能者多劳

是赞美的话吧？

摆在我的面前，却是为了在忙的时候安慰自己！

唉！

A baby, anyone?

DC was talking about wanting to get pregnant in the office today so she wouldn't have to make some overseas trips..

Later, over lunch with LH, LY and TO..

"Three-month maternity leave and some no-pay leave! Yeah!"

Everyone is thinking of having children.. I say that's good! But...

"mf will jaga office!"

*.*

I want three-month maternity leave and no-pay leave too! BUT...

(oh, what a big BUT..)

1) No-pay leave will extend bond
2) Not having kids before end of bond and before I get an easier job
3) I can't get pregnant now!! (Technically I can but no I cannot!!!)

Another thing to take into account when considering secondment options :p

Another weird incident!

Twice in two days!

Was with Na in Watsons. Walked into this aisle where a middle aged man was looking at stuff.

Man: Are you local?
mf: Hmm? Yes.. Why?

I thought he was a lost tourist or something.

Man: Nothing.. What's your name?
mf: ??

I smiled politely and turned back to the shelves.

Man: You don't have a name?

Irritated, I turned, forced a smile and walked away to find Na..

Other than that, it's a lovely Sunday. Late lunch and catch-up with Na followed by a dance lesson that felt somewhat like our "show" with a number of students watching while waiting for their class which followed ours :p Bought a mosquito repellant - it's under my desk now. Hopefully that will mark the end of itchy calves and ugly scratch marks.

And yes, I should really blog about Japan..

Shallow mf

Something weird happened to me today.

I was approaching the gates at Orchard MRT when this guy walked up from behind me and went, "Kanoukoniu?"

What?!

When he repeated, also on super speed, I thought I heard "can I know you cos I'm interested in you?" And he held out his mobile.

Utterly disgusted, I calmly said no and moved on. Why was I disgusted? Well.. Cos I'm superficial? :p

I had wanted to stop here but I recalled something from a few weeks/months ago...

I was usually too tired most of the time to read on the MRT. With only my iPod in my ears, there were trips when I had nothing to do. It was difficult to sleep as there were seldom seats. So I observed people around me...

Often, I found myself in a car full of plain-looking people. Woman staring into space with dark cardigan wrapped around her, man reading with nerdy glasses and a backpack, auntie looking ahead with red lipstick and a pink cardigan (what's with the cardigans?!), uncle dragging his feet to work, woman sleeping with her mouth open..

Then, I caught myself. Ain't I one of them? *Gasp* Maybe the woman staring into space was actually looking at me and thinking the same thing!

"mf is plain-looking *.* mf is just one in a million commuters, sighs..."

At that moment I felt small and not too unique an individual..

PS: There is one type of commuters who cannot be plain-looking. The bubble kids! (even though the parents are often plain-lookers)

What's going on...?

很喜欢 Eason 的这张粤语专辑，尤其是这首《富士山下》。它的词，它的曲，一字一段都紧紧扣住我这颗小小的心 （别看我个子大，心，其实是小小的 :p ）

除了美，我无法形容⋯⋯

作曲：Christopher Chak (泽日生) 填词：林夕

拦路雨偏似雪花　饮泣的你冻吗　这风褛我给你磨到有襟花
连调了职也不怕　怎么始终牵挂　苦心选中今天想车你回家
原谅我不再送花　伤口应要结疤　花瓣铺满心里坟场才害怕
如若你非我不嫁　彼此终必火化　一生一世等一天需要代价

谁都只得那双手　靠拥抱亦难任你拥有　要拥有必先懂失去怎接受
曾沿着雪路浪游　为何为好事泪流　谁能凭爱意要富士山私有
何不把悲哀感觉　假设是来自你虚构　试管里找不到它染污眼眸
前尘硬化像石头　随缘地抛下便逃走
我绝不罕有　往街里绕过一周　我便化乌有

情人节不要说穿　只敢抚你发端　这种姿态可会令你更心酸
留在汽车里取暖　应该怎么规劝　怎么可以将手腕忍痛划损
人活到几岁算短　失恋只有更短　归家需要几里路谁能预算
忘掉我跟你恩怨　樱花开了几转　东京之旅一早比一世遥远

