Sweet Treats

One of the lovelier things on Sunday


And I simply adore this notice

Black Knight

This looks good - for photo-taking only


Lemony


The Chinese title is a lot sexier and cool

雨中的卡布其诺

The middle-aged Caucasian couple at the table beside me are engaging in a conversation. They could be speaking Italian or Spanish, I'm not too sure. But they are speaking fast and non-stop.

In front of me are three single tables, occupied by a man each. They all have their laptops with them and are, unsurprisingly, looking intently at their laptop screen. One of them has a MacBook Pro; the other two have less exciting laptop brands, and one of them is probably working, for his is a Dell laptop which has those white stickers on the exterior that indicates a serial number. I can't see what the other guy is doing as he's seated furthest away. But he's been around the longest and is completely absorbed in whatever he's working on.

Across at the other table, a family spanning three generations, pram in tow, just settled not long ago as I was beginning to type this. They probably just had lunch somewhere or came after Sunday service.

Unconsciously, more than an hour has passed since I sauntered into one of my favorite cafes in town. The sky was fast darkening then, and it wasn't long before the mighty raindrops fell. With a cuppacino and the Chinese GQ magazine (from the cafe) on the table, I was experiencing a moment that I think of often enough: chilling at a cafe, raindrops falling outside the window, coffee and magazine at hand, and soft pleasing music playing in the background.

I took out my iPhone and updated my status thus: 下雨了。星期天下的雨感觉更加的凉爽，愉快。

Time to trudge back to office.

Return of Joy

As a sign of how awful times have been, I clicked my 'Photo 2010' folder in my hard disk only to realise that there is a discontinuity in my sub-folder series: there were no September and October folders. The reason? Why, of course it's because I haven't been taking any photos in the past two months! Sacrilegious, I know.

Sadly, photographs have been such a sparse output of my life in twenty-ten. And to think pictures and images are the sort of things that give joy and inspiration. So there you have it, I've been living an insipid and uninspired life for the past few months.

A little joy and inspiration did find its way back and shake off some of my sustained misery over the last weekend though. I find it incredible that I met JW for lunch on Friday, dinner with SP at Holland V the same day, drinks with Adr & Shyuan after that, and a happy trip to Kel's new abode late at night. None of these meetings were planned before that day; they were all spontaneous. The first two happened because the Missus were unavailable, so how nice it was that my buddies thought of me. I know, we all have our places in life, and mine isn't exactly at the top. :)

Drinks with Adr happened because I wanted to get wasted, though this simple goal requires not just willingness but also good timing. I had only a pint of kilkenny, which was not quite sufficient to drift me into wastedness.

The night ended with an impromptu visit to Kelvin, who just got his apartment and moved in one month ago. With just a month shy of his big day, we ended up looking at his wedding shots and talking about what Adr and I would NOT do to help him win his bride. You know, things like eating weird stuff, dancing silly dances and other ridiculous things that are a ploy by the fairer sex to rob us males of our dignity. At twenty-something years old, our dignity is more fragile and too valuable to be trodden on (we aren't the ones getting a wife!) So we told Kel pointedly that his blood brother Kenneth could take all this.

The good stuff continued into Saturday, though I was increasingly aware and unsettled by the work that I've put aside. When I went to meet up with another group of friends, I facebooked all the way from home to our meeting place. Instead of emailing or sms-ing, we now reply to FB messages on Facebook mobile. My life seems a lot better if i consider how SX worked till 5am on the first day of her new work. But considering that I earn a fraction of what she does, that's no comfort at all. The limelight was on J, who had a whirlwind tour to Hotel Singapore before flying back to her adopted home for the past few years, only to leave it permanently in the next few days to settle in glitzy Shanghai. Meanwhile, I can only be a spectator of the glitz.

Friends and photographs aside, I emptied my wallet and bought three new books and a magazine, which helped to raise the happiness index a few notches higher. Here's to more awesome weekends ahead.


I just love this. Order HERE!


A lamp shines on glorious children's books


Automatic Bookmaker


Oozes chic and elegance


New Property awaits a fresh wrap


Lusciousness redefined


I love the off-colours and the colour similarities


Words to shoot by at a cafe on a lazy Sunday afternoon

The timeless Village

Even as time slips away and the cosmetic changes have been more than passing, this village has held its own and stood unwaveringly as a little gem. I find it reassuring just recalling its name - the only constant, perhaps, that has withstood the ravages of time. There was once when this cloistered urban village was where we retreat to after school, our white and green sharing the presence with another white and blue. Years later, slightly older and a little wiser hopefully, we were still visitors to the village, but liquors and spirits had replaced coke and tea as we hung out at places unsuitable for the uniformed folks.

