Anonymous Irony - The Addendum

Seems that when you do a search on M..... now, my previous Anonymous Irony post shows up as well (am slapping my forehead saying "aiyooo"). But due to this, I have finally figured out why the Christmas Miscalculation is showing in searches. It's because there is a mention of a Mr. D..... in that post and with this post there is mention of the name that shan't be mentioned any further on this blog; M.....

This is too cloak and dagger even for me. Self censorship is what I have been forced to do now, this is the reason why Singapore does not have free press because the journos self censor! I am such a Singaporean...haizzzz.

M Self Censoring

David After Dentist

I got this clip from my Best of Youtube podcast, and it is really funny and cute. Check it out. Laughter guaranteed!

M

Anonymous Irony

Yes it is another irony post.


In an effort to make this blog more anonymous, I have made some subtle changes. I am just wondering if it is really worth it. I have always been an advocate of free speech although living in Singapore free speech in the broad sense of the word is restricted but you know what I mean. Just the basic freedom to say what you want when you want not hurting others..............significantly. *blush*


Problem is that the Internet has made things rather easy to find and sometimes I prefer if certain people do not stumble on this here personal site, people of the judgemental nature mainly. However, at the same time I would like people in general to stumble and leave a comment or two, in the great spirit of blogging. Schizophrenic, yes?


Why the sudden urge for anonymity, well mainly because the other day, in a fit of narcissism, I Googled "m%r*l $o#e!t" (editied to protect identity of blogger) and on the 2nd page of hits there it was Christmas Miscalculation post. How that get there? I did not do anything different, I did this the same way I do all my post but why is this post listed there? *stumped*


Oh well, so I have tried to make myself more anonymous, I hope my attempts are not really visible to my regular fans but at the same time not completely futile.


M in disguise

Ragazzi

As promised, my healthy lunch. After my Lunch Mission, I worked up quite an appetite so I went on the search for food. My usual lunch requirements:

1) Fast

2) Easy

3) Healthy

4) Tasty (does not have to be "die die must try" kind)

So I parked at a random carpark in Ghim Moh and walked to the only coffee shop found at Blk 10 Ghim Moh Road. There was a Eco rice shop, drink stall and hidden in the corner was this place called Ragazzi.

Do not expect much as this IS a coffee shop and surprisingly the food was above average. The reviews on HungryGoWhere was a little harsh, its a kopitiam lah. I had a Aglio Olio Tutto Mare. Overall the dish was wonderful and the herbs used were fresh so was the seafood. I could taste the Italian parsley and the basil so from that front it was delightful. There was good portion of garlic as well, the garlic was lightly fried first to enhance the taste and then sliced so they were really fragrant. Prawns, clams and squid were the seafood which was surprisingly fresh. So on the whole it was a good sumptuous meal for a kopishop best part it was 7 bucks only. Check it out if in the area.

M satisfied

SideNote: Saris Sentinel 3-Bike Trunk Mount Rack

This bike rack can hold three bikes, so Little Me, time to get a bike and start riding with me....
M waiting

Lunch Mission

Since this week has been delightfully no very busy, I have been able to get a lot of my backlog completed. So today since I did not have any meeting encroaching into lunch time or any after, I decided to take some steps towards Skinny Ambition. With my good workout this morning, I thought that I need to get my stuff in order for my Saturday morning bike ride.

So I went on the Net found a bike shop near by and headed completely in spontaneous fashion. I was like a man on a mission weaving through traffic so that I can maximise my time the shop and get back to office without missing too many beats.

Treknology Bikes 3 located near Henry Park School was the place to be this Thursday afternoon. Found the shop being run by Indians which was a good thing from there it was easy to make friends with the “bikeshop guy”.

Here is a the list of my spoils:

Saris Sentinel 3-Bike Trunk Mount Rack

Trek Interval Helmet

Lastly a Cateye Strada Wireless Cycle Computer.

So I managed to get most of the things except the padded tights because there was no size. Oh well, another time perhaps. All in all, a pretty successful trip out. Now for some healthy lunch and believe it or not I found it as a matter of chance. Next post ya...now time to get back to the beat!

M ready

Skinny Ambition Tour 2009

Yes I have finally recovered from all my ailments and I can now start exercising again and start losing some of that excess weight that I have been putting on over these pass few months.

It all started with Christmas which is just a makan fest. Although it was muted, we did eat quite a bit. Then New Years did not do me any favours at all, adding onto my bulk. This was swiftly followed by Chinese New Year in Penang. Need I say more?

This was followed by several bouts of flu like symptoms and a never ending cold that dogged me down for a few weeks, which just miraculously ended.

