Rise Above and up north

Ok, kind of a crappy title I know. Just came back from an event at Jewel Box at Mount Faber. It's the old Altivo newly renovated. Quite nice but I have to say, it's not the best place for an event. Parking is horrendous. We made our way up and was shocked to see a whole line of cars waiting to be valet parked at the place. When we finally reached the place, we were told horrors of all horrors that valet parking is full and they told us to drive down to Habour Front and take the shuttle up. I was like wtf! I'm not going to do that! I dropped my friend off and wanted to go home when my friend told me she's secured a valet lot for me. So off I went driving back and waiting in line for the valet queue again. Lucky this time, they helped me park my car. This is in fact the second time I faced a parking problem at this location. The first was when I attended a friend's wedding who chose to hold it at Altivo. I guess for the place to succeed, they have to first solve this crucial problem.

Anyway, the event in question is Martell's Rise Above event. It's kind of like an appreciation party to all the people who have supported Martell in the year. People like disco owners, pub owners and of course drunkards like myself. Haa…. Anyway, lots of media and celebrities. I thought I'll try out my new camera which I bought today. It's a Panasonic Lumix FX-01. Unfortunately, I'm abit disappointed with the night shots quality. Will do a proper review of the camera once I tried it out more. Here are some shots I took of the event.

Whoa…look at all em Martell bottles on the shelves.

You can't really see it but this guy's t-shirt was flashing.

Main doorway into the disco party.

Insider where there's a dance floor.

The theme was Rise Above so you seen hostess wearing astronaut, stewardess and pilot uniforms.

Oh, another thing to mention was that I saw the infamous Dawn Yeo at the party. Now she looked at me and I realised her face was kind of scary and I had to admit I looked away. It just didn't look natural and I don't know, think I prefer her pre-surgery look. Anyways, I'm sure some people likes it.

Ok, I'd better go to bed as I'm leaving to Bangkok for a holiday tomorrow. Good night Singapore.

Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe

Had an interesting coffee session today at this place call Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe so I thought I'll do a review on it. It's situated just opposite the Kovan MRT station and is quite a large site which one couldn't possibly miss travelling down the main road.

Now there seems to be alot of Hong Kong style cafes popping up on the island and this one looks new enough. It's also happening in KL by the way and there's even a chain there. My friend recommended we drop by here for coffee as she's been here before so what the heck, we went down. The decor of the place is quite new and the interior quite nicely done. We chose to sit outside instead but the outside sitting is limited and this being located near a HDB estate, the al fresco view is kind of boring. Anyway, we proceeded looking at the interesting postcard like menu to see what's good.

The selection is quite large and there's even things which is not typical of a "Char Chan Teng" (Hong Kong Cafe) in there. I guess they must cater to the local crowd. I hear that the food was alright but if you come during peak hours, the standard do drop. As we went there kind of late, we skip the food and went straight to desserts. We ordered a mango ice kacang thingy which was huge and a peanut butter toast.

The mango dessert was alright but because it was made up of just ice shavings and mango sauce poured over it, the inner parts were abit tasteless. The toast is ok though I still prefer the ones in HK. Price wise, we had a lemon tea to go with that ($4.90, wow!) and it came up to $18.15 which I thought was kind of pricey. But I kind of expected it as these novelty places typically charges a premium. You can't expect to pay coffee shop prices right.

Anyways, one good thing about this place is that it is 24hrs. Seems nowadays more and more places are going 24hrs to cater to the midnite crowd. For that, I would say this makes it a possible choice for those who want to grab a bite at some place different in the middle of the night. I would possibly go back again as I'm kind of interested in trying out the pork chops and baked spaggetti. All in all, abit pricey but an interesting place to check out. Good night Singapore.

Turning Point?

There seems to be a glimmer of hope to my gloomy working environment. Over the weekend, I had two opportunities present themselves to me to move out of my shitty current position. One is an internal opportunity that may become available in the coming months and the other, which I was informed today, was an opportunity to move out to one of the biggest players in the telecoms sector. The later seems a more immediate opportunity. I hope either one materialises itself soon as I am really tired of the constant droning of my director who has no one to manage to me and thus constantly micro-manages my work. It has became unbearable and I seek an escape from this prison soon.

