Eating at Sea

My client brought me out to eat on a restaurant on boats.. it's a fishing community that live on boats.







It was damn dirty that i nearly puked. It's a whole bunch of fishing boats together and the water's in between the boats are very dirty. Plus the workers throw whatever they want into the nets where the fishes are kept..





There was sea urchin too.



Eating while the boat was bobbing up and down was not fun. I couldnt wait till the lunch was over. :(

Its Day four in China and I'm already missing home.

I went to Sanya yesterday to see some clients.

My flight to Sanya was delayed. There were some angry people at the waiting gallery. Loud voices and then banging of the counter. Angry women were yelling at the counter staff about them being rude about the delay and then wanted to see the manager. I could tell the guy who was being scolded was close to tears. Tons of ple were taking pics and vids.



After a while, the people trooped off, presumably to see the manager.

Then i saw this.



The people were lined up along the steps from the immigration and security place, to block the new people coming in after clearing immigration. They were chanting and holding placards saying "我要回家！"

Then i realised that it's ba zhang festival on monday and that's why they wanna go home.

So exciting yet sad at the same time.

There're some things you cant prevent no matter how much you yell, chant, block, bang counter. Cannot means cannot

Maths

Sometimes I think I'm quite ordinary.

Sometimes I think I'm pretty great.

Usually the former occurs more often. It's called central theory, i think, where one usually perceives others as similar to oneself.

So when my in-house legal counsel asked me what was 30% of 100 million, I was quite concerned that there was a hidden legal nuance i was unaware of. After all, i topped my school in mathematics in sec 2. This was disturbing.

I told her 30 million.

And i emailed my only other lawyer friend - Goddess - to tell her how dumb my colleague was.

Goddess said, "Well, technically it's 33.3333333333 million"

I was felled.

I struggled back to pri 5 when i learnt about percentages. I thought it through and i thought AGAIN. It's 30 million!!@!

Never believe what lawyers tell you.

For those less challenged: here's a maths qn.

Peter spent $48 on some storybooks. he spent 1/3 of the remainder on a dictionary. he had 2/5 of the total money left. how much did he have at first?

Not Good

I dont know if it was the lack of sleep from previous night.

Or that my contact lens were due for a change.

Or was it because by 9:30am, my to-do list exploded to 14 items.

Or was it because of the extensive bleeding from my fingers two days before.

Or it was from the pit in my stomach from the realisation that my mum needed surgery.

By 10am, my head was spinning and my eyes couldnt focus and i literally lost my balance a couple of times. I was breaking out in a cold sweat.

I was due to make a presentation of my findings from my Vietnam trip at 1130am and i still couldnt focus on my points.

When i eventually did present, I even trembled a couple of times due to the cold air con, the cold sweat and just fear of screwing things up.

I went to the doctor cos i was just afraid i was going to faint while driving. He said that i was heaty and coming down with a flu and with some parts of my throat and ear getting inflamed, my balance was affected. This was the first time i heard something like that.

I just ate my meds and feeling quite groggy now.

Tomorrow i make my way to China for 3 weeks. Never been away from home for so long, except for the 42 days i spent in Taiwan during my army days.

Hurting

I've been hurting for some time. In many places.

One of the more worrying places is that the last two fingers on my left hand always not much feeling. My left hand's always more weak.

Ive gone to many places for help. Then today i went to this acupuncture sinseh. He was damn rough man. Jerked my left hand so hard that the insides all had a tingling feeling. It's almost like all my nerves were firing up.

Then he pierced the acupuncture needles to each of the joints on my last 3 fingers. Ive had acupuncture before but this felt damn pain. Then i realised he pierced the joints to bleed them. After he squeezed out the blood, he then used a stick (which is shaped like a nail file) and kneading at each of the wounded joints. I was screaming. After a while, the joints all turned blue black. He said it was all the bad blood stuck there.

All this while i was lying on my tummy on his table with needles in my back, writing away like a beached whale.

My hand feels much better now.

Song

I heard this song on the Sichuan Charity Fund Raising show this evening. Some of the artistes and their kids were butchering this song.

It sounded familiar but i couldnt place it.

The sad lyrics made me think it was Jay Chou's Shi Jie Mo Ri. But i thought it was quite a weird song to choose.

Then i realised it's not the Jay Chou song.

It's actually this song.

I actually remember watching this MTV in a KTV, on a rare occasion i went to a KTV (think only 3 times in my life). Brought back so so so many memories.

Sigh.. im very sad now.

Tripping

I'm tripping. I left my previous job cos of the intense travelling. Thought i can relak one korner here.

