~サムねこの物語~

Byebye..

2007-04-03T22:11:00.000+08:00

Hi dudes and dudettes, by the time you have read this, this blog would have already ceased to exist.

2007-02-27T18:16:00.000+08:00

Being Critical

Recently I got acquainted to this lady whom I realised once shared a similar past as I did at one point in time of both our lives. Despite the point in time occuring at different stages of our lives, it was a "been there, done that" kinda feeling that had linked us up. In addition, I quickly discovered that we knew some people mutually.

If I could only bring one thing with me from my previous experiences, it got to be tact.

I would be lying if I said I have been completely honest with her. In fact, after the first call she gave me, I was tempted to find out more about this character from the mutual friends that we know. I was curious about her history for it is one thing to hear it from the person and another to hear it from the others. The discrepancy allows me to decide which category I can place this person in.

There is something unsettling and dubious of a feeling I get when I talk to her, despite her enthusiasm and friendliness on display, but I just can't quite put a finger to it.

Instead of approaching said mutual friends, I have decided to give it a rest since this person may not stay long enough in my life to make a difference after all. It was in retrospect when I saw it clearer, those distinctive traits that she possess, which was shared so uncannily with some of the people I have crossed paths with.

I have this self-imposed responsibility of keeping promises and I am in particularly, unimpressed with people who violate this sense of commitment in anyway.

I believe life is about maintaining an equilibrium; there are times when you need to exhibit aggression, there are times you need to take a step back to observe, and too much of either will create an imbalance. It can be incredulous, but sometimes even when you halt your steps to seek for answers, the answers that you have been meaning to seek for will come naturally and present themselves in evidence to you.

Hence the adage; let nature take its course.

2007-02-25T15:33:00.000+08:00

In Addition to My Previous Word, I Bring You Luck.

So the perils of disclosing too much on your blog has been repeatedly reported and forewarned; we have simply read too much of that kind everywhere, but it's not until things really happen to you you start to realise how much of a freak coincidence can there be.

Sometimes, it's not up to you to believe there is, for it is there all the time. Luck is the key word.

Of which, I seem to be running low at this new start of the year. I knew Chinese New Year has never been my thing, but still, you would wish the Lady had showered more on you anyway.

The recent spate of events have unwittingly brought my attention to the importance of being lucky. Not just with reference to my incredulously lousy luck at Mahjong; you really won't believe what kind of tiles I draw at the table, but also some very unfortunate incidents that happen to people around me. Fingers are crossed and may things get smoothed out for them soon.

Of course leaving your fate entirely to luck is merely an excuse for being too laid back, but with luck, it really makes it so much easier.

I dedicate this word specifically to this gurlfren, in attribution to this recent drama that both of us encounter separately but bearing similarity.

Talk about optimism at its best. We ought to throw a toast to commemorate this plight both of us are found to be in.

Happy New Year and many good goings, my dear friends.

2007-02-22T14:18:00.000+08:00

Complaints

Omg...i want to faint...why is logging in to blogger so tedious these days?! Why did they change it to Google?!?! The page takes forever to load...maybe i should delete this for good and set up a new one.

Afterall, I just found out there are some uninvited readers who patronize my blog. Tsk tsk...the dangers of virtual space.

Heng ah I found out.

p/s: KNS~ Mahjong lose money..................&%$@?XXYYZZ.................

2007-02-09T01:30:00.000+08:00

Practising As Preached

This morning, I was arranged to attend this interview and test for a position I have applied for days earlier. I see it almost as an anomaly as folks who are closer would have been highly aware of my disdain for this particular sector which I have now applied to work for. This sector, may I add, have been put down in utter contempt by yours truly on so many occasions I have lost count now. I very much believe people who knew better would drop their jaws and scream in my face "Eat your words!" if they had realised this of my coming around.

I have to be honest, I was bought over by a particular article on the papers which I came across coincidentally one fine day. Despite many of the legendary horrors associated to this sector, the article mainly highlighted some of the organization's atypical efforts in improving staff welfare, which worked well I guess since I was pretty impressed and hence, decided to keep an open mind about the possibility of working in one.

In preparation for the interview and just to be more aware of what I'm in for, I visited the organization's website in advance and attempted to understand some basic information at the very least. Surprisingly, I read with more interest than expected as I learnt that some of the core values and missions the organization advocates are pretty much in line with my own values and priorities and that is a big plus for me. Not many people know this, but I'm really not a very good reader, the fact that the material can sustain my attention long enough for the message to be conveyed means I must be fairly interested at least.

Anyway, point was, after visiting the website, my interest in the position and desire to work in the organization was further propelled. I even psyched myself to forget the urban legends and my previous conceptions, just so that I would not limit my options.

After the English profiency test and psychometric test, I was officially declared brain dead. The test was far more difficult than expected. Ah! Deja vu! It totally felt like I was sitting for a paper I had not studied for. Following the test, we had the opportunity to meet with some of the leaders of the departments for an informal tea session.

I really can't emphasize this enough, but in retrospect, I seriously believe employers need to rethink their position in the market these days. They have to realise that gone were the days where job seekers only have a single option and while it's true that there are often many candidates to choose from for one vacancy, it is also a fact that job seekers have more choices for who they want to work for now.

Job seekers now have the luxury of choosing jobs from various resources simultaneously and more often than not, they end up having more offers than one at the same time. Essentially, employers are also in a competition for candidates but I really think many employers do not realise this still. Many recruitors still hold the misconception that it has been and will always be an employer's market.

When I met with the heads of the departments, one of whom I presume, shall be my boss should I get the job, I was rather disappointed in the manner that particular HOD presented herself to us. I went with a picture painted in my head based on the information I attained from the website but unfortunately, the picture was pretty much scratched and repainted shortly after.

As a leader of the department and a representative of the organization to outsiders like us, a mutually positive impression should be strived. Said lady not only looked disinterested right from the start of the session but her entire body language reeks of arrogance. The vibe was so negative even when she said "exciting" it sounded more like "dead". I totally forsee her to be an unapproachable boss. I honestly hope I read too much into her actions.

Is this how she should behave in an organization focusing much on quality of service? Ironically, I believe the position she holds, calls for the highest EQ requirement in the entire organization.

I totally see no point in companies over-rating their emphasis on some of the qualities which are evidently absent. Like in this instant, I was told that being a people-person is highly crucial to the job but from what I am presented with, I beg to differ.

Honestly, what for???

2007-02-07T13:21:00.000+08:00

Neighbours

On my way to jog last evening, I smiled to this neighbour who took the same lift with me, as a form of greeting. He is someone I have never got around to greeting "uncle" since he is not yet one and certainly doesn't look the part. Hence, neighbours in this category normally get a smile or a nod from me.

Of the almost 2 decades I have been staying here, I have never sustain a conversation with him before so when he spoke to me in the lift, I was abit stumped.

I had no idea neighbours will ask what sports I do...

And I lagi had no idea neighbours will jio me for table tennis...

-_-'''

Anyway, on a separate issue, I saw the darndestly handsome fellow at the neighbouring market earlier on. He totally looks Japanese, must be some soccer player staying at the condo nearby out scouting for food. Oh yea, by the way, I get to ogle at them sometimes when I pass by, since they always have training at the stadium downstairs.

He looks something like the following:

Ok, but u get the idea.

God bless the creation of the stadium downstairs, god bless handsome japanese soccer players, and god bless my soul. *Does chicken-little dance*

2007-02-06T14:58:00.000+08:00

Movies

Caught Fur by Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr last week with E, a pretty movie with some artistic scenes but the plot, nothing much to boot about. It was more of a tribute to Diane Arbus than anything else, and of course, everything beautified by the gorgeous Kidman I believe.

I was abit shaken by the nude scenes of the older folks, especially since I went with zilch idea about the movie. Not a pretty sight & definitely not a turn-on. You may beg to differ in aesthetic sense & argue that nudity in all forms possess beauty. Yea yea but I m so sorry, I think it's really not for the faint-hearted. No...no...certainly not when I am snacking on delicious fries.

I also caught this really thigh-stabbing witless show on DVD some two days ago, Nacho Libre, featuring Jack Black with otherwise relatively unknown co-stars.

Imagine typical Jack Black humour & you would have imagined it all. Let's just say, the trauma set in during the show and remains till now.

Three words for the movie- No. No. No.

2007-02-06T13:36:00.000+08:00

More Soccer

By now, you must have already witnessed or heard about the commotion on how the Thai players refused to carry on the match after the Malaysian referee awarded us with a penalty kick during the first leg, evidently a big deal as it did lead us to our advantageous lead thereafter.

(Coincidentally, I thought I caught a glimpse of my friend at the spectator stand on TV, of which was confirmed later as I smsed him. *lol*)

Anyway, very tak-glam lah the kinda sportsmanship the Thais displayed this year...tsk tsk. Soccer has always been a game based on judgement which essentially boils down to a mere critical call in that instant. I fail to keep track of the number of times we disagree with the referee's decision but the game still has to go on. Living with the referee's call is also a constitution of the game.

Tensions were building up prior to the 2nd leg and feelings of nationalism were evoked, with the Thaksin/ Shin Corp incident as a backdrop no less. It is very unfortunate for the sport to be manipulated into a political tool.

I thought it was inevitable that the home team had to play under some unnecessary pressure as it seems like the usual performing suspects like Shi Jiayi and even our captain, Aide Iskandar appeared abit lacklustre that night.

And such is the case for the referees as well; there were a few yellow cards given which I felt was unjust, and some other few who deserved the yellow cards but were given none. Like what the commentators said, it really depends on the referee's integrity to make a correct but controversial judgement.

The match was evidently one-sided as the Thais were in constant possession of the ball while the Lions missed several good passes and opportunities to up the score. Again, even during the 2nd match, I was particularly unimpressed with the Thai's sportsmanship. However, I do admit it was kinda unnecessary for Fahrudin to stop the Thai player, Thonglao from helping Sharil Ishak up after a tackle early during the match, but it was even more unnecessary when the Thai player attempted to kick our man who was floored, later into the match, in a fit of frustration. Tsk tsk...very unglam.

Although the 2nd leg was largely one-sided indeed, plus points to the Lions who were able to come around, despite the pressure of playing on away grounds and after being down at 1-0 from the 1st half of the match. Thanks to the now, national hero, Number 19 Khairul Amri, who scored the crucial equalizer during the 2nd half.

Finally, he did some good to the team. Hopefully he realises by now, it feels better to score than to foil. :/

Forgive me for my dry humour but I thought it was pretty comical when Lionel Lewis, our goal keeper, got a yellow card for wasting time. *Guffaws* Nice. Aiya but it was disappointing to have both Indra & Baihakki on the bench that night. Oh the cuties for the team...the match was less interesting because of youuuuuuuu.

Nevertheless, it wasn't an easy feat to fend of succumbing to pressure. Congrats to the Lions again, for the victory!

2007-01-29T18:26:00.000+08:00

When the Lions Roar

Last Saturday was memorable, truly my first time in 24 years. We actually bought tickets to watch Singapore VS Malaysia for the Asean Championship. *wahaha!*

The fact that we whacked Laos like crazy made me abit proud of our home team. The fact that we had a draw 1-1 with Malaysia (who has always been our very strong competitor) when we were playing on their grounds, made me abit curious about who will emerge as the better men on the 2nd match. The fact that the match took place at the Kallang stadium, made me abit enthusiastic to go since it's going to be taken down soon.

Luckily the rain was not significant enough to affect the match, if not we will have to hide under newspapers, whip out our ponchos or put the very oh biang plastic bags over our heads, those red colour ones they give you when u buy vege or fish from the market lah.

I must say I am stunned at the crowd who turned up. Almost the entire round of the spectator stand was occupied and even halfway into the match, there was still human traffic constantly streaming in it, looked like nomads migrating; everybody obviously wants to be a part of the action.

Malaysia supporters occupied one tiny column of the stand, wearing yellow & I must say their group is pretty tiny as compared to the proportion of the Lions' supporters but they were quite loud & sounded quite pro in cheering still, so kudos to that! We had almost everybody on our side donning red a.k.a our national colour, as a display of support. Therefore, couldn't help but felt abit Kuakuakuakua...when the Lions appeared in blue jersey that night. (-_-)

Anyway, the atmosphere was damn high, ok maybe we were high. We cheered, jeered, scolded, yelled, hollered, kallang-waved, clapped, got nerve-wrecked, all in unity, oh and plus the swearing was pretty united as well. *lol* Everybody broke out in laughter when some random ah beng screamed "hoi! Nab** C***B**!!!" It's weird how vulgarity can suddenly seem so amusing in that setting.

Much as I thought it was pretty unnecessary to shower so much jeering towards the opposite team, everybody had no qualms of making it evident that we didn't have much sportsmanship. *lol* It was still funny to hear people yell things like "Referee Kayuuu!" or "Mai geh geh lah!!" or "Go home sleep lah!!" and erm...some other not so politically-correct stuff which i shall not mention here. But all were in the name of fun & it was honestly, simply for the sake of yelling lah. No harm done. We did applaud the opposition, when they walked towards us at the end of the match though! :)

I think it was seriously more happening than NDP. It was my first time hearing & seeing Singaporeans sing the anthem with so much gusto & pride. We had sore throats after which manz...Haha...soccer is rowdy but indeed a very influential sport...What else can I say but...Power to the People!

2007-01-26T15:53:00.000+08:00

Woe is Me

I pretty much look like this now. It's getting routine again...everyday wake up, check out jobs for the day, after that send applications and wait. wait. And wait. *rolls eyes* If i could complete the picture, i would include an oasis of jobs as the destination. *lol*

Up till date, I have been officially wandering for about...hmm...4 months already, so you could imagine what a rainbow of comments i have received. Typically, the situation could be generalized into the following count-down:

Typical Response Number 5: "Wahhh...very shiok hor u? Rest for sooooo longggg....what a lonnnggg break lehhh....really very lonnnngggg leh..."

Typical Response Number 4: "Eh, have u found a job yet?" (one week later) "Eh, have u found a job yet?" (one week later) "Eh, have u found a job yet?" So on & so forth...

Typical Response Number 3: "See lah...u should have quit only after u found a job...where got people quit first one...(OS: So stupid...)" ala my dad.

Typical Response Number 2:
"Oh u not working now ah? Also good lah...take the chance to have a good rest......for how long already?"
"About 4 months."
(Awkward silence plus widening of eyes plus immediate focus of attention on me ala taiwanese drama dramatic moment)

Typical Response Number 1:
"Still cannot find ah? Now alot of jobs mah...should be very easy..."
"Erm...ok lah...still looking loh."
"Orhh..no worries lah...take your time to find loh...must find suitable one mah hor...nvm lah..............but don't take too long." (accompanied with a sympathetic bob of the head)"

2007-01-21T18:37:00.000+08:00

Some Laments & Some Happiness

Eh, stop calling me slacker can? Very, very annoying you know...I am looking for a job ma....just that there isn't much for me recently. It's not like I don't want to contribute to society can??? Very strange for people to just leap to conclusions like that when they don't get their facts right.

Anyway, my deepest congratulations to Vincent & his new wifey. Very, very happy for you two. Steady pom pi pi lah! :)

2007-01-18T13:29:00.000+08:00

When the Hunted Becomes the Hunter

It was only in late December last year I started to flip through Recruit seriously, till date I have already applied for quite a few positions, received few calls and attended one formal interview.

As usual, job seeking is a pain in the arse, especially the waiting part. Coincidentally, I am not good at this part.

I almost roll my eyes everytime I get answers like "within 2 to 3 weeks, you will hear from us".

C'mon!!? Do you really need 2 to 3 weeks to decide???

Sure, the need for comparison to the other applicants I understand, but sometimes it will be fantastic if the Recruitor could give some heads-up, like "within 2 to 3 weeks, you will hear from us. I think you stand a really good chance" and sincerely meant that. It somehow eases the pain of waiting, no?

Well, since they pretty much size up an applicant from the first 15 seconds they walk through the door, if it is a clear case of no-go, maybe sometimes, a little honest albeit harsh reality in exchange for a cut in the excruciating wait might be better.

If it's the appearance, just say "Sorry, the ad says "PRESENTABLE APPEARANCE" and we feel you look like crap so no, sorry but thank you for coming." Hence this applicant knows it's a dead end to this one, goes home in despair but is highly aware of what went wrong, hopefully proceeds to improve on own appearance but is able to continue to apply for other positions which doesn't require a presentable appearance in the meantime.

If it's the intelligence, just say "Sorry, we think you look fantastic but we believe it's inversely proportionate to what you have up there. (points to head) So 'fraid not but thank you for coming." Hence this applicant knows it's a dead end to this one, goes home happily for the compliments to the physical goodness of self but is highly aware of what went wrong, and continues to apply for other positions immediately which bear the pre-requisite of "Only Presentable Applicants need Apply".

Ok, maybe the examples given are a tad too Simon Cowell, but point is, it would be seriously helpful for the recruitor to just give a rough indication or a hint of where we stand while we wait. That way, we could really manage our expectations better.

Anyway, contrary to popular beliefs, despite being used to the atmosphere of the interview setting, I am still nervous when it comes to the actual thing. It is a totally different story to be the interviewee versus the interviewer. It's weird to not being able to control the flow of the interview and I must still say, I do not heart some of the silly irrelevant questions the amateur interviewer asked. But for now, I can only try my best to catch the balls thrown at me on the court. Dammit.

That being said, unfortunately, the quest must go on, for it is a necessary evil. Actually work is not necessary, but the money is. (-_-')

So now, while I grit my teeth to pull the log across the bridge, please pray for me, wish me all the luck and help me keep everything that can be crossed, crossed. I need that.

