I am taxed

Shit! I earned a lot at my last last job, hence I also managed to save up quite a lot.

But one year down the road, I am stuck in a low pay job and now I need to pay tax for over a hundred bucks.

(I expected it to hit 2hundred, so I am a little relieved.)

Sian.

And I am even more sian that the letter came on 3 jul and was dued on 3 aug but my parents only passed me the letter today.

Thanks so much. Luckily the fine is just 5%, which accts to less than $10.

5% is a lot, dont get me wrong, but knowing how monetary-clever the gahmen is, 5% is considered little already. Crap one lor. How come need to pay tax? They should do an average over 3 years' annual pay package or something. If not the rich will always be rich, and poor ppl like me who happen to recieve a good bonus (once in a lifetime kind of thing) is punished.

KNS.

Spammers

With reference to this entry by scott adams (I idolise him so much that I stole his title for that entry too), I have a similar complain.

My gmail is stuffed with spam mail but luckily they are all filtered into the junk folder, so I generally can pretend they are not there if I want to.

Like how he complains, I cant understand why the spam these days has titles like "Re: the dozui".

Please tell me what the fuck is that?

I've decided on a random experiment. Come 1st sept, I shall stop deleting my junk mail for one month, and at the end of it, I shall see how many junk mails gmail even allowed into my account.

That is quite exciting, because I dont know if I am able to resist the temptation of clicking on "Delete all spam messages now". It is going to be quite a challenge because that is one routine I've been engaging for the past few months.

Gmail > Go junk folder > Click on Delete all spam messages now

It's therapeutic.

Will he join us?

The company is currently hiring, and there is this guy who had his second interview today. I've heard about him last week, but didnt get to see him because the interview was being held in the conference room, where the blinds are drawn.

This afternoon during a game of hide and seek with lw, our paths crossed in the pantry. He was standing there while ln was talking to sc, and I didnt give him a second glance originally because I thought he was just another supplier.

I was still searching for lw when ln walked out of sc's room, ln immediately introduced him to me, to whom I smiled with perfunctory courtesy and I caught up with lw who was also at sc's room.

It was only minutes after that I realised that he is the interviewee!

Well, should he join us, I will definitely apologise for my lack of manners. But slowly he will realise that is how everyone behaves here, dashing around like rabbits.

And I really hope he does, and hopefully he is a singaporean, and that he doesnt speak cantonese, and that he is fresh in the industry, and that he is young.

In other words, like me.

I am especially hopeful that he doesnt speak cantonese, then I will really be able to find a kaki in him.

Sigh, am I think too far into the picture? It is not like he is already confirmed to be working here. Me ar... *Shakes head* I think I am too shocked to be able to leave early today that I am not talking sense.

I left at 6.30pm ok! I hadnt done that for ages! But I'd already been told that tomorrow I shall die, because there's a lot of workload to be expected tomorrow.

But who cares, I shall live today and worry/complain/lament/bitch about tomorrow when it is tomorrow.

Friendster

Should I start a friendster account?

Yah, if you dig real deep into my archives, you will know I have this friendster account that I do not utilise. If I hadnt make use of that account since it was started, I've no intention to use it now.

But why do I suddenly consider creating another account? Well, because I am quite bo liao I must say.

Friends ask me all the time whether I have a friendster account, and I always say no (although I do have one, I am a liar, so sue me). It was quite a whimsical thing that made me want to create a friendster account, and I dont know if I can be bothered enough to keep it updated.

This damn blog sucks up all my extra time, ok! (But thank god for it.)

But I guess a friendster account will do my social circle some good. When friends whom I hadnt seen for ages accuse me of not keeping in touch, I can always point the accusing finger back at them for not updating me via friendster.

Put it this way, I think I can create one for the sake of it, and when people ask for my friendster, I've something to give them so that they shut up.

Any how, it might be a good idea to create a blog there to throw colleagues off the track. I cant imagine if my colleagues find this blog, for if they do and and they read the truckful of mean comments about them, I am pretty much ending up in the mortuary.

Sigh, I dunno why do I even care.

As if I have too much time on hand and as if I am not spending enough time talking to myself via this blog.

Young scientist cards.

I was talking to my younger brother about the plight of pluto, and I asked him whether he was still doing the young scientist cards in his primary school days. I remembered I had done some research about astronomy then but I'm no where near my brother in terms of such knowledge.

Wow, those blue cards. It had been more than 10 years since I last heard of those cards.

I googled it to realise that the cards are still being sold up to this day, and primary school maths and science teachers encourage students to buy them.

Yearbook.com.sg even attribute these cards to be something that reminds them of primary school.

"9) Young Scientist Cards: To attain the badges, we had to earn a certain number of "stars" by completing certain tasks. Most people, including me, always went for the Young Zoologist or Young Botanist badge, cos they were the easiest. The ambitious ones would go for the Young Mathematician badge."

I never realised there was 15 types of badges all together and looking at them, I immediately recognised that I have the 'Young Geologist' badge.

As a matter of fact, I remember I have 4 badges in all and I went to dig them out (thank god for the karung kuni collector trait in me that I still have all of these evidence, abeit a little yellow and a little rusty.





Actually I remembered I have a 'Young Botanist' badge too, but I dunno where it went to. I did the above 4 cards at one time, so I received the badges and certificates at one go too.

I am a 'Young Mathematician', 'Young Entomologist', 'Young Astronomer' and 'Young Geologist' all rolled into one ok! Mai siao siao.

Sibei Eng: Misa Travel

Simply her had a raving review about this travel website and hence I took a look.

Misa Travel - Flights/latest airfares promotions

The page loads so fast that it scares me and although the page looks very cluttered, it is well organised - just look at each box on it's own and you can navigate easily.

I will definitely consider this website if I decide to go on a tour this end of year.

As a matter of fact, I am really contemplating to go on a tour! I cant find anyone to go with me, so I might be going alone.

I feel like going to taipei again, or go hong kong. Either place is very appealing to me.

(I thought lao da and andy and etc would want to go to these two cities, but seems that they are aiming at genting highlands. Buay sian.)

I feel guilty

Darren is my prudential advisor and he had been as helpful as he can but I kept making things difficult for him. And it makes things worse that he is my cousin's friend.

I meant to meet him at 3 just now to discuss my policy, but my head feels like it is going to explode, no thanks from the medicine that doesnt seems to be working.

They are not curing me, yet making me drowsy.

I guess it is fated that I will be spending this entire weekend floating around like a wandering ghost with a perpetually spaced out look.

I told darren I am not feeling well and requested to postpone the meeting, and I can really sense he is pissed. I really dont want to do this, but I know I cant concentrate on the figures and etc anyway when he explain, hence I dont want him to waste his breathe.

Guess I will have to bring my policy with me for the next few days and meet him when he is free. I told him if he happens to be at tanjong pagar after 6 on weekdays he can give me a call. I can always meet him for a discussion, then return to work after that.

I feel my head is remote from my neck and I am blinking my eyes in slow-mo even. I need miracle pills, anyone has them?

Buy me this!

I want to buy this phone!



It is just so pretty.

I rarely like blue, but this blue mirror surface is so beautiful that I might consider getting it, but I might get a black so that it fits my image better. =)

This phone is a 2-megapixel phone, and boasts of 3g functions and stuff like that. The internal memory is only 16mb (like my current z520i) but it has an expandable memory of up to 2gb.

Why do I even need a creative mp3 player anymore (especially one that discriminate against w2k users) when I can have a delicious looking hp?

If its retail price is below $600 when it comes to singapore, I am buying it. I think it's time to stop shopping and start saving up for this phone.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this hp has the capability of photoblogging! I will be able to blog wherever I go then and you all can expect a flux of random pictures. I think it is good to see more pictures seeing that there's so much text on this blog.

I want the phone!!!