谁都只得那双手　靠拥抱亦难任你拥有　要拥有必先懂失去怎接受
曾沿着雪路浪游　为何为好事泪流　谁能凭爱意要富士山私有
何不把悲哀感觉　假设是来自你虚构　试管里找不到它染污眼眸
前尘硬化像石头　随缘地抛下便逃走
我绝不罕有　往街里绕过一周　我便化乌有

谁都只得那双手　靠拥抱亦难任你拥有　要拥有必先懂失去怎接受
曾沿着雪路浪游　为何为好事泪流　谁能凭爱意要富士山私有
何不把悲哀感觉　假设是来自你虚构　试管里找不到它染污眼眸
前尘硬化像石头　随缘地抛下便逃走
我绝不罕有　往街里绕过一周　我便化乌有

你还嫌不够　我把这陈年风褛　送赠你解咒

A short reprieve

This morning, I happened to look out of the kitchen window as I was pouring me some water.

The carpark was almost completed. It was still surrounded by yellow barricades and there was no one around. The sky was a plain shade of grey and blue. It was 7am and yet there was not even a word from the school-goers. I found that a bit strange, but I loved it.

It seemed like the morning was mine.

I got back an hour ago, passed by the carpark without giving it a second glance. But when I walked up the stairs, I suddenly realised that there were cars in the carpark!

So it was completed.

And the peace is no more, broken by the brightness of the headlights and the soft purr of the engines..

To bed, mf, to bed...

The room-mates

There are four expressions in my room:

1) Mr Bean is winking

Introducing Mr Bean..


2) Meh is expressionlessly sweet

3) Eeyore is melancholy as usual

4) mf is..tired..

It is - was - Children's Day. Happy Children's Day!!

mf is tired but she has her Children's Day ice cream.. So she is..satisfied..

mf goes to bed.

On leave =)

Yes, as of today!

Very happy.. Went for a massage this pm, came back to do some work (just to finish things off! :p), had hor fun for dinner while watching GTO, and now I am about to go take a nap..

Tomorrow I shall go watch that rat movie in the morning before dance lesson..

There's a scheduled facial on Friday before my flight.. Going for Miki's wedding and some leisure travels, taking the chance to hone my Japanese cos I'm taking JLPT 2 this year! Think I'm going to fail :p

I'll be back on 18 Sep 2007!

Scoop U!

Hope all teachers had a great Teachers' Day yesterday :)

Sito and I went to Scoop U at United Square. There was already a little girl there, quite shy and quiet.. We, both adults, were a lot more excited with the whole cake class experience!

Recipe for making an ice cream cake:

Step 1: Scoop ice cream into a springfoam tin lined with wax paper on the bottom. Press hard and freeze it. Single favour, or ten if you like!

Step 2: Whip cream so hard it won't fall out of bowl when you tip it over your head. Colour the cream as you wish. Freeze it.



Step 3: Crush cookies. Sprinkle evenly over ice cream cake.



Step 4: Tip onto cake base and slap cream all over. Freeze it.



Step 5: Decorate the cake but practise piping cream and hot fudge first - quite challenging! Freeze it.

See the alien flower sticking out of nowhere? :p


But our cake is lovely!!


Step 6: Decorate the cake box.

Sito is much better at drawing than I am...

(In fact, he made most of the cake; I was just "calefair" :p)

See, he drew me prettily but I made him look evil!

(The caption was really on his tee!)

Rule 1: You need a damn cool freezer.
Rule 2: You need to work fast so that the cake doesn't keep melting.
Rule 3: Failing all, just keep freezing the cake!

Enjoy the cake! :)

(Ignore the knife)

There are three groups of people

In the area of making money/a living:

Group I - People who don't need to work for money: Other people work for them. They collect the money.

Group II - People who trade time for money: Work all the time either to earn a lot - though may not be as much as Group I - or just to make ends meet.

Group III - People who work a lot but get no extra remuneration. Either they are already paid a lot, or they are simply carrying too much shit.

mf belongs to Type III and its sub-category of carrying too much shit *.*

夏祭り

Went for my very first 夏祭り last Sat! I went as a volunteer with the 日本語を話す会 but had a lot of fun too!

First, we filled ketchup bottles and poked satay sticks through hundreds of sausages. Then we had 弁当 dinner before donning these lovely aprons and head scarfs...


There were sufficient volunteers so each shift lasted only an hour. We took the earliest shift, during which I bent over yummy grilled sausages and packed them for the never-ending queue for sausages - we were a hot favourite! :)

I was quite an expert, squeezing ketchup and/or chilli and/or mustard over sausages for uncles and aunties and little boys and girls, all the time speaking minimal Jap..

