Riding on Red Bricks

Moving On...

2012-01-07T16:31:00.001+01:00

Hi all. Here's informing you after 1 year of hiatus, I've finally got my arse around to start a new blog... The URL is as follows:

http://luvlifetoys.blogspot.com/

See you there!

1/2 a year on the job...

2010-08-04T06:05:00.005+02:00

Involvement began after piling works and ground slabs were completed... till now, structural works are done. Finishes are more or less chosen, nothing too fancy. A pity I wasn't involved in the conceptual design, but along the way, while running the proj on site, there were alot of detail designing involved, which was kinda fun...

Just the other day a colleague at work was pointing out that alot of private houses featured in magazines are very showy, hardly "private" or "personal" as it should be. Every corner, every surface has been filled with design elements, killing the space.

Hopefully, there'll be enough subtlety in the detailing of this house to achieve a certain balance... Perhaps it's why I like it now, in its bare naked form. Now the light and shadows and the texture of the deliberately pronounced formwork visible on the off-form concrete really appeals to me.

Sunset

2010-08-01T05:57:00.001+02:00

Going home early has its perks too...!

Chet's Birthday Celebrations...!

2010-07-25T18:22:00.005+02:00

Chet's birthday fell on a Wednesday one week before an aki competition that I was participating on behalf of the office. My involvement was more than I liked it to be, so... we decided to celebrate before and after the birthday. Didn't do anything on the actual day though, much to my wife's dismay... I hope I made it up to you though... with 2x presents and 2x celebrations...!

On the eve of Chet's birthday we went to Shokudo Raffles City. Food was nice, we had a feast. Didn't turn out as expensive as I expected. This afternoon we went to Goodwood Park Hotel's L'Espresso Cafe for high tea. Delicious food, good atmostphere. Thanks William for the recommendation, can always trust you when it comes to food :)

A Friend's Wedding...

2010-07-24T18:33:00.000+02:00

It was the first time i attended a church wedding. It was held at Wesley Methodist Church. Liked the atmosphere of the whole event...

Congratulations to Tze Hoong and Dongmei~

Marvel Select Abomination

2010-07-23T17:09:00.000+02:00

Spent the morning taking some pictures of Abomination from the Marvel Select line by Diamond Toys. Above: the line-up for photoshoot :) Some highlights are shown below, click here for the full review.

Chet's Commencement!

2010-07-08T18:11:00.001+02:00

She's so brainy~! Congratulations!

so what's new in my collection...

2010-06-20T17:50:00.003+02:00

Time for some updates on my new toys... well, some not so new... picked them up quite some time back, just hadn't found the time to take some photos to share with fellow collectors. Photographs already need to find time to take, digiramas will take longer... but I'm conceptualizing something for Metal Gear Solid by Square Enix, from their Play Arts Kai series. 265mm of pure goodness... I'm in for a treat posing and taking photos of Snake I'm sure of it. Anywayz, do click on the figure titles to be led to more photos :)

Cover Girls of DC Universe - Catwoman Statue

Cover Girls of DC Universe - Zatanna Statue

Masters of the Universe Classics - He-man, Battle Cat & Skeletor Action Figures

Ironman II Walmart Exclusives Movie Action Figures - Ironman Mk V & War Machine

Time flies... esp when you're happy...

2010-06-16T19:27:00.002+02:00

In celebration of our 1st month after the customary wedding...

A new addition to Chet's growing collection of Elephants: Toots the Elephant, part of the "My Blue Nose Friends" series by "Me to You". Produced by Carte Blanche. It measures 8" in height. The tag on its ear reads "Toots... the wise elephant who always has a story to tell... make sure you're sitting comfortably!" It's sold out in shops locally so we were quite happy to find it from a store in Australia. Came safely into our mail box yesterday evening :)

sunrise at serangoon...

2010-06-11T04:04:00.003+02:00

Taken one morning when we woke up earlier than usual to work. The view of this 0626hrs sunrise, from the living room, was probably the most rewarding part of a motivated-to-work but sleep-deprived Friday...

Random stuff...

2010-06-09T19:22:00.001+02:00

Some photos taken when it was raining one night... Colour of the sky seemed most peculiar...

The windows looked like a wide screen TV flanked by speakers, complete with the antenna formed by the ceiling lights... I remembered the wind felt great too, but I had to close the windows cuz tiny little rain droplets began to come in. Below: a photograph taken near Cineleisure, hanging out with aki guys after work on Friday (so rare!)

Kitchen in use...

2010-06-07T18:59:00.000+02:00

Apparently alot of Chet's friends who've visited the house or seen photographs of the kitchen made similar remarks such as "Wow nice kitchen! But bet you're not going to use the kitchen very often!" or "Love the red, but how often will you cook?"

So... In order to prove that the kitchen is, indeed, being utilized, we make it a point to take photographs of us cooking, and also the delicious mouth-watering meals that we managed to churn out. Very simple stuff lah... but rather tasty... not too shabby... nice and filling... edible.

We cooked spagetti~! Or rather, Angel's Hair. Err... with Prego sauce and Ayam Brand Tomato Chilli Tuna. I think we threw in some meat balls as well... Pork and Chicken!

One of the more major cooking session we did. From starting preparation to completion of dish washing, we spent 3-4hrs in total -.-" For this meal we had boiled vege with fried garlic and oyster sauce (winner!), curry chicken (don't be too impressed, we bought the paste), fragrant rice (chey~~~) and ABC soup (very nice too... Chet's specialty!)

We cooked some fried rice with the left over ingredients from the major cooking done the day before. Also had some left over soup and curry.

We also made simple sandwich fills like egg mayo and chicken mayo...

NMS Part 2

2010-05-21T18:28:00.000+02:00

After our honeymoon in Bali, we still had a week to rest and relax in Singapore before starting with work. We decided that we should visit some local places of interest that we liked and won't be too crowded on a weekday. One of them was NMS. Didn't realize it was more than a year since our last visit... Well, still very enjoyable.

Sattine Bridal Couture

2010-05-18T16:42:00.003+02:00

Where do I even begin with this...

May I urge all upcoming brides and grooms to think twice before penning your signature on the contract with Sattine Bridal Couture, Singapore. We signed up with them and things went all merry and well until the crunch time, the night before the wedding, when they revealed how they truly "care" for their customers...

Sorry, if you don't want to read about me bitch, please move on to another post. This... is going to be the Ugly Truth.

On the evening before the wedding, I was in-charge of picking up the bridal bouquet from Sattine. Upon arrival at 7pm, which was the time suggested by my coordinator 凤姐, I had a look at the bouquet. At first sight, I could already tell the flowers were not at all fresh and there were visible signs of aging, like how the edges of the rose petals were outlined in brown, and the petals look all crumpled and wrinkled. Of course, I had to express my displeasure and pointed out to them the flaws in the bouquet. 凤姐 concurred with the issues I had and highlighted it to her colleague, who goes by the name of Keanu. The immediate response that Keanu had was a defensive one, who responded by saying that it is the nature of the flower. "这种花是这样的." Goodness... his nonchalance to the substandard product Sattine had to offer definitely amazed me. If it is the nature of the flower to wilt before the day of the wedding, please let it be highlighted so that no couple will ever choose that bouquet for their wedding!

I gave him my 2 cents worth of thoughts and then, he decided to blame his colleague, my poor coordinator 凤姐, for asking us to come and collect the flowers at too late an hour (7pm). This already proves that he agrees that the flowers have wilted, and then he goes on to blame someone else. In front of the customer, he says, "凤姐你为什么叫顾客那么迟才来, 等一下给我个交代!" As if this drama attitude will solve the real issue here.

So again, I gave him my 2 cents worth and he after conversing with the flower supplier via telephone, he tells me I can get the flowers replaced, but I had to choose another bouquet type because the florist has ran out of the flower type that we picked (essentially white roses). So fine, I picked one that was of the closest resemblance.

