I'm really tired and jaded - commencement is funny and a little surreal.
There are too many wrong untrue threads in my brain and it's holding me in a grip
I am afraid of doing well because I'm afraid it will lead to pride, even though I don't want to. It's a disease that is inevitably getting me.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, July 09, 2010
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Hmmm
I've been back almost three weeks already, and here are some thoughts:
Favourite city: London, Vienna
Restaurant: steirereck, l'atelier Joel robuchon.
Favourite experiences: driving down route de grand cru, berlin walks, watching concert at schonbrunn, watching musicals, borough market
Favourite food experiences: besides the two restaurants mentioned, oysters in Brittany, seafood platter, cheeses, borough market, German beer, Monmouth coffee, Viennese cakes
What was underwhelming: Paris - a beautiful place but dodgy people and sinister feel
Wish I could have seen more of: the louvre, And maybe the nat gallery in London
Repeat stops: Monmouth coffee, 6 visits; le petit port in dinard, 2 times; genose kebab in mehringdam 2 times
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I've been back almost three weeks already, and here are some thoughts:
Favourite city: London, Vienna
Restaurant: steirereck, l'atelier Joel robuchon.
Favourite experiences: driving down route de grand cru, berlin walks, watching concert at schonbrunn, watching musicals, borough market
Favourite food experiences: besides the two restaurants mentioned, oysters in Brittany, seafood platter, cheeses, borough market, German beer, Monmouth coffee, Viennese cakes
What was underwhelming: Paris - a beautiful place but dodgy people and sinister feel
Wish I could have seen more of: the louvre, And maybe the nat gallery in London
Repeat stops: Monmouth coffee, 6 visits; le petit port in dinard, 2 times; genose kebab in mehringdam 2 times
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Wow holland won after I said I'd support them against the mighty selacao. Robben was unplayable. Yes he goes down easily but
Who could stop him? Brazil
Just ran out of steam and well I
Just hope melo doesn't get the Escobar treatment. He was a bit
Of a prick anyway, fully
Deserves to walk
For that!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Help me Father to fix my eyes on Jesus, to throw away anything that stumbles and the sin that so easily entangles, and to run the race set for me, fixing my eyes on Jesus the author and perfector of my faith. The lord Jesus loves me and died for me and is beside me, right now, and is forever with me, for he says surely I am with you to the end of the edge. So I will look to him everyday every moment every minute and forever listen to his voice
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Yeah, everyone is getting married already.
Moving on with their lives
So my mother tells me
They've planned for their future
and you're just "linging-longing" your life away
As the wind blows
When are you going to settle down?
Stop chasing the prettiest girls in the world
Who will hurt you again and again
Simple is good
Simple yes simple
maybe i'll just go and marry a vietnam girl
might be better
(this is a cathartic release, oh but you're not supposed to say it out loud)
Yeah i feel much better already, thanks for listening
Will always be an emo kid maybe
But emo kids are only emo because they're not living the ideal life
For if you were living the ideal life, you won't be emo
You'd be forever thankful and happy and joyful and glad
If u saw everything in the perspective of the Lord
But I'm not there yet, I don't pretend to be there
I only can say I'm trying to get there and by faith it's possible
but it's long
and i can't help these human emotions
bleagh
london was great because i felt
i could do anything i wanted
and it was all me
all right
all fine
it felt like home, but home with no restrictions
except how much something costs.
no social norms, no boundaries
no "how are u feeling" that sorta thing
maybe i could live by myself
and be a hermit
i'm too egoisticial for my own good
even though i appear modest
fail
major fail
a megalomaniac, that's what
and yes i used spellcheck
okay before you bore about my life
i doubt anyone's reading this
okay email me if you do
some people say, blogging's so self-indulgent
but it's the only way, sometimes, to release that pent up frustrations
or i could write a song, but then it'll be an angsty song, and no one likes my angsty songs
ah
im feeling alot better now
Moving on with their lives
So my mother tells me
They've planned for their future
and you're just "linging-longing" your life away
As the wind blows
When are you going to settle down?
Stop chasing the prettiest girls in the world
Who will hurt you again and again
Simple is good
Simple yes simple
maybe i'll just go and marry a vietnam girl
might be better
(this is a cathartic release, oh but you're not supposed to say it out loud)
Yeah i feel much better already, thanks for listening
Will always be an emo kid maybe
But emo kids are only emo because they're not living the ideal life
For if you were living the ideal life, you won't be emo
You'd be forever thankful and happy and joyful and glad
If u saw everything in the perspective of the Lord
But I'm not there yet, I don't pretend to be there
I only can say I'm trying to get there and by faith it's possible
but it's long
and i can't help these human emotions
bleagh
london was great because i felt
i could do anything i wanted
and it was all me
all right
all fine
it felt like home, but home with no restrictions
except how much something costs.
