1 YEAR OLD TOM

HAPPY BIRTYDAY!
ZORRO & PEPPER

The kingfisher weekend.

So its been a busy weekend for me, yesterday i went to ubin. Lat night dinner at kingfisher, this morning Philip and i went bright and early to seletar camp to try and photograph some birds. No luck, we spotted a lovely kingfisher but i was unable to capture the moment. After a nice walk and a good breakfast at the kingfisher club once again, we came back to my place to meet up with Alison the kids and TLOML. From the picture you can see that THEY decided to play scrabble, i stayed out of it! After lunch they went home while we attempted to nap, but of course no luck there either. So we along with Mama Lucy met the Machado's back at the kingfisher club where they took the kids for a swim..when we like a place..we really like a place. (please note that a certain word was placed, went unchallenged by all and points awarded).Check out the second pic of the scrabble wars...they dont look so happy here do they! The kids were really tired after swimming with Michael falling asleep in his chair poor fella, what a busy day he had.

Aside from all this activity we decided to take our family potrait today! In was a total failure from start to finish, with certain members behaving badly. I shall not name names. Only the little bambino(seen here in a pic held my TLOML) was well behaved.
I was also informed that although i put some pics of the christmas deco on the tree, the tree itself was not displayed. Note the angel trying to escape.
The last pic was actually the first i took today, and i just wanted to show how blue the sky was, a clear bright sunny day. Today was a good day.

What everyman should have on his desk

I am sitting here checkign my mail, chatting with folks on msn, reading up o nthe news and i thought it would be nice to show you a little bit of my work space here at home, I share it with Mischa and its a bit small but we are hoping to do something about that real soon.
Click on the pic to read the little bits i wroteWent(with Machado's and Friends) for a lovely dinner in seletar army camp, nice place called the Kingfisher club and it was execllent, abit expensive but the place is great, they have a pool, gym, squash court, tennis court, bar, billard table darts..very nice..and all set in a great place seletar camp. I reckon i may turn out to be a regular cause it looks like we are going back tom morning for breakfast. The owner(Philip's friend) says that the area is great for birdwatching and walking so, we shall recce tom.

Pulau Ubin

I took photographed this old lady at the jetty. Below her picture is the old malay coffee shop that has had a new roof
put on. And below that is the view of the island from the jetty.



The two pictures below are of a small jetty and building within the main village








I woke up today and went to Pulau Ubin, grey skies,(pic below is a typical st in the village) non stop drizzle did not make for a good morning of photography but i was in the mood to do something and as Mischa was going out i decided to carry on with my little jaunt. I wasnt in the best of moods as well but i figured a nice pleasent morning would set things right.
I have a long history with Ubin, i first went there in 1985 i was 12yrs onld and my brother who was in the army had booked an SAF chalet in changi.(left-was the clinic now seafood rest) It was a friday and everyone was out and i was supposed to have gone to school but i decided not to go, taking my fathers field glasses and with $1 in my pocket of i went.(Right-Typical village buildings) Of course it was the old jetty which has been replaced twice already since then, the boat fare was 50cents one way.(Left-Stage at the main "square") I remember being pretty darn scared, firstly i didnt know anything about the place or what to expect but i decided to act like i knew what i was doing and no one would bother me.(Right-Old ladies shop, new door,roof and well pump) The boat docked at the ubin jetty which itself has been replaced twice over since then as well and off i went. The first (Left-Mum, Alison, Megan,Baba and i took shleter 3 years ago lol)that that you will notice on ubin these days is the number of bicycle rental stores but back then all you saw were motorcycles literally hundreds of them and kids that looked like they were 10yrs old we riding around on them, natives i guess. (Right-We used to call this the Kongsi house, this guy had a pet monkey)You also had an assortment of cars and pickups that acted as an unofficial taxi service, they would drive these things around until the machines died and they would just chuck them in the bush. You would be walking along some small isolated track and come up vehicles in various states of decomposition.
Anyway back to my first trip, aside from the motorcycles they were dogs, lots and lots of dogs that were roaming the streets big ones little ones all over the place. (Left-Typical house inland, approx 10yrs old)To me it seemed that when i stepped off the jetty and into the village everyone stopped and stared, of course this was prob not true but hey i was a kid.
That first time i didnt walk very far, just around the village and a short distance along the road. I spent maybe two hours there, mainly because i was scared stiff..thought i was going to be attacked by a pack of dogs or hacked to death by some weirdo.(Below Right-House on stilts as seen from village) Two hours, that was all it took for me to get bitten by the ubin bug, over the next 10 to 15 years i was to return as many times as possible, camping, cycling or just to walk around. (Below Left-Typical road, used to 50% dirt 50% gravel)I became familiar with some of the old buildings and even a few of the people, i watched the island change from a rustic, quiet, clean place to a busy, some times dirty place where bike rental and sea food seem to be the mainstays of life. Lots of buildings have disappeared, the old school is gone now, the clinic which was open only a couple of days a week and even then only for a few hours is now a seafood center. Alot of the old small houses rotted away and returned to the ground. Sad? in away when things like that are lost they cannot be remade, not the same way. The old man(sold fish on tuesdays fresh from the sea) that ran the malay coffee shop in the village is gone as well, his wife is still there though i doubt she would have any recollection of me.
Many happy memories, of the guys of our adventures our long talks and long walks of campfires and maggi mee, of swimming, night walks, laughing always laughing. They say an average child under laughs 160 times a day while an adult laughs only 16 times, whats missing in our lives or as the song goes "maybe they have a better understanding"
(The asian-pied-hornbil, was too good to miss, pity i only had a 50mm lense would have been good shots)





All pics have been resized. some have been edited for the heck of it. i took some of the pics in black and white.If you notice any typos please email to darshansingh@changiprison.com

Its a tangled web

Google news- some of the things we have in common with the states.

