All work and no play makes a person irritable and unfriendly

Sian lor. This job like no day and night one. Just keep slogging and slogging in front of my computer. Wah lau, 我读书时都没有那么辛苦lor. The only time which I had to put in so much effort was when I flunked 2 JC promo exam subjects and had to take re-exams in order to carry on to JC2.

First thing, could not take leave on my birthday. Then during the 2 days leave AFTER my birthday, I still kept thinking of work cos there was this important meeting the coming Fri (which was yesterday lar). On the night of my second day’s leave, I logged into my office email and saw 131 unread messages. SUPER SIAN. Fortunately everything went well for yesterday (I was the minute taker), and the meeting was kept short and sweet (only 45 minutes yay!). My body really gave way to fatigue right after I handed in my minutes to my boss. I was just like stoning in front of the PC. 表面上like doing work, but in reality, there was nothing going through my brain. Haha. Just stone lor…like sleeping with eyes open. Never knew I could do this.

But the 2 days of leave was still quite shiok lah, despite the sad ending (re: 131 unread emails). I went for a morning run at 7.30am where the weather was just so good. Cloudy with a comfortable breeze (cos I guess it just rained the night before). And after finishing my run, I had a short walk around Bishan Park, and saw the most darling dogs going through their obedience training lessons at a school in the park. Wah lau, so damn cute lor. There was this rather big size skinny brown dog who kept prancing around the trainer excitedly, and his tail kept wagging and wagging!!! And then there was this also rather large fluffy dog (sorry lah, not sure of their breeds), who was so shy that she kept burrowing around near the fence and didn’t want to join in the games. Hahaha. Wah, seeing them really made my day leh. Frankly speaking, I had always been afraid of them since young, no thanks to me mom cos she always made sure we stay clear away from pets. Then while working, I had the opportunity to meet people who handle dogs for a living, and saw just how cute and interesting these animals are. Really really! They can get so excited just by a small ball or towel, and they expect so little from their masters too. I would have loved to keep one too, but the responsibilities which come with it are no joke lor. Have to train them properly in everything, and take care of all their needs. I saw how my sis worries over her 2 terrapins, and though wah lau, a dog would need even more lor. I’m serious leh, one of my sis’ terrapins had to go through a jab cos she was suspected to be down with pneumonia. And must still force-feed her medicine as well. In the end, she got rather traumatised and depressed (yes, I’m talking about the terrapin, not my sis), and my sis had to come up with another way to get her to take the medicine. And all these treatments, cost much more than the terrapin itself. Ironic right?

But when I last visited my cousin Audrey, and saw her Schnauzer ‘Rex’ and golden retriever ‘Skippy’, wah it’s so hard not to be bowled over. THEY ARE SO CUTE!!!! Its difficult not to get melted when one plays with Skippy especially. My cousin had to keep her behind a ‘fence’ thingy in the kitchen as there were too many people moving around that day in her house. Despite the fence being a flimsy thing which Skippy could have easily ignore and climb over, she remained quietly seated behind it and came out only after my cousin removed the fence and gave her permission to leave. So 乖lor. Aiyah but anyway, I know I will not get to keep any animals in my home together with my parents lah, so for the time being, I’ll just have to be satisfied looking at other people’s pets. Heh. But trust me, they can really bring a smile to your face, by just looking at them having fun and being happy. =)

So after my run, I went home and bathe, and then went shopping until nobody’s business lor. Shiok leh. Met up with an ex-colleague whom I’ve not seen for very long, and chatted till 1030pm. But the second day was not so eventful though. Just went for aerobics and watched a movie alone. Yah, then got a minor headache while going through the 131 emails cos I didn’t want to spend time the next day at office clearing them and also trying to get work done at the same time.

Hopefully things will slow down a bit in the coming week (Fri’s a public holiday!). I also took leave from 2-8 Dec, and will be going to Bangkok 11-14 Dec. So looking forward to all this man. I really wanna play, PLAY PLAY!!

狗嘴吐不出象牙

I twittered this on Tuesday, cos I was afraid I would forget how indignant and regretful I felt on that morning when I bumped into my Aunt LL. Indignant because of the idiotic words she spoke, and regretful that I had even thought of acknowledging her at the train station.

