movie chunks in Feb
- Fun With Dick & Jane
- Le Grand Voyage
- Constant Gardener
- Casanova
- Matchpoint
- The Pink Panther
- Rumour Has It
- Brokeback Mountain
- Final Destination 3
A movie in every 3.11 days for the second month of the year. Whoa! This amounts to a maximum of $9.50 X 9 = $85.50. And this is excluding booking fees!
Cost aside, there just ain't enough interesting movies to go around fast enough! Alternatives must be sought after!
Cathay is offering DVD rentals at $6 each, plus room rates at $7 per hour. This equates to $20 per movie. What's the difference if I happen to have only 2 persons available to catch that movie? Hai...
The esplanade library rents out its screening rooms at $6 per hour. Plus DVDs can be borrowed off the shelves! Now I wonder if I can bring in my own DVDs.
Gonna check that out.... Till then, I'll stick to theatres.
"BROADBACK" Mountain
CWR wasn't too interested in seeing two guys sticking their stuffs into each other. But it's a highly acclaimed film! How not to watch? So I went with Al instead.
It wasn't a gross film saved for the fact that both guys were able to carry out a normal life without compromising their sub-normal inclination. Or rather, they were able to carry out a sub-normal life without compromising their normal inclination. "I am clear", both of them exclaimed. But their acts seemed to only highlight the pretense of their statement.
A mere 2 - 3 weeks and they were already seen fighting for each other's affection. Perhaps it was the gaiety in looking after sheeps the whole day that they took after the sheepish behavior of their charges. Hehe. There were indeed lotsa sheeps! Thousands! A laughable sight!
With Brokeback, the unacceptables were fantasy no more. CWR on the other hand, wanted to stage "Broadback" - fantasies were unacceptables no more.
Doggedness unfolded
Like the little orange-flavored mento mint which floated from one location to the next, the previous episode was swung from one end to the next, from the dark to the bright.
Very quick transformation in sugary solution. Acidic, crude, barbaric even. But it was all necessary! ;p
A skipped step is all that was needed to overcome the many little ones. Engulfing.
26th Feb 2006: A day to remember TOO.
The silent tenacity
The aggression was mutually felt from the beginning of the day and lasted twelve hours. Words were spoken as per any normal conversation, albeit few. Cold, unruffled and willfully.
25th Feb 2006: A day to remember.
Up Up and Down
Yes… that's about what the Aerospace Show has got to offer. The jets will zoom in from nowhere and do a almost right-angled turn and sped up into the sky and then come down again, in spiral turns. They could do this for several times per plane. And this trick appeared at least four to five times for different types of planes, different sizes of planes.
I think the SIA airbus flypast was better. I found it cute as the big plane did a small circling turn against the blue backdrop. Definitely appeared to be like a commercial.
What's disappointing was the lack of a display of formation flypasts. I went there in the hope of seeing 10 planes flying in the air spewing colored gases, with one cris-crossing the other to form abstract patterns and stuff like that!
Lucky I didn't convince myself to fork out $21 for the exhibition of which the flypast was supposed to be the highlight.
The tip of the 'worry' scale is 'non-worry'.
Big Boss spoke to me on Wednesday morning. It was an hour's talk of career development, ambitions, inspirations, appearances and recognition.
Quotes:
"I plan six months ahead…"
"As long as I am here, you have a career…"
Concept:
"The tip of the competency chart is incompetence."
His words affected me for the next two days. I worry if I am able to get out of this trench and concentrate on my current role. I worry not being able to rise up to the level of incompetence. I worry that my messy thoughts are hindering my choice of career. I worry that if I leave the bank I won't get a better-paying job or better prospects outside. I worry that if I do not leave the bank I won't get to try out other exciting jobs.
Then I decided to stop worrying so much. All focussed now on my bonus and impending promotion. Yippee! :-s
Freedom Lovers vs Freedom Fighters
The freedom to think and act selfishly.
The freedom to think and act rationally.
The freedom to think and act willfully.
Freedom lovers cannot wish for the disappearance of the above. Individualism traits lie strongly in them. Personal space is a domain on its own and exudes exclusivity. The belief that balance only can survive in the existence of such a freedom zone is impressed deeply in the head.
Standing by asymmetrical views are the freedom fighters. Freedoms are seen to be relinquished for the better good rather than being lost for good. They sought to free the thought of being trapped in a defined environment and prefer instead to see personal space as a subset of a natural world formed by the fusing of two dynamic cosmos.
