My Taipei trip

Taipei is not as cooling as I expect for a winter period as compared to 7 years back.... Brought a few jackets there but end up keep wearing an ADIDAS jacket I found there. Happy though but those jackets I brought sure takes up a lot of space in my backpack.

This was purely a shopping and feasting trip with Winnie. 2 ladies combing the streets of Taipei... cool eh? We walked, shopped and eat whenever we see something interesting... Our itinery was just shopping districts and night markets everyday. The 1st day.... reached Taipei around 545pm and the sky was already dark. Reached our cosy Royal Castle hotel around 830pm. Put our bags down and proceed straight to our 1st night market - Gongguan night market. Was a small night market but with a lot of sports shops. There was where I found my ADIDAS jacket... hehe... Really happy for the buy. :) It was there where we stumbled upon the best shaved ice in Taiwan (to us at least). The plate of mango ice was fabulicious! The mango was soooo sweettttt, much much better than Singapore's "Xu Liu San". It was the best of all the shaved ice we tried in Taipei. Ahh.... never forget it....

2nd day was a packed day for us. Woke up early to go Beitou for a hot spring session but ended up realising that the shops don't normally open until about 11am. Went wandering around the area searching for a nice-looking hot spring hotel... Finally decided to settle for one japanese-styled hot spring. The room was small but the amenities were sufficient for the both of us. Soaked in the hot spring water for 20mins and got a bit giddy after sitting up. Lied on the wooden bed and was so relaxed that I wish there was a real bed there for me to sleep for another 2-3 hrs... After our bath, it was time to leave the place for some mountain called Yangmingshan. Had a short trek on the mountain to enjoy the cool weather uphill. It was accompanied with sipping hot tea in this really neat tea house before we went down the hill for Shilin night market. Shilin was huge! There was this eating place with hundreds of shops selling all sorts of Taiwanese 'xiao ci'. Tried the famous Taiwan omelette but i don't like the sauce. My verdict - Not nice. Keep searching for the chix chop stall but couldn't find... only to realise that there was another part of Shilin night market across the road! It was so crowded with people and so many shops selling all kinds of things. Managed to find the famous Shilin chix chop but it was nothing special in my opinion. Don't know what's the craze over it...? Anyway, Winnie and I bought quite a lot of things at the market. We were so tired that we decided to turn in early for that night.... It was only the 2nd day and our legs can't take it already....

The 3rd day was a city tour day. Went to see the Taipei icon Taipei 101 building. Was not really impressed by it though. Reminds me of Petronas Tower in KL. Took a few pictures just to show we've been there, done that. Was in the heart of all the major shopping centres and star sighting! Saw Taiwanese super model Lin Chiling doing catwalk for a jeans company. After snapping lotsa pics of the super model, we went on to the wholesale fashion district Wu Fen Pu. It was something like Bangkok's Chatuchak but a lot more spacious. But the clothes there were a bit too old for my liking and the place is stuffy and hot especially when we got into the inside of the clusters of shops. When night falls, we went to another night market, Raohe night market. The place was awesome! Bought a lot of Minna No Tabo stuffs and they are real cheap as compared to Singapore! ...Was grabbing every Minna No Tabo things in sight. =)

The 4th day itinery was to find Ah Zong Mian Xian (noodle house) in Ximending for our brunch. It was so much talked about that we decided we must try and give our own verdict. It was a very small shop with no sit-in tables available but you can see a throng of people queuing up and standing along the street sipping a small bowl of noodles. There is no chopstick, just a spoon to scoop the noodle. The noodles was quite tasty though but i dont see the fuss over it. Anyway, the small bowl was not enough to fill our stomach and eating another bowl seems to be too over.. so we walked around Ximending and start our daily food-tasting activity again.. When I watched Taiwanese variety shows, they always mention about duck tongue and that day I had a taste of it.. and I LOVE IT!! It about SGD$0.60 for 1 piece of duck tongue.. it doesn't look like a tongue to me at all! It resembles the branch of a tiny plant. Till now I have yet to find out which is the tip of the tongue and which part is connected to the duck throat. I just chew on every part of the "stick" with the tiny meat attached on the side but it was really tasteful! I almost wanted to buy 1 whole box back to Singapore but the thought of bird-flu refrained me from eating too much. Also, managed to find 1 'sai-wei-ma' (chix burger in Taiwan style) stall which Superboy insisted I try before I left for Taiwan. Well, my verdict - the chix burger stall at Keat Hong market taste better.

After that, we visited the famous tourist attraction Longshan Temple. A lot of devotees there; comparable to our very own Waterloo St Temple on CNY. Huaxi night market was nearby and it was really a disappointment. It was a short street selling all the wild animal food which did not appeal to us. Thought we would have spent the whole night there at first. Made a quick plan B to go Shida night market which is next to the Shida University hostels. It was a great choice! The crowd was more like our age and we saw the Taiwan actor He Ren Dong there. Haha! Star-spotting number 2. The night market was not as crowded as the rest... and there were a lot of good food and... shuai ge & mei mei around. The most unforgettable of the snacks we tried was munching lean meat sandwiches in the cool night... the 'liu ding' (looks like orange) juice was an excellant thirst-quencher too.

The past 4 days were very tiring for us as we did a lot of walking and navigating on our own.... hence we pamper ourselves by sleeping until check-out time... but Winnie woke up earlier cos she missed the Ah Zong Mian Xian so much that she went Ximending to grab a bowl before leaving Taipei. I tried to finish all my TWD $ by searching frantically for things to buy... bought a couple of sports apparels for Superboy as well as myself.. .their sports stores are aplenty and many varieties too.

Did I mention that Taiwaneses will never be bored? They have 100+ TV channels! Of cos there are some very boring channels like political news and stock exchange studies... but then they have some very interesting channels that are not seen in Singapore... adult movies.. haha! It makes downloading porn on the internet "excite-less". Oh well, to sum up. Taipei was a fun place. I may consider going there again with Superboy if the airfare is as cheap as this time's. Maybe after our Hongkong trip in June... ;)

The things I bought from Taipei. (my fave ADIDAS jacket not in pic :)

Prayers answered

My hope came true!!! It had caused me sleepless nights just hoping for it... Those nights were painful... swollen eyes and unstable state of mind. I am thankful that my prayers are answered. Sometimes, it pays to have a faith of your own. True faith.. it used to be my favourite Mambo Night song.