Then, Keanu goes on to tell me that I have to go and pick it up from the florist myself. The location of the florist shop is in a very very ulu flatted factory building, but it was already late and I still had things to do and so, very eager to get it settled and done with. When I wanted to leave with the flowers, wilted as they are, he stopped me. He said that the flowers, since rejected, are to be kept with him so that he can do a 1-to-1 exchange with the florist.

The reason I wanted to take the rejected bouquet along too was simply because it was an assurance to me. What if... the newly prepared one isn't up to the mark too? I explained my concerns to that guy but all he said was "我们从来没有这样做生意过的." Amazing. What has the fact that there are no such precedence got to do with my concerns? The product was already substandard, what is to give the customer a guarantee that the replacement will be up to the mark? I didn't want to argue with him so I decided to call Chet and ask her opinion on which flower to get.

Till today I'm not sure if it was the right move to have called Chet to get her all upset and worried about the flowers, the night before the wedding. Anyway, the decision was unanimous to take both bouquets. So I went back to Keanu and told him "Look, we understand that it is how you run your business, to keep the rejected flowers for a 1-to-1 exchange. But we chose Bouquet A, and your replacement is Bouquet B. They are not the same and thus, not 1-to-1. So, unless you can offer us Bouquet A as a replacement, you jolly well let us have both bouquets, so as to ease your customer's concerns. It is the eve of the wedding for god's sake!"

Finally, he relented and called the florist to make the arrangements. Then Chet called and asked to speak with Keanu. Again, wrong move, cause Keanu picked up the phone and didn't want to talk to a customer, the bride, in a proper and polite manner and just shoved the phone back to me saying that the matter has already been settled. He just shoved the phone back to me, and I passed it to 凤姐 as Chet wanted to speak with her. Apparently, Chet asked to speak with the manager of Sattine Bridal Couture, and guess what Keanu said, "事情都以经解决了为什么还要来讲这么多? 还说要找老板!? 跟她讲我就是老板! 无聊!"

Needless to say, that was the boiling point for me. At that point, I lost it and raised my voice at him.

"喂! 你这样是对你的顾客应该有的态度吗!? 你知道你在跟我太太说话吗? 在我面前你可以说她无聊吗? 你的顾客要跟你谈话你可以说她无聊然后把电话挂上吗? 你必需向我和我太太道歉!"

That was probably my $2 worth of thoughts. I could tell he was kinda taken aback as I was very calm and composed throughout the whole ordeal, and even let him throw his tantrums. After I raised my voice at him with stern looking eyes, he said "SORRY LOR~". WTF. His apology wasn't even sincere.

Point to note, the difference between 凤姐 and Keanu was, when 凤姐 took Chet's call, all she did was to comfort and apologize to Chet, asked her to calm down and rest for tomorrow, that everything was fine. For that, I respect and appreciate all that 凤姐 has done for us. She was definitely more experienced than this Keanu character, so much that I didn't understand why Keanu was employed, and furthermore, as a superior to 凤姐. Amazing.

Anyway, long story short, we got the flowers. My parents were so kind and patient to have driven me all the way to another end of Singapore to have the flowers picked up... The flowers definitely were much much more fresh than the rejected one, so I was glad we made the right decision. I returned the rejected bouquet to Sattine on the same day after the wedding banquet, to allow his 1-to-1 exchange.

After that day, I found out that Keanu isn't even the boss of Sattine Bridal Couture. What a thing to say to the client, feigning authority and all... Again, amazing.

So... sop story's over. This is our feedback for the services by Sattine. It's too bad that we probably won't be able to post our feedback directly onto Singaporebrides.com to caution other couples-to-be. This blog entry only comes up on page 3 under a Google search... sigh.

My advise, say "NO" to Sattine Bridal Couture.

Actual Day Unpro Shots

2010-05-17T16:18:00.002+02:00

Before the professional photographs from Chris Woon and Mike are released, please bear with un-pro some shots that were taken on the actual day :)

Our experience being a couple with Intercontinental didn't turn out as great as we'd hoped. Basically there was a screw up by the Intercontinental Hotel Singapore, in that we were not given our executive suite when we checked-in in the morning. The reason: some Thai politicians are stranded in the hotel and decided to extend their stay without notice, due to the unstable situation in Thailand. Well, not our problem.

We were quite unhappy about the shophouse suite that was offered as an alternative. Basically it was a clear breach of contract for not offering what was paid for. And what's worse, the corridor leading from the suite to the ballroom is under severe maintenance. Read this: wet paint on the walls.

Shockingly, and ironically, there was nothing the hotel can do.

So... we were offered some terms of compensation. Our wedding coordinator, Stephanie Chua, suggested some terms which we considered and settled for. Alas, the terms suggested by Intercon couldn't even be fulfilled themselves!!! One term was a free upgrade from a normal room to a suite in Intercontinental Bali, where we will be staying for a couple of nights during our honeymoon. The second term was a complimentary stay in the executive suite that we should've been check-ed into, of 1 year validity. Alas, Bali Intercon was fully booked, and we were told that Intercontinental Hotel Singapore will be undergoing some renovations, which will only limit the complimentary stay voucher to end of 2010.

Since it was so, we decided to change the terms to complimentary stay for executive suite until end of 2010 (which was the best they can do), and complimentary stay for shophouse suite until mid 2011 (so that we can return for our anniversary). Alas, the management still thinks that we were overdemanding. True, we were transferred back to the executive suite late afternoon after the event, but our photographer has already left and we missed alot of good photography opportunities and the whole experience of having to walk through the corridor under maintenance really painted a hideous picture in our minds every time we recall our experience during the banquet.

To be honest, the hotel really really managed our case very poorly. For a start, it was extremely miserly of them to be unable to offer us better deals, when we were gracious enough to drop their breach of contract in the first place. In the end, we decided not to pursue the matter further as it was really getting ugly and draggy. Just had to keep our graciousness and dignity in place, rather than to keep begging for better compensation, however justified we feel it is.

We did fall in love with the ballroom and the banquet and events ran rather smoothly, but sorry to say this: if a hotel can screw up big time on your wedding day, do think twice before signing your contract for your wedding with Intercontinental Hotel Singapore.

Penang Wedding

2010-05-01T14:09:00.001+02:00

Our wedding in Penang was really something like a rehearsal for the wedding in Singapore which'll happen two weeks after. The good thing is Chet's parents were kind enough to help organize everything on our behalf. All we need to do was... be present? So we had a simplified version of a wedding, starting with the customary tea ceremony in the morning, to the banquet at night. Just cake cutting and champagne pouring, no speeches :)

All in all, we had an enjoyable time, almost completely lost in our own world and oblivious to the friends and relatives around us, who, hopefully, were also having a blast. The most memorable part of the day was probably popping the champagne, as the stopper flew and landed on Guan's godfather's shiny head. I saw it, Chet saw it, and we couldn't stop giggling all through the champagne pouring >.<

Acupuncture~!!!

2010-04-16T17:04:00.001+02:00

You may or may not know that Chet tripped over the curb at the carpark of our new flat shortly before Chinese New Year, after one of the many inspections we made to check the renovation... Well... On that day of the injury we went to seek treatment at a TCM clinic, where the doctor did some magic on Chet that worked wonders. We decided to return for another treatment since the ankle was still a bitch and the doc' decided it was time to do some acupuncture.

The electrodes sent pulses to the needle towards the nerve. I wouldn't know how it feels, but I can see the needles vibrate with every pulse. KEWL~!

Poor Chet :(

renovation updates...

2010-03-14T17:15:00.003+01:00

The house renovations have entered its later stages of the entire construction process, what people in the field will call "defects" period. Alas, there won't be a DLP, so we gotta identify any eyesores that we can find right now, before the contractors get their full payment.

Anyhowz, some pictures...

