Thursday, March 31, 2005
Things to buy //Listening to: Jane Seidel - Once upon a summertime It's hard to believe it's end of the month again with a schedule like this. 
I like my calendar to be colorful and packed with busy notes. It makes me feel as if I'm not working for that month at all. Wonderful, I say. Just bought a watch for Mr Eeyore. Nice? 
When he was in Singapore, no matter how hard I try to convince him to buy a watch, he just adamantly refused. Now when he's far far away in Australia, he wants me to help him buy a watch, then pass to his friend to bring to him in Australia. Not that I mind, but ley-chey right? So I say, trying to be funny is it??? In other matters, I'm torn in deciding between the Zen Micro or Ipod Mini.
I would prefer the Zen Micro for its higher storage capacity, FM tuner, recording and other functions to boot. In fact, it has all the functions I want except the looks. Now, looks are very important. For example, as much as we often rave about how personality is more important than looks, if you ever see a guy who's cute, handsome and YOUR type, then you'd be tempted to know him better, right? If he is absolutely fugly, chances are, you wouldn't even take a second glance at him, much less see if he has personality or not. We are THAT practical, aren't we?Same goes for the mp3 player. Zen Micro lacks sex appeal. No looks. No X-factor. Plastic. Ipod Mini oozes sex appeal, makes a fashion statement, not plastic. Aluminium casing wins plastic anytime. What say you? Then again, chances are, I would get the Zen Micro. Don't sue me, please. Not that I like plastic, I like the FM tuner that comes along with it. I'm a radio gal, especially ever since I traded in my trusty Nokia 8310 for my Nokia 7610. Not that my Nokia 7610 is bad, I can only say that if there's FM tuner, it'd be so much better. Therefore, if I'm going to buy another gadget with no FM, I'm so so going to shoot myself. Really. So it has to be the plastic Zen Micro then. Being a greedy tech-savvy gal, I surfed the web and realised that cunning Canon has launched the Ixus 50!!! 
To think that when I was tempted to buy the Ixus 40, I emailed Canon to ask if there's any chance of a Ixus 50 (I wanted a 5mp camera) coming up and they said they had no news. Ah-ha! But alas! It's only currently available in US, Japan and Europe. Why not Singapore??? I think I'm the epitome of suay-ness. I can't seem to get the perfect items I want. Why?! All said but not done, everything is only possible if I can get a substantial bonus this coming May. I don't have high hopes though, since the Bank is notorious for being the ngeow-est of all. Now go figure which Bank is that.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Not feeling good
I do not feel good.
What if your significant other is somewhere far away in Australia and suddenly his MSN topic changes to "Sometimes, it is timing rather than love that decides who we end up with or without"?
It makes me wonder if you have a significant other you love/like over there but you're unable to commit because of me. It makes me wonder if I'm a emotional burden to you. It makes me wonder what am I even doing here talking to you.
I do not expect you to put mushy topics to humour me. But at least, put something that doesn't make me wonder. Put something that doesn't make me feel so lost.
Perhaps I'm too sensitive to get worked up over a MSN topic issue. Perhaps I read too much into the topic.
You say it's for fun. What if my topic is "I've got a new bf!"? How would you feel?
I should just go and sleep. I.do.not.feel.good.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
On Service People
The other day, when we were at Alley bar, we talked about service people. There I was, complaining about stupid customers, K complained about her passengers as well as her father's and then S being a non-service personnel, had nothing interesting to say. Instead, she told us this interesting story.
This story was told from S's friend's cousin, to S's friend and then to S. We do not really know the authenticity of this story, but I believe if you are the said customer in question, you'd really pray that this story is faux.
To make things easier, let's call S's friend's cousin C.
C was waiting at tables in this certain restaurant some time back. One fine day, a customer asked for a glass of water from C. C then brought in the water and the customer exclaimed, "I want hot water!". I think customer must have spoken in mandarin, something like, "我要烧水!". So being "烧水", C literally brought "烧水", which is piping hot water to the customer. Which is a bit stupid on C's part I think, but to his credit, he never knew what the customer is going to do with the water.
Anyway, talking about hot water, allow me to digress a bit. The other day I was serving a "mad" customer, she was asking for water to drink her medicine. She reminded me to bring her warm water because previously, when she asked, she claimed that the person stupidly brought her piping hot water, and she exclaimed, "Dear, did you expect me to wait til midnight for the water to cool before I can eat my medicine?" It was ridiculous because water definitely doesn't take til midnight to cool. I'm beginning to suspect if she's the same customer in question.
