Whilst Everyone Is Listening to Vincent's Love Story

The Galloping Geographer @ Work : )

 

"Inside of everybody, ..."

"... There is sun and laughter to be found"

Over dinner and drinks at Timbre last night, Dash and her ex-colleagues (from left: Laura, Mel, Shan and Sarah) had a laughing good time ^_^

Ahhhh, nothing like having good company and good food to start off the weekend! And Dash totally *loves* Shan's new wooden spectacle frames!

Reunion on Board Fuji Maru!

You Warm My Heart

*Ack* Maddie sent this picture via Facebook : )

And this picture totally reminds Dash of her and Ilya! Check out the pink furry hearts on the cute penguins! Dash totally loves this!

And it reminds Dash of the postcard that Annika sent!

*Ack* Super-cute! *And Dash falls off her chair*

Shugo Tokumaru's "Exit"

Dash got this album in Japan about two years ago, and found this album by Shugo Tokumaru playing light and hoppy music. Upon listening to the music again today, Dash felt the layers of happiness stacking up in her : ) Brilliant!

Platter of Colours

Splatters of browns,
Dabs of white, and
Two bewildered squeezes
Of red and blue look on
At the totality of chaos
And mayhem on the platter.

When art imitates life II

At the Singapore Zoological Gardens, there lives a den of white tigers. And here are three of them that Dash sighted at the zoo a month ago.

Rather regal and aloof looking, as they should be.

And then Dash saw this art drawing of the white tiger.

Hrm, somehow the cute drawing of the white tiger within metres of the real thing just seems to take the evolution of tigers back thousands of years when they were still within the feline family.

The Lineup of Tofu

One tofu is oft miserable.





Two tofu make frequent curiously humming company.

And three -- Ah! Three tofu make curiously progressive happy company!

A Spot of Green

:D Inexplicably just so.

Ladybug protects her spot(s)

: ) Sighted at Adeline's desk, a lone ladybug perches on her usual spot at the basket and keeps strangers away from her stash of chocolates : )

Why Dash likes sparkling water

Dash finds herself going through repeated phases of obsession. For now, Dash is back again obsessed with sparkling water.

Dash thinks it must be the carbonated bubbles that fizz and make her feel all bubbled up with refreshing happiness - and suddenly and deeply intensely so! :D Now, Dash needs to restock up on this instant happiness in the fridge this weekend ^_^

Don't Drink in Public Places

This has got to be one of the oddest pictures on a signpost that Dash has ever seen in Melbourne.

Check out the apparently drunk figure carrying his shoes by their laces! O_O

And so the profile of the drunken person on the street seemed to be a right-handed male who likes to walk around barefooted while carrying his shoes by their laces! Odd.

And assuming that he didn't walk into a red tape, it also seems strange that the cancellation effect was not circumvented within a circle/square that draws the boundary on the figure! Such unlike a usual "No-(something)" sign that Dash is used to seeing. Odder.

After a deliberate examination of the signpost, Dash is convinced that the shoes and shoelaces were stenciled in after the signpost was put up. Not only did the shoes seem a tad too large for the figure, they were also crossing the nice border surrounding the sign! Oddest.

Barley in the House!

With the increasingly unpredictable weather pattern - swinging from hot and humid to cold and rainy - some of Dash's friends at office have been feeling under the weather. And so we all decided to boil up some barley water to help everyone stay healthy. A bunch of pandan leaves were also tied up and thrown in for a good measure. Nice! : )

Here another G'Ruff peered into the camera to add some uplifting jovial spirit to the barley : )

When art imitates life

Laura gave Shaun this photo-canvas for his birthday earlier this month. She used a photo someone took of Shaun (we suspect it was CQ who surreptitiously took the photo at a BBQ some months back) and got it printed on canvas material and stretched the canvas over a frame.

And Dash must say that it is a pose that Dash can imagine Shaun in - comfortably lying on the couch and stretching his arm and neck : )

And then what is even more interesting was the sketch that Timothy (Laura's son) did of Shaun! :D Timothy's art of Shaun in real life gave the photo-canvas a whole new post-modernist twist to one's interpretation!







