Sikkim - Closing for 2007

After the 2 weeks venture to the north of India, in a place where nothing feels or looks like India, where the roads are always rocky and never flat, where people speaks Tibetan and not Hindi, its weird being back, to live among technologies and sky crappers.

the 2 weeks in Sikkim was just the thing I needed, giving my 2007 an awesome ending. Getting there was not easy, we touched down in Kolkata (previously Calcutta) on the 14 Dec, and took another flight up to Badogra on the 15 Dec, followed by a 7 hours jeep ride through the dusty/rocky roads of Badogra and then up the winding, again, rocky slopes of the highlands before reaching Gangtok, the capital city of Sikkim.

We then venture to a small village Yuksom, where the entrance to the Kachengjunga National Park is. from an altitude of 1890m, we trekked all the way up to 4100m, where I suffered from Accute Mountain Sickness (AMS) - not fun, but was a great experience. the rest can only be described with one word - Awesome.

if you asked me, I'd say I will be back again. Back to the Himalayans.

Happy 2008 to you who are reading this and Cheers.

Desperate

the only thing in the world i am looking forward to now, is India.

take my mind of everything.

Hej!

1. she said no for the second time. no big deal. as anticipated.
2. I shaved 2 inches of my hair off
3. I am getting ready for my India trip in one month time!!

its just...

A ball, a club, and the green.

nothing else.

A Lil' bit of Golf

Picked up golf recently. Got this Austraaalian as our coach. It might sound weird huh, Isaac playing golf? but it is the one thing I did not regret paying "some" money for.

Awesome.

DOW DOWn

whats with the F**king market man?! so there is some credit worries, get it over with!!

Head Lines

-Manhunt still on for escapees

-6 youths charged with rape and abduction in JB

-Youths attack Shah Alam house

-Night out with friends turns into tragedy

-Robber hacks technician at 4D outlet

-Officer stabbed in riot

-Bus of death

Some of the news headlines on the website today. Depressing. Ain't it?

Takamine G Series

and the WORLD shall be informed that I bought this guitar!!!! Excited!!

Finally.

Kyler!

7 month old!

嗶一聲之後 - 王菲

留話 留話 請在長音之后嘆氣
留話 請留話 請在我說完后哭泣

我不在這里 我不在這里

請在嗶一聲之后留下自己的秘密
請在嗶一聲之后對話筒沾沾自喜
請在嗶一聲之后對空氣唉聲嘆氣

我不在這里 我人在哪里 我想到哪里

請在嗶一聲之后留下有趣的話題
請在嗶一聲之后分擔感情的問題
請在嗶一聲之后某某名字別提
(你要找的人不在 不想給任何人尋覓)

你現在要找的人正在娛樂著自己
(抱歉你要找的人不在想說什么都來不及)

你現在要找的人不需要姊妹兄弟
(你要找我已經沒關系 已經來不及)

你現在要找的人自己同樣在尋覓
(誰要陪我 我在玩尋人游戲)

No particular Reasons

I just like this picture a lot.

I was in front of the very old Train Station in Bleinheim, New Zealand. it was the winter of 2006. Travelling with my Brother down south.

Every little things

I plugged in my earphone this morning while I was steppin out the door. it was usually bright at that hour already, but it was raining abit this morning. I was havin the Monday Blues. As I gently click the play button on my Ipod, the very song that I felt like listening came on. I smiled and was off for the day. feeling lucky.

After work, though a long day, me and a collegue, invited, of all the people, the Managing Director out for dinner. We didnt go to some fancy restaurant with dimmed lights. believe it or not, it was a Hawker centre. moreover, a lousy one but with good local food. of course, it was implied that the best part of having dinner with your MD was that... its free, right? we "talked cock" over dinner (a very Singaporean way of saying "chatted"). so that was fun.

Got home, saw AK's postcard from Auckland lying all flat on the table! (but the written date was 25 June 2007, AK, did you got lazy on sending the postcard out again... grin...) hehe...

for those of you who know me enough would know I have a (good? bad?) habbit of appreciating everything little things in life.weird. well, these were the little drops of contentment in my all-in-a-day's life.

enjoy!

