In Pursuit of Happiness..

No… it’s not a review of the movie ( which I haven’t watched, btw).. and which this blog will never be…
The sentence itself, somehow had me thinking about happiness. What really makes people happy?

Common definition, “ being happy is wanting what you have, and having what you want.. yes…partly true…but..
we're designed to never be contented, and to always want more.. and if that is the case, how can we ever be happy?
what we want always changes.. if you own a Lamborghini.. on some days you might really want that foxy black Ferrari sitting In your neighbour’s garage (assuming, of course, that you live in such exalted neighbourhood).. So that definition, I feel, isn’t quite correct

So Wilson, what do you feel is correct? Well, This is the result of some deep contemplation over a cup of cappucino and watching scantily
clad women eating french fries in McDonalds Clarke Quay after their clubbing session…. So, yes, this is serious.. (in case you’re asking, this is an old post I forgot all about until now)..

It involves money, but not lots of it..it involves a certain kind of comfort, but not too much of it. And it involves kind of challenge and target.

So this is my definition : Having what you need, without actually having what you REALLY want.

To my mind, to achieve a certain level of happiness, a person must also have a certain level of unhappiness. An unhappiness that they can fix and do something about. In essence, a target. To be truly happy, you must have everything that you need.. but you must also have something you want BUT is difficult for you to get.

Think about it… have you ever dreamed about getting something you really wanted, only to feel a sense of loss? It seems, somehow dreaming about it is better than actually having it…..

wanting what you have is not something that humans are designed to do. I think we’re happier to have a challenge rather than be challengeless and have things handed to you on a silver platter….

There is no conclusion to this post, it just shows how illogical we humans are.. I wonder if everything in earth works in the same way….

Nan Ren Bu Huai, Nu Ren Bu Ai

Had a chat with my friend in Starbucks, about a month ago.. and the talk, inevitably turned towards men-women relationships and why women sometimes end up with guys that are wrong to begin with... at that moment, my friend mentioned that they have a Chinese Saying.....

"Nan Ren Bu huai, Nu Ren Bu Ai"
(Men Not Bad, Women Don't Like)

translated loosely, women don't like guys that aren't bad, impressive fact that the chinese even have a saying for these things...my thoughts immediately turned towards... Hugh Jackman..

Why Hugh Jackman, may you ask?

well..another friend of mind (yes, D, if you're reading this)..mentioned to me, while we were talking on the subject of cloning, she mentioned to me... "if I'd like to clone somebody, it would be Hugh Jackman..."... now, why would anyone want to clone that broody, 230 pounds of solid muscle mass? I must mention that my friend here, is an academic through and through, someone who, on the surface, at least, I would expect to to prefer somebody more...intellegent,dashing...somebody like... Jude Law, or something.... but no... Hugh Jackman it is... the Wolverine... dark, broody, unsmiling, dangerous, unpredictable good guy/bad guy.

and the last straw... my last research comment is from a Japanese fashionista, during lunch, she mentioned to me ( in that oh-so-cute japanese accent).... "umm.... I..rike..bad boys...rike.. colin Farrell...he's so hot..."...

so, comments from three different spectrum of people , from a sensible girl-next-door Singaporean, an uber-intellectual Indonesian, and a fashionista Japanese... and they all have the same comment..i.e. preference... ...

so... what is it with bad boys? there is a pattern here... women seems to automatically identify with something that they know is bad for them...as somebody they prefer? it's such a puzzle...

now, it seems, regardless, when it comes to women, I know which side of the fence I should be sitting in...

