Had I that phone conversation a few months ago, my response would have been so different. I would have been afraid. Now that Iāve already gotten more than I could have asked for, Iāve nothing to lose.
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Pls (donāt) call me back
» talfryn.net
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Oh yeahā¦
» talfryn.net
Itās one big party in Singapore after another. As if the National Day Parade earlier this week couldnāt satisfy the patriotic fervour of the masses, there was the grand Opening Ceremony of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games yesterday. This time, the 2700 spectators, including representatives from 204 National Olympic Committees (countries and territories), were all given mini Singapore flags to wave. My eyebrows twitched. It looked like another NDP: multi-racial cultural performances, flag-raising and the National Anthem, the story of Singapore in chapters of song and dance, lots of little children running across the stage, cheesy music and lyrics, drumming and and visual effects. And there was a giant furry āscaryā monster thatās supposed to represent our deepest inner fears. The human scale was small, choreography was poor in many aspects and the whole thing just lacked impact. But ahh well, itās a show for youngsters performed by youngsters. So long as theyāre having fun, and are proud to keep their countryās flags wavinā high. We keep thinking in terms of publicity and PR value and credentials. āAdult talk?!ā
I was on the bank opposite from the floating platform, from where torch-bearers would send the flame on its last leg by boat across the waters of Marina Bay. Witnessed the fireworks and the lighting of the lighthouse cauldron by the Youth Olympic Flame (Xi, now hereās a lighthouse youād want to shoot!).
Headlines in the local news today were full of praises for the show and for Singapore. Took a glance at BBC, Sydney Morning Herald, CNN, and some other international media. Took a closer look, dug around a little. Couldnāt find anything about it. So much for this being a truly world-class show and the nationās largest international event. Letās see what the next 13 days of Games and the Closing Ceremony will bring.
Passing the flame
The Float@Marina Bay
Boom boom -
No turning back
» talfryn.net
Another of my decisions, actualised.
I handed it to her, accompanied by a soft sigh, āI guess itās about time.ā
To the other, well, the other did all the talking. Questioning. Hoping I wasnāt being serious. I didnāt need to say anything, just watch him read it. I tried smiling.
It was kinda poignant, dignified I hope.
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Back and going again
» talfryn.net
Last day in London tomorrow.
All too soon.
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Hola!
» talfryn.net
Travelling with family is so different. More luxury, less adventure. I prefer more adventure. Could do with less miscommunication, embarrassing moments (Neil Gaiman: āOf course, everyoneās parents are embarrassing.ā), and conflicts of interest. Not that Iām ungrateful. Itās just kinda saddening that at our age, so many of us prefer to travel with friends. We see more out of less, and are able to do more with less.
* * * * *
Am bumping into Gaudi everywhere here in Barcelona. Spent hours in La Sagrada FamĆlia, one of the most impressive architectural wonders Iāve ever seen. I think itās impossible to be a visionary without being mad. Gaudi was most certainly madā¦
* * * * *
Holidaying aspects aside, my parents have been mostā¦ amusing and saying the most unusual things as of late. Some in jest, but for the most part, I actually think that theyāre being serious. Which makes it all the more amusing. And to a small degree, confusing. In an objective sense.
* * * * *
I try to keep away from reading my emails, but in the end I succumb ā at least to my personal alternate work email, knowing that thereās always something that requires urgent attention. Itās a curse. And itās already August ā the Youth Olympics is almost upon us. Emails pouring in, and thereās an endless list of to-do. I donāt know about others but it seems that real holidays canāt exist anymore in this digital age when youāre supposed to be constantly connected. Dadās in the other room working too (which is why I can afford to use paid internetā¦)
Gotta hit the ground once I get back.
National Dayās also just round the corner, and Facebook is full of stati and photos alluding to some patriotic message or other. Very bad timing. NDP plus YOGā¦ Iām not sure if I can withstand it. It may be too much too soon.
* * * * *
Deadlines have been set. Now I need the discipline and willpower to stick to them! Not everyone will be happy, but as more than one friend has taught meā¦ well, theyāve taught me many things.
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Quirky London
» talfryn.net
Where youāve to pay to be a bumā¦
Where morning crowds gather at Buckingham Palace for a glimpse of the guards in red tunics and bearskin hatsā¦
Where anti-war protesters camp out (34 days and counting) on a hunger strike right on Parliament Squareā¦
Where conspiracy theories aboundā¦
Where the 2012 Olympic is setā¦
Where one simply canāt get enough of things Britishā¦
Where two legs just arenāt good enoughā¦
Where the average chair canāt quite make the cutā¦
Where youāll find stars and red carpets right next to Chinatownā¦
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The family crucible
» talfryn.net
The difficulty is as often in childrenās relationships with their parents as it is with their peers. They seem unable to label their feelings accurately, showing instead a sullen irritability, impatience, crankiness, and anger ā especially toward their parents. This, in turn, makes it harder for their parents to offer the emotional support and guidance the depressed child actually needs, setting in motion a downward spiral that typically ends in constant arguments and alienation.
Such parents are typically disapproving, harsh in both their criticisms and their punishments. They might, for instance, forbid any display of the childās anger at all, and become punitive at the least sign of irritability. These are the parents who angrily yell at a child who is trying to tell his side of the story, āDonāt you talk back to me!ā
~ Daniel Goleman
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Avalanching
» talfryn.net
I want to be able to wake up, and have nothing ahead of me, nothing to prepare, nothing to tend to. I want to have a night where I donāt have any work to do, no meetings to attend, no obligations to fulfil.
Every Friday I look at the weekend coming and by thinking about it I already feel tired. Every weekend I look at my schedule for the new week and I get even more tired. Every day, unexpected and new poo comes andā¦
I wonder how I would manage to survive the next onslaught. I survive, and itās a mystery, but itās also tortuous.
Itās always just a bit more to goā¦
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Cease, I say!
» talfryn.net
At the heart of every frustration lies a basic structure: the collision of a wish with an unyielding reality.
The collisions begin in earliest infancy, with the discovery that the sources of our satisfaction lie beyond our control and that the world does not reliably conform to our desires.
And yet, for Seneca, in so far as we can ever attain wisdom, it is by learning not to aggravate the worldās obstinacy through our own responses, through spasms of rage, self-pity, anxiety, bitterness, self-righteousness and paranoia.
A single idea recurs throughout his work: that we best endure those frustrations which we have prepared ourselves for and understand and are hurt most by those we least expected and cannot fathom. Philosophy must reconcile us to the true dimensions of reality, and so spare us, if not frustration itself, then at least its panoply of pernicious accompanying emotions.
~ Alain de Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy
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Floods and erosion
» talfryn.net
Today was exceptionally bad. Not just the weather.
Stared at emails, couldnāt reply. Stared at the screen, couldnāt type. Stared at papers, couldnāt read. Sat in meetings, couldnāt talk.
Feeling so fatigued all the time, although Iāve already been getting more sleep than usual.
Being poooh-ed into a downward spiral.
Since when did I start becoming so self-destructive? So full of doubt? So irritable, so full of anxiety? So unable to cope?
Lunchtimes, the outdoors, the cinema ā these are but temporary relief, only for as long as they last.
This crippling inability to do pretty much anything at all, including the thing I need to do most urgently, is such torment!
So much counts for nothing; so little for so much.
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Suuuck
» talfryn.net
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Perpetual stream
» talfryn.net
We watch we frown we sprint we stumble we try we do we bicker we tolerate we work we play we listen we worry we munch we starve we want we refuse we moan we laugh we question we find we fly we sink we read we forget we blink we sleep we complain we share we promise we pretend we donāt care but we do we pause the butterfly is still caged its wings are tattered we continue we wait we hope we [can] [never] stop
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I like it soft boiled
» talfryn.net
What a joy it is to peel an egg cleanā¦ when the membrane comes smoothly off the albumin, exposing the shiny white surface beneath. What a great difference it makes to the morning, and what a difference a great morning makes to the day.
Until the shitty stuff comes in.
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The great lep forward
» talfryn.net
The butterfly, the butterfly.
Rememberā¦ the butterfly.
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Silenced April
» talfryn.net
April 2010 is missing from my archives. No posts, just plenty of pooh pooh.
I think itās a month Iād rather forget.
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And weāre baaaaack!
» talfryn.net
No, itās not that Iāve been too lazy to blog. Problems with the hosting, server troubles, got locked out of my admin account, yadda yadda. Itās been a month of wasted hours and feeling helpless. Couldnāt do anything, couldnāt fix it myself, couldnātā¦ wait anymore.
So I started anew, installed WP again, upgraded to a newer version of the theme, and migrated some stuff over. If this goes down again before I put my plan into action, somebodyās-gonna-get-a-hurt-real-badā¦
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Hanging in there
» talfryn.net
These weeks, I feel like Iām becoming like that donkey with a cartload so full and heavy that the animal has been lifted off the ground. It struggles and runs on air, then gives up and hangs limp from the harness. You can almost hear a baying sigh ā heeehaaaaaawhā¦
āCept that this Husky is determined to keep running, despite the IBS and all!
Increased responsibilities at work and the Scouts (however did I get sucked into these blackholes) mean that I now have little time for myself and my family. Plans on the personal front are also not moving as fast as Iād have liked.
And Xiyunicus is coming to Singapore!
(For the record, this is a dead squirrel (Callosciurus notatus))
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0:09
Paths
» The Summit TrailIts been a very strange few weeks for me. There is a concept in Islam called Qadr, and its been the thing which attracts me most to Islam - of course also the certainty that this is the truth. Its very strange - this concept of certainty. Its almost boolean - you are either certain of something or you are in doubt. Even if there was 1% doubt its still doubt. For me, time after time I feel like the doubt has been lifted and what lies beneath it is certainty.
Yes, back to this concept of Qadr. One can translate it as pre-destination. Iāve still much to learn about this concept. Its the idea that everything which happened and will happen was of divine decree. However, this must not be confused with the lack of free-will. Its the idea that all our choices in life was already known, that we wouldāve made the choices we made irregardless of whether there was a plan or not. In other words, whatever we will choose has been chosen by us and its already written down. So whatever happens will happen and whatever happened could not have happened otherwise. More so I believe that I am walking down the path I know I should have walked down maybe a few years back, but yet I would never have walked down the path unless everything which happened had happen to lead me to where I am at the moment. Perhaps lost, helplessness, darkness was all part of the path Iām supposed to take.
