Holiday!!....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all family, friends and fellow bloggers!!!!

Won't be around up till after the New Year... so I will only be able to respond to your comments next year.... will be somewhere far from Singapore and Malaysia.. hehe.. so enjoy yourselves and have a good year end!

Where am I going? Take a guess..

Picture perfect..



Just got my company ID card and can't help but recall what happened during the photo shoot for the card..

When we first came in, there was a request for us to hop over to a branch office to get our pictures taken. Being new, you'd normally just follow instructions, so we made our way to the branch office and went to this room where a nice uncle was supposed to do a photo shoot for out IDs... A few colleagues went first, and uneventfully had their photos taken. Then, there was this guy who was a little concerned of his looks, went up to the cameraman and took a look at his photo, then asked for a retake. I was the last in line, and considering that it was a digital camera, I reckoned that theres no harm in taking more than one pic.

So my turn came finally, I went in and nonchalantly stood there like a stick ready for the photo shoot.

'Click'.. and the uncle said "One more time... no eye".. its pretty normal to squint a little considering that the flash was a bit too bright.

'Click'... "Again...still no eye".. I thought to myself, "Eh better keep the eyes open la"..and told the uncle to retake.

'Click'.. "Still no eye leh". Deep inside I was applauding the uncle for his patience.

This time I was convinced that I'd have 'eye'. After all, this was the fourth shot... and enough was enough.. so, I opened my eyes really wide.. and 'Click'.. "Funny leh...no eye".. Aaarrrggghhh..

"One more time uncle, this time sure ok wan"... 'Click'.. "No eye leh"..

'Click'.. '"No eye"..

'Click'.. '"No eye"..

Finally... 'Click'... "Ah this one ok la... got a bit of eye"...and that is the photo in my ID card..

Driving School..

You guys have probably seen this clip like a million times, but it makes me laugh at how well it portrays reality..

Well, a few buddies of mine were just discussing on the topic of drivers in Singapore and how they behave on the road. It all started with the comment that I made regarding a driver who signalled right and turned left, and another who signalled right and then left and went straight.

The conversation went on with what we saw as the most common behavior of drivers here, and we came to a conclusion that whenever a driver sees a vehicle signalling to turn right or left, he will accelerate to prevent the vehicle from turning. On the other hand, if you didn't signal, they won't accelerate. Which means that you could either a) Don't signal and turn and get horned for turning or b) Signal and watch the vehicle beside you accelerate. Don't believe me? Try it on any Singapore road..

Then we proceeded to discuss on drivers who didn't know how to use their right or left turn signals. Some drivers seem to not know how to differentiate left from right. They signal right, you think its safe to go on straight, and you see them inching towards the left.. wonder who taught them directions in school. A better scenario was when a driver decided to turn. Instead of signalling, the only thing that moved was her windscreen wiper! Scary man...

Then there are the road hoggers. More and more of these species seems to blossom these days. They inch their way to the fast lane, and drive at 40kmph.. and you'd think that they intend to turn out somewhere, but noooo... they're going straight.. all the way straight at 40kmph at a 70kmph road. Maybe they have some sight problem that makes the 7 look like a 4... or maybe they're just darn daft..

That being said, this is not a gender biased post..I have removed all instances of 'lady' in front of the word 'driver'...

Sick, ugly, disgusting people..

I wonder if it has something to do with astrological signs or the weather or some omen, but lately, I have been meeting up with lots of sick, ugly and disgusting people. I'm not referring to looks per say, but the really ugly side of people; their actions.

Just last week, after office hours, we were heading back to the office carpark to get my car, when the security officer told us that we cannot use the carpark entrance and had to detour to use the other entrance because his supervisor said so. I mean, my car is 5 mins walk from the entrance, and going the detour would be to turn one huge round, go inside the compound, take a lift downstairs to the other side of the carpark and get my car. So told him I was working in the building, showed him my working pass and asked if I can use the entrance. His answer was "no, my boss say no one can use". Wanting to get an explanation, I asked him why? and his reponse was "To stop you damn idiots from using this entrance!". That drew the line. I told him it was inappropriate to use such language, and he responded by showing me his security pass and saying "You want to complain complain la. At most kana fire only ma, I got cert wan. Nah, take my number la". I took down his name and ID, walk to the other entrance and left the building. I have since lodged a complaint and am waiting for action to be taken, if those people get to doing anything at all.

Just this morning, as I was preparing for work and after taking a shower, I got out of the restroom and caught the other tenant of the HDB unit I was staying in sneaking out of my room. In the panic of being caught, the only excuse she could come up with was that she heard a ringing sound from my room. I mean, what is your business to sneak in my room even if there's a ringing sound? Then the story changed to her hearing her rabbit in my room. I gave her a stern warning against going into my room and reminded her that people break in to other peoples rooms to steal things. Then, because I was hurrying for work, I went in the room and continued to prepare for work. When I got out, she apologised and gave yet another excuse. She said she just woke up from a dream that her rabbit was in my room, got into my room to check, then came out. I mean, what worse lies can you make? I am planning to set a webcam on 24 hours to make sure that nothing is stolen from my room.

Can't these people just understand simple courtesy and respect others? Do I need to lock the door everytime I use the restroom? Can't people explain on the rationale on why they do things without using foul and demeaning language? I really don't understand whats wrong with these people....sigh..

Memorable Places..

In case you're wondering if you got into the wrong website, yep this IS Phenom's blog. Wanted to give the old website a facelift.. so I spent hours dabbling with the html code, just to come up with a simple layout like this.

Well, today's post is on memorable places. Ever moved on to a new place and missed the smallest, most minute thing like a coffee shop or an arcade joint? There is always a place in every stage of life that I can remember of ... like the arcade beside Chao Yang in SS2, where we had our first Street Fighter 1 game; Rasa Sayang, where we got caught for being underage in the arcade; reservoir in DU introduced by CU, where ...hehe.. ; field opposite SMSAS, where we had Duel Masters' fights every morning before going for classes; Grandy's where we had BM study groups before SPM; Cyber cafe in Bangsar, where we had our competitions on the max number of hits we could make in an hour; McD near Puduraya, where we had a sweet on a stick; and so many more places that making a list would go on forever...

Everytime we move on to a new place, there seems to be something in the old place that brings back some good memories. But we never seem to appreciate the finer side of things while we were there. When it's gone, it might be a little late to reminisce. So, looking ahead, I guess I should start appreciating the things I have now... like 'Rendang Corner'....

A few steps away from the place I'm working now is a place that is kinda cozy and the people are kinda nice.. probably due to the coffee. Past one corner and you'd see the street name sign below....

I guess its a sign to tell us that the 'goreng pisang' (or 'keng cheow') is ready.. and that we should be on our way there... wonder who comes up with these kind of street names though.





After a couple of steps, turning right into an adjoining lane is the next street, which is appropriately named as....



(Are those guys serious?)



And well, if you get past wondering how they named the streets, then you'd eventually reach.....RENDANG CORNER!!!

This is where most of our problems and worries are dissolved... where we have our most important dose of caffein and most of all, where the new and old guys all bond.. (dun think dirty ah.. )

So, years down the line, when I look back and I am no longer in the job I am in now, I will still be able to find a post of this place in this blog... (Dunno why today sooo crappy.. must be lack of caffein..hehe)..