Siem Reap (1) - Borei Angkor

I liked Siem Reap very much... The homely (but tastefully decorated) hotel I stayed in certainly contributed quite a bit. It was also the off-peak season (plus the most basic rooms were undergoing upgrading) so we got a free upgrade to their 'landmark' room, which was lovely and comfortable. Interestingly, there was always this light whiff of lemon scent in the lobby...

The lovely lovely outdoor dining area. I suddenly realised how beautiful dark wooden chairs with white cushions look. I think the lush greenery also contributed to the nice atmosphere. If i ever own a house with a nice big balcony/backyard of sorts, I'm so going to do something like that :P Perfect for reading/taking a leisurely breakfast...

After breakfast the first morning, I hung around the pool and discovered some fallen frangipani flowers on the ground (there was a frangipani tree by the pool) ... Don't they make such good props?

Another frangipani flower I picked up... It was great that the hotel was like so under-occupied, so it did feel like the whole place was mine to roam around... Such a refreshing change from the overcrowded sg hehe.

A swing by the pool! Isn't the structure cute? :)

Floating lotus flowers in main lobby, with petals all nicely folded...

The door linking outdoor dining areas to the hotel restaurant...

Another dining porch of sorts...

More lotus flowers! The whole place just felt so peaceful and nice... I'm already missing it despite having stayed there for merely two nights :P

Beautiful Angkor Wat

ps: pls pretend you didn't see the scaffolding... :P

It's finally Wed!

By lunchtime this afternoon, my mood was already much much better... and couldn't help beaming deep inside... Haven't felt so happy (technically over nothing, except fact that I was going on leave and returning to office only next Mon) in a while... Sigh, so deprived right. But it's really the first time I'm taking leave in what, nearly 4 months?? :( Life has been hard (ok lah, everything is relative) and I think I deserve a good break! :)

Now now... how should I nuah3 tomorrow.... :P

I seriously think that I'm like quietly and invisibly temperamental and 'turbulent' :P Not temperamental in the easily irritable sort of way, but more in a potentially change mood v quickly type of way. Was reflecting on state of blue-ness yesterday and wondering why there was a need to be so blue... So today despite having to work most of day tried to keep spirits high by just focusing on doing site duty well... and somehow day went by pretty quickly and peacefully. Hope tmr will be just like that and then I only need to clear the Mon/Tues hurdles. Somehow occasionally watching Olympic athletes fighting it out on TV also reminds me of own weak-willedness... Need to be stronger and not so easily set back by little obstacles. And in boss's terminology, only by not taking 'path of least resistance' and roughing it out thru hard times would I become more "polished", just like how a 'diamond' is formed.... Bit cheesy but it does get the point across lah. :P

Though the day started off pretty well with the few of us in office previewing exhibition launch pics of my shuai4 Adviser, it ended terribly. But on hindsight, also dunno why I got so stressed when I received the 5.40pm or so IMMEDIATE email. Ended up burning another night unproductively in office. Weekend sucks cos it will be work work and work. Mon will be eeky too. Tues will prob be spent clearing stuff before i can finally get to go on leave. Hope I have enough 'steam' to last till Wed.... :(

Am relieved half of crazy week is over... It's super not fun to be notified the very same morning to join "support delegation" for Adviser's house visit after work!! I guess it was a mini eye-opener though... only that my 30-something Adviser had loads of energy, walked the whole block and practically visited every household that was at home... So by the time we reached the 2nd (last) floor at 9.45pm, the woke-up-at-6.30am-on-tues-morning me was already finding it difficult to keep eyes open, lest help to answer SERS questions. Good thing had very able colleague around who diligently answered questions for a very passive and super tired me :P I also got my answer to a seemingly baffling phenomenon of super-long queues at Meet-the-People sessions. Cos I witnessed Adviser telling every household to go look for him if they had problems (and am presuming it's typically the case for most MPs)... Political vote-gathering aside, personally feel like it's rather warped, 'cos providing such assurance to residents implicitly encourages over-reliance on external parties for personal problems? And knowing that you can easily complain and ask MP for help, not much incentive nor motivation to take responsibility to solve own problems...? AND this is probably why HDB staff suffer and get flooded with tonnes of appeal letters.

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I find it very amusing how guys frequently try to hide their 'softer side'... perhaps it's just not very manly (esp to fellow guys) to appear too emotional/ to have soft spot for certain things? But it's perfectly human and alright to have weak spot for things/animals/people what, why must intentionally try not to show. Then upset/sad also have to try very hard not to cry.... like so difficult life like that.

Thanks to J, I have one Ponyo hanky and one hedgehog towel, all the way from Japan! And a cute, in-fashion flowery chiffon dress (which erm, I have to figure out how to carry off nicely ha) Apparently Ponyo on the Cliff is already showing there, together with movie-related merchandise.... When would it start showing here...? Though by virtue of being in ERU I am destined to be a tree in my next life (insider joke), perhaps it's time I started playing a greater part in saving trees by using hankies more often... It would be a great idea if I weren't such an absent-minded person who has tendency to leave behind personal belongings everywhere... :(

Aside from stuffing ourselves full with (yummy) desserts twice in one afternoon, we also caught a very entertaining local documentary -- Mad about English, basically about the English-learning 'craze' in China, focusing on Beijing residents picking up/brushing up their English for the Olympic Games... Not to be mean to the many earnest English learners featured, but the movie was really quite hilarious. My favorite character was 74-yr-old Jason, 'cos of his dedication to mastering the language despite his age... Chinese physician Mary comes in close second, just cos her way of pronunciation really tickles me :P Here's the trailer:

The 1000th entry

According to Blogger's records, I've written 999 entries since I started this blog in 2003... which makes this my 1000th post. Seems like I've really written an awful lot the past 5 years; and I feel like I ought express some form of thank-you to those who have been reading this little whimsical blog of mine all this while :)

So to my handful of imaginary assumed audience + i-know-who-you-are audience out there, thanks for keeping tabs on my life; for making the frequently keep-everything-to-herself Shi Min feel like even if there's no one/ nowhere I can really vent my daily frustrations/ share my random musings with, I have the comforts of telling it to the bunch of friends who from time-to-time don't mind snippets from my unhappening life :P

Upset.

This afternoon I had a most unexpected break down at work, in the middle of narrating what pissed me off so much. I wasn't ANGRY ANGRY, but maybe madder than I realised. And so overwhelmed and 激动 that I had to just let it all out. Surprisingly for once, I felt really strongly abt something :P Though I couldn't do anything for half an hour or so after that, I supposed it purged some of my negativity and frustration.

Life is SAD for now :( But i suppose it should get better. Though not much in the near future...

And oh yeah, I hate ppl who tell you "We're in this tog" when it's just hypocritical lip service. Why utter such sugary things when you dun even mean it.

