Mar Gathering for the Musketeers

Another month has passed since our last gathering. Initially, we had wanted to go museum but both Ms Chan and Ah Peng were not keen, so we decided to have a lobo night instead.

I was again late and the latest. This has happened umpteenth time that Ah Peng had perhaps pre-empted this and asked if any one of us would be late. I was again delayed by a meeting which ended around 630pm. By the time I rushed to meet them, both Ms Chan and Ah Peng were almost collapsing from hunger.

We had decided to ‘settle’ our dinner at Kyoinichi Ramen at the second floor diagonally above Killiney Café at Marina Square. Here are some pictures of the Ramen which we had.

Meeting Sab and 5050

I met Sab and 5050 for lunch today - the first time we saw one another after I left my old company 7 months ago.

It was 5050 who told me that Sab had left the company. As the 3 of us are working in town and are only a few MRT stations apart, we decided to lunch together to catch up. The first gathering was held at my cafeteria since it offered both variety and good price.

Both Sab and 5050 were among the best mentors and working partners I had when I first started my job. It was great to see them again.

Sab and Wendy were both like big sisters to me. They were strictly speaking not my colleagues as they were working as the managing agents for my ex-company. When I had problems with bank reconciliation, they would bring their receipt documents and sat through with me to look into the thousands of entries one-by-one. When I was clueless about best billing and collection procedures, they would share their practices with me. When I could not do transactions in SAP, they would bring out their manual and teach me how to key in. When I needed support for SAP enhancements during GST rate changes, crisis and SARS operations, they would be the first to roll up their sleeves and stand by me when dealing with the consultants. When I needed to work full day on Christmas Eve and when all other colleagues had gone home, they would invite me to their Christmas celebration so that I would not feel so lonely.

5050 was so ‘affectionately’ called by everyone in Finance Department because of his office extension. Sometimes, he would lose his patience and refused to acknowledge when we addressed him as 5050.

When we first met, we always quarreled. He would think that Finance was too unreasonable. I would think that IT had no sense of urgency in solving problems. Towards the end, we both could literally “put each other’s heart down” (translation from Chinese, direct quote from 5050) when we knew that the other party was handling the project. This was only after ‘braving’ many projects together and burning our nights and weekends getting the system ready and resolving the technical glitches. Sometimes, we would even lend a hand to each other ‘under the table’ when we could.

My technical knowledge about SAP was ‘imparted’ by 5050, from how interfaces worked to differences between SAP scripts and normal SAP reports. Although my knowledge was pretty superficial, it had allowed me to sound more convincing when I needed to ‘confront’ consultants.

45 minutes passed by quickly. Before long, it was time to end the lunch and go back to work. However, this would be a start for more gatherings in future. *Wink*

New Deskphone

Finally, my old deskphone can be replaced!

My old deskphone has long obtained its at-least 20 years long service award. It looked exactly like the phone my home used to have when I was in primary school. It was corded, with no LCD/LED screen, the numbers were little square button, the ring tone and the volume cannot be changed, and no speaker phone or redial function.

After plugging in everything, my new deskphone was ringing when call was incoming, but I could not hear anything from the receiver. I could only hear and talk via speaker phone. No way! The whole world would hear when I was being scolded by my line. My colleagues and I were hapless to what might have gone wrong.

Was it because it needed batteries? We put in the batteries to test. With incoming calls, the screen would lit up, but still no dial tone or sound when I picked up the call.

Was it because this phone was faulty? My admin staff passed me another phone to test. I noticed that there was a small port at the side of the phone which could fit in the extension from the receiver perfectly. Hence, I had decided to unplug the receiver from the outlet named as “phone” and plugged it in. Now, the phone worked!

It was not the phone but the connection. My colleagues and I laughed at each other for our blunder. We are in the telco industry, yet we cannot fix a normal phone. Sigh! I am blur again.

Sametime

Sametime is the only internet messaging (IM) which is allowed in office for communicating with fellow colleagues. It is an IM by IBM. It used to have very unfriendly GUI. Erm, to think of it, it does not used to have graphics, so it cannot be considered having a GUI then.

There is recently an upgrade and the upgraded version is similar in both look and feel to MSN and Yahoo Messenger. It makes one feel more comfortable chatting with it.

My boss has introduced this to me so that the whole team can still chat even when we are in meetings. This has even allowed my boss and I to exchange opinions in private of what the meeting is discussing, rather than speaking aloud for all to hear.

