Sunday Session

A Sunday session has always been one of my favourite alcoholic pastimes.

They are a rare and generally far from satisfying experience in New Zealand where Sunday still remains a day to recover from the Saturday night, and by mid day start preparing oneself for the working week. Perhaps it is the kiwi Protestant/Calvinist hangover. Sundays are'nt for fun. And afterall, there is too much on the telly and it would be a shame to miss out. Best stay at home. Hence the ghost town atmosphere even in New Zealand's largest city.

So my first introduction to how delightful a messy Sunday could be was my wonderfully debauched experience as a Kiwi on his OE (overseas experience), living in London, with a million other antipodeans, and making the occasional trek to Kings Cross, and 'The Church'. The Church was similar to the real thing in several respects, for example the attendees were all united in a common devotion to seek a certain edification. A high if you will. The difference was the means by which we attained such states of enlightenment. The previous years of Sunday self denial only enhanced the experience.

Fast forward over a decade to another Sunday. In Kuala Lumpur. Prego restaurant is attached to the Westin Hotel in the 'Golden Triangle' district of central KL. Every Sunday they offer a Buffet 'all you can eat' with free bubbly, with an incredibly attractive price tag considering the extortionist price of booze in this town. There was certainly no drunken debauchery this time but we certainly got our fill of what was on offer, and unlike my Sunday sessions last century, I needed an afternoon nap that became an early evening nap.

A highly recommended treat for people who like to spoil themselves.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/dining/index.html?propertyID=1443

New Laptop

Hi my name is Jono and I am technophobic.

A misleading term perhaps, because I do not fear technology, nor do I loath it. Quite the contrary I love how much better and easier it can make life.

And yet,despite all this, I am frequently guilty of gross procrastination when it comes to the acquisition of computers. Lina has been hounding me for months, if not years to replace our decrepid and virus infested dinosaur Acer computer that we bought all those years ago. She (the computer, not Lina) was a trusty and anxious-to-please device in her day, but 4 years old in tech years is a good innings so we had to have her liquidated.

This example of procrastination in my life has been one of the easiest to reason in my head. My noble, lonely stand against Bill Gates and the like who turn the want into a need. I never needed a computer with the 2 Duo processor P8700 (2.53GHz). Had no desire for the 4GB memory. And as for the disk drive with a 320GB capacity and Blue tooth capability. Overrated. Afterall, they sent men to the moon using computers that make the Commodore 64 look like 'Deep Thought' .

Until now.

I've sold out, I admit, and have become the victim of shameless technology marketing. 'They' made me do it.

I write this post from the salubrious and infinitely stylish keyboard of our recent purchase. A Sony Vaio laptop computer (with the above specs incidently). And as is a usual for a procrastinator like myself, my feelings include many things but most noteably...........why the f*&k did'nt I do that before!!

Homemade Pizza

Home made food has become our family's culinary theme of the month. Earlier this month I shared the results of our caramel chocolate slice, which tasted as good as it looked.

Today was home made pizza. There were several unsuccessful attempts at the 1st stage of pizza base making which involves combining the yeast with blood temperature (37 degree celcius) water. We finally cracked it in time for a late Saturday lunch of pizza from scratch with home made tomato base, cheese, olives, sun dried tomato, and anchovies.

I'm not entirely sure whether the nicer taste is purely psychological ie. it is homemade so my mind thinks it should taste better therefore it does, but regardless, it did taste mighty fine.

Ghost Month

Today marked the beginning of the most inauspicious time of year according to Chinese tradition. During this time, spirits of the dead roam the earth and apparently can create plenty of mayhem.

Hence for those that believe in such superstitions, it is inadvisable to travel, get married or carry out any other such life threatening activity. This is particularly the case during the hours of darkness so we hope that the evening rush hour will be significantly reduced for the next month.

To mark the occasion at NASAM (the stroke centre where I volunteer), a ghost story telling session amongst the stroke survivors was held, where I heard several personal supernatural tales.

Best be careful out there.

http://customsholidays.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_chinese_ghost_month

Film Review - District 9

Approaching this film with trepidation is understandable after reading the ‘Produced by Peter Jackson’ marketing slogans about town. Using a big name as the producer to sell an otherwise underwhelming project is a clever technique that we see far too often in cinema marketing. In this case however, New Zealand’s finest motion picture exponent shows once again why he is one of the worlds best, and how the movie world will be a better place for his foray into producing. Written and directed by Neill Blomkamp, this is unquestionably a film dripping with Jackson influence.

An alien space craft has landed with a numerous bunch of nasty looking critters aboard (‘prawns’ is the derogatory term used by humans for these creatures). They are provided refugee status and housed in a shanty town camp – District 9. When attempts are made to shift them to an alternative location, things get interesting.

Not another ‘aliens land on earth etc,etc’ movie I hear you say? Watch this and be prepared for a mesmerizing, sci-fi trip.

Incredibly, the aliens have not landed in Manhattan or LA. Instead, the city of Johannesburg, South Africa is the ungrateful host for these extra-terrestrials, and with the aliens increasingly becoming victims of human prejudice, a strong parallel with apartheid South Africa is obvious and wonderfully poignant.

