Increase awareness

Work has been tough - which explains the lack of posts - sorry guys who have been in touch. I will reply soon enough!

Been working till 9-10pm every night, usually 8 if things go smoothly. Have to say I'm getting into the whole working groove but it's difficult sometimes when you don't get to see enough of people you want to see.

Anyway, since it's been so long, here're some announcements!

1. I've bought my very OWN first brand new car!!!!! *does a little dance* Not my mum's, not my family's, but my very own!! I know I already did have my own car in England - my really lovely white Honda civic - but that was a second/third/
fourth/goodness-knows-what-hand car... and now I've finally got my very first brand new one. And every single cent is paid with my very own money as well! I'm an ecstatic and proud owner... can't wait to collect it! hee..

I tell you what's shocking though, is that I spent about £2,000 on my first car and now the amount of money I'm committing to getting this one is stupidly high in comparison! J still can't reconcile the amount of money you have to spend to get a car here - but for the convenience I'd pay it. It's been a bitch getting around recently, especially because I travel around lots, and the amount of money I'm paying for taxis is really stupid. Anyway, I deliberated a really long time - I wanted to get a Honda but it was pricey and the model I was eyeing had a small engine. In the end, after surveying a few, I finally got a Sports Mazda 3, which comes with a full sports/body kit... and you can view it in fulll glory here and I managed to get a good price (I think) and upon making good friends with my salesman, he threw in Huper Optik [nanotechnology] solar film for my windows, which give it a super-cool two tone tint..which goes really nicely with the colour - I chose metallic white (similar to my old Honda) - and customised 3M mats. I saw a Mazda 3 Sports with the same metallic white finish the other day, with the tinted windows.. and it looked so amazingly gorgeous, especially at night, like a racer car.. and I haven't even started on the dynamics of driving it!

I took it on a test drive and it was such good fun because it's got tiptronic (electronic) gears and I can drive it like a manual (I orginally wanted to get a manual car because I love driving/gear-shifting..) and get it to obey whatever I want it to do - which you can't do on most automatic transmission cars. It didn't feel too heavy, accelerated really smoothly and the gears transmission was seamless, and the car stuck to ground on sharp corners too. J came to test drive it with me and he fell in love with it too - it's just such a cool kit that now I'm actually plagued with a lot of middle-class guilt. But hey - indulge me this once! It's not often I pay tens of thousands on a single purchase!

(below: car pics I borrowed from internet. Hopefully, I'll be able to post my own very soon!)




2. I've started getting 'fan mail' from my fellow citizens and it has actually become strangely satisfying. As some would know, I was initially upset about this particular beat I was reporting on - but now that I'm getting used to it, it's actually a pretty sexy beat to work on which influences the life of every single person in society, regardless which class you belong to. I'm learning so much on the beat.. and every person I've spoken to has his/her own story. I recall the desiderata my godmother bought for me once.. and it said listen to the dull and ignorant for they too have their story. If there's anything that will keep me from getting on a high horse or being complacent about my fortunate position in society.. it's exactly this - keeping with the ground level, talking with people that you never would in a normal social circumstance. It's been a learning lesson.. and I even get story ideas suggested to me! Some useful, some not, and some downright hilarious. Like some guy emailed me to go check out the ugly 3-tone colours of the HDB flats here and he suspects that the paint used are ugly colours because no one wants them and it's cheap, but he thinks it's not great for Singapore aesthetics, especially if we're emphasising on good design to make our country look like a first-class global city. The idea's not bad, but part of why it's hilarious was the way he wrote - it was funny and written colloquially - exactly the way you would imagine him saying it. I would share it with you but for the sake of anonymity.

3. I hate the phrase "increase awareness" - it's such an over-used phrase that doesn't mean much, but is still used because there's really not a adequate alternative to describe what it really means. Everyone speaking to news journalists like to talk about 'increasing awareness', regardless of what they're trying to promote, it just sounds so damned cliche I wish people will stop using it.

4. J's been offered a job! And he's on the front page of the Suntimes today - damn it - I can't believe he got there even before I got my byline there. But hey - it was a favour for one of my colleagues and J isn't complaining coz he's been getting texts saying 'oi I saw you on xxx...' - I have to say he's even feeling pretty smug about it. Haha.

5. I'm going on holiday to an exclusive island called Koh Lanta come Dec - present from J for our anniversary. I know I shouldn't be going on a holiday when I've just started work but hey - it's all cleared and frankly, I think we need it! Coming back has been very much all work and not much play, so am looking forward to that!