That CD Shop is having a small promotion on a few Gold edition CDs. So I picked up two Stacey Kent albums at only $15 and 16.
I also purchased that Tony Bennet and KD Lang album, Bjork's Debut, and three Costes albums, which are also on promotion. $3 off each title from that excellent series by Stephane Pompougnac. Hooray!
I also picked up a new album mixed by him, for Saks Fifth Avenue.
And it's time to get ready for my jazz piano lesson...
The NYTimes reports that Microsoft has agreed to pay AOL Time Warner US$750 million in compensation and grant them licence to integrate more fully with the Windows operating system where browsers and instant messaging are concerned.
Of course, the settlement amount pales in comparison to the price AOL paid for Netscape in 1999 - US$10 billion. And to what avail? Netscape now has a paltry market share of less than 5%, and according to CNet, may now face extinction at the hands of its parent company.
'Makes you wonder who the real loser of the antitrust case, is.
We bloggers live dangerous lives. Indeed.
People in America have been fired for blogging about their workplace, even if they don't mention names of people or the company they're working for.
A blogger in Iran has been prosecuted for keeping a weblog, under false charges.
But some do believe that Knowledge (b)logs can succeed at the workplace. In fact, many outstanding industry experts blog in their personal capacity, such as Jeremy Allaire(of the company that brought you Homesite, now part of Macromedia).
Here's a more extensive list of well-known bloggers.
So, the usually hawkish Israeli PM Ariel Sharon has made a surprising turnaround in his stance, causing no small amount of consternation within his own party. To quote him:
“I think that the idea of keeping 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation is the worst thing for Israel, for the Palestinians and also for the Israeli economy.” (source: BBC)
He used the word 'occupation' while referring to the West Bank and Gaza strip, which probably is the equivalent of Michael Jackson admitting he had plastic surgery on his nose.
While I'd like to be optimistic, I'm not surprised the Palestinians think something fishy's going on. Whatever the case, this joke just came in, so here's one for his side:
The Prime Minister of Israel sits down with Chairman Arafat at the beginning of negotiations regarding the resolution of the conflict. The Prime Minister requests that he be allowed to begin with a story. Arafat replies, "Of course."
The Prime Minister begins his story: "Years before the Israelites came to the Promised Land and settled here, Moses led them for 40 years through the desert.
The Israelites began complaining that they were thirsty and, lo and behold, a miracle occurred and a stream appeared before them. They drank their fill and then decided to take advantage of the stream to do some bathing -- including Moses. When Moses came out of the water, he found that all his clothing was missing.
"Who took my clothes?" Moses asked those around him.
"It was the Palestinians," replied the Israelites - "
"Wait a minute," objected Arafat immediately, "there were no Palestinians during the time of Moses!"
"All right," replies the Prime Minister, "Now that we've got that settled, let's begin our negotiations."
Advanced reading
Proposal for 'Final and Comprehensive Settlement' to Middle East Conflict (A four-page document from the New York Times)
Sick of spam? Finally, some lawyers are doing something useful.
That's something I'd still consider studying - Information Technology law. Pity there were only 15 places per course at NUS, and none of us overseas grads had the chance to apply for it.
Two years ago, I had a big birthday bash at my place. Just a month later, many of my colleagues at my previous company were retrenched. All the designers had to go - including myself. I didn't feel like having a party the next year.
Today, my neck's been spared from the falling axe, but once again I'm going to miss working with some people. I have no idea when my turn's going to be, but I'll just focus on whatever work they give me in the meantime.
I remember the first time I got retrenched...
Next time someone sends you an email virus warning, think twice before forwarding it on. Do a quick Google keyword search at least, using the subject line of the email in question.
Some antivirus companies have their own hoax pages: Symantec (Norton), McAffee, Trend Micro. Also, check out Urbanlegends.com.
Well, today's the big day, and people are making observations about the date and my age being the same number this year, sob.
This afternoon, after lunch, I was supposed to have a surprise tea party. Of course, it is no longer a surprise. This year, people who have been planning secret gatherings for me have been somehow sending me the party plans by accident (friends and colleagues). I'm awfully touched - and highly amused. And very grateful that God has given me such good friends.
I have no idea what they're planning to do during the party today, so at least that's going to be interesting. More updates to come later - assuming I don't have to clean any cream off my face, or anything of the sort.
Updates
When I arrived home after lunch, some people were already upstairs. I wasn't allowed to see what was going on, so I went to my room. Van Heng and Desiree arrived to keep me company (and make sure I didn't stray).