I've never felt so short-fused and frustrated in a very long time, but some silly things just make you want to pull hair and give up. And dun understand why ratio of grassroots attendees VS HDB attendees at a meeting matters so much. If ppl cannot make it so be it, why need to try so hard to match numbers, restrict ppl going just so that other ppl are not 'outnumbered'?! Dun see how number of attendees is that critical/gg to affect whether our msg gets thru or not such that we must waste time scrambling to reduce ppl from internal depts... I suppose when you're in foul mood, even tiniest of things can ignite huge fires :P I also hate ppl who make me do extra work in collation by not giving me inputs in requested format. HMPH!

That said, I suppose I still need to count my blessings. That always come in the form of comforting support in a few esp fabulous colleagues, frequently willing to go all out to help me. Esp for menial things I dun like to do and am very bad at doing.

I have two crazy weeks ahead and the little evil signs of stress/ long working hours have very unfortunately started manifesting themselves on my poor face... If I emerge un-disfigured, un-sick and mentally sound near end of month I shall be one happy creature. I shall console myself with the fact that most things, be they good or bad, will eventually pass. (Of course, when good things do happen, I will pretend not to remember what I just said :P)

Holiday Holiday!

So far I've surprised even myself with my last min impromptu holidays... :) And so in "just-do-it" fashion, I just booked a super short getaway to Siem Reap, Cambodia for later this month... Discovery of unexpected window of opportunity came on Monday (upon finding out that some official thing I was supposed to staff that week had been cancelled) and it immediately got me itching for another holiday hehe. Though mum had kindly agreed to be my travel companion this time round, always feel like I end up imposing on her when potential travel buddies can't accompany me... Hmm i suppose it's also cos I popped question to ppl out of the blue ha. In spite of my distaste for huge crowds, still decided to go to NATAS fair this morning to hunt down good travel deals in kiasu Singaporean fashion... :P Though had to pay admission fee of $3, I actually left exhibition with net gain of $4.5 'cos I koped a copy of the latest edition of Asian Geographic on India (Not that I am usually so cheapo, but I was pleased 'cos on way to EXPO I had originally intended to buy the mag for own reading pleasure) Didn't end up booking anything there, but the Incredible India! and Yokoso! Japan booths made me very tempted to squeeze in smthg else late this year... I suppose I'll see how it goes :)

Need to adopt "just-do-it" mentality more to other aspects of life.. :(

That our work/social environment influences how we think and act is something that ppl might not be actively aware of... Feel like only when something un-routine happens, then I realise, hey whatever my passive brain believes is the norm might really be the exception... But cos you face the exception on a daily basis, your mind sometimes fools you into thinking that it's the norm... I say this because after a Berkeley gathering last night and after attending some scenario-planning exercise at MND this morning, I suddenly realised that the average working crowd might not be that 'aged' after all :P (What a duh! "discovery" eh) Not that my colleagues are old, but I guess I cannot deny that they have by and large arrived at the setting-up-a-family stage of life. Furthermore, I really seldom experience say, going up to my workstation in a lift full of people about my age! My fellow lift passgengers are on average abt say, 35-40 yrs old.... (Qualifier: Not that similar age = can click, but I'm using age as a kind of proxy for gauging issues/things that matter most to ppl) And brainstorming/interacting with abt-same-age peers this morning also made me somewhat miss hanging out with ppl my age, whose conversation topics are at least of more immediate interest to me. Not that anecdotes from kid-loving colleagues are boring; but you know, I hardly ever meet ppl in HDB who would be passionate abt the same things as me. Which, come to think of it, can be somewhat disappointing, though I've never really felt that way. And it made me understand why in a college town one can feel much more inspired abt life, abt wanting to change the world VS a workplace where the majority's priority is to remain status quo as long as they get to earn their keep and get by pretty comfortably.

Casualpoet

This is a pictureful post of a tiny place.

Casualpoet was definitely more obscurely located than I had imagined... If I hadn't looked up its address beforehand, I would NEVER have noticed it. Because it's tucked away on the 3rd floor of a shophouse in Chinatown. Who would believe the existence of such a cute peaceful little haven above a row of noisy eateries :P So I skeptically scaled the flight of concrete steps... 2nd floor was some dubious massage place i think... kept going... till the above greeted me. The US customs declaration form stuck beside the door felt esp nostalgic. The contents read 'Art Prints', with a little welcome msg beneath it.


After browsing through their quirky but overpriced collection of mags/journals/books, I settled down at a seat by a window for a late lunch. Alas, still not too good at getting my lens to focus on the spot I really want; and only captured clearly the chicken skin of my chicken chop :P It was average-tasting, and somewhat overpriced. But ok lah, tog with the food, I bought myself a nice peaceful spot for an hour or so.

The table tag reads "free wifi for friends with laptops". Seriously, this feels so much like a place I would hang out at in Berkeley.... to just study/chill.

A nice little pin by the window.

The window I sat beside, with lil pots of plants and The Portable Jack Kerouac for browsing.

Postcard packs were also on sale... Ah, the Eiffel tower never fails to mesmerize ;)

Contents of a postcard pack neatly arranged on a wooden ledge.

Seriously, this place felt like someone living out his/her dream/fantasy... rather than a store that would be commercially viable/financialy sustainable... They have really interesting and pretty tasteful items on sale, but I wonder if anyone really buys them... There were also quite a few good 2nd hand titles on sale, and customers were encouraged to give these 'pre-loved books' (their way of describing 2nd hand books) a home. Food was so-so, with a limited selection of breakfasty items, but i mean, it's just such a nice quiet place to chill... To catch up with a friend and relax... The staff were also nice and were quite ok with my snapping away... Though one fellow customer was somewhat curious when I seemed more interested in taking pics of my food than eating it and asked if I were a food critic haha. Another great thing abt this place is that it's so uncrowded (apparently it's still quite new and I guess still unheard of). Oh well, least I hope it will remain this way till the next time I visit.
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Hehe, the pic below is of my shopping find of the day. A retro-ish hairband from Miss Selfridge that was on sale! Though I doubt I'd have any occasion to wear such a crazy thing to work, I just couldn't resist buying it...

New bedsheets for me!

My weekend has been pleasantly idle so far, aside from the much needed workout in the morning :) It's such a luxury to be able to do absolutely nothing, once in a while. However, decided to go check out the IKEA sale with mum in late afternoon; and came home a happy girl with two new sets of bedsheets! (Ok lah, actually more like quilt covers cum pillowcases, cos their bedsheets technically dun have design one) I also wanted to buy some cute bowls and stuff, but had to give up idea 'cos we really dun need more kitchen barang barang :( Have been wanting to check out their bedsheets (I already have two nice ones from there, but still wanted some more hehe... :P) The light blue cum white one is one design (one side blue, the other side white) while the green pacman-ish design one is just a plain print throughout. Yeah, even sleeping on pretty things makes me happy haha.