no social norms, no boundaries
no "how are u feeling" that sorta thing
maybe i could live by myself
and be a hermit
i'm too egoisticial for my own good
even though i appear modest
fail
major fail
a megalomaniac, that's what
and yes i used spellcheck
okay before you bore about my life
i doubt anyone's reading this
okay email me if you do
some people say, blogging's so self-indulgent
but it's the only way, sometimes, to release that pent up frustrations
or i could write a song, but then it'll be an angsty song, and no one likes my angsty songs
ah
im feeling alot better now
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Phantom (of the Opera) was really really awesome, awesome. Magnifico! The music at Her Majesty's theater was perfect, perfect. The orchestra was great, and the tempo spot on. The instruments were also great and the mix was good. The effects were spectacular. One of the highlights of the entire trip, I have to say. Very good.#
I used to watch phantom as a kid long ago, having been able to remember all the lines. But now watching this as an Adult makes all the difference - the emotions, the passions, the pathos, the sadness, all speaks to you in a way never seen before, in a way never imagined or felt before. It was pretty amazing.
Bravo.
Yes I cried. I feel like the Phantom sometimes
I used to watch phantom as a kid long ago, having been able to remember all the lines. But now watching this as an Adult makes all the difference - the emotions, the passions, the pathos, the sadness, all speaks to you in a way never seen before, in a way never imagined or felt before. It was pretty amazing.
Bravo.
Yes I cried. I feel like the Phantom sometimes
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Vienna is as nice as I remembered it to be. The cobblestoned streets, extremely nice architecture, and quaintness is still there. But perhaps the charm has faded away, slowly. I remembered being enchanted by Vienna as a young 16 year old making my way for the first time into Europe, and being amazed by the wonderful architecture, culture, music, and everything. We travelled around in style as well, in a Coach (for a school trip). This time, it was much more different, travelling around like backpackers, from a hostel, so on, so on. And also it was scorching hot - most of the time the days were like 30deg or more. But I had some really awesome experiences, probably three of the best ones on the trip. The first was the awesome free Summer Night Concert at Schonbrunn where we managed, thank God, to go into the seating areas to sit down very near the stage where the Vienna PHilharmonic was playing. Listening to very charming music (think the Viennese waltz) amidst serene scenery of lush shapely trees and perfectly manicured gardens and vast grass patches was quite a sublime experience. God was in the place enjoying the performance as well, and I guess I was thankful just to have been there at that time.
The other was the awesomest lunch at Steirereck, rated 21 in the world. Of course, just like every other food experience, it will be blogged at my other blog (the foodie in me) - it was 5 sublime courses for 65 euros, admittedly expensive, but I'm only in vienna once. I had OFFICIALLY the best Chocolate I have had in my life, a perfect balance of sweet, bitter, chocolatey, with a perfect chocolate flavour, chocolate as it's meant to be eaten. And the cheeses were sublime as well - especially the blue cheese, that felt like heaven as the flavours exploded in my mouth. More to come in the food blog!
And lastly we managed to visit the usual tourist attractions - the Stephensdom, which was rather imposing and grand, the Hofburg, which was really quite touching especially the story of Franz Joseph and his love for his wife and his spartan lifestyle, extreme piety and deep devotion to God, and his sense of dut - and the Schonbrunn palace which was quite lovely. Thank God for Vienna.
Now Im stuck in transit tryng to get back to London. Ah well, the value of patience.
The other was the awesomest lunch at Steirereck, rated 21 in the world. Of course, just like every other food experience, it will be blogged at my other blog (the foodie in me) - it was 5 sublime courses for 65 euros, admittedly expensive, but I'm only in vienna once. I had OFFICIALLY the best Chocolate I have had in my life, a perfect balance of sweet, bitter, chocolatey, with a perfect chocolate flavour, chocolate as it's meant to be eaten. And the cheeses were sublime as well - especially the blue cheese, that felt like heaven as the flavours exploded in my mouth. More to come in the food blog!
And lastly we managed to visit the usual tourist attractions - the Stephensdom, which was rather imposing and grand, the Hofburg, which was really quite touching especially the story of Franz Joseph and his love for his wife and his spartan lifestyle, extreme piety and deep devotion to God, and his sense of dut - and the Schonbrunn palace which was quite lovely. Thank God for Vienna.
Now Im stuck in transit tryng to get back to London. Ah well, the value of patience.
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Everytime I go to a new city, I'm always extremely interested in their....Public transportation system - it's really eye-opening! Just to see how the lines were developed, how they commute - you can learn so much about the city just by viewing their - public transportation system, ie their subway network.
Being a Singaporean I think visiting other rail networks present us with wonderful lessons of what we can do (and what not to do) - usually I'd take the positives; so let's go ahead with a tale of 3 Subway stations.