Back from digression, as I was saying, C brought piping hot water to the customer. Customer then said, "No! So hot how to drink?! I want warm water!", being "我要温水!". You see, by this point, C was already getting frustrated. "Why this customer so troublesome wan??"
Kindly note that the following might affect your appetite, or cause you to have second thoughts whenever you step into a restaurant in future. The authencity of this story still cannot be verified. But we had done our due verification through, "Eeyuuur, are you sure anot?", "Are you exaggerating?" and more "Eeeyuuuur...." S had confirmed this is what her friend had confirmed with C. On whether C is a habitual liar or braggart, we really do not know.
As I was saying, C got frustrated and you know what he did?????
He went to the toilet, used the glass and scoop up a glass full of water from.....THE TOILET BOWL! The horror!!!!
"Eeeeyuuuuuuuuuurrrr!!"
He brought it to the customer, and surprisingly, the customer was very pleased with it.
"Yes, this is what I wanted!"
The good news is, C is no longer waiting at tables anymore. But you can never be too sure if he had passed the skills on to somebody who is capable of doing much more "Thou-shall-not-imagine" acts. So always treat your service people nicely.
The bad news? You might be the customer in question.
I think C is bad.
I think I shall have second thoughts when asking for warm water in restaurants.
I think I treated the service guy in Alley bar quite well that day. We even had free finger food.
I don't think I had anything "extra" in my martinis.
I hope not.
Let's look at some random "I-think-are-artistic" photos taken at The Esplanade & Alley Bar.
Mosaic @ Esplanade 
Piano @ Esplanade
Drums @ Esplanade
Cello @ Esplanade
Band @ Esplanade
Candlelight @ Alley Bar
Tropical peach, Gin with cranberry with peach schnapps, I think....
Cosmopolitan
Lychee Martini
Pina Colada
Pineapple on Fire!!
Round the world....some say 80 days
Strawberry Martini
In other matters, SQ training has ended. Which means, I have to get my ass back to work tomorrow.
I'm in denial.I.DO.NOT.WANT.TO.WORK.TOMORROW.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Give me more training!
Today is my first day of SQ training. Given that I do not have to work today (literally that is), I'm in a very good mood. Every non-working day is a happy day.To top it off, we even had a two hour lunch break, which is good because today also happens to be payday. ;)Give me training anytime! Why, you ask?Because 1) training centre is near my home, 2) training starts at 9am so I can sleep late and 3) every non-working day is a happy day.Woot! I'm looking forward to tomorrow's session of training.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Achievements?
What are your achievements?Do you like what you are doing? What is your ideal job?What is your purpose in life?I was stumped when I was posed the above questions. In retrospect, I realized with dismay that I have no worthy achievements to speak of in my 22 years of existence. Even more so, I realized that banking is not really my ideal job and yet, I am comfortable enough to stay on til now as I do not have any inkling what my ideal job is. That said, I realized I have no purpose in life. I merely live day by day, which is rather pathetic.At Alley bar yesterday, I did what I love best, people-watch. As I watched them engage in seemingly long and purposeful conversations, I wonder how they would answer if they were posed the same questions that were posed to me. I wonder how did they realise what their dream job is. I wonder how did they find their dream job. I wonder what is their purpose in life.Then again, I realized that not everyone is a happy and contented individual. How many of us are truly contented creatures? How do we actually measure contentment? Do we have some special formula that we add/subtract/multiply/divide the things we own and done to come up with a figure to say, "Oh, I have so-and-so, done so-and-so, and therefore, I'm contented"? Or do we listen to what our heart tells us? If it is so, my heart doesn't tell me anything. Neither are there any figures to determine my contentment.It is in human nature that we always think that the grass on the other side is greener, or whatever. I think I'm facing a quarter-life crisis.
Friday, March 11, 2005
Coffee after work?
Colleague F suggested dinner and ktv after work, which I promptly agreed on the dinner part as I've just had a ktv session yesterday. As much as a ktv buff I am, I think I've finished singing all the songs I wanted to sing yesterday, so no more ktv for me. At least for now.
I roped in colleague S for dinner as well because I thought that two people can get quite lonely. Yes, that same colleague S who won the S$5K travel vouchers.
