10 mar 03. mon. how happy are we? not so much unfortunately. a series of happiness studies done sometime ago measured how happy people are in different parts of the world. conclusion, wealth has little or no correlation to happiness.
5 mar 03. wed. consumerism off the balance sheet, an interesting read on the consumer market trends in japan. i wanna watch le divorce, wonder when it's coming.
3 mar 03. mon. we were talking about beautiful people the other day, and this is my vote on the most droolsome guy ever. and moby yaks about world issues, and everyday stuff.
28 feb 03. fri. there was this prank going around about something happening on the 29th feb. i guess it'll have a higher success rate if you do it beginning of the month. :p wy's india photos! this is the book i've been dying to read, begin at romantic fatalism.
14 feb 03. fri. happy valentine's! tiffany, mont blanc, and chocolate shops were swamped last nite, and for ppl who dun have st.valentin on their calendars, i actually thought there was a sale of the year or something. check out the satc interior zooms and wardrobe. et langue francaise outils.
9 feb 03. sun. so many things happened in jan, not all of them has sunk in yet. amidst the buzz, life goes on. i was in tokyo, completely smitten with this outrageous city. it is the first time i've felt this sad about leaving a place, usually i miss only the people. read this article about depachika - underground gourmet heaven.
17 jan 03. thu. can't remember what i was looking for, but chanced upon the trailer of kissing jessica stein. i must have watched this only recently, since it was out just last year in new york, but probably not going to make it here. anyway, aptly described as a romantic comedy about modern love.
9 jan 03. thu. everyone asks me why i love to read so much, and this pretty much sums it up. that you can always find a part of you expressed in a book.
7 jan 03. tue. 7 days into a new year. i have been away since 24th december, just catching up on stuff. my 2002 was eventful in many ways, yet somehow year end is hardly the best of times for me. always the gloom of personal defeat, followed by sense of dejection. i have a new set of resolutions this year, not easy but definitely it will be a happier season end for me. i think things will only get better. yes i know the symptoms. candyfloss optimism. :p look out for things to do in bangkok, that shall be my next online instalment.
20 dec 02. fri. i was watching 'return to middle earth' last night, making of the two towers, and i love it when they speak in elvish. it's so cool, i want to learn it too, but i will have no one to talk to. except for the cast of lotr maybe. then i remember i oredi have such a hard time learning french. :/
17 dec 02. tue. heineken xmas cheer. camper over the weekend in kl. my favorite store has a pretty updated catalogue now. although i really prefer to visit the physical store, at least i get some temporary joy during lunch and coffee breaks. and i dream of ipod.
24 nov 02. sat. after taj, manila and bangkok, i am very happy to come home to my bed. bangkok did not change much, everything is the way i remembered it. found some new shops to go to though, and bought some stuff. met hl for dinner at this italian restaurant in regent. cool place, have marked it as one of my favorite restaurants in the world. on my way back from manila, i was watching olivier twist on krisworld, will try the monkfish recipe. ingredients involve ginger, chilli, lemongrass, coconut milk, soya sauce, coriandar, lime, monkfish, all baked in a banana leaf wrap. pretty. mango lassi looks good too, ripe mangoes, yogurt and milk. sensory perceptions helped flavour the airline foodbox.
15 nov 02. fri. so i was in taj mahal 2 days ago, somehow it seem so unreal now. did i dream it? apart from the pristine white marble tomb that the taj mahal really is, the whole place is a swarm of tourist touts. it quicky became exhausting to be fighting off hordes of them who just wouldn't leave you alone. absolute nightmare. so much so that we were completely sapped of any energy to visit the red fort, which is about the only other attraction in agra. anyway, taj mahal photos at yahoo. i just talked to hl, and it was funny, coz we spent 5 minutes talking with me making plans to visit him in bkk, and he was trying to figure out who i was coz he lost all his numbers.
3 oct 02. thu. watched 8 femmes over the weekend. i read the review describing it as a campy whodunit show, and i read also the part about having to do a song and dance to prove their innocence. i thought it was figurative speech, and turned out they did do a song and dance each. next time someone says 'dog and pony show', i'll prepare myself to actually see a dog and pony. jump tomorrow tonite.
