Category: My Abstract Life

Categories
Whacky Thoughts

Be HIP – What Does That Mean To You?

My new colleague once asked me if I know where the best sites to download music are. My immediate response was Apple.com (iTunes Store that is). It is rhetoric. I knew that was not what she has in mind and neither can we buy music from iTunes Store in Singapore.

Allow me to indulge myself in the politically incorrectness of generalization. There are two groups of people I observe in general when it comes to listening to music. One group cares less about music. They seldom purchase any album nor possess any music in any form. Music from the radio or TV is good enough for them. Another group in contrary loves music. And within this group of music lovers, it subdivides into three categories. One that buy music. One that downloads music feeling indifferent to whether or not it is the right thing to do. And one that downloads music believing that it is the right thing to do, believing that they play a part in revolutionize the music industry.

Revolutionize the music industry?! I had much debate with one of my friends who download a couple of albums a day. No doubt he has difficulties in listening to all the albums in his vast collection. Till today, we have not come to a conclusion.

You see, I am a keen supporter of “honor IP (intellectual property)” – HIP. I pay for the music I appreciate, the PC games I enjoy, and the DVD I watch repeatedly. For those who are indifferent to the consequence of downloading music (arguably illegally), I think there is no right or wrong answer. Neither is there a question of moral stand. Hence, I am indifference to the indifference.

However, it is people like my friend who intrigue me. I hear what my friend says. Music industry is a rogue business. The musicians hardly get anything in the end. The record companies are the big winners. All the proceeds from the record sales have to cover the marketing expenses and to fund the new artists that come on board. What the musicians get in the end is peanut – unless you make it big. That much I can understand. But to portray the heroic act of playing a part to hurt the industry so that the wrong can be right and the big evil (aka record companies) can be punished? I have my doubt.

Are you willing to work for free? After all, it is your boss who take home bulk of the profit, it is your organization that has the double digit growth – not your pocket. If you expect the musicians to work for free, it is only fair that you too work for free. True or false? Think of the retail business. Isn’t it true that the landlords are the big winners, always?

There is no right or wrong answer. Governments deem illegal music download the same as stealing. Some home users deem downloading music is the right thing to do because it will revolutionize the music industry. That one day the musicians will benefit the most from the proceeds of the record sales. Or perhaps as my friend has pointed out, the way to earn a living by the musicians is not selling records but performing live concerts.

Self deception or not, you decide.

PS. This post is created as the prelude of an upcoming music review. You will see the connection I promise.

Categories
Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 5 – All Walks Of Life

A life worth writing is a life worth living, true or false?

Planet Earth caters for all walks of life. One evening I returned home. At the lobby there was a kid and a maid. 6 feet away there was a cat by the driveway. The kid kept chanting: cat, run over by the car and die … Why all this evilness of wishing another living creature dead? Extra earning equals to lesser time at home equals to a twisted next generation with the illusory help of a maid. Think family values.

Why are we trying so hard to be who we are not? At least some of us do. Overwhelmed by self-deception. Wake up! Be one with yourself. Feel blessed of who you are. You don’t need to be that someone else.

At a convenience store at Orchard, I queued to pay for my Snapple. A teen girl in front inquired: how much does vodka cost? In a board daylight. Barely legal. And there was a group of teen girls pulling out ten dollar notes determined to get that bottle of vodka over the counter. In a broad daylight. What has the world turned into?

At a convenience store near town, I entered to look for pain killer. I couldn’t find the drug and approached the sale assistance. If I am to tell you which store I was at, she will get fired and I will feel really guilty. You will know why. In just a bit.

I approached the counter. Asked for pain killer. The sale assistance pointed me to the right direction. I looked at the pricing and gasped! It must have been at least 20%-40% more expensive than other convenience stores. The sale assistance looked at me and said: don’t buy it if you don’t want to, it is way too expensive. And she repeated – in a kind and concern way. I am certain that she would not buy that from that shop either.

I love people around me in general. One day during lunch at a food center, I sat at a table with three strangers. After I finished my meal, before I left, I said with a smile: enjoy your lunch. The three ladies stared at me in a hostile manner as though I shouldn’t have said anything. I bought my dessert, sat somewhere else. Again … blah blah blah … I said with a smile: enjoy your lunch to the man siting opposite me. This stranger looked at me, smiled, and he said: thank you.

