my december

it's a few more hours before new year 2008.

it's easy to get sentimental on time like this. this is the time when people reflect back on what they have done for the passing year, and plan what to do for the coming year.

as for me, the past year has been, well.. normal. i don't think of it as something significant.

ok except i bought a car in february 2007.

but other than that, everything has been stagnant. in fact, i could easily erased the whole year and it never changed my whole perception of life that i had lived.

does that sound normal? or is that bad?

i just think i'm a person who don't really plan far ahead. if people asked where i see myself in 5 years time, i don't know how to answer them.

i'm not totally ignorant though. i do the basic stuff you know, like save money for the future, take life insurans, get a house, things like that. but those are all. no plan to take over the world.

at work, i just try to get better each and every day. i learn new stuff to equipt my self with changing technologies but i don't really put a target. ok i'll try to become a principle engineer next year but that's it.

putting targets just put me in unnecessary stress. life is a journey anyway, and why should we obsess on getting to our destination when we can enjoy the ride along the way?

is this why my year had been ordinary? because i did't put target?

ok let's try to plan ahead for 2008 shall we? in 2008, i would like to

- become a principle engineer. this should be my main aim.
- learn guitar
- swim better
- have toner abs
- travel again
- contact my friends more often while keep making new ones
- do charity works
- get into stock markets
- know more about car rather than just driving and washing
- be motivated and focused enough to do all of the above

ok those are what on top of my head right now. 10-points. i shall call them my 10-commandments for 2008.

Happy New Year everyone!!



...ed

let down your hair not your guard

it's christmas eve.

so it was a short day at work. there were tons of mails to clear since i just came back from my kl trip break. easily 100 mails.

we had to leave office by 11am, so that gave me like what? 1.5 minutes per mail. to read the chains of events, work out the technical consequences, to plan action etc etc.

not enough time. so i just sorted them out to appropriate folders based on issues. kiv.

barely able to clear half, there was request for the weekly report. damn. it normally takes me almost a day to complete but today i had (looked at watch) less than 1.5 hours.

i'm not boasting or anything but in the end i managed to complete it anyway. i was actually proud of myself. it just showed that if we put our mind to it, our potential is limitless.

only that i'm not sure i could use last week's remarks on this week's report like that everytime.

oh well. the point is, i managed to pack and leave on time for our christmas lunch celebration.

the grand copthorne waterfront

this year our bosses selected the grand copthorne waterfront hotel.

it's traditionally the bosses' treat. they should, considering how we were enslaved the whole year.

assuming $50 per head for this lunch, it's only like 19 cents per person per day for each day they sit on the throne holding the whip. pretty good deal i must say.




as usual, we had our buffet spread. i think i ate like one whole salmon, both sushi and sashimi. i just love salmon. if i had my ways, the salmon population could go extinct before 2010.

then there were games that the hired MC asked us to do in groups. you know those games that they always do in team building activities to promote better teamworks. it sounded lame when i write it down here but it was still fun doing it. more fun than normal working days that's for sure.

here's the christmas gift that i got from the 5 dollars gift exchange.

honestly i don't think that's 5 dollars. i checked the expiry date but there wasn't any. neither were there any sign of fraud, shoplifting or even abnormal radition.

it was a genuinely over-the-value gift. wow nice people do exist!

at night, i went down to orchard road. i always think orchard road is the place to be on christmas eve, or even the nights leading to the eve. apart from the light-ups, there were street stunts, elegant choirs, harmonic acapella groups and bands on every corner making strolling along the walkway a totally different experience. love is thick in the air.

nothing beats the eve night though. even if it means expressing your love by harassing strangers with party snow spray. in a place like singapore where even a 2-seconds glance could imprint 'stalker' on your forehead, gesture like this at the very least shows acceptance to other people's presence. which is totally a good thing it's almost a culture revolution.

....

people started fooling around even an hour before midnight. because we don't have any weapon yet for defense, we walked carefully to avoid unwanted confrontation, snapping photos once in awhile because god forbid, we didn't want to look like tourist. they were already almost half the crowd.

this lady on the left was obviously in full party mode.


well i am too once i got my cans...





this guy had the answer for those assaults coming his way.

or so we thought, and i bet he thought so as well at first. because this apparently even prompted the crowd to attack him even more.

wrong move man.

lost in wonderland

it's officially christmas season once again.

i don't celebrate christmas, you know in religious terms, but i do parade along orchard road from plaza singapura up to tanglin mall sucking up all the festive atmosphere like everybody else.