Left My Heart in Singapore

it's time to go soon...

it's time to face to music and dance... but, let me say this...I will forever miss Singapore....say what you will for it being antiseptic, boring, predictable, the asian country equivalent of a golf course... the comments, of course, true.. but I don't care.... I wouldn't mind living next to a golf course, thats for one.... a list of things I will miss:

1. strolling home from work at nights.. and just walk wherever I want, whenever I want...without ever having to think of my safety.......just walking.... and feeling free to explore nooks and cranny without ever having to pre-think if this part town is safe to go to...
2. a combination of culture.. singapore is the equivalent of a mini park... go one mile.. china town, the other mile... little india... another mile.. geylang serai... everything in one country...different people, different culture, blended together with it's own distinctive personality
3. I never, ever feel like a foreigner in Singapore... at any time of the day you will find a chinese, Indian, malay, and europeans walking on the street..
4. the air... breathing freely in and out... no funky smell... not having to wipe your face with a wet towel everytime you come inside the house to wipe all the grime.. not having to sweep the floor every day for dust
5. and of course... food... I can't get enough of the food here...I'm sure Indonesia also has such varieties, but I've yet to find them...they just seem to blur into such predictable varieties...
and you have to spend so much just to find a place to hang out...whereas... the kopi stall next door in singapore is nice enough to hang out in... and have decent pratas to boot...

literally and figuratively, I left my heart in Singapore... in time... maybe.. my heart will follow me back to Indonesia..but for the time being... I may just have to manage without one....

bluecactus, will you ever think of coming back to Indonesia for good?

An Indian Summer

... this is Indian week.. and as per recommendations by food bloggers, the Indian place to go to have is at Sri Kamala Vilas, a hole-in-the-wall establishment in Little India... yup... as the picture shows.. the place isn't cool... but the food....really is quite excellent... and very affordable

I managed to ask (translation: blackmail) a couple of (new) friends on a culinary tour to test out the place (translation: lab rats)... really guys/ladies, I'm sorry if I was a little pushy on your menu selection!!!... no malice was intended... just some dents in your wallet, I swear! don't think badly of me.. it's just food... :-)

taking honour of first place.. biryani chicken...really surprised on this one.. it was really good..the rice was perfectly separated, fragrant and well oiled.. and the herbs were just nice.. light and with none of that musty smell prevalent in lesser establishments next.. chappati... must admit I'm a little undecided on this one... it's ok.. but nothing exciting....

we're moving on to blackmail 1, paper thosai.. :-)
these mothers are huge!!... must be one and half foot of extra crispy thin thosais... pretty cool when presented on the plate and all... but maybe it was a little too crispy for some..and lacked a little... sponginess...:-)

blackmail 2, masala thosai
this is, arguably, the most popular dish in the restaurant... most of the table I saw had some version of it. it is basically normal thosai wrapped around mashed potato filling. definitely lived up to its reputation... and for $2.60.. very filling...
blackmail 3, chan bhattura...
this is the hardest person to blackmail of all... :-) but I think he would agree that my choice was pretty good..... this is basically fried pastry.. but due to the intense deep fry, blown up resemble semi-inflated volley ball size.....you need to pierce the ball to squeeze the hot air out.. this is eaten with chick peas and a squeeze of lemon...this one is still my favourite south indian bread.

poori
basically two smaller sized version of chan bhattura... some people would say that two small portions is better than one big one (in the case of fish, for example).. and on most cases I would agree, however not in this case.. for some reason poori is heavier and more brittle than bhattura... maybe the heat tends to overcook the poori's quicker than it does bhattura...

chicken masala
this is the pride and joy of the restaurant, and on this one, I have to agree.. most masala chicken I've tried seem to be excessively salty, and make you feel like you're eating spices with chicken, instead of the other around.. this one is quite different... what seems to make this one different is the addition of sour tomato in their blend.. one bite of this masala chicken really is explosion of flavour... the chicken is well marinated, without being excessively salty, also the spices does not leave a bitter aftertaste.. and the tomatoes, really bring the much needed sour tang to provide relief to the heavy spices...

all in all... a successful expedition.. and one more reason to miss Singapore even more...

