What a crappy day at work.
Major headache & slight fever,
Absence of architect to make decisions,
And then the accountant calls up,
Asking if the claims for meals,
Have been used for buying food,
For consumption at home.
"Because there are quite a number of items,
Which seem too much for one person..."
"Happened to buy abit more,
Because we worked very long hours those nights."
Yo, the amounts are below the meal allowance!

He called up another colleague,
Just to confirm that what I said was true.
Then colleague actually said 'I don't know',
Just in case facts were opposed to her words,
And she'll get in trouble.

Where is the trust?
If that is too much,
Where is friendship?
Perhaps that is too much as well.
Expectations are always not lived up to.
Must remember that we are only colleagues,
Who communicate a little more than the rest,
And who happen to be from the same island.

Peeved at all things,
But must learn to let go.
Learning the lesson is thb most important.

Let the only joy of the day be seen.

The Twilight Samurai.
Directed by Yoji Yamada,
Starring Hiroyuki Sanada from The Last Samurai.
But they are two extremely different shows!
Go watch if you like simple stuff.
I didn't say simplistic, did I?
I liked it.

Signed my housing contract today at lunch,
With the Indian landlord in faraway Wood Green.
Kinda excited & worried about the new place.
Afterall, this is the first time,
I am going to live without anyone I know.
Plus some say the area can get a bit rough.
But yeah, I'll survive,
Like I always do.

Entertainment today.
YT: Don't want to see Angeline Jolie naked.
Me: She is goddam sexy!
... *sends 2 links out* ...
YT: she is f***in sexy!...
YT: arghs i need to sleep...
Me: Wahaha I can't believe AJ is keeping you up.
Me: Like how xxxxx did!
YT: xxxxx dun have nice tits.
YT: so of course Aj wins handsdown....
YT: you are such a bad influence

WAHAHAHAHAA.
This is to celebrate YT's enlightenment.


Glam wild cute cool hot.

Here's a thrown-in bonus.

Sweet memories are made of these.



Check out the girl with the pearl earring.

On sunny saturday,
Audery & I headed to Brighton.

Housing on slopes,
Weekend market,
Fresh seafood,
Entertainment pier,
The pebble beach,
The sea.

The whole environment was just so chill,
We wish we were working in Brighton.
Or that we had gone earlier.
Now I understand why,
Renos would rather spend �300+ each month,
To shuttle between Brighton & London.

When Renos & Chris met us at Candy Bar,
Audrey & I were already chatting with the 'bar-bitch'.
Munty wasn't bitchy at all.
In fact, she was all smiley.
It is rare to see a friendly face of a stranger,
Especially in a club or bar.
These things should come more frequently.

Renos & Chris brought us to Charles Street,
A place Renos valued for its architectural values.
Colorfully bottom-lit sandblasted glass bridge,
With an open-concept toilet area beneath.
One day I'll bring this concept back to Singapore.

Headed back to the Candy Bar,
After parting with Renos & Chris.
Was quite tempted to pass my contact to Munty,
But there was never a right moment.
Decided to party till the club close.
Also meant that we decided to miss our last train.
Drank too great a variety for my own good.
Beer + stout + long island tea don't go too well together.
Ended up falling asleep on the sofas,
Only to be constantly woken up by Audrey,
As the club bitches said 'no sleeping in the club'.
LOL.

Spent 2 frozen hours sitting on the floor,
Waiting for the first train outside the station.
Turned out that we had to take a bus,
To an ulu place called Three Bridges,
To catch our first train into London Victoria.
And at Three Bridges we waited a further half an hour.
Arrived home in a horrid state at 7am.

Been too long since I stayed out the whole night with a buddy.

Definitely a day to remember.

Reading up on Gia Marie Carangi,
After watching the DVD.
The biography is heartbreaking.
Melancholy lingers.

This is life, not Heaven
- You don't have to be perfect.
Gia.



