My view for this weekend...

Humen 1 - View from Al's folks apartment
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

Going to bring a couple of my colleagues to Humen over our long weekend (Children's day holiday + Polling day leave) from thurs till monday. Haven't made up my mind if it is a good or not-so-good thing because i am not sure how i should 'host' them. But then, they are really nice people and i guess if you like to shop, eat and sing ktv at minimal cost, Humen is the place for you. A tad worried about the weather, especially the pollution and the smog is pretty horrible at times. Guess i will just do what i always do when i get there, stay pretty much indoors (be it at home or in the retail outlets). Not quite the initial idea of lying in the sun and pristine beaches relaxing ourselves but at least i know the shopping would be good!

Evening out

Its been a while since i stayed out till wee hours with friends. Used to be a time when it was a weekly event but i guess things changed... with age, with interest (or the lack of), and of course, with marriage. I guess i ought to feel like i should be responsible and 'pious' enough to want to confine my social activities to dinners with friends and nothing beyond a midnight movie with hubby in tow. To a certain extend i do feel responsible and.. what's the word, mature? grown-up? to stay within the unstated human boundaries of behaviour subscribed for people of my age and.. hmm martial status. BUT, frankly i can't honestly say that i totally believe in doing it within those boundaries and will do it wholeheartedly without complains. The inherent contradiction within me makes me feel defensive and angry... with myself and my inability to settle into being either happily responsible, wilfully selfish or confidently 'balanced'.

Sometimes I wish i could do things without thinking that i need to worry about how others' feel, or at least being able to successfully disregard them. I don't like to explain myself and wish that i do not know that i have to explain myself. Yet i do know, but i wont (or don't want to) so i feel like shit. Guess life isn't quite that structured and boxed up into easy to use compartments with universal SOP available. Sounds crazy and overly self-indulgent but... but nothing. Perhaps that's all it is and life goes on, with me in it, happy, frustrated, upset, indifferent or otherwise.
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Back to the evening.

Dinner at Basil Alcove at Fortune Ctr was great. Cheap & delicious food and an entertaining chef who was so nice as to help us unlock the toilet in the building and escort us to the lift to the carpark when it was late (Thanks Xander!). A cosy little place for dinner and drinks, top up by a nice little chat with the owner/chef. Highly recommended for the food, prices and hospitality. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have really good friends sharing the food, drinks and conversation with you (better when one of them has a tendency to include people around him into it as well!). After dinner it was a mapcap attempt to crash a party that sue babes told us about at some guy's penthouse where we had to first dash to find somewhere to buy some booze as our 'entrance' fee... A fantastic deal especially when the 10 bottles of beer we bought were in exchange for no-holds-barred endless liquor from the bar counter (what bourbon coke? Just give me the bourbon!).

Then it was people watching all the way for me since i was the designated driver for the evening. Not that i mind since heavy drinking wasn't quite my thing anyway. It was just wicked to be with a incorrigible twerp and a sassy babe together for the rest of the evening watching other people getting wasted and being incredibly stupid (its terrible how you can say absolutely meaningless things and have some wasted guy/girl blabbering like a baby about their lives) from our really cool garden table vantage point. By the time we settled into our corner, sue has arrived in gorgeous 80s style top and matching eye-shadow (theme of party is the 80s btw). All me and angie could do was pull our ponytails to the side so as to not look too out of place amongst people in weird-ass spandex and wild rock&roll hair wig walking around.

It was a mad mad party where only a couple of us were sane (Twerp though was halfway there cos he was getting high enough to make us want to drag his ass home yet sober enough to take what he says seriously) and sober enough to listen to running commentary about humour social behaviour and others playing 'The Game' from the expert himself. Imagine spending the evening with close friends sharing a wicked little secret that only you all were in on it while others ain't, as well as using it to your advantage. Priceless! And being the good friend that he is, twerp really brought the party (at our little corner) up a notch with his absolutely irreplacable sense of humour and character. That's 4 thumbs up from me and angie, you little crap! :D I think angie would agree that it has been one of the most fun thing we have done in a while and it wouldnt have been possible without a certain little twerp from Perth and his rather indepth (not to mention firsthand) knowledge of a certain wicked little book.

