The pains and joys of driving

These days, you really have to consider carefully whether you want to drive downtown to catch a movie. Include some makan, shopping around, and maybe some Black Forest Freeze at Coffee Bean, you can end up paying a small fortune for the toll and car park charges. Which makes me think, is it worth it to pay so much for just leaving a vehicle in a lot doing nothing? If you include the ERP toll charges, the money is good enough to pay for another person's movie ticket and black forest freeze!

But sometimes, that's the price you pay for wanting to have a little bit more luxury and comfort. I don't think its more convenient than taking public transport in Singapore. The buses and train services are already pretty efficient, and I hate searching and waiting for parking lots in malls. I do enjoy driving, but although the costs of owning a car is slowly going down, the costs of using it more than 'made up' for it. Rising toll, fuel, and parking charges, plus insurance and taxes. Makes it necessary for one to really consider why buy a car? Need vs Want. The heart, or the head, which one will you follow? Haha!

Now, back to the car. After the 5k oil change and another 3k or so of mileage, the car seems much more responsive, pick up seems to have improved as well. For a small capacity sedan, I think its performance is already very admirable. Moreover, its pretty frugal, and that translates to more direct savings. Having a CVT transmission means we don't get the 'surge' when we 'step on it'. But I must say its just a matter of getting use to it. Plus its damn smooth since there are no gear changes.

Parked side by side to the outgoing model, this ash-black beauty definitely looks more curvaceous and has more 'road presence', whatever that means, ha! I like the wide-eyed headlights, and both the front and back lamp clusters have just the right bulges at all the right places. The vehicle is not too long, so its quite easy to park, and at the same time, interior space is quite good, the flat rear floor giving ample leg room for the rear passengers. Boot space is generous without giving the car the 'honda city' look.

Although its not a performance car, it handles itself well when I put it through its paces through some winding roads and a lot of hard acceleration. The electric powered steering gives ample feedback, and the tyres grip the road without any hints of losing traction. Road undulations and irritating humps doesn't trouble the suspension, since its tuned more towards comfort rather than sporty handling.

All in all, nothing to complain about, except the ever rising costs of toll and parking!

Pillar - Frontline

Catchy riff. Powerful lyrics. Not bad at all...

Overloaded

Sorry, I've neglected you.

I've been so overloaded with work that, sometimes, I feel like I'm being exploited. I'm doing the work of an engineer, but not getting the pay of one. Favoritism is alive and real. Some people just have to tell the boss he's giving up, leaving, and the next thing you know, he's rewarded with a promotion.

Sometimes I regret rescinding my resignation letter. I should have hardened my heart and left. I would be much busier, but paid much better. Now, I'm three times busier than before, getting less money due to some allowances being taken away, less rest days, more 'take home' responsibilities.

I'm beginning to get the hang of it, though. Time to get back to basics! Gotta give myself more time to relax, to de-stress, to unwind...

Time to go back to the sun, sand, and sea...

Huo Yuan Jia 霍元甲

After Fun with Dick and Jane yesterday, I went to see Fearless today.

The plot is predictable. But what made this movie worth my money is and fight scenes and the fact that it's based on one of the most famous chinese martial arts heroes who left a lasting impact on the chinese people.

As usual, after watching a movie based on a historical character, I searched the internet and dug up all the juicy stuff about him. The site that best describe his life and the JingWu philosophy will be the chin woo or 精武 organisation site which I believe is the most accurate I can find. It also mentioned that the early Chin Woo Association in 1920 sending the "Five Northern Dragons" to spread it's influence in Singapore and Malaysia, cool!

The movie also matches the historical description that Huo was lethal and decisive in combat, taking on many at once, and often breaking the arms and hands of his opponents, all the while remaining un-defeated.

Today, Chin Woo Association 精武门，has branches all over the world, in Europe, America, Japan, Asia, even NZ and Canada!

Tragically, like many other heroes, he was killed by dispicable means, poisoned by his enemy (his Japanese Doctor, who also was a Judo teacher) and died at the age of 41 (or 42 as mentioned in the film) after Huo broke the hands of ten Judo practitioners who rushed him together.

