Sunday and watashi no koibito no tanjobi

Ran a number of errands today.

Morning: woke up to find my eyes itchy and abit painful. Dam. Suddenly the thought of going blind scared the hell out of me and my mum accompanied me to the eye specialist near my place. The doc did a couple of eye tests and said there were some particle..xxx…dunno whats the medical term for that.. on my cornea…could be due to long period of wearing contact lens..ya..i’ve been wearing them since secondary school lor.. that’s like more more than 10 years ago..!..so back to the topic, yes..so this results in eyes getting irritation and dry easily and tearing. So he asked me not to wear lens for 1 month and I’ve gotta go back to see him next week. Not that I dun want to cure my eyes…but.. today’s consultation and medication cost me $84!! Shingaporu doru…!!! Real poor already… next week gotta go..wonder how much I’ll bust… gotta check out if I can claim from my company…hopefully can man!

Afternoon: went to my optician to change my lenses coz I think the new brand she gave me doesn’t really fit me and that’s why the eye thingy came back again.. well, changing to daily disposables or bi-weekly ones is going to be super ex..  she gave me a pair of trial lens for me to try first. If I find it ok, then she’ll change it for me..tink she saw how I was deliberating about the price of the lenses..decided to offer good customer service… offer alternatives!! Ii ne. instead, decided to invest in a pair of light weight specs..which cost me $230 shingaporu doru!!!! Oh my god. I dun dare to see my card bill next month. Meantime, I shall jus close my eyes and hope November doesn’t come so soon… abit difficult coz tomorrow is 31st Oct already…. ( sidetrack: and it’s naz’s tanjobi tomorrow!!)

Noon: Came home after sending mum for a mahjong session… okie..pls pardon me.. I feel very lor soh today..so pardon my long essay writing about my oh so happening life. Okie..then came home and took a nap. Did some ironing after that and went for my jog in the evening. Now, ima doing my Japanese homework…and it’s so tough and seems like never ending to me… jus taking a break now to blog.

Well, baby’s bday celebration was good..in my opinion..hahaha. treated him to soup restaurant..the ginger chicken is so tasty.. and I baked him a heart-shaped brownie! Managed to get some candles and we had dabao dinner at the roof garden at suntec.. and had a mini bday brownie cutting ceremony there..amused ourselves once again by taking some pics. Thought it was quite rrrromantic.. but in Singapore’s atsui tenki, what seemed romantic always turns out otherwise. Naz was perspiring and after awhile, we gotta get out of the place into the airconed mall… aiyo.so sao xinggggg.

Well…think I gotta get back to my studies….Monday blues again tomorrow! Oh my god…can’t believe another weekend has jus flown by..

my 1st day of work 24/10/05

Started 1st day of work ytd..after so many experiences at meeting those corporate people at interviews etc and prev work experiences, I thought I wasn’t as scared as before to start my 1st day. As I was nearing my workplace, felt butterflies in my stomach.chocho ga aru..

My 1st welcome gift was amusing. As the lift door opened at the 13th floor, I stepped out and saw a sign “ XX welcomes Shirley Chew” (name of company has been blocked out for privacy reasons). … hahahah.. I kept smiling to myself when I saw it and luckily as I was telling Sharon san, lucky.. no one except for myself knows my name. yokatta ne.
So funny…

Then, was brought to meet HR of my department and she took a digi pic of moi and said she needed it to post an email to the whole department to introduce me. I was given an exercise book to do a short write up of myself..like hobbies etc. at 5.30pm.. my colleague turned to me and asked if I really watch a lot of HK dramas.. I was like “yesss! I like…” and continued to tell her which shows I’m catching now. Then I realised how she knew.. she said “there..the email about you” for the 1st time I saw my pic posted in the email like 4 R size lor… and the HR gal rewrote my personal bio in a more “interesting” manner… I wrote “ currently learning Japanese so will welcome anyone to practice with me!” ..she rewrote as “ and the jap bug bit her too! She’s currently learning Japanese!” …omigod..so paiseh. And that’s so not the way I put it. At the cubicle next to me, I heard some of the other team colleagues discussing about it…going …” hahaha..the jap bug BIT her..! she is currently learning JAPANESE! Hahahhaha..so funny” ..to attain the effect, you must say those words in caps in high pitch. … pretend I never hear. Sighz.

Anyway, these made the day more interesting. I was told that I shouldn’t be wearing open-toed “slippers” ( they were sandals ok…. Got heels lor)… and maybe I should dress up more formally for a start. Great. My sup asked me to buy covered shoes if I dun have.and today, I still wore the slippers..coz I was too lazy and didn’t bother to buy. In order not to let her have a heart attack tomorrow, I finally bought a pair of shoes during lunch. And am wearing it tomorrow… life is so sad..dum dum the plans that we had. I hate covered shoes.

