Behind every beautiful picture lies an ugly one

5 star hotels may look grand on the outside, but when you take a trip at their backalleys to the storage place, laundry, kitchen, they are equally getto.

Was loading stuff off at a grand hotel yesterday, and when i was led to the cellar to check on the wine we order, we saw to our horror a man lying on the floor once the door flung open. The hotel manager was shocked to see the hotel staff lying there. Apparently he suffered from fits and was on mediciation and away for a long time from work and just got back. I was shocked. Indirectly, we saved him life! If we hadnt insist on checking the wine, god knows when someone will enter the stuffy cellar and discover him and send him to hospital! Gosh, human life is so fragile, you never know what will happen!

My conclusion is, behind every beautiful and high-class picture painted, there are tonnes of labour at the back door supporting this. And they may be the banglahs who do the delivery of goods, the indian security who scrutinised everyone dressed shabbily at the loading bay, the china aunties washing the towels and laundry. It's a huge pyramid at play, with the massive supporting the few rich and powerful to indulge in atas events.

A few days ago, a classmate was diagnosed with thyroid and had to be on medication for 2 freaking years. Side effects of the medicine will make one grow either very fat or very thin! Gosh...

On a separate note, my boss rejected my leave tmr...bleh..i need to finish my assignment due this sat..she said i can wait till Friday... =(

Good-bye my dear friend

Today's YS last day at the MPA. I remember us reporting to work on the same day back in July 2004. At that time, we were both in the IT dept. Fresh out of university, we were curious and excited about work-life. As we had known each other since Sec 1, we remained as the best of companions in the workplace. We worked tger, lunched tger, shopped tger, gossiped tger, poured sorrows out to each other. Now that she's leaving the company, I think I'm gonna miss her. But well, life goes on. Till next year, we'd meet again. =)

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Feel quite happy for 2 of my friends who got attached recently. =)

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Feeling the stress from work and school again. School is no fun now. Homework are pouring in, assignment, presentation, esssy, group project....And work is also picking up. Really trying hard to strike a balance. I just wanna lead an ordinary life! Hopefully all this will do me good in the end.

Precious Moments

Got a missed call from Mr Yang, the Taiwan cabbie on my old cell. Luckily I have not terminated the line yet, my dad will be using it. So I called him this morning on my way to work at the bus stop.

He started off by asking if we're alright, or affected by the earthquake as he heard the news from over there. So touched!! I have a foreigner friend who actually cares about me! I reassured him that I'm ok, and that the earthquake was very mild.

Then he went on to asked if any of my friends is going to Taiwan, so that he could pass some mooncakes to me!! He said they are celebrating Mid Autumn Festival there. I was touched again..he's so nice.

Later on, he said that he's very thankful to me, as he got a lot of Singaporean customers booking his cab after reading my post about him on a travel website. Heehee...well, he deserves the good comments ( I didn't comment much on him anyway and focused more on the itinerary). What a sweet Taiwanese friend, truly made my day! =)

But the day before, it wasnt so sweet. Got backstabbed by a colleague, who jumped to conclusions and accused me of doing things which I didnt do, and he put it in such a subtle way, he didnt say it was me, but just that "sorry...I didnt know that your (bigger boss) schedule wasnt checked. I had asked for your schedule to be checked before arranging for this meeting."

And I was supposed to be the person doing the check, and I did check, just that it has to be postponed last min due to unforeseen circumstances. Luckily my other colleagues who understood the situation jumped in and saved me. Later, I got a mere "Apologies" from him. Typical zhi sang ma hui. Dangerous.

But before all this, my Hong Kong friend, Michelle, came to Singapore. I took 2 days off work to accompany her around. Here's what we did:

Sunday
-------
- Meet Michelle and ZX at Vivo for dinner. The 2 chaps just went to Sentosa, and I had declined going as I didnt wanna be tanned. Then we ventured on to Nite Safari - myy 2nd time there in this year. The show was of no surprise (similar to the first), tram ride was ok - the commentator was too "DJ" we almost wanna fall asleep, but it's good to be in touch with nature. We saw a lot of animals, and lotsa stars in the sky that nite! Michelle even claimed that she saw a shooting star! =)

Monday
-------
- Ate at Maxwell food centre. Our Tian Tian Chicken Rice decided not to open its stall today. We had meesiam, and fish sliced-noodles, sugarcaned jucie.
- Crappy Red Dot Muesum, even my nokia E65 got displayed there, and we pay $3 each to get in. Better to go to Best Denki or Takashimaya and see more eletronic stuff there, and free!
- Went to the Buddha Tooth Relic temple, my first time there. Looks more like a museum rather than a temple. Got air-con and plasma TVs one. Looks veryy grand like a palace than a temple.
- Walked on the streets of Chinatown. Nothing much.
- Indian Temple. Michelle told us the story of how the elephant-head deity came about.
- Little India. First time walking on the streets there! Gosh..we bought indian bangles which are quite cheap - 12 for 2 bucks.
- Mustafa. They have cheap perfume! =)
- Bugis Village. Messy and crowded place.
- Clarke Quay. Ate at Sun with Moon, which ZX's colleague said was supposed to be 20-30 bucks per pax. But we ended up paying much more, and with unfilled tummies. Portions too small, and X.
- River Taxi. This is nice..i like it. You can see the skyline appearing super close to you, and it's really really nice view.. =)
- Walked to Esplanade and the Merlion. Ate ice-cream there. Took 106 back. Actually wanted them to come visit my house, but it was too late about 11+ already, so they decided not to, which I tot was good too, coz not very nice as family gotta work the next day.

