Big 40

I just bought a new mechanical keyboard for my computer and so I decided to pop by my blog to write something.  Wow,  haven't wrote anything for more than a year.  hahaha

I just turn 40 in August this year.  Which means my NS liability is finally over.  Didn't managed to get the final milestone but at least I can proudly say I had served my country.  It's quite surreal actually.  Most of the guys I know cleared their NS in their early 30s or even for the worst cast scenario, around 38.  Just 2 years short from the cut off point.  If not, they were just totally exempted from this whole spectacle.   A bit of mixed feeling on my last day to report to camp.  Exhilarated initially when I signed off for the very last time (the RP was staring at my laughing face when I returned my T-Pass, thinking I'm mad) but felt a bit sad too when I was taking the train home.   

I have been staying most of my time in Maesai since my last update.  Basically spending money from my stock dividends and so far I could say it's still quite comfortable.  Have to be really careful on buying things but over here, expenses are getting more expensive over here too.   I guess the everywhere is the same too.

My next adventure will be trying to get a PR in Thailand so I don't really need to go through the Visa runs every 3 months. I might document this over here if it helps but so far,  I just went to BKK to ask around and it's a bit complicated.  Will share once I have more time.  Now back to painting and building more plastic models.  :)  

1st post of 2014!

I'm back!!  Literally in Singapore for a few weeks before I travel back again.  It's the usual 3 months routine to come back and clear some backlog stuff over here in Sillypore.

I broke my own tradition of not writing a last post in Dec 2013.  I actually had a draft but I decided not to publish it as its a bit wee sensitive at the moment.  For those dying to know, it's about my views on the recent protests in Thailand.  Maybe when all the dust settles and if I feel like it I will relook at that entry and publish it.

I also received an email from TOC, asking me for permission to republish some of my future posts.  I'm a bit honored actually.  I'm just a Sillyporean in Thailand, minding my own business and blogging about my life there.  Wonder who will be interested in such a boring guy anyway.

The web is a very funny thing as blogging is no longer the "in" thing nowadays.  I wonder who still read full length blogs nowadays.  I do but I think I'm the few rare ones.  Tweeting (Twitter) and short messages such as status updates in G+ and facebook are much  more common nowadays.  So that's what I have been experimenting recently for the pass few months.  Posting more status updates on facebook rather than writing something here (ok, it's an excuse, I'm just plain lazy. :P)

Anyway, for those who are really interested in spying  following me.  I have activated the followers in Facebook.  So feel free to "follow" me instead of sending me friend's request (I only add those whom I know personally :) )

Thanks for reading and I will be writing soon since.  Singapore got new things to see leh.. A new Expressway and DT line. Must explore.  

What I have been up to.

Honestly, besides setting up my new iMac and Canon Pro 100 printer.  I spent more time with wife and kids rather than anything else.  Just to catch up the lost time while I was away.  I didn't even go facebook or surf the net as frequent as I used to be,  Maybe it's because of the slow computers I had previously :P

So far the new iMac is gorgeous.  I got the 21 inch version with i7 processor and a 256gb SSD.   Damn its blazing fast.  Booting it up only takes less than 5 secs :P.  I left the memory at 8Gig as 16Gig is a bit overkill for me and the upgrade price is just plain ridiculous.   I might upgrade it later if I really need to.  The new 21 inch iMac is an upgrade nightmare.  Need to tear out the adhesive on the display before I can get the guts. The printer Canon Pro 100 is just a dream come true for me.  At last I can print A3+!  Its not roll feed but I think its good enough for me.  I chose the 100 becasue it uses the dye ink rather than the Pro 10 which uses the pigment based ink.  Longevitiy might not be an issue to me as I prefer brighter photos and dye based prints are brighter.  I still need to get better paper though.  Its damn hard to source good paper in Thailand and so far I got it from the Canon online e-supply stores and still waiting for them to deliver.  I bought some cheapskate photo paper from the local computer shops here and so far its pretty damn promising.  I will write more about that printer once I get to print on some real papers.

