An Angel in Your Life

I was watching Channel U on Sat morn and it was some show abt buddhist temples and their beliefs and all.. yeah, i was kinda bored..

something interesting one of the priests (not a monk leh, duno how to addreess them) said..

he was talking abt the two crescent shaped things that u throw and how the direction in which they fall indicate the "message" from the deities..n then he was talking abt the qian.. the 上上 qian or 下下qian thingies..many people obviously seek direction on BGR matters.. n this priest for lack of a better title) gave this story: last time for this man.. very fillai one.. n when his mum died, he got no money for her burial so he sold himself as a slave to this rich man.. n for some reason, this touched the gods and an angel or fairy (in the chinese context) came to earth n be his gf to take care of him.. n then after he was ok and all, she left.

of cos my version/recollection of the story is sketchy at best but the lesson behind this story is that sometimes people enter our lives for a reason. gfs and bfs come and go.. they're here for a reason for that particular period of our lives.. to teach us things, to take care of us, to make us laugh, to make us fat, to make us thin, to make us understand things, to make us dress up better, to make us teach them things, to shape our emotional wellbeing, to simply touch our lives.. they might not stay for the rest of our lives cos their mission might be completed after a while.

that's actually quite sad really.

im someone who treasure memories and i certainly value a long term relationship..and with the astoundingly memory i have, i jus cant forget things..

and so they use this story to console ple who break up.. that hey, that nice n caring gal whom u treasured and loved so much was jus supposed to take care of u during ur tough uni days.. or that charming guy was only there for u when u were feeling broken and down..

it isnt fair. and the feeling certainly sux.

Round Trip

Mum got suitably excited when she heard that i was going hainan island.. she told me she's going to announce to our relatives. Now, that's bad.. cos usually she doesnt say she'd announce but she would still do it.. so this time, she tells me she's going to, i guess it'd be a big announcement..

wants me to bring some jackets and money back there.. and bring them for a meal.. i was like " gosh, im going for 10+ days and i need 10+ days' of clothes.. how can i bring an extra jacket man.. gosh.." And i dont mind bringing them for dinner.. but jus that i duno if i'd feel awkward having dinner with relatives i've never seen before..

oh well..

here's my preliminary schedule..

leaving on 9 Nov 1am..

coming back on 18 Nov 6pm..

haha.. not much of a schedule but im too lazy to type it out...

Control..

it's sunday night and i'm on my bed blogging...

im feeling shitty.

it's not the melancholy of going to work. im actually looking forward to going to work.. cos it's at work where i find i get more control of the situation. well, it's not like im in total control at work and im super good at wat i do but it jus seems like it's all manageable and u just have to stay in a lil longer and it'd be fine..

that's prob why i look forward to going to work.. silly, some ple might say. but it's here in the office where i have some semblance of control in my life.

i think i lead a sad existence...

New Penguin

Kimchi Gang found me this penguin cos she probably thinks my current penguin feels naked...

so that's my new msn pic.. it's receiving rave reviews.

Phone

I had a nice conversation with audrey yesterday... it was nice..

my colleagues always know when im talking to her.. they say i talk differently and laugh more...

In Good Company

I watched this dvd last week... In Good Company... one of those dvds that i bought but didnt think it was that nice so i watched the others first but then i was so bored last week so i watched.



Gosh it was great.

summarily, it was abt this old head of advertising department of a magazine (Dennis Quaid) who finds himself demoted when the magazine gets bought over and this yng punk (Topher Grace) who becomes his boss..

Dennis is a family man who has 2 daughters and 1 baby son comingso he kinda has a good family life

Topher is supposed to be a prodigy to be groomed by the management but he recently got divorced and literally sleeps and works in the office.

i find the distinction between the characters very interesting.. one family man and one who has the perfect job... i think i'm very like the young punk.. not that im being groomed or wat but my job's like all i have now and everything's jus work work work...if the show's any true, i'm headed for trouble.. i duno man...

I got so hyped up by dennis quaid that i went to search for my "A Day After Tomorrow" dvd.. but cant find leh...

get the dvd from me if u wana watch it..