call it our annual pilgrimage route if you will.

this year the decoration theme is fairy tale wonderland. hmm.. i don't see any fairy tale characters anywhere but having waded through throngs of people that filled every inches of the place, i did feel a bit like alice lost in wonderland sometimes.

above is the gorgeous entrance to orchard shopping district. what i called it though, the gorgeous entrance to orchard's ERP.

it's kinda cool you know. one second you're admiring the entrance with the word 'merry christmas' on it, the next second you pass through the gantry with 'ERP in operation' and voila, you're about 2 dollars poorer. such an adrenalin-filled ride!

my suggestion for next year, consider decorating the ERP gantry instead.



bel


if there is any indication of magical creatures, they are above. the one inside the glass box i mean. the one outside is me. no not the one gloriously flocking in white lights though.



temporary retail stores in front of tangs shopping center.

it's not christmas in orchard road until this tree in front of the paragon erected up. of all the christmas trees in orchard vicinity, this is my favourite. there's something about the tree, or maybe the paragon backdrop, making it just elegantly magical.

not only at the outside, christmas trees grow indoor too. this one is inside takashimaya sc. it's a bit tired actually, looking the same years after years but it's one of the biggest, so who cares?



























the one below was taken while waiting for golden compass midnight show at plaza singapura. the christmas tree photo i mean.

which later turned out to be the highlight of the night considering how boring the movie was. seriously, what on earth was nicole kidman thinking? i'd rather spend time admiring the tree below rather than wasting 2 hours of my life watching that uninspired movie.

ok 1 and a half hour of my life. i'm sure i didn't sleep longer than that.





the tanglin area in comparison is very much less crowded. even the fake soap bubble snow could not attract much people. so apparently it was the wet bikini girls and skimpy trunks guys that attracted the crowd everytime in sentosa beach soap bubble party, you know, not the bubbles.

ok maybe that was obvious.

i like strolling from borders to tanglin mall along those gorgeous but quiet western style shophouses. chances are you gonna see lots of caucasians along the way, making you feel every much like in some european country. i guess this must be how europe feels like during christmas in 50 years time when global warming hits its peak.








the christmas theme in tanglin mall this year is, well, i don't know exactly what it is. instead of big toy-laden christmas tree like last year, they put few cute european style houses and a stable with replica horses in front of the mall.

my guess is this has something to do with baby-jesus-in-the-stable scene. except i don't see any human replica inside. instead, they blow fake snow in the stable on few pre-arranged timing per day when people can go in and play with.

doesn't make any sense if you ask me.






another thing that doesn't make sense as well was having turkey for christmas gathering. i mean, turkey is for thanksgiving, right? but i guess someone needed to use up those un-sold thanksgiving turkeys one way or another.

i'm not complaining. i always see people having whole stuffed turkey in the middle of dinner table on tv so i had always wanted to do that once. so we ordered american chestnut-stuffed honey-coated turkey, chicken ham and log cake for the event, last saturday noon at our ex-colleague's house in hougang. two of our current colleagues are gonna fly to the states for training, so this is kinda the last get together too.



..


i must say i prefer chicken over turkey. anytime anyplace. first, the turkey was hard and tasteless. and secondly, do you know what they eat the turkey with? cranberry sauce.

cranberry sauce! isn't that the same like eating white meat with fruit jam? totally didn't go.

the log cake wasn't that great either. it was dry and forgettable. totally not worth the calories and extra gym hours it was gonna incur. if i wasn't paying 14 dollars for those, i would have thought santa was punishing me with those for being a bad boy all year. honestly.

we had fun there though, and that's all that matters.






it took 4 takes to get the group photo on the right because we kept sticking out candy sticks to the people in front.




if i haven't said so, merry 'Xmas everyone!



...ed

Back to the Traphouse

there was a line of people waiting for the condo gym treadmill when i went there just now, making me feel like i had entered some crowded female toilet by mistake.

damn it. you have no idea how hard it was to finally managed to drag my butt outta my house, and for what? just to face this parade of sweaty people.

seriously, don't they have anything better to do? like cook dinner, walk their dogs or something.

i definitely didn't wish to be there if i could help it. it's just that when i looked at my photo backgrounded by this year's lighted-up orchard's christmas tree, i wished i could be toner.

i could do with feeling a fresher a little bit longer too. nowadays when i got back from work, i just felt like lying down lazying on bed and watch heroes. i swear that's all i wanna do.

