Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Programming blues and a power nap

頭重重, a little numb, backache, can't think straight, low morale and most of all, utter frustration. My computer program simply refuses to give me decent results. Lots of hair-wrenching, eye-rubbing and head-banging (against the nearest available wall) later, I still seem to be at square one. And it is not like time is on my side. Aaugh!

I seldom nap. If I do, it means I want to sleep away a very foul mood, I'm ill, or I'm dog-tired. I've been climbing into bed at 2a.m. for the past week or so and staying awake, staring at the ceiling (pondering over my program) for at least one hour before managing to doze off. However, my body clock still forces me to wake up at the usual time everyday.

I'm getting too old for this kind of schedule. Felt like a zombie today.

After a short debate with myself in the early afternoon, I decided upon a nap. Forty winks later, I'm back.

A short aside. I used to work/study in an office with lots of Chinese (as in China Chinese). It was quite a culture shock for me initially to find the office dead quiet during the lunch hour. Everyone was taking a power nap! I always had to remind myself then to walk lightly and whisper if I had to talk to anyone.

#@^*~($`%! program, here I come. Again.

Still 121 $^#!~&@ days to go.

<雞肉片>

I've heard and read several glowing reviews about the movie/documentary 企鵝寶貝 (The Emperor's Journey), but none more so than that from my mum. I believe it was shown in Singapore during my June break but circumstances contrived to prevent me from catching it on the silver screen.

However, it looks like I will get to watch it afterall, for my sis has gotten the DVD for it. Both my mum and 慧 have since become huge fans of it. Last heard, my mum has watched it around 6 times and 慧 countless more.

慧 especially enjoys watching movies when we watch it with her and explain what's going on. I suppose this is even more so for an adult-ish documentary like 企鵝寶貝.

There was a scene in it where a seal preys on a little penguin. I would imagine it quite affected 慧. Partially because it was her first brush with the harsh laws of nature. But perhaps more so that it contradicts what she is used to seeing in Pingu. In the animation, Pingu is a little boy penguin who happens to be great pals with a seal named Robby.

“Ma ma, 爲甚麽Robby吃掉Pingu?”

“Orh。。。那個不是Robby和Pingu來的。那個是真的seal和penguin來的。慧慧現在看的不是Pingu,是紀錄片。懂不懂?”

“Orh。。。是雞肉片來的。。。”

I think a few more explanations are in order.

121 days to go.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Honestly

I was hearing his voice for the first time in over four months. He sounded weak, exhausted. Who wouldn't be, after waging a major war on a disease. But if I listened carefully enough, beneath that veil of exhaustion, was hope, even jubilance. He knew he wasn't completely out of the woods yet, but at least the way forward was much clearer now.

He had not spoken to nor met up with any other friends yet. Besides her of course. She had been by his side all this while. I was therefore given that somewhat dubious honour once more. Just as that he had accorded me 4-5 months back when he informed me of the initial diagnosis and the then bleak outlook.

I found myself a little lost for words. I knew his condition well enough via my regular communication with her, so I needn't ply him with any more questions. Talk shifted back to more mundane stuff. Like sports.

So you're still an Arsenal fan, my friend? *Laughter* Yes, as long as Wenger doesn't sell Henry.

This is the first time in my life I see LA Clippers top the Pacific table and LA Lakers propping it up. Did you know that? Really?

So where from here now, my friend? I don't know. Haven't planned that far ahead yet.


For once, I've thought slightly further ahead than he. Work-wise, he will know best and I needn't ask. But I did nudge him slightly on a topic he had broached in our conversation 4-5 months back.

Maybe now is a good time to think about that again, my friend? I sensed a wry smile break. Maybe, maybe… we shall see.

Let's all meet up for a meal when I get back I don't know when.

Yes, let's do. I'm going to look forward to that very much.


Honestly.

Yes, I'll be looking forward to that too.


Honestly.

122 days to go.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Tricycle outgrown

A recent pic of 慧 sent by my sis was accompanied with a comment that she seems to be outgrowing her tricycle. Her legs are starting to bend beyond 90 degrees to fit on the pedals now.

I had bought 慧 the tricycle in March 2003, just before flying over to Sydney for the first time. It was an early birthday gift (very early in fact, because
she is a National Day baby if you might recall) from me.

After reading my sis's comments, I decided to dig out old pics of 慧 riding the tricycle for comparison.
This one was taken when 慧 was around one and a half. You might also recall I've posted this picture before. It's one of my favourite pics of her, so oh well...

She definitely struggled to place her feet on the pedals then, so we left the leg rests there for her and pushed the tricycle from behind.
This was taken just after she turned two. By then, her feet could rest quite comfortably on the pedals. But she still didn't have the leg power to move the tricycle on her own. We still had to push her from behind. At least she could feel the circular motion of the pedals then. And the leg rests have been pushed back as it is used less and less.

Going back to the first pic, you would notice the leg rests have been removed completely. I've also been told that 慧 is starting to find the leg power to move the tricycle on her own. At the present moment, she can go straight on her own power. Steering should be next on the "to learn" list.


As my sister had succinctly phrased it,

"How time flies!"

To which I replied,

"Indeed. I'll get her a new and bigger tricycle when I return home for good."

123 days to go.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Field trips

Over the past few weeks, Dan, Stef, Fred and I had gone on two field trips (before Fred had gone home, of course).

The first was to the
Art Gallery located in the city. We had gone for yumcha first before choosing to walk from Chinatown to the other end of the city to get there. We ended up walking something like 45 minutes. *Pant pant*Along the way, we saw a rather handsome looking church. So we stopped for pictures.
When we were nearly there, we saw a horse carriage cantering along. All of us very the suah ku, never saw such a thing before. So more picture taking.

Now the funny bit was there wasn't much of interest (to me at least) in the Art Gallery itself. Maybe I'm just not the artsy type of person. Don't know how to appreciate. The only thing I saw that held my attention for a while was inside a specially arranged chinese calligraphy exhibition. There was an exhibit of the exam script of a 清朝狀元. We stood there trying to decipher the first few lines for 15 minutes before moving on. Too chim.

The other place we went to (on another day) was
Palm Beach. Not the Singaporean seafood restaurant but an actual beach here in Sydney. North Sydney to be exact. We had to drive like 1.5 hours to get there. The actual distance wasn't that long, it was the traffic along the way that slowed us down considerably.
The beach itself was quite breathtaking and very different in character from the ones in the eastern suburbs, e.g. Bondi Beach or Coogee Beach. For one, the sand here is yellowish, a bit like those used for mixing cement but much finer. The sand we've been more used to seeing in beaches around our area of residence is a fine white.
And there certainly were fewer people at this beach.
A view of the other end of the beach.

Other than the beach itself, there wasn't much else to see in the general area, so we adjourned to a western Sydney suburb known as
Ashfield (another 1.5 hours drive back and westwards). They had told me it was known as 小上海 and were keen to check it out. So check it out we did.

It certainly lived up to its name. Most of the chinese I saw there spoke 上海話. And I can't understand a word of it. 上海話 is not like the dialects we often hear in Singapore where you can pick out a word here and there if you knew chinese. So I kept quiet and pretended to be a Shanghainese via my appearance.

There is also a main road running through
Ashfield flanked by whole stretches of 上海小吃 restaurants and the ubiquitous oriental supermarkets. We ended up having our dinner at one of these restaurants.