But as with opportunities, there comes the dilemma. If the opportunities come into fruition (I am pretty sure I spelt this wrongly but hey, I was never a word smith), I am faced with the decision of whether to wait for the internal position or take the external one. Over the past 8 years, I have held positions with 5 companies. Now that is alot of movement I guess for someone who is just doing averagely. I can't presume to say I am very successful and highly sought after as I know people who are on the top of the headhunters' list. And by moving around so much sometimes might leave a bad impression. I've only been in the current company for a year and a half and my previous one for one year. What will be the impression of my future masters? True that for these positions I am headhunted and in this line as in any line, as long as headhunters recognise your worth, years of service matters little. But the nagging worry is still there. I think I shan't ponder so much and just take things as they come.

Now with the new opportunity, I do hope that there is at least a 30% increases in remuneration. I seem to feel that I am somehow lagging behind the folks in these organisations but then again, I am comparing myself to foreign talents. Maybe this is an unfair comparison but I feel I am in no way inferior to them and why shouldn't Singaporeans be paid as much? Ah, the age old debate of worth vs perceived worth. Sigh… I do want to achieve a great deal in a short time. I long for the accelerated path taken by some and hope that in the short months to come I am able to step up again in my pursue for a higher and better paid position. Wish me luck.

Now on a seperate issue. I have decided to go on a diving trip to Bali with a group of people whom I do not know. These people I have not met and hopefully will be able to make some new friends who is closer to my wavelength. Nowadays, I feel that the people I hang out with are not exactly people of liked mind. Alas, another reflection on the title of this blog, Kindred Spirits. I used to know a group of friends who are but a mistake of my own caused me their friendship which I've regretted till today. Let's hope I find some soon. I keep feeling that the friends I hang out with are like a stopping point to others who I can fit in better with. I guess I can only see how life turns out for me. Good night Singapore.

The Rich life

Another slow weekend. Didn't do much over the weekend. I seem to be slowly sliding into a hermit's lifestyle. Didn't go out on Fri as suddenly I felt I didn't have anyone whom I'm keen to spend time with. Also had to send my parents to my cousin's ROM on Sat so didn't go out.

So that's what I ended up doing on Sat, sent my parents to my cousin's ROM at Aloha Loyang chalet. Gotta admit, it's quite a nice place for a chalet. Things didn't go perfectly that day because as usual, my sister whose joining us is late again. I still don't understand why everyone just can't keep to the said appointed times. On top of this, she forget to bring the ROM present we shared for my cousin. Sigh… Was kinda upset but nowadays, I realised I can diffused it pretty quickly. Maybe it's due to my acceptance that there's really no point and things will not change for the better even if I am upset.

Anyways, after that I sort of slacked the whole day at home until I couldn't stand it anymore and decided to head out for a drink in town. Knew a friend was going to hideout for the Pushin On session. I still think the name's kinda lame but anyway, headed there for a beer. Call another one of my drinking buddy who also joined us. In the end after two beers, we decided to join my friend's ASK (Ah Sia Kia) friend for a drink at a karaoke pub, Beds. Now, I think it's kind of mean to refer him as an ASK and truth be told, he is a very nice guy. But guess that's still a fact. He brought along some JW Blue Label which I felt Beds was not the right place to enjoy it. I heard that he's been going there quite often these days after we brought him there. I think maybe sometimes when a person is well off, they sometimes get lonely and spends money on company. Which arrives me to the next thing, the fourth party of my drinking buddies joined us after a stint at Xintiandi. For the uninitiated, XTD is a famous nightclub, those with girl hostesses. Was quite funny hearing his traumatic experience about the ladies trying to get him on. Haa… Sometimes, I really appreciate these drinking buddies companionship. It helps when suddenly there seem to be a lack of people who you want to spend time chatting up and just need someone who you can crap with.

So, that leaves Sunday. Didn't do much as usual except to wash my car. Just finished watching this show Moving Targets 2004. Nice movie with Nicholas Tse and Edison Chen.

It's based loosely on the old Hong Kong Drama last time call, San Jat Si Heng. Brings back memories.

