back in the land of... hot pants

just finished showering from night tennis. i immediately went straight to the courts reaching home from the airport. no time to lose man... haha must meet my minimum twice a day tennis for the week. i managed to hit some balls over at KL. although i must say that the so called "synthetic" grass court was horribly maintained. they should just make it hard court.

gastronomical extravaganza at KL. great seeing the guys again. i must say it was a slightly more organized and planned trip up as compared to my previous trips. yes, thankfully it was not all about YUMCHA. but we've decided on the next escapade... BAK KUT TEH @ klang! yumz.
let me list out the foods eaten in an orderly fashion...
palate palette / spare ribs prawn mee / yong tiu fu / coffee @ le passione / hoegarden with roast pork etc / sinful chocolate cakes from some supposedly famous gal couple baker who makes cakes for the Agung / cafe cafe... fettucine with white truffle sauce, wagyu beef cheeks with red wine sauce, duck breast with foie gras, wild rocket salad, lamb shank with... cant remember / lots of wine / fish head noodle / hoegarden / kajang satay

while i wait for my dinner to arrive and laundry to finish. i figured i better start organizing my music and movies. haha. despite having 1 tetra byte of hard disk space i'm still being very nene about using it.

was chatting with momzy and popzy. apart from planning the family get together which in the end had not made any conclusion. i decided to throw them ideas about me heading back kk. its a real tough decision. simply because its a place i fear i will rot. and its not the easiest and best location if i we're to go for my registration. and i fear of being stuck in the life of YUMCHA-ing. OMG i will die out of boredom.

but i think it be quite fun if i can do up the place at kim leng. do some serious renovation work. i'm thinking of turning one of the rooms into a sound proof music studio. hehe. NBT has given additional ideas on that. and i'll knock off the walls to make a bigger open kitchen concept at the back. i'll plant nice bushida trees facing the living area and wall up the whol place from the outside. wow i can already imagine the whole image in my head. feel the rawness of the space.

okay i'm seriously hungry now.

walking on broken glass...

skipped church today to hit some balls at the court. lately i have been browsing around for more tennis courts which are easily accessible from my place and sourcing for available tennis clubs. i realised that i have been skipping all my religious activities of late. so tuesday's bible class i must attend.
but getting up early to stroke some balls is rather therapeutic. i have not played so hard until i've formed blisters on my thumb.

then picnic at fort canning park was ... hot. i love picnics. and this was my first picnic in singapore. i must give credit to the N-parks for providing and maintaining all these lovely parks. but sadly the government can't control the weather. relative humidity... if only there was a gush of wind blowing. that would had made a whole lot of difference.
but i seized the event to open up the punt road dessert wine. woot! finally a rightful occasion before it turns bad.

picnic at the park... with an accordion.

the week went by so quickly. so disappointed that tennis was canceled today. i really must further expand my tennis circle to atleast have 3 circle of tennis groups. then i can rotate myself among the groups. further more, the weather was so fine today.
nevertheless i took advantage of the day my sleeping in. i am actually a very tired boy. put me near the bed and i will just doze off. i need to make friends with tennis fanatics... then i would be able to play at every other day.

skipped bible class this week to catch a movie - paris j'taime. its a series of short films by different directors but all of a common theme - love. very frenchy indeed. it covers on all different languages and types of love not to mentioned different sort of species. its the sort of movie that wants to make u feel all lovey dovey after. i can't wait for the next film to be release - new york, i love you.

okay... off to see the little boy.

guess i'll hang my sweat out to dry...

