C'est la vie: December 2004

Bus-ing

Very interesting - I actually took the same bus back to and fro work! By that, I don't mean the same bus route but the actual bus itself!

Of course I didn't memorise the bus licence plate number to come to that conclusion. Both times, I was sitting at the back of the bus. And I noted the same tissue ball stuffed into one of the air con vents and a broken black handle at the window. Yup - I am always so bored on the bus that I observe silly things like that. Sometimes I even count the number of squares on the printed bus seats. Heh. What to do when the bus journey is a freaking 45 minutes each time and its quite impossible to read without feeling dizzy. Thank God for the invention of music - I always plug myself to my faithful palm and wiggle in my seat to the beat and rhythm of my MP3s. And I like to people-watch. Its intriguing to observe fellow commuters and sometimes you wonder if they are feeling just as bored as you are!

Oh, I have a stinky feeling that it was probably the same bus driver on both rides! :D

Sunday lazy me

How was everyone's Christmas day?

Mine was good. No wild parties, no painting the town red.. just a nice cozy Christmassy dinner at Pam's house. This is the second year that Pam has nicely invited me over to her place :) As usual, there was lots of yummilicious food to gorge on, lots of carol singing and laughter. Simple and nice, the way I like it.

It would have been a perfect day if I hadn't received missed calls on my cell phone from the ex (note how I don't refer to him anymore as my ex but rather the ex now). He left me a Christmas greeting on my messagebank. Funny how he likes to spring surprise calls whenever he feels like it. He would play the appearance and disappearance games whenever he fancies. I'm getting really tired of all his mind games - I didn't want to call back and left it as that. And my heart felt really alright. I didn't feel sad.

This morning (or rather this afternoon) when I woke up, I saw another missed call from him. Gosh, what does he want?! Blah! Honestly I couldn't be bothered to find out. Left the phone as silent mode and went to grab lunch.

Cruel? Cold-hearted? Maybe. But I really don't want to go through another emotional upheaval again. Its a tad early to set new year resolutions, but one thing I am going to resolve to do it to guard my heart and fend it from people threatening to break it to pieces again.

Less than a week to the new year! 2005 I await thee with great anticipation! :)

Ho hO ho!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Here's a picture of the company carollers. We did a total of 4 carolling sessions today. Tiring but fun fun fun!! Lots of food, drinks and laughter every session!

These lovely folks are from the company worship group which meets every wednesday for prayer and worship. Its really encouraging to have a strong Christian presence in the workplace, which meets regularly to encourage each other in our walk with God.

During the carolling session today, we carried out a mini skit and Gordon (guy in first row, in white) shared a short message about God. People were rather receptive about it and we have had really encouraging feedback after it all - colleagues and friends were touched amd moved, Amen!

At one of the departments, I bumped into Andru. A very old friend from primary school.. goodness! I haven't seen him since like 8 years ago?!! He just joined the firm last week as a temp staff.. what a small world! We didn't talk much cause I had to rush off for the next carol session.

Some of the folks at office had an unofficial half day, but I stayed on till 8pm to finish up my work. In my haste to leave (being dead tired and all), I stupidly left my wallet in my table drawer. Only when I was digging for money to pay for the cab fare did I realise my wallet was nowhere to be found! Drats, rang up my brother to bring money down but because the taxi driver had another passenger waiting, he scribbled his address on the receipt and told me to mail him the money.. hmm, just like that! He didn't even ask me for my name, contact number or anything, he basically just demonstrated good faith that I will send him a cheque for the cab fare I owed him.

I was pretty astounded by all these. True the money is not much ($12.30) but I find it amazing that the taxi driver had such faith in me. What if I decided to be nasty and not send him the money? What can he do about it even if I choose to do so? He has no means to track me down.. He can't make a police report either!

Such faith, I tell you.

The moment I stepped into my room, I wrote a cheque of $12.30 and put it straight into an envelope. This will go into the mailbox first thing monday morning.

I just can't bring myself to 'cheat' this kind man of the money.