It has been a long time,
Since any story touched me like this one.
Angeline Jolie was absolutely fabulous.
The follow message seems to be an irony,
Considering it comes right after my Dutch post.
But here it is anyway.

Always remember this, kids,
STAY AWAY FROM DRUGS !!!

Amsterdam Kopitiam.



Rokers sterven jonger
(Smokers die younger)

A public protest to JanHan's comment,
That all those in YT's cell group.
"Are unattractive & sitting on the shelf".
What total rubbish!
I can think of at least 3 from that CG,
That are attractive & happily on the shelf.
Not everyone can afford limited edition stuff,
You see.

It suddenly struck me that
From the 2nd week on May onwards,
Internet will no longer be a convenient luxury.
Torrance is coming back to London,
Which means I am moving out of his room.
Away from cable internet,
Away from his DVD collection.
Such is the life of a drifter.

Folks who want to doss at my place,
Wish me luck flat-hunting!

Managed to organise a Singaporean lunch,
At an Indonesian buffet in Soho.
It's been quite awhile since I ate fried tofu.
And potato balls, lemon fish & blackbean chicken.
The mushrooms were so fresh,
That juices were squirting out with every bite.

After 2 full hours of binging,
We ended up in Soho Square,
Lazing around on the grass.
The weather was mighty fine.

Did a short shopping route around Covent Garden,
Where I got my dirt-cheap ShimaShimaII trainers.
Headed to Freud for pre-dinner drinks.
The underground bar was decorated with artwork,
Each with a pricetag clipped to it.
The cocktails had interesting names.
and generous portions of alcohol,

Shireen wanted to bring us to Trap & Pop,
But we were rejected at both places,
Because we were not on the guest list.
It was probably a racist issue,
As the ang-moh group behind us breezed through,
Even though they had 10 people,
And were also not on the guest list.
Bugger.

Settled in at 3 Degrees.
We really fitted in there,
As there was some HK party by coincidence.
The music got worse through the night,
So we left for supper.
The DJ failed to redeem himself,
Even when we decided to give-chance,
And went back again after supper.
Shireen was really quite disappointed it seemed.

We threw a house party on Sunday.
Curry, bruschetta, Caesar salad, wine...
Shireen made us Strawberry Martinis,
While I created some Banofee cocktail.
One thing about fruit cocktails,
They always taste healthier than they are.
On top of great drinks & food,
The people were friendly & easy-going,
Which made it alot easier for mingling.
Not to forget the Singlish factor!

Truly a very Singaporean party weekend!

Spent Monday morning in Delft's old town again.
XY & I went over to DD's place,
Where I met Yuli,
Who was a student of Widodo.
She even has Widodo on her ICQ & Friendster.

We went to this a quaint cafe called Kobus Kuch,
With outdoor seating was set among randon skinny trees.
XY said that the apple crumble was quite famous.
I thought I didn't really dig sweet stuff,
So she suggested we order one to share.
Just then,
I spotted a wholesome-looking cake-like object,
Being served to a lady a few tables away.
'Urm, is that the apple crumble?', I asked.
'Yups!'
"Ok I think let's order 2."

The town was pretty dead,
Besides a few tourists taking pictures.
That includes me.
Everyone is probably taking pictures of the square,
Which appeared a few times in the movie,
Girl with a Pearl Earring.
But I know nothing cos I haven't watched it.

As we walked past a construction site,
We saw a nice series of artworks,
Spraypainted in various shades of blue,
Along the wooden panels surround the site.
And suddenly I spotted a modernist version of
The Girl With the Pearl Earring!
Took some pictures with the innovation,
Which I will put up as soon as I get my pictures.
My blue jacket blended very well into the picture.

XY brought me to TU Delft,
To check out Mecanoo's bibliothek.
Very cool, very chio, very innovative.
The green roof that sloped all the way from ground,
Was one of the best chillout spaces I've seen.
It was Mecanoo's response,
To the very modernist building across,
So that the new building wouldn't look out of place.
Job well done.
A pity I couldn't see the inside,
As the bibliothek was closed on bank holidays.

