instant sistahood..

It is not often that you meet an individual and hit it off instantly, especially for men. But for women, it can be quite easy. Once, I hit it off with this girl who was queuing in front of me while checking in a Heathrow airport. We ended up checking in together and we were busy chatting away throughout our journey. Even the stewardess thought we were like the best of friends.

Last week, it happened again. We had someone from the UK in town for a week and was advised that she could sit at the desk beside me because the lady who sits there was on holiday. I introduced myself to her the next morning. It was an ordinary conversation that one would have with someone from out of town – how long are you going to be here? Is this the first time that you are here in Singapore? Are you going to do the touristy things? Etc, etc. Then, what made us hit it off was when Zoe (that’s her name) asked me where I bought the slippers, which I wear at the office (I don’t wear those 3-inch heels at the office ALL day, you know?). And the rest as they say is history.

Each morning, we would be complimenting each other on what we were wearing or what we were carrying and would spent at least 15 minutes talking before we start working. She has good taste and everything she had one or carry were very nice and trendy. On Friday, her last day in Singapore, I asked her if she had done any shopping and she said no. I told her that she should since it will be like freaking cheap for her considering the exchange rate between the pounds and our dollar. We had planned to go down in the afternoon for a short break so that I can show her the shops around the area. However, I had a meeting, which lasted till 4pm, and by the time I got back to my desk, Zoe had come back with shopping bags. She told me that when she could not find me after lunch, she went to venture on her own and started showing me the things, which she had bought. We were like having a mini slumber party at the office and got all excited.

I absolutely adore her and her posh accent. The one thing that she said about my shopping habits will stick in my head for a while is this:

Zoe : “Do you shop everyday?”

But before I could response, she said as if it was me who responded to that question:

“Oh how rude! I don’t shop every day! I only shop from Monday to Thursday.”

I cracked up. Not only is she pretty, friendly and stylish, she’s funny too. I wish she would sit next to me for a while but I am sure I will see her back in these parts again, if not sooner, later.


Zoe & Me

tales from the mainland...

Well, this is not much of a tale but more of the high and low lights of the journey through the cities of China by Mr Kevin Chan, Mr Gerard Wong-Wong & yours truly, Ms Wu-Hoo*.

Hi-Lites (of which, there are many)

Beijing – where we did the touristy things

A couple of good Yanjing Beer at Hou Hai Lake District on our first evening
Hou Hai Lake district is becoming a more happening area in Beijing, especially in the evenings over the popular Sanlitun Entertainment Area, which we didn’t go. Hou Hai Lake district was good enough for us.

Being on top of the Great Wall
We went to Badaling, which was very touristy. There are other parts of the Great Wall which would be more interesting and perhaps not too crowded with tourists. Hence, the Great Wall will not be off my list yet.

Riding on rickshaw in and around Hutong
This was after a failed attempt to maneuver a tri-cycle between the three of us. We discovered many things along the way. It was interesting to see how people lived there. Also, our rickshaw rider was such a joker. He kept us well entertained with his wierd sense of humour.

Enjoying a good Acrobatic Show by Chinese Youth at the Theatre
We were definitely impressed by the performance. A group of young girls were able to flip metal bowls to each other while balancing themselves on their cycle while we failed to even balance a tri-cycle.

Walking around the Summer Palace
It is no Chateau de Versailles or Leeds Castle but it was nice nonetheless.

Having the best Peking Duck in town in Beijing
It was well worth the journey to the other part of the city (we were stuck in traffic for a bit) because we had a very good meal.

Being at Tiananmen Square at night
Had to be done. The atmosphere around the square was good. Plus, good photo opportunity.

Kevin & Ger flying a kite at Tiananmen Square
Re-living their childhood I suppose.

Hangzhou – where we did the recreational things

The West Lake
We rode on bicycles around the lake and made stops along the way for visit to a temple, climb up a pagoda and photo stops. Racing Kevin & John (Ger’s brother) was a lost cause since I never seem to be able to get ahead of them anyway. We had a boat ride in the evening and ending it with a delicious dinner & a good cold Siwo beer at this posh restaurant by the Lake

Nature trail at Bamboo garden
How often does a person like me get on these nature trails in Singapore anyway? Hence, it is a highlight for me.

Shanghai – where we did the cool things

The walk down the Bund & River Cruise on the Hangpu River
Failed to do these during my last two visits to Shanghai, so this had to be done. It was a nice way to enjoy the view of the city.

Enjoying the view of the Bund from Mark’s (Kevin’s friend) apartment
Fantastic view, good wine and great company. What more could you ask for?

Drinks at a bar called Face in the French Quarter
It felt like we were in a villa away from the city but this bar is situated in the middle of the city. Met some new people. Good atmosphere.

Yunnan Mian at Super Brand Mall
The noodles were delish. I am longing for it now. The side dishes that John & Feng Yi (John’s fiancée) ordered were excellent too!

Meals at Xintiandi (Kevin’s favourite spot in Shanghai)
Kevin and I went back there a couple of times after Mark brought us there for a Chinese dinner a couple of evenings before. We had fabulous dinner & cocktail (Shanghai Fling) at Luna on Saturday night and a very nice brunch at Kabb on Sunday afternoon.

Cocktails at Cloud 9 on the 87th floor of the Jin Mao Tower
We were there on our final evening in China. It was a good way to end the holiday – enjoying some nice cocktails and the view from up the clouds.

Lo-Lites (of which, there are few… thank god!)

Kevin’s luggage went missing in action. It showed up 3 days after he arrived in Beijing.

Yours truly fell sick on the night before going to the Great Wall. It was such a struggle to get through the day when you can’t consume anything but water because your body just refused to take anything else in.

The other low-light for yours truly would be forgetting to apply sun block and bring my hat on the last day in Shanghai. Now, I am burned!

Ger lose his wallet in Beijing – credit cards, bankcard and some cash were lost. It may have dropped in the taxi. He spent the evening and the following morning sorting out the cancellation and the getting some financial assistance.

Little things that mattered (to some of us)

Starbucks Coffee
Call us crazy but one needs a real good cup of coffee to start off the day.

Ice Cream at Haagen Daaz
Ok, I know that this is too much but we needed the sugar fix. The outlet is just there right in front of us. It is not like we went looking for it. I am in love with dulce de leche.

Having a good piece of steak
After a load of Chinese food all week, a good piece of steak is definitely in order.

In conclusion ladies and jellyspoons, as far as I am concerned, this has been a very good holiday. Already planning the next holiday now.

Photos from this holiday are being sorted out as we speak. Watch this space!

* - We adopted Chinese names for ourselves while in Hangzhou. Wong-wong is the chinese version of a dog barking i.e. woof-woof, if anyone was wondering.

high..

I am high on the happy side… despite being tired still, had a bad sun burn on my face and shoulders, my luggage went missing in action while in transit and having to go to work today after only landing in Singapore only the day before.

The last ten days has been the longest ten days but in a good way. I’ve spent ten days in the good company of Kevin and Ger in good ol’ China on a holiday. It started off with a stumble but there was no letup after that. Good times were had.

I’ve been to China before but only to Shanghai and it was for work. This time around, it was for a holiday. I left that country with a different impression – a good one. China has its setbacks but if you look beyond that, this country has much potential. There are still much to be developed but from what I’ve seen, they are getting there. Hong Kong! Singapore ! Watch out !!

