Wandering Aloud

A brand New Year A brand new start

2011-01-25T00:10:00.002+08:00

Geez... my last post on me blog was in Oct 2009! That means that I have not been blogging for a year...

Well, since it is the new year, I guess i shall do some resolutions:

1) Exercise regularly. At least 2 times a week

2) Bring my weight down by 10kg!

3) Have more discipline and focus for my new career

Shall keep it simple for now :)

Thought it would be interesting to reflect on how the past year has been and how accurate those CNY predictions are...

Year of the Tiger 2010

The Rooster

The Rooster is always popular, extravagant and creative.. They can be brutally honest and generally like being showered with attention. They are wonderfully loyal friends and also give advice freely – whether they are asked for it or not! Family means the world to the Rooster and they are fiercely loyal to those they care about. (I would like to think that 2nd half is true... I am not sure about the popular, extravagant and creative part though...)

Forecast for 2010
The Year of the Tiger will have mixed fortunes for the Rooster, but by staying calm, observant and flexible, the Rooster will glide through 2010 coming out much wiser, stronger and with great success behind him (Hmm... I am not sure about that...). He will be in much demand for his sage advice and experience and, at work, this will come to the notice of his employer (Well, i think this is partly true for my previous job. They did start to ask more of my opinions and trust me more). Many will also decide to go back to college this year or completely change the direction of their career (Hmm... wonder if this covers the bloody studying I had to do to qualify as a Financial Adviser?). Travel features quite strongly with the Rooster seeking out adventure, fun and new places to visit (Well, I did go to HK and Macau). A word of caution: all Roosters must ensure that they don’t overdo things – exhaustion and a depleted immune system will result if proper rest isn’t taken (This happens all the time). Home life will bring many joys and will be seen as a cosy sanctuary throughout the year (Err... nope...). The Spring months and November and December will be excellent for intimate romantic encounters (Err.... nope... unless Rick and Sylvia's wedding counts as a romantic encounter).. March and July to October will be the optimum time for making career decisions or to change jobs (Well, at least this was accurate).

So let's see how 2011 predictions fare. Cos it looks damn "cham". For those who are interested, I got it from:

http://www.wayangtimes.com/2011-year-of-the-rabbit-chinese-zodiac-horoscope-forecast.html

Rooster Fortune in 2011:

The rooster will encounter a lot of obstacles in work. Due to low popularity, you will be involved in verbal spats and will also be framed by others this year. Your work will not go well, money will be a major worry as well. It is recommended that you get to know more about financial management, be thrifty and do not break the law to earn quick money. Also, do not be a guarantor or lend money to others this year or you might get yourself involved in lawsuits. There will be a alot of ups and downs for your love life, expect some problems with your marriage. You will feel moody at times due to the pressure from work and you should seek medical advice if you are feeling unwell. Any delays will be bad for your health.

Rooster Career in 2011:

The overall fortune for the career of the rooster is bad. There will be a lot of right and wrong questions that will appear and you will suffer from a loss of mood due to poor human relations. As such, you should look towards having more group discussions and interactions during work to enhance interpersonal relationships. You should remain low key this year and do not be involved in disputes even if you do not agree with the others. Remain patient and calm when resolving any issues. Communicate more with your family and friends or take some time off to bring them out. Listening to their opinions and views is a great way to reduce stress and to calm yourself down.

Rooster Wealth in 2011:

There are signs that the rooster will suffer from financial loss this year. More often than not, you will spend excessively and your income and expenditure will be unbalanced. You must learn to manage your money well, try to cut costs and think twice before making any purchases. Self control is essential. Make an effort to save up on emergency funds. Also, you might be involved in a lawsuit due to money disputes so do not be a guarantor or lend money to others this year. It is also not recommended to make any investments or take part in any gambling activities this year.

Rooster Love in 2011:

As Rooster suffer from poor interpersonal relationships and frequent mood swings this year, it is easy for disputes to happy with your partner. Both parties must learn to be patient with each other, understand and care for each other to maintain the relationship. For those who are married, the marriage is prone to the intrusion of a third party, conflicts will happen and disputes will cause a breakdown of relationship. It is also recommended for the couple to understand and forgive each other, treasure the happy life that both of you are leading right now. For singles, it is better to think twice when choosing a partner, get to know the each other well to determine if he/she is your ideal partner. When in dilemma, seek opinions and views from the elders.

Rooster Health in 2011:

Health is not ideal this year, the poor fortune will result in major stress when facing life. It is important to maintain cheerful and calm during this testing time to solve the problem. You will be easily nervous this year and suffer from insomnia. If you are feeling unwell, seek medical treatment promptly and get plenty of rest.

The A to Z of my Europe Trip

2009-10-18T18:59:00.009+08:00

A is for Apartment. A very tiny one at that! 2 rooms with 3 sofa beds and one foldable bed. The bathroom measures 2.5m (L) X 1m (W) and has a toilet, shower and sink in it! Amazing! More amazingly, 6 people were sharing it! How's that? Thankfully we were all quite disciplined!

B is for Bread. Urgh... bread bread and more bread throughout the whole trip... no more bread for the next 3 weeks!B is also for Butter.. the butter in Germany is so creamy and light... Mmm... Oh yah, B is also for Broke.... Time to eat grass for the next few months.

C is for Cheese! My goodness, the variety of cheese available there is amazing... not to mention the pungent smell... You really have to be prepared when you walk into a cheese shop. My cousin Chris bought us a variety of cheese to try when we were in Munich. In fact, it tickled him to no end that we actually love cheese. Hmm... Chinese people no like cheese?? C is also for Coke. It tastes really different in Germany, Austria and France. The verdict so far is that German Coke is the best cos its really refreshing and not too cloyingly sweet. And no... I am not being biased. It's by vote!

D is for Disneyland! We went to Parc Disneyland Paris! It was a day of fun, with lots of rollercoaster rides... ok ok, who am I kidding. I didn't ride the rides.. I became the bag jaga...

E is for Electricity Failure... At Charles de Gaulle airport. How the bloody hell can an international airport have a power failure? Because of that freakin 2.5 hour blackout, we missed our flight (we were early too!!!) That led to the whole adventure of missing planes and landing up in Hong Kong to get a flight back.... I smell a rat. It could well be the cause of a terrorist threat that they had to lock down the airport. Hell, that or Charles de Gaulle really suffers from frequent blackouts cos the Announcement was automated!!! And you heard me right.. Announcement.. that means they can choose what they want to be powered on... Conspiracy Theory!

F is for Foie Gras! Mmmm.. tried this Foi Gras sandwich at the fair at Montmarte. For 7 Euros, its not bad. But I still prefer the pan fried one. Surprisingly in France, the Foie Gras are usually served cold... Black Adder was very sad to not have had Pan fried Foie Gras...

G is for Glockenspiel. Or the pling plong, as my cousin Chris calls it. The famous landmark in Munich where people look up at the hot afternoon sun and burn their eyes to see the mechanical figures dance for 10 mins at 11am to off tune music (which up till now, even my cousin Chris can't make out what song it is)

H is for Heringer Sirbu. A Vineyard in Vienna.We had to ride a PIM (tram), then take a bus to the top of the mountain. We had a spectacular view of the city of Vienna... then had to walk down a long long long unlit windy road to reach the wineyard. Getting there was tough, but the view was nice and we were rewarded with nice and affordable wine with food. We were also introduced to Stum. Stum is grape juice that is unfermented or partly fermented. It's what you get before wine becomes wine. Quite tasty actually. The bad part was going all the way back, when it was pitch dark... We had to shine torches to find our way. That was a reallly looooooong way back to our hotel.... Blaire Witch anyone?

I is for intercontinental breakfast. Ok, close enough. Breakfast at my aunt's place is really a spread. I'm sure she normally does not have all of the items on a usual day but she specifically went to get it for us. Waffles, bread, butter, home made jams (for someone who does not eat jams, they were really good!), sausages, cheese, syrup, orange juice, coffee, tea, ham... I always love having breakfast at my aunt's place!

J is for ji3. Ok, I mean the Chinese word meaning squeeze. And we had to pack a whole lot of foodstuff for the wedding. Among 6 of us, we had to squeeze the following into our luggage: 250 sticks of Satay, 7 packets of Satay sauce, 1 tube of ketupat, 50 pcs of Mackeral Otah, 10 Nyonya Chang, 2 kg of Bak Kwa, 1 kg of Lup Cheong, 2 bags of dried mushrooms, 1 packet of salted vege, 6 packets of tea leaves, various pastes like Laksa, mee siam and chicken rice, Mooncakes, Sweet Beancurd Skin... going there, our luggage was already over the weight limit! They wanted to charge S$62 per kg!!!! Thankfully the counter staff were nice enough to waive it. More thankfully that the foodstuff survived the trip!

K is for Konig. Which means king. And we went to Konig Ludwigs castle on Chiemsee. He actually modelled it after the Versailles Palace in France. Such was his fixation with the French that the replica rooms were not to be used. However, he couldn't finish it due to monetary problems. What's more, he didn't even stay in it much. He died in myterious circumstances too. Of course he had his private quarters. The most memorable to me was his bathtub. It can hold 60,000 litres of water and looked like a swimming pool... no kidding.... we had to walk over the whole thing. I reckon it measures at least 10m in diameter.

L is for Lourve. The famous Lourve museum that houses the Mona Lisa. It's so huge that we go tired walking through it. That's only finishing one level of one wing... Apparently, if you stand in front of each and every painting/sculpture for 30 secs, it will take you 3 years to finish everything in the Lourve!

M is for Macaroons! Pierre Herme ones! My gosh, it's damn good! Nice and taut on the outside but just melts in your mouth when you bite it. We bought 6 different flavours to try. Caramel was my Fav! Other flavours were Macha, Lemon Chocolate, Rose, Blueberry and Pistachio

N is for Nonya. Nonya Kebaya that is. Aunt had requested that we wear Kebayas. We obliged and we really did stand out. Now I think the Germans may have the wrong idea that the Kebaya is our national dress... oh well... The only freaking thing was walking in heels and mind you, the sarongs do not allow for easy walking. i have never been this dainty in my entire life.... Urgh....

O is for Oktober Fest! It's HUGE!!! It's at a park over at Munich near the main train station. And the tents are HUMONGOUS! It's like a huge mess hall for soldiers (well, it could well be, considering how noisy and rowdy it can get). Food was great with Hendl (roasted chicken, only available at Oktoberfest. Crispy on the outside, nice and juicy on the inside), dumplings (made of bread with sauce), stewed pork and 1 litre beer! Yes, everything about Oktober Fest is huge! Even the ceremonial horses delivering the beer to Oktober fest (those were taller than a van!)

P is for pickpockets. Yup, unfortunately our "class fund" got pickpocketed. That occurred immediately once we got on the train from the airport on our way to the apartment. Lost about 80 Euro and our return tickets for the train back to the airport. So beware when in Paris!

Q is for Queue... Literally... Queue to get to the Eiffel Tower, queue to go on rides at Disneyland, queue to walk through Notre Dame, queue to change tickets, get tax refund, to check in blah blah... I think I have never been this patient in my entire life....

R is for rude. The parisian people. While it is easier to talk now since they do communicate in English, especially the younger Parisians, most of the people I have met are not friendly and some downright rude. But there are exceptions. The couple who runs Chez Gabriel near our apartment were a gem. Not only was the food fantastic, their service was top notch. They fussed over us and made sure we were comfortable. It helps that we are were the only people in the restaurant though ;p

S is for Seine. The River Seine. Though it was a cold night, to see the sunset along the River Seine was beautiful. What's more, you get to see the Eiffel Tower shimmer every hour. Best to take the 9.30pm boat ride for camera buffs.

T is for Terrine de Lapin. Which is Rabbit spread. Lapin means rabbit in French. We were looking to try Rabbit meat but unfortunately couldn't find it. So had to settle for Rabbit spread. Oh well, bo he hei mah ho.

U is for Umbrella... which I forgot to bring. It rained quite a bit when we were in Paris. Especially on the first day when we arrived at about 8pm? Couldn't find the bloody apartment and had to walk in the rain lugging luggage. Thank goodness for the Goretex jacket I bought... The next day, when we explored the area, the train station was actually very near by!

V is for Vienna. We were there for only 2 days, whereby 1 day was a full day. It is a very nice city and wish I had more time there to explore. We went by many nice landmarks such as the Parliament, the Opera House, the Gardens etc. It's really a very culturally rich city.

W is for Wedding. Yup, my cousin Stefan's wedding with Steffi! A pretty nice one that involves breaking plates and breaking concrete. They break plates to bring good luck (must be china ok?) and have to sweep it up. They also wore funny hats - the bride wore a veil, the groom had to wear something that looks like a slipper. This has something to do with not being cockolded. And they broke concrete - friends of the bride and groom made them break a block of concrete to find treasure. Basically, unlike us, they don't give ang pow. They incorporate the money into the gift. Other interesting gifts included flowers with birds with folded money as wings; beer mugs, a pot of charcoal, a wok... And they also have a huge tradition with cutting the wedding cake. First of all, the cake must be made by the bride's family. Then, when cutting the cake, who's hand is above the other is the one who wears the pants.. Hahaha!

X is for Xiao Ah! (For those who geddit... hahahahahaha)

Y is for Yawn. We actually didn't get much sleep while in Paris. First night there was a scream. 2nd night people tried to open our door. 3rd night people frantically running up the stairs. The last day in the morning, someone actually opened the door. A Lady (I think it was the apartment owner's wife) who probably got the wrong apartment as she was trying to check in another family. She opened the door and looked at the Cat, who stared back and then she closed the door... But I still have to qualify that the apartment is safe, with Electronic lock with contact card access. Plus, it's reasonable and very very central. It' also a plus that we have a Big Cat as bodyguard.

Z is for Zzzzz..... reached back SG at 2350h. Went home, bathed and crashed in bed. Only woke up at 3pm heh heh

The Bucket List

2008-11-19T20:29:00.003+08:00

Rented the movie The Bucket List over the weekend. Starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, who as fate would have it, end up in the same ward. Both realize that they only have months to live and embark on a journey to complete their Bucket List: things to do before they kick the bucket. An unlikely friendship grows between these 2 men from very disparaging backgrounds: One a CEO of a chain of hospitals, wealthy enough to be drinking kopi luwak every day (and not even realizing how it is derived); the other a car mechanic who did not complete college due to parental responsibilities but has an impressive knowledge and voracious appetite for knowledge (he answers every damn question on Jeopardy correctly!!!)

So the 2 start to do things on their Bucket List (not in sequential order) and whatever came to mind, they wrote it down.

It was a pretty good movie and I was impressed with Morgan Freeman's acting as Carter, a poor, black grandfather who worked hard for 45 years to provide for the family. For the first time, I see Morgan Freeman playing a very vulnerable character, unlike his usual detective roles (Kiss the girls, Seven) or his enigmatic leader roles (Shawshank Redemption, Wanted). His portrayal of Carter was convincing and it struck a cord with me on many instances. I especially like the part where he rebukes his wife to go on an unknown journey with Edward, a stranger he only knew for a few weeks. His wife viewed it as him giving up on the family. He decided for once that after providing for 45 years, it was time to provide for himself. There was also a moment where he reflects on what happened between him and his wife: She didn't change, nor did he, but somehow, with all the responsibilities of bringing up the children, they somehow lost the spark somewhere along the way. This seems to be the case for most married couples these days.

Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Edward somehow gave me the impression that he was just playing himself: rich, arrogant, playboy pompous ass who finally realizes an unlikely friendship with the poor but knowledgeable Carter.

And of course, the movie sets you thinking. The first item on My Bucket List? To travel the world (Turkey, Maldives, Cambodia, Bhutan, Russia, Hawaii, Kerela, Japan... the list really goes on)

The Wedding March

2008-10-29T22:05:00.002+08:00

Ah... everyone is familiar with the Wedding March. It is played at every wedding without fail, every time. And for the next year, beginning this Dec 08 to next Dec 09, I will be hearing a lot of it. Suddenly I am flanked by a lot of people getting hitched. Don't get me wrong, it's a great thing that they have found their other halves and are ready to settle down. But it is interesting to see the different takes on marriage.

And interesting it has been. Some just want to keep it simple, others want it grand. Makes me wonder about mine when the time comes. Grand route or the simple route? I'm pretty sure my dad would want the simple route (he once commented that a simple dinner with family is sufficient. He hates attending weddings so I guess mine is no exception!). But then the simple route will depend on who my other half is and his family.

There are pros and cons on grand and simple. Some couples believe in not spending a lot for the wedding (after all, it seems that holding a wedding these days, you are definitely not going to make back in ang pow what you spent) and would rather spend it on the honeymoon or renovations for the roost. The wedding is about the couple, so the money should be spent by them, whatever way they wish.

The grand route (the whole she-bang with dinner etc) isn't all bad. In fact, by doing the planning of the event, it's actually the first major test on the compatibility of the couple: How do they settle disagreements between families (this aunt doesn't want to sit with that aunt); how your potential spouse is really like (easy going or nit picking on details? How supportive is the husband?); How well do they plan things and discuss things? I have heard countless stories of couples who decided to tie the knot but then call it off because of wedding preparations. But in a good way, you rather find out more about your other half before the wedding actually takes place. In addition, once you get over this test, you know that you can handle other issues as a duo.

It is also a good way of getting in touch with your traditions - waking up at 3am auspicious time! Dong dong chiang!; i give you a pigs leg for your daughter! (bloody hell.. traded like meat). One friend told me that holding a wedding is to give women status. In a sense that, you tell others that you have married her to be your lawfully wedded wife. Yes, traditional, I know.

But to me, the most important part of the wedding are the vows. I do take that seriously. In sickness or in health, till death do us part. Getting married is supposed to be a life time commitment. So one had better think real hard before settling down. No doubt, divorce is always an option, but perhaps, it is because it is such an easy option that many just get married for that sake, with the thought that if it doesn't work out, just divorce lor... But if you had that thinking in the first place, that means you didn't really make the commitment. And that's what marriage is about isn't it? To be committed to each other. If not, why get married in the first place? Hell, I am not one to say (esp since I am not married).

Me? I just know that I better start saving soon. The couples may be singing to the tune of the Wedding March: "Here comes the bride, all dressed in white.... ". My tune's gonna be "Save up alright? You'll be pok kai...."

BATAM!

2008-09-15T17:30:00.002+08:00

Went for a 2D1N stay at Batam over the weekend. Overall it was a good getaway. Here are some memorable moments:

Most headache moment(s) - Whenever we were paying for something. My God... it was a math test everytime we had to convert the rupiah to SGD. SGD1 = 6300 rupiah... not easy when everything is in the ten thousand range and above!

Happiest Moment - eating A & W! Seeing it was like reaching the promised land. It was a pretty unanimous decision to dine there for lunch. Had rootbeer, chicken wings and curly fries! Bliss

Most confusing moment - Checking into the hotel. We were told to bring about S$100 which was to cover the spa, room and transport. The practice there is to pay first. So when they guy said "It's 385 in all with the extra bed" we were a bit stunned. Isn't it supposed to be max S$300?? We asked him that we were told it would amount to only S$300. He made a few calls and said apologetically that it was 385. Being in a foreign land, we didn't want to argue, so we took out the moolah. When we presented the SGD, the guy was stunned. That was when we realized that he meant 385,000 rupiah, which equates to S$62. We decided to pay first and had a mini conference in our hotel room - how come only S$62???? After a few phone calls to my friends sister, realized that S$100 each was an estimation. The room rate is correct, but the Spa and the transport will be paid seperately. Oooooor............

Most wu hua (best value) moment - generally if you buy the local stuff it is cheaper. Services are cheap too. here's a summary of what I bought and did: Manicure - S$12. Spa (3 hour package to make be nice and shiny) - S$48. Indo Mie Instant noodles - S$0.25 per packet. Toothbrush - S$0.25. Chewing Gum (bottle kind) - S$1.50. Import stuff are more expensive, but still relatively cheaper compared to SG. They have Breadtalk and the bread was about S$1 (still 40% cheaper); A&W was about S$4.50 for the meal. J.Co donuts and coffee was about S$5 for coffee and donut set

Most bo hua moment (poor value) moment - seafood dinner. It was still cheap - 3 people S$50 for 3 crabs, cereal prawns, fried squid, baby kailan, dou miao. But the size and portions were quite.... pathetic. Our initial order was only pepper crab, baby kailan, fried squid and cereal prawns. When the food came... we were like... huh? The crab was smaller than the kind you find at kopitiams. The cereal prawns... you might as well changed the name to cereal shrimp. I couldn've wiped out the baby kailan on my own! Not sure if it was due to the over emphasis on "kechil", meaning small portion... Hence we had to add on the order with chilli crab and dou miao. When it came, it was better. The crabs were nice, but i think its due to their species, the meat was quite nuah.. probably because they were quite small.

Most embarassing moment - Being totally naked in front of a stranger during the spa. It's just weird to have someone you don't even know see you warts and all... Worse still, she even helped me scrub my back... totally weird....

Spookiest moment - I dunno if its a figment of my imagination, but i woke up in the middle of the night to hear a conversation going on between my friend and my cousin. I peered at my friend, whose back was towards me. It seemed she was talking but i can't fanthom what she was saying. It was totally incomprehensible! And more interestingly, my cousin, whose back was also towards me (I slept in the centre), actually answered back. I was like... WTF??? ok ok... go back to sleep!!!! The next morning, I was telling them about it when my cousin said: "you know what? I woke up to hear you and hyena having a conversation! Hyena was saying some and you actually answered back!"...... Yikes

If I had the money...

2008-09-08T19:58:00.005+08:00

If you were rich, have you ever thought of giving back to the community? In my dreams of hitting the big time, where money is not an issue, I have thought about whom i wish to help - children & para-athletes

Why these 2 particular groups? Well, for children, I'm just a sucker for young kids. Somehow, I find that they should at least have a chance in this world. Kids are meant to be kids, to learn through play, make friends and hopefully grow up to be responsible adults. I hope every kid has the opportunity to be given a fair chance in life. So if I had the money, I hope that children all over the world, will be given proper food, shelter, clothes and more importantly education. There's something about a child's innocence which should remain that way. I find that they should enjoy their time as children while they can instead of being thrown to the harsh realities of life at such a tender age. But for those who survived their unfortunate circumstances and grow up to be responsible adults, I sincerely salute them.

The other group, para-athletes, are a group which I feel needs much more support. Right now, I don't see much being done for them. When the Team Singapore was sent for the Olympics, they had the support of the ministries, the sponsors, the nation. However, for the para-athletes, I don't see as much fan fare. Why is that? Aren't they athletes too? And they are the ones who have to work twice as hard to over come their disabilities, with the odds stacked up against them and they are capable of bringing home a gold medal. Its not easy to swim when you only have your hands to push yourself forward; it's not easy to play basketball when you are on wheels, especially when you need to dribble and maneuver at the same time. The Paralympics is after all where the best also come to compete, so I do not see why they do not get equal support. Or is it because getting a gold medal here is not as much worth? For this group, I hope to be able to support them in terms of training (you hear about Tao Li getting Altitude training, but have you heard the same being done for Teresa?) and sponsorship and also awareness for the group.

So if I had the money, these are the 2 groups I would like to help. What about you?

The Interview and the aftermath

2008-09-08T19:10:00.003+08:00

I recently updated my resume and to my surprise, I realized that I chalked up quite a lot of experience in my current company. My job responsibilities filled up almost 1 page (in bullet form). Not bad, considering I have been on the job for only 6 months.

I went for an interview with a telecoms company. Sad to say, I screwed up the interview by shooting myself in the foot. In fact, I felt like shooting myself in the head as i felt the words leave my mouth. You know, its the same feeling that you get just nanoseconds after you hit the "send" and your sms get sent to the wrong person. That's the exact same feeling I got, but of course 10 times worse in magnitude. There was no way to retract the sentence since it was already halfway out of my mouth.

Oh well, it just shows a couple of things - 1) I need more interview experience. 2) I need to lie better
But I must say that all is not lost. I learnt quite a few things from the interview. For one, I realized that you better have a very good reason why you want to leave a company after just 6 months. My interviewer was very persistent about that fact. And perhaps I didn't lie well enough and she saw through it? And I realized that they valued my 6 months in my current job more than the 3.5 years in my previous company. They didn't focus much on my past job, despite the fact that it was telco related.

I also learnt to trust my gut feel. I didn't like the vibe i was getting from the HR person and my interviewer. In fact, I didn't even feel a nice vibe coming from the receptionists, both of them. You might say that I am sour grapes since I did not fare well for the interview, but seriously, if my interviewer is going to be the person I will be working with, i think I will be in a worse off situation if i got the job. And the HR person didn't even give a smile, didn't even bother to properly introduce herself (I still don't know what is her exact designation). What's up the with uppity atitude? And I'm not the first to have the same feeling about the organization too. Another friend also had the same treatment. In his words, he felt that he was scrutinized even to the smallest detail. His interviewer even commented on his slightly torn shoe! I was like.... ok.... do I really want to work in a company which micromanages to that extent? Especially when I don't like the micromanaging I get in my cuurrent workplace?

And after much review, I realized that I don't really hate my job. I do enjoy what i am doing, its only 1 person which I don't like (which I have totally no respect for. How do you work for someone when you have no motivation?) and just how the organization works, especially in terms of approvals (which take forever due to the levels I have to go through, which is 3-4 levels btw). And also the fact that my manager does not know how to groom people (which is why my colleague is leaving). But on the flip side, i have to admit that the place has very little politics. So i guess it is still a good learning ground.

So I am still looking.... I will still try to hang on for 1 year, but at the same time i am looking around for opportunities... Anyone have lobang, do tell me!

When one is not working in a true place

2008-07-15T10:15:00.003+08:00

Someone was telling me that it has been yonks since I updated my blog and that she was tired of seeing my feet being nibbled by fish.... oooook.... so here is a new entry!

Been a long time since I have written anything. Largely due to the fact that i have been working.

How is my new work environment? I have mixed feelings about it. I can't help but feel that everyone is damn pretentious. From the head honcho to my head of dept to some other people in other departments. My colleagues and peers are ok. I can get along well with them.

My head honcho? Well, initially I thought he was a nice guy. Especially on my first day where I was reading up on PR coverage. He seemed to be really concerned about other people's well being, sensitive (especially when he teared up in one interview about his late father) etc. But as I knew more about him, i really got more disgusted. He's actually a very scheming person. And looks like my PR company did a really good job. It's all just a facade. I got even more disgusted when I found out that he made the whole company work to organize his wedding. Can you imagine that? All the extra weekends burnt just to prep the wedding. My department had to man the reception and as such had to engage their own stylist & make up artiste etc, since it was at a very luxurious hotel with very important guests attending. AT THEIR OWN COST! And after all was done, they didn't even get a day off. They didn't even get a token ang pow. All they got was a "Thanks guys". Now that's seriously fucked up. Now you know why the rich keep getting richer? Because they just exploit the poor. Fucking Assholes.

My head of department. Where do I even begin? She's such a bitch. Ok, maybe not, but she's just like a typical female. The kind that whines and whines. Worse still, she doesn't have a sense of dignity. Imagine this: she is interviewing for new staff. After the interview, she can come to our department and lambast about the interviewee. I mean, it makes you wonder what she was thinking about you when she hired you doesn't it? What's more, she bitches about the other Asst managers to one of the asst manager, the one that she is close to. If that Asst manager were a total bitch, she could've taken the opportunity to stab the others in the back! But more importantly, how can you bitch to some one about their peers? It's just shows a lack of integrity and what kind of bloody leader are you??

Seriously not feeling motivated in this company and just waiting to get my 1 yr of experience before moving on. But others have told me to just move on. If it is something which I don't like, why even bother to torture myself?

Doctor Fish!

2008-03-30T22:22:00.003+08:00

I finally tried out the Doctor Fish therapy. I heard so much about it from Black Adder after her trip to Japan. Have been scoping it out, there is one by the Qian Hu Group and another at Sentosa. Have been meaning to try the Sentosa one, however, my attempts have been marred by wet weather. Drat! So when I saw that the Kenko branch at the Singapore Flyer had it, I just decided to walk inside to try, without even a second thought.

The trip to the Singapore Flyer was actually meant to check out a new Mexican Fusion restaurant called Jalepeno Peppers (aside to Kame: Don't bother...fail), didn't realize that it would turn into such a ticklish affair. At Kenko, I took the S$38 package which consists of a 10 min head and shoulder massage, followed by 30 mins of fish therapy (fish therapy on its own is S$28). The head and shoulder massage was nothing to shout about. By the time it came to go for the fish therapy, I was pretty hyped up. But first, I had to fold up my jeans above knee level and scrub it down. The thing that grossed me out was the sponge that they provided. It's been hanging there for god knows how long. I didn't even want to phantom how many people have used it to scrub their legs... Eeeew..... this had better be worth it....

And then it was really time to immerse my feet into the water. Kenko had 3 tanks filled with tiny tiny fish. With wooden panels and hydragaes and water plants, it gave a very rustic feel. The water was clear and you can see hundreds and hundreds of little fishes swimming about. Now... the initial feeling of anticipation now turned to fear. You see... little miss ticklish here, in her excitement, forgot that hundreds of little fishes will be nibbling at her feet... and looking at hundreds of hungry fish in the tank didn't help to quell that feeling. After much hesitation (Heck! I already paid for it!), I plonked my feet into the water.

And boy.. were the fishes hungry. After my feet were immersed, a few fishes came and started nibbling. I was still trying to quell my uneasiness. Just when I thought I was getting used to it, more came. That's when i panicked and started to laugh out real loud and squealed. Trust me... I got weird stares and I am pretty sure Kenko lost about 3 customers just because of my reaction.

But after a while, i relaxed and I actually enjoyed the experience. True to what Black Adder said, if you don't look at them, the fishes nibbling at the feet just felt like tiny electrodes massaging you feet (think the OSIM massager pads attached to your feet). Of course, when you look at them and you realize it's actually fish, you will freak out. For me, the fishes were nibbling more at the tips of my toes and in between the toes. I don't think i had a lot of fishes stuck to me. I saw others which had practically a swarm of fish nibbling away at their feet, to the extent that you can't really see the feet. So when you are there, just note where the fish nibble, those are very likely to be neglected places or prob need frequent wash becos they sweat more.

The 30 mins passed really quickly and soon it was time to get out. Personally I felt that my feet were more refreshed. Perhaps it was the cold water? Or was it really because of the massaging effect from all that nibbling? Some of you might quaff at the thought of paying S$28 bucks for fish to nibble your feet. But I felt it was worth it. You can do the same at a pond for free... but god knows if only your feet will be nibbled.... off... hahahaha

Oh yeah, if you are at the Singapore Flyer, do check out the surroundings too. Seafood Paradise is there, albeit a more posh one (this one provides wine!). the place is still generally quiet and peaceful and you can get a good view of the sea just by walking around the 2nd level. And for coffee lovers, check out Robert's Coffee. Ajoined with Popeyes, I must say that the coffee here really has zing... Nice, thick, aromatic, beats Starbucks, Coffee Bean, TCC Hands down! And I was only drinking normal Latte! Yum! It's a nice place to chill for now...

A Relationship Ends when...

2008-03-11T22:47:00.002+08:00

Ah.... yet another episode of Philosophy according to Pooh... hahaha! I was just thinking about relationships and it dawned to me that a relationship ends when one party just stops trying.

Now, I don't mean just couple relationships. It encompasses all relationships: family, friends, work.

Look at it this way:
A mother stops trying when she gives up on her children. That is when she disowns the children or just doesn't care about her children's well being

A friend gives up on another friend. For all you know, your friend could have been very tolerent to your bad habits, mannerisms and what not. They don't say it but it comes to a point that they don't bother to try to be tolerant, then that's when relationships become strained. Or perhaps two friends have always been close, but when one stops making effort to meet the other, they just drift apart.