Here, Dash posts a picture of the duo artists-cum-tennis enthusiasts Timothy in blue and Shaun in pink playing Nintendo Wii : )

Need. Coffeeeeeeee ...

Calibrating the amount of happiness derived from coffee is both an art and a science.

A science because the right type of coffee for that day is dependent on a few key factors and assumptions in the equation. For example, the planned activities for the next few hours, the availability of the right kind of music that patters along in tune with you, or even the state of mind you found yourself in when you woke up.

Say you woke up with a strong memory of a particularly bad dream, then you may want a weak milky coffee to dilute the bad vibes; or one may need a strong robust coffee to jumpstart the day!

On the other hand, it is also an art since the first cuppa for the day ought to be presented with a neat flourish -- either by a cheerful spouse/family, a one-button-voila-coffee machine, or a no-nonsense coffee barista who whips up the coffee you ask for swiftly : ) Ah!

Handcarry or Check-in please?

Dash found this print on Song's bag earlier this week. Song is this friend of Dash who has a 2-year old kid Santhya whom he brings along to meetings and functions, like a dad and son team. Just like how the big character on the bag hand-carries the yellow chick :D

Free to Eat : ) ...

"Anything I want?!" asks the incredulous-looking ladybug, "Really?!"

Erm, I guess, ladybug. Just don't hang around the sign too often in case others wrongly assume that *you* are up for munch too : )

With a Splash and a Dash ...

This is what Dash did for the first two weeks of art classes. 6 hours of work, or what Dash's art teacher calls, "a series of corrections" : ) Dash's art teacher has a very interesting take to art. For him, art is like life, and art is a series of corrections. Hrm.

Though sometimes Dash find herself accidentally getting something right, and then only to make it worse while trying to make it better O_o Ack!




This is Dash's second piece of work over the 3rd and 4th week. This is done with the reductio method where we basically cover the canvas with paint, and work to remove the colours to re-create the scene.

One word. QUICK! Dash needs to work more quickly instead of being stuck at one part of the scene.

Ilya and Dash's Very 1st Chess Game : )

Ilya and Dash finally played our first chess game, which lasted more than 3 hours, and into the early hours of the Sunday morning.

At intervals of the game, quotations from Shakespeare such as "A horse! A horse for my kingdom", one-word utterances such as "Madness!", and grim sayings such as "And the game gets darker" were heard in the living room. : )

Not bad considering that Dash started out in the evening with basic questions such as "Which piece is the Queen? The taller one?", "Where does the bishop and the horse go?" and "Hey, you can stick a note on the hat of the bishop!"

Ilya won the game - and interestingly, it was the quiet little soldier at the corner of the chessboard that played the crucial function in cornering Dash's King during a pursuit ^_^ Nice work!

(Thanks, Jerry, for the chess set! ^_^V Ilya and I really had a lot of fun at the game : )

A Rather Annoyed-Looking Rhinoceros

On a rainy Saturday afternoon, Dash started out with the intent to paint a puzzled-looking rhinoceros, but ended up with a rather annoyed-looking one.

Eeks.

It looks like Dash needs to do more work on him.

For now, Dash has placed the yet-unnamed annoyed-looking Rhinoceros with Haigsh on the bookshelf. Perhaps some animal talk can keep them occupied.

If anyone has a good name suggestion for a rather annoyed-looking Rhinoceros, please let me know!

What Dash Found Behind Ilya's Office Door

A note that says, "Getting Coffee - Back Momentarily."

: )

And you know that you are madly in love with the person when even seeing his writings and notes makes you feel like giving him a hug ^_^

Animals Peering At Hidden Cameras

Mr G'Ruff raises a quizzical eyebrow at the odd object in the tree while slowly grinding the leaf in its mouth.

And here Mr Rhino smiles at the camera with knowingly twinkling eyes.

The third creature to totter by the camera was a rather annoyed-looking Mr Rhino who seemed unable to find his friend in a random game of hide-and-seek, "Now where did he hide?"

Joey's new furry additions to the whiteboard : )

Dash's colleague, Joey added more cats to the row of cats on the whiteboard : )

Check out cat #6 who is thinking of her pet goldfish Ed; and cat#7 who thinks that everyday should be a Sabbath Sunday for rest : )

Octopus Garden!