There are many types of people living around us.

Think. A life worth living is definitely a live worth writing. True or false?

Categories
Fragments of My Dreams

Fragments Of My Dreams Episode 4 – A Train Over The Integrated Resort

I am with my wife and we have won a ticket the latest Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) ride that circled around a new theme park. Is it a theme park? Perhaps it is an integrated resort instead.

I am not that excited but my wife is. It is just a MRT ride, no? We head to the station and the public announcement has been incessantly reminding us when the train will depart.

We are running. Trying our best to catch the train. And we both want the 1st cabin having the view all by ourselves.

But it doesn’t really matter. As the train gains speed, its interior starts to turn … transparent. Before long, the entire train has turned transparent. We find ourselves travelling at a high speed admiring the scenery around us.

The road is dark and at one point, the train stops. We see a sign on the road to the left saying: Formula One! Strangely, all the cars are like in the old days. Ancient design. The train regains its speed and we feel as though we are on the Formula One track admiring the ancient city.

At the destination, we disembark and head to a model home. Totally futuristic. To effectively illustrate what is inside, the walls are transparent too. Awesome!

Suddenly I remember my mission. I need to talk to the CEO of the resort. That is why I have “won” a ticket to take this state of art train. And I fail to do so.

Weeks later, I call that travel agency wanting to repeat that wonderful experience of mine. This time, alone. An attractive lady with black hair promptly be my guide and instead of taking a train ride, I am inside a flying machine hoovering over this integrated resort. I watch the TV on board and it is showing some future disasters. Halfway through the tour, I am interrupted. The attractive lady tells me that I have to return home now. I protest knowing that there are much to see. “Sorry,” she said, “The reason why you are on these free rides is because you need to talk to this CEO. Looks like you are not going to do it this time either. He is not free today.”

Beyond my control, this episode I have with this attractive lady with black hair has turned into some kind of a street gossip. People are whispering, fabricating secrets. Journalists want to dig in and find dirt from this exclusive tour I have had. Soon my wife will know about it. What shall I do? What else can I do? And what am I suppose to talk to the CEO anyway?!

Note: This is a real dream of mine. How much can you decipher?

Categories
Whacky Thoughts

Cynthia And I Shop In A Different Way (Working Title: I Love To Shop)

Increasingly, I realize that there is some sort of role reversal between Cynthia and I when it comes to shopping. And I assure you, there is nothing to do with that 7 months break I had and how I became domesticated.

Cynthia shops with objectives in mind. She may not know where to buy that something but she has a clear vision on what to get and how many items she needs. For instance, she has a clear picture on how many pairs of business shoes and casual shoes she has and which ones are in the pipeline of being decommissioned. I wish I could do the same for my ties. I mean, having an extra tie really wouldn’t harm, would it? Today, inside a mall, I was staring at one particular tie on the rack. I turned to Cynthia and asked: haven’t I already bought a tie of a similar style just two days ago? We both stared into space and could not recall. As of now, those ties I bought two days ago are still inside the shopping bags ready to be unwrapped.

The fact remains unchanged … I hate to shop when I need something. It is stressful. Having an objective in mind puts a time line to what could have been a wonderfully relaxing shopping experience and turns it into a chore. And that is no fun. I treat shopping as part of an exploration journey. It doesn’t have to be a route from A to B. It could be something like from A to A1 and then A2 and then zigzag between A3 and A4 … and finally you reach A999 without actually arriving at B at all. And you can save B for another day.

To illustrated, take the other day as an example. Cynthia and I needed to buy a birthday present for Lora. I walked into Orchard with an open mind (really … why need to think when the “answers” are … everywhere?). Cynthia walked into Orchard with plan A to Z all ready. Okay, I exaggerate. It was more like plan A to C. In between these plans, I stopped Cynthia at the hat section and asked her to try out some hats. Deep inside, I think she liked the diversion but she kept saying: focus, focus! And I stopped at the Men’s section and bought some ties. Finally, we got something for Lora and I really wanted to check out another department just upstairs for some casual clothes … but the time was up! Gasp! We were scheduled to meet another friend of ours for dinner …

But … but …

Sure people can understand if someone got stuck in shopping, right? I certainly can. That’s why mankind has invented wireless phone so that while waiting for your friend to arrive, people can roam around and check out things around them? That is win-win!

