duttway

29-05-06

Blessed birthday, Dutt! ^^

Dog notice

Just helping to spread the word around...

DO YOU KNOW HIM?
Found : in SS3 area
Please help spread the word.
Need to find his owner.
He misses his home.
Please, please, please - HELP !

p/s: He's currently under the care of a friend from SS3...

Somewhere over the rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

(music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg)

It felt like a sentimental song which I remember hearing way back in primary school. One of my seniors performed it on stage for a Teacher's Day event and I was probably in Std 4 then. It had a feel-good tune to it. It is also the kind of song which Radio 4 would air in those days.

Then it was Miss Garland. Miss Judy Garland who sang it and I fell in love with her, instantly. Haha! I got to know her when I heard her sing Oscar Hammerstein II & Richard Rodgers' 'You'll Never Walk Alone.' I was spell-bound then.

Il Divo gave their own rendition of that song too. And although it did not sound as pretty or as graceful as what Miss Garland would have done, it is nonetheless, noteworthy.

American Idol season 5 showcased their 2 finalist last night. I missed it. Couldn't follow this year's series. Anyway, I logged into their website and behold! Katharine McPhee!!! And she sang this song too! And yes, her beauty helped much, but the clip was motionless. But this came through clearly over the ear phones - her soaring vocals. She didn’t just sing that song! She spelt new life all over the rainbow! Now, one of the hardest thing for any performer is to give an already well know, over sung, and a classic to have a new appeal, something which would once again ignite the freshness and excitement of a song which everyone already knows. Katharine McPhee redefined a classic!

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

Hmm...there must be something over the rainbow then.

Just another week gone by

G’day to all! It’s been a week since I wrote. I’ve been busy. Really busy meeting today’s dateline, constrained by the fact that I could stay back only till 7pm on Wed and Thursday night. But work is done, and I should thank my senior for being understanding and well organized too (here’s to you, Kwang Li…). Well, under stress we shift up to high gears and inevitably, situations tend to get tensed and uneasy at times. I’ve not been in the best of moods too and was down with a slight flu. But at the end, we all share a common sense of relief in having a job done. The sight of a completed drawing churning out from the printer is quite befittingly pronounced fruits of labour. With fingers crossed, we just hope that there are no errors among all those lines and dimensions. For yours truly, as always, the question of the end justifying the means, or vice versa is once again unearthed. But may the weekends bury them all. Yes, the weekends are here once again to rejuvenate body, mind and soul.

There was a music ministry review yesterday at Uncle Hung Hock’s abode, a very classy Thai-Balinese resort-type dwelling, surrounded by a neat and healthy landscape. He really does have a very good and tasteful appreciation towards rough timber, pebble-wash finish and full height glass. His understanding of individual spaces, ambience and human usability of spaces is admirably intimate and genuine. There is also an association with time and history (notice the age and origin of his sturdy timber fence and the suspended fans above his entrance terrace…). Above architecture, was the man, the warmth and his ministry. So after a garden dinner over Dominos and home-cooked mushroom soup, and after a drink of Aunty Ah Poh’s original recipe of ice-cream soda with cincau, we adjourned into the living.

Pastor Ah Kee shared with us the strength and focus of the church. Worship and prayer being the two wings that we need to continually exercise and grow in/build up. His sharing was taken from Psalm 138. Uncle Leon then took over with a time of worship. One of the few times where songs were sang entirely from memory and where there was so much liberation to sing. I felt blessed. The session that followed has been meticulously recorded by Esther, Wendi and Jon (you should see them taking turns passing the book around to minute the meeting down!).

It was also probably the first time that I had the chance to talk to this person who has been so religiously communicating with me, first via a cbox in both our blogs and then through MSN. Yeah, and as much as she would like to be conferred the title ‘siow,’ truth is, she’s a really friendly person with an overdose of energy to release. I know you would be reading this, yes, YOU! Haha! And, I can’t believe she eats things peppered with ants! Go ask her what they taste like! I’m not that keen to know…

YAF CG tonight. We meet at Jimmy and Judy’s place. Do come join us for a time of fellowship. That’s basically why I go there for…

Let’s call it a day, a working week gone by now.

Church camp's in a weeks' time.

Have a good weekend! :)

Questions insatiable

There comes a time, when you just sit down, and think. Well, our minds are always thinking anyway. Perhaps so, but now, it is pensive in nature, with restlessness welling within. And you think. And think and think. Thinking of how and what to think on. It is not the end of the year, or is it in the exam hall, but such thinking is necessary. It’s an inventory, a stock count, a self evaluation, a time when the nagging question of ‘what am I doing here?’ and ‘where do I go from here?’ demands answers once again.

A dot in obscurity. Where do I place my bearings? How do I scale myself? Where is left and right? Is everything relative or definitive?

Premise 1 says, this is not home. Upon establishing that fact, is this just a temporary stop, another transition platform, or is it a call to make this home? Where answers cannot be definitive right now, and where things fall within the ‘moral will of God,’ it is just as good as a no-answer. So, how long am I going to be here? Will home take on another form, find itself in another place or just franchise itself all over?

