Ken's Notebook 阿忠笔记

Here's to the crazy ones...

2011-10-08T10:06:00.026+08:00

I'm a big fan of Apple. Always had been, always will be.

This is obviously a sad time for all fans of Apple - Steve Jobs, the visionary who shaped much of our lifestyle in this digital era has passed away. He was 56.

We had been dreading it for years; he had been fighting cancer for many years now and his increasingly thin body told its own story. In spite of his illness, he had rolled out a non-stop string of successful products in the past decade alone, and one can only wonder, what other fresh ideas could he had conceived, what other new inventions and marvels that could have appeared if he is still alive and well. I'm also concerned about the path the Apple will take in future without their inspirational leader.

I knew Apple far longer than most people, who probably knew about it when they purchased their first iPods and iPhones. My mom joined Apple's local plant sometime in 1988, and she was the person who first introduced me to this computer company with a colourful logo. Sometime later, in 1989, as part of the staff welfare scheme, she brought back a small computer, with a 9-inch back and white screen, no built-in hard disk, certainly no internet or music either (hard to imagine now, eh?). It was called the Macintosh Plus, and this was my first Apple product.

The original Apple Logo, and my first Mac, the Mac Plus

I remembered that my primary schoolmates and my cousins were quite fascinated with my new toy then. It could only play some games, Dark Castle being the most memorable, and the absence of a hard disk mean that midway through the game, the Mac will regurgitate the floppy disk and prompt us to insert the second disk to continue. Sounds very ancient now, and yes it was. It was a different era, when technology was not so advanced or pervasive.

Because of my mom's work at Apple, I was very much in touch with all the products they had launched then - Mac Plus, Mac SE, Mac LC, Mac Portable, Mac Classic, etc. I remembered reading about System 7 in the early 90s, which was supposed to be a game changer in performance, -. I remembered reading this book that every Apple employee was given: Odyssey; Pepsi to Apple by the then Apple CEO, John Sculley. The parts that I vaguely remembered are those about Sculley ousting the company's cofounder because he was brilliant but erratic, pushy and refused to conform. It was some guy called Steve Jobs.

My mom worked with Apple from 1988 to sometime in 2000/2001, when they finally ended production work in Singapore and shifted them to China. During that period, I had been inside their factory in Ang Mo Kio a few times and marvelled at how modern and clean the building was, in contrast to the JTC workshops just across the road, that I was more accustomed to when the word factory comes to mind. In view of the Apple's on-going situation with poor working conditions at the China Foxconn factory, I can only say this: My mom had always found the working condition and environment to be excellent; it sure as hell was no sweat shop. Apple believed in combining work and play, and I still remembered going for family day events with Apple.

Foxconn on the other hand, is a parts supplier for Apple. To secure the contract with Apple, they would have offered competitive rates, and following that, to secure their own better profits, they had squeezed their staff dry, as is common in China's working culture. Is that Apple's fault or Foxconn's? Go figure.

Through this exposure growing, as part of Apple's family, it is easy for me to identify with Apple. My experience was unique; there weren't many real Apple fans then. Nobody I knew then used their products, much less loved them.

My second Apple product, via my mom again, was a Apple Newton, a predecessor of the PDA, which defined handheld computing before others like Psion, Palm pilot, HP, and of course, iPhone came along. It was probably a tech geek's ultimate wet dream then, like having a mini computer in your hand, with expansion slots and all. However, It was also way ahead of its time, before the advent of the internet and email, before people are ready to accept it, and it was expensive to buy. Most people did not have any use for it, and it became a white elephant, a development that Steve Jobs canned once he returned to the company.

Apple Newton the forebearer of the PDA era.

I remembered how hard it was to be able to find shops or computer fairs in Singapore selling/marketing Apple products. People then told me that Apple computers are a novelty, a niche product that most people would not want or use - case in point, the Apple Newton, and I had to agree. Compare that situation to the ubiquitous Apple stores you see everywhere today, selling products that most people like and crave, and you know how far Apple has progressed

So you see, before Apple had it all good, they had it really bad. They were the little guys on the fringe, fighting a losing battle against Microsoft and IBM, which took away their already meagre share of the PC market in the 1990s, and they did themselves in by coming out with multiple product lines that all seemed alike, and boring. There was a genuine fear then that Apple would fold and crumble. For sure, if Steve Jobs hadn't returned in the 1997, we will be talking about Apple in the past tense.

Through it all, I was there, following Apple through the good times and bad times, from the time they were a promising company, to the time when they were on the verge of dying, and all way to now when they are almost the world's most valuable company. I think I've earned the right to be called a fan. It's like, following a football club - you are introduced to the club as a kid, followed them through adolescence into adulthood, you support them through their truimphs, you despair when they lost good players, or got relegated. But no matter what, your faith never wavers. That is what a true blue fan is about.

For the past couple of days, following Steve Jobs's death, I have surfing the net, and there was this article on the New York Times that has people posting pictures of their own Apple moment. You can check it too, at http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/10/05/technology/20111006_JOBS_READER.html

Now many of these pictures were taken years ago, so it's not just people posing for the occasion. It is amazing going through them, to read their stories and I think, such is the magic of Apple. I mean, can you imagine posing for a photo with a Lenovo laptop or Samsung phone? Apple is magical, creates an wonderful user experience and instills a certain loyalty to it, and I think I am not alone in thinking this way.

Some will say that this is just a phone, an MP3 player, a computer. What is the big deal, right? Well, I will just that, these devices are so well designed and intuitive, they are just good, but more than that, they help you experience life. They are so deeply intertwined with what you do, at work and at home, they take your pictures and videos where you go, you interact with others and blog on them. They just become a part of your everyday existence.

Steve Jobs has everything to do with all this. I can't even begin to think of how we will compute, listen to our music, surf the internet, interact with people without his ingenuity and vision. Since his death, tributes have been flowing in from world leaders, entertainers, other contemporaries and rivals in the tech industry to just the random Tweeter/ facebook user. Apple's loss is the world's collective loss, like when Michael Jackson or Princess Di died. Yes, Jobs does have THAT level of impact.

To me, Apple is Steve Jobs, and Tim Cook has mighty some big boots to step into. No one can replace Jobs, but I sincerely hope that Apple will continue, not just survive, but to thrive, to continually thrill us with exciting and magical products that we crave and love.

And one more thing... Thank you, Steve Jobs. I know you got thanked million times over now, but it is true that without your drive and vision, none of this will be around. There will still be MP3 players, touchscreen smartphones, and just maybe somebody might also invent a tablet PC. But without you to turn on the vision for Apple, and turn up for the pressure for rivals, IT gadgets may never be as sexy, as commonplace as it is now. Your presence turn Apple into the IT industry's biggest innovator, and has everybody else trying to catch up, elevating everyone along the way.

Farewell and goodbye. Now you belong to the ages.

The End of an Era

2011-05-08T16:14:00.004+08:00

Early this morning, history was made in Singapore.

Prior to this morning, the Group Representative Constituency - or GRC in short - devised in 1988 to ostensibly allow good representation of minority in Singapore, was never won by an opposition party. Not anymore, the WP has finally made the breakthrough that many of us wanted to see, but had long thought of as impossible - win the GRC of Aljunied, under the stalwartship of various ministers, among them George Yeo, the current Foreign Affiars Minister.

Just as a new era has began in local politics, another era comes to a close.

Mr Chiam See Tong's 27-year career in Parliament ended when he lost to PAP in the Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

I first knew of Mr Chiam See Tong, a quiet dignified opposition member of Parliament some 20 years ago, in 1991.
It was at an opposition rally at Potong Pasir by SDP, which was at that time the leading opposition party with a number of pretty strong opposition leaders.

I had followed my dad to a few rallies then, but I could not really remember the rest of them. What I did remembered was that the SDP rally took place on empty field, and there were so many people, we decided to move to a nearby HDB block to see the action. At the end of the rally, the supporters were so hyped up that they continued to chant the party name along as they were departing the venue. There were riot police in their red-colour vans on standby should anything went awry. Fortunately it was just some vigorous chanting and nothing bad happened.

Compared to other opposition figures, like JB Jeyarantam, Mr Chiam came across as rather subdued. Not one to overly gesticulate or give inflammatory speeches, he was like a model politician, almost PAP-like. His non-adversarial manner, unlike the street fighter that was JBJ, probably explained why he enjoyed his longevity in Parliament, free from the lawsuits that plagued others like JBJ, Francis Seow, and eventually ruined them.

Mr Chiam was however, a lone opposing voice in Parliament in a sea of (PAP) white after JB Jeyarantam was expelled from government and before Low Thia Kiang came onto the scene. Overwhelmed often by the big guns of the PAP, he deserved respect for his quiet dignity and his persistence to provide an alternative voice in a more difficult era, when it would be so much easier for him to just pack up and call it a day.

Like many people, it really saddens me to see Mr Chiam, tired and bent over by 2 strokes, as he hunched over the podium, still holding steadfastly to his ideals, his beliefs of spreading democracy in Singapore. 20 years of Chiam-watching had seen him grew older and weaker in each successive election.

