Of work and life

Sometimes work requires me to turn up at MPs' meet-the-people sessions and it was my (first) turn yesterday night. Basically we stationed ourselves in a classroom beside the main waiting room, to take questions/appeals related to SERS. Well, but most residents who turned up had the mentality that whatever they tell us is useless, cos we can only 'write letters' and are otherwise powerless to make those big decisions... and so I had a relatively easy time last night, with only 6 enquiries or so in the 2.45 hrs or so we were there. Just a few thoughts... MPs lead really busy lives! even though the MP was supposed to be there around 730 pm or so, she only arrived close to 930pm. Nonetheless, residents waiting for her waited.. and waited.. and waited. There was a line of probably close to 40 ppl. A staff helping to organize the crowd told me that the MP usually tries to see all her residents, and that the session can end at say, 1 am even! goodness. Second... i wonder which other govt goes to this extent to help residents... isn't it a vicious cycle sometimes? the more you give in, the more residents expect from you... then in the end even though the goodies you give them are already very decent, they still think that you ought to give them more.... and SOMETIMES, it becomes a case of ppl not taking responsibility for their own problems... they expect the govt to solve their own problems... isn't this quite 'unhealthy' for society in the long term. Singaporeans can be such a sheltered and 'babied' bunch. Then again, whenever I go on site, I do find myself sympathizing with some folks... who tell me they dun have stable jobs, who are facing financial probs etc.... sometimes I don't know what to think.

It so happened that my MPS coincided with a section 'dinner get-together', which I attended for only 30 min before zipping off to work... and colleagues had earlier decided to go down to a bar/lounge to 'chill out' and drink after that session. I joined them at 11pm after work... at this place in Red Dot Traffic Building. The place was quite cool and the 'room' they gave us was pretty nice and cosy... but even though chilling out with colleagues was alright, I was reminded of times I could just chill out with friends. like at someone's place in Berkeley. that kinda thing. Ever since I started work, I don't think I've really 'chilled out' with a bunch of friends at some place... doing nothing or just talking rot.... i suppose my close friends are all over the place too :) nonetheless, felt that something was 'missing'... sometimes I do wonder, am I subconsciously letting the more unimportant things take over my life... and succumbing to these 'evil forces' without even realizing it...?

The world of bentos

That is the topic for today but first I will recall an interesting incident at work. I once mentioned female colleagues and their LV bags. This afternoon, my opposite neighbor (the leading LV fan too) lost one of the diamonds on her diamond bracelet. The loss of this tiny diamond (among many others) was first spotted by another colleague who went to discuss something with her... it then sparked a tiny commotion with a couple of us starting to look on the carpeted floor for something tiny and sparkly. Alas, the missing diamond was nowhere to be found. Someone joked that if finders become keepers we would all be hunting for that lost diamond somewhere in HDB... Unfortunately we were unable to recover this precious stone and colleague went home early upset over the fallen diamond. sigh, I hope she finds it! apparently one costs $200 to replace. dunno how many she has on that bracelet...

Now into main topic proper. After a year-long hiatus from Japanese dramas, I recently grew tempted again and bought a new series called Kazoku, or Family. In short, it's about a young father who tries very hard to bring up his son after his wife walked out of their lives. The story's been quite heartwarming so far, and the bento box kept turning up in the last 2 episodes. I suppose it's a well-known fact that Japanese children get cute specially-made bento boxes from their mothers... and the kindergarten scenes also did show some REALLY cute bento cuisine! such as octopus sausages, rice balls with faces and all...! I would certainly try my hand at making these if I still cook. but i don't anymore :P Nonetheless, looked up pictures of such bentos here.... so kawaii!!! I like the one with good hanamaru (the white seal) holding a flower.... lucky children!