decided to go back into competitive tennis again. the last time i played tennis competitively was back in Uni. this time around i've signed up for a couple of singles tournaments during the upcoming months.
i decided to sign up for it was because i realised that i am not getting any younger. and i know i will definitely regret my not playing as much competitive matches when i get older. knowing had the opportunity to do so.i will go through the 2 quarter of my life feeling regretful and remorseful of my poor decisions in life.
so i figured i shall not waste any further time. my other agendas of piano lessons etc does not require much of physical strengths and so i still have time. but sporting activities on the other hand has its limit.
the other compeling motivaitonal reason i decided to pursue this with little hesitation was of my newly purchased K6.1 racquet. woot! awesomeness! i figured (and with the help of sis' gut intuition) that no point i wait till i hit 30 plus before i get such a good racquet to play. it would be a great waste of such a good racquet being put to use during my failing physical prime.
and thus lately, i have been stocking up my sporting gear of late and planning my training sessions. so fun! full on man! haha
occupied with my exercising regime... have to cut down on my alcohol consumption. alot of stamina needs to be built. sigh. so unfit.
still a little while more before i hang the racquet from competitive playing... kononnya... spoken like a true pro... jeh.

sam needs a federer racquet...

here's the little Michelin Man!! haha...

a flower is not... a flower

the mid week has passed. i've learned how to make wiser decisions. never ever go mambo-ing on a wednesday night when you know you aren't able to take MC the next day because you have scheduled meetings/ appointments you can't escape from. sigh. i should had stopped and headed home after emerald hill. worst is you can't sleep it off because the minutes and all the extra yet necessary paper work has to be done. well perhaps i say this now that i have truly learned my lesson, but its bound to happen again with the past as my witness. i believe the term is... dejavu all over again.

on another note, i'm not sure if i should feel embarrassed with all the tender queries coming in. i think its a bad testament to the poor and lack of sufficient information. so many grey and unresolved details. i should seriously bury my head into the sand. so tedious it is because you don't want to make the same mistake twice.

i have a feeling that i am being overstretched again. but the more stress and busy i am becoming the more i wanna get away and avoid at all cause. i guess i'm feeling more crappy than usual today because of last night. most days i just take it in with fist full of salt.

i really am getting quite impatient. 30 more days before SH can come out and play. of course this means i still have 30 days to get my place all ready with proper cooking utensils and crockery. i'm currently scratching my head as to where and how we should celebrate his 100th day. something extremely outdoor... picnic!

SH is just so damn cute. i like.

i hate mondays... its that small window between sunday night and the monday morning before work. and i wish fridays would end sooner. don't we all agree?

why do i torture and inflict myself with such meaningless thoughts...

timbuktu...

sometimes life grabs you by the ass without any warning. one moment you're living forgetfully the next thing you realize how fast things turns. really you thing this is really uncalled for. and all you could just wonder and think to yourself... what the fuck?!

really sometimes you are just speechless. after all that and your still caught in the blue. what the heck did just happened??!

well... the last thing you would write about before hitting the sack.

but i must say... truth or dare is seriously very lame.

greatest regret...

today i have made one of the biggest mistake of my life. there was a talk about architecture and the community. one of the invited speakers was the national director for habitat for humanity. an organisation that i have been trying to get involve in, even if it was a half baked attempt due to my complacent nature. but anyway, it was an exciting time because finally a big guy was in our midst and a great opportunity to go straight into the source rather than having to wait in line to await the calling of duty. 

after talk i had wanted to approach the man as what i had always dreamt of doing. sadly i wish my face would had been more thick for things that really matter. immediately after the talk, my friends kept pestering me that we all should leave the place with immediate effect. one wanted to go see her dogs and the other wanted to see his wife. yes i understand their rightful obligation. so instead of pushing my way or just ignoring them i heeded to their proposition and left the place empty handed. the whole journey back i was just so irritated and agitated with myself. why oh why didn't i just do it. sigh. oh well i'll just have to continue my luck with the emails. even now i feel so pissed off about myself. idiot. i can never forgive myself for such idiosyncrasy. he was wide open and ready for me to devour. and i wasted good meat. 

sigh... oh well, atleast the talk has given me clearer ideas on my other proposition. i shall start writing my proposal to the good mother who works for the education ministry. perhaps she can help pull some strings. all for a good cause as always.

