Sonata

It is not a song, but it is the brand of a car. I have been eyeing it for a while. I often lament that whenever I call a cab, I end up taking the more normal cabs, ie the Toyota Corona. I have only taken the Mercedes cab once.

Hence, when I got a Citycab Sonata, I wondered what it was. When I saw the car stopping in front of me, I was very excited, even though it was close to 12 at night and the second consecutive night that I left the office after 10. The seats were more comfortable than the normal cabs, but Mercedes still the best as this was less spacious.

Even after a few days, I was still pretty excited about my Sonata ride.

TV & Tissue Box

I always think I am one of the few who are relatively 'tearless'. There are few drama serials or movies that I have ever shed tears for. Perhaps my tear glands are abit retarded or I am more heartless. Erm, ok, I prefer not to do a more detailed dissecting of this characteristic. The few shows that I have cried while following the various plights of the protagonists are "My Stubborn Father" (Japanese) and a Japanese show on a little girl and her dog (which the name of the show has escaped me).

When I was watching a repeat of the "Stairs to Heaven" (Korean), my eyes suddenly teared when Chengjun looked at Jingshu sadly as Jingshu was oblivious to their past and the feelings that they had shared with each other. To Chengjun, his love was so near and yet so untouchable. on one hand, he was filled with relief that Jingshu was still alive. However, although Jingshu was alive, it was almost she has died when she has no recollection of they undying love they had for each other.

Alot more tears have already been shed for this drama when it was first aired. It was aired during week day nights previously. However, I have failed to catch it previously and now watching the repeats.

Perhaps when I watch it from now on, I should get ready my tissue box......

Set Lunch at Jack's Place

The Jack's Place restaurant near my house has just been renovated. It has already been crowded at lunch and dinner before renovation. After it has been renovated, all the more we want to go and try out the new decor, ambience and food. Set lunch is more value-for-money than dinner which is acompanied by a soup, a dessert and coffee. In addition to the traditional western food, it has 'diversified' to incorporate some local flavours to its menu.

We ordered its signature steak and the promotional set lunch of grilled fish. It was yummy but somehow I still preferred the western food at the nearby coffeeshop instead.

(The Cream of Mushroom Soup)

(Grilled Fish with spicy sauce)

(The signature ribeye steak)

Proliferating Crowd

Recently, the crowd is getting to me.

When some members of the public commented that Singapore was getting too crowded, mixed feelings were drawn from others. Some concurred that Singapore was indeed too crowded, but some mentioned that Singapore's degree of crowdedness was a far cry from cities like Manila or Jakarta. I have not been to either place. Thus, it is hard for me to imagine the crowd there. Some socialists commented that one way to indicate that a city was getting too crowded was when the residents became rude and impatient.

Hmm, perhaps most of the Singaporeans are still generally polite and cordial. Yet, I am beginning to feel that I have less and less patience. In a crowded train, I also tend to push my way ahead more and more. Yes, such behaviour will definitely draw more than one raised eyebrow. However, let's face it. It is either you 'fight' your way through or risk seeing several trains zoom past you without being able to board onto any. I also tend to put out my elbows and inevitably poking people than risk being step on. I have been stepped on numerous times despite being in heels. The last time I was stepped on, I ended up having a big patch of blue-black on my foot for one week.

I cannot help wondering if by the time Singaporeans start to behave less cordially, the city may have already become too crowded for our own comfort. Moreover, it takes decades to change the culture for the better, but it can only take years to retard civility. If we only attempt to alleviate the crowd problem when we observe that Singaporeans are getting impatient, rough and pushy, then such symptoms may be permanent and irreversible.

Isn't there the saying that prevention is better than cure? Instead of spending resources and time on campaigns of politeness and consideration subsequently, perhaps we should nip the problem in the bud now? Should there be closer attention paid to the degree of crowdedness in Singapore and the nuances of Singaporeans' behavioural change? Food for thought... ...

Date with Teddy Bears

The Arts House hosted a Teddy Bears Exhibition. The sales of the Teddy Bears will go towards adopted charities. Partly inspired by the Teddy Bear Museum featured in the Palace: The Princess' Hours and partly driven by the curosity of how the Old Parliament House looked like, I went to the exhbition.