Their verdict on the food there?

還好。

124 days to go.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Yes, 6 all out!

Le Tissier and 秋's long wait is finally over. I cannot imagine how nervy the past week must have been for them. And as 秋's e-mail severely understated title says, it is "good news". Although I knew what was coming once I saw the title, I cannot completely fathom her continued politically correct or at best cautiously optimistic way of phrasing the news. The only hint of how she and indeed he and his family felt was via a short statement slipped in somewhere saying

"we are all just relieved that a phase of the treatment is over.."

No caps. No exclamation marks. And certainly very little beyond the bare facts. Perhaps as she said, they're all plain relieved and too tired out emotionally to feel too much happiness. In a similar way, when the news of his illness first came out, the initial feeling wasn't one of sadness but a don't-know-what-to-feel feeling. I think that was shock. And perhaps what they're feeling now is something like a reverse shock. All the pent-up fear is suddenly released and nothing is coming in to replace it yet.

But for now, all these doesn't matter. I'm just blabbering off the cuff because of my own excitement about his impending and certain recovery. I know we'll all have something real BIG to celebrate cometh next April when I go back home for good. For now, I will have to make do with a phone call to 秋 later today to share in the joy.

Heh, I've forgotten to give the facts first before launching into the meat of this post. The six rounds of treatment have been highly successful. They will now have to wait for a month before moving onto the final stage of treatment lasting 5 weeks. After that, it will just be just regular check-ups for a certain period of time (I think 6 months or was it 3 years) to make sure everything is ok.

Knowing Le Tissier, his thoughts will most certainly now turn even more to the possibility of relapse. Actually, he would most certainly have been thinking about this ever since the first round of treatment commenced. Knowing 秋, she will be able to read his thoughts. Knowing myself, I will be talking to her about how to keep his mind off that, if that is possible at all.

We're all in the home straight now, guys!

125 days to go.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Not anymore

I've had a long hard work week, especially so today. Fridays are usually more hectic for me. So I thought I would treat myself to a nice dinner. As Dan and Stef were still hard at work, I went alone.

Took a real slow but short walk to a nearby Japanese/Korean restaurant. It's close to summertime now. The official start of it is but less than than a week away. The roads here seem to be quieter in summer. Even the usual "after work hour" jam along the road outside my apartment has cooled off significantly recently. From time to time, I might pass by a house where the family is packing it all into the family car with the children jumping around with excitement, no doubt leaving for a vacation destination.

I picked my spot in the restaurant and settled down to relax. Then I remembered I had forgotten to bring something to read. Duh. The chefs here usually take quite some time to prepare the food. *Sigh* Nothing left to do but to eyeball (as inconspicuously as possible) other customers, the waitresses (one of them is particularly cute but she is not on duty today) and the decor of the place. It's quite a small restaurant, this. Maybe just six tables or so and when all fully seated, it gets a little difficult to move around. Even for the waitresses.

As it turned out, the restaurant was almost full today. But only after I've made my order, sat back and started tweadling my thumbs. A young lady seated at a opposite table took a long, hard and quizzical look at me. I looked back at her, then around us. That was when I realised I was the only customer who was alone. All other tables had two people. Two relatives (I think). An old Caucasian couple. A younger Chinese couple. And two male friends.

There was a time when I would feel very embarrassed and self-conscious about eating alone. What more in a restaurant where every other table is seated with two. Not anymore.

The two guys started chatting a bit. Their discussion got a little animated and louder, allowing me to overhear parts of it. I also caught their evidently Singaporean accent.

There was a time when I would get a little kick from picking out two Singaporeans in a crowd of people just from their Singlish. Not anymore.

The food today was not bad. I tried to take my time with it but couldn't. It was all gone in no time.

There was a time when a good dinner over here at the end of a numbing day will perk up my energy levels significantly. Not anymore. At least not for today.

The sun was still well and truly up as I made my way back to the apartment. It will remain light until well after eight.


Summer used to be my most looked forward to season in Australia. Not anymore.

Still 126 days to go.

Gu gu 的 happy cake

Amongst 慧's mountain of toys, are some food replicas held together by gelco. You know... the kind where the child can "cut up" or "slice" with a "knife". And one of these slice-able replicas is a somewhat thick-set pizza.

Now, 慧 is quite crazy about birthday celebrations, especially her own. So from time to time, she will stage such celebrations to 望梅止渴 a bit, until the real thing comes along. That slice-able pizza therefore becomes her birthday cake. She calls it a "happy cake" though. Don't ask me why. *Shrug*

A couple of days ago, she held a pseudo birthday celebration again. She sang her own birthday song with my mum and proceeded to cut her "happy cake" (the pizza, which can be cut into four). She placed each piece on separate plates (replicas, of course) and mumbled to herself as she did so,

“這個是慧慧的。。。這個是 gong gong 的。。。這個是 ma ma 的。。。”

“還有一塊 leh?這一塊是誰的?”

“這個是 gu gu 的!收起來給 gu gu 吃。”

“哈哈哈!等 gu gu 囘來,chao xing ki liao loh!” (Translation for last bit: the cake would have turned bad and rotted a long time ago!)

126 days to go.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Goodbye, for now, to our doubles partner

Yesterday evening, we (as in Dan, Stef and myself) said goodbye to our regular (actually our only other) Xbox tennis doubles player, Fred. I suppose it is about time I named him here instead of just merely alluding to him all the time. He is also from Shanghai and will be flying home today for the summer break. Lucky chap, all of us are emerald green with envy.

Dan and Stef will be going back to Shanghai too, but only in early January. All three of them will only be jetting back to Sydney in late February, just before the next semester opens. In the meantime, I should still be slogging away here... *Sob*

Anyway, it turned out that today was Fred's 24th birthday. He only mentioned it to Dan and Stef late yesterday. So we held an inprompu mini-celebration for him last night. And of course, we had the obligatory doubles tennis match as part of the evening's events.

We must be getting really adept at it, for some of our rallies seem to last forever. I remember one particular rally that must have lasted beyond 50 shots. The winners of the point, i.e. Dan and me (!), were so jubilant about it that we were yelling and taunting Stef and Fred at the top of our voices.

I so gotta get myself an Xbox once this is all over. :P

Goodbye for now, Fred. Happy 24th Birthday, bon voyage and enjoy your summer (will be winter in China now) break and holidays with your "老婆".


Still 127 days to go.

Two "free" proposals

I received two unusual "free" proposals over the past few days, one of which I was more than glad to accept.

Proposal 1:

A couple of days ago, I took a short cut via a back lane whilst going out for dinner. I don't usually take this route but it is near summertime now and we've moved to daylight savings. So it was still brightly lit (in fact, it gets dark only around 8p.m. now) and I felt safe taking that lane.

This particular back lane is quite narrow and can barely fit two cars in side by side. I was halfway through it when a white van turned in from the opposite end, heading towards me. I started drifting towards the right to give it ample space to pass through. Strangely, it also started drifting to its left, i.e. to my right.

So I stepped way out to my right and ended up walking just next to the right wall. The van couldn't move that far left, but it still had me hemmed in. Then abruptly, it screeched to a halt just next to me. The guy on the passenger seat, a chinese, looked out and spoke to me. Conversation carried out in cantonese (yes, I also know a little cantonese, shouldn't be surprising given that I listen to Alan Tam and George Lam's music)...

"Do you speak cantonese?"

