I suddenly feel wiser after attending a writing course by THL (specially tailored for MND officers) at CSC. Because it was much more than a writing course... The class impressed upon me some key attributes of a good officer- the ability to work independently and anticipate what boss wants before boss even asks; being sharp enough to read btwn the lines and tweak his writing to suit his audience; self-motivation and being fully responsible for his training/devt; the ability to clearly convey and show the significance of what he's writing about to ppl totally clueless abt the topic. It made me feel like I was pretty far off from being a good officer -- but oh well, I'm now more aware of possible areas I can improve on ;) Just to also share a quotable quote from THL - "Any good officer should know better than his boss, else he's entirely redundant" A bit harsh, but I think it makes absolute sense. Heh, how to hold myself to such high standards...? Perhaps this is what happens in the pte sector; and that shld be my new motto at work...

The long CNY weekend is finally here and I'm really thankful for the 4-day break. Time to catch up on sleep and nuah3 a bit. Here's wishing everyone good luck and good health in the Tiger year!

From time to time, I let things that ultimately dun really matter to me upset me. Or draw my attention away from things that really matter. Must keep reminding myself - to think and appreciate what I have, and not fret over what I don't have.

For a start, just want to blog about a very cute Christmas present... With a cup like this, I can daydream all day at the dining table ;) Hopefully I'd always remember and continue to learn how to fill my cup with the ping pong balls first, not the sand.

At least I was lucky!

This week was a very tiring and trying one; and felt really harrassed by the neverending pre-cab marathon for one particular issue. Sapping up so much of my time and energy I wonder if I'd just 'break' if the proposals dun get finally endorsed next week. Doesn't help that I'm not particularly quick when it comes to rushing things out. Sigh... Productivity grabbed the headlines this week; perhaps I shld seek help from WDA or something to improve mine.

But amidst the feel-bad atmosphere, it was heartening to receive an email mid-week that I won a buffet lunch for 2 at Carousel (Royal Plaza on Scotts)! 'Cos I filled in a feedback form (one of those greedy ones drawn by the prize) sometime in Dec after attending an Excel workshop... Hee -- my lucky name is on their homepage... for now! Yeah, need some cheap thrill after all that stress and premature death of brain cells.

It's been a busy week and I have been compelled by circumstances to work quite hard.. Next week would be an equally bad week! Highlight of work week was perhaps the relatively entertaining MM dialogue on Wed evening at Suntec. And being able to savour my favourite Wild Rocket strawberry cheesecake... Was just sitting around just now when my sister decided to practice Chinese New Year songs on her recorder -- so that she can teach her kids next week. Was suaning1 her how her new year song sounded very cheerless when I suddenly wondered why all pri sch kids learn how to play the recorder... Seems like quite a useless skill leh -- nobody seems to play recorders out of school. Why not teach kids to play other instruments, like guitar, keyboard or something, as part of the main music curriculum and not like out of classes? Maybe recorders are just affordable musical instruments accessible to all.

p/s: my dear friend in the States, what musical instrument did u learn in sch?? ;)

A banished piece of soap

Most of the FabIndia (it's like a fabric/home furnishing/clothing chain) soaps I got from India were given away as gifts, but also kept a few for myself. Yesterday, I finally decided to use one of them - a Jasmine-scented one. To my mild surprise, the unwrapped version of the soap smelt pretty strong - Jasmine-ish, but perhaps a more "Indian" version of Jasmine bah. Anyways, I thought it was still ok and used it once (only cut one-third of the entire bar for use, since soaps usually get really gross after a while). Unfortunately, the scent emanating from this little piece of soap was so overpowering that sis complained abt faintness when bathing... And 'cos no one was at home when I placed the soap in bathroom, mum and sis were unable to identify the stinky culprit... And mystery was only solved this morning when mum narrated the 'havoc' the innocent piece of soap had created... And so very sadly, this piece of jasmine soap had to go into the rubbish bin. Hmm, I'm wondering what to do with my rose-scented one now :P

