"Draw them back on their heads"

Something I noticed recently ... seems like more young women are shaving their eyebrows and redrawing them also known as tattooing eyebrows. Why in the world are they doing this?! Only little old ladies do that. Someone said cos it looks better, redrawing them to the style you want looks nicer. Are you kidding me? They look weird. By that same logic, guys should just shave all their hair and draw them back on their heads with a black marker pen!

So what have I been up to? Well, I been getting together all my stuff that I did for the last couple of years into a portfolio. Getting jpegs, files etc. and thinking of doing a PowerPoint/PDF file. I been going through some of my files and I found a couple of more shots from my Japan working trip that I haven't posted.

The one-and-only Mt. Fuji in all its glory. Was pretty lucky to get a shot since it can get super cloudy almost instantly.

More shots of the country side near Mt. Fuji.

And here's where we stopped for lunch. A little roadside soba place. They were very generous with their portions. A full bowl of brown rice and a full serving of soba! Usually in Singapore, it's just one or the other, man, it was great, I was so stuffed.

Here's a shot of the place and a farm (I think) that's just round the corner, I thought it looked kinda cool, in a misty spooky kinda way. Heh.

"Sway with me"

Another earthquake struck Indonesia last evening and we felt it here again in Singapore just like earlier this year. Well, I didn’t feel anything this time cos it was in the evening about 7pm and I was outdoors, on my way home. Got a call from my folks bout it at around 8pm when I was already home alone eating my MOS cheeseburger.

Now the one I felt was this morning at bout 8am while having breakfast. The ceiling lamp moved, the water in the pitcher moved, the rows of t-shirts on the moved. Same nauseous feeling like the last time. All that was missing of the Pussycat Dolls doing "Sway with me" in the background.

First thought, should I change out of my boxers and old Army t-shirt and into my work clothes and immediately leave for work or should I just continue eating my breakfast?

Second thought, can I use this as an excuse to call in sick?

I was calm but I got a little worried cos the tremors lasted more than a couple of minutes.

Anyway, tremor no. 2 for the day hit us at about 11.30am in the office. By now, almost everyone was pretty much immune to it.

I also bought a mango swiss roll from the famous "Rich and Good Cake Shop" along Kandahar Street yesterday. It was the last mango roll in the fridge, at S$12 for about a foot long. Also bought two kaya swiss rolls for everyone in the office. As you can see, there are little sweet chunks of mango in there, it is as good as it looks.

"Who wants to be my pastry lab rat"

*Ouch* what a way to start my birthday. Bit my lip durig breakfast. Been doing some thinking last couplea days.

One good thing (and so far it’s the only thing) bout knowing you’ll be out of a job soon is making plans on what to do with all that upcoming free time. It’s different from taking vacation time from work, cos with that it’s usually traveling or chilling out at home and doing next to nothing.

To be honest, I do have enough chores to do around not one, not two but three apartments. My own, my folk’s and the another old apartment where we used to stay together, before we all moved out. Seriously, it would take at least a whole month to spring clean them all.

Then there’s also the urge of doing some more baking, been itching to do that again but just too tired on weekdays after work, and on weekends I just wanna rest, play games and eat my comfort food. Maybe now, we’ll see. So who wants to be my pastry lab rat?

Someone did suggest taking Japanese or Spanish lessons. One of those intensive day classes, like 3 or more days a week in the morning or something like that I think. Also need to catch up on all those DVDs, new games like this with great reviews and been dying to try it, work out, hit the library for books, meet-up with old friends and stuff like that. Of cos, I'll be looking for job and all that too.

Anyway, back to my birthday. Here's what I had for lunch. Made it to Pasta de Waraku in the afternoon and it was already pretty full at 12.30pm. Had the Hokkaido Crab in Wufu Cream Sauce and the Choco-Banana Pudding for dessert. Figured since I won't be heading to Hokkaido this year of the job(less) situation, why not have it now? Hah! Not as great as it looks but still, I was satisfied. The place was quite small and not in a cosy way. Bad acoustics maybe? The noise, people talking really loud, it all kinda seems trapped in there.

Speaking of people talking, we had a very interesting conversation with our American expat in the office the other day. Was bout dating habits here and the West. The American was quite suprised when we locals told him that it's NOT normal for us (Asians) to hold hands on a first date, let alone make out. He said it's perfectly normal for folks back home in the US to do all that on a first date. So I said, if I dated a girl there and I really like her but I don't make a move on the first date, she'll think I'm not interested, right?

