back but elsewhere
Splendor in the Crass at http://briensaw.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
tyme to say g’bye!
I have had it with this Blog site! Everything was fine until they had to “migrate” to a new platform! Everything’s gone haywire especially with my recent posts that have images in them. The Dahboard has become so incredibly user-unfriendly! The buttons don’t respond, no visitor counter, no links, no choice of typefaces and the writhg template is liliputan-sized!
Why bother in the first place?
Thursday, July 9, 2009
seeing double double…
…and I dunno why this is happening right after this Blog site has migrated to a new platform. I certainly hope this would happen to my savings account!
Monday, July 6, 2009
…in the right company
For two weekends, I managed to make a bread pudding, guacamole and fermented shrimp-paste (chincalok) fried-rice the weekend before last for my family. Yesterday, I had Farouk and his girlfriend, Jac over and I whipped out a bean salad, and spaghetti with mushroom sauce. The thing was, as much as I have complained how I detest cooking, I actually found cooking during these two occasions therapeutic! In other words, I think I had actually enjoyed myself!
Of course, the company is very, very important and I love having my family over for meals. Farouk and I not only meet up for lunch often (and being gym buddies) but sometimes even on weekends as well (we work for the same organization but different departments). Yesterday, I also discovered that his (Farouk’s) girlfriend, Jac is fun to chat with and we actually spent hours chatting first during lunch, then coffee at Starbucks before heading back to my place where I cooked the dinner. After dinner, we continued yapping up until almost 11pm! If it wasn’t for today being a work-day, we would have yapped on! I have never enjoyed myself so much discussing on the subjects of relationship psychology and philosophy (and discovered something about myself, but that’s another story)!
Another thing that I have also discovered lately is the nice feeling derived from cutting down on meat and rice in my diet. Not only the sluggish soggy feeling is gone from taking rice in the afternoon but I also feel a lot lighter! The “lighter” is not showing on the scale (yet?) but my pants are loose and I would like to think that my fat is being converted into muscles! For the past year or so, I have discovered how fond I am of wearing tighter t-shirts (especially the ones with wacky messages)! I always thought I was “unworthy” of wearing such t-shirts thinking that they are meant for guys who are blessed either with a great figure/metabolism, or a gym-freak. I saw myself either too fat or too skinny so, I would wear chunky XL-sized polo shirts to hide my imperfections (or risked being laughed at, or so I thought)!
Now, I am ready for my full frontal nude photo shoot!
Aw, just kidding, now take that finger out of your throat!
Friday, July 3, 2009
doo…bee…doo…bee…wooooooooooooo…?
Last Saturday, I was having my late cup of rooibos tea on my kitchen counter and singing along to a Frank Sinatra CD, a loud familiar crashing sound was heard! This time, it sounded as though that ton of steel rods were dropped right in front of me! I could feel a light draft slapping onto my face similar to when a person shuts a thick big book in front of your face. It was almost midnight. I looked through the house and couldn’t find anything and I didn’t think it was from the outside because the crash sounded right in front of me! Furthermore, if it was outside, the dogs (neighbors’) would have barked their heads off!
I couldn’t be bothered if it was (assuming) the work of some paranormal activity, but I am worried if it had something to do with the house structure or foundation. It’s a new house, I have been there since it started from the early brick laying stage and I didn’t see anything strange (then, I wouldn’t have known anyway, right?)
Weird.
Monday, June 29, 2009
vintage images of dad in melbourne circa early 1950’s
Got these photos from an old, old (fast deteriorating) photo albums and I guess it would be good to have them scanned for posterity!
The son of the family that dad rented the room from picked him up from the airport. Creases compliments of the 3-year old me!
Scots College, Victoria.
Picnic with his friends - the couple on dad’s right are now residing in Bangkok. They own a gas/petrol station.
Working as a part-time ranger!
A big Thank You to my friend, Zailan for the marvellous scan. These images are even better than the originals!
Friday, June 26, 2009
deaths and dreams
I woke up only to realize that it was a dream - a weird one (then again, don’t all dreams?)!
Got into my car and turned on the radio, a Michael Jackson song was ending and the announcer announced that this morning’s program would be totally dedicated to the king of pop who passed away from cardiac arrest last evening!
Huh?!