When I finally entered the living room, a feast was laid out on the table. Pastries and tarts and cheeses and sangria. Queenie made good sangria. We ate and ate and talked. The only three males in the party bonded almost straight away.
The Bristolian girls made themselves comfortable on the sofa. We have a term for it, called 'nua', where you laze about and talk. Sometimes we would 'nua' in each others' rooms when we were students. It was good to see everyone again.
A big thanks to Queenie and Jiamin for organising this bash!
This afternoon, I installed Windows 2000 Professional with Kok Hong's help. Actually, he did all the work - so a big thanks to him!
Made it really early for my second jazz piano lesson. Fortunately, despite a few slips here and there, my playing was fine and Victor was really encouraging. He can scribble chords on paper like it's second nature to him. Once again I have lots of homework to do, but I guess it'll be fun.
Now I'm installing all my software on the new OS, and am wondering why on earth I ever bought an original copy of Office XP, because I probably have to call up Microsoft to request them to unlock my registration code, which has already been submitted twice ... Gaah. Why do they penalise legal customers?
I finally watched The Matrix Reloaded yesterday night. Well I missed half of the first movie on the plane, so I didn't expect to understand what was going on in the second movie.
The fight scenes were extended; the plot was thin, yet complicated; and the scene with that architect / Colonel Sanders lookalike was so droning, it almost felt like the beginning of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, because I wasn't sure when the rambling introduction was going to stop (no offense to Kubrick fans - I just couldn't survive the first 20 minutes).
The only thing that got me thinking, was why the writers used so many Biblical allusions. Sitting through the credits, names like Cain and Malachi caught my attention. And naming the human settlement Zion - well, well, well.
If you read Revelations you may find a few similarities - the idea of a machine controlling human minds is not too removed from the notion of the Beast, who uses technology in the form of a mark, to control people's activities.
In both, there is also the presence of prophecy. Differences between those who believe, and don't. And the arrival of the Chosen One, saviour of the people (Neo / Jesus). Resurrection.
Of course, the similarities stop there. The movie's setting is too thickly interwoven with other spiritual ideas, to associate merely with one religion. It was like a melting pot of spirituality, mingled with futuristic phenomenon.
I was also reminded of a short story I once studied, EM Forster's The Machine Stops, which describes the human race as being subject to an all-encompassing structure through which they live their lives. Chaos ensues when it finally breaks down, because almost everyone was dependent on it. Combine that with Orwell's 1984. A lethal cocktail.
But I still don't completely understand the Matrix. Somehow, I don't think I should, and I don't feel the need to.
[ Want lots of opinions? Head over to Kottke. ]
Days ago, I was looking at a website powered by Textpattern (beta) - a Textism project.
Today, I was reminded by Kristen about the Movable Type creators' new venture into web publishing, Typepad - a tier-based system targetted at people who are less familiar with raw HTML code:
'If you're interested in a system where you can modify the code to suit your needs, Movable Type is still the right choice for you, but most users without some programming or scripting experience will be very happy with TypePad.'
I couldn't help but recall that Textpattern had a template page similar to Typepad's. Or vice-versa, whichever came first. It also appears that they both have many features in common. Hmm. Well, both are still in development stages, and I can't wait to try them out. Textpattern (beta) is free; Typepad is not, at least for now. But they'll host it for you.
I had an early surprise birthday celebration last evening. I was at my usual place at Bible studies class: the keyboard, playing hymns and other songs. But something was definitely amiss.
People were whispering into each other's ears. And when Amrit arrived and immediately wished me happy birthday in advance, it prompted a big SHH! from Esther, which made me instantly suspicious. However, I pretended not to notice, and continued playing. I didn't want to spoil the fun, which they were obviously having. Heh.
At the end of my last song, I asked if they had any more requests. Someone called out, 'How about Happy Birthday?' and as I turned back to look at them, a birthday cake was on the study table! Courtesy of Sharon.
While I am thankful that God has given me such nice friends, I have only one gripe: they made me eat TWO pieces of chocolate cake. Thank goodness for gym.
"What is needed is not more technology design but more 'value concept' design. Technology can deliver almost any value we design - but we are lagging far behind in the design of value."
- Edward de Bono (from his book, Simplicity).
Due to a freak linking incident from Movable Type, my weblog is now valued at $26,412.12!!! This is possibly a once in a lifetime, all-time high.
What probably happened was, just after updating my blog, pinging MT and getting listed on their recently updated blogs list, Blogshares picked up the link. Let's say it's the equivalent of getting on Warren Buffet's 'buy' list.
