Monthly Archive

my only remaining tuition kid was playing with her plasticine during the 10-min break we had yesterday.

she made the stingray first and i was pretty impressed with it.

then she told me the mouse was a mouse and honestly, i wouldn’t know if she hadn’t said so. it looked more like a bear to me.

then she made the “beetle”. and asked me to guess what it was. i thought it was a squid.

the last item, a “ladybird”. i made a really confident guess that it was a rabbit.

is it just me or can it be that my student isn’t very talented in sculpting?

met a real-life rabbit for dinner last night at the newly revamped imm. who the hell eats only salad for dinner at long john’s silver? i scoffed at her sorry-looking salad, while i feasted on shrimps, fish and chicken. all washed down with a satisfying cup of pepsi. or was it coke?

capitaland should do something about the directional signs at imm. we walked around the bloody place for two entire rounds, following the arrows pointing in misleading directions. by the time we found the shuttle bus pick up point, the last one had already left.

i wanna watch the korean drama serial princess hours. it’s a really entertaining, no-brainer drama. been missing too much of it on tv. they’re selling the set at $24.90 at imm. can someone go buy it then lend it to me when you are done?

it’s amazing how much i’ve been procrastinating recently. it’s been so many days since i’ve returned from the short trip and here are the photos to share.i find it weird my photos belong to neither the touristy kind nor the arty-farty kind. they’re just plain pictures that tell no stories. i guess it’s because when i’m behind the lenses (it’s all taken with my nokia this time), i don’t think of anything else other than capturing memories. it’s all that simple to me.

here goes:

everyone knows about the new bangkok airport. it’s huge, with plenty of space and airport helpers to assist lost tourists, and despite all that, it was absolutely chaotic at the arrival halls. customs for arrivals was a joke - they didn’t check any luggage at all. i walked through the area, stepping into the arrivals hall while expecting to be hauled back for a examination and interrogation on why i didn’t stop for customs.

we spent a fair bit of our trip visiting temples instead of shopping and i didn’t mind it. in fact, we spent waaay less than half an afternoon at the weekend market, chatuchak. it was just too hot, noisy, crowded and chaotic. i only managed to buy a few pairs of earrings, which i have to share with my sister. sounds ridiculous eh?

anyway, the hours spent at the temples were better spent, cos every temple was a pure work of art. everything inside these temples were handcrafted - from the buddha statues, to the walls painted with intricate motifs, to the trademark stupas.

1. the back of the reclining buddha statue. the gold pillows had such beautiful carvings on them.
2. the mentioned painted pillars, which provided a great colour and texture contrast to the smooth gold statue .
3. a wall of tiles carved from mother-of-pearl, which forms the soles of the buddha statue.
4. close-up of one of the mother-of-pearl tiles.
5. the stupas on the left and the right, dedicated to the late kings of thailand. each was built with broken pieces of coloured porcelain. a stupa-like structure with a bell in the centre.

and it’s no joke that they have temples everywhere, they really do. along the chao phraya river trip we took, we saw temples every five minutes or so. and each of them were as beautiful.

my father, the joker. who patted the stone pig located in one of the temple grounds and said, “good pig, good pig.” and my mother went,” that’s a dog!” now we all know why i’m strange. i took this picture cos i remember a picture of my late grandmother sitting on a stone (or wood) tiger. now we shall start a family tradition.

the floating market, which every tourist has to visit. this particular one seems quite erm, developed. in the sense that they had neat concrete banks, raised market platforms for tourists to eat their meals, etc. etc. they sold lots of touristy stuff as well.