Tmr after jap class, I shall hunt down a cool art/book/design store casualpoet somewhere near Chinatown :)

The "pjt" I am working on has led me to work closely with one or two colleagues i haven't had that much contact with previously... and it has allowed the usually passive me to somewhat 'hit it off' with one colleague :) Like when talking abt work she would also share awww anecdotes abt her son with me; indeed my motherful unit has given me an advance peek into what mums think/feel/gush about. And funny as it might sound, it appears to me that for many, being a parent in turn brings out the 'child' in otherwise serious and cynical-ish adults :P

This morning tph and I also concluded that under this boss, we are always 'guilty until proven innocent'... I have finally deciphered why it's so stressful to work under him sometimes... it's because the default (when doubts arise) is always that we are in the wrong, unless we prove him otherwise. So even if you think you did everything nice nice already, the way certain clarifications are put forth makes the 'accused' extremely uncomfortable or feel bad about herself.

Today I also scored two black marks with boss... The first one: When questioned why I never included a certain enquiry number in my draft, I bluntly answered, erm... cos it never crossed my mind that I needed to put it in?? It's not like I was careless and left it out... it just didn't occur to me to include it :P (Afterthought: Though my answer prob didn't reflect too well on myself, it was really the truth mah and I suppose I didn't see the need to make up an excuse. Later on when I reflected, I also realised that my mind was stuck in writer-mode and not really reader/enquirer/information seeker-mode) Second work crime of the day was committed when during a site visit, I failed as a site OIC to enlighten boss on which block number was what on the site plan (block numbers were obscured by my coloring)... At that moment, I could sense that he was ready to pull my ear, just that he had excellent self-restraint and let me off.... :P Though I felt a little bad, deep down I was actually not that guilty, cos it's like who in the right mind would memorise position and number of the blocks on the site plan??

Die, who would guess that the guai1-looking me is becoming such a rebel at heart :P

Today I this blur OIC was chased left, right and centre from various ppl but surprisingly it made me more amused rather than annoyed or really stressed. Amused because I am really not a good follower worker bee who religiously finds out and ensures that I've done everything I need to do in the SOP. And only when ppl chase me to do this/that then I panic (not for everything though, things i like i do first :P...); deep down I know that my ensure-everything-goes-well boss disapproves of such short-sightedness. Hmm perhaps every good boss will lah. And if I were in the "old era" I would have gotten many harsh lectures on such tardiness... so lucky that the new era style of mgmt is like cool and calm style... However these past few days I'm finding that the bulk of my time at work is really spent on multi-tasking/coordinating inputs/stringing bits and pieces of info tog rather than really racking brains. While busyness has generally improved my productivity level, mind doesn't seem to be getting much exercise. Which is not so good....

Japanese class, Ocha Cream and John Stuart Mill

This is a random post on things that made me happy over the weekend.

Today's the beginning of another new 6-wk term and though I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed at 8 something in morning, wondering why I constantly deprive myself of more beauty sleep every Sun, I was reminded why as soon as class began. Though a fellow classmate and I both agreed that we dun really have much time to study before class (actually the truth is probably not disciplined enough :P), classtime itself is just so enjoyable and fun. I suppose that's what keeps me going. And our new topic for the term is 健康ブームの光と影 (which can be roughly translated into the pros and cons of the health boom). So our sensei explained the imagery associated with 光 and 影 and their respective association with good and bad things... Not that the association of light with good and dark with bad is anything new, but I thought it was very interesting how the Japanese frequently formalise words that conjure up certain images or sounds into actual usable terms for their own language. But it's fun, cos it's easy to imagine when your language has descriptive terms that try to paint reality :P The trouble is that only the Japanese really understand what their thousand and one onomatopoeic words mean...

Ocha Cream is a talented local jewellery designer, and her necklaces/earrings are all so quirky and cute. Imagine wearing a necklace with a Tiger Brand label on it...! Well, though not all of them are nice and that wearable, there are quite a few really nice ones... And I would say all of them are so creative, with so many neat little details. She makes me so want to set up shop and make all these jewellery on my own... (ok lah, say only) Unfortunately, her merchandise is so overpriced... :(

Someone reminded me of my PEIS 100 class in an email and I nostalgically dug up my class notes and rediscovered my favorite John Stuart Mill... Hai, looking back at all the assignments I did that summer, feel like my brain has indeed deteriorated. Anyway, here's to share a cool excerpt from Mill's 'On Liberty' that I will try to always bear in mind:

He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation. He who chooses his plan for himself, employs all his faculties. He must use observation to see, reasoning and judgment to foresee, activity to gather materials for decision, discrimination to decide, and when he has decided, firmness and self-control to hold to his deliberate decision. And these qualities he requires and exercises exactly in proportion as the part of his conduct which he determines according to his own judgment and feelings is a large one. It is possible that he might be guided in some good path, and kept out of harm's way, without any of these things. But what will be his comparative worth as a human being?

Ah, 2 hrs to the end of my lovely weekend and start of another tiring work week... I need to read The 4-hour Workweek some day.

Today was stressfully draining though it started off and ended well. My heart melted a bit on the way to work upon discovering that the hole in my skirt pocket had been magically mended by 小叮当mum... even without me having fedback on the almost invisible hole! Clothes would be all crumply and holey (haha ok lah i not rough) if not for mum's tender loving care :) Unfortunately, these days my mornings aren't as carefree as before and while searching for some answers for a stress-inducing boss this morning, tph remarked that it was the first time she witnessed me lose my temper. Her conclusion was that I must have felt really pek chek :P I suppose I was! By 6.30pm I had entirely given up on trying to be productive and went for dinner breather with fly... And successfully tempted the usually ultra-healthy lady to snack on 60cents vanilla cone with me after dinner... So rarely do we sit around leisurely ard Toa Payoh that we found sitting and chatting at the breezy area outside Macs pretty relaxing... Finally at 7.45pm we trudged back to office, before I packed up at 8pm... :)

**TGIF tmr! **

Yesterday I found out that I had been confirmed as one of the interviewees to be "grilled" by assessors assessing my organisation for a certain business excellence award. Hai, 不见得 I so "lucky" in other aspects of my life :P Hmph. After the briefing last week, felt rather amused by how staged things could be... I mean, passion has to come from the heart and not from some external party egging you on to be passionate... But I suppose I'll do my part in my own way :)

I found a nice French song from Un Homme Et Une Femme (A Man and A Woman)! And apparently this famous french movie won the Oscars in 1966..... :)

I had a productive Saturday... On Sat morning I decided to act on a whim and taxied to ComfortDelGro Driving Centre to enrol for the refresher driving course, after finding out via the phone that practical lessons were fully booked till late Aug! But very unfortunately I made a wasted trip 'cos by the time someone attended to me at the counter, only two peak-hr slots were available for rest of July and Aug. So mafan, they should allow ppl to enrol and book classes online. Oh well, so i suppose the earliest I'll be hitting the roads would be in Sept... Come to think of it, it wouldn't be of much use learning how to drive and not knowing my way around in sg AT ALL. Will only know how to drive to like MRT station; or maybe Pasir Ris to HDB Hub... haha. Need to stop being a passive passenger. And will KIV someone's idea to rent car to drive around at night when there's no one..... :P

I also did some unintended hiking on a scorching Sat afternoon and arrived at my destination in pretty dismal flustered state. Was supposed to meet someone at 2902 Gallery at Mount Sophia and stupid me didn't internalise directions properly before setting off... thinking that I wouldn't get lost... Well I didn't get lost, but walked a lot of 冤枉路 circling past Paradiz/Peace Centre and following windy road quite a bit up the mountain (instead of taking flight of stairs that led directly to destination) before finally chancing upon Old School at Mount Sophia. Had no idea that it was like a new creative hub until I googled it after my mini outing... And the compound is supposedly a refurbished MGS... The location was pretty cool, peacefully tucked away up on tiny hill yet overlooking city. Now I know the shortcut up there, can get ppl to go watch movies with me at Sinema one day ;)

I like mature trees!

