No appetite is a sin

Burp.

I just finished a tiny slice of Oreo Cheesecake. That's a good sign, because it means that my appetite has returned but it is a bad habit to be eating this late!! I know it, but let me have my little indulgence please.

After all this whole diarrhea episode thing over the weekend, it is a relief to be able to enjoy food for their taste and of course its richness. That "stomach flu" alike virus has been going around, and unfortunately he caught my dad on his birthday. "How lucky!" Not only did he not get to blow candles on his birthday cake (that Oreo Cheesecake), he infected the rest of us (well, if he did carry an infectious virus). Sisters fell sick. I thought it was that Magnum ice-cream they both ate, so I did an experiment as well. I ate one of it! Indeed, later in the evening, I felt unwell. The following day, I was having a stomach upset. There goes my attendance for the Malay wedding which I had been looking forward to!!! :((( A sumptuous feast missed! :(((

So was it dad who caught an viral infection from somewhere? Or was it the Magnum ice-cream?? I can't be sure. Or was it even the contaminated water we found out on Sunday that smelt funny?!! Too many suspicious possibilities.

Anyhow, I think I'm well on the mend!

p.s: My colleagues noticed I looked sick today, which I didn't even think anyone could tell. Thank you boys for the concern :)

Doubts

I'm very very very very sick of having to sit in a 4 hours long meeting every week!

And I seriously can't imagine how can some people out there could attend meetings the whole day or even throughout the week!!! I really don't believe that the longer you are in a meeting, the more you can do. Sometimes it's just a waste of time! Other time it just takes up TOO much time, time where you could have spent doing something more productive. And many times, I do believe that a short meeting with quality discussion and ONLY relevant people is what we all need! Not 4 hours of meeting!!!!! Too many people complicate matters. No shit!

I want to protest. But what can I do? The answer is NOTHING.

I am so so so so so damn tired that I am not going on MSN these nights to talk to anyone. Give my "fried" brain time to rest, recover and prepare for tomorrow's battle.

Isle of malls

That is exactly what Singapore is...

However most of the time, we'd like to cover it up and say,"We have the world best ranking Changi Airport, most amazing Zoo/Night Safari and our Singapore Flyer is higher than Britain's London Eye." Singapore is so small yet so competitive, why are we ranking ourselves against the world???

In my tiny world of opinions, I would rather Singapore leverage on the fact that we have a wide variety of food, mixed cultures, people of different races harmoniously living together. I am proud of that, as I don't think racism is as bad as many other countries. A cosmospolitan city, an island, and a major trading hub in Asia, positioned on many sea and air routes. We're ROJAK.

We will hit the record high of 5 million population in some years' time... and I sometimes can't help but wonder what it will be like hundreds of years down the road. How much more can we expand??? Merge with neighbouring countries??

OOooopss. I am getting outta my topic.

I'm actually going to post pictures of new malls... sprouting all over Singapore. Singapore is just really a place to shop for most tourists (anybody here for over 3 days will be likely spending the remaining days in the malls!!!). LOL. I don't say this myself as I have friends telling me that they think it's all about shopping here.

Reasons:
1. Not all museums are free (unlike UK), thus visiting one or two will be sufficient, besides the zoo/Sentosa/Duck tour/maybe Singapore Flyer - all of which will cost $$$
2. Singapore is so HOT and humid, the best place to stay indoor is probably the malls
3. Sales seem to be all year round, even if they are none, local brands seem more affordable compared to Europeans'/Americans'/Japanese's
4. Singapore is really about eating too, and most of the time, they are also CONVENIENTLY located in the malls
5. Someone said we have cheap electronics??? (I thought USA has cheaper computers eh)

OOooopss. I am getting outta my topic AGAIN.

Anyway, I want to share a photo of this new mall at Bugis which is opening soon, it has such a cool architectural design.

And the 3rd mall opening in Tampines (CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!), my neighbourhood feels more like Orchard now. The design is not as arty farty like that one in Bugis, but it is huge and we'll have Uniqlo in Singapore for the 1st time and it's in Tampines! How I wish H&M too... I heard Topshop will be my "neighbour" as well hehehe.

冷

Many many many visitors chanced upon my blog when they were searching for "How to describe winter"... I often wonder if they have an assignment to write on that ;)

I have an entry written quite long ago.... on that. Well it was me describing a bad winter day, click here to refresh your memory. Dated 2005, wooo... that's like over 3 years ago (was back in December I think). I actually kinda enjoyed it too, I was reading it just now after someone posted me a comment about it in the Chat Box.

I love describing things; in fact describing the most simple thing, because that's when you really think out of the box.

遇见怪脾的人 （03) - Kiasu auntie

I decided to do this. It's not like STOMP (citizens' journalism) but I hate to say I have met more than enough pests in Singapore to do this. I'm starting a string of posts targeted at inconsiderate, annoying human beings I came across in Singapore. It shall be named “新加坡怪脾的人真多” under my side-labels (on the right).

Sorry if they happened to be your mums, aunties or uncles... (if that's the case!). Obviously I hope not. But the world can be really small!! Just happened to realise one of my ex-STOMP colleague is my current colleague's cousin!

This entry is about the kiasu people you met in the train (old or young, male or female), it shouldn't be a surprise since there's more than a dozen of examples daily in the train. First two weeks of work, I happened to encounter one very kiasu auntie... being super inconsiderate, pushed her way through and couldn't wait to "shove" her huge bum onto that empty seat. I mean, come on, you can have the seat, just don't PUSH.

Kindly sharing a picture of her!!! I also tagged my last few entries, some without photos. But I think I shall start snapping pictures of these people and exposed them to the world.