1. some of the boats selling non-tourist items.
2. more of the boats, with my mum’s pointing finger marring the picture. damn, and it has pretty rays of sunshine in it too.
3. traditional puppets which i thought were very pretty. handmade, of course. just like every other thing in the country.

the street scene, the famous tuk-tuk and the hot pink cabs. photos taken while i was inside a van going to the temples. going on tours with my family does not allow extra time for walking along the streets, soaking in the local culture or taking street photos.

i liked the way pedestrians and vehicles mingled on the roads and yet, gave in to each other. it’s part and parcel of their life. over here, if you cross the road when there’s a car coming, you get honked at like you’re committing some heinous crime. over there, if you cross while a car is approaching, they slow down and let you pass.

something which i really didn’t like was the way some jewellery or handicraft items manufacturers in the city had this arrangement with the tuk-tuk drivers, cab drivers, and even tourist guides, to bring in tourists for a “five to ten minute trip” where they would supposedly show us the manufacturing process, etc. etc. the carrot would be transport fares that were drastically lower. all these ended up in pesky salespeople encouraging you to purchase their products.

before i arrived, my family was actually thrown off a tuk-tuk as they had refused to enter the jewel manufacturer’s place. the tour guide later brought us to the same place, where my brother and i spent the time staring at the fishes in this big-ass tank.

the ubiquitous uncle ronald, who seemed to have a particularly large posterior.

over there in bangkok, i spent a huge part of my time in the hotel room. cos the weather outside was too hot, though the air was clear and haze-free.

my family went to catch the popular thai-girls show and the transvestite show which i had no interest in, so i indulged myself in yet another round of foot massage. that was heavenly and time well spent, especially with the neck and shoulder massage they threw in as a package. for someone trapped in the office and bound to the office computer, these massaging ladies were angels in disguise.

so that was all to my short bangkok trip and it leaves me wanting to go back again, so that i can explore the streets, the grand palace and the other historical sites.

till then!

lunch-time conversation was hilarious today.

the sales engineer who was recently a year older, was talking about his night out with his wife, another colleague, and his wife’s colleague at the ministry of sound.

he commented that the deejays wasn’t interacting with the crowd, he was just playing music continously and was thus redundant. i thought that was a little weird, till.

he said “there’s nothing to do in singapore, so once in a while it’s fun to go to the disco.”

i nearly fell off my chair laughing!

with kindest intentions, i informed him that nowadays, no one uses the word “disco” anymore. it’s either “clubbing” or “pubbing”.

the other colleague who went to mos with him, made me roar with laughter again, with, “oh, no wonder i haven’t heard the term “disco” for a really long time. i thought singaporeans don’t go these places anymore.”

i laughed so much at the two of them, i lost my voice for half the afternoon.

after achieving several breakthroughs while setting up the database, i walked over to my neighbour-in-black’s cubicle each time to tell her that i’m a genius indeed. she was amused by the love i have for myself.while doing receptionist duty, i felt so relaxed that i started doodling on my layout pad. i remembered the promise i made to the neighbour-in-black some time ago, to finish some random doodling so that she can trace it onto the boring-looking cd sleeve.

i was so satisfied with the final look of the casual doodle, that i took a picture of it with my phone (i finally realise the beauty of having a camera funtion within my phone) and mms-ed her with it.

she replied with *ahem lavish praise for my microsoft access breakthroughs and the doodle.

though i love myself enough to remain happy everyday, it feels different being complimented by someone else, haha.

is there any scientific evidence showing the relationship between breathing in smoky air and the proper functioning of the brain?

recently my brain has turned into mashed potatoes. other than the standard routine of forgetting appointments and things, sending the wrong smses to the wrong people, etc. etc. i nearly stabbed myself today with the pair of red scissors i have in the office.

following the first incident of miscalculating my own pay, i stupidly made mistakes again and again and again in printing my own time records. till i was too embarassed to ask my boss to sign the document for the fourth time. till i missed the deadline and the hr bitch (i don’t hate her for this incident, i admit this is my fault. but i hate her for other stuff) declared that i will be getting my paycheck next month.

while i was at the photocopier silently lamenting about my own stupidity and the cold, hard irony that i have been able to calculate everyone’s (other than mine) pay correctly and on time, my boss came out to retrieve some printout.

he asked me, with a twinkle in his eyes, about what he heard: that i won’t be getting my paycheck this month. then, he asked if i’m ok with that. by that i knew that if i answered “no”, he’ll probably negotiate with the smelly hr woman, or give me advanced pay out of his own pocket or something. i know he takes care of his employees, and he treats “problem staff” really well. one of the technicians even named his only son after the boss out of gratitude and respect.

