The day thus far.

Guess what? I went to buy some more card stocks today. Crazy me! Going bongkus over paper and stuff. Could not stop thinking about it all day and grabbing ideas from all over for my layouts. If this is not addiction, I do not know what is.

Anyway, I came home to an empty closet as mum has packed most of my clothes and stashed those that I need in her closet. Sounds strange but that was to facilitate our part-time help to pack. Now I have got to shift my clothes back :P

Now that we are really going to shift in six days, feel a little numb and sad that I would be leaving this place. I just have to convince myself that it is for a bigger room. That should shut myself up!

What a week (as I do not know how else to name this post)

It has been a crazy week so far, and I mean crazy. My cough would not go away and I talk with hardly any voice. Then last night, my car had the bad luck of going over this big metal plate with a nail and make me panic and call AA to replace a flat tyre.

It was something most unfortunate and I wished, one I would never encounter (having a flat tyre while driving, that is). It had to happen somehow. Just like the other time, a long time ago, when I said, I would never be caught dead without a foldable umbrella in China because their toilets have no doors. I was caught without a foldable umbrella when I went o China and I used toilets with no doors.

Well, all I can say is that I survived. I survived the door-less toilet and I survived the wait for the AA man to come change my tyres.

All these, and studies; rushing around like a mad dog and nursing my cough, I am glad that I passed my first module with not-so-bad results at all. Well, it is not a difficult module at all. After this module, the holiday ends and the (hopefully not) nightmare begins.

I wish the weekend will come soon! Going to my cousin's house again. This time, I am going for a sleepover. Haven't done that in years! The last sleepover...well, let's just say we had an adventure. Hahaha!

A lazy Saturday

This would just be an ordinary post, about another ordinary Saturday.

I went down to pay the 'down payment' for my school fees and then went to eat brunch at Makarios at the National Library Building (Level 3).

It has a nice quiet environment. Very quiet. We were the only ones there. Well, it was after all 11 am. It was just ordinary spaghetti carbonara, but the ham was good ham. I could taste it. Not too salty and just the right amount of fat.

However, I would recommend that one should go there more for it's coffee and chicken pie as they are more reasonably priced and the pastry is much better than the cafe at level one. The plat principal (main course in french)costs are very french; on the expensive end. It is very nice but I will only eat there again when I am feeling very rich or when I really feel like pampering myself.

Went to Vivo after that. Spent an hour or so at Page One choosing my 2009 diary/calendar/organiser. Haha! Hopefully this sort of enthusiasm will last me throughout my two years of study.

Leisurely, leisurely

After work today, I went to shop at Parkway Parade: a place that is away from all ERPs and what-not's.

I had a very leisurely afternoon, even though my meeting had pushed my personal time back an hour. I also know that, this would not last any much longer. This Friday, I will be going full-time again.

Well, what was the opportunity cost? I would spend less money and get a normal five-day work week. Plus, I think I will be younger at heart because of the people I face everyday. That means, hopefully, I would be a happier person overall. Hee, hee.

On the other hand though, I am not sure how well I can cope when school starts. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Still on the subject of toilets

Yesterday, I saw this notice displayed on the walls of the Ladies. It said "Please flush the toilet after use. Thank you for your consideration".

I thought (and still think) it sounds funny. I just thought that it would sound more grammatically correct if it had been "Thank you for being considerate".

Oh well... .

How do you know that I am really tired?

When I cannot express myself properly in Mandarin, that means my head is not functioning properly already. Haha.

Reason being that I cannot mentally translate from English, to what I can say in Mandarin. You will hear me go "Erm, erm..." and often, using the wrong phrases.

When that happens, mum will tell me that she actually understands English and she would rather I spoke to her in English. Gets too tedious for her to try to fathom what I am trying to say :P

Planning for the weekend again

Making big plans again for the weekend.

I have already got my Friday night mapped out so there's only Saturday and Sunday left.

Saturday:
Karaoke in the afternoon.
Clubbing most probably at M.O.S or St James at night.

Sunday:
Probably meeting up with friend who came back from States again coz I already miss her kids. Plus she will be leaving soon. This time not too far though, for she will be going back to India with her in-laws. I might even fly there to see her some time. This is lunch-time plan.

Evening? No plan yet. Maybe some me time again. Or dinner with my mum. That is, if she doesn't already have plans.

I happen to have pretty happening parents lor. Sometimes when I want to have dinner with my Dad, he will tell me that he has got some karaoke somewhere, at some person's house. Yes1 That friend of his converted the attic into a fully equipped karaoke room! Woah!