The living room floor. I like how the c/s screed turned out. Pic above is how it looks, after the matt-finish sealer has been applied on. The contractor also added a darkening agent, prior to the sealer coat, to enhance the contrast. Must be careful though, it's not as resilient as tiles are, and will be prone to scratches. Guess imperfection / randomness is going to be part and parcel of this house, any wear and tear to this floor will probably add to its richness. jhee positive thinking~!

Master wardrobe, with a small dressor for Chet and a display cabinet (with glass door, yet to be installed at point of time photo was taken) for the little memoirs that we created together / bought in the past decade, and certainly for our future... Big mirror sliding door, I like :) Hidden behind is Ikea's pole system wardrobe...

The look after stepping into the house... dining light heights still need to be adjusted slightly for more randomness / play... Happy how the aircon in the living room turned out as well... we managed to hide all the coolant / drainage pipes rather well throughout the whole house. The red kitchen also turned out nicely, I'll be the 1st to admit that I didn't think it was a good idea in the beginning...

Living room TV console, and small display unit, where my 12" figures / statues will be consolidated. I think all the carpenters hate me by now... for rejecting alot of their works. Alas, I do think that they can only blame their boss, who does have a renegade in him, to say the least.

Home, kitchen, wife.

Wedding Photo Shoot

2010-03-12T17:08:00.000+01:00

I was rather stressed out before our wedding photo shoot, with work, with renovation, and with the perpetual coughing (probably also stressed induced), and it took my boss to remind me that the wedding photo shoot is something that is done, once in a life time... Well, at least for most people. Anyway, we enjoyed ours alot. It wasn't as tiring as we thought, though the outdoor shoot was pretty rushed. Already chosen the photographs that will go into the album, but we'll be getting the softcopy of all the photographs taken that day, thanks to a rather expensive offer by Sattine for suckers like us (though we think it was worth it). So... more updates once the photographs have been touched-up.

1st Anniversary

2010-02-22T15:51:00.002+01:00

Being rather hopelessly uninformed about where're the latest and coolest places to eat in SG, I had to rely on the recommendation of my senior. I trust his taste, and true enough, NUOC at the top floor of Orchard Central turned out to be a great dining venue~! The vietnamese food was delicious... and though we can't really enjoy the view while dining, we spent some time admiring Orchard Road at night...

It was a memorable 1st anniversary, since our ROM last year...

Renovation Pictures...

2010-02-14T08:49:00.003+01:00

Here's a brief account of the renovation process, which started a couple of months ago.

Mischievous Mrs Kho decided to vandalize the place before the contractor starts their work, just for the fun of it... so I took a couple of spray paint from Maria to work on our short-lived graffiti wall.

The following week, all that were not supposed to be around weren't around anymore. They include the Master bathroom toilet wall, separating wall between Master and bedroom 1, Store wall, kitchen wall and windows... Now that I've listed them down, we really did some major hacking work!

After that we started to add the little nibs here and there, as well as some tiling works. The short little wall separates the wardrobe from the master bathroom vanity counter... Above, the kitchen tiles were removed (and later to be made level with the living room, then re-tiled)

450x900 homogeneous floor tiles, to be used in the kitchen and bedrooms in a running bond pattern which I later learnt to regret due to the inherent warping in the tile (which is more common for large pieces beyond 300x600). There's some unevenness and somewhat larger grout lines in between. Still, I prefer the pattern to a normal stack bond :)

We bought our sanitary wares / fittings from Adamas, along Jalan Besar. Space constraint in the bathrooms really limited our choices for WCs. We need one with minimum length, and preferably one where the cover conceals the seat entirely cause we had to keep the WC within the shower area prone to wetness. This one we found comes with soft closing for the toilet seat cover...

Shifting the main door outward to the recess area, which the previous owner bought but did nothing with. So we built up a brick wall on both sides. The contractor also gotten a permit to saw away the hollow pipe railing that extends into the recess area. We'll then seal the gap with a simple casement window.

Kitchen and bathroom tiles are being laid. We bought our tiles from the clearance section from Builders Shop. The contractor did mention to us Stile is really quite a higher end brand... we visited the tile shops lining Balestier road but we didn't really like any of the tiles there. So...

Lights we took from Lightcraft. Great service!!! The person we liaised with was very obliging and gave us a very good price. Below is the entrance light that we chose, one of the shortest but most expensive... but there remaining lights we chose were mostly T5s and simple fluorescents.

The niche at the entrance. There was a bulge in the existing concrete wall, which we originally wanted to expose, with all the services pipes that were coming into the unit from the corridor. So... we then decided to box them all up, and did a little niche for framed photographs and a ledge to be filled with loose pebbles for our keys. Below: the opposite side of the entrance area, painted "Maldives Sand" by Nippon. We're doing some shoe cabinets there, shelves for the hamsters and a low seating with a short planter...

Above: Living room, also in Maldives Sand, where we will do a TV console... I like how the light strips turned out in the ceiling... I guess it was the right move to do a ceiling in the living area, so that we can conceal all the services and incorporate the lighting within it... They run parallel to the stainless steel joint lines that were embedded on the ground for the screed flooring.

Also quite glad with how the a/c in the living room turned out. Originally I wanted to squeeze the FCU into the corner of the feature wall above the door, but we were later told by the a/c supplier it was not possible. I was having a tough time trying to run the services properly without showing too much a/c drainage pipes, etc. And the only people who were keen on having an a/c in living room were Chet and YQ >.<>

Below: Chet chose the colour "Love" from the Nippon catalogue. We're gonna turn it into a feature wall for some of our photos.

Common bathroom, with grey tiles and painted blue.

Master Bathroom, with grey tiles painted lime green >.<>

Lastly, Bobby from Wah Sheng... we're extremely glad he's our contractor... He's got a major part to play for how the house has turned out, as far as wet works are concerned... Cabinetry works are in progress starting with the Kitchen. Hopefully it complements the spaces nicely...

*fingers crossed

Woah... Did January just fly by...?

2010-02-06T14:10:00.002+01:00

Shoot... guess i kinda neglected the blog for a couple of months.

Cleared my 6th ICT shortly after New Year. Who would've thought that going back to reservist will be such an enjoyable experience... It was great to be able to take a 2 weeks paid leave from work. Won't say my it was a happening one, but i particularly enjoyed the slower pace. There were even some rare moments when I was bored >.<

It was a good opportunity to catch up with peers that're undergoing / underwent the same phase in life that I'm going through now... 1st HDB, and marriage. Learnt what to look out for when tackling these two hurdles. One thing common: subjects were more than glad with the completion of renovation / banquet. I'm looking forward to mine too... Come May I'm going to enjoy more free time... I hope... These days weekends are mostly occupied with home-related errands. It's getting Nippon & Dulux catalogues and choosing the colours one week, and then settling the solid surface and lamintes the other. Not to mention furniture hunting, tiles hunting, sanitary wares hunting, light fittings hunting, etc etc etc...

International Furniture Centre (IFC) is overrated. And so is Lush. The two salesperson at the latter were truely the epitome of slackdom. When we reached the showroom in the evening, it was locked with an "we're open" sign. After wondering for 15min what could the salesperson(s) possibly be doing in private by himself (or to each other), the elevator bell rang and the salesmen emerged. Alas, They've went to get dinner. Upon seeing that there customers were kept waiting, it opened the door, and went in itself. No apologies offered. It was his god-given right to go out and buy dinner. While inside, 100% self-service. Truly, why employ this kind of people? Their purpose is to sit, stare, consume air, and occassionally glance at the customer to make sure they aren't doing anything funny. The most unsohpisticated machine can replace its role IMO. Pui! More on the house later...

Made a wkend trip down to KL to attend Guobao and Sihai's ROM reception. Was happy to be invited, to see how things were done in Malaysia. The similarities reminded me of what we went through a little less than a year ago...

It's great to have a friend who lives in KL. We bunked over at Guoli's place for the wkend, and he was a great host. Made us feel bad for the times when he was in Singapore and we were too busy with our own lives :P Anyway, Chet demanded that we made a stop at her primary school, so we went visiting. It was a Saturday so there weren't any people there, minus the guard and a couple of kids running around. The school compound was way retro... So, this was where my wife got her education before Singapore.

