An intelligent machine

This post is dedicated to the photocopying machine in my workplace.
I realized I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time standing beside it during the last 2.5 months or so, making copies and feeding it with crisp paper from time to time.
Have a sorta love hate relationship with it.


Why I love it so?
This wonderful device copies, scans, faxes..
Moi has learnt how to turn single page to double, double to single, print 2 page in 1, sort, staple and punch holes with it.
Yes this machine can staple and punch holes too. Ain’t it fantastic?

Why I hate it so?
Sometimes it gets a little too smart though. For instance when the paper size is set to A4, it will override the setting and auto reset to A3 if it senses something else placed on the feeder.
Talk about being intuitive! Poor moi here was stupefied cos I had some stuff placed on the edge of the tray and no matter how many times I changed the setting to A4, it came out A3 sized.

It also brings me much pain whenever it throws a tantrum.
ive had my share of paper cuts from either feeding its empty stomach or from handling the warm and crisp paper it churns out.

I just caused the mother of paper jams last week. Despite opening up everything which can be opened, and removing what seemed to be the offending piece of paper, it refused to get to work again.
Even the ‘miracle’ Reset button didn’t work.
My RO actually came by when she saw me probing the machine’s innards and tried to lend a hand by well.. pressing the Reset button and probing at the toner box.
No miracle happened and she commented that im suay! Ugh…

So I had to call the technical service folks to come down.

Hopefully we can cultivate a cordial relationship and there are no more major mishaps!

The Idiot's Guide to ... Fireworks Viewing

After this year's experiences, i have decided to record the 'things i have learnt'.
Like i alwaiz say 'There is sth new to learn everyday'.
Therefore, there are certain SOPS to observe in order to maximise the viewing pleasure come our nation's bdae month in 2007.

Lesson 1:
Arrive early. Very very early.
As Singaporeans are notoriously Kiasu, we come at 6 when the show starts at 9.
All for 10mins of splendour. Nonetheless it pays to be kiasu as that is the only way to chope yourself a good spot.

Lesson 2:
If you're an avid *read serious* photographer, then go even earlier.
Every precious bit of space is pretty much filled up by 6, so u'll prolly have to reach by 5?
It appears that the rule is to stake your claim along the bridge with a tripod.
Beware though as things can get tense when there is too little space and too many 3-legged stands, as illustrated by siwei's bad experience last year.

Lesson 3:
If you're driving... DON'T. Unless you arrive very early too. As illustrated by all those who suffered on Saturday. The jam was horrid and parking was next to impossible. Poor Yishan didn't even manage to weave thru the mess and ended up somewhere else altogether.
I was late and got off at Redhill MRT station at 750 to take a cab. Moi had already sat down and closed the door and the Taxi Uncle actually asked me to get off and take the train instead.

Lesson 4:
Now once you're in the area, there are many ways to watch the same show.
(Of cos those in the mood for romance and have the cash to spare can check themselves into a nice hotel and pack along a nice book.*lol* Prices are likely to be jacked up loads though.)

The rest can..
a. Go to your office in the area to watch.
(But there is a lack of proxomity). Can't smell the smoke, the sweat and hear the music.

b. Reserve a rooftop seat at Al Dente.
Romantic too. (And tuck into hearty folded pizza.yum yum)

c. Picnic.
Bring along the necessary barang. Find a less crowded spot with a decent view and unfold your garbage bag/plastic bag/newspapers. Plant your ass on it and wait.
Go to the toilet first as it'll prolly be hard to find a place to pee.
And pack along food/fan/umbrella (though i dont tink it'll help much if it really rains)..good company n whatever kips you happy n comfy.. and wait patiently.

Took some clips.. a notable one being gers going aww in a really creepy way.. but unfortunately my com can't sem to receive stuff fr my hp via the ancient infra-red port. and Nokia don't pvd a USB cable! Till i figure a way...

Zenith

In all honesty, i dont know what it means.. haha

Anyways, like wat i said previously, the auntie me didn't regret blowing on a dress that i can only wear once and kiaping my hair cos i figured it only happens once, kind if like a wedding sia, and more importantly it will leave fond memories and gave a nice closure to the journey we took together during the last 3 yrs.

Neways, at the ripe old age of 23, i finali understand y such dresses which make my heart ache n my auntie mentality screech bo3 hua2 can't be recycled.. Cos it has a different equation altogether. Unlike a pair of expensive jeans which u wear many many times to make it worth its price, a dressy dress is depreciated by taking pics in them. So the idea is to take enuf pics to fully depreciate it by the end of the nite. Think of it as $1 a shot.. kaching! *A dollar pls* kaching *Another dollar pls*! And it can't be recycled for another event cos 1. I've put on enuf weight to not be able to squeeze in it again. 2. I've taken so many pics in the same dress that i wldnt want to be caught in it again.

Talking about taking pics, im cam shy okie, and my eyes will auto shut when there is a flash. I think my dear lilies have indeed put in much effort in my training .. hahaha.. Nonetheless, tink the amt of pics taken recently have exhausted my pic quota for yr 2006 already.

The day started on a frantic note, grabbed my clutch at the last min at Far East Plaza where i got my hair kiapped at a very reasonable 25 bucks *merci*, though the curls on the right did unravel by 9pm.. Elv tried her best to revive them and for abt half an hr, they did regain some of their bounce. That explained why i cld onli stand on one side.. haha. Was quite worried when the stylist yanked and pinned the hair behind and started curling the lower half. Thankfully i went out looking sane still.

Neways ya the nite was devoted to cam whoring as expected, food pretty much sucked though.. as in they were prob average, but cos of the Tung Lok name, the expectations became higher i suppose. The sharks's fin was realli quite horrid though, but i finished it anyway.. cos shark's fin is shark's fin and auntie san simply can't throw it away. It was this gooey over starched concoction.. ewww.

The highlight of the night goes to Mr Daniel Ng.. who was crowned Man of The Nite.. waha! moi pretty much screamed like a banshee.. like some fan club screaming for boy band liddat.. Just short of the line, wo men yong yuan zhi chi ni!! hahhaa..

The next morning after getting home and takin a shower, I was attempting to blow dry my hair and juz felt kinda sad.. its like wah ..we're all grown up, no more sheltered life as a student, where the worse u can find is prolly juz free-rider pjt mates or attitude ones. In the working world, where most of us wld be spending almost 40 yrs or so, its much more than that. Then felt really nostalgic.. But well, gotta think positve! There's a long long road ahead!

Since the nite is abt cam whoring, this post wont be complete with some of the evidence..



Waha! And i won 4 lucky tics to Wild Wild Wet..


Quickly grabbed Man of the Nite for a pic.


The collage which everyone wanted to take a pic with

If you haven't realised by now, there is a fantastic optical illusion in these pics. mabe its the light/mabe the dress. Heck! But well i was sufficiently thrilled to see something ive never seen b4.

Convo

Ah, the convo...

Turned up for the ceremony in the end and got my bestest gal pal to accompany my ma. i owe her a BIG THANK YOU. It was reali reali nice of you to wake up so early, sit thru a borin ceremony and stay with my ma all morning.

The day started in the Nanyang Audi basement big toilet with lots of gers and some mums fussing over the mortarboard and gown. Lots of safety pins and granny hairpins were used to prevent wardrobe malfunction and falling headgear. Thankfully Dawn was all prepped and ready to help!

And so we all sat down in the audi and watched the profs strut onstage in even crazier outfits. Then the special prizes. Congrats to Andy who got the Gold medal Following that it was a bore. Name calling, handshake, multiply that by like 500 times. Eventually the last name was called and greeted with thunderous applause..last guy very poor thing hor.

Then all adjorn for lunch/pic taking with family n frenz

What followed in the afternoon was way more tiring than a normal work day though i think our artistic director is the most tired since he has to lug around his big cam, try to get everyone to stand properly like taking pri sku class pic, siam mortarboards during the board throwing pics and buy us drinks somemore. Many thanks to Siwei.

Hours under the hot sun wrapped like a dumpling in that crazy outfit did take its toll. My mei mei had commented the previous night when i tried on the outfit that i look like a dead bird. By the end of it, tink reali look n felt like one.

Thankfully, Ade and Andy arranged for a mini-bus. The air-con revived everybody and enabled us to cam-whore from Nanyang Heritage Centre to UOB Plaza to Esplanade and finally Fort Canning.

Hot, sweaty, unglam but unforgettable!

MK2 - Mystery of 6.5kg

(Back-dated)

My mei mei never fails to amaze me with her intelligence or lack thereoff.

I had just purchased a new washing machine from the Harvey Norman Roadshow at West Mall last Sunday. An entry level model from Samsung at a very good price.

The blur salesman actually called me on Sat to ask if the delivery was on the 23rd, Sunday. After I confirmed with an equally blur ‘Ah..Huhh? Yaa ya its tomolo..’, he proceeded to ask .. “Ah then Miss Leong, what time is the delivery?”.. *faints*

I bet he is swimming in order forms and somehow lost track of his records.

