start your engines

5 days more and counting...

that's when my parents will pay me a visit, coming all the way from kl. the first time since, i don't know, 2001? wow, has it been that long? time really flies, doesn't it?

anyway, i'm glad that they're finally coming. it's easier now that they can stay at my new house. nevermind it's like at the edge of the island with no mosque in 2km radius.

i actually checked that off the streetdirectory.com. my father could freak out if he know this, but hey, it's singapore, what does he expect?

to further avoiding any surprises, i spent recent days sweeping my house. not sweep as in using broom, but you know, like when the prime minister's coming and the gov ppl would come in advance and sweep the whole area from any risky elements, like bombs, secret hearing devices etc.

in my case, those risky elements would be, well, there are lots of things. let's just say things that would make less of me in front of their eyes. not tsunami-gonna-strike-again-next-month life-risking secrets, or there's-a-body-underneath-my-swimming-pool-cement law-breaking secrets, but those tiny whiny lil' ones.

it's normal. everybody has secrets from their parents. i mean, which parents would know their super decent children has their first kiss at 14? or the culprit breaking the expensive display troley was not actually the neighbour's cat?

exactly.

so here i am just playing the game.

gentlemen, start your engines.


...ed

raya '05

i'm uploading hari raya photos and videos onto my pc right now, so i figured i can write sth here rather than opening the new madonna hung up 'live' performance i just got hold off.

i just got back from kl today by the 10.30am bus. the trip back was pleasant. i was worried at first because they gave me the utmost behind seat so i couldn't adjust the back but apparently that didn't stop me from dozing off most of the trip. either i must be tired from lack of sleep or that stephen king book the shining was too wordy and descriptive till i lost interest.

don't get me wrong i still think the book is great. last night i found myself thinking bout the scenes off the book at sleep, but the problem is i got like 2 pages of thrilling plots from the first 100 pages, which is a bit waste of time if you asked me.

so i slept most of the journey. there was this foreign indian guy sat in front of me tried to strike a conversation (i guess he was being polite as he asked me about how to get to changi airport before that), but i wasn't too eager to chat. at woodland checkpoints, i suspect he got held up by the customs because he didn't show up and the bus left after waiting for awhile. i felt bad for him, and also for myself because i didn't insist the bus driver to wait when i knew that guy really wanted to get to lavender street the final destination.

festive fever

quicker than a ray of light, it's already end of october, and it'll be festival week very soon. or what the media says, deeparaya holiday. in fact, quite a number of my colleagues already started their holiday, and they're neither malay nor indians.

i visited geylang serai for the last time yesterday. it was very crowded, i guess other ppl got emotional too as geylang serai would never be the same again from next year onwards. while browsing through the foods in the bazaar, i even took out my digicam and snapped some photos. i know i'd look like a foreigner but forgive me for being sentimental.who knows whether there'll ever be geylangs serai in the future?

well at least i've got lapis cake monica moschovitz that my mum asked me to buy from malay village bazaar. 2 boxes. they came in normal favours, raisins, spices and chocolate. my mum likes the raisin flavour. it's delicious and cheap too. 10 dollars only when in malaysia lapis cake always costs at least 45 ringgit. even cheaper then the one sold in batam.

as usual, the gelang serai was a nightmare if u tried to find a decent place to break fast. ppl would book tables as early as before 6. so me and my friends bought our foods (crab okonomiyaki and chicken satay for me, i've been craving satay for days) and ate squatting down by the road shoulders. there were other ppl along the road shoulders too, it really added up to the atmosphere.

i think i've had enough of the place. for now. now it's time to think of what to bring back when i go back kl for the deeparaya holiday tomorrow. there's this alcom line phone complete with its child unit that i plan to bring back home. my parents have the current line phone in middle of the stairs landing and my mum always came breathless from climbing the stairs everytime she answered calls. plus, that phone area is a bit dark and batalions of mosquitoes reside there, and in this dengue epidemic sweeping the country, that isn't what u call a preferable condition. now at least she can put the phone child unit downstairs so it will no longer be necessary to climb the stair to accept calls.

add that with 2 boxes of lapis cakes, my clothes including new samuel and kelvin jeans, my digicam and handycam, books (blink by malcolm gladwell and the shining by stephen king), my walkman (playing new compilation mp3 cd i just made this afternoon consists of ashlee simpson i am me, destiny's child #1, kelly clarkson breakaway), my vitamins etc my GAP backpack which i bought in Paris looks like a fully diluted pregnant woman.