The MND community-in-bloom project debuts in 2 weeks' time! Volunteer gardeners like myself have been divided into teams and my team will be growing rosemary and artemisia... Er I also wondering what on earth is artemisia -- according to wikipedia it's some fern-looking herb/shrub... Not terribly exciting from the photo, but I think for a gardening novice like me -- dun die can already lah. I also excitedly proposed that our team be called -- The Constant Gardeners... and erm, hopefully we busy creatures really live up to our name. And hopefully my recreational eca can let me pick up some green-finger skills... such that I can have my own herb garden one day, just like Jamie's...

I miss Mr Good. Sigh, sometimes one must acknowledge that good things have to come to an end and then move on. And that tougher life is also opportunity to learn more things. Somehow assertive individuals regularly trigger the unconfident side of me. I need to learn how to stand firm/confident in the face of adversity!

It's been eons since I went kite-flying. Sis has been wanting to fly her new Doraemon kite for a few weeks, and last weekend, I made it a point to go with her today. The impetus to go kite-flying also came about because we recently discovered a popular kite-flying spot one bus-stop away. Together with the new road leading from Pasir Ris Dr 3 to the Pasir Ris beach area, two plots of land were also cleared to make way for new resi devts (i think). Doesn't seem like there are plans to build up the area in short term; ppl discovered that it was quite perfect for kite-flying.. and ta-dah, it quickly morphed into a kite-flying hotspot. There were easily 50 kites flying high this evening... Prob the only time/place when bats, cobras, sharks, cartoon characters, insects and sotongs can co-exist relatively peacefully together ;)

My family... all out to keep our kite in the air..

Brisk business at the kite-van... Got kite-design catalog somemore wor...

The longest kite we saw..

A flying shark!

The pro in action, with his huge bumble bee ;)

The Ipod shall lead to my downfall soon not or later... Feel absolutely wasted now, after spending an entire morning fiddling with my Ipod Touch and checking out apps I can download... Sis got me a 32GB Ipod Touch last Christmas (Christmas 09/Birthday & Christmas 10 combined) out of the blue... and well, it was a really nice gift. Haven't explored it very much since, but well, have found quite a few cool apps over the past week or so!

Dun have many apps for now, but my fav one is SHAZAM. It has to be every music lover's find of the year or something. This amazing app basically listens to songs playing on the radio/wherever, and tells u what song/singer it is! And so far it can match songs 90% of the time, in like 10 seconds!

Another exciting app (recommended by YJ but a less 'instant gratification' sort of app) is STANZA -- which is basically like a e-reader, except that it feels more like a hybrid e-reader cum book. I never had a thing for these e-book readers, but this one seems decent enough. You can flip the pages and customise the background to make it feel more book-like... And it's free! But so far it seems gd only for classics though -- unless I'm willing to buy e-versions of the latest books.

Also downloaded a piano app after watching someone play ColdPlay's 'Clocks' using the Ipod/Iphone piano app... and after practising on and off the past hour or so, I can kinda do it now too hehe... :P

It was a blah day today. Someone walked over and said she could feel the higher concentration of asbestos at my workstation (yeah rite...) another colleague warned me about overexposure to printer toner. great.... now I'm subject to all these health hazards on top of being victim of claustrophobic workstation. Now there's only a sliver of space through which I catch human traffic through the corner of my left eye. I'm walled in front, right and back, with a huge ceiling height cupboard to my left... Though there's narrow strip of walking space to my left (just b4 the cupboard), i can only hear but not see who's approaching from my 7-o-clock until they walk past me into my corner-of-left-eye line of side vision...