Update: The Daily Weblog is also, for the first (and last?) time in its short lifespan, on the top 100 list.
Update 2: Okay, that was short-lived; I'm now somewhere in the top 500 (#115 at last count), which still isn't too bad. In the meantime, my share price has shot up in the last few days, from a meagre $1+ to over $70! Those poor souls who've bought my shares and are holding onto them ... I can't bear to imagine what will happen when Blogshares re-reviews my site's incoming links. Will I do a George Soros? *peals of evil laughter*
Today: Two incidents, one theme.
To quarantine or not to quarantine?
This morning, my colleague, who's a Kiwi, imposed quarantine on himself. He and my managing director returned from the Phillippines over the weekend, which unbeknownst to them was on the Ministry of Health's 'list' at the time.
While a HQO (Home Quarantine Order) wasn't required, it was suggested that as a foreign national he should stay at home. What made it silly was the fact that my MD, who is Singaporean, did not have to do likewise.
In addition, our resident Kiwi told the MoH that he had a flatmate, who was Italian. What about him?
Just try to avoid him, my colleague was told.
On top of that, his flatmate's father, who also stays in Singapore, recently returned from China or Taiwan, which is obviously much higher on the 'risk list' than the Phillippines. However, as someone whose earnings fell into a higher income bracket, he was allowed to return to work.
The SARS virus does not discriminate between a CEO and a junior executive, the rich and poor, a Singaporean or someone from New Zealand. But somehow the opportunity cost of different individuals not going to work was calculated into this policy.
Hoity-toity
I had a ladies' meeting at a well-known town club this evening. Halfway through the discussion, we were told by a waitress that we couldn't put our papers on the table. Our hostess, a distinguished Spanish lady, looked surprised.
"No papers allowed on the table? Then, tell me, where can we put our papers?"
The waitress explained that no meetings were allowed at the lounge.
"Then what about those gentlemen over there? They also have paper on their table!"
Two important-looking white men were seated at the other end of the lounge, talking. The waitress spoke to them, but decided to let them be. To be fair, it did look like a normal conversation.
A more senior staff member was called over, repeating that we could not hold a meeting at the lounge.
"Then what's the use of being a member of this Club? Where can we hold a meeting?"
We were told to use a function room! There were only four of us, for crying out loud. And each of us already ordered a drink.
So we kept our notes and packed away our Palm Pilots, and continued talking at the lounge. The management decided not to chase us out.
Another lady in the group then recounted why she didn't join the club - they tried to chase away her maid! The uniformed maid was told that she couldn't enter the premises. So she stood outside the main entrance while mother and child walked in. Then, the poor maid was told that she was blocking the entrance, and could she move to the back of the building, where she couldn't be seen?
I am sure the club was following its bye-laws, which were possibly passed after some members grossly abused their privileges, but surely some tactfulness and understanding wouldn't hurt anyone.
New feature added with thanks to Textism: Google search terms will now be highlighted, for those who find this site via the search engine.
More upgrades to come in the next few weeks. Hope nothing screws up again :-P
After giving the issue some thought, I have decided to upgrade my system from Windows 98 to Windows 2000 Professional.
As an ardent multitasker, I've found it disconcerting that every time I want to open a new program, I have to decide which existing programs can be closed first. I have loads of RAM, but it isn't going anywhere!
I was told that XP Pro and Win 2000 Pro were very comparable in terms of performance, and of course, XP is the newer technology. However, a friend who builds computers and runs both systems, tells me that Win 2000 has crashed fewer times than XP.
And visually, XP looks like somebody tried to emulate Mac OS X and didn't quite get it right. Win 2000's interface is cleaner, and I am very familiar with it at work.
The next thing I had to do, was to contact my company's trusty ol' software vendor, since we already knew each other (I don't believe in installing pirated operating systems). Fortunately they had one last licence for a full installation, going at half the price. And they're going to deliver it to my office! Can't wait.
In the meantime, there will be a massive file backup in progress. Any last words? Speak now, or forever hold your peace!
I returned to the Island Club gym yesterday evening. First, I had my temperature taken (36.7 degrees Celcius, hurrah!). Then I was given a SARS-free sticker. After which, I proceeded to cover over 3 km on the treadmill.
However, what marred my exercise was the presence of two other people on neighbouring treadmills, who were coughing. One man was on my immediate left, and I'd say he was in his late forties or fifties. The man on my immediate left was fine, but the lady on his left was not. She too was in her forties.
