So...

Who, or what, is "Rosebud?" Of course, I've got my own take on it too..... But would love to see the theories that surface... Ps: If you actually have NEVER watched Citizen Kane - do.

SOMEWHERE OUT THERE....

Its funny how when things seem to be spiraling out of control, something comes out of the blue that reminds you of the good times and the little things.... Lingus put together this little birthday montage with highlights of moments that we have shared... which is amazing, considering how usually either she or I are behind the camera, with the tragic result that we have so few photos together (so you can be warned that there are some pretty erm, strange shots).... Still, it brought a smile to my face, and considering it also features some of the regular readers of this blog, I hope it brings the same to yours... Lingus, thank you so much, and I miss you heaps. We've had some amazing times together, and shared some of the most important moments of our lives. I know you could not have physically been here for this one, but you certainly were in spirit - single malt variety, I promise... Can't wait to see ya again. Cheers Art

20/10

Sadly, the rumours are true, alas, the Artster has crossed the big bad barrier into ..... 20/10.... of course, never without drama... To be honest we were both had a huge week, and were already feeling a little fragile going into the weekend, but when have we ever let that get in the way of a party right? The evening started off beautifully - a pre-dinner drink at Attica's courtyard, and then up to the Coriander Leaf for Indian fusion (appropriate no? haha). Its always been a special place for us, even back when it was at the Gallery Hotel, and its a place that Gladys, Gwen and Andy will surely remember too. We had a wonderful bottle of Rioja, some fabulous food, and a very embarassing episode with a singing waiter. Of course the highlight of the evening was my pressie, which you can thank for the lovely shots of the party that followed at The Whisky Store. Just as nice and so very fun was the specially designed 20/10 wrapper and cake, courtesy of course of Pete. So... The party... Well it was a little bit different from the usual bashes... But some of the people I love most in life made it there, and I hope they had a good time. For those of you who made it, a big big thank you for helping me stagger into the wrong side of 30, it's gonna be a hellava ride. And for everyone else further than drinkin' distance, thank you for your emails, cards, calls and thoughts. You were missed, and are all invited to be here when I turn 20/11, 20/12, 20/13..... etc etc etc. Judging from my slow recovery from the night (hence the delayed upload of pictures), they may not be as wild (erm, we'll see) - the parties, I mean. But as long as everyone is there, I am sure it will be as wonderful... Love you guys heaps, and enjoy some of the snapshots of the night... (nothing incriminating... I promise... I think...) Art DVD photo slide show at onetruemedia.com

BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO REALITY...

