Refurnishings and Reunions

I agreed to meet The Sister at Ikea, as she desperately needed to get new furniture, a bookshelf and a desk in particular, and I've been meaning to get some replacement bookshelves for my room. I also wanted a storage unit that could be placed under my built in tabletop. It was an excuse to get some shopping done before heading over for a class reunion dinner at Corduroy and Finch on Bukit Timah Road.

Ikea was less crowded than we expected it to be, given that it was the final day before the GST hike and given the perennial dollar pinching, bargain hunting psyche of Singaporeans. In the end, I settled on some three relatively simple bookshelves and decided against putting doors on them as there would only be a rather narrow space between the bookshelves and my bed. Besides, the bookshelves would be placed against the wall facing away from the windows and out of direct sunlight.

Afterwards I headed over to Corduroy and Finch for dinner with my classmates from 2AH in ACJC. Quite stunning to think that it has been six and a half years since the whole lot of us were in JC together. In the end, eight of us showed up: Xinyi, Steph, Joy, Sam, Brian, Babs, Victor and myself. It was fantastic catching up for the first time since September last year. I arrived rather late thanks to the horrendous taxi queue at Ikea which I half innocently managed to jump (don't ask - I know I shall be consigned to a special hell for those people jumping long taxi queues let alone queues with people pushing trolleys full of huge bulky items).

It was certainly good to catch up. Victor, we learned, had just returned from a 6 month exchange in Japan, the lucky boy. XY was working as a psychiatrist, Babs and Joy of course were teaching and Brian was about to start at my sister's alma mater no less. I think that the general agreement was that nobody had changed all that much personality and character wise. I was especially pleased to see XY, whom I hadn't had a chance to meet up with since my JC days. I was pleasantly surprised to learn she was keen on salsa dancing; she more so when I told her my parents danced salsa often!

On the whole, Corduroy and Finch was a great place in terms of decor - I love the two tiered seating and the movie screen playing scenes from old Charlie Chaplin and James Bond movies. The food was decent but unspectacular and overpriced in my opinion, with the menu featuring an eclectic mix of Italian, French and British cuisine. It certainly seems like a place trying to be hip and trendy and "fusion" but not in any particularly exciting, innovative or interesting way.

Afterwards, the group repaired to The Old Brown Shoe for drinks since it was relatively nearby. This was when Sandhu made her grand appearance and brought the house down as usual. The rest of us were left bewildered, stunned and quite amused by her descriptions of shopping for a new toilet bowl with her family and her invitation to head over to her place to try the wonderful new Japanese made model (it even washes your bum for you!) once it was installed. That was followed by a seemingly endless stream of good natured chatter and gossip despite her protestations at being "tired". It is good to know that some things are destined never to change.

Transformers

I managed to catch Transformers on friday night with the Girlfriend at Lido. Just in case you were wondering, she agreed to watch it of her own volition and was actually quite keen to see it. She was amused by but declined my offer to watch Nancy Drew with her in exchange (she wasn't interested).

Having watched the cartoon and played with the toys as a kid, I was definitely looking forward to the movie. All in all it was definitely great fun, with fantastic special effects, particularly the seamless blending of live action and CGI. Gone are the clunky block like shapes of the cartoons - these transformers look frighteningly real. There were of course the usual plot holes but overall the movie did itself a favour by not trying to take itself too seriously. That provided lots of laugh out loud moments particularly one involving the Transformers trying to hide themselves from a teenage boy's parents (despite being over 10 metres tall) by secreting themselves around various parts of his house. There were also numerous digs at the internet age, eBay and your usual awkward adolescent jock vs geek moments.

Purists will complain about the fact that Bumblebee is not a Volkswagen Beetle (due to sponsorship deals between the studio and car manufacturers no doubt) and Optimus Prime seems to mysteriously have lost his trailer. But then again, MI6 seems to provide James Bond with a different car each time, depending on which car manufacturer bids the highest. Besides, the original transformers cartoon was a thinly disguised excuse for Hasbro to sell toys. All in all, this was good brainless entertainment, which is what you would expect from a summer blockbuster. In that sense, it does follow the spirit of the original cartoon to the letter.

I also had the chance to meet up with Tim and Vanessa for dinner (along with the Sister), although I made the big mistake of suggesting Orchard Road on the last day of the Great Singapore Sale. I tried booking a table at Ichiban Boshi at Wisma, but they refused reservations. In the end, after waiting for half an hour, we gave up and tried Wheelock Place where the queues were even longer.

