Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeks!!!

In a little corner of my bathroom...But its not so little this fella...=O

Decisions Decisions

The deal with the Upper East Coast apartment fell through. Pity. We really liked the place.

So with increasingly exorbitant rates due to the recent spike in property prices, we're staring at either renting long-term, moving back to our old place and waiting out the up-surge or buying the current apartment we are renting from its owner.

The latter option is becoming increasingly attractive. Because...

1. The price the owner is asking for the Freehold unit is really really reasonable.
2. We are going to cut out any agent commissions since the deal is being brokered directly between us.
3. The apartment can be designed, renovated and re-decorated according to our specifications. With brand new apartments, you don't really want to dismantle furnishings and fittings you have already paid for even if you don't really like 'em.
4. We really like the central location and the fact that we live practically across from nature and 2 reservoirs in the Catchment Area.
5. We suspect there will be a good chance for an en-bloc collective sale of the units in about 6-7 years time.
6. We get to keep our old place and continue to get some rental income for what its worth.
7. Food and Amneties are a 5-min walk away across the road.

However, the Cons are...

1. The property is old. I mean where we come from, 11 years is old =))
2. The whole estate is not exactly the final word on designer-chic. Nice and simple but subjectively beautiful =))
3. Its a 2-roomer. And we have loads of stuff.
4. No facilities to speak of save for a bird-bath of a swimming pool and a Clubhouse that looks more like a storeroom.
5. We have a petrol station for a neighbour and the in-house Car Wash can get a little noisy.

Well, decisions, decisions....=))

Draw A Puddy Kat

At a course I attended today, we were asked to draw a cat. Out of the blue. Freehand, no thinking, just draw.

We were then 'psychoanalysed' by the details of our drawings. Shan't let the cat out of the bag (no pun intended!) here since I have asked some friends to draw pussies for me to analyse as well =))

Here's my pathetic pussy...



You can tell I got a D for Art in skool =))

Unkster Uncovered 6 - Lower Pierce Nature Trail

Cooped up at home the whole day in view of a nasty flu.

So in the evening, I decided to take a walk in my own back-yard for some fresh air and stretch the aching limbs abit. Pleasantly surprised with the abundant flora and fauna so accessible within a few paces...

Of Mysore, Korma and Papadums

And after Muar, we popped over to Gai's place for a wonderful, home-cooked Indian dinner. Bismati rice, Prawn Masala with Quail's eggs, Chicken Korma, Mutton Mysore, Spicy Papadums with a Mango Yoghurt dip...Sedap! Yes my throat was killing me but What The Heck!

While we were doing the dishes, somehow Beyonce's Irreplaceable was THE tune to be hummed. Most of us could just do the To The Left, To The Left bit anyway =))



The grainy phonecam pic above is courtesy of Adrianna, someone I met at the party. Nicked it off her FlickR site. Must say I'm really impressed with this 21-yr old Political Science undergrad. Aspiring journalist, travel-writer, photographer and all...Makes me wonder just what the heck I was doing with my life at 21 =))

Excellent shot taken by this girl so bitten by Wanderlust...


This scene was caught at that "magic moment" all photographers strive towards; you know, during the end of the day, at that transition from dusk into night. Just at that magic moment, this photo works -- handheld. All attempts to capture duplicates fail, just split seconds after. My camel boys rode off back home after depositing us on another patch of sand for dinner.

Those were the days in Jaisalmer, India

Destination Unkster - Muar

We took a drive to Muar yesterday. About 150km along the North-South (NS) Highway and another 24km from the exit of the NS to the town centre proper.

Attended the funeral and burial of a colleague's father you see. Although I myself felt like dying since I'm down with a really nasty bout of the flu. I don't get sick easily but when I do, oh boy its a pain...:/

Anyway didn't have the mood to take any pictures since the purpose of the trip was pretty sombre and all that but still managed to snap a few pathetic ones in my pathetic state just to keep myself occupied.

