Going on to the rainbow

Been in Sydney this past week for meetings. Reminded again what a nice city it is, with great skyscapes, a view of the harbour and amazing weather. Spent half a day just sailing around on a yacht in the sunny Australian winter. Completely awesome. Also managed to make my way down to lindy hop night in Newtown. While there were more people there this time, the level of dancing wasn't amazingly high. Still, it's always good to go dancing in other scenes. About the only thing i don't like is the high price of food here -.-

Another regret : not getting to run in the Sydney Botanical Gardens (especially since it's right opposite my hotel). Will definitely have to bring H back here so we can explore more.

Ran into an old secondary school classmate online. Reminds you how small Singapore is. Also brought back some not so good memories of me bullying this classmate, but then again, who likes to be reminded of his own bad behaviors in the past?

Interesting phenomenon : Wizard rock!

These next 3 months are going to be very busy. Army Half marathon coming up Aug 26, along with a very tight training schedule and being accountable for the first time this year in September for business results. Both exciting and intimidating. All good!

Ajantis is all excellent....

The Mckellan of Physics

So i went to watch Asian Boys vol 3 with a friend this past Sunday. Couple of reflections

1) Somewhat didactic, with 2 characters onstage debating different points of view that didn't break much new ground. Felt like watching Alfian's plays in school again.

2) The part of the play that covered relationships was a lot more poignant. At the end, the main character says... "this is the only way i know how to be happy". The point that the character was making was that we don't choose to be gay, especially given how much more difficult it is to be gay than straight. That's true, for me, at least. If i had a choice, i would probably choose to be straight. But i can't. I can't imagine being as happy with one of my gal pals as i am with H.

3) On a lighter note, the first half of the play was set in RJC. Given that Alfian is from the same year as me, and that the novel is set a couple of years before i was there, a lot of the references felt eerily familiar :P

Exciting thing that happened during the play : Ian McKellan showed up! So cool! And he does sound as magnificient and stately as Gandalf in real life :)

Bought Harry Potter book 7 on Saturday and finished reading it on Sunday. Brought the book to a nice close for me, with all loose ends tied up. But no, i won't reveal who died....

Got my final set of credit card bills. My god, i did max out the credit limit on my American Express as a result of the 5 week office trip. That's kinda scary. I don't want to get used to spending that kind of money -.- Hopefully, things will be better with this upcoming trip (going to Sydney for business).

And i'm taking another mega-windy journey in November. Singapore-Beijing-Detroit-St. Louis-Hawaii-Beijing-Singapore. Again, hoping i won't spend too much money then.

We'll see....

Ajantis must be frugal!

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...