que pasa

So in all the infinite wisdom of the local electricity power board, they have decided to cut off all power supply to my place from 0800 to 2130 today. Today – Tuesday, 30 October 2007, a working day, during working hours. Something about fixing/upgrading the power cable.

So the staff have the day off and will come back on Saturday to make up for it. Meanwhile I am in quite a situation because there is no power at home AND at work so it means I can’t be at either place. That sucks. Considering my life at the present moment comprises my home and my work, and that all my friends are working - as they should be on a working day during working hours.

Yes, I’m upset. Well, kinda and yet not really. I had good reason to sleep to noon today. That totally rocked. Of course that’s going to kill my sleep pattern but who cares. How often do you get to sleep to noon on a work day and not feel guilty for it?

Anyway, I’m at a western café opposite my place and they have free wireless internet so that works for me. It feels a little strange not to be following my usual routine on a work day, and this isn’t my weekend routine either. I blame the power board for messing up my schedule…

I’m seated by the window and I’ve seen a few people walk their rat dogs by me. I feel so tempted to run out and punt those dogs but logic tells me that I shouldn’t. Because they wouldn’t fly very far since they’re still on leash.

We have new cabs on the street. The authorities have approved the increase in supply and Volkswagen has secured the deal so now we have a new fleet of green Volkswagen cabs on the street. Not dark emerald green, more like a brighter green with a silverfish tinge to it. The old cabs were just bright green or bright blue with yellow trimmings. The new Hyundai cabs remind me of baby whales in the sense that they’re not big cars (compared to the rest on the streets) but their shape is kinda whal-ish. The drivers of the new cabs also seem to be less reckless but maybe that’s the way with drivers of all new cars.

I’ve been watching people walk up and down the road outside this café. They don’t seem to be in any particular rush. I can’t tell if they’re on work errands or not because they’re all dressed so casually and don’t seem to be in any rush. I’m convinced that this is as fast as life goes in Chengdu. You can’t make them move any faster unless they’re trying to catch a bus.

Hmm, this guy just rode a motorbike up to the diner. Quite cool because I think his is the first motor bike I’ve seen in my time here. People seem to be more into bicycles and electric scooters. But his a real motorbike… with a rumble too. A foreigner who speaks Chinese. But he is seated too far away and I’m not in the mood to go up to talk to strangers just for the sake of making a new friend. Okay, he just took of his helmet. I stand by my decision… because he’s not cute. Besides, I’m not into bikes, it was just nice to see something different.

Have arranged to go for a massage tonight seeing as my friend also has no power at home. Yay. She too is suffering from the long power outage at home.

Five and a half more hours before I can go home. Time to do some work.

P.S. The staff is putting carved out pumpkins and decorations. It's Halloween tomorrow people!  What will you be?

Hi, thank you for caring.

After being consoled and pep-talked by my parents, lotsa crying, 1 big mug of beer, emails/messages/comments by friends, I am dealing with what's bugging me and am feeling little better now.

I have decided to stay the course.

When I wrote the previous piece “When you just don’t wanna hear” I actually wasn’t writing about myself.  But it’s funny how life throws you curve balls, ain’t it?  I’m in the dumps now. 

It is hard to explain what is going on, but it’s concerning work.  I’ve usually picked myself up but this time I’m really hurting.  I can’t seem to get back up again.  I’m in a bad place.  It doesn't matter whose fault it is (and i'm definitely part of the problem), doesn't matter who started it, doesn't matter what it's about.

Previously when similar events like this occur, I’ve always leaned towards the “hang-in-there-tough-it-out” side.  But now I’m on the tipping edge.  I wanna pack up and go home.  But if I go home now, I would not have achieved the objective of coming over in the first place.  Then 2.5 years of my life, and the sacrifices that were made during that time, would have been for naught?  Then what would I have been working for?  And if I leave now, wouldn’t I be an irresponsible person for starting something and not finishing it?

I know, I’ve learnt so much in during this time, so it’s not a meaningless 2.5 years.  But that’s not a tangible achievement.  Anybody who really wanted to could go out there and live for a couple of years.  They would be bound to learn lotsa stuff too.

I can’t continue this post anymore.  God I feel like crap.

This is for the people I love who just don’t wanna. Because I’ve been there and I do go back there sometimes still.

---

“I’m so sick of tired of this. Enough of this nonsense. It’s time to pack up and go home.”

“Don’t tell me it’ll be over soon. Of course I’ll get through this. All I have to do is wake up and breathe.”

