What to do... with 3 hours... Reading?!?!

Have been busy lately trying to get my stuff together for the trip - planing on what gear to bring, what bags to use, borrowing winter stuff from my aunt, etc. for the first time in my years of travel, I actually started to pack for the trip way before hand. You know those trips I had for the past few years, I only pack an hour ahead of the travel - including those Germany/Korea trips; and yet here I am throwing stuff into the luggage bag, and determining which to bring - I think I only need to throw in the t-shirts and pants and I am ready to go!

So then I started thinking about the 4 hour transit (well, more like 3 hours, since it will be +/- some mins from the landing to get to the transit area and also boarding the plane before the actual flight time). What can I do then? Should I or should I not bring the laptop (not that the laptop is mine, although I have been holding/using it for like coming to 2 years)... Ultimately this decision boils down to what I am using as my hand carry luggage. Is it going to be the usual small cabin luggage or just the bag which will contains my cam gear only? I was inclined to bring the normal luggage as this will allow me to dump in change of clothes as a "just-in-case". If I do that, the chances to bring the laptop is higher and since I heard that we can have free wireless access to internet, it would be a great way to spend that 3 hrs.

Had a short msn chat with tehsis about this and she suggested that I bring a book to read... Or better (according to her), buy one and read it, once finish, throw it away since it's only a couple of dollars.

I have actually thought about it, but her method of throwing a perfect book after reading does not sits well with me. Perhaps it's because of my background or my experience, any books I buy, it would have a space in my bookshelf. If I am going to throw it away, I would not have even bought it. Why buy something and then throw it away - Does it not have value after you have read it?

You see, my childhood world belongs to books. When I was young, my mother has known the power of books and she had bought a fair amount of books, from the long list of fairy tale books, to a small version of science encyclopedia. Those books are my companion as I was the only child and I was never really allowed to wander under the blocks like you see sometimes - those playing in the basketball courts, and gathering under one of the blocks of flat. So, it was either the tv or reading books. Both have the ability to give you knowledge (although some need more moderation than the other), one through words, the other visual. Not sure why, but my tv staple was confined to the weekends till I was older, because I could only remember watching tv on Sat afternoons - shows like Lone Ranger, Donny & Marie Osmond Show to name some (that I remember), and others which most probably be a staple of cartoons, sesame street, muppet show, some war movies, some western movies - I could clearly remember Have Gun, Will Travel. Yes, I have some fixation with any that is of war or guns... How I never did ended up in some military career is a wonder....

Anyway, I was brought up in staple of books that at that point is part of any children's list - the Hans Christian Anderson's stories, Grime Bro's fables and of course all the stories which Disney brought to life in their animations. I then proceed on to Enid Blyton's books... Five-Find Outers series are part of my favourites. Then it progresses to Hardy Boys - but interestingly never Nancy Drew... By the time I was in Secondary school, I was already into Encyclopedia - almost every saturday I would be found in the Library (since the library was within the walking distance and mother do allow me to make trips there!!), pouring over the volumes of Encyclopedia that the library have... On my own, I started reading up on biographies and histories. I clearly remember I do have some facination on the Kennedy family and there were tons of books on them... Iam sure I still have some of those books in my shelf somewhere...

So while my peers were all reading books like Sweet Valley High and its equivalent, I was pouring over the history of the world and biographies of famous people... From there, it was onto other subjects like current affairs and of course, anything on computers. I was starting to learn computing and usually could get some money to buy books on these topics...

I guess the distractions of life and computers halt the habit of reading till in Australia, that's where I started reading up books on Christian faith - Koorong book store in Australia had orders from me since then for a couple of years - I started to read books from Phillip Yancy, Max Lucado, etc.

As time goes on, the need to read books no longer impose itself on my time and even if I was to read, it's no longer any "heavy" subjects like I use to read on... I guess it was like in the reverse, I am now, if any, be reading books which does not require much thinking... More like to pass the time, which means no brainer stuff. Feels kind of weird as I think most of my peers are now into, if any, "heavier" stuff, and yet, I am making the reverse track where I am reading the "thrashy" stuff as those are the only no brainer kind of books... At time, it might even be comics! So I guess never say never! (I was so postive, at one point of my life, that I would never read such "thrasy" books as it was like a waste of time!!)

But at one point or another some things changes, and what you read changes as well... Heck at one low point of my work life, I even bought books like "How to manage your boss", "Think out of the box" and "Cross-train Your Brain"!!!

However, it's sad that the reading habit is becoming in danger of dying as these few years, most of my "reading" and information comes from the internet. It's such a vast difference between reading a book and the internet... But it's still reading... Right?!?!?