My friend, the Superhost

I am very proud to have a very good friend who got into the finals of the Superhost Contest. Still remember when the advertisement on TV was announcing this contest and how I encouraged her to join cos I know she has the calibre to be an ultimate superhost. I was not wrong... Amongst thousands of contestants, she emerged the top 8 female contestants! She is really a cool babe. She went for all her auditions alone, mind you! She did not ask for anyone to accompany her. I would have love to go support her but all her timings were just so coincidently clashed with my working days. But I did not fret cos I know she will go far.

She has been sacrificing a lot for this competition. As she just join a renowned beer company, she was only allowed to take no-pay leave. She was hesitating to continue this competition when they informed her that she was selected to the finals. To her, this is an experience. She is one who loves adventure and thrills. She even gave up our Taiwan trip, which so coincidently (damn it!) falls on the same week as her first round of competition. As a result, I was again not able to render my support at the studio. But I believe she will go far and even made plans to attend the 2nd round of the contest.

Set my alarm at 8pm to watch the show on TV. She looked pretty on screen and her delivery was calm and steady. There were some contestants who sux. Great I thought! Continue to sux big time. True enough, she was ranked 4th out of the 8 contestants in terms of the marks given by the judges. The last 3 girls were fighting it out to see who will get voted out. Haha i thought, and sent a sms to her to reserve some tickets for me next week.

When I got home and on the TV to see who was out of the 1st round, I was shocked to see that there was a 2nd round of voting going on. "What the hell is going on? Why is Enedfea on the podium with this other girl who was voted last by the judges?!" Then I realised that there were 2 parts to this competition. The 1st round is to choose the one with lowest score given by the judges and the one with the least public votes to fight it out. WTF! Isn't it unfair? During the judges round, the last 3 girls were called out and they were given a chance to "impress" the judges (just by standing there and acting pathetic to gain sympathy points) and then the rearrangement of the last girl begins. 2nd part of this contest is to choose out the girl with the least public votes. But hey! Can you see the unfairness of this competition?

(1) During the 1st part, the last 3 girls with the lowest score have a chance to let the judges change their mind but why didn't they pick out the last 3 girls with the lowest public votes and let the viewers change their mind?

(2) During the fight-out between Enedfea & this whiny woman, they were each supposed to answer a question posted by one viewer. After the answering of the question, why was there no re-voting by the viewers based on their answers? What is the Q&A for then? For the fellow contestants and Xu Nai Lin to place their vote? (The bitches will vote for the bitch.)

(3) Xu Nai Lin commented that the whiny woman answered better than Enedfea cos she really poured out her feelings about her personal life. (Qns was regarding Xiao S's premarital preganancy & the whiny woman talked about her abortion.) C'mon Xu Nai Lin, she is NOT answering the qns! She is crying away since she was announced last by the judges. How can a superhost be losing her feet when she is met with such a situation? How can she handle tougher situations if she should be a host? Look at Enedfea, she remained poised and composed even when she was voted last by the public but she stood there and answered the qns to the point and most importantly, she DID NOT sob for gooodness sake.

I am disappointed with the result and the way the contest goes. There is no fairness! I am not going to watch Superhost anymore. Waste time.

Hope

Have you ever hope for something so much that if you don't have it, your world will start collapsing? Well, I am hoping for something right now......

Superboy out of luck

Superboy recently took up a new mission. I hate his task. It's too much time consuming and the payoff is unreasonable! Speaking of benefits from BIG local organisation. I feel so sad for him... He wanted to achieve a lot but the chances given to him are slim. Superboy wanted to use it as a stepping stone but is this stone a little too uneven to land your feet on? I know Superboy is able to undertake any amount of hardship in order to fulfill the mission. But I hate to see him spending more than 12hrs at his work place. I know I sound like I'm whining. Perhaps the librian side of me surfaced... I feel unjustified for Superboy! He is spending more time than I am at work but the pay is peanuts! Fresh grads... what can we expect? We can expect LUCK! I am lucky and I believe Superboy will be too! I just hope he can find (much!) greener pastures elsewhere. We all work to survive, not work till no life! I hope an angel will come and bring him away from the horrible place soon.....

A quarter of a century old

Reflecting on the past 25 years of my life...

Primary school
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A street-smart girl for my age. Loves pretty frocks and Chomel hairbands but sporting a short crop hairstyle and was always mistaken as a young lad. Likes to collect Barbie dolls and play with paper dolls just like a typical little girl. Also likes to meddle with bows & arrows, swords, guns, cars like the boys. Love to read and developed an interest in writing since then. Abundant energy and full of zest, I played all possible sports in school. Was in the school's squad for atheletics, basketball & badminton. A well-known pupil among the principal, teachers, bookshop uncle, canteen aunties & the school dentist as a result of the many activites involved - the annual class play, inter-class quizzes, prefectorial board since Pri. 3, appointed to raise the Singapore flag during the National antemn everyday. Full of expectations by the teachers, but was greatly disappointed when the PSLE result was only good enough to land me in an average neighbourhood school....

Secondary School
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My teenage years were pathetic. I hated everything about the school since day 1. The school building was shabby and dilapidated. The school location was near Jurong port, for goodness sake! The uniform was a dull and uninteresting grey. The principal and teachers couldn't even speak proper English. The classrooms tables & chairs were made of wood (!) and had deteriorated. The library has a weird smell and its floor is carpetted in an old-fashioned red carpet. It has limited books and they were almost of a century old. The squeezy music room is located at a quiet corner of the building and was rumoured to be haunted. I wondered how could one's musical creativity be cultivated in a ramshackled shed like this.

