Go top up your love

Singapore expats paddle their own canoe

My first time significantly appearing in the papers. Okay fine, its just a name, age, "the youngest in the team" and a simple 'intention comparison'(?). 

Ahoy, so i just spent a whole weekend in Dubai. Just so you know, the week ends on a thursday, so the weekend spans out to the duration of a friday and saturday. 

The dogs are really getting along with the cats, although sometimes it really ticks me off to see the stupid haggard baby the shih-tzu picking sides where it favours him most. His allegiance to the cats is apparent when they embark on an irritating goldie the retriever frenzy when she's outside and they know they're protected by half an inch of reinforced glass. And then bark in unison with goldie at the cats when the situation arises in which the cats are inferior. Also knowing that he once murdered a star tortoise out of jealousy fuels my annoyance a mile longer.

Spoilt he-bitch.

I finally went for the Dubai desert safari yesterday! Right now i'm uploading a few videos of us slipping and sliding around the sand dunes(i just accidentally blurted out the word "treats" and the first thing i saw was the stupid haggard baby trotting over by the door and started staring at me with THAT face, greedy, spoilt he-bitch)of Dubai. I'll probably post it up later because youtube is taking a very long time. 

I was just trying to recall the other night, of all the things that i've bought here. Its quite staggering yet amazing how i bought so many things and yet i've still got a quite hefty amount left. Alright, i bought a football on my first day here which is quite used up and soft already now that i'm looking at it, new perfume, futsal shoes, ipod, okay, i got an ipod from thegirlfriend as a present so it doesn't count. Few plain t-shirts and a shirt, a new watch, new sunnies, new ipod speakers, a pricy body compression suit called skins, and a few other petty things. Somehow, i can safely assume that my buys are more of what i need that what i want because i use almost everything i buy at any given time everyday while i'm here. 

Nope, no souvenirs so far. 

I'm so bored of the malls here. Basically its because i already have everything i need. I've seldom had the feeling of walking around not having anything to buy in particular. Which i find quite good in a way because i need to start saving. 

I'm probably going to Morocco, if there are tickets, for about a week early next month. Unless there aren't, then maybe Cairo. Or Spain?

Jinny

And the dragon falters

They say tattoos are meant for certain identification for your peers to recognize you beyond any reasonable doubt when you are tattered and your time is up.

Taken when i did it almost 1/half months back. Pardon the pit bush. :)

And so it ends, the dark horse run. Amidst a substantial amount of controversy. Its a rather incomprehensible feeling of disappointment losing out because of an organizing error. Capitala Dragons, has earned many plaudits for earning a spot in the finals. Despite only coming together 2 weeks prior to the competition and a combined total of 4 hours of training. Beating a respectable number of 29 teams to deservedly earn a place in the finals.

And to lose out to a false start. Maybe not really a false start, see a dragon boat race, by rules or rather sportsmanship should only start when every boat is in an orderly line at the start before any starter should have the green light to flag off.

To shorten this extra long story of reasoning and blame, in a 6 boat final, our boat was initially in starting position before it slowly began to deviate from its original position and turn sideways. To be precise, our boat was in a perpendicular position while every other was in parallel. Our coxswain, a steerer of the boat provided by the organizers, supposedly a professional dragon boater was probably the only one to blame. See, a coxswain is probably the most important person on the boat to control and steer a boat in the right direction. Its not easy, controlling a dragon boat with 20 people inside. Its even harder/stupider to control a dragon boat with 20 people inside while sitting down. Frankly, his actions suggested that he wasn't really sure of what he's doing.

Due to him sitting and not making himself visible, the starter assumed everyone was in position and flagged off. Leaving us stranded and confused, frantically protesting with only sideways to go. The same thing happened during the semi-finals in which another team was not ready when they started the race. But the officials pulled everyone back and restarted. I ts a sick-to-the-stomach feeling really. Making it thus far and without being given a fighting chance for some well-deserved, possible glory and its over.

Some of our team members were protesting to the officials furiously only to be brushed aside, citing "these things happen" and aptly blaming strong winds. By this, of course igniting more tension, fighting fire with fire. Its unfortunate really, judging by the scale of the competition and the professionalism involved, there should've been some action taken from the start. But what can i say? Getting to the finals was already more than we asked for.

Despite all that, I was asked to do a phone interview for the national press . Haha. For being the youngest in the team and possibly the whole competition(because teams were either corporate based or professional dragon boat racers). And also a team interview article on our run to the finals. So it might be published in the papers sometime soon.