I can't say I've developed any special affinity to this place. But somehow, my heart softens when I recall this place or step into it. Something about it gives it an unassuming charm. For one thing, it has remained nestled in a residential district which sites both humble public housing and private residences. Though many shops have come and gone, it has a surprisingly unchanging quality to it: the winding road cutting through the restaurants on both sides; the progression of eateries to cafes to bars and pubs from one end to the other; the shopping mall opposite crystal jade; the newspaper stands that display a magnificent array of international magazines and papers - all this and so much more have inevitably weaved themselves into the earnest fabric of this place called Holland Village.


I love these signboards. They are what make a street fun and pretty.


Colours galore for this marketing gimmick


Oh, what's a cosmopolitan village without the international bucks with stars


Gone is the King of burgers, in comes the unroyal Wendy's


Barrier to the heart of the village


Shophouses, signboards and al fresco rock


More than a pillar of strength, it's a monument of timelessness

Adoring

My Sunday evening filled with gorgeous pictures and far more interesting words than I deal with everyday. More of such times, please.

The weekend sky looks something like this

Sunday, 10.10.10

2828

My good buddy celebrates his 28th birthday today. And it took me only until a while ago to notice something salient about his birthday this year. Being myself, of course I took to messaging him right away.

Me: It just struck me that u are celebrating ur 28th bday on the 28th! 2828 go! go! go! ;)

J: Right. Trust an arts student to come up with this! Haha. :)

Me: Of course. U can always count on me for these random stuff.

Unseen Moments #8: Look who's crossed my path

If I move as slowly as he does,

slowly but determinedly,

would I arrive at the destination too?

***

Could I cross like he does:

focus only on moving ahead,

nothing else matters:

not even when giants trample

around, when eyes have no mercy.

***

Come what may,

I will quietly inch forward,

slowly but progressively, for

one tiny advance is

one tiny distance shed.

***

My shield is also my burden,

like how his strength is also his weakness.

Do we live by such duality,

opposites that protect and destroy,

nurture and constrain,

give strength and subtract will.

***

Be that as it may,

we live by His rules,

cherish the here and now

with quiet fortitude and

undiminishing time,

traverse the path ahead of us,

till the end of our journey.

Unseen Moments #7: The Messengers

The silent Messengers:
Have they arrived or
have they lost their way
in the labyrinth of memories,
a dreamscape where
the present finds the past
weaving into the future?

Is our future built on dreams
built on the past while
the present awaits the messengers
and deciphers their delivery?

Even upon their arrival
would the elusive message
manifest itself or will you
have to search for its tender words?
Where is the beginning and
where's the end, or has this always
meant to be a never ending start?

Meanwhile we search for clues and
find comfort - or is it distress - in
signs we take to be out of the ordinary,
much as the gypsies gaze into
the sky and foretell untold stories.

Comfort in Food

Nothing quite improves your mood than a good hearty meal and time spent with your good friends. Amidst the gloom, there were still occasional pockets of happiness soaked variously in caffeine, syrup or peppered scrambled eggs.


Thanks to 1-0 who introduced this. Expresso and Ice-cream: heavenly mix.


Came with tea/coffee, no complaints on this. As Josh remarked, this is almost like ur Mac's Breakfast Meal. Slurp.


Pancakes with syrup and butter - Definitely a comfort food.

Good days, other days

'On good days, I laugh about the frivolity of it all. On weekend, i contemplate my place in the bigger picture of things. On other days,I play Angry Birds'.

I was much amused when I heard this from J. Truth be told, there are plenty of people of my age who question about their current situation, comtemplate about their life, sometimes slip into an existentialist limbo, and probably feel the need for solace and release. That's why people take vacations, go on sabbatical, take seemingly reckless or impulsive actions.

Like what Tam once told me, 'Don't worry. You are definitely NOT alone.'

That's kind of comforting, I have to say.

Better week please

I hope the positive vibes this morning will sustain throughout the week. Last week was indescribably bad, and I had spent a most unhappy
Birthday. Let this not be another terrible week please, even though i know I've to
get through many unsettled issues.