"A little..."

He grabbed a filled out order form and poked it under my nose.

"We're from Penrith," points to address on the form,"and we're delivering Hifi systems to addresses around this neighbourhood. We've made an error and there is an extra set. We can't bring it back with us. Would you like to have it for free?"

"Err... no"

"It's free. If you don't take it, we'll have to dump it somewhere."

"Err... no, I don't want it."

"We're serious, it's free," as the driver nodded vigorously from the inside of the van,"please take it. We can show it to you."

I was silent for a while, partially because I was thinking of a reason to decline, partially because my cantonese is quite crap. Then finally, I thought of this.

"I don't want it because I am going back to my home country soon." (which is actually quite true lah, given that I have but 128 days to go)

Immediately, the passenger seat guy gave up and they drove off.

It was only AFTER the incident that I realised things could have gotten dangerous for me had I said yes.


Proposal 2:

A few months back, I found this
book on this website on Japanese kamikazes during WWII. I was intrigued! Memoirs by Japanese pilots have not been easy to come by and I certainly wanted to get a copy of it for my collection. So I followed the instructions of the website and sent an e-mail to the address provided. No reply. Not even to a second e-mail I sent about a week later.

I thought maybe the book is out of print already (it was published in 2001 afterall) and new copies are no longer available. So I tried
other sources. I found that only one used copy is available at various places (actually same seller) and it costs a hefty US$85, exclusive of shipping.

Fwah... so expensive.

Then I found another
used copy listed at a reasonable price a few days ago. E-mailed this seller and received the reply that the book has been sold. Duh.

I was almost going to give up looking for a cheaper copy and deciding on effecting the order for the US$85 copy (yes, I do crazy things for good books) when a thought hit me: I should e-mail the webmaster of the
initial website to find out where he got HIS copy.

He told me he had gotten his copy via the same e-mail address too but he is aware the seller, who is also the publisher and co-editor, seldom checks that mailbox now. In fact, the webmaster KNOWS the seller/publisher/co-editor personally and volunteered to contact him on my behalf.

Finally, the publisher replied to my initial e-mail. His reply was totally unexpected:


From: Imamura Book

To: Acey Deucey
Date: Tue 22/11/2005 10:00 AM GMT+08:00
Subject: Re: Resend: Shig: The True Story of an American Kamikaze

Dear Acey:

Thank you for your interest in purchasing a copy of Shig: The True Story of an American Kamikaze. I apologize for not replying to your earlier message sooner.

Please send me the address where you would like the book mailed and I can send it. I assume that you want the book in English. There is also a Japanese edition.

We self-published and distribute the books ourselves. So, we are not set up as a business. Therefore, instead of sending money for the book, please make a donation to an educational program or relief agency there in Singapore. We suggest a donation of about $20.00 (U.S.), the cost of purchasing the book in the U.S.

Again, I apologize not responding to you sooner. Thank you for your persistence and interest in Professor Imamura's memoir.

Sincerely,
XXX
Co-editor, Shig: The True Story of an American Kamikaze


Now this offer (as opposed to the previous one), I was more than happy to accept. I wrote back offering to at least pay for the shipping cost, which he declined again. How highly unusual!


And so, I owe a certain charity in Singapore (not decided which yet) S$34. Writing it down and posting it here not only for you the reader, but also as a reminder to myself, so that I can effect the donation when I get home!

127 days to go.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Torch Light (part 1)

(Source of pic, Leonid Mamchenkov)

I have long lost track of time spent exploring this colossal cavern. My best estimate is around a day. That's twenty-four hours, mostly spent in the dark. I guess when you are alone, entrapped in darkness, interspersed with short periods when you come across some sprinklings of light supplied by candles or torches lining the sides, the awareness of time becomes totally irrelevant. For once, there is no relativity in my world and the concept of absoluteness, so normally overshadowed by its adversary, captures my attention totally.

Legend says that the founder of the art of wizardry, Katherine, created this huge magical cave many centuries back. Historians hypothesized that this was her way of recording all of her lifetime's discoveries and teachings. Future generations of wizards have since worshipped it as a sacred ground and used it as a training ground for wizard apprentices like myself. Specifically, it has evolved to become the definitive final test every apprentice has to take before being ushered into the exclusive circle of wizards.

If I have given the reader the impression that this final test is a very difficult one, then I offer my apologies for having misled you. The test has thus far yielded a 100% success rate. Every apprentice, who has been declared by his teacher to be fit and ready for the test, has taken it and made it out of the cave alive, hopefully more enlightened. Which was why this cavern was given an unimaginative and void of creativity name, "Cave of Certain Return". How these teachers, wizards proper themselves, decide on the readiness state of an apprentice is as much of a mystery to you as it is to me.

What I do know is, I was extremely excited when summoned before my teacher two days ago and was solemnly instructed me to take the "Final Test" the very next day. So here I am, in this mystical cave left by the Founder for posterity and being awed by her magic and spells that are inscribed randomly onto its walls. The average length of time an apprentice stays in the cave is between three to four days. There was once when a plucky apprentice disappeared into the cave for nearly six days. Everybody in the town thought that the myth of divine protection from the Founder was about to be shattered. To the folks' surprise and to his teacher's greater relief, he came back on the sixth sunset, appearing none the worse from his "ordeal". There was an impromptu celebration throughout that night to congratulate him on his supposed brush with fate. That particular fortunate apprentice went on to become one of the most renowned wizards of his lifetime.

I did not bring much for this journey. There was not a need to. It has become the unwritten law that all apprentices need not bring supplies into the cave. The magic of the cave produces an endless supply of food and water, situated at strategic points of the cave. These sanctuaries have been specially created by the Founder for the journeying apprentices to rest and recuperate before moving on. I guess the Founder must have been a great planner as well.

I was also informed of the redundancy of my spell book. Any spell I intend to take down into my spell book will be erased once I see daylight again. You will have to commit the spells to memory and the trip does turn into a memory exercise after a while. So one enters and exits the cave very much unchanged in body (unless your diet changes drastically in the cave) but hopefully changed in mind. That is of course, the intention of our teachers in sending us on this journey.

I did bring in something that was somewhat unexpected, especially for myself. A walking stick. Prior to the trip, I was advised liberally by various wizards, including my teacher, to bring one with me. I initially scorned at the idea, since I viewed myself as a strong and healthy young man, but ultimately relented as it was after all, advice from my respected teacher. A couple of hours into the cave, the walking stick has already justified its presence. Most of the commencing tunnels were quite well lit and relatively simple to manoeuvre in. However, I was soon to experience much dimmer ones later. That was when the stick came in useful as an extended hand. As fatigue sets in from time to time, I also find myself relying more and more on the stick for support as I push on.

Despite the impending uncertainties, I still carried with me the utmost faith that I will emerge from the cave safely. And because of this confidence, I have chosen to travel slowly and to examine all artifacts I came across closely. Of course, any spell I find inscribed on the walls have been earnestly memorised and learnt, for there is no turning back in this journey.

Yes, you heard that right. There is no turning back. Apparently, a spell that governs the movement of an apprentice has been cast on the cave. The cave memorises the identity of each apprentice who has entered it. Thus, no apprentice can make this trip twice. In it, I can only move forward. Any new tunnel I enter will close out the exit of the last I was in. Because of the huge number of tunnels and their complex distribution in the cavern, there is an infinite number of ways an apprentice can actually complete this trip in. Every wizard will therefore get to learn vastly different spells from their contemporaries in their own special journey. Thus, I constantly remind myself to learn each lesson, each spell comprehensively before moving on.

