Poem

I read this poem on Iris' blog. Sigh, such irony isnt it?

We make them cry, who care for us.
We cry for those we never care for us.
And we care for who those who will never cry for us.

I guess, not many people cry for me, cos i dont care about anyone.

I guess, many people cry for me, cos i dont care about anyone.

Leave

I signed a couple of leave forms today.

Some of the new hires we got took leave to attend their convocation. I told my boss that how about we just give them time-off since they've been working hard. My boss agreed but he said have to put it in writing properly. Scully they quit after 1 month.

Hiong.

Nowadays give one day off/leave have to put it down in writing. What happened to integrity and compassion and trust? I realised my boss quite stingy. It took me so long to realise cos all these while he's been kind to me. I remembered that when i took leave for my convocation, he told me to take two days OFF! I think i fell for him from then on.

You can say " He got me at 'Off.' "

Another colleagues wanted to take three days leave. I think for a romp with her bf. I thought since she'd been working hard. I'd give her one day off and just deduct two days. She was happy.

I'm glad.

Camels

Interesting pic that the girl formerly known as CPF Audrey sent me.

Might have to click it to see clearer.

Bored

Things i do when i feel bored... the penguin is standing on the tissue box and peeping over the cubicle to see the other colleague.

Jab

My boss organised a company flu vaccination exercise today at the clinic downstairs.

I used to be damn scared of needles when i was a kid. The doc and many nurses had to pin me down before they could jab me.

So when i went in, the doctor (a lady) asked me if i had any drug allergies.

I said "No. But i used to be afraid of needles. But I'm fine now"

She said "Oh my, you are a big boy now. Can do with eyes closed now"

I was taken aback " What???? Whose eyes closed? Yours or mine?"

She said "Mine. I've been doing many jabs now so i can do it with my eyes closed"

I said " No! You'd better keep your eyes wide open! I'll close my eyes"

And so, there i was, half naked, and being victimised by a doctor who seemed to be flirting with me.

My arm's a little numb now. I think i should go home soon.

Mood

I've no mood to work today. Today doesnt seem like a busy day. So that's good. I can just stare at the screen till it's 5pm.

I'm going to Phuket next week. Almost a year since I went there. Not too keen cos i think this time it involves a boat ride. :( I hate to puke. :(

It's July next week. The month of my birthday. I remember spending my birthday in Tokyo last year.

I think this year I should plan a trip far away. I have a trip to Maldives coming up. Think i can do it on the same week so that i can run away...

There's another trip to Seychelles. You know that country that's always above Singapore when you're choosing countries from a drop-down list... never been to Seychelles.. heard it's beautiful there..

Take me away to a beautiful place

Cyster

I just got a call from my friend with the cyst. From now on, i'll call her the Cyster. I wont call my sister a cyster anymore. She showed me some gross pics of cysts with hair and blood veins and all and said it might explode and she'd better do it chop chop. I told her the exact same thing that day but she didnt believe.

So much pain in the world nowadays. Remove or not to remove. Pain to remove, both financially and physically. But dont remove also cannot. Dangerous if you dont remove.

It hurts, it really hurts. :(

Escape

Solitude is just a euphemism for loneliness.

The realm of blogs has fraught with blogs that bemoan the pains of loneliness. An equal many blogs exhort the virtues of independence and yes, solitude. The great big exclamation of me, myself and I as the one supreme being.

People come and go. A&W gal bade us farewell yesterday and warned me I'd regret being mean to her and I'd miss her when she was away. I said I wont cos i've had extensive experience in being mean, so i'd be just fine.

Another angmo colleague also left yesterday. I'm not too sad (not that i'm sad A&W gal is leaving).

Oh well, people come and go. Sometimes you cant control it. Someone has found a greener pasture or found a better alternative than spending time with you. Conversely, sometimes you can choose to remove people in your life. But that's scary. It's like a cyst. You know you ought to cos it's not a good thing. But you're afriad. The cyst might explode and all the partially formed teeth and hair will spill over.

Cyst

I received news yesterday that a (sometimes) dear friend of mine has found a cyst of diameter 6.5cm - "like an orange" - between her ovaries.

That was indeed bad news and it totally overshadowed my "bad eye and hair day" yesterday. She was glad that her bad day was badder than mine, i suspect.

Of course when something like this happens a lot of things swirl through one's mind and I cant say I can emphatise with such a cacophony of emotions when "the shit hits the fan and continues to turn and turn"

All i could do was to ask her out for lunch. Some comfort food never goes wrong. Of course an outpouring of emotion like the crumpled look of the ultrasacn techician's face as she scanned over the said region. Not to mention the "reason" behind the seemingly increasing paunch she was developing.