i'm just somewhat concern of the m'sian side customs. last time i beautifully wrapped (ok it was not me but the customer service chap in robinson) this cake mixer because i wanted to give my mum for mother's day and ended up being taxed for it. the other year, i brought back my unused sony vcd player, which i carefully wrapped with old newspaper, because i wanted to give it my grandfather but of course the custom scanning machine caught it and i was taxed for it too.

whatever happen to flexibility and leniency? it's not that i brought those stuff for me for whatever selfish reasons, but they were for other ppl that i care. it's not like i'm trafficking cake mixer in a whole underground secret cake mixer inter-continental exportation or something, so those taxes were just plain ridiculous. i mean, instead of imagining the joyful face of those presents, now i'm worrying over the customs 'verdict. i suspect if i cursed them who taxed me, it might even came true.

anyway, i'm not gonna let that spoil my festive holidays. the event is almost possibly ruined already when my father (again) apparently insisted on celebrating the season at our home in kl instead of my mus side grandfather's home in a village in negri sembilan, which we went every year recently. i like celebrating in the village, where the traditional tradition still goes on. plus, other relatives will be there too, so it's not like we're gonna celebrate all by ourselves surrounded by our usual 4 concrete walls with neighbours mostly back in their own hometowns.

but knowing my father, he always has the final say. well almost all the times anyway, partly because we were too afraid to argue. unless my mum starts to prison herself in the bedroom and refused to cook. this happened once or twice before when i was around. this time, as my father already retired from work last september, it maybe changed the whole situation.

not much that i can do so i'll just hope for the best. hey, i got the lapis cake as requested, so at least things seem to be going the good way.

happy diwali and selamat hari raya aidilfitri!


...ed

undercover

there's departmental meeting going on this morning. normally i'll go to the meeting slightly early because they provide breakfast, so u can eat and gossip with colleagues and choose strategic seats (strategic as in far from front view, and close to the door for early escape).

however as it's still in the fasting month now, i'll let the meeting pass. after all, the breakfast is the prime reason ppl join the meeting, considering more than half always leave even before the first technical presentation starts.

a bit like charity donation program they always do in spore. take away the prizes that could be won with every dollar you donate, and see if ppl still donate in millions.

killing time, i browsed through the current top news. i like to read bbc news, good coverage and not as biased as the cnn. from the main headlines, seems like iranian president just urged muslim countries to 'wipe off israel' from the world map.

which is quite puzzling if u ask me. while it's no secret that iran loaths israel, they are already being pressured to prove that their nuclear program development is peaceful, and israel market bomb yesterday does not help to condition either. one may ask, what's the objective then of that quote?

it's like u rare a fierce dog that like to bite ppl. so the neighbours get paranoia. so u ascertain them that u'll not let the dog bite anybody, but at the same time u said that this particular neighbour deserve a bite, and urge other neighbours to get this particular neighbour bitten.

ok that's not that good of an example, but u get the point.

high level affairs are always complicated. it's a relieve that my job scope does not include maintaining world peace. i don't even have to stride along the high walk-away and gracefully mouthed 'world peace' while giving small waves. or hide guns in my inner thigh because i'm an FBI agent undercover in some beauty peagent contest.

it does require me to always answer my boss' mail questions though. which is what i'm gonna have to start doing now. it's not that i'm scared of him or anything, but i'd like him to see me as capable. the other day, we discussed on things i need to do in order to get promoted to higher level, which got me going for like 5 minutes. after that, i returned to my 'safe mode' and just content in just being 'capable'.

i mean, work is just work. i have plenty of things that i'm concern about other than work. for instance, like what the new madonna album will sound like. ok this maybe not really a concern, but i'm curious.

her new single 'hung up' is really a bum-shaking number. not just ordinary bum-shaking, but john travolta style shaking. yeah the lyrics sucks, forgetable and doesn't go with the melody (who sings about being hung up in a upbeat, happy tone??) but once u're in the dancefloors, or alone in the living room with blasting hi-fi, who cares?

unless, of course, if the lyrics is about wiping the zionist regime off the map or sth.


