Shokudo Bazaar

I was late as usual. As always, I was dragged into a last-minute meeting starting only at 6pm. Inevitably, I arrived about half an hour late. There was already a long queue outside Shokudo Bazaar. Fortunately, Ah Peng and Ms Chan were already inside, so I could skip the queue and just went into the restaurant to meet them.

This is the latest F & B outlet that hits the local shopping mall. Its modus operandi is replicated from Marche's concept, except that it has replaced Swiss cuisine with Japanese cuisine. For the die-hard lovers of Rosti, fret not. There is also the Shokudo's version of Rosti being served. For Japanese cuisine fanatics, you will be able to have your fill of Japanese snacks, bentos (set) and even desserts here. After finding a seat, you can just order your food, 'pay' with your card, and either wait for your food to be cooked or order something else before coming back to retrieve your cooked food.

The shortcoming of such a scheme is that it is self-service and you will need to bring your food to your seat. If you are seated at a secluded corner far from the main stalls alley, you may need to walk a fairly long distance. This is especially inconvenient when you are carrying hot pots or soupy food. It is also hard to resist the variety of food and we over-eat when we are attracted by the food array on the table. (Psst, we are slightly shock when we pay which indicates how much we have eaten).

Althought the restaurant is hip, cosy and refreshing, the ambience is not exactly very suitable for chit-chats as it is bustling with people and chatter. Moreover, the location where we are seated is also quite chilly with the aircon blasting down on our food.

For those who have like Marche and for those who wants an affordable Japanese restaurant which offers variety, Shokudo Bazaar will cater to your needs. Personally, I prefer the restaurant to its pasta chain which only offers pasta in Japanese-fusion style. My favourite? The Yuzuu Tea (grapefuit tea) - refreshing and heartwarming.

New Phone

My old office phone can finally walk into the history gallery forever. We have waited long for this new phone.

We could not keep our hands off when we get our new phones. The sleek feel is world’s apart from the previous bulky and heavy phone. The 3.2 megapixel phone adds convenience to our work. Well, we can take photos of discussion sketched our on white board instead of painstakingly take them down with paper and pen. It even comes with a USB charger so that we can charge both the PC and the phone together.

However, in terms of other features, I have not had time to play around and explore. Wait till I become familiarize with the new phone. Hopefully, it can help in my work more than my old phone. I believe its battery life should be more extended than the old phone. *Wink*

Photo-Taking for New Passes

Finally, we are going to get an upgraded security system. We will only need to tap and the door will open as opposed to the current system of slotting in the card into the machine. The current system is extremely inconvenient when we are holding many things on our hands.

For the new passes, we will need to take new photos to be placed on the passes. Hence, we agreed to do it today. After filling and checking our particulars, it is time to sit in front of the camera. Sit straight, a quick brush of hair, smile and click. It is done within seconds. After the shot, we can immediately view the picture and determine if we would like a re-take. We help each other see.

After the photo, we are even given a pack of tissue each. Wow, not only do we get new passes and photos, we even get free tissue. What a wonderful idea and enticer.

Tea Session with GCFO

In order to promote greater interaction between top management and staff, a tea session was organized where several senior officers from various departments in Finance were invited. It was my first such session and I wondered what we would need to do during the session and after.

HR has warmly bought some beverage and tarts for the session. Self-introduction was always an ice-breaker to start the ball rolling. Given the size of Finance, it was my first time meeting some of the invitees. Then we were asked to share what we liked and disliked about the company.

The GCFO then shared some of his insights based on what we have commented. Maybe because we were all very shy, so he had to spear the dialogue session most of the time. Yet, it was still a fruitful session for us to hear direct from the top management as well as picked up new insights on how we could better manage our work and career.

Flat Feet

One of my colleagues commented that I have flat feet because the arch below my feet was not apparent. She asked if I tripped and fell quite frequently in the past. I replied in the affirmative. So my frequent tripping and falling down was not solely due to my clumsiness but partly contributed by my slight 'handicap' of a flat feet.

I used to attribute my many accidents to factors like poor eye-sight (causing me to miss potholes and my steps), lack of motor skills (which meant that any tripping would result in severe injuries because I could not cushion the fall in time) and clumsiness (hence the tripping). Despite trying to always walk on the safe side and avoiding too adventurous sports, I still caused my mum abundant worries with my scars and the loss of blood.

Now, I could finally tell her that my falls were also partly hereditary as flat feet were supposed to pass down genetically. This means that no matter what precautions I take, I still stand a higher risk than normal people in tripping and injuring myself. Knowing my handicap does not mean that I will then throw precaution to the wind. On the contrary, I have to take extra care. I know even if I undergo lasik, practise more yoga or sports, I am still very vulnerable to trips and falls because of my flat feet.

Please also help watch out for me if you are going out with me.

Thanks in advance.

Another Fire-Drill

This time, we participated by climbing 14 storeys down. After we took our attendance, we still went for our coffee before we went back to our office. This was because when the crowd dispersed, there would be a long wait at the lift lobby. Since there would be a long wait at the lift lobby, we might as well enjoy the wait with a cup of coffee instead.

For some reasons, I had either not been exercising for a long time or I had not warmed up. I ended up with very sore calf muscles the next day. Actually, I sort of expected it when my muscles felt very weak after the climb down.

Sigh! You would see me walking weirdly for the next few days.

Friday the 13th

It is Friday the 13th - believed to be an unlucky day, according to the western superstitions.

Do take care.

My Shocking Story on Human Spirit

This is a documentary which portrays people who are different. It has featured the world’s smallest kid and the world’s smallest mum. The world’s smallest kid has a hereditary spinal cord problem which prevents her from growing up. Moreover, the curving of the spinal cord will affect her internal organs’ development. The world’s smallest mum has a bone problem such that her height will be limited.

We always erroneously think that being different, they will feel awkward with people who are different from them and would desire to live with people who are similar to them. We can never be more wrong. They feel nervous when they are about to meet people who are like them. They sometimes avoid meeting people who are like them because they feel that they are normal and may not want to be reminded of their difference. Yet, despite their positivism, some of the inherent differences can still cause some inconvenience to their lives. For eg, the world’s smallest kid cannot swim after her operations for prevent the further collapse of her spinal cord. The world’s smallest mum cannot drive because the mass-market car has not catered for her shorter limbs.

The last thing that they want is sympathy from others. In fact, they are more positive than we think. They are happy with what they have. They too have their mood swings, their wilfulness and sentimental side. They understand their difference and take things in stride. For those of us who are relieved of the challenges that they have to face on a daily basis on abashedly more negative and grumbling than them.

I was moved by their fighting spirit against their haplessness of their conditions. I was motivated by their positivism. Week after week during Monday night, I shared their fears, their resilience and their joys. If you have the time, catch the program on Arts Central and be motivated.

Pampered Like a Queen

This is a sequel to the Miss Country Bumpkin’s adventure.

After my first-in-my-lifetime attendance of a pop concert, I went for my first-in-my-lifetime pedicure. All those times you have seen my painted toe nails, they were outcomes of my own D-I-Y. Knowing my sister has unutilized package, I pestered her to bring me to “see the world”.

Miss Country Bumpkin was both excited and nervous about my “maiden” pedicure. Will it be painful? Will it be ticklish? When I D-I-Y at home, I could withhold my strength for the more sensitive areas during scrubbing. Needless to say, I did not know where to put my legs, when to lift up and when to lift down. The pedicurist had to repeat her instructions many times before I knew what to do and my sister had to on-pass the instructions to me. I was slightly tense while my feet were undergoing the various treatments as it was ticklish and slightly biting, especially when the line of dead skins at the start of the nails were removed.

(My ugly feet before treatment)

My feet were first soaked in warm water. I guessed this was to soften my skin and cuticles. Then it was scrubbing of the bottom of my feet. With the amount of dead skin piling on my feet, the scrub was not intensive enough relative to what I would do at home. After the scrub, it was back to some soaking before the cuticles were trimmed. Then the feet were messaged with lotion before nail colour was applied. I could not make up my mind with the wide array of colours in the catalogue. After the nail colour was coated on twice, we had to move to a dryer for our feet to be blown dry.

No more bending sideway and forward to reach the difficult areas during the scrub. No more bending down and holding my breath when applying the nail colour. No more trembling of the hands when the brush was applied to the nails for fear of colouring outside the nail. All I had to do was sit back and relax and be pampered like a queen.

I do not even feel like a queen during a massage as I will need to move my arms or my body up and down during a massage for the masseur to tackle the more knotty areas. During the pedicure, I literally do not have to do anything except to select my nail colour. After the massage, I feel better but it is a very private feeling. After the pedicure, I have the beautiful nails to tell the whole world that I just have my feet professionally treated. I feel happy just looking at the colours.

