Love at first sight!

In line with my new resolution to look more professional/less kiddish, I went shopping after Jap lessons yesterday (what a good excuse to shop right?) and I fell in love with this pair of shoes....! Now I officially own two pairs of flowery cum pure color heels... Ok to be fair, this pair of shoes isn't exactly what you call professional, but I suppose when you really like something you can easily find all kinds of excuses to justify buying it haha. So I splurged on a pair of shoes I didn't exactly need... :) Also went to Zara and fell in love with all the coats there. Though I've always been a fan of long coats, quite a few of the new designs on display were seriously cute. The only convincing consolation I could think up is that it will be a waste of money in hot tropical Singapore (k lah, also not cheap). Even my old coats are kinda obsolete... I need to travel to somewhere cold next year so that I can wear my winter gear all over again ;P Hmm.. maybe should plan for Japan in late winter/early Spring... Also saw some nice stuff that I could have fitted into if I were just a teeny bit slimmer.... aargh. Nevermind, incentive to cut down on choc/ snacks intake at work... :)

food for thought (<- click here)

Yesterday when walking along north bridge road from city hall to bugis, I noticed a new restaurant along the row of shops just opp NLB. Cos was alone on my way to exercise and had no time for a fancy dinner, didn't manage to try anything here; but the menu sure looks good, especially the desserts! And the design of the shop window cum restaurant logo really appealed to me... it just felt so homely and cute. What I really liked about this place though (despite having not tried anything there) was the commitment to donate part of their profits to social causes they believe in... Not sure how this is done though, but I guess I can ask if I patronise this place some day ;) Isn't it cool though -- to run a business doing something you like; then doing your part for society at the same time.

I shall watch more TV

Tonight I finally got down to watching Grey's Anatomy after a 2 yr-hiatus.... it used to be the one and only show my roommate and I faithfully caught each week back in D.C.... ;P And I realised at the end of the episode how much I've been missing out...! There was also a guest star appearance by Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine. She's such a talented young actress... I really admire ppl who are so good at what they do; and clearly enjoy it.

I've also been catching bits of the 9pm drama on Channel 8... it's quite comical. I'm beginning to really like Joanne Peh's character. I've never thought Joanne Peh was particularly good, but thought she was not bad in this show. Very coincidentally, one of the TOs also told me last week during house visit that the market where Joanne Peh's character usually hangs out at is the Ghim Moh market opposite our SERS site. I didn't even realise ;P

Had dinner with a former colleague this evening and somehow realised that we've become better friends than we used to despite having far less in-person contact these days. It's not the only time I got to know ppl better ONLY after they 'leave' me. Haha perhaps I really warm up to ppl that slowly... ;P She also good-naturedly shared something uncannily timely... the importance of positive thinking and being more thick-skinned. Aiyah it's true lah, I just need to try harder... I guess I've been more demoralised than was really necessarily over certain things recently and need to avoid that in future.

On another random note, I walked away from That CD shop on Sunday memorising the name of a French oldie... C'est Si Bon! Hee I recently have a penchant for oldies but was too cheapo to buy the house cd with this song ;)

Jumbled thoughts

Mum will be off for a week-long holiday to Korea starting tmr night and though I wish I were in her position I also accept that life can never be all play and no work... No doubt I like to "daydream" quite a bit sometimes one must face reality. And reality is Shi Min has to work. and learn to be less emotional when things dun really go her way.

Today's Teacher's Day eve and sis came back with bagfuls of presents... I think the kids love her. Though from my point of view she's too kind and innocent and prob very vulnerable to the evil ways of the world, these are perhaps precisely qualities even kids see in her and love her for. Which makes me feel quite awww... and happy for her cos though work responsibilities appear to eat up a huge amount of her time, I can sense her passion and commitment towards what she does.

I am very very tempted to sign up for a basic photography class commencing in mid-Oct, but I know that i'll be busy and that I perhaps ought invest the time in preparing for my JLPT exam instead, but how... i really want to do it. Just do it?

New Micro Hi-Fi System!

Today I got a damn chio black Phillips Micro Hi-Fi system.... for only $101 (including GST) at Courts!! (dear Dad was tasked to get it for me while I was doing house visits at Ghim Moh :P) I've seen the white version around in the stores (for about $180 i think) and though I liked the design hesitated to get it cos I'll end up with a free IPod dock which I'll have no use for. Then, while flipping through the Aug 07 Courts Megasale brochure this morning, I spotted the black version, which is cheaper and chio-er.... :) Thought it would have been sold out cos there are only 20 sets at each store, but apparently the Tampines Megastore still had 10 sets available... and thus today I am its proud owner! haha ok i am like deliriously happy though it's a very simple, no frills hi-fi cos it's also very value-for-money... sure beats always listening to CDs on my laptop :) Ah, I love my room.... how, will want to stay at home all the time and will be more jia bu chu qu...

True Yoga's evil marketing strategy

I've been meaning to blog about this but forgot till I saw the article in The Sunday Times today :P
Ever since some months ago, I've been offered a free one-week pass cum free tour by some ppl from True Yoga, who presumably got my contact via the credit card company. However, I've never managed to squeeze out time to go till last Sun evening... And this was despite Cat's "warning" some time ago about their distasteful marketing strategies. Well, i mean not knowing why exactly why she disliked them, I decided to take a look myself, since there's no harm just dropping by.
So I dropped by the Pacific Plaza branch after Jap lessons. Informed counter that I was dropping by for the free tour... upon which staff led me to this sitting area where customers/ visitors can rest and drink tea before/after exercise. Place was nicely done up etc... Then this young lady staff came up to me, introduced herself etc and then proceeded with this understanding-customer's-needs-sales-pitch... But actually I was just like thinking in my head.. ok get this over and done with and tell me how much your packages are.... (aiyah but of course I still appeared nice haha) Finally after dropping hints that I had something on later, lady revealed the cost of their packages... which was... totally ridiculous. According to the chart she showed me, one has to pay an exorbitant $400/$500 one-time joining fee, another fee which I forgot, as well as a monthly fee of $179 or something (for the 2 year membership). Rates were even steeper for the 1-year membership. Of course I was quite put off by the ridiculous rates, so like requested to be shown facilities instead then maybe take free pass and go home. Nonetheless, during the quick walkabout, marketing lady kept questioning how much I was willing to pay and that there was room for negotiation... So I said some random figure like $100 a month... after which (when I was about to leave) lady tried to buy time.. claimed that she was 'new' and could check with manager whether they could give me a special discount.... THEN, turns out that they could offer me special rate of say around $100 per month, minus the previous joining fees etc, on the condition I sign up immediately. However, this attractive offer somehow backfired on me. Was quite disgusted how dishonest these ppl are cos they were out to milk every single cent the potential customer was willing to pay. Seriously think the marketing lady is expert at gauging customer's willingness to pay and then adjusts package fees accordingly. For the very first time, I witnessed blatant (first degree i think) price discrimination in action! Wonder how many of their 19,000 customers (according to Straits times article) actually got 'milked' this way without knowing. Oh well, maybe i'm like da3 bao4 bu4 ping2 for nothing cos perhaps classes there are so good that ppl are willing to be ripped off... After that incident, someone told me that certain other gyms also practise similar marketing strategies...