So now, I am proud to declare that I am fit and well, all ready to start the exercise routine. Yesterday was a good gym morning not too heavy, go slow and also with the knowledge that I will be playing street soccer after work. Today is rest day and tomorrow the exercise continues.

Aside from this I need to start getting serious about cycling. I have been “leisure” cycling with Scottie for awhile now and it is time I got safe. Things to get (these are not hints, ya):
1. a good helmet – considering I am riding on the road
2. some padded tights - my ultra hard seat is the butt impediment to go distance
3. a good bike rack for my car – so that cycling is not limited to Jalan Kayu and its surrounds, got to mix it up lah
4. a speedo - track my progress and to push myself harder progressively.

M on tour

Humble Pie

Every day, I think/feel/believe I am undergoing lessons in humility. I am not complaining here, actually I am thankful to be given the opportunity to be tempered into a person that is more humble.

Humility, or being humble, is the defining characteristic of an unpretentious and modest person, someone who does not think that he or she is better or more important than others. (Taken from Wikipedia).

Ok Wikipedia is not the best source but it sort of sums up what it means to me. Being surrounded by pompous and ego-maniacal people in the office, I am left wondering. Whatever happened to good ol’ meekness and modesty? Being prideful can also be quite burdensome for the person itself because being fake and not yourself can be tiring.

Actually, it is funny the two places I spend the most time outside of home is at work and at church and the people in both are worlds apart. At church people are full of humility so much so, that I respect several of them for this reason. I am not talking about being a person who disowns all possessions and lives a meager life (as how some groups define being humble) but someone who is so supremely blessed in every aspect of life that they do not try to shove it down your throat but are just simply genuine.
A small disclaimer; not all the people in my church are like this but I can safely say it is a large majority.

So end result; is on one side, I learn how NOT TO BE and end up being burdened and the other side I learn how TO BE and be happy. God is good ya!

M learning

Oscar Time

Yes it is today and I am quite excited to see the results. Being a movie buff who does not go to the movies but prefers to download and watch the latest show, I am not what you call a purist but I do enjoy the spectacle.

In particular, the fact that Hugh Jackman, who incidentally is from my Uni, is hosting the show. Should be interesting!

M crossing fingers for Slumdog Millionaire

Pune Part 2

So the time came for my second trip to Pune and in particular the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park at Hinjewadi. A mouthful. Key goal was to touch base with the outsourcing folks and kickoff a new project.

Selfish reasons was to clock more miles on Krisflyer and to get more books. Unfortunately the 3 days that I was there turned out to be filled with back to back meetings starting from 10 am till around 9pm.

It was exhausting and the late, heavy dinners did not help either. But at the end of the trip it was fruitful and satisfing knowing that I personally accomplished all the professional goals and more but nothing of the personal.

Most eventful part of the trip and the incident that will stay with me forever was on the drive back to Mumbai. What was supposed to be a quick drive home due to the weekend turned out to be quite a shock.

There was a terrible crash down the mountain road which resulted in a jam. When the traffic started moving we eventually reached the accident site.

What I saw was six prime mover sized trailers involved in a pile up. It was surreal and what made it worse was when my driver pointed out that 2 of the drivers must have undoubtedly "expired" and looking at the crushed remains of the front compartments there was no surviving such a horrendous mangle of steal.

I pray the families of these drivers were not with him in their trucks and that they will be able to survive the loss.

As always India has a way of bringing the best and the worst experiences in a short time.

M pensive

The trip home

I miss my bed

I miss my couch and my comfort food

I miss Yellow Light Thai Food and BCM

I miss my car and the control to go where I want and when I want to

I miss smooth drives on KPE as opposed to Mumbai traffic

I miss the cleaness and the non artifical clean smell

I miss the comfort of a clean toilet

I miss walking on a good pavement (too pampered lah)

I miss solitude (in India you're never alone 1 billion and counting)

I miss my wife

Business Travel

Lost of sleep, extended working hours, strange and mistimed meals and the often overwhelming sense of unfamiliarity are some of the truths of business travel.

It's not all negative, the overall experience of the above points though leaning towards the down side can be upped depending on how it is viewed by one. If viewed as a sense of adventure and new experience then the mountain of positives comes rolling in.

The chance to see new things, meet new people and experience the culture (sometimes it maybe culture shock), and basically going to a place which one has never been to. These sort of equate with the human desire to travel for vacation rather than just staying home.

So is it worth it? You betcha; free flights and hotels and the chance to see the world, if done in moderation can be great. As disruptive as it is quite fun lah.

M out of office.

(picture taken from http://www.tripzs.com)

Weakness

This has never been a word associated to me. Yes I admit I do have weaknesses everyone does but I am NOT a weak person.

Not weak in my mental capacity, nor my spiritual capacity. In fact I regard myself as a pretty strong on those fronts.