The willingness to trade in freedoms for the continued bliss of couple-hood should be seen not as a sacrifice but a result of a progressive evolution of the neural cells to be able to involve the second party's wave of thoughts. Emotions included. That said, it is still difficult to lose the freedom that has already been bound to you for so long.
I am a freedom lover turning freedom fighter.
Status: transformation incomplete O_O
grousings of a limping duck >_<
Work is aplenty and boring. After a post-dinner chat with a bunch of long-time-no-see UCC ushers, I sensed that the country is still full of exciting non-conventional jobs actually. Horticulturist, Aborealist, Opera Singer, Curator etc. Obviously I don't see myself having specialised training or talent to land into those roles, BUT it raised a thought. To continue to struggle and keep afloat at my current position? Or to seek other pastures and realise as an afterthought that it's never greener than the first?
How I wish I could just pack off to somewhere else with the big name of a selfless volunteer in some ulu country, distributing rations and planting grass. AISEC, why did you reject me?! Tell you what, AISEC volunteers are really cool. They stay in nice communal hostels, do work in nice offices, have nice meals, and earn a steady nice token sum of appreciation (at least enough to eat and play). It's basically a nice holiday immersion program! And it lasts 3 - 6 months! The idea of visiting Taj Mahal after a day of padi-planting is really tempting.
Maybe I am just lazy to do actual work. HAI...
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Things get bloody suay when you know that you can even twist your ankle just by alighting from a bus that is stationary! And bloody worse, the half day of MC is not even enough to compensate it! And I gotta skip a meeting that could probably affect my impression with the boss who determines my bonus! HAI...
UNSPOKEN
He probably stared frequently at the back which never turned.
He accidentally knocked into the hand that never responded.
He might have coincidentally stepped closer to the body who unconsciouslymoved away.
He often looked intently at the eyes which rarely wanted to meet his.
He probably wanted to talk to the unhinged self who continued to wallow in silence.
I sensed boredom.
I sensed distraction.
I sensed neglect.
But I sensed not the annoyance. I sensed not the disappointment.
At least, he bothered to say goodnight.
*****
It was an end that never had a beginning. Not official, at any rate.
A first that affected me much, no doubt.
sliding thoughts
I set foot on ice, again!
It wasn't really very cold at the rink. But my legs continue to shake anyway. Blame it on the thin blades even though they made me a few centimetres taller! I had to walk awkardly with my legs straight and my hands gesticulating heavily to keep my balance. Oh yes, and the skates were neither easy to wear nor were they comfortable to be worn for long hours!
For almost three hours I move along the circumference of the rink, gripping tightly to the rails of the wall. Occassionally I managed to glide a little. Contrary to what I thought, I gotta push forward to get my blades going smoothly. If I slide my blades backwards, chances are I will lose my footing and fall backwards. My left leg was the problem. I just couldn't stand on one leg using the left foot without toppling over.
Al kept telling me that being able to slide and go forward is correct, I shouldn't try to brake and stop!
Yet I refused to let go of the railing and subject myself to cumulative slips and falls. Yes, this is an escapist act. I am a coward. I realise how much I just hate to learn things the fast and hard way. Bumping against the wall is not my style. I find solace in gaining achievements the slow but steady way. At least people won't tell me then: "… I think you don't know..". Ya, since when do I know anything?
Before my statement turns hard and solid, I have to contradict myself with ambitious desires to be associated with the fast and furious.
Then again…. Impatience kills. Honesty doesn't help. Procrastination is the only hope. No doings, no success, no failure. :)
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Result: I still dunno how to skate. I ended up with bruises on both sides of my arms :( See? I shouldn't have done it at all!
snippety mementos
The arabian carpet flew out of my sight before I even set foot on it! Nadzhedar failed to provide the 'hope' that its name signifies. Russian borsch turned into carrot corriander.. pita bread turned out to be nothing more than a slice of nicely baked baguette. Still satisfying. Thanks to its healthy receipe and cheap prices.
The Vatican, hotair-balloons, ships, lard, merchants, literature, fencing, nuns, banama guadi, salvator and casanova bummed in the streets of Venice, fusing contemporary fantasies and ancient truths beneath the cover of colorful robes and ribs-breaking corsets. Witty. Quaint.