Every apprentice handles the journey in a different way. Some lack the mental endurance, hurrying along, emerging in a day or so. Others take in the sights and sounds (little there may be), reappearing from the cave learning little but gaining a few stones. I am hoping I will have the mental toughness to stay in the cave for as long as I can tolerate, so as to learn as much as I can adsorb.

Tolerance, I say? Yes, you need tremendous mental toughness to combat the age-old enemy called boredom. It sometimes increases the urge to hasten one's step towards reaching the end. I am of course susceptible to it too. Fortunately for me, I was to come across this peculiar "Air" spell early in my journey that proved most helpful. It is called Music. With this spell, I can conjure up a tune that plays and plays continuously. That helps to break the silence of the cave and block out the disturbing crackling sounds of the fires that dance ever so cheerily on the stage provided by the torches. So fearful I am of the deadly silence, I leave my spell playing softly even when I am in slumber. Yes, the named spell does come with volume control.

It will be inevitable that boredom still sets in occasionally and you lose sight of why you are in here in the first place. Every tunnel looks the same, save the writings on the walls or some time-ravaged artifact. Occasionally, I enter the odd sanctuary that breaks the pattern a little. I am grateful to the fact that all these sanctuaries, at least all those I have been to thus far, are quite well illuminated. Each will almost certainly contain numerous fruit trees and a drinking hole. Occasionally, I even come across small and crudely constructed resting-places, perhaps left behind by a previous apprentice. What do you know? Historical artifacts!

The boredom does make me wonder about the Founder. What was the real reason behind this magnificent creation? I exclaim in surprise at her magical powers, as well as her magnanimity behind her motivation for its construction. Her creation has fed the minds of many generations of wizards and will continue to do so for more to come. I am most grateful to her for allowing me into her creation and to learn from her.

Strangely, most of the spells I have learnt thus far are "Fire" spells, meaning, they are fire- based (All spells are categorised under one of four ways, "Water", "Fire", "Earth" and "Air"). In a way, this has worked to my advantage. As mentioned, there are many parts of the journey wrapped in total darkness, some so dark I cannot even count my outstretched fingers. I find it annoyingly difficult to sleep in complete darkness. It does not make a difference whether my eyes are open or shut, I can only see pitch darkness. Moving without a light is obviously quite disorientating. I can only feel my way through the tunnel until the next distant candlelight comes into view. This makes progress excruciatingly slow and I do not even know if I have missed out on any spells or writings left by the Founder along the way.

So I was really relieved to learn a "Fire" spell, Finger Flame, a couple of hours back. I am extremely grateful now to have this little flame whispering sweet nothings to me from atop of my right index finger. The main drawback of this spell is it works only on my index fingers. My index fingers ache after some time because it has to be kept upright all the time (lest I burnt myself!). Even after alternating between both hands, the duo is still lodging complaints of ill treatment.

Yet, "Fire" spells are dangerous too. Even the Founder has taken the trouble to warn me about that, inscribing these warnings next to each "Fire" spell I come across. I guess the main danger comes not from fire's potentially destructive powers but that only the conjurer of the spell can put out fires originating from magic.

Spending over a day in the dark blunts my memories of the outside world. I start to forget the feeling of sunlight roasting my back, the smell of the morning fresh air lingering in my nostrils, the echoes of children's laughter. I miss those feelings but the conscious constant reminder to myself that this is a once in a lifetime experience usually curbs the temptation to hurry along. At other times though, I do get to appreciate the virtues of being alone. It allows me the space to ponder more deeply into the teachings of my teacher. I start to learn and relearn all that she has taught me in my mind, from interestingly new perspectives. It also helps me to derive a better understanding of the literature of this incredulous cave.

The literature used by the Founder is quite varied. In fact, she seldom used pure English. Instead she often relied on other dialects, such as those used by the goblins, dwarves, forest elves, dragons and strangely enough, even that of our age-old northern border enemies, the Witches. I was patting myself on the back for having learnt my foreign dialects well. It allowed me to interpret most of her expositions with relative ease.


Akan Datang: 三國演義

128 days to go.

P.S. I wrote this eons ago, like 5-6 years back. Just remembered it recently, so here it is in its full former glory.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

A special thank you

To my one regular reader: A big thank you. I sometimes wonder...

...how you had found my blog.

...if you've read my previous posts.

...if you've read ALL my previous posts. :P

...who you are.

Most importantly, I wonder if you know the immense satisfaction I felt when I first discovered that I actually have a regular reader (Like I've said before, one reader is enough for me).

Actually, all the above apply to other regular readers as well. If there are any others that is. I wouldn't know since only this one regular reader has been leaving comments from time to time. *Shrug*

129 days to go.

Monday, November 21, 2005

<突然很想家>

今天下午,突然很想家。

打了個電話回家,也聊了許久。最近比較忙,很久沒跟家人聊這麽久了。聊著聊著,突然很想家。

看著,聽著電視上的新加坡相關新聞,突然很想家。

收到姐的電郵。她寄了幾張慧的照片給我。看了后,突然很想家。

現在一邊工作一邊聼著
UFM100.3,聽到DJ的聲音和一些老歌,突然很想家。

真的還有一百三十天嗎?

Too much Top Spin

You know you've played too much Xbox tennis (proper name is Top Spin), when whilst watching the Masters Cup final between Roger Federer and David Nalbandian, the following happens...

... Nalbandian at the net and he volleys. It's not a very good one, allowing Federer to get to the ball and I yell

“打 "
Y" 啊!”.

... Federer tries a low percentage backhand crosscourt shot that goes astray and Dan makes the comment

“估計他打 "
risk shot" 失敗了。”,

to which I reply

“沒擒中紅心!”.

... Nalbandian hits another of his spectacularly angled service returns and Stef goes

“Wah... 這個人的
special skill 一定是 "angle"!”

and I reply after some thought

“可能還有 "
return serve" 呢!”.

Or maybe you should just look at the
manual. *Grin*

Having said the above, I hasten to add the
final was one of the longest (over 4.5 hours) and most entertaining tennis matches I've ever seen, see-sawing all the way till the end of the fifth set.

Oh, and Stef lost two ice-cream cones to Dan. He had offered to take the underdog in return for a 2 for 1 odds that Stef confidently accepted. Watching their ongoing bantering and taunting of each other was just about as entertaining as the tennis match itself.

130 days to go.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Keane's departure

And so, Roy Keane has left Man Utd. On mutual consent, so say reports. No doubt many will speculate that his most recent outburst and criticism of teammates has hastened his departure. How much truth that carries, we will never know. He has had many such outbursts before but none quite like this one that the manager decided he had to intervene. Reactions to Keane's departure and praise of his past service for the club has been fast in coming. So have offers from other clubs to sign him.

To me, it is not totally bad news. Man Utd have been playing the 4-5-1 formation quite often to accommodate his slowing legs (partially due to age, partially due to past injuries) and it hasn't worked well. Keane himself has not been happy with Man Utd's form for the past two seasons. So parting ways now might be a good thing for all parties involved. It might also give more urgency to the management and board to search for and sign an able replacement during the January transfer window.


