Black Gold...

FPV or Ford Performance Vehicles' 40th Anniversary GT monster. Black Gold bootie-shaking BOSS 290 5.4 litre Quad-Cam 32 valve V8 driven muscle-car dream on wheels. Premier Motors! Can you just bring one in for the heck of it PLEASE!

Need a temporary distraction from the testosterone rush... tks to GoD's GiFT! for the following "too good not to re-post" post:

Words women use.

"Fine"

This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

"Five Minutes"

If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

"Nothing"

This is the calm before the storm. This means "something" and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with "nothing" usually end in "fine".

"Go Ahead"

This is a dare, not permission, DON'T DO IT!

"Loud Sigh"

Although not actually a word, the loud sigh is often misunderstood by men. A Loud Sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing".

"That's Okay"

This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. "That's okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

"Thanks"

This is the least used of all words in the female vocabulary. If a woman is thanking you. Do not question it, just say you're welcome and back out of the room slowly.

The MOD Experience - Part Two

Continuation of the original post.

Smile!

Good morning everyone! Have a wonderful week ahead!
Don't forget to SMILE!

Flip-it Sunday @ JC

Today's JC session welcomed the arrival of our flip-it jumbos, a cool flash accessory which as can be seen from the pics above, makes a big difference in the way photos will turn out using the speedlight. I think it diffuses light more efficiently than the Lightsphere, but then thats just me. The morning was spent playing with the new toy... Nice.... very nice... Tks hjzul for organizing the group buy!

Oh, and I met a friend of Jan's, Colin Quek, who walked up and introduced himself. Nice to meet you dude, and I'm sure I'll run into you at the office! I like your pics btw! Heheh!

Hey F'oo!!

What is it with drivers who insist on going round the roundabout
as if they're negotiating a hairpin at Sepang??
Making up for lack of performance in other areas??

Btw, I need yr full name for the anakbrunei.org email accounts :)
Oh, and did I mention that its a GOOGLE hosted email account
with a 2GB mailbox?

Crystal Duck Anyone?

Kamayan is an interesting word in Tagalog. It can mean eat with hands, but it also means having fun as its more literal meaning is shaking hands or getting acquainted. I'm not sure if the current owners knew this before they took over Seri Kamayan Restaurant all those years ago. The Gadong branch was one of my favorite haunts pre-1997 and I suspect it was a favorite of many others as the place seemed to be always packed whenever I went.

I hadn't been to Seri Kamayan in years and last night da missus and I were invited to dinner at their remaining branch at Utama Bowling. The restaurant overlooks the bowling alley which means you can watch the bowlers in action while you eat :) The food we ordered was based on the recommendation of the staff and it did not disappoint! It was a bonza meal enjoyed in great company. What more could one ask for? Read the full review of the meal here.

Check out my other reviews:

Streets of BSB on His Majesty's Birthday - Part 2

DestinASIAn: BIMP-EAGA

The 4th BIMP-EAGA Joint Tourism Development Cluster Meeting took place last week with the objective of introducing a value-chain approach to BIMP-EAGA tourism stakeholders, the mapping of BIMP-EAGA tourism value chain and analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; to understand the roles and requirements in tourism development and develop an action plan based on the principal of the value-chain approach.

Click!

The Smiths had no children and decided to use a proxy father to start their family. On the day the proxy father was to arrive, Mr. Jacobs kissed his wife and said "I'm off to work, Lydia. The guy should be here soon."

Shortly after that, a door-to-door baby photographer happened to drop by hoping to make a sale. Mrs. Jacobs answered the door. "Good morning, ma'am. You don't know me, but I've come to..." "Oh yes, I know why you're here. Harry told me you'd be coming soon." "He did? But I..." "Come right in! No use wasting time ." "Very well, then."

The photographer took out his briefcase and sat down. "As you may already know, I've made a specialty of babies." "Good, I'm glad," said Mrs. Jacobs. "That's just what Harry and I were looking for."

