when a boy becomes a man

i was 13 when i experienced my first 'rite of passage' so to speak. it was when i joined the boy scouts. the 'rite of passage' was really a couple of nights of mental and physical 'torture' during our first camping trip for the year. this included midnight walks in dark, supposedly haunted sections of the camping ground and the eating of a nasty concoction of junk including toothpaste, expired sardines, large dollops of chilly among others, that was called 'the toast'. (in later years when i was responsible for 'the toast' i included in my recipe several dead lizards and a few handfulls of grass plucked from the ground where the toast was being cooked!)

throughout my years in school, there were several other 'rites of passage' and some were pretty painful experiences (painful physically!). the "indian run", for example, is when you get blindfolded, in the dead of a cold night, dressed in nothing more than a pair of swimming trunks, and you run between two rows of seniors, each holding a rolled up newspaper, and as you run, you get whacked! or the dripping of hot wax from candles onto bare skin (and i mean ALL OVER); or kneeling down and being slapped on the shoulder blades from behind by a senior known as 'the stadium' (because he is as big as one!).

some call it ragging. and some called it orientation. some called it torture. but whatever you call it i would say i'm thankful for the experiences. i'd like to think that enduring these things had a hand in giving me some balls.

i was talking with someone today about men and how many men don't have the balls to deal with life issues and opt to take the easy way out often when faced with trying times. and i don't mean agonizing over what colour to paint your condominium after you purchased it. i mean real tough, destiny-changing decisions like cancelling an engagement because you don't really love her, or supporting the sweet young thing you knocked up on the side, or leaving your wife because you don't love her anymore... those kinds of situations. i have had a taste earlier on in my life and i know how sickening it can be to be faced with such decisions.

i hope that when the time comes (IF the time comes) when i need to make a though decision like that, that i will have the balls to take the bull by its horn and do what needs to be done.

it can be tough being an unker!

Hey Jealousy, Not

Today I thought about the two emotions of jealousy and envy as I was driving home.

My best friend and colleague called, over dinner earlier, to give me the good news that he is going to be made Assistant Director at another department come December. We exchanged mental high-fives and I told him I was expecting my Sashimi and Wagyu Beef bento-box lunch at the earliest opportunity. Technically at our level, it is a lateral move. But we all know that its more of a diagonal ascendency than a horizontal shuffle, a promotion in terms of appointment really.

I tried to sound happy. And I think I did. Deep down I really am, for him.

But it was an especially poignant piece of news for me because just yesterday, I received word from the boss-man that my own posting has been deferred for another 6-12 months. I still need to be "assessed" for a higher calling it seems.

The coincidence is a little cruel to say the least. But what to do.

You know there is a difference between jealousy and envy. Envy occurs when a person lacks another person's superior quality, achievement, or possession, and desires it, or wishes that the other person lacked it. Jealousy, by contrast, occurs in the context of a close relationship when a person fears losing a Significant Other to a rival. In particular, losing a relationship that is important to one's sense of self.

So in a romantic situation, when one partner gives attention to a more attractive 3rd Party, feelings of jealously and envy can occur together and make a person do really stupid things.

But I digress =))

Anyway after parking the car and having pondered during the seemingly long drive home, I concluded that it was certainly not jealousy I was experiencing.

Perhaps more of sadness and regret at not having exercised my full potential in the past year or so. Tinged, of course, by a significant dose of envy.

Flying Muffyns

The Lappy's been acting up lately. Crawls like a retarded snail with polio.

So whilst cleaning up some of my photo folders, came across these 2 old pics I took with my crappy made-in-Indonesia Nikon. These were taken during the 'grand opening' of Alliance International, my miniature HerpaWings model airport named after the Star Alliance of airlines it was supposed to serve =))




Coincidentally, in the news today, Oasis HongKong's inaugural budget long-haul flight to London was grounded because the Russians withdrew their over-flight rights at the last minute.