Gracias!

2007-01-09T18:49:00.000+08:00

厭なこと

どうしてほかの人はあたしの人生なんてそんなに気にするんだよ。。。むかつくなあああ。。。もうがんばったのに。。。あたしに何がしてもらいたい？？！！

ほといてよ！！

2007-01-03T15:56:00.000+08:00

Stupid is as Stupid Does

Stupid is as Stupid Does Part 1: Don't Know Say Don't Know, Mai Geh Gao please.

On New Year's eve, there was a huge miscommunication about my mum's return flight info, thanks to my apparently brainless cousin and some half-hearted efforts.

No freaking idea why but said brainless cousin has a problem admitting she knew nothing, so she felt compelled to fabricate some inaccurate info to answer my questions?!

If she has no idea, just tell me she's not sure or something lah! What for make up some grandmother story to make me believe her?!?! She delusional or what?!?!? Siao!!!

Very annoying. I only feel like slapping her big mouth 3000 times until her goldfish eyes pop out.

Oh, did i already say this? One of my New Year's resolutions is to be a better person in 2007.

Stupid is as Stupid Does Part 2: Some People Just Don't Know When to Stop Trying.

The following conversation happened just a few minutes earlier.

D: Eh, have u eaten lunch?
Me: No, not hungry yet.
D: Why haven't eat??? Look at the time now!!
Me: I just ate cake & drank coffee, so not hungry.
D: Why u never cook something to eat??
Me: I'm not hungry.
D: Cannot lydat, will have gastrits.
Me: But i'm really not hungry.

(15 minutes later)

D approaches with a box of cake.
D: Eh, eat abit.
Me: Don't want.
D: Try abit lah, quite nice, not sweet one. (Proceeds to pinch abit & demonstrated putting the bit into her mouth plus chew)
Me: I don't want.
D: How about red bean soup???
Me: No, I don't want.
D: Then eat the cake lah..quite fluffy.
Me: *frowns* I really don't want to eat lah! I am not hungry!! Why you keep forcing me??? *tugs at hair with bewildered look on face*
D: Don't want to eat say don't want to eat, no need to raise your voice...
Me: -___-''' ya, i only told you that for 5000 times only.

2006-12-30T16:48:00.000+08:00

Bubble

When the page takes forever to load, it is especially frustrating for someone with very little patience. For any matter, i confess having to wait around is really not my thing.

Anticipation, not curiosity, in this case, kills the cat.

I came to realise that private space is an equally important issue to me. More often than not, i like to be left alone when i am at home, as more thoughts come to mind when the surroundings are quiet.

Such is the case when i have got something to say on the blog.

Writing requires inspiration and claiming residence in the private bubble is conducive for inspirations to be conceived. Hence, the constant yearning for a room to call my own.

Then again, inspirations to write come & go in a spur of a moment. Once the ideas come & the ability to pen in down that instant goes, the urge to write tends to cease as well.

Unfortunately, such is also the case since Blogger takes so much longer to complete loading these days.

2006-12-30T01:57:00.000+08:00

My Name is Not Maria......but Sophia.

Empress Dowager had taken off for a 5 day 4 nights trip with some of my relatives and till date, i am proud to announce the rest of the members have managed to survive 3 days without her now.

Of course, with her absence, someone has to take over her crazy responsibility of daily chores.

I should think the following pie chart explains the distribution well:

My aunt has taken leave during this period to tend to my grandma who is staying with us & she has to make her way here everyday. Papa has to wake up at 6am every morning to do some pre-work chores like boil water, give grandma some breakfast etc before leaving and i will have to do laundry for myself, Papa & Smelly, plus cook dinner, plus some other miscellaneous stuff.

It didn't help that the washing machine chose to give up on me during this period, so Sophia has to wash everything by hand, machiam like those samsui women by the river.

As you can see, Smelly is not in the chart...'cause well, he's just...there. He says because i am beri free so i have to do the chores. That big bully. Sniff.

Ok la i must admit i dunch mind cooking since i get to experiment on alot of things Empress Dowager would have frowned upon when she is around. Of my 24 years of worthy living, it was my first time cooking dinner for Papa at home last night.

And no he didn't LS, in fact he was quite patronizing. He said the kailan & tomato fish not bad. Yeaaa!~

Mo was also present at dinner and he helped to fry the black-pepper chicken fillet, finished up the remains & did some dishes. I was quite pleased that nothing was left of the dinner. Heee. Oh but i cooked too little rice though ;P woops. Saw the 2 men trying to ration their intake. Hahaa.

Oh and did i mention that apart from my persistent auntie who is constantly trying to talk to me when she is here, i am enjoying the peace i am getting with the absence of the Empress, chores aside. Anyway, she really deserves a good break from the house.

Haaa.....Peace & quiet. I likkke.

********************************

I is going to bleed soon...i can feel it. Stupid pimples...grrrrr. I envy people with good skin.

2006-12-24T16:49:00.000+08:00

It's that Time of the Year Again...

Have a Merry Christmas, enjoy your long weekend! Love ya all, and remember to buy me my presents, preferably nice looking ones.

And oh, remember to pray for World Peace, as always. :)

2006-12-18T22:13:00.000+08:00

Bugged

A chord was struck when i heard what i heard earlier the evening.

It got me all hot and bothered, in a bad way, given that my brows have been locked in dismay eversince.

This is exactly one of those situations where the outsider sees and feels more than the actual parties involved.

I am not reading too much into it. If you are not a woman, you know no better.

Unfortunately, there is not just one of them around, but many, many others.

Disgust & mortified, are but abbrievations of what is overwhelming.

Excuse me, in case you have not waken up your idea, women are not play-things.

If pure boredom is your primary drive for the pursuit;

If you are still no different than a 15 year old despite having come a longer journey;

If you believe it is right to touch & go;

I am afraid I see you deserve no better than to remain in solitude.

2006-12-18T18:50:00.000+08:00

Back & Bored

On the way back from the chalet, despite being very sleep-deprived, we popped by Suntec to check out the Sony Convention for latest gadgets in town. Ok, who am i kiddin', we were tempted by the free door gifts really.

The place was pretty nicely done up and it was evident that they put in a whole lot of effort to make the atmosphere christmasy. Nice, since tis the season to be jolly. But anyway, the door gifts were just white mugs with "Sony" spread across it, nothing to shout about unfortunately.

Anyway, on the day i left for the chalet, i actually missed a call from one of my JC classmates as we had our hands full ransacking for food stocks at NTUC. My bad, as i forgot to return the call later.

HC's sms came in at dawn on the next day asking if I wanna go to said JC classmate's lunch reception that afternoon together. Apparently she's getting married.

Well, not that I was really close to the bride or whatsoever, but how about a little more sincerity when sending out the invites?

Obviously the chances of attendance were as good as Bush being coined a successful president, since the notice was less than 24hours.

2006-12-15T13:41:00.000+08:00

Techno Come Alive

I shamelessly asked YW for free gifts the other day when we saw him and was supposed to be at Suntec collecting fantabulous door gifts now, but Mo's stomach failed on him again. Haiz..

One of my clients whose account i serviced previously called me on my mobile to chit-chat a while earlier. She's one of those whom i got along better with on the job.

I was even more pleased to hear her lament that with my departure, the working relationship weakened between them and our company. Rather than label it "Gloat", i prefer to use "Consoled".

It wasn't a piece of cake building & maintaining good working relationship with your clients; and such is the saying, Rome wasn't built in a day. Especially with hardcore clients who are like menopausing everyday, if you manage to turn them around, you will be surprised how loyal they can be to you. It makes things so much easier when they are standing on your side. Really.

This is no joking matter in the service industry, evident from the abundant seminars, books, trainings in the market, teaching amateurs how to deal with difficult customers.

With confidence, i say the relationship struck is as personal as it is corporate.

************************************

Anyway, i was going through my music folder when i came across my "Dance & Techno" collection. It must have been eons since i listen to them since alot of the titles didn't ring a bell.

So, i am bobbing along to the catchy tunes now, mouthing cheesy techno-specific lingo no less.

With titles like "Sea of Love", "Edge of Universe", "Vamos Amigos", "Dam Dariram", "Castles in the Sky" etc...What's not to love, babeyyyy?

*Doomz! Doomz! Doomz!*

Woohoo!!!!

2006-12-15T02:33:00.000+08:00

Concluded

Eventually, i failed to revert on Friday as i was struggling to hit the right decision.

But now as i blog, everything has been settled. The dilemma has ceased.

Let's sum it up to say it was mutual consensus that I am ready to step out & look elsewhere. I am truly grateful for all my GM's vested interests in me, although i can't quite say the same for the Ah Lian Manager.

In fact, she called me once more early this week again, to check on my decision once more.

And no surprises for guessing it right, the conversation was painful for as long as it lasted. Stuff that i have previously told her obviously did not register since she referred to the information she knew to be from a 3rd party's source.

I have no freaking idea how people with listening problem can survive in the service line for a decade. Maybe she is doing something right, if not, she is just utterly blessed from good karma accumulated in her previous life. Of which, i leer on the latter. Maybe she was a Lama. (?!)

Anyway, when she realised i will not be looking back anymore, she sounded bitterly caustic at the other end. I have no idea why she wouldn't come to terms with it, it was obvious right from the start isn't it?

My now ex-colleague suggested maybe she sounded bitter because she was still harbouring some hopes of me returning. Well, I can't quite say i cared for her tone though.

On the flip side, if anything at all, i should thank her for opening the doors of reality on me. Otherwise, i might still be thinking that the corporate life is sugar, spice and everything nice.

Perhaps this is the kinda silver lining that everybody should be trained to look at. You know, for an easier life.

Off to chalet over the weekend, hope it's gonna be fun to see everybody again. :)

2006-12-07T17:33:00.000+08:00

I Is Happening

Yesterday was a weird one.

I had an early appointment scheduled with the Dragon Lady in her office after so long. Finally, she replied me and asked for me to pop by to talk about options. Again.

I can't exactly say any good came out of the discussion. I was stuck there for a good 2.5 hours, even longer than when i first attended an interview with her. Wah laoz.

In a nutshell, i told her what i have finally decided to do, she made me do a test on what kinda person i am (turns out i'm more of an "Ideas" person, followed by "People" then a "Data" one, the 3 in descending order), did an assessment about that, went into a whole lot of dissuasions, and made me wonder if i have made the wrong decision.

Then she threw another option to me, something similar to what i have turned down 2 months ago but with her indepthed clarifications & dissection, i ought to have a renewed faith. She gave me 2 days to think about it, and tomorrow i will have to revert on whether i am up to the challenge. Challenge is an under-rated word, perhaps "Ordeal" would be more apt.

Honestly, a small part of me has been sparked. Deep down, i know there is an element of truth in what she said. I walked out of her room with a really heavy heart; i am tempted to give it a miss but i worry it's the emotions doing the talking.

*pulls hair* Since when making a decision about your career has gotten this tough?!!?

Anyway, after the meeting, i met my insurance agent to go through some documents. Just when i was fretting over what to do alone for the rest of the day after meeting her, since Mo is in his anti-town mode again, i thought i would pop by the salon to get the long overdue haircut so i called to make an appointment. Thanks to Ms Jayel for her recommendation. :)

My insurance agent invited me to lunch with her after the discussion and i thought she was also alone so i agreed, even though i was gonna be late for the haircut appointment. She suggested this place with very famous Oxtail and only halfway to the restaurant, she asked me if i would mind meeting her family as well. -_-'''

Well, it was a little awkward as it seems pretty intrusive of me to just barge in on their family lunch like that, plus the rest have already finished their food when we arrived. Thank goodness her husband was super friendly and he took good care to ensure i was comfortable and he secretly settled the bill when i wasn't noticing. Her daughter and sister-in-law were also there.

Being the unappreciative arse i am, i ordered fish, since i am no oxtail fan. Apparently that place only serves oxtail on Wednesday lunch, the restaurant was so rowdy and bustling despite being hidden away in such an old building. I told Mo it was like a patch of greens in the midst of Sahara desert.

Anyway, after parting with them, i headed towards the train station for my appointment. A recruitment consultant whom i contacted many months ago suddenly rang me out of the blue. She had something in mind for me and wanted to talk to me about options as well. I can't quite come to terms with the coincidence. So amazingly, she called me on the same day i have a meeting with the GM.

After that, I called the hair salon to inform them i was running late, and i bumped into Eryan, a secondary school friend & classmate whom i have not seen for quite a while, so i had a companion on the train ride. :)

The change of hairstyle took a lonnnng time to be done lehhh...I sat there till roots started to form cannnn. I rebonded my hair again la...who cares if it's not in fashion anymore since it has been proven to be the most effective method to tame the wild mane.

Winnie, the hairstylist had a hard time trying to "break the bones" of my hair coz apparently, yours truly have super strong & healthy hair that is very rare for Asians to have, so she has to leave the cream for a much, much longer time as compared to other customers'. -_-''''''

She said out of so many customers, she has only come across 2 with this kind of hair, including me. The other is also a Chinese girl, but hers was more powerful than mine, she had the cream on for 2.5 hours...i had it for about 45 mins.

Strangely, my previous hairstylist did say the same thing too, in fact she asked all her trainees to come see and feel my hair too -_-'''. Thank yew huhhh...I is not lab specimen or Exhibit A cannnnn.

Anyway, I think Winnie is trying to be nice...i think she meant to say i have thick strands of hair. She also exclaimed i have alot of hair, but i told her it is just the size of my head.

I also snipped the longs off this time. Although it's not quite the hairstyle i was lusting for, but it would do for now. I haven't had short hair for the longest time, and to have the hairstyle i wanted, i had to go quite short. I decided not to be so adventurous and stick to the earthly length for now. I is worry Empress Dowager would not let me into the house if she cannot recognise her own daughter lahh.

I met Mo for dinner after he roamed the streets and waited for me for a long, long time to be done. (*sniggers* must be the payback for being anti-town & leaving me to fend for myself earlier in the day...muahaha!) Judging from his expression, i think he is abit shocked. Lol. He looked like he can't come to terms with my short hair.

Anyhoo, yesterday, i set out alone, but i is not alone. I is got plenty of company. I is beri happy. Heee.

2006-11-30T14:02:00.000+08:00

Making my Move

Technically speaking, my long leave has ended and i'm supposed to have shortlisted a few options, go through some discussions with some people and made some decisions on some positions.

My crazy colleagues rang me up to remind (/snide at) me that my gallivanting days are numbered and pestered me for hints on my future plans. As nosey as they may be, a part of me is thankful to them for remembering my minute existence. Afterall, you never know which day you might need their help again, so as obnoxious as the HR practioners can be in your current company, try not to step on their toes. Like previously mentioned, they can either make or break you.

Anyway, that's beside the point.

I took the initiative to email my GM on Sunday, to update her on some of my thoughts & progress, but till date i receive no reply. Yesterday i dropped her an SMS to check if she has received my email and she didnt reply either. Well, since the last thing i want to come across as is to appear super hard up for a job, i left it as it is.

However, not knowing if my email has been received offensively/ gladly/ neutrally, is quite a pain in the ass. It makes me wonder alot, especially before i sleep and i think it is mentally disturbing.

To be honest, i am not that excited to look back to the same organization anymore; the thought of facing the same people & environment bore me a whole dope, but if they are still keen to offer me some exposure in my desired field, of course i wouldn't close my door on it. Afterall, gaining entry into a new field is always the toughest.

Just a couple of minutes earlier, i got a call from my Ah Lian Manager. She had wanted to know my plans as well. Weirdly, i do not recall of any instructions before i left, to update her of my progress and plainly, i see no need to, but she seems eager to know where i want to head to next.

As usual, sustaining a conversation with somebody who has a problem with listening is always painful. Even with her phone call, i find her tone uncaring, like as if she called out of obligation. In fact, i rather she not call at all, for the stone-cold voice at the other end of the line, is piercingly disturbing.

Nevertheless, i think i survived the call with some politeness and friendliness still, at least by my standards. It's an occupational hazard/ blessing; you have to know when to sound hypocritically pleasant to people you dislike lah. If you don't know how to yet, you have to learn. It's the 105th skill listed in the Book of Surviving the (Back-Stabbing) Rat-Race.

Anyhoots, in the meantime, i will be keeping a lookout on the online recruitment portals and the papers. Having finally decided on something, albeit a non-easy route, is quite a relief.

2006-11-26T23:18:00.000+08:00

Not Quite the Heartlander

Recently the spell seems to catch on harder, although it is nothing fresh to claim that Singapore is a boring place.

It might be the size, it might be the people ruling it but everything seems to be made a tad too homogeneous for my liking. I would have complained the same eons ago but when you become the half of another, it somehow struck you twice as hard.

Now that i have the weekdays to myself, i have restricted shopping on weekends, simply for the sake of less queueing time for fitting rooms and cashiers. Not to mention the lack of crowd eases browsing & cruising along.

Even then, it is as mundane as it gets, to be stuck here with all the time in the world but with nowhere i wanna go, locally. Quite apparently, even new malls, supposedly gigantic, spot the same few giant retailers over & over again. I must say with all the space, they have very little to offer indeed. At least on the scale of novelty points.

No matter which mall comes up as a suggestion as to where we should go and have some "fun" at, there are only so many times i can try to keep a rested chin from falling off my palm out of total boredom.

I can safely comment that there is nothing left to do outdoors after 10pm, except to eat, drink, club & stroll. Of course, i am not suggesting that comparitively, other countries have more civilization for the night owls than us, hell, some even knock off before sunset, but at least while they are open in the day, they provide more leap-off-the-chair-exciting choices & varieties.