For me, the burning questions now are i) who will be club captain, ii) who will lead and plod the team along now (the current team seems to suffer from a dearth in natural leaders) and iii) who will take up that vital defensive midfielder role (Fergie has been experimenting with Smith in Keane's role and the jury is still out on the success of that).

This weekend's away game against Charlton suddenly becomes very very important. (Edit: Man Utd did manage to beat Charlton. Interestingly, van Nistelrooy took the captain's armband for this game, as did the past few when Keane was injured.)

131 days to go.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Strange library practices

Recently, I needed to borrow a book (reference book; I don't like to borrow and have never borrowed books for reading pleasure) from the university's library. A search revealed that the library has only one copy of the said book and someone else had already borrowed it. So I was put into a queue.

After about 3 weeks, I finally got an e-mail from the library telling me the book was available for me to pick up. That came in the evening of 14th November, the Monday just past. As such, I went down to pick it up on Tuesday.

Then two days back, I received another e-mail. It was a "Loan Recall" e-mail. And believe it or not, they gave me until today, 19th November, to return the book.


I had the book for a grand total of less than 5 days.

Altogether now...

It can only happen in Australia, I tell you, it can only happen in Australia...

132 days to go.

Friday, November 18, 2005

An important day

Just remembered today is an important day. Not for me, but for .

頻頻報捷啊! Way to go, girl!

Still 133 days to go.

Responses

All of us have different ways of responding to 慧's calls. And she has picked up the differences, turning it around and back at us in the form of a game.

"Ma ma 說甚麽?"

"Ma ma... "oooi!""

"Mee mee 說甚麽?"

"Mee mee... "yes?! yes?!""

"Pa pa leh? Pa pa 說甚麽?"

"Pa pa... "zho nee?"" (my bro-in-law is Teochew)

"Gu gu leh? Gu gu 說甚麽?"

"Gu gu... "做甚麽?""

"Gong gong 說甚麽?"

"Gong gong..." A short pause. "Gong gong 沒有!" (my dad usually respond by action only)


133 days to go.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Round two

By the time you read this, you'd have probably known that Australia has qualified for the World Cup 2006. After 32 long years. 1974 was the one and only time thus far. I wasn't even born yet then.

Classic match it was not, even if the
stadium was packed to the rafters with Aussie supporters. In fact, only one team turned up to play. The other turned up to hang onto whatever advantage they've achieved in the first leg.

There was a lot of cynical play on Uruguay's part. Indeed,
Ronaldo (the Brazilian one) had earlier warned Australia of Uruguay's potentially dirty tactics. How true his warning turned out to be as I observed some of these tactics during the match:

i) Repeated testing of the pressure of football(s) by the Uruguayan players at the start of the match, much to the referee's ire.

ii) Frequent fouling to disturb the rhythm of the game. There was even one instance when a Uruguayan player was caught on camera peeping through this hands that he used to cover his face whilst wincing from an apparent injury due to an Australian challenge. He promptly got up to play after the referee brandished the yellow card at the hapless Australian player.

iii) Insinuations by Uruguayan players of Australian players diving and opening asking the referee to book the player.

iv) Even their coach got into the act. He was caught on camera throwing the ball at the back of an Australian player. That got even the commentator livid (he is Aussie afterall).

From a purely football point of view, Uruguay was unlucky to not win the tie. They had quite a number of few clear cut chances but failed to take them. Australia rode their luck a little. Even the goal they scored to level the aggregate score had a touch of luck in it. However, Australia did dominate the match. They just didn't create as many chances as Uruguay. Kewell finally got to play down the left flank and that provided the cutting edge to Australia's attack.

The Qantas chartered flight really did help the Aussie players to recover quicker. In case you've not heard,
Qantas actually had a plane refurbished (with massage facilities and beds) for the Australian team and flew them straight back from Montevideo, Uruguay, after the first leg. No need to switch flights. The Uruguayan team had to make a 20 hour flight with two flight changes. Midway through the second half, the Uruguayan team was already a spent force. And they lost two key players, forward Recoba and defender Monteiro, through fatigue (they were substituted). After that, they were just hanging on to the aggregate draw and praying for the penalty kicks to come in double-quick time.

Which the Aussies won.


So congratulations to Australia, from a very envious Singaporean.

They call football the beautiful game. Not when it is played by a team like Uruguay.

134 days to go.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Yah yah papaya juice

Recently, my mum found a 偏方 to solve 慧's occasional constipation woes.

Papaya.
One small problem though. 慧 dislikes papaya. Ever since she was a baby.

Last week, 慧 needed a little er... help with her bowel movements again. So my mum came up with this idea to get her to take some papaya.

Following conversation was actually carried out in hokkien but now translated for you...

"So I made some fruit juice, orange + apple + papaya. I tested it myself and found that there is still some residual papaya taste and smell left."

"So how leh?"

"I peeled some orange slices and got them ready on standby. Then I gave 慧 her juice as per normal, in a cup with a straw."

"So can she tell there is papaya in it?"

"Yes ah! She very 鬼靈精 one! Luckily, I got backup plan. Once she starts wincing and making funny faces at the juice, I will remove the straw and pop a slice of orange into her mouth. That got rid of the papaya smell. She finished the whole cup of juice this way!"

"Ha ha ha... impressive, mum!"

"Ha! What's more impressive is she pang sai that very afternoon! 還是我厲害!" (Translation: pang sai = pass motion)

"Mother, mai hao lian lah!" (Translation: Mother, be humble!)

"Mai hao lian mah la ei sai?!" (Translation: How can I not be proud of myself?!)

Have I just unearthed the origins of our Singaporean phrase, "yah yah papaya"?

135 days to go.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

6 all out?

Two Fridays ago, Le Tissier underwent his sixth and final planned cycle of treatment. Now we're waiting for next week when he will go through a final detailed scan to see how he has been responding to the treatment thus far. If things go as planned, then he can move on to the next and final stage of treatment which I was told is another five weeks. If not, three more cycles might be required. And maybe even with a change to a different cocktail of drugs.

秋 told me he has been in better spirits lately. Maybe because the end of his treatment is near? Maybe he is getting used to the three week cycles? *Shrug*

I asked 秋 if he was feeling confident about next week. She said no. He has not even mentioned it. I asked 秋 if she was feeling confident. She said no again. And she has made the conscious effort to not mention it as well. I suppose they're all keeping their fingers crossed and are at best only cautiously optimistic about it. It's as if talking about it may raise false hopes or something. But I can understand the self-contradicting feelings they're experiencing right now.

In any case, it turns out that I'm the one who is feeling the most confident of us all. I have somehow expected things to go smoothly all along, right from the first cycle. Maybe the fact that I have been in Sydney all along and have not seen what he had been going through creates a 假象 in me. Next week, we will know.


136 days to go.

Monday, November 14, 2005

WWII aviation memoirs

I have very focused and peculiar (compared with the usual people you get to meet, that is) reading preferences. Actually, most of my hobbies are focused and peculiar. For the record, I only read Peanuts, 三國演義 related stuff and WWII aviation memoirs. Yup, WWII aviation memoirs. Not just WWII related. Not just aviation related. Not just memoirs. Not just WWII aviation related. Not just aviation memoirs. Not just WWII memoirs. MUST be WWII aviation memoirs.