Initially I hated them for delaying my announcement again and again. But recently I've developed some kind of weak spot for them. I suppose when they are but green circles on your map you can easily dismiss them as annoying 'redevelopment obstacles'.... but after I went on site some weeks ago, the original resolve to just cut them down somewhat evaporated into thin air... cos they felt like they've been around forever and full of life... And today during a site visit I couldn't help noticing a lovely huge rain tree. It felt like an old wise tree kindly extending its beautiful crown to shade passers-by... And on my ride home today I couldn't but help thinking and realising, wah, Singapore really has many many trees... But though they have been around me all along, I have been pretty oblivious to them... [J, I was also reminded of your Singapore Standard Time :P]

Two weeks ago there was also a pretty nice tree by the 'holy matrimony' site at Rasa Sentosa...

Tmr's my 2-yr "anniversary" at work... And it really doesn't feel like I've been working for that long. But hey, why should I be complaining? Yay for me that it's 2 down, 4 to go :) Recently I've noticed myself becoming less complainy about work too, through no conscious effort of my own. I think that on some days I'm simply too busy to 胡思乱想, and it's kinda a blessing in disguise 吧。Me is gradually becoming more rational and less emotional too and it certainly feels like a change for the better. I suppose it helps that I have cool 偶像-potential friends like Miss W, who inspires me with her "why should you be worried if you're not doing anything wrong" attitude... :D And so I am trying to personalise such an do-what-you-think-is-right-in-smart-way attitude for myself at work... I suppose my only gripe at the moment is just having too little personal time to myself for the 101 things my ever-wandering mind dreams of doing :(

After a 2-year hiatus from the roads, I am finally seriously considering taking up refresher course so that I can drive again... Though I've always thought it rather stressful to drive in sg (with so many cars and narrow roads) a trigger event has reminded me that driving can be a very useful skill when you need to take care of aging parents... and in preparation for potential rainy days. So, yeah, I think it's about time I resume responsibility as an adult/good daughter :P Though I have a converted (but essentially 骗来的) local driving licence, have not risked my life (nor anyone else's) by attempting to drive. Certainly not when I absolutely do not know how to operate a manual car nor have any experience in driving on the other side of the road :( The dilemma now though is whether to do an auto car refresher (and pressure dad to switch to auto car) or bite the bullet and go learn manual (sian....) so that I wun impose externalities on nice, accommodating dad. Thinking abt driving again is making me miss my nice Honda... :P

Such a sweet dialogue

Have been reading (on and off) Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by British writer Susanna Clarke for more than a month now, but am still only halfway through the 1000 pages or so. In any case, I'm not really in a hurry to finish it, cos it's just fun to pick it up now and then to enjoy the most bizarre but highly original and entertaining contents of this ingeniously written historical + fantasy novel. That the English is (intentionally) Jane Austenish also adds to its charm... :)

Anyway, I came across a really sweet bit during my commute this morning -- a conversation btwn Jonathan Strange (one of the main characters in the book, who's a magician) and his wife after he returns from a war. This story is set in the early 1800s...

The next morning they still had not said a hundredth part of all they had to tell each other.

"Sit there," said Strange to Arabella.

"In this chair?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"So that I may look at you. I have not looked at you for three years and I have long felt the lack of it. I must supply the deficiency."

She sat down, but after a moment or two she began to smile. "Jonathan, I cannot keep my countenance if you stare at me like that. At this rate, you will have supplied the deficiency in half an hour. I am sorry to disappoint you, but you never did look at me so very often. You always had your nose in some dusty old book."

"Untrue. I had entirely forgotten how quarrelsome you are. Hand me that piece of paper. I shall make a note of it."

"I shall do no such thing," said Arabella, laughing.

Perhaps I am mad, but I thought the sentence in bold was terribly cute. :P

This is another one of my random TV posts... And this time round, I'm recommending the 聊斋奇女子 that has been showing on weekend evenings on Channel 8... I watch it on and off, cos not always home to catch it on TV... but yeah when I manage to watch it, usually get quite glued. I like it not only cos it has good plots (Fann Wong starred in the first story, but she was bleah...); also 'cos it has such tasteful period costumes! It's just eye candy for a very visuals person like me... Last of all, it has such beautiful Chinese dialogue... this I only realised last night, when watching the 辛十四娘 story... The characters speak so poetically and beautifully it made me fondly remember my love affair with Chinese in sec sch... now all 荒废了。And that's also how I got my latest quote hehe. Anyway, just to share the 成语故事 behind it, I'm pasting an explanation from some googled website:

成语“精诚所至，金石为开”，意思是说，如果做事肯花心血，就连像金属、石头那样坚硬的东西都能被打动、被敲开。形容只要有恒心、有毅力，没有什么事是做不到的。这个成语来自“飞将军”的故事。

西 汉时期，有一个著名将领叫李广，他精于骑马射箭，作战非常勇敢，被称为“飞将军”。有一次，他去冥山南麓打猎，忽然发现草丛中蹲伏着一只猛虎。李广急忙 弯弓搭箭，全神贯注，用尽气力，向老虎射了一箭。李广以为老虎一定中箭身亡了，走近前去，仔细一看，没想到被射中的竟是一块形状很像老虎的大石头。不仅箭 头深深射入石头当中，而且箭尾也几乎全部射入石头中去了。学者扬雄知道了这件事，评论说：“如果诚心实意，即使像金石那样坚硬的东西也会被感动的。”“精 诚所至，金石为开”这一成语也便由此流传下来。

这个成语现在常用来鼓励人们，为了理想和目标努力奋斗，不怕遭受挫折。如：“这次失败没有什么大不了，‘精诚所至，金石为开’，你继续努力，就一定会成功 的！”这个成语的使用范围非常广，工作、生活、学习，甚至追求爱情，都可以用到。

Actually this story is a bit *scratch-head*, cos what has mistakenly planting arrow into stone got to do with skill/perseverance?! But I suppose the idea behind this 成语 is still pretty inspiring lah :P

Late this week I got rather upset over someone whom I felt was/has been a smiling knifer... Perhaps such people are commonly found in the corporate world; and perhaps I have been working with ppl who are real sincere and helpful, the (long suspected) existence of such a person has conjured feelings of disgust and helplessness. Disgust 'cos I just hate ppl who are fake and harbour ill intentions, yet appear to be very nice on surface; helplessness 'cos I am not street smart/experienced enough to know how to deal with such ppl. Then again, I also ask myself whether I have been too sensitive and misinterpreted a series of events that led me to make such a conclusion? Whatever the case, I guess I'll still be civil to suspected knifer and all should be well as long as I wen4 xin1 wu2 kui4... And I have to keep reminding myself, tsm, some ppl are not worth your getting upset over... Though it's one of those easy-to-say-difficult-to-practise kinda things.