I'd be starting off the new year at work in a new workstation. Though "new", it's certainly inferior to my previous cubicle. I have been illegally squatting at Eco-city territory (for a good 7 months); but now I've been kicked out within short notice to the only other empty workstation ard Housing Div territory. So sad, I moved further away from the window, closer to the noisy printers, nearer to my Director's room and human traffic thoroughfare. Sigh. I suspect it's gonna be way more difficult to concentrate on my work at this location. I had better remember to go and chope some secluded workstation soon, so that I can shift house again once the more premium stations are freed up.

Sigh, the long weekend is over :(

Happy 2010!

Think my body was never made for frequent meetups/gatherings... Though we've had two long weekends over the past two weeks, find myself feeling rather tired every weekend, from the sudden spike in meet-ups with friends etc over the holiday season. It was definitely nice to have friends back in sg, but I also realised that I probably need to work harder at "keeping up" with people... It's really not the case of "once close, always close" unless both parties continue to nourish and grow the relationship. And looking back at the year gone by, I've let a few ppl grow more and more distant by inaction/ laziness in initiating outings. On the other hand, find the AS self rather unenthusiastic in making new friends (i mean real friends) at work/church. Hope that I can remember to work on these two areas in the coming year...

Here's wishing my dear friends out there good health and good luck for 2010! :)

Belated Merry Christmas to all!

My family never really celebrates Christmas, but this year, I decided last min on Christmas Eve to buy us a log cake. Unsurprisingly, prices were a little marked up; and the scrooge in me felt a little 'pinched' that I was prob charged way above cost price for my log cake... But it turned out to be quite well spent, 'cos mum and sis liked it quite a bit and we all had a very yummy Christmas breakfast.

Come next week, it's time to start dieting!!! Daily feasting and no exercise makes me a sinful girl :(

The cute sugary santa, frosted all over by icing sugar... :)

Visit to Pinnacle@Duxton

I suppose my job sometimes has its perks... Might be peanuts compared to perks other ppl get at work, but well, better than nothing lah.

And so Hsg Div requested for and was given a tour of the Pinnacle on Tuesday... Unfortunately it started pouring 30 min before the tour commenced, so we had to trudge around in the rain... So instead of a nice sunset at the 50th sty skybridge, we only glimpsed a gloomy/ misty cityscape from afar ;P

Despite the rain, the Pinnacle did not disappoint. It really didn't feel like I was touring a public housing project. For a split second, I felt REALLY proud to be a part of HDB :P


View of Sg's busy port from the 26th sty skybridge

Can you believe this -- "pods" for stargazing at the 50th sty skybridge!

View from a vacant unit...

Nouilles De Ble Pourpre, Astroboy & Ice Cream

I just had purple noodles from Koka for lunch! If you didn't already know, I am a 'fan' of instant noodles haha. I think it's a brilliant invention, and they were my constant companion during my Berkeley days... :P From time to time, mum still allows me to indulge in instant noodle lunches... and today, she surprised me with a bowl of purple wheat noodles.


The packet of 5 packs comes (unsurprisingly) in purple packaging. The product summary on the packet claims that 100g serving of KOKA Purple Wheat Noodles gives you as much antioxidants as 80g of blueberries. I've never heard of noodles rich in antioxidants, but if it were really true, I wouldn't mind having these as a staple in my cupboard ;) But they tasted like normal maggi instant noodles lor. I also couldn't quite figure out why these S'porean-brand noodles had a french name.


Personally thought the individual packaging was surprisingly no frills but quirky :)

As for Astroboy, I discovered him in the most unlikely of places - 7 Eleven @ Sentosa Palawan Beach. I never knew 7-eleven stocks toys, but well, they did. Ok lah, this isn't considered a toy, but rather, a bubble bottle. It was so cute i couldn't resist buying. Thankfully I didn't have to pay too much for my whim -- $3.90 only lah. My kid (if i had one) would be thrilled blowing bubbles from this! Since I don't have any kids, I'm also not sure what I'd do with this. So... if anyone wants an Astroboy bubble bottle, can email me and check whether it's still available. I'd be most glad to give it away...


