Monday, June 30
"He was still too young to know that the heart's memory elimnates the bad and magnifies the good, and that thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burden of the past. But when he stood at the railing of the ship and saw the white promontory of the colonial district again, the motionless buzzards on the roofs, the washing of the poor hung out to dry on the balconies, only then did he understand to what extent he had been an easy victim to the charitable deceptions of nostalgia."- Love In The Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
just a little something for you to ponder on.. :)
Saturday, June 28
[saturday's the day]i've had a brilliant saturday. if all saturdays could be like this, i'd be one very happy little chickie. (although really i'm a monkey. or fish. depending on which zodiac you want to believe, but that's not the point.) heck, if every day could be like this, i'd be deliriously happy!
i started off the day waking up to an sms from one of my best friends saying that she was at the airport on her way to melbourne (damn i'm jealous). and i'm hoping that she'll love melbourne as much as i do! so i laid in bed for a while and read my book (sushi for beginners by marian keyes). i decided it was time to get up when my sister declared that the dog needed a bath.
see, in our family we all have our 'dog duties'. she (meaning the dog, not my sister) comes to all of us when she wants attention. but she knows specifically who to go to if she wants to increase her chances of getting a treat/food/water/pat on the head and so on and so forth. my dog duties are mainly patting on the head, talking to furball dog, giving her food and water, and she loves coming to me for treats. but one of the other duties i have is bathing the dog. mainly because i hate taking her for a walk. it's the weather in singapore, i swear.. it's just not good for dog walking! so i scrubbed the dog with her medicated soap, and then washed her again with some clean scent shampoo (trust me, by the end of the week she'll NEED that clean scent shampoo!) and off she went with my sister on a long walk around the neighbourhood.
so i settled into my book again for a while before i got changed and went to pick up some road signs. you remember that auction that LTA had a couple of months back where they were selling roadsigns and giving the proceeds to charity? well, i bid on a road sign and won! i'm not going to say which road sign i got, or why, because it's all part of a surprise, and i'm not leaving anything to chance that the person who's getting the road sign will find out. so anyway, i got myself down to LTA and picked up two road signs (one for a friend) and realised that road signs are alot bigger than you think they are, or at least that's what happened to me anyway. thank goodness my mom drove me down, otherwise i'd have been walking all through singapore with these two huge road signs with me. one of them comes up to about my chin, and the other one is almost as tall as i am (which is 1.70m if that helps any). i think road signs always looked smaller coz you only ever looked at them from a distance, usually whizzing past at what probably isn't the speed limit!
off i went home with my two road signs, and they're now sitting behind my door. then i sat around a little and read my book a bit more before i headed off to pick up sharon so the three of us (including my mom) could go for a swim at warren golf club. so off i went, up and down the pool and did 20 laps!
but i'm also a slight shade of bright pink, despite having put on some sunblock. i've got a white stripe down the side of my left elbow, where i'm assuming there was a bit more sunblock than the rest of my arm. it's a bit disconcerting though, because the rest of my arm is a tremendous pink colour. and that's when i noticed that my cheeks have turned a girly shade of pink as well! hmm, at least i'm getting some colour instead of always looking pale and not-so-healthy.
oh, the dog's just burst into the room! and of course she's looking for a little attention.. hehehe!
after my swim, i went back to sharon's house for a bit before we headed off to holland village to meet tam and get our toes pinched. hehehehhe, no i'm not suffering from heat exhaustion. what i mean is we had some foot reflexology done! i'm addicted to it i tell you, because it feels wonderful! i've always had alot of problems with my feet, so it's nice when i can get someone to pamper them for me.. hehehehe :) (shameless plug - if you want reflexology, go to serenity cove in holland v!) and hey, who doesn't like to be pampered eh?
then we headed to thai express, where sharon and i were meeting evelyn and julianna for dinner... i don't think i've laughed so hard in a long long long time.. after we'd eaten, we just sat and reminisced about our secondary school days. it's hilarious the little things you forget that someone brings up and suddenly a whole pool of memories just come flooding back! it's really great just reconnecting with friends again.. so we sat and we laughed, and we.. well, i like to call it exchanged opinions about people. i guess other people would call it bitching. hahah!
