Sunday 31 January 2010

Cravings

An ordinary truck?



Dispensing yummy Old Chang Kee at an RC event at West Coast!



Cannot buy, ahhhh!

Today, I jogged while Sito swam. We could see each other through the gym window - quite fun =D Had a good dinner - that was when we saw the OCK truck - and then fruits and then chocolate cookies. And he fed me a pineapple tart while I was ironing.

I've been snacking a lot since we moved in together. There's the never-diminishing stock of ice cream, and plenty of chocolatey yummies from Christmas. If Sito were not with me, I would have snacked more, cos I controlled my intake (somewhat) when he was not in a snacking mood :p

I figure I'll stop snacking when the snacks run out. Especially the chocolates cos I have better control over ice cream intake.

And yesterday, I found that our weighing machine is highly unreliable. It gave me two readings that differed by 1.5kg within two minutes. (Don't ask me why I weighed twice in a quick row!)

My moment of truth will come 6 February when I have access to another weighing machine at the spa. And M's eyes - she has no qualms telling me if I'm fat or otherwise :p

Monday 25 January 2010

A little encouragement from mf to mf

You know, there are days when a piece of dark chocolate is all you need to recharge. Then there are days when you may need a scoop of really yummy chocolate chip cookie dough. And then there are days when you must have nothing short of a ton of chocolate and icecream. Each.

Today, I felt like nothing could help.

Haven't sunk this deep for a while. Last I recall was about 2004 or 2005? And yes, it's always related to work. Nothing too specific; just..work! *you have to imagine me spitting the word out like a poison*

This time, I diagnose myself with professional depression. Nothing clinical about this one.

For some time now, I have this card stuck to my CPU in the office. It reads "I don't hate my life". I think "don't" is underlined.

I have been playing a lot of puzzle games on my Pinky II to keep myself from dwelling on negative thoughts about work, about my working life. But it hit me that I was escaping. I should not escape! I must do something about it.

So, because of this negative energy in me, I don't feel too cute these days. In fact, I was rather afraid that something fundamental had changed in me. I mean, I always encourage people to be positive right?

I must remember that I sometimes need to encourage myself too :)

Must find time to go play sackboy... Be happy, mf!

Sunday 10 January 2010

Cabbies - the good, the bad and the scary

We are taking fewer cab rides since moving here. Save money! But more important, it saves me a lot of grief over waiting for cab..

I absolutely hate waiting for cabs at night outside office cos:

a) there are no empty cabs. Some cabbies told me cos the cabs were hiding somewhere waiting for a call to come in;

b) but calling a cab may also result in nothing. No enough cabs in Singapore! Yet some cabbies complained to me that they had little business. One cabbie offered that some old cabbies chose to hang around residential areas instead of town cos of language barriers; better to ferry aunties carrying the week's groceries;

c) there are empty cabs but they refuse to take me! Do I look like I'm a cabbie killer??

Now, I'm very particular about (c). A couple of times, I wrote down the licence number on my Pinky and reported the incidence to LTA. So far, one was not valid cos he put "busy"; another was only warned as it was his first offence.

Then, I met with this incident that REALLY got me. I was waving madly at this cab which whizzed by me. I jolted down his number; he must have seen me cos I was out on the road, not the pavement!

Being tired, I decided to call for a cab. And guess what? I got that idiotic driver who ignored me!!

I was going to wait for him to arrive, scold him and NOT take his cab. But after a while, he did not appear. When an empty cab came along, I hopped on. As I was calling to cancel my booking, I realised I used speed booking so he must have been waiting at the carpark instead of the pavement of the same building. And after that, I realised I should not have cancelled and should have just let him wait!

Man, I was pissed! But I forgot to lodge the complaint and my Pinky died. So I vent here :p

I wonder if people lodge such complaints as I do.. I mean, I often hear and read about complaints of the government but what of everyday service? Got a related thing to talk about - later..

Anyway, another cabbie story to share but it's a good one.

We were on the way to XY's place and were chatting with uncle cabbie. Somehow, we talked about songs or something and he said he composed a song about cabbies!! In fact, he had the lyrics with him and showed us. Then we got him to sing :p

Sung to the tune of 南屏晚钟:



And then some cabbies are downright scary. A few times, I found myself having to belt up in the middle of a ride. Once, this cabbie was kind of in a car chase with an idiot in a fancy car! That guy was an idiot cos he almost missed his expressway exit while competing with uncle cabbie, middle finger flashing and all! Come on, how many miles does the typical driver clock compared to a cabbie?!

But now, I prefer my favourite bus 106 to cab. Lucky, we are :)

Thursday 7 January 2010

Becoming a parent

Not yet la :p

At LH's farewell dinner, they were telling me to move to a room along the "fertile aisle" of the office where every occupant (who wanted to) got pregnant! True enough, in the past couple of years, we had four babies and a fifth is on his way!

And more recently, we were saying how people might shun getting married and having children in the coming lunar year - Tiger Year! 生一只母老虎怎么办呢? :p

Anyway, digressing...

So, I was thinking about this question the other day - when is a person ready to be a parent?

I think, mentally, there is no ready time. I mean, who would know without experiencing what parenting is like? I think when people say that they're not ready, it's more like they're not ready to spend time with child. Or is sacrificing that part of being ready?

I remember LH once said that you just had to plunge into it; if you had waited to be ready, you would never do it!

Guess in the end, it boils down to whether you want kids - that's the fundamental question.

Nowadays, people think a lot before having children. Including university expenses. Ok, so all parents think their kids will go to university but isn't that a bit far?

But wait, last time, people thought even further - must have children to 传宗接代 and even 送终! That means boys and the more the merrier! Example: Mother had me then MZ, then a miscarriage before finally getting YQ. Three children and a monthly household income of about $1,000 but she received only $300 a month to manage the household and feed FIVE persons for about 20 years. Inflation? Never heard of it!

Be it last time or now, I think there should be some pre-requisites before having children:
1) Marriage is stable. Read about people who think that having children can help stabilise a marriage.. 不要害人害己!
2) Job is kind of stable but it doesn't have to pay $5,000 a month before considering children!
3) You've thought through how to adjust life to suit the addition of a member to the family - very important cos if both parents work, there must be alternative care arrangements; if one parent stay at home, have facials monthly instead of weekly? (I wish but no, I don't do facials weekly now)

I think we are almost there except (3) where we are facing some uncertainties. Well, that should sort itself out within the next few months. And, I'm proudly resistant to the consultants trying to sell me more sessions cos my remaining SIXTEEN sessions are running out :p