12 sept 02. thu. discovered epitonic recently and put up some mp3 links on the right. to download, just right click on the link, and click 'save target as'. been lingering around about a boy, pretty entertaining with games, mtvs, soundtrack clips etc. <sept 12 in literary history>
5 sept 02. thu. rawa pix, looks just like paradise, add a touch of humour with their amusing hollywood style identification. i still remember the conversation we had as the boat neared the island. /me: 'i think the island in front is rawa.'/f: 'yes, it's written there.'/me: 'haha.. yeah right'. <5 seconds later> me: oh it's really written there./f: 'yes that's what i said just now.' and when we were in kuching, f told the malay driver i was japanese, and while discussing population demographics in kuching (about 50% chinese, 50% malay), he passionately (and uninhibitedly) embarked on his views of life and meaning differently perceived by chinese and malays. stereotyped yet quite true. at least from a statistical point of view.
2 sept 02. monday. so august came and went. i was in rawa one weekend, and kuching another. spent a week in krabi and ko phi phi as well early august. sl and kp both sent me this article about singaporean dream vs plan, which i promptly circulated coz we have been talking about this for the past few weeks, fuelled by pm goh's 'are you a stayer or quitter' speech. many of us are at the crossroads of our lives, asking ourselves what is it that we want and finding no satisfactory answer. i was reading art and lies, in which handel remarked that the notion of success defined by society today leaves us worse off than the rabbit in the field.
26 july 02. friday. was taking pictures of the hammies when i couldn't sleep the other nite. i took one of them out the other day, not realising he was eating then and was appalled to see him suddenly all stuffed up and so fat!
12 july 02. fri. i have cable at home now. chanced upon a singaporean guy's world cup pilgrimage. while trying to find out what's playing at velvet this sat nite, i somehow stumbled into and got lost in some enterprise software reads. the internet space is sometimes like my dreams surreal. i never really get to where i want to go. and always a feeling of displacement, which reminds me that we talked about emotional resilience thursday lunch.
**daylight, just realised i have not been anywhere for a really long time. it's driving me crazy!
4 july 02. things are looking better now, past few weeks have been a mad-cap. on top of everything, my horoscope has been freaking me out by being so accurate, now it's back to being ridiculous, a relief. july stuff is pushed back to august. room is close to completion, some miscellaneous items to fill. and i start to wonder who is reading all these apart from myself.
22 june 02. some do's and dont's of driving. as for me, i just returned from shanghai and jakarta-bogor. june has been a very busy month for me, with work and non-work. mostly work, non-work involves the world cup, french open etc. accomplishment of the month: finally my wardrobe is built. it has been a very frustrating experience.
20 may 02. sun. i try to forget tioman for this weekend, simply coz i am here and not there like i should be. so friday night, i witnessed yoda's prowess with the light saber, very much to my amusement actually. saturday pool lazing by day and drinking with fishes by night. sunday work tedium, with finale of tennis, pool olympics and the dinner feast.
15 may 02. wed. fatboy slim in singapore (again), i thought he was just here recently. and this year's arts fest, i'm watching birdbrain, multiplicity, and metapolis. oso watched spidey, and will see star wars ep 2 this friday.
2 may 02. thu. post-holiday-depression: none! in fact, i am more than happy to be back in the sanctuary of my office today to escape my house bizarre. my office chair quit this morning, and i spent some time to interview and hire a replacement. still considering seoul over the vesak day weekend. my ixus will be on vacation in beijing from may 10 to 27. darn.
16 apr 02. tue. i don't know about you, but this week has been great. it's only tues though, yet it is not necessary to wait till friday to celebrate. plus i will be gone, away to bintan over the weekend. watched one too many films: magonia, totally flaky, the days between. all sad and poignant, all about living and loving and losing. we lose when we are afraid, sometimes we lose because others are afraid. which blimey, entirely not our fault yet we suffer. for awhile. there's only so long you can go on to be a victim before you kill yourself, metaphorically speaking. the days between. how will you live?
