Name my star...

For those who know how to identify the North Star, have you ever noticed that at the South-East side of the North Star, there is a row 3 stars that are evenly spaced out? Just not very far from the arrow of the North Star, I've seen them very regularly on nights where the sky is clear. I'm not sure if they've been named, but I'm going to name them myself :) Hehehe... next time can tell my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren that there're stars named after me :P

As I'm not so creative, anybody out there have got any good suggestions? Was thinking of calling them the 3 musketeers (so boring, right?) or KW's stars (yucks!) or triple X (huh?) or Tri-Star (make movie meh?) or 3M (free advertisment ah?) or the 3 little pigs (pigs in the sky?) or romance of the 3 kingdoms (siao!) or... haizzz.... see, that's how creative I am :P

Give me 3 (why 3 again?) days, I'll come up with a name for my 3 little stars.... maybe I just call them Tom, Dick and Harry.... or maybe give them chinese names... 张无忌，令狐冲 and 杨过 or maybe 萧峰，段誉 and 虚竹 or even 关羽，刘备 and 张飞。。。 hahaha... think I siao siao again. Okay, give me 3 days... ahhhh, why 3 again? :P

Mid-Autumn Festival

Yesterday was 中秋节, so went to the Cafe for dinner with a few other Chinese colleagues and the Chef cook 'Singapore food' for us and even surprised us with moon cakes as desserts. It was full moon, so the pool area was kinda brightly lit.... after dinner the few of us just sat by the pool and TCSS. Hehehe.. never expect myself to be trading army stories with fellow Singaporeans in the Indian Ocean. In life... anything can happen :)

Funny when in Singapore, I seldom 'celebrate' such festivals, for lantern festival, usually I'll just pop by Chinese Garden to look at the lanterns and take some pictures. But now in a foreign land, one tends to look forward to some form of 'celebration' for whatever occassion there is. :)

倚天屠龙记

殷素素：“无忌，你长大了之后，要提防女人骗你，越是好看的女人越会骗人。”

Star Wars

My obsession with Star Wars started in 1984 when I am still a young secondary school boy... it was already episode VI - The return of the Jedi. From there, I went back to watch episodes IV and V, and like they say, the rest is history...

My favourite character is Boba Fett, the legendary fearless bounty hunter. Heavily armed and well equipped, this bounty hunter is full of weapons and accessories and is always ready for battle.

In the movies, Boba Fett's appearance is very limited and he spoke few words.... But battle scenes involving Boba Fett is always extremely entertaining and he always surprised you with the little gadgets he carries with him.



Unfortunately, Boba Fett fell to his 'death' in Episode VI.... however in the expanded universe he did not actually 'die' but instead manage to survive and be even better than before! I'll be looking forward to see how young Boba Fett developed in the upcoming episode III and hopefully see his revival in epsiodes VII, VIII and IX if George Lucas decided to continue to let Boba Fett play a significant part in the Star Wars universe...

相思令人老

道是不相思，相思令人老，几番相思量，还是相思好。

Next R & R in November . . .

Finally confirmed that due to the tight budget preparation and month-end schedule, it is decided that I only take my R&R in November... So disappointed :( Cos I've already made plans to stay a few days in Chiang Mai before returning to Singapore, ticket also reserved liao, but now have to cancel travel plans. I was told that Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Bali are not open to staff booking in November, lagi sian :( So maybe I'll just stay in Singapore when I return in November...

Anyway, it's okay lah.. HP and her hubby is coming in Oct, so I've asked them to get me some stuff which I needed...

I'll be joining the locals for the month of Ramadan (fasting month) which last from Oct 15 to Nov 14, so maybe you'll see me getting 'slimmer' :P The Expat Managers are 'encouraged' to fast with the locals... well, there is a choice but I still chose to go through the process cos I feel it will foster a better working relationship with them, and at the same time, understands how it is like going through the month without eating and drinking during the day... can be quite a challenge, hope I can be disciplined enough to go through it :)

Chinese say 入乡随俗 。。。

In the middle of nowhere. . .

Whaler - 'Sampan' fitted with an outboard motor, and is able to carry a maximum of 6 people across the waters.

Finished work around 0030 hrs yesterday and proceeded to the jetty to go home. I was the only passenger on board the whaler and half -way through the 1-minute journey, the motor went dead! So there I was stranded in the middle of the ocean, helpless and watching the whaler operator trying frantically to get the motor to start again. As if this wasn't bad enough, it started to drizzle.... Kaozz!! Stuck in the middle of the ocean, and it's raining and I've got no umbrella or rain-coat and the current is drifting the whaler further and further away.... now I understand what is meant by 'cry no tears'... The whaler operator can't speak English and I also don't know how to help him, so LL stand in the rain (which is getting heavier) and watch him... Eventually after 20 min (I think), he managed to get the motor running (but slowly) and we continue our voyage back home... Finally reach the home jetty, still raining, thank the whaler operator and dash towards home!

By the time I reach my room, I'm already soaked wet and feeling very miserable, so quickly had a hot shower, make cup noodles and coffee, sat at my desk and listen to my favourite music... what a night!