Again, nothing in life really prepares us for news like this. We try to learn to handle it. We call hospitals, we call insurance agents, we call up the HR dept to find out our company insurance coverage, we rue the fact that we bought that item during the GSS last week. We call our boss for a promotion so that we can move up the insurance coverage grade. We even think of how Christina Yang (from Grey's Anatomy) would react in such a situation. We think of who would cover us at work and what dvds we can bring to the hospital to watch. We beg Cornball to send us flowers so that we appear popular to the nurses and visitors. We do a lot but we dont know how to tell our mums.

Cysts, it seems, are formed when during conception (or sex). The rejected cells to form the teeth, hair, toes, fingers are not used and then after many years they will coagulate in one stop and that is the cyst. According to my friend who got a Cyst 101 lesson from the doc. when u cut open the cyst sometimes, you can find a partially formed tooth or whatever. Dont you worry, my dear readers, I've asked for my friend to keep it and i'll have an exclusive photoshoot when i see it.

Cliched as it may sound, ailments strike anyone, irrespective of your status. Spend a little more on insurance and sleep easier at night.

Transformers

A new cult culture (hmmm "cult culture" sounds weird.. i think they're from the same word dammit) has come to town and it's the resurgence of the comic book hero.

Spiderman's in town



Silver Surfer and Fantastic Four



Simpsons (ok, not really a comic but u get the pt)



I found this pic while searching for pics.. so cute..



And of course Transformers. I was sharing with Keeve that no matter where u come from, as long as you are in that generation, you share a same bond with boys (and some bored girls). The bond that gets you all tingly when you hear that sound of the transformers transforming.. or that urge to do something heroric when Optimus says "Autobots, transform and roll out!". Oldies would remember fondly the bungling Bumblebee and the stoic Soundwave. No one really likes the scrrechy Starscream and I bet many wonder how come a full sized robot like Megatron can transform into a gun so small that it fits into the hand of another full sized robot. But we disregard these irregularities when you love something (or someone most of the time).

Transformers are expensive toys but they make good fun. I had a few, but never too many. *slurp*. A trailer in the scene of the movie showed a boy/man (they all looked small in the presence of a transformer) peering out of a 2nd floor window and telling an autobot "SSSSH... my mum would freak if she saw you".

What a coincidence, my mum freaked too when she saw me with transfomers some 15 yrs ago.

There're some very obssessed people around. Some collector's or gaming or toy forum said they'd book an entire cinema and sell the tix at cost price to fanboys members. I heard from Keeve that some fanboys members are very likely to come with their voice-altering Optimus Prime helmet and also pledge to chant together with Optimus when he says the proverbial "Autobots.. Transform and....whatever"

To celebrate the renaissance of the evergreen heroes, ive changed my wallpaper to those found here.

Terabyte

I went to procure another external 350gb hdd cos of some issues and spent a good 3 hours in Keeve's house to settle it.

Phew, finally settled and all my photos and files are saved.

I'm so happy.

*muackzzz*

Woes

My home PC died again.

Fourth time in 2 months.

Im getting really pissed so i thought of my options.

1. Get a mac

Pros
so chio
New toy to play
Good multimedia capabilities
Did i mention it's so chio
Integrated monitor and cpu
Got remote control!!

Cons
Expensive
Have to re-learn a new OS
Cannot play many games
I already have a monitor
Expensive


2. Get a whole new PC

Pros
Maybe can buy Vista
Faster
Cheaper

Cons
Expensive


I didnt choose either option but to get a new 350GB HDD as well as an original Windows XP Home edition. Yes, original home edition so that if i want to get Vista, I can buy the upgrade version.

I realise it's the ultimate technology laggard syndrome but XP's stable now.

I cleaned my old PC top to buttom. It is sooooo dusty i cant believe it. No wonder it's sooooo noisy..Nice and quiet now..

And Im formatting it right now and decided to place the CPU on my table rather than on the floor.

Sacked

I received news on Friday that a friend "resigned" cos the company found out he lied about his qualifications.

He had said he had graudated from some unis here and there but it was found that he only attended classed there... What the.. what was he thinking?

Oh well, quite sad really..

Shut Out, Locked Out

It's 15 June today.

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of my starting in this company.

And Im blogging this sitting in front of my office. They decided to have an electronic lock, with access code and passcard when im away. And here i am, all excited and coming to work at 8am, ended up locked out of the place ive been coming to for the last 3 years (well metaphorically, since we moved twice).

It's so poetic really.

here's a pic of the corridor..

Early

Damn.. arrived at the airport too early.

Am blogging from the airport lounge with free wifi..

Dream

I hate dreams.

Nightmares yanks me up from my sleep, all sweaty and shivering.