NEWS.com.au

Singapore Hangs Australian Drug Smuggler
Voice of America - 55 minutes ago
By Nancy-Amelia Collins. Singapore has executed Australian drug smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van, rejecting requests from Australian Prime Minister John Howard to spare the condemned man's life. While death penalty ...
Hanged man's last message NEWS.com.au
Nguyen died ' courageous death' Advertiser Adelaide
The Age - Sydney Morning Herald (subscription) - BBC News - CNN International - all 1,270 related »

CJAD

US executes 1 000th prisoner since 1976
Mail & Guardian Online - 2 hours ago
The United States on Friday executed its 1 000th prisoner since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Kenneth Lee Boyd, a convicted double-murderer, was pronounced dead at 2.15am (0715 GMT) after a lethal ...

Every dog has its day.

So i got Pepper aka fatty a nice bone today, its called BREATH-A-LICIOUS a functional dental treat for a kissable companion, we just call it minta bone and she loves it!! She tears through the bone like a wild hunting dog ripping a springbok apart. My very own little wolf. Just look at her face, i wanted to add captions but i think in this case pictures speak louder then words.

Family, Food and the Englishman

My mum had an old friend(more family) staying over for a couple of days from England, actually he was stopping over on his way back to England from Australia and when he gets home he will only be there for a week before he takes off for Antigua where we have more relatives! This is the second time i am meeting William and once again i enjoyed myself, its nice to meet people who can put the details on things that happened years ago. He knew my dad and almost all of my mums relations. IF you want to hear a fascinating tale, this is the guy.
Anyway he is flying off tonight so we went to Lagoon for dinner.....i am stuffed now...(i forgot to put in michaels name).Above is the food 3 mins after arrivng at the table.
Below, the same food after we were though.....not a pretty site i must say.

Changing Styles

For the few of you that read my blog(you know who u are, bet you like the spice girls too) you may have noticed some changes...i hope you like them. I have found yet another way to display my vanity using my pictures as the background for my blog. I fear i will feel the need to change the look often. LEt me know what you think? Thanks!

Friday 6am.

If things go as planned on friday morning a young australian will hang for drug trafficking. His reasons, rationale whatever mean nothing at this point. All that matters is that state sanctioned murder will be carried out. I am not in favour of the death penalty, not by half. i used to be but no more. My reasons can be found in some of my earlier post.
Right now in this issue there is a question of Sovereignty.
It is the right of any governement to enact laws that it sees fit. In a republic such as ours where WE do not govern but elect the people who do, we sign away the right to govern at the ballot box. And for 4 or 5 years we live with the descion of the majority untill the next election.Our government has seen fit to continue with this form of punishment so we must live with it until the next election when we can choose to use our vote to make a difference. For people in other countries to sit there and say this not not how a first world nation should behave is laughable. By what divine right do they sit in judgement on our laws and our nation. In 46yrs we have hung more than 800 people, since 1979 the US has executed 999 people. First world, superpower, policeman of the world, and does its little sidekick Australia say we are following some barbarian nation around like a puppy dog? Hell no. John Howard put it in perspective when he said " i do not agree with the death penalty but it would be hard to expect the Singaporean government not to execute this man when they do it to their own people"
By preaching or talking down to us they ownly strengthen the reslove of the government to stick to its guns.
Maybe some day we will change the law, and maybe it was going to be now...but these guys have ruined it, havent they.
So on friday, spare a thought not for a guilty man who is no hero in this equation but for a mother as she lives the cruel death of her son.

HE IS COMING!!!

A couple of pics from our christmas tree. More to come....

Dawn...buloh

Woke up before the sun did this morning, met Mr.Machado at 0630 we had an early morning appointment wiht Sungei Buloh. Which i might add i have no idea how to get too, but we found it pretty quick...so quick that the place wasnt even open yet. I didnt even know they had opening times! A number of birds, today..egrets, herons, kingfishers, an emerald green pigeon(i think),an eagle, jungle fowl and even a woodpecker (and others)whose call it turns out is much like a kingfishers a wild screach not a pleasent sound at all. For reptiles we saw two monitor lizards, one big malayan water monitor and the other a mangrove monitor with the very nice spotted markings. Mammals, we saw a couple of squirels and lots of homo sapiens. No snakes, no crocs and NO OTTERS..sigh...one day i am going to get the shots i want of these 3 animals...one day. As you may notice i only put 3 pics up, either my photography skills are going backwards or my selection process is getting more rigid i dont really know but i was most unhappy with what i took today. A nice morning, enjoy the weekend.