I have been using my A900 recently for my family shots.  Going back digital and not shooting a lot of landscapes on slides as its pouring over here.  Ever since I got here (in June), it has been raining cats and dogs.  There are occassionaly some sunny days but it will only last for half a day.  Then the rain comes again.  So those who are interested to come here to shoot some landscape of Nothern Thailand to remember.  Avoid June to September when its the wet seasons.

I will be flying back to Singpaore again in early Septemper.  Need to serve my National Service and might stay a bit longer in Singapore to settle some personal stuff.  Gotto go.. Need to print more stuff on my new computer and printer :P

A bloody short week.

It's has been a week and now I'm on my way back to Land of Slavery to slave again. I was just getting used to the weather in Maesai. It's 25 during the day and about 19 degrees at night. Damn I will miss the weather.

The kids are great and they are happy I was back. I managed to teach my girl some string games I used to play with my sister when we were young and boy boy was getting better everyday in using the computer mouse... :P hunting down zombies in Plant vs Zombies. I also somehow managed to complete their own bedroom. Yup, finally bought a pair of beds and setup their little kingdom. I still need to fix the AC and maybe a table for them to study or draw but from the way the jump on their beds I know they loved it... :P One thing bad is that boy boy still sticky with mummy so my wife still accompanies them in their room while I slept alone in our own bedroom :(

I was also busy sorting out some slides I took last time and managed to copied them this time using my a900. It's actually about half a year of backlog negatives and transparencies I cleared while the kids were in school. I also managed to finish 2 rolls on my Fuji 690 and will be looking forward to develop it back in SG. I have found a new home based lab via Chiff and he did a fantastic job on my last roll. For those interested in shooting and developing slides in Singapore, do search for Lo Sheng of Analog Film Lab in facebook. Just mail in the rolls and he will work his magic. And its bloody affordable too!

Interesting way to start a year

I'm typing this on the plane. I'm on my way back to Chiang Rai for a short break. Just only a week prior to my break, I actually tendered my resignation letter over matters of a deduction in our department's OT pay. It was actually quite dramatic. We received our pay last month just after Chirstmas and my colleague spotted the err in payment. Initially I thought it was just an individual mistake in the Finance department but later I found out the deduction was across the board. Furious with the sudden changes without any notification. I wrote a very strong worded email to my immediate superior and manager. Their response was pitiful in the sense that they don't see anything wrong in the whole fiasco. So furious was I that I decided to quit.

My immediate boss (who is also a good friend of mine) managed to persuade me to hold my letter and requested to have an emergency team meeting with the ops manager. For a very long time, all our team members came to the meeting that day and the ops manager explained that there were no changes the OT formulae. However, there was a special component that he has been giving to us discreetly ever since we joined the company. And our dear ops manager was questioned recently why he gave the special component so he has to enforced the rule.

I smell bullshit. Anyway, I cut straight to the point that we don't see it that way. A cut is a cut and if you wish to enforce this rule, at least have the courtesy to inform us before hand. This is to allow us to judge if its rational for us to do the extra OT. Not like we had done it in December and then undercut us this way.

So after some haggling, they gave in and return us the special component for the time being. For how long this will last? I really don't know but at least they promised to inform us next time if they play such stunts.

So actually I was going to be free and jobless in Feb 2013 but I guess I will stick around for the moment. Since the ops manager did personally asked me to withdraw my resignation letter (actually money is still the factor ... :P) So just this once, my principle was set aside.

2012 - A boring year.

Technically we have not reached the end of 2012 but by the counts of my post this year.  It's actually quite a boring year for me.  The year never ended on 21-12-2012 as predicted and nothing really major happened (aside to the scandals in Singapore politics and the SMRT strikes).  Maybe only the first half of the year when I came back to Singapore to work and resumed my shift job.  Other than that, it's just work, sleep, buy stuff, fly back to Thailand to spend time with the kids and etc.  Nothing eventful in my personal life.

Which brings to one point, how long can I last in such a situation.  Again, I have managed to save up some money and gained some through our stock exchange in lovely Singapore.   So 2013 will be an interesting year for me again.  I have that option to leave my job in Singapore (for good this time) and return back to Thailand to work on something.   I also have some plans that involved in a room of stuff left by my late father that I promised my mother that I will sort them out eons ago.  Initially I planned to sort them out when I'm on my day offs but I just do not have the energy to do so when I came back from work.