If you pictured a huge room filled with Teddy Bears of different images, then you might be hugely disappointed to find that it is only a classroom size with less variety of bears than expected. Many of the bears are from Japan.

There were more things to be seen along the corridors as there were exhibits relating to the old Parliament and the members of the Parliament.

If only there was a similar Teddy Bear Museum in Singapore like Korea...

Christmas Mood Is Seeping In

One of the events that I look forward to each year is seeing the Christmas Tree at Ngee Ann City. It is almost like a ritual or a tradition. The brightly-lit Christmas Tree catches the attention of the shoppers. Shhh... do you hear it? The footsteps of Santa Claus is coming nearer. :-)

Princess, Happily Ever After…

17 Nov 07 – The once-in-a-life-time day of our dearest princess. It was also the day she walked down the aisle with her boy-friend of 10 years.

She has always been like a little princess to us with her warm and sweet nature. If a princess, to many people, now connotes a willful and vain girl, it is time to sweep away this thought. A princess, to me, is still associated with a kind-hearted, caring and beautiful girl and who is epitomized by Snow White and Cinderella.

Her wedding dinner was hosted at Meritius Mandarin with a grand turn-out of 700 guests. As a receptionist, it was a frantic to try to get the guests to be seated soonest possible. Now, I am becoming more and more like a reception queen. This was my third time I had been made the receptionist. There were also a few embarrassing moments when we could not locate the names of the guests on the table list despite there being 8 of us on the reception tables. In the end, the family members had to help allocate them seats.

As there was massive jams along Orchard Road, many guests were late. Hence, we were sitting outside even when the dinner had started. The receptionists had our first 2 courses of the dinner at our reception desks. Fortunately, it was soon time to pack up our ‘barangs’ and enjoy our dinner in peace.

When I joined the other sisters in the table, another series of fun awaited me. The other sisters were busy taking out their cameras taking photos since we rarely dressed so nicely. A few of us were trying to position ourselves in nice angles so that the pictures looked pretty enough to be loaded onto Facebook.

Soon, it was time for the second march-in of our Princess. She looked resplendent in a flowing gown of orange and green. She walked into the room singing a duet with her husband. This started the entertainment of the night with the family members going on stage to present many touching ballads. The climax of the evening was when our Princess and her husband gave a thank-you speech. When our secondary school pictures were shown on pictures, we could not stop laughing our past nerdy looks.

From that day onwards, she would move into another phase of her life with a greater responsibility towards her new family.

Street Sights

Who says Singapore is small?


If you think it is small, you will be surprised that there are many hidden corners and sights which we may not be aware of.


As I was on my way for my spa treatment at Hotel Rendevous, it was my first time at this Hotel. Hmm, it was nice to discover that it has a nice yard.



On the way back to Cityhall, I was again mesmerised by the tall Christmas Tree which has been erected in front of Raffles City.



Instead of taking the car, the bus or the train, perhaps you can try walking sometimes and who knows what sights await you in the next turn?

Love-Hate Relationship with Massage

The last time I went for a massage was with Dear as part of my birthday treat about 2 to 3 years ago. I often look forward to a massage to remove the exhaustion from my body especially with my not-too-short working hours. On the other hand, there are slightly uncomfortable feelings I have for massage - the vulnerability of being exposed and the ticklishness.

For the body massage, you have to strip to almost nothing. I often have the fleeting thought of what happens if there is a sudden fire break-out, will I be able to escape in time? On a less direct sense, the vulnerability also stems from exposing your far-from-perfect body to a third party who can see and feel every inch of your sagging skin, cellulite and any other blemish. My self-esteem was bruised beyond repair when she asked how many kids I had. Uh-oh, was I really in such a bad form?

The criticisms did not stop there. She went on to lament about all the stiff knots on all parts of the body, especially my calf muscles, my bum and shoulder. Her diagnosis? I walked too much, especially in my high heels which led to stiff calf muscles. My defence to myself (I dare not say out loud when I am entirely at her mercy in such a precarious situation)? I need to walk at least 15 minutes each to and fro my home to the MRT station. My tight bum was due to sitting too long which was one of the hazards of a desk-bound job. Secretly, I was thinking that her second diagnosis seemed to be in conflicts of her first. Moving on to my shoulder and neck, there were numerous stiff knots around the lymph nodes, in particular my vocal cords. She commented such swollen vocal cords were often associated with people who needed to talk a lot. Well, she was not wrong as I needed to work with and discuss with my business people often.

