Monday, August 25, 2008

Transitions

Its only been two weeks plus but it seems like quite a substantial period of time has passed. A busy two weeks, weekends burnt and lots of OT. Can't imagine how its going to be like when I officially start work next month. I actually enjoy working on weekends because its quieter and I don't like going out anyway but working everyday is a killer and I'm truly amazed at how my boss does it.

I think God has been pretty good to me. Constantly having people around me who have been wonderful in their support. Advice from MJ's bf with regards to further studies (and finally getting to meet Cleo). This job offer coming along in the midst of an important decision making process. I miss going for classes but my job now is quite gratifying too. I guess its really important to like what you are doing and then you won't really feel like you are working. The morning rush. Faces which are increasingly familiar. Time passing in a flash. Numbers don't seem that hostile as compared to words. Learning to multi-task. A routine is slowly fixed. You stop thinking too much and you find yourself having lesser or no time for other things.

Commitment to work aside, I really hope to have enough time to meet my favourite people. Say, it was great meeting the EAI folks after work last saturday. Wanwan, linlin and small red. I realized how much I missed them. Those crazy and fun times we had! Has it been so long since we met since the unforgettable X'mas party? I always have such a memorable (and hilarious) time with them and last weekend was no different. Two firsts for me. We had dinner at Modestos Vivocity and it was all of our first experience at the Italian restaurant. Modestos, famous for their 20 inch pizzas but we decided to skip that. We shared two of their pizzas and one of their pastas and it came up to a reasonable price of $15plus each (thanks to a 10% discount for citibank cards). Dessert was Ben & Jerry's ice-cream and I fulfilled my vanilla craving after just 2 days (1st day the softie machine @ mac's broke down! and 2nd day I watched helplessly as Japanese cold stone ice-cream was being featured during the night news segment).

Guess what we did next? Wan had suggested walking the Southern Ridges in the afternoon and I was kind of disappointed because I've been wanting to try out the route but I had to work. It rained in the afternoon and fate granted me another opportunity to have such fantastic company for my maiden walk.

It was 10plus when we reached the Horticulture Park which is a 5mins bus ride from Harbourfront. Toured around the placid and classy and frogs/toads ridden park, witnessed some baby leaves danced to music and felt damp cotton from the cotton tree. The dazzling Alexander Arch with its changing LED lights made for some good Kodak moments. We decided to walk to Henderson Waves, which is approximately 2.3km away via the Forest Walk and Hilltop Walk. Though it was a little bit creepy at night, the Jurassic Park-like steel walkways were well-lit and we were offered a bird's eye view of the Telok Blangah Hill's forest and its surroundings as we transversed across the canopy of trees. The "challenging" part for me came when we had to navigate the sudden steep incline of the Hilltop Walk that led us to Henderson Waves. Thank goodness, it flattened out and we reached the ribbed-caged like Henderson Waves in no time. More fantastic and panoramic views along Faber Walk on top of Mt Faber and you really have a sense of the infestation of towering HDB blocks that crowd our island. The exciting part of our night walk came when we had to descend Mt Faber to reach Harbourfront via the Marang Trail. Unlike the other trails whereby we had ample lighting, Marang was downhill and through the dark forest! It was close to 12am and I suddenly remembered that the 7th month was not over yet (not that I'm supertitious but you know, its still a chilling thought). We decided getting home was more important than anything and went ahead with our handphones as our guiding lights and the funny part was, we decided to name ourselves fruits (you can ask me about this heh).

So without plan, I made it through the Southern Ridges (minus Canopy Walk) - some 5km of night walking - and I really wouldn't mind doing it again. Day or night. Hopefully, we'll have another get-together before wan flies off for her studies in Beijing.

I'll be attending a two-day conference at the Swissotel from tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it as well. To the people whom I've not seen in awhile, you've been thought of!

StopThink

    Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live - Dorothy Thompson

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Anticipation

    Tokyo! @ The PictureHouse

    Heresies A Retrospective by Pedro Meyer @ The National Musuem - til Sun 16 Nov 2008

    Voom Portraits by Robert Wilson @ The National Musuem - til Sun 4th Jan 2009

    Doubleness: Photography of Chang Chien-Chi @ The National Musuem - til Sun 4 Jan 2009

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50 Books Challenge

    1) Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action - Eric Lichtenfeld

    2) Action and Adventure Cinema - Yvonne Tasker

    3) Essential Bond: Authorized Guide to the World of 007 - Lee Pfeiffer & Dave Worrall

    4) Bond Girls are forever: The Women of James Bond - Maryam D'Abo & John Cork

    5) Prozac Nation - Elizabeth Wurtzel

    6) Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho

    7) The Hours - Michael Cunningham

    8) Mysteries of The Unexplained - Penguin Books

    9) The Rise of The Blogosphere - Aaron Barlow

    10) Blog! How The Newest Media revolution is changing politics, business and culture - David Kline & Dan Burstein

    11) Clear Blogging: How people blogging are changing the world & How you can join them - Bob Walsh

    12) The Rough Guide to Blogging - Jonathan Yang

    13) Online News - Stuart Allen

    14) We The Media: Grassroots Journalism by the people, for the people - Dan Gillmor

    15) Finding Your Way After The Suicide Of Someone You Love - David Biebel & Suzanne Foster

    16) The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

    17) The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion