Random Banter...

We were out of ideas again of where we should go. Bak Kut Teh was seemed heaty and our appetites weren't that good, so we opted for a simple fare of noodles at a coffee shop. After food, we hopped over to Coffee Bean for a cuppa..
There's a reason why people pay a who lot more to enjoy a cup of coffee than just pay 70c for it at the nearest coffee shop. Branding aside, it feels a lot more comfortable sitting at a quite corner and reading the papers. I'd always start with my favourite section...the comic page. Haha. And I do remember someone once told me that what we read reflects our characters. And I guess its quite true. A friend once told me that I was a walking joke. Haha. Oh well, it sure beats being someone who starts the day reading the obituary.
We headed home and I got a call from mum. She's down at my sisters place. So, at least for today, we wont need to crack our heads on where we should be having dinner or what we should eat.

Pass Bedtime..

Goodnight!!




Go to sleep now close your eyes,
Try to think of tomorrow,
All of us wish you good night,
So I'm switching off the lights,
One more hug,
One more smile,
Kiss you once,
Kiss you twice,
I will be here for a while,
Try to sleep now & close your eyes.

Lucky Toto 08!!

For those who wan to buy but dunno what to buy.... 2 rules...

1) Dun win dun look for me
2) Dun ask me how I got this

Oh ya... win aredy gimme 20% ya.. hehehe

Dragon in 08

Colleague sent me this.. All dragons please note..





General
Though you will have many opportunities in terms of promotions, bestowed more responsibilities or the expansion of your business this year, there are more challenges ahead compared to the year of the Pig. You will be busier than usual but not necessary fruitful due to severe people problems. There will be more misunderstandings, betrayals, back-stabbings, and disputes this year. Hence, it is important to watch your back. Do not participate in any gossip corners and certainly avoid direct conflicts with others. There is also a high probability of being involved in legal situations. This year you might want to have more personal space. You will also be interested in religion, philosophy, metaphysics and other new age topics. This is a good year for those who are studying or doing research.

Career
The authority figures, management or your boss are likely to give you more opportunities to show of your strengths this year. There are more chances of promotions or being given more responsibilities. If you are in business, you may be considering expanding your business. You will be busy this year. However, severe office politics will prove to be very challenging for you. Avoid direct conflicts with others. This is the time to utilize your diplomatic skills. Do not trust anybody on the career front this year.

Wealth
Though your wealth luck is good this year, there is a concern of losing it through legal problems. If you are investing this year, you must do your own homework and go through the fine print. Even if it means that you need to take a longer time and greater effort to study into it before making a decision, it will be worth it.

Relationship
For those who are attached or married, you may want to have more personal space this year. For those who are single, the probability of meeting someone special is rather slim. Hang in there.

Health
You may suffer from lethargy, gastric and stomach problems, weak concentration and a short attention span. You may be more forgetful. Try to have adequate rest and be positive. Most of the health issues that will arise this year are due to people issues and being too stressed out. It may make you feel demoralized and even cause you to doubt yourself. Ensure that you surround yourself with a positive environment and positive people.

People
People problems are severe. Try to be humble, diplomatic and tactful. Avoid getting into any direct conflicts with others. Back-stabbings, betrayals and misunderstandings are very common this year. While others are trying to irritate you, especially on the career front, it is important to understand that you need to focus on your own goals and do not let others offend or affect your emotions so easily.

Action
Place a Hematite and Aragonite in your office or home.

Merry Christmas!!

To all friends, family and loved ones... Merry Christmas!! And have a wonderful year ahead!

Blogging will resume after the festive season. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Consciously subconscious..

We were watching TV when again I looked at my other half and asked her "Where shall we have dinner". It seems like I've been asking that question a million times.. not to mention "Where shall we have breakfast" and "Where shall we have lunch". At times, this question gets so frustrating that we end up ordering from pizza hut or kfc. At one stage, we were practically trying out almost every delivery service we could find. Sometimes, we get adventurous and try out a new place, and if its good, it goes under our surveillance list and we check on it regularly. Other times, I guess we can't be bothered to think, and end up at the most convenient place we could find. I wonder if everyone has the same experience, or we are exceptionally bland. Perhaps being bland leads to excitement when something happens out of the blue.. like finding La Petit or the Keppel Bak Kut Teh shop. Haha. I really don't know.

My favourite Christmas Song..



The Christmas Song (mp3)

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know that Santa's on his way;
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
Merry Christmas to you..

Hehehe...

Its typical at landed property areas that cars are parked at both sides of the road and it sometimes requires some judgement to be able to negotiate the roadway when you're driving.

One time, after I had parked my car at the roadside, I noticed a van who just came and parked at the roadside in front of me. His van was like 0.5m away from the road kerb. There and then, I lamented that someone with a bigger car might have difficulties negotiating the space between his van and the other car parked parallel to him. Like an answer to a prayer, a BM approached and sure thing, it couldn't get pass the space. The lady honked several minutes, before the owner of the van came out of the house, apologised and moved his van nearer to the kerbline.