I also attended an ice-cream making workshop at UDDERS (@ their Kilat Court store) on Wednesday, together with all my colleagues and director. It was a Housing Division Retreat (first half was at Sentosa) and I had a lot of fun making and eating ice-cream. Seriously, it's not that difficult to make your own ice-cream! All I needed for my Vannila ice-cream was:

200ml milk
200ml cream
half a vannila pod
50g of sugar

Then, using a very simple method of cooling ice way below its melting point, we froze our own ice cream mixture in 15-20 minutes. But of course, after a few mouthfuls, most of us abandoned our messy creations for the professionally made ice-cream. It was certainly yummier than the Swensens ice-cream buffet... though more ex too, of course.

Sigh, what fun we can have outside work!

I created my long weekend this week by taking Friday off. It was a good decision, though with the backlog of work awaiting action, I hope it wouldn't cause too much pain next week ;P It has been a fulfilling weekend so far, and interesting new activities packed into the past 2 days included trying out new hairdresser; tagging along with j to search for her wedding gown; going to chinese sinseh the first time ever... and watching Dead Poets' Society on DVD ;)

Tagging along with someone to shop for wedding gowns was quite fun for a first-timer like me, but seriously, it also seems like a very time-consuming and tiring business. Being a 'photo enthusiast' I was also interested in how ppl took wedding pics, but somehow the two places I visited weren't very inspiring. And personally didn't see the attraction in going to random places overseas to take wedding pics, esp if the couple was born & brought up in sg - but I suppose it seems pretty cool to tell people that you're going overseas for a wedding photo shoot. Hmmm if i ever become a wedding photographer I shall bring my clients to quirky/nostalgic places in Sg... And if that day ever comes I hope scientists would have figured out how to keep Sg's daily temperature at 20C.

The thought of visiting a Chinese physician for my ankle was pretty scary, but better short-lived pain then long-term agony. So on Sat morning, went down to this presumably good physician located at Bedok Reservoir... One could smell the herby mentol-ish " shop scent" from afar. Waiting time was a good 45 - 50 min, but consultation only took less than 5 min. Very chop-chop, no nonsense one. Guy just came, asked what's wrong, then immediately proceeded with the extremely painful kneading. At the end of it all, his assistant covered the injured spot with a dubious looking patch (presumably with all the chinese medicine) and bandaged up the whole ankle. Told not to remove my bandage till tonight, but itchy fingered me undid the whole thing yesterday night. The consultation, including medicine (some 20 small black powdery spherical tablets to improve blood circulation), came up to $25. Quite reasonable lah. Though painful for that few min or so, experience was less traumatic than expected. Hopefully he lives up to his name!

Whole day change boss...

By early Dec, I would have changed immediate supervisors thrice in a mere 6 months! I am generally receptive to changes, but it's rather tiring to have to keep adjusting to new working styles; to explain things to the new person all over again. Though the first meeting with to-be boss last Thurs was quite alright (and she treated us to ang ku kueh...), I'm slightly upset that I will not get to work under Mr Good anymore. Instead it would be a Ms Workaholic (based on hearsay)... Sigh, I just want to be Ms Nuah3/ Ms Peaceful... not a Ms forced-to-be-workaholic :(

Little heart tuggers

Actually it's quite a pain to write long blog entries... So depending on whether the narcissist or lazy self takes over, you see/dun see a blog entry :P Today's a public holiday, so the force is on the narcissist self's side.. but cos there's still a lazy streak in me, I will not be writing separate entries (organised along various themes) on my India trip. Instead, I'd do a chapalang summarised one and try to mask my laziness by calling this entry -- Little heart tuggers. Heh.

If Shruthi didn't insist, we wouldn't have been able to go her fren's wedding. And thanks to her, we had a wonderful 3-day homestay in Bangalore. I also borrowed my kurta (the long dress with slits that many Indian women wear with pants) from her sis. But somehow, I still too look fair in this pic to pass off as an Indian...

