back in business

i'm home.

i'd thought the one week break would be a tad too long but man, that feels pretty ok. in fact, i had almost wished i have one more day to spare.

it was a usual, annual festive event. or so i thought. only that this time we had a new family member. my brother just got his first son few months back, and boy, what a presense of a baby made to the whole house.

instead of staring at tv screen lazying around wondering what to do, we stared at the baby. awake or asleep.

instead of going out to town wishing to find anything cheap or just buy something not-cheap to just make the trip worth it, we stared at the baby. awake or asleep.

heck i almost feel like i want one. seriously.

except some things are just not within our control. things will be a lot easier if we were a one cell organism that splits to reproduce. whenever we feel like it.

but in real life, they say it always takes two to tango. but what happen when the other one doesn't like dancing? or doesn't even turn up for the session?

that's why the first thing i did when i arrived home from kl, i started surveying what kind of car i would buy. my brother has bought this new naza citra to accomodate his expanding family, and seeing that shiny big blue thing at the porch made me feel like i want one myself too.

because this should be much easier than, you know, getting my own baby. a lot easier.

plus, it felt so uncool going back to my grandpa's house tagging in my parent's car. like i'm such an uncomplished person or sth.

my friend said that i must stop wanting what other ppl have. i don't think i'm that bad actually. i mean, it's normal to want a baby at this age, right? and a car too. what, i'm supposed to commute all my life?

and it's really not my fault that i saw my colleague using his super big and pro digital camera snapping photos during my other colleague's wedding few weeks back, saw the superb photos, then almost automatically felt that i could give my own crappy camera to my sister and buy a new, good one for myself.

so forgive me when i bought a canon powershot G7 for myself today. it's a good buy really. the mscolour lady in ang mo kio gave me e-quote price of $822, and that camera is like on top of few rankings in the internet.

plus, it's still so much easier then, again, getting a baby.



...ed

jaded

things get a lil' bit crazy a bit at work. i guess it's the pressure of completing things before friday. i'll be taking days off next week, so suddenly i found myself with a dateline. not that my boss or anybody verbally or officially mentioned it, it's just that sometimes you'd prefer to tie loose ends before, you know, moving on...

i'm never good at datelines. i think ppl perform at their best when they are not rushed. i mean, how can you sleep at night, and wake up in the morning looking forward for the day, when you know back there in your mind, that there's even-when-the-world-shatters-to-pieces-need-to-complete assignments? it seriously affects your overall being.

and the haze outside is not helping either. gosh i think the psi index has been over 100 like forever. things got a bit better today, but still.. i long for a clear blue sky and the smell of fresh leaves in the morning. ok not that i can smell that anyway but at least it's always nice to breathe something that doesn't smell like smoke.



other than that, life has been pretty normal. i heard that there's sugeestion to hold our annual department christmas party at a pub this year. a pub! how happening is that? previous 2 years we held it at hotel's grand ballroom. not dinner and dance, but lunch and no-dance. except few that were unlucky enough to be called on stage by the mc to do silly moves. so i guess we'll wait and see this year.

we'll have another round of badminton match later today, and this time i'm not among the players. well, after being flattened 6-21 last week, i'm sure i'm not exactly the darling in the captain's eye now. although for my defense, we'd already clinched victory even before my doubles match, so there wasn't anything to lose anyway. with less motivation, we might as well gave away the match.

now if i could just give away these impending works.


