Thanksgiving 2011

Sun rising over the desert..

Yes yes, that was like 3 weeks ago… but here are the pictures.. . Sorta have to finish where I left off…

The little mount is fully lighted by the morning sun.

We were at Arizona on that day and had no one to share a Turks … and no way to cook one ourselves with the limited kitchen in our motel room… so what do we do? Hit the roads!

Oh, BTW… the time stamp on the photos are SG time. I didnt switch to the actual time in AZ… okay its really not nighttime… got it!?

Thats when you finally see the sun...

I thought it might be good to see sunrise over the Canyons… a new experience for me I hope. … and it was freezing cold ! Really 36f! Well.. cold is fun too… for a short time it is anyway. …

So we get out for a little bit, then jump back into the heated car cabin and pheww……… yes, thats how I spend predawn… jumping in and out of the car…

Thanksgiving at the Chapel of Holy Spirit

Sunrise  over this high elevation hilly area is an interesting thing. You know its coming and you see the shadows of darkness being taken over everywhere around you. First you see the lighted up tip of a canyon, and you can use the line markings like a sundial. Finally the edge of light/darkness creeps towards you and viola ! you’re in daylight!

Me at the chapel.

Our destination is the famous church in Sedona… Divine intervention or just coincidence, I dunno, but here we are,  at the Chapel of the Holy Spirit on Thanksgiving. 

There are many homes/church around here, but this is the most distinguishable man-made structure amongst them.

Pets of the brothers at the Chapel...

We were almost the 1st visitors of the day.. even the little church shop was not yet opened. Spent a good hr enjoying the beautiful crisp morning weather, golden glow and red earth and serenity inside the Chapel.

Plentiful harvest. Cactus apple... i think they are edible.

These are Cactus apples. They are everywhere along the path. I wonder do people eat them… really…

These Chipmunks are regulars at the feeding stone. I think the brothers throws a handful of seeds to them every morning.

The mansion.

And there was this really obnoxious mansion by the foot of the Chapel. Hmmph! And everyone who visits the Chapel will definately not miss seeing it..

2 meanings to this. Everyone cant miss seeing it, and nobody should miss seeing it! HmmPH!

Did I tell you about that obnoxious mansion!

Ok, its still early. Barely 10am when we decided that we’ve seen enuf around here.. so whats next…? Drive by Oak creek? We hear that its really beautiful…

Its really yellow and white around Oak Creek

And it didnt disappoint. This is really beautiful country, totally not like a desert! Pine trees and a creek. Fast flowing in some areas. Driving is gorgeous around here.

Whitish cliffs at Oak creek.

Plenty of yellow against white cliffs… its amazing that Sedona and Oak creek are so near, yet they look so different that they feel so far…

…. and for some reason, I like white cliffs better than red cliffs.. .   … and autumn colors better than arid evergreen!

I dun want to remember Sendai as a diaster area

1 week ago, I was sneaking a little snooze after lunch in my chair at my desk in my little cubicle… I dun remember exactly what time it was, but I woke up with a start and I thought we were experiencing tremors… like we usually do in Indonesian earthquakes… I asked my “cube” mate if shes feeling it too, but no. I checked my little tremor marker, and it seem to be moving very slightly, maybe its nothing. ..

I was going back to my dreams… when another colleague across the aisle exclaimed, “Japan earthquake!”. That was about 10 mins after I thought I felt the quake… My cube mate and I were like “<Shock> Really!? could it be!?” Is it possible for one to feel an earthquake in Japan from Singapore.

I guess its not really important that if I really felt the quake or not. All the same, I feel terrible for the people who are so badly affected. From a natural disaster of earthquake, followed by tsunami and finally to radioactive disaster, things are getting from bad to worse in hours.

Overnight, the unknown city of Sendai became instantly known to the world. Its not a good thing. Sendai is a city of no consequences to anybody, except for those who were fortunate to be aquainted with it… before this happend. Now, people will remember it for this incident.