Today was more of reading up of materials and product knowledge…dry but I guess necessary…looking forward to tomorrow… ganbatte natsuri san..!

my day on 17/10/05 Getsu Yobi

Watched “Million Dollar Baby” on dvd yesterday… slow moving and pretty draggy..2 hours plus show. Gotta credit it for the gross bloody scenes though.. the cuts on the boxers’ eye looks so dam real and rawfully disgusting. Especially the part when Hilary Swank broke her nose during the fight, she begged her trainer to snap her nose back into place and try to stop the bleeding so that she could carry on with the match. Her trainer got hold of her nose, twisted it (ouchx100) and shoved 2 sticks of cotton wool deep into her nostrils to stop the bleeding. God. So er3. Sounds like super unprofessional medical treatment right.. but apparently, I think this is the norm of how they treat boxers’ injuries during the 1 min short break in between the fight.

It got even more depressing after hilary broke her spinal cord during one of the fights..how depressing it was, you can try to catch it la. If not sharon san always say I spoil it by telling you all so much details and ending of the movie. Personally, I don’t really like the movie except that I could cringe at the gruesome parts of the movie.. not at all inspirational. still prefer comedies lor.

Going on to something more light hearted, I just signed my letter of appointment today! yippee.. gotta go for some medical check up first. Guess gotta go during my lunch time. Yeah…can buy subway to eat again to save time.. I’m sick of yakun already..my latest craze is SubWay sandwiches! Hehe.. gimme 5 zhe! Okie.. this craze came like 1 year later than yours.. but it’s an expensive craze though…like spend $5 on a sandwich alone for lunch..so most of the time I’ll choose the ham sub which is $3.90..cheapest.


Just recovered from sucky sore throat and cough..and now here comes irritating flu blug. Doctor thought I got bird flu lor..but lucky no fever so it’s not… anyways, bottomline is I got my desired amount of sleep during these 2 days man while resting at home....slept about 11 hrs each day…already missing it now.

Monday today…been busy taking calls for interested applicants for my current job.. it’s a rule that recruitment ads cannot imply sex, age or racial discrimination.. so we can’t put words like “females only” , “ 40 years and below” or “Chinese only”. Instead, can subtly write “females preferred”or “female working environment”, “energetic, motivated individuals” or “ability to speak Mandarin and English”… .. amazing how subtly it can be put across…hehe

Ocean Ou De Yang..urmm.cartoon better

his voice and face totally don't match lor! he looks like 康康!人不可冒相，海水不可斗量。。。

Sawadeeeeka....Bangkok trip ~9/10/05 - 11/10/05

My 2nd trip to Bangkok..since. hmm…year 2000 with sharon san and zhe san.that was like 5 years ago lor..! so scary how time flies. Okie..chotto matte..this is not supposed to be a nostalgic blog…heh.

9th Oct 05
Well, 1st day was a Sunday and we went chatuchak.. missed it the other time I went so this time confirm must go lo. Nearest station was Mo Chit station which is at the end of the train line. The local guide told us not to take taxis or tuk tuks..coz sure jammed. Surprisingly, the train was very very packed. Hmm..i remember 5 years ago, when I took the train then, the train was super dupa empty.. we were like the only passengers most of the time. Anyway, Chatuchak was crowded and hot.heat.hot.squeezy.sticky.cramp.heat.hot. They do have nice stalls there but only if you can tahan the heat and can totally ignore strangers breathing onto your hair while browsing. Those leather sandals from leather ark are sold at 199 baht at Chatuchak…that’s like about S$8..yasui ne. but quality I dunno la..it’s cheap lor..bought 2 pairs of that. Chatuchak was like a maze..think you’ll have to walk many many rounds before you can cover every tiny lane and section of the market.

At night, we roamed to siam centre which was a more high end shopping place where we ate at this place called Viet Cuisine. Think we were too hungry or something, when the food came, we realized we actually ordered too much food. The whole table was full but we did finish the food in the end. Hah. Tom yam soup was good.. ya..what is tom yam soup doing in a Viet Restaurant.?! Guess it’s localized already.

10th Oct 05
2nd day was the optional half day city tour which we signed up for. Went to see some temples and took the river boat ride to see the “floating market”. After the ride, the guide said we were going to some gem factory. Huh..then the “floating market” wouldn’t fit into our schedule, I asked her. Kaoz..the 2 pathetic boats floating on the river just now was the floating market.. She said that now Thailand is more advanced and people don’t frequent the floating markets anymore so it had since died down. The 1-2 boats were there just to yi si yi si show tourists. Wahha. Okaay. Nothing to write about the gem factory coz got no money to buy anything from there.