*sighhh* i love wonderful days like this.. it makes life seem so fulfilled!
hhehehe, ooh it seems i've been rather chatty today haven't i? heh!
Friday, June 27
my finger is on the road to recovery! it still doesn't look very pretty, but at least it's stopped hurting, and i don't have to keep pointing my finger in every direction anymore!i'm so glad it's friday! i was in such a hyper mood this morning because i was just so happy that the weekend had finally arrived. somehow though i got grumpy around 3pm, and just felt so impatient.
*Stamps feet*
but i'm alright now.. although my brain seems to have gone into hibernate mood, so i'll probably have to stop here.
i'll give you more news tomorrow!
Wednesday, June 25
it's amazing how much you realise you use your index finger, but only after it's been sliced to bits by a milo tin and wrapped in a cartoon plaster!oddly enough keryl managed to describe it perfectly when she said i was probably like a character in saturday night fever now.. always with the finger pointing somewhere or other!
Tuesday, June 24
winnie the pooh has come to my rescue after an altercation with a milo tin.no, i really haven't lost my mind, i'm quite sane, thank you!
i guess maybe what i should say is that i've got a winnie the pooh plaster on my finger, covering the cut from the milo tin that attacked me.
haha! that makes more sense now doesn't it?
then you won't think i'm mad!
here's my rescuer!
Sunday, June 22
i have a friend in perth, whom i met while i was in high school there.. everytime i think of her, i think of the way she looked while we were in still in school. i imagine her standing in the hallways before school started, her long hair up in a ponytail, and her bag looking like it was going to crush her to death at any moment.my friend in perth, she's one of the sweetest most wonderful people i'll ever know, and just last night she called me up for a chat. the funny thing about giselle (that's her name!) and i is that we don't have normal conversations.. not in the sense that we talk about nonsense stuff (although that happens alot) but in the sense that we can never talk at a normal volume. you can always tell when i'm on the phone with giselle because i'll be talking really really loudly! and she'll be talking really loudly back! heheheh it's one of those bizarre but quirky things that life throws at you.
last night i went on a cleaning binge again, and i'm proud to say that the bathroom is so clean it's actually sparkly! i threw out things that had long ago stopped serving any purpose, and scrubbed out about 323942 species of microrganisms that were breeding in there.. *shudder*
and this morning i cleared up my room too.. got all the stuff off the floors, kept my clothes and i even threw out old make-up that i couldn't even remember when i'd bought.
it's like i'm spring cleaning my life!
hmmm.. i wonder if i can spring clean the car too.... probably better to do it after the dent in its rear gets fixed!
Saturday, June 21
i came to the realisation today, that our trusty family car - a first generation green RAV4, SF123Y - is gay.it's about the fourth time in about a year that the car's been.. well.. it's been hit up the rear. each and every time. four times.
my car must really like things banging it from behind..
funnily enough it's been my mother behind the wheel those four times, so maybe the gay tendencies are coming from her? haha! but she's taking this as a sign that she should stop driving. admittedly it wasn't her fault, people just didn't seem to notice in time that she'd been stationary for a while before hitting her in the rear.
i just find it really funny! when we got hit again today, the only thing my mom could say was 'what! again?!' we'd only just gotten the car back less than a month ago from another accident.. maybe it really is time for us to get a new car. the ironic thing about it was that we were going to.. and my mom's kinda glad that we didn't now, because if we had, it'd have been the new car that would have been bummed instead!
probably more xin tia for my mother if that had happened.. hehehe.. she's also convinced the guys at the workshop must think she's a bad driver. i told her at least the dent's not from a pole while she was reversing... some of those pole marks are so deep, you have to wonder how fast those people were going when they hit it!
so anyway, that's how the morning went.
i'm so glad that the weekend is here, it almost felt as if the week was never going to finish! i think perhaps it's time for me to take a nice long soak in the bathtub... hmm i wonder if we have any red wine..
*grins* i love the weekends!