There will be more details of the holiday in the next few days. I am trying to get back to the hang of things – that is the one thing I don’t like about holidays… the end of it. I used to get awfully depressed when returning from holidays but this holiday has ended with a high. So, I am happy despite it being a somewhat short holiday. I hope to maintain this feeling for a while.

let me entertain you...

Being the music junkie that I am, I cannot go about my day without music. Ok, so my taste my music may not be impeccable but who does? Taste in music is very subjective. What could be music to my ears may be noise to another. (This also applies to what you think is beautiful. I think Hugh Grant is gorgeous but other girls may beg to differ.)

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is turn on the music. I listen to music while I am in the shower (off course, volume will have to be turned on real loud for me to hear anything behind the closed doors). I listen to music while I get dressed and put on my face. I listened to music while travelling on the bus, the train, the plane.

If there is no music, there is a void in my day. I don't seem to know how much time have passed without music - average song is about 4 mins each. If I have listened to 5 songs, I know that approximately 20 minutes have passed. Crazy, yes but it works for me.

However, during my travels, those times in my hotel room without music just drives me up the wall. Yes, I can listen using my earphones but I can't possibly be using the earphones with my iPod when I am in the shower. There has been occasion where I wanted to bring small speakers but apparently they are not small enough to fit in my damn luggage. So, yesterday, I invested a small fund in a small speaker.

Edifier MP220

Features:
Dual powered USB, AC/DC, all in one Portable Stereo System for amazing bass performance. (USB power cord Included)
3.5mm line input, connect to all types of Portable PC, MP3 Players, CD Players, PDA and etc
High performance neodynium micro driver
Worldwide 100-240V AC/DC power adaptor
Power output 2 X 3W RMS

Specifications:
Input Impendence: 15K Ohm
RMS 3Wx2 (THD=10%, fo=1KHz)

Slick!! It is so tiny (approx 19 cm x 6cm x 2cm & weighs approx. 550 grams) compared to the other speakers that I have purchased before. It may not have the ultimate sound you would love to have, with sub-woofers and what nots but you get by with what you have when you are away from home.

So now, those time spent in hotel room during my travels will no longer be quiet - there is my iPod with over 3000 songs and my Edifier speakers to keep me entertained. I just hope the power convertor works in the hotel room.

Oh, I think the ultimate would be an iPod video which will provide some visual entertainment where needed. That is currently in my new toys wish list... the never ending wish list.

everything changes...

Lately, I have been feeling rather nostalgic. Signs of aging, I suppose, where you can't help but think about what you have gone through... the people you meet, the places you went, the music you listened to. Which brings me to this. I was watching a documentary last night about a British pop group which hit the world (well almost) by storm in the 90's. And you have probably guessed it by looking at the album cover on this page... yes... Take That. Do any of you actually remember them???



It was not like I was such a big fan considering that I only discovered them after Robbie Williams left the group in 1995. I bought their greatest hits CD in 1997 and like their music so much that I bought the compilation of their videos. Off course, I was devastated when I left their CD in the player of Susan's car when visiting her in Holland a few months after I bought the CD. However, Sal was nice to actually gave me her copy (apparently, she didn't want to be known that she owned a Take That CD but the truth is out now... sorry missy). Okay, so having said all that, yes, I am quite a fan.

It was interesting to see where the members of Take That are now. They had a reunion but Robbie Williams was a no-show - apparently still sore after 10 years. You know, some people have difficulty letting go... I know this because I am one of those people. But I admire them to actually retreat from the pop world while they were still at the top. Not a lot of groups do that. Take Rollling Stones for example. For heaven's sake, they are a bunch of grandpas and they are still rocking away like they are a bunch of teenagers. Oh, grow up, please!!

So today, I have been listening to the tracks from Take That's greatest hits CD. Their music ain't that bad, if you prefer music with little or the absence of heavy guitar sounds stringing to your ears, like those from those American rock groups. Most of them puts you in a good mood.

The video which I owned on VHS has now gone mouldy (what with the humidity in this country) - I am considering buying their DVDs actually. So yes, I am a loser. I need to get a life.

Come on, come on, take that and party!!!

information overload...

This first week at my new job has been quite the roller coaster ride. The first few days have been slow and all of a sudden, at the end of the week…… BOOM! There were meetings, teleconferences and training to attend.

On Friday, I had too much information coming to me that by 5pm, my brain was tired. It seems my ‘processor’ speed, ‘RAM’ (Random Access Memory, for those who are wondering) and my ‘disk’ space require either upgrading or replacement, considering that this ‘machine’ was built in 19 blah blah. I am sure you know what it is like when you are mentally tired – it is worse than being physically tired. When you are physically tired, you can just hit the bed and sleep. When you are mentally tired, sleeping at night can be a problem. Your subconscious would continue to work while you sleep and leaves you more tired when you wake up. I hate that. I pretty much spent much of Saturday resting my brain i.e. not doing much, that is. There were minimal conversations and nothing that requires any thinking. I guess it is time to admit that my parts are wearing out and this is part and parcel of aging. Oh lordy!

it is a small, small world...

Since I’ve been in this new organisation, not only have I met some nice people but some of those people are familiar faces from the past. You know the saying that goes, "the past may come back to haunt you." But not in this case. I am glad to have met these people again.

So, on top of those people who came from the organization I have left (there are quite a bit of them here), there is J. We attended the same course in the early nineties. Then, there is Fifi. We worked with the same American MNC back in the late nineties. Perhaps there could be others who I may have known but this moment, only the above which I have mentioned. I am so glad to have met both of them again, especially Fifi because I saw some old photos with her in it recently from when we worked for the same firm.

It is a small world after all.

caffeine city....

That sleep last night must have been good because yours truly is in a seriously good mood today, despite not having any work to do. Mind you, this is the calm before the storm. I have been told that the project will only kick off end of August. But hey, I am up for the challenge! Give it to me, baby!

I had my new boss came up to me late this morning and said to me, “Go for lunch now and come back at 2. You might as well enjoy it now.” And on that green light, I went for lunch and ventured around. That was when I discovered that the area around my office is a coffee haven. Gasp. Saliva dripping. Well, I am, after all, a caffeine addict.

There are varieties of coffee establishments here:

Starbucks
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Spinelli’s
Pacific Coffee
San Francisco Coffee
The Coffee Connoisseur (TCC)

Man, I am spoilt for choice. However, I have told myself that I am going to allow myself only a cup of caramel or Irish cream latte once a week. And that is what I am going to stick to. At least now, I can rotate from one coffee establishment to another. I am excited already.

Oh my, this is my second post in one day and I have not even had more than one dosage of caffeine today. What is going on??? :-)

new beginning...

So, on the 17th day of the 7th month (7th month? Based on the Chinese calendar, it is not a good month, innit? Oh god!!!) was my first day at this new organization. It was marred by lack of sleep and hormonal issues. Yesterday, I began to wonder if I have made the right decision to move to this new job. But after a good night’s sleep, I am different person today and my perspective on things has been different – more positive I would say. I guess when you make a new start, there is a tendency of not knowing what to expect.

However, working in the heart of the financial district is something which I am going to have to get used to. I have never worked in the financial district before – downtown yes but not here in crampy Raffles Place. I don’t fancy the crowd, the train ride or the lunch hours. It is a total nightmare! Sigh, what did I get myself into??