At work, your boss could be pissed off with you and giving you many chances. but there will come a time where he or she just can't take it anymore and just fires you

I guess, in the end, it's about making effort. It takes two to clap and both parties must make some effort although sometimes one party may be contributing more than the other.

It takes years to build a relationship but only 1 second to destroy it. And that 1 second happens when you stop: Stop bothering, stop thinking, stop trying

And it's March already!

2008-03-11T22:36:00.003+08:00

Wow... how time flies. I haven't been blogging for the longest time! And things have just zoomed by after CNY.

Well, for one, I only got my com fixed a day before CNY. Then, after CNY, I was homeless for a week cos my aunt was in town. I gave her my room to stay while I bunked in with a friend. I didn't mind... but her timing could've been better. After all, it was also my first week of work.. that was tough!

And yeah... work... hmm.... thing have been ok so far. It's been a month actually. In essence, the exposure that I am getting here is really really good. Nothing that I have experienced before. Photo shoots, vetting press releases, media queries and editorials. Looking over proposals, organizing workshops, tying up with partners (I only hate the part that I have to source for 3 a month shit.... like some sort of quota). I also don't like the admin part.. My goodness.. filing can kill!!! Everything has to be so neat and tidy and organized. Not exactly my best trait. And unfortunately, I can't talk on MSN as freely as I used to.. i miss chatting with my friends. Hard to chat when my table is the first one when you step into the department and it's next to my boss' room. It also doesn't help that my back is facing the entrance.

But otherwise, things have been good and i think i am coping ok. Just the other day, my assistant manager (whom i report to) was asking how I am settling into the job. I told her i was still trying to catch up. I also took the opportunity to ask her how I am faring: ok? Up to expectations? Thankfully, her reply was positive. So that is good.

So that's that about my life so far... till the next time!

Congratulations on surviving yet another year!

2008-01-15T18:28:00.000+08:00

1st appreciation of the year: Thank god for the internet! I have been without the internet for almost a month since my com decided to go kaputt on me... could've sworn that I was breaking into cold sweat from going cold turkey.. Yikes... and since i have the time, i decided to come write me blog.. which obviously has collected quite a bit of cobwebs (the dungeons and dragons variety) since my last entry.

Wow... i actually survived more than a week into the first year! Amazing....
The end of the year is always the most enjoyable and moves the fastest actually. Then the first week arrives and then it's back to going through the paces of yet another 365 (or 366) days... URGH.....

Oh well, since one can't stop time, let's begin the new year with a new entry and some reflection.. *ponder ponder ponder*

Overall, the big guy up there has been kind to me. No misfortunes have happened. No doubt there were ups and downs. But nothing devastating (Thanks old chum!)

Major happenings include getting my jaw fixed. Given a choice, I wouldn't have wanted to go through it. But it was necessary. The outcome was ok and everything healed. But unfortunately, now my jaw ain't straight. It has a slight tilt towards my right. But it's not that noticeble actually.

Travelled quite a bit as well: Perth in Jan, Bangkok in Mar & Nov. The Bangkok trips were particularly helpful as they gave me a lot of time to do soul searching and to get my mind off things. It was through those trips that I found mental strength to just keep going on. Perth was fun. First time driving in a foreign land. Many more to come!

Lost weight. Not sure if its becos of the op or because of my exercising? Still a good thing as my fitness level is now much better as compared to 2006.

Friends around me getting happiness. Glad to see that some of my friends found people to be with; got married and had a kid; others are still going strong. Hope this good streak continues

Major shakeup was the mass resignation of my company. Moi included. Half the company left.. and i decided to follow suit. Especially since another offer came along. It's a brand new start for a brand new year! And to many people, they are glad that I am finally leaving. Many have said, don't waste ur youth there! I hear ye, i hear ye!

For 2008:
It's a time to save. I realized that quite a bit of my spending lies in medical procedures (paying for the braces, the op etc etc). Seriously have to think about saving (2007 yielded S$0 savings). I seriously wonder where all my moolah goes to. Friends are also scratching their heads over my predicament as well as I don't seem to have major liabilities and expenditures (no car, no loans, no clubbing habits, no major shopping purchases etc). I seriously have to tighten those purse strings. And 2008 will be a year of high expenditures. Even considering working part time to earn extra cash.

Increase fitness level! Even up to now, my fitness level is still not up to par with what I had before I went for my Op. Need to bring it back up.

Focus on new job! Hope the new job will bring more opportunities and excitement. But then again, after 3.5 years.. it shouldn't be THAT hard to excite me.. hahahaha

Otherwise, I hope for a peaceful and safe 2008... to one and all!

Turn to page 263

2007-11-22T22:30:00.000+08:00

I wonder how many of you used to read those adventure quest books when you were younger? You know, the ones where at the end of each page, either they tell you to continue on to a particular page, or they actually give you a choice on which page you want to go:
Example... you meet a fire breathing dragon. What do you wish to do?
You decide to use the magical staff given to you earlier by the dwarf - turn to page 263 (only to be fried to crisp because the dragon feels threatened)
You decide to talk to it - turn to page 17 (you realize that the dragon can talk and it's voiced by Sean Connery! You proceed to have some english tea and scones with him)

Ok, the above examples are pretty lame, but you get my drift. I used to read some of those when I was younger. Come to think of it, I used to cheat a bit too. I would read ahead of both choices. If one option brought my early demise, I would just back track. Don't ask me how I managed to do it, but i vaguely remembered that it had something to do with using all my 10 fingers as bookmarks. I doubt I can pull such a stunt again considering how stiff my digits are these days.

Doesn't life remind you of such game books? Personally, I do believe that everyone has a certain destiny laid out for them. But your destiny can be changed and it is dependent on the choices that you make. And each choice, no matter how big or small, has a certain consequence, and that decides what kind of life you will ultimately be leading. Everyone knows the ending: everyone ends up dead. It's just a matter of how the ending is like: is it early but blissful? is it in the most unfortunate of situations? is it long and suffering? is it sudden but accomplished?

And seriously, sometimes the most minute of decisions do make a difference. What if you have chosen to wake up extra early today to go to work? By that small change, you took the earlier train and met the guy of your dreams? What if you decided to feel more positive about your job and did it with more gusto? Perhaps the customer you served will be so impressed, he will offer you a job in his company because of your good attitude. Won't you be motivated as well?

Playing Hellgate also reinforced another thing about life. Unlike other games that i played, Hellgate saves your game real time. Which means that, you cannot save your game before any major battle. And you can't reload. If you screw up, means you really screw up. That is life too isn't it? There's no save port, there is no reload. Everything is done real time. If you screw up, sometimes you really lose that chance. Or you seriously have to redo the whole quest. So you really lost that ultimate +100 damage elemental sword in battle... you can't get it back. And if you want to get it back, you really have to start all over again, if the opportunity is there. At times like these, you will be frustrated and you will regret and think: why didn't I make more effort to fight harder? Or why wasn't I more careful? And like I said, there is no reload in life.

So there, life is not about how soon you get there, but how you get there. It's the journey, not the ending that counts. See, who says games are a waste of time?

Pancakes n cupcakes

2007-11-05T00:11:00.000+08:00

Was reading Thursday's "Urban" supplement that came with the Straits Times. The issue was focusing on breasts and how females can make pancakes look like cupcakes. There was a section that explained further, showing pictures on how you are supposed to dress, depending whether you wanted to accentuate or play down your bosom. Looking at the pictures, there were 2 things that puzzled me:
1) What's the difference being heavy chested and having big breasts?? Heavy chested are people with big breasts no?

2) The same model was used to show how to make one's boobs bigger or smaller with different shirts styles.. Geez... I didn't know she had auto breasts....
C'mon... if you really want to show real styles, get real people!!!

Meow!

2007-10-24T23:08:00.001+08:00

This just puts a whole new perspective to the saying "Cat got your tongue"...... In this case, definitely... since the cat seems quite comfortable sleeping on it!

Irony of Porter bags

2007-10-21T15:02:00.000+08:00

I just realized something about Porter bags.

Before I move on with what I want to say, let me put this disclaimer first *ahem*:

1) I thank my friends for getting me the Black Porter bag. I love it as it's of the right size and I am lacking a black A4 size bag since my old brown one got..... how shall i put it.... decommissioned, and my red Porter bag got a bloody huge stain inside due to a leaking pen (i really hope the stain gets out...)

2) I have nothing against Porter bags. This is for the Porter aficionados who think I am bashing their beloved brand (you know who you are)

Ok, Porter bags are made with this supposedly indestructible, waterproof material called cordura. With each Porter bag comes this tag that shows a pic of cordura after 3000 cycles and nylon (I think) after 1000 cycles. Needless to say, cordura still looks brand new... while the nylon resembles something like torn jeans.

I hear people going... WOW....

here comes the irony... despite the waterproof capability of Porter bags, the bag is open... meaning that there are no zips at all. So.... when it rains... my contents will get wet because it is open and inside is not made of cordura.

Please refer to my disclaimers again.... I just found the whole concept quite amusing... Haha

Doppelganger!

2007-10-20T15:16:00.000+08:00

Doppelganger (dop-pel-gang-er):
Originates from German, with doppel meaning double and ganger meaning goer. And as i quote the definition from Webster dictionary:
1) a ghostly counterpart of a living person
2) double
3) alter ego
4) a person who has the same name as another

I'm not sure about definitions 2 - 4, but I certainly know about definition 1. I have heard stories of how these ghostly apparitions try to warn the living about certain impending dangers. They dress/look/sound exactly like the living counterpart, so much so that even close friends and relatives cannot tell the difference. In fact, I have a friend who saw his sister's doppelganger, right in his own home.

Ok, so what with doppelganger? Well, I saw my doppelganger today. Ok, I exaggerate. Nothing ghostly about this one, it's full flesh and blood.

I was having lunch with my parents at our regular prawn noodle store along East Coast Road. As I was tucking into my tasty prawn biscuit (hae bia... the ngor hiang type), I happened to look up and I saw this girl. As I munched nonchalantly with the words... she looks familiar running in my head, sudden realization hit... She looks like me! It's as if I was looking at my reflection in the mirror. My prawn biscuit nearly dropped out of my mouth.

I know many people will probably think that i am over sensitive, or perhaps its the angle or something. I sought a second opinion. I nudged my dad in the ribs. "Oei, pa, look at that girl over there, on the left, 11 o'clock in front". My Dad glanced up from his prawn noodles, scanned to the direction stated and he said: "Wah... look like you". So I'm pretty sure it's not just me being over sensitive.

With long straight hair with brown ends, she was tanned, same face shape as mine and wearing similar specs. On hindsight, I should've taken a pic. But i was already doing something quite rude: staring. I think i must've stared too hard, cos she looked right back at me. And interestingly, it wasn't an irritated "why u stare at me look", but more like she also realized that I look like her. For a brief second we just looked at each other... before both of us quickly broke our gaze to our food, slightly embarrassed and somewhat shocked.

Soon after, she got up and left. To which my dad commented: "she looks like a shorter bak bak (meaty) version of u". Well, she definitely was more feminine as she was wearing a denim skirt. I lamented to my dad that nonetheless, she still looked like me. To which my dad said... "but you have a common face what".

Basket......... should've shot him back with: I common face also have to blame you and ma lor!

Some guys are like....

2007-10-16T00:04:00.000+08:00

Some guys are like......
- Wine: not pleasant on the first taste, but after letting them breathe a bit, they are more palatable. AND they get better with age and you appreciate them better
- Tequila Pop: Fun, exciting and sweet. He can get you heady and high. But enjoy it while it lasts.. before it fizzles out
- Vodka (or any other hard liquor for that matter): Exciting and intoxicating. You forget your troubles and enjoy the moment. Only to wake up the next moment with a really bad hangover and realizing that its a BIG mistake
- Lemonsourz: Looks unappealing and boring. Not very approachable, especially with the name. But once you take a taste, you realize how refreshing they are and forgo their initial sourness.
- Beer: Initially fun to be around. But once they start warming up to you, you find them pretty flat
- Brandy: mature and unapproachable. However, those who venture there and make the time and effort to warm them up are usually rewarded with hidden fiery passion

Ok ok, this was derived from a casual conversation with a friend. So off the cuff I thought of guys plus alcohol. So what kind of alcohol do I liken my guy to be? Well.... I like a guy who is like Port. Sweet, mature and easy on the system (Ports are a digestive), but yet with a hint of fire in him. Hahahaha... or maybe like kahlua... for that perk me up, but yet can be mellowed down with milk.... Heck... just give me all the alcohol!Hahahaha!

Apply for Gahmen job!

2007-10-01T00:41:00.000+08:00

There is this perennial question which I can never understand. Why is it soooooooo difficult applying for government jobs? And when I mean difficult, I don't mean that the government job is damn atas or elusive that it's difficult to get in. I mean the process of actually applying for the job.

Most companies just ask for your resume and current and expected salaries. I think that's fair enough in order to select a candidate. But noooo.... that's not good enough for the government. You have to give your resume and attach or apply their electronic application form which takes like.. forever to complete. And what's the best part? Most of the information can be found on the resume... talk about efficiency... it's doing double work.

And when you are doing the application form, they ask you the most minute of details... I don't see why I have to disclose my dialect group. How is that even related to getting the job? Unless the post I am applying for has something to do with reviving the age old tradition of teochew opera...

And the amount of attention they pay to grades... it's appalling. I actually have to state my grades??? how does that help in the job? Unless I am applying for defense scientist for the defense minitry... sure... then math and science is important... but... marketing??? I didn't study that in Sec school... and frankly.. theory and real scenarios are very very different.

It has comes to a point that I decided that it is not worth it applying for a government or government affiliated job. In general, it gives me the impression that they really sweat about the small stuff, they are only looking for academically inclined ppl.And frankly... if they want to be that specific and detailed about a person's background, why dun they just screw the interviews and hire a person based on the application form?? After all, it is THAT detailed....

Unique Selling Preposition

2007-08-29T00:34:00.000+08:00

One of the first things you learn in Marketing 101 is Unique Selling Preposition, or USP. USP, in layman terms, means the unique feature that differentiates one product against another similar product. The assumption is that: if the product stands out better because of that uniqueness, then it helps consumers recall better, which increases brand recognition and hence improves sales etc. As an example, let's look at Hello Kitty as a case study. Why is it about this cat, that it is selling so well internationally as compared to say... Garfield, Felix, heathcliff (anyone remember heathcliff???) or even some chiong product called Hello Pussy? Is it the cuteness of the cat itself? The uniform pinky packaging? Heck, could it even be because that it lacks a mouth????

Ok, ok, enough of the marketing lessons. Of late, I have been scouting around for jobs and revamping my resume (trust me... 3 years untouched...... a lot of updating to do). It led me to think on what my USP was. What is it about me that is going to help me nail the job that I want? What is it that will help me stand out from my peers, as well as the newer graduates that flood the market? I pondered.... and i couldn't get an answer.

I thought... maybe it's my persistence (or damned doggedness). The drive to get things done, no matter what is thrown at me. No matter how late or how much trouble it takes. But then, i think about the Mainland Chinese who can easily outlast me for half my pay.

Perhaps, it's my attitude? That it's usually positive? And that got shot down too. Why? New graduates who enter the market are more positive and have that anything-also-can-do, go getter attitude (not jaded like me yet).

My organization skills? That's easily done; My multitasking? Anyone can do it if they put their minds to it and focus. To the extent that I got depressed and decided not to think anymore. Sigh... and to think that friends think highly of me to recommend me for jobs. Yikes.... Stressed out, cos the expectations are higher. And I hate to let my friends down. Can you imagine that they recommend you and then you turn out to be not up to expectations? Aiyayayayaya

Dreams

2007-08-11T12:08:00.000+08:00

I've been dreaming a lot lately. That means only one thing: I am damn shagged out... I only dream when I am damn tired. And my dreams have been extremely bizarre. For the past few days, here are my fuzzy recollections:
1) Dreamt that I was kissing a male friend. But somehow the kiss was wet and sloppy that I got so turned off that I woke up. Hahahahaha! Which makes me wonder... if u actually dream of someone of the opposite sex and you are in an intimate situation with them in the dream, does it indicate that you have feelings for that person, subconsciously? Hmm... Ponder ponder ponder

2) Terrorists bombing. People dying. Executions. For this dream, i was wondering if I was playing too much computer games

3) Dreamnt of Black Adder and her family. Somehow they all shared a super huge bedroom that kinda resembled those mattress sales department in Harvey Norman. Their beds were all Queen size and tempur type material too! But Black Adder's bed was the most interesting: Queen size; split in the middle; and inclined at 45 degrees with pillows facing each other. So, which mean that where Black Adder's head rests will have her bf's feet for company and vice versa. I was like... huh?? like that also can sleep meh?

Sigh... looks like I'm too tired recently. Just thought of a hilarious situation too:

Old friend A: Hey I haven't seen u in a long time! You look different
Me: Yeah, I went for an operation on my face.
A: Oh, yeah.. now it makes sense... dun tell me.. dun tell me...let me guess
(pregnant pause)
A: you went for a nose job!
Me: ......

Hmm..... apparently my nose has become sharper because of the op. It's now just a more obvious feature. last time it was the jaw. Oh well... Kame was saying that I look more eurasian now...

We are being Attacked!!!!!

2007-08-10T00:21:00.001+08:00

Heh heh.. ok, dramatization. Sorry for the panic.. no attacks. Just my very feeble attempt to take the National Day fireworks. Wanted to ask some friends if they would be interested to go down to the field near the newly opened exit to ECP near the IR (currently in construction). Had very much wanted to do it picnic style: Buy Spizza and drinks, layout the mats and just wait there. The view there would have been fantastic because it is directly opposite the stage. Unfortunately, the sky was a tad overcast, so as a prudent measure, I decided to stay home.
So I was waiting at my stair well since 7.30pm because I was not watching the parade on TV. And then at 8.10pm they were fired. From my place, I could see the higher flying fireworks but not the lower ones, which were blocked by the buildings. With a naked eye, one can see the fireworks clearly... unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out so well..... Oh well.... next year wait with SLR camera and tripod....

The A - Z Dictionary of swearing at a jerk

2007-08-09T16:44:00.000+08:00

Was inspired by my manager. We were waiting for a seat at an eatery during lunch. There was a table with 8 guys who obviously finished their lunch but just wouldn't budge. They kept chatting at the table when it was the peak hour lunch crowd. I mumbled under my breath: "Those assholes have finished and yet they still don't want to move! How inconsiderate!". My manager started laughing and said: " I look forward to you actually swearing Kan ni nah! See? You started with A already". So that got me started with the below topic. Hahaha! Somehow my colleagues at work think of me as a nice person with loads of patience, who only swears when I am really pissed...
And becos there maybe little kids surfing the net, I do not want to be responsible for them learning swear words. So... for those who are in the know, you will know how to see the swear words :)

Asshole/Arsehole
Bastard/ Ball-less ________ (fill in any noun of choice)
Cheesebun/Cheetoad (censored versions already)
D!ckhead
Egoistic Pig
Fu*ker
Gold digger
Hum sup/'Ho lover
Idiot/Imbecile
Jerk/ Jackass
Kan ni nah
Lan J!ao
Motherfu*ker/ MCP
Nah nia/ Nah be
Obnoxious Pig
Piss off/ Pervert/ Pok Kai
Q
Rat
Screw you! Sucker/ Shithead/ Son of a motherless goat
Ta ma de
U
Vasectomized wuss
Wanker
XXX-flick pig
You... good....
Za1 (Chinese for rubbish: ren2 za1)

Had some problems with Q, U and Z... do feel free to suggest :D

Yummy dinner!

2007-08-09T00:15:00.000+08:00

Had a free dinner at Equinox today..... Yummy! Was blessed with a clear night too, which had an excellent view of City Hall area. Ambience was good, company was great. Since I am not fully recovered, I had to settle for the Miso cod with Sake. Delicious! Though... I would have gone for the steak instead. Dessert was a tad disappointing. Called Cold, Warm, and Hot Cappucino, the 1st two tiers were ok: the 1st tier was crushed ice with coffee; 2nd tier whipped cream with choco chips. But the 3rd tier was disappointing! Hot, sour chocolate... Bleh.........

Fiber Optic Cables for Sale!

2007-08-05T23:32:00.000+08:00

Anyone wants to buy fiber optic cables? Yeah, I have a whole bunch of them... do take a look...
Hahaha.. actually, that's my white hair. Sigh.. shocking. In all, I think there are more than 50 strands? I only asked Kame to help me remove a few visible strands... but upon closer inspection from her.. she saw many many more. And like eating pringles, once she starts, she can't stop. And mind you this was only from my right side. She didn't even begin on the left side of my head yet! Aiyayayaya.... goodness..... getting old.

I am Bear! Hear me Roar! RAWR!

2007-07-25T21:53:00.000+08:00

For some strange reason... I realised that, fate has been playing a mini game with me. Ok, that sounded harsh, but more of like, my life has had a few strange coincidences.

I was looking up the meaning of my name. It means "peace friend". And coincidently, it's a libran name. That was a bit freaky. I mean, I'm pretty sure my parents did not choose the name because I was born a Libran. They were more focused on getting a name that began with my father's initials, being a family tradition thingy.

And coincidentally, Disney decided to name one of their characters after the same name as well, more specifically a bear. On a side note, I dunno what those sick Disney execs had in mind when they created the character. A male bear with a clearly female name. I find it even more disturbing that they are showing it to kids. Add to that the fact that the bear does not wear pants, only a red shirt... Indecent exposure man! But what really cuts it? The bear is accepted by the masses!!!! Gosh..... What is the world coming to???

Ok, so I digress. So, all my life, I have been associated with that darn bear and many people have been calling me a bear. But more interestingly, I realised that I am a bear! Ok, that didn't come out very right... more like, I have more similarities to bears than i thought... Bears have good sense of smell and hearing (these are my 2 more acute senses). Bears are gentle creatures unless provoked. Bears are solitary creatures. Bears like to hibernate (given a choice, I just like to sleep under the sheets all day). Mother bears are fierce protectors of their young.

Hahaha.. the thought just suddenly struck me today. Why? Because the bear was woken up from hibernation to do work... RAWR!!!!!! Can't they just leave the poor bear alone?

Jaw Breaker Series - Aftermath

2007-07-19T13:16:00.001+08:00

Ok, so it has been a week since my Op... what has been happening so far?

1) I am a drug lord. Yup, 3 times a day I have to pound my meds in a mortar and pestle.. before mixing it with a bit of milo and downing it. I pound 1 tablet, then open 2 capsules to further grind them. I'm literally cooking, in all sense of the word! hahaha. The initial part was quite bad.. I couldn't take the bitterness. I also had half the mind to snort them up my nose.... (no kidding). But the milo helps.. and after taking it so many times, I kinda got used to the taste... However, there' s still a whole lot more meds left.. *sob*

2) I have been hallucinating. More specifically.. food. Being on a liquid diet, I get hungry every 2 hours. So... u can imagine the unsatiable hunger I keep having.. and frankly, it can never get satisfied. And for someone who hardly dreams, I have been dreaming about food. Just last night, I was dreaming about the delicious Nasi Padang near my workplace... The bergadil, the assam, sayur lodeh, tahu telor, beef rendang, the sambal brinjal... wah lau....... *droool*... oh, and my thoughts keep switching to food once every few minutes... need to be strong and keep clear mind... OHM...... meditate.....
*Note to self, do not play Cooking Mama after a jaw Op...

3) Liquid diet. I can only take clear liquids. I thought I would be able to drink cream soups, which would make me fuller, but I was wrong. The good people at Campbells add quite a bit of ingredients to their soups. I mean, for example, Cream of Chicken. The normal person won't think that it has anything inside, but trust me, there are a lot of small strands of chicken there. This has caused quite a few problems for me. The splint in my mouth is Z shaped. So imagine that my teeth are biting down on this. Then, my teeth are bound with rubber bands... And with that, we have a filter. It's no different to very fine wire mesh before a drain pipe. So imagine this... if u keep pouring soup down, it's bound to get clogged somewhat, due to the chicken strands. It's like, every 3 spoons, I have to rinse with 1 mouth of water. And after every 3 rinses, I have to go to the toilet to get rid of the stuff stuck in the bands. So I end up not drinking a lot of soup at all... darn... so yeah... now lunch and dinner are mostly clear soups. If not, it's just soya bean milk or chocomalt. This does nothing to quell my hunger.

4) Back, Neck and Headaches. Been suffering from this for the last 1 week. I guess largely due to swelling and maybe water retention too? Doesn't help that I can't sleep on my pillow... It seems to add strain to my jaw, resulting to some aching.

5) Pain. Yawning. Yeah... the mouth is still used to doing certain things. So when yawning, it does a reflex snap action. It does nothing to the jaw. But it does something to my teeth. My teeth are currently bound... so it's like someone ripping my teeth out... SHIT.....

Daylight robbery - 15 July

2007-07-17T18:43:00.000+08:00

Went to my clinic downstairs today to get the dressing on my cheeks changed. Well, for one thing, I didn't expect it to be so crowded. I had purposely waited till about 30mins before closing time, thinking there would be lesser people. Looks like a lot of people want to "keng" MC. So once again, as I went in, people stared... sigh...

And thinking that it would be a quick visit, I didn't drink anything... and I was starting to get hungry... by the time I saw the doc, 40 mins had passed... *growl*

My doc was surprised to see me in this state. But whilst waiting, I had written him a short note explaining my condition. He was thoroughly amused. He went about changing the dressing on my cheeks. He said that the wound was closing ok. Thank goodness. And also commented that i was his first non-speaking patient... right... thanks doc.... And when I paid the bill I was like... WAT??? S$28 bucks just to change dressing... Daylight robbery!!! I nearly choked. But then again, I can't speak.. so I can't dispute.. sigh

Oh yeah, was also reading the papers with regards to the recent expose of fake pork buns in China, where instead of pork, they use cardboard soaked in chemicals and then mixed with fatty meat to pass of as the real thing. I mean... c'mon.... if the world were coming to an end, and there is not enough meat.. fair enough.. but cardboard?? Eeewww.... looks like the next time i do eat the hakka delicacy mui chai (preserved mustard vege), I really have to take an extra good look. It does look like cardboard soaked in chemicals from a certain angle.... Ok.. stop hallucinating about food!!! ARGH!

Jaw Breaker Series - Day 3, 13 July

2007-07-17T18:41:00.000+08:00

Couldn't sleep a wink last night due to 2 reasons:
1) Dementia auntie on my right kept howling through the night, complaining that she didn't have dinner (she did.. just that she can't remember)
2) Suffering from very bad back and neckache. Not sure if it is due to the pillow? Or the 30 degree incline of my bed, or the swelling in general?

Either way, I knew i wasn't going to be sleeping much anyway, so I decided to just remain awake. So I did a brief test of my joints and my head. Feeling that I should be alright, i decided to head to the toilet on my own for a shower. It proved to be extremely refreshing... And it was also the first time I took a look at myself in the mirror and went.. SHIT! I look like an extra for the movie Shallow Hal! My whole lower chin and neck was swollen. it was someone piled a fat suit on me... Jeez...

Well, breakfast was waiting for me when i returned. It was a clear soup (vegetable, i think) and some milo. I think I have never been happier being given something to eat (ok, in this instance, drink). It has been 3 days since i had anything... and my appetite was ravenous. And like oliver twist, I requested for more soup after I finished the first bowl. And this time they gave me Cream of Mushroom! Wow.. pure bliss....... I slurped all that up to the last drop and drank the pink guava juice that came with it as well.

My doctor came by again shortly after to look at my progress. She said I was doing well and she will discharge me around noon time. Before she proceeded to do my discharge procedures, she explained to me how I was supposed to brush my teeth. With a baby toothbrush (yes.. baby toothbrush), from the top of my jaw to the bottom, I have to split it in 4 sections. 1 - upper gums; 2 - upper teeth; 3 - lower teeth; 4 - lower gums. I have to brush in circular motions for about 20 reps each section, before moving on to the left or right. Followed by rinse with mouthwash. And this was supposed to be after every meal....

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. One of the nurses removed the IV drip plug from my arm. Once again, it didn't hurt, but I was just surprised that it was actually so long... yeah.. at least 2 inches. She asked me if i wanted to keep the plug as a souvenir.. I declined... Lunch came by.. and it was clear soup again. I requested for cream soup from one of the nurses. Sadly... the cream soup never arrived. Then the pharmacist came by with my medications. 2 weeks worth. My gosh.. the amount of antibiotics she gave me... i nearly fainted. It came in one whole bundle.. and there were 2 different kinds of antibiotics. She also prescribed painkillers for me, but i felt that they were unnecessary... there was no real pain, just a dull aching pain which was manageable.

Then the bill arrived. Interestingly, I didn't have to pay a single cent. All covered by Medisave, except for the implants, which I may be able to pay via insurance (pending). So with that, I was discharged and I went home...
I crashed once I reached home. Partly because I was still weak. And partly due to the taxi ride. After being stationary for a few days.. being in a moving vehicle made me quite dizzy... and I slept till the evening.

Jaw Breaker Series - Day 2, 12 July

2007-07-16T19:31:00.000+08:00

I woke up in the hospital, feeling somewhat disillusioned. I didn't even take note of the time. Needless to say, the rest of the day was spent trying to piece together what had happened the day before, the where, who, what, how etc. I didn't even know which ward i was in. It took a nurse to tell me that. OK 4D punters, it was Ward 10, bed 15. Go buy 1015. I was in a B2 class, 6 bedded all female ward, with no air conditioning. They only had overhead fans on each bed..which kinda reminded me of my room. But I was thankful for the fans, they provided a lot of respite from the heat outside. I was the youngest in my ward, the rest were elderly old ladies.

The nurses came and asked me if I wanted to take a shower. Hell yeah! My hair was stained with blood due to the puking last night. And my face was extremely oily. Unfortunately, I was still too weak to walk. So they wheeled me to the toilet for my shower. Felt better after a change of clothes. Despite being in the toilet, I never got to see my face initially. Sitting on the wheelchair, I can only see from my nose up. I can't see my lower jaw.

I decided to read for a bit. Couldn't do much else. Also got a visit from my surgeon and her team. They came to check on me. They said that the operation was smooth and everything went well. I asked about last night's puking. They said it was normal becos I ingested blood. One of them said that they will return at lunchtime to remove the lanterns from me.

Yeah, the lanterns. How shall I best describe them? Imagine me to be a turkey. Turkeys have 2 things hanging from their cheeks. I'm no different. The only thing is, these 2 lanterns collect my blood. During the surgery, the docs punctured my cheeks and inserted the lanterns to collect the blood since my face will be swelled up and I will have difficulty swallowing blood all the time. It works by suction. It was unnerving, I can tell. I remember one of the nurses unscrewing the left lantern the night before and squeezing the blood out and screwing it back again. And even during my morning shower, on the way to the toilet, I know a lot of people were staring at me... bloody hell....

So the rest of the day, I just read and slept. Nurses came by to change my drip. Some came by to poke in more needles in my plug to inject the antibiotics in. I still didn't have any food to eat... managed to drink some water with the help of a special shaped syringe. It's head is replaced with rubber hosing, so it's easier to slip in the mouth. My mouth remained parched for the rest of the day and I knew my lips were all cracked up. The corners of the lips were particularly painful. Abrasion, i was told, by the surgeon. Becos they had to stretch the lips. I didn't want to know more...