went over to Changi avenue to look at marbles in the morning. i still find the whole singapore way of dry-laying of marble ridiculous. first as you know, marble is a stone hence a natural materials. and like all other natural materials it has characters that is beyond the control of us humans. whatever that comes from the mountain is what you will get. its not like wagyu beef where the marbling of the meat can be determined and controled by the amount of  strokes and care you give the cow. unfortunately i do not think that applies in the same for mountains. but the funny thing is in singapore, people want to control everything. the grain of timber or the way it weathers... the type of character in marble patterns... and all other sorts of natural products. so because the developers in singapore have spoilt the end users with such luxury... we architects have to suffer by having to sit in the factory to sort out marbles in the way they want it to look. all this could have been avoided if they had just resorted to homogeneous tiles. these days china can do marble looking tiles. but ofcourse it just wont sell if its not a "natural" material. natural looking materials dont come close. so they want natural materials that look artificial. sigh. how stupid is that. imagine the amount of wastage. and already quarrying for stones is already an unearth friendly activity. so the government got cleverer, in order to be green, the option of natural materials will be out of the question. but i reckon since the mountains are already killed... why cant we go ahead with the marble by accepting the fate of its character. theres no harm to it... in fact it would definitely give a much more natural feel to the space. the romans have built temples out of marbles for years... and i dont think they ever bothered doing these sort of dry-lay sorting. hadrian's villa probably looked spectacular... even if the marble was all over the place. its all in the mind. now what in the world did i just type? bla bla bla... who am i to judge mother natures handiwork?!

the italians are probably giggling to themselves thinking we're a bunch of idiots... suckers!

for mom and dad...

okay... more like this...

rainy sunday afternoon...

now i can totally understand Ben's backpacking mission. well lets hope he can be as successful as Jesse in Before Sunrise. it is a magical encounter to meet someone at random. and meeting someone at these unsuspecting places and situation just makes it more sweeter. both parties find chemistry and aren't afraid to hide it because seriously theres nothing to lose and theres not a care in the world that can stop you from living that self created time. its sublime. 

a friend of mine invited me to watch her perform at a christmas party last year. it was at some mexican restaurant at Rochester park. apparently the singapore music industry is not doing her enough justice. they opt for good looks rather than talent i suppose. sadly i have to agree on that and i think she is really talented. 

stella artois...

sometimes i wonder why i spent the lonely nights working in the den. nobody seriously gives a shit on these projects and are just finding ways to avoid them. in the end... the one doing the work is the biggest loser. 

fuck lar.

so tired. 

i've yet to satisfy my tau hue at selegie road craving. i think supper is a romantic event. simply because it is a vice.

Friday is the presentation... day to call tender... and my last day to submit the waivers. shit. i'm no octopus.

as the saying goes... just pretend its okay and just take all the shit. never make enemies and be a dog to all. woof!

it's always my fault. i just can't manage my time well. i am not in the worst situation. some have endured worst. fuck you. i'm not you and i do not fucking give a damn if you're a shitty workaholic. seriously... fuck you.

Beaujolais...?

the weekend is over. sigh. jam session at southbridge had one its lamest nights. the free mic for all was turning into some karaoke session. horrible. probably the last night with ben before he heads out from the island. 

The ballet was the most amazing experience. the lady who played Anna was mesmerizing. my eyes just concentrated on her and nothing else. this was a million times better than the nutcracker. of course that would mean nutcracker pretty much sucked in comparison to anna karenina. plus they had a live orchestra. i must search for the soundtrack. i would had gone for both nights if i could. i was so hungry after the show. i think i used up all my energy just by focusing my attention and eyes towards the ballerina doing her marvelous pirouetting.

michi fujii... quite a disappointment. or perhaps it just wasnt her night. the crowd was rowdy and might had played a role in her no confidence.  or maybe she just did not lived up to my expectations. plain and simple.

the 21 year old was not as what i had anticipated of my idea of people of their age. and i have never met someone so cute in my life before. my eyes were concentrated. guess it helps when your mom works as a beautician.

note to self... i must stop dating people who live at the far corners of the island. my cab fare came up to be about 50 bucks. and i tot Sengkang was already quite a distance. 

slumber gathering at my place over the weekend. boys night in. finger nail painting... pillow fights... girl gossips and all that sort of shit. haha. fun. 

visited sunho on saturday. he is so fat and round. he's one cute little bugger. i just love pinching his cheeks. and those fat juicy legs... i can just sliced them off and fry them to eat. yummy.