*ahem

2009-12-08T13:42:00.002+01:00

Been having a pretty bad cough since last Tuesday, but couldn't afford to take MC due to work until last Thursday...? Following a one day rest at home there was a mild improvement, which only worsened when I had to co-emcee the office christmas party with a colleague. That was pretty much all the talking I needed for 2010, let alone one night >.<

So here I am, still coughing sporadically, but also looking forward to the Penang wkend getaway. Though it sounds like a vacation, the Khos true purpose and mission for stepping outta Summer Place is to discuss the dowry and bridal gift required for the wedding. Such is the chinese custom I guess, and though we modern people would definitely prefer to keep everything simple, the parents (elderlies) would still want to observe such traditions. So Chet, my parents and I shall depart on a Grassland Super Coach on Fri and return on Monday. May our trip be a fruitful and enjoyable one, if not, at least let everything be smooth sailing without hiccups.

The marriage has set a major deadline for us, which is the house renovation. At first, we were faced with serious objections for wanting to "pick up the bride" from the new house, which, the elderlies insist, should be the destination rather than the start. So we bummed around a couple' a weeks and tried to think of alternatives (chalets, hotels, friends' house) to no avail. Finally we consulted the elderlies one more time and they said it was fine if we did not return to the new house after the banquet, which, naturally we aren't cuz that would mean forfeiting the 1 night stay in the hotel suite.

So there's that... we managed to persuade the elderlies that the new house would be ideal for the picking up of the bride, but that leaves one big hurdle, which is that the house renovation must be completed before the wedding. To be realistic, we gotta work the dates backwards, giving us time to buy some furniture, electronics and toys to complete the house. Seeing how local carpenters are really Malaysians who'll be away for CNY (for a fortnight, mostly), we decided that renovation works need to be completed by 05 Feb 2010 (CNY falls on 14th, which is Valentines).

Supposingly, we were supposed to kickstart the renovation at the time we get the keys. Though on some forums we read that it is possible to start the renovation even before getting the keys to the flat, we're not sure how. It must be through some personal under-the-table negotiation with the previous flat owner, because to start renovation, the contractor must submit the as-built and design plans to HDB for approval (which takes one week), and submision requires the house owner to be the new guy.

Anyway, there was more bumming around and thinking about the design and juggling all these things while work still carried on. And then to make things worse, the contractors we found were passive in nature and not really interested in new projects... or rather, too busy to interest themselves in new jobs. Until finally by an ex-classmate's recommendation we found a pretty good contractor who was more pro-active than usual and gave us pretty competitive quotes. So the date is set, work commences on 14th Dec 2009, if things go well (ie. no objection from HDB).

I guess whining about work isn't really safe these days so I'll spare my imaginary readers that agony... in short, I'm sure what I'm doing these days will one day contribute to my portfolio / ability to pratice as a registered architect, just that they might be in the most infinitesimal way... Still, I am happy to be employed and I should be.

More to see on Cairnhill

2009-12-06T17:47:00.003+01:00

More facade lighting tests at night, this time behind the perforated panels. The secret was really to flood the wall behind the panel with light, rather than to shine directly onto the back of the panel. Photographs taken at the 1st testing. Heard from boss it was later further refined, but I haven't had the chance to look at the latter.

School, built

2009-11-09T17:34:00.000+01:00

Pass by this school almost everyday, cuz AMK Ave 1 leads to my house... Really wanted to visit it cuz the exterior looks pretty well designed. Later I realized it was done by a famous local architecture firm, and was kinda glad we arranged for a visit. It got even better when the architect himself brought us around the school. We also met with the school principal and students that day. It was a delightful and inspiring visit. I'm officially a fan >.<

Characters with aura, these two...

Before the visit, I've already thought of lining up fluoresent tubes in my new home, to match the path of the stainless steel dividers embedded in the cement sand screed flooring for my living / dining area. Then, the introduction of a ceiling allowed me to blatantly copy the recess fluoresent tube detail as seen above. Nice... I hope it turns out well in smaller scale too.

School, yet to be built

2009-11-06T17:27:00.000+01:00

Honestly, I am quite happy to be given a chance to be involved in this high-rise school. Composed of 5 volumes, the school clings on to a sloping site. Currently about to finish detailed design... The office commissioned a professional to construct the physical model, which turned out to be great representation of the design, imo.

MAF 2009

2009-11-02T17:11:00.001+01:00

Woah... It's been awhile since the last updates, so here I am back-dating my posts as though I have been constantly blogging. Anyhowz, we celebrated MAF on 3 Oct 2009 with my niece and nephew. It was the night they were taught that fun stuff like sparkles and lanterns exist. Rong was a bit intimidated by the sparkles at first, but later decides to hold one himself, very very cautiously >.<

Mrs Kho had a good time too!

Grandma and grandson.

Father and son.

En-en wants to play too... maybe next year...

Biopolis

2009-10-25T16:15:00.002+01:00

Below, some shots of Chet's new work place. Pity they won't allow outsiders into the building. Would love to take a walk along one of these these sky bridges. Went there after a presentation to MOE HQ... Hopefully the meetings end beyond 1730hrs each time so I can just fall out from there :P

27 le...

2009-10-24T19:35:00.012+02:00

Like for the past couple of years, we did it nice and simple. 1 cake, 1 candle, 2 persons.

It's a very Bat-ish Birthday for me this year, since apart from cufflinks I received from ZM and CM (thanks alot, my 1st cufflinks >.<), I got Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3 from Chet. 1/2 way through the game... it's really a job well done. I'm sure any Bat-fan will attain geek-gasm / nirvana from it, and sure as hell a normal gamer will enjoy it too.

...and to complete the "Bat Birthday", colleagues from office pooled together to get me this DC Direct statue of The Dark Knight featuring Batman from the 2nd movie. My 3rd Batman statue...

Then below are gifts to myself (herh herh, then again, it doesn't take any special occasion for a collector to buy a figure lah~). McFarlane Spawn's Series 22 The Viking Age Bloodaxe (R3: Repaint, Resculpt, Revisit), and from the same series Skullsplitter. These 2 figures features hidden articulation, some new materials (velvet / fabric), and some really ass-kicking sculpting works. Been purchasing some pass Spawn figures, cuz recent releases in general really couldn't match the level of attention to details displayed in these figures. Sigh...

The Annual Agony

2009-10-15T09:15:00.003+02:00

Every year, the "gah-men" never fails to make me stressed as my birthday approaches. Cause they've made every Singaporean male's birthday into a deadline. Notice the irony? "Birth-" and "dead-"?

So every year I'll procrastinate (I admit) till the very last few months (6 weeks) to start training for IPPT... And then, feel stressed over that last decisive chin-up that I'm always short of to pass. So if you see that I seem very far away these days, it's because I'm stressed over this bullshit, and worried of the consequences of failure: you lose your freedom. Looking back at last year's results slip, which isn't very far from this year's, I'm reminded of how close I escape RT. Don't think I want to undergo these stressful periods again, particularly before my birthday.

Perhaps it's time to continue training and pass for 2010's work year... though I'm almost certain that if I do that, it means I'll slack for 2 full years :)

City lights...

