Hello 2015 ~

Hello 2015.

It's been 3 months, and woah you're still here.
But that's the Internet for you. Nothing really dies.

Ads, words, angst all still exists online.

A bit of nostalgia side-stepped me recently, when I received a wedding invite from my secondary school friend.

Age really catches up on you eh? But then again, it's not really age. It's not an age thing like where everyone sits for O Levels at 16 years old. It's more of a stage in life, where you get married, or you get a house, or you get promoted etc.

And it struck me, what a long time it has been. So, I decided to come and visit this blog a bit. I have no clue how active I'll be here next time. Indeed, this blog has really seen me age quite a bit, and how I have matured differently from my posts - from my years in poly, from girlfriend to girlfriend, to leaning towards the technological interesting gadget reviews or posts, and then every now and then a very mind-boggling post, filled with suggestive words and complicated words.

Every now and then, it's good to take stock of your life.
Helping my wife with her company accounts, collecting our new house keys tomorrow, rising up the ladder at work, it all seems so fast so swift at times. And at times, I feel the need to just chill. Five minutes of breathing and smelling the roses by the road won't mean the world stops turning.

In fact, life is sometimes so full, so big that we can never fully understand it. Rather, we can only marvel and bask in it. Like the flower blooming in the sun from the crack in the sidewalk. Like a dog lying on its back, and daydreaming. Like a baby smiling within the soft glows of the sun's rays.

iThink

Today, I chatted with my Uber taxi driver while on the way to work.
(I'll talk about Uber another time)

My taxi driver broke the ice by asking me about the phone model I was using. From there, it went on to me talking about how older phone models lasted longer, and could still work despite dropping it. (I think I was in a reflective mood).

Then I asked my driver how long he had been driving, and he told me he had been driving for ten years. "Ten years!", I remarked to him. "That's a long time. You saw Singapore developing, and the latest trends and growth through this decade."

He kept quiet for a min or two, before commenting that he hadn't really thought about it in that perspective.

I pointed out that Singapore ten years ago was a very very different picture than now. You had lesser criticism of foreign talent, lesser train lines, lesser taxi surcharges, and so much more.

You could see his mental cogs start turning and he went "true, you are right. It is quite different."

Then, we reached my destination. And indeed, we have changed so much over time, but have we grew old without admiring the beauty of the world?

One could focus on acquiring wealth and riches or status or power, but what good would that do, if you don't see the world?

Sometimes

Sometimes, it's not easy.
When a person highly respected in the same
faith as you
that professes the same beliefs as you
judges you without knowing you.

The place that you enter
as a sanctuary
as refuge
as a hiding place
lets you down.

That you feel judged and found guilty
without any wrongdoings.

Judged due to my working hours
Judged due to my denomination
Judged by society's standards.
Judged by your requirements.

Saddened.

Are you a Pharisee?
All words and no action?

Snorlax Pillow

There's nothing that says rest well than a Snorlax.

A cushion plush of app 19 x 34 cm, that is guaranteed to make you feel warm and cuddly and look forward to sweet dreams.



Available at $39.99 for pre-order from here.

Nohot Cup

Every time I order a hot beverage, I slowly sip it in anticipation that it will scald me.

So, when I read about Nohot Cup, I was mystified. Finally, an answer to hot liquids!

While it looks like a regular coffee cup, its lid is made from heat sensitive materials, so when the drink is too hot, there will be a lump on the lid that will hit your nose if you try to drink it. Once the drink has sufficiently cooled down, the lump will slowly disappear, allowing you to drink your warm beverage without any risk of tongue burns.




More info here.

Time flies and I'm enjoying it

Time flies.

It's been a year since I've been attached, and since then, I have gotten a house (still building), shifted from Bukit Merah to Hougang, got promoted, witnessed half my department leave (not at all at the same time), booked a hotel ballroom for wedding banquet, and gotten a mama shop.

Well, not really gotten a mama shop, but running its operations daily. Which can be a bit tiring but fun. Sometimes I need to scramble for time to sleep. After cleaning the cat's litter and dog's poo, and feeding and watering them. And doing household chores like hanging up the clothes and all.

But all in all, I'm still surviving and I couldn't have done it alone.

You see, we aren't a normal couple. Normal couples would be defined as those working office hours on a Mon to Fri job. They would probably have breakfast and dinner every night, and a date or two during the weekends.

