.....bleh.

ok no negative thoughts!

Hockey at The Olympics!

Truth to be told, I was quite apathetic about the whole Olympics 2012. Passed a comment to a friend who was going to London if he should help me get some memorabilia from the Games, that thought the logo looks weird, the mascot looks ugly. Didn't catch the opening, and literally didn't follow any games at all. Yes, even when Feng Tianwei won the bronze medal in table tennis (on the whole foreign sports talent import thing...I have my take on that; let's not go there) and the whole Singapore was abuzz and stuck to the TV watching the live coverage.

What eventually drew me were the hockey matches on Youtube. Whole 70 minutes of action available at the touch of the finger! Simply gratifying (and cause for some nights with less than enough sleep).

First, there is the pitch - psychedelic blue (someone referred the shade as "smurf blue") with equally psychedelic pink sides (yes, inspired by the London 2012 logo colours. Really). Jarring on the eyes at first sight but kind of grows on you after a while. Especially when the ball, now yellow, is more easily spotted on the pitch on the small laptop screen.

And there was the exciting hockey actions from the different continents, from which Netherlands eventually emerged the winner.

But still, I much prefer watching the Argentinians, who exhibited such flair with the stick and ball, and string passes to make the game look so graceful and easy.

I heard one commentator noted that you can't miss Aymar on the pitch due to her "giselle like movements". 'Nuff said. Too bad her team couldn't hold up against the fastidious Dutch to hold a gold medal on her birthday.

My fan moment for Sanchez Muccio was when she tip the ball over the defender's stick, skip over the same stick, bring her stick down to connect with the ball in mid-air and bringing the ball home into the goalpost.  And that was on top of seeing see her bring the ball down the left on the fly whenever she got the break...every defender's nightmare but real exciting to watch.

And then there were the horrific accidents - GB's captain Kate Walsh's fracture jaw and NZ player Katie Glynn's accidental hit on the head. Horror stories for defenders going in with the reverse stick or the wrong side and real painful just watching them on the internet. But what were truly amazing -

Walsh came back 2 games later, after her jaw surgery and played the rest of the Olympic matches (and that means all the way through the pool matches, semi-finals, and the 3-4th place playoff. Full 70 mins match, no less) with the stirrup look-a-like mask holding her chin up...

while Glynn bounced back to the same game almost straight after she bandaged her head up within the 20 minutes she was off the pitch. 

Some may call it crazy, but one can only imagine the regret if both of them decide to sit out for the rest of the Olympics. What a beautiful game. 

I guess some may  wonder, what is the whole fuss to be made every four years about, when nations come together and pitch against each other to be better, faster, stronger. But when you see these athletes, you think about what they would have gone through in the last four years to come to this point,  putting themselves further under physical, mental and emotional stress under these two weeks, you can't help but marvel at the human spirit manifested at such meets, and bring different meaning and inspiration for different people.

Me thinks, the London Olympics' slogan - "Inspire A Generation", is most apt. Maybe I should get the Wenlock after all...

我看（2）

Annie The Musical

Talk about optimism - the sun'll come out tomorrow, and its only a day away!

================================

老九

在机缘巧合之下， 和三闺密一同看了郭宝崑的“老九”。 原著是一出话剧，但实践剧场为了郭宝崑节而改编成一出音乐剧。每一首的歌的曲和词都娓娓动听，一看写曲和写词是被和多歌手要歌的黄韵仁和小寒，也难怪。

我倒觉得，最呛戏的，是陈建彬和林继修(Lim Kay Siu!) 在第二段的对唱， 和将近尾声的木偶和皮影戏。舞台历练多，一举一动，一唱一和，感觉轻轻地，不经意地就带出来了， 让人听出耳流。多变和精彩的木偶和皮影戏，视觉效果让人眼前一亮。那我和闺密都一致认同，声线最动听的是饰演 ”大马“ 的演员（忘了什么名字）－ 宏亮不失磁性。

美中不足的，觉得结尾太仓促，如果还能让老九再卖弄一下皮偶，会不会显得有活在自己选择的路上，更快乐，更有希望？

在这拜金社会，我不能不承认，自己就好像战马基金驯服的野马，主人要我跑，我就往终点线冲，就为那一口好草。会有那勇气像老九放弃这一切，去跟随自己的梦想吗？那也得像老九，虽然知道自己不要什么，但也要知道自己要的是什么，才能去追。