My own feelings are conflicting. Seeing him lost both the Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and his original Potong Pasir SMC (by a mere 114 votes) is painful, especially after knowing how he dedicated 27 years to helping his constituents in a nondescript makeshift corner that counts as an office, and seeing how Potong Pasir residents, knowing the love he had for them, also loved him back. The fact that scores of residents were out there at 3:30am in the morning, waiting for him to come back to Potong Pasir to cheer him and his team, possiby for the last time, is terribly touching to me. Would such scene play out in other PAP-dominated estate I wonder.

On the flip side, I chose to believe that it is an opportunity for this great man to rest and recover his health, knowing that his goal of spreading that democracy via the presence of a good creditable opposition has been set in motion by the WP's good showing, and more people are politically-aware, and willing to question the incumbent party. His role in politics may be diminished, nearing the end, but he can take solace in the fact that he has inspired a whole new generation of opposition members who look up to him as role model.

Take care Mr Chiam, and wishing you all the best of health. You are no less important a figure than the usual prime/senior minister/mentor in shaping the political landscape of Singapore. Maybe we can hear from you in 5 years, in the pink of health, ready to challenge Bishan-Toa Payoh or Potong Pasir (if they hadn't merged it with Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC). Maybe you may decided to hang up your boots for good.

No matter, I wish you all the best, and once again, thank you.

Seen and heard from the 9 days

2011-05-07T15:48:00.004+08:00

Election fever, occuring once every 5 years, gripped the country for the past week or so. I have been following my dad around for rallies since 1991, so that means I have been attending rallies for 20 years now. Thanks to the advent of facebook, blogs, and other social media, the election has caught on with the younger generation like never before. This time round, there are so many more young people attending the rallies. Hopefully this is really the dawning of a political consciousness amongst the younger generation. Some shots of the rallies that I have attended.

29 April 2011: The rally crowd leaving Serangoon Stadium after the rally ended at 10pm.

1 May 2011: Worker's Party having a rally at Yishun Stadium

4 May 2011: Worker's Party Rally at Ubi Avenue 1

4 May 2011: The pro-WP crowd continuing to cheer for the WP after the rally ended at 10pm

4 May 2011: A sight you don't get to see usually, not at 10 plus pm, not least in Ubi, unless it's election time, and it's a opposition party rally

5 May 2011: Singapore Democratic Party's lunchtime rally at Boat Quay

5 May 2011: Worker's Party' last rally, at Serangoon Stadium. This was taken at around 8plus pm. The audience will eventually reach 30,000, and that's just including the people in the stadium

5 May 2011: Creative signages done up by the WP supporter making their appearance during the rally.

Moving on

2010-05-09T00:24:00.007+08:00

2 weeks ago, I met an old classmate from my junior college for lunch. She remarked that despite my constant complaints about my work, I am still at the same job, for 5 years plus now.

I remembered telling her that in spite of the complaints, there are still positives that I can draw from, like colleagues that I have worked with for years and like family (having spent so much time at work together). The workplace had just gone through a tumultuous phrase, having lost 2 directors in quick succession, and I felt that my place is here, to help in the transition, usher in new changes and make life more bearable for everyone.

Funny how these beautiful plans fly out of the window in a such a short time.

The past week saw 5 departures from my department. That is like one resignation per day. All 5 are from my immediate circle of friends in the company. Some of them I have worked with since I began work here. You can say that these are the leading lights of the department; the engine room, the people who made a difference in the company.

In 2 months time, they would have served out their notice and be gone. The void they will leave in their absence will be immense. So is the emptiness I will probably feel when I go into the office from July onwards, and instead of seeing close comrades, I see only empty chairs. Where there used to be laughter from somebody's jokes and funny stories of their encounters while at work, there will probably be just a deafening silence. Plans were in place by the MD and the new HOD to install a new software to improve our workflow, so everybody can benefit from technology and spend less time at work. At this point, I really wonder if such a software is of any use anymore, since the key people who will be using it and benefiting are not going to be around when it happens.

Should I have expected this to happen? Yes. After all, I'm going through the same issues as everyone else i.e. long working hours, heavy workload, and pay that doesn't do justice to our work. Everyone is tired and weary. I had thought of leaving myself countless times in the past, so I can understand the motivation to leave. What was unexpected was the timing of departure.

The directors themselves admited that the past year had been a good year for the department; business was good; and we have weathered the initial downturn to end off strongly as the market recovers. Add that to management's fear that some will be tempted to join our former HOD in a new setup, we are probably set up for a bumper bonus and good pay rises. I would have thought that people will at least wait for the the bonuses and pay rises to be announced before leaving. Yet, the 5 had chosen to turn away from this and move on.

I have had no chance to really ask them about this. Chances are, they will never say the true motivation for them to leave now. Maybe we will know in due time.

On Friday evening, as I was leaving office, and walking past MD office, I saw the MD, HOD and HR all inside, probably asking themselves what went wrong, and what they could have done to contain this fallout.

Too late I thought. You had your chance to speak to key staff over the week. I even mentioned the persons they should be speaking to try to win their hearts and salvage the situation. Apparently, no meetings were arranged. Maybe on hindsight, management should have rolled out their plans to review the pay scale, etc. The measures will be good for those who are still around, but to five of my colleagues, these are of no more interest.

Now I question my own reason to stay on. I will probably get promoted and all, but the team that I worked with for so long is no more. The middle spine of the team is gone, leaving a gap between the managers and the junior staff. Some of the departees are major sources of cases, so with them gone, business will be affected. Some of that are also signatories, so in future, at least part of future reports which would have be signed by them will have to be signed by me. The net effect to me is probably still lotsa reports to work on, and in turn long working hours still. Only these time, the bulk of my office "family" members will not be there anymore.

Should I move on and embrace the chance for change. Should I stay on, get promoted, and probably continue with 12-14 hour, 6-7day working life? I guess I already know the answer...

Trip to Seoul

2010-02-06T10:21:00.009+08:00

Usually the company has a annual trip for the company's staff to reward us for the hard work that was put in. In 2009, however as the market was not doing too well, this was scrapped. My HOD however felt that our department had done pretty well, and so decided to convince the MD to let just our department for an overseas trip. The HOD must have done a darn good job of convincing her, cos we are then informed that the valuation department is going for an incentive trip to Seoul.
Traveling is always fun, and especially so when you are going as a group. We basically spent 5 days in Seoul, visiting some traditional tourist sites (museum, palaces, kimchi school, etc), and since this is an almost all-girl tour, with yours truly being the only male, there is a lot of time spent at shopping districts, like Dongdaemun, Namdaemun and Myeong-Dong.
I learnt that South Koreans are very into makeup and skincare, and thus everywhere you go you are sure to find a couple of cosmetic shops, like Faceshop, Skin food, Etute House, etc. The girls basically spent over half of their shopping time in one cosmetic shop or the other, buying masks, BB cream, nail polish, etc, etc. It's a good thing that I'm a rather patient person, and yeah I luuuurve to stand around and wait.........
Still the trip is a good diversion from work, and man do we deserve it. Hoping there will be another good trip coming this yearend! ;-)

2009: What happened

2009-12-20T14:17:00.002+08:00

While enjoying a 3-week break (clearing annual leave, else kenna forfeited), I realised my blog is remarkably empty this year. Was it such an uneventful year?

Hell, no. Many times, I wanted to sit down and pen down my thoughts but just never gotten to doing it. Most of the time, I just wanna bitch and complain about my work; the long long hours spent on the job, the endless indications, the urgent cases to handle, and basically the high volume of work that just could not be overcome. Most of time, by the time I came back, i just want to bath and sleep. Alternatively, I will still be working at home, so there is never a time to really pen down my thoughts.

Coming to 5 years in this job, I have come to accept that a valuer's time is never enough and work can never be finished. Still I wonder if that is really what I want to do for this rest of life; stuck in a never-cycle of work. I have had enough actually, and had thought about moving on. Just that nobody wanted me... haha. Maybe I shd really be a bit more serious about looking for a job. I noe the missus does want me to look at a job change; though she didn't come on too strongly, she did drop hints and even helped me set up an account at a job search website.

In November, my maternal grandmother passed on. It was a tough period for my mom and her siblings; grandmother was feeling a lot of pain in her last weeks, hooked to a device and definitely feeling uncomfortable; watching her in discomfort was painful to everyone of us, and when the end came, beyond the inevitable sadness, we took salvation in the fact that she had had a long life, was finally free from pain, and that she is moving on to a better place. I guessed over the years, as we busied about with our own lives, we hardly get to spend time visiting her, beyond the CNY and occasional birthday celebrations. CNY will no longer be the same for us from now on. 外婆，走好。

Chalet@East Coast

2009-11-01T16:28:00.000+08:00

The phone that does everything

2009-10-17T15:29:00.003+08:00

A short trip up north...

2009-10-11T21:25:00.009+08:00

Went for a short trip up north for with the missus last week. We have been really busy the past year, and figured a little time to rest and recharge would be good. Hopefully this is the start of more trips to come ;-)

Our destination this time round is the lovely island of Palau-Pinang.