Greenhorns Part II

Ok, I promised this long entry about work. Expect 3000 words, so get a sandwich and coffee ok. =)

Note: Reading the entire entry in one seating will cause involuntarily spasms, and whatever brain cells you have will shrivel and dry up like little raisins. Please dont attempt to commit suicide by reading this entry. It is bad, but NOT THAT BAD!

This entry is here mainly because I want to document the event. You can always scroll away, I welcome that. =)

You just keep referring back to the namelist ok, because I think it will get confusing.

I had a confirmed project beginning of this month - lets just call it ProjN for convenience sake - and I was quite excited because well, it is my first confirmed project and this project was almost solely done by me (partly because the project is the size of a sesame, hee).

You should be able to imagine how attached I am to this project and I really want to do a good job for my clients - AP, GI, KR. They are very kind people and willing to give me a chance when I made mistake at the project.

Once the project was confirmed, I had to go through with the clients the different laminate colours, paint colours and etc used in the design, and make changes if they prefer something else.

Also, I have to liase between the site work and paper documentations, as well as update the design changes, confirm stock for everything I ordered, and keep clients informed of the project's progress.

I have to do all the above while I continue to push my design proposals for other projects.

Trust me when I say I cant handle, I am really not joking. I feel like I am being torn into pieces when each and everyone of them demands my attention at the same time.


Ok, the story:

Once the project is confirmed, fc begins to take a back seat for this project, giving me the reason as that it is the company procedure that during the proposal stage the sales and design team has to work together, but once project is confirmed, it would be the design and project (site) team working together.

(Quite straightforward, you guys dont need a diagram for this right?)

But honestly I am not very confident of taking over the project because I am so new in the job. Usually during earlier meetings, fc will be the one speaking, and leaving me to explain the design bit only.

He will be answering all the other technical questions that client posed and I would just take note and rethink my design later.

But the moment he took a step back, it was now between me and bt, and I cant trust bt to direct the meeting, so I just have to hold the fort no matter how difficult I found it to be.

Of course I will not show my nervousness in front of fc if I can help it, cos if he decides to leave the project for me to handle, I cant possibly act like a wimp even if I feel like one.

When I have to hold the meeting, I would send out emails to everyone involved, then in the email I will clearly state the agenda of the meeting so that anyone can review and add to the list of issues that they want to bring up.

(Typing out emails to clients calms me down as I ponder over the use of words and emoticons. That is the best part of the job yet.)

Just before the first meeting, sl called me and requested that I help him collect 3 documents, 2 forms and a chq deposit for him for the electrical account.

I didnt know why is it my job, but since he asked me to do it, obviously it must had been that it is the norm, so I told him ok.

Bt wasnt around, so I left a note to ask him, and when he returned, I went to ask him how, specifically, that I should go about collecting the needed stuff.

He vaguely told me we will pass the forms to the client on the next meeting and get the forms completed and that's all. There would be nothing to be worried about.

It was good that he had so much self assurance, but I was hardly convinced. But I cant possibly distrust my own team mates, so I agreed. I asked him then, should he be the one asking the clients about the forms or should I be the one?

(I felt it should be him, cos these are supposed to be site forms what.)

He replied 'Ok lor, I will ask the client, but you help me keep all the forms.'

I accepted his suggestion, and I took back all the forms and prepare to collate them into a file, together with the material selections, and whole set of drawings, for next day's meeting.

***

The meeting was quite a nightmare. Bt basically shoots his mouth off at every chance that he have. The moment he realised the clients are from britian, he begins to ask them about soccer, as though everyone must like beckham or bergkamp.

The clients are too polite to stop him, so they engaged in silly soccer talk, and then the atmosphere became unbearably awkward because I dont know much about soccer to participate in their conversation.

AP and KR obviously felt it was rude to leave me out of their small talk, hence they tried to stop talking about soccer in hope that bt catch the hint. He doesnt.

I practically had to act like a kindergarten teacher, clapping hands together to get the toddler's attention, and amicably lead them to another activity.

I breezed through my design stuff quite easily with some technical input from bt, and then when bt started (or I thought he was going to start) to go through the forms, I really froze in my seat.

He just pass the whole stack of forms to the clients, and even gave them the note I gave him the day earlier, and told the client to read the note themselves, pass us the necessary documents and complete the forms.

AP looked totally bewildered and glanced at me but I hadnt reacted from my shock yet. The moment I snapped from my shock, I apologised to the clients and took over explaining what the forms are about. AP asked me why I didnt tell him earlier that the documents are needed, because if I had, he would had brought them along to the meeting already.

We concluded that we will settle the forms the next time we meet.

(Honestly, I thought about it the previous day but bt was so assuring that I disregard that thought. Sigh, one should really depend on herself.)

AP got over it very quickly, and we ended the meeting after making sure we went through every item on the agenda.

After I saw AP and KR to the door, I went to bt's table and checkecd with him who is to keep these forms this time round, and again, he told me to.

Ec saw the whole exchange and was pissed that bt was asking me do something that was his jobscope. But I didnt want to make a scene, so I calm ec down and told him nevermind and I would just hold on to the forms.

***

Before the second meeting, I wrote out an email to everyone to outline the agenda. AP replied with many questions regarding electrical setting up and I informed bt to ask sl to attend the meeting too.

Sl agreed.

Before the meeting commence, AP and I were already seated and we were waiting for bt and sl to join us. When bt did, I asked him to give sl a call to hurry him. Bt didnt answer me but began engaging small talk with AP regarding soccer again!

When AP was finally visibly frustrated over the soccer talk, he turned to me and asked me who are we waiting for. I told him we are waiting for the electrical vendor and bt just nonchalantly say sl isnt coming because he is held up by another project.

Just imagine how irritated I was. Couldnt either of them inform me earlier, and not in front of the client? I trusted that they will notify me if they had issues, but apparently they do not care.

During the meeting, AP revealed that one of the needed document was with the landlord and I phoned sl to asked him what should I do now? He advised that I ask the client to call the landlord for the letter but I felt I shouldnt be asking client to do all these if our company wants to claim to be 'one-stop-servicing'.

He said if I want, I can call the landlord myself and I decided that it is only correct that I do so.

Also, AP asked about some network cabling question which I had originally meant for sl to answer. But since he isnt around, I told AP I will check things out and email him a reply.

Eventually, when I called the landlord, she explained that there was another electrical letter that would authorise us to apply for electricity and etc. I asked her whether she is holding the letter, she said no, and informed the letter had been passed to the client.

I told bt that, and asked bt if he had the letter. Bt denied. I asked him does the electrical people hold the letter? He didnt think so but he called and check. They say no.

I asked him, then, what about the network cabling? Bt told me to check with fc? I was confused, I told him ok (as I thought fc might be able to give me a better picture).

I called AP to asked him about the electrical letter, and he said he will check, and once he found it he will send me a scanned copy.

Next I caught up with fc and asked him about the network cabling. He gave me a weird look and asked me why am I asking him when it should be the project's jobscope. I was really sick of being volleyed around, so I expressed dissatisfaction and asked him now what?

He told me to check with ec.

Ec was evidently amused over my irritation, and he went through the stuff with me, explaining each aspect. I complained to him that I dont know all these and everyone is just referring me to someone else (except himself)!!!

I told him I know I dont have the electrical/network knowledge and hence I asked sl to come but he didnt. Nobody wants to assist me!

(I would have complained more if not for that I need to go to the project site. Bt promised to go but he forgot about it. What the!)

***

I fell sick and didnt turn up for work on wednesday. I spent time worrying about the project and I wished I could check email from home.

***

Despite being on mc, I decided to go back to work on thursday morning to straighten out issues on the project. I practically staggered there as the wool in my head was staged riots.

The moment I reached office, I checked my email, and AP had replied to my query, and he informed the said letter is with fc.

I spun around and asked fc whether he had the letter. He said yes and he had already passed the letter to ao (sl's boss in case you are too lazy to refer to the namelist).

I roared!