"It comes with the territory"

To be honest, work hasn't been that ...er... 'good' in the office. There's gonna be some layoffs later in the year, which means I probably go back to freelancing again. Yah, I know I promised not to write bout work here and to write bout the stuff that makes me happy. Don't get the wrong idea, my work does make me happy it's just the current doom and gloom atmosphere in the office that's getting me down.

It ain't something you look forward to but in this line of work, it comes with the territory. I'll still be working till another month or two. Then maybe take a little break, no I don't think I'll be leaving the country, gotta save money! I guess I'll catch up with my friends, games with them, clean up the apartment, more homecooked meals at my folks. Will I be blogging more? I dunno. But I do know that being jobless ain't gonna stop me from contributing to this. No matter how fucked up my life is or will be, there are others who need help more than I do.

"I sure wouldn't have this problem with porn"

Was going through my stuff the other day and realized that I got a whole pile of DVD sets that I bought but have yet to watch. No time, no mood etc. Geez, I sure wouldn't have this problem with porn! Hah!

Here's the bunch I got from Amazon at a discount, I forgot the price but they were a lot cheaper than buying here at a local DVD store. Animanics Vol. 1 and 2, Pinky and The Brain Vol. 1 and 2, Martha Stewart's Baking Favorites, Homemade Holidays and Favorite Cookies. Oh, you definitely can't find Martha's stuff here.

These (fortnightly) Star Trek file/folder sets I got from Japan, one of my earlier trips, it's from the bookstore Kinokuniya, can't remember if it's Tokyo or Osaka. There's a DVD in each of them, 3 random episodes from either Next Generation, Voyager or Deep Space Nine. And a lot of articles in Japanese too. Totally impulse buy cos it looked cool and I'm a sci-fi nut. I didn't even check the price, Set 1 was cheap but Sets 2 and 3 were like double the price!

"Skinny monkey was on a leash"

Can you believe it, the fruit stall near the office upped their prices by at least 10 cents last month. Its cos of the recent local 7% goods and services tax increase (from 5%). My usual afternoon fresh slice of papaya and a banana is no longer a dollar but S$1.20. A 10 cents jump from 50 cents to 60 cents for a slice of fruit is not equal to 2%.

Yah, I know prices of fresh fruits around the world is a lot more than here, that’s what my expat colleagues tell me. Well, at least the price of a cup of fruit juice is still the same S$2. Kinda strange huh?

Oh yah, another leftover tale from my recent Japan trip. I saw a guy walking his pet monkey down a street in Harajuku at nite! The skinny monkey was on a leash and the guy was walking it nonchalantly like a dog. Oh well, I thought that was pretty cool.

Also managed to finally catch Blades of Glory for the in-flight movie. I also, also was lucky enough to stumble upon the best of album by Japanese R&B duo Chemistry, All The Best, while searching through the in-flight entertainment menu. I didn’t even know it was out. So I plugged in, and it sounds good.

Anyway, I was introduced to their music by an ex-colleague a few years ago. I liked their easy R&B style but Japanese CDs here were very, very expensive back then. So after I touched down, I headed to a local CD shop Gramophone and found the set at 20% discount! A double CD plus a concert DVD set! That’s like from S$38 reduced to about S$32.

"Me? Mr. Nice Guy?"

This was certainly a pleasant surprise. Niki gave my blog a little Nice Matters Award. Reckon it's for the "nice and pleasant" stuff around here. Me? Mr. Nice Guy? Hee hee. Thanks a lot Niki!

All right, so here's what I gotta do. So I'm supposed to give a few Nice Matters Awards out too, sounds like a vicious cycle, doesn't it? This is a bunch of blogs that I read whenever I can and yah, they are NICE! Ha!

1. Imp and her Faerie Land. Always makes me smile, even for all the wrong reasons!

2. Lunch is served. Some of BEST damn local food/desert pix around.

3. Skinny Epicurean. Great food reviews and dessert recipes.

4. World according to b. One of the most inspiring blogs around.

5. Forbidden Planet. I usually learn something new whenever I drop by.

"I remember everything"

When I was in Japan last month, our host brought us to this little cafe by the roadside near Mt. Fuji called Cafe M. He brought one of my colleagues there earlier in the month and they all raved about how cosy the place is and how great the food is. So when I was there, we headed there again after our photo shoot. But the place was closed! I could only get this shot. I never got the chance to step in!