Afternote: found out from colleague (who's member there) the next day that she only pays about $90 per month for an unlimited package. She says she got a good deal from her student days. Though I wasn't cheated into buying up the supposedly brilliant $100 a month deal (limited), somehow knowing this just further worsened my impression of this gym cos it was in line with my theory that they just want to milk every single cent out of every customer.......

From time to time, incidents at work still make me feel incompetent and square. Somehow I just dun think about all the possible implications of a making a certain decision/ sending out a particular memo etc. Then when boss or someone else points that out then i'm suddenly like yeah hor, maybe this this this will happen. I'm beginning to understand what my parents like to say about me and my sis... that we're very 'straight' and innocent folks. oh well, probably. I get along well with most ppl, but I have yet to master the art of dealing with ppl....

Land of unified receipts

Snapshot of receipts on my bed :) Now I can finally throw them away ... ;)

One morning while I was hanging around E's place, I noticed a thick wad of receipts on the table... Thought it really strange why someone would keep such good track of his/her expenditures, but found out towards the end of my trip that it's for a purpose prob only peculiar to Taiwan. Ok, so in Taiwan, they apparently have a system of unified sales receipts... Most of the stores I went to issued receipts of the same design, size and length... Then right at the top of the receipt there's an eight digit number which is apparently a chance for you to win some money at a state lottery... On the flip side, there's a mini red grid with the months the receipt was issued, the corresponding day the lottery results would be announced, as well as when to collect the prizes by.
Now now, why is there such a bizarre system in place? According to E, it's for residents to report on their monthly expenditures when they pay taxes, so that the taxable amount is based on consumers' real income (after taking away expenditures). I didn't really get the rationale though cos even though I've yet to join the ranks of taxpayers all along I had the idea individuals pay taxes solely based on income earned... how come got such good deal one. Decided to google a bit and according to some online sources, it's a way for the govt to ensure ppl pay sales taxes. To circumvent the problem of merchants not declaring their sales, this system was put in place such there will be records when consumers request for sales receipts (assuming that they do, given a chance to strike lottery)... Some charities even leave boxes for ppl to drop their receipts and there are actually volunteers who actually help to match the lottery receipts to see if the charities had won something at the lottery... I wonder how many Taiwanese conscientiously keep all their receipts and match them one by one with the lottery results. I think I would be rather pissed if say after tediously matching two months' worth of receipts I find that I did not win anything..... :P

Today our Japanese sensei briefly narrated his holiday in Japan (we had a one week break from class last week and he returned to Japan briefly) and at the end of it all, presented the class with a box of 'o-miyage' - wafer sticks with green tea/ green tea choc filling from Kyoto. Aww... so sweet of him even though we barely know him. *melts*

And I spent most of my Sun night sitting through most of the NDR speech ... perhaps now as civil servant in stat board cum insider I now have vested interest...

Taiwan (II) - Food

I concluded that Taiwanese food didn't appeal to my tastebuds as much as sg/hk cuisine, even though there were maybe a hundred and one xiao1 chis1 to choose from ;P. I attribute it to the oiliness and perhaps queerness of things they eat! As such, I wasn't all THAT adventurous with trying the food at the night market. When dining out with the parents one day at a family restaurant kinda chain, E's mum was also half-horrified that I didn't seem to fancy most of the things on the menu. Felt rather paiseh, but I really couldn't force myself to happily ingest pig innards/trotters and all... And Taiwanese seem to like bamboo shoots quite a bit, which I unfortunately find stinky leh. However, I loved the selection of drinks in Taiwan... yummy green tea, strawberry milk teas/milk coffee/fruit milks were readily available in the convenience stores. I bought a new drink everyday, but didn't manage to try all...

The wide selection of yummy drinks at 7-eleven...

Something called 'Guan1 Cai2 Ban3' I tried at Shilin Night Market... Guess it's named this cos it visually resembles a coffin, but the chinese characters used were certainly auspicious- 'Official' for guan1 and 'Wealth/Money' for cai2... The bread was very well done, very crispy and I chose the shrimp filling for my coffin bread :P.
Uhm... a weirdly dressed vendor I spotted at Jiufen, selling taiwan sausages. I suppose with the keen competition from other food vendors, you have to do something to 'stand out' eh. But think for her case backfire, cos ppl just gawk at her then walk away....

Found out that the Taiwanese also have this bento culture, but the contents of their bian4 dang1s were quite different from the Japanese bentos I'm used to. This was a 'railroad bento' we got near the Hualien train station before boarding...

Had this on my last day in Danshui at this supposedly American ice cream cafe named 'Bigtom'... Red wine ice cream teppanyaki! Sticky vanilla ice cream on choc sponge cake drenched in red wine (the waitress pours wine onto the hot teppanyaki plate when this dessert is served, creating a mini sizzling effect)... quite cool and very satisfying :)

Mountainous Taiwan

I don't really know the breakdown of hilly and flat ground in Taiwan, but green mountains were omnipresent in Taipei and its surroundings. And so even though Taipei is very urbanised, scenic spots were also frequently but a stone's throw away. It amused me how houses (and temples too) could just pop up at random spots in the hills. It was also quite common to see cemeteries in the hills when driving past on the highway. City planning can appear to be haphazhard, but yet spontaneous in a way. In comparison S'pore really seems like a well-planned colourful Disneyland...
On my second day, I decided to be healthy and bused to Yangmingshan National Park in the morning. On our way up to a viewing spot, we encountered quite a few butterflies :) It's been a while, really.

Somehow this brown butterfly just stopped in front of me... and stayed on the fern for a long time, as if it knew that I was shooting it :)

I really liked this butterfly, cos I've never seen any with such huge white spots. Unfortunately it was really restless and kept fluttering around. I only managed a quick shot from far when it settled down for a few seconds... There were some orange and blue ones, but didn't manage to get any shot of these fleeting free-spirited creatures :)

An attempt to make fallen petals look artistic haha. This was taken alongside this long bench where you could get a pretty good view of the city after a short walk uphill. Nothing very spectacular, but just felt peaceful. Here, we also saw a loving old couple taking their morning stroll with their dog. It rained rather heavily just after we decided to break for lunch, so felt pretty lucky to have had a pocket of fairly good weather for the morning walk.

Hungry fat koi in a pond outside the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

Evening view from a cafe at the historic gold mining town of Jiufen, abt an hour's drive west of Taipei. It's tucked away in the hills and offered good views of the coast! I realised I really love sitting at some cafe at high altitudes and looking down at everything else below me. This place reminded me of Lijiang, though the latter is still nicer :)

But of course, Jiufen was also pretty touristy. Starbucks in the hills....

Back!

