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 :)
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
It's a rather surreal feeling, to wake up on a weekday morning at 7-ish and realise that there's no need to jump up to get ready for work. It's even more so when this is repeated for more than a few days at a stretch, albeit at 8-ish, 10-ish, and even 11-ish.
We spend time washing, cleaning and hoovering - now our place is more like a home. We laze in front of the TV, often with some food to share. We also cook some meals and boil a lot of water.
This morning, I was staring out of the study window. It looked pretty quaint down there. Low buildings. Old. The new flats could be seen just a little further.
Now, it's raining. I'm snacking on cashew nuts, typing this and listening to the radio. He's a few steps and a door away, in the comfort of aircon even in this pouring rain.
I know I have things to do, like drawing up a shopping list for the Isetan private sale this Friday - we desperately need some plastic ware. And I need to figure out how to work the high-tech rice cooker. Heck, I can't even manage the TV or the aircon controller!
But I'm feeling light-headed, in part due to my flu and also this feeling of being on leave, being carefree for a while finally.
I find it hard to believe that three weeks are coming to an end.
Just back from dinner and drinks. LH gave a treat at Absinthe as she would be leaving for postgrad studies. Food was good but the company beat it hands down. I'm so blessed to be working with these people!
We had a lot of fun and laughter at the dining table and later at Majestic Bar where a few of us adjourned to. LH packed her son off with the dad so she could join us :p Amid the chatter, I forgot to take photos =/
I have been wanting to talk to LH since mid-year retreat, where what she said resonated with me. No chance thus far and now she's leaving! Was planning to get a card for her after wedding but had no time to sit down to write properly before meeting her just now. Made a note to get it done to pass to her next week. (after-note: done)
With LH gone, I feel like a chapter in the history of NPS has closed. She has been there since the beginning and helped to shape NPS into what it is today. Among the seven pioneers of NPS, only three are left now. Personally, she has also guided and mentored me to where I am today, for which I'm grateful. So, 有一点伤感吧... 因为我不喜欢别离，因为人事已非，也因为我晓得有一天我也会离开这里... Too much for a late Friday night, hur? :)
Well, at this stage, I would say that we are done with the preparations for our wedding celebration tomorrow. If anything is not done, well, I say too bad! :p
I'll probably post details at some point but now, I just want to write about what I'm feeling, or not.
In the past few weeks, we have been busy with packing, moving, unpacking.. As I packed my stuff, I have taken loads of pictures of things I was dumping - no point hoarding. I even took pictures of the market area, where I spent many happy Sunday mornings. And just now when I was packing dinner at AMK Hub, I realised that I probably wouldn't be there as often after today.
Then when I got back, I found that I did not have the same affinity to this flat. Sure, I've lived here since I was a baby. But too many unhappy things have happened here. I only took photos of my room which I did up nicely two years ago.
And with Mother nagging at me and wanting me to do this and that and not do this and that, I was so yearning for tomorrow so that I could be officially out of this place!
Rather negative thoughts for today but they are my thoughts nonetheless.
On a happier note, tomorrow marks the start of our life together!! Can't wait :)
Five hours after a huge chocolate muffin (and cafe mocha), I realised that I might need to loosen my wedding gown.
Barely a minute later, I realised the other gown could not be loosened.
Should I be stressed? Then I need more comfort food *.*
Didn't make any effort in keeping trim. Didn't even go to the gym for three weeks cos of nose. I think I'm going to suffer aches when I go again - maybe Thursday.. Or next week *twiddle*
Six years ago, on 3 Nov 2003, I put on a new dress that was rather formal and 大人样, and walked into my nice cosy cubicle in my first workplace, feeling apprehensive yet excited. I remember I had a window behind or in front of me. But that was soon gone when the office retrofitted the space to accommodate more staff.
I sat at a smaller cubicle outside my boss's room for the longest time, during which I was seconded but remained a squatter in the same office :p That is, until the office had to undergo massive renovation. We shifted into the next building and I found a more open cubicle awaiting me.
I barely warmed the seat; after some three months, we moved into our own "home" at the current location where again, I sat outside my boss's room - I planned it so :)
But I didn't stop changing cubicles. We got more staff, and the office underwent its first retrofitting after a year to yield more cubicles and I moved to a cosy corner - plenty of space for my barang.
Then we grew again and I moved into my current room only a few months ago.
And suddenly, amid all this moving (and a whole lot of work!), I found myself wearing the same 大人样 dress going to work this morning. Everything else, however, seemed to have changed.
It was a hectic Monday and I was as usual feeling hassled all the time. But at the end of the day, as I switched off the lights, I was keenly aware that six years had passed by - gone, together with those lights.