总的来说，”老九“是好看的。接下来，和闺密约好看 “暴雨将至 － 傻姑娘与怪老树” 和 “灵戏”， 支持支持本土的剧场！

================================

Batman The Dark Knight Rises

Best Batman movie IMO!! I never was a Batman fan, I didn't even watch the Dark Knight (which gave the world a lot of copycats Jokers during many Halloweens thereafter) until like maybe this year. But while most of the Batman movies will make you feel that it's more Gotham-like and surreal, this piece had a realist take, and and plot was masterful (even though it's kinda predictable but the twist came so unexpected that I didn't see it coming). 


Sometimes you also feel that the actors are wrongly chosen for the characters (like I can't imagine how they can choose michelle pfieffer to be the Catwoman), but I think Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anne Hathaway nailed both characters to a T. 


Totally deserve the 5 stars I saw in some reviews.

================================

All 3 in the same week! This must be my lucky week....

The Duel

Step up, salute

Advance and engage

Thrust and parry

A duel, leaving only
the last one to stand

Beyond the mask

of stoic indifference

A fleeting glimpse of

Blue skies shadowed by 

flurry of maneuvers 

But we already lost 

Each other

in this dance of conquest and defence

  

Falling sick

Certainly feels like that. ..hah..hah...ahh...hmm..

Ok the stress is getting to me from the past few weeks, and my head is swarming now. Not good.

The Unconventional Celebration

This has been a harrowing week. With work deadlines jam packed one after another, I swear the cosmic button is at work again. While work is still meaningful (cross fingers), there is definitely more in life than work

Like the event I attended today.

Was invited to a special celebration by 2 friends today. Being typical Asians, I guess they didn't really want to flaunt the reason for the celebration, but the event photo of the Facebook invite was quite clear that this has something to do with them being together for the longest time I can remember (when I was still schooling?). And a picture at today's event venue, of them holding hands showing their rings on their wedding fingers said it all.

And by the way, that picture clearly showed the LGBT rainbow flag in the background.

So it was the unconventional and "un-wedding" like celebration ever, though the requisite  food, wine and conversations were aplenty. The "wedding" couple dressed simply, mingled amongst friends, with no lavish display of processions like how you would see in most (if not all) weddings celebrations nowadays. You would have passed this off as a normal mass friends' gathering instead.

Was especially touched, but unsure why. I guess with all news about people's breakups, divorces, having something so simple as having two persons committing to each other by virtue of a promise, it is really the essence of the whole concept of marriage, commitment and love, notwithstanding whether if there are any witnesses in testimony to that, or have any fancy celebrations to prove a point.

I wish them the best together, but I think that has pretty much been cemented already :)

在其位 谋其政

今天早晨，友人无聊，平白无故地传简讯送了一句话 － “不在其位 不谋其政”。

孔子论语里的一句话。不难，一看词句，也能猜到含义。相反地 －在其位，就得 谋其政。

就那么巧/衰，今天就让我碰着了 各 一个 “不在其位 不谋其政 ，在其位 而 谋其政”的状况。

一根柱子就一根柱子，别去当别的有的没的。在七零八乱的环境里，自己只得心知肚明，洞若观火。郁闷简直是浪费时间，和自己过不去。

切记了！

(为什么友人就不传 好一点的，好像前程似锦，花好月圆之类的......悲催！！）

I never knew it could be so hard...

Right now, my head is bursting at the seams with the seemingly simplest but yet, hardest-to-come-to-a conclusion question:-

What Lights????

To the shadow at every corner...

“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places.

But still there is much that is fair. 

