+ Beach | East Coast

East Coast Beach Park on Chinese New Year

Would have left home early in the morning, but since my son has tuition coming to our home this late morning, we left home at 2:00pm instead.

We headed to East Coast Beach Park over at Marine Parade. Still good weather, though the sun played hide and seek amongst the clouds most of the time, but good for a tanning anyways.

Had ourselves lunch at Marine Parade Hawker Centre. Wifey and I had the usual - Tom Yam Seafood Noodles, while my son had Chicken Rice and yes... Ice Milo, his favourite drink ever.

Not as crowded as I expected it to be, being a public holiday and all. We see more cyclists, roller-bladders and joggers than picnickers. Most certain because many Chinese are still going visitings to relatives.

Well, more space and more choice for locations for us to set down our mat and stuff.

The tide was low, so the water was not that great, but never we mind. WeI did some swimming, but I laid on the sand most of the time sun tanning, while my son search for the elusive sea shells.

Yes... more sea shells to collect, but for some reason, East Coast Beach did not have that many sea shell to be found, let alone interesting ones.

Wifey sat on a bench under a shelter listening to the MP3 music Danish downloaded into his DigiLife CamCorder and snacking.

Everyone relaxing and just soaking in the sea breeze, the staring far out to the open horizon. Me, just being a human sun-dial for a few hours.

We were there for about 4 hours and as fast as we were there, it was time to leave.

We overshot our time at the beach that we did not have time to rent bicycles to ride along the beach as we planned earlier. Danish was terribly disappointed.

I did not really get a dark enough tan, so maybe another session this weekend? Let's see.

Walked to the nearby Parkway Parade Shopping Centre to get some groceries at Giant Hypermart for the home. Wifey wants to cook something extra special these few days and I chose cheeze cake for desert. Sweet!

Yes, yes, fattening but I will work harder on my HomeGym to rid that extra pound I will put in. Wifey will have to run on her threadmil too.

All that shopping made us hungry. We eat Burritos meals at KFC, talked about Puffy, our addopted "part-time" hamster and joked a few. Made out way back home in a cab at about 7:00pm.

Felt so satisfied to have sun on my face and some colour on my pale body. The sea has been so therapeutic to me, I feel energized for work tomorrow.

Oh, work tomorrow!

I am expecting a slow one because many locals are still continuing their holiday, with some taking the 3 days off to start work Monday next week onwards.

May be a bit of a rush for me filling-in for my Engineers who are still not back at work yet, but I am happy this long weekend was great for me personally.

Nope, no camping by the beach as initially planned. Too many things happened this long weekend that we had to take several short outings instead of a good overnight camping by the beach. Sigh...

But... instead of camping, we get to go to 2 different beaches - strolling along Changi Point for the cool clean sea breeze the night before and picnic at East Coast for the sun, among other outings. Sweet!

Anyway, put them all together and we had a great long weekend!

Now, back to the real world.

+ Changi | Dinner Out

Changi Village Chalets and Shops

Like every year, during Chinese New Year, that will mean no shopping or Kedai Kopi or Coffee Shops open for business for 2 to 4 days at a stretch.

The major shopping centres and department store will be closed for the 3 days. Basically ghost town for the shopping centres.

Since the majority or 60% of Singaporeans are Chinese here, and mostly are the ones with the stores and Coffee Shops and department stores, these few days are the most boring days in the island for the other races here.

It is not necessarily a bad thing, its just that its the holidays, and everybody wants to have a rest - moms not cooking, families go outings and eat out.

Not many places though, so the Malays comprising of 30% and Indians are the ones cashing in the monies opening their stalls, setting-up make-shift stalls outside the Coffee Shops and in the void decks to "feed" the people for these few days.

That said, our family is no exception. We went out to Changi Village to have our dinner.

Wow! The crowd at the hawker centre was incredible. Practically all Malay and Indian stalls were open.

The queues were long and many favourite dishes were sold out. There seemed to be only Nasi Lemak or Rice in Coconut Milk dish that were available in many stalls.

On normal days, you would order your food at the stall and they will send it to you, but not these few days.

You have to queue a little longer and self-serve - wait there for it to be prepared and collect it yourself to your table. Great that we could find a table to have our meals.

Not that anybody mind, but the situation is a bit panicky. You just have to settle with what is available for these few days.

You always have McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut to choose from. They are always open for business.

After dinner, we bought a few snacks and drinks and headed to the beach.

The Sungei Changi Bridge is the separator between the hustle of food rush and the tranquility of the sea.

We sat down at the bench facing the sea and snacked on Kuaci or dried Sunflower Seeds like 3 parrots skillfully separating the shell from flesh with our tongues.