By the time we cut out of the party it was almost 3.30 (and someone's flight couple of hours later at 7am and he has not packed yet). Still, it was 3 laughing idiots in the middle of the road at 3.30am that makes it all worthwhile. And more so for us two girls, as there's probably a certain sense of liberation that is beginning or gonna being to be harder to come by, that makes it all the more the crazy harmless fun that it is. Of course this was not something i would do often (since the company really makes that difference)... but once a while.. heck, i wouldn't miss it for the world. Next year's party anyone? *chuckles*

Not sure about this...

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a wanderer. You constantly long for a new adventure, challenge, or even a completely different life. You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds. You believe that people see you as larger than life and important. While this is true, they also think you're a bit full of yourself. Your near future is a lot like the present, and as far as you're concerned, that's a very good thing. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

My funni Hunni on our first anniversary...

Encounter of the.. weird kind
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

Here's my dearest hubby... a bit on the odd and goofy side but a really nice chap.

Sure, the last year hasn't been exactly a bed of roses (what is?) and we learnt new things about each other. Some of which are good, some bad, some remotely disturbing and some... let's just say that they are pending 'judgement'. Anyway, any journey where you learn, is a worth-while one. There are just that many nice things amongst the difficult ones that makes one look forward to growing old together. As usual he is the optimist that perks up this pessimist when the going gets tough... though there are days when i can swore that he sometimes delibrately do things just to rile me up. Can a husband-wife relationship gets any more confusing? :)

Anyway for our first year anniversary, i threw him a big big surprise by checking us into Ritz carlton (WooOo bathtub with a view!) and having a nice dinner together. He was totally clueless even up till the point when my brother (my accomplice) drove him to the hotel and gave him the room number to go to. Sounds sordid but hey... at least we are already married! *chuckles* Anyway, it was a good weekend and let's just keep it at that.

Guess our 'road' is still long and its the only first pit-stop... let's hope the rest of the journey together would just be as wonderful, though a little less 'disagreements' at times would be good too. *smiles*

Seeing Red

Its OK to look up...
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

You must admit that this is a most interest perspective...one that is seldom taken by anyone; looking up at a lady's 'knickers' from under her skirt. But that's where we landed up while visiting Yokohama Modern Art Museum one saturday morning.

I really take my hat off to the ladies taking turns to sit on the high chair while watching different passerby crawling under her humongous red skirt to get to her 'bottoms' (often helping them along by giving encouragement/direction and moving her skirt).

...

I think one's journey is often enriched (in some cases, made definitive) by experiences such as these... little 'incidents' beyond a guidebook...

Me, Chip & Dale

Me, Chip & Dale
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

Finally, with the latest addition of our Disneyland & final leg Tokyo shots, all our Japan photos are uploaded. *Phew* tough work for wilkie and he had to spent a number of days/nights outside of his work to do it.

*Pat pat dearie's head*
Thank you!
*muaks*

Heeee... I think my smile with Chip & Dale said it all :-D

Say "Cheese"!

Crab bathed in neon lights...
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

Man... now i have an image of crab baked with cheese in my head.

Right. Got to clear that off in a hurry.

Back at Osaka Aquarium, i remembered being entralled by the giant hokkaido crabs because it looked nothing like the crab we usually see. Definitely not thinking of baked crabs then... To a certain extend, there was a certain reverence while viewing these majestic creatures. Feels a little guilty now that we've been eating them actually after seeing how big they could grow.

What's the word for people who abstain from eating seafood? Hmmm is there such a word in the first place?

Anyhow, here's one really cool looking crab...

