Owners!

After many months of searching and visiting units, followed by three months of waiting for the transaction to go through, we finally collected the keys.


So now, we are home owners! Renovations start soon!

Wrong Direction?

Saw this in the Parkway Parade car park. The car park management team must be a joker, cos ever since they revamped the car park system, it's a joke!

Dream Home?

Where does Ikea find all these people, whose dream home is a 35sqm apartment?

Head in the Clouds

Took this the other day. It was some pretty scary rain that day.

Car Plate

Saw this car plate in JB the other day.

Overdose?

I played golf again yesterday. This means that ive played 4 golf games
in the last 6 days. To be frank I feel a little overdosed with golf and
a little tired. Should I cancel my golf game this Saturday?

I drove a friend to JB for the game yesterday. He was a little concerned
that my tank was a little below the three quarter mark. I usually have
three quarters full but nowadays when I see that they don't check, I
don't really bother anymore. But since my friend pointed it out, we went
to pump before entering JB. I decided that $8 would be enough to get me
past the mark but alas when I got back to the car after paying, it isn't
enough. So I had to re-pump another $10. Kwa kwa.

Then on the way back from JB to Singapore, I pumped again to full tank
at the cheap JB prices. W00t!

It was Tuesday yesterday. It'd be three days of driving around before I
head to JB again. Three days is roughly three quarter tank for me. So I
went to pump petrol last night again so that when I go JB on Saturday,
im near the mark.

So in total, I pumped petrol four times yesterday.

Ive no idea why im typing all these. Maybe cos I don't feel like
working.

!!?!

Another post on the absurdity of golfers.

What possessed him to buy a pink belt, turquoise tights for the arms and a lime-green shirt and wear them all on the same day??!?

Packed

After playing golf on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, followed by
badminton on Sunday, I came to work aching all over man.

New Tool Addition

A colleague who just got back from Switzerland got me this.

My very first Swiss Army knife.

This will go into my new toolbox! w00t!

Provence Lust

After Someone and I got somewhat better from our various bouts of ailments, we started our usual dietary habits again.

It was a long time since we had this provence roll because it was always sold out.

This time, we bought three. One to eat there in the shop and one each for us to bring home. Typing about it now makes me hungry.

W00t w00t!

Someone is offering to pay me S$1000 to give a 1hour presentation about
branding and development strategy. Im thinking of making it 30 minutes
for presentation and 30 minutes for Q&A. Wahahaha..

Manhatten??!?

I saw this condo showroom in the middle of the Simei heartland the other day.

Manhatten??!?

Gosh.. have they run out of idyllic names that they had to name a condo after a New York borough?

Cheapo

I made a resolution: From now on, i will take as much shampoo, shower gel and soap from the nicer hotels i stay in so that i wont have to buy little bottles of toiletries for my golf games as well as for the guest toilet in my house. Wahahaha..

Toolbox!

I got my very first toolbox the other day! So fun!

Brainwashing?

My polling station in the recent elections is at a primary school.

Long time since i entered one and this is what i saw at the courtyard. I just found it odd to see these big banners proclaiming slogans. So boring and it almost feels communistic! I remember back in my day, it's all banners of the various ECAs. Although i wasnt big on ECAs, i thought it would have been more fun than these "inspirational" banners.

Birdie!

Ever since i bought my new clubs, along with the increased frequency of games, ive made great strides in my game, which has made golfing more enjoyable, which has in turn increased the number of games also.

I made my first birdie at the Bougainvillea course of Poresia, Hole 30, 127m, Par 3 on 10 April 2011.

The ball landed this close to the hole on the first shot! w00t!



Second birdie was at the Hibiscus course of Poresia, Hole 8 , 134m, Par 3 on 23 April 2011. Didnt take a picture for that one.

Third birdie was a chip in from the green on the Orchid course of Poresia, Hole 17, 162m, Par 3 on 7 May 2011.

Because it's still a novelty, i have kept the balls with which i birdied and never used them again:

Hee hee

In the continuing series of golf-related posts, here's what i saw in the men's changing room at Orchid Country Club the other day.

Roller Coaster

I saw this the other day at a HDB estate.

I have a feeling i know what they're building but it sure looks very complicated and very much like a roller coaster ride, dont you think?

Gateway to India

I didnt take many pictures when i was last in India. Whilst i saw many interesting things, there was just too much rubbish (literally) that made me want to take out my camera.