Cos I have to work tmr, can't really afford to type a detailed entry. But this was where I stayed (the middle floor) for 4 out of 5 nights in Taiwan :) Well the exterior of this building might look quite run-down, but cos E's dad refurbished their unit it really wasn't as unliveable as it might appear to be :P. And it gave me the unique opportunity to experience living like a local, opening the red metal door and walking up the narrow flight of stairs and all whenever we came back... With convenience stores and little eateries open till late at night scattered all over the city, Taipei has to be one of the most convenient places to live in. Even more so than Hong Kong and Singapore in my opinion...

Random musings

So I apparently chased the typhoon away. But according to E's dad typhoons are very common in Taiwan around this time and usually they dun get THAT dangerous so no worries. Feel that I'm a rather bochap traveller on a homestay this time round, bunking over in a unit at one of those grey shops cum residential buildings with metal grilles that are scattered all over the city :P. And instead of wanting to visit all there is to see, I've mostly been shopping and eating...and watching a lot of Jappy stuff on Taiwanese TV. Bought quite a few fakeo Lesportsac cute print bags yest at night market hehe, but a bit sore now that I didn't bargain more :(. Will be tagging along to some family lunch later and then perhaps doing an afternoon trip to a nearby town. *Feels nua*

Haven't been reading the weather forecasts faithfully these past few days, but both according to E and paranoid parents, typhoon and Shi Min are both arriving in Taipei at around the same time. Hmm... perhaps plans to visit scenic Hualien will be foiled by impending thunderstorms... but in any case, hope everything goes smoothly for me and I'll at least get to catch up with E, whom I haven't seen for a year... and relax a bit. Everything else I shall treat as bonus :) I'll be back on Tues night!

Holiday in sight!

Come Thurs, I would be flying off to Taipei for a short holiday :) But am super stressed now cos not only do I have a fair bit of work to settle; am also recovering from a mild flu and trying hard not to end up sick on day of departure (cos Dad threatened to not let me go if I wasn''t in good shape...) But how to sleep more/rest well yet finish all the things you have to do?? Oh well, I trust that I should be able to manage somehow... try my best to do whatever I need to do... play hard then come back and face the music :P

This week I met a record no. of "new ppl"... particularly old acquaintances you used to know but have lost contact for a long long time. Actually I realised that I like meeting up with people and finding out how they are doing, just that I can be AS at times/ too un-energetic to keep going out. Ppl's appearances (nor characters) generally dun change that much... even after not seeing some ppl for a year or so, you realise that they are still pretty much like that... hehe. ok so vague, but yeah... Whenever we had occasional batch gatherings, I used to sometimes feel small in the midst of 'successful' Berkeley peers with high earning power/more high-profile jobs etc... used to be rather afraid of ppl's judging eyes... however, yest I found myself caring less about how well other ppl were doing. Was there really a need to measure one's self-worth against others? In a strange way, I felt like I was able to hold my head up high being the way I am... to be more discerning about things that really mattered to me...

Bad patch

A stressful this week and next week notwithstanding, I did a really silly thing tonight. Was too lazy to cut my nails despite having to perform the shimin's-nemesis-act of taking out my disposable contacts. So as usual, I was trying pretty hard to remove the lenses... After several attempts, got the right lens out fairly successfully. Phew. But the left one, no matter how hard I tried to open the left eye, there was still barely enough 'space' for my finger to get a good grip of the slippery lens. (I always wonder if ppl with big eyes have it easy) So in the end give up, dun care... use fingernails (though I knew i should'nt). In the end got it out... but then.. TO MY HORROR, I realised after getting it out that there was a hole in the middle of the lens. So I had torn the lens in the process of pinching it out, and the broken piece of lens was nowhere to be found. Aargh... then frantically like splashed lotsa water into left eye. Dunno out or not. Cannot feel it in eye, but what if it's just stuck at the other side of eye... Perhaps I'll just be both stressed and blind soon. :(

Conclusion: I still can't master art of wearing the elusive slippery disposable lens. Want to be vain also fail... better resign to fate of wearing specs.

While on one hand I feel heartened to be given several new responsibilities recently, on the other hand I also feel secretly apprehensive cos many things are really new to me and I have no idea how to go about doing them. For responsibilities directly work-related, I am thankful to have a bunch of really helpful and supportive colleagues. As for more open-ended kinda responsibilites, at times really feel at loss with no one to turn to. It's like trying to swim in deep waters with this huge fear of drowning..! Naturally, there's some pressure to perform up to expectations and maybe I stress myself unnecessarily... I suppose at times like this I wished I were the sort with more ppl I could really talk to or confide in. In the absence of which... perhaps the next best thing to do is just do whatever you need to do and be more thick-skinned lah. Hmm what's the worst that can happen? I can't even really get fired.... :P

Together with tph, I biaed site duty from 9am to 9.30pm straight... Am rather beat, but it was less tiring/draining than expected. Perhaps cos towards the end of the day when the crowd kinda subsided we got like pockets of free time to eat snakes and chat a little :P And I get more than 10 hrs of time-off at one go!
When asked by lhp what my after duty activity was, I answered, S-L-E-E-P. These days, I never get enough of it :) Hehe, so no life, me - Everyday wake up, work, sleep. When will be the day I get to break out of this cycle...?

I finally received a 'bomb' at work and will prob be quite busy from now on. Was supposed to have read up on previous files for background knowledge and stuff, but being the last min person I usually am, I did not do so and am suffering the consequences of it :P I now have to read up super fast on things I ought to know... Hmm, I think one needs to also be a good organiser/planner to be efficient at work. Esp when you know you have a whole lot of little things to do. Need to improve in that aspect. Aside from the stress associated with accelerated learning, I actually feel happy in a way to be given the opportunity to do and learn all these new things. They might not always be the most palatable tasks, but for the moment it's still kinda cool to learn about how things actually work. Dun think I can claim to know that well enough even after one year at my unit. The only unexciting part about my new responsibilities though is that they are all like fixed SOPs. I am but another "executor" of sorts.

I got problem

I found myself getting slightly irritated/upset over small incidents that happened over the past few days, making me wonder if I've grown more disagreeable (for the worse...) or more opinionated (for the better?) recently. Coincidentally, they all happen to be service-related. On Friday evening, met up with some JC friends at Cafe Cartel. Now, they have this system of writing down orders on sheets of pre-printed paper, which is then passed to waiter/waitress who processes it. But then because we didn't all arrive at the same time, each person who arrived late had to individually put down her order on a separate order sheet, pass it to the waiter... who in turn churns out a new bill... After 3 changes of the bill, I got somewhat upset over what a blatant waste of paper this system was...I almost wanted to submit a SSS! only that this wasn't public sector haha. But they didn't have feedback forms. maybe coupled with the relative lack of attention we got from the busy waiters/waitresses, was thus pretty dissatisfied with service.

