Hop across south pacific

Greetings from Santiago de Chile! I am exactly 12 hours behind Singapore, so while everyone back home is asleep i am pretty much wide awake.

Flying across the south pacific for 4 days is truely an experience by itself. The first leg which is SIN-SYD was pretty much the usual bit of flying. Seating beside a french dude with his weird quirks and bearly able to understand a single word he spoke. It's a red-eye flight, so basically spend most of the time sleeping as the in-flight entertainment isn't quite interesting to begin with.

SYD-AKL
This is just a quick hop across the tasman sea, good tail winds made the flight shorter than planned. Of course, got a view of the beautiful Australian sun rise as the plane took off from Sydney. Early morning flight means the load is quite light so we got on and off the plane very fast. But only to pain was to get past NZ customs who are pretty strict. No complains.

AKL-EZE
Well, the pain of the trip starts here where upon arrival, I got to know my next flight is not going to happen on time and was advice to head to airline office. So in tow my heavy bags, head up to the office and still to be advice to check in as per normal even though the flight is re-timed to a later hour. End up spending all day in Auckland airport doing nothing but to wait as the procedures are so spaced out that I can't get into the city.

Poor information from the airline means that all passengers waited past the re-timed schedule with the no plane in sight. Waited additional 2 hours before the plane showed up. 13 hours in total waiting.

The flight was truely bad, slept through out the 13 hour flight. Departed at night, kept dark even though we flew through daylight and arrived at night in Buenos Aires. Got to change airport, again poor information means having to find ways and direction to the connecting bus to the next airport.

AEP-SCL
Arrived at the airport early, spend 2 hours in queue. Checked in and headed to the gates. 45 mins before boarding, the flight got cancelled! Pretty much lost in translation from now on. A little drama happen at the gates. Passengers were offered to collect our checked-in bags and was lead to an area passed immigration which means we would have re-entered Argentina illegally. LOL. They collected our passports and told us that we can't collect our bags as our flight were suspended and not cancelled. At this point we were pretty much stuck at the baggage collection area. Soon after getting word that our flight is officially cancelled, we got our passports back (with legal rights to enter Argentina) and got our bags.

The airport was a massive chaos as all flights are grounded, flooded with news crews reporting. Met a Canadian guy who is also in the same situation. So we just worked together to find a solution out of this mess. Manage to re-booked on the next day flight, and he recommended a hotel in Buenos Aires where we stayed for one night and got an impromtu tour of the city and nice dinner (no airplane food for once!).

Got onto the our new flight and off we go to Santiago! Crossing the Andes is just awesome, with the peaks not far from you. Broke contact with the canadian dude at immigration, didn't managed to say a final good-bye, but I do hope he is enjoying the rest of his trip. Made it to my host house, good lunch and crashed out for 20+ hours. Body clock reset!

I guess flying alone is very interesting, especially making such a long journey. You will never know what's going to happen ahead, the only thing that is keeping you sane is the hope to get to the final destination. Meet quite a few interesting people along the way, and I do want to thank them for helping me. Of course, with the power of technology, I am able to still keep in touch with home and update my progress along the way.

Well, exchange has officially started and enjoying the past few days in Santiago. Let's see what the coming months have to offer.

Hasta Luego!

Que sera sera

Que sera sera, whatever will be... will be... =)

I have better things to do in life than the actions you think i might take. That's my lifetime guarantee to you! =)

Hasta Luego!

Moving on

12 more days to Santiago! (Ash ash go away!) Pumped and excited, manage to clear most of the paperwork. Thanks to my folks for lending a little helping hand. Kinda hectic to be running around different places, luckily workplace is near everywhere. It's either a short bus ride or a quick ride on the cab.

And have not start packing my bag. Gosh.. coming week is going to be a mad rush to buy the neccessary stuffs for this long trip. Travel light, but sufficient enough to brave the winter (yes, the southern hemisphere is winter season) is kinda a tricky balance. Well, experience from NS overseas training will come to good use when packing. Ziplocks you are activated! haha!

Guess gonna leave my work with a heavy heart (again). My pet project began to move again towards the final phase and I won't be around to see it end. Well, I do learn a lot of stuffs, but not sure about the rest. Been hearing lots of negative feedbacks and somehow felt I should do my due deligence to forward this to the management. Let me have the weekend to think about it.