Sometimes civil servants also have to do 'extra-curricular' work such as mystery auditing. HDB's partner association is People's Association this time round and i was 'luckily' arrowed by whoever in CDD to be one of the mystery 'shoppers'. However, i was very unluckily assigned this CC all the way at the other end of the island in Jurong West... was told by colleague this afternoon that it's a very ulu place. however, upon arriving at the cc earlier this evening(via taxi; claimable), discovered that it's not that ulu after all... and cc turned out to be quite modern and appeared to be in a good location, accessible and all. but you wonder why ppl would want to live here, in this extreme end of S'pore far away from everywhere else! (perhaps many ppl on the other hand wonder why on earth I want to live in Pasir Ris? :P)
In a bid to maintain a 'work-life' balance, i've also decided to watch more TV again :) The immensely popular 'Ugly Betty' premiered on Channel 5 yesterday night and the first episode was entertaining enough for me to want to watch the next one. The Amazing Race All-Stars is also showing on Monday nights... just started watching this week and teams are competing in Chile... some place in Chile called Petrohue that's really really picturesque! This used to be my favorite reality game show... but the last time I seriously watched it was probably in my freshman year in my dorm room, together with my other two roommates, when Amazing Race came to Singapore :P

A worthy quote to live by

From an "inspirational book" I picked up the other day-- "There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self. All I'm really getting at is that if you want to improve your life and live with all that you deserve you must run your own race. It doesn't matter what other people say about you. What is important is what you say to yourself. Do not be concerned with the judgment of others as long as you know what you are doing is right.You can do whatever you want to do as long as it is correct according to your conscience and your heart. Never be ashamed of doing what is right; decide on what is good and then stick to it. And for God's sake, never get into the petty habit of measuring your self-worth against other people's net worth. Every second you spend thinking about someone else's dreams you take time away from your own"

Eyes sore and insect-bitten

My poor eyes are overworked; from staring too much at tiny things on the computer screen. typing emails aren't half as bad; but recently, certain tasks like higlighting HDB blocks on ppt block by block (job hazard!) require so much attention to detail that I will go yan3 hua1 if i do more of this after current assignment is done... 2 days of 'Orientation' have also left me behind at work... yes, my orientation came more than 7 months into work, since I just missed the last round when I first joined HDB... I'm trying hard to maintain a work-life balance, but it's hard to-- esp. when going home on time also means owing boss more things... perhaps it still boils down to being more efficient. on the other hand, i've been victimized by various insects recently... argh sometimes I wished I had some invisible shield that could ward off all insects... dun you wonder how insects choose which spot on your body to leave its 'trace'.... like how do they choose where to bite you? or is it random? hai. too sleepy and not-thinking. going to bed.

Happy Birthday to me :)

turning 24 isn't something that I have been looking forward to, yet it's always nice to feel special.. to feel you matter to friends/family... and somehow birthdays are typically the days ppl take the chance to show that they care... while i don't really want anything from anyone, it's always heartwarming when ppl who matter to you show that they care. AND, to treat myself a little, i also went and got myself a tiny birthday cake just for fun. for the very first time in my life, my day started off with a bouquet of flowers and ended off with another!(all from girls lah, no need to speculate) and the bouquet that arrived just minutes ago totally surprised me... cos it's from a very dear friend whom i've known nearly half my life...

Even though i've been meaning to sit down and reflect a bit today; somehow i still didn't manage to do it. Nonetheless, in the 30 min or so that I did get to somewhat think through things that matter to me and what changes I want to introduce into my life (i suppose i'm still not very focused, but i tried....) there are 3 main things I think I want to start and stick to doing for a long , long time...... 1) Stay positive and have more confidence in myself; 2) Treasure my friends and family instead of yearning for things that you don't already have. Drawing from parts of Anna Karenina, we might not actually be as happy as we think we'll be after the full realization of what we have desired all along... 3) Be more disciplined, procrastinate less!

have been feeling a little out of sorts the past few days, as well as today... perhaps cos various things at the back of my mind have become somewhat bothersome recently. or maybe i'm just suffering a quarter-life crisis on the eve of my 24th birthday... and even though I plan to take half day off work tmr I haven't really decided how to spend the half day, either. and it's not a very 'guilt-free' half day, cos I owe boss quite a few things! but whatever. sometimes we need breaks, and I think I'm due for a short break to just slack or like do nothing, reflect on things... but wonder when that will come.