Well, on the flip side, maybe it seems so because of my greed for a change.

How is it, that people can live so contentedly in this tiny bubble, without feeling claustrophobic, without feeling the need to see and touch foreign lands, and without curiosity; for generations (!), i don't understand.

I reeeally don't understand.

2006-11-20T18:26:00.000+08:00

Blogger Back on List

Hey! Tetanus is back in town to write again!

Yeaa!

2006-11-19T19:50:00.000+08:00

I Hear Voices in my Head

I took away the comments thing again, as i received notes from comments-leavers directly to the designated email of the blog telling me it's not working properly. Apparently it just comes straight to the email. -_-'''

As if it is a sequel to my previous entry, more of conscious dreaming has been happening to my sleeps recently. I can't say i am thoroughly excited with this phenomenon, since it has left me to awake with an unsettling feeling most of the time.

I swear it is bizarre to the point of instantly drifting away to dreamland upon closing my eyes. There are even occasions when i very consciously tell myself to just wake up so that everything will be over, while dreaming a bad one. I sincerely hope this is just a phase and will pass on soon.

Well, since it is often believed that one should make the best out of any situation one is in, i am however, interested to be enlightened on the meaning of my oh-so-strange dreams.

Of one that i still can remember from yesterday's morning (see? i even know i was dreaming in the morning), i dreamt that i was a dancer and due to put up a performance with "Cave People" as the theme. So you would have imagined, the costume would be very Flintstones' era and the hair would be done big, looney and knotty.

So we were sitting around in the dance room, listening to the dance instructor briefing us on how to get our emotions and expressions right for the mood of the dance. Distinctly, he demonstrated drinking from a cup of water and holding his face away in disgust and disapproval, like he is the caveman experiencing a modern beverage for the first time.

Subsequently he wanted us to follow suit and picked of all people, me, to do it for the class. Somehow, i couldn't get it right and broke away in laughter most of the time or ended up wearing a half trying-to-look-agonized, half trying-to-control-my-grinning look on my face.

So, with my head perched over the plastic cup of water, i just kept trying and trying in front of the class, with the dance instructor correcting me over and over again.

In utter embarrassment and the same unsettling feeling i woke up with after, i opened my eyes with frowns of dismay.

Unfortunately, this is just one of the many puzzling dreams i get in the late of time and i wish somebody would decipher and interpret it for me, someone like a dream therapist? I read previously that the last dream of the sleep is often most related to reality (or is it the other way round?).

By the way, i will not take answers like "you must be thinking too much" or "get a life!" very seriously. Thank you very much.

2006-11-15T08:47:00.000+08:00

The Trilogy

Singapore Dreaming

It's a miracle. I'm awake at this hour, the earliest yet eversince i dropped out of the rat-race for a breather. I must have only closed my eyes for some 3 to 4 hours, given the outing last night.

Thanks to the nightmare i was having just before i regained consciousness to the world; it literally panicked me awake.

I dreamt of parting with Wil before the outing ended last night only to realise i had my bag left locked in his bike's box. It was horrifying even in the dreams to imagine leaving all your belongings like wallet & most importantly, handphone, with somebody else.

It is also not good news to know that my handphone has found its way to the category of "Necessities".

In the dream, the first reaction upon such realization was to call him before he leaves the building BUT since i have his number stored in my handphone & in my handphone only, i didn't have his number to call, not to mention any of our mutual friends'.

You know sometimes when you dream of something unpleasant, despite being asleep, you will still be conscious enough to want to will yourself to wake up, only to find yourself paralyzed with the inability to open your eyes?

The feeling was almost like that, except that i did open my eyes, almost immediately no less. It was as if somebody had jolted me out of sleep & miraculously no matter how long i was in denial to get out of bed, i couldn't fall asleep anymore.

In the sleepless mode, i have decided i will keep a separate record of all the contacts in my mobile from now on, just in case the situation really takes place one fine day.

I was still telling the girls the other day that even when i was working, i couldn't wake up without setting the alarm even though i have to wake up at the same time everyday. With my irregular sleeping pattern now, i am a little worried of readjusting back when the need arises.

Is there such a thing as "no bio-clock", i wonder?

*****************************************************
Her Wedding

Some 1 month ago, i was informed by one of my primary school girlfriends that she is getting hitched & was cordially invited to her R.O.M party.

We are talking about someone i have not seen for about a decade or so. It was only in recent years she somehow found my contacts again & added me on MSN.

Even though we are residing in close proximity, we hardly bump into one another or make the effort to meet up.

The bride was once in my B.F.F category & probably the only one who had made it there. Well, even though she did not stay in the category, she was still somebody significant once.

We hung out in a larger group & there were days we could visit her house almost every other day, just to slug around or watch teletext. Yes, teletext. It was the in-thing before IRC came. Of course, when we were out or in school, we did tonnes of crazy stuff together too.

However, she has always been a rather problematic kid. She reads & kept to herself alot & was the kind to go to the Ladies during class just to comb & wet her hair. She was forever entangled in BGR troubles & at later stage, whenever she was depressed she would mutilate her wrist with a pen-knife. The wounds were not deep enough to kill but enough to make the sight disturbing. Due to multiple & repeated mutilation, there was a period of time she would only appear in long-sleeved blouses.

As a kid who knows no better, it was alot for me to take in. As much as i would like to remain as a supportive friend even when we parted for different secondary schools, it was difficult since we made new friends & basically moved on. It was unfortunate that the clique she hung out with in secondary school was seemingly girls like her or perhaps worse. When she was with us, even though we were playful & rebellious, we had her in check but with friends who condone her behaviour, it was no surprise she went wayward shortly after. After Sec 2, she dropped out.

In the whole of my secondary school life, perhaps i saw her once or twice. On & off, i hear mutual friends talking about how she was getting on. Distinctively there was once i recalled, when i was mugging for a Physics test on the eve, i got a call from her telling me she was preggie. She was my first girlfriend to get pregnant at our age so I was only short of blacking out in shock. I still remember what my first words to her were; helplessly, i told her "At least you know you are fertile." And she laughed.

As she was still a minor back then, the chap responsible for it went to Boys' Home after her parents refused to hear of the marriage proposal from the chap's family, so she had it aborted despite loving kids. I can't quite remember but vaguely, i think she had another one after that.

When i saw her last night, there were plenty of mixed feelings. There she stood, in a simple, pink gown, looking radiant & happy. She was pretty much the same, except that she put on a few more pounds & a tattoo. She must have repeated "Thank you for coming" and "I'm really happy you all are here" for 6 or 7 times for the night.

I was glad to be there for her but even more elated i went with Wil & Mel. There were only 3 of us from Primary School, and 2 from her secondary school. Since she had lost contact with most of her schooling friends, the remaining guests were all her colleagues. We felt a little out of place but her parents who still remember me (afterall how could they not since i used to hang out at their place so much), helped in making us feel at ease with their hospitality.

*****************************************************

Primary School Pals

Anyway, we only managed to catch up a little as she was busy fleeting around attending to guests. The 3 of us left after an hour or 2 since the guys wanted to grab dinner. They said the buffet portion were appetizers. -_-'''

In the end, we wento an eatery at Kovan, stayed to chat till 2am & we talked alot into the past.

I got acquainted with them when i was a prefect back in P4 & had to monitor the P7s and i'm glad i had to, otherwise i would never have known nice folks like them. We hung out so much we practically saw each other more than we saw our family at that time, it was ridiculous.

Of course, BGRs were a big hit back then & there were the A-likes-B-but-B-likes-C situations. But everything just seems amusing in retrospect.

Education, social circle aside, they are very earnest people to be with and that's why times with them are simple yet pleasurable. They are very real and free people, free not as in they have nothing else better to do but free, as in soul & spiritually. No matter how much they have been through in life, i don't think they will ever morph into empty-shelled hypocrites who blow air kisses at acquaintances.

I think the both of them, together with another guy pal, TM, subconsciously, have benchmarked the criteria for men. Conservative to a certain extent, they are MEN-men, the kinds with spines, if you know what i'm talking about. They are opinionated, straight-forward in their likes & dislikes and can be as stubborn as a mule but they are protective of girls, and not just to their girlfriends, which is what i really appreciate about them. You just feel safe with them because you know they will always watch your back.

These are not people borned with silver spoons in their mouths nor did they do their "air-levels" but they are rugged & down to earth people who sometimes struggle to make ends meet.

It's not necessarily something tangible they do which you could put a finger to it to derive this conclusion about them. It's more like trivialities, like the way they talk & walk with you. Body language you might say but it just shows, and this kinda thing is simply not taught in schools.

I sincerely dunno if you can find anymore guys like them out there but i do believe they are a rare breed and i think i have been lucky enough to keep them as my friends.

So ladies, i hope you find yours too.

I Must B Losing My Mind

2006-11-12T17:30:00.000+08:00

It's ez to lose ur mind when u hv the same thing appearing everywhere & all the time in the recent spate of events.

Lately, there has been dis reviving thing about ex-singer Jimmy Ye a.k.a Ye Liang Jun around.

I duno since when, his mp3s began to resurface, and b4 i noe it, i'm humming along to his tunes all over again.

Then my silly frens started searching for his old MTVs to watch, for reminiscing & nostalgia, when we hit the KTV recently. Like a string of dem in continuance.

Next thing i noe, he's a judge on the new series of Project Superstar so it seems.

And the last straw came when i saw his album, the one wif all the green leaves surrounding his head, resting in Mo's room.

It is little wonder why i dreamt of Jimmy Ye, performing yet again on stage last night.

The strangest thing about the dream was, when the emcee was interviewing him b4 he sang, he spoke faggotilly.

Word has it in reality, he's not straight. Mayb dat has impacted the way i imagined him in my dreams. Lol. Plus, it must have been combined wif Eliz's recent sagas about TF.

Oh imagine the trauma.

Movie Night

2006-11-09T01:47:00.000+08:00

After combing Vivocity for the 3rd time, it doesn't feel so colossal now.

While waiting for our movie to start, we had plenty of time to kill so we practically walked up & down, to & fro, and then up & down again. Dis is wad u get for unplanned outings.

But it was fun for an unplanned outing- not dat we shud do dis too often, feasting on a variety of food at the basement of the complex, so much so we skipped dinner altogether. I had intended on having Teochew porridge at the market for supper on the way back but the movie ended abit later than we expected so no go. Scared eat too much canot sleep lah.

Anyway, we caught The Prestige. Finally...after much deliberation. In summary, it's all about magic, deception & outwitting.

The setting of the show took place in old-time London so their English was accented & made some of the dialogues a little difficult to catch. But it was rather well-written in my opinion; seemingly profound, but understandable, not long-winded & leaves space for interpretation, i likkke...I took interest in wad Tesla said to the Great Danton in the scene when he tried to warn him from the perils of obsession. I wonder where these scriptwriters got their sayings from...

Of course, any movie wif old-London as a setting had to be very dark, gloomy & grey. I wonder why. Then again, dey had a part in Colorado, which was also featured pretty grey. Mayb the filming set nvr left the country...Hurhur..Budget tight, just shoot the scene at some ulu corner of London wif a hill.

Anyhoo, i tot the show was pretty well-done, exceeded my expectations by quite a margin. The twists were fantastic, made us drop our jaws abit although i was hoping for a more complex explanation to the mystery at the end. It was like a kinda-saw-it-coming-but-not-yet answer from all the hints thruout the show. But it was enjoyable on the overall.

Of all the movies currently screening, it should be the most worthwhile to watch already lah.

Of coz another reason why it's coz other movies screening now suck.

Fotos of D&D

2006-11-02T18:08:00.000+08:00

The dinner started wif some latin dancers shakin' their booty & ermm...bosoms...u noe how latin dance is like...so use ur imagination.

The foto's blur, but dun blame mi, coz dey were shimmy-ing at such high speed ma.

Pretty, pretty, lotsa colors!

Aiya, u can't see! But the one taking a bow is the leading lady of the performance. Like a drag show kinda thing where the diva lip-syncs to the song.

Very sassy...colleague told mi she/ he performs at Boom Boom Room.

Then there is our siao onz GM, who dressed up as...i assume, a ghost bride.

Trust us, when we saw her at the carpark, it freaked all of us out. If not for her car & her hubby standing wif her which gave her away, we wouldn't have guessed.

She was kinda disappointed we recognized her from afar though. Lol.

Darn, i shud have asked her to stand at a corner in the toilet to start freakin' people out.

Then when dey invited her on stage, she literally drifted from her table to the stage...i caught one spooky shot of her.

Pity she didnt win Best Dressed.

Speaking of which, here are all the nominees for Best Dressed!

Click to enlarge for captions.

Another one of them wif a clearer view of everybody, coz the lights came on, and those who are blocked in the previous foto can be seen here too.

The nominees are put up to perform a seductive dance, including dancing around an imaginary pole, for the audience to judge who shall be the winner. But the dance must be relevant to the characters dey r representing for the nite.

The emcee demonstrated once & boy, can he shake his booty or can he shake his booty....the one wif the blondish cock head is him.

Here's one of the Pontianak. She was hilarious coz she did the dance real slow-mo to fit her female ghost image. And she took her time to look as creepy as she could.

Imagine....all wif the song "Tuo Diao" in the background. Lol.

And here's one of the werewolf harrassing the flirty nurse. Oooh by then, he has already thrown off his mask while dancing...

More like lecher wolf reli.

And then he went down on the floor, while dancing wif the nurse. So old-school loh...

He's at the bottom right-hand side of the foto, in case u can't see coz it's pretty dark.

Underneath the werewolf mask, he actually bleached his hair just for the event to the same color as his fake fur. Can see in the foto? Damn garang...but he has to bleach it back before appearing for work on Monday, otherwise his clients might get a nerve popped.

Good thing he won. Well-deserved.

And here's my face painting for dat nite. I wanted a spider but FRJ did it, then i wanted a scorpion but K did it so i chose to have a butterfly but the face painter said witches don't have butterflies one la!

And so he gave mi a moth...Nice leh..i likkke.

Photos!

2006-10-30T15:19:00.000+08:00

Being the sucker Singaporeans, we were all excited when we saw the huge wheel go round & round wif all the lights & paid like 100 bht per person to go on a 4 or 5 rounds on the harmless thing. Dis was taken from the top of the ferris wheel, of Suan Lom market & beyond, sori huh, abit dark.

A pic of the cemetary which has memorial tablets of warriors who perished in the war from the penetration of the Japanese. Mostly Dutch soldiers. Each tablet bears engravings of the name, rank & lifespan of the soldiers & some were reli young when dey passed on, like...20yrs old. It was kinda sad.

Then we also visited the Death Railway, which was constructed by the POWs during the time. Well, its name bcoz many died from overworking & mistreatment. Can u c the railway stretching across the waters?

Dey allow tourists to walk on the railway today, u noe, mostly to take pictures & awe our heads off wif the view. Interestingly, dis railway is still in operation. When there's a train coming thru, the horn will sound aloud from afar & the people on the railway shud all retreat & get out of the way, unless anybody aspires to become peanut butter & jam sandwiches. But anyway, the train moves at a reli slow speed, so no biggie there.

Speaking of train, we had the chance to go on one & it was like train- train, not mrt-train. We were squeezing along wif locals & got to see some nice views. Well, not to mention some of us (i'm not mentioning names) broke the seat after attempting to squeeze a-too-many people in on one seat. The poor seat simply collapsed when dey stood up to alight...lol...& i tink the locals were kinda shocked. Too much pad thai?? Hurhur...But as we were scurrying off to alight, we had to leave it & be irresponsible.

R.I.P wooden plank, at least u held on till the end.

Anyway, so, dis was the reason why we traveled 2 hrs on a mini van out of Bangkok to come to dis place call Kanchanaburi. Apparently the waterfall is famously nice or something.

Well, it is nice, 'cept dat the place was trickling not onli wif water but wif human traffic as the day we went was a public holiday for the locals. There were people having picnic everywhere, some even brought along steamboat. Kids, adults alike were diving in & out the water & some sliding down the rocks etc. Dey do seem to be very happy at wad dey r doink though.

And may i add, the place we expected to be surreal & nature-like, was also highly touristy as there were roadside stalls along the main road, selling local tibits, ice creams & drinks etc.

Unfortunately, we stayed at most a good 10-15mins staring at the congestion b4 deciding it was nothing fantastic & moved off. Sigh...so much for an adventure in seek of nature.

I rather go shopping.

Anyway, we visited Chatuchak market like any other tourists do & would u just look at the crazy crowd in the pic above!?!? And the place is so humongous most of the time, we r trying not to get lost more than we do anything else.

When brother & mo had nature calls, dey went in seek of a toilet & here's wad dey found & had to do their business in. See the line of queue? Dis bus is for ladies, dey hv a bus for men's parked behind.

Notice the puddle under the bus? It definitely came from the bus but gosh, I dun reli wanna noe wad dat is though.

***************************************************
Some other Random Stuff

Hey! Look wad Empress Dowager found while clearing some old crap from the drawer!

My old watch!

See? The face is so pretty! Ok la, spoilt oredi but it's my sweet o' Garfield watch which i use to wear to bed, to bathe, in rain or shine...till i hv the tan shape on my wrist. Lol. So nostalgic laaaaaaaa.

And i tried to use dis gift from Chunie. It's a USB Cup Warmer. Supposed to plug it into ur PC's USB port & switch it on & it ought to warm up ur cup/ drink to 70 deg cel.

