Simple End-Game Outcome

You think I'm not contributing.

I think you're not appreciating.

I see where it's going.

2010 Fade Off

The year 2010 is becoming a fast-diminishing spot in the rearview mirror. As we leave it all behind in our endeavour to progress towards another year, here are the highlights of this year.

Mount Kinabalu
As the mastermind said, we bought tickets there because it was cheap. It was only after that we decided to embark on the vertical journey, towards the misty summit of one of the highest peaks in South East Asia.

Balance Sheet of Arrivals and Departures
If someone is keeping records on the registry of people coming and going on this planet, he/she is doing a mighty decent job. The amount of weddings and wakes attended this year almost balances each other out. Weddings out scored wakes by just a little, but who's to say some weddings may not result in offspring being created.

In addition to experiences, meaningful conversations that left an impact on my perspectives in life were also recorded.

With James, he pointed out that your first year in your job, is not all about learning the domain knowledge of your field. In fact, you may very well be spending the first year learning your way around the organization, how to adapt to working styles of colleagues, how to write emails... This made sense for a fresh graduate who has little prior working experience. And reminds me not to be too impatient to want to contribute towards my organization. Because that day will come, but meantime it's preparation for it.

Another colleague has padded my list of unorthodox approaches towards work. Because there's only 8 hours in a work day, and it's so dynamic that priorities of work can take sudden shifts within the span of a few hours. To that end, the phrase "if the emperor is not in a hurry, neither should the eunuch" best describes the stance that one should take at work. Unless bosses really chase you hard for it, whatever you're working on for them may not seem as important as they make it sound.

Alex has taken up the challenge to run his first marathon, thereby leading by example how to go for projects of longitudinal duration. Now he has bragging rights along with a blister on his foot to show for his run that lasted a whole working day.

Gary has shown how he prioritizes family in front of many other things. That is actually a warming sight to know his family is close together as a unit that plays and therefore stays together. Now that he has set an example for people to follow, it's a lesson learnt on how focusing on the family can make you a wholesome person.

Su has once again reminded me to get more sleep in order to reduce reliance on gcalendar so that i won't get my dates wrong should the almighty google crash one fine day. He has demonstrated that unhappy events from 2009 have mostly stopped haunting him.

Glad that same goes for me, as well as June. Learnt from her that girls set criteria for their soulmates that belong to various categories, such as physical attributes, family assets and personality. Lucky thing there is a category that is flexible and may be subject to changes.

With so many more things to learn from during conversations with poeple close to heart, here is a wish for 2011 to be full of eipc adventure, strengthening of friendships, a clearer direction in career and a year of love.

Sawadee 2011.

rude awakening

there i was on top of his shoulers walking along a corridor, scenes of an old wet market. next was the white plaque on which words were written in english.

I have lived. I lived. I am no longer ashamed of women.

followed by a few words that have grown fuzy while I slowly gained consciousness.

In the Mood

When even Winamp knows that I'm headed for memory lane, it adapts by playing songs that I heard a lot in 2007-08.

我和春天有個約會, 不能說的秘密，路一直在，你是心新內的一首歌, It ends tonight, 只對你有感覺，刺激2005, 一見鍾情

But this has got to stop. There have been signs that the cycle should be completed.

I will relive, with fondness. And then I will let live.

I will bring out the mood in the photos. I am in the mood. Your wedding photos part 2 will turn out beautiful, Gary and Huang Hui.

One Wild Ride

To put the hump day out of its misery, the volunteers for YOG were invited to the Universal Studios to frolic in the waning rays of the evening sun. While I was prepared for the worst scenario (been told by a friend that entrance costs only $5 in the evening because the rides were not operational), I went ahead knowing that I will nonetheless meet up with many friends there.

Not only did I end up spending one great evening in the theme park unwinding on the thrill rides, all expenses paid, I also felt a transcendental connection made with the senses. Probably owing to how we explored the park in dimly-lit circumstances, with the theme songs from movies of yesteryear playing from hidden speakers, the city life that many have grown weary of had been suppressed even if it was for that fleeting moment inside the park. Especially fascinating was the exhibit where Hollywood revealed the behind-the-scenes of a filming set. The setting was a warehouse looking out towards New York City. On a television set in the warehouse, the weatherman was narrating the current situation to the audience. A thunderstorm was recreated with the aid of simulated rain to produce the aural illusion of pattering raindrops into the sea. Gales were created with fans, doors opened and shut by unseen mechanical setups played along as if the doors were indeed blown into motion by the winds. The invasive smell of kerosene penetrated the nose as the sea caught ablaze when a suspended speedboat fell and exploded. The finale was an earth-shattering collision from a humongous tanker into the stage where we were standing, sending tremours across the platform and buckling many knees.