The drive was pleasant enough, save for the scorching sun. Certain stretches of the NS Highway are actually quite scenic although I know this pic doesn't do justice to anything =))


The town itself looks like any other big Malaysian town with a sizeable Chinese population, shophouses and Kedai Makanans (eateries) lining the streets. OK while taking this pic I nearly got run over by the yellow pick-up crossing the road =))


This Bandung pink building houses the Yong Sheng Confectionary. Muar's answer to the Tan Kim Hock of Malacca. You know all the pastries, tid-bits, crackers and stuff. But more than all these, we scouted for this place because they have excellent Otak Otak. And we promptly lugged back RM60 worth! =))


Before taking the drive home, we spied this road-side Wanton Mee pushcart. Yes the noodles were soaked in black gravy just like how the Malaysians like it.



Anyway would have loved to show you guys some pictures of the Chinese Cemetery cos I thought the old-style tombstones (you know the really big, grand-looking arching ones)were pretty cool. Plus of course I haven't actually attended a burial before. In modern Singapore, who buries their beloved these days anyway?

I actually took along my camera from the car but the wifey advised me against snapping away in a place like this. And thankfully I heeded her advice. Because on the way back to the car after the coffin had been placed underground, I stepped on a plank over a deep 30cm-wide drain and it broke into two, sending me plummeting into the longkang. Thankfully I didn't break or sprain anything as I broke the fall using my hands and elbows. I shudder to think what would have happened if I took some pics =/

But I felt more eerie than pain actually. Knowing perhaps that the spirits were probably a trifle miffed and were teaching me a 'lesson'. Moreover when we got back to the car, the driver's door was wide open when I could have swore that I shut and locked it when I got out. Yikes! :/

So apart from this close encounter with the Nether World kind, it was quite an enjoyable road trip. Won't be in Muar anytime soon though...

Unkster Uncovered 5 - Lower Pierce Reservoir

An impromptu, overcast morning walk at Lower Pierce Reservoir Park with the girlies.

The park retains its early 70's, Victorian-styled amneties and has some nice flora I haven't seen at other reservoir gardens.

Unkers @ The Races - The Australian GP

2 mins to the start of the 2007 season...

You can tell who I'll be rooting for! =)





Race Update : A Finnish Top Finish

A walk in the park at Albert Park for the Finnish Blitzkrieg Kimi Raikkonen as he leaves the 2 MacLarens (kudos to Rookie-Brit Hamilton) in the hot afternoon Melbourne sun to finish top on the podium.

Thank goodness Felipe Massa gave us something to watch, coming from right behind on the grid to elbow his way into 6th place by race end. Handsome boy Giancarlo Fisichella didn't want to budge from 5th in the new-look Renault team which, by the seem of things, have their work cut out for them the rest of the season.

I like the look of the Red Bull team though. Nice colors, livery and pit-lane uniforms. Pity David Coulthard, their old Scottish Fart, is really getting abit off with his judgement. He could have taken Alexander Wurz's head off in that horrible side-swiped manouever.

Well overall, it could have been a Scarlet 1-2 if Massa's gears didn't screw up at Qualifying.

But let's not be greedy...=))

Un-entitled

Tired.

Both physically and mentally. Physically exhausted because in the last 48 hours, I haven't slept for more than 3 hours at a stretch. And mentally, or should I say emotionally zapped, because I've spent the same 48 hours dealing with more than the usual staff issues. Not operational ones but individual, outside-of-work matters that have given me the opportunity to exercise, when I listen to them, 2 things I know I am not naturally blessed with - patience and compassion.

OK there's a third, impartiality.

Also helpless.

Because somehow, although nothing at work is insurmontable, I can't seem to get our own lives in order. By some cruel trick of fate (or un-divine intervention), more than one plan has stalled. Just when things seem to be taking on some sane semblance of stability.