Our first view of the place upon touching down at the airport, a short 1 hour+ journey via Jetstar

Our hotel for the duration of our stay, HardRock Hotel@ Ferringhi Beach, which was only opened last month.

The view from our balcony... pool facing and sea facing. Well, if this had been a condo unit in Sg East Coast, the cost, thanks to the view, would have been astronomical.

The hotel logo being formed by clever lighting arrangement at the front lobby

Breakfast @ the hotel's King's Club. Basically, we were treated like royalty for the 3 days that we were there.

We also visited some of the the area's tourist attractions, like Penang Hill and Kek Lok Si Temple. Penang Hill is accessed via a tram that takes half an hour exactly to bring you up to the hilltop. Up there, you have mainly colonial houses, and of course a splendid view of the city, like this below...

One of Penang's greatest attractions is the local food - Char Kuay Teow and Penang Laksa merely just 2 of the local dishes that are famous all over.

Chendol, sold from a stall along a small road just off Penang Road, and reputed to be the best in Penang.

We also tried out some Nonya cuisine, influenced more by its proximity to Thailand - which is supposedly a little different from those in Malacca and Singapore, which has more Indonesian influence.

Penang isn't really known for its shopping, but one of the must-see shopping malls at the island is probably Plaza Gurney. IMHO, it's a little run-of-the mill, feeling like the typical suburban malls we have back in Sg.

The other shopping mall is visited is Queensbay Mall - probably 3-4 times bigger than Plaza Gurney. This is located close to the airport and we only visited it on the last day, after checking out of the hotel, prior to going to the airport. On hindsight, we should have allocated more time here, we were there for slightly less than 2 hours, and in between buying things at a couple shops, I think we covered no more than a quarter of the whole shopping area.

Another place to look out for in the future should be the newly completed Penang TimesSquare. We passed by the place and it is still quite empty. However, when it is fully occupied, it should be a shopping experience as well.

Basically this trip serves to revive the travelling bug in us, and we can't wait for the next trip already...

Working too hard... can be deadly

2009-09-03T11:00:00.008+08:00

A wake-up call to all of us doomed to unfinished work and endless OTs... life doesn't end just bec you did not finish your work... similarly, in the same vein, work won't end just bec you have kicked the bucket...

Chinese New Year - Reunion Dinner 2009

2009-01-26T09:02:00.006+08:00

CNY is here again, and with it the reunion dinner, prbably the most anticipated event on the calendar, as this is the one time that EVERYONE will crowd into my grandparents' flat and have fun. Besides the Lohei itself, the cousins always have a shot taken with grandma in the past years. This year, our traditional shot features 2 new additions - Chloe and Zayden, and as a bonus, grandpa is in the photo this year. Leeling managed to delay him from meeting his card kakies long enough for us to take this picture below.

Here's a video of the Lohei preparations and the actual thingy

Incidentally Jasmine's birthday is on the following day, so we took the opportunity to celebrate for her as well.

My Japan Trip - Day 4 (Free & Easy @ Osaka)

2008-10-28T23:59:00.009+08:00

The 4th day of my Japan experience is OTOT - Own Time Own Target. The girls have already gotten it planned out way in advance - what to buy, where to go, and how to get there. It would take a herculean effort to keep these bunch of girls away from their Fancl, agnès b , Burberrys and what not.

We started soon after breakfast at the hotel, and after a brief trip to the nearby Daimaru, took the local subway to Nipponbashi to take a walk through their local market, and get some local snacks. We then proceeded to Takashimaya nearby where they purchased their Fancl products and I finally found what I sought to buy from the beggining - a crystal pendant from Swarovski Crystal for the missus.

No rest for the restless.... we then headed to Shinsaibashi, home to more shopping areas. The girls raided shops selling Sanrio and Disney soft toys, stationary, merchandise, and clothes, as well as shops that sell bags, wallets, etc. Their endless energy and insatiable hunger for more shopping was just incredible, and scary even.... haha maybe that is only cos my missus never ever had a "shop till you drop or the shops run out of goods, whichever comes first" moment.

Finally, the shops closed (thank heavens!!!) and this bunch of weary but mostly happy shoppers went back to the hotel. Dinner was some stuff bought from the local convenience store... edible, simple, but most impt, budget, cos they still need to conserve funds for the next 2 days to help boost the japanese economy... haha. We all squeezed into Mag's room and had our 团圆饭 and one more group pic before yours truly flies back to Singapore.

In all, everyone enjoyed this trip. It provided a nice break from work, and at the same time, the gang got to bond with one another further, and we have also gotten to know some of our colleagues better. Already looking fwd to another trip with this bunch of people soon.

My Japan Trip - Day 3 (Universal Studios)

2008-10-27T23:59:00.005+08:00

Today, we went to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!!! Need I say more...

Well, maybe just some thoughts lah....
Apart from the long queues at the rides (we queued for nearly 2 hours for the Spiderman 4D ride, and close to an hour for the Roller-coaster, but man that was really fun and wort the wait...), and costly merchandise (a Hello Kitty baby jumper will cost over 40 dollars), and focus on non-Warner Bros characters (not much merchandise for say Loony Tunes cartoon characters, but plenty of HELLO KITTY stuff.... Hello, are we at Sanrio Land by mistake??), the place was quite all right... more a place for kids and girls who are still in love with Hello Kitty and the like.

So I dun think i will be going to another Universal Studios for now, at least not till Chloe discovers the wonders of Hello Kitty... ha.

My Japan Trip - Day 2 (Kyoto)

2008-10-26T23:38:00.007+08:00

For day 2, we are going to Kyoto, another couple hours drive away from Osaka. The day's main event is visiting historical sites, meaning, yes, more temples... haha. Two of three sites we visited were Kiyomizu Temple and Kinkakuji, two landmark destinations for tourists. Coupled with some shopping time at the local shops leading to Kiyomizu Temple, the 3 places took up almost the whole day.

We proceed to Gion for dinner and some free time to explore. This site is said to be a nightlife area where one can even see geishas. Well, I dunno if we went to the wrong parts of Gion, but where we went, it seemed like a normal street, with hardly any geishas to be seen, let alone a prominent nightspot.

Oh did I mention that makan here is really not cheap? Dinner in many places typically cost around 3000-4000+ yen (that's like appx 50+ SGD) per meal.... finally found a makan place which was much more affordable - ard 1000plus yen, and along the way, we were schooled by a friendly eldery Japanese couple on how to drink sake *Drink slowly*...

That's not the end of the day's event. After going back to Osaka, some of us went for karaoke and sang all the way into the early morning. Seeing some of our colleagues' amusing antics and dancing - people you normally wouldn't associate with such madcap behaviour - ha, that's something memorable to savour.

My Japan Trip - Day 1 (Nara)

2008-10-25T22:18:00.010+08:00

After almost 4 years with the company, this is the first time I've joined my colleagues for the annual company overseas trip - missed the previous 3 years due to a host of legitimate reasons. For instance, they went to Japan Tokyo last year, but with June pregnant with Chloe then, I din think it right for me to go off for a holiday.

Then they decided to go to Japan again this year - this time to Osaka/Kyoto, and I figured, a few days away shouldn't be a problem especially the wifey has given me the green light to go ahead. Furthermore, with the economy going the way it is right now, I dun foresee another company trip to Japan or for that matter, any place exciting next year.

So here we are, embarking on a 5-day trip here in Japan (7-days for the girls since they are extending for 2 more days). We took off from Changi at about 1-plus am and reached Osaka's airport at probably around 7-8am in the morning. Lost no time in starting our journey - boarded a chartered coach which brought us to Nara, a couple hours drive away from Osaka.

Nara is one of the more historical parts of Japan, and has a few famous temples. We visited Horyuji Temple first, spent a couple hours there, then had lunch at Nara Park aka Deer Park, cos deer were like here, there, and everywhere... getting food from tourists, and generally pooing everywhere too. We proceeded to another famous temple nearby before breaking up for invidual actitivties.

While some of them decided to start their shopping spree early, a handful of us decided to try out an authentic japanese steam bath at a local bathhouse... really a handful of like 6 persons... haha, I guess most people are still a bit concious about sharing a hot bath in the buff with a lot of strangers, or maybe worse, with your colleagues... keke.

Finally returned to Osaka and reached our accomodation, Hotel Granvia Osaka. Ended the day by visiting a nearby mall and having an authentic sushi dinner at an authentic sushi restaurant... haha, now even sushi tei also cannot match their high standards, now that I've tasted what REAL sushi taste like.

The main event

2008-09-15T09:28:00.003+08:00

The big one is upon us... Exercise Saber, a 6D5N outfield exercise, the main 'highlight' of our trip here...

Not much time yesterday to get to the biz centre to blog... and today we are on avery short time frame before setting out.... wun be back till earliest next Sat, so gotta keep my ramblings till next week liao.

That's all, I guess. See ya all next week.