Late Night Haunts

as a post to remember all the singaporean things that I will be missing...my favourite prata stall.. coincidentally.. one of the best night haunts.. if you're ever stuck and hungry in river valley rd. at 1AM.. this is the place to be.. Spize Makan Place

ironically enough, I don't have any picture of pratas... i seem to have wolfed through it everytime before i remembered to take pictures... :-( so... unless I get some stuff down before leaving..(which isn't very likely)... this will have to do..

chicken biryani...my opinion.. just ok.. nothing exciting..but the best is yet to come..

they have more success with the thai fried rice, with tom yam seafood..nasi pad prik, the name, I think... the combination of pineapple fried rice and the sweet sourish tom yam inspired sauce really hit it off...

and have i told you of Roti John? well, it's like a western/indian food, that's only available in singapore... basically, it is egg and minced mutton slammed between slices of french bread and drizzled with indian rojak-inspired sauce and gravy... I really think spize has the best I've tried so far ( which really isn't saying much)
oh my... I'm tearing up inside... will i really have to settle for bubur ayam when I'm back in jakarta? sniff...

A Chinese Wedding

this is a little late in coming.. the wedding was in December, but only got around to posting it early Feb'07....

my first ever Chinese wedding, was interesting.. disclaimer: title may not be the consistent as the description, since it really won't be telling much about the wedding....my friend Willie got married in Dec'06, and assured me wholeheartedly that the food will have no trace of pork, even though drinks will still be available.. :-) which is totally fine with me... :-P

we started out with the h'ors d'euvres... which is two types of fried fish cakes and something else I cannot identify, little baby octopuses, prawn salad, and jellyfish.. since the wedding was a little delayed, and therefore the food came out a bit late, i really couldn't tell you much about how it tasted... I kinda stormed through it.. :-P

no matter... the second dish was coming up.. steamed fish...again..memory fails me what kind of fish it was.. doesn't matter.. the fish was fresh and with that fall apart tenderness fish meat... you can tell I'm getting pretty happy by now....

third dish was stir fried sea cucumber... gotta admit this is my least liked dish of the whole evening... is sea cucumber supposed to taste like this? chewy, rubbery, and slightly spongy... and the sauce didn't permeate the interior, it's kindly like eating tasteless konyaku jelly...
it is fully redeemed, however, by the fourth dish... deep fried prawns with floss toppings...now we're talkin'.... this.... is my favourite dish of the evening... the prawns were fried perfectly.. and the floss topping (mixed with basil, I think?) added a touchness of sweetness, that just melds so well with the prawns... hmm...umami... this really made my night...

fifth dish, coming in quickly, is chicken... don't ask me what it's cooked with, because I forgot to swipe the menu from the wedding (as per my usual modus operandi), so... I think it was roasted chicken, coated with some kind of starchy clear brown sauce, my guess is the oyster sauce and chinese five spice powder... nice one..the marinade went right through the meat the gravy moistened the outside just enough to provide additional gooey texture to the dish.on to the veggies... this is the usual spinach with oyster mushrooms, in oyster sauce.. chinese cooks seems to have perfected the art of cooking spinach... they always seem to get the balance of softness but the firmness (veggie al dente, if you will) just right... this one is no exception..

by this time, I had no capacity left to ingest any more food... so had to pass on carbs.. stir fried noodle with mushrooms... it doesn't look like much, but i was told it's pretty good... by that time, I just took their word for it..

all in all... enjoyable experience.. the wedding was a hoot... there were alot of toasts..and each table were eager to toast the bride/groom... and on each toasts.. there were alot of shouting...of.. what sounded like....WAAAAAAAAAAA.... ( i'm sure somebody will tell what exactly is shouted)..but regardess..it was so much fun!!!

I know I promised that there will only be one human picture in my blog.. but in this case... the picture's just too good to pass... so.. Willie, bottoms's up man... best of luck to you... :-)

Nite Walk....

Nightime... is my favourite time of the day.....

not for the clubbing.. neither is for the night life... but for the possibilities of walking down empty paths undisturbed, let your head clear itself of its own murkiness ..
this nite... walked out of the office at 10 PM.. but no thought of home popped out...
I decided to let my feet do the walking.. take the long way home.....destination, undecided
maybe I'll just go straight home... maybe I won't... maybe I'll just point my way to Bugis and watch the neon lights glow brightly, maybe I'll just stroll down Little India, and immerse myself in the scent and the fragrance... maybe I'll just head over Clarke Quay.. and watch the Hooter Girls serving beers... or maybe I'll just sit by Esplanade and gaze blankly at the bay...

maybe, the longer I walk, the easier it will be for me... to forget...

