the lastsplash

It is more than two years since I last blogged! Not that nothing interesting happened. In fact, plenty happened! Shifted house, shifted office, boys grew, had Hand Foot Mouth Disease (ouch!)! Just to name a few. There were gains and losses. Life's ups and downs. Of me, and those around me. I haven't been doing much deep thinking and thus less writing. Not enough time? That is probably an excuse. But it is true that I have not slept well for quite awhile. It is hard to explain the stress from work, where nothing goes smooth, and every step forward is a hurdle. Technology also had made it simple and addictive for us to mindlessly share. Share our thoughts in bits and pieces. Forming persona of ourselves to acquaintances and friends I hardly meet anymore. I remember experimenting with Tumbler, finding ways to post once, publish everywhere. It didn't quite work out. Even when technology made it is so easy, I have not been diligently editing and uploading photos of my darlin...

It hurt when someone commented I should let the mother handle the crying baby.  Being proud that I am a hands-on Dad and make good logical decision most of the time, that hurt my pride. Why would I not handle my children as well or even better? If the father is always there for the children, the bond with his children is never less than that of the mother's. Of course, there is no shame in letting the mother share the burden. But it is hurtful to say I can't do it.

If you were wondering... Yes I did it for the fifth time on the eve of New Year. Just two of us, made the journey from Marina Bay Financial Centre to Kampung Glam, via the newest Downtown line. You can see my photos here . Still looking for people to join us end of this year. :)

In "Resolutions 2013", I mentioned I posted thrice in 2012. Well, in 2013, I posted once - progress! Can shut down this blog lah ... hahaha ... Nevertheless, I think I should review the year and set my resolutions, although it is already half a month into January. Why? Well, lists are very useful for remembering things, especially for old people like me. Although there were few posts, twenty-thirteen was not short of ups and downs. Not in any particular order or preference... The downs : car accident, one pathetic blog entry and... The ups : became a father again (arrival of my darling Nathaniel  - gift of God), visited Göteborg , Stockholm and Paris again, spent lotsa fantastic time with my family, pushed for Scrum, clocked one more in-camp training and got to know some fun people along the way! That's a short list... You see, I can't really remember what happened and a check on my Facebook time-line revealed mostly happy occasions and photos of my sons. ...

It is becoming a tradition. This is the fourth time for me. This year, two new companions joined me for this journey in the last 24 hours of 2012. As usual, is only for a few hours in the afternoon. But I like the sound of it, "last 24 hours".  It started out in 2008 for me, a ala    Eye é City . For the record, it was another rainy new year's eve. We started our journey at Thian Hock Keng, Amoy Street and ended at Raffles City Shopping Centre. It was interesting for me as it was my first time to Thian Hock Keng. This year, instead of posting the photos here, I have uploaded them to my Flickr account . The photos look better there as I don't have to reduce the size of the photos for this blog. I will re-edit the past photos and upload them as well when I am free. Who will join me next year? You can sign up now!

In 2012, I posted only thrice (excluding this) and one of them was "Resolutions for 2012". While posts have been few and far between, 2012 was a really significant year. It is tradition for me to review of the year: Bertrand turned two. The terrible two? Hardly. He is our love, joy and pride. Our lives are centred around his growth, progress and learning. Our happiness stems from his adorable smiles, creative dance and conversations. He speaks  cheem stuff for a two-year-old. But it can be quite embarrassing when he describes everything he sees. Imagine him saying, "Daddy put-put (farted)". Luckily he didn't say that in public. And one time, he said loudly when he saw our neighbour in his flat, "uncle bo cheng sa" (topless). He loves music. Any melody can set him dancing. He hums to tunes like  Barbra Streisand and We Are Young . He wants to listen to Halls of the Mountain King on youTube. He tries to play instruments, from the drum, th...

What makes a good leader? Some will say a good leader is someone who can bring the best out of his/her people. How do you bring the best out of his/her people? Some will say by giving pointers and guidance.  How do you give pointers and guidance? Some will talk. In fact, most will just talk.  I think a good leader should be someone who walk the talk, not just talk. A good leader gets his/her hands dirty to show his/her people the way. Some may say this is spoon-feeding. I think otherwise. For example, if your staff ask you for guidance on work, most bosses would dispense some wise words, "Do this, look out for this, highlight this...". At the end of the day, the staff will come back to the bosses with the work and bosses will say, "no no, do this, not that". I would think a good leader should draft out the frame on the actual work (may it be slides or documents), then dispense his words of wisdom. The staff will do his/her thinking along that frame and f...

My posts have been few and far between lately. But this is worth the time to share with everyone. Neil Gaiman , my favourite author, gave a commencement address at  University of the Arts in Philadelphia . This is the third commencement transcript I have ever posted. First, Mr Steve Job's speech at Stanford and second, Mr Chan Yen Kit's speech at my commencement (IDA seemed to have taken out the speech). Yes, I am seeing the testament of my choice now... Anyway,  Neil's advice is applicable for everyone beyond the field of Arts. I find his following points really useful: We need to try and not be afraid of making mistakes. Do things others have not tried before. The tried and tested way gives you the same result. But your new way may yield great rewards, just keep trying. We also need confidence to believe we are able to do it, pretend to be someone who can. Often, we are tasked with work we never do before. Think beyond your experiences and skills. Imagine ho...

