last night... when we were young

back at the asylum for the holidays. its always great to be back. however, every passing year that goes by the more i feel a sense of distance from the place. i begin to realise my being and presence in this house fading through the years. the scent that airs my room does so vaguely exists. the only assurance of that being my room is the left behind possessions and the photos displayed around the house. i am not saying that i do not feel at home at every passing year. instead its this sense of change in my life that progresses on, and this house which is a container of the past and the gap between my present feels gradually increasing.

nevertheless holidays are good. initially i thought i'd be able to catch up on some work during the break. but on my way to the airport i realised that i had left the CD with all my supposed holiday work at the apartment. ofcourse i can always ask my colleagues to attached over the files to me. the moment when i first turn on the home computer i was bombarded with dad's movie collection of more than 50 files in the the hard drive. instinctively, i thought to myself, "how am i ever gonna finish all of these shows within this short span of a holiday?". And so instead i have been spending my holidays alternating between watching movies (i've completed 8 so far), reading (i am in near completion of Italo Calvino's if on a winter's night a traveler), astro-ing (mostly MTV and the asianfoodchannel), playing with the bratty TOTO, and the occasional eating/ snacking(mom's minced meat pie... heavenly gastronomia). i have not eaten so much in a day for a long time. mom thinks the reason that i'm constantly in need to snack is because im on holiday mood, and people tend to lose appetitie when we're working. well that may be true, but i have another theory which is the mind of the matter. mentally i know that i have no food in my Sg apartment therefore i never had any cravings. but being home here in KK i know theres food everywhere. so my brain tells me to go search for food and go nuts about it. thank goodness i'm only here for a short period of time.

i received a phone call from cvk today. he was utterly furious that i did not inform him of my returned and he had to discover this from another friend. i was hermitting. in fact he asked me what on earth can i do here in KK. so i told him exactly that thats the reason why i did not bother calling anyone. because there's just nothing to do here but stay at home and hibernate. apparently it wasnt a very good excuse for not notifying him of my presence.

having returned to kk. i have managed to fulfil my few agendas i had set out doing or more of eating perhaps. most of it was achieved within 3 days from the day of my return with the exception of last night's dumplings at ChuanHing (still the best ever, like... totally yea) and we tried a China brewed beer - Tsingtao. dad was very game about trying new stuff and he was very thristy. paul was just denying how much he "doesn't" consume so much alcohol in his life. whilst drinking this new found beer, we also discovered that the beer has been around long before tiger beer has, and in addition, the brand was created the year after the last emperor of China- Puyi was born. amazing stuff. so this is encouragement to all Astro lovers. tv is good for you. however, i do wish to pay Peppino a visit again if possible as well as to sit at the deck along the waterfront for beers while overlooking the sunset. you know, i would had been there at this very instant if only i had a means of transport. amazingly the one and only car left that i am capable of driving is in the workshop. unfortunately not able to do banking today as well. perhaps tomorrow after dental.

yes people, 2008 is coming to an end and i am very sad because my bonus has been so called "differed". sigh. instead of ending the year with a big bang! i'm left instead with a big bummer. sigh again. and i think the show how i met you're mother is very funny.

christmas prezzies...

from my thoughtful colleagues... how nice of them. i think the actual one i have is much nicer than this. and its sitting right on my desk when i return to Singapore. sigh. touched.

never let me go...

perhaps i should write before i leave the office. i have exactly 1 week before the office closure. apart from being excited, its also very worrying and stressful because i have to clear as much paperwork as i can before the year ends. sigh. well, sometimes these recessions are a blessing in disguise.

ofcourse apart from being the happiest time of the year. it is also the most depressing of times. year ends is the time when i tend to use my thoughts the most of irrelevant things. its when i do my reflection of what has happened thus far. of course last year was not as painful because it was a busy time at the office. its when all sorts of things just runs through my head. all the sighs, the goodbyes, the what if, the what's next, the how, etc. and you try to collate all of them together and try to make sense out of it but eventually you realised that all was meaningless thoughts that could had been put to more use to figuring out how to detail my car porch design. yet at the same time these thoughts are unavoidable.

