staticburst

iluvya

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 17:25:59 GMT

And the predictable happened. It’s proven that I can hardly be committed enough to write and this is heading into disarray again.

The weekend had been pretty hectic, with the tragic passing of an acquaintance and my new disastrous hairdo. Let me mull over it (too much to digest) and I'll write soon.

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:40:48 GMT

After supper, we sauntered along the street to see what we could grab quickly to bring back to the van for the trip to Bandung. After a quick round through the alley serving things we’d already seen before, I gave up as I wasn’t that hungry but Tini came back with some kueh pukis. I tasted one and that was the point when I regretted not getting anymore than that.

The name alone already suggested the excellent taste of these mini pancakes. *sniggers* Not forgetting, they were really light and soft too, stuffed with your choice of filling, which is obviously chocolate in our case. Although they are only available off the street markets in Cianjur, I hope that I'll get plenty of chances to have more kueh pukis again in the future.

cosmo kramer

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:22:20 GMT

Right. Let's start this over. Perhaps I could start off with a brand new habit of using proper punctuation. Ha Ha. It seemed like a great idea. I stopped using them ever since I began chronicling my virginal past, present and future online. Ever since I left polytechnic, I seemed to have left behind my punctuation as well, and my scanty grammatical knowledge for that matter. Yes, I agree that it saves time, but it defeats the purpose of writing, I realised now.

I mused as I started typing this second paragraph, ambitiously. I sat listening to Tori Amos, comforted by her silky purr and tried to think of something libidinous to write about but failed amazingly. O whatever.

I want to go somewhere this December. Besides the band tour which is in the planning, I am thinking of a white Christmas *drdrdrdrdrdr* in New York. Please pray hard that I do get to save enough. A friend asked where in NY would be my first stop. I have not really given that a thought but to see Mariah Carey perform for me at the Madison Square Garden would be something. No, I don't adore her but it'd be something. She used to be all over NY performing eons ago from her thin to not-so-thin to depressed state and all. It'd be awesome.

On another note, today the steamed pau at the first stall is oily! It's steamed pau! How can steamed pau be oily?!

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:45:54 GMT

An invitation to feel

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 08:06:33 GMT

Turning 27 soon and here I am, still perceiving life like a child, choosing only to see the brighter, simpler things, or the literal interpretation of the world and how my mind reads it would be. It is less complicated this way, isn’t it?

Occasionally, over cups of coffee, smokes and great conversation, I’d learn to see the world beyond the filters. But that’s occasionally.

Is my world a limited perspective? Am I missing it?

soundtrack of my life

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:44:59 GMT

So, here's how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)

2. Put it on shuffle

3. Press play

4. For every question, type the song that's playing

5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

6. Don't lie

Opening Credits:
matt elliott - broken bones

Waking Up:
ryoji ikeda - spectra mimamoca, milano, 2001

First Day of School:
benoit pioulard - moth wings

Falling in Love:
peter bjorn & john - amsterdam

Getting it on:
kaito - driving auto manual

Fight Song:
edora - insane

Breaking Up:
sufjan stevens - no mans land

Prom:
devotchka - lets go

Life:
mono - halcyon beautiful days

Mental Breakdown:
funkdoobiest - rock on

Driving:
michael andrews - mirror

Flashback:
isis and aereogramme - low tide

Wedding:
radiohead - house of cards

Birth of child:
prince valium - redecoration in four dimension

Final Battle:
giardini di miro - trompso is ok

Death Scene:
kanding ray - persan

Funeral Song:
htrk - rent boy

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:59:17 GMT

the stress is building up and the politics and juggling people's egos is a lot of work. it's very exhausting but if i want to look at it positively, i get to learn a lot too.

i am shocked that i'd rather revel in reading In Lust We Trust (great reading though!) in the office instead of completing the festival site due for upload 1st march. see what happens when virginal girls work here? they end up reading In Lust We Trust and bitching about failed marriages just to feel better (or worse). occupational hazzards. tsk tsk

i can't shake the temptation to quit working altogether and go learn about the world, to truly appreciate life, unleash the lama in me and see more of nature instead of computers and gadgets. who am i kidding really? me and computers? nooooo! you can't separate us!! although i have to admit i think the human body is not made to sit in front of a computer or actually be confined to an office for 8 hrs (some of us put in 10-12 hrs). that, has turned me into a social recluse. computers have turned me into a social recluse. god, i think if i live long enough and reach 50, i'll still not know what the hell to do with my life!

montmatre

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 05:28:05 GMT

of paris from montmartre. it was amazing. in fact this was one of the few scenery/places that saved paris. or perhaps i'm just adopting the singaporean tourist syndrome subconsciously. tempat tu dodgy la.

