Multiple Collisions

For lawyers, average adjusters and surveyors, multiple collisions at sea in a day are like multiple orgasms. However for me, they are simply multiple nightmares, especially when all the ships involved in the collision are ours.

Which was exactly what happened today.

This morning, we received a notification that there was a collision between the TN and BB - I won't mention names until the casualty's reported in either Tradewinds or Lloyds List at which time it will be in the public domain and I won't be in breach of any fiduciary confidentiality obligations to the owners of the TN and BB.

Later this afternoon, the owners of the TN reported another casualty involving the TM and SP but formal notification hasn't yet been received.

We were already up to our eyes with the TN/BB casualty, not simply because of the nature of the casualty but because we're on for both the owners of the TN as well as the BB which presents a conflict of interest on our part. There were notices to be issue about chinese walls to all parties concerned which were many and varied. Like any casualty, I felt like everyone was wanting a piece of me but there simply wasn't enough to go around - especially since I've only got exactly a week to go in the present job!

It's more of the same tomorrow but hopefully it will be less manic. In the meantime, I'll be needing all the sleep I can get.

Poor Sergio

Perhaps I had a sixth sense about it or it might have been purely coincidence but after I posted the entry about Sergio Garcia, he went on to top the leaderboard at Carnoustie all weekend until he was finally pipped to the claret jug by Padraigh Harrington (if I recall correctly) by 1 stroke - talk about a heart-wrenching finish!

I think he could do with lots of kisses and cuddles (I volunteer!) to help him feel better about settling for the runner's up silverware but I'm that's no substitute for the feeling of winning the Open with the claret jug to show for it.

I wonder if anyone has in fact drunk claret out of it. Seems rather silly not to.

Dear Sergio

It's not secret that I find Sergio Garcia (with a soft "g" and lispy "c" - is that the right way to prounounce his name?) one of the more attractive pro golfers on the PGA tour, him and Adam Scott, Luke Donald, Nick Dougherty, Geoff Ogilvy and Jose-Filipe Lima, in no particular order of attractiveness.

Even though I like him a lot, I think the lovely Sergio should stick to golf. He's obviously much better at it, judging from his very awful batting form in the first picture. He's not much good at fielding either, by the looks of it but I think he'll improve with practice.

These pictures were taken just before the start of this year's Open at Carnoustie. I can just imagine him thinking to himself what a stupid game these English people play. John Daly currently leads the field with 5 under par and Luke Donald is tied in 5th place with a few other players, including Tiger Woods. My other favourite golfing boys are no where near the top 10. Real time scores can be seen here.

Changing Team Name?

Here is a picture of two Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers with a bull.

Unremarkable, you'd think but think again - it's a white bull! Might they be turning out at Nurburgring this weekend as Toro Bianco instead? Perhaps red bulls aren't so easy to come by these days.

Someone Whom I Never Want To See Naked

Don't you wish he really was a figment of your imagination?

A Sad Spod

Now there's a word you don't come across very often nowadays - "spod". I don't know what it's etymology is but it seems rather appropriate for describing a person whose social life exists mainly, if not entirely, online.

I must confess to a spot of spodding this evening and I came across a very cool, attractive guy on MySpace. He goes by the moniker "WonderBoy" and we chatted for a bit. He seemed quite shy when we were chatting though but I'm sure he's not shy at all once you get to know him.

In any case, WonderBoy posted a joke today which I found very amusing. It goes something like this:

Two priests decided to go to Hawaii on vacation. They were determined to make this a real vacation by not wearing anything that would identify them as clergy. As soon as the plane landed they headed for a store and bought some really outrageous shorts, shirts, sandals, sunglasses, etc.

The next morning they went to the beach dressed in their 'tourist' garb. They were sitting on beach chairs, enjoying a drink, the sunshine and the scenery when a 'drop dead gorgeous' blonde in a topless bikini came walking straight towards them. They couldn't help but stare.

As the blonde passed them she smiled and said 'Good Morning, Father ~ Good Morning, Father,' nodding and addressing each of them individually, then she passed on by. They were both stunned. How in the world did she know they were priests?