Anyway, I will have to make the best of it. Things are pretty slow at the moment. Perhaps that is why I got the time to think about all the things that I should not be sweating about. I better enjoy this honeymoon period before the going gets tough. And the other thing I need to do is try as much as I can to ignore the politics here, if there are any going on. So yeah, it’s time for a new beginning and I am ready for anything coming my way!!

au revoir...

I've made up my mind
It's time for a new beginning
I'm living my life, yeah
It's time for a new beginning

There's a new day coming
I'm getting ready for a change
Yes, I am
Yes, I am
Gotta keep on running
Gotta be a better way
Yes, there is
Yes, there is

(words from Stephen Gately’s (formerly of Boyzone fame) song, New Beginning)

So yes, after almost six years at my current job (yes, a job and not a career. Who has a career these days anyway?), I am moving on. It was at the end of November last year when after moving from the office downtown with a spanking glamorous address to a business park in the suburban east, I had a feeling that I was not going to be there for long. (My friend, Moh, felt that I was just bragging about this but it is true! I did feel it!) I had a feeling that 2006 will be the year that I land myself a new job – and I did!

And so, last Friday was my very last day at the company where I have spent almost half a decade (according to my friend, Noridah, six years is not long. If you are talking about ten or twenty years ago, yes it is not long. These days, people don’t stay in their job for long). I didn’t do any work that day. Well, considering that it has been crazy the last few weeks, not doing any work for one day is not going to matter. Also, the other thing was I forgot to bring my laptop to work – never had this happened in my working years. By noon, I was rushed for lunch and a so-called off-site team activity with my teammates all afternoon. I didn’t even have the chance to say farewell to some of the other people from other departments who I know.

As I begin my new journey tomorrow at the new organization, I begin to think about the good times (and bad but try not to think about that too much), which were had. As with every story, there has got to be an ending. As I’ve told some of the people before I left, this is not goodbye – it is see you again soon!

no, the italians didn't do it better!

Here is the text, which my friend, Moh sent on my mobile this morning:

“I shall not drink Italian wine for a month. What? Penalty to take the cup?”

Well the penalty shootout was a last resort but for a team who has been spending most of the second half and extra-time playing in their own half, defending, they totally don’t deserve to win the World Cup. I would have given the same strategy too if I were a team manager - just hang on till penalty shootout!

The French were unlucky. They were great but Buffon was standing in the way of them getting a goal. And when it had to come down to penalties to determine the winner, I just knew that Barthez could not make one save – it was a gut feeling. No offence to the Italians – they have good players but they were not playing like champions of the world would be playing last night.

No point dwelling about this because the champions have been crowned. I am joining Moh on a strike – no Italian wine and also Italian food for at least a month!

40 years on...

Heads hanging low were not only observed in Gelsenkirchen but also all over the world when England failed to win on penalties yet again. The England fans, yours truly included, set ourselves up for disappointment every four years and not to mention, the European Championships. Last night’s match was like the 2002 World Cup Quarter Final’s match between Brazil & England all over again. Heads hung low that day too. Getting over this disappointment will take a while. It has been almost 8 hours since the match ended and I still could not believe that it is over for England. The Portuguese were controversial! The match against Holland got me all nervy, what with all the yellow and red cards and I was rooting for Holland for that match.

Did you see Beckham cry after he was substituted? I feel sorry for him (I feel sorry for him for having such a bitchy wife too!). He is a great player and deserves to win something at this level. However, a team cannot win with a talent of one player. They are other talents in the England squad but I guess maybe their talents alone are not enough to win this tournament.

On the bright side, England’s closest rival across the Channel managed to get one over Brazil! No offence… Brazil is a good team with the likes of Kaka and Ronaldinho but I think I just have enough of the samba team dominating this major tournament. At least this World Cup, for once, we are not seeing a Latin country in the final! It is a nice change.

So, while all of us were cheering for the likes of Brazil, Argentina, England, Portugal and what have you, some of us in Singapore were cheering for the Singaporean referee! He is our only representation at this international stage, so we have to give him our support. I don’t mean to be unpatriotic but I don’t think we will ever see our Singapore team reached the World Cup finals. Hence, cheering on our Singaporean referee is the closest thing we got to cheer for our country at this event.

Four more matches to go before the end of this tournament. We were so used to having 2 to 3 matches in one night since 10 June 2006. Those nights without matches after Round 16, we were at lost at what to do. After 10 July, it is going to be worse! We have to wait till at least end of August to see any LIVE actions when the club league starts. Well, it is better than having to wait 3 months after the end of the club season during a non-World Cup or the European Championships year! For now, we just have to wait for the World Champions to be crowned on 9 July 2006. Let's just hope it is not Portugal!

ccd – can or cannot do...

In 2003, I converted to digital imaging when I bought me a Canon Powershot A70. It is 2006 now and off course, it is considered a dinosaur. Well, it has already looked like a dino in 2004 when Ger and I held both our cameras against Kevin’s spanking new Sony Cybershot, which was inches thinner and lighter with a much bigger display. I was not going to let my piece of dino shit (like most people would say when they look at my camera) get in the way of my pursuit of beautiful digital imaging. I have always believed that it is not the equipment; it is the talent and the eye of the owner of the piece of machine. It is like owning a spanking new high speed computer with a whopping memory capacity and a gazillion gigabyte of hard disk space but all you work on the computer is surf the internet and check e-mails.

Despite my love of my dino camera and some of the nice photos that I have taken since I bought it, the Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) have been giving me issues. First, it was in 2005. Warranty had expired, so I had to pay for the part change. Then, a couple of months ago, it went kaput again. I must say I was quite frustrated. I was not ready to fork out the money to repair the camera and at the same time, I am certainly not ready to invest in a new camera. However, I think the determination in believing that this dino can still be fixed and the perseverance paid off. This week, Pierre told me about an article he read about CCD issues on Canon cameras. Apparently, it was a manufacturing defect, where under high temperature or humidity environment, the internal wiring may become undone in some places. This was made public – well, not public enough because yours truly didn’t know about it until now! The article was published in October 2005.

The very next morning after having that conversation with Pierre, I made my way to the Canon service centre. I made sure that the senior member of the service staff was attending me. I told her about the article and her response was, “Oh? So, you knew about that? We normally don’t highlight this to our customers.” Honestly, I was not very impressed with this comment but who cares when I get the following:

1. The CCD will be replaced at no charge.
2. I will be refunded for the previous part replacement – approximately SGD$140.
3. They will deliver the camera to me after the repair

Moh remarked that I must have been a pain at the service centre to get this sort of service but no. I was such a good customer and the above was offered to all owners of camera that has been manufactured with this defective part.

A co-worker remarked that Canon was just giving me an outstanding customer experience so that my next camera will still be a Canon. Hell! Regardless. My first and only SLR camera is a Canon. What makes you think that I will switch? Well, I have to admit that I was eyeing on the Panasonic LX1 but now that my dino camera is going to be dino-mite again, I can put off my consideration for a new camera for at least a year.

Question : Who are all those people mentioned in this post? (Well, if you are wondering, that is.)
Kevin: friend
Ger: Kevin’s friend
Pierre: an avid photographer friend and team member from work
Moh: another avid photographer friend, who always treats me like one of the guys. Only because I told him that I am a man trapped in a woman’s body.

me and the married man..