I remember Sendai for the good 9 months when I was working and living there in 1998. It was my 1st experience of living through 4 seasons at 1 go, at the beautiful subburb of Izumi ward of Sendai city. I enjoyed the excellent sushi made with the most fresh sea produce from within Miyagi district, I enjoyed my walks through the flower fields, rice fields, trails… etc. I drove several times to coast at Matsushima and I love that fishing and seafood farming village. I guess thats gone now.

The survivors of that village, I am not sure they are really survivors. . For the rest of their lives, they will be mourning their lost family and friends, they will have a regret so deep in their hearts that nobody will truly be able to understand. The lost of ones’ roots! No more family house or happy family moments. Pictures and heirlooms washed out to sea, nothing to hold on to except for the memories.

Insurance may buy that car that was lost, or that house thats gone, but not the album of family gathering pictures, not the file of newspaper clippings made by proud parents of they exceptionally talented child. Aid money may buy food and help in rebuilding of lives, time will help heal the extreme pain in their hearts. … or will it? really? Dah says, its not a moment in time, its a missing moment in life that can never be recovered.

I have great respect for the Japanese. The spirit of unity in the Japanese will help the country recover from this shock. I feel bad that I cant do anymore than just writting my thoughts in my little blog, but I hope that there be others who, like me, remembers Sendai for better things.

Reality!

Was reading the property review last weekend… and I was run over by the great deal of local information that I didnt know. These are just daily life things that I never thought about, becos I dun have time to watch TV news, read the papers, local magazines or websites about local happenings.. I am truly shocked about how I am unaware of these things that are happening around me. I must emphasize, the happenings are just everyday city living realities, what shock me is my complacency and indifference to these happenings.

Local newsworthy event – resurgence of triads activities and young gangsters resulting in increase fights, stabbing incidents and 1 death …. My realization? Social unrest!

- Serial stabbing incidents in the North area resulting in 2 dead women (or more).. Young man was caught, these women are not related to him in anyway. His motive? Against them, none. It was anger from failed relationship. … My realization? Lunatics are amongst us!

- rising cost of car ownership. $39K COE! My, we havent seen that for quite a while.

- rising cost of public transport… to maintain 1st world transport system? … wait a minute.. do we still have a 1st world transport system?

- rising cost of housing. .. do people here really have that much money to put into a property asset? … how much do they owe?

These quotes from the property review disturbs me,

-  ”Urban life for the poor will be increasingly unpleasant”

- “Clusters of living quarters around central common areas with shared facilities. Rooms rented out by the eight-hour shift with cubbies for private belongings. “

Rising food, water and transportation cost will affect the less afluent far more than most. … I was just beginning to wonder if I am in the poorhouse myself, as I live in public housing and currently is “car”less, and I resent the rise in food prices. Although the cost of getting around is much reduced after I sold off my car, I resent that the transport system is not good as they claim it is, in certain areas. Granted that it is good in the residential and business districts, it is crap in the industrial zones.

Bottomline, this is Urban life and even while I grew up here, I am finding it “increasingly unpleasant”. So, does this mean that I am poor.. ..? By all government statistics, I am not poor… but am I being conned here? What is real and what is propoganda?

Should I be relieved that I am not renting room in eight hour shift yet? Are we telling our youth today that the future is such that they will have no personal space? No wonder they are going around, stabbing and chopping. .. literally getting rid of competition.

I want out from urban living, and that means leaving the city state country. I am not gonna stay around till 1st world standards means living in a cubby hole, packed onto people movers like sardines and pay 1/4 of my wages eating cardboard food, drinking recycled water and taught to be thankful that the air that I breathe is only 50 on the pollution index.

A layman’s case against the rich and powerful

If you dont already know about this case, do a search on Prita Mulyasari to read all that has been going on for more than a year now. I am happy to have read on 29/12/09, that she has been acquitted of the charges laid upon her. Follow this link and read the good news, http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1027504/1/.html .

