1. check personal email
2. check whatsapp
3. washup/do hair/get out of house
4. check office blackberry…

and i saw this sms from an unrecognised number. now my blackberry number is used strictly for work and i don’t even give it to my friends (unless they have my namecard). so it was odd to receive an sms from an unknown number.

now this came as a surprise – both creepy and very emotional. just last night we had a joint celebration of all the september babies at my cell group meeting (to make it easier and cover all grounds rather than have cake every week after church service).

my dad passed away more than 10 years ago, and the only living person who i could think of addressing me as “son” would probably be my cell leader. so who was this? so i guess you could say that i was a little creeped out but more emotional when i saw the message. in fact i still am right now.

but there are no coincidences in this world. perhaps it’s God sending someone to wish me a happy birthday in advance? i think i’ll choose to believe that, and i think i’ll keep the message for now.

—

anyway i thought it was a very sweet gesture so i replied to the sender to tell him he got the wrong number and it was very sweet of him to do that for his son.

another proud day in the tan household!

2 weeks!? still got such a long wait? oh well. hopefully it’ll be delayed long enough so that it coincides with the stinktel contract expiry on 23 August. i can then do the number port over at the same time.

but that doesn’t stop me from getting…

i got us “matching” iphone 4 cases first. it’s my policy of “out of box and into case” so it’s better to get prepared first haha. i got the white one and she’s got the purple one.

i was thinking maybe i should get this decal for the white case. retro cool!

in the past, the family would be at home because the adults didn’t have to work. we would all be home having our meals and watching tv, and we would always watch the National Day Parade together on the living room tv set. I remember it always started around 6pm and we would usually watch the Chinese telecast on channel 8.

we would be watching the parade and waited for certain segments of the parade. like when they did the 21 cannon salute, we could hear the boom of the cannons from a distance. kallang stadium was diagonally behind our flat, so we could always catch a glimpse of the aerial displays. we would run from the living room to the back of the kitchen to peer out the window, hoping to see the tiny specks of paratroopers with smoke trailing behind them, or the jets zooming past, sonic booms marking an invisible trail. the giant flag fly past was always the most visible because it flew by so slowly.

the highlight would be the fireworks. as the parade neared the finale, we would wait for the moment on tv when the firework started and ran to the back, often shouting for our parents and aunt to come for the fireworks. when my sis was still small, my dad would carry her to watch. there’s always this favourite of ours which we affectionately named “little boy’s hair” because it resembled the floppy blonde mane of a young boy.

if I could stand there and observe the 5 of us watching the fireworks together, faces aglow with the rainbow colours of the fireworks, all in a quiet awe and faces gleaming with joy. that was our NDP ritual.

today, no one’s home…

good service so far, but if only they had more drag and drop functionality across sets / albums / uploading and such. and managing it in iphoto is TERRIBLE. fix it apple!

//i just lost some photos that I uploaded because i removed the album from iphoto. now i have to reupload them! bugger!

I’m getting dreams about work more almost every night about fine-tuning details and changing briefs. not good in my opinion to start having those because it means I’m going to get into sleepwalk phase next.

which I did last night. had this nightmare where some loanshark was terrorising us because a neighbour in the block is in debt (true story). I couldn’t lock my door and suddenly each panel in my window had a lock, which I couldn’t lock either. then there was a sequence where I dreamt I had to shift around my pillows in order to avert the terrorising. then I suddenly woke up realising it was a dream, but I had actually “rearranged” my entire pillow/sleeping layout exactly as I had dreamt.

I think the actual subconscious paranoia was manifesting in my dream. I still have times where I suddenly get up to check out the corridor outside my window because I heard noises. not good especially since my room is right next to the lift landing. that’s why I’ll never buy a flat with windows along the corridor. I’d die of exhaustion.

what’s frustrating is that I start analysing and try to figure out why I’m dreaming that way and then I get all frustrated in the middle of the night about not being able to have restful sleep.

anyone with a copy of “lobotomy for dummies”?

well yes, i went to the garden festival this year. not once, but twice. chengwei and i went to the “exhibition” on tuesday, and then i went again with my family on thursday, because my mum is the family green fingers.

i must say some of the displays were quite stunning, and some are just plain odd (this meditative piece by a singaporean artist was just dumbfounding). as expected, the whole place was swarming with photogs with their DSLRs, bodies contorted into odd angles, trying to get a good shot of some exotic flora. there was an uncle who brought his own LIGHTING.

it was quite enjoyable, being in nature (but in the comfort of airconditioning) but was quite disappointing coz most of the displays were out of bounds, even though there were paths through them which the designers clearly created for visitors to experience their creations.

ah well. anyway, the flower beauty shots are in the previous post http://lenneltan.com/?p=3845

some fantasy display with mirrors in it

very nice room display by japanese artists. rather zen… no?

record attempt for world’s largest bouquet. just another singaporean attempt at something that doesn’t matter…

part deux… with the family

well nothing sensational has happened recently, apart from getting into my job, painting my kitchen, figuring out how best to wire up my cable tv box to the av receiver and get lacklustre 6 channel stereo (the new HD hubstation now looks very enticing)…

so like how we’re used to do this, here’s a quick (point form) run down of what’s been happening. ha!

1. new job – so far so good. quite like what i do, the people from the agency, the bosses, and the massive 17″ laptop that they let me use for the million and one things that i’m looking after. ok la. not million, but still quite a few. i’m on the IT team, so that keeps me happy. it may seem dull to most people (huh? i can do my work on a cloud?) but i guess it’s alright for me…
2. cw and i are doing fine. we’ve booked a holiday at the start of october (think it’s a good time to get out and have a break before we crash from work). quite excited because i’ve never been there, and it’s great for shopping. now, just where am i going to find the money to do all the shopping i want to…
3. muffin was quite sick about 2 weeks ago. had some blood parasites and was hospitalised for 2 days. we were all worried sick and made sure that he got well. the doctors were all very nice and he’s now back to his normal self.
4. health-wise has been ok… only had 1 massive gastric attack couple of weeks back because of some major stress issues. back to the usual morning sinus thingies. i guess i may need to research on sleeping habits and circulation in my bedroom. that’s my only guess as to why it’s happening. my feet aches everyday even though i’m sitting down most of the time, and i even proper shoes + support doesn’t seem to help. and i need to start exercising again…
5. i love the av receiver even though the remote seems to be konking out somewhat. oh well…
6. i’ve signed up or notification with all 3 telcos for the iphone 4. i’m swaying between switching to M1 or Starhub. Stinktel sucks!

so yea… that’s all for now i guess.