I have, in turn, introduced this to CY so that we can ‘discuss’ this without having to call or email each other. She was initially abit adamant for fear of me asking her a lot of questions, but later she gave in. Notwithstanding her concerns, I have continued to ask her questions on products which are not handled by her. On goodwill, she has also tried to help if she happens to know. Sometimes (I emphasize it is only SOMETIMES), we may talk about non-work related topics, but it is kept to the MINIMAL.

Sametime is really convenient as I can still work on other stuffs while I post questions to others. I find it hard to multitask while speaking to someone on the phone. Although for lengthy discussions, it is still best to meet or call the person.

Sunrise and sunset

I was having a discussion with my boss when her phone rang. The wallpaper on her phone was that of either a sunrise or a sunset.

I asked her if she knew how to tell the difference between sunrise and sunset. She replied in the negative. Then she shared a joke of how someone had used the picture of a sunrise for a presentation. However, the audience actually interpreted it as sunset. This contradicted the underlying message that the presenter was conveying.

The moral of the story is that we should avoid using pictures of sunrise or sunset in our presentation. Imagine if you want to paint a hopeful picture of sunrise and your audience actually interprets it as a bleak outlook associated with sunset.

By the way, can you tell the difference between sunrise and sunset?

Day of the Teambuilding

Everyone boarded the bus at 815am. It was almost like an excursion during school days. The last I had was close to a decade ago. Everyone was excited about the activities that had been lined up for the day.

The activities planned were both indoors and outdoors. The indoor activities were carried out at Rasa Sentosa while the outdoor activities of course were carried out all over the island.

After the morning tea, we had a brief opening speech by the boss, followed an ice-breaker with scissors, paper, stone game. Next, we hurdled in our group for sharing of the group’s name and activities. Then, it was off to our outdoor challenge.

Outdoor Challenge
1) Fetching water from the sea to our pail.
We were supposed to run from the beach to the waters and bring the water back to fill a pail which we had been given. Upon successful completion, we would get the clues for the challenge.

First, we went to the information counter at Rasa Sentosa to obtain copies of the map of Sentosa and also to ask for instruction to our first destination – Underwater World.

2) Underwater World
There were several challenges which we had to complete at Underwater World. We had to use our bodies and act out a stove and washing machine before we could get tickets into the underwater world.

Inside the Underwater World, we had to touch a bamboo shark, throw coins into the pig-nosed turtle tank, to find the sign ‘Is it worth is?’ and peacocks (which were commonly found all over the island).We had to take pictures of us performing these tasks as evidences that we had successfully completed the tasks. We were lucky to find that peacock had fanned out its tail while we were trying to take a photo of it.

We took a leisure stroll to admire the sea creatures in the Underwater World. Hey, we were a relaxed team. We were more preoccupied in enjoying ourselves rather than competitively focused on ending the race first.

3) Dragon Trail

The dragon trail led to the forested area of the island. It was named as the dragon trail because there were dinosaur fossils found. There were also several waterfalls within the trail (Imbiah Falls, Tempinis Cascade).

We had to find clues in the trail. As we had missed some clues and took a wrong turn, we ended up walking along the same routes several times. It was tiring but it was fun, especially if one was a trekking enthusiast.

Although this was not the first time I had walked through the trail, it definitely offered more sights. The last time I was in the trail, I was participating in a treasure hunt where my team members then were more focused on winning, so we literally raced through the trail to reach the Calsberg Sky Tower.

4) Egg Challenge
We were disappointed to find that we were not given a chance to ride up the Carlsberg tower but rather had to crack our brains for an egg challenge at the foot of the tower.

We were given 2 eggs, some straws, 2 pieces of newspapers, 4 balloons and some musking tapes. Our challenge was to use these materials to protect the eggs such that when we tossed the eggs over a distance, they would not break.

After deliberating for a while, we had decided to wrap the eggs with straw and support them with the balloons before wrapping everything with newspapers. The first egg had only cracked slightly. The 2nd egg flew out of the straw and landed on the floor broken.

5) Building mobile phones with sand
Since we are in the telco business, this challenge was closest to heart. We had to build mobile phones with sand (like sandcastle, but instead of castle, we built mobile phones).

The reward for this challenge was the tickets for our luge ride.

6) Skyride

(picture from www.sentosa.com.sg)

Before we could take the luge, we had to take a skyride from the seaside to the starting point of the luge. This was by far the scariest and most nerve-wrecking part of the challenge.

Well, skyride is almost like a cable car ride where one is brought high up in the sky. However, unlike the cable car ride which is inside a cabin, the skyride is just a bench where one sits on, similarly to the ride one take up the mountain during skiing. While we moved a few hundred feet above ground, our feet dangled free in the air. If one dared to look around, one could get a good view of the CBD during the ride. When we passed over tree tops, it felt almost as if we were flying.