The rides were a bonus for the night since I expected to just have a meal inside the theme park with like-minded friends who took it upon themselves to carry the 330-million-dollar Olympic torch project through its tour of Singapore. After a whole day in the office, it was amazingly therapeutic to have your bones momentarily jostled out of alignment from the jerks and bumps of the Mummy ride, not to mention an unobstructed view of the built-up Sentosa while suspended in mid-air and feet trailing precariously above the ground.

In retrospect, I am sure this inter-cultural exchange on a large scale between athletes from around the world and our very own volunteers must have helped promote Singapore’s image as an international city to participants at the very least. Indeed it is no minor feat to be host of the youth Olympics, screw-ups or not. I remember the warmth it brought when I asked this athlete from Tonga what she thought of Singapore, and her response was that it was a most beautiful city, and that she would like to come back. That from someone patriotic enough to paint her face with her country flag. It’s the heart of the people that made things run smoothly. And if you were part of it, this post is dedicated to you. We totally deserved the Universal Studios visit as domestic tourists of this vibrant city that is Singapore. 

I remembered the initial reluctance to hunt down the training venue to listen to Alex Siew coach us on how to take photos. All the way to SP and find a hidden classroom in the rain! And the seemingly endless visits to Kay Siang to attend briefings and role-playing trainings were not particularly alluring. But all that came in useful when the flame eventually landed and set the gears into motion at the floating platform.

As photographers, the very first challenge we received was nothing related to pictures. Instead, it was how to read the training schedules that we received via email. With so many things happening at once, and athletes not sticking to their schedules, it was nearly impossible to track them down. With the dedication of each member, we did the best we could. Following the athletes on culture education programmes was more rewarding, as the people could be photographed at optimum proximity. Ubin was greatly preferred to Hort Park because there were more opportunities where athletes would engage in exciting activities thereby eliciting more varied expressions for their portraits to be painted digitally. 

You may have benefitted in the most unlikely way. Maybe you learnt how to work with others better. You may have improved your eye for photography. You may have picked up a foreign language while interacting with the athletes/coaches. You may have gotten to hone certain skills through the various activities. You may have overcome your fear of thrill rides after the USS visit. You may have made someone beside you deaf when you screamed really loud on the thrill rides.

Whatever it was, this post serves to close the Singapore 2010 chapter with dignity. And together with that, lots of respect for all your hard work and late nights poured into the year’s worth of preparation. I am certain that we’ll cross paths again, one day.

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And a chance to win an iPad. With that it'll be a less boring ride to work reading comics on it.

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Making Sense

As if to compensate for a rather uneventful July, the month of August felt like eating an eight-course dinner in fast-forward mode.

Celebrations, trip, missed celebrations, YOG, singing exam. Mostly good things in fact.

Until the Aug 23 tragedy that happened in the Philippines that is. An invisible blanket carrying the mourning people's tears seems to have descended on the enclave of Hong Kong people in Singapore. In the midst of angry people quick to assign blame, media reports on the survivors' families, people defending the dignity of their race and lashing back, it's hard to find a place of sense to put an opinion or sentiment anywhere.

The more you read, the more depressing it feels. Facts get digested to effect emotions and there's no mood to do much. Maybe it's true. It's time to detach from these stories for a while. People who need counselling should get it over and done with. People who hate the whole country's system should not be so naive as to want to take on the establishment. Who are they to judge. Condemn the sin, since the sinner resides way out of reach, up high in the blame game. And at the end of the search you may not be able to uncover a single face to it.

Let there be love, mourn for the loss. Leave hate out of the equation. That's all I ask.

Back from the Cat City

For a city that is named after a favourite household pet, I was rather disappointed when I left Kuching without catching sight of a single cat. With a history of being under British rule, a Sir James Brooke, Kuching reveals traces of its colonial past in the architecture composed of museums and post office.

Forgoing the plans of what set out to be a brothers-only trip, we made concessions for our dear sister HH and endeavoured not to make things difficult for Gary.