I smack my table and I complaint out loud that why do they say they dont have it in the first place?!? Fc heard me out on the whole story and he sighed (as though he is the one experiencing the mess) disgustedly. He told me he will settle the issues with the electrical contractors.

Fc drafted out long letter to ao to say he doesnt wish such things to happen again. So what? I was the one who needed to apologise to the client eventually.

"Hi AP,

I've checked with fc and the letter was indeed with him. He had since passed them to the electrical vendors. I am sorry to waste your time to look for the letter when it had been with us all these while.

With apologies,
Kanigi."

This apology letter was cc-ed to everyone, so that all the colleagues realised I am taking the fucking rap. Fc sent me an email to calm me down, and told me the apology letter was well drafted. He mean that I hadnt started any finger-pointing and had expressed responsibility in the entire issue.

As if I wanted to take the rap. Bleah.

Ec called me after that and told me in future if they - meaning bt, sl, ao - were to dump things on me again I am to tell him immediately so that he can settle things for me.

He said it is not fair that they are all pushing work to me when he himself hadnt even begin to bully me.

Hahaha. Luckily for ec, if not I have no idea how do I survive the job.


If only ec is assigned to this project in place of bt. Bt isnt all bad, but he is just as new as me and he cant solve the problems that I have. Sigh, greenhorns shouldnt be grouped together.

Dinner with xjun

Xiaojun is an ex colleague from two jobs ago, and we hadnt seen each other for a year at least. I was still worried that we might run out of topics but it was really easy to talk to her.

Well, while we are still colleagues we were already chatting like nobody's business, so actually maybe I had worried too much yesterday, hee.

We basically crap about work (I didnt go into details about my job, just told her that it sounds pretty glam to be a designer, but the pain behind the name.. sigh, only we knows) and about shopping.

We two air-heads raved about heels and bitched about other's ugly flats. Hee. I am supposed to meet lynnette next fri and xjun asked if she could join us. Of course! Everyone is invited as long as they drink. =)

Clock strikes 6

I seldom get to leave on time because I can never finish my work when the clock strikes 6.

But my colleagues were compassionate enough not to load me with work because I am still unwell. Hence I manage to finish whatever I have on hand at the moment.

That would be a good thing if I am meeting anyone at 6.30, but I am meeting my xjun at 8 only, hence from now till 7.30, I have no idea what I can do.

Well, I can walk to marina square like I always do, but I dont have cigarettes with me. I am trying not to smoke these days, because I recall that non-smokers have a higher chance of getting lung cancer.

So what should I do now? Leave on time and walk around, or hang around in the office? I think latter sucks. If I do that, what difference am I from the rest of them who hang around outside working hours simply because they hadnt have places to go.

I told mashi just now that I feel like going to sing k alone tomorrow. But if I do, I would be depriving myself of the rest I badly need. Yet singing revives dead tissues and cells in me. So what should I do, to sing or not to sing?

Or anyone wants to go with me? Preferably someone who can sing better than me. That wouldnt be hard though. =)

Greenhorns

I am sometimes very frustrated at work because I am such a greenhorn that I desperately need a permanent person that I can always seek help from, but I dont have one.

True, lw and yf are always there, but I wish there is someone else whom I can always depend on. Sigh, so many years down the road and I am still so highly dependent.

Either I am very dependent on someone, or I am so fiercely independent that I scare people off with my snarls and sharp teeth.

Like I always muse, I can never strike a balance in what I do. I stray to the extremes and stay there.

It's almost 12am, and I think I should go to sleep. I meant to type a long entry about me being a greenhorn, and how I am deeply frustrated over work and how I hate it that they group with greenhorns who are equally green like me. I need guidance!


But let me run though a list of the people involved.

• fc - guy, 30ish, the sales person. He seems to be knowing his stuff well enough, but like all sales people, they are interested in the project up to the point that they confirm they are receiving commission.
  
• bt - guy, 38ish, the project exec, runs the site. He used to run sites too, but not in the context like this company's nature of business. He is a friend of sc, the boss, and had joined the company ard 2 months after I did.

• sl - guy, 25ish, the electrical vendor. He is quiet and definitely shy, but he seems to like to work with me, probably because I take on all the saigang there is and he can devoid himself from the mess.

• ec - guy, 26ish, the project exec, runs the site; in the line for at least 2 yrs, kind of like a senior to bt; brother of sc. In the whole company, he is probably my favourite colleague because he speaks to me in hokkien. =)

• ao - guy, 35ish, the electrical vendor, boss of sl. I dun really like him because he seems like the kind of person whom sucks up to bosses and stamps on lowly staff - like me.

While I am at it, I might as well finish the list of everyone in the company.

• lw - lady, 29ish, the design manager. She is a nice person on a general whole, but quite smart at distributing work so that she is doing more of co-ordinating the team than actual work. Not bad if I am not at the shitty end of the spectrum, but I am. She is from hk, hence she is always hanging ard the office even during weekends, probably because no family in sg.
  

• yf - lady, 22ish, the designer. She's nice too until she further distribute work that lw distribute to her. Not bad if I am not at the shitty end of this second spectrum, but I am. She is from msia, hence she is always hanging ard the office even during weekends, probably because no family in sg. (Wow, sounds very similar to above character.)
  

• kp - guy, 28ish, the visualiser. He's from thailand, hence his english isnt very strong. But why do we care cos all it matters is that he is good at studio viz, which he really is. He's nice to work with but he gets pissed off with me at times because I always cant make up my mind.
  

• pl - lady, 25ish, the sales person. 3 months newer than me but she is one person whom I enjoy crapping with. She shows concern when I am sick and she will share food with me. She always remind me to get more rest and be less stressed out. She is a easy enough person to work with, too bad I am a bitch.

• ln - guy, 40ish, the sales & design director. Talk too much and does too little, in my opinion. Period.

• rc - guy, 38ish, the big big boss. Seldom in the office and once he is in, he likes to walk around trying to be involved in the projects' progress.
  

• sc - guy, 38ish, the big boss. Drinker and smoker. He hangs around the team whenever he comes to work and also tries to be more involved. But comparatively, he is more in the loop compared to rc.

• ac - guy, 25ish, the project exec. Too quiet for my liking, and he is too much like kt for my liking. His presense always scares me because I thought kt is around.
  

• cd - lady, 27ish, the quantity surveyor. Crap buddy in the company and she keeps me entertained over msn. I would had like her better if she doesnt need me to print things for her all the time. But to be fair, I bother her a lot too. Hee.

• sm - lady, 29ish, the admin. Nice to talk to once I get to know her better.
  

• iy - lady, 32ish, the admin head. Dont like her cos she is VERY bossy.
  

Ok, I ought to go to bed, I will blog about the long entry tomorrow since it is friday. =) Stay tuned!

Samsoon4

Apparently, this entry about my lovely samsoon leads many people to this blog.

Or more specifically, this samsoon4 pic brings in quite a number of visitors when people search by images.

Weird.

Ok, you may ask how do I know? Hadnt I mentioned before that I dont track visitors? Just to inform you, I've encoded a statcounter's counter in this blog for the sake of trying out previously (just to see how it actually works), and I've left it there because it doesnt affect me in anyway, anyway.

Obsessively, I've went through the various visitor's path (statcounter will show the referrer link) and I realised this particular image had been hit for hundreds of times.

So, what should I do now? Rename the image and link so that this people are hit with a 'link not found' page? That would be quite fun. Hee.

Retail therapy

I came home after half day today, when I originally wanted to just go back and settle some work. I thought I will be done within 1 hr, but in the end, because I need to do a amendment for yf, I ended up staying until ard 1pm.

Well, I will be taking it as 1 1/2 day mc then.

I reached jurong around 2pm, and I wandered into this fashion after I exited from watsons.

I bought a grey skirt and I am considering to wear it tomorrow. =) I am particularly happy at the purchase because it is $21, and after 10% discount it is only $18.90.

The cashier told me my card is going to expire soon and I should redeem the points inside the card. I never knew there was points in the card! But since there is, why not? I had a further discount of $5 and hence the skirt is only $13.90!!