“Don’t give me all this “what would Jesus do” crap or get holy on me now. You don’t know what I’m going through.”

There are times when I just don’t wanna hear whatever it is that people want to say. I am stuck in a mood of exasperation, frustration, pain, hurt, and self-pity. It’s not because I like being there, it’s because I have landed in this awful place and I just can’t seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Times like these I don’t want to hear the “good news”, receive any comforting or get any advice. I need to wallow in this place for a while before I'm ready to get out. I need to be with friends who will roll in the mud with me, speak out the pain inside me, work off the anger and frustration together. It doesn’t mean I disagree with the logic, sense or love that people are telling us about, I'm just not ready to move on yet.

Times like these just love me. Just hold me and indulge in my mood. If you pray, then pray for me. I’ll snap out of it, promise. But if I don’t get out of it after awhile, be a dear and shake the crap out of me. I'll really need it then. Then you can start speaking logic, encouragement, motivation and of the future.

But this is how I feel this moment. So just hold me, hug me and be with me in the now. I love you, thanks.

This is like a no-brainer.  I mean, is there any other mainstream full-fledged newspaper in Singapore apart from The Straits Times (ST)? 

The article also says that readers spend more than 30 minutes on the paper.  Could it be any less? Sigh. 

I could have told them that.  Lol. 

Yes, arrogant pompous me.  :p

Things have gotten busy of late so the blog posts really haven’t been happening and even if they do they aren’t that exciting either.  So here’s the 411 (actually I used to keep saying “here’s the 911” until somebody told me that was the number for the police - lol):

1. Brrrr.  It’s getting cold now.  I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes (ala “Love is all around” by Wet Wet Wet – do you remember the band and the song?)  Not winter yet but we’re getting there.

2. Beijing. 
I was in Beijing with my mom last weekend, she was there with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra because this is their tour season.  (No, my mom does not play any Chinese musical instrument, she was just there to support the Beijing concert)  Anyway, I thought the first half of the concert was rather hard to sit through.  I’d describe the music played as “dischordant” but the audience gave a standing ovation at the end.  So either the second half really made up for the first half or I'm just plain clueless as to what’s considered good in Chinese orchestral music.

I also got to see the much publicized Bird’s Nest stadium that China is building for the Olympics.  I’m sorry, I still think it’s ugly and an inefficient use of resources.  I know I know, there’s a story behind it all but I still think the Chinese got conned by the architect who is probably laughing all the way to the bank.  In the meantime, the prices of construction resources goes up internationally because of China is sucking in materials like the Black Hole.

I went to the Forbidden City for real.  I went there two years ago actually, but I only loitered around the peripheral grounds, I didn’t actually have to pay to see anything.  So this time I made sure I visited the grounds that required entrance fees.  I was not impressed by what I saw probably because a significant part of the exterior of the buildings were under renovation/upgrading, and the display items were not fascinating.  Also, it was a rather unpleasant experience with all the pushing and shoving AND SOMEBODY FARTED IN MY FACE... TWICE.  Well ok, not in my face but the source of the fart was really close to me and we were packed like sardines in a can.  GROSS.  My suggestion if you are going to visit, bring a can of fart spray – I think you can get them at trick shops.  Farts clear the way so that you can walk and see things.  Power to the farts, or should I say farters, seriously.  lol.

3. Work
I don’t like talking about work on my blog but since things are so busy I feel like I should at least say something about it.  The future is looking a little more rosy now.  All the usual hiccups and red tape are occurring which frustrates me but there’s nothing I can do about it.  There is much work to be done still and we have to press on.

4. Facebook
I think I’m doing pretty well with regards to my facebookaholism.  I managed to spend only 3 hours on facebook playing Mafia yesterday.  Lol.  Azzamac has apparently given up his facebooking for rather valid reasons.  I have to say, I am also getting a tad bored of it and might have dropped it altogether if not for the fact that I have some good friends on it and still enjoy playing Mafia. 

Woogabooga (my pet) has broken the 100fph barrier.  He hates practically everything that’s on the menu.  What a waste of my munny that I have to work so hard to win on bets.  He talks great but I just wish he would run faster.  I have put him on strict diet of bamboo only.  I can’t believe I’m doing this.  lol.

Okay, so that’s about it from here.  Catch you later.

I met an old friend recently. I call him an old friend because we were once working together in an organization and the team had some pretty good times. Then again we were always working in a team and did not build a friendship between us. We have not been in touch for more than 10 years perhaps and before we met that day, I wondered what it would be like. 

