Starters

What do you do when you have awoken much earlier than usual? And you know as the day progresses, you have to stifle some yawns, keep grouchiness at bay, control your urges to snap at the first person (usually from office) who irritates you?

Have a good breakfast.

Now I can safely tell you - T.G.I.F.!

Runny and Wet, Wet and Runny

"Lava is flowing out of the craters of the volcanoes". I quote T.

I am aware of T's creativity for a long time now. His fascination with building train tracks of differing courses, drawing out a manual for it, outlining maps of places which he's seen online or physically been to.

So you can imagine how taking this favourite

snack of his has also been made to be 'irregular'.

First he pours a teeny bit of the sauce on the teaspoon and let it drip. He would watch how it runs down the gentle slopes of the yolks, slowly spreading and meandering to the foot...thereafter seemingly satisfied, he would prod and finally puncturing the 'summit' to see the yolk ooze out- the yellow mix with the dark brown.

Then the eating begins.

The Pursuit of Happyness (again)

It pays to have more than one source of happiness.

On a cool Friday night when the troops were out with their gramps, M and I got restless especially knowing that the promotion period is still valid.



Aha!

x2 pints.

Longevity

The idea of longevity has never appealed to me. Not unless I have loads of money, health and the people I love are of similar state.

I didn't read the article yet but it caught my eye while I browsed in the lift today (as you may have noticed that was where I took this pic). I was keen on forwarding it to SC. Heh....

PS: "Collecting friends" in Facebook not counted hor!

Dept Gathering

I have acknowledged that my year-long intense 'affair' with this stall is over.


However, I took a trip down memory lane today because a really friendly and generous Malay staff volunteered to cook chicken rendang for the department. On top of that, another staff brought rice, a loaf of bread and some kueh. As their Manager, I feel compelled to show my enthusiam and generosity too, however small. So I offered to buy them teh tarik. 8 cups in total.

My following traits were put to a test:
Patience (The queue was looooong)

Dexterity (I have dropped a whole cup while holding onto IT - singular - before)

Endurance (I needed to pee!)

I made it back - the 8 cups + myself in one piece.

All were happy. :)

Let's hope for BBQ or pot-luck next!

Bird Talk

I'm talking about the real thing, not 鸟话 (niao3 hua4) which means 'nonsense', 'rubbish talk' among Singaporean Chinese.

On my way to work today, 3 mynah birds standing over something which looked like food were chirping loudly and continuously with beads wide open and I swore with menacing glares at one another. I stood there for some time to witness this amazing scene which bore semblance to office women bickering. :D

Bird A: I saw it first!
Bird B: Sayz who?
Bird C: Bah....just fuck off.

Heaven

...is a place on Earth...only when there is chocolate.

Never underestimate the pieces of endorphins.

PS: Straight from New Zealand.
From left, RJ's, mine (!!!) and SK's.

On Leave

I tell you the 2 things I love when I'm at home during weekdays.

When Mr Yeo drives off with Becks on the van and she waves and waves at me till completely out of sight.
When after his usual homework, T is enthusiastic to go out with his mom for a cup of tea (and him Milo).

House Rules

Kids with Asperger’s, she said, have senses we can’t even imagine. We filter out sounds and sights that are constantly barraging their brains which is why sometimes it seems like they are off in their own little world. They're not, she said. They’re in our world but they are more engaged in it than we’ll ever be.

I went home that day and I looked up plant death on the Internet. As it turned out, plants under stress emit ethylene gas and scientists in Germany have created a device that measures the energy of those molecules as vibrations – or sound.

Now I wonder if it gets tiring, bearing witness to the last gasp of nature. If it’s not only plants my son hears but the gnash of an angry ocean. A shy sunrise. A breaking heart.

- House Rules
By Jodi Picoult

Picoult's writing continues to take my breath away.... but I can't tell Jacob in the story that. He is an Aspie and wouldn't understand it.

Fun with Words

One fine afternoon when a wave of sudden craving for orange tic tacs hit me, it triggered a list of words in my head too!

tic tac

knick-knack

flip flop

kit kat

tim tam

zig zag

criss-cross

hobnob

nitwit

picnic

Boogie Woogie

Unethical...sigh, one of those again.

I am livid with anger. Well a lot more yesterday than today after a good night's sleep.
Some profession calls for more ethics than others and one of them is being a recruiter.

I still cannot decide if I want to lodge an official complaint. If I continue to be disturbed till the end of today, I will. Then sorry, that lady has to learn the hard way of keeping her lid shut.