So the next day, they went back to the store and bought even more outrageous outfits. These were so loud you could hear them before you even saw them! Once again, in their new attire, they settled down in their chairs to enjoy the sunshine.

After a little while, the same gorgeous blonde, wearing a different colored topless bikini, taking her sweet time, came walking toward them.

Again she nodded at each of them, said 'Good morning, Father ~ Good morning, Father,' and started to walk away.

One of the priests couldn't stand it any longer and said, 'Just a minute, young lady.' 'Yes, Father?'
'We are priests and proud of it, but I have to know, how in the world do you know we are priests, dressed as we are ?'

She replied, 'Father, it's me, Sister Kathleen.'

That's me for this evening. It's close to my bedtime now. Darling J sent me an email today explaining where babies come from and it's not what you think! I was very amused. It's a nice way to end a hectic day at work. Tomorrow will be even busier as I have visiting Noggie (Arendal) underwriters from Assuranceforeningen Gard to baby-sit. One of them is Scottish and very handsome but alas, is (happily, I think) married with 2 children so I can only have wet dreams about him.

Rock Hard

The picture was a great idea but its execution was somewhat lacking. The guy in the picture (whose name is apparently Andy) should have undid his flies/zipper and then perhaps took half a step back as the obelisk (I suspect it's the Washington Monument but I can't be sure) isn't quite in the right position. It looks like Andy's only holding the obelisk and it's not quite appearing to protrude proudly from inside his trousers which was why I suggested undoing the zipper/fly.

Next time I'm in Washington DC, I'll see whether I can do a similar picture but will try to get it right. It's a shame about this one. It could have been very good.

Reliving My Childhood

I went to see the Transformers film with some friends on Friday evening.

It's all been rather updated for the 21st century with lots of contemporary references to eBay and the like. The Transformers are also don't seem to be bothered about energon cubes in the film, rather they're fixated on another cube - the All Spark. It's a cube from their homeworld, Cybertron which has the power to animate machines and to turn them into Transformers.

It was a rather enjoyable film - the sort to switch your brains off to. Not a good film to bring girls to. I don't think it will appeal to them much, unless they're there to see Shia LeBoeuf and if you don't know who he is, well he's the handsome young man in the pictures below.

Which brings me to the real reason why I went to see the film. I must confess that childhood reminiscing aside, I doubt I would have gone to see the film if the leading man (or boy, as it was in this case) wasn't someone I would have wet dreams about. In Transformers, Shia is mostly running around all sweaty which leads one of the Autobots to make a comment along the lines of his pheromone levels indicates that his character, Sam is wanting to have sex (or was it mate) with the female co-star played by Megan (who the f!@# is she?) Fox. I'm sure there were enough shots of her cleavage and shapely body to appeal to breeder boys watching the film but my attentions were elsewhere.

Shia, despite turning 21 just 2 days after my birthday, believably plays a sex-crazed, angsty adolescent male (weren't we boys all at least sex-crazed, even if not somewhat angsty) who saves the All Spark and thereby Earth from imminent destruction and slavery by the Decepticons. The plot was rather predictable but that was all made up for by the fact that Shia was very enjoyable to watch.

Shia's also starred in 2 (somewhat) recently released films - Disturbia and A Guide To Recognising Your Saints, the latter also starring one of my favourite boys, Channing Tatum. I've not seen Disturbia but I bought the DVD for A Guide To Recognising Your Saints and will watch it at some point, unless I see it in the cinema or on the plane first.

A Bit Like Trainspotting But From *Behind*

I received a bulletin broadcast on MySpace today (being rather new to MySpace myself) about this and was rather amused. It's probably less sad than trainspotting but not much.

You probably don't know what I'm going on about so I might as well put you out of your misery and tell you that I'm talking about train-mooning.

Yes, people get together, drop their trousers and show their arses to passengers on board trains. Why they are motivated to do this I don't know.