We laid on the grass at the top of the bibliothek,
Enjoying the fabulous weather - sun with blue skies.
And the bottle of Hoegaarden I brought along.
Thankfully this scene was not perfect despite its beauty,
- More beer and more time would have been better -
Otherwise it would be very sad,
That the moment couldn't last forever.
Having said that,
The moment was captured for eternity's keepsake.

As we all know, all good things must end.
1728h. Left Delft for Amsterdam by Train.
1930h. Eurolines bus left Amsterdam Amstel.
2005h. Arrival in Utretch.
2208h. Stopover in Belgium.
0020h. Calais Ferry Crossing.
------- Time switches back to GMT -------
0140h. Arrival in Port of Dover.
0359h. Arrival at Victoria Coach Station, London.
0428h. Home & Bed.
0800h. Wake up, wash up, go to work.

Maxed my whole weekend.
My brain is now filled with happy memories.

The end.

Were late in meeting Lynn & Nick in Den Haag,
When we left the house on Sunday morning.
There was no queue outside Escher museum,
Cos we were the first people to arrive!
The museum door wasn't even open yet.
There was alot we learnt about the artist ---
From his illogical optical illusions,
To his primary wood printed artworks,
Many of which were of Delft.
We concluded MCE is a genius.
Some say the brilliance of Dutch artists,
Comes from the overdose of hash & weed.
Explains the methods in madness.

Met Marie for an Italian lunch at her favourite restaurant,
Before going our seperate ways.
As XY & I passed by one of Mier's white buildings,
We saw a group of people coming towards us,
On the short but quiet street.
Singaporeans.
And the next thing I know,
I actually know someone in the group!
Clare from the 2002 SIF WorkAsia program,
Whom I last met by chance one year back in SMU.
This is madness!

Took a 45-min tram from Den Haag to Scheveningen.
The sun was shining brightly & the skies were blue.
What more can I ask for at a beach in early spring?
Walked around looking for XY's cute busker,
But he wasn't around.
Perhaps he gave himself a break on Easter Sunday.
Ended up in this cafe pub having coffee & apple crumble,
Only to realise that the average age in the place was 45.
Was good while it lasted.

Spent the evening in Delft with XY, DD & Jasper.
Jasper drove us to dinner at Mac's,
Followed by drinks at a chill bar in the old town.
Had a taste of Leffe from the tap.
It's a bitter,
But XY insisted it tasted sweet.
Perhaps her coffee was too strong.

Jasper spent the night giving his theories on girls ---
How Singaporean girls are too picky,
Too superficial, materialistic, illogical, etc etc,
And how guys who buy girls drinks are wimpy softies.
On the other hand,
He doesn't mind if someone buys him a drink.
DD gave her theories from a girl's point of view.
XY & I were busy trying to apply the theories to people we know.
What an educational session.
Hope I remember these lessons.

-to be continued-
(yeah it's a very long weekend i had)

Spent Saturday morning in Delft.
We met up with DD in the old town.
Spent some time wandering through the market,
Ate a whole herring fresh & raw,
In the manner a true Dutch would.
Picked the herring up by its tail,
Raised my head & lowered it into my mouth.
With the head, bones and insides removed,
Of course.
It is like having sashimi,
Just that you get the whole fish,
At a very very cheap price.
The fried mussels were very tasty too.

XY & I parted with DD for Amsterdam.
Pastures with cows, sheep & horses;
Rivers with ducks & geese,
Clear skies with seagulls,
Canals running through towns,
Fields of blazing tulips.
The Dutch land easily won me over.