Playing with a sundial in the middle of the night sounds queer. Far from just being an oxymoronic action, it's the collision of two postively logical minds to form a compound of illogical abnormality with the moonlight acting witness to the chemical reaction. Evolution on its way...
Atop a balcony of a run-down godown-like house stood the silhouette of a harmonised pair of vampires. Murmurings of the wind cross-stepped the whisperings of the night. 'Nothings' came upon as something more than the voidness of nullity. Each thumping heartbeat jumped to the tune of the rustling leaves, so in sync were the movements that they woke up the fangs of the hungry one, teasing it to nibble at the collar of its catch... more blood it wanted. No less than
fourteen minutes ticked by before the balance was tipped and the state of particularization was restored again. Thirsty.
The view observed from within a vehicle on the highway is far smaller and disappears within a blink of the eye. The sight of the dark skyline seen from the stationary position on the highway is clearly transcendent and only fades with each footstep striding forward and onward to the next magnificent lookout point. Awesome!
Subtlety. I am lovin' it!
Incandescent Splendor!
Fireworks galore! Caught the first sparkles in a cosy esplanade library just before the clock struck
twelve; 2005 drowned in the fiery eruptions of the chemical powders. Watched the second by the same waterfront with my shadow overlooking at a thousand others; crowded but not rowdy. 7 minutes it took the 'dazzling rain' to close the celebrations of CNY. One funny comment heard: "looked like sperms hor". The lady was pointing to strands of fireworks meandering their way up into the sky. "Oi!" Her man said. Hehe.
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It was said that the hardest firework to produce is that of the lilac color.
Gone with the wind...
6 sets of system 7 quickpick, 2 sets of ordinary quickpick and 2 pieces of big sweep. Bleah.. what prosperity pack! Won me nothing except hope which conveniently turned into disappointment! Blame it on the greedy self who threw in the stakes in the good ol' name of fun and festive mood! Actually this isn't the first time I am buying Toto. And this is not the first time that I didn't win. Used to pool in with colleagues whenever the grand prize of dunno-how-many million pops up. All led to nullification of hope and dreams, even the very small ones :(
Then I thought about how my colleague ate a fortune cookie and ended up with a slip that says "5030". Hey, he really went to bet on it and won $250! A consolation prize indeed!
Next time... I should just go for fortune cookies!
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Oh yeah... I still have the remaining stakes with me.. the upcoming March Big Sweep! Luck, be on my side!
Faux Pas Knick-Knacks
I seemed to have a knack for that. From "pussies" to "blue films", I never failed to bring a smile to those who enjoyed playing around me with those words. Dubious words and phrases with inconceivable connotations well-concealed behind their masks of being common objects in everyday english. How will I have known that 'pussy' refers to something more than just a cutesy cat? Or that "blue" when associated with movies and photos turns up meaning not a color or mood but a form of art appreciated by lusty individuals? Arrgghh! What's wikipedia for? A blundering fool I am!
Besides words, I had a couple of slip-ups relating to public transportation. Once, I tapped my ezlink card against the reader that had a red ' - ' sign on it at I-can't-remember-which MRT station. It became a joke that I can't read signs! Then there was the taxi who parked a few steps away from a taxi stand. I quickly opened the door, settled myself in the seat before the driver said: "On call ah?" Ah.. no. "No, no, no, this is on call one!" Then I realised the colorful LED signboard on top of taxis are not for decoration or merely telling you that it's a "Taxi". Much to my disgrace and others' delight, I finally learnt them all... I hope. The next one better not be on the bus, train, plane or ship.
Apparently my propensity for blunders has increased. Not a word game this time round. I even staged it!. The bungle was a combination of a fool's thoughts and an assumptionist's act. An email was circulated to inform the relevant attendees that the workshops were rescheduled. The fool thought that she was not affected since she was attending the workshop other than the two which was mentioned in the email. The assumptionist did not bother to confirm with the organizer and went ahead to inform her boss and colleagues that she will be on course that afternoon. The assuming fool then went all the way to Shenton Way and up to the 18th Floor of the tower, only to knock on Malaysia Room and be told that she's in the wrong place! In actual fact, the dates for all the other workshops (including the one I was supposed to go) were to be confirmed only at a later date! Malu-ating!
Ignorance and foolish mix-ups, how thin a line there is. Yet ignorance is bliss; foolishness... a peeve!
Not A Labyrinth, Not Yet A Maze
Took a walk around Beach Road today. I finally visited the coveted army market! It's not exactly a very big area, but filled with rows of shops organized in a manner I won't consider as neat or systematic.