...ed

trippin' (that's the way life goes)

i've never been a suria channel fan. the only time I tuned in was when there was no alternative. like when sports channels are showing never-ending EPL soccer (not my cup to tea), or F1 racing (round and round in a repetitive cycle, boring), or worst, golf (big yawn, can see my tonsils?).

but when i attended dinner cum break fast at my relatives house last saturday at punggol (well, not before they called me hinting me to go visit them once in awhile whenever i got time), they had suria channel turned on while we were eating.

not that i care. i guess we always turn on tv in a gathering just so that ppl have sth to see when they are not chatting away. i played 'shrek 2' during my house warming party last month for the same purpose (and also i get to show off my new 42-inch plasma tv in its rich display colours, which was the reason i selected animation movie). but what disturbed me that night was this particular program suria channel had on.

it introduced japanese 'ramen'. translated in malay. complete with introduction that the main ingredient is ermm..pork. plus, how they make it, best place to have it, even interviewed ppl to ask how it tastes like. very very inappropriate considering the malays cannot eat ramen at all due to its pork contents. one would ask then, what's the purpose?

but i'm not going bananas over it. i mean, who watch suria channel anyway? like 10 ppl in the whole island. exactly. unless, if they have siti nurhaliza on. or taufik batisah, except this one might not be true nowadays. just see how many ppl tune in to shooting stars on tuesday night? maybe 20.

last night i went for *in whisper tone* interview. out of a sudden i got this phone call last weekend to arrange appointment. apparently it was sth to do with finance. i didn't asked much on the phone because i was busy karaokeing off my pc speaker that night so it was a bit difficult to concentrate. after all the place is in bugis, not like at some weird corners of the world or anything.

the park view square where i had the interview was actually very nice and classy with exotic feelings to it. i suspect i was introducted by this net friend. i casually told him previously that i would like to consider this area of expertise as a part time. not full time as what it apparently turned out to be. after all, who needs to beg ppl to join some financial plans, or enganged in some financial advice sessions, just to earn some commissions when i can get few fixed thousands just by sitting here writing this blog?

ok i'm not merely writing blogs normally at work but forgive me the workload really sucks nowadays. sucks as in it leaves you with nothing much to do. moreover, i got to sit down quietly and do stuff with my pc when other ppl are out for lunch, or even tea break. surely i have rooms to do non-work stuff during these times. i mean, ppl don't expect me to work when i'm not eating, do they? that will definitely break some clause of the human right codes.

it's not like i'm watching some crappy programmes off the tv or anything.



...ed

like no other day

For the first time in my life, I did charity work last Saturday. I went to Jamiyah Children's home Darul Ma'wa, as part of company's charity team to help decorate the children's dining hall for Hari Raya.

I was surprised on how small the building is. Just a one storey unit. In fact I almost missed it if not for this white van with Jamiyah Children's Home written in green parked in the compound.

There were bunch of NS army guys in the home lobby, and after wading through them I managed to find my fellow colleagues, whom mostly I have never met or spoken too before being in whole diff department. Well, they were friendly enough, which shouldn't be a surprised considering unfriendly ppl and charity normally don't go hand in hand.

On the way to the dining hall, we passed through rooms with single beds lined up to fill all available space. No fancy bedsheet, minimum pillows and no personal touch at all. Simple and neat. The walls along the corridor were decorated with activities photos, achievements acknowledgements, and some navy ships photos complete with commander signatures. I was briefly reminded that the residents are small children.

Upon arriving the the dining hall, we were swarmed by the children wanted to shake and kiss our hands. I was touched, and I remembered thinking how small and cold their palms are. They looked pretty playful together and maybe a little anxious to see what's coming from us that day. One of them even said something to me which I could not make out, nevertheless I smiled and gave him a brotherly pat.

The dining hall is just big enough to accommodate 2 long metallic tables and one small stage in front. There were words welcoming some government officials for break fast dinner on the stage board which were decorated in purple cloth. That's about the only decoration I noticed. On the walls were mostly reminders. There was even this photos of a dying african kid due to hunger, being watched nearby by a vulture, reminding us that we should not waste our food and be grateful for it.

The kids made a dikir barat presentation for the army team, as they were the one sitting in front of the stage while me and my company at the other side of the hall tieing golden strings to ketupat ribbons. The dikir barat poked fun to the Singaporean lifestyle, and pretty good considering their age.

We tied the ketupat ribbons to strings and laid them wall to wall covering the whole dining hall with dangling ketupats. To be frank, I did not do much after tieing the ketupats to the strings as 2 of my colleagues did all the strings hanging. Once in awhile I went close-by to see the army guys accompanied the childrens drawing with magic colours and taught them making things with polysterine cups. The whole place became a mess with cut papers but at least they looked that they were having fun.

