You Know Your Time Is Up When ... (Part II)

• you are talking to a director, when he barges into the room to ask the director "Can we start now? I'm done". Hello??!! Did you even have the decency to ask if we are done?
  
  
• you spent one hour playing blackjack with your colleagues in the conference room
  
  
• your colleague that sits on another floor exclaims to you "Wah, you all downstairs damn dead, man. Everytime I go there, my mood sinks".
  
  
• you can't bear to call his name, so you address him as Sir
  
  
• you end up checking his calendar more than your own

Yoga

Last Thu we went for our first yoga lesson.

It was pouring and we were late. Despite that, I was adventurous enough to try a route that I've not used for years. One (only one!) wrong turn later, we reached. They were already 15 minutes into the class when we entered the studio.

The exercises were so much more manageable than the previous time!! It had its fair amount of stretching, "good for the abdomen" and "a little bit more", but was enough to tire the body thereafter. It is general fatigue, rather than sores, like after jogging. There were also more guys.

Went for the second lesson yesterday. Late again, nothing new there. For the rest of the day, was so tired. Helped out on Saturday night, had to wake up early to go yoga, yoga, then still went Sheng Siong to buy stuff. TIRED!!

We chiat Arse-senile 1 - 0!

Gone are the days when the Gunners are invincible.

At the same time, we are enjoying great form. This is our fourth consecutive league win.

Keep up the good work, Moyesy!

Looking Back

I am now alone in the office. The rest have gone back. They have cut the air-con.

I'm not exactly working. Am just surfing the Web.

I have Emil Chou's 心的方向 playing off my notebook.

The first time I heard this song was many years ago, while a student. This song was especially meaningful to a teenager, on the threshold of adulthood, and believing that I'm capable of bigger things other than studies. It was about dreams, ambitions, zest and life in general.

You can almost say I was at the crest of self-belief.

Fast forward to 2006. I have become lethargic, slightly jaded, cynical and suspicious. All I can think of is why is my boss treating me like this, and going home to my wife.

Occasionally, the spark in me does surface, and I believe great things are waiting for me to be achieved. I know I'm capable of achieving them, but yet ...

I think I have 心结. I know I need to be rid of it, but I don't know what is it, or how.

Now, listening to this song again, and comparing then and now, I feel like tearing. Hell, I am tearing!

The Rain Has Stopped : (

Living in the tropics, I've always loved the rain, despite the inconvenience. Love the cool weather and the breeze. Somehow, the rain makes me ... pensive. So imagine my delight when the skies opened up for the past few days.

But this morning, the sun came out, and it's rays are beating on my back through the office window. Oooiiii ... Weather forecasts say it'll rain today. I can't wait.

~ Update 16.01.06 ~

It didn't rain that day, and has not since! WTF??!!

Fighting For Your Own Right

Sometime back XX wrote a post about her fighting for her rights. And I totally agree with her. No reason why we should be bullied for no reason. Fighting back need not be rude, but firm and assertive.

In each of our minds, we have a baseline of what is right, what is wrong, what can be accepted and what can't. Once that line is breached, the protect-myself mode kicks in. Over the years, credit card companies, restaurants, departmental stores have incurred my wrath. Hell, once I even complained about a Traffic Police customer service officer! Don't think I 小市民 can bully!

Maybe it's the smaller-sized people that are more feisty. While we can't be seen, we want to be "heard", for fear of being mistaken as wimps. Many-a-time I get asked "Why are you walking so fast?"

The reply "Bigger strides can catch up with taller people".

2006 Resolution Update I - Yoga!

Was at a colleague's place early yesterday afternoon, before heading down to town to meet Wifey. We were invited to try out at a yoga centre, trial lesson free.

Before heading there, I had to buy a pair of track pants. Nabeh, didn't know it was so hard to find and so expensive!! $100 a pair??!! Hellooo??!! Eventually settled for an el cheapo pair and headed upstairs.

The place was huge, spread over 2 floors. We changed and headed for one of the studios. I must say, initially, it was a little embarrassing, cos I was the only guy and the girls were contorting themselves to the instructions. Then a second guy came in, and I got used to having butts up my face.