Most of the shops were manned by uncles and aunties in their forties to fifties. I had originally thought that the owners will be mostly Malays or Indians in their twenties or thirties. The merchandise are similar everywhere and look a little old and dirty to me. Lots of items in dirty green color. I didn't think that the army packs are so complicated! What I found interesting was also the fact that most of the shop-owners don't really offer their help even if you stand there fiddling with their stuffs. Or maybe they knew from the start that I was only interested in browsing!
Not that I despised such a setting, but I found myself more absorbed in environments that exudes at least a sense of cleanliness. It's nice walking through the narrow aisles, rubbing shoulders with fellow shoppers, seeing 'exotic' stuffs and smelling a weird scent once in a while here and there. For window shopping, perfect. For serious shopping, maybe not so much.
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Soya milk with grass jelly - $1.80
Soya milk with grass jelly + pearls - $2.60!
The freaking pearls cost $0.80!
Too late to reverse the order. Auntie already was on her way to concoct the cubes-and-balls rich mixture. Filling.
人日
Saturday was a far cry from Friday. Things started well early in the morning, with the docents at the zoo. I finally took the opportunity to utilize the 30% discount which comes with my docent status at Ben & Jerry's. $2.80 instead of $4.00! :) 'Berry Berry Extraordinary' was not very nice, but I couldn't complain since it's fat free sorbet.
Wandered off to suntec after duty. Bought myself a citrus-flavoured Listerine and a pack of 'hummingbirds'. Tried them later in the evening; the latter wasn't exactly easy to handle.
Met up with KK. It had been long since she invited me to watch a movie with her. Apart from the one in Hongkong, KK seldom step into the cinema since god knows when. She prefers to obtain her movie fixes from other sources and watch them in the comfort of her house. She gave me a rather funny reason for her choice of act that day: "It's my birthday. My lunar birthday." Hahaha, I thought she meant 人日(man's birthday) as it was the 7th of the lunar month that day. Soonafter, I learnt that she's not joking.
Ended up with 'Fun With Dick & Jane'
. There were only 4 movies showing at Shaw Bugis, and I had already watched half of them. The other one was only showing at two timings which couldn't fit into our schedule. But that's alright. It was an entertaining film. Less of face-twitching scenes unlike the usual films of Jim Carey, but still retains very much of Carey's flavor: exaggerated humor.
And the cinema! It was amazing that people still want to visit it given the small size of the theater, and the tall seats which are only suitable for people above 1.60m. If you were any shorter, you probably end up with a neckache since at parallel view, all you see is the back of the seat in front of you. Then again, the cinema is still thoughtful enough to offer booster seats. Shucks, I only saw the signboard reading that at the end of the show!
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KK asked me if I will still go travelling with her after the HK trip. After serious thinking, I guess, better not! I was so glad that she wanted to go Japan instead of her initial offerings of Nepal and India. I wouldn't want to trek at the speed of a snail and stop in the midst of nowhere in the mountaineous range of some foreign land, with her grumbling at me.
In the nick of time
2 February, ThursdayArgghh! My ex-boss invited me for dinner at her place! And I can't make it! I have already promised my colleague DL that I would attend her 21st birthday bbq celebration! It was heartwarming to know that my ex-boss noticed my presence in the past, and even sadder to realise that I won't be able to exploit this dinner to extend my network for the future!
3 February, FridayA wanted to go to both boss & DL's gathering! Oh gosh, I didn't know what made me went with her plans --
7.00pm: Leave office for boss's house
9.00pm: Leave boss's house for DL's bbq
The bad premonition began when everyone, except RT, left the office without us :-(
7.15pm: I was ready to leave. But RT and A were not!
8.00pm: I had wasted 45minutes sitting around an empty workstation! Finally leaving.
8.30pm: Reached boss's place. Not a grand condo as I initially thought it will be.For the next 2 hours, besides tasting Prima Deli's laksa (pre-mix), NN's kueh pie ti & cocktail, A's thick curry chicken, we sat around the dining table listening to boss's husband's stories. He was a widely-travelled businessman in the publishing industry. (An insignificant note: Boss's indian & Husband's chinese & A's also indian.) From India to China to Thailand to Vietnam to Malaysia to Singapore and back to India again they talked. Culture, corruption, politics, business, airport stories they talked. The group of 7 ladies and 3 gentlemen slowly broke into 2 groups with each of the host entertaining group A of 5 ladies and group B of the remaining guests. I fell into Group B with Husband and A. Gosh.. it seemed more like a conversation between A, Husband and RT. Definitely very knowledgeable and widely-read people, but I am not interested in talking (& listening to) politics for 2 hours! Group A was having much more fun!