Happy plans for the weekend

I am so going to pack myself with activities that I cannot even remember that I am unhappy.

Tonight, I am going to feed the cats after work and I am even contemplating watching movie, alone. Thinking of watching Ironman. I will be world's biggest mountain tortoise (equivalent to country bumpkin)if I didn't.

Then tomorrow, after mass, going to go East Coast to cycle with friends. Might even blade if I have the guts :) No plans for the afternoon but I might lunch with them before heading home.

Evening will be time spent with Kelly. Yes, we are still on talking terms despite all the grumbles. We are going for dinner, even though I do not know where yet. I would not be surprised if it is cancelled last minute though. Kekekeke....

Well, even if I kena aeroplane (a term that means one has been stood up), I might still bring a book and go sit at some cafe to while my time away. Need to re-learn how to spend time alone too :)

The most effective way to keep the cats quiet

I have let the cats out on my own once in a very few while when I am at my little rented place. I am not too fond of doing that though because I do not know when I am not able to handle them and I have this fear that I may not be able to get them back to their rooms.

If it were a dog, it would be easy peazy. Cats have claws. They have attitude too. Not that my housemate's cats are that fierce. They are mild in comparison to some others.

Anyhow, when they are cooped up, Mao Mao meows non-stop. The more I tell him to stop, the more he meows. He is quite the long-winded cat, you know and he answers back. In a way, quite gentlemanly, but quite irritating at times, after a long day's work. On some days, he would stop if I did not reply but lately, the poor thing is dying to be let out.

I have found the perfect way to stop him from creating all that ruckus: Bring out the vacuum cleaner. This was an idea that my housemate gave. Recently, she was not able to mop the floor and had asked her mum over for some help and when her mum took out the vacuum cleaner, the cats went all quiet. Both hate it. Whenever we clean the house on the weekends, Mao will hide behind the washing machine while Dou will hide in one corner and start purring himself for self-comfort.

I tried it out 2 nights ago, and it worked! I brought the vacuum cleaner out, made some noise with the suction tubes (or whatever you call it) just outside their door and their was peace and quiet until my housemate came home.

Of course, once my housemate came home, Mao started to complain. We wouldn't know what he is complaining about but from the tone, anyone can recognise that he was not happy that I pulled a vacuum cleaner on him. It was almost like he was saying that it was a low down dirty trick that I pulled on him.

Oh, but there are no grudges with this cat. Once he is let out, he will walk all over the house, rub against my feet like nobody's business (like he is claiming his property) and purr away while I stroke his chin. The cutest part is when he hides behind the organza curtains, sitting very still, thinking that nobody can see him. When in actual fact, the curtains are so sheer that both of us burst out laughing just looking at his actions.

SMRT amusement park

This park will not have any other rides, other than the SMRT trains that we are so used to by now. It will twine and intertwine and the trains will have no seats.

How to play the game? Pack as many people into the train as possible at any one point of time. Prams are accepted on board the train ride while bicycles are not. Not even foldable ones. Nobody is to hold on to anything, even those standing next to the walls of the train. The train will go round and round and jerk and jerk until someone bumps into another person or falls down from all that jerking. The train will then stop and the person who fell or touched someone would have to leave the train.

Fun? Wonder when this will become a reality. Oh wait a minute, It is already a reality. It is happening day in day out when one takes the MRT, now, even on weekends. Well, this is one ride that I know I do not particularly enjoy.

SO HOT!!!!

I am going crazy. It was fine during the cooler months of December and January, Feb was still bearable. These few days though. I am swimming in my own perspiration.

My neat little rented place does not come with aircon and I can feel myself melting like butter in the middle of the night. Yes, I am spoilt and I cannot really live without aircon completely. At least I managed to 'tahan' (endure in Malay) for these few months without one and that is quite a lot of energy saved.

Even my moving out to sleep in the living room did not help. The funny thing was that it got cooler this morning after I got up!! So I decided to go back to sleep...for awhile. So shiok!

Hmmm.....I NEED TO BUY A FAN! I am going to buy one, so that even if I move back home, I will still be able to use it. Saves energy and saves the earth.

Right now, I am just contemplating whether to go back to my parents' tonight or to go home and rough it out, with new fan in tow of course. For tonight, on the Discovery & Travel channel, there is the programme "Tatoo Wars", which I would like to watch and which, my parents did not subscribe to, that channel, that is.