Over the New Year’s weekend, I had been thinking, why do I care about this woman and her plight? Other than sympathy, which makes me happy for her, why does this news affect me so much that I kept thinking about it? I may have gotten it all figured out by now.. not sure.. but I think case is a milestone in civil rights awareness in a developing country that is brought about by information technology that enabled Facebook. It gives me comfort to know that at least some good is coming out of the rapidly advancing technology…

I have for a long time, felt that my involvement (being part of the team that work on the 45nm, 32nm, 28nm and going into 22nm) with developing technologies was not leading to “goodness” in society. Everywhere I see kids (and adults) playing with electronic gadgets.. and shutting the rest of the world out of their minds.. and I think to myself, that when they are in a crowd, they are really alone in their world… That is sad, really. I should think, that there is a time to be alone, and a time to be alive. A time to see the world thru your very own eyes, beginning with your immediate surroundings.

Are we going into a age where our answer to “why do we have friends?” is “so that I have someone to send SMS to!” . Or are we going towards having no real friends, but have thousands of imaginery friends on Facebook? I thought we were… so like I said, I was really quite happy to know any case where technology made a real positive difference in someone’s life.

The inner peace

Or “the peace within”. Whatever it is, is not easy to get… thats what I am told… To me, it’s a state of mine, that is to be treasured (if I  ever get there).. I think I have, at times been there. Some of those rare occasions are when I am sailing solo.

I come from a line of seafarers. Ah Gong was a boatboy who moved from Swatow, China to Singapore in early 1900s. The family settled down in the Catholic parish land of “Kangkar”, which is northeastern Singapore and now known as Hougang. My father was a engineer and a uncle was an officer on commercial cargo ships. Another uncle was a sea sports man, winning medals in canoeing and water skiing.

Kangkar is TeoChew for “Harbour End”, and Hougang is Mandarin for “Back Harbour”. .. so it kinda means the same thing.. Anyway, the area had a whole network of creeks and swamps, leading to the Serangoon river. .. this was my childhood playground. Growing up among fishing nets, small boats and coconut trees, all my weekends involved boating, fishing, crabbing and clamming. That was fun!

Naturally, I am a outdoor sea sports type person. Getting myself the powercraft license is as normal as driving a car.. and owning a boat is like getting a car. … I wonder why all my sisters are not like me.. they have no license and dont own cars or boats.. hmm… 

My family did only power boating… rowing was only done out of necessity (very rarely). There were no sailors … until me! Pretty sad tho, cause I wasnt exposed to sailing at a young age.. all those years that I didnt know sailing! The irony of it all is, I decided that I would be a sailor, on the day that I took and passed the powerboat license test. Then revealation hit me when I was taking the test boat out, and a Hobie cat sped across infront of me. I thot, it went so fast, so quietly, so gracefully… and look! what a pretty boat. It was so fascinating to me to see one of those sailing craft close up.. and yes, I pass the test and am a licensed powercraft operator in SG, but I wasnt feeling too elated by that fact. .. My mind was already onto something else!

1 week after passing my test, I bought myself a new Walker Bay 8 with sailing kit.. and a used 2HP Honda 4-stroke air cooled OB. .. and I borrowed the “Basic sailing” book from the library.. .. my 1st self taught sailing lesson was off the Punggol pier beach! The trip only lasted 5 mins.. as the weather conditions of that day was not conducive to beginning sailors..! I ended up on the rocky beach of Punggol, wet and pulling Sea Sparrow behind hind as I trek back to where I started from … a very humbling start to sailing.. its not as easy as I thought.. Back to the books.

…………..I got it right 2nd time. The experience was much more satifying than getting my powercraft license. It was like opening a door to a new world that is so fascinating to me. So, now that I can sail, I begin to make trip plans for me and little Sea Sparrow. I would load up with food and liquid for 1 day, shove off and sail 4 – 8hrs each time. Starting from my home beach of Punggol, making my way east, turning around at Changi Sailing Club after gawking at bigger sailboats, making it back before dark. It surprise me that, 1) I really love the solitude of sailing alone 2) that sailing the familiar waters of Punggol and Coney Island gives me the state of mind that I call “inner peace”. The feeling of returning to a old playground (alone), good ol’ memories flashing, while I am rocking gently at 2knots.. is beyond my language skills to describe.. This is what sailing solo does to me, putting me in a very relaxed mood 1st, then reflective and comtemplative… and so a day goes by and I put Sea Sparrow away for yet another adventure. I go home burnt and tired, but always high spirits.. like I am on Valium or something..

