Departures

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I regret missing the movie when it was first shown. It has received raving review when it was first shown in Singapore. My interest was piqued especially when it was a movie about death – a taboo in many Asian cultures.

The male lead was a cellist in the orchestra. When the orchestra was disbanded, he went back to his home-town with his wife. He was attracted by a job ad in the papers recruiting people to help others in their journey. He mistook this to be a job in the tourism industry. He only found that the ‘journey’ referred to a person’s final journey after he was recruited and the job was encoffinture – preparing the dead before placing them in the coffin.

Many were repelled by his job, including himself and his wife. It was only when he saw his boss preparing one of the dead with such elegance and dignity that he understood the importance and meaning of his job. All those who initially were against his job changed their minds when they saw the meaning of his job.

I was moved. It has also changed my perception of death. My respect for those who helped the dead with their final journey grew tremendously. Death is but another phase in life, just like coming of age, marriage and birth. It is only that in this last phase in life, one remains oblivious to and has no control over the decisions being made.

Despite the heavy subject, the movie was felt with humour which lightened the solemn topic without being disrespectful or turning it into a circus. The humour was subtle, such as determining the make-up to be used for a transvestite – male or female or the scene where the girlfriends of a dead Casanova leaving kisses all over his face.

It was the first time that I learnt of the beauty of the cello. In an orchestra, a cello rarely took centre-stage among the string instruments. It often formed the bass with its pitch being lower range. In the movie, cello became the melody rather than the accompaniment. Not only was the low range pitch unboring, it was also more soothing to the ears compared to the higher pitch violin or viola.

The movie is moving in that it creates a dull ache in your heart. This ache stays long in your heart everytime you remember scenes of the movie unlike Korean dramas which leave you teary but often short-term. It also sets you thinking about death without it being too overwhelming and scary. Please watch it if you have the time. I hope you enjoy the movie as well as I do.

P.S. The Japanese name of the movie is "Okuribito".

Saved by an Angel

Having just finished the book by Paulo Coelho on The Valkyries, I could not help drawing similiarities between the book and my personal experience. In the book, it was mentioned that things happened for a reason. Sometimes, such things were the acts or words of our angels. For instance, a person might accidentally left his car keys at home and had to head back home before starting his journey. When he went home, he realised that he had not left any message for his family members about where he would be going. Hence, he then did that and his family could reach him later on. If he hadn't and if he met any trouble later on, no one in the family would know. The forgetting the keys could be an act of the angels to remind you of some important action.

I nearly made a risky investment decision under the 'heat' of the situation. I could not help but feel that my guardian angel was helping me when I forgot to bring my cheque book along.

Many times, we can be lured into a false excitement about the prospect of a certain investment especially when you are among many equally emotionally charged investors. Their irrational optimisim can create an illusion of exaggerated returns. It is during these times that we commit unnecessarily to an investment which may be beyond our risk appetite. During those moments, we ay make impulsive decisions for fear of being left behind.

Initially, I was disappointed when I forgot my cheque book, knowing that I might once again miss the boat. Strangely, my sister also commented that she remembered about the cheque book the same morning but somehow it slipped her mind to remind me. Since I forgot my cheque book, I knew that the trip was only a 'study' trip. It was only afterwards did I realise what a narrow escape I had made. If I had brought my cheque book, I would have committed an irrational decision. I could not help but feel that it was my guardian angel at work and prevent me from jumping into the wagon.

I was thankful for this because at least I did not do something that I would regret subsequently. Missing the boat is better than jumping into a sinking boat.

Nasi Briyani

For the past 2 years I have walked past the stall and been extremely tempted to try its nasi briyani for it smelled so good. For some unexplained reason, I never got to eat it despite this desire and craving.

When I finally took a mouthful, I wondered why I waited to long. The rice was grainy without being too tough. The meat had crispy skin but juicy flesh. It was so heavenly. It came in substantial portion so that it would also fill your stomach unlike some other good food where the serving was miniscule.

Yum yum. Best nasi briyani in Singapore - even better than the well-known banana leaf briyani at Northpoint foodcourt!

Forgotten Language

I nearly wanted to bury my head in the ground. Again.

While having dinner with SM and Jen at AMK, I met one of my ex-students at the deaf school. I used to be a tutor at the deaf school during my university days. To be a tutor, we have undergone crash course in sign language. We also constantly practised in class when we were interacting with our students. After lessons, we also put to practice sign language by learning how to sign a song. The song signing session was usually led by a team of people - different teams and songs each week.

7 years had passed and I truly lost touch with sign language. Even signing alphabets become an issue. Signing alphabets was the most basic way of signing as if you are unfamiliar with certain words, you can choose to spell out the words to the person you are communicating.

When I met this student, he immediately signed to me. It took a long while for me to figure out what he was trying to say. Hence, for simple chit chats on how we were getting on, it took us 15 minutes to get through. Stupid me, I forgot about my mobile phone or I could have easily typed out the message to him on my phone and he could do likewise. It would have been easier than he signing several times to say something to me and I pausing a long while to decide how to reply to him.

I felt so guilty for losing touch, not just with the students but also with the only bridge of reaching out to them. I was one of the worst signers aong the tutors then. I was sure I would still remain the worst signer today. How could I forget one of the most important language I have picked up? How could I also forget all these students whom I once had so much fun with? I felt low for concentraing the last 7 years mostly on work. Maybe it is time I become reacquainted with sign language. Maybe it is time I should do more for the deaf kids.

Gathering of 3 Single Women

It has been ages since I meet up with my closest friends from secondary school days. It has been extremely difficult to coordinate any gathering with our various commitments and schedules all over the place. Now without 6 months’ advance booking, it is almost next to impossible to gather the whole gang.

It has been so long that we are out that I almost forget about how I miss talking about the moon and the stars with them. I have forgotten how much I miss our extended discussion about the latest drama that we are catching. I have also forgotten about the laughter – mostly self-deprecating about ourselves.

We were busy catching up some of the latest developments. We were busy sharing with each other some of our past and future holiday plans. Talking about holiday was a great escapade which allows us to forget about the mundane troubles and to dream. We were also sharing some of our latest interests and career and personal development plans. Of course, we could never leave out any discussion about the latest dramas. For some strange reasons, often our chats were devoted largely to the discussion of some drama plots. This was what happened this time round with “My Queen” (the latest popular Taiwanese drama) taking centre stage. The plight of the 33-year old protagonist was very endearing. The devotion of Lucas was equally touching. Come on, which lady will not be moved by a man who is willing to lay down his life to take care of you?

The hours flew by in between our food and our drinks. Time passed by so quickly when you are in great company.

The Secret Language of Business

I never pride myself to be a perceptive person. Strangely, some think that the higher the IQ of a person, the lower will be the EQ. However, I thought was a good example to prove that this hypothesis is false, ie no correlation between IQ and EQ. I am a walking example that one can also be both low in IQ and EQ.

Being born less privileged, it only means that I need to work harder in order not to lag behind. Isn’t it Einstein who emphasized that 70% of the success is determined by hard work and only 30% is based on innate abilities? Well, do not despair, maybe there is still hope if we work hard enough?

As one of the steps to minimize my blurness especially when dealing with another person, I hope to gain more insights through the book “The Secret Language of Business” by Kevin Hogan. It is not as academic as most books which devote a lot of the pages to quoting theorem from xx professor or yy award winning papers. Hence, it was not as yawn-inducing as other similar books fortunately. It has also cited some interesting facts that have more practical applications.

Some of these interesting facts include that most ladies tend to have their ring fingers at the same length of their index fingers. For most gentlemen, their ring fingers tend to be longer than the index fingers. For ladies who have ‘gentlemen’ fingers, they are likely to be good in Maths. For men who have ‘ladies’ fingers, they tend to suffer from depression more frequently. Another interesting example included sitting on the right of a right-handed person if you wish to calm the person down. This is because when the person look to the right, they tend to activate more of their left brain which is predictive of people feeling more at ease

Most of us know that women tend to read body language better than men. We often attributed to women’s more perceptive sixth sense. This was not without grounds. The reason why women could read body language better than men was because of maternal instincts as the only way to communicate with babies was only through body language.