The session lasted an hour, and I had all of the male shower room to myself. The sales guy tried his utmost, and finally got us to part with $300 each for 10 sessions. We will start from 16 Jan, for a period of 8 weeks.

My first step towards fulfilling my New Year resolutions!

By the way, the toilet doors in Shaw Centre are metallic and reflective. Feels weird seeing yourself take a crap ...

3 - 1

Ho say leh!!
Yia teh dee tio liao leh! Gia Charlton lai tok gah cui cui liao!

Mid-table woo hee bung liao.

Sick Chicken on New Year's Eve

While people all over the world were busy boogying, poisoning their kidneys and enjoying the fireworks, me was sick.

The tummy had been giving slight problems over the past few days, but it finally decided not to be subtle. System like kena jam, like got a lot of things inside yet can't purge enough of it. It escalated into fever.

The GP said it was gastric flu, and should recover within the next 2 days. While the toilet runs were bearable (thank you very much, Johnsons Baby Lotion!), the fever really got to me. Was writhing about on the sofa. Thankfully, I slept with the thick clothings on, and the resultant perspiration got rid of the fever.

While I actually felt a lot better around 11.40pm (technically, still the old year), I decided against the pre-arranged countdown at a friend's place.

What a way to usher in the New Year. Seems like a pre-cursor to the next 365 days ...

Resolutions for 2006

I've never believed in this, but hey, I've never set any goals in life either. Time to start, so here goes:

1. Avoid the poverty trap and spend within my means
2. Save $5000 by the end of the year
3. Lose weight - let's start with 5kg
4. Exercise more, at least once a week
5. Be more diligent with the house work (this will be the mother of all resolutions)

Got anymore later than add ...

Inspiring Advert

Was surfing and suddenly this song just jammed itself into my head. Been such a long time since! Apparently, this late '80s Coca Cola song/ad was shot at St. George's Hall in Liverpool, England. They gathered together young adults from all over the world. The commercial was shot in nineteen different languages. Led by a blonde girl, the young people in the advertisement sang:

I am the future of the world
I am the hope of my nation
I am tomorrow's people
I am the new inspiration

And we've got a song to sing to you
We've got a message to bring to you

Listen to me for you and for me for tomorrow
If we all can agree there'll be sweet harmony tomorrow tomorrow
And we all will be there
(Coca-cola/With our music) to share
Feelings so real and so true
Won't you come with us tomorrow
And we'll build a better world for you.

Seems like many people aren't really sure of the words "Listen to me". The different versions include: "Please let there be", "We hold the key" and "Sweet melody".

A nice song, nonetheless.

1 - 3

Aiyoh, why like that??

Kena trashed 1 - 3 by the wrong half of Merseyside. But those red buggers really outplayed us. Moyes has a mountain to climb. He better keep us in the Premier League ...

Unbecoming

Today damn steam, cos was helping out last night. Slept this morning at 2.30am, and woke up at 8am.

Anyway, this morning was informed that there might be a meeting. "Huh? Meeting? Isn't that scheduled for Friday", I asked with incredulity. What happened was, one of the guys will be on leave, and our friend decided that he should bring forward the meeting when everyone is around.

But it's only 1 working day ago that we had the last meeting!! DUHH! What updates can there be? Moreover, there's this one chap that has been missing the meeting, and yet he gets away with murder.

Anyhow, after much grumbling and re-arranging of pre-scheduled meetings, we waited. D-Day H-Hour came. And passed. WTF??!! 1.30pm came and passed. 2pm. 2.20pm. Finally, we got word that he sent an SMS, informing that he can't make it for the meeting!

Now what is wrong with this fella? He changes meetings as and when he likes. It's ok to make us wait for him, but not him for us. No basic courtesy to tell us he can't make it for the meeting.

Is that how they educate their people on Mars?

Christmas Eve

Woke up lazily today, around 2pm. Was at mum's last night for BBQ, before we left to meet up with the rest to got up The Hill. Every thing went ok until they discovered a missing item. Poor chap had to go back again to replace.