(My feet after treatment)

Sun with Moon

I have heard about this Japanese restaurant for some time. The reviews that it gathers are more positive than negative. Hence, I want to give it a try. After all, everyone's tastebud is unique. A man's meat may be another's poison.

There is no set meal offered. For someone who is dying to reward my stomach at the end of a week with a filling meal, I am disappointed. The highlights of the month are on Kyushu delicacies. Hence, I try the Char Siew Ramen while Ah Peng tries the green tea rice with salmon.

(Green Tea soup with salmon rice)

The soup for the noodles is too salty and oily for my preference. I am also not a big fan for pickled ginger even though the ginger helped reduce the greasiness of the noodles. For someone who is quite conscious of what I eat, I am a little put-off by the fattiness of the char siew.

(Char Siew Ramen with Pickled Ginger)

The dessert is more refreshing. The black sesame pudding is a welcoming change to the rather strong taste of the noodles. The pudding is smooth and the black sesame serving is generous.

(Black sesame pudding and green tea tiramisu)

On the whole, the restaurant has not wowed me as much as its reviews. To be frank, I am slightly disappointed.

Medical Check-Up

I had not done any medical check-up since my pre-employment check-up. Hence, when the company offered free medical check-up at the office, I immediately invited my colleagues to sign up together.

As with all medical check-ups, fasting 10-hour before was essential for a more accurate diagnosis. We went for the check-up early in the morning as we were already very low on sugar. After registration, it was off to the toilet for urine test. Then, it was to the height, weight, waist line and blood pressure measurement. All seemed good and ok. In fact, I was 1 cm taller - my all-time high at 167cm. I wondered if this was a result of 9 months of yoga which stretched my vertebrae and made me stand taller.

The last test was blood test. Blood test always made me nervous because the nurses often had difficulty finding my blood capillaries (maybe my skin too thick. LOL). I knew things were not quite right when I felt more than just a tingle when the needle was injected. The pain lingered when the blood was being drawn and I felt the pressure of the pull. This was the most painful drawing of blood I felt.

I was right. That night, when I removed the plaster, I could see the swell and the starting of the blue-black. Sigh!

Forgetfulness

I proudly told my colleague that our medical check-up would be in two days' time.

She looked at me blankly and asked was it not tomorrow.

Then, we frantically searched through our emails for the confirmation of the registration. We found none. No choice, I immediately called the helpline to ask if they could confirm which was the date I had registered for the check-up.

My colleague was right. It was supposed to be tomorrow.

I am really getting more and more forgetful. Luckily, I have asked my colleague before it or I would have missed the appointment.

Looks like my brain power is deteriorating faster than I thought.

Looking Though the Lens

The digital camera is ubiquitous. I celebrate the advent of the digital photography age when we can take and view photos anytime and anywhere. For photos which are not well-taken, we can do editing or retake immediately. Many of the digital cameras even come equipped with a digital video function so that we do not miss out certain important actions in our lives.

Yet, the familiarity with digital camera can inadvertently led us to habitually experience our lives through the lens instead of with our eyes. How often do we practically switch on our camera and scan the sceneries constantly through the camera when we sight see? How often do we attempt to capture certain events on the digital media for future keepsake that we forget our claps and smiles? What we remember are not the blueness of the skies, the freshness of the air or the hilarity of our actions. What we remember are instead whether the flash light is on, whether the red-eye corrector is on, or even whether our hands are shaking when we press the shuttle release. We are gradually viewing all things through the digital camera lens.

It is no doubt a dilemma. Much as we would like to see and experience all the wonders of the moment, we also greedily want to capture the moments so that we can relive the emotions subsequently. Hence, we become increasingly reliant on our cameras, flashing it at each and every opportunity so much so that we forget to enjoy the moment for itself.

This was most hard-felt when I was attending the Angela Chang's concert. This was a concert which allowed cameras to be brought in. Many started taking photos at different moments in the concert. I never brought my camera but I had a camera phone. Spurred on by the kiasu syndrome, I also started to take photos using my camera phone which proved to be rather difficult given the distance I was from the stage and the lighting on the stage. Hence, I was constantly fustrated with the effects of the photos which were often blurred (from too far and the lower resolution of my phone camera) and too white (from the overexposure of light but I could not rectified as camera phone had fewer functions than a full-fledged camera).

To a point in time, I realised I was more concerned about taking photos than truly immersing myself in the performance. This was when I decided to ditch my phone camera and began to enjoy the show through my naked eyes instead. That was when I could fully appreciate the ambience, luxuriate in the soulful singing and be stunned by the kaleidoscopic colourful light and costumes on stage.

Much as we would like to record certain moments, we should not let that overtake our living.

Angela Chang's Concert

Call me a country bumpkin all you like and I will not deny. Fancy my grand old age of 28 and I have not gone to any concert previously. Maybe I should say I have not gone to any paid pop-star concert before. I have been to a complimentary concert featuring Valen Hsu and Grasshopper when I was temping after my A Levels as the company I was temping at was the organiser of the concert. I have also been to musicals and instrumental concerts. However, the ambience of pop concert will certainly be different.

I have always admired the vocal power of Angela Chang (张韶涵), especially from a pretty petite frame. I started noticing Angela Chang when I was catching the Taiwanese drama starring her as an aspiring starlet. The songs featured in the show - "Journey" and "遺失的美好" (My Lost Happiness) were soulful and touching. I was disappointed when the concert was postponed due to the artiste's ill-health condition. Hence, I was full of anticipation when the night of the concert finally arrived.

The venue of the concert was not quite ideal as it was at one of the halls in Singapore Expo where I felt that squarish layout might not enhance the accoustics. Most of the seats were levelled which meant that audience seated further away from the stage might be blocked by taller audience in front. The screens by the sides of the stage were too small to provide good views to audience sitting way behind.

(The stage before the start of the concert)

The concert started at 815 pm with Angela Chang descending from the central of the stage with "夢裡花" (Flowers in the Wonderland). Throughout the next 2 hour show, she has impressed the audience with her powerful vocals and soulful singing. The special guests for the concert were equally impressive. Her songs reverberated throughout the halls. Many sang along with Angela Chang as she belted out the well-known ballads. The ambience was certainly influencing when many started waving their neon-light wands and singing along.

(A very blurred picture of Angela Chang singing, but already the best among those I have taken for the night)

Despite the soulful and up-to-standard singing, I was still slightly disappointed with the concert. I wondered if I had expected too much from a concert.

I have believed that Angela Chang was a singer who sang decently among some of the contemporary artistes. Although she had maintained her standards and sang along harmoniously with the live orchestra, the arrangements of the songs lacked originality. The arrangements followed dutifully to those in her CDs which meant that listening to her at the concerts was similar to listening to her CDs. I liked her original songs and were glad I could hear them live but I was expecting more. A different arrangement to some of the more familiar songs could better enhance her singing proweress. Moreover, there were some more-familiar-songs to the Singapore audience, such as "親爱的，那不是愛情" (That is Not Love) and "C大調 " (C Major) which were missed out. Many of us expected them to be covered during the encore section but we were disappointed.

In addition, I could finally empathise with the many criticisms of the difficulty of eliciting a warmer response from Singapore audience. Despite Angela Chang encouraging the audience to sing and clap along with her during snippets of her song, the response was rather muted. Hence, the ambience was not as lively as the songs performed.

On the whole, it was a good but not quite fantastic concert as I felt that it was too-safe a performance.

Beauty Workshop

I was initially abit apprehensive on the usefulness of the beauty workshop conducted by the CC. Will it be a product marketing platform just like other beauty workshops conducted by some beauty houses? Will it be boring one-way information flow talk when we hear a lot but none specific to our skin type?

I arrived at the class 5 minutes early. Any classmates who have arrived kept to themselves and groups. There was no sight of any instructor. I started to feel unease. When the instructor had not arrived 15 minutes past the starting time, my unease grew. I wondered if the class was cancelled without my knowing. Although the number of arrivals had grown, everyone was quiet. I secretly started to hope this class would pass by quickly.

20 minutes past the starting time, the instructor finally rushed in with all her equipment and teaching kits. She was full of energy and I was instantly taken in by her exuberance and her jokes. Her anecdotes sometimes held little relevance to skin care and make-up yet they were her personal experiences which imparted other knowledge, for eg on how to deal with some beauticians’ hard selling, how to handle stress, how to handle disobedient children or how to cure our headache through pressing the acupoints.