It's even got a dedicated website (perhaps one of many) - see here.

If you're curious as to what it looks like:

I don't think I'll find myself at one of these events, not unless I'm very drunk.

Apparently showing your arse is ok but frontal nudity is fronwed upon. I don't suppose it'll be called "mooning" then, would it?

Not Quite An Epic(a)

I went car shopping again today, not to buy anything as yet but because an ad in the papers for the Chevrolet Epica briefly caught my eye.

It was only launched here yesterday but I gather that this model has been in production and on sale elsewhere for about a year now.

There are 2 variants on sale here - the 2l and the 2.5l. If I do buy it, I'll go for the 2.5l variant. It's tremendously good value for money - only just under S$85,888 on the road - comparatively speaking but given that it's made in Korea, in absolute terms, it's actually stupidly expensive but that's the case for all cars here. The actual car was rather disappointing and it's not made it to my shortlist.

In a previous post, I indicated that I was choosing between the Audi A4, the Lexus IS250, the Volvo S60 and possibly the Nissan Murano. Things have since moved on a bit.

I've ditched the Murano in favour of the CR-V (the 2.4l variant) and I'm having second thoughts about the A4 and the S60. As for the A4, I went to see the car again today as I've not been very impressed with the specs of the A4 2.0. There's a good deal on the A4 1.8T (S-Line) for now but that's rather out of my price-range (S$139,000) as I'm not looking to pay more than S$130,000 for my new car.

The Volvo S60 is comfortably in that price-range as it's priced at about S$122,000 but it's a model which is on its way out and Volvo expects to launch a new model at the end of next year. Can I hold out till then? It's almost like having to wait of the iPhone! Do I or don't I? I was at Volvo today as well and I saw the new S80 - very sleek and desirable!

The Lexus IS250 is still in the frame but it is just over my budget but a thousand dollars or two. Not that it will make much of a difference but I really need to exercise some fiscal restraint when buying a new car if I want to have some money left over to invest for retirement and to go on holidays.

I was also very tempted by the fact that an entry-level Jaguar (X-Type) costs about S$130,000 but when I mentioned that to my Dad, he looked at me funny and made a comment about how someone my age doesn't have the status to drive a Jaguar. I think that he's just saying that because he couldn't have bought a Jaguar when he was my age. My response to him was "tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis" which got me another funny look which meant - don't be a smartarse. I don't suppose he's read any John Owen. My dad is by training an economist and later a career diplomat (now retired) and he must deeply regret letting me read law at university but it's such fun to tease him in this way.

The other car which has now made it to my shortlist is the BMW 320i.

There are currently 4 variants but after next week, only 2. The reason being that the additional variants are only available "while stocks last" having features which are locally fitted which I don't much care for. As it is, the 320i which is on sale here is an import from BMW South Africa and not from Germany whereas Audi proudly tell all callers that the teutonic pedigree of their cars assuredly remains undiluted - no apartheid overtones here, don't read too much into it. Incidentally, my uncle who is a psychiatrist ditched his 5 series BMW for a Toyota Camry. He said that the electronics were giving problems and he was fed up.

Currently my shortlist looks like this (in no particular order):

1. Volvo S60 - subject to Volvo's trade-in policy if I decide that my next car after this is also to be a Volvo
2. Audi A4 - either the 2.0 or the 1.8T
3. BMW 320i
4. Honda CR-V
5. Lexus IS 250

I will decide by end of August or early September and then put money down on my choice.
Your guess is as good as mine as to which of the 4 I will pick. If it's purely a decision based on price, it will be the CR-V but if price is one of the many factors but not the overriding factor, at this point in time, I don't know how I will decide.

Do I Still Want One?

Unless you were living on another planet or under a rock, you will no doubt have heard that Apple launched the iPhone recently to enraptured fans on the east and west coast of the USA. The rest of the country didn't seem quite so enraptured. It was also announced recently that O2 will be the seller for iPhones in the UK.

So when will it be coming to Asia?