So we're back in the humdrum of real life now (to anyone who wondered what happened between Bali and Oct 10, well, we'd like to know too, because the tan has faded, the yummy Bamee goreng - special Indonesian noodles - is gone, and every relaxed muscle that thanked us for the trip is on the verge of declaring war). Bleah. Came back to the final leg of the Wades' vacation, and it was great fun. Lots of nice dinners, funny moments, and learning how to play something called Yugioh, thanks to Lorc. And then a journalist-friend of ours from Vietnam had to come to Singapore for a story and crashed with us... We're expecting more visitors later in the month, and I'm wondering if we need a full-time concierge at this stage haha. No lah, I'm kidding. I love the sound of a happy and full house - comes from the years of training by Mum I guess... With our working hours and stuff, it gets lonely being a party of one sometimes.... Anyways, since Hieu (viet friend) headed home it has been horrifyingly mad. Pete had a whole ad campaign (his second for Stomp!!) on his hands, and has left his mark on virtually every library here, in addition to everything else he was doing, of course, and I, well, I'm not even sure where to start (or when it ends), so I'll spare you the details. Singapore's currently enveloped in a horrible haze, and its really easy to let the weather get you really very down because everything seems really dismal, everyone's falling sick all over the place, and no one really wants to go out and breathe in all those pm10s (there are, of course, air-conditioned bars, which help greatly). The PSI hit a year-high on Saturday night - 150, considered unhealthy, and it was horrid, especially since Gwen's friends - Carol, David and their son Cole - were in town on the way to Bali.... Wish they could have seen Singapore under better circumstances. Keeping my fingers crossed that by the time they stop in Singapore on their way to Australia, it will be better. Not sure which way it will go though, its on the up again tonight. Bleah. I hope Pete and I don't get sick.... On a happier note, Div, Ruben and Sarah had their very first modern dance recital (they all take dance classes at a funky school called on Sunday and all of them were really brilliant. The first two munchkins shook their butts off and tapped their way through Carwash and look soooo cute, not missing a single beat, and Sarah wowed the crowd with her tap dancing. Considering that the entire show lasted 2.5 hours and involved over 17 performances by kids as young as 3, it was actually surprisingly easy to sit through... The kids were really very talented, and this one young guy - Elijah - who could not have been over 6 or 7, was brilliant. He was such a natural with such flair that I think half the female audience was obsessing (sigh, okay, not obsessing, but they were certainly watching him closely. too closely.).... You're gonna have to wait for pictures of our little dancers though, the ones on the phone didn't quite come out, so gonna have to bug Angie or Terrence for stuff off their cameras. The weekend before was lovely.... spent the evening at Mum's (cuci kaki day - for whoever understands my crappy spelling) and ate waaaaay to much Sindhi curry. Mum even had chana and chutney on standby for Pete. It was real nice and a chance for everyone to catch up... Oh, and just re-read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which I have to say was amazing, even the second time around. Even Pete was impressed, especially with the use of visual storytelling integrated into the story itself.... Wonderful... Oskar is so endearing, and so believable... And I have to say, it takes real skill to tell a story from the simplistic viewpoint of a child and not sound put on - and I think too many people have forgotten what it was really like to be one.... It's right now on my list of "can't ever re-read too many times", alongside the likes of another fabulous "from the eyes of a child" book, Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.... Okay, okay, will not bore everyone with my literary obsessions.... Quickly moving on... Other than that, its really quite the same stuff, different day... Looking forward to the weekend. Quality time with Pete, catching up with the crew... It'll be really nice.... Considering also popping our noses into Oktoberfest on Friday (despite, of course, having already gone crazy at the one at the Swiss Club last month, which was BRILLIANT, though I promised not to post any incriminating pictures here, heh)..... Of course, that is assuming I survive the dang week... Wish me luck. Art Ps: Yes, TWO posts today!! What can I say... making up for lost time... :)

BALI HIGH...

As promised, the second instalment of pictures and idle musings... Backtrack to mid-August, just after Vietnam. The Wades descended on Singapore, and it was so nice to have a crowded house to be honest, even if we were stepping on little toy heads every now and then. Anyways, the plan was for them to have about 8 days here, and then we'd all shoot off somewhere for a week, and then they'd have another week here to eat all the chicken rice they could. We toyed with the idea of Malaysia, and hiring a car to go up the coast, and then we found out exactly how much the damn insurance on the car was and that idea very quickly went out the window.... Plus, eight hour drive up and 8 hours back, for a hotel that couldn't understand what in the world I was asking them on the phone was a bit much to handle... So extremely late one night, as Andy, Pete and I pored over the Internet trying to figure out where in the world to go that was 1) nice 2) near 3) relatively cheap, the hubsand comes up with Bali. It made perfect sense - two hour flight vs eight hour drive, $188 flights (no kidding - and yes, still available, and yes, you have to add $100 for airport tax) vs thousands of bucks in car insurance, Bali Hyatt's Regency Club vs some weird hotel we could not even find on the Net. It was pretty much a no brainer, plus, we love Bali and have been there so many times, it would have been easy enough finding brilliant food and sorting the Wades out. Needless to say, it was absolutely brilliant.... We parked off in Sanur and stayed well away from the madness of Kuta. Actually come to think of it, the only real trip trip we did out of Sanur was to have seafood at Jimbaran Bay... The Wades went off the the volcanos and stuff but Pete and I were only too happy to crash next to the pool or rent bikes and take off somewhere... We settled in so well that I couldn't bear to leave, especially without just one more bowl of soto ayam... Sigh.... The food was brilliant, the shopping superb, and waking up to the sound of the waves crashing was unbelievable.. I tell you, I will never ever get tired of Bali.... Check out some of the snaps: Edit video online at onetruemedia.com