I did however, take a picture of the Gateway to India. This is in Mumbai. It looks blurry because i took it from the window of the Taj and it has a mosquito netting.



A clearer one can be found here:



Here's an internal shot of the corridors of the Taj after it was restored back to its original design:



A friend told me to stay away from the two hotels that were besieged by terrorists but i ended up specifically going to them to check them out. Kwa kwa.

Here's the shot of the Oberoi:

Rally!

We went to the WP rally the other day! This is a picture of the rally venue before proceedings started.



We managed to find a spot to sit that allowed us to see the stage. We even brought apple pies and drinks to enjoy the show.

It got so exciting when the rally started that i didnt take more pictures. Haha.

Golfer's Mentality

Just another example on how warped the golfer's mentality is:

Golfers hate long weekends because it means customs will be jammed by people heading up north or returning to Singapore. The situation is exacerbated if it's a common holiday shared by Msia and Singapore. Bleah.

Recently there has been reports of the haze coming back from Sumatra. I voice my concern that itd affect the golfing experience. My golf kaki said "Haze even better! Less people will come play. No jam!"

!!!

Vintage

I saw this car the other day on the road.

Looks tiny and in the blazing hot day, the windows are down. The car probably doesn't have air-conditioning. The girl, beside the driver, presumably his girlfriend wasn't looking like a happy camper.

Without sufficient boot space for a set of golf clubs, no air-conditioning and an unhappy female passenger, why would anyone drive a car like that?

Stuffed

On our last day in India, we met someone who kinda liked us immediately and brought us out for dinner.

We went to this hotel which supposedly had pretty good food.


He was quite a fat ass and i wasnt surprised he liked to eat. But i never expected that he wanted to go to one restaurant for starters and another for mains. At the starters restaurant, he ordered enough for a full meal before we proceeded to the other restaurant. The other was a naan restaurant. Some of the best naan ive ever eaten.

This is the open kitchen of the naan place but it seems like they were lobo-ing when the picture was taken.

India

*For some reason, this post didnt appear on the blog. I only just realised this.*

I leave for Mumbai, India tonight. First time going to India. We are targeting India this year because the traction in China is going quite well.

Whilst im fearful of the filth of India, im a little excited because it’s my first time in a new country. I haven’t gone to a new country for a long time.

Im bringing lots of charcoal pills, some Pocky and some tic tacs for fear I might be hungry. I heard I shouldn’t put ice in my drinks either.

Gulp.

Full of Themselves

You know some people are so full of themselves when their email address is Mr.Clark@xyz.com or Dr.Rao@xyz.com. The Mr Clarke dude’s email address is a company address somemore. Haha.

001

You realise you are being obsessive when you reach the golf club and you're the first person there at 645am.

Regular Guests

I was eating dim sum lunch at a restaurant in Hong Kong the other day when i noticed in the other table that there were special cups and mineral water bottles on the adjacent table.



I asked the waitress and she told me that this family came for lunch at 1pm everyday, except race days, to their restaurant, so they have their own cups and mineral water bottles there set for them before they arrive. That's hiong!

Oh What Joy

On a seemingly common street in Hong Kong...



there lies a little gem of a shop....



The pure bliss in a cup that is Xu Liu Shan! YAY!

Style

Ever since i got more serious with golf, i havent gone to my tailor. Which means i havent made a new shirt in a year or more now. That's pretty scary.

It's been so long that i even forgot the pet phrase of my tailor. I couldnt believe i could have forgotten it.

I was in China the other day and i saw the cover of this magazine. The phrase was caught my eye cos it sounded so Singaporean. Such a stupid catch phrase.



Then it came back to me. My tailor always said "style!".

Interesting Sign

By now, i am hardly impressed by hotels i stay in but this hotel that i stayed in Hangzhou touts itself to be a smart hotel. Other than a power socket, internet, phone connection panel that swivels at a touch of a button or the bathroom window which frosts up with a button, i was quite impressed with the fact that once you tap your key card in the lift, when you reach your floor, the signs leading to your room will light up and indicate the direction of your room. The various signs along the way also light up. Pretty cool!

What a Rock!

I saw this at the beach the other day. Interesting.

Hangzhou

Hangzhou is always beautiful, except for the person of unidentified gender in my pic. Damn.

Medical School

Just saw this on FB. Quite funny.

Home Sweet Home

I cant wait to go home tomorrow.

 

I have arranged a golf game on Friday to make up for the one I missed last saturday. Then of course I have another on Saturday.

