thank you ....

i have been receiving quite a bit of e-mails from friends a far after they heard about the natural disaster hitting asia. although singapore was not affected and none of my friends, family members or anyone i know where at the areas when the disaster struck, i appreciate the concerns that came into my mailbox. thank you for caring...

waves of horror...

look at me here... talking about being in love with december and going on holiday when a few hundred kilometers northwest from where i am, there was an earthquake, which hit the northern tip of the island of Sumatra on Sunday, 26 December 2004.

i didn't realise just how bad it was until i saw the increasing death tolls in each country during the daily news. and yesterday, I found out that the tsunami waves from the earthquake also hit some western african nations. if you look at the map, you'll understand how. well, basically, those countries that lies in the indian ocean and between the equator & the tropics of cancer were hit by the waves. if not for the geographical state of south east asia, the pacific islands could have been hit too. but let's not go there.

i was watching the news and saw pictures of funerals taking place and family members of those who died, showing extremely intense emotions. i feel for them. can you imagine if in a split second, your loved ones are gone and you are the only one left in this world?? i know i will be in total devastation. it will take a long time to get over this and move on.

an earthquake in the indian ocean affected two continents with a few days left to the new year. although the rest of the world are symphatising with the victims & their families over this act of nature, i am sure most of us are going to be out there to welcome the new year. go ahead. for me, i am going to do my part in respecting this tragedy by staying at home and say a little prayer for those souls who had been lost and some of whom may not be found.

i'm in love with december...

i like the month of december. not only it is my birthday month but there are something else about december that i like.

1. the cool weather - we generally get a temperature between 30 to 33 deg celc(86 to 91 deg farenheit) on an average warm day - so in December, with all the rainfall from the North East Monsoon season, the temperature is between 23 to 28 deg celc (73 to 82 deg farenheit). by local standards, that is cool because we don't have the four seasons here in the Equator. It is either damn hot, warm or cool.

2. its the holiday season - it is the time of the year when people with bad time management and no quality of life would scramble to clear their leave entitlement. this is when they take opportunity to go on holidays with their families to spend quality time. this is a good thing for me because the office will be quiet, the travel to work is a breeze because it is also the school holidays and there are hardly any traffic on the roads and getting a seat on the bus is not a problem.

however, only a few days left before these people on holidays will come back to singapore and to work. this would mean a torture getting to work. on the bright side, when all the people with bad time management and no quality of life are back at work, i will be making arrangements to go on holiday. that's the best part, don't you think? you will be on holidays during off peak period where getting seats on a flight or hotel rooms is not going to be a problem. so while others are working their butts off in the new year, i will be somewhere in a resort, sitting by the pool and enjoying the sun while sipping a cocktail or something.

life is good.

how's the weather??

just my luck..... i always fall ill on a friday or during the weekend and now, the week when i have made plans. i had plans today but alas, i fell ill - cold, sore throat. the good thing is, i don't have to go to work... yay! the bad thing is, i could not go out to meet my friends like we have planned. :-( i will feel better tomorrow - i must!

t'was a few nights before christmas...

it was thirty something years ago today when my workaholic dad decided that he had enough of waiting and wanted to get ready for work. it was when i decided to make my debut on earth. that was probably one of the happiest day of my parents' life - the arrival of me!!

today, i took the day off from work - any excuse not to go to work. spent the afternoon with noridah and later, was joined by another close friend, liz, for dinner. noridah and i went for a spot of shopping, where she bought me some interesting stuffs for my birthday. i bought myself a present too. damn it!! i worked hard all year and i truly deserved this day off and a present too! anyway, shopping was part of our agenda today.

although i started off the day feeling a little under the weather but the birthday greetings i received from my friends, near and far through e-mails, SMS & phone calls brighten up my day. put a huge smile on my face. i forgot all about being ill for a while.

