Monthly Archive

i don’t exactly know what i should do now.

should i just go to sleep? there’s nothing good on non-scv tv, there’s nothing i can read, no good online shopping sites i can surf.

i’m too lazy to go get dinner.

my back is aching from sitting in front of the computer for three hours. the office chair is spoiling me. it’s heaven compared to what i have at my desk at home. i should stop torturing myself and get a new chair.

i don’t like the thought of having two lessons tomorrow.

i want to take a walk, but at this time? plus there’s nothing exciting or interesting about taking a walk in the non-happening jurong west at this time.

i wish i can go out for coffee with someone. but most of my friends are only available on booking.

if only the library was within walking distance from my home.

if i had a car i’ll be out having a spin with the windows down.

if i had struck 4d my mood would be a lot more different. i would be planning how to use the money.

i hope i’ll be out next saturday this time. we will, won’t we?

two saturdays of staying at home and i’m already bored. hmmm.

i woke up at 6.50am without an alarm today.

and i couldn’t go back to sleep.

i don’t think i like the routine of going to work very much. i can’t remember when was the last time i slept till noon.

ok, at least i wouldn’t be cancelling morning tuition classes anymore.

gonna get a haircut later in the afternoon. i haven’t decided how short my hair shall be.

i’ll see.

this monday a technician’s dad passed away and i was given the task of ordering a wreath to be delivered to the wake. naturally it didn’t put me in super high spirits for convocation the next day.

and on convocation, the weather was freaking hot. so hot that i used five clean-and-clear facial wipes and despite that, my face constantly had a film of pespiration and grease. i looked damn stupid with the mortar cap, it magnified my face by a zillion times. i was so pissed with the cap i didn’t want to take photos with it, and i started throwing tantrums (yes, tantrums) when my dad kept insisting on it. i hope people who witnessed my tantrum-throwing doesn’t hate me forever. i’m not such a brat in real life, really. it was just the weather, the not-so-good-mood and the stupid mortar cap.

and i had double chins in all the photos i took.

i am so gonna hide my convocation photos under my bed for the rest of my life.

when i went back to office after only a day’s leave, there were stacks of papers for me to clear. i heard from my admin head that the stupid nag didn’t help to clear the incoming faxes with the stupid excuse “the boss isn’t in and none of the faxes were urgent”. as if the rest of the world didn’t need their faxes. she’s such a procrastinator it’s no wonder why her in-tray is always filled with backlogs. in the end my admin head had to clear my in-tray during my absence. i was laughing at the ridiculous fact that the lowest-ranking admin staff has an admin head as a stand-in.

other than her refusal to do my lower-ranking tasks, the nag also refuses to answer phone calls. she is such a bitch. she thinks answering phone calls is degrading (she said this herself). i feel like telling her i’m a degree holder and i’m answering the calls as well, she’s only a ‘o’ level equivalent, why is she even complaining about being degraded? but since i’m such a humble graduate i shall not humiliate the stupid, ignorant woman.

it’s tiring to work at full speed 8.5 hours a day for four days a week. just because i want to work my fastest, to avoid overtime and more importantly, it’s a subtle demonstration against the backstabber and my boss. i can see that my boss is getting more and more reluctant to smile at me or say good morning to me because i haven’t been working overtime. i’m stubborn, i know. but i don’t want to work overtime for the sake of working overtime (or for the sake of pacifying backstabbers). it’s stupid.

i might be buying 4d later. i’m keeping my fingers crossed i might be blessed. it’s like this: i’ve been collecting monetary contributions from my department for the seventh month prayer session. my neighbour-in-black didn’t really want to join in the prayer session till she found that things got spookily weird. she’s usually very organised and focused, but she started to find her documents all jumbled up when it came out from the copier, her documents were found in between ledger books even though she swore she placed them right on top in the in-tray. so she contributed some money too.

meaning since i am helping out by collecting the money the supernatural beings should be blessing me for my efforts, right?