 

By the time I return home tomorrow, I’d have taken 10 flights in the past 3 weeks. That’s crazy.

 

Shagged

As posted earlier, my Chairman and I have been flying around China for the last few days. From morning meetings, to site visits to dinners with clients. By the time we landed in Hong Kong this afternoon, we were all shagged out.

 

We were in our elevator getting to our respective rooms. In my haste, I followed some other guests out and got off at the wrong floor. After I realized it, I took the lift to my correct floor. Then I saw my chairman on MY floor! Haha. Turned out he thought that the next floor after I got out was his and he simply got off too without seeing. Haha.

Bleah

I know it’s a busy period when I have to take out my laptop and work on the plane. I think I have done this less than 5 times in the last three years in my company. In my previous company, I did it all the time. It’s just as well because with all these travelling these days, I have watched all the shows in onboard entertainment already.

 

Actually I think this might be a lobo trip because im just tagging along with my Chairman who is visiting Asia and would like someone who speaks Mandarin to tag along with him. And because I’ll be spending the weekend in Hong Kong, there’s a chance I can go buy some golf balls in Kowloon, drink some Xu Liu Shan and maybe eat some Yong Kei. Hee hee.

Guilin

I was in Guilin for the first time last week. Quite scenic really. The whole city is made up of these scenic small mountains/hills.

Bubbly Bath

I saw this in someone's bathtub today. Wow! That's a lot of bottles of shampoo!

Tripping

I realise that all my posts that talk about my long trips are called "Tripping". I'm very uncreative that way.

After rushing through Guangzhou, Chengdu, Guilin, Shenzhen and Hong Kong the past week, I'm back for the weekend for some golf.

Then its back to the road next week to Sanya, Boao, Haikou, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Man, typing it out is already scary.

Sent via BlackBerry from SingTel!

YAY!

YAY! Managed to arrange a game for this Sunday. Together with my Saturday game, means it’s three consecutive weeks of two golf games per week.

 

No way I can continue this because I’ll be travelling the whole of next week. Then coming back for the weekend and then going to China for another two weeks. Gonna burn a weekend there and miss golf. Bleah.

 

By the time I return, it’d be end of March already. Time flies!

 

V Day

This year’s V-day was nondescript because I had a conference call that night at 1030pm and I had a cough so we just ate at home. I didn’t even buy a gift because I was too busy and we kinda decided not to buy gifts this year. But Someone was sneaky and bought me a tie. Very sneaky.

 

So over the weekend, I was sneaky too and went to buy the gift which I had wanted to get since December.

 

In my little speech before I gave my gift, I think I might have mentioned that this gift was an appreciation of the support that Someone has given me throughout the year so that I could concentrate on my work. So the gift was like “Growth Dividends”. Yes I said Growth Dividends. Haha.

 

I just calculated how much income tax savings I get from Budget 2011. Decent to cover part of the costs of the bag. YAY PAP!!!

Three-peat

I have played golf twice a week for two weeks now. Hopefully i can do that again this week. w00t!

Heads Down

Not sure if many or any of you would get this since it's a golf joke.

First week of 2011

It was the first week of 2011 for me the past week.

It started off quite relaxed because my Chinese clients were still having their Lunar New Year holidays.

A lot of them started work on Wednesday then BHAM! My Outlooks calendar just fills up! i had 4 calls and meetings on Wednesday and Thursday wasnt better.

The ultimate was Friday. After sending my mum for a check up and coming in at 2pm, i had:

A meeting at 2:30pm

Then a conference call at 3pm.

Then a meeting at 4:30pm, that lasted till 8pm.

Then i had to rush an presentation for my Chairman which i completed by 9pm.

I rushed home to have dinner before having a conference call at 10pm.

Then i had another conference call at 11pm and that lasted till 1am.

I quickly packed my golf bag after that so that i can sleep at 1:30am before waking at 4:15am for golf.

I was so bushed after golf on Saturday and slept the noon away.

Golf

Time and time again, im amazed at how weird the game of golf is and how fanatical some people, including myself, are.

We wake up at 4+am every saturday to travel to JB to wait in the dark for first light before teeing off.

Here's how dark it was while we were waiting for dawn to come.



It's also a game fraught with many superstitions. You arent supposed to say that the weather is good because it'd jinx it and then it'd rain. Some people think that drinking 100 Plus before the game would mean your score would be over 100, which isnt good at all. I myself have this pair of shorts that i dont wear because i always seem to have bad games when i wear it. Haha.