2009-10-03T11:25:00.003+02:00

To celebrate Chet's finding of an ideal job, we went to Suntec Crystal Jade for some noodles after work and took a stroll to Esplanade, where we took some photos... Start work loh~~~ Hopefully now we will become more stable financially >.<

Cairnhill Circle

2009-10-01T11:08:00.000+02:00

A proj I've been following for quite some time. She's coming along fine. If TOP is a building's birthday, then ours are quite close to one another, provided there are no further EOTs ;)

Marina Barrage

2009-09-21T08:37:00.000+02:00

Finally found the time to visit the Marina Barrage. Chet had this idea to celebrate our 10th Anniversary there for a long time, but then a busy competition submission period came in office and our plans were foiled. It was after submission that we went ahead with our celebration. First we went to Suntec to get Subway, to go along with the bottle of red wine and chips we packed in our picnic basket. The straw mat was our souvenir from Krabi :)

This is actually a stitch of three shots taken. Kinda warped on the right side, as though the ground began to slope upwards when it is truly flat. Still, not too shabby for a stitch. We arrived there via cab from Suntec at around 1630hrs and was surprised to see so many people already on the turfed roof, flying their kites, running with their dogs, playing frisbee, etc. It was then that I thought that perhaps the satisfaction of the profession might not come from money... Crowded as it is, it wasn't difficult for us to find an empty concrete bench for us to lean on, so we sat up our mat, ate our food, observed the scenes and happenings around us. It was a nice place to chill...

Turn, turn, turn the cock screw into the bottle of red wine~~~

See? We even brought our dog along :)

We saw quite a few wedding couples there doing their wedding shoot. I think it's so popular that it'll become a cliche. Still, the views towards the Singapore Flyer / CBD area is quite marvelous. Only I'm quite skeptical that the camera man manages to capture anything nice in that hazy evening.

Then night came and we stayed to watch the sun set, and take some photographs. There were alot of people there armed with their large tripods and DLSRs. I also had my digicam and a small tripod of my own. Quite satisfied with what the camera managed to churn out. For night shots with people in the foreground, always remember to set the usual settings of long shutter speed, and with tripod, low ISO. I also turned on the flash so that our faces can be captured.

Then the following day we went with my family. They probably didn't know we already visited the place a day before. So sneaky!!! Sorry lah, needed alone time too. Totally enjoyed the following day playing with the kids too!

Taken while we waited for Mr & Mrs Goh to arrive with their precious kids, my niece and nephew :)

We had lunch at the restaurant there called "7 Storeys". Check out En-En playing with her plates :) Managed to catch her naughty acts on video. My 1st youtube uploads :)

A group shot at the end of the day. Amidst the exhibits there was a station where you can take a snapshot of yourself and the machine will automatically superimpose the photo against a nice marina barrage backdrop and e-mail the photo to you for free. The one we took turned out pretty blurry so I had to do some photoeditting myself. Heh~

Updates, long overdue...

2009-09-19T19:32:00.005+02:00

Finding it more and more difficult to keep the blog updated with my life... Life goes on, it never waits. Nevertheless, I'll try to update more constantly. I'm glad to have the habit of taking photos of the sights I see, just need time to edit them and post them. Been damn busy with submission for a local competition, and now that it's finally over, it's time for some updates.

One of the major happening things in my life recently was the purchase of my (our) HDB flat! After scouting around Serangoon Central for months, burning away wkends for resale flat viewings, we finally settled down with a 25 yr old unit along Ave 4... The ID works are currently on the drawing board, whenever I can steal some free time. Below are some pics of the 4-rm flat, taken when Matt and Yisu graced the house with their presence as we took some site measurements to facilitate our design.

Orchard Ion. One of the 2 new shopping centres along Orchard Road, both of which I haven't stepped foot in. Sigh... It's time to make a point to visit these awesome shopping malls.

Though I've missed the chance to visit Orchard Ion and Orchard Central, I've been to Iluma quite a couple of times. I've heard several criticisms about the planning and shop mix of the shopping centre, but there are still alot of interesting details to learn from.

Pics of our NLB at Bugis. Took them before and after visiting Bugis Junction. K lah... it's a pretty nice building. "Decorative Tropical" style... hee hee~~~ No offence Mr Y.

Below, publicity for a game that I've been wanting to buy, but on hold because of my vitamin M deficiency. Hmmm... perhaps when there is a pay raise or bonus... herh herh herh... though I doubt so, cause I'm lucky to be employed.

The Pinnacle @ Duxton. I'm told that the Pinaccle is called the pinaccle, because of its significance as a milestone in HDB design, and its location in Tanjong Pagar, which belongs to Mr L. I'm starting to like the facade more and more. This was taken from inside the bus on my way to Master Crab @ Ghim Moh to meet my good friends for dinner. It was a memorable dinner... Went to Mr Cheah's house for some inspiration on HDB design. Below, a building visible from my office, Pearl Bank Apartments. I hope it doesn't get demolished any time soon... I think it's really a charming building.

Taken from my house. The camera isn't able to capture the moon, but it was full that night. This is the general direction of my new HDB from Summer Place, though its blocked by these HDB blocks in the pic. Yes, the new flat is within walking distance from my home now, which is great.

Recent Purchases...

2009-09-17T20:11:00.000+02:00

Recently bought 18" Spider-man from eBay. It was a 2003 release for Spider-man 2, the movie. Super detailed and super articulated (67 p.o.a is no joke, though most of them went to its triple jointed fingers).

Also gotten Marvel Select Sabretooth. Definitely the definitive sculpt for this character.

New Office!!!

2009-09-02T19:57:00.001+02:00

And so, as the story goes, MKPL expanded their existing office space from the current #12-00 to half of #11... Now we occupy 1.5 storeys of the building. This is another old building that I've grown to like in SG. Staying late for work also gave me some opportunities to take some night shots from the new conference room... I'm more than happy to be one of the few selected to go down. It definitely is a more conducive environment to work in.

Farewell Mr Kho

2009-08-22T08:25:00.000+02:00

Mr Rickass Kho has flown to St Galen, Switzerland to do his MBA. Mrs Goh bought a cake for the farewell supper before proceeding to T3. All the best my friend~~~! Your PS3 will be put to good use while you're away >.<

Mini drama at the airport... Baggage weight exceeded permissible by 4kg~!!! And it costs $78 per additional KG... We just had to reshuffle some items between the hand carry and check-in. No big deal...

Shanghai Day 2 _ Daytrip to Hangzhou

2009-08-06T18:09:00.010+02:00

The day started with us taking a train from Shanghai South Railway station to Hangzhou. The train ride was very comfortable-- cushioned seats, smooth ride and fast ( it was travelling at 170km/h). The journey took approximately 1.5h. So, we arrived in Hangzhou in no time. nice~~
Of course, things are never that smooth-sailing in China, hurhur. We joined the taxi queue at the railway station, which seemed to go on forever.. And, when some people tried cut the Q, no one protested. amazing. oh well, being in a foreign land, we decided it'll be best if we kept our mouths shut too.

After a very long wait, we finally got on a cab and headed for Hubin Lu, which was our starting point for touring 西湖 (West Lake).

Map of ancient Hangzhou carved onto the ground

One of the many tourist boats which we took for a cruise of 西湖

雷锋塔（Lei Feng Pagoda) from a distance

On 小瀛洲 (Xiaoying Zhou) which is the largest island within 西湖. Quite a pretty place with lots of willow trees.

雷锋塔's up next! On our way into the pagoda, we saw a sculpture of 白蛇 and 许仙, together with her maid-servant, 小青．It depicts the return of 白蛇 from her imprisonment under 雷锋塔, together with her husband and son.

This is actually the remains of the foundation of the original Pagoda, which dates back to AD 975. Amazing~~. They found some artefacts inside too, which included some Buddhist relics. We were taking a break at one of the benches when we saw yet another amazing sight. This Chinese boy was running around the sacred building butt-naked..hmm. Maybe the Shanghai chicks will follow suit. I'm hoping...*drools***

View from top of the Pagoda. Escalators for the weak-knee-ed folks.

View of 西湖 from the Pagoda

Check out the wood carving that depicts the story of 白蛇. Damn detailed and intricate. Super jaw-dropping. In case you guys are wondering, the fable has it that 白蛇 is trapped underneath the Pagoda by this evil monk called 法海，and predictably, her Prince Charming, 许仙 came to her rescue.

1. One fine day, girls (白蛇＆小青） are horny. Met cute guy (@许仙); started raining. Cute guy offered to shelter them over to their boat. Love blossoms.

