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!