after a movie outing with two colleagues yesterday evening, I was suddenly very motivated to set up some informal 'Singles Club' within the unit, to go check out new restaurants/eateries/hawker stalls together, as well as good shows/movies and other worthy activities... then, perhaps write reviews, practise my English and at the same time do colleagues some service :P BUT a big prob though is i will have very few "members", given that 80% of colleagues are married. if i exclude my engaged unit head; and my section head (we're certainly not so chummy with big boss to ask her such frivolous things) then I'll essentially be left with like 3 other potential 'candidates'... out of which one is attached and technically ineligible... another one is not likely to fancy such activities that much.... then i'm really left with one other colleague.... so maybe my brilliant plan will fall through after all. hehe but it was fun dreaming about doing a mini frivolous monthly food/movie review thingy. hmm. maybe i should outsource and get ppl from other units.. but then again, all big things start small :)

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

the best thing about my new year this time round is perhaps the new year cookies/goodies. mum bought loads; aunt gave us some; sister's bf's mum also made some really yummy stuff for us! these cookies are so going to last us till way after new year... having missed out on the "complete" range of new year cookies the past 4 years, i have been indiscriminately ingesting lotsa flour, sugar and butter in their various baked manifestations... and the best thing to do when snacking is not to think about the calories :P I find reunion dinners sometimes rather paradoxical. esp dinners with extended family and for my case, with relatives (on my father's side) whom i'm not even close to... and because i've never been close to these relatives, there's nothing much to talk about at the dinner table... and obviously they have nothing much to ask after either... cept small talk topics which is so pointless... yet year after year all parties subject themselves to such pain by agreeing to have that reunion dinner just for the sake of having it. when each family would undoubtedly be happier dining on its own... dunno why i'm so cynical but it's true...and i don't have any urge to visit any festive place either haha... so today after a whole afternoon of visiting, came back home to slack.... i hope to spend most of my next two days catching up on SLEEP, reading and studying Japanese :)

Favorite spot of the month!

decided to check out the newly-opened 'Central' at Clarke Quay MRT after work today. the experience was very pleasant, cos it's still relatively new and unheard of and we managed to get away from the sickening Orchard/City Hall crowds. though quite a few shops weren't open yet, a fair number were, which made the trip there still worthwhile. highlight (and main purpose of trip too) was dinner at Japanese restaurant Waraku. They had quite a few non-mainstream dishes, such as this creamy greenish salmon and spinach creamy udon or something. wanted to try that initially; but ended up opting for a safer option. Food was quite decent and the view was great. The restaurant's on the 3rd floor and right opposite the Clarke Quay 'shophouses', so if you're lucky enough to get a (full-height glass) window seat, you'll essentially get to enjoy a night's dinner beside the glistening Singapore River in air-conditioned comfort. After dinner, got Hokkaido ice-cream at first floor and picnicked on the steps along the river. It's really a good idea to let ppl sit just by the river... something you couldn't really do on the opposite side. While sitting on the steps and glancing back at the restaurant where we dined at, realized that actually the Kopitiam food court above Waraku prob gets the good view too :P hehe so if you're budget-conscious, can go food court and enjoy equally good view :) however, i wonder if this place will be still as nice and peaceful say 3 months down the road?

was so sleep-hungry today that I made my Dad send me to work in the morning. and when he does that, I'll usually arrive at work say 15 min early. so today, upon arriving at work, bumped into boss distributing rose stalks to all his lady subordinates... at like 8.15 am!!! I seriously take my hat off to some very zai individuals. I can never really figure out how boss, who sometimes clears emails till 1.30am, manages to wake up at like 7 something the next morning to work efficiently all day as if he's had a good night's rest. AND this also happens quite 'regularly'.... how do all these ppl do it? how to suffer prolonged sleep deficit and remain both sane and good-tempered and all? Section head's another mystery. She can churn out emails at record speed; usually works more than 12 hrs a day and has almost everything at her fingertips. Yesterday, section head also gave each of her some 100-over staff 8 mandarin oranges each; and personally arranged them nicely on everyone's workstation!!! this was definitely done after i left the office close to 9pm... she revealed that she actually did the mandarin-orange arranging till 1am yesterday.... OMG. these ppl really put me to shame.

