Flush

Sketched out by one of my superbly clever Officemates:

Rainy Holidays

I know… I know… I know… it’s been a damn long time…. Even the probably less than 5 people who have been following this blog every now and then have been bugging me, giving me stick for not having posted an entry since God-Knows-When… but what can I say??? I’ve been REALLY busy…

But then again, there’s nothing like a rainy day on a long weekend that can give you a bit of time to do a few things you miss… i.e. putting my mp3 player on my home speakers (as opposed to my earphones while I’m in transit/at work or in my speakers in the office while working late or during the weekends).

A Few Updates
I actually changed jobs last late November… despite all sorts of tension going on in the upper echelons of my previous company, I was actually trying to hold off, to wait for a year to pass before I ‘throw letter’… but a series of bizarre HBO-like events in the office coupled with several moments of being goaded during some beer sessions had the wheels turning towards my departure from my old company much sooner than I had planned. Some say plans were made to be broken, but heck, as a guy who makes plans (albeit a different kind) for a living, I’m not exactly an advocate of such thinking…

On hindsight however, I’m actually really happy on the decision that I made. Despite really lacking on the impressive ‘frills’ that my previous company offered, this new place has given me something much more (for now at least)… a sense of place. Perhaps it’s just a matter of personality, a matter of off coincidences or what… but in this new place, I feel like a basketballer / footballer who had just moved to a new team, to be under a new coach or ‘system’ that gives more value to his capabilities and what he’s capable of contributing. And as a result of all that, I get much more ‘playing time’… having given more creative freedom, and subsequently, a more important role in the producing the actual work. I find this to be quite a funny coincidence given that the previous setup was considerably smaller (the company was bigger, but the ‘working division’ much smaller) where one would presumably be expected to take on more roles and get better exposure. Oddly enough, this hasn’t been the case.

The flipside of this however, is that I’ve been working like an animal since I’ve started out. Working Late and Working weekends have become a staple not to mention the all-nighters. This of course is also my explanation for having gone Missing in Action in this blog during all this time. I’m still in the process finding a kind of ‘rhythm’ in my life… where I can manage to piece together the neglected elements of my life back into place as a result of this massive change.


Ah…. Lovely day today! It rained a bit this afternoon and now, with the gone the wind still blows a nice cool breeze, great way to offset the blistering heat that’s a sign of Singapore’s dreaded summer heatwave creeping in... That’s it for now, I guess… hopefully though… being able to find the pace of this ‘new life’ can bring me back into this little bit of cyberspace real estate a bit more…

Brush with Greatness

Some Weeks Ago, I was able to sucker my boss into paying for the $50 sgd ticket to watch Pritzker Prize Laureate Frank Gehry deliver a lecture in the 1,700 capacity NUS University Cultural Center. The Place was PACKED! And I ended up with front row seats (I didn't pay extra, or perform sexual favors for the seats...hahahah). Just Plain Luck (and a little cunning in dealing with the queues *wink, wink). Being in such a sweet spot for this "Architecture Rock Concert," I took photographs of the great man himself.

Despite my INCREDIBLY Dull Social Life...

Despite my INCREDIBLY Dull Social Life, I've managed to go out a few times over the past couple of weeks.... and thanks to the advent of Phone Cameras (and the balls I grew to overcome my stinginess to buy one for myself....), I saw a few interesting things over the course of a few nights out....
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I was once at a friend's birthday party when one friends back from NUS once pointed out to me how she found the air-exhaust machinery used for Clarke Quay's new 'Umbrella Roofs' resembled Male Genitalia. So, on my next trip to Clarke Quay, I went to see for myself if this was really so... True enough, it does resemble a Cock! An uncircumsized one at that! To top it all off, I realized this while I was taking a PRIEST around to show the town off...

FYI: The Design Consultants for this was Will Alsop.