Eventually they got the time wrong still. Supposedly 4-7pm but the delivery guy called moi at 1130am and said he’s coming in half an hour.
“Cos Sunday don’t work so late!”
Resulting in moi rushing to push back tuition by an hour.

But that’s besides the point. I digress.

The point is my mei mei can reali be so innocent dumb at times I dunno whether to laugh or cry.

Yesterday was one of those classic moments.
Last night I got home and plonked down on the sofa as wei1 xian3 ren2 wu4 (aka the jian4 nan2 ren2 show cos it seems in the episodes I’ve caught so far, men either kill their wives, cause loansharks to kill their wives or their wives murder them cos they drove their wives bonkers) was playing on channel 8.

Mei mei treated me to a tiny slice of apple strudel. She sliced one into many pieces you see. But got xim1 la.
And proceeded to complain that the washing machine was so damn heavy she couldn’t move it. That its definitely NOT 6.5kg as stated on its label.

I went ‘Huh? You move it for what? Nothing better to do is it?’
Then it dawned on me what she had been thinking.
*freak*

I said ‘You siao? How can you have no common sense’
True to her MK1 style, she continued, ‘label says 6.5 mah. How come so heavy?’

Moi then asked. Do ovens and fans have labels telling you their weight?

‘No.. for what?’

‘ya.. precisely..for what?’

‘What you mean?’

‘Don’t tell you..so stupid.’

‘Don’t scold me stupid. You then stupid! What?’

‘Wahaha..*evil laugh*’

‘What??’

*More evil laugh*

What is a washing machine for?

“wash clothes..u STUPID!!’

“Ya lor”

“OOOOhh… the weight of the water it can hold!!’

About there I guess…

creAtive not so C-r-e-a-t-i-v-e

This post has been sitting in the drafts section for ages. started but not completed. i'm completing it as i patiently wait for the world cup finals to start.
Creative.. ah.. the creative warehouse sale is a bargain hunter's playground but a marketer's nightmare and i consider myself a little of both. Okie mabe a bit more of the former...

The Pricing and Promotion were horrible.
On the other hand, bargains galore.
But really, its no way to market a lifestyle product.

Neways the Creative Warehouse sale was bw 25-27 June. I went on the 27th (Sunday) taking my mei mei along to look see and mabe land a bargain item.

The 1st thing that caught our attention was a giant signboard with lots of MP3 players, like an NTUC discount spread in the newspapers. Very auntie.

Usual price cancelled with the discount price written beside, and freebies thrown in fo some. My mental calculator started churning to work out the best deal Gig for Gig.. then i noticed a glaring error -->
The original price of the 1 gig Zen Neon is more than the 5 gig one??
Typo? spell check!

On the 1st page of the brochure, 'red-hot' items for Day 1 of the sale were refurbished items going for $1. Selling reconditioned items alongside new ones is a no-no. There is a reason for 2nd hand dealerships. Ca you imagine old Mazda's selling alongside new ones in showrooms for half price?

Next we proceeded to check out the MP3s at the display counters. There's a newly launched product, the Zen V and Zen V Plus. A tiny cute little thing. Pretty. My fingers got a bit itchy so i picked up the demo set and twiddled with it.

It HANGED. Ugh! The promoter was all straight faced when he said 'oh this is a demo set so will hang, its not spoilt, happens a lot, the real thing wont be like that. Let me reset it.'

And he proceeded to poke at this little hole at the side of the tiny Zen V Plus with a pin (yes he had a pin ready for such 'emergencies')

Then he passed it back to me and said 'see its very simple to reset'

Isn't it the real thing? Demo set spoil will scare customers away! I'm sure Mr Sim can afford to replace the cranky demo set...

.....

In the end, i decided to grab a pair of nifty portable speakers, not high end stuff, but value for money.
As it turns out the portable speakers came with the big wooden sub woofer thing too. And everything came packed in a big box which was certainly not light. The salesman helped me to carry it and stupid me offered to take it to the queue myself and almost dropped it when he passed it to me. Ugh. Thankfully it didn't crash to the ground, else both my pocket and pride would be quite seriously damaged.

Neways i lugged it along the queue and managed to lift it onto the counter with a heave. And there i was in for another surprise. With my humble purchase, i was instantly made a Creative Card Member, eligible for a discount and a $7 rebate off my next purchase. I'm not complaining about the $ saved. But for young punks who want to look cool, such rebates are very 'Shop & Save' like. An effortless membership is rather low on the hip quotient too.

And so auntie leong lugged the box all the way to the other end of the hall to get my membership card.

The card...
Kop the pic online, so its not very clear. basically orangey cncentric circles.

Onward to the free shuttlle back to JE. It looked like it was about to leave as folks in front of us starting running towards the bus. I emphasize it looked like it was leaving cos it really wasn't. Anyways true to our auntie spirit, we started 'jogging' too. Basically i attempted to run, but couldn't cos of the speakers i was lugging. But my mei mei, she took the box over and RAN. My mei mei is so strong! I decided there and then that i'm never getting into a fight with her cos i surely can't win. But i sure as hell was grateful she's around to lend a strong arm and leg. Now i know what all those pumping in NPCC did!

Just found this on its webby -->


And the price of my speakers just got slashed further at the online shop!!
shucks!!

Tian shi di li ren he

Today's a wasted day.
It would not have made a difference if i didn't turn up.
Whoever's supposed to approve my new system access was not available. MIA? MC?
I couldn't haunt her down and folks i approached simply told moi to wait it out.
And so wait i did, for the whole day, while the form passes on and eventually ends up at the right place. *hopefully* .. before too much work silently piles up and jams up in the system like a clogged toilet. Mind you, i'll be the one sinking in shit when that happens.

To think that I was “studying” over the weekend, having been reminded to go through the manuals faithfully and all. I lugged home a black ring file and a couple of plastic folders in a most unglam state on Friday, so as to get a grip on the 101 rules and procedures in place and hopefully avoid messing up today. Apparently its wasted effort. *Sighs*

So miffed.

I guess that’s life. Things often don’t come when you want them to. When you’re free, there’s too much time to while away. When stuff comes, they come in a wave and threaten to sweep you off your feet.

Back in school, there may be periods of no homework, zero test, zilch. One wonders why all the teachers turned into saints. But before we know it, tests start popping up aroung the same time and we grip about the poor timing.

In uni for instance, there may be ‘droughts’ with no presentations and then there are periods when multiple deadlines fall on the same day or week. We work overtime to squeeze out reports and slides at the last minute and drive ourselves nuts. Perhaps the FYP tutor may be unlocatable for ages and then makes his presence felt when exam approaches, dealing a double whammy.

In relationships too, perhaps once upon a time you liked this person a lot and the person didn’t like you back or didn’t treat you the way you hoped he would. Perhaps when the person finally looks back, you realise the feeling is no longer the same or vice versa.

Wrong place, wrong person, wrong time. Happens all the time.
Things happening at the right place at the right time are perhaps more the exception than the norm.. *Sigh again*

*pensive*

U-P-D-A-T-I-N-G

Jus a random update... Warning: Yawn factor: 7/10
But pls do read para2.

Its been ages since i last blogged. Haven't been realli inspired to write anythng, much less anything funny. I did actualli start penning a few posts recently, but they all sounded so bland n boring i decided everyone wld rather give it a miss.

First of all, I would like to apologise to all my frenz whom ive mysteriously disappeared on. Really sorry.. like wat lily chan juz said on msn, i've sorta vanished.

Tink im still suffering from some afflictions relating to work
ie. ''adjustment sickness'' and ''information overload''. I'll come out of this shell soon i promise. And to lychee! I'm still keen on getting some exercise.. realli realli!! When ive settled down a bit more...Rite now im still rather disconnected. havent touched the newspapers or watched any soccur! really want to catch the finals at least!

Making minor progress..like finding out where to get my requisite daily dose of cold sugary caffine drink to kip my eyes open and my head up. *faints*

The best one is really far at the aptly named Far East Square where they serve up a mean iced teh tarik.

The next best thing is the really cheap soy + chin chow at Golden Shoe.

Of cos nth beats my fav ice milk tea.

i guess the fit is not quite there in terms of personality. its quite shockin reali. im considered the numbers ger among the 3 eucharians, with an eye for details. but now im far from being meticulous enough.

ive always considered myself an introvert compared to ntumarket and now i feel like an extrovert in my cubicle. So far only one person has dropped by my cubicle just to say Hi, and the person is not even frm my own division.

What's worse is i havent even said Hello to my new neighbour who's filling the cubicle on my left although i really wanted to. Cos i was worried i mite shock my neighbour since no one does such stuff here. *chicken* I promise i wld do it on Mon.

So far juz abt the most exciting thing ive done at work is to zip off to the MNG presale during lunch. I half walked half ran to the MRT station the moment the clock struck 12. Destination: Isetan Orchard outlet cos its nearest to the station. My sis had already been stationed there to queue for the dressing room. I grabbed a few items, tried and then passed them to my sis to pay b4 zipping off. I made it back by 1.15. A bit short-of-breath and very hungry but none the worse.