By the time the doc came by to remove the lanterns, it was about 5pm. But that was another exciting procedure. She first had to remove the water proof dressing on my face. Then she used this special hook to hook up a bit of the lantern. But the point where she said " ok, take a deep breath" I was seriously expecting some pain. But thankfully, she was fast and nimble and removed the lanterns without any pain at all. When I did take a good look at the lanterns, I was surprised that they actually stretched quite a distance inside me.... wow... TMI. She dressed up my cheeks. Hmm.. looks like I can boast of cheek piercings... The doc also advised that I start doing 3 things: 1) start drinking lots of water, at least a cup and hour. This helps to reduce the phelgm
2) start doing some walking on my own, especially to the toilet
3) start trying to take some food.

Jaw Breaker Series - Day 1, 11 July

2007-07-16T18:27:00.000+08:00

And so it finally arrives. The Op day. And I do mean THE OP DAY. The one day that has been delayed for almost a year due to various reasons (change of surgeon, refusal of one of my teeth to move and of course, work). I already fixed my op day a month in advance. But along the way, there have been various obstacles that could've prevented me from doing it. But strangely, my Regional and Deputy Director both gave their blessings despite the corporate turmoil in the office. To which i readily accepted (after all, it has been delayed for 1 year!). in fact, my deputy director even said that there is no better time to do it than now.

I checked into the hospital at 11.30am for my surgery. The surgery was at 12.30pm but they needed sometime to settle me in, do a final checkup, bag up my belongings etc. I was told to report to the Day ward, Ward 1. Once there, they lead me to my temporary bed. I only brought a haversack with me and it contained only a change of clothes, toiletries, books and mags and my phone charger. That was it. The nurse did a blood pressure and temperature check on me, made sure that all my documents were signed, bagged my belongings before ushering me to get changed. I was handed one of those green operating gowns (yeah the kind with ur butt somewhat exposed) and thankfully a pink kimono to wrap up my modesty. With that, she marched me up to the operating room together with another patient (other patient was here for wisdom tooth extraction).

Reality still hadn't struck me by then, about the magnitude of the whole thing. Once again, they asked me questions on what kind of op I has going to have, my name, IC blah blah. As if to make sure that I knew what I was bargaining for. And as they led me to the operating theatre, reality just had to strike right there. I'm not sure if it's becos the operating theatre was cold or I was getting cold feet. As I got onto the table (yeah, like some meat), I just hoped that everything went well. The surgeon hadn't arrived, but they started prepping me up for the op. They started poking me in my wrist to insert the plug for the IV drip. That hurt. "Oh you have such small veins".. find a bigger one.. I wanted to say. Then, another lady stepped in (she seemed to have more authority) and she started reprimanding people for doing things wrongly! OH MY GOD. I really wanted to just escape from the table... That was when 2nd thoughts started setting in. Unfortunately that was when the gas mask came over my face as well. They asked me to breathe and soon I was zonked out.

Details about the rest of the ordeal were fuzzy. I do remember being held in a temporary ward. And I do remember, despite my zonked out state they kept asking me how much pain i felt. I mumbled something like 5 (I dunno how i actually remembered the pain scale, 1 being no pain, 10 being unbearable) and then dozed off again. I remember being shifted from the temporary place to my ward. And then i just continued to fleet in and out of my comatose state. By the time I came to, it was about 8.30pm. But even then, I wasn't in full mental capacity. I remember kicking off the blankets becos it was warm. The nurses came to change me in pyjamas. And surprisingly I wasn't hungry despite having had nothing to eat for the past 48 hours. But by then they had hooked me up to the IV drip. And nurses came and went, injecting me with stuff in my plug. That hurt. Especially when the liquid went in and expanded in my so called itsy bitsy veins... OUCH. Another nurse also came by measuring my blood pressure and temperature. She also wanted to collect a urine sample from me. But for all of heaven's will, there was no pee in me. How can u get pee from someone who hasn't had water in 48 hours??? I just mumbled something and she left. She must've thought I was one obnoxious prick.

But the fun started only after midnight. I woke up and started puking blood. I was horrified. I thought I was gonna die. I called for the nurse. One came, obviously from China. She just took a look at me, left, returned with a plastic pan and asked me to hold it to my mouth and left. I was like... huh? I'm vomiting blood here... Heeeelllloooo?? And the idiot didn't even bother to change the blanket nor leave any tissues for me to wipe my mouth. I had to call for another nurse. Just when i thought that ordeal was over, a new one started. There was some blood and phlegm stuck in my mouth and there was no way I was going to get rid of it with my mouth clamped up with a plastic splint in between. I nearly choked while sleeping. I called for another nurse. This time, an indian nurse came and she was nicer. She really did all she can to make me more comfortable:warm water to help swallow the phlegm; she even helped me suck out whatever residue there was in my mouth. But despite her efforts, the phlegm remained lodged there. I had no choice but to sleep inclined at 45 degrees on the bed to avoid choking. SHIT... great start

JUMPy

2007-07-01T23:51:00.000+08:00

Went to watch JUMP today, the Korean martial arts comedy that was being shown at the Esplanade. I felt that it was good. Dad felt that it was ok, but something he would not pay money to watch. Half of me wanted to just ask him to do a somersault in front of me.

The premise of the whole show is this Korean (~duh) family. Each family member is trained in some form of martial art (National Championship level, no less). Grandfather is the head patriarch (according to the free programme booklet, he is a master in Tae Kwon Do, Tae Kyun, Karate and Hapkido); Father is trained in Wushu or something (judging by his clothes); Mother is trained in Tae Kwon Do, cos she's in a gi; Uncle is trained in drunken fist, he's perpetually drunk with a bottle in his hand (he seems like a cross between Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee becos of his dressing); and daughter who seems to be trained in Wu shu as well. And there is the potential suitor for daughter, who.... has a Dr Jerkyll Mr Hyde personality. It starts off with them, showcasing their skills. It ends off with them beating up 2 burglars, which... further showcases their skills.

Ok, so it's hard to describe the whole show, but the whole thing is in the action sequences. JUMP had extremely little dialog and even when dialog was needed, it was a smattering of Korean, and limited English. Everything was in the action, which of course was exaggerated. But nonetheless, it was a laugh-a-minute fest for me, with their slapstick humour. I prefer this over Stephen Chow anytime. And the stunts! Gosh! I know how freaking hard it is to do a bloody cart wheel and these guys were running, jumping, somersaulting effortlessly! It's physically demanding to do a somersault and cart wheel, needless to say, a back flip. And these guys can do 5 in succession. *Must train harder....*

While at the esplanade, I also saw this exhibit which was very interesting. It was a series of drawings done on canvas. And all of them were drawn with only 1 single line: no breaking, no overlapping. It's amazing. The one I was most impressed with was the human brain. It is difficult enough to draw the human brain, let alone in a single, unbroken line. And the tapestries are long... I wonder how long it took to get it done.... should learn this skill... it will come useful when playing PICTIONARY! :D

Little Tykes' Day Out!

2007-06-27T20:18:00.000+08:00

Was dragging myself to work when something caught my eye. Or rather... a sea of orange caught my eye. Straining my eyes a bit more (hey.. it's the morning... I'm usually not fully awake.. god knows how I manage to reach the office with my eyes half shut...), that sea of orange became little people. Ok, ok, it was this group of kindergarten students out on an excursion.

My office area has played host to quite a few school excursions already. Usually consisting of secondary or primary school students, and sometimes the odd bunch of NS men, they usually go around the UOB Plaza area to admire the two main statues there. But this bunch of little tykes caught my eye. They were so excited.. but yet obedient at the same time: they were in twos, either holding their friend's hand, or a teacher's. Most of them had that look of awe in their eyes (like they have never been to raffles place before). Perhaps they were awe struck by the sheer height of the skyscrapers? And looking at them climbing up the stairs, I could imagine that in their little minds, they thought they were climbing a mountain.

Ah, the life! I never had an excursion during my kindergarten days. The only times when I ventured out of the classrooms, was to the McDonalds downstairs, to celebrate some rich kid's birthday (yeah, their parents held parties at Macs... I was pretty envious about it then). That hardly constituted as an excursion. But still, the thought of having burgers, iced cake and balloons made me very happy and excited (I was 5, easily satiated. Now at 25.. it takes a lot more.. ;p)

Can't remember much about my kindergarten days. I know I learnt my first words of Chinese there. I learnt to play the organ. I remember nap times. I also remember having different kinds of food as snacks on different days (Wednesdays was porridge and I loved it! Other days had red bean soup etc.. bleh). There were art and craft lessons... and I remember our class making a caterpillar out of toilet roll cardboard. stringing it together and painting it. And i remembered being bullied.

Yeah.. bullied. By a bunch of females. There were 3 of them and they were all pint sized. I remember one of them being called Michelle, but she wasn't the ring leader (some how, this has led me to psychologically not like other Michelles whom have come into my life). So how was I bullied? Well, everyday, once we reach the kindergarten, we were required to sit in the assembly area in rows, according to our classes. For some reason, I was always the first to reach, so I sat in front. Then, these 3 girls would come, shove me aside and take my place. On other occasions, they would take whatever they can find on me and destroy it. I remember one particular incident where I brought some pieces of drawing block to school. The drawing block sheets were given to me by my aunt the day before and she rolled them up with a rubber band. These three girls took it and tore it all up. They then threw the rubber band to the class next door (ironically where black adder was as well.. same kindergarten). They were mean, no doubt, but I remembered not crying at all. Tears were in my eyes, but they never fell. And when teachers asked if there was anything wrong, I just said everything was fine.

Looking back now, I wonder why I never retaliated, smack them back or something. But I just took it. And technically, I am still being bullied, but in a different context: Work. There are people who are backstabbing me when I haven't done anything to them. Sigh.... try to lie low, arrows still fly... basket...

Sucky Day

2007-06-23T00:45:00.000+08:00

Today was an extremely sucky day.. Not only did i screw up something at work (which I am still desperately trying to cover up.. so gonna get it on Monday)... my good colleague and counterpart in HK told me she resigned.

I was stunned. I mean, I knew that things in HK were not that rosy in recent months, but... i didn't know it was this bad. There have been new recruits, and unfortunately, things have not been the same before. These new staff are of higher post than her, and being new, they all just want to shine. So they propose something and she does the dirty work. This has made her life much more miserable, and i guess she couldn't take it anymore and decided to resign. cos she resigned without a job in hand...

That also means bad news for me. Because while they are trying to find a suitable candidate to replace her, I will be the one doing the work. And very likely I have to help out the new candidate too. Shit.. as if things are not busy enough for me right now after the launch of the new product. As it is, I'm busy to the extent that I cannot breathe... And I so want to just take a day off to relax.. nuah... do nothing....

Next week would mark my 3 years working for the company. Even till this day, it baffles me on how i managed to survive in the company so long. What i initially thought would be a 3 month stint has stretched to 3 years.... And I have literally seen the HK team change totally (well almost totally). In the past 3 years, I have seen... 7 people come and go.. the longest being 2 years and the shortest being 2 months in the company... wow... talk about being senior!

A check with my peers also show that 3 years in the same company is like a shooting star.. few and far in between. Some of them are already in their 5th job, while most of them have already changed 2 to 3 jobs, on average...

It's really time to leave. But unfortunately I am being tied down by personal committments.... I love my working environment (where else can u shower in the office after a gym session, have friends come over to sing song talk cock with u in the meeting room?) and the people i work with generally, but its just the job and the stress that comes with it. How to cope? How to cope?

1 Fren.... 2 frens... 3 frens.....

2007-06-13T23:52:00.000+08:00

The recent Sunday Times ran a report on these 2 sisters, who between them, had 30,000 friends. Astounding, I know. I was wondering how they actually keep in touch with these people. But apparently, they don't. They are just collecting friends.

That's the lame part. Collecting friends? Since when did friends become toys? As it is, my friendster account has something like 120+ friends. But just how many of them do i keep in touch with? Frankly not a lot. Many are those that I have lost touch with over the years. What's more, as you get older, you really have to make extra effort to keep in touch with your friends. Responsibilities come in, other priorities take centre stage and it is easy for friends to fade away. It gets even harder when one gets attached. the good old days of girls/ guys night out is even more difficult when you have a partner in tow.

I have 3 tiers of friends:
Tier One: those that I am really close to and will do anything for them, even lay down my life
Tier Two: the people that I occasionally keep in touch with
Tier Three: the hi-bye friends. Those that I see in school, acquaintances etc
I do try my best to meet up with them. Those that i am close with, i do organize stuff to do together. Those that I am not so close with, I make extra effort to meet up with them when they organize something.

Lessons learnt while waiting for the doc

2007-05-04T16:57:00.000+08:00

I am down with gastric flu. All thanks to DC. Sigh. He owes me big time.....

As I stared blankly at the glass doors of the clinic, awaiting my name to be called, along came this little indian girl. Small, plump and cute with bright, curious eyes, she peered through the glass doors from the outside. I think she must have seen a bunch of pathetic, glum, moody people, for on her face, hung a very quizzical look. Then in an instant, she flashed a very beautiful smile and started saying "Bye bye!", waving her petite hand as she did so.

That brought a smile to my face and I waved back. I mean, it's hard not to reciprocate. It's just a smile and its free, however, not a lot of people are doing that lately. I was also at Ikea recently where i witnessed this Ikea staff helping out this young couple. The Ikea staff took the initiative to help out the couple tape up their purchase, a long box. Prior to that, the young couple were struggling to tape it up when the Ikea staff stepped in to help out. And guess what? The young couple didn't even give a word of thanks! As the Ikea staff was taping up the box, the young couple was just standing there. They even had the cheek to say: " i think that area needs more tape". No smiles, no show of gratitude. I mean, i know it's the staff's job, but nonetheless, can't you show ur appreciation? It helps make the staff's day a bit better too!

Back at the clinic, there were other patients. Mostly children. Some looked as if they were seriously going to die... moody and all. Others looked as if there was nothing wrong with them. But it was this young korean boy who caught my attention. He looked to be about 1+? And he was curious! His antics were pretty funny too. The glass door of the clinic had a keyhole at the bottom, he saw it and started poking his fingers in and started turning, as if he had the key! Another older boy found the hook that pulls down the metal shutters outside of the clinic and started playing with it. The korean boy just looked on in awe. When the older boy was reprimanded by his dad and placed the hook back in the umbrella stand, it was the korean boy's turn to take it and he started waving it around. Judging by the way he swings it, I'm pretty sure his dad plays golf. My my, kids are extremely impressionable and will learn via actions....

The korean housewife steps in and prevents the boy from playing with the hook further. Korean kid screams his lungs out.... Shows that children are no different despite different upbringings and cultures, they still scream for attention and scream whenever they do not get things their way....

And then it was time for me to step into the doctor's room...

Dying in the throes of passion......

2007-04-29T22:23:00.000+08:00

Dad screamed at me to throw away the fruits that were in the fridge. He had cut them for me about 2 nights ago, but i was too tired to eat them. What a waste... As i took the plate out, 2 things caught my eye. Fruit flies! Even more interestingly, was their very.. *ahem* compromising positions as they breathed their last...

Upon closer inspection, I was pretty sure that they were in the mating position. But i just cannot phanthom how they died in such a position? So coincidental meh? "Honey.... just one more......" *deadlines*... Ha ha ha ha.. while i amused with myself with even more comical scenarios, i showed my Dad the plate of fruits... he had a good laugh... then he said " now throw it away!" Parents just have no sense of humour....

I just dun understand

2007-04-29T15:57:00.000+08:00

Hmmm..... was having my breakfast and reading the papers when i happened to see a picture. The picture showed a guy, with a pair of scissors, trying to cut another person's hair. Now, this would have looked pretty normal, except for the fact that these 2 people were sky diving.... yes... sky diving. Apparently this guy was trying to set a Guiness world record by cutting hair, 4250 ft in the air...

Ok, besides snickering at the possible scenario that he might cut the strings of the parachute accidently, i just found the whole concept of it quite stupid really. If you have a natural ability to do something that other people can't, then yes, you are worth mentioning in the Guiness Book of World Records (GBWR). Like, if you are able to stick metal spoons on ur body, or u can protrude ur eye balls etc etc. That is seriously amazing. Or, if you are pushing the limits that no man has done before. Like, riding ur bike over 10 cars, or you travelled from Australia to the USA on foot without stopping, that still perks my interest. But this??? To set the record of cutting hair from 4250ft?? If the guy can gimme a Japo hair do from the moment i jump off the plane, till when i touch down, then yes, I would be impressed. But from what the picture showed, he was just snipping of hair that was already tied in a ponytail! What skill does that require?? Oh, i have to be extra steady with my hand because of the altitude blah blah blah??

Sigh.. that's just lame... the distance some people go just for fame.......

How far would you go to eat?

2007-04-25T23:42:00.000+08:00

I still remember the day that I confessed to a fren that I ate rabbit meat. The shrill screaming still resounds in my head: " WHAT???? How can you do that, it's so inhumane! No wonder my rabbit bit u the last time u went to my house". I ate rabbit meat when I was in France. That was 2 years before my fren owned a rabbit. And during that period of time she was totally unamoured by the French people (which i think she still is till this day).

Recently, this fren sent me a link entitled "the massacre of dolphins". Basically it highlights the cruel practice going on in certain villages in Japan, where they kill dolphins and pass it off as whale meat. The flick showed how the dolphins are disoriented from the sonar sounds made by the fishing boats, after which they are encircled in a perimeter of nets and trapped. As they trash about, the fishermen spear certain dolphins. They do that because they know that dolphins do not leave the wounded, causing the dolphins to stay and reducing their chances of escape. Mother and calves are seperated, causing more distress and making it even more difficult for them to have the desire to escape. The dolphins that have been hauled up are then taken to the wharves on the back of trucks (without water) or dragged on the roads. And at the wharves their throats are slit with machetes where they die a slow, painful death.

So... after watching the flick, will i eat dolphin meat? My answer: YES

I can already hear my fren screaming at me again. But my point is this: my life is short and I would like to try new stuff. So, at least in this lifetime, I would like to try dolphin meat at least once. Just once. I have no intention of making it a staple on my diet. But does that desire to just try dolphin meat once make me a murderer? That I have a hand in the deaths of the dolphins? That, it's because of people like me that they die in such an inhumane way? After all, if every single person on earth just wanted to try dolphin meat just once, it accumulates into a lot of dolphins being killed just to supply the demand.

Sure, it makes me guilty, but have you looked at it at a different view point?
1) Do people bat and eyelid when chicken is served on the table? Or pork? Or beef? No.. cos these are accepted meats in Singaporean society. But the way that these animals are killed, are they any different from how the dolphins are killed? Chickens throats are also slit and they are hung to die while their blood drips down. Its still the same slow painful death. But do we bother? No......

2) Chicken, beef, lamb etc are accepted meats in many countries. But rabbit is an accepted meat in France; Dogs are a delicacy in China; people eat cat meat to celebrate special occasions in Tibet; there's kangaroo jerky in australia; and dolphin meat is coveted in Japan. So.. just because the meat is not served in SG, doesn't make it a inhumane way of eating. I'm pretty sure that if u go to the above mentioned places, people don't bat and eyelid when they eat the various animals. It's a culture thing. Hey, I'm also pretty sure that people in other countries find it revolting that turtle soup is served in SG. But do we care? No... we go "hey, the turtle soup at geylang lorong XX damn shiok"...

3) People in thailand eat bugs... but do we stop them? No..... cos bugs are not considered meat. But these bugs are also cooked ALIVE in spitting hot oil....isn't that considered inhumane too? But yet, I don't see any documentary being made on such inhumane practices.

So my point is this... before u think i am a murderer of sorts, look at yourself first. You think it's inhumane? Then why are u urself craving for bacon, ham and cheese, various other meats etc? The pig died a slow painful death too you know? And how about the examples I raised above?

I guess I don't like being judged. You want to judge me, you can do so when you are a pure vegan who eats organic food. But then again, i can always dispute that plants have a life to.. wow, it's going to be a never ending cycle... and in the end, we will all be eating air. Ohm..........

But I have been toying with the idea of going vegan. A fren of mine went vegan becos she felt that the animals these days are living in such inhumane conditions; being given various boosters so that they can grow bigger at a faster rate; just to meet the increasing demand of a manically growing global population where natural means are just not possible. I felt that it's seriously a good cause. But Black Adder was telling me: but plants are also being boosted and they are living things too. So i decided to go vegan when I have enough money to purchase ONLY organic vegetables. You know just how freaking expensive it is right??? But till that day comes, I will still try various meats.

And for the record, rabbit meat is by far, the most delicious, tender meat I have ever tasted! heh heh heh

*Disclaimer: I did not write this becos I was provoked. More like it got me thinking of certain issues. I am not singling out any fren whatsoever. In fact, another fren shot me daggers from her eyes when I said I would eat dog meat. Maybe she thought i was going to skewer her dog for a BBQ? As I said, i do not intend to make such exotic meats a staple on my diet!

I want my own bachelorette pad!

2007-04-25T00:00:00.000+08:00

I have been toying with the idea of getting my own bachelorette pad for the longest time. My motivations? Well, not having to put up with a nagging mum who keeps complaining and couldn't understand why ur clothes are not dry despite hanging for the past few days because its been raining non-stop and insists that you take them down so that she can do your fathers' laundry; also, not having to do swap deals with your bro on which days you can wash your laundry.

Ok, so it may seem that my motivations so far have been very " laundry" based. However, I'm pretty sure that if i do get my own pad, I can survive pretty well. What's going to be so different? So far, i do my own laundry, i clean my own room, i eat meals out or if need be i try to poison myself with various self experimental concoctions. The only problem is of course... paying for it... that I know very well i cannot handle at this point in time.

Recently went to a fren's house warming. He bought this 3 bedroom condo at Hougang for S$350k. And he is my age dammit!!!! made me regret my choice of degree in uni. I digress. The condo definitely has security: you have to enter your key in order to operate the lift. If you're a guest, you have to press the unit number, where the phone will ring in the house u r going to. The host must answer and press the button before the lift door opens. There are individual lots right under the houses. You park, it's sheltered and u just get in the lift. It also has other amenities like the swimming pool etc.

But there are downsides too. The place is damn ulu... chinese say: niao3 bu4 cheng1 dan4 de4 di4 fang1. Nearest NEL is hougang which is 1km away. The place is small. I was generally ok with the kitchen, living room, dining area etc. But it was the rooms that i felt was too small. The Master bedroom was about my current room size with an attached toilet. The other 2 rooms were pathetically small.... There is an in-built wardrobe in each room. Put in
a bed and that's about it. No space to put computer table whatsoever... goodness.

But i guess if i did own the place, I would knock down the walls between the 2 small rooms, so that it is a bigger room. It's not too bad a place for 2 room mates to live in. Just a thought to think about for a while... and how the hell to get S$350k....

Going Botak over Botak jones

2007-04-22T14:03:00.000+08:00

Wow.... didn't realize that it has been 2 months since I last wrote anything. Life hasn't been that busy, but just didn't have the urge to write becos i didn't have the mood. Until my frens were like, bugging me to write something! Ha ha.. ok ok... I'm writing I'm writing!!!

The Sat was spent trying out a new eatery. Perhaps some of you may have tried it before: it's called Botak Jones. They have 4 outlets in SG: Tuas, Clementi, Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh. We tried the Toa Payoh one since it was the most accessible of the 4, easier for some of us non-driving folks to get there.

They weren't kidding when they said that they were in a canteen. Nestled in Toa Payoh Industrial estate, there were only 4 stalls open: Botak Jones, some teochew noodles, fruit juice and Botak Jones drinks (I think it's called brewski). My guy friends compared it to a cookhouse! The Brewski reminded me of a Cabana, only thing missing was the sand and beach. There was even a pool table and LCD screens showing soccer matches as well. The best part? They had Stella Artois & Hoegaarden on TAP!!!! YES, ON TAP!!!! To sweeten the deal, a jug of Stella was only S$20! A pint only S$8.50. Hoe was going for S$10.50 a pint! And it's a magnum, mind u! My goodness... happy hour prices every hour! It just made me want to bring out the inner ah pek in me, sit there, drink beer and watch soccer. And call referee KAYU!

We went early at about 6.30pm. There wasn't a lot of people there.... YET. People started streaming in at about 7pm and soon, the whole placed was packed. Everyone was there just for Botak Jones (i think the noodles stall wasn't too happy). Thankfully, we ordered early. Although the lady said a waiting time of 20 mins, food came very quickly. We got our appetizers within 10 mins. We ordered quite a spread:
Appetizers:
Caesar Salad - a bit on the dry side. Not enough dressing
Chicken Gumbo X 3 - portion quite small: think the miso soup bowls they have at food courts. But quite a lot of stuff in it: rice, big chuncks of chicken, tomatoes, potatoes etc etc etc
Stuffed Jalepeno peppers - my Fav! Can just return there to eat this with beer! Not over stuffed with mozzerella, seeds taken out and tangy tartare sauce to cool ze taste buds. Yummy!
Chile Con Carne - portion a bit small for 6 ppl to share. Same sized bowl as chicken gumbo. But extremely satisfying.
Main courses
Fish & Chips X 3 - sampled my frens. Felt that it wasn't too bad. Fish was tender, didn't break up easily and didn't have the fishy smell.
Rib eye Steak X 2, Disappointing. The sauce was not watery and the meat a tad pale for my liking. But the portion is big, even at the minumum of 200 gm.
lamb chops - tried a fren's portion. Felt it wasn't too bad. But be warned that they are very generous with the rosemary herb.

All of these were regular size, which, thankfully, was a good call. If we had ordered large, the food would probably be piled up like a mountain (judging from what other tables were having)!!! All the main courses came with extremely generous servings of cajun fries and coleslaw, which were tasty too! The total damage for all that plus drinks? S$119. Extremely affordable, considering the portions.

I wouldn't mind going there again. But... not so soon though...

Songs in my head

2007-02-15T23:17:00.000+08:00

Well, besides the usual Chinese New Year songs and dong dong chiangs I keep hearing, my manager and I have been hearing this song over the radio and it has been stuck in our minds for quite some time now. It's pretty catchy and i decided to do a search on the lyrics. The song is by Kelis... yes yes.. surprise. the same one who sang Milkshake! And it's called Lil Star. The lyrics are quite nice.

Lil Star by Kelis featuring Cee-loo

There is nothing special about me
I am just a lil star
If it seems like I'm shining brightly
It's probably a reflection of something you already are
I forget about myself sometime
When there's so many other around

When deep inside you feels darkest
That is where I can always be found
That is where I can always be found
That is where I can always be found

Chorus:
Just keep trying and trying
It's just a matter of timing
Though the grinding is tiring
Don't let 'em stop you from smiling
Just keep trying and trying
Sooner or later you'll find it
It's surprising how inspiring
It is to see you shining
Cause in the dark of the night you're all I can see
and you sure look like a star to me

There is nothing special about me
I am just a lil star
If you try to reach out an touch me
you'll see I'm not really that far
I may not be the brightest nor am I the last one you’ll see
But as long as you notice, that’s just fine with me
Everything’s just fine with me
Everything’s just fine with me

There is nothing special about me
I am just a lil star
I’ve been running and jumping, but barely
Getting, getting over the bar
I plan on being much more than I, am but that's in do time
But until then I'm guilty, and being humans my crime
Being human that is my crime
Being human that is my crime

Yup.. remember, no 2 stars are the same and every one is special, even if you dun feel that way.
Here's the MTV if you want to hear what it sounds like. MTV isn't impressive though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqOgx5HnunM

Speaking of impressive MTVs, I managed to find the MTV for OK GO's Here it goes again.
I saw the MTV when I was in Hong Kong and I was super impressed with it. I mean.. how often do
you see some guys who are mid 30's, singing and dancing around 8 threadmills? If that is not
impressive enough, you should see how well executed it is. It looks like it was done in one take!
It doesn't hurt that the song is quite nice too :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTE

What does the New Year Bring?

2007-02-15T00:00:00.000+08:00

I was with my manager at Chinatown to deliver cards before heading off to eat lunch. "Why don't you read the horoscopes for next year while I deliver them?" he said. He pointed to a small 4-sided wall exhibit located at the 2nd floor and off he went to deliver the cards.

This exhibit was obviously a clever gimmick by a geomancer in a bid to attract more customers to his shop. After all, geomancy shops are dime a dozen in Chinatown. But it proved to get attention, judging by the group of people looking intently at the various writings on it. So I went to see my fortune.

Apparently, it's a terrible year for those born in the year of the Rooster. And among all the different types of roosters, it is especially so for those born in my year. Obstacles are abound and one will have to prove to be quite resilient to get through it. I quote the opening sentence: "This year is a terrible year for Roosters. Your path is filled with unlucky stars and not one lucky star to counter it. You also have direct conflict with Tai Sui. There will be truckloads of misfortune". I was like... wah.. serious ah? If what is writen is to be believed, apparently this year: my health will be down (this was worrying since I have my Op to consider); I will have no wealth to speak of since everything I earn will be spent (also worrying since no money, how to go for Op?); I can forget about love; and work will be tough with loads of backstabbing abound. Wow.. what an exciting year ahead. And it also said that I should not ride motorcycles (Shit... and I wanted to take my bike license this year) because I will be getting into a lot of accidents. It even warns me not to head east as that's where accidents are abound. Reading that, I was like... right... does that mean I cannot go home, since I live east? Or maybe i should not even think of going to Changi Airport to travel.... Gosh. One would think that if i died this year, it was also to be expected since I am supposed to be so suay this coming year! And in order to help me tide through the year, I was supposed to get ancients coins, clean them, get them smoked with the smoke from the incense pot in a reknown temple, and place them around a bowl of water. That bowl of water should be placed at the south east corner of my room and has to be changed weekly...right..........

Anyway, I had sometime to read other fortunes as well:

Dragon: Generally a very good year in terms of love, business and health. Will find love in the office. It is also a good year to get married, especially if your partner is born in the year of the Monkey, Rooster or Rat. I found this very amusing...

Snake: not a very good year too, but not as bad as the Rooster. Not a good year for Business, especially for salaried employees who will face a lot of obstables and backstabbing. Health will also be down. Love life is not good. Not a good year to get married (now it makes sense why Kokodile wanted to get married before the lunar new year). And there will be 3rd parties.

Horse: Not too bad a year. Love is in the air! (To my horsey frens, didn't have time to finish reading but promise to go back and read!)

So to my fellow heavy metal chicks, take it with a pinch of salt (make that loads of salt). Nonetheless prepare for a bumpy ride. Ganbatte yo!

Cheeena New Year

2007-02-12T22:34:00.000+08:00

Yup.. it's that time of the year again... Time to spring clean and make everything spick and span.. the dreaded SPRING CLEANING *insert creepy music here*

So the weekend was spent cleaning the house. Thankfully, ever since i moved into my new place, I cultivated the habit of cleaning my room at least once every 2 weeks, before all the rubbish piles up. So I just cleaned my windows, the lights, the fan, the bookshelves and the aircon. Also washed my curtains. I thought it was over. I was so wrong

Everyone (except my mum) had to clean a common area. And I had to do the kitchen. That still wasn't so bad. Problem was, I had to clean out the fridge and the table in the kitchen. And the fridge... *shudder*.... sigh.. someone's gotta do it. The problem with my family is, they have a tendency to buy stuff, hoard it in the fridge and then conveniently forget it. I know I am no angel, but I definitely don't hoard as much as they do.... here are my top ge(r)m finds:
- Chocolates that have expired (loads of them... i seriously dunno where they come from!)
- a bottle of Yakult that has expired (trust me, the L.acidophillis in there must be SO potent that u just need one sip. Definitely will aid your digestion since you will be running straight for the toilet)
- Frozen solid Bacardi Breezer (lollipop Bacardi anyone?)
- Oranges from LAST new year (stuck in the forgotten corner.. pushed further and further in as new things arrive)

URGH... i seriously scrubbed and cleaned all of that junk out. Even removed each and every shelving to wash. Together with the junk on the table, i threw away 2 big trash bags! Yikes... had i not done the spring cleaning on the fridge.. I'm not sure what's the next things that will open the door and walk out. Now.. it really nice and clean! A whole, brand new fridge! Ha h aha

PERTH - aftermath

2007-02-12T21:40:00.000+08:00

Well, basically for the Perth trip, the first day was the most drama of it all. The rest of the week was pretty relaxing. Which allowed me to recharge my batteries.

