Intrepidity

Open Road

2008-06-19T22:03:00.003+08:00

Theo's guitar pierces him because it also carries a reprimand, a reminder of buried dissatisfaction in his own life, of the missing element. This feeling can grow when a set is over, when the consultant neurosurgeon makes his affectionate farewells to Theo and his friends and, emerging on the pavement, decides to go home on foot and reflect. There's nothing in his own life that contains this inventiveness, this style of being free. The music speaks to unexpressed longing or frustration, a sense that he's denied himself an open road, the life of the heart celebrated in the songs. There has to be more life than merely saving lives. The discipline and responsibility of a medical career, compounded by starting a family in his mid-twenties - and over much of it, a veil of fatigue; he's still young enough to yearn for the unpredictable and unrestrained, and old enough to know the chances are narrowing. Is he about to become that man, that modern fool of a certain age, who finds himself pausing by shop windows to stare in at the saxophones or the motorbikes or driven to find himself a mistress of his daughter's age? He's already bought himself an expensive car. Theo's playing carries this burden of regret into his father's heart. It is, after all, the blues.

- Ian McEwan, Saturday

It's amazing how McEwan manages to introduce this piercing insight so elegantly. In one passage, how many unfinished lives described, how many miles of open roads imagined but never traveled?

The Importance of Speaking Slowly...

2008-04-24T20:40:00.002+08:00

... is never more apparent than when you are an interior designer asking your clients what their ideal masturbate room is like.

Yes, the male mind works in grand mysterious ways.

Changi Boardwalk

2008-04-21T20:55:00.001+08:00

Gathering Storm Hosted on Zooomr

Greek Masterpieces from the Louvre

2008-03-16T12:07:00.004+08:00

Never, ever, visit a high profile exhibition on its second last day. You queue for tickets, jostle for standing space and basically get poked and shoved as if you were in a recreation of a Greek market. Publicized as a Big Deal because the famed Parisian museum seldom loans out more than a dozen of its pieces at a time, the exhibition does justice to the masterpieces in most ways except one. The psychedelic neon purple lighting in the final section of the exhibition, whether intentionally or not, bestows a otherworldly feel (which I normally associate with Aliens or Halo) to the otherwise classical statues. I would have preferred to view them at least in low ambient yellow lighting if not in a large and airy natural setting. Pity.

The Discus Thrower Hosted on Zooomr

I Do

2008-03-03T22:04:00.000+08:00

We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'."

Susan Sarandon, Shall We Dance?

Rose, Swirls Hosted on Zooomr

Sentinels

2008-02-28T20:34:00.002+08:00

Sentinels Hosted on Zooomr

Ownage, Thy Name is Farewell

2008-02-16T21:28:00.006+08:00

A farewell email from an ex-colleague:

Hi Team,

As many of you may probably know, today is my last day here. From next Monday, I’ll be slaving away somewhere else so before I actually step out of here, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for making my time here memorable:

Person 1:...
Person 2:...
..
To Wenjie:
Thanks for all your help with my coding, the rebuilding of server builds, running my db scripts and the other stuff. I'll be missing the whining sessions we have on the bus trips to and from work. All the best with your new house and clearing your 0.5 million dollar debt.

Now every colleague and his father, mother and brother knows my secret, thereby thoroughly shredding my carefully cultivated strong and silent image to bits faster then a master chef can slice and dice an onion.

Owned, so owned.

Changi Airport Terminal 3

2008-01-22T21:22:00.000+08:00

Skyport Hosted on Zooomr

Dig the space shuttle ceilings, thumbs down for the drab arrival hall. And sealing off transit and checked in areas to the public? So not cool.

.. Back Online

2008-01-16T23:46:00.000+08:00

It seems 2008 has decided to give me an early chomp on my ass. Dog came down with a serious ailment and had to be sent to the pet. PC crashed and a reformat had to be done (Being the brilliant and far-sighted IT Consultant that I am, I don't do backups). And a close colleague has tendered his resignation. Bloody fantastic.

The Night Outside

2008-01-09T22:50:00.000+08:00

The Night Outside Hosted on Zooomr

They've strung up lights on the trees lining the road outside my place. Have been meaning to take a picture since Christmas but didn't get around to it until tonight. The road feeds off the PIE and is usually bustling until the witching hour, with the occasional roaring engine and maniacal laughter ringing out in the dead of the night.

There's no lullaby in the world quite like the one composed with the music of night traffic.

