Look what the cat dragged in...
POSTED AT 07:03 PM

Welcome, 2007!

Bookworm
POSTED AT 10:02 PM

I seem to be having a mini-revival of my reading habit at the moment; within the short span of a week I've ploughed through Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace and Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. My brother brought back both books with him from the States and I took over them very quickly once he was done with them. In contrast, I've been stuck on Great Expectations for almost half a year now with almost no end in sight.

All those visits to book warehouse sales and used bookstores means that I have now have quite a sizeable collection of books that I plan to finish before I leave in August. Unfortunately my time with Dickens has proved to be more stagnant than I had hoped for. Perhaps Ayn Rand might be a little too ambitious as well at this point.

Worldy Desires
POSTED AT 12:07 AM

New Year Wishes for 2007:

1) To take another holiday before term starts in August. Hopefully by then I should have amassed enough wealth to finance another vacation. Taiwan was great fun; perhaps I can repeat the experience in another country with the same group of friends - though I'm not sure if they're interested though. Plus, recreating any experience is never an easy thing, and things usually fall short of expectations. But probably somewhere further this time, yet not any less exciting - Japan, Korea, Europe, NY ... the possibilities are boundless. There's talk of the introduction of budget airline flights to London from KL. That might be worth keeping an eye on.

2) To enjoy going back to school. I've looked forward to the moment for ages now and I think this experience will define my life for many years to come. I'm glad that I've been blessed with the good company of yq and jw on this new adventure, half a world away - here's to a great term ahead and I'm sure it'll be lots of fun with those guys around. We may not see as much of each other as before and there'll be lots of new people to get to know but hopefully, one way or another, we'll go through this together.

3) To do some meaningful internship work in a big company or organisation, perhaps overseas, during this gap time that I have. Not that I'm dissatisfied with my current job, but I would really like to enter into the real working world, to open my eyes to the world around me and to do new things that time has afforded me the luxury of doing.

4) And of course, the private unspeakables.

Here's to a great year ahead!

What dreams may come
POSTED AT 01:17 AM

I miss? long for? hate? dread? the sudden jerk to reality that consciousness provides. To live in the dream world too long, while comforting, is simply artificial.

If dreams could be reality, why, balance would be lost forever from this world.

Not entirely a bad thing.

Happy happiness
POSTED AT 07:00 PM

I had the honour of being invited to a wedding dinner on Saturday evening. It was the first wedding dinner that I had attended outside of my family and the first that I wasn't there as a 晚辈, but as a friend.

The groom was a colleague from army, and I was quite touched that he extended his invitation to me, even though I had already left the service 2 months ago. It was also a great opportunity for me to meet up with all of my former colleagues and friends, so as you can imagine I looked forward to this event with great excitement.

I would expect that many more similar opportunities will start to manifest themselves in the future. I guess this is what marks a true step into adulthood - settling down to start a family. Definitely it's a little too early to talk about these things in personal terms, but this waas the first time that I was able to view the proceedings of the wedding celebration with anything more than a child's fascination - to understand the emotion, feeling and affection behind these commited declarations of two souls very much in love.

A friend remarked the other day (though rather offhanded fashion), "I wonder which one of us would be the first to get married." I wonder, indeed. When that day comes, it will truly be a milestone marking a new phase of life for all of us.

Too fast for comfort!

Schicht = Müde!
POSTED AT 03:13 PM

Work has now transformed into a shift system, and it's really starting to take its toll, especially when I try to squeeze in my other equally irregular commitments. Just the other day I worked a 16.5 hour shift from 11pm to 3.30pm, went home, got changed and came back to town in time for my class at 6.15pm. It ended at 9.30pm, after which I went to meet my friends for a night of drinking and finally reached back home at 4am in time to hit the sack. And I was back at work at 3.30pm again.

Plus, all of these overnight shifts means that I can't get paid, because I don't get to meet the person who pays me. At the moment I've got $2 in my wallet, to last me till the next time I see the accounts lady, or when she decides to pay me, whichever is later.

16.5 hour shifts are pretty brutal, but self-inflicted, because I had to reschedule my shifts in such a way that I had two back-to-back, in order to accomodate abovementioned class.

Thankfully we've got some new manpower coming in, that ought to mean a little more breathing space, though a little less to earn as well.

Wise Advice
POSTED AT 09:44 PM

I was doing my homework in my workbook and chanced upon a couple of gems on the topic of marriage. Words of wisdom from those in the know, so I thought I'd share them with you.

I've reproduced them in their original German form from my workbook, as well as my own translation.

Woody Allen: Die Ehe ist der Versuch, zu zweit die Probleme zu lösen, die man alleine nie gehabt hätte.

Woody Allen: The marriage is the attempt to solve the problems, which one would never have alone, as a pair.


Anonyme Autorin: Die Ehe ist wie eine belagerte Burg: Die, die drin sind, wollen raus; und die, die draußen sind, wollen rein.

Anonymous Author: The marriage is like a besieged fort: those on the outside want to go in; those inside want to get out.


Sokrates: Ob man heiraten soll, oder nicht? Mach, was du willst, und du wirst es bereuen.

Socrates: Should one get married or not? Do what you want, and you will regret it.

Strangely enough, I can't find the original english versions of these quote on the net. That makes them pretty suspect at best, so don't forget that pinch of salt!