Another surprising find was that a Chin Woo Grandmaster Lin Bo Yan (1903 - 1990), besides teaching wushu, had actually taught Chinese and Geography in Chung Cheng Middle School in Singapore in the 1940s!

And for what it's worth, from this site about Mi Zong (Lost Track) style, it also seems that Huo's great-grandfather Huo XuWu was taught the Mi Zong Boxing style by Sun Tong.

All I can say is, 霍元甲大侠，请受小人一拜！kowtow

Number one, no more/ Seven Swords

Finally got to rest after a hectic week at work. I'm gonna catch Tsui Hark's Seven Swords (七剑) later. Ever since Crouching Tiger- Hidden Dragon, there's been a good supply of these wuxia (武侠) movies surfacing. I'm quite happy with what I've seen so far, the likes of Hero, House of Flying Daggers, are quality productions with fantastic plots.

For quite some time now, Cathay's Orchard Cineleisure has taken over Shaw's Lido One as the my number one venue for my weekly movie event. Although none of the halls are as big as the gargantuan Lido 1, they have soundly(pun intended) beaten Lido 1 in all other aspects-

1. THX sound system - I don't know what happened to Lido 1, but are they still THX certified? Cathay has been making claims that their Cineleisure multiplexes are the only THX certified ones in Singapore, so does that mean Lido 1 has lost it?
2. Unblocked viewing - the hall's gradient and seat height is excellent. Even if the hyper-tensed bloke in front of you sits fully upright, you are unlikely to have your line-of-sight to the screen blocked. Unless, the bloke in front of you is Michael Jordan or Shaq O'Neil!
3. Air Conditioning - they got it just nice! Not too warm, and definitely not too cold! In some other theatres, I could've swear that I'd stepped into a container for freezing meat!
4. Washroom - yep, they got a loo, a toilet, whatever you choose to call it, right at the back, inside the hall, the bigger ones got 2. No need to run all the way out of the hall to a common toilet, and miss the most climatic scene of the movie!
5. Nice mix of retail outlets - although the building is not as big as Plaza Singapura (where GV plaza is) or Shaw House(where Lido cineplexes reside), they still manage to squeeze in a good mix of retailers, sports stuff, music, food, fashion, to keep both the guys and girls happy.
6. Human traffic - well, this is what my colleague said, not me! There's a 'nice' flow of human traffic there...blah blah blah!

So, there you go. I can't wait to see Donnie Yen in action again. He is a true martial artist, fights hard, can clown around, can be deadly intense just the same, and he speaks fluent cantonese, mandarin, english, and probably french as well(since his family is in Canada). I expect the movie to be a little hectic and requires a lot of imagination, what with the original cut being about 4-hours long! So it helps that the official website gives alot of background info and history of the characters and of course the swords. I hope Tsui Hark won't overdo those superman flying around stuff, and I hope it will have a gripping plot like Hero, and the color and romance like Flying Daggers. And quoting Donnie in an interview with China Times, I'm pretty positive that I won't be disappointed.

“I love Tsui Hark, love Seven Swords simply because of its level of realism. I don’t like movies in which the people can fly. Nowadays, due to the abilities of the actors, stunt doubles have to be called in or special effects employed even for not especially sophisticated action, while understandable, I do not support this.”

But, the best way to truly enjoy a movie is not to read or believe in any reviews (they are, after all, just the opinion of one or two individual), and to go with ZERO expectations.
Seven Swords, here I come!

An Afternoon at the Theatre

"I am going to start injecting..."

"I am starting to cut, tell me if you feel any pain..."

"Knife."

And there the surgeon goes, cutting me up like a sirloin steak, rare.
Since he's working on my back, I can't see what he's doing. But, that's the thing, you see. Although I don't feel any pain, thanks to the local anesthesia, I can still feel the sawing motion on my skin, and the feeling of my skin being stretched and held apart so they can see whatever is under my skin. Whatever they're tugging at, I can feel it!

The nurse, not hearing anything from me, came over to the front to check, and asked if I was ok. I must say that I'm quite impressed by the nurses. While waiting for the surgeon to arrive, they were chatty and attentive, making sure that I feel warm with the ultra comfortable heated air blanket, which blows warm air at me through very tiny holes. They talked to me like they've known me for years, and I talked to them like they're my mother.

