back from trip to tioman:


beautiful sunset on the way to dive shop


woman selling the famous Ramly burger


taking boat from murky Mersing Jetty to the island


tioman island finally...


at the end of a day of great diving... :)

YAY!! :D leaving for diving trip @ pulau tioman tomorrow night! can't wait to dip into clear green (tioman waters are not exactly "blue") waters and come close to the corals, fishes, turtles (hopefully) and more! looking forward to sunbathing and reading by the soft clean beach and sleeping to the sound of the softly swishing waves... mmm... :)

check out where i'll be staying...

just chanced upon this page featuring a Battery Operated Tongue Vibrator ... urgh... frankly speaking, i can't stand any form of body piercing - ears, nose, cheeks (yes, even during the Thaipusam festival), tongue, nipple, belly button, etc etc... as a matter of fact, i can't even stand injections! :p i remember the only time i closed my eyes when i was watching Alien 3 (with Sigourney Weaver) many years ago was when there was a scene of someone getting a regular injection.. haha.. i didn't even squirm when i saw the actual "alien" later on... durrhh?? :D

learnt about syn-es-the-sia n. Physiol. Sensation produced at a point other than or remote from the point of stimulation, as of a color from hearing a certain sound (fr. Gk, syn = together + aisthesis = to perceive). umm.... fascinating...

People who taste colors....see fragrances...smell sounds...Synesthesia is an involuntary joining in which the real information of one sense is accompanied by a perception in another sense. In addition to being involuntary, this additional perception is regarded by the synesthete as real, often outside the body, instead of imagined in the mind's eye. It also has some other interesting features that clearly separate it from artistic fancy or purple prose. Its reality and vividness are what make synesthesia so interesting in its violation of conventional perception. Synesthesia is also fascinating because logically it should not be a product of the human brain, where the evolutionary trend has been for increasing separation of function anatomically.

in a desperate attempt to de-stress today, Kai and I decided to give names to some of the fixed assets in our store.. our computers are now called Sky and Night, our fax machine is called Sandy, our CCTV is called Kelvin, and our ink cartridges are Sally and John (we have actually stuck labels on them with the names just in case we forget... hahahha.. :D)

not sure why business has slowed down so much... is it just because of the World Cup?? or is it also because of the weak US economy and the weak yen? or is it just that people are generally feeling anxious and market sentiments are negative? don't know.. i believe that we as retailers are worst hit 'cos even before companies actually start retrenching workers and all that, people normally already start tightening their belts in anticipation of hard times and the effects are felt first and foremost by us... after all, guess the typical individual still tends to view art as some kind of luxury as opposed to food and other needs.. trying to work out new strategies and new products for the survival and growth of the shop over the past two weeks have definitely steepened our learning curves tremendously and taught us invaluable negotiation and business analytical skills....

guess there's always a positive side to everything....err... oh well...

syn·chro·nic·i·ty Pronunciation Key (sngkr-ns-t, sn-)
n. pl. syn·chro·nic·i·ties

1. The state or fact of being synchronous or simultaneous; synchronism.
2. Coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related, conceived in Jungian theory as an explanatory principle on the same order as causality.

this whole concept of synchronicity is intriguing... how some things just sometimes all fall into place mysteriously and coincidentally without logical explanation.. but actually i don't find it all too hard to explain if you do believe in your "guardian angel", which i do... :) .. i'm not really into the New Age thing lah so don't tell me about aliens from outer space, magic and wizards... .blahhh...

captured a buttercup moment on my way home:

caught a stunning dance performance "Le Jardin io io ito ito" by Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu at the Kallang Theatre just now and have to admit that the "rather expensive" tickets fourth row from the front were actually well-worth it... contemporary dance but nothing quite like what i expected - for an hour and a half, we were treated to a non-stop dreamy surreal blend of head-spinning breakdance, graceful ballet, flamenco, african tribal beats, a "smurf-like" clown, and even cirucus contortionist movements... in the musical background were sounds of sweetly singing voices, whistling, chants, shouts, raggae (??), classical, hiphop and goodness-knows-what... we were transported to another realm.. of fantasy meets dreams, of traditional meets ultra-modern...

and did i mention the actors/dancers on stage interacting with the ever-changing backdrop of projected images of human-headed (centaur-like) creatures, animal-headed people, characters in all sorts of amazing costumes with human heads and cat or griffin or even fish bodies. These creatures often emerged from the dancers' bodies, tiny at first and then spiraling larger. And they would often exit on the dancers' backs, shuffling along them as the dancers shuffled off.

it's hard to walk out not feeling the lightness in your head (and also in your feet).. great performance i must say.. :)

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

....by Jenny Joseph

Do really sappy, insipid, "always and forever" love poems make you want to puke? (and that goes for Bon Jovi lyrics too!)

Do you find typical "Women's Magazines" to be either stomach turning or pathetically laughable?

Are you tired of the walking wounded moping around expecting that the world owes them something because they are victims?

Do you find the likes of Michael Bolton and Kenny G. revolting?

Does the sight of an incredibly handsome man (i.e. "himbo") turn you off, cause so many of them have room-temperature IQ's, and obnoxious or non-existent personalities?

.. then maybe you belong in the category of women who are labelled as "Heartless Bitches"...?? :p

i really don't like myself today.. i lived today mindlessly and ended up causing some bad feelings and damaged egos.. i didn't stand up for someone when i should have and passed along information from one to another like a mailbox without considering how it might hurt others...

i could of course just make excuses like i was really tired.. or distracted.. or busy or whatever.. but still, i guess it all boils down to the fact that i have indeed become quite self-centred and "unthinking" this recent past.. for e.g. i was helping someone i know to look for an artist who could draw a portrait of her month-old son. i got this former art student i know to do so and it ended up that the person who wanted it done wasn't totally pleased with the completed work even though everyone else thought it was a pretty good piece of work. more importantly, the artist was proud of it and signed it. Instead of fully standing up for the artist who drew it and telling the one who wanted the drawing done to "just take it or leave it", i acceded to the latter's request to find out from the artist what drawing materials were used to draw it so "she could find someone else to modify it further" and even worse, agreed with the artist's sentiments that her name be removed from the drawing if it really was to be changed since it was no longer "totally done by her".... totally mindless...

it was only later, after a bit more thought that it fully dawned on me how insulting the whole incident had been for the artist and how i should have just stood up for her and taken the work back.. after all, if the work wasn't fully appreciated and was going to be changed, wouldn't it be better to just take it back and keep it as part of the artist's portfolio? i guess the money wasn't all that important after all...

fortunately, i got everything sorted out properly in the end and will be taking the piece of work back to the artist rather than let the insult continue.. but apologies had to be made all around... i really handled everything so badly... sigh... i hope they forgive me...

learnt two things today:

a. Surinam is a country in South America even though it has an African-sounding name

b. Slovenia has a population of only 2 million, yet they have managed to get a team into the World Cup! Shows that Singapore has hope after all! :)

facts and sights of the world never fail to fascinate me...

having not followed the World Cup much this whole time, i had however the opportunity to witness some really good stuff while sipping teh ping (milk tea with ice) at the cheese prata place near NUS just now ...