The night was clear and the sea breeze was cooling. A quiet spot and a relaxed atmosphere. We talked and watched people fishing, campers barbecuing and children running about care-free.

It is always a nice night out whenever it's at the beach. 2 more days to relax!

+ Surfing | Blogs Galore

My blog celebrating Life! & Much Ado About Nothing

Came back from what is to be the start of a long weekend. 4 days of no work, just leisure!

Since my wife and son had left for his cousin's birthday party, I am left home-alone.

Bought myself a packact of Nasi Goreng Ikan Bilis or North Indian Fried Rice with Enchovies for dinner from the neighbourhood Indian stall, sat down andhad my "TV dinner".

Nothing interesting on TV, so I turned off the TV and turned on my PC instead.

No important emails from work, replied a few especially from a wonderful person, Sister Celtic on the Japanese Illusionist's clip she sent me. Just awesome!

Checked my blog for number of visits and started to "blog-surf" to each of FFMB members' pages.

Read hours of captivating entries, though some are too "foreign" and western for this Asian to truely understand and appreciate, but for the most part - just lots of interesting, insightful, witty and just enjoyable everyday stuff to read, to understand more.

I especially like the many funny comments that come with it after reading the blog entry. Its just like talking to a group of friends, only that it is at the global roundtable.

Never have I surfed that many a blog in one sitting before! It was my first time to leave so many comments on so many blogs at one go. The urge to say something about the some entries after reading it.

All thanks to Sister Celtics from Lopez Island Life for introducing me to many good bloggers. All I had were commercial blog sites commenting into my blog.

That was an irritating phase in my early blogging days. Thanks again to her for reminding me to use the word verification funtion. It helped a lot, and effectively to.

Hope I do not become a pest instead and get her in trouble with my unwelcomed comment or uninvited "infiltration" of someone else's thoughts.

Always looking forward to everyone's next entry. The freshness, unpredictable element of it all, across the globe, every day.

I have linked all those I know in my Main Passionate About Life Summary Page at http://muscleicon.blogspot.com

Cheers to FFMB bloggers! Interesting people.

+ Beach | Long Weekend!

Bus Service 293 with Chinese Traditional Headdress Ad

With all the goings on at work, I am really in need of a break, a longer break.

Mentally, I am tired and a little depressed and physically I need sunshine on my skin to keep the blood warm and pumping. I want to recharge. January has not been good to me so far.

Singapore is celebrating Chinese New Year early next week, on Monday and Tuesday, 30th and 31 January.

With this weekend kicking in, that means I am getting 4 straight days off work, my son Danish from school, and my wife Azi from house chores! Sweet!

YES! I cannot wait!

I have been counting down for this long weekend since begining of this year, but it did not re-ignite my excitement until I saw the bus Service 293 passed me by this morning, while waiting for a cab to work.

With the distintive 3D Chinese New Year advertisement from Quaker Oats, I just had to snap a photo of it.

To all my Chinese Friends,
Happy Chinese Lunar New Year!

To all non-Chinese,
Happy Holidays!

East Coast Beach Park

With two more days to go, we have already started talking about going camping at the beach. Which beach now....?

• Changi Beach Park... our default family haunt, secluded and tranquil, or
• Pasir Ris Park... one of the largest children's playground by the beach, or
• East Coast Beach Park... the happening beach with rows of shops and eateries.

All these planning are fine, but the weather is kind of unpredictable these past months.

It has been raining and raining hard for several weeks but looks like its clearing up. We got sunny days for a few, but overcast weather most of the time for now.

Nonethless, we are going to brave it, let rain or shine we are going to be prepared with our "all-weather spirits" and camping gears and what not. Bring it on!

Long weekend, here we come!

+ Work | Weird Day

My taxi spot at Tampines Street 71

Had the weirdest day today.

Was awakened by my son last night. He kept waking up through the night for some reason. So I accompanied bunking with him until he woke in the morning for school.

Got his breakfast ready and his runny noise medicine given. He left for school and I was left tired and deprived of good sleep.

Decided to take a 10 minute nap but ended-up waking up at 8:00am instead! A cool 1-hour nap!

8:00am! That is when I should be at work! I woke up in shock so fast that my head spin for a second.

Got the roughest shave, the quickest teeth-brushing and the driest shower ever. In 15 minutes, I was at the roadside frantically flagging for a cab. Lots of cabs, but none available.

Finally called for the driver was late coming. He unfortunately thought it was Street 71 Pasir Ris instead of Tampines. What more can they do to me...?

Oh yes, they can do more!

Work place in AMK Ave 5 Industrial Park 2

Work was good, but let's just cut the story short.

