k r i s a n d r o

As I approach the dreaded big 30, the topic of marriage always lurk around corners. There will be friends of similar age who are getting hitched and are waiting for their HDB to be ready within the next few years. There are those who are already married with a kid or even two. And then there is the girlfriend like mine who is just waiting for me to pop the question.

The thing about marriage is…… I don’t believe in it if it’s about love.

I always have big notions about love and relationships and it might seem contradicting to my view above but I think marriage is one of the worst things that can be done for most people in love. It makes leaving each other harder if the love is gone.

“The root cause of divorce is …… marriage” - heard over the radio

In many ways, doesn’t it ring true? A marriage is a contract. If two are in love, why is there a need for a contract to bind them together? If one cheated on the other and decided to stay together because of a contract, is it love? If you know of an old couple who has been married for the last 50 years, would you think that they truly love each other? If you know of an old couple who stayed together for the last 50 years without marriage, wouldn’t you think that the latter couple is DEFINITELY much more in love than the former?

If you love someone, you just do; you don’t need to be legally bound to remind you that you should love him/her do you? Marriage is an administrative procedure that allows a couple to do many things legally but does nothing really good for the relationship in the love department. Some might say the marriage protects the woman. When the relationship turns south, the woman is helped legally in many ways. I say, unless the woman is a money grubbing one, she loses more than she gains from a divorce.

Divorce and the social ramifications that stem from it makes it troublesome and difficult to go through.

My point is that marriage is not the ultimate nor the final thing one can do for love. Marriage and love are mutually exclusive. Love can exist without marriage and marriage can be kept without love.

If you want to know if a person is available, don’t ask if he/she is married. Ask if he/she is in love.

I love KuKuNehNeh, and thus I shall comfort her, honour and keep her in sickness and in health and forsaking all others, be faithful to her, so long as I shall live. Sounds familiar? It’s an adaptation of a version of wedding vows that one will take in Singapore and it’s ALREADY true for me. Note that I love her and thus I am/will do all that follows (comfort, honour, faithful….). If I am already doing all that without marriage, why do I have to marry her, take vows of love, promise of eternal faithfulness and care when it can all end with divorce.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll marry my dear KuKuNehNeh in the not so distant future. In fact, I’ve been constantly thinking of ways to propose to her for the last year and more. I know she’ll say ‘yes’ of course but my motive is to make her cry buckets with the proposal. So why do I want to marry her when I don’t believe in marriage?

I’ll marry her not because I love her. I’ll marry her because of all the advantages that society only gives to those who are legally bound by marriage; kids, housing and all. Sounds shallow doesn’t it? But if you really think into what I said, KuKuNehNeh is a very lucky woman because I love her and already treat her as well as a husband should.

Now, to save up for the money sucking activities that society demands for a piece of paper.

Tucked away behind the busy Orchard Road is the lesser known sister of the Pan Pacific Hotel chains, the Pan Pacific Orchard. Now that I have tasted the great food at the signature restaurant, 10 at Claymore, I think the lesser known sister should have a chance to revel in the limelight.

After a little poking around the internet, it seems like 10 at Claymore has been quite popular for it’s buffet spread and so I was quite curious when I was invited down by Citibank and the 10 at Claymore folks to try out food from the à la carte menu. I was also joined by 7 other bloggers: Chester, Veron, Keropokman, James, Walter, Jeneen and Claudia.

Seeing that the restaurant expected us down, I won’t talk about the excellent service that the staff showed as there but without any biased opinions, the food served to us was great! Pardon me for not packing vocabulary like a food connoisseur does but you have to believe me when I say the food is great, considering that I hardly get excited over food much.

I forgot whose idea it was to share food around like Thanksgiving instead of ordering mains for each of ourselves but I think everyone enjoyed eating chunks and morsels of food from the variety that 10 at Claymore served us that night.

If you every make your way down, do try the Thai Beef Salad from the appetiser section and for mains, do try the delicious Oven-Roasted Bonito Cod.

Now, if you have a fat wallet and/or has a thing for beef, I implore you to spend it on the Blackmore Wagyu Beef Tenderloin. It is 200g of Wagyu Beef goodness that stirs my gastric juices as I am typing out this blog post. Even Veron who isn’t much of a beef person, enjoyed the tenderloin of Marbling score 9+.

“What MARBLING SCORE?!?” you might ask? Well, I was clueless also and apparently, a benchmark marbling/marble score of 1 to 9+ is given to Wagyu beef which grades it on the amount of intramuscular fat that gives the famous Wagyu it’s famous juicy texture. Need I mention that the best grade is on the high side?

