Family guy with 3 Daughters, Digital Guy, Wine Community Leader, Runner in Singapore.
What an excellent website. At times i’m really stuck thinking of ideas for church etc. And not to mention frustrated at myself for still allowing the church that i go still suck at its “Marketing“. Its no secret that Christians want to “share the good news“, but we are at such a time and age where many people really don’t feel a need for God.
Okay enough said, if you are involved in your church’s creative ministry, this website is for you and do share it with your team.
I got to know Lorenzo in Milan during my recent trip to Italy and he shared with me the Characteristics of Romanticism and how it affected society and especially Italy.
In a general sense, “Romanticism” covers a group of related artistic, political, philosophical and social trends arising out of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe. But a precise characterization and a specific description of Romanticism have been objects of intellectual history and literary history for all of the twentieth century without any great measure of consensus emerging.
I’ve always wanted to know how societies evolve, what is that one thing that sparks of the next thing, what is that one idea that changed the mentality of the masses, one way to find out is to look at our collective past. This research lead me to find another excellent web resource, The Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Excellent website… you can spend weeks in there if you are interested.
Anyway, Lorenzo explained to me alot about Italians, alot about how much they were conquered by others in the past, etc… very interesting stuff…
Anyway, how i got to know Lorenzo was quite strange and he happens to be my first Italian friend (outside of business). He is an Architect and if i did not understand wrongly, he is teaching New Entertainment Design at Politecnico Milano. We were both waiting outside a specialty bathroom shop in Milan on a wet monday afternoon and no one opened the door. He had no appointment, neither did I. Apparently some shops are closed on mondays or at least some shops open in the second half of the afternoon. I got no idea whats up with that, but its interesting to be in another country knowing about how other people run their lives at the other side of the globe.
With a pleasant surprise, he drove me around milan in search of other bathroom shops in his new beetle which happens to be my first time to be in one of those. That drive around Milan gave me a chance to see so much more about Milan than i could on my own.
I decided to buy him dinner and only to have another revalation that italians have sort of a happy hour thing that lasts from 6pm to 9pm where you buy a drink and you can get a buffet of finger food… no woner the few nights before i had problems understanding why people only start having dinner after 9pm.
Anyway it is nice to have a friend overseas and it was really kind of him to avail his time. I do hope i will meet him again.
This is one of the new collections by Roberto + Ludovica Palomba for Zucchetti. You can see more pictures and read more about at SanseiOnline.
Rojak 02 have come and gone. See the photos and slides at http://www.farm.sg/rojak/rojak02.php. Now we wait for Rojak 03 which is on the 3rd of Dec. Damn! reservist! Hope they give me my sat night.
This trip to Italy was for work and boy did i travel alot in Italy. I took loads of pictures and will post 1 pic for each place i went. As usual i will avoid talking about work.
Italy, like many european cities have Piazzas which is a public square with room for pedestrians. A cool place to see people, have coffee alfresco style and maybe even gelatos or wine. Had dinner during twilight right on the Piazza and even had a bit of wine, very nice, very romantic, but too bad my wife was not on this trip.
In the heart of Milan is the most outstanding example of Gothic-Lombard architecture which dates back to 1300AD. I paid 4 euros and went up to the roof to have a closer look at the 3500 statues dotted all over the building. The inside view is amazing too.
Inside view
Having to go up north to Lake Orta to visit one of my suppliers, they housed us in Hotel San Rocco. It was very nice!
In one of the small street i came across a street “via Olina” lol… It happens to be very similar to the name of my friend Olyna which happens to be unique.
Modena Train Station
Modena is where the Galleria Ferrari is, and from what i’m told, Modena is the city where Ferraris are made. But i’ve not seen any during my brief time in Modena.
Adriatic Sea
We traveled 400km south by car and in 4 hours we arrived at Giulianova beside the Adriatic Sea and checked into Hotel Cristallo. Very nice. ;)
The next day, after our business stuff, we traveled to Teramo to catch a bus to Rome. Fantastic ride, the best bus ride ever in my life. From the east coast of Italy to Rome which is almost the west coast of Italy, passing thru the mountain ridges that span the whole length of Italy. Valleys, small villages, the landscape… and all this travelling was when the sun was setting. Amazing…
Arrived at Rome at night and walked around the ancient city abit in the dark. Although you still see the mordern cars around, but you could easily feel how it must have felt like to be in the city of the most advanced civilisation.
The Italian trip was somewhat a new experience as i was more or less on my own and did not have my dad with me, so had to make all the arrangements myself. I had almost 2 espressos a day and i feel real Italian. Anyway… its nice to feel a country full of culture and heritage, in short… i’ll be back in Italy again with Pearl.