Finally, yes i saw your respond. My thoughts on this --> We can't control who sees it, but we can control what we write. I am not stopping you (neither i have the right to..) from calling me whatever, perhaps in your eyes I fit that title perfectly but do bear in mind that there may be a backlash when posting on a public domain. This incident, i shall lay it to rest. At some point in time, we go to move on. cheers my friend!

Hasta luego!

It's confirmed!!!

Finally booked my ticket to Chile which going to take me through Aussie, NZ and Argentina before arriving in Santiago. Kudos to the booking agent who has to really wreck his brain to search for seats as the travel dates coincides with peak flying in the southern hemisphere. Phew! Thank god.

Of course this will come at some sacrifice to work and other commitments which they have to make way. My pet project at work will have to be handed over to another dude soon, and hopefully my fieldworker in Japan don't screw up again! argh.

Well, the final countdown has begun. 3 weeks and I am off to the other side of the world!

Hasta luego!

P.S - And to the person who indirectly called me a Loser on your blog (you know who you are), I think you are one too! =) 3 years has past, Learn to move on with your life.

The order of Summer

The second entry for 2011. Awesome.

Well, half way through the proceedings for targeted end July departure to Chile. It's gonna be an adventure when I get there, I guess gotta rough it out alone with what tiny bits of their native language that I know of. Can't help but to think that sometimes I am really out of my mind to do it, but hey, life ain't interesting without a bit of adventure yeah?

Meanwhile, butt is deeply rooted on the office chair, slamming my keyboard away. It's only week 1.5 into it. Too difficult to say whether it was a right choice in the first place but I hope to walk away knowing more than before.

I guess band has to take a back seat now, again. It's kinda sad because they are in the midst of preparing for overseas trip which I won't be joining them. Well, the next thing to look forward too is the next band concert. Next year.

So that's the order of summer. Sit and wait for an exciting to latter part of the year.

Auf Wiedersehen! (German) Hasta luego! (Spanish)

Hello 2011! Chillax friday

Its not every friday I get to spend some down time at home. Well, at least fought quite a painful battle with the books this week with midterms and essay assignments. Also due to band shutting down for the week after putting up a good concert last weekend at SCH.

Well, pardon me for the lack of writing since the last entry and do expect it to remain this way until something exciting is gonna happen toward the last quarter of this year. Pray hard.

So since the last post, its all about gathering and fun to tie up the end of 2010 which was a good year especially those time spent during internship. And well, the opportunity to visit a new country, Vietnam and accomplishing the FYP project with special nomination. Didn't win, but to get nominated was a big bonus for the team. =)

School is as usual, constant battle with the books. As mention band concert was last week, and it was as good as it gets. Administratively took a back seat, time for new team to take over. However, hiccups do happen and thankfully for the older team still around to chip in and keep things on track. Kudos to all!

That's all for now.. Till then... Stay happy and have fun!

Auf Wiedersehen!

while I was away...

and once again December holiday is here! Packed with xbox gaming, watching re-runs of english drama. I think my butt is firmly rooted to the sofa seat.

FYP is over! 6 months of work boils down to the epic final presentation (to-be explain later) and nomination for technical innovation award. Well, we didn't win the award (because there was another project that was way cooler) neither did we expect a nomination in the first place! We took it as a bonus to our project. Poster day saw many came to play with the system, indeed its totally different compared to the rest and they like the login function! muahahha! Basically function re-invents the wheel by using musical tones as passwords as oppose to the standard type. This is to start the process of music learning as soon as kids access the web application. Alright, kudos to the team! Project is deployed live @ http://www.moombamusic.com/. credentials are available upon request.

Final presentation was epic because it was sandwich between 2 superb Berliner Philharmoniker concerts. Got last minute information about the morning recording of Mahler while staying late in school doing the final touch-up. Reached home about 5 am in the morning and have to be at esplanade by 9.30am. That leaves about 2+ hours of sleep. Bad idea for major presentation day.

Anyway, was totally blown away by the performance of Mahler! It's insane! Back to school for presentation before another round of insane performance of Brahms! gaarrrhh! And when all were high with the finale of Brahms, BPO brought everyone up another level with the performance of Pas de Deux from Nutcracker and left us hanging there as they make their way off stage. Cruel but lovin' it!

While I do not want to hide the fact there were flaws here and there, it is the virutosity of the musicians and how much dedication and passion each and everyone puts into producing the sound to the notes on the score. Simply awesome. Apply that!