And recently, I just feel "old". hahaha.  Being physically of course and I do have to admit, once you hit 35 and above, its going to be downhill all the way.....  

So Happy Holidays and see you all in 2013.

Universal Studio Singapore (USS) trip

Recently our company organised a USS gathering for our team.  I was initially a bit reluctant to go but ever since I got my 24mm Zeiss Distagon, I am dying for a chance to really test out the lens.   Entrance fee is all paid up while we have to foot all the other expenses by ourselves (not too bad as the entrance fees is already quite expensive).

Since it’s just a scouting trip, I decided not to bring my Beast with me.  I just have my A900, the new 24mm Zeiss Distagon, 135mm Sonnar and out of fun, brought along my lensbaby Composer Pro with the 35mm optics.  Initially planning to shoot some fireworks later, I brought along my tripod too.  Our team met at Vivo around 930am (I was there early with another 2 team members for breakfast) and we took the monorail into Sentosa.  It has been eons since I last visted Sentosa.  Much have changed.  Anyway, boarding the train was a hassle to me too.  The stupid gantry does not support my paywave card (only Ezlink card) so I have to manually go buy a ticket at the vending machine which bloody hell, 3 out of 5 is on service!  That is on a SATURDAY for pete’s sake!  So it was a long queue.  Anyway, we got in at around 10am and I wandered off while the rest of the gang took the Transformers ride.  I was not planning to get on any rides as my sole purpose was to shoot and scout around the area.  Later I caught up withe the gang and they were still queuing for the Transformers ride.  They asked my to join in my I saw the waiting time (bloody 50mins) so I declined and moved on.  I went one round around the park, shooting along the way and just walk and stop, looking at interesting people and other stuffs.  The park is not that big actually so I actually completed the whole park within an hour or so.  Bored, I called my friends and guessed what, they are still waiting for their ride in the Transformer Ride!  I told them I finished my walk and decided to join them, so I waited patiently for them at the cafe next to the ride.  Then it started to rain!  And it was quite heavy too…  Lucky me for not bringing my Beast! 

I started to get bored so I  swapped my 24mm with the 135mm and started to “snipe” some interesting people in the park (just for fun)
   

Finally the wait was over and they came out looking exhausted.  There was a technical glitch with the ride so the wait was damn long.  The timing indicating outside the ride was a whopping 120mins when they came out.  2 hours in the Q for a 2min ride……

After that we just continued on and the rain starts to stop (great timing).  They gang decided to take a ride in the Bstar roller coaster but another colleague of mine and I decided to pass and look after their belongings while they took the ride.  Bored of waiting, we went to one of the canteens to grab a bite.  We chose Indian food (as it smells great) while my boss finally joined us while we were hunting for food.  The gang came out and went to another cafe to have lunch.  After that it was just one ride after another… 

Overall, it’s a pretty good theme park and the staffs are actually quite helpful but I don’t think I will spend my own money to come in again .  Maybe it’s just me but I just find the merchandising and overall "fakeness” just not my cup of tea.  I might bring my kids and wife if they are in their early teens to enjoy the rides but definitely not now… Most of the rides are catered to adults and I don’t think it’s worth it.

I didn’t stay for the fireworks as I was completely poofed at around 7pm.  I was wearing contacts and my eyes are starting to dry up so I decided to call it a day and went home while the rest stayed to look at the fireworks.
Speaking of testing my new lens.  I would say it performs very well and way beyond my expectations.  Zeiss Distagon label is not just pure marketing but a real performer.  Very little distortions and sharp, sharp sharp!  Those who enjoy shooting details and landscapes will 

You can see the full album over here in my facebook album (no FB login required as its Public). 