this, so far, has been a good week. i am looking forward to the next couple of days. high tea tomorrow with bestest friends, sal and noridah. and also a nice lunch to look forward to on christmas eve, of which sal's husband will be roasting us some nice lamb.

bon anniversaire pour moi et HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

no, he is not mr 'happy'...

on monday, we had our monthly review with our customer, both in singapore and those in paris. my colleagues in paris usually join in the review as well and this month, i managed to book the video conference facility. so, for the first time, i get to see one of my colleagues, who i had only spoken before but never really see how he looked like.

et voila! there he was in his suit, white shirt and red tie. you know, i am not very fond of blondes but he is fabulous. yes, yes, i think he's cute. like the saying goes, "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.", so my girlfriends may think otherwise. like most girls, and especially me who appreciates god's creation to woman-kind, i talked about this to my girlfriends. one of close friend, noridah said, "wow! what is the deal with you and good looking men?" and guess what my best friend said? "he's gay!", like she always say each time i talked about good-looking men. off course, i had to ask, right? "why is it that each time i talk about good looking men, you always have to say that they're gay." her response was, "come on! red tie?" then i said, "come on, not all good looking men are gay. there are gay men who are not good looking." the conversation went on a different direction after that so, i will not go into the details. but the point i am trying to make is, we can't always assume that all good looking men are gay, right? okay, maybe i am hopeful but the truth is, yes, most of these good looking guys turned out to be gay. and as a woman, you start asking yourself, damn! i wasted my time on a gay guy again? all the good men in this world are either taken (those damn lucky women who got them) or they are gay. now, i know why most women on this planet are still single - there are just not enough straight men to go around.

just a note to readers before i end. don't get me wrong. i am not desperate to look for a boyfriend or what nots. i am happy the way i am. just like men, who likes to look at women and admire god's creation, i am like those men too. I appreciate god's creation of good looking men and thank him for doing a great job at creating these creatures for the feast to my eyes. like my mom said, "you can't have them but you have eyes, you can always just look. better than nothing." my mom, i can always count on her for encouragement. :-)

how lucky are we??

today's entry is in response to the post by my friend, who, in france about their healthcare situation. it is in french, so for the benefit of those who may get lost in translation, the post basically talks about the lack of doctors available in france and how the government's policies are not benefitting those working in healthcare. thus, leading to the problem faced by their citizens today.

who's wife was ill on tuesday but she could not get an appointment to see the doctor until friday. 'c'est incroyable!', the french would say. for fart's sake, how would you know that you would fall sick, right? "i think i will fall sick next week. i better call the doctor for an appointment this week, just in case."

then, it got me thinking about how lucky we are in singapore. the government has established the medisave account & medishield system where we could use it when the medical needs arise. doctors, specialist & general practitioners are easily available. where i live, there are at least 7 clinics and 1 is opened 24/7. how lucky is that?? our medical services and health insurance are affordable. obviously, our government is doing something right. why do you think our country is attracting so many foreigners? we have immigrants from china, hong kong, philippines, india and even some from the UK. it is like utopia here, where everything has been thought of and figured out.

i am grateful that i live in a nation where the government has thought of everything for us. well, there are things that could be improved but let me ask you this question. would you rather be here or would you rather be a child living in a third world country, suffering from hunger and incurable disease, no doctors to help with immunisation, corrupt government, living in a slump and you don't know if you are going to live to see tomorrow? think about it.

meet Mister D...

a year ago, i met someone who makes me happy. how often can you say that about someone?? everytime i am with him, he makes me smile, he makes me laugh and even though the attention that he gives me is not very long, i appreciate every single minute of the attention that i am getting from him. he made me want to give him all of my attention. he is the apple of my eye and it is amazing how quickly time flies when you are having fun and it is already a year since it all began.

you are probably thinking that i am talking about a man, right?

wrong!!!

this person is actually my one-year old friend, Mister D, who came into our lives a year ago, 11 December 2003. well, more like he came into the lives of my best friend, and her husband. and they have let me in into their son's life and i am happy to be part of it.