I am glad i managed to play 2 games over the CNY period and also two games over this weekend. I even broke my personal best today. Only downer was that i was caught by the JB traffic police for speeding today. 123kmh. That's not speeding!

Top Analogies

I saw this on my friend's FB. Damn funny.

 

56 worst/best analogies of high school students

Apparently the Washingtonpost held a contest in which high school teachers sent in the "worst" analogies they'd encountered in grading their students' papers over the years. (I place "worst" in quotes because many of these actually strike me as quite witty). The top 25 of these have been circulating around the "Sandra Bullock" ("net", get it?) recently, but I decided to post all 56 that I was able to find. Here they are, in their order of objective funniness (in my opinion):

1. Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
2. He was as tall as a 6′3″ tree.
3. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
4. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
5. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
6. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
7. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
8. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
9. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
10. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
11. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM.
12. The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object.
13. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
14. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
15. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at asolar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
16. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
17. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
18. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
19. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
20. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
21. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
22. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River.
23. Even in his last years, Grand pappy had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it hadrusted shut.
24. He felt like he was being hunted down like a dog, in a place that hunts dogs, I suppose.
25. She was as easy as the TV Guide crossword.
26. She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.
27. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
28. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
29. "Oh, Jason, take me!" she panted, her breasts heaving like a college freshman on $1-a-beer night.
30. It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.
31. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
32. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
33. The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.
34. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.
35. Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like "Second Tall Man."
36. The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.
37. The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.
38. She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.
39. Her pants fit her like a glove, well, maybe more like a mitten, actually.
40. Fishing is like waiting for something that does not happen very often.
41. They were as good friends as the people on "Friends."
42. Oooo, he smells bad, she thought, as bad as Calvin Klein's Obsession would smell if it were called Enema and was made from spoiled Spamburgers instead of natural floral fragrances.
43. The knife was as sharp as the tone used by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) in her first several points of parliamentary procedure made to Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) in the House Judiciary Committee hearings on the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton.
44. He was as bald as one of the Three Stooges, either Curly or Larry, you know, the one who goes woo woo woo.
45. The sardines were packed as tight as the coach section of a 747.
46. Her eyes were shining like two marbles that someone dropped in mucus and then held up to catch the light.
47. The baseball player stepped out of the box and spit like a fountain statue of a Greek god that scratches itself a lot and spits brown, rusty tobacco water and refuses to sign autographs for all the little Greek kids unless they pay him lots of drachmas.
48. I felt a nameless dread. Well, there probably is a long German name for it, like Geschpooklichkeit or something, but I don't speak German. Anyway, it's a dread that nobody knows the name for, like those little square plastic gizmos that close your bread bags. I don't know the name for those either.
49. She was as unhappy as when someone puts your cake out in the rain, and all the sweet green icing flows down and then you lose the recipe, and on top of that you can't sing worth a damn.
50. Her artistic sense was exquisitely refined, like someone who can tell butter from I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
51. It came down the stairs looking very much like something no one had ever seen before.
52. Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com¥aaakk/ch@ung but gets T:¥flw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake.
53. You know how in "Rocky" he prepares for the fight by punching sides of raw beef? Well, yesterday it was as cold as that meat locker he was in.
54. The dandelion swayed in the gentle breeze like an oscillating electric fan set on medium.
55. Her lips were red and full, like tubes of blood drawn by an inattentive phlebotomist.
56. The sunset displayed rich, spectacular hues like a .jpeg file at 10 percent cyan, 10 percent magenta, 60 percent yellow and 10 percent black.

 

2011

2011 officially starts today for me because we went on our holiday on 7 Jan and I didn’t do much work in the days leading up to 7 Jan. Then the trip to China then CNY.

 

Today is the first day on 2011 for me and it was tough getting up even though I slept at 10pm the night before. Got in at 10am this morning. The engine isn’t fully revved up yet because the Chinese clients are still on holiday.

 

Now to do my expense claims.

 

Geeky

See what i have on my bedside when im on holiday. ipad, kindle, earphones and a hard drive to assess some company files if needed. And of course, my BB. What will i do without it?

Spoils

Here's a picture of all the things we bought.

Yes i bought a golf club. *beams* and i brought a zwa long looking bag as a hand carry so that i can buy the Tumi handcarry. We also bought a Tumi cabin luggage. Hee hee.


