A Life Lost

"Your business is about to f**king swim down the Hudson," Ramsey said to Cerniglia, while offering advice on how to turn his business around.


One must really wonder how much influence the words Gordon Ramsay bluntly said to restaurant owner Joseph Cerniglia in 2007 had on the latter's decision to take his life in that particular manner. If you've watched his shows then you will realize most of the time his lips will be moving but there will be no audio. That's because its mostly profanities.

When he was interviewed by Jeremy Clarkson on an episode of Top Gear, Jeremy brought up the topic of Gordon having received an OBE and jokingly asked if it was for services to swearing. Gordon doesn't just have colorful language but gets angry a lot and is very rude. Well no doubt this helps the show's ratings. The main reason why many people watch American Idol is because of Simon Cowell though no contestant has taken their lives yet. And thats 2 for Gordon! Well I think its because Simon looks like a buffoon anyway and no one takes him seriously.

In our line of work we meet all sorts of characters daily and this is a very timely reminder to never take anything personally no matter how much pressure we are under. The results can really be fatal.

I'm Back!

I've spent the past couple of weeks travelling around Australia and its been a blast. There were many things to prepare and attend to but it was all worth it. My wife and I visited Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane in a space of a couple of weeks and left with many fond memories and pictures. 

A kangaroo gets close

There will be more posts on the trip after the photos have been sorted out. I do plan to make them into an album as well but that will be much later. Here are some thoughts on the trip...

- Zebra crossings (the ones without traffic lights) mean nothing in Malaysia but over there, they are very important. Pedestrians always have the right of way on zebra crossings ... a concept that I found very hard to get used to. I almost ran over 2 people and had to remind myself to slow down and look out for people each time after that. 

- Koalas sleep 20 hours a day! And don't call them koala bears. They're not bears.

- 50% of the people we meet in Brisbane are Asians. 

- It must suck to be a tourist from China. Souvenirs are all made in China and I wonder how its like to fly over seven thousand kilometers to a foreign land and buy products at prices that will cost a trivial sum if they had bought it at home. I didn't see any Malaysian products there though I did pity the fella who was driving a Proton Persona (Wira). 

This kangaroo got too close...heheh

- Planning a trip all on your own as opposed to going for an all-inclusive tour package (like our Korean trip last year) is a lot more fun but tiring. No one is there to greet you at the airport, take your luggage and ferry you around. You have to read maps, learn train routes, decide between different modes of transport, etc.  It was a great experience but will think twice before doing something like this again. 

- Nothing beats the feeling of coming home. Really.

Mobile Blogging

I'm giving this mobile blogging a go and updating my blog from my iPhone. Now this isn't the first time I've posted from the phone but this is the first time doing so while uploading a picture.

I'll be going to Australia later this week so it's just as well that I discovered this option of emailing the picture from the iPhone camera roll to a predetermined blogger mail account.

I'm also glad that my friend Mr Procrastinate is no where to be seen. I've started packing slightly earlier than usual. It was a tough choice deciding what cameras to bring but I decided to go with my gut instinct and bring 4. With few days left to decide that may change. But no matter what I bring, I know it'll be a great trip and am looking forward to it.

Lessons from the Walk

I was involved in a car accident a few weeks back and it forced me to find an alternative method of transport. The workshop promised that they will have everything up and running in 3 weeks time. They took 4 weeks. But it doesn't matter. I could not have been any happier than I was yesterday when I drove to work in my own car again. It didn't bother me that the radio station I listen to chose to do a Justin Bieber marathon and my ears were bleeding by the time I arrived. No sir, not bothered at all.

There are a few experiences that I'll probably never forget from my 4 weeks of walking to work.

- There are things you think about when you walk that you probably wouldn't even bother when you are driving. You notice the terrain more ... well maybe because YOU HAVE TO! You learn which stretch of road has the most dog shit. You notice where the trees are and the shade they provide. There's one awful stretch of road that has no shade at all and takes me a brisk 9 minutes to cover.

- The weather. I've not been affected by meteorology since my time in Glasgow but how the weather fares here will determine how fast I get to work. On hot days I can reach in 23 minutes tops but on nice cloudy days, probably 30minutes.

- Roadkill. Birds. Dogs. Cats. Rats. Urggh.

- There are some really kind people out there. I've been offered a ride to work twice.

- Conversing on my terms. The first time I was offered a ride, it was a non-stop high-speed MLM sales pitch till my destination. That made me resolve to control the conversation should I come across the same situation again. Second time round was another fella, a neighbor of mine. Nevertheless I avoided asking obvious questions like, 'so what do you do for a living?' or 'what interests you?' and stuck with safe topics like weather and politics.

- And finally, if I had to do those four weeks all over again, I'd rather buy a bicycle.