Oh well... Back to the question... What do I do for those few hours... Hmmm.... Decisions, decisions, decisions... Maybe a book could be a good idea, but I doubt I would throw it away after reading...

Some food reviews....

Recently I have been having my usual meals at the Ichiban Boshi (with Kuriya Fish Market) at Great World City. That's my usual joint for Japanese food and I love the sashimi that I could get at the fish market. Of course this means my bill would have been rather high, especially when I come across Uni. They had introduced me to another type of Uni, which according to them is from the sea (presuming the normal ones were cultivated, much like those oysters). Man, if you like Uni, these would be even better - it's much larger in size and so much sweeter than the usual one. I have also learned that fishes have different names when they are of different size. Apparently large yellow tail is not known as Hamachi, but Burii (but then he could be explaining the fish in very simple terms...) Whatever, it was nice... However, I am saving up (or waiting to find a occasion/reason) to try out the meal at Akane (located within Japanese Association at Adam road). There is also another recommended place - Kaisan at Raffles Hotel... Drooling while blogging about them... One day... One day I will get to taste the food there... And will blog about them after it... Heh...

Ever since I been to Korea and had this wonderful BBQ meal at one of the restuarant, I have always wanted to experience that kind of meal again, but never did find one in Singapore. I have tried Crystal Jade's Korean BBQ once, but the Galbi was so-so... The ginseng chicken soup was nice (I heard some Koreans who tried it claims that it's better than those in Korea!). My mum loves the desserts (although I think those are not really traditional Korean desserts), so much that she started to experiment on her own, trying to recreate them. I have also track down all the different Korean restuarants that apparently had recently mushroomed in Singapore. However, from what I heard, the quality for them are still not as close to what you can get in Korea. Anyway, I read about this Korean BBQ restuarant that just opened at Dempsey Road, and friday, I had my dinner there. When I first heard about them, I had actually took some time from one of the days, while driving my mum back to her place, to turn into Dempsey road just to find out where the place was. It was quite easy to find, since it's facing the Napier Road... and mother had this comment about not seeing people dining in there...

Well, guess what - it was a good thing we were early that day... Apparently, they had quite a lot of reservations. We managed to get our table, and we sat down, started to look at the menu... I noticed that it's all mains, and with very little vegtables. The reason was when you ordered your mains, they would come with the side dishes, like the kimchi, and other types of pickled vegetables, and even a plate of tofu! We had like 9 side dishes,which accompanies our BBQ plate of Wagyu beef and marinated pork rib. We also ordered the popular seafood and spring onion pancake. I have noticed that this pancake seems to be very popular with Koreans and they usually would order them as part of their meals...

So how did the meal goes... While wagyu beef was not like those thinly sliced beef prime ribs that I had in Korea, it was still lovely, the marinated pork ribs were sweeter, but then I was forwarn when they recommend it, and the pancake was actually quite good. While I don't claim to be expert in Korean food, I would say my meal at this place went quite well. The only part which damper the glee was that the meal cost over $100. But then again, we are talking about Wagyu beef.... So I guess it's expected... Oh, just in case you want to try it, it's Chang Korean BBQ Restaurant at Dempsey Road (Why it seems to have a Chinese name, I have no idea).

Another food which I had been eyeing was Peking Duck. Being me, I love skins, be it chicken or duck or even pork for that matter. I love suckling pig (I have not found the ultimate one yet), and even roast duck. Give me a plate of rice with just the skin - would be heaven for me... I have also been tracking down places and tried at some of them. The issue with this peking duck is that it's usually 2 dishes and it's better if you got company... So I could only take this if I had my mum and aunt with me.... Well, till I found this restuarant where their duck is done slightly different, but the skin... Ooo... Tasted good, and each dish is always only a quarter of the duck... I'm talking about a rather new resturant off Purvis St - Tea Cusine. It was that good that we went there twice - consecutive 2 Saturdays. Funny part, we also saw a couple who was there on those 2 Sats as well! (Not sure if they went back the 3rd Sat, but I was at work after that, another long story for that) Not sure why, but mother seems to be into desserts - she is also trying her hand in making some of the desserts we had there as well! In the process, she got some of the ingredients mixed up between the ones at Crystal Jade and here...