How these agreements for the use of airspace are worked out beats the hell out of me. I mean, this is not the first time a country has thrown a spanner in the works on a budget airline. Do these Airheads ever learn? Anyway, Oasis (formed in Feb 05) currently has a fleet of 2 Ex-Singapore Airlines B747-400s. Good choice I must say, since our National Flag carrier has an obsession with maintaining a bevy of Sweet Young Things. So the 2 MegaTops they offloaded to Oasis would still be pretty nubile =)) Actually one of the planes is only 17 years old, having served on China Airlines and Iberia Airlines previously =P

If anyone has a chance to fly on Oasis, could you get me a model of the plane in 1:500 scale please? Pretty nice livery doncha tink? Looks like I have to start a Budget Terminal next =))

And for those of you who are disappointed, just like me, that SQ's First To Fly the A380 programme didn't quite..erm...take-off, have a look at this. 75,000 pieces, 600 hours, 125 Kg in 1:25 scale. Droolz...



At LegoLand Denmark no less. I want one!

Borderline

I received an email from an old friend today, like I always do every 2 months or so, with updates about his life faraway and what he has been doing.

You see he's a Christian missionary in Africa. I won't say exactly which country because there are not many missionaries from our part of the world there and I know he doesn't want to be identified somehow or another. Lets just say he's in some god-forsaken place, miles away from modern civilisation and proper sanitation. A Chinese man in the middle of a sea of Black African tribesmen.

Trust me, its no enjoyable Safari in the park.

He's not a young man. And back when I was a teenager still in church, he was my Sunday School teacher. I still remember dumbfounding the entire class one balmy Sunday afternoon with my proclaimation that in this day and age of scientific logic, there was little place for touchy-feely things such as Faith in the things we cannot see or touch. And I continued to be one of his more 'challenging' students, bringing in a more or less secular and scientific perspective to alot of the doctrines and concepts that often go unquestioned in Sunday School.

Yes I was an opinionated 'heretic'. But we still joke about this till today. He never held it against me. For that I respect him. And as I grew up to be an adult, he became like an elder brother I never had.

Well, for the past 6 years or so, a group of us have been receiving emails from him about the situation with the ministry there and how we can provide prayer support. I know he doesn't expect me to be much of a Prayer Warrior nowadays, having left Church a good decade ago. The emails are more of a way of keeping in touch I guess. And when I receive one of those electronic missives, I know he had to drive a couple of hundred miles into the nearest town just to type out a 3 paragraph update. Well he says he drives, it could have been a 3-day ride on a bullock cart for all I know =))

We share a peer to peer relationship now, not one of teacher and student. But I have never asked him why he puts himself through all this, the extreme poverty, the mini-famines, the droughts, the corruption, the threat to life and limb, the disgusting diet, the lack of a blardy decent toilet and shower, the chicken-and-duck talk with the 'savage' natives et cetera. The cynical atheist in me asks if its all just a form of escapism from the sad reality that he couldn't cut it in the real world here.

I want to believe its his Calling. I think I owe him that much.

He used to tell me that God's love knows no borders. But sometimes when you look around you in the world today, you can't help but wonder if there are borderlines of divine blessing.

Still pondering.

In My Red

Those of you who are not into F1 racing probably won't know what I'm talking about.

Anyway its 4am, I can't sleep, and Swedish one-hit-wonder This Perfect Day's plaintive cries of In My Bed are in my head. Not to mention the incessant va-va-vroom of the V8s that just finished circling Interlagos 72 laps over.

Renault are best Constructors for the 2nd year running with their No1 driver Fernando Alonso bagging his 2nd Driver's Championship. I drive a Renault so I should be happy no? But I'm not exactly popping the Mumm just yet.

That's because I am a Scuderia Ferrari supporter. Although I am far from being your regular Tifoso. I haven't even been to Sepang to catch the scarlet rockets in action, let alone pay homage at the temple of Monza. An ardent arm-chair fan if you like.

But as I watched dear old Mikey start off from 10th, work his way up to 6th, drop back to last after a silly manoeuver and then come storming back to finish 4th under the sweltering Brazilian sun, I asked myself why I was rooting for the Cavallino Rampante instead of the Gallic Diamond.