SLOVENIA 1 : 3 PARAGUAY

very exciting match with the Paraguayans coming from one goal down in the first half to finishing dramatically with the score above.. we witnessed a change of tide as the Slovenians, who were the ones mainly doing the attacking in the first half, gradually slowing down and finding themselves at the mercy of a suddenly revitalised Paraguay team.. a lot of running around here and there, lots of emotions (from the cheering fans and players) and lots of action..

so here you go, a commentary from a girl on a soccer match :p ... actually, realised girls don't just notice the action on the field when they watch a soccer match.. they are likely to also notice how "good looking this guy is", or "how muscular South Americans are" or how nice their uniform is", etc etc.. girls are very thorough indeed in watching the match details.... :) ... or should i say.. distracted?? :D

a friend of mine just introduced me to famous Nobel Laureate and Chilean poet, diplomat and Marxist Pablo Neruda (once described as the world's greatest poet).. he has written, among many other "Elementary Odes" (including Ode To the Tomato and Ode To a Large Tuna in the Market), my favourate one known as Ode To Life.. too long to paste it in my blog.. please go and read it, it's lovely..

Pablo Neruda was featured prominently in the charming Italian film as the poet who helps the postman to win his girl in The Postman (Il Postino) (1995).. remember?

a colleague of mine suspected she had fishbone stuck in her throat early this afternoon but refused to go and check at the doctor's.. preferring to "go home for dinner later and stuff rice down throat to see whether can push it down (old wives' advice)"... coupled with the recent stories of young pretty girls dying of liver disease after taking slimming tablets and yesterday's story of the girl who didn't know she had heart problems and just dieted herself to death (eating fruits and vege 90% of the time, overexercising and letting her weight drop some 10 to 12kg) even though her weight was initially already perfectly fine.. i really sat up and thought about how some of us are abusing our bodies...

In "If Life is a Game, These are the Rules:Ten Rules for Being Human" by Chérie Carter-Scott, Ph.D.,

RULE 1: YOU WILL RECEIVE A BODY
You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth.

..some of us go through life abusing our bodies, either obviously, by what you read in the incidents above, or smoking or drinking excessively or more subliminally by eating the wrong foods and letting our bodies grow fat, sluggish, and lacking exercise, or keeping late nights.. or having appalling eating habits (of which i am among the very guilty..), or many many other ways... we continually behave as if we will have a chance to replace our bodies with a new one should it suddenly fail or something..

i always think.. do we really need to wait till something serious happens before we take note of how we are treating our bodies? :( or should we start respecting our bodies from this very moment on....? Respecting by treating our bodies with the same care we would give any other valuable and irreplaceable object..

the Hello Kitty PopUp Toaster is so cute!!! It toasts Hello Kitty's face on every slice!

and check out the step-by-step guide to making a PHKL - Pink Hello Kitty Laptop... and its cousin - the YZPL - Yellow Zippered Pokemon Laptop...very bizarre...

attack of the clones...



i provide artwork cloning services, just in case you ever need that :p

i hope that india and pakistan don't go into war....

"I discovered that people are not really afraid of dying; they're afraid
of not ever having lived, not ever having deeply considered their life's
higher purpose, and not ever having stepped into that purpose and
at least tried to make a difference in the world."

- Joseph Jaworski

maybe a realisation of this will persuade more people to go out and chase their dreams?

urls:

- this guy changed the boring view out of his window to resemble that of the Manhattan skyline...amazing...

- copies of Spider-Man 2 already pirated on the web before the movie is actually filmed.. this is quite funny..

- the Pi-Pi-to-Phone is a dangerously cute new Japanese kids' cellphone that is preprogrammed to only dial three numbers - damn, it's really cute!

- and control Anthony for 2 weeks through the Remote Control Challenge... very bizarre...

i met the oddest and most diverse bunch of people today.

just in case you are now thinking i have the illusion that i am myself not odd at all, let me assure you otherwise. i know i am odd, but nowhere quite as odd as the people here who stumbled into my shop today.

there is firstly this big woman who struts in looking like she owns the world - proud, big-haired, and with her chin pointing up, she looked at everything around her with a certain disdain and then started questioning me on my materials and telling me about who else she buys her things from. anyway, she was quite informative albeit the somewhat annoying arrogance.

then i had these two young girls bouncing into the store wondering what materials they need to paint on candles. they are thinking of setting up a stall (or even a company!) at Stadium Cove selling candles in colourful bright abstract designs that they come up with. they are quite convinced the wrong use of paint for the candles will cause their customers to be poisoned. quite entrepreneural anyway.

then i had this man who came in with his two daughters and went around the shop looking and touching all our paper products like mounting boards, corrugated paper etc and finally looked up and asked "Do you sell namecard holders?" huh?

and then there was this guy who came in and went into this monologue where he spoke about his painting which was spoilt by the wrong use of paint and then (did i miss something?) started to talk about himself, about his joblessness, about his telling his friends to "F**k Off" if he is unhappy with them, about Tibetan sayings, his loss in the stock market.. anyway, i lost him after a while...

that's a day in the life of an art shop..

THE DICTIONARY DEFINES PERSONAL SPACE AS:
"THE PHYSICAL SPACE IMMEDIAT-
ELY SURROUNDING SOMEONE, IN-
TO WHICH ANY ENCROACHMENT
FEELS THREATENING TO OR UN-
COMFORTABLE FOR THEM".
"SPACE DESIGNED FOR THE USE
OF AN INDIVIDUAL WITHIN A LAR-
GE COMMUNAL AREA SUCH AS AN
OFFICE. TIME IN WHICH SOMEONE
IS UNDISTURBED AND FREE TO
CONCENTRATE ON THEIR OWN
THOUGHTS AND NEEDS."

another fantastic work by Chalkmaster Dave

the creation of these so-called "bald chickens" disturbs me greatly... how much more will humans alter nature to suit themselves? is there no more respect for what we are eating anymore??

this slaughterman kidded around with a pig's ears and nose after a hard day's killing:



it's times like this that i wonder if i should become vegetarian...

so i ran.

running.
one of the best things i discovered in life.

i run when i am sad.
i run when i am happy.
i run when i am stressed.
i run when i am relaxed.
i run when i am tired.
i run when i feel strong.
i run when i feel fat.
i run when i feel slim.

there are 1000001 reasons to run.

there are days like this where my heart is so burdened with worries and uncertainties - about work, about family, about friends, about the future... about almost everything that a person can conceivably worry about... i find myself sighing almost unconsciously and my mind wandering off, interrupted only by yet more thoughts... i don't think i am depressed... just worried...

it is times like this that i realised why i am such an optimistic person by nature and why i sometimes have the weirdest things happening to me... maybe it is to help me to handle difficult and troubling situations when they actually happen ...

a dose of wisdom (dispensed by the police in the form of a rolled up cigarette butt-sized nugget when i went to report stolen laptop two weeks ago):

the Powerpuff Girls: The Movie is starting next week!!

sis suggested i bring Buttercup down to the cinema for the premier and then started getting carried away, going on to say i should bring down also my bag with the small Buttercup keychain, wear the Buttercup watch and hairclip and finally said i should also dress in green, wear a black belt, wear long white japanese style socks and my Oakleys to make my eyes bigger...

errr...