I work shifts. My fiance works projects. So she could chill for three days, and then chiong eight days a week. Along the way, we fit in time for each other around the busy schedules. Maybe breakfast together, or supper together. Sometimes, we get so tired we just fall asleep in each others' arms.

Despite all this, I am quite enjoying life. Granted, sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming, and my eyes get smaller than their minimum size. Sometimes, she gets insecure, and I feel taken for granted, but we overcome all these together, and stick with each other.

2013 was a rather rushed and life-changing year. 2014 doesn't have to be better or worse, but fulfilled and lived to satisfaction.

You'll be missed

You'll be missed.

It's an understatement to say I'm sad at your passing. I shed tears for you once when you left the company, and now I'm shedding them for you once more.

Did you not hug me and promised you'll come back stronger? I believed you. You were always a man of action. But what happened? I will never know.

So young, so full of life, yet you just gave up. And to such an end.

We were your family, you said to us on that day when you left, and you disappointed us. Indeed, we tried to help you, but now that you have taken matters into your hands, were we more of a burden than a help?

I may not agree with your ideals but I respected your skills and how you always completed what you promised.

I only pray this is not what you promised.

Sometimes

Sometimes I don't know how to love you.

Do I do it via words or actions?
The former does not hold much weight
irony that most people say talk is cheap
But deeds with accompanying words are mere actions.

Even if I were to send you a bouquet of flowers every day, it wouldn't be enough.

But sometimes, your words cut me deep. Sometimes I don't even know how to tell you it hurts.

Do I love you? Yea, I do. Do I take care of you? Yes, I try to. I do my best to be a supportive fiancée as possible.

Sometimes the frustration gets at me. sometimes I wonder if displaying anger is a good way to relieve it instead of bottling it within. I'm never done it before.

Is there a generation gap? I don't think so. We flow as one. Sure, we have individual flaws, maybe some common differences too like procrastination,
But I think we compLete each other.

I know I'm myself when I'm with you, that's why when our relationship has any issue, I turn back to you.

I'm in this for the long run, and I'm staying. No matter what happens,
I'll absorb and continue our race together.
I love you, and I don't regret if.

Inflatable Concert Hall

Who says performing venues must be cast in stone?

Meet the inflatable Concert Hall.







The Ark Nova is a 7750 square feet space which can hold an audience of 500, and is about 60 ft high. I can just imagine this at Marina Bay. Why stop at just a yellow duck when you can have a concert?

More info here.

Padded Muscle Shirt

I confess I like to be beefed up and buff, but time does not permit. (I know, the excuse isn't very original)

But now, there's a swifter alternative, and this does not involve any slimming diets.
Meet the cool muscle shirt.



Just as some females wear push up bras to accentuate their assets, this shirt will help men to give a curve where it's needed.

The Funkybod muscle top incldues chest plates for a pumped look, shoulder plates for a broader look, bicep plates for bigger biceps, and tricep plates for bigger triceps. It's designed to be worn below your normal top, so you won't look like you are putting on a bodysuit of armor. (Not every one is Iron Man)

Now if only this shirt can help me pass my ippt.

You can get one here.

Life goes on

I know it has been a long time since I last blogged and wrote to Dear Diary about what is going on with my life, but such is life! (hah, irony)

I've gone from single to engaged, gotten a hdb flat (still in construction), witnessed a few colleagues leaving, and will see a few more going off soon.

It's often said a father is the head of the household, and his leadership determines the strength and unity of the family. In work, the manager is the head of the department and his or her mannerisms, habits, procedures, reactions either make or break the department.

In slightly over a year, I'll be in debt. But married and possibly living in a new house already! Then I'll be even more in debt due to a renovation loan. Give and take, I'll say. You can't put a price on happiness just as you can't value good leadership.

From two cats to three cats to three cats and two puppies, from Bukit Merah to Hougang and next time to Queenstown, from a church wedding and wedding dinner on one day to a church wedding on one day and wedding dinner on another, life has been turning around quite swiftly.

So swift life rushes around, so many curve balls thrown at me, that I'm not dodging. Just stopping. Adjusting and throwing it back. If the dough continually escapes being pounded, how can we stretch it further?

Yet despite all this, life is good. At times, a little bit of discontentment or disappointment sneaks in, but then as swiftly as the weather, it dissapates.

