ndr2012

lots of quotable quotes in this year's rally:

1. "... we are a small island, but we cannot afford be small minded."
2. "... do not be a one-eyed dragon..."
3. "we may be very conscious of our shortcomings, but others have a high regard for what we have achieved." *excuses!!!*
4. "...individually, the memories are life's experiences, but collectively, they are about the soul of the nation..." *so why the rapid pace of industralisation?*
5. "...3 words: hope, heart, home."

in any case, i thought that it was quite a well-delivered speech; one that i enjoyed listening to at least, for the past few years. there was much more reference to what had been happening on the ground, instead of pursuing the government's own agenda, and as a result, it seemed like there was not one segment of society that was left out by PM lee in his speech.

now if you would excuse me, i need to go and stand up for singapore.. =D

reno woes

sorry for the lack of updates, but we have been busy for the past few weeks navigating the home renovation and décor landscape in singapore - everything just seems so nice yet so expensive at the same time!

indeed, projet pothaus has been a project like no other project that i have handled before. whereas my other projects involve of sums running into the millions, projet pothaus is the first project that i have done involving my own hard-earned money. and therein lies the fundamental conflict of wanting everything in the fastest time at the lowest cost.

performance, schedule, cost. as they say, you can only choose 2 out of 3.

if it is good and fast, it will not be cheap.
if it is good and cheap, then production will take some time.
if it is fast and cheap, quality will definitely be dubious.

can't wait for all of this to be over. don't get me wrong; the process is somewhat enjoyable seeing your concepts or designs being turned into reality, but renovation is really stressful, especially if you have a full time job yet want to be as hands-on as possible during the renovation process like me. of course, seeing your slowly depleting bank account is not exactly most encouraging either.

oh wells, at least we'll be done soon!!! after about 4 months of hacking, painting, drilling, puttying, cabling, fixing and screwing (not me), its about time, isn't it? =)

in the zone

where i aim to be at every night. =)

london 2012

with the already bursting-at-the-seams competition calendar for almost every sport, are the olympics even relevant today?