Talks On Photojournalism

today will no doubt be remembered (by me) for marking a new milestone in my whole attitude towards photography.

first speaker Marie-Laure de Decker (France) brought a whole new dimension to my view of photojournalism being a mostly male-dominated domain with her gutsy-ness (her philosophy: "if they don't want you to take the picture, all the more you should!" and "if you die, you die. if you don't, at least you have your picture"), her view on the power of photojournalism in steering public sentiments (e.g. during Vietnam war) and strong principles on what images she will capture and what she will not (no blood, no naked women).

i was also thoroughly inspired by Singapore-based photographer Tay Kay Chin - who in his short talk (heavily laden with sentimentality) captured the exact sentiments i have about what it is and means to be Singaporean. He spoke of a "love-hate" relationship, the feeling that he will never fully understand this place and yet being fully convicted that this is ultimately still "home" - the thought that if he was ever not to be able to return to this country for whatever reason - totally unbearable.. from his words, pictures (he actually uses the Hasselblad XPan dual-format camera - a cool rangefinder) and body language, i could tell that this was someone who felt the same affection i have for Singapore, for the food, the off-the-beaten track spots, the quirkiness of Singaporeans etc etc.. even though he had been all around the world, spending time working and experiencing life overseas.. i was thoroughly moved that he had decided to spend the next couple of years just taking pictures of people and places in Singapore so he can remember them and record them in some way..

about photojournalism, he had these words: don't go into war just so you can capture nice pictures. go into war only if you think your pictures will make a difference. it is already messy enough in there without reporters getting into trouble.. so true..

i really love this pic that alb took!!

thoroughly inspiring talks @ art museum today:

Japanese Master photographer Keiichi Tahara (Art Photography) showcased a series of his photographic works centred around the theme of light, shadows, reflection - reminding us that photography is ultimately about light - observing the movement of light, painting with light and capturing of moments.. he seems to have a fetish for taking photographs of windows.. had a whole series of them but was definitely fascinating - mostly in black and white.. a medium i haven't really gone into yet..he also used his knowledge of light to do this really cool "installation" project to illuminate Canal Saint Martin in Paris with rainbows of light.. must have been amazing to see it...

Second talk was by wacky Master photographer Horst Wackerbarth from Germany (Fashion Photography) - the presentation of his ongoing work Gallery Of Mankind (otherwise known as the "Red Couch Projects") was fascinating, thought-provoking and at the same time one cannot help but smile looking at the small sampling (out of some 400 pictures) of amazing pictures of "people from all walks of life - rich and poor, famous and unknown, old and young, regardless of race and religions" sitting or resting on the famous "universal Red Couch" - see some of great works here. Even his fashion photography works were not just wonderfully taken, but also carried with them symbolisms of meaning - the search for identity, role playing, awareness of life...

good session.. looking forward to tomorrow.. :)

see also some wonderful installation works by thai photographer and installation artist Jakraphun Thanateeranon - whose portfolio was on display.. some people are really creative...

more pictures of myself ...click on <1> <2> <3>... submitted to The Mirror Project

pics from my lca:





month of June is the Month of Photography!! going for free talks at Singapore Art Museum tmrw morning organised as part of Asia-Europe Workshop For Young Photographers, with sharing on different aspects of photography by some gurus from Japan, Germany, France and Singapore... what a great time to get some solid inspiration :)

a friend of mine was tickled pink recently reading Notes From An Even Smaller Island - a book by an ang moh capturing his feelings, views and observations about Singaporean life from his time here on our little island ..i'm sure this guy was really funny, judging from how my friend couldn't stop laughing and prodding me to read the book too... there were bits about kiasuism, government policies and also daily local life in the book. ..

yet, on the other hand, i felt a little annoyed...and the reason why this was the case was because this friend of mine is Malaysian and a more than occasional critic of Singapore-related stuff. I'm not saying that all Malaysians are Singapore-bashers (though that might appear to be the case of late - judging from what is written in the press).. yet, much as my views on Singaporeans (and especially on govt polices) may not always be positive, i know that i do love this country. in fact, i can even imagine myself willing to die for Singapore if the need ever arises.. so one thing that never fails to get to me are how foreigners (even Malaysians) poke fun or laugh at, criticise and slam this country even if they don't know enough about this place and who have obviously no deep vested interest in the country to hope it will flourish (other than so they can work here!) - i mean, who are they to speak as if they know better? they could just walk away when things go bad - no loyalty whatsoever even if they have been here a while, studying, working or living... we all know that Singapore is imperfect in many ways, but unless they have a genuine interest in making this place better, all this talk is fruitless and empty.. for this reason, i am a 100% supporter of local forums such as Sintercom, ThinkCenter and Singapore Window where Singaporeans themselves take an interest in and discuss local issues openly..

i guess much of how i feel stems from the fact that i know how blessed i am to have been born in this country - knowing that given enough hard work and smartness, my opportunities and choices in life are relatively unlimited... having lived overseas for a while and travelled fairly extensively in the region these recent years, i know the life and career, travel etc. opportunities we have here are but an impossible dream for many born in poverty and hardship in most of the countries surrounding us.. a friend of mine told me Singapore was described recently by some politician in Singapore as a super efficient sports car that is viewed (puzzledly) by Singaporeans as just an ordinary car... makes you wonder why... maybe Singaporeans are just afraid they will be accused of being "blind PAP followers" if they do openly show appreciation for the so-called "good life".. but how did they get so confused..?