Return to Kanchanaburi

2008-09-13T22:55:00.006+08:00

I first went to Kanchanaburi in Thailand 10 years ago durng my Army NSF days for an overseas exercise. 10 years on, now as a reservist, I am scheduled for another trip there again as part of a major evaluation exercise for my reservist unit.

I can't say that I'm looking forward to this trip, not when the almost 3-week trip includes an outfield exercise that will last like 6 days and 5 nights... for the uninitiated, this outfield exercise means that we will be staying in the jungle/wilderness for 6 days, with no baths, no beds, no regular meals served on a plate, and certainly no internet. Attempts to defer this in-camp training, using Chloe as an excuse (first born child needs attention and care from both parents, as the wifey cannot cope on her own... this shd work as a good excuse, I thot) were rebutted and so here I am, holed up in Thailand, writing this piece from an extremely slow computer in the business centre. Still despite that, I am already very grateful, that there is still some link to the rest of teh world. Ten years ago, there isn't any business centre, and certainly no internet access for us.

Meant to write this as a journal to the events thus far for the past week since my arrival in Tom-yam-land. However, today your truly is slightly intoxicated after a few rounds of drinks with guys at the canteen, which itself follows a round of toasting and drinking at an earlier function.. so I dunno how coherent this is gonna be... haha

Earlier on last week...

I have been going back to Neesoon Camp, for the past 3 days even prior to the weekend before the trip here... nothing much happening, just the usual in-processing, IPPT, preparing of our duffel bag for delivery to the airport, stuff like that. The usual cock-ups and delays happened as with every In-camp training, like the 1 hour wait we had outside the Changi Airport Cargo Centre main entrance, waiting forever for the security people to clear us for entry...

During the weekend, on Sat, one day prior to the flight, I made a trip to the library. One good thing about army life, is that it affords you the time to catch up on your reading, if you are so inclined. If I'm gonna spend 3 weeks stuck here... I figured I jolly well get myself some reading material. Nothing fanciful, tho, usually my authors of choice for the Army stay are Stephen King and Dean Koontz. 10 years ago I remembered reading Stephen King's IT here - the other book's title eluded me tho - and sticking to my usual practice, I gotten myself King's 'Bag of Bones' and Koontz's 'The Face'. Figured this shoud be enough for to keep me company during this period.

I do have other forms of entertainment though. When I reach home Friday, June asked me close my eyes, and then promptly presented me with a Sony PSP set.... totally unexpected. I was of coz 100% ecstatic... new gadget to fiddle with...ummm maybe this new toy can mean that I will be giving up for a iPhone after all....

Day 0 - Sunday

June drove me to the airport at 10:30am. She has a full schedule today, with a trip after this to Shirly's place for her baby shower party (an event that I had promised Shirly to attend, but gotta absent myself bec of my earlier than expected flight timing), as well to some errands to run. Anyway, it was a short wait at the airport... We were taking off on Jetstar Asia at abt 1:10pm, and by 12:10pm, we are supposed to check in latest. 2 hours later at about 3:30pm, we were at Bangkok, hoping onto a coach at 4:30 that would then drive us 4 hours to Kanchanaburi, reaching the camp at about 8:30PM Singapore Time (Thailand time 7:30pm. Went for a quick dinner at the cookhouse that looked no differnt from 10 years ago. We even used the metals trays, a relic from a bygone era, to get food from the cooks.

Accomodation was a 2-storey part concrete/mostly timber barrack, where 3 long rows of bed were spread out from end to end, just like it was 10 years ago. Even the toilet/bathroom was the same as it was 10 years ago.... no separate shower subicles....just a long walled in water area in the middle of the communal bathing area where eveyone just bath together

Man, I would have loved to continue, but I'm like kindda light headed now.... let's see if I can continue tomorrow.... touch on the first few days spent, rushing to wait for instructions, preparing stores (I'm an combat engineer, and combat engineers probably have the most amount of stores within the SAF), pigging out at the canteen (which is by the way, improved from 1998) and why I need more books....

Yours truly signing off for now.... *blurp* now excuse me while I go find a toilet.

重逢。安中93校友会

2008-09-07T07:47:00.008+08:00

Last Sunday, I attended a reunion gathering comprising old schoolmates of Anderson Secondary, not just people from my class, but frens of the same graduating year, from different classes, all 11of them. It's been 15 years since we had graduated, and it's been that long since we last met up.

It's not easy to get a reunion going; I remembered plans to organise one during the 10th year fell thru, probably bec of a lack of interest. This time round, it was no easier, with people now married and some with kids, on top of wudever work commitments. Thanks to the hard work of Berlinda, who still managed to get around 18 of us to make it that day.

The venue was Sooma Coffeehouse at China Square Central, owned by my old classmate. Basically the place is open on weekdays, and only opens on weekend for special events, or on reservation. The place offers great food and drinks, and is a cosy place for hanging out

Berlinda, our hardworking and dogged organiser, and Terence

15年过去了，但不象是十五年...

The girls, still looked like they just left school yesterday, mostly. The (15) years have been kind to them. For us guys, haha, we still looked the same... mostly. maybe a bit rounder, but otherwise pretty much as it was back in Anderson Sec.

Beyond appearances, we all took to each other really well, after 15 year period. There were plenty to catch up on, work, family, old days, funny and memorable characters and events from from yesterday. It was a great outing of us, going down memory lane, rekindling those old frenship and feeling good and nostalgic in general.

Going thru the Yearbook of 1993, and looking for familiar old faces

Our mark on the Sooma Coffee house wall

What's a gathering without a group photo... well, we dun need to wait another 15 years for the next one... plans are under way for the next event, bigger and better, slated for Oct/Nov.

七月歌台

2008-08-18T00:29:00.011+08:00

这星期，看了两场七月歌台。

说出来，可能每个人都会傻了一下。以前的我，也可能不相信，我竟然会不是因为义务陪家人，而是一个人，专程跑去看歌台。必竟歌台一向来在我眼里，都是父母那一代的人才会去看的节目，自己少说也有十几年没看歌台了。Why the sudden interest then?

想了想，这多少都要归功于陈子谦导演的881。看了戏，听了歌，去年某天上了网, 随便key-in了881 和getai这几个字。哈，还真的给我找到了蛮多在歌台拍下再upload到Stomp和Youtube的歌台 Live Performance

也就这样，通过Youtube, 和Stomp 的 Getai A-Go-Go 认识了歌台的一位up & coming star, 李佩芬。也通过她的部落格 (http://getai.stomp.com.sg/getai/displayBlogEntry.do?lang=ZH)，对于歌台有了多一点的认识和兴趣。通过部落格和网上的video，也对于她的演场实力和搞笑功力也另眼相看，得确开始期待今年能看她得现场演出。

原以为年头的这个兴趣只会是三分钟热度，没想到，中元节到了，我还是蛮on的。翻了翻报纸，发现今年李佩芬已升及，开始当起了主持。看了两场歌台。一场是她和阿南一起主持的，而今晚看的则是她独当一面，一个人主持。虽然说还是比较喜欢她和阿南的配搭，两人一来一往还是比较好笑，但她一个人撑着这场演出，跟来宾的互动，已经是可圈可点了。

李佩芬的搞笑

家后（有去看钱不够用2的人应该记的这首歌）

我相信

你最近看了歌台了吗？没有kahkie的话，记得找我来做伴喔。

Don't rain on my parade

2008-08-09T21:11:00.003+08:00

Anybody noticed? National Day Parades never ever seemed to get rained on... they always have the fortune of good weather.

It can be super hot, like during the NDP of 1997, which I attended... or it may even rain, like today, prior to the parade. But when the parade begins, the weather always clears up.... amazing... far as my memory can recall... I have never seen an NDP that ganna wet weather...

Just for kicks, I would love to see an NDP that takes place in the rain, with some lightning thrown in as well .... dun even need fireworks already... hehe I mean how are they gonna start the fireworks anyway? What wet weather programme will they have...haha, wicked me, I know...

Happy National Day to all!

The Sun, the Sea and the Sand: Mag's Birthday Bash @ Sentosa

2008-07-11T00:50:00.004+08:00

Another CKSian birthday celebration: this time round, we celebrated Maggie's birthday in advance, on the 5th of July.

Initial plans to drive to Genting met with slightly lukewarm response, so in the end we settled somewhere nearer, Siloso Beach @ Sentosa. The gang turned out in force, with kids and maids in tow.

Looks like a company family day, innit?

The crazy gang, posing for a shot during the lull in the action

Thankfully there wasn't much sun that day, but we all did have a generous helping of the sea and the sand... Derold and the birthday girl went crazy, throwing sand at each other, and soon the rest of us got implicated as well....

Not content with sand.... we soon started pulling every one into the water...

Well, it was fun, and memorable... and the shots and videos provide me excellent materials to do up my first movie project on iMovie.... sorry Chloe, your movie project has gotten to be KIV first... Gonna do up the SAT movie first, burn into a DVD and give it to Auntie Maggie for her actual day birthday...

The Apple of my eye

2008-07-09T23:41:00.001+08:00

Well, after thinking abt it for more than half a year, and countless times of psyching myself not to buy, I have finally decided to give in to my temptations and gotten myself this....