Strangely, I didn't feel lighter as I had earlier expected. Perhaps cos the weight was psychological to begin with. Perhaps cos I'm not going anywhere anyway, just carrying on the current trajectory.
But I think I shall not think too much, and just be happy for surviving these years :)
She left me last Wednesday, 14 Oct 2009, more than three years after I first held her in my hands around National Day 2006, and a few hours after being cleaned with quite a bit of water..! Yes, blame me =(
She had been showing signs of ageing, restarting many times a day on her own, general slowness.. And the speaker had died earlier within the first year.. But I didn't want to give her up as there were so many memories.. I should be able to retrieve the calendars and notes etc from the last time I sync-ed with my work desktop.. But the many sms, precious sms, they are all gone now... =(
Since she left me, I realised how much I had depended on her.. For the past week, I had to use an old phone without my contacts, calendar and precious sms.. The whole of last weekend, I had no idea what I was doing or where I was supposed to be..
So today, when I got my iPhone, I name her Pinky II in remembrance of Pinky.
Goodbye, Pinky. You have been an important part of my life, and I thank you for being so :)
It didn't hit me until 1am today as I read SW's note on Facebook, that yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the start of my four wonderful years in Oxford..
4 Oct 1999. A crisp sunny morning. We - me with LS, SX and Jon - arrived in at LHR and took X70 to Oxford. Where I promptly lost the envelop containing my X-ray. Which I found in Mother's cabinet four years later - a porter at Queen's College picked it up and sent home but she never told me!
But I digress..
Despite going back just last year, I miss Oxford. I miss my time there.
In fact, the running theme for our trip was food :)
4 Aug 2009 - oh, crab!
We arrived at Hokkaido on the night of 3 Aug 2009, so the fun started only the next day..
We first went to the Otaru Canal, "where all the century-old stone warehouses are lined both sides of the canal" - quoted from itinerary :p
As you can see, the weather was great! Sito was pouting cos he didn't bring his sunglasses.. Ok, I made him pout for the photo :p So I'm the only shuai one during the trip!
We were very taken by king/queen/hairy crabs, expensive melons, and icecream!!
That was a five-tier cone - soda water, strawberry, melon, milk and lavender!
For lunch, we got to hold our food in our hands before it was served..
10,000 yen! And that was the smallest taraba crab!
We boiled the plate of crab in Sito's hands, and had the other plate for sashimi - omg! -, shabu and eventually just boiled :p We took a loooong time to finish the crab. And then, we poured our rice into the soup and cooked porridge with egg! It was a lot of food. A lot...
After lunch, we went to Ishiya factory. Not familiar? How about Shiroi Koibito? :) It was some flower festival so after a bit of shopping, we walked through the gardens.
Then it was a couple of hours of shopping at Sapporo. I bought a yukata! We didn't shop the entire time, of course - we had ramen :p And that was before a BBQ dinner :p
What is a holiday without snacks and suppers? We went to the McD near our hotel to get McPork - you can't get that in Singapore! It was quite yummy, mmm...
5 Aug 2009 - steaming onsen
First stop of the day was the Ainu Museum. Ainu is an aborigine group that is now integrated throughout Japan. The museum performance demonstrated a musical instrument that was difficult to play - I tried it at the musuem shop!
That was a painting of a girl - they had to tattoo girls, including around the lips so that they could live longer.. Superstition or tradition?
The group set up home next to a lake.
And we also got to feed some cute bears!
They knew when we were near and positioned themselves at the feeding tube. The first one was breathing up the tube and we could hear and feel it- that was yucky and not too cute *.*
And we had hairy crab for lunch today! With toro but that wasn't the best for the price. We thought a chef should have cut it instead of the market auntie...
Fun picture outside lunch venue - grrr!
Our tour guide said that our itinerary was very relaxed. So he brought us to more places :p
We went to Noboribetsu, a hotspring area heated by a volcano. This reminds me of an old photo we took in Kyushu :) (oops, photo not in that post :p)
This is called Hell Valley and along the way, we saw statues of Chinese ghosts and nearby, there was a statue of the Chinese devil that changed his strict face to a scary face every day at 3 pm!
This was volcano day. Next was Mt Showa, a volcano that formed only in the 1940s.
All these volcanoes only meant one thing - we were staying in a hotspring ryokan that night! Yeah! :)
And have you watched Jap dramas before? Where sometimes the company will have a retreat and the troupe will be gathering for dinner in a hall where they are sing and dance, perhaps after (and before) a dip in the onsen? We did that! Sans the dancing...
I happened to have a purple hair accessory to match the yukata :)
That was me singing!
And what followed was a series of fireworks by Lake Toya!
