Marley & Me :: John Grogan
I finished the book this afternoon with tears running down my face during the last few chapters. I had stalled for several days before I worked up enough courage to tackle the rest of it. Yes, I loved it and everything about that madcap delinquent dog. There were many laugh-out loud moments that had me re-reading them several times, giggling over each retelling. A wonderful book to read again and again. And to share too.

Visit his blog for more dog stories.

And it's off to Emerald Hill. This colourful neighbourhood is situated just off the main shopping belt of Orchard Road in a former Peranakan (aka Straits Chinese) enclave. Here you can find beautifully preserved million dollar homes that were once shophouses in the 1920s and 30s.

At one end of Emerald Hill are bars similar to those you see here, and at the other end is Akira Restaurant where you can find the freshest seafood tempura and sashimi, owned by a petite dynamo, Min who is the perfect hostess.

It was a great night of laughs, stories, gossip and plum wine with non-stop platters of delicious food arriving in our own private tatami room.

Oh...do you know how you can tell if a Japanese restaurant's any good? Just check to see if it's packed with Japanese businessmen. They know where to find the best sushi for the best prices. And this place was packed with them.

Note: The picture above was taken with a Nokia N70 which has an in-built 2 megapixel camera. I'm now waiting for the N73 to arrive on our shores to upgrade to a phone with a 3.2 megapixel camera.

It's finally over! All the late nights and early mornings, grumblings, stress, lost tempers, late lunches and no dinners as a result of the two campaigns are behind me now. We've got just a couple of things to wrap up but these are minor compared to what's gone before.

And now I can say what we've been working on these past months. Nokia will be launching 2 new Nseries phones - the N92 and N73. All material you'll see - posters, ads, banners, stuff in Nokia stores etc. - came out of my office here in Singapore. The N92 offers you real live mobile TV in the palm of your hand while the N73 is a 3.2 megapixel camera that also happens to be a phone. Both are amazing phones although I'm more partial to the N73 cause of its slimness and that camera feature.

Stumbled on Octogenarian, a retired journalist who has some interesting views on the current Middle East crisis, Israel and the failings of the Bush administration.

After not having a reading life, never mind a social life for the last 2 months because of work and the 2 campaigns I've been grumbling about, I popped into Kinokuniya on Friday at lunch. So many new books enticing me to make them mine but I left with just two: Marley and Me by John Grogan, and It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be by Paul Arden. One's a feel-good weepy and the other inspiring and thoughtful. Now which one should I read first?

A view from the 5th floor of the cineplex at the mall. Caught a late morning screening of Pirates and it was really good. It was a fun way to spend nearly 2.5 hours. Just don't worry too much about connecting the dots.

For a while now, I've had something niggling at the back of my mind. It was a stash of old typography magazines I've had for like...forever. I decided to see if they could be worth anything - if at all - to anyone.

After checking online, I discovered that they are either classified rare or very rare issues of Baseline. Omigosh! And I've got 10 of the earliest issues!

Digging further, I found several first edition design books especially one by the guru of deconstructed type - David Carson.

Hmmm...I think it's time for a crash course in selling on Ebay! Woohoo!!

On an afternoon that just came out of the shower with golden highlights everywhere. This phrase - 'the wild, blue yonder'.

Unfortunately my horizon is rather limited these days. I'm stuck indoors, surrounded by stone, glass and wood, and about to crack my jaw with yawns.

What shall I do once this madness has passed? Well, I'm planning a 5-day weekend in early August that involves Sentosa for some jazz on the beach, a spa treat or two and just relaxing with some neglected books.

Care to join me?

The team pulled an all-nighter Thursday into Friday, to finish artwork for the ad campaign coming out in August. Got home at about 530am, fell asleep midway through an old episode of The Golden Girls at about 615am, woke up at 10am to get into the office at 11am for the last leg of Phase 1 this evening.

Feel slightly stoned. Just looking forward to sleeping in this weekend and recharging for Phases 2 to 4 next week. These last 3 should not be as crazy as this phase but in advertising, you never can guess the whims of clients.

I just want my life back! Everything - family, friends, dinner dates, movies, shopping(!) - has been on hold for nearly 2 months. I've postponed a doctor's appointment 5 times now. D...if you're reading this, I owe you a massive phone call at the end of July.

How and what do you classify as an 'excuse'?

Someone asked me to explain why something did not happen and I gave him the explanations, wherefores and hows - all very matter-of-factly. Are those excuses? It's already happened, over with and done. I'm not defending or justifying anything but when part of the reasons include the one asking the question, and he doesn't like what he hears, is he right to say I'm making excuses?! He didn't make his intentions clear, left out some important information, and I'm suppose to read his mind as to what he REALLY wants. What the...!?

Off the Beaten Track :: Laura Stoddart
Found it at an art bookshop, tucked in one corner of a shelf, marked down to US$6! It's a beautiful collection of whimisical illustrations coupled with magical quotations of travel. Perfect preparation for my forthcoming holiday, don't you think?

Half a year has gone and it's now July! Do you realise that there is less then six months left to Christmas? Ack!

The past 2 weeks have been crazy and there's 19 days to go before all this craziness ends. That little spot of light in the horizon is what's keeping me going. Can you imagine? Two...2...global campaigns for a telco company in two...2 months. This is not the norm. One of the campaigns suddenly came to life after laying dormant for 4 months. Now both are needed. Both are urgent. Both have the SAME bloody deadline. Grrr... all we could do was shake our heads and wonder what the client was doing during all that time.

Anyway, 29 July is when EVERYTHING goes out the door to the rest of the world. And I can hardly wait! Only then I can start thinking about my holiday in Oz.