1 year later, I happen to be in the right place (Alameda Marina) and right time, where I found my 2nd boat, a Cape Dory Typhoon weekender. I rarely sail Eleanor alone. She has too many eager fans wanting to go for a ride. Those times that I did sail alone, I had been too busy about sailing that I dont quite get into the “spot”. Maybe its the speed.. Eleanor travels 4-5kns. There were some very brief moments, that I do get high on sailing Eleanor.. The calm waters of Sebana Cove, a gentle little breeze, the familiar rocky banks and same old boats.. I love sailing into the esturary among the waterfront apartments, and seeing baby palm by our workshop..

.. hmm.. so, as I have found, the “treasure map” to my “inner peace”… a combo of sailing in familiar waters, sights, slow speed, quiet and solitude. .. I am a journey person and I will eventually leave Singapore. I hope that wherever I go, I will have “treasures” aplenty.

Stop and Think!

This week started abit strange… I was overwhelmed with blogging energy. .. so I thought I would write up my job description for the benefit of my non engineering friends. .. How would I write about semiconductor technology and development over the years for the non technical mind..? Well, I tried.. see if you like it or not. http://funvinyldecals.wordpress.com/about/engr/what-is-ic-layout-design/ and http://funvinyldecals.wordpress.com/about/engr/physical-verification-of-ic-layout-design/ 

I did a bit of research before writing those. .. and after I finish, I begin to reflect on how the world changed in 30years that passed before my eyes. .. For example, I remember the 1st telephone that my family had.. it was analog and had the round spinning disc with holes and numbers… and it has a very loug ring to it. A few years later, it was replaced with a boxlike phone with square buttons and a ring that was more pleasant. .. and I remember using that phone alot! Teenage.. girls chat alot on the phone during that time. .. At that time, mobile phones were not yet produced for the masses. So if you were planning something, its a definate commitment once you hang up. There can be no change of plans or any deviation, because there was no way to inform the other party! Many times, I have waited for friends at bus-stops and never really sure after 10mins, are they on their way. .. but cant leave because what if they turn up in the next minute. But look at us now. Always in touch. Everyone of us have a mobile phone! Unexpected delays, no shows, wrong bus-stops.. whatever! All these problems of the old days gone! … umm… could we live 1 day without our phone… ?

And what about those romantic days of writing letters and postcards to overseas friends or “pen-pals” ? And whatever happened to sending Christmas cards? … and ..er .. stamp collecting hobby?

Now do you see my point? .. probably no.. afterall, what is there to think about? .. .. I wonder if most people appreciate what modern technology has done for us? I mean, we obviously are in love with our gadgets, but do we savor the moment after we reestablish contact with a long lost friend over Facebook? I think.. deep down inside us, we want to remember those good ol’ times and good ol’ people. Modern communications just made it so easy.

Now, I am back in contact with some of my long lost friends on Facebook and ex colleagues on Linkedin. .. Have been doing alot of name search lately, some friends are not on these 2 great social networking sites yet.. hoping that they and more people will be on it, in time to come.

The people that inspire me

I was about 10 years old, in school, in a class, when my teacher ( really sorry I dont remember which one ) told the class about a young man from UK cycled to Singapore. That time, his bicycle (after thousands of miles) needed some fixing and he was reaching out to kind souls to help him on his journey back. That was the 1st time in my life that I was inspired to go out and do something.

