De-cluttering. It’s always hard when you go through the memory boxes. Old emotions resurfaces, shards of memories pieced together.
Why DO we submit ourselves to such torture?
I guess it’s a reminder of the good and bad times, the achievements and mistakes I made before, and puts life in perspective. And most importantly keeps me in touch with my own identity.
Opportunity
And so it goes another lonely day
Your savin time but your miles away
Your fly was drownin in some bitter tea
For seeing lost opportunity
Find your mirror go and look inside
And see the talent you always hide
Don’t go kidd yourself well not today
Satisfaction’s not too far away
Hold on now your exits here
It’s waiting just for you
Don’t pause too long
It’s fading now
It’s ending all too soon you’ll see
Soon you’ll see
Your coffee’s warm but your milk is sour
Life is short but your here to flower
Dream yourself along another day
Never miss opportunity
Don’t be scared of what you cannot see
Your only fear is possibility
Never wonder what the hell went wrong
Your second chance may never come along
Hold on now your exits here
It’s waiting just for you
Don’t pause too long
It’s fading now
It’s ending all too soon you’ll see
Soon you’ll see
Hold on now your exits here
It’s waiting just for you
Don’t pause too long
It’s fading now
It’s ending all too soon you’ll see
Soon you’ll see [x5]
One of my all time favourite live acts is New York band/trio Tortured Soul, comprised of band members Ethan White (Keys, Backing Vocals), John-Christian Urich (Drums, Lead Vocals) and Jason Kriveloff aka JKriv (Bass, Backing Vocals).
Heard them a few years back at Zouk and was absolutely blown away by their talent.
Imagine this, LIVE house music, and most impressively, John Urich does drums and vocals together! It’s like he had more than just the left and right brain, coordination, rhythm and vocals was impeccable. Here’s one of my favourite choons from TS. Sing along with me….
Don’t Hold me Down – Tortured Soul
It’s all right, it’s all right
I’m loving the way you hold me baby
It’s all right, it’s all right
as long as you don’t hold me down
Let’s not fight, let’s not fight
coz fighting is never the answer to it
we wont fight, we won’t fight
as long as you don’t hold me down
out of sight out of sight
you know i’ll gonna be faithful to ya
out of sight out of sight
you know i won’t make you a clown
oh honey, It’s all right, it’s all right
I’m loving the way that you hold me baby
It’s all right, it’s all right
as long as you don’t hold me down
i always do what i wanna do
that doesn’t mean that i stopped loving you
i can be yours if you let me be free
that doesn’t me that you should stop loving me
so many changes we going through
that doesn’t mean that i stopped loving you
you know I’m yours so let me be free
that doesn’t mean that i stopped
It’s all right, it’s all right
I’m loving the way that you hold me baby
It’s all right, it’s all right
as long as you don’t hold me down
Don’t know why, don’t know why
you think that you are the only
only one on the run
guess what I’ve got my own things to do, yes i do
you know you say its cool, yeah you say its cool
but i can tell that you get angry when I’m honest
it goes both ways coz on my busy days
you act just like a brand new one
But baby please please don’t worry please baby
no matter whatever i’m doing
i’ll be home and you’re not alone
I’ll never be away too long
you always do what you wanna do
that doesn’t mean that I stop loving you
you say that you’re mine but you need to be free
that doesn’t mean that you should stop loving me
so many changes that we’re going through
that doesn’t mean that i stop loving you
you say you’re mine but you need to be free
that doesn’t mean that you should stop loving me
loving you baby i like it, just don’t hold me down (hold me baby)
you know its true, baby i want you, just don’t hold me down
loving you baby i like it, just don’t hold me down (hold me baby)
you know its true baby i love you, just don’t hold me down
do you think i won’t cling to you
i understand that you’ve got things to do
so babe when i gone you need not be concerned
you know i’ll return
It’s all right, it’s all right
I’m loving the way that you hold me baby
It’s all right, it’s all right
as long as you don’t hold me down
You always do what you want to do
That doesn’t mean that I stopped loving you
you say you’re mine but you need to be free
that doesn’t meant that you should stop loving me
There’ll be changes we be going through
that doesn’t mean that i’ll stop loving you
you say that you’re mine but you need to be free
that doesn’t stop
loving you baby i like it, just don’t hold me down
you know its true, baby y i want you, just don’t hold me down
I’m loving you baby i like it, just don’t hold me down
you know its true baby i love you, just don’t hold me down
loving you baby i like it, just don’t hold me down
you know its true, baby i want you, just don’t hold me down
I’m loving you baby i like it, just don’t hold me down
you know its true baby i love you, just don’t hold me down
Happy Birthday to one of my dearest and oldest friend Danli!