By noon, the place already has Hari Raya vibes to it. Before leaving dropped a few notes inside the donation box, regretting for not carrying more cash. I'm like my father when it comes to carry-on cash. Catch me at most times and my wallet will have fewer than 20 dollars. Saw a signboard that ppl can pay their zakat fitr here too, and after scooping whatever coins left in my pocket, found it enough to pay the zakat. To my surprise, they gave me a plastic of Hari Raya cookies and a box of Curry Powder after payment. Never had I imagined I'd be getting sth after a visit there, something that should be the other way around.



…ed

confessions in a dark room

it's almost 9pm and i'm still in front of this pc in a slightly dark room. i've told myself countless time i have to reduce my nightly online addiction and starts addicting on sth else, like tv shows or sth. especially since rafael nadal is not playing these recent months, my starhub cable tv subscription almost sounds like a waste.

what's worse, i noticed an extra 2 dollars on my cable bills last month. first of all, let me express that i'm not a control freak that checks every words and sentences out of each and every bills, but if the figure stalls every months, and suddenly you see different numbers for total amount, believe me you'd noticed it too.

apparently starhub started to charge 2 dollars for the analog modem box fee, which just plain ridiculous. i mean, they'd started charging the digital box way in advance before perhaps, they suddenly noticed, 'oh we forgot to charge for the old analog one since it went into the market like gazillion years ago..'

well i'm not gonna get petty bout a bloody 2 dollars, there's much other things that could be my concern now. like thinking how i could help those poor south asia recent earthquake victims that get desperate as the time goes by.

just like the series LOST, surviving isn't always good news. well at least in a whole general perception because don't get me wrong, being alive is always a bless. but those poor kashmirians are suffering. no shelters, no food. i see off the BBC the males and females formed lines and passed sacks of food and clothes from one to another out of army trucks and planes but yet, it doesn't seem enough.

and i keep telling myself, what can i do? it was easy to look out the window appreciating the peaceful but wet view of sunday afternoon that was drenched by day-long drizzling rains, and forget about the whole affairs in the other side of the globe, and only fretting about why the condo management decided to re-paint the buildings normal boring yellow rather than the previously unique pink.

ppl does make all sorts of stupid decisions sometimes. like me, i'm still in front of this pc....


...ed

the minority report

every morning i will leave house for work before 7.30am so that i can get a copy of this freely distributed newspaper at the train station, so that by the time i arrived to my company, i've more or less browsed through the latest affairs in the world.

one of the columns that i always found amusing, is the reader's post. like last week, there was this guy, whose name i don't even want to remember, complained about the government act to provide disable-friendly environment for the handicapped ppl.he mentioned that it's not worth and cost effective to spend so much for the minority.

the minority. yeah like we would stop after the disabled if it really go through. i bet after that, we would attack the other minorities. like races. that would be ugly. not that it hasn't happened yet. just ask the 2 bloggers jailed for posting rascist comments on their blog.

i'm amused that ppl carry such opinion, even more amused that they take effort to get it published to the public without an ounce of doubt that the opinion is well, not very appropriate. sth must have gone wrong in the social system that the ppl start to get confuse on the simple rights and wrongs.

then yesterday there was this other guy that said the disabled ppl are asking for too much, and they should go for the taxis rather than public transportation so that they won't delay other so-called normal ppl's business.

there you go.

recently i read this analysis on developed countries vs not-so-developed countries from one of the e-mail chain. it says, number of talents, natural resources and land size do not matter (if not why else we have third world country's citizen being a work force in developed countries, switzerland producing world's best chocolates without planting any cocoa plant, and india and china that are so big yet so poor).

all that matters is the ppl's attitude.

no wonder the latest survey done recently ranked s'pore as the 54th liveable city in the world. well i'm not surprised.

yesterday i met this friend of mine from LA, knows him from the net. he was in town for a holiday, so we met for a short while over dinner. he was with his taiwanese friend that looks cool but speaks rather soft it sounded funny.

anyway, while the cleaning aunty was cleaning our table, he mentioned that back in the States, you have to send your dirty dishes to approriate stn after eating in the restaurant. here we expect to be served.

i guess, we tend to draw a clear line between our own type or level, and others. customers are not supposed to be handling dirty dishes.

like the so-called normal ppl are not supposed to be taken into the same level with the disabled.

duh.


