So I spent some time playing with Photoshop yesterday afternoon, resulting in this new look for mf-ism! :) I've also changed the size of the text so that I don't have to enlarge it in every single post - used to do that as the polka dot theme I chose years ago came with very small, un-adjustable fonts, and I didn't want to squint. So all the posts before 1 Jul 2011 now have especially big fonts! :p
While pink works for my wardrobe, it just doesn't work for mf-ism, which is about everything, happy and sad, good and bad. If I write only about cute things, girly stuff, beauty tips, then pink is perfect.
Green, on the other hand, is pretty neutral. It's pleasing to the eye without being too in your face. It can be happy or sad, good or bad. It matches all my moods. That's why I went for a green theme when I left the polka dots behind. But that dusty green isn't really my favourite shade of green hence this most recent change.
I also like yellow. Bright yellow is super chirpy and cheers me up no end. Light yellow is like green - it can be anything.
Oh, I also have a decent collection of greens and yellow in my wardrobe but in Singapore. I miss my clothes!
Somehow, blue is not my colour. I feel strange wearing blue. Blue things neither attract nor repel. But I love blue skies. From the blue of bright clear days to the blue of clear nights.
Red is another favourite colour but it can be too intense sometimes. Unlike green or yellow, there's no light red - that's just pink right?! But National Day is coming soon and I WILL WEAR RED!! :) I like white too and it will be fun to wear red AND white on National Day! Let's see what I can do...
And today, I went for lunch in a light purple top and a low side ponytail with a maroon flower clip. I felt so cheerful, so summery! :) I'll go back to being boring when the cold descends upon us since everything will be hidden underneath a coat and hat *.*
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Friday, 29 July 2011
Pet peeves in language
This article on "Americanisms: 50 of your most noted examples" is hilarious!
Some of the top 50 are commonly found in work environments - reach out, touch base, heads up. I don't find them grammatically wrong. And I'm for jargon, if that's what they are :p
Some are just practical - saying "24/7" is so much easier than saying "24 hours, seven days a week", unless you want to emphasise on the round-the-clock nature?
And these may not all be "Americanism". It could have been dropped from common use or become less popular in the UK such that Brits, quite simply, don't like them. It's a good thing, this evolution of language. I mean, I'm reading "Sense and Sensibility" now and the old English is driving me crazy!
Or it's just how people of different places like to call certain things, such as carts vs. trolleys. Went shopping with JY for BBQ stuff and she gave no recognition (more like giving me a blank look!) when I said I was going to get a trolley *.*
I didn't manage to get through all the 1000+ comments on the article but I'm sure someone must have added "different than" to the list! Seriously, that's neither slang nor jargon, which I can accept; that's just plain wrong!
I have other pet peeves of "Americanism" too, with the grammatical atrocity above topping my list:
2) awesome - overused! Fine, I just don't like it..
3) like - it's appearing, like, everywhere! (Oops, I'm guilty!)
4) *ize - "organize", "realise".. It's "organise" and "realise"! Call me snobbish!
5) can't - how the Americans differentiate "can" from "can't" eludes me.... Ok, so I'm a Singaporean prone to dropping terminal consonants... But hey, I like my life a little easier...
Oh, how about a similar list for good old Singlish? :)
1) ever - not your typical Singlish but I've only heard this from Singaporeans.. I'm so disgusted by its misuse that it has its own post.
Um, I think that's it leh... Singlish itself does not irritate me unless it is used excessively. Exclamations like "la" can inject "feel" but please don't give me a whole string of Singlish such as this appalling line I found on wiki "Dis guy Singrish si beh powerful sia"! I'm even ok with "issit" when "is it?" just doesn't cut it! :p But at work or if I'm not with Singaporeans, I'll avoid such a response altogether and use "really?" or something suitable.
And of course, we are plagued by some "Americanism", especially the ubiquitous "like". What to do? The borders aren't clear-cut anymore.. At the same time, I have witnessed or heard of non-Singaporeans using Singlish too, more commonly just adding an exclamation at the end of a sentence, la - yes, with a comma *.*
And while I'm at it, let's do Chinese too!
1) 撞 - while it's easy to use this word correctly in writing, people (like my husband!) tend to pronounce it wrongly as chuang4 instead of zhuang4
2) 好彩 - or however you write that! I know this is Yan's pet peeve too.. Correct answer? 幸亏!
3) 吃, 喝 - what's so difficult about these two words? It's the pronunciation again.. It bugs me to hear chi4 and he4 instead of chi1 and he1..
4) 先 - it should be used before the verb, not after or - god forbids - before AND after!
Anyway, I kind of like how we Singaporeans can code-switch easily between English, Singlish, CMT and even foreign languages - who doesn't know what kawaii means? :p - AND still understand one another.