I bet you all think that this is going to be my confessions of an affair I had with a married man. Well, you are so wrong!! Some of my closest friends are happily married men. There is nothing wrong with that. And some of my closest friends are also men who have been spoken for. And they are nice men. Now I know why I am still single.... all the good men are married, spoken for or gay. Well, at least if you have a good gay male friend, he could be your gay best friend. I am still in search of one by the way.

Anyway, the point of this post is about how my feeling for a married man was rekindled recently. We used to work in the same corporation a few years ago. I never really took notice of him. Mind you, I don't go around gawking at men in the office like most of my colleagues think and besides; he wasn't exactly the type of man I am fond of. However, my perception changed. As I continued having conversations with him, I found him attractive... the whole works... the physics, the personality, etc. Then, I found out that he is married, happily married.

The rule of MY thumb is never cross the line with a married man. It is so morally wrong. Also, there is no way in hell is he going to leave his wife for you. He may say that he will but he will keep you hanging without a string. And if you pursue it, don’t you feel guilty? You are living in a relationship, which is a lie. And what does that say about that married man? You are married and you still want to have part-time relationship? I’d rather be relationship-less than go through this. Some of you may beg to differ and I understand. Like I have stressed, it is the rule of MY thumb.

So, despite my recent re-encounter with this married man (he still looks good, I tell you and still charming as ever) and I had all these funny feelings in me when I was talking with him. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach, the blood rushing all over my body and my heart was racing. But I am going to leave all those feelings the way they are – that funny feeling.

un, deux, trois... aller, aller, aller..

It will not be a long summer this year because there is the World Cup!! Yay! I am looking forward it. It was 4 years ago when the World Cup was held in Korea/Japan. At the end of it, I realised that my social life came to a stand still for a month because I would be rushing home from anywhere, to watch LIVE matches on the tele. I will not be surprised if this June, it will be the same. I am excited and I can't wait for the days when I would be watching 2 matches if not 3 in a day. Right now, I am in withdrawl as there are no LIVE matches to watch on the weekends. In twenty days, the withdrawl will be healed for at least a month! Aller, aller, aller!

dilbert visits other corporations...

One of my co-worker forwarded me the following:

A magazine in the US was looking for readers to submit quotes from their real life Dilbert-type managers. Here are the finalists:

1. "As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks."

2. "What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter."

3. "E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business."

4. "This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it."

5. "Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule."

6. "No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them."

7. "My Boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed corrections. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit it. The disk I gave her was write-protected."

8. Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say."

9. My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died on purpose so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we couldchange her burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me."

10. "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees."

11. We recently received a memo from senior management saying: "This is to inform you that a memo will be issued today regarding the memo mentioned above."

12. One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said, "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!"

My co-worker suggested that we came up with a few from our lifetime of work experience. So, here are a few of mine:

1. When asked what the management is going to do about a generic support issue affecting most of our customers, the response was "Please prepare a Service Improvement Plan for your customer and I will bring this up with Customer Support Team." Right, like my customer is the only one with who is facing this issue.

2. "I want you to give me all the REVELANT information." Are you Dyslexic? You didn’t get any help for that?

3. "Are you sure you don't have any questions?" when the same question was raised a few seconds before resulted with a 'No' response from the team. Which part of the word 'No' didn't you understand?

4. "I will not go into details of the slides in this presentation. You can read it yourself later." So, why are we wasting our time in this presentation in the first place?

5. "With the re-branding, you will all get new namecards." Duh! Isn’t that a no-brainer?

6. "Can you please help me to talk to your colleague and ask him to do what I want him to do? I can't seem to get him to do it." Hello?

Believe me when I said that there will be more of these to come.

live feed...

From Dubai, that is. Chatted with Mister D's mom and had an opportunity to see how Rayyan has changed now that is 2 months old. He is beginning to look like Mister D. They may end up looking like twins when Rayyan gets older.


First Glimpse of Rayyan. Oh, what big eyes you have!


One more of Rayyan. Did we just spot a mole there?


Not forgetting Big Brother B, taking a peak at the screen.

annual scheduled maintenance...

It has been difficult to read football news after Man U lost to Chelsea on Saturday. I finally went to the football page today - still painful but I need to move on.

It is a day of rest for most of the working people of the world today - except for a few nations who seems to want to be different and have their labour day holidays in the later part of the year. I could feel the quietness today - it was like nothing happened today, everybody in Asia was just chilling. It was like a scheduled maintenance of a plant where everything is shutdown for the day. There will still be some standstill where work is concerned in the next 12 hours as other time zones celebrate this scheduled maintenance day for the humans!

bad day...

Yes, it is over and in the most unbearable way. Yes, Man United was defeated by Chelsea and watch them lift the title. Upset. Can't write anymore.

it's not over till it's over..

It was nerve-wrecking! It was nail-biting! It was heart-stopping! The clock ticked ever so slowly as Manchester United/Tottenham Hotspurs ended with United bringing home 3 points. So, no tears were flooded in front of the television this evening. United may still be 9 points behind Chelsea by the end of today but this season's title race may end down to the wire. I have not felt this nervous since 1999 when United won the treble. But this adrenalin rush is fantastic - keeping work stress at bay as football dominates the head. Mathematically, United may not even win the tittle this season but it has been an exciting start to the year with United creeping up on Chelsea. Here's to this season ending with a bang, as I continue the nailbiting until the League is won - may the best team wins!

the unbearable lightness of pain...

Despite what I have said in my last blog post, I will be watching the Easter Day matches especially Man U versus Spurs this evening. If Man U draw or lost, there will be flood of tears in front of my television tonight...

painful...

I can't watch English Premier League matches anymore after Man U was held at home by Sunderland on Friday night. Hopes of catching up to Chelsea has been dashed unless a miracle happens. Nuff said. Let me mourn in silence this season and hope for the better next season.

walking tall...

Apparently, I have been told that I am tall… for a woman. Now, what is that supposed to mean? A woman or a girl can’t be tall? Okay, I have to admit generally Asian women in my generation are not tall. I stand at 1.74metres tall (about 5 feet 7½ inches) while the average height of Asian women in my generation are about 1.65metres. You know, when I visited the Netherlands, I was like a midget. Most women there are about 1.8metres tall.

I like the fact that I am tall. I would like to grow taller than my current height. However, I stopped growing (like most women do) at 18. But there are always the high-heeled shoes and I love wearing them whenever I can – and it makes me taller off course.

However, I don’t like it when I get remarks about the fact that I am tall and I still put on high-heeled shoes. Now, what is wrong with being tall and putting on heels? These remarks didn’t bother me that much in the beginning but now, it is starting to bother me. It is my prerogative whether I want to put on high-heeled shoes or flat shoes. It is a free country, a free world – I can put on WHATEVER & WHENEVER I want and I can be tall if I want to, even if it means putting on 4-inch heeled shoes. So what if I suffer from aches and pains at the end the day after wearing those heels? So what if I am taller than most people when I am wearing those heels? It doesn’t bother me, so why should it bother other people? There is no right or wrong. It is all about preferences. If anyone has a problem with another’s preference, well, tough. You just got to live with it. I know I have and if I am not happy with it, I guess I just have to move on. So there!

je rêve d'un palais...