Oopsy..

i jus offered a Muslim interviewee who came to my office if he wanted a drink..

my boss reminded me thereafter...

damn.. wat a dumbass...

i hope i dont kenna the Sedition Act for this..

it was an innocent mistake.. he looked hot and sweaty mah..

Round Trip Part Deux

I'm still in the office waiting for the rain to abate..so i thought i'd prepare some things for my trip..

i was going to check with them on what to bring then i realised that this is the first time i'd be travelling without my boss or my seniors...I'D BE DOING A TRIP OF 5 CHINESE CITIES WITHOUT MY BOSS AND SENIORS..wow.. and all i have is a PRC colleague who's never done a valuation before.. so i'd be the lead associate in charge.. WHOPPEE!!

she jus sent me a list of internal flight/trains/taxi rides that she proposed we took.. cool.. so fun.. i think i'd be spending one night on a train.. that's actually pretty scary..hmm..

Office

im in the office now.. it's raining.. bleah.. i dun think i wana get a cab and wait outside..

so im in the office now.. blogging..

duno what to blog also..

Marriage Jokes

Here're some marriage jokes i got from SPUG..

a lil useless since most of my fans from SPUG but well..

My wife dresses to kill. She also cooks the same way.
-Henny Youngman
----------------------------------------------------------
My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.
-Rodney Dangerfield
-----------------------------------------------------------
A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong.
-Milton Berle
------------------------------------------------------------
I bought my wife a new car. She called and said, "There was water
in the carburetor."
I asked her, "Where's the car?"
She replied," In the lake."
-Henny Youngman
--------------------------------------------------------------
The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret.
-Henny Youngman
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After a quarrel, a wife said to her husband, "You know, I was a
fool when I married you."
The husband replied, "Yes, dear, but I was in love and didn't
notice."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let
him keep her.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months - I don't like to
interrupt her.
----------------------------------------------------------
My wife told me I should be more affectionate.
So I got myself two girlfriends.
---------------------------------------------------------
A man said his credit card was stolen but he decided not to report
it since the thief was spending much less than his wife did.
-------------------------------------------------------
Man is incomplete until he is married. Then he is finished.
----------------------------------------------------------
A little boy asked his father, "Daddy, how much does it cost to get
married?"
The father replied, "I don't know son, I'm still paying."
----------------------------------------------------------
Young Son: Is it true, Dad, that in some parts of Africa, a Man
doesn't know his wife until he marries her?
Dad: That happens in every country, son.
---------------------------------------------------------
Then there was a man who said, "I never knew what real happiness
was until I got married; then it was too late.
----------------------------------------------------------
A man placed an ad in the classifieds: "Wife wanted."
The next day he received a hundred letters.
They all said the same: "You can have mine."
--------------------------------------------------------
A woman was telling her friend, "I made my husband a millionaire."
"And what was he before you married him?" asked the friend.
"A billionaire." she replied,
----------------------------------------------------------
Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.
----------------------------------------------------------
It's not true that married men live longer than single men.
It only seems longer.
----------------------------------------------------------
Losing a wife can be very hard. In my case, it was almost
impossible.
------------------------------------------------------
Just think, if it weren't for marriage, men would go through life
Thinking they had no faults at all.
-----------------------------------------
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can
spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
----------------------------------------------------------
Men who have pierced ears are better prepared for marriage.
They've experienced pain and bought jewelry.
----------------------------------------------------------
The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to
forget it once.

_____________

Lappie

sigh.. lappie costs S$145 to fix.. duno how leh.. shld i fix it or not... hmm..

Round Trip

I just found out Im going to make a round trip to China in the middle of Nov..

Shanghai to Suzhou to Xiamen to Shantou to Hainan to Shanghai then Singapore...

YAY.. going to Hainan island.. my hometown..

Camomile

somone jus made me a cuppa camomile tea in the office.. so refreshing...