For ladies who wish to tell your dates that you like your dates, you can send a strong massage by using your eyes. When breaking eye contact, avoid looking side-to-side, at other people or things, or up. When breaking eye contact, look down, defocused and then bring your eyes back up to meet the other person. If you wish to create comfort with your business partner, one way is to mirror the body language of the other person.

This book is an easy read for introduction to the world and importance of body language. However, due to the difference between Asian and Western cultures, some of the examples might not apply so intimately in an Asian context. Moreover, there was also fewer examples of various scenarios in business context as there were generally more paragraphs devoted to general concepts. Notwithstanding it is still a good introduction.

Aromatherapy

I used to dismiss aromatherapy and its effectiveness, thinking that it is one those new alternate medicine that the businessmen had developed to con consumers out of their hard-earned money. Smelling nice could perhaps create a happy mood, but to cure an illness seemed abit far-fetched.

Being a non-practioner, I was open to the different wellness therapies – from music therapy, hydrotherapy to even aromatherapy. Nevertheless, other than the feel good and relaxing factor, I was skeptical their effectiveness as a cure.

Recently, I found myself indulging in aromatherapy more and more. When I select toiletries, a good-smelling one will be preferred over one whose smell is not as appealing. When I feel low and stressed, the tension ebbs with each rub of a sweet smelling shower foam A higher quality sleep can be easily attained with the rubbing of a soothing moisturizer over my tired skin before sleep.

Do I feel I have a stronger stamina or higher immune system with the incorporation of aromatherapy into my daily rituals? Probably not directly. Certainly indirectly.

When I feel less stressed and happier with the lavish use of scent, at least I can more easily achieve inner peace. We all know that maintaining internal balance is one of the keys to longevity. Promoting good quality sleep is also necessary for a more higher productivity at work. Feeling good is the first step actual goodness – the law of attraction.

Go on, when you next feel stressed, try on aromatherapy.

Imperial Treasure Chinese Restaurant

My mum loves the food from Imperial Treasure. There are fewer branches of Imperial Treasure than Crystal Jade Kitchen. We can only satisfy our cravings for Imperial Treasure often only when we are in town. When we happened to drop by Cityhall area, we already knew where we would certainly head for our lunch.

To be frank when the food was served, we were slightly disappointed. We had only stopped patronizing the restaurant for a couple of months but the servings seemed to have shrunk.

The fried pork rib noodles (la mian) whetted our appetites with the springy noodles and the succulent pork ribs. The pork ribs were juicy and fried to golden brown without being too oily. Despite the crispy skin, the meat was still tender. The noodles was springy and soft without being mushy.

The soup dumplings – xiao long bao, were still as soupy as ever. We had to handle the dumplings with care. If we exerted too much force, the skin could break easily. Then the soup contained within the dumplings would be lost. This would then be equivalent to eating wanton noodles without the wanton. The essence of the dumplings lay in the soup.

Soupy rice was something that we tried for the first time. It was made of rice soaked in soup. The rice was still hard and grainy unlike porridge. There was also less soup than porridge. Mixed with vegetables, eggs and chicken, each mouthful of rice would allow one to taste the freshness of the greens, the smoothness of the egg, the tenderness of the chicken and the sweetness of the rice. Ahh….a perfect concoction. It was simply my favourite as I was a lover of soup and rice. This combined the best of both worlds.

Perhaps it was due to a drought of Imperial Treasure for many months, it was truly a satisfying meal.

Thai Express

I am a great lover of Thai food. However, there are very few Thai restaurants in Singapore matching up to the standard of an average stall in a Thai foodcourt. The only ones which I found good in Singapore were only Sticky Rice in Ang Mo Kio Hub and Lemon Grass which used to be at Hereen.

I have tried Thai Express which used to have an outlet at the Esplanade many years ago when Esplanade first opened its doors. I was not particularly impressed thinking that it was slightly overpriced and the quality was mediocre. I have similarly tried Bali Thai at Novena Square once. To be frank, it was way below my expectation.

Recently, Thai Expresss opened a new outlet at the revamped Northpoint. After so many years, the menu might have changed. Hence, I decided to patronise Thai Express despite my reservations. Well, the food certainly looked tantalising from the display. What about the taste?

1) Curry Softshell Crab with Rice

This is the best among the dishes we have. The crab is crispy without being oily. The curry is a little sweet. It would be better if it were spicier.

2) Tom Yam Rice Noodle Soup

The Tom Yam is way too spicy without being sour enough. For people with lower tolerance of spicy food, this is certainly something you should avoid.

3) Pad Thai

Very few pad thai could match up to the standard of Bangkok. This is not exception. The pad thai is too sweet. The pad thai was too oily.

Generally, I will not recommend a repeat visit.

Back To Reality

After so many days of training, I am finally back to reality. Work has piled. Urghh! It is time to bite the bullet and just work.

More Training

For the past 2 weeks, I have been spending at least 2 days on training and this week is no exception. I am at the Serangoon office training for our Business Warehouse system. Training provides a good respite from work and to keep up updated but it can be disruptive if there are work to be done. Again, I have to steal time off training to catch-up on work and to answer queries from the line. Sigh!

Brida

Reading Paulo Coelho books is often a disturbing experience. It is disturbing the sense that it sets you thinking about the greater wisdom of life which we often shelf it aside to make space for more mundane decisions, such as what to eat for lunch and how to spend the weekend. From the Alchemist when one confronts the need to have a dream and to pursue the dream relentlessly to Veronika Decides to Die when we have to confront death.

Brida centres around soul mates, path to spiritual development and faith. Brida was a young girl seeking spiritual path to magic to better understand the meanings of the world and to find her soul mate. She studies from the Magus who practised the Tradition of the Sun and from Wicca who practised the Tradition of the Moon. Through her practise, she also self-discovered new knowledge and wisdom. When she found her soul mate, she would be able to see the light above the left shoulder of his soul mate.

I have extracted some of the more meaningful passages and paragraphs here to mull and ponder upon.

"...each person can take one of two attitudes: to build or to plant. The builders might take years over their tasks, but one day, they finish what they're doing. Then they find they're hemmed in by their own walls. Life loses its meaning when the building stops.

Then there are those who plant. They ensure storms and all the many vicissitudes of the seasons, and they rarely rest. But, unlike a building, a garden never stops growing. And while it requires the gardener's constamt attention, it also alows life for the gardeners to be a great adventure."

Do you want to be a gardener or a builder?

" ...for us each day is a dark night. None of us knows what mught happen even in the next minute, and yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have faith."

Do you have faith?

"And when people think of reincarnation, they always come up against a very difficult question: if in the beginning, there were so few people on the face of Earth, and now there are so many, where did all those new souls comes from?
...
In certain reincarnations, we divide into two. 
...
In each life, we feel a mysterious obligation to find at least one of those soul mates.
...
By taking risks. By risking failure, disappointment, disillusion, but never ceasing in your search for your Love. As long as you keep looking, you will triumph in the end."

Do you believe in soul mates? Have you found your soul mate?

"Sometimes we set off down a path simply because we don't believe in it... All we have to do then is to prove that it isn't the right path for us. However, when things start to happen, and the path does reveal itself to us, we become afraid of carrying on."

Have you spent time destroing paths that were wrong rather than following the right path?

William Blake - "What is now proved was once only imagin'd"

Hence, one should never stop imagination.

"People give flowers as presents because flowers contain the true meaning of Love. Anyone who tries to possess a flower will have to watch its beauty fading. But if you simply look at a flower in the field, you will keep it forever, because the flower is part of the evening and the sunset and the smell of the damp earth adn the cloud of the horizon."

 I hope the above paragraphs and passages have invoked some thoughts and feelings in you.

Free Promotional Treat

To be frank, when we first teased a line manager whom we had worked closely with for a free treat in view of his promotion, we did not expect him to agree to it so quickly. Unlike the less generous people, not only did he agree immediately on the spot, he even set up a calendar invitation for the lunch without any reminders from us. We graciously accepted his invitation even though we were feeling slightly embarrassed and guilty for sponging off him again.