...ed

day after tomorrow

i got headache all day, which became worse and worse morning to afternoon to evening. it's the 5th day fasting today, which means panadol is not an option. besides, received in e-mail chain that panadol stays in our liver up to 5 years, so i'm really making effort to reduce my intake anyway.

which is a pity really. hail to whoever invented panadol. i like the red one, panadol extra. that white pills are like magic, little drops of heaven that could cure headache in few minutes time. seriously.

actually i think the real problem must be my eyes. i'm not wearing any glasses or contact lenses, but i do suspect my eyes is causing me headache sometimes. especially because i love reading while lying down in beds, and watching movies in dark room. one of these days i really need to go for check-outs.

which should be the right thing to do. tackle the root cause of the problem.

not like a bit like thaksin, who send troops to southern thailand and start catching random local religious leaders to reduce the regional unrest. does he care to find out whats troubling the southern muslims? no. and does he succeed in forming peace there? double no.

nobody learns from bush's mistake in tackling terrorism. war is a big no-no. he could catch all the so-called al-qaeda leaders he wants, but for every man he captured, 10 more will emerge. it's a never ending story. the world gets even more unsafe to live on as the days go by.

add those humanitarian conflicts with recent mother nature catastrophies, and we'll get the impression that the whole world is in a mess. tsunami in south-east asia, hurricanes in north america, landslide in middle america, earthquake in south asia, the list goes on. that's what obvious in our eyes, but what about dengue epidemic in singapore and malaysia, and bird flu in indonesia?

it's ramadhan now, the month of devotion to god, and pray for forgiveness and our well-being. i sure hope things will get better.

if it's any indication, my headache is getting better. really.


...ed

the east is red

when i was in the mrt this morning, there were 2 japanese alighted at tanah merah. judging from singapore tag tied to their backpacks, obviously they have just landed.

typical japanese. they never wear properly, like they don't care. they were in bedroom shorts and slippers, and clutched in their hands were maps and guides.

i mean, some ppl won't be caught dead walking around with maps, although they are in fact, tourists. but japanese just live in their own world.

do they care that the chinese don't like them? i don't think so. inside todays newspaper, there was another columnist brought up this world war 2 apologising issue.

yawn.

sth could not just be left forgotten, could they? i expect, be it another 100 years, ppl would still ask the japanese for apology over their ww2 crime.

as if the japanese themselves did not suffer after hiroshima was flattened by the enola gay.

if you ask me, as cruel as the japanese was during the war, there is still no justification for dropping that atomic boms. how could bombing the whole city population, which big fat majority of the population are innocent civilians, be considered innocent?

they said the bombs were needed to end the war. they could not target the japanese army exclusively, so they destroyed the civilians. how does it different than the current day terrorists?

the terrorist could not defeat the occupants in their homeland, so they turned to cause destruction in their enemies cities, killing innocent civilians off the bus, the trains etc.

see the trend?

don't get me wrong, i am strongly against terrorism, but how could we justify one act of terrorism and denounce the other? it's just not right.

while i watched the hiroshima bombing aftermath on channel news asia documentary last night, my heart was in sorrow. but at least, the japanese has rebounced strong ever since.

like those 2 japanese guys in the mrt, i bet they were not thinking any of this while watching lines by lines of hdb houses along the mrt track.

god i envy tourists...


...ed

king of pain

boy my heart is pain.

i just settled paying all my bills, credit cards etc, and i must say, this is not my favourite part of the month. well at least my first installment house loan payment has yet to kick in...

yup it has been awhile. i've been busy moving house, and hey, i just realized this is the first time i'm writing from my new place. everything has been going quite well, though the moving day wasn't actually the best day of my life.

it was raining heavily. the mover hit a signboard in front of the building and the whole occupants peeked out from their respective windows and balconies. not a great way of introducing oneself i guess.

i like this place a lot. i was thinking the expressway nearby would be noisy but i hardly noticed it so far. there are lots of lights, and my gut telling me i'm gonna have a bit of a fit loking at my first PUB bills soon.

my favourite part is my bedroom ceiling. previous occupant installed this glow-in-the-dark stars so when i was in the dark before sleep, i can feel like i'm sleeping under the open sky. i count the stars and make a wish for each and everyone of them.

one of the wish? is that i can return fast to my actual company in bendemeer. u see, i'm under attachment in this joint-venture company in woodlands. yes woodlands. as i'm now staying in the east, it takes almost the whole country to cross over. it's just a whole lot of effort just to get there and back.

plus, i hardly have any friends there. singaporeans are not very friendly. whoever ever said that asians are friendly is obviously in delusion. i mean, they see me everyday on my own and just pretend that i don't exist. it just goes very naturally.

not that i care much about it. i'll be gone sooner of later anyway. as for now, time to sleep.