Then on Sat afternoon I received my credit card bill from DBS, who conveniently enclosed this 07/08 rewards booklet for DBS cardmembers. However, cos I have a POSB Everyday Credit Card, was pretty surprised that I was sent rewards booklet too. I never thought POSB credit cardholders were given the same privileges, so I assumed that we were suddenly eligible and happily called up the Customer Service hotline to check my points... but was informed by officer on the line that only DBS cardholders were eligible for the points... I guess I felt rather cheated and so expressed my dissatisfaction that if so it was misleading to send us rewards booklets too. I felt sorry for the officer who had to politely accept my negative feedback(cos having served unhappy lessees b4 I know what it feels like), and thereafter concluded that it was a marketing gimmick that has failed on me. hmph!

Then just now after class I went to Cedele at Wheelock Place to get vouchers as a prez for a colleague. Cos it has pretty decent (and supposedly healthier) pastries, sandwiches and meals etc. However, was pretty surprised by staff who informed me that the vouchers were sold out, and that they had to order them. According to her, none of the other branches had any more vouchers today either and the earliest I could get any was tmr or Tues. Thought it rather unusual that vouchers had to be ordered... And I was a little sad cos I would end up giving a belated gift. But yeah, couldn't help but wonder why Cedele is unable to readily issue vouchers on the spot. Maybe i'm just a naive consumer with no business sense, but having no ready supply of gift vouchers at your stores certainly runs the risk of having potential customers walk away empty-handed??

Yeah, so I was a problematic and demanding customer this weekend.

The 2-day LO-Systems Thinking course I'm attending turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. After the CDD officer who recommended it heaped praise on the trainer some 2 weeks ago, I kinda expected this really good trainer, but on the contrary, I really don't quite like her. Dunno why, but it does disturb me when I find myself disliking ppl, cos I deem myself a pretty agreeable person. So towards the end of the course today I was like drifting away and wondering in my head, why do I not like her...? This trainer is supposedly pretty popular, having coached numerous organisations; and has previously even out-sourced her own expertise in this area to the govt of Botswana. And I have to give her some credit for being pretty eloquent and being a good presenter. But it was really surprising for me to find out that she was rather demoralising (several times during the session when participants answered the questions she posed, sometimes instead of being encouraging, she somewhat put down answers she wasn't looking for and appeared to be only seeking 'correct answers' she had in mind). During a Q&A towards the end of the day, when one participant highlighted the similarity btwn another systems theory she learnt and the one the trainer was teaching, the trainer appeared pretty defensive about the superiority of the sch of thought she was introducing to the class and in my opinion was unable to conceal her annoyance when such comparisons were made.. as if other theories would poison/pollute what she had taught for the day! Thought it was rather unprofessional and immature for (SUCH) an experienced trainer to react/ respond the way she did, cos in the first place shouldn't the trainer be encouraging and open such that all the participants feel comfortable learning and questioning what was being taught to them?

The ideas introduced are actually fairly interesting, but unfortunately I have a rather unfathomable dislike for the trainer, who also happens to have this plastered-on fake smile at times. How, no incentive to attend tmr...! Hai, perhaps I should be more mature and give the course another chance :P

Taiwan-bound in 3 weeks!

Deprived of a Sept holiday in Japan, my wanderlust led me to book a budget air tic to Taipei, for a short 6-day trip to Taiwan over the National Day holiday. Thought I was a little crazy to act on a whim within like 2 days, but I know that if I don't 'grab' my chance to go away, I'd prob never get to until next year... so... even though air tic was a lil ex (travelling over national holiday) + I will be stressed (cos forcing oneself to go away during a busy period is never easy) the mini 'break' in Aug is still something worthwhile! (to keep me sane for rest of the year) Once again though, I incurred the wrath of my why-you-like-to-travel-so-much Dad. However, think he's more or less resigned to his fate of having a disobedient daughter. Hopefully he'll get more immune with time lah. I guess his only gripe is that I'm flying there alone. But will be staying with a college friend who has returned to Taiwan briefly for the summer... so I shouldn't be too 'endangered' from travelling alone :) Maybe I'll just like eat, shop and laze while in Taipei...

What's in a bun?

The last thing you'd guess is probably pork-flavored cardboard. Someone sent me this article... Not sure how true this is, but I was REALLY grossed out...

A busy 6 months ahead

There goes my planned holiday in Sept. This was a logical conclusion reached after reading an email at work on Friday. Was somewhat upset that my much-looked-forward-to, still imaginary holiday in Japan has been prematurely murdered :( Briefly moaned to a colleague at work, who found it amusing that I was not upset with the additional work I had to do, but rather at the thought of not being able to go on my holiday. Should I then plan for an alternative destination somewhere closer in Aug??? :P

Have also been nominated by fellow project team members as the 'Team Leader' for my project team (comprising 6 HDB staff from diff depts, working tog on a topic Management is interested in for period of 6 months) Cos members were like... you're scholar ah, sure can one... Am not so sure whether i'm that kind of "sure-can" scholar; but I suppose i'd rather take on the responsibility than to have no one fill the vacuum. However, i) I am the youngest and most inexperienced member in the team and ii) I'm quite clueless and directionless with my own topic now, so am dealing with a mild crisis as to how to actually lead team to do a good job with our topic... Perhaps ppl who know me better are also wondering how come I this kind also chosen to become leader haha. Actually I am asking this question myself, but rather than overwhelming myself with such self-deprecating thoughts again, I'm more curious as to how to really do my TL job well... I figured it might be a slightly head-achey but good challenge to be dealing with :)

One year old at work

Though one year can just creep by so quickly, it's also amazing how many things happen over the course of one year. Exactly one year ago I was this innocent fresh-faced new HDB recruit starting work somewhat excitedly (though also a little apprehensively), wondering what the organization I'm prob going to spend my next 6 years in had in store for me. One year later, think enthusiasm has been doused a little, reality of working life has sunk in; and just today I wondered if I've taken on more responsibilities (than I can comfortably handle) for the rest of the year?
On the other hand, one year also saw my empty wall transform into a treasured personal space for bluetacking photos; friendships/relationships with a few colleagues have also gradually blossomed... and much as I complain about work, I suppose I would not say I regretted starting out at ERU...

Work-aside, I suppose nothing very much has changed in my life... Still as forgetful... still rather clueless about what I really want in life... however feel like when friends start working, you end up with not many ppl to hang out with... also, everyone around your age appears to start getting engaged/married... then you fear the fate of a poor + friendless + jia bu chu qu single whom the govt denies the right to purchase new flats.... ;P

It finally happened!

