Archive for December, 2006

December 2007

Sunday, December 31st, 2006

Wow – this blog used to be daily, then it became weekly, now it’s monthly. In December I had a lot of technical problems – my computer was in the shop for three weeks (!?!?) to get a new part replaced. It was kind of like a recall, so the work was done for free, but if I would have known that it would take three weeks I wouldn’t have minded paying! Some of my Christmas presents were computer work-related, so those will all arrive late. Oh well…

In December we had a nice party here with Naoko’s colleagues coming over. Then I did a bunch of Christmas shopping – I bought presents on behalf of Naoko, my parents, and myself. Whew!

There were a few events, none of which were really fantastic – except the one bank event where all the journalists in attentance were given free Sony Ericsson mobile phones!! Killer gift!! Thanks guys.

Besides that? I don’t remember.

Christmas came and went and I had a long weekend, which was very nice. I got a few nice things, and I gave a few nice things. I think Naoko was the most pleasantly surprised – she got the mobile phone, an iPod (all things that she needs) and a few other goodies.

On the 27th Naoko and Zen flew off to Japan, to spend three weeks over New Years (the big Japanese holiday) with her family. Yes, it’s much colder in Japan than here, but Zen is having a great time and is learning a lot of Japanese, and it’s good for Naoko to spend time with her family. My parents are here having fun going swimming twice a day, and I have a bunch of long weekends in a row. Hooray!

December 30th I went out to see a live show at Gashaus. It started at 3:30, and the bands were quite good, so I stayed nearly until the end. Made some new friends, which is nice, and watched how some of these guys play. They’re really good! At the show last night, a lead singer of one of the bands between songs said (for some reason) “I just have one question – who is Borat?” And I yelled out “I am.” It was pretty funny. Everyone there asked me if I was in a band. Hmmm… maybe I should be. I met a guy who plays drums, so maybe we can form a duo. Gashaus is such a funky place, it is a bit like Fandango in Osaka. Unfortunately, Singapore probably doesn’t have as many bands as Japan does to book, nor does it have cool touring bands like AC or Blonde Redhead passing through to book the way Fandango does. But they haven’t been open a year, so there’s still a chance to make a differrence, and I can see they’re doing that already. I like the place, I like the people who run it, and it’s in quite a funky part of town. When you wander out of Gashaus, you see a bunch of tables – the cool kids from the bands are chilling out there – easier to hear what other people are saying than in the club – and further down are the rickshaw drivers chilling out in their rickshaws, or on old falling-apart sofas that have been donated to them. Some of the younger guys have big tattoos along their legs and shoulders. It’s quite a different type of place to see punk bands than what you’d get in Japan – or anywhere else. I wonder what type of venue the Vietnamese punk bands play at…

So… merry Christmas all, and have a safe and happy new year.

Ikoma Party

Ikoma party

Zen and Oma with Santa

Zen Oma Santa

Christmas dinner – Oma, Opa, Naoko and Zen

Christmas Eve

Zen and his new scooter, with Oma and Naoko at the botanic garden

botanical garden

Oma and Opa in the bonsai garden

Oma Opa botanical garden

scary bonsai

scary bonsai

Naoko and Zen hit the road

Zen Naoko suitcase

Oma and Opa, Peter and Naoko. Picture taken by Zen.

Peter Naoko Oma Opa

Gashaus live show: December 30, 2006

Derrick of Objection Overule

Objection Overule Derrick

Adam of Objection Overule

Objection Overule Adam

Singapore’s shortest punk rock girl

short girl