...ed

saturday night fever

taking a day off today.

i've started work attachment in company's join-venture wafer fab plant since last monday. it's in woodlands.

woodlands! which means it takes 1.5 hrs to get there, which includes 2 bus rides, and half an hour train journey. half an hour putting life at risk of suicide bombers...

anyway, at least i could put that on hold till next week. i'm going back to kl later at 5pm for my brother's wedding ceremony.

now that's what i'm worried about now. the wedding dinner this saturday night. i'll have my own-made video presentation bout my brother's and his wife's life journey on display during the ceremony which i heard includes VIPs.

naturally my father kind of freaked out a bit, asking me to show this video to him and the mc, beforehand.

my mum on the other hand, think that the bride's part is too long. well, that's understandable, considering she never mentioned her new daughter-in-law by name, and always refer her family as 'the other side'.

i've done my job, now waiting for the reaction. just like when ppl like stephen spielberg finished making his movies and waiting for the public ratings. exactly the same.

now lightly surfing the internet to see if ebay or yahoo auction carry nice stuff for my new home, which i'll move in next weekend. already bid on this sony tv console which sells only $20, which is cheaper even than the transportation fee.

actually, i'm quite amused by what ppl sell there sometimes. ok that i got to see proper sofa, or dining table on bid, but clothes hangar?? even if it goes for S1, it's still ridiculuous..

as ridiculuous as seeing bayshore park sea-view condo selling $700K there.

people.


...ed

down

i'm sick.

i think this is the first time in 2005 that i have fever. it came out of a sudden last night when i started shivering like it was sub-zero temperature outside.

took a cab to toa payoh clinic, and sure enough, my temperature was 38.9C. but the best thing is, i got mc for today! so another day of resting.

i'm feeling better now but still weak. i just have to see how i'm progressing to ensure this is not dengue related.

while at home, i've started to work on this video presentation i have to make for my brother's wedding, which is in 2 weeks time. nothing much, just kind of completed the introduction part.

somehow it feels harder this time. i guess it must be the pressure of making sth that would be viewed by the whole wedding dinner guests. it's a bit like a debut to me...

CY came by just now to let me try some vegetarian food from the temple. well it's nice to have someone making efforts just for you. i'm blessed.

ok, i'm a bit tired now. is it me or typing does consume lots of energy?


...ed

emotional highway

ok i'm supposed to iron my clothes now but that can wait.

i hate ironing clothes, i tend to make lines where i'm not supposed to, and get all sweaty from the heat. i hate hanging clothes too but at least that i can see hope. i bought this new toshiba washing machine with super-spin-dry function last friday at harvey norman suntec. i mean, super spin dry! surely they're on the right track to inventing washing mashine that completely dry clothes, right??

there's no tennis tonight, wimbledon has this stupid rule of not playing on sunday. here we are sitting comfortably at home on sunday night, and they chose to play on busy weekdays instead. well at least there's no justine and nadal to watch now. i was quite bumped up when they lost last week. serena and henman lost too so you see, at least it had not been an entirely wasted week.

so i got all the rest i needed today. except of course, the hanging and ironing. especially after a tiring day yesterday when i went to jb with CY.

it just stopped raining when we took the ride yesterday so the weather was gloomy. there was this motorbike vs car accidents shortly before we reached the customs. the car dented, the bike was upside down and there was a covered body by the roadside. not a preferable sight if you ask me.

the queue was longer at the checkpoint as it was noon, and all these m'sian going back home after half day work. i'm always fascinated by these motorists. here we could see the true ugly nature of our people. they would cramp each other to occupy every little inch their bikes could get into, hon thoughtlessly, choke you with their exhausts and forget courtesy, that's just not in their road dictionary.

after consuming as much carbon monoxide, we headed down the grand hyatt for lunch. upss, not lunch, but high tea. high tea! the only time we have in the weekends to come and have proper meal, and they arranged buffet lunch for weekdays only. big surprise?? not really, by now i kind of accepted the fact that the world stops operating normally on weekends.

so before we knew it, it's almost monday again. i still have not figured out this particular work assignment, still have no clear ideas where or even what will our team building event planned for in a month time be and still a long way to go coaching this new colleague attached to me. i'm getting closer to freak out now.

just received a call from my parents. my father asked why i'm not calling home recently. that was not too good, wasn't it? i don't know why, it's not that i don't intend to call, but when i see the clock, it's either too early, or too late to call. it's almost like the most suitable time just skip, disappear or sth.

my parents gave updates on my younger brother's wedding which is coming soon in a month time. apparently my other siblings already getting their new clothes ready for the event. they planned on wearing golden colour. me? i probably just don in this cream coloured clothes i first wore in 2001. doesn't matter. the wedding dinner will probably be dark anyway so ppl may not notice. hey, i don't even know my sister in-laws' name yet!

which think about it, it's a bit rude, don't you think? not that i care, the chance is i'll only see them once a year or sth like that, but still i feel a bit hurt. just because i live over 300km apart i'm non-entity?

oh i feel depressed now. which should mainly be because of it's sunday night. it's all because of the workloads i have to face tomorrow. no other reason. who cares about that sister in-law?

or maybe because i still have those clothes to iron now. yes that's it!