Where's Wally?

I have received a few times emails forwarded by friends on advertisement with misleading messages, atrocious spelling, grammar, etc. I believe those were taken in China.

This morning I took the train all bleary-eyed but they widened when they caught sight of this poster in front. It slipped through the cracks....in Singapore?!

17 July 2010

An equally important day.

9 July 2010

An important day. Cross fingers!

Rough no more?!

On 23 June after a pedicure session (which is fast becoming more regular), I made a beeline to Watsons to get this. My effort remains relentless ever since.

Let's see some results before I get 'insulted' by every pedicurist during every session! Haha!

Friendship

I really like this article.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/friendship-in-an-age-of-economics/#more-55141

Feline Fetish

Tabby can achieve such an enviable level of serenity.

Missing!

I just viewed my blog (I don't know why) and realised my Miffys are missing! How come? Where did they go?????????????

Lingo

WL just taught me a phrase - toss the salad.
Coming from this cheeky galfriend of mine, you know the 'education' isn't one of norm.

DAMN! I'll never think and say it the same way again.

PS: Anyday now it may be 'pass me the sugar'.

5Cs for the Singaporeans

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100508082918AAI14A1&r=w
I'm sure glad that I don't measure my happiness based on them.
I grew up knowing what more my peers had and yet never yearning for the things or envying the person. I'm wondering if my apathy (or self-contentment) stemmed from the fact that Papa could already give me (and sis) enough given the standards back then.

Now to ensure my troops can become equally fortunate to possess this trait.

Exam Fever

....Primary 2 only leh!

I can't help but feel anxious. The end is near - 11 May! :)
Till the next semester.

TGIF :)

One of my many items for breakfast today, this yummy butter cookie (yikes, at my desktop).

Cute or not?

Fish Fingers

I had a massive craving bubbling when I was almost reaching home from work. I detoured to Cold Storage and bought a box. Had 4 fingers fried for dinner...

YUMMY!


PS: Not cheap!

30s SUCK!

I thought being in my 30s is supposed to be the real deal. Comfortable in my own skin, knowing what I want, etc.

For the past 48 hours or so, I was confronted with my fear. Not my usual fear towards spiders, lizards....I thought the worst emotion one can experience is coping with separation. Fear to move out of comfort zone makes it a very close 2nd.

Not consciously looking for a job, something which I did 4-5 years ago caught up with me 2 days ago. I decided to give the interview a try because I have been out of practice. 7 years! The position was extremely daunting: A Head of Division overseeing 60 staff in 3 departments.

If someone was confident and wanted to take an ego trip and/or face more challenges in life before hitting the big 4-0, he/she would have jumped at the chance and not be like me, had apprehension written all over my face.

I've gotten over the scope of the position. I've not gotten over my fear yet. It's very real.

Re-surfaced!

I'm sure I blogged about this or him 2-3 years ago. Deserted and stranded...My sister suffered the same. This morning, he re-surfaced. An unidentified number, I answered the call and found out that he's returned, shamelessly catching up as if nothing happened in the first place.

Our then-financial planner.

I knew he left for Thailand for a business venture. December that year was when the airport was shut down by protestors. Thailand was never really the same again, until today.

I quote him - "I never really left the industry so I'm back again." YAH RIGHT. He completely lacked the foresight to burn his bridges so badly. I contacted sis and I quote her response - "no way in hell will I use him again". That makes 2 of us.

Goodbye forever.

Dear John...

I'm in love.......with John.

In Dear John, to be precise.

Umbrella

And I'm not referring to Rihanna's hit single.

I was told, or rather 'being gossiped to' that my company's Human Resource Senior Executive cannot spell 'umbrella'. It's not like it was a typo. She was caught out. During a discussion while she was typing the minutes, she paused, typed, hesitated, back-spaced, typed again, etc. You get the drift.

So proud of Nanny. She found out that Singaporeans are heavily subsidized for an English course lasting f0r 3 months (twice a week, 3 hours each class) so she signed up for it. She told me that a few PRC Nationals are in her class too. They have to pay the full school fees but are undeterred. Such is their positive attitude.

Singaporeans should be so worried, only then we will stop being complacent.

Angie's Last Day

* Courtesy of T at 3 years old

Mask Up!

I work in an office with an open concept seating arrangement. By this I mean there is only a low wall (23com in height to be exact) of separation between myself and the person seated in front of me.