Only bought 3 items. A camisole, a cheapo bag and 3/4pants at half price. Its just the mentality that one muz take advantage of a sale that drove me there i suppose. *typical kiasuism*

Collaging Spree

Been collaging with Picassa lately, haha.. noticed a slight thing for improvement .. ANy Google staff hearing tis? hahaha.. pics mus be in the same folder to collage.. it wld be more friendly if u can select pics from diff folders.. instead of havin to move them together.. yip..
Neway been in tis pensive and reflective mood the past week, ever since comin back fr BKK. so well..
i tink i'm missin sku already.. and the market.. as all of us will be movin on with our life, wherever it leads us, hopefully in the yrs to come, we can all mit up occassionally to celebrate birthdays, sing KTV, pig out..

Of note: R1 C1, one of the nicest person ever, YongLiang, who offered so much help! R1 C2, Genesis enscounced in the little room behind. Mac coutesy of the Eucharians;) R1, C3 and R2 C1, souvenirs for one another.


R2, C3 and R3, C123, Market showing their power! Thank you:)




Cam-whoring during the break.

BKK with the lilies

As my cheap nail art starts to chip off, i'm miss the tiring but fun trip to BKK. ALbeit a short 4D3N trip, but i managed to totally blow my budget and had to borrow 400 baht from lily chan to pay airport tax.

So what did i buy? As i tallied up my purchases, finally unpacked from the ah-ma canvas bag. (the blue-red-white trusty classic has been updated with mickey mouse prints), half of the stuff are gifts, a quarter are useless knick-knacks.. so what's useful?

my top 3 fav purchases...

....... 99baht 3/4 pants.. i'll be wearing them a lot..floppin ard like an ah-soh.. considerin i got 3 pairs.. lol.. i 'weaved through' leaking canvas sheets to get to the store and had to squeeze pass women while trying to avoid the puddles of water at my feet to get to the pants!

................... a black clutch for 75baht..

.................................. and a 199 baht pair of silly wedges encased in bright pink flowery print.. gasp.. with fantastic service too. I was trying to balance my mocha latte and a box of Dunkin DOnuts and the shopgirl helped me to try on 2 different sizes of the shoe! Nice... Wait til i figure out how to wear it without looking like im being hit by flowers...

and top 3 most memorable experiences were...

..........Praying at the Erawan shrine: Firstly, i got confused as i prayed and wondered which side i missed.. *gasp*, then lily chan and moi were trapped as they started to wash the road around the shrine. Poor lily fong was stuck outside holding one coconut in each hand since she cant go in due to religious reasons. when we finally got out, we were stuck between the sloshing water jets and crazy traffic. I figured our sandals were being sterilised by industrial strength detergent.

...........................Watching a romantic chick-flick which turned out to be a terrible period drama. It was so cliche and lame it got funny. Its basically abt a spoilt brat who toyed with his beautiful childhood friend's feelings and later really fall in love with her. The sex scenes were cringeworthy. The stupid director tried to bring across the idea that the couple had many rendevous at an inn by having various almost identical scenes shown in quick succession, just that the female lead's kimono kept changing.

After some research, the show Spring Snow is actually an adaption of one of the 4 part novels by Yukio Mishima - an acclaimed author who is one of the most influential Japanese Novelist of the 20th century. Its some arty farty stuff apparently..
http://www.wdog.com/rider/writings/springsnow.htm

.....................................and well, seeing all fellow lilies in our worst possible state.. sans-make-up, skin going downhill no thanks to the polluted air and dirt and lily chan is holding onto some blackmail worthy pics..

And what's the worst experience?
Getting home with my bags.
Lugging 3 bags from T1, onto the sky train, to T2, to the MRT, changing trains at Tanah Merah and JE was no easy feat! I had to call my mei mei who had thankfully returned home from sku, bribe her with a pair of cutsy flats and a voodoo doll so that she'll come to the MRT station to help moi get thru the last leg of the journey home.

Setting-off: 19th May Friday

Camera-whoring shamelessly in the room!

Lily Fong and Lily Chan
& their love affair with seafood




Back to Sg, with a crazy amount of luggage for such a short trip... *faints*

I'm proud to declare all my stuff weigh just under 10Kg, banana chips and shoes included!!


ANd of cos .. My beloved 199baht sandals which i haven't figured out how to wear!!

Offensive content: Battle of the Posers

I attended a particularly innovative selection exercise with a certain stat board yesterday and kudos to their HR dept for thinking of such interesting ways to do a massive group interview.

You talk, yabber yabber yabber...
You play a couple of group games
and then you go for a short interview.
Nicely done.

And moi went in feeling good, despite having had difficulty finding the place and after asking passer-bys to no avail . I digress.. so after shelling out 3.80 for a short taxi ride. (morning peak surcharge) 480 metres to be exact, i arrived at a little building tucked somewhere in tiong bahru in one piece, sweating a bit, but nth that a short trip to the loo wont solve.

Upon stepping in, i made a dash to the loo, after which i escounced myself comfortably in a seat, praying that my sweaty palms condition would juz turn itself off for half a day. It didnt.

There were a few potentials there and as 9am approached more ppl streamed in.

The battle of posers had begun.
U can feel it in the air.
Having been warned by Dawn previously abt the pretentiousness of the exercise, I was prepping myself to switch into Poser mode.

Neways i dont tink i can divulge the games here. Lest I get sued or sth, but it doesnt take a genius to figure out that it was basically about teamwork, decision making as a group and leadership qualities.

Moi knew she had to fake it. ALong with all the others in my grp too. If there was a fake-o-meter in the air, it would have exploded.. Hahaha.

And so we all faked.. I tink i did pretty well honestly. I was quite happy with my performance until ...

we were asked if we had any comments abt the game we juz played. I failed that round cos i had no comments. and this NTU HR ger easily took home the tiara for poser queen. SHe actually launched into a PEP TALK.

[QUOTE] I think we all did very well and I am happy with how we worked together as a team. It was great team work and I like the way we supported one another [QUOTE]

I had to put in real effort to get the disgusted look of my face. I hope i did.
Shit.

But anyways, i put in my fair bit of acting too. But im not even a page boy going by the Queen's standards. Faint.

Tuff.. I hope i acted well enuf.

...
..
..
..
..
.
.
.

i figured thats life.. tuff

Awake!

Im still awake! Argh!

Neways after such a depressing post, i figured i'll talk about something more motivating since im still not sleepy.

Well, the final leg of the competition will be over real soon. Just a few more days and i'll close this chapter of my life, feel that ive officially completed my education, go and have fun at the market chalet and start job seeking actively. it'll be great and it had better be! it'll probably be the last time so many ppl can get tog for a chalet...

Rem being on the train after the morning job which was supposed to be sorta a class outing cum 48 buck earning session. marred by the awful awful woman called Joanne - graduate of NTU too!!! She is so mean, so rude, so arrogant... and ... decided not to blog about that day after all, cos i figured we've all bitched and bitched about her that morning and afterwards. and i figure i'll meet many more such ppl in the future so i better learn to cope with it. I digress...

anyway i was saying bye bye to Qiuling and was about to say 'c u in sku' when i realised there's no more sku and i wont be seeing ntu market ppl in class! Sad sia, so this chalet better be GR8!!!

Neways i feel ive challenged myself this sem as its my final sem and although there is only 1 core, i felt real busy. Initially cos of web design GE and zero arty flair me killed myself doing my first webby and learning fireworks. Cos i noe nuts about such stuff, i figure taking the GE would force me to try. and i probably took twice the time my fellow classmates did jus to churn out something passable. But it was worth it, cos i realli felt i learnt something useful.

After which cos of lorealing.. wont be lorealing animore in a few days.
tink i'll get withdrawal symptoms cos by then i'll be JOBLESS and AIMLESS!!

But while im at it, i tink tis whole loreal thing has made me learn alot. We're like really weak in terms of design, IT, etc which are really crucial in this phase.
and that made us so so frustrated. Met the best and the worst kind of people. Begging for help is never never easy. And the let-downs are really quite sad. I figured we take much longer to come up with something. Just to get something presentable out, we have to go thru detours and we owe quite a few very nice people favours too. We've had our share of emotional troughs where group morale is super duper low and highs too.

Nonetheless, we're come so far already so we'll finish off nicely then we'll have no regrets!

And to my dear teammates, well all i can say is thanks for everything, bitching and disagreements included. i'm glad we havent murdered one another yet. better pen it down before i lose my guts or 'mood'. i believe all of us have our own competencies(none of which being design though we TRY) and to lily fong, although sometimes i get damn irritated by your xiaojie-ness, i hafta say you do churn out good 'fluff'. notice i put it in " " ? i can see you doing something like that for Her World or CLEO as beauty editor and having bucketloads of fun doing it! and today when you yipped and yeahed when we got the cutting figured out *hahah* i reali find you quite cute la.. dont throw a shoe!

and to lily chan: im so so thankful you're our 'liason officer' and its a super tuff job, esp with cranky folks out there like 'you know who'. i duno if you're still keen on the tourism and hotel industry but i tink u'll be gr8 at it. natural PR skills there! and i'll grow to like THE SONG. hah!

