Stocktake 2006

Stocktake 2006

I've delayed this stocktake for a long time. Either the internet connection was too slow (maybe thanks to the Taiwan earthquake that affected the submarine fibre optic cables) or I was too busy. Sometimes I was not in the mood to take on the massive task of pondering over the past 365 days. I kept telling myself that I have until 31 Dec 06. Now that I am barely 40 minutes before the new year arrives, I am going to mull over what I have done for the past 525 600 minutes (that is a year measured in minutes).

This may be a very fragmented entry, just like the episodes that pepper my life are. The only continuity is life. It flows like a smooth curtain of water and the events are like stones thrown at the water screen. There are splashes, some big, some small and most fade away, just like the curtain is restored after the disturbance dies down. I had earlier wanted to do a line-item stocktake but it would read like a never ending laundry list. Perhaps I should summarise the takeaways for 2006 instead.

I have a better understanding of the idea of work-life balance. I have also become better at achieving work-life balance. I have time for myself to do the things I like, I have learnt to take in information and news in tandem to the work I have to do. I have learnt to separate work and my private life well. I try my level best to keep it that way and whenever I had to work in my spare time, I know that such work is justified.

I have found a better equilibrium with my surroundings. This is a little difficult to explain but it is the innate sense of security that provides you with a protective. I don't feel invincible but I am more at peace with not having to prove what I am capable of.

I have lost even more rough edges. And with that, I am less piqued or angry with events that do not go as planned or with things which should but do not come my way. There are some things that I know I need to influence indirectly and so I try to make the best of the situation and steer it back. It is hard but it is a skill that needs to be honed.

And I have completed thinking about my next 5 years. It will be exciting!

Negation

Negation

Invitations open for anyone game enough to try negating the following statement.

Original statement

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.

My negation

There is at least a married man with misfortune who must be in want to get rid the wife.

Black Humour

Black Humour

Watched Scrubs on Christmas and a part of the show had this little ditty. It is Christmas in the eyes of an Emergency Room resident.

Twelve Days Of Christmas: Sacred Heart Version:
On the first day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
A drunk who drove into a tree

On the second day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Two shattered skulls
And a drunk who drove into a tree...

Twelve beaten children
Eleven drive-by shootings
Ten frozen homeless
Nine amputations
Eight burn victims
Seven strangled shoppers
Six random knifings
Five suicides
Four beaten wives
Three O.D.'s
Two shattered skulls
And a drunk who drove into a tree

Something Christmassy

Something Christmassy

I've spent Christmas or the period before overseas but never in the northern hemisphere in the west. Even though the planes that I flew in had seasonal decorations like little wreaths tied to the windows, the feel is very different when you get surrounded by the Christmas spirit entirely.

This time around, when I visited US, it was already Christmas season and everywhere was decked out and ready for the Christmas holidays.

On the radio, Christmas carols and songs were played almost non-stop. Douglas fir was seen outside many houses. The more creative owners put out lit caricatures such as the deer, the Nativity scene, and Santa Claus. Christmas was in the air.

In New York, the Macy's shop windows were so well-decorated that shoppers and revellers alike stopped to ogle at the wonderful set-up and incredible feats of small scale large scale engineering (a lot of engineering works within a small frame). People were carrying shopping bags and everyone looked as if they can't wait for Christmas to come.

In DC, there were Christmas trees decked out with lights and livery in the lawn in front of the White House. Unfortunately, I was not aware of the significance of those trees and missed them. Apparently, there was a big tree and 49 smaller trees. That I know. What I didn't know what that the 49 smaller trees were decked out with the produce of the individual states to represent the state outside the White House. What a waste. The only consolation was that the fog came when we arrived at the tree at about 10 in the night. We would not have been able to get a good look.

Wreathes were laid at the Arlington Cemetary, a sight we missed. Instead, we had a great time at the Iwo Jima memorial. And we got a fresh prespective of the Federal Triangle and its buildings from across the Potomac River. Interesting, indeed.

This year, I found out about the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I became a fan and listened to their recordings even back home. Now that Christmas is over, I'm keeping the discs till the next year.

Christmas 2006 has great and I hope for more great Christmases to come.

Bread Maker

Bread Maker

Finally, after months and months of reminiscing about my gorgeous bread, I bought myself a bread maker machine.

I am still in the midst of experimenting with the machine but I'm pleased to say that the experimental loaves are still nice. The touch is still there. Now it is to keep the loaves from collapsing during baking.

