goodbye india.

i’m waiting for my parents to finish their yoga lesson before they bring me out for one last dinner around.
this trip has been an awesome one. i did a lot of firsts here in new delhi. it is the first time i met up with a friend overseas and he brought me around delhi. first time i met my cousin after a period of 8 years, she told me a lot about working abroad and life as an asian in canada. the grass always seems to be greener on the other side because you dont see the sad part of their story.
i think india is rising up and i hope they rise up. some singaporeans i met here told me something very negative about their opinion of india. they told me about the flaws of the way how indians work, and how they hope these people remain that way (indians take their time to do stuff), because if the indians rise up, they will overtake Singapore. its just typical singaporean mentality, the “dont steal my ricebowl mentality”. it disappoints me to see that even when one is given a chance to go abroad, he or she does not want to expand his horizons and break into the city’s social circle. i hope that sickening mentality ends at that generation. i hope my generation will want the world to develop into the next level.
i love india, the food. their curry is the best curry i have ever tried. i am not a curry person, or so i thought. in singapore, the curry is so spicy that it numbs your tongue. but the curry here, although its spicy, you can taste the flavour of the spices. the palek paneer is the sex, its a whole new way to make spinach. i love spinach now.
the people here are friendly, i see people driving beside me and they wave at me, smile at me. the people here should stop making eyes and winking at my cousin though. its rude and awkward. the waiters here provide such lovely service. they are proud of their service and i must say they put their heart and soul into everything they do. one such example is my driver. he’s patient when he drives around the busy streets and he is very polite. he still calls me “sir” even though i tell him to call me andy. i will miss him a lot.
well, now its back to singapore. there are several things waiting for me, but i am looking forward to two most important things. i look forward to seeing you!

curve or bold?

bold

or curve?

i like it, its nice. slim. and business like. i can update my tweets, surf the net while waiting for people who are really late when it comes to meeting me, etc etc. just that the curve’s an older version, a tad slower and less stylish looking.

but maybe i want to do games too. how?

oh.. have i told you?

noticed i stopped talking about the UM-1? well, its because i gotten it. MAN. i can hear rachael yamagata rocking her chair when she sings her songs!

++

okay, something i encountered today really ruffled my feathers.
i guess people should really stop being selfish, be it for their own ambitions, or for their own welfare. i know there’s work to be done in the office, but i am attached to another department at the moment, doing another project, which i’ve always been doing and i’m always involved in that particular project. how can one be so selfish to comment it as “it does not value add the organisation”? grow up already! whatever we do will in fact value add the organisation. shredding paper, though mundane, is still part of value adding. do you know how crushing it feel when people think that your work doesnt add value to the organisation. and there’s no point making noise to the higher ranks because the only person who’s going to suffer is me. i will break down and give you a halfassed job.

selfishness is as good as murdering someone’s spirit.

nevermind.
i pray that God will remove the bitterness.
i pray God will come into this already sticky situation.
i pray God will provide a solution, and a way. When there’s a will, there’s a way.
i pray these couple of months left in this organisation will be a blissful one. let me leave in peace.

++

dad and mum’s leaving in a week’s time for india. MY GOODNESS, can you imagine a house to ourselves for eight months? washing our own clothes, cooking our own meals, marketing. so hostel living.

i will try…

i realized i havent been looking forward to anything in 2009. so i gave it some thought and here’s a list:

1) ORD, Obviously.
2) Hong Kong Convention (i plan to go there. that is if i can save enough and go there.)
3) KL Emerge. its a must. its the trip i went before i enlisted. it shall be the trip i go after i ORD.
4) 31st December. no, not because i want the year to fly past. i want to flip my planner and see that i was an organised person for the year of 09 (by then it’ll be a habit!)
5) Being able to play Jazz songs. Poh taught us.. half a song. looking forward to the other half. and many more insane chords.
6) Trip to India to find my dad. apparently, i’ll have a chaffeuer to pick me up.
7) i really want a golden retriever.
8) Get back my abs (gotta work on a plan already)
9) Men’s Conference.
10) Single’s Convention.
10 + 1) go try out for at a small little old school pub. singers, anyone?
10 +2)

i hope i will start 2009 with a positive start.

i’m relieved.

as you guys heard, there was some major happenings in Mumbai. you guys know that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted my dad there to work for three years so it pretty much freaked me out when i heard about the stuff that was happening in Mumbai. thank goodness my dad isnt involved in that. he’s coming back tomorrow to spend december with us. i’m so thankful that God’s hand of protection is upon my dad. His boss got sent over to the Mumbai Embassy though. i sure do hope things can get calm there soon. Chaos always breeds an angry mob, and an angry mob can do ANYTHING. 

i do feel a lot for the Singaporean hostage who tragically got killed though. its one thing to die, but another thing to die in a foreign land in such a situation. in such times, i see my dad as a light to the distressed. in case someone gets stranded in a foreign land, its people like my dad who helps them. 