Monday, June 16
erm.. i had a nice day. i had dinner with some nice friends who made me laugh. i played pool but rather badly this time.. i won three games, but two by default, so really i only won one game.i'm a bit sleepy now so my brain can't quite function, and i haven't figured out what to wear tomorrow. argh!
oh no, i missed friends!
hmm i think it's time for bed.. a new tuesday awaits!
(hey that rhymed!)
Saturday, June 14
ahh the lazy weekend has arrived... i slept in as much as i could, which for me meant i was up by 1030 am anyway. but at least that's 3 hours of sleep more than what i usually get. i looked out the window and realised that it was actually quite nice out, so i went for a 20 lap swim. 20 laps! i couldn't believe it myself. but i love swimming. it's quite theraputic... except when i'm cursing and swearing in my head at those morons who have no sense of manners and stand right in the middle of the lane that you're doing your laps in, knowing full well that you're there to swim up and down. hey it's not my fault the idiot's girlfriend didn't know how to tread water. i mean, c'mon! go learn by the SIDE of the pool, not in the middle! *rolls eyes*but yes, i was saying that swimming.. i find it theraputic. hehehe.. and then there was that 6 hours of CSI that AXN was showing.. and there's another 6 hours tomorrow too. heaven i tell you! and on top of that there's the montreal grand prix, but i have a feeling that i won't be able to watch it anyway because it starts at 1 am. i guess i'll just have to depend on the repeats for now..
here are some pictures that i took yesterday and today.. all with the samsung V200! not bad eh?
Wednesday, June 11
I shook my head, once, impatiently. "Do you know what love is?"He considered the question. "I think I heard a song about it once."
"Love," I said, "is the rug they pull out from under you. Love is Lucy always lifting the football at the last second so that Charlie Brown falls on his ass. Love is something that every ttime you believe in it, it goes away. Love is for suckers, and I'm not going to be a sucker ever again."
When I closed my eyes I could see myself as I was, months ago, lying on the bathroom floor, highlights in my hair and makeup on my face, the expensive shoes and fancy clothes and diamond earrings that oculdn't keep me safe, couldn't keep the wolf from my door.
that was an extract from a book called 'good in bed' (ha ha no it's not a sex manual or anything). i just finished reading it over the weekend, and that's the one paragraph that made the strongest impression on me.
love really is like the rug that they pull out from under you. just when you think that it's safe, it'll protect you and always be there. it's gone.
hmm.. does anyone know where i can get a nice rug from?
hehehehe
Monday, June 9
i've been writing this article for the magazine about happiness. and i realised that all i ever wanted out of life was to be happy.. but i never really stopped to think what were the things that made me happy..so here's my little list of things that make me happy:
1) nice long hot baths
2) good books
3) good movies
4) great conversations (even the nonsensical ones!)
5) ice kachang
6) music
7) feeling loved
8) shopping, but only when i find lots of great things to buy!
now.. what makes you happy?
Sunday, June 8
the whole day it's looked like it's going to rain really heavily.. and it did for about a full minute. and then it got really sunny again, but those awful grey clouds just hung around.. so while i contemplated going swimming, i knew it was going to be a bad idea. because i know with the luck that i have, the minute i get changed and go, it'll start to thunder and pour..so home in the humidity i stayed.
i finished reading two books this weekend - shopaholic abroad and shopaholic ties the knot. yes, i like to read, and yes i like to shop, so what better way to combine them then by reading the whole shopaholic series? hehehehe..
alright i'm off to shower, then i'm going to lounge in bed. i'm determined to get an early night's sleep, but i know that never ends up happening!!
hehehehe
horror week is OVER!