"I usually like to try two in the bathtub, one on the couch and perhaps a couple on the bed," said the photographer. "The living room floor is fun too...you can really spread out." "Bathtub? Living room floor? No wonder it never worked for Harry and me." "Well, ma'am, none of us can guarantee a perfect one every time, but if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven different angles, I think you'll be quite pleased with the results."

"I certainly hope we can get this over with quickly," Mrs. Jacobs gasped nervously. "Ma'am, in my line of work a man must take his time. I'd like to be in and out in five minutes, but you'd be disappointed with that, I'm sure." "Don't I know!" said Mrs. Jacobs.

The photographer pulled out a portfolio of his pictures. "This one was done on top of a bus in downtown London," he said, showing Mrs. Jacobs the picture. "Oh my God!" exclaimed Mrs. Jacobs, tugging on her handkerchief.

"And these twins turned out exceptionally well when you consider the fact that their mother was so difficult to work with." He showed Mrs. Jacobs another picture. "She was difficult?" questioned Mrs. Jacobs. "Extremely," said the photographer. "I finally had to take her to Hyde Park to get the job done right. People were crowding around, four and five deep, just to get a good look." "Four and five deep!" Mrs. Jacobs was amazed. "Yes," said the photographer. "And for more than three hours, too. The mother was constantly squealing and yelling. I could hardly concentrate. Then, it started getting dark and I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the squirrels started nibbling on my equipment. I just packed it all in."

Mrs. Jacobs leaned forward. 'You mean the squirrels actually chewed on your, um... equipment?" "Yes, ma'am. Thank God, no real damage was done.

Well, we'll get to work as soon as I set up my tripod."

"Tripod?" Mrs. Jacobs looked extremely worried now.

"Of course. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It's much to big for me to hold while I'm getting ready for action. Ma'am... ma'am... good God, she's fainted!"

Skali Lagi...

This here is my new friend whom I had the pleasure of meeting last week amid his busy schedule. Tengku Farith Rithauddeen, or TF for short, is Group CEO and Co-Founder of SKALI, an Internet Data Centre operator, and web applications and e-business consultancy which has set up a Lab in the BEDB's i-Center to transfer its technology and know-how to local bright sparks.

During our brief chat about what SKALI's plans are for their lab, TF outlined SKALI's technopreneurship program called SNAP, which stands for "SKALI Netpreneurs Acceleration Program", a program to facilitate the local ICT Industry by providing the necessary support structure.

I think this sort of mentorship program will do well to augment the efforts of BEDB and the i-Center in nurturing and growing our local bright sparks so that they can compete in the global market.

The other thing we spoke about was TF's book, Skali Lagi, which I've been listening to (yes, it comes in audio format which TF was kind enough to give me a CD of hehe) over the weekend. I was totally inspired by TF's candid reflections about his experiences, many of which mirror my own, about the last ten years or so. About the ups and downs of the dotcom boom, about how close he came to bankcruptcy, about how painful rejection and defeat can be, about how costly wrong decisions in technology can be.

I look forward to meeting TF again and sharing and learning more from our experiences. Hopefully, I will be inspired to gear up again and come out punching and give the IT industry another go!

A projectile called Projectunes

Came across a very well written article on Projectunes in today's paper. Out of curiosity, I visited the site. Phooaaarr! I must admit I've been really out of touch with the local music scene, so these kids just blew me away! From a humble home studio in the bedroom of one Adi Rani, they have produced some fabulous stuff! Our local talents just continue to amaze me!

I especially liked Azeem's track, Home. Kinda gives that G-Funk vibe with a real Bruneian flavour in the lyrics. Addictive stuff. I remember wondering to myself while listening to the G-Funk sounds of WarrenG driving around in Perth (where I met this member of projectunes) many years ago, "When are we gonna have a Bruneian version of this?". I shall wonder no more...

Hats off to the team at Projectunes and keep up the good fight! I wanna see you guys get to the top!

The MOD Experience

The gang and I braved the typhoon tail last night and gathered at the newly opened MOD Cafe on Jalan Jerudong last night. The crowd at the restaurant was testament to the fact that Bruneians will brave almost anything for a 50% discount on their meal! The place was jam-packed and parking was almost impossible. Good thing da sista made reservations earlier.