Upon disembarking at the Kuching airport, I saw second-tier highways leading to the city set in a reasonably green milieu of vegetation. Impressive infrastructure, perceivably for a place said to house a mere 600,000 residents. The grey skies helped to provide some comfort from a scorching sun.

While the map on hostelworld has assured me that we are located not far from the waterfront, actually sensing the proximity to the calm waters on the taxi heightened the joy of realizing that our chosen accommodation was well-made. Along the way, we saw live pigs mulling over their uncertain fate in rather cramped quarters. After turning into a rather narrow lane between rows of two-storied shop houses, we alighted right outside our hostel.

With a décor that goes along the theme of rustic Balinese furniture and a red paint job that’s vibrant yet not too intense, Mr Drowsy hostel gave us a run for our money. It didn’t matter all that much to young people like us. At the end of the day, we only returned to catch our forty winks before heading out to take in the sights and sounds of the locale.

The three things worthy of mention are the food, the trip to the Sarawak Cultural Village, and the produce from this rather obscure part of Malaysia.

Being in a consumer-oriented travel group, courtesy of Hungry Gary, we went all-out in the search for the better tasting of the kolo mee in Kuching. Read: we ate many a bowl. From many a stall.

The champion goes to Ryooyi, a black horse in our quest for the best tasting kolo mee in Kuching. Located in a shop house, it was not in the midst of other food stalls, and expectations wasn’t high. The minced meat on top of the noodles provides a subtle salty flavour to accentuate the texture of the noodles as it enters the mouth… It has earned the status of the KL beef noodles.

I would put Kuching’s laksa in between that of Penang’s Assam style and Singapore’s rather heavy style. Its soup is not as thick and saturated as Singapore’s laksa, and not as watery as the assam convention. Ingredients are slightly different as well. Where the Katong laksa serves a bowl with Chinese parsley on top, the Kuching style does not have that. They also do not spoil their customers in Kuching by snipping the noodles into spoon-sized servings.

Seafood dinner at Top Spot was gratifying. Sea bass and squid deep-fried with condensed milk. Not to mention the local fern that the locals stir-fry – a herb called midin. While some may be turned off by the fact that a mucus-like substance resides inside the crunchy stems, it does have a redeeming fragrance about it. OK. Enough of food.

A motif of this trip arose from our visit to the cultural village. In addition to experiencing how 3 tribes of people lived and fought for their turf expansion, we were treated to traditional performances by Sarawakian warriors and maidens. Gary noted how the flailing hands of the womenfolk resembles the gesture for people to “wait a minute”, and it became the accidental highlight of the trip. Throughout dinner and beyond, we imitated the dance move much to the amusement of ourselves, and yet another lady in our group. 

Getting my hands on the traditional instrument found at the longhouse of the Orang Ulu, I realized how fortunate we are to be born in an age of 6-strings, Marshall amplification, and compact analogue effect pedals. Strumming two open notes and being restricted to one single scale at the highest string wasn’t my idea of lead guitar playing. A precursor to the ukulele, perhaps.

Always interesting to see what a country sells in its souvenir shops, above and beyond the traditional woodcraft hand-me-downs. In Kuching, the order of the day was bird’s nest, pepper, and ironically, cat-themed trinkets. In the cultural village, we were walked through the process of grounding pepper, and how black pepper tastes more spicy and is rougher compared to the white pepper which has the pepper seed’s outer layer removed. We also saw a time-lapsed demonstration of separating birds’ saliva from their feathers, and a bleaching process to add that all-important cosmetic touch to the product.

Journeys are always fun. Whether or not you take something back with you is another matter altogether. My main takeaway from this brief yet succinct 3 day 2 night trip is that I should learn to increase my tolerance for the flaws of the human condition even more, especially when faced with such bathos where the eponymous city of Kuching actually has no cats.