Decided to seek some solace in my favourite sports. Went to their basketball training (The school is super proud of this sport) only to realise that it had been dominated by all the main players from a rival primary school team, who had been training since the holidays. The first time I felt left out and unimportant. Wanted very much to play a sport and go to competitions. Went for their badminton try-outs and was selected as a vice-captain but so what? After half a year, I realised the school had no budget for the necessary equipment for trainings and the school has no intention to send any team for badminton tournaments. In short, it is a Badminton (Recreation) Club. The school had no proper channels to do things. You can be selected for an individual event on Sports Day and you even had your name registered but the minute before the competition, your name can be replaced by either the volleyball or basketball player. The whole Sports Day is a day for the basketballers & volleyballers to compete among themselves only. I decided not to attend Sports Day the year after that.

Since then, I had come to a point where I am down right disappointed. And I decided to stop all involvement with the school. My ECA grade was a D in my leaving cert. (Haha!) Since I was not able to create a reputation in terms of a sportswoman, I began to focus my attention to my academic, determined to leave my name among the list of top students. I always bear this vengeance inside me. I want to prove what I'd got. I got 2nd in class during my 1st year and went on to the top class every year.

People may think that I must be a nerd then since I had above-average results. Although I may looked like one beside the "Ah Lian" with her Chantel Thomass bag and her Guess paperbag plus her Ferragamo hairband, I don't bury myself in textbooks everyday. I don't mug, I just enjoy doing the assignments and learning about new Maths formulaes. I can have my dinner, yak on the phone and complete a tutorial at the same time. I was not a good-looking teenager at that time, so I had less distraction regarding guys. All my friends started talking about their previous night conversation with the Ah Beng from another school, holding hands with a guy, their awkward first kiss, etc. Well, I had none of those experience. I was just the plain jane who keeps "falling in love" with guys whom I'd never spoken to.

It was until my sweet sixteen when things started to look a little better. I began to get recognised in a way. I was selected to represent my class in the various inter-class quizzes and I had made a few good friends in the school. I think i started to grow up. I stopped all my silly fantasies of having a boyfriend or be the Ah Lian who is much sought after by Ah Bengs.

College
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Wanted a different environment so I decided to opt for this ang-mo-pai school in Dover Road. It painted a much better picture than my secondary school. There were no Ah Lians or Ah Bengs in sight. Fights among gangsters were unheard of. Everyone looked so neat and tidy. The convent girls were pretty and the ACS guys were good-looking. Everyone looked so happy. I was even nicknamed "Ah Lian" by my classmates because I was wearing a frosty hairclip?! My classmates were from single-sex school except me. They had never sat in a class with the opposite sex before and you can see the class is splitted out distinctively by the gender. All the girls had no boyfriend before, just like me. I was actually engaged in lengthy conversation every night with an ACS guy and it was the 1st time a decent-looking guy ever showed an interest in me. That was the turning point of my life. I was still not the most popular person in school but I was living a life that is full of excitment. There were countless class parties at the garden of the home, group movies, dinners at Billy Bombers, etc. I wanted to try a go at basketball again. Joined their basketball team but the school culture was not into this sport. After a friendly game with a neighbouring college and was thrashed badly, I decided to switch college after the 'O' level result release.

The school exterior resembles a chalet. A very good environment for studying. The lecture theatres were more comfy than the previous. I was a little skeptical at first when I went to my class. The people did not look as interesting and fun. The teachers were all very devoted and patient. Although it was also a mission school. there were no teachers chasing after you for donation. In my 1st month into the school, I was shortlisted for the prestigious Temasek Seminar, nominated as a counsillor and selected for an inter-class story-telling competition. I was honoured to be appreciated by my civic tutor but somehow I was not keen to take up the tasks. Got into the basketball team but I realised I was already lack behind by 4 years in term of experience and skills as compared to those who had been training throughout their secondary school life. Despite not being the superstar in the team, I know all is fair here. I was actively involved again in the 2 years in college. I joined all the inter-class, inter-faculty games possible. I had great fun with my class during the annual Sport Day, College day, Heritage Day, etc. It was fun-filled. When it was time to study, we got down to study and when it was time to play, even the teachers were crazy!

Each day was an interesting day for me. I still remembered how I looked forward to seeing this gorgeous tall guy in between lectures/tutorials along the corridor just to exchange smiles, after the day he approached me in the basketball court. I was skipping the introductory lectures and was shooting some baskets in the court. It was then when I started my 1st relationship... It was a short relationship that lasted not more than 2 months. I was ignorant then. I know nothing about guys. Nevertheless, it was an unforgettable experience during my college days....

University
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Surprisingly, nothing much to mention for my 4 years in uni. Guess there were nothing new to learn about life except maybe getting into more nightlife partying & relationships. Haha! Friends I made in uni came and go. Met some interesting people as well as some weirdos thou'. I was not involved in any activities purely b'cos I see no interest in doing so. I did however, took part in the ocassional faculty basketball games). What I remembered was most of the time spent was sleeping! I did not study much in uni and that prolly explains my not so glorious results. :) Academic-wise to me was not of utmost importance as well as I managed to advance to the next year "peacefully". Your career in life does not depends on your results, but it's about opportunity. Once you get into a reputable uni and course, you'll be safe. That's my viewpoint.

Writing all these really made me recall numerous things... I realised so many years had passed.... The schoolmate whom you were not familiar with 10 years ago, may be the father of your children in future. Your best friend 20 years ago may be the person who sat beside you in the bus this morning but without recognition.

I want to thank Superboy for the wonderful birthday surprise he had given me. A BIG bouquet of champagne roses & lilies, the choc moose cheesecake and the beautiful night at Scarlet boutique Hotel! :)

Enigma

Dunno what to write... but just wanna create an entry to remind me of how free i am now. Took a 3 days leave which amount to 10 days off. For those who knows what my working pattern is will understand this theory. A bit wasted thou' since I am not going overseas this time. Taiwan trip is going to be in end Nov. "I AM GOING TAIWAN!" Gonna savour all the local delicacies & get lost in the busy streets of the night markets. :)

When one is free, he will begin to think of many things, things which he has no time to deeply ponder and rationalise in his life - the past the present & the future. I am of no exception. In this journey of reminiscence, many "what if"s will begin to appear in one's mind. The past will consist of questions like "What if our paths had never crossed? What if I had not given away my precious necklace? What if I had not said those words?". Questions you might ask regarding the present will be "Shall I continue in this job? Shall I sell my car" Shall I sign up this policy?" The unknown future will comprise of "Will I strike toto next month? How will my kids look like? What will happen if I take this path home?" Life is full of uncertainty, ambiguity & vulnerbility. Hence, we must always make contingency plans for ourselves if we want a hopefully-secured future.

