barbaro

while watching espn sportscentre just now, i saw something that made me tear...

i thought i'd find it on youtube and share it with you guys...



barbaro was euthanized today due to complications from his surgery. details are in this espn report.

as some of you may know, i have a strong affinity with horses...i love everything about them, their sleekness, strength, grace...i have lots of horse paintings and sculptures in my room...i was born in the year of the horse...and i even have a 马 ("horse" in chinese characters) engraved in my name.

so it really pained me to see barbaro's injury. his eyes...such agony. his head...shook with utter disbelief. now the pain is over...

here's to the horse that won 6 out of 7 races, but who is still undefeated in my eyes...

who wants to be an amerikan?

i just saw a very interesting film on youtube...

it's called who wants to be an amerikan by a student from the vancouver film school...it'll take a while to load up though, but good things come to those who wait. =)



(note: you might not wanna read the below before you watch the above...it might just spoil the film. hehe.)

"welcome home nikolai." well done...i love that line...the whole picture is very nicely scripted and filmed...the music's not half bad either. =)

"people are more important than places"...makes you think for a while...but i've decided that i wanna go places with important people. make sense of that, if you will...haha.

cheers. =)

healthsky day

in my quest for a more healthy and not-so-fat look, i took mc today. the irony still gives me the giggles. hee hee.

anyway, i went for my usual run this evening around the botanical gardens and the old nie track. i had a slightly better timing than last time, and ran for a slightly longer distance before i came back to farrer court...where i saw jo's msn message:


jo's msn msg



haha. they even have testimonials from "satisfied players"...i've got a 9am meeting tomorrow...will probably start looking for a new job by 930am. haha.

anyway, the rest of my conversation with jo...

jo: http://elsmar.com/level2/Bingo.html
moby: sorry, was jogging just now
jo: wah seh. jogging?
moby: since 5:40pm...but effectively only about 25 mins worth of jogging...

moby: haha...the link is funny...you putting up on your blog? or should i?
jo: u put lor...
moby: hehe...ok...later. i'm going to ntuc now to buy some chicken breast and salad...hehe, i finally started reading that book...
jo: okok. u put it up on ur blog but u link me la...the bingo thing...hahaha.
moby: sheesh. do your actually hits go up when i link you???
jo: errrr.....effect not that much, but got la...
moby: write something of interest lah. your blog is always something you saw online or something...
moby: write about your pet spider or something...
jo: pet spider?
moby: something more personal and interesting...everyone can find stuff online what.
jo: ohhhh...hmmm...

hehe. don't say don't have hor.

a little while after that, i went down to the coronation ntuc for some health food shopping...and came back with 5 bags full of groceries.


ntuc groceries

the damn walk from ntuc back home was exercise enough, don't mention the healthsky foods. ok, so i lied...i took a bus back. but the damn walk from ntuc to the busstop and from the busstop back home was exercise enough...really!

for the sake of all you other weight-loser-wannabes, here's what i bought:


healthsky food

from left to right:

top row
1. lee say poultry fresh boneless chicken breast ($2.22)
2. ntuc halibut fillet ($5.51)
3. australian jd striploin ($7.23)
4. smoked turkey breast ($6.20)

middle row
1. ntuc "the pasar" 小白菜 xiao bai cai ($0.65)
2. ntuc "the pasar" bean sprouts ($0.50)
3. ntuc "the pasar" broccoli ($0.56)
4. heinz fresh & thick mayonnaise 96% fat-free, contains energy 8 calories per 10ml dessert spoon ($2.24)
5. kraft singles extra light cheese, 12 slices ($3.95)
6. china fresh iceberg lettuce ($1.35)

bottom row
1. china fuji apples, 5 ($2.30)
2. sunshine softgrain wholemeal bread ($1.95)
3. ntuc "the pasar" golden pear, 4 ($2.65)
4. ntuc fairprice canola olive oil blend ($4.95)

grand total: $42.26

it ain't cheap being healthsky...but it's a price i'm willing to pay. haha. cheers. =)

jogging, dried apricots and yong tao fu

met up some friends over the past few days...

