ubin holiday

everyone's on holiday this week...and while people are going off to far-fetched places like hong kong, england, and australia, i've just booked a chalet at pulau ubin. =)

$188 for 4 people inclusive of transportation, two meals, and one night's accommodation...not too bad lah. i've done worse with $47...like 1 x haircut at le salon (i've since switched to the $28 ones at supercuts), 1 x jug of alcohol at zouk (i've since switched to ice cold beers' 3 for $20 beers), 4 x marlboro ultra lights (haven't switched yet)...so i think it's a pretty good deal...

i'm going with my secondary school friends, namely victor, billy and seow (aka eugene)...the same guys i went crabbing with last time. can you believe that in the 13 years that we've been best friends, we have NEVER gone overseas on a holiday before? not even once to jb to eat and shop. we've never seen each other's passports before...well, not that that's gonna change cum this saturday...but at least we'll be taking a ferry somewhere together...it's a start guys...slowly but surely. haha. =)

life is short

one of my dad's best friends passed away on friday. he was a former colleague of my dad, and can be considered a family friend as well. his son and daughter grew up together with me and my siblings...while we were in the states at least. we used to go to their house and have barbeques and stuff...we went to the same school...had the same teachers...played in the same orchestra...they even came over to singapore to visit a few years ago.

when my siblings went back to the states for their university education, my dad's friend would drive down to where they stayed (about 4 hours away), just to buy them dinner...on quite a number of occasions. he was a very kind and generous man.

it was during a routine checkup that they found out. six months ago, he was diagnosed with cancer, which basically came as a shock to everyone because he led a very healthy lifestyle...he enjoyed the outdoors and exercised frequently. after they got a few more different opinions from the doctors in the states, he decided to go back to korea and seek a more traditional kind of treatment. even then, he still insisted on skiing and hiking with his kids...making the most out of the time he had left.

after receiving the news, my dad booked the first flight to korea (which wasn't easy, given the start of the holiday season) to attend the funeral. i came home and cooked lunch for my mom, before bringing her out to the botanical gardens to listen to a chinese orchestra performance.

life is short.

7 habits training

my company sent me for this training course called "the 7 habits of highly effective people", which is derived from a book of the same name. i feel that it's a pretty effective course...seriously. it teaches you how to oranise your life. i especially like the part where they teach you how to prioritize things into 4 categories:

1. urgent / important
2. not urgent / important
3. urgent / not important
4. not urgent / not important

they teach us to strive for "quadrant" 2...though inevitably, 1 and 3 will still take up some time...quadrant 4 is to be avoided at all costs...true true...

actually the whole course is pretty common sensensical...but sometimes, i guess you need someone to tell it to you...someone to make it even more obviously apparent...someone who costs $1,600.00 per person per two days. wow. now that's being effective.

still down and out

i've tried everything. my hard-disk is dead. all attempts to rescue it has failed. i just hope that it's still under warranty. all my photographsky photos...gone...all my poems...gone...all my articles...gone. i can't even play mp3s anymore and bawl over spilt milk cuz even all my songs are...gone.

i'm sending it back to ntu (it's actually my dad's laptop) to see if they can get it fixed. in the meantime, i'm using my office computer...which, unfortunately, does not allow me to surf the net at home. i'm trying to suck up to the ugly IT chick to get her to help me with the settings. call me a slut, but i need my morphine in the form of this blog...

=(((

i feel like i've just lost my left arm...i woke up this morning with an invisible load on my chest and felt a sense of utter despair and anguish...the misery and forlornness of getting myself ready to work was only semi-soothed by the fact that i'd feel slightly better when i reached the office...

my hard-disk crashed yesterday afternoon at approximately 4:36pm.

all 40G's of my past year's worth of pictures, documents, files, etc etc...all went down the drain when a simple "operating system not found" flashed across my screen. everything's gone. i was so horrified that i almost broke down in tears after a few tries in vain at reviving the stupid piece of machinery...

luckily i still have this blog where some pictures are kept...but still...i feel lost... =(

i need help. professional help.