Who knows what next few months will bring, but bring it on! Every challenge has been preplanned and will but make me stronger.

25

Twenty five.

That's around eighty percent of my life reading, writing and learning. Crafting words and stringing them together and tearing them apart.

Mountains I've climbed, and towering cliffs that crushed me.

So much life experiences but of what use if it does not make me a better man?

I have traveled but for a while on this long and weary path. At times dusty, at times smooth. At times in a herd, at times with my shadow.

But not for long. Now, I have another beside me. If one day I were to wake up and find all these a dream, a figment of my imagination, I would lose my sanity.

So much to look forward to. Friendship courtship hatred love. A family to build, and lives to inspire. Days to be brightened, and candles to ignite on fire.

The past I will never leave behind. Rather, it serves as a reminder of who I was, what I did and How I became what I am now.

To live each day to the fullest, with no regrets, and revel in the passion of the color of life.

Change

Working in a place that is full of vibrancy and a living kaleidoscope within the arts, it is easy to forget about change within the colleagues one works with.

Every now and then, I jolt awake when someone leaves and new staff joins the family.

But, life is like that. People come and go, and we strive to find balance in life. Sometimes an anchor to weigh us down in the stormy seas, sometimes a star to look up and marvel at.

At the end of the day, it isn't how heavy the anchor is, or how big the star. It is how many storms the anchor has helped us survive through, and how many dark nights the radiance of the star has guided our path.

I wish you all the best in life and will treasure the memories we have, my colleague that I look up to.

Peace

Looking upon thee as thou lie in slumber,
Thy belly cometh a gentle rumble.

Bliss that shimmers,
Peace that gathers,
Warmth that sparked my heart.

Who knows what yonder brings
Who knows what challenges when dawn breaks
What plans may change
Their doom or success to change.

But this I know
That thou rest in sleep
Safe and secure
Thou is refreshed.

I feel bliss with you
A blissful future I will
Create with you.

I'm getting married!

Marriage. A union of Joy. A celebration of two coming together to be as one.
But at what cost?

How does one put a price tag on a celebration? In dollars and cents? In verbal well-wishes? With food and wine? With tears that stream down one's face?

It is a bit discouraging when friends are happy for us, but the reaction from family is a hundred and eighty degrees away. Not that they object, in fact my mum said it's good that I have found the partner to settle down with and says go and get married. But the fact that that is all she said is a bit frustrating. No offer of paying for the church wedding lunch, or saying she'll chip in for this. Just an offer of paying for five tables, and taking back the cost of the five tables plus all red packets from those five tables.

It's a little frustrating when my mum says that this is a modern world now, and not like weddings of last time, where parents decided who came to the wedding banquet, and parents footed the bill. Now, it's modern. We decide who to invite, and we foot the bill.

Can thoust strike the balance between culture and modern?

Is there such a need to draw the line your wedding and my son's wedding? Has the world evolved so much that the groom and the bride are on par, and thus, the bride's family to offer to pay for the wedding since the groom's family isn't rich.

All my life, I have co-existed with my parents. While I have a peaceful relationship with them, I honestly don't feel that they know me at all. Sure, there were times they took care of me, when I was sick, or watched me grow up. But they haven't been growing up with me. I was patient when anger took a hold of her, or when I didn't greet her when I went home and she gave me the cold shoulder. All my life, I grew up with the mantra that parents are always right. Or the mantra that I displayed at home. I never argued back, never really threw a tantrum or a big fuss. I accepted my parents making mistakes because at a young age, I knew they weren't perfect.

It is more disappointing than frustrating that the hand that fed you now pulls your ear.

From you saying that I should stay with her, to saying that cause I'm staying with her that's why you can't sell the house to the first buyer, to saying that it is my wedding so I should pay the bill cause it's a modern world.

Is not a wedding a joyous celebration? Of the growing up of both parties, of the blessed union of both as they come together as one?

Time for me to walk the walk, unlike some who just talk the talk and don't walk the walk.

Guess I'll have to beg, borrow and bury myself in debt because I want to thank my friends for making me who I am and to let them be a part of this celebration.

On bended knee

With a long and deep inhale, I took a breath and went down on one knee.
Okay, it wasn't fully on one bended knee, because she was sitting on the bed, and the bed is low.
It was kind of like a hunched over cramped aching ankle style.
I bet movies and reel life use invisible knee pads for the artistes.