One day was spent at the Swan Valley area, where we visited a wild life park and the Jane Brook wine estate. The wild life park was ok, loads of native marsupials. There was even a whole enclosure where the kangaroos roamed (or rather, jumped) free. You can feed them and pet them. Most of them were quite docile. Probably due to the heat. They just lay in burrows in the sand to keep cool. Also saw a real Tasmanian Devil for once (the last time I went to Tasmania, I didn't even see a bloody one!). Went up close to touch and smell a sleeping koala (fun fact: male koalas mark their territory by rubbing themselves on trees. They smell like smelly socks!). They also had a farm animal section. Kids were in the enclosure, both kinds of kids. The goat and human variety. But it seemed that the human variety were more afraid of the goat variety. And the sheep, for no rhyme or reason just kept bleating... That amused J a lot becos he loves sheep.

We then went around the area to look for a vineyard to stop for lunch and do buy some wine. That wasn't too hard a task since every couple of yards, there was one. But it was more about the question of price. We stopped by one of the vineyards, looked at the menu.. and scooted off (A$50 per pax!!!!). We finally settled on Jane Brook. The wait staff were friendly, who kept asking which wine we wanted to try. They literally went down the whole list of wine, letting us test it one by one. Before you say we are kiasu Singaporeans, we didn't even request for it! They just kept going, " This wine won blah blah award, it's excellent"... "This one is even better!"... " you really have to try this one" ... Can we say... no? Unfortunately, i was the driver, so i had to keep my alcohol intake in check. We had lunch there.. and i tasted the best pate. The mostest, delicious, heavenly, smooth pate!! It's called chicken cognac pate (Do I hear a unison of voices saying "why am i not surprised?") Ha ha ha ha.. but it was the most fantastic pate i have ever tasted. We literally scooped the whole bowl clean! Too bad it was impossible to bring it back with me....sigh....

A trip to Perth cannot be complete without a short trip to neighbouring Fremantle! And with fremantle = fish and chips! The problem was.. with so many claiming to be the best and most famous in Fremantle, which one was the real deal??? In the end, we decided to go to Kaili's. With the huge size, we figured that it must have some standard there if not it wouldn't be this big... And we had a fantastic meal.. golden fried fish, grilled fish, grilled calamari, lobster, prawns, seafood chowder.... delcious to the last bite. We wanted to try Yabbies too... but they weren't available. And if I weren't so full, I would have ordered shark meat to try... After, we took a stroll along the pierside and had Baskin Robbins ice cream. Yeah.. 31 flavours!ha ha ha ha. Black adder literally went insane there.

And the last day was spent doing shopping around Perth. Pretty convenient since Hay street, the equivalent of Orchard Road, was just around the corner. Unlike my previous trips, I didn't buy much this time. The only things i bought for myself were a tee, shorts and some accessories. The rest of my moolah was blown buying for others. personally felt that there wasn't a lot of things to buy, and even if there were, it was expensive.....

So that was my Perth trip. I'm just glad that my cousin and her family enjoyed themselves, esp J. He hasn't travelled for the past 5 years. No doubt the initial day was frought with anxiety and edgy tempers, but thankfully everyone settled down and enjoyed themselves. It's also a first for my cousin's family. It shows that with proper planning and teamwork, travelling is still possible. I hope there will be many others to come. And for Black Adder, I hope she got a great sense of satisfaction from it. She planned it all, fretting over whether the places we were visting were accessible, worrying about budget etc. I know she tried very hard. And it was worth it :) Cos up till now, J raves on how much he enjoyed Perth!

PERTH - exciting first day

2007-01-27T14:13:00.000+08:00

My goodness.... so many things have happened in the past few weeks but i haven't had the time to write. The past few nights after returning from Perth were spent working, working and working... sigh.. OK... i shall begin with my Perth trip! *ahem*

I realized that i don't seem to have any affinity with travelling, especially after I started working. Every trip, be it business or pleasure, I have been made to work until the really last minute before rushing off to the airport. This trip was no different. Initially, the Monday which I was to fly off, was supposed to be spent at the hotel. Afterall, it is the day after the wedding. BUT... all thoughts of soaking up some sun by the pool and chilling out were soon replaced with rushing to the office, meeting agencies and doing work. I left the office only at 8.30pm. Reached home at 9pm. Came out of the shower at 9.30pm. Packed my bags and left by 10pm. Went over to pick Black Adder and Wing and reached the airport at 10.30pm. Yes... it has come to this point where i can just pack in a jiffy and rush to the airport. No wonder DC calls me a seasoned traveller.

Wanted to sleep in the plane but attempts to do so were futile. First of all due to turbulance. Second of all, I have this habit of not being able to sleep in unfamiliar places. As the plane taxied into the berth, I was joking with my cousin that the only way to make me drive (I was supposed to be the secondary driver) was to give me 3 shots of espresso coffee. I didn't realize that I was to eat my words (or rather drink my words) so soon. As we went to get the rental car, my uncle realized that he didn't bring his driving license! He tried his best to cajole the Hertz counter staff to let him drive but they were pretty strict about it. So no choice, I became the primary driver and didn't get my 3 shots of espresso....

The next uphill task was to see if my younger cousin J could get into the rental car, a Toyota Tarago. As we feared, the seats were too high and he wasn't able to hoist himself up. So it took my uncle, Wing and myself to lift him into the car. Success!!! So 6 of us were happily bundled into the car and decided to try our luck in checking into the hotel. So we drove to Perth City.

Unfortunately, the directory that we had was the 2004 version. This was the part that tested the patience of my Vehicle Commander, Wing.
Wing: Make a right turn here
Me: Err... can't, there's a no right turn sign up ahead.
Wing: Oh, ok... make a right turn at the next traffic light then
Me: Err... can't, it's also no right turn
Wing: What????
And off we go back on the freeway.... Driving in the city was horrendous. I dunno what is it about Perth and not allowing people to make right turns. But eventually, we did reach the hotel, only to discover 2 things: 1) There is no alighting berth at the front of the hotel; 2) The hotel had no carpark and we had to park our car at the nearby public car park (which had the first 4 levels reserved for office ppl and left us only 2 levels of parking only). That wasn't the worst thing. The hotel staff refused to let us check in early (it was afterall, 10am in the morning). So we decided to head to AQWA - the underwater world of western australia, to kill some time first.

The ride there wasn't too bad, cos it offered amazing views of the ocean. If not for the difference in shade, you won't be able to see where the sea ended and the sky started. And I love the ocean.... it makes me feel so at peace. Unfortunately, that peace was short lived. Upon reaching AQWA, my uncle made a startling discovery: his luggage was missing. After some frantic recalling... he realized that he left it at the taxi stand at the airport. I guess after the initial relief that J was able to get onto the car, we didn't do an inventory count of the luggage. So we all bundled into the car again and started making our way to the airport again.

Travelling back to the airport from AQWA was equivalent to driving from one end of jurong to Changi airport. And being extremely tired, the vehicle started veering. I had to keep myself awake taking sweets. Reaching the airport, my uncle went to the lost and found. In a way... thank god for terrorism. Someone probably thought the unattended bag could be a terrorist threat and brought it to Lost and Found, who promptly made it go through the intensive scanning and scrutiny before labelling it safe. Well, at least my uncle got his bag back. i took the opportunity to drink some coffee... cos soon we were on the road again to AQWA... yup... Jurong to Changi airport again.

AQWA reminded me a lot of the underwater world in sentosa. Not surprising because it was built by the same people, with the trademark underwater track. My aunt said that we have been here the last time we came to Perth. There was some recollection but it was still vague, so being at AQWA was still a new experience for me. One exhibit that I particularly loved was this glass tank that was filled with jelly fish of various sizes. The tank was lit with only ultraviolet light, so u can see the jelly fish dancing about. very pretty. Another exhibit also showcased this particular jelly fish that resembled a toadstool. So imagine a toadstool heading upwards, and once it stops propelling itself, it falls headfirst down. They certainly made it look like it was raining red toadstools. I was also particularly facinated with the lobsters! Gosh! They were HUGE! And being typical Singaporean... i could only think of what a sumptuous meal it would make on the dinner table... Mmmmm.... yum.... But of course I was also surprised that it could do a spider man and cling upside down on the rock face... But Mmmm.... Yummm.... Ha ha

But my biggest regret was not having a diving license. If not, I would have paid A$125 to swim with the sharks. Yes... they were afterall quite harmless... nurse sharks. But, I didn't have a diving license.. so I had to be content seeing them swim over us in the glass track. Along with the graceful manta rays. Wing, being his first trip, was extremely trigger happy.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. We checked into the hotel and got some rest before going out for dinner. And we all slept in early. I was particularly shagged out. But decided to take extra precaution by taking 1/2 of a muscle relaxant pill in order to ensure that I have peaceful, undisturbed sleep. Cos usually I can't sleep well in unfamiliar surroundings.

The price of Happiness

2007-01-11T00:44:00.000+08:00

I realized that I haven't been happy recently. Ok, before people start striking me off as a sour puss/ lil miss hard-to-please/ never-realize-how-fortunate-you-are person, allow me to explain myself. *ahem*. Life has been ok, it goes on, but there hasn't been anything that has made me exceptionally happy. The kind that makes u feel warm inside, glow all over, smiling outside and inside kind of happy. I haven't had that feeling for a long time. But! There is still hope for me! Cos I felt that recently!

Happiness came to me in a form of a close buddy's wedding. Seeing the whole thing, I was truly happy for him. That he found that special someone to share the rest of his life with. In the past, I viewed weddings as pretty superficial. Just a pompous event to waste money on. But looking at that days events, it changed my view a bit. It truly marks a beginning for the couple. In a sense, they grow up, it's time for them to start a family on their own and shoulder new responsibilities. And the road is tough, it really depends on how the couple works things out.

In addition to that happy occasion, I was also happy that 2 friends decided to put aside their differences and come together to celebrate a mutual friends wedding. Although their contact was still minimal, nonetheless, it was a huge step. It brought back the feeling of being together as a whole gang again, something which I miss dearly. I hope that they can continue to do so. There's no point hiding from each other. Sometimes avoidance isn't the key. Dun always assume that the other person is avoiding you as well. Dun assume that the other person is still angry and holds grudges. Just dun assume. To me, I have a tendency to assume too. But I make it a point to ask and talk things out. Tactfully of course!

These 2 events are a good beginning for 2007. I really hope it stays that way. You know the saying of how other's people aura affects you? I strongly believe in that. Cos I feed off happy people. It makes me happy that my friends and family are happy. Likewise, my mood also goes down when they are down. Damn... I'm such a leech

A parting shot: saw this saying on one of my friends MSN nick. Personally feel that it's quite impactful.
"Should you ask me if my or your life is more important, I would answer, mine. You will walk away, not knowing that, you are my life".
For the happy couple... my heartiest congratulations.

PS will post up the whole wedding events in a seperate post.

Of Scouts and Doors

2007-01-03T23:55:00.000+08:00

If the entrance to a person's heart is a door, then telling someone you like them is like a scout going door to door during their annual scouts day to see if they can do any work for you.

Standing outside that door, you hesitate: Is there anyone home? How will they treat me? You contemplate: maybe no one's home. Maybe I should just leave and come back another time. And finally you pluck up the courage and u ring the door bell.

You're not exactly sure what kind of reception you will get. If you're really lucky, you don't need to do anything: they will welcome you with a smile and give u a donation. Or even better, they invite you in for a drink, telling you that you have worked hard and they appreciate it. Ah... pure bliss. These are the people who do notice you and they do like you and invite you in with open arms. No work is necessary becos you have been recognized and appreciated.

Then there are others, who will make you work a bit. But nonetheless, with your sincerity and hardworking nature, you will be able to win them over. Ultimately, they will appreciate what you have done and give you a token sum in return.

On the flip side, you have people who open the door and are surprised to see you. But when they hear that you are a scout on scout day, they give you a apologetic smile and say that there is nothing you can do for them. These are the people who do not have the same feelings for you, but yet do not wish to hurt your feelings.

There are others who are at home but do not even bother to open the door at all. They will only do so once you leave and even when they do, they peer cautiously from behind the curtains. These are the people who know your intentions and avoid you. And if you knock or ring the doorbell a few more times, it is bound to irk them more.

But the worst kind of people are those who invite you to their home and make you do everything for them: from cleaning the house to feeding the dogs. And they give nothing in return for your effort. These are the people who play with your feelings and make use of you.

So.. the next time you play scout, expect these outcomes. But know that, no matter what, at least you plucked up the courage to ring or knock the door. What happens after, you cannot control. No doubt your morale may dip if the negative outcomes occur, but soldier on, for there are other doors to knock on. And even if you have to visit the same house again the next scouts day, you can choose to try again or avoid it.

For a dear fren ;)

Yet another year has passed by

2007-01-02T01:15:00.000+08:00

Goodbye 2006, hello 2007

My god... another year has zipped on by yet again. I have to admit, 2006 seemed to "shinkansen" (Jap for ze bullet train) through, especially so for the last quarter.

So, what has happened in the year gone by? Hmm.. details remain fuzzy. The first quarter of the year was quite slow. Nothing major happening. Things started to unravel only at the 2nd quarter onwards. Major highlight was two good friends falling out. The aftermath of that? Well, all I can say is that things just aren't the same anymore. I know everyone is trying to re-adjust and get used to it, but saying is easier than done.

The 3rd and 4th quarter of the year saw more action. Things at work weren't too good with my manager turning in his resignation letter. That's when there was so much uncertainty. I was seriously worried, especially at the prospect of working with people with their heads in the clouds. Thankfully my manager stayed on, but unfortunately, it meant more work for me. Portfolio increased to handling our new post paid product, but that made me extremely busy as well. My people relations in 2006 weren't that good either. It was an emotionally stressing time. Fell out with a colleague, fell out with family, fell out with a friend... things just fell out.... and somehow, the jigsaw just can't fit anymore, although on the surface it seems like a nice, complete picture

Good parts of 2006? new experiences, new feelings. I'm pretty sure I'm more independent than I have ever been. I speak my mind, but still after much thought and consideration. I'm in my best shape ever and I dun fall ill as often. Yay! at least I kept last years resolution!

But the most important thing I learnt in 2006? Don't take things for granted. I learnt that the hard way. But it was a lesson learnt. In addition, relationships (be it friendships, family or lovers) take a long time to nurture with trust and love. But all it takes is one small misunderstanding to destroy all that. It's just tha easy. It's really just how hard both parties want to work to bring it back to the same level. And both must put in equal effort.

So what resolutions for 2007? I decided to screw resolutions. Why only make them at the start of the year? Especially with all the uncertainties in our present world, if there are things u want to do, just do it. If there are things you want to say, say it before it is too late. You never know if the person you want to say it to is still alive, or still be your friend etc etc. Life is short, so make the best out of it. I can't see what 2007 will bring, but i know i will handle it by the horns, and survive to see 2008!

As for 2006, although it was not an exceptionally good year, I am thankful that it was not an exceptionally bad one either.

Breaking up is hard to do~ Shoop shoop de whoop

2006-12-09T01:25:00.000+08:00

Sung to the tune of Deck the Halls

Tis the season to be lonely
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Breakups are so common lately
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
No more kiss and make up, sorry
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
hate each other's guts, you will be
la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Yeah... people around me are breaking up... i wonder why? Is cupid not doing his job? Sigh... how depressing.

Also pondered that promises are like scribbles in a notebook. When you give ur word, it's like writing it down in the notebook. If you dun keep your promise, it will always be there to remind you, haunt you even. If you do keep your promise, then u can safely turn the page, sometimes turn back and smile... but there are times when you rather cast it aside. That's when u tear the page out and crush it. Crushed promises can never be salvaged.

Life recently hasn't been good. Work has piled up. Health has gone down. Both are mutually exclusive. Anyway, since I am on the issue of lyrics, been listening to the radio... and 2 songs have been playing in my head.

The first is from Panic! at the Disco with: I Write Sins Not Tragedies. It's one of those songs which the title is not in the entire song at all. And the way it is sung, is quite different. It doesn't start off like how the normal songs do. So it was quite refreshing. Another song that has been buzzing in my head is from Breaking Benjamin with: Diary of Jane (accoustic version). Another music arrangement that is different, which made me perk up my ears when i heard it.

While searching for the lyrics for I write Sins not Tragedies, I chanced upon a song lyric which i found super amusing..... I couldn't help laughing when I read it... I haven't heard the song before either.

Every sperm is sacred - Monty Python

There are Jews in the world, there are Buddhists,
There are Hindus and Mormons and then,
There are those that follow Mohammed,
But I've never been one of them...

I'm a Roman Catholic, and have been since the day I was born,
And the one thing they say about Catholics,
Is they'll take you as soon as you're warm...

You don't have to be a six-footer,
You don't have to have a great brain,
You don't have to have any clothes on -
You're a Catholic the moment dad came...

because...

Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great,
If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate.

Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great,
If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate.

Let the heathen spill theirs, on the dusty ground,
God shall make them pay for each sperm that can't be found

Every sperm is wanted, every sperm is good,
Every sperm is needed in your neighbourhood.

Hindu, Taoist, Mormon,
Spill theirs just anywhere,
But God loves those who treat their
Semen with more care.

Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great,
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite irate.

Every sperm is sacred,
Every sperm is good,
Every sperm is needed,
In your neighbourhood.

Every sperm is useful, every sperm is fine,
God needs everybody's,
Mine
And mine
And mine

Let the Pagan spill theirs,
O'er mountain, hill and plain,
God shall strike them down for
Each sperm that's spilt in vain.

Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is good,
Every sperm is needed in your neighbourhood.

Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great,
If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate.

When living life is an obligation

2006-11-17T00:51:00.000+08:00

Dear fren,

it is with great concern that i write this. On your birthday, you had said that you live your life because of obligation. I do not understand. Although you have tried to explain to me your side of the story, I still cannot phantom why u feel this way.

Initially, I had thought it was due to the departure of a loved one. However, it does not seem to be the case as you have been feeling this way ever since you were born. Why is that? Has life really been that cruel to you? Have you really nothing to live for? As much as I partially understand your feelings due to your background, however, it's not like you have lived in very dire circumstances. You grew up with a family, who provided for you the best they can. They gave you a roof over your head, food to eat and provided for your schooling. Compared to others, given the circumstances, you are still considered to be quite fortunate.

Another greater question would be: to whom are you obligated to live for? It definitely does not seem to be for yourself. So, if this person leaves you, does that mean that you have no purpose on earth? What will you do then? Will you end your life?

Every person has a purpose in life. Be it whether they realise it or not. I sincerely hope that your's is just a case of finding out what your purpose is. Perhaps you should start helping out others by volunteering. You will come to realize that there are many out there who are in worse situations than yourself, but yet, they do not have such a bleak outlook in life like you do. Sometimes you have to help others in order to help yourself.

But more importantly, you should live life for yourself. Life is short. What do you wish to achieve in this lifetime? trust yourself and move on. Don't live in other's hopes, dreams and aspirations, for they will expire once that person dies. But if you live for yourself, you get greater satisfaction and clearer direction.

A Measure of Trust

2006-11-09T01:12:00.000+08:00

How does one measure trust? How important is it to you? It's important to me, but no doubt it gets taken for granted sometimes. Was looking at some quotes and felt that the following ones struck a chord with me.

~ To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved
(once u have trust, you can be a great friend, business partner & associate, lover etc etc)
~ I am not upset that you lied to me. I am upset that from now on I can't believe in you
(This struck a very deep chord with me. Ever felt like you have been cheated and made used of?)
~ Trust is like a vase. Once it is broken, though you can fix it, it will never be the same again
(Yup.. it takes A LOT to rebuild trust. Both affected parties must make a lot of effort. One must be prepared to open themselves to hurt again; the other must make every effort not to betray the trust again. It's a bumpy road and in the end, it will never be the same)
~ The key is to get to know people and trust them to be who they are. Instead, we trust people to be who we want them to be-and when they're not, we cry
(Hmm... we have expectations. And when things fall below our expectations, we feel disappointed, dun we? The higher the expectation, the more the disappointment)
~ You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough
(After all, no man is an island.... or rather... dun be a paranoid bitch)
~ The best proof of love is trust
~ When mistrust comes in, love goes out
(When you love someone, you give your all... trust included. Hence, when that someone betrays ur trust, that's when it hurts the most. It's like they never appreciated it or took it for granted.. and they just throw it back in ur face.. OUCH)
~ People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights
(you may trust someone, but it is not reciprocal. That someone may not trust you!)
~ I've learnt to trust myself, to listen to truth, to not be afraid of it and not try and hide it
(the most important is to trust yourself. If you can't even have that... who else can you trust? When do you know when to heed that gut feel or spidey sense?)

Yet another weird dream

2006-11-02T00:59:00.000+08:00

Sigh... just when u thought things can't get worse. To not be able to have proper sleep is bad enough... but to have what ever shred of sleep disrupted by a dream and u wake up even more tired? Sigh X 2

I was in the Amazing race with Kame. Yeah.. THE Amazing race (hey, it's my dream, let me fantasize yes?). We were at some sort of beach. Nice and blue, not far from civilization as there were buildings behind (think beach resorts etc). At that point of time, I was being briefed about the task at hand: I was supposed to swim out in open sea to a red buoy that was about 200m away to grab the clue on it. I remember thinking "piece of cake".

And then it happened. As I was about to jump in, I saw from far, a tidal wave. Wait, i stand corrected. More like a tsunami. It was 6-8 stories high and it was heading right towards the beach. Naturally, everyone started to scramble away. I specifically remember picking up Kame's red backpack (and at that point, i dunno where she went. Flirting with some hunky Cabana boy maybe? ha ha.. yes yes, I help others fantasize too). And i turned to see where the wave was. But there was no wave. Instead, what was supposed to be the foam of the surf, became a row of planes! Those world war 1 kinds, propeller powered etc. i remember cursing under my breath: WTF... did i really see wrongly? I swore it was a tidal wave!

But we were not out of the woods yet. The planes crashed into the buildings behind the beach. Mayhem ensued. Fire was everywhere. People were screaming. Shattered glass on the ground. Trucks were trying to clear the wreakage. And surprisingly, I was extremely calm. But an unsettling feeling made me turn towards the beach again. And out of the smoky fumes... i saw a Boeing. Jumbo Jet... 747. And it was flying real low. I could feel the strong draft as it flew by me... metres away. i was knocked to the ground. The Boeing crashed into the building. just like the rest of the planes.

At this point, Kame appears and takes the red backpack from me. She starts running towards the boeing wreakage, like the rest of the people around us. But for me, i turned and walked away. Away from the wreakage and mayhem and instead towards the open peaceful sea....

And that's when i woke up. Drat. What the hell is this dream supposed to mean? Too much mayhem in the world? After all... Tsunamis and plane crashes have happened somewhat recently. Chaos in my life? Sudden disruptions? Or a sign to just walk away? leave everything behind? It's not worth it? Why care for others? They can take care of themselves? God knows...

Black Adder asked me to just forget about it. It's just nothing... perhaps.

Reality Check

2006-10-14T00:43:00.000+08:00

This week has been a week full of reality checks. Nothing kicks it off better than a death of a childhood friend. What makes it worse is the situation that he died. Freak accident. From what i hear among the chatter of the elders, he was helping out a friend that fateful day. As he was trying to open a barrel at the top of a container, he lost his footing and fell. Went into a coma and he never woke up. After 10 days, the family had to make the excrutiating decision of putting him off the respitory machine.

His parents hung out with my parents, and for that matter, Black Adder and Hyena's parents as well. Literally our parents whole ching gang. Everyone knew everyone, so we always met during the regular majong sessions that my parents held at our place every Sat night. The parents will be playing mahjong (trust me, it looked like a gambling den in those days with about 3 tables or more), while the kids self-entertained by jumping on the sofas, cycling around with bikes, playing with the beach ball etc. The usual.

Black Adder and I can never forget that particular occasion where we younger as kids, playing with the beach ball. Staying in a semi-detached house then, the beach ball we were playing with went over into the neighbour's garden. As we huddled to think of how to retrieve the ball (and at the same time think of a lame excuse to tell our parents), he being 8 years older than us, climbed the fence, jumped over, threw the ball back, clamoured back and gave the ball back to us. We were of course, needless to say, estatic (saved our asses and yet we can still play). On hindsight, Black Adder and I agreed that he was one of the first guy figures we looked up to (and of course secretly harboured a crush on).

And so it was extremely surreal to see his body in a coffin. What made it even more sad, was that he left behind 2 kids and his wife. Come to think of it... he did a Steve Irwin. At the wake, his children were running around, playing. I wonder if they understand what really happened to their Dad? As for his parents, the uncle and auntie who I always see, it was the first time that I saw them so aged and tired. They have always been jovial and friendly and they continued to be so at the wake. But despite their strong front, they can't seem to hide the fatigue. In a way, i know they must be relieved that he passed on, with no more suffering, but it's an extremely painful decision to make. To give up hope and in a way pulling the plug on your own son. To see him expire by the hour after he is taken off the machine, I feel that no parent should have to go through such a situation nor be made to make such a decision in the first place.

His sister seems to be more affected by the whole thing. She's also another childhood friend. I can tell she's been crying. And what makes it worse was: the day before the accident happened, he had asked her if she wanted to go shopping. She declined because she was tired. Who would have known that that would be the last she hear of him? And to see your own brother in a coffin... it's painful.

The second reality check came in the form of a financial advisor. I met up with him from a friend's recommendation. Interesting guy. The first financial advisor who cut to the chase, suan me like no one's business, and made me see a lot of contradictions in my life. He asked me a series of questions to get a better understanding of me... and he would counter me with other questions. Take for example, he asked me what do i think I would be 5 years from now? I said that preferably married with kids and living a comfortable life. Then along the way, i mentioned that i wanted to start my own business before I am 40. He literally jumped at me: are you sure? Assume that you are married 5 years from now, are u willing to take that risk? Will your family be willing to take that risk with you? That certainly made me rethink my priorities.

He also asked what's the greatest emergency to me? And after I answered that, it was to be struck down by a terminal illness or some sort of disability, he gave me a reality check on how much I have to spend should that happen to me (20k a month). And when I mentioned that i wanted to retire at 50, he asked how long do i think i would live? When i replied 65, he laughed and suaned me. The average female life expectancy for females has increased to 81 by the way.. so i was way off the meter. He questioned me: so would you rather be prudent and provide till u r 90? Or provide only till 65 and then pick up cardboard boxes for a living? Ouch. He also calculated how much i would need to retire at 50 (assuming I am single or a single mum), with inflation, future value etc etc... 24 mil! *faint*.

At the end of it all, I signed up for an insurance plan, also investment plans using my CPF and changed my medishield policy. No doubt the insurance plan is expensive, but after being at my friends wake, i know that should something happen to me, my family has something to fall back on. I do not want to be a burden to them. And as for my CPF, they're sitting in the bank earning minimal interest anyway. might as well make use of it.

So before you think I just got conned into another sales pitch, he's not pushy. He is not with any particular firm. He does a comparison of all the insurance plans, let's you know the pros and cons of each and u make the decision. And even when i told him that I have a sum of money i was thinking of investing, he told me not to. That sum of money should be for my own liquidity. So yeah, he's not all out to squeeze money out of me.

The third reality check concerns friends. When I was much younger, I did a lot of stuff for friends. A lot. Sometimes it seems like I was at their beck and call. And sometimes to the extent that my parents felt that i was being taken advantage of. They probably think I am silly for doing so much for people who don't seem to appreciate it. But that's just me. If you are my friend I will do the best I can for you. Those who are closest to me will know that. I dun need to specify what i do, cos they know. I have a great bunch of friends (*ahem* must put disclaimer wat). But somehow recently, that feeling of being taken advantage at my expense is creeping up again. I dunno why. Should I subscribe to the age old adage of: those who treat you well, treat them doubly well. Those who treat you badly, treat them twice as badly? i dunno... too tired to think. Maybe it's because the week hasn't been ideal. With work being a pain in the ass..... zzz

When your resolve is tested....

2006-10-10T00:31:00.000+08:00

My resolve got tested today. And sadly.. I failed to restrain myself! I gave into temptation... I have no self discipline and will power, I caved into my weakness... sigh.... But it has been too long. Way too long..... And I needed it.... I finally started...... snacking on Cheetos!

Ok, quite drama... ha ha.. but when it comes to snacks, my favourite has always been Cheetos. Sadly, for some unknown reason, Cheetos got taken off the shelves all over SG, never to return again. I used to get my personal stash from the now defunct Liberty Market over at Plaza Singapura. Count how long ago Liberty Market has closed and you can imagine how long the cold spell has been (now u understand my desperation?). In between i had donations from kind friends who went overseas. Black Adder and I had even contemplated buying the stuff from ebay. No kidding. Our addiction runs deep.

So today, I met Black Adder for lunch. As we passed by the supermarket, Black Adder just disappeared! Before I could say WTH, I could only see her back view as she ran towards the supermarket. Yes! BLACK ADDER RAN! I chased up to a very speechless cousin, who could only start pointing to some snacks in excitement... Yup.. Black Adder the Cheetos detector... eagle-eyed her had already seen Chester Cheetah a mile away. Apparently the supermarket was having a USA imports promotion and they brought in 2 types of Cheetos: the puff and the twister.

Needless to say, we had an extremely quick lunch so that we can start shopping for the Cheetos... we bought enough to fill 2 baskets. I was pretty sure onlookers must be thinking we are either crazy.. or really desperate. But we had to buy more to ration throughout the months!!! And how desperate were we? Immediately after purchase, Black Adder opened the packet and started savouring it. She fed me one... and it tasted so good...... *bliss*

Unfortunately, the taste lingered on. Just from that one Cheetos. It affected me so badly that I couldn't function at work (seriously). My mind kept thinking about the Cheetos. And I kept looking at my purchases. And finally i caved in and opened one packet to snack on,orange fingers and all.

And now.. stock is running low... need to go get more... need to satisfy my craving...........

When looks are more important than Life

2006-10-01T23:18:00.000+08:00

If u are as blown away as I was with the above statement, then congrats, you're normal. If you're not, please skip this entry and come back another day.

It happened over lunch on Saturday. My second aunt had come over to pay a visit. During the course of the lunch, she commented that my face was quite bad. Lately, I have been suffering from an acne outbreak. According to my facial therapist, it's apparently due to a food allergy. So for the past few weeks I have been doing process elmination and I am glad to say that I have narrowed it down to 2 things. But more about that on another day...

I told my aunt about the allergy thingy. And she commented that I must take care of my face blah blah blah. And that's when she made this comment (in Mandarin): your face is very important, more important than your life.

I was speechless... I mean... WTF??? My looks are more important than my life?? Immediately I retorted that I did not agree with her. I can have a scar on my face for all I care, but if guys are put off by it, so be it. I feel guys who feel that way are superficial. So the scar makes for a good test.

Later that night, while relating the incident to DC, he was telling me that there is an old Cantonese saying that goes exactly the same way. Perhaps my aunt had meant it that way, jokingly. But I certainly didn't feel so. I know I am not a looker. Looks wise, I'm average, and I know that there are many other gorgeous people out there. But i have other values, traits and hopefully virtues to make up for it. It's just a question of whether people are willing to go over the physical aspect and to get to know more about me.

And my life is short... If I am going to spend a whole lot of time obsessing about my looks, I don't think i have time for anything else...

