Don't Cry For Me Argentina

The past week had been quite a blow for me. News was out indicating a move by the company I'm working with in it's decision some of its operations to move to a low operating cost country. Apparently Singapore is not in it's list of good countries in terms of operating costs and top management decided to shift operations to India and Argentina.

The release of this piece of news was quite shocking to us especially at the time when things are quite vulnerable. Don't intend to go into the details of this but all I know is that I would have to find a back-out plan fast; Options:

i) Either remain in the company and apply for an internal position in another department

ii) If I'm given the option of moving to Argentina (or India), my wife indicated that she won't join me (due to her work nature)

iii) Move on to another job. Hopefully that my current job here lasts long enough.

Looks like I have options 1 and 3 to consider.

Perth vacation

Our family had just been on a 5 days 4 nights holiday to Perth. It was my first visit to the continent and my wife's 2nd visit there (I think). Somehow I had mixed feelings about our just-finished vacation to the city.

Firstly, as we are so used to the hustle and bustle of SG life, living for a few days in Perth where it is more laid back seemed "not normal" for us. Shops starting to close at 5 pm onwards? And by 6pm, all of the shops are closed and we had to resort to our shopping during the daylight period. That was some serious blow for us who are so used to the evening / night shopping activity in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The people just disappear after 6pm to the comforts of their suburb homes leaving the streets with the bar-hopping crowd.

The cost of living is quite steep as compared to SG... My colleague told me that it's not enough to just change to 500 AuD for all 5 days and she was right. Bulk of the money was spent on food / drinks and public transport. And I gasped at the taxi fare from the airport to our hotel (amounts to slightly above 50AUD). OK so I guess the public transport costs are more expensive in other cities like London, New York, Paris, etc. But I think it takes time to get used to it. So that makes me wonder what is the cost of living like for citizens there, what amounts to a decent pay package for professionals like me (if I intend to work in / migrate to Australia).


So that leaves both me and my wife confirming each other that life in Australia is not for us. Even when we know of 2 other people who are intending to migrate there with their families. We rather be citizens in our homeland than be migrants in another country. As what the malay proverb proclaim (after translating), "Even the grass is greener on the other side, it is still better on our homes"

What Is That? (A sparrow)

Kudos to someone who posted this on Facebook... I almost cried watching this clip... As they say, a parent can bring up 10 children but 10 children may not able to support one parent...

Taz September Dubstep Mix by Taz

Taz September Dubstep Mix  by  Taz

Phir Milenge!

I'm all packed and ready to head for the airport. It has been a slow 1 month for me in India full of nice surprises along the way and some incidents which will remain in my memory for years to come. My work stint is OK but even for the hiccups encountered along the way, I can say that I've enjoyed my stay here in India for the past few weeks.

Bangalore is a nice place to stay despite the heavy and chaotic traffic in the city. Can say that I'm quite sheltered in Singapore and when I arrived here in Bangalore (and later in New Delhi), I get to see how the real India is like sans the Bollywood facade. It's sad to see beggars of all sorts roaming the roads, street children who live with their families in construction sites and other kinds of poverty conditions around the city. I made some new work acquaintances and let's hope that both parties in Singapore and Bangalore can work together well.

An advise that I would give to someone (especially if they're from a multi-racial society like in Singapore or Malaysia) who will be visiting India for the first time is that to unlearn all the racial stereotypes, slurs or jokes about Indians in general. Also do come with an open mind and be ready to accept them for what they are. A good example would be what my Thai colleague told me (during an encounter with a cab driver) that there are many languages and dialects spoken in India and to survive in the country, even the locals would cheat among one another. At least I come back home to Singapore hoping that I would be more racially tolerant with other after my one month plus stint here.

I did not travel much during my stay. I thought I would want to visit places like Mumbai, Goa, Jaipur and Udaipur. I decided to visit New Delhi and Agra (including Taj Mahal). I realised that travelling alone can be very lonely and I would want my family to be by my side, to experience the joys (and also the hassles) of travelling and exploring new places. Definitely I would return back to India some day (with my family) to experience the grandeur of Taj Mahal and the above mentioned places.