And both of you are the bestest teammates! i wouldnt exchange you for anyone else!

ps: I know we've all been seeing each other far too much and we'll avoid each other like the plague for a month after May 08!

Farm hustling

Its 4am and im still wide awake. Been playing farm hustle for like 3hrs? Just stoning and 'hustling'. Brain freeze and an aching finger. mousing, clicking, mousing, clickin. Been a long day.. I waited hours just to get the A2 sized boards printed. Gosh.. all becoz its cheap. as in really cheap. so i traded 5 hours of my not so valuable time to save on printing costs.

Yip and Im officially unemployed now. I tell myself to adjust the date to 'results day'. Hmm. But well. Sad to say at the ripe old age of 22 going on 23, im still unsure of what exactly i want to do or rather where my competency is, what exactly im good at? As a kid, ive aspired to be a doctor, astronaut, teacher, journalist, a novelist.. the usual childhood ambitions and the not so usual too.. like fa3 yi1 after watching some tv serial.

By now, i no longer fantasize about what i want to be. more like the bread and butter issues. and hope for a good working environment, wherever that is.. and earning a decent living. life as an adult is no no longer airbrushed. harsh reality beckons and i have to accept my lot in life and make the best out of it.

The world is an ugly place. There are moments of beauty of cos. And we all live for those moments. Or else life would not be worth living.

On TV, with the elections looming, things are getting unpleasant. The mud-slinging, ugly exchanges are going into overkill when they're being repeated over and over. Please report on something else.. please.. Its there on the Newspapers, on radio, on the news. It'll all blow over by Sat..thankfully.

My area is a walk-over, so there is hardly any action. But in contested areas, it seems that dramas are unfolding. On the papers, i contemplate the opposition's 'to-do' list. Although i dont love the PAP to bits or anything, I do find some of the items on the opposition's laundry list laughable.

Example: We'll do away with foreign workers who are taking over our jobs. Then all Singaporeans will have jobs.

Seriously, how can people buy this? But it works! Say it during a rally and the middle-aged and unemployed guy with no skills and a family to feed will believe. Yes it can happen. If all the Bangladesh and Pakistani construction workers who are depressing the wages leave, the company would hire me and pay more $!

But if cheaper foreign labour is eliminated, the factories would pack up too, taking the jobs along.

If healthcare is made free for poorer folks, the rich would be taxed more, and Bukit Timah folks would cash out their bank accounts and go somewhere else with a lower tax rate. And we'll be left with a nation of poor people. Although i agree that health care is really really expensive. and if i get cancer now, i'll probably just die quite fast cos i'll be stuck in a C class ward with no air con and taking generic brand subsidised medicine. I'll have to see a different doctor everytime who will scan thru my record in a minute and dont give 2 hoots about how sick i am cos he has many other patients to see and im too poor to get a dedicated doc.

Sad but true. But that's reality.

Of cos there's income disparity. And its getting bigger. How do i measure it? By looking at the number of people going through rubbish bins. Yes digging in rubbish bins looking for empty drink cans.

I dont know about other estates but I stay in bukit batok and sad to say, ive been seeing them all the time. In recent years, i c more and more. I recognise this old plump auntie who always ambles along with a metal rod which she uses to poke around the rubbish in the bin and fish out the empty drink cans. If i had an 830 class, i'll probably see her 'stopping by' the bus stop while waiting for the bus. Its like a routine and she's kind of more reliable than the bus.

There's another old man who uses an umbrella instead. He'll poke around the bin with the pointy end of the umbrella and i often see him too.

I figure they live in bukit batok as they probably wont have the money to spend on transport. Ive done a rought estimate of how much they make. Assuming that one drink can fetches 5cents, and it takes 5 min to find another dustbin with one empty can on average and they work 10 hrs a day. It works out to ( 60/5=12 cans an hour 12x10=120 cans 120 x 0.05= 6 dollars) Its really sad and i cant help but feel sad everytime i c them. Sometimes on bus 174, i'll think about it after seeing the woman with the metal rod.

And people who make such statements know that such cannot be done. But they still say it. Cos some of the gullible folks out there might actually buy it. Folks like the woman with the metal rod or the old man with the unbrealla. Im appalled.

A silly random thing

This is a totally stupid and random picture, taken one afternoon after walking up and down Bugis and Arab street to get materials for the VDay flower sale. Jingsi took this pic for me when Bus 33 stopped at the traffic junction. We just though it was really funny there and then..*lol*

Its never good enough

I know Ive been taken advantaged of when i stayed 20min past the scheduled time and the mother shoves another assessment book in my face.

Its just never enough. There;s always something new to learn, another exercise to do, more questions to ask.. blah blah..

And its one thing to stay back of my own accord as I feel i want to finish a particular chapter and i dont to leave a few more pages 'hanging there'.. or there's a test on the topic in the next week and the kid still has queries so i feel obliged to finish up.

Its another thing altogether when the mum doesn't show appreciation for my staying back but pops in 20min after the lesson was supposed to end with another assessment book and asked her kid 'Have you asked tuition teacher how to do those questions?'( as if im not around??)

Even her kid felt paiseh and said 'no time already,not urgent one'.

But she persisted, sitting down, waiting for the moment i finish assigning homework and shoved the assessment at me.. repeating, to me this time, ' oh, she tried these questions but some dunno how to do'

and waited expectantly for me to go on from there

I said 'Can i do this next week instead?'

She said ok, but looked rather displeased.

ANd i know ive been taken for granted.
No wonder my NIE friend said never to give your student extra time. It'll become an expectation. Not a bonus.

A thankless job indeed.

This sort of thing actually happens a lot in life. A long time ago, i blogged a 'theory' of starting from a base. Its another example of it at work.

Neways i figure i cant be a good teacher. Not cos i cant teach, but because i cant instil discipline. ANd i think discipline is like 60% of the job. Im too nuah to be a teacher. My threats dont hold. If i say i'll make you do double the work if you dont do my work, chances are i would not exercise that threat. If i say i'll complain to your mum the next time you start daydreaming, chances are i would let it go a few more times cos i'll feel bad abt bad-mouthing the kid and am to be blamed for her getting a scolding.

Hmmmm... Sleepy again..

Sleep is good for the body and soul

Just a random post here.

Its rather scary to wake up one afternoon (yes afternoon) assuming you're alone at home to ...

hear voices.. (i thot mabe im dreaming or something)
then i opened the door and almost ran smack into my mei mei and her friend and the tiny living room looked like a battleground.

They are doing their project (on revamping the Tiong Bahru estate) and apparently the group of 7 had split up the work according to
1. Flats/Houses
2. Carpark and Playground
3. Shops

My mei mei and best friend cum squad mate Po Ching took part 3. Hence what was lying all over the floor on newspapers are miniatures (or attempts at making miniatures) of biscuits, cakes and pretzels for the bakery and bananas for the fruit shop.

That's as far as they went with the clay, plasticine, poster colour and accompanying brushes and water.

I made a meagre contribution by donating my 'hotdog buns' and 'kuehs' miniatures and left them to continue chatting and painting and i went back to ...

sleep some more.
That's what 36 hours of staying awake does to me ... .

My phone has been going coo coo for the longest time and I finally threw the towel and got a new phone at Singtelshop.com BEFORE 21 months. With just 6 weeks left, I gave up the battle to save 100 bucks. This is the first time ever, i change a phone before the 2 yr plan is up.
SO you c, SIngtelshop.com charges 30 bucks less than the hello shops, and they DELIVER to your doorstep.

Sounds nice? yeah it is.. except for one thing..

MY PHONE WAS SPOILT.
Of the hundreds, mabe thousands of Nokia handsets they have, I got the spoilt one.
I got a stupid, wacko bimbo phone! It took like 5 seconds for the screen to 'react' when i slide it open. When i slide it close, the screen would turn blank. Oooh.

ANd it couldn;t read my SIM card either.
So after being put on some crap music and listening to 'ALl our customer svc officers are engaged at the moment' over and over, the CSO who spoke to me said my sim card is not compatible with the new phone.

And so i went to the Hello shop at West Mall at 8pm and waited an hour before i finally got my phone changed. (It can read my sim card)

During which i had to contend with a toddler banging against my paper bag and basically climbing all over the couch we're supposed to be sharing amicably. I escaped to MOS to buy myself a MOS tea instead.

My mei mei's first bottle of perfume

** After Ck One, Calvin Klein is launching mK1, a new fragrance which will be in stores next month, along with a promotional roadshow at Orchard. As part of the pre-launch, customers will be able to purchase a full-sized bottle at less than a fraction of the price --> $19.90. (recommended selling price: $109).
To top it off, the second bottle is free.

Sounds like a great deal? Hurry hurry, while stocks last!