On a different note, I am getting my wallet back from my colleague tomorrow after church! She happens to stay near church. Heh :D Yay!! I miss my wallet! (not its not the hello kitty one, still hasn't been able to bring myself to use it.. hehe)

Feeling lost today

I was such a bobo today - left the house without my handphone. I was feeling quite handicapped without it the whole day, and I kept checking my message bank to see if anyone left me any voice messages.

Eh rather sad.. number of voice messages = zilch ; number of sms = two; number of missed calls = 2.

Actually in all honesty, the cell phone is not quite a necessity. I have access to the phone at work. My family know where to get me if its really urgent.

But that being said, I cannot imagine another day without my oh-so-precious handphone :D

Something totally way off the tangent - Some guy from work today (from another department) asked me about meeting up for lunch/dinner. We met during some training session last month, and at the dinner and dance last saturday... heh.

Shopping the male style

Got out off bed at 1.30 this afternoon. It was a good sleep and I was contended when I woke up. Mum wasn't home by the time I dragged my lazy ass out of my room, but she cooked my fave curry :) Yums, so after some good uniterrupted sleep .. what's best next than to have a nice hot ~~mail~~ meal? Curry the mummy style is better than those outside, trust me :D

Met Nic and GH later in the arvo in town for shopping. Both guys needed to shop for clothes so I tagged along to provide my two cents female perspective. Boy am I glad I went along - those guys cannot shop for themselves!! (more like they are clueless on how to clothe themselves!!)

Nic didn't buy anything in end cause they ran out of his size, but GH managed to sweep home 2 pair of pants and 2 shirts for work. He's starting work in Jan so he desperately needs these work clothes!

Ever heard how its said that women are terrible (i.e time-waster) when it comes to shopping.. they will try every possible colours and cuts there are to try, and then decided not to buy anything? Women are infamous for browsing and window shopping. They shop for leisure not out of necessity.

And when one says "to shop like a man" .. it means to shop with precision. You go into a shop, zoom into what you want, take it straight to the cashier, whip out your card/cash, pay, take merchandise and leave the shop..

Funny thing is today I shopped like a man. Needed new blusher and perfume, so I went straight to the cosmetic counter, grabbed the items, paid and walked out of the store.

And those two dudes? They practically shopped like ladies today! Haha! :)

We spent a good 5 hours walked round the stores today. Both will take clothes (heaps of them) to the fitting room to try and I will be standing outside the fitting nodding or shaking my head when they stepped out.

After today, I practically remembered all the male clothing labels for business shirts you find in those big departmental stores. Goldlion, Thomas Smith, Alain Deloin, Caserini etc...

Congrats Yun and Paul!

Am totally dead tired. Just got home not long ago from the wedding and I could seriously do with some sleep now.

Friend who was the wedding photographer took this picture of me and sent it to me (the bride and groom hadn't even seen it yet!) Heh, a sneak preview :D

This was taken at the end of the wedding banquet near the reception area. I think its quite a nice picture of me, you reckon?

Staying awake

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well.
An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly.
You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view.
A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary.

You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Found out about this blogthings website from Liz's blog - Hee Hee :D

Goodness me

This is weird. Its not even my own wedding and here I am tossing and turning all night. I haven't slept a wink at all. Its now 4.26am and I have to get up at 6am to make it to her house in time..

How how?

Cannot sleep already. Dad was supposed to wake me up at 6am before he goes for his daily morning jog.. Hiyah, if I steal some forty winks now, I am sure to oversleep.

Hmm, now? I can probably bang on his door if he decides to slack off and not go jogging. *grins*

I'm so gonna be a zombie on this lovely sunday. Nevermind, thank God for makeup and concealer to hide those dreadful dark circles round the eyes.

Heh.

Stress is over

The exam wasn't that difficult today - though the oral segment was a tad unexpected. Ah well, I shouldn't do too badly in it methinks ... thank God :D

During the exam, there was an interval when there were no teachers in the classroom. Its either they have faith in us not to cheat or they expected it anyway. It was very shocking and disappointing where people started openly copying answers and taking out the textbook for reference. One of them even made a joke about the word that the teacher wrote on the whiteboard "Bonne chance" which means good luck in french. She exclaimed that the teachers were giving us all a chance to copy and cheat, so we should make good use of it.. Duh.... not funny.