After working on my back, which went quite well and was over in less than 45 minutes, he proceeded to work on my arm.

This time, I can feel more pain during the injection of the LA, probably because the skin on the forearm is much thinner, thus the needle will get into the muscles beneath more easily. Although my face was covered, I can still see what's going on from the reflection on the surgeon's spectacles. I can see the dark red muscle tissues contrasting against what is by now my very pale skin. An assistant surgeon or someone like that was helping the surgeon to keep the incised skin parted.

Every now and then, the surgeon will say things like,
"Vein..." (I hope he meant to avoid it)
"Scissors..." (oh man....)
"Knife...." (what, more slicing?)
"Oh my god..." (What!?!)

"What!?!", I thought to myself. I tried my best to see from the reflection what it's all about, but all I can see is still the rare sirloin steak like colour.

Thank God, all in all, the operation was over in about 2 hours or less. The nurses and doctors of Tan Tock Seng did a good job. The nurses and staff were polite, gentle, patiently repeating what they told me again and again when I acted like a blur sotong. I was offered Milo and crackers before and after the op. Two different nurses asked whether I waited long, and they made sure I made good use of the huge blanket they provided instead of just hanging it over my shoulders. When I had to wait, even for just a few minutes, they made sure I am seated and comfortable.

I must say, I have spent much longer hours in a polyclinic without getting half as much done. But then again, at the polyclinic, I'm paying peanuts to hear the doctor tell me something I know. Here, we're talking thousands.

"Is one week mc enough?"

....mmmm.....

Olivia

Just heard Olivia talking and singing in a radio show. Very good and clear voice, and there's a very airy sound to her singing, the type audiophiles would love.

Glad to know that another local singer is making big in outside of Singapore, this time Japan.

Gotta check out her music, after I'm done with my assignments!

S2SJ.com
Artist page
Blog

The Giordano girls? Eh? What's the Puma doing there?

World Harmony Run 2005

Went for the World Harmony Run on Saturday morning with ct. Met the usual faces we come to expect at MR. Sukaimi, Phillip, Alex, just to name a few, but where's David? Was so looking forward to run with him.

NMP Eunice 'Wheel of Fortune' Olsen was there as the Guest-of-Honor. She didn't run though, but her very beautiful and sporty mum did. She was running ahead of us almost throughout the whole trail part. We only managed to overtake her towards the end. Way to go Ma'am!

We didn't continue running the 2nd leg as ct was already wheezing. I think she started off too fast, not giving her body enough time to warm up.

We followed some of the organizers down to the Ceylon Sports Club to wait for the runners while having our breakfast. We then ran with them for a short distance(?) to the Civil Service Club(?). It was getting pretty hot already.

After lunch and some rest, I didn't join them for the next few legs cos I was feeling a bit sick and drowsy. Slept in the mini-bus instead.

We decided to follow Phillip's plan to join them for the final leg of about 10km instead. Starting from the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple at East Coast Road, via Nicoll Highway, all the way down to the Merlion at Esplanade Drive.

It was 3plus in the afternoon and the blazing sun was beating down on us like hell. I've never ran in this kind of condition for a long time since my army daze. I felt like puking blood! But I managed to pull through by keeping my pace at a comfortable level, slow and steady. Although my right hamstring started to tighten towards the last 200 metres or so after a series of stairs up and down. But at least my knees held up well, thanks to the knee sleeves I had on, I suppose.

Before this run, I was seriously contemplating to take part in this year's marathon. But now, I think I have to reconsider. I don't think my skinny legs can take it anymore! Guess I'll have to train and run more and see how it goes.

Next, looking forward to the Milk Run and the Olympics day run or sumthing like that...

some pix

kboxing day

(Click on the pile of pix to see details)

Had a fantastic session of chicken-slaughtering with 4 pretty nurses at kbox the other day... we sang our hearts out and it was all good, despite the insanely cold air-conditioning and the rashes appearing on my face due to a reaction to some medicine I took.