And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, 

the greater"

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

唐人街背后精神的复兴

今天误打误撞得闯进了两个朋友的饭局，在牛车水那里摩士街的一家餐馆吃冒菜。是不错的，尤其是它的土豆鸭，嫩得不得了，土豆是真的入口及化。那哈尔滨啤酒还是第一次喝，喜欢。

我是迟到了些，停了车自个儿步行沿街看门牌找餐馆。刚好餐馆在摩士街的另一端，那也经过了大半段的街才找着，发现到那条街开了好多家的中国菜餐馆。吃饭时，友人赞菜色美味，说近年来的中国菜越来越有道地的味道了，也都没有改划过来适应新加坡本地人的口味，因为顾客群都是内地来的中国人，也没这个必要。

吃完饭，嘴馋，过了几条街找甜品。经过地铁站，讲起那里附近的原貌馆。突发奇想，早年新加坡秉持着经济繁荣的牌柄招揽的我们的祖先从中国千里迢迢地下南洋，为的就是打造更好的将来。初次离乡背井，到了异地，聚集在一个自己衣食住行熟悉的环境， 也造就了每一个国家的唐人街。

百年后，这种精神好像又复兴了。新加坡的唐人街，或我们俗称的牛车水人，虽然景象已变，，一个个如雨后春笋的中国菜餐馆，以家乡的味道辅助越来越多在新加坡的中国人，圆他们打拼的梦。

Mid-year Resolution

1. Be nice. No bearing of fangs or swiping the cat claws off people's faces. 

1a. And that applies to sarcasm as well.

Awww..really?

Yes. Really.

No fun ;(

2. Keep your cool. The universe is a boomerang; let those people (who deserve the cat claws treatment) get smacked in their face with the filth they spurted.

3. Do or do not. There is no try. 

And hopefully these will tide me over in one piece till end of 2012.

(I know..it's cheesy to quote movie lines. Anyway is it only me who think that the good parts are part 4 onwards, i.e the older parts? It just feels different with computer graphics. I can do with a movie marathon someday) 

Peter, Bjorn & John - Young Folks

Dammit..song was stuck in my head the whole day.

Underground New York Public Library

It has been a while since I have been reading, and this blog kinda made me miss that feeling of immersing in another dimension for a breather.

Although the statement "You can't judge a book by its cover" may/may not be totally applicable in this case..if you read the blog you would get what I mean.

Compared to the New York Underground, I think very much less people actually read on the train in Singapore (or at least from what I noticed during my daily commute). If reading/watching anything, it would more likely be a smartphone or a tablet, playing games or watching movies/shows (I'm equally guilty as well, but then again, it's Season 2 of Games of the Throne! I can't continue with book 5 thinking about how HBO would dramatise book 2!). Perhaps Singaporeans are just not into reading, and I wonder what that suggest as to our national psyche.

That aside, though is a fact, it's still amazing at how many different titles and genre that  people are reading, which somehow reflect a little on the inner realm of the person holding that book at that particular time. And that is really that "something" about a dog-eared book, which you know would have passed through many hands and nourished many minds.

That's just sentimental I know, not that I regret my e-reader now, but reading the blog really calls out to  that desire to grab a good well-used real book submerged by all the techie gizmos, and getting lost amongst the yellowed pages once again.

Taare Zareen Par (Stars on Earth)

It started with one Shah Rukh Khan's movie (Chak De! India), then I chanced upon Taare Zareen Par. The story is simple enough - about a dyslexic boy, misunderstood by the world and seemingly going to be pushed off the edge, if not for a teacher who came in and literally changed his life.  But the story was made so much richer by the songs (what's an Indian show without the song and dance??) and graphics to depict the imaginative world in the little boy's head.

(The so-called official trailer doesn't do the movie justice)

I think I'm hooked on this new movie genre already.

If I can't go to West End this year..

might this just be a good enough substitute?

Maybe not..but got Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean you know...

Ramblings on a hot day

Walking out nowadays was akin to walking into a sauna.

I was beading sweats in between home-bus stop-bus-MRT-office (during which I was muttering some made-up-on-the-spot mantra to ignore the thick muggy air, which I swear was swirling like hot soup around me as I wade through). Though the air conditioning in the bus and office provide literally a breath of (cool) fresh air, I can only wonder how many times I can alternate between the two extreme  temperatures before my body finally crumble from the freeze-thaw (or stew?) action.

xxxxx

今天午餐时间去探了队友 莲。

莲星期天打乙组联赛的时候，被对手的棍打裂了牙齿上排的两棵门牙，打歪了下排的三棵牙。奇妙的是被棍打到的时候，尽然没觉得痛，只感觉到撞击力，还继续打了十分钟，才舔到血发现到不对劲，换了下来给看了下，才发现到原来事态严重。连被哪个王八蛋球员打的都不知道。