.... .... .... .... .... .... ... ... ...
And so the story goes,
My mei mei was at Orchard with her best pal Poh Ching, when a 'pretty young lass with nice rebonded hair' approached them with this wonderful offer outside TANGS.

After the sales pitch, my mei mei proceded to ask 'Is it real?'. (*Laughs*)
The pretty lass replied ' of cos its real, if fake, i'll fake chanel lah!'

Hence, the 2 stupid naive gers bought 2 bottles. (My mei mei's friend even called her mum to discuss first.) Cos the 2nd is FREE! And parted with 10 bucks each.

>>> >>> >>> >>> >>>

My mei mei showed off her purchase the moment she got home.
"JIE!!!! Do you KNOW how much my CALVIN KLEIN perfume cost???" she screeched.
"Waa, CK? U got so much $$$???
"I show you.."

She flashed the box at me like a trophy! (so auntie rite? haha)

"mK1???" I asked ... "It looks fake to me ..."
"No lah, the ger said ... " (The opening speech --> ** refer to top)

I had to spend a good 15min convincing her how fake her fake perfume is.

Further examination of the packaging ...
Disclaimer at the back of the box

Granted they wrote it in like 5 languages?! And in good English too.

Bloody... the spray just screams 'CHEAP'



Now my mei mei has always claimed to be smart, reason being

1. She always claims to be in the top 8% cos she's in RV, and in dunno the top ? % of RV, hence = one of the top %.

2. She don't need tuition unlike moi who somehow can't do well for MATHS and hence had Maths tuition until my parent couldn't afford to pay the rates when it got more and more expensive in upper sec and jc.

3. Her Chinese teacher thinks she's smart too, sending her for competitons and all.

So well, i concede yes she's smart in certain things but downright dumb at some ..

LIKE THIS ONE

*Laughs*

Oh my .. im really having a field day over this. Pardon me. I was laughing all the way while watching the crap show shen2 yi1 xia2 nu3 as she called her best pal to repeat to her best friend what i had JUST told her. They're even planning to go down to the NPP tomorrow. Both of them are in NPCC. See the irony?

The point is people buy fake Rolex watches and LV bags knowing they are fake, hoping to pass them off as real.
My mei mei bought fake perfume believing its real...

.
.
.
.
.
.

MK ONE???

PS: The above article is written with my mei mei's approval.

By the way it smells awful too. Left this weird metallic smell after the initial fragrance (which is actually quite nice) wore off.

Reflections

I've just been thinking a lot lately.

Wishing somehow ... bright ideas would appear in my mind.
There is a dire need for some bright spark.
I feel parched for ideas, for none has made its way into my brain. It seems to have shrunk to the size of a pea recently. A shrivelled, dried pea.

For one who is not artistically inclined, ART lessons have always been a huge pain for me. Somehow my still-life drawings would be an utter mess. My shadows would be placed at the wrong angle and I would blend the water colours all wrong just to get that particular shade of gray. I couldn't have been happier when i finally bade art lessons farewell at the end of Sec 2.

It is always hard to beg for help. Something I've always felt uncomfortable with. Hence I usually reserve those awkward requests for those whom i feel i know well and would most likely agree to render a helping hand. It is sad to know that people whom you remember to mail a birthday card to every year for many years and bother to help when they asked for it really can't be bothered at all. It is even more sad when they suddenly become bothered when the subject of 'tokens of appreciation' is brought up but just as readily become busy once again when the token is deemed too small to justify the effort.

Whatever the case, it is another learning experience.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At this juncture, i find myself often reflecting on the few years in this course.
Perhaps the most vivid lesson is learnt from the countless projects, or more specifically project mates, people whom you fortunately or unfortunately become a part of a group with.

I will divide them into 4 general catergories.
1. The Do-er
Profile: Can-Do attitude, will be productive, not adverse to work, responsible. Quality work. What you get when you feel your prayers are answered. Of course Do-ers have their quirks too. Some are gan jiong, some critical, some bossy, but whatever the case, they are responsible people who do their part and more when needed.

2. The Free-Rider
This can range from the 'appear a couple of times' to the 'disappearing' type. Some have made quite a name for themselves and garnered a small legion of 'fans'. They make good gossip fodder nonetheless and are usually a convenient topic to bitch about during tea-time and lunch breaks.

3. The Intelligent Slacker
This group is much smarter than the previous, perhaps smarter than all the others. They do 'show face' at meetings but don't really contribute anything. It takes awhile to spot them as they somehow manage to do the minimal amount of work without attracting attention, usually picking the easiest part that requires the least amount of brain work. Give them anything harder and they are likely to produce poor quality stuff which gives the others even more work to undo the damage. The best of the lot manage to piggy-back all the way without ever incurring negative sentiments.

4. The 'I do my part only' type.
This type does enough to get through. But never expect them to compile a report. The difference between this and the Intelligent Slacker is that this group does something useful. They do give quality work unlike the previous group. Just don't ask them to do anything extra. A group with a combination of this and Do-ers can be a good match as Do-ers tend to take care of the extra bits anyway.

5. Anything in between i suppose. Within each category, there are varying degrees of seriousness. Also, one can transit from one group to another for different projects, depending on the team you get and your level of commitment at each instance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well whatever the case, i am glad that ive found myself a couple of fellow eucharians to work with. Despite our bitching, the occassional bickering and all the crap ... Perhaps I've slipped into this comfort zone after working with them for so long. I do take them for granted sometimes, not realising it until I get a rude awakening from category 2 and 3ers once in a while. Life would have been a lot harder without these 2 girls.

Of younger women and older men

Today's Straits Times featured an article about Singaporean men going to their weekend wives in a little island near Batam. In the other world albeit just an hour's boat ride away, 65 year old men fluant their 25 year old 'wives'. At the 5 restaurents in the little alcove, men can say sweet nothings openly to their young 'wives', unabashed. They are after all, only witnessed by others similar to themselves.

Such is an extreme case of the older man and the much younger woman. Extreme but not uncommon. Of course, there are younger men, generally in their 40s to 50s, with a mistress tucked away in Batam.

In modern society, such unions are usually frowned upon. Unless they are Rupert Murdock and such. Society is biased too. Eligible men *read: RICH* remained accepted even if they date a girl half their age. Old men who are only able to date the likes of Indonesian village girls get labels like 'lecherous, dirty old man' slapped on their forehead.

The bottemline is aren't both groups equally lecherous? The difference is: their choice of young women is limited by economic power.

And arent both groups guided by the instinct of looking for a younger beautiful woman?

Unions between men and women of around the same age usually happens when both parties meet each other at a younger age.
A 25 year old guy would find a girl between 20-25 acceptable.
By the time he is 30, he'll still go for someone around 25 years old.
The age difference increases as the guy ages.
A fifty year old bachelor is unlikely to be on the lookout for a 50 year old woman. His acceptable range is probably from 30-40. He'll likely be on the look-out for a younger wife who is, put crudely, still able to reproduce. Despite the fact that women are far more likely to outlive their spouses of the same age, since we live longer.

Women have a short 'shelf life', limited by the ticking of the biological clock. Tick Tock. Whether we care to admit it or not, hitting 35 means the clock is approaching the end of its rounds.

While one can cite the case of Madonna and Guy Richie, in the average world, this is life.

Don't men have it lucky?

Pre-Graduation Blues

Life is filled with choices. 22 years of my life has passed me by and I'm at the brink of being cast out of the life of a student. Once upon a time, I might have balked at taking exams. Rite now, exams seem a lot friendlier than the cut-throat world where one has to contend with bosses, office politics and such. Suddenly school is so much more benign, less stressful and simpler. I have stepped out once in a while during the numerous temp jobs and an internship, but they are not the real thing. Little tiptoes, but I've never really put my foot into it.

What should I do next?
Get a job of course... No job = no $ . But what job?
I'm still unemployed as it is. Hmmm..

Just a random case of pre-graduation jitters.
.....................................................................................................................................................................

On a lighter note,
moi has been discussing this topic with a few frenz recently.
If moi enters the private sector, I must go source for a prospective husband in the civil service.
if moi enters the public sector, then I better list down "working in private sector" as a pre-requisite in my SDU form.

Why??
Public sector --> Assurance of a stable income ie. Iron Rice Bowl (meaning the housing loan will be paid and there's a roof above your head) Medical benefits and such. Moreover, you can always holiday in a gar-ment 'sponsered' chalet even if you plunge into a financial crisis or inter-country travel comes to a standstill due to SARS or Bird Flu.

Private --> Deemed to be more dynamic, more room for growth = Bigger paychecks. Also cutthroat and there is no safety net. Be prepared to be trimmed off during economic downturns and be irrelevant at 40.

Another set of equations:
Public + Public = Boring
private + private = what if both no job?
Public+ Private = just nice

Career Fair 2006 at SUNTEC (once again)

Today, 4 jobless (thus far) marketing girls from NTU decided to pop by the career fair at Suntec Convention Hall to try our luck.

As it turns out, its another trip which didn't fulfil its initial objective....

