finally...

woohoo my phone's back online again so here's some badly-taken photos that are long overdue.some sneak peeks at some places you may never step foot on ever, so savour them while you can before jensen gets sued.

Top level of National Library Board.The Pod they call it.And it really looks damn cool.This is the back corridor which few will have access to.I was doing an event set-up for Angela.I wouldn't miss such a photo opportunity of course.

Cool toilet eh?Wonder why they build such a beautiful toilet at such an exclusive venue.

This is the construction site of the new Marina Promenade due in a couple of years.took it from 22nd level of One Marina Boulevard,where the Microsoft HQ is situated.The office is extremely conducive and is something that I expect of a top-end company.

Came across this corridor with a lot of ang-moh pictures when i was on my way to the pantry to get some food.One good thing about doing event onsite for Techmex is you can walk around the Microsoft office without anyone questioning you.Free canned drinks,coffee,even chocolate milk.

and of course,wrap it up with a nice picture of a golden sunset

thank you for the company

wendy,bik,yikai,ben,junhan.
it was a real pleasure meeting up with you guys.
i could sense the feeling of family,the kind which you are not totally comfortable with each other (and obviously can't talk about everything under the sun because we aren't exactly that close) but somehow there exists a strong bond between each other.its a property that i can't find in many,but the few that were there yesterday were once among the closest friends i had.though everyone has moved on and made new best friends and contact between us has dwindled to a mere annual xmas gathering,its good to know that no one is abandoned.
when we really grow up,what will become of our friendship?
are we gonna be meeting up regularly when we're thirty and married?
are we gonna be laughing at our and each other's children's silly antics when we're forty?
it's a long way ahead,but i'll take my chances.
we take it one day at a time.

cheesepie

a bad turnout wasn't enough to kill our enthusiasm.i guess the ones who were there had much fun.i can sense some form of bonding between a few groups already.i hope this time,we can make the camp real happening like last year.

me and zhihao went crazy.chao qiang bang qiu dui.cardboard badminton.3-legged 2-headed 2-armed 2-cheesepie monster.siao.

and now my running singlet is so colourful from the waterbombs.who's gonna pay for it....

anyone with a good cheesecake recipe please inform me.

diary-like

what a tiring and unfulfilling day at sentosa.was absolutely the second worst time i've ever spent on the island (the ultimate one was the signal company teambuilding day on valentine's day last year) and i would have regretted going for this pre-camp thing if not for the immensely enjoyable company of hao,ken,jess and chow.talking trash,bitching,throwing peanuts into hao's mouth while being surrounded and watched by the councillors which made me feel like a performer.
and dinner was very very good.prawns and shrooms fusilli came in a delicious creamy sauce which i savoured to the last drop.the prawns were obviously fresh,though it could have been left in the pot for a tad shorter.and the mushrooms could have been slightly chunkier for a more interesting texture,but i wouldn't complain much as they didn't really scimp on it.all-in-all,the pasta was worth the $10.90.
and the embarrassment of yours truly came to no end at mos burger.i have no idea why i can't figure out all those "if this is this,that is that,then what is this?" games no matter how hard i try.i get the ideas right but i can never spot the hint.fucking engineer's brain too dead to think out of the box.
Silent hill was an ok movie,good CGI but nothing much beyond that.an ending which frustrates the audience is never welcome and it didn't help the show much that it wasn't very frightening.weak hearts should steer clear of this movie,as the gore can be pretty disturbing and hard to take.

we should get out more,cheesepie.war games tomorrow,time to go crazy.