He’s still the same I guess. Except that he now has a gorgeous wife and a little baby girl as well. We met up in a group setting so we didn’t get to talk that much one-on-one. We also move in totally different circles now. So it was a little hard to find the click. It’s hard to imagine I used to like him – I see now why it wouldn’t have worked then, and now.

Anyway, about the catching up business. It’s tough especially when you are under constraints of time or environment (e.g. group setting). And when you have been apart for so long and have moved out of each other’s life circles, the click doesn’t come back so easy – if it ever existed. I guess I’ll still keep contact with him once in a while – it is nice to have found an old friend.

I also met up with another set of people, one of them was my ex-boss where I interned once, the rest were his wife and kids. With them it wasn’t so much a catching up perhaps because catching up is hard to do. To describe what has happened in all this time is too tiring – not because we have achieved so much, but because it isn’t important now. Some friendships are just like that. Just a quick one or two sentences on what you have been up to stuff the time gap and then we continue on from the present. You can give the details later when the topic resurfaces.  What's important now is the emotional click.

Then there was an old high school friend I had coffee with the other day. Although we were in the same class, we didn’t talk much then apart from the casual conversation and teasing. It was really nice to reminisce the old days and connect on that, and bring the connection to our present day selves. As we chatted, I knew that I had changed some since high school days, I said to him, “The person I was then wouldn’t have been able to connect with you the way I do today.”

Catching up is tricky business. You need to click to make it work, if not it’ll just be small and tiring talk.  Sometimes the click comes from who you are and always have been, sometimes from who you aren't anymore.  It's funny like that.

Hi, I’m a Facebookaholic. I have to spend at least 5 hours a day on it its absolutely ridiculous. When I was on break, I was spending like 8 hours on it even. Madness.

I have a fluff pet named woogabooga – he such a picky eater, expensive taste too. I bought him a stinking habitat at the beginning so I have no munny to buy him all the expensive food he likes. I finally was awarded a mojito when woogabooga won 10 races, but he absolutely hates it. What a waste. I should have given it to my friends instead. Don’t ask why he’s called woogabooga. He’s probably getting back at me for naming him that…

I also play way too much mafia. I am proud to be a member of The True Mafia Family. I have unofficially named myself as The Rotten Tomato and Egg Hurler because I am too ridiculous to have any official title and it sounds funny. I have my mafia family – my Maf God PoPo, my Maf Big Sis, and my Maf Sistas and my Maf Bro.

I love SuperPoke because it is so easy to irritate people with it. And I also like to randomly superpoke 10 people quite a few times so that I can get new actions. What can I say, that’s my idea of fun and keeping in touch. Lol.

I know I am seriously addicted to facebook because I was at dinner with my family recently and all I could talk about was facebook this, facebook that. To be fair though, I have learnt more about my friends through facebook so it's been good to me too.  But I will learn to control my facebooking because too much is really baaaaaaad.

I’ve been sitting on this material for a long time (since July) but never got around to tidying it up.  I also wasn’t sure how to present it.  Now that I’ve putzed around enough, finally did something about it and here you go.

Anyway, the background is that I really enjoy the TV show “24” and one night in July I actually dreamt up something rather “24”-ish starring my friend Yongfatt.  So I got onto gtalk the next day to chat with him and to try and get some continuation.  

To preserve the integrity of a truly original brainstorm session, what I’m going to do is cut and paste our dialog here.  It will however be very messy ala chat style but hey you guys have used all sorts of instant messaging apps so this will be cool.  And bear in mind that there is a certain time lag in IM, so you’ll see some responses to some comments a little later than expected. 

So I’ve tried to organize it a bit but here’s quick brief:
- What I say is in black.  Yongfatt’s speech is in red.  
- There are these times in the dialog i.e. 9:22AM and so on – these are the real time indicators of our chat.  Not the “24” ticking clock – that will be in blue.
- The dialog has been broken up in paras or 1 min real time.
- What you read below has been edited a little, but 95% of what you read below is the original text.  

--

9:22AM me: it starts of with all of us being at this fun fair at night... then suddenly somebody tells us we have to pass an important message to jack forrestor's parents aka Mr. and Mrs. Forrestor...

