Vick

Initial D (English Version)

2006-08-14T12:21:00.000+08:00

Just caught Fast and Furious tokyo today in what has become a weekly routine here in Panama. Watching movie on sunday.

It seems to me like a carbon copy of InitialD translated into English.

Same component:

1) Male lead who's addicted to racing.
2) Female lead with personal problem.
3) Bad guy with influence.
4) Mountain race route.
5) Finally, guy's toy: Hot cars

Upgrading in process

2006-08-03T07:33:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the inconvenience:

UPGRADING IN PROCESS

come back later

Caffeine Rush

2006-06-13T21:24:00.000+08:00

Been back 4 days and I just realised I have been getting an average of 5 shots of caffeine each day to combat Jetlag.

Just today alone I consumed 6 cups of caffeine:
1)1 tea during breakfast at office.
2)1 nescafe immediately after at my cubicle.
3)1 coffee bean mocha ice blended after lunch at Jurong point.
4)1 coffee at HP customer service center while waiting for my notebook to be serviced.
5)1 coffee while meeting Miss Zhang(whose workplace is just around the corner) during her coffee break.
6)1 cappucino at HP customer service when I went at night to collect my notebook.

I ended up so high on caffeine that I cant even focus properly while playing basketball in the evening. =P

Apart from caffeine rush, I have also been on another kind of rush.

Mini spending rush:

Reached home on sat morning to realised my tv is faulty. With the world cup having already started, I immediately set out to shop for a new TV set. At least I managed to control my urge to buy a plasma TV and bought a relatively cheaper Slim Tv instead.

Then on Sunday, I bought an External Harddisk(this 1 is claimable) and finally bought a $85 wireless notebook mouse which I have been eying for few months already. I guess this is my way of pampering myself abit after 1.5months away from home. Hee.

My new toys

X-men

2006-06-01T10:56:00.000+08:00

You Are Cyclops

Dedicated and responsible, you will always remain loyal to your cause.

You are a commanding leader - after all, you can kill someone just by looking at them.

Power: force beams from your eyes

Which of the X-Men Are You?

Zheng Wanling's home

2006-05-28T14:18:00.000+08:00

Another gruelling 8 hours session of majong at Wanling's home. Her Husband likes to play majong very much but has no kakis here in Panama. So he never fails to jio us for majong session whenever we are around.

As you can see from the pict, I'm feeling darn tired (So only a brief intro today).
Wanling always prepare loads of good food whenever we visit her. It was Singapore style curry and greek food(dunnoe its name) and panamanian salad for dinner this time.

Clockwise from the left: Me, Rodrigo(Wanling's Husband, ex-Panama ambassador to singapore), Wanling(ex-TCS actress), the uncles from my companies, Derek and Chua, and Thomas from Sick optic(our supplier for ATR: Auomatic Tag reader).

Hushbrown and Curry puffs??? Nope, these are Panamanian snacks. There were served by Wanling soon after dinner, not to mention the constant supply of coffee and fruits. I'm still feeling darn bloated back at out apartment now.

Marbella Neighbourhood

2006-05-19T10:11:00.000+08:00

Felt bored after dinner and a jog(trying to run off the effect of eating western food everyday) tonight, so i took the chance to walk around the area and take some photo. I have been wanting to do this since we moved back to Marbella Tower (rented apartment). Turns out my camara is not very good for night and only a few is good enuf to be posted.

Hello kitty, anyone?

"Felipe Motta", the most famous wine store in Panama City. Wine for Giles?

Shophouses across the street. At the left corner of this stretch is "Subway" which is not in this pict. "Pio Pio" is another one of the many fast food chain in this city. Next up is a chinese owned supermarket, but they only speak cantonese and I have to converse with them with my limited espanol and sign language. The one on the right corner is a bank.

"Kenneth Cole" at the World Trade Center further down the street. Record high 70% discount, Thengz interested?

Hmm, I feel a force pulling me. "Haagen-Dazs"!!!! Darn, I'm not gonna waste my earlier jogging effort.

Somehow, I still end up inside the store.

"Haagen-Dazs" icecream at US$2.30 per scope anyone?

Chocolate to go with the Icecream for Miss Zhang?

And,,, I finally succumbed to the temptation(well, better than succumbing to casinos). There goes my jogging effort. Time to head back while I savour my "Haggen-Dazs" drink.

Back at Marbella Tower. The lady boss warns you against messing up the place once inside the apartment.

But hack care, we still managed to mess it up. This is the living room.

That's the Dining table, directly behind is the room I current stays in.