As for now, i scoured the internet and only found this one article so far. Published a week before the festival.

CapitalaSpirit Rides The Waves

With a small team photo which doesn't enable you to zoom. But if you count the heads from the left, i might be the 6th one. The small speck with sunnies.

Oh, it finally rained here this morning. It only does about twice a year here, and the papers reported it like it was something huge. 25 road accidents this morning due to rain. Imagine that. This place is awesome.

That also means that winter is here. The climate change is drastic, just over 2 days ago it was still quite warm and yesterday morning, it all shifted to a different temperature. Now all the sliding doors are left open and it feels like the room is air-conditioned. I even put 2 foldable chairs on my balcony already. For the winter. :)

Some pictures of us before our first heat. More when I get more.

Jinny

Burn to ash the ash to burn

I like celebrating my birthday here. As much as it is over back home, I'd still have 4 hours more.

Happy birthday to me anyway.

My dragon boat race is in 3 days and this jittery feeling is suddenly feeling all too familiar. The reason why i'm nervous is over the prospect of physical suffering that i had already experienced during training. This is a big event, no, its a huge mega-super-monolithic event. Its on every spread of newspaper, advertisements on every channel. (Adrenaline Sports Live 2008 Abu Dhabi)

Capitala, our multi-million dollar corporate sponsor for the dragon boat team. In which we were given a cap and an extra-large-only t-shirt to do publicity shots.

Not just a mere friendly race after all. In the build-up leading to that day, the seriousness of it is suddenly immense. The ongoing rumour of us possibly ranking amongst the top 5, Team Singapore Dragons, is undoubtedly doing more harm than good. Even the more reason why Murphy's Law would state that we'd fuck up.

Oh, i have a hookah. Not hooker. A hookah. We all have a misconception about the device we use to shisha with. Some call it the shisha tube, the bong, the shisha pot, every other junkie name known to existence. But it is in fact, called a hookah. The concept of inhaling smoke from a hookah is better known to us as shisha, or rather the tobacco used is also known by the same name.

Today, i bought a hookah for 119 AED from our favourite hypermarket carrefour. With a box of al-fakher apple tobacco, 100 plastic mouthpieces, quick-burning charcoal and a cleaning device all at the same time. After briefly educating myself on the fundamentals of a hookah and how to prepare shisha on the net last night, I'm ready for one trial run later.

I'm going to dubai tomorrow again for some retail therapy. At least thegirlfriend's mother needs some i think. Maybe the girlfriend too. Ah, how can it not be? Dubai is really just an hour away from where I am, aptly speaking, the distance would cost you 200 AED by taxi. Having experienced that, sharing a cab with an american and australian architect who talks buildings buildings and then more.

It is a very very nice place I have to admit. A very very nice perfect place minus the emiratis and their arabian counterparts. The whole place, seen from certain sociological and architectural angles is stunningly complexed and fascinating. Capable of making Abu Dhabi, despite being the capital look inferior, Singapore, like a marshland, and dear Malaysia, a quagmire. Dubai might just be the inspiration for the term 'megastructures'.

The Atlantis Hotel, a fascination on the Palm Jumeirah.

Even Dubai has the largest garoupa in its underwater world, The Lost City of Atlantis. Better known for being the fried thai sauce fish.

The land is cramped with high-rised buildings, and every high-rise building has their very own distinct design from the ground floor to the pinnacle. No, i'm not exaggerating when i say every building. The biggest, the tallest, the largest, the fastest, the people who develops the city are thrown into a pool of pressure having to fulfill these obligations. And the outcome, though I may not know more than an architect, or an engineer, but to the lay-man's eyes, is a marvel.

The Palm Jumeirah, The Palm Jebel Ali, Atlantis Hotel, Aquaventure, The Burj-Al-Arab, Mall of Emirates, Ibn Battutta Mall(The biggest mall in the world, think 4 Mid Valley Megamalls), The World Island, what the hell, The Bloody World Islands. A man-made island made into the shape of all the continents of mother earth. Mainly prime estates, Malaysia is a bungalow and Singapore is the owner's dog's kennel.

Ha *exhales*, I need to catch my breath.

Bloody arab kids on a school trip to the ice rink. Thegirlfriend couldn't be more right when she said that this generation of arabs are better off learning about discipline first, real education should only be implied to the next generation.