mini photographsky - raffles hotel

saturday...back to my favourite passtime...


photographsky hiking boots

i called up seow (eugene for the uninitiated) to go out today...


seow's suv


handsome seow 1

he needed to get some "brass binders" from bras basah complex for his portfolio (btw, anyone looking for a really very creative architect???)...so i decided to follow him there...

actually there weren't a lot of pictures to take...surprisingly...so i was limited to some obligatory shots of the usual stuff in town...


staircase


artistic shot 1


artistic shot 2


last artistic shot

we decided to cross the road and ask ourselves why we went to:


raffles hotel


raffles hotel 1

oh well...what the hell...since we were there, i took some not too exciting shots too...


raffles hotel corridor


gardenia


peacock flower


raffles hotel


sir stamford raffles


handsome seow 2

after that, i agreed to help seow go do some shopping for some work clothes...but i ended up buying my own stuff...70% off leh!!! from $249 to $75!!! =)


new shoes 1


new shoes 2

after that, seow and victor came over and we played risk at my place...stupid game...especially if you lose...fucking stupid game in fact...strategy my ass...tell that to the last person to choose his countries lah!!! argh...i hate losing...

and I HATE IT WHEN LIVERPOOL LOSES!!!!!!!!!! stupid game...

oh well...at least i got a new pair of shoes. =)

football injuries

i normally don't do reprints of articles...but i just read one was just too hilariously stupid that i had to post it...

basically this goalkeeper from an english primier league football team recently got injured while picking up balls from the back of his goal...he injured his knee by getting his boots stuck in the net (go figure)...anyway, here's a list of the most bizzare injuries sustained by footballers that soccernet came up with over the years:

RIO FERDINAND: During his spell at Leeds the England defender managed to pick up a tendon strain in his knee watching television. Ferdinand had his foot up on a coffee table for a number of hours and ended up injuring a tendon behind his knee.

RICHARD WRIGHT: The Everton goalkeeper faced most of the summer on the sidelines after damaging his shoulder falling through a loft as he was trying to pack away his suitcases.

SEAN FLYNN: The then Kidderminster captain suffered a broken nose, busted lip and bruised toes after tripping over his son's toy cars.

DAVE BEASANT: The veteran goalkeeper managed to rule himself out for eight weeks in 1993 when he dropped a bottle of salad cream on his foot, severing the tendon in his big toe.

SANTIAGO CANIZARES: The Spain goalkeeper missed the 2002 World Cup after accidentally shattering a bottle of aftershave in his hotel sink. A piece of glass fell on his foot, severing a tendon in his big toe.

KASEY KELLER: The American international knocked out his front teeth while pulling his golf clubs out of the boot of his car.

ALAN WRIGHT: The diminutive former Aston Villa full-back strained his knee by stretching to reach the accelerator in his new Ferrari. He subsequently swapped the sports car for a Rover 416.

DAVID JAMES: The England goalkeeper once pulled a muscle in his back when reaching for the television remote control and the keen angler also tweaked his shoulder when trying to land a monster carp.

STEVE MORROW: The former Northern Ireland defender broke his collarbone after falling off the shoulders of Tony Adams while celebrating the 1993 League Cup final win against Sheffield Wednesday.

ALEX STEPNEY: In 1975 the Manchester United goalkeeper Alex Stepney dislocated his jaw while shouting at his defenders during a match against Birmingham.

CHIC BRODIE: The Brentford goalkeeper's career came to an abrupt end in October 1970 when he collided with a sheepdog which had run onto the pitch. Brodie shattered his kneecap while the dog got the ball. "The dog might have been a small one, but it just happened to be a solid one," he reflected.

SVEIN GRONDALEN: The Norway defender had to withdraw from an international during the 1970s after colliding with a moose while out jogging.

ALAN MULLERY: The England star missed the 1964 tour of South America after injuring his back while brushing his teeth.

DAVID BATTY: The former Leeds and Blackburn midfielder managed to re-injure his Achilles tendon when he was run over by his toddler on a tricycle.

