mood: waiting for tomorrow to come
music: Gigi Leung & 古巨基 - 许愿
It just struck me, 0ut of nowhere, that even though my mother, sister and I "live together", I have seen my mother a total of 4 days (2 in London and 2 in Singapore) over the period of 2 months and sat down to a proper meal with her 3 times. That's 3 meals out of a possible 180 meals if I have an average of 3 meals a day.
The amazing thing here is this: I'm not overly sad, distraught or anything negative like that. Truth of the matter is, over the past decade and more, I've gotten use to the absence of my mother due to her work commitments. No, I do not have a close bond with my father because of this. How do you miss someone who never played a role in your life? He's just a character who comes and goes fleetingly. The stronger bond and kinship still belongs to dear ol' mom.
What did bring this bout of reflection then? Mother's Day which falls on 8th of May this year (I think this means there'll be a Friday the 13th?) My sis and I already brought Mom out to a meal for her bday in Feb, so I was wondering if we two should do something else for a change... But what? Flowers are out of the question: my mom owns a flower boutique! I suppose this calls for another discussion with my sister over a session of mahjong to sort our ideas out.
Suggestions anyone? What will you be doing for Mother's Day this year?
p.s. I'll let you know if tomorrow works out tomorrow and why I'm waiting for it. *grin*
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Mother's Day
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
A New Era?
mood: Interested
music: Audioslave - Like A Stone
Something monumental happened in the aviation industry today. The Airbus A380 finally took its maiden flight after much delays from Toulouse, France.
Link to the news report. CLICK IT
This new might or might not be of interest to you, but any news regarding this baby of Airbus has always caught my attention through the years: the first orders made by Singapore Airlines, technical difficulties, radically different business plan compared to Boeing - whose 747 is soon to be dethroned as King of the jumbo jets. Why? Firstly, the Airbus A380 was once called the "bumble bee" by one of my friends - it should be too big to fly! Secondly, the sheer engineering feat that this airplane embodies. Thirdly, this WILL be my field of studies in a few months to come. How can I not be interested in something earmarked to be a corner stone in the industry?
Boeing might have made a half-hearted attempt to meet this challenge from Airbus with their new model - Dreamliner I believe it's called - but it'll never be able to match the A380 for sheer size ( read capacity and thus economical returns) and travelling distance (read business reach). In the early stages of the 3rd millenium, the world's aviation industry is split between firstly the European belief of the world becoming more global and travelling aboard more and further between airport hubs.
The other camp would be the American's one of travellers flying to ever increasing, but nearer, destinations. They believe that soon air hubs like London, Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong will soon be a thing of the past as travellers prefer flying direct to places with smaller airports in smaller groups at more remote locations. For now, their new plane, the Dreamliner, aims to serve low volume long-haul flights at better fuel efficiency and operating costs to compensate for the smaller seating capacity their airplane has.
The race for dominance has been heating up in recent years as Airbus has finally managed to catch up with Boeing in terms of orders, planes manufactured and delivered. Boeing, of course, contends this point by bringing attention to the fact that Airbus Industries receives government subsidies from various countries amounting to as much as 30 billion dollars. Airbus has shot right back with claims that Boeing gets indirect assistance through the form of federal money for military research, financial incentives from US states, and export tax breaks.
It'll be really interesting to see whose camp bet on the right bid down the road as there clearly isn't going to be middle ground between these 2 giants. For the common layman though, what all this competition translates into, hopefully, is ever safer and economical airplanes as Boeing and Airbus try to outgun each other with their planes' respective features.
Here's to safer skies and cheaper airfares - with the frills, thank you very much. :) Cheers.
Do you match me?
mood: musing
music: Jordan Chan - 0932
Alright, a pretty random blog, but I'm bored at home anyway. Did absolutely NOTHING of significance today. Don't like wasting my days like this. Alright, I did go for a short night jog in the park, but that's about it.
Really looking forward to the snorkelling trip next month though. Should sit down with RB to discuss and plan it properly. It'll be a birthday celebration for ML as well. As things stand, we'll be leaving on the 19th of May and arrive on the 20th (ML's bday).
Here's something interesting ML came across:Your dating personality profile:
Funny - You laugh often. People never accuse you of lacking a sense of humor. You don't take yourself too seriously.
Athletic - Physical fitness is one of your priorities. You find the time to work athletic pursuits into your schedule. You enjoy being active.