(Pic of our set of keys: can you tell we’re friends? Just realised, on each key chain there’s something from you, something from me, and something we got together 
)
It’s been 20 years…looking forward to many more years of fun and friendship!
A picture post of SF’s birthday.
Chris’ birthday started off with all of us hiding in the en suite bathroom to surprise him. Check out the classic expression on his face in the photos below!
After recovering from the shock, we all boarded the 32 seater Kim booked which took us to Valentinos at Jalan Bingka near rifle range road for some Italian food and vino.
Cake was ordered in the shape of a wakeboard from Jumi Cakes (Misato’s cake company). In fact, his present was a wakeboard, but it just wasn’t delivered yet. To show his thanks, Chris went round the table giving everyone a kiss, no one was spared!
Guests in attendance…
Then down to Stereolabs for a lil boogie woogie.
loving the night function on my DSLR
Happy Birthday SilverFox!
Night started off with us coming togeher at Michelle’s place for a Prata party before heading down to Zouk for Ladies night and Mambo.
Sadface we lost one Sake girl to the UK, but gained one back from Dubai. It’s been awhile ladies. See you for the next session this coming wednesday.
Are you scared? I am.
From source to plate.
First, we rampaged my mum’s fresh herbs in the back garden and pinched off some basil. Making sure I carefully pluck some prettier ones for plating.
Then we headed down to Sin Min to the Hai Bin Prawn farm to ‘hunt’ for food. We gave ourselves an hour to catch enough for dinner, unfortunately out unfruitful attempt left us with 2 prawns in the net.
Rates for Prawning
1 Hr $15
2 Hrs $25
3 Hrs $30
Equipment and baits are provided at no additional costs.
For bbq’ing your catches, charcoal, fire starters, satay sticks and salt are provided as well.
Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Address
603 Sin Ming Avenue
Singapore 575735
Tel: 6554 1986
We ended asking the owner if we could buy some off him. He was so kind enough to give us 8 more for free.
Back in the kitchen, first job was to shell the prawns, here are the steps:
Time to cook! To be honest, we weren’t following any recipe. We just cut up with garlic, chillies and basil and hoped for the best. Shaved some parmesan cheese on top and we were done!
Ta-da! Chilli Basil Prawn pasta.
It took me 0.02 seconds to say yes when Danli called me to ask if I wanted to go to Bali on Air Asia’s S$50 special.
So fresh off the boat from India and I’m off to Bali this weekend for a much needed break. Yes India was a break and it was absolutely beautiful, but there was a lot to do in very little time.
This weekend is all about doing nothing. Self reflection and personal audit.
India has given me new perspective on life, and the next step is discovering how to live it right. I can’t wait for too long or wait forever for things to happen, I’m not getting any younger.
`
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
Looking forward to Bali to:
To my travel and life experience cronies,
You remind me a little each time to live. And that one can live with very little. What’s material means nothing, it’s what’s intangible that counts. Our collective spirit brings us closer. And with every trip I love you more.
“What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re travelling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” – William Least Heat Moon
One of the songs in our holiday CD Compilation
Just a lil choon while I pack for to Kuala Lumpur! Will be blogging about the sponsored trip Thursday and Friday when I’m there.
The tower of books read and unread by my bedside table.
Time to clear my room ahead of the big move.
Small gesture which chased away yesterday’s Moanday blues instantly!
Muchas Gracias!
You’re not a baby any more lil fella.
Jules is such a bright kid it’s unbelievable. When we were in Cold Storage over the weekend, he walked around with such inquisition and excitement, pointing out to fruits he knew and questioned every one he didn’t.