If looks are more important than life... go for plastic surgery

Life is..... like a game of Monopoly

2006-09-10T13:59:00.000+08:00

Those of you who are from my era, will definitely have played Monopoly. Heck, it was one of the popular games during my primary school days. And over the years, it has spawned many different versions: the Singapore version, the Star Wars version blah blah. I'm not sure if the younger generation plays it now... but for all you know, they may be playing the electronic version (Gawd... I feel old).

You may think that Monopoly is just a simple board game... but in actual fact, it's not. A selfish game, it actually encourages children to be ruthless. To be competitive. To be the winner: Grab all the properties, the major train stations, the public utilities, do occasional charity (when you have no choice), get thrown into jail a couple of times and wa lah.. instant millionaire! My... we were certainly Bill Gates in the making.....

So why the sudden interest in Monopoly? Well, I was reading a column and it was quite interesting. Let me tell you a story... *ahem*:
The writer, a father of 2 young children, was amused when his children came up to him after school, to tell him of this fantastic game that they played that day. It was called Monopoly. The writer said nothing, and just smiled. Off they went to the toy store to get the Monopoly set and the whole family sat down to play. It wasn't long before the children learnt that their father was very familiar with the game: the writer had all the prime properties, the major train stations and what not. As the game grew on and the children squirmed more in their seats, the writer really monopolized everything. Soon, it was bedtime and the wife tucked the sulky kids in bed while the writer cleared up the game. Needless to say, he was the winner that night. But something struck him as he put everything back in the box. He was left with nothing. Everything he had won, was returned to the box.

We can work extremely hard for this lifetime. We can work till we can't differentiate night from day; we can earn loads of money; we can have the power to make people beckon to our whims and fancies; we can buy whatever we want. But ultimately, remember, at the end of it all, everything goes back to the box. You can't take anything with you. You go back as naked as you came. The physical things remain on earth.

So... why not do some good with it? You can't take it after all. It is on this note that I want to congratulate one of my frens. He did a very noble thing. At his young age, he set up a scholarship. The scholarship is named after his parents and he is parting with a percentage of his monthly pay, to help pay the university fees of one financially struggling student each term.

You might be thinking... cheh.. only one student wat... But fees for each term amount to almost S$5k. There are 3 terms each year. So my fren is parting with close to S$15k each year. It doesn't hurt that he's an investment banker now, but wouldn't you rather spend that money on yourself? He didn't. He choose to do something with it. And I am proud of his generosity. Congrats Darren!

Remember, life is not about the end destination. It's the journey. Quality of life, not quantity of life. Your life is made out of experiences. You can strive for quantity by having the best pay, the swankiest car, the most luxurious condo. But remember, others can surpass you on that, and it's a never ending race. But experiences? They're unique only to you :)

If Love were Digital, it would so much less complicated

2006-09-07T23:56:00.000+08:00

My friend said something today which made me go Hmm... I'm sure it will make many others go Hmm as well:

Fren made this comment: why is it that signals are so hard to interpret? (And by signals here, I do not mean traffic light signals.. duh.. that would have been easy to decipher). Why is it that when sometimes the opposite sex does certain things, I'm certain that he/she is interested in me, but actually he/she is not? Why can't Love be digital. Heck... it would be so much easier. It's a straightforward - Yes or No, 1 or 0.

I laughed along... and I scratched my head. I couldn't agree more. If love were digital.. so much easier. Unfortunately, love is like a time bomb waiting to explode. And that bomb, unfortunately, has many signals, and even more wires... do u cut the red one? the green one? Hey wait.. what about the blue one? You get my drift...

Have you ever been in a situation where the opposite sex treats u extremely nicely? Say, buys this for you; asks about you when your sick; remembers certain important events in ur life blah blah. You might think that the person is interested in you. But actually that person is not. It's just second nature to him/her and quite frankly, he/she may do that to others as well, just that you're not aware of it.

Look at the opposite situation: Have you ever known someone whom you hardly noticed? But if you look back, that person is always at your events, say, basketball match, birthday party etc. Where you are, they are (not necessarily stalking). That person may be interested in you, but drops no hints. The only indication, if you think hard enough, is that they are supporting you whenever they can. Unfortunately, some don't notice and can easily brush it off as friendly support.

Or how about that person who is always at loggerheads with you? Arguing over small things, picking a fight? Ironically, that person could be in interested in you as well. Just that he/she expresses it differently. That person just wants your attention and gets it in whatever way they can, even if it's a negative one.

So unfortunately, there is no clear cut answer on deciphering signals. There's no 10 year series, there's no model answer. One, unfortunately, has to look at it on a case by case basis and figure it out. If all else fails, by all means, ask up front and clear up the air. But, do be prepared if the answer you get is not what you want.

And so the time bomb explodes. You can let it destroy whatever existing relationship there was. Or, you can diffuse the situation by laughing it off. Or you can assure the person that you just needed an answer, and that everything will be fine (and u can go to a corner and lick your wounds quietly...)

Dang, I wish Love were digital... ;p

Love is......

2006-09-05T23:57:00.000+08:00

Shakespeare famously said that "All the world is a stage". If life were a stage, then, that special someone must be somewhere in there isn't it? She's somewhere in that masquerade. So what happens when u do see that special someone... and she has a partner? Alas... do u just give it all up and move on? Or do u brashly challenge the partner to a duel and winner takes all?

Are those really the only alternatives u have? I feel that there are others: Why can't one get to know that lady better? Talk to her, find out what she's really like. You don't have to go all out to snatch her away. For all you know, by talking to her, you may not like the person behind the mask. Find out her quirks. For all you know, she has chickens under that huge ballgown... And a mask is a mask, is that how she really feels? Is she really happy behind that painted smile?

And remember, the world is a stage. Acts change, characters change. Sometimes, it's just the right time and opportunity. You don't have to wait till it's the final act, where the partner finally leaves her or dies. It's always alright to extend the first dance to her. If she obliges, you're in luck! For it after all takes two to tango. If she doesn't then you back off. You can still ask for a dance at a later time.

Do you wait in the wings? You can, no doubt. But be warned that this may lead to more heartache. So know when the act has ended and move on. There are other masquerades to be at, there are other ladies in waiting.

Taking that first step is like playing poker. The higher the stakes, the more exciting it is. But, are you prepared to lose it all? Luck isn't always on your side and it is a gamble you have to take. If it is something that you have made a bet on, then you have to be prepared to play all the way. No faltering, no giving away your real intentions. Confidence is key. And even if in the end, your opponent knows your cards, and you do lose, fold your cards with a smile. Never let your opponent know that they beat you silly. Leave the table with your head held high. Should you return to the same gambling table with the same opponent, know that it is ok not to gamble. Give a smile, decline the invitation, and wish the opponent good luck. Remember, remember, confidence is key. And move on to other tables to play BlackJack! ;p

Ramblings

2006-08-27T00:57:00.000+08:00

Wow... it really has been a LooOong time since I last blogged. Beginning to feel like it's a period - comes only once a month. Ha ha.. oook... bad joke... What's been happening so far? Well... here's the ramblings for the past week... or two

~ Sweet Dreams are made of .... S$2000 mattresses~
Kokodile is hanging a real big carrot in front of me... the HUGE carrot, comes in the form of a Tempur mattress (what were u ppl thinking???). Yes... the Tempur mattress... NASA approved, super uber comfy, sink to ur shape foam mattress... for those that have tried out their pillows in departmental stores, u know how it feels.... how it sinks slowly... bliss. Well, quality sleep comes with a huge price tag, to the tune of S$2000 for a single size mattress and close to S$5000 for a queen. But, if he buys the queen size one and a single size one, he gets 10% off the queen and 20% off the single!!!! My oh my.... how much will u pay for quality sleep???

~ Picture PERFECT! ~
Just received the pictures of the studio shoot from Hippo. He did warn me that the pictures were not up to his expectations, that he didn't do much touch ups, that Moo Moo was over exposed, the girls were to dark, shadows etc. But to me, the results were pretty good! We did 2 themes that night: Colour; and Black. I preferred the colour theme. It was very nice and bright. We had a lot of fun that night and Hippo managed to capture it all. In fact, some of the best pictures were a result of us just goofing around. And Hippo managed to capture those moments. Looks like he has a knack for photographic opportunity! Many thanks Hippo! And please DO NOT be so stressed out doing it. It's an opportunity for you to experiment. And although technical aspects do play a part, sometimes its just the moment. Go with the flow! The results may be interesting...

~ Bald ambition ~
I recently realized that I have a thing for bald guys. OOOKk... before the old ah peks and neo nazi's start knocking on my door, allow me to explain (and make exceptions while I'm at it). What led to such a revelation? I was on the train on my way home when I saw this cute guy. He was bald and it was obvious he shaved it off because his front hairline was receding. Nonetheless, he still looked good. I would think he was in his late 20's, Chinese, sharp features, and dressed in a nice, crisp shirt. It didn't hurt that he was buffed up too. Mmmm.... but of course, I am assuming all this. But if the real reason that he shaved was due to the recent charity event for the Children's Cancer Foundation, I would have fallen hook, line and sinker.

Fast forward to the next day, I was queuing for my food at my regular economical rice stall when there was this guy in front of me. Similarly, looked to be in his late 20's, sharp features and dressed in a nice crisp shirt, BUT... Oh my gosh! his head was a sight for sore eyes! At the back of his head, were multiple glaring bald patches, each the size of 50 cent coins! To make it worse, there was a huge patch right in the middle and he tried to do a comb over, but it did nothing to hide the glaring red scalp. It looked as if someone ripped his hair out. He would have made El Skeletore (Nacho Libre) proud.

I mean... if you are really losing it and you've tried all means and ways to prevent or stop it, but it doesn't work, why don't you just shave it off? For guys who choose to go bald - they know they have a problem, they admit they have a problem, faced the facts, and got it done with. For those who attempt the comb over - they have a problem, know that there is no solution, but still grasp at whatever thinly concealed hope that they have. It's a psychological thing and i find guys who choose to go bald attractive. They get my respect. They have guts! And it shows that they dare to try and are not afraid of what others think. Guys who do the comb over give me the impression that they are not willing to try new things nor change. In addition, they dun seem to want to face reality...

Day 1 Hong Kong Business Trip - 10 July

2006-07-24T00:05:00.000+08:00

I have never been comfortable with air travel. This, despite having the privilege to be able to fly, on average once every 2 years, until I was 21. I don't know, but part of it is due to having that trapped feeling when you are in the cabin. Add to that the fact that you are suspended in mid-air and at the mercy of the elements, to me, it's a recipe for disaster. Newspaper reports of air crashes now and then, don't help to alleviate my fears. Given a choice, I prefer sea travel. At least, if anything happens to the vessel, I can still bail ship and hang on for rescue (of course, being eaten by sea creatures is another matter altogether *da dum, da dum, da dum*). But that's the point, at least I have a fighting chance to survive. In an air plane crash, there's no where to run... and all you CAN do, is pray for the best.

Well, that praying moment did come during my flight to Hong Kong recently. I thought I could have a nice rest and just concuss on board. After all, I did stay up to watch the Italy-France Finals for 2006 World Cup and was totally zonked out. Unfortunately, the big guy up there was bored decided to play with aeroplanes. The flight hit some major turbulance halfway through, and when the meals were served no less! The captain even had to warn all crew to stop serving and buckle up! So the plane took a few dives, which didn't really sit well with me (I hate plunging roller coaster rides by the way). The water in my glass was spilling, kids were crying, everyone was tense. To me, what made it worse was, there was no loved one with me. No family or friends whom I could hold hands with and hang on to. That would have been more comforting. Unfortunately, it had to be a business trip and my manager was most certainly NOT going to hold my hand or reassure me...

But, thankfully, we arrived in HK in one piece. I was so happy to touch SOLID ground.... manager and I had initially thought we could check-in straight to the hotel and go to Causeway Bay for some shopping. He wanted to bring me there since we didn't have the opportunity to go there the last time due to the WTO strikes. But... as per normal, fate had other plans. We made the mistake of giving our flight times to our HK office manager. As soon as we touched down and turned on our phones, sms and phone calls came streaming in. YES... we have been summoned to THE OFFICE *insert psycho music here*

We reached the office an hour later (that was about 3.30pm) and we didn't manage to check into the hotel till 10pm at night. Once at the office, it was PR with the HK colleagues, meetings, meetings and more meetings. Even dinner was a dinner meeting. It was relaxed, but still, it was talking about work. Gosh...

Later that night, we checked into the Lan Kwai Fung Hotel. Lest you think it's located in the uber popular Lan Kwai Fung clubbing district, you will be sorely disappointed. But, the hotel was extremely new (only having opened a month ago) and it was located at Kaw U Fung, which was a pretty quiet district, but a stones throw away from our office in Central. It was a boutique hotel. My initial thought was that it was modelled something like the Scarlett or Majestic in Singapore, tastefully done and only a few stories high. Well... this boutique hotel is tastefully done, but with 30 floors! Each level had only 7 rooms... and boy were they tiny! My room was 1407 (14 floor, room 7), while my manager was in 1401. At least this time they had the sense to put both of us on the same floor, not like the last time.

My room was schweet....! ha ha ha! It was modelled to have a very oriental feel with brocade runners, cushions and curtains; ceramic cups; intricate wooden carvings; paper lamps; nice dark wood furniture; brass lion knockers etc. It even had a seating area at the windows. The washroom wasn't spared of the oriental touches either: the towel rack was actually a bamboo ladder, the tiles shiny black; the amenities stored in a nice wooden carved box. Thankfully, the commode wasn't anything like the ancient Chinese toilets, so no, there was no huge ceramic bowl with water and pail in it :P heh heh. Overall it was nicely done. However, here comes the irony of it all: it was full of mirrors! The whole back panel of the bed was mirrored and the surface of the wardobe was mirrored. Serious clash of Feng Shui here. And the entrance to the washroom was puny. I imagined a fat American having trouble wriggling his way through. And quite frankly, the entrance to the washroom could actually be mistaken as the wardrobe door. Yup. It was THAT narrow. The bathtub was 2/3 the size of a normal bath tub. And the room was friggin cold! This despite the thermostat being set at low at 24C.

Took a nice hot shower. The shower actually had a Grohe Rainbath shower head (located at the top, so it makes u feel like u were bathing in the rain). But i couldn't figure out how to work the damn thing. Nonetheless, packed up for the next day's outdoor activity, set my alarm clock for 7.30am. Turned on the TV (LCD and hung on the wall!) and crashed.... zzzz

Song of the moment - Take That, Everything Changes

2006-06-15T00:40:00.000+08:00

I was on the train on the way home. As I started to plug in and zone out, I stared blankly at the guy opposite me. What began as a casual glance soon became a quizzical stare. Am I looking right? This guy has a slight resemblance to my Primary School class mate! But.. but.. but.. NO WAY!

If my eyesight, memory and gut feel serve me well and if this guy really is my classmate from primary school... woah... he has changed.. a lot! Let's call him Mr J. Mr J in primary school, was a total wuss... he would cry at the slightest thing; was very quiet; to a certain extent, was bullied a fair bit; somewhat on the feminine side; hung out more with females; quite scrawny... yeah... But the guy sitting in front of me... 360 degree change! He's beefed up, tanned, wearing beach wear, with a funky hair do. And hanging out with a guy friend!

Ok, some of you must be wondering... so where's does this resemblance come in? Well, it's his eyes and face shape. They haven't changed (though there is the addition of some acne). I did try to steal a few more glances at him just to be sure, but I didn't want to try to make it too obvious.

Wow... how people change... it's really fascinating. But I guess the biggest change is comparing urself during primary school and right now (ok.. if you are a secondary school student now.. it doesn't count! Wait a few more years). Cos during primary school, one would be still naive... childish even (but I have to admit, primary school students these days are growing up way too fast). I remember those " I dun friend you" moments... and then the next moment, you were the best of friends! Ha ha.. how amusing. In Primary school, one would be more carefree, less responsibilities, less corrupted by life, impressionable. Compare that to now: stress level has gone up quite a few notches; life gets complicated; there are these species called guys; there is this thing called image; you are judged as an adult; you have responsibilities; you're jaded... sigh... 101 questions with no answers

I wonder just how much have i changed since primary school? I know I definitely have, but for better or worse? Did i become meaner? Have I become more street wise? More cynical? hmmm.... time to ask certain people around me that question...

I want to be (insert profession here) when I grow up

2006-06-13T16:49:00.000+08:00

Recently I was intrigued with a newspaper report. They are going to start a course which teaches students how to deal. Deal as in cards. Shuffling, gambling etc. It's not a couselling course where they deal with issues (though that would be pretty interesting too). It costs S$4500 for a 6 month (or 12 month, can't remember) course where they teach you everything there is to know about working in a casino. Although you end up with a certification, they do stop short of guaranteeing a place in the soon to be open Integrated Resort (IR).

I thought it was pretty cool. I have always been attracted to the unconventional. Unfortunately, I guess I am born in the wrong place. Being in PRACTICAL Singapore, I have been told many a time that "no, don't do this, don't do that, cannot survive in Singapore, the playing field is too small" blah blah blah... god.. how tiresome

Once upon a time, I had wanted to be a marine biologist. Yeah. Cool job. Swim with sharks and other sea animals. Learn how to preserve their presence for the next generation. Do something that's meaningful and for a good cause, yet at the same time, enjoy it: sun, sand, sea. But that went kaputt because studying the subject meant that i had to go overseas. Add to that the chances that i will most likely not even return (because to be in that line, Singapore just didn't cut it... unless u see urself working in the underwater World all your life). My parents were dead against that (yes yes... havoc daughter... ). So that dream sunk to the bottom of the sea... *blub blub blub*. And up to this day, they are against me taking diving lessons...

Bartending was another passion. I like the idea of experimenting: mixing different poisons to get something unique. Of course the fun part was testing it out. Not to mention the different pretty hues and techniques used (eg frosting the glass, getting the layers etc). I also thought it was pretty cool to do all those juggling and throwing of bottles. And to me, bartending will let you meet people from all walks of life. And to a certain extent, what you make, helps to make them happy (get high, forget stuff etc). That's public service! I remember going to the library to borrow books on different cocktails, their recipes and how to make them and what kind of glasses to serve them in. I even bought the cocktail shaker and measuring apparatus. Of course I stopped short of trying to do the juggling act. I think Dad won't be too pleased to find missing bottles of Smirnoff vodka gone from his liquor stash... in one day... and it would be a real waste!

But of course, the job got family disapproval. They didn't think it was a decent profession for a female; they felt that the working environment was seedy; they felt that the working hours were unhealthy; they felt the pay was meagre; they felt that there was no future prospects... In one word: NO. Sigh... so with that, bartending went down the drain and I have to be content with nursing my drinks instead of making them.

Then came the aspiration to be a DJ. I like the idea of playing music and talking on air. Of course, that fell short as well. Dad felt that there were no prospects and the playing field wasn't big enough. I guess he didn't see the possibility that as a DJ you could be host as well, or even start your own events company. Look at the likes of Joe Augustin, Hamish Brown, The Flying Dutchmen and even Desmond Koh. They all have very successful careers, and it's still growing...

I guess I haven't found a passion that has made me want to go all out for it. To defy even my parents and prove them wrong. I know they are protective and have my best interests. But sometimes I ponder over the " What If" factor... what if I had taken that route? Would I be more successful now? Would I be enjoying what I am doing? At least there's a purpose. Right now, it's more for the daily dole... Nothing else. There's a certain part of me that regrets studying marketing. The safest route. The one which will ensure some form of employability. Was that really my calling? Am I enjoying it? Or is it really just a skill set to prepare for retirement?

What if I had gone overseas to study? I'm pretty sure things would be different. My life would be different. In fact, it may have been better and not worse. Perhaps, ironically, I would have found the true meaning of family ties and become closer instead of being detached. Perhaps I would learn more about being thrifty, or maybe be even more independent. And what makes them so sure that I will end up with an ang moh??? For all you know, I will be more greatful for local guys.. Jeez...

Oh well... it's time to start looking for that undiscovered passion... before it's really too late.

Death becomes her

2006-06-09T00:43:00.000+08:00

Had a really weird dream last night. Some would classify it as morbid. Others, when told, would probably give me that look, suggesting that I'm not a filial daughter. Oh well.. here goes.

I dreamt that I was at my Mum's wake. Cause of death unknown, but the dream started with her wake. It seemed to be held at a funeral parlour. But the weirdest thing was, the coffin was right smack in the centre. In addition, it was covered with hoardings (like those used at the perimeters of construction sites) in the shape of a circle. There was of course, an opening. with an alter, to pay one's respects.

That's not it. What takes the cake is, it's a really old coffin. The kind where the chinese vampires (jiang1 shi1) seem to favour so much. Scary part? It wasn't closed. Instead, it was filled to the brim with rice (uncooked). You can't see the corpse. But you can see my Mum's right hand sticking out of the mountain of rice, clenching 3 joss sticks in between her fingers, which were lit.

What followed was me visiting other peoples' wakes. People whom I don't even know. Weird. But the one involving my mum kinda made me go cold. What was it supposed to mean? In the dream, a felt a sense of relief because she went before my father. Had it been the other way, I'm pretty sure it's going to be a very complicated issue. I saw my Dad in the dream too. And we were wearing bright orange polo shirts (weird yes?)

Was telling my manager about it and he was saying that dreaming of death does not necessarily come with a negative meaning. Businessmen are known to buy small coffins and placing them on their tables as it's supposed to bring good luck... right....

So am I supposed to have a win fall soon? I dunno... World Cup season is coming ya know....

A time to remember

2006-06-03T19:45:00.000+08:00

Death has been on my mind recently. Kame's friend just died in an accident. Clearly, Kame was quite shocked by her sudden departure. That friend was after all, only 28. Still young and full of vibrancy. And Kame just talked to her recently. A life, just snuffed out like that.

Ah... death... It brought me back to a friend who passed away just as suddenly when I was in Secondary school. I was very close to this boy. He was my next door neighbour at my old place and we spent a lot of time together. We went to the same school and took the same bus to school and back. We played basketball in our free time. I still remember an incident where he accidently hit me with a basketball. The knock on the head was painful and I just sat there crying. I guess he felt bad. And he actually took the basketball, offered it to me, and told me to hit him on the head with it. And surprisingly, i took up the offer. Yeah... I took up the offer... Gosh... the knock on the head must have been hard, for me to do that. Looking back, it's just plain amusing.

He was also a regular over at my house, especially on Saturdays. Him, my bro and myself would battle it out over our Famicom sets. We also had the company of Hyena and Black Adder. Many months were spent playing Mario, Street Fighter, Legend of Mana and Zelda. He came over so often, that my parents always called him "the boy next door". We read the same comics and exchanged them as well. Needless to say, Slam Dunk was our bible at that time.

The turning point came in Secondary 3. Prior to that, we weren't in the same class, he was just next door to my class. But in Sec 3, his class and mine merged for Chinese lessons. But it was also in Sec 3 that he moved out from the house. I guess with only his Mum and him in such a big house (his dad's always in Malaysia), they decided to move to somewhere smaller? Nonetheless, we still met up in school, played and talked, albeit our time together was lesser.

His death happened in Sec 4 during the 1 week September holidays. It was announced over morning assembly when school started and the news just took the wind out of me. I can remember the words clearly till this day: "He passed away suddenly"... Passed away suddenly? What the hell? Denial set in. It's got to be a joke. Wrong person. I just saw him earlier that week in school for remedial class. What do you mean he's dead? Reality hit only in Chinese class. He didn't appear at his seat. Staring into the empty space, that was when I really knew he was gone. Really really gone. I remember going home that day after a dazed day at school, locking myself up in my room and just crying.

The rest of the week didn't fare any better. The search for answers began. But no one could provide the answers. I didn't know his new address to ask his Mum. The school only said that he suddenly had an onset of high fever. He was sent to hospital but the doctor couldn't diagnose what it was. And he died, just like that. That sliver of information didn't provide the closure that I needed. Matter were made worse by the reaction of other classmates. They didn't seem to be too concerned about his death. Me on the other hand was still struggling to come to terms with it. My friends didn't seem to understand why it hit me so hard.

Did I like him? Maybe I did. He did have his irritating moments which i couldn't take. But nonetheless, he was still a friend. A companion. Someone who meant a lot to me. I didn't know why he had to die so young? Till this day, I wonder, what would he have been if he had been given the chance to live? What would he be like now? Would we have grown closer or further apart? But of course.. these would just remain as questions, cos there is no one who can answer me.

As the saying goes, you just dun appreciate them till they are gone, be it your parents or your friends that you take for granted... petty arguements, misunderstandings and miscommunications just add to it. Sometimes, you have to just dive deeper into things and take the first step to find out what's wrong. Look at the bigger picture. Could I have spent more time with him? I could have but I didn't. Did I notice that there may have been something wrong with him when I met him? I didn't notice. Could I have prevented his death? Maybe I could if I had been more vigilant.

Rest in peace Junxian. I miss you.

Song for the day - Madonna: Holiday

2006-06-01T00:51:00.000+08:00

Friends are like Tour Agents. They can give you the cheapest tickets, show you brochures of holiday destinations, give you the best packages, warn you about the perils of each destination, etc. But ultimately, you are the one who chooses the holiday: which destination, how you are going to get there and what you are going to do. It's your life, your holiday, your adventure!

Ah.. inspirational moments....

Song for the day - Mansun: Negative

2006-05-30T01:04:00.000+08:00

Today, reality sunk in that my ipod was gone. Travelling to work was suddenly quiet... way too quiet. Usually, I would just plug in and zone out. But without it, now I had to just stare blankly into space.

Over the weekend, my ipod was nicked. It happened at crowded Tampines Mall. I don't even know when it happened or even realised it was gone. Only when I wanted to pay my friend for dinner, opening my bag flap, I realized that it wasn't at it's usual place. Thinking it may have dropped out, we went back to the restaurant to look for it. But the staff said that they didn't see it. Thinking back hard, there was a point where I realized that my bag flap was open. But at that point in time, I brushed it off as my hand accidently hitting it open. Oh well... got no one but myself to blame for being careless. Kame was feeling guilty and offered to pay a bit for it. I was amused that she would think that way. It wasn't even her fault in the first place!

Told my manager about it and he concluded that I was already targeted from the very start. If not, why would my wallet still be around? Well, looking on the bright side, the ipod being nicked would have been better than having my phone or wallet taken. The hassle of remembering all the phone numbers/ replacing all the IC and driving license would have been worse. And since i bought it, it didn't have any sentimental value. If it were a gift, or if I had bought it to commermorate something, I believe I would have reacted very differently. Now, it's just money gone down the drain... and silent travelling days ahead. Nothing which I can't handle.

Sigh.. but still they say negativity breeds negativity. The negative vibes over the weekend seeped to the start of the week. Today was a very messed up day. It began with me waking up and then realising that I did not have the key to my office. Yup. Over the weekend, I gave it to one of my promoters so that she can do some work on my com. And I forgot to get it back. So i had to wait for my manager to get to office. Wasn't so bad. Managed to sneak an extra few minutes of sleep under the sheets.

Work, was as usual, last minute. There are deadlines for me to meet, no doubt. But unfortunately the bottle neck ain't with me but Ops. And this product is supposed to be launched this weekend... right... Dun you just hate it when u have a deadline but others seem oblivious to it? They think their deadline is on Fri. Once they finish their necessary work on Fri, they go for a nice cold pint of beer at Lan Kwai Fung. Ah Nia here in Singapore will then be working her head off.

Was also crabby to some people whom I usually will be nice to on good days. Was at the ATM when this old lady starting asking me for S$1. Usually, I would have obliged (even if she could've been lying). But looking at the ATM and realising that I only have S$20 bucks left in it... I ignored her. I gave flyer distributors/ questionnaire givers/ promoters a look that interpreted as "come up to me and you will die" look. Most stayed clear. Good idea. Even this customer who keeps calling my phone, I lost my patience with him today. I transferred him over to my manager to handle or I would seriously have smashed my office phone to bits (for the record, his request today was totally ridiculous).

Had to go down to Little India to do some translation work. That meant more waiting only. While waiting, some African guy tried to pick me up. Sigh, what's is it about me that attracts the wrong guys, especially the dark skin variety? No offence, but after a really bad relationship with one, the stigma still remains. I just gave him an icy stare. More weirdos ensued: was at Bedok collecting keys from my promoter when this group of guys approached us, asking how to get to Old Changi Hospital. And the best part? I was at the Old Changi Cinema. Sigh.. that group seriously needs to know the difference between Cinema and Hospital. (Side note to Kame: congratulations, I found people who are worse directional idiots than u. So next time you are lost, dun worry. At least u can identify landmarks than these goons). Oh, I failed to mention, this group was Indian.

Urgh... i pray tomolo will be a better day.

Frustrated Human... BAH!!!!

2006-05-29T01:26:00.000+08:00

Things have been pretty frustrating for me recently. And it is all due to human nature. Yes.. humans.. us.. homosapians... the parasites of earth.. Sigh.. why can't humans be deciphered easily? Or rather, why must life be so complicated? If the almighty one figured that we needed challenge, well congratulations... Man (or woman) must be your finest, most complicated creation.. and it must have been some job cos you had to rest on the 7th day (he created so many things from Day 1 to Day 5.. but he didn't rest in between. Only when he created man on the 6th Day, he just had to rest on the 7th. Must be some tough job).

Sigh.. human nature... The questions spinning around in my head day after day...
1) Why ask for my opinion when u already have your fixed set of ideas? Or rather, you have your answer in your head, so you only need someone else to give an affirmation? And when the answer is not what you want to hear u ignore me? If that's the case, I won't be dispensing advice in the future. At least not to u. I hate being ignored.

2) Why avoid? Why the uneasiness? Why the cold shoulder? Why ignore? Why the distance? Why the gap?

3) Why fight? Especially when it is not worth fighting for? Does it really have to be this way? Is there really no other way to handle it? After so many years, you mean it's down the drain? Just like that? Just because of a misunderstanding? Because of miscommunication?

4) Why procrastinate? When things have to be done, they have to be done. Why do u put it off? Why do you choose not to handle it? Why do u leave it hanging? I am seriously not the best person to be talking about this subject. But when it means a lot to me, I act. Why didn't you? Time is not right or more time is needed? Or u simply can't be bothered?

Sigh.. just too much negativity here. Its times like these that I wish there was this enclave I can run to and disappear from it all.

WET WET WET!!!

2006-04-16T23:38:00.000+08:00

Today certainly was a splashing good time... It's the Burmese and Thai New Year today (not to mention Easter Sunday, Tamil new Year and Sikh New Year a couple of days ago), the traditional puo1 shui3 jie2 (literally translated means throw water festival). And i got drenched while at work....

Lucky Plaza was fairly quiet. But the crowd at Peninsula was in a very festive mood... with shows at the atrium, free food for all (at nearly every shop! free noodles and dessert.. queues were snaking everywhere) level after level was packed to the brim! u really had to jiggle through. Looks like almost the whole Burmese population in SG was there!

Went to my distributors shop and started to help out. And they started splashing me!! People whom I dun even know too! Didn't help that I was dressed in a yellow polo... prime target. And being female made it even more so... I tried to run in the initial few times but then realized that it was very rude. After all the splashing was meant to take away the bad stuff of old... so.. darn... just get splashed lor... sigh. But it was in the name of good fun. And I am very thankful that the water they used was Ice Mountain bottled water! Phew, not some long kang zui. Half the time I was pretty worried that they were going to drizzle the dessert down my back!

My distributor was giving away free Burmese dessert. Some sort of milky concoction of ice, green jelly (ala the kind in chendol) and sago with pieces of bread in it. To put it more nicely... the way they made it, it AVA were here... I'm pretty sure they will get fined... ha ha.. imagine... the plastic containers with rollers? They were using that to mix up the concoction... I don't even want to imagine what the plastic container was used for in the first place... when they offered me, I declined politely saying that I haven't had lunch yet (which was the truth)

And to make it even worse... it rained heavily in the evening. It really poured. Talk about "Pour" shui3 jie2. Needless to say Little India was a washout and i got more drenched...