The later part of the day was all shopping at MBK. And oh ya, went for a pedicure session at this newly opened salon..called Hanako. it was lousy. 300 baht and no nail art and they never even complete the pedicure with a protective varnish. Painting skills no good also. Think baboosingh more professional lor! Haha. Never mind. Went MBK and saw maincure at 150 baht with nail art…those they handpaint the designs themselves one….urgh.haha.

Night time was Oil Massage time…at a massage place right next to our hotel. The parlour is called “Miss Puke” …. Spent a bit of time arguing whether its pronounced as Miss PUKE (as in literally vomit that “puke”) or Miss Pu-K.. in Jap pronouciation... in the end, we just called it Miss Puke..vomit “puke”… hahah.. I abit ulu la..1st time try massage and didn’t know have to be totally naked coz it was a full body massage. So quite paiseh coz like kena molested by the masseuse. Worse, we couldn’t communicate coz her English not very good and my thai is..err. stops at sawaDka, kapunka. Got a shock when she took off the towel and started massaging my bust.errr.RA. cut. Then she asked me if I wanted a “towel”. I was like “ oh..no need, I got towel.” Showing her the towel I am holding. She asked 2 more times again and I replied her the same thing, thinking why she kept asking the same question. Trying very hard, she held up her hand like holding a hose and sprayed it over her head making the “sshh..sshhh” sound, and said “ you want to towel?” shower la!! Faintz.

11th Oct 05
Last day in Bangkok….! Think it’s just nice la..if we stayed any longer, would have been quite boredified. As I was telling sharon san, I wasn’t in a hyper shopping mood. So wasn’t particularly excited. Or maybe after my china trip, I’m more impressed with countries with beautiful scenery.
Ate at Hard Rock Café for lunch..oh my god..the mudpie was like $8 sing dollars only… think in Singapore was like more than $15? That’s was naz said..wouldn’t argue with him since he’s a dessert lover. Heh. It was good…yummy..

Slacked around at the hotel lobby for 1 hour or so before we set off to the airport. Novotel Hotel was at so called Bangkok orchard road. So most of the streets are 1 way and super jammed. After 20min of drive, we peered out of the windows to check where we were..and we were only directly behind our hotel lor!

Yup.reached Singapore only at about 11.30pm…tired and when I thought of work the next day, can imagine how reluctant I was. Tried to psycho myself that I don’t feel very well..sore throat coming….mc coming..

What I bought (shun bian calculate my spending as well):

• 1 pair of flip flops – 60 baht


• 2 pairs of sandals – 380 baht


• 2 bags from MBK – 398 baht


• 1 bag from chatuchak - 450 baht


• 2 tops from siam square – 398 baht


• Lingerie from Truimph – 3400 baht!!! (busted all my $$ here.)


• 1 cape cardigan - 490 baht


• 2 nail art stickers - 98 baht


• Lousy pedicure – 300 baht


• Tshirt for bro – 230 baht


• 2 belts – 480 baht


• food – 400 baht


• Oil massage – 500 baht

Total: 7584 baht = about $316 sing…. this is the result of my controlled spending liao..i try not to buy implusively and buy only stuff I will use..and not buy coz it’s cheap..unlike my 1st Bangkok trip. 199 baht…everything at 199 baht…and I couldn’t stand the temptation and bought like a lot of white elephants, some till now I haven’t used it at all…. Or maybe now I start to earn my own $ liao..so will tend to spend my okane more wisely… simtia.haha…

Just a sidetrack to what I observed in Thailand. While I was browsing some stalls selling souvenir T shirts, I heard the store keeper speaking in fluent jap to the jap tourists and greeting them domo arigato, konnichiwa profusely. If they browse and in the end never buy, they will tell the tourists “daijobu daijobu” meaning..it’s all right..it’s ok. When I went over to this particular stall indicating interest in buying the T shirts, the shopkeeper’s attention was glued on the Japs and we were like transparent to them. Even after they had sayonara the Japs, they just stood there looking around, not bothering to serve us. Till I asked, how much is the T shirt, only then he looked in our direction and started attending to us. Doshite doshite. .if they were part of the customer service survey now often done in Singapore, and we were mystery shoppers, they would have failed lor.confirm.

My interview & Good old St nicks.

St Nicks School Song!