PS: Writing this gave me a lot of nerdy joy! :)
Some of the top 50 are commonly found in work environments - reach out, touch base, heads up. I don't find them grammatically wrong. And I'm for jargon, if that's what they are :p
Some are just practical - saying "24/7" is so much easier than saying "24 hours, seven days a week", unless you want to emphasise on the round-the-clock nature?
And these may not all be "Americanism". It could have been dropped from common use or become less popular in the UK such that Brits, quite simply, don't like them. It's a good thing, this evolution of language. I mean, I'm reading "Sense and Sensibility" now and the old English is driving me crazy!
Or it's just how people of different places like to call certain things, such as carts vs. trolleys. Went shopping with JY for BBQ stuff and she gave no recognition (more like giving me a blank look!) when I said I was going to get a trolley *.*
I didn't manage to get through all the 1000+ comments on the article but I'm sure someone must have added "different than" to the list! Seriously, that's neither slang nor jargon, which I can accept; that's just plain wrong!
I have other pet peeves of "Americanism" too, with the grammatical atrocity above topping my list:
2) awesome - overused! Fine, I just don't like it..
3) like - it's appearing, like, everywhere! (Oops, I'm guilty!)
4) *ize - "organize", "realise".. It's "organise" and "realise"! Call me snobbish!
5) can't - how the Americans differentiate "can" from "can't" eludes me.... Ok, so I'm a Singaporean prone to dropping terminal consonants... But hey, I like my life a little easier...
Oh, how about a similar list for good old Singlish? :)
1) ever - not your typical Singlish but I've only heard this from Singaporeans.. I'm so disgusted by its misuse that it has its own post.
Um, I think that's it leh... Singlish itself does not irritate me unless it is used excessively. Exclamations like "la" can inject "feel" but please don't give me a whole string of Singlish such as this appalling line I found on wiki "Dis guy Singrish si beh powerful sia"! I'm even ok with "issit" when "is it?" just doesn't cut it! :p But at work or if I'm not with Singaporeans, I'll avoid such a response altogether and use "really?" or something suitable.
And of course, we are plagued by some "Americanism", especially the ubiquitous "like". What to do? The borders aren't clear-cut anymore.. At the same time, I have witnessed or heard of non-Singaporeans using Singlish too, more commonly just adding an exclamation at the end of a sentence, la - yes, with a comma *.*
And while I'm at it, let's do Chinese too!
1) 撞 - while it's easy to use this word correctly in writing, people (like my husband!) tend to pronounce it wrongly as chuang4 instead of zhuang4
2) 好彩 - or however you write that! I know this is Yan's pet peeve too.. Correct answer? 幸亏!
3) 吃, 喝 - what's so difficult about these two words? It's the pronunciation again.. It bugs me to hear chi4 and he4 instead of chi1 and he1..
4) 先 - it should be used before the verb, not after or - god forbids - before AND after!
Anyway, I kind of like how we Singaporeans can code-switch easily between English, Singlish, CMT and even foreign languages - who doesn't know what kawaii means? :p - AND still understand one another.
PS: Writing this gave me a lot of nerdy joy! :)
Thursday, 28 July 2011
An unpleasant housework discovery
I was trying to hoover the apartment after dinner and found that I could hardly push the machine across the carpet. It seemed that the carpet was...damp?! Even the kitchen floor felt clammy when I stepped in barefooted!
Utterly horrified, I shut the window and put both aircon (aircons? KIV next post!) to work! Imagine what gross and bad little things could be festering on a damp carpet!!
Now the carpet still feels a little damp in the living room where the window was open, but it's fine in the bedroom already.
So, we humans can take the summer humidity better than the carpet!
Update an hour later
The bedroom smells of Sito cos I didn't have pure alcohol so I sprayed a lot of his perfume on an ink stain on a shirt before washing and drying it in the room! The pleasant part of (unwanted) housework? :)
Utterly horrified, I shut the window and put both aircon (aircons? KIV next post!) to work! Imagine what gross and bad little things could be festering on a damp carpet!!
Now the carpet still feels a little damp in the living room where the window was open, but it's fine in the bedroom already.
So, we humans can take the summer humidity better than the carpet!
Update an hour later
The bedroom smells of Sito cos I didn't have pure alcohol so I sprayed a lot of his perfume on an ink stain on a shirt before washing and drying it in the room! The pleasant part of (unwanted) housework? :)
Good news!
Just saw Doc's message and my lab report - I've got the all clear for my latest PAP smear! The April procedure took out the bad stuff. What a relief! :)
I think I'm all recovered now. And I've been good to myself in the past few months too. Ginger tea, red bean soup, lots of greens, and today I'm making chicken soup, although that's more for Sito cos he's been working so hard. But his project is ending this week so we're heading out for dinner in town tomorrow :)
All signs point to an amazing weekend :)
I think I'm all recovered now. And I've been good to myself in the past few months too. Ginger tea, red bean soup, lots of greens, and today I'm making chicken soup, although that's more for Sito cos he's been working so hard. But his project is ending this week so we're heading out for dinner in town tomorrow :)
All signs point to an amazing weekend :)
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Vain pot Wednesday
I really really love smooth legs :)
miso: Doesn't Sito have hairy legs?