Of course, we were so nervous that we did not have much chance to take in and enjoy these sights. We were busy chit chatting so that we forgot the height and the insecurity we were in.

Phew, we had finally reached grounds in one piece.

7) The Luge
This was the most fun part of the challenges. The luge was a small vehicle which moved based on height (high to low grounds) and air compression (which was controlled by the riders). It was like go-karting. Although it was thrilling, it required good control with the many curves to maneuver and the high speed the luge could travel.

(picture from www.sentosa.com.sg)

This would be a must-try when you next visit Sentosa.

Lunch
Lunch was international buffet at Rasa Sentosa. Strangely, after all the physically demanding activites, I was not at all hungry. However, I did sample most of their selection. Hmm, conclusion was that I preferred Beautfort to Rasa, in terms of food.

Indoors
1) Ice-breakers
After we gathered, we had more rounds of ice-breakers with blow-wind-blow and ‘fire-hunter-earthquake’. Both ice-breakers again got us into quite a big of sweat with the running around.

2) Leadership and team building games
Each subsequent game is conducted with the purpose of bringing out a leadership and team spirit lesson.

Balance balloons
This requires us to work as a team to keep as many balloons in the air all the time as possible. The team has come out with the strategy of forming 2 circles where the people in the inner circle sat down and tapped the balloons upwards and the outer circle would tap the balloons into the circle.

Although we could keep more balloons afloat, there was an imbalance of work where the inner circle people had to work doubly hard relative to the people in the outer circle. This might be necessary, ie inequity in terms of workload, but the ‘outer’ people (people who were less involved) could chip in more by helping to tap the balloons inwards and upwards, so that the ‘inner’ people had more time to react than if the ‘outer’ people were to tap inwards and downwards.

Cross River
We were split into 4 teams to cross the ‘river’ by stepping, in sequence, on ‘islands’, formed with mats. Every team member had to hold on to each other’s hands in a row to cross the river and no island previously conquered could be left empty.

At some point, while trying to cross to another island, we might reach an intersection with another team. Both teams had to work together for successful crossing.

- As we were one of the first two teams to complete the crossing, we were busy celebrating our successes, instead of helping other teams. Although celebrating own success was good, we should at the same time lent a hand to those who had not completed their tasks.
- When some of the people who had started kept failing, we had then decided to change a group of people to lead the cross. This was necessary when a project was not making headways. Perhaps a different lead could lend a different perspective.
- We worked together as a team and it would not be a single failure or success.

Carry poles
We were made to carry a very long pole with our fingers. Then we had to slowly support the pole and placed it on the floor. This seemingly easy task still took us a good 10 minutes because for whatever reason, the pole had been going up rather than down. In the end, someone has to physically force the pole down (directly defying the rules of just using our fingers to support the pole).

It takes all to lower the pole, but it only takes one to move the pole up. Similarly, it takes one person to slow down a project but it is a collective effort to finish the project on time.


Sentosa is a fun place to be. I will definitely come back on my own for my visits, especially other beautiful places which I have left out, like Palawan beach. If I have visitors to Singapore in future, I will also recommend Sentosa.

For those who are interested in visiting Sentosa, you may wish to find out more under their official website www.sentosa.com.sg.

Countdown to the Sentosa Teambuilding trip – 1 day before

Ooh, we were split into teams with about 6 members in each team. I was made the leader of Team 7.

At 6.30 pm, one of my team members asked me if we should wear the same coloured T-shirt for the next day so that we could identify each other. This was after hearing that some teams had coordinated their T-shirt colours. 6.30 pm? Some of the team members have gone home. Fortunately, we have gotten hold of most of the team member, except one. Even more fortunately, one of the team members had gladly agreed to get another T-shirt for the last team member to change into.

By the way, the colour which we had decided was yellow.

Countdown to the Sentosa Teambuilding trip – 2 days before

“Is there breakfast provided?”
“Will we be getting wet?”
“What sort of attire should we wear?”

Everyone had numerous questions on the teambuilding at Sentosa. Those who had participated in last year’s trip have warned of the possibility of getting physically challenged and wet – the team was asked to build a raft and rowed out into the sea. Hence, everyone hoped to be both mentally and physically prepared for this year's.

Roommate

We have to submit our passport details, including our preferred roommate for the upcoming Malacca trip. So far, I have not made very close friends among my colleagues, ie someone who is intimate enough to share room with for 3 days. I guess the closest friend among them is CY, one of my line managers.

CY and I have discussed this roommate issue even before we need to submit the details.