But guess what. I found the official website here! Even though I can't read it, the outdoors pix match what I saw and the little glimpses I took while peering through the window. It all looks so neat!


Well, the English football season starts tomorrow I believe and its been a year since I placed a bet. I have mentioned before that I have a wee bit of a gambling problem, I didn't place any bets last season so I'm pretty proud of that. Wish me luck this year! ;)

Remember that watch I got from Japan a couple of weeks ago? Damn! Setting an analog and digital watch together to match the time is a BITCH! I'm trying to get the minute hand to match the digital time exactly!

Saw The Bourne Ultimatium the other nite at the Heineken preview. Kinda enjoyed it. If you are a comic book fan, you would know what I mean when I say the whole thing reads like a movie version of Wolverine's (Weapon X) origin. Especially now that Wolverine has also recently regained all his memories, he even utters the same words, "I remember everything." in the comics. And he goes on this looooong hunt of everyone (and goverment) around the world who messed with his mind and turned him into a killer.

Alright, I need some help here. Can anyone tell me what this green leaf that you usually find in your sashimi is called? When I was in Japan recently, my host told me that it's edible. I never knew that. I tried it and it's kinda little minty and it's supposed to clear the palate. I been trying to find it online but no such luck. This pix is another shot I took while I was there.

"I'm not an ass man"

Now I'm really tempted to enter one of my flower pix in any local amateur photo contest. Just gotta find one somewhere I guess.

Anyway, got tagged by Niki with this little meme. Gotta come up with 8 random facts bout myself. Let's see, did something almost the same here. So whoever wants to give it a shot, go right ahead. All right, here we go ...

1. I always place a glass of water by my bedside when I go to sleep cos I usually wake up in the middle of the night thirsty.

2. I need to shave every morning otherwise (according to women I know) I'll look like some junkie.

3. I was once stalked by a beautiful but crazy woman.

4. I still get a kick whenever someone asks me if I'm Chinese or Singaporean, my mom's half Chinese. Doesn't happen that often now but it used to happen more frequently when I was a kid.

5. I'm not an ass man nor am I a legs man. I'm more of a pretty face kinda guy. I'll look at her face and front first, more than anything else.

6. I set all my clocks and watches at least a couple of minutes faster than the 'real', official time.

7. I like big breakfasts!

8. I can't drink alcohol on an empty stomach. I need to eat before I drink.

Now its gonna be our National Day real soon and guess what ... a year ago, I saw this wash pole flag hanging next to some laundry and this year on my way to work, the wash pole patriot strikes again!

"That's a pig's head in front"

It's an early Sunday afternoon and I have just finished vacuuming and mopping the apartment. Figured I'll post the last few pix from my Japan work trip now. Read that the weather in Japan got pretty rainy again after we left so I guess we were lucky.

Well, one minor crummy fact about the whole trip was the coming home to an empty apartment at 2am in the morning part. It would had been nice if there was someone waiting that I could share everything with, right there and then.

Ok, back to what else I did in Japan. I finally tried a bottle of Coke Zero. Didn't take any pix of it. Awww man, it wasn't that good at all. Just another bland carbonated drink with some carmalized taste to it. Will difinitely not buy when it's launched here. Now here's a big ass coffee vending machine I saw in the airport, complete with a little video screen too.

A couple of other vending machines here.

Now here's another great view from my countryside hotel room. This shot was taken at about 5.30am in the morning. I kid you not. Yah, sleep was not an option.


This is a cool duo that was playing outside Shinjuku station. Didn't understand the lyrics but it had a real melody and she's a pretty girl with a great voice, what more could a guy ask for? Was almost tempted to buy the CD.

I don't know what the hell this is but it sure looked real cute. That's a pig's head in front. See the little tail at the back?

"The cop made me do it"

I was heading home just now and saw that the road was cordoned off cos some huge construction stuff fell off a couple of trailers. So the traffic cop (very politely) told me that I had to get off the sidewalk and walk through the open field. I said, "That means I have to climb the fence?" And he said, "Yes, sorry for the inconvenience."

Sure, its been awhile since I climbed any fences but I'll give it a shot. Hell, the cop made me do it! And I climbed, and it was a breeze. I mean it was exactly like before. Toss my bag over the fence and then climb it.

Anyway, back to Japan. So I had technically one day of R&R, not exactly rest and recreation but more like retail rampage. One day cos of half a day in the afternoon and half a day the next morning before my flight back.