Practical - You are a down-to-earth individual who is not impressed with material excess. You care about the stuff of like that really matters.Your date match profile:
Funny - You consider a good sense of humor a major necessity in a date. If her jokes make you laugh, she has won your heart.
Conservative - Forget liberals, you need a conservative match. Political discussions interest you, and a conservative will offer the viewpoint you need.
Athletic - You aren't looking for a couch potato. You seek someone who is active and who keeps her body in top shape.
1. Funny
2. Athletic
3. Practical
4. Outgoing
5. Religious
6. Traditional
7. Adventurous
8. Liberal
9. Big-Hearted
10. Wealthy/Ambitious
1. Funny
2. Conservative
3. Athletic
4. Practical
5. Sensual
6. Adventurous
7. Religious
8. Traditional
9. Shy
10. Intellectual
Take the Online Dating Profile Quiz at Dating Diversions
Sunday, April 24, 2005
E.I.C
mood: lazy...stormy sunday
song: Damien Rice - Blower's Daughter
On the whole, it was a marvellous week as well. Managed to play basketball twice and swim twice as well. My body is enjoying the stretch and I can tell it wants a little more, a slight push to test the muscles further. No aching of any sort, so I know this is still way below my limits. Maybe another round of bball tonight? Will call the guys later. Heheh.
I am more than suspicious that my positively bouyant mood this weekend was brought about by the long awaited reply I've received from Manchester University. For those familiar with the UCAS system, letting you know that this school was the last out of 6 to reply should explain my anxiety and frustration at their late reply. However, all is fine and dandy with this part of the plan down pat. One thing less to worry about on my mind. *grin*
incidentaly, E.I.C performs "Blower's Daughter" quite well too!
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Europe Tour Part Duex
Finally, it has arrived! The second installment of my European tour. A feast of 42 pics in total! For this time, the pictures and memories will be coming from the capital of both Belgium and the European Union. Belgium marks the start of the picturesque part of our tour and the beauty will be evident in the pictures I believe. Some very interesting points about this French speaking country are its international population due to the commerce and mere fact of being the EU capital, 350+ different kinds of locally brewed quality beer to suit any kind of taste or preference (each has it's own uniquely designed cup/mug too. There's even one that has a round bottom and wooden holder to help it stand!), great food (Belgian waffles, CHOCOLATES, etc etc). Our guide starts the tour from the centre of Brussels, La Grand Place and walks us to most of the more significant sights in the city. Most of the pics coming up are from the walk, but some are from after as well when we were wandering on our own. I'll hit you right off with a pic of La Grand Place, one of the more if not most beautiful central squares in the cities of Europe. 
A musical instruments museum. Was really sad I didn't get to visit this one.
if only the trees had flowers in bloom... winter has refused to release its hold yet this year.
breath taking view
a busker
Quirky buildings we saw while walking on our own. Cool drawings eh?
The Royal Palace
The Manekin Pis concludes the guided tour of Brussels and its sights and we were free to wander by ourselves for the remainder of the day. It was sort of like a pit stop as well as most of the group dived into the nearby MANNEKEN PIS - CAFE A BRUXELLES for our first taste of authentic Flemish beer. Pat had Kirk (a cherry flavoured beer) while I had DT, a darker sort of brew. Was nice! The statement on how the Belgians treat their beer like the French treat their wine isn't far fetched at all. Such class, hard work and attention to details. After a drink, and pics of the pissing boy, we began our own tour of the city before heading back to La Grand Place to look for dinner. Here's a helpful map of Brussels. Next: de Pis, self-tour of Brussels (already posted some of the pics from this part of the walk)
The "Manekin Pis" literally translated as "The Pissing Boy" so significant because it supposedly embodies the ambivalent spirit of the Belgians. The stories goes that the commander of a great vast army (during the Holy Crusades?) saw this boy, probably his personal squire, taking a leak nonchalantly in the middle of a raging battlefield. The story elicited a very big "huh?" expression from me. Seriously...for real? That aside, another reason why the Manekin Pis is so popular is that people from all over the world donate costumes for it to wear on all sorts of festivals. When we passed by it again on our night stroll, it was already stripped of the costume and laid bare for all to see in its naked bronze glory. ; ) Anyway, in keeping with the ambivalent spirit, we proceeded to take pics, some quite amusing ones too with us (mainly me) in disregard of the queer looks people were shooting at us :P
Pat drunk (after only 1 cup of fruit beer! but at least she liked it) and snapping any ol' pic. Actually have other more "unglam" shots... but I kind of want to keep my head attached to my neck. So there. Hehe.