As we settled in to our table, a quick gaze around gave me the sense that we were in for a loooong night. Tables were left uncleared, people were left standing at the front counter, and eventually turned away for lack of reservations. The service staff, including the owner, were clearly out of their element and unprepared for the hungry hordes coming in for their half-priced feast! Some of the customers even walked out in a huff when the wait for their orders proved unbearable (kalau omputih nda pulang batah tu rasanya menunggu 'sal bisdia panjang becerita heheh!).

Perhaps it would not be fair to judge the service at this juncture seeing as it was their first night and they clearly under-estimated the amount of customers. Although I must say, the waiter who served our table, a sprightly indonesian chap, was very cool under-pressure and did very well considering the circumstances, so hats off to him!

The food... now that, thankfully, was a totally different story. It was fantastic! Every dish that eventually arrived was perfect taste-wise from the home-made fishcakes to the seafood tomyum to the mango fish to the glass noodles with prawns. But the highlight of the night had to be the deep fried fish-maw with squid and prawns. It was outstanding! The fish maw went really well with the slices of onion and parsley complemented by the tang of the lime juice... mmmm....

... to be continued...

Check out my other reviews:

Happy 2nd Birthday!

It's Saffron's 2nd Anniversary and A and F kindly invited me to celebrate with them during their weekend high-tea buffet which included the marvellous chocolate fountain where you get to coat your choice of fruits and pastry in luxurious chocolate before you eat it! In addition to the chocolate fountain, there were also various local delicacies. Yummmmz!

Below are the current Saffron promos:

Breakfast Happy Hour
Monday to Thursday
9.30am - 10.30am
Bottomless cups of coffee

High Tea Buffet
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
3pm - 6pm
Selected sweets and savouries and a chocolate fountain

Tea Time Happy Hour
4:30pm - 5:30pm
50% off Cakes

Throughout the promo period, Baiduri Platinum Visa cardholders and diners paying cash will get a 20 per cent off on the total dining bill.

Gilang Gemilang

Pics taken at the Gemilang Photography lecture earlier tonight in Tutong where Don was invited to give a talk. Guest of honour was the Assistant District Officer of Tutong. Good turnout of Gemilang members and the night included a slideshow of pictures taken by members this morning during His Majesty's bersama rakyat in Tutong, and also slideshows by some of the more prominent members of Gemilang like Ahim Rani, Haranadi Buntar and Adi Putera. It was an interesting night of sharing of pictures and experiences. Cool bananas!

Lunch at the Skodons

Many thanks to the US Ambassador and Mrs Skodon for inviting us over for lunch today. It was a lovely meal and the company was superb. This dude was there, and so was this dude. But the lunch was hosted for this dude. More about the food here.

Serenity...

“Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm”

Streets of BSB on His Majesty's Birthday

Faces - Part 9

Wine me, Dine me... (Arriving with Yannick Alléno)

Outstanding French cuisine by an outstanding French chef. Everyone arrived at least once! The words are here and here. More pics are here, and here.

Wassup Machaaa!

This here is Rajoo (not his real name) the bro wif da flow. I call him machaa (tamil for brutha). He da man cuz without him the roti kawin and the seama kway teow don't get served! Keep it real machaaa!

For those going to the Phantom of the Opera Gala Dinner tonight at Pantai, see ya all there and don't forget to wear your best smile cos you might get snapped by anakbrunei!

Abstract by Nia

Kid's got a good eye for colour don't you think?

All set for Sunday...

Pics from the media briefing at the Information Department yesterday morning. This year, the info dept received over 200 media pass applicants! Its gonna be a battle to get in the right positions for good shots! But its good fun at the same time! See ya at the padang!

Bonza Dinner!

What a great turnout we had for the Brunei-Australia Alumni Association Annual Dinner at the end of last month!

Bonza food, bonza entertainment, and especially bonza people! Quite a number of new members signed up on the night which was a good sign. Congratulations to the winners of the lucky draw prizes which included tickets to Perth and Singapore!