The bridal car was erm... interesting. Hmm, i think if my bridal car ever looks like this, I'd rather not get married.

Cafe Turtle at Khan Market. Neat little cafe tucked away in row of 'shophouses'. This is on the 3rd floor while the 2nd floor houses a cool bookshop.

The wedding feast! One of my most enjoyable Indian meals. But I still haven't figured out how to eat unmessily with my hands.

Yummy salad at Le Cafe, New Delhi. Part of our lunch on the last day in Delhi...

I like the reflections I unknowingly captured in this pic.

A leisurely quiet moment together at the love monument..

Cookie Monster at the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur. It's this huge observatory (with various astronomical/astrological instruments) built by one of the kings... The structures remind me of Escher's paintings.

Anokhi cafe in Jaipur! It had the yummiest and cheapest food on the trip... Anokhi is a clothings/fabrics/homeware store started by a British. It's now a popular nationwide chain amongst, I would think, wealthier Indians.

Anokhi had a musuem too ;) In a beautifully restored haveli -- they showcase how blockprinting is done... very labour intensive! We also met this craftsman who was patiently chiselling his woodblock...

A beautiful sunset. Overlooking rest of Jaipur city from Naagarh Fort.

Ganesha is a good friend to have!

Loved the white and black tiles... but had to wait really really long for the endless stream of tourists to clear...

For some weird reason, I was quite a rare sight to behold in Udaipur... and in many other Indian cities as well. So all the school girls took turns to take pictures with me...

Apples in my hotel room - perfect for still-life paintings!

Lovely "palace grounds" at Fateh Garh Palace hotel, Udaipur. The floor was spotless because the cleaning ladies were cleaning the floor all the time...

Where's my food?? Hungry... :(

Touring in a wheelchair on the last day. At Bahai Temple (the Sydney Opera House lookalike), New Delhi. I lifted my own spirits by imagining myself to be the female lead in the Jap drama, Beautiful Life... haha. K lah, far from it... but imagine only mah.

Over the weekend, I restlessly overworked my healing foot... Sneaking out to shopping malls and to watch A Christmas Carol in 3D. Luckily the foot is hardy and isn't too achy yet heh. Today I excitedly signed up to be part of MND's community gardening programme -- some committee is setting up a rooftop community garden and we can apparently grow our own flowers/veges and even herbs, tapping on expertise of NParks staff! Was very excited cos we could potentially have a Jamie Oliver herb garden right at our doorstep! Or our own little secret garden... I mean, should be fun to grow stuff right. And have ppl teach you how to for free. Just that erm, I hope we all dun get so carried away by work and neglect our baby plants after the novelty wears off...

It's been quite a crazy week but the weekend has arrived just as quickly ;) Haven't gone home ard 9pm for quite a while and having to that almost 3 nights in a row was not fun at all. Then Thurs/Fri night were packed, with CW's wedding dinner and My Nice Dinner respectively. This year has seen a 'bumper crop' of weddings. Think I've already attended like 4, turned down 1, with 2 more to go in Dec...

Thankfully, My Nice Dinner went pretty well, and I think most staff were sufficiently entertained with the special videos they were treated to. And of course, the personalised tokens of appreciation -- Little Mr and Miss books. Directors were given a list of attributes to 'bestow upon' their staff... and apparently my Director thinks I'm pretty wise heh. Not bad, not bad, but I dunno gave him that idea. My DD got 'Mr Good', and i thought it's quite apt, cos he's a really nice guy.

My Little Miss Wise, and the toothpick cover from Club Chinois ;P

Yeah, I liked these pop-artish toothpick covers so much that I koped them home... Some ppl just didn't care very much for the details but I thought this was really cool. There's like a few colors, and the yuefenpai ladies are just so classic and beautiful. And food was yummy! *Slurp*