Gathering!

the 97ers!

Good Byes

Good bye only mean something when until one day you meet again, some 2 years later, for 2 hours, followed by yet another good bye.

what long would this Good Bye last?

Exciting

But I wasnt there... was walking pass it on a cloudy Sunday afternoon after swimming.


hm....

Mom's visit to Singapore

Mom's home cook soup. THE best.

They were tryin to act cute. haha...

"Fly"

I want to grab my back pack now, fill the 60 litres of space with some clothings and jacket, grab a ticket to Berlin, rent a discounted car, and drive down from Frankfurt, to Munich, then to Rome. Along the few weeks drive, I shall meet someone, we shall share the ride, have fun inter cultural talks, appreciate the scenery, enjoy some true tuscan food, laugh at the Italy-english accent, then we shall say good bye at some point.

I shall stay in a budget backpackers by the hill some where in Italy, share cheers with em' other backpackers while having our self-made dinner, sitting out in the yard, enjoying the sun set. we will share a bottle of nice Chianti wine.

I shall drive off again the next day, after taking some mental photos of those I shared the night with, to the next european country... which I will only then decide. and then the next... and the next...

Silent ..

and it makes you wonder, what would life be without dreams?

I drifted, knowingly, in between concretes, into manipulated temperatures, into days when there are no sun lights. The momentum has set. and I follow through as if I am in vacuum.

and then, the impact. Reminding me of my purpose in life.

Silent

what do you say to people in such pain?

you shut your mouth, and you listen. I guess.

Titled "Sexy Ah Pek"

By CH (2006) - a very disturbed 18 years old mind.

got me laughing like hell... hahahahahaha...

Made in Heaven

The market went against me... work was tiring... personal life was frustrating...

came home and saw this: a card Made in Heaven (by hand).

it Made My Day.

Thank you. =) how have you been?

Silent Scream

AAAAAAAAAAaaaarggggggg...

Life in Singapore?

Spend my last 20 minutes reading some of the post I wrote over the course of pass 1 year, and it strucked me on how different my life has become. the life I'm living now is no where within my imagination 6 months ago. Isaac the chef stayed in Wellington when Isaac the corporate officer came back. it use to be all about jazz, books, coffee, walks under the sun, beach and music... now its about sky scrapper, stocks, regulations, underground transit, stable income and news.

what a difference a day make huh?

But trust me when I say this, I really miss the life I had before, and my dream is still full on. However, life took a different course and suddenly I'm here, in Singapore, where people spend most of their time in air conditioned area, either under ground, or in between tall concretes.

I'm saving enough for a guitar as at now. Hoping it will fill my world with a lot more colour than the mere colour of dullness.



drop me a message and say hi! it'd be great!

Routine

The big R-word towering over my life. least I go swimming on a weekly basis now, and its one routine I look forward to the most. well... of course and the monthly routine of adrenaline pump, when my bank account increases by a certain amount.

Balancing life.

I saw Phantom himself!

The Phatom of The Opera :-

its been a dream to see the musical live since I was a kid,

well, the dream came through!!

Nice Weekend

went to a friend's wedding, had soooo much fun at the wedding!

When around the beach of Kuantan, its been a while since I last stepped into the sea

Road trip from Kuantan back to KL with a couple of nice ladies!

... and yummy local food.

good times (just what I needed !!) haha...

I see yellow p..eop..le...

Dan and Tom's 4 hours in Singapore:

2 caucasians, an asian, and a stupid hat

we were saying something like "Virg...i........a........"

"Argrgrgrgrg...."

good times.

More of little Kyler!

"phem..."

"What ya lookin' at huh?"

"wait the minute... its..."

"You scared the hell out of me man!!!"

Pleasant Surprise

Got an Email from Daniel a.k.a fart face, who was somewhere around Europe a few days ago, saying that he will be in transiting in Singapore for a couple of hours, before the flight back to New Zealand on Friday.

