Pacific Tour, Part 2

Interesting sights on the tour

1) 70 year old man on roller skates with headphones twirling some juggling sticks on a main road in a Chicago burb. Highly incongruous

2) Dancing in Sydney. Hopped onto the train for a 30 min ride on a rainy night, hoping that things would work out despite not knowing where the hell the location for the night's social dancing was. Danced for 45 minutes, but the Sydney dancers thankfully went out of their way to welcome me.

3) Cicadas!It's apparently their mating season here in Chicago, and man they are LOUD! Also, numerous. Kinda fun to see these slow things flying around. Until they smack into you while you're running. I'm ashamed to admit it, but i squealed a little.

4) Flying business class on SIA and United. SIA was that much better. The food was better, you could forward and rewind through movies (unlike United) on 40 channels (compared to United's paltry 9) and and and.... you could order HOT CHOCOLATE. Bonus! Still couldn't avoid the crying babies though. I somehow end up next to babies on a lot fo these flights....

Spending the weekend with H was nice, and it feels odd, but nice, to be able to see H every weekend for 3 weeks. Plus, we get to spend 4 days in San Francisco during Gay Pride weekend! That'll be exciting. Plus seeing Miss M and another close friend of ours.

Work is going well so far. Need to start making some decisions next month, but am really happy with what the company is investing in me. Now let's hope i can pay it back :)

Time to sign off.

Ajantis is ironing his wrinkled business shirts...

Pacific Tour

Had an awesome week in Brisbane. Great city by the riverside, wonderful place for walking and running, ran 3 times along the river in different directions in 20 degree weather. Gonna be tough to go back to running in the Singapore humidity. Ah well. The Chinatown was kinda disappointing, and a bit too quiet on weekdays for my taste (what self-respecting shop closes at 5!?) but the city was nice, and had that walkable and welcoming feel. Also drove out to Gundy, a small little town 4 hours out to visit a store, and saw about 432 dead roos along the way (yay roadkill!).

The attachment was great. It helped me to crystallise some of the thoughts i'd been having, and to find some new ideas, bounce some concepts off others. Some people commented that it was amazing how much i knew given my short time in the company. I get that a lot. Sometimes i do forget how fast i learn and put things together, and getting comments like that is nice, and also a reminder that sometimes i need to be patient cos other people take a bit longer (which is normal). H is rolling his eyes right now cos i'm always refusing to admit the statement above :)
Anyway, this job is working out really well. It's a chance to do what i like and what i'm good at (in reference to Miss M's post)

Now in Sydney on the next stop of my great pacific adventure. Spent most of yesterday exploring the CBD for 6 hours. Today, i took the ferry across the bay (great views!), got to see Manly Bay, and visited the zoo. Lots more walking. My lower back is sore, but no regrets! Sydney is a great city to visit. Awesome views, wonderful walking, wonderful sights. A little bit like Vancouver, really. Got to see the Sydney Bridge, and the Opera House. But best of all, i got to see koalas!!!! Bought one koala doll for H too :P

Was thinking of doing the bridge climb, but was a little too ex. Will do it next time with H.

Only beef with Sydney? Things are too damn expensive. But that's a post for another time.

Alright, time to sign off. Course tomorrow, and i need to not fall asleep on the first day of class :)

Ajantis is happy happy happy...

Doom doom doom doom doom

Grrr i wrote this all up, and then stupid blogger forgot to save it :(

Anyhoo, i'm doomed. We're all doomed. Why? Because according to this New York Times article, 70% of our weight is determined by our genes. Not that surprising a conclusion, but what was particularly impactful was reading about how overweight people who had dieted themselves to normal weights, displayed physical and emotional symptoms akin to starvation (!!!!). That's kinda scary. Yet H asked a good question : if that is the case, why is America getting fatter and fatter? I have no answer to that, cos the logical answer would also be the scariest one. That artificial food can overwhelm even the power of our genes....

I read a lot of NY Times. That includes a recent article about duck phalluses. Apparently, some ducks can grow phalluses every year (that's dicks, for us plebian folks) as long as their body? Why? Well, because female ducks have extremely long and twisty oviducts. That's to prevent extremely amorous males from raping them and fertilising their eggs against their will. Their maze-like oviducts enable them to shunt the sperm of the male ducks away into little pockets. Whatever you do, don't piss off mother evolution.... I sent the article to Grace, who scolded me, cos she was thinking of having duck rice.

My brain is a garbage can. I remember articles about weight gain, duck phalluses, you name it, i remember it. The other day, someone was talking about India, and i basically talked about this article i'd read about the labor shortage in India as a result of the poor educational landscpae there. Someone asked me how i knew so much about India.... if only they knew it was cos my brain is like a flytrap when it comes to strange titibits like India's labor situation. And yet, i get lost all the time, and i often have to ask someone 5-10 times before i remember their name.

On a separate note, i've gotten used to spending 30 min driving in my car. Argh! It is true thought that your quality of life goes up. Just having someowhere to put your shoes so you can go running whenever you like, is awesome.