That will take a little time to figure out exact proportions.

Just the important points

Just the Important Points

I had intended to write a lot more about my trip to the East Coast but life stood in the way. I cannot believe it but LIFE indeed stood in the way.

For some reason, I could not convince myself to sit by the computer and write. I just had to get moving, get things done. If I'm at the computer, I'm playing Crickler.

Still, there are some important people whom I met during my trip that deserves mention.

In no particular order, the following people made a difference.

1. BL, MZ, Lucy and Schroeder. You guys know who you are. Thank you for:
Picking us up at the train station. It wasn't much of a station but pulling up in that tank of a car really made my eyes pop out.
Bringing us to a welcome dinner at McLoones, beside the Atlantic Ocean. It was beautiful although the sun had set.
The wonderful room to rest our "soles/souls" and the completely furbished toilet.
The daily breakfasts. We enjoyed going "In Between" and having the gorgeous eggs benedict smothered with lots of cheese.
Your city tour. It had been interesting learning about your home state. I only wish I had more time there.
Bringing us to Whole Foods. You guys are responsible for my supermarket withdrawal symptoms. And cooking dinner after that.
Making the Circle Line NYC cruise happen. It was one of the best highlights of the trip.
Showing us what your town was named after. And having dinner at the diner beside it.
Zipping us around in your Corvette.
Sending us to the airport.
Being such gracious hosts who have set the bar so high.

2. The manager of the NYC hotel for giving me a letter to indirectly say that I've been cheated by some unscrupulous internet booking agent. The agent took my money and then cancelled my booking. From what I last heard, the agent owed the hotel in excess of hundreds of thousands of unpaid room reservations.

3. The many people with whom we only had a fleeting encounter.

4. The day manager of the Washington DC hotel. Your kind heartedness was definitely not appreciated - at least when I was making my way to Union Station and pulling my luggage along the less than pleasant upslope, you were definitely well-cursed.

5. The DC Metro duty manager for letting me use the toilet.

6. The excellent guide on the NYC cruise, for making the entire 90 minute cruise a joy. Thank you for sharing your hometown with us.

Eating in US

Eating in US

It's always an incredible experience eating at US diners or restaurants. The portions are always that huge. I normally have problems with a standard 3 course meal (starter, main course, dessert). I normally have at most 2 of the three and I may not even finish the carbo on the main.

There were a few great dishes that I just want to list up here. Many of them were not found in Singapore.

Roast/BBQ Chicken - For some reason, chicken in US tastes excellent. They taste like they are semi-kampung chicken. The meat is firm but extremely succulent. It is one great dish to order any time.

Pork chops/ribs - Incredibly flavoursome and tender cuts. There is something about US pigs that keeps their meat free from the odour that curse Australian pork. The cuts are generally generous and they will never taste dry or hard, like what we normally get in SIngapore.

Fish - salmon and tuna are generally superior. Had a pan seared tuna with wasabi potato at McLoone's (a restaurant right on the Atlantic coast in New Jersey). The rare tuna was incredible.

Vegetables - sweet, juicy, flavoursome. How else does one describe the wonderful produce there?

Bagels - my Archilles' heel. I love my bagel and can eat a couple of them in a sitting. Then I overheard from some yakking women that a bagel is equal to five slices of bread. Ok, time to shut out my mind. I will walk out to get my bagel with scallion cream cheese. I will walk out to get my bagel with scallion cream cheese...

Pizzas - Pretty amazing stuff, those pizzas. There are a lot of Americans with Italian ancestry. If anything, they have perfected their breads and cheeses well.

Desserts - to die for. What else do I say?

Is everything all good? Not exactly. There were some misses too, but in general, the good stuff are more what we get.

I've got to stop writing this. I am feeling so hungry now.

Chasing Trains

Chasing Trains

Our first host is a rail road enthusiast. He had written about 30 books about trains and aptly, for the next morning, he brought the two of us to New Hope, Pennsylvania to "chase" a historical engine making short excursion trips for visitors.

We did not take any rides on the train - I was not entirely excited, knowing that I would be taking return train rides to Washington DC later - and the timing was a little late. By the time we had our brunch and had driven about a couple of hours to New Hope, the next available train ride was going to be the 3.30 pm. I really dread losing whatever daylight I have remaining from the tremendously short winter days.

Host thus brought us to places beside the tracks where we could take great pictures of the historic engine as it comes past.