for a moment i felt like we were bonding, cos he has been joking and laughing a little more with me. there was this golden light from the narrow passageway where the photocopier was, showering upon us the basic goodness of humanity.

i told him not to worry, i’ll be fine. it’s really because i don’t like begging others for favours, and besides, i think i’ll be able to survive the next month, provided i live a thrifty life for the next forty days.

and then?

he pissed me off by saying, “hmm, ok. you look quite rich anyway.”

shit. i swear our eight characters clash.

we celebrated one of the sales engineer’s birthday today with a cake during the unofficial teabreak and i felt really guilty for not having bought him a present yet. he’s a really entertaining guy with all sorts of stories to share. plus he always drives us out for lunch, haha.

so after work i hit jurong point to shop for a grown up man.

i thought of some mug thing which he could use in the office, since he’s forever drinking from huge mineral water bottles.

the neighbour-in-black wasn’t particularly helpful in suggesting presents, till she suggested some kind of cushion, cos the sales engineer always stole my previously-pregnant admin head’s cushion for his oh-so-old-and-aching back. that really sparked the evil idea in my head.

you know, the shop that sells the widest variety of cushions and mugs in jurong point would be…..gift-a-name! that’s the shop selling all those tacky animal ornaments and soft toys and stuff like that.

so in the name of humour, i got him a winnie-the-pooh cushion and a mickey mouse mug. the mug is in a shade of dusty pink and red, to match the leftover pink-and-purple calculator he inherited from a colleague who left.

to add to the fun, i got him a card for the “bestest sister”.

sheesh, i can’t wait to see his face tomorrow!

post-edit:

the mentioned sales engineer, after squeezing the wrapped present a little, went “eeek! it’s soft!! did you girls buy me a soft toy?! noooooooo!!”

it was a damn funny sight watching him hold the pooh bear cushion to his beer belly.

and he cheekily suggested entering a meeting room armed with the mickey mouse mug.

and this was the only happy event at work today.

i’m going to bangkok, after all. despite the different flights, despite the last minute air tickets and the application for leave.

it’s gonna be a good break, i hope.

my first kueh tutu in 22 years.and i didn’t know it was highly abnormal for a singaporean to not have tasted them before, until my fyp mates stared at me in pure disbelief when i told them.

my neighbour-in-black had the same reaction, so off we went to buy some after lunch. i was so intrigued by the look of them and so curious about everything in the small stall, that the auntie did a demo for me when she knew i’m new to these delicate little fluffy things. yah, she asked if i’m a local too.

kueh tutus are a little dry, i think. but it makes a pretty good light snack. and of course, the production process was really cool.

but there, am not a bumbling local anymore.

am darn tired, and i don’t know why.

it could be the long walk i took this morning cos i kept walking to the wrong bus stops (yes, in my neighbourhood).

it could be the young, keen-about-life youngsters who were applying for undergrad courses at the education fair today. to add on to the crowd they brought along their friends and parents, etc. etc. luckily there was this really nice aussie uncle from one of the universities who saved my life by cutting short the painful process for me.

it could also be the heat and the crazy weekend crowd at orchard, which made me decide to go to bugis instead. bugis was slightly better, but the crowd was still too much for me.

it could be the dazzling variety of fashionable stuff in bugis village, which offered so many things for the young and trendy. i don’t remember myself as being young and trendy.

the only time i felt normal was when i was sitting in the cafe eating and talking to the seah fengyi.

what happenend to me?

i didn’t know life could be so frustrating in the office.

while doing up the access database, i was freaking stuck and was on the verge of pulling out my hair. i really needed an endless walk or a good hour of stoning or a deafening blasting session of music. but i could do neither. i miss doing academic projects when i could do anything i liked when i needed a time-out for my brains.

cos it’s unofficially against company culture to walk up and down the corridor or anywhere else lowering productivity. not very nice to let the boss see me stone either. and i couldn’t blast music on my mp3 player cos i wouldn’t be able to hear people call for me from across the office.

it was really frustrating and demoralising.