=)

Fast Food

since it was the fasting month and we were too busy to go out and eat.. my colleagues have ordered in fast food for the last 2 days..

it was KFC on monday for lunch.. 1 zinger, 4 drumlets and 1 chicken thigh original for me. *burp*

it was canadian pizza (2 for 1) with drumlets and cheese sticks for just 3 ple... *burp* *burp*

then it was KFC for lunch at 4pm again.. 2 chicken thighs, 3 drumlets and popcorn chicken and nuggets... *burp**burp**burp*

i didnt have dinner on tuesday cos i felt disgusted with myself... but i was damn hungry...

Busy as a Bee

i've been really busy this week and it's only wednesday today..

came to work on monday expecting to be busy but not THIS busy.. i went home at 12:30mn on monday..and continued working at home till 2am..

was at work by 7am on tuesday morning and left the office at 11:30pm..

by wednesday i'm a lil blue..


my boss just told me to take next friday off in lieu of my efforts.. seems to mean he's giving me an extra day off.. muhahaha that's funny.. i have 20 days of leave to clear by the end of the year.. no need off la... but it was a nice gesture i thought..

Blue

for some reason, im feeling blue this morning.. so im decked out in blue today..

White shirt with blue trimmings

Blue cufflinks

Blue pants

Blue Underwear

Blue socks

Deep Blue by Hugo Boss

my isleevz for my ipod is blue..

Blue..

Shirts

I just cleared my wardrobe.. jus a little.. not that it was very mesy but my shirts are all over the shop and i hate it when it's not in a proper order...

i have a wardrobe and a hanger thingy that is outside.. i like all my white based shirts inside n the colored ones outside cos i thought dun wana dirty the whites mah.. but apparently my mum says the shirts will collect dust n the colored ones particularly the darker one would be more apparent..so it's the whites outside n the colors inside..






i counted 50 shirts... *sweat*

i think i should stop buying them...

Life and Love

when i told one of my new fans of my blog, she told me.. so this is how i can hear of you from now on eh.. from your blog...

hmm.. that's quite true.. it's indeed been a very long time since i've gone out with my friends or caught up with anyone..except for my mahjong kakis.. seems like mahjong has become my regular staple socialising event. Not tat i mind of cos.. bring it on man.. i love mahjong.. all the cognitive skills needed to decide which tile to throw.. and the tactics to deploy when u know of your opponent's strategy...so exciting.

anyway, back to topic... i've been busy recently and i've fallen sick.. havent been sick for a while and it sure sucks when u have to work when you're sick cos you're ust too busy to take MC...

busy busy busy.. seems like a word i use very often now.. im swamped with my shanghai projects and then came the bangkok one.. n then the dumb ass terrorists had to bomb bali.. which added more work for me... i think things should get better by the end of October.. but only for a while.. before i embark on year-end portfolio valuations.. probably see me taking a round trip around asia... i hate travelling for long stretches.. always cant wear clean clothes one..

so u guys jus got to check in on here to find out where and how i am..

barometer of stagnant social life: 200 sms sent in my last hp bill... amazingly low.. and S$425 in phone call bills...

Template Change

i've changed my template to this black one... i like it.. makes things more crisp..

Lappie...

i jus brought my lappie to the SLS level 5 shop.. they say late liao.. have to keep it overnight. my heart sank.. my laptop has never been kept in someone else's possession since i got it for 5 yrs..

i felt sad leaving it there..

i hope it doesnt cost me a bomb to get it back..

Oops i did it again...

i did it again.. the pore pack was so tightly stuck that i just peeled it and part of my nose skin came off... on two parts some more...sianz... now i have 2 red spots on my nose...

2 more new fans

Gosh, i took the plunge and told 2 more ple my blog.. old old frens they are.. one more than 20 years and the other more than 10 years.. gosh u guys are old...

Bangkok food

Bangkok is of course known as a haven for good food and for a foodie like me, i definitely whacked all the way..