Moving back to blogger soon

Recently (actually just last year). Google made various changes to their blogger by combining their “Site” services with Blogger. I was impressed with the new dynamic layout and the new mobile version (yes, it actually converts your site to a predefined mobile template) that I think I will move back from Squarespace to Blogger.
But I actually just renewed my bi-annual subscription in 2010 from SS so I still have about 400 days to go before my account expires! So I guess I will continue to blog here and update the entries into Blogger at the same time. Windows Live Writer supports multiple accounts so its a god send for me.
Anyway, I have exported the entries from SS to blogger but my posts in blogger will be missing photos which I am still considering if I wish to manually move them over to Blogger.
The domain sgmaesai.com still points to SS but for those interested in the new layout of Blogger. You can visit my “cloned” blogger site at http://maesaisingaporean.blogspot.sg

Technorati Tags: Personal,website

New Sound (Card)

I was missing in action for the pass 2 weeks (not even on FB most of the time) as I was working night shifts consecutively for the last 14 days with only a day of break in between them.  Anyway, I actually bought this headset last week and I was very very happy with it so I decided to write something about it.

I guess some of you might have seen my last entry which was a new PC for my sister (and me :P) and I was getting a bit put off by the internal sound card.  I used to have an X-Fi Sound blaster card in my old system and I was planning to shift it over to my new PC.  But due to minor depression of missing my family in Thailand... I went onto the net (retail therapy again) to look around and saw that Creative released a new chipset... the Core3d processor!  Bloody quad-core processor for voice and sound.  Call it marketing hype or what-so-ever but it looks interesting.  The new Recon3D card costs around $150 each and then I saw an interesting product on theie website.  It's actually a wireless headset called Soundblaster Recon3d Omega Wireless.   It's actually their top range wireless headset bundled with the new Sound blaster Recon3D USB controller.  Whoa... external sound card via USB.  Then it dawns on me to get a USB version.  Why?  It allows me to move the sound (card) processor around!  I could bring it into office and used it on my lousy desktop computer with my earphones! 

The idea excites me and I checked out the price for the recon3d unit alone (without the headset)... bloody $169 for the Recon3d USB version.... more expensive then the PCI-e card leh.  And moreover it only has headset output.  I can't connect it to a normal 5.1 speakers to get the THX surround.  Then I made the silly silly mistake of going down to Marina Square Creative show room last Monday to test out the new gadget.  I brought along my Sony inner earphones to test it out.  The display set is actually the Recon3d paired with the Tactic Wireless headset (the link above).  I ask the saleswoman for permission to test out my earphones and she gladly obliged but a bit blur blur on where the connection is (think need more training) .  Anyway, I managed to figure it out and plug my headphones into the front headphone jack.  No sound came out (they were playing a movie).  Hmm, I thought faulty or wat but another guy came over and explained that the Recon is paired to the Wireless tactic headset so it could not output out.  He asked me to try the headset first and so I stupidly obliged..... Initially I was reluctant as I hated those wireless headsets.  Normally they are just trash to my ears.  This however, proves me wrong. The headset was just fantastic!  I think the technology might have matured over the years but I still could not believe the sound coming out of it.  Anyway, the guy also powered off the wireless headset and I tried my own personal headphone.  Another BIG mistake.  It dosen't sound as good as the wireless headset..... :P  The bass and clarity on the Tactic headset is definitely much better then my Sony ones (which is actually already a very very good inner ear isolated headphones I bought)  I think my Shures would perform better but they are in Thailand....

So in the end I bought the Recon3d Omega Wireless headset ($329).  I couldn't test it straight away as I was working night shift that day so I just charged the headset while I was working and used the Recon3d with my Sony earphone.  Installation was really easy, really just plug and play and you get better sound without running any software!  But for more controls, just install the software provided and you get to tweak the eq and THX surround sound and others.

After a week using the system (watching movies, listening to music and some gaming).  I think it's a good buy.  For those really who are interested in music or wish to have a better listening experience, it's a no brainer.

Yes, it's pricy but for 300++ you can get sound almost on par with a 10k audiophile system is a bargain to me anyway.  And please, although I'm a fan of Soundblaster cards dosen't mean I'm bluffing.  Go try it and you will understand.  :)

 

Frames and Kitty Madness

Today it's an interesting day for me.  I was supposed to meet up with some of my colleagues and ex-colleagues for a hotpot meal in Bugis at around 6pm.  I decided to take my Bessa and VC 50mm 1.1 for a spin at Little India.