Sigh... talk about a wet sunday... AH CHOO!!!!!

Pray pray pray

2006-04-14T21:57:00.000+08:00

Today was a weird day. For some reason or another, I was compelled to walk into the Thian Hock Kheng temple (Singapore's oldest temple). I have passed by this temple countless times, every week without fail. Largely due to the fact that I have to walk to my printers and it is along the way.

Usually, I avoid it due to the crowd: camera-toting tourists in large groups snapping away; their loud mouthed tour guides talking very loudly so that they can be heard among the tourist chatter and traffic on the roads; pesky school children who are there because of their heritage tour... but today, it was deviod of all these. And when i walked passed, a sense of peacefulness washed over me. For the first time, the temple actually looked inviting. So taking a break from the hustle and bustle of work, I stepped in (ok fine.. I decided to chiak zua).

I really don't know why I actually gave it a second look. Maybe it's because I was recently a tourist myself (in Chiang Mai). Maybe because of the recent spate of events that made me want to get some assurance? The last time I went there, it was due to a secondary school heritage tour. The place has become more spartan. Lesser idols around. They have repainted the place, especially the roofs. They are now gilded in gold paint. The roof of the Thian Hock Kheng is after all well known to be built without a single nail (using only interconnecting beams). And if I am not mistaken, there used to be a pond where you can throw coins at bells. If you hit the bell, your wish could come true. Sadly it's no longer there. I was also looking for 2 old idols. The last time I was there, they were the last surviving evidence of the existance of opium in Singapore. People in the past smeared the mouths of these idols with opium in a bid to get a "good report" to the jade emperor.

Since I was there, I decided to pray. I prayed for the safety for my two close friends who have just left for Taiwan. That was pretty apt, because in the past, denizens went to the Thian Hock Kheng to pray for safe passage over the seas. When they (or their loved ones) were travelling to (or out of) Singapore, they made offerings to the deities. If they or their loved ones arrived safe, they will return to pay tribute to the temple. It was the most important temple for sailors then. I wonder if it still works for air travel? Ha ha

I also prayed for my other 3 close friends for a "smooth sailing" few weeks ahead. 2 had just gotten into car accidents. Kokodile's one was not so bad. But it's complicated because the opposition was drink driving and no insurance company was willing to take the case. The only alternative was to take it to the courts. King Kong's was pretty bad, with the whole rear being smashed in. I'm pretty sure that the damage would be in the thousands. I also prayed for more luck for King Kong. Maybe he might get lucky and get a new car :). And lastly for Kame, for her to find a job that she is happy in.

Should everything be smooth sailing for these people, I shall keep my promise and return to give thanks!

Chiang Mai Escapade! - 28 Mar 4th Day

2006-04-04T14:30:00.000+08:00

Today is the final day of our Chiang Mai trip. The only major event would be the cooking class in the morning. Thankfully, this time pickup was more decent, 10am local time. That gave DC and I enough time to recover from yesterday's rafting. With arms and legs aching we hobbled down for our final Continental breakfast. Their special for the day was some curry chicken noodles. You do it yourself by putting the amount of noodles (a thinner mee pok version) you want in a bowl, put in all the condiments (onions, garlic, lime, sugar, fish sauce, crackers, coconut milk etc) and you pour the curry over. Simple but oh so good!!! Though a tad oily, the curry was fragrant, the spiciness just right, and the taste just out of this world. Nothing like the kind of the curries back home in SG. Maybe it had something to do being simmered in earthern pots? Whatever it was, I went back for 3 servings!!! yum yum!

Pick up was slightly higher class this time. It came in the form of a Honda CRV. There was already 2 passengers in the car, both caucasian. One was called Tamara, the other called John. Both were Americans teaching in schools for families of employees of US oil companies based in Saudi Arabia. Tamara was a nice person. John was not. In fact, he was an obnoxious arrogant American. I was really wondering how they get along... (they are not a couple btw)

A bit of background and info on John:
he's a divorcee with a son who is in high school (so his age is about early 40 I guess?). Teaches music in school. He talks in a really condescending tone and to top it all off his mannerisms are a bit... "broken wristed" (I was wondering if his son was an accident.. like in TransAmerica). He talks like this: "Oh... so you're from Singapore? Where's that?" In fact.. he looks a little like George Bush.. He's thin, probably about 6"2, has light brown hair that's tied up in a pony tail.

A bit of background and info on Tamara:
Teaches English in the school. Has taught in other countries like Sudan and Mexico. A bit on the plump side, she's my height with hazel eyes and dark brown hair. Has a friendly tone of voice.

Upon introduction, John was asking where we are from. We said Singapore. He asked where's that and we told him. Then he commented that we spoke good English. I replied saying that most people speak English in Singapore. My reply wasn't meant to be a barb, I was just speaking the honest to goodness truth! But I think he took it that I was making a sarcastic remark and his replies to me took a caustic turn after. oh well... let's just say that I spoke really little to him after.

We reached our cooking school, Kao Hom after an uncomfortable 40 mins. The place was really nice! Think cottage style with only one level, terracotta roof, granite path ways, stone carvings, lush greenery, it's own mini vegetable garden... Beautiful. There was a long table in the garden for outdoor eating too. It had an outdoor patio with multiple cooking stations around the perimeter (for us to cook) and an island in the centre (so that our teacher can demonstrate). Indoors, there were 6 long benches (3 by 2). Each bench could sit 2 and had a sink in the centre (with handwash no less). All the necessary equipment was stored under the benches in shelves. It brought me back to my Home Economics days. But of course this was more cosy!

Kao Hom means Fragrant Rice and is one of the cooking schools recommended by Lonely Planet. And our teacher was Ms Kanchana Ubolsootvanich (we called her Tim for short). Looking to be in her early 40's, she's a real sprite! She also has her own restaurant which she tends to as well. So her day begins early at 4am to do marketing for her restaurant, go to the restaurant to cook up some of the dishes, then return to the cooking school to start teaching from 11 - 7pm (there are 2 classes per day).. and this includes handling enquiries, arranging transport for the guests etc. I looked at this petite lady in wonder where she gets all her energy from. But Tim was nice and friendly, not to mention encouraging!

So our lessons began for the 8 of us: Tamara, John, the Williams family, DC and I. The Williams family consisted mum and dad and their 2 daughters. Similar to Tamara & John, the Williams family are based in Dubai by the Canadian government to work in a Canadian built hospital there.

So the menu for the day was (in order of appearance - by appearance, I mean when they are served... not how ugly they look. Gimme some credit here!!!)
1) Corn fritters with cucumber relish.
2) Fried fish with mango salad
3) Phad Thai
4) Pumpkin custard

With Tim's instructions, it was pretty easy to do up the dishes. All the ingredients were already prepared, to the exact measurement. All you had to do was to put it in in sequence. And there were many helpers at hand to help out as well. They cleared away the saucers once we were done with them and helped us to keep in check the heat etc, stirring the food occasionally. Piece of cake! And after we did each dish, we went to the long table in the garden to sit and sample what we made. Thankfully, the food I cooked came out decent and edible! If not it would have been a very pathetic lunch. I was particularly proud of my mango salad (Tim had commented that mine looked very professional and presentable). Though my Phad Thai came out slightly burnt because my heat setting was too high... damn, it still tasted ok, nonetheless. And we washed it down with nice ice cold lemon tea. And did I mention that the coffee was fantastic? I found it hard to believe that it was instant coffee!!!

here's the website for those interested: www.kaohom.com

But more importantly, the cooking lesson gave a sliver of insight to cultures. I somehow felt that the Americans were very competitive. Tamara and John did things very very quickly. They were always ahead. But it really made me wonder if they are really appreciating the whole thing? This wasn't a competition! As for the Canadian Williams family, they took things at a slower pace. Each parent was working with a daughter and they were very encouraging. They prodded their daughters on, reminding them to add what etc. 2 countries so close to each other but yet so different. But perhaps it was an unfair comparison?

Well, the cooking lesson ended and once again the 4 of us were packed in the Honda CRV while the Williams family were in another vehicle headed to the Airport. And once again the uncomfortable silence ensued. But yet the ride back was not without certain entertainment from dear John:

Act 1: When we were on our way to Kao Hom, near the entrance was a street football compound. At the nets, a dog was tangled there and it looked as if it was trying it's best to get out, trashing about and barking. Dear John was whining, "Oh the poor dog.. whose is it? Why is it tangled? it looks hurt" blah blah blah. But since we had to keep time, we went ahead. On the way out the same dog was still there. This time, it looked worn out from struggling and just lay there, seemingly exhausted. Dear John went "On no, we really have to save it! It looks like it's dead! It looks like it's suffocated! The poor thing" blah blah blah. So our driver stopped the car and we got out, attempting to do OPERATION TANGLED DOG, with Dear John leading. But guess what? As we were approaching the dog, it got up and started growling. And I do mean GROWLING. And that is when dear john chickened out. "Oh, it doesn't seem friendly, and it looks ok and doesn't need our help. Let's go back to the car".... Wuss. So we bundled back into the car again.

Act 2: As we were travelling about in Chiang Mai, dear John suddenly made this comment: "Who is this guy I keep seeing around the whole place in these huge posters?". This "guy" that dear john was mentioning, so happens to be the KING of Thailand (yes.. do I hear "OH MY GOD???"). As if the silence in the car wasn't oppressive enough, dear john's comment just made it more suffocating. After a period of awkward silence, DC spoke up and said that that "guy" was the King of Thailand. And dear john's response? "Oh... he's the king? He looks like a regular joe to me". The silence in the car became so thick that if I had a knife, I could've cut right through it. And I was imagining the headlines in the papers the next day: Woman driver kills foreigners who slander Thai King. Oh God...The Thai's love their King and revere him at an even higher level than god! And just the day before, the headlines told of a mad man who was clubbered to death because he wrecked the famous Erawan Shrine in Bangkok... Yeah... I just wanted to kick dear john out of the car.. while it was till moving!

Thankfully, we managed to reach our hotel in one piece. Since we had 2 hours to spare before checkout, we decided to indulge in a massage. This time, no Thai massage. Instead, we decided to get ourselves slathered in coffee! Yeah.. it was a coffee scrub massage treatment. The coffee smelled so good, I was so tempted to lick some off myself. And to a certain extent, I felt like some sort of... cake.. ha ha ha. But that was the final pampering we were going to get. Back in SG, such a treatment will set you back S$50 - S$100, depending on where you went. But in Chiang Mai, it was less than S$30. Final moments of being treated like a king..

For the next few hours, details were a bit hazy. Largely because we had to checkout in 10 mins. AND we discovered that we still had Baileys in the fridge. So... DC and I finished the last 1/3 of Baileys in 5 mins flat! Oh my god.. I dun think I have drunk anything that fast before. Hence.. everything became hazy after that. Ha ha ha. I vaguely remember checking out, then leaving our belongings with the bellboy. And I believe that we ventured to a nearby shop to buy a cheap haversack for DC. I left the bargaining to DC since I was feeling really zoned out. Unfortunately, he can't haggle... so I don't think he got the best deal. Dinner was at a nearby hotel restaurant since we didn't have enough cash (so had to pay by credit). I didn't eat much and the food really wasn't fantastic (it was german food cooked by Thais). Pretty soon, we were back at our hotel, waiting for the airport pickup.

The trip to the airport kinda sobered me up a bit. Our flight was supposed to be at 10.30pm. When we got to the airport, we were astounded by the length of the queue! There were 2 rows and both had snaked to the entrance of the airport! But we didn't have much of a choice. That wasn't the punchline. As we were finally inching closer to the counter, I was feeling elated, thinking that I could be on the plane and zonked out soon. Then I noticed a sign on the counter. I rubbed my eyes and wished it was a bad dream. The sign read: 10.30pm flight delayed till 11.50pm... I was just struck speechless.

If it had been Changi airport, maybe I wouldn't have minded so much. But the airport in Chiang Mai had NOTHING open at 10.30pm. No Shopping, No entertainment, No Bars... zip.. nada.. So the only thing was to sit, twiddle your thumbs and wait. Ours wasn't the only flight delayed: another Thai Airways flight was delayed due to bad weather in Bangkok. So the whole waiting area was packed, people complaining, snoring, irate kids screaming, frazzled parents also screaming. Then when the plane finally landed at 12 midnight, the kiasu syndrome kicked in once again. I very nearly just wanted to mao some people...

The flight back wasn't smooth. It had quite a few turbulent moments. By the time we reached back Singapore, it was already past 4am. The novelty of being in the new Budget terminal didn't even appeal to me. I just wanted to get back home. Clearing immigration was pretty fast. And seeing that DFS was open, i decided to grab a few duty free liquor. Unfortunately, so did many others. And there was only 1 person on duty. Needless to say, even more waiting was in order. Many gave up and left the shop. But I surprisingly perservered. Maybe because I was just resigned to the fact that since it is already this late, why not even later? Or it could be the alcohol.. heh heh.

Then there was the fact that the budget terminal didn't have a POSB atm at all. DC and I were penniless!!! Oh gosh. The nearest ATM was at Terminal 2. Fed up, I just decided to try my luck and asked the taxi uncles if they accepted credit card. Thankfully, 2 taxi's did and DC and I went our seperate ways.

I finally reached home at 6am in the morning! Needless to say.. i just crashed in a heap on my bed. Zzzzz......

And that concludes my Chiang Mai adventures :)

Chiang Mai Escapade! - 27 Mar 3rd Day

2006-04-03T17:07:00.000+08:00

Supermodel Linda Evangelista was once quoted that she "would not get out of bed for less than 10,000 pounds". Well, mine's a lot cheaper. I would get out of bed to the tune of 1,600 Baht (S$70). Ha ha ha.. dang... I'm so cheap! But today (to me) was the best day of the whole trip. And If I had to do it again, I definitely would.

Considering that we had to be up at 7am for breakfast, it definitely was a mean feat for DC to drag me out of bed. I was literally kicking and screaming and the poor guy bore the brunt of it.. a true soldier... ha ha ha. Once I was somewhat awake, we went down for breakfast.

Pick up was at 8 am and they were slightly late. It arrived at about 8.30am in the form of a beat up minivan with the words "Chiang Mai Adventures" on the sides. We were greeted by Win, our guide for the day and the driver (I didn't get his name). Already in the van were 2 passengers: Derek and Era. Derek is a Singaporean Eurasian and Era, his Indonesian girlfriend. Originally from Surabaya, she met him when she was in Bali. They have been together since and she follows him wherever he goes. Derek is outstationed most of the time as his company does time sharing. More recently, he is stationed in Goa and previously in Bali. These 2 were certainly an animated pair! We were chatting for most of the way and we all agreed that it was a good idea to have switched the tour date to Mon. Both of us had initially wanted to go for the Sunday tour, but backed out when we heard that there were 35 people already signed up!!! We further heaved a sigh of relief when Win told us that it was a group of Singaporean students... Talk about a good call....

After travelling for 30 mins, we reached the elephant camp. If I remember correctly, it's called Mataman elephant camp (DC had a field day calling it metalman). We were there for our 1hr elephant ride! I'm not sure if our elephant is a male or female (may be female as it had no tusks). Height wise, it was about 4m tall? The mahout (the caretaker) sat on the elephant's head, while we got on the saddle. And mind you, the saddle was just this wooden seat with foam cushioning (thank god!), that was held together by ropes going under the elephant and around it's tail. The underside of the saddle was stuffed with gunny sacks to further hold it in place. The berthing areas were about 1 story above ground and you boarded the elephant by stepping on it's neck (I wonder if the elephants feel pain when Japanese tourists in stilettos step on them?). Once you are in your seat, they close the bar of the saddle (think roller coaster rides with only a bar in front) with a flimsy lock and you are ready for your ride!! Woo Hoo!

It took some time getting used to the elephant. Sitting on it makes you feel like you were on a ship. As the elephant lumbered across the hilly terrian, you would sway from side to side. How bad was it? Let's say that DC couldn't even get a decent picture while on the elephant. He commented that no amount of steady shot can save the pictures. When the elephant went down slopey terrian, you better hang on tight. The feeling one gets is like you are going to slip out of the seat (remember, the safety belt is only a bar. Reed thin people, beware)!

And there were certain times that the elephant misbehaved. At times, it got distracted with leftover sugarcanes in the undergrowth; refused to move the right direction; moved too slowly etc. That's when the mahout starts beating the elephant with his tool: a wooden stick with a sickle like attachment at the end. He would hit the elephant on the head and from where I was, I could see lacerations and punctures both old and new on the elephants skin. This must be a really naughty fella! There was a point of time where the mahout hit the elephant and it started trumpeting!! Oh my god! I really panicked! I wasn't worried about being flung off the elephant. I was more worried about being flung off the elephant, elephant loses it's footing and it's entire 1 tonne weight comes crashing down on me from the slope... shudder. Thankfully my fears were unfounded. The elephant, though being big, was extremely surefooted. At any one point, there was always 3 feet on the ground. After all, Hannibal did use elephants to cross the Alps, which were sheeted in ice!

But our elephant wasn't as naughty as Derek's and Era's. At a rest point, our mahout had alighted to get a drink of water. Our elephant was happily munching on the bananas and sugarcanes we had bought for it. Derek's elephant came over and started snatching our elephant's bananas! A mini scuffle ensued until both mahouts came. Needless to say that Derek's elephant got a sound beating... we on the other hand were frozen with panic (remember the mahout wasn't there...)

But if there is one thing I did regret not doing, was to climb onto the elephant and sit at the nook of it's neck. The mahout had offered us to join him. DC refused flatly. I was unsure, especially since I wasn't sure what the terrain further up would be like. But it proved to be the something I would later regret as we soon reached back the elephant camp. Sigh. Should've just seized the moment. Overall, the ride was fun but it was a pity that the weather was hot an hazy so one couldn't fully appreciate the countryside. We bought a souvenir photograph made from recycled elephant dung for 200 Baht! Derek joked that we were really buying crap! Ha ha. but hey.. proceeds fo towards elephant conservation so it's dung for a good cause!

Our next stop was at the start of the hill at a small village. That was the point where we start cycling 10km up to the next village to white water raft down. Win and the driver unloaded the bicycles from the top of the minivan, gave us cute little yellow helmets and a rough crash course on how to change the gears etc. Well, we were all enthusiastic and started pedalling off. In my mind, I was thinking: 10 km shouldn't be a major problem.. after all, just a few weeks before, we were cycling at Pulau Ubin... boy was i wrong. The terrain here was 10 times more hilly than Ubin. And with little cloud cover and tree shade, we were all soon heaving and panting. And when vans or scooters zoomed by, they left a lot of dust in their wake. And that was what did DC in. He was the first to give up. So he got bundled off into the van in airconditioned comfort while the rest of us continued on.

The next to give up was Derek. After conquering a hill, he declared that he couldn't take it. And since he was stopping, Era decided to stop as well. I was like... what the hell?? You call urselves men (I'm referring to DC and Derek)??? Although i had wanted to see how far I could go, it wouldn't be fair for 3 people to be waiting for me. So I stopped as well. Darn. Later learned from Win that most asians stopped at the 2km mark (about where we stopped) while the Europeans continued the whole 10km! Aiyoh.. so pai seh...

We reached the next village and we were served lunch! Lunch was quite sumptous: Salad (with dressing no less); fried chicken; fried spring rolls; fruits; coffee and tea! wow! But we all didn't eat much knowing that we will be exerting a lot of energy later on. After lunch came the cute part. We were required to practice certain basic moves for white water rafting:
1) Normal position: when no command is given, one hand holds on to the cord on the side of the raft while the other one holds on to the oar. The oar must also be tucked under the arm that is holding onto the cord.
2) Forward: your body moves forward and you dig into the water and pull back
3) Backward: Do the opposite of forward, move backward, dig into the water and push forward
4) Over left/right: If you are on the right of the raft, you have to go to the left and vice versa. This is used when the raft gets stuck.
5) Hang on: you hold on and lean your body forward to provide lower CG
6) Get down: you jump into the raft and bend down (still holding onto the cord), taking care not to put ur knee on the bottom of the raft. DC did that and a rock banged his knee.

We did the practice moves on a dummy raft. Win also explained how to float yourself should you drop into the river; how to pick a fallen rafter with the oar etc. He also told us that he will be our rescue team, waiting on the left bank, throwing a line in should we not be able to get back on the raft. With that said, we strapped on the life vests and yellow helmuts and went down the river bank. Our river captain was waiting. His name was Tip and he looked pretty stern. We got into the raft and did the practice moves before setting off!

The whole rafting would take about 2 hours. The initial part was pretty peaceful. Tip was steering the raft most of the time. We listened to his commands. Went forward when necessary or returned to normal position. Very soon, we came to an obstacle: a fallen tree. The tree wasn't huge, but it was long, stretching from one side of the bank to the other. It was mostly submerged and we thought that we could go over it. Bad judgement. The raft got stuck and couldn't move. Tip then shouted: Get out. All 4 of us were momentarily stunned. We looked at each other and gave the look that read: which command was that??? We didn't learn that!! We looked at Tip for affirmation to what he said and he nodded.

So off the raft we went. The water was shallow, but the rocks were slippery. Derek and Era were not wearing sandles and ended up getting grazed on their feet. We had to climb over the tree and carry the raft over it. While in the water, we could feel the current. Though not overbearingly strong, it still had the potential to carry a fatigued person away. We climbed back in the raft (not easy!) and continued on.

Overall, the ride was a pretty fun one. When the rapids came, we were listening to commands and paddling like crazy. Hanging on also proved to be a challenge, especially when your raft was bumping into rocks in all directions!The helmets came in handy when we were REALLY close to the rocks (yes, your head will hit the rocks)! The plunges were ok but I believe it would be even more fun during the medium season in Oct. It also helped that every one in the raft was cooperative and working together. It made for a safer ride. And at the more dangerous rapids, our rescue team was on standby at the left bank.

Of course throughout the 2 hour trip, not everything was adrenaline pumping. During the lull periods, it was a good time to relax and take in the peacefulness of the Mae Phing river. You can hear the cicadas making a symphony; further down the river you can see elephants playing by the river (I have no idea how they got there. Looking at the terrain it was extremely steep!); Pass by the villages where children swim and play by the river, giving extremely friendly and genuine smiles when you waved to them. Or you can see the villagers catching fish. There was also supposed to be a baby crocodile hiding amongst the crevice of a rock, but didn't manage to get a good glimpse of it. The raft couldn't go near enough and I was without my glasses. But that certainly made me think twice about jumping into the water for a swim.. when there's baby croc, mama croc must be lurking somewhere... *cue lake placid soundtrack*

Majority of the fun parts came from our river captain Tip. The guy of few words proved to be equally playful. Halfway through, he made us do our moves again. At the point where he shouted "Over left", DC and I scrambled over to Derek & Era's side. But, even Tip went over to the left side. With the imbalance, it caused the boat to capsize! Ahhhh!!!! Should've saw that coming!!! Along the way, Tip would also use the oar to splash water at us. And halfway through he made us play the game "Helicopter": he connected the front of the raft with a string, and went to the end of the raft. When everyone was seated at the end of the raft, Era and I started paddling in different directions, causing the raft to spin. As we paddled faster and faster, he tightened his grip on the rope, causing the front of the raft to lift off. Needless to say, the whole raft capsized when Era & I lost our mometum. Entertainment also came in the form of another rafting group, consisting of a caucasian couple and their two Thai captains. We started racing with each other and had water splashing fights. We also laughed at them when they got stuck at the rocks (of course.. they did the same when we got stuck).

Soon, the journey came to an end. We went up the bank where there was changing rooms (made of rattan.. not much privacy though), had some refreshments and then packed up into the mini van to go home. Of course... everyone was tired out and just slept in the van... zzz

DC and I ended the day going for a Thai herbal massage. This time the massage was totally opposite from the one yesterday. It was pretty obvious that the lady doing it was just going through the motions. But her grip was painful and I can feel that she was just using excessive force. A lot of pummelling, pinching, grasping. It kinda reminded me of the Chinese massage that Kokodile brought me to. I was nearly murdered there!!! (no kidding, people who love SM, let me know and i will bring u there). This was no different. While I was lamenting on what happened to all the stretching associated with Thai massage, she started sponging me with this hot ball of cloth. Apparently the ball contains the herbs and they steam the ball. But it was really hot and i really felt like I was some meat being marinated. Urgh.. doesn't help that the ball left a trial of yellow substance on me...

Day ended with dinner at a seafood restaurant at Anusarn restaurant. They speak Chinese!!!!! Wonderful! We ordered Or Luat, Fish Maw Soup, Butter Prawns, Fried rice, Crab Roll all for only 650 Baht. Expensive in Thailand, but cheap by Singapore standards! Then went back to the hotel to bathe.. and zone out... zzzz

Chiang Mai Escapade! - 26 Mar 2nd Day

2006-03-30T21:33:00.000+08:00

Today is Nancy Chandler day! We decided to junk the free map (since it was so horrendously inaccurate) and buy the Nancy Chandler map of Chiang Mai. Touted to be the most detailed and accurate map of Chiang Mai, it certainly was different. The map looked as if it was roughly drawn and coloured with highlighters! Hard to believe that it was done by a caucasian woman cos it looked more like a kid drew it. It consisted of 4 parts: A huge map of the whole of Chiang mai city, a medium size map of the old Chiang Mai city, a smaller map of the night bazaar area and another small map of areas outside of Chiang Mai city. And it had various symbols to mark places of interest, wats, hospitals, places to eat etc etc. Now this is what I call accurate!

We decided to heed Nancy's suggestion and go to Warorot Open market. Being there, I couldn't help thinking that I was in a market in SG Chinatown. The place was 4 levels. 1st level was all the food stalls; 2nd level was the wet market; and the upper 2 levels sold clothes, shoes etc. Familiar, no? But the best part about this place was: it was frequented by the locals.. which meant that prices were decent!!! Most of the shops had prices on placards and you could bargain even further! But be warned that there were still shops which didn't display the prices and still attempted to rip us off. And the stuff sold here were definitely more fashionable and less touristy than those sold in the Night Market.

DC and I wasted no time in trying to get the necessary stuff for our hiking trip the next day. On the shopping list?
1) Backpack - bought a North Face backpack (probably fake) for 300 Baht (S$12). The stitching was pretty good and the inside was of good material
2) Sandals - the best buy! I swear the sandals were made out of recycled Goodyear tyres or something! The traction was damn hell good. Imagine this: the floor is marble. DC did a traction test by dragging his feet on the floor to see if the sandals will slip. And it didn't! Stuck deadfast! And only 250 Baht (S$10)!!!
3) Shorts (for DC) - 90 Baht (S$4.50) for Berms.. need I say more?

Being a Sunday, the place was packed with locals. And it was interesting to see the daily life there. People buying groceries, sundries etc. Unfortunately, with the huge crowd and the weather being scorching hot, DC and I were desperate for a nice cool place to rest a bit. We decided to seek refuge in another Nancy Chandler recommendation: Siam Celadon, which was nearby.

Siam Celadon is a shop and cafe in one. Once you enter Siam Celadon, you can't help but feel that Nancy Chandler is an architectural geek. The place reeks of old world charm. It reminds me a lot like the Colonial Houses back in SG. The Interior was fashioned like a British tea house: Painted cream walls, heavy metal chairs and tables, carved balconies, wrought cornices, white embrioderied curtains, swinging doors, porcelain tableware etc. You had a choice to sit inside or at the garden but DC and I unanimously plonked ourselves on one of the tables indoors. We ordered iced tea and it was a welcome treat! Extremely refreshing! We decided to have lunch there and ordered sandwiches. The food wasn't anything to shout about though. Looked through the shops wares and nearly choked up my lunch... A quilt cover set costs 6500 Baht!! That's like... almost S$300 (FYI, that's the amount of spending money we collectively changed)... *faint* looks like we can only afford the food.

We walked around the Old City area again and stumbled upon yet another market. Apparently, according to lonely planet, this market is only open on Sundays. They actually block up the roads. Ooh.. lucky us! We continued to walk around. Was looking at some wares when DC suddenly disappeared. Apparently he was captivated by a tree.. and I can see why: The tree was freaking huge!!! Measuring at least 6 stories high, it had a thick trunk and stood ram rod straight. But the tree led us to another gem of a find: Wat Chedi Luang

The funny thing about the Wats in Chiang Mai is the way they are built. Built among the other normal buildings, they have small facades and are easy to dismiss. But when you do take the effort to walk in and look, you will be surprised with the sprawling gardens and the various other buildings connected to it. Wat Chedi Luang is like this. But the highlight of the place was the Chedi (stupa)! It probably is the largest and oldest one in Chiang Mai. Parts of it were crumbling and we could see that it is damaged in certain areas. Not sure if it is due to wear and tear or the war? There were 4 sides to the Chedi and each one housed a Buddha and 2 Huge 5 headed Nagoyas guarding the entrance. Only the front one had stairs leading up (which was blocked of course). The remaining 3 had no stairs but steep slopes. Unfortunately, the one with the stairs was also the one which was badly damaged. Littered around the circumference of the Chedi were bronze bells. You were supposed to hit the bells and they were supposed to bring good luck! Ding Dong!

There were also two smaller "temples" in the compound. But they certainly freaked me out. Both housed the bodies of monks who have died. Initially I was skeptical if they were real bodies. But after taking a closer look, I was convinced: the hair did me in. Even Madam Tussaud's couldn't make it that real!!! The temples also housed the sharira of other monks who have died and cremated... I only knew that i wanted to just get out of the place... fast!

We continued walking and passed by the Sunday Bazaar at Tha Phae gate. Forgot to mention about the Old City. The main city of Chiang Mai is located within the crumbled walls of the old city. Only a few bits of it are left and only the 4 main gates are present: Chang Puak (North), Chiang Mai (South), Tha Phae (East) and Suan Dok (West) . On various maps, the city is marked with a square boundary and long blue dotted lines. The blue dotted lines were actually the moat to the old city. Today, it looks like a very long pond. It's interesting how the existing roads have to go around the moat! And the city is only accessible by these 4 gates. Of the 4 gates, Tha Phae is the one that is most complete. It probably managed to best survive the war? Hence, it is an icon and many events take place here: from the sunday market to the political rallys to festivities.

5pm came quickly and we went for our Thai massage. Called Loi Kroh Massage School (cos it is located at Loi Kroh road), an hour of massage costs 200 Baht (about S$8). I was sorely disappointed, especially since i really love Thai massage. The lady couldn't even hit the right pressure points. And there was no trademark stretching like the one i did in Bangkok last year. And to think they are a massage school??? i seriously doubt it.

After a shower, we decided to go to The Riverside, also recommended by Nancy Chandler. It was located in the other direction of the city and was a 15 min walk from our hotel. When we arrived, the place was largely made up of Farangs (ang mohs, gwai lohs), Jap tourists and a few locals. Couldn't help but feel like we were cheated to yet another touristy place, especially when we opened the menu and a steak costs 650 Baht... Dang. But all is not lost! The place turned out to be a great place to chill out! We ordered local thai food:
1) Som Tam - green mango salad: very appetising, with generous amounts of seafood!
2) Pandan chicken - extremely yummy.... finger licking good and better than KFC!
3) Beef green curry - not too thick not too thin, great as a gravy with rice
4) Fried mushrooms with garlic sauce - the best I have tasted. Definitely much better than the one offered at Jerry's in Jalan Kayu. The mushrooms were crispy! CRISPY!!!!
5) Black sesame glutonous rice balls in ginger syrup - in other words, Ah Ball Ling! And this is the best Ah Ball Ling I have ever tasted!!! I was surprised to find out that it was a thai dish!