what numbers should i buy later?

this is the first day in many weeks that i’m able to sit down since the late afternoon to watch some silly dramas, log on and basically, do nothing.it’s such a luxury.

for that, i shall not update about the ongoing battle i’m engaged in in the big bad working world.

instead, i think i’ll sleep early, cos my eyes are really very tired. and there’s nothing i can watch on tv.

yawn.

there’s something i like about having a mundane job - after some time, i get lots of inspirations subconsciously. it’s a routine that allows me to refresh the canvas in my mind.

my fingers are itching to do something to the blog template, but i like this clean and neat look too much to change.

darn, what am i to do?

i can’t bring myself to say i’m leading a busy high life, the kind where people zip from place to place getting things done. cos in the course of getting things done, these people usually earn lots of money.not so true for me. saturdays have become crazy days for me, but saturdays are usually net loss days. a typical saturday is made up of two tuition classes, a shopping/dinner trip and weekly supper with whoever wants supper in the family.

yesterday was slightly crazier. after the two tuition classes i had to make my way down to serangoon broadway to exchange the convo gown. let’s just say that i was a little overconfident and ended up terribly lost. turned out that i walked in the wrong direction for more than half an hour and by the time i saw paya lebar, i decided to hop on a cab. the cab driver said i’m “scary”, the distance i walked without asking anyone for directions.

i nearly killed a not-so-sweet young lady at the gown shop who tried to persuade me from not exchanging the gown. she tried to convince me that convo gowns are meant to look big. i almost wanted to tell her they’re not meant to make fresh grads look like big birds which fell into a vat of blue dye, but i was too tired from all the walking to argue with her. i don’t understand what was all the fuss was about too, cos when i offered to show her my receipt for the gown purchase, she said she didn’t need to see it.

on the way to bugis, i got lost again. i walked in a random direction, saw a bus stop. the older kind in orange, with absolutely no bus directory. i was freaking lucky i noted a familiar gray looking structure which only means one thing - a new age mrt station.

i’m really surprised i didn’t lose my way on the train network, from punggol to dhoby ghaut to city hall to bugis.

i really should quit the terrible habit of getting off some familiar bus stop, walking towards buildings and landmarks which i think look familiar and continuing walking and refusing to admit defeat or ask other for directions.

lately i’m feeling very unimaginative. i remember once upon a time, my imagination was in a healthy state, and sometimes it overworked.

i miss my imagination.

where did it go?

it’s worth celebrating when a day’s leave is marked with good weather, a good sleep-in, good food and good shopping.

i started the day irritating people, the victim being the office-neighbour-in-black. i smsed her telling her it’s a damn good feeling to be able to sleep in on a rainy monday morning. i think she’s gonna kill me tomorrow.

but the degree-cert collection wasn’t so pleasant, with the swarms of people wanting us to do surveys for them. and the queue for surnames L to T was extremely long, compared to the other two queues. why ah?

and i found out the guy at the graduation gown shop got me the wrong size. he gave me a size m, and i really should have tried on the size s as well, i know. but it turns out that i should have got the size s after all. basket. tomorrow i’ll call them up and see if i can get it exchanged. otherwise i’m screwed.

then came my destructive trip to marina square. i’ve added a really erm, cute shirt with red stripes and it comes with this cute little tie. and another shirt. and a pair of gu niang heels to match the white office skirt. i think just a few more working tops and i’ll be happy already. i’m really quite easily contented, you know?

everyone should go try the eatery at marina square which offers hong kong food. the one which is across the road from the citylink mall citibank. the food is really quite hong-kong, the teh bing is so freaking powerful, the kind that leaves a strong fragrance of brewed tea. not the cheap kopitiam ones that taste of sugar, condensed milk and nothing else. and it’s really affordable, plus the ambience is really nice to hang out in with friends.