Yes. It costs $100 and I swear that I didn’t knew of the price until someone pointed it out to me on the menu. Truthfully, it’s not something that I would order if I had to pay because of the hefty price tag but it’s worth every cent! The meat was juicy and the generous portion is good enough for most folks. I had it medium-rare so as to fully savour the goodness of the meat but I think it’s also extremely delicious served medium. Anything more cooked than that and I’ll go over and kill you myself…. and eat the remainder of the Wagyu beef you ordered….

10 at Claymore has a few promotions if you are a Citibank card holder:

• Valid 1st Aug 2010 – 30th Sep 2010
  • Get 1 complimentary THE CLAYMORE (which is a steak) with any order from the grill menu.

  • Get a 2nd grilled item from the grill menu for $10 only, with any order from the grill menu.
• Valid till 31st Dec 2010
  • 15% off total bill

Pan Pacific Orchard
10 Claymore Road
Singapore 229540

[Disclaimer: Citibank is a client of my company and the food was kindly sponsored by the restaurant. My opinions of the food are of my own and are not influenced in any way or by anybody.]

Hi. My name is Kris and I have an addiction.

I used to think people were crazy to love it. How can anyone with a sane mind possibly love doing it?

It was hard to even begin at first. Every sense in my body told me it was the wrong thing to do. Friends told me how damaging it was for those who tried. Most people felt disgusted by it and wouldn’t even attempt it. Only a handful found it to be the missing piece in their lives and these rare ones are usually labelled ‘crazy’ by the rest.

Then something changed last year after I started trying it out. It felt exhilarating. It left me high and dry and wanting more even when my body tells me not to. Fatigue will sometimes last long after doing it but I can’t help but do it again. Every time I recover, I felt that I wanted more and more. I am almost obsessed with doing it at a higher frequency than most normal people would ever do it for.

I started to reduce my daily activities, socializing and sometimes even forgoing food, just so that I could spend more time on it. People frown when I talk about it. I can almost see the disgust in their faces when I explain my love for it. It makes me feel guilty sometimes when I attempt to persuade others to try it out, especially when their frowns deepen.

Many say humans are not meant to do it so much. It is harmful.

I say that they are wrong. It is the very thing that makes us human.

 

 

Hi. My name is Kris and I have an addiction to running.

I’ve been blessed for the last 2 months with a review unit of LG’s new line of LED Backlit LCD Monitors and got no less than the super wide 24″ version, the LG W2486L.

I’ve been using a Samsung 19″ monitor and the immediate reaction upon unboxing the LG W2486L is the sheer size of the screen. LG has been striking on the right notes for the aesthetics of their products and the LG 86 series of monitors maintains the same note with its sleek looking monitor and still packing punches with it’s specifications.

• Display Type: LCD display / TFT active matrix
• Depth: 7.8 in (19.81cm)
• Height: 17.4 in (44.2cm)
• Weight: 9.7 lbs (4.4kg)
• Display aspect ratio: 16:9
• Image Contrast Ratio: 2000000:1 (dynamic)
• Video Format: 1080p
• Color Support: 24-bit (16.7 million colors)
• Response Time: 2ms
• Signal Input: 2xHDMI, 1xDVI-D, 1xVGA

 

It’s sheer size had me demoting my 19″ monitor to the side as a secondary display and using the 24″ LG W2486L as my primary display. As much as I love PC gaming, it’s tough trying to find time to play games on my computer. But I definitely tried to play games like L4D2 and Dragon Age:Origins just to compare the gaming experience on the new monitor. The size, widescreen ratio (16:9), contrast ratio and response time definitely makes it a great monitor to consider if you are into gaming and I definitely wish for more time to play games and harness the quality and screen estate it can provide.

I spend the bulk of my time at the computer juggling between work, socializing and watching videos (I know what you are thinking but let’s not go there). The LG W2486L definitely meets every need that is required of my daily tasks and it definitely increased my productivity with the amount of information I can see with it’s wide ratio and resolution.

If there is a bone to pick, I wish the monitor screen could swivel more freely so that I can find a more optimal angle for my eyes in relation to my computer desk.

The LG W86 series of monitors are available in Singapore selling at the following recommended retail prices:

• S$388 for the 22-inch W86L
• S$498 for the 24-inch W86L

Thanks to Mariko and Aaron for the trial unit!

[Disclosure: I am one of ten only bloggers in Singapore who got to try the LG W86 series before it's local launch date. The unit is passed to me for a trial period for 2 months and I will be offered to purchase it at a discount at the end of the trial and the money will be given to a charity of LG's choice. All opinions in this post are of my own and are just as true when I say "I think I am pretty lame", which might or might not be true to you but definitely still of my true opinion.]