Goof Ball

I havent been blogging about golf of late.

I went to JB with Sox two weekends ago, ostensibly cos it’s his 30th but more cos he was available to go.

It was an improvement from my previous games. That doesn’t say much. In any case, with my scores, it isn’t very difficult to show an improvement.

Here’s a picture of this hole at Palm Resort. The hole and the tee is separated by a large expanse of water. I think I probably hit two balls into the water man.



Anyway I am thinking of going for an intermediate course with Sox’s instructor to bring my game to another level. Just didn’t have time to get down to doing it. Havent touched my clubs for 2 weeks now. L

Hope I can sew up my deal and move along.

Dieting

After a somewhat filling weekend with Michelangelo’s, Coca, Provence, California Pizza Kitchen and Canale, I decided to go for a low carb lunch and went for fish soup with a bowl of rice. (I said low carb, not no carb)

It was relatively satisfying but I have no doubt I’ll be hungry later.

My colleague wanted to buy crystal jade egg tart for tea time and I tagged along. Then I saw this...


Man, they always make it so difficult to diet.

But im glad to report that I declined my colleague’s offer of the free egg tart she got.

Sweets!

Saw these hand made sweets at a shop in Central.

Made from a long rod of hardened candy and then “hand chopped” by the staff. Imagine the effort trying to do the little images in the centre of the sweet.

Rare Sight

Caught a rare sight today..someone entering the phonebooth and using a phone card. However, he came out after a while and went to another booth and subsequently left that booth too. Probably none of the phones work anymore.

Sad State

I went to Ion today. It wasnt my first time so it was a calmer and more relaxed walk through the mall.

As with the first time i came i had some bread from Provence. Now, Provence isnt new to me as i used to have it once in a while from Holland V during those Uni studying days. And oh those custard-filled babies.. oh man. The Provence in Holland V was popular but it wasnt overflowing with people.

But not the Ion one.

Throngs of people queuing and also watching the bakers. And people, most aunties, were just grabbing the lighter-than-air custard and also chocolate thingies almost like they were free! Oh man.. When it got to my turn, i am embarrassed to report that i did the same too.

In the middle of our whacking in the crowded bakery, we saw another group forming when the bakers brought something new out. Not knowing what's inside and what it tasted i re-joined the queue. Wahahahaha..

No regrets man... super fluffy and super light and filled with cream cheese. These babies are great.



People watching is so fun in times like this. Couples are sitting and waiting at the tables with a drink and waiting for the chocolate thingies to come out.

But what happened next took the cake (or fluffy creamy bread). A young couple with a pram and their parents were waiting outside for a table. When there was an available table, they all came in and left the pram outside, simply cos it was too crowded to push the pram in!!!! THAT WAS SOOO WEIRD!!! The young mum went like " Aiyah, outside can la.. we can see him from here."

So the baby's parents and grandparents sat on our right and on our left is another table before you see the pram outside the shop. The picture below shows the pram, partially hidden, while the parents are seated on my right.



Throughout their time there, they were more interested in the lighter-than-air bread than their kid/grandkid. In 5 seconds, someone could have to pushed the pram away.

Gosh..

Blogging about the bread now makes me quite gian of it man.. haha

Eeks

Im usually not judgemental on people’s dressing but I thought this one takes the cake.

This dude is in a macho Stanchart Marathon tee and sporting pink Crocs! PINK!

I was eyeing him for some time and wondering if he lost a bet and had to wear these. But no, it didn’t seem like it.



Ok, im very judgemental.

Leap

Went to KL yesterday for a day trip.

Very tiring. It was supposed to be a meeting between the working group but then suddenly the client's big bosses decided to come for the meeting as well.

Oddly, the client's office's air con is spoilt cos the building owner was too cheap to repair the air-con system. So we had our meeting at the lobby lounge of this busy hotel. From a meeting of 5 people, it grew to 9 people and it was quite difficult for the big bosses to see from my laptop from so far away.

Thank goodness i had my self-binded nicely printed on letterhead documents to distribute to them. I was happy.

We took a huge leap forward in securing a deal. Upon reaching Singapore at 930pm, i bought two apple pies and nuggets to , in part, celebrate and in part, last me through the night. Had a call with my lawyers in Dallas then conference call with my colleagues in Chicago and Atlanta till 12:30am. Yawn.

Next week, they're coming to Singapore for a meeting and we are hosting them for dinner. Hopefully it works out.

Also, tomorrow, a mayor of some chinese town is coming to Singapore and my bosses want me to meet them for a nice dinner cos i speak mandarin. I always knew my mandarin would be my burden. Bleah.. Client dinner on Friday night. Hopefully it leads to another deal.

Deflated

My birthday balloons are oddly enough still floating, albeit a little deflated.

It has been a crazy few weeks and therefore i havent been blogging. So crazy that i feel
kinda like my balloons.



It was a little embarrassing to float deflated balloons so i decided to place them on the floor but they still float to my sitting height so it's a little weird. I hadnt shown this before but holding the balloons down was this - a Playmobil Prince. No idea why they got me a prince. I guess maybe they think im a prince. Man, that sounded so lame i actually feel embarrassed to type that.



This is too much text about some balloons so im going to change topics.

Im flying to KL tomorrow to hopefully move closer to a deal that'd make or break my year. This year no deal yet and this one could very well materialise to a deal. So ive been busy. So busy that i havent had time to collect my IC. So busy that i forgot to think of where to eat for lunch. So busy that i didnt even have time to write my daily To-Do list. Phew.

In many ways, im very anal. I can feel a number of you nodding your head vigorously. Hoping to give a better presentation, i decided to print it on nice letterhead paper, with color pics and wire binding from downstairs. Advisor has said no need so nice la but i was stubborn and i wanted to create a good impression with the client.

So tonight i rushed and rushed to get it out. Finally done at 730pm. The binding shop downstairs had already closed. Had to walk to suntec to do the wirebind cos i didnt want the cheapo looking plastic bind.

Alas the suntec shop had already closed as well. Dejectedly, i walked back to the office. But not before buying some gummy candy to accompany me as i bound my documents alone in the dark office when the aircon's off.

Here's me in the binding room and my bag of gummys.

Surprise!

As mentioned numerous times in this space, it has been a horrible week at work. At the Exco that concluded in the early part of the week, everyone was a little disappointed with the lack of progress from Business Development  That’s me. My president was like “I cant help but feel a little disappointed with the pipeline we have thus far”.