"一本？ソースは？"
”ありがとうございました！”

:p

Sito was one of my customers :)

Psst: It was so warm we broke the fan

So many were in yukata! Though many guys looked like they just walked out of an onsen cos their yukata looked like the pyjamas type :p

But the girls were pretty! See this 帯!


We got お好み焼き and found a spot to sit down, watched a couple of performances by local school groups


This reminded me of the 花見 Na and I went for in 上野公園 two years ago...


Us!


We walked about after the food and even went for the 踊り - did some folk dancing, and one of them to Chan Mali Chan!! The other song was more fun cos the whole group actually moved forward in a circle as we danced, something that went ドシタドシタ! :p

Passed by little plots of land; sign says plot belongs to grade 1 group 1 :)


Another reads チアラージ.. Challenge? Well, the plant in that plot was a single stalk of sunflower that was taller than us!


Next was 金魚すくり!


結果は失敗だった！残念だけど、we wouldn't know what to do with the fish even if we had caught any!!

Singapore Day 2007

In New York!



Ok, picture was taken back in office; mf poses :)

The preparation

By the time I got to NY, the advance team had already been there for a week and quite washed out; they sent emails at unearthly hours. Hadn't hit me yet that the rest of us would suffer the same fate.. Lots of things cropped up, starting from arrival; our meet-&-greet didn't show up. That was only the beginning of ground transport woes..

The first day after arrival was benign. Then the rest of the week just went by in quite a blur.. I forgot what I did on some days.. And being late in recording this was only part reason!

I was supposed to be doing logistics for staff and crew, excluding the events company staff. One day quite early in the week, I went on a recce trip to Queens where we rented a kitchen for our hawkers to prepare food. Took the train there and a cab back - the train was cheaper and jam-free but the 20min walk from the hotel to the right platform might result in a few stray cats, so we stuck to coach arrangements. Gratefully, Makansutra organised the hawkers such that they had no problems at all with the coach. Can't say the same for other groups though; some people kept having trouble with ground transport!

Throughout the whole ground transport ordeal, I was glad for DC's company and guidance. A few times, she and I had to go to the hotel where our partners were staying (we stayed at different places; can't remember why) to make sure they arrived and got checked in. She dealt with the divas while I liaised with the coach company and our travel agent in Singapore. There were so many people with different transport requirements!!! At night, I wasn't doing my papers as I had hoped.. Had to deal with a lot of excel files with a lot of names and flight details and arrival dates and room-sharing details that didn't tally *.*

When our freight arrived after some customs issues, we unpacked those boxes and started packing 5,000 goodie bags.. 5,000!

There were tens of such boxes..


Finished products


The damage


It took all 11 of us, some 10 from the event company, and some 10 volunteers three hours of madness.. Some of us never passed over the chance for a Kodak moment..

That's me, long hair over face :p




After just one hour, I decided while I would love to do some brainless job sometimes, I just couldn't do this kind of brainless job - the packing was driving me mad – crazy and angry!

In fact, I wasn't the only one going mad. AA kept repeating "It has been a great honour working with you.." - cranky!! Emotions were also high with the mounting stress as the event drew nearer and as unexpected events kept unfolding. Friday was very bad for me; at some point I seriously felt like crying =( That night, I made a trunk call for some much needed TLC at 6am when I crawled into bed.. Slept for only one hour before I had to wake for the real thing.

But we had some 苦中作乐 time as well..

E.g. 1: Playing with goodie bag items


E.g. 2: Eating instant noodles


Day event

We were all in our orange "uniforms". I had once jokingly said I looked better in the sweater teamed with just underwear but I walked out with exercise pants in the end :p

The setup involved everyone moving the registration stuff from storage to the terrace... At one point, one of the hired hands asked TO: Are you paid by the hour too? :p

DC and LH


Queues started as early as 10am (I think, cos I was dashing about) although the registration was supposed to start at only 10.30am.


The queues for the food were overwhelming - chwee kueh and chicken rice were the first to sell out.

Yummy sambal... But we only had a few mouthfuls of leftover carrot cake at the end of the day...


The Wollman Rink in Central Park, and that's the stage behind..