After the long but informative and also entertaining introduction, we were ready to start our class proper. The first step was to learn how to properly cleanse our faces. There were 5 basins in the nearby toilet, so off we went in groups of 5. We were taught on how to wash, scrub and tone our face. We were chided for our mistakes of rubbing very hard with scrub which we thought we were doing a very thorough job. Yet, we did not know that we had inadvertently hurt our skin. Here are more tips:
- When we wash or scrub our face, we should always do in circular motions.
- When we want to dry our face, we would pat our face with a dry towel instead of wipe it with the towel.
- We should scrub both our face and body once a week.
- When we scrub, we should not rub it too hard and hurt our skin.
- We should always apply toner as it refines pores and helps clean away any dirt not removed by the cleanser.
- When we apply toner, we should pat them in for the skin to absorb.
- We must always apply sunblock to prevent damage of skin from the sun.
- For skin which is more prone to oil seeds near the eyes, a gel-form eye cream will be more suitable than an oil-based.
- Moisturisers are a must even for oily skin. Both moisturizers and toner help the make-up to be applied on more easily.

After washing our skin clean, it was back to class to learn how to apply eye cream as scrubs would dry our eyes and caused wrinkles. Then it was the application of tinted moisturizer as moisturizing was essential after a scrub. Well, it was the first-time I saw a tinted moisturizer as it was more popular in the West than Singapore.

Then, it was time for learning the basics of make-up. The instructor required a student to be the ‘model’ for the demonstration. Surprise, surprise, I was picked. My face then became the palette to be used for telling the class how to apply foundation, blusher, eye-shadow, eye-liner to lip gloss. I was extremely nervous with someone so close to my face and the whole class looking at me for a good half an hour. I never felt so ‘stared-at’ and scrutinized my whole life. Fortunately, the instructor was kind and jovial while my classmates were very encouraging and lavish with their compliments. Hence, my nerves were calmed soon after and I began to enjoy the process and also being the centre of attention for once in my life.

My instructor has only done the blusher and the eye-shadow on one-side of the face and I was supposed to be complete the other on my own. Hmm, I was clearly a novice for make-up. To achieve the same colour and effect of my instructor was clearly an impossible task. Moreover, my eyes were closed half the time when she was applying the eye-shadow and I could only feel and hear what she was doing. Needless to say, my attempt was far off from what the instructor had done.

I was not the only one who benefited from the magical touch of the instructor. She was patient and kind enough to do a little something for everyone in the class – from the shaping of eye-brow through trimming and drawing, to make-up on different skin tones and to eye-shadow and foundation recommendation for everyone. Not only did we learn some basics, we also had fun experimenting with the different colours that the instructor had brought along and getting personal consultation on what colours would be good for our skin tones.

With such customized teaching, the class stretched more than an hour after the official ending time, yet many still lingered around to ask the instructor more questions. The instructor also patiently addressed each question and provided more tips to us.

The workshop was certainly successful and useful. I hope the CC would conduct more such courses for the ladies so that others could benefit from this and we could pick-up new skills.

Bring Out the ‘Kampong’ Spirit in You

One of my PE teachers used to have this tagline – ‘Bring out the animal spirit in you!’ This was used at the start of friendly matches or during our physical fitness tests. Allow me to modify this tagline a little – ‘Bring out the Kampong spirit in you!’

Kampong, a Malay word, is used to describe a village. In the Malay village, the community is often cohesive, close-knitted and cooperative. When Singapore started to develop public housing, we have wanted to retain this community spirit so all the flats come with corridors. To be frank, I am not 100% certain this is the reason for having common corridors and void decks for our flats but I learnt this from the Channel 5 series ‘En-Bloc’.

For those of us growing up in HDB flats, the common corridors definitely hold fond memories. Well, my childhood was practically spent on the long-stretched corridors playing chasing games with the kids of my neighbours. We even extended our ‘territories’ to the accompanying stairway. Our play-time started immediately after breakfast and continued through to lunch. We would have skipped lunch if not for the warning canes from our mums.

Community Centres (CC) were built in each housing estates to foster friendly relationship of the community while providing workshops and recreational activities for the public. In the older days when people were poorer and not everyone owned a television, some of the neighbours would go to the CC in the evening to watch television. (If you can recall, the channels are not 24-by-7 when we were young, some channels start broadcasting only at 6 pm on weekdays.)

To be frank, I used to participate in the activities of the CC actively when I was in primary school. I will attend drawing lessons and take part in drawing competitions and lantern festivals of the CC often. Somehow as I grow up, I gradually lose interest in the activities of the CC, until recently.

When I wanted to sign up for yoga lessons at the nearby CCs, I was amazed by the array of activities that the CCs conducted these days. CCs are becoming chic and trendy with coffee outlets for those who wish to chill out after lessons or simply want to chill out at a quieter spot with a nice cup of coffee. The classes available at the CCs cater for all age groups with special classes for children, senior citizens and working adults. The types of lessons are comparable to the latest fad, such as yoga, salsa and in-line skating. For those who prefer the more traditional types of lessons, one can still find the all-time favourites, such as cooking, language, dancing and singing lessons. There are also local and overseas trips organized.

The CC I frequent are relatively quiet on Saturday morning when I attend my yoga lessons except for the fervent basket ball players who dribble away on the court. I was attending a beauty workshop on Saturday afternoon when I was being swept away by the ‘Kampong’ spirit which I thought was long-gone.

The CC was crowded with people with different interests and different age groups. There was a Malay wedding at the multipurpose hall. There were parents bringing their kids for drawing lessons. There were girls (from age about 10 to 60) attending the beauty workshops. The CC congregated the community under the same roof and rekindled the ‘Kampong’ spirit. When I talked to two of my classmates, I was informed that there was even a Women Executive Committee (WEC) which consisted of 30 odd members who met monthly to organize different activities for the ladies. Wow, I was immediately swelled with respect for my classmates. They sacrificed their personal time so that the ladies members in the CC could enjoy different classes and activities.

During the class, the girls also cheered each other on when we were practising our make-up. We encouraged each other for those who were shier and less experimental. We helped look-out for each other when we tried on the colours. This was when we met each other only for the first time and did not even know each other’s name. Moreover, we were also from different age groups. Yet, all barriers were broken when we washed our faces at the basins or applied our eye-shadows together in front of the mirror.

All unease I felt about signing up for a class alone was dismissed. I truly enjoyed the experience. I was also felt with warmth on the experience and the witness of the ‘Kampong’ spirit once again. I will come back for my classes to pick up new skills and

Going Back In Time

The 9pm Channel 8 drama serial was finally reaching its ending. Although it is slightly make-belief with the protagonist traveling back in time to reverse certain decisions and change the ultimate outcome, such a wish can be prevalent.

Come on, in every person’s life, regardless of how happy or optimistic a person is, there will still be instances where we wish we can go back in time. We wish to go back in time to relive certain happy memories or to minimise the regrets from a wrong decision or action. Sometimes, the wish can be immediately or shortly after the occurrence of the event. How often do we wish we can go back one-week in time to while we are still vacationing overseas? How often do we wish to go back to the minute before we utter a stupid comment which hurt our loved ones?

If you are given this ability to go back in time, which point in your time will you want to go back to? This may not be a simple question that can be answered at the blink of an eye. Sometimes there can be more than one moment, especially when we are trying to address past mistakes. Where we are today and what we are today are results of our past experiences. Each past experience or event could be a link in a chain and changing any one of these could lead to a domino effect. The outcome on the new projectile could be so different from where we were previously.

In my past 28 years, there are phases where I have gone through emotional roller coasters. I have been happy, sad, confident and inferior. I will be lying if I say there is no times where I feel like I can do better during those phases. For instance, I thought I should have made more full use of the my time in the university to more constructively use my time, eg pick up driving then, spend more time with my friends, take up more part-time or temporary jobs to gain more experience. On hindsight, I thought I have wasted time when I was in university.

Yet, if you really grant me this wish, will I really want to go back? On second thoughts, I probably will not want to go back. Would I have changed myself or my destiny in the process? I do not know. No single event or experience is isolated. When one event or experience is changed, there is a chain effect. Moreover, I do not live in a no-man’s land. When I attempt to trifle with my own destiny, I do not know who else I will be affecting in the process.

What about you? Do you want to go back to certain point in your life? If yes, what is your purpose? Do you want to change anything?

Pay-Back Time

From the one-work day week to a full five-day work week, the change was drastic. It was as if the motor had just started and suddenly it had to switch to the first-gear. Well, hiccups and lethargic ensued. Yet, rest was a luxury with so much to do and so little time. This was aggravated when my body was somehow still in the ‘recovery’ mode from the lack of sleep.