Senegal's unexpected upset of World Cup holders France by 1:0 proves that just about anything is possible.. (see news).. umm... suddenly realised that even as i rack my brains real hard, i don't seem to know anything about this African country other than that it is in Africa... as a matter of fact, I don't even know which part of Africa it is in! but wouldn't it be cool to visit Senegal...? :)

managed to finish stocktaking early and dropped into Festival Village @ Fort Canning for an enjoyable evening of World Music stuff.. everything from Argentinian contemporary tango from La Chicana (really nice!), classical South Indian music by Mangala Vadyam (from Singapore) - orchestra of indian wind and percussion instruments - and hiphopping funky jazz by Eval Manigat & Tchaka (Haiti/Canada) to some rather odd masked dance and drama thing (good triumphs over evil) from West Bengal (India)'s Purulia Chhau Group - doing the all-time favourite Ramayana - and an unexpectedly enjoyable Balinese-style Gambuh Macbeth by Indonesian group Arti Foundation (this is really really cool...). All this for only $13! (plus they give you two bottles of Perrier per ticket!) it's a good deal.. try not to miss it if you can.. great international stuff doesn't come around to Singapore all that often, especially at this price..

feeling really exhausted now and my eyes are hurting from a whole day of staring at rows of tiny text.. we are doing a stock take for the store today and tomorrow ... going to find out what else has been pilfered from the store through the year (other than the laptop.. ) :O Shiplifiting really does hurt companies, especially little ones like ours that definitely cannot afford to lose these (sometimes) hundreds of dollars of goods a week.. i so wish these people who take on the whim of a moment could consider the feelings of those who own the store.. but did you know that not everyone thinks it is wrong (unless they actually get caught)? I have a friend who has shoplifted before and it was only because he thought $60 for a pair of pants was really too much to pay and so he decided to steal one and buy one.. durrhhh??? was just surfing the net for this topic and actually found this site teaching "The Art Of Shoplifting"!

e.g. 1. If possible, you should always have some money on you when intending to shoplift, because if you've got none, it's rather hard to argue that to steal the item was a spontaneous decision. As a result, if you've got no money and are caught shoplifting you are more than likely to be charged for burglary as well as theft.

aiyoh... but his article is also quite Robin-Hood/communist-sounding..

"the golden rule of theft should be enunciated: NEVER STEAL FROM SOMEBODY WHO COULD CONCEIVABLY BE A COMRADE. Hence kicking into a house on Bell Street with a beaten up old Mazda in the yard is irresponsible and counter-revolutionary!"

errr....

dinner at village wok restaurant (2 pairs chopstick) along lor 3 geylang followed by durians and mangosteens in the cool breeze of the night with close friends... ahh... life... :) beats sitting in a smoky bar and drinking beer (though that's nice sometimes too :))

spent large part of morning in Orchard Neighbourhood Police Centre making police report for stolen laptop and found a pace of life that has long disappeared from the face of Singapore... everything moves so slowly in the police station that i felt a calm serenity....like a kampung feel... hahaha... actually, i'm really not kidding.. time seems to stand still here and i chatted with the a few policemen on duty there, asking them what's the silliest complaints they receive on a a regular day. Turns out to be noise pollution.. sigh... but this one guy did give a couple of good advice on protecting your personal property like handphones, laptops and pdas.. according to him, they get at least 20 to 30 reports of lost mobile phones in a single day at each police station... and an increasing number of reports of lost palms... wow... and usually they can't do much except take down the statement and file it. however, he advised that we take down the serial numbers for these things as they do sometimes manage to recover some of them when they raid shops in sim lim and so on..

ya, guess that may be where our laptop will eventually end up.. poor thing... :(

and he says that some people really don't work at all and just go around looking for opportunities like that... makes sense i suppose.. if you could nick a handphone, even a silly (now antiquated) Nokia 3210, in something like 5 seconds and sell it for even $50 in rochor road, that's pretty good money huh? :(

they used 2,500 pieces of toast (in different degrees of "toasted-ness") to build a gigantic mosaic, which reproduce a photograph of a toaster!!

why???

and this Ass-o-tron thingy is quite addictive for some reason.. feed it a URL and it will load whatever page you selected with a picture of someone mooning superimposed on it.. i find it really funny when you do it on the webpage of someone or a company you don't really have great affection for.. :p .. or even on your own page..

somehow, this report that the Klez virus is now No. 1 has me feeling vindicated.. how come? umm... don't know..maybe it is because i now know i'm not the only one accused of being a Klez Monster :p

frankly speaking, am quite impressed with virus creators and their ingenuity.. but deleting emails (with sizes around 120k to 130k but no attachments) with random subject headings like "from your girlfriend", "to terminate", "klez virus removal tool", etc before even opening them has become almost a daily exercise for me.. sigh... wonder when it will finally die down...

btw, i'm really not a Klez Monster..

passed a car fully engulfed by flames on my way home just now! :O .. against the dark background of the night, it burned strong and bright as a funerary offering..very surreal... the incident must have just happened and the fire trucks were not there yet so there was only a small crowd in a distance .. however, my shock sooned turned to frustration as i realised i didn't have any film in my lomo camera and my digital camera was on my study table!! grr... it's really frustrating how things like that happen just when you are totally unprepared to record them down even though you are right at the scene! have promised myself never to be in a situation like that again and not have any one of my numerous cameras.. sigh.. :(

fretfully eventful day, though not altogether pleasant... found to our worst fears that the laptop that had gone missing from our shop had really been stolen. watched the cctv recording in the morning and watched (helplessly of course) this indian/malay guy in striped polo shirt (literary) walking into our office and walking out with it wrapped in a white plastic bag.. grr... that was friday night, and of the two staff who were on duty that night, one was at the cashier counter and the other on dinner break.. this guy was definitely opportunistic and we did capture lots of images of him in our video but not sure if the police will be able to do much.. they were not the last two times we reported thefts (of handphones) with video recordings of the culprits.. let's see how it goes..

had fun staying up with sis last night reading Kokology: The Game of Self-Discovery .. apparently, it is more fun to read the book with someone else.. anyway, the fun part of this Jap-translated book - comprising part psychological test and part game - is when you go through a series of seemingly random questions (mostly in story form) relating to some rather innocent and sometimes unusual situations, and your chosen response (MCQ-style) at the end reveals some rather "hidden" behavioural and personality traits and attitudes of yourself about sex, family, friends, love, work, and more!

try out some of the Kokology games here...

for those who know me, all my life i've found myself strangely drawn to weird and unusual stuff.. i found this guy Athanasius Kircher rather cool to be honest.. check out this Museum of Jurassic Technology, truely an amazing collection of esoteric craziness... :p

the Photoshop Contest shows how radically you can actually transform any image as long as you have the right skills and patience..

i think Liane's photos for the film exchange project are simply amazing.. i'm inspired :)

report for the detox weekend.. here it goes...

