R.I.P Knut

This is specially designed for my favourite polar bear, Knut. I found all these photos online, most of them my favourites of him. I still remember when I first heard about him, I used to follow his blog daily. It was in German, but I always tried to read it. Fortunately as his popularity raised rapidly, they made translations available... and I could understand it more easily in English. I still think the best was in its native language as they might have quoted what Thomas said. I watched all his baby videos and browsed all his baby photos, and I felt like I know him... even though he was in Berlin and here I am in Singapore. His close relationship with Thomas also deeply touched my heart, how humane has Thomas made him. After the sudden death of his zookeeper, I also gradually lost touch with Knut's blog. But whenever I hear news of Knut, it never fails to bring a smile to my face. Knut is gone now :( Suddenly. Forever. I know I will miss him and his name always deeply engraved in my heart.

March sucks big time!

I really am beginning to hate March... It's the worse month so far, everything bad is happening.

With the horrifying earthquake and triggered tsunamis, threat of nuclear meltdown and danger of radiation in Japan, and now everywhere else are beginning to get earthquakes too, e.g. Taiwan and Manila. Then my boss got ill and travel plans cancelled. And now, even the cute polar bear has to die!??

My sister shared this link on my wall and this morning when I read it, my heart ached. Knut, my favourite polar bear has collapsed and died! How could it be?!! He's only so young! It was devastating when his keeper, Thomas died... and now suddenly Knut's gone forever too.  

Dear Knut, I hope you've found peace and a happier place to be in. You'll always be in my thoughts. Auf Wiedersehen!

Grow up, please!

"I have no time for emotional baggage."

Now, do I sound like a man?

 But seriously, my friend is turning 30 and she's handling friendship like a 12 year old. You know, those days where you would go,"Don't friend you anymore!" just over a small matter. I am fed up, I have had enough of her extreme mood swings. I couldn't help but sent her a text telling her I don't have any time for her mood swings anymore, can she just be direct when she wants to say something instead of presuming someone can read her mind? (Sorry, no offence to the Japanese) Did she learn that from the Japanese?? Being polite, and subtle and hoping everyone else can read her "Yes" as a "No" or a "No" as really a "No"??

I am not a block of wood and I know when someone is upset. In the recent years, she's been getting more and more overboard. She always wants friends to be there for her, she always assume I'd be available at her schedule and I always did try most of the time. Whenever I ask her if she wants to hang out, her unenthusiastic answers will be "See how", "Not free" or "Not available" without even proposing another date. At other times, she can totally ignore your sms. She gets emotional over the smallest things all the time! There was a period of time, she openly showed her "emo" side on her Facebook statuses, but it got to a point I really was speechless to her negativity. And guess what? She was even jealous I commented more on others' statuses than hers, and she wasn't happy that other people know my life better than her (because she's not a regular Facebook user). Jesus, can anyone get more childish than that? I know she was also upset when I started going out with another old classmate of mine, but it was nothing compared to the friendship we built over the years. (Hello, I have a social life?!) I am starting to feel like she's acting like "my husband" and I have to report to her or ensure I do things to keep her happy?! When I asked her to join our mutual friends' outing, she would give all sort of excuses like "I'm not as sociable as you." I think that was meant as a sarcastic remark but I never even took it that way. I can't believe she uses such small things to measure our friendship, and if she wants to give it up over these petty stuff, I really have no issue with it.

It's her birthday next week but...  

"Dear friend, I can only say Happy Birthday virtually if you persist with your annoyingly unreasonable behaviour!"

It's wellies day

Today it's the first time my wellies walk in the rain and streets of Singapore since I bought it. It was brought here recently by my best mate as I shipped them to her from Amazon. I have walked in them in the United Kingdom... But trust me when I say they're not the best for shopping. The wellies tend to be a bit more stiff to walk in, heavy and not the most comfortable when you have stairs to climb. I shopped in them one day and fortunately I bought a pair of shoes that day and I could change into them... My feet were seriously screaming for help after 6 hours!!! These wellies sure come in handy for rainy days as the rain has apparently killed a few pairs of shoes before. So happy wellington day!

Get well soon, boss!

Sydney trip cancelled.

Strangely, I'm not sad or disappointed. I had been so stressed up about everything going on (at work, in the world (i.e. japan), in my life) that somehow I feel a little relieved. Not to mention that the trip was cancelled due to my boss being hospitalised. It came as a shock to us this morning, everyone in the office has been very concerned. Fingers crossed it's nothing serious but he's still in intensive care now. It is also a blessing in disguise that it's a few days away and I haven't book any tour or accomodation or even exchange my money yet.

Am I getting old or tired... I am wondering?!! I can't believe my travel urge isn't as strong anymore. I'm not looking forward to planning holidays, instead I just want to spend some time to chill, stay put and do nothing for a while.

8 more days

It's my first time to Australia, and also on business trip.

Believe it or not, I am not excited. My team mates are asking me if I'm looking forward, but honestly, no... I hope they're not thinking I'm saying that just to keep off their jealousy. But I really have no time to get excited. I feel exhausted on most days to really think about the trip. Though I have looked up at places I do want to get a glimpse of, but I don't have a lot of days to sightsee. I feel like taking it slow... but so much to accomplish. See the Australian animals, visit markets (compulsory!!) and blue mountains. I'm not even sure if I'm meeting up a friend or two whom are living there at the moment, things seem quite chaotic now. I have not even book the accomodation for my extended stay... how spontaneous is that?! :S

I also think that age is really catching up and my travel urges have slowly dissolved. I still like holidays but I get tired so much more easily, I need a longer time to recover from the jet lag and to adapt back to routine. I do feel sad when I leave home nowadys, and it's totally the opposite when I started travelling 8 years back.

