August – Travel High Season
28/07/2004
As usual, I took forever
To get my air tickets for vacation, and woo hoo, apparently August is high season. When we made calls today most of the travel agencies said they had no vacancies for the dates we were looking for. Nice work.
Sunset on New Year’s Day this year
Still, we managed to get our flight out, albeit a couple of days behind schedule. Am looking forward to my break, I’d like to say I need one, but I think it’s more a want than a need.
Morrissey – The First of the Gang To Die
The other day I napped with the radio on, and in that half awake state I heard Morrissey’s First of the Gang to Die, and liked it. In fact, even though the dream I was having meant absolutely nothing, I distinctly remember the song playing in it, and also the announcer saying it was Morrissey. A strangely morbid title, for an upbeat tune with a British accent. Can’t ask for more. So it’s going into my playlist, so Handbags and Gladrags won’t feel lonely being the only tune there now.
The secret to a good day
27/07/2004
I had a relatively good day today
I felt better than I have in 2 months. I think it’s because I stretched for 5 minutes or so when I got up this morning. It’s the only thing different I did today. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.
Fresh from the rain
We had a pretty fun weekend, we went to Sentosa on Saturday because the weather was perfect. It rained in the morning (and most of the day in the water catchment areas to the north) and stayed overcast the entire day. It was a dry, cool day, which is completely unusual. Even though I got up kinda late, we decided to take the cable car to Sentosa anyway. We were just going to walk around, get some exercise and take some pictures.
A bug’s life
The cable car ride was quite fun. It cost us about $11 for a round trip ticket and admission to Sentosa. The round trip includes 4 stops, so you can take it from the mainland to Sentosa to Mount Faber and back to Cable Car Tower. A $17 ticket will get you the same ride in a glass-bottomed cable car for that complete mid-air dangle.
Drab week
23/07/2004
Time flies, even when you’re not having fun
Raffles Hotel feels like a throwback in time
Earlier in what was probably the highlight of the week, we took a nice walk through grand ole Raffles Hotel after lunch. It rained horribly through lunch, but cleared up somewhat by the time we were done. Sam wanted to check out the Rolex store, so we marched in like good troopers. It was funny when Sam insisted that the watch he was interested in looked better on the website than in reality; the salesperson had a strange look that was a mix of snotty annoyance and futility.
Aging through it
Earlier in the week (or maybe last week) I met an old schoolmate, AC for lunch. He went to college in Australia and now works there – and I hadn’t met him in probably 8 years. We arranged to meet for lunch at the restaurant that another school friend of ours, YW, runs.
It was vaguely amusing to watch the whole scene unfold. AC, YW and a whole buncha guys all came from the same secondary school, which I’m going to call Tactful High School, so they go even further back. But I suppose you can tell a decade later where things were with them all a decade before.
For example, YW takes about 10 seconds to realise who AC was, and then gawks in disbelief for another 10 when AC showed up at the restaurant. I suppose that’s forgiveable. What was surprising to me was within the next 10 seconds into the hellos YW makes a blunt comment about how AC has lost quite a substantial amount of hair.
The conversation then steers to how it-could-also-happen-to-you, before we managed to talk about something else. Which I think was a nice move on my part.
Later on, another alumnus from the famous Tactful High shows up to say hello to AC. Again within the first 10 seconds of meeting him, our friend makes another remark about the weight AC has gained. At which point I really start to feel sorry for AC. Having it pointed out is one thing. Having it pointed out in front of a chick, even if it’s just me, is fairly demasculating.
I think it was downhill from that point. When YW popped by to speak to us now and again, it got more and more competitive. Perhaps the need to sound like he’s made it, despite the weight and hair loss kicked in, but it got to a point where AC was describing his plans to retire at 40, and how he’s already put his investments in place with business ventures, property and other assets. He also didn’t fail to mention that he was earning a good living.
YW put up a gallant attempt to disguise a head-on fight by modestly chipping in that all he had was a part of the restaurant we were in.
It was one of those things VS really should’ve been there to witness, we would’ve laughed about it.
It’s strange how we grow more and more distant with old friends. A decade back we would probably have had more in common than anyone else, but now our lives are so diverse. It’s strange hearing about AC’s new life – bridge and poker night, his penchant for cigars, his property and business ventures, his career. It’s just as strange hearing about my classmate Susan who just had a baby.
The natural order of things
Is this a cyclical trend? Is there always going to be an awkward phase in life every 10 decade or so? There was that whole adolescence angst ten years before where we were wondering what life was about, and how we were supposed to turn out. Now that we’re living that phase of life that we were planning for at adolescence and moving ahead into the thirties, is that same sinking feeling returning again?
I mean, now we grapple with careers, taxes, loans, reports, being too jaded to be frivolous, yet too young to be jaded, biological clocks, hair loss, weight gain, making plans, having goals, staying motivated, working out, finding someone, getting married, having kids, defending yourself when you haven’t found someone or haven’t gotten married or haven’t had kids.