Tmr's my emcee-ing day and I'm debating whether I ought return to office for 2 hrs in morning before event, then rush down to MND... On one hand, I want to take a good rest and "appear pretty" (As instructed by organising committee haha) yet on the other hand I feel really guilty with all rather urgent things left undone in office... I suppose I just have to choose something later, before I go to bed. :( And yeah, I this kind really cannot multi-task very well... I need to concentrate on doing each thing well... else throw everything at me then I will get very luan4 and stressed. So far, our emceeing practice has gone fine-- only that according to organising committee me and co-emcee appear unnatural during 'banter' cos we 'do not really look at each other'. HAHA. This kind of things cannot really help right; though we are going to try to practise tmr morning again, dunno how 'natural' we would eventually appear. Oh well. I will still try lah. ;)

Sat's boss's wedding and everyone in office seems to be getting pretty excited, discussing what to wear etc. And alas, I've not been spared an arrow even when attending a wedding, cos Boss wants me and ph2 to usher his VIP guests (aka CEO and DCEO) from carpark to reception area/ ballroom. But ok lah, given that he's been quite nice to me all this while, surely I can do him the tiny favour on the most impt day of his life (I am assuming, but believe that I am not too far off from the truth)...

J.K. Rowling's definition of personal happiness VS mine (for today:P)

Today The Sunday Times published an excerpt of J.K. Rowling's speech at Harvard's commencement on Jun 5th. Though I've never been a die-hard fan of Harry Potter books, I like her inspiring and sincere speech... At one point, she says,

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a checklist of acquisitions or achievements. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

***
On a more frivolous note, my personal happiness for today was derived from greedily buying up two boxes of konnyaku drink from Mos Burger hehe. It's buy one box get one box free for now, and comes in three flavors-- peach, orange and grape. I tried a peach-flavored chilled bottle yesterday evening, and totally fell in love with it! It's such a cheap thrill sticking your straw into the soft konnyaku jelly in the bottle and sucking up the yummy jelly.... Not sure how long my whim would last, hehe, but I think I've enough bottles to satisfy myself for the time being....

12 bottles per box * 2 = 24 bottles. And yeah, I was so bent on having them that I unglamly lugged everything home on my own via MRT/feeder bus... Notice that straws are included? Hehe, i think it's cos they are the key to enjoying the drink... You shouldn't be drinking it from the bottle opening, like you would a normal bottled drink. :P

Hehe, the peach-flavored bottle... According to this website, konnyaku is a marvelous health food too.... :P

My guardian angels

This morning 3 min after I settled down at workstation lhp walked over and said to me in a very serious tone, "I have a piece of news for you..." Though I cannot remember the exact words she used, at that point in time I really thought something really terrible had befallen me and was braced for some really bad news.... And so it was a huge relief (though by right I shouldn't be) that the key consequence of this piece of news was that I would have to work v v hard in the upcoming weeks... :P Felt quite sian, but might as well, since I've morphed into the sort who doesn't budge till i'm abt to be burnt by the fire. And I felt so awwww... that my dear "aunties" had decided not to break the news to me yesterday afternoon, since they knew that I had taken time off for a tiny break... It seems like every week I find something to love my favorite few colleagues for.

Took 2.5 hrs time off this afternoon for a relatively impromptu meeting with Ting, back from Cambridge for very short holiday in sg... feels real nice to meet up with good old frens. And a luxury to be able to go shopping on a relatively crowdless weekday afternoon. AND... I found two lovely bargain buys within 2 hrs! Very proud of my efficiency (if only I can also say this for work...) and luck today. But yeah, have been terribly undisciplined with shopping the past few weeks, splurging on items that I cannot resist but don't actually need. Hai.

***
This is such a weird thing to say, but I feel so happy and fortunate that my good friends are such "good" and cool individuals. :P

Once in a blue moon, I chance upon really great late night weekend movies on Channel 8... And for some weird reason, they are usually Hong Kong shows with obscure titles... (another great but rather obscure Hong Kong movie was this 秋天的童话 starring a very young Chow Yun Fatt...) Anyway, back to my story... so this late night Hong Kong movie is titled 忘不了and starts off looking rather unpromising (when you get Cecilia Cheung and Loius Koo in opening few scenes, I cannot help but suspect that it's those feel-good, cheesy movies with good-looking ppl) But turned out to be a very very decent and touching movie. Surprisingly, Cecilia was really not just a pretty face in movie and acted really well... I've been wondering how/why some movies really 'touch' me? I figured a key reason is cos I can identify with the characters and feel what they are feeling... And when you are able to feel the same emotions, it's like you sort of go through the same emotional journey as the characters... And cos movies are usually highly drama (and unlike my typically unhappening life hehe), you get to experience these very out-of-world things... within a very short span of a few hours... And even when you see ppl screwing up their lives, you can still somewhat identify with them and like superimpose their experiences on your own, or vice versa... I suppose it doesnt work all the time, esp when you're in a cynical mood and say, just dun buy that ppl can fall so deeply in love... But hey, sometimes it feels good to be escapist right. Ok, I have hopelessly digressed from original intent to talk about movie... :P

Last Mon after sitting thru almost an entire day of meetings I told boss, it must be really tough to be a boss/ top management. The sheer effort of having to sit through meetings after meetings and concurrently appearing interested/engaged/intelligent is simply beyond me! I wonder how my bosses do it... (hee, though I have to qualify that some of them are quite human after all; esp those whose business is just to show face... a couple do drift off to dreamland for a while during the meeting :P)

Met up with 'long-lost' Berkeley senior MY yesterday evening... and had a very pleasant catch-up session. Nevermind that we kinda lost touch for 3 years... when you re-meet ppl you can click with, interaction just seems pretty effortless! It was interesting listening to accounts of work experiences in an entirely different field; and updates on various individuals from Berkeley. We were also both utterly disgusted with how crowded dining places were on a Fri night. That it was the sch holiday season definitely made it much worse. After dinner, we adjourned to Esplanade and settled for dessert at the Cookie Museum after watching a free open-air performance. Though I was really drawn by the European/Victorianish decor (and forgot to look at menu prices before getting seats) thought the desserts/teas/cookies were seriously overpriced. And we were rather pissed that it had an inflexible policy that didn't allow us to share a pot of tea (had we shared, we would have had to order 2 pax and nearly twice the price of the original one pax pot!) Nonetheless, we managed to sample some exoticly flavored cookies, such as Nasi Lemak; Laksa-flavored cookies. Surprisingly, I quite liked the laksa-flavored savory cookies... (supposedly limited edition and usually available only during new year season) but at a pricey $35 a tin, it was definitely not worth the money. The 'Mad Rose' flavor was also very nice, albeit tasting a little like powdered bandung, but yeah; wasnt prepared to pay so much for just cookies :P

