The fallen rider

I've witnessed another auto accident today. Don't get me wrong, I've seen one before (also in my rearview mirror as it happened) and many accidents (after the fact) and even been an unfortunate party when a fool driver rammed me up the rear. But this morning I witnessed one so dramatic it looked like something on TV. So let me share this experience with you.

I was in my car, as usual, I was stuck in peak hour traffic attempting to head into work. The dreaded CTE jam had all cars stopped again while we waited for some clueless driver who couldn't regulate his speed or filter into or out of a lane without making everyone slam on the brakes. Any hoots, I had just happened to check my rearview mirror when I saw a motorcyclist trying to squeeze between a cab and an MPV when he totally failed in the attempt and rammed into the side of the cab. The rider flew off his bike and must have landed past the two cars. It was such a strange feeling seeing a man on a bike one minute and in another instant flying through the air. Thankfully he got up and the cab driver and MPV driver got out of their cars to check on the motorcyclist who was brushing himself off. I must say I was very nasty because all I could think about was that it was a good thing he didn't ram into me, and that my car was infront of this accident because I could see the huge jam piling up behind this scene as I started to move off again.

Yes it was a very selfish thing, but for a moment I was worried for the rider and like I said, I was glad that he appeared fine as he was struggling to his feet. But a part of me also thought 'serves him right for swerving in and out of traffic and squeezing between cars'. As I drove on, I thought an accident scene like that would serve to teach other motorcyclists that they really should occupy a lane like another motor vehicle. Sadly, that last thought was banished quick time because in no time at all, a huge group of motorcyclists who obviously squeezed through the jammed accident scene came hooning past me! Squeezing through traffic without a care in the world. I wonder what these other bikers felt and thought as they rode their motorbikes just as recklessly as the fallen rider, as I crawled at a snails' pace in an orderly line hoping that I'd make it to work on time and another accident doesn't happen a head of me to delay me from my hectic schedule. Then it dawned on me that beside those lousy drivers, it also must be those damn motorcyclists who weave in and out of traffic and squeezing between cars that make my trip into work such a disjointed affair filled with starting and stopping. Damn it all to hell, I wished I lived and worked in the country with no morning peak hour jams so that I can enjoy my car, the sound of my engine humming away in top gear. Oh what a wonderful drive it would be. Yes I'm just as bad as those bikers and cars out there, selfish and unfeeling.

Week End Blues

I was really looking forward to this weekend. I was going to take the wife to the wetlands with the intention of going try to catch a sight of a couple of large monitor lizards or if we were lucky... maybe even a crocodile sighting. Unfortunately as things always seem to turn awfully wrong for me these days, I had to cancel the lovely trip to head back to work. It wasn't just a day taken out of my weekend but I had so much work that I ended up heading back into work on both Saturday and Sunday. The only consolation was that I wasn't alone. The office was like any other weekday with just about everybody back at work on Saturday. It was absolutely shocking! Sunday... today was a quiet affair though. It was just me and another head-of-department who had too much work to clear so we found our sorry-selves back on a Sunday at work. I honestly don't know if this job of mine is worth it anymore. I'm feeling tired all the time and I miss spending time at home. All I ever do is go back home to sleep and then it's out the door again the next day. It ain't healthy.

My weekend isn't mine and now tomorrow is another new week a head with more work coming. I've told the wife that we'll do our wetland trek next week but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if I had to take a raincheck again because something urgent crops up again that demands that I finish or have a response at the very least by Monday morning.

Crap my weekend ended without me :(

Gym me

I haven't stopped even though my dearest appears to be making up excuses to skip her sessions of late. I'm still making the three times a week... ok sometimes two times a week sessions but I'm feeling better. Running longer and generally feeling stronger. I'm still puffing like a chimney but I drink less, though I have taken to much stronger booze when I do drink with friends, but I don't binge anymore and that'll be a liversaver.

