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Thursday, April 24th, 2008
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12:19 am - Question:
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It's been a while. Despite my best intentions to post more often, I've already let it go for over a week. But the last couple of weeks have been building up to a major milestone in my life and I find myself at a metaphorical fork in the road.
So the question is:
When faced with a substantial life decision, do you (A) Go with what you should do and is probably better for you in the long run or (B) Choose what you want and makes you the happiest at the moment.
Another way to phrase is would be, Live for the moment, or Plan for tomorrow?
Is there ever a time when Carpe Diem isn't the best choice?
current mood: Conflicted
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(1 Penny | A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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| Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
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12:06 am - This way to the top
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I had an fantastic day at the climbing gym. Somehow everything just felt right. I placed my feet well, had great balance, even my sore right arm from tennis on Sunday didn't bother me much. Went in and did four 5.9s in a row. Which is kind of awesome since I still struggle with 5.8s.
They will make a lead climber out of me yet.
current mood:  accomplished
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(A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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| Sunday, April 13th, 2008
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9:42 pm - Blast from the past
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9:18 pm - Do you correct your boss even if he is wrong?
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3:16 pm - Too beautiful of a day to waste spending indoors...
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The weather this weekend in Dallas has been spectacular. It's like all the elements of a great day somehow managed to align just perfectly so: 70 degress, cloudless blue skies, zero humidity, and to cap it off a good-mood-inducing breeze. I can't remember the last time I had weather like this, probably back when I lived in the Bay Area. Singapore was waaay too humid all the time and I moved to Cincinnati right in the middle of the summer.
To take advantage of it, I've been trying to be outside as much as possible. It's hard to keep from feeling happy and all carpe-diem on days like this. =)
current mood:  happy
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(A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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12:10 am - I'm back! (again)
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I caught a second wind after a fun but tiring day, got bored, inadvertently stumbled upon my old LiveJournal, and decided (for like the fourth time) to resurrect the thing. I only wish during those previously mentioned moments of inspiration that I had taken a moment to reconsider before permanently purging a whole slew of entries. Reading through the old entries made me realize how much I miss writing. And talking about myself. Blogging is narcissism at its finest. But I digress.
So, here I am again. It's mostly going to be for me to air out some thoughts I've been having lately, and rant about people who don't know I have this blog ;) I imagine the ones who used to read this have long forgotten about its existence so it's probably safe to say that this will remain relatively undiscovered in internet-land.
The last time I posted I was still in Singapore. So some notes to bridge what's happened between then and where I am now. I moved back to the States last July and spent my third rotation in Cincinnati. It's strange being back in the Midwest again, particularly Cincinnati. Not that I have particular strong feelings about the city either way but when I left for Texas after graduating, I thought I was saying goodbye to that chapter of my life for good. Funny how life works out.
At the end of that six-month stint, I ended up back in Dallas, where I'm currently living now. The second time around is definitely a marked improvement over the last one. I feel like I'm connecting and it's feeling more and more like home every day. While that's an incredible feeling to have for someone who has led an intensely nomadic life up to this point, it also scares the shit out of me. I've always prided myself on my ability to adapt quickly to new places and situations. Besides, I'm constantly restless, get bored easily, and love traveling. But I'm starting to resent the fact that I can never make plans more than a month or two out. Or that it is inevitable I will have to say goodbye to the friends I make.
I've been thinking about a lot of things lately, reevaluating my life and priorities, considering what's important to me... I guess that was the major impetus for turning to my LJ again. So, whether you actually know me in person, or just randomly stumbled onto this page, get ready, cause I'm back. :)
current mood: inspired
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(4 Pennies | A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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| Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
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10:51 pm - New site
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10:31 pm - iPhone
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After months of resistance, I finally broke down and physically handled an iPhone when a coworker whipped his out during lunch today.
As expected, I now look upon my own phone to be woefully inadequate...
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(1 Penny | A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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| Friday, June 22nd, 2007
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9:13 pm - Two part story
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| Friday, June 8th, 2007
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8:27 pm - My own site!
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| Thursday, April 5th, 2007
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10:16 pm - "Faking" the Lomo effect
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| Wednesday, April 4th, 2007
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9:29 pm - Bali, Part I
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I went to Bali this past weekend. It was beeeeaaaautiful. I took lots of pictures, visted lots of temples and "true life" villages, relaxed on the lovely beach, and got a sunburn requisite for a tropical vacation. For the moment, here are a few pictures.
Nusa Dua Beach, Bali, Indonesia
Beach Chairs, Nusa Dua Beach
Temple to Dewi Sri, Goddess of Rice and Prosperity
Rice paddies, Bali, Indonesia
Dewi Saraswati, Goddess of Knowledge, easily recognizable as she has four arms and is often seen carrying a Vena (lute) and on a swan and/or lotus blossom
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(3 Pennies | A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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| Wednesday, March 7th, 2007
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10:35 pm
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PET PEEVE: People who, while gesturing at things on your computer, feel the need to actually make contact with the LCD, thus creating a screen blur in the finger's wake. I want to program my computer to say "HEY QUIT POKING ME!" For crying out loud, NO TOUCHING!
Sorry, I had to get it out. That's all for now.
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(A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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| Tuesday, March 6th, 2007
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8:51 pm - Singapore Botanical Garden
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| Saturday, March 3rd, 2007
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10:59 pm
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I know this guy! (far right in the picture)
Official Link
I recently found out that one of my coworkers belongs to a well recognized and long standing band in Singapore. It's the second chemical engineer I know who moonlights as a musician. (The other being one of my workers during my P&G days). Which helps to further support my theory that all chemical engineers who remain so for any extended period of time have some kind of alternate physical or left brain interest to keep them sane.