Its kinda of a stupid question I know. But its bugging me, for some strange reason.

Izzit because Ferrari have the pedigree, the style and the substance? Or izzit a deeper obsession with something so desirable but unattainable? I know for sure I will never own a Ferrari in this lifetime =)) And although I like Mikey, I wouldn't start wearing a Super Aguri-emblazoned T-shirt even if by some stroke of divine intervention, the German decides to come out of retirement and switch camps.

Its about the Italian's snob appeal I guess. A case of flawless beauty and gifted brains. And although the French F1 team have really come out strongly the past 2 years in terms of power and reliability (they still build horribly unreliable road-cars btw), they are still more than a couple of miles away in terms of desirability.

Some people support teams because they admire a certain driver, others because they happen to drive a Honda, BMW or 3-Pointed Star. And I support a team because its desirable?

Always knew I was a little shallow.

Or am I? Hmmm...=))

Love in the Time of Cholera

It seems uncharacteristic that a petrol-sniffing, speed-loving, sausage-munching unker would enjoy a book about a man's 50 year long suffering for the unrequited love of his life.... but i really enjoyed this book.

A man falls in love with a woman and becomes obsessed with her. But she marries someone else and he waits 50 years for her husband to die before attempting to revisit his love for her. His life is pretty much an almost literal suffering of love-sickness, refered to as causing "similar symptoms to cholera" by the author. This is an example of the kind of humourous quips that are peppered throughout the book. One liners that are at once funny, yet serious and makes one stop and ponder for a moment before reading on. Another example is near the begining of the book when the main character, Florentino Ariza meets the husband of the object of his desires, and remarks it was a pity that such a decent man would have to die in order for him to be happy (i'm not quoting verbatim, as i am too lazy to look up the actual words).

There are several themes playing throughout the book - lovesickness is a disease, love in old age, to suffer for love. It is a well-written story and one might describe it as a "serious comedy" if there is such a thing. The writer does an excellent job of evoking images of the picturesque backdrop of the time and place where this tale is set, in the mind of the reader.

Highly recommended.

Next, I am reading a british novel which is a fictionalized account of certain events which took place during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. This won the booker prize for fiction in 1973.

"Krishnapur is a remote town on the vast North Indian plain. For the British there, life is orderly and genteel. Then the sepoys at the nearest military cantonment rise in revolt and the British community retreats with shock into the Residency. They prepare to fight for their lives with what weapons they can muster. As food and ammunition grow short, the Residency, its defences battered by shot and shell and eroded by the rains, becomes ever more vulnerable.The Siege of Krishnapur is a modern classic of narrative excitement that also digs deep to explore some fundamental questions of civilisation and life." - description from abbey books.

Moving House

Later today, I move house for the 3rd time in 2 years.

The good people at the Movers know me well. Well enough to give me a discount it seems. But not before checking their database and remarking that I seem to be quite the Itchy Backside. Ok they didn't exactly put it that way but something to that effect lah =)) Diplomatically of course.

Anyway I have become quite the expert house-mover and this time, it was a little less painful than the previous occasion. Now I instinctively know what I need, which items should go together into which cartons, how may cartons I would use, how to pack the fragile stuff, when to call and what to tell the cable and electricity people et cetera. You know, the drill.

Less painful no doubt but still a veritable shove up the arse.

Moving house can be fun, if you're starting your own family, or upgrading, or even about to begin a new life and career in another country. Yes it may be irritating to pack and dust off all those cobwebs but at least there is something to look forward to. A light at the end of the tunnel.

Well, I am technically downgrading, not about to start another family (god forbid!) and will be shifting to a poorer neighbourhood (in the same country!) =/ I talked about this earlier in another entry. Its about better cashflow and financial sense lah. And a little less vanidity, I hope.

But still, it sucks!