- Saturday: kept away (mostly) from red meats except for traces of pork rib in brunch meal at famous 48 Onan Rd Joo Chiat Prawn Mee (makansutra 2 1/2 pairs ). ate New York Cheesecake in afternoon at Onyx (Siglap) - could be toxic, if you consider sugar to be a toxin (which some detox books do). Dinner was delicious Fish Head Steamboat at Xin Heng Feng Guo Tia Tan (90 Whampoa Dr) rated 6/6 in yahoo food review site... verdict: diet was low in fats, high in cholesterol... hopefully, weak attempt to windsurf at windless east coast in afternoon helped to burn off some of that.. :p

- Sunday (i.e. today): breakfast of healthy soup noodle at home, lunch of Duck Rice at 40A Commonwealth Ave (Margaret Dr).. rated 1 pair of makansutra chopsticks - undeserving... duck is a red meat.. umm.. can i redefined red meats = ungulate?? :p and ... :"> ... oxtail stew dinner (2 1/2 pair chopstick) at Werner's Oven (German Bakery and Restaurant on Upp East Coast Rd) :O... sorry.. i couldn't resist.. discipline in detox takes time... now have even more reason to go running to burn off the extra fats and cholesterol accumulated over the gastronomic weekend.. :p

report for the introspective weekend... took time off by myself today, took a long walk from home to West Coast Park, sat with sea breeze blowing in my face, Josh Groban playing in my discman (found out my sis has the CD! :D), notebook and pen in hand, and time on my hands.. and thought about what all this restlessness meant and prayed a little.. a lot clearer now about what i really value in my life and roughly what sort of direction i should be heading... no answers yet of course but feeling a bit more peaceful now.. :)

something triggered off this restlessness in me recently... i don't know when and i don't know what, but i suddenly feel that the good life i'm having now just doesn't seem to be so fulfilling anymore.. maybe life is too good.. so good it almost feels unreal.. after a while, i start to wonder if i'm fulifilling myself or just fulfilling time in a great way (i'm really not grumbling about how things are now.. in fact, life has never been better.. just that.... :( ... )

i have this nagging feeling inside me that tells me that there is a greater purpose in this life of mine.. and clues about it are scattered about in what's happening to me and around me and my response to them... maybe i need to be more conscious of what motivates me, what attracts me, frustrates me, what i can do for hours at a stretch without feeling tired or bored, the special talents and gifts that God has placed in me, and opportunities that come in and out of my life... and maybe also what i find myself admiring in others....

maybe like what a good friend just told me... i need to give myself some time off, away from the noise and hustle and bustle, to reflect on all these things and not just brush them away....

btw, who's this Josh Groban guy everyone's talking about? He's actually put his whole album online for us to hear his wonderful voice!

just bought a dilbert google mug online! :O.... the net really makes for convenient but rash shopping... took me less than 10 minutes of frivolous typing... gulp... it's a terrible, terrible tool for depressed yuppies with credit cards... but i need a mug anyway, i think..



realised i've attained a never-before record of eating from makansutra-recommended eating spots for a consecutive 4 days! had the apparently "original" katong laksa at 49 East Coast Rd (off Ceylon Rd) for brunch (though there are also a whole bunch of other great katong laksas in the same so-called "katong laksa war" zone) and Yong He Tau Huay (Beancurd) for supper yesterday; and ate Fish Soup at Blk 155 Bukit Batok St 11 (2 1/2 pairs chopstick) for brunch and Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice along River Valley Rd for dinner tonight... (apparently, katong has a chicken rice war as well.. wow.. what a food paradise..)

this weekend is detox weekend, i promise...

alb discovered a case of blatant bandwidth theft two days ago when this portuguese guy stole this cool pic hosted on alb's server


and linked it directly on his own site.. as you know.. bandwidth stealing is bad.... :p

so we decided to cheekily change it to this pic to embarrass the guy and watch for his reaction..



this is what he wrote in his blog after that: que porra foi aquela de meninas super poderosas aqui no blog????
ja tirei.. mas que susto... putz...
o cara renomeou a foto do site dele... e eu nao tinha salvo.. vou ver se tem no cache da faculdade a foto antiga pra voltar "ao normal".....
nerds notdead // 14:05

which translates in English to: what porra was that one of powerful super girls in blog here?
ja I took off. but that scare... putz...
the face renomeou the photo of the site of it... and I nao had saved.I go to see if pra has in cache of the college the old photo to come back
"to the normal one".....
nerds notdead// 14:05

hahahahha :D anyway, he actually had the nerves to write immediately to alb and ask why he had his pic removed and replaced..and was told the proper netiquette... :p

dinner at Hing Wa Restaurant along Beach Rd (makansutra 2-chopstick) - a Heng Hwa (apparently a dialect group) restaurant, famous for its herbal chicken soup in claypot, crispy blachan chicken, stir fried kailan with beancurd skin and a couple of other dishes.. ..quite good food... but quite stuffed now and had a bit of stomachache just now (from overeating?? :">) so can't seem to remember how much i enjoyed it.. but we did finish every last morsel so i reckon it must have been quite good... :)

i suspect i'm becoming a glutton judging from the amount i blog about food... :O

i now think that some secondary school teachers, especially the ones who have spent their whole lives teaching, are absolutely poor examples for our kids (yes, including my unborn children in the future) on what the real world is like....

background to this: i got an incredibly annoying phonecall today from this young teacher demanding that i go down to her Jurong West school to collect cash payment for some goods that i delivered to some of her fellow teachers last week. they had each made individual orders after i went down to do a demonstration on a product and the consolidated amount was substantial enough (> $200) for us to provide free delivery of the goods to them. when i sent down the goods to them last week, i had the orders neatly and individually packed, with individual invoices requesting for payments to be made via cheque written to our Company's name. so it was pretty clear how they could pay.. i couldn't understand why they still needed me to go down just to pick up the payment...

her excuses? the teachers did not have postage stamps and envelops... or worse still, the teachers didn't know how to pay by cheque 'cos they were "not professionals like us"... or even worse.. this tops it all... she and "many of the teachers" wondered how i could "differentiate one cheque from another and who had paid and who had not"... durrrrhhh???? i told her that differentiating a cheque is like differentiating one ang pow from another in a wedding... write their name on the back of the envelop lor! but then she cooked up more and more exasperating excuses like (a) the teachers were worried the cheques would get lost in the mail and (b) the teachers were not willing to pay the 22 cents extra for the postage.. hello? did they think my petrol would cost less than 22 cents??? even when i told her the only solution is to come down to our shop to pay us directly, she sounded shocked and confused... durrhhh???

i worry for the future of our nation...