Splash for Trash

Today is International Cleaning Day, and usually we will have an island cleaning and House Reef cleaning. Island cleaning very 'shiong' so I opt to help clean the House Reef. So at 1500hrs, suit up, gear up and gathered at the dive centre for briefing and grouping. Some are diving with me for the first time and they were surprised to see my tattoo, cos I don't look like someone who will have a tattoo (that's what they say :P).

Anyway, cut the long story short, we have one dive master to 3 divers and off we go to scoop trash from under the ocean. We found bottles, rags, wood and all kinds of rubbish, even toilet pipes! 3 groups of 4 persons each and we collected almost 4 full garbage bags of trash.

We should really learn to take care of our environment and not dump rubbish as we wish. The Earth that we're living in is already in a bad shape, we should not let it deteriorate any further. We can all do our part in 'saving the earth'.

Cocoa Island Resort

Spent my weekend at Cocoa Island Resort - a 23 bungalows (all water bungalows) resort. Had an enjoyable time and my figures were trigger-happy snapping away. The resort is beautiful, and just right outside my water bungalow, is already a good snorkelling site. Did nothing for two days but just bask in the sun and play with the fishes...



More photos at
http://community.webshots.com/user/kokwhee

Final Fantasy VIII

Boy: I'll be here....
Girl: Why?
Boy: I'll be here.... waiting....
Girl: Waiting for... ?
Boy: I'll be here.... waiting.... for you.... so...
Girl: ...
Boy: If you come here.... you'll find me...
Girl: ...
Boy: I promise.

李商隱《無題詩》

相見時難別亦難，東風無力百花殘。春蠶到死絲方盡，蠟炬成灰淚始乾。
曉鏡但愁雲鬢改，夜吟應覺月光寒。蓬萊此去無多路，青鳥殷勤為探看。

Skeptical . . .

I was skeptical when the suggestion came for me to publish my thoughts and life on this website. I mean, putting my life up on the net for the whole world to see/read.... ??

But after reading other people's blogs, I see the 'value' and fun of things... So I'll be updating this blog as often as I can. It doesn't matter if nobody reads, it acts as a place for me to pen my thoughts and a place for me to record the little details in my life... which I'm sure if I read them a few years later (provided this website is still available), will rekindle fond memories... :)

Sweet Potato Soup

Today our Singapore Chef made sweet potato soup for all us. Slurp!! Long time never drink soup liao... And of course, anything that is 'local' is good :)

And today the weighing scale reads 74 kg... that means another 1 kg lost over the week!! Haizz... don't know whether good or bad... But I guess being healthy is more important..

Now a little more relaxed with the month end and budget sorted out, I'll be taking the weekend off, will be visiting another resort to stay over for the weekend, cos of a special deal, almost everything also complimentary... finally I got my chance and time to really REST & RELAX in this beautiful paradise!!

Moon cakes

Our GM came back from a business meeting in Singapore and brought back some moon cakes for the Chinese community here in Kuda Huraa. It was really a nice gesture from him. :) So the Chinese clan had an early mooncake festival celebration with chinese tea (courtesy of our Singaporean Marketing Co-ordinator).

And that reminds me that moon cake festival is round the corner, and the lanterns displays at Chinese Garden. Anybody going there to take pictures for me to see?

Good self-improvement book

Came across a good book at the Resort Library :

FYI -
For
Your
Improvement

by Michael M. Lombardo & Robert W. Eichinger

A book about self improvement, and identifying your own weaknesses and strengths. The book also explains in details how the under-using or over-using of a certain trait can be counter-productive... There are also ideas and ways on how one can improve and correct one's behaviour. You do not need to read the book from the first to last page, the book is designed in such a way that you can zoom into that particular 'competency' that you wish to improve and get to work on it immediately.

An interesting and excellent book if you feel you're stuck somewhere, want to progress and move upwards or if you're a mentor or supervisor, the book can help in providing feedback on how you can help your mentee or subordinates understands their strengths and weaknesses, hence helping them to grow and develop.

Off day finally . . .

Today is my off day, my boss is finally back to work yesterday and after briefing him about the progress and happenings during his absence, I immediately appeal for an off day.... and he agreed.... yeah!! So woke up at almost 11 am this morning, first time in the past weeks that I slept for more than 8 hours! As the breakfast hours is over, I called my personal chef (ahem!) if there is anything to eat.... he said he will make something for me..... Fifteen minutes later, I'm already at the kitchen swallowing 2 bowls of wanton noodle soup!! Wa heaven! So long never eat noodles and it taste so GOOD!!

After that, nothing to do, don't feel like going into the waters, so decided to clean the house. Change bedsheet and pillow case (I think one month never change liao!), sweep and mop the floor, clean the ceiling fan and aircon grills, send in my laundry, scrub the bathroom and toilet bowl, clean the mirror etc etc... After one and
half hours of hard work, my room is neat and tidy again with new bedsheets and pillow cases.... the air feels fresher, the toilet also looks clean and smell nice.... Haizzz... how I wish my mother was here :P

Then came back to the office to reply emails and see how things are going.... A slow and lazy Sunday, not much happening in the office.... Still thinking of what to do in the evening but for now, I'll just go back home and have a 'nap'...