Barely a year ago, K and me were actually looking to buy a nice split-level terrace house in the suburbs or an apartment by the Nature Reserve or even knocking down an existing old but freehold property to re-build. The speed and magnitude of the changes that have occured in our lives since then scares me.

Yes we're still gonna live apart. At least for now. Until we can sought out what we really want.

So its Au Revoir Sengkang, Bonjour Hougang in approximately 9 hours. Lets see how long it would be before it would be Au Revoir Hougang.

Something only we know.

StyleFiles@Unkster - IWC, I Want but Cannot

Cannot afford that is.

Sigh!

The day before, had dinner wif an old chum and poor little rich girl A. And we got around to talking about watches. She happens to prefer wearing men's watches by the way. Tomboy that she is.

So A tells me she just attended a watch auction a couple of days ago. I went like, a what auction? Oh really? So atas ah? That's a change from your usual high-stakes poker game isn't it. And then I had to endure a 10 min lecture about my lousy TAG Heuer =)) Well she accompanied a friend. Who splurged like a 5-figure sum on a A. Lange & Sohne and a Breitling Chrono.

Ah, the lifestyles of the rich and not neccesarily famous.

What to do. Although I have graduated from Casios to Swatches to TAGs, my Vitamin M deficiency stops me from proceeding to the IWCs and Panerais. Not for the next 2-3 years at least =))

But I can still drool can't I?

Current saliva-wasting favs....


IWC Big Pilot Watch 2006


Panerai Radiomir, Black Seal

Seriously attainable workhorses...for now...


TAG Heuer Autavia


TAG Heuer Carrera Automatic Chrono

Can let me day-dream for awhile anot? Damn sian packing to move house lah!=))

UnkEats - The Marmalade Pantry

Tucked away in the basement of the Palais Renaissance, is this slightly chi-chi bistro where the TV stars that patronise effeminate, Prada-togged, celebrity-hairstylist David Gan's Passion Salon upstairs also visit.



We popped by yesterday afternoon for a late breakfast. And because there were nice chi-chi people all around, I didn't want to be seen unglam whipping out my handphone and taking pictures of the designer furniture and food like some suakoo. So the picture above is courtesy of 'Storm in a Teacup', a foodie blog I chanced upon.

Marmalade Pantry is one eatery out of the stylish Marmalade Group that includes the Marmalade Restaurant (at Purvis Street), Pierside Kitchen & Bar (at One Fullerton) and 2 TOAST branches (little pink-tiled cafes at Ngee Ann City and OUB Center).

After hearing so much about the Pantry, we finally swopped our usual sunday brunch of Prawn Noodles and Banana-leaf Masala Delights for something a little bit more atas. Actually not 'a little bit more' because for the price we paid for our Crab Caesar Salad, an Ultimate Beef Burger and a Portobello Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto, we could have had 20 bowls of noodles at the kopitiam.

And if we had sucumbed to the temptation of ordering a couple of Mimosas (Orange Juice and Champagne, mebbe Moet and Chandon), it would have upped the noodle bowl count to 30 =))

In short, not cheap.

But the portions are very generous in this Contemporary Scando-Aussie styled bistro whose Sabbath Day menu has been heralded as one of the bigger and better ones on the increasingly popular Sunday Brunch circuit. The salad was humongous and had chunks of crab worthy of its $18 price tag with generous slivers of croutons. But with a tacky name like Ultimate Beef Burger, I was expecting something more spectacular. It didn't dissapoint though but I wouldn't call it the final say in Moo-stacy. The lack of melted cheese was more than made up for by the mayonnaise and lovely sun-dried cherry tomatoes. And even me, a soggy-rice non-fanatic (I hate Mui Fan btw) polished off half of K's Risotto. Yummy with just that right lemon zing that downplayed the jelakness of so much savoury Carbo.

Too bad we didn't have space for dessert. Because the tarts and cupcakes at the Pantry are supposed to be legendary. Will save those for another trip ya?

Go try Marmalade Pantry on a lazy Sunday morning. But remember, wear something casual-chic and make reservations ;)

Daddy's Home

3 days ago, on the 12 Oct 06, my father would have turned 60.