And so, I took a half day off work on Friday just so I can have a few rounds of lager & stout with my long lost friend, catch up. Though, long lost here equals a period of only 6 months. I have to admit I did struggled a bit while justifying my motive to take half day off work. you know..."have beers with friends and not work?! how are you gonna tell that to your boss?!"... I'd even have to pay my company 50 bucks back coz they've already banked in my pay cheque for the month. which sucks.

In the end, I wrote on the leave form no more than "urgent personal matters". and took off.

It was a tight 4 hours tour around the city, then dinner, then some drinks. Tom (Dan's mate) said the air in Singapore's so humid, he can feel the tiny water particles moving his leg hair. More exaggerating, he said he felt like he was swimming.

had a big rush in the end to the airport. They were suppose to board at 5 to 9, we were still Hi in some down town pub at 12 pass 8. it was a good 40 minutes transit to the airport from where we were. You get the idea.

Good times.

... "Your mind, to my mind, my mind, to your mind... your mind, to my ASS!!!"...

The Glaues

Finally get a chance to talk to the Glaues.

it was great to finally have seen this little guy in action. he is by far, im not kiding, the cutest baby. Ever.

haha..

Departure

lets see, where would I want to head to today... Japan? Colombo? London? oh.. I know... Frankfurt.

Ive got thing for airport man...

Standing in an airport to me is like a kid standing inside a caged front porch, looking at other kids cycling towards the park. The jet plane is of coz, like the bicycle my dad promised, but still no where in sight.

22 more months!!

Ahh...

A Life in A Day

I had such a tiring day.

Spend almost half my day on a spreadsheet, summarizing the error report for the whole month. I struggled for at least an hour to get a 1 cent figure right. well the rewarding part of the day was though, the feeling of getting an important ad hoc done. after work was spontaneous, it just so happened that 4 of my dude work mates left the company at the same time, so we decided to grab some food and after that went to an Irish pub for some draught. Guinness. Greatness.

we agreed that having some chicks around would add-up to the greatness. Got to know more about them after 2 rounds. man, things just flow out their mouth (I agreed to myself that they don't usually drink), some parts I don't really wanna know, but it was all great too.

in the end, I made a move to come home. I think they eventually end up in some doggy place for massage...

haha, such a random day...

Guide to A Successful Meeting

1. Think thoroughly about what to say before every phone call, best if able to rehearse it as a monologue first.

2. Review every official document for a minimum of 3 times, at least the grammar and spelling must be hundred percent correct. and then let some one else to review it for at least once.

3. Be fully prepared for every meeting, even casual once. most importantly, do not expect it to be casual.

4. always make sure you know what you are saying, before you say anything.

5. Prepared enough drinks to go round the table during a meeting. Make sure you know the amount of attendees before hand.

6. Always prepared an agenda of meeting, but only distribute when needed only. or else don't risk getting into trouble of disclosing non-disclosable information.

... so far what I've learnt... ...

*Disclaimer: the above mention is base solely on personal experience, it does not guarantee success. Its merely a guide. Should there be any dispute, the blogger is not liable to any compesation.

Ball Breaker

yo,

you know, when a blog has been left alone for such a long time, and when its abrupty being attended to again, its because the blogger has got something to bitch about. haha...

sometimes life can be a ball-breaker. Just as you thought you are being real smooth about stuff, mending relationships, slapin people's buttocks here and there, getting positive feedback about work from your boss, earning enough to maintain the beer tap from stop flowing, everything is sweet. was sweet. until when the universe starts to come down on you that very day. and you can only be a sucker.

and its not even that big of a thing, its only an error of distributing INACCURATE company information to the WRONG people. not to mention, CONFIDENTIAL. and hence, of cause, I got fucked. its also only attacked by formal emails with strong sarcasm. haha..

all the pass glory is as if wiped out when you fail this once, this small fraction of the year. it dominoes to your other areas, and make you feel really bad about yourself, for that one instance. but the important thing is to look back later on and smile.

haha...

Bande à part

Nouvelle Vague!

got it! Life is good!

Thoughts on a train

The perpetuality of time. of work life. as if hundreds of million of hours being blend into one big dough, years being churn into one everlasting day... standing in a crammed-up underground train struggling to remember whether its night or day, whether your heading to work, or back from work to prepare yourself for yet another daily grind. either way, leads to the same end.