Nevertheless, we should thank KL for his lunch and for his generosity.

Chinese Imperial Women

Women living in current era have more freedom and choices than the women of previous generations. Chinese Imperial Women is a summary of the history relating to women in the various dynasties in China.

Some of the more well-known women included Wu Zetian who was the first and only female empress fro the Tang court. To achieve power, she had even killed her two sons so as to ascend the throne. When she ascended the throne, she changed the name to Zhou Dynasty. She reigned for about 15 years.

Yang Guifei was one of the four beauties in China history. Her beauty has caused the downfall of the emperor when he spent all his time with her. She was subsequently ordered to die.

The most ruthless empress was actually Empress Lu from the Han Dynasty. She was the empress of Liu Bang - first emperor of Han Dynasty. She had cut off the hands and feet and removed the eyes of Qi Ji - Liu Bang's concubine when Liu Bang died. While she wielded her power after the passing on of Liu Bang, she installed many of her relatives in important roles in the court. She drove out many of Liu Bang's relatives and descendants. When she died, her family was driven out of court.

The last empress was Empress Wanrou who was the empress to the last emperor of China - Puyi.

The book gave a quick overview of the women in Chinese history. It was an easy and entertaining read.

Pow Sing Kitchen

Pow Sing Kitchen offers one of my favourite Nyonya cuisines. The main kitchen is located in Serangoon Gardens - a few minutes from Chomp Chomp Food Centre. For those who do not lived in the north-east part of Singapore but will like a taste of Nyonya food can drop by the branch at Food Republic - Wisma Atria.

After a shopping trip with my mum and my sister at Orchard Road, we stopped by Food Republic for dinner. Since we had not been to Pow Sing Kitchen for ages, we decided to have our dinner there. From the balachan ladyfingers to the barbecued stingray and the claypot cabbage, Pow Sing had not failed us. The food was sumptuous. 

Hey, I always believe that life is short, so we should not waste our calories on unpalatable food.

Ion Orchard

We were dismissed from class early after we ended our test. On my way home, I decided to drop by the newly opened Ion Orchard to check out this mammoth shopping landmark along Orchard Road.

The concept again resembled that of Orchard Central. Gone were the days where all shopping centres had a large lobby which allowed one to view all the shops from the lobby. There were many shops and the whole complex was pretty maze-like. One could never know what to expect as one turned the corner or travelled up the escalator. Some of the escalators would also bring you to different floors. Hence, while taking escalators, beware or you would end up in a different floor from where you wanted to go.

There were many Japanese eateries at basement 4, some of which were pretty unheard of or were previously only located at one part of Singapore. For eg, one would find the famous bakery along Holland Village - Provence having another outlet here. There were also new eateries selling Hokkaido ice-cream, Japanese burger such as R burgers. The doughnut chain - Dunkin Donuts which had disappeared from Singapore market for some-time made a come-back at Ion.

With this new shopping mall, it would certainly enhance the shopping experience along Orchard Road.

Phew! Passed Test

Phew! I have passed my test. The studying has paid back! At least I would not be a disgrace to be my bosses. Although I was not the top of the class, I was the second among my course mates. The top scorer sat beside me. I wondered if my good results was due to his intelligence rubbing off me - god results by association? Hmm... nevertheless, it was a relief to be able to pass the test.

The Illusionist

Eisenheim was a renowned illusionist who could make trees grow out of soil. He could also make images appeared in the mirror with different actions of the person being reflected. His performances were received with rave reviews. Many were intrigued by how he had managed to perform these stunts. Many sought to find the loopholes to his magic.

When his beloved - Duchess von Teschen was murdered by her fiance, Eisenheim went into despair. He disappeared from the theater for a while. When returned, he brought with him a new magical act - where he could summon spirits whether alive or dead to his stage. This performance attracted many audience who wanted him to summon the dead. During one of the performances when the Crown Prince Leopold - fiance of Duchess von Teschen, went undercover to view this performance. He summoned the spirit of the dead Duchess who pointed out that her murderer was in the audience.

To prevent complications, Crown Prince Leopold ordered the capturing of Eisenheim who disappeared as the spirits he had summoned in one of the shows. At the same time, the murdering act of Crown Prince and his evil plans to usurp the throne was discovered. Leopold shot himself before he was being captured.

The ending showed a spirited Eisenheim racing a horse to a cottage to meet the Duchess von Teschen.

This was an unexpectedly good movie.

3 Year Anniversary

Today marks the third year anniversary of my blog.

For the past 3 years, this blog serves as an outlet for me to freely express my feelings of the moments, the sights I have witnessed and the people I have encountered. It has also been a place where my thoughts become an open book to some of my friends. It registers my transition over the past 3 years.

When I first set it up, it was partly to ride on the technology wagon as well as for me to indulge in one of my favourite past-times - writing. 3 years on, I know I contribute less frequently to this blog than when I first started yet. Yet, its importance as part of my life has never diminished.

Now, when people started to move on to Twitters - a more real time and shorter blog of the thought of the minute and the experience of the hour, I still hold on rather stubbornly to blog. To me, a sentence or two about your thoughts cannot sufficiently capture everything. Given its very instant nature, it also does not provide the opportunity for one to mull through the thoughts before putting down in words. This can lead to easy misinterpretation.

I do not know how long I can keep this blog running. For all I know, this blog may soon be phased out by technology progress. For the day that I am still managing this blog, this will still be my listening ear for pouring out my crazy thoughts or angry grievances. Till the day you are still visiting this site regularly, thank you for being the listening ear in kind.

Chilli Crab - Yum Yum

Crab is something that I have a love-hate relationship with. It is one of my favourite food. Be it chilli crab, crab bee hoon or white or black pepper crab, I love them all. However, it is also one of the messier food which I need to use all my fingers and my teeth extensively in order to have a wholesome meal. For the dainty ladies and the faint-hearted, my word of advice is to avoid seeing my while I am attacking my crab. Moreover, it is also believed to be one of the food with the highest cholestrol. Given my sedentary life-style, consumption of this seafood should be restricted to the minimal.
Since I normally make a scene when I eat crab and crab is something that requires leisure consumption to be enjoyable, packing them back home and eat slowly is the best choice.

The zi char stall in the nearby coffee shop offers value-for-money dishes most of the time, but we have not tried its crab. Suddenly, we had cravings for crab. Chilli crab would go very well with the farmer's bread that we just purchased from NTUC. We packed 2 chilli crabs of a total weight of about 1 kg home for our dinner. 

The crabs did not fail our expectations with their chunky claws, succulent flesh and abundant roe. Soaked in the chilli gravy, I was practically drooling over the crabs. We wasted no time in tucking in immediately. As I savoured the sweet and spicy crab on my soft farmer's bread, I was overcome by a warm sense of bliss. Pleasure could really arise from the smallest things in life. Having a favourite food could certainly brighten my day despite the need to hit the books soon for my test preparation.

Despite it being just 1 kg in total, the 3 of us still could not finish the crabs. Again, not to waste food, we decided to keep gobbling down even when we were immensely full.

Chicken Feet Noodles - A Delicacy

The chicken feet noodles at Hong Lim Food Centre was one of the most well-known wanton / chicken feet noodles in Chinatown. With the training centre within 5 minute walk from hawker centre, how could I miss the noodles?

Hong Lim Food Centre was a popular food centre among many foodies. Quite a number of the best-of-the-best local food could be found here. This included the Hong Lim curry chicken noodles, the fried kway teow and the wanton noodles.

The wanton noodle stall was located on the second level. It was hard to miss the stall for there was often a visible queue in front of the stall since the stall promoted self-service among the patrons. The front of the stall was also decorated with many newspapers cuttings pronouncing its good flavour. Despite the fame, the stall owners and helpers were still friendly as they attempted to take each order. The wanton noodles came in $2.50 and $3 per plate choice. The chicken feet noodles was slightly more expensive at $3 or $3.50 per plate.

When I was served, I was slightly taken aback by the generous servings of noodles and chicken feet. There were 3 big chicken feet. The feet was tender and juicy without being too mushy. The flesh and the skins easily peeled off from the bones by just sucking on it. There was also generous serving of green vegetables and mushroom. For someone who was not a big eater, I felt terribly full after finishing the whole plate. Although I was tempted to give up halfway to avoid over-eating, the good flavour kept me going. Moreover, wasting food was a waste.