Tahtah.... A new 20 inch Apple iMac!!!!!

Bought it in June at the IT fair at Suntec City, along with a Canon all-in-one printer, another device that June and I talked abt buying for many years but never did...

Thought long and hard about getting the 24-inch model, that will cost 400 bucks more.... but in the end, I hit upon a gem of an idea.... just simply get a 20-inch, then hook it up to my current 20-inch Philips LCD monitor... so now I have one 20-inch iMac powering an external 20-inch LCD monitor.... I get more screen size than the 24-inch now, and $400 more in my bank account...

With 2.66 Ghz processor and 4GB ram, this machine is blazing fast compared to my 2004 iBook which was like 1.2Ghz with 768 MB ram, and it's even more so apparent when I'm doing video-editing.... Mac has this proprietary software called iLife, which contains among other software, a very excellent program called iMovie, which makes compiling and editing videos (and photos) a breeze... June also bought me a book just last weekend to help me learn more about how to master the whole iLife suite of programs.... already started my first video project, compiling Chloe's pictures and videos and set them into a montage with music to boot.... hoping to be able to get it completed really really soon... stay tuned!!

Happy Birthday, Mrs Tan

2008-06-29T22:41:00.003+08:00

June 28 is the missus's birthday. Compared to last year, where we went for a trip to Bintan, our celebrations this year was lot more subtle... with the baby and all, we can't afford the time and money for an expensive getaway.

There was the birthday cake...

Then we had dinner at Bishan Junction 8, and our first movie in months...

Man, if you haven't watched this movie, you should. It's funny, and better than I thot. When Chloe gets older, I really want to rent this DVD for her to see...

Lastly, Happy Birthday dearie. I know how much you have done to take care of me and little Chloe, and I just wanna say thanks for everything!

Back to skool... remembering NUS 1999-2003

2008-06-01T21:56:00.011+08:00

Sometime last week, I was in the west, in between appointments, with time to spare. So I thought, why not just make a short pit-stop at nearby NUS. It's been ages since I'm back there anyway, so decided to visit a place where I spent 4 years, having generally a memoreable time.

Before I enrolled, my faculty used to be known as BEM (Building & Estate Management). When I was there, they had a name change to BRE (Building & Real Estate), and towards the end of my stay, they decided to change the name yet again to SDE (School of Design and Environment)... talk about fickle-minded indeed.

The familiar front foyer, the first sight of the school that would greet me, as I alight from bus 96. On this day, at the end of May, exams are long over, and hardly anyone is in school, except the archi students, who seemed to be perpetually hanging around their studios, holding models and plans.

The printing area and Co-op. I remembered we used to have this pretty fierce printing lady that helped us to make copies of notes and printouts... tho her name has now eluded me... wonder she is still working here to this day.

A familiar signboard from yesteryear

The common area just outside the lecture theatres. I remembered how this place was full of people after lectures, waiting for frens to go makan, hanging around the lockers to deposit/collect stuff, or just sitting at the wooden benches, studying, doing discussions, staring at their laptops, or just killing time.

LR427 - a jumble of numbers and letters all BEM/BRE/SDE students will all remember. this was our biggest lecture theatre, and all of us would have at attended lectures in this room.

Managed to sneak a shot of one of the classrooms... no major changes down here. Remembered that during the exam periods, a lot of us will stay overnight in school, occupying classrooms and the study benches, occasionally doing group studying , and mostly chit-chating, and downloading mp3s and movies from Napster and the friendly student network.... haha.

Looking back, I don't know how effective the overnight school revision did for us. I sure can't remember what I study anymore, but the memories of those overnight stays with frens, those will stay with me for a long while.

IRC... this used to commonly refer to Internet Relay Chat. For BEM/BRE/SDE people, we know it as our library, our Information Resource Centre. Good place for serious study, cos it's like a library, you know, no food and drinks, no loud talking, yadda yadda. Also good for sleeping in a cool air-con environment.

The engine canteen, thus named bec it is next to the enginering faculty. The most obvious change would have to be the Macdonalds that had sprung up just next to it. Otherwise no major changes. I remembered probably half the time I would order from the vegetarian store, cos it was fast and cheap, and easy to tabao elsewhere, to eat in between lectures, tutorials or discussions. The western food was pretty OK, tho the queue used to be pretty long... the laksa wasn;t too bad either... wondering again if the same stallholders are still there. Saw the boss from the drink stall, still the same guy, and still likes to play music from his radio.

That's it, my short trip down memory lane. It was great to go back and relive those days of yesteryear... remembering how it was like to be a student. Well these days are long gone, and everyone has moved on again. The next time I forsee myself going to school is probably when I need to bring Chloe to pre-school in future.... I'm a parent liao.... haha... a bit old for such sentimental nonsense.

How Chloe has gotten another name...

2008-05-20T17:11:00.005+08:00

I'm tired of elaborating again.... here's the gist of it, from my msn dialogue just now:

忠 says:
chloe has a little story that I will tell you later....
Ling says:
every baby have little story haha
忠 says:
This is the story of how Chloe got a new name.....
忠 says:
past 2 nights, she hasn't been sleeping well.....
忠 says:
slept a while then cried.... then gotta sooth her and coax her to sleep
忠 says:
Monday morning she only slept proper at 3am
忠 says:
so si-shen came and say shd go wen shen (ask the gods)
忠 says:
so off we went loh last night...
忠 says:
then they say her name shd change....
忠 says:
Want to change her name to Chen Chuan Ying.
忠 says:
If not for the fact that it's registered liao, think my mom is probably gonna go along loh
忠 says:
This despite the fact that Chloe's chinese name is already given by fengshui master, based on her ba zi.....
Ling says:
hmm....
Ling says:
just call chuan ying and the birth cert remain status quo
忠 says:
There;s nothing wrong with her name loh.....
忠 says:
heck, there's nothing wrong with her loh
忠 says:
why must I call her anything other than her original name
Ling says:
irritating right
忠 says:
Worse come to worse, I just call, Ah-ying, baby, ah-girl or just chloe all the way.
Ling says:
baby like that one what... she sleep so much in day of course at night cannot sleep lar...
Ling says:
next time i cal your baby chloe..
忠 says:
haha
忠 says:
Anyway, I will go back today and see if anybody starts calling chloe chuan ying.....
忠 says:
sounds like boy's name liao loh
Ling says:
call her ying ying will do lor.

How infuriating is this... I paid good money to some famous fengshui master to come up with a suitable name based on her Eight Characters, and now suddenly I have to start calling her a name the dangki derived in a short span.

With due respect to the dangki and the gods he summoned, how bad can the name based on her Eight Characters be that they wanna tinker with it.... I mean, if you wanna do up amulets and prepare hu-shui for her to drink and stuff, fine. But mess with her name, and I get outright pissed.

Imgaine how confused she is gonna be in kindergarten.... teacher calls her name, and she can't recognise it, thinking her name is Tan Chuan Ying.... wah lau, what the heck.

Oh wait there's more.... we were also told that, Chloe is very pure and so cannot be anyhow be carried by other people, specifically pregnant ladies, and also cannot go to birthday parties, cos that is supposed to be unpure.... cool, imagine her nursery/kindergarten teacher is like pregant... so am I supposed to go tell her: "Eh, Miss... dun take this personally, but since you are pregnant, and you are therefore not pure, and cannot hold my Chuan Ying, ummm, no, Shi Ying... you can drag her along the floor should you desire, but DO NOT CARRY her....."

What the %#*@...

Sometimes, a little less knowledge and tinkering is a good thing.... wat you dun know wun hurt you.

Chloe has her own blog!

2008-05-04T23:22:00.005+08:00

After chatting with Lisi online friday and seeing the blogs done for her nephew/nieces, I've decided to create one solely for Chloe as well, one that wun be encumbered by too much of my own rubbish.. hehe.

So, ladies and gents, presenting... Little Chloe's own nice nice, sweet sweet, pinkish web diary...

http://lil-chloe.blogspot.com/

So, if you want nice pictures of Chloe as she grows over the years, take a look there... but of coz, if you wanna know about the not-so-sweet grouses and stories of how she just refused to sleep at night, threw a tantrum, etc, etc, haha, just stay tuned to this blog instead.. haha.

Last but not least, a big Thank You to Jasmine for taking time out and coming over to work on the re-designing of the blog and and Zihan for his wizardzy work on the html stuff ... would not have been able to do anything without you guys' help. Thanks again!

What is Chloe's chinese name?

2008-05-01T14:26:00.005+08:00

Chloe's got many visitors today as well, since its a public holiday. Most of them got to see her sleeping or drinking milk while sleeping, or her tossing and turning while asleep.... well you get the idea.

Still undecided over her Chinese name... currently have a shortlist of two, namely 陈诗颖 (Chen Shiying) and 陈炜蒽 (Chen Weien).

Most people I've polled, including my folks, indicated they prefered 诗颖 , whiles two of my cousins kinda liked 炜蒽. Both names in any case, are not easy to write. But since the names came from a list of words recommended by the fortune teller 游龙子, which recommended the names based on the number of characters, which in turn, was based on her date and time of birth, so of course I dun really expect the names to be easy to write.