I am definitely a man of faith. If I were to play a character in Lost, I would definitely be Locke. I cannot begin to explain to anyone what Iām going through except for the fact that I believe there must be a reason - perhaps in this life and most likely be for the life after. My friend once told me truth is something I canāt handle. Now that Iāve experienced part of the truth I totally understand why its so mind blowing. When things out of the blue happens and everything comes together so eloquantly you canāt help but allow it to confirm my philosophy of life. Its a feeling of blissfulness, feeling of total trust and a feeling that its going to be ok.
Iām standing here reading Randyās blog. I admire him for making such a decision, and I believe that he will find what he is looking for as long as he is patient. I believe the path is laid and sometimes the hardest thing is to find the courage to walk the path.
I know Iāve been led spoon-fededly down my path, but the most daunting thing is I just donāt know where the destination is. I guess this is why they call itā¦Destiny.
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Time to use this again
» talfryn.net
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No perfect size
» talfryn.net
Sometimes I just wish that this country wasnāt so darned small and the world wasnāt so darned big.
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That colorful building
» talfryn.net
My sis had a visiting friend over the weekend, and my family invited her to join us for dinner at Clarke Quay. We passed by the river cruise ticketing box, and Mom thought that it would be rather exciting to take a river taxi down the Singapore River, and so we did, on the DUCK and HiPPO hybrid powered eco-friendly electric boat. There was a friendly tour guide who pointed out the sights as we went along.
When the then-Hill Street Police Station, now MICA Building came into view, the commentator introduced āthat colourful buildingā¦ which is now called the MICA Buildling. MICA stands for the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Artsā.
And what do they do?
He had but a one-liner to share with the Japanese, Taiwanese and us pretend-tourists on board: āTheyāre the ones responsible for censorship in Singaporeā.
And there you have it.
Iām not sure if I was the only one who appreciated his style of humour.
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Trivial lessons
» talfryn.net
Today I did something on a public light bus that probably made the observer-passengers and the driver think, āsheās so stupidā. But inside me, I was laughing. I was happy, for I had learnt something.
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CNY in fog
» talfryn.net
View from my window this morning:
Quite typical up here.
Itās a mild winter ā feeling like the upper 10s instead of a 11Ā°C, yet the locals are all wrapped up like theyāre training for an Arctic expedition. Something that amuses me greatly, every time.
* * * * *
āååå,ā he tells me. But how can I not? āTis a sad, sad thing, for itās beyond the point of no return, and everyoneās given up. So many have even left. I wonder if weād still return every Februaryā¦ we were so close to not returning this round, for whatās the point, when we know that reunions are no longer possible?
People, even those you think are thought were closest to you, can be cruel. Even to you.
é»č§£č¦ęęåā¦?
Such a mess. -
Stumped by a name
» talfryn.net
Clinic staff [over the phone]: Can I have your name?
Me: Xxxxxx Xxx. Xxx is my last name, X-x-x.
Clinic staff: Chinese name?
Me: Um, Xxx is my surnameā¦
Clinic staff: What is your full name?
Me: Xxxxxx Xxx is my full name.
Clinic staff: What is your Chinese name?
Me: Itās not in my full name.
Clinic staff: If I call you in Chinese, what is your name?
Me: Xxx Xxx, but it does not appear in my full name.
Clinic staff: No Chinese name?
Me: Yeah, no Chinese name in my full name. Xxxxxx Xxx is my full NRIC name.
Clinic staff: Ok, thank you Miss Xxx. See you later.
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Chatterbrain
» talfryn.net
I keep hearing voices in my head. Not the schizophenic sort! but more like silent monologues, if you will. Iād be an observer to a scene or an earwitness to a conversation and the dialogue would just fade out and thereād go my voice, like a scripted voice-over in documentary, providing a running conceptual abstract commentary inside my head. They run so fast that my real voice would hardly be able to catch up. Philosophical and socio-political musings, mainly. At those moments Iād think: This is brilliant, I need to write this down! But when I grab a pen or get to my keyboard, all the thoughts just go pwoof! in a word cloud of lifting haze.
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In times of postlessness and wordlessness
» talfryn.net -
Been wanting too use this
» talfryn.net
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Adrenaline thoroughly drained
» talfryn.net
Itās been a heck of a week and more. My portfolio during this period could not have been any more varied: graphics designer, photographer, PR manager, personal assistant, driver, tour guide, nature guide. Appearances ranged from field trip garb, business executive look (Mom has been tremendously pleased), hiking boots, heels, flats, shorts, skirts, business jackets, hair let down, hair bunned up, ponytailed, contact lenses, spectacles, etc. etc.
Been round to Sungei Buloh, MacRitchie TreeTop Walk, Pulau Ubin and Chek Jawa, Singapore Quarry and Dairy Farm Nature Park, National University Hospital, KK Hospital - and somewhere in between was squeezed the main reason for everything in the first place: the three-day Asean Biodiversity Conference which my office co-organised.
I was attached to the keynote speaker - who flew in from Harvard - for the duration of his stay in Singapore. A man of great conviction, perception and knowledge, and youth, I might add, he is perhaps one of the most impressive personalities I have met across the continents so far. I have learnt much from our chats, and from listening in to the exchange of ideas he has had with the numerous dignitaries and whoās who weāve met. Not only about his pet topic biodiversity and human health (the preface to his book can be found online), but just about anything under the sky: politics, philosophy, America and the world, culture, music, education, science, healthcare, architecture, economics, national identity.
Again I am inspired to write about what has been conversed but I have been reluctant to fend off this certain shyness about analytical writing in the public domain, on a personal blogā¦
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Nutty kiasuism
» talfryn.net
An encounter at a petrol kiosk yesterday marked the near-end of my liaison officer-ing stint.
I was waiting in line at the cashierās when the lady in front of me, upon hearing of a promotion for peanut cereal bars, asked the sales assistant to hold off swiping her credit card. She stood by the side and ripped the packaging off one of the bars.
āI want to try one first. If itās good, Iāll buy more.ā
Fair enough, I thought.
She munched on. I looked on, and waited. The sales assistant was still holding on to her card. I waited some more. The lady then started picking bars off the shelf.
I asked, āSo itās that good, huh?ā
She was busy counting her bars, āNo, I just like the nuts.ā
Uhh, whatever cracks your nuts, then.
She continued counting.
The cashier decided - good on her - that she would serve me first, for which I was grateful. When I left the kiosk, the lady was still crunching away and counting bars.
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The purpose of a sole
» talfryn.netis to prevent you from slipping.
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One took off
» talfryn.netMe: ęęå²å¢ę³č¬ēä½ č½…
Then I tell her.
Mom: åµ, ä½ ę»åÆä½ ! -
Cued
» talfryn.net
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Uh-oh
» talfryn.net
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There were plants and birds and rocks and things
» talfryn.netIt’s sad that the first thing I can think of to blog about is how peaceful it is to drive through the city centre at midnight. No cars honking, no taxis cutting into your lane, no fuss. Just you and the car. If only it could be just you and a horse (with no name… in the desert).
* * * * *
Does anybody find it weird to be sending and addressing an email to a recipient who has the same name as yourself? Suddenly, you feel much less unique.
* * * * *
My lappie is finding itself inadequate to the task of handling PhotoShop’s scratch disks and memory requirements. First time having to design a banner that would measure 8 metres across. SOS!
* * * * *
A colleague fingers the fieldguide page detailing bird species descriptions.
Bird-ringing trainer: “What are you looking for?”
Colleague: “Sex and age.”
Laughter all around.* * * * *
Work in play. Play in work.
Why must that be wrong?
‘Cos “that’s not the way society works?”* * * * *
Ideas aplenty. Focus…
Focus.
Decide… hurry! -
Bunkering down
» talfryn.netSo it takes the flu and a couple of days’ MC to make me appreciate the simpler pleasures of life.
Why can’t we, in our working lives, ever seem to find the time to just sit on the sofa and read a novel? Or lay in bed and dream?
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You are what you read
» talfryn.netChristians who do not read the Bible,
Muslims who do not read the Qur’an,
biologists who have not read Charles Darwin,
Scouts who have not heard of Scouting for Boys,
statesmen who have not touched Machiavelli,
and more.Does not reading what we are expected to, unmaketh us?
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Talfryn turns 6
» talfryn.netIt’s September already. For six years I’ve been blogging, six years of life chronicled.
Looking back, I realise how far I’ve come, and it’s now time to chart out where I’d like to go from here.
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Whirl of a week
» talfryn.netWas manning the visitor services counter for GardenTech over last weekend and on Monday…
Meetings at work on Tuesday, followed by talks at NUS, part of the DBS 60th anniversary lecture series…
Went back home to find that my Pericallia ricini moth adults had copulated and laid huge batches of eggs…
Attended on Wednesday a sharing and discussion session with a researcher from UC Berkeley on the arboreal acrobatics of one of my favourite animals - the geckos…
Marine macrofouling buoy survey in the ports on Thursday morning, and brought my visiting cousin (the youngest of them at ten years’ old) to the Science Centre in the afternoon…
Mahler at night…
Scouts Centenary comm meeting on Friday night immediately after work…
Buloh guided walk and mangrove reforestation with the Scouts on Sat morning…
A recce around Buloh and another meeting in the afternoon…
The Japanese Association’s Natsu Matsuri (summer festival) later that evening…
The Ministry of Parrot’s Parrot Parade today at Sungei Tengah…
And all of sudden I’ve found myself the caretaker of a few hundred newly-hatched Pericallia ricini caterpillars…
And the proud new owner of a handsome, three-month old Ornate Lorikeet!
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āCannot tahanā
» talfryn.netI went ‘fishing’ during two extremely boring and redundant 3-hour-long briefings today. Don’t mind me. I’m sure my bosses share the same sentiments, having been forced to sit through the same.
If there’s anything that turns me off and makes me squirm in my seat, it’s poor English. Or heavy Singlish, in what should be a professional setting. Mis-pronunciation of words, grammatical inaccuracies, punctuation errors, missing Ss…
‘Ambulance’ becomes ‘Ambulen’
‘Lamp post’ becomes ‘Lampo’
‘Dollars and cents’ become ‘Dollars and cen’I clench my jaws and breathe out sighs, and hope that the next presenter(s) would bring less pain to the ears. But nooo… it’s mediocere mesolectal English at best.