It's like a gamble. When you placed a bet, say in roulette (my fave game)... If you place a bet on #13 straight up for example and it came out #13, you win 35 to 1 the highest payout in the game. However, the possibility of striking is only 2.63%. So lets say you bet on #13 again plus additional bets on RED & EVEN, if the result is again #13, you win 35 times your stake but lost the stakes on RED & EVEN. So you still win 33 times your stakes (provided the stakes remain constant for all bets). But if the wheel turns out #14, you lost the stake on #13 but you win on RED & EVEN. Overall, you still win 1 time your stake! By placing #13 is like a hope, a very tiny hope of 2.63% but placing stakes on RED & EVEN is like a safeguard method if case your hope is destroyed. Of course the worst may happen when all your stakes are lost i.e when the roulette wheel stops at #15. At that time, it's up to you if you want to continue in this game or forgo the loss and treat it as an experience to the casino.

Money is the Root of all Evil

How much do you agree with this statement? For me, I swear by it. Everything in this world talks about money. Money makes the world goes around. Most of the crimes in the world are caused by this money shit. Little kids who become pickpockets at the age of 5, young girls in the 3rd world country sell their chasity at the tender age of 12, siblings who grew up together fight for the will of the deceased parents, traffickers who consume plastics of heroin into their stomach to avoid custom checks, and countless cases that broke up relationships, friendships and kinships.. Money KILL!

Who do you think gets the babes? Money plays a bigger factor than looks alone. Men with flashy cars usually score in the dating games nowadays. Take a look at the million-dollars soccer players... they are dating either the Hollywood actress or the Milan top runway models. Why do you think so many towkays are always surrounded by a pool of women when they are already balding and have a beer belly and a face full of oil? Why do you think Anna Nicole Smith marry a dying man aged 80+? Bullocks to the things she said about falling in love with the old man because he came to support her strip shows every night. Can he really give her the love she needs? Yes, her love for money perhaps. And erm... the sexual satisfaction? Imagine making love to an old man who barely can take off his own clothes? What, Viagra? Must as well make love a a tree branch!

As you grow older, you will realise that every topics you discuss have a thing to do with money. This is especially true when you attend a class gathering. First thing people ask is definitely "What are you doing now (reads: "How much are you earning now"?) Money can be a sensitive issue. Money is widely used as a comparison scale. Money can change a person. You may be your best friend's enemy one day if you are earning more than her and she is not happy about it because she feels she deserves more than you.

Is money the way you measure a person's worth? Our hospitals for example, why must they categorise into 'A', 'B' & 'C' wards? The 'A' wards have the best and probably most nutritious food, better medical attention and most likely the best doctors. Does it mean that those who are not so well-off do not deserve the same grade of medical care? So, does it mean that the poor are not worthy of living in this world?

The world is bias and this is a fact that we cannot deny nor try to change. The truth hurts. It's a sick world.

Bangkok shopping trip

Back last week from Bangkok... aim of this trip is just to shop, eat, massage and chill. Was a hase decision to go on this trip... Saw Superboy's 4 missed calls when I took out my phone as I was starting my engine...

Me: Darling, wassup?
Superboy: Got Tiger Air promo to BKK at $20 only. Want to go?
Me: So cheap ah? Ok, onz. (hangs up)

On the way back, I suddenly remembered that I'd promised Enedfea to go BKK at year-end. Oops! Aiya hack, go again lor... called her anyway. Luckily, she being the understanding one... has no qualm about it and we decided to go Taiwan together with Winnie at year-end instead. Looking forward to that... hehe... gonna visit the famous streets & food mentioned in the Shi Zhi Lu Kou!

Before I sidetrack, a recap of my days in BKK.
===============================================
Day 1:
1st time onto budget airlines in Asia. It's a 1st come 1st serve manner of boarding the plane. Omigosh! How unruly it was! Why the hell can't they just allocate seats? Thou' budget but will there be cost incurred by allocating seats and prevent unhappy customers or an ugly sight for the tourists? Wanted to feedback my unsatisfaction in their suggestion forms but couldn't find any! Seats are so cramp.. I wonder how do the big sized men take their seat? Almost impossible! Yes, you may say budget airlines should expect so much.. but Virgin Blues was much much better when I took it in Aussieland. Perhaps they took into account that Westerners are bigger sized.. ok ok.. i'll buy that....

First thing we did when we arrived in BKK was to board a cab to Chatuchuk Weekend Market since we reached in the Sunday afternoon. It was raining.. damn! Don't care... bashed thru the pools of water and the uneven grounds. Superboy and me walked damn fast.... browsed thru the shops at a super speed. Stopped only if anything caught our fancy. Bought a few tee shirts for ourselves.. only 100baht per piece! Oh boy... it was cheap. Before we knew it, 2 hrs past.. didn't buy much cos it was too crowded.. and we only go into shops that are not so infested with people. Despite my 2nd time in Chatuchuk, we still took almost 45mins to find our way to the meeting point!

Went to have some bird nests tonic before heading back our hotel - Indra Regent @ Pratunum. The lobby that greeted us was beautiful and the room was better than my expectation. The only thing that had been better is a stronger water pressure from the showerhead. Took a quick bath and off we go for dinner. Impressive pictures of Japanese Prime Minister lined the stairways.. the food must be nice to serve such VIPs i thought. The Beijing duck & tom yam soup was not bad.. but the chilli crab was pathetic. I miss Singapore chilli crabs! Ordered a roasted pig to compensate our disappointment.... The head was facing me.. it's a small pig.. maybe about a few weeks old... everyone dug in. Nah, I don't like it. Not meaty enuff.