On the way home, I missed the bus Service 72 before I could reach the bus stop. It was a double-deck bus, my favourite ride. Well there would always be another one coming.

And came did another one, and another one, and another 2 more!

None of the buses could stop to pick any more passengers because the buses were all already packed tight with passengers.

By then, there were already more than a dozen people at the bus stop with obvious agitated faces, waiting for the 5th one after a 30 minutes wait! What in the world was happening?!

Stood there for half an hour but seemed forever when I noticed the antics of a woman in her mid 30s acting weird.

She began to mumble to herself softly at first. Then it became louder as and when bus after bus passed by our stop full of passengers. Well, I am agitated too, I thought.

Then she started to pace up and down the bus stop and as she walked, she would stomp her right leg ever few steps.

Then she started tugging and snapping her plastic bag making plastic crunching sounds in front of all the other people as she paced to and fro.
Okay... one angry lady, "crazy" angry lady!

When the 5th bus finally came with more than enough standing room, all the restless Service 72 passengers boarded the bus, but she did not. Saw her mumbling as the bus moved away.

Okay... that fed answer to my curiosity.

The whole day was a bad transportation experience, all this festive season can drive you... well, crazy!

+ Retrospect | The Bully

Bullying a girl I like? What's that about?

I read Carols' "Early Years "on bullies and the link to Barbara's "Sometimes You Don't Know Why". It triggered the guilt I thought had subsided through all these years.

Here's the flip side of the story. Many will hate and think differently of me for this, but here goes...

I have to confess that I did some terrible things when I was a kid. I was once a bully myself. Puny me. I could not believe it myself.

Not a nice feeling to recall my acts of stupidity. It would be even more hurtful to the victims. Well in this case victim, but it should hurt all the same.

I remember the one incident that stuck in my conscience till today.

My friends and I teased an Indian girl who was our classmate. I tugged on her braided hair and made her cry. It was suppose to be fun? It was an act of bravado for my friends, I guess, though I don't recall exactly why.

What I do know was that I think I kind of... liked her. Yes, it was a funny way, no... hurtful way of showing it. And yes, it was a stupid way of showing it! I am ashamed I did such a nasty thing.

I guess I could not understand what I was feeling then. I find her interesting and I liked her. She was taller than me, she looked pretty in her school uniform, and she was a quiet girl and an obedient pupil. She is everything nice.

Maybe I wanted to have some form of communication with her, befriend her, but I didn't know how. I was in my second year of kindergarten!

Yes, I was a twisted kid back then as I am now. The kid I mean! I am no longer twisted. Well I like to think so.

I remembered she screamed in shock when I pulled her hair, and remembered that she cried for a while.

That made me stopped and felt guilty. I was not thinking or afraid of what would happen to me afterwards, rather, I felt really bad. It was not fun at all.

What was I thinking?! Come to think of it, I was out of character. What had just happen?

Strangely enough I was not reported to the teacher, nor did her parents confronted me or my parents for my act. I still think she did not tell her parents about me. Why is that?

Till now, I regretted deeply what I had done. The guilt still feels strong whenever I recall that very incident. Saw her big eyes looking at me as if asking me what had she done to me to deserve that.

I cannot recall her name, nor can I ever imaging how she would look today.

If only I could turn back time and undo my terrible act. What is done is done, but only if I could say that I'm sorry to her. I deeply am.

No one should be treated or feelings hurt like that. No one!

I can never have closure. It is my punishment.

I hope I did not do any permanent damage to her. I hope she forgave me. I hope she had totally forgotten about that incident.

I hope she is a happy and successful individual with lots of wonderful kids like herself.

+ Work | Friday 13th

Poster on loan from KETV7

Never a superstitious person all my life but Friday the 13th came barely two weeks into the new year!

The day at work started off great and all seemed normal. Through mid day, as I was coming back from my Friday Prayers, I overheard a teenage girl talking to her group of friends in the shuttle bus, complaining about the bad day she was having and mentioning "Friday the 13th."

"Oh yes, today is Friday the 13th... how about that..." I thought to myself. Hmm... Jason!

The most memorable scene came to mind. Thought all was over in the morning, and then Jason grabbed her from behind off the boat and into Crystal Lake.

I thought nothing of it as I believe it is a old but still "popular" western superstition made even famous by Jason, well, Mrs Voorhees at first of course!

Or was the number 13 in itself, like the eventful Apollo 13? Read once that it was an ill-fated space mission that was launched at 13:13 hours, from launch pad #39 (the 3rd multiple of 13), and aborted on April 13th 1970...

Well anyway, once I reached my office I started reminding my friends about the date, knowing they tend to freak out since some of them like to talk about superstitions and what not, just to see their reaction.