The beautiful Sacre-Coeur basilica built at the end of the 19th century at the top of Montmartre.

pseudoreligious scenario

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 07:55:12 GMT

recently, i was watching this programme on cable which was a re-enactment of a hijack of an air france plane by algerian terrorists who are fighting for algeria's independence. the hijackers keep saying god/Allah is great even as they murder and terrorise the passengers. (i'm not sure if the dialogue is a fabrication, must have been from witness accounts). i wish people, whatever their religion would stop doing things in the name of god.

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 03:49:32 GMT

i read a few local forums recently. goodness gracious the views are truly laughable and stupid and depthless. it's opposing for the sake of doing so and without reason, thought and research on the issue. it becomes mindless ranting and the only thing it proves is the writer's immaturity. which brings me to my favourite argument that singapore does not deserve more freedom of the press/expression for the simplest reason that we are not mature or intelligent to handle it. i'm all for freedom of expression. to me it's a fundamental right but can you imagine such ignorant pov expressed liberally here where people have yet to master the skill of thinking for themselves and is prone to being brain-washed? to be fair, i think this is not peculiar to singapore and no country has the monopoly on stupid people making ridiculous comments. one of my biggest regret about living in singapore is the lack of a culture of healthy debate. i feel my intellectual growth (not that i have much to begin with) is very stunted here. i try to read, watch films and question myself about things but a monologue sometimes sian also. pardon me la i'm just ranting mindlessly now.

tulips

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 06:45:47 GMT

it's funny but i suddenly thought about amsterdam. i really like the ambiance of the city and the hang-loose vibe it gives. too bad i will not be anywhere near at the moment. sometimes in my crazy dreams, i hope to open a cafe, a coffeeshop more likely, there, for people to hang out. open in the afternoon till late morning. nice music, nice food, lots of smoke, but hopefully no pseudo yuppies and pretentious freaks.

vatican city, st. peter's basilica

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 05:26:12 GMT

free flow of water

the cute guards, in fact all the guards in the vatican are cute

where Pope John Paul II was buried, st peter's crypt

the pantheon

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:56:02 GMT

temple of all the Gods, built almost 2000 years ago with the roof still intact

dome interior, largest unreinfored solid concrete dome in the world

fontana di trevi

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:32:36 GMT

neptune controls the waters

so irritating. so many people.

fori imperiali

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 10:47:31 GMT

palatine hill

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 10:44:12 GMT

the hill, where romulus and remus gave birth to rome and the colosseum

part of the extensive ruins of the roman forum

arch of titus, located on the via sacra

inner stonework carving on the arch of titus

south-east of the roman forum

despite the happy look, 36 degrees was just too much to handle.

colosseo, rome, italy

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 10:05:50 GMT

amphitheatre build in 80. located east of the roman forum.

stupid stage for bryan adams gig spoilt the whole photo

basement shows the underground passage and vaults originally used to prison slaves and wild animals.

oh come on

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 05:01:56 GMT

there is more to life than that. gee.

i am so obsessed

Mon, 22 May 2006 07:28:36 GMT

( +81 (Spoilers/Violence) )

thanks for the great screencaps.

bookmarks

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 07:30:00 GMT

http://www.myspace.com/makebelieve
http://www.myspace.com/battlestheband
http://www.myspace.com/maththeband
http://www.myspace.com/myheadswims
http://www.myspace.com/sparkmusiq

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 07:49:12 GMT

3 days in sapa, northern vietnam (edited)

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 09:43:59 GMT

we finally reached lao cai, which is an hour ride from sapa, after sleeping for 9 hours in the train.

located at 1500m above sea level, sapa lies on the side of the hoang lien son mountains, 333km northwest of hanoi

breakfast comes with sweet visual pleasure

vietnam's tallest mountain, fansipan (3143m), hovers outside our room balcony

mt fansipan zoomed in

sapa market

the day got clearer as the sun finally agreed to smile. this is taken along the route to catcat village, the village of h'mong tribe in the valley, which remains very generally uncorrupted by outside forces

the sun smiling more towards the valley, the magnificent limestone and paddy fields of h'mong village

and more. this is taken along the route to lao chai and ta van village, where we also saw black h'mong, dzay, zao ethnic people dressed in their traditional tribe costume

the black stones on the way to see the dragon jaw mountain

we finally reached the second highest point in sapa

view of sapa town

a part of catcat waterfall

a grocery shop that sells handicrafts as well

ta van village

waterfall: the rice pounder

the h'mong cat. all the cats there are of the same colour.

