Presents

It turned out to be quite a bountiful year of presents really. I wasnt expecting much given the economic situation plus i was new to the company but after i got back to my office at 2pm after the party, i saw a lot of gifts on my desk from my colleagues.

Here's one of my favs... a Muji towel, cos my colleague knows I like my twice weekly badminton.



My other colleague know i love to surf the internet, so she got me a mousepad with a wrist support.



I got a cup from another colleague... it says "Im cute" with a picture of a pig on the outside and on the inside it says "My name is Pudding" Kinda weird cup really. Ritzenhoff is much better.



And I also got this couple keyring thingy, which i thought was sweet cos this colleague hasnt been feeling very well and yet she thought of others during this time.



The girl i was angel to give me mint chocolates, which i thought was quite lame.



My crazy colleague gave me this map of Barcelona. Which was kinda odd. I guess she heard i wanted to go to Europe.. the map's pretty cool, with a compass and also a pen inside..



Sox gave me a Winnie the Pooh towel. In his own words, "I didnt really wanna get you Winnie stuff but when i saw it, i knew i had to get it for you"



Kaitlynn got me this Polo Ralph cologne and deodorant set. I was eying it but i have too many cologne so i thought i shouldnt. I have no idea how she knew.



Cyster bought me a Ferragamo tie but it's in the office so no pic.

My sister bought me a nice Tommy Hilfiger polo tee but my mum rinsed it so no pic.

One of the weirdest Christmas gifts I ever received was placed at my desk and signed off as "From your Angel". The note read "I hope it fits"

Turned out to be this:



Hush Puppies..underwear.

I was quite curious, cos my angel had already given me a pen, with my name on it, when she revealed herself. And she said she wasnt the one and i believe her cos she's very prim and proper.

So up till now, i dont know who gave me that. I must have a secret admirer.

Party!

My company did a similar party as what we did for Deepavali, for Christmas this year. The party was on Christmas Eve. I was invited just one day before the event so i didnt think i had to do anything other than to show up and look happy.

Then just five minutes... FIVE MINUTES! before the party started, they realised they needed a translator again.. this time i needed to translate the Chinese speech someone was giving into English so that the Indian dude can translate into Tamil. And then in between, I also had to translate stuff from someone giving a speech in Mandarin into English so that the Indian MC can understand for him to translate into Tamil. So we were literally standing in a triangle with both of them in front and I'm between them but behind. Boy i felt dumb.

Then I had to translate an english speech into Mandarin but the bugger didnt see me standing beside him (i dont know how that can happen) and he forgot i was translating and so he went on and on and I was memorising his speech.

My office was on half day that day. So i thought i could leave for home directly after the party.... BUT i got an email at 1245pm from a China client that they need this document drafted and signed by one of my directors and faxed to them. So I activated the legal dept in the office, finished up my translating job, rushed back to the office at 2pm, got one director to come back, faxed the damned document, and ended up leaving at 5pm on a day we had half day, on Christmas eve no less. I bought three white chip macadamia cookies from Subway as a reward to myself. But, not before having a nap from 6pm to 9pm when i got home.

Phew... i hate clients.

Here's a picture of the fans.

Lasik-ed

The room was cold and I was shivering from the fear and the cold.

Damn the buggers who told me it wasnt painful cos when they started applying pressure on the eyeballs, it was weird.

When I came out, my balls (eye) felt like they have been squashed and I was tearing like crazy.

It was so bad i needed to lie down in bed for a while at home and not have lunch, even though i didnt have anything all morning.

It's now at night. Pain's gone but still a little blurry. Full sight is expected in the morning.

Here's a tribute to the One who allowed me to see through life in the last six years.

End Stage

End Stage Renal Failure was what was written on the document.

My uncle passed away on Wednesday night after being ill for a long time. Wednesday night was a weird night as I was torn between several appointments, including going to see my uncle.

There's never a good time to die really.

My other cousins were due to leave for a holiday the next day.

My aunty had to rush back from Genting.

I had my lasik consultation the next day and then lasik-ing today.

The dead uncle's daughter's birthday was on Wednesday.

Sigh, this really confirms that 2008 would clock in as one of the worst years in my life really. There's nothing more heart wrenching than to see my mother cry.

Christmas is Coming

In anticipation for the Christmas gathering my company will have, the organisers started this Secret Angel game where you pick a colleague’s name out of a bag and then you will be his/her secret angel from last week till the party starts. As a secret angel, you’re supposed to among other things, drop encouraging messages, give small gifts, etc, via a proxy of course.