More than half the hall's filled by 'educational booths', plugging overseas education, distance learning, NTU's there too... So it isn't really a "Career" Career fair.
Moi here can't afford to stay a student anymore anyway. I figure it'll take many many years to recoup the losses spent on pursuing my very generic certs as it is.

We put our names down in a few irrelevant organisations and jobstreet.com so as to get a career profiling session. (However that didn't happen as the career profiling corner seems to shut down periodically.)

We've been advised to take up jobs as Spa Therapists and such. Not that I have anything against Spa Therapist but I really can't picture myself doing a scrub or massage... Of cos beggars can't be choosers either and im very much unemployed. So far the 10 odd resumes ive submitted have disappearered without a trace. Organisations when spammed with too much email from jobless applicants tend to chuck them into the virtual bin just as fast.

Neways despite the initial disappointment, we made our trip not a wasted one by being sheer kian peng and kiasu Singaporeans. My loot includes a free mini cup and saucer which i later chucked in the bin and a miniature carnation condensed milk which i got for flinging rubber bands at a board. *Cringe* We also counted the number of cans of carnation milk in the display and estimated the price of 2 outfits for a lucky dip.

Counting counting ...

At the counter set up to promote the retail and services industry, as long as we fill up a form for a job in the retail sector, we'll be entitled to free nail service, pic and make-up. Hence my nails are painted a shade called "BROWN COW", courtesy of VOXY Nails. Miss Chan's french manicurist is amazing. She can paint a perfect line with the brush. *Bloody* The photos are not that well taken though (mainly due to the state of my hair. I really need to straighten it out or tame it..anything.. but im really too chicken) but the carnation milk can be put to good use to spice up my Teh Kosong/ Kopi Kosong.

And that sums up an afternoon at the "Career" Fair.

Clockwise from top-left: Jingsi n Miss chan doing her nails,

3 free manis,rubber-band flinging, elv n moi while waiting.

PS: And guess what? We spied a certain guy carrying one BOX of $2 toys to collect a set of 12 characters. Multiply that by 20 = $40! And moi here partook in the very shiok process of opening a few boxes. ANother First. There's always something new to experience everyday!

BEAUTY ASIA

The 3 Eucharians arrived at Suntec City Convention Hall at 4pm on Wed MAr 01 hoping that we would not be denied entry to SpaAsia - A SPA and Beauty CONVENTION. It had specified that its for trade customers and moi must be properly attired. The impression was that its some rather formal thing with professionals pitching their wares. We had come in the hope of gathering some nuggets of good info and tips on how to market beauty products.



The claim: Quote directly from SpaAsia's website ...
"Singapore - Over S$5 million in deals were transacted at BeautyAsia 2005, the region’s most established trade show for the beauty industry. Running in its 9th year, BeautyAsia 2005 concluded its most successful exhibition yet with a total of 10,000 trade visitors over three days, an 50 per cent increase from last year. "

Alas, when we got there, the first sign of something amiss was a lady asking me how to fill in the 'VISITOR REGISTRATION' form in mandarin. 'oh well, she must be a Beauty Advisor in a neighbourhood beauty salon' we thought.

The 2nd sign, a middle aged woman dressed in orange cut the queue and went straight to the front to register.

The 3rd sign.. Okies there is no 3rd sign.. cos the moment we stepped in, we could see psuedo BAs handing out pamplets. There was a particular ger in this bathrobe like thing. (I suppose as long as its white and bears some resemblance to a lab coat - its PROFESSIONAL.)

It was a cross between Lucky Plaza and Beauty World Shopping Centre. Most of the booths were manned by Malaysian beauty companies hawking anything from 24 K Carat GOLD Infused face cream to Flower Petal Infused gel (with real flower petals floating inside the jar) The 'BAs' mostly spoke in Malaysian accented Mandarin and we received a sales pitch in Mandarin about how lin1 ba1 zu3 sai1 will cause ru3 ai2 (meaning: blockage in the lymphatic system will give rise to breast cancer) and how her bust enhancing lotion will unclog our blocked lymph nodes for a boost to the sagging bust line. *faints*

BTW, I was about a head taller than her and i could see a hint of HER cleavage peeking from her V-neck top whenever i looked down. Yes she does have a bit and has rather creamy smooth skin ah hem there, and her gold chain with a pendant disappearing into ah hem there perhaps attests to the efficacy of her lotion??

The professional hair show showcasing the latest hair cutting techique had the emcee pitching something along the line of 'heavier scissors showing the hairstylist has more jin1 liang3' (loosely translated: substance/ability/skills) and the hairstylist was cutting a wig resting on the head of a mannequinn.

Overall a total waste of time but quite entertaining in a morbid way. With a few laughs and cringes throw in.

My Day As a Receptionist

Tue 10:00am
Read SMS from Dawn: 33, u want a temp job TODAY until 5.30pm? it pays $6.50/hr. Essentially, u're a receptionist4the day. Zoboh one..can read mags&file nails.It's near jurong.. U want?

Telephone conversation:
"But i don't have experience can??"
"No prob, they will teach" said the job agency lady.
"okies I'll do it"

As I was already awake and in the midst of getting ready for my LAST tuition session with a certain customer who is only available on Tue 11am, i decided that the LAST session can wait one more week.( after all i've waited so many weeks already.)

Hence I found myself at 11 International Business Park at 10:47am. (Which is near CREATIVE.) Its really near, cab fare only $4.20 (can claim)

Well, I wore a rather ehm.. bright orange jacket (compulsory attire for all the office ladies.. haha)
tink their company got some sort of colour coding. Production line wear dark blue. I spied some greenish shirts too i tink. *Haha*

ANd contrary to the sms, there was no time to file nails. (not that i packed along a nail buffer of cos)

I had 5 duties for the day.
An attachment student from poly who took over as recep in the morning stayed with moi and taught me the stuff till lunch time. We sorta 'discovered' little things about the phone routing system as we went along. *Laughs*

1a. Answer calls. Transfer calls to the relevant extension. (This got tricky when the caller had only a name but no extension or department. I referred to a list but not all the names are there, and some names are written in initials.)

1b. Make international calls on behalf of staff, then route it back to the staff who requested the call once its connected and the relevant party found. (Quite interesting this one. Esp calls to Thailand. The voice recording system is rather 'melodious'. Taiwan also polite. China got communication problem. Different brand of Chinese and sometimes only can find the person if u say the chinese name. As in Leong San San cannot find. Liang Shan Shan then can. Same problem when they call in looking for someone.)

2a. Pick up calls and answer queries on "How to Get here"/"DO you hire malaysians"/ "My English not good can employ?"/"Pay How Much"? from job seekers. Cos they advertised for Lab Assistant and Storeman the day b4 on classifieds.
The answer to all of the above, as instructed was --> GIve address, landmark, advise them to take cab $3.00 from JE only, and the rest must come for walk-in interview.

2b. Upon arrival, give job seekers a form to fill in then call HR after gathering every 4-5 people.

3. Visitor come, ask them to fill in logbook, exchange ID for visitor pass.
Vendor come, ask them to fill in logbook, exchange ID for vendor pass.

4. People come and leave things at the counter, put them aside, note down who left what if required.

5. Paging. I kinda like this one once I got over the initial hesitation.. Haha.. Mabe I do like hearing my own voice.
In a building, folks can't find one another. Like hide and seek.
So they call the recep and say "Help me page for XX"
The script is " Paging for (XX)x2, please call extension 110 ( yao yao ling) (must repeat in chinese) Xie Xie (Thank you)"
Variations are --> Please proceed to the lobby, proceed to canteen.. blah blah..

One notable one came from the production line side.. They call to ask which AH BAO is being paged. Cos apparently there's quite a few Ah Baos.. Turns out its Si Wen Bao they want. (Translate to polite Bao)

Yip, that sums it up.
And I wouldn't have survived the day without help from the SECURITY GUARD. Yes. SECURITY GUARD. He is what the PAP advocates. Huo2 Dao4 Lao3 Xue2 Dao4 Lao3. Multi-tasking type. He was so nice and helpful. (Not the sit there drink milo read newspaper, tian1 ta1 xia4 lai2 not his business kind.)

As a recep must essentially be an octopus and I'm a fledging one, when my arms get tangled, he'll pop into the counter to help me. He'll distribute the visitor passes when calls and people come in at the same time, distribute application forms to job seekers... etc.. and he even got moi a cup of coke from the vending machine cos he say talk so much must drink cold drink.

WAhhh.. If he's 30 years younger I would fall in love with him!!

Took a pic with him on hp, but hp KNN one, can't upload, if i manage to get it uploaded
will post it here. Overall an interesting day with nice people and quite fun too!

3364

That's the number i betted on yesterday, my first bet of the year. The third ticket in all of my 22 years.

WHy?
I literally Kan na sai yesterday during break time
when a rectum-less bird conveniently dropped a bomb on moi in the canteen.
We had adjorned to canteen B halfway through GMS Seminar and moi had just gotten a small plate of bee hoon to 'complement' my fried carrot cakes when ...

