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Well, hello again.

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It seems like I abandoned you again, blog. 

The last post was so long ago and so much has happened since then. I know people say that a lot – ‘so much has happened’ – but honest to God life as I knew it back in December 2012 is a distant albeit fond memory, and this is just the beginning. 

Perhaps the most anticipated event since the last post was the long awaited honeymoon in Africa. I may have mentioned it before; we started planning the honeymoon before we even planned the wedding, but because we’d taken so much time off for both weddings (well, Tom did at least – I was still enjoying the idle time between jobs) our honeymoon was a good five months after all the nuptial celebrations. 

Well, it was 5 months and an entire lifetime worth the wait because it was the most amazing experience of my life. Africa was everything more than I ever expected and certainly more incredible than I can ever contain in words, even photographs. 

Image

I think Africa had such a profound impact on our lives that we decided to centre a lot of our home decor around Africa and what it means to us. 

So I blogged sometime in September last year that we’d bought a flat. After the whirlwind vacation in Africa, we came home to the exciting transaction of getting the keys to our first home together. Our interior design consultant and his contractors worked tirelessly in record time through Chinese New Year so that we could move in end of February. We’re so pleased with how it all turned out that we actually spend a lot more time staying in and enjoying our African inspired home. 

Memories and decor ideas weren’t the only things we brought home with us from Africa though. 

On New Year’s Eve, I peed on a stick and waited to find a digital smiley face staring back at me. I still remember my hands shaking as I snapped a photo of the result on my iPhone and sent it to Tom. Our two weeks in Africa became memorable in more ways than one and as I ushered in the new year completely sober, I don’t think I truly understood how our lives were about to change in the coming months. 

More on that to come.

 

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Safari-chic.

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Our honeymoon to Africa is a mere 12 days away and I’m still wondering what in the world to wear. It’s a bit complicated because we’re going to Cape Town first and then making our way to Kenya, where certain flights only allow a modest 15kg baggage allowance. So I’m trying to find a balance of nice outfits for fancy dinners and vineyard tours, and the more practical outfits for horseback riding and game drives.

Image from what2wear.com

Image from polyvore.com

Image from Capitalfm.co.ke

So from the looks of things I’m definitely going to need a nice khaki belted dress, comfortable yet stylish shorts, khaki trousers that can be tucked into boots, brown leather boots, and crisp shirts in neutral tones.

I guess I’ve got a bit of shopping to do.

 

 

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The secret to Singapore’s traffic problem.

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I’ve come to realize that there are two main reasons why there are traffic jams in Singapore.

No, it has absolutely nothing to do with road planning or the number of cars on the roads. In fact, I don’t think it has anything to do with peak hour even.

The real reason why there are traffic jams even during off-peak hours, with wide roads and not too many cars driving in the same direction is merely awful Singaporean drivers.

Having just joined the ranks in March this year, it was revealed to me that it’s not the taxi drivers who are to blame. It’s the average driver, like you and me.

Image from carinsurance.org

  Image from mobilemag.com

While there are many attributes to the awful Singaporean driver, there are two that stand out particularly to me.

  1. The kaypoh driver

    I was sitting in line for twenty minutes through barely moving traffic on an expressway one evening, stifling my need for the restroom. Ahead I could see lane 1 converging into lane 2 and assumed there must have been a massive collision somewhere along the way. Imagine my surprise when it was a very minor accident involving two cars and the road just after the stationary vehicles were almost bare. It shouldn’t have taken twenty minutes to move the 200 metres but it did because stupid busybody drivers were slowing down to a snails pace to observe the scene before zooming off, especially when they realized that there wasn’t anything exciting to see.

    If they had just kept their focus on filing off in a timely manner, the jam would not have existed in the first place. These selfish drivers, while completely invested as they drive by an accident, are probably the same ones I witnessed cutting off a fire truck with sirens blaring making a u-turn to put out a fire two nights ago. They are also the same ones who stop in yellow boxes meant for buses or cars turning out from minor roads.

    “Maybe they were just being cautious and slowing down,” you might say. Well they don’t slow down that much when there are roadworks. In fact they switch lanes as fast as they possibly can before speeding off to their destination unfazed.

  2. The slow poke

    Next time you’re sitting a few cars away at a red light, count how many seconds it takes for the first car to move off when the lights turn green. You’ll find that out of every 5 observations, at least 3 will average about 8 seconds. As if Singapore doesn’t have enough traffic lights, these idiots taking their sweet time only allow about 5 cars through before the light inevitably turns amber. This really makes me livid (especially when I’m the 6th or 7th car in queue) and I almost punch my first through the car horn but manage every time to restrain my twitching arm.

I think that if the government focused its energy on developing systems that fine and ban drivers like these instead of COE hikes, they would find that there will no longer be a traffic problem to solve.

 

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Movies about men.

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There are a couple really interesting movies I watched very recently that I’d strongly recommend. They’re not your regular hollywood blockbuster so keep an open mind.

The first one I came across on HBO one random morning.

Image from HBO South Asia

Released in 2005, this brilliantly delivered monologue stars BAFTA nominated Anthony Sher relaying the memoirs of Primo Levi, an Italian prisoner incarcerated in Auschwitz. Theatre-goers would love this telling tale adapted from Se questo è un uomo (If This Is A Man) by Primo Levi. I don’t want to give away too much here except to say that it is an intricately robust piece of work in a very minimalistic canvas, artfully stripped of all the excessiveness of the movie industry, and carved out of a very raw form of storytelling.

The other film is a completely different approach in telling a story of a man’s life.

Image from CS Monitor

Using a mash up of interviews, home videos, behind the scenes and race footage, this documentary depicts the career of legendary race car driver Ayrton Senna from Brazil, until his untimely and ominous death in May of 1994 leading the San Marino Grand Prix. It takes you through the rarely seen mechanics of formula one racing; the politics, the hidden agendas and the harsh dangers of motor racing. The film begins with the vigour of the underdog at the start of Senna’s career, drifting into the peak of his glory days and then slows into the chilling last moments of his life. If you ever wondered what goes through a man’s thoughts just before he dies, this documentary might shed some light.

 

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Rediscovering reading.

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In a random act of curiosity, I downloaded the Kobo eReader app for the iPad.

That was the beginning of my torrid love affair with ebooks. Armed with my favourite feature, the night reading mode, and the extremely useful in-built dictionary, I dedicated my October to rediscovering literature.

Below is the list of books I managed to devour this month:

  1. The Burning Shore by Wilbur Smith
  2. Trafficked: The Terrifying True Story of a British Girl Forced into the Sex Trade by Sophie Hayes
  3. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
  4. Lyrics Alley: A Novel by Leila Aboulela
  5. The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
  6. Temporary Sanity: A Crime Novel by Rose Connors
  7. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  8. Secret Daughter: A Novel by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

One thing I do like about the Kobo reader for the iPad is that you can share quotes on Facebook and Twitter, you can even unlock achievement badges and track your reading habits like the time of the day do you read the most, how much time you take to read a book on average and the average number of pages you read in one sitting.

According to my stats, I’ve spent 88 hours reading in total, 5:29 hours per book, 106.4 pages per hour and about 39 pages per session. It’d be really interesting to see what my stats will be like a year from now if I carry on at this pace.

To the avid readers out there, any recommendations for future conquests? I’m really interested to know what you all are reading.