Mister D has such a wonderful personality. very socialble and i could sense that he likes the ladies. oh yes.... when i asked him for a kiss on his birthday today, he gave me one and kept wanting to give me more. early signs of a ladies man is already showing. we think that when he grows up, he is going to break a lot of girls' hearts. ;-) he has started to utter words. he has three teeth. he is now has started taking his first few steps. we all look forward to all his new tricks and there is always something new with him everyday.

happy 1st birthday, Mister D!! i look forward to spending more happy times with you.

sleepless in singapore....

another night of sleeplessness... another night of tossing & turning... another night of short sleep... what is wrong? i hate it when this happens. i don't want to be relying on aromatheraphy all the time when i have this problem.

what could it be? could it be that ...

- my subconscience is thinking about work?
- i had way too much coffee during the day?
- the fact that i am not too keen on my job?

what is it?? what is it??

well, once i start getting the routine of good night sleep again, i wouldn't be asking those questions anymore.

el hombre de la vida....

recently, we had two new members joined our global team and this past week, the both of them were in paris for training. i have spoken to one of them, who is based in sydney and i will be working with her for our region.

girls being girls, we began talking about her counterpart from north america after i commented that his last name is spanish and it reminded me of the spanish goalkeeper, iker casillas. she added by saying that she heard that her counterpart is one good looking guy and being a latino, he really knows how to party.

i spoke with my colleague in paris this week and asked him if this guy is good looking. he said that he is and that he dresses really well. one of the things which he said stuck in my head, "he is like ricky martin." since then, i could not stop thinking about having a ricky martin look-a-like in our global team. this guy is someone who works with router and you would expect a router guy to be all nerdy and all. but to have a good looking fella who is a geek is like a bonus! all day today, i have been watching ricky martin videos. ricky martin's face has been in my head since that conversation i had with my colleague.

i just could not believe that at this day and age, i am still like a teenager when it comes down to cute guys. the hormones are still active... which should explain why i have been getting all these pimples popping out of my face. i guess a girl just can't help it.




ricky martin, could you change the configuration on my router to route all the good looking men like you into the path of my love life? ;-)

thriller at white hart lane...

i could not handle the excitement of the north london derby yesterday between Spurs & Arsenal. Spurs really had it going and was giving Arsenal a run for its money. they were brilliant in the first half, which ended with a score of 1-1.

but it was the second half that got me going. 7 goals in less than 1 hour!!! It was goals galore at White Hart Lane. Spurs were trailing 1-3 but managed to keep up but were unfortunate to have lost to the gunners with a score of 4-5. it was difficult not to feel nervous to see Spurs trailing because i felt that with they way they performed, they could have won with arsenal's midfield and defence were slipping.

i salut spurs for their brilliant performance. if they continue to perform they way they did well into the next season, the English Premiership could be an extremely competitive league. It is only Martin Jol's second game, I think, in charge. Perhaps, he can do wonders to Spurs and revive its glory in the Premiership.

before sunrise...

before sunrise in the north east of singapore.

i don't think they're hungry enough...

man u drew with city in the manchester derby. i don't know how much longer this streak of bad results in the league is going to continue..... I'd rather be watching them on European nights.

we'll just have to kerry on....

the title of today's blog entry pretty much reflect my view of the US elections' results. the details are better left unsaid.

ruud awakening...

meanwhile, on the other side of the atlantic, manchester united were into their matchday 4 of the european champions league, where they met Sparta Praque at the Theatre of Dreams.

united's performance lacked lustre but dutch supremo, ruud van nistelrooy scored 4 (can you believe that?? 4!!) goals last night. such a shame that we are not going to be able to use his lethal touch in the box during the manchester derby this weekend due to his 3-match ban in the premiership. united need to be able to maintain such consistency in the premiership but we'll have to see. don't write them off just yet.