I believe this is considered quite neat for a guy liao right? haha.

Ohya before I end today's post. I found some interesting board games for all of us to enjoy. I believe SY will be particularly interested in these games.

They come complete with the chips. HAHA

Venti-Uno!!!

2006-05-14T14:14:00.000+08:00

Venti-uno!! (pronounce as Van-te-Uno, 21 in espanol). Here it goes again (the DEALER gets it, not me), had a bad week a the casinos after being more or less balanced for the 1st 2 weeks.

I can see why so many people are addicted to gambling. The excitement value is actually very high, however it is also a very expensive(For most people minus the born lucky few) form of entertainment. I see myself as person with good self control(on unnecessary spending) and I know that I have always been unlucky with any form of gambling since young. However, even that has not prevented me from busting my daily budget(self imposed) for quite a few times (actually I lost count already) already. The only good news is my daily average "investment" still within my budget. =) phew!! haha

Im not gonna enter the casinos again(hmm,, make that maximum once a week. there's not much other entertainment over here in Panama, hee) and this time Im gonna keep the promise to myself. Not that Im feeling sad over losing money, just that I figured I will be able to derive better "marginal utility" by investing in other form of entertainment, for example in PS2/Board games etc...

Last word: Do not go near casinos if you have high self control, because it will undergo exponential decrease when you are in a casino. (just talking cok).

Best solution: (If you have no other alternative): make the decision how much you are prepared to spend/risk for a form of entertainment which can last for random amount of time and do not put more than that amount in your wallet(or any where on you!!). Do not even think about winning money, because you will end up empty if you think that way. =p

Lessons in Life

2006-05-05T07:23:00.000+08:00

Its been one week since I came back to Panama and Im more or less "tuned" back to life in Panama. The daily routine is almost monotunuous.

wakeup-breakfast-airport-dinner-casino or work/online back in apartment.

Apart from the culture, I also learnt much valuable lesson from my companions here in Panama.

Jessy(the naggy and troublesome) just headed back to SG yesterday and im feeling so much peaceful already. She would go all day long about all the problems shes facing and what she did(all within her job scope). Basically its pointless asking her anything, all you will get is one big load of excuses and illogical reasoning. So happy to see her back for once, even if only for a few weeks.

#1 If you are plain incapable or lazy. Just admit it and saves others the irritation of listening to your constant excuses.

Next up is Derek. He is a spider thru and thru during work although I already knew it from previous trip. I made new observation about whats made him so irritating at work sometimes. He thinks he's always right(well, most of us are guity of this one time or another), jumps at any chance to put others down, impatiently(imaging a face squeezed from both side while talking: as if others own him millions. I muz admit that he is very experience in his job scope. However, complacency comes with his experience. Working together is to find solutions together, not to find fault with each other. He's still a nice easy going guy outside work.

On finding problem(applies to same department only, haha):
#2 do point finger at each other
#3 Do not question/talks impatiently(face expression and tone esp impt), this is equivalent to "THIS IS YOUR FAULT(rubbing salts on people wound)". (hmm, Im also guilty of this sometimes: mostly to Jessy).
#4 Do not be affected by stubborn spider, be patient to them, dun bother trying to persaude them, let them bang the wall and they will come to you with a different face and tone. Show them the way(patiently), but do not be smug when you are right and he/she is wrong. Anyone can commits mistake anytime.
#5 Be brave enuf to admit your mistakes.

Last up is Chua, the one disadvantage of him being here is that Im at work 24hours as a result. =/
I learnt alot from him simply by observing how he tackles various situation and people.

#6 Be patient and courteous with everybody(even if you feels like bashing him/her up inside), advice from him: Learn to love your enemy.
#7 Follow your belief with confidence and trust.
#8 Leadership(part of it) is about understanding your men's strong points/ short comings. Maximizing their potential. Each individual requires different approach.
#9 Try and make people understand their mistakes instead of blaming them. Focus on the behaviour and not the person.
#10 Do not "shoot" others unless you are sure.

Another thing I realized myself is, never go to casino thinking about winning money, takes it a form of entertainment. sets limit before entering and keeps to it(easier said thandone I know).
dont bother what other say, gambling is purely luck. Most of those who keeps giving advice arent that rich either(they should be millionares if they are right).

Many of us knows our own shortcoming, but how many people are able to correct them?

Hmmmm, Im talking lots of coks today. =)

Arriving at Panama for the 3rd time

2006-05-01T20:53:00.000+08:00

ok, I lost my photos before I managed to download them. So, they wont be much photos in this post.

(26th APR, SG)
On the way across the oceans, I realised that this is actually the first time that I'm flying alone!!!! I have already lost count of the number of times that I flew and also the excitement of it. I must say I went through this whole trip quite comfortably this time mostly due to the fact that I dont have to follow a middle age guy(my colleague who was with me for the 1st 2 trip, he's already waiting there this time) around and waiting for him to smoke this time.

(27th APR, PAN)
I arrived at Panama feeling fresh initially this time. However, the 45mins taken for me to clear the immigration allowed the jetlag to set in. What a WELCOME I got when I finally did cleared it, I found my colleague(Derek) and boss(Chua) waiting for me with helmet and safety vest in hand ready for me saying WE'LL(including me) be working halfday today and go back early at 3pm (He also carries my lagguage to the car later). I guessed he's just trying to help me get rid of the jetlag. haha...

So, after a talking cok and coffee (smoking for them, and SOP aka standard oeprational procedure) session. Chua carried my lagguages to dump in the car while me (Semi-concious) and Derek went back in and started working. I managed to stayed awake and accident free til work over.

It was back to the "new" (not the previous apartment I stayed in previous trips) apartment after that. NOT to my surprise, I found the apartment in the exact same state as when I helped to settled the rental issues on my previus trip. Abandoned and covered with layers of dirt, except for some additions.

A Look to my right, its where I'm gonna be sleeping for the next 2 months.

Looking to the left next, I sort of figured out what Im in for for the 2 months.

Game for Majong, poker cards and beer anyone? Well, at least I can choose the TV in the background, I hope.

Work (after working hours)

Arrrr, Sofas to enjoy the TV(and World Cup?)

And Finally a view out of the window at the Atlantic (Orrrr, is it Pacific?) Ocean.

(30th APR, PAN)

Its my birthday today, and I woke up at 11am feeling the effect of last nights outing. We( with Chua, Derek and Chris, the mechanical enginner) had went out to 'pub' last night and returned at 4am. Guess what, the hardcore gambler(Derek) suggested playing Daidi and we ended up sleeping at 6am+.

In the afternoon, It was back to good old marbella. Jessy( the PM who is often the topic of conversion for the rest of us) had prepared lunch for us. I must admit, outside work her cooking(esp Chili she prepared) makes her a more acceptable person. Only after spending 3 days in Paitella do I appreciate how good and comfortable Marbella(minus the yiak yiak yiak, from Jessy) was. Anyway, the lunch(porridge and some dishes) was good.

After that, we guys set out to play pool at El Dorado(New Chinatown) after that, while Jessy went to Albrook Mall for shopping. We picked Jessy up at about 7pm(remember this time) for dinner and decided to go to the causeway(not he SG-Johor) where there are lots of good resturant by the sea.

What was meant to be a straight forward drive turns out to be quite an "adventure"

We made an illegal turn at a junction and ended up paying US$20 to the policeman who was looking for prey there(there was another stopped car with 2 angmohs). I believed he's new at this. Instead of issuing us the ticket, he got us to get out of the car and brought us together with the angmohs for a walk back to the junctions(we were bewildered for awhile). Turns out he wanted to show us the sign to say we made an illegal turns(he's actally explaning we have committed an offence and we have to pay to get out of this, either legally(with ticket) or commit another offence(to put money into his pocket) to get out of this. Anyway, he did tell us the way to the Causeway after we paid up, haha.
Even with the instruction from the "helpful" police, we made another wrong turn and find ourselves on the "America Bridge"(which Leads to other province) across the bridge, it seems strangely familiar like the N-S causeway and it feels exactly the same. We travelled 10km before we are able to make a U-Turn.
We made it back across the bridge and found the way to the causeway after another 1 or 2 minor wrong turns, and guessed what? another familiar situation to the SG Causeway. There was a long jam to our destination(its a public holiday eve).
We made another U-turn back to near where we all started, TGI Friday's(near our apartments). Finally got out of the Car at 9pm. At least the dinner was satisfying and paid by Ahgong(to be claimed by Jessy under client entertainment). Oo

I must say this was one of the most 'unforgetable' birthday I ever had.

P.S: As smoking session prior to and after every acivities is an SOP as mentioned by SY before, they are not included.

Venture into the unknown, Adios everyone.

2006-04-26T13:54:00.000+08:00

Hola everybody, this is my 1st attempt to start a blog. will inform you guys (and gals) when I start adding more stuffs. In the mean time, take care everyone!!! I'm hoping I wont end up like the picture, haha.

Adios and take care everybod!!! See you all in June. =)