oh shit! i should stop writing. its making things worst! its only a phase sam... its the monsoon weather.

when you wish upon a star...

surprise surprise... guess what i got for my birthday...

seriously, ask and you shall receive. muahaha! this is one of the greatest birthday gift ever. thanks to all who contributed. unfortunately none of them will be able to read this.

the birthday week has ended. i for one am not a big fan in celebrating birthdays. but the people here do think its an important day and all would make plans. well i could elaborate on the events, but im just too darn lazy to do so.

all i wanted was to post up and flaunt my new birthday gift! and so i did!

p.s. to mom+dad. thanks for the e-card. sadly none of my siblings wished me.
i know im just pushing my luck... but here goes... tsk tsk

i've got my... to keep me warm

it is the last long weekend for the year and i managed to spent it with much glee. i'm feeling slightly guilty that i didn't spent more time on work. the only work time i had was doing my minutes this morning. mom's 7.30am phone call brought me to life. we're having BEEF WELLINGTON for christmas! yay! right mom?
i actually woke up at 5.45am but went back to bed because i figured that its a holiday and i deserve the extra hour in bed. but i with further thought, i decided that i shouldnt lay around in bed all morning instead i should do useful things such as my minutes and laundry and cleaning the toilet and clearing my messy table. the weather in the morning was very pleasant. it was raining!

i think my trip to the marine barrage this evening is canceled due to the "splendid" weather. should i stay at home?

polkadots and moonbeams...

this weekend is SAM day!! i guess being on MC has its perks. you get to catch up on things. and with the whole day away from the office. i've been spending quality time on the internet sourcing out the latest exhibition. i have not visited the arts museum since Giacometti. but i think i've seen more of his works when i was in Swiss than what was exhibited.
the current exhibits...

Japan Media Arts Festival 2008: Growing together

is it tomorrow yet? - Highlights from the Daimler Arts Collection (1908-2008)

Korean Contemporary Art Show

Heartlands: Home and Nation in the Art of Ong Kim Seng

i might have to spread the visits to 2 days. 2 exhibits per day.

and my year end leave application has been APPROVED!! wow... being sick really is good.

-

since im in the christmas mood as well... i might as well reveal to you all my christmas wish list!

hint hint...

wrap your troubles in dreams...

dilemma... dilemma...

satisfaction...

new shoes! new shoes!
the singapore government says we should not stop spending to avoid a recession. so... i obey lor.

taking the risk... or live not knowing

not working in the weekend basically means i have to work extra extra hard over the week. so much backlog to clear and it does not help when i have these extra unnecessary letters i have to type all thanks to my big screw up. sigh. how on earth could i had made such a mistake. but back tracking when it was done. i realised that it was during the worst of my work life when i was practically stranded at the office with super late nights. this in turn affected my performance greatly. hence thats probably how i managed to screw up on such a simple yet important task. money is always a sensitive subject. i appreciate my PM being a very considerate fella. he always have my back covered. of course i feel much worst that way whenever i screw up. sigh. i guess God is fair... give us a super lousy contractor he balances it with a considerate PM from the client. i hate typing minutes! so many meetings so little time. i have no idea how my boss expects me to make 3d design studies when i'm stuck with all these paper works. maybe if i had not blogged i could had finished one level of the model. sigh. no use crying over used time.
its almost 12 anyway, and my brain is dead. not to mentioned i have an early morning meeting.

nonetheless the weekend was indeed fruitful. fruitful in way i did nothing that had to do with work. tennis on saturday morning is indeed a big sacrifice from me sleeping in. i never sleep in these days, since even my weekend morning are packed with activities. then in the afternoon it was AVENUE Q!! hilarious indeed. and i really got everyone good seats. they should bow down and thank me of my brilliance! btw, anyone up for ballet in December? its a 3 hour performance which is pretty long. but its the nutcracker! Tchaikovsky rules.
Sunday was as usual... church. i have been pretty consistent with my church going im sure i've gained many treasures in heaven? or at least God has signed me up with an account up there. i think previously my account was frozen. then lunch with SaeHoon+Wife was nice. i've never had lunch with the 2 of them on weekends when he's less distracted. they are a funny and lovely couple.and the baby is due in 4-5 months time which i do not want to imagine the whole procedure would be after my friend was explaining to me about childbirth. i never ever would want my wife to give birth... its just gross and painful. african kids are quite cute. anyway, i wonder if they will call the little boy "little Kimchi". that would be very Korean indeed. after lunch we went to visit the national museum for the photography exhibition by some taiwan/american photographer. very intense and sad photos. after the exhibition we were all so tired mentally and our eyes were dead sore staring at all those photos.

