C'est la Vie

I am slowly picking up the pieces.

The past 10 days have been draining to say the least, both emotionally and physically. I think I lost about 3kg from having 1 meal a day plus a pack of Dunhill Menthol Lights. Tsk Tsk!

Ok so I'm not out of the woods yet. But its now back to 2 meals a day and about 12 sticks. =P

I know the people around me are pretty concerned and worried. The mood and temper at work hasn't been pretty good either. My officers are steering clear. Poor things.

I haven't really been talking to anybody. The strange thing is that the only person who understands what I'm going through, is the person I'm breaking up with. And vice versa. The irony! Nobody comprehends why we are still meeting up and talking. Its painful yes but somehow, we both need the mutual assurance that the path we chose to take is the correct one.

Thanks for everything fellas. The calls, the sms-es, the listening ear, the company.

Its time to move on...I'll tell you all if I need some pushing and shoving k ;)

C'est la Vie lah

Little Surfer Girl

Little surfer little one
Made my heart come all undone
Do you love me, do you surfer girl

Surfer girl my little surfer girl

I have watched you on the shore
Standing by the ocean's roar
Do you love me do you surfer girl

Surfer girl surfer girl

We could ride the surf together
While our love would grow
In my woody I would take you everywhere I go

So I say from me to you
I will make your dreams come true
Do you love me do you surfer girl
Surfer girl my little surfer girl

Little One...
Little surfer girl my little surfer girl
Little One...
Little surfer girl my little surfer girl
Little One...
Little surfer girl my little surfer girl

If I Could

If I could turn back the hands of time
There would be no lies, no pain, no hurt

If I could look you in the eye
And tell you how much I honestly love you, I would

If I could hold you in my arms
And whisper everything will be alright, I would

If I could say that this was just a terrible nightmare
Forego all sweet dreams, I would

If I could do all the things I say I could
I would

But I can't
And it hurts

belay the below....

decided to change hotels....found an absolute blinder of a deal with another hotel...THE PHULIN (sounds obscene hor hahahahaha)

booked a studio room for 83 bucks a night...cheap cheap considering the quality of the place...pix above :)

revisiting Phuket

...unker kona will be revisiting phuket in april...it's back to the place where i proposed in 2001 to the missus whilst on a trip with her group of friends...back then, we stayed in the ANDAMAN SEAVIEW which just opened for business around that time, at karon beach....

brings back soooo much memories :)

this time, we are going with 2 friends...most probably gonna stay at the BURASARI (some pix below) on patong...time to confirmed up and settle accomodation bookings ;) this is quite the nice and not too exhorbitant...what do you think? :))

The Unkers Dilemma...

so, the mrs and i are looking at some properties in KL. objective of purchasing are twofold - partly as an investment, but also partly as a 'holiday home' since we are likely to go back more often as the children get older, and we want somewhere we can call our own and feel comfortable.

(our friends are welcome to use the place at a small fee to cover utilities and maintenance, of course!)

anyway, we need to free up some of our monthly cashflow, so the question of downgrading the car has come up (gonna miss that blardy silver shark). however, we will still need something more than your average family saloon. a smaller 7 seater or a tourer/estate/stationwagon are potential options. the objective is to reduce monthly outflow of cash by first reducing installments, and secondly cutting down running costs like fuel and maintenance etc. so a smaller, newer car is the way to go.

i roughly figured a loan of around 50k sgd over 7 years is the 'target', that leaves us with anything costing 55 to 60k. not much to play with. however, we usually look at pre-owned cars under warranty, so that will widen the choices i guess. we want something less then 2 years old and non-japanese.

too much to hope for?

Of Roses, Chocolates and Depression

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

For the Happily-Attached - Its OOlala Time!! :))

For the Not-So-Happily-Attached - Perhaps some roses and Godivas will do the trick?

For the Attached-but-wish-was-attached-to-someone-else - Be careful who you sms and what secret rendevous u organise :))

For the Recently-Detached - Work hard and perhaps by Easter you will be re-attached.

For the Never-Been-Attached - Dun let depression take over. It'll all be over in 20 hours :))

Come What May

In keeping wif the VD theme, something romantically mushy for you lovebirds. Turn up your speakers and pretend you are either Mr McGregor or Ms Kidman =))..

Never knew I could feel like this
Like I've never seen the sky before
Want to vanish inside your kiss
Everyday I love you more and more
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings
Telling me to give you everything
Seasons may change winter to spring
But I love you until the end of time

Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste
It all revolves around you

And there's no mountain too high no river too wide
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide
But I love you until the end of time

Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day
Oh come what may, come what may
I will love you

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place...

Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day

StyleFiles@Unkster - Clothes Whores Rejoice

Couldn't be happier when I stepped into the Massimo Dutti flagship store at Liat Towers yesterday. Actually the missus dragged me there after work. Thank you Royal Sporting House for bringing in this stylish Spanish label that bridges the gap between the mid-price and luxury segments and makes Zara look like K-mart =)) Just how the good people at Massimo churn out new designs every 2 weeks is amazing but surely many credit-card companies will be really happy to hear the good news. BTW the missus bought me an apple-green Dutti-sport polo :)



And when GAP comes to Singapore by year-end and bananarepublic by 2007, oolala! Have to start clearing my wardrobe liao. I hope they keep prices just out of reach of the MangoZaraGuess hordes =)) Although I suspect they will be slightly less expensive than countryroad where a basic men's long-sleeved shirt costs about SGD180.

Now please God, let there be Abercrombie&Fitch. Purleeeeeeese! =))

When I See You Smile

When I see you smile
It feels like I'm falling
It's not for anybody else to know
The way your face could light the bitter dark of every street
In every town I'll ever go
It's not for anybody else to know
For anybody else to know

When I see you smile
First thing in the morning
It raises curtains on your lazy eyes
Could it be that you and I have the greatest love to ever be
How could this have ever been before?
It's not for anybody else to know
For anybody else to know

When Friday night arrives
We'll let it pass outside the door
This is not for anybody else
Anybody else to know

Destination Unkster - The Cambodian Contradiction

The missus and me got back from our short sojourn in Cambodia on Saturday afternoon. People say you don't get to know a country in 5 days. True, but I think the both of us caught more than an ample glimpse of what this sad but beautiful country has to offer the casual visitor. We moved around on our own, and in such a short time managed to trek most of the Temple ruins on the Angkor Plain, travel the 313km from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, boat-ride the Tonle Sap as well as depress ourselves at the S-21 Detention Camp of Tuol Sleng and Killing Fields at Choeung Ek.

Looking at my photos taken during the trip, the Contradiction that is Cambodia becomes more and more apparent.

As Angkor Wat looms before you for the first time, approaching it from the long causeway over the gargantuan 190m-wide moat surrounding this Mother of all Temples, honestly its a spine-tingling experience. The Wat is everywhere in Cambodia, on the National Flag, on T-shirts, on the National beer, in hotels and guesthouses, on cigarettes...Cambodians are justifiably proud of this Suryavarman II-inspired, monument to Vishnu. Perhaps too much so really because, what else is there to be proud of? It seems that the glory days of the Angkorian period, now immortalised in the beautifully surreal temple ruins spread across the Angkor Plain, serve to remind ordinary Cambodians that their Khmer ancestors were once a great race. An ego-booster of sorts especially when the country is still trying to pick itself up from the dark ages that was the PolPot regime.

It is not easy, as the missus and me found out, to switch from the Alluring Beauty that is Angkor, to the Atrocious Beastiality found in the torturous detention prison of Tuol Sleng and mass graves at Choeung Ek. From humanity at perhaps its greatest and most sophisticated to humanity at its darkest and most disgusting. All in the same country, a mere 313km away from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.

Cambodians need Angkor and its temples. If not as a symbol of their former greatnest on the world-stage, then as a carthatic eraser to help them forget about the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, the lack of true freedom in their own land and the desperate poverty and corruption that is rife all over.

The children are wonderful, their smiles light up your day. But behind those happy faces and accented English honed by months of begging from the Ang Mo's, they live for the day and for the day only.

You cannot blame them because not too long ago, there was no tommorrow.

1.5K Poorer But Happy

Yesterday on the way back from work, I busted a tyre on the expressway. And because I was pretty engrossed in conversation with a colleague, I didn't realise that my poor tyre was nearly torn to shreds before pulling over to the road shoulder. Sheesh! Talk about being blur.

Well as a result, I had to call for the recovery truck which promptly came in 45 blardy mins to change the tyre and then I drove my poor car to the tyre shop for a replacement. To my horror, dear old unker at the shop told me that my alloy OZ rim had been damaged and warped beyond repair. A result of my dragging the blardy thing for a good kilometre or so at 100km/h. Double Sheesh!

So how? Change all 4 rims lah :)) About time anyway. Always wanted a set of 17-inch alloys but didn't have the heart to part with the moolah and my beautiful 15-inch OZ Hydras. But Unker had a gorgeous set of 17-inch, Italian performance MAKs at the shop which had been traded in by its owner. It was love at first sight.

Now they are sitting pretty on Ren Ren...see, chio hor =P