I'm used to it. Afterall it's been 7 years (yes, unbelievable!) so I have no real concerns unless the person is coughing every 5 secs, with phlegm audibly present and he makes no attempt to be apologetic about it. I have low immune system and Becks' exams are round the corner so I finally told him, with a smile - please wear a mask.

He complied right after lunch. :)
A box of fresh masks sits on his desk now.

PS: Slight sore throat now as I type!

Film Fest

I'm actually itching to go see at least one show...it's been a long time. Sigh.

Follow Your Heart

I told my colleague yesterday that I am facing a small dilemma and she advised me to 'follow my heart'. Wtf does that mean???? I was too polite to ask further.

This morning she called me and said actually it is through counselling sessions to bring one to the stage of 'following ones' heart' ah...at least this makes sense). She is taking a degree course in psychotherapy now so she said she would go through her materials again to refresh herself and would volunteer to counsel me. Despite the amateur setting, I'm game. I don't want regrets.

iPhone...and users' discretion

Hands up for those who own an iPhone.

It's a bane of my existence where the office enivornment is concerned. In the past, I see a staff hunched over I know he/she is engrossed in trouble-shooting, scrutinizing a document where details have gone wrong. Now, it's the iPhone they are fiddling with. Worse that Facebook has taken over Asia (finally) by storm...one more fun reason to surf the internet.

In Feb (Chinese New Year), we were invited to a lo hei lunch by one of our vendors. Seated with the Managing Director, even though there would be an obvious lack of conversational topics, one should still wring our PR juices to make small talk. Right? Wrong. 3 of them at the same table whipped out their iPhones and started doing the familiar-and-irritating swipe of their finger. Right to left, up and down...I was embarrassed. Embarrassed by their lack of grace, embarrassed for my lack of courage to tell them off (they are in their mid 30s. Adult on the outside, what is on the inside?!).

Professional discretion takes a back seat.
May God bless them.

About Singapore

I just got 'arrowed' to write an essay about Singapore.

Apparently our HQ is keen on posting such stories on our intranet to share with our subsidiaries worldwide. I think the wordcount is about 300...I have till 30th. I'm not sure how the final product will turn out but some ideas are already forming - chewing gum ban, IR, 'chope' seats at food centres with packets of tissue, YOG, Formula One, sloppy dress sense (bermudas and slippers in Orchard?!), etc.

Anything else? :)

*ribbit ribbit*

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100331/tts-science-quake-toads-c1b2fc3.html
Now we know.
Before you squirm at the sight of them, be reminded of their usefulness. Every being is put on Earth for a reason* I guess.

* It's still difficult to be convinced that some people are not a waste of space.

PS: Not applicable in Singapore.

Alive and Kicking

I logged in today after a lapse of God-only-knows-how-many-days and saw I have 3 comments. Gasp, so touched. My main (and only? Likely...) followers.

I shall try my best, gals! At least I still can't bear to declare Miffy's "RIP".

Guilty Pleasure

Mich and I had a lovely dinner at Coffee Club Taka to celebrate her 29th birthday a day in advance. The new menu is not bad.

This mud-pie came shockingly tall.
One glance, I gained 1kg, one whiff, 3kg, one bite, 5kg....
I just couldn't bring myself to finish it - guilt.
Thankfully, the other emotions I experienced were more positive.

Till the next time, ole pal.

Deeno!

Good ole Deeno is still around! He should be celebrating his 16th birthday this year.

Here's a shot of him sleeping (which is what he does best 90% of the time) in his leopard-printed diaper holder. When we age, we age in style - yea!

Reunion

Primary 6N1 1986 class of the now-defunct Bedok Primary School had a rather major one on Friday at 14 Bussorah Street.

Frankly I had been looking forward to it right from the beginning when the idea hatched to the middle of its planning to the end, just hours before the meeting materialized. The girls didn't change much but it was certainly exciting seeing the guys post-puberty stage. The priceless part was the camaraderie among the guys themselves. As for the gals, maybe we are a lot more complicating than men, it was good but at a different degree.

After it ended, it left me a strange but very nice aftertaste and got me wondering when the next one would be...........................

Attack of the Stilettos

It is finally in the news. I think years ago, I observed and blogged about the menancing structure of the heels women wear these days that could jolly well double-up as a weapon when the women are provoked.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20100211/twl-eu-britain-stiletto-stabbing-c8e2916.html

OUCH!

JB

Shen is back and off we went for our 'annual trip' to JB!

No more horror films please, guys.
The caramel popcorn can stay.

PS: Wow, I still remember my password to assess my blogspot. :P