man i better go. me need to sleep.

distress...

just love the long weekend. did not return to the office at all. Yesterday after church went to collect my ticket for thursday's show. i decided to catch a movie as well - Tropic Thunder. I might as well use the free movie voucher ticket before it expires. the movie was funny but i felt it did not go all out to punning Hollywood and their low self esteem actors. but it was good entertainment, and Robert Downey Jr is seriously funny as a black man wanna-be.

When i came home. High School musical 2 was on TV. i am not a big fan of the movie franchise. but the songs can be quite catchy. and the guys eyes are so endearing. ooops. not gay just an observation. One thing's for sure, they all can really sing, unlike the girl who sang at the Porsche Kitchen launch.

of course despite the pleasant long weekend. there were some minor disturbances. someone should write a book on "How to stop a 30 year old women from bugging you". over the past weekend i have been receiving endless text messages. perhaps i should have turn down the lunch offer on saturday. but the agenda i was told was to buy a gift for one of our friends. it turned out the gift shopping wasnt really the main event. i don't know what was. after running around trying to figure out what to buy, she just said that we still have time to get the gift... his birthday is not in another month's time. in my head i was thinking... then why are we buying it now? okay, that was my fault. i should have remembered his birthday.
one good advice i can give is never ever go out for lunch with your drinking buddies. just look at Anton and his previous females... disastrous. after saturday's lunch. the messages kept stringing along. each sms was such a pain to reply. i had to be extra careful in crafting my replies. making sure i'm not flirting in any way. but i kep getting random messages from 12 in the afternoon till 12 midnight. and several outing suggestions, which i am avoiding. not that im not against 30 year olds. but you must know most drinking buddies have nothing much in common and 30 year olds are dangerous because they are in the "marriage" zone. i am still much too immature to dabble in such things.
i received a message at 11pm last night asking why i did not "jio" her to the show. thank goodness girls are never straight forward people and they have an ego they have to maintain to never express their interest until the male does the initial say. so as long as i keep me distance... theres only so much a girl can do. damn... i just received another movie invitation. thank goodness for Tropic Thunder! you saved my life!!

Afterglow...

i played my first tennis game in Singapore today. it has been close to 2 years since i last played and i sucked terribly that i should now make it my regular weekly agenda. my fitness regime has finally spun off! now i can do anything!

was invited to attend the launch of Porsche's new kitchen design series on Friday. The event was much well received then the office's exhibition launch. the hired Andrea de Cruz as the Emcee and Roxy the girl (i don't know her real name) from Kids Central show REM. okay how i know she's from kidscentral? i flick to the channel once a while. but seriously, she is really hot. unfortunately i cant say the same for her singing. she can't sing for nuts. i guess looking good really helps when you're toned deaf. my friend tried to get her number after the event, and she just blew him off saying she's busy working. whats a phone number got to do with being busy? then again, she;s just a kid. oh yes! the kitchen! during the unveiling of the kitchen, they had the Roxy girl sitting on the kitchen island singing some awful song, but i just kept looking anyway. then my director was asking if i was marveling at the kitchen or the girl. my reply was ofcourse - the girl. okay, about the kitchen... Yes there was a kitchen. it was indeed a very slick kitchen, but a little too slick for my liking. the only fun part playing with the kitchen was it was a touch and feel system. just one soft touch and the drawers and cupboards pop up with such smooth elegance. cruise control baby and a totally handle-free kitchen. so i went and started pressing and opening all the drawers and cupboards. i was seriously intrigued with the system. my director jsut shook his head with embarrassment. then after i had enough of opening all the cupboards, i told my director that the kitchen does not come with a hob. his eyes sprung open with shocked! indicating my hand was leaning against the hob. he walked off and told not to go around identifying myself from the office. sad indeed. even the the pop-up waste was electronically controlled. but my conclusion was its just a nice kitchen for display. i still think Bulthaup kitchens are much more functional. oh and the kitchen system cost around 300k. thats more than the Porsche automobile that was parked outside at the entrance. but really the whole purpose of attending such event is not about the girls nor the kitchen. its the free flow of drinks and food!! they had a running kitchen with 2 celebrity chefs cooking and serving us non stop and a cocktail bar. i was told that Kitchen Culture holds cooking lessons at the showroom. but its $200 per lesson. and on top of that, you can't qualify to attend such events unless you've bought one of their Poggen Pohl kitchens. i'm sure Jamie Oliver will not approve of such things. cooking is for everyone. rich or poor.

