ZoukOut is an annual dance music festival held on Sentosa Island, Singapore by the famous club Zouk. Martin, a friend in Singapore is a founder of Midlifecrisis Productions who has been involved with the video promotions of the festival for the past few years. Martin and his crew has recently completed the trailer for the recent edition.

A good trailer makes you want to be there and I think Martin and his crew has succeeded. It also makes me envious of the fact that they get to do this as a living and the fancy cameras and editing tools that they get to play with. I’m sure it’s not an easy job but you guys make it look so cool. Oh and hot chicks. Gotta love the hot chicks.

Ohai. By the time this is published, I would have just got aboard one of these and will be cruising from Singapore to Macau with stops along the way for the next 14 days. Blogging may be sporadic. Not because there will be no internet (hello satellite broadband) but probably because I will be too busy stuffing my face or drinking myself silly with the family – all 22 of us!

1. Don’t tell her to relax. Don’t say that she’s over-reacting. Don’t ever EVAR use the phrase, “Don’t be so emotional”.
2. Just shut up and listen. You are not helping by offering a solution, especially when it’s a perfectly logical solution. Women don’t want or need your logic.
3. Don’t make jokes about her period and/or its symptoms. You will instead memorise her cycle and learn to live with it. Don’t compound her mood-swings by arguing about her mood-swings. See #1. If you can’t handle it, leave the room and let her be.
4. When she asks you to do something, it’s not a request.
5. Anytime that she tells you that she likes something, mental-note it. You are expected to remember and there will be many exams.
6. When she asks you if she looks ok/fat in something, don’t be brutally honest. Instead, say something like “I prefer that other dress”. That way, even if she doesn’t go with what you prefer and she won’t most of the time because “you don’t know anything about fashion and why did I even bother asking you”, you haven’t ruined her self-confidence for the day.
7. You don’t have to be spontaneous but you have to be automatic. Know the difference.
8. Say sorry and be done with it but make sure to at least pretend that you know what you are saying sorry for. Otherwise, you’ll also be saying sorry for not knowing what you are saying sorry for.
9. Not complaining about what she does for you is not the same as complimenting her for what she does for you. And a simple thank-you goes a long way.
10. All of the above should be reserved only for those who are worthy.

Remember, a happy woman is more willing to indulge your own neurotic whims.

I’ve wrote about this topic multiple times now …

• I’ve said that it can be possible if there is minimal or no sexual tension. Note I used the word “tension” and not “attraction” because I believe that you can find someone physically attractive without lusting after them.

  “Men and Women Can’t Be Friends”

• I’ve said that there’s nothing wrong being platonic friends with a girl, unless you happen to like them.

  Being the platonic friend is not that bad.

• I’ve also wondered about what if I liked men and there were no friend zone bullshit to deal with.

  Sexual frustration leads to gay talk.

And then this clip comes along and summarises it more succinctly than I can, by posing this very question to college guys and girls. If you don’t know it already, the difference in the way guys and girls think of this is HUGE.

Short answer: if they don’t mind boinking you, it’s not really a friendship anymore. And well, what’s so wrong about that?

Two Sundays ago, due to my careless mistake of not checking before opening the garage door, Snoop ran across the street and bit my neighbour’s dog. Not only was I traumatised by my neighbour and his kids screaming and shouting, and the thought of their dog suffering a serious injury, I was also worried about the incident being reported to the local council.

This was not the first time that Snoop had bit a dog – the first time was the one and only time that my mom took him for a walk in the park, when he pulled my mom onto the ground as he rushed towards the other dog. If my neighbour had reported this incident, I was afraid that the rangers might make me surrender him to be put down. I was an emotional wreck and I was feeling nauseous and couldn’t eat and sleep for the next day. At one stage, I was curled up on the floor into a foetal position.

Luckily for me and thanks to my mom smoothing things over with the neighbour, the incident was not reported after we’ve had agreed to build a fence in our garage and to pay for their dog’s medical bills. The dog underwent treatment just this weekend and we are still waiting to hear back about how much it will cost, but initial estimates are that it’s going to be about $2500 at least.