Jurassic Park in my house

Two nights ago. I came home to two cats becoming the owners of the house. One was sitting on the sofa quietly (Dou Dou) and the other came to greet me at the door. THEY DID IT! They managed to open the door and they were roaming freely around the house for goodness knows how long!

I went to check all the rooms and toilets. No paw prints on my bed and everything was intact. The last time he sneaked into my bedroom while my housemate mopped the floor, Mao Mao had left his mark on my bedsheets.

Alas! When I went into my bathroom, my tea lights were all over the floor. Luckily, nothing was broken. Just that it was such a mess. That night, my housemate and I decided to do the inevitable: we hooked up two handles of the doors with a string and stuck the cats' end of the door handle with sticky tape so that the ribbon would not slip off. There was no chance of them escaping out of the room now, except that we would have to 'play' zero-point and go under the ribbon every time we pass through that passage way.

My housemate saw it for the first time, how the handle is being tampered with by the cats and she felt that it was eerie for it did look like a human being was trying to open the door.

Of course, the cats did not know what we did and we went to sleep after that. Thinking that they could still 'escape', there were attempts to open the door throughout the night. As the night went by though, I could hear that the cat (specifically Mao Mao) came to this realisation that he was permanently locked in; that he could no longer open the door. I could hear his frustration in his attempts. He was getting more pissed with every failed attempt. You see, I had one too many coffees that day and was having what I call shallow sleep. I got easily woken by noises that night.

I was also quite worried about what the downstairs and perhaps the upstairs neighbours would think, when they hear all these noises in the middle of the night. They might think that we have kidnapped someone! I drifted into a slightly deeper sleep after that.

Oh yes, why did I say that my house was like a Jurassic Park. The cats would slam themselves against the door causing the walls to shake and you know that scene where the T-rex was breathing heavily behind the door before he opened it? It certainly did feel like that when these slamming sounds come in bouts.

Well, I exaggerate a little about the walls but the doors to shake and in the dead of the night, it can be quite startling.

I think they are resigned to their fate now for they no longer meow so loudly and persistently, insisting that we let them out. When the time comes, we do let them out of the room to roam. It is just that when there is little or no supervision, Mao can perform a Hurricane Katrina within the house.

Brain seperated from the body and hip seperated from upper torso

My brain is zo zombie-fied. Had to take pills to settle my sensitive nose problem which was further aggrevated by the fact that I was crying throughout the whole weekend. This pill is so potent that I can sleep through till about noon the next day.

Had to drag myself to work and so here I am, feeling like I left my brain at home and only my carcass has arrived at work. The only thing I am feeling now is happiness as I now have a new barcode scanner and a soft-touch keyboard (which is why I am furiously typing away! Hee!)

Used to have this hand-held scanner which was super irritating as it did not read the newer, but 'weaker' barcode imprintments. Now my proud little new number is on a stand and I simply have to hold the book under the scanner. Work will be done much faster!

Then, I also developed this back/ hip ache that will not leave my after 3 days. I cringe everytime I move. Worse if I have to bend down and all. I think I need to see the Chinese doctor who will crack, twist and turn every born in my body so that everything is in the right place again.

I feel that my body is split into many million pieces and I would really like the idea of not working. Hee! Hee! After having a taste of staying at home for so many days.

Why Bedok must never have a shopping mall

One of my colleagues, who live in Bedok, was lamenting how Bedok should have a shopping mall built already. There is so much space and so many stores and yet, no mall. The nearest mall would most probably be Parkway Parade, which I must admit, is not too convenient at all.

Well, my theory to her that it must NEVER have a mall. Bedok is one of the cheapest place to eat and shop in the whole of Singapore (at least to me). Once they build a mall, food prices will go up (not that it has not already gone up. I am seeing my first $3 a bowl of noodles. It will go up some more). Car park charges will go up and groceries will also go up.

As it is, Bedok prides itself as a place where one can get value for money bargains. People take buses with hands full of Sheng Siong Supermarket plastic bags coz stuff there is just so dirt cheap.

No doubt that it is already a very mature neighboughood/housing estate but with all that tearing down and refurbishments going on island-wide, it will be in no time that this old charm will be gone.

Yes, it will take me twice as long to walk from one end of Bedok central to the other. Yes, we do not have air-conditioned bus interchange, but I would rather this than contribute to global warming. I would rather this than having to pay through my noise for basic things such as a bowl of noodles.

Some more thoughts...

Are there some days when you feel like you cannot go on? Like you feel so heavily burdened that you just don't want to do anything? Just want to lie down and rest...and rest forever?