First time we were discussing:

CY: Are you going Malacca?
Me: Can don’t go? Thought it’s compulsory?
CY: Don’t feel like going. Have you found your roommate?
Me: You mean we have to find our own roommate? Not assigned? You?
CY: No. We have to find our own roommate. No, I haven’t found mine too.

Second time we discussed this.

Me: Have you found your roommate? Want to pair with me?
CY: U sure you want to pair with me? What if I quit before that?
Me: U are quitting? But you are only here for 8 months?
CY: I say what if?

When we finalized that we will be each other’s room mate.

Me: I pair with you? I am telling my admin staff. You must update your admin staff also.
CY: Do you sleep walk?
Me: No. But maybe I sleep talk? Ha ha.
CY: Really ah?
Me: Don’t worry lah, joking. So far my sister never complains anything.
CY: Your family very big, so that you must share room with your sister?
Me: No. I meant she never complain when I shared room with her overseas. Do you sleep walk or talk?
CY: You cham already. My friends all complained that I grind my teeth when I sleep.
Me: Anyway, I submit you as the preferred room mate to my admin staff already.
CY: Ok, I will tell my admin staff.

So this seals the fates of the 2 of us as room mates in the upcoming Malacca trip. Let’s hope we don’t turn into enemies of each other after this trip. Although I have shared room with strangers during hostel days, it is more nerve-wrecking this time as my room mates are my colleagues. It is difficult to gel ‘professional’ image with ‘personal’ image. Anyway, I don’t think I have a lot of professional image remaining with CY, especially all my auntie-ish talks to her... ...

Quan and Ruixi

Tonight marked the end of the days where I dropped everything at work to rush home for the past one month. From tonight onwards, Hua Yang Shao Nian Shao Nu ended its run.

No more being tickled by Xiuyi’s exaggerating expression. No more heaving a sigh of relief over Ruixi’s overcoming another misadventure. No more being swooned by Quan’s sensitivity and love. No more knowing that no matter how tough your day gets, Quan, Xiuyi and Ruixi will be waiting to bring a smile to your face at 7pm.

After a month-long anticipation of whether Quan and Ruixi would have a happy ending, I was slightly disappointed by the ending. It was anti-climatic, long-winded and too exaggerating. However, I could still relate to the words that Ruixi and Quan had shared before they decided to confess to each other their secrets.

Sometimes, liking one person may not necessarily mean telling directly to another person. Actions speak louder than words. The care, concern and the protection the person showers are the best expression of their love. By saying it loud may just create pressure and disrupt the comfortable feeling that both share. Without saying out loud, both of them already knew and felt their love for each other. Hence, after serious consideration, both Quan and Ruixi have decided to withhold their secrets and continued to maintain this enigmatic but comfortable relationship that they shared.

Quan always watched out for Ruixi and protected her. Ruixi always stood by Quan when he was disheartened by family and personal problems. Let’s hope you have or you will find the ‘Quan’ or ‘Ruixi’ in your life.

Central @ Clarke Quay

I have taken buses and passed by this newly opened mall for several times. Finally, I have the chance to stop by the mall for a look.

It is still not in full operation as many corners are still closed for renovation. It is quite a spacious place with many shops, including eateries, especially Japanese cuisines. The two ends of the mall are lined with glass panels which offer superb view of Clarke Quay. Many of the shops / boutiques are well-known brands such as Giordano, Charles & Keith and Harvey Norman.

The Giordano outlet is one of its biggest with the men’s, ladies and kid’s wear all under the same roof. There are two leather sofas just outside the fitting room, near the windows which overlook Clarke Quay. This allows shopping companions to comfortably wait for the shoppers. There is quite a cute backless polo tee from Giordano Junior. I was surprised to find that the price was steeper than that of the adult’s. I was even more surprised that I could fit into the largest size when I was never considered petite. It would be fun for both the mother and daughter to dress up in the same top (If I could fit in, many mothers would have been able to do so as well).

We have also met 2 huge controlled robots in the mall. They were dancing, shaking hands, playing catch with each other. They also generously obliged when people asked to take photos with them. It was fun watching them.

The recently upgraded Clarke Quay has also much to offer with many interesting F & B outlets. Many of the restaurants even have live bands performing for their patrons. I was especially captivated by an expatriate singer who was performing a ballad with his guitar. The ambience of the IndoChine restaurant – Forbidden City was strangely oriental and enigmatic. There was also a great variety of cuisines offered, from North Indian, Italian, Japanese to even local – Satay King.