I'll be going to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City next week.

The following week, I'll be relocating to China for three weeks - got a nice cosy hotel in Shanghai and then flying domestic to Beijing, Sanya, Haikou, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Chengdu (shudder).

My boss said to stay at least 2 wks but i can extend to 3 weeks. Will see my mood. I'll definitely be back for this.



I went to their concert the last time they were here in 2005.

Just Cant Run Far Enough

I used to run quite a bit. I enjoyed it. I used to run from my house to east coast on weekends when i book out. It felt good. Till i fractured my ankle.

Then i bought a bicycle. Then i cycled all the way to east coast. Much easier than running. But cycling is more dangerous than running.

I used to swim a lot. I used to swim on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, hours on each stretch. I have lifesaving certificates,long distance award and some speed awards even. But after some years of not swimming in uni, i now get a headache when i swim in a pool.

It just feels like sometimes things dont last. It's really odd that i get headaches after swimming, despite being decently good at it at one time.

Nothing lasts.

Ive started running a bit now. I went cycling on Monday and thereafter i went shopping for goggles.

I'm thinking of joining a triathlon. http://www.triathlon.sg/ Thinking of doing the Mini - swim 200m, cycle 10km, run 2km. Doesnt sound difficult on paper but to do all three consecutively.

Sweets

I met an ex-colleague for dinner that night.

She said she wanted to buy me a meal cos she got a good bonus. But i decided on such an expensive place that i decided to buy her a meal instead.

When she met me, she showed me something she stole from the office for me.

Running

I started jogging after work recently as i wanted to get my mind off things and maybe lose some weight.

First time i jogged, was the first in some years since ive used my track shoes. Track shoes were bought in my US tour in Dec 2002 for merely US$25. But it's quite a funky design and i love it.



When i put on my shoes after such a long time, the side straps came out. Thank goodness, the entire shoe's like a glove, so i could still run after removing the laces.





After that, i decided to go buy another pair.



I remember being one of 24 people in Singapore in 1992 to own the Nike Air 180.

Has it been worth it?

You give it a lot of thought.

You wonder if you need her in your life.

You've done without her in your life so far and it's been fine.

You consider for a long time. Is this right? Is this the right decision? Are you ready for this step?

You buy things to make her happy, hoping that if she's happy you become happy too.

At the end of the day, it's not about the money. You'd have bought her the world if she wanted it. It's about the commitment.

You worry if it'll end up with nothing. Will it be a headache, heartache or immense joy?

You wonder if it'd bring you the immense joy that you, your mother, your father, your sister have been waiting for.

Is it worth it? You cant tell till you make the next step.

You realise that the word "worth" pops up more often than others. It's a question of worth because in all things there's a cost and benefit and you jus have to weigh it, consider it, analyse it to make sure the joy you feel is more than the risk you're taking.

So many things you'd have to consider before you hire a maid.

Today I’ve Lost You - Take That

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

Should i call?
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
Or 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
Or 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 day it can feel like a lifetime
I know what I had now it’s gone
Ive swallowed my pride cos 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
Or maybe today I’ve lost you

maybe today, I’ve lost you
maybe today, I’ve lost you

Bali

I actually went on a day trip to Bali yesterday.

And im back in the office today.

My super duper ultra big boss asked me which part of the island I went.

With my limited drawing skills, I drew a map of Bali for him.



This looks like someone’s testicles man.

I hurriedly went out of his room to print a proper map when he looked confused.

Carz

I went to my boss's room today and saw that he placed the car i gave him on this mantle place he has in his room.

Look at how proudly it stands.



Until you step further back and see the kick-ass models already there.

Compliments

I have been complimented for various things before. But I never thought I'd receive one like this from my boss after last week's conference in Shanghai. Definitely not my chinese speaking abilities.

"I just wanted to congratulate you on the great job you did at the conference, without your chinese speaking capabilities it would have been much harder. So GREAT JOB!"

Conference

Going to this conference that my ex-company hosts gave an odd sense of familiarity. Odd feeling cos I've gone to this conference ever since its inception and it's the first time I am attending this as an outsider.

My former boss came to introduce himself to my current boss and it was an awkward moment for me. Current thanked Former for letting Current have me, while Former said it was only a loan. Kinda weird moment there.

There were several cocktails and dinners during the conference and we were shuttled by buses from hotel to hotel, depending on where the coctails/dinners were held. I caught this sign as i was walking to the shuttle bus.



IHG stands for InterContinental Hotels Group. Haha.. this was a funny one.