I never understand why, all the things that inspires people to achieve higher goals are failed on me. But somehow, this solo cyclist had me thinking, the world without borders. I didnt know nothing about crossing borders, the logistics or anything about the countries that he pass thru on his way down. All I knew was that he did it, and it was an achievement that has no meaning to anybody else, but himself. Not sure why, but I kept my desire to go on a journey like that to myself.. but this desire is still with me, after all these years.

2003, I read on Reader’s Digest, a UK girl had rowed across the Atlantic solo, after her male partner suffered health issues and gave up. Debra Searle, then 27, saw no reason to not continue on her own. It would simply mean that her trip would be alot longer than the planned 6 weeks. So what? Just do it.. Most people in her situation would have to struggle to find a reason to continue.. dont u think? Read about her at http://www.debrasearle.com

Lang and old_drax crossing the 2nd link.

After reading about Debra, I decided to go ahead and do something outrageous in the eyes of my family and friends. I rode my Yamaha Dragstar 125cc chopper bike up to Genting. Who woulda thot the small V-twin coulda made it up there? .. but we (me and the engine) did it. It was supposed to be a easy 7hr trip, but terrible directions and I got lost near KL. Finally arrive in 9hrs, over shaken by the vibration on the handlebars and scorched by the intense midday sunlight. I had a little difficulty willing myself to ride back on the next day, but yes we did it again.

So what’s the point of doing that 2 day trip that was not even a true challenge? For my relatives and friends, I want to prepare them for my bigger future plans where I be gone much longer and probably doing something unthinkable to them.

My little magic carpet, S/V Eleanor

2004, I took up sailing, bought a Walker Bay 8 dinghy and sailed solo from Punggol to Angler’s bank on my 1st major trip out. My destination was East Coast, but I didnt make it. I was poorly equiped at that time and could not continue the whole journey safely, so I only made it as far as Angler’s bank. I had big plans, on that little boat… what if I outfit her properly, could I make it around Singapore? Southern islands and all? I still do have the desire to do that.. and little Sea Sparrow is waiting.. she has been waiting 5 years now.. 

Sailing on S/V Sea Sparrow

2005, I sailed with Doug to Phuket on S/V Calliste. It was a great trip for me, especially since I was going to do the same journey solo on S/V Eleanor someday..

2009, Doug turn me onto Roz Savage rowing across the Pacific. Though I am not really into rowing, I am following her on Facebook and Twitter. There is something about young people who sent aside their career and go out there to do almost impossible journeys that motivates me. I have the same desires, but I have the same excuse as everyone else… “I have work to do” ! Huhh..? Something is wrong with me. I need to get out there, no excuses.

Blog, a modern day diary.

Remember those days when you write a diary..? If you did, was it a “matter of fact” record of your plans, activities, achievements? Or did you write because you mother or teacher told you to do it and hand it up like some assignment? That was quite a terrible experience..wasnt it?

My colorful daily activity diary from 1997.

I always thought some record of my routine daily activities would be nice, especially since I am quite a forgetful person. Writing down the happenings helps me remember more details, and I could look back if I dont. And I have a more personal “thoughts and feels” diary, to capture my real feelings.. sometimes uncertainty, sometimes unkind.. things that I dont want other people to know about..

Check out my handwriting. I dont write that much anymore.

Having pictures to go along with the diary would be great, but in those early days of mass photography, the effort and $$ involved were too much. Remember, film was a required media for cameras until about 8 years ago.

I got into digital photography in 2004 with my pretty cool Nikon Coolpix 5700. For some reason, it took 5yrs of more technology development before I realize the potential of pictorial diary. The technology was there, but it just didnt get to me until last year.

Now, middle age me, writing a blog and thinking how fabuluos is this modern day computer technology and internet, that allows pictorial diaries that could be private or open to public as you wish, and stored on a server somewhere that is hopefully “backed” on disk farms that are more secure than my house or my own systems.

A blog is really not a diary, becos the writer will usually consider his audience. A diary is where you record personal feelings, family events and all other stuff that should not be in public.. unless you write a gossip column and feel that its your duty to dig and reveal the dark secrets of celebrities or politicians. .. but then, you would be writing about other peoples’ secrets and not yours.