Standing on the side of Clarke Quay, the Central looks exceptionally magnificent. The bridge joining Riverside Point and Clarke Quay also offers a great spot for taking photos against the Clarke Quay. Clarke Quay has transformed into a truly enchanting place after its upgrade.

Annual Staff Function 2007

Opening Address
After preparing for months, it is finally over and done with last night. Finally, we can have a good sleep – without nightmares of food not well-done, people not turning up, giving out the wrong presents etc, etc.

Venue
This year’s staff function was held at The Legends, Fort Canning. The colonial clubhouse submerged in the lush greenery of Fort Canning Hill offered a refreshing change to the more popular hotel ballrooms. The staffs were also warm and helpful. For instance, they have waited together with us while we were receiving our VIPs.

The working committee rooms were comfortable, spacious and came equipped with dressing tables, shower rooms and resting sofas. We were busy with packing and preparation to really have a chance to enjoy the rooms.

Theme
The theme for the night was Retro. We hoped that this would be an easier theme for the staffs as many would be familiar to the style. Moreover, retro is in these days. Dressing up for the event would be easy. Many staffs sportingly dressed up in their retro best with their thick hairbands, big earrings, mini dresses and loud prints. The best dressed lady and gentleman had even put on the big hair wigs and sunglasses. Even some of the VIPs came dressed in their interpretation of retro, though it might be a tad more subtle.

Event Organiser
The Event Organiser has managed to get the crowd participating in the games, where people were fighting to go on stage. I especially liked the part where they have managed to get everyone’s participation in the ‘swimming’ dance, as the swimming moves were representative of the dance moves of the retro times. In addition, they stuck quite close to schedule and we were able to finish on time.

Gifts
Budget constraints have left us squeezing out every ounce of creative juices to ensure that this year’s annual staff function will not only match but also surpass last year’s standard. This is especially so in terms of door gifts and lucky draw prizes.

Although the door gift is cheap, we try to enhance its value with our sincerity. We have tried to tie the gifts with our theme of retro in terms of wrapping of the gifts. For instance, we have managed to lay our hands on some corporate free cardholders. This serves to supplement our first door gift. The staffs have gotten not just one, but two door gifts. To the ladies with small bags to bring their gifts home, we have again persuaded the business development team to donate corporate paper bags for us to put the gifts in.

For the sourcing of the lucky draw presents, there were only two sponsorships from the VIPs. Fortunately, one of the committee members was equipped with many retail stores-linked credit cards which offered us discounts, such as Harvey Norman and Carrefour.

Committee
As we started our preparations really early, we got to have some breaks during the intervals of waiting for the gifts to arrive and the set-up to be complete. Finally, we have chance to chit-chat about things other than the staff function. It was indeed a good chance to get to know my committee members better.

Our committee was among the best as there were horrible stories of committee members MIA and doing no-show for meetings experienced by the previous committees. Most of the meetings have almost full attendances. I have to admit I was one of those who missed out on more of the meetings.

There was also demonstration of great team spirit – by sharing burdens together, of course. I was the coordinator for a big department, with about 300 plus staffs. If I were the only one writing the invitation cards of my department, I think it would have taken me at least one full day. Without my asking, the other committee members had volunteered to help me write. It took us only 1 hour to get about 300 cards done. Kudos to cooperative spirit.

Being in the committee, we have to be more spontaneous and participative, so as to lead by example. Hence, it is definitely more fun than being purely a normal attendee, as with my other D & Ds. At least, I did not escape to go off early which I typically do. *Sheepish Grin*

My Assignments
My roles for the day were to receive the VIPs together with my Chairman and to give out the lucky draw presents. I was ‘arrowed’ for this when one of the committee members who had been originally assigned this honourable task was seconded to an overseas office. My worst fear was handing out the wrong presents to the VIP for presenting to the winners. Fortunately, the whole assignment was completed without any embarrassing hiccups.

Hiccups
Some of the staffs turned up really early, almost immediately after knocking off, even though the starting time was clearly stated as 7pm. This caught us slightly off-guard. We had to direct these early birds to tour around the club house while we frantically set up the registration counter and asked the event organizer to set up the pre-dinner activities soonest possible.

The second hiccup related to our ‘missed’ reception of one of our VIPs. We have directed our two VIPs to come by the main entrance as we have reserved VIP car park lots for them. As the clock ticked by, we were puzzled by the non-arrival of the first VIP. In fact, the security guard has missed him, so the VIP has driven directly to the car park instead. It was too late to receive him, so we have stayed put to await the arrival of our second VIP.