We were advised to read the FAQ guidelines so that we could “familiarise with your[our]selves”, and go to “bied early” to “rechar energy”.
* * * * *
One more thing, also cringe-worthy.
Has anyone else noticed - and is bothered by - the increasing overuse and misuse of the word ‘actually’? Everything these days, it seems, is apparently not what we expected.
“The soup-of-the-day is actually cream of mushroom.”
“We will actually put up signs at the pick-up point.”
“If you click this button, it will actually bring you to this page.”
“Those who actually work outdoors, will actually have to come in earlier.”
(And the little voice in my head would reek of sarcasm: “Nooo kidding… Wow, really?!!”)
* * * * *
Oh, actually, I’m not quite done yet.
Another pet peeve, an SOP for written communication especially prevalent in the civil service…
- I was on the line with a NatWest banking manager just now. British accent and all… very refreshing.
- When he learnt I was calling from Singapore, he told me that he had visited the island just last year during Christmas, and had found it to be a lovely, modern city.
- “The people speak a funny English,” he said.
- I laughed.
- Thank you.
-
Really?
» talfryn.net
Man, Tsim Sha Tsui, HK -
Unupsub
» talfryn.netOh, the irony. With the two separate events that I will come to be involved in, in the service of this nation-state, one might think me some patriotic, zealous, public-spirited citizen, when I am in fact admittedly quite the mild dissenter. I was a willing volunteer for the first, but the second was an appointment I was forced to assume, one which I deem myself ill-suited for.
Friends overseas have commented that I am losing my accent - “Stop the Singlish!” they cry. Thus I was glad that an Australian I was speaking to recently suggested that I sounded American-Canadian to her.
Today an Imperial College-mate, back in Singapore on a visit, applied on us the term ‘civil servants’. I shuddered. Yes, I’m in denial. But I know why I’m here. Passion. Real passion, not the sort inculcated into you through workshops and Newspeak. åę, y’know?
Yes, I’m bold. So what of it? I’m not bogged.
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Fragility, frailty, fate and fear
» talfryn.netNo matter the class, race, or culture. No matter the place, time, or situation. The capacity to feel loss, to fear death - perhaps not in itself, or that of oneself, but that of others, and other things - and to love. These are central to what it means to be human.
Sitting there in the heavy silence, the eyes uncomfortable in settling on anything else but the floor, the ears picking up the wails and low murmuring of relatives - not mine, but a friend’s, the heart wanted to cry out not only in sympathy, but in realisation of a lesson learnt. That the human body is a fragile thing, that we are all living in a false sense of security that we are immune to the random nature of fate, and that we are, after all, human.
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Darkness
» talfryn.netI don’t think I’ve managed to clock so many working hours across consecutive days, including over the weekends, since I started working. Not complaining, for I rather enjoy it, but there is only so much I can sustain before feeling burnt out. I hope I can be forgiven for having a čč¾ę°£ in the only place I dare let my emotions show and snappiness get the better of me.
* * * * *
There’s been this wave of depressing news and occurrences lately that you wonder if the antepenultimate apocalypse isn’t coming. Listening to Requiems seem entirely apt. They lend a feeling of solemnity and yet also a spiritual uplifting that can’t be found anywhere else…
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Headless Gallus
» talfryn.netIt’s kind of redunculous that they’ve completely dug up the roads running through the front porch and driveway of our office. Impassable, unwalkable, for there’s no road left. Heck, there’s no ground left. It’s like a waterless moat. Or a ladderless trench. The only way to get to work these days is to slip through a gap in the hoarding into what feels like a construction site, briskwalk down a newly-paved fire engine access road (don’t really like having Bangladeshi workers watching me from both sides…), and leave the path to traverse this unlevelled grass patch to the right of the house. Then there’s a choice of either going in through the backdoor, or through the front after hopping over the four-language DANGER — KEEP OUT signboard thoughtfully placed a few steps away from the mini-abyss that separates the adjacent narrow concrete flooring from what’s left of our front steps.
I can imagine giving directions to our office: “When you see the side of a colonial house with with pots of plants and many booties hanging on the grilles - that’s us! PS. It is not advisable to come during or after a rain; umbrellas aren’t sufficient - you will need WelliesPhua Chu Kang boots. PPS. Heels are not recommended, no matter the weather. PPPS. Please bring torch if leaving after dark.”
Now… let’s zoom into the office, where my colleagues and I have embarked on a late-night regime, as is usually the case during preparation for conferences. We can get quite, quite busy. Call me a masochist, but… I like.
Quote of the day: “I miss running around like a headless chicken and talking to big people.”
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Not a jay
» talfryn.net -
The week in pictures
» talfryn.netThe Japanese Ambassador and his wife prepare to start off Ikebana International Singapore Chapter’s 40th Anniversary gala with a Kagamiwari Ceremony (Sake Breaking Ceremony).
At the office, some of us were landed with the responsibility of fledging a young mynah, whose nest was removed from the ceiling boards in a preemptive motion by our admin staff to prevent another stinky affair.
Kent Ridge Park - An Argiope is met with death at home at the jaws of the much smaller Portia jumping spider, one of the most intelligent of hunters.
An oriental whip snake finds itself the centre of attention at the Dairy Farm Adventure Centre, in the break between the NSS Bird Group book launch and NSS AGM 2009.
Volunteers from the biodiversity and environment circles in Singapore gather for a weekend of social, outreach and educational activities at the Toa Payoh HDB Hub in the inaugural Envirofest.
Also happened within the week: breaking in the new car, NPSS photo-sharing session, Prof Peter Ng’s talk on International Day for Biodiversity on invasive alien species in Singapore.
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Blackadder
» talfryn.netDefinitely the best British sitcom, ever.
Ahh, the verbal dexterity!
I think I’ve found my portable antidote.
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Wanderlust
» talfryn.netThe urge to roam has been growing stronger.
Feeling starved and restless.
Physically, psychologically, intellectually.
Very badly.
… …
Very, very badly.
All these tools, these drivers of globalisation, these reducers of distances. Worlds are bridged closer, yet remain far apart. Friends seem so near, and yet so distant. Blogs, Facebook, and instant messagers help me connect, yet I end up feeling even more disconnected. Photos of or by others are keys to shared happiness yet they also open the gate to envy. Reading BBC is like medicine, yet it fails to soothe.
They only remind me that there is still that whole wide world out there, and I am here. I am - having settled and having the opportunity to remain settled - ironically feeling unsettled, and feeling guilty about it. And feeling guilty about feeling guilty.
Constancy has to be temporary, if not it’s just hard to bear.
-
Earth Day visitor
» talfryn.net
Pea blue (Lampides boeticus) on my parents’ bed. -
The mozzie that landed on Semakau
» talfryn.netOn a grid chart of Singapore waters that was laid out on our desks during the course. What were the odds?!
-
1:20
Updates
» The Summit TrailNot that there are anything definite which anyone doesn’t know about anymore. But seeing that I don’t update this blog regularly, many people who used to visit this site no longer really visit it anymore.
Well, family is here in the UK until 26th. Well, Rakin and my parents will go to Barcelona for a few days before heading back to Liverpool whilst they continue with Madrid and Dublin. I will stay here with my grand mother.
End of the month, I’m off to South Africa. It should be a lot of fun, get to meet up with a very good friend of mine, Randy. Hopefully doing some cool things over there again after all the different Moron no Tabis.
I just paid off my car, hence the broke-ness. But as YGG did correctly point out since I am going to South Africa and that I should not have any right to complain about my financial situation. But because of this situation, I have decided not to upgrade to D90, and I have many reasons not to buy extra lens for the S.A. Trip.
I am beginning to enjoy work a lot. It gives me a sense of purpose I suppose, and because of the people around me, who are mostly from Asia (and Sri Lanka), I feel more alive at work. I think I suit the Asian working environment a lot more, and this company is absolutely perfect because it feels like Asia but its in Europe. It comes with all the perks of European company such as working environment and time, and also the perks of Asian working attitude. In short, I am glad, in fact, very glad I am working here, and even though I am taking a lot of time off this coming months, I do feel a sense that I miss work -> Which is very rare for me.
In short, I am happy with life. There are some things which can be better, i.e. the social aspect - the fact that I am no longer in London means that I am feeling the chore of going back to London every week to ’socialise’. I miss the good old times. But at the same time, I know this is my destiny, and I shall wait patiently for my destin(y)ation to reveal itself.
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The blackhole
» talfryn.netNothing pretty about this pictureā¦ itās blurry, poorly-framed, and the subjectās hardly anything of interest. But itās like my mind right now. Wavy, twirly swirly, proceeding almost in straight lines but not quite, little circles in some parts. Oh, and thereās that deep, black, holeā¦ which probably isn’t really that deep at all, if you shine a light down it…
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Technology conspires
» talfryn.netFirst it was PhotoShop, which for some reason refused to start up and always froze at the loading screen.
Then it was my blog, when the image upload function malfunctioned. And the book reading list plugin also started giving me errors.
Then my beloved D200 decided it had enough (it was perhaps getting jealous that I had acquired the G10) - a white line started appearing in every single photo I took.
A helpful duck took it to the Nikon serving centre and obtained a quote for the sensor replacement. It would cost me a third of the price of a brand new D300, the successor to my current model.
My D200’s been with me for two years and a half, which, in dSLR camera lifespan speak, and in my opinion, is quite a respectable duration. Shutter count is nearing 46k, so it’s got a while to go yet before it rightfully retires.
But then again, there are those who would appreciate an early retirement…
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Backā¦ back where?
» talfryn.netWherefore this sense of restlessness?
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Happy CNY
» talfryn.netHappy new year to all from HK!
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Grar
» talfryn.netWhen I’m behind the wheel, camera, bush, or book, I feel inspired to write… more intellectually, academically, and educationally. Words flow… invisibly.
But once I’m behind my lappie, the mind rebels.
-
Henry
» talfryn.netThere are times when you weren’t expecting that you’d need a cab, but when you do, you wonder if you weren’t fated to have flagged down that very cab that you did. Wednesday was one of those times.
I got into the taxi, and told the cabbie uncle my destination. His response: “Geylang? Geylang ah… dangerous place leh!”