first was with the secondary school buddies...after some re-runs of the ever-present "uzap-on-my-face" joke, they insisted on tempting my resistance by ordering fattening foods like french fries, pizzas and chicken wings...of which, i'm proud to say, i only had the latter two. you bastards...just wait till you go to the states and try the variety of fast food available...i'll make sure you all buy an osim i-gallop upon your return.

anyway, one my my buddies lost 8kg recently by reading some book (and obviously applying the methods) called "burn the fat and feed the muscle" by tom venuto. basically it talks about controlling your diet and excercising...i mean, shit lah, that's pretty commonsensical right? but sometimes all you need is just a reminder...or an "inspirational" angmoh author who publishes what we all should know by now. sheesh. maybe we believe the angmohs more cuz they have more experience with fat people in their land...haha.

moving on...i went to jo's place today after work. once again, the issue of my weight came up...but surprisingly, he had also read the same damn book that my secondary school buddy read. jo went from 78kg last july, to a waifish 65kg now. 13 kg in about 6 months. damn. i got the book from him straight after that. stupid tom venuto's having so much effect on my friends...scary.

dinner was a rather torturous affair at the parkway parade food court. jo suggested either porridge, fish soup or yong tao fu...and since i hate porridge, and i just had both the latter for lunch (i got a scolding after jo learned of this monstrous meal), i was in a real dilemma. yong tao fu won cuz it had more variety. sigh. the sacrifices i have to make...actually ah, i think that jo should rename his blog from "death by flatulence" to "death by abstinence". haha.

since i was obviously not fully satisfied with my dinner, we went to cold storage in search of snacks...oh sorry, HEALTHY snacks. here's what i bought:


dried apricots


nutritional value


"huh??? zero calories from fat???"


dried apricot

jo doesn't like "zero calories from fat dried apricots":


open up and say ahhh

on the lighter side of things, i'm going to start with this regime soon too...after i finish reading all 340 pages of this book that is. haha.

in the meantime, it'll just be jogging, dried apricots and yong tao fu...wish me luck.

cheers. =)

videographsky - roadtrip california (highway1)

the next installment of roadtrip california...

highway 1 is the most scenic drive of all of california...trust me. here's another video (warning: people who get car sick easily should take their pills now).













californication...try it some day. cheers. =)

p.a. offer

earlier today...

*"beep beep" - moby's sms*
ex customer (ec): hi, good morning...would you be interested in a p.a. role?
moby: hey, good morning. what kind of p.a. role? p.a. as in personal assistant? no experience (or interest) lah...or p.a. as in people's association?
ec: ok...let me call you in a while.

*in a while...*
ec: hey hi.
moby: hi. simi p.a.?
ec: p.a. as in personal assistant. you see, the managing director of my customer is looking for someone to help him out. the p.a. would be handling the m.d.'s daily affairs and schedule...both work and personal.
moby: huh? then how come he needs a guy?
ec: ok...i know it sounds weird, but the m.d. already has a secretary, but the p.a. would be travelling around with him...and the secretary would report to the p.a.
moby: err...ok...but why me?
ec: well...the m.d.'s work associates all have a p.a., so he wanted someone who looks impressive...so i thought you'd be suitable. hehe.
moby: haha...i'm flattered. *blushes* but at this point in my career...

ec: the pay is $8k a month...
moby: what?! for a p.a.???
ec: with all travelling expenses paid for...
moby: WHAT??!!

ec: so how about it?
moby: wow... *starry eyed*
ec: you need time to think about it?
moby: *snaps out of it* no lah. it's ok. i think you should look for someone else lah...at this point in my career, i don't think that i would want to do something like that...maybe if it were a few years ago...but thanks for thinking of me anyway. hehe.
ec: hey, no problem. i'll keep a lookout for you in the meantime. cheers.
moby: cheers. =)

knn...i hope i made the right decision. but i guess it's true lah...i would never wanna be anyone's slave (which is the synonym of "p.a.")...no matter how much they paid me. my hands were made to wipe my own ass, thank you very much. haha.

but seriously, what do you think? let me know. cheers. =)

fats away

i came home early today...for good reason...

you see, while i was having dinner yesterday with a certain someone who's blog kena called spam, i had to endure endless remarks about how fat and larger than life i was after coming back from the states.