...ed

academy fantasia rocks

i think i've been infected.

seriously. i know everybody's been talking bout it for some time now but i always thought that it's no big deal. it's like a whole another world's affair, no significance to me at all.

who knows that eventually i've become one of them? that just shows that nobody's really immune from anything. one mistake all it takes and you'd be addicted faster than you can say 'AF3'.

yeah, now i'm an Academy Fantasia fan. come to think bout it, i started being hooked to american idol in their 3rd season also...

gosh, does that mean i'm 2 years behind the crowd??

anyway, i'm not missing anything again. i'm gonna rout for amylea and mawi. amylea looks passionate and she has this r&b vibe around her. mawi is such a raw performer with a crispy clear forceful voice and i think has this most sincere personality among the guys.

i like marsha too, i think she in some way is like a malaysian version of krisdayanti. kefli is cute but i'm not really enjoying his performance last week. idayu has nice soulful voice but i'm not really crazy over her image.

the rest, ermm not very memorable. please take out aidil, he can't sing and i hate how he tried to look handsome all the time on the stage. my friend said he's a playboy, and i was convinced when i saw he was the only one trying to hug elizza as a consolation after she was booted out. that was so inappropriate. i mean, this is malaysia, not america.

ok i think my sweat has dried up, i better go and take shower. no more headache too after i popped in this miracle cure called panadol. i know it's not good for the liver blah blah blah, but when i have headache, i dun realy care bout anything else.

well you know, except maybe AF3...


...ed

riverwild

as i walked by the river on my way home just now, i couldn't help scanning over the calm dirty water. call me crazy and maybe sick too, but somewhere deep inside my mind i was thinking what if i somehow spot a severed head gloating by the water? as far as i had known, the police has yet to retrieve the head of the chopped up body found by the kallang river yesterday.

that was not the first time. i mean, i've always hoping to be the one who spot things out. like sometimes, when i saw a place flew by, i was thinking what if shortly after, the plane eventually made to hit some famous buildings? i'd be able to tell the news at 9 that i was innocently looking out my window when i somehow spot the doomed plane at 5.17pm...

or when i admired the night starry sky, i secretly hope that i'd see some new planets, or even alien spaceship, and i'd be known as the one who spotted the mars attack...

i know it's almost impossible, but hey, a guy can dream, can't he? everybody loves to be center of attraction, to be the one who's above everybody else. it's only normal.

besides, it's entirely unexpected world that we are living in now. who knows when will the big tsunami hits, or when the united nations will deceive china and accept japan into the security council? i myself was confident that they'd convicted michael jackson..

by all means, and it might not be me.. but i sincerely hope that they'd recovered the missing head of the poor girl soon....



...ed

oral fixation vol-1

as the appointed chairman, i called for the team building committee for a meeting this afternoon. as the previous one had the ppl did nothing but stare at each other, this time i called the big boss in as well. how was that?? i let him handled the meeting. after all, this whole team building thingy was his stupid-not-to-mention-meaningless idea anyway...

so my suggestion of having a normal lunch out but jumble up the whole seating arrangement (to get ppl to mix outside their comfort zone), went down the drain. just as i expected. urrghh.. i was already having fun with my colleagues over tea break, setting up unpopular ppl with the bosses. the big boss mentioned this other dept was considering a cruise or sth. wow..like we could plan a cruise with only $20 budget per head. cruise on 'sampan' more like...

last alternative, bbq in east coast. hmm..simple. could just buy ready-marrinated bbq stuff and book the pits. the only problem? have to come up with sth in between to extend the overall function to 3 hrs or so. games maybe...not sth physical though coz it's probably hot in the afternoon, and ppl would get all dirty and it's not like we could take a dip into the sea. need a good MC too...hmmm...

ahh worry bout that later.

tompok just called regarding our trip to bangkok this sept. seems like ages away but i already booked my flight over air asia yesterday. it was so convenient, this whole book on the net thing. we decided to stay in baiyoke sky hotel, but planned to book the room only end of this month. i'm quite excited over this actually, just that this other japanese lady will tag along with us. first, things would go somewhat formal when she's around, and secondly, my japanese is horrible now, it takes a lot of effort to converse naturally, and i'm..ermmm not so energetic lately.

hearing shakira's new album, fijacion oral vol-1 now, and it's in spanish. i was quite surprised hearing her first single 'la tortura' just now coz i heard 2 men's voices when she's supposed to be duetting with this other guy in this song. not that great song. maybe her second single 'no' is better off. we'll see....