...ed

road to madagascar

since we already decided to travel madagascar next month, it's only wise to start planning. gosh i'm excited. i read this list about '40 life instructions', and one of it states 'go travel to places you've never been before once a year'. i like this list i have it pasted at my work cubicle wall. although the writer of that list better not know that i've made my first trips to LA and Vegas already this year.

frankly, i wasn't even sure where madagascar is. my memory of madagascar (apart from of course, the animation movie), was this piece of madagascar national stamp i had when i was small. it was of a female lion, or was it a panther? well, place of wild animals was the impression i had of this country.

so when my friend mentioned there's ticket promotion, and apparently this is very rare, i got excited. i mean, it's madagascar. in africa. who needs to go korea, or taiwan, or australia, when like 90% of the ppl i know already been there? those are well-known places. hardly surprising, right? i'm sure there are lots of walking dictionaries around when coming to these kind of places.

africa on the other hand, is really foreign. i don't even know what they eat (if they ever eat at all). in what kind of places do they stay? how's their way of life? those sorts of thing could be really enlightening to find out. that's what travelling is supposed to be all about, right?

however, having known little could be a disadvantage. is it safe? (ok this was the first thing i checked. wouldn't want to come in the middle of raging war, would i? ok so the government is apparently stable since 2002 power struggle ended. check!) i figured i should do some poking outs, finding out facts and tips about this far far away land.

i found this introduction from bbc webpage.

"madagascar is the world's fourth biggest island after greenland, new guinea and borneo, lies in the indian ocean off the coast of mozambique. because of its isolation, most of its mammals, half its birds, and most of its plants exist nowhere else on earth"

ok this sounds cool! i know this place is famous for 'lemur', but i have no idea how this lemur even look like. that cat-like creature in the animation? wait, or was that in ice age? i don't know.

i guess i have to see it for myself.


...ed

buffet at the square

i've never noticed novotel hotel before. mainly because it's in clarke quay, which is not exactly my playground. never really get recommended by anyone too. some didn't even know the place. the hotel i mean.

so when i saw this buffet promotion (UOB credit card 25% off), I decided to give it a try. good chance to roam clarke quay later. plus, it has chocolate fountain, which was my friend's requirement in selecting places to go.

they called it 'buffet at the square'. my first impression, small but elegant. i quite like the feel of the environment. woody combined with green interior, lighted up by orange lights. should have requested seats by the window though so we could get city view from 7th floor.

the waiter/waitresses are mostly foreigners. we have a balinese and a malaysian attending our table, and i'm sure the name of the cashier is not local either. good service though, all smiles and very attentive. among the best i must say.

it should be a mainly asian dishes buffet, but obviously there were lack of food choices.

they have small selection of sushi and sashimi (only rolled sushis). nothing great. i rarely complained about sushi, for me the sensation is with the wasabi kick when i eat it. the sashimi was inside a glass box, too lazy to order. no tempura or japanese noodles.

then there were selections of briyani chicken, fish and beef, alhough funny that there were only plain or oriental fried rice to accompany it. the spice fish was quite nice. we snacked a lot of the prawn and belinjo crackers while chatting.

upon request, they'd make dishes on this square transparent stylish small plate. we tried popiah (skin too thick and feels too dry) and kiwi chicken (didn't really taste the kiwi). didn't even try the rojak coz it didn't look too tempting.

the satay was pretty cold and tough, but mostly i found that the peanut sauce was too sour. then they served the satay in one little plate at the counter (about 10 sticks at a time) so you kinda get the feelings to take only few sticks everytime.

my friend said the black pepper pasta was too sweet (sweet??) but they quite liked the laksa. there was peking duck too, but we gave it a miss.

the desert selection was poor too. there wasn't even a normal cheese cake. i tend to judge good deserts by good cheesecake so this deserved a D. the fruit pies was just ok. the chocolate at the chocolate fountains felt too diluted although we did eat that a lot.

in overall, nice environment and friendly service, but the food is nothing to boast about, which makes 38+++ per head seems too expensive and no value for money. holiday inn park view and phoenix hotel are cheaper and much nicer.

nevertheless, it was still a fun outing, and the stroll around clarke quay at night was pleasing. we got to plan for our african trip next month too (madagascar here we come!!), and that would be a lot to write about...