过后去了急症室，过后连续两天复诊，取出其中一颗牙的神经，还要再等一个月后才能种牙。

我看她，口齿不清，麻醉药退后辛苦的喝着粥，心里不尽一阵酸。自己同天被鲁莽又耍小手段的对手打着头肿起来的那个胞还在隐隐作痛。想起硬朗的外公就是因为撞伤头而过世的，心有余悸。

在莲家吃午饭时，筠 感慨说了，我们反应慢了，在场上没法对粗莽的对手反应过来保护自己。加上体力身体不能负荷运动量，膝盖腰际拉伤的拉伤，浮肿的浮肿。一班小球员也娇贵的很，不能说讲，都不象以前我们小时候了。

就罢了吧，明年可能就别打了吧我们。

不尽有点伤感，还不知道为了什么。可能是生命的这一章就这样告一段落了吗？


xxxxx

Note to self - I will bring out a fan to at least move the air a little around me. I really can't stand beading sweats in office wear. Or maybe, I should be trading the attire for something else.

Where did the weekend go?

(Just saying. Mostly contributed by the impending Monday blues.)

The Outlier

Sometimes when you ask for an answer, it comes in most obscure manner.

Had to complete an individual profiling tool for work, not the first time that I did something like this, but this one finally explained why I felt like the devil's advocate every time. The distinction that majority drew closer to one end of the spectrum favouring norms and consistency, when I was one of those handful outliers midway to the other end of the spectrum. Which described my strengths as: ("mildly" - since the score wasn't for the total extreme) non-conformity, individual expression, responsive, free-spirited, not bound by conventions.

Sounds pretty cool, if not the downsides: individualist, may have a chip on the shoulder when required to follow rules or expectations set by others, cautious about processes or rules that absolutely govern decisions, need to bring their own sense of order to the situation, may misunderstand of discount the value of rules, procedures or conformity to the past.

Suddenly it makes sense why when I was young, whenever my mum forced me to practise my scales on the piano, I would feel jaded doing it although I had earlier planned to do it anyway 5 mins before she telling me to. I always not sure why I felt like that..ahh..now I know....

And also explained why I see most stuff in various gradient shades of grey (if I had the language to split and name those shade I would..now it just runs from 1% to 99% grey depending on the calibration the situation demands), rather than black and white, and knowing where to give slack and where to tighten in an environment governed by rules and standard operating procedures (for the record, rules are there for a purpose, but they are not the absolute for the many convolutions in life. There.)

(Though according to another aspect of the profiling results, you have to show me how you derive at that conclusion in order to convince me why the rules have to be broken.)  

I would have thought I fall in the majority group, being so task oriented and agenda driven that I thought I am (and I thought I crave rules - now I know that maybe subconsciously I need know those in order to start thinking about how to maneuver around them).

Ah well..just another dimension from a profiling tool. But hell explained a lot of angst.

And I just discover Mogwai.....

我看...

深夜食堂

一天结束了 在大家都各自赶回家的时候
我的一天 才刚刚开始
菜谱只有这些
只要你喜欢的就可以点 我就会做
这就是我的经营方针
营业时间是从晚上12点 到次日7点为止
大家都称其为夜间饭店


你问这样还有没有客人会来？
客人还挺多呢

以上为主题歌里的旁白。

每一集 一道菜，带出一个故事。
有时你最怀念的一道菜，不是大鱼大肉，有时是不起眼的家常小菜，比如牛油拌饭，还是炒面煎蛋。

到了后面，还为那道菜的做法 给 one point advice。每看完一集都会觉得好饿。
好想也可以拜访一个象深夜食堂的小地方。


Shakespeare in the Park - Twelfth Night 

If only literature in school could bring out those wittiness played out in those dialogues, I would have enjoyed lit lessons a lot more. 

Beautiful set, amazing cast (the comic trio, boobs and abs galore, and Adrain Pang), nice picnic, great spot right in front of the stage, A tad too humid though, but not too bad that the paper fan didn't help to dissipate a little. 

  

(Some gossip - someone on the inside told me about how the tongue-ing between two characters on stage got raunchier as more more shows get played..) 