The Sister suggested Far East Plaza, where after a short detour to Sunny where I bought the latest sequel in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series and I bought Murakami's latest novel along with Mark Haddon's (of The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night Time fame) latest for the Sister. We soon found almost every restaurant completely full, including the random kopitiam style eateries on the fifth floor. In the end, half starved, we found a random Thai place and I finished dinner just in time to make my 9.45pm movie (this after meeting at 7.30pm for dinner).

The First Pub Quiz

I managed to leave the office relatively early due to a farewell party organized for two departing colleagues leaving on overseas postings (going to London and Riyadh respectively). There was excellent otak, chee kueh and char siew food wise bought from Tiong Bahru market. Should definitely go back and buy the otak in bulk when I next have a gathering at my place/pot luck to attend.

I was hoping to head over to the Old Brown Shoe early to find a team to join. I was hanging about the bar counter when I rather fortuitously bumped into an expat teacher that I recognized from my time spent relief teaching at ACJC. He agreed to "give me a go" on their team subject to the agreement of his mates. After I had told him about my quizzing and gameshow experience, he decided that I was a 'ringer' and that it was vital that I was recruited for his team so I wouldn't end up with the opposition!

The format of this quiz was quite simple. 5 rounds of 10 questions each, with the first round usually set on what was "in the news" and the final round being "pot luck". An interesting additional element is that each team had a Wild Card which enabled them to double their score in any given category, but they had to choose which category to nominate before the start of the quiz. Obviously, the choice of wildcard could well prove crucial in deciding the winning team.

The round for the evening were: In the news, Myths and Legends, What Happened in 2005, On the Playlist (45 seconds of a tune from the Brown Shoe iPod) and Pot Luck. The rest of my teammates decided to play our wildcard on Pot Luck after reacting adversely to much of the other categories.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well we did over the first few rounds. We scored 9,10 and 10 in the first three categories respectively. I was especially surprised by how easy the Mythology questions were: stuff like who were the founders of Rome, what Jason and his Argonauts were after, is pretty much common knowledge, one would think. Still, a number of teams struggled on those questions.

In the end it was pretty much a two horse race with another team. The entire team surprised themselves by scoring a 9 on the music round. We went into the Pot Luck need a score of around 7 in order to be sure of the win. The questions were quite random, which was always the danger in any pot luck round but we scored 8 in the end to win quite comfortable (and getting 46 out of 50 questions correct with a total score of 54 points.

The best part about winning was the fact that we took home the entire pot of cash which worked out to slightly over $50 per person. However, that more or less disappeared after I paid my bill for 3 pints of beer and a burger (with my taxi fare home not included). Still, that meant that I had a evening of good beer and fun quizzing completely free of charge. Certainly can't complain about that. I promised to return next week as we attempt to defend our title and I must say that I'm definitely keen for more quizzing.

Afternote: I stayed quite late at the bar chatting. I also overheard a Norwegian bloke mentioning that he was negotiating a deal with Keppel Fels, which was the company that Vic's dad had a senior position in. Things surprisingly deteriorated however, with one of the Norwegians accusing me of initiating the conversation just to show off, and that it was unwise to go around tossing names of acquaintances of acquaintances. It was certainly quite bizarre as that had not been my intention at all. Besides which, I have known Vic and his family for more than 10 years now (including teaching his brother GP at ACJC!). I guess it must seem quite bizarre to have some random young guy claim to know someone who is a senior executive in a big company, but that is part of what Singapore is like. Everybody knows someone who knows someone else. It is best never to take that for granted.

Wimbledon Predictions

I can't see anybody touching Roger Federer at his favourite tournament and on his favourite surface. It is now going on 4 years since anybody has managed to defeat him on grass and I don't see that trend changing. Andy Roddick, the next biggest threat to Federer on grass isn't at his best form at the moment. Nadal despite his positive comments before the tournament is not truly at home on grass and will be happy to repeat last year's fantastic run to the final.

It is quite stunning to think of Federer matching Bjorn Borg's record of 5 consecutive titles and beating Sampras' 4 straight victories. It would be fitting as well, as Federer was the man that ended Sampras' streak, beating him in the fourth round in 2001. For me, that was the defining moment for Federer - elevating him from merely being a very talented player to the perennial champion he is today. If Federer is to win his fifth consecutive title, he will have to work for it. A tough match against Marat Safin - one of the few players on tour with the capacity to beat Federer on his day - beckons in the third round with James Blake and Andy Roddick to follow.