Any hoots, I don't appear to have lost any weight, but the pants feel less snug and I don't feel like I'm approaching seventy when I have to climb a flight of stairs or walk a distance. On the diet front, I'm still mad about Japanese food and I find myself eating more Japanese food than ever, but that's probably also because we have found a lovely little restaurant that serves great food and also provides friendly service... particularly since we've been back so often. Best of all, they also serve great beef and should I ever get a craving for some red meat, I don't have to worry :)

But it ain't all good news. Our friends whom we normally workout with may be moving on from their current job and we won't be able to use their private gym for much longer. :( I loathe having to join a gym here. First it's silly stupid prices that has to be paid every month and second there are just too many weirdos checking you or themselves out all the time. Makes my skin crawl when I see these weirdos checking out everyone in the gym but workout. Yucky. Well I have the condo gym but the machines are old and those rubberised grips on the bike and elliptical smell so damn foul! Some people really don't clean themselves very well if they leave their foul stench behind everywhere.

So I may yet have to join a gym... puke. Maybe I can clear a room back at my in-laws and turn it into a home gym. :) Yes that would be the best solution. A one time payment for a top spec private gym that I can use all year round. I'll have to save some money and not spend it on holidays if I want to do this... but it'll be well worth it. Clean equipment just for me the wife whenever. It doesn't get any better than that... Oh but before I leave let me tell you about my friends' gym in New Jersey. When I was there visiting them in March, I had the opportunity to use their gym there and I was in gym heaven. The equipment was brand new and there was nobody there besides my friend and I. The elliptical, treadmills and bikes had LCD monitors and all I needed was a pair of headphones. I gotta get me some of those LCD monitors on my new machines WOOHOO!

Been absent for awhile but I'm still kicking.

My trips abroad of late have been really quite maddeningly swift. I can't remember a vacation which has been rather leisurely for the longest time but then again I haven't much time to actually go on vacation besides merging it with working trips mostly.

So a quick update for friends who haven't heard from me in ages. I ain't dead, just dead busy is all.

In my absence I've actually been zooming... been to Cambridge and London in a lightning flash trip late last year which was work and leisure combined. Did a beautiful super luxurious spa resort in Thailand in Dec (Sila Evason Hideaway) which ended much too soon but it is simply a must return to resort because it spoilt me rotten and yes it was all leisure but I was still busy smsing work colleagues because there was so much work! Did a quick hit and run trip to New York and visited friends in New Jersey and walked through the lovely Princeton University in March which was again mostly work and a little leisure but again I was mostly smsing because... you got it - work. Got terribly ill on my return trip because I ate something really nasty on that SQ flight back and was laid up in bed for 4 days! Wasted two precious days of my annual leave and a weekend limp from their dirty food... bloody lousy SQ catering in USA POO POO. Made several super short weekend work/leisure trips to Indonesia (Jakarta and Medan) and will probably try to make another two trips to Indonesia (Solo and Surabaya or maybe even Jakarta again). I found myself really liking Indonesia the people are so friendly.. beats Singapore mostly. So I'll be off to Bintan (for the Gaazillonth time) for a much needed quick spa and tanning fix this June... this one is all leisure. I know I'm sooo terribly bad because we'll be doing two resorts one after another while we're there. Why you ask? Because it's too good to pass up. Imagine soaking up the opportunity of enjoyng two lovely deals one after the other when normally you only choose one. We just had to do both :P

The following weekend I'll find myself back in Bintan AGAIN but this time for part work and leisure. Then it'll be back to work and hell until August. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a very decadent long weekend in August in another Thai boutique resort just to de-stress before the year-end madness overcomes the best of us at work, the bonuses will be burned for this trip if it happens. Yes I'm talking about personal bulter service, private pool villa heaven again. We haven't decided yet if we're going be naughty and stay at Sila Evason Hideaway again or try another small luxury spa resort but I know whichever one we settle on... it will be Ooh-so-sinful... sinfully expensive but what is work for if you can't spend your money. And finally I've decided to make another more leisurely trip back to BC Canada at the end of the year to recce the place further with an eye to drive up to the snow this time and maybe indulge in some ski therapy before the new year of madness begins all over again.