After 2 rainy weeks

Sun is finally out... but only briefly before the dark clouds took over again this afternoon.
It has been a wet March! Last week of February, the unexpected rainy season began. Everyone expected rain in January but strangely it never did arrive. I don't mind the rain, as I can dig out my favourite sweaters. But the weather loves playing tricks on me; whenever I wore a sweater, it became scorching hot during lunch time!! And when I didn't, it poured so heavily that you feel "spring in London" has arrived in Singapore.

Keep the water pouring... my Lord.

Saturday, let me rant

Actually... nothing much to rant about...

I had too much sleep last night, 11 hours and I wondered if I really needed that much sleep! Working always make one exhausted - don't you agree?? Well, even though my 1st week at work was pretty easy and kinda relaxed, but still those 40+ hours of sitting at a desk for a restless person like me is wearing me out. Ha.

My sister (for the 1st time in AGESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, yes, I meant ages!!!) swept and mopped the floor. Ahaha, my dad teased that he should go buy 4D on her IC no.!

By the way, I enjoy comments. So anyone who feels like dropping a note, feel free to do so. Reading the last comment left by an anonymous person, I have this warm fuzzy feeling. It's awesome to read that someone has actually visited the same cafe as I did and shared the experience!

My workplace has this little corner, a mini library. They have collected all kinds of books related to design, cultures, history and heritage. Of course, most of them are related to Singapore. I happened to chance upon these books illustrating stories of SPG and they are hilarious. They are meant for the light-hearted, so don't read if you take offence of very minor things.

The 3 books are: Sarong Party Girl. Revenge of the Sarong Party Girl. The SPG rides again. They are by Jim Aitchison and Theseus Chan. I finished the first 2 and in the mid of the last one now.

And there's this very amusing phrase I quoted from the book --

"Local girls know that white men can give them more. More excuses, more lies, and more Herpes."

Gosh, these books were published in 1996 or earlier... how old was I then?? I hadn't heard of the term SPG then, and look how it has revolved to what it is today. I think there's more acceptance towards intercultural marriages now, not just for the girls please. I have local Singaporean friends marrying women from China, Japan and many more... So I guess when you want to penalise someone, be fair and think about what's on the other side. It's generally a very fun read... can't stop giggling reading it in the train (but beware of the "provocative" illustrations who can catch a lot of attention when reading in the public).

I'm lovin' School, it's so Cool!

Coming to work everyday feels like going back to school. Why??

Because... I learned new things everyday.

Something you might not know - I hated history in school. Once I failed my history test as I wasn't aware there was one, or maybe that was a surprise test. I have a superb memory but it just didn't work on history! Don't ask me why! The ironical thing now is I'm learning history now at work and what makes it more amusing is I actually enjoy reading things up now!

As I read about how the buildings and road names of Singapore came about, it further aroused my curiosity. I want to know more! I actually enjoy learning these things which I have probably overlooked in the past. I feel proud when the next time someone (probably a tourist) asks me something, I won't be stumped. I will have a story to tell, and yes, about Singapore!

Oh my!

Have you guys come across this website omy.sg?? If you have been to STOMP website, this is pretty similar. I have to say, having worked for STOMP and now seeing omy.sg, I really don't know what STOMP is doing..!!!! Omy is a so much better product!!!!!!!!!! Sorry to say that (coming from STOMP team myself) but hey that's the truth. Omy is the chinese version of STOMP, both of them focus on citizen journalism and news/information extracted from print, but when it comes to layout, design, content, user-friendliness and everything else... I have to say I have a huge preference for Omy. I guess one of the reasons I left the team was I wasn't enjoying what I was doing for STOMP, besides setting up a few really cool microsites - that's about it!

Salty sucky lunch

My colleagues decided to try this place our "boss" told us about... "Boss" here means our superior. She has freely publicized for them by giving us the pamphlets. Thinking it should be quite good, 5 of us headed there.

To our disappointment, this place named KOS Cafe in Peninsula Plaza not only doesn't give us the FREE mushroom soup as stated on the pamphlet (if we do bring one), the menu was also restricted. A couple of things were unavailable, I wanted a grilled sandwich!!! Disappointing. For your information, they are specialized in "localized" western food - like those you see in the food court!

The food looks presentable, but when it comes to quality... sadly, it's only passable. My colleague commented about her Jamaican chicken being too salty (the sauce that comes with it), so was my Chicken Kebah which turned out to be only 1 stick served (reckon it comes with the same salty sauce) with barely cooked vegetables and a few pieces of garlic bread. Luckily, it did fill up my stomach... having not too big an appetite! I have to admit that their garlic bread were freshly made and nice but could barely compensate for everything else. The prices seem reasonable being in the city area, but the quantity and quality do not justify for it.

The "uncle" waiter who served us wasn't really attentive too, forgot about our glasses of water and never asked for our option for garlic bread or rice. Fortunately, I approached another staff (I believe might be one of the managers or owners) who promptly assisted me with the change and also served the drinks. One thumb up for that!

Let's hope they improve on the food - we had given them the feedback (about it being too salty!!!).

1st day of School

1st day of work is just like 1st day of School. Petrified is the word.

The 1st day is over, it wasn't as horrifying as the feeling I had the night before. Colleagues seem exceptionally easy-going... so are the bosses. That's a good thing. I am probably very lucky that I have had nice superiors most of the time, and hopefully it's going to be the same this time!

I was pulled into a meeting this morning which lasted 3 hours! Woah, my stomach was almost growling by the end of it (1pm). It was very engaging, I got to sit in and listened about the festival's planning, the creative concepts and ideas behind it... and met the various people involved.

I hope my contribution will also be a significant part of this project, because I actually felt this is going to be a challenging and exciting one and I haven't felt this way for a while (though my last job at IDA was working on a very important and interesting project but sadly to me my significance there was almost null).

Thank God, this shall be a great stepping stone for me...