This was one of the best chicken feet noodles I had tasted for a long time.

Juggling Working and Studying

Studying - something that I seemed to have lost the skill for. My mind was inpenetrable to all the new concepts. Unfortunately, this course required that all participants sit for a test at the end of the course. Hence, no matter how difficult it was for me to concentrate and remember the concepts, I had to persevere. Failing was certainly not an option.

I finally could experience the stress of part-time study. Not only did I had to go home and revise the lessons for the day in preparatio of the test, I had to go home and work. In fact, to save time, I would also work during the lunch and tea breaks so that I could minimise the amount of catch-up awaiting me after a four-day course.

By the time I hit home after lessons, I would start to work from 7 plus until 10 at night. Although it was only day 2, I started to feel the stress especially when during the activities time, my course mates seemed more familiar than I did on the application of the concepts.

I probably had to spend the weekend mugging to ensure that I passed my test next Tues.

Start of Six Sigma Certification

Getting Lean Six Sigma certification is a journey. It requires 8 days of intensive training with a test and an exam. The certification is only complete with the project. Getting the certification is a journey.

Initially, I was rejoicing the break away from work even though this was not a good time to be away from work as my mentee would be joining the company soon. Moreover, my colleague who was taking my portfolio was just back from her maternity and before I had time to hand over, I would be leaving her to fend for herself.

Nevertheless, it still felt exuberating to be able to be intellectually simulated. This was when I heard that the instructor was a professor from the Australian Graduate School of Management. Lean Six Sigma was also one of the modules in MBA which meant I could get a free tutoring of a MBA module at company's expense.

I was certainly looking forward to the next few days of classroom.

New Role - Mentoring

There would be a new management associate joining the company next month. This management associate program was newly created to encourage more department heads to recruit fresh graduates. My boss has decided to appoint me as a mentor for this management associate.

Mentor? It sounds like heavy responsibility especially to someone new to the company and someone new to the workforce. Whatever I do or say will likely etch on the memory of this newbie.

My impatience can also get pretty out of hand when I am short of time and becomes extremely task-oriented. Will this also dampens the spirit and ideals of the newcomer? How do I strike a balance between getting my point across and work done versus coaching for him to gain experience?

I am excited about this role as it is a good opportunity for me to develop my soft skills, especially in coaching. Yet, this will be added to my already ballooning portfolio. Do I have time and energy to do a good job. At this point, I am still filled with apprehension.

Importance of Primary School

Recently, Chrys has been fretting about the enrolment of her first son into primary school. She has shortlisted a few schools which fell within one kilometer radius from her home. However, it seemed that despite her proximity to these schools, she would only stand a 40% chance of getting her son into these schools during the balloting. I have never expected competition to be this fierce for primary school enrolment.

To me, the choice of the primary school is important but not as important as secondary school or junior college. My preferred primary school is one that is near to the home of the student so that he needs not spend unnecessary time on travelling. Moreover, travelling can be tiring especially with the early start time of school days.

If a child can be enrolled into a SAP school, it will certainly be good. However, parents should also be aware that once you are in a SAP school, your child will be exposed to intense competition from a tender age as meritocracy and strive to excellence will be some of the values strongly inculcated. If you child is still not mentally strong enough to withstand these pressures, the competition can stump instead of catalyse the development of the child. In the worst case scenario, it can atrophy the joy of learning.

I have very fond memories of my primary school. I believe my primary school days help lay very strong foundation of my quest for learning and my determination for giving my best. It is a place where I have the most enjoyable time of all my study years. I remember the wild days of running around the school field during recess time playing ET with my classmates. I remember stealing all the valuable time before assembly for our zero-point training and keeping it from my mum. My mum barred me from doing zero-point because I was growing taller than other kids my age and she was afraid I was suffering from gigantism.

Despite being a neighbourhood school, my teachers were as proud of us as if we were the brightest students in Singapore. They encouraged us to take part in the Singapore Youth Festival despite the choir group only forming six months before the competition. My teacher actually ferried me to a National Chinese Essay Writing Competition. We might not have won the competition but we felt we had won just by participating.

It is because of these enjoyable times that I like going to school and that I have confidence that I can achieve as long as I believe and work hard. I see the same passion and confidence in my of my friends who are also from neighbourhood school. Would I have been able to achieve more if my parents had enrolled me in a SAP primary school instead? I don't know. However, I am certain that despite graduating from a neighbourhood primary school, I too can do my part to the society.

Change of Portfolio Again

Although this is my second job after I graduated, it feels as if this is the 6th to 7th job I am having.

In first job, I was fortunate to have bosses who were willing to offer opportunities for me to gain exposure to various aspects of finance. Within operations, I had ventured into billing and collection and later procurement and payables. During my stint in operations, I was lucky to participate in the financial policies review which was more on control and policies. Later, I was moved to management accounting which focused on budget and reporting before ending my first job at financial accounting where I had to revisit all my financial standards for statutory reporting.

In this job, I have been in management accounting all these while but I had a chance to support for the performance of a product as well as reporting of a department. Most of my peers were either in product performance or department performance. Even within products I had moved across several products where I seemed to change one product yearly.

There are often both pros as well as cons associated with changing portfolio. The pros include an exciting time with no room for boredom. The cons include a steep learning curve almost constantly. Just as I thought I could be comfortable doing something arising from familiarity, it was time for the carousel to turn again.

I wonder how long I will stay in this current portfolio.

Senki Japanese Restaurant at Cuppage Terrace

I was at the Senki Japanese Restaurant at Cuppage Terrace to celebrate Chrys' birthday. It was a recommendation from another colleague who had been there before. The set meal which consisted of a main course, a salad and a soup cost about $9 per set. This was extremely good deal.

There were four sets to choose from which included ugagi (grilled eel) and grilled beef. I chose the grilled unagi set.

The salad consisted of prickles and fresh greens served with balsamic vinegar. The unagi came with a rice and miso soup. I had not eaten so succulent and fleshy for a long time. The unagi was also deboned nicely without any remaining bones which could sometimes killed the eating experience. Often, one of the reasons I might avoid unagi was that some of the chefs did not debone the fiah nicely and the remaining bones could make the eating a hassle. The fish was also grilled nicely with slight crisp but without any burning at the thin end of the fish.

It was definitely a value-for-money set.

Boot Camp for Six Sigma

The boot camp was designed specifically for the six sigma project team to get to know one another better and to understand basic concepts of lean six sigma as well as the project. After the boot camp, we were supposed to have a project charter and team responsibilities ready.

Through the 2-day boot camp, I knew about the problems better. I also got to know the issues faced by the various parties better. It was indeed an eye-opener. Being new to lean six sigma, I was also overwhelmed by the many concepts and terms that floated around the classroom for the 2-day.

I was excited by the prospect of being in the team and being able to hear so much about the same issue from the various parties. It helped me better appreciate the work done by the various parties from the receipt of a customer request to the billing of the customer revenue.

Arrow Shot!

My boss's boss asked me once again if I had thought through what he mentioned.

I chose my words carefully by being upfront with him on my concerns which included my fear of not being able to contribute to the project as much as my other colleague. I also highlighted the disconnect when my colleague did the operational work while I did the project. Such disconnect could be better streamline if both the operational work and project fell under one person.

After hearing my monologue, he also shared with me why he had decided to choose someone with less experience for the job.

Firstly, he thought this would be a good opportunity for me to be exposed to work of a different nature. Secondly, he thought that being less entrenched in the issues of the past, I would be able to bring a fresh perspective to the work. Both his points were valid and provided strong grounds which made it difficult for me to decline.

He also suspected my ultimate concern about the workload even when I had not told him directly. He assured me that he could always do reshuffling of the work if the project became too effort and time consuming. Finally, he asked if he could allay all my fears, I would want to give the project a try.

What could I say? It seemed illogical and unreasonable for me not to accept the opportunity that came knocking when my boss's boss seemed to provide all the necessary support.