Diao.

I feared for my job. I was remarking to another colleagues that it seems like every year around my birthday, I feel for my job. I cant remember if I blogged about it last year.

I was of course in a frenzy all the days after.

While at my desk today, I heard some murmurings of some uncoordinated singing behind me. Then suddenly it became “Happy Birthday” song and I turned around, I saw my boss (the Prince), my chairman (the king) and his two daughters and several other colleagues (including the irritating advisor) holding a cake and walking towards me..

Awwww so sweet..

They asked me to make a wish.

I said I hope to sign some deals before year end.

King said “Only a few? Give me a dozen!”

All laughed.

I couldn’t laugh.

Anyway, here’s the cake and balloons they bought me. It’s a little distracting with the floating balloons. The cake has a hard hazelnut base which the plastic knife couldn’t cut through. Then someone got a metal knife (pictured below) but the handle broke (I hope it’s not an omen) and in the end they needed a hugemongous knife.

Doors

My colleague and i were returning to the office after lunch when she saw this shop, with one door open and the another closed.



She asked me how come like this, cos usually both doors are closed.

I was feeling a little philosophical amidst all the busyness.

My reply was "It's cos when one door closes, the other opens."

Presented

I realised that most of my entries' titles are really words that can be verbs and nouns and i usually just past-tensitise the verb. Quite a lot of entries really. Speaks volumes of my lack of creativity.

With the itchy eyes incident, I got a super long weekend from Thursday to Sunday, which was good since i couldnt take leave on Monday.

Monday was so busy that it just flew by. Different groups of people i work with celebrated by buying me lunch and buying me a cake for teatime at 4pm. Ended the day with a wonder dinner at Da Paolo in Chip Bee.

Here are some of the presents i got.. Quite a varied bunch of presents really.

My sister got me this golf cufflinks and Borders voucher card! w00t! Im going to wear this tomorrow for my Exco meeting.



Then i got this wonderful Scotty Cameron Newport 2.6 Studio Select straight-shafted putter. I know Sox isnt a fan. I think he's just being jealous.







And also someone sent this to my office.



And then another came to the office...



Then someone gave me this. It's a little scruffy hippo. Wahahahaha. cracks me up when i see it.



And amidst the shopping for the scruffy hippo, she chanced upon this fridge magnet, and thought it apt for me.



And lastly.. a beanie and scarf set..

Itchy and Scratchy

I didnt mention in my bday dinner that i was scratching my eyes like crazy that night. I have no idea why. This was more itchy than the dry eyes i had after my lasik.

I decided to go back to my lasik surgeon yesterday to see what's up. Apparently, due to too much aircon, too much computer or too little sleep or combination of the above has contributed to super dry eyes.

In the end, i got prescribed eye gel (4 times a day), milky eye drops (2 times a day), clear eye drops (as needed), a $200 bill and 2 days MC.

This little ordeal turned into a mini long weekend.

I walked around the mall to buy lunch home and found that my first love is back in Singapore!

w00t!

Braced

My university friends celebrated my big 3-0 yesterday. It’s probably the first of numerous gala celebrations in the next two weeks.

We had it at Double Bay in Raffles City. The food was bad. The service was good but that doesn’t make up for the bad food.

We went to Timbre after cos my friends wanted to use the excuse of my birthday to bring one of our friends to matchmake one of their friends who was waiting for us at Timbre. That’s pretty confusing really.

It was my first time at Timbre. Im not usually a fan of outdoor places or places that serve alcohol but I heard the live music was good.

It was quite good and looking at them made me think of the days I was in a band. Maybe since im quite free these days, I’d want to take up some formal lessons for bass guitar. W00t!

My friends got me this for a present. Haha.. Bracelet.

Axe-Co And Bored Meetings

I never really had the habit of taking leave for my birthday. Wasn’t much of a reason to. I do remember spending my 2006 birthday in Tokyo on a work trip and going to the fish market. That was pretty good.

I was telling Sox that perhaps we should organise a golf trip to JB again to celebrate my birthday. Haha.. just another excuse to do it.

I found out two weeks ago that I have an Exco on the day of my birthday and Board meeting three days after. *shudder*. The last time these happened was in March and I fell sick for two days after. Bleah. Definitely not going to be a good birthday this year.

Sian diao.

HQO

I know someone who got a HQO for H1N1. Stayed home for seven days. Actually at some point of being terrorised by the new advisor, I was really hoping to get a HQO so that I can stay home, watch tv, read, surf, eat.

I just asked my friend how was the HQO experience and how she got her meals. She said “my gmother cooked”

So I said “ So she g-mealed you?”

:)

I think my pun was lost when her reply was “not really i still go to the living to watch tv”

Such a dumbass.

Update

I havent been updating. Mostly cos ive been real busy at work. My King hired this dude from outside to be some sorta advisor and he's been 新官上任三把火。 Trying to do all kinds of new things that is just a sheer waste of time. Everyone in the office hates him and yet he seems oblivious. Sometimes i try to give the benefit of the doubt, given that im still quite new in the working world. But twice already, time has proven that my recommendations to him, which was contrary to his original view, were correct. Oh well, more of that when im more free.

So now i am all super and somewhat stressed at work. I realise ive never been stressed at work, as my working life has, fortunately been quite smooth thus far.

Even the people who sit around me said i've been real quiet at work. Bleah.

Managed to play 9 holes this morning at Mandai with the people i learn golf with. Queued one hour from 730am! Not a super bad game but definitely room for improvement. Then we went to play one round of mahjong. All done before 1pm! Gosh.. some people arent even up by 1pm on Saturday and we already did so many things.

Tomorrow is the last day of badm with my this group of friends. I'm quite sad really.

Smashed

My weekly Sunday badminton sessions look like they’re going down the pooper.

One of my regulars is going to Australia to do her Masters for 1.5 years this week. I sure hope she is able to get a new job when she returns. Else she might become the world’s most educated secretary.

And another is going to UK to do Masters in August.

As it is, my Sunday badm kakis are dwindling and with these two departures, I’ll find myself quite free on Sunday noons. Sigh.

I hate it when people go overseas. I find that I am never able to keep up contact with people overseas, even when they return. It’s like something broke along the way.

I know that’s pretty weird.

Worn Out

It has been a hectic few weeks cos ive been tasked to do some meaningless stuff.