炜蒽 is easier on the tongue, can pronounce easily even for older folks. 诗颖 sounds more classy, and probably less common(?) I'm inclined to go with 诗颖. Will mull over it for a couple more days before deciding.

Edit: It is official! This little girl is now known as Tan Shi Ying Chloe, 陈诗颖.

Baby-caring is not easy... really

2008-04-29T23:34:00.003+08:00

It's been a long day. Everyone was worn out.

Brought Chloe to polyclinic to see the doctor regarding her jaundice levels and her overall health. The nurse put her on a weighing machine which registered 3.26kg, which ain't that bad, till you considered that she had her clothes and pampers on, which meant her weight was probably lesser.

Chloe also had a blood test where she managed not to wail her head off, untill 5-10 seconds towards the end of the blood extraction, where she began to cry a little, but that stopped pretty soon.

The doctor then, based on the blood test, felt that the jaundice level, at 241. was very high, close to admission levels infact. This in part, was due to the fact Chloe was still not eating much... decided that we would have to wake up the baby every 2-3 hours to force her to eat, rather let her indulge in her fave sleepathon sessions of 5-6 hours in the daytime.

Quite a bit of visitors today as well: 五婶 dropped by in the afternoon with a lazy chair as a present for Chloe. 二婶 & the whole family also came by in the afternoon, while Ah-ma & 四婶, and my father-in-law dropped by in the evening.

Chloe comes home

2008-04-28T23:07:00.003+08:00

The doting mother and her labour of love.

June gets a quick lesson from the nurse on how to hold and handle the baby

Time to go home: June prepares to change Chloe's clothes.

Ah-Ma putting Chloe into her baby cot for the first time after reaching home

Nice & comfy...

Photos of Chloe

2008-04-27T19:17:00.013+08:00

The wait is over.

2008-04-25T23:09:00.007+08:00

Dear frens & relatives,

June and I are pleased to announce the birth of our first child Chloe, born on 25th April 2008 at 1653hrs in KK Hospital.

Almost there

2008-04-25T17:03:00.002+08:00

Some 30 minutes ago, June has been wheeled into the operating theatre; the gynae has decided to do a c-section iinstead of waiting infinitely for the dilation to reach 10cm.

As written earlier on, June wanted neither a epidural injection nor a c-section. However, since the dilation has not moved beyond 4cm since this morning to 3pm just now, there's no point in waiting further.

Still more anxious waiting...

2008-04-25T08:58:00.004+08:00

Well, the title said it all ain't it.

We did have some progress after the nurses inserted the second pill to induce the baby. June experienced more intense contractions but no dilations still. But she was still well enough to walk on her own and take a bath. This was probably around 6-ish. I stayed around to wait for her to finish dinner, while watching reruns of Adrian Pang's Deal Or No Deal, then headed on home to collect our ROM cert, plus picked up some freshly brewed red date tea. Also had dinner and a bath before heading back to KKH at 9 plus.

10:30pm:
Was watching the TVB show on Channel U... June who had been having regular contractions in intervals of 5 minutes, sudenly let out a stronger gasp - her water bag had burst. Quickly contacted the nurse, who brought a wheel chair and brought her down to the delivery suite on the 2nd storey.

11:00pm:
The nurse arranged for us to go into delivery suite 13. Also suggested we watch some TV to get June's mind off the contraction pain. Started watching Aeon Flux on HBO.

2:00am:
Aeon Flux ended. Watched part of The Babe, another movie based on not some cute piglet, but American baseball legend Babe Ruth. Said part of it, bec we were distracted most of the time anyway. June's contraction pain was becoming unbearable, and tho she gamely hung on, getting me to breathe in and out with her eveytime the contraction set in, it was becoming obvious that much as she wanted not to, getting an epidural jab was inevitable for her to deal with the pain, as well as to get some much-needed rest. Left the room and came back half hour later, in time to watch the movie end. June was finaly getting some relief from the pain, and we could finally both get some shut eye as well

6-plus am:

Woke up ard early morning to catch the ending scene from Will Smith's The Pursuit of Happines. Up next was Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Caught snatches of the show as I drifted in and out of sleep. At some point during this stretch, I became aware June's dilation was around 4cm, still 6cm short of the 10 cm needed.

8-plus am:
Fully aware and now and went for breakfast at Mac. Had a quick one and went back to June. HBO's done with Al Gore. Up next was Jennifer's Anniston's Rumour has It... missed chunks of it during breakfast, no great loss really. June's gynae, Dr Tham, came by on his rounds. To our dismay, he checked and felt that the dilation was not even 4 cm wide yet. Brought up the possibility of doing C-section again. Tho we din like the idea at all, just like we din like the idea of having a epidural jab, some things were totaly beyond our control. We just gotta see how things pan out later today.

The waiting game...

2008-04-24T15:18:00.005+08:00

23rd April 08 was supposed to be Chloe's due date. Then, 23rd came and went.... but still no baby.

Actually, June & I are well aware of this happening. As of Sat, our gynae had already pointed out that chloe's head had not engage fully, and with less than 5 days to go, it seemed that she's probbaly not gonna be on time. Taking into account that she already weighted 3.3kg, the gynae wanted to induce her ASAP. To save money, he even suggested that we check in at 2am, his rationale being whether we check in at 2am, or 10am, the fees will be the same, so might as well go in earlier, and get the inducing started earlier, with the plan that it will speed up the baby's birth. See the logic of his arguement, we agreed to check in the the 24th at 2 am.

Upon reaching KKH, we went to the 2nd level delivery suite to register and for the nurses to check June's condtion and then insert the pill into her to start the inducement. Stayed there for 3plus hours before we were moved to our ward at the 8th floor.

Now the wait for little chloe's arrival begins.

Macdonalds Breakfast

2008-04-20T23:05:00.023+08:00

As saturdays go, yesterday was a pretty decent one.

Both of us woke up yesterday at around 9plus. It's been a long while since we can sleep in on saturdays without having to be woken by the alarm clock (either to go to office, or to KKH for baby classes,etc), tho I suspect, very soon, we will both be frequently waking up to an alarm clock of a different kind.

After freshening up, we looked around the house.... mom's not in, so no breakfast for us.... Then June reminded me that I mentioned going to Macdonalds for breakfast so days ago. Well, remembering that June will be in confinement after the baby's birth, so I thot, why not, let's indulge ourselves a bit, drove out to the Macdonalds near AMK Park.

Apparently, a lot of people had also gotten up, and a lot of them had also decided to goto Mac for breakfast as well. We gotta wait a while before a parking lot presented itself. Going into Mac, the same problem as well: no available seats. The place was packed with people, families, couples with pets, students, etc. While in the queue, I thot about doing takeaway when June called and told me that she managed to find an newly vacated table in the open area.

While having our breakfast, our attention was drawn to this:

A couple brought their pet dogs along (probably for a walk in the park later), and tied them to the wooden fencing while they ate. They were followed by another family who also tied their dog (on the left side of the picture) nearby as they looked for seats. Probably the owners of the solitary dog decided they din like Mac after all, cos they left after like 5 mins without eating anything.

I watched with interest the whole thing going on, thinking that with 3 dogs clogging up the pavement, nobody will be able to have safe passage thru it without being barked, sniffed or licked at. But throughout the dogs were pretty disciplined, not ever barking once when people walked past. Instead they were content with just running in and out of the glass patch onto the pavement.

I am not much of a dog lover, but at that point in time, I was just thinking how adorable the dogs were. Even more picture perfect was when a mom brought her young daughter over to pet the dogs and had her posed with the dogs, which showed remarkable poise and restraint being handled by a stranger, for a shot. Wah, toddlers and animals... always a good setting for a photograph, which I would have taken if not for too many people blocking my view.

In short, we kinda enjoyed our idyllic breaksfast at Mac. On a Saturday morning, it shdn't always be abt work which had more or less been the case for me the past few years. I shd be kinder to myself lah. Probably in future, I won't even have to make that call... maybe little Chloe will make that decision for us all, when she decides that all of us should go to Mac for breakfast and a few rounds at the playground to start off Saturday.

World, meet Zayden

2008-04-15T00:21:00.005+08:00

Good news for the family - my grandparents are expecting their first great-grandchildren, yeah, not one but two, both due this month.... My little princess, due on the 23th, and my cousin Leeling's little prince, Zayden, who has arrived on Sunday 3+ pm, weighing 3.4kg....

Edit: More pictures of Zayden here from Da-gu:

Monday blues?

2008-04-14T23:29:00.006+08:00

Well, It's Monday again, the beginning of another week... started off on a low note actually. Maybe due to the lack of sufficient sleep the night before (Winston dropped by and we watched the Man U - Arsenal match till 1am, and blardy hell, Arsenal lost!!!) but towards the end of the day, I thought it hadn't been as bad as I imagined it to be.

Without going into too much details, let's say that I had to do some marketing job that I din always find enjoyable.