My mom had said a similar thing when I last visited the NSS office, which unfortunately is situated in this most unsavoury part of Singapore. She had cautioned strongly against my going there again. Thanks to an officious-sounding purpose (these sessions, held quarterly, are called the ‘President’s Chat’), she relented.
Anyway, not being inclined to make small talk with the taxi driver, I merely nodded and went, “Err, yeah, I know…”
We were at a traffic light junction, and he took the opportunity to slurp a few mouthfuls from the Nissin cup noodles that he had placed in a mug holder by the side of the steering wheel. “Don’t mind hor,” he looked at me through his rear view mirror, “I makan first before it gets cold.” I smiled politely.
We managed to get past a few more traffic lights in silence, and then he asked, “Do you play 4-D?” I wondered what it had to do with Geylang, or instant noodles. I answered no. He then asked if I was interested in statistics. I said that it would depend on what sort of statistics. He then launched into a monologue about how he has a degree with distinction in stats, and how he has been studying the 4-D system for a decade. He has pulled out all available records on every single 4-D draw since its inception, and has discovered certain ‘truths’. He believes in his work, even though his ‘wife and girlfriends’ don’t (at that point, I became curious, but refrained from interrupting as I didn’t feel it prudent to further distract him from the roads). He was going on about numbers and permutations - at which point my mind turned itself off - and something about the AABB or ABBB combinations which stand the highest chances of seeing an opening. Something else about an AAAA occurring only every X years, and so on and so forth. That if you ‘invest’ $XX in which ever combination, you’ll likely Y% receive a $XXXX return.
I had a feeling that he’d recited all this a thousand times.
We turned into Geylang Road, and he found the inspiration for a topic switch. He continued talking just as ardently about the various even-numbered lorongs of Geylang and the predominant countries of origin of their red lighters. He knew their price ranges. He added that he used to be in the police force, as if that explained where he obtained his intimate knowledge of the area from.
And just before I alighted, he was going on about AIDS and suicidal men…
I was eager to get off, and slip into the Sunflower building on the corner of Lorong 28, which, I was told, was the most notorious street of them all. While giving me the change, he told me his name. So that if I ever come across this name appearing beside a lottery windfall in the news, I’ll know that it’s him.
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George Bush!
» talfryn.netIs only for now!
Or so the lyrics from Avenue Q go (the Filipino cast yesterday was excellent. My dad bought a CD of the original Broadway cast recording and declared that even the Americans weren’t as good!)
* * * * *
The world was watching…
I experienced the moment in a conference room with dozens of international participants… most were too distracted by the live Electoral College vote figures on their lappy screens to be paying the presentations any attention. Applauds and jubilant cries erupted when one of the co-chairs announced to election results. Well well, so Obama won.
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Pwoor feet, cramped fingers
» talfryn.netIf I were allowed to say just three words to sum up these last couple of days, it’ll be:
I hate heels.
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Hungry politics
» talfryn.netSaw this at Hip Diner USA at Bugis Junction and just couldn’t resist not taking a shot. In case you can’t read the signs, the one on Obama says “Democrats or Republicans | All are welcome” and McCain’s goes “US Election Promotion | 1 for 1 McCain Honey Stung Chicken“.
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1:39
On my way to work (over a week agoā¦)
» The Summit TrailHuh!…I never thought the day would come that I actually would wake up, put on a shirt, working pants and a tie to go to work. Still unable to iron my own clothes, I put on what I consider half-iron shirt and headed to work. Same old londoner taking the tube and all. But instead, this time I am travelling out of London into High Wycombe. I must say that its a very nice town from what I have seen yesterday, and I really don’t mind moving out there when I come back to Sri Lanka.
So its kindda strange that my 3 months break where I have seen a significant increase in carbon footprint has finally come to an end. And yes, strangely enough I am quite glad that I will be entering a more routine life. I am glad that I took 3 months off. I don’t think I would ever be satisfied to go straight from finish studying to entering work. Whats more? I don’t actually think that my holiday is over…3 weeks from now I will be on the plane to Colombo. Never been there, don’t know what to expect. But I think I will like it.
*** 1 week later…. ***
Can you believe this? 1 week of working life just gone…like that. Its been a crazy week in terms of commuting. You see, my office is in High Wycombe, and I live in central London. So it takes me around 2 hours to get to work. Sometimes its faster with a bit of running. But you know what? The fact that I can still wake up every morning at 6:30am with a big smile on my face, looking forward to the 2 hour commute is remarkable. The office is very spacious with large desks for about 100+ of us in the office. Of course big bosses get their rooms with glass doors whilst we hardly get a desk for ourselves. Its very different from what I am used to. Surely, there are supervisors who share the same floor space as us, but there is an atmosphere of freedom in a motivating way, which no other jobs had given me. Perhaps is the fact that there are 6 of us starting and its quite a good group culture here.
I can’t wait until I get a car and be able to drive to work. In a way, I could see myself starting a life here in this little town called High Wycombe. I have experienced the big cities like London, lived in satellite cities like Atsugi and now is a nice change to a small English town on the suburbs. Perhaps its the initial excitement. Nevertheless, I am excited about learning new things, but moreover, it is the structured training which I like. Its unlike AK when I was free to do anything, and that nobody cared if I was not working or that I had too much free time. Over here, I get the right amount to keep me going. Going to talks and presentations on different departments, learning about warehouses and finance. Its the flexibility and the technical knowledge I am acquiring everyday. Now I’m learning Oracle, PL/SQL, I will be learing C# later, and before you know it, I will be an Engineer who programs.
I am grateful for everything that happened in Japan. I am grateful to my housemates who helped me grow as a person. I am grateful that I could take 3 months out to do what I had always wanted to do, and do it for myself. It will inevitably make me a better person and a more sucessful person in the future. I am excited and optimistic.
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Off she goes
» talfryn.netWe woke at 5 yesterday morning to send my sis to the airport. Surprisingly, this year’s expedition was met with less resistance (but no less the fuss (private post)) than previous school trips. Hiking in the mountains of Korea, visiting the North-South DMZ… sounded like the tamest activity out of all the other options (an expedition to Ladakh, hiking in the Himalayas, biking down the Mekong River, manning a sailing ship around the coast of Australia). And since she’s already survived Chang Mai, Taman Negara, and others besides - the lucky thing, Korea should be alright.
At the airport, having seen the kids through the departure gate…
Parent A [chuckling]: Freedom!
Parent B [shock horror]: No no no… just more worries!
My mom grins on, obviously identifying with Parent B… -
Husky mentality
» talfryn.netTalk about conditioning. I went to the supermarket, and as habit dictated, had a $1 coin ready and inserted, or tried to insert it, it into the coin slot on a trolley. It would not go in. So I tried another trolley. And yet another. And only then did I realise that all the trolleys were unchained to one another. There wasn’t even a need to put in a coin…
I unparked a trolley, and just then next to me, another shopper was struggling to slot in a coin, and looked confused when the second trolley refused to take it in. I wanted to point out to her that it was not necessary, but by her third go, she had it figured out as well.
* * * * *
Upon reaching home, at the carpark basement, I entered the lift with a Caucasian lady. She was carrying five big colourful knee-high, doubleshoulder-width bags. She put them on the floor, and I saw that they were full of groceries. They were those eco-friendly bags - from SAM, Carrefour, and one had the words ORG-A-NIC printed across it. Whereas I had only two A3-sized CitySuper eco-bags slung from my arms, and about five plastic ones from the supermarket. I thought I was doing alright, but she put my efforts to shame.
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Find
» talfryn.netEver flipped back and forth, and back and forth, through pages and pages of printed material and wished there was a Ctrl+F?
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Wanna get shiny teeth?
» talfryn.netI don’t suppose anyone would take to blogging about the affairs of tooth-brushing. But this I simply have to mention. It’s about my toothpaste… my new tube of toothpaste. Nothing else in my bathroom intrigues me more than what’s on its label, and I can stare at the tube every morning and every night and still find it amusing.
Here’s my shameless one-liner plug for Colgate Total: “PROFESSIONAL CLEAN contains a DENTIST-LIKE ingredient for smooth and polished teeth!”
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Finless victory
» talfryn.netIt’s a silly Chinese tradition and cultural notion that if shark’s fin soup doesn’t make an appearance on some fancy gala dinner menu, it’s a cheap show. The response to my objections, coming from my mom though it may be (perhaps that is precisely the cause), makes me sick. My sis and I will keep up the pressure.
Edit: Victory is ours! Mom has gotten the event menu changed.
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Fake CNN
» talfryn.netI’ve been receiving a lot ‘email alerts’ from CNN. It first tempted me with a headline about a man-eating python, then another one came telling me to ‘Be a happier person with your family’. How tailored to my tastes, eh? But waitaminute… I never did sign myself up for these news updates. One quick check of the originating sender confirmed my suspicions.
Don’t be fooled. These phishing spam emails look entirely authentic, and so are the pages the links bring you to. But hidden in the Flash program that it prompts you to download is a malicious Trojan.
See:
CNN Alerts: My Custom Alert malware
New Trojan Bait: CNN Videos -
Birdtalk
» talfryn.netIt can get pretty noisy up there on Dempsey Hill.
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Almost as if on cue
» talfryn.netAfter a week’s break and relative calm, hell starts again.
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Hyde Parkā¦ one last time
» talfryn.netAs it goes, I’m still here. I was supposed to leave on Monday, but I’m still here. Various reasons. It’s that same feeling all over again - sitting at my desk, with a novel or my laptop for company, the room entirely empty save for the few pieces of luggage on the floor, echoes bouncing off walls.
I had some time, so I went across the road to Hyde Park, as I usually do before my flights. Such a lovely day…
And I’m off. For real this time.
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Leaving
» talfryn.netSo I guess this is it. After having postponed my flight back twice, prolonging my stay here for as long as I dared, my boxes are finally all packed, as are my suitcases. Only little things remain… those that I will be leaving behind, bits and pieces to which I attach a strong sense of sentimentality but they are of no use to me now. Some of them have been with me since Sydney, the electrical appliances with their triangular pins still attached to their travel adapters.
I tell people that I might be back next year. Might. But one can never be too sure about these things.