"Expect nothing, live frugally on surprise." Quoted, Alice Walker.

Career wise

well, I've been given two choices by my Managing Director:
Compliance Officer.. or Dealer?

each has got its potential, but Ive chosen. I choose Compliance. Its a very sought after position in the financial field, the learing experience is definately more exciting and the potential is beyond sky. He also said in a year, if I find myself unsuitable, I can transfer back to dealing when the right person is found to fill my shoes. opportunity is opportunity. its does not come around and stick by your side.

the strong sense of "I'M in control" of my life. I am in control.

Get Shuffled!

haha, its no big deal. just the first Ipod in my life. The initial plan is to take over my brother's old Ipod Shuffle. but he decided to give it to his gf instead. But a new one is equally good.


its no 80 GB Ipod Video, but I'm lovin' it! lets get Shuffled!

Bastard

by, Ben Folds

"You get smaller while the world gets big
The more you know you know you don't know shit
"The Whiz Man" will never fit you like "The Whiz Kid" did

So why you gotta act like you know... when you don't know?
It's okay if you don't know everything
Why you gotta act like you know... when you don't know?
It's okay... ... If you don't know everything"

Good song. Go check it out!

Wellington at Dusk

----- Message to a certain someone -----
Date: 10 March 2007
Time: 12.55am
Re: glad to see Wellington again!
Looking at the date on the card, its a while ago since you sent it. but the address was to Malaysia, and I'm in Singapore all along. My brother went was back home for 2 days and brought it back for me only on today. at the same time, I got another which you sent out on 26 and 27 of Feb. It great to receive them. It feels really great! hugs!

hows it?

I got my first pay cheque today. yep. one whole week worth.

experiencing a shock at the mo. you know... after one whole year of hullabaloo, to settle down on a 10-hour day-shift, itsss... no child's play. you get it. right?

althought I must say, despite the hardship of having to wake up at 7 everyday, and arrive home at the hour where the hour hand and minute hand point at the exact same numbers, 12 hours later, I'm learning so much it overwhelms me. And as everyday pass, I am hungry for more.

its tiring, this job, I am still struggling to keep myself awake during the first 5 hours in the office, but it is rewarding. how far I've come from 5 months ago when I left New Zealand without a hint of the future. despair. and now, I'm on the track of becoming a professional.

its a lil' bit of bitterness, and a lil' bit ecstasy.

its like a good'ooold... Guinness Stout. thats how it is.

Some very nice people

Daniel

AK and Elaine

A cup of flat white in singapore

another attempt to make the perfect flat white.

*sorry about my obsession towards coffee

Masi Cafe

"There are places I'll remember

All my life though some have changed

Some forever not for better

Some have gone and some remain

All these places have their moments

With lovers and friends I still can recall..." In my life, the Beatles

The news of Masi being closed down devastated me for a second. but a few clicks on the internet told me its relocating, and will be re-open when a premise is being found.

Heres to hope, and the best coffee in Wellington. cheers.

You know? the job thing?

I GOT IT!

let me explain, the position is "trainee dealer" in a well-developed commodities firm, trading precious matels, agriculture good, future contracts, options, yada-yada-yada. you get the idea.

a month spending miserable time all alone in my brothers room, doing nothing but job hunting, I guess its being paid-off now. reasonable salary, good benefits, training provided, boy-o-boy am I feeling contented. I am.

yet, this is just the begining of another long strech of suffering.

Awesome.

Well, Brandon said it right..

"what makes a man? its not when a man is at its most successful moment.." he said.
"its when he's facing controversy and crisis" he continued.

haha, yeah, thats true.. but I'm not bothered by any of that now. Coz I'm drunk now. and I'm happy.

haha. =)

*drumrollss..* INTRODUCING!!

born 16th of January, 2007. 11:52am C.S.T. in Macomb, IL, USA.
7lbs 12oz and 21inches long.

his name is Kyler Ng Glaue, MY nephew. =)

Post Secret

(no new secrets are posted here every Sunday.)


(secrets are behind the postcards, not meant for you guys.)