Ask any female colleague of mine and they will tell you that the unevenly tiled ground around Toa Payoh (esp at the coffeeshop areas) is a minefield for ladies' heels. My high heel finally got stuck in one of the MANY ground crevices at Toa Payoh.... so stuck that the whole slipper came off in the middle of the bus interchange. (This isn't the most hazard-prone zone though) Anyway, it was funny rather than embarrassing, cos there it was, my brand new pretty slipper firmly stuck to the ground...the little flowers adorning the sides looking sweetly out of place. Good thing it wasn't crowded though- I immediately scooted down, half bare-footed, to yank the heel out of the narrow gap btwn floor tiles... and luckily it came off quite easily ;) Ok lah, was unglam for 5 seconds. This has been an adventurous day for my new white slippers. This morning, upon stepping out of my Dad's car, I unwisely decided to take a short cut through some undried muddy ground and got some wet sand on the sides of my slipper, immediately staining it... good thing my attempt to wash away the dirt later in office salvaged most of the 'damage'... Today was also one of those days I decided to be more lady-like and wear a dress... but alas! I still can't prance around very naturally like those well-seasoned ladies who somehow manage to perform daily acrobatic acts of stilettoing. Oh well, I should be at least consoled that my feet only occasionally go through the pain and stress many other ladies put their feet through :)

It's time to plan ahead for my next holiday soon, cos after 2 colleagues go on maternity leave in Oct my only chance of taking a long holiday would prob only come next year... Plus I have my JLPT test in Dec... It's sad that I'm not allowed to travel alone.... Anyone wants to go to Japan in Fall ....... ? ;)

Went on site yesterday, and I still find it rather grueling to go on-site so once-in-a-blue-moon, cos would usually have forgotten all the special policy cases/ experiences accrued from the last site by then. It's such a cheem science to have to browse ppl's info/resale history and such; then have to advise them on their replacement flat/other queries on the spot. We seriously need a SERS Policy 101 to initiate all new officers... even after a year on the job I still feel inadequate. Today's also one of those down days at work. Our relationship with our working partners in other units seems to be going downstream... and I this tiny fry appear to somehow kenah the misfortune of writing things that make these bigger shots mad. aargh. what to do. Small fry is at best messenger only... On such days I get so frustrated and wonder what's the point of doing all I do. Consolation though is that I at least have one or two colleagues to complain to... Actually after my two recent trips to Vietnam and Krabi, I can't help but wonder... why is is that people in slightly poorer places with simpler lifestyles appear to be way happier than ppl in richer places?? Sometimes, we Singaporeans slog all our lives, but at the end of the day, how many ppl can claim to be truly happy and satisfied with their lives? It's so scary to even think about this, but perhaps even scarier to NOT think about this and just blindly work... work... and work...

Princess at home

Cos btwn 9.30 am to 12 pm or so every Sun I'm usually cramming in Japanese grammar/ doing hw last min, I'll just have a quick lunch b4 rushing off to class. This afternoon mum cooked me fried yi fu noodles after I remarked earlier in the morning that I wanted to eat that (I usually request for instant noodles :P). My plate of noodles also came with a cup of orange juice. This orange juice tasted really fresh and sweet, with pulp and all. Only upon bringing my plates to the sink after my meal, did I realise the juicer beside the sink... and I suddenly realised that my mum had made me fresh orange juice. Upon guiltily thanking my mum and confessing that I intended to get her to buy this brand of orange juice again (cos during my meal I had assumed that it was from NTUC or something) she playfully replied, "you dare to ask me what brand ah... Mummy brand orange juice!"

Then while on the MRT today I realised that I forgot to bring my staff pass though I was going back to office. Frantically tried to recall if any of my colleagues would be in office today/ stayed in the vicinity, but figured it would be inconvenient to borrow their staff passes too... so sheepishly called home to report my forgetfulness. (I ought to be slaughtered and have probably been permanently black-listed by my parents as the most forgetful person ever) Mum said she'll think of something... So after my Jap lesson, Dad drove down to give me my staff pass, without any reproachful words on my absent-mindedness (I'll usually get a earful or two). Instead, I was told to be careful, since I might be the only one in office... and throughout my 2.5 hrs stay I got like 3 calls from a paranoid Dad who was worried that it might be dangerous alone... that with no air-con the ventilation might be very poor...

I occasionally do get annoyed from too much 'attention' from my parents. Yet how can you possibly, truly blame people who whole-heartedly wish for your well-being? I frequently wonder what the past year in sg (settling down and adapting to worklife) would have been, without their lil daily acts of love?

yesterday was a good day and today was a bad day.

Yesterday: The highlight of my day came at 11pm, when my colleague and I enjoyed roti prata supper at The Roti Prata House near her place. It's been a LONG time since I had late-night supper with anyone; so chilling out (albeit after a REALLY long day at work) felt really enjoyable and memorable. Coupled with the late night drive on the highway, I suppose it also brought back fond memories of driving at night and occasional late night suppers at Berkeley. Since we had a SERS announcement today, my colleague, the OIC for this site, had to give a briefing to GRLs yest night. I was supposed to help her set-up the equipment and stuff, but ended up staying for the whole briefing as the chinese ppt operator cum clicker. :P Thus ended up skipping dinner... But it was interesting to witness the entire meeting, chaired by my DD and Adviser Mr Arthur Fong. Was particularly impressed by the MP, cos he was REALLY personable and appeared very sincere. Showed no airs, and extremely patient when explaining certain aspects of SERS to the grassroots leaders... though it was a brief, one-off meeting, he easily earned my respect...

Today: Got called back to office to work on some urgent matters, and other depts were not very cooperative in assisting us by giving inputs urgently ( that's what ppl are usually bu4 shuang3 about)... Even got like a mild hung-up by another unit head..! so uncalled for. everyone deserves some basic respect and even if you are busy/tied up/stressed with something, it doesn't give you excuse to behave as such. However upon reporting this to boss, led to some shooting of arrows among bosses... Jing1 cai3 but pretty scary... Also had to deal with another unhelpful case in which other depts' this-doesn't-fall-in-my-work-area attitude resulted in unnecessary back-and-forth shoving of responsibility. Then spent my last 2 hours at work nicely doing up a table for boss. Seriously drained now. Need a holiday again!

Last Sat, my mum finally got her wish to get a family portrait taken at a photo studio. At like 8am in the morning, I got pulled out of bed by mum... cos everyone had to get ready for the 45 min drive across the island (to IMM) for our appointment. Goodness knows why we had to take THE PIC all the way in the West, but anyways, since that was what she booked i just went along with it. After all, my job was just to don my "inherited" graduation gown and look happy :) It turned out to be quite fun lah, cos the lady there helped to put on light make-up (something I'm seriously underqualified at and dun really fancy doing :P) and so i got to look pretty for the whole afternoon; and the photographer was quite fun to work with. There's so much nitty-gritty details that contribute to a well-taken picture... like where/how to place your hands, position your body etc etc. It's cool to be able to master such stuff. Was also very amusing for me cos mum, wanting to look nice for the photo, ended up wearing some funny gown that the photo-studio chose for her... I hope that decision didn't 'backfire'... oh well, I'll know when the photos are ready in about 2 weeks' time :)

Krabi (4) - my cool friends!

Of course, this trip wouldn't have been possible without Shu and Joyce... Below are 4 pics of us I really like:

Shu and I at Bamboo Island beach. Like this a lot cos we just appeared so happy!