cze cha dinner at makansutra 2-chopstick (i.e. 2 pairs of chopsticks) Hillman Restaurant at Blk 1 , Cantonment Rd , #01-159 - surprisingly popular with Japs and Ang Mohs... famous for their paper-wrapped chicken (see pic above), claypot dishes and fried rice - which supposedly has amazing "wok hei" ('wok air' in cantonese, meaning fragrance) - good review at makansutra page here and it is indeed yummy.. very laid-back and near carpark... so you can safely watch your car from the restaurant just in case the parking coupon expires and our favourite summons auntie appears.. :p

i'm done with my london album!! who wants to see?? come see, come see!! :) err... sorry not online.... nothing to click on line before this... :p

btw, local lomo embassy ffurious is organising a lomo LCA event in Summer 2002 - LOMO WONDERLAND THE LOMOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE - sounds really exciting - they're putting up a 42m long Lomowall made up of 3R photos taken by this funky camera..dannybunny, going for it?? :)

and.. and... this is a pic of me at The Mirror Project!! so exciting!!! :)

went to new jap restaurant Mingeijaya Sento Japanese (at Starhub Centre) today and experienced some amazing customer service (which rivals that of what I experienced in tokyo when i was there last year).. well, it was so amazing I have to blog it so you can just imagine.. The moment we walked in, every staff in the restaurant (including even the cook in the kitchen, i'm sure :p) barked out a loud something - i figure it must be the irasshaimase mentioned in the website..).. we were then brought through the pleasantly-decorated restaurant to our comfortable seats. Around us were more serving staff than customers. From the moment we sat down to the time we were ready to leave, we were pampered from hand to toe with warm towels, warm smiles and incredibly polite service. The staff, many of whom were clearly Chinese, could speak Japanese fluently and were ever ready to attend to our every need and to answer all of our unusual queries about the interesting desserts and to make helpful recommendations. Even when this particular waitress accidentally dropped a bottle of chilli powder and some of it scattered onto the chair beside me, they rushed about quickly to make everything right, with looks and words of apology and more warm towels... very impressive. What was even more surprising was yet another loud greeting we received when we were leaving our seats to leave the restaurant. Every single staff, even the lady busy serving another customer at the cashier counter, turned their eyes to fix them on us with the biggest, broadest smiles (to the point of us feeling embarrassed and awkward) and greeted us continuously until we were finally out of the door...

phew... polite service to the point of being scary... still... i'll choose it any time over bad service.. :)

Sento has another branch at East Coast Tennis Centre- very popular with the local Japanese community.

this article on cancer-causing acrylamide in some of my favourite foods really caused me to freak out and drop my dinnerware.. apparently, a bunch of renowned scientists announced yesterday that many fried, baked and processed foods (including my favourite potato chips and fried chicken, as well as grilled, roasted and barbecued food) contain acrylamide, which is said to cause cancer, damage the nervous system and affect fertility!

Lynn! get those Walker's crisps from your cupboard and toss them out!! :O the ready-salted ones contained 1,270 ppb of acrylamide - 127 times higher than what is permitted!!

it really stresses me out not knowing what is safe out there to eat anymore... over dinner just now, my nurse sis (who knows all about organic foods, strange diseases and other such stuff) was feaking me out further by saying how i should peel my fruits and wash my vegetables thoroughly to get rid of pesticides and waxy shiney stuff on apples...

i think i really need to detox..

this is the second time in a month i have been accused of being a Klez Monster.... after an earlier virus-scare, my computer is really protected now and Norton Antivirus is constantly being updated so it really can't be me...

:( ... i'm not the Klez Monster....

a wise thought came into my head today as i was pounding the ground along East Coast, with the sticky sea breeze blowing in my sweaty oily face. In order to combat the problem that most of us are facing now, i.e. feeling ever so often that we have wasted some of our days with either laziness, inertia or activities that don't amount to much at the end of the day, or ended up not fulfilling promises that we make to ourselves; what we can do is to work out what I describe as an "Ideal Day".

basically, you work out the least of what you would really wish you could accomplish everyday, if only you were disciplined enough... for example, this could include getting up at 7am to run 3km. after that, you drink a glass of milk and a glass of Orange Juice to make sure you fulfill your daily dose of nutritional requirements. you could also be planning to spend maybe half an hour to an hour reading the Bible or meditating or whatever. and then maybe working out your workplan for the day before heading out of the front door for work.

what you are trying to achieve is basically to "automate" these essential activities into a routine so after a while, you would not think twice when you do them and they are not likely to be replaced by sudden bouts of ill-discipline or laziness or be waylaid by other non-essential activities. having gotten these important things done, your mind is less besieged by guilt or frustration through the day and you would naturally also become healthier in all ways, physically, mentally and spiritually...

isn't that great?! well, maybe some of you may already be doing something like that.. but this would surely help someone less-disciplined like me.. :)

Calorie Count for Today:

Minus (i.e. good :))
- ran for 30 mins at East Coast = - 280 (? just a rough guess.. could be less 'cos hot weather made me run more slowly than usual)
- swam two laps at snail's pace at Clementi Swimming Complex = - 10 (??) - aiyah, forgot to bring goggles so couldn't swim properly, that's why the meaningless distance covered... ended up chatting and tanning at side of pool, soaking in warm tropical chlorine water... nice relaxing activity anyway..

Plus (i.e. bad!!)
- dim sum lunch at Crystal Jade = + 460 to +550 (just a really, really rough estimate based on unverified data i found on the net.. too embarrassed to reveal the source.. :p)
- coffee bean's black forest ice blended regular (with whipped cream) = +150

Therefore, overall calorie count = + 320 .... :O horrors!!!

just been told by alb that Episode III hasn't been done yet.. the existing trilogy consists of IV, V and VI.... errr...:"> feeling embarrassed now... a Star Wars fan-wannabe exposed... : p

so when are they going to make Episode III???

i got my results for the exam!!! And I've got an A and 2 B+ !! hooray!! and...and... IT SEEMS LIKE I TOPPED THE CLASS!!! :O :D quite unbelieveable... :) feeling very high now..... and honestly... i was really studying just to make sure i don't have to go for resits... now can relax and go for swim and run tomorrow... time to keep fit and get back in shape.. :) motivated now..



my own verdict on Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones? Love it!! :) and Daniel, you're right.. I LOVE YODA!!! He is simply the most adorable guy you can find in the show.. couldn't stop laughing at everything he says and does... and he is much less puppet-like than before and every bit of his facial muscles move now... absolutely cool.... worst bit about the show.. err.... seriously.. the romance between Anakin and Padme...i squirmed in my seat... really.. i shant say more less i spoil the show for you... a really enjoyable show as a whole anyway... :) am looking forward to getting the vcds for Episode III to V.. ya... am slightly embarrassed as i say it now.. i think i am probably (and star wars fan alb agrees too) the only person on Planet Earth who is actually watching the full Star Wars Saga (for the very first time) in the right order... :p... i watched Episode I on Sunday, Episode II today and guess I should be getting III to V soon... :D ... i am actually watching it in the right order! :D hahaha...

it's been terribly warm these couple of days..check out the latest in the weather.. bet it is still something like

Fair and warm
Temperature 27 °C - 35 °C
Relative Humidity 55% - 85%

grrr... i reckon i could melt just staying in the sun.... anyone has any suggestions on how to cool down?? i recommend that you hide in the shade or aircon places whenever you can and drink more bubble tea.. :p

just had famous Rocher Beacurd (Short St branch) and Parklane Zha Wan Tan Mee (in Sunshine Plaza off Prinsep St)... yummy... Bea-curd.. umm... hahahha... :D check out the spelling!!!



we have a fishball noodle stall near our workplace which has a large handwritten sign "On Leave" stuck over their Ipoh Hor Fun... food on leave?? hahahhaha :D.. i thought only the cook goes on strike!! i will try to take a picture of it when i can.. :P but maybe by then it would have come back from leave?? wahahahahah....sorry....

alb just got tix for us to watch Star Wars Episode II on Friday!! Click on this to get into the mood!!

