Pillow

To alleviate my chronic neck problem, I went to buy a Tempur pillow today.. I tried it at Taka and was kinda complaining to the salesman that it was a bit ex.. then he told me that Isetan Scotts has a 10% discount... ooook.. I trooped down to Isetan and got it there. It's doubly good cos I am Isetan member.

Here're the pics.





Check out its contours.



Here's a mini wrist guard thingy i managed to sponge (mind the pun) from the guy after some sweet talking.



Maybe I can finally sleep more than 6 hrs.

Passer Bys

You know sometimes we are just passer-bys in another person's life. A person who features in a period of time in someone else's life where your sole purpose is to be there and render whatever help/aid/listening ear/money/time/money/love they need at that point of time.

After that, you're not needed and they just dont really chat with you anymore.

You sometimes console yourself that this is the life led by angels.

Then you wish you weren't one.

Random Pics - Maldives

Because I didnt know if my meals would be complimentary as well, I didnt dare to order so much. But I was hungry. That's a bad conundrum to have. Anyway I ordered fried rice and coconut creme brulee.. very very yummy!!



I was very shocked that the creme brulee came in sucha small cup. grrrrr.. US$12 leh.

Here's a huge huge tic tac toe set.



Here's a pic of the coral reef i took while in the seaplane.

Paradise

By the third day, I was feeling quite miserable, due to a confluence of bad rooms, not so good food and simply missing home. I couldnt wait to get home.

We visited some other resorts other than the ones we stayed in. One of them, a very nice one, were full when we arrived. So they couldnt show us anything. I as pretty fine cos I've seen many before but they were very apologetic. Said that on the Thursday got some available rooms, we could swing by to see if we wanted.

Please lor.. "swing by"? You think take taxi ah? Going to your hotel means a 30-minute speedboat ride, which means 30 more minutes of increased propensity to puke. I'll pass.

They smsed my colleague on Wednesday. Said they booked two rooms for us on Thursday. WEEEEEERT? Two rooms? We couldnt afford it? The rooms cost US$800 per room per night leh. I asked my colleague to decline but their reply was "It's on us"

We were suspicious of their intentions but we considered our options. Staff quarters or 30-minute speedboat then pure bliss.

Here's the room we got, each:



Check out the humoungous LCD TV and Bose sound system..



To prove we really stayed here, here's the bed with my stuff on it.



Got private pool some more..



And then can walk to the ocean...



The bathroom is power..HUGE! I love huge toilets.



It was a pleasure taking an afternoon bath in the tub while reading a book and watching the ocean waves..

This one taken with flash..

Maldives

This trip aint the rosiest of them all simply cos I was supposed to stay in one shitty resort and then one good one. However, that was even exacerbated when both resorts were full and we had to stay in the staff quarters... i couldnt be bothered to take the pics of the staff quarters cos it'd be criminal.

Anyway, here're some pics of the places i was supposed to stay at..we'll start off with the shitty resort.

Here's a far one..



actually i didnt take many pics of the shitty resort, my colleague did.. hahaha.. let's adjourn to the nicer resort.

Outside of the resort









Some fishes..



Inside...









check out the jacuzzi with tv.. shiok man









I have to state that I didnt actually stay at this resort. I stayed at the staff quarters in this resort..

Trip

Whilst waiting for the pics to be up, I just thought I'd inform my readers that I'll be going to New Orleans next Saturday (5 May 2007) till the following (12 May 2007)

Love you all lots..

Maldives - Journeys

Everyone always envies me when I go the the Maldives. I mean, yes, it's a nice place and all but to me, it's a monumental pain in the fat ass for the transfers...cos each resort is on one island.

I arrived at the Maldives airport at 11:30pm

Took a one hour seaboat ride to the resort, reached at 12:30am.

Then it took half an hour to check in and then unpack then check mail... slept at 2am...:(

In the next few days, I would have taken 4 hours of sea planes and 4 hours of speedboats... bleah..

Whoever said it's the journey, not the destination that matters, definitely wasnt referring to the Maldives.

