Little updates

Haven’t been updating diligently.

Work life has been hectic, me covering 2.5 persons’ workload. But like I always say, I work 2.5 times the load but get only 0.5 of the rightful pay. Don’t call me greedy. Generation Y seeks high rewards and fast returns and are willing to slog it out.

Then again, I've packed my routine so full with things that I'm finding it a little difficult to breathe. Tues - yoga; alternate Wed - jog @ Esplanade; Thu - German lessons; Fri - go out. Which leaves only Mondays for myself, where I revise my German and do some little stuff here and there. There are just too many things in life worth trying out and exploring.

WW has shifted house from the West to the North-east last weekend and with that our residences have become nearer. It takes only around 20 minutes on car to travel between our places, yippie! Speaking of car, I’m still eyeing the sporty white Swift. But I have this personal rule of not getting into debts, which means if I want Swift, it has to be almost full payment on its costs and a minimal instalment amount. Striving towards a debt-free and liberating life.

Giddy Monday

Fish!

Work's getting damn stressed la! Getting me to do dual roles when they are still paying me peanut-butter pay! My day's packed with meetings back-on-back, and time at my desk is taken up by fellow colleagues' enquiries or discussions through phone-call or in person. How to do work like that?!?!I'm starting to detest work. Boo.

Ah. No wonder pple spend so much, especially on big items. Retail therapy, temporary self-satisfaction.

累

Is when you keep dozing off at as early as 1130pm. Is when thoughts of your home and your room surface when you’re working.

I feel so tired these days! Without a cup of teh in the morning, the rest of the day would be hard to get by. Is addiction to tea with condensed milk a bad thing?

These days everyone is tired and dreads working. Has a modern man’s life to be like this?

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Ho. I just woke up from a 2-hour morning nap. Woke up with a feeling that I’m missing out on something in life. The sun’s bright, the weather’s fine, but I would have to do work on my laptop at home later. Perhaps a bicycle trip to ECP would do me good.

Happy Birthday Mama!

A lovely cake for you!

Give it its first cut after making your birthday wish

Mama and me (photos of Papa, Bro & Tian not included, for their privacies :p)

See how happy Mama was!

It's Mama's birthday today! Though I didn't get to knock off from work early (I left at around 830pm), partly because I was waiting for Tian to finish her yoga, we managed to get home in time for dinner and cake-cutting before everyone's stomach called it a day. Tian helped order Green Tea Bavarian cake from The Patissier while I helped collect it during lunch time at Ann Siang Hill. Good choice. Mama liked the rum-soaked raisins, the bitter chocolate layer as well as the tasty green tea sponge layer. As a bonus, there were sour grapes/berries and strawberries on top. Yummy!

We had zi cha dinner downstairs on Sunday evening to celebrate in advance, knowing how difficult it is to get all at the dining table together on a workday. I'm happy to see Mama happy, and am proud to get her what she wants (secretly so pleased to see the two purple dresses she chose at BYSI). Of course, Papa would get the same pampered treatment from us come September, though I doubt he'd want any new clothes.

I'm reminded of how fortunate I am again, to have this wonderful family supporting me all the way, providing me with moral support, strength and warmth to pull me through life. :)

Scary Singapore! (With its colony of ants)

During my swim in the morning, I kept having to swerve to avoid colliding with the swimmer in front. To think that it was around noon time, yet there were so many fellow swimmers in the pool! The little kiddos took up like 8 out of 10 lanes; the adult male swimmers clung to the pool edges to get the sun - all of these made swimming not-so-easy. Don't understand why some guys just swam straight without giving way to coming traffic and I had to be the one giving way all the time. Irritating leh. Maybe they think since there's no harm bumming into me (and take the chance to kai3 you2) and perhaps they would be happier doing so.

The nightmarish IT Show at Suntec started on Thursday. People would have thought the crowds would converge only from Friday onwards, but how wrong, as the crowds were already packing Suntec on Thursday night. It's a scary nightmare, imagine being stuck on the escalator for 10 mins!

Living in Singapore is not easy and is getting more difficult with the increase in population size without extra land to accommodate all. Can you imagine 6.5 Million population? I would have to squeeze with 1,000 others in a MRT train, fight with 30 more cars at the CTE Ang Mo Kio exit, struggle to get into whatever queue which we need to be in and swim with 100 more people in the 10-lanes pool. Help me! The only good thing I suppose, is to ride on this mass population and create some businesses to tap this colony of ants!

My half-day off

On Friday I took half a day off from work and met up with Mama Papa at Vivocity for some shopping. First up was lunch, a late one due to me being late (can't leave before 1pm leh), then to BYSI and G2000 shopping. Bought two dresses for Mama, a knit-top for office wear for myself and two shirts for Bro (he has been wearing the same three pieces to work since last month; still 4 months to go).

After shopping was a tea-break at ToastBox with steaming hot teh and kopi plus a jam-spreaded thick toast. Very yummy! There was a traditional taste to the teh, which you can hardly find now.

While Papa Mama headed for home, I set off to Tiong Bahru to wait for WW to knock off from work. The sun-loving me strolled to the park beside Tiong Bahru Plaza and set foot there for one whole hour, basking in the evening sun. I thought I could post my photos to this blog in the park itself, but ah to my dismay I realised I needed to sign up for this service with M1 first. Its $5.25 extra charge a month proved not worth it tho. So no chance to do mobile blogging, boo.

Walking behind Tiong Bahru Plaza, beside PSB Academy

Wah the glaring sun shining into my eyes. But I like.

Tiong Bahru Park - neighbourhood parks are the best!

Looking towards the direction of Gan Eng Seng school

Struggling to keep my eyes open. Bright sun!

Quite a handful of joggers behind me sweating out. I also sweated.. while sitting on this bench reading my book with the sunshine on my face!

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Yesterday was a day out with WW and his mum and sis. We went first to 40HSD house they're going to move into next week (and staying for the next half year), then to another high-end condo, The Imperial, his bro-in-law purchased. It's damn cool. Aspires me to strive smart and hard to earn the opportunity for such luxuries. People these days sure know how to enjoy life.

Critising the media's language standards

“Some 390,000 – or 48 per cent of Singaporeans and Permanent Residents below the age of 20 – have no MediShield coverage. In contrast, 86 per cent of those aged between 21 and 60 are insured.”

What contrast is this? 48% NO coverage versus 86% with coverage – I don’t see this as a direct comparison/contrast. Wouldn’t it be clearer to say 52% versus 86%? Furthermore, does their “insured” refer to MediShield insurance?

Cover page leh. Can they have better English standards?

I've been spending $$

And the latest big-item spend was on this! Sony Ericsson k618i, along with M1 broadband plan which ties me down for half a year and other accessories that come with it. A coincidence that my old phone was bought just 1 day less than a year before this one mobile phone. Yesterday I went shopping for clothes too and spent $116 on 3 tops. Am I too deprived or what?


These few weeks I've seen quite a lot of commotion, big or small, in the office. There had been arrows flying around (reminds me of Just Follow Law, funny) but luckily none was hitting on me (perhaps coz I'm too small a fry). There were emails on a team lead who failed to exercise diligence on his execution work and another chain of emails on the quality of work produced by our consultants. Sometimes I wonder why we have to go to this extent? Also, does it mean the louder you are, the more likely you'll win? Another propelling reason why the corporate world is not a place to be, especially when you're higher up there.

Been rather busy, both with work and with after-work activities. Last Wed I jioed WW out for movies after work and I was happy I made the move. After all we hardly meet during the weekdays, but I thought if not now, then when? Do what you want to do soon, if not now, or there may be another chance.