Analyse This

What is Your Love Language? Your Result: Quality Time   Quality time is more than mere proximity. It’s about focusing all your energy on your mate. A husband watching sports while talking to his wife is NOT quality time. Unless all of your attention is focused on your mate, even an intimate dinner for two can come and go without a minute of quality time being shared. Quality conversation is very important in a healthy relationship. It involves sharing experiences, thoughts, feelings and desires in a friendly, uninterrupted context. A good mate will not only listen, but offer advice and respond to assure their mate they are truly listening. Many mates don’t expect you to solve their problems. They need a sympathetic listener. Quality activities are a very important part of quality time. Many mates feel most loved when they spend physical time together, doing activities that they love to do. Spending time together will bring a couple closer, and, in the years to come, will fill up a memory bank that you can reminisce about in the future. Whether it’s sitting on the couch and having a brief conversation or playing together in a tennis league, quality time is a love language that is shared by many.
Acts of Service
Receiving Gifts
Physical Touch
Words of Affirmation
What is Your Love Language? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Missing Out

In a night, I’ve had the finger pointed at me no less than 3 times. The accusation? I am too cynical. Something about how I always question people’s motives, and was suspected to be in depression. Much as I am used to being misunderstood, I felt a compelling need to clarify myself that night.

You see, sounding rather negative in the projection of things is merely a means of preparing for the worst. PR 101, you prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. Murphy’s always been my best friend. Always been, always will be.

I am merely an optimist learning to be practical in this realistic world. To carry on organizing outings despite being aware of the daunting prospects of poor attendance and no-shows. Instead of accepting things as they are like most people do, and submitting to the fact that everyone’s busy with their own lives and will not bother to turn up. If I were really so bitter about everything, I won’t have gone on to suggest a meet up, would I?

Life’s less-than-kind experiences may have left some of us feeling disillusioned. To that end I plead guilty. Weary about the idea of finding that special someone to spend the rest of your life with, at a tender age of twenty-something. Perhaps that’s not a good way to describe it. Perhaps a better way to put it would simply be, both sides are probably not ready for an arrangement such as marriage yet.

Most men (secretly or not) would want their wives to stay at home and stay out of the world of temptations, once they’re married. To take care of affairs at home and tend to the kids. But at this age, unless there’s backing from parents, it will be largely unwise. How would a middle class family relying solely on the man’s income expect to live comfortably? I cannot fathom the idea of facing the same someone for at least 40 years starting from the tender age of 25. Neither can she I’m sure. Because at a certain age, certain things you just cannot expect a guy to be able to provide.

At the basic level is security. In multiple senses of the word.

Financial security: unless there’s a pot of gold in the family stronghold, most guys won’t be able to be the provider that most of us are programmed biologically to want to do. To feel useful and prove our selves worthy to our mates and folks.

Emotional security: while it is mutually beneficial to be in a long term relationship where you put each other on the priority list, you cannot put aside the thought of having fun out there once in a while. There lies the great temptation to party till the early morning before returning to a fretting other half who felt deserted for one night while you were expending the better part of your youthful energy on the dance floor and inevitably catching the attention of some nubile chick.

So why try so hard, to decide upon someone only to have your heart broken when she flies out of your reach after deciding one day that she deserves better? At this age, no one can promise anything. Correction, at this time and age, nothing can be set in stone anymore. It’s much too easy to hit Control Z in life with seemingly less impact than yesteryear, even the stigma of single parents and divorcees being slowly diluted with help from drama serials that insidiously entrench eroding values into our thoughts.

My heart goes out to you at this moment, if you’re troubled by the end of a “good thing” and it’s causing insomnia and that unstoppable leakage from the tear ducts. When you finally get a grip on yourself, these words will make sense - You deserve better. Much better.

Be more practical, be more careful with who you hand your heart to, but before the elements become right for mating season, why not face affairs of the heart with more optimism, more wariness, more flamboyance and aim to derive more pleasure than pain out of each other’s company?

In other words, can we keep it casual?

Don't scream your lyrics!

Win

Success is when preparation meets opportunity.


Don't slack.... too much!

Radio Gaga

After so many non-stop appointments after work, it seems only right to be resting 2 weekends at home just listening to the radio, letting life slow right down. What used to be on power 98 is now on class 95. That’s just a sign of the times.

Here are some songs that were played during those weekends and the sentiments triggered from within when they started:

1.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE This is one of the first songs that got me noticing the existence of this low frequency sound from the bass guitar that could only be heard when I put on earphones. Trusty Sony CD walkman. Previously the radio at home played on speakers and those had raspy interferences and little bass. 

2.       http://bit.ly/9F4nYD -> copy paste. Didn’t use to like ballads and piano songs, much preferred the warm overdriven guitars of Oasis. But this song intrigued me with the blue themed music video and the association with Batman and Robin.