I know it's so wrong but I can't relax much here. It's work, it just keeps hounding me. It's at the back of my mind and so long as the computer is closeby and the office stays open for us 24/7 there is just no way to getaway and shut out work. So quick fixes like these short trips just has to do to keep me sanity. If nothing else at least it means I can't drive into work and I don't have internet access so readily. So here's to quick getaways and friends to meet all over the place to keep that smile on me face.

Cheers all and have a super weekend ahead... I'm dreaming of spas, private pools and fruity drinks with sunsets on the horizon just another week or so to go before paradise beckons. *smiles*

Nar Dah

Work has been hectic of late. Actually not really just hectic, it's been complete madness... in fact I dare say hellish.

Everything is just flying and that's not a good thing when you haven't enough time to handle everything as well as you'd like to. Days are taken up with meetings after meetings, when you have an available moment, the phone invariably rings and ruins your day because you find yourself having to manage that urgent situation when there are 10 other urgent cases like deadlines and projects waiting in the wing in your ever growing in-tray. If it's not the phone, then it's the email. The messages keep coming, I do so fantasize of the day that Y2K actually did wreak havoc on our modern technology. It'll be snail mail...

*fantasy dream Scene* cue music - cue hazy vision - BEGIN!* ...By sea or air please the staff asks? Make it slow, we are all cutting costs so by sea please, I'd purr. If it was urgent... I mean really urgent, then a telegram please or if it was cheap enough then a direct phone call. Now stop bothering me, I have work to do... *CUT! - Lights! - *fantasy dream Scene ends*

Damn I reckon I could be doing research, writing papers and presenting at conferences regularly with all that time to work, think, reflect and act on matters, without emails and phone calls constantly pulling me away from other work. What a dream that would be...

But back to reality, everyone is depending on you to make it the best that it can be but I'm wondering with all this work I complete as best I can under the circumstances and slip into my 'out' tray... I just know it's one of those things where there is always a high probability that it'll just come back to haunt me later. Why you ask? Because no matter how much I say I've done it to the best of my ability, the fact that I have so many things in the air now and I'm really freaking out. I know I could have done an even better job if I just had more time to think about it, consider it that little bit longer, had just that little bit more time to craft it before sending it out for clearance. So it goes that because I'm now bogged down with so many things that I can't seem to see straight much less think straight, these out tray items will most likely come back and hit me where it hurts. It'll require another round... a round which I feel sick thinking of because it'll mean it being in my in-tray joining an ever growing heap of 'things-to-do' and everyone of those items are marked urgent.

Now you might say, if only I'd done them right then it won't come back for another round. True I totally agree, but I know that the work is as good as its going to get at that moment in time.

It's even more maddening when I think I've really done a great job on something and sent it on it's way only for the work to be torn in to and re-edited to such ends that one wonders whether I needed to provide any sort of input whatsoever. So I work. I'm a working stiff, we tell ourselves that we are making a difference but I think otherwise. I say I'm like a mice on a wheel, I do a lot of work running all day long but where have I gotten. I end where I started. I feel like this these days and these days suck! I have had too many of these days already this year, it's not healthy. I want to move forward, I want to see farther, do more and feel more. I want out of the office, I want to real contact with people, enough with phones and emails. I need fresh air and time away from the office, from deadlines and urgent matters, from replying to complaints or strange feedback from 'customers' who know better but just want you to experience a bad day like them. I want out of the cage or this rat race...

I wish I was a kid again, on my bike in the neighbourhood, riding from home to home of dear friends to get them out to play without a thought for the time or what game we were going to play. I want to play, experience and learn all over again. I'm tired of people expecting me to know it all. I want to say, I know nothing... leave me be. I am nothing, let me be.

I want a do over... I want to go back to school.

black beast vs little terror

It's been ages since my last babble. While many things have happened everyday but nothing so significant to rave about.