2. Married. Drink wine to celebrate; 白蛇 got drunk and revealed her true form--a snake, what else? 许仙 cannot take it, faints. *uh-oh*

3. In order to revive her wussy husband, 白蛇 embarked on a journey to some Godly Mountain to steal 灵芝. Got pursued by some Jaga.

4. After 许仙 wakes up, he was ungrateful (guys *rolls eyes*). He backstabbed the wife; as he approached 法海 , an evil monk, who summoned his army of crab, fish-headed, and lobster soldiers to go after his wife.

5. Epic battle continues~~

6.After the battle, 小青 super buay-song; wanted to kill 许仙 for betraying her mistress. But, 白蛇 decides to forgive him. All is well again.

7. Many years later, the happy couple had a child. However, still weak from her pregnancy, 白蛇was vulnerable to attack from 法海 who was buay-song that she won him in the previous battle. 法海 then conjures the 雷锋塔 to imprison 白蛇.

8. 许仙 raised his son well, who went on to become an Imperial scholar. Upon returning, he decided to attempt to free his mother. Buddha was touched and freed 白蛇 and turned the evil 法海 into a crab. Therefore, there's a saying that the belly of the crab resembles the bald-headed monk, and crabs walk sideways, hence the phrase　横行霸道 to describe 法海's evil ways. ( well, at least that's what the board says)

The original stupa, which in our opinion looks much nicer than the current one.

Work related stuff...

2009-08-05T16:17:00.000+02:00

Work's been quite kind lately. I wasn't really taken off any projects, but my jobscope for one is significantly reduced, while another proj went dormant. Doing minimal design and some project admin for this building. I'm quite glad to see it through, from when it was still at 20% structural works, to it's near TOP state today... The office's 1st curtain wall project too...! Above is a model pic of the entrance, and below, a pic taken from site. Guess it is something different from what we usually see...

Stuck around during the HS inspection for this project as well. Things to prepare during your HS inspection... 1) Drawings, NOAs, Waivers... 2) M&E Coordinator, Electrician and HS Supplier from your Contractor side... 3) Before inspection, please conduct internal tests.

The test was pretty comprehensive... They check the internal finishes, dimensions, ironmongery, electrical points... And they even use a tiny magnet to check the stainless steel grade of the ventilation sleeves. They also need to see the PSB certification stickers (to be stuck on the door leaf and frame) and the A4 HS instruction sheet (to be pasted on the inside of the door leaf). Then the chalk test... basically rubbing chalk on the HS door frame, then shutting the door, and then opening it. If the rubber seal is well compressed against the door frame when closed, the chalk should stain the black rubber seal of the door leaf, as shown in the pic below.

After that, they unscrew one of the ventilation sleeve and install this capping plate with two air nozzles that allows you to pump air into the HS. Once above 30 PA (not too sure about the unit, must check... but the quantity is 30), they will hold for 45 seconds. If the pressure falls below 20, you fail. The most common problem that causes leakage is that the silicon grouting in the electrical conduits are not done properly. See the air pump equipment and pressure gauge below.

Chet's 18th Birthday

2009-08-04T16:02:00.003+02:00

As long as the missus is happy, she can announce to the world she's 16 :) Chet's b'day just passed a couple of weeks ago. This year we didn't do too much, just went to IMM Swensons, bought a cake, unwrapped some presents...

And then one of the following wkdays... it was a Wednesday... I remember cause I travelled to Holland V from site. We went to Crystal Jade where they had buffet steamboat (free flow XiaoLongBao) every day after 2030. The unfortunate thing is, you have to book 1-2 days in advance, cause they are usually fully booked on the actual day. Well, we didn't book so we had to wait for cancellations / people not turning up. We got a table at 2100, and had a feast!

Shanghai Day 1

2009-08-03T17:47:00.005+02:00

Wokie... Finally found some time to select some photos we took at Shanghai while we were there on June 28 to July 4. Chet was there for a couple of days before me cuz she was a speaker at a biology conference, which was primarily why we decided to go for the trip, since her air fare is taken care of. Below are some photos, taken by Chet before I was there, of the famous Nanjing E. Road (南京东路), where there is a congregation of high end retail of international brands. Still, the architecture is quite charming, despite all those glaring neon signboards hanging from all over the facade.

Chet also took a river cruise down the Huang Pu River (黄浦江), the reason why Shanghai thrived as a port in the past. Some iconic buildings such as the Oriental Pearl Tower (东方明珠塔), and buildings on the Bund (上海滩), are visible on the river that splits Shanghai into its modern area (浦东), and old historic area (浦西).

On the last day of the Conference, Chet was awarded Young Investigator Award...! We noticed that things in Shanghai are gi-normous. Buildings are huge, the city is huge, people are aplenty, and their certificates are A3 -.-" The lady in the photo beside Chet is Zhuo Yang, who was kind enough to show us around the city for our 1st day. We didn't do much the 1st day, just met up at the university, checked into our hostel, The Phoenix (凤凰会所), located along Yunnan S. Road(云南南路) just off People's Square (人民广场). Okay I'm starting to wonder if i can be patient enough to key in the mandarin translation of the places for all my posts related to Shanghai. I'll try...

Basically 2 things are worth mentioning for day 1. We went to a textile factory in Lu Jia Bang (陆家浜), where they sold all sorts of fabric materials. They have tailors in there who are able to duplicate any suit / jacket designs, as long as you can describe it to them, or better, if you have any sample pictures taken from fashion magazines etc. The cost is pretty cheap too, and the quality is decent, and most importantly it is made-to-measure. My suit cost me S$100 equivelant, and Chet made a jacket for S$50. We didnt' collect the clothes there and then of course... But we planned to collect them in 3-4 days time. We didn't know this lobang, until my boss talked to me about where to go / what to do in Shanghai.

Afterwards, Zhuoyang brought us to 上海老站, a restaurant at Xu Jia Hui (徐家汇). The restaurant is a building with a courtyard, in which sits two train cabins, that were supposed to have played hosts to 慈禧太后 and 宋庆龄, two very famous ladies in the history of China. We ate in one of the cabins. The food was great! I recon it is the best meal we had in Shanghai...!

Misc Rantings

2009-08-02T17:43:00.001+02:00

We went to the night fest, which was, sad to say, very very disappointing. They attracted quite a crowd though, but I'm pretty sure most had the same sentiments. The only interesting thing was the digital projections on our National Museum... Spinning people, mediocre fire works, not my cup of tea.

The cast of Iron-man 2...! Gonna see some new faces. Scarlett Johansson plays Black Widow innit. Chet and I noticed she has huge assets when we watched He's just not into you... Looking at the phtos, I thought she would look nicer playing Scarlet Witch.

And... lastly, looking forward to Diamond Select's Abomination figure. It's going to look great beside my Hulks and Rulks, I'm pretty sure...

Gundam 00 Season 2 Ending OST

2009-07-07T15:15:00.005+02:00

Been watching Gundam 00 that I got from my brother the past few days. The plot is so-so, the mech is so-so, the soundtrack is so-so... Sigh. They haven't produced anything good since Gundam Seed (yes, Destiny is no match too, imo). Well, at least until I heard this song... quite nice... Trying to d/l the .mp3 ;)

Thing about nice ending themes and sucky storyline is... you tend to look forward to the ending of each episode. I remember for Seed, the storyline was so spectacular, that when they start feeding in the ending theme song, I felt disappointed. The only consolation was that the song rocked too!

Time to rewatch Seed. Kira Yamato, Freedom, Hashin!!

While we're at it... 2 more catchy songs ;)

工作一年了~~~ !

2009-07-06T17:13:00.003+02:00

Just came back from Shanghai, to fall sick... I was sick before the trip, during the trip, and after the trip. How awesome is that...? The weather and pollution of that city is really quite horrible this time of the year. There're only occassional showers to cool and clean the air, which makes the daily temperature fluctuate alot, and probably making my ultra-sensitive nose to act up -.-" More on that, with pics, once they've been sorted and updated.