Rumours have it that it will be sometime in 2008 by which time other rumours suggest that the Asia launch will feature a Mark II version which may have 3G functionality. Will I ditch my HTC Touch for the iPhone when it's launched?

In my earlier entry, I suggested (and with hindsight, erroneously) that the iPhone was to be my next mobile. Time has obviously moved and I've proven myself wrong. Will I ever get one or has it rather lost its initial charm and novelty?

Who knows? Perhaps once I hold one in my hand, I might fall in love with it all over again. No, I'm not talking about cocks, I'm still talking about the iPhone.

Nice Boys

Here's a reason to visit Tahiti:

Here's one I hope J will like. I had a hardon almost all the time we were together and I'd like to return the favour.

Not Quite Ready For The Olympics In 2008

China has been trying to rid itself of various things in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics next year, two of which are spitting and bad signage. I'm not sure how the "war" against spitting is progressing but it seems like the crusade against bad signage has gotten very far. Some of the more amusing ones below:

More amusing and some rather puzzling ones can be found here.

Do You Have A Bicycle?

A colleague sent me the pictures below as part of a Powerpoint file, two of which I "ripped" out to post here.

The posts from when I was away in London are still not up yet as I'm posting the easier ones first - these will be the more recent and shorter entries. The ones from London are quite introspective and I want to get them right.

In the meantime, enjoy the pictures. Hope they amuse you as much as they did me.

In Case You've Been Wondering

I've been away for the last 2 weeks - my home away from home, as it were.

Lots happened while I've been away and shortly, I'll be posting entries dating from the time when I was away. The entries will be ante-dated and will correspond to the dates on which the events ocurred.

My First Celebrity Encounter

It's 4.30am on a Saturday morning and dawn is breaking over London. I'm sitting in bed with my head spinning as I write this. I can't believe what just happened in the last few hours. I've only just got back, had a shower and now in bed for some kip before I wake up in a few hours to go to Borough Market.

You may recall from my previous post that my dinner date with J ended with us going separate ways for the night although we'd arranged to meet up again today (Saturday) for dinner this evening and this time around, he'd stay over.

When we parted company, I headed for Pleasuredrome, although this was not my original intention.

As you may already have guessed, Pleasuredrome is my preferred gay spa in London. The other one, Chariots has several branches, the largest of which is Shoreditch but it's become quite rundown in recent times.

Things were more or less what I expected in Pleasuredrome on a late Friday evening. By the time I'd got in, it was about 11pm or so. After having showered, I wandered upstairs to see if there was an action.

I was expecting J to spend the night and had been saving my cum for a few days previously and by the time I got upstairs, was almost ready to fuck anything that moved. Almost immediately I made eye contact with a guy about my age, moderately good-looking and we retired to cubicle where after some foreplay, he only seemed to want to suck me off and who was I to decline?

After we both got what we were after, I sent down to the spa to recover from the encounter. The water was quite cool in the spa which was unusual but there were a few other guys in it and we chatted for a bit. There were about 8 guys in the spa when suddenly the bubbles cut out and we were turfed out as the water level needed to be lowered because of the number of guys in it. We all thought it was bollocks but didn't have any choice so some up us went and to the sauna to warm up until the spa was ready to be reoccupied.

As we were sitting in the sauna, a new guy (his name is "AS") came in - skinhead type, cute, very fit-looking and gregarious. We chatted for a bit and when the spa became ready to be reoccupied, we went back in and continued chatting. My vision that night was uncorrected so I wasn't seeing very clearly or else I'd have remembered where I'd seen him before sooner. As we were chatting, I had this nagging thought at the back of my mind as to why he seemed so familiar but couldn't place him. He said he was at the spa to chill as he'd been busy with a comedy production for the last 3 months. At that time, the penny still hadn't dropped.

As our conversation dropped off, he made to leave the spa and I couldn't help feeling disappointed but just as he was about to step out of the pool, he turned round and said the magic word, "Coming?". My heart either stopped or leapt with excitement, I can't remember which but my head started to swim with anticipation.