Well if I had a choice, I would shave a couple of points off my Intelligence Quotient (not that I have lots to begin with anyway) and use them to up my Adversity Quotient.

That's what my Emotional Quotient is saying, looking at the people and events that are unfolding before me now...

Maybe we're just un-entitled. Go figger.

Clever Advertising 1

A new series on clever ads or gimmicks. Nice things we come across flipping through mags or strolling about town. Since creativity is in such short supply these days...=))

So Yummylicious It Hurts

Leica, the epitome of atas-ness in Camera-dom.

The company pioneered the 35mm SLRs still in the market today way back in 1924. Thousands of iconic photographs have been shot on the marque's equally iconic M-series cameras. Leica is so atas they take years just to come out with a new model. Well don't blame them. Who would tinker with a winning design and formula?

So it was with much aplomp that the company announced the M8 in Sep 2006. Its first digital M-series baby ever. The lure of the mega-pixel age was just too persistent a force I suspect, even for a brand so steeped in heritage and tradition.



And what a Blardy Beaut!

Its a Range-Finder, not a Single Lens Reflex camera. Pls google to find out what Range-Finding means. Its too complicated to explain here =)) Being a RF, it has a svelte body because there is no need for the complex mirror-mechanism seen in SLRs. The lenses can also be built smaller and the baby is one silent killer, none of the shutter noise associated with its SLR-brethren. There is also an uninterrupted view of the subject through the viewfinder, unlike the spilt-second black-out in SLRs when the mirror adjusts to let light impinge on the sensor.

That's why RFs have been the camera of choice for old-skool photo-journalists the world over. They do have their limitations with close-ups and Macro shots though.



Even the all-black style looks good. But give me the vintage, old silver chrome look any day. The M8 is so elegantly understated and timeless-ly chic, it hurts.

Pity it costs the price of 6 EOS400Ds...FARK! =))

Unkster Uncovered 4 - Animal Lovers' League

We usually take a drive all the way down to the Pets Megamart at Pasir Ris to get our doggie supplies. Prices are really reasonable and they have a nice, wide variety of stuff to choose from so we don't mind.



Anyway, this is not a sales pitch for the Pooch Supermarket. Rather, we want to raise awareness of the Animal Lovers' League next door, a pet shelter for abused, abandoned and stray animals. Mostly dogs lah if you can tell from the pictures. The League welcomes donations and even stuff like leashes, rice-cookers and food bowls. It aims to give these poor fellas a 2nd shot at the good life.



Most may be mangy Pariahs but they are all lovable just the same. Pity that in Singapore, its a Buy-That-Kewt-Pedigree from the shop culture, not an Adopt-a-Pet-and-Save-A-Life habit.





So drop by if you have the time. You may fall in love wih a big 'bad' shaggy one =))

Animal Lovers' League is located at :

61, Pasir Ris Farmway Drive 3
Opened from 1- 6pm daily

So Kewt

Couldn't resist. Adidas for 6-9 month-old babies. Start 'em young I say! =))

Bought them for a friend's daughter. Hope she likes it =)

Unkers@TheMovies - 300

OK so yesterday we caught a 'girlie show'. Today, it was my turn to pick the movie and of course it had to be a macho 'boy show'. Bring it on!, the blood and chopped limbs and kewl armor with red capes and swash-buckling (err maybe spear twirling) Greek models and all that macho preening and posing with 8-pack abs and all...

And in what better way then to catch the CGI-ed tale of the epic battle at Thermopylae where 300 Spartans, led by a bushy-bearded King Leonidas, battled the rag-tag but frighteningly horde-ish army of Persian King Xerxes.



I can't say this is a fantastic movie. Enjoyable yes but certainly not fantastic. I mean from the moment I heard that it was shot mostly on blue and green screens, it put me off a little. Well if Peter Jackson could go on location in NZ when he was doing LOTR, surely even with CGI, 300 director Zack Synder could spare us the fake looking backdrops and city-scapes =)) But at least it was not as fakey as Sky Captain and The World of Tommorrow. That one was saved, barely, by the inimitable Jude Law and of course everybody's favorite UN-Adopt-a-Child-Mudder Angelina Jolie.