Ok, watching CSI now on SCV. Good night Singapore.

Dinner with nightclub owner and Bala

Ok, damn tired so this will be short. Found out a female friend of mine is a shareholder of a nightclub. Yeah, you heard right, those with ladies sitting around and making you drunk. Interesting… Anywayz, had dinner at H.V Sushi Tei then parted ways as she had to go the nightclub.

After which I headed for a slow beer at Bala and came home. Damn sleepy after the beer which is good. Good night Singapore.

CommunicAsia, Issues with Ego

Another day has passed. This week is CommunicAsia week, and as with every year, it's alot of trips to the expo, booth duty and checking out the handphone babes instead of the competition. Well, it was a tiring day for me as I had to stand on duty. Imagine that. Being in the business for so long and being responsible for several countries in the region, I find myself still ending up with booth duty. Well, it's kinda helping out the folks and I kinda volunteered so I can't really complain.

Anyway, this year's event was abit slower than the past. I guess it's mainly due to the slowdown in telecommunications business in the region. This year, we did not have that many booth girls running around. Guess, it's a corporate image thing. We did find ourselves ending up in front of another which opted for the visual effect. That is, skimply dressed girls showcasing a whole range of the latest mp3, digicam, video, online GPRS/3G, what-have-yous phones. I can't say I'm complaining. It beats staring at the usual monotaneous crowd. As always, I find that it's easy to succumb to lust when looking at these girls. I can't deny that I'm not much of a saint so these visual aesthetics delight me.

After the day event, we had a customer networking event at velvet underground. I think I made the mistake of not changing and went with what I wore for booth duty. Not I sorta stuck out like a sore thumb there. The geeky look with the uninteresting, unimportant profile. Needless to say, no one gave two hoots about making idle chatter with me. It wasn't until I got semi- (now this is an interesting word which I thinks sounds so different when we pronounce it, it could be sem-mi or sem-mai, with the later sounding so much more atas. Haa… ok meaningless sidetrack) now where was I, oh yeah, semi-snubbed by some ladies at the party. Now, I think I have quite an ego and when I get snubbed I get upset. Not visibly but still upset. Some of these people probably are below me in designation and some probably don't even earn half as much but just cause I don't look important they think I'm not. I hate it when this happens.

I've always thought of how to make them realise who I am. I know this sounds lame but hey, that's ego playing with you. Should I say loudly, "hey, I should ask my guys to buck up in their sales, these ppl don't know how to work" or should I rub shoulders with the important people and thus they'll realise I am important by association. Oh wells, I never did end up doing any of that and will probably not do it in the future anyway. These thoughts tend to be a flash and I am also too lazy to bother sometimes. Contradicting sometimes. Hey, the human being is probably the only creature on earth to always contradict themselves.

Ok, it's late and I have booth duty again tomorrow. Better stop here and let's hope I've more interesting things to talk about tomorrow. Good night Singapore.

Rumblings in the night…

Hail all, I have moved here. Hrmm… why am I trying this out? I have no idea. Guess I'm reaching a crossroads of sorts. Lotsa thoughts but haven't been writing much these days. I am now writing this in the middle of the night. Nowadays, this is when my thoughts are most lucid.

Been having alot of frustrations recently. most importantly to do with work. Been around for awhile and thought I'll be able to take most shit but surprisingly been very angry with recent developments in my work environment. Have a new boss now. Kinda a control freak. Damn these expats. Highly paid but without a clue as to the local cultures. Sigh… oh well, guess the other reason is due to the fact that I am also frustrated with my personal life. Coupled with work, this became a double whammy.

Now I really can't understand (well maybe I can but I just can't accept) how some girls can take a person for granted so easily. I am not a "robert" who is there just to give people free rides. I am not there to buy drinks. I am not there to be given the cold shoulder when I am being nice. Maybe I expect too much when I dish out sometimes. I don't know. Silly sometimes…

I wonder, does it really help that much to say things out? I think the remedy is not in the process of writing down my thoughts but really it's when someone out there responses to this in like mind. That is why I chose this title - Kindred Spirits. Perhaps, I have been alone for too long and thus seek a kindred spirit out there. Hope you find me soon…