Gone fishin'

So we went fishing today(this evening actually), the lads and i...another one of our little adventures. First we took a nice stroll along the boardwalk (changi) and enjoyed a firey red sky, i took tons of pics but alas satisfaction was denied me. Back to the fishing, i have been doing this a long and time and in all my years i have never ever caught a fish. Not one. But then the objective has never been to catch the fish , in the early days that was our excuse...people would say so you guys just went to the beach and sat there? and we would reply no la we went fishing. Nice to know some things dont fade with time. Since i have never caught anything i am never disappointed. Just two pics today, and not much to write..why? cause i'v gone fishin...........



sidebar-the sky u understand..but whats the connection with the mushroom? none whatsoever...just like mushrooms.
I was going the change the song to Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosbys Gone Fishin a fun song, but for some reason U2 makes sense ..more sense. alls well with the world tonight.

Extra's.....lifes little moments

So i got an email yesterday, on things from the past an excerpt below
You were there when they first introduced MRT
here. You went for the first ride with your parents
and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery.
Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50.
Gals are fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and
Barbie Dolls.
You learn to laugh like The Count in Sesame
Street.
You longed to buy tibits called Kaka(20 cents
per pack) and Ding Dang(50 cents per box), that had
a toy in it and it changes every week not forgetting
the 15 cents animal crackers and the ring pop, where
the lollipop is the diamond on the ring.
Anyway this whole thing leads me to my morning bus ride to work, yes thats right bus ride. I decided to cheat the bus company out of 40cents today, actually i try and cheat them everyday but today the bus driver gave me a knowing smile and i thought to myself "HE KNOWS" anyway it was too late the 90cents was in the box there wasnt time to get another 40cents in there so i just shrugged and walked down towards the end of the bus, where to my horror stood a bus inspector!!! I dashed into the first empty seat and was about to use the only bus cheaters defensive mechanism, pretending to be fast asleep when i heard a voice, "how are you?" it was the inspector!!! and when i turned to see his face low and behold it was William..William the coffee shop man who used to run the coffee shop in front of church. I have known him since i was 16yrs old, that my friends was 16yrs ago! Not all of it was pleasent, he used to serve the worst coffee and often tried to overcharge us for drinks but it seems time heals all wounds. In the end we had a 20min chat (he never asked to see my ticket), his father passed away at the ripe old age of 87 he was a funny guy used to tell us he was a basketball player back in china.the old man was never the same after his wife died. We talked about the old stalls, the wan tan mee man..shangrilla western food where i spent most of my parents money, the seafood people (one of the guys who worked there looked like pol pot so we called him that, he would smile and laugh..but i bet he spat in our food!) He talked about how we would be there from friday night till sunday night drinking and eating our little lives away, i noticed that as he spoke he had a twinkle in his eye much like when he knew he was cheating us out of 10cents, i guess they were happy times for him too Lots of things have changed since then, i am at the same age that alot of the adults(who hung out at the coffeeshop) were when i was 16, it seems i hear kids calling me uncle alot more and the scary thing is i am arguing about it less and less. When i told him i was married and expecting my fisrt child Willaim.practically leapt out of his seat with congratulations.
Like the shop man under my mums block, or the provision shop dude across the road from my mums house or the neighbour that you pass along the way and say "hi hows your mother" too everyday, these people are like the extra's in the coffee shop in friends, they give the place charactor, they give the place atmosphere. Myabe our lives would be no better no worse for knowing them i dunno..but i suspect that as with everything extra's are always a good thing.

The Big News

Yes thats right folks the bigs news....Mischa aka TLOML and I are expecting our first child! Due to arrive somewhere in June 2006. We are both very very excited at the same time as being cautious, any frist time parents would be. Its been difficult keeping this momentus news quiet, and the cat is out of the bag now. I will be posting some pics on this topic soon.
We have been going to the doctors and at our last visit, the little un was kicking and waving at us!! it was prob the most exciting moment in my life. I felt like jumping in the air, but i figured our gynie Dr.Seng didnt deserve such torture. So come June 06 i will be a daddy. Pray for us that all will go well, as i am sure it will but pray for us none the less. :). Boy or girl at this point doesnt really matter as long as the "fella" is happy and healthy. So after being married for two years we are now in the next phase of our journey, expanding our little family of 3 to 4. Problems i am sure we will have many, but with family and friends i feel confident that we can cope with anything.



Mischa has a blog now as can be seen on the right hand side of this page. so please feel free to drop in there as well.

Members of the Jost Clan

I got some pics from my sister in minnesota, usa. THey have got a couple of shih tzu too! that brings thier family up to 5. The kids have grown so much since the last time they were here and that wasnt all that long ago. We have been chatting on msn, its amazing how small the world has become. I remember when i was young my dad would call the operator to place an overseas call and the operator would call us back after an hour or so to connect the call. And now here we are with msn, sms, email within the blink of a sloths eye we are talkign and exchanging pics, whats next....(all pictures were taken by the Jost, all typos are mine)