Saturday, June 7
[the week of horror]i have declared this first week of june 2003 as one of the worst that i've ever been through. just when i thought it was safe to say that it couldn't get any worse from monday.. it did. which is really why i haven't blogged since tuesday, because i just didn't have the energy anymore..
i never ever realised that there were so many incompetent PR/Marcoms people out there who really haven't got a single clue about their job. i was talking to one such person, and in the end i was so frustrated, i pretty much just sat down with my head in my hands for about 10 minutes. then i went to tell my colleague what had happened (we're both working on the same story together because it's such a big feature) and i was so frustrated i wanted to just burst out crying!
i think perhaps my stress levels are a wee bit too high, and i'm sure that not getting enough sleep probably doesn't help either! i hestitate to say that the end of the horror week is over, because the last time i thought that.. well, it wasn't! so let's just say that enough has happened for me to brand this 'horror week' and let's just all hope it never happens again.
i did have a lovely time last night with a couple of friends, when we went to watch finding nemo. i loved it! LOVED IT! it's so damn funny, i'm in awe of the pixar people.. and then we went to play pool, and although i haven't played in about three months, i kicked the boys' asses! hah!
i've just bathed my smelly furball, who thankfully is now just a furball and not smelly anymore.. i also washed the fishtanks and put in fresh water.. i'm so domesticated!
Tuesday, June 3
today was much much much better than yesterday. but only because it couldn't possibly have gotten any worse than yesterday! otherwise it would have just been a boring day in comparison..but i'm having a bad headache, so for today you'll just get a photo montage because i've been meaning for ages to put up the pictures!
Monday, June 2
it feels like there are times in your life when you're just really really tired. mentally exhausted, physically unable to move, and emotionally just gone.i think that's me right now..
I feel like my life is kind of drifting along, like a little sailboat on a calm ocean in the middle of nowhere (thank goodness it isn't storming). so i'm not very panicked about being lost, i'm enjoying the calmness slightly, but a bit unsettled about not knowing where i am. i feel a bit tired of dealing with people i don't want to have to deal with. my phone's been ringing almost none stop this morning at the office, and it must be 'idiots come to me' day because that seems to be the sort of people i'm attracting.
i know it's part and parcel of life, but give me a break! there's only so many idiots i can deal with in one day..
sigh.
perhaps i just don't have as much patience as i used to have. things just don't seem to move along fast enough. and people just don't seem to understand quickly enough. i don't know why i'm in such a hurry.. it's not like i have someone else to go, or something else that needs to be done. i just feel like there's something out there waiting for me to discover. maybe it's another side of me that wants to be released! or maybe i'm just really bored.
do we ever know what we want to be? where we want to go? i'm relatively young, so no, i don't expect that i'd have all of life's questions answered.. that's something i dont' think will ever happen actually. but i'm sure that we must have an inkling of what we want to do with our own lives. is it really that hard to want to do something simply because it makes you happy?
i'm just really really tired of it all. i wake up and there doesn't seem to be anything to look forward to. don't get me wrong, i'm not depressed. i'm just.. lost, and tired of searching.
i go to bed but i don't feel like i sleep. i wake in the morning, but it's like i'm still asleep. i go through my day almost on auto pilot most of the time, just so i can get to the end of the day to go home. that's not much of a life is it?
so many questions, so little answers.
am i worried about the future? maybe it's the question of what's to come in my life. i thought i had it all planned out, and i thought i knew how it was all going to be like. but... i guess life doesn't always go the way you want it to.
and i wish my office phone would stop ringing!
it's enough to drive anyone crazy!!
[post note]
i was wrong.. it can get worse..
this is one of the most.. amazing days i've had. and mind you, i don't mean amazing in the good sense of the word! i am truly truly truly amazed at the number of morons i attracted today. it seems almost unbelievable that you can encounter that many in one day.
so it starts off with a reader who called to ask about an article.
her: i want to talk to the writer........ the one... who wrote that article... with doris choo? i want to talk to her.
me: what is this regarding?
her: i'd like to get in touch with doris choo. i know her exercises are really good and i want to do them as well.
me: well, you can always go down to the botanical gardens and attend the classes.
her: no you don't understand, i don't have time. i'd like to speak to doris personally and i'm sure that she'll want to talk to me also. i don't live in singapore, and i don't have time to go down to the botanical gardens you see.
me: i understand that, but doris has told us that she doesn't want her telephone number to be given out.