the h'mong girls.

i swear some of them are so adorable that i wanna bring home.

a common h'mong tribal costume. the tribal people plant indigo seeds and that explained why the common use of blue in their fabrics and clothings

the local tribal women making handicraft to sell. the round bruise on one of the women's forehead was the result of air suctioning with the cut end of a bull or goat horn to cure headaches.

tini and the huge bong they used to smoke their home-made tobacco

the small bridge in lao cai that separates vietnam and yunnan, china and you don't need a passport to pass through!

back to our 1st class sleeping cabin. click here for more of sapa.

on a random note, it's really nice to see kids treating the maids like their own friends on the streets, instead of kicking their way around.

1st day - hanoi, northern vietnam

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 10:31:08 GMT

drizzling winter morning, and i shared a cyclo with yani to ho chi minh mausoleum. the morning street was a mad rush with the vehicles steering around us, and the motorbikes being so in our face from opposites direction. deadly thrilling, and excite the hell out of me and yanee.

ho chi minh mausoleum, at ba dinh square. this is where the embalmed body of the ‘father of the modern state',‘liberator of the Vietnamese people’ and beloved public figure is exhibited, with draconian security measures at that. it is displayed in a glass coffin, which is the traditional way to honour famous communist leaders alike lenin and mao. we clearly understood that it was imperative to keep up a respectful behaviour throughout the whole process but i can’t help myself from giggling seeing the four of us in such a clownish stupor, all for a 20-second scene of uncle ho's well guarded body. first, we had to deposit all our personal belongings and there was a check on our dress code. then we had to walk through the metal detectors, to check for cameras, phones and arms, caps have to be removed, and we are not allowed to put our hands in our pockets even when it was freezing! then we had to wait till there were enough people to go in with us before the grim-looking guards led us in. they really made sure we walk in line, in respectful pace, almost like slow march, and in devout silence into the huge surreal block of a building. yani and me were hushed by one of the guards when we were trying hard to repress our giggles.

next stop was van mieu, the temple of literature, at quoc tu giam street. founded in 1070 by emperor ly thanh tong, it is the oldest university in vietnam, and in the world apparently, and it is the most sacred place for the disciples of confucius. for the fact that it survived through decades of war, the beauty of its traditional vietnamese architecture still stands out.

khuc van cac pavilion

thien quang tinh pond

the stelaes, mounted on top of the giant tortoises, record the names and details of the men who received doctorates here

i’m at the great success gate (dai thanh)

courtyard and the bai duong (house of ceremonies)

peaceful retreat

garden

feeling vietnamese thugs

hoan kiem lake, with all the flowers everywhere even in winter. this photo is so overexposed. the lake is so much nicer and greener in reality.

the bridge at hoan kiem leading to a little 18th century temple

yani's leg of the trip was over in hanoi and she flew to bangkok that afternoon. we had nothing to do while waiting for our night train to sapa so we just sat around at the bia hoi, the local vietnamese draft beer.

that reads 15 cents. awesome!

tini and kevin

it's really nice, with a tinge of corn flavour

yeah so we while away the time just reading, and drinking and talking, till we left for hanoi train station at 7

balanced blue

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 03:54:52 GMT

hoan kiem district

no one warned me about the traffic in hanoi. not even my baby who was there way before i arrived. the streets are mad. moving vehicles, especially motorbikes and bicyles, are everywhere, from every direction imaginable, yet with the littlest amount of order. everyone and everything is everywhere, on the road and on the sidewalk, speeding, sauntering or parking. it took me a while to master the art of crossing eventually but humbly, as i do get occasional knocks on my arms, by the passing bikes, even on my last day there. nevertheless, despite the constant discordance of the varying bike horns and the street hawkers right to our doorstep, it was really a trip worth remembering.

street hawkers everywhere

streets of hanoi

old quarter, hoan kiem district

grrrrr

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 00:19:35 GMT

this is hanoi and its freezing death!