i mean, seriously...one comment is enough lah hor (given how much fast food i was forced to consume in the land of macdonald's, burger king, taco bell, jack in the box, wendy's, arby's, kfc, a&w, etc etc)...she just kept going on and on about my overweightedness...the straw finally broke with the taunt that her once-fat-cat transferred his weight to my face. =|

which leads me back to my story about coming home early:


before (5:40pm)


7.6km jog


after (7:00pm)

but remember kids...don't try this at home...as results may vary for different individuals. haha.

i'm fucking tired now...but take that blinky!!! you're getting your fat back whether you like it or not!!! muahahaha. >=)

cheers. =)

videographsky - roadtrip california (redwood forest)

trees

i think that i shall never see,
a poem lovely as a tree...

a tree whose hungry mouth is prest,
against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

a tree that looks at God all day,
and lifts her leafy arms to pray;

a tree that may in summer wear,
a nest of robins in her hair;

upon whose bosom snow has lain;
who intimately lives with rain.

poems are made by fools like me,
but only God can make a tree.

- joyce kilmer




and the journey continues...cheers. =)

stranger than fiction & travels with charley

i just watched "stranger than fiction" at cineleisure. i really liked it...will ferrell did a great job in the acting department, portraying main character harold crick, as did dustin hoffman (as professor hilbert) and emma thomson (as the author, karen eiffel)...

the only quirk i had was how easy it was for maggie gyllenhaal (ana pascal) to change her mind about mr. ferrell aka IRS taxman...what with despising his very presence one day, and then sleeping with him the next? hmmm...from what i know, girls are pretty adamant about the first impressions thing...but then again, it's all fiction (and plus, i just remembered that girls are also pretty fickle-minded...haha). =)

sometimes i feel as if my life were written in a book by someone too...he (or she) probably had a really wild imagination, coupled with a wicked sense of humour, and not to mention, an eye for the tearjerker. it's been a pretty good story so far though, if you ask me...as long as it's not stephen king building up his plot. haha.

but seriously speaking...there are many books that i've read so far which i can really relate my life to...but one that i wanna share with you all is "travels with charley in search of america" by john steinbeck (famous for "grapes of wrath" and "of mice and men").

it's a true story based in 1960 about the author's travels across the united states with his blue poodle named charley. the story not only has a lot adventures, but also many quotable quotes providing food for thought:

"for how can one know color in perpetual green, and what good is warmth without cold to give it sweetness?"

"i have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. i've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment."

"a sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ."

"one goes, not to much to see, but to tell afterward."

superb. the reason why i can relate this book to my life is because i've really been on a journey...through places and through minds. it's wonderful to be alive. cheers. =)

(p.s. - go and watch stranger than fiction.)

(p.p.s. - go and read travels with charley.)

bm spam blogged!

猴子 says: oi. blogger suspended my account. now i cannot blog. nabeh.
mobySKY says: why??? what happened?

猴子 says: dunno. got some email to say they think my blog is a spam blog...so they suspended it.
mobySKY says: har? wtf

猴子 says: yeah lor
mobySKY says: spam blog? hahahaha. can i blog about that so everyone else will know??? hahaha

猴子 says: yeah. pls blog
mobySKY says: haha...ok

mobySKY says: ok...blogging now...anything you want me to tell you fans?

猴子 says: erm... tell them i miss blogging...
mobySKY says: how long have you been out?

猴子 says: 2 days. blogger says they will unlock in 4 business days. =(
mobySKY says: can i officially say that you're not a spam blog? muahahaha...

猴子 says: nabeh...

so there you have it folks...blinkymummy's not ignoring all you fans after all...she's just been disconnected for a few days...

but actually ah, the conspiracist in me suspects that she kena sabotaged...by a certain short and ugly, pseudo-famous fellow blogger with stupendous photoshopping skills. ok lah, she's not ugly...just beauty-handicapped. hahaha.

cheers. =)

farewell

ok...here's a short break from the pictures and videos that i've been uploading regarding \roadtrip california...

i just came back from the airport not too long ago...i was there to send off my best friend. he's going to further his studies at some australian university...got at least 6 years.

i'm feeling kinda down now...cuz i don't know...it's just different when you're talking to your best friend online via msn and email...as compared to meeting him in person for unauthorised mid-day coffee sessions in holland village and getting a good dose of advise on the way home in his car...it just ain't the same...