I really really love MY smooth legs. I was nothing but fuzz since January; my last wax was in December in Singapore. No shaver here. Tried plucking but I'm too furry *.*
With the sun out (almost) all the time now, I MUST do something about it. So I rediscovered hair removal cream.
I tried that many years ago as a teenager but it didn't work well. Perhaps my hair was too coarse back then. This time, however, the hair just melted away, leaving me with silky smooth legs.. Ahhh... Bliss :)
The same - silky smooth - couldn't be said for the hair on my head though.. It's like grass *.*
I can't use conditioner every day because I tend to get residue from it. I just use leave-in conditioner when I go out. That smoothens it a bit but doesn't keep my hair in place. I only use hair wax for special occasions as it is difficult to wash off. Can't wait for rebonding next summer in Singapore!
In the mean time, I'm thinking of layering my hair as it's getting thick as it grows. But I'm ditching the pink hair idea - I figure I'll look strange with pink hair and stark black eyebrows *.* Um, pink eyebrows will be plain weird!
And I've been trying to keep to my routine of weekly foot scrubs. Did that yesterday after forgetting to do it last week. Also filed off the sharp corners of my toenails and trimmed the cuticles. And since last week, I've been applying moisturiser on my legs in the morning since I don't like to sleep with clammy legs. Now I'm having the best legs and feet since baby years woohoo! I'm also trying to keep my fingernails longer than usual - I'll see if I get used to it.
My perennial (and worldwide!) chapped lips are also getting better after I religiously apply lip balm. I think I may look like I haven't wiped my mouth after a particularly greasy burger... But I don't care. I just want my lips to not crack and bleed all the time.
And I was thinking of going to the gym. I went twice in the past few weeks since I stopped working. Pathetic! So the other day, I decided to do some exercises at home. I stretched and I pulled in my leg muscles to balance on tiptoe, all the while pulling in my abs the pilates way. But I didn't feel a thing after that. And yesterday, I had aclever stupid idea of doing kickboxing while watching TV. It didn't take more than a few hours to feel the muscles in my arms, legs and back complaining...
Muscles: mf, what have you done? Even if you don't feel old, WE feel old! *creak and ache*
But I like the ache haha! Think I'm going to do that again today, while watching The Shawshank Redemption.
Update 6.48 pm
It's about 24 hours since my mini kickboxing workout... I can hardly bend my arms *.* But the TV is on, the show is about to start, and I WILL HAVE ANOTHER MINI WORKOUT!
miso: Doesn't Sito have hairy legs?
I really really love MY smooth legs. I was nothing but fuzz since January; my last wax was in December in Singapore. No shaver here. Tried plucking but I'm too furry *.*
With the sun out (almost) all the time now, I MUST do something about it. So I rediscovered hair removal cream.
I tried that many years ago as a teenager but it didn't work well. Perhaps my hair was too coarse back then. This time, however, the hair just melted away, leaving me with silky smooth legs.. Ahhh... Bliss :)
The same - silky smooth - couldn't be said for the hair on my head though.. It's like grass *.*
I can't use conditioner every day because I tend to get residue from it. I just use leave-in conditioner when I go out. That smoothens it a bit but doesn't keep my hair in place. I only use hair wax for special occasions as it is difficult to wash off. Can't wait for rebonding next summer in Singapore!
In the mean time, I'm thinking of layering my hair as it's getting thick as it grows. But I'm ditching the pink hair idea - I figure I'll look strange with pink hair and stark black eyebrows *.* Um, pink eyebrows will be plain weird!
And I've been trying to keep to my routine of weekly foot scrubs. Did that yesterday after forgetting to do it last week. Also filed off the sharp corners of my toenails and trimmed the cuticles. And since last week, I've been applying moisturiser on my legs in the morning since I don't like to sleep with clammy legs. Now I'm having the best legs and feet since baby years woohoo! I'm also trying to keep my fingernails longer than usual - I'll see if I get used to it.
My perennial (and worldwide!) chapped lips are also getting better after I religiously apply lip balm. I think I may look like I haven't wiped my mouth after a particularly greasy burger... But I don't care. I just want my lips to not crack and bleed all the time.