Good dreams just make up wake up and yearn for what i dont have.

With no tangible benefits from these two, all i get is a lack of sleep, which i rarely get.

I had a nightmare last night which woke me up at 4:30am. It kinda left me depressed cos i couldnt get to sleep after that.

And now, with absolutely no recollection of the dream, im feeling out of sorts.

I hate that.

Im heading home in 1 hour. I'm glad for that.

Bangkok

Back in Bangkok again and back in the hotel which i've stayed in for the fourth time now. It brings back immense memories cos this is the hotel which i stayed in for my first ever assignment 3 yrs ago and then i came back twice last year again and now again.

To celebrate my return, i went to find donuts



And some baskin robbins..



and some good old thai food..

Lee Child

I bought this book while i was at the Dubai airport... the latest book by Lee Child. My dad was the one who intro-ed to me. He bought Lee Child's first book at the airport also cos he was bored and passed it to me when he was back and i've been hooked ever since.

Ive read all his books and this is the latest.

It cost 420 Dirhams in dubai. the exchange rate is to multiply 0.42 to get to sing dollars but i divided it to get S$10, instead of the actual S$16.

Oh well, it was such a good read i finished it in 3 sittings.

Chiang Mai

I saw this humongous fish in a fish tank in front of the hotel i stayed at in Chiang Mai..





It was my colleague's first time to Chiang Mai so she dragged me to the night market. I ate this banana prata thingy with chocolate sauce. It's actually the same as what we have in singapore but they do it on the roadside so maybe quaint..



Then i bought this cup of cut mangos. huge huge cup.. only S$1.50 nia.. cheap like bird...

Maintenance

It's the day of maintenance for me.

I cut my hair;

I cut my toes, both finger AND toe nails;

I went to Leonard Drake and got an appointment for a facial for next week;

I exfoliated and used my pore pack on my nose;

I even flossed my teeth!

How how how?

Oh crap.. it's 2 weeks away and i dont think i'll get my new namecards in time.

Gosh, how to show off my new status? How??????????? How to flaunt my new status??????????? Shld i postpone it to August, considering how long my admin staff do things?

Gathering

I heard of my uni class outing on 22 June.

Hmm.. that gives me about 2 weeks to lose some weight.. :~~(

Dubai

Do you know what's Dubai's national bird? Yes, national bird.

It's the crane.

There're cranes all over the skies.

The whole place is a humungous construction site.









The pictures are a bit blurred cos I took them on a cab travelling at 120kmh. Yup, 120kmh. The speed limit on the highways is 120kmh.

Other than the high-rise buildings, it's just sand everywhere. these guys wont have any sand shortage for their cranes, unlike Singapore.

Article

I woke up this morning to find an e-newsletter from my school. And in it, there was an article about me... haha.. then i remembered that my prof actually wrote an article abt me which i mentioned here.

So cool... haha im famous now.

The article can be found here.

COT

My company's deciding to have a family day/chalet day nonsense.

"We are planning to organise Chalet at Costa Sands Resort (Pasir Ris - former UDMC).

Proposed Date 29 & 30 Jun.

Can you give me a confirm reply if you would stay overnight? So that we can confirm the number of units to book.

We have play Mahjong, Monopoly, Settlers of Cattan, Poker etc...

Please send a reply to me by tomorrow, before 11am."

There's some bad english there but please ignore.

A&W gal replies...

"Ok! we can play ramly too.. it’s better than mahjong"

Trying-to-be-funny guy (from here , here and here) replied to a couple of us, saying

"i hope by saying "play" you mean cook.. i want a special with cheese please. HAHA.

you shouldnt play with food."

A&W gal wasnt too pleased cos she said

"why do you always make silly comments and send it to us only?

Obviously you know it is silly so why make them?

And the ramly joke is not funny"

Then trying-to-be-funny-guy replied

"wats wrong? no, it wont sound wrong after you see the attachment. Plus, i wont want to spam ppl who wont get the joke wat... ramlee is not exactly macdonalds.

i practice selective spamming, so if you dun get emails fr me anymore, you know where you stand. HAHA"

his attachment is called cot.jpg (thus the name of this entry). It can be found here.

Back

I'm glad i decided to come back for a while to shower and see my mum albeit for a little more than an hour.

It's, however, disturbing that i'm blogging now.

I should stop.

Thanks for the kind words, YH.

Sadness

I'm blogging from an ice cream parlour in a shopping mall in dubai, waiting for time before i can get to the airport.

Like i mentioned before I hate it when my family calls when I'm on trip. It mean something bad cropped up. My sis called me on Monday to say that my aunt, my Mum's sis, passed away. My mum didnt want to tell me but my sis decided to call anyway.