but all things aside, i'm stupendously ecstatic that he's going to try and fulfil his dream of becoming a doctor...and i wish him all the best...

farewell...take care bro...cheers. =)

videographsky - roadtrip california (san francisco)

i'm back.

it's been 3 weeks...and i'm back. can't say that i'm not glad to be "home", but can't really say that i'm "glad" either...if you know what i mean.

anyway, i wanted to post this video of our first day in the states...bear in mind that it was a few days before christmas...when i just arrived. =)



i'm still awake at this hour cuz i'm still on usa pacific standard time...which is 16 hours behind singapore's hour. i think i'm still hyper now...maybe it's from the after-effects of the trip. haha. still got so much to upload...

cheers. =)

photographsky - roadtrip california (shasta dam)

greetings from california! =)



as mentioned in my previous post, we rented a car back in san francisco...a 2007 ford taurus...





it's the first 3.0L car i've ever driven...but power is nothing without control...it's really shaky when i'm driving at high speeds, and the brakes are pretty darn unresponsive. oh well...at least we have our own transportation.

next up on our trip was shasta dam. as the name suggests, it's a dam on shasta lake that's probably best described by wikipedia:

"Shasta Dam is a curved gravity concrete dam on the Sacramento River above Redding, California built between 1938 and 1945. Like another curved gravity dam (Hoover Dam), is was a continuous pour concrete project, and in its day, ranked as one of the great civil engineering feats of the world. The dam is 602 ft (183 m) high and 3,460 ft (1,055 m) long, with a base width or thickness of 543 ft (165.5 m). The reservoir created behind Shasta Dam is known as Shasta Lake and is a popular recreational boating area."









it's damn windy up there. serious. i nearly got blown over...but luckily for you (and me), i braved the gusts of gale to take these pictures. serious.









very scenic...just like the rest of the road along the way...











with the sunset, another day went by...





and another day to come...cheers. =)

photographsky - roadtrip california (dunsmuir)

time flies. one week left...sigh.

anyway, on the day that we left san francisco, we rented a car (more on that later) to drive around the rest of california. as some of you might know, cars drive on the right hand side of the road in the states, which made the adjustment kinda weird at first...but after only one initial scare from an over-zealous and impatient truck driver (who was obviously at fault), i more or less got it...except for that other time when i nearly drove into oncoming traffic while making a left turn...but that's another story.

given the fact that there wasn't much to see on our maiden journey upstate, partly because everyone else was too paralysed by my driving skills, there weren't any pictures taken until we nearly reached our destination for the day. this is the first of the not many:



as you can see, it was raining outside. eventually, as we were driving northwards, the rain turned to...





while i was pretty excited at first, not having seen snow in a good 10 years...it soon turned to a snowy hell...my windshield wipers were damn lousy, and the windows kept fogging up (despite our best efforts to fiddle with the air conditioner), so i had to go so slow that i jammed up the entire expressway...and again, those truck drivers are one impatient bunch.

to make matters worse, when pei hwan called our place of accommodation to tell them that we'd be slightly late, she was told that there was a power failure due to the snow storm. well done.

but as things turned out, we reached safely. driving in the snow is no joke though...no wonder they make it mandatory to carry snow chains in some areas. as it was, the lights in our cabin were a welcome sight indeed (apparently the power came back when we arrived...coincidence? haha).



dunsmuir is a pretty ulu town about 40 miles north of redding (the biggest city around that region)...google it if you wanna know more. at first, we wanted to see mount shasta, this volcano just a few miles north of dunsmuir, but after the debacle with the snow on the expressway the day before, we decided not to take any more unnecessary chances, and headed for the coast. but before that, i wanted to take home some memories of my first snow in 10 years:













i love the cold weather...it makes dressing up so much more fun...and it makes you appreciate the hot baths / showers at the end of the day even more. =)

more to come...cheers. =)

photographsky - roadtrip california (san francisco 2)

happy new year everyone!

i'm now in los angeles...staying at my brother's apartment...good chance for me to upload some of my photos from last week...has it been that long already? sheesh, time flies when you're having fun. =)






















the famous lombard street (the most windiest road in the world)...

alcatraz...

















and all this is from day 2 only...so much more to share with you all...not enough time...gotta go out again. hehe. catch you all again later. cheers. =)