Finally met Lynn & Nick after years.
Lynn's host in Holland was her friend Marie,
Who is working as an au pair in Den Haag.
Van Gogh museum was said to be too crowded,
Hence we gave it a pass.
The only museum that was relatively vacant,
Was the Sex Museum.
But we passed it anyway.
We took a little walk at Waterlooplein,
Before agreeing to meet tomorrow,
And going our seperate ways.

XY & I headed back towards the train station,
Hoping to catch a glimpse of MVRDV's Silodam.
And a glimpse was truly what we got.
Silodam was further away than we thought,
And we had no idea how to get across the rivers.
The discouraging weather & darkening skies,
Was a sign to give up the idea.

Ended up in the infamous red light district.
The night was still young,
Hence the activity was limited,
And of poor quality.
Christophe hasn't replied my text,
So I gave up the idea of meeting the ex-housemates.
For all I know,
They might be too stoned out to reply.
We binged at a chinese buffet,
Before walking around hunting for good coffeeshops.
Found a few nice places,
But they were too crowded.

Then we saw something bizzare.
There was this group of kids around 12 years old,
Apparently on a school trip to the red light district.
Wow, sex education does start early here.

Eventually settled for a rather quiet bar-coffeeshop,
Where an English waitress introduced us to has & grass.
'This sucks, this sucks, this is good, this is good.'
With her very descriptive advice,
We ended up with 1.6g of North-Light.
Found a cosy corner with hard puffy stool cushions,
And started rolling the joints.
XY got a space banana milk shake.
Even though we tasted nothing different from the norm,
It was a tasty milkshake nevertheless.

The grass made our throats & eyes dry.
I found myself drinking constantly,
And squinting to try to see.
Didn't feel the high.
No giggling, no grinning.
Just a little whoozy,
Like when I have a bit too much to drink.
XY was very amused that the fire from the lighter,
Threatened the existence of my fringe.
Left the coffeeshop after finishing 3/4 of the packet.
Couldn't smoke no more,
Cos the smoke was just suffocating.
Left for Delft to avoid arriving too late,
As the weather report says that at 3am,
Temperatures will fall to 1�C.

XY laughed when she took a good look at me,
And told me that the 'mi mi yan' (squinty eyes) look,
Was the exact look she had after her virgin space experience.
I fell asleep on the train due to fatigue.
Thankfully XY kept awake & woke me up at Delft.
Bought chips at the Delft train station,
To motivate ourselves on the long way home.

And we collapsed onto our respective beds.

-to be continued-

The wonderful long Easter weekend,
Was spent in The Netherlands.

The journey started on Thursday evening.
Left the office with my 25L rucksack at 1830h,
Arrived at Victoria coach station at 1900h.
The queue for tickets was shockingly long.
Luckily there was a seperate queue for ticket collection,
Or I would have missed my Eurolines bus.
Nearly went up a bus to Poland in the mess.
At 1939h, the bus set off for its 12-hour journey.

The joy of finding 2 seats to myself,
Was soon drowned by the screams of the little girl behind.
With her high-pitched screeching & hindi ramblings,
i.e. incomprehensible & long lines,
Anyone would be turned into a child murderer.
I turned around,
Giving the mother & child a cold stare.
Mother panicked & cupped the yelping kid's mouth.
Sadly, the silence was not to last.
Fortunately, I drifted off to dreamland.

2153h, coach went up the ferry at Dover.
Crossing the English Channel took about 1.5 hours.
Sat on the deck & stared into darkness for a long time,
Before the cold got to me,
And I decided to return to the cafe.
Along the way,
Met 2 Italian guys who were on the same coach.
Arrived at Calais at 2349h.
Tuned my watch to GMT +1.
Slept all the way till I arrived in Amsterdam.
The bus was 2 hours early.
Which meant it was only 5am on Friday morning.
Obviously there was no train in service,
So I spent 2 hours in Amstel station,
Waiting for time to pass with the Italians.
The ticket booths finally opened at 7am.
Got my tickets to Delft via Rotterdam.

