cycling @ ecp

So despite all the fear about the rain, the cycling date went without a hitch. A little bit of strong winds, and that was about it. We didn’t get caught in the rain, and we had a brilliant lunch as well. I woke up about 7 to prepare the food for the picnic, and I nearly couldn’t make it on time. Accidentally destroyed one dish too (didn’t cook the bacon properly), but I had a bit of a rush before I left the house to meet the girlfriend.

One of the stop bys: Bedok Pier. Stopped to take some photos, watch men fish, and to take a couple of lomo-shots. Had about 5 more shots to end the roll so I brought the camera out. Pity that I didn’t think to bring out another spare roll would have been a nice opportunity for some good shots. Oh well.Our bikes overlooking the sea:
Us – before we got sunburnt:

Looking out for jellyfish. Didn’t get a shot of it, but we saw about two brown ones in total. Stella was so excited.
We returned our bikes after a 1.5 hour ride and headed quickly to one of the shelters. It was getting really windy and dark at that point. Was afraid that we wouldn’t make it to cover in time.
All the food! I prepared potato salad, some vegetable sticks with a french onion dip, and ham and cheese sandwiches. Of course, there’s always warm sake. Since we didn’t have hot water I had to improvise. I brought a pan and manually heated up water with a solid fuel flame. Not a very good idea and it takes way too long.
The dip that Stella loves so much. I think we practically drank it. Salt level alert. :
A very happy girlfriend with some finger food :
It was chilly, but very nice. At that point it had started raining, so the weather cooled down considerably. I was nice just sitting around and chatting.

After the picnic, we packed up and headed to Raffles City, where we sent the lomo rolls for developing, then shopped for a bit before heading home for dinner. Ended the night by watching Kingdom of Heaven together. All in all, a friday night unlike any other. I was glad that the whole cycling thing worked out, and it was a wonderful break just spending some time out with Stella and away from the stress of work for a bit.

40k Eldar Dire Avengers

Took some time off to finally assemble some of my Eldar figures. Tried to position my Exarch in the coolest pose possible. Some sort of pointing gesture to his followers. I had several options for his weapons, but I settled on a spear, as it basically just looks cooler. heh.

Test paintjob of one of the unit figures. What do you think? I left out the arms as it was easier to paint it separate from the body.

the simple life

It has finally dawned upon me that while time moves like a light train waiting for no one, I enjoy the simple life much more.

For the past few months, I think I’ve truly been at peace, taking my own pace to do whatever I like, and whenever I like. I enjoy just sitting around at home, watching my TV shows all day with the girlfriend. I also enjoy my hobbies very much, most of which do not need more than the company of 2 or 3 people. Painting, is by large a very solitary hobby, and while the number of games I’ve played don’t exactly match the number of models I paint, I think I’ve finally found something that I’ll be sticking to for the rest of my life. I don’t claim to paint well, maybe decently. But what’s more important is that it allows me to put the whole world away for a couple of hours, and actually concentrate on something. As Stella would probably say, it suits my escapist nature. The same goes for my roleplaying games.

Occasionally, Stella and I will head out for a meal, go shopping, and just walk around town. We’ve grabbed lots of books/graphic novels over the last few holidays, and that, also, is another past-time that I forgot about during my undergrad days, and am beginning to rediscover once again. It’s all these things that make me happy.

So where is all this mindless ramble leading to? Just back to the title actually, where basically I enjoy the simple life. Maybe it’s a product of getting older – all the social commitments and hooha of yesteryear are rapidly fading (or have already faded) as time goes by. It’s just too tiring to keep up. Of course, this also means that I’ve more or less stopped meeting friends that much, and unless invited, I seldom go out of my way to ask people out for a coffee or a chat anymore. Thing is, I’m not fazed by the possibility of losing friends either, so I guess that all works out. At the end of the day, one probably don’t have time for everyone around you.

As the graduation date draws near, I’m constantly worried by the thought of: what if my love for the simple life gets in the way of performance in the future? It’s an extremely disturbing and worrying thought. I need productive work to keep me alive. It is part of my very being. I’m a person that stands by the principle that one can put 100% in work, and still put 100% in other commitments (of course it might mean that I’ll have to sleep less). But what if that love for the simple life causes me to work below 100% productivity? It’ll probably burn a hole through my soul. Pardon the theatrics, but I mean every word.