Well, I don't want to sound like I'm on higher moral ground, but honestly I don't see the point in cheating. What good is it if you score flying colours in the exam knowing that that was not your real capability? And to top things up, this is not really an exam per say - it doesn't determine if you will get retained in your current grade or get promoted to the next level. As the teacher said, its just a simple test for us to know where we stand. You fail, you still move up the the next level. You pass, you move up as well and you aren't gonna skip a level!

One girl that I thought was demure and sweet (hence I deduce of much integrity) openly took up her textbook and copied blatantly. She was seating right opposite me and gosh she had no sense of shame on her face. It was as though there was nothing wrong in doing that. (No?) I swear she basically copied 90% of her answers from the textbook.

And yeah while it was a compliment that my classmates think highly of me (by asking me for answers cause "Sharon sure knows.."), I refused to give them the answers. Was I being selfish? Was I worried that by giving them the answers, I won't top the class?

Honestly, no.

I believe in reaping what you sowed. I know the answers because I freaking studied hard for it. I allocated time and effort to study and my classmates know that when they call or sms me for help, I never said no. I am not selfish to share during class and not unwilling to share resources. But to help you cheat in an exam, no way! Go away!

And it hurts when people give you that look and body language that simply reads "What a selfish bitch.."

.... ...

Argh, nevermind. I know my heart and I know God knows too. And when the paper comes back, I will embrace my mark nevermind if I didn't do as well as those who cheated. At the very least, my conscience is clear and I know where I truly stand in my study of French.

Anyways.. after class I trotted off to town to finish my last lap of Christmas shopping. Amongst all the gifts, I bought a yoga mat for my sis who's totally into yoga these days. :) I think she likes it. Let's hope she puts that into good use.

Its now 10.30pm and I have to get up at 6am tomorrow for Yun's wedding. Have to be at her place by 8am to tekan the groom. And I haven't quite sorted out the tekan games yet.

I shall get back to that now! A bientot! :) I'm excited about tomorrow!!

Star Shooting

Rats. I got woken up this morning at 9am! ^&$*% and was embraced with a terrible headache. J'ai mal a tete. Thanks to the stupid lights they were changing at the corridors of every freaking floor. Grrr. All the drilling and banging.. Bleh! Pooey!

Ok so it was my own fault for staying up late to watch Sex and The City and slept at 5am. Funny fact - I am almost done with the first season.. hee.. to think I am only watching SATC now. The rest of the world are probably SATCing through the what-season now?

Texted Joyce to cancel the studying (aka mugging) session and was planning a day at home to nurse my headache and study. Or so I thought before a loud BANG went off behind me.

???? I pondered. Did some terrorists plant a mini scare bomb in my room because they discovered I am some secret agent for the FBI?

I turned my head, and to my horrors I saw...

my cable modem flickered and fizzled before it died. It was a power surge inside the modem. My faithful modem! GAsps!

And here's where I start bitching about the useless customer service from the people who live in a hub on a star...

After being put on hold for a good 10 mins, a customer service office finally picked up my call.

Me: "Hi, I think my cable modem just died on me. It cannot be powered up at all.. I think I need to purchase a new one "
CSO: "Can I have your NRIC madam?"
Me: "Sure, its 1234567A"
CSO: "Ok, Miss C, I see that you are still in a two year contract with our company for the cable internet. You can bring your modem down to our repair centre. Its at blah blah blah. Its only open from 2pm to 5pm on weekdays."
Me: "Are you sure I don't need to purchase a new one? I can just exchange for a new one at the repair centre?"
CSO: "Of course mdm."
ME: "Hmm.. ok thanks for your help. I'll make a trip there. Bye."

I stole a quick glance at the clock. It was already 2.30pm and I was still in my PJs. So I took a quick shower, gobbled down some food and dashed out of the house. I was going to take a bus there but being the ever lazy me, I flagged down a cab and got to the repair centre by 3.10pm.