I didn't need to be asked a second time and hurriedly left the pool with him. We went upstairs and found a cubicle and proceeded to spend over an hour alone together. I won't say more about what happened as I respect him too much for that and besides I think he values his privacy too much as he would have told me straight off who he was when we were chatting while sitting in the pool. What I will say is that he was more than just a shag from the spa. It was a very personal encounter and a truly unforgettable one which is uncharacteristic of most of my encounters at Pleasuredrome - my last such uncharateristic encounter there was with J.

We went back to the spa pool and then sat there for a good while and he left, I think to seek another encounter. By then, I had already been satisfied several times over and in every sense of the word and when we kissed good-bye at the pool, it was a lingering kiss.

I'm not sure how much time I spent lounging in the spa but it it turns out that I was wrong - I wasn't completely satisfied and decided that I had the strength for another encounter before I called it a night.

That last encounter was unremarkable compared to the time I spent with AS and I won't say much about it other than I was definitely ready to leave for the night by the time it was over. Just as I was about to head to the showers, I bumped into AS again. He said that "they" were about to go and he turned to a stout, middle-aged man with rather theatrical eyebrows and that was when the penny dropped about who AS actually is and I remembered first seeing their comedy double act while on an Atlantis cruise last summer. I don't think they're a couple, other than in a strictly professional sense as they had both been "hunting" separately that night but I could be wrong.

I felt quite embarrassed as I said good-bye. I got a hug and a kiss from AS and a rather awkward handshake from MT.

By the time I left Pleasuredrome, it was in the early hours of the morning but because I was too skint to take a taxi, I decided to wait for the bus which was why I only got to bed at 4.30am on Saturday morning.

I told J about my encounter with AS. He's heard of the double-act but his reaction was rather difficult to gauge but he seemed not to be bothered by it as he stayed the night with me on Saturday and it was magic to wake up with him next to me on Sunday morning.

Another Evening With J

J and I arranged to meet for dinner tonight. We decided to meet at South Bank again. He was running late so I amused myself by having a wander around Foyles until he arrived. I was feeling quite anxious as I don't think he realises how incredibly attracted I am to him and whenever we're together I don't know quite know how to behave. We're still in the process of getting to know each other and every moment we spend together, I learn more about what makes him tick and I hope that it's mutual.

He was very apologetic for being late but I didn't mind it at all. Life is too short and besides I wasn't quite sure how he felt about me and was very pleased to see him again that his running late wasn't important at all - the important thing was that he turned up. It was very reassuring that he again took my hand and we walked the streets of London holding hands.

We had dinner at O-Satsuma in Soho which was when I discovered that J doesn't like seafood, much less raw seafood and my devouring a plate of mixed sashimi must have made him quite uncomfortable. I hope he wasn't thinking about what I might have otherwise been doing to his beloved koi. He needn't have worried about that as I'm not fond of eating freshwater fish. Those tend to have a muddy taste even when left in clear water to purge prior to being cooked and the muddy taste would have been even more pronounced if eaten raw.

We had a rather enjoyable dinner but had to call it a night afterwards as he was tired. I walked him back to his car which he parked near Pleasuredrome. As we were parting company, I think he said goodnight and I think he also said "have a good time" which left me wondering whether he was suggesting that I should go and spend some time in Pleasuredrome.

It was not originally my intention as I'd wanted to have an early night that night. It wasn't exactly early when we said goodbye - probably about 10ish in the evening, or perhaps later. As I made my way back to Waterloo, I had to pass Pleasuredrome and the lure of the prospect of male flesh made me enter. I think J knows me better than I know myself. I subsequently told him that he was the only person that knows more about what goes on in my mind that anyone else I've known. I hope he doesn't think it's hyperboly - it's all true.

I was hoping that J would be able to spend the night with me but I knew he was tired and I didn't want to pressure him into doing anything but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. Even so, I wasn't resentful or anything like that. My feeling of disappointment was purely neutral and perhaps to assuage my disappointment, I decided to go and see what delights Pleasuredrome had to offer than Friday night.