i don't even know what i did that could drained all my energy. it's not like i work in the field under the blistering sun the whole day digging earth or anything of that sort. i just sit in my air-conditioned cubicle and type.

well except today. today was a bit extraordinary. we had our last intra-departmental game at the office. by 3.45pm, we stopped work and headed for free refreshment in the seminar room.

the things we did though, were as far away than seminar as it possibly could. instead of notes and papers, there were balloons, hulla-hoops and giant dices.

who says engineers don't know how to have fun? we tied our legs together with balloons at our ankles, then assaulted our fellow opponents trying to burst theirs. we raced using chairs as our stepping stones. we threw dice and acrobated our bodies through hulla-hoops. even our managers played musical chair.

we normally have our technical seminar here but today we just got technical on how to tie balloons on our legs effectively

i haven't done this since.. i think the last century or so....



i can tell you it wasn't all pretty, but those were as far as we could go. there won't be any stripping or poll dancing or anything like that. heck, most of them don't even manage to have as much fun as having proper dinners most of the times.

call it lame. most of my fellow department colleagues are just bunch of all-work-and-no-play-dull-jack type. i wonder how i ended up with these group of people in the first place.

i'm lucky that i befriend some fun ones though, my lunch kakis. they really made my working life worth living.


my super cool lunch buddies during our usual coffee breaktime


i mean, not that work is bad, but must we sell our soul away and be the most boring person on earth for it?

my mum called when i was working just now. she said she managed to get a bus ticket for me for next week's holiday weekend.

that settled my problem then. i was so frustated going from counter to counter in golden mile complex trying to find tickets few days ago. this thursday is eid-adha holiday so most people take leave on friday to have long weekend break. there was just ain't no ticket from kl to singapore on sunday when i plan to return, totally extinct from this face of the earth.

you know, i don't know why i still have to go through this holiday ticket rush madness anymore, considering i already paid a thousand bucks every month to own and maintain a car.

not that i don't wanna drive back, i totally do but everytime when i brought up the idea, i was being made to sound like someone who would hit the toll-post the moment i cross the causeway.

i mean, ok i don't really know the road, and the weather is kinda crazy too nowadays. who knows when it will eventually flood the highway as well? the last thing i want to do is get my car stuck in the water during my virgin trip to malaysia.

so i guess next time then. after all, my mum already got the ticket in kl for me. and to tell you the truth, i wasn't all in a hurry to drive my car through the narrow, branches-protruded cow-dung-filled-earth pathway to my grandfather's village anyway.

it's friday tomorrow, thank god. i still have one more weekend to enjoy before going for car-trip-no-it's-now-bus trip back to kl end of next week. we organized a christmas gathering on saturday at this friend's house who already quit our company. there will be chestnut-stuffed turkey, chicken ham and log cake.

i must remember to find santa hat tomorrow. we're gonna have fun, although i can assure there'll be no strip-tease and poll dancing kind of fun. really.


..ed

tales cautionary

it has been rough weeks recently workwise.

i don't know why, i felt a bit like struggling to cope with everything but in the end i didn't seem to accomplish anything.

it's frustating. but i told myself i should take it light. it's end of the year anyway, which means lunch treats, annual bonus, shoppings and christmas illumination.

i'll start work again after new year.

so few of my goldfishes died mysteriously. big deal. maybe they had heart attack from the thunder or something.

and i don't even remember that bowling match that we lost last week. the lanes condition were horrible, and it's not like there were trophies to win anyway. i'm sure it was just a blip.

the important thing is, to just look ahead.

especially after i browsed through facebook discussion board just now. there was this post asking us to name one good thing that we did today.

think about it, and i thought really hard, i didn't do anything good at all. ok i gave the report that the boss wanted at work, but i was paid to do that.

is letting a car overtook me at the highway considered a good deed?

i'm hooked with facebook recently. i'm not a person who has online profiles in every community net groups imaginable, but this time i'm addicted.

facebook is just fun. i mean, even when you have no constructive or intelligent things to say, you can chop off a good 20 years of your age and just splash someone with water.

virtually of course.

not that it can't get serious. i'm even in that 'save the monks save burma' group (it's not the real group name, i just have too much 'heroes' in my head right now).

out of the facebook addiction for while, i went to jb last weekend. one of my dear friend got married.

the thing about a close friend's wedding is that you'd always ended up staying longer than planned, with most of that time spent sitting around doing nothing.

i'm not complaining. it's her one of a lifetime event anyway so that was the least i could do. to be fair, i was well-fed and it's not like i have to help-out or anything.

plus, it was a good chance to catch up with friends. we managed to catch beowulf in tebrau city jusco. i wanted to watch '30 days of nights' but it wasn't shown there that day.

at least i got the chance to see anthony hopkins and angelina jolie naked. one thing scratched from my must-do list before the new year.