Loitered around Delft station for abit,
Before hearing a cheery voice,
And seeing a warm smiley face.
XY said I should have just called her at 5am,
Since she kept waking up to check her mobile,
Hence didn't sleep well.
Whoops.

Picked up some food & Hoegaarden,
Before going to XY's place to drop off my luggage.
XY's room was like a small studio flat.
Although some may think it is too small,
The cosiness appealed to me greatly.

After washing up & settling in,
We made our way to Rotterdam.
Snacked alot on chips/fries & gelato.
I am now an official fan of fat fries/chips.
With mayonaise & curry sauce, please.
XY gave me a crash course on Rotty's architecture.
Due to laziness & cold weather,
We didn't check out all the stylo buildings.
However, the visit to NIA,
And OMA's Kuntshal,
Was enough to impress me.
Had a sumptous Chinese dinner,
Before heading back to Delft.

-to be continued-

The weekend in pictures.

The usual capoeira Sunday class,
Was unusually crowded,
Thanks to our wonderful guests,
Who are now our friends.

Class started off with warm ups,
Followed by a meditative session.
We lay down, relaxed & closed our eyes,
As Manjerico played the berimbau.
Very tranquil,
Very beautiful.

Due to the big group,
We created three rodas,
That we rotated around.
The big German bullies were quite rough,
Evoking a sense of righteousness in me.
In order to 'save my friends' from playing with them,
I ended up buying the games quite often.
Quite a good workout though.

Had a brief outdoor session at Tavistock Road,
Close to the famous Portobellow Market,
Before being interrupted by the abrupt London showers.

Headed to Donna's place to chill,
Where I met Trouble & Leon,
Her two fat cats.
Trouble loved doing headers.
Leon was a puss-in-suit.
Donna made some fabulous smelling chicken,
To bring to the post-batizado party at Hammersmith.
Maja met up with us,
Bringing along her awesome homemade bread & homous.

Esmeralda Centre was already packed when we arrived.
We yakked, took pictures, ate...
Castor was our DJ Ro.Hit,
Who somehow literally sent sparks flying,
From behind the speakers.
The music was temporary made up for,
With Jungle Drums' samba music,
Until DJ Ro.Hit got his equipment back in shape.

All I remembered of post-dinner:
Taking a few puffs to celebrate end of 'lent',
Mingling with friendly folks ---
There was this guy's Brazilian girlfriend,
Who was so warm, friendly & sweet;
There was Mary & Marie from the gym,
And large Mary encircled me with her arms,
Cos she thinks I am very cute.
Yeah the lights were pretty dim,
And I suspect she has Asian fetish.
But it helps that she thinks so,
Because she was the person who served the alcohol.
And of course I got some free drinks. ;]

Donna & Su-Ling said I really kicked-ass in the roda today,
Cos they'd never seen me play like that.
Although whatever I did was inspired by righteousness,
I took their remark as a compliment. :]
Was also very encouraged by Manj,
Who told me that I was getting better,
But I just need to work on my ground work.

Drank a variety of beer, red & white wine,
Dancing (!! -- reflects how much alcohol I have taken),
With Donna, Maja, Mary (!!!)...
Somehow managed to return home on my own in a piece,
Even texting people, washing up & changing out.

Was indeed quite wasted. :p
And definitely enjoyed myself at the very wicked party! :D

Friday.
Visited Michelle at Tate Gallery at Pimlico.
Got free tickets to see a contemporary art exhibition,
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,
Featuring Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas & Angus Fairhurst.
Pretty provoking stuff.
That's the best word I can find.

Met at Stratford for Day 2 of the capoeira workshop.
(By the way, the station is by Chris Wilkinson,
Who won the project through a competition.
Looks like those Foster/KPF green glass type of stuff).
To celebrate the wonderful weather in London,
We did a Roda in front of the station,
Attracted alot of attention & gained heaps of publicity.
There was this really cool lady from Germany,
Which was really tan & really kicked ass.
I long for the days my moves flow as well as hers.
Had a great workout once again at the S.B.S.
The professor today was very patient,
And had very effective ways of teaching.

