my simple life

It has been almost 3 weeks since I moved into my new home... but the place remains unfurnished (well... minimally furnished). It’s partly due to the mad rush to buy furniture before the Chinese New Year and partly because I was working day and night trying to heed to all the URGENT calls flying in from every direction.

My initial intent was not to complain about the demanding workload or the fact that Singaporeans buy up all the furniture before New Years. I was looking at my “necessities” nicely arranged on the furniture-less floor and I had felt the urge to share it with the world... Observe the bare necessities I require in order to survive:

1. cable modem - cannot make a living without network access to telecommute
2. print, scan, copy (3 in 1) printer - I rarely print, but sometimes I really do need to get things printed when I am not able to carry information in electronic format
3. phone base - I do need a “landline” for extended conference calls
4. transformer - being an American, I have many electronic goods that require 110V output.
5. Airport Express - I LOVE this little thing. I’ve been carrying it everywhere. You can hook up your printer and speakers. Instant wireless network with printer + speaker sharing (via iTunes).
6. Subwoofer - because I need to play my “hack on” playlist while I “hack on”... You would be amazed what a different even a cheap subwoofer makes to the richness of your music.
7. TV - my window to the world when I am confined indoor hacking away for HOURS (sometimes days). It also functions as the hub for audio input/output (all audio output goes into TV and then out to speakers)
8. cable box - because a man cannot live on free channels alone
9. Mac Mini - a tiny package that can be used as stationary base to your mobile computing... without the bulk of desktop computers. The graphics is much to be desired (even with DVI output to a HDTV input on the TV), but it still is a neat little thing.
10. Speaker - need I elaborate?
11. Wireless keyboard by Apple - It’s so pretty I had to get one for my Mac Mini.
12. Adaptor for MacBook pro - I don’t like desktops much.
13. DVD Player - Cheap region free DVD player from Phillips. It even plays all other movie formats that you can play on a PC (not hooked up at the time of the picture because I didn’t have the component cables)

Then I got to thinking.... I thought the technology was supposed make our lives easier... and simpler. Sure... We can now do more in shorter amount of time, but it didn’t really make our lives easier and definitely not simpler.

blogging hiatus and my shallowness

Avenue de Lafayette
Boston, Massachusetts
USA
39.2° F (4° C)

'Forgive me doctor, for I have sinned. It has been a year since my last cleaning. I have been flossing, but it's possible I have not flossed as I should have...' This is how I usually start annual dental checkup/cleaning session. But it seems I need to extend my confessional practice into another realm: blogging; 'forgive me readers, for I have sinnned. It's been too long since my last entry...' I feel I need to confess my non-diligence and ask for forgiveness. What little regular readership I had, I have lost with long hiatuses in between entries.

My life has been on a hyper-drive. Many a night was spent trying to deliver what my company has promised and where my predecessor failed/neglected to deliver. Many blogging moments have come and gone. I would often turn a blind eye to the urge using fatigue as the principal excuse. The creative soul withered with each passing to a point where it only musters a whimpered whenever blogging moments revealed themselves. But, somehow, a midlife dad with a 15-inch MacBook Pro rejubinated my need to blog.

The Apple emblem glowing off of a sleek titanium casing used to symbolize the free-thinking, stylish, non-comprimising individuals who seek quality above and beyond the norm. Wielding a Mac meant you were a creative rebel who refused to surrender to the mainstream... Being a Mac user in the old days required acuity and wit to survive in a world dominated by mediocrity with its messy registries and error/crash prone Windows operating systems. Those days are long gone... Whenever travelers are required to divulge the secrete mobile computing habits, too many have revealed sleek Macs; high school kids, midlife crisis dads, and tech-savvy elderly... Mac is well on its way to becoming the norm.

Isn't this what I had prophesized and evangelized all these years? It was only natural for everyone else to catch on to the fact that Apple (with Steve Jobs at the helm) produced wonderful things. What surprised me was my own displeasure at Mac becoming the norm. After much thought, I had realized I am shallow after all. I let the fact that average Joe (more like midlife crisis Joe) was enjoying superior quality piece of machine affect the way I feel about my own Mac. Correction. I let what others may think (equate me with average midlife crisis Joe) affect how I feel about Mac ownership.

Alas... I still have much to learn... and grow...

maze of public transportation

Somewhere in Den Haag, Netherlands
waiting for tram 6
41°F (5° C)... feels much colder though...

I must say I did not expect to find myself trying to figure out how to travel from point A to point B this morning, but the wonderful people at HTM saw it fit to provide me with a nice little challenge by reshuffling the routes near Centraal Station... It's a good thing I don't speak any Dutch. That would have been too easy.

My life doesn't seem fuller...

Toussaintkade
Den Haag, Netherlands
53.6° F (12° C) (feels colder though...)

It all started innocently enough. I tried not to kill my guests with my talent in culinary arts (lack thereof) and they continually disinfected and fortified their stomach lining with Polish rye vodka -- Wyborowa. Pretty soon, a liter of 80 proof refreshment was completely empty and we moved on to beer and wine. As the night went on, embarrassing life stories were told (mostly mine, I think), and the topic of marijuana came up quite naturally... or perhaps I blurted it out... I'm not entirely clear on that part. It appeared to me that this would be the perfectly logical and "legal" environment if I were to try it at least once in my life.