From the current project of the annual costing exercise to the evaluation of different business models, more ad hoc projects were added on to our plates. Some of these ad hoc projects were spun off from the workshop in KL. With the strategies and aspirations discussed, it was now time to translate those high-level talks into detailed operational numbers and estimated financials. Despite the financials being first-cut estimates, detailed work, review of assumptions and translating these into projections were still necessary. There ought to be integrity in the numbers.

On the other hand, the loss of the three days meant that we needed to work doubly hard to catch-up on any lag on the costing exercise. There was still a hard deadline that we had to work towards. Hence, studying of spreadsheets, piecing the numbers together, checking the links and calling the engineers pretty much summed up our main activities for the week.

Notwithstanding the longer hours, I was still not quite up-to-speed on my tasks as I liked. I really need to work harder and longer. Cheer me on.

Catch Up on Beauty Sleep

The whirlwind KL trip was truly exhausting. However, the exhaustion was only strongly felt when I lied on my bed on the night of return. The shopping, the food, the sight and the sound and the party pumped up our adrenaline. We were kept high even with an average of about 5-hour of sleep on consecutive nights.

My weekend after the return was spent mostly on my bed catching on my much deprived sleep. I needed as much sleep as possible to rest my body and my mind in preparation of the long week ahead.

I will say no more. It’s my bedtime again. Yawn.

KL - Home Sweet Home

3 days passed in a whirlwind. It was time to say bye-bye to KL.

Before lunch, L and I decided to head down to Times Square for a last minute shopping. She wanted to get some T-shirts which she had seen another colleague buying the day before. Too bad, the shop was not opened. We had to head back to the convention hall for an early lunch and a closing message before we departed.

Finally, I bought a necklace while L bought a necklace and a bangle at the same place. At least, my trip to KL was not entirely empty-handed.

After a quick and light lunch, we were on the road again back to Singapore. We slept all the way as all of us were simply deadbeat. Yet, it was still a good trip. A break-away from work and quality time spent with my colleagues. It was almost like an excursion but instead of with classmates, it was with colleagues. :-)

KL - More Shopping on the 2nd Day

We reached the breakfast area about 15 minutes before the start of the morning seminar at 8am. After a quick gobble down of the food, we headed to the seminar to talks and more talks when our minds were clearly in day-dreams from the lack of sleep and the planning of where to go for more shopping after lunch. One of my colleagues were arrowed for some presentation after lunch. Poor girl, she would not be able to join us for shopping.


After lunch, we decided to just shop around Berjaya Times Square since we only had a couple of hours before the start of the D&D. My room-mate decided to head off by herself to Sungei Wang again to get things that she had not gotten yesterday. The rest of us were simply too tired to brave the walk to and back from Sungei Wang and decided to just hang around Times Square. Afte two hours of aimless walking, we decided that we had enough and wanted to find a cafe to sit down and talk. It was the Old Town Coffee Shop. Old Town was a famous brand of white coffee in Malaysia. For fear of losing sleep for the night, I skipped the coffee and opted for the silk hose tea (Sit Mut Milk Tea) instead.


After the 'tea-break', we felt better and decided to walk around some more. With a stomach filled, we seemed to be recharged and had a better shopping mood. Hence, the shopping was more successful for some of my colleagues. Again, I came back empty handed except for the almond flake cookies which my sister asked me to get. According to my sister, this cookie could only be found in the KL's Famous Amos. Well, she better not lied to me, because it was not exactly cheap and I had to hand-carry it lightly for fear of crushing the biscuits into crumps.



Soon, it was time to head back to our rooms to prepare for D&D. Well, as this year's theme was cartoon theme, we were just going to dress in black tops to avoid being too outstanding as we were only the invited guests for this trip.



The night started off already on a high mood with excellence awards being given to deserving individuals who had gone the extra mile. The high ambience was maintained with the numerous lucky draws and bingo numbers announcement. The emcee for the night was also extremely witty with his comments and jokes. The performances by the business units competing for the best performing business unit awards also kept us entertained - with enactment of star wars, drag queens and cheerleading stuns. The highlight was when the different business unit heads danced to the crowd under the game of "Deal or No Deal".


The climax is certainly not over. The next part of the program was the business unit heads dressed as the cartoon characters in the games - with Sun Wu Kong from Dragonball, Zhu Ge Liang from Romance of the three Kingdoms, Chun Li from Street Fighter, Super Mario from Super Mario, Hitman and Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. We were bowled over by the spontaniety of the leaders and their make-overs. The leaders I know in the past are not as sporting to don such costumes and to act out the characters. However, the leaders here truly led by examples by going all out in whatever that they were doing. This drew greater respect from the team.


Amidst all the laugher, we forgot about the time. It was close to 1 am when the event finally came to a close. Despite the ending of the event, our mood was still bouyant and high. It would be difficult to fall asleep immediately. Again, when we retired to our room, my room-mate and I continued chatting about the event and about other things. I went to sleep at about 2 am while she slept at around 3am. For this entire trip, we were sleeping at an average of about 5 hour a day.

KL - First Day Itinerary

After we checked in to the hotel, the first day was free and easy for everyone. The real work would only start the next day with seminars in the morning and D & D from the evening onwards.

Sungei Wang
Our first stop at KL was to head off to Sungei Wang. Apparently, Sungei Wang was famous for the cheap shoes. My room-mate was dying to get shoes since she has not bought any spare pairs for D & D the following night except for her Birkenstock slippers.

There were about 8 of us who headed off to Sungei Wang. However, at the first store, we have already split out and decided to meet later for dinner together since it would be difficult to shop in a large crowd. In the end, 6 of us still shopped together for the entire trip.

Sungei Wang was similar to what I remembered from 6 years ago - my last trip to KL. The mall was filled with boutiques selling clothes and shoes. The shoes and clothes were at affordable prices and young looking. Some of the brands could be found in Singapore, such as Factory Outlet Store (FOS) and Vincci. We used to be able to find one of the most famous clothes chain in Singapore - Seed. However, it seemed that it had already moved out of Singapore about 2 years ago.

My room-mate was already very well-known for her shopping proweress even before the trip. She really lived up to her name by emerging as the person who has bought the most items among the few of us. All of them bought at least one pair of shoes - with some of them buying as many as 3 pairs. I was the failure among the group with no conquests at all in this shopping trip.

Pavillion
Time flew during happy times. Soon, it was time for dinner. We headed to Pavillion - the newest shopping mall along Bukit Bintan for food. The bright lights and the glass panels resembled any high-end shopping mall along Orchard Road. The variety of shops were familiar names in Singapore - from the branded Ferragamo to the famous food chain - Food Republic. We settled our dinner at Food Republic. The price was almost as expensive as Singapore foodcourt when your converted to Sing dollar equivalent. However, in ringgits, it would definitely be too expensive for the locals.

Bintang Walk
After dinner, we started our long walk back to the hotel. Although it was close to 10 pm, there were still many people crowding the streets, with the partying and drinking crowd in front of Hard Rock Cafe and other pubs around it. Across the road, outside Sungei Wang, youngsters were doing street dance to the passerbys. The night was certainly still young for the Malaysians.

A&W & Baskin Robbins
A&W was a familiar fastfood chains alongside McDonald's and KFC during our primary school days before newer chains such as Mos Burger and Carl's Junior wowed the Singaporeans with their Japanese and American burgers. A&W could no longer be found in Singapore.

Hence, when we spotted an A & W outlet, we needed to relive those fond memories and decided to buy our burgers there for our lunch in the bus. I had the Marina Fish sandwich. It was sweeter than the McDonald's version.

We had Baskin Robbins ice-cream after our dinner. Each of us ordered a scoop and share. I chose the "Very Berry Strawberry" flavour. Each scoop came with two pieces of small cookies. After trying Strawberry cheesecake, tiramisu, and a few others (which I could not recall what), I still preferred the tiramisu.

We all sounded like we were old people trying to relive our past by eating foods which reminded us of the past and which could no longer be found in Singapore. By the time, we headed back to the hotel to retire for the night, it was around 1030 pm. It was time to sleep early for a full-day of activity the following night. However, just like young kids going on holidays, we were too excited to sleep early. My room-mate and I chatted for a while before going to bed at close to midnight.

Yawn. The next day would be a longer day. We had to wake up at 6 am for a 8am seminar. Sigh!

KL - Checking In to Berjaya Times Square

Yawns and more yawns. It has been ages since I woke up so this early.

At 545am, I was in the showers.

At 645am, I was out of the house.