Porn

Walking on my way home last night, I happen to pass by.. some dimly lit (well, ok, it was pretty bright) neon clad stall...... they have pictures... large pictures...of well oiled, seemingly nubile, firm, white, succulent, flesh seemingly offering themselves to me.. saying... "come wilson... come... try us out... you won't be disappointed.... we'll give you a night you'll never forget...."

I had no choice... I had to get a better look...they look so tempting...my brain is screaming... No!... No!... walk away, wilson.. walk away...!!! but my feet....seemed to have a life of its own...

in front of the stall is the auntie....larger than life, it seemed...she was smiling...beckoning me over.... with her well oiled hands, waving me over...
seemingly saying " come over, Big Boy... you know you want it... come on over and choose...what will it be for you?"

at that precise moment, I broke down...A man can only withstand so much temptations of the flesh.... I gave up, right there and then....and sighed the unbidden words.... " 1 packet of Deep Fried Prawn Paste Chicken, auntie, to go, please"....

Out they came, perfectly fried pieces of golden nuggets, crispy, firm, succulent..
ashamed to say... I was biting, licking, and slowly but surely devouring these pieces of perfection till there was nothing left but pieces of bones and bits of crumbs, the lasting evidence of this torrid affair...

Come this morning... I couldn't even bear to look at my weighing scale...forgive me, sister... I have brought you grief.... I have sinned... Please have mercy on me....

Arias.....

Blogging in my apartement, looking over Clarke Quay, with a cup of tea and a mayo-seaweed toast, listening to Andrea Bocelli "Estate"... experiencing a state of relaxation& tranquility quite unlike any other..

Only do I now feel that..maybe... just maybe... I'm now ready to face the New Year...

New Year, 2007

Some things you think about... and some.. not at all.. and some..you think about it only after it's been and done... how would you summarize your 2006? I imagine some would say... "lucky you!!"...and some would roll their eyes and bug out..."what..ever!!!"

personally, I had nothing to say of my 2006..its neither a high nor a low... I suppose another year is just another year.. it's how humans mark the length of time they have left on earth.. :-)... damn.. why am I always so damn melancholy in new years?

Am I looking forward to 2007? hmm.. interesting question... from where I sit today 2007 offers a wealth of possibility previously unthought before...new changes, new lives, new state of mind.. and hopefully travelling AND moving... perhaps.. this 2 months extension may really be a blessing in disguise... we'll see...

Eid Lunch, courtesy of the B's

the Eid lunch was what I had missed for sometime, a real Indonesian lunch... so.. in my excitement (and admittedly, hunger..) I missed out on photoshooting the spread.. :-) ... in any case.. you really can't go wrong with Lontong, chicken opor, sambal goreng kentang, and semur daging.... you won't catch me dead waxing lyrical on the virtues of chicken opor.. but... hmm..it was real tasty... I suppose this is the "cooked with love" concept at work....

what we did get to shoot, was the desert.. chocolate fondue with a seemingly endless cornupia of fruit selections, and of course, marshmallow, ... if you noticed, the Wilson/Teaser/N's gang also brought contributions to the table, in form of Don's famous chicken pie, pictured at the bottom.

what was prevalent was also the seemingly endless baby pictures... they're really such a camera hog, so, in honour of the first ever baby that did not cry with me holding it... ReRe.... the (only) human picture in this blog.. hope Mr./Mrs./Ms. B's don't mind..... Thank you for lunch.. :-)

One Fine Night...

The conversation started haltingly.. but soon melted to easy warm chatter and hearty laughter....