Sensing my reservations, he finally asked if I could leave the decision to him and my boss to decide who should head this project. I nodded my head but I needed not to hear his final decision. I already knew that I would lead this project. The question remaining would be how my other porfolio would change accordingly.

It was time to pack my bags to start a 2-day bootcamp the next day.

Visit to the Doctor Again

I wondered if it was the stress, the lack of sleep or the tenacity of the virus that kept my cough going for more than 2 weeks. I was coughing to the point that it kept me awake at night. The lack of sleep aggravated the recovery. With the current rampant H1N1 cases, it was not wise for me to prolong the recovery. It was time for me to visit the doctor again.

The last time I had cough, I also took ages to recover. I hated coughs because it made you feel lethargic all the time. The cough also seemed to improve its intensity and frequency towards the night when it was the best time to rest. I recalled it took me several bottles of the cough syrups before I could fully recover. I had to take an extra strong medicine to recover.

Knowing that this medicine work, I had requested for this cough syrup during the first visit to the doctor. Disappointingly, the office clinic did not carry such medicine. I was dismissed with the normal brown sweet cough syrup. Needless to say, even after finishing the entire bottle of the cough syrup, I had not recovered.

When I heard that my colleague Pink went to the clinic opposite my office and obtained the cough syrup I was looking for, I waited no longer. I went to the doctor and told him about my condition. He insisted on prescribing antibiotics despite my expressing of strong apprehension of needing it. Before I left, I specifically asked him to prescribe me the cough medicine in a box (not the off-the-shelf brown syrup).

I was relieved when I finally laid my hands on the cough syrup that cured me previously. I could finally see an end to my cough.

Barbecue @ Home

My sister decided to host a barbecue at home and with her friends. Initially, we were still contemplating if we should gather both her and my friends together. Subsequently, I decided to hold a separate gathering for my friends instead as my place was not exactly a mansion and the barbecue area was quite cosy (euphemism for squeezy).

We were quite excited as this would be the first time we tried a barbecue caterer who would marinate all the food and deliver to our home. All we had to do is to set up the fire and put the food on the fire to cook them. In addition to barbecue food, the menu also included staples such as fried noodles.

Her first friends starting arriving at around half past five in the evening. I was all charged to help her out to ensure that she and her friends could have a wonderful time. However, it was dampened slightly by the haughty attitude of one of her friends. She made me feel like I was intruding on their gathering.

She walked into our home blatantly ignoring my presence even though I was there to greet her, her husband and her mother as guests. Strangely what honour we had for her mother to grace this occasion was beyond me as I believed it should be a gathering for friends and their spouses at most.

She continued to venture around the house unchaperoned as if she owned the house, with the entourage of her mother and her husband. I started to seethe with anger but contained myself to prevent the evening starting off on a bad note.

When the fire was started, the trio started eating huge amount of the food even before any other guest arrived. Not knowing how many more people we were expecting and whether they were big eaters, I cautioned my sister to 'hint' to the trio that there were more guests expected. My sister oblivious to the inconsideration of the trio was reluctant to halt the continual eating of this trio. At this juncture, I felt like stepping forward and directly told off the trio.

Shortly, when another lone friend of my sister arrived, she was again kept at bay as the trio practically hog the barbecue pit. This poor friend of my sister had to stand at one side and wait and without food. Sensing her awkwardness, I approached her to talk to her and to help my friend out while keeping an eye on the trio. Fortunately, as more friends arrived and the barbecue took on its own live, the place was no longer hogged by the trio. The evening turned up to be quite fun in the balmy weather.

In the end, I never helped much as I did not want to be seem intruding on my sister's party. Somehow, I felt that my sister needed to brush up her crowd control skills more especially with regards to the inconsiderate trio.

Gathering with Friends

Frankly, it is really time to chide myself over my complete submersion into my work for the past half a year. Somehow taking on a consolidator role meant a greater responsibility and my work life balance started to go awry. Needless to say, friends and family took a back seat with my energy and time channelled to work.

It has been ages since I gather with any friend, much less a group of friends. I was surprised that I managed to get the time of a few friends with less than a week's notice. Most of my friends have packed social calendar which require pretty advanced pre-booking.

I was pretty nervous because it was a first attempt to bring a group of friends whose only common friend was me in a single gathering. I reckoned it was a good opportunity for my friends to know my friends and to have an enjoyable evening, ie Facebook contacts in real life. Fortunately, my friends were also enthusiastic about the idea. Moreover, I guessed if there were any mismatch of frequencies, at least each of them could concentrate on their food.

All of them were shy when they first met each other. Given that I was not exactly the most spontaneous or eloquent person around, I was busy trying to think of easy topics to keep the conversations going. I was also trying to be more self-deprecating and humourous but I failed rather miserably . The jokes were lame and slapstick and did not cause much of a ripple much less enliven the group.

Mr Ong was trying his best to help me with his travel experiences. All through the night, he managed to draw more conversations for the more reserved friends with his jokes and easy banter. Phew, I really owed him a big favour for being the best ice-breaker. Towards the end of the night, the group seemed more at ease with one another and laughter was also more abundant.

I have indeed enjoyed myself, albeit slightly draining while trying to think of things to say, catching up with friends. I hope they have an equally enjoyable evening making new friends.

More Arrows Coming!

I was looking forward to the day that my colleague would be back from her maternity leave. Juggling 2 portfolios for the past 2 months not only was taking a toll on my health, it was also starting to show the first signs of break-down as I was rushing to complete the more critical and urgent tasks. There were other important issues which I had tried to put off for the time-being so that I could meet the burning deadlines first.

Just as I thought my entire ordeal would end in about two weeks' time, my boss's boss suddenly had a chat with me.

He asked me if I was interested in continuing with the project under the portfolio that I was temporarily covering. Faced with fatigue from the fire-fighting for that project for the past 2 months, my first instinct was to decline. I was looking forward to going back to my core where I felt I had the most contribution. Indeed, the ability to attend training for six-sigma and to be certified a green belt was tempting. Yet, on the other hand, if I continued, I knew I would end up with many sleepless nights.

My boss always mentioned that you could never have the cake and eat it. If you wished for a challenging job, then you could never expect to have too much of a work-life balance. If you wish for work-life balance, then your career progression would have to take a back-seat. Yes, I was fully aware of this as I too believed there could never be free lunch in this world.

Now, I was once again at the cross-road. If I declined this project, I would have to do it tactfully without appearing to be one who shied away from challenges. Yet, this might be the opportunity for me to do a high-exposure project and for me to also test my own competence. Moreover, a green belt certification in six sigma could be a highly valuable accolade to be added to be my resume. In the event that I had to move on, it would increase my marketability in the job market.

Personal development aside, I was equally concerned about my ability to contribute. After all, my colleague returning from maternity leave had more experience than me on this project. She was one of the pioneers who kicked off this project. Furthermore, I always admired her steadfastness, perseverance and merticulous attitude on work. She would definitely be able to drive it better than I do. If she were to take over this portfolio, it made sense that the project stayed with her since she would be able to translate the issues faced in operation to the improvements under the project. A separation of the operation and the project might create gaps in understanding and application.

My boss's boss asked me to think it through his proposal. Despite saying that he had not confirmed the plan and the person to be selected for this, I knew well in my heart that once he broached this subject, it was most likely that he had already made his choice.

Famous Quotes from "The Valkyries"

The Valkyries is a book by Paulo Coelho on his journey to seek out his angels. Paulo Coelho is one of the authors whose book requires a lot of mulling over and pondering whenever I read his book. Some of the things are philosophical. Everytime I run through a paragraph, I will have new insights. Here are some of the quotes from the book worth mulling over.

"Very few old people look to the future, and I'm one of them. When we look into the future, we see what it holds for us: death."

"And each man kills the thing he loves."

Orchard Central

Every morning as I passed by the underground from the train station to my office, I was entranced by the beguiling expression of the girl with doe-like eyes enlarged many times and plastered all over the wall. After being inundated with this image each time I went to work and back home, it was inevitable I was curious about what Orchard Central looked like.