And I was thinking of going to the gym. I went twice in the past few weeks since I stopped working. Pathetic! So the other day, I decided to do some exercises at home. I stretched and I pulled in my leg muscles to balance on tiptoe, all the while pulling in my abs the pilates way. But I didn't feel a thing after that. And yesterday, I had a
Muscles: mf, what have you done? Even if you don't feel old, WE feel old! *creak and ache*
But I like the ache haha! Think I'm going to do that again today, while watching The Shawshank Redemption.
Update 6.48 pm
It's about 24 hours since my mini kickboxing workout... I can hardly bend my arms *.* But the TV is on, the show is about to start, and I WILL HAVE ANOTHER MINI WORKOUT!
Monday, 25 July 2011
It's ALL your fault! .. Really?
I'm supposed to be doing a case on negotiations but the excel is driving me mad - the result of not having been thinking for a while *.*
So I was distracted by a link on Facebook with the following extract:
"What the Prime Minister seem to have overlooked is that it is very difficult to relax when our public transportation system is as such, as it contributes directly to greater stresses at place of work, detrimental to our quality of life, and could also be a cause for Singapore’s falling birth-rate."
I don't know if I should laugh, cry or look constipated.
The birth rate is low because people cannot have kids or don't want kids. If they cannot, it's sad and may or may not be helped. If they don't want, empty trains can help meh??
Before we started living together, I used to think if you want kids, you would do anything to get there. I still think that, but with one caveat - there is a physical limit.
After a long day at work, I could hardly stay awake!
Yup, I was the limitation back in Singapore as Sito was then quite ok, being on a development course at work before Kellogg. But the short window of opportunity to make babies might not coincide with a gap in my work schedule! Now the reverse is happening, with Sito being (a lot) busier than me. But it's better when he's a full-time student - I know his school timetable - and not an intern - he's still at work at this hour :(
So the evil is actually time, or the lack of it due to work. CY was telling me about a woman who said in an interview with ST that the work culture in Singapore was poisoned; people saw her as a clock-watcher when she left on time. But well, work-life balance is a story for another day...
Anyway, my original idea was just to give my first impression upon reading the above extract, that when you don't like something, it's easy to blame every other bad thing in life on it! But obviously my ex-job hazard took over...
Alright! I must sleep now.. The case will have to wait for tomorrow!
So I was distracted by a link on Facebook with the following extract:
"What the Prime Minister seem to have overlooked is that it is very difficult to relax when our public transportation system is as such, as it contributes directly to greater stresses at place of work, detrimental to our quality of life, and could also be a cause for Singapore’s falling birth-rate."
I don't know if I should laugh, cry or look constipated.
The birth rate is low because people cannot have kids or don't want kids. If they cannot, it's sad and may or may not be helped. If they don't want, empty trains can help meh??
Before we started living together, I used to think if you want kids, you would do anything to get there. I still think that, but with one caveat - there is a physical limit.
After a long day at work, I could hardly stay awake!
Yup, I was the limitation back in Singapore as Sito was then quite ok, being on a development course at work before Kellogg. But the short window of opportunity to make babies might not coincide with a gap in my work schedule! Now the reverse is happening, with Sito being (a lot) busier than me. But it's better when he's a full-time student - I know his school timetable - and not an intern - he's still at work at this hour :(
So the evil is actually time, or the lack of it due to work. CY was telling me about a woman who said in an interview with ST that the work culture in Singapore was poisoned; people saw her as a clock-watcher when she left on time. But well, work-life balance is a story for another day...
Anyway, my original idea was just to give my first impression upon reading the above extract, that when you don't like something, it's easy to blame every other bad thing in life on it! But obviously my ex-job hazard took over...
Alright! I must sleep now.. The case will have to wait for tomorrow!
Sunday, 24 July 2011
My highest ever!!
Yeah!! :p
Well, I've seen people scoring more than a million but this is still my best record so far and I'm proud of it ok!
Now, I should something more constructive now... Sleep? :p
Well, I've seen people scoring more than a million but this is still my best record so far and I'm proud of it ok!
Now, I should something more constructive now... Sleep? :p
Dealing with broodiness
》.《
That's me, constipated from being unable to express myself in words just how I feel when I see something or someone cute!
(Um, no thanks, I have no wish to video myself - suffice to say I can become rather happily agitated.)
These days, there are so many baby McSquirrels and baby McBunnies in the McManus lawn. Super cute and furry. I swoon.
...
我也要一粒！人啦，not 松鼠 or 兔子.. And yes, my 量词 for babies is "粒"! :p
I think I've never been this drawn to soft, cuddly and cute things in my life. If this is not broodiness, I may be quite disgusted with myself *.*
Was with J at TJ Maxx the other day. I was browsing randomly when I thought I saw Zo-san and rushed over!
But it wasn't Zo-san =(
Zo-san is cuter :)
Went out with J again on Friday - she needed baby stuff and we needed groceries! As I was walking through the racks of baby clothes in Babies"R"Us, I said out loud to Baby - if you were still around, you would be wearing these soon! :)
Sometimes I would say things like that. Especially when I'm alone at home. And I would also talk to Zo-san and Kappa-chan who is now Zo-san's neighbour on the chest of drawers in the room.