But I digress.

The cast of 300, I don't remember seeing anywhere. Gerard Butler as King Leonidas. Yes I hear you...Gerard who? =)) The rest of the Spartans, at least those who had significant air-time anyway, I also don't remember seeing anywhere else. But my oh my, when you look at them in their red capes and spears with shields and all, you know they have been working out. OK this is an understatement, they all look like Greek Gods! And I don't mean Venus hor, more like Zeus =)) 300 will surely go into the Guinness Book of Records as the Movie With The Most Number Of Killer Abs In A Single Frame =))



Then there is Persian King Xerxes. You know I'm really bad with history but My Goodness!, are you sure a Persian King looks like that? How shall I put it, he's...erm...really Alternative.



What with nose rings, facial piercings, a bald head, kohl-circled eyes and shimmery thongs, he looks like Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow in Patpong-gone-wrong transvestite drag =)) And holy moley, guess who plays the Persian Pervert? Rodrigo Santoro. Yes the same Brazilian hunk in Love Actually that Laura Linney has the hots for and the good 'ole crash-surviving Paulo in Lost. The transformation is...yikes...horrid =))

But 300, actually the real Battle of Thermopylae rather, has real lessons for us in modern warfare. This point has of course been expounded upon by many a military historian. The importance of good trained soldiers, clever use of terrain and tactics, teamwork and courageous sacrifice is available for learning in copious amounts.



So barring the slow dialogue in the beginning, a tit or two that had the 'pre-pubescent' audience ooh-ing and ahh-ing, the Matrix-copied slow-motion stylised fight scenes (but with flying cut-a-way heads and limbs) and a tad shallow personalization of the characters in the movie, 300 was immensely watchable lah.

Just don't ask the Chimp what happened in the first 20mins. She fell asleep =))

7/10

Unkers@TheMovies - Music and Lyrics

I don't have to say again that the both of us are suckers for romantic comedies.

Something about them being easy-going, feel-good flicks that give you a tingle in your heart and a slight guffaw in the tummy. And so what if Hollywood milks the genre dry. They're enough suckers out there to fill the cinema halls, judging by this evening's full house when we went to catch Hugh and Drew's latest Music and Lyric partnership.



Hugh plays Alex Fletcher, an '80s pop group Has-Been destined to working the Country Fair and Amusement Park circuit singing songs from his band's former chart-topping albums. Incidentally, Alex's ex-band was called Pop! Cheesy =)) When reigning pop-princess Cora Corman (new all-American babe Haley Bennett and herself an ex Pop! groupie and now hybrid Shakira/Britney/Jewel sexpot) asks Alex to write a song for her new album, he panics. But still its a chance too good to pass up. You see Mr Fletcher is good with melodies, but horrible with words. Then enters Sophie Fisher, Alex's part-time plant-lady who comes to his house daily to water his 'vegetation'. The quirky Sophie soon strikes up some chemistry with Alex, using her flair for the written word to pen the lyrics for the amazingly catchy song that the latter has composed for Cora.

The movie works for several reasons. Chiefly because of Hugh's irresistable charm and charisma. He could charm your grandmother off her wheelchair. I mean the plot is nothing to shout about but the scriptwriter(s) must certainly be given brownie points for crafting hilariously witty conversation for both Hugh and Drew. Of course the best one-liners are saved for the floppy-fringed gentleman. But Drew gets her fair share of disarmingly humorous repartee.

Then there are constant reminders of the embarassing '80s, of infectious Synth-pop tunes, tight pants and ugly hair. A walk down memory lane of sorts for the unkers and unties in the audience. Coupled with a number of surprisingly catchy original songs in the movie that are supposed to be sung by Hugh himself. I think he was not lip-synching lah.

