Sawadee Kap!

Was in Bangkok over the weekend and it was quite a trip. I do wished it was longer, so we could have went more places and not come back with vivid memories of fatigued feet. All the same, we made the right choice of staying in a service apartment instead of a hotel. The place we stayed in was furnished even better than a decent hotel and we had a pantry, washing machine and two big rooms to boot. Since there were 6 of us, it costed each one of us about less than 40bucks per day. And we still got a buffet breakfast every morning. An unbelievable bargain. The only bad experience I had was the seemingly unavoidable delays associated with taking budget airlines. We were late about half an hour prior to leaving Singapore and had to endure a close to 1 hour delay on the trip back. The latter i can't complain much because we were in part, a contribution to the delay.>_<.

Anyway, this is my first time to Thailand since army days, and thats like 6 years ago. Things have really changed a bit since then. I don't even recognize the airport now. Its this entirely new place and sports a really futuristic industrial design. The only let down was the inadequate lighting and the cobwebs. Yes. There were actually cobwebs on the ceilings and some of them span 2 metres or more.0_o. Either they have really big spiders in Thailand, or they have a serious insect problem and we're looking at the solution without even realising it. Anyway, i don't even remember seeing taxis coming in so many colours. No Skytrain back then too. Well, in spite of my inadequacies, it was a great trip. I just wished i had bought more money. One particular purchase already wiped out half of what i got. though its the one purchase i am immensely satisfied with. heh.

Looks just like the real thing. ~snigger~

Anyway, i was walking on the street today and i saw this little kid. Ordinary roly poly primary school kid. Nothing special. Except he has a name tag and it says "Giggs Teo". Well, i'm no soccer fan but even a clueless soccer dude like me know where that came from. I think the parents have just taken their football obssession to a new level. I mean, its gonna turn out all well and dandy if the kid's a soccer fanatic as well but what happens if the little kid has a vendetta against anything round? He's just been stuck with a name he'll hate for the rest of his life. He's gonna have to endure life-long puns and wisecracks about Giggsy Boy. Good luck if he's a Liverpool or Chelsea fan AND goes to a Man U match. Why do parents torment their kids so? I bet there is no better way to make a kid feel special in kindergarten other than with a lame name :S. I hope people out there reading this and feels the urge to give their children exotic names to not get any funny ideas. No Sharapova Wong, Schumacher Ong or Woods Tan please. These things can really scar a kid for life.

Here, there, everywhere.

Was on the lift yesterday and there was this man with his kid. Small kid, i would say 6 or something. The guy's probably 30s or so. We were in the lift and the kid just walked over to me and being the nice and friendly guy that i am, i waved and smiled, tried to play along and stuff. And what happened next totally spoilt it for me. The guy said " Boy-boy, come here and don't disturb UNCLE "
Oh boy. now i know women aren't the only one to get uptight over their age and appearance. Really sian half when stuff like that happens. i guess at this rate, i'll probably have to respond to calls of "Grandpa" or "Ah-pek" when i hit the big 40. I'm going to pre-empt everyone and call myself

Anyway, I'm moving house sometime in the next couple of weeks and the past few weeks have been filled with a shitload of packing. i've junked stuff in my room in the past few days that i don't even know i had. So far, i've packed most of my stuff into 10 large boxes. And I haven't even gotten started on the clothes. The interesting thing is half of the boxes are filled with books, papers, notes and other academic stuff that I think aren't really needed anymore. Problem is I just can't seem to want to throw them away.>_<. Now due to these cardboard mountains, i don't really have much space to walk around in the room. Though the situation isnt much better everywhere else in the house. we have boxes everywhere, empty boxes, full boxes, half-filled boxes....I'm really amazed how my mother managed to find so many empty boxes for us to use in such a short span of time. Not complaining though. i probably need another 10 boxes or so for my stuff.>_<.

Your Highness, please watch your step.

Tried to organise a guys night out yesterday with some friends, wasn't really successful since one particular friend decided he couldn't afford the time off for some relaxation. As a matter of fact, he was still in school at about 8pm ON A SATURDAY, in some lab doing some programming stuff. I hope he starts to take things easier and not work himself to the bone. I know studying's tough but still, there are times when too much can be non-productive. Though on a side note, i wish i had that sort of dedication when i was in school. Maybe things would have taken a different turn. -_- .