I was hungry on one of those days cos i didnt have breakfast and after some meetings in the morning.. i decided to have a good lunch and thought it'd be nice to have it at the best restaurant in Bangkok, The Oriental. i asked for the best restaurant but the lasy said that it was the french restuarant that was across the river (the chao praya). aiyah i just came from that side of the river, moreover, i dont like french food. I decided on Lord Jim's - a seafood buffet.

gosh, it was wild.. all kinds of seafood.. lobsters, crabs, sashimi - salmon, my fav yellow tail, tuna, tempura, prawns, foie gras, beef, crepes... there was so much food and oooh the mango juice was great... not to mention that there was a view of the river to boot..i spent an obscene amt of money on that lunch but it's ok. i can claim.

the following morning when keeve came, we went to chinatown to check out some cheapo dim sum and birds' nest... we found 15 baht/long dim sum.. that works out to be a whopping S$0.60 per long!!!! we whacked for a grand total of S$20!!! muahhahahaha

then we braved the rain and bad bangkok traffic to find the bird's nest shop recommended by the dim sum fellas... we found it eventually and though it didnt feel so exhilarating as S$0.60/long dim sum, it was good too. we chose the grade 4 (the lowest grade) bird nest with longan for S$8 only!!.. it was so good i wanted to have another bowl, till keeve reminded me that eat a lot will have nose bleed.

here's a pic of the S$8 Grade 4 bird's nest



the quest for good food never ends and by the afternoon, we were out shopping and i told him i wanted Dunkin Donuts... and we both remembered that there used to be one shop near our house...we eventually found one... sheer ecstasy..


i wanted to take a pic of the donuts in the shelves but was stopped.

i eventually took a pic of me and the donuts in the exact pose i was in when i was in Bangkok with audrey back in 2001... exact some pose.

Sob

my faithful lappie dieded on Saturday morning..says fan error... gosh, i was crushed.. i thought of the many good times we spent together over the past 5 years.. yes 5 years..my heart aches.

I hope to be able to bring it down to SLS during the weekend to save it.

=(

Purchases

I didnt really buy much things la.. but duno how i spent so much also.. i think most are company expenses..

things i bought:

1) 3 shirts from the tailor
2) Bak Hu stuff
3) Hair gel

the hair gel was a good buy.. ordinarily, it'd cost me S$34 a tube.. but i managed to get 4 tubes of these Schwarzkopf sealed ends hair gel for S$16 each.. that's a whopping saving of 50% each.. i bought 4 tubes.. keke...

here they are on my dresser..it's going to be a long time before i buy them in spore again..

Bangkok

And so i went to Bangkok for work right? thought i could extend my work trip and take 2 days of leave to take advantage of my company paying the air tix. moreover, i needed to clear some leave. I now have 20 days of leave to clear before the end of 2005 after taking 2 days for Bangkok.

i asked my buddy Keeve if he wanted to go. i only asked him cos since he's a freelancer, he can take off anytime... he was on on on all the way till sunday night (i left on monday). ok lor.. i go myself...

so i thought i'd jus stay for one extra day and come back on thursday. Then the genius called me on wednesday noon... "Would u kill me if i told u im flying in tonight?"

ooook... strange turn of events.. suddenly, i have a shortage of undewear, shortage of tee shirts, shortage of berms... oh well, it shld be fun...

in a strange twist of events, one of the lights in my room blew while i was waiting for keeve to come.. then the repair dude came but ended up blowing the fuse and the entire room short circuited...the duty manager called me n said she had to move me to another room...an idea came to me and I pretended to be really irritated by this move.. and since i was a guest of the hotel, i kinda kicked up a lil fuss and demanded them to change me to a room with 2 twin beds instead of the current king size one that i have now.. she must be wondering how come i want a smaller bed but well.. i didnt have to share the bed with keeve that night.

we moved to another cheaper hotel the next day cos my company didnt wana pay for my hotel stay while i was on holiday..

Back

Im back home if you havent noticed..

it's nice to be back. despite any suite in a five-star hotel or wat not, my room beats them all hands down...

more pics on my bkk pics will come soon.. stay tuned.. all 6 of you...:)

Welcome my 6th fan

i've told the 6th person my blog address.. welcome welcome and enjoy yourself.. but dont try to correct my typing.. not like that 5th fan like that.

Sweeeet Suite

they gave me a suite.. nice people these thais..

Bangkok

hmm.. it seems like im going bangkok... it's almost exactly 1 yr since i first went to Bangkok for my first assignment.. gosh.. so fast..