On the way back from the lake (which was just behind the hotel anyway so we could stay in our room to watch the fireworks but ambience! :p), we got some ice cream from a convenient store :p
6 Aug 2009 - flowers galore!
Today was flower day! We must have gone to about three farms.
mf likes yellow flowers :)
Sito likes, um, manly plants :p
We only did a quick stop at Biei, ending with pumpkin ice cream!
Then we went to Farm Tomita, famed for its lavender fields.
But by then, most of the lavender and even sunflowers had been harvested. I don't think a field of lavenders would be very interesting but I do like sunflowers!
So at another farm, where we couldn't walk into the fields, we rented a cart instead!!
We took turns driving the cart in search of the sunflowers. And we found some..small ones...
And they were all turning away from me!! =(
Oh well, there were some other flowers too, and in full bloom.
Then we went along some Biei Patchwork Road, which offered some pretty country views, but also famous partly due to a couple of commercials along some otherwise ordinary road. And a tree.. Hmm..
We ended up at a shopping centre. And Sito got a yukata too! And we walked the shops.. Ramen shops :)
7 Aug 2009 - 七夕节
We went to Otokoyama Sake Brewery Museum in the morning. I'm not a fan of sake but it turned out to be so fun!!
We tried #3 for free and bought #1 to try.
Then we filled our bottles with spring water that was supposed to have some longevity properties.. Didn't I have five black eggs at Hakone five years ago that were supposed to extend life by SEVEN years each? :p
Then we posed :p
And when we thought we were going to leave, we had a treat - turned out that it was Hokkaido's 七夕节! (One month later than usually cos it gets warm later in Hokkaido :p)
Sito and I each made a wish under a tree next to a little stream :)
And then the museum people clad in yukata floated little bowls of sake down the stream, and we picked it up with a rod for a mid morning sip amid some traditional music - ahhh... :)
Oh, but mine was orange juice :p
Then we put the bowl back to let it float downstream..
Had some time after lunch so walked around and saw this interesting shop..
It was selling "精力剂" :p
What do we do on a hot summer day? Drink beer!
Next was shopping at a factory outlet. We bought a bit of stuff. Just a bit, really :)
Dinner that night was pseudo Chinese food.. We weren't too keen so had ramen before that.. And after too - instant ramen from a convenient store :)
8 Aug 2009 - ラブラブ :p
It was a sad day.. No more organised land transfers and meals.. But, we were free on our own to roam Tokyo!
We left the group at Asakusa and did some touristy thing - like showering ourselves with incense smoke, making a wish and getting our fortune told :)
Then we went in search of lunch :p And found two aunties in front of us:
And then we tumbled upon a conveyor belt sushi shop, and a very good one!
Stomach filled, we did otaku things at Akihabara :p Bought a Hello Kitty game :)
Then we went to Shibuya for an adventure - we got a love hotel!!
We did some shopping in the area. It was all very discreet.. The pictures of the rooms are typically shown on some screen. If the picture is lit up, it's available. If you want that room, hit a button to turn off the light and proceed to a little window where you'll pay and get the key for three hours.
But the hotels at Dogenzaka in Shibuya were nothing like those in Osaka that we saw online. The one we went to had a number of themes but only one was available when we were there - Eros or something.. it was quite plain with a big painting of two naked women and a naked man playing snooker. The jacuzzi room had a small TV screen on the side. The TV had quite a number of porn channels..
Took a lot of pictures (of the room!) but I guess not appropriate to post! :p
Then we decided to go for grill..
And ramen at a charming old place...
And ice cream!
9 Aug 2009 - Happy National Day!!
Actually that day, we forgot about it totally :p But we did go to NDP preview the weekend before! Blog later..
We got to Tokyo from our Narita hotel just before noon and spent some time getting NEX tickets for our final train ride in two days before heading for Shinjuku - it was shopping day!
But first, we had some family fare at a very family place in Shinjuku
We spent some time in Tokyu Hands - it was wonderful! We bought some practical stuff there, like a lanyard and a hair turban.. Um, yup :)
Then, it rained... So we walked to Wendy's for a snack :)
By then we were so tired from walking..
But we carried on - to Harajuku!
It was a bit late for cosplay. Anyway it was drizzling. So we went to Takeshita Dori - I'd not gone there before in my previous trips but it turned out to be quite fanciful with lots of teenagers and waffle shops! I bought an umbrella haha! When we were turning out towards Omote-sando, we saw this queue for icecream. After wondering for a (short) while, we turned back to queue too :p
Turned out to be collagen ice cream! The shop also sells other products with collagen, like buns..