It seems like I have upset some comrades from the French quarters with all my talk about English palaces, castles and what have you. Well, I have visited Chateau de Versailles in France in 1997 and I was impressed. I have also visited Chateau de Vaux le Vicomte – inspired by Versailles in 2002. I have yet to discover another French palace since Chateau de Vaux le Vicomte. My fear is that these other French palaces may not be on par with the beauty of Versailles - it has been my benchmark. I guess it is just a matter of time before I discover another French palace. In the meantime, 2007 – Blenheim Palace and who knows, maybe un chateau en France in the same year as Blenheim. We shall see.

i dream of a palace..

My quest to visit another castle/palace/chateau continues.

The next target is Blenheim Palace, hopefully in summer of 2007. How could one resist this?

This year, not sure if there will be a holiday involving a visit to any palaces/chateau/castle. Anyway, I waited 3 years to visit Leeds Castle. So another year and a bit of waiting will not hurt.

a first glimpse of a ray of sunshine

Welcome to the world, Mr Ray of Sunshine! Peace!















Big Brother D & his hommie.
Come on bro, I have fiddy cents. Let's go to the Candy Shop.















(I have been listening to much of 50 Cents lately)

a ray of sunshine...

This morning, I woke up feeling better than I have been since a month ago (hence the zero postings on this blog). I started singing the chorus of this Wham song as follows;

Sometimes,

You wake up in the morning with the bass line,

A Ray of Sunshine,

Sometimes,

You know today you're gonna have a good time,

And you're ready to go.

I guess it was a sign because at the later part of this morning, a RAY of sunshine came into our lives… Sal sent me a text to announce the early arrival of Mister D’s little brother, named Rayyan. He is not due till 20 March but I guess he could not wait. He arrived this morning at 0650 Singapore Time. I can’t wait to see how this little person looks like – I am waiting anxiously for that e-mail to arrive in my mailbox with a photo and off course, looking forward to see this little person in person too. Well, looks like Mister D has some company now. Congrats to Sal and Kaz on the arrival of baby Ray.

This has been a day with a ray of sunshine – received good news and good day at work. I am ready to go - there is a double meaning in that sentence but I will tell you what it is one day.

D is for Mister D....

So, I flew all the way to Dubai at the end of January just to see one of my favourite people - Mister D, that is. He is still cute as ever and is such an entertainer. I truly enjoyed his “performances”. Action speaks louder than words – so I am going to let you see it for yourselves. Trust you all will enjoy the “performances” as much as I have!

Mister D's Videos

Mister D's Photos

I have also put these two URLs as permanent link on the sidebar for future 'references'.

another day in paradise...

So now I am back, from outer space…… alright, so I haven’t really but it sure feels like it. For a while now, it has been difficult to get into the rhythm of things. At the beginning of the year, I felt mentally tired and that things were starting to get monotonous. Then, I went away for a while during the Chinese New Year holidays. I came back last week and still felt shitty. My mind was in the clouds, got confused easily, feeling sleepy all the time and my memory, which I must say is very good, failed me. However, today, I have started to feel like I am going back on top of the world. I got very productive at work and still could squeeze in a lunch appointment in town. I just hope I can sustain this momentum.

if music be the food of ....

My definition of a good album: I can listen it over and over and over again and not get tired of it.

Early in 2005, U2’s How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb became my first favorite album of the year. I was not a big on U2 during their early years but after listening to some of their music and found their lyrics meant something, I became hooked to their music. Vertigo is my favourite track from this album – something that makes me run faster when I am on the treadmill.

Craig David’s The Story Goes is another favourite of 2005. His cool R&B tracks just put you at ease and in a good mood. Forget jazz – it just puts you straight to sleep. I love all the tracks on this album with much likings to All The Way, Don’t Love You No More, Hypnotic and Just Chilling.

The Emancipation of Mimi by Mariah Carey has to be the best album of 2005, according to yours truly. I have always been a big fan of her since the release of Vision of Love in 1990 (another album which I can listen to over and over again) – so I am biased towards her then. Hence, it is no surprise if I say that I have been listening to this album almost everyday. Her music are timeless classic.

Based on my iTunes play count, in 2005, my Top 5 most listen to tracks (and they came from the albums mentioned above) are:

5. U2 – Vertigo – 94 times
4. Craig David – Don’t Love you No More – 96 times
3. Mariah Carey – Mine Again – 108 times
2. Craig David – All The Way – 144 times
1. Mariah Carey – We Belong Together – 990 times

I guess we can conclude that We Belong Together gets my vote for the song of 2005. ;-)

positive start....

It was a positive start to the first day of the working year! I think most of my team-mates are recovering from the holiday blues and were not feeling too productive. So, we chat for a little bit, went out for a nice team lunch to kick-off the working year and hell, we even agreed (all 8 of us minus da boss) to go away for a weekend together as part of team building. I don't know if this is part of their new year resolution or they had too much to drink over the holidays that they thought that this is a good idea. Anyhow, I am pleased that we starting things off well. Here's to a more pleasant working days!

2005 - the hi & lo lites..

How quickly time flies. As we say hello to 2006, let’s see what are the major and minor highlights of 2005.

The highlights would be:

My holiday to London, Paris and Dubai in May.
- Visited with Sal, Kaz and Mister D in Dubai
- Visited Kevin in London as well as making that ultimate visit to Leeds Castle in Kent after talking about it for years!
- Met up with my French colleagues in Paris, who I work closely with on a daily basis. Some of whom have become my friends (Cyrille, Steph, Pierre) and I had a great time with them in Paris. For once, I am hanging out with the locals rather with the tourists.

The lowlights would be:

The departure of my closest friends overseas.
- Sal and family moved to Dubai in February.
- Liza and son moved to Ohio in July.

It is sad to see your friends leave. I went through this the last decade when my closest friends relocated overseas. I only see Liza online once in a while. As for Sal, we have seen her returning with Mister D to Singapore a couple of times this year. However, it is not the same as seeing them on a regular basis. Now, who else is leaving the country?

Life goes on. May 2006 will be a better year for yours truly.















Me at Leeds Castle, Kent, England.















Kevin & Ger at the beach in Brighton.

















Hanging out with Cyrille, Steph, Judith, Jim & Pierre in Paris (Place d'Italie to be exact).

a brand new year has dawned...

As I am writing this, some parts of the world has yet to countdown to the new year. It is wierd that way.

Happy 2006 to all! Have a good, if not great, year ahead!

crisis? what crisis?

The media is really good at blowing things out of proportion. And in this case, Manchester United has been their target with an epic proportion. With the departure of inspirational captain and the early exit of the champions league, it was said that United is in a crisis. Okay, they may have been out of the champions league but I will let their premier league results speak for itself. They are now giving Chelsea a run for their money to win the title. So, what crisis?? If anything, it would be Arsenal who is in a crisis. Their key players are plague with injuries and 17 points behind the league leaders. But, I have always admired the Gunners – a consistent London team – and I am rooting for them to have one over the Blues this Sunday.

I have been getting quite a bit of winding up from other football fans about Manchester United doing really bad this season – they were so influenced by the media. Well people, it ain’t over till it’s over. We have this discussion again at the end of the season.

slightly mad....

I am going slightly mad. It is December, the last month of the year. You would think that things would slow down a bit at office and you would be running at 50% of your usual capacity. Nooooo…. That is not the case for some of us at work. We are running at full steam. Our plates are already full but with half of the department going away on their annual holidays, our plates are overflowing with stuffs from their plates.