...ed

My Acid Rain (when Abel look at Cain)

so i don't get the work transfer.

which is ok. honestly. the thing is, i could argue the pros and cons all day but in the end when the interviewer asked one basic question why i wanted to go, i could not answer.

i really could not. can you believe that? after all this huhu-haha and i still don't know why i put myself in that place. that moment when the room felt silent waiting for my response while i racked my brains finding reasons, i realized there was none.

nada.

none that matters anyway. i mean, there's only that far that 'want a new challenge' could go. it's not like something i really wanted to do but rather just because it's new, interesting and full of possibility. i mean, everybody loves changes once in awhile but is it wise change for the sake of changing?

i realized then that i was just following popular sentiments. everybody expected me to go so i figured i have to go. don't we all normally? we always go with the flow. if the majority says so, then it must be so. that's what living in democratic society teaches us.

but apparently i cannot lie to my own heart deep inside.

so i'm staying still at the moment. i'm not gonna kill myself over this, but i'm not without dissappointment either.

because i hate rejections. and i hate to admit defeats.

that's why i never take the first step if there's no signal at all. that's why i give reasons on all outcomes, having all the sour grapes because i can never say i lost fair and square. it's just not in my DNA.

so you see, it kills me to know that this other girl got the spot instead of me. my only consolation is that the decision was not based on technical expertise blah-blah but only on sheer determination to work 12-14 hrs a day for the next 3 years with zero guarantee it will stop after that.

oh that sounds so so inviting.

well i wish them luck. you know, probably i'll wish them luck from a land far far away. maybe from some beach resort sun-tanning while sipping cold drinks with slices of lemon and rose, blurbing to them on the phone 'oh sorry i forgot you're still working'.

coz u see, unlike them, i can take holidays whenever i want.

and after awhile i'm sure this knife on my back won't hurt me anymore too.

i had a talk with my boss that fateful morning, when he said it's good that i'm staying put because the new place will have people blow fire all around and i will have to accommodate so much that there will be no time to go deep technically.

the way he spelt it more or less like i had just escaped a transfer to the dungeon and i should be happy.

i love what i do right now. i always think what i'm doing now is the same as the CSI, you know, that tv show. just that instead of dead bodies, i had disfunctional circuits. instead of looking for traces of blood and fingerprints, i look for abnormal electrical characteristics. instead of recreating murder scenes, i create a fail-model. instead of finding the killer, i find production defects.

imagine how i felt when barely an hour later he announced that he will leave the company for that new place. he, the judas who applauded my dungeon-avoiding act.

you f-bet i will give him a phone call from that beach too. NOT wishing him luck.



...ed

i go green and i like it

as a support to go green save the earth movements, i reconnected myself to the nature during recent weekend drop-ins.

although i don't do anything contributive to the ozone layer there, or for anything for that matter other than strolling leisurely down the paths, i figured by appreciating the beauty of the sceneries and then put them up for others to see, i could create awareness among us that these places could go extinct if we keep on destroying the earth by living in the dark sides.

ok i can't even go through all that without laughing.

the truth is, we're almost out of places to roam about in this tiny island. every week it was like, ok where should we go this time? it became a chore lately so we ended up on these nature reserves. they were perfect for cooling down the fast city pace, although literally we were instead burnt by the hot striking sun on these exposed area. good for tanning, not that i need it haha...




if you're wondering, no this is not in phuket.

this one is at the Labrador Park, near harbour front. i've passed through the alexandra road junction many times but never noticed the entry, mainly because it looks like an abandoned road path.


i was glad i ventured in. at the other side of the hill, there was this almost secluded jetty that we could hang around on. it was so relaxing, and to think it was only a shortdistance away from the overcrowded vivo city.

why is it called labrador park, i have no idea. i saw a couple of dogs around there but none of them were labrador. some things just have no answer, not one that i bother to find out anyway.

me on the jetty. those jeans were killing me, i should have worn a bermuda or something under that steamy weather.

see that black dot on the top left? it's half UFO i accentically captured. haha ok it's this irritating spot that never went away eventhough i cleaned my lense. damn, time to send my canon powershot G7 for service.

and this is also the shot that made me realize i need a haircut.