On last count, my collection of WWII aviation memoirs is over 150 strong. Yes, I OWN over 150 of these biographies and autobiographies. I don't borrow books from the library because I really hate the look and feel of books that have been ravaged and worn out. So my books are mostly brand new (just read once or twice by yours truly after purchase) or in fine condition (out of print but I managed to locate them in
used bookshops from overseas). In any case, I am pretty sure our National Library do not carry these books.
I have memoirs of pilots from almost every participant nation of WWII. From the Allies side, American, British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, South African, French, Dutch, Belgian, Icelander (!), Czech, Polish and Soviet. From the Axis side, Japanese, German and Austrian (!). And also a couple of Finnish (!!!) ones too (Finland didn't really belong to either the Axis or the Allies). I'm missing Italian memoirs in my collection. From what I know, only one Italian pilot has ever had his pilotage experiences written into a memoir but that was not translated into English. Pity.

After reading so many of these memoirs, I have noticed some common traits across all WWII pilots. The fighter pilots were glad they were not bomber pilots because they regarded bombers as sitting ducks (read level and straight flight). The bomber pilots were glad they were not fighter pilots because bombers had more than one engine to bring them home with. Most pilots described combat missions as hours of boredom punctuated by a few seconds of sheer terror. Most fighter pilots also experienced the strange phenomena of being surrounded by many other fighter planes, both friendly and hostile, in one moment and suddenly finding himself alone in the sky the next. A most unusual experience!
And most pilots lived life to the hilt because they are all fully aware that their next mission could be their last, although they do not talk about it. These were people who truly lived everyday as if it was going to be their last. Parties, booze, sex, pranks... you name it, they did it, but only during off duty hours. However, once strapped into their cockpits, they morph into fighting machines, calm, collected and cold, with the plane an extension of himself. They will also tell you they do not feel they were killing people when firing on an enemy plane; They're merely trying to bring down an enemy plane. Indeed, there was much chivalry practised then between pilots, e.g. no strafing at parachuting pilots and no firing on a plane when its pilot has dropped his wheels because he was giving up the fight and trying to make a crash landing. There were still some black sheeps who didn't abide by these unwritten rules and played dirty.

Having said the above, there were still certain traits particular to pilots from each participant country. The US pilots tended to be the most carefree. Perhaps because they knew their home country were not being directly threatened. The British pilots were grimmer, no doubt due to the fact that Britain stood alone against the whole of Europe (overrun by Hitler) for about a year. This only ended after Hitler looked east and invaded Soviet Union. The Japanese were a little extreme, e.g. they didn't want to wear parachutes because they deemed it unnecessary weight that slowed down the plane! The high attrition rate of Japanese pilots really came back to haunt them later in the war as the quality of their pilots fell drastically. The German pilots tended to be quite bitter as they were fighting a losing battle on all fronts for more than half the war. And for me, Canadian pilots had the greatest wit and sense of humour of them all. Terror in the Starboard Seat (see pic above) is one such fine example.
I feel most for the pilots of countries that had been overrun by superior powers, e.g. the French, Belgian, Polish and Finnish (the latter's nation, invaded by Soviet Union) pilots. These felt the most intense of hatred for the enemy and fought really hard. The moment where they flew back to their respective home countries for the first time after its liberation makes for the most touching read.

Recently, I found out that a Singaporean pilot (Straits Chinese to be exact), Tan Kay Hai or 陳家海, had actually flown for the Allies during WWII. He had flown a P-51, Mustang (an American plane) over Normandy during the infamous D-Day landings. Here's a
short English writeup and a Chinese newspaper report from 早報 on him. It was also mentioned in Tomorrow.sg earlier this year. That was how I came to know about this story. There are mentions of a book being written about this great man. I hope it will come true.
Going back to my book collection and reading interests, so why WWII? Why aviation? And why memoirs?

Well, the period of the mid 1930s to the mid 1940s marked the advent of the monoplane (single metal wing). Prior to the 30s, it was still the era of the biplanes (double fabric and wooden wings). And after the 40s, it was the era of the jet engine (metallic delta wings, i.e. similar to those of the infamous F-16s). So the pilots of WWII had to cope with fairly modern and fast planes (compared to the obsolete biplanes) without the aids that are widely available later to jet pilots, e.g. G-suits (rudimentary ones were invented and made available to US pilots towards the end of the war). This odd mix made for an intriguing read. At least to me.
What makes these even more engaging reads for me was observing how the pilots coped with such a chameleon-like lifestyle as opposed to the constant fighting the army and navy personnel went through. As a pilot, one moment they would be lying on their soft and comfortable beds, eating decent food and the next, they could be fighting for the lives in the sky. Such a lifestyle was simply not sustainable and many suffered from combat fatigue (a term only coined many years later). So they were sent for rests after a few months' of fighting. The Germans and Japanese pilots did not have such a luxury as they were losing and suffered from manpower shortage. They almost always fought till the end of the war or to their deaths, whichever came first.

Sadly, work has slowed my reading signficantly this year. I haven't bought many books recently as well. Partially because I've bought most of the the interesting ones! Partially because these pilots are all of age now (80+ at least) and fewer and fewer new works are being written and released.
Soon they will be all gone and all that remains will be these books as records of their fight for their respective home countries.

Akan Datang: Torch Light

137 days to go.

Edit: The pictures below were on 11th May 2006. They were taken after my return home, thanks to the digital camera borrowed from my sis:Here we see half of my WWII aviation memoirs collection. Shortly after my return to Singapore, I received an e-mail from a new reader (I suppose), also from Singapore, and who is also into WWII aviation. So this and the following pic is more for him than for anyone else. :PThe second half of my collection. Yes, I've read ALL of them. Oh, and the hawk-eyed ones amongst you might spot Roald Dahl amongst the titles (first pic). Yes, he was a WWII aviator too.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Round one

And so, the first leg of the World Cup Qualifying Playoffs is done. I had decided to make an effort to get up early (6:30a.m. Sydney time) for the second time in three days to watch it. Here is my 觀後感:

The surprise in the starting line-ups was that Forlan (Uruguay's star striker, formerly with Man Utd) was in, after having been "confirmed" all week as "unavailable". Actually, such things happen in football all the time. Coach declares player is unavailable all week and then the player promptly makes the starting eleven. I supposed as I saw the starting line-up that it was just another tactic by Uruguay to throw Australia off. Apparently, the injury was not a ruse. Forlan only lasted 18 minutes. He had to be substituted when his injury flared up again.

Australia started the match brightly and indeed, controlled proceedings and possession for the first half hour or so. Much had been made about Uruguay's robust and intimidating style of play. But if anything, it was Australians who seemed to be intimidating the Uruguayans in that half hour. However, the Aussie attack seemed a little lack of ideas and not many telling forays into Uruguay's penalty box were made. Most of their shots at goal came from outside the box.

Then Uruguay woke up and started to threaten. They created a couple of chances and a moment of Australian defensive naivete allowed them to sneak a goal. The teams went into half-time with Uruguay up 1-0. I thought then that the scoreline was a little harsh (to Australia) based on Australia's dominance of the first half.

Australia started the second half brightly as well. But that lasted only like 10 minutes or so. After that, Uruguay was creating chance after chance. In the final 15 minutes of the game, the Aussie goal was under a perpetual siege. They were really lucky on numerous circumstances to not concede any more goals. The entire Australian team seemed to run out of steam in those 15 minutes and really struggled to cope.

The match ended 1-0 in Uruguay's favour. By then, I've changed my mind and thought Australia was very lucky to come away with that scoreline.