Joyce and Shu at Bamboo Island beach... Look how clear the water is ;)

A cool pic taken by Shu while we were heading back to our resort (on the right hand side in the background)... I like the line on the road and how it cuts the pic into half nicely.....!Cheers! pic of the pseudo midnight pj party the very last night. Cos we look a bit siao in this pic, I have to censor a bit by making it smaller haha. We loitered at the local supermarket for at least 1/2 hr that night and came "home" with like ice-cream, yoghurt, sweets, beer and other junky stuff. I was sad when our mini getaway ended... :(

All I've done all week was basically work, work, and work! I so need a personal masseur right now... to soothe my aching back :( I suppose the only (but quite a huge) consolation is that there are a few of us in this together; and having a great team of people to work with makes such a huge difference. I've become pretty cosy with my behind, diagonally behind and next-door neighbor all cos of one huge paper we have to write. Even joked about knocking down the partitions, so that I don't have to climb onto my table numerous times a day to pop my head over to talk... ;) Come to think of it... my behind neighbor and I prob top the climb-onto-table-to-talk list in our unit hehe. There's also another mystery I have yet to unravel.... how come we're all exhausted by 10pm whereas boss, who easily stays up till 11pm nightly to clear our work appears even more energetic than any of us??? I even got briefly suaned for complaining about a backache at a 'young' age... I suppose there are really supermen in this world. ;)

Krabi (3) - Monkey encounters

Finally! My collection is complete. :)
Our half day outing to Ao Thalane was somewhat of a blessing in disguise. We all woke up late; and thus missed the morning kayaking tours; also couldn't really go to the kayaking site further away. Ended up going to this place some 1/2 hr lorry ride away... and according to our guide (featured below) the tide was so low in the morning that it wasn't really possible for tourists to kayak anyways (the mangrove area can be really shallow at certain spots). And turns out that... cos almost no one goes kayaking at like 2pm in the afternoon, we had the entire area to ourselves! So it felt really peaceful and exclusive :)

I went in the same kayak as the guide... and hehe I get to tou1 lan3 from time to time!
Shu and Joyce in the other kayak....

Ah, one of my many cosying-up-to-monkeys experience. Well, when we first rowed out, there weren't any monkeys though our guide kept making noises to attract their attention. Then it all started when he found his 'pet' monkey. She swam across (enticed by the basket of pineapples) from the mangrove plants and then sat quite tamely just beside me/ on the basket/ all over our kayak. I've never had a monkey sit so close to me so it was kinda cool. Imagine its tail thumping on your leg :P Well, I don't have much affinity for monkeys to be honest, but when it was so close-up, I somehow couldn't help feeling a little awww.... Shu and Joyce too got their fare share of cosying-up-to-monkey experiences, though sometimes it came in the form of monkey scrambling-over-your-limbs to pick up pieces of pineapples thrown onto the kayak from the adjacent kayak (by our guide) :P

Our guide knows this wild monkey so well that they could even get 'intimate'... haha. Well, the picture is a little misleading, but our dear lil monkey here is actually more hungry than over-affectionate (trying to eat a piece of fruit that our guide has put in btwn his lips...) One of the things that keeps our guide in this area is the ability to remain close to nature. I think I can see why, even though I can't really imagine doing this for a job. It was an enjoyable back-to-nature kinda outing :)After the first monkey leaped onto our kayak, another one followed suit as we kayaked on... and what shocked me was the lil monkey clinging on to the mother.... its hair was all wet. And mother and baby monkey sat right next to my thigh and stole my water bottle...! Our guide says monkeys dun like saltwater very much either; and thus he fed it bottled water ;) The next pic was taken by my friends when we were kayaking through the limestone cliffs.... it was awesome kayaking through the towering structures.

Krabi (2)

Still haven't consolidated pics so am blogging with some other random pics in this post :)

If you look a little more closely, you might be able to tell that these flowers were actually carved out from soap. Went exploring shops along Ao Nang Beach the first night after dinner and the Thai lady hawking her soap carvings on the street (bigger dyed flowers) skilfully carved out three white flowers in less than 10 min for each of us (for free!). It was really sweet of her. Took this pic in our resort room against a cushion.

One of many many monkeys we encountered on our kayaking trip at Ao Thalane (more on that in a separate post). Monkeys love Thai pineapples....
So does Shi Min! (though I've never been a fan of pineapples) Our guide brought along several pineapples and he had superb pineapple-slicing skills! The one i'm holding up (as well as those on the tray) was almost perfectly shaped like a gear...! I've never tasted such sweet pineapples till this Krabi trip. Not only were they fresh, they tasted even better than your typical preserved and sweetened canned pineapples.
On our third day, after lunch on Ko Phi Phi Don, we had some time to wander around the island. Say maybe one hour. but the three of us were stuck in front of some shopfront for at least 15 min.... cos there were THREE unbelievably cute kitties lazing around. So the three of us were like scooting down and trying to take pics of them for like the longest time. Ppl must have thought that we were mad.
I ended up with quite many kitty pics. But looking at this one, I suddenly realized maybe the puss-in-boots in Shrek isn't that unrealistic after all.... :)

Krabi (1)

Had tremendous sunlight overdose the past 3 days or so and was unsparingly bitten by omnipresent mosquitoes. But... Krabi was fun! i guess cos we had unexpectedly good weather, not-so-many fellow tourists and good company. Though beaches were a little overhyped, I still enjoyed driving/kayaking/speedboating through the many many limestone cliffs/islands all over Krabi. Such amazing works of nature :) I was rather upset at having forgotten to bring along my specs for the trip, but it somehow made me more used to my daily disposables, so i suppose it was a blessing in disguise. This trip will also bring back yummy memories of sweet thai pineapples, close encounters with daring monkeys and... my virgin attempt to snorkel :P

Haven't taken many pictures with myself in them in a while. still trying to exchange trip photos with friends, so in the meantime will blog with "non-ppl" pics. First, beach photos... Though I visited several beaches, you realize after a while that your pictures all start to look the same.....

The famous Maya Bay at Ko Phi Phi Ley, where The Beach was filmed. It was one of the nicer beaches, cos the sand was really quite fine and pristine here. You could even sit in the shade beneath the limestone cliffs on shore.
Beach at bamboo island. Only after taking this pic did I realize that I might have inadvertently intruded on a Caucasian couple... they weren't kissing, but up to your imagination what they were doing.
Another picture at Bamboo Island. The waters were really clear here...
Ao Nang beach, about 5 min walk away from the resort where we stayed at.

And so I was 'rebellious' and did all the things I was 'forbidden' to do... but cos weather was great (too sunny, actually) and activities seemed safe enough :) Ah... it's back to work tmr morning though, so had better turn in like now.