Hugh and Drew are very believable as a song-writing duo who eventually fall in love. The thing about Drew is that she may not be your typical case of a sexy Chio Bu but her quirky kewtness grows on you. The ending is predictably sweet, but somehow a little too simplistic for a movie held together by such witty dialogue.

Not exactly a movie I would tell you to go rush out and catch. But a movie I would certainly reccommend for a nice, Snuggle-on-the-sofa evening with that Significant Other nonetheless.

The title needs some re-working though =))

7.3/10

See here for POP!'s MTV, PoP Goes My Heart. Hilarious =))

Constant Change

Its official.

I take up a new appointment come 2nd Apr. After 3 months of whispering, grape-vining and rumor-mongering, I received my marching orders 3 days ago.

But unlike some others who would love to take the opportunity to slack off in view of the imminent departure, it seems like I have a tonne of things to do. A couple of pending projects to get off the ground, doing a mini manpower re-org, making sure what I have implemented over the 2years have some semblance of sustainability and won't collapse when I go plus a big major exercise to helm on the eve of my sayonara day.

Then there are the feelings of melancholy, regret and anxiety to contend with.

Melancholic because, shitty place or not, I will miss all my guys and gals. All 200 monkeys. Yes they have given me grief and irritated me no end sometimes but I can't honestly say 'goodbye and good riddance' to any single one of them. Careless, lacksidaisical and at times downright stupid yes but at the end of the day, no one was fundamentally evil. Maybe when its time to say goodbye, you always tend to remember the good things in people. Maybe.

Regret because, well, as I look back on 2006, I could have achieved so much more. Instead of getting myself entangled in personal issues that left me distracted and out of focus. My performance rating took a hefty tumble and the only reason I was not given a really bad grading was because the No. 1 Man took my past 'good deeds' into account. Thankfully in the last quarter of the year, the proverbial socks were pulled way up high and my new boss liked what he saw. The old me. But sigh, all this damage-control could have been avoided. Still living with some of the scars by the way.

Anxiety because I know alot will be expected of me in my new posting. The eyes will be watching to see if the faith my Big Boss has in me is well-judged or mis-placed. Then there is the question of whether you will be missed when you're gone. Nothing can be more ego-puncturing than to find out that everybody makes excuses from attending your farewell dinner =)) Not to say that they have but its a small fear nonetheless. Brings me back to a couple of years ago when I attended the farewell lunch of a very unpopular but work-wise, successful boss. No one liked him but he got the job done. Oh well. But at least a couple of really junior officers have approached me and said Sir, lets have dinner before you go ok. And that makes me really guilty about calling them Plankton, in jest I swear, behind their backs =))

Well I supposed its time to walk the talk. I have always told my guys to expect and embrace change because ironically, change is the only constant.

Lets just hope its a change for the better...

Wedding Scrapbook

Me and the Chimp spent some time putting this together for the happy couple just now.

Nothing much. Just a scrapbook dat doubles up as an album, some photo glue and a pen to scribble headings. Didn't want to hand them a stack of photos.

Hope they like it =)






Alamak just realised my lighting very the yellow =/

Unkers & Vino - Brown Brothers Cienna 2006

The thing I like about Brown Brothers is that its a vineyard 'policy' to experiment with different varietals.

So this evening, while we were out looking for a medium-bodied Red to go with our steamboat dinner, the trademark green bottle from Milawa was peeking out from a sea of YellowTail Chardonnays and Semillons under the Australia Section.



I wanted to get a simple Rawson's Retreat Cabernet/Shiraz from Penfolds, cheap and good. But the Chimp reminded me that our dinner Kakis were not exactly wine afficionados and would prefer something light and sweet. And the prospect of having a dessert wine with fishballs and Wong Bok was definitely a big no-no.

So what the heck, it would be the Cienna.

The Cienna is a hybrid grape crossed from Cabernet Sauvignon and a Spanish varietal called Sumoll. The variety was developed by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in collaboration with Brown's Vineyard and a couple of other Aussie viticulturists.

