trade my life with fortune and fame

it was all dark when my alarm clock rang this morning, i had to take extra seconds to realize what was going on. turned out it was raining very heavily outside.

damn i wish it was sunday.

the traffic was not that bad though, except for some buggers who refused to turn on their headlights despite a dim morning light. don't they know it's hard to spot them from my side mirrors among those water droplets?

i know we are supposed to save the earth, go green and limit the petrol burning etc, but must we jeoperdize our safety in the process? plus, how much could we safe by switching off headlights anyway?

like a spoonfull of petrol.

my throat was a bit uncomfortable this morning. damn i knew it was coming. i already had a bit of running nose yesterday, thanks to those people carrying germs around me.

but at the moment when i saw the company doctor, somehow the flu stopped and i looked every bit like moron on the patient's chair craving for free mc.

i was like, 'i had the flu', while breathing through a nose that was as dry as the sub saharan desert. the doctor prescribed me some pills anyway, and thank god it was not some flour-based pills just to be polite, because after swallowing i fell asleep a good half an hour into heroes season 2 opening last night.

the show was definitely not boring or anything. i love heroes. in fact not only heroes but all those superpower shows. if i were to talk frankly, some of the days i did fantasize of suddenly finding myself with powers and then work towards greater good for humanity.

silly eh?

i signed up for a facebook account few days ago. i found out about it from (and i dread to actually telling this) that tai-tai terabitha wang's column in friday's today newspaper. you know, the column that talks about her version of singapore walk-of-life every friday.

it is so not cool finding out about the hippest thing in town from an auntie.

an auntie! that pretty much summed me up, isn't it? a boring lad living in a cave with zero information on latest trend.

i don't know how do people keep track of these things. i mean, last end of august, the heroes actor and actresses came to singapore vivo city and i only found out about it a week later while browsing other people's blog. how pathetic is that?

i'm mad with my friends some times. if i found out about some scandals, or office gossips etc, i would waste no time in telling them. that's the least i can do, impart information and wisdom in this world of globalization and networking.

but for all i know, the news from their sides never get to me.

when i browsed through singapore network on that facebook main page, those ppl always mention about some clubs or places i've never heard the names before. even on tv channels news asia just now, there was this news about a new brazilian martial arts cum dance that had the singaporeans strutt their stuffs to, looking very cool. i was so envious.

and me? the thing that kept me going this whole week, is the break fast gathering in nasi padang hajah maimunah restaurant tomorrow.

it's drizzling boring in my life's calender.




...ed

let my fingers do the talking

i submitted my resume to the new company branch last week. i'm so glad i finally did it, like a burden finally off my chest. at least now the ball is in their court.

after a short break last weekend, i've been trying to get on track as usual but my motivation just wasn't there anymore. god forbid, now i dread to go to work where time seems to stand still.

i really need a time off.

i updated my friendster account today. created an account few years back but never seriously put anything into it. everybody else seems to be using it then, it already sounded a bit lame. i mean, do i need to jump in the bandwagon?

plus, i felt a bit uneasy when the people i know read the stuff that i wrote. like they're invading my privacy. ok i know i wrote it for the public but public for me is faceless audiences, not someone i know the first name of.

i guess i'm just having problem showing my weaker side to the people around me. i mean, i'd never discuss about my lower increment to them, or my frustation when my subordinate being promoted above me, or even the fact that i felt bad when my msn messages went unanswered.

i just thought that if i had written it down, it would become true. it would become facts and not just my sentiment.

but i guess, you can only run away that far from reality. so here i am posting thoughts and blogs in my friendster account. if i'm lucky, my colleagues who are among my contacts there won't even notice my postings. think about it, why should they?

i've long given up of finding anybody in my office. engineers are boring people anyway, and that is just not totally my sour grapes. so my good friend found his now-wedded-wife in the office copy machine room. big deal. do the rest of us need to make two of unnessary things and cause more trees to be chopped down?

after all, if things are meant to happen, they will happen. we just need to make the best of it.

i mean, look at britney spears. she's married, ok, was married, have kids and everything but look what she ended up into? drunken divorcee that could not even lip-synched properly and now facing hit and run charge.

but again, she's filthy rich at least. and me? i still have to go to work tomorrow and keep watching my watch every 10 minutes hoping it's already 5 o'clock.

maybe i should start copying more papers.



...ed

foodMOREdelicious

Provence Bakery and Cafe

once upon a time (and up till now) in holland v, there is this small and cute bakery shop, called provence bakery and cafe.

a friend of ours introduced us to this cafe, so one day we called everybody up to make an outing to this place. the way she described the bread here made it sounds to taste like a little drop of heaven.

for me, i was just glad to have a reason to meet up.






the moment we stepped into Provence, the aroma of breads welcomed us indeed. the ambience of the cafe by the patio is typically europe, as we enjoyed the tasty breads and freshly brewed coffee, what more was there to ask for?








i don't get it though why the bread replica on the mainboard looked all black and overcooked. this is so misleading :p

the first thing that caught our eyes was the notice on the main door, saying wassant has sold out. to tell you the truth, i don't even know what a wassant is, never heard of it. anyway, it was ok because our friend recommended the milk bun, so that was what we gonna target and ambush.




ok the moment of truth. the milk bun was quite nice, the bread was tender and the milky custard filling melted in your mouth. get the shop attendance to reheat it for you if it's all cold, they are bunch of nice, friendly and all-smile people, hats up!







my other favourite was the cinnamon bun. the top sugary coat was not all sugar since i could taste the strong sweet fragrance of white egg. it was nice. the cinnamon aroma was pretty subtle i could barely noticed it. it's like it was there on first munch, and not there on the next. interesting indeed.