钟声悠扬絃歌讽诵
圣铎化雨泽被春风
发扬华夏优良传统
提倡女教美德坤成
发扬, 发扬华夏优良传统
提倡女教美德坤成

徳纯义坚校训是宗
学贯中西文化交融
尼各拉光芒万丈
吾国文化绵延无穷
尼各拉, 圣尼各拉光芒万丈
吾国文化绵延无穷

Before I blog about my Bangkok trip, want to share some thoughts on an interview I went for yesterday.

Firstly, it was the final interview with the boss and I was told there’s a high chance I could make it through..woohoo.. I loitered outside the department coz the gal whom I was supposed to meet up with couldn’t be reached at her extension. Said hi to the mailroom people and they were probably wondering why I’m loitering around again (it happened during the 1st round of interview as well). Tried to see if I could seek help from those people who were coming out of the lift. A guy walked past and later walked back to me and asked if I was here for interview. Cool..help at last!And I got a shock coz that guy brought me into his office and yes, he’s the boss whom I was supposed to meet. During the interview, he asked a lot of personal questions like how many people were in my family and what they do etc.. and whether Bangkok was fun. Then he started asking about my ECAs in school and which schools I was from. When I said I was from St Nicholas, he stopped for a while and said, oh, Mrs Hwang, you know Mrs Hwang? Were you from her batch?… of coz! who would forget xiao4 zhang3 (we used to call Mrs Hwang “principle” in mandarin)… I really love xiao zhang! Then he said, “oh..yeah..good ole Mrs Hwang”. Suddenly, memories of st nicks days all came back to me.. spent my best schooling days in st nicks..! even he knows Mrs Hwang..heh..cool cool.

Well, the bottomline is, I got the job..as a customer service associate. Yay..But this is more backend processing and more involvement in projects…best part. I can be selected to go call centre to take calls for 1 hour during the call centre officers’ lunchtime to cover them and I’ll get extra income for that. $8/hr…hah..interesting.. I hope I get selected..can earn more money.!! Colleagues seem nice and all during my short tour of the office yesterday.. hope they really are la…counting down..1 more week to go. Woohoooooo.

You're da bomb

Flipped through straits times today and on the front page was 3 pictures of severed heads of the suspects of the suicide bombing in bali. Disgusting. Sometimes wonder what is happening to the world. These people are really too free I think, to be able to spend so much effort and time planning a bomb attack and check out how to attach the bomb to their torsos so that only their bodies get bombed apart, with limbs and head intact.

Reported 22 people killed in this blast and not 26 as reported previously. Coz figures might be wrong due to double counting of the body parts….kaoz. eeks.

Think they can no longer claim they’re doing these in the name of religion. It has become an abnormal and sadistic hobby and obsession, seeing fellow human beings killed, deriving a kind of gratification and achievement from it. I’m not a fervent follower of any religion but I don’t think any religion would support or encourage such sick behavior.

And.me here..fighting for more time and energy to catch my drama serials. Went out yesterday for dinner and by the time I reached home, use the net and settled down, it was around 11 plus already. Couldn’t stay up for the serial at 1.20am..so recorded it and forced myself to wake up at 6.30am to watch it. Not shiok to watch the next episode and then backdate to watch the previous.
Haiz.. was too sleepy to appreciate the cuteness of my Ling Feng.
*Btw Sam, Ling Feng is the one acting in a channel 8 7pm drama serial now…main actor…quite tanned one.hehz.

heard an interesting fact on the radio. Eating 3 fisherman’s friend sweets is sufficient to cause you to exceed the legally allowed alcohol content in your body when being spot checked for drunk driving. It sounds quite unbelievable to me lor. I take these sweets quite often leh…

shucks..there’re a few things I need to do but haven’t been doing enough recently:

Ichi ban- Gym! Jog! Feel very lazy when I work normal 9-5 to do any exercise.. shift hours are more conducive for exercising, for me la. Did jog with naz a few days ago though but for the next few days, my days are already packed with meeting jas, maria and nihongo no kurasu. And my upcoming Bangkok trip! Yipppppeeeee! Not forgetting I gotta take no pay leave…..poor and sianz.

Ni ban- Sleep! ..think I need to sleep more. To prevent tired eyes then I won’t have infection so easily..
Nowadays I’ve been sleeping about 7 hours per day. 3 more hours is good. I’ve tried it out liao..if I sleep 10 hours, I feel very super energized and awake..

San ban- Pack my room! Messy desu ne. .sojisa nakereba naru. My otosan is complaining everyday already.

Yon ban- Sort the data in my comp! Start up is taihen osoi by the day..think I downloaded too much gomi already.

time to dial 68737373..request to speak to manager

The cable guy din turn up.

…..