I felt like asking the guy if he was feeling fine, but was afraid that I'd sound rude. SARS virus or not, I didn't think it made sense to push yourself if you weren't feeling well! He was trying to suppress his coughs but to no avail. The faster the speed of his treadmill, the more he coughed. Ditto for the woman. The man on my left exchanged woeful glances with me. I tried to turn my head to the left when inhaling.
Finally, their treadmills slowed down, and they stopped coughing. I told Dad what happened and he said I should've reported them to the gym instructor. But he did assure me that those afflicted with SARS wouldn't be strong enough to go to the gym as they'd be overwhelmed with breathing difficulties.
This is a little late, but I thought I should draw your attention to the list of winners at the 18th Annual Codie Awards.
Winners include Macromedia (thrice), IBM (thrice), Apple, and Adobe. It is interesting to note that Microsoft didn't win in any categories, although they did get a few nominations.
A friend was showing me her new Fuji Finepix F601 camera over lunch on Saturday (note how the information in the table is presented, and which specification is in bold).
"It's SIX megapixels and I got it for only S$600!"
She added that it was originally worth S$1000 but she got a trade-in deal.
Hmm. Something still didn't sound quite right. I've been looking around for a 5 megapixel camera (Nikon 5700, Olympus 5050), and their price range is around S$1300-1800. Which I thought was reasonable.
I remembered what my ex-colleague, who wrote for our newspaper's Tech Desk, warned me about when I was planning to purchase my own digital camera, three years ago: that Fuji misleads buyers into thinking they've got a camera with more megapixels, when actually there are two sets of numbers and naturally they quote the higher number, which other brands do not use.
Fuji quotes 'effective pixels', which, in other-brand-speak, means the normal number we use to describe how many megapixels the camera has. We usually call it the CCD. However, this number, being smaller, is usually downplayed by Fuji.
Fuji likes to emphasise their cameras' output resolution, that is, the size of the image produced. Which is always larger than the good ol' CCD/'effective pixel' resolution. You can imagine that many customers have been taken in by this misrepresentation, thinking they've got better bang for the buck with Fuji.
[ If you visit the Fuji camera link provided in the first paragraph of this post, look at the camera reviews further down on the right. At least one reviewer has been fooled by the stats as well, raving about the 6 million pixels and giving it a 91% rating. Shows that not all reviewers do their homework properly. ]
And it turns out that I'm not the only one writing about this:
Fuji uses a "don't ask, don't tell" approach and markets only the upsized image resolution. It's hard, if not impossible, to find physical specs anywhere in their marketing materials.
The article has a technical explanation which I recommend you read, and discusses how far companies can go before getting into legal trouble.
Moreover, in a separate forum discussion:
Fujifilm announced 3 new cameras today, and there was a consistent theme; they claimed an effective resolution of about twice the pixel count of their ccd.
In the words of my late great-grandmother: "Good things are not cheap, and cheap things are not good."
Okay. I'm writing this because I'm a little amused/disturbed by what my parents had to say while they were watching Moulin Rouge for the first time ever, this evening.
Dad was explaining to mum, who had missed the first half of the show, what had happened so far. "When you look at it, actually the Duke meant well... he wanted to marry the girl and invest in the theatre. This poor boy wants to run away with her, but doesn't even know where to go!"
* disapproving looks from both parents directed towards the television screen, which probably couldn't care less *
"Apparently, these 'Bohemians' think that way, that love is everything," said Dad, scientifically. More disapproving sounds.
I started getting rather worried at that point in time, but thanked God that nice Peranakan girls were no longer matchmade by their families.
They had something to say about the singing, too. Kidman was praised. McGregor, however, did not get off as lightly:
"I can also sing like that! Commme...whaat....mayyy..." my mother ventured.
All in all, it was quite funny, I guess. But I fear I'm going to stay single for a long time.
Some of you have been asking me what I want for my birthday this year. Admittedly, I have been rather silent on this issue.
You see, I feel awkward telling people what I want. It's also tricky because we're moving out of the house before renovation starts, and I have quite a lot of packing to do. Mostly books.
People like to give me books. I also buy lots of books. I now have too many books. Thank goodness for bookmarks, because I'm still in the middle of reading many of them (Friedman, Koran, various baptism gifts, my new NKJV bible, de Bono, Lessig... and that's just half of it). The curse of a Gemini :)
People also like to give me bags, which I seldom use. Bags that aunties might use. Bags that students might use. I'm happy with my leather briefcase, which I bring to work. I don't have a dainty little bag for formal evenings, but I know I can always borrow something from mum.