DARREN BARNARD: The former Barnsley midfielder was sidelined for five months with a torn knee ligament after he slipped in a puddle of his puppy's urine on the kitchen floor.

LEE HODGES: The then Barnet player slipped on a bar of soap in the shower and wrenched his groin.

CHARLIE GEORGE: Arsenal's 1971 FA Cup hero managed to cut off his toe with a lawnmower.

MISTAR: The Indonesian footballer was killed aged just 25 by a stampede of pigs which overran his team's training pitch in 1995.

well done guys...great way to get into the record books! hahaha. =)

insomnia

i'm tired. i just came back from a crappy night at this place called insomnia...somewhere in chijmes. what a lousy place. i can't believe i actually dragged myself from my supposed-rest-period to go to that shithole.

no lah, maybe i'm being a bit harsh...i mean, the waiters were VERY polite and helpful when they practically spilled my unfinished drink into my glass, the band was EXCELLENT (enough said), and the angmoh-piece-of-shit-manager DID NOT chase me off my seat cuz some other "reserved" table needed the 3 extra seats that they didn't use in the end...nope, everything was JUST fine. i'll DEFINITELY go there again. (knn, no wonder they call it insomnia...I REALLY CAN'T SLEEP NOW!!!)

saving grace of the day: the girl in the first band...very cute. =) she'd be a good candidate for girlfriendsky...confident without being overly so, pretty and sweet, x-factor, great smile...too bad she's in a band where she's meeting hundreds upon hundreds of admirers...and well, another thing...she can't really pronounce "th" properly....the "tis"-instead-of-"this"-syndrom strikes again...so sue me lah...i know i'm picky ok? but she's cute...and i'd still like her to sing my song...haha.

but alas, i'm at home blogging... =)

mini photographsky - orchard road

as i mentioned in my previous post, i was on medical leave today...i actually wanted to do some more photographsky stuff in town, but the weather just didn't allow for it...it was raining the whole day.

i only managed to take some exposure shots at night, when i was hanging around paragon (yeah, i ended up going back there) having coffee with some friends...i played with the photo software a bit after coming back home...


orchard exposure 1


orchard exposure 2


orchard exposure 3


orchard exposure 4

i gotta come back another day to get better shots...i see a lot of potential. =)

sigh...another day gone, another mc used up...work again tomorrow. what a routine.

paragon backstabber

have you ever been backstabbed before? let me just share an analogy that i'm sure every single one of you has experienced before:

i was walking around paragon today...to see the doctor (oh yeah, btw, i took medical leave today)...when i decided to empty my bowels before getting checked up by the potential-hot-blooded-uniformed-nurse-wearing-fishnet-stockings-itching-for-action...anyway...i finally stepped into the nicely furnished toilet, and chose a nice cosy cubicle in the far corner...away from all the other users. i sat down on the seat, started my business, and was happily playing "bejeweled" on my handphone...when suddenly, while i was shifting my ass for a better position, the damn thing started flushing...a mini-tsunami no less...quick were my reactions though, and i jumped up to avoid the initial splash...but just as i sat down again, another one set off, (presumably due to the aftershocks of the first one), and wet my region-down-under. once bitten twice shy...i was so disgusted by the wetness on my backside, that i was willing to take the risk of grossing out the aforementioned nurse if there was a need to check my rear end for my flu illness, and not finish the rest of my "stuff"...


paragon backstabber

anyway...the moral of the story is to be careful of who you trust...they may be full of shit, and soil your opportunities...and not to mention messy to clean up...

and oh yeah...my lucky streak continued long enough for me to get a man-nurse...

photographsky - farrer backyard

i came home a bit earlier than usual today...the sun was still up, so i decided to explore my own backyard with my nikon coolpix. =)


23rd floor view

before i started out, i couldn't help but sneak a voyeur shot of ttmc's friend sleeping in the nude...haha. so cute!!! =)


farrer aborigine

i'm still trying to improve my photographsky skills, so there are a few different kinda experimental pictures in this collection...they are by no means perfect, but i guess there's a learning curve to everything right? =)

i started with some shots of the flora and fauna in my estate's backyard...