U can heat up ur drink by placing it on the metal plate in the middle of the dog dish lookalike thing. Cute huh...but well...i waited for a good 5 to 10 minutes & apparently my coffee remains as cold. And since i hv no idea how long i hv to wait or if it works...so...i decided to finish my coffee b4 it becomes colder. U noe......wad if the rate at which my coffee cools is faster than the rate the USB Cup Warmer heats it up?!

***************************************************

Anyway, i attended my company's D&D on the Saturday night which just passed. Took quite abit of photos too.

The theme for the night was Las Vegas cum Halloween. Our team went there as witches & had our face painted. There were props like broomsticks, hats, pumpkin buckets, cauldrons, wigs etc. The girls also tried their best to resemble one, if not freaky, wif all the goth & makeup going on.

But when we reached there, we realised we were not still not crazy enuff! There were other teams who reli went all out to dress up. Darn!

It was such an insane night & i nvr dreamt of saying dis but the party was pretty fun since most of the peeps were reli sporting i shud add. It helped dat the emcee also had a screw loose.

I have yet to upload the photos.

So later.

Mystery Revealed.

2006-10-26T17:07:00.000+08:00

It's interesting how i have been getting an assortment of comments about how lucky i m, u noe, to afford going to holidays after holidays & not having to worry about work yet also not having to worry about the lack of income.

Strange, bcoz yes it's true & fantastic i hv been able to travel a fair bit, albeit to nearby countries only, but no i do worry about my future still, while dwelling in dis pitstop.

And how can money nvr be a concern for anybody?!? Of coz i worry, u doofus!

It's just dat after working for nearing 2 yrs, it's not a significant amount but i guess anybody who have worked for a while wif a decent pay wud hv accumulated at least a little ounce of savings to last for a buffer period.

Dunch tell mi u cudn't save a single cent after working for 2 yrs? Cross ur heart, if not for the lack of discipline, i'm sure after slogging like a cow, ur saving account wud hv at least swelled a little.

I still nid to pay my bills ya noe. When i plan on taking the break, of coz i wud hv oredi tot of money issues. I dun get money from my parents now even tho technically i m still under their roof, but at least i dunch leech on dem anymore. And incidentally, every cent i spent now, is still my very blood & sweat.

So no, it's not pure accidental bliss & joy dat i hv the luxury of stopping to toil for a while, coz i hv actually done abit of thinking b4 taking the plunge thank u veri much. Sure, mayB not about 10 to 20 yrs later, but at least for dis period of time.

Plus, having no commitments like marriage, kids, cars or housing helps.

So, the nxt time u tink i m having a breezy time sorting out my life now, tink again.

Have to bathe now, meeting Mo later.

Surviving Bangkok

2006-10-25T16:25:00.000+08:00

We're back! After some 6 days, time sure flies past in a blink or two.

Being the 1st timer in Bangkok, shopping is aplenty like most urban legends about the place suggests. I'm surprised at the guys' stamina though, dey didn't whine about it dat much.

But expect the normally breezy activity to be coupled wif alot more crowd, heat & much larger area to cover. Just imagine our Bugis village is merely a fraction of Chatuchak itself.

Their market is like dis huuuuge grid where u can comb the areas till ur legs start to quiver. Their alleys r a tad too narrow for my liking tho, and ventilation could b better to make shopping more conducive. But who m i kiddin', tourists still swarm to the place nevertheless, so dey must b doin' something rite.

Well, i didn't quite manage to buy as much stuff as i had hoped i wud. In fact, it was a lil' disappointing coz more often than not, i just got abit too hot & bothered to concentrate on lookin' around proply & going thru the whole bargaining routine. Plus, i was tryin' veri hard not to get claustrophobic while navigatin' around.

Then again, there r a couple of occasions where i saw something i wanted to buy but kept bearing the tot dat the next shop mite hv the same item at a better price & missed the chance to geddit coz either i dun c it at the other shops subsequently or it's steeper. Dey stil do sell repetitive stuff but wif d exception of a few items i got my eyes on. Not fated i guess. It's almoz impossible to back-track there without getting disoriented. So, some regrets there, but nvm i will noe better nxt time. Seize the moment. Hehe.

Besides plenty of shopping, another abundant thing is the number of taxis dey hv on the streets. Stiff competition dey've got goin'. Fortunately, i'm proud to say dat we have till date, survived the Initial D-driver, the cabby lad on drugs & the one wif physical/ mental disability who agreed to take us home but drove us for a small distance b4 offing his metre n decided he's not familiar wif our hotel area n wanted us to get off instead.

We pretty much cabbed our way around since we r somewhat stayin' at the outskirts. Brother was quite disturbed by it since there was a whole lot of uncertainty wif the reliability of the cabby. Going out was less of a problem as opposed to coming back. It's still cool coz accomodation is cheap, bout $140 for 5 nights twin-sharing, peeps r frenly & there's much civilization around our area. Quite happening still.

Some of the cabs even spot the decal saying "I love Farangs" wif fine prints "We welcome foreigners", even tho dey dun speak much english. But an observation thruout the trip was dat the locals r stil very much pro-whites. Quite abit of a discrimination, for dey seem to perceive all whites to be rich & r Robert Tohs for dem to potentially ketok.

Fortunately, we hv our fren & his wifey, who brought us around most of the time as it's their 3rd time back there. Save us quite abit of trouble, thanks to dem. :)

I've alwaz imagined locals in Bangkok to hv better command of english though, mayB coz i've been to other states of Thailand, supposedly less touristy & was expecting the better of their capital. It's abit inconvenient, especially when we r trying to ask for something & everytime we say something to dem, we r worried how it might be misinterpreted.

But then again, no biggie there, since we can alwaz rely on international gestures & charade our way thru.

Food is good & cheap, as usual. We tried roadside stalls selling food in local style, Pad Thai, omelette rice, and some of which i duno the name to. No tummy runs even tho the hygiene is expectedly, not dat fantastic. Dey've got peddlars walking in the middle of the road in between stopped cars at traffic lights to sell fried banana, flowers etc. Whoo! We saw a man who alighted from a bus which was crawling in the jam, ran about 40m over to the roadside to get a drink & den ran back n boarded the bus again. Boy, is he thirsty or is he thirsty...and of coz, we had to hv their Tom Yam Goong. It's Thailand leiii.....But we didn't try everything dey hv la...dey had deep fried grasshoppers, worms & scorpions wch i'm not dat gamed.

Oh anyway, not much sightings of their political situation 'cept for a few gungho-looking military men on patrol at the airport & fortunately, the flood has cleared by the time we got there. Similar to Krabi like previously mentioned, many of the locals in Bangkok r also donnin' the same yellow polo tee to rejoice their King's longevity, dey've even got yellow shirts & jackets spotting the same logo. Talk about patriotism, we're nowhere near manz.

Btw, speaking of airports, all AirAsia's flights will operate at their new Suvarnabhumi Airport w.e.f September dis yr, no more from Bangkok International Airport (Don Muang). AirAsia got shuttle buses to ferry people directly to the plane u r supposed to board after u check in at the boarding gate.

The service is totful, but abit mafan coz normally the boarding gate opens like 30mins b4 the flight & people normally dun reach on time since dey alwaz predict chances of budget airlines being delayed r higher. Well, the shuttle service is not dat infrequent; it's like 5 mins away, but for late-comers, it might make a diff. U might wanna consider checkin' in at the boarding gate on time or slightly earlier subsequently, especially if u wan a gd seat.

Well, dat's all for now. Photos later hopefully.

New Week, Unfresh Start.

2006-10-18T02:23:00.002+08:00

It is only Tuesday but i feel so bogged.

For once, it's not becoz of work, since i'm not working for now. It's still a good thing though.

I simply feel inadequate n cheesed off by a tad too many affairs. And it certainly isn't the hormones coz the monthly thing has oredi made its exit. Dis means these many affairs REALI cheesed mi off in a reeli, reeli bad way.

Dis is very not good. When i m unhappy, the rolling of eyes gets more often n the heightened reluctance to talk to people sets in. Empress Dowager says i m getting more n more unsociable.

Very not good indeed. Since i m taking a trip dis week, I ought to be in high spirits.

Well, let's just say dat, so many things have happened over the weekend & at the fresh of dis week i tink my mind isn't keeping up wif the pace yet. Also, it probly is still incapable of making any sense out of which.

Maybe May is right, without working, the brain will get retarded.

I was reli shaken a couple of nites ago. Started tinking to myself on the bed before turning in, sometimes getting an amnesia isn't such a bad idea, of coz in juxtaposition to death, especially when there r simply too many things & people u dunch wanto worry, know or remember anymore.

Dat oughto bring about a fresh start.

A new, white piece of paper. A reset timer. A runaway girl.

It's my Brudder's Birthday!

2006-10-12T16:35:00.000+08:00

Eh! YH says u rather gif money to the wrong person than miss giving out to the needy ah? Is dat right?!?! How come I didn't noe u r so philanderous..i meant, philanthropic one leiiii...

I oso needy u noe?!?! Why u nvr gimme money?!?!? I sell tissues to u la!! Or u wan my healthy & vibrant B+ blood????

O ya..which reminds mi, i owe u $9.50 for movie. Dammit.

Anyway, hiappi berfdae la!!

p/s: Dunch complain i wish u late anymore hor, remember u spoilt my yellow, nike backpack. Bohahaha!

The Pain

2006-10-12T00:44:00.000+08:00

I've gotto admit i hv not been religiously following some of the blogs i have linked here, entirely due to my pure, shameless sloth, not bcoz i stopped enjoying reading dem.

Out of a sheer moment of impulse, i visited Tetanus's blog tonight.

It has been some months now, and i suddenly miss his writings.

It was to my very dismay when i chanced upon the death of another blog which i appreciate.

Even though there is no friendship existing wif the owner of the blog, it's a shame reli.

His choice of words & chosen way of expressing his thoughts & emotions struck mi in a good way from the very beginning.

I will certainly miss reading the moments he is capable of capturing & penning down as entries when dey could hv merely been passed off as trivialities.

Anyway, good luck in life, wif work, love & health, Tetanus.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

2006-10-10T17:21:00.000+08:00

This must be the 3rd or 4th time i am watching & re-watching the sitcom FRIENDS again. I just nvr get sick of it. No idea why. Mebbe i hv goldfish memory.

I think folks who love FRIENDS like i do identify wif the characters, so much so dat we wud most likely not take notice of the stars should it not be for the sitcom. Credits to their own convincing acting aside, tink all of dem reli owe their fancy cars & enormous mansions to the show manz.

And even tho i noe wad's gonna happen next oredi, it's still reali addictive, i kid u not. The jokes still make mi laff & the heartaches still gets mi tearing. Crying watching FRIENDS?? U'll tink i'm nuts, but nooo...i still can't stand watching Rachel & Ross break up. Same scenes, same reactions.
I even remember, when i was still a stinkin' student mugging for exams, one episode of FRIENDS was my reward for completing a chapter. Ok fine, sometimes i watch a few. It was reli something to look forward to u noe...like a beam of light at the end of the tunnel. Haha.

Well, as much as we would like to think that Matt Le Blanc IS Joey in real life & Lisa Kudrow IS as quirky as Phoebe in reality, it's not all fairy-taley for the stars off show.

Sometimes I wonder if i have papparazi blood in my body...credits & nominations aside, tabloids rule! Muahaha!

I did a quick search on them on the net & read up a lil' on each of dem, well, here's wad i found interesting. (Dis is wad happens when u've got too much free time on ur hand)

Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay

Look at her in the past! This must be taken during the initial seasons.

Thank goodness for the invention of cosmetics & rebonding...

Different eh? See...? The magic of make-up & hair!

And i tink she looks reli gorgeous here:

Can u belive she's like...43 or so this year?!?! And a mother of how many i dunch noe la..but if she still looks like this at 43, she shall deserve a shrine erected at the top of Beverly Hills in her name, for women all over the world to come worship her... & perhaps lotsa beauty products to endorse.

Matt Le Blanc as Joey Tribbiani

He's the only one who did an extension- JOEY after the last season of FRIENDS concluded. Good looking chap & great actor.

Now, who can blame us if everybody thinks he's reali a goofball like his character Joey in real life?!

He & ex-wife, Melissa McKnight. Unfortunately they just finalized their divorce this year & ended their almost 3 years of marriage. That's long enuff for Hollywood i guess.

David Schwimmer as Ross Gellar

He's one funny character to watch manz. The most educated & apparently the highest achiever of the bunch in the show, but also the loser brother of Monica Gellar.

Did u noe that he turned down Will Smith's part in Men in Black?

I caught the Reunion show which gathered all the FRIENDS characters again to reminisce their journey together but he's quite a far-fetched figure in real from Ross. He's more of the serious sort who rarely smiles, just like Stephen Chow.

Somehow U tend to think dey r equally silly off & on-camera but well, evidently not.

Read he has just recently won a defamation lawsuit against former charity fundraiser Aaron Tonken for $400K. I like to think it's in Ruppiah or something, otherwise, dat's another rich, rich man for u.

Courtney Cox as Monica Gellar

I always think she resembles Demi Moore, ya think??

Minus the hair, i tink dis looks like Demi when she was in Ghost.

Well, she's quite pretty in her own rights but u wud think that somebody like her will have all the confidence in the world but she was noted saying she is struggling wif ageing & tries not to have too many mirrors around. Bah! Hollywood disease.

Well, at least apart from Lisa Kudrow, she is still hitched to David Arquette. But for long more, who noes?

Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green

The most famous one of the lot i would think.

She has the highest profile, thanks to Brad Pitt no less, and the most obvious fashion-icon amongst them & i tink she sorta contributed to the rebonding trend too.

But before that, here's Jennifer with curls:

And here's her again wif her legendary straight, shiny locks:

Can u believe it when she said she isn't comfortable with her own physical appearance?!?!

Siao char bors.

And can u believe dat her mum actly made money out of spilling some beans to the press on her famous daughter & even wrote a book about it to earn more big bucks. Dey fell out bcoz of dis & oni got their estranged relationship back on tracks recently after closing in to a decade.

And before the bubble of the get-together of Prom King & Queen burst, here's how pretty dey looked like together:

Too bad for Brad, i tink Jen's quite a catch. Better than cynical-looking Lara Croft i vote.

Lucky for Vince Vaughn, Jen's wif him now. Vince is the chap who co-starred The Break-Up along wif her, who also played the good guy in Dodgeball who saved the day & if u still don't noe who the hell, he's dat curly-haired mafia in Starsky & Hutch.

If u still, still has no idea, go google his name for his face. Gah.

Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing

It was hilarious when dey featured Chandler & Ross back in High School, looking reli dorky but dey tot it was damn cool. Ross had a moustache & dat curly black hair ala Ronald McDonalds & Chandler had dat hairdo ala Felix the Cat.

Again, hairdo makes such a big diff:

One thing i dun get is dat dey constantly featured Chandler as a loser who nvr gets the babes but i think he's quite charming! And i like his victory dance which is totally so off. And his sarcasm. Hahaha. Could u BE any dumber?!

Unfortunately for him in real life, while playing the character, he was admitted into a drug rehab for some 2 yrs or so for chemical dependency on painkillers & alcohol. And read he also had some weight problems too. Sheesh.

Look! Look! Courtney Cox reli looks like Demi Moore wif her long hair wad!! No????

Anyway, drugs problems, divorces & lawsuits aside, FRIENDS is still the best sitcom ever.

Viva la FRIENDS! :)

Gouty Arthritis

2006-10-06T12:37:00.000+08:00

I just made a trip to the doctor's finally coz despite after 2 Panadols, 2 Glucosamines, the pain in my foot persisted & i have been limpin' around for some 3 days now. Not to mention limpin' to Mustafa yday...wad was i tinkin'...

After observing my foot on its apparent, since there wasn't any open wound, doc decided to do a blood test. *horrified* I was prepared to do a urine test tho, since it's more painless to pee than to bleed ya noe.

-_-''' I watched him puncture a small hole in my middle finger (darn, can't swear freely now) in abit of fear & squeeze out substantial amount of blood for him to test for my uric acid. Found out the amount of blood required is not the same when they were merely trying to find out your blood type back then. Zzzz...

While waiting for the machine to generate the results, doc made small talk & asked about my profession. Well, my answer got him sitting upright & before i know it, he was whipping out files, notes & findings to show me how there is a vast trend of exploitation going on in the local scene of the medical industry. Exploitation of patients & doctors for the benefit of insurance industry that is.

How am i involved? Well, coz HR practitioners are normally responsible for deciding which insurance broker & insurer to buy medical insurance for their company's staff from. And his point is that the company's HR is often oblivious to how big a margin the insurance companies get from the fee agreed, in turn shortchanging the medical health people, leaving the docs wif no choice but to compromise on the medication & for some, service, to the patients who come to them.

Can tell he was genuinely pissed. Fine, i will take note of dis if i ever have a chance to decide which insurance company to purchase medical coverage from.

Ok, anyway.

Apparently, my uric acid turns out to be pretty normal.

Doc says from the superfical observation, the diagnosis is that i've got Gouty Arthritis. Uric acid is but one indication of which & normally people with Gout has high uric acid. But he also mentioned wif low uric acid, it doesn't mean i can't get Gout.

Ok fine.

I asked for the cause, and he mentioned it could be because i have been taking too much food high in protein, like meat, liver, spleen (which i don't coz i'm not a meat-person) or due to large intake of alcohol like beer especially (which i didn't take in recent weeks). Better yet, he said it could be inborn for some.

Right. Inborn!? Thanks alot leh.

Then he also said it could be due to excessive walking.

Well. I can't help it if i have to walk right. -_-'''''

He gave me some medication to take which was said to be able to make the pain go away quickly, gout or not, so i could walk normally soon. I have yet to have lunch, so we'll see later.