***
I dun usually fancy watching cooking shows, but I've recently started watching Jamie Oliver's television shows on Discover Travel & Living.... whenever I have the luxury to laze at home on a Sat afternoon. Maybe it's cos of the series I'm watching (in which he does his cooking in a very home-style kinda kitchen, in a casual jacket and jeans) I think he actually doesn't look like a celebrity chef.... Sis says he has a sleepy look. Nonetheless, I think the way he cooks is very 潇洒。。。And his moves are so swift....(like drizzle olive oil also can drizzle so gracefully) and his ingredients always look so fresh and appetizing... Perhaps it's these little things that ppl notice, that contributed to his 'cult status'... :)

Ah, I can finally take a breather! And so this afternoon things slowed down a little and during chit-chat session with colleagues I found out that my DD's kids were called Leon and Noel (reverse of Leon). Quite cool.... if i ever have kids I also want names like that.... :P

Ycc just returned from Tokyo and brought back some anime leaflets for me... hee... and I wanna watch Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea! Opens in Japan July 19 but wonder when it will show here. Coincidentally while surfing on Ponyo-related websites, also found out about a shop in Tokyo (click on 商品について) that makes Totoro-shaped cream puffs. かわいい。。。

Dilemma

Having been in my unit for nearly 2 years, I felt rather ashamed that I've never really thought very seriously about whether SERS was a good thing for the ppl or not. But a voluntary site recce yesterday made me realise that it was a very simple but important question to ask myself, or perhaps any of us doing all the planning... For usual public queries and such, we always quote the standard justifications along the lines of rejuvenation and improved living environment blah blah but feedback from many existing lessees that they were attached to/ preferred their existing residences really came up quite frequently as well. And so yesterday when I was just walking around XXX estate I somehow could really identify with this sentiment. Notwithstanding that I am a young person with an 'old soul' and somewhat fell in love with the idyllic and 80s- atmosphere of the area (complete with those traditional provision shops that still sell diff kinds of biscuits in huge transparent containers with red covers), I really do believe that new is not always better... And looking at the many elderly residents going abt their Sunday morning activities in the area, I really wondered whether they would appreciate a govt who assumes that they will be happier and better off living in a new 30-storey flat unit close by, but ultimately "elsewhere"? And more generally, though S'pore is getting "hipper" these days; I am somewhat nostalgically upset that many places will never be the same as the way you remembered them to be even just 5, 10 years down the road.

have been stricken with a most horrendous cough and runny nose the past few days... and have prob "blown away" half a box worth of tissue in office... i am amazed how my body managed to produce so much eeky substance within such a short period of time. my bad cold came quite suddenly and i figured it was just lack of rest/working long hours that caused it. Dad however theorised that it was cos my bed was placed directly opposite the air-con and long periods of sleeping directly opposite air-con has made my body weak... Sadly he managed to convince mum and now both of them are ganging up to persuade me to shift bed to opposite side of the room... In any case, a miraculous anti-cough drink I decided to try (from Hock Hua Tonic) earlier this afternoon has soothed my irritated throat immensely; nevermind it was funny-tasting... at least i appear to be much better!

perhaps another reason why i am not getting well more quickly is cos of stress from upcoming briefing on monday... And thought of having to brief smthg that I wun have all the answers to is giving me butterflies in stomach. Let's hope that my bosses will save me and I just need to concentrate on delivering my part... *May the pjt-team-briefing-day luck be with me*

This week's 稀游记 featured a S'porean living in Uganda as a beekeeper. And how he evolved from knowing next to nothing about bees into a patient, bee-loving; bee-respecting beekeeper... What originated as an escapist/start-afresh decision from his separation some 10 yrs ago actually allowed him to find a new, fulfilling lifestyle. From his bee-keeping, he also 领悟到 impt lessons about relationships and life. I thought it very interesting how ppl could develop some kind of bond with bees, just like how we build up relationships with people. But though this guy is somewhat an 'expert' now, it didn't come easy and he had apparently been stung many many times before. Once so serious that he was in coma for 1.5 days. This reminded me that most ppl dun achieve success without first being put through some tough trials... Yet I frequently dream of spectacular outcomes without being committed to putting in a commensurate amt of effort to really earn the outcome I want to see... Perhaps I would be a happier person if i would just learn to enjoy the process a little more? :)

The past week at work has been a pretty happening one-- aside from the advancement of secretary role, had also been arrowed to be emcee for some MND Family joint scholarship ceremony in June... (Well, not 'cos I'm especially outstanding or anything; apparently HDB scholars take turns to kenah such things...) If you know me well enough, you'd probably think... har?? I too have mixed feelings towards the nomination, since I am really not the sort capable of holding an audience's attention, esp ON STAGE... but yet on the other hand, I'm also curious to find out whether I can do this... :) A personal challenge. What could be the worst thing that could happen? I suppose my poor audience might have to bear with some dreary reading off of script and scholarship recipients... The draft script from last year given to me seems straightforward enough (except for the "2 - 3 min banter with co-emcee on scholarship experience and current job") Let's hope my co-emcee is nice and innovative and saves the day :P

I've been observing the side effects of working for too long under the same boss. Such that even after the boss is gone her subordinates still quote and live by her "teachings" (since they have been so 'well-trained' to do things the 'right' way). Some unfortunately suffer more serious repercussions and get nightmares. While I feel that the lessons 'preached' makes good sense for the most part and somewhat guides one to become upright public sector officers who produce quality work, the penetrating and seemingly lasting influence on colleagues even on the most trivial of things at times make me pretty disturbed. This morning, I was rather surprised that a colleague's tendency to insert two spaces after a fullstop in her writing was a legacy of ex big boss's preference... And I also found myself increasingly disturbed by a colleague's perseverance in delivering the most well-aligned/font size-perfect/spatially well-distributed briefing slides... (Fyi, these cosmetic adjustments are the most potent time thieves). I mean, I think it's good that we have such high standards for briefing materials, but sometimes it works against us and we focus excessively on these trivial micro things and neglect the bigger picture. Deep down I sometimes feel like I am in a very dangerous place, where frequent expectations of standardisation/protocol-adherence will slowly rob me of all individuality and thinking-for-myself abilities...

Just when I thought I could have some peace of mind preparing for annc, my term as co-secretary for a boardwide meeting had to be advanced some 2 months in advance.... hai. Why did my predecessor have to go on no-pay leave all of sudden... :( Oh well, while I know that I'll be super stressed come June (when the under-study would commence, together with a thousand and one other things), some part of me also feels somewhat excited that I will finally have a bird's eye view of what goes on in the organisation... :) Something I am rather sore about is that I'd probably need to shelve any plans for a long holiday till next March (as this is a thrice-a-month weekly mtg). I suppose I shall not be prematurely, entirely 死心 over any vacation... and hopefully I can work smthg out to travel late this year!

"You have a supermarket tripod..."