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

The 'famed' Tokyo Tower at night. First time i really paid attention to it was because it was the recurring theme in one of those japanese serials that i was crazy over at one time. Can't remember what's the title but it had Takuya Kimura in it. Anyway, here's the real Tokyo Tower viewed from Mori Tower. Much better view than being on it i think. Besides, heard that Tokyo Tower is sort of a tourist trap, so what's the point? It's probably better viewed from afar...

Tokyo at night

Tokyo at night
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

I quite like this nightshot of Tokyo from the top of Mori Tower's Tokyo Sky Deck in the very trendy Roppongi Hills (freaky expensive designer stuff). Its 54-storey high and offers a panoramic view (well almost) of Tokyo. We get to see Tokyo Tower and even as far as Disneyland. Well technically we couldn't see Disneyland at night but we did see the nightly fireworks from that distance though.

Passing...

My grandfather-in-law (wilk's paternal grandpa) passed away last wednesday at the age of 79 and the funeral was held over 5 days (wed - sun). Feeling sort of drained now and everyone involved looked really tired.

I have a lot of emotions and thoughts whirling around my head about wilk's grandpa, his illness, his family, the funeral etc. But i think, they are much too personal to share at this moment, and i am also not sure what to make of them.

The one thing however i would share was that my strongest memory of ah-gong (though i may not have known him well) was the grinning expression in his face and his little 'victory' hand sign in the group family photo at the wedding dinner of wilkie & me. That photo never fails to make me laugh when i look at it. And that was the exact image that i recall during the numerous prayers & rites at the funeral. It may seem strange that while everyone else was sniffing and sobbing, i was actually smiling through my tears as i think about ah-gong. It may seems insolent or queer but i think it was my own little way of mourning his passing.

I may not share ah-gong's or his family's beliefs but... i hope he is happy and contented wherever he is.

Byebye, Ah-gong.

Quote at the end of the week...

Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor
- Benjamin Franklin

And what would discontent make a poor man?

Hole in the pillar

Hole in the pillar
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

This little rectangular hole at the bottom of a massive pillar in Todaiji (Nara) attracts lots of children and adults while we were there. There was a pretty long line of people queuing to squeeze through the hole. Little children of course had no difficulties squirming their way through but the adults... that's a different matter altogether. In fact i was quite anxious for one or two of them who almost looked like they couldn't make it midway through the hole. Luckily, with a little help from friends pulling and tugging from both ends, there wasn't any causalities... yet.

Wilk and I gave a whack at it and made it safely through (but i needed a little bit of help la :P). It is believed that those who can crawl through this hole will be able to ascend to heaven when they die. Guess heavens is only reserved for children and not-so-large people eh? In any case, if that's true, looks like both Wilk and I just reserved ourselves a spot there.

Dogs on (Fashion) Parade

Dogs on (Fashion) Parade
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

I wonder if it is only in Japan that people would dress up their dogs to look like 'Miffy'. When i saw this at the street market outside sensoji(Asakusa), i had a sudden vision of Ruskie wearing the exact same thing. It took tremendous will power not to succumb to that urge to buy it for my cat.

Phew.

I think i might have save myself a couple hundred yens and painful scratches from Ruskie.

Gaze

Gaze
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

I didn't fiddle much with wilk's camera while in Japan, just taken a shot or two here and there. This is one of my favourite shots that i took though there was nothing much to do with the country per se. It was taken of this little 4 or 5 yr old English (or American) girl sitting infront of us with her parents & brother on the Shinkasen train from Tokyo to Kyoto (3hr+).

Think she might be a bit grouchy and sulky that afternoon because she didn't want to talk and sort of just stared moodily out the window most of the time. Or perhaps her parents woke her up too early to catch the train. Whatever it was, she still looked really pretty with her golden hair and big eyes so i wanted to take a photo of her. Except she didnt quite feel like being photographed because she began to avoid looking at me the minute i held up the camera.