And I guess… I will miss this place, despite its many shortcomings. I’ll miss most of all my friends, and the spontaneity, the freedom, experiences of life that London has to offer… the lifestyle that I had come to have and taken for granted. It’s so different, and it’s one that I’d never have in Singapore.
Saying goodbyes are never easy. I know it will hit hardest when that plane takes off from that runway at Heathrow.
We just keep moving… settling down… uprooting ourselves… moving on… and on. ‘Tis the life of a dogged wanderer. Another chapter closed.
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LondON
» talfryn.netIt was clear skies beneath me as the plane (an A380!) descended into Heathrow. Usually, it’s all fog. I was reminded that this wasn’t when I’d usually be arriving in London; I’d be departing, to miss the best times of summer.
The past two days I was in a short-sleeved top with a light jacket tied around my waist and I’d be warm. Today I had worn a jacket and it was chilly cold. This is London… the unpredictable, foul-weathered London…
… where sundown is at 9pm. The skies were still bright when we were done with dinner. Good light for shooting, but it messes up my circadian rhythms, as if it wasn’t already confused enough as it is.
I was asked how I was feeling. I said I initially thought I’d be sad, that I’d miss this place, but not that much. It’s a love-hate relationship. But once you’re on the streets, dodging that puddle, on the Tube, minding that gap, evading burly characters, converting those pounds, calculating in miles, you don’t think about it anymore. It’s London, this is London, and it’s all that matters for now.
And I can’t believe that a toilet brush is not to be found in the whole of Bayswater.
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Liftā¦ dragā¦ thrust
» talfryn.netThere’s so much I’d like to say, but so much of it doesn’t need to be said.
* * * * *
From the living room windows, I can see our old apartment, just a few blocks and one postcode digit away. We’re barely two weeks settled at the new place, but it already feels like home; it has already been witness to much. Too much.
* * * * *
I’ve finally, finally booked my return flight to London. This trip… this journey… has been many months late. And this trip, unlike the many others before it, will be the shortest yet. And the most final. This Monday I’ll fly, and in a week I’ll pack up four… five years of my life and tie up any loose ends, and come Monday I’ll be leaving London behind. Another move… and another conclusion - not a very clean cut, this one - to another chapter in life.
* * * * *
Not everything in life goes according to plan. Plans I did have, but they are at the mercy of those forces out there. For now, I need to be here. I am needed here.
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2:40
Messing with my head!
» The Summit TrailNoooo! All the American series I like are coming to an end. I have just watched the last episode of LOST in season 4. Its messing with my head too much I’m telling ya!!! Ahhh, I must take my hat off for the writers of this show. It has just put a whole new twist to the story. There is no way of guessing what will come next in this show. I can’t wait until the next season.
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18 floors high
» talfryn.netJust me, and an empty, unfamiliar house. No people, no furniture, no noises. No yet. Just the bare walls, floors, windows.
Even if it was only for a few minutes…
Peace. I felt the air I drew in. I heard. Inhale. Silence. Exhale. Silence.
I felt like I could cry. The emptiness made me happy. I was happy to feel the lightness.
Then the phone rang, and the world came shattering back down.
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The house is a maze
» talfryn.netWe’re moving again. 9th move in Singapore. What fun. What a mess. My nose is dead.
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Suspending suspense
» talfryn.netTomorrow we’ll be far away…
Tomorrow we’ll discover…Will it be release? Or will it harbour the beginnings of yet another onslaught?
Until then, I shall wait. Let that classic tune from Les MisĆ©rables echo in my mind…
One day more…
If only we could manifest that same fighting spirit shown of the revolutionaries…
One more day before the storm!
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23:27
Determined?
» The Summit TrailI have climbed Fuji, I have climbed the tallest mountain in South East Asia - Mount KK, cycled the whole of Route 70 in Okinawa and I have swum faster than I could swim. It was all 1 thing which got me through it all: Determination. Sometimes I wonder where my determination comes from you know? Just like tonight, after a long long day, I’m still sitting here revising. My head is hurting and I know for sure that tomorrow’s exam would probably be the toughest of my exams. I really hope that I could do it. I can’t say I did spectacular in my previous exams, but it was all I could have done. After tomorrow 4 down, 3 to go. I just need to concentrate, concentrate and concentrate, which seems to be the hardest thing for me to do right now.
Also, I am trying to find my heart - my real heart. How come I don’t feel anything for all those people who died in Myanmar this weekend?
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0:37
Feeling way too relax
» The Summit TrailSo, here is the deal…I am having exams. Woohoo…But I am feeling waaaaayyyy too relax for someone having exams. For one, I believe that the exams are not an end in itself nor is it that big a means to something. I am just in this transition state of nothing-ness as one would say.
I am putting more eggs in the speech recogniser I am making for my final year project than I am in my exams. Yes, I am revising hard. Yes, I don’t know that Hyde Park still opens after 7pm. I am seriously stuck in this room which is around 1/2 or 2/3 the size of my roon in Japan from 10 to 10 and then from 10 to 10 when I am sleeping. This is perhaps not so healthy as one might suggest - especially given the fact that there is no natural lighting in the room - which means that I am lacking vitamin D big time. Which is good in some ways I suppose - so I won’t take too much calcium from the hard water in the London Water. However, it might stay in my kidneys :S which is a scary thought.
I am not too hyped up about exams and that was probably why I found myself unable to answer at least 30 marks of the paper. WHY IS THAT PAPER SO BLOODY HARD?? I wish they do scale it and not take the marks as it is, because I am sure I won’t score more than 60% AT MOST. Blah…then again, exams are exams and they will happen again and again in life, and perhaps its easier to brush it off and say…Whatever!
I’m trying my best…but reality seems to surreal. I am studying Japanese for tomorrow’s Japanese Orals - and I don’t even think I can answer the questions they would ask me about my speech on influence of religion if they were asked in English, let alone in Japanese. Well, a good thing is I know God is kamisama. That is one vocabulary ticked off my list :S AHHHHHH
Ok…1 down…6 to go…
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Picky reads
» talfryn.netI’ve finished the entire Frank Herbert original Dune series back-to-back, pacing myself out towards the end (since I realised I completed Pullman’s His Dark Materials a tad too quickly, by which time it was too late). Nothing beats the thrill of a virgin read.
After that, I picked up a couple of others and put them down again. What I feel like reading corresponds to my mood, and that at present remains undefined.
Read a few pages of Wodehouse, managed a few laughs out of it. Too shallow; got tired of it after a while. The Englishness was freshening though. But I felt more non-fictiony. So I bounced between Gould, Dawkins and Jones. Odd, I thought I enjoyed Steve Jone’s writing much more when I was in high school.
I would dearly love to finish Jared Diamond’s Collapse, but it’s in London…
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*knock knock*
» talfryn.net*hollow echos*
*stirring within*
Yes… I’m uhh… alive.
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21:52
Survival
» The Summit TrailJust watching the 1st episode of season 4 of UK Apprentice. It had left me in utter shock and reaffirmed my opinion that I probably would not like it in the commercial world. Of course, it is an extreme version of what a commerce world would be, but basically, I don’t like to work with people who cares only about winning and less so the people around them.
Tomorrow I will be doing a presentation to one of Walmart’s CEO (not Scott Lee) on sustainability business proposal. I don’t think that our idea is very strong, but whatever there is, it will be workable and as long as its presented well, we will have a chance of moving on to the States next month to present it to more board of directors.
Then on Saturday I am driving a van 1/2 way across the country to help Terry move from Poole to Oxford and catching a plane at night back to Hong Kong. I really hope I can survive until then.
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New park in the city
» talfryn.netI’m not sure where my mom got that idea from, but it was a welcomed move. Last Sunday, she carted the family off towards PSA along Alexandra Rd where she heard there was a new butterfly farm or something. I was asking friends before that, about a ‘new butt place in town’ but they were as clueless as I was. Turns out that it was a new horticultural park, managed by NParks, linked by park connectors to Telok Blangah Hill Park and Kent Ridge Park. Manicured grass, neat plots of land showcasing themed gardens, playgrounds for the kiddies, and high-tech greenhouses at the back. A nice Thai restaurant and function rooms at the visitor centre, its architecture reminiscent of the Zen aura we felt whilst at The Lalu Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan. It’s still very new, and aside from a couple of Changeable lizards that we saw, not much of the fauna has mmm… moved in yet.
Haute Nature
First park in Asia to blend recreation and retail with research and technology
There is now another alluring option in the Garden City if you want to relax amid lush foliage. HortPark is a 23-hectare recreational and technological park developed by Singapore’s National Parks Board at a cost of SGD 13.1 million. The first park in Asia to house recreational, educational, research and retail activities related to gardening in one location, it also aims to become a knowledge hub for training and value-added services… …
~ Singapore abuzz, Mar-Apr 2008 edition, Singapore Tourism Board
Photos :: HortPark
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Itās not just a bird!
» talfryn.netWhen you’re beyond calling a bird a ‘bird’, you call it a ‘Pink-necked Green Pigeon’ or a ‘Pacific Swallow’ or whatever its species is.
When you have pets, you tend to call an individual of that same certain species by the name you give your pet, even when that individual isn’t your pet.
I was looking out of my window when I saw this grey flying blob approaching. It was coloured like rock pigeon, but it didn’t fly like one. When it came nearer, I saw its bright red tail. When it flew past, my mind registered it: “A Banjo!”
I stood there for a full minute, replaying the sequence in my mind. I was sure it was an African Grey Parrot, on the loose… very likely an escapee. I told my sis, and she chided me for not yelling out for her earlier. She’d have scrambled over to look. We went to tell our parents, and they asked, “Why didn’t you save it?” -_-
If experiences with past alien escapees were anything to go by, there’s a probability that it might fall victim to the crows.
I went out into the living room and looked at Banjo. “There’s one of your cousins out there… why don’t you do your stuff and get him here?”
With his eyes glinting as if he understood, he flapped and nodded and did his dance. Silly Banjo.
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Bad colours
» talfryn.netThe quality of the photo shops here is horrible. I think I’ll need to take my images to a professional photolab to get printed, or do it myself.
These are samples of photos printed by three different shops… using the same files. I took care to ensure that the white balance was accurate when I photographed (’scanned’) copies of the prints, so that WYSIWIG:
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Spitting may be ok in 大éø, butā¦
» talfryn.net“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” the man kept repeating, his shirt slightly dirtied and wet from the watermelon juice which he… vomited (how gross) onto the floor right behind the chair on which my mom was seated. Some of what he belched found its way onto my mom’s hair, clothes and handbag.