The profession, job and income source. Well truly, are there better things to do? I mean, is there something else which would make life count, make every waking moment a more purposeful profession than this job which I am doing right now? This is not my greatest passion and I abhor the honor given to man for designing seemingly masterpieces in architecture. Compared to a wild flower dancing in the wind, it is mere trash! A composition of metal, timber, concrete, stone, glass and whatever else is just creativity and a stroke of genius at its best, with forms and function and the beauty of proportions reverberating with our very own experience and understanding of a piece of sculpture deemed sound as a shelter and art to our senses. After a few minutes of photography and awe, what else is there to behold? How lasting and fresh can anything be after a few months? To the hours of drawing, sketching, designing, to all the hassle of working with the authorities and the challenges in construction, if it’s just for the money, the self satisfaction/glorification/gratification, the joy of building, then it is nothing more than a life wasted. But well, we need the income. Do I see myself as Piano, Foster or Libeskind looking at their buildings in the future? Honestly, no.

It is a public holiday tomorrow. A day of rest. But be it in a state of rest or at work, these questions will always be there, plaguing my mind!

So, where do I go from here? Taking a day at a time, and knowing that my life is in God’s hand… Or maybe just to know that He’s still with me would be enough to get me through this day. But have I strayed? Ask no more. Amid such questions…time will tell. Has my day been a life off one of the diary pages of God, or did I write it down my way? I have had enough of this for now.

The map to success in finance, 13th May 06

To those who would be coming for this Saturday's event (13th May 2006), here's the map. Do click on it for a larger image. Yes, and to you too, Miss Frankie (a.k.a. well, you know lar… kekeke!), please do come join us. The talk would be held at a double-storey terrace house belonging to Jimmy and Judy, and dinner will be provided. It is an event catered mainly for young working adults striving to better understand financial management, and to learn what success is in today's context. So, be there at 7:00 pm! See ya! :)

I need you (Monday blues)

To where you are, to when we said goodbye;
I never intended to.

I woke up this morning and you were gone. You left my eyes and I withheld my protest. Speechless was I to see you leave, yet, it would be for the better for me. Or so I think.

I went through this day thinking of you. Thoughts of you filled my mind. I got drunk in fantasies of you. I should not have let you go, although you said you had to. I gave in. A gentleman was I?

Each waking moment is, a battle without you. Like the dew on the leaves, and rain to the ground…revive me with your presence, for I can contain you no more, in my thoughts. A mad man you leave me!

For how am I to give an account for my horridly insipid behaviour towards others when it’s only you that I desire? Will they ever understand? The depth of which I want to be with you at their expense? Rid me of your chains!

Yet I know, my friend, for once again, I’ll hold your hand. Together, tonight... Since childhood have you mesmerized me; You who have been true, despised and undesired in eternity, but for the moment, come, take me to where you are. Speak to me your dreams, and I’ll share with you mine. In silence, let me find you waiting…For I have been, and I need you.

~A dedication from a man to his beloved sleep on a Monday morning~

01:02:03, 04-05-06

I was brushing my teeth when there was a beep on my handphone. That all too familiar twice double beep of a Nokia phone alerting an SMS. Well, as always, it provided a few moments of that ‘who’s that’ guessing game.

It was Ivy, my ex-colleague. A pleasant surprise. And here it goes, reading with a mouth full of foaming active fluoride toothpaste:

Tonight – May 4, 2006, at 1 hr 2 min 3 seconds in d morning, d time and date will be: 01:02:03, 04-05-06 will never happen again in our life time. MAKE A WISH!

Cool! For all those into numerology, digits and all things ‘once in a lifetime,’ this certainly is a fascinating fact. Then part II says, instruction-like, to make a wish. Hmm…for a moment I thought, suspending my hand motion and sparing my gums, make a wish… at 01:02:03, 04-05-06? What wish? To who? A case of unclear instructions…hehe. But then again, what capable wish-granting being would be so mundane and trivial as to share in our nonsensical romance of this one second in linear time where numbers ascend from 1-6, waiting patiently for little finite creatures all over the world to present their wishes? Hasn’t the wish-granter (supposing that he/she/it exists…) been long enough in existence to have encountered several hundreds of such number in all its existence? And, what wish could be pronounced in just one second? Hmm…this is all simply just, beyond me.

Giving my mouth a final gurgle, I leave the wash basin, and with it, my thoughts on this matter too. 01:02:03, 04-05-06 will never come again (unless I live for another 100 years for the year 04-05-2106…). And for that matter, nothing’s going to repeat itself in this spectrum of time if one’s gonna take seconds of the clock seriously, and time-dictated life’s too short a contract to be spent wishing for things while brushing teeth! Carp diem, seize the God-given day!

Empty decorations

To: Michelle, Su Ching, Man Yee, Paul and Victor of LST consultant...

Where silence shrills, desktops go bare, and the printers stop churning interior drawings...

The signage stands solely, boldly, solitarily, "CK Chua Architect; Planning, Architecture and Interior Design." Below, it's Interior wing has flown, flown away...to be replaced, to be rejuvinated, to be severed? The initials of LST is last jotted down into the history pages of CKC by those who had, and would have had the experience of having the memories of working together with this ID team. In your absence, for now, it's simply empty decorations...