I had wanted to say something in here about Daddy at the time but decided not to. Didn't want to get melancholic and all that. I also didn't want to call Mummy to remind her, expecting her to call me instead. But she didn't. Perhaps we were waiting to see who called who first. We both never did.

But I don't think she forgot.

Anyway Curly just blogged about his late father, and coupled with Kona's very aptly entitled The Departed, I suppose its Daddy's way of telling me he misses feeding our dogs half his B'day cake.

I talk about the doggies because he really sayanged them alot. You know he was never the expressive or outwardly loving father. And in some ways, I think I am very much similar. But when it came to our little princesses, he became the doting 'grandfather'. I know he loves me but all I ever got, at best, was a grunt of approval or a nod of the head when I did something good or worthy of his praise. But with the canines, he became the coo-ing and babbling, terminally-ill old man I never knew existed.

This time 2 years ago, was a particularly difficult period for our family as we shuttled in and out of hospital with Daddy's condition taking a drastic turn for the worst after his 58th birthday. Doctors had given him 6mths in 2000, but he managed to stay alive for another 48. But 11 days after K and me cooked him his last birthday dinner at our place, he gave up the fight.

When I see a moth these days in my living room or in the kitchen, I still wonder if it is Daddy coming back to say hello. But when Mummy occasionally tells me she keeps finding bits and pieces of his 'legacy' left behind in the house, I just go 'izzit?'. Perhaps I just miss him more than I care to admit.

But more than that, I think I feel guilty. Because if Daddy is looking down at me now from Up There, with the number of things I have screwed up lately, it'll probably be a grunt of disapproval and a shake of the head.

And I would ask of him to forgive me.

Unkers@TheMovies - THE DEPARTED

unker kona caught THE DEPARTED last night...see what i think of it HERE (no spoilers)

Which One Are You?

You know I work with a considerable number of girls. Ok Women, to be more politically correct =))

I've had female bosses, female peers and female staff reporting to me. The whole food chain, as it were. So although that doesn't make me an expert in the Psychology of Female Behaviour, I have developed my own observations and Mananalysis of the supposedly gentler of the Homo sapiens =))

And having had the 'misfortune' of experiencing the whole gamut of different Archetypes at work yesterday, I am compelled to give you all a little insight into my little insights.

In my 'insightful' mind, all women can be broadly characterized into one of 8 different groups.

The Pretty, Capable (work-wise) and High EQ - Rarer than a Siberian White Tiger(ess) and really in danger of going the way of the DoDo, these are God's gift to Man-kind. Very very high in demand but only the rich, mature but not necessarily handsome CEOs and VPs get to bed them. Make (Wet)Dream lady-bosses =))

The Ugly, Capable and High EQ - They too survive very well in the corporate environment. The fact that they are ugly is actually a god-send because it takes the distraction away from their excellent abilities at operations and skills in working the ground. Excellent middle managers.

The Pretty, Capable and Low EQ - The proverbial Bitches. Their ruthlessness and lack of tact is balanced by their magnificent mien. So Useless Men submit willingly if they are bosses and condone them stupidly if they are peers or subordinates.

The Ugly, Capable and Low EQ - Even bigger Bitches but loathed because they are not good to look at. These unfortunate souls end up having to over-compensate for their lack of physical attributes by being meaner, grumpier and more defensive than a 10-man Arsenal Wall. They still get the job done though, but at what price?

The Pretty, Incapable and High EQ - Can get along with everyone. Knows how to work the ground. But when it comes to delivering the goods, fail miserably. There is a Hokkien saying for these kinda females, good to look at but not good to eat, at least in the work context. But as sexual partners, that's another story =))

The Ugly, Incapable and High EQ - You can talk to them and they make good listeners/friends. But little else, sadly. Won't go far.

The Pretty, Incapable and Low EQ - Bimbo alert! But oh so good as eye-candy and for decorating the office pantry. Great as Receptionists too or for any other low-end solo tasks when they are not required to work in a team.