Sitting opposite her, I watched it happen, but it came without prior warning. The man showed no signs of wanting to retch, although I noted his face was flushed from all the beer, just like any other companion of his at his table - a mob of people so uncouth I wish never to come across the likes of them in Singapore again, at least not places such as these where people are expected to behave with a certain degree of civility. Talking, laughing, snorting extremely LOUDLY in a motley jumble of dialect, Mandarin, Cantonese and English (the restaurant staff said they were from Guangzhou) throughout the course of their dinner, they totally ruined the atmosphere. My sis wanted to get the waiters to shush them - politely, of course - but was advised by my parents not to. We will do no such thing; we will bear with it.
I emitted a yelp when I saw what the man had done, just as my mom realised what had happened and the four of us sprang up and reached for towels and tissues. My mom was aghast, disgusted, no doubt, and the offending man stood to a side, looking at the puddle on the floor and at all the fuss, his eyes appearing glazed, but wide in amazement as if in disbelief of the commotion and mess he’d created. I ventured a glance towards the table of mainlanders. They were engaged in comradely laughter, either oblivious to the incident or making jest of what their friend had done.
Thank goodness there was a spare shirt in the car. I turned to accompany my mom to the car and then to the washroom to help her wash up, leaving my dad and sis behind at the table. We walked past the man. Again he bowed and his head low, “I’m so sorry. I’m really so sorry.” I think my mom replied to the effect of “It’s ok.” And there was me thinking in my mind that No, it’s not ok. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. But instead I walked on, barely giving that man a second look. Oh, how I wanted to glare him down! I was tempted to confront him and his companions, but that would’ve been unwise. If even I felt thus, I could only imagine my dad fuming yet attempting to control his anger, his sense of protective duty over my mom compelling him to take action - even if only verbal - against the man.
We returned from the ladies’ a good handful of minutes later, and I saw that the floors had already been mopped clean and my dad, still standing, was bent over signing the bill. He was silent, lips pursed. His eyes, set into a deep frown, conveyed deep indignation and infuriation, and I knew that had that not been a public place and had we not the apprehension that the mainlanders could react in ways uninvited and untoward, he would have strode across and chided them. Instead he - we - directed our displeasure at the restaurant manager, who even while sympathising with us and the rest of his patrons, was powerless to act in the face of such occurrences. All he could do was to assure us that they were not regulars, and that nothing of this sort had happened before. A discount would be nice? I thought, but then again we understood it’s not their fault.
What to do? I replayed the scene and tried to imagine what we could have down, or what people from different sorts of background would have done. What if this wasn’t Singapore, but, say, Beijing? Or what if this was London? What if the man was a Japanese, or a European? What if my dad wasn’t my dad, but some other equally guarding but less prudent husband? There could be so many varying responses, but knowing the cultures well, how people might react can be quite predictable to a certain degree.
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Bearing with composure
» talfryn.netI am alright with the innocent, the new and the fresh (the n00bility), the outlandish, and the bold. For matters and people to which the command to hurry up! would elicit no favourable response, I can suspend myself in a calm waiting, observing, state, so long as inaction or acceptance on my part would not prove to be too costly. Just wait. Why add to the discontent?
It is, ironically, the impatient I have no patience with, the intolerant I lack tolerance for, and I cannot stand egos masquerading as maturity when in fact the behaviour betrays the existence of an even greater immaturity than that originally perceived in the person who prompted the response.
Aahhh… if only the people who think themselves grown up could really grow up.
But who knows… I myself might be a victim of my own words, a hypocrite. I only hope not.
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My new toy The Beast
» talfryn.netJust came back from a shoot - OMG I LOVE MY NEW Nikon 17-55 f/2.8! Yes I love it so much that I feel like YELLING OUT WITH JOY!! It’s such a beeeeautiful piece of glass, built like a tank, so smooth that you hardly realise when it’s focusing, and the quality is just… aaaaahhhhhh… so sharp it hurts…
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After the festivitiesā¦
» talfryn.netHong Kong is so full of mainlanders, full of Mandarin-speaking Chinese who behave as if they haven’t taken an elevator nor enjoyed such a thing as a buffet brunch in a hotel before. The average conduct of the locals, in contrast, appear almost saintly. One can’t help but lavish praise for the good service they receive in Hong Kong, as compared to that they get in Singapore. It is almost as good as the Japan’s, only less elaborate.
* * * * *
My interview was extremely long, one-on-one meetings with one manager after another. There is this thing about conversing with Asians (in English) that puts me at better ease than when I have to engage a gweilo. I have to switch modes. But so long as it’s in English, I’d be comfortable. I was asked to describe my extra-curricular activities and internship experiences in Cantonese, and it felt weird, the interviewer continuing her questions in English while I replied in Canto interspersed with English expressions. I code-switch a lot, and it is difficult to break this habit, even if only for a few seconds. All-in-all I enjoyed the interview immensely, but the question remains of whether to work in London, Singapore or Hong Kong. All three places have their pros and cons, and while my current approach via speculative applications isn’t returning much success, I am still able to explore which of the many varied paths to the future I’d like to embark on. Still honeymooning, still in a dreamlike state of transition, but this can’t go on for too long.
* * * * *
More than a year after I’ve changed my address in Singapore, Imperial is still sending posts to both the old and the new addresses. Two weeks ago when I wrote in to re-confirm my address, I received an auto-response: “… At present we have a large backlog of emails to get through which have come in over the Christmas break. Please bear with us as delays to our usual processing time will be inevitable as we clear the backlog.”
I’ve only just received my results slips which were sent in December. They were sent to the old address, and the tenant there had slipped it into our current mailbox. The invitation to postgraduate ceremonies arrived at the new address. I’m still waiting for my postgrad degree certificates to arrive - long overdue now, since I know my coursemates in London and HK have already received theirs.
* * * * *
Been spending most of my time these days working on 10 mini-essay answers to an assessment for Associateship of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. The AIEMA is a sought-after credential for many job postings, but I wonder how much this actually helps. Still, having yet another set of suffixes wouldn’t do any harm - that’ll make the sixth if I do get it.
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1:03
ē¬å¤
» The Summit TrailIts been a long time since I have to have a sleepless night to finish off my work. I have not stopped for the past 2 days, and my mind seems to be on this wheel which is rolling from 10am to 11pm everyday. Sometimes I take a break, walk in the park, grab a bite. Its good in a way, because I feel that I am living a constructive life and that I have actually learnt something this year.
Makes me more certain of doing a PhD, but at the same time, I am having concerns over my lifestyle outside work. I am thinking that perhaps it would be best that I live on my own or in halls next year if I do fail to get a PhD placement in Cambridge or Reading.
But for now, I have my cup of tea, a calculator and a pen. I will begin my sleepless night of shadowing effect on mobile radio communication networks…This is student life!
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Reunion
» talfryn.netGoing to Hong Kong again - this is my third trip there in six months? - to visit my folks for Chinese New Year. For too long has my face been missing from those family photos. It still wouldn’t be the entire extended family though… what with relatives away at the far-flung corners of the world… with some in Canada, and school beckoning my cousins back to the UK. And Japan, but that’s another story. We’re just all over the place.
Strangely enough, I’m setting out with the same goal as I did when I was in HK for CNY those many years ago. I wonder if my sis has been carrying on with the campaign… but I’ll know how far our influence has gone when we are witness to the absence (or presence) of sharks’ fin on the dining tables.
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What I feel of the adults
» talfryn.netI love it much more when grown-ups adults parents aunties and uncles talk about their jobs and their experiences to one another than when they talk about it directly to me. When they talk amongst themselves, it is done with doses of humour and the humility to laugh at themselves. I become a willing listener, a keen observer, being selective with whichever bits of wisdom I’ll take home, and able to witness the subtle dodging of sensitivities and the ego-flattering (plus counter-flattering) attempts. I learn more and take in more this way, than in face-to-face, oft-one-sided ‘conversations’.
And another observation: sometimes I feel that parents are expecting their kids - older toddlers and younger teens - to behave, speak, and think like adults. Of course, that’s the ideal parental vision… to guide their children along into maturity into civilised, noble, accomplished adults… but why the hurry? Let children be children, while they still are. Let them have their fun. Parents are too quick to forget that their children are children, after all.
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And a rock came tumbling down
» talfryn.netI mentioned last week that our neighbouring condo was being demolished.
I’ve had peaceful lie-ins in the past few mornings, and I could hear the songs of the birds once more through the relative quiet of the area, but it came at a heavy price.
Apparently, a 30kg concrete slab fell onto a construction supervisor, and killed him on the spot. Now the site’s been cordoned off while investigations take place.
The way they’ve been doing the demolishing work, it’s an accident waiting to happen. Before they started bringing in the backhoes, they were emptying the building of its interior assets and I recall seeing last holidays the workers were heavy pieces of furniture right out of its windows and corridors, letting them fall from the upper storeys to crash in a thundering clap upon impact with the ground.
Looks to me they have serious HSE issues.
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23:55
Beefed up
» The Summit TrailAs part of my resolution to go swimming everyday, I realised that nowadays I could swim with a lot more ease. I think I know the reason - and it is because I am eating beef again. I know everyone is scared about mad cow disease or killing many cows, but we are buying from the Halal butcher from Nottinghill Gate, and the beef seems to be quite good quality.
You see, I think the beef is giving me the iron to build more haemoglobin so that I could last longer swimming.
****
Apart from that, I try to have dinner with Andy (my cousin) twice a week now. He seems to be enjoying London and his work, which is good. However, as much as I admire his ability to work in the commerce world, I don’t think that it is very possible for me to survive there. Today after a chat with Mu Li, I gathered that its best to stay as an engineer. I told him what Vincent is doing since he’s choosing about the same subjects as him. But the question is why is it so hard for Chinese people to do engineering in this country, and why are they so attracted to Ā£Ā£Ā£???
****Heard from my brother that one of my swimming coaches passed away from a heart attack at the age of 38. Its quite a shocking news. It makes me wonder why we bother troubling ourselves in many unnecessary affairs when God can take away our lives at anytime He wants - and yet, it seems so difficult to concentrate on things which matters.