Okay, at this age, news of any celebrity passing no longer shock or affect me (unless I really like them) but I do feel sorry for them or their family. When I arrived at the office, Farrah Fawcett’s news was on the internet. Then again, that had been expected.
Mmm, wonder if that weird dream was indicating something. Years ago, while I was half way around the world in college, my family kept the news of my uncle’s passing from me thinking that it would upset me. I knew it on the month of his passing through my dreams! I confronted them the minute I came out of the arrival hall and they were a bit stunned when I asked, “When did he die?”
I have checked the interpretations of my dream from a website dream dictionary (Dream Moods) and here is what it says about the subjects of my dream (and they are totally off from my own experiences with dreams):
Corpse
To see a corpse in your dream, represents an aspect of yourself that has died. Or it may mean that you are unexpressive. You have shut yourself down and are dead inside.
Coffin
To see a coffin in your dream, symbolizes the womb. It also signifies your thoughts and fears of death. If the coffin is empty, then it suggests that you are having some irreconcilable differences. Alternatively, the coffin represents ideas and habits that you are no longer of use and can be buried.
To see a body in a coffin, signifies that you are going through a period of depression. You may feel confined, restricted and that you are lacking personal freedom. There may be a dead or decaying situation or issue in your life that needs to be addressed. It is time to end this situation or relationship.
Have a good weekend with good dreams.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
and to daddy it has!
Wow, Amazon Japan was really fast sending this one! They informed me yesterday and today, a big package came in via Fed Ex. I had to pay tax though but despite that, it is still much cheaper than Amazon US! They are charging a whopping $588 for this!
All the albums are in SHM-CD format (that offers clearer sound developed by JVC) and housed in a digibook. The covers are like hadcover books with pages of write-ups, lyrics, rare photos with descriptions by Richard Carpenter himself in English and Japanese. The page that houses the CD is in an envelop replicating the original album cover front and back.
No regrets at all when I don’t think of the months ahead to stinge while I re-pay my credit card for this purchase!
Every sha…la…la…la…, ev’ry wo…woooooo…still shines!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
yes! yes! come to daddy..!
Just been informed by Amazon Japan that my set is on the way! Yippy!
And Paula Abdul says “Everybody loves the Carpenters.” -watch below…
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
it’s okay to cry a little at the movies
We celebrated Fathers’ Day one day earlier because we didn’t want to wait for hours just for a table or our meal. My bro-in-law took the whole family out to a cool Japanese restaurant. We thought it would be just us when we arrived but within 15 minutes, the whole restaurant was filled up with diners! I bought the fathers CDs and a CAKE! I just couldn’t help it for a special occasion without a cake is just not special! Again, I was tempted to buy the family fav White Chocolate Macadamia, but I eventually ended up with a Tiramisu.
The rest of the weekend was spent on watching DVD boxed-sets of “Chuck” and “Samantha Who?” I found myself laughing out loud at “Samantha Who?” and took advantage of that since no one was watching me (yea…the bliss of living alone!). I was known for not showing any emotions when watching emotionally-charged movies and have been accused of being, “cold-blooded” or “stoic” by movie-goer friends.
What people don’t know that it all started at 22 when I watched “The Color Purple”. Tears trickled down like rain fall during the scene where the two sisters were forced to part after one of the sister’s husband (bad, bad character but played so incredibly well by Danny Glover) forced them to it! My “Up boy! Back up to the tear duct, boy!” didn’t work that evening and from then, I couldn’t really hold my emotions in as well as I used to!
Of course, I am a man and I am not supposed to show that softer side and when I cry, I try shedding dry tears (don’t ask me how! I am not telling!). I have mellowed and loosened up and I have laughed aloud in cinemas. Though my reputation supersedes me as my friends still think I am that stoned-face emotionless man, the following list of movies actually makes it to my plastic-bucket list where I actually shed bodily fluids and the contents can be used to mop the floor:
· The Hours
· Steel Magnolias
· The Bucket List
· Dragon Seed
· The Color Purple
· Star Trek-The next Generation Episode, “The Bonding”
Books?
Yeah, “tuesdays with Morrie”! Cried buckets! Hard life - was working in Singapore and under loads of pressure! This book triggered something inside and I ended up sobbing for the next hour or so!