Trader's Guild Building - the statues actually have inscriptions of "India", "Asia" and some others, but I don't think the statue for Asia looked very Asian at all.
Guild buildings, middle one is the Ships Guild if I'm not wrong. Top of building supposed to resemble front bow of ships.
Is that Cupid?
back at the square
After all that walking, we decided to have an early dinner at Leon, a diner that even locals frequent! You can just about see the name printed on the napkins. I settled on Carbonade Flemanade while Pat had mussels in fish stock with fresh greens (celery, brussels sprouts, lettuce, etc. Hey, we ARE in Brussels, what did you expect? Bean sprouts? :P) - both traditional Flemish dishes. Mussels are self-explainatory: excellent when in season, fresh, properly prepared. Interesting thing is, how to know WHEN the mussels are in season? Simple, months that are spelt with an "r" in them means the mussels are in season! There's a bit of trivia for you :) My dish, Carbonade Flemanade is beef stewed with beer. Fries and alfafa sprouts on the side Both dishes were of the highest standards. The diner really lives up to its reputation. The service, according to Pat anyway, was impeccable as well. Seems like all French speaking people know how to treat their ladies right. *wink*
Traditional Flemish dish, mussels. Pat was pleasantly surprised by how much she likes it. Oh, of course, it came with beer, which I had to finish for her. Only too gladly. *grin*
Looking out the window by our table, we could see the street really start to come alive. Right on the dot at 7pm too, just like the guide book said! Hehe. Pat claims this is her favourite street, wonder if it's because of the sights or the dazzling variety of food and the way each restaurant tries to entice you into trying their dishes :P
The next few MAGNIFICENT night shots of La Grand Place were taken by Pat. Amazing, aren't they? Was actually seeking shelter from the downpour when we took this. It makes me believe how the display of light shows must be really wonderful when it occurs in summer. Was after these few shots that we decided to try to make our way back to the hotel and got woefully lost in the rain. However, wasn't all bad. Still saw lots more of pretty sights and we didn't really mind the rain. Can't remember if we were freezing though. Were we, Pat?
By the time we saw this, the nightly downpour had arrived right on schedule, give us a proper drenching and stopped. It wasn't so bad getting lost though. We managed to see this as well as the Palace the King once built for his brother (I think?)
Beautiful garden that we chanced upon while wandering around Brussels. Was here that my camera decided to annouce that it was both out of batt as well as memory space. Superb timing I say *scowl* It's a pity we couldn't any night shots of the Grand Parliament as it has a dome that's even larger than St. Petersburg's! It has a very creepy war memorial monolith in front of it though. Feels almost as though there's someone buried in there... Oh well, this concludes this post then. Tried a new way of blogging, the Hello! bot in picasa. Which version do you prefer?
Stay tuned for part 3~~
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Water in my eyes, my heart, my ... Soul
music: 陶喆 - Catherine
.:-|What is your true element?|-:. -With Anime Pictures and detailed answers-
brought to you by Quizilla
Kind of expected actually :) I already knew that I am born in the year of the "water" boar under the Chinese animal zodiac. Think these things are really somehow related or interlinked. Furthermore, I have always loved watersports. Nope, no fear of drowning in this guy here! So, what element are YOU?
Feeling as satisfied as a cat with a bowl of cream now. Finally scratched my itch of playing some basketball. Had a great time playing halfcourt ball with ML and some of the other familiar faces at Joo Seng court till the lights went out. Refreshing! Met up with RB for supper after washing up at ML's place along with WL as well (ML's elder brother), well, they had supper. I didn't really have the appetite, another idiosyncrasy of mine... Lose all my appetite for food immediately after a good work-out. Kinda regretting it now though, it's 4:44am and that's not a good time to be craving for food of any kind.
After leaving the coffee-shop, was supposed to play a game of Frozen Throne with ML and his bro, but due to me receiving some shocking news from a friend, I didn't get home till 3am. Apologies guys!
For the impatient ones, don't worry, part deux of my Europe trip is in the works. Patience my young ones, patience.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Europe Trip. Part Un (1)
Ta da! And here it is, the post regarding my recent trip to Europe where I took a short trip to Holland and Belgium when I had settled my university matters in UK. Made the trip together with Patricia, my classmate and good friend from CJC days. Good thing we managed to arrange this holiday to be over the Easter break and save her from taking too many days off from work. :P
To start things off, here's a snap shot of me. Why? Just cause. This is my blog remember?