unglam moment of the trip (everytime i hang out with the fengyiyiyi, something happens):

now everyone knows how cold the air-conditioning at marina square can be. so i was walking along till i passed a particularly warm and bright spot outside the very-upscale massimo dutti outlet. i looked up and saw the super blinding spotlights from the store’s display window, so i stepped backwards and wanted to enjoy the warmth a little more. till the fengyiyiyi pointed to inside the store, and i discovered this guy doing the window display giving me this look and gestures that clearly said, “what the heck are you doing?”

though i prefer to think he was more amused than irritated. i mean, why should he be irritated?

right?

it’s a great feeling to pick up any pair of earrings i like and tell my friends, please pay at the counter!

thank you to all my new earrings sponsors, love you all lots for contributing to my growing collection! as of today, i’ve outgrown the twenty-eight-compartments-pillbox earrings case and will be expanding into the second twenty-eight-compartments-pillbox!

tomorrow will be the day of shopping for office clothes, narrowed down to just tops, and also a red leather belt for the dull black dress i bought. a stunning red leather belt.

hmmmm.

i’ve been doing so much random shopping i think i should post some pictures of the trophies. wenwen’s happily posting pictures of her sister’s wedding where they’re radiating happiness, while i’m gonna be posting pictures of shopping trophies radiating nothing but bimbocity.

before i can even step into town to spend a little of my first post-graduation-pay packet, it’s already almost gone. cos i have to distribute some income taxes to my parents and guess what? i bought a new computer at about $300 bucks, minus the monitor. yeah i know for $300 bucks, it’s pretty cheap and even if i had bought the lcd monitor, the total amount would not have exceeded $600. but still it bloody hell hurts to spend so much money at one go.

so the monitor can wait. meanwhile, i’ll live with a black cpu housing and a yellow monitor. once i pay off the monthly instalments for the computer, i’ll get the lcd monitor. in black, of course. i predict i wouldn’t be getting another new computer for ages, so there’s no way i’m gonna buy a standard light coloured computer for it to turn a ghastly shade of yellow.

from now on, i’m on a shoestring budget. my dear friends, let’s go budget when we hang out, ok?

luckily there’s been a lot of free meals i can enjoy. cos there’s a bumper crop of colleagues being promoted, and a sales engineer bravely called up each of them to demand a promotion treat. so there, now there’s a schedule of free meals, and the month is pretty much packed with these treats.

just on thursday night, we went to this turkish restaurant near arab street. sheesh, the turkish can reeeally cook their meats well. juicy, tender meat with full flavour. and their apple tea. it’s good enough to die for. i’m drooling just thinking about the meal. everyone should visit them, especially since the boss and employees are so friendly and helpful. though help is greatly needed when it comes to the menu. the menu was so mind-boggling we just asked the boss to get us whatever was good.

anyone wants to go for a good meaty dinner? ask me!

i find some singaporeans particularly irritating, the kind who goes to some angmoh country for a short period of time and comes back speaking to their fellow countrymen with an accent which they think sounds impressive and cool.

somehow these wannabes put on these accents only when they’re out to impress others and beyond that, they return to the singaporean-ly expression of “wah lau eh!”

it really gets on my nerves, and one specimen just turned up in my office today.

at least he’s from another department, so i don’t have to endure this ah beng.

bah, another stupid man to add to the must-kill list.

i finished reading frank mccourt’s teacher man last night and i loved the bits and pieces that made me think, even though i really wonder if he really meant for the readers to think. the book is meant to share his teaching experience, i guess.

in it, he analysed the little bo peep poem along with his students. you know, the one that goes “little bo peep has lost her sheep / and doesn’t know where to find them. / leave them alone and they will come home / wagging their tails behind them.” he intepreted it as the beauty of people leaving each other alone and getting off each other’s backs while getting their tasks done. hell, i think that’ll make the world a lot more beautiful too.

and the part where he had his class reading out recipes from cookbooks and creating background music along with students singing the recipes aloud. after their potluck picnic out in the park. that had me in stitches too.