This week has been horrible. I found myself getting angry easily and get totally knackered at the end of the day. It is a sign that a getaway from work is due. I thought of taking a day off this week but with the way things are going, it seems almost impossible. Not so much of a holiday season for me.

Anyway, my colleagues and I, who are working our butts off this holiday season, we will be getting our revenge next month. We will let them have a taste of their own medicine in the new year when we will take off for a couple of weeks and leave their plates overflow. Ppwaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh….

end of a dream of a mad season...

Keane left.

Best passed on.

No more European nights for Man U.

What else is coming our way?

What a season and we are only half way through it!

Come on, hit me!

addiction...

I have been told that I am an addict because I love the feeling of the following things:

Cough syrup from my family doctor
It is sweet and it makes me drowsy, leading to hours of uninterrupted deep sleep.

General anaesthetics
I may be under it for an hour or less but it was like I have sleeping for days!!! Been only through that twice in my lifetime, so far.

Is it wrong to like feeling drowsy and falling into deep sleep? It is a known fact that as you get older, you tend to sleep less. I can only put in 7 hours a night these days when before, I was able to sleep for 14 hours straight. What I wouldn’t do for a good 8 to 9 hours of good sleep these days…. But believe me, I am not addicted to these drugs. I just wait for the next time I get a serious cough to enjoy the sweet syrup – which will be a year from now because I only fall sick once a year! Also, believe me, the after effect of anaesthetics is not something that one enjoy. Being knocked out was good but after that, it is not something that you would look forward to.

But my caffeine addiction remains. Used to be 3 cups a day but now, a cup of coffee a day, keeps the doctor away. :-)

finding PJ....

In 1994, I met PJ, a guy who became my one of my good buddies, when he came to work with the multi-national corporation, where I worked for a few years. My first impression of him was not good. He appeared to be arrogant, going around speaking to everyone in American accent – he is an Asian American actually. I thought he was a local who picked up the accent while studying overseas for a few years. Despite the bad impression, I still could not help but talked to him a bit – I didn’t have much of choice considering he was working in the same department and our boss have asked me to give him a little bit of orientation.

Like I have mentioned, we became such good buddies. It all started when I told him one afternoon that it was a public holiday the following day and he didn’t have to come to work. I gave him my home number and told him to call me if he had any issues during the holiday - he has only been in town for a few days and I was being a nice Singaporean. That evening, another colleague and I invited him for dinner. PJ and I hit off very well and we have been hanging out quite often since. We would go out for the occasional dinner and movie during the week and on every other weekend, he would join my friends and I for football matches of the local league. That would be followed by dinner, drinks and partying. We always had a blast when we hung out together. He is a great company!!!

He moved back to the US sometime in1997 and settled in Seattle. I visited him in late 1998 and we relived those days while he was in Singapore. He was a great host and it was quite sad when it was time to say goodbye.

P.J has not been good at writing e-mails and we have had the occasional phone calls to catch up but one day, I found out that the provider where he subscribed his e-mail with had gone out of business. I didn’t have his work e-mail and then, he didn’t have a mobile phone. He didn’t write me with his contact details. That was in 2000. I have lost touch with him since.

Lately, I have been thinking about him and wondered what he has been up to. I was hoping I could find him in some companies website that he is working for but so far, no luck. The one sure way would be to use the paid people finder service on the web. It will cost me about USD20 – with a confirmation that he still lives at that address and phone number. I am still contemplating. Should I or should I not? If he had wanted to stay in touch, he would have written to me with his new contact details, right? However, what if he had lost my contact details? And I don’t know if he would be too happy that I have tracked him down, when out of the blue I call him at home. I am in dilemma now. What do you think? Should I go ahead and pay to get his contact details? Or let it be, never find out what ever happened to him and go on with my life wondering? Sigh…

the week of mister D....

Mister D has been the highlight of my week. Last night, we said goodbye to him and his parents after a short hello. They returned to Dubai after a 12-day visit to this side of the pond. Mister D has kept me entertained during his visit - he is so comical! It will be next year before we get the chance to see him again. I am going to miss him. I look forward to seeing his new 'tricks'. Also, Mister D is going to be a little big brother early next year. So, we may see even more comical actions from him and his little sibling in the future. Double trouble is coming our way. Watch this space!

happy hour..

It is amazing how children will find little silly actions from adults as humourous. It is quite easy to entertain them, innit? Examine the evidence

funky little dude...

Well, look who is back in town? Why, it is Mister D!!! And he's a funky little dude! I am so happy to see him again today when he came for a visit with his parents. He was a little shy for a while and it didn't take him long to warm up again. It was like he never left.

He has grown so much and has learnt some new tricks... (I am making it sound like he is a puppy). We tested to see if he still remembers me. His parents showed him a photo of me and my friend, Noridah and asked him, "Where is Aunty Ida?" He responded by pointing to me in the photo followed by pointing to me standing in front of him. My heart melted.

Mister D will be here for a week and I look forward to spending some time with him... and his parents off course. Welcome back Mister D & Family!!

written off..

It is amazing how the critics are writing off Manchester United as a non-Champion material given their less than stellar start to the season. We had a local newspaper column, who felt that Man U do not have the makings of a Premiership champions, let alone to be the European Champions. Well mister, obviously you were in Uranus last season when Liverpool won the Champions League but did not even finish the top 4 of the league.

Anyway, Man U fans have faith in them, based on the polls taken at soccernet.com. Those who are being disloyal and criticising the team may as well not call themselves a fan. You might as well be just a soccer fan because you are not worthy to be a fan of a club if you continue to critise. You should probably apply for Sir Alex's job, since you think you can do a better job and put your criticism into work at the club. See if that works out!

Yes, Chelsea may be the runaway leaders and according to their William Gallas, they want to seal up the Premiership by January so that they can focus on the Champions League (what arrogance!), but it ain't over till it's over! It ain't over till the fat lady sings! This early part of the season has been quite exciting with the unexpected clubs like Wigan and Manchester City being up there on top of the English Premiership. This season may be an exciting season yet.

say goodbye....

On Thursday, I said goodbye to a glamorous office with absolutely fantastic view from the 38th floor in the heart of the downtown Singapore. There will be no more window-shopping during lunchtime, nice meals at classy eating establishment, spontaneous drinking sessions after work or looking out the window to clear your mind on a stressful day. It hasn’t really sunk in to me yet that I will now be based in a small business park in the east – no, it is not a new job, it is an office relocation - I still feel like I will be back at that office next week.

I should be able to get used to this because almost three quarters of my working life has been outside of the city. This should not be a big of deal. However, I will surely miss the fantastic view, a nice hot cup of coffee from my favourite coffee place in the mornings, ice blended drinks on Friday afternoons and a big western breakfast when I feel like it.

As they say, all good things must come to an end but this will be the beginning of patching that hole in my pocket from the three years of extravagance of being based downtown.

How can one give up a space with a view like this?

bollywood jam....

Bollywood fever has hit Singapore and it is jamming our streets!!! It is causing so much commotion!

This morning, there was a jam downtown, because there was filming at Shenton Way, the financial district. I wonder if it has caused work in the surrounding offices to stop. Hell, it even caused a jam.