saehoon and i kept gasping and holding our breath everytime the little bugger's face puckered, thinking he was gonna burst in to a loud cry. his mommy was not around leaving two guys watching him with dear life.

did not touch a single bit of work. 

the song Ballerina... is now whirling around my head. ahh...

funny...

i find this video strangely amusing. haha. i know its supposed to be a sad video. but i dunno why i was laughing so hard while watching it. HungCai would kill me if he found out that i posted this one. but its for my own record...

haha.

so exciting... ben is coming on thursday. and i've got a secret date for him installed. haha. 

michi fujii... anna karenina... monteiro + watts + brecker.

lebron james is lacking and in need of a scottie pippen to win.

stardust...

couldn't sleep. tossing and turning just thinking about a stupid door detail. its quite tricky how to work out the strike plate unto the door frame. thats the result when you act a smarty pants and decided to customize the door frame. but standard proprietary types just don't go well with my pivot system. i hope stainless steel is not an overkill. i have to figure out the door swing in relation to the interfacing of roller catch to the roller. must avoid line smudge unto the wall finish caused by the door swing. must remember to include non-directional hairline finish in my documents. very important.  

its funny how these small things can keep you up all night. the past 2 nights i have been sleeping at 4am. i think that has somewhat screwed up my biological clock system. plus the fact of all these details that have been occupying the majority of my thoughts. work pile has been escalating. jam has become more detached towards the project, leaving me with more responsibilities in running the technical aspects. and i still have to work out the 

elevations and first storey plan for crescent project. how on earth can i make the basement car park naturally ventilated yet ensure the cars are still dry from the rain?? especially when the openings has to sit right above the car parks. tight sites are the toughest to work on. especially when the original designer left no room for any flexibility and leaving the whole pile of shit for me to resolve. design review on monday and i still have nothing on my plate for that. 

it's no wonder i can't make myself sleep. so now i've decided to get out of bed and pour myself some whisky. perhaps that would help kill my brain cells for the night. i need a rocking bed to make me sleep and more whisky. thats how most architects die young.

i'll try again. i need to sleep. my body is tired. the devil IS the detail! bloody hell.

mid week...

Here are some math problems that i bet the engineers in the family cant solve. haha. Don't look at me... i'm an architect.

my project at bukit timah is becoming a full time thing. i probably can just station myself on site permanently. the contractor assumes we go down to the site everyday. and they say we hurt their feelings... i think we spoilt them. so unfair. 

lately i have been getting back into the habit of waking up early. something that i started doing towards the end of last year. well, the current motivation for my early rise is work. i think i write/ reply emails better in the morning. i realised that my emails are rather cranky/ angry/ irritated sounding when i write after hours. so perhaps with morning coffee and fresh mind. i would have a positive respond to things. 

apart from my newly purchased CDs. my other current listen ( and i would definitely rate this as the artist of the month) is Peace Orchestra a.k.a Peter Kruder. old stuff yet i never get tired of listening. its hypnotic. i especially like to listen to his tracks when i wanna get in the zone or when i'm emotionally/ physically fatigue. it helps numb the senses and drowns out the bosses incessant yelling and the background.  

i find this project very cute. remember back in the days when you discovered a whole new world under the table? tempering with your sense of scale.  its by this japanese architectural firm SpaceSpace

no particular... (monday) blues

recently gramaphone was having a clearance sales (which has been ongoing for almost a year). anyway, so i decided to snoop around the store. the cd's were going out as cheap at a dollar. i stumbled upon this CD...

plain acoustic piano with conversations between Mehldau and Marian at every intervals of piano playing. very interesting. it does give reverence to each song played.

i am sure by now all of you would know that the piano is my most favorite instrument. with great regret i do not know how to play the piano. i would also add that Renzo Piano is also one of my favorite architect. however they have no direct relation whatsoever. it was just pure randomness that i decided to mention my admiration for the architect. 