As mentioned on Facebook, tonight, I have a meeting at 3pm, 6:30pm, 7:30pm and a conference call at 9:30pm. Bleah.

To prepare for the potential missing of dinner, I bought 2 crystal jade po luo bao and bubble tea to keep me awake.

Then oddly enough, my colleague bought me two pineapple pies from Old Chang Kee with a “Have a nice day” note. There’s even a bow tied to it. So sweet.

Here’s all of them in this picture.

Retro Phone

Was at Miramar Hotel that day. For sucha lousy ass hotel, it has quite nice food – the eat-till-you-drop-but-not-before-you break-into-a-cold-sweat dim sum buffet at $10++ per pax and of course Ikoi.

Saw this retro phone .. even has the “Telekoom” logo at the bottom.

Danger!

Saw this at the ground floor of my office building the other day.

Proof that work’s dangerous.

GPS

I wanted to buy a GPS for some time now. GPS prices have not come down much in the last year but they have simply added more features which are increasingly quite kick-ass. Like there’s junction view where it will show you what the junction looks like when you’re supposed to turn there. And it will also show you which lane is the turning lane, etc etc.

So I went to the IT show last weekend.

Super crowded and the cheapest model was sold out. A salesgirl was showing me the midrange models and was going on and on about the features. She also showed me how I can get directions if I drive in Malaysia. But she said the directions in Msia don’t have the junction view and lane view features as mentioned above.

Then I said no wonder msians cant drive. Then I laughed out loud with mock pride that I managed to insult the msians. Hee hee.

She didn’t laugh.

My friend asked “Are you msian?”

The salesgirl bit her lip and nodded her head. :(

Read about another incident.

Oh Shoot

My mum’s always intuned with the news and current affairs. And she’s a fan of MM Lee.

She read yesterday that Dr M didn’t have nice things to say abt MM Lee's visit to Msia.

Then she also read that we bought some "Archer-class" subs from Sweden. She reads Swedish news now that my sis went to Sweden.

Then she said we will shoot anyone who insults MM Lee with the arrows from the Archer.

Coming of Age

I had mentioned earlier that as my 30th birthday loomed, I began to examine a little of my life and what I have achieved in my life.

Right after I blogged that, I got promoted and someone told me "Surely now you can’t say you didn’t achieve anything"

But as my birthday approaches, I once again started to examine my life. With the falling housing prices, I had contemplated buying a house so that I can flip it later in better times.

But I realised I couldn’t afford it.

I was disappointed that despite working for five years (actually 15 June marks five years exactly), I can’t buy an apartment alone.

I decided to go on a cost cutting exercise. I have a few golf attire that I haven’t worn. Quite a few work socks. Tons of new underwear. Some new work shirts. Some new pants I haven’t collected from the tailor. And of course at some point I had more than 10 bottles of cologne.

So, I have since stopped buying cologne. Now I’m down to 3 bottles. No more golf attire, shirts, pants, socks, underwear, golf balls, cufflinks, belts, ties and shoes. In fact it’s been some time since I bought shoes that my mum even commented that I haven’t been buying shoes for some time. No more. I have decided for a more austere lifestyle.

These thoughts have been on my mind for some time now.

And then I was at my hair saloon that day, cutting and coloring my hair and reading Her World when I came across this article on “50 Men We Love”.

After quickly flipping through the 50, two horrors came to mind:

1. I’m not in the 50!!
2. My friend is in there!



My army buddy is in there!! Gosh.. this bugger and I shared many good and tough times together. He always loved nature and I even went to his house to see his sea shells collection. I frankly thought it was stupid to collect sea shells but.. now he’s famous and on that list. Im surprised he never mentioned that we stayed back after book out time to play caram and once played billards every single day for two weeks! Im glad he didnt mention our secret call signs - Kraut Killer and Napalm Nelly.

Smashing!

Went to watch the Aviva Open last weekend.

Super fun!



Made me remember the time my boss brought to a college basketball game when i was in Atlanta for orientation.

So Happy!

You know how some things just make you so happy.

Simply cos you have to wait so long for it.

Simply cos you spent countless hours thinking when it’s going to happen.

And when it finally does, it just excites you and leaves you smiling.

I know how it feels.

Cos im going to have another round of golf next week.

YIPPEE!

Flattened

It was a relatively quiet day today so i went out a little further than usual to have lunch. Then i decided to go a little further to go see some golf clubs.

It was actually quite near my house and after my club viewing, i wondered if i should still go back to the office. As i drove off, i noted i was actually quite near T|ny's house. Then i heard my left back tyre clanking.



It was flat.

The bloody tyre was flat.

I called T|ny cos i was near her house and plus i bought my car from her company. She didnt pick up.

I called Sox but he's in the Philippines and suggested i called our primary school friend, who actually owns a *drum roll* tyre company. He said he has an affiliate partner whose shop is quite nearby.

I called my insurers and they said they'd charge me $30 to come change my tyre for me but i have to wait an hour.

I also g-talked Shitfong and he gave me the number for AA and how much it costs to have a membership there. (S$32) But a bit too late there, bro.

So i drove to the affiliate shop to get them to change my flat for the spare tyre.

On the way, and amidst the clanking of my sports rims and ripped my heart at every revolution, I got lost.

I stopped by a bus stop and msned Sox and he chided me for not knowing how to change a tyre. Actually i know how to change but im afraid to jack the car up cos if i did it wrongly, i might be crushed.. physically.

So, i continued driving and made my slowest U-turn ever to get to the shop.

The guys there were nice enough to change it for me for free.

So, tomorrow, i'm going to my primary school fren's place to buy new tyres. He's giving me a "special friend's" discount.

It's not like i dont carry a spare tyre around everyday in my shirt, now ive got to buy more.

I was so traumatised, i didnt go back to work.

Get a Life!

It's pretty clear at this point i love to read and i have been toying with the idea of getting a Kindle.

And then i also went to the website that sold the official cover for the Kindle.

I read this comment left by a buyer of the cover.

"I'm puzzled by people's negative reactions to this book cover. One reviewer fears that because there is no strap, the Kindle might be damaged if dropped. Anything's possible, I suppose, especially if one were skipping down the sidewalk, chewing gum, and reading content on their Kindle when they encountered a pebble that caused them to trip. The Kindle might then fly from one's hand, its unstrapped front cover flapping like one wing of a bird, and while one watched in futile disappointment while they - unpadded and unstrapped - crashed to the pavement and scraped their knee, their precious Kindle, after reaching the apex of its flight, would come crashing down ten feet to the pavement below and...and...survive. Come on. We've all seen the drop tests, haven't we? We're not conspiracy theorists, are we? We don't think they were staged. Of course not!