In the end it was sort of like a bit of hide and seek (her continuing to look sulky, but interested) where i would hold up the camera and she turn her back towards me when she hear the camera click but then pop out to look at me again when i put down the camera. Finally, i was sneaky enough to click on the camera as her back is turned but remain poised to take a quick second shot when she predictably turn her head around to look at me as she told it would be 'safe'.

Heh heh i still remember that little girlish indignant look she threw at me and turning away in a huff when i managed to get a shot. But before you know it, she actually started the whole hide and seek thing again. And once wearing a cute pair of star-shaped sunglasses where she acted really like a diva avoiding the paparazzi. *chuckles* In the end i got a few shots playing this 'game' but still, i like very first 'successful' shot the most.

It might not be a very well composed photo or contain a very interesting subject matter but i guess sometimes its the story behind it that makes a shot memorable and "beautiful" in my eyes.

'Stuck'

'Stuck'
Originally uploaded by AuRoRiN & MoOoK.

Hmm.. this is exactly how i am feeling now.

Spending time

Not that i have that much time to blog... but i rather spend my time doing this than.. say, "work". Man, at this rate, i am going to suffer from work depression. What a 180 degrees turnabout from my first year at work. If you ask me then if i thought i would ever feel like this about work, i would have answered with a resounding, "No".

But it has become as such my friends.
It has.

"Either i will find a way, or i will make one" - Sir Philip Sidney

I tried looking for a way to survive in this environment but it seems like the more i try to look for a solution, the more evasive the solution becomes. Perhaps it is time to acknowledge that 'a way' may not be to try to 'save' this sh*t h*le i am in, but to seek 'a way' out. Even if i have to charge right at the walls and break through it. A way i must make to GET OUT for ME, not a way to undo the mess that other people keep heaping on our heads.

Hell, its one thing to believe in the "ideals" but it is totally another thing to be uplifting it in a place when there seems to be a conspiracy to undermine it or just total incapability to adhere to it. Whatever it is, 'ideals' cannot be holding up my head above the water at the end of the day. There have got to be more!

I am sorry if i have disappointed any of you for thinking like this. But i really cant go on like this for very much longer.

I think it is about time i start planning on how to pave my own way.

"Fixed again"

But don't know for how long.

"wai"

Dunno why but my side bar has gone 'down under' again.
Happens everytime after a few post though i did not touch the template...
Hmmm okie.. i did touch it but that was just to include Mr Tabs onto the sidebar and during preview and for a couple of hours, everything looked fine!

*frown*
What am i missing out on?

New Pond

Pond Musings: The Pond Reopens for Business
Ngiap Heng, our wedding album photographer just came back from the a pretty long hiatus and announced that he is gonna stop doing AD wedding photography to concentrate on doing more commercial work & portraits at The Pond. A great loss to future wedding couples i am sure but heck.. good for him i'd say!

When we first met NH, he has already struck me as someone a trifle bit odd to be in the wedding photography business, especially when you listen to his ideas and philosophy of taking photographs. Frankly he is more of an artist and just have too much to offer than be doing AD for wedding couples especially most couples just prefer the run-of-the-mill sort of wedding photography and NH is definitely not a run-of-the-mill photographer. Just check out his website and blog and you'll see what i mean...

Still, i can help but feel a trifle bit glad that our wedding was before his decision was made cos we weren't going to have a wedding album unless NH could be the photographer. Phew, lucky for us! *grins* Anyway, really wishing him and his team at The Pond all the best. There's nothing more important than doing what you believe in... :)

Post 30 Syndrome

AHA!

A new look for the blog.

A tad girlish and not at all my usual style but...
it's a woman's perogative to be fickle, no?

Took me about 2 hours to tweak and customize the original template.
Would have been quicker if my eyesight and mental processing have not aged alongside my physical body.

Ah well.
At least a productive way to spend the Youth Day school hols than lie on the couch to play mahjong on the PSII.

Now i am playing AND tweaking my blog!
*grins*