:D yay!!!

Now to build my own light sabre and buy the cloak and masks... hee hee.. or should i go as... Yoda?? umm... but that will need me to speak funny... Yodaspeak?

karen's lovely one-day old baby: worth all of my blogspace today... :)






and no, it doesn't make me want to have my own baby yet, just in case you were wondering...

ever experienced the kind of feeling that you are wasting time?... you know.. when you keep making the same excuse of "relaxing" or "chilling out" when asked what you have been up to, and when what you say echoes back into your ears, it sounds really lame.. the point is.. you know in your heart that you are just plain not doing anything constructive...just.. wasting time... :(.. and it's not like you are sick or studying for exams or whatever.. there are tons of stuff you know you will enjoy doing.... and which you have promised yourself you will definitely do when you find the time... like read that expensive travel book that I bought last year.. start working on that jigsaw puzzle... try out that recipe in that "spicy food" cookbook I borrowed.. make salt dough figures.. read the Bible... go for a run or go skating... start watercolour painting.. plan a trip.. anything.... as long as it is constructive...

but no... i end up staring at the walls.. twiddling my thumbs.. at times like this, it seems like i would rather sit in front of the computer and surf aimlessly for strangers' blogs.. or time-wasting games.. or just flipping through the same copy of newspapers or Her World repeatedly.. than stop to think what better things there are to do... and then for some reason i end up staying out or sleeping really late.. as if to make up for the wasted time by doing something constructive in the middle of the night..

and then time just flies by and it is mealtime.. or zz time.. or 3am..or. whatever... sigh.....

inertia-induced madness and lethargy...

t h e ... i n t e r n e t ... i s .... s o... s l o w ......t o n i g h t ....

i really should look into getting broadband... i have been staring at the screen for some 25 mins and i still do not have the bottom half of the screen... this is so absurd...

very looking forward to watching Star Wars Episode II after catching Episode I on tv yesterday, enduring impossibly ridiculous number of commercial breaks every 10 mins... but i think Queen Amidala's costume changes are amazing..

in london, there is a new (and truely bizarre) reality show where four people live in the window of a shop (Harrods, to be precise) for a week and have to complete certain tasks set by members of the public (by internet vote)...

watched No Man's Land just now... solid movie.. very realistic.. but came out feeling a little depressed... War is Bad... no matter which side started it..

not one to watch my calories nor my waistline, i did not realise the amount of unhealthy stuff i had been pumping into my body since i got caught up recently in a hundred and one things..exams, trip, work...the usual.. too much coffee, fatty red meats and McDonalds, Old Chang Kee curry puffs, starbuck mocha coffees, cholesterol-laden seafoods, chocolates, fried foods... the usual stuff that makes one grow fat and sluggish... the negative mood foods... at the same time, i stopped all forms of exercise, even simple crunches at night.....

the downside? i was highly irritable (from the weather, from long queues, from bad drivers, from silly pranks of others etc etc..), i found myself tired and breathless just from climbing bukit timah hill (yesterday), i slept more but less deeply (i used to sleep dead like a log), i found myself suffering from all sorts of strange physical ailments (like my stuck eardrum, headaches, stomachaches..), i couldn't focus on my work as well as i could, my short-term memory was weak... and i found it hard to keep to commitments i made...

which irritated me even more...

ironically, i use only Premium Petrol in my car and yet i feed myself trash... i am determined to start eating properly.. more water, more fruits and veges, and maybe get red meat out of my diet as much as i can.. "detox" in a sort of way...

a great site on the BodyWorlds exhibition i went to in London...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,8542,669680,00.html

wanted to watch academy award winner No Man's Land but it was sold out so we ended up watching hilarious comedy 40 Days And 40 Nights starring cute Josh Hartnett.. gosh! do guys really have such incredible sex drives?? :p have been told (obviously by a guy) that it is all exaggerated and should not be believed...umm....anyway movie was touted as first "no-sex comedy" but the references to it are so everywhere in the movie ... durrhh... and they still ended up doing it anyway at the end..sigh...

funny quote from the official website of the movie: Do You Know: Over 11,000 people are injured every year trying out new sexual positions.. :O there is even this website called the 4040 club for people who are trying to do that.. providing distractions like games and other interactive stuff... hahaha... i know one guy who's just trying to do that... let's all wish him all the best.. or shall we start taking bets?? :O

here's some birds on a wire...

i am such a disorganised and inefficient person... what an irritable day... sigh... too little gets done in a day and everything around me seems to be in a mess... :(

sorry.. just trying to vent...and my stomach is starting to hurt for no apparent reason... funny how we sometimes start to feel physically unwell once we feel mentally frustrated or unhappy... maybe toxic brain juices have seeped through to the various other body parts and destroyed them..? don't know.. am not bio student..

came up with a wise and mature thought while chatting with friend yesterday.. we were talking about parents and about the different styles in which children are brought up. We came upon the topic of over-protective parents, especially mums towards their daughters.. those who set curfews (even if their daughters are already "old enough" to think for themselves) and those who decide what their daughters can and cannot do, where they can and cannot go, etc etc.. i suddenly realised that parents should really be more concerned with the company their children are keeping rather than all these.. after all, if their kids are hanging out with bad company, they will be in danger even at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. if they are with safe company, they will be ok even if they are out till midnite.. isn't it? besides, the more they impose limits, the more their kids are likely to hide information or to lie... so maybe openness and trust (that their parents will not overreact) is really the only way to make sure parents know what their kids are up to..

oh well, scary thing is, parents do not have a manual on how to bring up their children and they only really have one chance at it and whatever they do will inevitably influence the lives of their children for a long time (if not permanently)... umm....

little wonder why some couples decide not to have kids... the whole idea of this great responsibility must surely overwhelm them...

today's front-page love story of pierre png sharing half his precious liver with gf andrea de cruz had all gfs in singapore nudging their bfs all day asking "Dearie, if this happens to me, will you do the same for me?" and bfs going," aiyoh! choy! touch wood! touch wood! don't say something like that leh!".... hence, gfs still do not have their answers.. still, it was a really touching story... :) glad things turned out ok in the end... as friend says.. God's miracle..

feeling a void now that i don't need to attend lessons till July.... haven't started running and blading yet and should start watercolour painting and clay modelling soon... trying to be a little creative and healthy before the lessons start again :p ..maybe will paint scenes from London.. slide pix turned out quite nice... meet up for coffee if you wanna see pix? call me.. :) trying to squeeze in a short weekend dive trip too, and maybe brush up on photography (take more lomo pix), learn Photoshop and Flash and revise my Bahasa Indonesia a little ..ya.. took a crash course in it about a couple years back.. now can't even remember basic stuff.. i really only know two languages.. so deficient....

i really sound like a student on vacation.. :p

I enjoyed reading this story by Catherine Lim.

