lying lazily on the beach, gentle waves beating against the sand, creating tranquil serenade, soft rays of setting sun escaping through the clouds, penetrated occasionally by homing sea gulls, mild cooling sea breeze brushing our skins..

here we are, sipping chilled 1998 chateau de bliny champagne, and in between bites of baguette, we talked about nothing and everything, watching the world go by, that nothing could possibly be better than being so blessed with this gift: the breath of life..

such romantic scenario! well, couldn't blame me for getting too far in my day-dreaming..
i was just chatting with a korean friend on what we normally do after exams, which includes karaoke sessions and going to the beach..
she then commented that it is so romantic, but i was thinking like - well, it is definitely not when you are with 5 guys!! but i kept my silence, i can't get myself to spoil her image with such an anti-climax comment.. haha

oh well, i certainly hope to find myself in such settings! any takers??
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la vie en rose

yeux qui font baiser les miens, rire qui se perd sur sa bouche, Voila le portrait sans retouche De l'homme auquel j'appartiens Quand il me prend dans ses bras Il me parle tout bas, Je vois la vie en rose. Il me dit des mots d'amour, Des mots de tous les jours, Et ca me fait quelque chose. Il est entre dans mon coeur Une part de bonheur Dont je connais la cause. C'est lui pour moi. Moi pour lui Dans la vie, Il me l'a dit, l'a jure pour la vie. Et des que je l'apercois Alors je sens en moi Mon coeur qui bat

one of my favorite french love songs of all time, ever since i started learning french..
i remembered my french teacher nicholas introduced us to some of the famous french singers and actors and songs, this was one of them..
it somehow rang a bell in my mind, perhaps i had heard it on radio or tv before, but it did not make a big impression on me then, until he hummed it to us..

it has a very soothing yet majestic feeling to it, very nostalgic also..
like a deja-vu, well, maybe i had been a french in my past lifes? haha..
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caught this while i was going home one evening after work. rays of soft sunshine escaping from clouds trying to engulf the setting sun.. too bad i was not able to capture the true scene, it was 10 times nicer than this.. but oh well.. 

un long dimanche de fiancailles

well, finally, after 3 and 1/2 months, i've finished my first french novel, titled "un long dimanche de fiancailles", which means "a very long engagement"..



it should not be unfamiliar, because it was aired in many cinemas here about 2 months back, or something like that..
beautiful movie - watched it in france-, it was so huge, there were posters everywhere months before they hit the cinema..
but i think it was not that huge here in singapore, well, at least to the frenchs who are living here, it's something in their patriotism, and those who are learning french here, including yours truly, it is..

anyway, back to the novel, hard to understand, i had to practically carry my french-english dictionary with me when reading..
at least it keep my french going, maybe not improving, but at least i'm not losing it either.. oh well, mieux que rien(better than nothing!)..

so, being much the wiser, i shall stick to an easier french novel in the future.. but be sure to watch this show, get it from the dvd shop, download from bittorrent, kazaa, burn from your friends, whatever ok, just get it! you won't regret it..

date: 17th apr 05
venue: ntu src spectator stand
purpose: son's birthday, 2nd from the right
presence: li jun, moi, jianggun, son and juan
well, i am really guilty that he had postponed this rendez-vous for 3 weeks because of me..
i was not free for the past 3 weekends due to personal commitments..
well, it finally happened..
i think it's a very good idea to meet up once every while just to catch up, although we meet quite frequently on msn, but it's very different when you are seeing the person face to face..
i personally think human contact is very essential and a commodity, especially in such a technologically-inclined society as now, where distance between people is becoming so fine and undefined, i could jolly well talk to a person in germany and watch her in real-time, as if she's just next door, ot just next to you!
well, sometimes you might just fall into this scenario which has happened to me countless of times that you rather converse to a person sitting just next to you via chat services rather than talking to him/her directly..
generally, we chatted about france, the french universities, our attachment(stage), Final Year Project(FYP), and anything under the flourescent lights, well, we were under couple of them anyway.. haha..
sometimes i do wonder why its harder to meet up with local friends, i wonder..
is it because we take for granted that they be here for years to come, that we have every opportunity to meet up the next time, well, i don't know..
as for them, i hold them dear in my heart, very good friends we have become, although our meeting willl end sooner than we think, but oh well, asia is not too big, vietnam and china are just couple of hours away by plane, which is getting cheaper by the day with the influx of budget airlines..
i think i swing between extremes, either i write alot all at once, or i don't write at all for days.. oh well..
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well.. a week just passed like that..
it had been for me a very spiritual uplifting weekend as i had attended an spiritual seminar, which in the process made me see deeper into myself, rather than just the superficial layer and others..
i would not say i'm higher morally than anyone else, just more awared about my thoughts and actions, which, no matter how much you would believe or not, will in turn affect other things around us..
well, more about that later.. i have more to digest before i would comment on that..

www.savetoby.com
go there and you would discover the most ridiculous and absurd thing you could ever think of happening, well to me it seems to be..
rabbit in trouble, guy saves rabbit, rabbit happy, guy plans to eat rabbit, UNLESS US$50,000 is deposited into his bank account before a stipulated date, either by donations or purchase of his online products.. what a ripoff, i say.. but guess what, he has now over US$24,000 in his bank account now..
morale? you can be so unethical and rich too.. tweak on customers' emotions and you can get them to do what you want.. so let's say we help this guy who's selling stuff in the street, feed him, home him. then we go army market in beach road, mass produce some polo tees, cups, caps, buy a website called savexxx.com, and declare that if i do not have S$50,000 (well i'm not that greedy) by when and when, i'll fry his butts. how's that?!

snap, crackle, pop

well, it's not the breakfast cereals we are talking about here, but rather that's what i've heard when i was doing the warming-up during the capoeira jus now..
and after that, i can't move at all!.. oulala..
and ever since, i had trouble doing even those simple moves like esquive frentau, roule..
i can't even buy to play in the roda because i know i would die a terrible death..

i don't think i was training really hard, i don't know why it just popped like that..
i was playing even harder during our private session on monday, and it was rather fine..
man.. i really hate that..
it just mean no capoeira for the next 4 days or more for me..
oh well..

bowling and babies

after a week's break from blogging, i'm back. i would like to start yesterday with some april's fool joke but oh well, my laziness runs deep..
here i am, at a bowling tournament held by my IA company in the morning..
from left to right, moi, joseph and derrick lim from our department, and ivy from hr department..
by the way, she won second in ladies individual, not bad huh..

second thing: my korean brother baek's birthday falls on today!
bon anniversaire! if you are reading this now :)
i've not heard from him for some time, neither msn nor email, i guess he's rather busy with his studies now..

my friends are going to be have babies!!
it was quite unexpected because one is into her 2nd month already, and she looked after normal to me when we last met, the other just discovered yesterday when she saw a doctor about discomfort in her tummy after a fall, yet another is into her 6th or 7th month already..
oh man, with more and more people around me either getting married and/or having babies soon, i feel that more eyes will be on me sooner or later, but what the heck, i enjoy my bachelorhood completely, but i'm on the lookout nonetheless..
beware, you single ladies.. haha..

oh well, it's going to be a much livelier environment soon..
i like babies, and small children, because i can toy them around, tossing and turning this way or that..
the only time i can behave childish and no one would say a thing, instead they would say 'oh look, derrick's so smooth with the kids, ain't he cute or what?'..
of course! it's not mine! i can return to its parents when i'm tired!
of course it's easy! it's a completely different scenario when it's your own flesh and blood..
i have been through the childhood of my brother.. trust me..
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