We were at home in the afternoon, having a nap, when all of a sudden there was someone outside hitting the horn continuously. Instinctively, I thought something similar had happened. I got over to the window and this is what I saw...


There was this BM who stopped right in front of a car and a van. There was at least 250mm on each side of his car. Both the van and the car was parked abutting the road line... and this guy stopped his car, honked continuously, got out of his car, looked at the van and the space available, got back into his car and drove straight pass both cars. Imagine the next stretch of the road. I mean, pity the poor guy, he has to stop his car and horn at least 15 to 20 times before he can get out of this area!!

I'm back!!

Dead tired and suffering the consequences of jet lag...

And why am I still updating my blog? Ya, I think I'm a little psycho.. hehehe

Apologies for those who encountered this..

Have been told that accessing this blog somehow linked to adult-oriented pop-ups. I'm not really sure of the cause, but all ads external links including cbox has been removed. If you do encounter any more pop-ups or links to other pages, other than the blog links of friends, do let me know.

Dolphin!! No wait, thats a Sail Fish..

Just back from the lucky dolphin excursion. We were supposed to travel by ferry to the middle of the ocean to see if we can catch any dolphins frolicking around. The waters were choppy, and our guide warned us prior to boarding ferry. It was an hour and a half excursion, which meant that we had half an hour to get there, half to watch dolphins and another half to get back.
The guide informed us that they will move fast..then as they approach the dolphins, they will slow down for us to take a closer look at the live tuna.

Half an hour later, we were still on that ferry waiting for them to stop. Then all of a sudden, they stopped. We looked at the waters, hoping to see some form of dolphin come out of it. To our dismay, not even a sandwich surfaced. So, they decided to abandon this place and go somewhere else. This time, the ferrymen decided to speed. No traffic police or erp here, so it was like a roller coaster ferry ride all the way until we reached the second location. This time, there were dolphins. Only problem was that we encountered 'shy' dolphins. How the heck does a dolphin get shy? We have to pay like USD60++ per person to see them. Didn't they rehearse the script before we reached? "When u see humans, pretend to like jumping out of the water and splashing all over the ocean"... What happened to these dolphins? I think I managed to see the fins of 2 dolphins. They look like sardines to me.

Out of nowhere, and exciting everyone on the ferry, something jumped out of the water. Twice! So I went "Dolphin! Dolphin!" and the guide went "No, sail fish, not dolphin". Damn, we paid USD60++ per person to watch dolphins, not some replacement actor sail fish.

Soon after, the ferrymen decided to call it quits. And we had no choice but to agree that we were lucky to see the dolphin, but not so lucky to only see part of their fins.

Live from Maldives!!










Yep... still here... waiting for 6pm for the Lucky Dolphin trip...where we see if we are lucky enough to catch the view of dolphins in the middle of the sea.

Here's a sneak preview of what you guys are missing...hehe

Maldives here we come!!!!

Had a conversation with one of my superiors, just right b4 leaving the office...

It went:
Where u going...
Maldives...
Ooh, the one got tsunami one ah...
(^%$#%$#$#)

Ok... leaving for Maldives soon... see you guys when we get back!!

Sleep / Dreams

We were discussing about dreams, and I remember once during schooldays, that I had this dream that I was preparing for school for the longest time… then just when I was done and ready to go, I wake up…… and have to start preparing for school all over again!!!

Seldom remember the dreams I have, but some that I can remember are pretty warped. Like taking a rollercoaster ride with my sister and a homicidal psycho-maniac and having a gathering with tons of people I don’t know. Haven’t had such dreams for a while.

Can't remember what that’s called, but there’s a disease that u can die of for not having enough sleep rite? Wonder if sleeping disorders have anything to do with old age. I guess age is catching up with me... Waking up in the middle of the night has become a common ritual. I suppose the problem can’t be that I am stressed or depressed…. I’m always happy-go-lucky and problem free… Or maybe there are things that I subconsciously think of, without realizing it.

Perhaps I should make a trip to the pharmacy and start on a Vit B complex regime. Haha.. Hypochondriac…

And The Mood Today is....

Man am I sleepy or what. Haven't been sleeping well for days!! Phew.. good thing that the self proclaimed holidays are round the corner.

I am going to sleep like a log in Maldives man... hahahha

To all...

Weather is not good... better take care... and take more vitamins..

Huh? me??

Was at the new Coffee Bean at Rail Mall on their opening day. Haha...ya you know I wont miss a good cup of coffee...

While ordering my usual fare of Cafe Latte the lady asked for my name... and I said Jon...short for Jonathan... half way waiting for the drinks, the lady said "Latte for Joel"... and there was no one else around, other than 2 school kids who didn't seem to react to that name..

The second drink was ready... and again the lady said "Ice Blended Caramel for Joel"... and then I knew it was for me...



Mmmm... crab...

You prefer this one?...










Or this one?...