After lunch with 5050 and KW, we decided to walk to Orchard Central. As usual, I was the most mountain tortoise among the 3. Both KW and 5050 had already somewhat explored the place. With them as guide, I could see more of the place in a shorter time.

The place reminded me of Langham Place in Mongkok, Hong Kong. From one end of the mall, you might not see the other and you could not see all the stores at one-shot. There was also a rock wall for rock climbing at the top of the mall. We spotted a few caucasians attempting a climb. There were also some slopes which bring you across the levels. The shop mix was slightly less common than what we saw in other malls, such as many new Japanese and Korean eateries. The boutiques were of smaller scale and cosy. There was also a rooftop garden overseeing Orchard Road.

If you have time, do drop by Orchard Central as well.

Best News in a Month

I was busy doing a high five with Chrys.

This was the best news I have heard for the past one month after wearily juggling two portfolios. My other colleague who has been seconded to a special project for a year and who will soon be coming back from maternity leave will be taking over the portfolio I am covering. Finally, I can concentrate on my core portfolio which I have cast aside for a while due to the backlogs accumulated for the covering portfolio. I can once again enjoy a better work-life balance.

All I need to do is to endure another 3 weeks as she will be back by end July.

Hurray! My heart nearly burst with a sense of relief upon hearing the news.

Cough Which Drew Much Concern

I hate coughs. Firstly, coughs these days are super long-lived often with a minimal span of 2 weeks. Secondly, to recover from coughs, there are various food that have to be avoided, such as chicken, fried and spicy items, citrus fruits, grapes and even squids. This basically comprises many common ingredients in our every day meals.

Coughs also hampers daily activities because I tend to feel weak and become breathless more easily during coughs. Coughs prevent quality sleep as drier throats in the nights mean more frequent coughs. During the audible nature of coughs, coughs also disturb people around me. Hence, I never take things lightly when I have coughs. I will try all means and go for extreme strict diet which involves avoiding many food I like to ensure a speedy recovery from coughs.

Many colleagues empathised with my recent plight of covering a departed colleague's entire portfolio. When they heard my coughs, many were also concerned that the cough was exacerbated by work stress. Although the work stress and my ailments had made me feel slightly demoralised, I was still determined to bite the bullet and persevere. However, being a softie at heart, what drove me nearly to tears was not the mounting stress and physical exhaustion. My eyes started to tear when I was showered in their concerns about my cough. I felt the tough resolve that I put up to keep it going starting to crumble.

E heard my first coughs and asked if it was just a smattering of a few coughs or it meant something serious catching on.

Tim suddenly beeped me over Sametime. I was prepared for his instruction to me to update templates or to prepare some presentation slides, typical requests of the coordinator for the budget and monthly reporting. Little did I expect his beeps to ask me how I was getting on and that I seemed to have a bad cough for he could hear me from his workstation.

Pink bought me Woods sweets which apparently worked wonders when she had coughs previously and kept urging me to take them to ease the irritance in the throat.

Lala asked me to put some Vicks on my throat before I sleep and cover myself with blanket to keep the throat warm to reduce tendency of cough at night.

My KL room-mate, L, even bought me some strong mint sweets which had worked for her previously - passed down remedy from her mother-in-law. I felt extremely guilty that she still showed me so much concern despite her being heavily pregnant.

With the concerns that my colleagues had showed, how can I not will myself and try to get well soon. With their support, I am sure I will be able to overcome the challenging deadlines and deliver. Thank you for your concern and your support. This is what draws me to office daily despite the heavy workload.

Marina Barrage

I have heard about Marina Barrage many times. It was the first reservoir in the city. The view of the interface between the city landscape and the vastness of the sea wooed many locals there weekly for walks and picnics. I held the belief that Singaporeans should be more familiar than any tourist of every corner and tourist attraction in Singapore, I ought to see and experience for myself the state-of-the art dam.

There was a free shuttle bus from Marina Bay MRT Station to ferry visitors to the Marina Barrage and back.

There was a long ramp at the entrance to guide the visitors up to the green field on the second storey. The ramp helped to make the climb less strenuous. Visitors could also more leisurely admire the CBD landscape as well as the construction of the Marina Sands IR, the Singapore Flyers and Esplanade. As one moved southwards and upwards in the climbs, the city landscape gradually gave way to the blue seas and the sea breeze cooled us down from the climb.

There were many families and friends either having picnics and games of frisbees on the green field. Many lovers of photography also perched their DSLR on their tripods at strategic locations hoping to capture the best photoes from the NDP rehearsals.

Suddenly, our ears were deafened but the whirl of the het engines as the Black Knights zoomed past us overhead towards the Floating Stage at Marina. Shortly, we heard the swirling of the propellers as the helipcopters carrying the giant National Flag flew overhead. Many visitors shouted and clapped.

There was also a fountain on the ground floor which kept many young children happy as they ran free in the raining waters which was only ankle deep. For those who wished to find out more about the efforts of PUB in water conservation and discovery, there was also a gallery which provided information on the board's efforts. If you were hungry after the information overload and playing with water, the famous 7th Storey Hotel Chinese restaurant could be found here.

I would certainly come back for more.

Running 2 Shifts

For the past 3 weeks I have been running 2 shifts a day ever since I have been asked to cover the colleague who was undergoing some personal crisis. The 2 shifts would sustain me for at least another month or so as he had finally decided to throw in the towel and tendered.

So for the past few weeks, I have left office at 6 pm but to go home and continue working till after 10 pm. Some of the work I needed catching up required intense concentration as I had to think through and be merticulous in setting up the models. Time in office simply could not allow me this luxury as I would need to answer calls to provide real-time help or attend meetings. Oh my, I never realise that my whole schedule had been bogged down with so many meetings.

Even with the extra hours I work on weekdays, I know I am still very much behind schedule if I were to meet the mid-July deadline. To catch-up on lost time, I have no choice but to work full-time on weekends except for my yoga lesson too.

To work beyond office hours and on weekends are severely disrupting my work-life balance and starting to take a toll on my passion for my work. Ah Peng jibbed that with such heavy workload, how did I expect to have time for myself or dating ('part-toh', if I may use her exact words). I replied jokingly back to her. I still did but I "part-toh" with my work instead. I held hands with my spreadsheets and stared lovingly into the formulae.

I really hoped that I would see the light at the tunnel soon. I longed to go back to the days where weekends were spent on books, exercises and with family and friends.

Half-Yearly Mark

Half a year has passed. It is time to revisit your resolutions to fine-tune or adjust when plans change.

If you are still a long way from the end of your resolution list, you still to buck up and start sprinting.

For those who have accomplished at a faster pace, good for you and keep it up.

Let's work towards a fruitful year.

Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen

I never expected Tranformers to be this exciting. That was the impression I have had when I watched the first Tranformers movie about 2 years ago. I have always loosely and perhaps inaccurately classified Transformers as a "guy" show with the automobiles and the robots. I was also slightly wary that it might be a show filled with gruesome blood splatterings, disembodied corpses and violent fights. I was hooked after watching the show. The bravery and righteousness of Optimum Prime and the cuteness and loyalty of Bumble Bee simply blew me off.

Needless to say, I was filled with anticipation about the sequel. And, I was not disappointed.

The Revenge of the Fallen lined up the same dynamic cast of Shia LeBouf and Megan Fox with the autobots - Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee. It was more action packed than the previous show. Even in the face of the evil Megatrons, there was still humour and light-hearted moments throughout the show to bring a smile to the audience's faces. Megan Fox continued to sizzle the screen with her sexy appeal.

However, I still preferred the first show to the second one as the fighting dominated too much of the sequel. With the intense fighting, it was also abit hard to distinguish between the good and evil when the fighting started.

Nevertheless, it was still an entertaining show.

Disappointed and Sad

I must be suffering from amnesia. Or maybe it is the first signs of dementia. How did I keep getting the information wrong. How is it that I never can overcome my blurness completely?

I wanted to bring my mum to a complimentary boat ride along Singapore River as part of the Singapore River Festival. I got the dates wrong. It was supposed to end on 27 June and I thought it was supposed to end on 28 June. In the end, we missed it despite talking about it for some time.

The second time I got the venue wrong instead.