However, the good thing out of it is that, I am being paired with everybody's fave goofball, MC.

Knew MC since 2006, when she came to the firm as an attachment student... at first we hardly even talk to each other in the office, as she followed the rest of the colleagues out for inspections. Then there's one time when I was doing 4 landed houses in one morning and needed help. So I asked her to tag along, help me hold and measuring tape, etc, etc.

And since then, a wonderful fren is known to me.

Thru out her 6-month attachment, where possible I try to arrange to have her join me for what we termed hiking trips - inspections at landed properties that involved lotsa walking around, climbing (up & down stairs) and sweating. Having somebody tag along, becoming a sort of mentor/teacher to her during our inspections, that kinda made work more interesting. Imagine our joy when boss decided to offer her a permanent position after her attachment ended....

Well, now that we both have our own cases to do, compared to when MC was still on attachment, and was merely helping us out, our hiking trips are far and few in between.

At least until today.

As we set off, MC could tell that I was feeling damn sian abt the whole thing - hell, everybody in office could tell, for that matter - and told me to cheer up.... haha bec I am going out with her....

And as the afternoon progressed, I really did.... in between our appointments, we bantered, made jokes and laughed at each other... it's like our old hiking trips of 06 and early 07 again.

Guess that the marketing trips do no have to be such a torture as well, prob bec we started on a pretty good note. The meet-up with the bankers din go too badly, without any awkwardness or icy moments.... it's a good start anyway, with many more trips lined up in the next weeks....

Well, if nothing else, at least MC will be there too, telling lame jokes and making funny remarks to liven my day again.

Birthday celebration: MC's 21st birthday

2008-03-16T23:50:00.011+08:00

MC turns 21 years old on the 17th of March.... As I always like to say, since my own birthday falls on the 17th of Jan , I'm older than her by merely 2 months.......

.......and 10 years :-(

We already had a celebration with her last week with dinner @ New York New York, plus karoke at K-Box. More could have made it if not for work... well, still it was pretty fun... I mean, it's not often that you get to see ah-guan sing right....

Today we celebrate it with a bigger group. comprising our bunch of current/ex colleagues, plus MC's family and other frens.

Club CKSians 'Family Photo'

Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner @ Ah-Ma's Place

2008-02-07T00:06:00.007+08:00

The cousins (plus 2 new upcoming additons to the family) posing with ah-ma for our annual photoshot.

Jasmine's 21st birthday celebration at Downtown East

2008-01-27T10:00:00.004+08:00

Melaka Trip

2008-01-07T23:45:00.002+08:00

Just had my first overseas trip of 2008 over the weekend... the venue: Melaka, Malaysia.

As usual, it was with my fellow CKSians, a bunch of crazy and fun loving motley crew that frequently meets up for meals and occasionally moonlights as colleagues at work... haha... well we all used to work together actually. Different aspirations in life has spurred us to move on in different directions, but the good thing is that we still make the effort to meet up very often, be it to celebrate somebody's birthday, somebody's departure for greener pastures, for the New Year, or just for a simple meal together.

Day 1:

Setting off in the Sat morning (5 Jan), the lot of us gathered at Golden Mile, boarded the coach (which incidentally was 1 hour late) before making the trek up north... as if the delay in the morning at Golden Mile wasn't bad enough, the coach driver contrived to make it more interesting by actually forgetting to pick up 4 passengers at the JB checkpoint and having to make a U-turn to pick the stranded passengers, who understandably weren't amused at being left behind...

Finally reached Melaka at ard 1 plus... we were putting up at the Holiday Inn Melaka, after checking in, and oohing and aahing at the view of the Straits of Malacca, we had lunch at Newton Food Centre (not the one at Newton, Singapore, of coz) before heading down to the more historic district, well known for its red-colour buildings, Christ Church, as well as a full size replica of a ship similar to those used by 郑和, the famous 15th century Chinese eunuch-cum-navigator who travelled to over 30 countries and helped China establish political and economic ties with them.

We spent a good part of the afternoon cooped up at a cafe in Chinatown, thanks to the heavy rain.... decided to opt for a quick dinner there before heading to a local shopping mall. It ain't exactly Takashimaya or Paragon, but plenty of good bargains abound, and June still managed buy 3 pairs of shoes as well as a bag.... pretty much the same story for some of the girls as well.... haha, good thing we din go Batam, as initally proposed.... what are they gonna shop for over there? 'Welcome to Batam' tee-shirts and key chains?

Ended the night with some drinks at the hotel lobby, kinda like a celebration for AT whose last day at work was the day before, and is gonna embark on a new venture come Monday...

Day 2: Sunday

After breakfast and some time taking group photos (our fave hobby) by the pool side, we proceeded to do some touristy things: like climb a hill to check out a nice old conserved church (sorry forgot the name, just remembered it was built by the Portuguese, then taken over by the Dutch, and then the Brits).... and the pretty nice panoramic view of the town... we then proceeded to Mahkota Shopping Centre (hope the spelling is correct man), for lunch, and ..... yeah more shopping.... June & I managed to try out the local specialty, chicken rice ball at the said Newton food centre again... not really very shiok lah, tho DE said that wat we tried was in no way, a representation of the authentic chicken rice ball stall/place which apparently is near Chinatown, and basically only does lunch, closing at 1pm... Maybe another time ba....

By 2:30, we are all on our way out of Melaka and back to our daily (boring) routine.... Kudos to DE, our "五星导游" who is already planning out next trip slated in May.... a self-drive trip to Genting, which was the venue of our first overseas trip as a group last year. Well, since June is gonna be due in April, looks like we are gonna have to give this upcoming trip a miss... Well enjoy people.... it's been fun, and looking fwd to us meeting up again soon.

Chirstmas Eve: Farewell to yet another colleague

2007-12-25T14:38:00.002+08:00

Christmas Eve was YT's last day... sigh, yet another colleague and good fren has joined the exodus out of the company. Oh well, how will life be like at work, having seen more than half of our gang left for greener pastures. Nevertheless, all the best, YT!

We worked for half a day or so, before having some annual Xmas party/games... after that the gang met up at Marina Sq with some of our ex-colleagues for bowling plus dinner... meant to also celebrate JT's birthday.

Banyan Tree Trip: 28 June 07

2007-06-30T23:03:00.013+08:00

Went to Bintan Banyan Tree to celebrate June's birthday... This trip has been dreamed of and talked about by us for years, but we have never gone ahead with it, as the resort cost is probably about the same as a trip to say Hong Kong.

This year, we have finally taken the plunge... It ain't cheap for sure, but as long as we both enjoyed it, then I guess its worth it ;-P

My favourite part of the stay - the built-in jacuzzi

One of the highlights of the trip, had to be our 'romantic' dinner on the rocks, just by the seaside.

Here's a 'video walk-through' of our villa at Banyan Tree.

Bintan Agro Trip

2007-05-22T23:53:00.002+08:00

Following up on our very enjoyable trip to Genting, the CKS kahkies have embarked on another weekend getaway, this time to Bintan Agro.

What is good about this place? Cheap accomodation, cheap, and decent food, and very importantly, cheap cheap spa/massages. A 3-hour plus full spa/massage cost abt 70 per pax. Lagi Best!!!

But utimately, it's the company that maketh the trip enjoyable... back on holiday with a group of fun-loving colleagues is what makes this trip really fun and truly memorable.

Company trip: Genting

2007-02-12T00:06:00.004+08:00

Went for my first company trip of any kind since I joined in 05 - weekend trip to Genting.

The company had been going for trips overseas every year - Hong Kong last year, and Australis the previous year - but I was never keen to go, for one reason or other. But this trip is kinda different. After behaving like a hermit in my past 2 years in company, the past few months had witnessed a change in my interaction with my colleagues.... finally kinda opened up and learned to loosen up I guess. We have been going for lunches together on a daily basis, and where, we all used to eat separately, I thot as a group, we have all come together and built a certain level of cohesion and camaderie, which was further enhanced thru this trip together.

We set off on Friday evening and got there like in the early hours of the morning... we had some time to settle down, munch on junk food, and get some sleep before begining Saturday proper - the managers headed for the casino, wheres us, the lunchtime kakhies headed for the rides.

Haven been to place since probably 03, when I was there with June. The rides were not much different, but now that we are here as a group of 10+ people intent on having some serious fun, the feeling is like experiencing for the first time...

At night, we split up, with some of us headed for the casino, while, JT, MC, MN, CS, DE and I headed elsewhere. We ended up at Safari, a disco, where we bumped into the resi team... oh well, I haven't been chionging for a few years liao.... and reliving the old days was.... fun man!!

Nothing much happenedon Sun. We just packed up had breakfast and then headed for home. But the trip was a really enjoyable trip. More of these pls.

Europe Honeymoon: Black Forest-Frankurt

2006-12-26T23:15:00.003+08:00

Europe Honeymoon: Lucerne (Switzerland)

2006-12-22T23:51:00.006+08:00

Shot taken of the Swiss Alps on enroute to Mount Pilatus

'Postcard' shot taken during the cable car ride up to Mt Pilatus

Here we are, atop Mt Pilatus, some 7,000 ft above sea level.