a tidbit that i’m still digesting, is the part where he wrote about an essay by this guy Thoreau, where he says when one should go out the door for a walk , he should be so free and unencumbered, he need never return to the starting place.

i’m still thinking about the reality, the advantages and disadvantages of this.

i mean, it’s a really cool idea and i’d kind of admire anyone who has the guts to give up all that he has (or doesn’t) to start from scratch somewhere new. i guess that gives a person a lot of experiences and stories to tell to his grandchildren. it’ll probably be damn exciting if each time i go for a walk, i reach a new place, it’s almost like experiencing rebirth.

but how many people can give up their wordly possessions, family and friends, their careers at which they’ve been slogging for, etc. etc.? along the way there might be new friends, but to me, it makes a difference whether or not i can hang out with my friends over a cup of coffee or have a weekly dinner with my family.

it’s a dangerous idea to think about, cos once i reach a conclusion after a long period of thinking, i’ll go after what i think is right, like the other off-the-tested-and-tried routes i’ve taken and is about to take. what if i think this kind of unencumbered life is the one i want?

sometimes i think reading ruins my life.

still, go read this book! it’s a good one!

you know, sometimes i really enjoy tutoring my favourite tuition kid. cos i get to mess around with his mind and irritate the hell out of him.

like i’ll throw some suspense and he’ll be all confused to whether his maths solutions are correct. or he’ll be concentrating on his maths questions and i’ll go “kaaaarang guneeeeeee. siu poh zua gu sar kor, radio video dian si kee” when i hear the rag-and-bone man touting his horn downstairs.

i think of new ways to drive him crazy every lesson and i get a kick of out it.

yesterday i suffered retribution. he asked me some maths problem with you know, those that asks you how many chickens are there among a total of 160 cow legs and chicken legs, when the ratio of chickens to cows is 3:4.

while i was coming up with a quick solution mentally, he kept hounding me about the reward i owe me and chattered on and on.

i got so messed up mentally, i declared, “a cow has two legs and a chicken has four legs!”

and towards the end of the lesson, he asked me to check through a problem he had supposedly solved. that was the kind of problem sum with just one question on an entire page, worth five marks. so you know, that usually requires quite a number of steps.

he passed me a blank page with just the answer blank filled in with the supposedly correct answer. i was so astounded with his intelligence i forgot my role as a politically correct tutor and exclaimed, “WAH LAU EH! why no working one!”

sometimes i really think i should stop polluting the young innocent minds of the next generation in case they grow up to be like me.

*disclaimer: 90% work-related post. scroll down to the last paragraph for non-work related issues.

i had a very bad birthday week.

i was fuming on the day itself, the second time in three years i was angry during work. the first time it happened three years ago, i was unreasonably reprimanded in a polite manner by my boss, thanks to some backstabbing from a colleague who said many untrue things. since then, my boss has left me alone cos i’ve proven my work abilities.

this week, my anger was partially due to the same backstabbing colleague again. she tried to mess up my entire work schedule by not doing her own work. thankfully i work way too fast to be ambushed by her. while i was working really hard to keep up to the new schedule, the stupid nag just had to nag and nag and nag and nag. i almost wanted to hide under my desk to do my work. one of my colleagues, upon realising that i was silently fuming, commented that he really didn’t know i had a temper. i growled at him and he scampered off.

i really cannot communicate with the nag, cos she’s sooooooooooo…….let’s just say of different frequency.

oh and i wore my pink skirt to work this week, there were raised eyebrows, questions and exclamations left, right, centre.

and i was informed by this another inefficient (i really wonder why there’s so many inefficient people in admin positions) and irritating hr personnel that my salary won’t be entered into my bank account directly. instead, i’m to receive paychecks every month. i seriously don’t know why she had to tell me only the day before payday when she could have told me so much earlier, and she kept intimidating me with the company controller i got really pissed with her. besides, the end of the month this month is a friday, which means i get my money really late.