Not bad I thought. I could get my new modem and get home by 4pm for some serious studying.

But at the repair centre, I was told flatly by the repairman that my modem is out of warranty and they cannot exchange a new one for me.

What?! But I was told to come here after CSO vetted all my details and told me specifically to come down here?!

Poor repairman probably sensed war in my voice and proceeded to ring back CSO promptly. Within secs, the handset was passed to me whilst the CSO tried to pacify me.

CSO: "Hi Mdm, the repairman is right. You cannot exchange your modem because it is out of warranty and it cannot be repaired.."
Me: (trying hard to keep cool) "Thats what I told you just now. And you told me to bring it here.. You could have told me that I cannot purchase a modem here!"
CSO: "Erm mdm, I told you to bring it to the repair centre for them to check if the modem is really spoilt before I suggest you go purchase a new one... "
Me: "Right... It would be nice if you could tell me all that earlier instead of making me run around Singapore. Today's a bad day for running around.."

The CSO sounded really apologetic and despite how fuming mad I was, I decided not to waste any more time arguing with him.

Me: "Fine, I'll go and purchase a new modem in town"

At the customer service centre in town, all the joustling with the crowd and waiting time ripped me of a good precious one hour for studying. Argh

I got home at 5.30 feeling totally disgruntled having wasted time and money. And bloody new cable modem cost a good hundred bucks!

But things sweeten up a bit when mum cooked my fave chilli crabs for dinner. Heh. And for supper .. I gobbled down some durians, tutu kuehs and candies.

Its a bad habit I tell ya - I always binge when I am stressed.

Exams tomorrow..... arghhhhhhh

Je suis fatiguee

Aujournd'hui J'ai etudier beaucoup. Mon examen de francaise est ce samedi. C'est stressant!

A demain, Je vais rencontrer Joyce pour revision a l'apres-midi.

Alors et maintenant, Je ne etudie pas. Je vais regarder les vcds et manger potato chips. Ah, Je vais boire un verre du ribena aussi.

A bientot mon amis! Je te parlerai plus tard. Prend soin de toi, d'accord?

Lookies

Some photos of the dinner and dance are out.

More to come! I haven't uploaded the ones I took yet.

Smashing!

Yeah - that's what and how I would describe this year's dinner and dance...

I am so dead tired now.. the feet are sore, the eyes are dried, and the hair is dripping wet waiting to be towelled or blown dried. The hair's badly traumatised today with lotsa hairspray, hairpins (about 20 of them I counted) and sprinkles. I had to wash my hair twice just now.

So yeah, it was a fantastic night! Not everyone dressed up to the retro theme but oh boy, we sure had some really sporting ones. Let's see.. there was a Elvis Presley wannabe, some John Lennons and a-go-go girls galore. And we had a really fantastic live band "Spirit 67" and everyone was forsaking the sumptious food for the dance floor & boogie all night.

And after the dinner was over, a couple of us trotted down to New Asia Bar for more drinks. Nah, I didn't get all sloshed but I had fun just grooving to the music. And it was nice to see Steph there too.

Yes lots of photos taken, some on the camera I brought but most on other people's cameras. When I get the photos, I will post them online. soon, soon.

Hairdo - $40
Cabfare back home - $15
Cover charge to New Asia Bar - $20
Horror of discovering someone's donning the very skirt you intended to wear, and you being so 100x thankful that you decided not to wear it - Priceless

I'm so glad, ultra glad I decided to go for a retro classic look instead of the funky look for the dinner. How would you like to see someone wearing the same skirt as ya? Eeeks. not me!!

Ok I think I am starting to talk nonsense. I better get my lazy ass out of the chair, blow my hair before I head to bed.

Sunday? A friend's 30th bday high tea to attend, and a dinner at night. Its a busy December I tell ya!

Sunshine me can?

Its amazing how a little sunshine cheers up the whole atmosphere. And conversely with the lack of it.

Ever looked at grey skies and felt moody?