Exhale

2008-01-06T00:33:00.000+08:00

There are times when the world around you slows and the earth perches motionless on its axis, when the universe seems to be holding its breath and the hushed air is ripe with promise. In that fraction of an instant, you see with perfect clarity of how the future can be, perhaps will be. You stop to dream, so that it may sustain you long after the world finally exhales, a clarion call over the mundane.

Welcome, 2008

2008-01-02T23:15:00.000+08:00

Boy, looking back at my post history, I took a six-month sabbatical from casual blogging, and probably a one year break from regular blogging. Tracking the post frequency, I can pinpoint when the slacking off began: right after I finished school. It's funny how you swear to yourself when you're 16 that you won't be another one of those cubicle warriors. Fast forward ten years down the road (god I'm old) and guess what? Surprise!

First it was a brief stint as an intern (which seriously sucked). Then it was the Hong Kong attachment, which was quite the experience. Next came approximately one year of work in a local project team. At times, this project made the black hole that is the Hong Kong project seem like a friendly purple dinosaur named Barney. In between transitory periods of insanity, moving from eye to eye of multiple storms, I've re-experienced army life, gone vacationing in China, bought a HDB flat, gotten engaged to the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, returned to church, ushered in the new year from a location unimaginable just a year ago.

So, what's next? So many dreams, so many hopes, so many wants, so little time. Write more, practice playing the piano, go on a city excursion with a camera, take a road trip, see the sun set in Greece, make that scallop dish from No Reservations, outlive the current project, replicate the citrus dressing from Checkers, learn to dance (try anyway), refamiliarize myself with the good book, aimlessly traipse down a busy street with her, get something resembling a figure, connect more with the family, meet the gang for a karaoke session, visit Tibet and see Lhasa from behind the viewfinder, tune up this old PC, sit in the sun with the dog.

May 2008 be the start of it all for everybody. Happy new year.

Vacation Pics: Yunnan

2007-12-31T17:08:00.000+08:00

Achingly beautiful scenery, boundless skies and... the worst toilets I ever had the misfortune to visit. Oh well. Pics!

Tranquility Hosted on Zooomr

(Clicky on image)

Getting Named as Political Party Chief

2007-12-31T16:28:00.000+08:00

Benazir Bhutto's 19 year old son has been named party leader in Pakistan.

If PPP goes on to win the election, this will effectively be...

In Pakistan, a death threat.
In Pakistan People's Party, a death warrant.
In USA, the start of being the muse for 10,000 stand-up comedians.
In France, a chance to divorce your wife and date a super model.
In Thailand, a prelude to yet another coup.
In Malaysia, impossible (he's not Malay).
In Singapore, equivalent to winning a lottery or ten (applicable to PAP only).

Witness

2007-12-27T00:06:00.000+08:00

"Love is the emblem of eternity: it confounds all notion of time:
effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end."
- Anne Louise Germaine de Staël

Guild Wars: Eye of the North

2007-07-26T23:31:00.000+08:00

31st August, 2008. Now, danger runs deep.

Here's the opening theme (can't get embed to work for some reason, so a manual download will have to do for now). And because I couldn't resist, 3 additional characters:

Live Earth

2007-07-05T23:13:00.000+08:00

The media blitz for Live Earth is ramping up as July 7th draws closer. With the hue and cry over global warming at an unprecedented high, this year's event seems set to be the largest of its type. While I like to think that the cause is a noble one (I wonder what the organizers do with the ticket revenue though... soak it in some political campaign?), I wonder if holding a series of mega concerts is the way to tackle this problem

a) Uh... Singers? Maybe the organizers had Woodstock in mind, but I don't exactly look up to singers as bastions of environment protection. I mean, these mega stars usually have a penchant for commuting in limos and flying around in private jets. Many probably own huge-ass estates that can soak up enough electricity to run a third world country. And they're preaching to me to save the world? Hm. Take public transport for a year. I'd be more impressed.

b) Huge concerts, huge audience, huge logistics issues. How do all these people even get to the concert locations? Cycle? Walk? Drive? What of the litter generated from these mega concerts? How much fuel is burnt to actually run the concerts? Is the trade off between the awareness raised and these 'side effects' worth it?

c) When Katrina hit New Orleans, a TV event was organized to raise funds. 8.5 million US viewers tuned in. Not too shabby if you ask me. Granted, Live Earth is aiming to reach significantly more people, but there is also the issue of getting the message across to them. Raw numbers count for nothing if the penetration rate is low. The Katrina concert worked because it was honest, down-to-earth and intimate, which are all qualities that glitzy mega concerts lack. Honestly, I personally find it hard to coincide rowdy concerts and environment protection. Maybe I should organize a gaming marathon.

d) Finally, the issue of awareness. The concerts are held in powerhouse countries (US, Japan, China etc). With the media coverage on global warming, I doubt many are still in the dark regarding the issue (target audience anyway). Raise awareness all you want, but nothing is going to change without affirmative action. With nobody to walk the walk, these concerts are nothing but circus shows.