went keyboard scouting in the afternoon. i realised that keyboards are rather expensive! how am i to start my lessons if i cant practice. i'll have to make some sacrifices i guess. and just to think, i just bought tickets for "blonde bombshells of 1943". sigh.

warrior essentials...

one of my favorite columns featured in Fortune magazine is the 'road warriors' segment. the column features a list of travel essentials of a business/ journalist celebrity. so i decided to do a quick one of my own just for the fun of it before i head for dinner. but its not a travel essentials list as my current job and position does not require me to do much of it. instead just some of my must HAVEs and DOs.

1. style cue? my non-working clothes usually consists of: running shoes, flip-flops, t-shirts, track pants, sun glasses. i go for the extreme comfort.

2. tech savvy? apple has a very special place in my heart.


3. dream vacation? my next destination -> Rome. but ultimately, i reckon the best vacation has to be KK doing absolutely nothing with a pint of beer.



4. post-stressed meal? fine dining is indeed my vice. Prego's would be my choice. the tiramisu is to die for and the place opens way beyond midnight. a good choice for a hungry architect late at night. its a good thing these stressful nights does not come by so very often, most of the time i'm just flat out.



5. and to wash it down? Botrytis Semillon especially from Noble One. ever since JM bought me my first bottle, I have continued to love it thus far. i am quite the sweet tooth.


6. watch? i never really bothered much about watches. an excuse was that i refused to be bounded by curfews and i just couldn't decide on any of the choices. This unfortuantely resulted in poor punctuality. During my swiss trip, i decided to get myself a souvenir and ofcourse the best choice would be to get a swiss made watch. now i have it wrapped around my wrist close to 24/7.



7. Hangout? No.5 @ emerald hill is the place. Vodkas and Martinis on a Friday night makes the week less painful.

latest music... obsession

when i told my colleague that i had been listening and looping this album for the past 3 weeks, he had this worried look on his face. the songs has a somewhat hypnotic tune to it that can just keep listening to, and everytime i try to shuffle into another album, i just ended up reverting back to this one because all other songs sounded so wrong.
After telling him of how much i love this album despite the fact that i do not understand a single word of it. He replied saying to me that all the songs are tragic and depressing. i gasped and paused for a moment in shocked yet not surprised as the tunes does sound a little on the melancholy side. then asked him if he had any more of their albums.
the lead singer's voice is really hypnotic i tell you. ofcoz you should try not to look out for his picture... he looks abit "zhupa-ish". but one damn good "zhupa"with a good singing voice.

separation anxiety...

its coming to 12 and i am still at the office. flying off tomorrow but i have yet to start on my packing. im trying to zip my specifications to be sent to the QS, but i think compressing 30 over MB of word documents will probably take another half hour or so. so i have also taken the liberty to check my drawings, im suppose to print all of the drawings out tomorrow. its pretty cool to know 80 over drawings were drawn and conceptualized by me and all of it is my own masterpiece. haha. that alone can be my portfolio. i can throw away all my student works etc and just purely depend on this set of tender documents for my next job interview. ofcourse that depends if im legally able to do so. well, i hope after this tender stage, the next one would be much more smooth sailing. its such a pain especially whenever you need help all would give me the "i'm busy" gesture and excuse. but atleast the light is beginning to be seen in the distance.