The other day, I was shopping with my guy friend. How wonderful it could have been! Except it didn’t turn out the way I expected it to be. Or rather, it turned out the way I didn’t wish it to be. We arrived at one section and I was marvelled at the range of clothes. I took up garment A, visualize the result, analyze the color (if I have this and that to match and so on), check out the available sizes, examine the style (how people may perceive when I wear that), and so on … and I moved onto garment B. By the time I have made the decision on which ones to take into the fitting room, my friend emerged from the fitting room and was heading to the cashier. I was like … dude … so fast?! He was like … ya, I found what I need. I was like … you don’t need my opinion? He was like …

I think the great thing about shopping with someone is that we can take our time to try things on and hear out what we have to say. That is the fun of it all.

How about things that we can’t try but can only visualize? It can be fun too! Or in my case, it could have been fun too! Today was a 20% storewise discount from selected malls. Time to shop for some pyjamas! I started with one brand then moved onto the next. Cynthia casually picked something from the shelf … the color was good, the price was a bit to the high side but … yuck! I said to her: look, there is a printing of a cockroach! Okay, she didn’t see that. Truth been told, Cynthia seemed to feel uneasy in the men’s pyjamas department (I must have been taking that long eh?!). That, I don’t quite understand. If I was inside the lingerie section, I would feel like heaven. That section is definitely out of bound for men unless we are with our partners. And the chance to pick what I like to see behind closed doors? Priceless.

On our way out we passed by the Braun Buffel section. I stopped and couldn’t take my eyes off some of the briefcases and bags on the shelves. “I think …,” before I could finish the sentence Cynthia asked me point-blank, “What do you want to put inside?”

I pondered … and surrendered, “iPod?”

Okay, I don’t even have an iPod yet. But that is besides the point …

Anyway, by now, you may understand why I enjoy reading Sophie Kinsella. Still waiting for her latest book to go paperback though … arrgghh!

Categories
Memorable Events

A Journal of National Day Parade Preview (2007)

Both Cynthia and I felt a bit weird dressed in red while having Prawn Mee. Not just any red, but the kind of red that stops traffic. What to do? We were encouraged to dress this way. It is not as though our wardrobe has lots of red items to choose from. So I donned a Nike T-shirt while Cynthia wore a red shirt with the word … “Mauritius” (a beautiful country in the middle of nowhere). Perhaps no one really recognise the word. What if she wears a bright red T-shirt with the word “Malaysia” instead. Erm … ha ha ha.

We parked our car at Cynthia’s office and have decided to take a train to Raffle City in order to avoid the traffic jam near the parade area. At that time I was still not too sure on how to get there. But then …

We saw more and more people dressed in red. And the situation has gone exponential as we approached our destination. The entire stretch of road was filled with red colored shirts (see below).

As we approached the entry, we saw an array of screening machines. Cynthia walked through the metal detector with a bottle of water and she was asked to take a sip there and then. Pretty tight security we have.

It is because the Indoor Stadium has closed down, our National Parade is at Marina Bay this year. The stage is built on top of the water with four bridges extending from the seating area that has a capacity of 27,000 people. With the backdrop of the Central Business District (CBD), this year is certainly special compares to the previous ones. Below is a picture of a structure that has the seating area on the surface and the VIP car park as well as access area below. I wonder what they will do with this structure after the National Day.

The event started with some music entertainment and to me, it really started when the parades of the representatives from our Total Defence marched into the platform.

And then, our Singapore flag coming from the CBD area flew above us. People spirit was high and we sang the National Anthem.

What better way to please the crowd (especially the kids) was to have the new 3rd Generation solders appeared from nowhere and posted for us?

The parade continued with the participation from the Air Force (that pair of F16 was fast and fury and loud) and the Navy as well as the coastal guards, and the Army (mainly vehicles and 40 commandos jumped from a bridge on ropes). I did not know that those boats can go so fast and they are actually quite big!

Beside a showcase of some of our military assets, there were lots of entertainment on stage. The color and light was just amazing.

Even the river was lit up with some huge light bulbs!

There was musical fountains in front of the stage and by the sides as well.

Throughout the event, I was chatting with Cynthia if the performers have been “recycled” for some of the performances. Partly because it seemed to have many people involved in each performance. Towards the end of the event, the entire bunch of performers all entered the stage. And my oh mine … there were lots of people on the stage (see below)!