Tue
----
- work.
- went to marina square to meet ZX, M and MY.
- took the shuttle bus to city hall, went to Timbre. Had beer (been ages since I drink!!)
- went back on cab.

Wed
----
- went to science centre, and watched an omi-max show. Science centre really for kids.
- ate at JEC, met W who joined us for lunch at foodcourt.
- went to orchard, had mua chee and tuk tuk cakes at the McCafe outside isetan.
- walked around wisma and taka.
- rushed to class, while M and ZX continued with Arab st.

Quite nice to explore Singapore as a whole. Hope Michelle enjoyed herself in Singapore. =)

Walking Slower

The pace of life seems to have slowed down a bit, finished a couple of important things on hand at work. Though there are more to go, I can afford to wait for a while more.

Fri - went on a Sheshido workshop with YS, they teach you how to put on make-up step by step. Coolz..i should sign up for more of such courses later. It was the first time I step out of office at 5.45pm (on a Fri) at my new dept. I realised that I'm getting more pimples/small red dots on my face due to the stress I've faced for the past few weeks. Life has been really busy for me at least for the past 1.5 months. I'm glad I can walk slower now. Anyway, the conclusion i draw is always to keep my face looking good and free from pimples. I should learn to take stress better, manage them, and keep my face looking good. No point ruining my face, coz at the end, no one will pity me.

Sat- class as usual. After class, had the chance to makan and shop with one of my classmates. We talked about a lot - our travel plans after GZ..realised that both of us wanna see something scenic - so maybe JiuZaiGou, ZhangJiaJie or even Tibet! She was saying I had the "shopping look" and was very surprised that I wanted to go to scenic places. I guess i really need a break, and be in touch with nature. True, shopping is good retail therapy. Told her we could shop and cover GZ, HK and Macau during our school term. Glad to find someone who share similar interests. =) Then we ventured on the topic of relationships - both of us are not seeing anyone. Talked about how time flies, how our expectations have been dropping by the day...how pple marry for the sake of marry...the usual girl talk...Reminds me of the previous conversations I had with a bunch of female colleagues - we all agreed that girls should always be independent, regardless of whether you are single, seeing someone, married, or married and with kids. We need to make ourselves look good and desirable constantly, and be financially indept. Totally agree with that!

Sun - Michelle is finally here! Will be bringing her ard Singapore for the next few days. My little break off work. =) And must treat her to good food, as she's so kind to me when I'm in Hong Kong. Hope she likes Singapore. =)

If There're Seasons

Caught this musical by sheer coincidence. Got an email from a friend asking if I would like to watch, and I replied "Yes, why not?"

Never would I thought that I will get to meet Mr Liang Wen Fu there!! I've admired his work (be it in books and songs) since Secondary School, and am a mature fan of his! I grabbed the opportunity and walked up to him, and requested for a photo-taking! Got to shake his hands as well! =)

Bought his autographed set of CDs which included all his work, as well as those in the play "If there're seasons". Like a dream come true - least expected and effortlessly. =) I had searched for his CDs when I was in JC before, but cant really find them. So lucky I get to buy them all at one go today! =)

The musical was cool..

失去的爱，如果再找回来， 已经不是爱。

一步一步来。太阳星期天可不可以慢点爬上来？

久久才见到你的好
词曲：梁文福
唱：蔡荣祖

久久才见到
你真的对我好
多想回到你身边
将你的泪擦掉
久久才见到
你真的对我好
正想回到你身边
你却在他怀抱
我的心慢慢坠慢慢坠
它已经已经很疲累
我的梦慢慢碎慢慢碎
它已经不能再后悔
哦我的爱慢慢退慢慢退
我的天这种滋味
如果爱是朵玫瑰
我的已枯萎
等春天再来也寻不回
如果爱是朵玫瑰
你能否为我
当春天再来再开一回

某某人。


lotsa Singaporean flavour in there. One of the lead actresses turned out to be from my sec and JC! I can see many of my friends/fellow peers making their marks. Happy for them! =)

Gotta meet some long-lost friends today too. Met this gal from my ECA in sec school, and a primary school friend who has slimed down so much and even become an aerobics instructor! Coolz!!