($5 = 500 points = $500 purchases! It meant I've spent $500 on this fashion skirts in the past 2 years! Ok la, some 0f the purchases are mashi's. So I'd copped her points for my own use, muahahahaha.)

I feel instantly better after I've done some shopping, but now I am feeling a little sick again. The medicine isnt working the correct way, it seems. I should be feeling better, but why am I feeling more tired than before?

But tomorrow is fri! I will be meeting xjun! I hadnt seen her for almost a year I think, and I wonder if it will be a very awkward dinner tomorrow. Let's worry about it by then, and meanwhile I am going to blog a long entry about work.

Clinic closed

Sigh, I know I should have stay up until 10 and then visit the doctor like I always do when I am sick. Instead today, I feel so worn that I went back to sleep and woke up at ard 12. By then the clinic is closed.

I will have to go tonight then. I feel really unwell. =(

I was hoping just now that the doctor will give me two days worth of mc, but it looks like I need to be back to liase some stuff. Sigh. If only the company has a web-based email system.

Sick

I am sick.

I've called manager to inform that I am sick, and later when the clinic opens at 10.30 I will visit the doctor.

Quite coincidentally, I realised Herbalist Affair is showing as a repeat series on channel 55, and Power Chan is acting in it, so I am having it switched on in the background, and I turn around when I know power's character is in the scene, which had been 3 minutes for the past one hr.

Sigh. When will he be popular? Poor guy.

Ok, I am really not feeling well. I think I will stay away from comp for a while.

Scrollwheel click

Do you know that you can use your scrollwheel click to close an open tab?

And that you can use the scrollwheel click to open a bookmark on your bookmark toolbar? I used to be clicking on the 'Open a new tab' logo, then click on the bookmark on my toolbar.

Ok, that's one trick for you. I am a damn sucker for shortcuts, maybe that is why I like autocad and photoshop so much.

I want to scream!

No. I dont want to scream. I want to cry.

No. I am not needing to cry. I am crying.

I am tired! Why am I always doing ot when there is no benefits for it at all?!!!??!

I am just doing things to aid the other two designers, doing all the base work and all the testing out. Then they will just work on what I've spent hours doing, and then submit as their own.

Sure, they never hide the fact that they wasnt the one to do it. But look, when you are the one to submit a proposal, the boss will immediately associate that you are the one who did it, not the person who did all the research, and highlighting of the keypoints and drafting out the first few outlines of the proposal.

That is what it is happening now.

I am tired. I dunno how the rest cope and I dont want to know. I just want to die. Can someone quickly run me down with their vehicle!

Or if I stab myself and bleed slowly to death here in the office, tomorrow when all of them come to work they will be in for a nice surprise.

I like such dramatic endings.

Pass me the damn knife now!


I MEAN NOW!!!!!!!


Fuck my life. It sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks!

Sundays are off bounds.

Erv sms-ed me yesterday to ask me whether it would be ok if we changed the dinner to today instead, cos Eric cant make it next fri it seems. Obviously I had said no, or I wouldnt be at home now.

Honestly, I dont give a damn. I told erv than he will just have to arrange on the fri after that. Haha.

Please lah people, I am a cancerian ok! Cancerians like to be at home. If I cant be at home 7 days a week, at least let me be at home one proper day a week can or not?

Sheesh.

I can be out on saturday for the whole day and whole night, and then I spend my sundays sleeping. That is acceptable to me, but I dont really favour that also. If I need to be out, I prefer that I can get home by around 12am on sat night, then I will smash away at my keyboards until ard 2am, then I will turn in and sleep until maybe 10am on sunday.

So friends! Try not to design itineraries for me that involve sundays. I will be really, really pissed! As far as I can recall, I only went for karaoke on sunday mornings twice or thrice, and went to orchard with laoda once (for a music school's opening) upon his incessant begging.

Heh, laoda, and you thought I've forgotten this part of my memory right?! =P

I am so reluctant to wander beyond my doorstep so much so that I made up silly excuses previously when people ask me out on sundays.

Now the reason I utter is so legitimate that people doesnt even question.

"It's family day." I whine.

But to the people who know me better, it it "stay-at-home day" or "lie-in-bed day".

I am home-prone and crowd-allergic. I need retail therapy to brighten up my day, but sleep therapy is actually far more effective usually. Hee.

So leave me alone on my sundays ok? Thanks huh!

Sibei Eng: Superfate Fortune Management

Got this from agwenalist. Can waste 5 minutes here. =)

Superfate Fortune Management

My readings are here, if you are interested. I skimmed through the reading... tamade, why all bad destinies one?

Unwanted

The gang hadnt been asking me out for the bi-weekly dinner for ages. I wish I arent so paranoid about it but it makes me worried how they doesnt want to include me in their gatherings.

In the first place then, dont accept me into the gang with open arms, then shoot me in the back when I turn around to get food for them.

I am sick. I dont really enjoy their company actually because it gets boring after a while, but I still blank out my friday evenings in case they want to meet.

I am tied up every evening but I try to arrange gatherings with friends on fri, so that my social life doesnt dither into non-existence. But look what is happening now? I am leaving my fridays free, and then I end up being so free that I can do more ot.

No more from now. Today is too late to make any arrangements, but I shall pack my fridays with activities from now on. Starting from next, I will be having dinner with erv and eric. After that I will begin to plan for kamm, meow, xjun, iris, ina, etc.

Decided!

Lyrics: fk

My gmail message now reads "kanigi wants to learn cantonese songs".

There are many reasons to why I want to learn cantonese songs, one of them being I want to expand the list of songs that I can sing.

Well, I've got no choice, cos there are not enough mandarin songs to entice me, so I need to look elsewhere. Hahaha, buay hiao bai.

One of the reasons is also because I've heard too much cantonese songs at work these days, and honestly, only eason's voice and songs are angelic to my ears.


浮夸 陈奕迅

有人问我我就会讲但是无人来
我期待到无奈有话要讲
得不到装载
我的心情犹像樽盖等被揭开
咀巴却在养青苔
人潮内愈文静愈变得不受理睬
自己要搞出意外
像突然地高歌任何地方也像开四面台
着最闪的衫扮十分感慨
有人来拍照要记住插袋

你当我是浮夸吧
夸张只因我很怕
似木头似石头的话得到注意吗
其实怕被忘记至放大来演吧
很不安怎去优雅
世上还赞颂沉默吗不够爆炸
怎麽有话题让我夸做大娱乐家

那年十八母校舞会
站着如喽罗
那时候我含泪发誓各位
必须看到我
在世间平凡又普通的路太多
屋村你住哪一座
情爱中工作中受过的忽视太多
自尊已饱经跌堕

重视能治肚饿
末曾获得过便知我为何
大动作很多犯下这些错
搏人们看看我算病态麽

幸运儿并不多
若然未当过就知我为何
用十倍苦心做突出一个
正常人够我富议论性麽

你叫我做浮夸吧
加几声嘘声也不怕
我在场有闷场的话表演你看吗
够歇斯底里吗以眼泪淋花吧
一心只想你惊讶
我旧时似未存在吗
加重注码
青筋也现形话我知
现在存在吗
凝视我
别再只看天花
我非你杯茶
也可尽情地喝吧
别遗忘有人在为你声沙


And I must say, cantonese songs lyrics are very interesting. Of course there are interesting mandarin lyrics, but cantonese lyrics are a class on its own.

Eason's rendition of this song is heart-wrenching. It is not the typical love song, but the way he sang it seems to tell that how a person is tired of being taken for granted.

I like the eerie stonato tenor at the end of the song.

I want to learn this song, but look at the length, if I have to listen for one line, pause and write down hypy (like I did for beyond - qing ren), I will die. Hee. Someone who is patient enough can go through the song with me? =)

Msn shoutout: 15aug06

wa ai lii kuei. lao diao si cong ga gii garng kor. wa siu ai zai nyia, jid gey lang eh lun lua zuoi tong kor ga eh dou lou ker.