Just settled down in Bangalore

So it's the start of my 1 month work in Bangalore. This is my first time here in India and I want to make the most out of this one month stint. Flew together with my Thai colleague in SQ flight. Journey was rather bumpy due to turbulence along the way. Once I reached the airport, cleared immigration and got back my luggage, I had a small problem with the India customs as my haversack apparently has a chalkmark X drawn across it. I carried 2 laptops with me and many cables, wires of all sorts for my gadgets... So maybe that explains the customs fiasco...

Once we got out of the airport (it was around 1030hrs IST), it's pretty cold and windy. Our journey to the hotel is quite OK as we start to get acquainted with the road users here. Lorries have a sign at the back "OK to horn" and our driver keeps on beeping at lorry drivers, motorcyclists, other motorists.. So I guess that it is OK to horn lightly. Try this back in Singapore and we will get the driver to chase after the person who horned.

So we are going to stay in The Residence Indranagar. Pretty decent place. Pics will be up soon. It's sleep and rest time... Another day beckons ahead later.

Paris review from a colleague

One of my colleagues just went on a holiday spanning London, Scotland, Rome and Paris. Had a small chat to find out from her what her experience of Paris is like. She informed that it's full of Senegalese touts, gypsies and her friend almost got pick-pocketed in a fast food counter (but was foiled by the sharp-eyed cashier). From the description that she gave, it made as if Paris seemed a dangerous place as a tourist. She also claimed that London (and Rome too) is very much safer than Paris.

I've been to Paris in 2004 during our honeymoon and it is indeed a beautiful place, with the Eiffel Tower, Musee du Louvre, the wonderful Paris metro stations, the various gardens, Fontainebleau, etc. Our experience with touts was only at Montmarte where we were forced to buy a friendship band for 10 Euros from this Senegalese tout (who claimed to be a Muslim) after he had tied it on my wife's hand.

I hope that this does not stop me from visiting Paris again but I also wish that the place is free of such touts, pickpockets to make it safer for tourists.

Checklist of items to bring for BLR trip

Now that I'm more or less being tasked to go to Bangalore for work (for a month), I'm trying to list of essential items which I need / might need for my stay there. I've come out with some:

1) Baby wetwipes. Convenient for me to clean my hands, seats, etc on the go
2) Dettol hand sanitizer
3) Medication for indigestion or bowel meltdown situations
4) DVDs to watch during free period (that include my long list of French movies recorded from Starhub cable)
5) Macbook (don't intend to lug my company laptop around for short trips within India) rigged with Adobe Lightroom, Reason, Logic 8 and The Sims 3
6) iPod
7) Ricoh GR Digital camera (with 24mm wide angle lens attachment)
8) Skype phone for communication with family in SG
9) My Sony portable DVD player (when I get bored at airports or in trains)
10) A book; "Underworld" by Don Delillo

Lift Pee Pee

There's this idiot who keeps pissing in the lift of our in-laws' block EVERYDAY and all that the Pasir Ris Town Council did was just put a warning note on the lift. Not even a CCTV camera to catch the culprit pants down...




























Just recently, a resident of the block took a citizen vigilante stand by posting his own notice on the wall of the lift. Lousy stick figure version but at least he gets his message across. Hope that culprit will be caught soon.

Tampines 1 Mall car park = FAIL!!

Just been to the spankingly new Tampines 1 mall and my first impression of it (using my car to drop by the place) had been quite bad. Knowing earlier when it had just opened that the car park situation was quite bad, I thought that visiting the place during a weekday office hour (Thursday 30th April) there would be not much of a problem. But alas no!! Here's the rough timeline of what happened during the visit:

1450hrs: Reached Tampines 1 mall vicinity. There was a short queue outside. Noticed that there was a car park FULL and number of lots available sign outside. Queue movement is pretty slow as it goes down inside the carpark ramp.

1458hrs: Managed to go inside the car park. Noticed that within the car park there are NO empty lots sign available (unlike in Tampines Mall and Century Square).

1505hrs: After 2-3 turns merry-go-round round the car park, still no vacancy. Noticed a BMW parallel parking into an empty single lot.