It was a company event where we were given two free tickets to watch Transformers at Cathay. I mistook the Cathay to be the Picturehouse when it was the Cathay Cineleisure. In the end, we waited in vain and had to rush to Cathay Cineplex to catch the movie. Fortunately, it was happy ending the second time round when we managed to catch the movie in time, albeit wiht a bit of rush. If not, I think it would be hard for me to forgive myself for causing disappointment to my mum twice.

If you know of any cure against blurness, please do let me know.

The Demise of a Pop Icon

For people who grew up together with me, when we mentioned an iconic pop star, MJ would certainly come to mind. Despite some recent bad publicity surrounding this well-known pop star, the support from his fans never wavered. I am not a particular fan of MJ but I grew up hearing songs such as Black or White and humming to Hand in Hand. If you tell me you don't know who MJ is and what are his songs, I will undoubtedly ask you which planet are you from.

Hence, the shock and heavy heart that I experienced when I heard of his passing away was as if we had lost a hero. He might not have helped save the world with his physical powers like Superman, MJ is no less a hero when he brings the world together with his songs. He represented a dream with his stellar career in the music industry. Many performers aspired to be like him.

Farewell and may your dream continues.

Overwhelmed

As I was already drowned by the 2 projects of my colleague that I had to cover within the next 2 months, another bombshell dropped again. This colleague who seemed to be having some personal crisis decided to throw in the towel and tendered his resignation. By the time I was officially informed of his resignation, there was only one week left before his last day.

When my boss first told me about my now taking his entire portfolio, it had not hit me the extent of the coverage until when my colleague and I were discussing the upcoming forecast exercise. Then did I realise the load that awaited me for the next 1 month.

Suddenly, I was at a loss. Although I was confident about my competence and I was willing to put in the extra hours to meet the deadlines, I was still apprehensive with the numerous deadlines looming ahead. Suddenly, I felt overwhelmed. Suddenly, I felt like in despair. My mind went into a rejection mode. I wanted to be wilful. I wanted to just tell my boss I simply could not just take on additional load. I wanted to complain.

Fortunately, my boss left office early before I had chance of exploding on her. In the meanwhile, I had time to calm down and reassess the whole situation. I had not act rashly but rather took time to list our my predicaments and concerns to her so that she could help gather help from my peers so that we could work as a team to meet the demands.

Despite taking actions to help resolve our manpower resources, I still went home with a heavy heart for that day.

Getting Fat

I don't know if it was a casual comment or it was from the bottom of his heart. Nonetheless, my ego felt deflated momentarily.

My male boss commented that my busy schedule which led to a continuous lunch menu of bread resulted in me pounding on weight. Urggh! Is it true? Do I really look fat? I never notice any tightening of my skirts or pants around my waist recently. Although I slept better and ate more healthily, I thought all these should just make me look more refreshed rather than bloated. Moreover, with my weekly yoga session and even swimming or jogging, I should be exhausting some of the added calories through exercise. Is this an early sign of declining metabolic rate?

All girls aspired to look thin and beautiful. No matter how much we are praised for our intelligence, genteel or virtuous, what brightens our day most is still how pretty we look. Any adverse comment about our look, our style or our figure will certainly spend our morale spiralling down.

Maybe I should start a thrice weekly jogging routine in addition to my weekly yoga and weekly swim or jog. Beauty comes at the price of sweat.

Silly Facebook Games

I was quite overwhelmed with work recently. Some of my colleagues tried to cheer me up by asking me to play mindless Facebook games. Oh my, am I hooked? They are not as easy as they seem. I wonder how my colleagues managed to achieve a score of more than 100K for 1-minute Bejeweled. Do try if you have the time and only if you have the time, because before you know it, you would have sit there for at least an hour despite it being a 1-minute game.

Getting Older

I used to be able to carry on working till 10-ish each night consecutively for about 2 weeks without feeling drained. At worst, I will just sleep over the weekend and recharge. Recently, I can feel the toll of the late nights. I feel very exhausted and to the extend of hoping to skip work totally. Is this a sign of age or is this an early symptom of getting burnt?

Cute Cupcakes

I heard so much about cupcakes and its craze in Singapore. What drove its popularity was simply beyond me?

Cupcakes, as the name suggested, was a miniature cake in the size of a cup. It had become increasingly popular over the past 2 years with many people taking up baking courses to learn how to make it. There were increasingly more confectioneries selling cupcakes. From the look of it, cupcakes seemed similar to a muffin. Muffins were not exactly my favourite pastries as most muffins I had tasted were either too crumbly, too dry or too hard. Moreover, most of them were either buttery or chocolaty for my liking, since I was a fan of neither.

The fad of cupcakes had spread to baby showers' pastries which were often distributed to colleagues who chipped in for a gift to new born babies. When I first saw the cupcakes, I noted that they looked adorable with each taking a unique design.

When I took a bite, I immediately felt sugar rush with its high glucose level. There was a thick layer of fluffy cream that reminded me of cotton candy before I reached the chiffon cake layer. It tasted ok for a small cup but I was quite unsure if I would like it if I consumed more.

Now, I think I will stick to my usual ice-creams and traditional cakes if I need a dessert fix any time.

Mango Sale

I guessed I was the most excited about the Mango sale. This excitement actually rubbed off and started to influence my colleagues. Many of them went during lunch or after work. Coincidentally, many of them actually bought the same camisoles but in assorted colours. It felt good to have something to talk about other than work. What else could cheer us up more than retail therapy. *Wink!*

The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Mona Kidd depicted the friendships between a White and the Black Americans way back in 1964 when discrimination by the Whites towards the coloured people was still rampant. The teenage White girl rescued her Black baby sitter from the jail as the baby sitter was unjustly arrested. The teenage White girl also used this as an escape from her uncaring father.

They travelled to the house of three black sisters who manufactured Black Madonna honey. August who was the elder sister shared a deep friendship with the teenage girl as August shared her knowledge on rearing and keeping bees. June was the one who was wary that the White teenage girl had a hidden agenda or a secret. However, she gradually grew to like the White girl. May was the vulnerable sister who could not distinguish other people's sorrow from her own ever since her twin sister April died. She eventually committed suicide by jumping into the river.

The White girl developed an admiration and fondness of the 3 sisters as well as for the bees. She also found that August used to work as a housekeeper for her mum's family home and sheltered her mum while her mum's marriage was broken down. Finally, the White girl found that she was the one who accidentally shot her mum when she was a toddler.

The Secret Life of Bees was a captivating book on bees and on friendships set in a time when skin colour still determined who could be your friends or what sort of jobs you could hold.

Warmth in the Office

This is not a complaint of the erratic aircon system in our office. Neither is this a complaint of the global warming issue. It was the warmth in my heart.

My neighbouring colleague was, among my team, the closest colleague whom I often shared some of our complaints about life, our holiday dreams and work frustrations. She was aware of the latest two arrows that I had received. They were not small arrows like the past. They were arrows in addition to my current expanding portfolio and in this peak time when we were swarmed by the annual costing exercise. These arrows were tasks of another colleague who seemed to be experiencing some personal crisis.

Just as I felt that the coming months look bleak with the mountains of work and the long hours ahead, she 'pinged' me over Sametime (the only IM allowed intra-office). She asked me how I was coping. Well, you could describe me as a person with nonchalant appearance but with a soppy heart. When I received the message, I nearly broke down and cried, especially after all the late nights and the rushing from meetings to meetings during office hours.

Without intending to, I launched into my difficulties and fears. As usual, my neighbour was sympathetic. Her encouragement left me feeling I was not alone in this battle. Moreover, she not only offered a listening ear, she even offered especially when she had more experience than me in some of the things that I would be doing.

Without supportive colleagues, I was unsure how I would be able to survive through some of the challenges that I went through and would be going through.

A New Personal Record

I have broken my record of all times. I saw the clock ticking by and the sleepy bug seemed to abandon me with the ticking hour. It was 2.30 am. Nope, I have not made a typo. It was 2.30 am and I was still at my office lobby trying to hail a cab.

Suddenly, I noticed how quiet Orchard Road seemed with barely a car in sight. I was getting impatient but still fully awake. Tonight, I would again have practically no sleep.