Freedom
POSTED AT 04:21 PM

The infrequency of my paycheck as previously mentioned means that I'm forced to alter my behaviour somewhat to cope with the fluctuations of income. When my purchasing power dwindles down slowly to zero (as it inevitably does) I get to scrimp and save and become Dr Miser and Mr Scrooge to stretch every dollar that's left; and suddenly when the day of epiphany comes I'm able to go down to the cash deposit machine at Orchard MRT on the way home to bank in $400. The feeling of putting 8 x $50 bills into the machine is so rapturous that I almost want to go to the ATM next to it to draw out another $400 just so that I can do it again. Almost. Now that would be really dumb, wouldn't it?

Yesterday I ended up watching Blood Diamond at Lido with sx. There was a certain inevitability as to how events unfolded - it started out as a simple trip down to the Zion Road Food Centre to sample my favourite Chinese dumplings; unfortunately, the stall was closed (again!). So we went to the famous River Valley Nasi Padang instead, which happened to be just next door.

Afterwards sx needed to go down to town to get a present for a friend so we took the Great World shuttle down to Marriott to go to the Wheelock Apple Store. I was all ready to go home afterwards but somehow we found ourselves at the foot of Lido and I was drawn inexorably up the escalator by a combination of 1) the alternative of speding a free afternoon ahead of me at home; 2) a long absence from cinemas thus far; 3) the rapturous feeling of having $400 sitting around in my bank account.

Blood Diamond is set in Civil War-torn Sierra Leone, dramatising the illegal sale of diamonds to fund the fighting. A fair bit of exposure was given to the role of the UN and other NGOs providing humanitarian aid and taking on Peacekeeping responsibilities - something that has always piqued my interest.

The reality of this concept (as opposed to flippant, impersonal knowledge) was first introduced to me in the army, when we received basic training in what is called OOTW, or Ops Other Than War, which generally includes the whole spectrum of peace keeping operations and the like. In growing up in a city protected by the cushion of safe and secure society, I think involvement in a humanitarian operation like this one would lend true meaning to a life sometimes consumed by trivial, ephemeral pursuit. My OC was sent to Timor Leste as part of our country's commitment to the Peacekeeping operation back in the early days of their independence. While I would be interested in such an opportunity, an involvement through the military is probably never going to happen for me, and I would be better off considering opportunities with NGOs.

But not to get too carried away by my idealism. Something like this would require a huge commitment, of time and money. And a great deal of courage. I don't foresee anything like this happening in the near future - I lack the resolve to see this through. Perhaps one day in the future, then, when I discover what it is that I hope to achieve and that I have what it takes to go out and accomplish it.

忍一时风平浪静，退一步...
POSTED AT 01:07 AM

I just spent my entire evening tabbing out Beyond's 海阔天空 on guitar. It was pretty tedious, and the solo bits especially were painful as hell, but I'm quite glad to be done and rather pleased with my work as well.

In case you haven't heard it, it's definitely worth a listen - very emotional, very powerful. It's a great song by a great band - one, unfortunately blighted by tragedy.

From Wikipedia:

In June 1993, Wong Ka Kui sustained massive head injuries after falling from a broken stage on a game show in Japan. Wong Ka Kui fell into a coma and died one week later. He was 31 years old. His funeral procession caused traffic in various major city streets of Hong Kong to grind to a standstill, and almost every famous Hong Kong Cantopop singer was in attendance.

The Japanese will never understand, for us and for Hong Kong, that the incident was not merely about the loss of an artist. It was about losing a music revolutionary, and an age of time. - Paul Wong on the death of Ka Kui

A tribute to Ka Kui by the remaining 3 members of the band, led by his brother, Ka Keung

Anyway, to people like JW, Mok, Mark etc:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wQnobTsMnx0
Did anyone say Buddy Holly?

5 things happening in my life at the moment
POSTED AT 01:52 AM

1) I need a new job
2) I am a recent anime convert/addict
3) I need to extend my 5.6km regular running route
4) I read the New York Times regularly, like I'd always wanted to
5) I've started playing the piano again

5 types of food I am craving at the moment
POSTED AT 12:47 AM

In no particular order:

1) Chicken Liver from Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice. Soft, creamy, delicious!

2) Fresh steamed fish. Something like what I had in Taiwan at the restaurant in the mountains which was ordered by Mr Bus Driver. Or the Jumbo East Coast one.

3) Hao Pei Dumplings - I don't think I'm ever not craving this.

4) Ah Chung Mee Sua eaten squatting by the street side with just the right amount of chili and vinegar

5) A Billy Bombers Burger the bigger, the better!

Einfach
POSTED AT 03:49 AM

I was stopped today, in separate incidents, walking down Orchard Road by three of those meddlesome people who conduct aimless surveys to waste precious time. Each one greeted me with the winsome line, "Hi are you Singaporean/local or foreigner?"

Do I really look that foreign to you? I'm Chinese, not of mixed blood, born here and I've lived here my whole life. What's foreign about me?

Even if it was just a standard greeting to all (as it probably was, actually), it's not exactly the brightest of ideas because it gives people an instand get-out-of-jail-free clause to run away.

"Nein, nein, ich bin Ausländer!" (No, no, I'm a foreigner. Now piss off.)

Welll, to be fair, I'm actually agitated at something else but I'm just redirecting my energies here.