A Little Update

I haven't been blogging much lately and the few recent entries have been made days or even weeks after from when they happened. I mentioned somewhere in this blog that it's best to make the blog entries as soon as their events occur to ensure the best accuracy.

Guess I couldn't keep up with myself lately and that's not a good thing. But at least I have the photos to jog my memories. Anyhow, I need to change things and get back to writing the blog entries on the very same day their events occur. Shouldn't be too hard as long as I slow down my life a little to allow myself to keep pace with myself.

I'm typing this on my blogging app while sitting inside the cinema at Jurong Point with my Lioness waiting for Breaking Dawn to start. It's my first time starting a blog entry while in a cinema, how refreshing. Yeah, I should really try to blog at more odd and exotic places to keep the flames of passion for blogging burning.

Oh, the movie previews are showing now, so laters...

Later...

The movie has ended. I thought Dakota Fanning would be starring in this one but she only appeared for like half a second during a flashback scene. Talk about cheated >:(

I'm now continuing with this entry at the basketball court near our block after making sure my Lioness has gone back home safely. It's a nice & breezy night. Hope it won't rain near dawn though, I'm thinking of going for a run. I've always preferred running during midnight at Jalan Bahar though, but ever since the sole 24 hours coffeeshop there changed hands, it's no longer 24 hours.

So running during midnight when the coffeeshop has already closed would leave me stranded, since I always buy a cup of ice water there after my run followed by a packet of coffee to be enjoyed at the dark and quiet playground there.

Bugger that. Change is not always a good thing.

So how have I been lately? Heh, took me that long to cut to the chase here. I've been OK but tired out lately and I'm waiting for January 7th when me & my Lioness will be going for our Korea trip. Time crawls when you're counting on it and I've been waiting for the tour agency to call me for updates regarding the trip. If they don't give me a ring by mid December tops, I'm gonna go clamping down on their asses.

As for my work, my Sales Manager Jason & Product Manager Luke told me that I'm gonna have more marketing responsibilities piled on me next year. Jason is gonna brief me about that some time in December. I hope that won't affect my mood for Korea since I've always disliked marketing activities. I still prefer what I'm doing now: sales.

I told Jason that no matter what happens, don't take me out of the field since serving my customers directly is my passion and having kind wonderful folks for customers helps so much. And I've told Luke that work-life balance is my motto and inevitably, he asked me about my ambitions (Reading between his lines: or a lack thereof). Sheesh, of course I have ambitions. I told him my ambition is to have an expanded product range for a start.

It's a matter of balancing ambition with what I aspire and require out of my life and balanced with my limitations. I told Luke that I'd rather not be promoted or have a salary increment than have an unbalanced work-life lifestyle and fail to meet up with the new expectations expected of me by the company.

You only live once. If I earn less, I'll just live within my means. I need time for my own personal pursuits too outside of work. Having just 2 days out of 7 for rest and personal pursuits is not too much to ask for. There's such a thing as self-actualization and personal goals outside of career. It's called 'having a life'. Just ask Maslow. I hope Jason & Luke understand what I'm trying to point out to them.

Another thing: I've finished the delayed maintenance of my main guitars which I've put off for some time. Well, except for my main workhorse, my Washburn N4. That's only one guitar left to go and I should be able to finish the job tomorrow. As for the rest of my main axes, they are now sporting spanking new looks. This one big heavy stone is almost completely lifted off my chest.

And finally, I've lost some weight. Deliberately. I'm not fat at all and my friends have been telling me I'm still slim. I just enjoy feeling good about it and I prefer the way I look when I'm slimmer than I already am. All the skipped meals and cutting down on meal portions helped lots. Besides, why wait till you are all bloated up to start managing your weight? The Path of Least Resistance is the best way to go.

Well, that's it for the little update of my current life's situation. In conclusion: I'm still alive & kicking, sorry to disappoint you. I hope that Life is treating you well, dear gentle reader.

And by the way, if you have never watched the previous movies in the Twilight series, don't bother with Breaking Dawn and end up scratching your brain's casing in confusion. You won't be able to understand the tail if you have never seen the head and upper torso. Or something.

Monkey Business At Raffles Hotel

You thought this one was about some one night-stand at Raffles Hotel, didn't you? If you did, sorry to disappoint you. If you didn't, then perhaps you are under 3 and it's advisable to come back here after your 3rd birthday.

You see, there's this pub called Long Bar situated on the 2nd floor of Raffles Hotel where you can have free flows of peanuts and cast their shells willy-nilly on the floor and you won't even get fined for littering.

It's my first time here and walking into the pub, the crunching popping sounds I hear under my shoes with every step I'm taking tells me that yeah, the floorboards are indeed covered with discarded peanut shells. My eyes confirm this fact when I look downwards. It feels like the ground is moving too. There's something quite uncivilized about this even though it's a quirky and amusing thing.

Well, you know what they say about doing as the Romans do when you are in Rome. So being in this place flicking peanut shells about makes me feel like a monkey.

And for some strange reason, the box of peanuts on the table we are sitting at seems to be inexhaustible with a never-ending bottomless pit of peanuts that reminds me of Doraemon's magical pocket. No matter how many peanuts we are eating or throwing around, that box always look filled almost to the brim with peanuts. The level of peanuts in it doesn't seem to be getting any lower, much to the disbelief of my eyes. Gosh.

Anyway, when it comes to alcoholic drinks, they are overpriced here as compared to any other pub or bar. My friend's glass of cocktail costs more than 25 bucks and so does my glass of long island.

Ambience-wise, the dimmed lightings and colonial furnishings are kinda cozy if you ignore the ghetto-like feeling you get when you move your feet around and hear that out-of-place grating crunching noise. I like the moving fans hanging from the ceiling; they sway back & forth at an automated leisurely pace and it makes me all dreamy-like just staring at them.

They don't play loud music here, you can still hear your friends talk. Live band is on the second floor.

The service level is alright. The staffs are nice and friendly. Would be an odd thing if they weren't. I mean, this is Raffles Hotel where hotshot celebrities like the late MJ chose to reside at when he was last here.


Aw man, I really pity whoever has to clean this place up after closing time.


- De Lion Speaks

Eruption Pharmaceutical Style

I think I could have invented a new medical term today at work: 'Follicular Eruption'.

I thought it was pretty cool but it made my colleagues erupt in hideous laughter. This is what happens when you bombard your ears with too much Van Halen goodness before sitting in for a Pharmaceutical quiz test:

Mum's Birthday

My lovely nieces

It's mum's birthday today. When the Mother Hen is having her birthday, she will gather her chicks some place for a celebration. So this year, we went over to Buffet Town at Raffles City shopping centre for buffet lunch.

Man, I gotta say; there is really a huge buffet spread over here with selections like Italian dishes, Japanese dishes, local dishes, etc.. So much that I initially couldn't decide what to eat. Heck, I couldn't even tell if I had actually sampled them all. If you are not watching your waistline, you ought to have a good time here.

As for tastes, just like it is with all buffets, there will be dishes that you will find yummylicious and other dishes that you will find not so great or even yucky. But I'm glad to say that overall, the food here ain't bad at all and I didn't come across any dish with the Yuck factor.

When I was done with the eating, I took a stroll around the restaurant and came across the awesome artwork on the wall tucked in a corner further inside the restaurant. The artwork depicts some cool things about Tokyo living. Here's one more for your viewing pleasure:



Happy Birthday, mum.

We love you and thanks for bringing us up and thanks for all the selfless sacrifices you've made for us.

Quick, go give your mum a mighty hug. She deserves that and more.