Loaded a roll of Tmax and started to shoot around the area.  It's still a great and vibrant place to shoot street photos.  The people over there are less camera shy and actually more willing to let us shoot them.  Try that in Chinatown and you might get the "digusted" look more often.  I didn't actually count the frames I shot but when I started to leave the area and head for Bugis, I stopped by Camera Hospital (the boss Steven's my pal and doctor in fixing my photography gears) and took a look at the frames left.  (See picture on the left)  Wow... 36 shots, on a single day,  same location (well it covers a big area) and within 2 hours!  That's really not like me at all.  I think the 5 months or more of my sabbatical with streets actually helped a bit.  Everything seems to look photogenic and every shots seems to be a possible winner (still need to develop it to see the results though).   I think I will do that again on my off days again :P  Ndroo of Fuzzyeyeball actually wanted to join me but as it was a last minute decision, he couldn't make it (got reserved by his kiddo to cook :P)

The 2nd interesting (and funny) thing that happened today was the Hello Kitty Madness.  You know, SG's McD is now having a Kitty Promotion again (not going to link it here, you can google it here :P)  I saw the Hamburglar and decided to collect all 4 of them for my kids (well actually I quite like it too LOL).  I managed to get the first 2 last week and as I was on night shifts and RT, I didn't have the time to get the 3rd one which was released just last Wednesday.  I did however, went to Bedok Interchange on Friday early morning (around 5am) to get some breakfast and the Kitty but it was all sold out!  After our hotpot meals and desserts,  I actually tried my luck at the Bugis McD.. The sign says sold out.... heart starts to dampen a bit.  Buddy and colleague of mine then suggested the McD just opposite the Rocher center.  Went there, sold out!  Starts to get worried and a bit fustrated.  My buddy friend got all fired up and say "Impossible!  Sure got one!" So we took the trian and stopped by Paya Lebar and it's also sold out.  Ask the fella at the counter and he said Kallang still has it.  Took the circle line and reached Kallang.  Searched and walked 15mins before reaching the drive through McD and also sold out.  Started to get very very low morale.  Took a bus to Siglap Center (ulu place) and I told my buddy friend.  "If here dun have that means all sold out liao, can give up and go home and sleep"  Reached there and to our horror ....

Super low morale.  I was thinking I might missed this little kitty for good.   There goes my collection.   But my buddy mentioned our work place at Bedok Reservoir has an outlet, maybe we can try that one.   If not, Changi Point, followed by Changi Airport, then to Punngol and Pasir Ris... Wa Piang, He more crazy then me.  Well, we were tired after trying 6 outlets (including the one in the morning) so I decided to call it off and went home.  Unable to sleep (bio clock all messed up) , I went to the McD website and was surprised to see all the the outlets has a telephone number.  I decided to call the nearest outlets that runs 24hrs just to try my luck.  The 1st call was Bedok North St 3.  No luck, sold out.  I then called the one at Bedok Reservoir.  Got a fantastic reply from the guy saying that they still have stock but its running out and won't last till next morning.  Wat liew... look at the clock and it was almost 3am.  Took my bike and peddled to the outlet (20 mins ride).  It was on the way to work anyway.  Went in and saw the kitty :P  Happy liao..  Bought a meal and the toy.  Ate and left the place.

 Here's the result.

Was it worth all the trouble to get it?  Well, it was actually quite fun.. Especially the part when my friend and buddy get all fired up in the quest of kitty.... long time no see him like dat liao... LOL

:-This post is dedicated to Mr CSL.  Good Friend, Photography buddy, Ex-colleague and now my BOSS :P

Hot Hot Hot!! (Part 1)

It's really hot here in Maesai.  So hot I have no mood to even surf the web as my computer room dosen't have an AC.  I'm actually sweating like a pig while typing this! :P

The thermometer registers 35 degrees but the air is so warm that even with the fan blasting at full speed actually makes the whole room worst.  The idea was to dial at a slower speed so there is a constant breeze of air movement.  Wonder how anyone can survive outside in the rice fields over here...

The first part of this series will be about my girl.