All the same, that wasn't going to get in the way, so i met up with Brauns, Lizhen and Sam at Holland Village for some drinks. Met Kelvin, who I haven't seen in a long time as well as Shan Shan, who i think i have seen only twice(or 3 times?) too. Turns out i wasn't the only one asking people out. Not a bad thing though, its always better when there's more people. though i had a hard time keeping a conversation going, considering there was this live band(which was quite good btw) performing, so everyone's just cupping ears and shouting stuff just to be heard. Consuming obscene amounts of beer doesnt seem to help matters too. One thing that i felt was really ironic was the fact that we were indoors, in a crowded environment with almost no ventilation, and still, we are probably breathing in better air then the people out in the open. Thanks to the haze, its sorta like a giant yellow box out on the streets.

Anyway, one of us was obviously kinda high before the evening was through( we finished at about 4am), which was kinda entertaining for me. Although he did seemed to make one of the ladies feel a bit uncomfortable with some inane topic, It wasn't really a big deal. Emotions always run high when the alcohol level goes up and we're all big-hearted enough to take friendly gibes in our stride. Actually, I was really banking on him to drive for me since halfway through, i've felt i've had a bit too much but on hindsight, i'm really glad that idea did not manifest since he seemed to be in a much more advanced state than I am. though he really seems to be doing a commendable job of holding it, i guess he must have had some wild times where he came from. i do hope he didn't get a raging hangover when he wakes up this morning.

Anyway, one of my friends loaned me a CD with some tracks he had pulled out from somewhere and there's this really really nice song that i really really need to know its title. I have no idea whats the name of the artiste, whats the name of the song, nada, zilch, zero. no information about the song at all. The strange thing is, my friend has no idea too. i've uploaded the song here(right click and save as). Please do have a listen and if anyone out there knows the song or the artiste, do leave a message or send me a mail or something. That will really be helping me out.=)

So clear now..

Yeah! THE HAZE IS GONE!! At least it seems that way from where i am. Look at the marked difference compared to two days ago. Anyway, I'm really glad the haze is on the retreat. For some wierd reason, i get headaches now after my runs. And i think the haze has something to do with it. Cos its only for the past two weeks or so that i've got this problem. Never really had any headaches or migraines before that. I just hope this isn't a temporary illusion.>_<.

Anyway, just came back from my favourite cousin's wedding. This was the first time in my life attending a wedding where i couldn't find a place to park. The dinner was held at the Swissotel and when i reached Raffles City at about 740pm(fashionably late), i was greeted by a "CARPARK FULL" barrier at the carpark entranceO_o. Good thing i still didn't managed to miss anything. Anyway, everything went rather smoothly, albeit a bit on the slow side. We weren't even halfway through the dishes after 10pm. Though i liked their thank-you speeches, very humourous and heartfelt. They had the nicest re-entrance though, striding in accompanied by a live acapplla rendition of Nat King Cole's L-O-V-E. I guess they're probably soaking in the atmosphere in a suite on the 67th floor at this very moment.^^

Anyway, had my IPPT yesterday. Haven't went for any IPPTs for more than two years and the only training I can count on are just my weekly runs. Nevertheless, I thought I wouldn't do too badly. In fact, I even told a friend of mine via MSN that passing was a certainty and that I was looking at at least a silver. I couldnt be more wrong. 2 years of inactivity can really take its toll on me. I only managed 5 pullups and 35 situps.>_<. Thats about just enough for a pass. Anyway, just when we were about to have the 2.4km run, the PTI informed us the PSI had just reached 101. It was later to go up to 130 after my run.

Anyway, thats not the weird thing. You know there's this big timer board that shows everyone's timings? When i finished my run, the timing of some guy AFTER me was 12:01. After some unbelievable panting, i went for a drink and after that, looked at the timing board again. Some guy just finished with a 13:40 timing. So i figured i clocked about 11:50 or so. Guess whats the timing on my result slip? I got a 12:40. Thats like a whole minute off. Anyway, i really couldn't be bothered rectifying this obvious slipup, since i figured i already screwed up my pullup and situp, I'm not going to do better even if i got a 10min timing. I guess I've got to be contented with the 100 bucks. Still not too bad for 1.5 hours of work.