The event ended with the display of fireworks from around the stage as well as on top of three buildings at the CBD area.

All good journals begin with food and end with food. By the time we returned to Raffle Place, it was 9.30pm. We had Satay at Lau Pa Sat as our dinner. Local delights from start till end!

Categories
Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 4 – Technology In The Age Of The Dogs

At work we talk about reward and recognition. How often do we show signs of recognition to and reward our loved ones, our family members, and … our friends? The words “I love you” is never being said enough. And it is never too frequent to be recognised. And yes, thank you for being an avid reader of my site. You are the best friend I have.

I confess. I am a man of technology. But I have only got to use a web-cam very recently. The experience was foreign. Why have I resisted for so long? I don’t know. Somehow I feel uncomfortable in front of a web-cam. Perhaps I am not a movie star material. Perhaps being in front of a camera makes me want to hide. Perhaps I am naked at home most of the time.

Whatever the reason was and is, I felt awkward when my sister set up her laptop. In my own house. One month ago. While my mother was still in town. In front of the screen there were my sister, my mother, Cynthia and I. Behind the screen was my father in Hong Kong. Except there was no one behind the screen. The one thing that separated us was just distance. Though at that moment, I felt all that separated my father and I was the computer screen.

White furry animal. Pacing around my home in Hong Kong. It was a dog. A handsome dog. I ain’t a dog lover. But it is hard not to love my family’s dog while cursing at my neighbor’s dog. For its non-stopping barking. For God’s sake. Give that dog some food! Somebody! Please!

Dad said the dog was sad. Sad that my sister is no longer in town. Sad that my mother was no longer in town. No, the dog did not recognise us from the computer screen. My dad tried to lift the dog to the screen level. My mother tried to wave thousands of miles away. My sister tried to wave thousands of miles away.

Day 2 … my mother tried, my sister tried …

And I suggested something …

Then something happened. That unleashed the awareness level within the dog. The dog began to bark.

Hear Master’s Voice.

As suggested, my father connected the sound output away from the headset and into the hi-fi. All of a sudden, the dog recognised my mother’s voice. Recognised my sister’s voice. Soon, he was barking to the computer screen. And teared (he is a very emotional dog).

Hear Master’s Voice.

Perhaps Jesus did not die. Perhaps Jesus did not resurrect. Perhaps Jesus knows how to travel through time and space. Perhaps what he did was to briefly step out our world, appeared to his disciples in surreal images, reappear again in mortal form only to ascend to Heaven shortly.

Perhaps we are just not aware of what we see are in fact real, however surreal these signals are … just like the image of my mother, my sister, Cynthia and me on the computer screen thousands of miles away from where we actually are. In the eyes of a dog.

Show some love. Love connects us all. Love someone. Have someone to love you.

Peace.

Hear Master’s Voice.

Categories
Memorable Events

So I Found A Job (And Thanks For The Support Y’all!)

Thanks Lora!

Before I tell the story of how the reading from the milometer of my car helped me to decide which job offer to take, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my friends, family, and the avid readers of my site for keeping me going throughout this seven months long “sabbatical leave”. I know it is not easy to hear those I-need-to-find-myself and I-have-no-idea-of-what-to-do over and over again, days after days, months after months. I can even imagine on the other side of the MSN chat, you must be busy Alt-Tabbing to the work you need to finish or busy conceptualizing some really cool approaches to solve real life problems. I now for once fully understand why housewives tend to call up their husbands in the middle of the day talking about trivial stuffs. Turns out that triviality is to the eyes of the beholders. And because in this half a year or so I have spent much of my time building contents in my site, thank you for all your visits and your kind words of encouragement – both on and offline. You guys have kept me going days after days …

So why have I finally decided to look for a job? There are many reasons, many triggers. Ironically, that one reason, that final trigger turns out to be an invalid reason as I found out later. But still, I am glad that I did. At times I think my friends and family have much faith in me than I. Out of the blue, I told one of my dear friend that I have this idea of looking for a job. My dear friend’s immediate response was that once I put my mind into something, I will get it done – fast. I didn’t quite believe him but now I do.

In these months of wandering, I have gotten a few who are close to me to think of taking a long career break – as young as someone who has worked for a couple of years. Even one of my recruiters who own the business wishes to take a long break. Then I realised, that this break of mine has to end soon. Least I will get more and more people doing the things I did. Who’s going to pay the income tax in that case and sustain the Singapore economy?!

