the CANUF hut

Little bird

2011-10-08T01:40:00.000+08:00

Little bird falling from the clear blue sky
You know that you have lost but with your head held high
You're dancing through the air
You say you wanna go out in style

Little bird you have flown a thousand miles
Now it's time to let it go and rest awhile
You haven't seen it all
But boy you've got a story to tell

But I will catch you
I will break your fall
And you will pull through
Though your wings are torn

And I will hold you
I will make you well
And you will fly again
Like you have never flown
Before

Finally...

2011-09-25T02:14:00.000+08:00

... we've moved in!

come out and play

2011-07-18T02:53:00.002+08:00

a little song that popped into my head yesterday just after i woke up. it feels nice to be able to write some encouraging words for the future me, especially since i'm going to be the husband of a beautiful young lady in just under a week's time. 10 years down the road, i hope the child inside me will still be full of wonder, full of joy and hope and beautiful things.

come out and play

don't just stand there
in the corner of the room
please come out and play
i wanna hear you sing

about the rain
about the summer
about the wind
about the flowers
theres so much to see
if you just come with me

and i will hold your hand
you know that home is where
the heart is
you and me
we'll be wild and free

in the night
we'll be bright lights
though we be blind
we'll be all right

if there's a storm
we'll be rainbows after
all
we'll be heroes

so don't be afraid
to let it go
we'll run into the wind
and let it blow your mind
is more beautiful
than you'll ever know

and don't be shy
to let it show
your heart is a book
don't let it close inside
there's nothing you need to hide

for i will find you
if life forgets you
so don't you worry
cos there's no hurry
we're hardly closer

to the morning
the stars are shining
though it's cold outside
i'll be right beside

you

so don't just stand there
in the corner of the room
please come out and play
i wanna hear you sing

Why do we live

2011-06-06T11:41:00.001+08:00

...if loved ones fall sick and die
...if love seems like so much wishful thinking
...if happiness is transient and sorrow pervades like a persistent fog
...if God seems to be nowhere

Maybe because we never stop hoping, maybe because we fear death, maybe because we just don't know what else to do.

The best I can muster is to face it all with a smile and to keep telling myself that life is beautiful. And I know it is, just that sometimes it's a little hard to see.

leak

2011-02-15T01:49:00.000+08:00

Dear Kate,

seeing paint peeling off the ceiling makes me excited. it makes me think of tangled kite strings, collapsed lanterns, overgrown bamboo, broken lamps -- and there's no one else i'd rather fix them with.

my partner

2011-01-26T00:42:00.002+08:00

Dear Kate,

i hope that one day me and minion can be a formidable doubles team. it feels so great to watch her improve each time we play! i'm so proud of her and so proud of myself for stumbling into her sight :)

monsters

2011-01-25T00:38:00.002+08:00

Dear Kate,

I want to turn my face up towards the dark clouds, and smile as the rain drenches and blankets my soul. I want to laugh with the wind as it carries the giant waves crashing upon the shore. I want to dance with the monsters, as they sway to that unknown rhythm.

2011-01-21T20:37:00.000+08:00

Dear Kate,

I'm 28 but still filled with excitement everytime I'm about to watch a movie. It helps that I rely almost exclusively on the opinions of the heroes at rottentomatoes.com, who can never be wrong. It also helps that every movie date feels like a first date -- and today's one of them :)

Losing weight

2011-01-21T08:40:00.000+08:00

Dear Kate,

It surprised me just how much weight XY had lost over her recent stay in the hospital. While massaging her legs, it seemed like my fingers would injure her if I pressed just a little harder. And looking at the golf clubs beside the bed reminded me that she was once such a strong woman, making her current state so painful to see.

For some reason, I was suddenly reminded about my own weight loss concerns. I've never had to watch my weight, but of late, without the daily punishment of having to cycle up a hill to go to school, my body has happily gone about accumulating embarrassing amounts of fats and making me more and more nervous about my impending wedding!

We are both struggling with weight loss, but I fear the day when I have to struggle with the kind that is beyond my control.

2011-01-19T20:54:00.000+08:00

Dear Kate,

Today I discovered, over a lunch discussion with my colleagues, that one of the main reasons why I do not break the law is because it can be very hard work. All the effort spent scheming and plotting, when I can instead relax and just lower my threshold of contentment. And maybe the reason why we sometimes get indignant about other people who cheat their employers etc. is that we are jealous of their ingenuity and our own corresponding lack of imagination? I do hope of course that it's because we are good people and therefore abhor evil deeds :)

Letters to Kate

2011-01-19T09:35:00.000+08:00

Dear Kate,
Today I went to work on the bus, which meant I had about an hour by myself to just sit and watch the world fly past backwards. I realized that it's been so long since I wrote anything, and that i've let life silently slide past without leaving anything behind. These few months have been so beautiful and happy but soon they are just going to be a distant memory! Well, instead of lamenting, I'm going to start writing again, and hopefully all these wonderful memories can once again have a place to call home! I've decided to write to you because it's nice to have a pen pal and also you remind me very much of the lovely girl I'm going to marry! Ok, I've reached my workplace and must now make myself worth the huge amount of money they pay me.

you

2010-11-22T01:16:00.001+08:00

it's you who waved at me
from far away one day
and it's you who got me
worrying what am i to say

to you when all that
i could think of was the way
that you made everything
around you seem so plain

it's you who filled my mind
at the start of everyday
and it's you who painted rainbows
on everything that's grey

and it's you who made it worth the while
to walk a hundred miles
if only just to see you smile

cos you can chase away the blues
with a smile or two
and you can break my heart in two
when you're not around

and there's absolutely nothing
i can do to keep my heart
from falling hopelessly
in love with you

and it's you who'd walk with me
before the morning light
and it's you who'd listen to
the songs that i would write

and it's you who looks at me
and tells me i'm ok
cos you won't ever have me
any other way

cos you can chase away the blues
with a smile or two
and you can break my heart in two
when you're not around

and there's absolutely nothing
i can do to keep my heart
from falling hopelessly
in love with you

and you know i can't wait to
sweep you off your feet
and hold you in my arms
as long as i can breathe

cos you have made it worth the while
to walk along that aisle
so i can always see you smile

cos you can chase away the blues
with a smile or two
and you can break my heart in two
when you're not around

and there's absolutely nothing
i can do to keep my heart
from falling hopelessly
in love
i'm hopelessly in love
i'm hopelessly in love
with you

Motion capture

2010-11-15T23:44:00.000+08:00

This is to me the most beautiful part of marina bay sands. The shimmering curtains made up of small metal plates that flutter in the wind and literally make the air currents visible. At night, they turn into golden flames, licking the facade in slow motion. Haven't seen anything quite like this!

found!

2010-10-18T00:53:00.002+08:00

because i needed something to read while having supper, i decided to do some advance reading of Chapter 3 from "Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts" (sorry bee i will still read with you!)

One little bit of treasure i found:

"The most important characteristic of a marriageable person is the habit of happiness"

So true! Especially the word "habit". Because instead of endlessly searching for happiness, all we need to do is to BE happy!

just like the old days

2010-10-05T01:41:00.002+08:00

my mum fetches me to work everyday now. and so each day begins with joy, because i know i am loved.

2010-09-30T20:32:00.000+08:00

As I find myself drifting closer towards that very important "next stage" of my life, I realize that I haven't really stopped to ponder long and hard about the question of being ready for this commitment of a lifetime. Or maybe there's no need to ponder? Perhaps after my series of failed relationships, I've finally come to understand who I really am and what I really want out of a long term relationship. And maybe I've really found someone whom I can happily love and cherish for the rest of my life! :)

Sent from my iPhone

Crazy bamboo

2010-09-26T02:07:00.000+08:00

> This was our new bamboo shoot that peeped out of the ground one Sunday morning. See it? So small and cute! Guess what... Within a week, it has grown to become as tall as me! That's like, over 20cm a day! We now officially have an alien in our garden.