Rewinding back a little further. 6 Oct. Mid-week of mid-term break. Birthday! haha! Back to school for a short meeting with project supervisor and mini celebration with FYP team (thanks you!) and off to the airport for a short trip to Vietnam. Ho Chih Minh City. Beautiful place with a mix of french, american influence. Crazy lots of scooters on the road. Crossing the road is not for the faint hearted. Seriously. When the traffic lights turns green, the scooters literally swam down the road. Ok, Vietnam coffee, its da-bomb! The aroma and taste give you a good kick out of every sip. Best pic from the Vietnam series shown below. The rest are up on FB.

Well, the scars of Vietnam war are still visible as seen from Cu Chi Tunnel, war museum and especially the people of this handicraft factory that are victims of... well... war. But yet they produce craft work that are damn beautiful. Wish i could spend more hours there to interact and hear their side of the story. Kinda feel for them... Emo.. but true.

Mekong Delta, has its rustic charms and beauty. Pace of things slows down, life is simple on the Mekong and tough too because much of their income is from fishing and since tourist are pouring in to take a peek into life on Mekong toursit dollar became an alternate revenue source. Begging for tip for every little things they do. Ugly.

Well, there is more to explore in the city but basically chained down by the unadventurous spirit of other members on this trip so its just a superficial glimps of this country. Nonetheless, will want to go back there someday with people of the same holiday objective.

lastly, my winning entry of A is for Angle from the AEIOU photography challenge is up in the school library! Woohoo! Participated just for fun, never expect to win. Delighted!

Auf Wiedersehen!

October

October came and gone. It has been a good month with a short hop to Vietnam and back re-charged to push to the end, lots of photo shoots and a little slower (but still hectic) pace to school. Full updates when all things end.

It's time to do a countdown:

1. 3 more weeks to close a project that my team has worked for the past 6 months. Mixed feelings but oh well, it has to end somehow.
2. 4 more weeks to the end semester.
3. 8 more weeks to the end of the year.

So much to accomplish. Let's go people!

Auf Widersehen!

A little quiet moment

So the past few weeks have been a little crazy with all the mad rush to deliver expectations with a few late nights in school and the next morning is just a dread heading back to continue where it was left off and burn a hole in my pocket along the way. Lol! The team has officially cross the second of three checkpoints and its now time to push to the end. =)

Well, I have to say Kudos to the team for pulling everything off and keeping spirits high. Somehow, I always enjoy every single moment working with them. The energy, the dynamics, the flexible and creative minds. =) I guess its because we are in it together and we know the pain of going through the entire process that's why we always crack around to motivate each other.

Oh well, at least for tonight, its time to wind down a little and try to get some proper rest. There is another battle to fight when the sun is up again! Can't wait for this weekend to be over. Seriously.

Auf Wiedersehen!

History 101

It's a once in a very blue moon occurrence that I attend a wedding dinner and it was an eye opener of where I belong in a gigantic family tree. To be honest, left me baffled of whose-who in the family hierarchy. Of course, there was a history lesson given by my grand mother tracing back to the history of her grand mother. Geez.. if my sums is right that would add up close more than 200 years of history, back to the era of music of the romantic period where we have composers of Franz Liszt, Schubert and Tchaikovsky!!!

Well, there were all the greetings to all the grand aunts and uncles, most of them which I have not meet in the past 2 decades at least! It's hard to run away from greeting them and not knowing their "rank", all I can give is a simple Hello and a handshake as a sign of acknowledgement.

At the end of it all, we were lined up to give our final congrats to the host and it struck me that how many people that they shook hands with are actually people they know. Hmm...? Oh well, at least I am beginning to understand more about the history of my maternal-side bloodline.

Auf Wiedersehen!

waiting

what are the things in life will you wait for?

Auf Widersehen!

Summer ends here

As fast as it started, internship has ended with a bang and lots of mixed feelings during the last week. Have to say a big thank you to the wonderful bunch of interns where we always hang out together during work days and weekends.

Though initially, unable to join in the few outings such as trip to JB or KBox (yes, i know... i don't K.. but its the company is great!). Overnight movie marathon is great! Indulgence of mixed ice cream and junk food. The failed attempt of cycling turned out to be good fun also. Of course there are other moments in the breakout area where birthdays are celebrated with giant hershey's bar, pizza and the occasional cup noodles and mac delivery when the sky pours. Lastly, would be the daily hidding in support lab (a.k.a intern's HQ) where we just take a few moments to retreat from work and make a hell lot of noise. haha!