Splat..
SOme murky greenish brown goo landed on my wrist.

Tramutised, I screamed "Ahh.. Someone save me!"
(or sth along that line.. ALthough ELv had since informed me my scream wasn't powerful enuf to justify that of bird poo.. cos she thot a fly had landed on me instead.)

Incidentally, no one at the table had tissue paper. And the first toilet I went to didn't have any more soap in the dispenser. I washed my hands, up till my elbow, THRICE in another toilet which had soap.

Meanwhile, Dawn had come up with the magic numbers.
33 for moi, 6 cos we were sitting in front of stall number 6. 4 for sai (shit)
And i announced it was time to join the aunties and cheko peks at Singapore Pools.

Later I really did place a bet at Jurong Point. $2 big $2 small.

Today, the results of the lottery is



Scary aint it?

My Day/Nite as a Flower Ger

Now for the last installment of the 'flower series', I shall relate my experience as a florist.
After this particular experience, I have come to a few conclusions about life in general.
1. Expect the unexpected.
2. Expect the worst.
3. Anything is possible.

I kinda amazed myself really and am actually quite proud of my persevering spirit. ha!
I spent a nite without sleep so as to save my ass not disappoint the guys who need to present bouquets to their Dears on Valentine's.

Armed with 2 Mushroom mayos + 1 Chicken pie from Han's and a Red Pearl Milk Tea from Sweettalk, I got down to work.

First, remove the pesky thorns from the stems. You never know how prickly they can be until you have to slice them off. *Ouch* I think it's akin to removing scales from fish. If you've only ever eaten fish, you'll never realise the effort that goes behind scraping those scales off. (An observation: Red roses tend to have much lesser thorns than pink ones for some strange reason ...)

Next, arrange the stems into bouquets, along with Lavender and Baby's Breath, then wrap them up with layers of 'tissue'.

Sounds easy doesn't it? You bet.

By 3 am I was tired and frustrated.

By 6, I was a goner. My left hand ached from clasping the stems tightly while arranging them, and my right thumb and forefinger hurt from trimming too many stubborn stems with scissors. And for some strange reason, my hands itched. (tink its due to prolonged contact with the stems.. Most prob cos they're laced with pesticides.)

I believe I elevated myself from the ranks of ehm..."No rank" to "Amateur" to "Semi Pro" over the course of a single night, completing almost 10 bouquets. Any florists out there need temps?

Yup, and here are some of the results!
















Notice the disparity in sizes in the bouquet below? Major headache...
Supposed to be pink and white but the white turned out to be pale yellow. *Panics*
Though the supplier insisted its 'ivory white'! My foot!
(Moi is aware that it does look kinda whitish on the pic, but I assure you that's the effect of a flash. Compare it to the color of the baby's breath around it and the difference is apparent)
Thank goodness the customers were not too fussy. *Phew*


A bouquet of 39, from a loving boyfriend.
Moi has since 'affectionately' named it the 'Monster Cannonball'.
Thot bubble when tying this one... 'Gf's arm would ache after one nite of lugging this around. And if she uses both hands to carry this, then no hand left to hold Bf's hand' *Laughs*

Another view:

And all these affort for a profit of about 100 bucks each for biz partner and moi, minus transport, minus cost.. etc.. lesser if i factor in the mushroom mayos.. hah!
I figure my hourly pay is less than 4 bucks. but it was quite a learning experience indeed.

Marcom disaster!

Today, I finally tended to the 'flower' booth after abandoning my poor partner to wilt by herself for 2 consecutive days. (Sorry ger...)

After a couple of hiccups in setting up, I started to stake my territory on the shared 'booth' ... Armed with some 'props' which i had unearthed ...

1. Small Forever Frenz Bear holding a heart

2. "Matching" Forever Frenz Card holding 'blossoms'

3. Cheesy n Shiny Heart shaped box-cover for the bear to 'sit' on

4. A shiny purplish sash i never wore. (As table-cloth)

5. Very fake heart-shaped pendent n chain

6. Faux Jewellery boxes with no brand names on them (so we won't be advertising for Perlini's)

7. Beads to sprinkle over the table cloth

And some props my partner had unearthed... Bear (sitting atop a small heart cushion), Heart-shaped handicrafts, some more faux boxes with no brand ...
(The above being a non-exhaustive list.)

I began an attempt to be artistic in ehm.. let's juz say 'table decor'.
Objective: To create a 'Valentiny' mood.

Apparently moi's attempt worked so well that No one could tell I was selling flowers!
ANd girls were stopping by to

... touch the pendents
... touch the bears
and *shrivels* touch the beads

What is it with females who just have to finger everything that appears in their line of sight??

WRONG target audience
WRONG message
WRONG Marcom

If Lam Shun Yin sees, he'll prolly Parkinson...

In the end moi cannot take it, asked my 'neighbour' to look after my side too and went to Popular to get a black board as backing..
Then i begged my neighbour and a passing siwei to write in BIG FAT FONT on yellow paper

"FLOWERS FOR SALE!"

"A DOZEN AT $35"

and stuck em onto the board along with the flower pics on a borrowed easel.

Pics later...

In the Mood for Love

I met my friend at Jurong Point for lunch a few hours ago.After the influx of Chinese New Year goodies, there is something else to celebrate. Its an unofficial holiday. But in no way less influential.

A quick stroll around the mall and Valentine's Day will be screeching in your face creeping up on you. There is no way you can miss the profusion of pink, heart-shaped trinklets and amorous words being marketed everywhere. There is a spike in the amount of useless impossibly cute soft toys like baby seals (in a pair), baby hedgehogs holding red hearts (in a pair), and cuddly turtles (two to go of cos).
Jewellery stores print glossy pamphlets with cliche themes like "LOVE STORY" (Goldheart) and "ROMANTIC EXPRESSIONS" (LEE HWA)and chuck them into the hands of browsers like moi and gal pal as we stopped by the window display, eager to cash in on the season of love.

Moi and gal pal made an observation with the 2 booklets which had found their way into our hands, in between gulps of Iced Milk Tea at Mos Burger. Both booklets had many pages filled with female jewellery, were doused with an unhealthy supply of hearts and hair-raising lines like 'Pink Passion', 'Love is everywhere' and TAKE THIS --> 'Love is the air i breathe' *oh my gawd! Gasps for air*
And both had 1 page featuring jewellery for MEN (one page with an ugly steel bracelet and ugly steel ring),no more no less. Queer isn't it?

Moi came to the following conclusion:

"Dear I love you and despite knowing that I've fallen pray to a giant marketing ploy, I'm willing to fork out $688(hypothetical sum--> add all the zeros you want) to buy you this bracelet/ring/pendant..."

"Oh Dear, I love you too, and to show my commitment and love for you, I shall give you a cheap and ugly ring too (@ $68)

Simple mathematics will tell you that the guy got a very bad deal. But hey, love can't be measured by $$ right?

Let me hypothesize where the remaining sum went.
33's equation:
$688 ring = $68 ring + **GROOMING
**GROOMING (cos guys like their gers to be pretty and pretty costs $$)

**GROOMING = FACIAL(so that you won't see clogged pores on my face)
+ REBONDING/PERM(so that i have nice tresses for YOU EVERYDAY) +
[THE NEW DRESS + THE NEW HEELS + THE NEW LINGERIE +
NEW LIPSTICK + XXX] (I dress up for YOU on this SPECIAL DAY)

Add it all up and both sides of the equation will balance.

Now on to another point ...

Anyone who has brains the size of a pea pod will know that Valentine's DAY is the Grand Dame of Marketing Ploys. We also know the 'St. Valentine sacrificed his life' shit is crap. Maybe once upon a time, it was really that, but with evil marketers around *laughs*, it has become a day to cash in on stingy hapless Singapore men, an annual opportunity for florists to cover their asses for the whole year.

Sometimes Valentine's day is thinly veiled by a more politically correct 'Friendship Day'and CCAS/hall commitees/Non-profit organizations/Anyone who needs $/ usually use this term when canvassing for funds. But being politically correct also means casting the net wider isn't it? After all not everyone has a date, but everyone has friends!

SO why are we still dumb enough to be forcing stingy men letting bfs/husbands pay through their noses for roses that wilt in a few days or pairs of baby hedgehogs that end up collecting dust?

33's hypothesis:
Cos women like to compete and few can bear the loss of 'face'.

When we were kids, we compared our precious collections of Strawberry Shortcakes/Barbies/Polly Pockets/Cupcakes (Not as phenomenal as the rest, but I absolutely LOVED the way the skirt flips over *i know it sounds sick* and turns the doll into a ..ehm yes.. a Cupcake. But my ma refused to buy me any so I would go to my friend's house to play.)*Lol*

Then came PSLE, Os and As.

Then we compare boyfriends.

Then husbands.

Then we become our mums and compare our kids' PSLE.

Its a cycle that goes round and round.