The women's draw is far more open with any of 10 players standing a good chance of winning it. Serena Williams with her power is always a threat here, as it Maria Sharapova. I have been very impressed by Jelena Jankovic of late, but she is too much of a baseliner and lacks the all-round game necessary to win the title. The defending champion Amelie Mauresmo remains a big threat if she can play consistently and hold her confidence together. Such is the depth of the women's game now that you cannot rule out a great run from any of Ivanovic, Chakvetadze, Safina or Vaidasova. However, I will go with my heart rather than my head (which leans towards another Williams win) and plump for Justine Henin to complete the career grand slam. It has been a tumultous year for her and winning Wimbledon would be just rewards for the determination she has shown.

One other thing I would love to see at this Wimbledon is a good run from Tim Henman. Ironically, what may just help his cause is the fact that there hasn't been a huge fanfare over his chances at the tournament this year. He faces a tough opening match against Carlos Moya but what follows is a relatively safe passage through to the fourth round. If Henman can build confidence and form over the course of the tournament, he may well find himself in the thick of another run at Wimbledon. Hopefully, he can cause more of a stir that last year where he was absolutely hammered by Federer in the second round. A good run would be just brilliant for Henman who has stuck with it despite having a terrible year so far.

Update: Federer did indeed win the title though it was a mightily close fought thing against Nadal in the final. My head (as opposed to my heart) triumphed and Venus Williams did take the title. One of the many outsiders did fight their way through to the final in the form of Marion Bartoli (defeating my beloved Justine in the process).

An Issue of Equality at Wimbledon

This year's Wimbledon championships are about to begin at the All England Club. The news thus far has centered around the organizers decision to award equal prize money to men and women players, finally caving in to protests and pressure from many of the leading women on tour. They are also introducing the hawkeye system allowing players to challenge line calls after its success at last year's US Open and this year's Australian Open (the system is redundant at the Roland Garros because of ballmarks left on clay).

I can't say that I fully support the decision to award equal prize money (a statement which is liable to provoke the fury of the feminists out there). This stems from my general unease with the feminist movement's attempts to obtain "equality" for women in all areas. To begin with, the very fact remains that the men play best of five set matches and the women play only best of three. So perhaps one could justify the fact that the men were given more prize money by the simple fact that on average, they spent a lot more time on court.

A friend of mine argued that this was an unfair argument to make, given the physical differences between the two sexes. Since men have greater stamina and endurance, it is natural that their matches can go on for longer, and in any professional sport the aim is to test the athletes to their limits which differs for men and women. Once this goal is attained, we should reward both sexes equally.

I accept that in principle, but I can simply point out that we do discriminate based on naturally occurring characteristics. People who are naturally more intelligent tend to get rewarded in society with higher salaries (which come after they get into elite academic institutions that purport to discriminate on intelligence). The great failure of the communist and socialist system was their attempt to apply the principle of equality in a way where everyone was rewarded equally for working to the best of their ability. Nobody is going to remotely reach their maximum potential without some incentive to do so, especially if you are not going to taste the fruits of your additional hard work or talent.

My great uneasiness lies in the fact that the feminist movement has trumped everything with their pressure based on political correctness. It isn't so much a debate on equality anymore insofar as it is one of fairness. It just isn't fair that women earn less than men at Wimbledon because they women are equal to men. To suggest otherwise would be to risk severe social censure. I wonder how fair it is that a small group of individuals have decided that they have a monopoly on determining what is fair and what is not.

Sidenote: A similar debate has surfaced in Golf, with the participation of women in PGA tour events. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club recently amended its regulations allowing for women to take part in the Open Championship if they qualified. Why is it only deemed fair if women have the opportunity to take part in the men's tour (and in their majors such as the Masters and the Open) and decidedly unfair if men were to demand the same for women's events? Perhaps it is because it is perceived that men would have an unfair physical advantage over women at Golf? In other words, that they are unequal?

Oblivion Defeated

I spent quite a big portion of the weekend playing Elder Scrolls Oblivion. I finally decided to cut to the chase, and instead of getting distracted by the myriad assortment of side quests, to go ahead and complete the game by moving the main quest forward. I guess the fact that I have hardly felt the urge to complete the main storyline is testament to (a) the fantastically addictive game play mechanics of exploration, looting and levelling up; and (b) my obsessive compulsive nature.

