More memories from 2005

It is back...2 weeks after the turn of the new year. But better late than never.
This time I will try to keep it short and concise, unlike my last year end review that seemed to go on..and on.

KL Trip:
Drove up to KL. One of my dreams is to drive around the entire Malaysia peninsula. Although I have yet to realise that dream,I did fulfill this one. I been to KL before but it was usually on packaged tours or with family(Noel and Paula actually),so I was not able to manage my time doing stuff I liked but rather had to do what 'everyone' wanted to do. I would have prefered if Agnes came with me but she had her own stuff to do and it was not possible at this stage of our relationship.
Before going I had Sunny sent for his servicing so he was in tip-top condition for the long trip. I had initially planned to drive up on Saturday but instead took 1/2 day off on Friday. So I drove up on Friday evening instead. That gave me a full weekend to do my stuff. Places I visited included Zoo Negara, KL Tower, Petronas Tower, Batu Caves beside the usual shopping and eating. On the second day I went up to Bukit Tinggi and Genting Highlands. Stayed at the *can't quite seem to remember the hotel name right now*.It was something along the lines of mandarin-pacific-oriental hotel or something. All I recall that it contained the name of 2 bog hotels here in Singapore.

Work
Worklife was better in 2005 than in the previous 2 years. The reason was because I has Sin and Hasli to help me out whereas previously it was only me having to run the section. It did not help that I had a biased and unsympathetic supervisor then. I still have the same biased and unsympathetic supervisor now, but at least the burden is not on my shoulders alone so I can at least breathe a little, and actually be able to take my off, leave or even go for reservist training now whithout having to come back to a mountain of work left by my biased and unsympathetic supervisor.

Driving
Ever since Agnes and I hoooked up I have had to drive a whole lot more than before. Not that I am complaining because she is worth every cent. Agnes lives in Bedok South and I live at Upper Thomson. So that is a whopping 27 km each way. Agnes has also started school at NUS which also adds up to a substantial amount.
I cannot bear to be without her for too long so in order to see Agnes as often as I would like I have to clock up the miles. It was more than double after we got together what it was before we got together. Now with the NUS factor I can only imagine how many miles I will have clocked up by the end of 2006.

Paula
2005 was also the year when Paula came into her own as a bitch and a whore. As it turned out she has been sleeping around behing my brother's back all this while. The worst part is that we welcomed her into our home and treated her as one of the family. For her to mock and stab Noel (and the rest of the family for that matter) in the back like that was beyond low. She turned out to be a despicable human being in the light of all that transpired. The story goes even further in that besides the hurt and pain heaped upon Noel, she was also the 3rd party in another relationship that resulted in the break down between one of her guys and his girl. WHAT A BITCH!

Fishy stuff
2005 was also the year when more fish died in my care than at any other point during the time I been keeping fish. If it was not fish dying due to mysterious causes, it was snails or an algae problem.

Church
I had a rather see-saw year as far as church going went. I love my church and learning more about Christ. But for this year circumstances conspired to keep me away for more than I would have liked. Part of the reason was that I had no one to go with. Agnes does not quite like my church although she does think the pastor to be quite dishy. Faith accompanied me here and there whenever she felt like it or was not working. Caroline went away to work. Auntie Susan became physically unable to walk let alone attend church. Joyce and me broke up and were not even on speaking terms unlike the first time, where we still continued to attend church together whenever possible. Lyn could not longer attend church with me. Neeven and I lost contact for a while. Maybel and Daphne stopped attending due to work reason. Lost touch with Rachelle round about the time that I got together with Agnes,and she got attached and Faith started to join me for services.
Think that about covers everyone who used to attend church with me but stopped doing so in 2005.
In short though,it became rather sian to attend church alone after a while and I stopped doing so for the slightest reasons as the year drew to a close.