That it comes without a strap should be no surprise. There are several pictures, after all, on the product page. Besides, the front cover is heavily padded and appears - though it isn't - to be hinged so that it's natural position is to always be covering the Kindle. If you get one, you'll see what I mean.

This is a "leather cover." It costs $29.99. Are we realistic if we expect something to have the quality of a Coach product? Or even M-edge? No.

Regardless, this isn't poor quality. Frankly, I'm impressed with it. The Kindle 2 is securely latched into the cover by hooks, and there aren't elastic straps with which to mess with (straps that sometimes turned pages due to the poor placement of the buttons on the first Kindle), it's sturdy, and fits well in one's hand. I especially like that the back cover is flexible and folds back. Not all of the more expensive cases for the first Kindle folded back with ease or were designed to do so. This inexpensive design does.

The other things that this inexpensive design does is to place the Kindle fully at your disposal. It clicks into the latches and that's that. No adjusting it so that it fits into sometimes-too-snug-corners, then re-adjusting if you change positions in your chair, sofa, or bed - nope, the Kindle clicks and it fits. Lovely. That Amazon advertised by "La Cosse'in" themselves on the cover is fine with me. This Kindle - a wonder - deserves to be advertised!

As for the reviewer who gave this one star, who neither owns the Kindle 2 nor this product, who thought that this product should have been included in the purchase price of the Kindle 2 (as if free wireless service wasn't enough?): find a hobby. Spend more time with your puppy and less time searching for nonsensical things about which to write. Stop doling out one-star reviews for products you do not own and have never touched.

One final thing. If anyone thinks that this cover should have been included in the purchase price of the Kindle 2, kindly allow me to disabuse you of that notion.

A book cover is an accessory. Accessories, by their very nature, are matters of personal choice. One definition of the word accessory is: "a supplementary component that improves capability." The key word there is supplementary. Nobody's up in arms with Apple for not including a protective cover (and I don't think that the slip-case they initially included really counts as protective) with any of their iPods or their iPhones - nobody rational, that is.

A separate question entirely, and a more appropriate question, is whether Amazon should have included a cover of any kind in the purchase price. THAT question is more difficult to answer. They did include a free - if cheap - cover with the first Kindle and so set customer expectations. As such, one could argue that they should do so again, and also argue that a protective casing should be included in the purchase price of something so expensive and precious.

One could counter (and I would) that the iPod Touch is expensive and precious and Apple chose to allow the consumer to decide how to accessorize and protect their purchase. One could also counter (and I would) that the makers of laptops don't include protective casings. A person's investment in a laptop is far more considerable than their investment in a Kindle, and as a laptop is often a person's only computer it is also - in this age of technology - central and essential to their existence. Some would give up hot water before they surrendered their laptop. However, while laptops are arguably a greater financial and personal investment, makers of laptops allow the consumer to decide how to protect and/or accessorize their laptop. They don't include anything protective. Not even wipes with which to clean the screen!

Should Amazon have included *something* protective in this offering? Hard to say, though I would lean toward "probably," if only to match customer's expectations from the inclusion of a cover in the first Kindle. A cheap slipcase, a la Apple, would have been fine and wouldn't have affected the cost all that much.

As for myself, I own the Kindle 2 and love it. I also own this cover, and I'm very pleased with it. If Amazon had included a cover as (IMHO) worthless as that which accompanied the first Kindle, all they would have accomplished would be to provide me with the impetus to buy a different cover. I'd be willing to bet that I'm not alone, nor in a statistically insignificant minority, of those who would have been similarly motivated. And I'd be willing to bet that Amazon, marketing geniuses and the only bookseller to turn a profit over the holidays, is very aware of the mindset of people such as myself, and that heavily influenced their decision not to include a cover of any kind.

I'm perfectly fine with that decision. "

After reading it, it once again cemented the fact that some people are too free on the internet and should seriously stop writing so much stuff for people to read online. (notwithstanding blogs).

Booked

I came to the office this morning to find this month’s copy of Golf Digest. Not a bad way to start a Monday.




Then later in a morning meeting, someone gave me this book.



I don’t know if I’ll read it but I’ll just put it in my shelf to look cool and sophisticated.

Balls and the VR Man

I did some shopping yesterday and at the golf sale, i saw james lye. He was checking out some golf balls and i, of course, have done some homework on balls but was mulling which was the most affordably best.

Then i saw which one he took.

And i did the same.

After all, i heard that the former inspector mike chin plays great golf, says great jokes and is super charismatic at presentations. The closest i can be like him is to use the same balls as him.

Too Much Info!

Much has been said about losers facebooking and twittering too much about their lives and with too much inconsequential information.

Im sure many of my friends have cringed at some of my FB updates too. ;)

But the one who takes the cake is really one of my friends who has just given birth and her updates in the last three weeks have been:

X managed to hit almost 80ml on left B alone! hooray!

X only managed 50ml today...

X only managed to latch 9am-10pm yesterday. not so good...

X has managed to provide direct latching & EBM exclusively from 11am till now! a good 12 hrs! best record ever!

X managed to pump out 75ml after latching bb jus now!!! hooray!!!

*shudder*

How?

I gave this email from a colleague after lunch today.

“I had a huge serving of yogurt today cos the girl was really generous.

Recommend you get a yogurt fix too!”

How to lose weight like that? HOOOOW?

I was pretty stressed over my presentation last Saturday. Largely, it’s because my chairman was going to be there and he was somewhat of the guest of honour of that event. Plus it was to a group of veterans of the industry.

My friend asked me out for lunch on Saturday but didn’t get to enjoy it much cos it was on my mind.

I had earlier gone to this Australian Trade Commission dinner and found out some of the people there would be at the Saturday thingy as well! Damn, the industry is so small. That also means I could wear the same suit I wore for the Australian thing to the Saturday thingy as well. Damn.

The presentation kinda started off on a silly note cos the dumbass AV tech didn’t switch on the power to my laptop when he set it up before the dinner and by the time I went up, the laptop’s battery was flat and we had to restart the stupid dumbass Vista machine. I had to break the ice with some IT jokes. Haha.