After finishing work in the hotel in Shinjuku, got out at about 4pm and headed straight to C&C curry rice for a very late lunch. Then off to make my biggest ever single purchase in Tokyo. A watch that I had my eye on for some time now. Far as I know, you can't find it here in Singapore. It looks a lot better in real life.

Then it was off to Harujuku to the special Uniqlo concept store. If you haven't heard about it or seen pix of it, it's really neat. Here's how it looks from the outside. It's just across the Levi's store.

Three floors of nothing but cool t-shirts, sold and packed in plastic capsules. Hundreds of them. Only 1,500 Yen each. That's less than S$20! Seriously man, these are really good! I bought 4 but had to get rid of the capsules cos of space in the luggage.

Anyway, I did buy bunch of other stuff along the way and the next day too. Here's a pix of just some of them. Not bad one-day-shopping coming for a straight guy huh? Let's see now ... in the pix below, there's the new Kit Kat flavours, kiwi fruit, melon and green tea (again), a Shinjuku JR line station key chain (got it since that's near where I always stay), an old school Glico man chocolate tin, a Japanese mag on food and more dice for my collection from Tokyo Hands at Takashimaya, these include a Zodiac dice, Yes/No dice, Who/What/Where/Why/When/How dice, emo dice, Food dice in Japanese includes Sushi/Tempura/Beef rice/chinese/Italian/french and a dice with Japanese characters that I don't understand. Guess which is my favorite. ;)

"Noodles-in-a-bun"

Alright, here are the food pix like I promised! Since I was there on official work, I couldn't really take my camera out every time we got served. So don't expect too many food pix this time. We'll start with the weird first. For the person who likes bread and noodles, we have the perfect meal for you. Noodles-in-a-bun! Really, it's what you see right here, noodles in a hot dog bun from a local convenience store. Only from Japan!

This is the famous Jyangara or Jangara Ramen in Harajuku. We love it and according to the menu, ex-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi loves it too.

The last time I was in Japan (exactly a year ago), I had this other new flavour from Haagen-Dass. This year, it's Chardonnay and Raspberry. Not bad but more raspberry than anything else.

Want to know the secret of making it rich here in Asia? Open a donut shop! It's already happening here in Singapore. Now look at the Krispy Kreme Q at Shinjuku. When I was there, the sign said average Q-ing time is 50 mins. Remember now, it's at least 36C in the sun, no shelter and we have men in suits.

"Why I don't date models"

Well, I'm back from Japan! And I got some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is my favorite porn shop in Shinjuku is gone! OK, the less said about this the better.

The good news is except for very minor bumps, everything went well during the shoot. The weather was bright, sunny and HOT (at least up to 38C according to the thermometer in my G-Shock), perfect for outdoor shoot. For obvious reasons, I can't say anymore about the campaign until it's launched.

Eating was quite irregular as we were out at the break of dawn, had to munch on buns and other convenience store food for breakfast (kinda like my army days). Anyway, I was reminded of something else during dinner there, the model ate very, very little, just little nibbles. I dated a model years ago, beautiful nice girl but whenever we were out, she hardly ate and I just felt so ...er... uncomfortable. I guess that's the reason why I don't date models. Hah!

Picture time! First pix is the break of dawn at 4.30am from my balcony!

Next we got some random flower shots.

Oh yah, just remembered something while posting the pix, remember the black cotton buds from last post? I was talking to the professional make-up artist there and he said he uses them too for make up and it's really good cos they don't stain or mark and cleans up really nice or something like that. So there you go, my make-up tip!

Coming up next, food!

"It was under the pork"

Here's an interesting gift I got from Hong Kong recently. Charcoal cotton buds, well, I don't think they are exactly cotton anymore. They are pretty solid as in the er, cotton or whatever doesn't come off. And if your ears are really dirty, you can see it against the black! But wait, you are saying 'but won't my ears be black from shoving charcoal into them?' I dunno, I can't see into my own ears.

I Had my first visit to The Marmalade Pantry last nite. Yah, really. Anyway, had the roast pork loin with caramelised sweet potato. Not bad except for the fact that the piece of meat was incredibly thick. Thickest piece of pork I ever had in my life. The sweet potato was great. And there was also a small serving of cabbage that came with it (it was under the pork) and it was done just the way I remembered in the army! Cookhouse flshback! And that's not a bad thing really. It was a little soft and soggy but still quite tasty.