Dmitry and Cindy gave Dash her very first Beatles' album "Abbey Road" for Christmas last year, and Dash has been so plugged into the album since then : ) Thanks Dmitry and Cindy! :D

Dash's current favourite song for the month of Nov is "Octopus' Garden"! : ) It has such a cheery light tune especially the music at the start of the song. And one can also hear the bubbling at certain junctures of the song in-between the singing! Ahhhh! The amount of thought the Beatles put into this song :D

Everytime Dash imagines the (somehow and somewhat always slightly purplish-pink) octopus and its garden (of well-textured seashells and sleek wavy green seaweed and kombu), Dash feels uplifted! ^_^ And in Dash's imagination, the tentacles of the octopus would always surreptitiously float towards a pebble or two, and flip them over to see if there are any nice seashells for its garden collection ^_^

Octopus' Garden
by The Beatles

I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade
He'd let us in, knows where we've been
In his octopus' garden in the shade

I'd ask my friends to come and see
An octopus' garden with me
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade.

We would be warm below the storm
In our little hideaway beneath the waves
Resting our head on the sea bed
In an octopus' garden near a cave

We would sing and dance around
because we know we can't be found
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade

We would shout and swim about
The coral that lies beneath the waves
(Lies beneath the ocean waves)
Oh what joy for every girl and boy
Knowing they're happy and they're safe
(Happy and they're safe)

We would be so happy you and me
No one there to tell us what to do
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden with you

(And here in a swiss town wall, Dash found is a rather annoyed octopus trying to look menacing in a poster : ) A nice contrast to his delightfully zen-ish fellow octopus in the Beatles' song : )

On Dash's Phone is this ...

The row of cats tells a story:

From left -- cat #1 has a flowery thought; cat #2 has a brilliant idea that just sprang forth; cat #2 is astonished at the upside world of his fellow cat #4; and cat #5 ponders about whether it is cat #4 who is upside down or it is the rest of them who are down under.

:D

Red Bean Soup!

Awww ... That was what Jacq cooked for us in the afternoon last Wed ^_^ Yummy!

In cooking the red bean soup, Jacq put a porcelain spoon to speed up the process of the beans splitting. O_O Hrmm. Dash found this odd.

A quick googling online yields finds on cooking sites where the cook recommends the exact same thing: To put a porcelain spoon in to cook with the beans!

Odd, Odder and Oddest! Why?! Why would placing a porcelain spoon in work?

Dash's initial guess is that the porcelain spoon would rattle along with the convection currents of the water heating up, and would have a good chance of landing on the beans to help split them to soft them. Jacq said that she heard no rattling of the porcelain spoon in the slow cooker. Hrm hrm.

Odd, Odder and Oddest! Why?! Why would placing a porcelain spoon in work? *Dash is really puzzled*

"O How I Long For The Perfect World"

A wish inscribed on a wall poster that Dash spotted in Melbourne :)

I guess once we have all perfected the cuppa, it is time to get the world purr-fect! *and Dash looks around for a furry cat to pat* :D

Odd, Odder and Oddest! O_O

Dash found this patterned strip of pavement in an alley road in Melbourne city. Hrmm, are they real traffic signs? If so, what does the angled strip mean for the pedestrian?! O_o

And why does it seem that the white strips or tapes on the road are removeable? Odd, odder and oddest!

Now, really!

The Busy Ladybugs Petal/Pedal Away!

^_^ Dash and her colleagues caught a few minutes of fun snapping away at the ladybugs perched on the sunflower in their office :D There, here is a "Sunny Day, Chasing the Clouds Away" picture for Dash's readers!