rojak

i haven't been posting anything for a while, actually a long while by my standards since i seem to be churning out my thoughts into entries at a rather prolific rate.and since i installed the new pc things for my phone hasn't been going exceptionally well.something seems to be conflicting the file managing software of my phone for the pc and i can't transfer any photos.so guess in the meantime you will have to settle with long wordy posts if any.or perhaps you prefer it this way.
i've been working back at Techmex and earned some dough to spend, and it hasn't been the most enjoyable time i had working there.telemarketing is a brainless job, to quote someone working with me, and data entry isn't the most happening and enriching job you can find anywhere.at least i've managed to steal in some msn during these hours and had the company of Power98 through the net, so everytime i feel downright stoned making those calls i'll just disturb a few of the unlucky ones online.oh you suay people.and the job is really disrupting my exercise regime,which is kind of disturbing to me.no time to run,no time to go gym,aircon all day long,crap air in my lungs.
i need to go out and soak up some sun,although the weather hardly permits.and i would love to hang out around town or anywhere with someone to talk cock with, or just watch a movie.it's only been 10 days of work, but i feel like i've been there longer than anyone working there.and now i understand why some are contented to just do what is within their job scope and well within their capacity.sometimes motivation finds its way out of your system,and whats left in you is energy enough to only keep you functioning.because motivation is a drug.it gives you strength beyond limits to push for your beliefs, and protects you from all the nasty criticism you are bound to take at some point of your course.and many workers lose it because they are disillusioned by the job market or the lack of opportunities.i say you create your own.don't lose hope.even if the straw of hope you are clinging on is a mere sliver,it is still there.work it baby.
i just finished reading Sarah Hall's The Electric Michelangelo, and i think it is the best book i've ever read. conversation between the characters are kept to a minimum, and i was worried that the heavy prose will bore me sooner or later like Toby Litt's Ghost Story. but Hall manages to paint a beautiful picture of the seaside town of Morecambe Bay and the New York wonder funland Coney island in the early 1900s. Cyril Parks helps his hardworking mother run a small hotel in Morecambe, and by chance gets to know a tattoo artist Eliot Riley who boasts to be the best in northern england.an apprenticeship soon follows and after his mother and Riley's death,Cy risks all and sails across the Atlantic to Coney Island,the ultimate circus of fun,screams and freak-shows.and here he meets an enigmatic and charismatic woman named Grace,who entrusts him the task of decorating her entire body with a simple eye.
In Morecambe bay, you feel like you know every nook and cranny of the streets, every secret passage that the children take to their secret playground, every shop that the ladies hang around to gossip on their findings, every haunting past of the sea, sand and street. Coney Island offers you an interesting insight to the human mind, an encounter with yourself and your humanity amid all the freak-shows and fun rides.
the book is tear-inducing because it has the potential to, as it very nearly did to me.its lyrical prose and precise and interesting descriptions of characters and places will keep you glued to the book.it was shortlisted for the MAN Booker Prize 2004, one of the most acclaimed awards a writer can get.if you can you should buy the book and read it again and again.it is unlike any book you've read before.
here i insert the prose that leaves the deepest impression:
"There was an important secret about New York that Grace found out one day,very early on after that brave leap from one civilization to another,lying on the sidewalk with blood coming from her nose and legs.She took a guess at universal human kindness and spoke a very old and very reliant word to a stranger.And a woman she didn't know spoke the same word back to her and helped her up.The secret was that if the city tipped just so against the light you could see a fine web between corresponding human hearts throughout it, like a spider's web revealed in the grass on the steppe in the morning dew against the sun.It connected all paths and all peoples with a frail strength that could be traversed if you learned how to move that way.And she learned to tightrope it,like a little spider from home to home,from neighbourhood to neighbourhood,delicately between native tongues and histories and cultures.And the beauty was,if you turned and looked behind you,perhaps you would see that you have spun a separate strand along which others could then follow,adding to the web."
I'm not sure what the word is.i'm still finding out.meanwhile,look behind you.
i want prata.

Zap Zap U Zap I Zap

You scored as Cyclops. Cyclops is the team leader of the X-Men, and a skilled one at that. He loves Jean Grey very much. He's a strict and sometimes uptight leader, but he believes in his cause and he knows what he's fighting for... Peace between Mutants and Humans. Powers: Optic blasts Cyclops 75% Colossus 75% Iceman 65% Beast 60% Rogue 55% Nightcrawler 55% Gambit 55% Jean Grey 50% Storm 50% Wolverine 45% Emma Frost 45% Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

Well looks like I do stare daggers.....you got kena "dian4" by me before?

i don't like wearing catsuits and shades by the way.

LAST HOUR

As I'm typing this down,the clock is ticking as we inch nearer to the first World Cup match.
My endless nights of soccer madness is beginning.I'm not sure whether that's a good thing given my tainted history of failure to recover from lack of sleep.I'll be groggy for the rest of the day, and most probably in a most foul mood.For those who know and had experienced my temper,you know I'm not someone to be trifled with when I don't get my precious 7 hours.To placate me,kindly do not call or message me in the wee hours (highly unlikely but better safe than sorry) or rush me to do stuff.Let the man enjoy his peace while he can before he transforms into a wide-eyed TV-glued soccer fan.I'm not sure how I'm gonna survive this period,so if you catch me in a bad mood with my already-rather small eyes pared down to mere slits,say hi and scram,but you're most welcome if you offer food.

I support Brazil and South Korea,rooting for Spain and Rooney.Don't make a mistake by telling me how badly they were if they put up a lacklustre performance the previous night.You've been warned.

Enjoy the World Cup guys!Too bad girls,you're missing out on good action.

cerebral matters

just realised that this blog has passed its first birthday, and i wonder if its existence is a good thing or a catastrophe to the world.
smoking kills,but so does telemarketing.it deals you a brain haemorrhage so bad that your brain explodes in a such spectacular fashion that anyone of radius 3 metres(kena brain juice) and anyone who witnesses this jaw-dropping scene is bound to have sleepless nights for the rest of their tormented lives.

i have some calls to make on friday.
see you in hell.
boom.

It's been a long time since i posted badly-taken photos from my K700i,or maybe there never had been any well-taken ones.But the essence of the moment I want to capture with the lens is what's important of course, and most of the time I do achieve something that brings me a smile.

I was pretty bored and restless in the afternoon so I decided to sort out all the little somethings my friends,some of you included,have given me over the last few years.I re-read postcards and letters(no love letters),some silly,some encouraging and some absolutely uplifting.That's when I remember there are still people who care to keep in contact,although I have lost some along the way,and expect nothing in return.It is these people who receive Xmas cards from me,and I hope they read what I write inside them with warmth and an assurance that as long as an effort is made,Xmas cards will be flowing between us for as long as we allow it.And so I put some really nice ones on the wall,which definitely brightened up my room much more.Shin and Bik I wonder if you still remember any of these.And Bik, I would really like to hear from you,for a moment I was worried that you got kidnapped by human traffickers.