At 9.30pm, I wanted to go off. But A was still actively engaged in the conversation! I tried for a while to look at her direction, hoping to catch her eye, but she didn't look my way! Grrr! I am glad that EY wanted to go off at 10.15pm, if not, I think I'll still be stuck. Rather pissed off at A; I hate to miss DL's bbq since I had already promised her my presence a week ago! And that was not all! After everyone had left, A had to stay back to clean up the plastic container she brought over, so I got to stay with her! I was already outside the house, and this meant another 10 - 15 minutes more of waiting OUTSIDE the house since I was lazy to take off my shoes and go in again!
We decided to drop by DL's bbq anyway. It was almost 11.oopm. Sigh. So many fingers pointing at me for being late and delaying everybody's time. But it wasn't entirely me and I can't say it's A! As a result of my lateness, I didn't get to eat any of the 20 sticks of mutton satay which DL ordered specially just for me! SIGH.
Except for the above, it was still a wonderful evening. After all, I made 'connections' 关系 with both ends :)
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AW's sister was very cute. So was her boyfriend. Hehe... the guy was mistaken for a girl by the driver whom I sat in his cab.
the expensive pomegranate
I have never found myself in a priviledged position till emu highlighted to me the total lack of trainings in her previous company. On the converse, my organization has a training center in place and a department set up just to handle the learning and development needs of its staffs. On top of that, my boss places emphasis on each individual to at least achieve a minimum of 5 days of training every year. This has turned out to be one of our objectives in the quality manual - an essential documentation requirement for ISO 9001:2000. How wonderful.
Attending courses is a luxury! It is an absolute getaway from the daily mundanities of work and a groove down to a more suburban/urban world (nobody doubts Chai Chee as a ulu, rural place). Most importantly, no OT! To add a bit of dazzle to the icing, you get paid for attending the courses without having to pay for them! Last year I accumulated approximately 20 days of training! 20 days of non-actual work; 20 days of non-work pay.
This year I am going to embark on a more structured path in my selection of courses. I have decided to have a taste of Private Banking by offering myself a bite of the highly-priced fruit with lotsa seeds. To let on that I am contemplating a change of appetite yet still relishing the current dish, I configured those courses related to treasury and investment products to appear in the later half of the calender while still selecting courses relevant to my current work.
A cross-section of the pomegranate:
Understanding Signature & Thumb Impression
Introduction to Treasury
Introduction to Credit Scoring & Monitoring
Think on Your Feet
Credit Derivatives for Correlation Products
7 Habits of Highly Effecitve People
Analysing Interest Rates Focusing on Pricing & Yield Curves
Derivatives: Types, Pricing & Hedging Techniques
The stumbling block: TRAM system aka the online 'booking' system for courses is not available yet!
taking a respite
It has been a tradition to visit River Hongbao ever since I was in primary school, eventhough it was not as hyped or colorful as it was in the past. Gone were the exquisitely sculpted animal structures or brightly lit lanterns of some sort or the usual game rides (didn't manage to see many of them), instead in place were more and more foodstalls showcasing delicacies of different Asian countries. I heard this year's a Sichuan theme, but I see more of Thai/Viet/Local food, and NONE of sichuan flavor! A disappointment, at least during the day. Heard there were fireworks at night, that probably will be the only worthwhile factor for anyone contemplating on visiting the "al-fresco exhibition hall".
It was quite a surprise that Tempest is actually interested in local productions (chinese movies somemore!), given that he doesn't watch local dramas nor "national TV" that much. ".. must support local production mah..." WOW.
It is nice knowing new people, and that's beside the point that they are another source of information. :p Within 3 hours, I met three pleasant ladies with stupendous backgrounds that are indexed as "classified". Been a while since I have been introduced to gungho women with perspectives and situations that I possibly couldn't find myself in. I gotta get out of the bank!
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Let out a truth. Found out even more. Was stunned for a moment when I was questioned with the ultimate. Ambiguous to the uninvolved the msn conversation was, but lucid to the concerned. It is a pity that the companionship will be disharmonised upon the exchange of truths.