And she said yes!
A new stage begins.
Not a new journey;
but a continuation of the current one just in one new direction.

Doesn't signify that it'll be easier ahead
with mounting financial burdens
and decisions to make
choices to decide
who to invite for what event
or to send an invitation card
and so many more

But I'm happy despite all these
we still have time for each other
or rather, we make time for each other.

To be honest, we haven't really slacked in bed for one day for a long time
Either she's busy with work, or I'm busy with work or both of us are busy with work.
But we still try, and juggle shifts here and there.

Am I sure I want to be married when I'm going to hit 25 soon?
Yes. I don't really see it as being tied down,
though I do acknowledge its commitment.
But it isn't a burden to me, just another step along the path.

A year ago, I would not have imagined that all this will happen.
Getting attached, getting engaged, applying for a house.
Sometimes in life, all one needs to do is to take a step of faith forward
And to be content with what one has in life.

Who knows when we will fade off this earth?
I only know if the world ended today,
I will die in bliss.

I screwed up

That feeling when your heart gets stabbed.

And you pray for time to stop but it speeds up instead.

When by your own selfish actions, you cause frustration and anguish to another. Especially someone you love.

When the future seems bleak
When tears stream down your cheek
When reality is shoved in your face
When your vision gets clouded like a haze
One can only go on knees and grovel.

No doubt just regret
No hesitation just acceptance
Bearing the onus
That thunders from above
Feet trying to balance on shaky ground.

When you just want to fade off the face of this earth.

Or turn back the clock three hours.

Friends Past and Friendships Future

A few days back, I stumbled upon wedding photos of a poly classmate I was close with. Everyday, she would pour out her sorrows to me. We stayed near each other, and would occasionally travel to school together if our timetables were the same. I tolerated her mood swings, and listened to her woes and guy troubles, and she lived life happier, (or so I hope).

But, life does that to you. You get close to people during certain phases of your life, but once someone loses the slack, a friendship can't thrive. Beating eggs alone won't make a cake. You need a slow heat, and other ingredients to add taste and color and variety.

I remember dutifully messaging each of my secondary four classmates for one to two years after graduation from secondary school. Slowly, their replies got shorter. Slowly, I lost the fire.

There are around twenty people I used to faithfully send christmas cards at the end of each year. These are friends whom I've kept their addresses and keep them in a special container in a locker. Last year, I asked myself 'what was the point?'

Indeed, it gets tiring. For the twenty handwritten cards I sent out, only two would respond back with a card. After eight years or so, it just drains out.

Sure, these people mean a lot to me, and I bet if questioned, these people could share a tale or two bout my impact on their life, but life is like that. Over time, we just drift away from each other.

But, there are some that I still keep in contact for these eight or more years. Is there a difference? Is there a secret formula for a lifelong friendship?

I clicked along well with everyone, but I never had my own clique in secondary school, or in polytechnic. From an angle, I was doomed from the start. It then leads me to think, 'do I enter a friendship just for my benefit?'

We've all had (or still have) that one person that we turn to when trouble rears its ugly head, when thunder brews a lightning storm, when our fingers grip the edge of the cliff. Is it for just my benefit or a mutual one?

People form friendships for an assortment of reasons. Work contacts, social status, money, selfish ambition, sense of belonging, self fulfillment. What is your reason?

Cause I believe the reason for the friendship determines its life expectancy.

At the end of the day, I live so that others might live. Through listening, assisting, helping, enriching, emboldening, uplifting. Not by my might but His.

Demolishing Robot

When a building gets demolished, nearby residents or people walking by have to suffer with the noise and the dust. What if we could have robots to demolish buildings and recycle it too?

Meet the ERO Robot.


The ERO Concrete Recycling Robot uses a high-powered water jet to crack open the concrete, before sucking up both concrete and water. Water is then resued for the next demolition, while concrete is sent back for recycling. Imagine a whole fleet of this working together to demolish an entire building.

No dust, less noise, no pollution.

More info here.

Rest or no rest

Sad
That I can't be with you this week
That we can unwind together
Not fully but at least you have
Lesser burdens now.

Away
From you, I feel
Lonely and a piece of me
Missing.

Accustomed
I have grown
To lying beside you
To sleep

To your arms
That cuddle
And warmth
To rest

Distance makes the heart grow fonder
This is true.

Soon we'll be reunited. :)