...ed

great sale not so great body

came back from town. had been lazying on bed whole morning and figured i could use a bit of sunlight. well, not really, i hate the sunlight but maybe just the fresh air. god knows my room felt a bit stuffy as it has been shut from outside air more then 24 hrs.

the great spore sale is still on, in its 2nd or 3rd week i'm not sure. looked some kitchen stuff in tangs if there was anything appropriate for my new house kitchen. the fork and spoon sets were cheap, but looked a bit small. there was cake mixer with a bowl which was only 28 dollars. the tefal frying pan was pretty nice and cheap too. anyway, didn't buy any as i didn't feel like carrying them all back today. plus, i figured i should look at other places first, and came back some other times.

then i looked for some antioxidants. i may be overreacting, but i did feel my age recently, so think some damage control would be appropriate. on the bus i saw this kid with a glowing youth complexion and i got all jealous. seriously. on the way to robinson, i saw this book on detoxifying with the backside introduction that reads...

'do you look in the mirror and wonder where that fresh, taut-skinned youth has gone? do you suck on coffee after coffee all day long, yet feel irritable and exhausted?'

those lines were so me! i swear it was like a sign from heaven or sth. so i ended up buying this book (it was only $3.80!), then commuted to toa payoh and bought this amalaki antioxidants (10% discount). almost tempted to purchase skin purifying and cholesterol reduction pills too but thought i better not get carried away.

then i looked at my watch and it showed 6pm, and i thought it would be nice to watch 'friends' in my room and catch a brief nap. i felt a drag to continue exploring things in toa payoh courts store. another sign of aging perhaps? i'm so worn out...

anyway, maybe it was just a lack of exercise. i didn't join the last thursday badminton session, and it had been while since i last pay tennis on saturdays. jogging? i could not remember when i last did it. i really need to start on my physical work out once i moved to my new house next month. it could be like my new life motto or sth..a new house and a new life..or some sorts..

ok think i'll continue with 'friends', and maybe a nap....



...ed

inferiority complex

still waiting for nadal vs puerto in french open final...

the match should be after the women double final, so i'm having this roland garros website live scoreboard on my desktop to track the current progress...

so far so good. h-hardenne won yesterday against pierce, and if nadal wins tonight, it'll be all perfect.

gosh, i so want nadal to win, especially after he beat roger yesterday (haha take that, federer-worshippers!) i'm already feeling excited, nervous and petrified, all at once now, i might just need oxygen tank by my side later while watching.

met this guy who's a tennis fan as well from the chatroom this morning, apparently staying nearby me. i was excited to finally having someone to talk tennis to, but however the conv didn't get too far and kinda stopped half way.

duh..i bet he was having another conversation at the same time, and that just took off. he looks kinda cute though so partly because i was kinda having fits myself too.

it's the same old problem. i always feel inferior by someone who i think better off than me. this guy's young, good looking, and could play tennis! i'm so envious.

put him beside me and i'll have inferiority complex.

i really need to work on this.

the final still has yet to start. i just did some excercise with my torso roller in front of the tv. i hate this little lump i have in my lower abs, i really need to start doing the sit-ups everyday just like last time.

feeling good bout my body will give me less inferiority complex problem, especially since i plan to utilize the swimming pool in my new house to its full extent.

i could also learn how to swim!



...ed

sweet victory

i'm so happy.

we won the intra-dept badminton tournament yesterday. i partnered this vietnamese guy in semi-final and crushed our opponent doubles to go 2-0 and made way to the final.

one of them was a girl though, but hey they got 7 points handicap, so it's not like i was being ungentlement or anything. we won fair and square.

didn't get to play in final as I was in the 3rd line-up and my team already clinched victory from the first 2 doubles.

so it was a great evening. even better when i watched nadal annihilated gasquet in french open tennis 3rd round match off super sports. and venus lost and sounded like a loser!!

woke up late this morning. it's very hot outside. very. waiting for CY to return from JB and maybe we'll take a stroll in orchard later. in the malls i mean. the great spore sale has just started yesterday...


...ed