The presentation itself was pretty decent although on hindsight, I realised that I forgot to say some things. I also decided to keep it chill and go without a script and intersperse it with my jokes.

After the thingy, my chairman came up to me and said that it was good and he liked it. PHEW!

Then he told me to ask the organisers to charge his dinner cost (S$60) to his account.

Three things immediately hit me:

1. Why does he have to pay?
2. What account??
3. Does this mean I have to pay too???

Without a moment to bask in the glory of my presentation, I went to find out how to pay. I found the payment lady and she went, “ What account?”

Damn.

I went to find my chairman to pay and after digging his wallet, he only found S$50 cos he “lost all my money at golf this afternoon”.

Then, he dig into a secret compartment in his wallet and pulled out a S$1,000 note and passed to the lady. The lady totally just stared at the note, flipped it back and forth and gasped. She’s angmo so I don’t think she ever saw such a big Singapore note before. I was just flabbergasted that he thought that she would have change for that with her little table which was set up outside a hotel meeting room.

One would have wondered how come I didn’t offer to pay for him. That’s cos my wallet was in my car and I was too lazy to get it. But on seeing this, I said I’d pay the $10 difference and for my share too.

The fine dining dinner was too small a portion for me even on an ordinary day and certainly so on a night like this. I went home and whacked some leftover dinner (braised pork and egg and rice), angie mango roll, iced milo and some wang wang.

My chairman just literally came to my desk to return me my S$10 (YAY!) and praised me again. I was happy he said it loudly.

How to Talk to Girls

I love the last paragraph.

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

Dating tips from 10-year-old
Best-selling writer schoolboy Alec Greven has never had a girlfriend but talks to girls all the time
By Rachael Boon
American schoolboy Alec Greven may be only 10 years old, but he has already written a book that shot to the top of the New York Times bestsellers list last December.

In his book How To Talk To Girls, he dishes out simple, precocious advice that resonates far beyond the schoolyard.

Nuggets include 'Comb your hair and try to look clean. But whatever you do, don't act desperate. Girls don't like desperate boys' and 'Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil. The best choice for most boys is a regular girl'.

While Alec has never had a girlfriend, he believes he knows enough to write on the topic.

'I talk to girls all the time because they are my friends,' he tells LifeStyle via e-mail from Denver, Colorado, where he lives.

The book, which has sold more than 150,000 copies and is licensed in 17 languages, started as an assignment in his school when his teacher asked the pupils to write about something they observed around them in everyday life.

'I saw a lot of boys in the playground having trouble with girls so I wanted to write a book that would help them,' he says.

His essay, which took one week to write, impressed the teacher so much that it was turned into a book and sold at the school's book fair.

Then, a local TV station picked up the story and it soon snowballed into an appearance on the highly rated Ellen DeGeneres talk show, a book deal with HarperCollins in New York, spots on news network CNN and even a promotional tour to Italy which was 'so awesome', says Alec.

Now, he is promoting two follow-up books, How To Talk To Moms and How To Talk To Dads. His fourth book, How To Talk To Santa, will be out by Christmas this year.

Asked for his reaction when Girls hit the bestsellers list, he replies with typical boyish animation: 'I screamed tons because I was so super-duper excited.'

Alec's mother Erin never thought his book would be published, let alone sell so well.

She says: 'Alec didn't write much when he was very young, but he talked to everyone about his thoughts and ideas. He has always had opinions about things and likes to share them.'

Alec, who has two younger siblings, Tyler, eight, and Keira, four, insists he is still a 'regular kid' after being catapulted to fame. But he does enjoy being an inspiration to others.

'Some fans have written to me. I think it is really cool when they say they like my book or they are writing their own book now.'

He has even started a writing contest in school where more than a third of the pupils took part.

He says he is still too young to have a girlfriend.

But when asked which particular tip he would use himself when he is old enough to have one, he says with a flourish: 'I think it is good to remember not to tease and not to show off. Also, if she ditches you, remember life is hard. Move on.'

Idolatry

For the first time ever, the person I supported won the American Idol.

The person I usually support always seems to lose.

This year, I thought the winner’s eyes looked a little too devilish for my taste.

Balled Over

My sister came back from Sweden and got me these.



This proves what my golf instructor said about people giving you golf gifts from now on till the rest of your life.

Fab

Seen on my friend’s MSN:

“Looking fabulous is the best defence”

Nice one there.

Smashed

After my day-off at the golf course yesterday, which was so tiring cos it was just so hot in the last 5 holes, I decided to go cut my hair and also re-string my racquet. Whilst walking around the badminton stadium (wonder if it’s the right word) to get to the shop, I heard lots of cheering inside and decided to peer in. Turned out to be the ‘A’ division badminton championships. I thought since I had some time, I could hang around and check things out.

The atmosphere was somewhat electrifying as I looked around to see where my former JC was playing.



Turns out we were playing against JJC. As my beloved alumni was getting hammered by JJC (pretty embarrassingly ,I might add), I also noted that JJC had like 25-30 supporters sitting in a square shaped formation and they were cheering like mad. My JC only had like 8 to 10 supporters and they were scattered here and there. Tsk. These JJC students probably are just happy to stay away from homework and sit around to cheer and yell while the rest of my school were busy mugging at home.

We lost that match. I stayed for the doubles match and we were also outplayed in the first 11 balls.

As I left, I took comfort in the fact that in 10 years’ time, the JJC students will most likely be working under the students from my JC. WAKAKAKAKAKA

Arrowed

Man, I was suddenly "nominated" to do a presentation on my company THIS SATURDAY evening at an AGM dinner (Not that kind of AGM) for some powerhouses in the industry. Usually Im fine with presentations but this time my Chairman will be there, which means i cannot do my free-flow, witty, carefree, fluid, charismatic, smooth, cool, magnetic, witty, free-flow style.

Damn.

Which means i need to go get my hair cut and maybe for a facial. I was hoping to do it a little later for my emcee gig at Yokie's wedding!

Wasted saturday some more.

Broken

This is what happens when you play too much badminton.

Phew.. strangely i was planning to go change my strings yesterday but was pulled away to lunch. And then today they snapped.

Roomed

I have only 3 colleagues in my office. One is my boss, one is his father and one is another colleague. Even though I was promoted, I’m still the smallest fry cos they’re VP, Chairman and SVP.