My Workday in 100 Words or Less

2007-05-17T23:09:00.000+08:00

6.45 am: Alarm rings
7.00 am: Wake up
7.25 am: Be at bus stop
7.30 am: Board 27
7.55 am: Alight
8.00 am: Board 86
8.15 am: Mentally curse at the jams
8.25 am: Verbally curse at the jams
8.45 am: Check email, sip red tea
10.30 am: Wake butt cheek that has fallen asleep
12.15 pm: Lunch
12.40 pm: Check latest news
3.20 pm: Wonder if the spasm from mouse hand is RSI, CTS or an embolism
4.30 pm: Wake butt cheek again
6.00 pm: Prepare to leave. Disturb HK colleagues by informing them of impending departure.
6.10 pm: Codes threaten to implode. Handle emergency.
6.20 pm: Get laughed at by HK colleagues
7.30 pm: Reach home as a puddle of goo
7.45 pm: If even day of week, reach gym as a puddle of goo
12.00 pm: Read
12.10 pm: Start snoring

Identity Crisis

2007-05-17T23:08:00.000+08:00

Identity Crisis Hosted on Zooomr

300. Prepare For Corny.

2007-03-31T23:40:00.000+08:00

All the hype over the movie "300" made me eager to watch it. The premise of 300 men holding off hordes of invaders sounded interesting, and the CGI is reportedly gorgeous. "Prepare for Glory", its poster proclaims. Right. The movie is a series of battle sequences patched together, with barely a plot and even less character development. Even then, the action loses its oomph by the second hour.

After almost 2 hours of tedium and eye-rolling, I can conclude that:

1) Asiatics, blacks, transsexuals, homosexuals, mutants or generally ugly people are enemies of freedom. White men fight for freedom.

2) The people of Sparta fight for freedom. They also kill unhealthy newborns. For freedom!!!

3) Real men don't need shirts, real warriors don't need armor. Digitally enhanced pecs and abs are all the protection you need from elements and steel.

4) Blood only appear in air and evaporate long before they can fall to the ground. You also bleed more when you lose an arm than when you get decapitated. No kidding.

5) Slow motion is a great trick which turns your enemies stunned and stupid. (Note to self: try out slow motion speaking during next Tuesday's progress meeting. If this worked on Xerxes, it'll work on my bosses as well. I bet they'll be stunned. Ha!)

6) When in slow motion, it is perfectly fine to fling your weapon at an enemy and fight unarmed. You get a +200 bonus to unarmed combat, tumble, dodge, AC and reflex saves while you are unarmed. You will naturally regain your weapon after laying waste to heavily armed (but stunned and stupid) enemies.

7) An epic movie requires corny catchphrases. Preferably one every 5 minutes.

8) Failing point (7), have the half-naked warriors perform manly grunts. Audience will be suitably impressed. Ah-ooooh!

9) If you're going to a war, story-telling is an invaluable skill. Once you are injured, you will be picked to return home to tell everyone what happened. Considering your skimpy loin cloth and cape, that should be child's play.

10) It is hip to soak an entire movie in a sepia tint. Sepia is the new vivid. For an additional visual treat, try grayish hues. The fanboys watching the show will mentally fill in the colors they imagine on the fly and call the movie a visual spectacle. The rest of the audience can easily be persuaded that sepia is gorgeous.

Value Systems

2007-03-27T21:48:00.000+08:00

"In A*STAR, 70 percent of our scholars are HDB kids, these kids are the ones we're spending a lot of money on. If they don't have a sense of value, Singapore has no future. If people don't have a sense of value, they're worse than mercenaries.

"My generation has a value system. We hope the present generation does too. People who don't have that, we better forget them and hire more hungry non-Singaporeans to come here and add to our value system. If you have no value system, there is no future.

"I'm known to be very tough because I believe we must have a value system. Maybe I'm old fashioned." - P. Yeo, Mar 07

From 6 to 18 years old, the average Singapore kid spends approximately 8 hours in a government school. That's about 1/3 of their formative years. If the youth is a male, he will then spend the next 2 years in National Service. If Mr. Yeo believes they do not possess a value system, then it can (should?) also be inferred that the government lacks the ability to inculcate one. At least, one that he deems worthy.