Mum

My heart skips a beat when my mum calls. My mum belongs to the era of parents where the handphone shouldnt be used for chatting and you must speak quickly to save money.

It skips less when she calls from home. It's usually to call to ask if I'm coming home for dinner. She called me from home that day to tell me that the copious amount of money I said I had transferred to her account didnt get through. That was a downer.

She called me from her handphone while i was on trip. Now that was a double whammy.

She called to tell me that her received the money liaoz. Phew.

She told me she was at the hospital with my dad who was going for a intestinal scope check-up. I knew that so that was a phew too.

Then she told me not to eat so much meat. HUH????

Then she just mentioned in the most dead-pan tone that my uncle, my dad's brother passed away in malaysia from a heart attack.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERT?

It just seemed like yesterday when my Grandma passed away. But i remember that was in October. Time has passed so quickly.

A&W and Penguin

I went to the office for a while over the weekend cos I wanted to drop some things..

I found that A&W gal gave me a stuffed toy..my office is getting swamped with soft toys.. i bet some of my colleagues think i'm gay..

Penguin

How cute is this?



It's sitting on my chair while I'm away on trips. It looks very comfortable there.

I'll be flying to the Maldives on Monday for the entire week. Barely one day in Singapore.

Free Cone

I went to Free Cone day that day.

I'm not the biggest fan of Ben & Jerry's frankly. As you can see here.. But since i was having lunch at Suntec and it was free so what the heck..

There were tons of people. Phew.. Crazy man..





They didnt have my favourite flavour, Strawberry Cheesecake (As you can see here) so i settled for the cinnamon one..

You're supposed to only take one cos it's free. But there were some people queuing who were licking ice creams already and still queuing for seconds.. Kimmi told me she got two as well. To that, I replied " No wonder no one likes FTs like you". She told me that some people actually took two at one go some more!

And so, after half an hour of queuing, I got my ice cream.

Love

I had lunch with Powto once and we went window shopping after.

We went to a Coach shop. It was nearing Mother's Day and she remarked that money can't buy a mother's love. But a Coach bag can.



I buy my mother's love by transferring some money to her bank but after one week, she hasnt gotten it.. SIANZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ... i hope i didnt transfer it to someone else... :(

Shanghai Knight

I havent been blogging for some time now.

Nothing much happening in my life, thus nothing to blog.

I've been uber busy at work with many trips lined up.

Well, I was in Shanghai for the whole of the last week.

Shanghai was for a conference which my company organises annually. So basically no work done but just listening to presentations, going for lunches, dinners and cocktails. Quite fun at time but that leaves me with little time at night for my projects. I basically slept at 3am every night and woke at 7am.

There were some lucky draws at some of the lunches, my boss said staff can also participate, so I put my namecard in. Most of the gifts were for hotel stays in various parts of China. Some were really dumb, like 2 nights stays in a serviced apartment in Shenzhen, one night's stay in Guilin or Dongguan. Like who in the world would want to stay in these places right? There was one prize, one night stay at the InterContinental in Hong Kong. Now, that's a good one.

Another good one was a two nights' stay in the Banyan Tree Lijiang. One of their newer properties. I remarked to my table that this was one that i didnt mind winning, after laughing at all the other prizes.

My name was called.

Yes, I won a 2 nights stay in a spanking new Banyan Tree Lijiang.

Amazing, I never won anything in my life before.

Of course, when i'm in Shanghai, I'd visit my pretty friend.

Tax

Taxes and death are life's certainties, amidst the cacophony of Life's (or the Cage's) trials.

I'm filing my taxes now and i saw this on the IRAS website..

"The leading tax administration in the world

A partner of taxpayers in nation building and economic development

An eXcellent team of competent and committed people"

Such a load of bullshit..

The Cage

I went to The Cage to play soccer today.



Shitfong warned me about it. He said it was damn tiring. I was thinking in my head. "This is Ronaldo (fat one, not handsome Christiano) you're talking here, where got tiring. I'll bang in some goals"

He was right.

The Cage is formidable.

The Cage is unforgiving.

The Cage punishes.