Oh except possibly the fact that I've got a new little baby. Yes I've done and turned my back on my black beast of a 4x4 and traded it in for a little red chilli padi. I've bought myself a new car!! For those of you know me well, this is quite a surprise because I was really quite attached to that black beast, the five hour wash and wax jobs I lavished on that monster every other weekend was sweet sickness. But the beast was cursed since day one. The day I drove down to her pick up from bloody C&C I was already pained to see that lousy C&C didn't do a very nice wash job, they left millions of swirl marks all over the black paint work to a new car. Then within the week some dickless wonder coined the beast for no apparent reason besides the fact that it was new, shiny and very much a beauty on the road. Then within the year of our partnership, some fool of a black RX300 rear-ended the beast on the CTE and a long legal case ensued before the beast and I were vindicated and aptly rewarded by the fools who obviously can't drive to save their lives. I mean seriously, when there is a jam and everyone is stopped dead on the road surely that means that you shouldn't be slamming down on your accelerator. Morons!! Any way after that long legal tussle, the beast and I haven't shared the same bond since. It all came to naught when I laid my eyes on the new swift sport. Such a sweet little package of unadulterated fun. I couldn't help but test drive the little beauty, even if I felt like I was cheating on the beast. But I was sold, the little terror was so sweet, full of verve and ohh so loud, she screams all the way to redline heaven!

So I washed and waxed the beast for the last time in Nov 06 and we said our goodbyes. It was tough to see the beast go, we struggled with Singapore's conjested roads for too long and just as the beast was getting tired and worn, we took a much needed road trip up to Kuantan and she made me smile again. Steady power and such stamina, it was smooth sailing all the way for that road trip. But it was time to call it a day, two years was a very short time but it was filled with memories, some good and some bad. So now I'm hooning in a little red hatch which I have fondly called paddy or LT (little terror). I can't tell you how much fun I've been having, except that on some occasions, I have missed the beast. The Jan weather when the skies opened up and dumped what must have been more water than we have seen in a decade or two, well little paddy had to be careful where we tread. But I couldn't help thinking about the black beast, she would have ploughed through it all flooded roads, muddy tracks or gravel and unpaved tracks... to the beast, I do miss you so. Roll on...

Midlife Crisis

It's been yonks since my last entry and while the workout sessions went very well for a time. I discovered that while I've been putting on the pounds, on top of the booze and smokes that my fitness hasn't completely deserted me which was a real surprise considering that I really haven't done jack all for such a long time. Needless to say, the missus and I have stopped going to the gym again and the regular sweat fest has been put on hold. No it isn't because we are THAT lazy, it's really the crappy world of work we are in. We are both pulling weird hours, yes it's supposed to be 8 to 6 but we find that more often than not, we start heading home only after 9 or sometimes 10, even then we're thinking about work because there is something which always seems to come up only at the end of each day. Anyway, by the time I've actually stepped into the house, I'm completely knackered mentally. There was a time when I can still recall just prior to my army sentence... *cue fade out and start tacky music*

...*fade in sepia tone film with grains and scratches*... I used to wait tables as a young lad at a pizza place along emerald hill. I could do a full gym training in the morning, then swim laps for an hour at the club before going to work and sometimes pulling double shifts gladly because it got me more money, and still head home to do more weights training and parttake in a midnight run down to MacRichie reservoir before a shower and sleep everyday. *cue fade out and start jarring music*...

Now I just get home, shower for like an hour before crashing into the sheets. It's like all I can do to hold my eyes open to catch a little telly... news, maybe a dvd (half) before the brain switches off.

So what to get a middle aged working stiff like me excited again. very little I can tell you besides perhaps winning the lottery. But then again I don't gamble so that will never happen for me. So I guess I can only hope for a filthy rich relo who knows me and has read this blog and decided to leave me a fortune. Not likely either, so I've gone back to why we bother pulling the long hours and slogging for living. Well because it affords me a good comfortable living. I can indulge in my techy gizmo toys and I can also afford the average automobile.