I brought tons of brochures and even more namecards. It was a tough time trying to explain what my company was in Mandarin. I spoke so much Mandarin that i got a headache in the first two days. Gave away all of them and now i have this much namecards to reply to.



Hopefully i get a deal or two out of these buggers.

On a happier note, I managed to catch up with my pretty Shanghai friend. I've now known her for 3 years now and she was literally my first work friend. It's fun to see how we've grown into our roles.

Hangzhou

I did a day trip to Hangzhou when i was in Shanghai.

上有天堂，下有苏杭。(i'm very good at chinese proverbs, as evidenced here). I've been wanting to go Hangzhou for a long time.

It was a long long journey..

1. 45 mins to the train station to my hotel

The train station was packed at 9am man.



2. 1.5 hour journey to Hangzhou

I called my ex-colleague to ask how to get to Hangzhou. Coincidentally, she was there at the same time! Haha.. she mistakenly took the el cheapo RMB15 (S$3) train which takes 3 hrs and there was no allocated seats. So she stood for one hour until she got a seat. For RMB 50 (S$10), i got a seat and the journey was 1.5 hours.

3. 2 hour car ride to Thousand Islet Lake.

It was raining the entire day which made the pictures bad..but the fogginess added to the mystique of the place.







Going down the slippery slope to get to the boat.

Illness

I think i have an illness.

No matter how late i arrive back from a trip, I'd unpack everything, dirty clothes, toiletries, work files, accessories, etc before i go shower and sleep.

No matter how long the flight is.

It's 2:30am now and im glad to be back.

Shanghai

Came to the conference my ex company hosts every year. But this time I'm here as a delegate. In the past, we used to all squeeze in a serviced apartment to save costs.

Now i finally get to stay in the hotel where the conference is held. So nice.





It isnt that obvious here but the cupboard opens both ways: one side opens into the toilet, and the other side opens at the doorway. Very convenient.



It's an 88 storey building. Scary!





I was famished after my flight and ordered these... yummy.. but they had 10 xiao long bao...



Then i just had this for lunch... nice soup!

Help

I actually recently got some part-time help for my mum. She comes in once a week to clean up the house and help out here and there. This lady came highly recommended by someone i felt is a little too picky and anal for her own good. So i trust her opinion on things like these.

After the first time she came, she wanted my mum to buy the following:

1. A stronger vaccuum cleaner
2. A stronger iron
3. Some special table cloth she recommended

We bought #1 and #2 before her second visit and she helped us buy #3.

On a second visit, she wanted us to buy:

1. A better ironing board.

I didnt manage to buy an ironing board before her third visit.

On her third visit (today), she suggested that my mum bought a cupboard to store the excess clothes we have.

Siong man.

Cards

Just got my order of 2 boxes of name cards for an upcoming conference i'm attending.

Means i wont be getting promoted anytime soon i guess.

Vicious Spiral

It’s strange how one thing can lead to another.

I actually went to Watson’s to get pore packs.

Then ended up getting batteries for my wireless keyboard. Wanted to get 4 pieces only (S$7.05) but then 8 pieces cost S$10.50. More worth it.

Then while paying, saw this two-bottle dettol promotion. Original price is S$15.50 and then now is S$11.80 if I bought more than S$15 at Watson’s.

Bought them all.

Cant think of a nice title

My mum’s happy that my that uncle won S$10,000. His daughter’s in uni and could use with some extra dough. He's very thrifty. Handphone screen spoilt never change. My mum told me to buy him one.

Coincidentally, DBS ibanking has that fab offer with 40% off Samsung phones. I waited till 31 March before ordering cos I wanted to pay till payday. Then I realised deadline was 31 March and the payment website doesn’t work with Mac and Vista (office laptop) and then was panicking cos I cant get my 40% off deal.

I finally managed to in the end. And now he won S$10,000.

I hope good things come to good people.

Digital Aged

It was a flurry of activity in my house last night. I came home late cos I went to get a PSP. I was supposed to stay out later to wait for my mum who was supposed to go to town to pick up my cousin’s maid to come stay at my house cos my cousin’s going on holiday.

After some change in plans, the maid no more coming liaoz. So I went home.

When I came home, my mum was yakking on the phone cos my aunty won second prize in 4-d (or toto). W00t S$2,000. And then another uncle called to say he won first prize!!!! W00t w00t w00t w00t w00t S$10,000! Happy like bird. My mum was very happy and yet half sianz cos apparently she saw the winning number on a car license plate together with my uncle when they visited my aunty (same one who won second prize - very complicated). But she was too lazy to buy in the end. She was nonetheless happy.