I have never liked to speak with this particular Aunt….in fact, she’s like my LEAST favourite aunt (another way of saying most hateful). She has this irritating attitude where she thinks she’s always right, and does not consider other people’s feelings before she blurts out whatever she wants to say. She happens to work near my office so sometimes I would see her at our common lunch areas. However, I’ve always tried to avoid letting her spot me, cos there’s really nothing to talk to her about. But last Tuesday, as we were both waiting for the same lift and she was standing right in front of me, I thought I had better call her in case she labels me as ‘dao’ behind my back.

When I called her, she acknowledged (without any smile whatsoever), and said she was late for work, hence the reason I bumped into her (like I care to know). Then she said, “Oh I heard your sis just got engaged.” (which is true). After I confirmed her statement, she then said, “Then you had better hurry up, need to catch up with your sis, if not you’ll be left behind”

The thing is, this is not the first time I heard this. When one is at the age where one is not attached (when one should be married in fact, maybe with kids even), you really cannot stop others from talking about you finding the other half. So I’m more or less immune to it le. I know people say these things to me, not with malice or mockery, but perhaps it being the most prominent topic which comes into mind bah. The first thought which always pops up in my head, when I hear such comments, is that, “Do they think good guys fall down from the sky just like that?” Why don’t they initiate some action (such as maybe intro some guys to me), instead of just 空口说白话.

So anyway, what I felt most irritated about towards Aunt LL’s comments, was her tone and face expression when she said that. Like as if she was scolding me for getting bad school grades, and I will die if I don’t find a partner soon. Like my single status is something to be ashamed of, and I should just hide at home to wallow in misery. Like everything is coming to an end, and all will be better once I get attached and married. And most importantly…LIKE I’M A FAILURE.

拜托!!!!!! Firstly, not even my mom will say these stuffs to me, much less someone whom I don’t even like. WHO THE HELL DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?? So if I don’t ever get married…but have a good career and good friends around me, I’m still a 失败者吗? So will it be like, when I eventually end up like her dear daughter, who managed to snag a professor for a husband and just gave birth to a baby, that I’m considered successful and happy in life? That I have something to be proud of finally?

I’m not sure what others think, but to me what’s most important is that I give my best to excel in the things which are top on my priority list. And for other parts of my life which I cannot control, I don’t think I need to bother too much with it cos its not like I can do much right? I’m so pre-occupied with my current job that I don’t even have enough time for myself, much less say find time to go for dates or matchmaking sessions. But the most crucial reason for that is of course…no one had recently introduced any guys to me mah. If like someone wants to intro a guy to me and I don’t go, then you can say I’m not making the best out of the available opportunities to get hitched. So when my Aunt LL said those comments to me, I’m wondering what I supposed to have done or do after hearing that? Does she think like I can just pay a visit to a boyfriend-producing factory and get myself a partner? Does she think that it’s totally my fault that I’m still single?

Crazy one! Crazy crazy crazy! For that split second after hearing her words, I really regretted calling her at the lift. For the rest of my life, I will NEVER acknowledge her again if I see her at public places. Its just not worth it.

K.N.S.

Life’s too stressful to keep thinking of stupid work..

So you can guess bah, from the extremely obvious title above, of what I feel everyday when I wake up and know its going to be another idiotic and crazy day ahead. There’s NOTHING to look forward to, and nowadays I count myself blessed if I can have at least 45 mins for lunch. Sometimes its not like I don’t have time for lunch, but that even when I’m eating, my mind is still thinking of the endless pile of duties and unfinished tasks in office. I seriously have no idea when (or if) things are going to get better.

I tell you Lillian Too is so spookily spot on for her reading this month (and I thought only ET was her fan). She said this month was going to be difficult and would need some effort from Horses to withstand the stress and hard work. But then, it seems things will improve for next month. IN FACT, it seems like its gonna be FANTASTIC! Humph….I seriously hope she gets it correct for next month as well lor. I myself do not know if I have the capability to continue enduring till 7th Nov. Wah lau, I suddenly feel for the first time in my life, 我的薪水真的很难赚! I was super super stressed last Fri, to the extent that I didn’t even want to eat dinner. At the end, I only took a little bit of the veggie and fish which my mom cooked (cos didn’t wanna waste the food), and didn’t touch a morsel of rice. THAT…as all my close friends would know…is something very rare as all who know me understand very well that I’m a彻彻底底的饭桶. Whenever we eat zhi char, I would be the only one asking for extra rice. Sigh….