her: okay, but i don't have time to go to the classes.. i'm here for an operation, which i'll be undergoing in a few days time, and then after that i'll be here for a few more days and then i go home. i'm sure that doris will want to talk to me (me in my mind: leave me alooone... get real! who'd want to talk to youuuuu?). i really want to do those exercises after my operation, so if i can talk to doris and get her to teach them to me that would be great.
me: well, what i can do is get her to contact you instead.
her: ohh okay that would be good too. i tried writing into the helpline of the magazine but i didn't get a response (me in my mind: like real you did, i answer all the reader letters and calls and i've never heard from you!) i'll give you my email address, and then after my operation i'll check my email so doris can get in touch with me. i'm going for an operation in a few days, that's why, so i don't have time to go down to her classes. (me in my mind: i know, you already told me, for the billionth time) let me give you my email address... i'll spell it out for you because it's quite long.
so she gives me her email address which isn't really that long at all, and then makes me read it back to her like i'm in kindergarden class.
then she tells me again that she's going for the operation and she thinks these exercises would be good to her.
and finally she releases me from the torture.
sigh
then another person calls in:
her: erm... i want to talk to the person in charge .....
me: in charge of ..... what?
her: in charge of... the person in charge of those.... pouches.
me: what magazine is this for? (knowing full well it was for my magazine.. hehehe)
her: that one... the one with the pouches...
me: ooookay..
her: i want to know if someone.... if anyone else can pick up the pouches for me?
me: yes that's possible, just bring the original letter.
her: no need IC ah? do you need authorisation and the IC??
me: no, just the original letter, that's fine
her: so no IC?
me: no, just the letter.
her: ohh.. also ah... can you tell me what's in the hamper prize? i won the hamper also, and the other time when i won the hamper... and when i brought it home and counted the value, there were some things missing.... so it wasn't the value stated.... and then when i called to ask them about it, it turns out that i was missing some of the items.... but they said that there weren't any left for me to take.... so can you tell me what's in the hamper? then i'll know if the value is correct or not...
me: well.. it'll be a bit hard for me to do that.. because the phone doesn't reach the storeroom where the hampers are kept?
her: ohhh.. but then i won't know if the value of the hamper is correct or not..
me: well, what you can do is when you come to collect the hampers, just go through it before you leave the office, so at least there and then you'll know if it's correct or not.
her: oh, so just guess the amount lah?
me: yeah, something like that..
her: ohh okay, i can do that.. thanks!
sigh!
my next call is from one of the secretaries/PR person of a woman i'm trying to organise a photoshoot with..
her: yeah i'm calling from XX company, and i know that you wrote in to my boss, and that the email you sent to me got bounced back because you didn't type in the address properly. but my boss only saw it over the weekend. if you'd gotten the address properly we would have been able to get back to you sooner, but you got the address wrong lah, so i didn't get it until now.
me: okay, so when would she be able to do the photoshoot?
her: you know you should have called me when the email bounced back, otherwise we wouldn't have taken so long to see the mail. my boss only read it over the weekend lah, so i only got it today.. and you should have checked it properly. you should have called to find out the proper address so we could have gotten the email sooner, then we could have gotten back to you sooner..
me: well, that's okay, do you know when she's available yet?
her: when are your available dates for the shoots?
me: we're pretty free this week, and we've got two dates next week, although they're more limited.
her: okay, i'll have to find out from my boss if she wants to do this feature first or not
me: ...........
me (after having recovered): alright, then why don't you find out from her first, and then get back to me? then we'll arrange everyhting
her: yah, and we would have gotten back to you sooner, but you should have called me when the email address was wrong.
me: it's alright, just let me know okay? thanks! bye!
sighhhhhh
this one takes the cake though
i was asked to return some photos (10 albumfuls mind you) to a lady that had written a travel story for us about alaska. my boss made me do it because she lives near me..