I looked out of my 13th floor bedroom window and all I see now are skies of grey hue.. and unwillingly I've taken out a more shady view for today. Today is the day that we have been raving about at work.. the annual company dinner and dance. From excitedly discussing about wardrobe to seating arrangements, everyone's been pretty excited about it. Me inclusive. I was kinda looking forward to it, which I'm sure you can tell from all my deliberation on what to don. And so, I am feeling lazy about the whole thing. The hair, make up and all that jazz.

So I had a late night (or should I say early morning yesterday) and I'm feeling grumpy with the lack of beauty sleep. Try sleeping at 5am and waking up at 1pm. Ron was back from Sydney and the whole jin gang met up at his place for a round of bull-chatting and laughing (at each other). It was great time spent, nevertheless. The reminiscences of good old college yesteryears.

So where was I? Yes, so I was all grumpy when I got out of bed this afternoon. I turned off the aircon (half wondering why I was freezing my butt of) and drew up the curtains. Was yearning for some rays of warm sunshine and what embraced me was sheer ghastly and howling wind. Skies are not pretty in the least bit, to make things worst.

I'm fascinated with blue skies. The bluer they get, the happier I am. I often stare into the bright blue skies and find myself truly amazed at God's wondrous creations. And grey skies? Maybe that's God giving the sun a break. Afterall, we do get the weekends off right.

So sun and blue skies, when you have enough rest do come back and shine us with your life boosting rays. Till you appear, I'm gonna be singing..

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy when skies are grey.
You never know dear how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away..

Je ne suis pas taitai

I took half day off work today because I had to go for French class in the late afternoon. And because I had time to kill, I decided to treat myself to a session of manicure / pedicure / eyebrow shaping.

Goodness me, do you know how long all those beautification sessions took? Bloody 2 1/2 hours. My feet were soaked, exfoliated, scrubbed and massaged. The hairs were wrapped in some moisture mask thing to replenish the water loss and remove unsightly wrinkles. The brows were tidied and plucked. My back was so achy from all the sitting down. And though there was magazines galore, it was rather hard to flip the pages whilst keeping your ten fingers apart from each other.

Ah you know what - I am convinced that I am not cut out for a tai-tai lifestyle. I seriously cannot imagine how some can do that all day long. And all that money!

That all aside, I am quite pleased with my french manicure and pedicure. I'm all set to party this saturday at the company's dinner and dance! :) Will post photos of the dinner, I promise!

Hello Kitty

This wallet came in the mail today. Bought it online. Heh. :D I like!!

I prefer spaghetti eaten

Went to the bridal shop for gown fitting today.

No, not for a wedding gown fitting. More like a bridemaid's gown fitting for a friend's wedding next sunday. Am going to double up as her bridesmaid and her emcee.

Eeks.

I am going to wear this two thin spaghetti straps tube looking bridal dress with chiffon gathers.

Sounds nice eh, you think?

eeps!!

I think I look horrid in them :( I never look particularly nice in spaghetti looking clothes because of my small and droopy shoulders.

Ok, and I am clueless about what shoes to wear. The gown is cream white and I have no cream white shoes? What to wear?

Doesn't help that I just bought THREE pairs of shoes ~~tomorrow~~ yesterday, and none of them is going to come in handy. Heh.

Oh shoes... my love.. and BAGS!! :D

In a mood for quiz

1: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says
Till death do us part [Tony Parson's Man and Wife]

2: Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?
The wind

3: What is the last thing you watched on TV?
The Singapore Idol

4: WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what time it is
10am?

5: Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
10.41am

6: With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
The traffic

7: When did you last step outside? what were you doing?
Yesterday. Lots. Read the earlier entry

8: Before you started this quiz, what did you look at on the internet?
Friendster

9: What are you wearing?
Looney Tunes T-shirt and shorts

10: Did you dream last night?
Yes, a very weird dream with my ex in it.

11: When did you last laugh?
Yesterday evening

12: What is on the walls of the room you are in?
French stuff

13: Seen anything weird lately?
Not really, nothing really fascinates me these days too much for me to label them as weird.