So nowadays, in order to bring myself away from all the worries at work (when I’m at home), I’ve taken to watching dramas online. All sorts lah, Taiwan, Korea, HK. Wah, heard that currently there’s this new TVB series called 宫心计showing in Hong Kong which is creating quite a buzz over there. Its their annual 台庆drama, and the main stars include Michelle Yim (woo hoo!), Susanna Kwan (Sa 姨 in 家好月圆), Tavia Yeung, Charmaine Sheh and Moses Chan Ho. Wah, looks like there’s quite a lot of cast from the 溏心风暴 alumni here! Its a period drama set in the Tang dynasty, and similar to 金枝慾孽, it features the fighting and plotting within the palace. I love the theme song sung by Susanna Kwan, as how I feel towards the previous 2 theme songs she sung for 溏心风暴 and 家好月圆. Very good to K (heh).

But anyway, the show I wanna review is one which I would never have watched, if not for 福气又安康. While surfing the net for the latter show, I came upon this netizen who remarked that the plot somewhat resembled that of the recent Korean drama “Shining Inheritance” (also known as Brilliant Legacy). So I thought after 福气又安康, why not give this a shot too, since its also garnered one of the highest ratings and viewership for drama serials in Korea for 2009.

I swear this is the era where the best-looking guys in the show are not the main leads, whereas the average looking (or can even say erm..un-outstanding) one is instead the 男主角. Thus after reading this, can you give a guess who the male lead is? Yup, its the guy on the extreme right. When I first saw him, I nearly fell out of my seat. I was like “You’re telling me this is the male lead (Lee Seung Gi) for one of the best rated korean drama of 2009????” He got this puffy face look (when not smiling), and unkempt and unbecoming curly hair (for a GUY!), and best of all, I haven’t even seen him before in any previous korean drama! So how come he’s like so popular?

Well as I’ve always said, one really has to watch the show to understand. I would say this is nothing like Boys over Flowers, where the attraction are well, the boys lar. This is a show where the strength lies in the script, plot, lines, and of course, the depth of the leads’ acting skills. Both the male and female lead  Han Hyo Joo, are only 22 years old, but can act surprisingly well! And I also found out Lee Seung Gi is actually quite popular in Korea for his songs (apparently he can sing well too!). If going by looks, of course the guy in the middle (Bae Soo Bin) win hands down lor (great bod too! Heh). He’s the tender sweet oppa to the female lead’s character, but at the end of the day, its puffy-face Seung Gi who gets the girl. Yeah, life’s not fair, and this plot sounds not outstanding as well. But I tell you once you started watching it, you will not stop, especially after epsiode 5. I nearly gave up at episode 3, but am so glad I continued till the end. There’s 28 episodes in all, and I guarantee you wouldn’t feel that’s too long. It was never tedious and draggy, and I love it! It fully deserves all the hight viewership in Korea. Its almost a perfect drama.

I leave you now with one of Coco 李雯’s newest songs, 流转. Despite the 3 years hiatus, her voice is still as great as ever. I love her smile, and the great costumes in the MV. Oddly, I saw a slight resemblance of her to TVB’s 蔡少芬 in some of the shots. And interestingly, the first time I heard this song on radio, I thought it was sung by Sally Yeh!!

I know its been long…

So sorry leh, work at office has been crazy. Suddenly everything which happened come under my purview. And whenever I get to finally sit down and go through the items on my ‘to do’ list, another unexpected urgent issue would crop up and I’ll not get to do the stuffs I had planned to complete earlier. I’m so stressed that my ‘auntie’ has been delayed for like more than 1 week liao. Hence all the hormones within me are now running amok. I’m serious. My face lagi better, it has become so dry that its starting to peel. Gross lor. Now I eat dinner as late as 10pm. Sibei sian. Scared I will grow fat soon man, eat so late everyday.

Everyday, my only entertainment is watching dramas online. Like I earlier said, 福气又安康 turned out to be quite an delectable 偶像剧. I had started watching it as it had 陳喬恩 starring in it. She’s good lah, I must admit. Although I know rumours has it that she’s a cold and aloof person in reality, but as an actress, I must say she has always managed to surpass my expectations.