烟

两人之间的距离

莫过于

眼前看得透彻

还是被烟雾迷糊了视线

当烟消云散时，

才发现

原来

也不过如此

Depeche Mode Somebody

After almost a whole day out and some drinks later, someone asked me one night what exactly I was looking for. The fatigue and alcohol definitely dulled my senses and I believed I blabbered some nonsense to the effect that I didn't care any more.

Nah..that's nonsense. And that was when the song played in my mind when I became more sober the next day. Super cliche (cringing-ly so), but true story.

If you had found that someone, better hold on that person cos you may never have the same chance again.

Pink Floyd Another Brick In the Wall

I am in the atheist kind of mood.

Keep Calm and Carry On

A simple warm hearted message to inspire confidence in others during difficult times, and something that never fades : to keep calm and carry on.

p.s.Definitely would like to visit Barter Books one day!

The Fried Rice Incident

1999, Parap Village Apartment, Darwin Australia

The team decided that in the midst of all the actions at the Arafura Games, we shall have a picnic outing at a lake park (can't remember where exactly) to release some steam. And to prepare for the picnic, everybody had to prepare something for the potluck.

The whole team occupied a total of 3 double-storied townhouses and the officials at an apartment within the same compound. Being mainly Singaporean girls, most of us were probably best at our studies or career, but were clueless about cooking. Amongst the 3 houses, there were only about 2 girls who knew how to cook. And just happened that they were in the two other houses other than mine. What tough luck, especially when each house was supposed to prepare their own meals throughout the whole 2 weeks in Darwin (anyway we survived... surprisingly).

As my house was cracking our heads on what to prepare for the potluck, we decided that the easiest thing to do was fried rice. We were quite sure that whatever Home Economics taught us in school were still applicable, and come on...fried rice seemed easy enough.

So there we were, cooking the rice and then were all ready to start frying. Conccurrently, we took turns to shower so that we could make it in time for the team to move off (nobody dared to be late..as that would subject us to ridicule and the "team fine". That is another story altogether).

So there, was the wok with the rice and all the necessary ingredients..eggs and such. Someone started first. And then the person took off to shower. The next person took over. And then another person took over when the bathroom freed up, so that the second person could go shower. Of course the first person didn't want to go near the wok again cos she just showered. So the fourth person took over when it was the turn of the third person to use the bathroom.

Seemed smooth enough. And the fried rice looked quite good actually. And then it was time for the team to meet. So we quickly packed the rice, met with the rest of the team, with their own delicacies, and headed off to the lake park.

What all these persons forgot to tell one another was....all of them thought the fried rice looked quite plain, and added salt or soya sauce to the fried rice during their turn at the stove.

Naturally nobody touched the fried rice at the outing.

But everybody had fun nonetheless :D

That was the year when we won the gold at Arafura Games despite all odds, beyond everybody's, even our own expectations, against the stronger teams in Northern Territory under Coach Zhang.

xxxxx

Nearing 13 years on, and we could still remember the fried rice incident, as we were talking about our friends and their lives nowadays, which inadvertently could had been shaped by certain events then . And so many things that happened during that trip, including the break-in into one of the other townhouses, the highlight of weekend markets across the Parap apartments, the tears, pains, sorrows, laughters and exhilarations.

Sometimes I do wonder how my life would turn out if I hadn't gone through that stage of my life. Not that our sense of self or identity were still tied what had happened during those years of our lives, I think we have moved past that. But undeniably, our moral values, principles and outlooks in life would have followed a different course if not for those experiences we had in our lives. The bodily pains, the heartaches from ridicules from the coaches, the ever balancing acts of juggling studies and work..but we still forged ahead without hesitation. And that made us a bit unsympathetic sometimes towards people with very narrow views of life, and our criticality on seemingly trivial matters.

But probably its time to realise that in a way, we were privileged to have gone through those experiences as a team and learning how to live with 20 other persons for extended periods of time. And what life long friends those times have given us.

If given a choice going back in time, I would still choose the same path without a doubt.

杨宗纬 那个男人

今天突然发现好久没放华文歌。

也没很喜欢杨宗纬，但听这首歌，有被感动到噢。

今天，和密友们吃饭。回家途中，被问到近况如何。突然间，也不知道怎么回答。知道她自己也有一些困扰，自己的繁琐心事可能还不及；然后也就一笔带过地说，过的还好。

算了，冥冥中自有安排，勿烦也。

无言

Knowing you has been my biggest regret.