First up, London - the London Underground, the Tube, is the world's oldest subway network, dating from the 19th century. it's characterised by the tube-like tunnels which are really quite perfectly circular in diameter. Well, the Tube is everywhere - it stretches to all parts of London, and Londoners really love the Tube alot, so much so that I think it holds an important place in their hearts when they think of the city. it's the little things like "good service", the "mind the gap", the buskers around, that make the tube so quintessentially charming. it's just awesome. and the rail network is very extensive - the lines are named, so there's the piccadilly line, central line, northern line, victoria line, etc, and the great thing is that there is no one central station, but the network is designed so that in central london almost all stations are interchanges, between different lines; so for example Picadilly Circus is picadilly line with the jubilee line, leicester square sees the picadilly line meet the northern line, oxford circus sees the central line meeting the bakerloo line, and so on and so forth. This alleviates many congestion problems because commuters have many different ways to go from A to B - they could drop at one place, and take one line, or alternatively they could drop at another and take another line to get to their destination (which has 2 lines) - thus traffic congestion is divided pretty equally since commuters would not go to the same interchanges to change lines.
I think for Singapore we just simply have too little interchanges, only raffles place and city hall, which is a problem, since commuters will inevitably have to go there, resulting in much congestion; also it isn't efficient since commuters are essentially making a detour to the interchange to get onto the next line. perhaps some things could be learnt, for example, creating more lines so that commuters can do the hopping thing much more effectively.
Paris's METRO started in 1900, and so it's not that old as london's; it's very very extensive, and actually carries more people than the tube, according to wikipedia. the main station is chatelet, and the lines are actually numbered. everything though has a very dirty, dingy feel, since the trains are old and rickety, the tracks are full of dirt and grime, and it feels pretty unsafe - a friend of mine got pickpocketed in the Metro. for coverage, the metro is pretty unbeatable.
im now in Berlin, and so here there's the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn; the latter runs only underground while the former is mainly a surface line with some parts underground. the plus point is that it's very comfortable - the seats are big, and padded, and the trains are quiet; there are actually escalators, something you won't find in the other 2 cities mentioned. Although, and this is very controversial, it's not as well-connected as London's is; most of the lines connect at AlexanderPlatz, or in the West, Frederichstrasse, etc, and many of the times it takes quite a few stops to get from a place to an interchange, and then a few more stops to get to another, before changing back to the right lines. And then there is the little problem that the 2 'systems', the U bahn and the S bahn, have different stations even though the map explicitly states that they're at the same intersection - which leaves you with the little problem of finding out how to get from the S bahn to the U bahn. so you have to look out for the "U" or the "S". The great thing, however, is that the timings are extremely accurate, which is a real plus. STILL. It's irritating going around in circles, but oh well. berlin's a nice fun crazy city, so i can take that.
Being a Singaporean I think visiting other rail networks present us with wonderful lessons of what we can do (and what not to do) - usually I'd take the positives; so let's go ahead with a tale of 3 Subway stations.
First up, London - the London Underground, the Tube, is the world's oldest subway network, dating from the 19th century. it's characterised by the tube-like tunnels which are really quite perfectly circular in diameter. Well, the Tube is everywhere - it stretches to all parts of London, and Londoners really love the Tube alot, so much so that I think it holds an important place in their hearts when they think of the city. it's the little things like "good service", the "mind the gap", the buskers around, that make the tube so quintessentially charming. it's just awesome. and the rail network is very extensive - the lines are named, so there's the piccadilly line, central line, northern line, victoria line, etc, and the great thing is that there is no one central station, but the network is designed so that in central london almost all stations are interchanges, between different lines; so for example Picadilly Circus is picadilly line with the jubilee line, leicester square sees the picadilly line meet the northern line, oxford circus sees the central line meeting the bakerloo line, and so on and so forth. This alleviates many congestion problems because commuters have many different ways to go from A to B - they could drop at one place, and take one line, or alternatively they could drop at another and take another line to get to their destination (which has 2 lines) - thus traffic congestion is divided pretty equally since commuters would not go to the same interchanges to change lines.
I think for Singapore we just simply have too little interchanges, only raffles place and city hall, which is a problem, since commuters will inevitably have to go there, resulting in much congestion; also it isn't efficient since commuters are essentially making a detour to the interchange to get onto the next line. perhaps some things could be learnt, for example, creating more lines so that commuters can do the hopping thing much more effectively.