"Zo-san, Kappa-chan, Sito is coming home today! Weee!"
"(to Zo-san) 可爱！(to Kappa-chan) 你屁股圆圆的，也很可爱！"
"你们是好朋友哦！"
And when Sito is home, I'll swoon at his cute actions, like rubbing his face with his fist - Doraemon?! :p - or giving me the blur baby look. Ya, we're crazy and we love it :)
Then yesterday, when I was doing laundry, it suddenly hit me that it has been almost five months since Baby left us. It felt like it had only been a couple of months..
Well, there's still going to be a new baby in September, just that it's not ours - J is popping soon and I've promised to be on call in case her baby decides to greet the world before her husband comes back from his internship!
Sito and I were just saying how we still felt like we were in our 20s. Then I read this article on WSJ, My Fertility Crisis, while sipping my mid afternoon red raspberry leaf tea. What the author said wasn't new to me. After all, I once researched on fertility treatment for my work. But at this point in my life, after Baby, I could feel her fear despite being 10 years younger. Guess this is probably the only aspect of my life where I feel my age, where I actually fear ageing.
That's me, constipated from being unable to express myself in words just how I feel when I see something or someone cute!
(Um, no thanks, I have no wish to video myself - suffice to say I can become rather happily agitated.)
These days, there are so many baby McSquirrels and baby McBunnies in the McManus lawn. Super cute and furry. I swoon.
...
我也要一粒！人啦，not 松鼠 or 兔子.. And yes, my 量词 for babies is "粒"! :p
I think I've never been this drawn to soft, cuddly and cute things in my life. If this is not broodiness, I may be quite disgusted with myself *.*
Was with J at TJ Maxx the other day. I was browsing randomly when I thought I saw Zo-san and rushed over!
But it wasn't Zo-san =(
Zo-san is cuter :)
Went out with J again on Friday - she needed baby stuff and we needed groceries! As I was walking through the racks of baby clothes in Babies"R"Us, I said out loud to Baby - if you were still around, you would be wearing these soon! :)
Sometimes I would say things like that. Especially when I'm alone at home. And I would also talk to Zo-san and Kappa-chan who is now Zo-san's neighbour on the chest of drawers in the room.
"Zo-san, Kappa-chan, Sito is coming home today! Weee!"
"(to Zo-san) 可爱！(to Kappa-chan) 你屁股圆圆的，也很可爱！"
"你们是好朋友哦！"
And when Sito is home, I'll swoon at his cute actions, like rubbing his face with his fist - Doraemon?! :p - or giving me the blur baby look. Ya, we're crazy and we love it :)
Then yesterday, when I was doing laundry, it suddenly hit me that it has been almost five months since Baby left us. It felt like it had only been a couple of months..
Well, there's still going to be a new baby in September, just that it's not ours - J is popping soon and I've promised to be on call in case her baby decides to greet the world before her husband comes back from his internship!
Sito and I were just saying how we still felt like we were in our 20s. Then I read this article on WSJ, My Fertility Crisis, while sipping my mid afternoon red raspberry leaf tea. What the author said wasn't new to me. After all, I once researched on fertility treatment for my work. But at this point in my life, after Baby, I could feel her fear despite being 10 years younger. Guess this is probably the only aspect of my life where I feel my age, where I actually fear ageing.
Friday, 22 July 2011
Office, the mf version
Dug up quite a number of photos so...
2004
I took part in MCDS Idol!! (And MCDS became MCYS later that year..) With Joyce Darling who were in the finals with me. We didn't win but it was quite an experience - I sang 张惠妹的《解脱》and went off-key at one point hoho!!
That was part of the corporate retreat so our whole division was there too
Later in the year, Ma'am left the office to become, well, Ma'am. This was taken during her farewell. That period of time was really fun. We used to play scrabbles during lunch!
2005
Division retreat at Ubin - this must be my team? :p
2006
I was seconded from MCYS to NPS from July, but we were still squatting in MCYS! So we joined in at the MCYS Sports Day - a mix of MCYS and NPS people!
My very first cubicle! Which was actually my second as they rearranged the cubicles shortly after I arrived. My very very first seat was near the window, premium leh..
Sat there for almost three years before moving to another cubicle in the SLF building as they were renovating the MCYS building. There, we squatted for some three months before the NPS office was ready..