Based on what I've seen, I don't feel Australia has what it takes to score at least two goals against Uruguay in the second leg and qualify for the World Cup proper. Their attack is too tepid and lacks ideas. For one, there wasn't much wing play down the flanks to get behind Uruguay's defence. And one point raised by an analyst/correspondent, that Kewell should be deployed down the left flank (his more oft seen position) instead of the right, agreed with me. Indeed, I thought Kewell didn't play well and he would have been substituted if I had the say. The fitness level of the team seems pretty suspect too, judging from how much the team was labouring in the last 15 minutes. If the 2nd leg goes into extra time, this could pan out as a big advantage to the Uruguayans.


Oh and a slight aside. Some of the Uruguayan players' er... reactions to fouls by Australian players have to be seen to be believed. Tsk tsk...

But the most interesting part for me was the post-match reactions to the 1-0 loss from the Australian commentators and guests (invited to the studio). These range from cautious optimism to strong confidence. Quite a number of them were even praising the Aussie players of having played really well (!!!). Only one analyst/correspondent (the same one as above) conveyed his pessimism about Australia's chances. Perhaps it is because he's not Australian (his accent seems British). First time I heard so many positive things being said about a LOSS. Misplaced optimism, I would say, but then again, if Singapore was in the same position, I suppose all of us would say the same stuff. :P

We reconvene in 3 days' time in Sydney for the second leg.


So there remains one last question to be answered: Should I go back to bed now?

138 days to go.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

4 years to a balloon

I suppose I'm what you would call a 慢熱 type of music listener.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got around to effecting my
purchase of a couple of my all-time favourite movies' DVDs. And along with them, I've also at very long last made up my mind on getting a certain chinese pop album.

It took me 4 years to make up my mind about the latter.

The DVDs and CDs arrived yesterday, just after my presentation. A rather tranquil and pleasant way to end an otherwise hectic day and week.

139 days to go.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Arrow takes effect

The arrow takes effect today.

That's why I am up and posting this so early (Singapore time I mean).

And not saying much. *Grumble*

140 days to go.

P.S. It feels so strange to be listening to Singapore radio at this 鳥不生蛋 time.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

有沒有"lud"?

As alluded to in an earlier post, 慧 is going through a phase of naughtiness. So much so that a new word has recently been added to her ever expanding vocabulary. Not sure if this word is Hokkien, some other dialect, Malay or Singlish though.

Upon returning to my place last Sunday evening, 慧 scampers to the kitchen to greet my mum.

"Ma maaa!"

“Oooi! 慧慧回來了啊?!慧慧回家有沒有坏坏?”

“有!”

“有沒有 "lud"?”

“有!”

“"Lud" 哪裏?”

“"Lud" 屁股。”

Actually, I listened to this story with rather mixed feelings. It's a little comical on one hand but yet quite painful if I exercise my imagination a little.

If I were the one in their (as in my sister, bro-in-law and my mum) position, I most definitely wouldn't have the heart to "use the rod" on her. But after hearing the tales of her naughtiness, I realise this is a crucial age in drawing the line and teaching her discipline. My mum keeps telling me of her dilemma when faced with the problem of whether to use this last resort of a discipline measure or not.

I hope 慧's naughtiness phase passes quickly.

141 days to go.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Taking the rap

My two new housemates, a couple, are really really young. In every sense of the word.

For one, they are almost one Chinese zodiac cycle younger than me. Generation gapS siah...


And their 言行舉止 is a even bigger giveaway of their youth.


No, writing this down is not due to envy on my part. Nor is it a complaint. Rather, it is just to put down my observation that Singaporean teens seem to grow old (ok, a better way of phrasing it is "mature") faster. I've taught students of comparable age range back in Singapore as well as in Australia. And now after observing my new housemates for a couple of weeks, I have come to the above conclusion.

My new housemates do add a little vibrance to the apartment. And love. Oh yes, they are very open about their show of love for each other. So much so I feel a little pai seh about stepping out of my room too often. Don't want to be a 電燈泡, you know. I shall refrain from describing their er… open displays of love here.

Recently, the boy bought an electric guitar and amplifier. Now that certainly worried me because I work from home. My fears were realised as he began practising in the living room, and at a rather high volume too. Fortunately for me, and a credit to him, he took in my plea for a quiet workplace and henceforth, practised only from the sanctuary of their room, and at a reasonably low volume too.

All went ok until two nights ago. He was practicing past midnight and I didn't really notice (my internet radio was tuned to UFM100.3, as usual). But our neighbour, an elderly lady, certainly did. Keep in mind as you read this that Australians sleep really early, like 8p.m. This neighbour was apparently disturbed from her slumber by the noise.

Anyway, I thought I heard a few loud and impatient knocks on our main door. A pause, followed by more vigorous knocking. I lowered the volume of my speakers to check out what was happening. That was when I noticed i) he was practising on his electric guitar after midnight and ii) that was most certainly an angry neighbour knocking on our door. As I opened my room door, I heard him stop strumming, then putting back his guitar and zipping up its case. Yes, the apartment I stay in is THAT quiet, especially at night. I stood there waiting to see if he would come out and answer the door. It should be as obvious to him as it was to me it was our neighbour. Or so I thought.

More knocks on the door and he didn't come out. I sighed and decided to face the music (pun unintended). To my neighbour's credit, she did not give me a dressing down, but just stated the facts in a stern manner. I apologised on my housemate's behalf and promised to speak to him. Which I did, and he only managed a timid apology to me.

No, I wasn't angry on having to take the rap on his behalf. It was just another display of youthful brashness and the subsequent fear to face up to its consequences. I've seen too many such displays to feel any anger. One day, he will learn it the hard (sadly for him) way. It's a necessary path to adulthood, I suppose.


And one day, 慧 will have to go through it too. My mum always say she might not be around when it happens. I always reply that I will be around should 慧 need any guidance.

The electric guitar episode did remind me that I've REALLY gotten older. I was also reminded of a Cliff Richard's oldie, "The Young Ones". Maybe that's why my dad likes that song so much...

142 days to go.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Name

In case anyone has wondered about the name. Special mention of this version.

Because of the respective objectives of this blog and the game. Also partially influenced by my reading interests.

And no, I've never played the game before.

143 days to go.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Things I want to do after completing my actuarial exams

In roughly descending order of importance,

i) Subscribe to
SCV, the World Movies channel

ii) and the Football channel

iii) Get myself an Xbox (or even the next generation console, Xbox 360)

iv) Shoot more pool, and get myself a proper cue (actually I've never owned one, even though I've been pooling for like 6-7 years now)

v) Learn how to converse in Japanese

vi) Learn how to draw, the comics type (not manga)

vii) Learn social dancing (if I can find a gal to go learn it with)

viii) Visit Malta (I dislike travelling, but this is one of the few places I want to go; More info on Malta available here)

ix) and Santa Rosa, California, to attend a Beaglefest (this, because of
Peanuts)

x) Learn from mum how to make soup (Edit: added on 22nd February 2006)

Akan Datang: Another of my 極端 hobbies, reading WWII aviation memoirs


144 days to go.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Looks and smiles

Yesterday, I was at Coles doing my weekly grocery shopping. Now Coles is the Australian's equivalent of our NTUC Fairprice, except that that it is a listed company and that it has a big rival in the Australian market in Woolworths (also affectionately called Woolies by Aussies).