I got to witness today one of those MP walkabout/ ang-bao giving ceremonies that have taken up considerable airtime over local news of late... only that mine's a SERS completion ceremony - usually held when residents have completed their move from their old flats to their new ones. and so being the OIC for this particular completion ceremony, was in charge of putting together the info folder for the bosses. that was extremely time-consuming and hair-raising (when you're expected to go dig out info from eons ago). also got some first-hand, personal 'how-to-be-a-good-subordinate' training from boss... like when the big boss is mingling around with bigger shots, have to be watchful... such that if he shoots you a glance from the corner of his eye; it means "come quickly i got something to ask you/ i want you to do something"... and so instead of occasionally getting carried away by the silly antics put up for residents on stage you're supposed to watch your immediate boss closely... so boss watches dept head, i watch boss... (haha i'm sure this is very common lah. and actually boss was nice to remind me. just that i'm being complainy hehe)

I think people try to invent reasons for abnormal circumstances; attributing 'rough patches' to things like bad luck; fan4 tai4 sui4 and such! and so of late colleagues have been saying that the 'pigs' in the office have been out of luck and that we need to go pray to some deity to improve our lots... hmm dun really believe in this sort of thing, but have been rather unlucky of late! so feel a bit cursed! and it's also quite irritating that many things I have to deal with; or IMMEDIATE emails I have to answer are sometimes quite 'technical'... ie. one really needs to be experienced to know where to unearth info from... and some of our databases are seriously mind-boggling/ challenging; with an infinite number of sales codes and acronyms that a freshie like me always takes forever to decipher... and so, i'm really really grateful to my great, kind, helpful colleagues... whose sharp, trained eyes can pick out and sieve out info at record speed... hai. and was really touched by a couple of colleagues who stayed back with me despite having personal things to attend to... despite being super tired too... just to help me tackle work issues. it's heart-warming to have such good, decent ppl around. :)

on some days I can't help but feel that I can never be very good at the things required of me at work... and at times you wonder why you're doing certain things; since they are scarcely related to your work scope at all. so sometimes my colleagues and i spend a disproportionate amt of time mulling over stupid little things... (I suppose it helps that fellow colleagues try to find joy by indulging in titbits and such) sigh. I wonder if ppl also get frustrated with the way some things are done; but because it's so hard to introduce change they just go along with everything and end up feeling that the way things are is actually somewhat acceptable. I hope I don't become all abnormally 'normal' after some years of service in the public sector.... :P on that note, there's a new Jack Neo film coming up; from the looks of the movie title and trailer, it appears to be some satirical take on the govt sector and how things are done. should be an interesting movie to catch. aargh; might have to work fri evening; sat and sunday!!!

This morning I finally hunted down a Japanese cafe cum bookstore that I've been wanting to visit ever since I saw it in CityScoops some 6 months ago. This Japanese cafe (see pic below) is strangely named Bon Gout (which I understand is French) and sells no-frills homestyle Japanese food. The food is not particularly tasty, but I like the atmosphere of the place. You can pick any Japanese book/mag/comic to read while or after having your meal... And it's right by the Singapore River (Robertson Quay), so one can easily take a stroll by the river after his/her meal. I shall return some time to sample other things on its menu.... or when my Japanese actually becomes good enough for me to browse the mags/books with ease haha. hmm... that one must wait long long.

I alighted at Chinatown station before walking over to Robertson Quay. The place was really re nao, even at 12pm on Sat... guess I shouldn't be surprised, since Chinese New Year is but 2 weeks' away. Saw this flower stall upon emerging from the station...

Liked how my zhu jues came along, one almost clad entirely in white (hair too!) and the other in black... provided some nice contrast to the sea of red, pink and orange flowers :)

went for a health screening yesterday morning and had my height measured. am supposedly 167cm tall now!!! erm, but perhaps it was a mismeasurement but I prefer to deceive myself hehe. I shall not take my height again till some other health screening :P hehe, of course weight is a sensitive issue which shall not be disclosed on this blog. not like anyone would be interested, anyways. am stressed by various tasks at work this week; and feel rather unproductive. when things keep coming (which in turn prevent you from concentrating on any one thing you need to do), I get rather flustered and end up being not so efficient. i esp dislike doing very routine things like preparing info folders whereby you have to go and dig up info from eons ago just to give it to someone for reference.... aside from work-- I have a mini Japanese test tmr evening, which i've done NOTHING so far to prepare for... hopefully I wun fail too miserably. also got an email from National Museum; since I signed up to volunteer there a couple of weeks ago.... hmm. prob have to reconsider given how busy I'm getting...!