After dinner, we went to Suan Lum night market. A pretty new market.. hadn't been there the last time in BKK. The Net mentioned that it is comparable to Chatuchak and I was rather excited as I hadn't got the time to comb Chatuchak in the afternoon. The market was more airy and the shops are arranged in a neater manner as compared to its counterpart. Shops are small thou but the things looks pretty new. Not much time to shop there also as it closes at midnite. Shall come back again the next day.
Day 2:
Next stop MBK - the biggest shopping centre in BKK. Hailed a cab and this young lad keep talking in a mixture of broken English & Thai and Superboy just smiled and patronised him thinking he is just being the friendly Thai... unless i heard the words "gems", "fast", "you work for me" and we came to our realisation that he wanted us to help him get the 5litres of free petrol if we pose as 1st timers to the gems factory. I was pissed off at being made use of but Superboy kept laughing.. He was amused that by this joker at how he actually told us his plot; told us to tell the person that it was our 1st time here (althou' both of us visited the place before many yrs back). The place was infested with tourists. We drank the free cola and started to pretend awhile and then head for the exit. Got on the lad's cab and finally reach MBK after a detour to the gem factory. I was not happy lor as it wasted my 1hr of shopping!! And he still charge us money. Should be free ride right? But we are too nice people to demand that from him.

Walked around and did a lil' shopping. Nothing much to eat there thou'. When I went into a palour for manicures & massages, 80% of the people inside are Singaporeans. Superboy did foot massage while waiting for me. Oops, almost late for the Thai massage appointment at 6pm. We quickly took a train to Asia Hotel to get Naraya gifts for friends. Couldn't find the blue beetle designed bags that the girls wanted so bought the yellow beetle instead.
Wait for a cab to bring us back to our hotel when Superboy saw his friend outside Asia Hotel. (Wah lau, everywhere also got friends) This stupid taxi driver wanted to charge us 150baht from Asia Hotel to Pratunum! Are you nuts! Scram! Hailed another taxi.. wanted to charge us 100baht. No thank you. Asked us how much we wanted and i quoted 40baht. He said go by meter then. Great. When reach our hotel, it was 45baht but Superboy gave him 55baht anyway. We are such nice people.

The massage was within walking distance to our hotel. Was thinking of trying this recommended by the tour guide and tmr we'll go to the one recommended by Enedfea in Suthumvit. The massage palour looked rather big but it kind of sleazy. All the masseurs (some of them putting on makeup) are in this room with a big glass window which resembles the "fish tank" in Geylang. Each of them has a number tagged onto their shirt. The masseur who served me not too bad-looking but the one who served Superboy was a plucky woman. Haha! 1st time doing massage with Superboy and i feel rather uncomfy to have a woman touching him everywhere! Argh! But good thing is that the masseur is not some young lil' thing. (Meow!) I was suffering in the massage process. Don't know if it's cos I became weaker since 3yrs back but I remembered the experience in Phuket was relaxing... This time round, I was refraining from pain when i was massaged on my back. After the whole thing, my back hurts and it's like being hammered on my back! Still got to give 100baht tips to the masseurs on top of the 400baht/2hrs. We are just too nice.

Tried to hail a cab to bring us to Chinatown for seafood but all the cabs that stopped were not willing to go there. Oh well, too bad then. We strolled in the busy streets of BKK back to our hotel and went to "ta-bao" some food at the roadside stalls. Actually I dare not try roadside stalls before but seeing the enthusiasm in Superboy's to try their local delights, I went along. Luckily did not suffer from stomach upset and shortened my shopping time. hee...
Since nothing much to do at nite in BKK and I did not bring my dancing shoes so can't go clubbing also.. we went Suan Lum again. Bought a vase, a Minna No Tabo big plastic bag, a mug for Superboy & myself, a bag along with a girly skirt. The after-effect from the Thai massage was still aching my back. Went to the Suan Lum market's food stall to chill and watch performances. It was like our Lau Pa Sat. A nice place to rest your weary legs/body after a whole night of shopping.

Day 3:
My body is still aching from the massage that I decided to give the Suthumvit massage place a miss. We started our daily shopping spree at Pratunum wholesale centre which was just next to our hotel. Should have started our shopping at Pratunum on the 1st day! The things here are so much so much cheaper than MBK and Suan Lum! A tee which I bargained from 200baht to 175baht cost only 150baht (before discount)!!! The bag which I bought at 200baht at Suan Lum cost only 150baht (before discount)! Argh!!! I STRONGLY RECOMMEND PRATUNUM BEFORE MBK/SUAN LUM! Bags & clothings buy in Pratunum but for home decors & stuffs, you can buy in Suan Lum. Go MBK for the experience & the air-con maybe.
We decided to walk from Pratunum to Siam to feel the busy city. That's what Superboy & me like to do... just like how we combed central Sydney & Melbourne 2yrs back.. take photos as we walked from attractions to attractions. In this way, you can really know where you'd been on the roadmap and soak into the local's culture. We conquered Indra Square, Pratunum Market, Pratunum Centre, Central World Plaza, Siam Square, Discovery Centre, Siam Centre, MBK (for intimates) before we settled for COCA Steamboat for dinner. We ordered quite a lot of dishes and it cost us only about S$15 each. On the way back to the hotel, we pasted by the 4-faced Buddha. Superboy went thru' the short ritual of prayers. Hopefully it'll bring us good luck in the years ahead. There are some small roadside stalls outside Big C departmental store and the things there are pretty interesting. Getting late... headed back to the hotel to pack up for the noon flight the next day.

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It was a purely shopping trip. The only disappointment was not able to eat as much as we intended to.. and also not buying enough Naraya products!!

Superboy's Mission

I survived the drive back from the airport! *clap clap* Yes, yes, I admit being hopeless to directions especially when I am the one driving. Actually, it's quite a long drive... total of 42km. My maiden drive from Changi Airport safely back to Choa Chu Kang!

Just sent Superboy off to his Hong Kong games... sob sob... It reminds me of my last trip to HK... That was so fun.. during my college days... sigh.. aim of the trip was similar to Superboy's... Still remember the bunch of us were so excited.. all geared up.. What I witnessed an hour ago was just similar. Brings back those memories.... It's been 7 years... goodness! I am so old now!

Seldom get to see him nowadays... Just less than 24 hrs ago, he was in Kuala Lumpur for SEABAgames.... double sigh!.... Eversince he got himself committed to the team, he has been training everyday.... Remember I mentioned the best occupation is to be a pro player in some kinda games? I wanna stress that it only applies to other countries besides Singapore! They pay peanuts here! Worse than what the McDonald's lady is geting, i'm tellin' you.

