Fall colors in Portland

Hate the cold.. But I'm loving the colors. My first fall in US. Having been to US many times but terrified of the low temperatures, I always chose late spring or summer to visit America and miss the appendage freezing moments. Any impending regrets? I seriously hope not... But bball in such cold weather is really painful... And winter has not even started.

Why they keep doing that?

Losing memories...because of high rental, businesses have to fold.
The place where I first met my wife....
Sigh...making new memories here in Portland now...
Source

From Monday, Hai Bin Bishan Prawn Fishing will shut its operations after six years, following a rent dispute with its landlord.

Their landlord, Nature Park, which runs Asian Golf Academy at the same location, recently notified them of the new rental figures - $65,000 monthly, up from $26,000 they were previously paying.

Hai Bin, which has two other outlets, said they could not afford the new rent and decided to shut its operations at the Bishan branch.

Hai Bin's group manager David Ng claimed that they were then asked to clear out of the premises in three days. They asked for more time and claim they were charged almost $35,000 for the 15-day extension.

Mr Ng said Hai Bin Prawning will commemorate its last day in Bishan tomorrow (Sunday, Sept 8) by inviting customers for a three-hour prawning session free of charge. From 7am to 11.59pm, each customer will get one rod to fish for prawns for a three-hour slot. They have imported 500kg of live prawns from Thailand for the occasion.

National Day...again

Well I did not miss National Day last year, but I wasn't exactly celebrating as well...I think I might have missed it 6-7 years prior to 2011 and this year I am missing it again and I am really losing count and some patriotism along with the numbers. But even when I am away, I'll be travelling on the day for work here in the USA. So I guess my reflections for Singapore will come earlier this year.

These are my past posts on N-day and it is a good day to reflect over the years and what has changed.

2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 ... 2011 I was just too busy with my own big day planning...

Anyhow, this is an excellent article from one of the local respected bloggers Andrew Loh. I shall repost it below in case censorship starts occurring in Singapore and this article summed up my sentiments over the years. It is exactly 4 days to National Day (US time) and after reading it, it makes me wonder what holds for us, Singaporeans, say on our 65th National Day celebrations? Would I be retiring or have migrated elsewhere? On my recent trip to San Jose, I found out there are 3 ex-Singaporeans working in my office there. 1 ex-teacher turned engineer left back in the 80s, while others as recent as 2008. I am not sure if they are part of the 200,000 (Singapore Gahmen numbers) or 300,000 (UN numbers) who are working overseas or in the other basket of Singaporeans who are permanent quitters already holding US passports.

Though we relished on the thoughts of our greatly missed local hawker fare, we found that there are Singaporean/Malaysian food easily available here, not as authentic, but it helps. Besides food, were there other discussions? Politics? Housing? Well weather and haze came up instead of the worries of our country's governance - apathetic or "given up"? They were concerned of their other loved ones, friends back at home but the every 3-5 years visit seems to suffice. Would Tan Chuan Jin's call for "Help to build a Singapore one can be proud of" be heard from here? Or deaf ears have grown since our own politicians have stopped listening years ago? Thought-provoking articles like Andrew's are aplenty on the internet, but will they change anything? That's something for generations after us to judge... if there are anymore true blue Singaporeans left. My guess would be those on the greener pastures looking and hoping.

Love is Weird

I don't know anyone that doesn't like Calvin and Hobbes.

Reading the comic makes me sometimes wish I stay weird.

Sometimes love is just weird.

Sometimes my wife is weird, but I love her weirdness, though I don't say it...haha

I am not everybody who wants the same old thing...

Love in many ways

How does one love a porcupine? Cute as it may it, it hurts to be near a defensive creature ain't it?