(the lady, not my boss)
her: deborah??
me: yes?
her: oh, i was told that i could buy 17 issues for $32 here at a special price.
me thinking to myself: okay but i don't have 17 issues here with me
me outloud: okay...
her: (showing me an email) see, that time i was talking to sharon, and she said that i could get 17 issues for $32, but i was just so busy that i didn't manage to pick it up.. so instead of having 17 issues of the july 2002 issue, can i change it and get 7 copies of the july 2002 and 10 copies of the june 2003 issue? i understand that you might not have any of the july 2002 issues left, in that case just give me 17 copies of the june 2003 issue. if you have any left, then just get me some can?
me: well, i'd have to check because sometimes we only have 10 copies left of old issues.
her: oh great! then you can give me 7 right?
me: well, we prefer not to, because that means there are only 3 copies left for the rest of the office.
her: oh then if you can get me one copy that'll be good, if not two copies, also can.. but try and get me some, and then the rest just give me the most recent issues. and since you live nearby, do you think you can bring the 17 issues to me? i've been so busy, and i'm always so busy, i don't have time to go down to the office to pick them up!
me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
me: i can't carry 17 issues. there's no way i can handle 17 issues.
her: but you drive right? you can just take them from the office..
me: but i don't drive to work.
her: how do you get to work?
me: i take the train.. it'll be a bit hard for me to handle 17 issues on the train. i've had to take 6 before and that's already pretty heavy. i don't think i can handle 17.
her: but how do you get from the station to home?
me: well, my mom picks me up..
her: then you can bring the magazines right! ...... oh.. it'll be a bit heavy from the office to the train right?
me in my mind: oh my god how long did that take?
me: yeah, just a bit...
her: maybe what you can do is take three issues at a time, and then put them in your boot, then everyday just take a few more! then just leave them there! then when you have all 17 you can bring them to my place!
me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
her: i wanted to get your mobile number so that i could call you before you came to get you to bring some of the 17 issues down, then at least it won't be so much for you to carry next time
me: well, carrying the photo albums didn't really leave me with alot of free hands, they're quite heavy, and i was struggling with them already
her: ohh then i guess that worked out for the better right!
me: anyway, let me run this (waving the email) by my boss, and i'll see what she says because she needs to approve this before we can get the magazines to you.
her: yah, she already knows about it though, so you can just get the magazines to me.
me: i know, but let me just run it by her anyway, because that's what i have to do. (me in my mind: i'm going to kill my boss i'm going to kill my boss i'm going to kill my boss)
her: okay let me know!
me: okay, i better go now! *runs as quickly as possible*
sighhhhhh
i can't BELIEVE she wants me to DELIEVER 17 issues of the magazine to her DOORSTEP.
i can tell you right now there's NO WAY i'm doing it. no way in hell.
but just to round off the moron idiots evening, here's a conversation with my father
him: i'm the new editor of the newsletter at the club.
me: okay
him: do you have any suggestions how to improve it?
my mom: she doesn't even read it!
him: neither do i.
me: well, that's a start. *walks off*
i'm only really glad that right now i'm at home, and i can't possibly run into anymore idiots for the day.
i think i've reached my quota for the year!!
SIGHHHH!!!!
Sunday, June 1
i've had a very busy, but lovely weekend, which included spending 12 hours in bed watching 6 dvds with the housemate. our total haul included ocean's 11, divine secrets of the ya ya sisterhood, happy texas, a walk to remember, birthday girl and 8 femmes. i was going to write a little bit about what i liked and didn't like about each one, but i'm not quite in the mood at the moment.i love watching romantic comedies, because i'm a hopeless romantic at heart. but i know that every time i watch a romantic comedy, i also feel a pang of sadness.. because it's like i know i'll never find a guy like that in the movie. i'll never find the guy who'll tell me that he loves me the way i am, who loves me despite the problems we've had, who'll love me and always be there for me..
*sigh* does love even exist out there?
ooh i feel like i just had a carrie from sex and the city moment..
about me
i'm 24, a pisces, working in a magazine, sitting back and watching life go by.
i love escaping into movies and magazines, and most of all my friends.
but for now just relax, life will happen when it happens.
you're reading of my blog
linkages
pebbleschad
cindy
keryl
janice
colz
sunnie
ron
aaron
charmane
bing
juicey
mr brown
phyllis
baby el
cal
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jing
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