Feeling so aimless without Superboy.... guess I'd just catch up on my beauty sleep these few off days.. looking forward to meet him at the airport on Monday...

B.I.T.C.H.

What kind of colleagues do you have in your workplace? Those whom you form cliques and go for lunch together, those you complain to about your boss or those whom you meet up to go shopping even on weekends? For me, I don't make close friends out from colleagues. Maybe it's some kind of self-defense or you may call it, wary of others. Most of the things a working person talks about are related to work. You may not mind your friend from another company rattling on and on about her office flirt or that pain in the ass from her department. But, how can you stand listening to anything relating to work on the pathetic 2 off days?! Also, I cannot live my personality in front of my colleagues; I find it weird. Imagine one moment you are giggling over the hot bum next door and the next you are sternly discussing about meeting the next month target over the board meeting.... and the person whom you are questioning about the slow output is your "friend". There is a limit to how friendly you can go with a colleague.

I have this pair of colleagues in my department... both about the same age as me... different gender... both wear glasses... and both whom I dislike! They are always going for secret tea-breaks together, gossipping to each other and when the girl comes back to work on a quiet saturday, he would sit at another table (not his usual table) next to her with back facing each other and happily talking away, oblivious to the rest of the world. Sounds romantic right? Very sweet right? Happy for them to have found each other out of the 4.2 million population in the small office right? BUT... halt! The guy is married! And the girl is a religiously devoted person, or so it seems then. Is it utterly disgusting?!

One type of people in the workplace whom I detest are those with no email etiquette. Those who command people to do things without a word of thanks, those who have no manner to sign off properly or those who purposely cc to your boss some minor mistakes someone did and putting the person down in the email in front of the whole list of colleagues just to show her capability.

Another type of hateful people are those who don't pay when we eat in a group. I have this colleague who simply take for granted when someone offers to buy drinks for the group when out for lunch. When most people starts to dig into their pockets for coins, she pretends to be unaware of what is happening. I can't stand such people! One word to describe them - DIRT cheapo.

All the examples mentioned above is the girl who is having the scandalous relationship in my company... B.I.T.C.H.

It's a FINE country

Damnit! Got my 2nd parking ticket this month!.....after 1 over years of driving. Can you beat it? 2 tickets in 2 weeks?! Argh!!!!

Mahjong Queen

Won $100+ bucks in a mahjong game... really lucky... I feel as if I am Stephen Chow in Saint of Gamblers. Haha!

Big money, Big money!

Just came back from a short trip to the capital of our neighbouring country... went with a group of 7, with Superboy as well.. We were packed with a BIG aim - eat, eat and EAT! The thought of us mindlessly stuffing ourselves with the street-delicacies gave me an adreline of excitment! It was simply awesome. I love to eat.. but I can be choosy with my food. One disappointing thing though is that I only get to eat chilli crabs on one night! And I was carried to the dining room half-asleep after a day of shopping to be surprised with a mess of chilli crabs on the coffee table. Thankz for waking me up Superboy! :) Anyway, was overall a fun trip.. hehe.. load of laughters and bitching... tsk tsk.. ;p

A trip to M'sia is not complete without my frequent hunt - the CASINO! Oh well, I am not that of a gambler... I just love the thrill. It's just like some people enjoy taking thrill rides... alright, the casino is my substitute for that. I don't fancy those rides... be it the roller-coaster or the viking. I don't mind the ferries' wheel. Anyway, I always think if you take your time to observe and perservere, the casino is a place that hands out money. I always think it's so much easier than betting on 4D or toto. Let me ask you.. what is the probability of striking 4 numbers? Ya, the pay out cash may be higher in 4D compared to betting on big or small/black or red in Roulette but hey, the main purpose is to win money right? PATIENCE is the key to winning my dear friends... If you lose 10bucks in the 1st round, double up in the second. I don't believe it can turn out big numbers in 10 rounds of games! Now, I am proud to tell you that I found 1 loophole in Roulette. You see, there are 2 types of bets. One is to bet either #1-18 or #19-36 and the odds is 1 is to 1. But there is another odds that pays 1 is to 2 and you place either #1-12, #13-24 or #25-36. So, if you are betting on big or small, place your bets on 1st or last 2 sets of the latter 3 groups of numbers. You still win 1 time your bet, get it? Ok, looks like it's quite hard to explain... anyne interested to know, you may leave me a message but half of your winnings must be credited to me. :) So to summarise, for those with cash I think it's a damn good way to win money at Roulette. If you can win $50 a day, you can win $1500 a month! Wow! Without having to work! But then, no CPF lah.

The One

Are you currently having The One.. job you dream of? And have you ever been to job interviews where they ask you to rank Job Satisfaction, Money, Distance, Environment, Job Security, Status in order of their importance to you? If you have put job satisfaction as the most important factor and money as lesser importance, you most probably would have gotten the job - congrats to you.

I remembered I was telling my interviewer how I want to meet with challenges everyday in my job and money is not a factor at all if I like what I am doing, blar blar blar.... Do I really mean what I said? Hell no! Whoever don't think money is the No. 1 reason, he is a BIG liar! Take a scenario, there are 2 job offers for you now... (1) To work in a super fast-paced environment with thousands and one problem waiting for you to solve and after every issue resolved, your boss will commend on your good work, you feel very satisfied with yourself but there is not a single penny pay rise for 10 years (and your pay is already peanuts). (2) A very boring job, doing the same thing over and over again... no challenging issue for you to crack your braincell and you are taking home 2 times an average person is getting per annum. SEE? An excellant illustration there.

I am always thinking... do we work to live or we live to work? But sadly, a lot of Singaporeans are dragging themselves to work on the MRT every morning. We have 24 hours in a day. An average person sleep 8hrs a day, work 9hrs (without OT that is), travelling time to and fro work 2hrs, meal & bathroom time 3hrs.. how many hrs have we left?? 2 HOURS! What the hell can you do? That is why Singaporean past time is to watch the TV (and goddamnit our TV programmes sux).