consultants meeting today, basically sitting everyone down to see where all of us are. i think the rest of the consultants are gonna flip when i inform them of my absence again. then they would think it would be a trend that each time i call for a meeting it would mean that i'm leaving for the week. this is already the second time i'm doing it. in a way, it is quite the wrong of timings, but yet again will there be ever a good one? probably there will be. but when events collide in such manner all you can do is... *blank.

since this compressing is taking forever, and i spent the last few hours re-reading all the specs and replying tender queries. i shall then write something here. atleast something non-work related.

damn! received an sms from my superior... wishing me a good trip because when i get back i must be refreshed to host the stupid bloody exhibition. its already enough being asked to curate the last minute exhibit, thankfully i managed to escape from most part of the work load and only needed to give my "sincere" and enlightening comments and oppinions of the panels. but i dread being the MC for the night. i'll probably pee in my pants standing in front of everybody. i sure hope i'll lose my voice or the exhibit be scrap due to some unexplainable reason. aliens? oh too late for that.

okay that was not really a non-work-related thing. let me see...
church on sunday. then later i had to attend some Architour thing which i incidently totally eluded from my brain until my boss reminded me the day before that i was suppose to attend. but i had actually made plans to work at the office after church. in the end that took up most of the afternoon and we ended the tour at orchard road. so we had philipino food for dinner which was awefully sinful. the pork knuckles was a killer. but damn crispy and yummy. its the sort of indulgence that should be kept to a yearly basis. but this is already the second time i've eaten it. that was probably the highlight of the day, given the fact taht i was practically starving during the whole tour. i only had "chai tao kuey" after church which wasnt really sustainable food.

well one other proud thing i did was i skipped the last and final designer's forum series. well i was pretty tired and i'd rather spend my fridays with more fun things. ofcourse the next day when i met one of the moderators, he was upset that i wasnt there and everything was a mess during my absense, which ofcoz was not my fault. ofcourse i couldnt really be bothered and half listen to him agonizing how bad it was. so i just said... err... i think i said nothing. okay that was really irresponsible of me. but technically i am not actually needed there. they just love to see my face, it gives them some comfort esspecially when the response from the audience is bad. but its anticipated that the crowd would be unresponsive, its a friday night.
this reminds me, i have to write an email to all the moderators for their involvement and thanking them for their perseverance and support. i wonder if i can get SIA to sponsor dinner. i remember the last time i asked and the secretariat said i can. hmmm let me see... where should we eat? must be atleast a 60SDG per head restaurant minimum. it should be peanuts for the organization. heck they sold the designer forum tickets for like 100 dollars per session.

ah finally it has compressed. but still very big. what am i to do? i am getting sleepy now geez no wonder... its close to 1am. okay i thing i better end here and focus on compressing the files.

next agenda...

life's a dance... we all have to do- boogie!

I am so dearly proud of my mother. a twinkle of a tear popped out my eyes as i read through dad's and mom's entry. so amazing how she has come this far and in way achieved a new feat in malaysian history. and for sure we have a new destination to spend for the coming Christmas! with or without the other siblings! muaha-ha-ha. oh dear... i better check if i still have enough leave.

Apart from the exciting news. life's much about work. but there is this new place i've discovered over the weekend- casualpoet culture, up on one of the shophouses in Chinatown. I decided to try the place out and brought all my pending paperwork from the office up the narrow stairs entering a red door with nothing but a tiny "open" sign hung onto the door knob. but as i entered... it felt like a whole different dimension. the place was quiet and with a few of anti-socials and students. they had proper tables and each placed next to a window... very quaint. so i ended up there for the rest of the day up till closing time. time flies. nevertheless there were 2 faults about the place.
01. the food/ coffee is terrible and extremely pricey for such poor quality
02. the choice of music is... not of my generation.
apart from that... the place isn't too bad. the poor service made up for the fact that then i am completely uninterrupted.

today... i had the strangest lunch appointment. after church, i was invited to lunch with the family of a friend. at first i did not think much about the invite. my impression was that it would be a casual lunch with her mother and she, somewhere at one of the food centers. later to discover that it was with a larger portion of the family at crystal jade. Even at that time, i did not put much thought to it until halfway during lunch it suddenly dawn on me that this is indeed a weird setting. for one, i hardly knew any of them. i had only met her mom and her the previous weekend out of coincidence after church. but i guess i'm not complaining. it was rather enjoyable and the food was much better than the one i had the night before- horrible chicken pasta! yuck!