Girl girl is back in school yesterday.  She's in her new school just a few blocks away from our house.  She could actually walk there if she wants to:P.  I was a bit concerned about the new environment because it is a government school and not the old semi-private school.  The change was necessary as the old school made some administrative changes and a lot of the good teachers left.  Moreover, they just had a 200% price hike!  Money is not a issue but still with that amount of money I could actually apply for a full international school in Chiang Rai.

Since I'm not around and most of her friends in her old school applied for this one.  We enrolled her here.  It's pretty good environment but girl gril complained about the toilet.. :P  We have to explain to her that it's due to the number of students in the school.   It's a pretty big class of 38 students but I would say the competition would be great too.  2 of her old friends are in the same class as her and she was quick to make new friends. (Not too worried in that department) 

The Barbie doll toy I bought for her was a sucess.  Although technically it's still not her birthday yet.  She has opened it and we had some fun time decorating the dress.  One bad thing is that the inks from the pens tends to smudge and spreads if you apply too much pressure.  So in the end instead of getting beautiful patterns you get blotches.  But after some coaching from me, she did pretty well... (for her age :P)

Its pretty great to be back at home,  I started shooting again with my Mamiya Press and I plan to bring that back to shoot.  Funny thing is that although its hot here, we are in constant overcast so my new 24mm Zeiss was not in the field.  I was also too busy with girl girl's 1st day in school and my problematic boy boy which I would write about later.... headache....  

TBC

Toys for the children

Apologies for the lousy shots of the toys as I took them at 4am in the morning.   After working for 6 consectiuve nights, I still need some time to go back to my old normal time zone.   I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep so decided to write a short entry.

Girl's birthday is on the 18th May.  (The main reason why I would be going back on the 10th May).  So naturally, I need to get her a birthday gift for her.  I asked her on the phone and she gave me the usual answer... I want a Barbie doll!

I actually don't really like toys without any form of education or stimulation in it.  Figurines are actually one of them as I find it as just a fad (because of TV or a movie).  But my sister reminded me that dressing up dolls and playing with them is actually a good form of brain stimulation and creativity.  That kind of seal the deal for me so I got her a Barbie doll set.

Not just any Barbie doll set but a Design your own Barbie doll set!  

I found this at Tampines Toy'r'us and I was quite happy Mattel thought of such a wonderful idea.  It even comes with refills sets for additional dresses, templates, markers or stickers!  Pretty good toy!  I got the starter set for her.  It comes with the doll, 5 blank coloured dresses,some stickers, markers and 2 templates for her to design and colour.  Girl loves to colour so its really god send.  I also have some permanent sparkling colour markers I got for my Instax photos and this should be able to be used on the set too.  Which means she would have more that 3 choices of colour markers for her dress. :)

I plan to guide her in the process of making it when I'm back with her.  (Actually I want to play oso :P hehe)

I think this is a better set then those pre-made sets on the shelves.  Yes, those are more colourful but less meaningless then this one.  All dresses are a personal design and totally unique.  How cool is that? :)

 Girl's toy was easy.  But not for my 3 yr (coming) old boy.  Need to get one for him just in case he snatches his sister's.  It's the age of not too small and not too little :P.  Hard choices.  A transformer toy would be too difficult for him and those toddlers toys would be too mudane to him.  Wife and girl girl mentioned to me over phone he loves Ben 10 cartoon so I also got him a doll..... 

Yes, I know it's a figurine.  I broke my rules but hey, ain't rules meant to be broken? :P  Hope he likes the "Fourarms" 

A quiet night in office on Labour Day.

Techincally, it's the 2nd of May.  I started my night shift on Sunday night and it's my 3rd night today in my office.  Surprisingly quiet too.  Not much events and emails (maybe because of the public holiday?).  I got bored of reading and surfing the net so I decided to pen something down.

Some family updates.  Wife just got herself involved in a minor bike incident just on Monday.  Thanks to the almighty power of "blessings" on the bike she was not seriously hurt.  Just some bruises and cuts.  Apparently she was riding uphill when another bike with load of stuffs tried to cut her lane and she jumped off her bike.  Kids were at home while this happened.  Bike was damaged and she now wants to sell off the"unlucky" bike for a new one......