Are only Singaporeans like that I wonder.. cos what I heard was the my fellow sister companies in Europe are working at a very slow pace. Task which we are expected to do within 1week, they take 1month. And not to mention, their average wage per person is 3 times more than us and mind you, we are working for the same organisation. Their working hrs are from 9am to 4pm.. and no meeting after 6pm. Their dinners last for at least 3hrs, starting with appetizer, soup, entree, deserts and end off with a cup of coffee; not like us gobbling down our food in foodcourts or rushing to finish our dinner so we can start to tutor our kids on their surmounting school work, wheras they have the luxury to catch up with friends on jolly good times or cultivate family ties at the dinner table.

The best thing that could ever happen in life is getting an occupation which you don't feel it is a job at all. A sportman would be the ideal occupation ya? An NBA player - people pay you for going for their trainings, you get free apparels; don't have to waste money on corporate suits or make-ups... and you are earning more than an average joe is in his lifetime. People cheer for you on games.. you get occasional scolding from the coach but that will not threaten your career at all. When you score, SENSE OF SATISFACTION overwhelm you. The best part is, you get paid when you are injured and off the season; basically is you do nothing and people sympathise with you and you even get free first-class treatment from the specialists. When you are on MC in our world, you get scrutinisation on whether are you faking your illness (screw them!).

As a human being brought to this world, do we live Life or do Life live us? *sigh*

Shitty Biz

I have received numerous responses from my previous topic "Holly Shit!" and here I am to share with my audience some bazaar contributions, some of which you may identify with. Ha!

Remember I mentioned about the balancing act of squatting on the toilet bowl. I have recently found out the secret of mastering this stance and also give me the glory to discover this gymnast talent in my friend. It all boils down to locating your CG (Center of Gravity) - Support yourself using your hand to hold onto both sides of the cubicle walls. Isn't it amazing?! Moreover being a good citizen, she is not one who dirties the toilet flap. She risks her dear life by squatting onto the toilet bowl with the seat up! I dunno about you but I am surely impressed. Haven't try this out thou... Still bear the fear of falling into the toilet bowl.

Did you noticed that the seated toilet bowls in our country comes in 2 designs? One of which is the one we usually have at home, i.e the water level us about 1-hand deep (Doubt my measurement? Go try it) and the other type are the ones with a whole pool of water with depth the length from your fingers to the elbow. You will most often find these in big shopping centres and hotels. Seriously, what advantages are there for these categorization. Isn't the latter a worse option? More water in the toilet bowl = more chances of getting the water splash up your ass? Anyone knows the reason?

Most people will be embarassed when they shit in public toilets because of the noises they made when the waste dropped into the water and creating a "plat"sound. Hence various methods are adopted to minimise this sound especially when you know someone is using the cubicle next to yours. One method I heard is to control the feces - flush everytime you feel the shit is reaching the water. Another method is to put a lot of toilet paper into the bowl so that it will create some kind of sound-absorbing effect. Maybe the Save water and Save paper campaigns should start from the toilet users.

I personally like the toilets in aeroplanes. They do not have a pool of water in their toilet bowls. Instead, their flush is so strong that no waste will be left on the toilet bowl walls. Kudos to the inventor of this type of toilet. Hope they implement this soon to all the public toilets.. or they can have audible music in all the public toilets to save users from the embarassment of shitting/peeing too loudly. We should think out of the box. A toilet is not necessary the one we see everyday. More effort should be put into inventing one which provide a comfortable and stress-free 15min of toxic release.

Wedding bells chiming away...

"From this moment…life has begun
From this moment…your are the one
Right beside you is where i belong
From this moment on
From this moment…i have been blessed
I live only for your happiness
And for your love i’d give my last breath
From this moment on..." - Shania Twain

I have always wanted this to be my wedding march song, although several hundreds of weddings would have played this song. I deeply believe in the lyrics; believe that marriage is sacred, marriage means the union of 2 person from different background to come and live 1 life together, to bring new lives into this world and to grow old together.
What triggered me to write about Marriage is that many of my friends are getting married or already had. I am 25 this year... one-third into a normal human life span. 1st one-third of the life would be to learn and cultivate to become the person you want to be for this lifetime.... which is why we get ourselves an education, or to learn skills for survival. 2nd third of a human life would be to put your skills into use for survival sake. In the midst of it, most people would feel pretty aimless doing all these everyday and decided to find someone to share the joy, laughter, woes with and this is when we, get married. The last third of our life would be to reap what we had painfully havested for the 2nd third of our life. So technically speaking, I should be entering into my 2nd third of my life! (*alarm*)
Marrying someone is not as easy as just saying a "yes" and signing some documents. There are many other factors to take into consideration besides the presence of LOVE. People always say if you love him, you will accept every part of him. Well, lets be practical. Can you accept and willing to be assocciated with his everything - his character, height, weight, family, friends, job, his pet turtle, his fetish for women stockings, etc? There are countless things to ponder upon... That is why we have the "trying period" which is what we called the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.
Of course love is important, and complicated too. Love is not measurable. How much do you love him? It's not possible to count. So when you believe there is love between the two of you, it is time to put ticks on the "Acceptance Form". (Perhaps being an Engineer, figures are important to me) Can you tolerate his snores every night? Can you understand his love for his Jack Russel? Can you communicate with him even without talking? (Hey, I'm able to do that with my friends!) Can you integrate into his family - aunties, uncles, cousins?
There are other cases as well, where there are all ticks on the Acceptance Form but something seems amiss in the love section. Since it is not measurable, we'll adopt Einstein Theory of Relativity... i.e how much you love him compared to your previous boyfriends. So what if there are 2 person who score full marks in only one of the section? How do you decide? Then here comes the flow diagram technique. (Wish i could draw the flow chart to illustrate) The last question: Who loves you more relatively? The above example is only applicable to those lucky ones who has at least 2 person to create that flow diagram. For those who hasn't, they would only be seaching and searching for that ultimate someone to score full marks in their Marriage Test.....

Holly shit!

I always have this thought when BIG nature calls for me in public places... What kinda position would you choose - the seated one or the squatting one? In case you dunno what I am talking about... it's shitting, or "da bian" in chinese, "pang sai" in hokkien. I try not to shit in public toilets if i can help it. I mean... look at those toilets... damp, stinko, with all kinds of things found on the floor... tissue paper, strips of receipts, sanitary pads, comb and handphone, if you are lucky!