And surprisingly 藍正龍 can be quite a treat to watch as well. I know I’ve said previously that 邱澤 is the one most likeable, but I guess at the end of the day, one WILL still veer towards the main male lead bah. And at 17 episodes, I thought it was still quite manageable to watch, without feeling overly jaded at the end. Pace was fine. 值得看!

Currently, I’m catching the 家好月圆 cos my mom is watching it on some VCDs she borrowed. Wah lau, maybe its because my hormones is going all crazy within me, but I swear I’m like an emotional wreck after watching each episode. Damn SAD lar! Even my sis teared, and she’s the strong one within my family. Quite touching lo, and I think even BETTER than 溏心風暴. Quite interesting to see how most of the main cast came back to play different roles in this second installment. My favourite is Raymond Lam’s. His is like a total 360 degrees change from his previous 帅气 smart lawyer in 溏心風暴 , to a down to earth and not-so well educated bakery 打杂 in 家好月圆 . Although 米雪plays the baddie role in here, its 關菊英 who wins hands down for the MOST hate-able character as Sa姨 in the show. Really really really super annoying and irritating! The type who will revel in other people’s misfortunes, and don’t know when to keep her mouth shut. The type who enjoys 火上加油 and makes a mountain out of a small molehill. So I gonna admit, 關菊英 really kicks ass in acting as 坏人. Haha.

Old singer – new song

 

I know, its been a long time 伍思凱 released a new song. But since 福气又安康chose this as its theme song. I cannot help but fall in love with its catchy melody and simple lyrics.

And wooo…邱泽is so so so dreamy in it! Muuuuch muuuuuch better than 藍正龍. Somehow, although certain angles he looks like Takeshi Kaneshiro, I find him a bit irritating at times. Maybe its just because I’ve not watched enough of the show yet bah.

Hehe. Love the MV in HD!

Yo peeps!

I kapo-ed this line from my colleague. She likes to address her mass emails with Yo Peeps! So ang mo.

Anyways, I have realised there’s a limit to how 悠长 my 假期 can be. Everyday go home just eat dinner and surf net/watch 溏心风暴…can get boring to some extent. But till now I’ve still not come up with any bright ideas on what new ECAs to take up leh. Had thought of trying lindy hop, but dunno why just don’t feel that gian. Wah, if got something I can learn and is free, I’ll sure take it up.

So I’m continuing my weekly run lo. Have just bought another pair of shoes. Actually my current pair is quite new…Mizuno one which I bought from Sports Link at a discount. But somehow, my left foot hurts quite badly after every run. So I thought better not be stingy and save on these type of expenses. Feet better take good care when young (this is a serious case of broken English btw). So I popped by this Running Lab at Velocity Novena Square. My, the people there are really shoes fanatic. They even had a treadmill installed in their outlet, so customers can test out their shoes before buying. Quite professional, and the lady An who attended to me, was not pushy at all. I told her my budget, and she was able to come up with a few good options. Best of all, she could immediately point out that I had flat feet and hence required shoes which are of “moderate-high stability”. Gosh, I didn’t even think of all this when purchasing my previous 2 pairs of running shoes.

At the end, she managed to dig out a pair which after discount, fitted my budget quite well and was utterly super comfy. Its an Asics Gel-DS Trainer 14. Thought it was quite chio.

 

Acting like a bitch!

Its annoying, its bad karma, its not good for 人际关系, but above all, it cannot be helped. Sometimes, one really just have to act like a bitch and screw people, before things get done. This evening just when I was about to get off work, I had to attend a meeting at the last minute, which later rendered me having to make things difficult for another lady in another office. When I made a proposal to her on a project, she had said it could not be done, given her current work schedule and other occupations.

Upon knowing this, my boss ‘took the initiative’ and called the lady’s boss to report this. The lady’s boss then agreed to work on it.

Shucks man. I hate it when I have to use this method, going behind people’s back to complain to their bosses. I tell you, I’ll not be surprised if the lady curses me after knowing this.

Thing is, I will also do the same if I was her. But I really really have no choice. This thing has got to be done, and in my supervisor’s words…”We just have to shove it down her throat”.

How brutal right?

