Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Close encounter of the Blogger kind

There She was
And time stood still
I sat transfixed
Drinking in her beauty

Stealing glances
Here & there
I'd wanted to move in
But didn't dare

So I sat back
Sipping my Johnny Walker Black
Slinking into a dark corner
I can see why so many
longed for her

It was time to leave
She'd stayed on
Maybe I should go say "Hi!"
Alas, no, I just couldn't get it on...

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Hear ye...Hear ye...

Well another weekend spent at home. Laundry's piling up, suitcase still unpacked from previous trip, and I'm going to witness my Bro getting registered tomorrow, before flying off to Beijing on a red-eye flight. You'd think I'm running around like a headless chicken, but nope, I'm using my powerful procrastinating skills to leave everything till the last minute! A skill honed well over the years, it should not be attempted by the weak of heart.

I'm going to this workshop organized by Canon since I got hold of their products, courtesy of my dear Sis. Hopefully I come away with some knowledge on how to take more interesting shots rather than point-and-shoot or over-exposing subjects to too much flash. Also picking up some tips online and also thru Wen's Flickr . Dunno whether I'll then head to Wala or not. Training will start soon, and I don't wanna show up at the boat area with too much of a paunch.

I'll be volunteering at the recruitment drive on Wed, hopefully can sign more people up for future trainings. I was looking forward to the twice weekly trainings, but was told that it'll only be once a week for now. I can understand that the coaches and team manager can't always sacrifice their time for the team, however I wonder if it'll just fizzle out if we don't have trainings on more days...

I have a London trip coming up soon, and one more in August. Will pack my good walking shoes to enjoy the summer, and also take less public transport. You read,hear and see it happening over there, and wonder if the same thing happened here, how'd we react? We are a pampered, bochup lot here on the little red dot, no matter how the men in suits say otherwise. Best to avoid crowded places like the coming Comex 2005 , those places are a disaster waiting to happen.

Speaking of August, the Hungry Ghost Festival coming hor? Luckily the rain comes now and then, so you won;t have too much ashes flying around. Gotta remember to dry my clothes indoors, in case it gets burnt. I saw a preview of a local movie about this period, could go watch it.

Bet you missed this ad in TNP recently....

Friday, July 22, 2005

2 less lonely people in the world...

WTF, my bro is getting registered this weekend. And I'm the last one to find out?!!

Dammit he's so nonchalant about it, like he's gonna play a round of golf like that?!

Sunday, July 17, 2005

CSI?!

There he was, an affable chap running a Chinese restaurant in an adopted land. One moment he was going on about how we should visit the beach on Sunday, next he was lying in a pool of blood, gasping for his life... ...

We had went to his restaurant for dim sum lunch. He immediately recognized us as Singaporeans. He took to us almost in an instant, talking to us like old friends. I had never visited his eatery, and was busy ordering food for the rest of us. He took pains to go through what we ordered, advising us not to order too much in case we can't finish it. He even sat down to have a glass of wine with my colleagues.

He was raving about a beach that we should visit on a Sunday, giving us directions and all. You can see that this guy was very hospitable, just because we came from the same land as he does true that the grass is greener on the other side, but when you look back, you'd miss the food, the lingo, the people. We just know instinctively that we come from the same place where hawker fare is abundant, and people are just so liberal with their 'lahs' & 'lehs'.

The lunch went on very well, the food was delicious, and yes I had ordered too much food. We were getting ready to leave when there was a commotion. I saw a gun waved around, pushed my friends onto the floor, and stayed down.

It was over as fast as it had happened. The owner was now lying on a chair, with a pool of blood on the floor. I didn't hear any shots, so I'd think he was stabbed. Badly. Honestly I was at a loss. I just started shouting, "get him lying on the floor!" and shoved the tables around. I was panicking. You'd think you only read about these incidents in the papers, or see the news in TV. It happened right in front of me. All I could see was that pool of blood. I helped him onto the floor, he was foaming at the mouth already. The waiter, who's his son by the way, was asking us to have a look at him. What he didn't realized was that himself was stabbed, albeit not that badly. I took care of the son, holding onto his wound to stop it from further bleeding. Thankfully two other diners came forward to assist, placing the towkay in a recovery position. Others called in the ambulance and police.

I did all I could to calm the son down, who was swearing about revenge while at the same time asking about his father. I stayed with him as long as I could until the paramedic arrived. I left the restaurant, my left hand still covered in the owner's blood, and made my way back to the hotel.

All this time my female colleagues were just innocent bystanders, witnessing a terrible act of aggression. I worry that some of them will not take it too well, and ask that they bunk into each others rooms for the night.