I’ve played this game before and so am quite masterly at it. I picked this rather matronly and married lady from the (boring) finance department. First day I dropped a short post it note, second day I gave my Calbee prawn crackers which I was saving for a rainy day, third day I had a buffet lunch at a hotel so I stole a green apple and gave it to her and fourth day (today) I gave her some of my strawberry Pocky.

My angel on the other hand, was quite quiet all these while which made my life a little boring.

That explained why my Facebook message today was “I hope to get something from my angel”

Then today.. I got a torrent of stuff.. One was a cupcake with tons of icing sugar on it and the note signed off as” Not your Secret Angel”. I didn’t mind as long as I got something. Then after lunch I got curry puff and a note on the wrapper that said “Enjoy, I know you love food. From your secret angel”



And I got a Christmas card today from an ex-colleague. Let’s call her KS... The card is blog-worthy cos she wrote a first card but then made a mistake then threw it out. She wrote the second card, sealed it but then lost it. She couldn’t find it…..and was going to write a third card but I called to thank her for the card. Someone must have picked it up and sent it for her. Sigh.. now you know the level of incompetence I had to deal with in my previous job.

*EDIT* My ex-colleague now insists that she is the most competent of all my staff. Then she changed to "one of the more competent*

In any case, she semi-insisted that my facebook message on the angel was referring to her and her card.

It’s not.

BHAM!

I thought that it was prudent that before i did my Lasik, I should check something with my boss.

So I emailed my boss last Friday evening saying “Before I embark on my lasik next week, I thought I should ask you if you think there'd be any retrenchments in our Asia office (my company only has 2 people) Thanks!

That was Friday evening and he didn’t reply me all weekend but I know he checked his BB cos he replied some mails.

I was quite sian really but was still a little optimistic.

Then he asked me on Monday how come I sent that email… he only just saw it.. haha..asked me don’t be silly.

HAHA... phew im glad i wont be retrenched.

Wrappers

I was in Taka doing my annual Christmas shopping (for myself) with a friend. She decided that she'd buy a 6-can Craptree and Evelyn biscuits giftpack and then split it up and give it to six recipients.

As if that wasnt cheap enough, she decided to bring it to the Taka free wrapping service, which if i might add, has a nice baby blue theme this year.

When it was our turn and explained the "plan" to the wrapper girl, I half expected her to roll her eyes and think how cheap my friend was.. plus i certainly thought that the cylindrical cans were a pain to wrap - 6 some more!

But... but on the contrary, the wrapper girl turned to her adjacent counterpart and practically squealed, saying "Hey look... round cans leh! Got six some more!"

I am not kidding.

Her counterpart, who was wrapping things up (pun intended) on another present, looked over rather enviously. When she was done, she asked if she could wrap some of the cans.

I was tripping myself with the incredulity of these display of... lust. I had to ask them what's up with that. Apparently, they dont get much cylinders to wrap. Mostly only rectangulars... so when they get cylinders, it's a treat.

Oooookay man.

Cups

I’ve always been a fan of cups… I have probably mentioned this before but in my earlier travels, I usually like to buy cups, until it became apparent that my room has no more space and it’s a pain to pack the cups nicely in my luggage so that they wont break.

And I’ve been a fan of Ritzenhoff. In fact I think the first or second blog entry of this blog was dedicated to the breaking of my first Ritzenhoff… and along the way I got some as gifts. I have probably bought more than 10 of these babies for either myself or as gifts. But I’ve never ever used them at home. Cos my mum has a knack of breaking my nice cups. Those el cheapo cups I bring back from exhibitions or freebies, she never breaks. In fact I’m still using the $5 cup I bought from New Orleans.

I’ve taken a plunge this Christmas to buy a Ritzenhoff for my home use. Hope it lasts.

Clarity

I did a little eye test at Paris Miki while trying to make a new pair of contact lens last week. I was informed by my optometrist that I’ve been wearing my lens for too long periods of time and if my lens habit continue, my eyes will reject the lens and I cant wear them forever.

*gulp*

This kinda prompted me to search for a solution in the form of a Lasik procedure, cos I hate to wear my specs, especially on flights and badminton and on a daily basis.

So, I’m doing my lasik pre-op test this Thursday (18 Dec) and if all goes well, I’ll have the surgery the following day.

I hope all goes well.

Ardent fans might recall my yearly search for calendars every December and I got my first one already from Powto. Turns out it’s from Paris Miki. It’s ironic given that I might not need their services anymore.

Fashion

I saw someone wearing a pair of pants with pleats today. And it reminded me of the time when I first went to a/my tailor. He told me that pleats are for older men and they make me look older. Now, we dont want that do we? So all my pants thereafter are pleatless.