Scrunched up face

My migraine is killing me, my right hemisphere of my brain is hurting so badly that my face is scrunched up like the balls of paper that I had been crushing in anger these days.

Help.

I dislike my job!

Ok, the actual point of this entry is to reiterate how I dislike this job.

But I think all of you have heard enough, because I have an obsessive desire to complain about the said job once I log in to blogger.com. So now you can shake your head in sympathy on how I had gone mad because of my job.

1. Clearing bins

Why! Why! Why! Why! Why!

2. Answering phone calls.

I hate multi tasking at an level that I have to be distracted every few moments. And while I am already having a headache about my own workload, identifying the ringing tones and answering phone calls is a headache to me.

3. Cold temperature

I turn up the temperature and they turn it back down again. And then they will each wear 2 jackets over their clothes while hugging their hot milo/coffee.

What the hell?

4. Cantonese music on repeat mode

I cant understand the lyrics and so all I can do is the appreciate the music. But please do not play the same songs over and over again, that is mental stress to me!

5. Cantonese conversation in meetings

"^$^#$@()$ &*(^@*^) "^$^#$@()$ &*(^@*^) "^$^#$@()$ &*(^@*^) "^$^#$@()$ &*(^@*^) $&8^$^@&*%!*&% $)*_)%*(^&@%& *$@%(&*)*$^*@ #^&%&%@#*+*UR^) #&*)_*%+*( &@*^!&T$) U_#& ^@*() *)_+_(U W^(@+_+% OI()^ &&@#)(_% *$T^I{I() &@#*^(U)YT* (@# _$*@+ &*%(^ #%*!*#_ %*#()&%"
amp;8^$^@&*%!*&% $)*_)%*(^&@%& *$@%(&*)*$^*@ #^&%&%@#*+*UR^) #&*)_*%+*( &@*^!&T$) U_#& ^@*() *)_+_(U W^(@+_+% OI()^ &&@#)(_% *$T^I{I() &@#*^(U)YT* (@# _$*@+ &*%(^ #%*!*#_ %*#()&%"
amp;amp;8^$^@&*%!*&% $)*_)%*(^&@%& *$@%(&*)*$^*@ #^&%&%@#*+*UR^) #&*)_*%+*( &@*^!&T$) U_#& ^@*() *)_+_(U W^(@+_+% OI()^ &&@#)(_% *$T^I{I() &@#*^(U)YT* (@# _$*@+ &*%(^ #%*!*#_ %*#()&%"

Me switches off brain.

Suddenly FC, who was in the conversation turns to me and says "Kanigi, you note that down."

Kanigi : (bewildered) "What? I dun understand a word of cantonese. I thought you all were talking about something else."

FC : Oh sorry, we were just saying for project xxx, the site takeover date is on 18th.

Kanigi : Oh I know that already.

6. Un-claimable long hours

I worked out that I work at least 60 hours of ot per month, and if there was ot pay, even if just $5/hr, I would have earned $300 more on top of my pathetic pay.

7. No friends

7. Heartless managers

Give you work to do when it is not your jobscope, and he leaves for the day. It is not ok because he is just the manager, he didnt pay my pathetic salary ok.

On another note, how can the guys leave us girls to stay to do ot when the area is so deserted. If kena robbed also have to walk 10 minutes before reaching a main road to seek help.

8. Taxi fares.

Cannot claim until 12am. Cheapskate company. Work like a slave for you but you dont even allow me to take taxi home after a long day. Should let us claim by 9 what. 3 hours ot not a justificable enough reason for us to take cab? TMD.

9. Nowhere to hide

Sometimes work gets to me and all I want is a 5 minutes toilet break while I cool down. I cant even have that luxury because there is one common toilet used by everybody, and the toilet is just 5 seconds from my workstation. I cant even walk slowly to it and slowly back as a short rest.

10. Cheapskate office supplies

I have to do binding every other day but the binder device (not machine ok!?) is the cheapskate home use kind. I cant even punch 10 pages without breaking the device into its cheapskate parts.

The intray is propped up using ice cream sticks (those round ones used in red bean icecreams). Oooi... suddenly I think it might not even be ice cream sticks, it might be the wooden chopsticks from the bee hoon store.

*****

But to be fair, the company also have its virtues.

1. Can be late

We can be late for 15 minutes everyday and everyone takes it as the norm, partly because LW is always one hr late. The admin witch is always late for an hour and leaves on the minute when it is 6pm.

2. Breakfast

Late already but still can spend up to 9.30 eating breakfast. (In the afternoon if want to go buy things to eat also can, just remember to ask the boss.)

3. Can talk as loud as you can

It would have been good if I have good friends around, but because I dont, I can only talk to my highlighter or my tissue box or my pedestal.

4. One ear plugged

Because I cant stand the cantonese songs, so I am always one ear plugged to my radio, and both ears plugged once after 6pm. Come on lah, it is after official working hours, I am working at my own expense, cant I even enjoy my own music?

(But I've heard most companies allow you to listen to music as long as it is not disturbing others.)

5. Full internet access.

I can access gmail at work, meaning I can blog. Actually I can blog at work too, but I dowan the company to catch my blog address. I can use the msn too, which saves me from insanity. In michelle's words, the best thing about this company is the internet access, and nothing else.

6. Job title

Job title is an important aspect to me in a job, but I will rather do without it if I can join a company with better benefits in every other aspects. It is after all, just a name that makes you sound nice, something that small companies like to do.


Cons out weigh pros. Almost one hand tied behind back. I want to quit!

*****

Shoutout to Michelle:

I know what you are thinking, that I will never leave this job cos if I wanted to, I would have done that months ago. And I wont feel so worried when I fear that they will ask me to leave 2 weeks ago, eve of my 3 month's mark.

The reason why I was worried wasnt because I like this company. It is merely because I dowan to face needing to leave a company again (like the last one) when it wasnt my fault.

And thanks a lot for the confidence vote that I will never get back into system furniture again. Who needs sarcastic enemies when you have sarcastic friends.

6.30am day2 - It's sunday!

I woke up at 6.30am today, and I was wondering whether it was monday or sunday. I hope it is sunday, or else it means I need to get ready to go to work already.

Checked my hp. Says sunday.

Checked the newspaper by the door. Says sunday.

Checked to see if my mother is still in bed (she shouldnt be if it is a sunday). She is! Sunday!

Switched on the comp to abuse my eyes further, and to blog and to play internet games, and quickly checked sgforums too. SUNDAY! YAY!!

Ok, I really believe it is a sunday now.

I complaint non-stop to my mother just now the moment I saw her wake up, and follow her like a pesky flu from her room to the kitchen and back, telling her how much the job sucks.

Actually it is the other way round. I was using the comp and she came to talk to me, and when I was at the kitchen cooking noodles she needed to bath before she goes out.

She is crazy seriously, it is a sunday for god's sake, and she is out for RC activities. (She is a RC member.)

I cant recall whether I had mentioned this before, but I am a naggy old woman anyway, so you bear with me, yah? I told colleagues that I do not want to go back to work on sunday as long as I can help it. Saturdays are barely ok, but I can still deal with it, but sundays are out.

As a matter of fact, I dont even go out with friends on sunday.

I spent my sundays using the comp, blogging, chatting with my younger brother or mother, or wait for my nephew to come over so that he can beat me at pinball.

Work on sunday = NOOOOOOOO!

I told my colleagues that sunday is family day to me. But more accurately, it is home day to me. I need to be at home. If I have to be out on a sunday, on monday I will be down with an illness with amazing coincidence.

Actually I am not feeling well. I'm taking my ponstan pills more frequently these days, and I feel constantly unwell.

Whining helps, hence the next entry. Hahahah.

Feeling proud

Agwenalist wrote an entry about me leh! *Feeling proud*

Ok la, very boliao, but seldom did people blog about me, so I am excited. =)

Like she mention, she browsed through a few entries and she felt the two of us are very similar. Actually I felt the same, that is why I always go back to her blog to read more.