The Cage looks small;

But who said size mattered.

The Cage knows no boundaries;

Balls you kick at it will rebound and hit you.

The Cage costs S$90 per hour;

But you pay more than that the day after.

The Cage is stuffy.

The Cage holds you in;

But you just want to get out.

The Cage is where you thought you'd find pure joy;

But you're faced with a lung-busting experience.

The Cage is where you thought you can stride your stuff;

But the Cage knows, it just knows, how to cut you down to size.

The Cage humiliates when you dont pay attention;

But rewards when you least expect it.

The Cage deals you a curved ball;

It sometimes hit you in the crotch. (Ouch)

Everyone plays a version of the Cage sometimes, but they call it Life.

Welcome

I just told someone my blog. Dunno if she'd come read it.

Welcome and enjoy your stay here.

Joy

There arent many things in life that are better than a lazy afternoon of mahjong, followed by a wild bingeing (or is it binging) at Blk 85.

Except maybe basketball.

Spaced Out

this iswhathappens when myall-new spankingkeyboardhas some problemwiththespacebar.

This isverydisgusting cos itmeansicannotmsn peopleandpeople cannot msnme.

This meansmysociallifeisgoingdown....

I thinki'llgoplaymahjong then.

Wahahahahahahh

ps:this entrywasmadeuncut andunspaced.

Pain and Loss

Pain that cripples,

Pain that blinds,

Pain that debilitates,

Pain that crumples.

Pain that removes,

Pain that inserts.

Pain that empties,

Pain that drains.

Pain that numbs,

Pain that hurts.

Pain that weakens,

Pain that destroys.


Gary Barlow says it well here:

Today I’ve Lost You

Driving home in my car, nearly midnight
Rain on the road in my view
Holding my heart, it’s the first night without you
On my clothes I still smell your perfume

Should have called
When I left you were crying
Is it too late to apologise
From talking to fighting, admitting, denying
To finally saying goodbye

Now I regret every word that was spoken
I said some things you know I didn’t mean
Maybe we’ll turn back the time
Work it out, start anew
Oh maybe today I’ve lost you

I can’t help but think of our last conversation
I close my eyes I can still see your face
I hope what I’m feeling now
You are feeling it too
Oh maybe today I’ve lost you

Driving faster out on this empty road
Being single’s so bad at twenty-three
Looking for signs, asking strangers directions
When the answer’s right in front of me

Strange how a minute can feel like a lifetime
I know what I had now it’s gone
I swallowed my pride coz alone here, I’m dying
And with you is where I belong

For twenty-four hours I’ve been searching for reasons
Reasons why we should be living apart
Hope I’m not too late to come home
Work it out, start anew
Oh maybe today I’ve lost you

Baby today, I’ve lost you
Baby today, I’ve lost you

.....................................................................................

I'm a closet Take That fan and today I've emerged from my closet.

I just realised it's Good Friday this friday. Isnt Good Friday supposed to be in April? Wait a minute, we are in April.

I hate long weekends. Long weekends mean that i have to wait an extra day, or heaven forbid, two extra days before i can go back to work again. That explains why in the last 3 years, I've only taken one holiday.

I hope there's mahjong this saturday, else i dont know how to spend the weekend.

Flirt

I think I must be getting desperate.

The Japan hotel in which I stayed had a super hot receptionist who spoke very good English, which is very rare in Japan. However, the day I checked in after my overnight flight, she told me (in perfect English)that our rooms were not ready. I literally raised heaven and hell over them blah blah blah. I was only given a room after half an hour, which is half an hour too long after a 7 hour overnighter.

That night, my colleague and I went to the front desk to ask her something and decide to turn on my charm. I shant elaborate more but it kinda flopped. While waiting for Hot Recept to check something for us, i said in Chinese to my colleague. "She not too interested. Blah"

Then i added in Chinese again " It'd be crazy if she knew Chinese"

Hot Recept came back later and she suddenly said aloud "Alamak!"

I was like.. "how come you know the word 'Alamak'?"

She said she was half Malay and half Japanese and she understands Japanee, English, Malay and CHINESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, I left quickly.