Coincidentally, the trip marks my 1st anniversary of work, from 1 Jul 2008 - 1 Jul 2009. Yippee~~~! Guess this is the time to rethink what I have learnt and all those missed opportunities not to be repeated.

Apart from work, alot has happened with my life as well. Graduation, RoM, and travelled to Hanoi, Hong Kong, Penang, Batam, Shanghai. Next up are buying HDB, actual wedding, etc etc. Seriously, they are as exciting as they are worrying, being deficient in vitamins B, C, D and M.

The resolution for the next year work-year shall more or less be the same:

i. Lead a good work-life balance.
Life and work should not be mixed, but should act to compliment each other. I think work has definitely helped me appreciate life better. To be able to appreciate the environment from the eyes of an architect has definitely enriched life. Also, because work has deprived me the precious time for life, it has made me cherish it much more. I think my life has helped with my work too, but it could be more. Perhaps, travel more, do more new things, explore more places, read more...? Herh... I know some who knows me will surely laugh at this, cause I don't read much apart from graphic novels (they are not just comics!). I really need to work on this aspect.

ii. Exercise more.
I shall pass my IPPT for 2009-10 window!!! 3 more months to train O_o" Sigh~ Gah-men really made me hate my birthdays.

That's about it for now... Some pics of DC Direct's Cover Girls of DC Universe, Wonder Woman... She's one sweet beauty. Goddess~~~!!! I happen to own no. 2259 of 5000 pieces produced. Enjoy!

Cover Girls of DC Universe

2009-06-15T17:23:00.003+02:00

The first of DC Direct's new line of statues, Cover Girls of DC Universe, Wonder Woman, is out in Singapore! Each of these statues ae hand-painted, cold-cast in porcelain and measuring approximately 10" tall. And looking at the pictures from Statueforum, phwoah... *droolz... Let's hope I get one on Thursday...

Probably be skipping Canary... Dun find her face pretty -.-" WW, Zatanna and Catwoman really looks nice :)

MacRitchie Tree Top Walk

2009-06-14T15:59:00.000+02:00

Went to the Tree Top Walk at MacRitchie Reservoir a couple of weeks ago. Definitely not the right time to go (we went at 11am and it took 4 hours to complete the trail), but couldn't wake up on time -.-" Still, it was quite a memorable trip. Never thought SG had such a bridge. It felt pretty scary while I was on it looking down -.-"

The entrance from Venus Drive carpark seems pretty secluded, but it was pretty interesting. There was a small stream running along the beginning of the trail, and we could see some small fishes and waterboatman insects in it. After 3km we hit the Tree Top Walk, which was the highlight I suppose.

As for the route back, we decided to walk 5K to MacRitche Resevoir.

One of my fav pics taken that day... Hmmm... I like reptiles :)

Super tired after that... -.-"

The Curious Incident of the Curious Lizard...!

2009-05-16T17:43:00.003+02:00

This happened at Chet's place. A loose red thread from a T-shirt hung in the kitchen to dry caught the attention of a baby lizard, who just kept staring at it. At first I thought it looked like they are not attached to one another, but on closer inspection of the photos, seems like the lizard might've eaten a fine fibre from the thread...

Still, a curious situation. Couldn't resist but took some photos. I love my Canon Ixus 870 IS (gold).

Okay, maybe this might not be a suitable location to post these photos... just some random shots taken at Sushi Tei :)

Batam

2009-05-05T17:27:00.001+02:00

Took off to Batam over the May Day wkend. We stayed at Harris Resort, but I didn't take any photos of that place. Not that it wasn't nice, we enjoyed our stay there. Most of the time we spent at the spa, doing some treatments and massages. If not we bowled (complimentary 1 session) or ate (pizza... quite yummy). Obviously, we weren't built to bowl :S

Harris was located at Waterfront City. We checked out after one night and moved to Nagoya, the city centre, where we stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel. That night we had seafood :) Quite cheap and good. The prawns were tiny but we liked the "Gong Gong", absolutely fantastic...!

This isn't exactly a beach location... but I very much prefer Aonang, Krabi. I hope Bali will be nice :)

why like that...?

2009-05-03T15:31:00.002+02:00

Sianz...

Been kinda down the past couple of weeks... Time pass quickly when you're happy, but when spirits are low, I tend to find myself thinking alot about what I really want to do. I was watching the speech that Steve Jobs gave at Standford U's graduation couple of years back from another friend's blog. Truth is, I've already read the transcript before... my boss was kind enough to print it out for me... I think that was 3 weeks after I started workng. For me, the message I got was... that "life's too short, to do something that you don't love".

I went for a short getaway to Batam from Thursday to Saturday, making use of the Labour Day holiday, and also took one day leave (which I also used to go register my marriage with the Malaysian Embassy). I enjoyed the holiday, but it could've been much better if it hadn't been planned in between a hectic period at work. It was myopic planning on my part, but... alas... lately I'm not totally sure if there are lull periods at all for this industry.

I don't have the balls to divulge too much information about work, cuz it is sensitive and might offend people (I really dunno who reads these crappy rantings). As the story goes, I am handling some projects at my office, and sometimes one project demands more attention than the other. This led to a compromise in terms of my commitment to the other project, which then, caused me to have to rely on my other team member for that project. I was then asked for a one-to-one session, at which I was told that everyone has to handle their own share of work, that everyone is busy. If someone lapses, another has to cover that person's portion of work, which is unfair. Time management, it seems, is not my strong trait.

So I was told...

To be honest, I don't like to have to delegate my job to other people. I really want to be able to perform... Unfortunately, I also don't think that "handling too many jobs" is a fair excuse. Sometimes life dishes me these sorta wake-up-calls to make me think twice. And now, I wonder if it really is about my poor time management skill that's causing all these. There really are seniors in the office who are handling more jobs than I am...

During the session, I was told I cannot "just do design", that there are alot of other aspects of this job that I need to get a hold of to become a all-rounder. To that my answer was "there isn't any part of the job that I really hate". Which is true... What I really dislike is having too many thoughts in my mind at one time, on different projects, which is sometimes very distracting and keeping me from doing any one task at hand properly.

Sad to say, I don't think I am well honed enough to be quick at design. But alas, there isn't the luxury of time that I used to enjoy while in school. This also has to change...

While all these things are happening, I was also told by a senior, that work is not life. There must be a good balance. While it is important to perform at work, I'm also trying not to let it take over my entire life. I don't want to work 12-14 hours a day everyday. When was the last time I followed up on my hobby of making toy dioramas...? My flickr tells me that the last time was in 2008.

Perhaps, it's also good not to be too self absorbed with all these sadness. Went with Chet to an aki gatherings to celebrate my friends' Master Thesis submission, and had a good time. I got to introduce her as "Mrs Kho", and I'm happy to know my friend got his dream job, and another got attached... So, happy stuff that happen to other people does lift your own spirits too!

And about Steve Job's advocation for everyone to do what they love, I'm not sure I've found mine yet. My next hurdle is QP. I'll get that done, and then consider my next direction in life... In the meantime, I'll do some serious pondering... I'm getting good at it... pondering...

New Hot Toys Joker sneak preview...

2009-03-29T17:56:00.002+02:00

Hot Toys just released a sneak preview image and already caused some ripples in the toy collecting community. 1st of all, they introduced the Joker in Original Costume, with a poorly sculpted head. Then, their sculpting improved and in the 2nd release, Bank Robber Joker, we get a fairly movie accurate version of the head sculpt. Of course, if you were a hardcore collector, you would've bought both versions. The 1st to get the costume that Heath Ledger appeared in most of the time in the movie, and the 2nd to get the accurate headsculpt. Then, HT decides, Okay, let's release him in the original costume again, with an accurate headsculpt.

Hmmm...