I still wonder if it was right to just leave the scene of a crime. More of a concern was whether the owner made it or not. I don't know him at all, yet I wish to find out how he is. I won't be sleeping too well tonight...

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

My new toys...

#1 way to spend your bonus quickly:
Go on shopping spree.

I like to think that I am in control of my finances most of the time. However when I got me bonus, I went outta control. After keeping aside some savings and a red packet for Mummy dearest, I took to the malls!

T-shirts;

Yes, I already have alotta T-shirts in my wardrobe. However I couldn't resist buying some from local designers; Refugees, Instant Karma (they gave me a 10%disc on the basis of me being Shirlyn's bro, very nice), Collage Workshop, Hooked Clothing, all had nice T-shirts that can rival imported ones anytime. I bought light/white coloured ones as I realised I have many black ones.

Sneaker;

I saw this pair in Japan while working and took to it almost immediately. Checked it out in Queensway and it was going at a very good price. Tried it one, and it felt just right. Plus it's black, I don't have black sneakers. It's called the Adidas Jabbar Hi.For those younger ones, it's named after Kareem Abdul Jabbar, a great basketball player for the LA Lakers in his time. He also acted in a few movies, think it's Airplane and Game of Death along with Bruce Lee! Now, wouldn't YOU buy a sneaker endorsed by such a great guy?








Next up was my proudest purchase; the New K750i

This mobile phone is da bomb I tell you. I was fiddling with it till late night, going through it's many new features. Dammit this phone can take multi-burst shots! You can see the diff in resolutions from the above 2 photos. My Sis also went to get one too, and my friend redcocoon was swooning over it. Many pics will be coming your way...

Next is the A520 my Sis bought for me. I'm still tinkering with it, and should be joining Canon's digital photography workshop to learn how to take better photos. No sense in just snapping away like a tourist right? Will upload new photos onto Flickr so all can view them.

I also made a trip to Ikea. I tell you that place just is not a place to go when your will is not strong! I was looking for a coffee table, yet spent another $150 on other misc items like shower curtains, ice trays, coat hanger, duvet cover. I like to buy stuff from there, my place is almost like it's plucked out from the Ikea catalogue!
To wind down, I headed down to Wala Wala. I haven't been there since I started Dragon Boat training so I went back 3 nights within the week! I came away very impressed, and got an education about classic metal rock. I'm sure Shirlyn will be more than willing to share with me the files she has on Led Zeppellin, Rush, Black Sabbath, ACDC and some that I may not know of....

Image(054)
*HIC*


My wallet has a big hole in it now....

Friday, July 08, 2005

Failure is Success' Mother....

One'd think that I, like some people out there, have given up on this blogging business. I'm back though, and there a quite a few things to get up to speed with.

The biggest 'excuse' I can find for not blogging is that I've been heavily involed in the dragon boat competition just past a week ago. I could go on and on about it but I think my friend redcocoon's entry should cover it. The team went out for dinner and drinks after that Sunday, and oh, how we wolfed down them crabs and guzzled the beers. More drinks after that at a neighbourhood pub, and I went home pleasantly inebrieted. I did sorta rue the failure to secure a medal, by crying out like a skinny baby in my bed. Not tears-streaming-down kinda cry, but full on loud crying! Felt better after that, took a cold shower and slept like the drunk skinny baby that I am.

We take a break from training for 2 weeks, then it's back to basics training for the Nov event. It's being held at Boat Quay apparently, so this time no excuse for not bringing chilled beer to the race ah...


The annual bonus is in, and I have been whipping out my wallet with gusto. Other than the Canon A520 that my dear Sis gave me as a very much advanced birthday gift(watch out for more pictures soon!), I also went on to buy new computer parts, sneakers, furniture from ikea, and locally designed Tees. Must remember to set aside some for savings and Mum(to buy sweets with :P) before I spend it all. Think I still aiming for the K750i, seen it first hand and I'm in luurve... So, the A520 for experimental amateur photography, and K750i for snapshots good enough to print. WooHoo!!


I went down on Monday night to Wala Wala, to catch up on my drinking whilst listening to good music la. This is the first time I went for Monday's Shirlyn's trio, and a departure from the big sounds that I'm accustomed to. An acoustic set, 3 good(struggling) musicians, 3 guitars, 1 good Monday night. I suspect there were some who innocently popped in for a Monday blues drink, some who were Jack fans, and some, like me, who's never heard Shirlyn play acoustic. I should be there Saturday night again to rock it out with The UnXpected again, before I get back into the groove of training again.


Oh and did I mention my packed roster up till end August? Will have to get ready to pack and unpack quickly for the next few weeks, cuz I have Osaka, Amsterdam, San Francisco, Hong Kong, London trips coming up! Ahh, people like me have all the luck... ...