He's pretty quiet and soft spoken at work - at least during my interaction with him. Who knew that he's actually an engineer by day and hard rocker at night.
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(A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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| Saturday, February 24th, 2007
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2:11 am
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I was chatting the other day with one of the operators yesterday at work. He's new, which brought up the obligatory question of where he had been working prior. And get this, he worked for like 10 years in SHIP SALVAGING! As in, they travel all over the world and dive to salvage wrecked ships. I've always wanted to learn to dive and apparently Singapore is a very cheap place to get certified. What luck. Typically you get trained locally in pools then go to Malaysia or Bangkok for the real dive. The reason being, Singapore beaches, not so nice lah.
Speaking of traveling, now that Chinese New Year madness has concluded, it is offically time to start the grand Southeast Asia tour! First on the list is definitely Bangkok, Phuket, and Bali. Then I'll start venturing into some less conventional locales. I've gotten to know some locals so hopefully can convince them to be my tour guide =)
Saturday is the 7th day of CNY, aka "Ren Re," which I guess loosely translates to day of many people and festivities. And of course it's not a celebration unless there's some sort of parade so there's Chingay. It's so huge they closed off most of Orchard Road and some neighboring streets as well. For the whole week leading up to the event, the electronic signs over the highways that normally shows traffic problems announced these closings and urged everybody to PLS USE PTP (public transport). Which kind of scared me about driving back Friday afternoon since I go through Orchard on my way home.
I'm about a third of the way through my beginner photography course! My teach tells us that by now we know how to take great pictures, albeit only theoretically.
At dinner tonight my Singaporean friends told me that I've started incorporating the so-called Singlish, into my speech. When you are around it day in and day out, it's hard not to pick up some of the local mannerisms and slang. Can do nothing about it lah!
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(2 Pennies | A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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| Wednesday, February 21st, 2007
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11:09 pm - Chinese New Year
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Last weekend was the first time in a long long time I have spent Chinese New Year in an Asian country. Although Singapore has some distinctly different traditions from China, it's still pretty cool to be in the middle of all the festivities. For a couple of weeks now the streets and shopping centers have been decorated red lanterns and auspicious characters. Chinatown is positively OVERFLOWING with people. Happily, the yummy goodies are just as abundant =D.
Some very Singaporean New Year treats:
PINEAPPLE TARTS
SHRIMP ROLLS (yummier than the name suggests)
and of course MANDARIN ORANGES (aka your ticket to Ang Paos aka Hong Baos aka Red Packets aka mooching money off of others)
A lot of the big shopping malls set up stalls in the basement during the days leading up to CNY so everyone can stock up on the goodies. Pictures of the madness at Takashimaya, a big mall by my apartment.
CHINATOWN DURING THE FESTIVITIES
STREET DECORATIONS (I almost got ran over taking this pictures)
DECORATIONS AT ORCHARD ROAD IN PREPARATION FOR CHINGAY, THE CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADE
Before the New Year, everyone is supposed to clean their houses from top to bottom to essentially get rid of the old and welcome in the new. Being the lazy bum that I am (and luckily having very little personal possessions with me at the current moment), I folded what remained of my laundry, fluffed up the sofa cushions, and called it a day.
Saturday, night before New Years, everyone gets together with their family and has "Tuan Nian Fan" or the "Reunion Dinner." One of my coworkers took pity on me and invited me to her house for dinner! It was very sweet of her. Her daught who was four showed off her various new dresses which all seem to possess some sort of Disney princess theme. Guess we all go through that phase no matter where we live.
One of the best part of CNY is that I got Monday and Tuesday off! Monday night I went with a friend and her friends to see the new Andy Lau movie, Protege. I suppose you can say that it's a cautionary tale of the evils of heroine and drug trafficking. But I was somewhat disturbed at how intensely the movie detailed where poppies are grown, how they are harvested, how one finds and negotiates deals with the growers and then subsequently "washes clean" the money. There's also a sequence on making heroine that looked like something from the DIY channel. All you need is a blender and a cake pan! Honestly!
Afterwards we all piled into cars and went over the Clarke Quay, one of a couple night spots in the city. Like Boat and Robertson Quay, it's by the water and very pretty. Some pretty cool looking clubs, one of them called Clinic. The whole place looks like a hospital and they serve you drinks in syringes.
I met up with my friend Rebecca on Tuesday for sushi and then went to open house at the Istana, otherwise known as the home of Singapore's President. The open up his palatial garden/home a couple times each year for certain holidays. Singaporeans get in free. But foreigners (such as I) have to pay $1 =( Not very neighborly, you don't see Washington DC giving Americans a discount.
After "queuing" for abou a half hour, we finally got in. The house is basically an enormous garden. We got about halfway up the ginormous driveway and turn around, mostly because we were about to pass out from the heat.
THE GATE
JAPANESE GARDEN
NO SWIMMING!
TRANSLATION: ONWARD, SINGAPORE
And to wrap up the post
Yes, I did eat it. And yes, it was delish. =)
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(2 Pennies | A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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| Monday, February 5th, 2007
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10:09 pm - Super Bowl!
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| Saturday, February 3rd, 2007
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9:05 pm - Only in Asia
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Hello Kitty in all of her sushi goodness! Found this on a recent trip to the food market and had to buy it. It's a hollow pouch made of fried tofu skin and stuffed with sushi rice. Yeesh... I only bought it for the photo opp.
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(1 Penny | A Penny for Your Thoughts)
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| Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
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9:18 pm - Windows Vista --> Mac copycat!!!!!
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