The price is right

All about money and schtuff this post.

Feeling somewhat broke now. Just paid my whole income tax for 2006 at one ago, followed by two really expensive dinners. Funnily enough, these were my first two fine dining experiences ever in Singapore, and they happened within a week of each other. Total damage for the 1st dinner, over $1k, split among 3 people (cos we were treating the groom for his bachelor party), while the 2nd one was $360 for 2 persons.

Worth the experience and the food, but not something i would repeat again.

Good thing the stock market went up, along with all my stocks :P

Speaking of money, i'm really tempted to buy the Wii..... turns out the modified version (that allows you to play pirated games) is available in Singapore AND you can download games through bittorrent!!!! Wii sports, here i come! What a great excuse to get exercise while playing video games!

Other ravings :

Need to lose weight ; gained 2-3 kg on this last overseas trip, and feeling it in the pants, and in the comments by office colleagues. Was doing well until the fine dining dinners (yet another reason to take a break from those for a while)

Going to Sydney again end of this month for work. That should be fun.

Sore from my first 13km run in a while. A backrub sure would be nice right now. Need to start ramping up for the Army Half Marathon.

Ajantis is sleepy and will now conk out...

Back home to the dining room

Back after a 5 week round the pacific journey. It's been a good trip, with lots of learning and lots of seeing new things, but i was ready to go home.

It's different when you are sleeping in a different hotel and different city every week, with work and vacation time interspersed in between.

The good thing was that i got to spend time with H; 2 weekends in Chicago, 4 days in San Fran. In San Fran, we got to meet up with the divine miss M, catch a couple of dances with her and the rest of the crazy SF lindy scene, walk around with a couple of friends from college, and see Gay Pride!

Gay Pride was especially awesome. Seeing the policemen and firemen walking down the street holding hands, seeing the gay and lesbian couples with their kids, watching the one couple who had been together for FIFTY SIX years, all made for very inspiring yet bittersweet moments. Sometimes it's hard to be reminded of what you miss in Singapore.

H, as usual, dragged me up and down all the hills and stairs of SF. He had used his birthday present from me to buy walking tour guide books for SF (note to self : be more careful whene buying amazon vouchers). While i also whinged and complained as usual, it was a great experience. SF is an amazing city. The slopes, the views (for which you pay ultra-expensive property prices), the quaint little neighborhood stores every several blocks, the cool weather in summer. Definitely a good time. I will not, however, miss being hit by beggars every few blocks.
All in all, i got some great quality couple time exploring the city, along with sore legs and some sunburn.

Hong Kong, on the other hand, left me feeling a bit cold. Maybe it was because i was tired towards the end of my trip, nursing a proto-cold, but i think it also had to do with the fact that it was rainy and humid, extremely crowded, plus everyone kept assuming i was from Hong Kong and talking to me in Cantonese, which left me feeling oddly left out. That, and the air quality was definitely NOT great. Oh well, maybe another time.

So now, i'm back at home, facing a ton of bills and envelopes, feeling glad to be back, but also apprehensive about the work that lies ahead. Even though i'm still in training, i now have to start working with others on next year's plan. So now's when the rubber truly hits the road, so guess i have to roll up my sleeves and get down and dirty...

But that's a thought for another time.

Here's some frivolous stuff....
1) Finally got on facebook (eep! darn Bee)

2) #1 game on my wishlist

3) Favorite movie

Ajantis is burping, and laughing, and burping, and laughing....

Pacific Tour Part 2 Addendum B

Forgot to blog a bit more. Saw So You Think You Can Dance. Some amazing dancing.... Wade Robson's pop-jazz routine called Tramp Cabaret literally blew my mind away and left me near tears. Even a boring dance like the smooth Waltz became magical... I would seriously pay money for the DVDs of the past seasons. Dance=awesome.

Updated networth today.

Ajantis is done....

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 ;)