Sometimes You Just Have to Suck It Up

Earlier this week on 1st February, the project I have been working on finally went live: 4 corporate websites for Thailand, Indonesia, India & Singapore and an e-commerce site for which I worked on and eventually became a trainer to also went live.  These were on top of the various preparations that were not simple either, as such it really was quite a busy period from mid-Jan till 1st February.  It was a major milestone in the project.   

Last year the newly formed company made me an offer to transfer, unfortunately I could not agree to the terms which in my opinion do not correlate to my contribution & commitment to the project, as well as my overall experience, expertise and qualifications.  I was pretty pissed off at the offer.  After months of wondering whether I had to worry for my future, everything turned to disappointment.

Fortunately through the graces of my parent company, I get re-deployed internally to a different position which I will assume after Chinese New Year.

And just today I got wind of how the structure in the department I was supposed to be in like.  I should say I was not surprised to see how some assignments turned out, but I couldn't help feeling that there is injustice in how the offer to me was made.  I don't take it very badly, thanks to my new assignment.  Just that there's this... anger?  Dissatisfaction?  Frustration?  I can't quite identify it...

As I'm still committed to the project till end of March, I will continue to work with utmost professionalism and dedication.  I always believe that it is the quality of my work that resonates my true capability. 

Sometimes, you really just have to suck it up.  Just don't let it brood for too long.

I think this closing photo really sums up what I want to say..  Just the one on top left yeah!  Oh... I drew it when I was in the temporary project office, I'm quite proficient in drawing Doraemon now. 

バカ ONE!

~ Photo taken with LG G6 ~

Hong Kong Trip 2017 - Day 5

Day 5 was the day we returned to sunny and humid Singapore to resume our normal lives again.  After we had some light breakfast which consisted of cookies and tea, we just walked around the hotel to explore.

The lovable Mickey & Minnie mouse - LG G5

Hong Kong Trip 2017 - Day 4

On day 4 of our trip, we started with a buffet breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel's Enchanted Garden.  It was a character breakfast where various Disney characters will walk around and take photos with us.

The buffet spread was amazing; lots of variety and cutely decorated Disney character food.  Need I say more?

Just look at all that food!  Too many choices! - X-T2 + XF16mm F1.4R

Hong Kong Trip 2017 - Day 2

Day 2 started at 9 in the morning.  We planned to visit Citygate Outlets (https://www.citygateoutlets.com.hk/)  at Tung Chung which is approximately 45 minutes away from Tsim Sha Tsui.  However prior to that we made a quick visit to Jenny's Bakery to buy all the cookies my wife wanted so that we could settle the packing later on that night.

Jenny's Bakery Tsim Sha Tsui - LG G5

Double Promotion - Orange Belt 7th Kyu!

I went for my grading 5 weeks ago and got a double promotion.  From 10th kyu to 7th kyu.  In belt language that means I'm an orange belt now.  So I skipped yellow belt and went straight from white to orange.  Lincoln didn't join me in grading that time because he still couldn't remember his Heian Shodan (平安初段) and Gohon Kumite (五本組手) steps.  

My "new" orange belt

Tex-Mex Fridate

[UPDATE: Coyote Tex-Mex has since been closed]

Last Friday I & my wife had a Tex-Mex themed Fridate.  We visited this place called Coyote Tex-Mex (http://www.coyote.com.sg/).  It's a nice, quiet and romantic place in Phoenix Park, Tanglin.  The place was just recently re-opened under the same management; the establishment was formerly called Spruce (http://www.spruce.com.sg/) and they used to serve American & Italian food.  That's the most likely reason why you can still find a small selection of Italian dishes in Coyote's menu.  The original Spruce still operates in Bukit Timah now.

For us, it was certainly a nice welcome change from our usual Italian, Japanese or Western fridates which has become somewhat predictable, if not, routine.

Coyote does not disappoint.  The ambiance is very nice, food is good, friendly staffs, child friendly environment too - although you might want to bring a mosquito repellent for them in case you want to let them play in the bouncy play ground downstairs - not that I'm saying they have mosquitoes there but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Wifey wanted terrace seat as it was very cold inside, it was raining whole day so outdoor seating was pleasantly breezy

Finally Registered Lincoln For Primary 1

Last month was the time we had to register Lincoln for a place in Primary 1.  I had wanted to try my luck registering him in a good (or rather, "famous") school, the choices being Radin Mas primary school or Alexandra primary school.  I thought that being born in a tiger year which is not a very popular year, he might have a good chance to get into either of these famous schools.  (I don't know why I kept on typing "famouse", I guess reading Geronimo Stilton books with Lincoln really got into me!!)

When the phase for his registration was about to start, I was very hopeful because there were quite a number of vacancies left in each school, between 16% to 20% of the total available vacancy.  However, by day 2 any hopes to get into either of those school were completely dashed.  They were oversubscribed.

Mount Faber Fridate

It's been a while since my last post.  Been very busy....  Registered Lincoln for his primary 1 next year, getting 2 new fish tanks for the wife (it's her hobby but I'm the one footing the bill..) and quite a few others...  Been feeling under the weather too with a flu.

Last Friday was me & my wife's fridate as usual.  This time I decided to go to a slightly more romantic place at Mount Faber.  We live quite near to Mount Faber but never really visited the place in the last 10 years I've lived in Tiong Bahru.  Better late than never!

The venue for our Fridate is a restaurant called Spuds and Aprons at Faber Peak.  The restaurant's ambiance and view is spectacular.  Food is certainly above average, though still need quite a bit of effort to get to fantastic.