Father, i pray that wherever my dad goes, Your hand of protection will continuously be upon him. As he starts to provide and lead the family, let his personal life prosper, let him be in the pink of his health. and let him always be the best dad anyone can have. amen.

Dad’s coming home today! feasting and shopping, here we come! WOOHOO!

mummy and money..

my dad’s been india for quite a period of time now. i’m kinda glad he’s posted there, no not because he’s hardly around. that’ll be rather sadistic, don’t you think. dad’s been watching his health. no more morning instant noodles as breakfast. instead, he has oatmeal with milk and boils his own soup for dinner. Chef Fong’s ultimate India Escape, a continuation of Jamie Oliver’s Great Italian Escape.

anyways, i’m earning very little now, and with the building fund here, i want to start getting freelance work again. i feel very bad asking my mum for money now even though i am earning very little compared to my brothers when they were in NS. i think i am the only person in my famly not getting any financial help from my mum other than Poh’s monthly guitar fees (she pays half, i pay half) and transport fees. recently, my EZ-Link went wonky (more of the GIRO Account’s problem) so i will need to pay 40 bucks for me to continue with my daily travelling. i do have insurance policies with my prudential financial advisor also, i find it more of an investment than a chore. i think its never too young to start planning for one’s future/retirement.

what gives me faith to continue moving on is the countless of success stories in church. Pastor Kong rode with a bicycle. Pastor Tan rode in a motorbike while he carried a guitar on his back (stuntman). they once barely survived with what they had, but they were good stewards. i totally and absolutely trust in my leaders and what they say. i seriously cannot care less about what others say about how our church is too rich and our extravagance. please wake up your idea. We are never too rich to sow into the kingdom of God. as long as someone out there needs help, our church is not rich enough. as long as there are unchurch people out in the streets, our church is never rich enough not to build another awesomefied building.

“but dude, you’re so poor, what can you do with your little giving? Why are you giving so much?”
because everyone’s poor in their eyes. we always have wants. so then, are we going to give up the building of other people’s life to have our wants?

oh, but don’t get me wrong. i heart money.
money to buy my wants (hey, i believe my God provide for my wants if i am faithful with my finances. don’t ask me why i never donate all my money to God since i want to act so holy. please. God expects you to leave some seeds for the next harvest. and i am pretty sure my God can give me surplus!)

my wants like..

this.

and

this.

India never looked so real.

Dad told me last night that there was a bomb blast near new dehli last night. i thought nothing of it until i saw the photo of an anguished villager.

i’ve taken for granted India to be something like Singapore. Man, right now, i just wish my dad were to be back here in Singapore celebrating his birthday with us. 

dad, i miss you. Happy birthday. Do take care of yourself and i know its difficult to cook there. but please do. if you need some recipes, go to www.allrecipes.com. alternatively, you can call any of the two aunts. they miss you. 

the secrets of my family.

i’m shifting soon, so, i spent the afternoon packing up the photo albums. wo.. my dad used to be so cool. awesomefied.. i found a photo of alvin enjoying a piece of cake when we were in childcare but i’m not that mean to put it up here. its rather cute though. 

eclectic

its labour day tomorrow. unfortunately, for the peeps in india, the labourers arent at all unlaboured, because they don’t celebrate that. so, my dad has to work. my dad has been calling us via skype and i constantly make fun of him, what he eats and such. but i was watching Sanjiv singh Gourmet Asia (or something like that…) and found out indian food is really high in cholesterol. so, i’m looking for simple DIY recipes for my dad. 

random- i’m going to watch ironman tomorrow. i did basically nothing at work today, other than cropping a few images and changing my desktop wallpaper (damn love my desktop wallpaper now). mummy wants to get chocolates tomorrow. YAY.