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I was having a Friday Night Im-Happy-I-Can-Have-2-Days-Without-My-Boss Beer Session with a former colleague (who resigned coz he couldn't stand my current boss). It was after my first pint of beer where I recognized a really odd sign posted INSIDE the bar I was in. To prove to myself that I wasn't drunk when I saw this, I took a photograph. What does the sign ILLUSTRATE? "We will shoot you in the back if you run!"

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I was in Bugis Junction taking around my old High School buddy Clear when he came to town several weeks ago. An interesting item being sold as a souvenir caught my eye: A miniature version of the Petronas Towers (located in Kuala Lumpur) being sold as a Souvenir of Singapore!

Searching for Sustainability

It’s almost 8:30… Here I am in the office… I just got back from a round of jogging. I’ve decided to lengthen my route a bit from my previous ‘expedition’. And for the first time (I think)… I found myself pumping my fist and smiling at the sky for having been able to accomplish what I just did (for a guy my shape, certain physical challenges, which would otherwise be considered easy pickings, are quite an achievement).
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It’s been a few weeks….
I’ve been trying to establish some kind of routine… to jog around the area where my office every Tuesdays and Thursdays… and if I could take it even further, jump into the pool during the in- between days, save for the days where there are certain special events or ‘social engagements’ (though those who know what my life is like clearly know there aren’t many of those…)
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I used to have a membership at the gym in our building’s 3rd floor but the gym closes too early, is closed on the weekends so I’m better off using the monthly dues for other things.
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Besides, I’ve always hated going to the gym. Being in a place where there was this funny smell in the locker rooms (and in my experiences back in Manila, in the elevators too)… stale air-conditioned environment… TV… and a bunch of machines for you to exercise repeatedly some bodily movement… all that never really appealed to me. And I don’t really being around guys with muscles on their muscles, groaning irritatingly as they lift 500-pound dumbbells…
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***Sidetrack Story***
Some years ago, during a trip to Boracay, I got myself a Henna tattoo… I picked out one that showed a barbed wire around my flabby “yellow” arm. After 3 Days, I was back in Manila, in one of my failed attempts at losing weight via a gym. When I got to the locker, there I was, with my shirt off…. Belly shooting out of my torso and with my fake, barbed-wire-around-my-arm tattoo fading off… and as I was I wiping myself down… In came a muscle-bound, 6-pack loaded dude with a REAL barbed-wire-around-his arm tattoo…
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If there was a moment to describe the phrase ‘embarrassing contrast’, that was it.
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***End of Sidetrack Story***
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But all that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve yet to lose the approximately 20 pounds I’ve gained in college (Don’t ask how that happened)… I always had an excuse:
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I liked swimming, but back in Manila, there was no convenient accessibility to a pool on a daily basis…
In the gym, I liked hopping on the treadmill and getting lost in my thoughts for about 20-30 minutes and finish all sweaty and breathing heavily… but like I said, I didn’t like going to the gym.
Real jogging around the streets would be nice, but in Manila, only if you wanna get run over by a wayward car or die of lung cancer a week later (I didn’t live in those ‘exclusive’, gated, suburban communities).
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But here I am, not very far from the age where I have to REALLY watch what I eat (some even rightly argue that the time for that is NOW!), and constantly ribbed by my parents, friends, colleagues and even my bosses about my weight… and yes, perhaps contrary to what others may perceive of me… I do want to get on my own case on the matter.
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But I am no believer in eating 3 carrots a day for 6 months, or making weird and disgusting shakes (purchased from the “Health Store”) and calling them meals. Ditto for diet pills. I can’t afford liposuction by the way.
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Seriously speaking, I do however believe in sustainability. If I am going to be able to do the unthinkable (get in better shape)… it must be done through sustainable means, not one-time-big-time solutions.
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So here I am in Singapore… cleaner air (at least seemingly…) and less risk of getting run over, and I live in a Condo with a Swimming Pool. In other words: no more excuses for me. This routine is both realistic and relatively sustainable. So here goes…
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Feel free to rub it in I screw this one up. Haha... encouragement would be far, far better though *wink, wink