Me at my new cubicle! I must be looking horrid that day :p
2007
We had our first COS. Our boardroom became our ops room. We ate and worked there from noon to late at night every day during that period. We even celebrated LY's birthday there! The most memorable time was when we marched out together just past midnight of the actual day, happy with our work :)
And we had our first retreat! This was the teambuilding exercise at Sentosa, just nice when we had a crop of new recruits :)
As we planned to grow more than originally expected, we had to rearrange the cubicles a little and shuffled some people around. So I moved away from outside LH's room to a new - but corner, premium! - spot late 2007.. This photo was actually taken in 2009 after I moved away.. But that box was mine, I think *.*
Salsa again at our year-end party.. Yes, that's me! Dancing with a 高手 ok..
2008
The PMO D&D! We gamely showed up in our retro gear for the theme!
2009
I was promoted and redesignated in 2008 but owing to a lack of space, I didn't have a room until July 2009.
2010
More cluttered a year on! I only worked in the room for about a year but it felt like forever *.*
2011
Now I don't have a cube or a room. I have upgraded - my work space is the entire apartment :) While I stay at the dining table for written work like school and blog etc, it's everywhere for houseWORK! *.*
2004
I took part in MCDS Idol!! (And MCDS became MCYS later that year..) With Joyce Darling who were in the finals with me. We didn't win but it was quite an experience - I sang 张惠妹的《解脱》and went off-key at one point hoho!!
That was part of the corporate retreat so our whole division was there too
Later in the year, Ma'am left the office to become, well, Ma'am. This was taken during her farewell. That period of time was really fun. We used to play scrabbles during lunch!
2005
Division retreat at Ubin - this must be my team? :p
2006
I was seconded from MCYS to NPS from July, but we were still squatting in MCYS! So we joined in at the MCYS Sports Day - a mix of MCYS and NPS people!
My very first cubicle! Which was actually my second as they rearranged the cubicles shortly after I arrived. My very very first seat was near the window, premium leh..
Sat there for almost three years before moving to another cubicle in the SLF building as they were renovating the MCYS building. There, we squatted for some three months before the NPS office was ready..
Me at my new cubicle! I must be looking horrid that day :p
2007
We had our first COS. Our boardroom became our ops room. We ate and worked there from noon to late at night every day during that period. We even celebrated LY's birthday there! The most memorable time was when we marched out together just past midnight of the actual day, happy with our work :)
And we had our first retreat! This was the teambuilding exercise at Sentosa, just nice when we had a crop of new recruits :)
As we planned to grow more than originally expected, we had to rearrange the cubicles a little and shuffled some people around. So I moved away from outside LH's room to a new - but corner, premium! - spot late 2007.. This photo was actually taken in 2009 after I moved away.. But that box was mine, I think *.*
Salsa again at our year-end party.. Yes, that's me! Dancing with a 高手 ok..
2008
The PMO D&D! We gamely showed up in our retro gear for the theme!
2009
I was promoted and redesignated in 2008 but owing to a lack of space, I didn't have a room until July 2009.
2010
More cluttered a year on! I only worked in the room for about a year but it felt like forever *.*
2011
Now I don't have a cube or a room. I have upgraded - my work space is the entire apartment :) While I stay at the dining table for written work like school and blog etc, it's everywhere for houseWORK! *.*
Thursday, 21 July 2011
A walk with Grams
I was clearing out my emails last night when I saw a note I wrote to myself on 9 Mar 2010 in the office. Think that was after I visited Grams during lunch that day.
看到阿嬷好象很辛苦
大舅扯起她的右眼皮，叫她＂放心＂，告诉她有很多人来探望她， 明白的话就捏一下他的手。
我们看到阿嬷的手动了。
她一直在踢动右脚
阿嬷昨天下午被发现躺在床上叫不起，又好象呼吸困难。
入院后被证实右脑中风，三分之二的脑已经阻塞，就算度过这两天过渡期，终生都只能象现在这样。
我还记得我们还没来得及带阿嬷去Beng Thin
有遗憾，有难过
但最难过的还是看着阿嬷躺在那里
我和阿姨都哭了
我带了一朵橘色的花，附带一张卡片，上面写着＂阿嬷加油 :)＂
可是现在我只希望她不要辛苦，不要担心，不要害怕
Maybe because that was just before bedtime, I dreamt of Grams. She didn't look very well but she was walking with me to the bus stop because I was late for school! I seem to remember her speaking with me but I'm not sure. Could just be that I still remember her voice..
Such a familiar feeling in the dream even though Grams had never accompanied me to school before. But she did sit by me while I did my Further Maths stuff during JC :) And it was a "familiar" bus stop too - it appeared in at least one previous dream, a bus stop near Bukit Timah or MacRitchie Reservoir that had a few buses to NJ.
My cousins, are you still hanging out at Grams' place? Miss doing that, although it's never quite the same again..