Ending Remarks
I look forward to receiving our photos soon and reliving our retro night. We are definitely looking forward to the committee’s celebratory meal. =p

The Wonders of Digital Photos

Gone are the days where we have to retain the negatives of old photos in case we need to duplicate the photos in future.

Gone are the days when photos can only be circulated via hard copies.

Gone are the days when one of the favourite activities when you visit a friend is to look at old photos, as they are too heavy for the friend to bring out the photos.

Now, with digital photos, we can share photos easily among friends. These photos can even be replicated anywhere - wallpaper, screen savers, T-shirts and even on cross-stitch works. In fact, these photos can be seen and printed out immediately after they are taken. There is no delay in waiting for the entire roll of film to complete before we can develop the photos. These images are permanent, unlike Polaroid photos which although offers instant photos fades after a long while.

Inspired by the beautiful photos that my colleague has taken in her trekking, diving and other trips, I have decided to hone in on my photographic skills. The least I should do is to familiarize myself with the use of my sister’s digital camera. I am ashamed to say that despite owing the camera for 2 years, the only time when we have made some serious attempt to study it was 2 years ago before we set off to Taiwan.

One hand clutching the manual and another maneuvering the camera, I am trying to run through the different effects which the camera offers for photos. So far, I have succeeded with the black and white and sepia effects. I have tried to do the ‘macro’ effect, ie with the object of focus sharp but the other areas blurred. Despite numerous trials after intensive study of the manual and consulting my colleague, I still failed. It is definitely not due to the constraints on my camera’s capability. From Flickr.com, there are such photos successfully taken with the same-modeled camera.

Sigh! I must be quite useless with follow instructions. Perhaps the instructions are not clear? Alright, I will consult my colleague again on Mon. Meanwhile, I must try the different pre-set effects of the camera which include allowing the blue of the waters and skies to show, the warm of the candlelight to be highlighted and the portrait of people to be softened. I am not trying to be a professional photographer, just hope that I will be able to have some fun capturing the various sights around me.

(normal settings)

(sepia setting)

(black & white setting)

Hong Kong Style Dim Sums

Ever since I have heard from my colleagues how good Red Star Restaurant is for its dim sum, I have been dying to try. Although my dad could not make it on, we have decided to forsake him and went for the dim sum breakfast on our own. Good food waits for no one. Hee Hee.

My colleagues warned me about the crowd, so we have decided to go really early to the restaurant which opened from 7 am. I woke up around 6.30 am. It has been ages since I wake up so early on a Sunday morning.

After fumbling around in Chinatown, we located the lift which took us up to the restaurant at 7th floor. My sister commented that her friend mentioned that the inside of the lift to the restaurant was rather narrow. However, the lift we were taking was strangely huge. Well, her friend was right. The lift which we have taken has taken us to the back of the restaurant instead. Oops! Just as we were about to turn and go back down, the workers signaled us to walk in.

We walked through the backdoor, to the toilets and finally ended up at the back of the restaurant. We walked through all the seated tables to ask for seats from the concierge, located at the front of the restaurant. Fortunately, we were really the early birds. Although the restaurant was packed, we still managed to secure a table almost immediately.

After we sat down, we looked around eagerly, waiting for the trolleys to be pushed towards our tables. The trolleys suddenly arrived together. We were confused when all the waitresses were trying to promote what they had simultaneously. Amidst the rowdiness, we managed to order a few types. Initially, we were relatively reserved. We became more at ease with the ordering towards the end where we were even standing up to look at the dim sums before placing our orders as many were stacked high.

For the more popular dim sums, the trolleys were not pushed around, patrons would need to bring their cards to the trolley and placed their orders, albeit self-service. The card system is similar to Marche’s where you will pass the card to the waitresses to chop based on what you have ordered. This card will then be presented to the cashier for payment.

I have never been to Hong Kong. I heard from my sister that the bustling activities and rowdy ambience were similar to that of Hong Kong’s cafe. Just my colleagues have warned, queues started to form outside the door starting from late morning. We were glad we have came early.

Some of the dim sums which we have sampled (though sampled may be an understatement, more like devoured) included:
1) Siew Mai
2) Chicken Feet
3) Lotus Leaf Glutinous Rice
4) Century Egg Lean Meat Porridge
5) Xiao Long Bao
6) Steamed Beancurd Skin Chicken
7) Chee Cheong Fun
8) Fried prawn and crab meat ball
9) Fried banana and prawn spring roll
10) Fried crab meat pancake
11) Steam beancurd stuffed fish meat

One of the dim sums which we have missed out it the very big pao which is the size of both my palms opened wide. Unfortunately, we run out of any spares in our stomach for additional food.