So I was told by a fellow photography enthusiast whom I shall call Mr A. But more on that later :) Had a spontaneous outing with hj at Boat Quay yesterday evening... to catch the 2nd performance of Water Fools on S'pore River (It was the opening performance for the S'pore Arts Festival the night before). Actually I detest crowds but since the performance looked pretty interesting, was FOC and gave me a good opp to figure out my camera, decided to brave the crowds this one time. Having heard "horror stories"on the swarms of ppl yesterday night and being kiasu S'poreans, we thus decided to meet real early to 'chope' seats by the river...

We arrived at the S'pore River at abt 5.45 pm for the 8pm show. By then, the best seats (ie. front row, on the ground with unobstructed view of river) were more or less taken. BUT... there was like one spot beside this man (Mr A) seated on a foldable chair, with his tripod already plonked sui sui in front of him... Not wanting to settle for 2nd row seats, I recced for front row seats at another stretch of the river, but those didnt have as a good a view as this earlier stretch... In the end we decided on the spot beside Mr A, cos we thought follow someone who looks like expert, our location can't go too wrong lah :P

Mr A turned out to be a slightly kaypoh but I guess on the whole quite helpful lah... Since he had nothing to do other than wait for the show to commence (more than 2 hrs away) he took an active interest in my equipment... As I fished out my camera and tripod to "mark my position", whatever he could recognise he managed to call it by its technical term, making me feel secretly intimidated and stressed. When I decided to do some random trial shots aiming at the Asian Civilisations Museum across the river, Mr A advised me to make sure I had enough battery life left, else I would waste my battery unnecessarily... He was probably quite appalled I brought along such a pok tripod for my relatively expensive camera and expounded on the importance of a good tripod. How much did his cost? More than $300... And its legs could extend independently of the others, making it a much more flexible tool... (But seriously, I wouldn't want to fork out $300 for a tripod lah) He observed that mine was really basic and light and concluded that it was a "supermarket tripod"... Was damn amused by him and replied, haha yeah, erm it's free, how to compare?? :P Luckily there was another photography enthusiast to his right and he eventually shifted his attention away from us. But yeah, twice more at night he made two very stress-inducing comments -- "Every photographer needs to bring along a torch" (When it was all dark and I was squinting my eyes at my camera manual to figure out a particular function); and "Only uncles and aunties will use flash when taking river scenes" -- I had no idea why cannot use flash and was contemplating trying it out (anyway i eventually found out that flash photography was not allowed). Ok i guess i shall not bore you with more anecdotes involving Mr A, but yeah, maybe next time I will consider sitting somewhere more secluded and then figure out my camera at my own amateur pace....

Anyway, back to the main story! At about 6 something, there were already some 5 lines of ppl seated by the river... Man in black was trying to get ppl to sit down (so that ppl behind them could see) and pushing back the kiasu ppl (who inched right to the edge of the steps).

Cute twin girls among the crowd, waiting comfortably in their pram for the show to start... Hj and I ended up with sore butts sitting on the ground for some 3 hours...

As we nibbled away (sadly) on our Mcdonalds dinner, the sun began to set...

I imagined it must have been quite nice to watch the sunset at the Clarke Quay area...

On the other side, the sky also began to darken... unveiling a very pretty Fullerton Hotel by night.
Opposite the river, crowds were also beginning to form (hehe, I disregarded Mr A's advice and continued to take my random pictures...)

And finally at 8pm sharp, the floating cars, bed, red lady, cleaner, balloon man etc started to appear one after another...




The red lady and balloon man were two of my favorite performers... However, I seriously doubt that anyone (esp those armed with cameras) really caught the storyline. Mr A, who came down the day before, was trying to explain to his companion on the right that part of it had something to do with the industrial revolution... but his explanation wasn't too coherent :P Needless to say, I didn't catch the storyline either :P Not when I was trying out various combinations of shutter speeds, apertures and ISOs for the most part...

I've never been so close to fireworks for a long long time. So it was really cool to see a bright sparkly sky just above me. This was the only vaguely decent shot I got of the fireworks.

The show ended around 9pm and we saw a funny sight while strolling over to the Esplanade area -- What a place to dump your rubbish. Btw, those bottles are PUB-sponsored NEWater. Well many many ppl got amused by someone's creatively mischievous act and it became a highly popular photo opp.

Have been lucky enough to get off work earlier than 7.30pm the past two days, to enjoy the wonderful world of TV. My new resolution is really to knock off punctually EVERY SINGLE DAY (which by my definition is 7.30 latest lah) but yeah, it's not that easy to keep up. But at least now I really make the effort to leave. Hehe but maybe went a little overboard this morning when I declared to lhp at 9am that I wished to be home... ha. I'm also becoming a fan of Belinda Lee's 稀游记 travel documentary on Channel U, in which she finds S'poreans all over the world pursuing their passions... It is really quite inspiring. Today's episode featured a S'porean who spent some years working as a software engineer in Califiornia, only to realise that he wanted to pursue something more meaningful... With his wife's full support, the couple moved to Geneva, where he worked for Schwab Foundation, an organisation that promotes social entrepreneurship around the world...

On a lighter note, we discovered Boss's wedding website while in office today. Yeah, these days you can do up a wedding website for free and inform all your friends abt every single detail related to the big day; including publicly publishing you and your bride's love story. Which our boss did lah. Well... we all took our hats off this very dedicated-to-wife-to-be man... cos we were scratching our heads as to how he found time to do up this pretty elaborate website. And as we were kay-pohing and reading thru 'the love story'... I discovered that the two ladies at another workstation had teared... After lunch, someone 'secretly' asked me how come I was not touched (since i did not shed any tears... and they hypothesized that girls my age would usually be more touched by these things) I suppose one only sheds tears when he/she can really connect with the story; knows the 当事人 well enough to feel for him/her... and it's not so much an age issue. Or maybe i'm just too cynical for my age ;)

In fact, I think the most tear-jerking and depressing incidents that have happened of late are the massive Sichuan earthquake and the cyclone in Myanmar that have taken thousands of lives overnight. Esp the first few days after the earthquake-- pictures after pictures of ruins and victims in the papers (And the sickening playing-up of touching survival stories in the evening Chinese tabloids) just made me want to be escapist and avoid reading abt the disaster news... And it makes me ashamed that I'm frequently so complainy abt life.

A weekend of indulgence

Today marks the end of my very enjoyable and guiltily indulgent long weekend. But will try to make sure I spend less money next weekend.

Lunched with C at Japanese restaurant Tampopo at Liang Court after reading good reviews in the newspaper. This restaurant had received rave reviews for their ramen; and an online blogger recommended a certain 'black pig' pork cutlet. We thus tried these signature dishes; and they turned out to be pretty yummy! Today I shall try to be a pseudo food blogger...

C's miso ramen. I stole a bit of the soup, which was very flavorful... According to her, the noodles were very springy too.

The agedashi tofu we had as an appetizer. Though the tofu was very soft, I thought it was too pricey (at $6.80 for 3 pieces of tofu!) and not that worth it.