9 apr 02. tue. my thoughts trailed off to a blank yesterday, maybe the medication. anyway, i was going to say that coming to work each day is something like a process of dying. each workday i die, and the next i die all over again. that's me at my most depressed. apparently there is a book written for white-collars on how to cope with work and to find suitable work, in other words 'how not to die'. recent editions of this book removed the chapter on 'how to avoid getting depressed'. why? i think i need this chapter very badly. so if you are the publisher and you are reading this, please put it back.
8 apr 02. mon. monday to friday each week of my personal organizer is a shaded gray. does it signify depression or absence of living? probably both. saturday is a neutral white, and sunday is bold in red: danger! beware of monday.
4 apr 02. thur. 4 days since i'm back from perhentian, and i'm still very sick. the trip went well, except i puked my way back. it was not the most pleasant 12 hour bus journey. down with a viral infection, a terrible toothache which took a specialist, x-ray and several knockings to determine the cause. turns out my blocked nose is the origin of all my pain, and probably oso i went diving despite the blocked nose which is a no-no. the weather, sand, and the sea in perhentian was absolutely perfect. the diving was great, i saw so many boxfishes and pufferfishes, and the cutest one had a sucker fish attached to it. and a whole load of squids and cuttlefishes too! it really made my pain now worthwhile. :P caren and jos just called to say they are having a great time in nz, and did the 12,000 feet skydive. woohoo! oww..pain..pain.. before i forget, perhentian photos at wy's.
27 mar 02. wed. my 2nd favorite day of the week, after friday, it's the mid-week reprieve. been searching through photodisc for room ideas. oso realised i've been listening to all these soppy songs, no wonder i was so bloody depressed last week. anyway, i'll be busy when i return from perhentian. speaking of which, i have my reserves about magnificient weather. on the phone today with the perhentian guy, i could hear blasts of winds in the background, which subsequently killed the phone lines. i think we will include surfing into the weekend plans.
24 mar 02. sun. spent week down in the dumps. it's a vicious depression, once you get down it's so hard to get back up. upside is i've been so tired to think about anything, so i really get to sleep state easier these days. been thinking alot about going away, which is what i always think about when i am down. it's time to start doing something about it, it'll take a year or more to get financed.
15 mar 02. fri. review of brian friel's afterplay. ever had a favorite character from a book that you feel you know him/her in real life? sometimes i get so absorbed into the story that i forget which world i am living in, and characters from one story cross over to the next. especially with stories from the same author, they seem to reel people from the same origin, that i always think the characters are all related, and each book i read just adds on to this imaginary population. leave life's limitations behind and walk into a further extension to the imaginary.
13 mar 02. wed. van gogh and gaugin - exhibition in amsterdam at the van gogh museum until june 2.
11 mar 02. mon. pornography gains a channel in 3G. nokia made it right with their big screens.
7 mar 02. thu. check out building concept of a website at the skyscraper! a good design makes one a visual treat to the outsider. to the insider, the best thing about a skyscraper is the view. i dun look out much of my window these days coz the sun makes it hard to see my screen. when it is raining though, that's when it gets real pretty, to see the rain trickling down the glass. though 5 minutes of this always makes me wish i was back in my bed instead. with the view like the background to my screen, it's almost like i can control the traffic, buildings, and ships in the distance. just move my mouse over the object, click, hold, and drag. my office game. :)
6 mar 02. wed. one very long day yesterday, i kept thinking i'll never get to the next day. customer meeting yesterday turned out to be one hell of a discontent spew. sad to say however, i totally identitfied with them, since i share the same frustrations. on a different note, there is a film on 26 march which sounds pretty good.
4 mar 02. mon. omigosh monday! and i had such a good weekend, which makes monday all the more unbearable. plus i watched office space last night, something i wouldn't have enjoyed as much back in my student days. i am oso not so much of an insomniac these days, great to be able to go to sleep and wake up feeling refreshed. yeah! downside: i miss my hamsters! :/ and it has been a huge pain trying to get the room fixed, now on hunt for someone-anyone who can build me a wardrobe.
1 mar 02. fri. the unfortunate demise of my pet hamsters last night, and a previous one lost in a fight. i spent the whole of last night thinking about the cause of their mysterious deaths, and came to an appalling conclusion. urgh, trauma! anyway, came by the dietcoke ad today. this place is like going to the library.
