The Perfect Weather

It presented itself this evening, during my jog along Esplanade and Marina Promenade. The planetary obit has changed, causing the sun to “descend” at a later time than a few weeks ago. We could see the yellow-orange graduation in the skies amidst the Supreme Court and tall office buildings and feel the warm rays beating down on our sweaty bodies and faces. I was thinking to myself, what a perfect weather, and wanted to jump up in joy. Ah, the endorphins surge, the sweeping breeze, the enveloping sunrays. There couldn’t be a more exhilarating moment!

On another note, I saw two metrosexuals (guys) on the MRT last night. Both were in singlets, looked like they were just out of the gym and had big big bags. One had a Prada, the other a very big Coach bag. They had developed pectorals (viewed from the back) and must have done a lot of pumping. I couldn't help but wonder.. are they gays? (Ok, I know suaku me shouldn't stereotype.) Wanted to peep at their faces but didn't have the chance to. I seriously think they spend more money than I do and take care of their skin more seriously than me! My guy colleague who frequents the gym says it's urban-sexual. But nevertheless, it's eye candy!

Recount Recall. Reminiscence

Does it mean one is getting old when he/she keeps recalling fond past memories? Recounting the days of freedom, the young life full of energies, the many first experiences. Listening to old songs that used to play and repeat over and over again, refreshing in the mind those moments that come with these melodies and lyrics. We could never rewind the hands of time, but one never knew that it could be such a heart pain.

Oh Old Granny.

Why is it that some places do not change even after a decade or longer? It's somewhat unfair, we humans age and deteriorate in health, yet some of these places or buildings stand strong and tall. Where is the constant?

The smell of new books

I like.

Placing my sweater with the new German books gives it a special kind of fragrance. One which I used to sniff at, in the way a dog sniffs at rib bones, in my younger days. Naturally, when smelling my sweater now, I recall the carefree days of childhood. We used to treat new books with much care, making sure the pages were not folded and the corners not dog-eared. We took pride in keeping our books good as new till the end of the school term. It’s cute how little kids how much treasure their stuff.

Bro is starting his half-year contract work tomorrow at his previous NS unit – Traffic Police. He was telling me of his intention to buy a motorbike at the end of next month when he gets his paycheck. I think Mama will freak out at his decision. What will be her next course of action? To sell our flat, downgrade to a smaller one, and use the difference to buy a car for my Bro? Hope not coz we gotta let Bro take some hardship and go through the tormenting experience of travelling 1.5 hours on public transport. Wahaha, quite an agony.

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nottozlady’s wishlist:
- Mega strong hair-dryer (but not super hot in case my hair gets burnt)
- Shawl for use in office

Cool Dool SBS Transit

Coz it has a real-time feature online to check out how long more the next bus will take to come! Just key in the bus number and the bus stop number (best is you have this checked out and memorised) and you have the number of minutes before the arrival of the next bus. Yeppie, doesn't this tie in with wireless@SG?

And I actually trust SBS Transit to bring me places, from my house to wherever I need to go. Their bus guide online is getting really intelligent, often providing the best option which I would take a long long time to figure out by checking out a hardcopy bus guide. The next thing to improve on would be the conditions of their buses. Some are really damn old, smelly and lurking with cockroaches. Or perhaps they would bid for the premium bus service?

For now, I'm lucky to have the private bus fetch me to work every morning. The friendly bus uncle waves and smiles to us every morning and gives us a warm greeting to start the workday. The fast bus speeds down wide roads and even the East Coast Park Expressway, sending us to our office on time. We get promised seats and I can comfortably chop the whole 2-seater place for myself (one for my bag[s] or for placing my leg[s] up, wahaha) without caring about public eyes. And the best part is the scenery which includes rows of private houses *dream*, greenery and cars on the highway. Oh and not to forget the Sheares bridge with its splendid view of Fullerton and CDB. All in the glow of the morning sun.

What a joy!

The power of waving

This morning at the gantry at my office lift lobby, I waved enthusiastically to a colleague in Data Centre (now under HP) and three others (two Security Guards and the CEO’s chauffeur) nearby waved or smiled back. Haha. No wonder they say good service starts with me.