是说真的吗？ 你回答。

那一瞬间，百感交集。

最后，我决定不回应。

至少，我知道我还有这个能耐，从谷里爬出里。

你这个阴魂，也别再缠着我了。

滚吧。

Be yourself

I came across something that day - imagine if you ask yourself this question: what do you do everyday?

Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep. Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep. Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep. Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep. Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep. Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep. Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep. Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep. Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep. Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep. Go work, go eat, go home, go sleep.......

You get the drift.

At least I get some respites with the little escapades. But every now and then there is always some hair tearing moments that I fretted if this is ever all I will get out of my life, and if I should be doing something else.

Always feels like a mid-life crisis every time.

And then I came across this vid. In Paulo Coelho's words - be yourself, be useful, be a good example, and spread the joy.

If you are a tree, you are a tree. No point trying to think if you would rather be a river.

Just be yourself.

(Still, I am sure there's always this perennial question - who is this "yourself"? Ahhhhh yes.......)

Daft Punk Technologic

My theme song in the office almost every day.

Ordinary People, Lengendary Loves

How do you love somebody, and how do you know he is the one you love.

Just finished watching Krishnan's Dairy, by the same person who did Guru of Chai.

Didn't actually plan to watch this..given the really cliche sypnosis - love story, immigrants, corner store....

The story started off with a slow start, and I was wondering where it was heading. But it got more interesting halfway, and ended off with a bang. The punchline came so simply and real strong. Hopes, dreams, love - can be so simple.

That's life.

It's always a marvel how a simple story can be transformed by a good story teller with a few simple props.

Anyway 5 shows left! Or otherwise, as the main lead let on, wait for the feature film soon.

Once OST - Falling Slowly

Probably one of those films which never reached our shores.

On a separate note, seems like things are picking up steam at the work front..

Count starts now...

1. Bruise on the left elbow from lifted ball (and the referee blew against me. Wtf...)

2. Bruise on left knee from lifted ball (cant remember when it happened though)

3. Bruised left thumb and middle finger from a clip from somebody's stick

4. Split right big toenail (Probably due to the design of the turf shoes, bad fit so the toe got pushed against the front too much. Means have to change turf shoes or suffer 3months of split/bruise toenail.. Argh. I'm never buying Nike turf shoes again.)

5. Sore glute and hamstring after peeling off the compression tights (life-savers they are, for a bum like me who hadn't been training enough for the intensity)

Overall, 2 games down and 10 more games to go...still a good start to the season I think :)

27 Mar 12 - I just found another bruise on my shin..how did it get there??

Walk Off The Earth - Somebody That I Used to Know

Great song for dissing that someone off.

Still..Epic cover. I think I will try to buy their songs off iTunes just to support them.

Check out the original song - just as good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoBZGbh5-wE&feature=related

The Civil Wars I've Got This Friend

Inspired by something I saw :)

不一样的旅行

这几天，旅行的话题频频出现。同事打算七月中旬到巴厘岛，然后旅游欧洲伦敦，友人聊起向往人烟稀少的国家兜游。昨天 Straits Times Life Section，报道了菲莉宾岛群的人间天堂，和古色古香的拉贾斯坦。

和几个友人有初步的打算，九月到伦敦拜访朋友。伦敦五光十色，固然多姿多彩，但总觉得这次的旅行缺少了什么。

前些日子，突发奇想，想去返璞归真的旅行，就背一个背包，爬一个山脉还是徒步野外。 不只是买东西吃东西，就真的去看一个地方的风貌，体会它的的风俗民情。

十多年前到了泰国华欣，划皮艇三天，徒步三天，粮食水帐篷都背在身上。特辛苦的旅程，但也是好一个毕生难忘的经验。

还有一次，搭火车到马来西亚的国家公园。简陋的火车站，朴实无华的小镇，一路上看着沿途风景的转变，有着不一样旅游的感触。

之前有看到面本书上一个朋友到香格里拉的照片，和友人提出西藏或俄罗斯的背包出游， 都有一点蠢蠢欲动。

看吧，可能如果真的如此背包出游，还不知道真的能不能受得了。

Taylor Swift - Safe & Sound

Gone are the curls, thick lined eyes, and cutesy teenager getup.