****
Chinese New Year coming up. Going to have hot pot next Wednesday, asked over Andy and mentioned it to a friend from lifesaving (who joined very recently) who might be coming. I heard that Hong Kong is colder than London today. But why was it so hot last year when I went back?! I had to wear short sleeves last year. What is happening to the world? I heard Jerusalem saw its first snow in a long time, and many Middle Eastern cities also suffer from cold temperatures. I wonder why!
****
I have to stop procrastinating! I should just submit my PhD application soon. It does seem odd that I will be Dr K Shah in a few years (if I suceed). I wonder if it is just an excuse to keep me in an environment where time is not a real factor and that I could have a more flexible lifestyle. I heard from Jon today that Spinvox seems quite interested with the idea of PhD…but I don’t know, they still haven’t really gotten to me about anything yet. I also saw something called EngD which seems very interesting, perhaps if Spinvox were to sponser me, I could do a EngD instead of a PhD, but it will take 1 more year to complete.
****
Japanese test tomorrow…Why do I suck so much??
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22:58
Oxford Street: A nightmare in London
» The Summit TrailSeriously, there is no point in catching a bus from here to Tottenham Court Road. Whilst a night bus might only take 10 minutes, in day time, there is no way of getting from one end to the other end of Oxford Street without the temptation of getting off the bus and just walk it. [...]
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CNY night markets
» talfryn.netChinatown, Singapore. Needless to say, it was sardine-packed full of people. But I don’t believe I’ve gone down to S’pore’s Chinatown during CNY before, so it’s an experience. They sell the traditional Chinese New Year goodies, cultural arts and crafts, and many random things like special anti-bacterial socks (the stall attracted quite a crowd), Power Showers (showerheads), and some imports, mostly candies and sweets, from Japan, Taiwan and Europe.
Stalls line the streets. I don’t think the shophouses’ windows were specially painted for this occasion though, matching as they are.
Everything’s red - this stall must be oozing with good luck
It never does harm to bargain.
Safekeep your pennies in these blue-eyed red-nosed golden-year-of-the-rat piggy banks! -
First greets in a fortnight
» talfryn.netI thought it goes that the less active a blog is, the less readers it’ll have. So I wonder why it is that visitorship has rocketed despite there not having been a single new post in almost two weeks. Are readers that curious about what’s been happening in my life? Voyeurs, the whole lot of you! Move along now, nothing to see here.
* * * * *
I made a couple of mental notes of a few memorable bloggable encounters throughout the week but sitting here now, I can’t recall what they were about exactly. Turns out they aren’t *that* memorable after all.
* * * * *
The condo block next to ours is now being demolished. Bit by painstaking and thundering bit. The entire facade has been enveloped by a mesh netting, and backhoes have found their way to the rubble on top - some 20 storeys high. Early every morning, I’d be rudely awakened by these machines doing their work, the concrete slabs and glass pieces they’ve dredged tumbling all the way to the ground, hitting against the steel scaffolding that surrounds the building, just under the mesh. They create a disharmonious melody of booming, banging, screeching and tinkling sounds, joined in by the bass death-drumming of a nearby thumper.
It is both unfortunate and inconvenient that that building is less than a hundred metres away. Too much dust forces me to keep my windows closed at all times. Once when I opened a tiny slit just to let some stale air out and fresh air in, the breeze brought in some dust particles and I was sent diving into a box of tissues for the entire day and night.
What a most useful invention, tissue is. My allergies have been assaulting my nose and my sinus is having the hardest time of it. I don’t know what I’ll do without tissue. Thank goodness for tissue.
* * * * *
I saw an ad on a cab - it was a picture of a rainforest and a painting of a hornbill that caught my eye. I read the caption - Visit Malaysia, it screamed, followed by a smaller Tourism Malaysia. And the website? ineedabreak.com.sg
* * * * *
Oh, bribery of briberies. More blisters and callouses on toes, and tense calves. Dare I admit that I have had my brows shaped too? Just very, very slightly mind you, but still, the horror of my face being molested, powered, blushed, pinked-up! On not one but two occasions, too. Playing mommy’s doll.
In a more than equal return, I was allowed to acquire a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, the Nikon R1 close-up speedlight system, and I’m still contemplating that juicy Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 which sits so rightfully at home in a professional’s kitbag (frightfully, too, considering its pricey tag). *smacks lips* Sigh sigh sigh, what to do, what to do? To get or not to get?
I love the sharpness and speed of that 50mm. My first time toying experimenting around with an AF f/1.8, I fell in love with it. For low-light photography and portraits, it does wonders. People might have thought me weird though, when I had to stand meeetres away when taking full-body shots of them. Kept swapping that for the 18-200mm VR and vice versa every few minutes. I think I blinded a lot of people with the flashgun that day.
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Another mystery
» talfryn.netTwo summers ago in Singapore, I wondered aloud at the extra layers of clothing that people were wearing on the streets. These days, I see people walking about with scarves around their necks. I thought I spotted a youth with a red wool-knitted scarf, no less! When people talk about individuals ‘living in their own worlds’, I never did realise that it could refer to them having their own climes as well.
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Eh, mālady?
» talfryn.net“While wearing high heeled shoes, a woman’s curves are more pronounced because of the positions of her derriere and chest. She also walks differently, with her hips moving gracefully. High heeled shoes not only make a women look better. She feels sexier wearing them as well. This can be seen in the confidence that is seen in women who wear high heeled shoes. They move with a smooth sexuality that women in flat soled shoes rarely show.”
… so says a website I found. (I was curious. Seriously. Wearing heels make no - physiological and anatomical - sense.)
Far from donning a dainty, elegant gait when heels are worn, I feel more like a baby elephant trying to imitate how penguins walk. (Or should it be trying hard to not imitate how penguins walk?) Occasions that call for a certain attire demand a certain sacrifice. Oh vanity! Thy price is sore calves, strained tendons, and blisters on all four corners of the feet - the two big toes and the two little toes. Womanhood is a tall order, and ‘dressing to impress’ is such a flawed trait of a twisted societal expectation that borders on self-abuse. London’s uneven cobbled streets, fallen leaves that pose a slippery business, puddles of rainwater, the stairs, crowds and occasionally out-of-order escalators, and the mazes of the Tube all make for an advanced endurance course.
Aye, this is the first post dedicated to my job-seeking experience thus far - my first assessment centre at an environmental consultancy - my first job application. It’s been a fun day, meeting all sorts of people (a quarter of the candidates were, coincidentally, from my MSc course!) and thrown into all sorts of stimulating situations, with individual and team-based exercises. Having one too many mugs of tea or coffee over breaktimes, sipping politely while engaging in talks of sustainable development, or general, harmless conversations of a more personal nature. I really wouldn’t have minded more of these assessment centres, if it were not for the anxious waiting-for-the-outcomes that follow (okay, and if it were not for the dressing up bits as well).
Right now I’m deciding between bursting my uber-large blister with a semi-sterile needle, or letting it get squished and pop on its own on Wednesday. It’s inevitable - a degree of ignorance for my personal welfare will be required again. Wednesday might just make or break my prospects of a career with this firm.
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The importance of not being earnest
» talfryn.netWent with Xi to the National Portrait Gallery where they were showing the Photographic Portrait Prize and Pop Art Portraits exhibitions. For many of the prints, although first impressions were of an occasion of solemnity, if you were to read the captions and the story beneath it, you’d be hard-pressed to suppress a chuckle when you look at the picture again. Somehow, there’s something intellectually funny about it.
I’ve been meeting quite a lot of people (relative to my usual weeks) in the past week - all quintessentially very English sort of people.
From pre-teenage kids to retired seniors, from the BBC to tabloid papers, from the highly-rated TV programmes to YouTube homemade clips, from those classic Orange ads in the cinemas to the posters they have on buses (I saw one they other day which went: “I’d do anything for you… including your wife” but couldn’t see what it was trying to sell) - they all have it: humour. And it’s not just any humour. It’s English humour:
The English do not have any sort of global monopoly on humour, but what is distinctive is the sheer pervasiveness and supreme importance of humour in English everyday life and culture. In other cultures, there is ‘a time and place’ for humour: among the English it is a constant, a given - there is always an undercurrent of humour. Virtually all English conversations and social interactions involve at least some degree of banter, teasing, irony, wit, mockery, wordplay, satire, understatement, humorous self-deprecation, sarcasm, pomposity-pricking or just silliness. Humour is not a special, separate kind of talk: it is our ‘default mode’; it is like breathing; we cannot function without it. English humour is a reflex, a knee-jerk response, particularly when we are feeling uncomfortable or awkward: when in doubt, joke. The taboo on earnestness is deeply embedded in the English psyche. Our response to earnestness is a distinctively English blend of armchair cynicism, ironic detachment, a squeamish distast for sentimentality, a stubborn refusal to be duped or taken in by fine rhetoric, and a mischievous delight in pricking the balloons of pomposity and self-importance. (English humour is not to be confused with ‘good humour’ or cheerfulness - it is quite often the opposite; we have satire instead of revolutions and uprisings.)
~ Kate Fox (2004), Watching the English
And I’m lovin’ it!
* * * * *
The Aussie election outcomes were announced yesterday. On the streets, we saw a group of people, dressed up to an Aussie theme. What was odd was not so much of how they looked; even odder was the response (or lack of) that they got from others. We tagged along, observing them for a while. Other pedestrians, although they were aware of the comic group of characters proceeding their way, would hardly give them a second glance as they walked past. As if it was a most normal affair - to have people costumed as the Tassie devil, girls in pink fluffy dresses as though they came straight from Dreamworld, and Steve Irwin impersonators (cargo shorts in winter complete with ‘Akubra’ hats and dangling corks). “This is London!” - where everyone minds their own business. I came to the same deductions when doing street photography here too - compare shooting on the streets and markets in London, and in China, for example (where people’s reactions are simply hostile), or in Japan (where they’d pose and give the ‘V-sign’), or in other parts of South-east Asia (where people would look down, face away, or walk off).
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1:40
Flew away
» The Summit TrailMy Dad is on the way back to Hong Kong already…I think he’s been looking forward to go back for a while now. But he did really enjoy Europe. Thanks all for making his stay so pleasant. -
1:39
Excitement
» The Summit TrailMany exciting things happened today, I got woken up by a call from Accenture this morning telling me that I have an interview with them. Then afterwards, I went to a meeting with my professor only to find out that he is going to change my topic which will be in line with something his [...]