When my sabbatical leave hit the 6-month mark, I checked my bank balance and did a mental calculation on how long I could sustain without financially relying onto anybody. My savings has shrunk quite a fair bit, much more than I have anticipated. “Incremental Retirement” at that time was a good idea. No one can tell how long one is going to live so how can you decide how much money is needed for your retirement based on the statistics from other people? That was where the idea of “Incremental Retirement” comes into picture. However, I must remain relevant to the current job market to make that work. No point not being able to return to the workforce and continue where I left off. That way, I may not even have a retirement!

Looking at the dwindling saving triggered another thought – opportunity cost. That number has more impact than the reduction in savings. Adding both numbers up – expenses and opportunity cost – made it a more compelling reason for me to do something quick. And since all the rest of my potential money making ideas are going nowhere, it was only natural and logical to go after what the market will pay me for – my past experiences. Turns out that because Cynthia has not been transferring money into my account since the beginning of the year (we have a very complex financial system whereby majority of our expenses, including Cynthia’s personal expenses, go under my bank account), my financial situation was way worst than I though. My real expenses throughout these seven months was not that alarming after all. In fact, we looked at the numbers last night and agreed that I am actually quite “cheap” to upkeep. Just a couple of hundreds of dollars a month on average is enough to keep me a happy man.

The rest are history. I zigzagged between the two job opportunities and one night when I returned home after the final interview of one of the opportunities, the mileage of my car read 20,951km. I remember vividly one fine day back in December last year. I parked my car at my condo and the engine was still running. The sky was bright and sunny. I looked at the milometer of my car and said to myself: by the time I service my car, I will find myself a job. And I was supposed to service my car when the mileage hit 20,951km – the exact mileage when I got home from from that final interview (click here to see the milometer reading and the service reminder). Call this coincidence? My life can be so full of it sometimes. Now you know why I can so relate to the character played by Audrey Tautou in the movie “A Very Long Engagement”. Future conditions as imagined in present time do mean something to me.

So what’s next? I guess if there are two things that I keep on doing over the years are songwriting and just writing in general. Hence, the site will continue (though longer turnaround time for comment replies and possibly less frequent blog posting). I look at the clock now and I am just 9 hours away from reporting to duty. By the time this blog is published, I shall be back from my first day of work (still need time to vet this blog). Expect a whole new series of story from a new cubicle dweller. Stay tuned.

PS. A big thank you to my sister Lora in getting me such a wonderful gift for my new job. I wanted to send you a MMS on the result of the final engraving but it was too much hassle trying to take a good picture using my wireless phone. I used a camera instead. I love the picture so much that I have decided to put it into my site.

Edit: Erm … thanks to Choong Yoong to point out the difference between speedometer and milometer (or odometer). Ha ha ha.

Categories
Fragments of My Dreams

Fragments Of My Dreams Episode 2 – Bloody Dentist

I visit this village. Somewhat backward. There are huts and the roads are made of wood. I meet this girl and I want to take her to my world. And guess what? She has a pet. This pet is no ordinary pet. It is a small dinosaur with sharp teeth and claws. It sends a chill down my spine every time I see it.

I take this girl into my world through the modern corridors (I have seen these corridors before in my another dream with round shape glass coating overhead) and I tell her that I have a dentist appointment. But I won’t be late for the Valentine celebration, I swear.

I have to keep that dinosaur pet in my home and how scary it is to keep it in the upper deck of my bed! Its claws are really sharp. I ain’t kidding. Later on, I have changed my mind. I keep it at the balcony outside the window instead.

I see my dentist and he does some preliminary inspection on my teeth. He marks 8 teeth to be fixed. He administrates some anesthetics to my gum and does some knocking at some of my teeth.

“Oops, it’s lunch time. Why don’t you carry on?” says my dentist.

I am puzzled. What am I supposed to do? Somehow I remember which are the 8 teeth that need fixing. I pull them out one by one. Some come clean while others leave pieces of bones inside my jaw. Nothing I can’t handle.

When I meet my dentist after lunch with 8 missing teeth, I ask, “Is this necessary?”. He hesitates and my friends (must be like 10 of them suddenly appear from the background) scream, “This is a scam!”.