Yes peeps I've done it again. I got rid of "the loaf" not six months ago and got the missus a lovely little swift which I've named "Gray Ghost"! For those of you who shared the childhood years with me, you will know the significance of the name by the board game piece which I so loved to choose when we used to play that darn boardgame. No no but the crazy thing isn't that, I've finally decided to part ways with my monster "the Black Beast". Yes after only two years the affair has ended and I've to let her go. My eyes have wandered and I'm completely smittened with a new set of wheels, I've yet to name her but by all accounts, she was a hot little chilli padi and she was everything she promised to be. Sexy, fun-loving, naughty and nice, sweet, safe and quick... I mean swift! All in all the lovely swift sport made my dreams and had my heart beating faster. It's no supercar and I'm not about flash... but I enjoy a little fun and I'm getting it from everywhere with this little gem. I may just name her "lil chilli" since she'll be red and all. I can't wait till next month's end when she'll finally arrives on our shores and we'll be together. The missus is tempted to hijack my new baby but she's still loving the grey ghost even though she just calls him "SS"... that's so boring! Whatever the case, the black beast has been pulling extra duties since as if trying to convince me to keep her on but while I still love em big autos, the commanding position and the security in an unforeseen accident. As in the case last year when brave black beast took a serious bashing and protected me from any harm when some dim f***wit of a black lexus RX300 just wasn't paying attention and ploughed into us when we had stopped with everyone else on an expressway jammed choc a bloc. I sadly must say goodbye to black beast, but when I leave for Canada, I will definitely look up black beast's relos and consider a new adventure again especially when I'll be expecting to make many a long road trip up north or down towards america. But sadly, singapore and the many jams I find myself stuck in too constantly... well I just need a spicy little partner one nimble enough to get me to where I need to go. So rather than have a hot-hatch when I was in my late teens or early twenties... I'm gonna get one now in my mid thirties. Go figure... maybe when I'm actually forty-something I'll go out and get a supercar. One that screams out... look at me... look at me! Oh but that stallion sure is pretty...

Goodbye jello, hello six pack!

This entry is dedicated to the reflection of my youthful days gone by and our now crazy world of health and fitness.

It’s fast approach my birthday and I’m going to be come a full-on middle-aged dude and my once six pack in my twenties is now a flabby gut. The missus keeps pushing for me to get back into the gym or to start yoga with her, but I’m more comfortable in front of the telly. Yup it’s a sorry state of affairs for a once very sporty individual who loved all sorts of contact sports, water sports, anything with wheels, rackets and balls or the prospects of hitting, kicking, running, jumping and diving and getting sweating, wet or even dirty. Now I sweat enough washing my cars or cleaning the house, I enjoy being cool and in the shade or indoors. So what new developments in my life besides the discovery of yet another new layer of padding round my waist?

Nothing mush really. I actually did go to the gym with the missus and was on the elliptical machine for just 10 minutes and was huffing and puffing. Darn I am in bad shape! 10 minutes worth of sweat nearly drowned me on that torture contraption. I’m kidding, I didn’t suffer that badly, in fact I thought I’d do much worse since I’ve been so far removed from any physical exercise for so long. Mind you, I’ve become extremely stiff though. My yoga days are long over and it’s just embarrassing now how stiff I’ve become. For someone who could bend down, legs straightened to hug my knees in my heyday; I’m only ‘just’ touching my toes now and don’t even ask me to do star jumps. I’d probably sprain something.

But gym work has really lost it’s attraction for me; I’m not twenty something anymore and I’m past trying to look like a well oiled machine. I’d much rather play some tennis or cycle. I’d love to play golf but the missus doesn’t care for that game. Nevertheless the good news is that my appetite is tiny now and I’ve just got to get my butt in gear with some regular exercises to start losing the pounds. It’ll be tough but I suppose it’ll be well worth it since the missus figures I can’t make it happen. So to all those ex-sporty types who’ve let it all go to the point of it now all hanging out. I’m going to get back into shape! I may be an old fat arse bloke now but it ain’t no thing to be fit and trim, I've been there and done that after all. I’m sick of the ‘what happened to you?’ remarks and ‘you were so fit once!’ with friends and family. Hell, I’m still the same person inside, just because I’ve now become a whole lot more of a person don’t make me any different.

So I’ve decided to show them all what working out is all about. This is day one of get back into shape day. I’ll keep you posted on weight loss on a weekly basis! Cheers!

New year happenings

A new post finally! I know I've been a slack arse.

It was an eventful year end for 2005 and an equally eventful beginning to 2006. The work was again to blame for my long absence. I'm very proud to say that no matter what crap I have to deal with at work, I haven't been down with an illness all year. In fact since I started my new job in Sep 2004 I have not had a sickie since I quit teaching! That was even with all the smokes which I chugged and all the nasty food which I inhaled and not even counting the alcohol I've indulged in. So life has been good in many ways.