*Gone Krabi-ing*

Happy holiday to me! I'll be back on Tues night :)

11 months into work, I think I finally feel like I'm finally 'one of them'. I mean, I guess I have been on good terms with all my colleagues all this while, but only recently did I feel like I'm actually starting to know them well enough to be a little 'bad' to some of them ;) Or like do naughty things... tease ppl etc. Not sure how this happened though, but I'm really happy it did. Have also taken to tou1 lan2ing in other ppl's workstations sometimes ;) Work-wise, I am also starting to take things in my stride-- even when I do things wrongly, not as well as I would have wanted to (getting upset as a result) I've learnt how to control emotions better... And for better and for worse, I've recently become a little more gungho in making my opinions known.. just a little bit. But when I get a little outspoken, I get amusing comments like...."wah, cannot tell Shi Min is like that...." Yeah lah, I know I look very meek. :P

3 days countdown to my trip to Krabi! No one believes me that I dun have a swimsuit, esp cos swimming/snorkelling is pretty much what you can do there... Hai. Shall attempt to dig up my 5-yr-old swimsuit and hope I still fit (too late to jian fei), else I'll really end up alone on the beach while the other two are somewhere in the middle of the ocean marvelling at sea creatures... :(

Listen to your mum

Ting ma ma de hua is another mummy-inspired song by Jay Chou. I've stopped looking out for Jay Chou's new cds etc since perhaps a year ago but i'm positive I've heard this some time back. Never really bothered to find out title of song till I borrowed sis's DVD to watch... and ta-da... rediscovered this song and cannot resist playing it again and again :) However, it's one of those songs that few ppl can master and disastrous for KTV. You can watch the MTV here! (a little blur but it's free)! Thought it was kinda silly to have Jay Chou and the little boy waving their hands (somewhere in the middle of the MTV) for nothing... and wonder if his beigy flowery jacket was really given to him by his mum... if NOT he should have replaced it with something less obiang :P Nonetheless, really liked the deco of the room, what with astroboys, teddy bears, interesting posters and toys. Also got to see what Jay Chou looked like when he was a kid (towards the end).. He resembles his mum...and hey! from prob age 2 onwards, he already had his look.... :P

Lazy Thursday

My day started late today. Wanted to get the family to go watch Shrek 3 with me, but it only opened today, implying crowds at the box office, thus sis voted against it. As such lazed about the house the entire afternoon. Finally managed to pick up my JLPT 2 notes towards lunchtime, only to be distracted by a DVD movie my sis borrowed from the library. Surprisingly, this 1987 movie (Qiu1 Tian2 de4 Tong2 Hua4, i suppose the title rings a bell since there is the TV serial Korean by the same name) starring Chow Yun Fatt and Cherie Chung was highly enjoyable. And touching. It apparently won Best Picture some time back in the 1980s. Set in NYC in the 1980s, it actually took me quite a while before I figured out where the film was set, hai, quite lousy. :P Though some parts of the romantic drama was kinda predicatable, still really liked Chow Yun Fatt's character -- a fobbish Chinese "ringleader"-type of figure. Hilarious during the typical fob scenes but really endearing at the more 'tender' moments. Tis a pity he seems to have taken up more ornamental roles in those big-name-director/Hollywood productions these days.

Give me anything.... whatever...

If you've been watching TV recently (or just keeping your eyes open in general, since these ads are all over the place), you prob would have noticed the two silly telly ads on a new local product- Anything (carbonated soft drink in 6 flavors) & Whatever (6 non-carbonated types of tea). My mum has been getting rather irritated with these ads (You can watch them at their official website here) , and calls them "wu liao", but i guess the concept behind this product is somewhat interesting. According to the managing director of the company, he came up with this concept cos ppl always say they can have "anything" or "whatever" when asked what drinks they want. I think I can somewhat empathise with that. However, I tend to think that most ppl DO NOT really mean it when they say they can have anything/whatever. Like, they have these few drinks in mind, or these few beverages they always drink, but am prob not dying for anything in particular. Anyway, just for the novelty of it, my colleagues and I went to NTUC after lunch to get a few cans of these beverages (It's buy 5 get 1 free now at NTUC!) and I tried a Whatever. I believe I got White grape tea, but thought it tasted kinda bland. The can has very general ingredients (so as to keep under wraps the identity of the drink) but I was just curious... Doesn't like AVA require detailed nutritional info etc to be displayed on the can? Seems somewhat unSingaporean :) In any case, I think such unpredictability is a little too much for me. I do not like buying cans of things whose contents are a mystery... If I'm craving for something, I'll need to tikam (for a long time if I'm unlucky) before I can get the drink I want. Somewhat of a torture if you just want a familiar favourite drink eh.

Flower jargon

Someone from the WWW just came to my website and identified two of my 'flower' pics! That was pretty cool :P To be informed of the scientific names of my plant subjects. Was also told by this Mr/Miss Botanist that the 'orchid-like' flower I snapped in HCM City is actually not an orchid, but a Trumpet Vine. Upon looking at my own flower pic again, I realized the difference. When on my National Orchid Garden tour, our guide told us a simple (and usually accurate) way of identifying an orchid. He said something like orchids usually have this lower 'lip' petal that looks diff from the rest of the petals. Which is true-- my flower pic didn't have that extraordinary 'lip-like' petal. :P

To the Botanist who left those comments on my blog... Thanks for those educational titbits. Haha though I wonder if you were so mortified to see the flowers either unidentified or incorrectly named that you thought you should educate this ignorant girl a bit.. :P Do you work at the Botanical Gardens?

Confessions of a mini shopaholic

The Great Singapore Sale has started! And I've bought 6 things in the past 2 days. Oh dear. Sale will be on for almost 2 months...! i will need to avoid the shops from next week onwards... else will really go broke. Sales are evil cos they cheat ppl into thinking that the merchandise is worth buying when in the absence of one, you might not have bought the item(s). I really tried to be more discerning when shopping and conscientiously considered the above when making all my purchases. Sadly that still didn't eliminate that many candidates from my list haha. To absolve myself from the sin of extravagance, I consoled myself that these were all pretty value-for-money purchases, and that I'm just buying everything at one go now... and that if i didn't buy these things at the START of the sale, they would all be gone (or i'll be left with display pieces) if somewhere later this or next month I decide that I do want to get them... :P Aiyah, in any case, my life is so unhappening... need to pamper myself from time to time.....

For your frivolous info, here is an incomplete and biased list of ongoing sales I can recall off the top of my head (as at now and might not be 100% accurate :P) ...