My aunt has been quite sick but recently got discharged on Saturday or Friday and then this happened. I was shocked and very saddened. It's not like we were exceptionally close but she did take dote on my sis and I a lot when we were younger and her life wasnt exactly a bed of roses cos her hubby was quite stingy. I dreamt of her last night.

I'm sad that i couldnt attend her funeral.today but i'm sadder that my mum had to go through this heartache. and it's my mum birthday tmr.

I fly out to Singapore tonight before i catch another flight to Chiang Mai two hours later. I return on Friday and fly out to bangkok on Monday again. I have an obscene amount of miles and tears.

Goddess

Here's an excerpt of a conversation i had with Goddess...

Caution: Coarse Language

Goddess says:

so what are u called now?

Cornball says:

Manager

Goddess says:

ooooo

Cornball says:

bet u cant come up with any foul words with that

Goddess says:

hahaha

Goddess says:

hey...u came up with most of them!

Cornball says:

hahaha

Cornball says:

true

Cornball says:

im sucha wordsmith

Goddess says:

how many more ranks before u take over the world?

Cornball says:

i havent already?

Goddess says:

hmmm....

Goddess says:

taken over the whole office?

Cornball says:

ha

Cornball says:

no la..

Cornball says:

im happily nestled in my korner

Cornball says:

i jus wished i didnt travel so much

Goddess says:

i see

Goddess says:

thot nowsadays got ka gia...so less?

Cornball says:

no

Cornball says:

i jus do less reports n menial shit

Cornball says:

but i have to accom them

Goddess says:

ic

Cornball says:

n guide them on the PATH

Goddess says:

........

Cornball says:

the path to greatness is paved with many useless people

Goddess says:

i'll be going shanghai...and beyond end of next wk or early the one after

Cornball says:

twice?

Goddess says:

no no...wither

Goddess says:

either

Cornball says:

ok

Cornball says:

it's nice

Cornball says:

i like it

Goddess says:

hmm..

Goddess says:

i hate

Goddess says:

in other happier news

Goddess says:

i've joined the gym!

Goddess says:

starting june

Cornball says:

why?

Cornball says:

so that u can go from stick-thin to spaghetti-thin?

Goddess says:

Goddess says:

to keep general fitness la

Goddess says:

have a heathly lifestyle

Goddess says:

blah blah

Cornball says:

i see

Goddess says:

and also to tone some not so stick thin areas

Cornball says:

like ur ears?

Goddess says:

....

Cornball says:

hahahahaha

Goddess says:

actually u are quite funny

Cornball says:

so u got ur lasik, n now joined a gym..

Goddess says:

if not for thefact that u are bloody annoying

Cornball says:

that's good

Cornball says:

hahahahahahahahahahha

Cornball says:

touche man

Goddess says:

yeah....a better me

Goddess says:

me me me!

Cornball says:

and yes, the world continues to revolve ard you you you

Goddess says:

so once all that's in order...then it's the DRIVING

Cornball says:

oh?

Cornball says:

ya

Cornball says:

u cant

Cornball says:

that jus takes up so much time n money really

Goddess says:

yeah....

Goddess says:

i m aiming 4th quarter of this yr

Goddess says:

if not next

Goddess says:

start to learn

Cornball says:

im targetting a car by 2nd half of 2008

Goddess says:

cool

Cornball says:

yeah baby

Cornball says:

zoooooooooom

Goddess says:

audi sibo?

Cornball says:

tat's a bit extravagant for a first car

Goddess says:

u r manager leh

Cornball says:

im not a flashy person..

Cornball says:

fleshy, but not flashy

Goddess says:

hmm....'

Goddess says:

i always thot is an amalgamation of both

Cornball says:

haha.. jus thinking only la.. cars are ex..but it gives me the impetus to save up

Goddess says:

hmm...yeah

Goddess says:

but not much pt if u keep travelling... OUT of the country

Cornball says:

that makes time IN the country so much more treasured and valued

Cornball says:

to be with my loved ones

Goddess says:

awwww

Cornball says:

= in front of my computer

Goddess says:

aww

Cornball says:

haha

Cornball says:

not out tdy?

Goddess says:

later lor

Goddess says:

going to ofc

Cornball says:

oh ok

Cornball says:

tat sucks

Cornball says:

im also gg office

Cornball says:

in the plane

Restless

It's friday night now.

I'm feeling restless.

I'm flying tmr to Dubai.

I havent packed. I dont feel like.

I hate to travel on saturdays, business class or not.

I'll return to Singapore at 6am on Wednesday, then another 8:40am flight to Chiang Mai.

It's my mum's birthday on Wednesday. I hate that.