9:23 AM me: can't remember what the message is, but anyway, you and i go hunting for it.
somewhere along the line, we pick up this sweet little girl... think young version of (that girl from War of the Worlds... what's her name) young kid, the carry-in-arms-without-aching-too-much type.
9:23 AM me:so we go searching around the fun fair, checking out every alley, and closed doors we end up in this facility... very clinical looing
9:23 AM me: looking, i mean
and as we look into each of the windows of the rooms, we see people in various states of some kind of disease...

 

9:24 AM me: there's one room with people (who look healthy) sitting around... they're either doing research, or test patients...
then there's another room with people lying in beds and nurses and docs attending to them
then there's another room which is empty, but there's another door in it.

 

9:25 AM me: (of course, all this while we have no idea what mr. and mrs. forrestor look like)

since we're still recce-ing the place, we decide to check out this 3rd room, so we go in...

9:26 AM Yongfatt: so we are looking for someone whom we dun know looks like what?
me: this man with boils all over, pus-sy and red-watery-eyed looking guy walks out
Yongfatt: call chloe to send it to us on pda lah
me: he sees us, and shakes his finger at us, kinda telling us to go out then we realize this is some infectious disease facility..

 

9:27 AM me: and then we have to tell the little girl not to scream... because you know how dakota fanning can scream the shit out of people
then we realize that we may be infected if we stay too long, so we quickly leave the room
we go back to the first room with the seemingly healthy people and then i see 2 acquaintances from secondary school

 

9:28 AM me:  anyway, we wait till they come out (for recess break i think) and then we try to get their attention.
Yongfatt: you are mixing all your friends together in this episode
me: but then the doctor/supervisor is coming out too, so can only talk briefly...
Yongfatt: you continue telling the story. got make a call i really dun want to first me: ok

 

9:29 AM me:  we ask about mr and mrs forestor...

9:30 AM me: and then they say they have some vague idea but not really sure... then the doctor comes, he sees us and then you tell the little girl and I to hide... but you don't... then i woke up

 

9:31 AM me: dammit i don't know what happens next i want to go back to sleep but then i have to go to work but i think that's where you start doing jack bauer stuff like whipping out a gun, telling people to stand down.

 

9:32 AM me: maybe you take the doc hostage... torture him and stuff
i was so sure something exciting/jack-bauer-ish was going to happen...
then i had to wake up so, that's it... sorry for the incomplete story...
you can go dream the ending tonight then you can tell me what happens

 

9:35 AM me: if it helps, here are some details to help create the setting:  
1. all the patients and nurses in the facility are wearing blue scrubs... 
2. the fun fair is at night.

9:36 AM me: 3. the fair is really huge.. like the Singapore Exhibition Halls...
but held on the streets, the fun fair stands line the buildings, the roads are only about 2 lanes wide
the building are more like shop houses... that's why there's little alleys...
mostly caucasian people

 

9:39 AM Yongfatt: so it's not china.
russians?
or americans?

 

9:40 AM Yongfatt: and why am I carrying the little girl with me on such a mission.
why did you wake up?!!?!?!?!?!?

 

9:41 AM me: i think it's set in america... bioterrorism would be my call
not sure where the bad guys are from
see, the thing is... the message we have to pass is irrelevant... in trying to pass the message, we discover this huge thing going on

 

9:42 AM me: maybe you can drop the girl later on... but for time being you have to handle her... it's like those small distractions in 24 too right?

 

9:43 AM me: as for chloe... she's not in the picture yet... and even if she were, she could only tell us the headcount/number of bodies in the building and where... but can't tell us what they're doing... plus this is a hidden facility so she doesn't have access to security cameras inside turns out the doc is son of the forrestor

 

10:01 AM Yongfatt: girl is their grand daughter.
doc is captured bec he discovered some super duper virus... spread by brain waves...
the guy thinks it and the person he thinks of kena (translation of ‘kena’: gets hit and dies)

 

10:02 AM Yongfatt: the message we have to pass is that their daughter in law is the mastermind
me: wah lau.. that's a fierce man.. (translation of ‘wah lau’: oh man!)
i mean, that's fierce disease man
Yongfatt: but she pretend to be victim and captured like them
so the message is that the mr and mrs forrester have to be careful and we will get them out

 

10:03 AM Yongfatt:  but unknown to them, this dakota fanning girl is a clone... not the real granddaughter
this clone has the brainwave thing

 

10:04 AM Yongfatt:  but she doesn't know how to use it yet...
real daughter already dead from testing

10:06 AM Yongfatt: finally gets pda to work and chloe emails all these developments... about the daughter being a clone and the brainwave virus
we console the doc...