Mr. Yeo is no stranger to sweeping statements (bachelor grads as test tube washers, whiny post-NS males) but this latest salvo hints at what many perceive to be the growing divide between state and citizen. It is easy to talk of value systems and not define it. It is easy to qualify that the older generation had it, easy to slyly insinuate that younger generation is clueless about it. It is easy to employ buzzwords in bombastic rhetoric, when your target audience is too engrossed with the challenges of daily life to decipher the barbs.

The government should hire all the foreign expertise it wants, to punch over its weight and to compensate for this alleged lack in value systems. However, it should also remember that a government ultimately works with its people, not around them. Forget that, and the government will have no future.

As an aside, some people are 'tough' because of the values they hold. Others are perceived to be tough because of their histrionics. Yet others are labeled 'tough' because the true adjective is too rude to be uttered in public. One is never too old-fashioned to know the difference.

Which Bank Needs Math Lessons?

2007-03-10T22:09:00.000+08:00

Remember those tricky primary school MCQs that wanted to know which was heavier, 1 kg of feathers or 1 kg of rocks? Here's another toughie you can spot from UOB's rewards redemption website:

Go on and laugh. You know you want to..

Heartlander

2007-02-22T23:48:00.000+08:00

Caught up with some JC mates today. Some have not changed a bit, while others have become so different from how I remember them. We don't meet up often, and so the memories I have of them are like a fractured series of polaroids. Six months, six months and another six months. Some changes astound me. They remind me how life can be so very different, that I am but an amphibian looking out at the world from within a well.

These meetups invariably put me in a mood. Most of my peers drive. Why don't I? Some wear watches which cost more than all my savings combined. Why can't I? Other people seem perfectly contented to be the heartlander to others' cosmopolitan. Why not I? Ridiculous I know, and the rational side of me never lets me forget that. Drive a car in tiny Singapore when I can buy so much more with the money? Wear a Panerai when I prefer to leave my wrist unfettered in the first place?

I am contented where I am, surrounded by people I love. In a few hours, I will brush off this uncharacteristic brooding (perhaps even find this post too private and delete it) and forget that I've ever been diminished for even thinking these thoughts. May I always be grounded enough to say that with confidence.

Almost Time

2007-01-29T20:45:00.000+08:00

Less than two weeks left to my stint in Hong Kong. Lots to do in these two weeks. Work to tie up, things to pack (the horror), emotions to settle, farewells to bid. It's been an interesting six months. I can't say I won't be ecstatic to return to Singapore, but neither can I say I'll leave without a backward glance or a wistful sigh.

If you ask me, the worst part about uprooting yourself is the packing. You select, pick, meticulously fold and desperately squeeze months and months worth of belongings into a suitcase. After you succeed in the feat of fitting in 5 pairs of shoes and way too many jackets into that luggage, when the room echoes with the ghosts of past memories, when you glance down at your life, neatly tucked into that suitcase, it's almost as if you're ready to say goodbye.

No, I've haven't packed. Neither have I tied up my work nor bid the necessary farewells. My apartment is still messy and cluttered, evidence of a life liberally littered around. In a few days however, things will become hectic and I may well forget I ever had this night of quiet contemplation.

Until then, until the day I'm packed and ready to leave, know that it's been one helluva ride.

Take Your Breath Away

2007-01-01T22:26:00.000+08:00

The Must-see Places in Hong Kong.

1) Avenue of the Stars, for a breathtaking view of Hong Kong island. On a clear day, this promenade will unveil a sweeping landscape of glass, steel, mountains, sky and sea.

Wanchai Skyline I Hosted on Zooomr

2) Chi Lin Nunnery. Sitting in the midst of urbanity, this beautiful temple borrows heavily from Japanese architecture. Tall columns, intricate and nailless construction, majestic roofs and tranquil lotus ponds make this temple an absolute gem.

Picturesque Chi Lin Hosted on Zooomr

3) Repulse Bay. While usually crowded beyond imagination, this landmark beach offers a unique view of mountain, sea, sand and sky. And bodies.

Baywatch II Hosted on Zooomr

4) Lantau Island. The signature Big Buddha (which, by the way, features a panoramic 360 view of the island on a clear day) and Po Lin monastery aside, Lantau Island is also home to the often overlooked Path of Wisdom (the Heart Sutra inscribed on long wooden tablets installed on a mountain side) as well as some of the best hikes in Hong Kong.

Big Buddha Hosted on Zooomr

Path of Wisdom Hosted on Zooomr

5) Victoria Peak, on a clear night. For an arguably unrivalled view of Hong Kong's skyline, take the steep downhill path just beside Pacific Coffee in the Peak Tower. That's right, away from the crowd. Take a few minutes stroll, and enjoy.

Neon City Hosted on Zooomr