By the time I reached home, it would be around 3 am. By then, sleep seemed to elude me. I was getting frustrated with the speed that I was falling asleep, knowing that in 4 hours' time, I would have to get up and drag myself to office again. Today, in four hours' time, I knew I would practically zombied through the day. My only little wish was that I could end the day slightly earlier and not go through another 2 am night. I knew my adrenalin could only last me at most 3 days and beyond that, I would collapse for at least a week.

I should think no more and concentrate on getting to sleep.

Crackers?!

Crackers?! was the performance for the closing ceremony of Singapore Arts Fest 2009. It was a free visual treat with videos, colours and fireworks. Of course, I was there for the fireworks. I was never tired of fireworks despite its transient nature. It was truly spectacular and awesome. Enjoy the pictures.

Half-day Off

As part of the cost cutting measures, the company decided to do away with the annual Dinner & Dance totally. Instead, a smaller budget was allocated to each department to have their decentralised mingling session. We decided to spend it on good food - buffet lunch.

Actually, what we were looking more towards was the afternoon off after the lunch. Nearing the end of the buffet, we were constantly checking out watches and showing huge hints of impatience of wanting to go off. Come on, Orchard Road was literally a breath away. The shopping centres beckoned. Every minutes count especially when it was only the second week of the Great Singapore Sale.

When we could finally went off, we basked in the air of freedom and shopping on a weekday afternoon. Wow, it was truly liberating! This is what I called "a life".

When the Novelty Wears Off...

I lost count the number of times I have been to Carousel at the Royal Plaza on Scotts. From the initial being extremely wowed by the variety and quality of the food, I remain impressed but slightly bored by the buffet.

This time round, the hotel has added added new and more exotic seafood to their cold-cut section. There was more types of crabs and shell seafood such as the bamboo clams. There are still various sections to cater to the various palates such as sushi, cold-cut seafood, salad, cooked food, local flavours (which consisted Hainanese chicken rice, dim sum, laksa), grilled meat and pasta, bread, Indian, dessert and chocolate fondue sections. The ambience and decor remained contemporary and clean. Being a large group, we were seated at one of the rooms - The Straits Room with high back leather chairs and velvet walls - a truly luxurious experience.

However, the time for the buffet has shortened from the previous ending time of about 3 pm to the current 2pm with last order around 1.30pm. We were disappointed as the eating time of 12 to 2 pm were simply too short for us to thoroughly and leisurely sample the good food. Moreover, as the novelty wore off, the impressiveness of the buffet seemed to ween off. With the higher price of close to $52 per pax, I started to feel that it was not as good value for money as before.

Nevertheless, for those who preferred variety and quality, Carousel remained one of the better choices among the hotels.

Lunch with Mr Goh and Mr Ong

It has been so long since I met up with my ex-colleagues that I forgot about how entertaining our banter of teasing and jokes can be. It has been so long since I have such a good laugh during lunch hour. Three years had passed us by. Yet, the teases that we had of one another seemed not to bore us.

Three years on, we were still teasing about Mr Goh's disappearing act to KL during one of the critical project where turnaround time was short. Three years on, we were still teasing about Mr Ong's job change. Three years on, we were still teasing about my idealism (to the point of naivete) of my job change. Three years on, we kept going about the same point when we met but never tired of them. It seemed as though time had stopped from the time we went our separate ways.

Three years on, there were new developments for all of us. Yet, no matter what challenges that Mr Ong and Mr Goh faced, they seemed to still see the bright side of things. Despite shouldering more problems, they continued to cheer me up with their light-hearted take of life. Three years on, I still felt encouraged when I saw them.

Three years on, I realised I missed this banter with them without worrying about embarrassing myself in front of them or how they would take some of my not-so-pleasant comments. Although I had not told them in person, I was very glad and touched when Mr Goh and Mr Ong offered to travel all the way from the west to my office just to have lunch with me. In fact, when my pleasant colleagues heard about this, they were rather envious of the friendship that we had managed to sustain.

Three years on, thanks Mr Goh and Mr Ong for still remembering me.

Bitter is the New Black

This is a memoir by Jen Lancaster whose sarcastic comments about her life post retrenchment after the dotcom burst was discovered and published. It chronicled how she had fallen from a diva ditzy heights with her successful career to an old-time low when she was out of job for about 2 years. Her haughtiness and positivism about finding a job after she lost her high-flier one shedded as she received no interviews despite sending numerous applications. This was aggravated when she was dismissed as having irrelevant skills when she went for temping positions. When her boyfriend was also let go, they had to move out of their house and risked being evicted for not having money to pay rent. Fortunately, the situation brightened when her husband eventually found job and she was offered a publishing contract.

At the start of the book, I was slightly baffled by the haughtiness and menace that Jen exhibited towards her colleagues and her loathing towards anyone who seemed less successful than her. In fact, her early success in life had left her a little obnoxious, especially with her rather blatant outburst of displeasure.

However, as she met with more and more failures, she gained humility. She learnt from her past mistakes especially her spendthrift behaviour when times were good. At the same time, I realised that beneath her caustic armour, she in fact was quite naive. She was cheated of her ideas by a company who invited her to numerous interviews and even asked her to make a business presentation and still not recruited her. She was bypassed for a position because her excolleague whom she had confided in betrayed her.

With her heartfelt outpouring of these emotion roller-coasters when she overcome her biggest financial challenge after the dotcom burst and 9-11 terrorism act, I was increasingly enraptured and captivated. I also learnt from some of the mistakes that she had made.

• We should certainly save for rainy days when times are good because we will never know how long it will take to get out of the doldrums.
• We should try for all positions available once we are out of the job rather than harbouring hope of securing another high-pay job where we have left off.
• We should not offer sympathies and unsolicited advice to other people unless we have been through the same situation. For eg, when she was out of job, the readers of her website actually asked her to apply for a retail position since she was sales trained, not knowing that she had been rejected many times when she applied.
• No matter how bad times are, we should always keep the positivism. It was with her optimism that she managed to take a light-hearted view of her predicament and continued with life while her husband struggled with depression.

For those who fear retrenchment or who has once undergone retrenchment, this is a good book which offers advice in an unconventional manner.

Nice Claypots

I always hold an irrational soft spot for the traditional utensils and crockery. Somehow food cooked using claypots will be more flavourful than that using a slow cooker. Stir-fries from the large round-based Chinese woks will certainly be more tasteful than that of the latest Teflon-lined steel frying pans.

However, it is quite difficult to locate good food using these traditional cooking wares as they are often more fragile and cooks more slowly. Hence, for the more bourgeois businessman, these tools are simply too inefficient. Moreover, in world where our schedule is packed from day to night, few has the patience to wait for half an hour or more for their food to be served.

Therefore, when one can find a good claypot stall, it can warm your heart and of course, your stomach tremendously. Of course, it can get abit boring when we wait for the food to be cooked, but our resolve to wait strengthens as the aroma wafts around. How I hope I can have a bowl of rice now. My mouth waters. When the claypot tofu and the pig's innards are served, I cannot wait to start tucking in.

Sorry, I cannot write anymore as I cannot let the good food wait. *Grin*

Double Shock

Work has gone back to the more manageable time-table and routine since the completion of the budget and all quarterly activities. I was able to have more time to plan for the new year's template and to look at the more important but critical things. Yet, we know that life is never predictable and when it gets too comfortble, there will be new challenges that will be dished out.

My boss suddenly wanted me to take over 2 major projects of another colleague as he was having difficulty coping. Alas, there went my hope of enjoying some peace and quiet. In addition, these 2 projects had very short turnaround time, so I had to meet up with the leader of one of the projects on Saturday afternoon to go through the knowledge transfer.

Sigh!

Kind to Friends

We are always told that we should be truthful and sincere with our friends. Sometimes, friends are meant to offer genuine advice which may not be immediately obvious to us. However, in some circumstance, such advice can be unpleasant to the ears. Then, what should you as a friend do? Should you charge ahead and ignore the hurt that you may be infringing on your dearest friend? Or do you sweetcoat it and risk your dearest friend missing the entire point?

What would you do?