My job scope has allowed me to work and learn under a bunch of highly experience IT staff even though it a culturally different environment. Besides technical stuffs, the other take away is to better understand their culture, working style and communicating with them. haha! Not everyone gets to work with them closely. And I am proud to say that my work will be implemented down under. SYDNEY! =D How i wish i can be there to see it in action. Someday maybe.

Last few weeks was just jammed pack with photoshoots! A few early mornings to Roxy Square, some random shophouses along Kembangan and Ann Siang hill. And we dread going back to the office after that. lol. Great fun and hoping to do more photoshoots to continue building my portfolio.

Well well, last day at work was literally driven up the wall. But at least I get all the work done and handover nicely back to the team. It was really mixed feelings when i step out of the office for the last time. Hope to be back there next summer. Thanks boss for the email! =)

This internship will be locked in memory for years to come. =)

FYP is running parallel to internship. Good news is we got accepted as a project. Mad week leading up to presentation. And a cold sweat broke out during presentation when the system kind of crank up. Opps! Luckily everything is under control and deliver a somewhat smooth presentation. Now, looking forward to complete the system and see it go live come November. And come December, praying to fly away to somewhere far...... Aussie?

Well that's about it for this year's summer. School offically starts tomorrow, mine starts on Tuesday! Lol!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Behind the lens

It's a blessing to spend a Sunday afternoon taking a break from the madness of FYP, work and other stuff. Purely do nothing, occasionally falling asleep in front of the TV. =) And also to reminiscence on band works played since secondary school days. Good way to practice conducting strokes since I have good recollection of details from each piece. Having this wacky idea of doing a 8 hours continuous rehearsal, playing all the band classics. Alright, reality tells me its not possible, unless the musicians itself it insane too!

Out for my first ever photoshoot on Wednesday MORNING! The idea itself is a little insane, but it's sure fun doing it. Thanks to the efforts of fellow interns (photographers and models). Initially suppose to do another photoshoot but due to the heavy rain (not to mention flood too!), we had to cancel the entire thing. Back to this shoot, location is at Katong, so for people who know where it is, go figure what time i had to wake up. haha! Anyway, I am very please with the outcome of the shoot. We did have a post-photoshoot review, I guess I still have more to learn from them. Especially in the area of conceptualizing, finding the location, getting the people involve and composing that photo. Phew! Anyway, still manage to survive the day in the office despite waking up so early.

Planning another theme shoot on Friday morning. Can't wait! =)

Okay, back to more FYP work. School's starting in 3 weeks time!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Walk the ground

The past week has indeed being a fulfilling gathering (at least at platoon level) even though we do from time to time grumble about the man in-charge and question why certain things have to be done in a certain manner & pace. Never forgetting the antics of some and the foolishness of others that still lives on ever since we parted our ways 2 years ago, only to relive those moments for a period of time over the next 10 years.

Being on the ground puts myself in new perspective of things as you get a bottoms up view of the world and try to understand each individual with its different background work together towards a common objective. I still find it intriguing given the vast differences within my platoon, we are still able to achieve common goals. Perhaps, it could be that we are in stuck in the same s*** and the only way out is to work together. So it brings me to my point, why can't we apply the same principles to the civilian world, having the common goal which all could work towards to and leaving individual concerns to be iron out by the individuals themselves.

Again, the comforts of urban living makes it hard to give up what we have especially being thrown out in the field to survive on the bare minimum. Being out in the field test one's physical and mental strength, with the heat beating down on you and yet task are to be accomplish. Adaptability, self-motivation and ability to rally the team would make up for the lack of fitness that we once have, thankfully mission accomplish and we get to enjoy the comfort we dearly yearn for. It is human nature to adapt to changing environment and make the best out of it, if you don't i guess you are pretty much boxed in and won't survive long.

Well, one down nine more to go. Begin to miss the laughter and jokes we shared during the pass 5 days already, it was a good break from the rest of the world. But back to reality, work starts again tomorrow.