Yesterday, we received an e-mail from the building management that the roundabout at our office buildings will be closed next Tuesday for another filming. I like to know exactly when this will start because, hell, I want to be part of the dance routine. Boy, do I want to do the bhangra or run around the fountain. My colleagues were laughing our arses off when we read the e-mail and we thought it would be fun to go to the filming and dance around in the background – well, there is a likelihood that we may be permanently removed by the security but what the heck? How often do you get the chance to be in a Bollywood film. :-D So, you need to take every chance you get!

Apparently, this filming is part of Singapore Tourism Board's effort to draw leading international filmmakers and broadcasters to produce movies, television programmes and music videos in Singapore. Hmmm, think about the opportunities for me to be an extra and perhaps lead to stardom. Hey, a girl can dream, right? When will I, will I be famous???

the story so far...

it has been a year of blogging...
let's see how much longer can i keep this up. ;-)

the library...

What are your expectations when you walk into a café or a coffee place like Starbucks? Well, I could see people sitting around, talking – either business or pleasure – and laughing. I guess, it is a place where it is usually bustling with chatters, coffee brewing and milk steaming.

Well, not this evening. My friend and I walked into Starbucks this evening and decided to sit inside where there is air conditioning to cool off for a bit. We went about with ordering coffee and cake and started chatting away, only to realize later that the place was rather ‘happening’. We thought we could like be having a few good laughs but each time we started to talk a little loud, we started getting stares. Only moments later, we realized that students, who are studying for their exams, have invaded the place. The whole place somehow has been converted from a bustling joint into a library.

With all due respect to the students but for fart’s sake, this is a coffee place. You would expect some noise and all. I was just upset that we were getting stares each time we get a little excited with our conversation. Isn’t there anywhere else that they could go to study? Can’t they study at home? I was a student before but I find studying or revising at public place did not do any good. Well, maybe that was just me. However, I like to be able to go to a café, have my coffee and talk to my friends without getting any stares when we get a little loud. Honestly, we could have just cared less – it is a public place - but instead, we moved and have a seat outside. It was warm but it was a completely different atmosphere – there were adults free to talk as loud as they want.

I think it is about time that these café and coffee places have a policy of ‘no studying’ for students. It is not a #$%^&* library. or study hall. I felt really stifled. This evening, I felt like we were the noisy teenagers and the students were like the mature adults. Role reversal and I wonder if those teenagers would learn anything from that? I doubt.

my life in crushes...

Upon reading Sara Dalin’s (of Bananarama fame) list of men she fancied in a magazine, I thought, "I have my own list too. Why not?"

Here it is... The TOP 10 men who I’ve fancied:

10 Donny Osmond (of Donny & Marie Fame in the 70’s)
My first crush when I was six. I used to get really upset for missing their weekly shows on the tele.

9 Rick Springfield
My first exposure to a rock star. He was extremely good-looking for someone who was like 15 years older than I was.

8 Bryan Robson
My first craze with footballers. He is handsome and one of the talented footballers in the 80’s.

7 Larry Mullen Jr (U2’s Drummer)
He has that cool bad boy image that a girl would fantasise about.

6 Alan Wilder (Depeche Mode’s Keyboardist)
The bad boy of the New Wave Era but I think he’s decent under all that make-up and black leather.

5 Harrison Ford
Nah, I didn’t fancy him during the Star Wars days. More during his role as Jack Ryan of Tom Clancy’s novels like Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games, etc.

4 John Taylor (Duran Duran’s bassist)
It must be the square chin that caught my eye. And his good looks too.

3 Ryan Giggs (Winger at Man Utd)
It is either his skills or the time when he bared his chest after scoring that magnificent winning goal against Arsenal in the 1999’s FA Cup Semi final.

2 Rick Astley (former teaboy turned late 80's hit making celebrity)
Never gonna give you up. What is it about him that I like?

1 Hugh Grant
Timeless… sigh.

new toy.....

Last week, yours truly got herself a brand new cell phone. It is a Nokia 6101 - A flip phone. I was never a fan of flip phone after seeing my colleague having to give a slight knock of his Motorola flip phone before he could say hello.

That was a few years ago and my view of the flip phone has changed after watching several television series where the character looked really cool answering a call from a flip phone. So yes, I want to look cool answering my phone. (I also think I need to get a real life!)

I have abandoned (well, not entirely because there are still some memorable text messages in there which I'd like to keep) my non-flip Siemens S55 cell phone. It is still in a good condition but what made me buy a new phone is that my Siemens is almost 3 years old now and some of the features which I always wanted to use are not working as well as I have expected.

So, this new 'puppy' has all what I need in a phone. It may not have the ultimate features like blue tooth or 5 megapixels built-in camera but I am quite satisfied. I am still trying to get used to some of the features and also trying to type text the Nokia way - I kept reverting to the Siemens format, which sometimes frustrates me but that will go away soon. And I am looking to put my favourite MP3s songs as my ring tones. Still thinking what would be cool.

It has been a week and I am still excited. Flipping away I am, from now on with my new slick black Nokia flip phone.

the talented mister ripley..

Well, his name is not Mister Ripley but he is indeed talented....... in photography that is. Today being his birthday, I like to honour his excellent photography skills by putting a link on my little blog to his site of masterpieces.

Happy Birthday, Pierre! Your masterpieces have inspired some of us to be better photographers. :-)

high...

This year is the year of running into or hearing from people I used to work with at this large American multi-national. Good times were had while I was there and as such, seeing them again is indeed a happy moment.

Earlier this year, I managed to get in touch with Lydia. She was the one who hired me. Although she was my boss then, we were pretty tight and sometimes would hang out after work, much to the surprise of my other colleagues then.

A few months back, I ran into Chee Hian, who was also my boss (yes, I went through a few bosses then) and arranged to meet for lunch a couple of weeks later.

After that, I ran into Ernest who still works there. We have a lifer here.

The most pleasant surprise of all would be getting an e-mail on Monday from Keith, who wrote that he was in town for a day and asked if I fancy having dinner with him. I used to work closely with Keith – he gave me much exposure into networks and infrastructure. I owe him much for that. So, when I saw his e-mail (which strangely was a reply from an e-mail I sent him in March but he never replied), I called him at his hotel and arranged to meet.

Having not spoken in 5 years, there was much to catch up on. We had a few drinks and talked too much. Off course, I didn’t cut him any slack for not writing. Before we parted, Keith said that he would not stay out of touched like before. That remains to be seen but I am glad to see him again. I enjoyed working with him before and the fact that we could still be friends outside of work was just great!

I wonder who will be the next to meet. Keith was icing on the cake really.

low...

It has been a few weeks now that I have been feeling low. I may be showing signs of depression but I don’t know. I think it is work. I begin to find it monotonous. However, I don’t understand why I am not doing anything to change it. I may not think about it all the time but I guess at the back of mind, it is doing its work because I have been having trouble sleeping. When I do sleep, I would have bad dreams or would be waking up a few times in the middle of the night. At on my day offs, I don't feel like doing anything else but be a sloth. It is an awful feeling. Note to self : MUST CHANGE THINGS. MUST START DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!

parlez vous francais?

This evening, I resumed with attending French lessons after a 4-year break. 4 years??? Has it been that long?? I didn't realised it until I registered for the class earlier this month. I have been told that the previous time I attended a french lesson at the school was in 2001

Anyway, it was good to resume with French lessons. I am not very good at it, hence the reason for resuming. Or so I thought. Despite being nervous, thinking that my French grammar would go horribly wrong when speaking in class, it seemed like I may have made a bit of impression when I responded in French to the professor with my name and that it has been a long time since I last attended french lessons. I have to thank my French friends for that - pushing French down my throat by speaking French to me until I get completely clueless with what they have said and caved by continuing the conversation in English.

