A Walk with Mum

Dragged my mum out for a walk at the botanical gardens. Good to have a breather amidst heaps of work.=)

Is there such thing as THE PERFECT ENGLISH?

Last night, Martin messaged me. "You should fix the sidebar on your site." He claimed that I was using incorrect english. Well, let's look at this statement:

I never really believed in blogging but I guess this is a good mean to pen down my daily travels, especially one that is quite exciting.

"This sounds 1000% asian. Change it to 'I guess it is a good way..' (Hey Martin, what is asian english? BIASED....).

"Everytime I go to your site, LEARN ENGLISH PLEASE. Haha."

Okay, I made amendments to appease Martin (to make his life better) and not cause an eyesore to his delicate AUSSIE eyes. I have to emphasize: I can be a garbler when it comes to writing. Most of the time, I write with much haste. In my opinion, I think English is like art. It's hard to satisfy the tastebuds of everyone. As long as the written prose is lucid and expository, I think it's fine (I'm not referring to the obvious grammatical errors here).

Let's take for instance, the opening paragraph of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit: "Thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun, one day. A blazing sun upon a fierce August day was no greater rarity in southern France then, than at any other time, before or since."

To me, I think this opening paragraph is odd because it lacks cadence. But I guess many would beg to differ. You see what I mean? English is beauty to the eye of the beholder (Shit...I'm garbling again).

My Valentine's Day

Never would I imagine my Valentine's Day to be fruitful this year! Initially, I planned to stay at home, away from this commercialised, hyped up event where couples filtrated the streets. It can be quite an irksome sight. But I was pleasantly surprised when my mum smsed me in the morning, informing me that I received red roses from a "loved one in Germany". I was having a meeting with my client at that time and I was grinning from ear to ear when I received the news (My boss and my client must be thinking that I was nuts!). Oh well, it's always nice to receive flowers, especially from one whom you have fondness for. Thank you, Christoph.=)

Later in the evening, I received a rose from my cousin, Clement (So sweet of you!) and another one from an "unknown" in my office (I still do not know who this mysterious "unknown" is). My evening ended well. I had a buffet dinner with my cousins and some friends at Marriot. Went for karaoke after that....

Whistler's Mum (James Whistler, 1871, Musee D'Orsay)

I hope this ain't me one day. Nevertheless, it's a nice painting.

Where is the rainbow?

Having two projects ain't easy! The first project requires me to sieve through law files and identify risks. Let alone give recommendations. It was seriously daunting at first hand, trying to comprehend all the legal terms. Just few days ago, I was given another project. This time to do internal control review in a company that got itself into trouble due to its trading activities. Both projects have tight deadlines and juggling both of them has been an uptask (mind you, this is my third week of work)! I feel sooo guity for complaining, especially to Monty. But I am going to pull through...Fark!...Let there be a rainbow for me yah!

My tuition kid recently got admitted to the hospital due to fever and I felt shit for not being able to be there. I visited them two weeks back when the BIG one asked me for money. It was not a big sum, so I gave them. Just wished I had more time for them.

And I'm supposed to write an article on Swedish Banks for this website...which I have not embarked on it at all.

I'm beginning to detest the way I neglect my friends. There is not much time for socialising and I have been rejecting appointments and going home early after dinner appointments. Yah...friends, if you are reading this, do understand and bear with me a little while.

Sometimes, I think I'm giving myself high expectations to fulfill. Just endeavoring to be the person who can try, do and handle everything. That has always been my philosophy.. I hope nothing falls back on me at the end.

Valentine's day updates in later posts....

Got my frigging boat license finally!!!!

I started off excellently, making thorough checks of the whole boat. But my nerves got a hold on me when I unberthed the boat..my control was bad and I had to make a "three-point turn" within the miserly small area. Utterly embarassing. Hah...and you know what's worse! I couldn't even tie the proper knot to secure the boat! Fortunately, I did well in berthing, carrying out the man-over board exercise (the standard procedures to rescue a man at sea) and finally the oral.


The examiner reprimanded me for my poor skills in unberthing and I blamed it on my nerves, donning on my pitiable look (trying to gain extra points here). He started showing cards with symbols of beacons, buoys, cardinal marks...and I had to name them one by one. He gave me different scenarios and I had to give solutions to all of them. Anyhow, I passed!!! It's like soccer...a win is a win.. a pass is a pass. No matter how hard you try, the result dictates everything and in this case, to my favor!!! WAHAH!!!! CAPTAIN GRACE!

Splendid Phuket

You gotta love Phuket. The sun, the beach, cheap food, shopping and alcohol, interesting "people watch" (look at the 70s folks above..groovy baby!)..what more can you ask? I'll definitely return...hopefully to indulge in more sea activities and visiting the nearby islands.

Some Photographs from Penang

I wanted to add more photos the last time, but I couldn't squeeze any time. Been freaking busy with piling work...hah! And currently, I have to handle two projects. My job has been pretty challenging with an exponential learning curve, but I'm gonna make it! Forgone are the days of leisure where I can read and write all day, go to the gym, learn french, travel, friends and family..Hah..now it's just me, bed, work, tuition and still a little writing.

Anyhow, back to Penang. I went to a tropical fruit farm for a BBQ lunch under the sweltering hot sun. We had the opportunity to savor a fruit buffet with at least ten different types of fruits basking in green lush nature. But the heat was a killer. Throughout the farm tour, Clement (my cousin) and I were frantically looking for shady spots to cool ourselves.

Followed after, we went to this thai buddhist temple ( Wat Chayamagkalram) that sits a beautiful gold plated reclining Buddha (yes...all the touristy areas!).

Accordingly, this temple promotes itself by claiming that it houses the 3rd largest reclining buddha in the world. Ah hem! But a little curiosty of mine has revealed something totally different . Here's the record - 1st (Myanmar) Tiloka UShaung 76.8m, 2nd (Myanmar) Shin Tha Lyaung 74.8m, 3rd (Myanmar) Chauk Htat Kyi 65.8m, 4th (Myanmar,Myeik), ShweThaLyaung 58.8m and how does our dear buddha in Penang stand in the rankings? 14th! Hah....Oh well, it still looks majestic. But take note, apparently, there are two more reclining Buddha statues that are not ranked; one believed to be 350m, buried in the sands in certain part of Afghannistan and the other in Kulen , Vietnam.

Cruise to Penang and Phuket for the New Year

Just returned from a 4 day 3 night cruise to Penang and Phuket. The photos above are snippets taken from the cruise ship.