3.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvKs133Udmk The first radio hit I heard was actually Ms Jackson which was rather catchy, but the follow up didn’t disappoint. One of the songs in the hip-hop compilation CD-Rs. Never knew the keyboard could make that sound in the chorus.

4.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4YqKeZT5Do This one seems to have a higher pitch but it’s the original video. Original song in another video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YePmikngFRg. Studying at home was best accompanied by songs that make you feel peaceful and yet thought-provoking. You won’t get that with rock songs. Remembered her more for what Rick Dees revealed about her in the Dees Sleaze fashion.

5.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0nKrD5If7U Original music video had something burning if I don’t remember wrongly. Most of the songs stuck in the head mostly because the MTVs were shown on channel 5 between programs. But this instrumental plucking at the beginning caught my attention as well, I thought it didn’t sound quite like a guitar. Didn’t know about the banjo then. Sure sounds like it.

6.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWxzM9_gEo0 2 years before I learnt about the Gothic tradition, I didn’t know how to classify this video. The lone figure and colour scheme and darkness and the hidden trap door. But it stuck in my head for sure.

7.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCca5mPMp9A I thought the DJ was kidding when he introduced this band. That was when Singapore has the 4D and Toto while Hong Kong has Mark 6. Something about the melody and the way the chorus was delivered. The singing has a nice transition from verse to chorus.

8.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqTLlHkfSC4 Probably the ‘live’ sets have overwritten all the previously recorded videos of the Eagles, when this version and Hotel California sounded better than the LP. Something about the guitar that gives a tranquil feel, and the soothing voice reassuring you that love will indeed keep you alive. Used to think the guitar part is hard to play, but it’s probably a switch in the string to pluck only.

9.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS0CV_GWEMI Didn’t like it as much as my JC friends used to. But when it played again on radio recently it was like a diamond in the rough that just showed off its radiance after much polishing. Didn’t like it because the singing seemed to come in a irregular timing, never knew the lyrics were packed with imagery that takes you on a trip if you’d just close your eyes and listen.

And I’m looking forward to more radio reminiscing on class 95, less of the iTunes library.

June's highlights

Office 2010 launch party. Thanks for the pizza Lex.

Ichiban for Father's Day dinner, cheap and good. Must try the wagyu beef hot plate next time.

Bowling contest, got water bottle and electric fan for 4 and 3 continuous strikes ^^

Cat sidles up one evening after work, yay.

Lucky it's not the N95 or I'd have fainted from suffocation. Price to pay for wild trip.

Ultra man thing didn't belong to June, oops.

Change

This post is dedicated to the topic of change. How nothing ever stays in place. Three incidents helped string up this rather strong sentiment of how change can disorientate you from where you thought you were and where you are going to.

Good buddy has strong objections when I suggested running the Kent Ridge Park route instead of our usual campus route on a given Wednesday. The meat of his complaints was why we cannot stick to our usual route, and why things must change. He learnt to cope with that when he realized that one week prior to his departure on an epic Southeast Asia trip, his flight and accommodations are still subject to changes, changes that happen as a result of his travel mates changing their plans.

At the wake of an army friend's mum, I was told that her condition had deteriorated rather rapidly. The thankful thing was that she left them in the early morning. According to the local folklore, this means that the people whom she left behind will be burdened the least. He thought that she would have lasted a bit longer, while he was outside. Little did he know that her health took a change for the worse in that brief moment he left her side.

Things at home. For some reason, when you really want to find something. It will hide behind the bar counter, under the sofa, deep within the piles of paper. It just refuses to be found when you need it. Its location changes contradicting the memory where you thought you knew where it was when you put it there.

Things change, plans change, people move on. Find a mental anchor to make sense of it all, and you'll be safe.

Yayness

Finally a jazz performance^^

https://www.alumnet.nus.edu.sg/ContentImages/Upcoming%20events/peabodyjazz.html

Pondering

Once in a while, do something that scares yourself. So that you have one less thing to be afraid of in the near future. With that I put forth my latest pondering.



How much can i really eat?

Escape from Chalet, finally

753 photos from Sunday to go through, glad most of them turned out fine, missed some shot ideas but should still be able to pick out some decent shots from there.

Session Eight - Post Processing

Essentials to digest before preparing photos for the couple to print out at their bed or living room:

http://www.larry-bolch.com/dpi-revealed/