The Ugly, Incapable and Low EQ - Need I say more? Destined for a life-time of mothering a brood of fugly children and vacuuming the floor =/

After this, I am packing up and moving to Kazahkstan before I am lynched and have my testicles dangled from a tree =))

Vanidity

Its bloody ironic.

This morning I had to deal with a young staff member who chalked up credit card debts 8 times his take-home salary. And in the afternoon, I received a record 6 telephone calls from banks offering me their lastest plastics with all the fancy bells-and-whistles plus subscription waivers.

Its just sad how the young, and not-so-young, these days, are sucked into the easy world of cashless spending. Only to find themselves living in a cesspool of cashless fending. Fending off the incessant demands for debt repayment and the mailbox-bursting stack of unpaid Bills that is.

You'll be surprised at the number of people who rollover their debt from one card to another and who are living way beyond their means. Blame society? Blame the CC companies? Blame greed? I reckon its a hard fight between Vanity and Stupidity. Vanidity perhaps.

We should all be carrying Debit cards, unglam as they are. At least the pinch of the moolah leaving your account as soon as the cashier swipes that piece of plastic will keep you naturally in check. But you can't show off that the big banks allow you to have the good stuff on their account for the time being, DCs are for sissies no?

But when you come crying to me after maxing out your 6th CC trying to keep the other 5 from making you a bankrupt, tell me who's the sissy?

Oh the scourge of Vanidity! Whereforth art thou Common Sense?

Unkers@TheMovies - Singapore Dreaming

OK so we're slow.

Singapore Dreaming has been out in cinemas since 7 Sep 06 but we only just caught it today. No doubt, the film winning the Mont Blanc Screenwriters Award at the recently concluded San Sebestian Film Festival made it more of a must see for us. If not, just to figger out what all the hoo-ha was about.

And we liked it.

Admittedly. I am no expert on the local film scene. But Singapore does have a couple of decent Indie film makers like Eric Khoo and Royston Tan plus a mass-market movie-magician in Jack Neo. I suppose we can now add Attorney-turned-director Colin Goh and his US-based, lecturer-wife Dr Woo Yen Yen.

One of the more accessible locally produced films to date, Singapore Dreaming explores the aspirations of the working-class Loh family and their struggle for the middle-class C's in life. But it is more than just a story about the dreams of a better life. In a beautifully layered and textured way, Colin and Yen Yen weave in issues like the value of a foreign degree, maid abuse, the conservative habit of favouring the male in the family, bad bosses and even the plight of Chinese nationals struggling to eke out an illegal living as Beer Hostesses in heartland kopitiams. The typical Void-deck Chinese funeral wake is also explored to some degree.

All in all, the directors have managed to capture the slight naunces and nitty-gritties of everyday Singaporean living which locals will identify with and perhaps chuckle along in slight embarassment. There are funny moments and there are sad moments, combined together in a humorous yet poignant tale of wit and irony. With huge dollops of Hokkien thrown in for good measure, the entire cast gives a heart-felt performance which is utterly believable and not contrived in any way.

Best of all, I think Singapore Dreaming showcases a slice of Singapore alot of foreigners don't know about or haven't seen hidden underneath the polished and immaculate business-like veneer. It gives us abit of our heart and soul back, something no amount of Re-making this island nation can hope to achieve in an earnest but artificial kinda way.

Try to catch it before it runs out ya?

8/10

hurrah hurrah, unkster is 1...

Its Been A Year

On 6 Oct 05, Unkster wuz born.

And 365 days plus 295 posts later, here we are, still the same 30-somethings grappling with our own sets of joys and sorrows, as we trudge the inevitable path to 40something-hood. Albeit more emotionally naked with the experience. At least for me lah =))

Me thinks the page needs a little design re-vamp. But I am real lousy with HTML, let alone Dreamweaver and the other push-button programs that would make Blog-design a cinge. Kona and Curls are just as bad I reckon =)) So we have to be happy with standard templates I guess.