Too late. My dentist says, “Introducing ‘Sensitive Teeth!’ … I am going to replace your teeth with these”.

I look at what he has got and he has a set of artificial teeth with him just like my natural ones.

He continues, “These will replace what you have got and will dissolve as time goes by!” But why would I want a temporary solution? My friends say, “You are replacing your good set of teeth with some temporary ones!”.

“Is it true?” I demand.

My dentist hesitates and continues to mix a concoction of what it seems like a strong glue. He is gluing those artificial teeth into my jaw! I can feel the glue on the side of my inner cheek. Yuck!

I am with much regret. Why did I give up my 8 good teeth? I am sure there is a way to make them good than to pull them out. I confronted my dentist, “So this is how you have repeated business? Giving patients temporary teeth that won’t last and have them coming back again and again?”. He kept making apologies.

By now, I am too late to reverse my decision. This dentist appointment is taking much longer than it is supposed to be. I am too late to feed the tiny dinosaur that must be very hungry by now. And I am too late to meet this girl of mine whom I promise to see her as soon as I can. Before I realise, it is no longer Valentine. Today is Easter Sunday.

Note: This is a real dream of mine. How much can you decipher?

Categories
Memorable Events

Celebrating 10.07.2007 (My Birthday D’oh!)

Caption from left to right, top to bottom: (1) My 9th oil painting, (2) My roti prata lunch, (3) If you see this landmark, turn right!, (4) If you see this sign, congratulations, (5) That seafood place, (6) Our dinner, (7) Cynthia was happy with her food, (8) Me too and a secret sign that only Cynthia knows

Thank you for all the birthday text messages, even for that “Happy Birthday Old Man” message. Honestly speaking, I am not that old! Above is some of the pictures I have taken for my unplanned celebration. Just click to enlarge and mouse over for caption. Caption from left to right, top to bottom: (1) My 9th oil painting, (2) My roti prata lunch, (3) If you see this landmark, turn right!, (4) If you see this sign, congratulations, (5) That seafood place, (6) Our dinner, (7) Cynthia was happy with her food, (8) Me too and a secret sign that only Cynthia knows.

I love celebrating birthdays. Be it as mine or others. I cannot think of any date that is more important than one’s birthday if we for once think about ourselves and not being overly patriotic or zealously religious or hopelessly romantic. I was used to have this tradition of buying my friends (then-colleagues) a buffet lunch on Roti Prata. It was really fun. Imagine having like 10 people on one table and forget about asking everybody what they want. On average each person eats about 2 to 3 Prata so I would just order randomly like … 5 mushroom cheese, 5 banana cheese, 3 egg and onions, and etc. Of course I always over ordered (what a good host I was eh?) and one time, I consumed 5 pieces of Prata. No kidding.

Those were the good days. A day before my birthday this year, I had an idea. I wanted to meet a friend of mine for breakfast, another friend of mine for late breakfast, then another one for lunch, another one for coffee, another one for high tea, and finally one more with Cynthia and I for dinner and possibly a movie. Turned out that calling up people at the last minute could be a logistic nightmare and since I woke up feeling lazy, I discarded my idea and just went with the flow.

When the clock struck 12am, I managed to finish the transcript of all my 10 songs and have them as something that are “band friendly” (the end result is something like this for half a song). I really should have done this years ago. It only took me 4 hours to complete this task and like the task of “looking for a job”, somehow I just never got around to do it. Just when I have started putting effort into it, the task is over before I know it.

Inspired by how (not very) long it took to finish the transcripts, this morning when I woke up, I wanted to paint. Many friends have asked me what happens to my hobby of oil painting and my standard answer was: my pool of inspiration has momentarily run dry. Knowing that my life will turn normal after I start working, I wanted to paint something. Just anything. Cynthia has been asking me to paint some of her soft toys so still life it was.

I have become rusty in oil painting, I have to admit. The first object took me forever to paint (see image 1 – left to right, up then down). And when I got down to the second object, my palette was filled with different shades of brown and all of a sudden, I began to see light and darkness. The end result was not that great – though Cynthia loves it. Hopefully my next oil painting will be better.

Halfway through my painting, I looked at the clock and realised that it was too late to call any friend of mine for lunch. Just before I finished the painting, Cynthia messaged me that she would be leaving office at 2pm in order to celebrate my birthday. Hooray! I quickly finished what I set out to do this morning and I pondered upon doing something special for my birthday.

