A Poor Man Is An Angry Man
POSTED AT 10:40 PM

Barely a day has passed since I received my $420 pay packet for the last week of work and it is already gone. I haven't even paid Gabriel back his $200 for the hotel, let alone the $1k I was planning to bring up to Taiwan.

>:0

All my bags are packed...
POSTED AT 10:43 PM

Yes, I'm leaving on a jetplane... a budget one though, but still a jetplane.

Off to the fairer pastures of Taipei.

Be back on the 11th.

欢迎光临！
POSTED AT 01:00 AM

Taiwan was thoroughly enjoyable. We didn't really do any sightseeing - in fact, I don't think we did any sightseeing at all - but our mish-mash of shopping, eating, clubbing, theme park and silly childish antics yielded loads of fun and memorable anecdotes.

The shopping in Taipei is really a huge difference from shopping in Singapore, or even Hong Kong for that matter. For one thing, the fashion trends and styles are very different, and so are the range of prices and variety of items. It's not so much a matter of finding the same thing there for a cheaper price, but the clothes and apparel there are just different, refreshing and, of course, enticing.

Singapore may be a famed food paradise, but the restaurants and snack stalls in Taipei aren't too far behind. I think a large percentage of our expenses went towards our food purchases, and I think it was most worthwhile.

Most memorable of all was our visit to Din Tai Fung - it may seem to be little more than a Crystal Jade copycat franchise in Singapore, but its flagship restaurant in Taipei is in a whole different league. The beef noodles (红烧牛肉汤面) is quite simply nothing like anything that I've ever had before. We also ordered lots of Xiaolongbao （小笼包） - 5 baskets of 10 each, to be exact - and they were extremely popular on the dinner table.

To do them any justice, I feel that I must highlight this incident which reflects very strongly on their standard of service. One member of my group - my friend's brother - accidentally spilled some beef broth on to his white shirt, leaving behind some ugly stains. While his sister tried valiantly to remedy the situation by giving the stains a good scrub, a waitress appeared on hand suddenly to offer a bottle of cleaning liquid and a box of napkins, which worked surprisingly well at removing the stains. At no point did we highlight our predicament to the restaurant staff - in fact, my friend, who was sitting at the same table did not even realise his brother's quandary. Their attentiveness to the needs of the customer is simply unrivalled.

Clubbing proved to be a different experience as well. For one thing, unfortunately, the girls in Taipei are much better looking than those here in Singapore. Also, alcohol is much cheaper and more readily available - one of the clubs had a free flow of numerous drinks, including whiskey shots for only a $17 entrance fee. Of the 6 nights we spent in Taipei, we visited 3 different clubs on 3 different nights, and I had a blast at each one.

In general the Taiwanese are much friendlier people than Singaporeans. Shop assistants are engaging and helpful, unlike their compatriots here who just stand around in corners either trying to look invisible or engrossed in their own affairs. I had a superb time, and I'm grateful to have met many interesting people there, plus I'm really glad for the great company that I had on the trip.

Bum
POSTED AT 11:35 PM

My boss declared a 'compulsory suspension of employment' yesterday on us temp staff for the rest of the year so I had the day off today. Because the launch of the website has been delayed to January, there isn't really much for us to do for the rest of the year, so there's no sense in wasting our time and the company's money for us to keep going back to the office and spending the whole day surfing the internet aimlessly.

That also means that my already-bad finances are in worse shape. I've barely worked 3 days this month and I've only going to work 3 more days, under the new skeletal staffing scheme that we're adopting for the rest of the year; I've just spent over $1000 in Taiwan; there is a serious dearth of SGD in my wallet; and the festive season (read: the spendthrift season) is just around the corner. Of course, if the shit hits the fan I still have my savings to dip into but I really don't want to because all of this is my hard-earned SAF money and I didn't spend all that time doing IPPT and shooting range targets so that I could waste their rewards on general debauchery.

So today was spent bumming around at home. I used to look forward to days like these, but now I really hate them. I hate the general feeling of the lack of productivity that accompanies a day of laziness. Plus I'm feeling rather disagreeable at the moment so it was really a day spent stewing in my self-encouraged gloom. I thought a good book would be able to occupy me for hours, but Pico Iyer was so cheerless and pensive that it only made me feel worse.

I guess when you get to spend many hours alone with yourself it gives you lots of time to think about things that you don't really want to think about. Which only makes the day drag on further. Two things kept me sane today: the fact that I woke up at 12.30, which made the day a whole lot shorter; plus I managed to squeeze in my regular 5k run around the neighbourhood, even though the rain threatened to spoil my plans.

Thankfully, I'm going back to work tomorrow, which can only be good news both for the mind and for the wallet.