Last minute lantern festival

2010-09-23T19:18:00.002+08:00

We almost didn't make it! But glad we still managed to walk one round around our estate, and also got to chat with llyn gardens' Cat Woman, with her army of really gorgeous kitties!

Blogging in a taxi

2010-09-13T15:46:00.003+08:00

Used to be rather horrified about the prospect of having kids, but maybe it's really just a phase after all!

...can't wait to go kite-flying again...

maisie

2010-08-31T00:50:00.002+08:00

i have so much to be thankful for, not least of which is that the ordeal of trying to appeal for our cpf grant and our housing loan finally appears to be over! Thank God for keeping us safe!

and thanks to all the people at HDB who handled our case, for restoring our faith in our wonderful government!

Krabi '10

2010-08-09T02:03:00.016+08:00

It's been a wonderful year for me and bee, and what better way to celebrate than to go for a sweet little vacation in krabi! what an awesome vacation it was. from turquoise blue waters, to complimentary birthday pancakes, to nostalgic massage parlours with old hokkien music... but nothing beats being able to experience all these with the loveliest girl in the wirl!

doggies chilling in morning sun

tourguide chilling in morning sun

morning sun!

amazing magic carpet jetty

a pretty girl ran past me...too fast!

what beautiful scaffolding

longtail boat

how can this be real!?

i must get my tan!

even the rocks are turning turquoise!

the beach from "the beach"

monkey island's resident

ice milo

look at the water!!

he's going to have weird tan marks on his face

i'm so loved

i can train anywhere!

makes me wanna drink it all up

it's quite amazing how strong ropes are...and how light boats are in water

sulky looking rooster

look what the tsunami did to the trees...

finally we see our hotel room...and it's amazing! i recommend amandari krabi to everyone!

minion is excited to0

bee's complimentary bday banana pancake!

we had ice water cos we thought we should start being healthy, after drinking like 6 glass bottles of pepsi on the boat

cholesterol never tasted so good

papaya salad! my new essential thai dish

the rain stopped, and gave us a wonderful sunset

aww... hope the kiddos grow up like this

pretty flowers

so poetic

naming FAIL (meant to read Loma....)

front row seats

day 2! here's our cute hotel receptionist. very chill, like she's having a holiday everyday

ginormous shoulder pads

we are happy bees!

the tiny hole in the centre is the home of a tiny white crab

many tiny white crabs died in the process of making this photo :(

tropical paradise...

conversational rocks

i can kayak with one arm!

alien rocks

baby mangroves!

anti-social frogs :(

juicy looking lotus bud

which immediately bloomed for us!

lunch at a thai italian restaurant. we were hungry!

i can still taste the tom yam in my brain

giant calzone with pretty girl backdrop

sexi taxi dudi

minion was exhausted from cleaning up our room

we only managed to take a few photos here before it rained big time :(

check out time! goodbye awesome bed!

snow bunny on a tiny taxi-van

peace laguna resort. omg. i'm sure our hotel is better... but omg...

job satisfaction

awesome zhnged taxi!

best massage place on earth

this was our second visit cos we couldn't get enough yesterday!

feels like home...

our friendly masseuses!

the hotel food was cheaper than outside food

snow bunny was very satisfied

back to singapore to start our brand new 2nd year!

who wants to be a minionaire?

2010-08-03T00:13:00.004+08:00

minion's heart

because life is so stressful, i decided that for wen's 29th bday she will get her very own minion to do everything for her. that way we can have lots of quality time together! but because i don't have access to any cloning devices, plus minions weren't out in stores yet (at least not in singapore?), i had to home-make my minion out of the following:

1. yellow cloth for tights
2. white cloth
3. fibre stuffing
4. black permanent marker
5. thread
6. lots of heart :)

due to time constraints, minion is currently naked and very embarrassed. but we will clothe it soon! in the meantime, check out naked minion pics!

minion wakes up

minion fools around

minion goes travelling, with us!

minion finds a job!

Inception

2010-07-22T09:27:00.003+08:00

i watched inception sitting just 3 rows from the front, which was absolutely fantastic especially during the tumbly hotel corridor scene where arthur had to fight off fischer's brain security guard while the whole world rotated about him. i've long been fascinated by dreams, and christopher nolan really did a great job constructing this universe, such that it made almost perfect sense even with all its complexity. i liked the representation of how our dreams can get affected by our surrounding environment in real life -- even though sometimes the expression of external conditions seem to get translated too directly into the dream world (eg. being in a falling van outside the dream = being in zero gravity inside the dream). i would have assumed that there should be some transitional distortion, at least that's what happens when i dream! although i've never been dreaming while in a falling van, i've definitely dreamt of dogs barking incessantly at me while in real life, the alarm clock was ringing at full blast.

oh and i'm always intrigued by the idea of lucid dreaming -- i think i've probably only had 1 or 2 lucid dreams in my entire life, and i really want to have that ability! one instance which i remember very clearly is when i was in this huge common toilet and a slime monster was chasing me through it, slithering in and out of urinals. i remembered how a friend told me once that if i encounter a nightmare, i should go out into a field, sit on a rock and tell myself "i want to get out of this dream". so with the realization that i definitely wasn't in reality, i did what he told me -- found the rock, sat on it, and told myself to get out. and i did! woke up in cold sweat and with great gratitude that i was nowhere close to being devoured by phlegm.

cos it smells better?

2010-07-20T18:45:00.002+08:00

there's this particular urinal (and also a cubicle) in my office that i would always use, except when it's occupied. absolutely no conceivable reason that has anything to do with practicality, convenience or comfort. is that normal?

and why? i don't get it.

fingers crossed

2010-07-14T09:16:00.002+08:00

in slightly less than a month, i am going to become an architect! the prospect is both exhilarating and frightening, as it's been 2 years since i did any serious designing. maybe more, considering my last semester at cornell comprised mainly of snowboarding down the mountain next door... but still, i'll never know unless i try, and i really don't want my life to be spent as a paper pusher in a small, anonymous grey cube. so now i'm busy reading up and trying to prepare myself, and engaging in small projects like designing my home garden! hope that one works out so mum's neverending weed-plucking can finally be concluded...

swoosh!

2010-06-28T10:53:00.002+08:00

eight days of heavenly bliss in melbourne reminded me just how awesome my family is, and how wonderful it is to have the chance to kick back and enjoy the company of people you love. it also made me realize that i've become a sticky bf! every beautiful thing i saw, i wished i could share it with you. there's only so much you can describe in a text message, and nothing beats holding your hand and going "wow...." together before an amazing sunset, or a crystal clear lake mirroring the majestic mountains above. i want to share everything with you, cos when experiences are shared between two connected souls, they become something bigger.

talking about connections, i love to dream about you. the last time you were in my dream, you got us a great hotel with panoramic views and lots of free food -- i can still remember the steaming bread that you held in your hand to show me. and it was so cute cos you were like, "did you ever doubt i was going to get us such a great place?" ever since you came into my life, dreaming has been such a wonderful leisure activity. i hope one day your dreams will improve too! :)

back to australia. thank you to everyone who suggested going to fall creek. even though only 2 slopes were open and the snow was totally man-made, it was still fantastic! and because there were only 2 proper runs, i had all the time in the world to co-teach (with mao) my parents and yy how ski/snowboard. it's quite heartwarming to see that i can actually return something to my parents now, after the many years of learning from them. i also had all the time in the world to practice my jumps and spins on the 2.2km wombat's ramble, which had nice little bumps at the side all the way down for us to keep trying and failing to our hearts' content! snowboarding is so awesome man. i can't take it. it almost makes me hate singapore and our sunny tropical weather ugh puke.