The whole dinner came to about 650 Baht (cheap! I was expecting 1000 Baht). So for the price of a steak, go for the local food instead which is very yummy. The place was also located at the Mae Ping river and offered dinner cruises too! nice place to chill out. And the band playing was one of the best i have heard. it is not everyday that you get a band singing good English songs. And the female vocals were really good... Would have stayed longer and had some beer if not for the Baileys waiting for me in the fridge back at the hotel. Also we had to return early for the next day... We had to be ready at 8am!!!! GROAN.....

Chiang Mai Escapade! - 25 Mar 1st Day

2006-03-25T20:52:00.000+08:00

Woke up early in order to make it before 10.30am for breakfast. That's when they close the buffet table. Drat... if not I would have slept more. Took A LOT of willpower to crawl out of the hotel bed... the mind was not really willing and the flesh was certainly weak... I literally slipped out of bed like goo...

Breakfast at Royal Princess was decent. While the facade of the hotel has changed, everything in the cafe looked as it was 10 years ago! My goodness! Even the positioning of the buffet table remained unchanged. After eating a hearty breakfast, DC and I decided to plan our route for the day

The day was spent free and easy. With the free map obtained from the airport, we walked around looking for Chaing Mai Adventures so that we can book our elephant riding/biking/white water rafting trip. Unfortunately the free map was extremely inaccurate! At times we thought we were at a certain place but then realise we are not. In other instances, we thought the road we were looking for wasn't till another 300m... only to realize that we passed it 20 mins ago... oh my goodness! And it certainly didn't help that at every corner there were Wats (temples) everywhere. They did not make good landmarks and gauges, especially when the name of the Wats were in Thai. We certainly spent a lot of time walking and soon, when we saw yet another Wat, we just thought "What? Another Wat?" ha ha ha. Ok. Bad joke.

There was one Wat which we stopped by though accidently. It's called Wat Bupparam. Outside it looks like any other Wat: the curved roofs, the red and gold gilded tiles, the Nagoyas as the stair railings etc. But step inside and the interior will blow you away. The intricacies are astounding! Especially the interior of the roof which was totally carved, the gold paintings etc. I certainly was impressed. It kinda reminded me of the churches in Rome. In Rome, all the churches had painted ceilings depicting different saints etc. This definitely was the Buddhist equivelent.

We did however, stop by a small coffeeshop for lunch. It was crowded with locals hence we thought that the food should be pretty good. And it certainly was. I ordered rice with minced pork and basil and garlic while DC ordered rice with pork and peppercorns. It was delicious and we cleaned our plates though it was a tad spicy for me. But the best part was, the whole meal for both of us, with 3 bottles of Fanta Orange was only 70 Baht!!!! That's like S$6.50 for both of us!

The day was also spent looking for a travel adaptor. DC had mistaken my question the night before. When I asked him if he brought a 3 pin plug, he said yes. My intention was the travel adaptor. it was pretty late and my dad had turned in so I couldn't get my regular one. So I asked DC had one available. Unfortunately, he really bought a 3 pin plug which is practically useless since u can't even fit it in Thailand's sockets. So we stopped by a couple IT marts until we found the adaptor. It was pretty amusing to see DC try to explain to the locals though!

Also passed by a Tshirt shop which sold some pretty cool Tshirts. Saw some which would have been nice for Hippo, Neko and bro. Unfortunately, the largest size was L and I was pretty certain they couldn't fit. We also stopped by Black Canyon Coffee for a break and had nice coffee and Northen Thai sausages. Lovely! yum yum. The Thais have very extreme tastes. Everything was either too sweet or too salty! The coffees and isotonic drinks were extremely sweet, sending DC into sugar high. We thought the water would be the most neutral. But we were wrong. instead, the water bordered more towards saltiness.

Dinner was at Prems at the Peak. It was a total rip off... lousy Thai food at above average prices. Should've seen the number of Farangs there as an indicator. We walked towards the nearby Anusarn market to look around. And saw these really weird crackers being fried. When the vendor put them on the table, it looked like one whole clump of crumpled intestines intertwined! Not exactly appetising, but when you tasted it, it was crispy and slightly salty at first bite. Yummy. A lot of the locals were buying it by the bags (and I mean BIG bags). And at only 20 Baht for a small pack, it was an ideal snack.

We ended the day going to the nightmarket which was just downstairs from our hotel. Well, it is unfortunate that Chiang Mai is famed for it's night market. This makes it a tourist attraction and hence the prices are jacked up 5 times it's worth. Take for example the fisherman's pants that I really favour. From shop to shop, it had a starting price of on average 250 to 300 Baht! That was pure madness and I certainly wasn't going to pay more than S$10 for it! Finally found a shop that sold it to me at 90 Baht for the long ones and 80 Baht for the short ones. So lesson learnt? Choose a shop that is not within the high traffic areas (at the corners, not near the hotels). And when you haggle, start off with with about 1/3 of the price. Cos they are bound to ask for a higher price. If you are not satisfied, walk away. Usually they will relent :) heh heh heh

Chiang Mai Escapade! - 24 Mar 1st Night

2006-03-24T12:25:00.000+08:00

Just returned from a 4D4N trip from Chaing Mai. The trip was good, unfortunately there were bad parts too! Here's Day 1:

24 Mar (Fri) - Leaving on a Jet plane
The day began with me not even sleeping. Was working till late to finish up work before I went for vacation. By the time I went home and plonked myself on the bed after bathing and packing, it was already close to 4am. Didn't make sense to sleep since I had to rush off to work at daybreak to do more work. And to think that I had initially wanted to ask my boss if it was ok to work from home! Yeah right...

The work I had to do on Fri morning was completely lame ass and could've been avoided in the first place!! Higher authority had to do a presentation in USA and wanted pictures from SG office. But the thing is he wanted out of the box pictures.. funny pictures.. let loose pictures. More specifically, he wanted us, to bring posters to places of interest in SG and take pictures. WTF? My manager and I did it drugingly. We took some ezypull posters, wore our yellow polos and went down to the Esplanade, Merlion and Sir Stamford Raffles Statue to take pics. Worst part? We had to open the Ezypull and take pictures. That certainly drew stares from the tourists (who were probably wondering what we were selling... great opportunity to sell more of our product... check). Even our dressing got attention (especially from the Mediacorp crew who was filming at the cavenagh bridge... with Terence Cao no less). Dressed in yellow polo, blue jeans and white NB shoes, it became sort of a uniform... and carrying the ezypulls made us look even more like production crew. After a while, my manager and I just let loose and monkeyed around.

After a quick lunch, I had to rush to LP to stick up posters. More picture taking was in order. By the time I finished, went back to office and edited and uploaded the pictures, it was already 2.30pm. DC was already in the airport and waiting. Flight was at 1625! Had my goodbye milkshake from my manager and rushed off in a taxi.

While having a nice conversation with the Taxi driver (he kinda reminds me of Joe Augustine), DC called and said that the flight was delayed till 2045!!! OMG! I was already so prepped up to just zone out on the plane. But like I had a choice? Reached the airport and checked in. Then DC and I spent 3 hours touring the inside of the airport. Was a good opportunity though. Of all the times that I have travelled, it was always a rushed affair and I never shopped in the airport. We even went to Harry's and it was a nice place to chill. Open air, you can hear the roar of the planes taking off and see the beautiful sunset amid the cactus garden. Talk about Wild Wild West. But the place was infested with Ang mohs! The only asian ppl around was DC, myself and the service staff! Overall a nice place to chill out. Unfortunately located past immigration.

We had dinner at the food court inside since we had "apology" coupons from tiger airways. The only reason we were eating there was because the meal was subsidized (up to S$7.50/person). But we couldn't help wondering if it was more of a ploy to bring more people to the food court. It was understaffed and the food overpriced and unappetizing! When it was close to boarding time, we went towards the gate. Many others were already there.. and boy.. you really see the Kiasu and kiasee spirit well and alive here. A queue had already started (and this was only to get into the gate that wasn't opened yet). It was even more funny when people started rushing for the doors. The staff had to announce that the plane wasn't ready yet. Even then no one backed down. And when the doors open, it was like the flood gates opened. Lesson learnt, dun fly tiger unless u have children. Children here are finally an asset becos family with children get priority.

We finally touched down in Chiangmai at 11pm local time (Chiang Mai is 1 hr behind SG) with a fairly smooth flight. And the place was quiet as a... pod! There were no taxis and it was pitch dark. Dad had recommended using a metered taxi and after asking around we finally found some. But since it was late, they had started their black market rate. They demanded 180 baht. I just walked away. The mercenaries! The City Limo was only 120 baht! In the end I called the hotel and they sent down their van after waiting 20 mins. FOC! I gladly gave the driver a 60 baht tip.

Took a hot shower and just crashed into bed. Must have been really tired becos I slept soundly throughout. i usually don't becos it is an unfamiliar environment.

Wedding Bell(e)s

2006-03-20T00:19:00.000+08:00

I just suddenly realized that it has been 5 years since I graduated from poly. And reality came a-knocking yesterday. It was my poly mate's wedding. So together with Kame, I attended the wedding at rustic Rasa Sayang Sentosa resort. The bride and the groom have known each other for the whole of 7 years (ever since poly year 1)! Wow... in today's context, that's freakin long! But nonetheless, I congratulate them that they finally have this day.

The wedding was also a good time to catch up with a lot of old Poly mates, majority whom I have lost contact with ever since I graduated. 5 years causes a lot of people to change. The biggest shocker was one female poly mate. We all didn't expect her to be expecting (pardon the pun), lest being married so soon! My other poly mates were now working. The guys have completed their NS and were working and studying at the same time. The females were now more mature and mellowed down. It was a fantastic catching up session where half of my year 1 poly class turned up.

As for the bride and the groom, I wish them happiness. They have come a long way. From other case studies, most couples from poly do not last due to drastic changes once they graduate.
1) couples in poly get to meet EVERY day. But things change once they graduate. The females find jobs, the guys go to NS. Couples who manage to get used to the time apart survive. Others just go splitsville.
2) females who are working realize that there are better fish out there and hence tend to stray. Doesn't help that bf is in NS knows zilch about working life and can't be there for them when things go wrong in the office. And that's when the male office colleague comes to the rescue
3) Females who are working become more demanding. Other elements come into play: females earns more than male now. Can the alphamale take it? Can the female accept the NS bf is earning less?
4) Seems that the above few examples are swayed towards females being at fault. Of course there are times that the guy is at fault too. In NS, they learn unsavoury habits, namely smoking and swearing. Some females can't take that change

Yup. In addition to that, the bride's parents are divorced. I usually have 2 opposing theories to how the offspring view marriage. On one end, the offspring are so affected by it that they do not even view marriage as important. Their negativity causes them to think that marriages are never happy. Hence, they can't be bothered with marriage or they are scared to get committed to a relationship, thinking that their own relationship will also be going down the same destructive path. On the opposing end, there are offspring who really work really hard to make sure that the marriage works. These perfectionists do everything within their power to make sure that their marriage doesn't go down the drain like how it did with their parents. Kinda like Bree in Desperate Housewive. But sometimes it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and the marriage just breaks down. And the blow will be just too much...

Ok, too many negative comments for a happy occasion. I will just shut up now.

yet another week gone

2006-03-09T20:24:00.000+08:00

A take on what has happened the last week

Survivor Pulau!
Yeah, you read correctly. It's Pulau, not Palau. Pulau as in Pulau Ubin. Went on Sun with the gang for a photography trip (actually, more like a cycling trip for me. Make that perfect-excuse-for-exercise trip). It has been 11 years since I last went to Ubin and boy... has it changed a lot!! In the past, it was a rickety old jetty where u board the bum boats. Now, you have a mini terminal which has arrival and departure halls (ok ok, make it seating areas). No more dirt roads but tarmac (makes riding much easier, thought aching butts are still expected). What used to be a smattering of bicycle rental shops is now a full street a haggling with best deals for bikes. There were only a handful of seafood restaurants and now u have a whole cluster of them (with huge signs at the beach front too!). People there have become more enterprising by offering van rides for those who are too lazy to ride bicycles. And the best part? There's Ubin Resort! Chalet like place with the flying fox tower.... Wow...

But one thing that hasn't changed is the terrain of the island. It still remains torturous and trecherous especially the off road terrains and the slopes... God... I have never peddled so hard.. and only to reach the top at snail's pace. Note to self: Get your lazy butt to work(out)!!!

But if there is one place that is worth visiting there again: the quarry. Words cannot describe how tranquil and picturesque it is. Only regret not bringing swimsuit or I would have jumped in! Though I could never understand why the water had white sediments. I guess it's from the rock formations themselves.

Battle For Middle Earth 2 (BFME2)
The gang has a new game to play. Yeah.. it's time to fight for the one ring!! The game play is interesting and it is much easier to play than warcraft. And the powers you have are pretty cool! Each race has their own unique abilities and powers. But the interesting aspect of the game is to find gollum. Not easy when the map is huge and he's always running around in stealth mode. You can only sense him when he is near as you troops will shout "the evil gollum is nearby". Objective is to kill him and get the one ring back to your fortress. Once u do so, then u can choose to recruit either Sauron or Galadriel (depending on ur race). But u really have to wait cos these 2 heroes are 10k a pop and take helluva long time to come. If the enemy gets it... good luck to u

But the more interesting thing about the game is the censorship! When u chat, there are certain things which they will censor and replace with *. Here's a list of some of them:
General Swearing:
- fuc*, damn, hell, retard, shit, asshole, arse (arsehole is ok)

Religion (anything to do with religion is banned)
- God, jesus, judah, buddha (FYI Taoist is not banned, ha ha), allah, Christian, catholic, Satan, Devil (Demon is ok though... weird)

Sexual Connotations
- sex, anal, oral, gay, lesbian, dyke

This censorship is worse than the censorship in Singapore!!!! Ha ha... the gang has been constantly thinking of new words just to see if they are banned. Will add on to the list if something new pops up

Ponder ponder ponder

2006-03-03T23:26:00.000+08:00

Just realized how fast time flies. The ang moh new year came and went... the Cheena new year also came and went.. and here we are.. it's March! Woah. fast. Very soon the Thai New Year will come as well (Song Krang, water splashing fest is in April)!

Here's just some of the things I have been pondering over the past week/s:

thoughts on my face:
The Chinese believe that your fortune is told from your face. Hence, they deduce your wealth & beauty from moles, you temperament from your eyebrows etc. So... if your fortune is told from your face, does changing my jaw with my impending operation mean that my fortune will change as well?

In addition, teeth tend to shift even after you have done ur braces... so if the jaw op is permanent, will I still ultimately land up with crooked teeth?

Will I have a speech impediment after (God.. the thought of learning how to speak all over again is.... tiresome)?

Movies
1) Walk the Line - interesting that you can be with other people and then find your soul mate. What then? The man in black gave up his family just so that he can be with his soul mate (and proposed 40 times too!). So lesson learnt... wait for the opportunity and if u see it, grab it with no regrets.

2) Brokeback Mountain - must your soul mate be of the opposite sex? What happens if your soul mate is of your species? Is it wrong? Hmm... thought that the movie wasn't so bad. Although i would have preferred that they dwelve more into how they felt about each other and became closer... and not just make out in a tent suddenly

At the clinic
How does taking chemicals make you get well?? Especially chemicals aren't good to begin with? In my stoned state of mind, I was looking at the tablets being issued before me and the question hit me. Looks like it's time to find alternative forms of natural medication.

While waiting for the medication, the clinic has this poster at the counter promoting various health packages (scans etc). There was one that caught my eye: Premarital package $128. consists of HIV check, STD check etc. That was kind of disturbing. Thought that ran through my mind include:
- where's the trust these days? If my would be husband asked me to go for such a package, I will have second thoughts about marrying him
- there's something wrong with the relationship. If you are the one intending on going for such a package then you haven't come clean about your past relationships with your current squeeze. I personally feel that a relationship that doesn't come with a clean slate will come back to haunt you sooner or later.

Yup.. as you can see... haven't really thought much.. ha ha.. work work work

Bachelor Party! Woo Hoo!

2006-02-17T00:47:00.000+08:00

It's that time of the year again... the time where Cleo magazine releases their most coveted issue of the year: The 50 most eligible bachelors! Yummy yummy eye candy! Ha ha ha! And quite frankly, that's the only reason why I would buy the magazine. But now I don't have to! Other half has subscribed to it! Yipee!!!

This year's eye candy isn't that bad. I was even more surprised to find an ex-poly mate as one of the bachelors... that led to more speculation that something must have happened between him and another poly mate (unless he lied in the application form though...). But enough about that.

Browsing through the mini interview of the contestants, I was quite disturbed by some of the responses of the guys... especially to the following 2 questions:
1) Bimbo or Bitch?
2) My dream woman will be working as....

Here's a sampling of some responses below (so you guys don't need to actually buy the mag, although CLEO will be very happy if u did)

Contestant: NSman, 19 yrs old
1) Bitch. SO we can bitch about other people together
2) Kindergarten teacher. I find a woman who's good with kids attractive
(I find it scary that a bitch is a kindergarten teacher... poor kids must be traumatized)

Contestant: VJ, 25 yrs old
1) Bitch. She'll stand up for what she believes in
2) a hotdog vendor. I love hotdogs!
(hmm... bitch and hotdog.. yeah.. I see the relation... somewhat)

Contestant: NSman, 21 yrs old
1) Bimbo. At least she won't be as quarrelsome as a bitch
2) a teacher
(right.. other half was already screaming in protest. He's pretty sure that there are teachers that are bitches. And he's also sure that they are very quarrelsome. I wonder if a bimbo can be a teacher?)

Contestant: Inline skates shop owner, 25 yrs old
1) Bimbo. SHe's harmless and won't intentionally hurt the feelings of others
2) a business woman who has time for her family too
(unfortunately, if she's a business woman, she's likely to be bitchy.. somewhat)

Contestant: Project Executive, 24 yrs old (this is my poly mate)
1) Bimbo. She's gotta be pretty for sure
2) High powered executive in an MNC
(refer to above response)

Contestant: Bank Officer Trainee, 26 yrs
1) Bimbo. I'm assuming that she'll at least behave well in public
2) Travel photographer. Being in constant touch with people of different cultures, she can see the world in a different light
(I find it hard to believe that a bimbo can be a travel photog)

Contestant: Entrepreneur, 26 yrs old
1) Bimbo. They may be intellectually unattractive, but at least they are nice. Have you seen legally blonde?
2) Computer Game developer
(which part of bimbo do you not understand?)

Contestant: Actor, 27 yrs old
1) Bimbo. Less tiring to deal with
2) a banker. I love a woman in a power suit and stilettos
(sigh.. refer to above responses once again)

Do you notice similarities? Ok, perhaps their definition of bimbo or bitch is different from my definition. But that's not the point. The problem is, they are attracted to certain kinds of females, but yet, they have other ideals about what their ideal female should be. And there you have it. The real reason why they are still bachelors.

Man.. I am sure going to be sued for this! Ha ha ha ha...

disclaimer: Note that not ALL of them had these sort of responses!

Smelly Tofu

2006-02-14T21:30:00.000+08:00

Ah Valentine's Day... the day where couples becomes the ultimate suckers for money making enterprises... The day where u willing pay 10 times the price for a rose and interestingly enough buy more than 1 stalk. Today's the day where restaurants are having a field day charging 20% more on their prices and yet, they have long queues! The day where people think nothing of paying more than $30 for 5 miserable pieces of Godiva chocolates where normally they baulk at the price...

Ah Valentine's Day.. where people REALLY get blinded by love.... suckers.... ha ha ha

Ok ok... to each his own... I for one, dun believe in Valentine's day... and every year, other half and I do not celebrate it. We just cook and talk. This year, we decided to break tradition: We decided to go to Geylang to eat smelly tofu.

Yeah... it's penance for me for a misunderstanding over the weekend. So as punishment, i had to bring him to eat smelly tofu (one really wonders who is being punished). The one in Geylang which is supposedly famous. Unconventional? U bet. Imagine it's Valentine's day and two idiots eat smelly tofu and end up not kissing each other the whole night... how... romantic... Ha ha ha

Even Black Adder was surprised:
Black Adder (BA): Happy Valentine's Day! So what are u doing tonight?
me: going to eat chou tofu in Geylang.. oei... u have the address?
BA: har? so... lomantic ah?
me: yeah... so where's the address?
BA gives address and then posts some reviews about the place:
"so smelly till the store was vandalized and other shops complained"; "if blue cheese and bitter durian won't do u in, this definitely will"; "like eating at a garbage dump"; and something about being marinated in animal innards or something... definitely not encouraging

Well... let me cut to the chase... I tried the Taiwanese version over the weekend and that was still quite appetizing... This one.. is really an acquired taste...The Taiwanese one, the lady actually cut it in 4 cubes and then frying it. The Hong Kong version, they fry the whole thing and then they cut it in 4... so u can imagine the "essence" that.. leaks out of it. Woah.... the moment the lady put it on the table, u can really smell it... and that is after you have been sitting at the shop for like 20 mins. U think u would have gotten use to the smell and then a fresh wave just hits u....

Verdict: I don't particularly hate it, nor do I particularly love it. It's not the kind of food that you will "jio" ur friends to go eat with u (which my friends have already strongly objected over the weekend).

People who are interested or for those of you who just have a death wish (ok, joking) here's the address:
Mini Star
789 Geylang Road (near Lor 41)
Walk past City Plaza towards Geylang.
Trust me, the nose knows once you get there and just follow your gut feel...

Credit Cards are EVIL!!!!!

2006-02-13T22:22:00.000+08:00

I just realized that I have really bad money management. Actually, I know that for a fact, but reality hit hard today. Being on MC, I decided to do my credit card bills... and from early 2004 to end 2005, I had ammassed S$13,000 on my dad's supplementary credit card!!! OH MY GOD... I nearly fell off my chair when I did the " SUM" function on my Excel sheet....

The good news is, I paid off about S$8,000 plus of it over the months that I have been working. I still have S$5000 more to clear... Before people start thinking that I am trying to reach tai-tai-dom, i have to state that a portion of the bills are due to company claims as well...

I think it's time to seal the credit card before things get out of hand... come to think of it, there was a period of time which I left my credit card in the care of hyena... and i didn't spend a single cent! That was good... It really made me scrimp and save. Maybe it's time to do that again. Other half has volunteered to keep the card for me.. but i think i will end up making him use more of his credit card! Any other takers??? Ha ha ha.. maybe should hand it over to hyena again until I am debt free....

Time to start the " Save the bear" foundation...

Job woes....

2006-02-13T17:14:00.000+08:00

I'm tired of my job. And I think it has recently hit rock bottom. Real rock bottom. Today was yet, one of those days, which I skived from work. And best part? I don't feel ashamed about it. I blatently just "keng" MC (didn't even bother to go to the doctor to get one too!)... oh well...

I guess you can say I am jaded, or perhaps I am already in a "holiday" mood (I have already planned to throw in my resignation mid March). After working for close to 2 years, I have realized:
1) There is no way I can get a promotion, so there is no way that I can climb the corporate ladder and hence no new challenges (how do you get promoted when it's just 2 of you in the company and the company has no intention of hiring more?)

2) I realized that I have been working, on average 10 hour work days every day. I agree that when a job has to be done, it has to be done. Things have improved from the past, considering that I don't need to work Sundays (in those days, it was 70 hour work weeks). But quite frankly, I'm really tired... I really wonder how my manager does it though?

3) Job scope is really really ... mundane now. I don't want to see myself carving a career just doing posters all the time. Compared to my peers, I am focusing on below-the-line marketing more than above-the-line marketing. And during one of the interviews, the interviewer just shot that fact blatently in my face. And becos of that, I was deemed unsuitable for the job.

Looking at the papers today for jobs didn't help the situation. It made me wonder, was it a bad choice to just jump at the first job that was offered to me? Sure, the pay was good (But after you look at the amount of work you had to do, it doesn't look so good). Would it have been a better choice to have waited? To have been jobless for a year before settling for a job you really wanted and climbing your way up? Is my 2 years experience now really worthless???

And the more major concern is for my next job. Should I really look for the kind of job I want now? And am I ready to settle for less pay? Cos I know that if I want to get more pay, means I have to remain in the same industry. And frankly, I don't wish to remain in the current industry. I see no future in it.

So many questions and no answers... time to go to the mountains and be a hermit for a while. Maybe the op is actually a good opportunity for some serious soul searching.

Relief

2006-01-19T01:31:00.000+08:00

Relief according to Webster:
1) removal or lightening of something oppressive, painful, or distressing
2) one that takes the place of another on duty

did both today... amen.

Highlight of the day!

2006-01-16T23:44:00.000+08:00

Friends have commented that I am a very pessimistic person. Heck... I myself admit that I am a pessimistic person. I have a tendency to look on the bad side of things. Cos I reason that, hey, that's the worst that can happen. So I prepare myself for it. If things dun turn out that bad, then it's a sort of "added" bonus and then I go celebrate.

The cliched question : is the glass empty or half full? Optimistic people will view it as half full. I view it as half empty. Cos the worst that I am thinking: that's all the water that I have. It's time to ration it. If I survive, woah that's a good thing! Ha ha.. ok ok.. i hear people murmuring: cynic

So, in a bid to be not so pessimistic, I decided to think positive. So i shall endeavour to think of at least one highlight of the day. I guess this will make me appreciate the smaller things in life better and not take things for granted.

So here goes, the Highlight of today was....
The reopening of Golden Shoe Market!! Yeah! Hello to (still relatively) cheap food once again! Prices have gone up from 50 cents to 80 cents depending on which store you go to, but in return, you get more spacious seating and a cleaner environment (I guess that eliminates or at least reduces the occurance of finding fried mouse in your economical rice. I am not joking, it happened a few years back).

But more importantly, the opening of Golden Shoe Market signals the return of my beloved coffee! Ever since Golden Shoe Market closed, I had to go cold turkey for more than 6 months and settle for other kinds of coffee. Located on the 2nd floor, you will see it once u go up the stairs nearest to OUB plaza. Called AH POH COFFEE, they serve the best coffee! The best Kopi Tiam coffee I have ever tasted! Screw Starbucks, Coffee Bean, TCC, Spinelli, etc etc. Just give me Ah Poh coffee anyday. Ha ha.. bliss for only S$0.70 (no increase in price!). Woo Hoo!

And how does bliss taste like? Not too thick nor too thin, just the right sweetness and creaminess, with a hint of chocolate. It's that good till people queue for it (I have heard other people joking that the uncle puts opium in it to make people keep coming). And with the reopening, the stall holders have become more enterprising. They now offer ice coffee in bubble tea packaging! Such convenience!

So if you are willing to bear with the queue, the coffee is well worth the wait! Guaranteed!

Hmm... why does my highlight of the day sound like a foodie review???

BIG FOOT!

2006-01-15T14:25:00.000+08:00

Yup.. it's that Chinese new year shopping frenzy again. Was super irritated with the huge throng of crowds EVERYWHERE... Geez.. but can't blame them. With the past week of constant raining, everyone was finally relieved to be able to do some shopping when the sun finally peeked I guess? I can just imagine those shop-o-holics in cold turkey stage.. ha ha *let me out... let me out.. need... shopping... *

Unfortunately, I had to do some shopping of my own. Had to get some nice heels for Chinese New Year. What makes it even more urgent, would be other half's mother's superstition. She believes that during Chinese new year, it is not good to get shoes cos in cantonese, shoes are called hai. So she believes that if u buy shoes during this period, u will be sighing for the rest of the year, indicating a lot of troubles. Other half is strictly banned from buying shoes during that one whole month. Me? I just follow it for precautions sake. (But then again, I have been told that I sigh a lot... so it isn't a huge difference to me! Bwah ha ha ha)

Ok, I digress with that Cantonese superstitious tid-bit. Back to the main point. Looking at the crowds, I was crediting myself for buying clothes in HK. At least i eradicated long queues for the fitting room! But it doesn't stop my woes there... Buying shoes have always been a huge headache for me. Being a size 40 in SG is not a good thing. When I see a nice pair, i will only be disappointed when they tell me that they do not have the available size. I even suffered the ultimate insult of the sales girl telling me to try on the men's version of a pair of moccasins... (i bought the men's version by the way).

And from young, Dad has been making fun of me, saying that I should look for size G (G for GIANT). I could even share shoes with my bro! And yesterday night, my idiot friends made fun of me saying that the huge foot prints they found in JB were actually made by me and not the suspected yeti like creature.... BAsket

So a quote from the movie IN HER SHOES: Diets don't work, clothes don't fit, but shoes will always fit... yeah... right

so the onward quest for finding the right shoe... sigh...

Taking stock of 2005

2006-01-10T12:11:00.000+08:00

Wow.. it's 2006 already... another year has passed! I was taking stock on what has happened the past year... and frankly nothing comes to mind. Nothing spectacular... sigh.. am I jaded or what?
So instead of writing down new year resolutions (i never follow them, so why start), I decided to reflect and ponder on things that I loved and hated (or continue to love and hate)

10 Things I love and treasure (in no order of merit.. I am just writing what comes to mind)
1) Friends (real ones, not the series).... oh what will I do without them?
2) Home cooked meals ... a rarity for me so I treasure them a lot
3) Holidays (public and overseas)... once u start working, you appreciate them more
4) Family... nuff said! Ha ha
5) Personal time... to do the stuff I want
6) Manga & anime... nice artwork, interesting original storylines. It's boring when everyone starts to do remakes, remakes and remakes.. especially hollywood
7) Music... music soothes the savage beast... music is the common language...
8) Sleep... haven't been able to get good sleep... can the sandman come visit soon?
9) The great outdoors... there's just something about the blue sky, dotted with clouds, green landscape that is extremely refreshing... New Zealand, here I come!
10) Perfect eyesight... I wish I can just lose those glasses...

10 Things I hate (once again, in no order of merit. If u see ur name on top of the list, it doesn't mean I hate u the most.. I just hate u.. ha ha ha! kidding!)
1) Taxi drivers... some can be extremely irritating... but sometimes can't do without them... esp in rainy season
2) Work... necessary evil.. no work = no pay, which then = no play (bloody evil cycle)
3) Rain (before I get hate mail, I am talking about the elements, not the Korean singer/dancer)... I absolutely hate to get my feet wet....
4) the supernatural... absolutely pertrified of them
5) cockroaches and lizards (anything of the creepy crawly and reptilian variety)... bloody critters...
6) Surveyors/Charity seekers/ ppl who stop you when u r walking down orchard road... as much as I can understand what they are going through and the rejections they face (I was once one of them), there are days that I just do not wish to be disturbed...
7) Kiasu Singaporeans... I absolutely cannot phantom why they have to be the first ppl to rush in when the train doors open just to get seats?? Especially the "ah so". That is SG's version of desperate housewives
8) Females who are too lazy to take out their EZ link card and resort to putting their entire handbag on the gantry reader... Another kind of the female species that I do not understand although we are of the same kind. They think the gantry readers are Xray scanners of some sort which can detect their Ezylink cards in their already bulky handbags filled with god-knows-what. It's even more hilarious when the gantry fails to detect the card and these females start to flip their handbags like the bags are pancakes... but these idiots do not have the common sense to move to the side to search for the card. The just continue to flip the bag in all directions possible, causing a major jam at the gantry. SIgh.. the kitchen is at home dearie...
9) Eating noodles, especially the super thin ones ("mee kia" variety)... at least at this point in time with braces. The top and bottom row do not meet, making eating noodles extremely difficult since I cannot chew them. I have lost count of how many times I have choked and made a public embarrassment of myself becos I have to wolf down all the noodles in one go. Not a pretty sight. Have since resorted to asking the stall holders to cut my noodles...
10) Moving house... woah.. once experience is enough..

Off Centre

2005-11-30T19:34:00.000+08:00

Recently I have been feeling really weird. From the days leading up to the move till after the move, I know that I am not my usual self. I don't know why. It's a mixture of vunerability, sadness, depression, lethargy all rolled into one huge dust ball (pun intended).