21 feb 02. thu. i like the absolut spoofs. chingay photos from is, it's been ages since i went to one of these parades. today my horoscope says i will be raring to start on an exercise regime; have the stars been spying on me in my kitchen? my three little hamsters are as little as ever. after their daily run yesterday in the balconey, i find them all huddled near the insecticide bottles, so hopefully they will still be alive when i go home today.
15 feb 02. fri. did my bangkok-chiangmai travel log today.
14 feb 02. thu. envy site has been down for quite some time. i waited a respectable amount of time before moving to geocities. not sure yet whether staying here permanently. but meantime, everything looks great. at least the site has no significant downtime. as for the ad banners, tell me what interest you, and i can customize the ads. and the hamster photo is gone together with envy. btw, they are still on holidays, and yet to return else i can put up a more recent photo of them.
18 jan 02. fri. i was most fascinated with the live scoreboard, can almost visualize the exciting matches going on at the australian open. kinda disappointing that the netcams showed only stills though, thought they would show live matches. then again the cable tv ppl will probably protest to the free internet coverage. i did the swirve personality test sometime back, and the cool thing is it links you up with your frens to check compatibility. flip side, some things are best left unknown. to take with a pinch of salt. which leads me to my new hobby.
16 jan 02. wed. watched amelie poulain the other day, i love it! it's a happy happy show. :) oso seen vanilla sky, which is kinda how i think my life is sometimes. living in a surreal dreamscape. memories fused with imagination, not knowing if i am awake or in a dream. was at borders the other day listening to lamb whose website i just discovered. and here's something i found at an exhibition for design arts.
10 jan 02. thu. the post mortem had been done by wy. and sl sent me this, i almost died. 'look carefully at the left door for about 45 secs. you should be able to see something if your eyes are sharp enuf. look closely...'
2 jan 02. wed. the last 2 weeks of 2001 went by in a flash. xmas eve party, xmas lunch, xmas dinner, murder mystery game of a new year eve at fullerton, countdown at carnegie's. i have reviewed 2001, made my 2002 new year resolutions (a first!).
18 dec 01. tue. unbelieveable, i failed the cjk test! who came up with this anyway? someone commented that my nollij entrance is so club-med, took me awhile to realise what he meant. mrt ads have invaded my subsconsciousness. drives me crazy. speaking of which, and i mean driving, check out radiovw.
1 dec 01. sun. first day into december, into the rain-laden atmosphere. not my favorite month coz of the weather, but i love the sense of beginning it brings. january never feels quite the same, arrival of reality dashes all. for the moment, dreams are intact. site-wise, there had been some additions of random ixus shots. i know i am not doing enuf with my ixus, and i can feel his frustration.
22 nov 01. thu. for those living in singapore and own a television, be sure to catch the blue planet on tues 9pm on central.
14 nov 01. wed. i have done next to nothing with my ixus, except for some random shots. site wise, i've spruced up the entrance abit. as for photo site construction, i am still in a pile of rubble. discovered photodisc and am now ploughing through their collection. other flash site that caught my eye: generationrice!
24 oct 01. wed. perhentian photos up sometime back, updated a couple of links. i have oso recently bought an ixus, and am building a photo site. however i am quite busy now so this may take years. dun get your hopes up.
30 aug 01. thurs. i like what is written - emotional balance sheet
27 aug 01. mon. i re-did the site, put up my oz and ubin photos. fixed the links, and oso removed alot of photos due to insufficient storage space. i gotta learn how to optimize my photos really soon. not much added to the travels and links sites. no flash knowledge as yet, not even frames, so as you can see this is still the bare HTML skeleton form. sorry lah... for those who didn't get a chance to see how nollij looked before the re-vamp, go here >>
:: links ::
gusset - ericalba - winterson - sherman - bjork - joecartoon - astrocenter - salon - oi! orbital - nooflat - project gutenberg - eserver - daria - inside space - picnic ideas - purenz - jamie olivier - nigella bites -
:: tracks ::
badly drawn boy (something to talk about) - saint etienne (downey ca) - arling & cameron (dirty robot) -
