Waking up to the rain
Woke up and didn't realise it was raining until I turned off the aircon. Will sleep in until it's time to zip off to church. Has He seen an angrier world than now? Globalisation has bought the world no closer to unity, has it?

Off with the Cheque
Well off with the cheque to the Credit Card bill. Can't let it lying around for long. Nips at the conscience. I hate the idea of debt and don't like the idea of having any hanging over my head. My dad's in perpetual debt which makes me sick. It's not a worry free life, but at least it's one concern I can do without.

Listning to: Ash - Burn Baby Burn

Startup.con
Just finished watching Startup.com, an excellent documentary about the rise and fall of an internet startup, govWorks, and the stormy relationship between the two main founders. There's a short making of docu, where the filmmakers (both female) say how some of the stuff that happened would have been too hokey if it had been a fictional film, such as the smooth-talking CEO Kaleil meeting then-President Bill Clinton and passing him a business card. I'm a big fan of documentaries, and this one was of great interest since I did work at a Dot.con. All the turmoil, the Machiavellian politics... I remember them all too well.

Listening to: Ash - Walking Barefoot

Bills Bills Bills
Got my credit card bill and had a jolt. Man did I overspent this month or what. Forgot to factor in my cable modem. Aiyah.. pain xia. This month really spent too much and nowhere near my goal of keeping $1k of my take home pay. Got to cut down on DVDs... that VISA charge was also a pain. The treats were ok because those were the people who helped me out. May have to look at freelancing again... sigh.

Which means.. Maggi Mee time tonight. Ok off to cook...

Moving Day
Helped the film fest people set up their network. They used to have Macs but now it's an all PC environment. Even has a 3Com Hub. Ooh.. sophisticated. Ticket sales are doing ok, which is good. Might drop by Lau Pa Sat for supper later but I'm also feeling really drained.

Listening to: Tahiti 80 - Heartbeat

One out of five?
Received a box from a company and was expecting five DVDs inside, but there was only one. Emailed the company and they said they had shipped four, but told them that was NOT the case. So they said they'd ship the other four... kind of tardy. How to run a business like that? And it takes three weeks for the DVDs to get here.. *sigh*

Listening to: Sinead O'Connor - Thief of My Heart

Blessing and Wit
Watched Baraka and Wit today, so that's two less DVDs. Baraka (which apparently means blessing in Sufi) is a beautifully shot film that of images of us is just composed of stunning images. Beautiful time-lapse photography, and though some of it is pretty heavy going there is some humour. Particularly this chick farm where yellow chicks are plucked out and branded like they're some sort of electronic components.

Wit was much heavier going. Based on an award winning play it's a TV movie directed by Mike Nichols, with Emma Thompson in the lead role as a professor battling ovarian cancer. Yes, very heavy going, about life, death and the subject of medical experiments, and Emma has to shave bald. But difficult to watch more than once. Think I'll be keeping the former but selling the latter.

And while we're talking about Ebert as well, this is what he had to say about Baraka:
Of course there is a "message" somewhere in "Baraka" - the same message we have heard before, about how man must love and respect the planet. This is a piety to which we all subscribe, so long as it does not mean any inconvenience to us personally. Few people wearing pro-ecology T-shirts, I imagine, ever think of becoming vegetarian so that grains can be used to feed all the mouths on the planet, instead of being converted into meat to feed a few. And few people seeing "Baraka" will make any major changes in their lives to respect the planet the movie celebrates. (I include myself among that number.) So the movie has the power of a dream, from which we awaken, instead of a warning, to which we respond.

That.. is a guy who knows his movies. It makes me think and reflect on the movie, which is what a good reviewer should do.

The Big 3-0
Well someone just hit the Big 3-0 today. :) Yah I know... it SUCKS!

Take a picture
Mahesh, my colleague, SMSed me from London saying he had bought me a tiny digital camera, one of those the size of a keychain. Way cool!

I should just have chilled
Went to NuErHong and saw mostly the studio crew there... so I headed home. Not to be dao, but don't know the crew that well and it'd be like at a wedding dinner where the rest of the people around the table were familiar with each other and you're like the odd one out. Should have stayed home. :) Maybe I'm getting more anti-social...

Such a nice night to just chill
The Ex TV Works people having a gathering at NuErHong. Trying to drag myself out of bed to go, but bed is so comfortable. I think I need to go to network a bit and see what's out there in term of jobs, else I'd just stay in bed. Getting old and sedentary...

The Saddest boy

The pic of the cherub whose face is half-covered by an ant's nest at Bidari... it sometimes looks as if he cried out the nest.

You can see the larger pic here in my photo album.

Close Encounter during Lunch
Bumped into her during lunch. Wasn't sure it was her from the back, but once I knew it was said hi, made small talk. I wondered what was the attraction, but I guess at the time it was more than just looks anyway. Still her stance was guarded. Hands folded over the file in front of her. Well you can't go back, can you? I'm not completely sure I want to but it was less troubling than I thought it would be, and probably inevitable we would once again bump into one another. Her uncle just passed away and she had just gone to KL for the funeral, so she seemed pretty tired. We did exchange some SMSes recently though I have deleted her number from my handphone. Guess we'll catch up some time eventually, though not sure if there's much to say. But what if there is? Hmm.. it's weird; I dunno. To want and not to want something; I guess it all weighs in the balance.