i need more swoosh!!!!

frakking addicted

2010-06-03T12:07:00.005+08:00

haven't blogged for a long long time because of my recent re-addiction to battlestar galactica. re-addiction because this is like the third or fourth time i'm re-watching it, and in recent weeks the number of episodes watched per session has increased dramatically to the point where i'm getting headaches after! last weekend, we watched close to 10 episodes, which is both exhilarating and slightly depressing because now we're in the middle of the final season... 11 more episodes to go, how how how!?

all this, thanks to my lovely bee who's enjoying the show more than anyone else i've tried to introduce it to. i promise i'll watch with you any show you want after this!

to p10, hope you're enjoying season 1! i promise you it's worth it. it's the absolute absolute best tv series i've ever watched in my entire life. to everyone else in this world, please watch it if you haven't. definitely a million times better than the battlestar galactica ride in resorts world (come on please start operating it again is it that difficult for singapore to pull off a stupid roller coaster ride?)

reasons why i am in awe of battlestar galactica:
1. the plot -- moving beyond the set-up of "humans create robots, robots create humanoid cylon models, cylons wipe out most of humanity", it is the story of a rag-tag fleet of nuclear holocaust survivors desperately trying to survive as a human species and to find a new home, while constantly being tested not just by their immensely stronger enemies but by themselves, as their conflicting principles and ideals threaten to tear their fragile society apart at every opportunity.

2. the themes -- i think it's a great that despite this series being a remake of the cheesy 1978 original and despite its strong sci-fi backdrop, it is as much about love, family, politics, racism, ethics and religion as it is about robots and spaceships and explosions. in seasons 2 & 3, the humans had settled on a planet which was subsequently occupied by cylons, resulting in a painful insurgency that drew brutal parallels to the iraq war and its aftermath. and many of the episodes really made me reconsider my perspectives on life, which is quite a tall order for a science fiction show.

3. the characters -- my favourite character of all: gaius baltar, the obnoxious, self-righteous, conniving, cowardly, sex-addicted genius who went from being a traitor to chief scientist, then vice president, then president, then cult leader. not to mention the rest of the relatively unknown cast that poured their hearts out into the show and brought the script to life.

amazingly, i haven't seen the last 3 episodes of the show, and i like to tell myself that it's because i was saving it up so i can watch it with bee. who knows, maybe it's true!

huggies

2010-05-21T01:06:00.002+08:00

is one minute of continuous, unbroken hug time with your loved one every day too long? one minute out of 1,440 minutes. 60 seconds out of 84,400 seconds. no?

but do you do it?

i hope we always get to do this even until we're old old!

falling slowly

2010-05-13T09:31:00.006+08:00

this song is from the movie "once", and composed and sung by glen hansard and marketa iglova. it won the academy award for best original song at the 80th oscars. i could listen to it all day.

oh, and i promised you that i'd watch the movie with you right? well, yesterday i woke up in the middle of the night and i couldn't fall back to sleep. so i watched half the movie, then stopped it with great willpower so i don't know the ending and we can still watch it together! so far, it's a great movie and i can't wait to finish it!

and it reminded me of a time, not so long ago, when we sat down and wrote a song together. that must have been one of the most special moments of my life -- to be able to create something precious with you that we can call our own, that no one can take away from us! let's keep doing these things ok?

oh and i like what glen hansard said during their live performance in chicago:
"this song is about going to a party with your girlfriend...she goes off, to go to toilet or to get a drink and you're standing there on your own, and you look across the room and you see this girl that you utterly fancy, and...it's not mental it's just physical you're just like uh......and then you realize it's your girlfriend and then it's like ch-chink! ... she comes back over and you have second thoughts about explaining to her what just happened because...."

i know. i'm crazy about this song i'm watching every single performance. :)

....and then i find out that glen and marketa started dating in real life because of this movie, but they split in 2009. i don't know why but that made me very very sad!

if it's not broken

2010-05-12T00:45:00.013+08:00

i met a girl in her monday best
she wore a latte and a cigarette
she had a painted face and violet hair
armed with an ipod and a vacant stare

i asked her if she'd like to quit
she said it's her life so just live with it
i said one day you'd wish you'd listen
when it's too late and she said

if it ain't broken
don't fix it
if it ain't missing
don't find it
if it ain't open
don't break in
if it ain't spoken
don't say it

i saw her again in another life
she was someone's mother and someone's wife
i asked her if i could borrow a light
she said if you'd let me stay the night

i made up a lie
she started to cry
i said i could try to help
if she would tell me why

she said nothin's broken
so don't fix it
nothin's missing
so don't find it
if it's not open
don't break in
if it's not spoken
don't say it

i watch her go
and we both know
that there was something there
long ago

but we were young
and now we're old
and if we had once more chance
i'd tell her so

that if it ain't broken
don't break it
if it ain't missing
don't lose it
if it ain't open
don't leave it
if it ain't spoken
just scream it

kiss!

2010-05-05T00:08:00.000+08:00

the closest spelling i can come up with for the sound of a kiss is:

bvooke.

any other suggestions?

i can't wait!

2010-04-28T00:35:00.002+08:00

once again, i am disproportionately excited about our volleyball game on saturday. and it's only tuesday!

i shall quickly put myself to sleep before i start spasming :)

i am on myspace!

2010-04-25T11:46:00.002+08:00

call me! :)

waiting for the song to play

2010-04-25T09:03:00.003+08:00

it's been so long since i last picked up my mike and recorded a song. feels good to be back!

macdonald's auntie

2010-04-23T09:29:00.002+08:00

today i went to mac's to get ice milo for a pretty girl i know, and the auntie greeted me with:
"hello! ice milo? small? no burger with it?"

i went:
"haha yes...(stunned!)"

and she said:
"you should eat! don't you eat breakfast?"

i said:
"i don't eat breakfast, i only buy ice milo for my girlfriend."

and she went:
"wahhhhhhhh so touched....."

totally made my day. to have a humble macdonald's staff recognize me and remember my usual order feels just as good as being a regular VIP guest at a 5-star hotel. add to that the fact that it's a friday, the world has suddenly become an awesomely bright and wonderful place!

thank you macdonald's auntie!

up!

2010-04-22T02:02:00.001+08:00

i refuse to let anything get me down. life is too precious for that.

the way i am

2010-04-14T21:30:00.005+08:00

i could listen to this song forever. it's what i always wished for -- someone who would love me for all my spots and blemishes, who would, when i do something stupid (which i am very prone to doing), just shake her head and smile and still think the world of me.

that's why when i listen to this song, i find it hard to think of anything else but the lovely girl who has given me a reason to smile every single day, who is my muse and my inspiration, and who is worth every single winning lottery ticket that i won't get for the rest of my life :)

to...