At 720am, I was in the office lobby, signing myself in, getting my dinner allowance for the day and all my passes for the next 3 days.

At 800am, our bus finally departed from the office building towards the Tuas checkpoint. The wait was necessary as there are 20 odd buses leaving for KL, fetching a total of about 700 people at one shot.

Hopefully, I would be able to catch a nap in the 5 hour bus journey to KL.

Hmmm. The bus seats were wide and comfortable. At least, there would be enough leg room for our legs to be stretched out for a nice snooze.

The committee was well-prepared in keeping us comfortable during the journey with green tea packet drink, bottled mineral water, twistie packet and other crackers being distributed to prevent us from feeling hungry. Mid-way through the journey, Sudoku and Anagrams were also played on the bus. Sudoku was certainly tough. My 'neighbour' and I gave up when we were not able to undo the wrong numbers we have put in and decided to continue our nap.

By 145 pm, we finally arrived at Berjaya Times Square. We helped ourselves to the light snack while we waited for our room keys. By 330pm, all my colleagues have gotten their keys to their rooms except for my room-mate and me. We decided to give up and bunk in our luggages in another colleague's room and headed to the malls for shopping first.

We decided to try our luck one more time before we left for shopping. Alas, we finally obtained our keys, but we could only go to our room after we came back from our shopping trip as the rest of the gang were still waiting for us.

When we retired to our room for the night, we were surprised by the spaciousness of the room. There was a living room section while the sleeping bed was separated from the living area. The bathroom was also split into 2 - with an adjourning door that could be closed and separate the toilet from the shower area. What a brilliant idea! When my room-mate was showering, I could still use the toilet and vice versa. The King-sized bed was more than enough for the two of us since we were both quite 'stationary' when we slept. Hence, we would not end up kicking each other.

(Our bedroom with the King-sized bed)

(Living room which we have used for put our things and luggage)

(View from our room)

All Set to Go!

We are counting down weekly and then daily. Last year, we were supposed to be going to Malacca but we were pulled out before the trip to help in one of the new system UAT. One year later, we are now going to KL. Until the day we set off, I still prepare myself mentally that we may not get to go because of work.

Nevertheless, going to KL continues to be one of the topics most discussed among the team - what is the latest exchange rate, what should we wear for the D & D, are we bringing an overnight bag or cabin trolley? Despite numerous discussions, we are never tired of talking about it again and again.

We have selected our room-mates at least a month before the trip. I am bunking with L. Although we have worked and talked before, but we were after all in two separate teams. She was more supporting segments reporting while I was more of a product analyst. When she first asked me to bunk in together, I was certainly surprised by this suggestion. I was already felt with trepidation of sharing a room for 2 nights with a colleague and this feeling was strengthened when I was to share room with someone not directly in my team (ie we report to different bosses). Anyway, we were both Capricorns, so I thought we should be able to get along fine with each other.

KL, here we come.

Small Face

I guess within each person's innermost self, there lurks some sort of discontentment with oneself regardless of how confident one person is. From the more superficial discontentment with one's appearance to the deeper inferiority complex surrounding one's personality, skills or even destiny. In addition, this discontentment evolve or may add on in different phases of one's life. It can even extend to the loved ones around one, such as one's husband or kids, in the rat's race to always surpass the Jones.

My current discontentment is with my small face. Well, it is not general a hatred or dislike, it is more of sometimes wishing my face can be slightly bigger to meet my not-so-petite frame. I always think my small face always give the illusion of a 'fatter' figure than I really am, especially in photos. It also results in my seemingly serious look than I really am, with all my features being concentrated together.

When it comes to buying specs, I can really appreciate the seriousness of the problem when it is difficult to select a frame that will not overwhelm my face. With the current trend of more exaggerated frames, this problem is exacerbated.

Using sheet masks is also a form of wastage. Sheet masks are cut out nicely in a face form with opening for the nose, mouth and eyes. They often come in standard sizes which are far too big for my face, so the eyes, mouth and nose openings often do fit my face well. I have to crumple up parts of the sheet to reduce non-breathing problem. Wastage at the edges occur when the edges often extend to a good part above my hairline.

I often thought a bigger face will be 'easier' to look at by others and for 'balanced' reasons. Perhaps if I am only 1.5 meters tall, my face will be more than adequate, but with a height of 1.65 meters and a not-so-thin frame, my face is way too small on my body.

Accuracy of Death

I have always enjoyed Japanese movie or drama more than Taiwanese or Korean. Japanese movies or drama often do not just tell a story, but rather also to highlight certain philosophy. Given the rave reviews that surround the latest Japanese movie starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, I am dying to feel the inspiration again.

Takeshi Kaneshiro was a grim reaper who liked music and was slightly rusty with the latest lingo of the world. For instance, he had amazed some of his targets with his incomprehension of phases such as "pick up girls" and "running noses". He defied all the common images of a grim reaper of someone with a hood and a scythe. Instead, he looked like ordinary you and me on the streets but with a pair of white gloves.

The movie had a poignant start. The grim reaper attended the wake of a ten-year old girl. At the wake, he chatted with a young girl at the wake when she immediately identified him as the grim reaper. The girl was actually the one who had passed on.

The first target was a 27-year-old office lady who lived life in a monotony. She had attempted suicide many times because she felt that she has jinxed when all her loved ones had passed away in succession. She felt that she was always embraced in bad luck whenever she tossed coin to make decisions or attempted to predict the outcome. The grim reaper was to spend the last few days with her and made the final decision on whether she should be given a second chance to live. The grim reaper decided to give her a second chance when she was accidentally discovered as a singer.

The second target was a Yakuza member whose purpose in life was to seek revenge for his leader. He died of a traffic accident instead of at the confrontation with another team. The grim reaper decided that he should still die because this target had already achieved his purpose in life. The last target was a 70-year-old hairdresser who felt that she had already achieved the purpose in life and was ready to go.

The movie adopted a funnier outlook of death which we often shied away from. The three targets appeared to be distinct from one another yet they were linked in their destinies one way or another. The grim reaper always asked the targets what they felt about death. Only the last target asked the grim reaper himself what he felt about death.
- There might be nothing special about death but death was important.
- One should live today like there is no tomorrow.
- Everyone will die. It is a matter of time.

This may not be as romantic as "Meet Joe Black". This may not be as witty as Death Note. Yet, I still feel that it sets one thinking about death and life. Many little details in the movie which might seem distinct but they were not superfluous as they were there to tell us something. The habit of the first target of tossing the coin highlighted that there were two sides of everything, eg good versus bad and life versus death. This habit which was also observed for the young Yakuza member hinted some linking between the first target and this member.

Different viewers might have different interpretations of the statements and events. It was truly an enjoyable show.

Romance

How often do we take a superficial view of romance and associate it with roses, candlelight dinner and seaside view? Yet, true romance should stem from the heart rather than be adorned with these materialistic gestures. I saw this scene in the last episode of the Channel U's 7 pm drama which left a last impression of what romance should be.

The father and mother had spent their entire life taking care of their family and solving problems for their children. When they were young, they were poor and had no spare cash to have any elaborate wedding ceremony. It was only when the father reached 60 years old that they decided to hold a wedding cum birthday celebration.

On the night before their wedding ceremony, they sat side-by-side watching the snow. While the mother was complaining about how young and naive she was when she first married the father, they ended up observing the wrinkles on each other's face. The mother could pin-point when each wrinkle appear on the father's face. The time the wrinkle appeared coincided with each problem that they needed to resolve for their family, eg when their adopted daughter's father passed away, when the youngest daughted got pregnant out of wedlock, when their eldest daughted got divorced, etc.

The father commented that wrinkles were badges of life to signify the honours and achievements from life. He jokingly added that the mother should not ask for face-lift anymore to remove these 'badges'. The mother thanked the father for sacrificing for the family and concluded that she has not regretted marrying him. With this, they continued watching the snow in harmonious silence.

This is what I call true romance. Despite there being disagreements over lifestyles and perspectives, or quarrels and complaints, they still knew they could rely on each other to overcome life challenges. They might not constantly whisper sweet nothings to each other. Nor did they expend elaborate efforts to show-off their affection at every possible occasion, Valentine's Day, anniversary, birthdays, etc. Yet, both of them knew that they had not regretted spending a great part of their lives in each other's companions.