In fact, we chased it all the way back to the originating station at New Hope and then followed it to "North Pole", where Santa Claus boarded and distributed candies and hugs to the kids, to Buckingham, the end station where the trained turned round.

While I am no rail road buff, I knew just enough to keep conversation.

And for the record, the standard gauge track is 4 feet 8.5 inches. It is an ancient measurement. In fact, it is the distance between two the assholes of two horses placed side by side. This goes all the way back to the Roman days. So what we rely on for a great form of transportation today still depends on something used centuries ago.

Train chasing was interesting and it was an immense test of the patience. You must trust that the trains were going to run, if a bit early or late. And get your camera and get ready to shoot. Me? I prefer a ring side seat in the car.

Where had NYC gone?

Where had NYC gone?

When I last visited NYC in Aug, I flew in on a direct flight to Newark.

As the plane approached Newark, I had an excellent view of NYC. It was majestic looking steel and concrete city. The buildings were shimmering under the setting sun and it looked so un-San Francisco. I couldn't think of a better comparison then. I still can't. It is about the densest built up city I have seen. The tall sky scrapers and the shorter buildings that fill in all the gaps in between simply made any photo opportunity a good one.

When the plane turned to land, I had a sneak peak of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. While she looked smaller than a thumb nail, the green copper oxide covered statue is obvious to anyone who has seen images of the SOL before. The Land of the Free. It felt amazing to visit the US again, having just gone to the west coast in Jul.

So, with those fond memories in mind, this visit, my travelling partner (TP) and I booked ourselves on the port side seats and waited to take the long awaited shots at NYC.

Guess what! As it was winter, the days were very short. When we arrived, NYC was lit up with street lights and nothing could be seen from the plane. We landed in almost pitch black darkness, the (early) night punctuated by guiding lights on the ground. When we finally touched down, the cabin was slightly illuminated with the lights along the highway.

TP was disappointed. I felt cheated.

But hey, who am I to fight nature?

USA 8 - 17 Dec 06

USA 8 - 17 Dec 06

Visited New Jersey, New York City and Washington DC.

During the trip, I took down interesting events to blog about but as luck would have it, I misplaced the list. I should have known better than to take notes on a piece of paper napkin from the Chinese buffet restaurant in NYC. No harm still, I suppose. This is after all a ranting ground - I'll be damned if I had written anything more important.

So what I intend to do is perhaps to do a segmented running commentary of some of the more interesting things that registered in my then tired and cluttered mind. What I cannot recall is probably not worth remembering.

The Nightmare

The Nightmare

I ditched writing this post just now when I realised that the airline did not allocate me the seat that I was asking for. The back end service is getting atrocious. I really dread to be offered endless "beef" meals again on the flight.

The Singapore-Newark sector is notorious for beef meals. It is like going on a mad-cow flight. Lunch, there is a beef dish and something else. Dinner, there is a beef dish and something else. Breakfast, beef noodles and something else. Something else is normally not savoury and I really really don't take beef. So I had to get my travel agent to help. Let's hope she can do better than me.

Well, back to the nightmare. I know to call it the nightmare is a little overdramatic but if I tell you that I am flying out to Newark tomorrow, you might indulge me a little.

It was night and I was near my former junior college when I saw a plane take off, fly in my direction and started wobbling. It was dipping up and down and before long, it came into view. It was a weird plane. It has two propellers mounted on top of the roundish plane and something like an extended passenger cabin below.

It was painted in familiar livery. The next thing, the plane dipped and crashed. There was no smoke, no explosion, no fire.

I remember running to the long staircase where I saw a lot of people standing by the side of the road opposite it. On the slope, there were charred pieces of the broken up plane. Some smoke was billowing out from the burnt pieces.

Suddenly, the sky was lit with flares and I awoke suddenly.

Don't ask me how or why things turned out this way. The last I saw a plane act this way was when the hydraulics were entirely disrupted and the plane has lost all ability to be steered. And autopilot will cause the plane to move in a sinusoidal manner in order to maintain height and fight granvity.

Still, it is very weird that I should have dreams like these. It is really a nightmare I could do without.

But well, I'm just going to do my packing tonight and get ready for my trip.

Que sera sera. What will be, will be.

Teach me how to dump

Teach me how to dump

- Dedicated to someone who knows who she is -

How does a partner in a relationship end the relationship?

I think this is a very challenging question to answer. It is easier to answer questions such as "Under what conditions should a couple consider break up?" or "When do I know I should dump him or her?" But this is not the reason for the post.