2010-04-13T12:45:00.003+08:00

my co-maker of snow-boots, giant lobsters, pebble slippers, cute songs, mini-gardens, windmills and happiness:

this friday marks the 1st anniversary of the 1st day i met you. and i'm so glad i did! otherwise your life would have been so boring right?

hehe. :)

i love you.

japan '10

2010-04-05T23:21:00.003+08:00

i've been to japan several times in my life, but this is the first time, i think, that i really opened my eyes to look at it. and what a strange, wonderful and surreal place it is! pictures are on facebook, but here's a brief "highlights" for the sake of my very unreliable memory cache.

in mostly chronological order:

1. sleeping on tatami
2. getting woken up by the the old women in our Zao lodge to have breakfast, every day
3. teaching a brave girl how to snowboard
4. snowboarding through hundreds of metres of dense fog
5. family marto
6. gorging on family marto snacks while watching a documentary about japanese girls who ate too much and became grotesquely obese (one girl had a 57kg piece of fat removed, which had been hanging down almost to her knees, like an extra leg. it was horrifying, but strangely undeterring)
7. frightening ourselves with horror stories about being alone in the public bathroom...and then having to venture alone into the public bathrooms (for 3 days)
8. making giant snowboots with a pretty girl
9. taogeh mountain ramen in takadanobaba (we didn't have the taogeh mountain bowl but whatever we had would be forever etched in my memory and has effectively rendered me unable to consume singapore-made japanese food for the rest of eternity)
10. almost not being able to visit the studio ghibli museum, if not for the awesome girl with me who refused to be defeated by their "reserved tickets only" policy, and sweet-talked her way into getting our tickets.
11. the studio ghibli museum. oh my.
12. ueno cherry blossoms that blossom on demand
13. sleazy anime stores in akihabara (entire buildings and buildings of them)
14. living/zombie mannequins roaming through shinjuku 109. i swear they come with batteries.
15. tokyu hands
16. band-sawed frozen tuna in tsukiji
17. eating awesome sushi in tsukiji
18. sweets forest in jiyugaoka. not just any foodcourt. a DESSERT ONLY foodcourt. where we killed a sugar cow that tried its best to run away.
19. japanese furniture stores in meguro-dori (getting yelled at to stop taking photos)
20. harajuku girls (and boys)
21. speedwalking out of meiji shrine
22. shabu-shabu at takadanobaba (more pork please...more beef.... one more plate of pork...and beef.... more beef...one more plate of vegetables....more beef... pork and beef...)
23. leaving my faithful backpack behind in taogeh mountain restaurant (but it always comes back)
24. burning my faithful backpack on the train heater (flesh wound only! it's not so bad right...?)
25. joel, jasmin, wenwen and me!

but i don't know, maybe it isn't really japan that's amazing. maybe it's just that when you go somewhere with the right people, everything becomes just wonderful :)

revelation

2010-03-11T11:58:00.000+08:00

i'm so proud of you for finding your hand extension! clever girl!

waiting for the song to play

2010-03-07T23:14:00.015+08:00

if a rose by any other name
still smells as sweet
why do we keep on
trying so hard

and if birds of one feather
always flock together
why do we keep on
drifting apart

if the world's a stage
why do we have to pay
to be like puppets on a string
waiting for our song to play

and if life is a box of chocolates
why do we fill our pockets
with things that
other people throw away

hey hey
please come out and play
hey hey
let's run away

and if one man's meat
is another man's poison
i'll be your wine and
you'll be my medicine

and if the grass is greener
on the other side
well it might
doesn't hurt to be sometimes colourblind

if the world's a stage
why do we have to pay
to be like puppets on a string
waiting for our song to play

and if life is a box of chocolates
why do we fill our pockets
with things that we don't really
want to taste

hey hey
please come out and play
hey hey
let's run away

though the path is long and narrow
would you take the road less travelled
with me
and though it's hard to face tomorrow
there's a light beyond the tunnel
you'll see

hey hey
please come out and play
hey hey
let's run away

bowler

2010-03-05T00:38:00.000+08:00

my baby sis is all grown up!

instant deja vu

2010-03-01T20:27:00.004+08:00

weird.

got on the mrt today at the same time as this girl, who sat down beside this other girl that looked almost exactly like her. they then proceeded to cross their feet and pick at their fingernails in exactly the same manner. the freakiness only stopped when one of them took out her handphone to type a message.

weird.

Kseniya Simonova

2010-02-22T11:52:00.001+08:00

speechless.

think you're strong?

2010-02-21T23:45:00.000+08:00

"Asian Weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) can carry weights of more than 100 times their own body weight whilst upside down on a smooth surface. To do this, they have incredibly sticky pads on their feet. However, this does not stop them from running quickly across such surfaces."

i used to love draw ants when i was a kid. i had this cute children's encyclopedia which had really pretty cartoon images of ants that i loved to replicate. perhaps that's why i still have an aversion to killing insects, cos when you are used to seeing them zoomed in, with their big eyes and their complex exoskeletons, it's hard to then step back and imagine them as anything less than one of God's beautiful and amazing creations (and by the way i firmly believe in evolution, but that's another story, for another time).

do you know how heavy 500mg is? it's the weight of a vitamin pill. now imagine that vitamin pill moving slowly across the ceiling, suspended in the jaws of an ant. freaky!

treetop walk

2010-02-21T14:05:00.005+08:00

it's always nice when my family spontaneously decides to go out and do something wild (of course, by "wild", i mean anything involving stepping out of the house and doing something other than shopping or eating). this time, it was actually daddy who suggested going to macritchie reservoir to do some walking and fresh-air-inhaling. i remembered that there was this treetop walk in the news sometime back, and so the next day, 4 of us (dad, mum, me and hw) woke up at 7:30 to start our adventure (yy, meimei and joel were pre-expedition casualties).

and it was awesome! everything except for the following:

1. we did not bring any water
2. having singapore island country club constantly nearby was quite an annoying distraction (air-con, drinks, couches....)
3. the tree-top walk was 3.5km from our start/end-point
4. the tree-top walk is a long, gruelling trek of.... 250m
5. sweat! why can't singapore have winter??!!

still awesome though. check out the pictures.

we meant to wake up earlier than this but 力不从心!

watch out for approaching bbs!

in descending order of excitement

we let them pak tor

i was then sadly left behind

see the little bit of civilization in the corner?

mother nature has a heart!

bug on mushroom

world's tiniest handphone!

my parents don't look tired. at all.

cannot cannot cannot cannot cannotcanotcanotcanotnotnotnotnotnotnot

where the real macritchie reservoir is

tree laying seige on drain

baby lingzhi!

super not impressive, but no chance to turn back cos it's ONE WAY ONLY!

so we tried to look happy

we tried very hard

the ant was rather lost... it kept going round and round and round...but i guess i would too if i had a giant lens pointing straight into my face!

my trooper mum

my trooper mum :)

camwhore butterfly

gross looking furry balls of dunnowhat

there were dinosaurs!

baby monkey was very interested in the dinosaur

bb walked 7km in slippers

jungle flies aren't jittery and paranoid like hawker centre flies

poor tree...

gross tree

the sun is only pretty when you're standing under shade

spot the civilization in the distance...we were very very relieved

the parents were damn shack

the bb was even more shack

but we made it!

give it to me!

2010-02-19T16:03:00.004+08:00

what is important to Singaporeans these days:

H ealth

D iet

B alanced life

F amily

L ove

A chievement

T ravel

give it to me embeetee!

they don't wither!

2010-02-18T10:24:00.005+08:00

valentine's day can mean very many different things to different people. for some, it is a day of happy surprises, of pretty flowers and candlelit dinners. for some, it is a day of realization, that the person you have spent years with is really the person you've wasted years with. for some, it is a day of nervousness and cold sweat, of wondering if what you have prepared is a sufficient display of sincerity. for some, it is a day of camaraderie and gratefulness, for friends and family who tolerate your shit without question. for some it is loneliness, envy, and self-doubt. for some it is a revenue-generating opportunity, and for some it is a pocket-burning calamity.

for me, valentine's day has been most of the above, at one point or another. but this year, i'm just so glad that the person i wanted most to spend valentine's day with spent it with me. i hope you liked your present. it cost me next to nothing, and gave me only happiness while i was making it.

thank you for making me want to celebrate valentine's day!

...and for those who would like to try this out at home:

description:
these flowers bloom and "wither" when sprayed with water, and when inverted, they close up and harden in their pre-bloom form. you can do it over and over again, no more dead flowers to throw away after vday!

materials:
1. super absorbent chamois (reused)
2. 2 wooden sticks (reused)
3. chinese new year prawn roll bottle (reused)
4. pebbles and gravel (excess from another project)
5. twine (excess)
6. thread
7. permanent markers
8. heart
*no staples or adhesives were used in this project

cost:
less than 5 dollars

me and wen go wakeboarding again!