P.S. Although romance stems from the heart, the occasional gift and flower and romantic setting will be equally treasured by the ladies. Such gestures are definitely a welcome reminders of the romance. *Wink*

Cherish

While China was busy with its final touch of preparation for the imminent Olympic Games, and Chinese worldwide were basking in pride for China being the host country this year, disaster stuck. The earthquake caused many schools and houses to collapse and killing many students and residents in Sichuan province. Many children became ophans overnight. Many parents weeped over the bodies of their children buried under the rubble of the collapsed schools. No matter how many soldiers and trained professionals participated in saving any survivals who are buried under the bricks and mortar, we seem to be on a losing end against this battle for time.

Suddenly, my discontentment with the rising heat of Singapore or my complaints about the crowdedness in Singapore appear trivial, whinny and even childish. It is this moment that jerks me out of my narrow-mindedness and keep my perspectives in check. It is at this moment that I cherish the peacefulness of Singapore. Crowdedness and heat are small prices to pay for our blessed geographical location. It is at this moment that I cherish my loved ones being around me. My mum's nagginess and my sister's hot temper are proofs of them living healthily around me to be able to breathe down my neck constantly. (Shh... don't tell them that).

I hope the taskforce will be able to save as many of the victims as possible. Let us pray for the safety of the victims as well as the taskforce working hard at the frontline.

Last Day of a Colleague

When I first started working, I was often saddened when colleagues left the company. It was like seeing your comrade - someone who 'fought through the battles' with you and someone who spent more time hearing you laugh and complain than your family, left. It often took me a while to get used to the replacement.


After 6 years in the corporate world, I became increasingly jaded towards departures of colleagues. Colleagues' last days are no longer tear-jerking moments. I learn to be happy for those who have found a greener pasture. I learn that the transitional moments for both myself and the replacement are often trying but it is a matter of time when both of us will get used to the each other's working style. Departures of colleagues become a matter of life that we need to live with, especially in a prosperous economy where opportunities are many. In the past, we face with departures every 2 to 3 years but in today's economy, colleagues come and go within months.


This latest 'casualty' has been with the company only for 7 months before he decides to seek greener pasture. 7 months, to me, seem to be an extremely short time for himself to understand if the job and the culture is for him and for the company to recognise his talent. Nevertheless, there is never a standard time or period to decide if one should continue staying or should make a move soon. Moreover, everyone has a different yardstick on whether they should continue staying in a company.


Well, best wishes to the departing colleague.

Forgive me, Mother Earth

The heat was really intolerable. It makes me lose appetite and sleep. It seems like by simply breathing, I will be sweating from the activity. To resolve the problem, I have to switch on the aircon for about half an hour before I sleep at night to cool down my room. I will also switch on the aircon when I am at home on weekends.

I know the CFC released by the aircon depletes the ozone layer. I know the high energy consumed by aircon will reduce the world's energy supplies. However, please forgive me, Mother Earth. I have already tried to keep the time I switch on the aircon to the minimum.

The more oppressive is the heat, the more 'short-sighted' I become where considerations for my posterity and green world are temporarily cast aside. In the battle of short-term comfort versus long-term sustainability, short-term comfort seems to triumph almost every time. :-(

New Hong Kong Cafe in AMK Hub

There is a new Hong Kong cafe in AMK Hub which replaces a noodle restaurant. I have passed by the restaurant several times, each time looking into the restaurant and the patrons with interest and apprehension. There is risk involved in trying out a restaurant. Will the food be nice? Will the food be expensive?

No risk, no gain.

There are daily set meals for 2 person, home-cooked dishes, the all-familiar Chinese-Western food (eg chicken chop rice, baked rice), traditional Cantonese food (eg lean-meat century egg porridge, or wanton noodles) and Chinese stir-fried (seafood horfun, egg fried rice). There is not shortage of choices. Well, we have to start somewhere. We go for the claypot tofu with egg (mild spicy) and braised chicken with basil (three-cups chicken).

Well, what is the verdict? It is passable for a Hong Kong cafe but certainly not the best yet. The portions served are quire small which reduce its value-for-money.

Claustrophobia Attack

I used to read about claustrophobia and thought to myself that it could simply be just panic attack. I thought it was just the medical professionals coining another term. This was until I seemed to suffer my first bout of claustrophobia that all doubts about the existence of this condition was swept away.

Friends who knew me would know I was not one who openly celebrated crowds. Only once in a blue moon would I feel excited about squeezing with people to feel the festive ambience. Most of the time I would prefer space and I stressed again I meant adequate and comfortable space for myself.

The journey to-and-fro work was often an ordeal as we were packed like sardines within the train cabin. Morbid thoughts, along the line of mass stampede if something dangerous were to happen, were often generated during that short span of 15 minutes. This discomfort was certainly increasing in intensity and no matter how early or late I could push my going to office or home time, the train was constantly packed to the brim.

More often than not, you would see me spending the eve of public holidays at home, instead of partying in clubs or Orchard Road for countdown or mass dance. Again, crowd was a strangely huge deterrent for me to want to celebrate with the whole of Singapore.

Perhaps it was because my recent recovery of flu and the weakening of my body, when I stepped into the lift or train cabin during peak hours, I felt a sudden lack of air, increasing rate of heart pumping and breathlessness. A 5 minute life ride or a 15 minute train ride felt like an eternity. The closed-up feeling was increasingly difficult to bear. As soon as I stepped into open space, the pent-up feeling dissipated as quickly as it appeared when I stepped into the lift or cabin. This happened a couple of times and I knew this was what claustrophobic people felt. I knew then that I had 'endeared' myself to claustrophobia.

Some people emigrated out of Singapore because of better opportunities and living environment. Some did that because of language - there was a time when parents were emigrating to Australia to lighten the study load of their children as passing of Chinese was a prerequisite for advancement into tertiary institutions. If I were to leave Singapore, I believed the reason would be none other than the increasing crowd of Singapore.

No Mood to Work

It was the day after a public holiday. It was a day from weekend. The office was strangely empty with many people taking leave to enjoy a super long weekend. For those few who remained in office staring at our spreadsheets, we were certainly in no mood for work, especially when we looked at our costing files, our monthly reporting files, etc. The numbers in the spreadsheet swam in front of us.

Sigh! Guess we would need to work harder with the start of the new week to catch up on the slower productivity.

Up Close and Personal with Nature

So often do we get caught up in work that we fail to notice or even deliberately ignore sceneries which we have bypassed.

So often that we sink into a rut or a routine that we think to-and-fro work and home form the entire world.

So often do we immerse ourselves in the concrete jungle that we forget the warmth, the rejuvenation and peacefulness of back in nature.

Although we are constantly being exposed to newer and newer forms of entertainment that has innudated the digital media and sprouting along the city, nothing beats the excitement of up close and personal with nature. Seeing how the little flowers which uphold itself in resplendent beauty against the strong gust of wind or the harsh heat and seeing how fallen leaves still contributing to the earth with its decomposition, I am simply overwhelmed with respect and admiration. This is the time when I can really treasure being alive and able to witness such finery of nature.

P.S. This sudden 'inspiration' came about when I was trudging over the hill in search of hawker food. There is always a silver lining to every cloud. Although I missed my hawker food, my spirits were lifted with this observation.

Upgrading of Another Market

There is a market which we like to go for breakfast because it offers a great variety of local fare (eg wanton mee, mincepork noodles, fried bee hoon) which are good and affordable. However, to reach the market, we need to climb over a hill. Although it is good exercise, sometimes we will opt for the nearer market for sheer convenience.

On this public holiday, we thought we have ample time to enjoy our breakfast leisurely (including the climb over the hill to-and-fro). After much sweat and panting, we reached the market. Much to our dismay, the market was closed for renovation. Argghh! What a huge disappointment!

Fortunately, there were some nearby coffeeshops. Left without any choice (short of travelling to another place for food), we settled for the coffeeshops. Needless to say, the variety and quality were nowhere comparable to the market.

I wondered when the upgrading would be completed. I wonder more if the good stalls would have disappeared together with the upgrading.

Sports Harden the Body

There is growing popularity as a CCA among primary school children. Many parents encourage their children to pick up the sports as it is supposed to build stamina and character. The trainings are arduous and likely to inflict injury for beginners. However, continuous training builds up poise and the stamina. The injuries are likely to lessen as the body hardens.

Actually, the same applies for yoga even though yoga is meant to be a milder sport relative to gymnastics. Yoga philosophy believes in understanding the body so that we build up our body strength without inflicting injuries. We should stretch but not overstretch. While staying in certain positions, we must ensure that we can continue our normal breathing instead of feeling uncomfortable. We should have buffer strengths so that we can protect ourselves should we lose our balance. So why do I say it hardens the body as well?