- Woods in Sweden (with permission)





----email message-----
Sent: Wednesday, January 17th, 2007
Subject: thanks heaps!

I love them, especially the flower in shape of a heart.
knew it was you without even flippin' the letter over, your hand writting is so easily recognizable. and I was kiiiiiiinda... anticipating a CD in it. haha. but no worries, take your time.
Lots of hugs too!

St. Patrick's Day

"Here comes the cold, Break out the winter clothes..."

Listening to this song brought me back the time I was in paekakariki. WE, were in paekakariki. it was my bday and I decided to take me-friends to a nice bach 20 minutes up north of Wellington. The light guitar strum. weird chords. beautiful lyrics. its all plotting out the scene of us sitting in the lounge of the light-green bach, feeling the breeze at the top of our heads, the sunset on the far east, chatting away how we failed to put the kite up. the shallow water on the flat beach was mirroring the golden sky.

"No way November will see our goodbye, When it comes to December it's obvious why, No one wants to be alone at Christmas time..."

**pause**

I remember it well, it was April. it was almost the end of autumn. it was 2005. three more months and its one year ago.

it also brought me back to the time when I was walking on the streets of Wellington. When Im walking alone, with my head phones on. I always had my headphones on. listening to this song. it reminded me of The CD Store on Lambton Quay, reminded me of the strong wind at the junction light beside Willies foodcourt, the coffee in Masi on Willies street, where I share my thoughts with AK and spend quality time with myself and my book. also reminded me of the people, all well shielded with their wind breakers, asians, maoris, whites, blacks...

"February, won't you be my valentine? And we'll both be safe 'til St. Patrrick's Day ..."

I remember it well. the streets of wellington. the cafes I once parasite in. the strong wind. I once was there.

Someone else's

someone got herself a work holiday visa
someone got himself a PR
someone got herself a study offer
someone got himself a nice girl
someone got herself a nice trip to Hong Kong
someone got himself a job in a multi billion company

someone else's

the lil' things

Out of total boredom, not because of having nothing to to, but having done the same thing over and over again for countless hours, I went to this mall around my place for a walk. As I arrived, I went down to the super market for a spin. Hanged a basket on my arm, without any intention of buying anything - I decided to blend in anyway. Happy to have spotted a very familiar label - Bundaburg Ginger Beer (my favourite drink in NZ), with much joy, I grabbed a 4 pack and put it in my basket (bought something after all!). There was a long queue at the counter after I finish 'shoppin', as I patiently waited, I observed the very funny cashier. He was blindly handling shoppers groceries, with his specs slided all the way down to the edge of his pointy nose, so by saying blindly, I meant it literally.

He seemed relieve when he saw only one thing in my basket, a 4-pack Bundaburg. He swiftly pull the paper handle of the drinks and scanned the bar code. beep. $1.50 showed on the screen. wait the minute, this is not right, $1.50 for a 4-pack? I thought. though nerdy, but he seemed preeeety confident when he said to me "a dollar fifty please." I paid non the less, with a suspicious face.

the bar code scanner found the bar code of one bottle instead of the bar code on the paper package. sweet. I enjoyed 4 bottles of nice Australian Bundaburg Ginger Beer for the price of one!


that. ahem. made my day.

It feels amazing!

I got my first interview today!! only on the second day of my attempt to gun down every company I laid my mouse cursor on!! I know I know, its not big deal, but it actually gave me a good push on my effort to job hunt. This is my first ever interview and Ive got a lot of prepare for it!


wish me luck!

2007

and so my 2007 begins with lossing 20 bucks on poker (every penny I've got on the table). that proves yet again, that I am a complete idiot in gambling. I must admit, its rather painful when the bills drain out of your corner, and the urge of wanting to get it all back builds up as your lossing record counts to 10.. 11.. 12.. 37.. (and then you crumble!)

but hey, this a only a small taste of life, the gambling, you win you lose. and sometimes, you lose it all. lets just be glad that I am not addicted to gambling. but gambling with life? thats... a bet no one can hide. I bet 'full' -- a full life.

happy 2007.

"come january, we're frozen inside, making new resolutions, a hundred times..." John Mayer