2010-02-15T17:53:00.002+08:00

good try though! next time you'll be awesome!

we are family!

2010-02-15T15:36:00.005+08:00

we're all still little kiddos! happy chinese new year to my wonderful family :)

smile

2010-02-13T10:41:00.003+08:00

i was driving home alone, the brilliant sun in my eyes, when this song played over the radio. it made me think of you, which made me laugh, and cry, at the same time, for the very first time in my life. what a wonderful feeling.

give love

2010-02-13T09:12:00.003+08:00

this chinese new year/valentines day, i want to thank God (again) for dragging you into my life, because that must be one of the greatest blessings i've had. ever. i also thank God for friends, who pray with me, who play with me. and for couples, because love is so important in life. and for extra stashes of chinese new year goodies woohoo!

hw, no expensive valentine's day flowers for you. because i'm donating (along with yy) 100USD (i know it's not much) to red cross, to help the suffering people in Haiti. and i know you will be happy about this because you are the most wonderful girl in the world.

to everyone else reading this blog, please show your love in a big way this valentine's day.

let us ride!

2010-02-11T00:10:00.002+08:00

this is what we need in singapore. distinct, dedicated bike paths like the one above (in buenos aires) do not come easy anywhere in the world -- they cause money, reduce space for cars, and often risk the humiliation of under-usage. but it has become a reality in several brave new frontiers of our increasingly burdened world, and in my opinion, singapore is an ideal place for a bicycle culture to blossom. we are a small country, where work and residence are often nearenough that one does not have to spend half a day cycling to work. we have an intricate network of well-planned roads, which has already successfully implemented the idea of bus lanes. we have a growing traffic problem, which our electronic road pricing gantries do not seem to alleviate much. we have an educated population, that no doubt is aware of the global warming ~~threat~~ reality. we are an increasingly health-conscious society, with more and more singaporeans taking part in marathons each year.

all we need now is for some brave soul in our enlightened government to really do something about it.

alternative movie/tv posters

2010-02-04T23:58:00.002+08:00

i love the jurassic park poster. if there's one thing i'll never forget about that movie, it's those beautiful tiny ripples in that glass cup before we all get eaten up! i think it's interesting how these posters are kinda like "hindsight ads" -- if you haven't watched the movies, you'd probably not appreciate the posters because what has jurassic park got to do with a two-thirds full cup? which is kinda silly in a way cos if you've seen the movie, you probably won't watch it again anyway, so all it becomes is a little private joke you share with the artist.

totally useless but totally fun! i like!

more at francesco mugnai

DAM you for destroying my land!

2010-02-02T23:30:00.005+08:00

the NEW advantages of being a developing country with acres and acres of pristine, unspoiled nature -- you can get a contractor to build monstrous structures on top of this land, then get them to pay you millions of dollars in compensation for destroying your precious natural environment which you hold so dear. the paltry compensation sum can then be ~~used for creating national parks, monitor forests and benefit communities affected by the dam~~ put to good use.

sometimes, it does take quite a lot of ingenuity to do the really stupid things.

Brazil confirms huge and controversial hydroelectric dam in the Amazon -- TreeHugger

we're not scared!

2010-02-02T09:06:00.003+08:00

here's what the key players in our carbon emitting world are pledging to do about their emissions, post COP15. what does this show? it shows we're not scared! give us what you got, Earth, we don't fear you! only wimps are afraid of global warming and rising sea levels. we've all watched waterworld, and kevin costner has showed us we can still float around on boats even if there's no more land!

Nations Carbon Emissions Reduction Checklist

* India has pledged carbon intensity cuts of 20-25 percent by 2020.
* Brazil has pledge absolute emissions cuts of emissions by 39 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, mainly through measures to slow deforestation.
* South Africa reportedly plans to submit a target of 34 percent below projected levels by 2020, though there's some concern whether it can back that ambitious target with action.
* Japan reiterated its plan to achieve absolute emissions cuts of 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, provided other major emitters pledge ambitious plans as well.
* Indonesia may be late, it's said to be contemplating a cut of 26 percent below projected levels by 2020.
* Canada will submit the same lame target as the U.S.: 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. [Although, as Matt points out today, this actually allows Canada to emit more carbon than before]
* Australia has pledged absolute emissions cuts of at least 5 percent below 2000 levels by 2020, up to 25 percent contingent on the actions of other countries.
* China said it "will endeavour to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP ["carbon intensity"] by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 compared to the 2005 level." That would, of course, allow China's emissions to continue rising in absolute terms; it has said it foresees emissions peaking in 2030.

The EU has pledged to reduce emissions 20% below 1990 levels by 2020.

The island nations the Maldives will reduce emissions by 100% by 2020, making them the first carbon neutral nation.

And of course, the US brings up the rear of the industrialized world by offering a paltry 17% below 2005 levels by 2020.

So that's where all the cards lay at the moment--scattered, too weak to prevent a great temperature rise (with the given reductions, temperatures would rise 3.5 C this century, which is considered to be disastrous), and discouraging enough to prompt critics to claim there will be no global climate treaty this year, either. The only nation that could feasibly inspire real, necessary change at the moment is the US--and we all know how eager the Senate is to help the US lead on climate issues. So for the time being, it looks like the so-called 'global climate accord' is a piecemeal agreement of stitched-together promises and voluntary pledges.

more from TreeHugger.

digital speed painting

2010-01-31T23:10:00.002+08:00

blew me away. no, not megan fox.

Home

2010-01-31T21:03:00.009+08:00

a few days ago ago, i watched Home, a beautiful film about us that is at once documentary, science fiction, drama, thriller and horror. directed by yann arthus bertrand, this moving journey through our own world felt as though i was drifting across the kind of surreal pandorean landscape that could only be imagined with a US$300 million budget.

in two hours, the little computer screen in my room (i had inexplicably passed up a chance to watch Home in the cinema last year in an event organized by my own company) showed me more about my planet than possibly any other thing i've read or watched. i stared in growing amazement as the narrator told the story of my Earth, accompanied by a gripping soundtrack and real-life aerial footage that often looked so bizarre that they might as well have been CGI images.

i had no idea that all this was, in fact, my own backyard.

the world that i have grown so familiar with is one of brick and concrete lined superfluously with neat rows of rainforest trees that shade not the rainforest, but fast-moving metal boxes on painted asphalt. and while we bask in our government's assurance that this self-proclaimed "garden city" is doing its part in protecting the fragile balance of nature that sustains our lives, it really isn't. we are one of the worst polluters in the world, but the nature of our economy makes it very difficult for us to take concrete steps to save this planet, so say our leaders. for instance, our booming population and our affluent way of life puts us way up there in terms of carbon emissions per capita, relative to other countries. but for the sake of the economy, we are encouraged (often explicitly) to have more and more children, each of them wearing elephant-sized carbon boots. topics relating to public transport and hybrid cars appear occasionally in the news, but most of the time it is to announce yet another hike in prices. bicycle lanes have been tried out in small neighborhoods, but most of singapore is still a cyclist's worst nightmare.

and the bad news is, it's like that everywhere else -- only sometimes a lot worse.

in the meantime, the real world, the beautiful eden that few of us have ever really experienced, is disappearing. it chilled me to my bones to hear the narrator in Home talk about ice sheets disintegrating, of low-lying nations (like ours) submerged in the sea, of rainforests being completely wiped out -- all in a matter of decades. decades as in 10 to 20 years, not 80 to 90 years. which means that within our lifetime, the world as we have barely had time to know it will be gone, and the beautiful creatures that fascinated us in our childhood would be mere legends when we talk about them to our children.

what was made brutally clear at the end of this film (as well as in An Inconvenient Truth which i had watched a week before) was that this is our home, and that there is ONLY ONE of it. once it's gone (and it's going), there's no back-up Earth. that's it.

it's frightening. and what's more frightening is that i don't know what to do about it.

i'm home again!