I am feeling like that right now. Sometimes, I kinda understand why there are places that are set up, just for people to go and die. It's perhaps that they feel that they are at the end of the world, and that nobody can help them anymore...that sort of relief is the only form of relief that can help them.

No, I am fine with family and friends. It's just work that is weighing me down. It has made me feel that no amount of work is going to ever going to get me out of shit. That, plus a dead, non-existent love life. Ha! Can get a little potent.

My supe ever asked whether it is coz I lack confidence and the necessary self-esteem..well, perhaps. Perhaps...I should go write a book called "Where have I left my Courage/Confidence?"

Or is that a cliche title that too many have used?

Don't worry..I think. I just need to let all this out and then, life moves on.

Battle of the handbags

I came first, I took my place.
Two stops later, you showed your face.
Place was squeezy, human arms galore.
Your owner kept pushing, fighting for more (space).
While I kept compromising, trying to make way.

There came a point, I couldn't stand it anymore.
My owner gave me a big tug,
And shoved you in the heart.

The sparring stops.
Both stand motionless.
You walk off with your owner.
Once again, I have become the sole bystander.
Of arms and armpits
And more bags galore.
Tomorrow again,
It's battle of the handbags once more.

[Inspiration for this so-called attempt at a poem came about because everyday, as I commute the MRT, I deal with horrible women, who use their bags to push their way around and do not even offer an apology. Rather than bitch about it, thought I would find a more creative way to express myself.]

The disciplinary master...

School has started and I just went back to my new place to stay. The students looked non-threatening (unlike some schools, who have gangsters for students).

What (or rather, who) greeted me at the traffic light was the disciplinary master of the school. He was standing by the wall, just observing.

My guess is that he was trying to catch students who jay walk. Me being the all dutiful me, decided not to jay walk this morning.

I did eventually though (jay walk, I mean) for I almost missed the bus. I was so intent on watching the red man turn green, I did not realise the bus has arrived. Thank goodness, the bus driver waited. Really, for that I am thankful in my own little way.

Timing was so good that I also managed to catch my train to work and arrived super early. It is going to be a beautiful day :)

Nice lunch

Chanced upon a very nice Japanese restauarant at The Central yesterday.

It does not look like a Japanese restauarant at all from the outside. Its walls were all red. Walking further in, there will be a black section while the inner-most 'sanctuary' is purely white in colour.

In fact, it was my parents who discovered it when they were waiting for me to arrive.

However, the wait staff revealed that this restauarent belonged to a certain 'conglomerate' Japanese franchise with the frog as a logo. I was not too happy. Never really did like that chain of sushi restaurants, but I must say, the chef here was good. Here are some pics!







The view of Clarke Quay from the restuarant. The two tall sticks at the right hand side of the pic, are the sticks for reverse bungee jump. One is put on a capsule and catapulted to the air. Screams can be heard periodically. Hee, hee!



We rounded up our very nice lunch with a tofu cheese cake and hazelnut coffee. Hmmmmm.....perfect!

Thankful

Just the other day, I was home alone eating a bowl of "Mee Hoon Kuay".

Suddenly, a whole bunch of emotions welled up in me. I started getting emotional (what's new?).

I was thankful that I had a bowl of food to eat.

I was thankful that the bowl of noodles cost so cheap, when all around me, prices of food and drinks have been going up in the name of inflation.

I was thankful that the auntie who cooked my food, cooked it with all her heart and even though she was old, used all her strength to painstaking pour my noodles into the plastic container.

I was thankful, that I am still alive to savour such simple and yet such good food.

It must be the Christmas season that had gotten me into such a reflective mood.

I just want to be thankful with all I have now and not grumble about what I don't. This festive season, I am not going to forget that somewhere out there, some child has got nothing to eat, no proper clothes to wear and living in a totally different sort of world, where the word childhood may not even exist; where beggging is called having a job and being sold off for prostitution is a way of life.

I want to be thankful.

Heart and soul

As I have started to blog, I managed to read about some of my friends' blogs.

I realised one thing in common: Once they have got something going for them in their lives, they kinda stopped blogging...so much.

Hmm....since I am blogging so much, does that mean otherwise?

No, I will be out of action for awhile too coz I will go somewhere far, far away. Once again to heal my heart and soul, that seems to be ever so wounded by so many things.

No, I will be strong. I refuse not to be. I will walk with a smile, sun shining on me even if it is a grey day. I refuse to think otherwise.

In fact, I will give my heart and soul to laugh and play. Just you wait and see... .