Well, with so many stiff knots, it was inevitable that I felt agony and pain as she rubbed over the sore spots. Coupled with the ticklishness as she moved over some of the more sensitive spots, I was torn between laughing and taking deep breaths to relieve the pain.

After half an hour of pain, it was the luxuriating moment of the face massage. With the double cleanse, the massage and the moisturiser, it was heavenly. The exposure of my flaws had not ceased. The bad blood circulation had led to enlarged pores and pigmentation on my skin. The lack of sleep had led to dark circles under my eyes. Hmm, she made me sounds like my body system was plagued with problems.

When the entire spa treatment was completed, my whole body was sore from the rubbing. However, it should lead to relief subsequently. Despite the pain, it was certainly tempting to go for spa more frequently (also to correct more of my flaws)…

‘Oasis’ in a ‘Break-Desert’

It is the last day I have to utilised my off-in-lieu for Hari Raya as the company policy is the off-in-lieu is only valid for one-month. Before the budget ‘flood’ comes along, I should my break soon. Moreover, the last time I took leave is more than 3 months ago for my Hong Kong trip.

There are so many things I plan to do.
I want to spring clean my room because have not cleaned my room for a long time and cob webs are gathering at the corners.
I want to go for spa as it is easier to get an appointment on weekdays then weekends.
I want to go shopping to avoid the weekend crowds which often impede rather than help shopping.
I want to go exercising to build up my stamina.
I want …
I want …
I want…
Oh dear, the list is never ending.

Time is often the scarce resource. Thus, it is necessary to prioritise, so I can only cramp room cleaning and spa together. I spend the morning throwing, wiping and rearranging my things. Then, it is for a long shower and lunch before going to the banks to get some errands done. Soon, it is time for the massage where I spend about an hour on back massage and face massage to end off the day with a self-pamper.

Then, it will be back to reality and hard work until my next break.

Sharon's Hen Party

If you think we have painted the town red for Sharon's party, you will be extremely disappointed. We have opted for something tamer - high tea at Chihuly Lounge, Ritz Carlton. The ambience was relaxed with sofas and light live music performance.

The crockery used explicitly represented the theme of English tea with the fine China and cotton napkins. However, I found the variety of tea offered less wide as expected because there was no fruit or flora tea offered. The food section was divided into two main sections of cooked food and dessert section. The specialty seemed to be on the sweet sourly taste with grapefruit, orange, lemon and calamansi. For those who did not have a penchant for sour food might need to brave themselves for the electrifying sensation that shoots through to your hair-root when you took a sip of the calamansi jelly.

With food, warm service, relaxing music and plush sofa, hours rushed by without our knowledge. We sat there and talked about the moon and the stars for a good whole 6 hours. The buffet spread ended at around 6 pm but we continued to sit there till the skies grew dark. The crew was friendly and warm. They have even offered us complimentary vodka and cocktails which we did not dare to take.

We loved the happy times so much that we wanted to have more of such high tea gatherings. For once and for a short time, we felt like we were living the lives of tai-tais.

Long Forgotten Tonic

For those of us who grew up in the eighties, we certainly have heard or eaten pig’s brains before. It was die-die-must-eat tonic for the brains especially during the exams period, stamping from the Chinese tradition of eating the animals’ parts to improve the body parts we want to improve (以形补形).

With growing health consciousness, pig’s brains were deemed to be a food high in cholesterol. Moreover, there was increasing awareness of using health supplements such as ginko seeds and omega-3 to improve our brain powers. Gradually, we steered away from the pig’s brains and the same time, this well-known tonic also moved out of our lifestyle. Nowadays, it was difficult to source for this tonic in the market or hawker centres.

Hence, you could imagine my surprise when I saw it being sold as a tonic soup in a nearby coffee shop. For the faint-hearted or those with an aversion to eating animals’ parts, please immediately abandon this journal.

Throwing all the cholesterol caution to the wind, I decided to try this tonic and relive the memories of the old school days. For those who never tasted pig’s brains before, it was softer than toufu but harder than beancurd. The preparation work was also difficult because the cleaning process was very time consuming especially the removal of the veins in the brains.