CDs I already have plenty of. I usually ask the owner of That CD Shop at Tanglin Mall for advice. He knows my tastes, and last week he could still remember which CDs I'd already bought from him. And I get a discount, even on promotional titles.
Piano scores, however, are a completely different matter. I'm still waiting for sheet music for the Piano to be released. Also, I had my first jazz piano class yesterday and am now looking for the original Fake Book, a copy of which has been loaned to me by my jazz instructor. It is in tatters and the cover's been torn off so I don't know what its proper title is. I might just settle for photocopying some songs. I'm told it is extremely hard to find. Worse, there are many more Fake Books in the market now which aren't as good as the original - which I'm told is used by jazz musicians all over the world.
But these are things I'd like to get for myself, because I like to look at scores before buying them. And there are many other things I'd like to have, but don't really need. Know what I mean? I don't feel justified in wanting for more things, because I have to pack up the clutter and carry it out of the house in boxes.
So, I'm back to square one. I really can't think of anything in particular that I'm dying to have right now. How about World Peace?
[ Note: to Hedy especially - no bikinis, please. Regardless of whether they're leopard-spotted, polka-dotted, striped, whatever. And no slinky lingerie or any more S&M outfits, because they're taking up space in my closet and I have no idea what to tell my parents. ]
I finally watched X Men 2 with Hedy, being possibly the only people left in Singapore who hadn't watched it yet. It was excellent!
If, however, you have not watched it yet, DO NOT PROCEED beyond this point.
I'm pleased to announce that I've finally got my photo gallery section up and running. In it are the latest travel photos - of Western Australia.
Funny thing is, the photos with lots of blue sky in them, get converted into rather blue thumbnails. Maybe it's a bug to do with Image Magick. If anyone knows of a fix, please tell me...
What a lazy Vesak holiday we had at home - woke up late, tried to have lunch at Lingzhi (25% discount off the a la carte menu!) over at Liat Towers, but despite making reservations we were still in a queue (everybody else made reservations, too), and we gave up waiting. We settled for the Marmalade Pantry at Palais Renaissance instead. The food was pretty good, although dad's pasta was a little too al dente for his liking. He prefers it softer, I know, but that's really not the right way to eat it, sniff.
After which, mum went home, and dad and I got to spend some quality time together, walking around Orchard and Scotts Road. I showed him where the underpass was (I guess doctors are really busy people and they don't have time to explore places like the rest of us).
And - the highlight of the day was when we finally learnt what we were doing wrong with the foie gras. See, we knew our kitchen fire wasn't as hot as Justin's over at Les Amis, but surely there had to be a way to sear the liver such that the outsides were crispy but the insides were soft and tender.
Ling, the (former) owner of Culina, happened to be on duty this afternoon and saw what we were bringing over to the cashier. "What do you use for seasoning?" she asked.
"Salt and pepper," I replied.
"No flour?" she asked.
We discovered that we needed flour. Just a little bit. And we shouldn't be using our thin-based teflon pan. We had to use a normal pan that was thick at the base, so the heat would be greater. Mum tried that today, taking out a new Le Creuset pan, and the result was excellent! We had a salad, and dad produced some fine slices of french loaf. And I'm onto my third (or fourth? can't remember) glass of wine *hic* and we still haven't finished all 1.5 litres of it yet, so please excuse me.
I've finally cleared the backlog of work in the office and found a few interesting links:
X2 the movie: A brief feminist perspective. Uh, yeah.
MSNBC: Palestinians in Iraq now fear the worst after receiving preferential treatment under old Saddam regime.
Lastly, Zeldman's new book, Designing With Web Standards, is out: download two free chapters here.
The New York Times, it appears, has been hit by a scandal of unprecedented proportions - one of its journalists faked his reports about the war in Iraq, among others, plagiarising an article published by another newspaper.
It's disturbing how the sources he claimed to have interviewed didn't bother complaining to the paper but merely shrugged it off as a fact of life. Read more from the Guardian, or the New York Times itself!
[ Update: Read letters from NYTimes readers in the Editorial section. ]
I spent some time in the studio this evening. We're moving house in a month's time, so there's lots of packing to do. I've been looking at new Macs (G4s and iBooks and Titanium Powerbooks) to see what would best suit my current lifestyle of design and music. Very nice to see, but deathly to the wallet.
If money is tight, I'll trade in my existing G4's 400MHZ CPU, keep the 17" monitor, install ProTools and hook it up to my keyboard and mixer / recorder. Otherwise I might just get a new flat panel display. Altogether I'd be set back by several thousand dollars, but I guess I'll be happy.