So, I finally went ahead and recovered the Amulet of Kings and closed the oblivion gates, only to find that though the main quest had been completed, the game had not, in fact ended. Instead it operated on an open-ended concept where you could continue to explore, loot, finish side quests, and wait 2 weeks for a specially commissioned set of Imperial Dragon Armour to be finished. So I had saved the day, and stopped the forces of Oblivion, but there are still so many caves and ruins to explore, places to visit, and my horde of 200,000 gold to add to.

Dragonfly

I finally managed to catch up with Ariel yesterday, when we hightailed it down to Dragonfly at St James Powerhouse. I rang her quite late in the afternoon, and managed to organize the whole evening at short notice. It was also a chance for her to meet up with her old friends from Devil's Bar days Ice and Stephanie who are both working at St James now.

It turned out to be a far later night than I had planned - got back past 3am, and of course had to wake up for work the next morning. It was kind of a very addictive let loose kind of evening, with classic 80s retro hits interspersed with the wonderful sets that Dragonfly is known for, complete with lots of over the top costumes. That helped to offset the fact that I couldn't understand more than half the songs, especially those sung in Cantonese.

My parents have definitely embraced the clubbing lifestyle and it's easy to see the appeal in the drinking and partying. There is a kind of abandon that can be found beneath the pounding beat and bright lights that makes it an ideal escape from reality. However, I have also learned that it is a lifestyle replete with its own politics and complications and issues.

Everyone sometimes needs a chance to drink and forget. But ultimately, you don't want to be hit even harder by reality when you wake up the next morning.

Spurs NBA Champions Again

The San Antonio Spurs are now the NBA champions for the fourth time after completing a 4-0 sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA finals. In winning their fourth title, the Spurs join the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls as the only teams in NBA history with four or more titles.

Of course, this being the Spurs, they did it with stifling defence, good ball movement and teamwork on offence, and a style of play that has been characterised as efficient, professional and effective by some and dull, boring and detrimental to the popularity of the NBA by others. Not that the Spurs will care. As far as they are concerned they have clinched the trophy yet again and gotten the job done.

Sadly, I didn't manage to catch any of the games live on television, as all four of them took place on weekday mornings (Singapore time). I was reduced to following proceedings on Yahoo Gamechannel, and watching the replays in the evenings. The naysayers did have a point. It got ugly watching Cleveland miss jumper after jumper and shoot 40% or less from the field for the whole series.

It was also unfortunate that Lebron James had such a poor series - he was one player who could have really lifted things up with a spectacular night. It's easy to forget that James is still all of 23 years old. The experience of being in the NBA finals will definitely stand him in good stead in the future and he remains one of the top talents the NBA has to offer.

Singapore's King of Swing

I was privileged to catch Jeremy Monteiro at the Esplanade in a concert celebrating his thirty years as a jazz entertainer. Jeremy Monteiro performed with "jazz luminaries" Jay Anderson (bass), Bob Shepard (saxophone and clarinet), Jimmy Cobb (drums) and Roberta Gambarini (vocals). The programme itself featured arrangements and compositions from Jeremy and his guests.

All in all it was a great evening of jazz. It was especially a pleasure and honour to see Jimmy Cobb, a true jazz legend, in action. Cobb has recorded with many of the greats of Jazz, most famously as part of the Miles Davis quintet that recorded Kind of Blue. He belied his age with some strenuous and energetic drumming. Gambarini only came on stage for the second half of the concert and proved a very technically skilled singer, particular in terms of her scat singing (which often formed the majority of her vocals during any given song). I wasn't certain enamored with her overall tone though, but there is no denying she is very talented and skilled.

I last saw Jeremy when he performed with the legendary late Toots Thielmans in 2005 and Singapore is truly privileged to have such a reknown proponent of jazz in our midst especially when he is able to lure such talent to our shores to perform with him. It's been 30 years since he started out, but I am sure I am not alone in the conviction that Jeremy is still Singapore's King of Swing and that there is much more to come from him in the years ahead.

Pub Quiz

I have finally found a place that does pub quizzes in Singapore! While at Muddy Murphy's a couple of weeks ago, I spoke to the bar staff about whether they ran a regular pub quiz and even volunteered to run one myself. Apparently, they used to have a weekly quiz at the Penny Black, a second outlet at Boat Quay, but it fizzled out due to the lack of interest.