Saturday was dedicate to Batizado.
Gathered at Stratford Circus,
Where I got to know the names,
Of some of the Spanish capoeiristas.
Evatte, Mandala, Soleil...
And Katharina came today!
The girl is heading to LA tomorrow,
To promote her music & stuff.
This is way cool.

Donna, Kat & I had this 'powerchat'
About how we should just set our goals,
And go where we really want to,
Do what we really want to do,
Instead of letting people around us affect our paths.
Hope Kat makes it big man.

After the a 3-hour training at S.B.S. again,
We started the Batizado back at Stratford Circus.
Basically everyone receives a corda (belt) upgrade,
Plus a nickname (in portugese) if you haven't got one.
So the professors decided to call me 'hedgehog'.
Hazard a guess of the reason, anyone?

After the long but interesting Batizado,
All of us went to Leyton for a Tapas fare.
Sounds more glam that it actually was.
I hung out with the Portugese boys ---
Ziko, Tiago, Juan, Nariz...
They were really friendly & funny.
Now I have knowledge of Portugese profanities. :p
Somehow, they were very easily amused,
By my rendition of the 'wassssssssssupppp'.

Down of the day -
Losing a 64MB thumb drive.
Must have fell out of Maja's vest pocket.
And it belongs to my father.
I smell trouble.

Some thoughts that deserve a post of its own.

I played basketball today.
Someone had left a basketball behind,
In the S.B. school indoor gym that is a basketball court large.
Or perhaps slightly larger.

I can't recall when exactly my hands last held a basketball before this.
It was probably that sunny Saturday afternoon last autumn,
When Ming & I played at a small court at Westferry.

It was superb to be able to play basketball again.
Passing the ball across the court to a team mate,
Scoring from the 3-point line,
Dashing down the lines for a quick lay-up...
Feeling the adrenaline rush as all that happens.

Sometimes I asked myself why I took up other sports,
When inside me I already know what I love.
Then I remembered how I wasn't good enough ---
At least I wasn't good enough for the school teams,
In the schools that I attended.
While in hostel I had chances to play with the hall team,
I was never the superstar or MVP,
If one forgets those few minutes of fame after scoring.

Some things in life just got to pass,
No matter how sad that may be.
But as I pursue other interests in life,
I know that basketball will always remain a part of me.

And perhaps this is the attitude,
That will influence other aspects of my life.

After the hectic month of March,
The office granted me two off days.
To compensate for lost rest.
Been sleeping really early the past 2 nights.
Slept 12 hours yesterday,
And it felt really good.
Dreamt about someone very special,
And I didn't know to laugh or cry.

Almost went to Sheffield to visit Ivy,
Until I remembered there was capoeira workshop.
Hope the next 3 days will be fulfilling.

Met Audrey for buffet lunch in Soho.
While having coffee at the cafe outside her office,
I heard someone call out my name.
It was Katherine!!
Lost touch with her after our 'groundhog days',
Reuniting in this big city full of people,
Must truly be fated.
Yes, I believe in fate.
She has rejoined Sunday's capoeira class,
And I missed her last Sunday cos I skipped class.
Wonderful.
Can't wait to hear about her touring tales.

Visited the National Gallery,
With many wonderful paintings,
Including one of my favourite dudes Seurat,
The pointilism king.
The Bathers at somewhere-in-France painting,
Was truly much larger than I had imagined.
Popped over to St. Martin's Church,
And I betrayed myself by saying a prayer,
For the very special someone I had dreamt of.
What a weakling I am.

Workshop at Sarah Bonnell's school,
All the way in East London Stratford.
There were people from Brussels & Barcelona,
Who were very helpful & friendly.
Learnt some cool new moves today too.
Was good seeing Maja, Donna, & others again.

It's a long day,
But I am happy.