.. Therefore on the special day of pink passionate hearts... We compete to see how dearly our Dears love us. This has developed into such a scary phenomenom i remember from last year's Straits Times that women have even gone to the extent of delivering flowers to themselves at the office so as to save face.

The qualifying round is a date of cos.
The semi finals will be the size of your bouquet.
Those who make it into the finals will compare diamonds.

Whether its a rock or 'diamond dust' or ehm Perlini's (Only boys who cannot watch M-18 shows have student concession) will determine where you rank this year. Anything with Tiffany on it will automatically elevate you to the rank of 'show-it-off with a flutter of your fingers' while Perlini's is the ultimate nightmare rivalled only by a hedgehog.

Well at the end of the day, those who have the last laugh are evil marketers of cos. *Evil laughs*

Dynamic Duo

My new(turning stale though) student is the richest student thus far in terms of the house he lives in, and the spare car in his driveway.
(yes yes i know there are closet millionaires hiding in HDB flats)
Landed is landed is landed. To own a piece of land in Singapore means you must have some spare cash in your pocket. Unless you're one those dumb enough to sell your soul to the bank in exchange for 10 credit lines of cos.

For some strange reason, the 'poorer' students generally are the ones who bother to give me a glass of water, pay their fees on time. The parents are also more sui2 bian4 about timing and don't complain.

With this student, I've met my worse yet.
Worst student, worst parent. The mother of all combinations. The duo from hell.

Boy, 15: Don't know anything. He can't even do Sec 2 maths. I doubt even Sec 1.
Example: -2 x -2 = -4.
-3 + 2 = -5
????????????????????????? I went blank!
Throw in an attitude like shit, which leaves me asking and answering my own questions.
He'll keep quiet and give me this really frustrated expression whenever I ask him something.
I can picture myself stretching my arms over and putting my hands around his neck.

His Mum, accomplice in crime.
Flashed me a wallet full of notes during lesson one, when she paid me for the assessments.
Like 1k notes. Not Thai Baht i swear.

This woman has something to pick on each time.
Before Lesson 1, she called and said her son always do assessments with tutors, must buy assessments. *Thought bubble: Oh well, this kid must be doing a lot of work* (The agent had said he's in Express stream.)

Upon arrival, he's in Normal Technical. Yup. Okie fine, normal technical it is. I've taught a kid in Normal before, no sweat. Until of cos I realised he's the extreme type.

Lesson 1: "He haven't bought his Maths text yet. You help him buy lor."
Okie fine...

Missing Lesson 2: She called me at 9am. Tuition supposed to be 11am. And said he's got a fever.
Come next Tuesday 11am.

Lesson 2: "Mdm Lee, it appears that his Maths is not Sec 3 standard. Maybe I should teach him Sec 2 stuff first? Or else its very hard to explain Sec 3 concepts."

"You give him difficult questions. He just started Sec 3, of cos cannot do Sec 3 questions."
KNN! *Thot bubble* Sec 3 don't do Sec 3? Then finish Sec 3 do Sec 3 is it?? Sec 1 then take PSLE?

To top it off, she once again mentioned that I ought to do assessment and not textbook.
*Thot bubble* Yes you B**ch. Your stupid son can't even get his number line right.
#Fact: I had checked with Popular and Normal Technical Sec 3 Maths only has ONE assessment book. ONE. Market size too small. No demand no supply. And its a revision test paper kind, not topic by topic kind.

Missing Lesson 3: Called on Monday night: Got family stuff to attend to. You come next Tue 11am. She is freakishly adamant about only having lesson on Tuesday 11am. No more no less, no change of timing is allowed, no other day is suitable for her precious son.

Missing Lesson 3 again: Called at 9am again. My son has stomachache.

Lesson 3: TODAY. She really breaks all records.
Upon arrival, before her precious baby descends the flight of stairs, she flipped open the assessment and said, "You give him too much homework, he has no time to finish"
(*He left most things blank*)
I went 'Huh? I gave him only 2 pages of English...
(Fact: I gave him 2 pages of English + Maths text Exercise Qn1 a b c d, Qn2 a b c d, Qn4 and Qn5.
And he had like 3 freaking weeks?)
Before I could finish, she cut me off and went .. " You tear off his answer keys"
"Ehm, I always do that with my students actually"
"Its not good to tear a book, I had MANY tutors before and NO ONE tore the book"
Argh!!

I want to quit and kick that fat rich ass of hers!
But i can't quit. Y? Cos the first month's pay from another student is still with the agency. If I quit this one, before 4 lessons, they're bound to hold my $.

Bloody. Fuck. This totally sucks.

Western Food @ Marina Food Loft

Disclaimer** Moi does not take any responsibility for loss of potential earnings.

That said, moi will urge you to look at the pics youself and unless you are ...

a. On a diet
b. A gross under-eater
c. Fancy a Kid's meal

Boycott the Western Food Stall at Marina Food Loft. It sells spagetti and some mee too.
For $5.50, you can get a chicken hotplate with rice, some ikan billis, and a few pieces of Kim Chi at the Korean food stall.

For $5.50 at the Western food stall, you'll get a rather pathetic "Breaded Dory Fish"
For comparison, I've placed the fish and half a slice of garlic bread side by side. Observe the thickness. Remember its BREADED dory fish? Remove the flour and what's left of the fish? Haha!

The very first time!

I gave my very first time to my camp GL from years ago. My very first time attending the wedding dinner of a friend. My very first red letter bomb!!!

It was a simple affair. SImple but still sweet. I figured he must have gone to the gym everyday for many many days to prep for this dinner.. because frankly.. yesterday was the leanest he had been in a long time i think.. haha.. Not only women go for facials and diet to prepare for their big day. Men too must pump some iron and shed that belly to look good in THE suit.

The bride was radiant. Happy and radiant. Her skin fab, her hair very very long and rebonded. And she made me feel BIG, not BIG ehm, but BIG sized when I shook her hand, cos her hand was so tiny and soft that I felt my hand enveloped hers! (So shocked! Aahhh!)

By the way, moi here got my money's worth with a double serving of shark's fin soup cos 2 girls from our table 'migrated' to another table. So table 13 had 8 instead of 10 people, hence extras of everything.. Since the folks at table 13 all knew moi has a healthy appetite, one of whom very kindly/unkindly reminded everyone with "Remember who was the one who always got hungry during Insinyur Camp??", I was given "priority" to 2nd helpings. It was very shiok when everyone dispensed with the overdose of formality you get during dinners like this and tucked in normally. Esp the prawns bit, thankfully nobody act niang with chopsticks and spoil market, else it would have taken forever to shell one pathetic prawn!

Holding the box of wedding choc like a goon!
While watching the video clip of the bride and groom, it seemed so amazing that somehow fate brought 2 people together, they fall in love and decide to spend the rest of their lives together. The groom had put together the clip himself, not exactly the most pro thing you see, but its made with a lot of love. The last line sums it all up simply with "The happiest thing in life is to love and be loved in return".

Sitting there with the same group of people I knew 4 years ago, it dawned on me just how much we had grown in 4 years and how fast time really flies.

On a lighter note, I finally laid my hands on the promised box of Krispy Cream Donuts. The 4 donuts had barely survived the journey back and a couple of them looked rather deflated by the time I got it. I polished them off anyway that night, AFTER the wedding dinner!, cos I figured they won't last another night. Despite the less than fantastic condition, the cream filled donut with chocolate coating on top tasted great. Absolutely sinful stuff! Maybe I'm deluded but i think i did compensate with a super duper long walk.

65mins

Its been a long while since the last post...

Today i did a couple of queer things.
1. I chased after a lecturer in pointy pumps(not the best shoes to run in), along with my fellow Eucharisian ...
Tink i freaked Gupta out a little as i went 'clop' clop' 'clop' down the corridor.
He kept going as I 'cloped' away behind him, the echos reverberating off the empty corridor.
Finally, he twisted his head back 120degrees
and saw a crazed looking moi waving madly at him.

2. I spent 65mins at the void deck at 11pm, in between practising my 'Lancome' speech (thus getting really queer stares from passer-bys) and peering at a kitten at the stairway.

In this time, it changed its 'location' like 5 times.
But its movement was confined to a radius of 3metres.

It barely managed to hop across a small drain and stayed on a grass patch for about 5 mins,
before deciding that it wanted to get back to the other side

Hence it stood tentatively at the edge of the drain for a while before barely leaping across it again. (i figured it got scared in the darker spot, since a fat rat would probably be larger than it)

It proceeded to stay at the foot of the stairs for a long while.. (at a strategic location where if you're walking down the stairs and don't open your eyes big enough, you might just flatten it with a foot (again, bigger than it if you're a size 8 and above)

Finally it moved a few steps to this boarded up area right beside the stairs landing and proceeded to put its head and a tiny paw through a small opening between the metal boards.
It chickened out and withdrew the head and paw.
Put back again
Repeated the process again and again..
Finally it settled down and stayed put.

And i would like to thank my two very special frenz for yakking on the phone and rehearsing with moi during this period. Ha!