I know there's more of you Aussie undergrads/grads/postgrads out there and I think the BAAA is a great way to network with your fellow aussie alumni so that we can keep the ties with our Australian friends strong. More about the BAAA here.

Le Meurice Afternoon Tea at The Empire

Today's post was submitted by my first ever guest contributor, Da Sista. I will be happy to receive more guest contributions from readers on all Brunei related topics from today onwards. So if you're itchin to have your say on something, but can't be bothered to set up a site, then by all means, send it to me! (fine print applies here heheh!)

Hope the pics will be useful, inda lagi ku pandai mengambil fancy2 shots. The best I could do...hehe!

My plate had slices of lemon cake and carrot cake (under it) which were absolutely divine! The brown eclair was called Chocolate Caroline (yummy!), green cake was Green Tea Financier (really really good!) and the last was a Strawbberry Tart. There were also scones with apple bits made by the Le Meurice pastry chefs served with cream, strawberry jam and blueberry jam, and finger sandwiches with different fillings - smoked salmon, cheese and chicken. Kanyang eh - macam dinner bah!

For drinks L had the Meurice signature regular hot chocolate (really thick stuff which needs to be thinned with milk). Other hot choc flavours available were orange and cinnamon. I had the African Autumn tea which was caffeine free and had a fruity flavour.

All in all, really good value for $19.50 to try authentic French pastries - at Le Meurice itself this would cost more than 20 Euros per person. FYI a New Year's Eve Menu starts at 350 Euros per person!!! Really eyewatering!

Best place in the whole wide world...

In mummy's warm embrace...

Mustang Sally

Why is it that people insist on chatting among themselves or worse still, chatting on the phone when they are in a room full of people trying to listen to a speaker delivering his/her presentation?

This morning, I sat in on a very interesting seminar on cooperatives conducted by one of the speakers from Malaysia. What she delivered, I felt, was very pertinent to the audience, which was made up of heads and senior position holders of the various cooperatives in Brunei. Sadly, some of these individuals could be seen (and heard!) chatting on the phone and amongst themselves... sigh...

Yesterday, I attended Don Gurewitz's travel lecture along with quite a number of other local photogs. It was a great afternoon. Don took us on a journey through Asia, Africa, and India in a space of two hours. Siok. Macam National Geographic, tapi LIVE. Don is a really engaging speaker and I for one was fascinated with his travel stories and pics, but especially his stories. The stories gave meaning and context to his pictures.

Unfortunately, I think there were some in the audience who probably had the wrong expectations or something. They were chatting among themselves and busy taking pics of Don's slides! Kinda pissed me off these chaps...

For those who missed him this time round, he will be giving another talk in Tutong this weekend I think. Stay tuned for details.

50 years on... Part 2

7.7.7

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Lim on your triple-7 wedding today!
It was an honor for me to cover it. Now, go forth and multiply...

Oh, and it was nice meeting you AND your RED Nokia E90, d3x.

Welcome Don...

As a prize for winning last year’s photography competition organised by Grace Heritage foundation, Brunei Tourism will be hosting renowned American photographer, Don Gurewitz.

Don will be in Brunei from 6th to 23rd July 2007, doing a pictorial coverage of the Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures. These photographs will be exhibited at the 4th US-ASEAN Film, Photography and Video Exhibition in Washington DC, later this year.

While in Brunei, Don will be accompanied by his brand spanking new Canon EOS 5D (grrrr!), taking pictures that will help to promote the Kingdom as a tourist destination, especially in the USA . He will also be part of the media team from Information Department to cover His Majesty’s 61st Birthday Celebration.

For local photogs, Don will hold a small talk on his travels and travel photography in general. This will be held at Dewan Setia Pahlawan, Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources on Sunday, 8th of July 2007, at 2pm. Those interested to join, please contact Hj Yusof on 8732088 or yours truly on 8775530.

Perhaps no one respects people's ability to persevere more than Don Gurewitz, who has traveled to over fifty countries spanning five continents, capturing dignity, grace, and creativity in those inhabiting earth's nooks and crannies.