1508hrs: After another turn round the car park still no vacancy. Beemer still trying to parallel park (BMW driver FAIL!)

1515hrs: Gave up on trying to find an empty lot. Went out of the place. Cashcard deducted 50cents. Frack!

1520hrs: Went to next door Tampines Mall. Immediately got an empty lot. Walked out next door to Tampines 1... Blegh...

Bad car-park planning!!!

Parenthood Chapter 2

I know I'm quite sucky in updating my blog. Well here goes and I hope that the update frequency will catch up soon.

I'm proud to say that I'm in the Chapter 2 phase of parenthood. Our 2nd child was born on 5th January 2009, the second day which our dear Iffah started her nursery 2 school in Kids Meadow's kindergarten. Our son, Akif Nabil was around 3.2 kgs and our Iffah now has a younger sibling to take care of. Initially she was rejecting the idea of having to a baby boy as her younger sibling but upon his birth onwards, I guess her feelings melt immediately and she's now all loving and protective of him. Photos will be uploaded soon!

Azlina had just fininshed her maternity leave on 27th April and here are some of the things which happened along the way for all of us.

1) School for our dear Iffah can be an emotional rollercoaster ride for her. Getting her to go to school (and making her wear her uniform) is a herculean task for the whole family. But now, I guess she is quite adaptable to her school environment. Friendships are forged and she kept telling us of her friends in school; their characteristics, whom she likes and don't linke (she even has Mii characters set up in our Nintendo Wii!)

2) Iffah had finally begin to take her oral medication after not doing so for a really long time. This happened just recently when she got a viral fever infection after going to the library in White Sands. After seeing her crying in pain when being given suppositories and after 2 visits to the A&E department of KKH, she now can take some of her oral medication. At least those medicine which she's beginning to take now can help to remedy her fever which dragged for slightly more than a week. I'm proud of this milestone for her.

Books for Iffah

"In September, on the very first day of kindergarten, Ms Bradley said, 'Each day of school, ...' "

These were some of the parts of a book (taken from Nancy Carlson's Henry's 100 Days of Kindergarten) which she had memorised and able to recite it by heart.

I'm glad that Iffah picked up reading at an early age, even though there were some attempts at getting her to know words via flash cards or watching Dr Titzer's VCDs when she was still a little baby.

Trips to the local branch library proved to be fruitful for her reading accomplishments. She would borrow some and we would read to her before her bedtime. Before long, she's able to relate the things which she encountered in the books to her everyday activities eg going to pre-school (ref Henry's 100 Days of Kindergarten) to baking a cake (ref Harvey The Baker).

As such, I managed to scout some 2nd hand Nancy Carlson's books on ebay and got them quite cheaply. These books are recommended for toddlers 3 years and above and also those who are going to pre-school.

Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!!











Henry's Show And Tell

Nasty car accident

Something happened today which made me think that God wanted to give me a second chance at life and thus prolong it.

I was involved in a 3 car accident (including my car). Was coming back out of my work place car park ramp after my night shift. Saw an incoming vehicle turning into the car park entrance ramp downslope. My immediate brain reaction was to lift my foot of the accelerator and to jam the brakes hard. But instead of the brakes, I accidentally floored the accelerator instead. So you can imagine the speed upon flooring the accelerator and as such, my car hits the oncoming car (at the driver's side). Also, I had a 2 sec moment where I lost control of the vehicle and swerved my car to the left going into the main road and hit an oncoming taxi in the outer lane before my car came to a complete stop.

I was in a daze for a minute or two after that. I kept thinking whether anyone is hurt in the accident. I'm reliefed that no one is hurt and the drivers involved are rather reliefed too that they are not hurt as well considering the speed of my car at that time. My car is damaged at the front (it is practically smashed, but engine should be alright) and it had to be towed to the assessment centre for insurance claims.

All this had to happen on my wife's birthday (31st July). My wife appreciated me more that I managed to spend time with her on her birthday despite the car being towed away. We had plans to go out at night for dinner somewhere far, bringing Iffah out for a night stroll, etc..

Driving

28th of May is the day I got my driving license. It was my second time taking the test and had chalked up 16 points for the test (compared to 42 points for my first test in 2003). Was extremely happy when get to know the result.