Milestones
HE CAN FINALLY SAY 阿姨 (Ah Yi)! Yay! For the longest time I was called “Ahya”.
He is now able to say “seven”. He struggled with that one for a looong time.
Here’s a list of commonly said words by Jules
Lewon = Lemon
Appo = Apple
Bred = Bread
Eck = Egg
Bus
Truck
Tektek = Taxi
Cold
Owl
Abbit = Rabbit
Abra = Zebra
Shoes
Wet
Gone!
How?
Done
Bao Bao = (carry me)A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0<–He struggles with zero, he keeps saying woah woahWhen playing with his car, he would go “Broommmmm pshhhhh” = like a mod-car with a blow-off valve
He yells M! When we pass by McDonalds.
JieJie: “Are you ok Julian?”
Jules: “Ok”
Jie Jie: “Are you sure?”
Jules: “Sure”Basically he will repeat any last word you say….
Jules, your Auntie Angela is so proud of you. Sigh. Could you slow down a notch little man? I need more time to take this all in!
You Have To Pay Before You Play!
Such an app phrase for this morning Thanks for that HS! Time to plough through the day.
When my sister was still staying with us, I’d always borrow her red chucks. But now that she has moved out to her own crib, it was time to buy my own pair. I bought the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star low-top plimsolls in red.
The All Star sneaker was first created in 1917. In 1962 the low cut was born and 4 years after that it came in 7 new colors. Now it’s in every colour and pattern imaginable, but still in the same familiar design.
I love them! So what colour chucks do YOU have?
One of my close friends Ignatius, has always discouraged me from diving. As a salvage engineer/rescue/advanced diver, I guess he has seen enough to know how dangerous it CAN be. But this was something I really wanted to do for myself.
I took the PADI Open Water Diver Course with the wonderful guidance of Terry & Gary from Freestyle Divers. They come highly recommended, especially for a slightly difficult student like me. I am a bit claustrophobic and have a fear of drowning, not exactly the qualities of a easy student. But Terry & Gary were wonderful, constantly giving me assurance and the confidence to follow-through skill tests. They will not force you to do something you’re not comfortable with. Everything is done at your pace, and at your comfort level.
So I’d highly recommend taking up a course with them if you’re living in Singapore. Here’s a quick run-down on what to expect for an Open Water license.
Knowlege Development sessions x2
Skills Development Sessions x2 (pool sessions)
Open Water Evaluation x2 sessions
Looking back, the only thing I disliked about the whole experience is the mask-off and mask-clearing skills test. In this exercise, you are taught how to clear your mask when it’s half-filled and fully-filled with water. Obviously when you’re diving at >10m of water, you can’t expect to resurface just to clear your mask and head back down.
So the method is to take a breath, title your head back a bit and blow through your nose. Basically you force out the water by filling the mask with air.
I was just absolutely terrified of that. REALLY REALLY terrified. During the pool sessions, there were a couple of instances when I started to choked on some water and had to quickly resurface. Imagine if you’re 30m underwater!
Plus, I can’t open my eyes underwater because it burns, so can you imagine how nervous I was?
So when it came to the open water dive mask of skills test, we were about 10m deep kneeling on the seabed. You have to take your mask off, put it back on (which is now filled with water), and then clear it. Terry was well aware of my concerns, had this hand on my shoulder throughout the exercise just to reassure me that he was there and it will be OK. I tried to remain calm and take things slow, the trick is to just keep breathing and take things slowww and don’t freak out. Luckily, that went alright. Phew!
I’m so happy I got to strike this off my list!
To be honest, I still have my apprehensions about diving, but like everything its calculated risk and of course don’t do anything stupid.
I started the course in February this year and finished all my exams and dives in march. Now I’m looking forward to my first overseas dive.
Danli told me about her annual pilgrimage to the Buddhist temple in Bugis, which is apparently the most popular one in Singapore.
Still feeling like my life lacked some direction, purpose and motivation, I decided to go with her to say a lil prayer for the year ahead. I’m spiritual not religious, I’ll absorb whatever I can absorb.
Phat beats!