The idea of trying marijuana began to feel more and more enticing... Soon enough, we were walking toward the "coffee shop" around the corner to procure our (my) experiment. The veteran of such vice bought two pre-rolled joints, and I, being heavily intoxicated and being a first timer, bought one more... just in case.

We were sitting around a table on the back porch in a big circle. Just like American Indians of the wild west, we passed the lit joint around... taking turns in inhaling this sacred smoke. In sharing the smoke we were bonding our spirit in camaraderie.

'Wow, it tastes like cigarette...' I held it in... just as I had observed how joint should be smoked through immensely educational movies and TV. I didn't feel any difference. Someone commented... "this [joint] is quite weak." This gave me encouragements that I really did not need. I was determined to experience whatever I was supposed to experience. I inhaled deeper... and held it in longer... until... on my fourth inhale, I realized I was in trouble. My body felt like it had just tripled in weight. I felt my body sink deeply into the seat. I blurted out "Oh crap! Am I supposed to feel like this?" I set off a giggling session. But I couldn't join them... Something was definitely wrong. I mustered all the strength I had left to steady myself... my mind was focused solely on getting to the bathroom.

As I got inside the bathroom and locked the door, I exploded. The entire earth started swaying at twice the speed of a pendulum. I lost all strength in my legs and collapsed onto the floor. The toilet bowl was never so endearing in my life. I hugged and caressed it... toilet bowl was a friend... a very loving friend.

The girls in the group realized something was wrong. They knocked and forced me to speak to make sure I was still alive. The whole time I was straddling the gateway into the next world, I heard everything. I heard the laughter, the concern, the conversations... And whenever I heard footsteps toward the bathroom, I made an effort to make a little noise... It was all I could muster to let them know I was still breathing. At every attempt at regaining command of my own legs, my internal organs revolted into violent convulsions. I prayed "oh, God, oh God, please save me." I vowed never to go anywhere near it... I passed in and out of consciousness.

After everyone had gone home, I finally regained enough strength back in my legs to get up and walk out of the bathroom. All I remember is getting into bed... thinking 'I have had some embarrassing moments in my life, but this one takes the cake... great...'

• try marijuana: check
• puke all over someone else's bathroom: check
• get rescued off the bathroom floor: check

I have done something I wanted to try before I die, but somehow, my life really doesn't seem that much fuller.

Note: I am a classic example of everyone having different reaction to the same substance. The experience was worse than anything I have experienced in my entire life. Believe me, I once drank an entire bottle of wisky and did things I wasn't proud of... and things I wish I could forget, but this one was more than just embarrassing. It was scary. I heard marijuana was supposed to be a mild recreational substance... My body reacted in such an unexpected and violent ways... to a point where I truly believe that I could have died.

leaving my comfort zone

Centraal Station
Den Haag, Netherlands

For the first time since I began residing in Den Haag, I am finally venturing out of zone 5400 (city center) and into the unknown... 5413 (Leidschendam). It should have happened a month ago, but then again, I should have done many things a long time ago... The remaining days of 2007 will be dedicated to preparing for a new beginning. It will be a giant leap of faith... but I am ever so hopeful...

Note: This would be my first official mobile blog entry.

Hooked on FaceBook

Tousaintkade
Den Haag, Netherlands
44.6° F (7° C)

At first, I resisted, then I reluctantly wandered in... I was bored. That was all it took!

Now I'm hooked. I'm sending updates using SMS via Twitter, throwing sheeps at friends, and racing my pet tofu against imaginary furry little critters my FaceBook "friends" choose to call their own... that is, of course, if I'm not in search of long lost friends who are probably too old to be bothered with this whole social application craze on the net. (Yeah... I'm old and usually have even older friends)

I'm thinking I should probably be doing something more meaningful... Heck, even blogging is better than mindlessly petting others' pets to earn "munny" just so that I can feed my D'Boo (my pet tofu). I gotta kick this habit before it kicks my butt...

me on FaceBook

Lesson from a bowl of noodles

Laan van Meerdervoort
Den Haag, Nederland
50° F (10° C)

After paying 13.80 EUR (19.52 USD ~ 29.10 SGD ~ 22.19 AUD) for a bowl of noodles you could get in Seoul for 2,500 KRW (1.91 EUR ~ 2.71 USD ~ 4.05 SGD ~ 3.09 AUS), I realized I took a HUGE pay cut as soon as I set my foot in Amsterdam. I remember the good old days when a dollar carried more weight. I was able to spend a week in Vienna without worrying too much about my expenses... and now, I need to be penny pinching just to stay under my per diem allowance. Buying anything else but the bare necessities seem out of the question. The next couple of months will be quite an experience... a test of my frugality. This will be especially tough for me since I am known to rather enjoy finer things in life.

For one reason or another, money seemed immaterial to me... I have a habit of refusing to look at the price tag. I believe decision to purchase an item should be made base upon the quality of the product rather than price. Of course I think twice about buying anything exceedingly above my means... but I would rather save up to buy one quality item rather than to buy several remedial/poor quality products with which I know I won't be satisfied.

Regardless of my stance on price versus quality, my stay in Den Haag will force me into a spartan lifestyle... Perhaps this is what I needed... some financial discipline.