We walked for the longest time until it rained before we turned back towards Harajuku station, and spent some time at Uniqlo where we felt an earthquake! But the staff didn't seem to feel anything *.*
Our hotel that night was quite central in Tokyo; the room was tiny but very new and modern. That night, Sito filled the tub to soak but I was too lazy to get wet after showering. But I was convinced to just soak my feet - and it was good! We walked so much that day...
10 Aug 2009 - feel the magic
We went to Disneyland!
I felt like crying many times that day - so happy to be there! It was indeed magical. Yes, I have been to DisneySea before but the feeling was different - there was no castle in DisneySea! The castle was lovely! It was like having childhood dreams fulfilled..
Ok, I'm gushing :)
But really, when I was a kid, a cousin gave me a huge jigsaw puzzle of Cinderella in front of her castle. I always thought that was the loveliest thing. I kept dismantling and putting back the jigsaw.
And finally! I saw the wonderful castle! Ahhh... :)
And I must have Eeyore - oh lovely Eeyore :)
Then we hit the rides! We did Space Mountain, which Sito feared as a kid but not anymore! And Star Tours, which left me nauseous cos I had to bend over to right my bag in case my water bottle leaked...
Then we had Mickey Mouse bun and burrito or something - yummy!
Did I mention it was rainy most of the day?? We queued a long time at the Haunted Mansion until the sun came out (briefly)..
And Sito was stalked by a ghostly hand, oooh...!
Not too scary but a ghost got me when it popped up - gaaar!
Had some maple churros to calm my nerves :)
It was Splash Mountain next - reminded us of the old Har Par Villa ride but of course this was more exciting!
Then we had a smoked turkey leg :p It didn't survive to see the day parade - Jubilation!
My favourite shot - Beauty and the Beast! Except that it was a prince :p Lovely gown, right...
We dashed into Thunder Mountain after the parade - we were strategically in front of the ride :p
It was damn good! I love thrill rides :) But when I was younger and more reckless, I was more adventurous with what top gun and reverse bungee - not anymore *.*
Oh, my castle! MY castle :)
We decided we wanted Jap food for dinner so we beat the dinner crowd with a slightly early tempura dinner! Quite hungry since we didn't have a proper lunch.. Just plenty of snacks :p
Next ride was easy on the stomach, MicroAdventure! And it was in English! Finally something we could fully understand!
Went for a stage show of all the Disney characters before heading for the castle where we successfully balloted for seats to this Club Monsters Inc show. We were a bit late but our seats were great - left front row! And gratefully so cos the middle front row got terribly wet when the water came spraying down as part of the show! We were only a little wet... Strange that we spent the larger part of the day trying to get out of the rain, only to walk into a water show.. Gaaar!
Next was the night parade - Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights! Couldn't take good pictures but this was cute :)
Then we went for one last ride - Ride and Go Seek! With the monsters! It was really cute, especially when Boo was around - I like Boo :)
When we went back to Hilton, it was quite late. I realised we had spent some $400+ for about six hours in the hotel, hmm... But it was great! We had a good view of what we thought was Tokyo Bay from our room - better when we switched off the lights :)
More soaking in the tub, some Nintendo (that set us back another $20+ :p), and a wonderful discovery on the TV:
I have this calendar of flip cards that has stayed at "hysterical" since about 2005. Just flipped it to "depressed" - maybe tomorrow I'll footnote the small print:
Monday-Friday, 7am-8pm (sometimes later)
Some time ago, I was looking through websites that advise people on the best time to quit a job. So during one particularly sick session at work today, I flipped my calendar - real one with dates though it's electronic so "flipped" isn't exactly the word to use but I digress - and marked out two possible dates. I wrote them down and stuck them right next to my monitor - in Japanese - to signal some feeble light at the end of the tunnel.
Until I figure what I want to do, that light will remain feeble. And pls, no oncoming train jokes..
Just yesterday, we passed by Fancl. I thought the uniform was nice. And it would be lovely to help make people become - or more often, look - beautiful :) Now I cannot remember if the uniform has a scarf. Like the ANA uniform. I wish my neck were longer so I don't look like I'm wearing a bib when I'm wearing a scarf round my collar.
Or I could revive an old thought - have my own confectionary! If I can avoid being my own biggest customer.. Anyway, my repertoire has a grand total of only three items - Portuguese egg tarts, corn muffins and brownies. A home kitchen then? :)
But of course, I'm dreaming. Well, I like to dream. Thing is, while I'm still bonded, dreams are possibilities; after my bond ends, I fear that these dreams may just simply be dreams..
PS: It's 09.09.09 today. I think it's a magical number - cos I like 9. And 3. Maybe my depression will magically go away tomorrow..