Me, thegirlfriend and thegirlfriend's sister manda and baby the handsome princess in distress.

Kids around our neighbourhood at Al Raha Gardens trick-or-treating during halloween. Not recieving any candy before i made them scream "trick-or-treat" with their scariest faces.

*Edit* The shisha went well. Now going to burn more charcoal on the stove and prepare for round 2.

Jinn

Havin a laugh yea?

Having just read kennysia.com, I feel like it is also my duty as a patriotic and proud Malaysian to play my part and spread this website in my capabilities.

http://cheongsamlover.wordpress.com

This is just the right material that solidifies my impression of an open-minded, technologically advanced and fast-growing Malaysia that many of us were born and live in. And that we're absolutely right when we say we're underestimated in the eyes of foreigners. Oh, how we complain why we're still 3rd-world when we know truthfully that we're far from that.

In addition to that, now we, the minorities, are all so very excited and overcomed with joy at the recent comments of our dear prime minister who has convincingly announced that anyone of us can be a prime minister! Yay!

I'm estatic! No really, I am.

Jinn

Rain, rain, dont go away, sun can come back another day

Ah, i bloody miss rain here.

Coming from an alleged "democratic" country known for its erratic weather and monsoon rains, and the proud title of being Malaysia, the all-equal, glorious nation. Also known as, the Penis of Asia. Of course not without the penis' uptight tip called Singapore.

What i'm really trying to say is that coming from the Penis of Asia, i'm still qute foreign to the feeling of the absence of rain.

To rain here is like national day. People line the streets, royals come forth and out from their palaces, labourers and government workers in a pandemonium. Because there is no such thing as drainage here. When it does rain, all hell breaks loose.

Whatever.

Anyway, i've got a new early present. The new ipod nano from thegirlfriend!

Yay!

Jinn

Respond, please

So many things can happen in 2 weeks. Well, so far i've been to dubai at least a number of times to have its roads downloaded into my mind. That would mean the roads of Abu Dhabi is branded into my brain. Tell you what, I miss driving. Having an illegitimate liscense isn't the best feeling in the world. Especially when you have to depend on the convenience of others to get you to where you wanna be.

By far the best fun i've had is at the aquaventure in dubai. Water park of some proportion. Besides that, I just started a training session last friday at nearby shangrila hotel's stretch of crystal blue canal for a DRAGON BOAT race on the 15th of this month. Haha. Guess which country i'm representing?

Singapore. Nuff said. Heh.

No, i'm not earning money just yet. But at least i'm also getting a dose of futsal once in awhile. I went to Dubai last thursday for futsal, representing Woods Bagot, an australian architectural firm. Abu Dhabi branch vesus the Dubai branch. Apparently, the AD branch employees, despite being the underdogs, would hastily skin their Dubai counterpart's balls with a potato peeler at an instant. Due to some overspilling man-egos on and off the court. We managed to lose 3-0 with our prides intact.

Yesterday, boo and i went for lunch at an italian cafe down in abu dhabi mall. Having stated before of the metamorphical attitudes of asians adapting to foreign culture, we were served by ultimately arrogant waiters and waitresses(eg: fillipinos) mainly(allegedly) due to our asian outlook. Things like that happen here all the time, when you have an influx of 80% mainly caucasian tourist and labourers here, those of asian descent are instantly demoted to 2nd class citizens. Regardless of status financial or non. The concept of tackling arrogance with arrogance has to be utilised sometimes no matter how unfashionble it seems.

There are some instances when we do come across courteous and friendly waiters but the frequency of those that aren't is absurd. So, we fill up every respond card that every restaurant puts on its tables. Even if its chucked away without even being read, we just do it for the satisfaction.

Even if its read, certain measures might be necessary to ensure the message is through. Like what boo wrote on the respond card, condemning the unfriendliness and politeness of its staff, aptly ticking the box of poor in the friendliness section and signing off as Grace Park, nationality: Canadian. Because nobody takes the asians from asia seriously enough.

I'm currently reading a biography of Heinrich Himmler and his brothers. Titled The Himmler Brothers. Written by the granddaughter of the youngest Himmler brother, Ernst. Heinrich Himmler is known as the 'greatest murderer of the 20th century' for masterminding the extermination of millions of jews during the holocaust. And 2nd in command to Adolf Hitler during the nazi regime.

A good book for world war 2 enthusiasts or followers of the nazi faction.

I hope things are fine back home or back anywhere for that matter.

Jinn