In the glass, the wine is deep red in colour with lively purple hues and a subtle fragrance of mint, eucalyptus and violets. The palate is rich and full-bodied, with mulberry fruit flavours and a fine-textured, long finish. At least that's what the review says =))



However, although we found it to be a sweet and light wine, I wouldn't reccommend it for dinner accompaniment because the berry fruitiness of it all makes it a little too ribena-ry. And for some reason, there is also a slight sparkly-ness that tickles gently as the vino sloshes around in your mouth. It makes an excellent after dinner tipple though, especially with ice-cream.

And if you're looking to introduce someone, maybe a teenager or so, to the joys of scarlet vino, the Cienna would be it!

Works for the girls too I think ;)

For a review on Brown Brothers Lexia Spatlese 2005, look here.

Unkster Unwound - Electrico : Live In New Wave Concert @ UCC

Electrico kicked off this year's NUS Arts Festival at the University Cultural Centre. And the Chimp and me were there to savour the, no pun intended, electrifying performance yesterday evening =))



It says alot about a band when they sound better live than on CD. And that's exactly how local boys&gal Dave Tan, Desmond Goh, William Lim Jnr, Daniel Sassoon and the babelicious goth chick Amanda Ling rawked the rafters of the UCC before their US tour later in the month.



And after this smashing gig, I think the Yanks are in for some good ole' rock & roll, Singapore-style.



The band played all their favorites from 2004's So Much More Inside and 2006's Sophomore release Hip City. As well as surprise 'cameos' from the 80's New Wave scene. I'll let you all guess, something each from Soft Cell and Depeche Mode =))



Sound engineering was not without its glitches but the lights...Oh the lights! Excellent stuff man!






Dave et al saved their No.1 hit single Love In New Wave for the encore. Before really ending the evening off with We're Not Made In The USA, a song Dave says they can't sing when they play their gigs there but is actually about a lady returning the band's album at a record store in Singapore when she discovers that Electrico is..errr.. Made In Singapore =))



Anyway well done guys! And remember when you're up there in Arkansas, Tennessee and California...We're the Red and the White but without the Blue!

Look here for more on Electrico.

Official Electrico Site

Crying Over Spilt Milk

We have sort of decided on our new place. A cosy 2-bedder apartment, free-hold, tucked away in a little corner of the East.

We'll make the offer later today. Hope the owners don't revert with a counter-offer that is too far off. I mean its a given that they'll make one. Just wishing that we have enamoured ourselves to them lovingly enough for the place to be sold without too much haggling =))

But the dilemma now is this.

We have a government-built apartment which we want to keep and hopefully lease out for some extra income. If we don't sell this, we'll probably have to take a bigger loan to cover the impending purchase. And end up with heftier interest payments. Trust me, the interest works out to be quite a bit over the 30 year tenure of the loan.

On the other hand, if we sell our present apartment, the losses, on paper, are pretty substantial. But it means we have some money free-d up for the present buy. Which means we can afford to take a smaller loan and subsequently pay less interest. And yes, trust me, the savings also work out to be quite a tidy sum over 30 years.

Of course the ideal situation is if we get to keep our present property and yet have enough moolah upfront to pay for the new apartment such that we take a smaller loan.

Well, technically, we would find ourselves in this ideal situation if we had been Savers instead of Spenders. The excesses of maintaining 2 cars, eating out way too often at restaurants, buying too much clothes and frivolous things and over the last year or so, keeping 2 rented apartments because of our unique situation, has come back to haunt us.

Seriously we could easily have stashed away 30-40K. So much for the Yuppie lifestyle =/ With a monthly household income of more than 15K, we should have been more prudent with our money.

Sigh!

Anyway, no use crying over spilt milk, or in this case, spent money =)) We'll just have to learn to lead a more austere lifestyle.

We're excited nonetheless! =)