1) m)phosis: 50-70% sale.
2) ZARA: No sale. Boo.
3) Mango: 10% off
4) BHG (formally SEIYU, goodness knows why they changed to such an awful name): think 20% off, but >20% on selected items
5) Esprit: 10% off only if you have Citibank Credit Card
6) G2000: Up to 50% Sale. Think additional 20% off if you have DBS credit card
7) Little Match Girl: 20% sale storewide
8) Pazzion: 30-50% off older collection
9) URS: 10% off (+10% if you have UOB Card)

Hehe, shall look out again when I go walk walk in Orchard after Japanese class :)

Heavenly chocolate fondue

went with colleague to a HDB-organized food event at Swiss Culture Restaurant earlier this evening. It was a pretty good bargain cos for $20, we got a soft drink, creamy pumpkin soup, cheese fondue for appetizer, black pepper steak for main course, chocolate fondue for dessert and a tiny glass of tiramisu for dessert-after-dessert. Cheese fondue was yummy, but the chocolate fondue really won me over. The chocolate was just so good that I couldn't resist drinking spoonfuls of it.... a fellow diner at my table followed suit :P Ah... so sinful. To be fair, I haven't really had choc fondue anywhere in Singapore before, so there might be better places that I'm unaware of... but if I were to choose one thing to have here, I'll definitely vote for the chocolate fondue :)

Two good movies

Priceless (Hors de Prix)
Caught a light-hearted "romantic comedy" starring Audrey Tautou (who acted in Amelie) this evening. I think she holds an uncanny resemblance to Kirsten Dunst, but maybe like a dark-haired version. You can watch the trailer at the above website, though if you're French-illiterate (like me) you prob wun really be able to navigate much there... Anyway, thought the show was quite entertaining... and you get to see all these expensive items that the super rich can afford.... so it was kinda eye candy too :) Makes you wonder how many ppl really get married/ attached for love?

The Painted Veil
This i watched some time ago in two parts on my flight to HCM City- half on the way there and half on the way back. That I liked it so much despite having my movie "cut" into two says something doesn't it? Excellent dialogue and acting... (I loved this bit whereby Naomi Watts character tells her mother, "The idea that any woman should marry any Tom, Dick or Harry regardless of her own feelings is simply prehistoric"). Feel that the characters in the movie really develop and grow on you... Even the disgust I felt for Edward Norton's character turned into some kind of affection towards the end.... haha. I shall get the VCD when it's available; it was on screens some time back in Jan :)

Was in a rather foul mood this morning, due to various little things that have been bothering me. And then was late for my morning aerobics class thus decided to take taxi to Simei... which led to Dad commenting that I had poor time management blah blah. Then coupled with his 'There are huge waves and it's tsunami season at Thailand- you should not be going there' last night, I somehow lost it and said something hurtful like why do you have to interfere with everything i do... then hurriedly left house. If there's one thing I did right after coming back to Singapore, it's probably signing up for an aerobics/gym membership. Find that exercise purges like bad thoughts and destresses and felt quite a bit better after the hour-long workout. Then regretted losing temper in morning, cos after all parents are just concerned. Sigh, but am feeling too proud to apologize. Sometimes we keep hurting ppl who matter a whole lot to us, but yet we can't bring ourselves to say sorry. Then you secretly hope that they are aware that they are actually very impt to you...

NParks tour

Day 2 of MND Induction programme and was brought round Botanical Gardens in work clothes and heels (ouch) by NParks representative. Was pretty educational and even got to tour their herbarium... preparing plant specimens is no simple business! And, did you know that our $5 note features an ancient Tembusu tree that can be found in the Botanical Gardens?? haha. maybe you already know that and I'm just ignorant. :P Saw this tiny leaf near their 'cool house' in the National Orchid Garden. It's so cute. Love the curls and the pretty veins on the furry leaf itself. Then while in the cool house I saw some tourists and decided to be friendly. So I asked where they were from. Was pretty surprised to hear 'Iran', cos I didn't have the impression that we get many tourists from there. So I tried to strike up a conversation and told them that Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize Winner) came to my uni to give a talk before. But somehow they couldn't get my English so didn't really manage to carry on with conversation.... Nonetheless, I mo ming qi miaoed got grabbed to be placed btwn two big-sized ladies in their picture. Felt like a zoo exhibit for a minute, but whatever lah :) then disappeared to rejoin my own group after picture. I don't usually get the luxury of having such random lil experiences on a proper work day :P

I'm participating in this MND Induction Course today and tmr; and will get to visit the National Orchid Garden tmr with like 30 other relatively new recruits from other stat boards under MND... today was fairly unexciting but hope tmr will be better. And it had better not rain again! Weather's been really weird- when it's not scorching hot it pours...
***
Finally visited a non-chain Japanese restaurant (2nd one after my resolution earlier this year to sample 'independent' Japanese restaurants) at Cuppage Plaza just now. Food was decent but sadly I still can't decipher many things on the menu. Shall return next time to sample other items. Also had sake ochazuke but strangely all the chazuke I've tried in Singapore can't seem to measure up my first (Teaism) ochazuke back in Washington D.C..... but the funny thing is, I believe the Teaism branch (aside from using fresh salmon) actually uses an instant mix for its ochazuke! But i think cos it's like very salty and flavorful I love it :) Perhaps the real thing's not really supposed to be like that... Later adjourned to Cathay Ben and Jerry's for my all-time favorite Dublin Mudslide. I actually try not to eat Ben and Jerry's in Singapore cos it's exorbitantly expensive. $4.50 for one tiny scoop when back in Berkeley I can get a whole tub (and eat it anytime I want) for the same price! hmph :( very bu gan yuan.

good thing that this past week has been relatively less busy for me and I was able to gradually recover despite the blasting aircon at work. So i went from croaky coughs and blocked nose on Tues to almost full-recovery on Friday! i feel so happy to be healthy again. Also spent the first half hour of Fri filling my workstation wall (I sit at the corner) with more pictures, and when I gave one colleague another sunflower pic, she reciprocated with a tiny sunflower bouquet later in the afternoon! totally made my day. somehow felt like i ought to treat myself post-recovery and after working relatively hard for things i don't feel much for.... so splurged on hair yesterday evening and went shopping all afternoon today. hehe. Great Singapore Sale why aren't you here yet. hai. Time to 'buck up' a bit next week... cos have done nothing much at all this week at home; skipped Japanese last Sun and neglected study since my mock test before leaving for Vietnam; and have been sleeping as much as I can... though it feels GOOD to be lazy once in a while, must exercise both mind and body again soon!

Suddenly fell quite sick over the weekend, what with a bad cough and persistent fever. Not sure what caused it, but glad that i'm much better today. This episode also made me realize that falling sick is never a 'personal affair', esp not for me in Singapore... even when you try to hide your illness by secretly taking pills from past consultations, it's easy to get found out by parents... and i guess i was suddenly sick enough for them to be sufficiently worried! Work also gets affected when you go MIA. Had better take better care of my health from now on!

Flowers!

I somehow manage to take pics of flowers on every trip; and this trip is no exception :)

Cheery sunflowers in bloom... You prob wun be able to guess where I took this pic -- Changi Airport Terminal 2! I didnt know they had a neat sunflower garden tucked away in one corner...

This picture's a little blur -- but I think you can still see the animal. Well, we were on our way to Ben Tre Province to take our boat ride and stopped on the way for a toilet break. This toilet strangely had many pretty orchid-like flowers outside... While we were happily snapping away, my tour guide plucked one flower and started, to my horror, peeling away the petals and stigma... But before I knew it, he had transformed the flower (shown below) into a cute white rabbit! I instantly fell in love with this flower-rabbit... hai. if someone made it just for me I'll be happy for a few hours... :P

The original flower. Dunno what kinda flower this is, but it's probably an orchid? So pretty... :)