Is there such a thing as integrity from the Manufacturer...? Should collectors who bought the 1st two versions feel cheated / shortchanged that their "investments" have gone down the drain. I think most serious toy collectors would feel more or less, sore about the whole situation. Then again, we do not know how much this new version will cost (adding a word "deluxe" behind the series almost automatically mean higher cost mind you), and how the headsculpt will look like exactly (though it would be safe to presume that it would be kick ass like BRJ's). Rumour has it that people are already dumping their 1st versions on ebay!

To be honest, why so serious? I am actually looking foward to it. I mean... I've held out for both the 1st release and even Bank Robber Joker and I'd love to see what HT has to offer. I wonder if I would feel sore if I've already bought both the 2 versions released. After collecting for so long, I know that if the product does not 100% satisfy you (weighing the quality and cost), then you should not buy it. For me, version 1 head really sucked, and so I didn't buy it. Version 2 was really tempting, and if I bought it, I would probably be very happy even if the newest version is going to be better.

national. museum. singapore.

2009-03-28T04:58:00.005+01:00

NUS students enter for free... 5 weeks ago we were in the area to pick up our RoM documents, so we decided to drop by for a short walk, which turned out to be a nice experience. The front entrance is pretty boring, I'll recommend walking through the spaces that W architects carved out for visitors entering from the rear.

We'll be back again, someday :)

randomness, food, gadgets, nostalgia

2009-03-27T17:55:00.012+01:00

Probably forgot to mention that for V-day this year, Chet bought us a digicam, the Canon Ixus 860... It is a wonderful point and shoot camera with wide lense and limited manual functions which I find pretty useful and interesting to use. Because the office camera is usually borrowed by someone, this new gadget is permanently in my Crumpler that I carry to work (and essentially everywhere else). As such, besides site photos, I can always take high resolution images of the random trivial stuff we do everyday, such as this photo I took while we were waiting for the bus to arrive at Suntec. I think this was the day when we tried to squeeze into the crowd of the recent Comex, where Chet bought her Maxtor "black brick" of a 500GB external HD ($89 only!). I wanted to get a 320GB mini (at $109) but it was sold out (but I got it later at Sim Lim).

I thought it was quite interesting. The SMRT bus was just zooming by when I was focusing on Times Square, and you can see the signage and facade lighting penetrating the bus. Click to view larger. Haha, cheap thrills.

Who knew mango mixed with green tea could give a pretty tasty blend...? That caved-in pie is actually a warm chocolate cake, or something like that.

Random shots of the office's conference room. The building structure is really ahead of its time, and quite a timeless masterpiece. Still like the twisted concrete fins alot. It serves as an object of interest when I stare out of the window sometimes (...or most of the time?). Below, taken when I had the opportunity to visit an old project done by the office.

More gadgets. In a bid to keep their loyal customers and prevent them from switching service providers, Starhub sent me a $100 voucher to upgrade my handset, seeing that there is number retention now and my contract is coming to an end. With the voucher I bought a cheap I-phone-sque phone, called the LG KP500 Cookie. Of the 6 colours available (2 not sold in Singapore) I chose the black one. So boring right... Heh... It is a pretty light phone, fun with all its touch screen function, and most importantly, it was affordable (at $98 with plan... times are bad ah, must save money... buy flat... book hotel... sigh). So I didn't spend a cent to get it, just had to call almost 30 Starhub dealers islandwide (it's sold out in alot of places). The only thing I don't like about it is that it died after 2 days of usage, but it is probably because I left the vibration on and the kid in me is so fascinated by his 1st touchscreen gadget that I couldn't put it down.

More food? After quite a long queue we finally managed to go into Aston's at The Cathay (with "The", much like The Chinese High School!). We were given the choice to either dine outside in the open terrace, or wait longer in the queue. The experience is actually quite nice. We had a good view of the curtain wall that runs across the whole facade of The Cathay, with all its blinking LED lights, and also the up and coming SotA. What's more important is that the food is great. We find that it is much better than Botak Jones... Seen here is our order of Double-Up Chicken (BBQ and Grilled), and Fried Chicken & Sausage Combo... The sides are potato salad, fries, whipped potato and coleslaw... Wah, think about it now also hungry!!!

Just awhile ago we dropped by a place where we used to go for dinners in JC, at 6th Avenue. I'm not sure if people actually know this place but they sell pretty decent crispy prata and they're located opposite Guthrie House...? We ordered a Chicken Murtabak, 2 Kosong, 1 Egg, 2 Teh-Ping, and just paid $11 (with change). Sedap... Only remembered to take photo after finishing the food -.-"

Then of course, we walked over to the Guthrie House for Venezia. We were reminicising about doing all these (having dinner together, then walk over to share a cup of 3-flavoured ice-cream), which was a decade ago. Yes, JC was 10 years ago... Time flies... It used to be the 3-flavours cost $4.50. Now it is $5.70... It also used to be that policemen wore shorts.

What's a post without some toy pictures!? Bought some 12" goodness of some iconic Marvel characters, the X-men Nightcrawler, Phoenix and Colossus. Full review here. BTW, Hot Toys just released news that they are going to do a new Joker, or two (police costume and original costume). I hope the headsculpt is same or better than Bank Robber Joker's... Sigh, then again, where got money to buy such expensive toys...?

Ex-classmates and comrades in aki that went year-out are about to submit their Master thesis in a fortnight. Godspeed! Fingers crossed for a friend's interview on Tuesday...! But I'm pretty confident, on your behalf ;)

Our Registration of Marriage...

2009-02-22T17:41:00.002+01:00

Dear friends, Chet and I got married on 22nd February 2009. The ceremony was held at Keppel Club, with a lunch reception at Peony Jade. It was a small affair. We would like to thank our family and friends who managed to share the occassion with us. Though there were alot of other friends that we would've loved to be present, we're sorry that we were unable to invite everyone... We'll definitely invite you guys for the customary wedding lunch / dinner, probably some time next year. Anyhowz, enjoy the pics!!!

Chet's dress, accessories and my blazer were rented from Bridal Closet. We would like to thank Elsie for her valuable help and advise. Our make-up artist is Tin, whom we are also grateful for. See how she miraculously made my pimple disappear!!!

Look at how gleeful Chet is. I know... it can't help much... but it helped.

Where the ROM ceremony was held. We liked the sea view at the location...

Our buay-song faces... over dunno what!?

The Khos...

The Chuahs...

One big happy family~!!!

Chet's housemates, Tzehoong and Jo.

...and with their other halves Dongmei and Tianwei!

Our pro photographer and friend, Ervine Lin.

Us with Chet's younger siblings Ney, Hong Choon (aka 钟镇涛, my mom thinks so) and Hong Guan...

Chet's parents.

My parents.

My elder siblings Minzhi and Kewei...

Our close friends since JC, Kenny and Kangwei.

Our close friends from Hall (and army), Aaron and Linghan.

...jhee pro~!

... we find this shot super the 70s... or is it 60s...?

The kick~!

My aki gang... Sara, Zhengmei, Yisu, Matthew, Yonghui, Chiawmeng, Yongqi~!!!

... colleague Sara...

钟镇涛 again ;)

帅 !!!

Check out Chet's calla lilies, all the way from Bedok 85! Thanks Mrs Teo!

Setting up the pavilion...

Our rings from Love & Co.

Our Solemnizer, Mr Jude Yeo. Thanks for your wise words... We shall forever remember your advise imparted to us in Serangoon Garden McDonalds ;)

... and our marriage is sealed!

Chet, the control freak.

Chet's friends from lab, Lishan, Guobao, Wanhui, Yibing, Howwing, Wang Hong.

Howwing, Chet's beloved friend and classmate since sec 1!!!

Hall friends Jingyi, Zuchuan.

... and we shall now live happily ever after!!!

Hot Toys 1/6 Iron Man Mk-III

2009-01-24T17:50:00.003+01:00

Very very happy with this purchase, despite some QC problems. My 1st Hot Toy purchase... Truth be told I haven't really been very impressed with their releases, until this and Bank Robber Joker... *hint hint