so ruud has scored 41 goals in 45 champions league matches. what a record, eh? and he is not even aware about it. he just wants to play and score goals. go ruud!!

bienvenue dans la blogosphère...

hot off the press - encore une victoire de canard!! (i think that means another duck victory if translated directly from french). Wh0, my friend from France, was the one who got me going on this blog thing. i've heard and read about blog before but never thought that i'd be having one. Wh0's blog seems to inspire and after reading the other blogs whose link I found from Who's blog, i figured, "why not?"

it has been over a week since i started this blog and i find that it somehow helps me release my stress and off load the tons of things in my head. well, i always have something to say about everything that is going on, so why not put it here??

thank you Wh0 for the inspiration and for putting me in the blog network!

iPod, uPod, shePod, hePod, theyPod, ourPod, gayPod, straightPod, damn-uPod..

i was looking at my 7-month old iPod this morning and thought, "wouldn't it be cool if Apple would come up with an iPod that I can view movies or pictures?" I figured it may be a while before Apple will come up with such a design.

boy, was i wrong!!!! i was reading a weekly magazine called Digital Life and guess what I saw?? a new iPod photo for those who are into music and digital photos in one gadget. there is a 60GB one which can store up to 25,000 digital photos or up to 15,000 songs. damage? SGD$1088. there is also one with 40GB which can store up to 17,000 digital photos or 10,000 songs. this one costs a mere SGD$888. it has a TV-out port that you can plug to a TV or a projector. man, i was drooling just reading the specs. But damn!! I paid SGD$525 for my 15GB iPod in May which can store up to 5000 songs. But I have always wanted one which I can store my digital photos as well, so that during my holidays, so that i don't have to invest in too many flash cards (which i have a bad experience with one of them. ggrrr.... ) I said to myself, i should have waited. but the longer you wait, there will be something new that will come and you ended up not being an owner of these gadgets because you keep waiting. hmmm... i just thougth of something relating to my personal life but let's not go there.

considering that i have just invested in my iPod 7 months ago, i guess i have to wait till at least middle of next year before i make an investment in this new toy. patience is a virtue (i have to say that but god knows how much i want that new toy right now!).

disappointed..

man united lost to portsmouth last night. back to square one. i am disappointed. nuff said.

life's short...

went to a funeral wake last night of a former colleague. he was 49 and left behind a wife and two children. he died of a heart attack in his hotel room while on a business trip in germany. he died in a country which he loved .... he has always been fascinated by germany, where he also spent his years as a student.

i still could not get over the fact that he is gone. i am not close to him but i always remember him as a friendly and funny person. my first memory of him was when he called the office to look for another colleague. i did not know that he was one of the guys from the office and said, "alan is not around." his response was,"he is not a round? is he a square?" corny, i know but that's how i remember him. and all of us who knows him will remember him that way.

his death tells me that life is short and you should make the best of it. live for the moment. wear that outfit that you've been saving for a special occasion because everyday is a special occasion.

before sunset....

went to see a movie last evening.... before sunset. it is a sequel to before sunrise, starring ethan hawke (worra hunk!) and julie delpy.

if you are into action packed movies, this movie is not for you. a total chick flick but i love it. i am a sucker for romantic movies.

before sunrise is about an american guy who met a parisian girl on a train to vienna. jesse, the american guy suggested that celine, the parisian girl spends his remaining 14 hours in Vienna with him. she accepted his invitation and they spent the 14 hours talking about all sort of things , getting to know each other and falling in love. at the end of the 14 hours, she left on the train but before that, they made a pact that they would meet 6 months from then at the same train station.

for years, fan of the movie wondered if they met again 6 months later. then, you have to catch before sunset to find out. well, i tell you anyway... it was ten years later that they met after jesse has written a book about that night. celine met him at the bookshop promoting his boook in the last stop of his european tour. they have about two hours before jesse has to catch a flight back to new york and in that time, they walk around paris, talking about all sort of things and fall in love all over again. off course, they talked about what could have been. i was touched when jesse mentioned about a day has not gone by where he has not thought about celine. how romantic is that???