And this is fun...find out "what your name would mean if you happened to be a shallow imitation of humanity with a dark purpose".. I am

just watched Spidey! Really cool movie.. at end of show, I really felt like I just experienced a comic-book character come to life! Actions are unbelieveably real and I sat at the edge of my seat as Spidey swung through downtown Manhatten.. wow.. the twin towers of WTC were visibly missing from the skyscape... otherwise bet he would have swung between them too! Way to go, Spiderman!! :D

have been suffering from a severe case of eardrum blockage in my left ear since mid-way through London trip.. started with water getting into my ear during a shower and for some unknown reason it didn't automatically drain out this time round and now my left ear is really hard-of-hearing.. never experienced this before. was upset with neighbourhood GP who couldn't do much about it except give me a useless looking eardrop.. sigh.. will have to find an ENT (Ear-Nose-Throat) specialist if it doesn't get better.. in the meantime, if i meet you or you catch me across the street, speak up or shout, ya? I really can't hear you that well anymore.. :(

ya, just in case you were wondering.. I watched Spiderman in mono sound.. :(

was flipping through a copy of AsianDiver Annual - Top Destinations of Asia (Collector's Edition) just now and realised how much I want to dive!! :O I can't be above ground that much of a year!! I'm 30% fish and I need to be in water!!

was in a bit of a daze today - partially due to jet-lag (an easy excuse :p) but mostly because i was up till 1am playing around with Photoshop 6.0.. so fun!! there are a million and one things you can do to a photograph.. but read that a real digital photographer must have a pretty good digital camera.. umm...so sad as i eye my antique 1.3 megapixel olympus.. must save up for sexy and featherlite (relatively) Nikon Coolpix 5000.. really cool with nice deep grip, "flip out and twist" LCD and (wow!) 5.0 megapix!.. sigh.. how to save when times are so bad...

btw, this is really funny...

what a great, inspiring and real-time story of God's leading in one's life..we're following closely Karen :) Inspired, i'm picking up my copy of The Road Best Traveled to read again :)

Back in blisteringly hot Singapore and now it’s thundering mammoths and t-rexs a mere 2 hours later! Most unpredictable and bewildering! The sudden contrast in climate (from 10°C to 33°C) plus the inevitable “jet-lag” and the heaviness of the downpour adds to my confusion… I am in a daze…



So I check my loot…a couple of things to give away and many other things for myself :p.. I’ve got photography books (Drive By Shootings and Tibor Kalman's Colors).. a Photoshop 6.0 for Photographers.. a Square swatch edition that apparently cannot be found in Singapore.. two rather antique Charles Darwin books (from a quaint Charing Cross bookstore), a Paper Palm (hahaha..), a furry bear hand puppet from Covent Garden, 2 limited edition Star Wars action figurines (alb says they are valuable cos they can’t be found in Singapore), an Amelie DVD-Soundtrack double set (uncensored unlike the one in HMV), the original magnetic Fridge poetry (watch out for some poetic inspirations on my blog :p), some tea from Whittards and a couple of other stuff I still have to sort out.. umm.. not bad huh? :)

A quick run-down on what we manage to accomplish in the one week...

-eating places – belgos (1kg of mussels in olive oil, cream and white wine sauce), wagamama (kare lomen), mandarin kitchen (for the yummy lobster noodles and scallops), royal china (very popular - very crowded dimsum place), some Italian, some Indian, and loads of my favourite full english breakfasts (sausage, bacon, egg, beans, mushroom and toast).. yum yum…

-museums – brit museum, v&a, tate modern, natural history, national gallery, national portrait gallery

-sights– st pancras, big ben & westminister abbey, houses of parliament, st james’s park, green park, leicester sq, trafalgar sq, st paul’s cathedral, tower bridge

-markets & shopping – camden, petticoat, regent st, harrods, tottenham court rd and oxford st with their wonderful lifestyle and paper and craft and electronic shops, charring cross for the wonderful bookstores

-exhibitions – koeperwelten (bodyworlds).. mindblowingly amazing.…

-nostalgic places – my hall of residence in London (where I stayed in my first and third year), the apartment I shared with a couple of great friends in my second year, the safeway supermarket I always shopped at, uol union (where I did all my dive training), lse, the giant corner bookstore off gower st, all souls church..

quite a bit for a week huh? :)

some of the most bizarre things happen in london... was joking with alb in the afternoon two days ago about getting a phone call from mrs tang of springfield sec school asking for canvas. i was imitating how she would usually go on and on telling me what she wants to order even if i tell her i am driving or off or whatever. i acted out the scene and made alb act as me and me as mrs tang. we laughed and laughed and alb thought i was kidding about her insisting on ordering even though i tell her i am in london. that night at 12.54am (london time) she really called and asked for canvas and was really embarrassed when i told her i was in london and quickly hung up. haha... so i was wrong but how bizarre the coincidence.. :p

anyway, more pix to entertain till i return...
glum londoners in tube

busking in the underground stations.. the harp player was really good.. think we should really allow people to busk in boring Singapore

found an art shop that reminds me of creative hands in london!! very surreal...:)

the german ww2 bombs left a couple of holes in the side of the v&a museum..

duckies in the trafalgar square fountain

we also visited the amazing Bodyworld exhibition in East London.... very out-of-the-world...

more updates... weather still as unpredictable but we're seeing days of great sunshine amidst the scary thunderstorms (yes, these are really heavy showers and strong freezing winds... brr... :> don't really remember ever having seen such storms when i was last here... umm...)

some pixs to give you a feel of what i've been seeing..see alb's site for more pix (especially of stunning st paul's cathedral and tower bridge)..

the brit museum with its egyptian mummies, stolen artifacts from greece, ivory chessmen, etc.. they have renovated the interiors.. its really stunning now..

.. gloomy big ben - bad weather day.. but this is really more like the london i remember.. :p

st pancras station - fantastic gothic (?) architecture.. one of many in architecturally-rich london... stunning...

the new tate modern gallery... so much fun seeing works of art that challenged our senses (and definitely tickle us silly)... see me admiring this grey canvas.. in another room was an entirely blue one and yet another had a canvas with slash across the surface and a perforated one... :D

alb enjoying an episode of teletubbies... the brits seem obsessed with reality tv... we enjoyed seeing episodes of edwardian country house..

where we're staying...a beautiful place in a peaceful crescent off russell square..