My Third Day...

It was really not that nice that I find myself enjoying this quiet and peaceful moment here in the National Museum of Singapore while the situation back in Bangkok is getting worse. But anyway, this will just be a short entry as I have yet to write the er...not so eventful activities for the past 2 days.

It's raining outside and plus the quite ambience of the museum really make the moment in Novus, the restaurant here so much more pleasurable. This museum if you asked me is not your conventional museum where you expect to be filled with ancient stuff or what i called antique! The building is really modern and filled with artsy stuff and design mainly because it also being a venue for art exhibition. I did not really venture into both the main galleries as I find it not that appealing (one is the History Gallery while the other is the Living Gallery). I'm more expecting arts exhibition but nothing was on for the week. Hence, here i am....enjoying my Ice Lavender Blend tea, the cool environment, the rain dripping outside...with an almost non-audible jazz music coming from the inside of the restaurant.

For the past two days it had been eating and travelling around Singapore in the car...not really a place for Shopping especially if one has been living for months in Bangkok; specifically when it is not a mega sale period here. I would rather go back and shop till i drop in Chatuchak. Heee....

Okay, i'm done here. I hope the protest situation in Singapore will end soon....

You Had Me At...

It was a nice one and a half hour nap on the plane. Possibly my body is really craving for it considering I’ve been up for 28hours. And my right ankle is killing me after the Bowling session.

It was a cool damp morning here in Singapore. It’s drizzling. But the airport itself is really quiet and peaceful. And the immigration check point was quiet as well. There’s no need for me to queue and the officer that attend to me was an Indian lady. Unlike the officers I’ve experience in both M’sia and Thailand, she’s projecting a friendly, approachable face. I greeted her ‘morning’ and she did the same. She also nicely pointed out to me some areas in the immigration card which I’ve missed out. She flipped through my passport and then innocently asked if I’m working in Thailand. We said our goodbye after that. I’ve never experience such a positive interaction with the immigration office before.

While waiting for my bro to pick me up, my next stop is at Delifrance since Burger King did not look that appealing. There are a few bitches in front of me discussing what they want to eat loudly that you just wish to slap them. The staff, a 40+ Chinese lady greeted me in English and asked what I would like to order. Since there was no ‘ice coffee’ on the menu, I idiotically asked her if she had ice coffee. And here’s how the dialogue went:

Me: Do you have Ice Coffee?

Her: Yes we have. With Milk?

Me: Yes.

Her: That will be Ice Latte.

Me: Er….do you use only one type of milk?

Her: We have fresh milk.

Me: Oh…do you have low fat milk?

Her: Yes. Ice Latte then. Anything to eat?

Me: What’s this….Paris ‘brest’ (sound like Paris Breast)

Her: Er…it had cream inside.

Me: Okay, I’ll have one.

Her: Please sit down I’ll bring it to you.

(Minutes later)

Her: I didn’t put sugar into your coffee cos I do not know how sweet you want it. So I brought you the syrup.

Me: (Feeling very impressed), I told her I normally don’t drink coffee with sugar/syrup.

Her: Plain?

Me: Yes.

And it goes on……

She is really professional and friendly unlike those staff at the Delifrance in my office building. They had no idea what they are doing! And they will not be so courteous (going beyond their role as counter staff) and not even familiar with common request like toasting the bread, low fat milk, etc etc. Or perhaps Thai people are not as demanding/picky as me and most Caucasians. Spoilt by Starbucks, perhaps.

I hope this will just be the start with more positive experience to come…

Singapore, you had me at the check point!

What Fruit Am I?

Can't remember if i have taken this quiz before but there i was, taking this quiz in Facebook and after answering some simple nonsense questions, the results stunned me. Not that it's crazy but this is what i've been describing myself to many people that i'm a ..... (for a different reason)

And this is the results.....hahahaha!

Is it getting better.... or we just buried it deeper?

Are you okay?

Have you ever find yourself waking up not knowing what happen in the last few moments before you eventually fell asleep?
Are all of us, in a way, like sadism? Torturing ourselves physically or emotionally? Why do we like to seek for unhappiness, frustrations, anger, etc when we could all be just happy? Is that what we are? Unable to enjoy life as it is?

My Hotmail indicate 12 mails in the inbox...did i not check my inbox lately or suddenly i just got notice by friends, strangers, spammers, etc?
Did I say that i loathe you? Did I say that I want to? these two phrases coming from the song that continue to send me downhill. After years of getting used to the number 26, now i have a new number to live with almost on a daily basis. 27. Was it a good number? Or does it matter? Will things be better with 27? Or it is just a number since it is who we are that control the situation?

Am I making a big mistake by telling the truth? Are we not supposed to be transparent? Aren't we been taught to set goals, to set targets? But why when we set a certain goal, we are seen to be making silly goals, irrational targets? Isn't any goal better than having none?

Are we okay? Are we...?

Enjoying the Remixes

While the original version was not bad but it is definitely the Freemanson Club Mix that brought this track to the club scene.











Both the main version as well as the Soul Seekerz club mix are to dance for.