I can't believe a 90 year old women can still play with so much grace and there is this touch of innocence in the way she weaves the melodies. very different from Mehldau's.

despite her age... she does not seem like her fingers are failing her. okay i shall not insult any further. many have said that i have a negative perspective to things (i do not need your concurrence in this matter). 

throughout the CD i felt in some ways she was flirting with him through the music. haha. but at 90, she still has that spirit of learning. deeply admirable.

crazy thing... this vintage lady was the reason behind the birth of Mehldau. freaky stuff.

other newly purchased CDs. christian scott, cachiato, patricia kaas, laura fygi, colormebadd (for a freakin dollar). just to name a few.

when the sun is high... in the afternoon sky

happy mother's day.

last night over drinks with lai, we decided that we should sign up for yoga classes. the thought of us agreeing that we should try it out was hilarious. simply because i had been contemplating of signing up before but just never had the motivation to actually go for it. 

we both agreed that one very important criteria is that we should go for the unisex yoga classes. simply because it would be much more interesting and less of a target for people of the same sex. 

did you know that one hour of yoga session is equivalent of running 4 kilometres in 2 hours. or something like that. imagine the amount of calories burnt in just one session. haha.

i am beginning to develop a belly again. yesterday i decided to wear my blue wave t-shirt. after fitting it on, i couldnt help but notice the pear shape around the tummy waist line. it looked horrendously gross. and so i immediately changed my t-shirt to another less tight one and felt very sad after.  my exercising regime has been very in-consistent. i have been struggling to get up earlier on saturday mornings. i feel so lethargic. 

in love... in vain

(this entry has been removed and relocated)

spring is here...

back from the land of century egg congee, dim sum, juicy fat char siu, roast goose, Portuguese tarts, and many many more wonderful food!

such a pity the tour gang were not so much of food people. each time i run off to get a snack they would always give me a look that i'm some sort of a glut. its not a place to have just 3 proper meals a day. its snack snack snack. hahha!

work starts tomorrow... dread. whoa i spent the whole evening of return doing the laundry and unpacking. of course i did not forget my baby. the first thing i did was to turn her on. wah... magical.

anyway, some highlight snap shots. i'm not a very good photographer (as of most people are) and i do not carry a huge fancy camera (as of most people do). but what i lack in skills i make up with Heart. uiseh... ceh.

HK's main star attraction... the building comes alive at night.

i must give it to them... preserving their heritage and history despite all that modernity 
art and culture at the waterfront... penny for your thought?
sad yet enchanting... my hostel was just next to it. not much different.
still a surreal landscape to me... 
magnificent... in a tacky way.
its all in the outer appearance... whats inside does not really matter.
foster was here...
the million dollar skyline...
Macau and its churches... endless.
no durian spikes...
breathtaking... 

so while the whole gang will probably gloat of how much they enjoyed themselves over at BeerFest during the weekend... i will tell them how many "chio bu" i've seen.

blame it on my youth...

staring in front of my imac while typing this entry is just surreal. i never imagined this very day would come. i was having butterflies in my tummy as i was on way to receive this beau. its almost like seeing your first born child being brought into this world. haha. SH would kill me if he finds out i made such comparison.

of course the whole macintosh thing isnt a new thing for me. given that i am already an avid cult member for the past 7 years. but this is my first very own desktop purchased using my hard earn cash. and the monitor is just so friggin huge. things will never ever be the same again. the last desktop i had was during my first year of college before i became a Mac convert. but it was a second hand desktop. the specs was customized, hence it wasnt a bad PC. it was capable of playing computer games and it was where i tried my first hand on photoshop and autocad.

this definitely marks a new phase in my life or so SH says. and he followed up by saying... "and now all you need is a gf..." i was like... "what the... ?!"

but instead of posting photos of my iMac. i shall instead upload a picture of SunHo the grumpy little baby.

*note: this is the first time i'm holding an infant in my entire life.


i asked SH's dad of how it feels to be a grandfather now. instead he told me that he will not officially be a grandfather until SunHo actually acknowledges him as his grandfather. haha. SH's dad is very nice. seriously my whole perception of koreans has changed.

and so... whats the first thing i should use my mac for? install microsoft word and type out my minutes of course!