Bear's Haven

Watched a full-length movie for the first time in quite a while. Was on a plane from Doha to Singapore. There were a number of good shows, but I only managed to catch "Miami Vice" from start to finish. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as undercover cops going up against Columbian drug dealers. Gong Li as Cuban-Chinese investment banker-type who does money laundering for the bad guys. Good soundtrack, excessive violence, crappy dialogue, overall a good way to spend two hours on a "red-eye" flight, provided you can stand the stereotype of Gong Li's Dragon Lady bedded by bad-ass cop (Farrell) and subsequently falling in love with one another. Though to the movie's credit they don't end up happily ever after.

Some other shows I would like to watch: The Lake House, Casino Royale.

Well said. Link

Reading the book "My Year in Iraq - The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope" by L. Paul Bremer III.

Bremer was Bush's viceroy in Iraq, taking over from General Garner in May 2003 soon after the US invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime. He dedicates his book to "the courageous men and women of Iraq struggling to build their future of hope" and "the brave men and women of the American military who have sacrificed so much to make it possible".

I'm less than 80 pages in, out of almost 400. Bremer writes an involving story, detailing his struggles to rebuild a nation shattered by years of misrule, sanctions and war. One thing that struck me was how idealistic the Americans were. They truly believed that they would bring democracy to the Middle East, no matter how difficult the task.

The best of intentions, the worst of consequences...

With hindsight, most people would now concur that the US invasion was a big mistake. It radicalized the Middle East further and forced the Americans into an unwilling occupation. Currently there is still no end in sight as the US tries its best to crawl out of the quagmire it has found itself in. Meanwhile, Iran continues its saber-rattling and Hizbollah in Lebanon has elevated itself to almost iconic status in the Muslim world.

Woke up to a temperature of 38 degrees this morning, so called in sick.

Have started work at my new job for about 2 weeks. The learning curve is pretty steep, and every other workday has been a roller-coaster ride. What to do? Just have to keep going and learn to swim properly. And fast. Right now I am barely treading water.

Meanwhile Bunny is recovering well.

2 days before the Singapore elections, and I am stuck at home nursing a headache and toothache after my 2nd tooth extraction.

Sigh...

Ah well, at least I decided on the contractor for my renovations. After 3 weeks of procrastination, countless quotations, talk-shop, hard-selling and what-not, we more-or-less finalized the "to-do" list.

First, not doing up the kitchen. Wife and I hardly cook, so we probably won't be spending much time there except to boil water and make coffee. Though we are seriously thinking of switching to green tea, for health reasons. Besides, replacing all the kitchen cabinets, adding slots for microwave, bases for fridge and washing machine, etc. will cost 3-4 thousand dollars. After which the flooring would have to be replaced, and suitably waterproofed. And the parts of the wall would have to be re-done as well. So it's just as well that we decided to drop the idea. We'll settle for a wash and general touching-up, replacing the broken cabinet handles and one set of hob & hood.

Next, not getting a bathtub. Never a big fan of ofuro to begin with. Growing up in a tropical country, I never found much pleasure in soaking in a hot tub of water. And being in Japan, the country of onsen, for 7 years didn't exactly change my opinion. Of course, it should be stated that I never lived anywhere big enough to hold a decent-sized bathtub. Wife is disappointed, but she's getting over it. After all, there are certain limitations when it comes to HDB flats. Small bathroom size is one of them.

Storeroom. The previous owner (or was it the one before him) actually did some work of his own. He partitioned the storeroom in half, turning the front into a half-storeroom, and the back into two back-to-back wardrobes each accessible from two different bedrooms. Interesting work, but we weren't too keen on it as either wardrobe would be insufficient for our clothes. So we decided to partition the storeroom left/right instead, make the left a wardrobe, and the right an empty space, sort of like a half-storeroom. On the left we can keep our clothes, so that Wife and I don't have to keep fighting over space, and on the right side we can put our vacuum cleaner, luggage cases, fitness machines and whatever bulky junk we collect.

The flooring. After much deliberation, we decided to hack away the marble flooring, and replace it with homogenous tiles in the living/dining hall, and wooden parquet in the bedrooms. Expensive, yes, but the marble was cracked in many spots, and while the contractors assured me they could fix it, I thought this was something that I should remake thoroughly once and for all. The question now is, who's going to keep the polished tiles shiny and clean when Wife and I are off to work?

Lastly, we're putting a feature wall to separate the foyer from the living hall, so that people outside can't just peep in and see what we're doing when the main door is open. Add a shoe cabinet in front, as Wife has lots of shoes (which girl doesn't ).

That's pretty much sums up the major renovation work we are planning.

My vote goes to anesthesia.

I was scheduled to remove my lower and upper left wisdom teeth yesterday, but, as ill luck would have it, the dentist had such a hard time removing the lower one that he thought it would be best if we left the upper one to next week. He did not want to put me through the additional trauma.

Apparently, when he removed the lower tooth, it broke at the root tip, which remained stuck in my gum. He spent the next 40 minutes digging it out.

Well, it looks like today's going to be another boring day with an ice pack on my left cheek.

NOTE: Extraction of upper left tooth scheduled for next Wednesday :-(

Finally got my house keys... So yours truly is, along with wife, a joint-tenant of a HDB flat. The monthly payments will start kicking in next month, so I better start saving.

Meanwhile, we are still looking for a suitable contractor to renovate our house. After much consideration, Wife and I have more-or-less decided on what to renovate, and what to leave untouched.

Coming soon: why renovation is such a pain in the a**.