10:07 AM Yongfatt: tell him to get back to work and he will go get his parents then they will meet again for extraction before the airforce napalms the whole fun fair
06:00:15 (ala the ticking clock in “24”)

10:12 AM Yongfatt: finally locates forrestors...
you take them both to north airfield using the pda
me: why is the doc is immune to the virus..? 
i'm sure people think about killing him...

Yongfatt: using the gps thingy that Mr. Trees passed you before he returned to singapore
doc is immune bec he is creator

10:13 AM Yongfatt: he has the master virus
me: or maybe he already has the vaccine
Yongfatt: so the plan is to bring him back to CTU... and extract the virus from his blood
problem is how to do it without him finding out

 

10:14 AM Yongfatt: but as we deal with doc we realize he is the good guy
he is developing the virus so that he can develop vaccine to prevent people from misusing
his wife is the baddy
she is plotting to use virus for bad
she also doc and she is coldblooded

10:15 AM Yongfatt: like how she killed her daughter accidentally
but no remorse
just a cold "oh well"
and she clones another one
diabolical

10:16 AM Yongfatt: 06:23:18 (ala ticking clock)
We meet at airfield and contacts extraction team
engine problem and they are still 17min out we are too open

 

10:17 AM Yongfatt: at this time only forrestor and doc
me: wah lau... how can there be an engine problem? what kind of lousy helicopter is this? which country made it? Yongfatt: doc wants to take dakota but she's only a clone...
a evil clone by the way.
you finally manage to persuade him to leave her behind and come with you to airfield

 

10:18 AM Yongfatt: maybe india i dunno but got problem lah

 

10:19 AM Yongfatt: so we go into building 4 to hide and discover doc is actually good guy... so no need to forcibly extract virus from him which is good bec he would have brainwave us dead

 

10:20 AM Yongfatt: so after talking and talking, we realise he is good
but don't tell him CTU plan to extract virus yet.
because president wayne palmer says so.
me: i hope we escape soon because the moment all the patients turn on us, we'll die immediately...
Yongfatt: then gun shot and doc is hit
me: who shot the gun?
Yongfatt: the pus and bloody patient

 

10:21 AM Yongfatt: he somehow followed you and doc to airfield bec you wearing shiny diamond earrings and he likes shiny things

 

10:22 AM me: what are you doing? fixing the engine?
Yongfatt: i shoot back and pus explodes coating us all with greenish yellow gook
we give each other the yieow look but starts tending to doc

 

10:23 AM me: but i don’t know first aid..
Yongfatt: problem is shoots gave away our position searchlights come on swinging all over
me: yeah, then all the patients some how come charging out..  ready to send brainwaves
Yongfatt: control tower spots our chopper then it's like all hell breaks loose.

 

10:24 AM me: then chloe arranges for major electromagnetic wave over the area to jam all waves.. including brainwaves... so we are saved from virus
Yongfatt: i go outside to recce and sees hell breaking loose
me: you better start shooting them
Yongfatt: then I see a Ford Expedition
missing driver's side wing mirror

 

10:25 AM Yongfatt: i get in and hotwire it...
vroom
chopper under attack...
i vroom into warehouse
me: then we quickly zao in the ford expedition (translation of zao: escape)
Yongfatt: trust me... by this time you know first aid

 

10:26 AM Yongfatt: but doc is not doing well
put him in back of expedition and we all load in.
bullets flying and we lose windows and windscreen glass all over

me: 06:59:59.. to be continued
Yongfatt:  that's right.. stay tuned for scene from our next episode

10:27 AM Yongfatt: ads selling 2008 Ford Expedition comes on
then something from Wal Mart
and the irritating Empire Carpet
AT&T long distance

10:28 AM Yongfatt: Credits roll at top left corner of screen, we see Ford driving out main gate of fair

--

Of course there was talk about doing this again but we somehow never got the inspiration again.  We also talked about sending in the script to the producers of “24” – we think we have at least 1 hour of action in here.  But we didn’t do that either.  But if you ever see any episodes of “24” that bear any resemblance to what has been described here, you know it came from us.  

(And in case you were wondering… no, Mr. Trees did not give me any GPS thingy before he left for Singapore. )

"This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry who met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare’s struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable."

I had heard about how good this book was but somehow never got around to reading it. Now that I’ve bought it and read it, I give it my two thumbs up too.

I thought it was well-written and engaging. Beautiful piece of work. Read it!