2010-01-25T22:28:00.002+08:00

it's so amazing that a non-christian has brought me back to church. what is more amazing is that Jesus never gives up on me.

Avatar causes depression

2010-01-15T10:30:00.003+08:00

this must make james cameron very happy! and it also makes me think -- we spend close to half our livespan sleeping and dreaming. if only there are safe, inexpensive ways for us to control our dreams, so we can have hot, blue alien love every day!

Jan 14, 2010

Avatar is causing depression

PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX

LOS ANGELES - THE perfection of an idyllic planet populated by perfect blue aliens at one with nature and each other from the hugely successful movie Avatar, is causing ordinary humans to become depressed, reported entertainment media on Thursday.

The world created by director James Cameron is so perfect that entire support groups have sprung up to help fans cope with the fact that it doesn't exist.

According to an article in The Daily Telegraph, fans of the film have inundated dedicated websites with their confused and depressed postings, setting up discussion threads like 'Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible', which already has more than 1,000 posts.

In another forum a user wrote: 'When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed grey. It just seems so meaningless. I still don't really see any reason to keep doing things at all. I live in a dying world.' Other fans are even more affected by the situation, reported The Daily Telegraph, with one posting: 'I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora.'

Another report in The Daily Mail newspaper said that the detailed visual realism could be leading viewers to become particularly attached to the idea of the world.

Dr Stephan Quentzel, psychiatrist and Medical Director for the Louis Armstrong Centre for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Centre in New York told CNN: 'Virtual life is not real life and it never will be, but this is the pinnacle of what we can build in a virtual presentation so far. It has taken the best of our technology to create this virtual world and real life will never be as utopian as it seems onscreen. It makes real life seem more imperfect.'

"my black is the blue black!"

2010-01-10T13:44:00.002+08:00

yesterday (+ today morning) marks probably the first nights of my life that i designated myself the designated driver. which meant roughtly 1/4 glass of port + 1/4 glass of moscato + 1/4 glass of ice wine + lots of water. feels good! but it also meant that i had to take repeated trips out of sera's house (to the rubbish bin outside) to throw away plastic bags of vomit. which would be ok actually if not for the 5 drunk chinese men loitering outside for like 1 hour. *shudder*

long way down

2010-01-09T00:53:00.004+08:00

i know i should be asleep (hehe) but i was suddenly struck with this inexplicable and unrelenting urge to pick up my guitar, to which i inevitably succumbed.

hence this little song which is in no way a representation of our relationship now, nor in the past, nor in the conceivable future. i just liked the rhyming, that's all :)

so there. first stanza plus chorus, awaiting further inspiration! i haven't written a single song in months, but this is proof, no matter how feeble, that i can still make music while happy and in love!

i don't wanna wake up alone
i miss you hanging up the phone
my heart isn't made up of stone
it hurts when you pretend not to know

there must be a way to atone
it can't be the end of the show
plus i forgot where i put all my clothes
i can't just pack up and go

i'm a long way long way down
i'm lost in lost and found
i'm a long way long way down
and i could use some help right now

sunny days ahead please!

2010-01-07T00:03:00.002+08:00

i'm in a state of head-bobbing, spasmodic twitching, cold-sweating excitement about Megazip Adventure Saturday. i'm so excited i just want to call in sick and sit at home curled up in my bed with a silly smile on my face until 10am, 9 January 2010 (which actually doesn't say much because that's pretty much my default feeling these days).

the bad news is, my level of excitement is very often inversely proportional to the probability of things going well. therefore, the following are most likely to happen this saturday:

1. it's going to rain
2. i'm going to be violently sick
3. north korea is going to nuke singapore by accident, triggering a nuclear winter and the next ice age. hence closing down megazip adventure park.

breathe

2010-01-06T01:33:00.004+08:00

what is it about breathing slowly in and out that makes frustration/anger go away so quickly?

i don't know, but if you haven't tried doing this yet, do it! it really works! and it also helps to have a wonderful girl (or guy i suppose) by your side. the ultimate cure-all.

in other news -- remember the avatar floating rocks post i did awhile back, in which i noticed their uncanny similarity to the not-floating rocks in ZhangJiaJie?

i subsequently found out:

1. that some other dude in china freaks out when james cameron acknowledged that the avatar rocks were from china, but claimed they were taken from Huangshan instead.

2. that steve messing, the genius guy in james cameron's team who did the concept art for the whole floating rocks world, actually posted a reply to my random forum post at this random forum, that yes he actually hiked through that region and took photos for the film!

3. that this cute lil rock has a name, and it is "The Column of Southern Sky" or 南天一柱.

4. that i am a freak! why the heck am i obsessed about a stupid piece of stone?!

talking about freaks, this japanese guy just got himself married to a lovely girl....who happens to be a video game character. yes a video game character. in a VIDEO GAME. her name is nene (pronounced neh neh) anegasaki and i bet she doesn't ever ask him to take out the trash, or unclog the toilet bowl. which sounds pretty awesome actually, except i wonder if he realizes that hundreds, maybe thousands of other japanese freakos also play with her EVERYDAY? wake up dude she hooks up with strangers every single day! and she's most likely bi too. but maybe that's ok for him i dunno!

i can do this.

2010-01-05T01:12:00.004+08:00

in line with my new year resolution #1, i now have a skipping rope right beside my bed. i have also found a tight little corner of my room where i can skip without sending the overly complex ceiling light crashing down to the floor. God bless me and my still ballooning body this year!

christmas presents -- the inexpensive sort

2010-01-03T23:53:00.008+08:00

this is the first painting i've done in about a decade. and it's dedicated to my wonderful 雯雯 without whom 2009 would probably have been a rather miserable year. please don't ever stop loving me, and please don't ever stop letting me love you!

work-in-progress

all done!

and this is what i got for christmas! so pretty, and now elfies can be together again :)

and this is what 雯雯 and i made for our dear P10 -- if you turn the shoes around, you get chinese costumes (with white striped boxers?)!

and this is what P10 made for us (see lamp below), cos they're the best. 雯雯's lamp has not been activated yet, so pictures shall be uploaded soon! the terrarium behind was just made today during our terrarium workshop with this cute man called Harry, and the gnome globe in front was, if you remember, made by 雯雯 because she loves me.

i heart us.

2009-12-28T00:07:00.000+08:00

i haven't lost touch! guess some things just stay with you :)

honeymooning

2009-12-21T17:59:00.002+08:00

i don't think i've ever been constantly excited about the same person for this long. it's almost 5 months, and every time i see her i still feel as warm and fuzzy as i've been since the start. just talked to a friend about the "honeymoon period", and i think i'm very much still in the middle of my honeymoon!

also realized that blogging is tough when you're insanely happy. so is everything else that involves private instrospection, such as songwriting. but i don't think being creative is mutually exclusive with enjoying life with your loved ones, so i guess i'll just have to manage my time a little better... i can do it!

avatar....omg

2009-12-18T13:16:00.000+08:00

james cameron, please make many many sequels!

floating rocks

2009-12-16T09:01:00.003+08:00

guess where the floating rocks from avatar came from?

the pic on the left was taken by my bb during her trip to zhang jia jie, which is this place in china with alien rocks that look like they just came out of a fantasy movie.

the pic on the right was taken by james cameron during his trip to pandora, which is this place in outer space with alien rocks that look like they just came out of zhang jia jie.

isn't this awesome? i've taken the liberty of doing a little match-the-photos, showing all the little details (click on picture to enlarge) to prove that the avatar producers went to china, cut the tops off hundreds of giant rocks and shipped them 4 light years away to make the film. that's the real reason for the US$300 million budget, folks! and also more proof that china is now the obsession of the western world, just like in the recent 2012 movie where china workers saved the entire world by building super high tech arks that would make any noah green with envy.

count down...