There are few things that can make me falter. They are usually things that matter lots to me. Family is one area I guess all of us share as a "boat rocker" when adversity comes. However, recently I have been unsettled at work. Never happened before but I am a little ashamed to admit it is happening.

But wait does the same "care" rule apply? Do I care a lot about my work? Or my team at work? Should I? I do care but does it warrant this much care to be a boat r? What's happened? What's changed?

Work was always an activity to promote survival. It's not a personal ambition of mine to excel at work. Be the best yes of course but I strive more to be the best husband and father. To me that is true ambition.

So what's changed? All I know is that no matter how unsettled I may get, I have a solid rock upon which I can steady myself onto.

M charting into the murk
(sorry for the lack of pictures, I am iPhone blogging)

Sticky Irony

Disclaimer: To all my "sisters in grace or law", this post does not point to anyone. You know I love each of you like a sister and I am just making an observation. So please don't try to read between the lines, I not so deep wan!

I am a sticky guy, not in a grimy way but I love to be around my wife. I enjoy her presence and when I am away from her, I am a little lost, truth be told.

Perhaps that is the reason why I am a little down today because I am heading off on business to Pune again. Thank God it's a short trip but the mere anticipation of the distance apart has me yearning. The collective may find this sweet but......

Ironically, during our dating and courtship days being sticky was not something to be desired in a boyfriend and me; I was sticky and was always around. I remember the frus stares from her friends (remember hor, I love you all!) and for me I was just being thick skinned as I never detracted from the unapproving looks. Hehehe.

Now after a year and half of marriage I think I am still a sticky fella. I do not need to be constantly engaged with her, but being in the same vicinity is just comforting. I know she feels the same way (perhaps to a lesser degree) though she may not admit it openly, trust me babe I know.

M starting to miss u already

Self Inflicted Aggravation

Sometimes I laugh at myself…., ok ok, all the time lah; I start the day normally with many things that I need to take care off before the end of the day but then an idea pops into my mind of the lowest priority but with the highest interest level. Likelihood is that I will start to do that first.

So here a list of the low priority items, as they came into my mind;
1) Should I bring my 50D on my business trip to Pune
If I am I do not want to look like a tourist among my other colleagues with camera, laptop. So should I buy a laptop cum camera bag --- so off I went on the Net searching.

2) Hmmm… what shall I blog about today? --- off reading the newly suggested blog

3) Haizzz I have not updated 365 in a while --- falling behind arrgghh, so I started looking at my recent pics to at least earmark some

At this point, the rest of the higher priority items (more work related) not to mention those that I did not foresee beckon! Cool, calm, easy….now one at a time.

Monday, got to love it!

M still warming up

Zebras don't have ulcers.

This phrase got me stumped. So like any good engineer I decided to check it out and ladies and gentlemen it's true. Zebras do not have ulcers.

Picture living on the Serengeti, happliy chewing on grass then all of a sudden a lion, cheetah, or whatever starts running towards you with the intention of making you lunch or dinner. But you were able to escape luckily I might add; the next time you might not be so lucky.

If this threat was constantly in the back of my mind, I would be worried to shitting bricks and all this worry and stress is bound to lead to stomach ulcers. Yet zebras do not have ulcers. Why?

God gives us food enough for one day not more not less. We need to see what is in front of us. Thinking and worrying about what is in the future and not yet materialized is somewhat futile and overdoing it as we humans like to do leads us to have ulcers and other nasty things.

So be zen be a zebra who only worries when worry is needed and as soon as the worry passes it's back to normal. No need to worry for the future because when that comes we'd know what to do.

M trying

Picture taken from http://scienceblogs.com

White Tiger

So I have just finished reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, the recent winner of the Man Booker Prize. The impression that I was left with was that this book was a little warped and was not particularly impressed. But then again the subject at hand is a little warped and the fact that this book so eloquently put the "warpness" of this subject in a light and personal fashion made me have more respect for it.

The subject of this book mainly surrounds India's social struggles with the dramatic social divisions as portrayed by the protagonist of this book, who is a driver from a small village who works for the crook village landlord. Eventually he is sent to Delhi to be the driver of the landlord's westernised. As a driver, Balram get his social awakening like a frog just being released from a well and in the process gets twisted by the abusive and predatory nature of his masters. He seeks to get out of the social prison and plots towards his freedom. Eventually he gets his freedom through stealing and murder and get himself out of the cage, thus symbolised as the white tiger.

Sound quite deep but the writer has to be commended for the informal style of writing, and the unique way the story has been told. Some people are labelling this book as an inspirational book that will lead you to spread your wings, and to that I say bollocks! because what kind of "spreading your wings" comes from stealing and murder, that just puts up another "cage". It a good story about social struggle told by a good storyteller in a unique way. Would recommend this book to read as a leisurely read rather than as a book to inspire as it is being billed as.