There's a distinct possibility that we are fans of Tumi. To verify, we gathered all our Tumi products used/bought in this trip.

Alcatraz

We went to Alcatraz as well. One of those things tourists must do when they're in San Francisco.

Here's what greeted us. Those were racist days.


This is the external building.


A typical cell. Tiny!


Alcatraz from a distance.

Warped

There werent any good restaurants in the factory outlet district we visited. We were too pooped to go look for something and San Francisco was a two-hour drive back. So we ate Macdonalds. We werent super hungry so the various finger foods there were quite perfect.

Or so we thought.

They were having this promo. 20 piece nuggets for US$4.99 and a 6-piece pack was US$4.99. Although we really just needed 6, we felt it was silly to pay $2 more for much lesser. So 20 pieces it was. Then we ordered a meal as well. Decided to get a happy meal since it'd be smaller.

Smaller it was. Check out how small the fries is, compared to Someone's hand. Tiniest pack of fries ive seen! Haha.



Also in the shot are the 20 nuggets. We didnt finish them all and brought them back to eat with our instant noodles breakfast the next day.

Mass

While we were in San Francisco, we went to De Young Museum. I am usually not into such stuff but since it was quite famous, we went.

It was quite interesting overall and i wish i wasnt too tired towards the end that i didnt get to read all the descriptions and backgrounds of the pieces.

One of those which especially caught my eye was this:



The piece is called "Mass" and it is made up of the charred remains of a burnt down church and suspended in a cubiod shape. Playful use of the word "mass" in both the religious and scientific context.

Horsing Around

We went to the outlet mall when we were in San Francisco.

It's perhaps the only place we didnt take a picture because we, probably just me, was too busy shopping, plus it wasnt a very pretty place anyway.

Saw this shorts in Polo Ralph. So obiang.

Cui

Saw this sign in the airport lounge in China. It doesnt read like much but it resonated with how i felt when i entered the lounge.

Cui.

Boom!

We never mentioned this to anymore but when we reached San Francisco, we took a paid shuttle bus (more like a van) service from the airport to our hotel.

On the way there, i heard a super-loud bang on my left. Super loud. Turned out that the left passenger window that Someone was sitting before just shattered. It was super duper. The shards were on the floor, Someone was in a semi-shock, the van couldnt stop because we were on the highway, so the cold air just came right in as we tried to assess the damage.

Thankfully Someone wasnt hurt, or else it'd be a lonely holiday for me.

Tarts

I came here on the first day for dinner. There were Portuguese egg tarts on buffet. Decided on the buffet and whacked a number of those tarts. Second night I came for dinner.. Bread pudding replaced the tarts. Very disappointing but I had the buffet again.

Third and last night.. I'm here again for dinner but decided to go ala carte and maybe order those tarts ala carte but they weren't on the menu. I asked the manager if he sold the tarts. He offered to sell me four of them for the price of a slice of cake which was S$12. I told him that was too expensive plus I only needed two and so I decided against it.

He said he'd give me two of them for free.

Kio diooooooo!!

Promo

I was just informed that I got promoted to Vice President with a 10% increment.
Woot!

Sent via BlackBerry from SingTel!

2011

2011 officially starts today for me.
After a 14 days in San Francisco and Telluride, countless hours spent in the plane, numerous chicken mcnuggets, lots of shopping, I'm once again at the airport, waiting to go to Hong Kong.
Hello 2011! Hope you'd be good to me.

Sent via BlackBerry from SingTel!

Gifted

This arrived in the mail today. Turns out to be a silk thingy from a client.



I brought it back home but as it turns out for all China products, things just fall apart. One side of the string handle came out, and the bottom tore. Why cant some people do something right for a change?

Scared Scared

I asked my cousin to change some US$ for me because she could get some good staff rate and I met her over lunch today to collect my US$5,445.

A couple of hours ago, there was a fire alarm in the office. It rarely happens but I didn’t give it much thought. Then the alarm rang again and lasted for a very long time. I got scared and I took the whole wad of notes and put it in my pocket. It’s still in there, after 2 hours. Hee hee.

 

Christmas Treats

Seems like every year, the number of Christmas presents are dwindling. How sad.

Someone gave me a Tempur travel pillow to replace the one i lost. This will come in helpful in our 20 hour flight to SFO. *shudder*



Then, i guess Sox deemed that i needed an extra hand in golf when he decided to give me this:



Unfortunately, i already had that already. Haha. I guess an extra extra hand wouldnt hurt.