The root of the problem? It's because I am losing my room. Corny as it may sound, I suddenly realised that I took my room for granted. Yeah. In the last 5 years I have been spending lesser and lesser time in my room (or home for that matter). Staying overnight in school for projects or at Other Half's place. My room became so foreign. I treated it more like a hotel to crash in. Most of my time was spent outdoors.

So with the move I had to let the room go. I didn't want to move. I didn't have a choice. Now the thought that the safe haven I once had is no longer going to be mine, kinda got to me. It's someone else's now. It also hurts to know that they will be completely changing it to what they like. It's like you lost your fortress and your enemy can do whatever they want to it.

My room also housed a lot of memories for me, good and bad. Good memories include the many times that my cuz and childhood friend spent over. Bad memories include the slamming of the door and sulking or crying when scolded by my Dad etc. The room may have been dusty (as evidenced by Other Half's allergic reaction) but it was comfortable (at least to me) and had all the amenities that I need. All I needed was a fridge full of junk food and I can happily live in there. Now all that familiarity is gone.

I guess this self reflecting period also led me to ask myself if I have been taking things for granted in other areas? Perhaps I have. Is it time to make sure that I won't regret it till it is too late? Funny how humans realize the real value of things only when they lose them.

Moving to the new place has also created new habits and resolutions for me (well, at least for the time being). The more important thing was to spend more time there. And one of the ways to make me do so, is to have a pet (well, you have to come back everyday to feed it). Broached the topic to Other Half and the idiot said that my maternal instincts were kicking in. Basket. Was thinking of having a Chinchilla. :) But then have to put it on hold. Parents have never been fond of pets...

Moving On....

2005-11-21T12:27:00.000+08:00

I have been packing up my room for the past 2 weekends. In the midst of clearing things up, I actually had time to reflect on myself, the events that have happened in my life so far, memories etc. And in the process, remind myself to set certain resolutions (yeah, it ain't new year yet, but heck!).

For one, I realize that I am such a hoarder!!!! Feng Shui practitioners will probably say that I am a source of negative energy. I can almost hear them go "Tsk tsk, so much junk! So much negative energy, no new positive energy can come in. No wonder got no luck lah". I prefer to call myself a sentimentalist! Ha ha... I actually kept letters, Christmas cards, New year cards, birthday cards from all my friends from Secondary school days! All in a big black box! I even kept the Christmas cards that Kame drew (it always had a turtle somewhere). I read each and everyone of them (now u know why it's taking such a long time to clear just my room). I chanced upon a few cards from a crush from school... on hindsight, could he have had feelings for me and I didn't know it? He sent me Christmas cards and New Year cards for at least 3 years! Damn! Was it an opportunity lost? Oh well... kinda late for that. But if I had realized, I doubt my life would be like that now. It would've gone a totally different path.

I also took the opportunity to write down the return addresses of some of my ex-classmates. I am not sure if they are still living at the stated addresses now, but it is the only way to get connected again. No harm trying I guess.. I will probably begin my letter with: "Hi, I am looking for so-and-so. If u r not so-and-so, I'm sorry to disturb you, do you want to be friends? (kidding) If you are so-and-so, where have you been??? I would like to reconnect with you"

Other things I found include the O Level Papers for my year. I took a quick glance through them and concluded that I am getting dumber and dumber with each passing year... I couldn't phanthom the A Maths questions at all; was totally clueless with the Physics one; completely lost in the Literature one... you get my drift. I was just wondering: wow... I could actually answer all those questions in the past? Why am I such a moron now? What cemented that fact was another essay which I found. Apparently I wrote that when I was in poly and the subject was on Racial tolerance. And I was amazed at how I wrote. So different. So eloquent. So righteous. Wow... did I actually write all that???? What happened to that part of me? Well, all I can say is, people change as they grow. I believe I certainly did, in one way or another.

Also found my secondary school report book. In most of the comments from the form teacher it would go "She is capable of doing better", "there is room for improvement". That's neither good nor bad news. In a class, either you were extremely creative, well behaved, exceptional teacher's pet would you be remembered. On the flip side, you can be remembered as being extremely notorious. So I probably belonged to the middle majority. The kind that keeps a low profile. Because teachers probably can't remember much about you so they put that kind of statement. After all, everyone has room for improvement right?

Hmm.. another few more days and I will be moving. It's a mixture of excitement and sadness. Excitement because it's a new environment. It's also a good opportunity to create new habits (top on my list: to try keep everything in place). Then, there's that undeniable tinge of sadness as well. I have been living in this house for 17 years now. And it has been witness to a lot of my growing up. From Primary till Uni. A lot of things have happened. And I will have to let go a lot of things that I am familiar with. That's the sad part. That's probably one of the reasons why I haven't been able to sleep well too.

It's going to be yet another restless night....

A week of events

2005-11-07T12:54:00.000+08:00

Woah! Has it been a while since I made an entry!But nothing much has been happening for the past 3 weeks except for work work and more work. But this week has been a flurry of activity though... Here's a summary:

Mon, 31 Oct: Super long work day. Already tired from the previous 2 nights of working... Day began with buying stuff for the promotion. Then it came to tallying the lots and packing the freakin van. Oh my goodness... the packing was horrendous with multiple trips up and down the stairs. i was so glad to get a parking spot near the office.. And the van was packed to the max till I couldn't even see the back!!! And mind you, the van was really old, with no power steering and it was huge (3L Nissan Urvan). And to make things worse, we were late and I had to drive through Little India... On the eve of Deepavali, that's a suicide mission! And true enough, I got into an accident. But thank goodness it wasn't major, I knocked off a poor chap's mirror casing... sigh... Things were ok for the rest of the night until the clock struck midnight, that's when the crowd got very very rowdy... We packed up at about 2pm and headed back to office. Only to get stuck in another Jam: it was halloween night and the road to our office was jammed. Not to mention that there was no parking space.. had to illegally park and start unloading all the stuff in the van. By the time that was done and I drove home and bathed and finally slept, it was 4am.. zzz

Tue, 1 Nov: My HK colleagues had come down to give us a hand in the Deepavali promotion and today was their time to return to HK. I only managed to get 7 hours sleep @_@ goodnesss... but I am glad the war is over (albeit temporarily). I can remember sitting at the back of my manager's car as we speed down the CTE to pick our HK colleagues from the hotel. Looking at the nice blue sky and wisps of white clouds, I felt surprisingly, peacefully serene. And for some unknown reason, I was happy. No worries, no burden, nada.. It felt as though I was in another country on holiday.. kinda like Australia :) Anyway, we picked them up, went for lunch and did a bit of shopping (one of them had a shopping list). Bought Ya Kun kaya at Raffles City, went to Lim Chee Guan for Bak Kwa and finally Pandan Chiffon cake in T1. They checked in real late though. By the time we reached the airport, it was 4pm and their flight was 4.30pm. I can still remember the counter staff asking them: " Hi! Checking early for the 6.30pm flight?". Upon realising that they were checking in for the 4.30pm flight, the poor gal's eyes opened real wide and she started saying hurry hurry! ha ha ha! Hilarious!This was followed by dinner at other half's place and we watched the super sappy love story: Crying out love in the centre of the world... boy...did it turn on the water works.

Wed, 2 Nov: Nothing much happened... it was a lo bo day.. ha ha ha ;p

Thurs, 3 Nov: Was bliss to wake up late...! ah~... went for lunch, then went to the new house to meet the contractor. New grills, new doors, new lights (for my room) are in order. Renovations are really minimal.. By the time that was done, we had to get ready for Dad's birthday dinner. After which met up with Kame for coffee... Hmm.. another wasted day. had wanted to start seriously packing my room..

Fri, 4 Nov: Highlight of the day (or rather night)? Me dressing up in a sari. Yeah... u did read correctly. Company dinner at night to thank all the promoters for helping out during the 3 days. Dinner was held at Muthu's Curry and dress code was Traditional costume. Manager made stupid dare with new colleague and I that if we dressed up, he would come in Indian traditional costume (original dare was that she dress up in sari and I in a very short skirt... I changed the rules.. ha ha ha). So yeah.. the Sari that i bought 8 years ago finally saw the light of day today. Hmm... I have to thank my colleague for dressing me up and providing all the necessary bangles, necklace and stuff, tips on how to walk etc. Although the make up she did on me could be pared down by a few notches... I felt it was too heavy... way too heavy.. I looked scary!!! it's like I was ready for a wayang show... nonetheless, went to the restaurant and everyone got a kick out of me wearing a sari... Although as the night progressed and a few jugs of beer later, it started to get a bit uncomfortable. The male promoters started sidling up to me to get a better view of my bareback (yeah.. the sari was bought during my young and wreakless days so it was quite.... revealing to say the least). Some of them said I looked like one of the actresses, others said that if they weren't married, they would ask for my hand in marriage.. One more said that he was very proud that I dressed up in the sari. Hmm.. way too much attention!! it was a welcome respite to get dressed out of the saree whe I returned to the office...

Sat, 5 Nov: Yet another busy day. First order of the day was to go shopping for a birthday gift. After which was to go to the birthday party. Then went to office, picked up the laptop, then went to visit one of my retailers to lend it to him. Then went to Carnivore! That was quite an experience! Ha ha ha.. meat meat and more meat... This Brazilian restaurant offers 15 different cuts of meat buffet style. You start off by getting some greens from the salad bar. That's the indication where they know that you are ready to be served. And the servers come by with a huge skewer of meat. They will let you know what kind of meat it is and it's up to you to decide whether you want to eat it or not. Alternatively, you can indicate your interested by flipping a coin like card. One side indicates that you want the meat, the other says no, you will pass. I thought it was particularly commendable that they remember what kinds of meat you don't eat. Hulktopher didn't eat Beef and Lamb and the servers remembered, offering him pork and chicken and always insisting that he take more that one piece to make up for all the other meat that he has missed. But the meat was succulent and delicious. The roasted pineapple was a good way to digest. And by the 8th serving of meat, I was stuffed. I had to share with kame certain servings of meat. But I highly recommend the Lamb... mmmmmmm....

We then adjourned for Karaoke! That was fun! Especially with such a huge group and everyone singing a variety of songs. Karaoke, to me, is a good opportunity to learn new songs form others, especially Mandarin ones! Unfortunately, due to my bad throat, I coraked most of the time... ha ha! Should go to this more often.

Sun, 6 Nov: Lunch at Rendesvouz hotel. Delicious curry, succulent rendang, tasty sambal brinjal, mouthwatering chicken curry, appetizing sayur lodeh... wah... nuff said! Ha ha ha. It is one of the must eat places!! Did a bit of shopping before going for the Lisa Ono Romance Latino concert. Other half and I were seated close enough to see her clearly (although I can't see her features). Her music is for easy listening and soon other half was tapping to her bossa nova songs (his first time listening to her). Her mellow voice was nice and the music was very expressive. Unfortunately, I felt that her guitar was overpowered by the other instruments (Piano, bass, drums and flute/saxaphone). I couldn't hear it when they were playing together. But when she did a few solo songs, it was very very clear. Another disappointing thing: she didn't know how to work the crowd. Unlike Laura Fygi who pleased the crowd with her banter, Lisa was very subdued. To the point that I could feel the awkward silence after she completed a sentence. I guess most of the crowd didn't know what to do next (Am I supposed to clap? Whistle as encouragement etc). But it reflects her introvert nature I guess? But as the concert progressed, she let her music do most of the talking. Earning her a standing ovation when she ended the encore with "The Girl from Ipanema". Was a worthwhile concert. :) And a nice way to end such a hectic week...

It doesn't pay to work hard

2005-10-17T03:10:00.000+08:00

Can one be stressed without even knowing it? Hmm... Ok, why the question u must be asking? Well, of late, my body hasn't been in the best of shape. Insomnia, loss of appetite, constant stomach pains, nausea, chest pains and increased heart beats are just a few things that have been plaguing me. The insomnia is under control so far. Unfortunately, I am sad to admit, for a short period of time, I was relying on my cough mixture to get me to la la land (yeah.. the cough mixture was kickass... to the extent that I was still zonked out when I went to work). Ha ha ha. As for the rest, they come and go still. I still remember one night when I was about to sleep when my heart rate was pretty high. I could actually hear it. With my hand on my chest, I could feel it. And then it just stopped. I panicked. I thought I was having a heart attack. I thought I was going to die!!! Started reaching for my wrist and phew.. it was still there.. thank god!

I came across this article one day about 8 signs that u are stressed. Read through it and if what they say is true, then yeah, I am stressed. Here's the punchline - I don't feel stressed! I mean, this isn't the worst that I have been through. During my worst times at work, I was stressed. Sure, there's a lot of work to do, but it's manageable. So can I actually be stressed and not know it??? I have no idea... maybe I'm just desensitized to it?

And recently, I just learnt about something. The last time that my boss came in to SG, I was on MC. I was having flu and was even suspected of dengue. Nonetheless, I still went to the office after going to the doctors. And despite having a 2 day MC, I went back to work the next day. I thought everything was fine when they left. Until my manager told me that boss actually told him to be prepared for me to leave. Apparently boss noticed that I was taking a lot of MC. Coupled with the recent resignations over in the HQ, it seemed pretty likely to him that I would be leaving too. To him, the MC's were excuses for me to go over to other companies for interviews.

Quite frankly, I was shocked. Totally. The first thing that went through my head was... HAR? I am thankful that my manager stood up for me by reassuring my boss that i am not going for interviews or anything. But I'm still feeling disappointed. I mean, how would you feel if you put your best in working hard, making sure that everything is in place and then get accused of going for interviews? Cut me some slack. I am working almost 7 days a week, not getting enough sleep, handling way too many things... With lack of rest, of course I will fall sick. And you think I like going to doctor? Hell no! I have a problem taking medicine! But do they know all that?? No...

Sigh... motivation down the drain. Maybe it's time to make a self fulfilling prophecy come true.

Yet another year has passed

2005-10-10T02:51:00.000+08:00

Wow... it's been a while since I did an entry in this blog... and a few events have happened. The most significant being me, turning a year older. Nothing fantastic, it's just another year older. But it made me realize that I am not getting any younger, and what do I want to achieve in life? Well... hmm... here's some ideals that I will try to make happen before I hit 30
1) to be able to earn a $5k monthly salary. That's really stretching it, but I will try!!!!)
2) Go to Japan and stay there for at least a month. I wanna see the sakura, take the hot spring baths and eat the food... mmmm....
3) Have my own business?
4) Be married with 2 kids?? Ha ha ha! Wait.. that'll clash with the Japan ideal... hmmm....
5) To finally have my own car... and I want a Lexus Coupe...! Hmm.. this will clash with my marriage plans! damn!
6) Be healthy... very important.

Off the cuff this is what I can think of.. there may be many others hidden subconsciously. Check back again in 10 years to find out what I want before i hit 40! :D

Oh yeah, and a school mate i know just got married. Unbelievable as it may sound, she went for an exchange trip, met a welsh guy, whirlwind romance of 4 months (I think? I know it was very short). Accepted his marriage proposal and wah lah! SHe's now moved to Wales. And the guy is a divorcee with a daughter. But looking at their pictures, they make very happy family. And she is younger than me! Gosh! but I am happy for her. It's times likes these that instincts kick in. And for that I am really envious of her.. :)

Whose side are u on?

2005-09-29T00:35:00.000+08:00

Everyone wishes to be on the good team. You know... the one that is the best, the winner. In certain cases, the underdogs that finally win. Nobody wants to be in the bad team. Nobody wants to be the snotty highschool cheerleaders who bully not so good looking girls, in the movies. Everyone wants to be righteous, everyone wants to be right. But what happens if you are in the bad team and you don't know it?

This thought just hit me in the face today. Certain events took place and it got me thinking. I'm pretty sure everyone has their own cliques. Especially so in the office situation where there are mini wars taking place between departments =
- Sales hates marketing becos marketing keeps questioning sales;
- IT dept hates sales for bullshitting to the client and then leaves the impossible to IT;
- Accounts hates marketing because they feel that marketing is a waste of money;
- Customer service hates IT becos IT does a sucky job of simplifying technical jargon, leaving them to do the lengthy job of explaining to end users (who can be complete idiots at times)
So there u have it. World war 3.

My company is no exception. We have various departments and hence, politics are abound. It just occurred to me that my department may be the most hated department! I think other departments must be thinking that we must be a whiny group of people who only cower under the protection of our Manager. Every little thing, we make noise and blow the matter up. Our manager takes over from there and barks at the responsible individual/s in order to see things get done. If we do it on our own, nothing will get done! Once the manager barks, we get priority. These people are afraid of our manager only because he knows other key people in the company.

Doesn't it sound like we are bullying others? You may say that it's a necessary evil. You can even ask me to wake up to the REAL reality. That's how life is. And the irony is, we may not see it. We probably think that we are doing the right thing and it's ok. We don't see that we may be affecting other people who were right to begin with. They may have been doing their jobs fine but because of our unreasonable requests, they get harpooned and get an increase in workload. And we are super supportive of this manager. We are willing to fight for him. It didn't occur to me that we could be made use of in the process.

Sigh.. call me jaded, wet behind the ears or whatever. Having mixed feelings here. But I guess this is life. I also assume that these is how terrorists act? They believe they are right and they have a lot of faith in their leader. But who is to say that they are wrong? I guess it's just their beliefs. The terrorists probably think the US is the bad person. The US thinks the terrorists are the bad person.

open thy eyes Xallista.. open thy eyes...

Hardy Har har!

2005-09-22T22:28:00.000+08:00

Today is yet another episode of medical logs! yeah yeah.. On MC again.. this is getting ridiculous! And now on 2 day MC for suspected Dengue fever... If the fever doesn't go down tomorrow, I need to go for a blood test. So far exhibiting other symptoms of Dengue: aching joints, headache, diarrhea and cold among others. The only thing that hasn't appeared are the rashes.. keeping my fingers crossed that it's just my system going haywire again. Don't want to be admitted into hospital. Not only is it expensive (can you imagine? staying in hospital becos of a friggin mosquito bite!)... I have heard enough stories of what happens in hospitals in the night (for the uninitiated, I am talking about the supernatural here)

Ok ok.. moving on... was watching Russell Peters yesterday. The guy's damn good! I was laughing real hard and other half was thankful that it was only 45 mins (I wanted more). He commented that any more and it looked like I was having a fit! From what I have gathered, Russell Peters is actually Indian (or at least has some Indian ancestory in him) and probably brought up in Canada. The best part about him? He makes jokes about race!!! Yeah! but he does it with such panache that he can get away with it.

Sensitive yes? During the whole 45 min show, he was making fun of Indians, Chinese, Africans, Jamaicans, the Caucasian (I don't have his panache, so i better be diplomatically correct or risk being accused of being racially degrading to others. The SG government is watching blogs now you know...). If you are part of the audience, you are fair game of being used as material for his show. But yet, this guy is able to make people laugh on such a sensitive topic. He's able to make a mickey out of racial stereotypes and get away with it. And the way he imitates the different accents, he has it all down pat! Pure genius!

I guess he's able to do it becos he strikes the right balance. Sure, he makes fun of other races, but never to a degratory level. It's always about the mannerisms of the different communities (eg how the Chinese speak, how the Canadians and Africans act etc). And he takes the first step of making fun of his own race first (the Indian accents, Indian way of thinking). And he has a certain respect for other races when it comes to names. Sure, he made fun of how certain names sound, but he maintains that they sound "cool" or "wicked".

So yeah.. if only everyone appreciated such things and won't get so worked up about race, the world might be a better place :)

Sir, u Pinis I clean....

2005-09-20T00:58:00.000+08:00

Today was one of those days which I wished I had a maid. On other days, the reason why I wished I had a maid, was due to the nature of my job. At least I can understand their behaviour and psyche and hence come up with better marketing ideas. But today is purely for personal reasons... I decided to pack my room so that it won't be a last minute job when I shift.. god.. It's amazing what a person can hoard in her room after.. wat? 16 yrs??? Didn't help that I have been skiving during all those Chinese New Year spring cleaning.. "it's ok, just sweep it under the carpet" mentality... well, it's coming to haunt me know.. damn

But on second thought, I don't think I can be comfortable with a maid around. I find it very intrusive. Umm... nothing personal to those people who have maids, but I just find it weird having someone else cleaning up my own mess. No doubt, they can be a great help and care taker to the young and old. But growing up without a maid, it has made me a very independent person. Maybe a little too independent! Ha ha.. something which i think my parents regret now. Dad's probably thinking whether he should enforce a curfew on me again and mum's always complaining (direct translation from Mandarin): Wings grow hardened already, now can fly ah! Ha ha ha! :)

Even when I have my own home and kids, I probably won't have a maid. I have heard a lot of horror stories about maids.. Maids abusing children. Children becoming lazy. Children becoming too attached to the maid. Maid killing madam. Husbands having affair with maid. There was one which involved a little boy with a penchant for jam; a horny maid; jars and jars of jam and loads of licking. Use your creativity. I shall leave it to your very ADULT imagination.

Well, maids are in the news again. This time because of the murder of a maid by another maid. Newspapers reports say that the murder was a result of a love triangle gone horribly wrong. Reporters have gone down to the 2 home towns of the suspect and the deceased to interview their families as well as showcase both maids' background. For the article on the deceased, they report that the husband had an affair when she was in SG. Now, he and his mother-in-law are disputing on where the wake should be held (where she was born or where she was currently living before coming to SG). For the article on the suspect, they depicted her life one in poverty. Her husband is in SG for the trial. Her family is praying for her back home and her two boys are pining for her. Other articles in conjunction with the murder include whether maids should have off days at all and also Singaporean and foreign men who are target maids for sex.

Here's my take on the issues:
1) Maids should/should not have off day.
Some of the employers say that maids should not have off days because during these off days they meet their boyfriends, go wild etc. I'm all for maids having an off day/s. How would you like it if your boss told u that you have to work everyday from 6.30am - 10.30pm with no rest? Maids, like us, are human and need rest. The more you prevent them, the more they will rebel. It's a case of self fulfilling prophecy. And don't generalize, not all maids are sex crazed and horny.

2) Singaporean men and foreigners who target maids for sex
Kinda sad that these men have to do that. They are preying on the maids loneliness. On a given sunday, u see the same men walking around Lucky Plaza hoping they can score.. and there's always loads of activity going on in the stair wells.. I was joking with my manager that they should open a budget hotel in Orchard.. definitely make money. But yet, I don't blame these maids for indulging in such trysts. They are human and they are lonely. They crave the companionship. Imagine you are alone, in a foreign country. Even if you don't like it, you can't return. Your family back home is depending on you for survival. You can't quit. Hence, most maids make the best out of a bad situation I guess?

3) Deceased's husband has an affair when wife is in SG
Well, once again, I don't blame him. He is lonely. Doesn't help that his ego is bruised, in the sense that he cannot support the family and his wife has to go overseas to supplement the income. Worse, his wife earns more than him. I am not sure about the culture in Philippines (is it an accepted norm?), but I am pretty sure that the male ego is the same everywhere.

4) Story on the suspect
I'm not sure if the media is trying to give the suspect a more sympathetic angle? Well, all I can say is, if she really did murder the other Filipina, it is the greatest mistake she has made. In moment of passion, you have done something really reckless and irresponsible. Not only has she harmed her family, she has harmed another family as well. I wonder if she was blinded by the bright city lights of Singapore and forgot her responsibilities back home? What's going to happen to her children now? And more interestingly, why hasn't the man in question been found? No news about the central figure who may shed some light into the whole saga!

Yupz.. so there... my room is still in a mess and no maid to clean it up... hmm...
Fairy god mother.. where art thou?
I am tired and u r not around!
Pack my stuff in a jiffy
make everything clean and spiffy
so that moving my house
will be easy!

Yeah.. right...

Taxi Drivers

2005-09-14T23:20:00.000+08:00

I guess by looking at the title, you know the tirade that's gonna come! Yeah.. Taxi drivers.. love them or hate them (usually the latter) you are at their mercy once u are in the cab! They are a menace on the roads and a threat to public safety! If you are a cab driver, or who have friends that are cab drivers, I apologize. But unfortunately, I have been in one to many cabs which have given me bad experiences! In a total of two weeks, I have already accumulated 4 incidences:

1) Was going to Fort Rd from work for blading. So naturally hailed a cab as it was the most convenient and time efficient way. OH MY GOD... the cab driver thinks he is in 2 fast 2 furious. He speeds even when it is a short distance. The constant change in inertia was enough reason for me to want to puke. Doesn't signal and cuts into lanes. Knows that we are going to make a turn but waits till the last minute to cut 3 lanes (I'm talking less than 50m away from the bend). And the ultimate: He drives in on coming traffic. I was literally breaking out in cold sweat and hanging on to my seat! Made me appreciate life more when I alighted...

2) Was at Sim Lim buying 2 amplifier microphones. After much waiting, managed to hail a cab. I opened the door to load up the microphones first. Closed the door and walked at the back of the taxi to board via the other door. And guess what? Blur uncle drives off without me... with goods in tow... Only consolation? He stopped about 100 metres away. Me? Chasing after a bloddy cab in 2.5 inch heels with a crowd looking at you at the Junction of Sim Lim is not exactly my idea of FUN...

3) had to go to Hill Street to buy stuff.. Uncle doesn't even know where the place is.. goes for a few rounds, gives up, decides to drop me and my friend off at Chijmes (we had to pay the full fare btw). FYI, in the end, the place was a stone's throw from my office...

4) Had to go to Mediacorp studios for a recording session. Took a cab. When he arrived at the lobby, the fare was S$7.80. I gave a fifty and asked for a receipt. He wrote the receipt and returned me the change. Guess what? in the receipt, he wrote it as $8. When I pointed out to him that the fare was $7.80, he mumbled something (I can't hear, must be the thick mustache, he's a Singh). And gave me the $0.20. At this point, my friend who had alighted was wondering what's the hold up. She asked "Is everything alright"? Mr Singh replied irritatedly "Ya ya, just that she wants her $0.20. F@#k u. I am not a charity. I don't see why you have to earn that $0.20. You fetch 50 customers and pull the same stunt, u earn $10 just by taking ur own sweet time to return change. If you want to make it convenient to return change, why don't you just round down?

I am not condemning all taxi drivers. I have met taxi drivers who are really nice and good. Some I even talk to them like old friends. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of them around. And with the government training taxi drivers to be tour guides as well... I don't know if tat's such a good idea after what I have been through...

My Life as of now

2005-09-11T14:10:00.000+08:00

I've been quite easily irritated recently and I don't know why.
1) Lack of sleep? Maybe.. Feeling so tired and I don't know why
2) Work? Probably... is the daily grind getting to me?
3) Or just life in general? bored bored bored
Neko was saying how insignificant he was. Insignificant defined: Even if I died, no one gives a damn and I won't be missed. Am I famous? No one knows me. DC was writing something in his blog about what do you want in life?

I look at my life now, and ponder. Yup, mine is equally insignificant (as defined by Neko). No major milestones. I just completed my degree just so that I can be more competitive in the rat race. All the while, since young, it was driven into my head that education is important. That part was easy because the goals were well defined. Just make sure you get to the next level. It's like a game. Woo hoo! Each stage you passed is like a level up and increase in abilities (sorry, too much RPG influence here).

But what happens when you finish the quest? What next? At this current moment, I have no intention to level up again (in the form of Masters, I see no point right now). I am working, but for what? The only motivation for me to work is money, cos there are debts to be paid and expenses to survive. But other than that.. what else?

Kinda feel like Morpheus in Sandman. He had a quest of finding his items that were stolen from him. But once he found them and punished the perpetrators, he didn't know what to do. He too was lost and pondered about what next? But he decided to embark on yet another quest.

Should I embark on another quest? Should I take the risk? But here's the million dollar question: What is my next quest? Where should I start? What should I do? I guess that's what's been bothering me. I want to do something else but I don't know what. I guess it is fair to say that the majority of us have come to this crossroads before or will come to eventually. It's great if you find your calling and realize your passions and just go for it. But it's bad if u just keep pondering about what to do and stick to the same realm. I for one don't intend to keep pondering on what I am supposed to do.

And that's the thing. I am a Jack of all Trades but a master of none. I have no talent. And because I have no specific talent, I have no passion. With no passion, I won't get the satisfaction. That explains why i am feeling this way. Great.. I made some headway.. but it doesn't solve the big problem.

Looks like I have to ponder some more. ..

Test yer IQ

2005-09-09T00:30:00.000+08:00

Received an interesting email. It's meant to test your IQ. The idea is that you are trapped in a room and u need to escape. So u look for stuff around the room to aid you. There are a total of 13 items to be found. The amount of stuff u manage to find = your IQ. I didn't set this, this was sent to me in the email (so dun kill the messenger if u find the gauge insulting! I didn't write it)

If you found:
0-6 items, your IQ is very low, total idiot
6-8 items, Low IQ, u r an idoit
9-10 items, u r normal
11-12 items, your IQ is high, above the average.
13 items found and get out of the room, there are less than 4000 peoplein the world can do it.
http://flash.qbol.net/pl;p/youxi/images/04042203.swf

I managed to find 12 items, but am so close to escaping but I... now.. giving it away won't be fun right? Try it out. It's quite interesting. It's nice to know that I have slightly above average IQ.. heh heh.. but seriously, with patience and inquisitivity, u will manage.. now.. just the last step!! ARGH!!!!

The creator has a website with other games, including other rooms that you can escape from. It was pretty addictive... :) Check out his website:
http://www.takagism.net/

Rest

2005-09-07T16:30:00.000+08:00

Hmm.. this is really going to be the medical blogs.. on MC yet again. But this time due to cramps... Ouch... kinda makes you wonder why u were born a woman... and if this is painful.. I can't imagine childbirth! No wonder I hear stories of females, in labour, cussing everything from God, to their parents, to the guy who got them preggers, to the kid. It's like the whole world is against them! Ha ha ha

Speaking of births, today is the birthday of my cuz! Happy birthday ah de! Congratulations on ur birth 24 years ago! Ha ha!

So the day was spent proning face down on my fav blue couch in the living room to quell the pain. Felt better once the medication kicked in, which explains why I can be typing away right now. I miss days like this... not working.. relaxing, doing what I want to do. Kinda regret taking those student days for granted (yes.. I know many of you are saying "i told u so")

Was reading the papers and it was really depressing: Katrina in USA, the plane crash in Medan, Typhoon Nobi in Japan... death and destruction everywhere.. god knows what will happen next. It's things like these makes u appreciate safe little Singapore. But it is because of safe little SIngapore that we take things for granted.

I feel that the people of SG are too pampered and selfish because of the environment that we are brought up in. Everything is planned for thanks to the government. I am not dissing the government because of that, but rather the people are too over reliant on the government. Cannot find job, there's WDA. Cannot buy flat, there is CPF. No money for medical fees, there Medisave. Quite frankly, if not for these provisions, I doubt that Singaporeans will have money to pay for anything or save up for their retirement.

And i really feel that Singaporeans are selfish. When things happen to others, we just don't care. You want to cite the tsuinami incident where Singapore sent helpers over? Well, would it have been different if there were no SG people involved there? Dun you find it ironic when a disaster happens, the first thing that goes on is to find out whether any Singaporeans are involved? And when they report "There were no Singaporean casualties", everyone heaves a sigh of relief and gets on with their lives? It's like, whatever happens in the other country is their "pasah", not ours (and by the way, its the "gah ment" who sends over the help to the other countries, not by the people themselves).

One really wonders if the people of Singapore were able to survive in the face of adversity, be it from human attacks or mother nature??

Ok.. enough ranting. Going to do some research. By the way, I also found the fight between Google and Microsoft interesting! Gonna see how it develops. And no prizes for guessing whose side i am on!