Auf Wiedersehen!

summer

so without thinking much, summer is once again here. the effects from final exams still leaves me very much unsettled, that's why exams are a disaster. but thankfully for Mr. Tchaikovsky and his violin concerto, made the journey a little smoother. credits to The Concert, catch this film if you haven't seen it. thumbs up!

so the last two weeks of classes were just wrapping it up with presentations, reports and more reports. i think i wrote more than i code (programming i mean). a little frustrating due to uncooperative team members. i don't blame me if the grades for the report is not up to your standards (i have repeatedly asked them to vet through). and oh yes, drew first blood for staying up overnight to rush through project. conclusion of it, not very productive. ha!

listen to some primary school band SYF and also down to give opinion and support to my close friend. excruciating pain to listen but its okay, the kids are puny and cute. especially those that play on the larger instruments like tubas. and the percussionist that have to stretch to their max to hit the black keys on the chimes. lol! so the bands that i am out to support did well, to my expectation.

so i guess i am going to bum around, burn a few calories and wait for time to tick by (oh shucks, 1 week of committing myself to the nation too). Offer for a trip to korea is damn tempting, then again i have to be goodie-two shoes and behave myself because its going to be a family trip. not my kind of idea for a holiday. shall see how it goes, if i am not in town means i am gone to kimchi land. Internship! Where are you?!

Have a fun summer people!

Auf Wiedersehen!

it's week 12 already

Another week come and whisk by before your eyes. Lots of good and bad results/news came pouring out of everywhere!!! Still have quite a fair bit of reports and presentations to fight ahead. Always not forgetting the major battle of final exams. Its going to be a hard and bloody fight towards the end.

Took some time out to sit in front of the baby grand piano and play some tunes. It came to struck me that it been a very long while since I do that, most of the favourite tunes slowly fade off from memory and scores were nowhere in sight to read! Time to dedicate more time to my black beauty at home (erm... my piano). Horn lesson, totally lovin' it! End of the day, it didn't teach me the sounds and technique but it made me realise that confidence its the first step in accomplishing things.

"When your mind conceive and believe, you can achieve" - This is something that was knock hard into us back during sec. sch days. memories. =)

Praying and hoping hard for the best outcome from internship interview. I guess I fair pretty ok, kinda scary but good experience. Summer is coming and nothing is secured. argh! Well, at least, the day I receive the call for interview, i also got the notice for a super big 5 day gathering. Looking forward to bumming around with the other dudes but there are other agendas need to do too..!

Okay, its Sunday, its 6pm.. and I am in school. Argh! Hands itching to grab my baby, go out and shoot some pictures. Didn't bring it out today, and it's raining. Well, the up side is a good buffet dinner with family. Off to grab food now..!

Hmmm... how about some liquid gold too?

Auf Wiedershen!

*Piak!

Sometimes you just feel like sticking on the wall. =)

Auf Wiedersehen!

Lo-Hei!

Traditionally eaten over the Chinese New Year period where family & friends comes around to toss a platter of colorful preservatives, vegetables and raw fish meat. Well, kids and adults all alike will take this opportunity to make a mess out of it leaving strands of vegetables all over the table and sometimes on the floor. Yes the FLOOR!

I don't know the significance of eating it. Well, it's the fun of doing it and to savour it once a year. Hope everyone have a good CNY so far.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Symphonia: Teneramente

We went, we performed and the tunes still ring in my ear after we were gone. =)

Greatly miss that one night only performance. Perhaps this is the true meaning of putting up a concert, music that the audience that we can connect to, music that we enjoy performing and have a kick-ass of a time on stage. I wish i can be back on stage to do it all over again! =)

A concert need not be one filled with repertoire that have the running notes that run longer than an ultra-marthon, or notes that screams at the extremes of each instrumental range or rhythms that would otherwise require a complex equation to count. Lol!

Operation-wise, its as smooth as you can get, all thanks to a capable team of members to executing the key roles like Ticketing, F.O.H and Logistics. Not forgetting behind the scenes there were marketing, music and library. Thank you Thank you!

Lastly, all great concerts will not be possible without a wonderful and awesome horn section! Lovin' the ensemble sound. Nice!

Overall, the entire process is enjoyable though at times its a drag with all the looming assignments and presentations. And thanks to the magical power of a puny flu pill I manage to recover from a very very bad cold. One project down... Many more to go!

Auf Widersehen!

Petals & Horn

Couldn't think of a better name. If you can, suggest one! When with a lomo feel for post processing this, not sure if i got the tone color right. Good fun experimenting with it. Original image was shot for program booklet design, i believe its being used for the booklet.

And one for the HORNS!

Auf Wiedershen!