Desktop Wallpaper

What better desktop wallpaper than a picture of your desktop..

Women.. vicious

I think women are vicious.. very very scary creatures.. the more i find out abt them, the more i think they're scary... they can be very cold blooded when they want to.

Incident #1

Pregnant woman enters the MRT.. in my unexpert opinion, she's probably 5 or 6 mths pregnant. she wriggles to the area of the train where the 2-seaters are..u know.. where it's near the door and also near the in-between of carriages.. so she stands in front of the 2 seats (occupied). I peered over to see who was sitting in front of her... 2 middle age women.. they look like they dont know each other.. n then one pretended to sleep n then the other suddenly seemed terribly interested in her newspaper. i was like "Gosh!! i'd have thought women would be more sympathetic to a pregnant woman." not being sexist here but gosh.. so appalling.. i had half the mind to squeeze all the way there n ask one of them to stand up.. but i bo ji...

Incident #2

my colleague and i were at a very busy busy hawker centre and he found a table where the people seemed to be finishing. so he stood there, like all good singaporeans do when they wana urge others to eat faster. i was a distance away when i saw him do it and as i walked twds him, something strange happened. 2 middle age women (could have been the same one i saw on the MRT i swear) jus stood right beside him n managed to "squeeze" him away and then sit down when the people finished eating... and being the gentle person my colleague was, he found himself and us without a table.. when i reached him, he said to me " hey man, i dont know how come the women squeezed me out". Little did he know that there was an accomplice..a third aunty who overheard this.

subsequently, when i passed their table after buying my table, i saw them all staring and pointing at me as though i committed some heinous crime against them like that.. gosh...

p.s: i love woman.. A LOT.. but these 2 incidents over a span of 2 days jus puts me off... jus a lil... really little..really.

Ice Cream

There is:

1)4 pints of Haagan Daz
2)2 pints of Ben & Jerry's
3)1 block of raspberry ripple ice cream ( those u buy by the side of Orchard Rd)
4) 5 sticks of red bean Potong ice cream

in my fridge right now.

so much ice cream, so little time to eat.. muhahahaha.. everyone in my family has different likes for ice cream.. so everyone has their own thing.. No. 3 is from my neighbour who sells ice cream outside East Point.. so we can get buy entire blocks of ice cream wholesale. it's probably just slightly cheaper but it's always a wow factor when i see it in the fridge...

Soccer Soccer

and so i went for my weeekly soccer game today. to my dismay, there was a group of young punks playing there liao.. nvm lor.. play against them.. since my side had more ple, we got one of our guys to be the ref.

as usual, i played the striker.. (natural choice, with my high strike rate and lightning speed.. muahahhahahaha). twds the end of the first half, we were up by 3-2.. then suddenly this young punk ah beng complains to the ref that i stepped on them with my studs.. i was like "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT". felt like telling him " you first time playing soccer ah? play soccer once in a while will step on you one mah.. then everyone wearing soccer boots so will kenna the studs lor.. cannot take it then jus diam and get out la.."

but i didnt. had to maintain some composure.

so the ref tells him cool it..ok.. everyone cool it and play proper.. i said "sure.. tell me when i step on u "

young punk is not happy then huffs away.. ref not happy, yelled to him " eh boy, u not happy is it. not happy then walk off, dont give me attitude"

thus, the most hilarious thing happened.. the ref started arguing with the young punk!!! hahah.. so funny.. i had to go in n diffuse the situation but they were still at it. that was dumb.. haha..

stoopig ah beng.. if he argued some more, the last thing he needed to worry was my studs on his feet. it'd be in his mouth!!!! muhaahahha

does that mean he kenna "Foot in Mouth disease"? hahahahha.. dumb ass

Welcome my fifth fan

this post is dedicated to the fifth person i told abt my blog..

and i made her promise to read all of it, from the start and im going to pose questions to her abt it.. muhahah..

this one's for u!