Anyway if you have been dropping by regularly, a big THANK YOU for even bothering. And if this happens to be your first time, stick around ya? ;)

Chasing Cars - Mediocrity Is A Sin

By the way that's the new tagline for Alfa.

Just got back from the local dealership cos the wifey sent her 147 in for servicing and I was there to pick her up.

I haven't seen the 159 in the flesh till today and all I can say is, yes I am in love again. And wet wif desire =))



When once I was madly in love with the GT, I am now more enamoured with this vixen with the squint-eyed glare that purrs "get out of my way you fugly cheapskate Toyota before I Stoink you with my Jet Thrust Stoichiometric"



The cabin has been given a face-lift. And I much prefer the driver-orientated controls, also seen in the new Brera, to the one in the 147 and GT. The brushed-aluminium central dashboard fascia and artistically bent needles on the dials make this a car you will drool for, whether you're inside or out.



And the triple-clustered, over-lapping headlights. I'll have them in Xenon please =)) Oolala.



Yes, mediocrity is a sin. But I'll burn in Hell to drive this one =))

My Rojak Yesterday

In Chronological Order :

1. Got pissed off big time at work. Sometimes I feel like a teacher in Playskool managing 3yr olds in 25yr old bodies.

2. Got pissed off at the local Volkswagen dealership when we pop-ed down to testdrive the Golf GTI after work. Terrible service, period.

3. Went to Ikea to look at new blinds for my windows and to buy a kitchen knife (which on hindsight I should have bought earlier and brought to office to give some peeper multiple stab wounds).

4. Used my new CITIBANK CreativEATeries card to get 50% off my total dinner bill at Hot Stones, Clarke Quay. The both of us shared a Mixed Grill platter and a Seafood platter which came served on, errrr yes, Hot Stones.



5. Chilled out with a good magazine and a pint of specially-brewed Oktoberfest beer at Brewerkz. The place was bursting at the seams for a Monday night. From the way things go, I will be opening my own micro-brewery soon =))



6. Rushed home to catch Grey's Anatomy only to get pissed off watching Dr Izzy Stevens try to murder her Living-dead patient-boyfren. Next episode will she get the sack?

7. At home blogging =P

StyleFiles@Unkster - Boutique Magnifique

I've always been interested in design.

And really, if I was given a choice to start all over again, I would seriously consider going to study architecture or something. Anyway, we're looking for a place to stay when we are in Sydney next month and naturally, we turned to the boutique hotels that dot this very hip and cosmopolitan city. You know boutique hotels nowadays are really on the upswing and although they have less of the creature comforts that come with the 5-star establishments, they make up for it by being achingly trendy and cozy.

On HIP HOTEL's reccomendation, we found the Kirketon in downtown Darlinghurst. Looks yummy ya? Nothing too fancy. Just the right dose of minimalist european chic right from the pages of Wallpaper magazine.













Our search also sparked off a discussion (again!) between K and me about running a boutique hotel we can call our own one day. We're gonna buy two to three 4-storey shophouses, renovate and convert them into a hip living space, have everything to say about the design and furnishings, dish out an award-winning restaurant on the premises and have a really good cocktail bar near the roof-top jacuzzi where we will mingle with the guests as owners/managers. About 30 rooms will be just nice, with a see-through lap pool where swimmers can see diners and vice-versa.

A dream perhaps. Not too unattainable if we're really serious about it. We think there is a market for this in S'pore. Although the concept is not new. What with pace-setters Hotel 1929, The Scarlet and now 1929's sister hotel, The New Majestic (below) already getting rave reviews all over the world.





We've already thought about the interior design. Underlying contemporary Scandinavian designer-chic with infused Indochine accents for a new interpretation of the East-Meets-West genre. We've even thought about the name of the upmarket Japanese restaurant (secret for now) where there will be a daily degaustation menu to sample the different Nippon foodstyles. As well as the type of Marrimeko wallpaper we want for the standard rooms and suites.

Boy this is getting serious! Any investors? =))