Which makes me wonder... if all the men in my generation had the same advice and made pleatless pants, then when we eventually grow old, wouldnt pleatless pants be the "old fashioned" kind of pants and younger men would make pleated ones?

*I think this will be the first and last time I'll type the word "pleat" so many times in one sitting.*

Fashion is conceived and perceived by men and mostly women. The thought always comes to my mind when I have to wear a suit and a tie. Dont get me wrong, I think i look pretty good in a suit. Mostly cos it hides my tummy. But i really dont understand why formal attire involves having to wear something so thick and having a noose tied around your neck.

WHY?

I hate wearing ties. Though i love to buy them.

This post feels gay.

Spoils

I took leave on Friday so that I can have a super long weekend. Plus I need to clear some leave.

I realised I literally have not gone to Orchard for at least 3 months so I thought it'd be nice to go on Friday.

It was going to be a busy day. I went to pay for my next 17 facial sessions. Then went to fit out my suit. Then went to try out a new pair of contact lens. All these money spent before i even started shopping.

So in the end I only bought this tie. Orange is the colour of the season. A season that's ending. :(

I realised that ties present a cheaper source of shopping. Hee hee..



I bought some books too. Im now a Borders member. w00t!

I realised the pics seem quite poser-like but i read them when I was at the HK airport the week before and they were very interesting. I hope to do an MBA some day. There was another book by Richard Templar as well - The Rules of Love. But then I was meeting someone after my shopping, so i didnt want to buy it and let her know I need to read abt love.. Haha..



Actually the very someone then gave me a 30% Borders discount voucher and then in addition to my member's 10%, i get 37%. So I'm going back on Monday to get more books.

On the topic of books, I bought this book at the HK airport. Pretty good book that I finished in 3 sittings though I'd have liked a more oomph ending.

How I Met Your Mother

I've been hooked on How I Met Your Mother of late. Haha.. it's damn funny.

Here's what i found on their website the other day.

My Reply

Here's my reply to him

Dear Mr XXX

I’m glad that you managed to get out of the scene safely but am deeply sorry to hear about your loss.

I wish you the peace and healing that only God can bring in times like this.

Take care.

Warmest Regards
Cornball

Weird yet Sad

My client sent me this today. Quite scary. I don’t know the people he mentioned in the text but I googled their names and there are quite a few hits man.

Dear Cornball,

As you may know, I left the Taj Mahal Hotel just 20 minutes before these ''terrorist animals'' struck with such vehemence and vengeance.

Rabbi Gaby and Rivka were like 2 meteors in the sky flashing by, leaving inspiration for all of us and in the 5 years they were in Mumbai during which time I had also returned, we had that "special bond" where I was interacting and watching him grow. In a short time he had achieved greatness with his messianic zeal and commitment. We shall perpetuate what they have done .Chabad House will rise again .

As an intimate to the family and Rivka's father and mother , I flew out with the bodies for the funeral which took place ydy when Jews all over the world and Israel were mourning.

The deaths were horrific but in spite of this, Gaby somehow between the pain of many bullets found the way to place talliths on the bodies around him before he succumbed.

I am shattered but God saved me to give the bereaved support and strength.

This is life. We were privileged to know such wonderful innocent souls who touched every ones heart.

Sincerely
XXX

Calendar

In my usual annual search for a calendar, Keeve sent me these… not bad really, if not for the fact that China Airlines sucks big time.

Foodie

It was a particularly good day today when I found a tiramisu cake on my desk.



And also a packet of small packet of strawberry Pocky.



W00t!

Oops

I was going to blog about this stupid signboard in the hotel.



Then i saw it in the room service menu.



Turns out it's the name of a restaurant.

Tough Times

I would have nearly blogged that I went a month without buying a single personal item for myself for the month of November.

I'm serious.

But when i was at the airport today. Zegna was having 30% off. Nonetheless, I'm quite proud i lasted this long... I actually cant remember what was the last item i bought myself. Quite possibly my wallet for my birthday in July.



Anyway, I'm staying here in Hong Kong.



Have a good side view of the Peninsula and Victoria Harbour.



And also close by the lousy ass Kowloon Hotel (the one in black glass) i blogged about here and here.

Comic

To explain the incredulity of the markets these days.



Courtesy of JK@Nom

Sweets for my sweet

My biscuits in my pantry sucks big time. It’s usually those Khong Guan types which i like some but they invariably buy those I don’t like. I hardly eat them. Unless it’s those round ones with the sugar swirl at the top.