I'm also expecting a full drum set from my uncle, who's purchased a new set for himself. The music room is going to be very happening.
Now all I need is a band.
It's Mothers' Day here in Singapore, and in typical Tan family fashion, we celebrated by having a big dim sum buffet lunch at the Chinese restaurant over at Regent Hotel. All twenty-nine of us (two cousins and my sister Vicki were absent).
Needless to say, my mother and I are now on a vegetable soup diet, which began as of dinnertime today. It's not too bad, really. It tastes like borsch but without the meat and sour cream.
While Down Under I took the time to read about the origins of Mothers' Day. I've just found a similar writeup on the web:
'...it is Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia who is credited with bringing about the official observance of Mother's Day. Her campaign to establish such a holiday began as a remembrance of her mother, who died in 1905 and who had, in the late 19th century, tried to establish "Mother's Friendship Days" as a way to heal the scars of the Civil War.'
However, towards the end of her life, Anna became disillusioned due to the growing commercialisation of Mothers' Day. She said she was sorry she even started it: "This is not what I intended," Jarvis said. "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit." Read more.
I didn't spend much money on Mothers' Day this time. I bought mum a huge bar of Toblerone but instead of saying 'Toblerone', it spelt 'ToMummmmmm'. I bought it at a Woolworth's (I think).
To all the mothers in the world: We love you!
For some strange reason, my website was almost inaccessible last night and the server was so slow I couldn't post anything. Nothing much happened yesterday, anyway.
Today my mother took her mother and sister (who's also a mother) out for lunch at Bistro Cameleon over at Robertson Walk. I sneaked out in the middle of the meal to hand my credit card over to the waitress. The ladies were pleasantly surprised. It was the least I could do - these women have been feeding me since I was little.
Judging from the weighing scales, I'd say they did a pretty good job. Yikes.
The interesting thing is that my Por Por (maternal grandmother) loves the fusion food there. She and I each had a bowl of California Don which is essentially generous chunks of maguro (tuna) sashimi, avocado, mayonnaise and soya sauce, garnished with fried shallots, seaweed strips and green salad, with Japanese rice.
Later on in the afternoon on my way for my first jazz piano lesson, I missed an earlier exit at the BKE, and ended up at the Woodlands Checkpoint on the way to Johor! There was a massive jam and it took me twenty minutes to extricate myself from the queue.
I told the lady stationed at one of the booths that I made a wrong turn. As I had no passport, she took my identity card and told me to pull over at the Immigration Department further up the road. The two police officers on duty looked rather amused. They made a check was made on my details to ensure I wasn't a convicted criminal trying to flee the country.
Supressing his mirth, one officer guided me through a restricted area (staff parking zone) and I made my way to the music school, while making some frantic phone calls to my colleague Gurmit, a Woodlander, as well as my piano teacher, whom I hadn't even met before. 'He must think I'm such a dork,' I told myself.
Fortunately, the student after me was also late, so I managed to have a chat with him. "You look familiar," I said. "Do you play at Blu?" He nodded. That was great news to me, because I like the music there. He told me that a few band members got together to run this music school.
He gave me a briefing and also asked some questions about my musical background.
[ And excuse me now - while I bring out my Mother's Day present and card for mum. At the stroke of midnight. ]
The University of Bristol convocation at the Fullerton Hotel turned out better than I expected. We met our new Vice-Chancellor, Eric Thomas, and heard him brag about how we are now the most popular university in the UK, having an average of 12 applications to one place.
"Our closest rival, which was called - Nottingham? I believe..." drew some wicked laughter from the audience, who were otherwise focussed on their wine, champagne and finger food (Notts' ratio was 8:1).
Our new VC sternly took to task the journalists from the Daily Mail who selectively interviewed private candidates who were rejected by the university, to portray it in an unfavourable light. He also criticised Tony Blair's government for the soon-to-be-passed Parliamentary motion which would increase existing university fees for British students, from £1000 to £3000! What a whopper. In my time (1997) we already had massive student protests when the fees were raised from £0 to £1000. We overseas students didn't give a hoot - after all we already were paying at least £7000 a year and there was nothing we could do about it.
Quen Yee (haven't seen her in ages!), Denyse and I somehow ended up talking to this rather good looking Brit who was a member of the university, and naturally he told us of the exciting new buildings springing up AFTER we graduated (bah) and how Bristol is now one of the top 5 cities in the running for UK's 'culture capital' for Euro 2008. However we thought it would face stiff competition in the form of Liverpool ('She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!'). Then again, we do have Wallace and Gromit to our name.