Car = awesome, Ajantis = priceless ;)

Bemusement beside amusement on the carousel

Am feeling kinda proud. Managed to get in my gym sessions and running this week, even if it meant gymming yesterday and today and running 13km today. H usually rolls his eyes when I say that ;)

Some interesting incidents. Got hit on by a 17 year old boy at a company function. Part of me was flattered, but the other part was bemused and glad that nothing happened. Alarm bells were going off in my head, so i quickly pulled away and made light of it. But i made the point of chatting with him later so he would know everything was ok.

At the same function, sang 3 acapella songs with some colleagues. Was good to be singing again. Tons of fun, really, even if i was really rusty. I do miss singing and it will be good to go back it again, especially now that lindy seems to be dying down. Hopefully, we can keep this going.

Also went to St. James last night with a friend. WAY TOO CROWDED, even if the music was pretty good. Haven't really gone out clubbing in a long long time, so it was an interesting experience.

Another random thought. It struck me as i was running today that political science was the perfect training ground for what i have been doing for the past few years. It's about analysis, hypothesis, deduction, decision and then execution. Political science graduate school covered all of that, except for decision and execution, which i learnt in the previous job as a GM. Kinda funny to see how your life decisions can sometimes play out, especially since political science was a subject i picked for its similarity to History, and cos i thought it was easier to get a non-teaching scholarship in that subject. (History = teaching ! Blech! - another irony since i was also administering teaching scholarships for a bit after coming back to Singapore).

Life is funny sometimes.

Ajantis is bemused and amused.

Side shots in the corner pocket

Random titbits today.

1) H and I watched The Namesake the other day. Good movie, better than the book in some ways, because I still don't think Kal Penn is all that good an actor, but the actors playing his parents were amazing, so it helped that the movie put more emphasis on his parents. I like Asian-American tales, always have, always will. So it was good to catch the movie.

2) Saw an interesting NYT article about how someone in Thailand is designing durians that don't stink! What is the world coming to?

3) Looks like i'm going to Denver instead of Columbus in June, with a short vacation with H in SF. Should be fun. Plus... i get to stay over in Hong Kong for a day. Hopefully i get some swing in. Definitely going to check out the Queer Jitterbugs group in SF. H has promised to give lindy a try (woo hoo!) although it still sounds like i'm pulling his teeth.

4) Updated my latest networth. Kinda fun!

5) Been addicted to my Playstation portable (finally, found a good game!)... ARGH!

Ok, i lied. Not so random titbit time. Oats asked me about my thoughts on the whole ministerial/civil service pay review. My take can basically be summarised as follows

1) Our public policies are far better than those of other countries. Just take a look at the health and education systems in US, and you'll know what i mean. We pay less for more, effectively.
So i agree that government should pay for performance and i personally think the pay rises are justified.

2) People who are interested in public policy or have had the chance to personally experience/learn about public policy/systems in other countries would probably hold the same point of view.

3) Most people, however, are rightly more concerned about where their next paycheck will come from, or how to afford the next tuition/car payment (for middle-class folks). These people would not have had the chance to learn/experience other countries, and would be justifiably upset. Their point of view is valid in its own way, especially with the GST hike coming in July.

So in a nutshell? I agree with the payrise, but i definitely think more could and should have been done to prepare and educate the community.

Ok, exposition done.

Ajantis is going back to his PSP...

Blogging in paradise

Going back for the 10th anniversary concert was surreal. It was great to sing with old friends again. We sang 6 songs at the concert, and sang some more. I don't think my throat has been that sore in a while. Caught up with some old friends. It was good. But i think this is the probably the last time i will go back for a Gimble concert; going back for the reunion concert also made me quite aware that Gimble is something squarely in my past. I will look back on it with great fondness and affection, but we have all moved on beyond it into the working world.

H asked me : "How do you think Gimble has impacted you?" My answer; that it helped me become more aware of my own quirks and issues, and learn how to manage them better. In turn, this made more ready and able to learn from all the stuff that was thrown at me when i worked. So yes, i am grateful for everything that i got from being in the group. H is too. He said that he picked up quite a few management skills from learning how to push and manage a group of 16 very strong willed people ;)

H and i also took the chance to get out of town and go to Saugautuck, Michigan for a couple of days. It's a nice sleepy resort town, very different from extremely urban Singapore. But i think H got it right when he turned to me at dinner and said, "i think we're both urban people... most people would be enjoying this right now, but both of us are thinking how we're going to occupy ourselves tonight and tomorrow". Which was oh so true.... cos the next day we drove 45 minutes away to visit a sculpture garden in a nearby town....

All in all, though, the whole visit was very nice, especially since i didn't have to worry about work at all. Even though the Michigan weather was being crazy as usual (from 20 degrees celsius to -4 and snowing the next day), it was good to spend time with H, with old friends, with memories and recollections. And H cooked for me on the last night ;)

In other news, H and I have set a date for him to move here. April 2009. We finally have a date! Now the real planning for his bakery begins. I am a little worried about the amount of investment needed, but we will work through the numbers and business plan first.

Back to work tomorrow. Feels like i've been away a long time. And looks like i will be travelling a lot this year :
May - KL
Jun - Whole month in Melbourne, Sydney, Chicago, Columbus
Aug - Sydney
Sep - Beijing
Oct - Manila
Nov - St. Louis, USA (for friend's wedding).

Guess i'll see how much of a traveller i really am.

Ajantis will not get air-sick....