I don’t know how to end this post. So I guess that’s all I have to say for now.

of fish and other creatures

Today was the day we spent with many creatures. First was the painting session where we meticulously put on the clothing, fur and colour to the Hordes of animals that have been living in my cupboard in their black and white world since forever (I love this pic).

the next encounter with animals included me wrestling with a swordfish collar, Stella with her own fair share of dead fish, and a huge plate of squid to be overcome by the both of us.

Next up, we headed to Canele for more monster hunting. There we saw the infamous Sugar Brothers, and The Purple Blob. We fought to attack the brothers first, but kinda subcumbed to The Blob. Tired cutting him down to size but failed to eliminate him at the end of the day.

Last but not least, the final two creatures of the night.

The ghost with the glowing face, elbower of babies’ heads:

And the girl who had too many nightmares and turned into a nightmare:

A great night of monster hunting and adventure!

the end is nigh..

In hindsight, the holidays has been a good one. I got to do what I wanted to do, and I had a relatively good break as well. What worries me constantly is my compulsion to put work aside and just laze around. I HAVE work to do, and I will have responsibilities that cannot be ignored in future. Maybe I need to learn to prioritize better, that or have better discipline to get down to work when I need to.

I have barely 15 days to write one and a half chapters.

unboxing day

I bought a couple of boardgames over the net a week ago. When they arrived, I left Small World with its wrapping still intact, specially for Stella. I felt that there is always this childish thrill in opening something you like, and looking at all the little things inside. Opening up new games is something that I particularly enjoy, so I decided that Stella should have a chance too. After all, she has been wanting to play this game since the time she saw it on BoardGameGeek, and I decided to buy it so that we could play it together.

Geeky girlfriend with the geeky toy and the new geeky glasses :

Tearing open the wrapping :Looking at the components :

And here are the other two games that I bought. Really pleased at the games that I got for a very decent price.

The pictures brings a smile to my face

Vietnam – Day 5

The next morning, we woke up slightly earlier as we would be visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels on a half day tour. Stella’s mom had been doing a bit of walking around before we woke, so she found a nice place for breakfast that we would be going for the next few days.

A view once again of the rush hour traffic. Or perhaps I should say, the permanent traffic condition.

Steamboat @ Coca Takashimaya

So as I said from the previous post, we headed to Coca for lunch. Lunch buffet is going for $16 for students, so we took advantage of our student passes and headed for our steamboat buffet. Although we already had buffet the night before with the EL people, we were still really excited about lunch, and the day ahead.

The both of us :

food glorious foooood. For 16 bucks the spread was really great, and the quality of food as well. I’ve never eaten such clean tasting cockles before, and it was great. The various meatballs and other ingredients were super tasty too :

My very happy girlfriend :
After lunch, we headed to kino, and bought our books, before getting our shopping done.

Here’s a very happy me with my graphic novels. Found out later that the House of Mystery book I bought was Book 2. Bummer. And to think I was so excited about it. The lady in the background looks equally excited too. I wonder what she was talking about. Creepy.
Stella trying to imitate domo-kun. Trying to swallow the cup whole. Rahhh! :
Obviously that failed =)
Finally, we ended up at Alleybar, our favourite place for drinks, where we had an emotional heart to heart chat, something we haven’t done for a really long time already. I was glad for it, and I think we both learnt more about each other through it. Both of us look a little buzzed here, but I really like the picture :

A fantastic night with my favourite girl. I really can’t ask for anything more.

TGIF w e GF

Had a wonderful day with Stella just hanging out, spending loads of money shopping, and having a great lunch at Coca Steamboat. For 16 dollars it’s pretty great food that you’ll get, and we ate till we nearly burst. Headed to Kino later to take advantage of the 20% sale and I came out with 80 bucks worth of graphic novels, while Stella bought Tolstoy’s Anna Kararemia (is that how you spell it?) and another philosophy book about the Enlightenment. I’ve been really reading trashy stuff lately, but I guess it helps me escape from the reality of life for a while and retreat into a world of imagination for a little bit.

Ended the day with a couple of drinks at Alleybar, talking about the past, the present, and beyond. Was glad for the night and the chance to be alone to just chat and enjoy each other’s company.

Vietnam Day 3-4

This will be the day that we’ll leave for HCM. Woke up early and headed for breakfast. Took some pictures of scenic Dalat before breakfast.