I think the point of resuming the lessons is to overcome my fear of making mistakes in speaking the language. It is not easy. English is not my mother tongue. I started learning English grammar in primary school and it took me 10 years (or more) to master the grammar and it is still not good, let alone perfect. It may take me 20 years to master the French language. It is going to a long journey but I will persevere. Like the saying goes, "It is not about the destination, it is the journey. Besides, this reminds me of Colin Firth in that movie, Love Actually, where he learnt how to speak Portuguese and was struggling to express his feelings to a girl that he fell in love with. That should be an inspiration and motivation.

I'll end with my favourite french phrase : la souris es en dessous la table.
I say this phrase a lot, so if you can figure it out, put it in the comments.

Good luck to me with my French lessons.

new sensation...

I have been following this new reality show called "Rock Star INXS" on and off over the last few weeks but after last week, I had to follow it every week now and it is all because of this one performer/contestant called Mig Ayesa. Man, not only is he hot (based on my taste, I think some of my readers out there will probably disagree with my statement.) but he is a great performer too. He first caught my attention when he performed The Kink's All Day and All Of The Night few weeks ago. And I thought, "Man, this guy is good!" and then on, I made a point to watch this program every Wednesday night

Two nights ago, he sang Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way" and I was captivated. Even the judges (comprised of INXS (off course) and Dave Navaroe) were captivated and when Mig was voted in the top 3 when the results were announced, Dave requested for an encore of his performance. Again, I was captivated and it seems I was not the only one. I checked out his blog, and he received hundreds of comments from all over the world about this performance... good ones, off course. I think the whole of Asia Pacific is rooting for him. Why? He is of Filipino roots but was born in Australia. So, go figure why we are rooting for him.

I am rooting for him to go all the way in this competition. There are 7 contestestants left before INXS will find their new lead singer and I am already excited and nervous because I want Mig to win!

for the love of shoes...

Aaahh, the love of a woman for her shoes. Nothing can stop her from buying shoes to match every outfit in her wardrobe.

I am one of those women. To date, I have never purchased more than 3 shoes at one time. But over the weekend, I broke the record - I bought 8 pair of shoes at one go. You will probably be falling off your seat when you read this. It is like I am competing with the likes of the late Imelda Marcos and Princess Di.

Well, it was not like I splurged all my my hard earned money on expensive shoes. These were on sale. The prices were marked down from SGD70 to just a mere SGD9. Who in the right frame of mind would not grab the good deal??? In fact, I don't think I broke the record in terms of the number of pairs I bought. A family who was in the shop at the same time with me bought like 20 pairs.

I spread the word around about this awesome deal. Noridah bought 4 pairs on Saturday. Two of my colleagues bought 5 pairs this afternoon. Even my mom wanted in but alas, she could not find a pair that she liked. Better luck next time mom.

On the above left are the 8 pairs which I now proudly owned. The blue wedges being my favourite. I can't wait to put each of them on.

shanghai surprise....

I was in Shanghai last week for work. I traveled to Shanghai before 3 years ago, also for work but it was so short, I could not see much of the city.

Much has changed in Shanghai since 3 years ago. The airport was new. The hotel where I stayed and the area around the office are quite posh – with modern tall buildings and luxury good boutiques in most of the shopping malls. Every 500 metres, there is a Starbucks outlet. When did all these transformations happened? I was in awe. The city is just so modern.

Except for the language (taxi drivers don’t speak English; signs are mostly in Mandarin and the English names are completely different – so getting around was a bit of a problem for yours truly) and the bad traffic, I didn’t feel like I left the Lion City. When I wandered around, it feels like I am in Singapore but when I started talking to the locals, it felt like I was in Hong Kong.

I actually planned to stay the weekend and check out the city – I heard the nightlife is up there with Hong Kong now. However, before leaving the office on Friday evening, I was informed by a colleague that they were expecting a typhoon to hit the city that week and expected to last throughout the weekend.

It was clear on Friday night when I strolled around the city but the next morning, it was gloomy with some rain. Maybe the typhoon was really coming. I made a decision to change my flight and get my butt back home in order to escape the typhoon. No point staying in the hotel in a foreign city when I could be on my way home and spend the weekend in Singapore where no typhoon or other weather calamities can be expected.

However, when I arrived at the airport that Saturday afternoon at 1pm, the typhoon already hit the city – there was no typhoon when I left the hotel. Most flights were delayed or cancelled because there was absolutely no way a plane could take off in such strong winds. I ended up being stuck at the airport for 12 hours – I was beginning to feel like Tom Hanks from that movie ‘The Terminal’. I think I may have used all the public toilets, ate in all the restaurants and went into almost every duty free shops in the airport. I bought a few magazines to keep myself occupied from a limited selection of English publications. I played games on my palm.

I guess the blessing in disguise for being stuck in the airport for 12 hours was when the airline made a decision to put all the passengers up at a hotel for the night. Little did I expect that they were going to put us up at the Westin! Yours truly got herself a junior suite with king size bed. Slept like a baby that night (or morning rather since we didn’t get to the hotel till 1am Sunday morning).

The following morning, we were pampered with a good breakfast before being whisked off to the airport later that morning. However, we didn’t take off till 5pm due to logistics issue. Since the day before, it was a logistical nightmare for the airline but I understand it was not easy making travel and accommodation arrangements for a few hundred people in such short notice. I began to see ugly Singaporeans at the airport, complaining that the airline could not fix a time for departure, etc, etc, blah, blah and a couple commented that the assistant manager of the airline didn’t know how to do his job. I am sure the assistant manager was doing his best. I felt like turning to that Singaporean and tell him, “If you think you can do a better job, why don’t you just take over? It would surely speed things up for all of us”. It just upsets me when I hear people complaining about things when they don’t even know what is happening in the background. Oh well, we’ll see these sort of people everywhere. This world would be a perfect place if no one complains.

So there! Spent pretty much of my weekend in Shanghai airport. Shanghai – an eye opener for a woman from a small city where natural calamities almost never happens and a challenge where language is concerned. I didn’t see much again this time around but I am sure I will make my way back there again to check out the city proper. Perhaps make my way to the capital, Beijing as well - much to see there; The Great Wall, The Forbidden City and Tianamen Square to name a few.

tis the season...

... for football!

"It was just 12 weeks ago when the curtain closed for the Premiership last season… " the commentator said into the first few minutes of the LIVE telecast of Aston Villa versus Bolton Wanderers. JUST? JUST 12 weeks? Good God! Maybe he went through a time warp or something because it was a miserable 12 weeks for me without watching any competitive football matches. Plus, there wasn’t any major international competition this summer like the World Cup or the European Championship. Man! I was cut dry the last 12 weeks! There are other football matches on the tele but they are just not the same as following a league week in and week out for 9 months.

However, I am happy that the first day of the new season has begun today. English Premiership League matches, European Champions League, UEFA Cup, World Cup qualifiers and international friendlies. And what more, at next summer will the World Cup Finals in Germany.

The season has already started on the right note for Manchester United, beating Everton at Goodison Park 2-0. Here’s to an exciting season!!