We were reminded that Euan Blair is now studying in Bristol (hmm that's funny, I wonder if he'd ever take part in a student protest against the fee hike - which his dad has to pay for). I still think Edinburgh St Andrew's had the better deal, what with Prince William and all. When news broke that he was simply considering our university and had visited Goldney Hall - which is arguably the most beautiful hall of residence in Bristol - it caused massive ripples of excitement particularly amongst the female student population.
Yes, it's all coming back to me now, the memories ... For the record I met up with Hedy, Daena, Weng Kin, Xiaoling, Gwen, Wanxi, Manoj, Silke, Hien, Andre, and a few other seniors. Junior-wise, I only saw May May and Serena, but I heard we had members of the 2002 graduating class attending as well.
By the end of the evening I felt great being a Bristolian once again. Every year since graduation, I am reminded of the best years of my life, away from home.
Speaking of lengthy post blogs - our favourite Iraqi blogger, Salam Pax (of Where is Raed?), is back!
Hi folks, it's been an amazing two weeks and I think I really needed a break. But it's good to be back - despite the backlog of work at the office.
I just had a meeting with my managing director. My new job title is going to be 'Design Technology Advisor', which is quite a mouthful, so when I introduce myself or fill up a form I might just stick to 'web designer'. It's not a promotion per se because I'm not becoming a senior web designer (anyway we already have one who's *kickass*), and I'm not getting a raise, so no need to bring out the champagne.
I am happy however that I may now have a better change of learning, researching and experimenting in a field I enjoy, although most people at the office don't know about the role yet, and I'm still getting web design projects and have loads of updates to make. It will definitely take some time to facilitate this transition and change the general mindset here in the office.
Woke up early. Mum went to see Vicki's teachers for a meet-the-parents session (not a good thing). Meanwhile, I made french toast. I haven't cooked in ages but I remembered exactly how I used to do it. Mum called to tell me she was on her way back from the school, and I reserved the last and best piece for her ... keeping it warm in my little pan until she pulled up along the driveway. And it was goood french toast. Mum's usually very frank with her criticism so I felt triumphant.
We packed our bags, checked out and went back to Hay Street for some last minute shopping. I bought this top I was eyeing for a couple of days, and mum bought some footwear. We had lunch at another swanky eatery (forgot the name, will check on it later) with excellent service and scrumptious food. Then we left for the airport.
Back at Changi Airport we discovered we had to fill in a health declaration form. A little untidy - they could've given that to us along with the immigration cards for non-Singaporeans, on the plane. After which, we were free to claim our baggage and depart.
Woke up late. Mum made eggs for breakfast. We packed up Vicki's bags and had lunch at Serai, a Thai-Asian restaurant (Vicki's last char kway teow and chicken rice for a long time to come). Yan, the dutiful niece from Ipoh who's been running the joint while the owners are under SARS quarantine back in Singapore, told us mischievously that the ang mohs here like eating char kway teow together with rice ... which was a phenomenon I experienced during Chinese New Year while dining at Clifton Hill House, my old boarding place in Bristol back in '98. They served the noodles mixed with rice, and that was all we had to eat. Oh well. I'm sure we've done strange things with Western food too.
We had dinner at the other Oyster Bar over at Mossman Bay, near Vicki's school (St Hilda's). I think Oyster Bar is officially Vicki's favourite non-Asian restaurant, and the oysters are so fresh and affordable you really have nothing to complain about. They even have happy hours every day from 5-6pm, where you can get a half dozen oysters and a pint of beer for only A$12. And on Tuesdays, a half dozen oysters go for just A$7.
Outside, we spotted a few glorious pelicans skimming the surface of the water. A man was canoing. It was lovely.
Back at the service apartment, on the telly: an Aussie comedian was poking fun at John Howard for essentially licking Dubya's boots. The news over here has been more or less, 'John Howard gets to sit in Air Force One!' ... 'John Howard tells Kofi Annan what the UN can do' ... 'John Howard gets invited to the Ranch' ... and so forth. I don't think we'll be hearing this sort of thing outside of Australia.
Shopping in Perth's CBD - along Hay Street. I went to two music stores on the same side of the road and picked up a few cool books, one of which was sheet music for Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which I've always wanted to learn. I wanted the sheet music for the Pianist soundtrack, particularly for Chopin's Nocturne, but alas it won't be out till a couple of weeks' time. If you see it selling at any music shops in Singapore, drop me a note!