Wifey and I dragged our feet around and was in no particular hurry with our chores. We had agreed to go down to Orchard for a much-needed X'mas spirit infusion, and we left the house around fourish.

Orchard was so crowded! It was CNY shopping all over again. First stop was Centrepoint as we needed to get gifts for the 2 little devils. Couldn't find anything, so we trodded along.

We eventually plonked ourselves down in Akashi Jap Restaurant. Because of my cost-cutting ways, it's been such a long time since we last had a restaurant meal. The food was good, as expected. Bento good, sashimi fresh, reverse california sushi good.

I must say the lights this year are nothing to rave about. 'Ordinary' and 'uninspiring' come to mind. Luckily we still had the crowd, the X'mas facade lights, and all the noise and racket.

Not to mention the weather. I have always loved Christmas because of the weather. There will always be a cool year-end breeze that feels so ... comforting. With Wifey holding my hand tightly, it really has a calming effect. Makes all the problems I have at work seem so far away. 没有白活了.

We eventually found the presents at Ngee Ann City's atrium sale. Bought for the girl a Powerpuff Girls cushion, and the boy a Chicken Little shirt.

Got to try to rest early. Tomorrow meeting the guys for CS and in the evening, helping out.

The Year We Skipped Christmas

This year, I decided that we will not be putting up the Christmas tree. So much has happened that I don't want to dampen the Christmas spirit that fills the air when the tree is up.

Yes, the 2 kids will be disappointed, Wifey is unhappy and I'm breaking the tradition with the team, but I guess I need my moments.

不见棺材不流泪

Ever since the Perth trip, I've been in debt. Imagine - had to borrow money to go holiday! Thank goodness for Wifey, who lent me shopping money for the trip. She has since lent me money to pay for my credit card bills and insurance also. She even passed me some pocket money last week! (That small amount has since been returned when I got my pay). Those were painful times, with no money in the bank and the burden of an unpaid loan.

How bad was it? I had to use my ezLink card to pay for my meal at Mc's. Why Mc's and not food court? I was out of cash and Mc's is the only place that takes ezLink payment!!

This whole episode has forced me to wake up and sit up. No more messing around with my finances. No more mindless purchases. No more losing track of cashflow. And more savings please!! Heck, just the other day I even resisted the temptation of buying a $2 cup of buttered corn! But I was damn hungry ...

I've gone on a severe belt-tightening regime, scrutinising every single intention and purchase. Must not allow this to lapse into a knee-jerk reaction; it must be a way of life!! This shall be included as Item #462 on my New Year resolution ...

This month will be siong, as I still have to clear last month's bills, but next month should be a breeze.

Financial freedom, wait for me!!

It Has Been a While

It has been a while since I've been here. My last blog was 20 October. Many things have happened, both happy and sad.

Over the next few days I'll try to cover / recall as much as I can, starting from the Perth trip, then moving onto financial woes, fengshui, ancestors, weddings and *surprise!* my work.

All subsequent entries will be pre-dated, or at least as near the actual day as possible lah.

A Blog About Something

Was thinking to myself that it has been a while since I last blogged. "There must be something to blog about", I thought out loud.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing newsworthy.

Going to Parkway later with Wifey for dinner and also to change Aussie currency. Somehow, I am not as excited as I should be. I haven't even packed! My work is really getting the better of me.

This is my first blog from office!

You Know Your Time Is Up When ... (Part I)

• you feel crappy on Sunday, as it is just ONE MORE DAY to Monday
  
  
• your Sunday is spent in a daze, as you think of all those problems you will be going back to
  
  
• as you drive yourself to work on Monday, you keep asking yourself why should life be like this
  
  
• you are physically in the office, but your mind is somewhere else far, far away
  
  
• by the time you sober up, you realise it's almost 4pm already

YIPPEEE!!

WE ARE GOING TO PERTH!!! WOOHOO!

Went down to pay today. It will be a rather large group, almost the whole family. We set off at the end of this month! It has been about one month in the making. Doing research, making calls, doing up the itinerary ... man, I enjoyed every minute of it!