2009-12-10T18:10:00.002+08:00

i am going to taipei! 6 more minutes till scamper-out-of-office-time... may my boss forget about my existence until i'm gone!

fantastic mr fox

2009-12-05T19:31:00.002+08:00

i like stop motion films. it amazes me how these inanimate objects are brought to life just by placing them in slightly different poses each time and taking hundreds of thousands of pictures -- there's just something very magical about that. so yesterday evening, drenched in sweat from Keppel's Amazing Food Race (in which my team came in a miserable LAST PLACE), i dragged my sweetheart to Iluma to watch Fantastic Mr Fox, which promised to be just as awesome as its title suggested.

and what a treat it was! loved the 2D-ish scenes, loved the fur, loved the explosions, loved the acrobatics, loved the digging!

and loved the girl sitting beside me. we're glowing too!

letting go

2009-11-25T22:36:00.000+08:00

thank you for helping me leave behind what is not meant to be taken along :)

ubin, third time around

2009-11-23T22:30:00.003+08:00

pulau ubin has been a litmus test of sorts these two years.

test 1:
when you focus all your unrelated personal unhappiness onto someone who loves you and wants you to be happy, you don't really love him. when you do it in front of his friends AND your family, you really really don't love him.

test 2:
when your long neglected friends still bother to ask you out after your selfish period of absence and have an awesome time with you as if you had never been an irresponsible friend, you know you've been wrong.

test 3:
when the lovely girl before you tells you with her eyes and her smile that she enjoys and treasures every minute with you, and with whoever else you hold dear, you know you've found something special, something that isn't to be handled lightly, something to hold close to your heart and to guard jealously against whatever might endeavour to take it from you.

it's a beautiful place. the thing about litmus paper is, it's always the same material, but what it can show you are vastly different images -- things you may not have noticed otherwise.

three different days, three very different journeys on this beautiful, timeless, almost unspoiled island.

PS22

2009-11-19T00:01:00.000+08:00

makes me wish i had joined the choir, and that i had an awesome coach such as he! these kids have some serious pride man!

kitey day!

2009-11-17T23:34:00.003+08:00

secret to making a kite fly -- keep promising to take it out every weekend (for a month) without actually taking it out. and then, the moment you finally let a tiny gust of air brush past it, BOOMZ.

kitey flew so hard it tore, but it kept on flying! thank God for clear tape.

word.

2009-11-16T18:06:00.001+08:00

our prime minister is not a terrorist! but you'd never know, with headlines like this:

PM Lee invited to nuke summit

gnome wash

2009-11-10T23:56:00.003+08:00

oh, to be running free in the tall grass, naked save for the pair of round glasses sitting astride my nose, my skin soaking up the morning sun as it begins a brand new cycle in its eternal celestial journey! i turn back and see my red-roofed house getting smaller with each stride until it disappears suddenly beneath a fallen leaf. thank God for inventing neighbors, those tireless haulers of leaves and twigs and other falling objects.

i reach the pond, and duck a swooping butterfly before launching myself into the clear, cold water before me. the clothes needed cleaning, and so do i. i pray intently for the absence of frogs, and then i do a happy somersault to welcome the new day.

it's gnome wash day!

你的爱 (for my grandpa)

2009-11-05T03:34:00.001+08:00

你的爱，它飘过来
像一阵春风
我不能躲开

你的爱，像一片海
它无边无际
它无忧无虑

你的爱，我不明白
我这么坏
你却看不出来

你的爱，让我明白
我哭了以后
就笑得出来

因为我拥有你的爱
因为我拥有你的爱
因为我拥有你的爱
你永远不会离开

flu babies

2009-11-02T23:52:00.003+08:00

this is what makes a flu baby happy, and fluless. it's that simple really -- no need for cough syrup, or little yellow tablets. just a teaspoon of pretty pink geranium dispensed by a pretty little angel to eradicate even the most determined germ.

byebye gong gong

2009-11-01T23:14:00.002+08:00

公公，辛苦你了。 time for you to rest and watch over all of us, and keep us safe till we see you again.

dear God, i know my 公公 is in good hands. please take care of ah ma and xiao yi ok? they need all the strength and all the love they can get now. Please help us to comfort them, help us to love them, even though i know we haven't taken good care of them in the past years.

and dear God please please protect my parents from harm.

next on the menu, jason mraz

2009-10-30T16:03:00.003+08:00

nothing like being in the presence of a guitar legend to make me realize how mediocre i am! but really, 2 hours of tommy emmanuel (live at DBS auditorium!) left me completely mesmerized and in total awe of this musical genius. and what better way to enjoy such captivating music than in the company of the girl i adore, whom i had somehow convinced to watch this concert with me way before i even dared to think that one day, i could hold her hand in mine.

was close to tears when he played "amazing grace". i'm sure everyone in the room must have felt an intense urge to stand up and sing -- i had to remind myself that this was a guitar concert, not a worship service! but i realized halfway through the hymn that there was really no need for any words -- it was almost as if the music in the air carried with it the whole essence of the song, and was singing straight into our hearts.

what a wonderful night. faye and jeremy, i hope for your sakes that Hong Kong was worth it, cos you totally missed out!

i really want guitar lessons. somebody teach me pls....

addy

2009-10-26T22:23:00.005+08:00

i just realized that i don't know your address...what i do know is that it would make me very very happy if we could share one someday.

ikea!

2009-10-14T02:42:00.007+08:00

2B2G

2009-10-05T19:21:00.004+08:00

Straits Times recently published an article about their social experiment on whether the public would come to the aid of a woman whose partner is publicly abusing her. results -- only a few people interfered, and almost all of them were foreigners. while it is no surprise that singaporeans do not have an inclination to step in when strangers are in trouble, what if they were your friends? would you interfere in your friends' private lives if you felt they needed some objective, outside help? would you make their business your business? or should you just be a good listening ear and refrain from taking a personal interest in your friends' personal issues?

i faced this dilemma recently, and after quite a long period of internal struggle, decided to do what i thought was right. thank God it appears to have worked out alright... but then again, something tells me that even if things didn't turn out fine, i wouldn't have regretted it.

and thank God for the wonderful girl who was the voice of reason behind the voice of reason.

2B2G! :)

hungry!

2009-10-02T18:33:00.002+08:00

for many years i had thought that i was over the age-limit for carrying lanterns and playing with sparklers. but sometimes, when you hang out with the right/wrong group of people, you realize that age is really very subjective thing! today, we bought 10 paper lanterns, 4 noisy inflatable lanterns, two huge boxes of sparklers and many batteries, in preparation for our temporary return to childhood later in the night. after all, children's day was just yesterday!

tried the lanterns out in office. damn bloody noisy.

good people

2009-10-01T01:25:00.002+08:00

we all want to be good people. i like to believe that we are all programmed to do what we feel is right, and the only difference is in our confused definitions of right and wrong. i believe that even obnoxious people, or criminals, or homicidal sociopaths think that they are doing something worthwhile, or at least justified. they are just really, really misguided that's all.

i want to be a good person. i think it's a wonderful thing to be able to make someone smile, or at least to know that i made a little positive difference to someone's life. sometimes i get it right, sometimes i get it very wrong, but that's life isn't it? all of us fumbling around blindly for the light switch, the door, our glasses....and maybe it's not our fault if we grab a hot iron by mistake, but still, damage done. and all we can do is wait for the wounds to heal and then start fumbling again :)

today the building shook. for about a minute. we joked about it, but deep inside, we all knew that somewhere else in the world, someone's world had just been turned upside down.

thank God i live in Singapore...

poor kids!

2009-09-22T02:39:00.001+08:00

would you fail the marshmallow test?

wake time!