anyway, i was civilised enough not to quarrel with her and to give her the benefit of the doubt. but yesterday i waited for my paycheck the entire day. 15 minutes before 6pm, i got really frustrated and went to hunt her down. after finding her and following her back to her desk, she opened her cupboard and maaaan, her cupboard was SO messy. she started fumbling around and asked aloud, “now, where did i put the paycheck?” i started looking for a penknife in case she couldn’t find it.

it wasn’t all so bad yesterday though. cos we had such a funny lunch-in session i teared from all the laughing. i have this uncle colleague who likes mini coopers as well (though he settled for a suzuki swift) and he really has a sense of humour.

yesterday also marked the success of our budding relationships with the nestle warehouse people next door. they passed us two boxes of kitkat wine chocolates and two bags of grape flavoured chocolate bars in a suspicious looking brown envelope. i love them so much, i think i’ll hang out at the nestle warehouse more often.

i also had my first bitchy work conversation (read: quarrel) with a manager in the department. this guy is suicidal, cos he doesn’t have any experience in the aircon industry and he applied for this job which requires a hell lot of knowledge and experience and guess what? he’s in charge of 34 tricky technicians, all with some bit of aircon knowledge.

this guy is also extremely unpopular in the office, thanks to his poor human-relations skills, his irresponsibility and his tendency to ignore his real work duties while spending the bulk of his time furiously sms-ing his technicians instructions, which further pisses people off cos the technicians really hate being sms-ed.

since i am the admin scum of the office, i have to process the leave application forms of everyone in the department. it’s bad enough that this operations manager takes forever to sign the technicians’ leave forms. by the time he approves their leave, the technicians are already back from their leave. now tell me how intelligent that is.

this week, he made two technicians cancel their leave without informing me. i only realised that the technicians cancelled their leave when i called them by chance on the fateful day. so i got really pissed, cos if nobody tells me they’re on leave, i can’t email the relevant people to tell them the leave have been cancelled, i can’t cancel their leave and the leave records will be screwed up. and what happens? i’ll be in deep shit.

so i walked over the the criminal’s desk, which is located in the same cubicle as my admin head. i asked him in a very polite and civilised manner if he had indeed cancelled their leave. upon his answer, i courteously requested him to inform me whenever such cancellations occur again.

i think he wasn’t very happy that the admin scum was lecturing him in a polite manner. so he asked in an insolent manner, “must inform you meh??”

i took a deep breath and told him yes, indeed he must inform me so that i can notify the relevant people and that procedures have to be followed before the leave can be cancelled.

he then gave the lamest and most idiotic excuse, “oh, i thought it wouldn’t be considerate to disturb you by calling you at 9pm at night to inform you, cos i only decided to cancel their leave at 9pm last night.”

upon hearing that ridiculous answer i rolled my eyes (that was when my admin head started to laugh silently at my performance) and answered him, “well, in the first place you don’t have my number so i don’t think you can call me at all, but thanks so much for being so considerate. besides, i don’t need an immediate notification from you, all i need is for you to inform me in the morning. you know, i’m in the office for the entire day, it’s really easy to walk over and tell me. in case you don’t even want to walk over, my extension number is 3035 and you can just tell me over the phone, i’ll be very happy to do the work”.

he was stunned by the speech that i, the admin scum gave him. and my tone was so cutting and sarcastic he shut up and followed my commands to do what i asked him to in order to carry out the cancellation of leave.

seriously, i haven’t seen anyone who can give such stupid excuses without even considering how pathetic it sounds.

and for the ten millionth time i’m saying this, i hate stupid people and my mission in life is to exterminate them.

hmm although the birthday week hasn’t been so good in the office, it has been good after office hours.

thanks to baomu and pupu and mf who gave me a half-surprise ten days before the day, weiwei who spent the bad day with me eating zi char at the kopitiam (she also made jy and her sister say happy birthday to me on the phone), to all the friends who sms-ed me, and to those who even thought of me on the day.

thanks a lot, i feel loved!