11/21/2009

Midnight at Amoy and Club Streets. Ok so it was 10pm ...

People who know me well will know about my affinity for the building above, in fact they would know how much i love Amoy and Club Streets. I have blogged about this place before but having seen it change the way I have over the past 15years makes me feel rather old.iAh if only there was no pinching.


The famous Boon Tat Street or Japan Street as it was known before the war(ww2 in case you didnt know)

You may notice the same picture in black or white and colour, well its cause i cant decide which one i like more. Below and above, The Durgha Shrine

I took several different versions of the lantern parade, but i like the above cause it gives me a sense that they are moving forward.



I really enjoyed tonight. I didnt get many good shots but i had a great time doing what I love. I took alot of pics so i might just post more tomorrow.

11/12/2009

My 1st Rule.

That's a little note i put on my office door for my staff. Today I made them read it out and tell me what they think it means before they could come into my office. After they read it I said ok now you have a problem. Have you thought of a solution ? Or is your first reaction I must tell Boss. 2 out of 3 of them went back and sorted it out themselves. The 3rd one wanted to take leave. lol That doesnt mean they cant come in and trash about ideas or concepts or problems they can, but there must be limits on how much of my time they can demand.

Rehash


Just some older pics to get me in the mood to shoot.



11/05/2009

Caitlins sister at 28 weeks (in the womb)


TLOML and i went for a scan today. As some of you may know we are expecting our second child in Jan and these are just two clips of her in the womb. You may not be able to see clearly though, but you should be able to make out her mouth and nose and stuff. There are a few clips, one with her sucking her thumb as well but i shall just post these two for now. It's all rather exciting.


11/02/2009

Time Flies

man i remember that shirt too.
Was i ever so young? tats me on the left there, to my left is Lloyd, Jonathan and Christopher.

10/30/2009

Coffee tonight 930.

I wonder if the art of conversation is dying and by conversation I mean face to face, reach out and tocuh kinda stuff. With so many avenues to communicate with such as facebook, blogs, text messaging, mobile phones, house phones, email, fax, msn, twitter and a host of others, is face to face conversation passe as it were. ( ironic that i am blogging about it eh)
I see people walking together in silence, people eating at the same table but not so much as a look to acknowledge another. I have sat with people who talk not converse, who switch off not listen and who have nothing to say but blah blah blah. I like to talk, i like to listen I enjoy a good debate if the intent is not to hurt I love to talk about topics that interest me of course but if i see passion from you about anything I will gladly listen. I love free flowing ,freewheeling chats that can start at apple pie and end at the fall of the roman empire. I love to watch my friends talk with each other, I love to see them converse, laugh, be serious, be sad, be happy all the things that can come from the simplest conversation. While we all spend alot of time online, we also make sure we meet face to face as often as we can because the shades of life cannot be seen on any plasma or lcd screen.

In our group if someone sends an sms that says coffee 930 it generally means a meet up, it also means 90% of the time there will be no coffee, well lets make that 99% of the time. What there will be is, grumbling, gossip, laughing, music and anything that can be talked about will be discussed until we have nothing to say about it. Mind you my three fav conversation partners are now Tloml with whom i have had epic chats, Caitlin who really makes me giggle and pepper who is a real good listener. So have a coffee, have a chat with a real live person and see if that doesnt make you feel better.

10/21/2009

Hmm.

http://www.razor.tv/site/servlet/segment/main/news/37836.html

very interesting, especially the part about confronting Vietnam

10/17/2009

With Onions its not just the smell.

You can sort of see how it evolvled _________________________________________________________________
Updated Onions.
_______________________________________________________________


I did a whole bunch of onions with eyes and stuff but i think this one is my fav. got some edits on the way.
I had to fidget with Sweet P.

10/15/2009

grrr.

what to do when your bored.

I come in Peace

United States to send 'up to 45,000 more troops to Afghanistan'

Thats the headline in the Telegraph today 10.11am. No other newspaper is carrying it yet, foxnews, Chicago tribune, Washington post all say he will decide today. So it will be interesting to see how this develops. Troop increase after Peace Prize. lovely.

10/10/2009

Obama wins nobel peace prize.Next up Oscar for best actor, he didnt act in any movies you say? well he didnt do anything for Peace either but he might

I guess this post is not going to make me popular.

So Barack Obama wins the Nobel peace prize for the Potential to bring good to the world I really don't know whats happening . The cynic in me says he knew he was in the running, he knew he had a good chance and maybe that's why the request from his military commanders in Afghanistan for an additional 40 000 troops has been put on hold. The cynic in me says he will shortly authorize an increase of 20 000 with a further increase of 20 000 troops and say it is the right thing to do to bring peace and justice to that war ravaged nation. He has waited to be the man of peace before becoming the man of war. What else can he do? His experts say the troop numbers need to go up, he cant pull out he knows that the effect would be catastrophic for the region and for Americas standing in the world. He cant get other countries to put in combat troops, in the UK the Prime Minister has been snubbed and is fighting the toughest political fight of his life, in Australia the labour party has run GW's deputy out of Kiribilli house in fact they drove him out of parliament as well, they will not send more combat troops the other members of this great alliance have no one else to send. So watch the troop numbers rise even as the American press remains silent on Iraq.

I like hope. I like the message of hope, my political heroes have always carried that message of hope but they have always delivered as well. Reagan lifted America from its malaise, Churchill repeatedly carried his political comrades and his country with his message of hope from the start of the great war to the end of the world war. Thatcher was a tough lady who said it would be done because it could be done and it should be done. Blair for all his spin and mirrors put England in a position where it has more then the option of being a foot note of European history, he effected change in Northern Ireland where the great and the good failed before him. Lyndon Johnson without whom there would be no President Obama today brought hope and change to a system that cast a man aside because of his colour, Dr. King played a huge part but he would have been whistling dixie if Johnson hadn't picked up Kennedy's mantle.

So i like hope, I like a positive message but i want results. Every single one of the people I have named except Johnson campaigned on a Hope and Change platform EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Maybe one day Barack Obama will be able to sit at the same table with them for carrying his message through with deeds not just rhetoric. His standing in the polls have fallen dramatically, that was to be expected if they stay down that will simply mean that middle America and parts of the left have tired of talk and want action. Almost 10% unemployment.
Man cannot leave on hope alone sometimes a slice of bread would be nice.

If you ask me who should have won this year if it had to be an American I would say Bill Clinton, another Hope and Change politician who unfortunately was not as lucky as some as the footnotes of history will always carry the taint of his should i say foibles. But if ever a man has done more to redeem himself for not fulfilling his mission while in office its him, in the almost 10 years since he has left office he has raised close to a billion dollars and his groups the Clinton global initiative has seen more then 10 billion pledged to end hunger and poverty in places like Africa. I don't like the guy but you gotta like what he done.

So maybe Barack deserves the prize for his message of hope, for the potential of his polices and for just being him but certainly right now there are more deserving people around. AS every person knows potential is not an indicator of greatness. Rhetoric is not always the vanguard of great deeds and obama fever is contagious in Norway.

10/06/2009

Downhill.Uphill.Over the Hill.



I hit one of the hills at the trail the other day, just for the heck of it. Actually i wanted to test out my new tyres and they worked rather well. My fear factor was up around the 99++ mark but hey i lived.

10/05/2009

phew

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/6261301/Man-survives-165ft-fall-after-bungee-accident-in-Thailand.html


THATS WHERE I DID MY BUNGEE!! lol phew

Chef at Large