While she released the maxi-single in the US consist of 8 club mixes, the UK fans will have to bear with just the Tong & Spoon mixes (which have the extended mix, the radio edit and the dub mix). And of those 8 tracks, it is the Tong & Spoon mix that really had fans buzzing about.










The remixers here are of lesser known but still provide a good club beat to this lovely song. The Ian Carey vocal mix had to be one of my favorite.











The original version which was fully built up on Lenny Kravitz's It Ain't Over Till It's Over is a good song on its own and really do not need any remix to boost it up.
Full Phat remix tend to tone down the sampling and put up a heavier synthesized beats to it. But the one to look for is definitely the Moto Blanco mix.








This is actually the maxi-single which boast quite a list of club mixes but it was the Josh Harris Edit and the Mix Show Edit that stand out the most.

I Just Washed My Shoes!

There I was walking home after a heavy dinner that it started to drizzle and then it pour. And the only thing I could think of right at that moment is my sandal. I just washed it this afternoon!

It's Mother's Day here in Thailand today...so it's a public holiday. But I'm just too lazy to cook, so I eventually ventured out and ended up at this corner place (some kind of Beer Garden) about 15 minutes walking distance from my place.

Not even sure what it's called but I just went it. It served common Thai dishes, and also had its coffee beverage as its specialty. I ordered a Sweet & Sour pork (which come in a large portion, for 2 people) and the Omelette rice, basically steam rice, top with a large fat omelette. Of course, I also ordered the Coffee which came in 3 strength level, Strong, Medium and Light. I had the Medium, which is actually quite strong and bitter.

Right in the middle of my meal, the staff pass me a yellow candle. Stunned, I looked at her with a 'WTF do you want me to do with it' look. She pointed outside and there, a number of staff were standing and starting the praying process. Then I realised...it's the Mother's Day thingy.

Basically, everyone will pray in front of the Queen's photo, and sing a song and ended up with some form of 'long live' praise. Interesting.

Going back to the food...it's not bad...large portion but a bit pricey. With the coffee, it cost me 300baht but then, it could have been for two people.

WYSIWYG!

If I had one chance to In my life again
I wouldn't make no changes Now or way back when
And if everything turns out The way I hope it goes
But I cant wait to find out What it is that God knows

But I don't wanna think about What's gonna come around for me
I'll just take it day by day 'Cause it's the only way
To be the best that I can be

I never pretend to be something I'm not
You get what you see, when you see what I've got
We live in the real world, I'm just a real guy
I know exactly where I stand
And all I can do is be true to myself
I don't need permission from nobody else
'Cause this is the real world, I'm not a little boy
I know exactly who I am

And nothing's ever perfect There's no guarantee
And if I knew the answers It would put my mind at ease
So I'll just keep on going The way I've gone so far
And maybe I'll end up Tryin' to catch a fallin star

But I don't wanna think about What's gonna come around for me
I'll just take it day by day 'Cause it's the only way
To be the best that I can be

I never pretend to be something I'm not
You get what you see, when you see what I've got
We live in the real world, I'm just a real guy
I know exactly where I stand
And all I can do is be true to myself
I don't need permission from nobody else
'Cause this is the real world, I'm not a little boy
I know exactly who I am

This is who I am
Don't need you to understand
'Cause everything is right where it should be
It wont be long til you know about me,
'Cause I don't give a ....
Even when I'm out of love
'Cause everythings just how it should be
And it wont be long till you know about me

I never pretend to be something I'm not
You get what you see, when you see what I've got
We live in the real world, I'm just a real guy
I know exactly where I stand
And all I can do is be true to myself
I don't need permission from nobody else
'Cause this is the real world, I'm not a little boy
I know exactly who I am


I love this song. Though it's not new but i finally bought the track and the remixes yesterday night and had been playing it over and over. It just made Lenny Kravitz's 'It ain't over till it's over' so much appealing again. While you might said having a song completely sample over another song is not unique or lack of originality but then if it works, it works. Another good example being PM Dawn's track 'Set Adrift on Memory Bliss' which built around Spandau Ballet's True and of course, Madonna almost built her Hung Up fully on ABBA's Gimme Gimme Gimme.

Worth It Being Mia-ed

I kinda regret when I decided not to buy this album a week ago, and since there is no CD shops in my work place, I tried to search for the bootleg version and to my surprise there was none. Which normally indicate one thing...there's no demand for it.

But I took the risk and went to the CD shop I visited last week and bought it. I mean what is the likelihood that it will be crap considering it's ABBA songs. The only minor issue is that it's perform by people better known on the movie screens than on CDs. Meryl Streep? Pierce Brosnan?

Besides Pierce Brosnan, this OST didn't really suck. In fact it was quite good including the almost unrecognizable voice of Meryl Streep. Most of the songs here have been well-sung by many people including Erasure in their ABBA-esque EP.

Funnily, the outstanding songs here are the lesser known ones - Our Last Summer and The Name of The Game. Our Last Summer is definitely my favorite besides the hidden track, Thank You For the Music.

If you have yet to own any ABBA CDs, it's time to get this one then go and watch the movie.