Boy boy shifted to a new pre-school and he seems to enjoy the new surroundings.  Got more toys in this new school.

Girl started her summer camp in school.  It's called a summer camp but in actual fact is another tuition and prep-course for her Primary 1 entrance.  Yup... going to P1 in May...  Time really flies...

I myself, bought some upgrades to my new bike.  A touring bag with carrier block, some new set of roller wheels and a copper suspension block.   Still waiting for my Brooks saddle to arrive though... :P   I also sold off my 24-70mm lens and got a Distagon 24mm prime for my a900.  I tested it on some mundane shots and so far it looks really promising.  Will write about it in another entry. 

In 2 more weeks I will be back in Thailand again.  Mum will be following me this round but my missus did warned me about the crazy tempreature over there.  Over 40 degrees celsius!  Man... that's hot....But I'm excited, finally get to see my family again.   Happy!

Some site revamp

I have just made some changes to the site template to make it more easier for my old eyes to read.  I also spent some time making a banner picture for the site.  It's a long overdued process which I couldn't do it in Maesai as my kids would barge in and take over my computers. :P

Anyway, I do hope you like the new scheme.  I choose a darker background as I planned to post more photos here in my blog.  This would make a better viewing experience.  If you do find some funny hiccups in the stylesheets... Do drop me a message and let me know about it.

Thanks for reading!

It's never been easy

trying to adjust to the pace of life and getting over the feelings of missing my family over here in Singapore.  I kept psychoing myself.." It's just a year or 2!"  But it just not that easy at all.

Wify informed me that once in a blue moon, boy boy will nag for me.  Especially when he is tired and wants to go to bed at night.  Think it's because normally I would be the one to pick him up and slowly rock him to sleep.  He enjoys that :P

Bad news today was one of our little pups.  Either chokolat or kitkat got ran over by my own car.  Wife was reversing to park when the pup dashed out.  It happened last week but I only knew about it today.  My missus intentionally kept the news away from me until I asked about them today.  Girl girl said she cried a lot that day.  I asked her to take extra attention to cookie whenever mummy is driving. 

Work is as usual, hectic and lots of idiotic, no common sense routines.   Sometimes I wonder its a form of punishment for me (for having such a blasting wonderful time in Thailand :P).  Well, month end is coming and I'm going to get paid.  That's the day I would be gladly be looking forward too.

Just a short entry before hitting the bed.  RIP  Chokolat or Kitkat

 

The 'connected' generation.

I was back in Singapore for only a day when I received some bad news via facebook.  My friend's father has passed away and he announced it on his wall and I send my quick condolences to his family.

He was to me, a very good friend, mentor, brother and one of my insurance agent :P.  We got to know each other in Ngee Ann Pugilistic and Lion Dance troupe way back in my Polytechnic days.  We were accompanied by a bunch of good brothers and sisters that I am so happy and fortunate to get to know them thru the years.       

The following night, I called up a few other brothers (about 4 of us in total) and we head down to the wake.  And we got a bit surprised to see even more other brothers from the same troupe who were there and we chatted and had a great short time.  Although the last time we had a gathering for NAAPL was only 2 months ago during CNY 2012.  But this little sad incident brought some of the busiest brothers together.  Some that I have not seen in years....

When I got home after the wake, I suddenly feel that I really missed the days where we get physically together to play, train, talk cock or even go to the movies.  The good thing about social media such as facebook is that I get to "connect" with a lot of long lost friends via the medium.  But it's still in a virtual reality world.  The lack of being physically meeting up with them seems a bit sad to me.  I myself, is part of the blame as I was constantly not in Singapore.  But now I am!  So I plan to meet up personally with some old classmates and friends I have met throughout my 35 years of life.

So for those who do know me, please do not be surprised if you in get a phone call or a message from me!  Let's meet up for old times sake :)

 

Same place, lots of familiar and new faces.

I'm officially back in Singapore for almost a week.  I flew back last Saturday and signed my contract on Monday.  Just yesterday on the 15th, I started work again.

It's quite surreal actually.  I never thought I would be back in SG and some more, work in the same company and department before I left for Thailand. 