Like my latest comment left for her, when I first read her blog, I was constantly thinking, "Is this my blog or what?" The things she say is so much like something I would say, and the things that angers her are the same thing that will make me angry if I was in that scenario.

Oh, she mentioned she yahoo-ed 'kanigi' and found this blog. I tried the same and I was linked to the knn post. Wha.. of all post, that post is the most boliao and yahoo cached it.

Next time google it ok! *Shows stern face* My blog is listed 3rd ok! *Gives xialan face* Haha.

Selfish woman

I was dead tired after work just now and decided to take the train home because I thought it would be deserted at that time of the day.

But no, the seats were 80% full but I still manage to get a seat by swinging an axe in an arc around me. That teaches the mass, stop triffling with someone who hadnt slept for the past 23.5 hours.

I sat down beside this woman and was trying to make myself comfortable so that I can quickly fall asleep.

This woman leaned against me and I ignored her because as long as she dont fall into my laps, I am not a petty person.

I am a follower of the sleeping sect. Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!

Soon enough, I dozed off too, and I felt this woman brushing me away. Although I am napping, I am definitely still conscious ok! I definitely didnt sleep on her shoulder or drip saliva down her pasar-malam-bought bag, at the most I had leaned towards her but did she need to do that?

She didnt shove me away (if she dare she will be in the police station with me now), but pushed me away in an irritated slow gesture.

For twice this happens, and I am pissed at why is she making such a big fuss to need to shove me aside, so I sat up and forced myself awake.

The moment she leaned against me when she fell asleep, I immediately push her away even if it was just a small contact. And I did that repeatedly. Muahahahahahah. Dont blame me, she started it, and I was too tired to think of a more gracious way to counter her.

6.30am

I worked until 6.30am just now, and because I started work at 9am yesterday, that means I've worked a whooping 21.5 hours in a go.

Wow, I really want to say....

NABEI!

If understaffed then hire more people, dont make us work our whole social life away! Knn one.

I dont mind working alone in unearthly hours in the 7th month, as a matter of fact, I enjoyed it because there wasnt people seeking my attention constantly.

But 21.5 hours leh! That is almost 3 working days already! The bosses say that after this period of busyness, he will compensate us off days. Rubbish one, I dont need more off days, I want more pay. Unless your off day = fully paid trip to japan, two days I also dont mind.

I am so lethargic now that I cant think straight.

You may ask why do I need to stay for so long tonight. I've got 2 sets of drawings that are needed next mon, and I cant do it next monday because I will need to go to down to client's site right after lunch, and I would probably be there for the whole afternoon.

On top of that, I have another project that I know, since monday, that I have to do, but I was hoping the sales person will take longer to get back to me after I gave him the first version.

But I guess commission makes a difference to work attitude. He practically got back to me the same hour, so much for wanting to clear my intray.

Also, I was asked to bind more copies of the corporate profile. Sigh, this is really one sai gang because it takes up a lot of my time and this kind of time are the types that people dont recognises as important.

And I was EXTREMELY pissed that when posh asked uncle (the degrading name we call that 'senior citizen', who is the sales and design manager) whether is there anyway she can do the brochure herself rather than troubling me because she felt I was under a lot of tension.

Uncle just told her there's no other way, posh mentioned that I already had a lot of things on hand and uncle just told her "No choice, kanigi has to do it," very matter-of-factly.

THAT PISSED ME OFF! I was so dulan that I didnt even want to talk to him after that.

When augustine was still around, if he asked me to print and bind, uncle would scold him, saying he should do the binding himself. Now see what he do himself? 说一套做一套.

A positive note after all the dulan-causing incidents, I've already done the two copies for him, and also all the work that was on hand. Basically this 12 hours of ot is considered productive, but if I need to do this again, I will consider setting fire to the company.

OT on a friday

I had never done ot on a fri in this job up to today. Basically I hadnt been doing ot on fri ever since I started going out with the gang.

Before them, I had done ot till 12 am everyday, even on fri, regularly. After knowing them, I made it a point to go out with them every fri, sometimes for dinner only, sometimes for dinner and drinking.

After we left the company respectively, we began to meet up less often. That is something totally within my expectations because relationships between friends are like that, out of sight and out of mind.

But I tried to keep it a habit to leave on time on fridays for the past 14 weeks that I am here. If I dont leave on the dot, I try not to stay beyond 7 or 7.30 so that I can make it in time to meet them at 8. On fridays when there is no arrangement made, I will grumble about my lack of social life, but gratefully take the opportunity to rest at home.

Today is different. Sigh. I have got a lot of things to do that if I dont finish, I am dead meat on monday.

I originally decided to come back to work tomorrow, but I have since decided not to, because I live so far from work that I will waste 2 hrs on travelling alone, and not to mention the time needed to dress up before work, and wash up after work.

AND, not to mention, I will be totally lethargic for working such long hours everyday, then still have to come back to slog somemore on weekend. I demand my rest on weekends.

Hence I am still in office now, and I predict I will be here until 3am at least. Haha. At least I can take cab home later.

Financial planner

A friend introduced a financial planner to me and this friend reminds me that I dont have to feel pressurised by our relationship to commit anything with this friend of hers.

Let's call this financial planner Rachel.

She had been very friendly, and even treated me dinner on my birthday, and bought me a present, though the present was very wrong, cos it is a christian book.

She advises me to sign up an insurance plan using medisave, which I readily agreed because that was something I meant to do but never got to it.

And aviva was a company which I think is pretty good too.

And then she tries to convince me to get a life insurance plan. My prudential plan would be converted into investment plan after I get an alternative insurrance plan because I came to decide that I dont want a plan that serves both purposes.

But that is something later, when I finally get my act together la. I barely have time to rest because of all the ot that I have to put it. Sigh, I almost dont have time for myself or friends or family already because my whole life seems to be revolving around work now.

When rachel recommended an insurance plan, it was from asia life. I've never heard of this company before and I am skeptical. I would rather go for insurance from ntuc really, not those with big and fanciful names, nor those that are small with unknown background.

I told rachel of my concern, and she begin to try to convince me that this company is really strong despite no advertising. "No advertising gimmicks," rachel would say.

"You should see their website, and see their reports on their websites!"

Come on, it is their website, and they can write what they want. I've tried to google to get some information but I didnt manage to get anything convincing.

I told rachel I am not very interested, and because I wasnt free to talk, I told her I had to get off the line and talk to her another time.

She began to call and sms me every other day, arranging for lunch and etc. I told her I cant afford the luxury of going on lunch on predicted timing these days, because if there is a submission at 2pm, it means I have to prepare up to 2pm, then attend the submission meeting.

I would be able to go for lunch only after I've finished all my preparation, if not I would be going for 15min lunch, then rush back to work somemore.

She kept calling and then send me sms to tell me to call her back.

I practically ignore her.

I am going to breakdown from all the stress at work already, I dont need more stress from other sources.

So she sent me an email that day, saying:

"I tried to reach you but couldnt reach you. I wonder if something happen to you?

I do hope to hear from you soon as i really have something urgent to talk to you about.

Really appreciate if u can give me a call asap. Thanks."

I replied:

"Thanks for your email.

Sorry I didnt manage to catch your call nor revert for the past two days, I am fine, other than drowning in work. I'm usually away from phone and when I look at the phone, it is usually on my way home, but I still dont return call cos 1. it's late, 2. I need to catch up on sleep. Haha.

Sorry but I really hadnt time to stop to talk, I know you need me to sign something but I really cant find time.

I'll get back to you asap. You can email me if you need to tell me something. I check email everynight regardless how late I reach home."

She replied:

"Glad to hear from you and that you're fine. So sorry was quite busy over the few days. I

understand that you're busy. I wonder if it is convenient that we can meet up on this coming

Wed which is a public holiday? I sincerely hope that u can understand as i seriously need

to meet up with you. Meanwhile, do take care of your health and have sufficient rest."