Our office is in the office of my Chairman’s other business which has much more people. Obviously I don’t have a room but my three other colleagues have their own rooms.

Now, they’re deciding to move VP and SVP and me into one room no larger than 50sqm. All in one room. Gulp. How can I come in at 9:45am in future? How can I leave at 4pm to go to the range in future?

The only silver lining is that my boss and I just went to the room and were deciding how he wanna decorate it. He was like wanna do a coffee korner, sit down area, everyone has a view of the Singapore river. (that’s really fab frankly), fabric finishing on the walls, parquet flooring. I don’t drink coffee. I’d rather a bubble tea machine and maybe an Aeron chair! W00t!

Recession Blues

The effects of the recession is hitting the two recurring powerhouses in my life – SIA and my tailor.

Due to my reduced travel schedule (YIPPEE!!) of late, my air miles are declining which means my Elite Gold Krisflyer status has now dropped to Elite Silver. (I love how they call it Elite Silver too. Silver is not elite!)

Anyway, they sent me an email to say that they can bump me up to Gold status again if I can take a qualifying flight before 30 June 2009. I think I can manage that. It’s such a bargain.

In good times, my tailor takes two-ish weeks to finish my shirts and I usually have to call him to find out when they’re ready. Usually they aren’t and I just have to wait. These days, the expected dates of completion are 10 days and that day my tailor even called me to come collect my shirts. I wanted to space out the number of new shirts in my cabinet so I didn’t go collect. Then he called again!

Gosh… times must have been bad for my beloved tailor. I hope he doesn’t fold, although even if he does, he doesn’t crease easily.

WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Bipolar

I play two diametrically different sports – badminton and golf.

Although all I’ve done in golf is mostly on the range and just 36 holes on the course, I’ve come to realise the amount of mental energy and concentration needed to be good in it. It’s a very solitary game. Range is a very solitary thing. Weekday nights and weekend afternoons you see many people going to the range on their own, carefully examining their stance, posture, position of the ball, grip and head and a whole hosts of things. If you hit a good shot, you smile to yourself and maybe pretend to take a break but really you’re looking around to see if anyone saw you hit that great shot. If you hit a bad shot, you curse and also look around to see if anyone saw you.

Edward Murphy correctly observed that when the latter happens, someone would surely have seen it.

On the course, you’re playing against yourself. No one’s giving you evil stares, no one’s standing on the opposing side. You and your club against the holes. And your objective is to get the most negative score than the others.

Badminton is very different. It involves smashing and trickery. It involves looking at your opponent in the eye, with the implied desire to smash hard and fast or drop a shot so delicately.

Badminton is one of the fastest racquet games in the world. Simply because the “ball” doesn’t need to bounce on the ground like tennis, table tennis or squash. Golf is painfully slow at times.

I think many would be bewildered by this post, bordering on obsessive. But well, it’s my blog.

Regressive

Looks like there's a new place the ex-new guard of AWARE can go to do their good.

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

Saudi judge: It's OK to slap spendthrift wives

* Story Highlights
* Husbands allowed to slap their wives if they spend lavishly, Saudi judge says
* Women in the audience immediately and loudly protested his speech
* Newspaper reports judge was trying to explain increase in domestic violence

By Mohammed Jamjoom
CNN

(CNN) -- Husbands are allowed to slap their wives if they spend lavishly, a Saudi judge said recently during a seminar on domestic violence, Saudi media reported Sunday.

Arab News, a Saudi English-language daily newspaper based in Riyadh, reported that Judge Hamad Al-Razine said that "if a person gives SR 1,200 [$320] to his wife and she spends 900 riyals [$240] to purchase an abaya [the black cover that women in Saudi Arabia must wear] from a brand shop and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment."

Women in the audience immediately and loudly protested Al-Razine's statement, and were shocked to learn the remarks came from a judge, the newspaper reported.

Arab News reported that Al-Razine made his remark as he was attempting to explain why incidents of domestic violence had increased in Saudi Arabia. He said that women and men shared responsibility, but added that "nobody puts even a fraction of blame" on women, the newspaper said.

Al-Razine "also pointed out that women's indecent behavior and use of offensive words against their husbands were some of the reasons for domestic violence in the country," it added.

Domestic violence, which used to be a taboo subject in the conservative kingdom, has become a hot topic in recent years. Groups like the National Family Safety Program have campaigned to educate the public about the problem and help prevent domestic abuse.

Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider told CNN that Saudi women routinely face such attitudes.

"This is how men in Saudi Arabia see women," she said in a telephone interview from the Saudi city of Dahran. "It's not something they read in a book or learned from a friend. They've been raised to see women this way, that they're less than a person."

Al-Huwaider added that "I'm not surprised to see a judge or a religious man saying that - they've been raised in the same culture - a culture that tells them it's ok to raise your hand to a woman that this works."

Another Saudi judge, in the city of Onaiza, was the source of a separate recent controversy: he twice denied a request from the mother of an 8-year-old girl that the girl be granted a divorce from her 47-year-old husband.

Last month, after human-groups condemned the union, the girl was granted the divorce.

Oh Gee

My sister is in Goteborg, Sweden for a work trip. First time she travelled so far before, i believe. She wrote back today on the weather, food, etc.

I showed my mum the email she wrote. She laughed at some parts of the email but was quite serious when she said "How come her 'goteborg' got no capital 'G' one?"

Diao.

Movies Galore

There seems to be so many movies to watch of late:

1. Wolverine
2. Star Trek
3. Angels and Demons

It’s been 3 months since I stepped into a cinema. The last movie I watched was Inkheart and it was super boring and before that it was “You don’t mess with the Zohan”.

Who wants to ask me out for a movie?

MC-ing

Yokie asked me to be the MC for her wedding banquet.

It’s my first time and I was frankly a little excited yet a little apprehensive.

Within 15 minutes, I already decided what to wear.

The downside really is that the banquet is on a Sunday afternoon which means I’ll miss my badminton.

Vintage

I felt like dressing up today so I wore this new gal-ly pink shirt.

It helps that the girls in the office today decided to go vintage today and my shirt is sufficiently vintage.

I think it didn’t help my cause with my mum and the escort thingy with this shirt and that I actually left my house at 915am today.

Just what was all that big fuss about?

I read this article on Business Times today. Super funny. I especially liked the fifth paragraph. I wrote to Jaime Ee to thank you. She was also the one who wrote this article.