I have always had weaker knees perhaps due to my numerous falls which seem to hit my knees. Hence, kneeling positions are often uncomfortable, especially prolonged kneeling. I will end up having blue-blacks on my knee caps just by kneeling for about 15 minutes. In yoga, there are many positions which require kneeling. Initially, redness and blue-blacks of my knee caps were common after each yoga lesson. Now, I no longer see blue-blacks or redness even kneeling for a prolonged period.

It is usually tougher in the beginning especially for things which we are not used to. Yet, we need to overcome this initial difficulty, then we can build our strength. If the fear of injuries deters us from taking the first step, we will forever be restrained by this phobia and we will not acquire the necessary strength and skills. Only by falling can we learn how to break the fall the next time we trip. Only by sustaining the discomfort can our body get used to a certain position or training and we no longer feel the discomfort subsequently.

I am not saying now I have full flexibility to contort my body upside down or left to right. I am also not saying that I am injury-proof like Superman (except against Kryptonite) or have strength of Hercules. My improvement may be inches and so small that it may be barely noticeable. Yet, one day I hope that I can proudly tell you that my sit-and-reach result exceeds that of my school days. If you are not my schoolmate, I will let you on a secret. My sit-and-reach is really borderline, ie just meet the minimum mark to pass during NAFA test in the past. Hence, you can imagine how bad I was, especially for a girl.

Generation Gap with Babies

I remembered I used to be able to hang around with younger kids pretty well. Now, I am very hapless around babies.

Yes, they are adorable and charming. However, other than my looking at them and their looking back at me, I seriously do not know how to behave in front of them. Should I play with them? But play what, especially for the younger babies who are not enough to hold their own toys or to identify with different things. Should I talk to them? Say what? It is abit awkward to talk in baby language, but in the first place, what are baby languages? Moreover, language is only the tool, what about the content? I cannot possibly just start with “BB” and continue with “BB” forever.

I am more lost when they start to cry. I immediately freeze. What should I do? How can I pacify them? What are they trying to say? What do they want? Carrying them is clearly not an option. They are so small and soft while I am so clumsy. Handling them with TLC (tender loving care) is almost impossible with my rather retarded motor skills and reflexes. What if I hurt them while I carry them? Worse. What if I drop them? Nope, the best way to protect the babies is I don’t even attempt to carry them. Period.

Maybe, I am so foreign because they are others’ babies. That’s what some people may innocently choose to believe. Nah, if I am already feeling so hapless within the few minutes’ span, I cannot imagine facing a baby 24 by 7.

Is this because the older I become, the further away I am from the thinking and the wants of the babies so that I lose the ability to communicate with them or the comfort of ease with them? After all, I have been a baby before and have gone through what they are going through. Yet, now with babies, it is almost as if we come from two different planets. No wonder, there are so many fairy tales resolving around the fact that adults lose certain abilities of the children. I wonder if those tales are someone’s figment of imagination or is there hidden truth.

Coordinator

I have undertaken a number of coordinator roles since end of last year - from the coordinator for total corporate product revenue roll-up budget, to the coordinator for total Singapore Business staff cost and to the recent annual product costing exercise. I used to have much respect for the coordinators as they are often facing the tightest deadline and to stay back the latest. Typically, any delay in timeline by each team member will snowball and squeeze the remaining time for the coordinator because the ultimate deadline never moves. However, my respect for them increased exponentially since I have a real taste of what it is like.

To be frank, most people are not that stringent when it comes to disciplining themselve to meeting deadlines. We often have thousand and one reasons, or should I say excuses, on why we cannot submit on the deadline despite being informed of the deadlines many moons ago. Or worse. Sometimes, even after we submit on the deadline itself, our perfectionistic self may discover "areas of enhancements", be it genuine rectification of errors or pure improvements, such that our earlier submissions are as good as no submission.

Many often misinterpreted coordinators to be pretty high profile and simple jobs. After all, aren't coordinators supposed to set deadlines and chase people for their submissions on the deadlines? Aren't they have nothing to do except to consolidate submissions? Aren't they not just a mailbox since when there are queries, they will direct back to the team members? Well, maybe there are coordinating roles which are cushy, but some of them could involve high level of stress and mass amount of data.

One of the key milestones for product costing has just passed. During the day before the presentation to the head for corporate products, it was again an intense exercise of roll-up, check formula, put in presentation slides - cut and paste many excel tables. Being not exactly having a very "keen eye" on details, checking tje integrity of the numbers and aggregation can be a tad stressful especially when I am not familiar to quickly discern any irregularity. Late submissions heightens the stress level when I need to roll-up quickly to have a first-cut view.

Somehow with the experience of the previous 2 exercises, I believe I have more expectations and feel like lost and overwhelmed. I believed I can enjoy the process more because instead of being flooded in the sea of data, I can take time to think through the analysis and pick up from my boss some skills on what to look out for. Doing coordinator provides the overview which may not be visible to someone who is just supporting a segment.

Notwithstanding the stress, I hope I can benefit more from this opportunity, be it in terms of technical knowledge, working with different people and learning how to manage stress and priorities. I hope I don't make too many mistakes along the way and cause inconvenience to anyone. Yes, I will continue to work hard. Please cheer me on. :-)

Repeats

I am watching a couple of repeated programs in TV now. Some of which I have watched before while some I have missed when they were first broadcast.

Sweets for My Sweet
Jade Seah and Michelle Chong enlivened the half-an-hour program with their witty and rather upfront questions on the romances of celebrities over different desserts. Even the more reserved and low-keyed celebrities were drawn into some chatty revelation under the close scrutiny of Jade Seah and Michelle Chong.

Each week, a pair of celebrity couple would be invited on the show to introduce some of the dessert stores that they frequent. Amidst the tantalizing desserts, the hosts quizzed the couple about how they first got to know each other and interesting events surrounding their courtship.

In addition to the gourmet desserts that were constantly featured, the celebrity gossip added spice to the saccharine array cakes, pastries, ice-cream to the traditional Kuehs and Tong Shui (Chinese sweet soups, literal translation). For the “Chocoholic” and those with a sweet tooth, the program offered new suggestions on possible areas to ‘heal’ your cravings.

So Simple
I was fascinated by the D-I-Y and go-green concept. It is a different concept from the usual spate of programs which revolve around fashion and food. No doubt, food and fashion may be featured in parts of the show, but the theme was more of D-I-Y or living philosophies of the various guests who proclaimed organic food and doing things ‘healthy’ for the mind, soul, environment and body.

We do not need the most expensive gifts to show our sincerity. Making gifts using our own hands to capture the happiest memories may be the best gifts. We do not need to devour food with the most expensive ingredients, but simple vegetables and home-cooked food could be the best for our bodies.

Hanazakarino Kimitachihe (花样少年少女)
I have talked much about this serial when it was first broadcast. Hence, I would not continue my blabber here. I just wanted to reiterate once more. The show was equally good even for repeats. Few serials could compete with it.

2 words: just watch.


For the first 2 programs, there were subsequently a second series but the repeats were for the first series.

Blocked Ears

I have sometimes taken many things for granted including some of my senses. The recent flu has caused my ears to be blocked for about a week so that for that entire week, there seemed to be a filter between my ear drums and sound. I cannot hear myself very well either which accounts for the louder than the usual loudness of my voice, until one of my colleagues has to ask me to keep my voice down.

Missing my normal hearing has also caused some insecurity because hearing is also one form of tell-tale sign of potential danger. When you cannot hear very well, you miss out alot of good things as well, such as the rustling of the leaves against the wind, the melodious melody when your neighbour's child is practising on his piano...

I hope my blocked ears will go away soon.

500th Entry

This is the 500th entry in my blog.

500 - half of a thousand
500 - 500 miles, a country song which is quite popular in my primary school days
500 - covers travel, food, emotions, wishes, memories, outings, adventures, and many more.
500 - covers a period of close to 2 years
500 - thanks for listening to my grouses, my hysteria, my queer thinkings

Let's cheer to another 500, and another 500, and another 500, and another, and another... ... ... ... ...

Back to the old story. Ahem. I am still waiting for the start of your story.

Return of the Flu With Vengence

I was on MC last week. I had to take half day leave yesterday and MC today to rest. The flu has come back, albeit with a vengence this time round. Not only do I feel more exhausted and weak. The nose kept running without giving me a rest. I lost any appetite for food. My throat felt dry. My nose blocked during the night and prevented me for having a good sleep. The lack of a good night's sleep aggravated the illness.

Was this a sign of my body protesting as I did not give it a good rest the first time I was down with flu? Or was this a sign of my aging body that even the slightest virus could easily conquered my immunity and ravaged my body? Or was this an early sign of a more serious ailment brewing? Morbid thoughts started to run through my head on my apparent vulnerability to this common infection.