We had a hard time deciding what to eat. F wanted to eat "yu-sheng" porridge at Maxwell, S wanted to eat Sakae Sushi partly because it's near our workplace. But mostly because S has a possessive and erratic guy whom she's liable to report to, else she faces the possibility of being grounded. Wah liew.
We ended up in TCC@BQ partly because it has a nice ambience and it's near. We ordered some random food and drinks which I think they looked good but tasted ok. The thing I like about this particular TCC@BQ is that they operate on two storeys, and that the second storey has a relaxing atmosphere with low tables, low lightings, artistic-ridiculously-priced-yet-I-do-not-understand paintings and beanbags. We can sit on the floor cross-legged or slouch on the beanbags, sipping our mocha. Better still, I feel at home walking around bare-footed. I'm so not glamorous. 
TCC@BQ
During dinner, F commented that S looked sort of miserable while eating. We think it must be the recent problems S had with her erratic guy. Later on, we proceeded to talk cock, sing song, play mahjong. Nah, actually just talk cock.
Each of us had our own moments of silence in between as we drifted off to our own la-la land daydreaming. Especially me, the notorious “lazy one” slouching on the beanbag drifting off to my “Eileen-in-wonderland".
The thing about these coffee joints is that I can daydream, crap a bit, listen to some crap and people-watch. I like to people-watch. Don’t ask me why, some people are interesting to watch.
Recently, I’ve also developed a penchant of taking “I-think-are-artistic” photos of random items, especially glasses and teacups. Today, I took a picture of the chocolate cake. 
Chocolate cake
S said, “I don’t know why people like to come here to talk and drink coffee. They have a lot to talk about meh? We are not like those foreigners who have a lot to talk about mah.”
We replied indignantly, “We are talking whaat!”
S: “Where got? We had moments of silence in between leh. Don’t you think those foreigners have a lot to talk about? We like have nothing interesting to talk about leh….”
Me: Then chill out lor…This ambience very nice whaat…can unwind after a stressful day leh…
S: Can chill out at home whaat… What time you all want to go? Don’t you all feel funny sitting here? I feel very funny leh…
Us: So early want to go off already? Where got funny?
S: Die lar, I think I’m not in the same channel with you all. I suddenly feel so old….
We then reminded S that she’s still young and barely short of 24 this year.
After more complaints on leg-cramps, weird sitting position and talk about “we-should-have-sat-downstairs-at-the-table-and-chairs”, we decided it’s time to call the bill.
Perhaps next time, we should have just gone to the coffee shop. Economical, and what’s more, they have those conventional “tables and chairs” setting. "Kopi ji buay!"
Sunday, March 06, 2005
D & D Part II
//Listening to: Lovynn Kan - Zui Hou Yi Ci
D & D was ok, interesting actually.
The theme was "Heroes of the Empires" and everybody was supposed to come dressed in their "Hero" or "Villian" outfit. For the "Hero", we had Spiderman, a fat Batman, a smaller version of Robin, Star Wars, Matrix, X-men, and many others. For the "Villian", we had Joker, Poison Ivy, O-Seah-Ma (this was how they named), The Godfather, and others... I wonder how did they eat or breathe in their costumes, especially Spiderman and Batman.
Me? I was dressed in my usuals, too lazy to find costumes lar....
Food was not really fantastic, there wasn't even Shark Fin's! Plus, they set it as only one bottle of red wine per table. After pouring, we realized it was only half glass for each of us. We weren't too happy about that. No booze = Not very happy
Anyway, dinner was segmented with programmes like Lucky Draw and some self-produced musical in between.
Let's start with the musical first. It was produced and starred by our very own people, name of the musical was "Sabo Wars" (pun intended). Storyline was somewhere along this: (Pun intended for the names as well)
Once upon a time, there were four empires at war with each other. The four empires were each led by Darth Koh, The Godfather, O-Seah-Ma and Da Wah Sun (some old man looking like sage). The empires were once beautiful countries until war made them into some desolated countries over-obsessed with winning the war. People were suffering of course.
Then, two freedom fighters came into the picture. They were supposed to get some "Magic box" which will aid in the deliverance of mankind.
Then along the the way, they ran out of fuel, stopped at Earth's Shell station and they also managed to catch our very own "Earth Idol". Corny eh?
In the end, they managed to get the "Magic Box" and united the four empires. The ending was abit fuzzy as I did not really pay much attention towards the end.