On a foggy day in London town..

Well, the haze is here. I realised its been so for a few weeks already but yesterday was the day it actually sunk in for me. Went for my weekly run the day before and i really find myself breathing harder than normal. I don't know whether its really that bad or if its just in the head though on the flipside, if I'm breathing harder, that would mean i'm working harder right?

All the while, i just thought the scenery was just a bit more blurry than usual. So now we have PSI ratings of 50, 70 and we can see its kinda bad.  I remembered a couple of years ago when the PSI went up to the high 200s. I think it went up to the 400s or more for our neighbouring countries. I can't believe how we even went through that. I guess that shows how people are. Give us enough of something and eventually we'll just get used to it and take it as if its nothing.

Anyway, this is a picture of the view from outside my home. You can just about make out some murky shapes in the horizon that vaguely resembles buildings. The thing is, on a clear day, you can see A WHOLE ROLL of HDB flats and office buildings. And its almost all the way to the incinerator that can be seen on the right hand side. Maybe I should have taken a picture back when the PSI was absurdly high. Chances are maybe i cant even see the roads in the foreground.

Anyway, i do hope all the haze come to an end soon. Although i guess we shouldn't be complaining that badly, since we don't get it as bad as other places like London or New York. At least its still called haze around here, what they have, they call it smog. And they aren't caused by people burning stuff.

Now, its time for Prison Break!

Forgot but not forgotten.

Went for Larry(hamet!) and Joyce's(lilies!) wedding yesterday. This had to be the first wedding i've ever been to that had the shortest speech by the groom. Ever. It lasted all of 5 seconds and goes(ends) something like "Thank you for coming". Really chop chop. In fact, it ended before i even know it began.>_<. The food was great, particularly the dessert which was kinda difficult to eat. Guests would know what i mean. i did met an unexpected friend that day; one of my primary school friends(ya, primary school) who happens to be Larry's ex-colleague. Talk about 6 degrees of separation. We talked for quite a bit and I have a confession to make. Clearly, he remembers my name, but I just can't remember his for the life of me. And we even went through 1 year or so of NS together.(First and Foremost!)

I know its "Shao-something" though. LOL.

Anyway, of the few people who read this blog, its kinda obvious i like to talk about movies, tv shows and weddings. the latter can't really be helped considering the alarming frequency of occurrence ever since I started writing this blog. Today I'm going to write about something different.

Book Review!! Well, I've just read this book entitled A Man with no Talents: Memoirs of a Tokyo Day Labourer by Oyama Shiro and I think its an interesting read, despite being kinda short at way under 200 pages. Anyway, i wouldnt really call it an autobiography since the story starts when the protagonist is in his 40s, and only chronicles in detail the period of time between 1999 till 2002 or thereabouts. Not much, you would say?  Apparently the book happens to have won some literary prize in Japan. Anyway, the plot is about this geezer talking about a period of his life spent in the slums of Tokyo, what led him there when he was seemingly destined for the life of a normal salaryman, and his experiences and reflections surviving every day.

What really made it for me was the fact that the writer readily admits he's a loser, a social misfit who has a seemingly disability to coexist with people. He acknowledges he has problems and accepts the fact that he's pretty much not good at anything else. He quit his job because he knows he has a depression problem and interestingly, finds solace only when left alone to his own devices. I like to read about his encounters with the different day-labourers and bunkmates, the exchange of opinions, and most importantly, his "analysis" of everything that comes his way as well as the mundane things he does to ensure he has enough to last him through to the next day. I can kinda identify with the guy though, sometimes you're just so powerless to handle things that happens around you. Different people have different ways of dealing with situations like these and Oyama Shiro shows us one version of what could have been if one just yields to opposition unquestioningly.

Anyway, its a good book( though still a far cry from my favourite, Sophie's World). Though I can't figure out why i found it under the Business and Finance aisle instead of non-fiction.

Tip of the day: Larry, remember to wear red when Joyce wears green on your honeymoon and vice versa. And always hold hands. Its more fun that way.