I want to strangle her! It is my holiday break! Can she give me a break or not! I didnt reply to her email, and she called me yesterday, asking about today.

I vaguely told her I had plans, and I am really not free today. In actual fact I was only resting at home but what? I cant even rest when I want to?

Let me off!!!

First project

For these three months that I am here in this job, I had been assigned very small jobs because I am very new.

I dont mind, because the larger it gets, the more work there is to do.

And for the jobs that I was assigned to, because of the small scale, the company owners are usually young people who just started out in their business, so they are receptive to interesting colour combinations.

I've recommended red/orange/yellow/turquoise/purple and etc in my proposals for the different companies, and I had done retro colour combinations like dark brown and light blue.

It was all very fun.

I had been very busy these days because I am handling 4 small projects, with one more shelved for the moment.

And I will be busier, because of these, the smallest scale project is confirmed!! YAY!!

I am worried because I am not sure if I can handle the whole project, abeit small, but I am sure LW will guide me along.

I am worried for the amount of autocad drawings that I have to prepare for one project like this. I am estimating it to be 15 pieces.

FC is asking me how long do I predict I will need for the whole set of drawings. I really feel like telling him next fri so that I have enough time to prepare. Given 2 or 3 full days (as in full working hours) to come out with the drawings should be good enough, but I am always distracted to do other stuff, so I cannot confirm that the drawing will be ready by tues or wed as FC prefers.

Unless I burn my weekend. Sigh.

Nabei public transport

World class? Pui chao nua!

I was so furious yesternight that I was tempted to smash some windscreens.

My journey home from work is usually an 1 hr+ affair. I need to walk 10 minutes to the bus stop, wait 20 mins for the fucking 97, which takes 40 minutes to reach jurong, then I will walk 5 minutes home.

(30 minutes if it is after 10pm, which is the time I am leaving office these days.)

21:00 - Still in office. I heard thunder, and cursed inwardly because the walk to the bus stop is unsheltered.

21:10 - Jiahui on 933 informed that yesterday, 8 aug, is the Fireworks Festival (I cant believe there is really a website on it, I just thought I will google it) and fireworks are exploding in the skies over the esplanade.

Cursed outloud (I was the only one left in the office then, everyone had left) on why people are gathering at esplanade watching fireworks while I am in the company watching my monitor. (Will blog on why in a separate entry.)

21:50 - Finally finished targetted workload, and prepares to leave office.

22:00 - Switched off toilet lights, switched off aircon, locked backdoor, switched off all office lights, armed security system, let myself out and locked the door.

22:10 - Reached the bus stop, and wonder why is there so many people at busstop? Remembered it is still the ghost month then realised ghosts probably dont wear red and white.

22:15 - Bus not here. Other buses swarm the bus stop but no 97 in sight.

22:10 - Bus not here.

22:25 - Single deck 97 sardined with people zoomed past without stopping. Ghosts? I cant tell, cos it was too fast and the interiors were merely shadows.

22:30 - No 97 in sight, and it suddenly dawned to me that the last 97 was so packed because it was ferrying the crowd from esplanade who just finish watching the fireworks!

Since 97 is a loop service, I decided to cross the roads to take 97 along the longer route, which doesnt really matter because I wanted to sleep on the bus.












(The green star indicated the first bus stop I was at, the purple indicated the second.)

(Actually I have to walk past robinson road to get to raffles way to take my bus normally, so it means I backtracked to get to the second bus stop.)

22:35 - Bus not here. Only too usual, I will roll my eyes in disbelief if 97 ever comes within 5 minutes reaching the bus stop.

The service is so irregular that I once kept a journal to tell me what time I manage to board the service. After seeing 10:08, 10:15, 9:55, 10:11, 10:24, 10:16, 9:58 and other strings of random timing, I decided to give up the recording routine after 15 days. I threw the journal on to the floor of the bus and kick it under one of the chairs.

The service comes on an average of once every 20 minute, and is so highly irregular that I brace myself for 20minutes wait everynight, or 4 songs on the receiver.

22:40 - Bus not here.

22:45 - Bus not here. Folds arm in irritation.

22:50 - Bus not here. Man in front of me already moved further down the road to try to hitch a taxi. I know he is waiting for 97 too because that bus stop only serves 10, 70, 97, 100, 107 and 196 according to the bus stop stand, and all the other buses had already past by at least once in the past 20 minutes.

22:55 - Bus not here. I began to talk to myself because I was going mad.

23:00 - Joins man in the wait for the taxi, while looking out for bus too. Taxis not stopping, man still waiting. Bus STILL not here.

23:05 - I gave up and decided to take mrt. I walked down robinson road, away from callum road. (Orange in diagram indicates the mrt station, and it is really further than it looks, but the entrance on land is there.) 97 travels along robinson road by right, but no sight of it even as I walked by the road and turn into the mrt station.

23:10 - "BOON LAY : 6 MINUTES"

23:15 - Board mrt, there's a stench of sweat from all the people who had just return from partying. TAMADE. There is no seats obviously, so I stood and curse for the whole time.

23:40 - Finally reached jurong east mrt station after a torturing 25 mins journey. The journey in the morning is only 20minutes as far as I timed.

23:50 - Reaches home after 10 minutes walk from the mrt station.

110 minutes to get home. I cant believe it. The public transport system is so unreliable that I am at a loss of words to describe my disappointment.

Price hike? Fuck you.

Eventful last evening

I was supposed to be meeting a friend as a last minute decision yesterday. We came to an conclusion over msn that we should meet at 7.30 because he will be attending a meeting at 6.

Ok fine by me, for I might need to ot anyway. Too norm.

By 7.10, just as I was about to leave office, he sms-ed me to tell me he will be late and when I asked him what time will he reach, he evasively said before 8pm.

At this point of time, colleagues are saying it is the boss birthday and he invited all of us to a nearby pub. I told them I will be meeting a friend first and will come by after that, probably 9 or so, since we are catching up over coffee only.

When I reached raffles place at 8, he was nowhere to be seen. I was even harassed by a persistent sales person who was trying to sell me restaurants discount vouchers. He doesnt catch the hint when I told him I have no intention to buy and I simply have to turn the hint into a spiteful "I am really very uninterested!"

8.10, still no sign of him, I told myself he have 5 more minutes, any later than that he will get it when I see him. He sms-ed to say he is held up! Meeting just ended! I asked him what time does he presume he will reach, and he told me 20 minutes.

Bored, I ate dinner alone and by the time I was done at 8.40, he sent a sms to say he is on his way. I fired back a sms to ask him EXACTLY how long will he take and EXACTLY where is he now!!!!

And he told me yishun, and that he will be at my mercy when he reached.

Extremely angered, I told him to forget it and not to come, for I am going to pub already.

He sent me a multitude of sms saying he is sorry and things crop up and things like that. It took me all my will and determination to not make a call to him.

Over sms he probably can feel the anger but should I call him, I will not hestitate to give him a good dressing down.

*Pissed*

I told him that I will never arrange any coffee/dinner/whatever with him again. It is one thing that he called and say he will be late for 30 minutes, and he say he is reaching he is reaching but 30 minutes later he is still 'reaching' !!?!

I hopped over to my boss's birthday party where I drank the free whisky. The moment I realised I am going to knock out, I ended the session and stumble out of the place. Sigh, I must have look like a idiotic freeloader.

On my way to take public transport, my right heel was trapped in a hole and I lunge forward, and fell knees first. My right knee bled furiously, and because I was just beside my office, I disarmed the security system and went in to wash my wounds.

I took a cab home after that because I can barely walk with blood running.

And so now, I am nursing an open wound by bandaging it up. Thank god for the invention of flare jeans, especially those that flare at the knees. =)

I should remember this

I ought to print out the second cube of this comic to A3 size to remind me to complain less often of my job.

Or maybe I should just put it as my desktop picture at work. =)

Discrimination!