this movie makes you want to fall and be in love with someone... well, that's my view anyway...

they were hungry..

i missed the live telecast of the manchester united & arsenal premiership match last night. it was late and i could not afford to be going to work on monday morning with lack of sleep, what with the amount of follow-up i have to do?? i know, i am being responsible. gone were the days when lack of sleep was not a problem. now, it is a different story.

anyway, the gunners have won the 2003-2004 premiership without losing a single game. they began this season with 9 games unbeaten and when they went to old trafford, they have been unbeaten in 49 games. the red devils went into this game after a string of draws and were, what?, 11 points adrift from arsenal who leading the table. they have to win this game. a draw or losing this game was not an option. united were hungry for a victory!

i get nervous when i watch this sort of match when there are stakes. however, next morning, i saw the results & put a big smile on my face. united won 2-0 on what could be one of the many controversial matches between these two clubs. i started to imagine my head the look of wenger's face and also picture him giving an interview with his cute french accent (which by the way, one of the many inspirations of my trying to improve my french).

i just saw the re-telecast of the live game. yes, it was indeed controversial but i think the important thing is that man united won a crucial three points. they must keep this up and go on winning week in and week out. easy for me to say but i know that fergie is capable of driving his men to a consistent championship winning side.

and for once, alan hansen made a correct prediction that man united is the team to break the gunners' unbeaten record because they are capable of not giving arsenal the space and time to attack. alan, this comment has written off that comment you made about man united could not win the league with kids. ;-)

a weekend of tears...

it was a weekend of tears for me. no, nothing tragic happened but it was the emotional side was getting the better of me. and it was not just tears rolling down my eyes but i was practically sobbing.

it all began with watching a documentary on BBCWorld. The journalist who opened the eyes of the world to the famine in Ethiopia in 1984, returned to that land for a follow-up documentary.

his documentary began from uncovering the famine to the various charity events which took place all around the world i.e. Band Aid's do they know it's christmas to LIVE AID & those marathon all over the world to help the famine victims. my eyes started to well up when i saw those pictures of young children who were mal-nourished. it got worse when pictures of a young boy trying to stand-up. i started to cry when the documentary went on to tell a story about a girl who everyone thought was dead due to mal-nourished. she had not eaten in days. her father was asked to bury her in a cold grave but he did not because he could feel that she was still warm. that little girl survived the famine and now, she is a grown woman and healthy. she lived with her father up a hill and she is financially supported by a Canadian reporter. it was tears of joy for me at the end of the documentary until later that night when i was watching the Oprah Winfrey Show.

I had a 30 minutes of laughter from watching the Kumars at No.42. Then, Oprah came on to interview a firefighter who was rescued by his fellow workers in a fire. He thought he almost died but because of his fellow workers, he survived to see his children grow up. That brought tears to my eyes and it got worse until Oprah featured a story about the death of Matt Stepanek, who died this June from a rare muscular disorder, i think. He lived with a breathing support system which goes wherever he goes. However, despite all that, Matt was a talented and gifted individual. He has written books & poems.

You have to watch the shows to understand why I was in tears and was practically sobbing. It is situations like this that make you realise that the issues that you have are just menial.

a book about men - why?

My best friend, Sal, sent me an e-mail today about a book. It's called "He's Just Not That Into You : The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys", which Sal found on the internet. She also sent an excerpt from the book, which is quite funny.

Click here to go to amazon to read the excerpt.

In all honesty, I have gone through all these and have given up on over analysing about what went wrong a long time ago. Men, such uncomplex creatures and we still don't understand them at all. If only I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have wasted so much time on them. Men, can't live with them.... end of sentence.