This card is the one I like best and can most relate to.Something that has always bothered me in the past,and will now be my mantra.Go with the heart,you can never be wrong to yourself. I've taken some steps towards what I want to do,the most recent one raised a rather big hoo-haa amongst those who asked.It was in the name of fun and I was just taking a potshot, no harm intended even though it left me with a very very slightly bruised ego which I thought was quite funny enough for me to laugh at myself.

And naturally as a soccer fan,it's always necessary to have a giant roster over the bed to keep check of the matches in the month to come.A month of festive cheering(or boo-ing),midnight snacking and of course,huge bulging eyebags.It will be a busy period for me and will transform me into an owl or some nocturnal creature walking on two legs used mainly for walking to the fridge looking for food.

This photo was taken when I was walking across the carpark on my way to the gym.I saw a jet spewing white exhaust slicing through the clear sky,a rather common sight if you bother looking up to the heavens occasionally.But that day,this sight touched me somehow and I couldn't resist the urge to take a memento running the risk of blinding myself looking straight into the sun.I miss the trees here,maybe because I had been looking at their canopies from my old 12-storey flat for nearly 21 years before moving to my current residence.So tall,so sturdy,always holding their own when a thunderstorm blows.

The black rascal chinchilla and the grey docile one Jessica got from Leni.The pair was apparently left outside Leni's house by someone who got tired of looking after them.Seemed to be in rather bad condition back then,but has now progressed enough to be overweight like their owner.Their powder-bathing is a rather funny sight,imagine a furball rolling non-stop in a container.Chinchillas originate from South America,maybe it'll be best to send them back there and become eagle-fodder.

Sunny Saturday by Jensen

Woke up today morning and found out,
I was pangseh-ed by my dad,
who said today will be the day
we go Best Denki for PC-shopping.
Old man actually disappeared on me.

Breakfast and papers like any other day,
then to 'Be My Enemy' which was kinda slow.
Had to take many breaks from reading,
and fell asleep due to previous night's solitaire challenges.

Woke up today afternoon and ate lunch,
forced myself on the book again and was
relieved that the pace picked up a bit with a little surprise
that glued me to it.
So taken by its smart plot devices and satirical humour.

I looked outta the window and saw the sun ablaze,
so I bathed myself in tanning oil and went out
for my long overdue run which has been delayed
continuously by a niggling muscle strain to my right hip flexor.

2.4km later and the little muscle starts to niggle,
an indication of a return that should have been put back a little further.
I walked to Lower Pierce Reservoir and did my usual thing,
sit on a bench and soak in the sun.

As I was walking across the playground preparing to leave the park,
a boy needed some help on the miniature flying fox
because his mum was too busy reading and ignored him.
So I offered my help and tried lifting him to the handle,
but guess he thought best not to accept a half-naked man's assistance.
(At least he didn't scream)

A slow walk back home as usual,and saw many Gurkhas
running like a locomotive,their stride
something I will never attain but will strive towards.
And as dusk approaches I see the sky painted in
pink peach navy red orange cyan.

Looked outta the window and saw the stars,
shining subtlely along with small fluffy clouds
floating along the horizon.
The night is beauty,the day is splendor.
A Saturday.

------------------------------------------------------------

This entry is to be sung, not read.
Try singing to the tune of 'Baa Baa Black Sheep'.
Or Oasis's 'Don't Look Back In Anger'.
Scroll back up and try.
But check that no one is around,don't embarrass yourself.

Storytelling

Many many book reviews to come!

Be My Enemy - Chirstopher Brookmyre
The Running Mate - Joe Klein
Toby Litt - Finding Myself
Alex Garland - The Tesseract
I, Lucifer - Glen Duncan
The Electric Michelangelo - Sarah Hall

I have 3 weeks to finish them.Stress ah.

Ending

I'm glad i tried.
Now I know failure won't hit me hard.
Thank God!
I just laughed it off!

Daughter of Eve

I kowtow you for making my heart race.
Even though you're not what I had in mind.
(We never really get what we want,almost all the time)

"You find the best you can,then hang on for dear life" - Jack in Sideways

Sideways by Rex Pickett

A truly wonderful book for guys.Lots of booze,sex and lame jokes.I'm serious.Some of you may have seen the Oscar-nominated film of the same name, and it really deserves a film adaptation for being a great read.
Miles and Jack are off to Santa Ynez Valley in California for a week of wine-tasting,guy-bonding and mind-blowing sex before Jack gets himself hitched to a lovely costume designer and get bogged down by family life.The duo gets themselves wasted on fine wine,encounters two hot ladies in town and things happen, naturally.Miles confronts his reluctance to let go of his past marriage and Jack is looking for one last swansong of a fling before he gets stuck with a snatch for the rest of his life.A suburban adventure of two grown-ups guaranteed to entertain with hilarious moments and its fair share of "ain't that lovely"s.

Ran out of books to read and review.Must go library again.