My new toy

Got a new toy recently... the camera's pretty good.
Dinner with church friends on Tuesday @ Ikea..



Volleyball on Wednesday at the Clementi court!

Shock.

It was bound to happen. But I'm still shocked nonetheless. My dad is on facebook. Wonder how long it will take for him to add me as a friend...

Crocodile farming

http://www.reuters.com/article/GlobalLuxury09/idUSTRE5573QI20090608

Hermes opens a crocodile farm to keep up with demand for their exotic skin bags.
At €35,000 per bag, and with a waiting list still, what recession is there?

It happens in France too!

One gibe of public housing is how residents hang their laundry in the common areas and on the outside of their buildings, spoiling the nice facade of the estate.

Now in France, it came as a surprise when I saw that they too hang their laundry out to dry. Taken in the little village of Grasse, even residents of a village square facing unit have no qualms on hanging their laundry out to dry. We're talking about a village which is somewhat a tourist attraction.

Perhaps in the spirit of the Green movement sweeping across the planet, I should be ambivalent about clothes and sheets drying in public. But I do draw the line at under garments. What is hidden when worn in public should remain hidden while being laundered.

Skinny is OUT!

This morning, I read news that might as well have shook the gound below me. ChannelNewsAsia.com declared that in the world of Men's fashion, Skinny is Out!
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/beautynfashion/view/439120/1/.html

According to Paris, the new look is a looser silhouette that 'liberates men from strict dress codes'.

Nooooo!!!! Joshua does not work in a full silhouette. Sigh.. all the slim fit shirts, jeans and pants I bought haven't got their full milage! Dior cannot do this to me! I cannot walk round looking like a rapper from a music video, with my pants half way down my butt.

To add salt to the wound, the look of the moment is 'muscles and physique' and not 'sapling thin'. I thought I did the thin & preppy look quite well. Now, it's off with carrots and celery! Chicken breast and egg whites, here I come!

My first A380 flight!

I'm quite interested in airports and airlines. So flying on the A380 was an experience that I was looking forward to. And the verdict? It is a fantastic aircraft!


First and foremost, kudos to Emirates for their excellent food. I think that the food that they dished out was the best I've ever tasted on an airplane. Outdoing even SIA! Pictured here was breakfast on the A380. Egg rolls, hash browns corn and creamed spinach.


But, the entertainment system - ICE, cannot be compared to SIA's Krisworld. And on one flight, we weren't able to have video-on-demand. Service wise, the staff were warm and friendly.


The ambience of the aircraft is excellent. High ceilings and wider seats makes the passenger feel less claustrophobic. And the ride was very smooth and noise from the engine was minimal. Great aircraft!

From the Fear East to the Middle East

Well, after a 7 hour flight, I'm in Dubai Airport.

Flew Emirates. Not too impressed with the airline. Food - bad. Service - impersonal. Cost - CHEEEEEAP! That's why I'm flying Emirates. Cost trumps everything. Including time - waiting for 3 hours for the transit flight. Well, on the bright side, the next Dubai-London flight is on the A380. So that is something to look forward to. First time on the A380! Woo hoo!

Dubai's airport seems bustling with life. These pictures were taken at 5:30am and ALL the shops were open! The other time I took a 6am flight form Changi, the shops were still closed, except for the cosmetics counters. Changi can learn something from Dubai - since Singapore prides itself as a shopper's paradise.

Ok, that's all for now I guess... 2 more hours to go before the next flight. Watch this space! Next up: how to get to Central London from Heathrow when the Tube service is on strike: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/11970.aspx
Now that would be an adventure.

what am I doing?

I was reading Time magazine's latest issue. Time 100 World's Most Influential People. And one of them struck a chord in me: Jon Favreau, 27. Speech writer for Obama.

This chap is the same age as me. And he's writing speeches for the President of the USA. Wow! And I have heard some speeches that Obama made. Elegant, straight forward and rousing beautiful prose. I know - it's one thing to write, another thing to write a speech and to write an elegant, straight forward and rousing speech. That is a feat. And it's coming out from a man the same age as me! Awesome.

There comes a time when one realises that the people in the news are younger than himself. Actors, singers, entrepreneurs and even news makers (those people who climb Everest or take a year off to go biking around the world), they are kinda getting younger! Or is it me getting older? So it makes me think. Have I done anything that is worthy of mention? Worthy of being in Time's 100 most influential people in the world magazine? Will I ever accomplish such a thing? Maybe not. But I must never sit and be contented with life as it is. Onward and Upward!

taking pictures with the Goddaughter...

Oops.. Godpa isn't ready.. Think he's cleaning his teeth in preparation for his smile.

Good smile, but the camera is towards your left my dear!

Yay!! Success! One pic with both of us looking at the camera!

Gross...

Realised something really gross. When I walk, my inner thighs keep on rubbing together. And it's pretty uncomfortable. Gross. This never happened to me. Either that, or my thighs have become more muscular from all the half squats that I've been doing - to lose weight - oh the irony...
Anyway, I'm pretty sure the running-of-the-thighs is due to me becoming chubbier. Coz I also realised that my pants are getting pretty tight. Oh help!!!

G20

hmmm... Indonesia is a member of the G20. It's the only member of Asean in that G20 group of nations. Wow. Didn't realise that.

cheap is good.

People who know me know, err... Let's just say I enjoy the finer things in life.

So, some time at the end of last year, I decided that after about 5 years, it was time to change my pillow. It has become lumpy and stainy. Not a pretty sight. So there I was, in Robinsons at Centerpoint, searching for a good pillow. Many technical terms were thrown at my face. 'Micro-fiber', 'memory foam', 'anti bacteria', 'pocketed spring', 'down feather'... I settled on a $100+, memory foam-anti bacteria treated-hypo allergic pillow.

"Very good one" the sales girl said. "You'll surely have a good night's sleep"

Wah... It was damn lousy lor. Obviously, there was something wrong with the pillow's memory coz by the middle of the night, it's totally flat in the middle where my head is and I have to fluff it up again to provide support for my head. Then in the mornings, I wake up with headaches coz the neck wasn't supported at night...

Then this week, there was a bedding sale at a heartland mall. Pillows on sale! $25 for 2!! Good old fashioned sponge pillow. Bought a pair and had my first good night's sleep in months.

So, I've learnt a valuable lesson. Cheap does not mean bad. And expensive & high tech does not mean good. And one day, I might even blog about my clothing finds in a pasar malam.

Horror

Was buying clothes online. Took a measuring tape to measure my waist. Discovered it is now 34 inches. THIS IS BAD! BAD BAD BAD.

The best dressed pest exterminators in town

A little unwanted guest crept into the house the other night coz Moses didn't close the door, leaving it open overnight. So this is what happened to it...



Don't you think that the pest exterminators look good?

One is wearing cuff links and the other is wearing a tie!

Gives a whole new meaning to "Dressed to Kill". hahaha.

Sick... Ok, more like sickening

Note to self: chocolates, french fries and a dry cough do NOT mix.

Been coughing lately and it's getting worse. But I couldn't control myself and took some chocolates and french fries and MY OH MY.... It's worse! Lesson learnt. Never am I doing it to myself again. Plain porridge and water from now on. sigh.