We had lunch at Matsi Ri (again) to satisfy the inner cravings of my younger sister, who abhors boarding school food. Today I discovered that the restaurant's chicken teriyaki sucked big time. As in, starchy sauce that didn't taste like teriyaki, dry chicken meat, fat skin coming off the meat. Ugh. Their sashimi however is still very fresh and in generous portions. And it still is one of the most crowded Japanese restaurants in the city.
We then drove up to Guildford Road and beyond our puny little tourist map, along West Swan Drive, to buy grapes fresh from the farm. Only A$6 per kilo of succulent grapes! We bought a 10kg crate to bring home and share with the extended family.
Today's morning news featured Australia's latest scandal, involving a company called Pan Pharmaceuticals which was in breach of production standards, causing many customers to fall sick.
After lunch, we met up with Raphael and Beatrice Tan, two lovely Christians, and Raphael's coursemate at Bible school, Ai Mee. They all have children, mostly rowdy little boys, and it was like a little Singaporean community between the three of them. I played Raphael's piano and he taught me the basics of jazz improvisation.
He also taught the three of us to shoot a crossbow. That was exciting although the force of the release did jerk me out of place a little. I managed to hit the target board all three times, although I didn't make it to the inner rings. Vicki shot one arrow into the ground so deep that we couldn't even find it. Mum's last shot was a killer, almost a bullseye!
Then, Raphael took my mum, my sis and me on a drive to another plot of land they owned, which was mostly left untouched and had many large boulders, trees and lots of kangaroos bounding about everywhere! He then let me drive his vehicle and activated the four-wheel drive so I could feel the difference in the control of the car. That was another first for me.
By the time we got back from our drive it was dark and the trio persuaded us to stay for a very satisfactory dinner of chicken rice. Vicki and I plucked tapioca leaves, while mum helped debone the chicken. After dinner Raphael proceeded to jam with me on his guitar as I played a latin jazz piece I wrote back in '93 called 'Couldn't Believe It' (to the few of you who know, it's the tune that Gwen likes). It was mindblowing. I must jam more with people.
We spent the day with Vicki's old roommate Vanessa, and her mum and sister. We had lunch back at South Perth, and then went back to the main city area to watch a movie, How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days - which everybody seemed excited about except me, since I wanted to watch X-Men 2. It was another of those unbelievable Hollywood flicks with the usual, predictable happy ending.
Finally we had dinner at Matsu Ri, which is a stylish urban Japanese restaurant. We had to queue for over half an hour because it was so popular. The sashimi sets were excellent, but they weren't that great for teriyaki meats. The interior reminded me a little of Budokan back in Bristol, which to me is still a little more funky (nostalgia creeps in).
We checked out at 10 a.m. and drove 600 kilometres along the Albany Highway. I did about two-thirds of that, since most of it involved going in a straight line and the only real challenge was not to fall asleep or get my right arm seared by the scorching sun.
We stopped over a few times, first at Kojunup for a lovely Country Kitchen sandwich lunch (we didn't have much choice because the only other two restaurants in that sleepy little town looked like Sloppy Joes). Mum took over the wheel for a while before we changed places at Williams, further up north. We stopped near Armadale where mum proceeded with the rest of the journey all the way into Perth.
We managed to do a little shopping at David Jones, and I bought two ... get this ... red shirts! I actually bought something red! (Good friends who have been bemoaning my black and blue wardrobe hereby have permission to do a mad dance around the room for one minute).
Needless to say, by the end of the day I was exhausted, and fell asleep very early this evening.
We survived the night in the old motel room, and departed in the late morning for Middleton Beach, which is probably the best place to go in Albany if you're looking for open skies and a bay that glitters under the sun in a few different shades of blue. It's really pretty.
[ Photos will be posted soon. ] Beyond these shores is Antartica!
Emu Beach, which we visited after that, was not quite as breathtaking. It was smaller and designed more for kids to play around in, what with the playground and bicycles aplenty.
We decided to drive back to Middleton Beach for lunch at a pub, then popped over to the Sandalwood Farm off the Albany Highway (Down Road).
Finally, in the town centre along York Street, we engaged in the Singapore tradition of ... SHOPPING! I finally bought clothes (mainly gymwear) and some fancy footwear at Rivers, an Australian brand specialising in comfort. They have a really well laid-out store at Albany.
We had dinner at the only Japanese restaurant at Emu Beach, and it was pretty good. Considering how the rest of the beach was utterly deserted, it was heartening to see the restaurant almost full, and the Japanese chef and waiters running about serving people.