It will definitely be on my must-try list for my next visit. *Grin*

Familiar Faces

When we try to determine a place we are at, we go by landmarks. When we try to determine a time we are at, do you go by your shadow length?

If you commute by public transport daily and at around the same hour, do you realize that you will see the same faces. Strangely, humans like routines. When we take train, we like to go to a particular cabin. When we go foodcourt, we tend to sit at a particular area. When we go washrooms, we may even select a particular cubicle. Of course, the above is based on the assumption of availability.

If we take our usual path to office daily at around the same time, we will notice that gradually we build up a group of ‘friends’, ie people we see everyday. Although we know next to nothing about them (not even names), we will miss them when we do not see them. Are they on leave or fallen ill? Sometimes, we may think that we are late (it is rare that we are early) or we have taken the wrong train. Just as landmarks help to tell places, these familiar faces help to tell time.

Although we may not like some of these faces, especially those who constantly wear a scowl or who have previously stepped on your toes, we cannot deny that they have slowly formed parts of lives. They have become the ‘landmarks’ of our routines. So have we of theirs.

Limits Exist Only in the Mind

This was a tagline that splashed across the papers today.

Indeed, we often associate limits with environmental constraints, physical and mental capabilities and sometimes luck. When we fail to achieve, we excuse ourselves by finding hundred and one reasons. Sometimes, the possibility of failure based on preliminary assessment has even deterred us from even making a valiant attempt.

We have always heard about miracles happening to ordinary people who have fought against all odds to achieve stretched goals. They were stories of will and mind power which motivated them to overcome all constraints and challenges. For them, the fruits of success were especially sweet.

A race fraught with hurdles can be so daunting. Some may give up before the start or in the midst of the race. However, for those who have preserved and completed the race, not only do they derive tremendous satisfaction from their achievements, they have inadvertently become stronger.

Maybe when you look back at some of your accomplishments, you might have discovered that you too have some of these miracles to share. If you do not have these stories to tell, hesitate no more and take up a challenge where it may seem mission impossible. Before you know it, you would have completed the task.

Aftermath of the Quake

There were two tremors felt today. Fortunately, there wasn’t a third as I have little confidence that the building would be able to withstand another shake.

There was a tremor at around 11.45 pm. There was another weaker tremor at 1.50 pm where more people felt the tremor as we were more vigilant and ‘prepared’ for shakes. Again, we gathered to discuss the tremor.

The first announcement came about half an hour after the first tremor was felt. It informed that there would be no evacuation and everyone was to stay calm and composed. The second announcement came about 15 minutes after the second tremor. It warned everyone to be on standby for evacuation. Everyone again got excited about hearing the news. We were filled with the anticipation that we might get to go home early.

I sent an email to my colleague to ‘check’ about the ‘situation’ there.

Me: There was a 2nd tremor. Did you feel it this time?

CY: Nope. I just came back from outside. Why am I the only one who didn’t feel anything? L

Me: If you were outside, how to feel it? I wonder if there is any evacuation.

At this moment, 2nd announcement to ask us to standby for evacuation came along.

CY: My admin staffs are now packing. Get ready to pack and go home.

Me: Wow, your admin staff got so much authority? My boss never says can leave. Only ‘standby’ now. I think they are waiting for another tremor to decide.

CY: Let’s pray hard. Make it 2 tremors. Then we can go home. I can go and drink my coffee before doing my slides.

Me: It will be the third, not the second. There was already one in the morning. I don’t think they will evacuate us. If they are evacuating, they would have done so at the 2nd tremor and not ask us just to standby.

After 15 min… …

CY: You don’t want to go home? Why? Why no more tremors? Why? Why? :-(

Me: I doubt there will be a third tremor. Typically, only 2 tremors after an earthquake. If no more tremor, we won’t get to go home. Anyway, I have little confidence in the building. I wonder what will happen if there is a third shake…

To ensure that we are not the only ‘fools’ who have continued to stay in the building where everyone else in the area has vacated, I fired an email to my friend who was working in a building across the road.

Me: Hey, your side evacuating?

Friend: No. Is your side evacuating?

Me: No. On standby only. If you are evacuating, better inform me. Then, I will evacuate myself.

Friend: Same. If you are evacuating, inform me too. Then I will evacuate myself too.

Me: Deal. We will inform each other before evacuating. Think unlikely we will be evacuated unless there is another tremor.

Friend: I never felt the tremor.

Me: There were 2 tremors. Which floor are you?

Friend: OMG! You mean there were 2 already. If the third one comes, I will definitely evacuate myself. I am on the third floor.