Why is it that the latest two players from creative is only compatible with window xp? I originally wanted to get a neeon, but I sort of decided against it because it seems outdated.

And hence I considered the zen v plus, a player that is so small that it looks like a toy.

Because it is the lastest player, it would also mean that software inside would be the latest and most bug-free (or how I idealistically believe).

But it is only compatible with xp.

Bah!



Then recently I saw that there is a neeon2 that was released. I like the way it look, with the screen being more generous in terms of size and resolution and I thought I would prefer this plater that zenvplus.

But leh, it is only compatible with xp only, TOO!

What? Win2k users not human ar?

So how? Unless I burn my songs into cdrom and do the transfer at my cousin's place, I think I cant get either player.

Well, maybe it is time to look back to ipod or iriver.

Not funny

There is this 933 dj that I cannot stand. I hear her almost every night on 933 and I always wanted to spat something mean about her in here, but I kept forgetting.

But well, she was the cheerleading leader of milopeng yesterday, and that reminds me of how I cant stand her.

She's Xiao Jia Hui. (The last pic in the row in this page.)

She hosts the 9pm slot and I think her program extends all the way till 1am, and because I need to ot almost every night, inevitably, I have to tune in to her program.

(My office cant receive much of radio frequencies, sometimes even 933's frequency is not steady.)

She crack silly jokes, so silly that I want to take a cab down to the station and strangle her.

"这名听众不是第一次写信近来了，你们猜是第几封啊？不是第一封，不是第二封，也不是第三，第四封，是第五封！哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈！"”

I just went -_-".

There's more, but I erase most of these lame jokes from my mind as I can, so that I am not traumatised by them.

I try my best to shut my mind when she is talking, and listen only when songs are playing.

Superband

I didnt manage to catch as much superband as I liked partly because of it's usual air time - at 8pm on mondays.

But today is the finals, so I was all geared up to watch some action tonight, but was sorely disappointed.

These guys cant sing. They really cant.

I mean as compared to kelly poon or hong junyang or the superstar people, these people cant sing to save their lives, except sam from milopeng as I can hear.

He isnt even the leader nor the lead singer, but he is the only one tonight who could hold a tune in my opinion. Comparatively, everyone else went off pitch at some point or the other, but the judges were really kind.

Soul went off the beat horribly in the last song, and although I hadnt hear the song before, it was highly obviously that they missed all the beats but the judges just nonchalantly mentioned that and didnt go on to penalise them with their words.

It is so different compared to the superstar show.

Well, singing techniques can be tuned and adjusted in the post-production house, but I guess for a band to make or break, they need to be able to jerk up the atmosphere in the house.

These people really did that, so they are successful I gather?

But happy the milopeng won. Congrats to them, winning for being the best (or better, to be more accurate) and not because of a huge fan base only.

But should they release an album, I wont buy it. Sorry har! =P

Call from the office

I woke up this morning slightly before 10, awoke by a call. I only heard the phone rang for 5 seconds, then abruptly stopped.

I fumbled through by bag and the missed call was from the company. My eyes were barely opened when I was looking for my phone, but the moment I saw that it was from the company, I sat up! I desperately tried to clear my mind and attempted to remember is it not saturday? Why is someone from office calling me?!?!

I am on 5 day working week and I do whatever I can to avoid going back to office during the weekends. I will make excuses about needing to have family time and friends' birthdays etc, or if I am on my own-time-own-target schedule, I will always OT every night to catch up on workload so that I neednt sacrifice my weekend.

Before I returned the call, I went out to grab today's paper beside the door, to confirm that today is indeed saturday. See how paranoid I am?

Turns out that it was my colleague who needed a small piece of information from me, and it look me less than 2 minutes to address her question. I ended the call with an inward sigh of relief, thankful that I am not needed physically at the office.

And so, I am awoke since 10am, something I hadnt been doing on my non working days.

But I enjoy this period of time, cos no one is in, I have the comp and tv to myself, and I can smash away at the keyboard like I like it.

(Everyone who worked with me always complained that I typed too furiously, luckily at this job I seldom need to type cos I am mainly using AutoCAD and PhotoShop only.)

I will not be going out today nor tomorrow, so I will be spending time with myself, doing indulgent activities like playing comp games for hours, or re-reading all the calvin and hobbes and doraemon comics I have.

Or I can be blogging and reading blogs. =)

See you in the next entry.

$25.20 flew out of the window

All because I am a procrastinating bitch.

I meant to cancel my dbs debit card for ages but I never got to it. Ever since I've got my lovely uob mini debit card I dont use my dbs debit card to sign purchases, but only to withdraw money.

In april, I wanted to cancel the debit card and take back a normal atm card, but a promoter insisted I can take a (stupid) GO! card which had 'enhanced atm services', whatever it means.

But the activation is super complicated, and I was lazy, so I left it hanging there for 4 mths, and now I had been charged $25.20 for annual membership fee for the dbs debit card.

Sigh. I want to slap myself for being such a lazy bum. See lah see lah!

..|..

Songs that are ermm...

Everyone knows I like david tao.

I once spent $129 on a first row (side column) ticket to his concert when I wasnt working full time and that $129 made up around 1/10th of my total savings.

I bought almost all of his cds, except his '乐之路'.

But his latest song is... erm... erm... bad?

There had been other songs of his that I dont like, like 'Sula & Lampa 寓言', but his latest two songs '忘不了' and '太美丽' is really.. sorry for the lack of proper adjectives to describe.

'忘不了' displayed how dt tries too hard to be render a difference between his version and the original version. The song would had been more bearable if he didnt go "Cant get you out of my mind, oh oh, yeah yeah" 4 times!

4 times! Once or twice is good enough, thank you, dt.

'太美丽' also showed how he tried too hard. The song is supposedly showing how the most basic form of love is the most beautiful, but I think dt is like me, getting 词穷.

I hope by the next few times these two songs are played on the radio, I will grow to like it enough to want to buy the cd. But actually, I think one way or the other, I will still buy the cd, just skipping the two tracks.


Also, Apple Hong released an EP in malaysia, which reportedly had been on the top sales boards. But '脸色' is gan pua pia tia. It sounds like it is an arrangement from the 80s, and sorry, despite 'big names' who wrote the song, it just sound bad.

The melody is bad, lyrics sucks, arrangment style is very stale, and her singing sucks. I used to like her quite a lot, but ever since this EP, whenever I see her on tv, her awful singing rings in my head and I promptly switch channels.

And every singer should stop using 'la-la-la' to mask empty parts in a song. It is stupid I admit, but I think a 'da-da-da' or 'na-na-na' at least make you sound like you have the initiative to pretend the part is scripted.

'La-la-la' is the universal 'I cant think of anything to say, so lalala.'

She releasing an EP just doesnt does justice to people like shi xinhui who can sing but didnt get to cut an album (yet).


Everyone who wants to cut album (or EP) please do a good job, cos even if I dont want to buy your cd, I might have to endure the song for 3 mths or so as the radio repeatedly play them on air.

Sprained ankle?

At around 12pm this noon, I suddenly realised I have a pain in my left ankle. I often experience cramps because I always take long distance bus transport, and sbs buses has unsympathetically tight leg space even for someone whose legs as short as mine.

I wonder how the tall people manage to take sbs buses. Tibs buses are so much better, with individual seats (people cant bounce you off your seat when they plunge into the adjacent seat) and and large, generous windows where you can look out (unlike sbs buses with the solid vinyl stickers).

I digressed.

If it isnt cramps, and there is no open wounds, and the pain came straight from the bone of the ankle, I guess it a sprain of some sort.

I hadnt had a fall, nor had I knocked into anything hard, so I have no idea where the sprain came from.

A friend advised I apply some ointment when I reached home, or cover the pain with a warm towel. Should it still hurt tomorrow, I should consider going for an xray because since there is no obvious cause of injury, it might be a hairline fracture.

Wah, got so serious mah?