2009-09-22T00:10:00.004+08:00

elvis!

hiao-vis!

wrong stance. arms must be outstretched!

like this.

wrong! butt cannot stick out!

see? that's what happens when you stick out your butt.

looking so forlorn

fishing!

weak looking twis :)

me!

so fun! even though the persistent friday thunderstorm tried to ruin our wakeboarding plans, we happily went back on saturday with even more people! waking up for wakeboarding was no joke though....7:30am! it always feels horrible waking up early, no matter how exciting i am about the day ahead. 20min late in the end, cos rr had to be a taxi driver and fetch 4 people from 4 different locations. turned out that the instructor remembered me from like a few years ago, so it was quite nice actually, no need to spend time warming up to a total stranger (oh, paul tan, 94505528. call him if you want lessons!) glad that hw decided to come along even though she's still learning how to swim and had no intention whatsoever to wakeboard. thanks to the screaming and shouting from our instructor, she's now a wakeboard theory expert! after the intense physical workout, we headed off to xin wang for lunch, where we spent much of the time there trying to figure out disgustingly difficult IQ questions. we also discovered that 3 ex-GEP students were no match for 1 hw. clever girl!

iluma is famous!

2009-09-13T18:53:00.002+08:00

CRYSTAL MESH from autokolor on Vimeo.

interactivearchitecture.org posted an article about iluma recently. the vid actually looks rather cool! quite amazing that my workplace is just across the road from this building. too bad it looks a lot less cool close-up, but still, at least people want to write about us!

watch the cove

2009-09-13T18:32:00.003+08:00

what this "cove" in taiji, japan looks like after each slaughter of dolphins.

the intrepid espionage team

this is the petition i signed after watching "the cove", a real life horror story about yet another example of humankind's inhumanity. don't know if this will make any difference, but hey, i spend hours of precious time doing things that are a lot less meaningful! so there. good luck to these brave people! and good luck to the dolphins! swim far far away!

Dear [Decision Maker],

I recently heard about the documentary film The Cove and was alarmed to find out that more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises are brutally killed each year off the coast of Japan. In addition, Japanese consumers are being sold dolphin meat, containing dangerously high levels of mercury, often labeled as whale meat.

I ask that you urge the Japanese government to revoke permits that allow Japan's Fisheries Agency to continue this heinous, dangerous and illegal practice.

I also urge American leadership to ensure that the International Whaling Commission includes the proper management of dolphins and porpoises and a comprehensive plan to stop the slaughter of dolphins in Japan.

I thank the filmmakers for this courageous act, and I thank you in advance for the courage and humanity you will demonstrate in taking steps towards ending this atrocity. Dolphins have no place in our food industries so please help to keep them in the wild, where they belong.

Your immediate action is needed.

Sincerely,
Kenneth Lau

in the dead of the night

2009-09-06T03:16:00.003+08:00

so i was driving down the expressway back from hw's house (at 1:30am in the morning) when i very nearly ran over an old indian man sprawled in the middle of a slip road. good thing i wasn't feeling tired -- not meaning to be racist here but it's much harder to spot an indian man in the dead of the night than, say, a fat ang moh dude. anyway, he was clutching his metal crutches which clearly did not help him much, and because the slip road was kinda in the middle of nowhere, i asked if he needed a ride. ended up getting mildly lost around eunos cos he didn't really know how to get back to his house...but managed to send him home anyway and left feeling grateful that i could help someone in need. and grateful that i didn't kill him in the first place.

:)

1 月

2009-09-03T00:06:00.003+08:00

aug 31st marks my 1st month together with a wonderful girl who loves and cares for me more than i've ever imagined any girl would. her name is xiao wen zi (little wen zi), and she has a smile that makes me melt every single time i look at her. we sit on the same floor at work, just far enough to make the heart fonder, and just near enough so i can see her once in awhile when the withdrawal kicks in. every morning, she buys me breakfast because she knows it makes me happy, and because i wouldn't eat otherwise.

she doesn't ask anything of me. perhaps she knows that it only makes me want to give her all that i can, so that she'll never have to ask. because i'm addicted to her and her smile and her hands and her puppy dog eyes and her happiness.

i love her with all my heart, and i think she loves me too.

2 beautiful babies

2009-09-02T00:03:00.004+08:00

i'm not letting go

2009-09-01T21:40:00.011+08:00

when the alarm is ringing in your face
would you wish that it would go away
would you think it's just another day
or would you think of me

when you see the sun climb up the skies
would you think that it is no surprise
or would you pause awhile to close your eyes
and try to think of me

and when you walk alone
would it help to know
that there's a smile that you can turn to
when your lines are getting old

and though it doesn't show
i wish you would come home
but if you rather stay a little longer
i'll still be here tomorrow
still be here tomorrow
cos i'm not letting go

when you fall asleep
do you ever wish
that the one that you kiss
is more than a dream
if there's anything that i could wish for
it's that you'll dream of me

well, don't ever be
a casualty of gravity
you have wings of an angel
and the world at your feet
but if you ever want to come back down here
won't you think of me

cos when you walk alone
would it help to know
that there's a place that you can go to
when your hands are getting cold

and though it doesn't show
i need you to come home
but if you rather stay a little longer
i'll still be here tomorrow
still be here tomorrow
cos i'm not letting go

mayday dna tour 2009

2009-08-31T01:07:00.003+08:00

went for mayday's dna concert on saturday night. no need to be a mayday fan to enjoy their performance! thought it was really considerate of them to sing, dance, and scream for more then 4 hours just so their fans got enough mayday to last for the rest of the year, until they visit our lil island again. and i really love their lyrics! so meaningful and heartfelt, it's amazing how they manage to take those unexpressed emotions that reside deep in our hearts and put them into words, and when you're in the company of thousands of other fans singing along with you, you realize that everyone around you has experienced those moments of sadness, joy, loneliness, freedom and hope at one point or another in their lives.

oh, love how they screen their lyrics too, so everyone can sing along. one giant indoor ktv stadium!

glad you enjoyed it. maybe one day i'll be as crazy about them as you are! :)

he likes it la please

2009-08-28T13:38:00.002+08:00

this image is part of the footage captured by a horrified passer-by and sent to our local online news website. in it, a woman stops her car by the side of the road (causing a traffic jam behind her) and removes her shoe to hit her boyfriend (possibly) in his groin. repeatedly. in full view of everyone nearby. one can only speculate as to the reason why something like this would happen in our peaceful little island:

1. her shoe was out of shape and his balls had just the right firmness and suppleness for her to hammer the shoe back into shape.
2. he's the boss of a shoe manufacturing company and she's his QC manager.
3. his groin cramped up from having sat for too long in the car and he was fearful of deep vein thrombosis.
4. after this, they drove over to another hdb carpark where it was then his turn to hit her in the crotch with his shoe.
5. due to the economic crisis, they ran out of money for his vasectomy.
6. the neighbor's pet hamster developed a taste for human testicles, and she was trying to save their unborn children.
7. he was having trouble expanding his vocal range. can't hit that high C!

kids, don't try this at home.

try it at your nearest carpark so STOMP can have more cool videos :)

danyl johnson

2009-08-27T10:30:00.002+08:00

X Factor: S06E01 - Danyl Johnson Audition
Uploaded by iMMOnline. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

even better than stacey. check out the two female judges blushing when he looks at them.

stacey soloman

2009-08-27T09:01:00.004+08:00

Stacey Soloman : The X Factor Auditions 1 @ uZood.com

this girl rocks. i was biting my fingers throughout her song...

let me pleeeaaassseeee

2009-08-27T08:30:00.004+08:00

my first-month prezzie for you :)

sorry it wasn't a surprise but i was so excited i couldn't help showing you this even before i finished it... i hope it makes your day an awesome day.