I believe there are many ways of saying those words. Perhaps we need to point out what is troubling us and how we think the issue will lead to irreconcilable difference in the end.

Character

After a quarrel, you will know whether you are still compatible. If after quarrelling, both sides can put aside the differences and go for a meal, then there is a chance. If halfway through, someone storms off or chases the other away, end it.

What to say: I do not think we are able to communicate effectively. When we quarrel, we are impervious to reason and I do not think we will be able to go on in the relationship since we will be quarrelling more often as we get to know each other better. And if we cannot get past knowing each other, we should find someone else whom we can better relate to. Goodbye.

Money

If both are penny pinching and fair, it is ok. If both are generous, it is ok. If one is generous and does not expect returns, it is ok. If one is petty and fair, it is ok. If one is dishonest, end it.

What to say: Darling, I'm broke. Because you have been spending a lot of money and I have also had to spend money on you, my finances have been cut off because I am told I am not supposed to throwing all the money into this relationship. A relationship cannot be sustained by money alone. If you think it can, you'll have to start supporting me from now. Otherwise, I think we need to reconcile our expenses in our own way and I need to regain my financial standing soon. Can you? No? Goodbye.

Habits

If there is no way to accept or break the partner's habits and they are bothering you, then it will only get worse as the relationship progresses and one starts taking the other for granted. Especially if the habit has progressed to a point where you really cannot stand it any more.

What to say: It's my way or the highway. Your choice. In any case, I've chosen the highway. Goodbye.

n-Timing, where n > 1

If your partner cheats on you, then it may be time. It really depends on how tolerant you want to be.

What to say: Goodbye.

You've Lost That Loving Feeling

By and by, the fireworks will die out. The passion may die off. The libidoes wane. The groin doesn't get excited anymore. You need to decide if this is the person you can spend your life with or not. Because spending your life with someone does not require the loving feeling all the time. There should be just enough embers to last. You can't burn high and nigh all the time. Even the grandest bonfires burn out.

What to say: If you no longer feel for me, then do you want a time out?

Poor Sex

What to say: Darling, I'm a slut. Dump me, please.

This will drive you nuts!

This will drive you nuts!

This is taken from T F Stern's website. He called it harmless entertainment. I suppose I agree.

The object of the game is to move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls. If you can go longer than 18 seconds you are phenomenal. It's been said that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots. They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes. Give it a try but be careful...it is addictive!!

http://tinyurl.com/56t9u

Have fun!

If oil ran out a minute ago...

If oil ran out a minute ago...

Would there be a mad rush to fill up the vehicles with petrol?

What will become of air travel?

How will we learn knowledge, since almost everything we found out after the invention of the internet were placed in cyberspace?

Will it still be necessary to go to work?

What shall we plant?

How do we make chickens roam freely again? Currently and apparently, reared chickens are injected with growth hormones and they have to be killed after about 40 days after hatching. Failing which, they die of cardiac arrest. (I hear stories like these but never corroborated them.)

What will actors and electricians do?

Will fanatics drill into every inch of the Earth to check if oil indeed ran out a minute ago?

What will Green Peace protest next?

Lift Messages

Lift Messages

Where I work, the lift has a display and each day, there is a different message being shown.

Some examples are:

Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.

Think every word you speak, do not speak every thing you think.

A mind is like a parachute - it works best when it is open.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled; it is a fire to be kindled.

Each day, lift users get some nugget of wisdom to think about and the past week was particularly interesting. The examples above were all shown last week and there is a common idea that ran through them - thoughts.

A person's thoughts can tell us a lot about him, if we are able to live in his mind and know what he is thinking about. However, we can't do that. We are forced to decide on how a man decides to translate those thoughts into words or other action.

I cannot help but think about the idea of being "lost in translation".

I vividly recall a story where a superior wrote a damning performance report for a subordinate right before she left. Yet when the subordinate came over and bade her goodbye not long after, the two hugged and the superior thanked the other and asked her to take care. What was going through the mind of the superior?

Was it a customary goodbye gesture or did it reek of hypocrisy? I don't have any idea. I'm struggling with staying true to my beliefs and showing how my actions are congruent with my beliefs. And believe me, it is already a constant struggle. I suppose people do not call the society a large dye pool for nothing.

I hope to just leave this question for reflection: How does one rationalise one's thoughts and the manifestations of those thoughts?