By the way, while introducing the four empires, they had different dances ranging from salsa to hip-hop and blah blah.
Salsa was nice, I could never dance like that.
Anyway, LUCKY DRAW! Prizes were quite enticing actually, especially the top 10 prizes. They had a few hundreds worth of shopping vouchers, a mini ipod (I want!), digital camera and others. Now, the top three prizes.
1st Prize: $5K Travel Vouchers
2nd Prize: $3K LV vouchers (I so badly want this!!!!)
3rd Prize: $1.5K Star Cruise Vouchers
You see, I wasn't really a greedy person. All I wanted was just the second prize, which was the $3K LV vouchers. I could even forgo the mini ipod which was along the 5th or 6th prize. I think.
Let's take a look at my lucky draw number.
My LUCKY DRAW NUMBER!!!
When they announced the second prize number, which I think is about 03xx. I was devastated. The people at my table were devastated as well. We were all hoping that he/she had gone home and sleep. Then, they will pick a new number!
Hell, no. She came. Darn! Lucky woman.
Anyway, we weren't too keen on the first prize actually. We thought that it would be better if it was $5K LV vouchers. As we were still drowning in the disappointment, they announced the first prize number.
0 6 5 x
We screamed! 065x was the prefix for the numbers at my table. Everybody had a chance. Everybody else was looking at us. Now, the crucial number.
0 6 5 4
4!!!!! Why is it not 3?!?!? One number only leh... I was so close lor.... Yes, so close to winning that $5K travel vouchers. That close. That disappointed.
F***ing shit right?
I'm the perfect example of crying over spilt milk. Crying and whining over something impossible. I was always like this.
The irony of it all. The one who won the travel vouchers, S, wanted to sell them off. Cheap. S is somebody who doesn't travel. She doesn't see the point in travelling. She doesn't see why we had to travel to feel for the experience. She says she can get experience in Singapore too.
Wah liew! Why is it not me????
I can go Europe, Japan, Korea, US and even Australia to visit Mr Eeyore lor! Then again, I can also go cheap cheap places like Bangkok, and sell the remaining for cold hard cash lor! With the cash, I can go buy LV. Wahahahhaa!
For the record, S is my colleague. She was just sitting beside me at the table. See, I was even sitting close. Another colleague, J, who held the number 0655, was equally as disappointed as me.
Anyway, after everything, they began playing club music and there was free flow of hard liquor and wine.
Cunning people. Leave the booze to the last when everybody is starting to go.
Thereafter, we proceeded to Zouk. We didn't really enjoy ourselves there. Perhaps there was not enough booze. Perhaps, I was still mulling over the lucky draw. We left at 2am.
Now, let's look at some stupid pictures I took using my phone. Of course, resolution isn't that good.
The invitation card
My blatant attempt in an artistic shot of the wine glass. Failed.
My second blatant attempt of the teacup
Dancing in action. Can you see Wonder Woman?
Crocodiles~
Anyway, back to maple, we FINALLY went to take on the monsters, and of course chat while we are healing.
Taken yesterday. At sleepywood dungeon~ It sounds weird right? To chat online with your brother, when in fact he's just a wall away. So near you can even talk.Bro: Eh, my hat nice or not?Me: Nice lar...Bro: Black or white nicer?Me: You wear the white one let me see lor (He was wearing black at that time)Bro: I don't have whiteMe: Duh, then black nicer lor (See, I'm patronizing but he doesn't notice)Bro (takes-off-hat): See my beautiful hair! Nice or not?Me: Ya lar, nice lar.Bro (jumping around): See! My robe got star!!Me: Where got?Bro: (jump even harder): There! Can see? Nice?Me: NICE LAR! Who will see anyway?!How irritating.Funny, I related this conversation to my pals and they laughed, saying like brother like sister. We alike meh?Perhaps it started something like that.Me (just bought a new coin purse): My coin purse cute or not?Pal: Hey, very cute. Nice.A few moments later.Me: My coin purse cute or not?Pal: Cute lar....Further into the night perhaps, and I'm still indulging in my new coin purse.Me: My coin purse cute or not?Pal: Cute lar cute lar! Want ask how many times?!?!!?I think we belong to a different definition of irritating. No?Lastly, I.DO.NOT.WANT.TO.WORK.TOMORROW.Please give me another day off.......
I'm such a lazy arse sometimes.