Those came last week. So every once in a while, I’ll go to the pantry and scoop a handful from the container.

On Monday, the container was ¼ full (or ¾ empty for the pessimists) and pantry aunty was there. I asked her if there were more. She said no more. They ordered another kind.

When I returned from lunch, the receptionist told me the pantry aunty had something for me.


She packed the remaining biscuits and put it in a ziplock. How sweeeet!

Dammit!

It’s my dad’s birthday today and we went to celebrate his birthday over dinner last Sunday.

Among the things we talked about was how come they gave me my english name. I thought it was too common, given that I have six other people with the same english name as me, with two of them having the same surname as well.

My mum said that it was chosen by my dad. She had actually wanted to call me.. wait for it .. .. ... Roderick..Yes.. I could have been called Roderick..or Rod..or Roddick..I NEVER KNEW THIS!!! Goddness.. I’m glad my dad prevailed actually.

On a somewhat separate note, my parents both agreed that I look older than my 34 and 35-year old cousins-in-law. DAMMIT

Frenching it up

I might have mentioned that my bosses are quite ferocious and intense people.

This client came to us and requested for an expression of interest for their project and requested it in English and in French.

I prepared it in English and asked my boss if we want to get it translated into French.

My Boss’s reply was “If they are a decent company, they should be able to read English or have advisors who read English. If they are offended, remind them that if it weren’t for the Americans, the Frenchmen would be drinking lousy beer and driving Volkswagens and saying ‘Hail Hitler’”

To show my knowledge of history, I HAD to add “ Thank god for Normandy then”. I wanted to add “and the paratroopers from the 101st Airborne” but I thought that was too much.

Weekend

It’s Halloween today and it’s Friday, which means it could possibly be a scary Friday. I hate scary Fridays, or any scary day for that matter.

The weekend’s arrived and as usual, I’m thinking of what snacks to buy to complement to TV watching over the weekend. My colleague told me yesterday that 7-11 has this prawn cracker offer for 2 packets. Had wanted to go buy when she gave me a packet this morning. W00t!


We finally signed the documents yesterday. Going to ship these to the lawyers who have to check everything then distribute to the other parties. My internal lawyer asked me not to send our copy, so as to save the trouble of having them send them back to us. I was like.. “You lawyers.. tsk. One side say this, one side say that...”

Dreaming

I actually took leave on Friday over the long weekend, so I had four days away from work.

After more than 5 hours of badminton and 7 hours of mah-jong, I’m back to work again. *yawn*

Actually once in a while I dream about work and my colleagues and in the last 3 days I didn’t have any dreams. But last night, I had one such dream about my colleagues that I was just totally zonked out when I woke up. I typically come to work very early on Mondays so that I can clear some work and so I usually sleep early at 10pm on Sundays so that I can wakey at 6am.

The dream was like this… I was in a super duper swanky hotel.. super duper LUX (as what some people might say). But this super lux hotel has this particular room which is set out like a dormitory style… elongated and rectangular with 8 single beds, four on each side. Turns out the occupants in the room were my four directors and their wives and I was the chambermaid. It was such an odd dream being a chambermaid and all. 

And I came to work this morning to hear that my Bali project is suspended… sian diao..

Booked

The relatively slower pace of my new job allows me to indulge in some reading, which i feel gives me a level of serenity that nothing else brings. I try to read two books at the same time, usually a non-fiction and a fiction one to balance the Force within me.

Recently finished this book. Damn funny. I loved it.



A few of my colleagues were reading this book so i thought i'd read it as well.



Then some bright aleck decided we should have a lunch-time bookclub to discuss the book. Not a bad idea really but it somehow takes the joy out of reading when you know you got to share something .

Throngs

In the end, there were throngs of workers at the event!!! And I dont know if it's cos we didnt think it through but the whole translating from Tamil to Mandarin thing wasnt going to work cos I DIDNT SPEAK TAMIL!!! So how can i translate from Tamil to Mandarin?? So in the end, i became the lead MC in english then translate to tamil to then translate to Mandarin. The tamil dude, who was actually their foreman or something kept switching from Tamil to English. Made me confuse..dammit.

Foods.. Again

My company hosted this fancy lunch for some media people a couple of days back in Au Jardin at the Botanical Gardens.

Before the lunch i was emailed the menu.