I was actually offered another job opportunity but that job is a daily 9 to 5 job without any shift.  I was holding on as it means it would be difficult for me to return back to Thailand once in a while.  Although the pay is good but its just not my main priorty.  It was a bit god send when I talked to one of my old colleague and she mentioned that she just left and our old company was actively hiring new people.  

I enquired, sent in my resume and that's history.  I'm onboard again.

Lots of familiar face but a lot of new ones too.  I would say more than half of my current team mates are new.  Not a bad thing though, some of the old guards are promoted and really happy that they are now in a better position.  :)

All in all, the new monitoring system was in place (it was still in WIP when I left) which means I need to spend some time getting used to the new system.   Challenging work and hope I could get it asap.  My new boss (and old colleagues) seems to think highly of me... :P  ... stress liao...   

Family updates.

Just had another video conference today.  The 3rd one this week actually.  The 1st was on Sat and it nearly tore me apart as my son was screaming for me to come and fetch him.  Really can't sleep for a few nights after that incident.  Girl girl more or less understand my need to go, so not that bad.  It's lucky my wife's relatives are visiting, my brother-in-law with her new born daughter and my sister-in-law with her 4 year old daughter.  So the last 2 videos they were busy playing and totally ignored me on Skype..... :S  Well, at least ah boy's attention is no longer on me.     

 

Still shooting.

Photography I meant.  :P  I had a dry spell a few months back but I was back shooting.  Selectively, of course and rarely shooting with my DSLR.  I am a bit surprised by myself actually as I had hundreds of shots taken with my "Beast" on instant film and I had not taken the time to scan them.    I also have taken some slides and black and white film but again, I scanned them and find them a bit depressingly bad so I did not post them.  Well except for this series I just completed with HP5+ pushed to 800.

I actually threw all my rules when shooting and developing this roll.  I didn't even bother to check the tempreature of the developer and just dump it in... surprisingly still can get the photos.   Very grainy and lots of watermarks on the film too...  You can check out the series over here in my FB album.  :P  

I also recently completed a roll of expired Velvia 50 which is to be doubled later by ndroo of Fuzzyeyeball.com :). Hope the results will turn out well.

Anyway I will be back in 2 days time.  Work will commence on the 15th but I need to sign the contract on the 12th.  

Return of the [Quitter].

I have been having diarrhoea and fever on an off for the past week and its horrible.  I suspected I got the bug from boy boy who had the same symptoms a week prior.   Going to the doctors does not help much as they give the same medication.  Think when I get back to Singapore in March I will go for a full body checkup.

Yes, I'm coming back to Singapore to slave again.  I am running out of funds and starting a business in Thailand is not that cheap actually :P.  The easiest way for me to gain some is to come back to work.  Yes, I could borrow from the banks but I do not want to be in debt and my own investment policy is that  I never will :P.  I rather save some money rather then rush ahead and get myself cash-strapped.  Maybe if we have no kids, we would have taken that path but that's not the case.  So it's a hard decision buy I plan to return to Singapore to work full time for at least another year or 2.

The idea of returning is actually on my mind since last year when I was helping my mum to move.  I still need to spend time researching and sort through my father's Philately collection and sell some of them off.  At first I plan to send all of them back to Thailand but that would involved getting taxed by the customs.  :S  So I need to do it in Singapore.  

Opportunity arises when I talked to one of my old colleagues when she just left our old company.  She mentioned they are still looking for someone and I was a bit interested in getting back in.

Reasons? It's shift work and with a lot of off days.  Which means I can fly back to Thailand once in a while.   This is the major advantage of working there.  Pay is ok.  I would say slightly above average with OT.  

I do have some reservation working there though.  Long hours and certains policies by managment (one of the reasons I quit that time).  In short, it means I am getting shit all over my head again.  It's been more than a year break for me and I guess the kids will miss me this time.  

 

Home Alone

Yup.  Wife and kids are having a slumber party at her friend’s place so which means I have the house all to myself… well… not really, I still have a Dam with 4 pups and a rooster .  They just left an hour ago and I was planning to watch some movies but I guess I will just pass.  Think I will go to sleep early after I finish writing this entry.