Wallpaper/

I really like the way this turned out, i took a pic from my jaunt to katong played around with it in photoshop and i got this. My current wallpaper.

Books.

I have actually wanted to do this post since the start of the month but for some reason i haven't seemed to have the time. Over Christmas i got some great gifts and i wanna mention the 3 books i got, all 3 relate to Germany and world war 2 but more importantly they relate to the people that surrounded Hitler and examines in some detail their relationships with him, with the ideals of the Nazi party and everything that came with it. I recommend these books to anyone but let me warn you you start to get a warped sense that some of these guys are not as bad as we thought but this a flawed premise as some of them were not as bad when compared to others, Goering is not so bad when you compare him to Heydrich but that is like comparing death by hanging to death by firing squad they may seem different but the end result is the same. It is entirely possible that in another time and under different circumstances some of these people would have become great statesmen but in the end they were all responsible for "that which rendered the largest loss of life known to man"


I have two passions(outside family) reading and photography, i love to read its as plan as that. Growing up we always had books around the house my father had a great range of books as did my brother and its these two that my love of reading began, through my brother i discovered Lord of the Rings by Tolkien and Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle till today Holmes is one of my fav books and i still read Lord of the Rings every year. From my father such great books as "war of the running dogs" by Noel Barber and "The undeclared war" by Harold James & Denis Sheil-Small a book which i would like to add was confiscated from me in primary 6 as i was caught reading it during Chinese class!
Here in our humble abode Tloml and i have assembled a little library and i spend my nights selecting books that i have already read and re-read more then once or twice. I tend to read 3 books at the same time 1 at bedtime, one for lunch at work or when travelling and one is normally just hanging around. At present i am re-reading John Simpson's "News From No Man's Land Reporting From the World" and while he does have an inflated sense of himself it is a rather good read, i am also reading Michael Dobbs "Winston's War" a fictionalized account (with heavy factual events) of the year 1939 and Churchill's re-entry into government and war.

Sidebar-because i read rather fast i have found that it has not helped my spelling or grammar one bit. i urge you to speed read through the errors in this post.

Part 2

Another 2 shots from boon keng which i forgot to add in. Also if you notice in my links there are a couple of new links so feel free to drop in and see other blogs.

Boon Keng

Boon Keng...a place i had no mental image of even though i have passed it so many times its not funny(the mrt tracks run alondside it and Kallang station is right by it) Anyhow sometime back a friend dropped me off at Kallang mrt station and i chanced upon the now abandoned buildings, well abandoned may be too strong a word..tenanted to cats and pigeons seems a more realistic situation. However you view it the buildings are now void of human life and its amazing how quickly the sense of chaos that i am sure surrounded such a central habitat vanishes. The corridors are empty, the flats are quiet and the void decks are well void(pun intended) The car park is now used as a meeting ground for strange people ...the play ground and all its equipment stand silent as does the basketball court..game over i reckon. My fascination with places like this continues to grow, from abandoned buildings on sentosa to derelict hospitals in changi there is just something about these types of buildings that fascinate me. I think it has something to do with imagining all the lives and stories that this place holds in its for want of a better word AIR in its AIR, you can almost breath the history.
Soon the wrecking ball will cut a path through these flats and the history that is written in the walls be be nothing more then a memory, with a condo for a tombstone. Such is life.
I do know that i see or rather feel a sense of beauty in these things, i am sure most of the people that see these pics will disagree but for me there is something there that i just cant explain. Like my photographs of a void deck sometime back which cause more then a few people to ask "what the hell" i see something in these places and buildings that i think my photographs cannot convey, not for want of trying mind you. Anyhow here are my pictures.

Side bar- I hope you found the many typos. it gives me joy to make you happy.

All this time and we are just getting started!

So quick time has gone by, it seems like just yesterday Mischa and I took our vows before the "Law" but actually it was 4years ago yesterday. In the eyes of the state we have been wed exactly 4yrs and 1 day. AS of today we have been home owners for exactly 4years!
It really was an exciting time a whole year of new things and changes, and it hasnt stopped since , we have had our share of ups and downs but the ups have won it thus far, our two little bundles of joy Pepper and Caitlin(who turned 8months old yesterday) being on top of the "up" list.

Anyhow here is my take on this whole thing.

1.Keep your eyes open or you will miss something!

2.Dont forget to remember!

3.Forget the bad

4.Live for today with and eye on tom

5.After 4yrs i know nothing more then i did at the start.

but what i do know is this

6.Dog, Babies and a certain Fatty make me smile.

"Clapton Is God"

Got my Christmas present from TLOML last week, boy was it a good one. Eric Clapton was in town and i was NOT about to miss him this time. I was rather aprehensive about the concert as i was afraid he might play some of his more recent stuff or go accoustic for old favourites but the man did not disappoint. From the time he strolled on stage the music went on non stop for 90mins and though there was a little accoustic interlude (no blue eyes blue thank god) he fired up the crowd with Layla in all its electric glory. To me the best part of watching him live was seeing how much he enjoyed himself from the wry smiles to little laughs as he ended each song. Lets hope its nto another 17yrs before he comes back here again. Two songs i like did not make an appearence, Bad Love and Sunshine of Your Love, all this means is that i must go for another clapton concert! All in all an excellent night, had a hot date good music good food what more can a guy ask for i say.

Sidebar-You may notice that my post are a little delayed that is because i have no internet connection at home but i do hope to be back in cyber space real soon.

Faces of Brad...and then some

My good friend Bradley came down or rather up from Aus during the Christmas season. He kept us all busy. :)







The Grudge.

Bintan

After a nice holiday in Phuket in dec, i felt the need for another trip in jan. lol not really. Most years the boys and i go camping early in the year but this year we decided to do something different and headed out to mana-mana beach club on bintan island. I had a really nice time, in total there were 10 of us and we havent had such numbers for ages. This little logo u see in some of the pics was designed by Sherwin with a little mod from me. enjoy. notice the lack of people shots :)

De Rozario's come to town

As you may know, my cousins from aus came downd and spent a great christmas with us ! Of course due to work i couldnt spend much time with them but i really enjoyed what little time we did have! Family!

Mixed Bag

The above are some pictures i rejected for posting when i did the original post, but after looking at them again i figured what the heck.Photos taken in Katong and The Botanical Gardens.