..... the setting... the bustling Bugis Village, where the neon lights glow and happy shiny people walk together hand in hand and crowds the avenues with laughter..




the food.. a fusion of malaysian main course and chinese desert...... one word of caution, if you're not into oatmeal, do not order the chinese walnut paste...

the companion.....a mix of cousin, sister and new friends...... the night... sparkles like the christmas baubles, hanging over the bugis junction with nary a cloud in the sky. and I was constantly distracted by what seems to be a constant shadow of a dimple, or is it just a particularly fetching fine line accentuating such a killer smile of my acquaintance....

Interesting New Button

blogfans...

was writing a blog one day, and looked over the dashboard and saw....hey... a picture insert button.....doh!.... so ashamed of my oversight....... well, better late than never.. so consistent with the name... Epicurean Odelay.. the first ever picture of a Spinelli's French Cream Donut for your viewing pleasure... :-) yes.. it is a heavenly sizzling bursts of donut pleasure... rare in a city with nary a donut shop. surprising, eh?.....jakarta has (alot) more donut shops than singapore..

Travelling Without Moving

I have never really understood what Jamiroquai meant by "Travelling without Moving" when it was released..hmm... 6 years ago? I always really thought that it really meant one of those teleporting Star Trek thingy which he managed to dream up in one of his cocaine infused binges..recently though I realised one thing.... Travelling without moving... is what I've been doing...

I have been travelling... alot.. one place to the other, one country to another, one office to another.. and in all of my travels I have experienced a lot of things... new sights, sounds, images, point of view, cultures...but I haven't been moving... I'm still here... in this job, doing the same things, solving the same problem, saying the same things over and over... instructing the same things, to different people, maybe, but the same things..sometimes I would really catch myself saying something I have said before, somewhere...a "deja vu" moment, if you may.

and I think...most people, are really travelling without moving.. going with their everyday duties, but not getting anywhere, just making it through the day... it really sounds sad..but it isn't really.. it's just real life..

the secret's out... the realisations here...so, wilson, time to get off your ass..and start moving..where? maybe I'll just join on someone's wild ride and see where it gets me...

Karaoke, thou shalt be nameless..

Of all the unimportant things I've ever done... this must surely rank at the top of the list...had karaoke with a bunch of friends last night.... I won't bore you with the details, I believe you will have been in a karaoke joint at some point in your life, either by free will, or with some gentle persuasion (translation: blackmail)..

to make the points short and sweet... you should experience a karaoke..with all your buddies singing mandarin..I really didn't realise there were so many mandarin songs.... and after a while..they really start to sound the same..... :-( thank god there were still english songs....

Feeling Crabby?

Had massive giant crabs today.... they told me it was Srilankan.... how do they grow these mothers? the claw was easily as big as my hand...and the meat.... peeled off in massive gorgeous chunks, like slabs of chicken pieces... and coated, no, smothered in creamy butter sauces.. the sauce wasn't as good as the one in my first crab experience, but no matter, the meat more than makes up for it..

these crabs were huge.. the meat, sweet and succulent, and the portions.. out of this world... wish I could update you guys on the picture.... but as it stands, you will just have to imagine my blistering fingers, slicked with butter, tearing off those hunks of perfectly cooked crabmeat and devouring it with rakish abandon...... due to obvious reasons, i have never told anyone I'm allergic to crabs... well, yes, I guess this one is worth getting the allergies...

so tonight... I'll be scratching my itches the whole night...and tomorrow first thing in the morning, i'll start planning my next allergy rush trip... :-)

John Mayer Wannabe

one day, a 4 months ago... while I was alone in my apartement on a sunday morning, I had this epiphany.... what haven't I done that I would like to do....thought hard, thought long... and along came a sudden flash of inspiration... a- ha!!! I'm going to start playing guitar...

visions of wilson serenading along bouncing expertly playing guitar crowded my mind... I was so sure... so positive, so unbelieveably confident that the Wilson, the man with the game, the plan..
is a guitar god in the making...