...ed

Calm before the Storm

gosh, my stomach feels weird this morning. it's almost as if north korea just blasted their nuclear test warhead inside. is it something i ate? don't think so. i only had bread and eggs with a cup of milo this morning, nothing extreme. although i did use olive oil that was left overnight, but olive oil should promotes health, right? not affecting it...

and i'm feeling sleepy too. i did not sleep well last night. woke up occasionaly to continue burning wedding videos i took last weekend. the bride is flying over to her hometown in brunei tomorrow, so i'm gonna have to pass her the raw videos for her relatives before then. although to the expense of my usual creative standard.

i truly enjoy video editing. now that i already started doing weddings (ok just one wedding), maybe i can make a big leap to movies in the future. for my 2nd career or something. although sending an almost raw videos due to time constraint, and succumbed to my cubicle mate's pressure not to release (embarrassing) clips with her inside to public, are kind of a backstep towards that goal.

then i had to leave bed early to arrive office before 7am to this attend conference call with US HQ. normally i'll target to arrive before 9. so i found myself with nothing to do after the meeting.

ok, no important or urgent things to do. and the time is just passed 8. and i already finished reading the world news in straight times (wow, another plane-hit-building in nyc!!)

not that my job is in jeopardy or anything, but i just settled this high-profile big issue and the ball is already in other department's court. so my job right now is to bug the department guy once in awhile asking for result.

kind of like a loan-shark, but instead of money, i pester for information. well in that case, maybe like a guantanamo guard prison but of course, minus the tortures and humiliations.

anyway, so i'll just go with the flow today. after all, we have inter-departmental badminton competition after work, and i'll be one of the doubles player. so i prefer not to wear-out myself, physically or mentally.

ok got to go. fire drill in 5 minutes time. most of us already standby with shoe covers in our hands, so that we don't have to queue for the shoe cleaner when we enter the plant after the drill later. typical singaporean mind-set huh...

although in real life situation, if north korea does fire nuclear bombs in potential war, which the effect could extend all the way to here, i'm sure none of us have time to even think of any shoe covers...

or an upset stomach for that matter.


...ed

beautiful life

late morning wake-up for me today. i think i truly deserve it this time, considering a tiring day yesterday. i woke up at 6 am yesterday, so that's like a whole 3 hrs that i have to compensate this sunday morning.

i had been requested to be a videographer for my friend cum colleage's chinese wedding customary yesterday. bunch of my other close friends were the coordinator, sisters, photographers etc, so it was like office work team altogether, minus the work stuff...

i got to see how usually-nice ppl flashed their 'dark side' once they were given the privilege to bully others. it was scary. but in a way, it was good too, because unless the groom truly loves his bride, he couldn't have gone through all that humiliations inflicted by the sisters to let him deserve the chance to pass through the gate and meet the bride.

as for me, i was just glad i was not in the groom's shoes. or his brothers. and not anytime soon too.

the wedding dinner then was at marina mandarin hotel. the thing of being an engineer, and working in an engineering environment, is that you only get to see the worst physical side of ppl. i mean, ppl wear jeans and t-shirt at work, and zero make-up for the girls. and even if they does wear decently, they always cover it with office jacket anyway, which is pointless if you asked me. not exactly an eye candy.

so only at wedding dinners we get to see how beautiful some ppl are. it was like a bunch of cinderellas going to the ball. all glitteringly elegant. we were like, oh you should wear like this to work you know, but all of us know monday will come and ppl will get ugly again.

the truth is, the actual life is always ugly. like how we always see on tv or tourist oriented posters that ppl are considerate and stuff like that, but the fact is, i could see pregnant ladies standing inside crowded trains every week. all nearby sitting passengers were either suddenly asleep, or couldn't tell a pregnant lady from a really fat ones.

but then, on one occasion, i saw this girl actually surrendered her seat to this pregnant lady. she was all nice and smiling. the least that pregnant lady could do was to smile back and say thanks, but no.. she just sat as if it is her right to sit there. she didn't even look at the girl's face.

the fact is, we live in an ugly society. full stop. and that makes us appreciate a beauty even more when it makes a rare appearance once in awhile. physical or inside. that's why when we do get a chance to preserve some of that beauty, it's almost foolish not to say yes.

i have them in my videocam.



...ed