Funny comic strip. But I don’t fully understand the emotions of those being called to the Iraq war (or any other war for that matter) or those who are currently in it but have no timeline for pullout. But even through imagination, we could envision how horrible it would feel for one to head down such a desperate path. If only there were no war in this world.

Emotions are a strange thing

learning always

Been a hectic weekend!

Tks to WW for bearing it through with me. I was extremely short-fused and threw my temper or became irritable a few times, but eventually there was WW to cool me down and in the midst, taught me some life lessons which I had forgotten as time went back.

His parents’ shop had their soft launch yesterday and I was down to help out, especially in teaching them to use the point-of-sales system which I myself was touching for the first time. Everything was okay, their parents willing to learn albeit slowly, except for the fact that I couldn’t let go of the notion of getting my freedom. Being the bird I am, restrictive situations make me uncomfortable and I value my weekends too much. Our generation did not go through those 5.5 work-day weeks and never quite knew what it meant to work 24/7.

There are so much more to say. But as usual, I let work tie me down and rob my precious sleeping time away. That’s why my man has a very valid reasoning to this: do not hold on too strongly to reasons derived from emotions but to convince yourself based more on logic and rationality. But it’s easy to say, hard to do, for me. Tell me to not think what will happen if I get insufficient sleep, to not keep harping on not getting to do the things I’ve decided to do (coz I just want to do and feel like doing them), to not put so much pressure and discipline on myself. Alas, I wish to be more bochup and were able to let go of things.

Ah. Why is life such a never-ending learning lesson?

ZzZz... I need you

I need my sleep!

Been working in a nodding donkey style since I sat on my recliner two hours ago. Why can't I get my after-working-hours freedom? :(

Hiong jogging = hungry stomach the next day

Ah, very hungry!

Me ran a good 52 minutes with my kaki BS last evening, from office at Raffles Quay to Esplanade and Marina Promenade. One month plus’ absence and a lot have changed! There is now a platform terrace under construction which looks like it can house say 1,000 people and a concrete platform on the waters. But due to the construction, we had to run an external ring by the side of the main road beside Marina Square. There meant lotsa fumes and dust flying onto our faces and into our poor lungs! The run was good though, especially since I had not run that long a distance in such a long period. But then again, what is my 52 minutes compared with BS’ 52 km? =P

Yeah Me a Taalent!

I'm a Talent!

You're a risk-taker, and you follow your passions. You're determined to take on the world and succeed on your own terms. Whether in the arts, science, engineering, business, or politics, you fearlessly express your own vision of the world. You're not afraid of a fight, and you're not afraid to bet your future on your own abilities. If you find a job boring or stifling, you're already preparing your resume. You believe in doing what you love, and you're not willing to settle for an ordinary life.

Talent: 62%
Lifer: 26%
Mandarin: 46%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

Interesting Fact

That fruits which turn brown when damaged do not contain Vitamin C; the converse is true.

From Sparks of Genius: The 13 Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People

Yoga Time!

Cheers, 30BD!

I have stopped exercising for slightly more than a week due to the strain on my waist muscle and just can’t wait to get my body stretching and sweating again. This evening together with Tian, I’m heading towards Yogaffinity for a hot hot session, yeah! Just gotta make sure I don’t overstretch my body while doing that tree pose and aggravate my slight injury. Always looking forward to the meal after the workout too. This time I suppose it will be Amoy Food Centre with its late night zi cha or fish soup. (Now I tend to relate having meals at that place at night to the little kitty which uneventfully got into WW car’s way that night two weeks ago.)

The Million-dollar Question

Mama asked me when I am going to get married. I don't have the answer, and again, can't see anything clear on the plans ahead. Does he have the answer?

hohoho

Catching up with the ladies

Life is full of twists and what has not come physically into your hands could just slip away. *pray*

Today caught up with the fine ladies – Steph, Sophia & Fang – together with their partners and a cutie little baby Josh. We had diverse topics to talk about and it’s nice to know that now with each in different occupations, we are able to help each other out using our expertise. These ladies and their spouses/boyfriend are all willing to share at anytime.

