Reading is Good!

I started my daily grind to a nice surprise. I saw a few people around reading either novels or magazines! U may think what's so surprising about people reading their own materials.

Now, over the past many many months, i noticed many people are spending their commute time/journey playing portable game set i.e. PSP, Nintendo DS etc. And i am really surprised at the sight. Everywhere i turned to in the train, there will bound to be 1 person playing the portable game set.

So i thought to myself "What do these people learn from these games?" I understand its great to have some form of entertainment. But my amusement came from the fact that fewer and fewer people are reading these days. I do no mean reading of newspaper per se. Reading should include all forms including novels and magazines.

I don't know about others, but i love to read and i always encourage people to read. Reading is first and foremost an important source of knowledge. Reading trains you to have a personified opinion and judgement. Seriously, if you have no opinion in life, u are no better than a corpse. :)

I am very blessed to have read many interesting books/articles in my life. I especially enjoyed those books which are selected up for Putlizer awards.

So my dear friends, pick up a book/magazine today and indulge yourself in a world with no boundaries!

Parenting

I happened to be at Toa Payoh this afternoon waiting for Clare to go for dinner. Before that, I was having tea with my close friend L and we got to confirm our trip to China in Sep 09. Yeah!

Damn, it was hot today... too much sun and humidity... While I was walking to the air con waiting area of HDB Hub, I walked past a father lecturing his son.

Father to Son: "I pay for your school fees, your pocket money, your tuition fees... u didn't even...."

I didn't get the last part clearly. I am guessing the Son didn't perform up to Father's expectations or he did something which Father is angry about...

Sometimes I wonder why parents talk like this to their kids. I was one of those kids. Are those words supposed to make the kids feel guilty and hopefully perform better? Do kids even understand Guilt?

I asked myself "Why are Sporean parents like that?" Why can parents understand that Love is the way to nuture for the better future?

Cheer!

I have something for chicks who can play guitar. So my favourite Asian female singer-songwriters includes Cheer Chen (陳綺貞), Tanya Chua, Zhang Xuan etc.

I'm so happy that Cheer is finally coming up with a brand new album! Apparently, for fans who want to have her limited edition copies with some photos she had taken, we have to place an advance order. So me being such a huge fan, i placed my advance order few days ago. Check out the receipt!

Phew... i think the last time i was so crazy about a female singer was during Faye Wong hey days. I remembered queueing up for a Pepsi can with Faye Wong's face on it... hahaha... those young and innocent (aka silly) days...

Back to Cheer... I love her songs for their simplicity and clean melody. Her sweet voice expresses hope and melancholy. And of course there's something really enduring about a petite gal playing guitar... makes me wanna hug her from behind... heheh... Below is her cover of her last concert album. Cute huh... :)

Volver - Penelope Cruz

It's the Oscar season again... Yeah! Finally the films competing in the coming Academy Awards are slowly making ways onto our shores. I was chatting with my friend (who came back from US to SG for vacation) to see if he had watched any good films recently i.e Milk, The Wrestler, Slumdog Millionaire etc.

Volver came into our minds... and of course the classic moment of this powerful spanish film (by Pedro Almodóvar) is when Penelope Cruz sings. Penelope Cruz was nominated for Best Female Actress in the 2007 Oscars but lost to Helen Mirren.

So enjoy...

Dalai Lama says...

"All major religious traditions carry basically the same message of Love, Compassion & Forgiveness; the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives."

The Baldies (or nearing...) Pt 1

I'm at the age where I starts to think hair loss is an issue. I thank O' Mighty Goddess of Mercy for letting me have my full mane! Actually I always thought having a bald head somehow creates a kind of charm and oozes macho factor. Ok, it doesn't work for all baldies... haha... perhaps I was very inspired by or admire these balding stars :) Oh and yes, I dedicate this post to my 2 fav baldie friends, Eric & Stevie!

Tom Ford

I always thought Tom Ford brought the Gucci brand to a totally new height. This legendary designer and his creative fashion line is so stylish, elegant and glam. Damn, I wish i had a suit from him...

Jeremy Piven

He is the cocksure agent Ari Gold in HBO series Entourage. Yeah, i like him because he's an asshole. Haha... perhaps a part of me hope to be as arrogant as him!