Paris's METRO started in 1900, and so it's not that old as london's; it's very very extensive, and actually carries more people than the tube, according to wikipedia. the main station is chatelet, and the lines are actually numbered. everything though has a very dirty, dingy feel, since the trains are old and rickety, the tracks are full of dirt and grime, and it feels pretty unsafe - a friend of mine got pickpocketed in the Metro. for coverage, the metro is pretty unbeatable.
im now in Berlin, and so here there's the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn; the latter runs only underground while the former is mainly a surface line with some parts underground. the plus point is that it's very comfortable - the seats are big, and padded, and the trains are quiet; there are actually escalators, something you won't find in the other 2 cities mentioned. Although, and this is very controversial, it's not as well-connected as London's is; most of the lines connect at AlexanderPlatz, or in the West, Frederichstrasse, etc, and many of the times it takes quite a few stops to get from a place to an interchange, and then a few more stops to get to another, before changing back to the right lines. And then there is the little problem that the 2 'systems', the U bahn and the S bahn, have different stations even though the map explicitly states that they're at the same intersection - which leaves you with the little problem of finding out how to get from the S bahn to the U bahn. so you have to look out for the "U" or the "S". The great thing, however, is that the timings are extremely accurate, which is a real plus. STILL. It's irritating going around in circles, but oh well. berlin's a nice fun crazy city, so i can take that.
Friday, June 04, 2010
Monday, May 03, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
I just had this really weird dream
it all started with me, being in chinatown, driving around; i dreamt i was going to mirabelle to buy more croissants, and then to papa pahleta, and then i was stopped right in chinatown. and i saw D** travel, which is the place where i was to collect my tickets.
and then, i drove my car into the ramp; it was a dingy place; but somehow i parked my car somewhere, but then,in my dream i was transported into a trance, and then i forgot where the car was; it was as if my mind was just blank - kinda like a forgotten dream, in a dream. and so i asked the store proprietor, where the car was; no answer.
strange.
i decided to walk around; and suddenly i felt like they stole my car; the car was not in any of the carparks. it was gone, gone! strange. i ran around looking high and low for it, but to no avail. it was really gone. in the end, one of them came up to threaten me with a clobber saying someting like "if you call the police, it's too late".....
and i was pleading with them: "please, it's my parents car, it's not even mine".....and they even looked into the used car manual and it was worth only 13,000 SGD.
and later on there was a food review section - where i saw different 'fusion' cuisines; i cant remember all the dishes but i think the highest rated one was a Mango-Banana dessert thing. quite strange. i tried it; also lots of blackberries and berries and dunno what.
my dreams are strange eh.
im just blogging about it for fun.
for me to remembe them.
it all started with me, being in chinatown, driving around; i dreamt i was going to mirabelle to buy more croissants, and then to papa pahleta, and then i was stopped right in chinatown. and i saw D** travel, which is the place where i was to collect my tickets.
and then, i drove my car into the ramp; it was a dingy place; but somehow i parked my car somewhere, but then,in my dream i was transported into a trance, and then i forgot where the car was; it was as if my mind was just blank - kinda like a forgotten dream, in a dream. and so i asked the store proprietor, where the car was; no answer.
strange.
i decided to walk around; and suddenly i felt like they stole my car; the car was not in any of the carparks. it was gone, gone! strange. i ran around looking high and low for it, but to no avail. it was really gone. in the end, one of them came up to threaten me with a clobber saying someting like "if you call the police, it's too late".....
and i was pleading with them: "please, it's my parents car, it's not even mine".....and they even looked into the used car manual and it was worth only 13,000 SGD.
and later on there was a food review section - where i saw different 'fusion' cuisines; i cant remember all the dishes but i think the highest rated one was a Mango-Banana dessert thing. quite strange. i tried it; also lots of blackberries and berries and dunno what.
my dreams are strange eh.
im just blogging about it for fun.
for me to remembe them.
Monday, April 26, 2010
living in this world is hard
i think strawberry fields forever is better
i'd rather live in my dreams
but when i step out of the house it's reality
and it crushes me
yesh it crushes me
im coming up with these lyrics ad hoc
maybe ill set them to music
it's hard when all they shoot you down for are mundane little things
little horrible things
it crushes me
it's not easy
that's why the Lord still loves you even though you are down
coz you can't make it on your own
and the times of despair
just brings you back there
to His arms alone
he's not ashamed to take you
id' rather have strawberry fields forever
but i know that the Lord is loving and kind
and maybe i must make up my mind
and be a bit stronger in this world.
for i'm being thrown into the fire; into a den with wolves
have to be cunning like snakes
i think strawberry fields forever is better
i'd rather live in my dreams
but when i step out of the house it's reality
and it crushes me
yesh it crushes me
im coming up with these lyrics ad hoc
maybe ill set them to music
it's hard when all they shoot you down for are mundane little things
little horrible things
it crushes me
it's not easy
that's why the Lord still loves you even though you are down
coz you can't make it on your own
and the times of despair
just brings you back there
to His arms alone
he's not ashamed to take you
id' rather have strawberry fields forever
but i know that the Lord is loving and kind
and maybe i must make up my mind
and be a bit stronger in this world.
for i'm being thrown into the fire; into a den with wolves
have to be cunning like snakes