THE AWARE SAGA
Just what was all that big fuss about?

Whatever people hated about the ousted new guard, its stand on women's rights was still the same as Aware's: pro-women

By JAIME EE

FINALLY, it's over. I would say, 'Thank God', but then I wouldn't want to be accused of, you know, trying to start something.

Yet as the old guard of Aware celebrates its triumph, and the ousted new guard slinks off to lick its wounds, one can only step back and ask: What the heck was all that fuss about, really?

For the past three weeks, women were fighting with other women over something that had nothing to do with what Aware was created to do 20 years ago: celebrate women, uphold and protect their rights. After the feminist equivalent of WWE Smackdown at Suntec City on Saturday, I'm not sure what there is to celebrate about being a woman.

Yes, we can raise our collective hands and say, yeah, we made sure those self-righteous newbies can't shove their ideals down our throats. We're a multi-religious society and no one religion has the right to take over a secular organisation to spread its own doctrine.

All well and good but in the highly charged process, did every negative stereotype of women have to be laid bare for all to see and cringe at? That is, that hell hath no fury like a woman (or ex-co) scorned; women are over-emotional, territorial and prone to hissing when angry; no (straight) male in his right mind would intervene in a fight between women; the world's wars would be a lot shorter if all soldiers were female.

What I'd like to know is, apart from proving that women can be as nasty as men when they fight, what exactly did this battle achieve? Did we come away from this saying, 'Yay, this has been a great milestone for women and Singapore?'

Sure, we can all agree that the old guard of Aware well deserved to get their organisation back simply because we like them a lot better, but did the whole country have to get pulled into the fray?

This is not some moral victory for women or society in general. While it was the leadership of a women's group in question here, women's rights were never at risk.

Whatever people hated about the ousted new guard, its stand on women's rights was still the same as Aware's, ie pro-women.

Rather, people see the victory as one against steeplejacking - a term used to describe churches which infiltrate secular organisations. Did we stop some rabid religious group from infiltrating our multi-religious society and planting anti-gay thoughts in our minds?

Ego vs ideology

Are we seriously that impressionable to think that a group of anti-gay lobbyists who hijack a women's group can singlehandedly change our social order?

Somehow, I don't think so. Maybe we should just look at the battle for what it really was: a 20-year-old women's group, well-respected for its work and good intentions, but somewhat long in the tooth and suffering dwindling membership and interest. With just 300-odd members, it had been cruising contentedly in its comfort zone. Suddenly, it gets hijacked by a group which doesn't believe in voicing its concerns about sex education programmes in the normal way, ie, complaining to the relevant authorities.

So what do you get? A struggle between ego (the old guard caught unawares) and ideology (the newbies) that should have stayed internal instead of turning into a national issue. Makes you wish the newcomers had just taken the old guard's advice and started its own group. But being corporate women who know a thing or two about back-door listings, they probably knew it would have been easier to push their agenda as Aware rather than as Women Against Gays.

One of the ousted exco members said that she didn't think the 3,000 women at Saturday's event represented the views of some two million Singaporean women. She was right. There are women who think this went way beyond reason and that the self-righteous label isn't restricted to just the ousted newbies. There are women who think that parents should know what their kids are being taught in school, and if they don't like it, they can jolly well campaign for it to be changed. You don't play Christian Militant Ninjas and mount hostile takeovers.

And there are women who think that with its new lease of life, Aware can go back to what it does best - being for women, and about women.

Love for Sports

I was at a family function yesterday when i found out that my cousin met her husband at the driving range. I couldnt decipher who tried to tackle who but WOW! Driving range!

Just a few days before, T|ny told me she got a boyfriend and she got to know him on a diving trip! WOW!

Shitfong introduced his colleague to me cos she plays badminton and she joined us yesterday. She was super good but i ended up whacking her nose. No luck for me there. :(

At the said family function, my cousin in law gave me a 5 wood cos he said he didnt need it anymore and he promised to give me a Titlelist 60* wedge the next time we meet cos he said hes no longer using it. And i took home a Callaway driver from another cousin. The driver was given to him by my dad almost 10 years ago. I already have a driver but decided it should come back to where it really belongs.

I have always been a huge proponent of "Su lang mai su sey", roughly translated as "Lose people but cannot lose style". And with this news of meeting beaus at driving ranges, badminton courts, sea, etc, im more determined to dress up while sporting.

Wahahahahahaha

Entertaining Again

After five days out of office, I found that I have 14 items on my To-Do list and one voice mail.

It was from the Australian Trade Commission inviting me to a networking event after my boss nominated me for it. So much for hating networking events. Bleah. I hope no one forces me to drink.

Entertaining

I cant remember if i mentioned this anywhere before. I must have, cos i feel strongly.

I hate entertaining and networking.

I dont like standing around in a dark room holding a drink (usually a soft one) and talking about "the market". I do like being invited though. And i'll put it in my calendar. On the odd occasion, I'd enjoy dressing up for it.

Oh wait, who am i kidding? I love to dress up for entertainment.

And when i drive to work, i tell myself that i'll enjoy this one. And i'll think back on that time in October when i went to one and we are on our way to signing a deal.

But inevitably, a few hours before the event, i'll be making all kinds of internal excuses to myself that i dont wanna go anymore.

But tonight, i decided to go cos i promised some people i would go. Plus it's near my office.

My company is relatively unknown in our realm so i was pleasantly surprised that many people i spoke to knew me. It was good to be able to introduce yourself without having to introduce your company history as well.

One odd introduction went like:

Me: Hi, my name is Cornball and im from XXXXX.

Guy: Oh Cornball, did you use to work for XXX?

Me: Ya (suspiciously)

Guy: I used to intern there shortly after you left and heard your name around.

Me: Bad nasty things mostly?

Guy: No. Those were mostly guys you mentored and they said u taught me many things.

Me to myself: Ya right, i taught but they didnt remember. Dumb asses.

Guy: And they were all very surprised you resigned cos it was all so sudden.

He went on telling me abt the nice things said about me, but this isnt the purpose of this post.

I later spent the rest of the evening, literally meeting new people who in some way or another, heard my name or my presence in my company and really spent the bulk of the night talking about my ex-company. It was sooo weird that i made my excuse to head out to answer a call and just left.

And because i'm on leave on Wed and Thurs to capitalise on the long weekend, i bought the fried chicken from Chippies to "celebrate".