During the lunch, we passed Josh around trying to carry him. It was my first time carrying such a small baby and I guess my hold wasn’t quite proper. But it was fun with the little on my lap, with him half staring intently at someone or something and half stoning in space. Soon we’ll be able to carry Sophia’s little one. =)

Another one

2 Jan 07, PM and night – strong – stress thinking about going back to work?
3 Jan 07, PM and night – strong – back to work stress
8 Jan 07, late AM – strong – no idea?
10 Jan 07, PM – light and fleeting – no idea?
12 Jan 07, wee hours – building up – lack of sleep (why am I still blogging?)
14 Jan 07 - 12 plus pm - gradually building up - too much sleep (?)

The prawn noodles from VJC

When the weather gets very cold and I need some hot food to warm my body up, my mind thinks of the prawn noodles from VJC. Those days in VJ, we looked forward to the steamy hot bowl of prawn noodles with thick yellow noodles, with its tasty soup, to take away our coldness and boredom from attending lessons. The fact that almost all our class girls had the noodles together made the feeling even more heartwarming. Wonder if the prawn noodles stall is still around.

Last night was my first German lesson at Goethe Institut at Penang Road. Though I left the office at 6 dot, I still couldn’t make punctually for lesson. But can’t blame me, their lesson starts at 615pm. It was a big class of around 24, with a mix of working adults and students. There was a Muslim, a Pilipino and a China Chinese, I think (don’t call me a discriminator, wahaha). Diversity. Class was quite fun with interactions between students and teachers and three hours didn’t seem as long as it was. Feels good taking the first step towards my dream!

Headaches and me

For those who know, I’m one who keeps logs and records, and more than one of them. It started with diary in younger days, which was quite common among young girls given the temptations of sweet pastel diary books. That habit of jotting down daily events (in brief) stayed on till now. Then came the need to record daily expenses, to count calories and so on

All these recording takes up easily a good half hour or more a week. What value does it have? One may not know yet.

Now I’m thinking to start another log – the headache log. Since secondary school days, headaches started to be with me, but it was then a less frequent occurrence. However, these days especially since being a white-collared worker, headaches tend to come much more frequently and ad-hoc. Last time there could a pattern; now it is sporadic. Especially since two months back, I have been getting these “regular” headaches hitting on me about once every two days. I thought it would be good to record the dates and/or times down. As said, one may not know yet its value.

*drumroll*

2 Jan 07, PM and night – strong – stress thinking about going back to work?
3 Jan 07, PM and night – strong – back to work stress
8 Jan 07, late AM – strong – no idea?
10 Jan 07, PM – light and fleeting – no idea?
12 Jan 07, wee hours – building up – lack of sleep (why am I still blogging?)

Oki, zz time. Then perhaps less headaches!

Oh, by the way, these few days are indeed happy days. WW and family have made a major change, which I believe will lead to much greater and grander things. At work, there was exciting, though half-baked, news at the start of the week too. And our half-year results were splendid! Last FY’s full-year profits were $188M, and this first half FY is already edging to records levels, with $156M half-year profits. Bigger bonus come September? Heh heh heh

Let's brew a thick rich soup

It's 1230am and I've just finished some work I brought home. This is supposed to be only the 5th working day of the year and everyone has their engine very warmed up! Work is starting to swamp again!

But the start of this year brought some good news. Now it's only starting to brew up, till the soup is almost ready for serve and I'll hopefully be let off to another happy land! Yippie!

But for the next half year, gotta work hard coz more work is definitely coming in. Oh no~!

Daddy Mummy 万岁！

It’s gonna be more self-fulfillment with more activities lined up from next week onwards. In fact, it seems like 2007 promises more returns and hopefully, will bring me a step closer to my dream.

