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.