Hajah Maimunah Restaurant

it was the second day of ramadhan, it was friday, and i was not working when i reached enlightenment right after waking up from my afternoon nap at 4pm.

we must break fast at hajah maimunah!

how my parents spotted this place first, i had no idea. you know, whenever my parents come all the way from kl to visit me, they would make a trip to this place. that, considering they have to take 2 bus rides all the way from simei, which for them should be almost feel like a quest, believe me.



....


it's one of the 2-storey shophouses along this small lane beside joo chiat complex in geylang. not very stand out if you asked me. i've never noticed it before. in fact, few of my friends got lost despite my directions - opposite joo chiat complex, a few shops after hotel 81.

don't be turned off by the queue at the main entrance though, because it moves pretty fast. in fact, maybe even faster than those early morning mrt stations today newspaper distribution queue.

once inside, you'd be overwhelmed by the whole circusy atmosphere there. i mean, look at those waiters zooming left and right balancing trays of rice and dishes with much zest in between those fully seated dining tables! skillfully avoiding customers trying to grab a seat like a volture spotting dead meat.

not that you'd find volture food there, 'coz all the dishes should be fully cooked and looked really yummy from the display window. they have such a variety of selections there, kuah lemak, sambal goreng, masak asam etc etc, you just name it.

my only complain? is that i hardly have time to chose the dishes properly. by the time i arrived at the dishes counter and had clearer look at the menu, it was already my turn to select. so i ended up with some impromptu selections. oh well.

our favourites? definitely the siput sedut. i mean, we finished 3 bowls of that alone. i guess after fasting the whole day, eating healthily wasn't exactly the agenda on top of our minds. the beef rendang was very good too, tender and tasty. and i personally like the tahu telur, although that probably was just because i am such a tahu telur freak.

we took the ramadhan buffet, which was only $11.90 per person. cheap, right? and no nonsense like extra charges for deserts, drinks, even no service charge, taxes etc etc too. $11.90 net. full stop. never had we bitched before about how we were ripping hajah maimunah off, you know, instead of the usual restaurant ripping us the customer off bitching.




the mightyly siput sedut

satisfied customers, happily ever after. we'll be back for sure!

...ed

wake up call

i woke up this morning and just sms my boss saying i'm taking urgent leave.

i just don't feel like working. yesterday, i was discussing about this new project with my colleague, and in the process my brain just felt like retreating. i had no urge to argue. i kept on thinking, what's the purpose?

it all started when i had the annual performance evaluation with my boss last week. i must say, the increment was not that flattering, only 6.9%. minus that with the extra money i have to pay monthly for that blood sucking ocbc housing loan, i just get like $40 more. duh big deal.

my boss said that my pay is already at the ceiling, which means as long as i don't get promoted, my increment would be limited. the problem is, he expects me to excel in wafer fabrication process, which we do not even do here in our plant, and then show leadership qualities.

what a crappy bunch of reasons. the only guy that got promoted in our group was from wafer fab plant, so he knows all those things. so naturally people go to him if they want to know about wafer fab stuff. not only people, even the bosses go to him. from there i guess where he looks like a leader. sort of.

that puts in me a losing battle, doesn't it? i mean, i can't be working in a western food franchise then be evaluated about my knowledge in sushi, right? plus, i'm starting to think that i could have overstayed in current company. this is my 7 years for god's sake, and that in semiconductor industry in singapore, is like ancient.

now that i'm not in the office, i could update my resume. it's friday anyway, and who works on friday? ok i do my weekly report on friday but overall, the work pace is much slower on friday, not to mention the long lunch people always go for, so it's not that i'll be missed much anyway.

actually i'm glad to be home. today is the second day of the fasting month. yesterday i felt all lonely during lunch break, you know, when everybody gets up from their workstation suddenly noticing the people around and the atmosphere is all lively. but i was just like, oh i'm staying put today. i felt so left out. it's not the food that i missed, but the company during breaktime.

since i was not gonna be deprived of my usual breaktime, i just read newspaper to kill time. there was this news about an old lady who was killed after being hit by a bus and then pinned under the tyres. what a tragedy. but it's her housemate description of her that caught my attention, because let's face it, people get hit by a bus everyday here.

her housemate said she's a lady with no hobbies. she would go to work, and come back from work, and occasionally go to the supermarket.

duh. i so don't want to end up like that. gone after achieving nothing i mean, although of course who wants to be pinned under the bus like that too. i mean, if i were to look back in my life, would i see something worth to cherish about?

one of the technician in my company fainted last sunday when she was about to leave for work. by the time she reached hospital, the doctor pronounced that she had already brain-dead. last tuesday they took off her life support system.

shocking. i used to submit job request to her to boil out chip from packaged memory for analysis. my memory of her is that, well forgive me but she was such a cranky lady. she would questioned my submission form, till i had to draw what i wanted. wasn't someone that was easy to work with definitely.

anyway, in her demise announcement, they described her as someone who was very lively. well that suits too i guess, cranky equeals lively, isn't it? i heard there was no symptom at all before that stroke, which is scary since she was only slightly above 50 years old.

people die very easily it seems lately here in singapore. last month there was this guy who was only 25 years old if i'm not mistaken, joined the cross bridge marathon and dropped dead while running. apparently he pushed himself too hard. i don't even know you can die from that.

perhaps those incidents could tell us something. if we want to live longer, we should not exercise and not go to work.

ok maybe not, but i guess we should just live the life fully. i mean, you can wake up and get ready go to work, where you have spent the last 7 years of your life before realizing it's impossible to climb the work ladder further, but God could decide 'ok that's it' anytime. so tell me, does it matter if i master the wafer fabrication process anyway?

oh gosh, this is not my mid life crisis, isn't it?




...ed