In the short window of time my house phone was available, my cousin (the one with the maid) called to say that she’s getting a cab to send her maid to my house. Asked me to take down the taxi number so that we can go down and pick her.

My mum hurriedly took down the numbers to buy in the next 4-d!!

In other news, PSP is very difficult to play.

PSP

Just bought a PSP.



Increasingly more things in my room is white.

My Mac's white.

My keyboard's white.

My ipod's white.

Bought an ipod speaker cum radio that's white too recently.

Nothing

Have you ever had that feeling that NOTHING you do seem right? NOTHING.

Bread Talk

Ever since I joined my company, I’ve developed an obsession.

Subway sandwiches.

It started one day when I felt like losing some weight. And then BHAM!

I’m eating it everyday.

And every day’s the same thing:

Bread: Parmesan Oregano
Size: 6 inches
Filling: Meatball Marinara
Vegetables: Lettuce, tomatoes, onions
Sauce: Sweet onion

One day, I felt hungrier than usual. Decided to have a cookie as well. After some trial and error, white macadamia nut cookie is the da best. It’s now the de-facto snack which I eat at around 4pm at the office.

Things I don’t understand

Things I don’t understand:

1. Why do we spend about S$400 on an ipod and then spend S$30 on stickers to protect it?
2. Why do we spend money buying expensive shoes and then have to spend more money to go to a cobbler in Bishan to add a rubber sole?
3. Why do we cut our hair when they’re going to fall off anyway?
4. Why do nails have to grow?
5. Why are toenails so difficult to cut?

Hope

Hope springs eternal.

It look me a long while to understand what that means. Because hope is not a tangible object, how can it do such an animated action like "spring"?

But supposedly it means that hope is eternal.

I actually like Mondays. Mondays give the hope of a new start. A clean slate to do what you didnt manage to do/didnt do properly/screwed up the previous week.

I hate tuesdays cos by then you know how your Monday went. And it's four more days to weekend.

So i like Mondays. This Monday, i went to work with the hope that it was better than last week. Last week was a damn bad week. And the previous week was bad too. Actually the week from 3 March and 7 March was quite possibly the worst week in my life. It was so bad and not funny that i didnt wanna blog about it.

And it spirals.

This week, i had a cut that simply wont heal. It just didnt clot and it stained a few of my shirts in the meantime.

Im so stressed up that my hairdresser told me this week that my hair's thinner. SHIT.

I cant be bothered to type anymore.

I feel snappy and I feel irritated.

I hope this week turns for the good.

Carz

It's my boss's birthday in the second week of April.

I deliberated on whether i should get him something. My company has a daily morning meeting where we would celebrate any birthdays, if any. So i cannot pretend not to know.

My boss is a millionaire and he drives a Ferrari. There's no decent present I can get him within the budget i had in mind.

It's times like this which you have to use the "sweet and warm with a el cheapo gift" approach rather than the "shock and awe with an opulent gift" approach. Much like JC boys getting a gift for Friendship Day.

I got him this.



S$5.95 if you pump petrol at Shell.

Speaking about cars, there was a BMW roadshow the mall near my office. Went to check out the cars cos i had a quick lunch. The cars are so sweet! 18" rims run flat tyres, 2l engine and a whole lot of other things i didnt really understand.

Entry level model costs S$132,000.

When can i buy one?

Weak End

A lonesome weekend with no dvds to watch.

Decided to get some at the dvd place.

40 year old virgin. How apt.

Used

Everyone hates to feel used.

It hurts when you actually care.

I just hate it when people asks you for favours or come to you for a listening ear. And then when the favours are given and ears have listened, they dont have the courtesy to answer your questions. DONT HAVE!

It took a herculean effort to stop myself from saying something nasty.

Health is Wealth

Health is wealth.

It's so so so damn cliched but it's so true.

Money can buy health to a certain extent but sometimes it cannot.

Ailments baffle and confound and sadden.

Sigh.

I hope my uncle and my sis get well soon.

Lost

My colleague remarked today that she thinks i make a good actor.

"Why?" I asked.

"Cos you always walk so slowly like you own the road. And you also look so cool and deep in thought"

"...."

(I actually dont know if i need to put inverted commas betwen the dot dot dots. You cant quote something when you dont say anything)

The truth of the matter is that i sometimes feel lost at work. There are just days when I feel like the world's spinning round and round and I have no idea what's going on and oh well.. im too lazy to continue..

Have a good weekend.

Naughty Video

Check this out.

http://dothetest.co.uk/

T|ny sent this to me.