Perhaps we make life more complicated than it has to be.
I think I’ll feel better after some hotcakes tomorrow morning.
What would we do without the Internet?
18/07/2004
It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon
Taken December 03, Lomo-ed July 04
And here I am sitting in front of the PC like I do on any other workday. Lovely. The scary fact is that it is – it’s something I enjoy. It sure beats going outside with 4 million people in your face who really need to get out of their homes and just live a bit.
It’s not a replacement for getting out and having fun, no. Nothing beats the feeling of walking through the malls and whipping out the plastic. The rows of perfectly lined skincare products. The smell of essential oils and all the other goodstuff that’s jampacked into each little jar, tube or bottle. The thrill of trying out that top you just saw in the window display and having it look just like you want it to. The familiar strains teenybopper chart toppers at best, muzak or techno at worst, over the sound systems that strangely make you happy and excited and willing to buy close to anything.
But it sure is a lot of fun. It’s like the bestest, fastest, most convenient way to find out what’s happening, and to find out how to do with what you want to do. And the more you read, the more possibilities there are.
In the last four hours, I’ve checked my primary email, and from news alerts I set up I went on to read about Oddpost and checked out what life was like for them. After blogging that article (among others), I go on to catch up on my friends’ blogs and phlogs. Inspired, I decided to read a photoblogging tutorial I came across some time back, but after the second paragraph, I decided it was a larger undertaking than I was prepared to put up with (which was, incidentally, the same outcome the last time I read the tutorial).
While writing this blog, I’ve caught up on Abraham Maslow, his hierarchy of needs, local news about the DPM taking over on Aug 12, and how he has to handle China being sensitive, and how if I had the time to start that lifestyle channel at work, we could blow crap like this out of the water.
It’s endless fun on the internet!
Starting off on the right note
16/07/2004
Tea Bone Zen Mind
3 Seah Street, #01-02
The other day Sharks and I visited a tea store – Tea Bone Zen Mind – at the Raffles Hotel Arcade. It’s next to Sasha’s, the teddy bear store. The window display was pretty enough, cups and bowls and pots and intricate little implements.
Seated on the zen sofa inside, two Japanese ladies were sipping teas and snacking on candy. We looked around, a bit like a couple of 12-year-olds in a Salvatore Ferragamo store. Once we asked how much the tea cup with the ceramic strainer was, we knew we were outclassed, out-of-water, outright out of place.
Still, it was a nice place to be. Along the wall on the inside of the store, a small shelf with urn-like containers in Chinese hues of jade green and wine flask browns hold sweet blends of teas from oolongs to japanese green. Aside from the weird gregorian chant music going, it was like an oasis in there where time passed slower. Sipping tea there was a little ethereal, from the dainty mini gaiwans to the delicate little sniffing cups, the itty bitty teapot and the Japanese sweeties that the proprietor served that looked like reconstituted fruit (and I mean that in a nice way).
We spent an hour there, in part due to the rain, and I ended up buying two teas just so that I could get them wrapped. That, apparently, is an artform on its own. Perfection, protocol and a lot of pride go into each package.
It took me 2 days to feel satisfied enough to open the package and ruin the wrapping forever
In the end, I bought a lovely experience. And a small hope that whatever’s in that package can provide that same reprieve for a couple minutes each day that that hour I spent in that store gave me.
And if I ever need a special knockout gift for someone important, I’ll be headed here too.
After the moment of silence
13/07/2004
Coping
Rooftop at Alcatraz. That pretty much sums up how I feel right now.
It’s been a week since the last entry, and that is how long Ross has been away. Since then there was a smashing booze party for him, and we had our very own pizza party for a more comfortable bunch.
On the workfront, things have been piling up. Unfortunately I think the bulk of the load went to AK and DP. I see AK running in and out of meetings the way Ross used to, poor thing.
Mitigating factor
Well, on a brighter note, life has been better since Crystal Jade opened at Bugis Junction (next to Cold Storage). At 10am or so, you can go to the cakery and grab nice Bo Lo buns and other sweeties. The prices are quite competitive too. A typical Sausage Roll costs $1.10 (about the same as Breadtalk and Four Leaves). Today I discovered a cute little pastry – the Chicken and Mushroom pastry – the size of a small mooncake, but fluffier. That costs $0.80. I think I’ll get one tomorrow.
See yer round, Ross
07/07/2004
So who is Ross?
Ross can be found in Chinatown, San Francisco, CA
Some people say Ross is a bit of a legend in the local internet scene.
Tonight at the party I overheard someone comment that all of us (that were hired before 2002) owed our jobs to Ross.
There are some who think Ross looks like Kevin Sorbo, or Viggo Mortensen or Tom Cruise (only in Mission Impossible 2).
Ross laughs at everything – even the lame-assed jokes we crack when we get desperate, even the ones at his expense.