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A beautifully crude form of liberation
» talfryn.netWhen nothing else works for the moment, when there isn’t the time and the mental capacity to allow for that framing of the mind, for the the working out of the rationale of staying a hand or holding a tongue, and when you can’t do nought, it helps. As I’ve realised from time to time. [...]
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22:19
Sports
» The Summit TrailSports is a mind wakening tool for me. Most of the time, after a hardcore training, despite how tired I feel, I feel very refreshed, and happy. I am the sort of people who needs to keep in constant contact with people around me, and I guess I prefer to hang out with people who [...] -
3:55
Mental Preparation
» The Summit TrailI think mentally preparing for something is more important than you think. For me, I rarely mentally prepare myself for something, unless its for a presentation (which to be honest, I have stopped doing) - actually, maybe because I have stopped taking these things seriously, hence I stop mentally preparing for them. There is a competition [...]
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Right vs left brain
» talfryn.netI got the link through Vincy’s blog. I’m both - at times I’d open it up and find that she’s going clockwise, at others she’d be going anti-clockwise. It might depend on what I have been doing prior to visiting that page. Either way, when I blink and reopen my eyes, or when I concentrate, [...]
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21:54
å¬ē·ēé: Its my Final Year!
» The Summit TrailSuddenly feeling the pressure from my courses as my coursework are kicking in, and mostly programming. As much hard work as it is, I must push myself to finish it because it is only with this mentality that I will be able to do better… I think its good practice for me as well…I will be [...]
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Steadyā¦
» talfryn.netThings are going well. Well, alrightish, I’d say. Been back for a weekish and it feels like so much has already happened… Things are moving on. As they should be. Except my life. I’m still stuck in transition. Willingly stuck, though. It ain’t that bad. Contrary to popular belief that post-college pre-working life is usually [...]
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18:43
Urgh
» The Summit TrailI am once again frustrated by people who try to impose conflicts and unrest in my life. If there is something to say, why must one try to take sides, especially in such a close group of friends? What good does it bring to the harmony? I can see the problem, but why must one [...]
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Falling leaves
» talfryn.netSo. I’m here. Back. ish. While I was away, my room was being used as a guestroom of sorts. I knew most of those to whom my room and housemates played host, but what I wasn’t aware of was how they were playing some form of round robin with my room and its assets. Used [...] -
Countercurrents
» talfryn.netWhen my only immediate reason for returning to London is so that I won’t miss my friends’ graduation… When I don’t have to go to school, or work (yet), or attend any important events there… When the only thing I can look forward to is to see my friends and QuGee who have been waiting [...] -
The 16th flightā¦
» talfryn.net… for this year. Away from the comforts and shelter that is my family, learning how to live can be a difficult thing. I am preparing, bracing myself for whatever awaits me over the other side. There is too much to absorb, to take in, to feel, to agonise over. Too much to face, both [...] -
No language barriers here
» talfryn.netI’m watching the telly, and I’m trying to get used to how the show presenter is interviewing this Taiwanese celebrity, speaking in 100% Cantonese, and the celebrity would respond in complete Mandarin, and from time to time there would appear cartoonish English thought bubbles above both of them…
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12:55
Draggedā¦
» The Summit TrailHow come I am dragged into being the one toĀ organise London Lifesaving Competition and LIMUN??
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Golden dusk
» talfryn.netThese days, I can feel the sun’s heat on my back, even as I sit in my chair, at my usual workdesk in my room. When the clouds part, the sunlight that shines through my window is strong enough to make me squint, and I would need to draw the curtains to continue about my [...]
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3:04
Life back in London
» The Summit TrailI guess a lot of people have been waiting for this post. How should I put it? Strangely familiar would be the words I will use to describe this feeling. Well, actually, today was the first day school really started for me. For the past week, I have been getting ready for work, fitting together [...] -
2:36
ICMUN regathering
» The Summit TrailIt was great. Just…great. I was reminded of all the fun I had when I started this club. There was Sun, Anna, Michael, Richard and I. Quite an international bunch again. Funnily enough, after spending around 2 hours in a pub (only Richard drank his beloved Czech beer, the rest of us drank juice or [...]
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Excitement in the storm
» talfryn.netInitially, today, we had planned on a family outing (or at least, for my sis and I) to East Coast Park to take a look at the World Animal Day carnival. In the early afternoon, while we were still lunching at home, the drizzle escalated into a foggy rainstorm, the sky turned twisteresque dark grey [...] -
Much good may it do us
» talfryn.netI received a letter in the post today, from the Member of Parliament (MP) of the Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC), writing on behalf of the Citizens’ Consultative Committee (CCC) welcoming my family and I to the Tanglin-Cairnhill Division, encouraging me to join the grassroots organisations (GROs), such as my Residents’ Committee (RC) or [...]
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23:41
Strangely Familiar
» The Summit TrailThese are the words I will use for my feeling after these couple of days in London. Everything is so…European. The gray sky, the dryness, the people. Its strange though, I kindda lost that “homey feeling” to London - the feeling that I belong. Somehow I feel like I am complaining a lot. In actual fact, [...]
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*Still* in Sāpore
» talfryn.netSigh, with so much happening and so much to do here, how can I bear to leave? -
Nature tells stories
» talfryn.netI saw a number of Burmese Lascars at SBWR today. Not the Mangrove Sunbeams, which are sometimes mistaken for the lascar, but the real Burmese Lascars. I was tailing one of them, trying to get a good, clean shot. It landed near a Peaceful Dove (and an extremely tame one at that) before fluttering off [...] -
Exploring Chinatown
» talfryn.netWe trotted about, donning the tourist look, cameras in hand, with a permanent expression of amusement of our faces… as we laughed at ‘Singapore is a Fine City’ T-shirts and browsed the stands for scenic postcards. It was my first time just walking about Chinatown, or anywhere in Singapore, for that matter, for the sole [...]
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14:15
Confusion
» The Summit TrailI really need some rest - ever since coming back from Atsugi, I don’t think I have had enough rest. I felt such a great sense of calmness until coming back to Hong Kong, when I was told something to which he claim would cause me to have more trust. Trust is a very funny thing. [...]
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Energy loss
» talfryn.netI don’t usually talk about these things much. Not so openly, at least. But even after having written in my private journal, I am still finding the need to express it more openly and hence this post. I’m not sure what it is usually that lets others think I have nil experience with guys, as [...] -
Exuvia
» talfryn.netIt’s odd… 5.30am, and I’m still fully awake. I’m not sure if it’s those cups of Chinese tea I had, or if it was that latte in the late afternoon. In any case, it’s one of the rarer cases of “I really couldn’t sleep”. Usually plugging into my iPod helps, but not this time. It’s [...] -
Opps, I did it again
» talfryn.netNo turning back on this one - am continually getting re-stuck in Singapore! -
Restless
» talfryn.netI don’t know what to say. Not in a bad way, though. -
All for the want of a pizza
» talfryn.netIt took me 40 minutes to place an order for home delivery from Pizza Hut. I called twice. Thrice, actually. The third time only because my sis insisted. By then I was already filling in a feedback form on their website, and was looking into alternatives for dinner. The first time I called, I was [...] -
Cross-cultural encounters
» talfryn.netWhile at Borders the bookshop - Elderly Caucasian woman: Excuse me, sorry, could you tell me how much this book costs? And she hands a book over to a young man, who takes it, looks it over, amused, and points to the price label. Politeness getting the better of him, he reads it out. Man: It’s [...] -
MBTI type
» talfryn.netRecently I had the chance to do one of these tests. I thought I recalled doing them (or something similar) when I was younger, but since I was still young and innocent then, I hadn’t a clue if I was what the type description said I was. I did a search online to find out [...] -
Watch this space
» talfryn.netThings are happening so quickly, I can’t keep up with ‘em on my blog! -
Outdone again
» talfryn.netThis time… for returning home even later than the previous night… -
Outdoing myself
» talfryn.netI believe I’ve broken a number of records these few days: Most number of consecutive hours spent outside the house (while I’m in Singapore) And thus most number of consecutive hours spent off-line (while I’m in Singapore) Most number of hands shaken and people met and new friends made Most number of words I’ve said and [...] -
The nationās birthday
» talfryn.netI thought I could feel the excitement in the atmosphere this National Day, more so than I did for Christmas in Singapore. At least, people don’t go about wearing green and red on that special day in December, but today the streets were full of proud Singaporeans dressed in red and white. Even my sis [...] -
Always on the move
» talfryn.netI fly in a couple of hours. Again. Flights are alright… it’s the mere thought of having to go through the lines at Heathrow that makes me tired.
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3:25
Assimilation
» The Summit TrailNot quite assimilated but at least integrated. How do I know? When I am lying in bed after the snooze function of my alarm rang 3 times and at 9:20am I am still telling myself, don’t worry - you can sleep more… Today the sky is unusually blue. Why do I know? I think I have [...]
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Music on the Thames
» talfryn.netWent with a group of friends (current QG, future QG, ex-bio, family friends who were visiting London) to the Royal Festival Hall last night for one of its signature performances. The London Philharmonic Orchestra was so good! They’re the ones who did the soundtrack for the Lord of the Rings, among other films and pieces. [...]
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13:38
Fell down again!
» The Summit TrailJust now after dinner when I came back I lost control of my bike twice and fell with the bike. You see, there is a paddle strap and when I loose control I cannot use my leg for balancing so instead of standing up, I fell with the bike. My dad also told me that [...] -
5:01
Useless Weekend
» The Summit TrailThis weekend was probably the most useless weekend I had since I came to Japan. Originally I thought of going to Tokyo to take photos of the life and culture around the metropolitan city. Instead, something else happened… You see right, Fridays have become a day where all of us come around to play computer game. [...]
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Old stuff uploaded on Zoto
» talfryn.netSince getting my old photos back from the dead drive (the data recovery people reported electrical failures on the printed circuit board), I’ve uploaded a few dozen pics from a few assorted places and times: Abbotsleigh (2001/2002) Heron Island field trip (2002) Shropshire field trip (2003) Brownsea-Bath-Stonehenge road trip (2004) Guernsey/Channel Islands marine ecology field trip (2004) [...]