What happens when a Victorinox Original arrives at your front door?

It's arrived.  Got my new watch :) I'm gonna be NATO navy!  I decided to go green besides I really do think the khaki green exudes the most personality.  I got second opinions, a lot of my friends feel I should have gotten the beige or grey because they are more 'ladylike'.  I'd love to be a lady, but... despite what logic tells you, the heart has an uncanny way to defy it ;)

So anyway, back to the little black box.  I took some photos to introduce you to the new Victorinox Originals.  I like the idea that, while it exudes masculinity, there are a lot of tiny details that are purposefully designed to give a sense of quiet elegance.  For example, the unmistakable cross-shield badge engraved on the dial and the metal piece on the strap.  I'll be on time from now on :)

It goes with most of my outfits.  Well, um.  Almost ;)

What happens when you are indecisive about time?

You ask for help from your fellow online friends.  That's what you do :)

I'm truly attracted to the Victorinox new Originals.  And here's my reason why.  It's freshly updated with very contemporary aesthetics, yet instantly recognizable as the authentic descendent of the line. Classic contemporary; nylon fiber middle round case, three hands, and date window offset at 4 o’clock. The dial, it seems has been completely reworked, re-injected with modernity and subtly graced with design codes. Now enclosed in a solid bezel in circular-brushed aluminium, the dial shows military time in a central circle on the vertically brushed dial face. The oversized indexes and markers are stencil-cut and inset into the top plate, revealing the second plate below. The Arabic numerals at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock are middle-barred, giving a distinctive character and personality. There are four colour schemes: navy green, commando black, desert beige or khaki green, all purely monochromatic while exudes a certain edge. Finally the NATO style straps (coincidentally someone called me NATO last night! :PP), like those worn by the British Army in the 1930s add a touch of masculinity mixed with nostalgia.

Now, the problem.  Which colour?

Personally, I'm liking the navy green.  If you compare all of the faces, you'd realize that only the navy green will give an almost full-face night illumination.  That's true functional aesthetics to me.

So which is it?

View the following video for more detailed information :)

How do you say hello to a Lumix GX1?

You take pretty pictures of it.  With your other camera. In my case, it was a Nexus S phone (that brings a thought to my mind, what if Google has a camera...) ...

Goodbye bul-gly professional cameras and hello GX1! I've not really gone into the specs, though I doubt it can deliver performance as high as your Canons and Nikons of DSLRs.  But I would think it's more than enough for the everyday professional-wannabe like you and I (okay maybe just I, sorry prof!).

Overall body is compact, reminds me of the really old skool manual cameras.  I used one when I was in high school but never really liked it because it was just too freakin' cumbersome!  So, smart, smooth, slick design are of course very much welcome.

I've started exploring it a little and will be sharing a lot more photos from now on.  Hopefully they are better than my Nexus S :S

Had cake, the couture kind?

Last week, we had a small birthday celebration with the team and I was in charged of the VIP - what else but the cake.  Because everyone was flocking to Secret Recipe on every birthday whim, I decided to go the other way.  Underground.  Online.  And I found Garden from Pastry Union ★

If you're the kind who believe that the first feast is of sight, then welcome to cake couture ;) Chef Yin has got some other lovely ensemble which you can check out at the link below.  Garden (pic above) is a modern rendition of our childhood Blackforest - chocolate cream with cranberries.  I thought I made a boo boo, cause I ordered a 700g cake which turned out to be really small (5x5 inches) and there were 13 of us.  But you know what, turned out it was just nice because it was also an after dinner desert.  From my previous all of my past experiences, no one and I mean, absolutely no one finishes the birthday cake.  True to my personal goal of being less wasteful and more efficient (whenever I can), a 700g cake turned out to be the perfect order of the day ;)

Well, now don't just start drooling here, have a piece yourself. 

What does a night in the museum really feel like?

Definitely none of those nightmare-ish experience where ancient animals survive to claw you alive.  I've stayed in an art museum before - well, sorta.  To be exact, it's an entire art island on its own which is called Naoshima in the South of mid Japan, which was truly an unforgettable experience.  Just to give you an idea how beautiful it was:

The Bennese Art Site at Naoshima was designed by Tadao Ando and he is one of the world's most revered architects.  Speckled around the island are some of the world's finest artists and one for example is Yayoi Kusuma's spotted pumpkin - you could see works by Andy Warhol and Claude Monet (yup, there's where they kept em' waterlilies!).  If art is your thang, you've come to the right place.  Dug out some of my photos I took when I was there in 2008 and boy, that's nostalgia...

Here's Cat conquering the world.

Yea, little guy likes ice cream on waffles :)

The underground museum that you could 'experience' art via immersion like the first picture you saw on this post.

Yup, that's me.  Walking Cat.

Yayoi's famous spotted vege.

Up, close and personal with the pumpkin.

The Benesse Art House, hotel.

Clean, simple design - truly Andao's blueprint.

The rooms were simple, equipped with 'smart' carpentry system.  A push and a pull of a board/cover/wall, you could transform the place to something else.

Cat reading up on Naoshima.

Love healthy breakfast :)

That's Cat and my Japanese mom asking for directions.

Glass steps to the shrine.

Beautiful 'noren' - the piece of cloth that's hung at the entrance of Japanese traditional homes.

Functional art - toldja they were speckled everywhere.

Another of Yayoi Kusuma's pumpkin installation.

Yes, brought back so much memories.  And in my pursuit of extraordinary travel experiences, I came across another boutique art hotel recently.  Now if this doesn't make your heart leap in excitement, I don't know what does:

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing HOMA - Hotel of Modern Art, Guilin, China.  Who would have thought there's such a fine piece of design in Guilin?  

Am planning a trip there in April.  Hey, landscape baby, wait for me :)