Ross is an eternal optimist, he believes common sense will prevail.
Ross stands for perfection in products, great ideas that all products need, and thoughtful execution.
This isn’t to say that Ross is perfect. He has 6 years worth of email on his notebook, and has a weakness for new fangled gadgets.
Ross is really hard to shop for.
Ross is the heart and soul of the company. And that came from some guy who thinks the Ken Watanabe look can be replicated with a scruffy beard.
The Boomerang Adventure
06/07/2004
Happy Independence Day
So up-dates:
1. 3 July – Tom Cruise celebrates his 42 birthday. It’s getting depressing, growing old with your favourite actors (they’re in their 40s!). But he still looks great.
2. 4 July – We bought an aerobie orbiter, and I learn the nasty truth: I’m a lousy thrower.
3. 6 July – My boss celebrates his last day at the company. He looks so happy, it’s taken years off his face.
What’s an aerobie orbiter?
It’s a little triangle boomerang. We had an aerobie frisbee once, and it was the coolest ever. So when we saw the Orbiter in a sports store over at the Paragon, we jumped on it. It cost about S$25.
The set up
We headed back to my parents’ place immediately after we got the orbiter. It was still bright, so we figured we could get a good hour, hour and a half of play after some tea. There’s a nice piece of land just across from the house that’s been empty since we got the house more than 10 years back.
Getting down to it
I figured, it’s a boomerang, what kind of instructions do you need besides to throw it? So we charge straight into it. We ripped the packaging apart and ran out to the field.
He sure looked good throwing it
KF gives it a throw. He tries not to overdo it, and lets it off with a light fling. You can see the orbiter in the top right corner of the photo. The orbiter takes flight, but doesn’t come back. At that, I decide that I’ll just give it a whirl.
That’s me looking like a scrunched up mess
Enough with the wussy half assed throws, I threw this one. And it took off nicely! You can see it just above the houses on the left, right in between the 2 of them.
My parents live in the one with the pink and white flowers overflowing from the wall.
A little while later, my dad comes out with his golf clubs to start knocking around too, so we show off our newly found super-boomerang powers only to be told that we were throwing it wrong. He tells us it’s easier to throw it backhanded, and against the wind. Really?
He shows us what he means – it was beautiful. The orbiter glided up, twirled it’s special way, and landed 8 feet from us after making a real orbit. I can’t believe it! So far all it did for us is climb away from us, and come back down the same path it took.
So following Dad’s instructions, I give it a try. Perfectly positioned, and raring to go, I give it a hard fling. The orbiter takes off! It climbs, and glides, and floats, and turns, and lands – on my roof! Dad had to climb up the wall, armed with a fishing rod, to get it. 
In my next few attempts, the Orbiter lands on a tree, in a drain, on another tree (this time caught between branches), and in a neighbours’ porch. After that I gave up.
The moral of the story?
Sometimes you need to know when to stop and just call a spade a spade, even when everyone else around you is supportive and keeps getting you to try it. Because they’re the ones who have to salvage the situation. I think if I didn’t go all out and let it rip I wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble, but then it wasn’t much fun.
Still it was good fun, KF had such a good time, he went to try it out on his own today at the open space downstairs.
Counting my blessings
01/07/2004
I know I haven’t been blogging
I’ve been shopping! The snazzy paper stores down at Citilink Mall – Bookbinders (opposite the Hello Store) and Print (opposite another favourite L’Occitane) went on sale, so today I finally bought the photo albums that I wanted. They’re the scrapbook kind, so you need to stick the photos on right. $20 a book, second one at 30% off, so I thought I’d get it now, since they make good gifts.
While I was at it I bought a bunch of cards, I like the skinny ones
I can’t go for that
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Today we went to Suntec City for dinner, after that while browsing at Tower Records I saw this – The Ultimate Daryl Hall and John Oates. Being the Greatest Hits Compilation sucker I am, I had to give it a listen and it was downhill all the way from there. I think I got the entire CD because I didn’t have You Make My Dreams. Lame reason, yes. But it’s Hall and Oates!
I got as far as Citilink Mall before I broke and got the album at HMV.
I still can’t figure out where or when I acquired the taste for Hall and Oates. Most of the stuff I like now is a result of my dad and his weekend blasts (which explains the appearance of musicals, The Beatles, Chopin, Waltzes, Billy Joel, Nat Cole among other things in my collection). Like most men at that age, Dad used to be so into audio equipment and stuff we had speakers everywhere. I had a great time fiddling with all the knobs, switches and dials on the various amplifiers, tuners, cassette and CD players.
There were a few instances where the fuses on his speakers blew out mysteriously. Dad claimed it was caused by someone turning the volume knob on the amplifier all the way up. I think it’s simply because he didn’t check when he turned the equipment on. I didn’t see why he was complaining anyway, he wasn’t the one who got woken up to the sound of something close to a sonic boom.
More than once. But never in the same month. 