No gahmen
Boss on MC for the day. So looks like a reasonably quiet day but lots of running around. HATE corporate clients.

Been having the tune for The Smashing Pumpkins Stand Inside Your Love buzzing in my head.

Time to put away childish things
Got stuff you don't need? You can donate them to this Nepalese village this weekend at:
Date: Saturday, 30 March 2002
Time: Anytime between 11am and 5pm
Place: The carpark between KFC and McDonald's drive-in (Kallang)

Will be passing them some of my stuffed toys, some old clothes and maybe books. I really don't need a lot of stuff lying around at home. That's the thing about Singapore. There's rarely enough space to put your junk.

Fosters and huge bills
Treated SC to Fosters Rose Cafe at HV (they played stuff like Pink and Britney Spears... in an English cafe?) since he helped me get the award. Think that's enough chiaing. Don't want to be like some lottery winner who blows all his money treating friends. I always get iffy when I overspend. Must be my mom's inherent thrifty nature, which is the exact of my dad, who spends and gambles beyond his means. I know my credit card bill next month is going to hit the roof.

Flickering lights
Light in front of me keeps flickering which is really irritating the hell outta me. Had told the useless office manager last week about fixing it but nothing done. Had to tell boss' secretary to see if she can do something about it. Really makes my eyes even more tired...

Yo Yoyo
This guy writes a very great blog. He worked at Asiacontent briefly and I thought his work was great and stunning, but had to let him go when the f@#%@^ company couldn't afford to pay his fee. Had a big fight with the COO over it; I was damn disgusted as he was just an intern anyway, and doing more than some of the lame fucks in there. No wonder it went to seed after.

Wednesday
Didn't catch The Royal Tennebaums after all as wasn't sure I could make it. Had sushi with a friend instead. Oh Mahesh, the colleague who drives me to work every day, is away. So looks like I'll have to try to leave earlier and catch the shuttle. Cram with the masses; get hit in the face by a wandering elbow.

Major deadline today. The clients who have used the B2B sort of system have generally had good feedback. But will they really use it? It doesn't look like a death march project (thank god; I remember one of those in SIA) but not sure about its viability. It's like DBS and it's ebanking. Recently they just dissolved that part of the company. Kind of short-sighted, if you ask me, but just shows that the Internet might not be as big a deal as people make it out to be.

Listening to: Starsailor - Alcoholic. Majorly depressing song but beautiful gorgeous accompaniment.

The Waiting..
Waiting for a meeting, which means can't do much. Hate doing things halfway and getting interrupted. Better be a short one. Great work attitude I know.

Afternoon daze
The post lunch blues are hitting. When you just want to crumple in front of your computer and doze away. Or maybe I should get coffee. Hope I can leave early and catch The Royal Tennebaums at night. If not, don't mind catching up with some of the DVDs. Feel a weight lifted. Don't think I'll want to do much writing this week except for my resume. Heh.

Daydream Believer
Shonen Knife's version of the song on my headphones now. Love their cheery sound.

Gotto do it yourself
One thing I've realised; the day hasn't been THAT life changing. I am disappointed at the lack of press coverage, not that I want fame; it's just easier to approach investors and would have given the prize more credibility. Now it's just a spike in my bank account. I'm not sure whether I'll find the opportunity at work to branch out. All I get now is slightly more acknowledgement by the people who were there at the ceremony, as in a nod or a word hi. That's about it.

I guess I better plan ahead. By the time I come back from the US things should be more concrete. Lord knows if not for the trip I'd probably be handing in my resignation pretty soon.

Sharks Fin and long conversations
Met up with Rosie who's back from doing her MBA in UK as well as Jo Tsze. Had a nice long talk about possible business ideas, and of course relationships. Good to meet up with her again and to be able to talk very freely. Gosh it's been 6-7 years? Man long time. And like I said; always remember 8:20pm, March 25th, we always had that moment. ;)

And yes Ros, I'll remember your advice about always insisting to carry a women's stuff even when she says NO NO NO!

Mind over Moria
Well as expected A Beautiful Mind won. Boy was Halle Berry's speech long or what? Caught pieces here and there. Doubt if I'll watch much of it tonight. Also pissed that Shrek beat Monsters Inc. Definitely preferred the latter.

Monday... already??
Looks like just another manic monday. Slept at 10+ yesterday because I was so bushwhacked. With Mahesh not around, it means having to find my own way to Genting Lane which will take about an hour. ARGH! I should try to leave earlier so that I could possibly catch the 0840 shuttle from Aljunied to work. Oh yeah it's the Oscars today. I think they're going to make a sucky choice like Gladiator last year, with A Beautiful Mind getting the honours even though I hear it's not very good. I'd prefer Lord of the Rings; thoroughly engrossing movie.

The ex-TV Works people planning a get together on Thursday. Will see if I can make it... Oh yeah meeting Rosie tonight for dinner; treating her to her favourite Thai Village Sharks Fin.

Just remembered I need to go to the bank to put in the cheque. Hope it clears easily.

On the way home, sat behind this girl who was SMSing with two phones. Switching from one to the other. Boy.. complicated!

Went down to Bidari again with ShuChiang and Wee. Felt quite drained and they've put aluminum boarding up on all sides. Managed to find the cherub with the ant's nest covering the face after much searcing. (Top right of the gate, got to remind myself.) Went to Cuppage for dinner and had a nice time chatting with both of them. Legs like jelly now. Am I old or unfit?