I'm struggling at the keyboard. The feasting over the last 3 days has overwhelmed my stomach. Oink oink! I really feel like a pig!

Its been raining since 31st Jan and I like it. The weather's really pleasant this year and those cold beers and sweet meats just seemed to go down easier at 28 degrees C.

I felt strange. The Columbia space shuttle disintegrated on the first day of Chinese New Year. The spectre of war in Iraq continues to loom its ugly head. Cambodians go on a rampage destroying anything Thai over remarks that Angkor Wat belonged to Siam. A train derails in Malaysia. Mahathir and Malaysians firing counter offensive volleys over the water treaty. A plant nursery catches fire bringing instant rumours of arson. I just sit down and drink my beer in silence.

I didnt gamble like I do normally at this time of the year. The mood's not here. The blackjack table seems occupied by adults and children who need to win now and were in no position to take losses. I planted myself next to the older relatives in front of the TV avoiding the wagers, watching The Road to Predition (Tom Hanks).

Lance picked up my 10 CDs worth of pics for a proposed July exhibition at the Singapore Museum's new home down by the river.

I had the chance to drop by his home .....his room looked as if a hurricane sliced through it. Just like mine during my happy single days.

He's got 2 aquariums running, one a serenely beautiful aqua garden well pruned and a slice of our typical South East Asian freshwater environment with a couple of bettas in them. The other tank houses a hybird 'lucky' fish, the Luo Han. His dad maintains a 3 meter fiberglass tank for the Kois in the living room and those were impressive fish.

Getting to his home in Woodlands was a breeze by car. Its just next to the Woodland's library and i must congratulate his mum for maintaining such a warm and beautiful home..... that is of course until I stepped into Lance's room. I'd thought that I was in Cambodia or Laos all over again! Digital cameras sitting on stale underwear. Cans of Coke laying on the floor. Books, books and more books everywhere. Sigh, to be 28 and single again!

I got to see one of my works go up on display last Friday next to Starbucks in the basement of Temasek Tower along Shenton Way. Its a 2x by 10m monster of a poster with 8 portraits of staff from Refco. This should be sitting up there for a few months. The pay from this job should be sufficient in financing my next trip up to Thailand or Cambodia.

I also get to thumb through Tony Wu's masterpiece Silent Symphony, a collection of underwater photographs. Talking about books, I gotta cut the procrastination and work through 2 pictorial books on Vietnam (WHY are these books on Asian countries almost always written by Westerners and not Asians?) and one on the life and works of W Eugene Smith before the library loan periods run out!

til the next 36 frames gets developed.....bye.