One more place which I could get good roast duck (and skin, but not in Peking duck manner) was this duck rice stall in Ghim Moh Hawker Center. There are a few stores there selling roast duck rice (including the once famous Johnson duck), but this particular one is next to a Ipoh hor fun stall which was also once famous - the chef was on TV once introducing his hor fun. There is usually a queue at the stall, but it's not as long as the Char Kuay Teow one. It seems that this is one hawker centre that has quite a few stalls that server good stuff... Only issue is, do you have the time to queue for it... I heard the yong tau foo (think it's Hakka) there is also good, then there is this boneless chicken rice stall (which I have never tried, I usually goes to another stall which I like) Oh, if you follow the MOE ratings, like A, B, C, and D.... Please don't go there - especially the duck stall... while it's rated 'C', the queue is still long... Just like the Char Kuay Teow stall which I think got only a B. What's the worry anyway, the places here are relatively cleaner than those I could find in Penang, and I still eat those in Penang... I am still alive and kicking... Heck, I think you would have forgotten it when you first taste the food!

Oh well... I guess this explains why my waist line is still growing instead of being controlled and it's quite impossible to reduce it!!!

Spiteful Drivers

Not sure why but today I met with an impatient and spiteful driver who was driving a Lexus RX300 (then again, it could be the Toyota Harrier, rebadged to Lexus RX300). Was turning left to the main road, and he was driving behind me. Because there were a few turning lanes, I had understeer, so I was in the wrong lane. This guy started to move into the left lane and speed up and because I was coming into the lane, he started to blast me with his horn, and I brake a little, and not move into that lane. He then drove pass me on my left and slowed down (according to my aunt he stared at me for a while) and then pulled ahead. Since he pulled ahead, I showed my signal and then move into the lane. Guess what the fellow did... He jammed his brakes, and causing me to jam mine as well as the taxi behind me! If I had not been alerted to his sudden slowness in driving, and jam on my brake like hell come over, I would have bang the rear of his car and if the taxi has not been alert, he would have bang the rear of my car!!! How spiteful can a person be? Does he feels good when he did that? Does he knows that he is being irresponsible driver and could cause accidents?!?!?! He must have thought of it and thinks that it's a good way to "repay" me... Of course I am damn pissed off by his attitude... He has already horned and for a long time as well... And then he pull that stunt!

I hope one day he would meet someone as spiteful, if not more spiteful than him and let him learn a lesson on how dangerous was he! I would have love to be there when that happens, but only if I was standing at the road side to witness it. It would have been even better if at that point when that happens, there's a traffic police there and was out of his sight and he gets pulled over and being fined as well as given at least 6 points for his stunts!

Maybe I can be as spiteful as he is (since I am hopping he would meet someone like him or worse), but at least I am not putting myself and others in danger because of it!!!!

What a way to end the day... Oh, and government is talking about social graces?!?!? That I think would never happen here... Not with such people around...

A New Year....

Sigh... A new year has come. Hope all of you had a good long weekend break.

It has been awhile since my last entry... Well, since then I have been so busy that I don't even had the chance to enjoy this long weekend break... Long story... Still not happy about it... Don't want to talk about it...

Anyway, I don't know why, but banks seems to decide to change their internet security at a time where I practically had no time to even look at them... So when I wanted to pay my bills (on the final day, because I just remembered them at that day...) I was faced with issues, and was not able to pay as per normal!!! Worse, now I have to carry this small little device with me everywhere I go, and I cannot do any banking stuff without it. So if I happened to misplace it or I had to do emergency stuff and I don't have it, guess what - Yup, I am stuck! Why can't they come up with something that is easier to carry - as thin as a credit card so that I can place it in my wallet??? This is like worse than coins! Larger and thicker in size and without it, I can't even do anything... Dang, where can I place it... ARGH!!!!!

Of course there were some pleasant events, like giving myself a Christmas present - a brand new plasma TV!!! Although, I think my housemate is the one to enjoy it more than I do, hmm... Well, after buying it and got it delivered, guess what... I found out that my old HiTB's S-Video does not even work!!! ARGH!!! So now... I am looking at a affordable (yes, because the big spending was already done!!! No more spare $$$, since I am going Spain in Feb) DVD player that can take advantage of the HDMI connection... But I have to say, even with the normal RCA connection, plasma could anytime beat CRT in terms of the PQ of the DVDs... Now I wonder what's the improvement for a HDMI connection...

Everyone seems to talk about Goals and Aims for 2007... Me? Forget it... I just finally managed at the last moment to finish my list of "duties and achievements for 2006" for my boss... I had enough of squeezing an overworked brain... Now... I just want to relax and enjoy my plasma - even if it means sleeping at 2 am for the next few days!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....

I look forward to my trip to Spain... How I wish it's Feb now!!! Talking about that... Oh No! I need to get a good sturdy and not so easily pickpocketed camera bag for this trip.... ARGH!!!!

H. E. L. P. !!!!!