I’ve decided to take up German language classes and lessons are on every Thu evening, 615 – 930pm. I’ll definitely confirmed be late! Wahaha. There was no choice; I had to take around half hour to go down from my office. And how many times ever have I left the office at 6pm sharp? For jogs at Esplanade perhaps it’s okay, but to have me pack my bag and be ready to leave, that will take some time. But always, better late than never. =P

Next week meeting some friends – Steph, Sophia & Fang. If possible, I’ll be meeting Feng Gang as well to help out Feng in her wedding arrangements. So fast!! In less than a month she’ll be married to the guy who loves and adores her so much. Lucky Feng =)

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My persistent cough had died down a little earlier the week before, but was back in greater force late last week. I blame it on the cold air-conditioning at workplace. With such a condition, how can one recover completely? Then my headache was back very frequently since Dec last year. It won’t go away easily as a nap or proper sleep doesn’t help. Usually will need to pop 2 panadols for some good relief. Sometimes I wonder if there’s something wrong up in my brain.. hmm hmm.

To help treat my cough, Daddy started cooking black beans with ginger soup for me. He even wanted to help brew the soup for me tomorrow morning before I head off to work, and that’s a whopping early hour of 6 plus am! Daddy 万岁！I recalled those days while we were very young, we got to eat yummy breakfast prepared by Daddy every morning. Some days it was French toast, some days half-boiled eggs and other days bread with butter and sugar, peanut butter or nutella. Ah, I miss Daddy’s breakfast. Now I only have an apple and a slice of bread on most days, while some days I eat at the coffeeshop downstairs, having teh and red bean pancake.

Daddy Mummy are the best!

STI Record High

As expected, STI broke 3000 points. If we had bought its shares 2 years back, we would have reaped quite some profits by now. Wishing this year an even better one than last year, and a sound and stable economy!

Wishing all a bountiful 2007

(My current desktop background)

What matters is the returns you get at the end of the day, be it experience, lessons learnt or accomplishments. I wish 2007 is yet another year of happy moments, rich life experiences and most importantly, good health, to all.

This year is going to be a busier one for me, with possible commitments such as taking up German, volunteering as well as working towards my goal and happiness. By the mid-year point, I would like to have found another starting ground. Yoga is here to stay, and I will have to cut back on jogging to go long distances only on alternate weeks and making up for them with shorter 3+ km runs in 西瓜公园during the weekends.

Also, I resolve to catch up more with friends, including some colleagues from other departments whom I’ve previously been lazy to call up. To save more money, spending them on gifts for others than for myself. To care more about health and beauty, noting that dressing up and making up are essential to ladies, especially those who are passing beyond the fine young age of 25.

Another cycling trip.. on the last day of 2006

It was the last day of 2006, and I thought of doing something I truly enjoy to end off the year on a happy note. So there I was, (not-so) early in the morning fresh and bright, all ready for my cycling trip to East Coast Park (ECP)!

Eyes still puffy, but eager to get started

On the way! Passing by siglap park connector, towards ECP

One of the nice big houses along the park connector. Someday I'm going to own one of such. Heh

View of ECP from my table at CoffeeBean. Was there for breakfast and I almost couldn't tahan anymore on the way there. Stomach was growling loudly for breakfast while I was heavily paddling away.Muesli Parfait and tea, my favourite CoffeeBean breakfast of all times. :)

Later that afternoon, I was off to meet WW and was taking bus 15 and bus 51 to Margaret Drive. Had not been taking such long bus journeys and I was not quite used to them. Luckily WW came and hijacked my bus halfway, or else my butt would be totally numb. After teh, popiah and you tiao at Margaret Drive food centre, we went for a game of billiards at West Coast Recreational Centre. That got my interest in snooker stirred up again and I wanted more. But at the speed we're going (50 mins for a game), we had to stop at one. Heh.

The countdown to 2007 was a simple but very pleasant one. WW and I had dinner at his place with his Dad, then we played cards with his mum. Nearing midnight, we washed up and waited till a few minutes to 2007 to play the fire sparklers I brought over. We could hear the fireworks in the skies (but couldn't see them) and the cheers and screams once the new year approached. WW's neighbour, the wealthy Indian (we presumed), was celebrating with a whole group of yuppies - the modern Indians who like partying oh-so-much.

Partying at countdown events sound fun to me and sometimes I imagine how happening it would be dancing and drinking away. But at the end of the day, I would still prefer being at the comfort of my own or WW's house or neighbourhood, in my slacko shorts and sleeveless top with a no-make-up face, jumping around like the little kid I am.