I have thus far concluded that it seems that i apparently do not in any way "look" like a Malaysia. no one... so far have been able to guess my nationality/ my age (sadly) and sometimes even my marital status accurately.


i dearly miss the family gatherings and certain routines back in the days.

where's... sammy?

its that time of the year...

short weekend getaway to Malacca. despite it being the most bad of timings... i still went up nonetheless. Well i did not had much of a choice since it was pre-planned months ago. but getaways are always fun especially during the most busiest of times. ofcourse i am not re-energized nor refreshed... in-fact it was rather exhausting and i think my stomach has expanded over the weekend. time to tie a knot on it.
One thing perhaps i noticed under the deceiving warm hotel bathroom lights is the hideous looking eye bags. people have always commented on them but i never really had a good look at them until now. and so i discovered that it really looks horrible! i seriously look forward to the end of September... all this will end too, atleast momentarily for the weeks creeping up to christmas! 4 months to go!

i have been receiving many phone calls as the wedding draws closer. the day of reckoning for the husband to be. i can hear all in excitement in everyones voices. so many things to plan and to do for the husband to be im am sure he has not the time to reflect and rethink. sounds so wrong. but i guess we're more excited of having the group together which has not been possible for many years. they will be numerous gatherings as the year end approaches. yes! when September ends indeed it will be the light at the end of the tunnel. but until then... its all still rather dark and gloomy.

as of late i have been involve in other architectural ECAs. and alot of them involves writing which i find it rather odd. I write terribly. yet i have been tasked into writing synopsis and reviews. well, just as long as do not have to write speeches for my bosses, then its still okay. but these miscellaneous activities have been eating alot into my time. apart from disrupting my daily works it has already become a pain in the head when i try to sleep. already tossing and turning over design issues is such a nuisance... this just adds to the misery.

well i would love to show you the current kitchen im working on. but i think it'll have to wait until it gets built. its a rather expensive kitchen, a $120k customized Bulthaup kitchen system to be exact. man... its just crazy! its double the cost for the kitchen i did for the penthouse. ofcourse this is a much bigger kitchen than the previous one. but still... it's really expensive. i really wonder if my client will be willing to pay for such a price. and this does not include the other items for the house. i am still struggling to select fittings for my client. every thing in the DornBracht catalogue looks so expensive. even i am very concern over my clients pocket. and to think quarter of a million of the budget will only be spent on the kitchen and sanitary fittings.
bad... after finishing this house... i will never be able to settle for the things of the mediocre any more.

spoilt for choice indeed...

the reasons i won't be coming...

rushing for tender... how on earth can i complete my documentation by the end of September?! if i do managed to do so... it really is an amazing feat. And i will vow not to repeat such a feat ever again. never ever!

i hate working on weekends. i think the reason being is because i know that technically i shouldn't be working on the weekends. but i guess there isnt much of a choice in this case. atleast not for the next few weeks and months ahead.

really can't wait till the house finally gets to be on site. i've been pretty sick of staring at it on paper. its high time the thing gets built.

Thank goodness the client liked the new design. it was a tremendously extensive change from the initial approved design. Its indeed a risk i had to pay ofcourse. time waits for no man. but i'm glad i made the changes. i honestly did not think much of the previous one, the flat nor sloping roof design was... well, it never did work for me. lets see how it goes. Boss says its gonna be a fun house to built. thats if the drawings are in order ofcourse. all fingers are pointing at me. damn.

on another note. i think i passed my exam. I'm officially a Green Mark Manager! i survived a week without a single phone call from the Building Construction Authority. so this must mean that i pass... hopefully.

and to leave you with the on-going progress of my other work... sigh... also very slow. faster! faster! PIAK! PIAK!

the art of doing absolutely nothing...

wishful thinking... enough said.