frangipani


ixora


lantana & fauna (x2)


hibiscus


golden dew drop

by the way, my whole estate's fenced up on the perimeter, so don't even think about breaking in!!! private property no less hor!!! hahaha...if only i could get the napping security guard in the same picture...


farrer fortress


farrer spike

some practise tables for the grandmaster chess players staying in our estate...


farrer checkmate

there was this guy who wanted to make a quick buck as a lumberjack...


farrer timmmmberrrrrrrrrr!!!

rumour has it that he's still under the tree...

i'm gonna start a black and white album one of these days...i like the contrast...another aspect i'm working on... =)


farrer hoop

i like the last two shots that i took...


farrer exposure 1


farrer exposure 2

it's very symbolic and illustrates the happenings in my life now...

it's wonderful to have a new form of release and expression. =)

ex-wedding

i went for a wedding yesterday. it was great to meet up again with some of my old friends...one of which, was the bride's ex-boyfriend.

* flashback *

about 2 years ago, i held a new year's eve party at my place. unknowingly and accidentally i invited yesterday's bride and her ex-boyfriend. i thought that things were ok between them back then, but each of them told me afterwards in confidence, that if they had known the other was there, they wouldn't have gone to the party...don't get me wrong, they didn't like fight or anything at the party, but it was a bit awkward for the both of them...and i apologised to no end to both of them for my folly.

about 2 months ago, yesterday's bride called me and asked for her ex-boyfriend's number...she wanted to invite him to her wedding. i was a bit shocked, given what had transpired during my new year's party a few years back, but i more than happily passed her his contact. i guess time does heal all wounds...no matter how deep.

at the wedding yesterday, i really admired how well my friend took everything in his stride...especially when all the bride's relatives still remember him by name, and even came to shake his hand and ask about his well-being. i really admired how calm and composed he remained when the bride walked down the aisle in her wedding gown towards her awaiting husband. i really admired how he told me that he was really happy for the bride. but i really hate him for reminding me how i would have to go through the same experience many more times than he would...haha...you bastard...you think i want so many one ah?!?! haha.

i don't know how i would react if i went for an ex-girlfriend's wedding...how AM i supposed to feel? depends on which ex-gf also i guess...but at the same time, there will always be a tinge of "what-ifs" that creep in...no matter how short / temporary the relationship was...i won't bluff myself...it happens to everyone right??...it doesn't mean that you still love the person...it's just a natural reaction right?? or maybe i'm just me...

photographsky - lower peirce reservoir park

mundane saturday afternoon...which means...photographsky again. =)


hiking boots day

the weather was really nice and fine...


fair weather

i decided to go to lower peirce reservoir park and take some rainforest shots...


rainforest

and as always...pictures tell the story better. =)


lower peirce reservoir 1


jurassic park leaf

the sky was at it's best today...if you look hard enough, you can actually see two eagles circling the skies, looking for delicious morsels to eat... =)


lower peirce reservoir 2


lower peirce reservoir 3


lower peirce reservoir 4


flower close up

i know that i said i wanted to take rainforest pictures...but nature just forced me to do otherwise...


lower peirce reservoir 5


lower peirce reservoir 6


lower peirce reservoir 7


lower peirce reservoir 8


lower peirce reservoir 9


lower peirce reservoir 10


lower peirce reservoir 11


lower peirce reservoir 12


lower peirce reservoir 13


lower peirce reservoir 14


lower peirce reservoir 15


lower peirce reservoir 16


lower peirce reservoir 17


lower peirce reservoir 18


lower peirce reservoir panorama 1


lower peirce reservoir panorama 2

lower peirce reservoir is really a nice place to go...be it with friends or loved ones...or even alone...the scenery is really stupendous...i managed to finish the film in my slr camera on this trip...can't wait for the end results. =)

i love going on photographsky trips...i think i've seen more of singapore in the last few months than a lot of singaporeans have in their whole lifetime here. come on people...get out and enjoy what's in your own backyards!!! =)