I had no defined role as I was on standby for any issue on ground transport. And man, were there issues! Some people couldn't walk a few steps to the coach parked at another building exit (of an apparently not-so-idiot-proof square building) so the driver had to turn round and round given New York streets to reach them, with me remote controlling both parties - the people and transport company that used radio to reach driver. Time loss = one freaking hour.

Despite the delay, was glad that the concert managed to open at about 1pm. The audience seemed to be having great fun despite the heat - it was raining all the way until a couple of days before when we started setting up the place. In his opening address, the Man said we brought SG weather to NY :) Oh, TO and I were Vanna Whites - we carried lucky draw boxes :p

After my brief appearance on stage, I started my long journey to transport 200-300 goodie bags to the dinner venue - NYPL. It was a really painful process; I had been trying to do that since about 11am but couldn't find anyone to help. The two hired hands were hopelessly lazy, showing me black face all the time, especially the older and lazier one. We got two waiting staff to help carry the second batch and they were so charmingly helpful despite the weight and distance, and they were supposed to be dealing with food, not goods.. Attitudes, my friends, attitude..

Got back from the library in time in the van to fetch the Boss and the group doing reception at NYPL cos the day event was over. So I didn't get to watch the concert but saw from webcast later that people were swaying to the songs, ahhh...

The rest of us picked up some loose ends and left the park for good. But not before another group shot :p


Night event

No point getting a cab and getting stuck in NY traffic so we walked back to the hotel with just enough time to change for dinner. In the van, bosses said they met a couple who said they knew me. Turned out to be the old couple SF and I met in Boston last year. So I found them during cocktails and had a chat with them..

Somehow was plucked from my assigned table to sit at RQ's table. Was dreading the pressure to "mingle" but it turned out to be quite fun - had some mutual friends with some people at the table as they were quite young :) And one of them was from my sec school!

Had to help out at the reception halfway through dinner. Chatted with the people there. The events guys were quite dazed by then and they were saying that this was the most siong event ever! I could hardly agree more..

Went back into the hall when the concert started. It started late!! Cos they didn't want to start until all dishes had all been served, and all lights must go, etc etc.. By the time it finished, it was so late! In fact, a few guests had filed out before the concert ended.

We cleared the library pretty quickly and had a debrief (or two?) in the hotel. Said I would never be a tour guide; had enough of divas who couldn't handle transport and hotel!!

Post event

The next day, had to attend a thank-you lunch for our volunteers, during which LY seemed especially “friendly” with RQ! Haha! So we got her to ask him if we could leave lunch earlier - and we did! LY, LH and TO went shopping while I carted myself to the Met where I roamed for two hours. Bought a poster - Spring - to hang in my room =)

There was a Greek parade along 5th Ave, for Greek independence day, which was delayed due to the rains in March/April.


Talked to a few Greeks and they were so friendly! Struck me that they might be born in the US and have an American accent but they still had deep ties with their country.

It was a lovely day so I walked 40 blocks (!) to the hotel, checked out the ladies' shopping kills and showered before leaving for the airport. Bought myself a man's scent - yes, for me! :p Did some inflight shopping too - blusher..

Was so tired I was suffering fatigue for the next few weeks.. Didn't help that we had to table papers at the meeting quite immediately after Sg Day.. Second bout of stress that made me feel like crying - twice in two weeks! I've never been so freaked out in my 3.5 years of working.. Seriously hope that this won't happen again, and if it does, that I have learnt to deal with it better..

Happy National Day!

I didn't watch NDP :p

Watched The Bourne Ultimatum instead :p

Our first movie at AMK Hub!

Oh, but I'm listening to the NDP songs now, check out the first link! Already did my "NS" this afternoon, and last night - no more work until tomorrow! Suddenly remember watching this commercial about NS coming to 40 years this year, and found a website for it.. Actually I like the Singapore story, didn't use to appreciate it much during history lessons 13 years (omg!) back though.. Maybe that's why I love watching NDP live, being in the thick of the celebrations! But couldn't get tickets this year..

But I digress...

Wandered into the arcade while waiting for admission for hall number four. Found that I actually had the tap card for this arcade! Bought it ages ago for the one in Jubilee. It had some credit left so got Sito to beat the moles! Got 35 tickets and exchanged them for three stickers and a cute badge - happy :)

Material things, like my iMac, make me happy, but the mundane things make me happier :) E.g. I'll be happy when this pimple goes away! Going to remove the purifying mask putty now - wish me luck..