An idea came into my mind and I warned Cynthia promptly of a crazy idea I have without telling her what this idea was exactly.

Before I could execute this idea of mine, I needed food. For the love of Roti Prata, I followed my tradition and have three this time (see image 2). While Cynthia was taking a taxi home, I drove to Thompson Plaza and changed for some foreign currency. By 4pm, we were …

… heading to Malacca.

I always love Malacca. That is where Cynthia and I first started dating. And we both love road trips – an unending road listening to our favourite music (we had Hilary Duff, Avril Lavigne, Scissor Sisters, Linkin Park, Rihanna, and Tiesto). It is amazing that most of the time, we just enjoy each other’s presence without being compelled to converse. I did not speed. Malacca is not that far anyway. I wanted to dine at one of our favourite seafood center where they serve baked seafood and our challenge was to find the place.

Malacca has changed quite a fair bit in this 10 years. The roads are a lot nicer and because of the change in landscape, we had a tough time finding the seafood center. We have a post-it documentation of how to get there. Basically, leave the highway at Malacca exit. Keep going straight and at the junction between a petrol station and a hospital, turn left. At the junction when another petrol station is seen (see image 3), turn right. Head all the way straight and at the T-junction, turn left. After a good distance, all we needed to do was to turn right …

… but somehow, that junction has disappeared. We retraced our route and found that right turn that was earlier than we anticipated. We drove through a village (with a sign “Bukit Durian”) and at the T-junction, we saw the “Ikan Bakar” sign (see image 4) and we knew we have found the place (see image 5). See footnote for a better direction.

I remember that seafood center was used to be a lot more crowded. Perhaps it was a weekday or perhaps the new road system has confused the living crap out of everybody, the center was almost empty. There were many stalls and we just picked one in random. We chose our dinner (see image 6) and before long, we had our baked seafood right in front of our eyes (see image 7 & 8).

By 11pm, we were back in Singapore. It was certainly a special day for me. Driving out of Singapore – even for that brief moment – allowed me to see things in a wider perspective. One of my friends asked what tonight’s plan was and he offered to light the candle for me. It may be one of those “mid-life crisis” as he pointed out but it was certainly one of those “spur of the moment”.

I in particularly love this spur of the moment.

Footnote: To get to that seafood center, exit Jasin Melaca (just 1 or 2 exits before Malacca). Head straight for 6km and then turn right. After another 8.8km, make a right turn. Travel for 9.9km and then make a left turn. Drive for another 3.6 km and then turn right, immediately turn left. Head straight and the seafood center is just in front.

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Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 3 – $0.50

A genuine smile dissolves the deepest frown. Try it wherever you can. Think of something happy when you smile. To whoever you meet.

Time to buy my favorite gaming magazine from my favorite news-stand near Cynthia’s office. The news-stand assistance and I smiled at each other from afar. Like long lost friend. I pulled out the magazine from the box. Price tag said $7. He said $7. I jerked backward so sudden that he jerked backward too and laughed.

“$7?! You always give me a discount!” I said with a big smile not sure why I said these words in the first place. Oscar winning performance on my part.

$6.50 he charged me. Simple as that. My ERP going home was somewhat covered.

Met my good old friend SW for two games of pool (0-2, I lost). Haven’t seen him for half a year. Over the pool table, a thought came into my mind. Then a vision followed. Job search is like playing pool. Except when start, besides the white ball, there are no colored balls visible on the pool table. And the table is exceptionally large. But you know there are plenty of balls on the table. Jobs are everywhere. You just cannot see them.

Then you spend a lot of time shooting the white ball in different directions. You spend a lot of time not shooting and ponder why no colored balls are visible instead. And you spend a lot of time doing nothing because you are bored of shooting air.

Just when you want to shoot darts instead, your supposed last shot hit an invisible ball and it turns visible. The visible ball hits some other neighboring invisible balls and they too become visible. Suddenly you have more targets on the pool table. Some take forever to roll towards a pocket. And some disappear on the way to the pocket.

Pretty much like in real life, SW shot multiple balls into the pockets one after another and so did I (out of the extraordinary), in this pool of visible and invisible job opportunities, there are days when you can hardly breath just preparing for interviews.

The search continues. And I have less than 50 km to find my job (more will be revealed later).

Stay tuned.