Even my usual doctor did not seem to be able to save me from the discomfort of the illness. TCM failed to perform miracles. Thus, I sought the help of another doctor whom my sister held high praises for in her last consultation.

The disgnosis was that I was down with an allergy that caused my nose to run incessantly. He presribed me tablets to be taken both in the morning and at night. Hopefully, with adequate rest and the medicine, I will be able to recover soon. Feeling lethargic and confining to the home are making my mind restless.

Lunch Appointment with Excolleague

I met WK online while I was working at home during my MC. When he heard that I was down with flu, he asked if he should bring chicken soup down. Being ultra-thick-skinned, I unabashedly replied in the affirmative. He might not have expected such a response from me and immediately backed off saying that he would not be able to make it. Yet, he had chivalrously suggested we meet for lunch instead the following day.

I was abit apprehensive. Although he drove, his office was not quite a stone's throw away from my office. Moreover, I worked in the city area where many would frown just thinking about the jams and the ERP gantries. Hence, even 10 minutes before lunch, I was still wondering if he was pulling a joke on me. I nearly wanted to just join my colleagues for lunch until I received his SMS.

We drove. Correction. He drove us to Newton hawker where he recommended a fish soup bee hoon which was supposed to be good comfort food for someone who was recovering from illness. Although it was refreshing to venture out of Orchard for lunch, the lunch was an enjoyable one more for the company. It was good to be eating with a familiar excolleague who could probably take my bluntness in good jest (or was this too presumptuous on my part?) . It was good catching up with the happenings to this old friend (feeling slightly guilty for his kindness while I hardly take any initiative to keep more regular contact). Despite having not seen him for more than a year, there did not seem to be any awkwardness.

Nevertheless, happy times flew past. It was time to head back to office for meeting. I was glad that he still remained as cheerful and positive as ever. Keep going, WK!

New Favourite Cheesecake

The musketeers wanted to meet at a restaurant which I found at Hungrygowhere.com. When I reached the door of the restaurant did I discover that the restaurant has in fact closed down. We had no choice but to adjourn to another eatery which we could find in Plaza Singapura. The choice? Secret Recipe.

I had heard from Ah Peng previously that the cakes at Secret Recipe were delicious. Expectations were raised even before I tasted them. This started my agony over what I should have for my main course so as to leave stomach space for dessert later. In the end, I chose a soup and salad.

We decided to choose 2 cakes to share under my strong insistence of watching out for calories (definitely tipping in a northward direction). We went for rasperry cheesecake and chocolate and banana cake. To add on, we went for the frosty fruit drinks.

I simply fell in love with the raspberry cheesecake. The miky cheese with the sweet and sour raspberry were certainly a divine combination. It was one of the best cheesecake I had ever tasted. Most of the cheesecakes I have tried previously was either too heavy, too hard or too dry. This was moist and the blend of salty cheese, with sour raspberry and sweet chocolate crumps base was appetite whetting.

The chocolate-banana cake combined two of the ingredients which were supposed to make us happy. The sweetness would please anyone with a sweet tooth. However, personally I would still prefer the raspberry cheesecake with the soury tinge.

It is indeed a wonderful and satisfying meal.

Downpour. Drenched.

I waited.

I hoped the rain would subside a little.

10 minutes have gone by. 15 minutes. 20 minutes.

After 25 minutes, the skies remained overcast and there was not sign that the rain would be easing. It was already 7.55 am. I could not wait any longer.

Braving the rain with my big umbrella, I began my longer-than-usual walk to the train station with the slight floods and puddles of water.

One-fifth of my journey later, I needed to take shelter at the nearby bus-stop while I folded up my long pants to prevent the water seeping higher up my legs with the pants as the perfect conduit. Image? Who cares?

This folding of pants continued until I reached my cubicle. Despite my furious efforts to dry my pants by dapping with dry cloth, the situation is not alleviated. I quickly pour myself a hot cup of water to prevent falling sick. I dried myself (naturally in aircon?) after one hour.

When I thought all was well, I woke up this morning with a running nose which quickly took a turn for the worse.

Walk. See. Smile.

The musketeers met at Plaza Singapura this month for our monthly gathering. Since it was a stone’s throw away from my office, I decided to walk to our meeting place.

The walk was quite a happy one since the air was crisp and slightly cool after the rain in the afternoon. En-route, I passed by the Istana and the green patch opposite Meridien Singapore. The happy cows and the colourful portraits of famous artistes such as Marilyn Monroe and Joanne Peh drew smiles to my face.

I missed those happy cows. Whenever I was surprised by their sudden appearances on green patches where I least expected them to, I always welcomed their ‘greetings’. The scene was sometimes bordering hilarity. Yet, who says life should be serious all the time.

I was glad I chose to walk instead of the lazy way of taking a train ride. The walk has definitely boosted my spirits before my meeting with the musketeers.

Hey, they should thank the cows or they would be facing a gloomy face throughout the night.

Sweet Indulgence

I used to be a big fan of durian. Yet, for health reasons, I have purposely steered away from durians. Durians are top on my list of heaty food. All my closer friends can attest to the fact that I don't take to heaty food very well. Many common maladies, such as flu,cold, sore throat, fever, will welcome me open arms when I consume to much heaty food. Hence, durians are certainly a big no-no for me.

Yet, the long queue in front of the Four Seasons counter at Ang Mo Kio Hub always fascinated me. Is it really that good such that the queues never disappear even after a year since its opening when any associated novelty should have worn off? Moreover, the queues are present regardless of whether it is a week day or weekend.

Well, I finally lay my hands on the durian puffs (even though its durian pancakes seem more popular). It is almost like eating durian with the pastry almost melting together with the durian. I don't remember its more expensive and more famous competitor being as good. The smell and the taste of durian practically explodes in my mouth. The strong aroma lingers even after the puff is swallowed. This is almost tantamouth to eating the fruit itself.

Such indulgence truly makes my day. Yet, I hope I don't have to pay a high price of it through my health...

Sweating Over Financial Planning

Let's face it. Financial planning scares or intimidates everyone of us. Although I am trained as an accountant, I am abashed to say the thought of financial management overwhelmes me. Risk vs return? Long-term investment vs short-term speculation? Equities vs fixed income? If the mere terminologies already put you off, wait till you need to drill further into their relationship.

Is it a female thing? Somehow, when I was sitting through my financial management tutorials, I had to struggle with the computation of IRR (internal rate of return), NPV (net present value), Black Scholes' model. On the other hand, my male course mates were simply thrilled with the financial concepts. Many of them literally breezed through the course. Needless to say, financial management earned me my only C for my whole undergraduate study.

Now, I have to deal with IRR, NPV and ROIC (return on invested capital) computation on a day-to-day basis as part of my work. Financial management terms are no longer black holes to me. However, translating financial management to my own assets management (though I often retort to those who advises on asset management that I hardly have any assets), the phobia continues. Hence, everytime I have to talk to my financial consultant, a.k.a insurance agent, I have to brave myself for full concentration or I will start losing the content of our conversation. Even with superficial finance knowledge, it still takes alot of brain cells to process what he is conveying, I cannot imagine those who are new to financial fundamentals.

Kudos to the finance professionals who make things more laymen and less complex for financial idiots like me. Given that financial management is an important part of everyone's life, it is essential for us to have adequate understanding to plan for our retirement, our health and our dependents. Every cent counts towards the building of our nests. Hence, we cannot afford to take too many chances with our investments and risk management. With a knowledgeable and sincere financial planner, it can definitely help financial idiots, like me, to overcome our phobia and sweat less over the complicated issues.

Streetdirectory.com

I was appalled and disappointed to find out that Virtual Maps on Streetdirectory.com would be removing the maps. Streetdirectory.com has been a good directional source for me to find out how to get to somewhere and the time taken for each alternative. It is a shame that this service is no longer available. Hmm, hopefully I can find a replacement soon to help directional idiot like me.

Up, Up, Up... ...

I am not referring to the inflation rate of Singapore. Neither am I referring to the stock exchange. I am referring to the temperature in Singapore.

In some of the temperate countries, they will be enjoying the warmth of the spring with the cool breeze blowing. In Singapore, we seem to be right smack in the middle of summer. This is the time when I long to get into office. Why? For the free aircon of course.

Heat affects appetites. Not only do I feel hungry less often, I also start to shun anything that is soupy and boiling. I long for cool and crunchy food. Hmmm...now salad is certainly on my radar screen, especially those dress in balsamic vinegar. Yum yum, cool, refreshing and slightly sour... ... Best way to cool down in the white hot heat. =p