Canapés At The Balcony

Papillote of prawn with basil
Cornett of smoked salmon

Set Lunch Menu

Carpaccio of fruits de mer, caviar d’Aquitaine, Granny Smith apple

Roasted Maine lobster, Girolle mushrooms, truffle sauce

Pan fried hallibut in carrot jus with Pommery mustard, salad of baby
spinach

OR

Smoked & roasted pigeon breast, leg confit, sauce Anjou

Black Mission figs, glazed with vanilla-balsamic, coconut ice cream

Coffee or tea
Les mignardaise

i really love to eat but i really hate to see a menu when half the ingredients are in a foreign language and the rest of the words are words i dont understand. Hate it. PLUS, the main course was fish or pigeon. That's no real meat. Give me some satay and ketuput man.

The food and service was pretty good but 1 hour after i got back to the office i was hungry again.. so i had to eat my own snacks.



In the entire end of the spectrum, and as a realisation of my previous desire to do something for the community, my company was doing a mass lunch for our PRC and Bangladeshi construction workers and i volunteered to be part of the management team to serve them their food. And for some reason, I had to mention that i speak mandarin, so im also the emcee for the mandarin section of the programme.

But i'm glad im doing this really. The only downer is that i have to wear my safety boots and helmet on the site. My colleague tells me i should put the helmet at the backeat area of my car where the tissue box usually is. Looks cool, she said. I actually feel like decorating my helmet like how officers in the army do it by sticking one or two or three bars on their caps to indicate their rank.

I'd probably put a big round and red circle to indicate my size.

Foods of Hong Kong

The room service menu for the W was obscenely expensive, even though i was on company account.

Decided to head out to the adjacent mall.

I was so hungry i ordered fried rice, xiaolong bao and drunken chicken.



AND i also da bao this fried thingy with the red bean paste. My dad used to buy these at the lavender hawker centre long time ago. Now no more there liao. It was quite soggy by the time i ate it in my room.



On the way back to Singapore I decided to be a cheapo and eat at the airline lounge. As always, there’s the instant noodles and free haagan daz. Because they come in such a small cup (which im thinking to deter the lazy folks from taking more portions), I had to take 2 cups. (Cornball is rarely deterred)



I was reading this magazine at the lounge and it featured Pansy Ho, daughter of Stanley. Quite a nice pic of her but the tag on her dress calls her a “Lamer”. Haha… I thought it was really funny.. I know it’s a brand of cosmetics but… Lamer?? Haha..

Hong Kong

Phew it was a very tiring trip to Hong Kong.

Essentially it was a conference i attended and it's really the first year i attended this one. I soon found out that it's really just an excuse for the industry people to meet up and make merry. There were like so many cocktails to attend, so many lunches and so many dinners after cocktails and then drinks after dinners. It doesnt help that I dont drink. So it has been many nights of drinking orange juice.

As mentioned earlier, i stayed at the W Hong Kong. It's the newest hotel to open in Hong Kong so we thought we'd try it since the hotel in which the conference was held was full.

This is the lobby. Because the hotel's targeted at the young and funky, the lobby has large trance music playing all day. The doorways to the rooms also has funky music. I cant say I'm a fan of that especially in the morning.

The large orange "W" is actually a tv screen with the orange "flames" flaring.



For some very odd reason, they decided to upgrade us to a suite. It's really odd cos we were just ordinary guests. No idea why.

It's a big room and cos I was going to be there for 3 nights, i thought it was nice to have a suite.









For such a big room, the walk-in closet was strangely small.



It even has a Bang and Olufsen tv and speakers in the room!



Check out the tv remote! Very high tech and it's super duper heavy. Seems to have a lot of metal in it.



But the dumb ass thing is.. when i change channel on the tv, the sound doesnt come on for the new channel! I have to switch the tv off and then switch it on again before the sound comes on for my new channel. Absolutely dumb.

Fit out for the room was pretty high tech (read: complicated). Frankly, after a hard day's work, I dont need to decide if i want the lighting in my room to be either "Day", "Night" or "Dream", or if i wanted a dimmer.



The toiletries were pretty cool and they look very pretty! So i stole them all, which is a rare thing for me. And cause it's such a rare thing, I didnt pack them properly and I found that one of these exploded in my toiletries bag when i got home. :(



I thought i also stole the scrub thingy but i cant seem to find it.



The "Backup Plan" is actually an extra roll of toilet paper. Haha.



Sometimes I feel that hotels just overdo it. The hotel left these three little books by the bathtub which was also beside the standing shower. I found that the spray of the water would get the books wet and i moved them away. But the very next day, the hotel staff put them back beside the bathtub again. Diao.



In addition to the tv in the room and the living room, there's a tv at the bathtub too. While that isnt very special, what's special is there's no sound for the tv in the washroom. They seem to have problem with sounds. I guess they channeled it all to the lobby and corridors.

That's all for now on the room.