None of them remembered the date. They acted normal and just said "oh ya..." as if to indulge me. That was as much a "freaking-out" reaction as I could get. Well... whatever...

The day went by as usual until late afternoon when my boss called me to the conference room to drop a bomb!

Down-size! I then owed him a list of names to better streamline the operation side to suit the "present situation."

I know better than to mention such "sensitive" matter, let alone write about it, but Friday the 13th did become really unlucky, not particularly for me, but for the people under my charge. Sigh...

Darn it! I hate doing this part of the job. Being Jason and "slashing off" people's livelihood away! New year, new beginning? We were into the 13th day of the new year!

Wait a minute! Am I being superstitious now?!

Everyone in my team is great, but yes, the situation renders it. We were not as "busy" with orders to sustain everyone for quite sometime now. A man's got to do, what a man's got to do... submit it by Monday!

Darn it. Sigh...

Superstitious, I am not! Praying and Hoping I will. And I really hope there is a silver lining behind everyone's dark cloud. There always is!

PS: And I love cats, whatever colour it may be!

+ Work | Morning Ride

Malay Kampng House off Punggol

Never thought I would write this bit in Escapade section related to my work, but here goes.

Had a ride in a cab this morning, the first day of work in year 2006.

Was quiet along the way but the cab driver started to chat half-way through the journey from my home to my work place. Did not catch his name or his cab number though.

JUST REMINISING...

A very intresting and educational ride I must say. Exiting from TPE and ascending uphill via Sengkang East Road, he started to talk about his childhood days when he was still living in the Kampong in Punggol. He is in his fifties now.

He was living in a Chinese village beside a Malay Kampong overlooking the Punggol River. The spot we drove by was about the place his home was way back then.

When his family saved enough money, his father bought a patch of land beside the Punggol School. It was up the hill about 6.8M high, the highest point in Punggol at the time.

His father said that the place had the best Funshui or good geomancy, because the hill behind them seem to protect them as the Chinese expression says that they have "the mountain behind" to "back" them up against bad luck.

To him the place was high and the scenery was great, overlooking the village below and the canopies of the surrounding trees and the ultimate river view.

They were farmers, raring chickens, ducks and pigs, but poutry was their forte.

He remembered having to row a sampan or boat from Punggol to many parts along side the river to buy chicken feeds for their farm when he was just in high school.

He admired the Malays, having no big patch of land, but a village of their own. Each house had their home and surrounding compound kept clean and tidy.

They did not have much money and the state of many people living at the time was poor, but the Malays were happy people.

They lived harmoniously among themselves and with the Chinese too, while his family had to endure hard labour and work from when he was small to accumulate wealth that never seemed to be enough.

They could fetch about $10,000.00 a month of profit but still toiled hard day in and day out for more.

With all that money, his home still did not have electricity. So when he was in his high chool, Saint Andrew's Secondary, he had problems after when his teacher asked them to watch some Sharespear shows to talk about the next day.

He just had to pretend he watched it and discuss with the class even though his house did not have a TV set. All that wealth, no minimal luxury available.

With a hint of regret, I felt he was robbed off his childhood from the hardwork he had to endure suppoting their farm.

CHICKEN TRIVIAS...

Then came the educational part of the conversation.

He told me that there are several types of chickens - the layers, the broilers and the breeders. I am sure he said there was another category I left out, but can not recall.

The layers were their specialty.

A chicken would live up to 2 "productive" years. That is to say, from chicks, the chickens will be laying eggs at age 3 months ro so and be laying about 98 eggs out of every 100 days, for about the two years.

After the productive years, the mature chickens will slowly but surely lay less eggs until it could only lay 2 to 3 eggs a month.

Upon which, these chickens will be sold off to make chicken essence, etc. There was a time that they sold the mature chickens to Malaysian businesses to make chicken nuggets, which is the right age for such meat - succulent and tender.

LESSONS LEARNT...

The farming era in Singapore ended and they moved to leased their land to small industrial businesses making abastos ceilings and moulds. They would also earn about S$10,000.00 a month from the rents.

The hardship has taught him the value of money and dealings in business. He now lives in a terrace house - landed property that is a dream for many Singaporeans to own and shop in a shopping centre which name I forgot.

I guess him being a cab drive is to while his free time. If he was me, I would have gone on tours to see the world instead in my golden years. With that much money has has, I would think he already has done that.

Since I am always a sucker for reminising old Kampong days and the simple life... well, may be for the Malays, not the Chinese or him in particular.

It was a nice start to work this new year. Thanks to Mr. Cabby who has refreshed my spirit to welcome the possibilites this year may hold for me. Insyaallah.