this one is at Bottle Tree Village in sembawang, up in the north. apparently there was this guy alex neo that was so mesmerized by this tree in australia that he shipped over 6 of them to singapore for the cost of $30k each. rich people does all the crazy stuff, don't they?

alex neo isn't the only one. i was mesmerized by the trees too that i just have to put it into action, resulting in this photo on the left.

after all, this is all i can do considering there's no way i can fork out $30k to ship this kind of tree elsewhere.

not now anyway.

in limited space like s'pore, i think the government has done a good job in preserving these greenery sites. there are so well-maintained that each visits feel like a nature escapade.

i just think that when you have not much of something, you will treasure it more. like nobody cares about the orang utans until they were almost extinct. something like that.

for me, i just need a place to go to during those lazy weekends.

my baby that carries me to all those places. and no, it's not enviromental friendly



...ed

what do you say to taking chances

there's nothing more refreshing than a short break from.. well, i was gonna type work, but i guess a short break can get you refreshed from just anything. ok especially from work. it gave me time to think things through.

i should have this interview for the job transfer on my last day of work last week. however, it got postphoned at the eleventh hour because the interviewee had an urgent meeting to attend to. so off i went for my holiday while few of my friends signed up for the new company during my leave.

the thing is, the more time i spent with family and relatives, the more it got me thinking how i'm gonna miss this kind of leisure time at my new job. how i'm gonna miss hanging out with friends after work every friday. how i'm gonna have to throw my tibet and yemen trips next year into the drain and decay.

see, things happen for a reason.

to put things a bit onto perspective now, here are the reasons why i want this new job.

• it's a start-up plant, so i'll be among the pioneers. rare opportunity.


• big career growth potential. in current company,most probably i'll stop at principle engineer. i could move further up.
• whole new areas of technology to learn. it's where most of the actions are.


• valuable experience and entree in my resume.


• rumours of uncertainty on the future of my current department

and here are the cons.

• long hours, probably up to 12-14 hrs a day plus O/T. now i work 8am-5.30pm.


• high paced fire-fighting environment. stress stress stress.


• 5-days shift, tue-sat or sun-thu (more pay on weekends though)


• far. it's 30km from my house = $200 extra petrol + 15 minutes longer journey.


• hard to take leave, let alone long ones.


• almost comparable pay. more O/T money though but in expense of my off-time.

now tell me should i go for it?

i just wish there's a sign from the sky or something that could help me decide. one moment i think that this is all just work, something we do to make a living. do i really want to push myself to the limit and suffer just for status greed? i'm fairly happy now, with my own condo and car in metropolitan singapore with plenty of time to do other stuff. after all we work to live, not live to work.

but then, i don't want to grow old and look back with regret that i pulled out not because i'm not competent enough, i'm not qualified etc etc, but just because of fear. because i fear the extra hours and commitments. plus, i can never have enough money until i can afford my dream-SUV bright-coppered nissan murano V6.

do i still want to use this dice?



...ed

the list that matters

last weekend i went for break-fast at changi airport.

i love it there. they have lots of restaurants that charge you the same as they do in the city. the best thing is, you don't have to compete with the mad city rush.

even in the unlikely event that you do, the crowds are much more fun. i mean, people in the verge of holiday surely are in way better mood than say, people that has just left work with their blackberry firmly within their grips, right?

plus, it's just 5 minutes away from my house.

after meal, i stopped by at watson. while making payment for the gatsby hair wax that i wanted, i saw this great big book on the counter. it's a kind like the monster book of monster in harry potter, except it doesn't bite, and also no teeth or chains for that matter.

ok it was just a big book. it says 'chewing gum purchaser' on the front in big capital letters. surely enough, there were 2 boxes of chewing gums beside it. dumstrucked, i asked the cashier lady,

'what's this book?'

and she replied, 'list of people that bought the chewing gums'.

ok that was a stupid question, but oh my god it's what i think it was. curious, i picked up the book, and sure enough there was this long list of handwritten names.

ok so the singapore government has relaxed the rule a little bit. apparently now they no longer banned chewing gums in this country, but you must record your name if you buy any.

how crazy is that? i expect later if they found a piece of eaten chewing gums sticked on the mrt rail, they would summon the whole list for interrogation or something.

don't say i didn't warn you.

anyway, it's 2 more days to thursday when i will take the bus back to kl. at last the time is near. i decided not to drive back this time because...

1) i'd rather sleep on the bus than driving through the surely congested roads. if you've seen the news, it's safer to be on the big bus in this festive rush than in those little tiny cars.