so... I need a guitar.... no problemo... called my dad... Hi Dad... I know it's inconvenient for you, but when you're coming over to visit me, do you mind bringing me a guitar??? Yes.... the guitar...
I know you have to carry it through customs ... but your son is a guitar god in the making... so how can you deny the world of the untapped unbelieveable talent of wilson in the making?...

so... along came dad... with a guitar.... all the way from indonesia....
and of course... have to arm myself with all the books, guitar chords, learning CD's, all jazz greats of the guitar gods, the Earl Klugh's, Lee Ritenour's, Martin Taylor, Acoustic Alchemy,John Pizzarelli, what have you... and of course..keeping in mind the goal, the target...the dream...

swaying some unbelievely nubile vixen out of her mind with John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland" ... :-)

well.. now... guitar...check... books... check... cd's check.... now... to start playing...

hmmm.. the guitar is untuned... have to start tuning.... damn.... it's hard... took me 3 hours just to tune the damn thing....

and now... to play my first ever chord.....
hmmmm.... this guitar god thing...is probably too much to hope... my fingers hurt... why do they have to make the fret board so unbelieveably small anyway? my nails ache...and I didn't get past the first chord....

so... there ends the first ever guitar practice... and the last since 4 months ago...

just this afternoon... dad called... Wilson, i'm coming over on transit to your place... so.. how's your guitar practice?

.....it's going great....fantastic..... I'm so glad you brought it over........

The Driver --> Comb Connection

I've noticed a peculiarity with the Singapore company driver... They're mostly Malay, they don't smoke, and they have this thing with hair.... In fact... Forget Singapore company driver, most drivers I know have this obsession with hair...

the hair is always neatly slicked with litres upon litres of pomade, or more commonly, mousse... But most importantly, is the comb...

The comb, regardless of driver, is always the same... It's always bright yellow, it always this big bright yellow handle so it sticks out oh so prominently out of the backpocket, and the location is always at the backpocket, comb side down, handle side up... could it be one of those "mine is bigger than yours thing? " or is it one of those secret society where only certified "hardcore" drivers are allowed to carry the ubiquitous yellow comb? or it's like a secret handshake thing...
whenever you meet on the street, immediately start combing your bright yellow comb, and you get to pass the yellow light? ha......maybe I'm just jealous I don't have a yellow comb...he he..

Let me count the sins..

I went back to Indonesia last week.. Thought I would at least miss a couple of things...
the jempol noodle, the streetside "bakwan" vendor, at the very least, the indonesian
beauties.... or so it might seem.... as predicted, the dream very much diffes from the
reality... Jakarta is hot... and dusty... the traffic jam is appaling, the beggars even
more offensive than I had remembered, and, worst of all,
jempol noodle sucks big time :-(

and I haven't stopped sneezing from the time I landed to the time I left... now,
back in singapore, I'm sneeze free... Ironic...

in fact, the reason I would ever want to go home for... is family...the old adage is true,
I suppose, home is wherever family is... If they were here... I would definitely
consider myself singaporean... heheheh

mama's boy...

I change my mind... bluecactus... I'll retract back what i said on not missing home country... I'm at this moment, 2.30 AM... desperately missing Indonesia, staying at home, and being taken care by mom when I'm ill, having a miserable cold and on constant nausea......:-) mama's boy, I am...

I'm wondering why we men, who under normal circumstances are stronger physically than women, but any sign of illness i.e.. cold, flu, fever, we're so much more crybabies than women in the same situation? I admit... when we have a cold... we need some lovin'.. :-)

women, on the other hand... just do the normal thing and move like nothing's happened... My mom would just have a lie in, for an hour/two, and get back to business....dad.. like me... we'll be rolling in bed, asking everything to come to bed, be it breakfast, tv, medicine, whatever...if the bathroom can move next to the bed, we'd do that too...

well.. now.. that doesn't make me feel any better, does it? ah.... I think, the bottom line is... I miss having someone take care of me.. :-) see... writing above doesn't have to always correspond to the conclusion... miserable sick cows who cannot get to sleep at 2.30 AM don't usually care about little details..