..................................................................................

I got myself invited to my school Graduation Tea to get some free food and also had a short presentation about myself and my company again. The students were given a momento, which was a cup.

My professor wanted me to meet one of his more outstanding students. She turned out to be someone quite well-endowed (keke) but frankly, I was more concerned with the food cos I was very hungry. As we parted, she picked up from the table two of the momento cups. And I asked her " Eh, how come you have two cups?"

I had to stifle my grin when i realised my gaffe.

In my defense, i still didnt think she was suitable for my company and didnt recommend her.

Excite

It's actually been a long time since I did an actual report by myself and I am actually very excited. Everyone's kinda busy and I had to chip in. Strangely, Im happy to actually go about doing it and get those brain cells cracking and firing up again.

Anyway, it certainly helps in keeping my mind off things.

Anyway, I'm going to the Maldives again. Straight after Shanghai.

Another client actually invited me to go do a presentation to them in the Maldives and in Dubai, offering to pay for my daily rates and also accommodation and expenses. So nice. However, I was so busy. But now that I'm going to the Maldives for another job, then i can piggy back and go together. Quite exciting. Never been to Dubai. Time to wear my Operation Desert Storm camou fatigues

New

I promised some pictures in my new office.

A&W gal brought this. Can you guess what it's for?



It's an A&W stuffed toy... sooooo cute... she stuck it on the window behind me.



Can you believe it? I received flowers for the first time in my life. Yeah.. i became the butt of jokes for a while.



Ok, here're the pics...I sit at one korner of the office..which gives me a vantage point of everybody and anybody who is slacking. You can see that my back has a window view.. which is good..



View of my desk..can you see the speakers and the ipod



Another view.. i dont think there's a difference from the previous pic



Closeup of my desk..maybe the speakers and ipod are clearer here



Here's the view of the back..spare table here.. see the A&W bear?



Views outside..

Blossom

The cheery blossoms were beginning right at the time i was in Tokyo... took some pics for you, my dear readers..

These pics arent the best i must admit. I was on the highway, which was high (mind the pun) up and overlooking the city and i saw huge areas of blossoms infestation growing..and it was beautiful.. but i was too lazy to whip out the cam.





Another wonderful pic... yummy!

Random

I heard this while i was in China:

If you wanna see more than 5,000 years of Chinese history,

Go to Xi'An (used to be called Changan. Yes, the same Changan you see in period dramas)

If you want to see more than 1,000 years of Chinese history,

Go to Beijing.

If you wanna see more than 500 years of Chinese history,

Go to Shanghai.

If you want to see more than 10 years of Chinese history,

Go to Shenzhen.

Moved

And so we moved on Friday afternoon.

Before we moved, my boss pulled me aside and told me abt the room (or the lack of it rather). He said he didnt have time to tell me and he said he allocated all the seats already and saved a good place for me but he'd let me go first and choose where i want to sit.

I hate it when he does that to me. He has this knack of softening me..

Anyway, i rejected his choice for me cos got no window view and opted for the furthest seat away from his office. One end to another...

I'll post more pics.

Escape

The next morning after i knew i have NO ROOM, i didnt feel like going to work.

Work has no meaning when you dont have a room.

There's no more purpose when you aint got no room.

There's no purpose when it gets taken away from you without the courtesy of being told.

Absolutely no purpose.

I decided not to go to work and went to the Chiropractor's. He brings me relief (in the neck).

My chiro is a young man who constantly asks me to get more of a social life. Flying around, mahjong-ing and reading and maintaining a highly successful blog (muhahahah) is no way to finding a girl. I told him i tried to hit on his very pretty receptionist when she called me in Tokyo to fix an appt (with the chiro, of cos)

He laughed.

I still didnt go back to work after chiro.. I went shopping and saw this newly launched game..special edition some more.. got free mousepad and tee shirt..

Here's the humongous pad..




And the free tee... it even has the word "Free" on it. But that actually means free size.



This will be my companion for the weekend.

COMMAND AND CONQUER.. everyone.