3 days past, and I still can't get the song out of my system.

Soundtrack for the film adaptation of The Hunger Games. Interestingly, I don't recall seeing the books on the shelves when I last browsed (location: airport heading off to Maldives. Woot!~). But going by wikipedia, I think this young adult novel likely wins Harry Potter hands down (ok, I do have a warped sense of things I like that are probably a little less than the mainstreams).

The movie premiered in LA yesterday. I wonder when it'll be coming to Singapore....

Tricky Wash My Soul

Whenever it gets so ever frustrating, I always have an urge to strangle somebody or smash someone's face in.

Wash my soul indeed.

Going to scrounge for darker songs.

联赛前传

“比赛追球的时候，量力就好。追不到， 就别追了。我们也不年轻了，伤到真的很难好”

喝咖啡的时候，JZ 好言相劝。

我想，几年前的我们，也不会想到有这么一天，我们会这样认老。如果说，只是本地联赛，又不是国际比赛，不用这样拼命。 那，我们当年死都不让老队员退下，还记得有几次，F 还是带伤吃了止痛药上场的。

夭寿啊。

今年还真的没训练到，拉伤的可能性真的很高。

有时候，也还不知道为了什么。

(图：当年国队每个人用Mel的模子订做的钩球坠子，和最近在马尔代夫潜水之旅时购买的海星坠子。两爱就挂在一起了。）

The Descendants

Randomly chose to watch "The Descendant" on a whim (it was between this, "The Muppets", "J Edgar" or "A Week with Marilyn". "The Muppets" almost came up tops for want of something lighter :/ ) on SQ coming back from Maldives.

This comedy-drama proved to be a good choice on both counts. Imagine the triple whammy of having to make the final decision to pull the plug to your wife's life support in accordance to her living will, discovering that she had been having an affair and probably been planning to divorce you if she hadn't met with the accident, and that you are about to endow your wife's paramour with a great fortune with the biggest land sale that was just waiting for your signature.

And haplessly dealing with your daughters who up to that moment you didn't have to bother all your life, and everything that seemed to be falling to shreds around you.

And the soundtrack and pristine waters! (and hawaiian shirts! Do people really walk around town in those shirts, berms and slippers all day?)

Coincidentally, the director was the same person who directed "About Schmidt" (Jack Nicholson was brilliant!) and "Sideways" (made me pick up my first Pinot Noir :p)

Next show that I want to catch: A Separation

Maldives 2012

Here's the vid! Thanks to the mate who worked into the night compiling all the raw vids and putting them together!!

AWESOME!!

Diving in Paradise from Hayden Kho on Vimeo.

假期后遗症

今天下午，下起雨来，冷冷的打在镶着办公室的玻璃窗上。

我心中 却还在闪烁着那打在马尔代夫海面上，暖暖的太阳。

I'm Back!

Maldives was AWESOME!!!! We usurped the dive briefing sign board on the 2nd last dive day, and the ramblings pretty much summarise the Maldives trip :)

Except that my max depth was 42m (didn't even realise it since I could still see the water surface, until I read my dive comp), two had tried to look for an underwater cave and pushed the limit to 58m..) And yes, I finally hit 100 dives. Took too long.

Overall, it was still a trip with amazing dives on board Maldives Agressor. The best thing about a live-on-board - eat, sleep,dive. Saw so many creatures big and small (never seen so many lion fishes before too!) And note that the items checked are in the PLURAL. Yup. Saw

• sharks of different sizes,
• whale sharks on two different outings,
• nurse shark that came within 50cm too close for comfort, and another one that was skulking at the back.
• mantas that were circling, minding their businesses, oblivious to the divers who were bubbling all around them,
• eagle rays and whitetip sharks in schools until we lost track how many,
• huuuggeee marble rays, which were pretty scary to see during a night dive when that was the first thing the flash hit when almost at the bottom,
• turtles, which one young curious one followed us as we drifted along the reef during one of the dives and followed us to the end until we went up shallower for the safety stop .

Made me regret for procrastinating in getting the S100 with u/water housing for this trip.

Waiting for the video that one of the mates is refining. We had a preview on Friday night, which was already great on its own. And now I can't get the sound track out of my head.

I'm outta here!

Gone diving!

and hello whalie....