I seriously need to get into the mood... And unfortunately, why do I always feel like falling sick just before a business trip?!!

It is sick

Past midnight...

I am writing this after watching the news on the tsunami hitting the Japan's coast and it's heartbreaking to see them. Japan had a 8.9-magnitude earthquake on Friday, just as I was emailing with the Japan office over a minor issue they had been fussing over the whole morning. The office was evacuated shortly after the quake, I was relieved that they won't be bugging me anymore, but at the same time, I knew it must be quite serious as they had been evacuated. Nobody anticipated the aftermath to be so serious, with the death toll and unaccounted for rising rapidly over the past 24 hours. Like many, we always thought Japan is very well prepared (as they are leading and so advanced in many things)... and besides, earthquakes are known to be common for the area. But this time, it is really bad! Let's all hope that things are falling back into places and no more tremors and tsunami triggered.

There's a rumour about this date 21 December 2012 being the day a big disaster will befall... if you're curious, you can also try searching for the video on youtube.

If being a woman isn't tough enough...

Today I made a new acquaintance, and we hit it off instantly. I realised she came from Hong Kong to Singapore for her boyfriend. I hope all these men stop taking things for granted because a move may be just a change of location to them but for a woman it's a lot more. Ability to work is one, youth is another, having to start all over again to have an intimate circle of friends, being away from loved ones and more... I say these because I had done it for a man. Making the move is already a sacrifice and if the man expects so much more, he's probably not worth it. Fortunately for one of my BFFs and this new friend, things are working out well. However both of them have the same thoughts, they miss home and prefer it to living in another country.

Friends or foes

好一句，知人知面不知心！

Like the Chinese saying, looks are deceiving.

After 8 months, I finally saw the true colors of my ex-colleagues. How evil and hideous they actually are! I guess, afterall, being too open and too nice is not at all a good thing, especially when you talk to some amibitious malevolent people. But I also ought to thank the "two evil sisters" that I am where I am today, enjoying my business trips, a better boss (in 1000000 times better than the crap project manager!!) and a way better working culture.

I call them the "evil sisters" because they joined my ex-company at the same time through recommendation from the one whom got in first. They are ex-colleagues and came from the same company. When I had the intention to leave, I confided with one of them whom I thought was on good terms with me. But I don't think she honestly is being genuine. I also began to fall for it, as we shared jokes, shopping and gossip, and thought it was the beginning of a great friendship. I told her my plans I wanted to venture in my ex-company, but when she heard that I planned to leave, both her and the other evil twin "psycho" (persuade) me into joining their ex-company. If it was that good, why did they leave!? But of course, I didn't heed it, I didn't sense their sincerity when they tried to talk me into it.

8 months later now, I heard about one of them doing the things I had planned to do in my ex-company but I didn't get around to it because I have left. And what made matters worse is that, when I told the other evil twin (which happened to be a project manager, but not mine), she kept telling me it wouldn't work, and they weren't planning to do anything like that till much later. Now, the evil sister is taking the job I wanted to do, and she is working under the other evil twin. Both of them are in cahoots. But one of them is actually the apple of my ex-Director's eye, so what to do?  Disgusting. I hate it but I still have to thank them for freeing me from the misery. If I am still there, I might be doing it but I am sure I will not be as happy as I am.

So, go ahead, hypocritical evil sisters, PROVE IT TO ME! I wish you success not, but definitely lots of hardship and a rollercoaster ride to hell.

Are you committed?

Commitment comes from contentment. No?

By nature, humans are greedy. Do you not agree? Maybe more so nowadays with the inflation from a bus fare of 20 cents (when I was young) to currently a maximum of over 2 dollars, how can life be as simple, how can all of us survive with the same amount money your parents used to make. My dad was the sole breadwinner, he used to earn slightly over 1K, and it was enough to feed a family of 5. Now, anyone would struggle with a 3K income for the whole family. Money is important to survive, and even more if you want to afford better things in life.

But I also realised being contented is an important factor to being committed. One of my friends is earning an average pay at the age of 30 (maybe a lot lesser than most his age), yet he's not complaining. He's happy with what he has and is not looking for greener pasture. On the contrast, my other friend is leaving his job to his ex-employer because they're giving him a 40% raise. I can't blame him, can I? If you ask anyone (including me), I will go back too, even if the job isn't ideal. It's a shallow decision to base the decision on money but in Singapore, it does matter! My friend had left because the job was too much too handle but again he's turning back, this time with a better package and even more responsibilites. Anything that comes with a high price, there's bound to be a price to pay. So I guess, don't be envious and say,"Wah, so good! I also want!" I think it's better to remind yourself that,"If I'm taking that amount of money, I better be able to prove I am worth it!" I say,"Good for him. Good luck. But I'm sure he's able to make it!" It's a pity he's not working near me the next time but I'm sure it doesn't mean we won't have lunch again, we have the "lunch buddies affinity" since 2002... and somehow we bump into each other again and again.

But at the same time, you can't help but wonder how long it takes for most of us the average salaried commoners to save up and buy a place!!? Now we know why so many people are pinning hope on lottery!