Thinking back, this has not been the first expensive incident. Due to another careless episode, Snoop chewed open a box of snail pellets and my other dog Dillon ended up eating it. That cost us around $1200 to have his stomach pumped. There was the time he got hit by a car which cost about $4000. And then there was the time he had to have his leg amputated because of a tumour which cost about $1000 all up (it wasn’t so expensive anymore because I had pet insurance by then).

A conservative estimate would bring that figure up to about $10000. I’ve had him for 10 years so a rough approximation would be that he has cost me $3 a day to keep, on top of his food and regular medicine. If I look at it as cheap therapy it was worth it but then it was not all therapy – the stress that I went through during each unpleasant episode was terrible.

Would I have prefer to have had another dog? Perhaps. One that doesn’t hate other dogs so much would have been nice but at least Snoop is really nice with people and kids. I know that there has been a lot of times that my mood is instantly lifted when I’m around my dogs, and they motivated me to exercise by running and playing with them. Having them is therapeutic but it sure wasn’t cheap.

And one last thing, pet insurance is really worth it and I should have gotten it from the beginning. At around $300-400 a year and say your dog lives for 10-12 years, you just need to have one medical emergency or accident and you would have gotten your money’s worth. But it doesn’t cover your dog biting someone or someone’s dog so learn from my mistakes – be vigilant and know your dog’s character so that you know when and how to avoid potentially nasty situations.

For mom’s 65th birthday last Wednesday, we took her to a Japanese restaurant called Zen in Subiaco. Because why? Because she lurves Japanese food. Ok, on with the food porn.

We had their signature dish, soft-shell crab sushi called the Spider Roll. It was NICE.

The mixed sashimi with a raw oyster covered with roe. Dad loved it.

We also had the beef tataki …

And tuna tataki.

It was an awesome dinner. Happy 65th Mom!

One of my core beliefs in life is that the destination doesn’t matter as much as the journey and the people you have around you on that journey. However when that journey involves a long drive, I better like being around the people who’s coming along. Luckily for me, this trip was just like that. Most of the time anyway.

Tham had wanted the trip so that we can bond. My initial reaction was why couldn’t we bond right here in the city, and if we must be by the beach and wineries, we got it here too. Yeah that didn’t go down too well. Hahahah!

Something noteworthy: a few days after we left Margaret River, the control burning by the Department of Environment and Conservation got out of control and ended up destroying 40 properties in the general vicinity that we were staying and visiting. Luckily, no one was hurt or killed.

On to happier thoughts, these were the merry bunch of the trip – Kayo, Selina, Howe Chern and Tham.

First stop of the journey was Busselton and the jetty for lunch.

The weather was beautiful and after lunch we proceeded to walk the entire length of the jetty (1.841 km).

At the end of the jetty was an underwater observatory. Since we didn’t pay for that, there wasn’t much else to do but do silly poses and entertain the people on the slow moving tram. Yup – if you didn’t feel like walking, there’s a tram.

Next stop, Simmo’s Ice Cream in Dunsborough.

I was told it was to die for …

It was good but it wasn’t THAT good. Heh.

Less than a hour later, we finally arrived at the place that we will be spending the next two nights in. It was a beach house and it was awesome.

It was a fully furnished 4-bedroom house with TV, WIFI, dishwasher, fireplace and a BBQ. At $300 a night, I thought it was comfy but some of the others thought it slightly creepy at night. Though that was probably because we were watching a few episodes of American Horror Story.

After we dropped off our stuff at the house, we explored the area around the beach. It was too cold to swim though.

The next day and a half revolved around food …

wine …

wineries …

pretty gardens …

and more alcohol.

Oh and there was bonding. More or less. We did the same activities that we would have done if we’ve had hung out together here in Perth. I didn’t say that but I thought it. Hahaha! But honestly, thanks for the memorable trip guys. It wasn’t that bad after all. Next time we can save the long car trip and rent a place near Cottesloe eh?