But the work, oh the work! It has really been too much and having to deal with some real nasty cases and people has not been very pleasant. But enough about the nasty work! The important thing is that everything went off without problems and all our kids had a fair go. So after that was all done, I was able to rush off to Canada for over 2 weeks! The weather in Vancouver, B.C. was not the greatest as the state was about to break a record for the most number of consecutive days of rain, but we didn't mind because it was pouring, just a constant drizzle. We spent two days in Vancouver before rushing down to meet a friend in Seattle. Hoping that the weather would be better, but no luck either in USA because Seattle was similarly also about to break their record of consecutive days of rain. Still it was a great little trip there because it was snowing in the mountains and any opportunity to be able to snowboard is great news. But the trip to Seattle ended as quickly as it had begun as the wife and I made our trip back up to Vancouver for the rest of our vacation. Thankfully the wife had the good sense to arrange a weekend stay on one of the Gulf Islands and the weather really came through for us then. Bright sunny skies and such mild weather, it didn't feel like winter at all. But the weekend came and went and we were back on Vancouver Island before we knew it. We took in some tourist sights but ended up doing more house hunting then we expected.

yawn really don't feel much like writing. So I'll just draft a list of things I liked and did since Jan 2006.
1. Love Vancouver!
2. Beautiful city and so easy to drive around in
3. Yumcha is soooo good
4. Japanese food is soooo good and cheap!
5. I can afford a townhouse there or even a house in the outer suburbs
6. I can get to the ski slopes in just about an hour from downtown Vancouver
7. UBC is huge
8. I love the weather
9. Shopping is so affordable
10. I quit the smokes since I've been back!

Headless chook

The past month has been hectic to say the least. Work commitments have had me running around like a headless chicken. I barely have time for anything, besides rushing back to the office inbetween meetings to check, answer and clear the endless emails. I am truly amazed at how much the company expects us to do. There isn't enough time for everything and even with the use of after hours to clear work, things still seem to be piling up. Sigh... so tiring.

Enuff of work though, on another note... my dear black monster has been covered in grime for weeks and I feel so guilty for not having the time to shampoo, wash, wax, shine and vacuum my baby. Well its been over a month since I got my car back from the shop after the bloody fool who rammed me up the ass. Everything seems fine but the damn workshop still owes me several parts and no news! Worse still, the damn insurance company still hasn't reimbursed me for the increased premium they charged me because of an idiot who doesn't know what brakes are for. Oh but the new Grand Vitara is here and the new third generation RAV4 is on its way here. Not that I'm off to pick one up, but Mmmmm I think a weekend test drive when I have the time is in order very soon. Sadly, I haven't got any driving buddies left to go along and have some fun.

I really miss the long driving holidays I used to have in Australia. It's just no fun here in Singapore. Sure I have a great car for those long journeys now compared to my trusty old 1980 honda civic back in Sydney, but now I haven't the long road trips to take. I'd love to drive up through to Malaysia, but with so many nasty stories from friends who've made trips up north, it's something I don't fancy doing unless I can go with a whole group of like minded friends. Guess the road trips will have to wait until I head over to Canada. I'm already thinking about where the wife and I can drive to. I think one of the first places will have to be to the snow, Go Whistler! Mmmmm the shredding and the lovely sound of fresh powder under my snowboard. I have to go on another holiday. Haha Yeah I know. Haven't I been away enough already this year. But seriously... NO! It's never enough. Sure I enjoy being home, but also so love being on holiday. It's the whole idea of going away that so interests me. Well I can dream about it. I haven't the time at this moment and I don't see my schedule easing any time soon, but it's great to think about where I'll go off to next to keep me sane.

I think I'd be interested to head to scotland next. I could rent a car... there'll be opportunities to have some fantastic driving and the landscape will be so different from what I'm used to. Mmmm holiday. Now I just need to keep my head on for another 3 months and I'll be safe. I'll be off on holiday. *Smiles*