2) cheaper. you won't believe how much the blood-sucking tolls are charging you to get to kl and then later to get back to singapore these days. they might as well point a gun at you and demand all your money.

i've already got most of the things prepared and ready to go. i went to this orphanage in east coast road last saturday to make my religious tax almsgiving for the relief of the poor which is compulsory this month. to my suprise, they gave me a box of cookies in exchange for the 5 dollars that i paid.

i mean, we should be the one giving or donating things to them right? not the other way round. i felt bad, but it's rude to reject a gift anyway so i accepted. maybe they got a lot of those cookies donated to them or something until they just had to give it away. yeah that must be it.

i've also bought the indonesian monica lapis legit cakes from geylang serai, which i brought back every year before. i've got a packet of nicely wrapped freshly made malacca dodol ordered from my friend, and i've also bought this new watch for my little brother from suntec city.

one thing left is to buy some toys for my dear 1-year old nephew. by the way, his mother, or my younger brother's wife, is already 3 months pregnant with their second child. my sister told me few days ago.

great.

what a perfect timing. i can almost hear those old folks in my grandpa's hometown greeting me when i visit them this festive season,'see your younger brother is going for his second child, when is your turn to get married?'

damn those M word again. you'd think in this time of lots of unrest in different parts of the world, they would get their minds to something of more importance.

like those burmese civilians protest against their cruel military junta which we so need to help, or random gunshot killing yet again in america which should make us think again of destructive media effect, or even darfur rebel group clash with government in sudan that we need to get the world attention to, and all they can think of is marriage?

i mean, wake up and smell the coffee people. i'm almost outta lifelines here.


..ed

make music not missiles

forgive me for being dormant. try not eating the whole day and then have sumptuous dinner, you'd cringe for bed at 9pm too. i felt just like a phyton after meal.

however, i managed to drag all my limbs to roam around bugis shopping street just now. it's friday night, it's a sin to stay at home anyway. (btw, i saw this guy wearing 'make music not missiles' t-shirt just now which i think is so cool).

i must say it was a relief to be away from work. the past week had been crazy. we had 2 half-days training conducted by this guy from our main US headquarters, so i struggled to complete my usual assignments on time.

the good news is, i felt motivated working again. it's as if everything went back to normal. as if that unfortunate paper stating my pathetic increment and no promotion never ever came. like it was all just a bad dream.

i watched nicole kidman latest movie, the invasion few days ago. it's about this outer-space organism that invades human body system making them devoid of emotion.

supposedly it would make the world a better place. they said (ok actually the infected people said this before forcing that outerspace substance onto normal people), when people don't have emotion, they don't argue, they don't quarrel so they would be no more confrontation or war.

which all makes sense if you ask me. just ask those people in iraq.

apparently the infection would start to take effect only after they fell sleep. like a short incubation period. which is probably why i'm no longer dissapointed right now. heck i even started smiling at my boss again, you know, instead of picking pins onto his voodoo doll.

especially after the career roadshow at my company last tuesday. the thing is, our company is gonna expand to a new plant in north singapore. the roadshow was to promote that new site and encourage people to transfer there.

i'm so interested. it's a start-up plant so it's all a fresh new challenge for me, you know, considering i already felt like hitting the wall in my present position. career wise, it's definitely a better prospect. and the money supposed to be better too.

only that life would be hectic a bit at the beginning. i guess i would have to let go the luxury of going back from work while the sunlight is still strong.

but again, it's not like i was doing anything significant with my life on all those days when i came back early from work anyway. i mean, what did i do? i just went back home and slumped on my sofa. i might as well spin those time for making overtime money. i just have to think the whole thing as an investment. suffer now for better future.

that's why i have to make sure my current boss would let me go without much hassle. even if i have to suck it all up a little. after the weekly conference call with US site this morning, i had a personal talk with him. he was all, 'ok i think this is a good career move for you and i'm ok with your transfer application blah blah blah but of course i hope you'd stay'.

yeah, right.

that's why he gave me that pathetic increment and no promotion. to get me to stay. i did not know that.

i don't get him sometimes. bosses do the craziest stuff if u asked me. i mean, 50% of our topics when we got together, you know, during tea breaks or taking water from watercoolers, were complaints about our bosses. like today, the bosses herd together from one room to another having closed-door talks, prompting speculations among us ,the commoners.

anyway, i'm not gonna fret about that much. for all i know, i already submitted my application. now that the ball is already in the other side's court, i'm left crossing my fingers.

even if it means crossing them while being dormant on bed at 9pm.



...ed

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