Andre Agassi

Ahh... My former idol when I was still learning to play awesome tennis. He once had very long hair, but I think all those went down the gutter together with his divorce from Brooke Shields! Haha... But all became good after that, he lost all those locks, his played and won many more tournaments and became a tennis fan's favourite once again... Oh! I wish i had a photo like the one here, showing me in my full tennis motion... hahah

Jason Statham

Man! This dude means business ok. Well, he's the leading actor of The Transporter movie series. Damn fit and awesome fighting moves. But I wonder how come he always loses his t-shirt whenever he's in a chase-fight scene... hmm.... I thought the thieves only wanted him dead, not nude... hahaha

Stanley Tucci

My favourite funny man in movies like Maid in Manhatten, Shall We Dance, Devil Wears Prada. I thought he's role as a sidekick to megastars like J.Lo and Streep is very enduring. He made ordinary looking man like me feels good :)

Ponyo Ponyo!

I went to AMK Hub to watch a Japanese Cartoon Flick, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, with my beloved Clare. Clare suggested to watch this show and I agree instantly because this show is from the legendary director of Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle - Mr Hayao Miyazaki.

Rating: 4/5

I also rated the following animated movies I've watched in 2008:

1. Madagascar 2 - 3/5


2. Kungfu Panda - 5/5


3. Wall.E - 4/5

I found Ponyo very entertaining and I'm mildly surprised. Perhaps it's been a long time since I last encountered a Miyazaki film. Whenever I see a Miyazki Film, I always thought that this is how children show should be done - Simple, Artistic and Wonderfully Imaginative. :)

I shall leave you at this (without giving away any storyline) and hope you have a good time with Ponyo.

Back to Work... Back to Life...

Ah... finally we are in the first official work week of the new year. No more holiday mood snoozing... I guess I won't never be ready for work until Chinese New Year has passed...hahaha...

I felt like I made a good start for 2009. Since my only resolution this year is to lose weight (or should i say, exercise more often), I guess there's nothing more convincing than exercising on the very first day of the year! So I booked and played tennis at Kallang from 8am to 10am.... Phew! What a way to start a day... Nice hitting session with my colleague and we went on to Mac's for Mega Sausage McMuffin with Egg meal! Alright, it's just him who's eating that junk... haha... i only had a small burger and coffee :)

Continuing on my resolution, my colleague asked me if I'm interested in taking tennis lessons again. I think it's a good idea and agreed right away. My tennis is really going downhill since my ankle injury last July. I was out for 3 months with no exercise at all. I count myself lucky (and I thank O' Mighty Goddess of Mercy!) that I didn't fracture any bones or tear any ligaments from that incident. I think i got back to tennis too fast and overstrained my shoulders a little towards the end of last year. But I guess my shoulders are kinda feeling okay now... just okay only... hmmm... I hope it will hold up well!

Tennis season is back! And on TV some more! Yeah! Hehe... Andy Murray just won the Invitation-Only exhibition event at Dubai and pocket US$250,000. I thought this was an interesting event as it only has 6 Top players and winner takes all the prize money. He is showing the rest of the guys that 2009 will be his year as he took out World #1 Nadal and #2 Federer on his way to the title. No sight of #3 Djokovic. Hmm... is he in secret training to defend his Aussie open title???

New Year Celebration

Happy 2009 minasan!

Every year this time, I once again felt that time really flies. I'm sure many people felt the same too. 2008 started off not bad. Times were good, a lot of work done and appraisal from boss was very encouraging. Come end 2008, the financial market took another deep plunge and the expected bonus and wage increase went down the drain too... Very discouraging, I must say...

So once again, my gang (close friends from JC) celebrated NYE by having a crab dinner. We also did a NYE crab dinner a few years ago at No Signboard restaurant at Geylang. It was really fun. Friends of more than a decade, sitting down for a decent meal, occasionally reminiscing the yester-years, wine, laughter all night... I like that... :)

This year, Sista M and husband have decided that we all go to Seafood Paradize at Defu Lane 10. I heard many good reviews about this crab restaurant, especially for its Butter Cream crabs. So, my expection going into the restaurant grew even more. We had the usual starters like omelette and pork ribs and eventually the butter crabs and vermicelli crab came after a long 1 hr wait. Seriously, i think that to wait 1 hr for crabs is fucking absurd. However, i thought "fuck it", it's NYE dinner, so better not be diva and drop unwarranted comments. So the consensus was that the crabs are just fine... ok only. I felt that the chilli crab and black pepper crab i had at House of Seafood @ 180 Yio Chu Kang Rd was far better than this Defu Lane 10.

We then move on to a dessert place at Thomson Rd. I can't remember the name of this dessert place, but i think it got something to do with chocolate. I had the warm chocolate and a black coffee. Warm chocolate was nice. :) Thick, sweet and tasty. The coffee was abit too cold for my liking. I prefer coffee to be hot... boiling hot would be superb!

So that was it for NYE. As usual, it was nice and comforting to be with my gang again celebrating the turn of another year. Let's hope 2009 will be a good and healthy year for all! :)