M IMHO.

Inspire Me Please

Running on empty, well just need some new inspiration. Was on the look out for blogs that I can relate to and seem to be always stumbling into blogs written by ladies. Don't get me wrong I adore the blogs and look forward to the posts of my favourites, who are all of the fairer sex, but the question beckons me.....

Where have all the male bloggers gone to? Do they exist? Ok stupid question dah, look in the mirror. But seriously are there any male bloogers out there from whom some self edification and inspiration can flow into moi.

So if you seen some good blogs that I can relate to, please send them to me. Honestly the sex of blogger doesn't matter just need something good and regular like prune juice, you know what I mean....

M searching.

Photo taken from http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/Finding-Inspiration.shtml

25 Random Things

... that you may or may not know about me. This took me a while to do but at the end of it I was left rather contented for having lived a rather colorful life. Some points may come across as boastful but there is a reason why there are things you do not know about me. Enjoy:

1. I always laugh when people fall off a bicycle irregardless of the seriousness of the mishap or even if it is me who has fallen off. (hopefully I don’t laugh when my kids fall off)

2. One of my worst nightmares was going bald. (was being the operative word)

3. I am terrified of lizards.

4. I illegally worked three jobs in university (bartender, pizza delivery and helpdesk at local internet company).

5. I like the smell of petrol, in the ambient air (not as a sniffer).

6. I threw an axe at my scoutmaster in Secondary school, following which I quit from the scouts.

7. After the scouts, I joined the Art Club in school because the Art teacher was hot!

8. I got F9 for all my subjects except English during my GCE ‘O’ Level preliminary exams.

9. I was the top student in the Engineering faculty (during my first year)

10. I was feared (or rather never messed with) in Australia because of my “links” to the Vietnamese gangs.

11. I never received or asked for allowance from my parents during the years of Secondary 3 and 4, was self supported from the earnings of first company.

12. The 20% down payment for my Golf GTI was entirely paid for by the earnings from my second company; Fineprint Inc.

13. I have been arrested before but was never charged because I managed to prove my innocence.

14. I saved the life of a former best friend of mine who nearly drowned.

15. I was a serial shoplifter when I was in Secondary school.

16. I was an active volunteer during the years of 2000 to 2004.

17. I love to sing but I hate karaoke, with a passion.

18. Out of the 4 schools that I have part of in Singapore only one still exists (Sembawang Hills Estate School, St Michael’s School and Seletar Institute – all gone; only SJI remains)

19. The first trophy I ever won was for a Tamil Story writing competition.

20. I have broken my nose 3 times.

21. Fractured my little pinky when I punched the wall (forgot the reason why) and because of that, I was not able to write and excused from doing my Pre-U 1 finals and was promoted based on my mid year results.

22. Wrote the answers of my GCE “A” Level Tamil Examination in English.

23. Used to busk in the underpass between Marriot Hotel and Istean from Jan to Mar 1991.

24. I was not born in a hospital but in a dispensary, Lanka Dispensary on Serangoon Road.

25. I cannot remember the events from my early childhood no matter how hard I try to remember.

Beautiful Girl

Nope it's not a post about the wife but, recently I have become somewhat obessessed with this show called the Flight of the Concords. It's a show airing on HBO about a folk duo from New Zealand and their attempt to seek fame and success in New York. The way the show plays is like a musical, with music coming from all genres and best part is the lyrics. They are absolutely hilarious.

Here is one of the best songs from the previous season have a watch and you'll understand why:




M Humming Along

Post CNY Drama

After the one week break, I like anyone else in this world dreaded going back to work. Knowing that when I left a storm was brewing and with a few days left before my leave the storm hit and somehow I was able to manage it and reduce the effects. But as most things in the corporate world, such things do not just die but they fester, ferment and come back again with a vengeance in a different manifestation.

So there was double dread to return back to work. So much so, that I was so tense on Sunday and this was only noticeable to the wife, but she did not mention or question anything, probably because she knew I was not ready to talk about it.

So Monday came, and just when things could not get worse I start to develop flu symptoms, a bad case of running nose and cough. This severely hampered my endurance to survive the day and the many issues not to mention the 400 plus emails that greeted me. I had to throw in the towel and head home for some rest at 3pm.

So now as Wednesday marches on the dust has pretty much settled and now I can start doing work. All the fires have been put out; well…some are just small fires which will eventually and hopefully will die out. Phew! Now the only thing left is to go catch my running nose and to oil my scratchy throat.

M almost back to normal

365 Update - January

It was not as easy as expected but I managed to complete the first month and here are the results.



In case you are wondering what I am talking mosy on down to 365 Photos. February here we come!

M