Thankfully, he recommended that I check out the Old Brown Shoe, a little British pub located on Bukit Timah Road, as they had a weekly pub quiz going every Wednesday. In fact, I recall seeing the Old Brown Shoe on a number of occasions whilst being driven down Bukit Timah Road, and commenting more than once that it looked like an interesting establishment that was worth checking out.

Anyhow, through a convoluted process of internet googleing, I managed to obtain the Old Brown Shoe's telephone number. I called the proprietor and was informed that they did have a pub quiz every Wednesday and that the place was "full to bursting" every week. She agreed to reserve me a spot at the bar next Wednesday so that I could take part in the quiz.

I'm definitely well pleased by this. I remember all those wonderful Tuesday evenings at the Turf Tavern in Oxford doing their pub quiz with great fondness. Yes, I'm obsessed. No, I don't need help. Quiz, beer, and a good English pub. Can't wait till Wednesday.

Play: A Video Game Symphony

It was with great anticipation that I attended the concert Play, featuring music from a number of well-known computer games such as Elder Scrolls IV, World of Warcraft, Halo, Final Fantasy, Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Brothers. I was lucky to get tickets - I happened to be browsing a newly released Singapore Arts Festival booklet and booked tickets on the spot more than two months in advance. By then, almost the entire concert hall had been sold out and I had to settle for seats with a restricted view.

It was definitely wonderful to hear some of this fantastic and under appreciated music being performed by a full orchestra and choir. It was definitely a chance to relive parts of my childhood through Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog and, especially, the encore piece from Shinobi. You could hear the laughter and delight of the audience as they flashed scenes from the various video games on three large screens above the orchestra. There were many retro scenes from the original Super Mario Brothers and Sonic games that definitely brought back memories.

The themes I enjoyed the most were from Halo and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, probably because I have played those games. Final Fantasy VII: One Winged Angel was also a fantastic piece complete with full orchestra, choir and pipe organ. Admittedly, you sometimes did feel that it was a bit of a stretch converting video game scores for full orchestra when they had often been written for guitar, drums and synthesizer.

Still, the reaction of the crowd and the ticket sales attest to the mass appeal that this music has and it is not hard to see why. It clearly has an immediacy that classical music once had, but now lacks. This is the same with cinema music with movie themes such as Star Wars and Harry Potter almost instantaneously recognizable. As a fan of both video game and cinema music, I hope there will be many more concerts like Play in the future.

Catching Up With Old Friends

I had a wonderful chance to meet up with some of my old classmates from my Secondary Four class at ACS(I) for dinner and then drinks at Holland Village. It was a rare chance for Vic, Ted, Enzheng, JK, Ben and Brian as well as myself to meet up. I hadn't seen most of them, other than Vic in the past six or seven years.

To be honest, nobody had changed all that much I think. Personality wise, our individual quirks and characteristics, already visible at 16, remained even given the fact that we had all matured. A number of us were in relatively stable relationships, and we had all already started work (or were about to).

It was interesting meeting up with them again, catching up on old times, and also quite sobering to think that next year, 2008, would mark the 10th Anniversary of our graduation from ACS(I). It will be interesting to see these group of school friends again as the years go by, as we all change, and yet stay the same still. As Robert Browning put it (inspiring our school motto in the process): "Come grow old with me, for the best is yet to be".

Dinner with Sheepie

I finally had a chance to catch up with Sheepie over dinner at NYDC at Wheelock Place. It has been somewhat of a challenge considering that she has been bouncing all over the place. She recently spent a month or so in Istanbul, much to my envy, where she was carrying out research for a paper she is writing. A few days from now, she is heading over to Yemen to learn Arabic. It is really wonderful that we share such a deep interest in the Middle East and much else besides.

Sheepie is always wonderful because she has such a joy for life. She's full of infectious laughter and optimism. That's hard to come by these days in an increasingly cynical world. I find that we can talk about almost anything - relationships, dreams of doing a Phd, books, movies, the Middle East and a mutual love of traveling. I do hope I don't get too carried away sometimes. I joked that ultimately I am a bad influence though - the past two times we've met for lunch/dinner came almost in the immediate aftermath of her getting dumped (in one case without having actually gotten together with anyone!).

To top a nice evening off, we got to share a free mudpie thanks to a DBS card promotion (with more than $30 spent). I absolutely dig mudpies and NYDC desserts. Just the guilty pleasure needed to crown a pleasurable evening of conversation.