it didn’t help that the stupid nag spoilt my entire day by standing there and expecting me to apologise for a mistake that i didn’t make. i dismissed her with a bo-chup look and a monotonous “ok lor” when she whined that she had to cancel the document which was in circulation. and that she’s been cancelling too many such documents and it portrays the “wrong” impression that she’s making too many mistakes. she’s such a pain in the ass.

and my neighbour in black was on half a day’s leave, leaving me with no one to gossip with or to act silly with.

it was quite a bad day indeed, minus the dinner and coffee session.

some people have this talent for expressing their thoughts perfectly well into words, stringing them one by one to form a beautiful string of pearls.

sadly, i am not one of those people. there’s things which i think about and yet cannot put it on paper, or, on the screen.

been inspired by a blog which has simple words writing about simple things in life. the magic lies in the way he uses language so well, every entry makes an impression.

i don’t like going to the office every morning, facing the possibility of having nothing to do. i like being kept busy during working hours and ever since the new admin lady settled herself in, i’ve had no fixed workscope.

which really drives me crazy, to the extent that i was sharpening wooden pencils with a penknife at 5.30pm today.

that was after an entire day of standing at the photocopier making duplicates of silly documents to lighten my workload during monthly financial closing and the year end closing. i don’t know why i’m trying to lighten my workload when i’m constantly looking for something to do, but at least it will keep me occupied for a couple of days.

the other day, my boss asked me to glue his ornament, which had a part that fell out. i participated in the fortnightly joss-paper burning session in order to waste some time.

i’m getting creative at finding something to keep myself occupied in the office. and people other than a few buddee technicians and the neighbour-in-black, think that i’m really busy. i must be good at appearing to be busy.

generally, i hate crowded shopping malls with a vengence. it was only today when i was able to appreciate the comparatively fresh air indoors with much gusto, thanks to the annual haze we endure in singapore.

i didn’t believe the taxi uncle when he told me the haze in pasir ris wasn’t as bad as in jurong. and i wasn’t ready to believe it even when i reached town. it was only on my way home when i discovered the air was significantly worse. the visibility was so bad that i couldn’t see past one traffic light.

still, i don’t blame our neighbours across the sea for causing this misery. after all, they have to do something to keep themselves alive with the farming and there’s limited methods they can employ. we city folks whine and complain about this haze disrupting outdoor jogging in nike apparel and adidas track shoes, and the poor visibility which prevents us from enjoying the skyline made up of those multi-million-dollars skyscrapers.

my stand is, give and take. they have it worse there breathing in all the smoke “live”. if they had a choice, they wouldn’t be doing this either.

so there. we just need to close the windows and switch on the air-conditioners at home. or hit the nearby shopping malls for a breath of fresher air.

some horrible neighbour is singing li sheng jie’s shou fan kai loudly on karoke. you know how intense that song is eh?

well, he’s singing with as much zest, just that he’s way off key, has a bad voice and is off beat as well.

to think that i endured an entire afternoon of a sales engineer who left music playing loudly on his laptop - while he was out. and i didn’t realise it was coming from his laptop, i thought it would be polite not to deprive others from their favourite music.

if i had known it was his, i would have muted his laptop for life. that’s how we get along, by the way. we poke fun at him for entertainment purposes.

and, i have beautiful painted nails. french manipedicure again, but it’s perfect. that’s after touching up on the hopelessly faded white borders cos i didn’t have time to paint the top coat last night. don’t ask me why i painted my nails on a thursday night. i just felt like it suddenly.

so far so good.

the new phone.

the moment i hit 21 months of the contract period i got this, cos i couldn’t stand the samsung keypad anymore. but as the sales lady was holding my old phone, removing the battery and sim card, i felt like taking it back from her. cos that phone was so small and pretty.

now i have a function-filled phone, and it took me 5 minutes to realise how to send a message. i haven’t figured out tonnes of stuff. and this phone is damn bulky.

i miss my old phone.

the brother got legally married, by the way.

on this significant day, i was dressed to meet the occasion of the solemnisation ceremony and the purchase of a new phone.

let’s just say that i looked strangely different.