(Ladybugs courtesy of Adeline and Sunflower courtesy of Terence : )

A Little Green Man

Dash found a squeeze toy alien from "Toy Story" at her colleague Laura's house the other day. It seems that the claw had chosen this one and brought him to a "better place" : )

and Laura's place is indeed a "better place" - what more can one ask for when one can have good thai food, lots of laughter and dancing to MJ's Billie Jean, wild swinging of arms at the Wii tennis game, and a good dose of alcohol! ^_^

Tale of Two 2-Stor(e)y Ducks

At Dash's 2-day course that just ended yesterday, the teams were asked to construct an object with some lego bricks. And when you place some lego bricks near Dash, the possibilities are just infinite! :D

Within seconds, Dash made a simple duck (with a yellow beak and yellow feathers) Then two other colleagues chimed in to request for orange webbed feet for the duck, and suggested it be called a 2-storeyed duck : )

Oooh, Dash then decided that it shall be a 2-storeyed duck who waddles around to tell two stories to everyone it meets ^_^ This seems like a good idea for a book!

And since every exciting adventure would require a misguided villain, Dash swiftly constructed an evil duck using black and blue lego bricks : ) Good. Now, the recipe for a thoroughly exciting adventure can start to unfold.

For publicity, Dash has -- for a startling starter -- also placed a few red bricks nearby to symbolise the blood shed as the evil duck pecks at the good 2-stor(e)yed duck! Mwahahahaha XD

(Dash's colleagues placed the green and blue bricks to represent the grass and water in the background. Well, so now we have an exciting adventure or even potentially a thrilling horror on our bricks! ... Erm, I mean on our hands! : )

fluffy droplets on the fly!

Dash spotted these fluffy and highly-energetic droplet bouncing here and everywhere on a washing machine advertisement :D kekeke check out how they each seemed to go"Oooooh", "Ahhhhhhh", "Whoooooaa" as they glide about :D

To do: Get Tissue!

And everyone has been asking why there is a tofu next to the to-do list O_o tofu?! Those squiggles yeah?> They *really* do look like bonito flakes. =_=

humming happiness ... [buzz buzz buzzzzzz!]

On a wall of the lift lobby just outside Dash's office, Dash found this Mr Happy whose zen expression simply hums of happiness ^_^ kekek

做人三好：做好事、说好话、存好心

In threes please!
And here we go -- woohoo!

(Title of post is translated as: There are three things that a person should do: Do good deeds; Speak No Evil; and act with good intentions)

Theinternetathomeissofast!

OMG! Ilya just upgraded the home internet modem last week, and today Dash just realised that her desktop is running so fast that she is almost seeing double! O_O

A Balancing Act ... Oooo

At the Thai food party last Saturday, Dash and a couple of friends tried to balance a red egg on the top of their heads ^_^

And Dash managed to get the red egg perched on her head for more than 5 seconds! :D

Please Check Under Your Car Before Driving Away

^_^ Don't wheel over the penguins! Check, check and double check!

(A sign Dash spotted on Phillip Island, just outside the Penguin Observatory Place : )

Chocolate Buddha and Other Musings

Another place that Dash and Ilya swung by in Melbourne city in Oct 09 is this restaurant at Federation Square - curiously named Chocolate Buddha. Food was good but the vegetarian options were not as broad as Vegie Bar nor many of the independent cafes.

The name of the place did cause Dash to wonder whether the melted Buddha is still an enlightened dollop of chocolate, or whether the chocolate form of the Buddha meant to reflect the impermanent and sweet (?!) state of human existence.

In Chocolate Buddha, Dash was very much tempted to get an order of Buddha's Tears, which is the name for one of the restaurant's tea offerings. But the name did cause Dash to wonder why Buddha would have cried. Were they sweet tears of happiness, bittersweet tears of empathy, sympathy (perhaps at the pitiful and painful struggles of humankind) or bitter tears of sadness?! What were they shed for, or who were they shed for?!

On a similar philosophical discussion topic, at Jeremy's birthday dinner last Friday, there was a deep discussion about the responsibility of having attained enlightenment - Does one who have attained enlightenment have a duty to help others understand, or do they just continue to sit by the river or under the bodhi tree? That is, can they stay disengaged from the affairs of humankind and yet be engaged with their sufferings?

Great. Just great.

Already, enlightenment is not an easy process and route. And at the seeming end of the road, there is another major ethical and moral issue to act upon or not act upon. Here, to paraphrase T. S. Eliot's famous line, "After such knowledge, what follows?" And at this juncture, Dash needs to take a nap to sleep on the issue >: I