The Lion Monument at Lucerne, dedicated to the Swiss guards who died defending the French King

Taken at Lucerne. In the picture is a historical old bridge that had been around for hundreds of years.

Boat cruise on Lake Lucerne

Europe Honeymoon: Innsbruck (Austria)

2006-12-20T22:03:00.003+08:00

Innsbruck's famed Golden Roof

Posing for a shot after an extremely chilly horse drawn carriage ride

Having a drink at 'a quaint tavern' to warm ourselves before the journey back to the hotel

Europe Honeymoon: Salzburg

2006-12-19T19:31:00.004+08:00

It's a dream honeymoon... in Europe... and I have to fall sick at this time....

We pulled up in Salzburg after leaving Munich this morning. Started to feel some throat irritation, signs that a sore throat is on the way. So usually, we will just drink more water right...? So during a pit stop, bought some mineral water. Everything is in German mah, so din know it actually sparkling mineral water (with gas one). Oh yeah, along the way, the tour director (usually known as the tour guide) was telling us about famous composers, like Mozart and Bach. So the question is, what are these composers doing now? Ans> They are de-composing... dada... lame joke of the day for ya.

So we reached Salzburg, and proceeded to do a walking tour of the place. Some background for ya: Salzburg is the 4th largest city in Austria, abt 150k pop. It is famous for 2 things, namely Mozart and The Sound Of Music, which was filmed here. Oh yeah, and it is freaking 2-3 deg celeis today..... arrrhh beri beri cold, freezing already. Din like it one bit, somemore throat feeling damn bad liao, to make things worse, I'm like half freezing despite my winter clothes, with runing nose and all. After the tour of the old town, we had a couple of hours to roam the place. Being cold and all, I just wanna find a place that is indoor, warm, and can let me sit there for a while to feel warm again (no eating at christmas stalls today, really I have about had enough of german sausages and bacon). Had fish and prawns for lunch, and begin to feel slightly better, since now not cold and hungry.

Then the hiccups began.

Dunno where that came from... my guess is that gassy mineral water in the morning. So throughout the afternoon, up till now in fact, at 8pm at night, I'm still having those hiccups.... stomach very very uncomfortable, kinda churning inside as well.... dunno whether to just throw up my food and work very hard at the toilet bowl. Not helped by the fact that i just downed a whole pizza just now for dinner... definitely feel very bloated now, and still having hiccups.. arggh, today is the worst day of my trip. I am like having all kinds of ailments like now, indigestion, itchiness, and flu... Hopefully, after a good sleep I will feel better.

Anyway, Salzburg is damn boring. Was walking back to the hotel after dinner and the streets are deserted.... only a couple of souls walking around, where did the 150k people go? No wonder Mozart left this place to stay in Vienna. Defintely not worth a re-visit. Oh did I mention I seemed to have gained weight? Saw myself in the bathroom and seemed to have found an old fren, located at the tummy area... seemed rounder.... I defiintely need to work hard to lose that flab when I get back..... more hiking maybe.

Well, my trip is halfway thru liao.... already missing mee hoon, chao guotiao and the food back home... everyday eat bacon, suasage eat until sibei sian liao. There, feel a bit better after rambling a bit here.... please excuse an old man and his grumblings... Sorry din take too many pictures here... too unwell to really bother with photo-taking.

Europe Honeymoon: Munich

2006-12-18T00:22:00.014+08:00

Our first destination out of Frankfurt: a magnificant cathedral

Shots taken at Rothenburg, a medieval old town circa 1700s

Having reached Munich, our dinner was at Hofbrauhaus, Munich's most famous beer hall

Snow!!! On the 2nd day in Munich, we spent some time at Marienplatz, a historic area major shopping place in Munich.
Stunning snow scenes taken while visiting a small castle in Munich

Europe Honeymoon: London & Frankurt

2006-12-16T13:16:00.017+08:00

We had spent two short days in London on Wed & Thu before taking the flight over to Frankfurt yesterday (Friday). Setting off from Singapore to London took 14 hours, enough time for us catch some sleep, 2 meals, and 3 movies

We touched down at slightly before 7am, local time (That would probably be like, 2+pm in Singapore), and wasted no time in taking the Healthrow Express to Paddington before taking a short walk to our accommodation, Rhodes Hotel, a nice quaint little B&B (Bed & Breakfast) located along Sussex Garden. The temperature was a nice cool 11 deg, and we thought we probably didn’t need anything more than a down jacket, so without thermal wear, scarf, or gloves, we left the luggage at the B&B and proceeded to travel around the city. On hindsight, bad decision… didn’t factor in how cold the wind howling in your face will feel. By the end of the day (which incidentally effectively ends by 4:30pm, the time when the city loses all daylight), we were both left ruing over how we had underestimated the weather and the strong wind. Good thing it didn’t rain, else it would be a total stinker.

First stop was to Marylebone Road, to validate our bus pass for The Original Bus Tour, 1 of 2 open-top bus tours that ply various routes in London, providing an excellent view (with recorded documentary introducing the various buildings we see along the way) of London’s many, many historical buildings and landmarks. This whole place would be a URA conservation planner’s wet dream, or should that be an absolute nightmare? London is a city, so steeped in history, every other corner we turn, we saw some historic quaint building built in the 19th, 18th century or even longer, if you are talking about the various towers and castles that seemed to spring up all over London. The whole place was so full of character, none of the pictures I took could even do justice to them. We visited places like Regent Street, which is kinda like the Orchard Road in London, and there were Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Street where there were many theatres showing various musicals like Les Miserables, Chicago, Mama Mia.

Due to the short time we had in London, and unexpectedly long travel time between places, there were only a few places of interests that we managed to go to. In the end, we only managed to go to the wax museum (which frankly wasn’t as interesting it was hyped to be, IMHO), the London Eye, British Museum, Hard Rock Café, Planet Hollywood… and or yeah, Harrods, where almost anything and everything can be found. Things ain’t cheap there though. Thanks to the exchange rate being about S$3 to one pound, a really simple ladies jacket costing you 60 pounds would set you back by like wat, S$180. We visited Hard Rock Café and Planet Hollywood, but just could not bring ourselves to buy any T-shirt there. Firstly the price is a major turn-off. A simple T-shirt is gonna set us back around S$50-60. Secondly, the design is decidedly ordinary, definitely not worth the buck. So you ain’t gonna see us prancing around in future in some Hard Rock Café shirt from London.

Londoners were not as stiff and unfriendly as I first feared, though June did have a problem with their thick accents, Scrouser, Scottish, Irish, or whatever sometimes. Getting around wasn’t much of a problem, with plenty of buses, cabs and of course the Underground, a labyrinth of various tunnels and routes with numerous exchanges. And terminals. Thankfully, this is England after all, no languages barriers whatsoever, so when we seemed lost, all we needed to do is ask. The biggest news in England right now was about this Jack The Ripper-like serial killer who had murdered 5 prostitutes in like 6 weeks in Ipswich, as well the release of the results of the 3-year inquiry into Princess Diana’s death nearly ten years ago. So now we know that there ISN’T a conspiracy by the Royal Family or Secret Service to murder Princess Di…. duh...

Well, that’s about all the time we had for London. On Friday morning, we boarded a flight bound for Frankfurt, reaching here at around 1:15pm, local time and arriving at our hotel, The Courtyard Marriot by cab (which took a wrong turn to the wrong Marriot hotel and cost us around 30 Euros, or $S60…. OMG, that’s freaking ex! Sure puts the transport costs in Sg much lower in perspective) at around 2 plus. As our tour with Insight Vacations only begins today (Saturday), we had some free time on our hands and proceeded to explore the Old Town at Braubach Str. where the Christmas market is situated and as well the main shopping belt nearby at Haupt-wache and Konstabler-wache (yes, it's quite a mouthful, I also dunno how to pronounce.. haha)

The temperature here was around 6 deg, cold enough for you to breathe out of your mouth and see your breath condense and turn white, like in the movies…. Haha, June loved it… well, yours truly here thought it was kinda fun too. Well, being the old town, the place has a lot of very nice photogenic buildings, which when coupled with the lights and Christmas trees, Christmas market, and the crowd, makes for a very atmospheric and picturesque setting indeed. There were people crowded along some stalls that sold this hot drink made of grapes that apparently helped to keep everyone warm. We hung around for a couple of hours before walking to the nearby shopping centres to window shop…. No Giordano or Charles & Keith over here though…. Familiar names we found were United Colours of Benetton and Esprit. We browsed for a couple hours more before returning to the hotel.

Well, that’s about all for now. Today we join other tour group members as we begin the 9-day package tour that will take us thru to Munich, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Lucerne before heading back to Frankfurt and then back to sunny hot Singapore. Will write whenever we can.

Our wedding... in pictures

2006-09-01T01:03:00.007+08:00

We are married on 12 May!!! Check out our videos!!!

2006-05-13T23:31:00.003+08:00

Our ROM day: 10 December 2005

2005-12-10T23:38:00.005+08:00