看到阿嬷好象很辛苦
大舅扯起她的右眼皮，叫她＂放心＂，告诉她有很多人来探望她， 明白的话就捏一下他的手。
我们看到阿嬷的手动了。
她一直在踢动右脚
阿嬷昨天下午被发现躺在床上叫不起，又好象呼吸困难。
入院后被证实右脑中风，三分之二的脑已经阻塞，就算度过这两天过渡期，终生都只能象现在这样。
我还记得我们还没来得及带阿嬷去Beng Thin
有遗憾，有难过
但最难过的还是看着阿嬷躺在那里
我和阿姨都哭了
我带了一朵橘色的花，附带一张卡片，上面写着＂阿嬷加油 :)＂
可是现在我只希望她不要辛苦，不要担心，不要害怕
Maybe because that was just before bedtime, I dreamt of Grams. She didn't look very well but she was walking with me to the bus stop because I was late for school! I seem to remember her speaking with me but I'm not sure. Could just be that I still remember her voice..
Such a familiar feeling in the dream even though Grams had never accompanied me to school before. But she did sit by me while I did my Further Maths stuff during JC :) And it was a "familiar" bus stop too - it appeared in at least one previous dream, a bus stop near Bukit Timah or MacRitchie Reservoir that had a few buses to NJ.
My cousins, are you still hanging out at Grams' place? Miss doing that, although it's never quite the same again..
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
A list of random things
First of all, thanks to SX for brightening up my evening with this URL! There are other versions on youtube but I prefer this rendition.
Life is like coffee
This morning, I took a 35-min walk to Dominick's (daily exercise quota - reached!) and bought a lot of minced beef - cheaper in bulk! Froze half and made 18 mini meatloaves with the other half. So now I have one big ziplock bag of meatloaves in the fridge :) Oh, I took a bus home. Too hot to walk, especially with the food.
Chopped a cob of corn for the first time in my life! I had some water from boiling pork ribs so I made corn soup.. I saved a bowl for Sito to drink tonight. The pork was baked with a yummy home-made sauce to make char siew. Or some variation of char siew. Also in the fridge for Sito another day.
I was very peckish yesterday after a pasta lunch. I would have been eating through the afternoon if not for my negotiations class from 3.15 pm.. But today, I didn't feel peckish at all with an egg sandwish! I'm sticking to sandwiches.
Just happened to check yahoo mail halfway through writing this (easily distracted!) and found a complete new look! I was also informed a while back that I have been using yahoo for 11 years - a third of my life!
The Mac is making super weird noises and the battery compartment is bulging... With Lion and the new MacBook Air out today, I'm doing some serious online shopping! :)
Life is like coffee
This morning, I took a 35-min walk to Dominick's (daily exercise quota - reached!) and bought a lot of minced beef - cheaper in bulk! Froze half and made 18 mini meatloaves with the other half. So now I have one big ziplock bag of meatloaves in the fridge :) Oh, I took a bus home. Too hot to walk, especially with the food.
Chopped a cob of corn for the first time in my life! I had some water from boiling pork ribs so I made corn soup.. I saved a bowl for Sito to drink tonight. The pork was baked with a yummy home-made sauce to make char siew. Or some variation of char siew. Also in the fridge for Sito another day.
I was very peckish yesterday after a pasta lunch. I would have been eating through the afternoon if not for my negotiations class from 3.15 pm.. But today, I didn't feel peckish at all with an egg sandwish! I'm sticking to sandwiches.
Just happened to check yahoo mail halfway through writing this (easily distracted!) and found a complete new look! I was also informed a while back that I have been using yahoo for 11 years - a third of my life!
The Mac is making super weird noises and the battery compartment is bulging... With Lion and the new MacBook Air out today, I'm doing some serious online shopping! :)
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Disturbed by a dream
This morning, I woke up feeling rested. But after Sito left for work, I could hardly focus on my magazine so I went to bed.
And I had a not-so-nice dream. At first, it was simple and pleasant. XY and I agreed to meet at the local community centre to discuss some recipes or stuff. Then I went to sleep - in my dream. Then it suddenly occurred to me that XY could not have made the trip at short notice because she was in San Francisco and the community centre was in Tomato Town in Singapore! And why was I in Singapore??
As with dreams, there was some disjoint in this dream, and suddenly a noise shook me.
Now I know there's always some noise in this apartment - in real life! Like drips on the aircon unit, strange sounds from the fridge, noise from the corridor etc. But I didn't know whether it was real or in my dream when I heard the noise! I was concerned and wanted to get up to have a look but I could hardly open my eyes! When I tried to open my eyes, I had to squint against bright white light. I felt like I was sleeping in my old shared room in Tomato Town. I tried to wake a few times but couldn't. I only saw the clock in our apartment saying it was 9.33 am. But was that real?
Anyway, I must have gone back to sleep cos the next thing I heard was my alarm clock at 10.15 am.