My tiny collection of baby-doll high-waisted tops has quietly but steadily grown over the past few months, to the extent that a couple of more observant colleagues have started associating me with these good-for-concealing-fats-yet-cute tops :P so today one colleague came in with something like that, and came to me to say that it's a "Shi Min-inspired" top... hehe thought it was really cute of her. sigh, I certainly shop a lot more than I used to in the States... and the ready availability of relatively more affordable clothes doesn't really help. There are many ugly things around; but I somehow still manage to find a few nice things every month... Self-discipline, pls!

hunting down Japanese restaurants

heard from Jeannice that there are quite a few Japanese restaurants at Cuppage Plaza; and decided to check it out today after work. Unfortunately didn't get to eat Japanese food in the end... finding Cuppage Plaza was easy enough (though Joyce and I initially walked past it without even knowing)... upon entering discovered that there were not only quite a few non-chain-looking Japanese restaurants, but Japanese bars and lounges as well... so this is where many Japanese hang out...? well unfortunately most of them were full and had to turn us away. We even stumbled upon one Japanese restaurant with tatami mats and customers sitting on the floor... was really thrilled, but alas! we were informed that they had no seats available... oh well. I shall return one day :P anyway, so we hungrily gave up our search at around 8pm or so and walked out to the row of restaurants opposite Cuppage. Cuppage Terrace, it seems. And settled for Indonesian food at Ricetable, a buffet-style restaurant. For $19.80 without GST/Service Tax etc (around $23.50 if you add all those) you get to sample around 20 dishes of Indonesian food, laid out elegantly on a heated 'metalboard' in the middle of the table (to keep dishes warm). Since there were only 2 of us, we had bite-sized portions of various dishes... a good spread but a little wasteful too cos you're served what you might not like too. unfortunately, even with the small portions we were unable to finish... hai. (to think that we initially thought about getting refills!) guess buffets are never very value-for-money for girls. and quite silly of me to have wolfed down two egg tarts 2 hrs earlier at work haha. mmm.. food was decent, but yeah... not very worth the money for girls, lah. :) after that went walking around at Centrepoint and discovered the new? Haagen Dazs, which was having a one-for-one ice cream offer... quite happily ordered the ice-cream even though i was super-full... and felt extremely lucky cos the store manager removed the sign soon after we ordered and told his staff that we were the last two... :P and so in 3 hrs or so i went from super hungry to super-full.... whatever; it's a Fri night!

one week ago I complained about feeling somewhat 'cursed' at work; this uncanny 'curse' has not been lifted and things are only getting worse! Just a few weeks ago I was wondering why i haven't exactly been given much responsibilities; today i feel overloaded! a couple of not entirely work-related type thingies have also been finding their way into my overflowing inbox these past two days... generally, my mailbox has been and is still so full that I dont even bother saving things i send out :( hehe, perhaps also need to do more housekeeping on my part; but find it hard to find time to! then end up archiving all the old mails (some unread) work life is however getting a little more exciting and varied, despite the unavoidable 'busyness'... have to learn how not to let work overtake my life!!! on a different note, 2.5 months later i'm finally 700 pages into Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina... aaah. 100 pages more to go. at this rate, i can only read like 4 thick books a year :( so pathetic.

i'm really becoming old and forgetful. My mum has been commenting that I appear so nonchalant about many things after returning from the States. I apparently ignore mosquito bites and can't be bothered to apply ointment on the sore bumps. I apparently have delayed reactions when she asks me questions; like frequently repeating her questions before giving her unsatisfactory answers... just this morning, before I left for work, she told me to hand my dad (waiting in the car to fetch me to the MRT station) some grocery list that included some items for dinner. AND I cleanly forgot the existence of such a grocery list until 745 pm or so when I was preparing to leave the office... was quite horrified upon realizing that the white sheet of paper fished out from my bag covered with neatly-penned Chinese characters was my mum's forgotten grocery list... called home immediately to apologize...

i suppose even though life goes on and stuff, I do have some huge things deeply bothering me and I have no idea what to do about them. perhaps the subconsciously preoccupied mind has "sucked up" some of the vigilance of the conscious...