Ack, it's driving me crazy.

Cocoon
POSTED AT 11:41 PM

It's been raining non-stop for the last few days. It's a nice throwback to Taiwan to have such nice temperatures outdoors, but the rain also throws a dampener on a lot of things.

In spite of this however, I managed to squeeze in my regular neighbourhood run yesterday evening. The sky was holding up pretty well when I set off; unfortunately it really started to pour midway through my run and I was left cold and soaking at the end. Still, I feel quite accomplished - I managed to shave almost a minute off my last record.

I have a love-hate relationship with running. Above all else I know I need it to keep healthy and maintain my fitness. I hate it because I'm not very good at running, and it's always painful as hell. I hate it when I train for ages and remain stuck at the same timing. I love it because it keeps me sane. I love the exhilaration of completion, and I love the solitude and peace that it offers me.

My brother was supposed to have come back home today, but that brilliant chap missed his flight in Syracuse. Luck's on his side, though, because he managed to get himself on to a flight the very next day. I haven't seen him in a year, I guess one more day's not going to make much of a difference.

Like I mentioned last, I've been feeling rather disagreeable lately. Also, a little confused, and perhaps just a little cheated as well. I guess hope is a dangerous thing to deal with, especially when it is taken away, no?

Eclosure
POSTED AT 11:31 PM

The sun welcomed in a bright sunny morning today when I woke up. It's great to finally be done with the gloomy, overcast, wet, miserable rain.

Today gave me an immense sense of release. From what, I can't be sure. Perhaps it's a combination of the fact that I'm free from the dual obligations of work and study - I've stopped work for the rest of the year, and my German term is over, only to restart next year. But of course, things are seldom as clear-cut as they seem.

Plus, I'm no longer going to KL. Originally my family was scheduled to take a weekend getaway together when my brother returned for his annual reminder of his physical existence. Unfortunately, he's still not back, due to various self-induced obstacles, so we've had to cancel.

Tomorrow seems to be a rather empty day. If I could do anything at all tomorrow, I would to return to the hot springs in Taiwan and spend the day getting a nice long soak to cleanse myself of everything that is cloying and disagreeable. Having reached that relaxing state of bliss, I would then retire to my room to have a good long nap on a comfortable bed. Now that's medicine for a debilitated soul.

My brother's still lost in transit somewhere. May he come back soon.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Cm9Ur59HdeA

Er...
POSTED AT 01:16 AM

My brother is home. WTF.

Lost Schedules and Last Shadows
POSTED AT 02:30 AM

It's amazing how things just turn on their head sometimes. Half an hour after I posted the lament on how my KL trip was cancelled, my brother called back home to say, "Hi, I'm now at Terminal 1". So we ended up taking our 4 day vacation to KL after all.

Christmas has come and gone and that's pretty much the last milestone left this year. I got back from Malaysia on Sunday afternoon, and spent the rest of the Christmas Eve evening at a little get-together at baps' place. I think it was a simple, enjoyable way to spend an overhyped, exaggerated occasion; thankfully we were able to spend the time enjoying each other's company, rather than squeezing, elbowing and jostling with the crowds on the streets or any similarily popular hang-out locations.

With Christmas gone, 2006 draws quietly to a close. This is its play's last scene; soon it would spin out its last thread. New Year's Eve is just around the corner; beyond it, 2007 beckons. I took a look back at my first post of 2006 - basically a rant about work problems. Definitely the NS experience has dominated a good part of my 2006. Up until November, my life has revolved around little else.

Earlier in the year, I wrote this:

Sometimes I catch myself wishing this would just get itself over and done with. Of course, I'm always looking forward to November when this phase of my life ends and the next will begin. But I've also discovered and decided that it's extremely unhealthy for me to go through life with that kind of attitude. Sure, looking ahead is a good thing, but then I tend to lose sight of the present, and before I know it, I find myself on that long awaited November day, but with no knowlege or memory of time well and meaningfully spent between now and that hypothetical present.

I'd like to think that my time between then and now, the (not-so-hypothetical) present has been well and meaningfully spent. Together with my colleagues, we have lots of memories to look back fondly upon - good ones as well as bad ones, but still memorable nonetheless. It was a journey that we had to take together, and I'm glad to have been in such good companionship along the way. Thank you for the memories.

In essence that's what I think life is about - creating memories. Not so much to look back upon, but rather to experience the present, and to remember the sense and feeling of that experience. And when we are able to share these experiences with good company - either through their physical presence in that moment or the reliving of the past through photos, stories, and the like - it only makes these memories sweeter and more well cherished.

I'm quite excited about what 2007 will bring. I leave myself in the hands of Fate.