The observant will have noticed that I've named this part 1. Why? Just felt that it'll be too daunting to try and encompass the trip on all 4 cities (Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruge, London+Oxford) in a single post.
Alright, alright, on to the main show we go: Amsterdam!
As soon as the coach arrived in Amsterdam, our tour guide harried all the slow pokes to drop their luggages in our respective rooms before heading out to enjoy/experience the hedonistic night-life of Amsterdam. Surely you have heard of this city's notorious red-light district before? Safety tips and advice on how to navigate around the city was given to us as the coach driver zipped to the city's central.
After an eye-opening walk around with the guide, we went to Cassa Rossa the world knowed (supposedly, but both Pat and I have never heard of it) pink elephant that signifies high quality porn. The show lasted about an hour before the acts start to repeat themselves and some of the acts weren't too bad, but I wasn't overly impressed. Once I got over the shock on how the couples were really having sex up there on the stage and not stripping and acting only that is. Here's a shot of me outside Cassa Rossa after the show. I looked exhausted don't I? Wonder why.... hehehe
We were left to wander by ourselves for the rest of the night from there on. This was when I bought the slice of chocolate cake laced with cannabis (hashish? low grade marijuana? Whatever, just a kind of drug) and it tasted like.... Chocolate cake. No swooning, buildings dancing before my eyes, psychedelic colours or harrowing illusions. Guess I didn't take large enough of a dose for it to have any major effect on my body, but that wasn't the aim anyway. If I had wanted that, would have gone straight for a joint (smoke) of the stuff. Following that, the two of us soon felt a little snappish and decided to get a pack of Fritters (French Fries) to snack on. Verdict? FABULOUS! Even though the fries were fried twice, they weren't overly oily or crisp and the Mayo coupled with vinegar was just heavenly. Looking back, this was the start of my regrets. I totally forgot to take any pictures of most of the wondrous food Pat n I got to try on this trip. We must have been too engrossed with enjoying them or overcome with hunger pangs. (we seemed to be starving most of the time before finally having a meal) Apologies in advance for the lack of those pics.
That's about it for the night. Why aren't there more pictures of the red-light district the horny ones among you ask? Well, go try taking a pic of a prostitute parading her wares and tell me you can get away unscathed.
Next day, we went to a Cheese n Clogs factory n visited a fishing village as well. This pic was taken by Pat on the bus along the way to the factory. Really gives you the feel of the great plains of Holland.
I'm done, now paint me!
clogs:"I'm being worn, I'm so happy"
I shall try one that actually FITS me
nxt main event, CHEESE
Cheese galore, cheese :)
Taste test!
Pat and obasan in traditional Holland costume
Hellooooo bloc of cheese
Bye bye bloc of cheese. Heee heee
At just past noon, it was time to head back to Amsterdam for a day tour ( we arrived in the evening) on the river. If you do happen to go for a holiday in this amazing city too, SKIP THE BOAT TRIP. Mind boggling boring I say! Half the tourists, including me, fell asleep at some point or another during this river tour. What a dreadful waste of an hour or more. Most of the pictures taken didn't turn too well anyway as we had to snap from behind the glass panels of the boat. What's more, my camera pretty much died on me from there on. ARGH! Still feel quite bad and apologetic towards Pat over this as I was the one who suggested bringing only 1 camera. Thus, the beautiful Van Gogh Museum, pretty night views and interesting sights we saw while exploring Amsterdam on foot had to be committed to memory and not digital photos. We did have a very nice time discovering "stuff" though. Even tried the yogurt drink that was even mentioned in travel books and guides! Was quite perturbed initially at the fuss over just a yogurt drink, but a swig of it convinced me that the author knew his stuff! Smooth, but not so diluted that you feel like you're drinking milk. Food again. Heh, typical Singaporean I am.
That's about it for Holland/Amsterdam and I'll have to say that I wouldn't mind going there a 2nd time, but hopefully with a bunch of guys this time around. Bet it'll be quite a different experience from this time (with a gal) after all, there are certain things a guy can't do with a gal, right? This brings Part 1 to and end and I'll leave you with a picturesque shot of idlyic fishing village, Voldenham