I'm going to JB on thursday to play my first ever round of golf. I hope i dont embarrass myself.

Escort

I think ive been spending too much money.

My mum asked me where i have so much money to spend and when she read in the newspapers about this guy who worked as an escort to a rich tai tai to fund his purchases, she asked me if i worked as an escort too.

She even said she's not sure im actually going to work when i leave the house every day.

WTH!

They're Back!

They are back in June!



I didnt manage to go see them last year cos I was travelling and came back on the day of the concert and i didnt wanna rush just to get the tix . And i was pretty disappointed.

I really think I'm going for this one, even if i have to go alone. I'd pay for anyone who'd come with me.

How Embarrassing

I drive pass this every day on my way to work but i never had the chance to stop by the road to take this.

Yesterday I did.

See how proud the School Advisory Committee is of their 2008 PSLE results.

I bet the committee members themselves didnt do too well or as well for their PSLE, cos they cant even spell "committee".



I took this picture on my Bold. It's pretty clear considering i took it from across the road.

Frozen

I couldn’t sleep last night due to several reasons:

1. I took a nap at 6pm after my strenuous badminton.
2. I drank bubble tea at 11pm.
3. I watched the FA Cup semi final which ended in an anti-climax penalty shootout at 2am.

I decided to get off my butt and do some work. I also decided to check my bank accounts to see how much earthly wealth I’ve accumulated. Imagine my shock when I saw this on my DBS bank account.



Then this at on Amex page.



So scary. A lot of things were running through my mind. Did someone hack the impregnable fortress that is my Mac? Or did the government shut down my account cos i was laundering money for a terrorist cell? (Absolutely no idea where that came from) When my DBS account was blank, i thought DBS went bankrupt!! Scared me until my UOB account still had my money. Phew.. Though i had no idea why another bank having my money reassured me about the empty bank, i was nonetheless calmer. I realised i couldnt do anything about it, so i went back to my work and facebooking.

I eventually slept at 4am. Yawn….

Tea Time

I was going to blog about my tea when I bought it but then while walking back and swinging quite vigorously, I spilt some of it. Damn.. lugi some tea.



I have been drinking quite a bit of Kiliney-esque tea of late cos of the pick-me-ups I need from the lack of sleep. Have u ever noticed the people who make the tea/coffee are very similar in the way they do it? They’d line the cups in one line, then very very deliberately pour from a kettle with a long spout into the tiny cups. They are invariably always hunched and shoulders tightened. The amounts of condensed milk, hot water, sugar they put are also very precise. For my cup just now, he actually scooped some condensed milk back from my cup into the can cos he put too much.

I also bought yummy mangoes.

Apocalypse Now

It seems like the Challenger Superstore know something we dont. The last days are upon us.

Filing

My friend tried to file her taxes. I guess she had a hard time cos she put this on her blog

"Filing taxes online this year is like finding a good date in Singapore: hard to get started, getting ditched halfway through the process, and ultimately, an exercise in futility."


Haha.. i should ask her out soon.

Yawn

I didn’t feel like working yesterday so I went to the range at 4pm. Not that hitting balls was a good way to relax, it just offered another option as compared to going home and watching tv.

I had asked Sox to join me but he had JP Morgan run. He’s quite the athlete.

Because it was early (duh!), I could get a bay on the ground floor, which is always more interesting than being three floors up.



After that I went to Tampines 1 to check out the new mall. Nothing spectacular really. Except maybe the Dian Xiao Er, which was still under renovation. Plus there’s a Japanese snack place in B1, which seemed promising but was too crowded.

Another place which was too crowded was Uni Glo. You might have seen many adverts here and there and when I went, there’s such a long queue, it’s absurd man. When I went to Uni Glo in Shanghai, it was dead quiet sia. It’s like an upscale Giordano and Singaporeans and queuing up to buy upscale Giordanos, my goodness. I decided I needed to take a pic of the carnage of good taste.

Gender of Your Brain

I rarely do things like these but i needed a distraction form work today.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatgenderisyourbrainquiz/

Drop a note to let me know what gender are you. Leave a name too cos i dont need to know the gender of anonymous people.

Im 67% female. :(

Your brain leans female
You think with your heart, not your head
Sweet and considerate, you are a giver
But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you!

Cheer

Here's some cheer in an otherwise highly strung week for me.



I applied for half day on Friday to go to range and take it easy for the rest of the week then suddenly my Chairman wanted me in on a meeting on Friday. Bleah..

Kio Dio

During my trip to Hong Kong/Shanghai two weeks ago, my colleague used my Amex card to book my tickets. For the uninformed, you have to bring that same credit card when you show up at the counter.

But I didn’t bring that card on my trip.

So I had to use another credit card, which was fine.

So they charged the second card and said they’d reimburse the card on my Amex within 14 days.

I checked today and found the reimbursement. As it turns out, I gained S$5 due to the currency fluctuations. Kio dio!

Towels

I don’t think I meet many weird people in my business dealings. The meetings I have are mostly for a specific reason: to make a deal. However, there was one meeting last week which was quite weird. The person I met came with a shopping bag and we discussed some potential deals before he said, “Oh by the way, my wife used to be a swimsuit model and now she designs them.” Then he gave me a catalogue of swimsuits and handed me the shopping bag.

It contained two beach towels. Great! I love towels. Haha..

Tuesdays

I've always said that Tuesdays sucked. Now it's confirmed.

April 8, 2009
Call it the 'Tuesday drag'

LONDON: Forget the Monday Morning Blues - according to a British poll, 11.45 on a Tuesday morning is the most stressful point of the working week.
The Telegraph newspaper cited a survey as saying that most workers take it easy on Mondays, catching up on gossip and not getting much done.
More than 53 per cent of those polled admitted cruising through Monday, with one in 10 ignoring their work while they log onto social networking sites to check out photos of the fun they had over the weekend.

Then on Tuesday morning, the reality of their looming workloads hits them and the stress levels rocket as they finally get down to checking the work-related e-mail they ignored the day before and start planning what is left of the week ahead.
Mr Graham Waters from health supplement manufacturer Bimuno, which polled 3,000 adults, said: 'Coasting through Monday means we're worse off on Tuesday - both in terms of workloads and stress levels.

'Tuesday at 11.45am seems to be the time in the day when the real workload for the week hits employees and stress levels rise.'