These are seriously ugly and scary looking aliens. And there is no need to resort to corny, childlike, cutesy, alien charactertures, with beams of light to guide our way to feeling sympathy for the ‘prawn’ who just wants to go (phone) home. No, there is no such condescending to the audience, no hand holding, and spoon feeding to ensure that we all leave the theatre with the identical feelings to the test audience.

Superb action, with good enough special effects, this is top drawer sci-fi.

Outstanding.

Weekend in Singapore for the 2009 SAFRA Singapore Bay Army Half Marathon

We spent the weekend in Singapore staying with Knighto, Debs, and Keisha. The reason for our visit was the 2009 SAFRA Army Half Marathon.

It was a 5:30 am start for the half marathoners and unfortunately, mid way through the race I was not feeling good at all and knew that my goal of sub 2 hours was not to be achieved that day. Eventually, after much discomfort, my time finished at 2:15. So its back to the drawing board with the running.

Nonetheless we had a great weekend with the usual excellant hospitality from the Knights of Braddell Heights. We also took the opportunity to visit Matt, Carine, Benjamin, and Sophie who have recently moved to Singapore.

Book Review - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

This is an epic novel, unsurprising given its 10 year gestation, from the pen of a first time novelist. Wroblewski juggled this project with his day job of software programmer and in terms of books sold he has really struck the jackpot here. Its international best seller status owes huge gratitude no doubt to the ‘Oprah’s 2008 selection book club’ seal of approval which virtually guarantees literary success. This was justifiably so for the excellent ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy a couple of years back.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle tells of a mute teenager, whose family has for several generations bred dogs. A unique breeding progamme has been contrived and Edgar’s relationship with the dogs is central to his existence. His uncle returns from exile and life is about to change. The story mirrors Hamlet in its events (I am told – the only Shakespeare play that I have read is Othello for school) and overall the novel is well constructed. Whether this entitles it to the great American novel label attached already by some, I am not qualified to judge, however it is very good.

Wroblewski uses the perspective of the dogs on occasion, which must have been difficult, and these sections are beautifully written. Furthermore, his characters are well portrayed with Claude the bad uncle for example, never allowed to become a cliché for evil. Frankly though, my expectations were more then was delivered, although the sheer scale of the story telling and quality of writing is undeniable.

Very good but not outstanding.

Gratuitous Cute Stuff

Its not a watch........its a computer!

I have had this device for some weeks now, and although I wouldn't describe myself as a gadget guy, this is something I am very fond of.

Firstly, it was a gift from Isaac for Fathers Day, making it doubly special. That fella is already aware of a man's needs!

As I am doing a fair amount of running I have been able to justify the expense. Heart rate, distance, pace per kilometre, pace per kilometre, pace per lap. I could go on. It makes going for a run a far more exact exercise as sometimes I may want to average 5:50 per kilometre for 8km as an example. This is the 21st century, no need for guess work now, slap the COMPUTER on and away I go.

Has it made me a better runner.........not noticeably, but the true test will be on the SAFRA Singapore Bay half marathon on 16th August. Lina will be running the 10km event along with Debs and Knighto, who will kindly billet us for the weekend.

http://www.safra.sg/page.aspx?pageid=301

http://www.polarusa.com/

Book Review - 'Netherland' by Joseph O'Neill

A novel set in New York and London through the eyes of a Dutch, cricket loving, financial analyst.

When I read in the excellent http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/ about this novel, long listed for the 2008 Man Booker prize 2008, it really grabbed my attention.

Post 9/11 literature is, I am told, an entire genre in itself, and although this event is an integral part of the story, it is only that: a part. The tale is brilliantly rich in the breadth of themes and characters so to label this as part of a particular genre would be a disservice.

A good novel for me, includes multiple insightful narratives which leave me thinking - that's so true!, and I am urged to reread for the enjoyment. This was a common experience.

O'Neill shows absolute mastery of language throughout. Its beautifully written and never dwells unduly. This is unquestionably my book of the year thus far, however I am half way through the much heralded (by Oprah at least), 'The Story of Edgar Sawtelle', so stay tunes for that review.

National Stroke Association of Malaysia "Fun in the Park"

Sunday saw the National Stroke Association of Malaysia (NASAM) Fun in the Park at Taman Jaya, Petaling Jaya.

This is a fun fair held annually to raise funds for an organisation which is inadaquately underfunded by the government. NASAM is involved with the rehabilitation and support of stroke survivors in this country. I have been volunteering physiotherapy for 2 mornings a week at the PJ branch and yesterday was involved in the operation of a stall.

This was a wonderfully well run event and we had a great time. More importantly there was over 200,000RM raised. Typically for Malaysia there was plenty of makan available, with a variety of games as well.

From a personal standpoint, I enjoyed being part of a community event in a country that we are guesting in. When you are not working, there is a risk of becoming detatched from the local community, inevitably lessening the experience of living abroad.

Stroke is a growing issue in Malaysia as this country become more affluent and risk factors for strokes increase. Lets hope that the Malaysian government starts to get more serious about this and supports these organisation better.

http://www.nasam.org/

Victory dance following the passing of the 200,000RM mark

Food stalls