Friday Nights

It's Friday, and as usual, we'd look at each other and ask the same question over and again.. "Where to have dinner ah?"

So, this Friday we went back to Central Square. Most of the Jap Restaurants had super long queues, so we decided on Ma Maison. I really wonder if they only hire Japanese at that restaurant. Most, if not all, of the waiters and chefs there look Japanese. We wanted to try their escargot, then when it came to ordering, somehow we forgot about the snails and ended up having clam chowder soup instead....heee










(hmmm... this blog is beginning to become like some food blog).

We went out for a stroll along Clarke Quay and they had live bands, bungees and all sorts of theme restaurants not to mention couples sitting all along the riverbank..










This particular one caught our attention. It had a hospital kinda theme and was aptly named "Clinic". Not that we'd go in but seriously the theme is quite "bu ji li". I thought people would avoid it, but it was fully packed! And we saw a couple of people actually trying out the wheelchairs! And oh ya, drinks came in a drip stand with a tube which you could squeeze whatever you ordered out into your cup.. wonder which HIV or Hep B patient used that drip before it was shipped over to the restaurant... haha










Ended the day popping over to McD for a drink. Nothing beats a cup of lemonade when you're beat.

Lessons in Logic...

Hehe...

A bus station is where a bus stops.
A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk, I have a work station…
what more can I say
-------------------------------------
“Your future depends on your dreams”
So go to sleep
-------------------------------------
The more you learn, the more you know,
The more you know, the more you forget
The more you forget, the less you know
So.. why learn?
-------------------------------------
God made relatives;
Thank God we can choose our friends.
-------------------------------------
“Work fascinates me”
I can look at it for hours
-------------------------------------
“Hard work never killed anybody”
But why take the risk?
-------------------------------------
There should be a better way to start a day
Than waking up every morning
-------------------------------------
Success is a relative term.
It brings so many relatives.
-------------------------------------
One should love animals.
They are so tasty.
-------------------------------------
Money is not everything.
There’s Mastercard & Visa.
-------------------------------------
Since light travels faster than sound,
people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Twinkle twinkle..

This probably explains why everyone (including me) is soooo reluctant to sing at the next company event.

Selfish? Stupid? Or Utterly Insensitive?





















Sometimes, I just feel apalled at the stupidity of certain people who choose to show how shallow they are to the public. Read this article in the NST forum after hearing about it from a friend.

"While stress levels and rewards between the public and private sectors remain hotly debatable, use of public funds should be subject to transparent benchmarking against performance. Certainly, I have yet to hear of the private sector paying bonuses in July, December and March."

What is your business in what other people get for their bonuses? I know of some companies that pay insane amounts of bonuses. Had a chat with a friend who works in a lawfirm as an IT support staff. He gets 3 years bonus this year. 3 years!! Here are the civil servants getting 3 months of bonus and you're not happy about it? Go ask around.... many companies are paying much more in bonus than what the civil service is getting. So, are you going to write to the papers to set a benchmark for all private institutions not to pay bonuses higher than 3 months as well? And if you were the one receiving a big bonus, you think you will complain? If you're so smart, go and create a database and strike against all those companies la.

"I do not begrudge deserving civil servants a bonus"...

By posting this article, if people do take u seriously, don't u think that you'd be doing exactly what u said you're not doing? If someone takes u seriously and deserving civil servants gets a marginalised bonus, who is going to compensate them? You? Perhaps you should put in some thought for others and be a little bit less selfish ....

"The private sector best rewards those with value-creation and problem-solving skills, while poor performers face warnings, pay cuts and dismissal"

I know tons of boot lickers in the private sector who get wonderful bonuses... so, is that what you're referring to as value-creation and problem solving?

"Does the public consider staff of, say, the Land Transport Authority and HDB to have earned their bonuses? Do they even deserve a bonus?"

This is perhaps evidence that you have a personal grudge against LTA or HDB. If you have a grudge against them, go deal with it like an adult. Don't condemn two organisations and the entire civil service just because you have personal problems.

Lazy Sundays..

Listening to Michael Buble's Home, watching Kekkasihi, drinking Yakult, playing FFXII...

Yawn ... I'm beat...

Good night!!

Old failures, new life...

Used to get C's and D's for art in school. Failed real bad when it came to drawings and paintwork. I'm one of those who have an empty space in that part of the brain.

We saw a couple of canvas paintings in Amara Hotel, and they really looked quite exquisite. Too bad I forgot to catch a few snapshots of the paintings. Will do so the next time I go there.

Oh well, its been ages since I last done anything artistic, so I got a couple of tools (its pretty budget) ... $10 oil painting paper, $5 pastels and $15 guide. I guess $30 to have another shot at it is really not too expensive. Perhaps one day, I'd be able to make paintings for my own home. Though I'm really not too optimistic... hee










Wish me luck!!

Pie anyone?

Yumm.. nothing beats a nice warm pie.....










except maybe for a nice warm cup of latte.... haha