Defeating Oblivion

I made a fatal mistake of installing Elder Scrolls Oblivion a few weeks ago, which partly explains both my recent lack of posting on this blog, as well as my having read next to nothing in the month of May. I bought the game sometime in August last year, but didn't have the chance to try it out till now. Suffice to say, it is extremely addictive.

I'm now nearing the end of the game, having taken so long due to the fact that I feel an urge to engage in and complete every quest I can, not to mention explore all the random mines, elven ruins, forts and what have you that are scattered around the realm. It starts getting a bit pointless when you find yourself a Level 30 or so character with a complete set of Daedric Armour (the best in the game) wielding a massive Daedric Warhammer, able to crush pretty much anything in your path.

Admittedly, I lost quite a bit of sleep the first week that I installed the game. I spent a number of nights up till the wee hours of the morning engrossed in my own little fantasy realm.

The game does seem to have quite a bit of replay value due to the plethora of sub-quests that are available to the discerning adventurer. I definitely want to try out a mage based character the next time around, having gone for the typical (boring) hack and slash warrior type character on this occasion.

But I'll have to end the post here. After all, I have a kingdom to save, and an emperor to crown.

World Quizzing Championships

I have been desperate to take part in the World Quizzing Championships, which is an annual event originating in the UK, but now taking place simultaneously in 20 odd countries. It is probably the most difficult test of trivia and knowledge of its kind. I was privileged to take part in last year's UK leg (which took place over the weekend before my final exam paper) and I ranked 180th or so among the 450 plus people who took part.

Taking part in the World Quizzing Championships is really quite a masochistic experience. There are eight categories in total: Culture, Entertainment, Media, Lifestyle, History, Science, Sport & Games and World with 30 questions per category. You have one hour to complete 4 cateogories and a further hour to complete the other 4 categories. That means you have around 30 seconds per question (including reading time) which really isn't a lot of time. The category with the lowest score gets dropped.

Just in case you were wondering, the questions are not easy. You really have to think to get the answer for some of them though they are for the most part generally quite fair. To get even 20 out of 30 for a single category is really quite difficult unless you are an exceptionally good quizzer. Last year, I failed to reach 15 in any of the categories though I did score a 14 and three 12s. This given that I am considered a general knowledge buff by almost everyone I know. Then again, what other kind of person would subject themselves to this kind of torture?

I had heard that there the World Quizzing Championships leg being organized in Singapore which would allow me to take part and was really disappointed when this completely failed to materialise. Thankfully, the organisers decided to allow me to do the quiz individually, by sending the questions directly to an appointed moderator. Hopefully, I can do better than next year. My rought target is to try and attain a score of 100 after managing only 81 last year.

Update: I eventually took the quiz and managed to score close to 100 though I didn't officially submit my results to the organizers.

A Sunny (Bookshop) Sunday

I made a visit to Sunny Bookstore in Lucky Plaza, my first in a long while. I've been buying books from Sunny for more than a decade now and I've developed a close relationship with the staff there, especially Rachel, who is always quick to recommend anything new that has come in which she thinks I may find interesting. Rachel is always a great laugh with her eclectic tastes in fiction, not to mention computer games, anime and much else besides. Quite similar to me in that regard.

Admittedly, I haven't been patronizing Sunny all that much, having been lured away in part by the two mega bookstores Borders and Kinokuniya. It is also difficult to pop by now that I can't go on a weekend evening given that Sunny closes at 7.30pm which is de jure (if not de facto) working hours at MFA. It takes a rare Sunday or so for me to be able to pop in. Buying from Sunny has the advantage of slightly cheaper prices (offset by the discounts offered by the big two) as well as the fact that they plastic wrap the books for you for free.

I guess Sunny is an institution of sorts for me. It is really nice to go up the escalator at Far East Plaza and catch sight of the familiar opening with shelves upon shelves of books. And of course there are the same people there, Rachel and the rest, who have been there year after year. In some strange nostalgic way, I hope Sunny will be around for years to come, a familiar sight amidst the changing landscape of my own life and reading tastes.

Among my purchases today were The Children of Hurin by J.R.R Tolkien in a pretty hardcover edition with lovely illustrations from Alan Lee, Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov which were newly reissued (strange that given my large SF colletion I never owned what is considered one of the classic Science Fiction series) and finally Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury - Bradbury is a brilliant wordsmith and his stories have always thrilled me. I own lots of individual editions but this was too good to pass up, even at 33 bucks.