Time seemed to rewind when we stared at the pig’s brains soup. Nevertheless, having so much exposure to the undesirable health impact of high cholesterol, I believed I would still continue to avoid this in future.

Coaching

It is never easy to coach someone. I always find this job a challenge which fuels my increasing respect and admiration for teachers.

Everyone learns differently. What works well for one person may not work for another. Yet, as a coacher, we often fall back on the method that works for us when we coach rather than coach in a way suitable for the person. For all of us who need to give on-the-job training to another, we are often pressured by time, especially during handover. We face with the stress of transferring our knowledge as soon as possible for the other person to be able to run on their own. At the same time, coaching is often an ECA which is to be performed on top of our normal job scope. Pressed for time, we do not have sufficient time to understand the learning needs of the recipient. Hence, we coach as we deem fit and which is often the way that works for us. Unless the other person learns in the same manner as us, we end up being frustrated by the outcome.

The next most difficult area is the determination of what is important and what is not. There is so much information that needs to be shared on the subject matter. What is critical for the coachee to know immediately and what can wait for the coachee to discover on his own. For the coacher who has been on the job for some times, it is difficult to know as all the information and knowledge complement one another.

Yet coaching is definitely an important skill to acquire because as passing on the baton is required both at work and at home and from supervisor to subordinates and peers and from parents to children. As the coacher expend effort to pass on the information, the least the coachee can do is to pay attention and do their part in the learning.

The Givenchy Code

This is not a story about fashion or brands. It is however a story about code breaking.

Fans of Dan Brown perhaps have already started wondering at this point in time if this has anything to do with The Da Vinci Code. Well, the plot is similar except that the code has less to do with the history and religion; the protagonist is less well-versed in history but more on fashion brands. The codes to be broken are also less literary and historic but more laymen such as anagrams and pighen codes. For those who are hooked on The Da Vinci Code will find this less thought-provoking but will find this certainly equally entertaining.

The protagonist was an expert in code and clue solving. She played well in one of the online games which specialized in code breaking. Soon, she found herself playing this online game in real life. The stake of the game was her life. To win the game, she, as a target, needed to outwit the hunter with the help of her protector.

Of course, she eventually won the game.

If you have read The Da Vinci Code prior to this, there was no doubt that you would be making references to it as you flipped the pages of The Givenchy Code. In terms of the complexities of the codes, The Givenchy Code would be a ‘diluted’ version and the codes to be broken could be better understood. Most of us would have played anagrams – different words that can be created from a word by rearranging the alphabets in the word, in our primary school. For example, the word ‘pear’ can be rearranged to form ‘pare’, ‘reap’ and ‘rape’.

On the other hand, the notion of online games pervading our real lives is also dangerous and scary. With the increasing blurring of lines between online and offline lives, there may come a point in time when the two will start merging and it may become impossible to separately distinguish the two. Who knows if the online persona will lead the offline persona where our offline lives are relegated to a secondary position?

Languid Weekend

How long ago have you spent a weekend practically doing nothing?

Such a question is likely to invite incredulity and even loathe from the increasingly busy Singaporeans where no minute or second can be wasted. Many have their weekends long planned out with commitments back-to-back. If you do not have any plans at the start of Saturday morning, you will be branded as a boring or a lazy person.

Weekends are meant for rest. It is definitely not a sin to spend two whole days resting and doing nothing or meeting no one. This is especially when the past work week is as if you are fighting a war on the battle field. Even if the activities are not planned, a little spontaneity may even lead to surprises.

This is what I have done this weekend. Doing nothing in particular and chilling at home. Before you get the wrong idea that I have been sleeping my 2 precious days away, allow me to clarify. What I have done was with nothing planned and just followed the mood of the hour.

I spent a few hours reorganizing my MP3 files. To me, ‘tidying up’ is often a form of therapy. Cleaning up mess gives me a sense of satisfaction and happiness. It is not as if I have many MP3 files but typing out the titles and artistes names takes more time that I anticipate, especially when some of them are in Chinese.

The other thing which I have pampered myself with is to sit on the swing and swing the time away. Wow, it was a high feeling with the breeze blowing and admiring the sky. Any stress was evaporated at that instance.

Actually, when it seems like I have been doing, I think I have done a lot because I have allowed my body, mind and soul to take a break…