Inside Spuds and Aprons

Another Special Fridate

There was a period when I wanted some interesting Fridates with my wife so we went around trying new spots.  Another hip place we tried was the famous 2AM Dessert Bar in Holland Village.

We arrived quite early in 2AM as we didn't make any reservations and it was a Friday after all.  But we can't have dinner made up of desserts only so we ordered some savories to go along.  

Chicken Taco; there was another Mac and Cheese but it looked like any other so I didn't take the photo

LG G5 - Finally

Okay, so my handphone change could not wait any longer.  My old G3 just stopped detecting my memory card altogether and some of my apps that are in the memory card became inaccessible.  While I could transfer the app to internal storage, it also means that I would run out of space in the phone.  Taking photos also mean that they will be stored in the internal storage.

So I checked my telco provider's website for the contract rate.  I was really lucky that the G5 had a $200 off promotion.  I had also passed the minimum re-contract period which means that they will waive the $200 (yes $200, not $100 which I previously thought!!) admin fee if I re-contract now.  My G3 itself is still worth $150 if I trade it in.  So not wanting to delay any longer (while the promotion is still on) I decided to just go for a G5.  All-in-all I got it at a price of $229, which is not bad for a flagship.  I had considered the Samsung S7 but the price difference was a good $320.  So I thought the G5 is a better buy, where dollars and cents are concerned.

The G5 is really a sleek phone.  While it has a metal feel, it's not so heavy as compared to let's say the Sony Z5 Premium.  The G5 feels more comfortable in hand.  It's thinner than my G3 because the back is flat and not curved.  But what I really like is the fact that it is light despite some of the metal parts in the body.  The loudspeaker placement is also better this time, which is at the bottom of the phone instead of the back which makes the ringtone and any other notifications more audible when placed inside the pocket.

Front Profile

More Breakdowns....

Bad luck does not seem to stop coming.  After the VAIO breakdown, I had an episode with my handphone where it would suddenly stop detecting the SD card every now and then....  I'm now torn between waiting for the contract to expire - which happens in September or get a new phone now at additional $100 of the contract price.

But that phone will have to wait now because suddenly my refrigerator broke down.  The repair cost is really..... costly.....  One of the motherboard had broken down most likely due to overheating.

My daughter had been opening the fridge door every now and then searching for sweets and chocolates.  The temperature in Singapore had been see-sawing between 34-36 degrees for the past 2 weeks during daytime while the real feel on the ground would go as high as 44 degrees - it feels like a sauna outdoors and an oven (convection oven, if you turn on your fan.. :p) indoors; that might have caused some overheating within the PCB circuitry as the evaporator fan had to work overtime to cool the fridge whenever the doors are opened for long periods.  I still find it ironic that it's the PCB that got burnt instead of the fan motor (the brain burned out instead of the muscle breaking down).

Surabaya Trip - Part 8

This will be the last entry for my Surabaya trip series.  Quite short too....  Day 9 was spent with the kids.  Again, I didn't bring my Sony as I wanted an easy day so I just used my G3.

We started the day by going to Livana to buy some spikoe cakes.  The cake shop is very near, just outside the roundabout in Jln. Mayjend Soengkono.  My wife, myself and the kids absolutely love Spikoe, so we never fail to get some whenever we're in Surabaya.  After that we went to Ciputra World to let the kids play around and just jalan-jalan.

On the way back Lindsay mentioned that she wanted ice cream.  That gave me an idea to try a new cafe in Kupang Indah.  It's a cafe specializing in matcha desserts and some Japanese food.  The place is called The Matcha Cafe (unsurprusingly....) - UPDATE: Matcha Cafe has since been closed.

Nutella parfait, green tea cake parfait, matcha latte - taken with LG G3

The Batam Life - Part 1

Life in Batam is very different from Singapore.  Its amazing how these 2 places are just slightly more than 20 km away from each other and yet worlds apart, although some of the people are pretty much the same in terms of behaviour in both islands.

At first it was quite hard for me to adjust to the new house, new place and new life in Batam.  Fortunately we met a good friend of my wife's brother whom I'm really grateful for, he helped us so much to adjust to life in Batam.

One big change is shopping in the wet market in Batam.

Avava Fresh Market - nearest market to our house in Bukit Mas Nagoya

5 Days Black & White Challenge

Here's my first entry for the month of June.  A short one, but hopefully interesting, as it is about the 5 days black & white challenge.

When the B&W challenge hit, I was voted by my good friend (Richard J.O. - another "arek suroboyo") to get involved.  The challenge had been around for quite a while but I didn't really get into it as I was not so into B&W photos.  I still don't have the eye yet for B&W photos, but it was fun to experiment and see what I could get.

View of PSA container yard and berth from Office - by LG G3

Biz Trip to Bangkok 27 - 30 April

What a packed 3 days of business trip...

I started my day on Monday 27th April at 4:45 in the morning, getting ready for the 7:40 flight.  I eventually arrived in the airport at 5:55.  Yep, just 5 minutes to 6:00 a.m.  And luckily I already did the electronic check-in the night before so I only had to drop my bag and get the actual boarding pass.   The normal check-in row was snaking with too many people....  It was on reaching Bangkok that I realized they were connecting to Chiang Mai or Phuket. 

Soon I was on board the plane, ready for take-off and shortly the plane was on the sky.

Waiting for take off, and look at that great view once we're up in the air