Bali bombing

the idiots did it again.. bombed bali again.. exactly 3 years to the month since the last time they did it.

i cant rem if i posted here but i was jus in bali last month and i was at the two locations that were bombed.. the Matahari Square Shopping Centre, which was near where i bought my Oakleys and the Four Seasons Resort.. gosh i even met some dudes from FS leh... will definitely drop him an email to find out how're things.. but i wonder how shld i phrase it..

" hey man, heard 2 bombs went off in bali.. and one of them near ur place.. so how man.. everything ok?"

i dont know.. it's somehow tough to inject emotion into business emails without sounding too colloquial.. oh well..

stoopig terrorists.. bomb here n there.. only make ple hate them more... ive heard some ple asking.. Indonesia is a muslim country how come the terrorists, presumably Islamic extremists, still bomb them leh?

well, that's cos Bali is predominantly a Hindu island.. so that's why the terrorists have less qualms on bombing there.. then of cos it's filled with rowdy ang mos so it's a good target... and i'd imagine logistically it'd be easier to ship tons of ammonium nitrate from other parts of indonesia to bali than to say, Spain.

rowdy ang mos.. gosh.. they were making helluva noise in the bars and restuarants when i was there.. and they were clearly australian cos they were all singing songs that talked abt Australia..

oh well, stupid terrorists.. go burn in hell.

Title-less

Man, i just checked my calendar.. there's a dinner at Lay Hong's tonight.. gosh, it WAS supposed to be a happening weekend.. should i go? i dont think so.. no mood for socialising.

so there you go.. that probably sums it up.. no mood to socialise then dont go, then no one invites u, then u get more no mood (english going downhill here), it's a vicious cycle.. gosh, this sounds like a conversation i had with keeve that day.. exactly the same..

sometimes, just sometimes, a brave soul would pluck the courage and ask u out and then ur life jus lights up. my buddies Fong n Keeve does that sometimes with invitations of supper, movies or mahjong...

i kinda lost my train of thought.. so i shall click the "Publish Post" button

Life.. what a sigh

Seems like i jinxed my good week by mentioning it... bleah..

i was just reading iRis' blog when i realised her life is rather similar to mine. Long working hours and spending long hours in front of the computer instead of going out. Whilst i'd like to think my situation is more acute than hers, she'd probably beg to differ.

in any case, it's a rainy sunday.. i thought i could go to the gym today then go for soccer in the evening.. then i also thought i could go shopping and engage in some retail therapy.. but the weather's sucky.. Would it be yet another fruitless day of dvd-ing? maybe.. most likely in fact.

this weekend was a melancholic one.. a cursory glance on my pda on thurs revealed a power packed weekend. dinner with uni frens on friday night, some seminar on sat morning, dinner@ millennia at night, gym and soccer on sunday.. then Oprah at night followed by The Apprentice n then Liverpool vs Chealsea.. what a wonderful weekend my pda predicted... NOT!!!

as it turned out, uni dinner was ooook only la.. seems like everyone stuck to their cliques and some ple not too happy with their jobs.. i was feeling rather jubilant, who am i kidding, i m feeling damn jubilant when i came cos i jus got a promotion and all so i was feeling happy.. but i didnt dare tell anyone except audrey, cos i was afriad that ple might say i show off.. so diam diam lor...

in the end, after a S$30 meal, i got a red bomb.. yet another red bomb.. sigh.. 2nd one this yr..

26 November is heating up man.. I have Juan Boon's wedding in the afternoon then ah MOOOOH's wedding at night.. heng juan boon's at wesley, no need to give so big ang pao.. maybe no need to give even.. muhahahaa... but ah MOOH would be a toughie...

26 November is also Christine's bday.. but there's nothing i need to do abt that.

come on guys, spread it up a little.. else i wouldnt have things to do for the rest of the other saturdays...

Good Week eh..

On hindsight, this week seems like a good week.. got a laptop, promotion, pay raise, met up with uni classmates.. there's still sunday tmr.. i hope i dont jinx my good week by saying this...

Promo!

I GOT PROMOTED!!! YAY!!! GOT A PAY RAISE TOO!!

after a whole turn of events, my boss called me into his office on friday and gave me the letter of promotion!!! gosh, so exciting.. it's my first ever promotion and man it feels great.. absolutely..