I came back & did a quick search on super Wikipedia, and found the following:

Definition
Gout (aka gouty arthritis) is a form of arthritis caused by the accumulation of uric acid crystals in joints. It is an intensely painful disease, which in most cases affects only one joint (monoarthritis), most commonly the big toe.

Checked. Checked. Checked.

Signs & Symptoms
The classic picture is of excruciating and sudden pain, swelling, redness, warmness and stiffness in the joint. Low-grade fever may also be present. The patient usually suffers from two sources of pain. The crystals inside the joint cause intense pain whenever the affected area is moved. The inflammation of the tissues around the joint also causes the skin to be swollen, tender and sore if it is even slightly touched. For example, a blanket draping over the affected area would cause extreme pain.

Ok checked too. No fever though.

Cause
Although the exact cause of gout is not known, it is thought to be linked to defects in purine metabolism. Purine is an organic compound commonly found in the body and is metabolized by the body into uric acid. People with primary gout have either an increased production of uric acid or an impaired excretion of uric acid, or a combination of both.

Darn you! Purine metabolism!!

Many still believe that gout is caused by a combination of dietary factors and "laziness". In particular, many believe that gout develops following several years of excessive alcohol consumption combined with an ongoing lack of physical activity and a diet completely lacking in purine-neutralising foods, such as berries, as well as other specific fruit and vegetables (see below).

Others have refined this theory, saying that some are genetically predisposed to gout and some are not. As a result, people who are not predisposed can live over-indulgent lifestyles and not develop gout, while others who are predisposed can develop gout, despite being physically active and having a well-rounded diet. However, most in the "genetic predisposition" school of thought nonetheless believe that the condition is much more likely to develop in the predisposed if the other factors are present over several years (excess alcohol, inactivity and failure to eat purine-neutralising foods).

Laziness?!? Wad the hell la....then doc say i walk too much!??! So which is it???

And i'm not an alcoholic!! #$@&*%XYZ...

Ok la i got nothing to say if i'm genetically predisposed loh.

Prevention
Low purine diet:
-To lower uric acid:
--cherries have been shown to reduce uric acid
--strawberries or blueberries (and other dark red/blue berries) are also reputed to be beneficial
---celery extracts (celery or celery seed either in capsule form or as a tea) is believed by many to reduce uric ---acid levels (although these are also diuretics).
---limit food high in protein such as meat, fish, poultry, or tofu to 8 ounces (226 grams) a day. Avoid entirely during a flare up.

Food to avoid:
-foods high in purines
--sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, brains, or other offal meats (Heng ah! i don't eat all these, so no loss!)
--sardines (I can live without)
--anchovies (Doesn't bother me too)
--scallops, prawns, and crabs (Oh..the pain. I shall save money on these then..)
--alcohol. Some claim that this applies especially to beer, on the basis that brewer's yeasts are very rich in purine. In view of the fact that most modern commercial beer contains trace amounts of yeast, this claim requires substantiation. Others claim that red wine is particularly bad for gout, though again it is difficult to find an explanation. Alcohol may also reduce the rate of uric acid excretion. (Ok won't die to not drink. I repeat, i am not an alocoholic!!)
--meat extracts, consommés, and gravies
--diet sodas (these act as diuretics in many people, causing uric acid to concentrate in the blood which can then easily precipitate) (Then can i take normal sodas then?!?!)

To avoid dehydration:
Drink plenty of liquids, especially water, to dilute and assist excretion of urates;
Use sparingly diuretic foods or medicines like aspirin, vitamin C, tea and alcohol.

Prevention better than cure lah huh. Ok no alcohol, less meat & seafood, more berries. Got it.

Some Boliao Findings
Famous People who had Gout
One of the most famous sufferers of gout was Henry VIII. Others include John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, Khubilai Khan, Nostradamus, John Milton, Queen Anne, Isaac Newton, Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson, Charles V, Pablo Neruda, Alfred Lord Tennyson, George IV, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Karl Marx, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Benjamin Disraeli, Kirk Reuter, David Wells, Rubens, Lennart Torstenson, Peter Gomes, Alexander Hamilton, George Mason, Benjamin Franklin, Jared Leto.

Wahahaha! So many famous people got it too! *gloats* I duno all of dem la huh but i do noe Isaac Newton, Karl Marx (Marx leh!!! Marx!!) & heard of Thomas Jefferson & Jared Leto.

Waliaoz..of all things to have in common with famous people, i could have shared equal intelligence, or talents, but i had to share a common illness. WAD THE F**K.

Anyway, an added point i would like to say before rounding up.

Before visiting the doc, i actually took panadols right? Well panadol is a kinda aspirin right? Well...even taking a generic medication like this when u do not know the problem, could be harmful. Like i found out after reading up on this Gout thing i have. Aspirins seemingly worsen the situation. -_-

In addition, i was thinking, since it's swelling, maybe dipping my foot in ice water could ease the swelling abit. But then, after reading, again i found out, uric crystalization is accelerated by low temperature so the use of an ice pack could also worsen the condition. Instead, i have to treat it with warmth to improve blood circulation, like taking warm baths etc. Wah liaoz...heng i didn't use the ice pack thing.

Ok moral of the story, don't anyhow self-treat ok, altho common generic beliefs seem harmless...lack of knowledge could jolly well backfire.

Meanwhile, take good care of yourselves lah.

Boredom kills the duck?

2006-09-30T16:48:00.000+08:00

Wif a non-exciting life i m leading now, i get bored very easily. In fact, i m bored about 3/4 of my life. Somehow, nothing sounds attractive to do now. Maybe it's a compensation for the previous hyperactivity.

My GM says i hv an unexcitable personality & a very-difficult-to-be-convinced character, unfortunately i don't disagree. She also said dat sometimes i m lively but sometimes i m very quiet.

I told her it's the caffeine lah.

Haha..who the heck toks to their GM like dat...i m so pushing my luck manz.

Well, part of my stoning routine these days includes playing Bejeweled 2, dis totally meaningless & time-squandering but darn addictive game at Yahoo! Games.

So far, the highest score & level i hit:

Today:

Grrrrrrrrr....died at the same level, wif a lower score somemore, wth...Highest i went was L 14 only. Dammit. So difficult.

Help me! I m turning into a geek!

Pit-Stop?

2006-09-28T00:46:00.000+08:00

Some updates about my non-working life! Let's see, so far, LG- Life's Good. Hehehe.

Now with too much free time on hand, i do lotsa things which i couldn't do when i was slogging like a cow in d office. Dat includes watching movies after movies, couch-potato u can call mi, not to 4get the snacking bit, laze around & conveniently fall asleep when my eyes nid a break, since i watch most of the VCDs on my bed.

And having a TV in ur room is the 1st step to lazy-hood, people. The 2nd, is to ensure all the remotes are within ur arm's length. Hehe.

Yes, yes i m so wasting my life away, i noe u must be thinking. Honestly, i m guilty bout it. Really. Despite well-deserving it. I mean the lazing around bit. Considering how hard i worked for the past coming to 2 yrs previously, i ought not to feel bugged when i m supposed to be enjoying life ya noe. I tell u, it's all in the mind manzzz. Dis is how successful our society has drilled us to believe dat without toil comes no pleasures. It's a disease!! Wad the hell.

Well, it sure doesn't help when the Dowager is constantly nagging away in the background. Reminding mi i could hv done 1001 household chores instead wif the time i have.

I get her, cept i reli dun wanna do it..?!

I want a carefree life, Hakuna Matata! & feeling gulity bout it wasn't part of the plan! Wad's going onnnnn???? *strangles self*

Let's remind self of the pleasures of a non-working life! For reassurances.

Not needing to sleep early or wake up early is the best thing! It's zen. For mi. Early is anytime before noon.

Going to bed on a Sunday night without worrying Monday's coming is close to orgasmic. Not dat i noe wad's one. *twirls thumbs around each other*

Not needing to be paranoid bout who will not turn up for work or who's gonna backstab who in d office again, is simply..............cowabunga!!!!! Wadever dat reli means.

I can sit, sleep, eat, laugh, jump, run, swim, fly, roll...anytime, anywhere i wanto...!!! Beat dat suckas! Hurhur.

Wad the hell! I can even pack up anytime & leave the country if i wanto!

Ok ok..i noe, no money's coming in now. But i stil got money to feed myself la huh..

Don't look at mi like dat lehhh.

A Glimpse of Krabi :)

2006-09-24T23:57:00.000+08:00

Hey heyeee~ Here are some updates bout the much anticipated trip!

I didn't manage to grab alot of fotos dis time round though..a lil' lazy. Hehe. I secretly made Pinz do all the work...hurhur..pls dunch tell her.

And huh, i alwaz take random fotos so dun blame mi if the fotos i post are abit odd. ;P

Anyway, dis is rougly how the place looks like. I do find Krabi a lil' like Phuket, only less commercialised. Dey've got trusty 7-11s & McDonalds, but not Watsons like Phuket. It's off-peak for dem now, so there wasn't much traffic on the streets as shown in the foto.

The shops like previously mentioned, are almoz homogeneous. The price's much cheaper, but so are the quality of the products. Zzzz..

The following is just a pretty sight of my breakfast. Haha. Dey have other variety too like toast, buns & staple food but it seemed a lil' too early to digest rice & noodz so i didn't tried any. The hotel bfast spread is pretty much the same everyday tho so i pretty much ate the same thing everyday. So the following foto X 3 times summarizes all the food i ate for the 3 mornings i was there.

Then there's this complimentary duck noodle in the package which the tour guide brought us to eat on the last day of our stay. Apparently, it's very popular among locals, it's alright for mi only. The following foto is actly a pic taken of my leftovers. Well, in all fairness, i wasn't hungry to begin wif la huh. Dey do have very potent chilli though! But it's a pity i don't reli have a good foto of our tour guide, tink he has a rather nice & warm smile!

And the ones reponsible for the popular duck noodz...

Darn! I 4got to take a foto of the hotdog bun & black pepper chicken burger from 7-11, which were my dinner for 2 respective nights. Lol* Whhhaaaat!??! Those were reli cheap & good ya noe..their 7-11 sell cool stuff too! The hotdog bun's about 20 baht, which is less than a Sing dollar & the burger 30 baht, slightly over a dollar only. Jin ho jiak ok!

I also do not hv a foto of dis mango pancake from a random roadside stall, which was delicious, generous on the helping of mango & cheap! A dollar plus minus for food we did not LS after, not bad! Oops sori, but no foto to show...guess i was too famished to tink straight. Hurhur.

Then i noticed dat many of the locals were donning dis eye-catching yellow tee wif a Thailand logo on the left chest area. Initially i tot it was some uniform from maybe, a certain massage parlour or even hotel. But when dey start to appear all over the place, i knew i probly tot wrong.

Later i found out the tee actly represents "Long live the King", something like to celebrate the King's birthday & pledge loyalty & support to him i reckoned. Dey even have retail shops set up specially to sell tees like this. Pretty big for a political statement i must say.

Then i caught dis random sight on the street which seemed kinda hilarious. Biker dog! Dey hv more stray dogs than we do. Lotsa shop owners own huge pet dogs & some look pretty nice. Quite cool.

Well, after the news about the military coup thing, their defence seemed to hv heightened coz on our way back at the Krabi airport, we caught sight of a few military men patrolling & observing the crowd intently. Dunch think dey were around when we arrived though. Wif all those political tension going on, guess it's only justifiable for tourists to b a lil' paranoid.

Dis foto was actly taken wif Pinz & Pin's sis posing but of coz the focal wasn't on dem. It was like a pretext for mi to take a pic of their back views. Hurhur...hope i won't get into trouble...i dun wanto be held at gunpoint okkkkk.

And last but not least, my favorite random foto of dis seemingly lonesome dog by the coast. It looks kinda cool when enlarged. It's on my wallpaper now. :)

And dat's all folks!

Are u still friends?

2006-09-23T15:18:00.000+08:00

Back from Krabi & still alive. Did not get dragged away by the Thai military alright.

It has been a longgggggg time since i stayed up.

Well now dat i m not bogged down by working life, i m not bogged down by waking up early anymore. At least not now.

Fantastic, for i m no morning bird.

Last night i was awake till 4.30am. Nvm the screwed up bio-clock, for it was for a cause worth its while.

It's funny how sometimes u mention of the past out of the blue & the past comes back to u the very nxt minute?

Just earlier the evening yesterday, we met up wif Pin for dinner at Sakae, dey had some promo going on apparently, and some excerpts of our secondary school life came up at the dinner table.

It was ezier, since all 3 of us were from the same secondary school, of different cliques but we pretty much knew the same people.

It all started when i saw a couple wearing secondary school uniform who came on the bus at some point & the way dey behaved simply reminded mi of how we were like in secondary school. Then of coz, the usual cycle repeated itself for umpteen times, u realised how old u hv become & laments at how the days had just passed u by like dat.

More significantly, it reminded mi of all those bizarre things dat happened during secondary school, how it began & how it ended. All had happened when neither of us involved had a good, single idea of how to deal wif a relationship or understand wad's going on as a matter of fact.

I was up till dawn last night toking to an old, old fren on msn. One of whom shared a past wif mi.

It was reli enlightening, to hear his side of the coin of wad happened back then on his end. U reli cud nvr hv known better. I cudn't hv known if we were no longer friends & i m reli glad we still are.

Who says the past doesn't matter? It does. It shudn't swerve where u r going nxt but good or bad, it's the past which molds u today.

He told mi plennnnnty of things dat happened during the relationship which i wasn't aware of. How all the sweet moments we shared left a footprint in him, and how the ordeals tore him apart and y he did certain things he did. Of course, i shared my part of the story wif him too.

He also reminded mi some things which i hv clean forgotten. Despite it being a very short 3 months, he remembered more than i did. As apologetic as i was for the silly things i did, he thanked mi for wad happened, including the heartaches & tears, which i sheepishly acknowledged.

For 2 pretty similar individuals back then, we concluded the getting together back then was just too untimely.

It's difficult to get dis kinda ignorant, but sincere concern from others now u noe. Things just get more complicated.

If u ever hv the chance, and if u r still friends wif ur past whom u can talk to freely, i urge u to talk about the past wif him or her. Nitty-gritties notwithstanding, it will be an eye-opener.

Wadever the case, the conversation was interesting while it lasted.

It was a sweet, but closed chapter for 2 very different individuals now.

:)

Coming In Live from Krabi!

2006-09-20T00:28:00.000+08:00

Everything's ok here, cept that i can't sms or call out.

The hotel's pretty close to nature, so there r tonnes of creepy crawlies here, especially at night.

Didn't manage to buy much though. All the shops look the same & sell almost the same stuff. Some stuff are still cheaper though.

We also tried some roadside food, damn brave of us.

Pray for us, may we not LS.

Just caught on BBC while we were watching TV in the room till my fren's brother called her to check if everything's fine. Apparently, Thaksin has declared Bangkok to be in a state of emergency. -_-'''

Different places la i know, but still same country mah..

Of all times...zzzzzz...

Pray for us we get back safe & sound too.

Will be bck tmr evening. Shall update more about the trip then.

Later.

Nearing D End.

2006-09-14T12:37:00.000+08:00

So, packing is tiring. Especially when it involves papers. 2 years worth of documents & files on the desk, in the shelves, under the table, in the trays, in the drawers. Wah laoz. *sweatz*

I am almost done though, with the packing, at least for the day. Good thing i started lugging stuff home since last week. Plannnnn aheaddddd...always plan ahead.

Must comment it feels weird, to be free. Surrounded with the stressed faces around mi, i m reassured again; that the choice is right.

Another branch manager called my manager dis morning again, proposing another role for mi in their branch. I m supposed to call & find out more. Which, i m hesitating. Wow. R dey persistent or R dey persistent............-_-

It's interesting how fast news spread though.

If u r the kind who likes to maintain a low profile, but still has to inform others of your disappearance, purely out of obligation, the best way is to just tell a selective few, whom u can rely on broadcasting the news for u.

At the same time, dat of coz, also inversely equates to whom u can entrust confidential matters to.

Be back later to blog more. Going out for lunch now.

Perspective, from my angle.

2006-09-08T18:46:00.000+08:00

Apparently I had intended to blog about this interview I had with a job seeker who walked into our office the other day. That was my first time interviewing an ex-convict, well not exactly convict, since he was admitted to a Boy’s Home. It felt kinda jittery; honestly, I feel I do better with Executives still.

Anyway, sometimes we can’t help but be lil' superstitious in our line. We are always very conscious about jinxing stuff. I guess it’s bcoz we have seen too many coincidences on the job, and inevitably feeling kinda freaked about it.

Recently, I seem to be getting lotsa candidates of considerable age.

This can’t be good.

Normally they come to mi feeling down, pessimistic & need loads of counseling and consoling.

That can’t be good either.

I can understand why dey feel so jaded but honestly speaking, I can also see why the situation for dem is so difficult to improve.

For starters, I ought to be very practical in saying dat, as a Pte Ltd company in the service industry, our main concern remains at profit-making for the company.

At the risk of sounding like a stone-hearted corporate bitch, it is beyond our means to alter the market situation in a bid to help the senior candidates as we are not akin to charitable or governmental organizations where dey can afford not to allow profit to become their main reason of existence.

We, as the company’s employees, are still keener to meet candidates with better market value in a nutshell. Sorry to say dat, but it’s true.

To us, time is money.

At the same time, I think there r reli better places for them to go, if dey genuinely need assistance. Like FSCs & WDA.

Of course, ageism shud never be advocated, it’s gonna be everybody’s turn in no time anyway! Growing old is reli not a disease & we wished employers could see that.