My company showed this once to talk about the lesson of... well, you'll know when you see the video.

Expensive Tea

I was doing my expense claims and saw this receipt where I paid for meeting some clients for tea.

2 pots of camomile tea @S$18 each
1 glass of orange juice @ S$9.

Total after s/c and GST = S$52.97.

Phew that was expensive!

Hunted

A headhunter called me yesterday. Said there was a position in Vietnam that was “very suitable” for me. Asked me to send her my resume. After chatting her for some time, I realised that she actually called me a couple of weeks back saying she’s from a trade magazine asking about what my company and I did in Vietnam.

I replied with this email this morning.

Hi XXXXXX

After thinking it through I decided that I’m not interested in the position.

Thank you for your time.

Say, do you also work for a trade publication that has a focus on Vietnam? I thought I spoke to someone from a trade magazine whose voice sounded very similar to yours with regards to what I did for Vietnam.

Best Regards,
XXXXXX

Possibly One of the Worst Way to Start the Week

Quite possibly one of the worst ways to start the week. I'm not in a hurry to outdo this one.

I have a conference call at 8am on Monday morning. US boss in the US, client in Sydney and I'm in Singapore :(

Sianz.

Woke at 6:30am.

YAWN

Left my house at 7:15am.

ECP jammed from Tanah Merah entrance!!! TANAH MERAH ENTRANCE LEH!!!

7:30am - Emailed US boss to say i'll be late for the call.

8am - Havent passed Bedok. Called the dial-in number. I'm the moderator.

8:15am - Passed the seven (SEVEN!!!)-vehicle accident

8:16am - ZOOOOMED off from Bedok. US boss complained too much background noise from my car (stupid mitsubishi engine and yokohama tires). Muted my phone.

8:40am - Reached office car park. Entered lift. Disconnected from call.

8:45am - Called in the dial-in line. Only to realise every (EVERY!!!!!) one else got d/c cos I (the MODERATOR) disconnected!@!@

8:46am till end of call - Felt like an idiot.

Call ended at 10:30am. Late for my 9:30am meeting. Shit. Left my desk to find my Singapore boss to explain why im late.

10:45am - Came back to my desk to see voice mail light lit up.

10:47am - Listened to voicemail left by US boos " Where the hell are you? Went to the washroom after the call? Call me back"

10:49am - Called back. Listened on how i should have my documents in front of me during conference calls. How i shouldnt do conference calls in the car.

10:55am - Explained myself but feeling stupid at the same time.

:(

Monitor

YAY! My 20" monitor for my office finally came... now i dont have to squint my eyes!!

w00t




My desktop wallpaper was downloaded from here. Quite a dew nice ones there i've downloaded

Jakarta

I was actually in Jakarta for two days this week. Quick trip in and out. Chop chop curry pop. Stayed in a hotel which i stayed some time back in 2006 with my former boss.

Pretty decent room.



Got chocs some more... yummy..couldnt resist eating some before taking a pic.

New Stapler

I'm glad i have a new stapler. Nice blue color. Glad for small things in life.

What a Boring Job

I saw this that day. This guy watching the copier machine. Gosh, must be a damn boring job.

Snippets

"Snippets" is one of those blog entries that almost every blog would have at some point. Basically it just means that the blogger doesnt have much happening in his/her life but he just wants to blog.

Someone was trying to be funny again when he parked right beside me on Friday. Thankfully i was a little more alert and wasnt fooled into trying to open his boot.



It was a lazy Saturday that included a facial appointment. Once again, removed so many blackheads that my head feels lighter. And then when i'm bored, I'd go over to the Tailor. Anyway I had to do a fitting for my suit, which i made then. As usual it was super duper crowded, more so cos it was a saturday. Decided to take a picture for my readers. There's this rare pretty girl in the shop today. Alone. She looked totally lost sia.. all the people there were either couples (gf there to help bfs choose materials) or single guys like me (no gfs to help choose material :( ). As mentioned in my post earlier, the Tailor's is a world of men. Women are lost here. As i looked at the picture again, i realised she didnt look as lost as she did in real life and that one of the couples was actually two guys. I remember them. The one in darker blue was speaking so loudly in a gu niang voice that was so irritating. As I see it now, he is wearing sneakers with pants and long sleeved shirt... gosh.. such a fashion disaster... these kind of people do not deserve to make the queue longer at the Tailor. They taint the masterpieces the Tailor ...urm.. tailors out on a daily basis.

Anyway, the dude in the studded Armani belt is my Tailor. He said it was dress down Saturday today. Haha.. Choice words from the Man once again.