Ok, the position. In terms of comfort, of course it's the seated method; those with super strong legs will take the squat method, else it would probably give you a cramp in your thighs after about 10mins of releasing those waste from your body. I'm referring to squatting at the toilet bowl dug in the ground, not squat ON the seated-kind of toilet bowl. I think only a gymnast or someone who is damn good at balancing will adopt the latter method. Despite the comfort in the seated position, don't you think it's very unhygienic to sit on a plastic plank where minutes ago, there maybe just someone who had just finished a cross country run and decided to take a poo there? Imagine sweat dripping from his forehead... down to his back and drip from the waist and land on the support of the toilet bowl???? I've heard of placing toilet paper around the seat before sitting down... oh well... quite an acceptable method I must say... but there are other things to worry about - the LANDING of the feces.

Even if you are very satisfied with the cleanliness of the toilet seat, don't you worry about the way your waste land in the toilet bowl? What if it's a super heavy piece of last night's dinner (smoked turkey with bacon and ham plus a bowl of Caesar Salad) that falls into the pool of toilet water, causing a loud "splat" sound and not to mention it splashing its way back to your a**? So in retrospect, the squatted position would minimise such consequences. Why? Because you can choose to position yourself slightly further away from the pool of water in the toilet bowl (do they have a term for that by the way?) and allow your feces to land on the walls of the toilet bowl... erm if you know what I mean. But as I've said, it's not an easy task to squat throughout your "nature-calls journey". So perhaps the best method worth considering is the "horse-stance" pose. Think chinese kung-fu. When a pugilist needs to master some kind of swordplay which requires substantial amount of qi, he would adopt the horse-stance in the beginning. This position will not make you suffer legs cramps as you can choose to move your body vertically up and down during the process, and you can avoid the water from splashing onto your a** given the reasonable distance between your a** and the toilet bowl.

Let's recap the method of shitting. (1) Seated, (2) Squat - on seated and non-seated designed toilet bowls, (3) "Horse-stance". Not easy being a human being.... we have to make decision every second. So, what are you having for lunch later?

Hitch!

Superboy went for his "super-training" and here I'm blogging before I go to bed... It's a Friday, yes I know.. but goddamnit I have to work on Saturdays!!! Anyway, enuff of my shit.

Went watched Hitch last week and it was a pretty funny flick about how this guy set up this agency to help hopeless blokes find girlfriends. Hah! One of his tactic-> initiate actions on the girl but behave as if she is the one going after you. Haha! I sure had a taste of this.. and apparantly it works! Next, 1st date kiss; Move your head 90% towards her but stop short there and wait for her to complete the job. Tsk tsk... clever huh? Speaking of tactics in hitching a girl.. I'm sure every guy has his own never-fail moves. And I'm sure every girl has her list of experiences encountered. Some are foolproof while others are just plain lame. While watching Will Smith display his showcase of 'bright" ideas, my mind wondered off to how Superboy and I first met (in pri sch), and talked (as acquaintances), and dated (after a dinner with mutual friends on Vday), and being together (in a foreign land)... The feeling is... sweet?... awesome?... ironic? I have yet to find an exact word to describe it after 1 and a half years. Hee.. not important lah... :p

Oops, getting late... need to wake up early tomorrow.. looking forward to Superboy's matches on Sunday. Playing against SAFSA, the supposedly big boys. But i still think Superboy team will win them over with experience and skills. Shucks, they lost to HU last week, but Superboy played well. He'd only perform if he sees that there is no choice or his teammates are not in top form. He is too "magnanimous" in this aspect. I would love to see him "qie" into the zone and do fake-away lay-upS. Will be looking forward for it on Sunday! =) (*hint hint*)

Nocturnal me

*yawn* 8.15am in the morning... No, I did not just wake up. in fact, I just came back from work and while waiting for my hair to dry, decided to do some blogging. Wonder what kind of strange job I am doing that had me sleeping in the morning when everyone is just awake from their slumber? haha! I am in some kind of industry where I must ensure the correct recipes are used in course of operation and if there is some kind of mishap in the process of generating the output, I'll have to inspect the affected compound and then decide the best way to salvage it. And of course if there are also opportunity for me to improve and develop some recipes to make the output more profitable and appealing to consumers. Confused by now?? Go figure out. :)

Just got arrowed from my boss to do some "stock-checks" on my off days. Argh! Wanted to go shoot some hoops with Superboy with our new basketball but guess the most I can is squeeze out one day. Damnit, there goes my exercise regimen. Been eons since I actually exert stress on my hand and legs muscles (minus the walking around at work) and this has to happen!

Alrite, finished my "kuah bulu" and OJ... time for bed.... *yawn*

Log me up!

Haha! Finally got my blog created after hours of thinking of some cool name for my blog... "janice.blogspot"...taken. jlogs.blogspot"...taken...."scribbles.blogspot"...taken.

ARGH!!!.... "lifeinblogs.blogspot"... sounds so pathetic! Heck! With the help of Superboy, i shall announce the launch of "jmonologue"(of Janice).blogspot!!!!! Geez.... =)

Been rather a late participant in this blog thingy.... Still remembered my first introduction to this blog was when one of my friends sent me a link to someone's online journal... it was www.opendiary.com back then... I dunno that girl who was writing in the journal but the people and stuffs she mentioned are so familiar, especially when she narrated about IVP basketball matches which I also happened to watch back then. Saw a couple of friends name inside... and not to mentioned some gossips of people whom I have not heard for a long time. How ironic.

Recently realised there are actually a lot of my friends meddlng with this blog thing and decided to join in the trendsetters. Wouldn't it be weird to let people read about my thought?? I have the habit of writing my diary since my teenage years but I swear that all that were written in my diary will go down with me in the grave! I will kill myself if someone gets hold of my diary! But why am I doing this? I guess there are limits of private stuffs that can or cannot be written in blogs.. hee... so i guess all those "juicy" (*wink*) stuffs will not shed their light in here afterall. :) Hmmz... but then again.. who knows?? Superboy, don't get frightened. Haha! :p