One day when dis materialises, this category of people could then become employable again & Recruiters can then widen the supply pool to mit the demand.

As much as we wanna be philanthropic & idealistic about it, there is reli minimal stuff we can do now.

As a 3rd party, I see older folks coming to us in utmost despair & frustration and the best I can do is to hear them out, since many of them are singles & residing alone. I guess sometimes, people just need an outlet versus a solution.

However, I do encounter some of the older folks who are not helping themselves to help the situation. Dey simply blame the government for not helping, the employers for being mean, the high cost of living & the society for being dis way.

Of course, anything but demselves.

It seems like the circumstances here are pretty much the same as in US; in every situation, it is always somebody else’s fault.

But then again, do we all not have people like dat crossing our path?

And how sure r we, dat we r not just like these people whom we point our fingers at?

Just food for thought.

Have a good weekend. :)

2 Milestones Completed.

2006-09-05T10:35:00.000+08:00

Well, not exactly milestones, more like...kilometre-stones.

Yesterday was a significant day to remember. I have achieved kilometre stones to perfecting effective communication.

I confronted a colleague, let's name her Xiao Ren, to clarify a conflict of interest. Haiyaz. Typical office politics, which i tried so hard to avoid but to no avail still.

If u noe wad i do for a living, u wud hv tot communication comes naturally, since the job nature highly demands for it. But really, u cud nvr be too good to learn more about effective communication & it's a different ball game altogether when u tok to internal people.

Basically it's alwaz the same o' story when it comes to sales. It's difficult to advocate teamwork when the nature of the job is so competitive.

Situation was like this in a nutshell- Both of us spoke to the same candidate, candidate went for both interviews & both companies offerred her & candidate picked my position over hers.

Of course I understand Xiao Ren's frustration when the candidate rejected her post but it was clearly a square game since all options were presented to the candidate equally.

I was pretty unhappy wif wad she accused mi of doing behind her back, when it was clearly no fault of mine. I could feel her negative vibes even tho we are seated oceans apart.

Thing is, it's one matter to tell me upfront how she felt about the whole situation. It's a separate matter when Xiao Ren complains to another colleague, let's call her Attention Seeker, about her displeasures.

Obviously, that puts mi in a rather bad light since i will not be able to defend for myself & it's detrimental when her inputs could possibly affect how other colleagues perceive me.

Well, when Attention Seeker tried to defend me, Xiao Ren wasn't very please at all. So Xiao Ren end up being cheesed off with both Attention Seeker & me.

Wahliaoz eh...got abit more secondary school ornot?!?!?!?

As much as I wanted to just slap Xiao Ren awake so dat she could twirl her brain around & quit acting so childishly, i decided not to stoop as low. Hurrrr. I decided upon the adult way-Tok.

The standard obstacle course is presented to me in this manner- When u tok to non-objective people like dat, it takes alot of mental preparation & rehearsal, for she will most probably be already biased to begin with & high chance, very defensive too.

While the opposition is so heavily guarding her fortress, in order to have a fruitful conversation, I, as the confronter, nids to not only keep my frustrations in check so dat my stand could be conveyed across objectively (make mental note: the mind can't think straight if anger is blinding the way). Choice of words are highly crucial too. Seriously. It's not even the last thing i wan- to hurt the opposition's ego & aggravate the tension.

Now, we all know how delicate an issue Ego can be. So let's not go there.

In short, controntation is a mean feat, at least for mi. I honestly do better at the listening end.

In conclusion, i felt the conversation could have gone abit better but i'm glad i decided to thrash things out wif her. It's such a horrible feeling to have it stuck in your throat.

The 2nd thing dat made yesterday memorable was when i tapped on a chap's shoulder & asked him not to lean on the pole. Dammit! The train was so crowded & dat inconsiderate fool shud be more civic-minded. Well, not to mention, dat was a trainful of people struggling to balance themself in their heels, cot shoes, leather shoes, pointed shoes, but not one had the guts to tell him off.

I HAVE ALWAZ WANTED TO DO DAT.

Guahahahaha. He apologized & stopped leaning on the pole. In all, there were 6 hands holding the pole consequentially.

I counted triumphantly.

Yeaaaa!

2006-08-29T09:09:00.000+08:00

I took Option B today! Yea! Yea! Yea! (See entry on "Trauma" posted on 18 August 2006, Friday)

Got seat somemore! Yea! Yea! Yea!!

Counting down to 16 September, although the loss of a good income wud be excruciating....i must persevere on the carebear spirit! 19 more days of mental notings...19 days to freeeeedommm....Yea! Yea! Yea! Yeaaa!!!!!!!

*Chants hypnotically to self* "Money is the root of all evils.....money can't buy happiness......money is the root of all evils.....money can't buy happiness....money is the root of all evils...."

Delight.

2006-08-24T09:39:00.000+08:00

Alwaz have a thing for smart-looking men. Smart-looking as in, think office-wear, executive briefcase, shiny leather shoes, frameless specs lying on straight nose bridge, gel up hair, wif fresh nice cologne smell when u walk past him.

Men in uniform (clean ones la) are not bad too. :)

Tok about civic-mindedness, dis morning on the bus, a seat was emptied between mi n above mentioned character. He let mi have the seat, being very gentlemanly i must say. A mere mortal wud have unreservedly grabbed the seat at chance & dis man didn't even flinch.

Of course, being the grateful mi, i was thrilled. So nice of him, i thought.

When i shared the story wif my colleagues, dey speculated maybe it's coz i either look elderly or pregnant. Okay. Thanks people. -_-'

See? Dis is how uncommon a concept like courtesy has become in our society. Don't doubt it ok, there r still nice souls, like mi no less (imagine halo on my head), around. Lol.

Then i held the lift for a very grateful chap too (actly it's bcoz the lift door won't close la, but at least i didn't jab on the 'Close' button like a combo hit), & he looks like one of the above mentioned kind too. Hoho.

Heh, how wonderful would the world be, if there r more of dis kinda mornings huh.

Are U Civic-Minded?

2006-08-23T09:08:00.000+08:00

I'm sure everybody has their fair share of grumbles & complaints about encounters with rude people on the train, in the mall, at the restaurants blah the blah..and in fact, it becomes almost a regular regime for us people in the office to arrive in the morning with horror stories of how people dun bother to hold the lift, mrt seat-snatchers, unshameful nose-diggers or strange peh-pehs on the streets.

Just dis morning, just as i was approaching a seat on the MRT, an auntie in her 40s my guess is, scurried in (u noe, the-nvr-sit-will-die-kinda-auntie) & wanted the seat the same. I could have sat on it if i chose to b oblivious since i was nearer. We exchanged glances & i let her hv the seat instead, since u noe, she looked like she reli wanted the seat badly.

Well, i must say she took it pretty as a matter of factly, no she wasn't dat old nor was she limping, in fact i tink she cud take a bull by its horns if she wanted to, but strangely, she didn't even bother to at least smile in return, much less thank mi.

Foreigners aside, for dey cud perhaps b excused for being too used to do wad dey do in their own countries, but wad about locals?

Of course, being a local myself, i dun erase the possibility of being the topic of OTHER people when dey share their daily dosage of rude people dey encounter.

Just wondering, being in such a micro-managed society, wad happened to micro-managing the people's manners? Does it not have economic value? Having good courtesy level from within helps in our service industry oso wot...

Since when hv we accumulated such a bad name for our courtesy level? And since when have we evolve into conniving bitches & bastards who couldn't care less about others?

Now dat IMF is impending, we c our leaders strongly advocating GEMS & all dat kinda thing. But is it becoz IMF is coming, therefore we shud hv GEMS or shud we hv GEMS all the time so dat we can anticipate IMF anytime?

Anyway, kudos to those who are still trying to make a difference. :)

Resolve.

2006-08-21T21:22:00.000+08:00

Finally i did it.

I met up wif the fearful being today again, for the 3rd & last time.

From where we last left off the conversation, i was supposed to digest the points presented to mi during the conversation & come to a decision by today's meeting.

Hidden agenda aside (of coz we all noe dat all these hassles r a bid to retain mi), i m grateful to the GM for being so patient & understanding towards my indecisiveness.

Altho there maybe some issues i don't c eye to eye wif her, but i reli praise her for her courage & generally, she's an admirable figure.

I still distinctively recall our 1st meeting 2 yrs back when i was still a freshie.

Trust mi when i say i left the intvw wif zero morale, but full of respect for her. She made mi realised how much there is to learn & how ignorant i was & perhaps still am.

Anyway, back to the point about concluding.

It bothered mi for days since our last meeting, pondering as to where exactly i m in my career, my stand in the company, in life & where exactly i want to head to eventually. Basically, i m a lost sheep manz. Even when i m shitting, i m thinking about all these.

Then it finally dawned upon mi last night dat all i want now, is a real good break. An inevitable desire consequential of 2 years of hard work, tears & sweat.

1 week, 2 months? Who knows.

As of tomoro, i shall be serving my notice in the branch & sabbatical leave it is.

Wish mi luck.

Saturday Night

2006-08-20T20:16:00.000+08:00

Remind mi again, never to eat at Lau Pa Sat. Darn, shud hv taken a foto of how...blah...my dinner was, it costed mi a good $4.50 for a sunny side-up, a piece of unfrozen fillet, few slices of japanese ginger (which i dun take) & a piece of japanese yellow pickle. O wait, there was oso a spoon of sambal, how could i almoz 4get to mention the sambal since i ordered Sambal Fish Rice....?!

...BCOZ it was so darn insignificant la...Blardy Hell!!!!! It was my 1st time ordering Sambal Fish Rice at Lau Pa Sat, and the Sambal & the Fish are...reli...the Sambal AND the Fish.

I had to smear the tasteless sambal on the dry-like-stone fillet myself. U wud hv imagined piping hot sambal gravy to be poured over soft & smooth dory fish for a value of $4.50 at hawker centres, but i swear, it just tasted like army ration food. Farrrrrk.

Not to mention i was 2nd in line when i joined the queue, i tink it took the stupid auntie more than 10min to serve mi my food. She wasn't even apologetic, & while cooking the food, her eyes were glued to the TV somemore. Lydat how can serve customers good food u tell mi..........

Of coz, we chose to dine at Lau Pa Sat for a reason la, otherwise who wud hv wanted to go back to CBD on a weekN. We had intended to go to Mind Cafe at Boat Quay & we made reservations earlier the day.

O but guess wad? As if a lousy dinner wasn't enuff to spoil the mood, when we rched Mind's, we were told by the incompetent waiter/ waitress that as the group of people before us extended their hours at the table, we had to wait. Supposedly once it's ready, dey will give us a call.

Right, if u r logical, u shud hv started frowning halfway thru my earlier sentence.

One, since u noe there's a reservation at dat time, u cud hv told the earlier batch dat it wudnt be possible to extend as somebody else had already made the reservation.

Two, dey shud hv checked the blardy logbook before agreeing blindly if dey weren't sure if there was a reservation next. The logbook was also there for a reason.

Three, if dey haaaaad to let them extend their hours (altho i can't imagine y), at the bare minimum, dey cud hv CALLED us to inform us about it, so that we need not deliberately go all the way to Raffles Place for nothing.

It's a fucking waste of ur customers' time & totally consequential of some foolish beings without common sense & poor service.

Four, tok about poor service, we then retreated to the nearby Coffee Bean while waiting for their call, which never came by the way. Dey didnt even bother to call & apologise. Which gave "Reservation" a total new definition, or else makes reservation a total wasted idea.

In all fairness, dis kinda situation nvr happened at the Selegie branch.

Objectively i dun tink i m dat difficult as a customer. Since i'm oso in the service line i understand we r all humans & bound to err. But there is a distinct difference between pure stupidity & accidental errors, as well as wad's forgivable & wad's not.

The service crew at Boat Quay's Mind Cafe shud feel damn lucky & glad dat i was wif a group of mild-tempered people last night.

I professed to prefer Mind over Settlers as i tink their atmosphere is better. Even tho Settlers seems to be more pocket-friendly, i wud still vote for Mind's mostly.

But sometimes, just one bad mistake is enough to drive loyal customers away.

Trauma

2006-08-18T12:51:00.000+08:00

I can't even begin to recall, how many times in life i have been caught in a dilemma, struggling to make a decision at crossroads.

I admit i have never been quite a resolute person, albeit hoping to be more of one. It's quite a torture really, wanting me to make up my mind.

I have this habit of taking the bus to Lakeside MRT station every morning to catch the train, despite not staying dat far away from Chinese Garden MRT station. It's purely half out of laziness, half out of not wanting to perspire early morning.

And given time allowance, i will embark on the reverse direction from my destination & take the train to Boon Lay so that after everyone alights, i can get a seat to snooze thruout the journey.

Just dis morning, the train towards Pasir Ris approached while i was still on the escalator but as usual, i wasn't in a hurry (tell mi y pp actly bother to run after buses & trains like a looney...Zzz..) so i missed dat one. Then the MRT towards Boon Lay arrived shortly, but while waiting for it to stop, from afar i spotted another approaching train towards Pasir Ris, which was relatively instant, considering the lapse from the previous train.

At dis point in time, i was already trying to decide which side of the train to take; Option A) Hop onto the stopped train in front of u going towards Boon Lay & get a seat to snooze after everyone alights, Option B) Wait for approaching train going towards Pasir Ris & not board train towards Boon Lay, which will save commuting time, but might be seat-less.

The catch is, u duno if the train towards Pasir Ris will just be one of those "test-train" (reli, tel mi wad r the chances manz..) & if it's gonna just zoom past the station, not allowing passengers to board, i would have given up the trains on both sides, incurring more waiting time.

In the end i chose to board the train towards Boon Lay, just in case.

While waiting for the door to close, the opposite sides' train arrived & not only is it NOT a test train, it's also relatively empty, meaning i could have jolly well cut commuting time AND gotten a seat to snooze if i have decided to take my chances waiting for the approaching one.

Which means, my decision to board train towards Boon Lay had not only been incorrect, (since i should have chosen Option B), but was potentially worse than an Option C, which is to run after arriving train when i was still on the escalator. At least people who did, got the benefit of reaching their destination earlier (not dat i was looking forward to reaching office earlier).

I think small matters like these are really reflective of the person in real. So many a times, when I am faced with a difficult situation, I am so afraid of taking the plunge, constantly worrying about the opportunity cost & the consequences, that in the end, i got the best out of nothing.

If everyone has a detrimental trait to their personality, i guess indecisiveness would be mine.

Last Night at PS.

2006-08-13T17:54:00.000+08:00

Dis sight was caught at PS yesterday. Abit scary reli.

There were books all around, even on the floor. But they were going at quite a cheap price i heard. All less than $10.

2006-08-13T17:48:00.000+08:00

Geeks' Heaven Part 1.

Heaps 02

2006-08-13T17:46:00.000+08:00

Geeks' Heaven Part 2.

Heaps 01

On National Day.

2006-08-13T17:37:00.000+08:00

Didn't do much on dat day coz he had to attend a funeral in the wee morning, then help out at the stall. Only managed to c him some late afternoon.

By the time we made our way out it was like 7-ish in the evening, plus he looked so beat. So could only grab dinner, but at least, i get to try something new.

We wento Tian Tian Huo Guo at Bugis.

Eh....could only say dat it was something new, don't think i m exactly thrilled at the food, since i'm not a very big fan of meat.

The bill chalked up to about 60++, just for the 2 of us, which i tot was kinda expensive. Haizzz...kena "tok" again, dis businessmen, very good at adding dis adding dat to the bill. When we didnt even realise, we r dishing out money from our wallet & bidding farewell to our notes oredi.

Shit, the notes would hv been better off living in my wallet. But o well. Treat it as a contribution to our economy la huh.

2006-08-13T17:33:00.000+08:00

Half chicken soup, half ma la soup...oooooh.

Tadah!!!

2006-08-13T17:32:00.000+08:00

Hoho...be hungry be very hungryyyyy.

The spread.

2006-08-13T17:29:00.000+08:00

I'm glad we scooped dis outta the ma la pot before dipping our food into it. Look at it!!! Arrrgh. The middle part are all the chilli padi n an assortment of random spices. We didnt manage to remove all of it though.

Chilli Oil.

2006-08-13T17:26:00.000+08:00

He ate all the prawns he could. Like there's no tomoro. He continued to eat more prawns after dis foto. O btw, the red red thing beneath is more chilli oil we scooped off from the pot. The former plate wasn't deep enuff.

His evil doings.

2006-08-13T17:23:00.000+08:00

Dis is life-changing manz. Tad steep, going at $12 per jug. But wad's better than a cuppa cold, thirst-quenching, throat-soothing lemon squash after a pot of steamy ma la steamboat?? Can reli drink n drink n drink n drink.

Lemon Squash.

Dinner @ Shangri-la Hotel.

2006-08-13T17:10:00.000+08:00

Like royalty i tell u...it was of course, a company's dinner. Unless i strike la, otherwise, to fork out $60-70+++ just for a dinner is almost....too unnerving to do.

Anyway, of all the hotels we visited, i vote this one the best. The spread was great but i was more interested in their desserts. It was simply fantastic i tell u, just by looking k.

Well, i ate more than i cud take fotos of, coz i was too bz stuffing my face wif strawberries & marshmellows in chocolate fondue, chocolate ice-cream, mango sorbet, raspberry ice-cream, mocha ice-cream blah blah u get the deal.

I stopped short of dunking my head into the chocolate fondue fountain. Fortunately i stil manage to stay sane enuff to get a pic of 2.