14: What do you think of this quiz?
Bloody long

15: What is the last film you saw?
The Incredibles

16: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
A holiday package to Europe

17: Tell me something about you that I don't know
I am very gullible and soft-hearted

18: If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
Ban smoking

19: Do you like to dance?
Yes, and I'm going for a dance class after this.

20: George Bush
Ya?

21: Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
Ashlynn

21: Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
No idea yet.

22: Would you ever consider living abroad?
Been there, done that. Don't mind doing it again.

Happy Samedi!

I had a great day! :)

I went for French class, did some mock oral exam thing and I didn't do too badly. Heh. Guess I just need to brush up on my grammar (yes, the evil conjugaison.. ahhh) and listening.

During the class break, I rang up my dear friend who is having her wedding banquet in two weeks time. I just found out yesterday that I was her designated wedding planner?! C'est bizarre! So, I found out that she hadn't gotten a photographer for the night, her emcees and her bridesmaids' gowns. Talk about last minute! So I volunteered to find her a photographer, and I might either end up being her emcee or her bridesmaid. Going for a gown fitting on monday. Exciting! I have never been a bridesmaid before!! Did some emcee-ing last year in mandarin for a friend's church wedding ceremony and it was interesting :D

So after class, I rushed down to town to buy my shampoo and conditioner from the hair salon. Yes, I only use certain hair products. The ones from the supermarket is not good for my dry hair. Frivolous? Yeah, a little but I like :)

Then I met up with Fang for dinner. I was yearning for Jap food but parking in town was near to impossible. So we ended up in Raffles Hotel and had some fish & chips at Seah Street Deli. And ooh, the mozarella cheese sticks were marvellious. :)~~ YUmmy stuff.

After a quick dinner, we adjourned to Jubilee Hall for Aladdin!!! A local adaptation of the classic. Think Princess Jasmine from the Mustacha empire, and the batu caves in Malaysia. Heh. It was also a rather spontaneous production with lotsa audience participation. You can even buy a party pack for $2 with mask, confetti stuff, neon light sticks etc. The kiddos were certainly having a great time and the adults? We all had some good laughs.

It was a good two hours of laughter and chuckling. And I had a craving for caffeine and cakes. So Fang and I decided to find somewhere nice to sit down. Of course we could have be real economical and went to some coffee shop for a 80 cents coffee but the indulgence biatch force took us both to the Intercontinental hotel lounge for some oh-so-expensive drinks. Heh. I had a iced blended mocha for 11 bucks and Fang had some tea for about that price. And ooh, the mango cheesecake was so cheesy.. Hyuk. Expensive? hell yes, but factor in the nice cushions and sofa & the soothing nice live jazz music - it was definitely worth it.

Will I go back there again? Yeah! ;)

So what did I say? I had a tres tres bien jour, a great great day :D

Oh dear

I think I am in trouble....... !!

I am starting to develop feelings for this guy. Its troubling and terrible because suddenly I find myself thinking about him a lot, and I feel silly. Eeks.

This is bad. how? How?!

Maybe its just a passing phase, I hope so! I so do not want to be romantically linked to anyone at the moment. How can I? Just look at how emotionally unstable I am now.

Then again, the loneliness in me yearns for a special someone.

A dilemma, without a doubt. Sigh.

But I don't think there's any dilemma cause I don't think he likes me.

Eeps!

C'est la vie

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Bus-ing

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Sunday lazy me

Friday, December 24, 2004

Ho hO ho!!!

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Feeling lost today

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Shopping the male style

Monday, December 20, 2004

Congrats Yun and Paul!

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Staying awake

Goodness me

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Stress is over

Star Shooting

Friday, December 17, 2004

Je suis fatiguee

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Lookies

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Smashing!

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Sunshine me can?

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Je ne suis pas taitai

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Hello Kitty

Monday, December 06, 2004

I prefer spaghetti eaten

Sunday, December 05, 2004

In a mood for quiz

Happy Samedi!

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Oh dear

Snap Snap

2007 resolutions

French

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