Congrats to Jedixus on his new cafe. Camden is right around the corner from here, so will try to pop by once in a while!

Sigh two of the pups died. Apparently one of them had something wrong with its leg and couldn't get to the milk. Another was just getting bullied aside and died this morning, and a third is being fed via tube. Survival of the fittest it looks like. Apt mate was tearing away on Friday. I hope the remaining three survive.

Quite a good article about United Airlines and how it seems ready to join Pan Am and all the other dead airlines.

Since 1978, when commercial aviation was deregulated, no fewer than 137 carriers have filed for bankruptcy protection. And from the end of World War II, when aviation started to become big business, through 1994, the sum of the industry's profits and losses was less than zero. Warren E. Buffett once remarked that it would have been a blessing for shareholders if someone had thought to shoot down Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk.

*YAWN*
Boy do I hate working Saturdays. Come back and you're just tired for the day. Don't feel like doing much. Just wanted a quiet dinner et al. Had some sushi and then pool at Pot Black. The space is too tight and kept on knocking into people on all sides. Nothing much today except church, gym and catching From Hell with some colleagues/ex-colleagues. Sleepy day.

Watched Desperado, the sequel to El Mariachi, and I thought it was awful. So much less with so much more money. A guitar case that doubles up as a rocket gun? Oh man... what a waste of time.

How to screw up Telemarketers. Just say "Hold on, please..."

Colleague was telling me about his kid and what he needed to do to get him ready for the day. After five minutes I told him "That's a contraceptive right there."

The Planet Fitness spots for the Citibank Clear card are filling up much faster these days. Right now you have to book 2-3 weeks in advance for weekday spots. No choice but to act kiasu...

Think I'll try do a swim on Saturday and gym on Sunday/Wed. Maybe it is good that they make me book it.

Man working on Saturday really sucks. I hope the Chingay webcast goes well though thankfully I'm not involved. The guys doing it just seem damn shady to me.

Satirewire: A new favourite web site. How can you ignore subjects like FRENCH JUDGE GIVES TALIBAN WIN and ENRON CEO QUITS TO JOIN NIGERIAN FIRM, ASKS YOUR ASSISTANCE, BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER.

Came back and watched El Mariachi with the commentary and it was quite brilliant. Robert Rodriguez definitely has a knack for filmmaking but he's right. The best way to learn it is to do it. Maybe that money from the award would be best spent on a DV setup and just to go out and shoot more. Definitely need to do that.

You've got your ball,
You've got your chain
Tied to me tight, tie me up again.
Who's got their claws
In you my friend?
Into your heart I'll beat again
Sweet like candy to my soul
Sweet you rock,
And sweet you roll
Lost for you, I'm so lost for you

Oh, and you come crash into me
And I come into you
And I come into you
In a boy's dream
In a boy's dream
- Crash Into Me, Dave Matthews Band

Spent the afternoon playing cards and scrabble at boss' place considering how quiet the office was. Feel a little guilty because there's still quite a lot of work to do. Boss has a nice apartment right near the beach but my uncle's place at Blk 1 Marine Terrace had a nicer view, and on the 24th floor too! That's one place I would have loved to buy. Right next to East Coast. Maybe next year...

The Great Nebula in Orion


Explanation: Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the nearby stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula. The Nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1500 light-years away. The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the unaided eye just below and to the left of the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular constellation Orion. The above image has been contrast balanced to bring out Orion's detail in spectacular fashion. Visible simultaneously are the bright stars of the Trapezium in Orion's heart, the sweeping lanes of dark dust that cross the center, the pervasive red glowing hydrogen gas, and the blue tinted dust that reflects the light of newborn stars. The whole Orion Nebula cloud complex, which includes the Horsehead Nebula, will slowly disperse over the next 100,000 years.

Another movie to pass a rainy day: Porco Rosso from Studio Ghibli. About a.. ahem... pig pilot who used to be a man and it's set in an alternate vision of Italy during the Great Depression, where sky pirates rule. Not one of Ghibli's best efforts but quite enjoyable. There was one magical scene where hundreds of biplanes soared into the sky, making an arc into heaven. I still don't know why the protagonist, who used to be human, became a pig though. The ending is also pretty ambiguous.

Early morning breakfast at Clementi Macs with SC and Sueann. Their tennis game was rained out. Nice day to chill but ready to go back to work tomorrow. Not in the mood to do much visiting really. Sueann was telling us about this very fat guy in her church who's a paranoid schizo and how he just thought for 5 minutes when she asked what he did for fun. Can't imagine trying to have a conversation with him...

Stay

Now the journey is ending,
the wind is losing heart.
Into your hands it's falling,
a rickety house of cards.

The cards are backed with pictures
displaying all the world.
You've stacked up all the images
and shuffled them with words.

And how profound the playing
that once again begins!
Stay, the card you're drawing
is the only world you'll win.
-- Ingeborg Bachmann

Watched Ghost World which was ok. The emphasis is on Enid, and I thought it didn't focus on the relationship between the two girls. In fact, Rebecca is relegated behind Seymour, the reclusive record-collector geek. The item that almost stole the show though was this killer Indian surf rock track, Jaan Pehechaan Ho, by Mohammed Rafi, taken from India's First Horror Thriller Gumnaam. It's a really killer track.

At the reunion dinner yesterday my sister's bf was recounting how different A&E rooms are from the tv versions represented in ER and Chicago Hope. There really isn't that much screaming and shouting. There were some really weird cases, like this Indian guy who had taken marijuana and was a paranoid schizo. He apparently tried to eat himself, though fortunately they managed to stop him at the wrist stage. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Just watched the DVD for Dave Matthews Band - The Videos 1994-2001. Quite cool. I'm not that big a fan but will probably try to get some of their stuff. Some of the videos were very beautiful such as Satellite and the abrasive Don't Drink The Water, which can't help but remind you of PJ Harvey's Down By The Water.

Back from Singapore. No jam, fortunately. Whew. Received 2nd prize in the Singapore Screenplay Writing competition, which was a nice surprise. I took a class under the US judge who hasn't really done much and doubt if he would have liked the screenplay. Anyway, it's quite a boost (There's a cash prize of $6k as well which is also cool.). The prize ceremony is in late March though; ages away. Maybe I should use it to knock on some doors and get out of this IT line once and for all...

Man surfing at 24k is a pain. Almost impossible to get to my mail. Damn Singnet.

Anyway, spent yesterday evening at Desaru. The place is rather decrepit and the apartment we stayed at is half-completed. There's a lot of run down/abandoned projects at Desaru, waiting for a tourist boom that never came. On the night we were there I counted only about ten apartments occupied out of about a hundred, and this was Saturday. The pool was decent but the waves on the beach make it unsafe to swim in the sea. Maybe they should make it like Kuta Beach in Bali.. cheaper places, more nightlife and so on.

Played pool at the world's worst pool table against my brother. It was one of those machines where you'd have to pay to play and it was M$3. You had to dig the balls out with your cue, and halfway through the game the white ball got stuck inside and the staff handed us a new one. The restaurant there was totally empty and so was the karaoke bar which just played a series of boyband hits. Sad place that.