Right now, I am really excited about using the concept of blog and making a pictorial non-personal diary using this space on wordpress. I try to do 2 post/week, a little motivational target that I set for myself and finding myself on the lookout for blogworthy material and taking alot more pictures for documenting my work/cooking.. At this time, I am not really sure why I put in all this effort into making a successful blog, but I think, if 1 day when I look back and was discovering myself and my thoughts now, this blog would be successful in my own eyes.

At this time, writing a blog is fun… if its not, I will probably not continue. Maybe there is a part of me that craves attention and I enjoy reading comments from readers. Its okay, I will know in due time, what it is that drives me…

BTW, I am not taking any chances that the www can be totally wiped out by strange madmen (aka hackers) or aliens. I make prints of my posting and save soft copies on CD backups… just in case my memoirs would be worth anything in future..

Lets talk about home and land.. or waters

3 of my grandparents moved from China to Singapore, and Ah Ma was Straits Chinese ( meaning her folks had moved to Malaya sometime earlier than 1900.. ). Therefore, my parents were 1st generation Singaporeans… and me 2nd gen..

This is where I lived all my life.

My public housing apartment is in one of those blocks, in the old town of Hougang. Ah Ma tells me, the lot that this block was built on, was a swamp that was filled in, probably in late 1960s. This whole area was rural kampong back then.

Rapid development means prosperity for the people, but … I seem to have lost my identity. Pretty much so. Other than memories, I dont have links to this land or this country. How sad is that? hmm… I dunno… I dont seem to care about such things anyway..

View from living room of my 12th floor apt

Most would consider my apt’s location as rural Singapore, and may refer to it as one of the few quaint old towns. Thats is just how I like it. Moderate traffic intensity, slower pace and fewer people. My favorite shopping mall is Toa Payoh, another quaint old town. There is definately more space in this mall than any other on this island country.

View from kitchen. Small airspace between buildings. Better than most newer development areas.

Singapore’s CBD and city center malls are fascinating, but I dont get many chances of going there when its not busy. Mostly, I avoid going during the evenings and weekends. .. And when I do go there, during those rare weekday afternoons, I feel like a tourist in a familiar place. Like I have been there many, many times, but never felt like home.

waterfront living, living on the water

Well, anyway.. my purpose of this posting is to let it be known, that I am Singaporean, but thats just a nationality thing. I dont feel stuck like most city dwellers do, cos I have my options.. . Eleanor and Calliste are my avenues for  waterfront living, exotic travels, journeying and adventure.

Alright.., I am stuck for now. Keeping my job and collecting my adventure chips. Thats reality. I hope reality is temporary..

Running out of time?

Just today, as I was doing my usual 2hr drive from Home to Weekend Home, an unusual thought came to me. This week, our alarm clock didnt ring.. :O, and so we were later than usual, and the traffic was not as smooth, and we made a “BTW” stop at Tesco which was not planned for. What was planned for this weekend is taking care of chores, starting from 9am, which was the time we should arrive at Sebana, instead of 1030. So you would think, nah, whats 2.5 hrs difference gonna make?

The beauty around us

But today, was the day that I was all prepped to do work on S/V Calliste that was put off for so long. Arriving at 1030 means a whole morning  wasted, and that was me thinking ahead and dreading the catching up, so that the weekend is not wasted. At 1 point in my thoughts, I questioned God, why did he create life and gave it limited time? Why is there 24hrs in a day? And why is a lifetime seem too short for me to enjoy? Why is there so much that I WANT to do? Note, its a want, not a have to.. Why could I not put down the tools and enjoy the beauty that he created?

Pretty demanding of me on my creator huh.? Well, just a bit worked up. My personal trick to get over this nasty mood, count your blessings… Since arriving at Sebana 16hrs ago, I have been counting and have not finished. .. hmm… I am blessed in many ways, but if I dont reflect on it, I dont realize. 

I thank God for life and time that was given to me so freely, and I am sorry to be demanding more quality when he has given me the talent to create all that I need.