My 'black pig' tonkatsu... It was actually quite fatty but well fried and tasty. The menu even had a random picture of a black pig in some farm, with a one-liner to the effect of "Our pigs are not subject to stress"... For some weird reason, I had imagined (b4 coming to the restaurant) that the black pig pork cutlet would be black. Apparently only the skin is black... Hehe, the weird ideas I have in my head. It seems that pigs, like humans, dun thrive too well under stressful conditions either!

Though had to lug huge camera around all afternoon, I really got a kick taking pictures of my food, amateurish my attempts might be. I can totally understand why Chubby Hubby loves his job.

Hair Trivia

Today I decided to treat myself to a scalp treatment using a discount voucher I found in Simply Her. And got a free 'scalp analysis', though it was actually kinda gross. Pores (i suppose they are rightly termed follicles) magnified many many times just look quite undignified :P Basically they stick this special camera device into your hair and immediately your scalp and magnified hair strands are shown on a screen before you. Then (I dunno if it's a standard tactic to scare customers or what) the hair consultant points out how unclean and befitting a treatment your scalp is. So anyway since I was there for the treatment I just went ahead with it... Post-treatment they go through the same procedure, i suppose in hopes of demonstrating the effectiveness of the treatment. And so while 'scanning' through my hair I realised, hey, how come some follicles seem to have more than one strand of hair? And there and then i made the discovery of the day... the hair 'consultant' attending to me told me that up to 3 strands of hair can grow out of a single hair follicle! I was somewhat pleasantly surprised when told that, cos like... you would assume that one strand of hair grows out of a single follicle right?? Else just have more follicles lah, why want to be so 济济。But apparently, no leh. But my curiosity stopped at that... I guess Nature has its own 'way' and I'm content as long as my hair follicles do not go on strike prematurely :) Anyways, apparently one treatment is not enough to cure my unclean scalp and I'll need like 10 treatments or more to ensure complete cleansing, so says the hair consultant. Seriously, I'm beginning to realise that one can splurge on all kinds of treatments from head to toe and if I dun exercise some discretion and self-restraint in guarding my money I will very easily end up super poor and unhappy :P Hai, one can be vain, but not stupidly vain lah hor.

Accuracy of Death (死神の精度)

The weekend is finally here! I shall try to catch this over the long weekend :)

The day has been most unsustainable. And if I work 14 hrs everyday like I did today, my eyes would become the smallest in the world in no time... And the silliest thing was-- hours were spent making trivial changes and touch-ups to briefing materials. If we are slightly slip-shod, we'll receive subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle hints from boss that we weren't tactful and thinking enough; yet frequently we aren't even given ample time to think through issues properly in the first place. Not that it's entirely his fault-- boss has to meet bigger bosses' deadlines and everyone's just like rushing to get things out. Why on earth is everyone pushing so hard. Though we pity boss (who's resigned to always staying up to clear our materials) sometimes I cannot help but pity ourselves too. And most of the work i'm doing is scarcely helping me remain a thinking creature.
Can I just study for life?

Someone from Jap class knows Lin Yutang!

This will be a hybrid post on my day so far:

I finally went back to Ikoma this morning, after a close-to-6-months break from Japanese class. Felt half jittery; half excited-- jittery because I've totally 荒废ed my language studies this first half of the year and I wasn't sure if I could remember all my kanji pronunciations/ grammar usage; but excited 'cos I could study it all over again. Turns out that I did forget quite a bit of stuff, but I can still understand most of the class... so YAY for me. And I really enjoyed the 2.5-hr lesson. Actually I always wonder why I like taking Japanese lessons so much. And I can never really pinpoint the reason. I guess it's a combination of factors -- my love for the pretty characters (yeah I am mad, but writing the beautiful characters prettily make me happy, eg. the cute little curves); the interesting passages we read (with wide-ranging topics, from psychological experiments to strategies behind supermarket item display to child rearing anecdotes); the explanations for choice of words/images in japanese phrases or idioms... Strange enough, I dun usually get REALLY good at the things I like. One would think that people normally try to master what they like to do, but for me, I just can't get the nitty gritty grammar rules into my head. And so I muddle my way through Japanese, never really bothering to tidy up my imperfect understanding of the finer grammar rules...

So anyway, when class ended and we were all about to leave the classroom, a fellow classmate noticed my copy of Lin Yutang in my bag and shared excitedly that.... her dad was an ardent fan of Mr Lin... to the extent that he would hunt for out-of-print editions of his texts! Er... quite interesting to know that I share similar reading preferences as someone's dad (that someone is like in her late 30s/40s...), but nonetheless pleased to find out that this someone else appreciates his wise, unpretentious words too :P

The third item on my list is a frivolous purchase I made when walking through Borders after class. I really didn't enter Borders with the intention of buying a mug, but this super-cute Mutants Mug by Paperchase (yeah, beats me why they sell mugs too) just caught my eye.

Inaugural mug shot from my Canon 40D :)

PS: Alas, I discovered that 75% of the magic is in the lens...

Langkawi (4)

When I returned from holiday, some ppl asked me whether I went snorkelling? Nope. Swimming? Nope. Sun-tanning? Ha, absolutely not. How come you didn't turn very dark? Er, cos I was kiasu and vain and applied a lot of SPF 50 sunblock? Ha everything cited above was just to illustrate ppl's expectations of an enjoyable 'beach holiday'.... But then this time round despite having not engaged in any of the 'typical beach activities' I still enjoyed my beach holiday... Doing v simple things like sitting at the beach, taking random photos, dipping your feet in the gentle waves by the beach & feeling the wind blow in your face while on a pretty rocky speedboat.

The "black beach" ycc recommended- The sand was pretty black (apparently due to mineral oxides) but there was still a sprinkling of normal sand. And when the waves came and receded pretty sand trails (like those above) were created. But aside from the black sand, this beach was rather dilapidated and somewhat disappointing...
Beras Basah Island -- The last destination on our Island Hopping tour. The beach was not too bad lah and waters pretty clear. But the weather was scorching.... Eventually we gave up walking abt and sat in the shade watching various human activities going on in the sea... including a circle of Chinese courting couples (presumably) creating quite a commotion in the sea... Actually we thought them really comical, with all the ladies piggybacking on the guys. Then weather so super hot... pity those guys... I also concluded after observing things going on in the sea (not just at this beach and certainly not intentionally) that it is a rather popular location for intimacy.
In comparison to the youths in the sea, thought this was a much wiser strategy! Chatting in the shade by the sea...

I really liked the shadows made by the leaves from this huge sap-dripping tree (so we thought)...

Just to end off my Langkawi posts with a picture of my good old chio (AND comfy) sandals :) I will keep dreaming about my next holiday from now till... dunno when. So 不争气 hor ;) I hope to be blogging about the autumn leaves in Japan next time.

Thrice more I broke my 7.30pm resolution this week. Very sad and tiring. And just now after a meeting at MND the 5 of us commiserated with one another (over fried fish meat soup at Maxwell Food Centre) on the sad state of affairs and impending no-life weeks ahead. And I listened to tales of sweetly patient husbands waiting hours for wives to knock off, of disappointed children who turn in without seeing their mummies. Let me get a windfall overnight...

Hai, the future seems bleak.