We bought a cheapo car (a COE Honda Civic ESI auto transmission with 3 years left) to familiarize ourself with driving in Singapore. I immediately drive the car to my in-law's place... heheh... had trouble parking the car in car parks. Up till now I'm still trying to figure out the fastest way to park. But I'm very good at three point turns in tight corners.

Speaking about parking, I hit some obstacles (walls, poles) while reversing as it has no reverse sensors. Also the front bumper is scratched as I tried to maneuorve the car park exit at my workplace. Urgh.... luckily it's an old car otherwise it'll be a heartpain if it were to occur on a new car.

Next comes driving in Singapore in general. Singapore has it's fair share of bad apples and wannabe race car driver poseurs with their big mean machines. Also bad driving habits of otheres like tailgating, road-hogging and tailgating make my driving experience here not so good. As much as I can, I try not to tailgate or road hog (especially on expressways). I value safety more than those drivers. Come to think of it, the irony is that professional race car drivers are one of the most safety conscious drivers around. If the road users are more courteous and safetey conscious, there will be lesser accidents and frustrations experienced... Peace

Klipsch ProMedia back in action

My Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speaker system had some problems with its subwoofer some time back and it had been lying in my room for some time. Decided to send it for repair at a hi-fi repair shop in Sim Lim square (name of the shop is Sigma AV and it's in the 3rd floor of SLS). Repair charge was a mere 20 bux. Reasonable considering that there are no electronic parts spoilt. Just a minor readjustment of the woofer cone. Now it's time for rumbling, neighbour-complaining basslines... Dillinja's Jah Know Ya Big sounded sweet on the speakers... hehe.. Google out for the reviews of this speaker

Disney On Ice

End of school holidays (Sunday 16/03/08), we decided to make full use of it by watching the last Disney On Ice show. Bought the cheapest tickets (at 20 bucks per person). As expected, we were thrown all the way back of the Indoor Stadium with a miniscule view of the show (plus some parts of the stage was blocked by the overhead props). 

But when I went to the front of the stadium to get a booster seat for Iffah, I realised how good the view at the premiere rinkside seats were... They were smack right in front of the action where the ice-skating rink is and a very good view of the show. Our seats however, were quite filled with dating couples... No wonder the premiere seats were sold out! Next time we'll get the premiere rink side seats. It'll be a bonus if we can get a show where they feature the Disney princesses (Cinderella, Snow White, etc)

And she did...

For those who don't know, that title phrase above comes from the kids story "Little Red Hen". We went for the Little Red Hen show at Alliance Francaise on 12/03/08 during the school holidays last week. Managed to catch the afternoon show (with many other kids from Kinderland ... presumably they're on a school 'excursion trip'). 

Having read the book to Iffah, I know how the story goes. To those who don't ... err please grab a kid's book and quickly browse through OK? But to watch it on a theatre / musical production, I'm pretty amazed at how a simple story can be very much entertaining. The production is good, stage setup is simple and the actors/actresses are top notch. A wonderful performance for both kids and adults.

Green or Red?

After some contemplation, I jumped ship from the green camp to the red camp! So far no complaints yet... Hope it'll be good for the next couple of years or so.

My fitness level

Fitness level is measured by IPPT test results nowadays... and if you happen to fail your 2.4km run, you fail the test. So does that mean that you're not fit?

This happened to me today when I did my IPPT. Passed with good results for the rest of the mini-tests but flunked the run by 20 seconds!!

I was quite ok previously (many years ago during my active NS years and early uni years). Went to the gym and did some cardio stuff. But I just slacked nowadays. Need to go back to the gym and start back my fitness regime. Plus need to shave off my diet habits too (especially snack cravings!)

Hang In There Iffah

Dear Iffah,

You are now 3 years old.
No 'sleep'.
It is 'bitter' now.
Only Popper Juice or Smoo Milk for you
You cried to ibu yesterday, trying to resist.
I know that it is going to be tough on you
But hang in there dear Iffah.
You'll soon overcome
Soon overcome
And you will become a 'big' girl.
Always will be Ayah's little girl.