I woke up feeling quite disturbed about the part of me trying to get up but couldn't. It was not like I felt that I could not move, which happened before one night in my second year when I was quite sure it wasn't a dream! Anyway, this morning, I could move my body but I just couldn't open my eyes. It didn't help that it felt very real.
Perhaps it's got to do with the rash on my right eyelid that cracked and bled yesterday? The new eye cream I bought yesterday seems to be working well. Hope my eyelid recovers soon.. And hope I don't dream that again..
And I had a not-so-nice dream. At first, it was simple and pleasant. XY and I agreed to meet at the local community centre to discuss some recipes or stuff. Then I went to sleep - in my dream. Then it suddenly occurred to me that XY could not have made the trip at short notice because she was in San Francisco and the community centre was in Tomato Town in Singapore! And why was I in Singapore??
As with dreams, there was some disjoint in this dream, and suddenly a noise shook me.
Now I know there's always some noise in this apartment - in real life! Like drips on the aircon unit, strange sounds from the fridge, noise from the corridor etc. But I didn't know whether it was real or in my dream when I heard the noise! I was concerned and wanted to get up to have a look but I could hardly open my eyes! When I tried to open my eyes, I had to squint against bright white light. I felt like I was sleeping in my old shared room in Tomato Town. I tried to wake a few times but couldn't. I only saw the clock in our apartment saying it was 9.33 am. But was that real?
Anyway, I must have gone back to sleep cos the next thing I heard was my alarm clock at 10.15 am.
I woke up feeling quite disturbed about the part of me trying to get up but couldn't. It was not like I felt that I could not move, which happened before one night in my second year when I was quite sure it wasn't a dream! Anyway, this morning, I could move my body but I just couldn't open my eyes. It didn't help that it felt very real.
Perhaps it's got to do with the rash on my right eyelid that cracked and bled yesterday? The new eye cream I bought yesterday seems to be working well. Hope my eyelid recovers soon.. And hope I don't dream that again..
Monday, 18 July 2011
Dumbified
Last night, we watched a little bit of "Idiocracy", which depicted a future world of stupid people. Coincidentally, the morning show today carried a report on whether people were becoming stupid because of the internet.
I think the internet doesn't make people stupid. No, not its own anyway. In fact, I learn stuff from the internet. I wouldn't understand half of complex analysis if not for Wolfram MathWorld, for instance! That was my BA at stake... And while Wiki isn't strictly research (really, it's not), it still feeds me enough information about random trivials and various health conditions, etc. And what I eat actually come from a variety of food blogs.
What does make us stupid, is the extent of our reliance on technology. Instead of doing mental sums for tips at restaurants, I resort to the convenient calculator in my phone. Instead of mastering how to cook a dish, I save the recipe to keep referring to it. Instead of remembering appointments, I rely on Google calendar and its timely reminders. Instead of reading good stuff from the library or even our filled bookshelf, I'm doing random stuff and watching movies and dramas on my Mac.
Yet, I'm still here. On my Mac. Online. Writing mundane stuff. The only benefit of what I'm doing now is keeping in contact - albeit one-sided - with my friends whom I don't hang out with anymore because we're 3,000 miles apart!! (It's actually 9,364 miles or 15,069 km, as a search reveals...)
But hey, even before I got my first smart phone, I was scheduling myself silly because I couldn't remember dates and stuff! I'll much rather have some order in my life than brains - guess I'm more OCD than smarts! So, technology, give me all you've got!
AppleInsider: Yes, ma'am. You'll have the Lion OS soon!
I think the internet doesn't make people stupid. No, not its own anyway. In fact, I learn stuff from the internet. I wouldn't understand half of complex analysis if not for Wolfram MathWorld, for instance! That was my BA at stake... And while Wiki isn't strictly research (really, it's not), it still feeds me enough information about random trivials and various health conditions, etc. And what I eat actually come from a variety of food blogs.
What does make us stupid, is the extent of our reliance on technology. Instead of doing mental sums for tips at restaurants, I resort to the convenient calculator in my phone. Instead of mastering how to cook a dish, I save the recipe to keep referring to it. Instead of remembering appointments, I rely on Google calendar and its timely reminders. Instead of reading good stuff from the library or even our filled bookshelf, I'm doing random stuff and watching movies and dramas on my Mac.
Yet, I'm still here. On my Mac. Online. Writing mundane stuff. The only benefit of what I'm doing now is keeping in contact - albeit one-sided - with my friends whom I don't hang out with anymore because we're 3,000 miles apart!! (It's actually 9,364 miles or 15,069 km, as a search reveals...)
But hey, even before I got my first smart phone, I was scheduling myself silly because I couldn't remember dates and stuff! I'll much rather have some order in my life than brains - guess I'm more OCD than smarts! So, technology, give me all you've got!
AppleInsider: Yes, ma'am. You'll have the Lion OS soon!
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