A short aside, I always found the name
Woolworths to be quite a tongue twister...

Anyway, as I was saying, I was in
Coles, and was making my way to the ham counter. There wasn't really a queue system for this counter and everyone just stood around waiting on an informal first come first served basis.

There usually is just one
Coles employee serving the counter and that was the case yesterday. A plumb Caucasian young lady (sounded like a local by her accent when I overheard her ordering later) was ahead of me waiting to be served. Ahead of her was a guy who seemed to be buying a month's worth of supplies.

"And I would like 200 grams of that... and 500 grams of that..."

As I queued up behind the lady, she turned around to give me a "Looks-like-it-is-going-to-be-quite-a-wait" look. I replied with a grin and a "I-know,-it-often-happens" look.

Finally, the guy was done and it was the lady's turn. At that moment, a middle-aged chinese guy came along, stood in front of me and started looking. At the same time, another Coles employee came over to help out his colleague. The chinese guy took the opportunity to cut in front of me and made his order (I didn't have the presence of mind to note his accent and guess where he is from) to the new helper.

The young lady immediately turned around and looked half in disapproval, half in surprise at him. She was totally ignored. Then she turned to me and gave me that look of surprise too. I smiled again and gave a "Forget-it,-not-worth-the-trouble" look.

Now, here comes the unexpected part. She directed a "I-don't-believe-it" look of disgust at ME, took her ham and walked away.

One small incident, but it highlights so many differences between Australian and Singaporean culture. To me, that is the "fun" and meaningful part of staying overseas for an extended period of time, as opposed to a fortnight "stop-take-picture-board-bus" kind of whirlwind tour.


145 days to go.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Tennis

No, I do not play tennis. In fact, the last time I touched a tennis racket was probably 15 years back.

But hell, we're hooked onto tennis now.

This kind of
tennis.

Especially playing doubles.

It's the first time all of us broke sweat from merely sitting on a couch. It's the first time I heard Stef swear (but very mild lah... “媽媽的!”). It's the first time they complained of getting blurry-eyed from all the staring at the screen. It's the first time I got a backache for staying hunched and tensed up for so long.

146 days to go.

Friday, November 04, 2005

I must be dreaming!

I don't usually dream. And when I do, I complete them so that by the time I wake up, I have no inkling of them (that's my hypothesis). In fact, I can count the total number of dreams I've had this year with my pair of hands. No kidding.

I have had two dreams this year, amongst others, that have left a real deep impression in me. Sometimes, I wonder about their significance. Indeed, it is the second of these, which took place like about a month ago, that provided the er... inspiration to this post.

The first dream. I believe it happened just after I returned to Sydney from the last summer break. That would put it around March.

It started off with me walking along the pavement with a girl who happens to be a rather well-known singer. It was at night and along a rather quiet street. I was holding her hand and we were chatting as we strolled.

I remember thinking as we walked,"Hey, how come I am attached?"

And then, "This can't be true. This can't be happening. I remember I am single."

But as we walked, I got used to that feeling and slowly but surely, those thoughts of doubts dissipated. Then I started to enjoy that warm lovey dovey feeling. Now the funny bit is this singer isn't one of those I like (read not in the list in my profile). In fact, I find she was and still is quite overhyped. OK, most importantly, I don't find her attractive (so she shall not be named to protect the innocent, i.e. ME!).


Yet, in this dream, we're a couple. And I didn't have that repulsive feeling at all. In fact, it was just the opposite and I certainly found her attractive. How bizarre is that?!

I also remember us having to meet this way because of her status and the need to avoid the paparazzi. After quite a while, it was time for her to go home. So I hailed a cab for her which she boarded alone. Yes, she went home alone. Again, because of the need to avoid the paparazzi. We both understood and accepted it without complaint. I even remember myself sighing as I watched the diminishing silhouette of the cab.

Then I woke. And it was with mixed feelings. That feeling of being in love was so real. I wished the dream had lasted longer. But I also felt disgust because it wasn't with someone I was really attracted to in real life. :P

The second dream. I was with a male friend in a hotel room. For some reason, I know this was a close male friend but I do not know his identity. There was just that warm and familiar feeling about him. We were waiting for a mutual friend. And yes, you guessed it, this mutual friend was that same well-known singer again! In this dream, the singer and I were just close friends, not lovers. The three of us had to meet up this way, again to avoid the paparazzi and her fans.

After a while, she entered the hotel room and the three of us started bantering. And we went on and on for a long time. I remember enjoying myself a lot, laughing a lot. They seemed to be enjoying themselves too. I awoke during one such long laughter.


I'm glad I seldom dream.

147 days to go.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Mystery of the missing letter box key

Early last week, the letter boxes for my block of apartments were changed. The old ones did not have locks and were really dirty; I've always dreaded putting my hand into it. So when I saw those spanking new letter boxes last week, with built-in locks too, I felt a certain amount of relief.

Until I asked Jim, my landlord, for the keys to it.

He paraphrased the same question back to me.

"Didn't they give you the keys?"

"Erm... no."

"Well, they didn't give me any either. You'd think they'll give us the keys BEFORE or JUST AFTER they've installed the letter boxes, wouldn't you? How silly can they get?"

*Shrug* and I had to push the words "It can only happen in Australia." back down my throat.

"Never mind, I'll investigate."

Then I received this e-mail from Jim yesterday:

From: Jim

To: Acey Deucey
Date: Wed 02/11/2005 12:15 PM GMT+08:00
Subject: Letter box key - Unit #

I have been told the key to the letter box # is inside the letter box, I have also been told you can put your hand inside the letter box to retrieve? you may want to try and let me know, if not I will investigate on Thursday (3rd Nov.) when I come around to the unit.


It can only happen in Australia, I tell you, it can only happen in Australia...

148 days to go.

P.S. And here's to wishing Selamat Hari Raya Puasa to my Malay friends, especially Z.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Top 10 things I say/ask when calling home

(pic from March 2004, when 慧 was around one and a half and my mum was STILL in charge of 慧's haircuts)


x) 現在在做甚麽?(have to make sure mum is not busy before starting the conversation)

ix) Upgrading 完了沒有?(my neighbourhood has been under a perpetual state of upgrading since a few months after I've left for Sydney; my mum complains a lot about the noise/dust/inconvenience)

viii) To my niece: 慧慧有沒有壞壞?She always answers 有, so I follow it up with...

vii) 。。。要不要打屁股?And of course, she always answers 不要. But I ask them anyway.

vi) 慧慧跟 gu gu 說 bye bye, gu gu 就放電話。(慧 gets a little impatient if I talk with my mum for too long) And I'll get a hasty "Gu gu bye bye!" "Pan kiss?" *Sound of big wet kiss* (She used to do the "Mmmm...Ma!" sound, now it is the sound of a real kiss *Big Grin*)

v) 最近夠不夠睡? (because it depends a lot on how well my niece sleeps)

iv) 老爸有沒有聽話? (we're always reminding him to watch his diet)

iii) 有沒有慧慧的 story 聼?The answer is almost certainly yes.

ii) Mother, 你的股票彙報。。。 今天股市長紅/lao sai (pardon the phrase, but I am staying true to what I really say to her)


and the number one question I always ask when I call home...

i) 慧慧有沒有 ngg nggg (大便)?

Akan Datang:
Things I want to do after completing my actuarial exams

149 days to go.