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

Dessert number 2. Looks nice oredi rigggght...chocolate chocolate n more chocolate!!! yeaaa!

Dessert 02

2006-08-13T17:06:00.000+08:00

Dessert from Shangri-la number 1. I dun reli noe wad it is, but it tastes chocolatey n tiramisu-like. Oooh & dat stick-like thing u c poking out of the cup is edible too, the whole stick was covered in a coat of gold. *zennnnnnnn*

Dessert 01

Imagination

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

Think imagination, think creativity. Think imagination, think empowerment.

Really, it can fuel motivation, it can oso bring pessimism.

Just like any other item in your toolbox, a useful instrument can also be a weapon.

I dislike being left at home when the whole world is out there celebrating. I used to be part of the crowd, but before i know it, i became a crowd-watcher. Pros & cons, take & give.

But sometimes when u stand afar, silence becomes louder & imagination runs loose.

Worries come unduly & insecurity heightens. Inevitable stuff dat happens when u r alone.

It sets mi thinking on plenty of "what ifs". It makes me want to back-track & take back some of the life-changing decisions i've made.

This is not a very good thing, i must say.

For life should be simple. U make decisions & don't look back.

Heh.

2006-08-05T17:34:00.000+08:00

So run-down, but so expensive!

Meng Gui Da Sha?

2006-08-05T17:31:00.000+08:00

weeeeeeeee!

Cable Car's View

2006-08-05T17:29:00.000+08:00

Command & conquered!

Conquered

Sighs.

2006-08-02T10:09:00.000+08:00

When the rules get from dumb to dumber, it makes the existing turmoil worse. The feelings intensified, towards the downside no less, when u remember that rules are the makings of some foolish human beings.

Just 2 days ago, early this week, i was sent to the grilling room with somebody fearful. Had it not been for an unexpected visitor, it looked like she had no intentions of releasing me.

The event was in expectations, although not in anticipation. It was brought upon by a final decision to call it quits, relayed to my immediate boss some 2 Fridays ago.

After some 2.5hours of one-way communication, as usual, the fearful being left me dumbfounded with her aggressive articulation & rhetorics. I would have been more vocal under normal circumstances, but when i m binded by the need to be diplomatic, tactful & sane, it's best to shut my trap, leaving me with the only possibility of appearing like a block of wood, i'm 'fraid.

Part in awe i must admit, and I've gotto stop thinking that higher authorities are superhumans.

I have to see her again next week & tell her more of what i intend to do next, in life, and in the organization. Basically, she wans to hear of my plans. In clear, precise milestones.

Honestly, I couldn't think of any route that will make mi jump in glee, both within & externally. It has been 2 days & i m still confused. Maybe i don't have an answer afterall. Even if i was given n more weeks, most probably i would still be answer-less.

Everyday i just find myself staring at the sea from this enclosed space, thinking to myself i really belong out there.

It's a great honour someone high up is spending a crucial 2.5hours with a minute fry like me, it makes me feel valued (even if it's part of the conspiracy).

But really, what if my only goal in life for now is to take a break?

Maybe all i need/ wanto do now is to retreat from this war.

Perhaps the path will be clearer when the mind is clearer.

Happenings

2006-07-26T11:28:00.000+08:00

So many things have been happening, it's reli difficult to pen everything down even tho i would love to, but if i do dat in a single entry, it wud most likely look like sprouts of random nonsense.

Interesting discovery of the day- the virtual persona of one is really different from wad one is perceived to be in person.

Hmmmm.

Shiokz to the Power of Infinity

2006-07-08T09:19:00.000+08:00

I would have taken a foto of the breakfast i had, but since i hv no access to Bluetooth in office to transfer the foto, imagination is a must to remember this significant moment.

Last night i had a very unsatisfying dinner, please remind me not to order Laksa for dinner again. The consequences of an unsatisfying dinner must not be taken lightly, for it left me feeling VeRy inadequate for the remaining nite.

And just before i had to turn in for the night, the world's most disgusting, obnoxious, loathesome, worthless creature, a flying cockroach no less (!!!), lets call dis unwelcome visitor-Grossy, had to be so diligent to fly all the way up to the 12th floor of the estate & into my window. WTF.

Grossies r my worst nemesis EVER, like as if we had a prolonged feud from our previous life, cept dat grossies hv been existing way way before i exist la, it's like i hv predisposed cells in my body dat makes mi wanto flee when i c dem & those dat dey hv, make dem wanto freak mi somehow.

Anyway, Grossy was not shy to flap around my room to check out which dark & damp corners could possibly be their next nest, being fully paranoid about it resting on mi when i fall asleep, i had to ask my dad to slp on my bed for the nite while i seek refuge in his.

But by then i was already breaking out in cold sweat & having my hart-rate accelerated. Not so good for pre-sleep.

So to reward my injured gut, i compensated myself with super nice meesiam for breakfast earlier on. If u have the time, do check it out at Dor's, sitting on the ground floor of International Plaza. It's a little steep for meesiam; $2.70 for takeaway & $2.50 for eating in, but it's all worth it.

Remember must add extra chilli hor.

Curse.

2006-06-30T09:21:00.000+08:00

Just before i turn in last night, my brother handed me the papers & brought my attention to dis particular news about the cat abuser, David Lim.

He is a repeat offender.

I actually got so angry I teared.

All i can comment is, I hope he dies a more horrible death than the poor, innocent kitten.

Friendster

2006-05-01T23:13:00.000+08:00

I just logged in to Friendster today & checked out the latest updates for my account.

The system is reli abit f**ked up coz it takes forever to load & it takes another forever to upload.

But i guess it's one way of connecting wif people u dun get to c alot but yet u dun hv to tink of how to strike up a meaningful conversation spontaneously since it's all virtual.

As i did not choose to remain anonymous when i view other peep's profiles, i could also c who viewed mi if dey have chosen the same.

But there is a question dat is bugging mi....i reli wonder y the heck...honestly, y the heck...there r alwaz the same few who constantly appear in the list....

Not dat i m complaining but i wonder y dey kip coming back to view my profile.....got so much to c meh?! Urrr...i dun make a lot of changes wad.

Not just guys, but also gurls.

But y?!?!!

Update: 5 mins later from last blog

2006-05-01T00:53:00.000+08:00

..............I m LNG-ing.

Major shite.

Dat explains y i feel so emotional & jumpy tonight.

And my craving for chocolates.

And y I couldn't stop tearing just now, over a silly incident.

Now i know y.

A bleeding woman is a horrible one. And horrible entails being edgy, whiney, snappy, irritable, nonsensical, unreasonable, gloomy, cravey, fussy, restless, picky etc. But it reli can't be helped.

U get the deal.

Sunday Nights...

2006-04-30T23:55:00.000+08:00

...feel different when u dun hv to work on Mondays.

It's freeeeeakin' great.

Wait, correction, any night will be good when u dun hv to work the nxt day. Yea.

I've alwaz fancied the night more than the day. It simply feels good to stay up at night, not having anything to do tomoro so i can sleep till i start to feel warm in my sleep coz the sun's up high & hangin'. In dis way, my nights will be longer & the day's shorter. Muahaa. I'm such a bum.

And i wonder which moron determines everybody shud start work in the morning. Sure, there r shifts & stuff but i tink the majority office peeps stil starts around 8-9.30am. Mayb if the majority starts work at like....6 or 7pm, there wouldn't be so much blues around.

****

On a different issue, I wento do some remedies to my hair laz saturday (i stil hate my hair btw) & my hairstylist who is a mother/ auntie chatted much of her experiences in love wif mi.

She told mi stuff like how she met her now-hubby, his character, their relationship & marriage, in-laws problems, life, parenting etc. Interestingly, i quite c eye-to-eye on some stuff she brought up.

In her opinion, she feels one should refrain from falling for somebody too much, as it will only bring more pain to yourself.

As selfish as dat sounds, I agree.....& understand.

And amazingly, she is oredi educating her 11 yr old daughter on matters of the heart too.

Never too early to start communicating, huh?

****

I have been hanging out wif my colleagues alot recently.

I must say dat altho i can't tune in very much wif their frequency, dey r nice people in their own rights.

I duno if education is the main culprit here, but i'm sure it has something to do wif it. I'm not discriminating, but i honestly tink it matters. Simply bcoz education also determines who ur frens r & c'mon, let's face it, ur frens play a huge part in molding who u r.

I dun have alot to say to dem so most of the time, i m just listening. Nothing wrong wif dat, but it's just that sometimes, to solve their plight, there could be a very direct solution but yet, dey couldn't quite see it or dey couldn't quite do it.

So I just choose to be less reactionary & more empathetic, in a bid to be less offensive. Just in case, dey take my reactions the wrong way.

Women can be reli over-sensitive sometimes, u noe.

It's interesting y "Coworkers" & "Frens" r of different categories. And i can see y dat is.

Even tho i spend 3/4 of my life seeing dem day in day out, I wouldn't say dey r my frens now. Maybe there is a subset named "Coworkers cum Frens" dat evolves from either category eventually, i duno. But, i m sure dey only fall into the former category for now.

And i define "Coworkers" as "People who work in the same company as U but may not necessarily remain in your contact list permanently. Or at least till U move on to another company."

Patience Wearing Thin.

2006-04-15T18:52:00.000+08:00

Talk about ultimate frustration when u r dealing wif a bunch of people who simply don't try hard enuff. Wait. I think they don't bother to try at all. I m honestly pissed now. Please f**k off. I rather die alone than to plead for attention.

Total frustration.

Tok about being Oblivious.

2006-04-14T23:18:00.000+08:00

Was wif colleagues at some random kopitiam at AMK to try out the new Botak Jones, den the very kind kopitiam boy shoo-ed away dis cat who was crouching under the table we wanted to sit at. Den it disappeared in the rain for some 15mins. Shortly after, it came back to the same spot under the same table, wif us at it then, n plonked itself comfily to sleep, just next to my chair. Well done.

Funny cat spotted at AMK.

So....

2006-04-14T22:43:00.000+08:00

....i have been ranting for ages, and still birkies-less. Stupid Jo Wong...i m going to kill her if she still dun dcide on which pair. I reli will. *flexes non-existing arm muscles*

And stupid Da Chang Jin, got so much food in the show, watching it makes mi feel hungry even though i dun fancy korean food. Sinful show. Pah.

So it's Monday.

2006-03-27T20:32:00.000+08:00

I'm on leave today. Mainly to attend an interview. I cud have taken half day off but i decided to give myself the rest of the day off since i figured the interview may zapped me dry of brain-juice.

So i went wif a lil' of butterflies in my tummy. Afterall, i haven't attending interviews as an interviewee for quite some time already. And half the time, i was worrying i would be late, even though it was by a straight bus from my place. But bus journey, hard to predict & the slow moving traffic on AYE didn't help.

I also didnt know my way around as i seldom patronize dat area, and never like it too, as it alwaz feels like a ghost-town, old & drudgery. It must be my bad karma, to end up in places which i have sworn off. (I sworn off IP when i visited dat old & dilapidated building when i was in my sec school too.)

Well, the bus journey itself was an hour long, den i got disoriented & couldn't figure which direction i should be walking towards. So i asked for directions, thank goodness the friendly bus uncle, standing idle-ly by the wall, pointed mi in the correct direction. He said "There! *points in x direction* hen jing er yi la..."

Ooooh..i looked n i saw a wad-seems-like-a-blue-office-building in the distant future.........*echos echos echos*...embedded within trees & greeneries. Siao liao jit bai...

And so, i embarked upon my journey to the north-west, walked around a multi-storey carpark, up a menacing looking overhead bridge, past a chinese temple, crossed a road, UP SLOPE & WIF HEELS, in the RAIN. Amazingly, around the temple, a Malay family actually stopped mi in my tracks to ask me for directions. Do i even look like i know the way around (?!)

I stood outside & watched the damn premise, perspiring, panting & fumbling over my stuff, cursing under by breath. By then i oredi lost interest in the position i applied for. Even if i got it, i couldn't imagine having to thread the routes in heels EVERYDAY. U tink i siao!??

So anyway, i couldn't figure where would it lead mi if i enter thru the entrance in front of me, so i grabbed the nearest army man in smart four, in the midst of crossing the road & asked him for directions. I duno y, but he seems so happy to answer my qns.

Well, apparently i had to follow the tracks which led me to a security check, maybe being clad in office wear makes it easier...buahaha, coz the man in front of me was bz emptying his pockets & stripping stuff off.

Ok so, after the security check, i had to exchange my NRIC for a Visitor's Pass, den find myself to another Tower where the interview is to be held at. Apparently it's like 200m away from the security check. Again, UP SLOPE, HEELS, RAINING.

When i FINALLY made it to the interview venue's building, i had to chuck my camera phone into the locker 1st. When i reached the place, i wanted to visit the Ladies to check my running makeup, drenched hair & dripping-wif-rain-bags. To my dismay, the nearest toilet is at the Canteen, meaning i wud hv to back-track.....NVM.

I had to do a test before the interview, which is like an essay qns...wad the... I wasn't told. But not like if i was told beforehand, i would ace it, so...acck..wadever. *waves arms in despair*

The chat wif the interviewer was rather brief, she was doing the toking most of the time. I tink i must have appeared ultra-sian & beat in the interview. She doesn't even look prepared to interview me. Sheesh. And I was more than happy to take my leave afterwards.

So i trotted all the way back to the interchange, not before getting abit lost at where i shud go to xchange my NRIC back. Think DOWN SLOPE, HEELS, no rain, but BLISTER.

When i reached the interchange, i realised due to a renovation of the berth, my bus's berth has been temporarily shifted to 100m away from the interchange. So i had to walk back. *(&*%^%#^%$R()*)XUIYSI....

I was so glad to come back to Jurong, it was as if i had left the country for ages & finally returned....n den i decided to reward my bruised self wif some sinful prata & indian rojak, food which i oni dream of eating on normal days. But since today is no normal day, i braved the blister & walked abit more to my dirty-but-tasty Zhang Dian to get it.

Den I ate my lunch & concussed for the next 3 hours.

So now, i'm tired, fat, blistered & low-morale. Wad a fantabulous Monday.

Perfect 10

2006-03-11T14:14:00.000+08:00

Was on the train yday morning dragging my feet to work as usual while i caught a topic on 98.7

The topic on the morning show betweenVernon (i think) & Carolyn Cheong (special guest) was...i think something about:

1) Which Hollywood celebrity would you kill to see naked?
2) Which Hollywood celebrity would you NEVER ever wanto see naked even if u r paid?

Something like that lah.

I think Carolyn chose Natalie Portman for Qns1..i didnt catch what Vern said, i tink i dozed off while standing for abit. But i did catch dat Keira Knightley is the most googled celeb on this though. Hmmm...weird y those choices are only females. Hehe..perhaps a naked man is not a pretty sight? :D

I pick.......hmm.....Scarlett Johannsen...is dat how u spell her name? O well.....

The funny part came at the 2nd qns. Think Carolyn chose Mariah Carey who owes it bcoz of her apparently huge pair of............vocals? Ok dun ask mi y vocal comes in pair. But anyway, it's her choice coz apparently our dear Mariah dressed too little for too much assets showing & she was discounted for having assets almoz drooping to the ground oredi.

I do agree.

Vern picked.......Oprah Winfrey. LOL!!!!!!!!

I agree X 1098490237.

He doesn't geddit either but there's just something about her which makes mi agree wif him. I tot i heard him did a shiver on air. Hahaha.

Well den again, Oprah wouldn't be my 1st choice. Coz i tot of somebody possibly worse.

Anna Nicole Smith.

Or......dat chick from the Osbourne family. The reli queer one.

But all of dem r queer though.

Ok..pointless entry i know.

But it's hilarious. Especially the part about Oprah Winfrey.

The Birthday Song

2006-03-07T23:08:00.000+08:00

Don't worry about that extra line
That's creeping up upon your face
It's just a part of nature's way to say you've grown a little more
Trees have rings and thicker branches
Kids shoes get a little tighter
Every year we're getting closer to who we're gonna be
It's time to celebrate the story of how you've come to be

Happy Birthday, my friend
Here's to all the years we've shared together
All the fun we've had
You're such a blessing
Such a joy in my life
May the good Lord bless you
And may all your dreams come true
So light a candle on your cake
For every smile you've helped create
For every heart and every soul you've helped to grow
A little more
A few more pounds, a little more grey
Don't count the years, just count the way
It takes a little time to go from water into wine
Don't ever lose the wonder of that child within your eyes

Happy Birthday, my friend
Here's to all the years we've shared together
All the fun we've had
You're such a blessing
Such a joy in my life
May the good Lord bless you
And may all your dreams come true

*************************************************

Nice song by Corrinne May. She's abit gospel but anyway she rocks.

Ok la...i'm no Christian but still, it's nice to have someone blessing u anyway.

O well, and u noe who u r, Happy Birthday again.

Out! Damned Fatigue! Out!

2006-03-06T23:20:00.000+08:00

This is me now..after days of frontline fire-fighting. I tink i m balding from all the stress too. Hence the 3 miserable strands. May the force be wif me.

My Current State.

About Career Fair

2006-03-02T22:34:00.000+08:00

(In irritated mood now coz i typed about 3/4 of my entry today & wanted to copy so dat i can go brush just in case it gets erased off miraculously on its own, but my damn keyboard's "CNTRL" button is faulty, so my entire text got replaced wif a "c". SHIT>)

Was blogging about the Career Fair. Was at Suntec mending the company's booth this evening & in a short span of 4 hours, i managed to meet & see so many types of (weird) people.