While my one-year-old is going for his first steps, I am also learning to walk (again). 2011 was full of ups and downs.  I was promoted for the 2nd time in my first job. Not fantastic but not bad either after six years. The challenging issues justifies for the few more dollars increment to the stipend. Murphy is my good friend. With only the final milestone left, I hope to overcome all odds and pull the rabbit outta the hat in 2012! If I am lucky, I may run another project.  For the consecutive year, I expended all my medical leave. After hearing my story, some may say 父爱是伟大的. Some may think I was pure clumsy. As my son likes to watch basketball playing, I decided to show him how to do it myself. At first I felt good, I got it plenty of shots. Unfortunately, I broke my ACL while chasing after the ball. It has been two months and my knee is still weak and hurts occasionally. I plan to go for surgery in 2012, while performing the balancing act of pulling the rabbit and recup...

In between taking care of my dear son, I sneaked out a few hours of the last 24 hours in 2011. It was the third year for me. Here is 2008  and 2010 . With a creaky left knee, I wondered aimlessly from Promenade MRT to Somerset MRT, with a 550D and my Dad's old Olympus mju film compact camera. While I snapped 139 shots on the 550D, I cautiously took only two shots on film. So it will be a while before I can see how the film turn out. :p Nevertheless, here are the thirty crappy shots with no theme or whatsoever... Which quadrant do you belong to?   Stop and adjust yourself.   He fumbles with the map. She wonders where to go. Or is she?  Another of the 鸟 problem in 2011. Pigeons. Call AVA. Crows. Call NEA. Mynah? Easy, M for McDonalds.   Setting up the metal barricades for the New Year countdown road closures.  What are the enchanting moments in 2011?  Giant Mentos on the river or another bureaucratic publicity?  ...

It is no secret, deep down inside, we all want a Siri to do our bidding. I don't own a iPhone 4S, but there are some things I wish Siri will do for me. Below is my top 10 list: Siri, order some roses and deliver to my wife for our wedding anniversary. Include some sweet words in the card. Siri, edit the photos and upload them to Facebook. Siri, blog about my incredible date last night. Siri, download my favourite drama, sitcom and animes. Siri, give me the gist of today's news (as what the President may receive). Siri, upgrade my competency status. Siri, sharpen my monthly progress report. Siri, cook me dinner. Siri, take out the trash. Siri, feed my baby, change his baby diapers and coax him to sleep. (Woah, Siri doubles as the latest domestic helper in the market?! Okay I cheated abit on this one, there are three tasks.)

Twelve months ago, our baby boy came into this world. It was the beginning of our new journey. The delivery suite was cold. I held the camera tightly, waiting for the moment. The gynecologist came in and told me to put it away. "No time for this." My job was to urge my wife to push hard. "One and two and three..." And then, came his first cry. "Where's my camera? Where's my camera?" I scrambled for it. First was the cutting of umbilical cord, then the body check, the weighing scale, and Bertrand was in Mummy's arms for the first time. Before I knew, it had begun - my journey as a father and Bertrand's dedicated photographer. From the start, Bertrand is a natural when it comes to posing for the camera. He would look at the camera. The boy is cheerful. It was easy to capture him smiling. Not wanting to miss out any of it, I had the camera by my side, day and night. The first time he smiled, mumbled, laughed out loud, flipped over, crawle...

Why does the Chrome Web Store look so much like the Apple App Store? I am not just referring about the overall look. The placements and naming of the various categories are really similar as well. For example the Ad on the top, the "New & Noteworthly" below it, the "What's Hot" aka "Popular" at the bottom, the "Top Charts Paid Apps" aka "Favourite Paid Apps" at the right panel. This is a fantastic layout! Blackberry should really learn a thing or two from this...

Unfortunately, he only met Dalí's works. But what better way to celebrate a wedding anniversary than to visit the Dalí's exhibition? -sheepish grin- First, you gotta have a wonderful wife like mine, who enjoys accompanying me to museums.  This year, we visited the three exhibitions are the Marina Bay Sands Art Science Museum: Dalí Mind of A Genius, Shipwrecked Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds, and Van Gogh Alive. My dear wife, all dressed up for the big occasion of our anniversary, walked with me for a three hours in heels. Ouchie! Thank you dear! I had always wanted to visit a Dalí exhibition after coming across the Dalí Universe exhibition at London County Hall in 2008 (yes, its the same trip with the Terracotta Warriors at the British Museum). So this post is mainly about the Dalí exhibition. Photos are taken using my Galaxy S2, not exactly perfect quality. Descriptions are mostly from the exhibition itself. The exhibition featured 10 galleries of Salvador Dalí...