"Drinks in the office"

So it's a lazy Sunday. Did a little work and emailed it back to the office. Thought I'll try something new with two of my favourite subjects, toys and food like my last post. Ha, remembered taking some pix with them together here and here as well, thought it was kinda neat.




Anyway, I'm gonna try it again but this time playing some angles and lighting. Ok, a little background on the Vodka Peach. First time I tried it was in the office at our semi-usual informal Friday 5pm 'drinks in the office' session. We mixed it up with ice and cans of Sprite found in the pantry. Well, obviously I liked it a lot otherwise I wouldn't have gone and gotten my own bottle.

Backup Plan 101. I ain't gonna sit on my ass thinking bout it. Come the last weekend of July if I ain't in Japan, I'll be having a games nite at my place with the guys over.

"Gonna jinx it"

This probably one of the best discoveries of the month for me. I been drinking this coffee liquer for months now and it's always with this brand of milk called HL Milk. Then I switched to the occassional Meiji Low Fat Milk which is less sweet but it's fresh milk (a shorter shelf life) unlike HL Milk which although it claims to be one, is actually made from some kinda processed powdered milk.

Anyway one nite I decided to try it with Meiji Low Fat Milk and damn! it was heavenly! The bottle is almost empty now but I got a brand new bottle of Bailey's coming up next.

Now what I'm about to say might not be the best thing to say. What I mean is I feel like simply by mentioning it, I'm probably gonna jinx it. Thing is I might be heading out to Tokyo in a couple of weeks for a four-day photo shoot business trip. BUT there are already more than a handful of problems creeping up. Firstly is the budget, if it gets cut anymore, I ain't going. And right now it's the stormy Tokyo weather too. Hopefully that clears up by the early start of the week. I sure would like to head back to Tokyo but right now it's not looking good.

"Freaky obese fatboy"

Here’s one of those toxin remover patches that the drug stores here are selling. You stick a patch at the bottom your feet just before you go to sleep and in the morning, it would have gone black by absorbing the toxins from your body. Apparently, it’s a science and it really does remove certain harmful toxins. Now these are pretty expensive, about S$80 for 20 patches I think. I managed to find this at a S$2 budget shop in Vivo City. A pack of 2 patches for only S$2. As you can see, it did turn black the morning after so I guess it did work. I mean, evil black stuff was removed and that ought to be good right? Ah, the wacky stuff a guy does when he’s alone in bed! I might buy more the next time I’m there.

Recently I been thinking a bit about good and evil, order and chaos etc.. Now I’m a big fan of fiction so I have read gazillion stories on good vs. evil. The consequences of one’s dark evil acts as well as the hazards of time traveling but I digress. But seriously, I’m just thinking why didn’t I turn out ‘bad’ while growing up? Why was I a ‘Child of Order’ during my teenage years?

Truth be told, I was a pretty ‘spoilt’ kid. I mean, as the only child in a ‘financially comfortable’ family. Almost anything I wanted I knew I could get (expect that damn chemistry set!) and as a teenager I could have gotten away with a lot of stuff. I could have stayed up all nite every weekend but I didn’t. I grew up along Orchard Road the shopping and party areas, people usedto tell me that if they lived there, they’ll be partying every nite. Er, I don't think so. Then what kept me in check? Why didn’t I go overboard? Till today, I still don’t know. I know there was a very small part of me that really wished to party and all but I didn’t. Well, someone has a theory and I think it’s the closest I heard. ‘Fear’ of disappointing my family cos I really love them and I know it’ll hurt them a lot if I did those stuff. As for my ‘Servant of Chaos’ days when I started working, that’s a story for another day. ;)

Oh yah, thank the stars I wasn’t so into food back then. I think I would have balloned into some freaky obese fatboy! Hah!

"Rest of what's inside the pig"

Its been a while since I wrote anything about food so it's a good thing I brought my camera out this afternoon. Had Bak Kut Teh (pork ribs soup) for lunch at the junction of Worchester and Owen Road. I believe it's a pretty famous stall but this is only my second time there. It's great, the meat is tender and the soup isn't the peppery kind. It's actually a little sweet. As you can see, we didn't forget about the rest of what's inside the pig. There's the liver, stomach and intestines in the other bowls too.

Here you got the main Bak Kut Teh bowl with lots of garlic, just the way I like it.

Followed by the rest of the pig.

And here's my 'complete' meal.