Honestly, it's a lil' bewildering to noe dat dey r ur fellow singaporeans. -_-

(Type A) The Freaky Wanderer

Approaches mi wif fixated gaze, claims to have emailed mi his application sometime back as my name sounds familiar but yet can't be sure if it's me, then proceeds to accuse mi for not responding, even though the ad says "We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified." When i reply him, his sight wandered far far away island beyond mi. But when he speaks, he stares at mi wif bloodshot eyes & eventually reveals dat he IS GOING TO have a job soon.

(Type B) The Kay Pohs

Approaches booth wearily, scrutinizing the set up of the booth slowly, reaches out for our pamphlet & proceeds to read it intensely. Said person is able to stand in front of a row of consultants for a good 10mins, reading our pamphlet. When asked if he nids any assistance, he informs he's not looking for a job. Just being curious.

(Type C) The Loud Speaker

Leads a group of friends to approach our booth. Distributes our pamphlets to group of friends on my behalf. Repeats every sentence again after me, facing his group, as if his friends were not able to hear mi wif their own ears. Free promotion, i'm not complaining though.

(Type D) The Super Enthus

Walks INTO our booth, comes up close enough to breathe into my face telling me he is looking for a job. Automatically proceeds to show me his resume, folders of education certs & brochures of courses he intends to pursue. Hogs mi for at least 15min, asking plenty of qns as if i decide his career path. Speaks loudly & very appreciative of even the simplest comment. But proceeds to ask many many other qns as if the more qns he asks, the more free gifts he gets.

(Type E) The Cheapos

Obviously-just-passerbys deliberately detouring to ask for free mineral water we r giving out to our applicants, even though dey have no intention to stop at our booth. There's one lady who came back to us after 1 hour to ask if i could give her 1 pen. U shud hv witnessed the spectrum of vocabs she used to praise our pens. Of course, not gonna give it to her. Last year, i remembered a father sending his kid to ask for our pens while he stood some distance away watching & smirking. Of course, did not give it to her too. Total madness. I hate noisy kids.

(Type F) The Obnoxious

Referring to the neighbouring booth people. Asked if he could have our stickers consisting our Company's logo so dat he could fasten his booth's posters. (WAD THE.....) We shud have asked dem if we cud have their booth's flag (belonging to a particular country's, starting with 'A') to wipe our tables as dey r a lil' dusty.

(Type G) The Lok Koks

Digs out crumpled resume from dirty & old back packs, or retrieves resume from red plastic bags as if dey r selling fish in the market. Messy hair coupled wif lousy dress sense. Eg. Jeans or cargo pants wif black, big & rubbery sandals, revealing their long & dirty toe nails. Those sandals looked like dey were nvr washed before.

(Type H) The Non-Locals

Normally has a pleasant & humble attitude since dey r in a foreign land. But of course, their English are normally quite un-understandable.. I wonder how dey r even gonna get a job here when dey pronounce "O" as "Woh".

(Type I) The Suakus

Listens to EVERY single word i say intensely, eyes getting wider & wider like as if i'm speaking Puerto Rico lingo. Responses to everything with "Oh really???? I See!!!!"

*****************************************************************

There are actually more (weird) people but i wanto sleep oredi.

But U will be intrigued too. U really will.

About Dreams.

2006-02-26T18:57:00.000+08:00

I had a nite full of dreams last nite. I reli prefer to have a dreamless sleep though. Coz dey r often incoherent & that's pretty disturbing. It oso feels like i didnt rest my brain at all.

And as usual, i can't remember every single bit of wad i dreamt about & it's kinda frustrating. But i read somewhere it's normal U can't, and dat trying to remember your dreams regularly helps to improve your memory.

I dreamt dat i got a pet pup.

There was no mention of whether i bought it myself or somebody gave it to me. But then again, if i have bought it myself, i shud hv felt the pinch, even in my dreams. A pup is NOT CHEAP u noe.

Interestingly, in the dream, i noe nuts about keeping the pup alive. (So it must be a gift, if not i wud hv done my research beforehand if i had planned to buy one.)

I didnt even have stocks of can food for my dear pup! (See? Again. Must be a gift.)

But i did have a metal fence to surround up a small compound for the pup. But the metal fence cud possibly be another gift dat came along wif the pup. So thoughtful of the gift-giver.

But he/she shud hv thrown in some can food as well...afterall, food is more impt to kip the pup alive rite!?

Then i dreamt dat somehow, i was due to visit Japan, and i was troubling over who's to take care of my new pet while i was away.

Bcoz i didnt have can food (dun ask mi y didnt i just buy it), i fed my dog sliced watermelons.

Den it got reli dirty as days go by, and i remember somebody in reality told mi dat dogs do not bathe very often, perhaps once a week wud suffice, or it might die!

So i tried to persevere till end of the week but it got so filthy dat its coat of white fur had turned a slight grey. Plus, i don't have dog shampoo.

U cud imagine how troubled i was when i woke up.

I cudn't reli recall the rest of my miscellaneous dream. Coz it's not related to the dog.

But i do remember said pup looks like something of the following:

The Pup I Think I Dreamt About.

Retreat.

2006-02-19T19:32:00.000+08:00

Know when to lay down ur pride, pick up the fone & dial the number.

Toss out the defenses for they are nothing but excuses to the ears.

Enough. A blind eye cannot be turned to everything.

Whoa.

2006-02-19T18:07:00.000+08:00

It is true that i dun visit all my frens' blogs very often, but OMG, 70! Wad happend 2 urs???

http://www.sweetandsourlove.blogspot.com/

I swear it was almost like a virtual funeral.

So Frrreeeeeeeeeeakkkin' Cute!

2006-02-16T23:50:00.000+08:00

I shamelessly ripped dis off some site full of cute animals & pets. Here's one dat amused mi to no end.

May The Force Be Wif U, Hami Wan.

FMCU

2006-02-16T22:27:00.000+08:00

Took a cab back after an overworked day, and kena dis Farney-Malay-Cabby-Uncle. I'm just gonna abbreviate it to FMCU for convenience's sake.

Please imagine the following scenario to be belted out by a damn drama sounding FMCU & a very monotonous Me. He was more action than an action-barbie.

The gist of our conversation went like dis:

FMCU: U noe Miss, if anybody tells me the Earth is round, i will say "U dun Beh-Deh la!!"
Me: Oh..?
FMCU: Meaning, how many people actually went up to the Moon or outer space & saw dat the Earth is REELI round??
Me: Uh huuhh....
FMCU: Over a billion over people in the world, only 3 ever reali went up to the moon see it from outside. Apollo13, Amstrong &...Aiya..maybe dey come back also kena screwed by the America's President. Maybe the President tekaned dem to tell people the Earth is round!! Who noes rightttt???
Me: -_-''' Hur. Maybe.
FMCU: Ya! I study until Primary 6 only but my mind ah...very sharp ok? I will ask alot of questions..like i don't bliv everything dat the Prophets said. Same goes for the Bible. I dun blindly embrace the religion ok..
Me: Wouldn't dat be contradicting to your religion then? (I assumed he's a Muslim)
FMCU: Ah! Dat is a very good question!! I asked my Muslim friends "How U know God's name is Allah??" Dey say "Bcoz it's written in the Q'uran!" I asked dem "Listen carefully, i asked HOW YOU noe??" Dey canot answer mi, y' noe? See all their faces start to stress..I asked my Christian friend, Steven, in the Holy Bible, God said he created heaven, hell & the solar systems in 6 days & he wento rest. O PLEASE????!?!!? How is dat possible?!?! Why didnt God also create light & speed then??
Me: Den Christians may argue God is able to create Heaven, Hell & the Solar System in 6 days bcoz he is dat omnipotent wad. Dey also can say light & speed are created bcoz God gave dem the power to do so.
FMCU: Den i will say "U must come & take the kiko wif mi?", den dey will ask "Wad is kiko??" Den dat is exactly wad i 'm saying! Wad is kiko?? (Took mi a 3 secs to realise he's trying to emphasize on the importance of questioning the given truth)
Me: Right....U must have made alot of enemies then.
FMCU: Ya...I bliv in "Wad u hear, see & touch is true" & dis saying is from where u noe? From Buddha. But religions are impt, to keep the people in order. Even tho i'm a free-thinker, i practise Islam at home, as an example to my kids, if not nxt time dey hv no religion & my son will say "Fuck u!" when i tell him to do something...hahaha..
Me: Oh? U r a free-thinker, dat makes u the same as me.
FMCU: U free-thinker also ah!??? Alamak! Waste my breath! I tot U......
Me: Hahaha.
FMCU: Rare right? To mit a Malay like me?
Me: Actually, not reli. I met quite a few who r like dat too.
FMCU: O reli??? Interesting.
Me: Yep, very interesting, tomoro i will go back to my office & tell my colleagues dat the Earth might not be round.
FMCU: Dun la...it's better to maintain peace & harmony..
Me: But U've made ur share of enemies, so now it's my turn.
FMCU: hahaha!! U ah! Koyak la!!
Me: Anyway, thanks Uncle. Bye! (Upon alighting)
FMCU: U take care, & stay alive!!
Me: I'll try.
FMCU: Hahahaa!

Disclaimer: This entry has no intentions to malign or belittle any religions in particular. Everything shud be taken wif a note of humour. The above mentioned is but an actual report of a true conversation which took place on my way home. (please dun sue me?)

Dark.

2006-02-15T21:58:00.000+08:00

I'm on leave today. Had quite a nice & simple affair on Vday. I wonder wad did other couples do?

I've decided to change my blogskin out of sheer boliaoness. And took quite a long time to get all the configurations & personalization right. So, phew. Finally.

The pic of the skin is very nice. Mi like it beri much. Hence the choice. Tink it's meaningful. Trapped in a bottle floating on a sea of stars. So nice but yet like abit helpless...yes?

Anyway...while i was tinking of wad to put down to describe myself, i had to ponder over it for quite a long time.

I came to a conclusion.

I figured i m largely insecure. Coz i m alwaz thinking of when i wud be losing my job...losing my frens...losing my family...losing my money...losing my bf....etc. But reli, i shud be tinking of when i wud be getting a promotion...look forward to miting new people....how to love my family more....how to make more money...how to treat my bf better...etc.

Moreover, I realise i hv to constantly remind myself not to be depressed. I tink it's bof a subconscious & a conscious effort. And i dun tink dis is very healthy. I used to tink dat dis disease will oni happen to people who r alwaz cooped up in the house.

I wonder if dis is an inevitable stage of growing up?

I m also haunted. Bcoz i canot 4get the past, seems like unhapi memories stick around longer than the hapi ones. It's difficult to let go, especially when dey seem to be oredi etched in the soul.

I reli tink dat the 'Ghost in Me' is the culprit for everything.

Wad about the 'Ghost' in u?

Is it haunting u too?

Epitome of Suayness.

2006-02-08T23:49:00.000+08:00

All the predictions for Dogs in the Year 2006 are by far, negative. In fact, it has been depressing. Well, but kind people around me kept insisting that such horoscopes/ zodiac/ star signs/ astronomical/ gypsie looking into the crystal ball/ tarot cards/ green & yellow bird picking out cards to tell ur fortune/ palmistry/ peeling an apple at 12 midnite to see ur future partner's face in the mirror etc are not 100% accurate.

Well of coz, i noe some part of these methods are based on myths & without scientific proof, but ya noe...u can still get a teeny weeny more paranoid when it seems like all are pointing against u.

Just when i tot i m oredi as suay as i can get, i bumped into The Ex today.

Well, not exactly "bumped into", more like "saw & ran away", but still, SUAY.

Then, just b4 i left the office, i had sent a msg meant for 1 of my colleagues thru our internal messaging system to the Ah Lian Manager, toking ABOUT the Ah Lian Manager.

Cock? Yes i tink so too. It is pretty much as cock as it gets.

And u guessed it right, there was an awkward moment & a pressured laugh.

Judging by my suayness, looks like no amount of Toto tickets are going to up my chances at the shot of the 2-millioner dis week.

TMD.

Do I Look Like A Goat to U???

2006-02-07T22:10:00.000+08:00

Tell me again, why am i alwaz the one to be sacrificed????

Like.....ALWAZ???!??

Whyyyyyyyyyyyy?????????????????????????????????????

Cease.

2006-02-01T23:46:00.000+08:00

When the reason it all began wif starts to cease, altho i duno if STARTING to cease is ever possible coz cease is just cease u noe? O......but let's not get into dat now, i was toking about wad wud happen when the reason it all began wif begins to diminish; we lose our minds & hearts to 4get why it all started in the 1st place.

When the one reason is rendered invalid, it will be accompanied by thousand of other reasons why it will no longer work. If not by the conscience, the subconscience will do the job.

Everything dat was right wif me becomes wrong. And everything dat has nothing to do wif mi becomes interesting suddenly.

Wow. Tok about a huge blow to the self-esteem.

It's DAT time of the year again.

2006-01-27T23:50:00.000+08:00

When u find urself being plagued by songs wif chiang~chiang~chiang~dong~dong~dong~ as their main instruments when u walk into almoz all the retail shops, u noe, the impending occasion is due soon.

Again. Chinese New Year.

*stares at ceiling for 5 mins in despair before returning to blog*

There it goes again. Meeting of nosey aunties & uncles, trying to poke their fat noses in my life, my increased number of fine lines on my face, the increased mass & flabs on my ass & thighs, my work, my relationship, my marriage plans, my having kids intent, my future estate location, how much i earn, how much i give to my parents, my retiring plans...etc. U get the idea.

I don't get y people r so upbeat about it.

All the shops r closed, restricting our only recreational activity to watching CNY movie. Everywhere else is like a ghost town.

Sheesh. Brace myself.

Days & Nights.

2006-01-10T00:30:00.000+08:00

There are those days when u feel like just having a bar of chocolate by urself; just the plain, dark, creamy ones without nuts to interfere wif the o' so classic taste of the silky lusciousness.

Then there are days when u feel like just sitting by the window, enjoying the cool breeze from the rain, & counting on the dose of caffeine to perk u up from the lethargy of the cold.

There are nights when u know u will feel so alone if u cruise among the busy lightings & the bustling crowd in the midst of the hub but u choose to do that anyway.

And then there are those nights when u find that there is nothing apparently wrong with everything around but u simply do not feel anything is that right either. The mind helplessly allows the overpowering inadequacy to linger through the dead of the night & the puzzlement as illustrated by a constant lock of the brows.

Tonight is unfortunately, one of such bewildering nights.

New Year Resolutions.

2005-12-30T11:07:00.000+08:00

A countdown to the Top 5 Resolutions for the impending Year 2006.

Number 5: Spend less money (on others) & save more (for self).

Number 4: Be more even-tempered. Thou resolves to maintain thy smile & grace at all time. Including to stupid clients & stupid candidates.

Number 3: Store more patience at waiting for stupid people who can't even get simple things done.

Number 2: Find miself a new job so i can get outta the grips of thy useless manager.

Number 1: Smile. Smile. Smile.

I am my greatest enemy.

2005-12-13T23:35:00.000+08:00

It's the time of the month again.

Pre-First Day--> L . E . T . H . A . R . G . Y

First Day--> L . E . T . H . A . R . G . Y + P . A . I . N

Second Day--> L . E . T . H . A . R . G . Y + E . X . C . R . U . C . I . A . T . I . N . G P . A . I . N

You have no idea. NO IDEA.

Tok About Throat-Cutting Anger.

2005-12-11T15:31:00.000+08:00

Wad's worse than being lonely & unloved plus together?

Being accused.

Wad's worse than being accused??

Being accused of being illogical.

Wad's worse than being accused of being illogical???

By beings who noe no better.

Urrrrggghhh!!!! My heart.....*scratches air*.....so wrenched......*screams into pillow*

Ren Zai Jiang Hu Shen Bu You Ji.

2005-12-09T13:11:00.000+08:00

When things cannot be helped & are beyond our control, sucks as it maybe, life still has to go on.

Guess it marks the process of becoming a stronger person.

The necessary pains of survival.

Grit your teeth & stand firmly, it will soon be over.

When It's All About Being Meme-ed.

2005-12-03T01:37:00.000+08:00

By Justin's request.... (Translated into English)

7 Fears....
1. Failure
2. Uncertainties
3. Loneliness
4. Injection
5. Cockroach
6. Carcasses
7. Open wound

7 Likes....
1. Sushi & dark chocolate
2. Cats/ Dogs/ Hamsters/ Rabbits
3. Laughing
4. Breeze in the evening
5. Out-wit
6. Feeling rich--> then can travel, splurge on shopping, feast, no nid to work etc. (Heh.)
7. Music

7 Must-Haves of A Room....
1. Bed
2. TV
3. Trusty soft-toys
4. Mirror
5. big window wif pretty curtains
6. ermmm...bed
7. bed

7 Feats I Can Do....
1. Raise one eyebrow
2. Have upper lip touching nose
3. Cartwheel
4. Badminton, volleyball & a little of Ping Pong now
5. Sit in the same spot for 5 hours or more
6. Walk alot
7. Speak half-bucket Japanese

7 That I Can't....
1. Split
2. NOT wash my hair for more than 24 hours
3. Eat alone in a crowded public
4. Be irresponsible
5. Take raw meat or any of animals' organs for food
6. Visit a fish market
7. Watch horror movies

7 of My Most Abused Lingos....
1. Izit?
2. Wad the hell / f**k?!
3. Shit.
4. O reli?
5. Sou desu ne.
6. O ok lo/ la.
7. Wah Liaoz.

7 Arrowed Victims After Yuanz....
It's ok la....wo bu ru di yu shui ru di yu....

When the Picture Says It All.

2005-12-03T01:29:00.000+08:00