Making his living as a machinist for General Electric Co. in Lynn, Massachusetts, Gurewitz experienced frequent layoffs and yet has always taken full advantage of what he considers the mixed blessings of downsizing. He has spent any and all free moments traveling the world, finally taking advantage of a sizable number of frequent-flier miles accumulated while investigating labor issues abroad.

Gurewitz's photography resonates with a social sensitivity bred from a lifetime of political activism. An entirely self-taught photographer, Gurewitz used the camera as a journalistic tool during the Civil Rights movement, anti-war demonstrations, and while dodging bullets during the civil wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Do people actually use these anymore?

I still have a huge box of these lying somewhere and the only tape deck left in my possession is in one of my cars...

From Wiki:

The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. Although it was originally intended as a medium for dictation, improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant reel-to-reel tape recording in most non-professional applications.^[1] Its uses ranged from portable audio to home recording to data storage for early microcomputers. Between the 1960s and early 2000s, the cassette was one of the three most common formats for prerecorded music, alongside the LP and later the Compact Disc.^[2] The word cassette is a French word meaning "little box."

Compact Cassettes consist of two miniature spools, between which a magnetic tape is passed and wound. These spools and their attendant parts are held inside a protective plastic shell. Two stereo pairs of tracks (four total) or two monaural audio tracks are available on the tape; one stereo pair or one monophonic track is played or recorded when the tape is moving in one direction and the second pair when moving in the other direction. This reversal is achieved either by manually flipping the cassette or by having the machine itself change the direction of tape movement ("auto-reverse").^[3]

Happy 4th July!

4th of July, to all Americans signifies their Independence Day. But to da missus and I, its the date we tied the knot. Looking through our wedding album, I can't help but think what the album would've looked like had we tied the knot at the present moment, with the prevalence of photojournalistic style and such wonderfully creative photogs in the market :)

Happy Anniversary Cinta... I Love You Ooodles and Oooodles...

Relevant posts:

Masa.. ditaja oleh TAG Heuer
Tribute to the woman I love
Happy Birthday Cinta

Car Boot Sale...

Missed the Flag Raising... AGAIN

So I took this pic instead...

From 10 to 14 July, 3 Star Michelin Chef Yannick Alléno will be at The Empire Hotel & Country Club as part of their "Special Journey to Le Meurice" promotion.

Chef Yannick’s 9-course Gastronomic Menu will be served at the exclusive E-Club lounge located on the 6th Floor of the East Atrium Wing for dinner from 10 to 13 July priced at B$135 nett per person (thats just 45 squid!).

Throughout the promotion, daily Afternoon Tea at the Lobby Lounge featuring an array of French pastries, complimenting the finger sandwiches and scones normally available from 3pm to 6pm at B$19.50 nett per person.

The grand finale evening on 14 July will be at Pantai Restaurant with a special Phantom of the Opera theme and feature a 6-course menu at B$75 nett per person.

Call 241 8888 for reservations TODAY!

The need to Communicate...

Nokia E90 Communicator - the legend evolves into an all-inclusive Nokia Eseries business device.

The Nokia E90 Communicator sets the standard for an uncompromised "mobile office" experience. The latest technologies at the core of the device bring business necessities and personal amenities to the hands of people independent of time and place. Fast and inexpensive connections over WLAN and HSDPA-enhanced 3G accelerate the mobile use of data- and transmission-rich applications. The interface to business and leisure applications and the Internet, the stunning Nokia S60 browser, with 16 million colors, is capable of displaying the full width of a web page at once.

The Nokia E90 Communicator is now based on the S60 platform, making a wealth of additional mobile applications available for its users. The Nokia E90 Communicator also has an integrated GPS and Nokia Maps application to provide help in finding routes and locating services. For increased personal convenience, the Nokia E90 Communicator is equipped with an FM radio, a music player, a video player and two cameras -- a 3.2Mpix auto focus camera with flash and a second camera for videoconferencing.

Does it make me salivate? HELL YEAH!!