Me: No wonder you are oblivious to the 2 tremors. You are at too low floor to feel anything. Sigh!

By the way, there were only 2 tremors till the end of the day, so we still knocked off at 6 pm, in one piece, with no evacuation. Nevertheless, it was still a day filled with excitement and anticipation for many of us.

Quake Scare

I thought I was having a giddy spell when I felt some shaking.

Then, I felt tremor while sitting down. My cubicle wall started shaking visibly with my white board knocking against the wall. I knew for certain it was not a giddy spell. The building was certainly shaking. This shaking persisted for a few minutes

Was I the only one who felt it?

I stepped out of the cubicle and asked my colleagues. They too felt it. A lot of us were gathering around and checking on what has happened. We were wondering if there was an earthquake somewhere or our building was on the brink of collapse.

About 10 minutes later, some of my colleagues received news from their friends and the radio. Apparently there was an earthquake in Sumatra and many parts of Singapore, including Jurong, Shenton Way and Kallang have felt the tremors. Some have even been asked to evacuate the building.

About 15 minutes later, some of my colleagues still felt slightly uncomfortable, either slightly giddy or nauseous despite the cessation of the tremors.

New Love

Ever since Princess Hours ended its run, there is no highlight of the day for a while until this new series – “Hua Yang Shao Nan Shao Nu” (Hanazakarino Kimitachihe) comes along.

The plot is simple. Ruixi was infatuated with an outstanding high jumper – Quan. She has decided to disguise as a boy and enrolled into the same school as Quan. Later, she ended up as the room mate of Quan. This started a series of adventures of her trying to hide her gender among the guys, totally oblivious to the fact that Quan has already discovered her secret.

It is a light-hearted show with very exaggerating performances by the characters who have very distinct personalities. For instance, Ruixi always has a forlorn look on her face when she looks at Quan. Xiuyi is kind-hearted and loyal friend but is full of stupid ideas who never fail to bring a smile to one’s face. There is also Da Shu who forever talks about seeing and sensing paranormal beings. Dr Mei Tian and his nephew - Liang Si Nan are the deep characters within the show where one cannot clearly define if they should be the good or bad guys.

When the series first started, I have liked Xiuyi more than Quan for Xiuyi’s candour, humour and unrighteousness. However, as the show progresses, Quan becomes more and more adorable for his sensitivity and protection over Ruixi. Ruixi remains the heart and soul of the series with her kind-heartedness and her devotion to Quan. More importantly, her courage to do so much for Quan also wins admiration from the viewers.

Now, this has become my Number 1 must-watch show.

Lo Hei Session with Colleagues

Just before lunch, L suddenly sent an email to everyone to ask for suggestion for our Lo Hei session. Someone suggested going to Teochew City Restaurant. There were several Lunar New Year set promotions, but eventually we decided to forego the set and went for dim sums plus Yu Sheng instead.

The meal was a filling one with Siew Mai, prawn dumplings, mango-shrimp spring rolls, carrot cakes and fried shrimps. We also had fried garlic Kai Lan and Ee-fu noodle.

During the 2-hour lunch, we talked about diamond rings (L recently got a big ring from her boyfriend), buying flats and dim sums. L shared that our big big boss recently had a 1.22 carat diamond ring, but our big big big boss got a 4-carat ring. Wow, 4 carat! The ring would be bigger than the diameter of her finger. We also chit chatted about buying flats, especially some of the risks of buying resale flats and the considerations. The bone of contention was to live or not to live with the in-laws and its pros and cons.

With this Lo Hei session, Lunar New Year celebration is also coming to an end soon after the 15th on Sunday.

Another Food Trail at Chinatown

My mum has the craving for the Xiao Long Bao of Chinatown, so we have again gone to Chinatown again for lunch.

Unfortunately, the Xiao Long Bao was closed for business for the day. There are still many other good stalls around. Just as usual, we have decided to order different delicacies and share so that we could try as many of the dishes as possible. There were

curry noodles,

sea food hor fun,

fried dumplings (gyozas),

yong tau fu soup and

fish ball noodles.

There was an extremely long queue for the Yong Xiang Xing Yong Tau Fu soup (opposite Ko Kee) which intrigued and tempted us to try. There ought to be something special about it to lure so many people and so many patrons were willing to wait patiently. Since it was a week day, the queue was shorter than usual. This would be the golden opportunity to try. Hence, I joined in the queue. Alas, we could tuck into the much-anticipated yong tau fu! Frankly, we were disappointed as there was nothing extraordinary about it. We could not comprehend the hype for it.

Nonetheless, we still look forward to more food trail trips to Chinatown.*Wink*