There is more to write if I could only remember...till next time...

random thoughts (aka filler blog post)

babies- funny things happen when grown adults see babies. The thing is babies grow. Babies grow fast. So whenever someone see's a baby they will exclaim ,"Wah! So big already!" or crap like "Eeeeee!Grow so fast one!". It is as though they did not expect the baby to grow from the last time they saw it. Imagine if after 3 months the baby still looked the same and remained the same size. Still bald, still no teeth, still sleeping all day. ..

cars- I know what the garmen can do to prevent the explosion of vehicular traffic on the congested Singapore roads. They can ban cars! It seems all manner of tax, fines and miscellaneous fees have failed to discourage people from owning cars. The authorities can build and rebuild new roads, impose ever increasing ERP rates or raise the cost of COE's to no avail. Singaporeans just love their cars. They would rather die than not own one if financially possible. It is after all one of our 5 C's.
But the question remains, how do we get around without cars? We do boast of a world class public transportation system. An almost islandwide rail system with the impending circle line. More taxi's per person than most other places. And what we claim is the most extensive network of buses found anywhere. But how about trishaws? Read in the papers some stuff about trishaws and how their business has been hit by new regulations and trishaw cartels in the CBD area. With the advent of motorised trishaws, trishaw riding (or pushing) is no longer the domain of old men and many younger guys are taking it up as a vocation.
Or bicycles? If we could find some way to integrate the public transport system with cycling it would be cool. The main inhibition to riding would be the humid weather and the above mentioned road conditions which make it inherently unfeasible to cycle especially in a suit and tie.

music - Why is there no great music made these days? There are good songs, songwriters and talented artists around, but yet no really great music being made. No music that I would listen to 20 to 30 years down the line. In fact nothing that my kids would want to listen to.

Reading The Hidden Life of Dogs by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. Great book. Gives real insight into the psyche of our waggy tailed pals or at least it sheds some light into what a poochie would think. If I had any grouse it would be that the book is too light on words(read:short). Or it may be that it is such a good read that you can just lose yourself in it. I am like 2/3 through it already although I spent like total 3 hrs reading I think.

Watch the ominously titled Wallace & Gromit:The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Loved it! I love animated features, but stop-motion films are an art unto themselves. It was laugh out loud hilarious at parts. It did not hurt that there were only less than 10 people in the theater. So it was cold and empty. It was almost like we had the room entirely to ourselves. The film is one I would recommend anyone to watch. It is aimed mainly at the kid demographic, but adults can enjoy all the in-jokes and pop references ,not unlike the great stuff coming out of Dreamworks studios.
rating: 4 1/2 wabbit foot prints out of 5

new fish tank is up. This time it is more subdued in terms of lighting and furnishings (if you can call it that). Using mainly dark brown driftwood, dark pebbles and tall artificial plants I tried to recreate the effect of a stream at dusk and think I succeeded for the most part. I bought some corydoras,upside down catfishs, clown loaches (for colour and life),some plecos and a catfish like piscean(not quite sure what he is,but I found him in a tank with other catfish ).Being that most of the fish I got are rather inactive and bottom feeders, I am tempted to get a few othersto inhabit the upper and middle regions if I can find some compatible species without having to spend a fortune. Also more corys and loaches would be in order, being that both are group creatures and do best in larger schools.

Funny how candles can set up the mood in a room. Last night Agnes and I used candles mounted atop my aromatheraphy burner. We normally use the lights from night lights, my stereo or the fish tank to illuminate the room, but I find candles work best hen you want to mke it romantic. The flicker of the candles as they burn and the warm glow emitted is hard to duplicate despite advances in lighting technology.

I do not make new year resolutions. But I think I want to lose my tummy that I have been cultivating ever since me and Aggie got together. I have always wanted to gain weight but could not for some reason. But now I have a tummy! Yayyy!! So ever since this thing developed in my mid region I have been rather proud of it, whereas others try hard to get rid of tummy's like mine. Despite all Agnes's imploring, I have maintained it and have even nursed it to ..errm...wider...umm...widths. But I guess the novelty of having a tummy has worn rather thin (*cough*) and maybe I should go for a leaner, meaner profile for this year.