Cynthia has gone to Bangkok for her business trip together with her mother. It is amazing to realise that from Friday 5.30pm till now (Monday 2am), I have not spoken a single word. Sure the CD player and tuner was on all these while but this weekend was indeed a quiet one.
Till I grabbed my guitar and sang …
Came back from work, as I walked towards the lift of my Condo, I saw a school boy called for the lift while his father headed towards the mailbox. The lift arrived, he went in and pressed 4th and 13th floor. I waited inside the lift while his dad was taking his time emptying the mailbox. When his dad went into the lift, the dad asked why he pressed the 4th floor. Apparently, the school kid was waiting for yet another school kid and the kid’s maid just outside the lobby. As I waited, another lady went into the lift and pressed 5th floor. All of us waited till another school kid from 4th floor got into the lift.
Kids are just amazing.
My friend ML has two wedding dinner – one for his families and another one for his friend. I am his friend so I was invited for the 2nd night (by the way my friend, where was my invitation card?!). That was my first experience with a Western setting – pool side cocktail, live jazz band, and buffet dinner. I love the food and I love the companionship. The entire table was my ex-colleague. It was really fun.
My good buddy ML needed some practice on the song “The Way You Look Tonight” by Michael Buble so that he can sing to his wife during his wedding night. So I invited to my place, while my wife is in Japan, and set up my home studio just to jam with him. Man, he can sing. It took me some time to get all the chords right (have to detone my guitar) but it was overall an exciting experience. We have recorded three takes and I think he can make it nicely.
For the once a year Chinese New Year 10 Million Dollar draw, JT and I have decided to do it in a bigger way then last year (just bought one System 7 last year). This time round, we tried quantity and not buying an extra number. So JT suggested buying 20 tickets from three different outlets.
Last night, I spent half an hour matching the results with my 60 tickets. The most I have got is 3 numbers out of 6 winning numbers. The minimum to win is 3 numbers plus one extra one. Oh well, I told JT today that perhaps next year, I will just buy 1 ticket of 6 numbers. If you are destined to win, it doesn’t matter how many you buy.
Cynthia loves to switch products. But she has sensitive skin so she ended up passing all the products that I don’t need and I ended up being the test subjects of many wierd products. The latest product that I have “assigned” to sample is Dove: Firming Body Wash (click here for official website).
After many weeks of being a test subject (it was a big bottle – way bigger than the one advertised in the website), I still haven’t seen any noticable difference on my skin. Well, I don’t think I have a not of sagging skin to start with but still …
I read the product descriptions again and it is supposed to improve skin’s elasticity in just 1 week. My skin is supposed to feel smoother, firmer, and looking more beautiful. Personally, I don’t think that it is working as intend.
Cynthia and I must have spent three to four hours hanging around the Honda Showroom. It was flooded with people. Most people were asking if cars can be delivered before Chinese New Year, which is like in a couple of days time. The new Civic draws lots of attention too. After hours of idling (and going through the decision tree one zillion billion times), the saleperson was kind of surprised that I can decided on the colour as well. So, a black 2 litre Honda Civic it will be.
And in the spirit of black, and since my new car does come with an iPod integration, I am going to get a black iPod to match with the car. Since I am going to get an iPod, there is no point in waiting for the N91 Nokia MP3 phone to come out (in restrospect, it is fortunate that Nokia takes forever to lauch its 4GB MP3 phone). Hence, I am going to get the black Nokia swing phone – the one I love.
CL called me yesterday as he was arranging for a reunion lunch with my clients from StanChart back in 1999. I gladly accepted the invitation and how I missed them. One of them has to travel from Plaza from the Park and another one from Suntech. Looking at them, I registered the familarity but yet so much has changed. In that year 1999, it was like a juncture that we all met and from then, we all headed different ways. Yes, I am happy to have caught up with them and gosh, for one I am the youngest in the group – by a good margin!
During lunch, thoughts were triggled as in what really makes me happy today. Yes, friends have been telling me that I need progression (and no, I will not leave Singapore for the time being). And yes, my career life has been stagnant. No, I am not thinking of changing to a job that excites me and no, I am not going to give up my balanced lifestyle as yet.
Next to my office’s unit is a law firm. One of the lawyer inside has a band and has played in Esplanade. She is the bassist and vocalist. Although I am not exactly a big fan of their music, I feel happy that their band has released an album that can be bought in HMV Singapore (http://www.Lunarin.com). She is indeed my inspiration. If she can do it, so can I!
Last year February I have written a blog on “Why I Don’t Upgrade My Car”. Then couples of days ago, TK told me that if I am to deregister my car after the 5-years mark, I will get a “penalty”. He asked me to check out http://www.OneMotoring.com.sg and so I did.
The results? If I am to deregister my car on May 7 instead of May 6, for that one day, I will lose S$8. If I am to deregister my car on May 8 instead of May 7, I will lose S$1,826.
Besides, I found out that I will get back close to S$40,000 if I deregister my car on May 7. I bought my car at S$90,000 and that is quite a “linear” depreciation. Besides, car price has dropped so much. My COE was S$34,000. Today, it is less than S$10,000. The tax structure has changed too. So it is about time.
(That’s what I think the restaurant’s name is.)
After I have reached home from work, I have decided to rework on the new song I have written – replacing the entire bridge, shortening the chorus, and added some memorable ending pieces. Just when I was about to record the vocal track, my friend TK sms’ed me for dinner. “No movie?” I sms’ed him back. Turned out that the movie scene is still very pathetic. “So where?” I sms’ed and “Changi Village”, he replied. Contemplating between having a quick bite nearby, get back to recording as well as online gaming – and having a nice dinner with my friend, it was a no brainer decision. Besides, ever since wife not in town, it would be great to have a dinning partner.
Picked TK up and had a chance to showcase my brand new jamming recording (2 days in the making by the way). TK gave me some good comments and he was comparing to the recording I have done with months ago. Man, he has a good memory!
Jacob’s Place is a Western restaurant that serves very affordable food. I have ordered a Steak and Kidney Pie (rare in Singapore). For a price of S$18 (with salad), I would say the pie is so-so. The best is still from UK.
Facing where I sat were quite a number of blackboards. One of them displayed the follows:
Roman 8:28 – We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.
And TK was sharing me a touching story of one of his friends who has just passed away due to cancer. His friend has stopped the medication for one and a half years because the doctor told him it is no longer effective. His friend didn’t mention that to anyone and his wife married him knowing that he was fighting against the disease. Love is strong. Staring the passage from Bible, hearing the story made me reflect upon my own life.
Life is indeed very fragile.