In a subdued mood

So I’ve been in my current job for 6 months (time really flies!). If you want me to compare this with my previous job, then I suppose one can say the current is better….because just the boss factor is enough for me to say so. However, sometimes the things which my current boss Mr.T says, can be quite pressurising too. And at times, even more stressful than my previous job.

I remembered when I first started work, Mr.T had told me stuffs like, “I’ve heard good things about you…etc etc”. To which my first response would always be, “From who????”. But of course I didn’t ask lah. But after hearing more of this, I always never fail to have this overwhelming sense of insecurity, and I would hear this voice inside my head questioning,” What if I’m not as good as what my boss thinks I am? What if he’s over-estimated what I’m capable of?” And worse, I’ll also think,”WHAT IF HE REGRETS HIS DECISION OF RECRUITING ME??”.

Its scary leh. I mean during the past 6 months, I find myself still being a greenhorn in a lot of stuffs. And sometimes whenever I make a mistake, I would wonder if its due to my inexperience, or its just that my ability is not there yet? Then today, my boss added on to this stress, by casually commenting that his expectations of me, is different from that of my other colleagues who are new, because I’m more experienced in the working field. But dear boss, WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS OF ME??? I’m so sick of trying to figure how to to meet his expectations.

Somehow, this kinda makes me miss my previous work place. Sure the boss sucks then, but at least I didn’t have to worry of meeting his standards (cos no one in the right mind could have ever done that anyway). Things were so much simpler then. Just get my work done, and try to meet his demands (which were many, but at least very obvious). There’s absolutely no guesswork needed. Now that I’ve gotten good work reviews for the past 2 years, people are expecting more of me. It seems like there’s this endless ladder which I have to keep climbing and can never stop. Its very tiring leh. When I remarked to my sis that why can’t I lead a 平静的生活, she said that there’s no such thing in Singapore. If I want that, I would have to migrate.

And sometimes I would thinking, maybe I should get married fast. So that in case my career fails, I still have a family to be proud of. Now, my career is everything. Without it, I HAVE NOTHING. Zero. 零蛋.

I can now 体会 how it feels to be in a rat race. No matter how I dislike competition, no matter how much I want to rest. I can’t. I must keep running and running and running.

Can never stop.

Weekly十大香港歌曲

Wow not bad. I chanced upon this Youtube user who puts together weekly top 10 Canto hits. Very very informative, and I thought the songs all not bad.

The following is for the week of 14 Feb. A bit dated, but the songs nicer than those in the latest week of 25 Jul. Heh heh.

I like
1) #10 黎明-事過境遷
Interestingly I had never really liked his songs. But this one, I thought the way he sang, quite emotional. Very simple but soothing background guitar accompaniment.
2) #7 方力申-月全蝕
Only got 2 words-靓仔!!
3) #6 謝安琪- 祝英台
I’m getting to be quite impressed by her. So far think her songs all quite 耐听. May consider getting her album.
4) #3 海鳴威&泳兒-我的回憶不是我的
Ooooh…thought this was surprisingly good. Had bought one of Vincy’s albums but thought it was rather crappy. But this duet may make me change my impression of her.

Will be checking out this user’s Youtube entries weekly to see if I can unearth more Canto gems.

Running update

So I managed to run my first 10km, during the recently-ended Shape run. Well, since its my first, so cannot really expect good timing lar. I took 1hr 27 mins in total (at first thought it was 1hr 17 mins, was so happy. Then realised that was the clock for the 5km run, cos they started out 10 mins later. Happy for nothing). Ok lar, I gave myself 1hr 30mins max to run. And I did walk for a small part of the route. Cannot take it liao, cos they have like so many big bridges to scale…going up slope took too much of my energy liao. Fortunately, weather was still quite acceptable. It only turned warm during the later half of my run. But my feet hurt like crazy lor. Took around 1 day to recover.

Think that’ll be the last time I’m going for 10km. From now on, I’ll focus on improving my timing for 5-6km runs. Am considering taking part in the GE run. Will most probably be my last public run this year bah. Actually quite nice feeling to run together with such a big bunch of people. No matter how much you slow down, there’ll still be people running along with you. Hur hur. And also force you to keep improving.  Heh.

And lagi better, I met my JC friend Vivian, whom I lost contact with all these years. Saw her again while running my 10km last Sun. But alas, was also too tired to ask for her contact details. And could’t find her again after the run too. 太多人了!