Babe For Life

I wanted to blog about this few day ago, but I was too tired from the long day work.

Really want to vent my frustration on SBS bus services. Really angry because I waited about 1 hour for my bus to come. Every morning, I will catch the 8am bus 165 to work. Sometimes it will arrive 5 mins later. On Thursday morning, I went out the house quite early, so I was at the bus stop before 8am. However, I waited for half and hour then my bus came!!!

During the half and hour, I saw many buses coming repeatedly. 106, 105, 154, 96, 166 all came and gone, but 165 just never appeared!!! The frequency of these buses are so tight. Some buses can come back to back!!! Frankly speaking, I was really very angry! I knew 96 comes to NUS, 106 and 105 go to town area, 154 leads to Dover MRT station. Students go to school, People goes to work. So 165 leads to Empress Market and Mac Ritchie Reservior, it does not mean people taking the bus are going marketing or jogging. We are also going to work! Can't SBS increase the bus frequency too? Other buses keep coming, but my bus just didn't appear. This is so annoying!!!

I really think SBS should review on this. Can't they be more considerate? Peak hour frequency should have be tighter for all buses. And not only for certain buses. Everyone must have an appointment when they wake up early to get out of the house. So everyone is rushing for time! Who will wake up before 8am in the morning to go take a bus for nothing! Can't they be more understanding!!!

Niang Niang once told us that, Jaymee and Jaydyn will always want to buy toy each every time they go into Toys 'R' Us. So she came up with an idea that they must flash the Toys 'R' Us card whenever they need to enter the store.

If Niang Niang thinks she has already buy too many things for them in that month, she will tell the kids, she never bring the card. So they can not go into the store. On the other hand, the kids will wave the card high before walking into the store.

We are all very amused when we first heard this, and we think it is not a bad idea. At least, the kids will look forward to the next trip.

One day, Niang Niang and I decided to bring the kids out shopping in Suntec City. After a while, we decided to go up to Toys 'R' Us. So as usual, Niang Niang told them she has brought the card out, so we all can go inside.

However, before we walked in, Jaydyn said he wanted to go to the toilet. Niang Niang passed me the card and asked me to bring Jaymee in first.

Right at the door, I handed the card to Jaymee, but she said, '干妈, you show.'

Inside me, I knew it would be very embarrassing, because we can just walk in easily, but I can not let her know that. Otherwise, Niang Niang will be in problem the next time.

There were a counter beside the door. Fortunately the staff are not looking at me. I quickly flashed the card in the air, and walked in with her. Niang Niang joined us not long later, and I asked her how did she bring Jaydyn in without the card.

Niang Niang said, 'I told him, 干妈 show the card for all of us to come in already!'

Every since I start blogging, I have the habit of taking pictures of the restaurants and food. Basically, I am keeping records of the nice restaurants I have been to. Next time, it's easier for me to refer back instead of searching high and low for name cards or recalling the name of the restaurants.

Jessica brought me to Auntie Kim Restaurant once. The food and good services left me good impression, but it took me a long time to go back the 2nd time. Reason being, it's located at Upper Thomson Road, and no mrt station nearby.

Angela and I went out for dinner on Thursday. I suggested Auntie Kim's because she did not want to go town and she loves to explore new restaurants for delicacy.

These side dishes were free. They are provided by the restaurant. I believe in Korea, they have the same culture. When I watch those documentaries or varieties on Korea channels, I see aunties carrying a large tray, bringing small plates of dishes out before customers order the food. You can request for refill for the side dishes, but try not to ask too many times lah, because your stomach needs space for the main dishes coming up.

As there were only 2 of us, (and I was not really feeling well), we ordered only a main course each and share the Bibim-bab. (Jessica ordered quite a lot of food the last time, and they were really good).

The desserts are also very good! If I did not remember wrongly, they mentioned that desserts will only be served during lunch time. However, you can still ask the waitress, they might suggest an alternative for you.

Korean pop fans would like this place I think, because the background music are latest Korean pop songs I heard on TV. I recognised 'Lupin' from Kara, and 'I'm Alone' from CNBlue.

Most important of all, the price are quite reasonable. You can enjoy a sumptuous meal and not having to pay a high price.

Enjoy!

For the past one week, I was busy in the office, preparing reports for my boss to set target for the new financial year. Since Monday, I have been churning numbers from the system, inputting into the templates. All these while, I will still have to attend to the sales team requests for their clients. My life seems to have changed in one week, not able to do anything else, but just target. I stayed late in the office also just to prepare all these documents.

I felt a pang of pain at the heart on Thursday afternoon. I felt really uncomfortable... The pain lasted through the whole dinner with Angela. On the way home in the bus, I felt like puking anytime. Worst thing was I happened not to bring any sweets with me that day. Really in a dilemma during that time, one side of me hoping bus uncle could drive faster, so I can reach home faster, whereas another side of me hope he could slow down so I would not puke.

I really think my body is sending signal to me. I should have put down everything and take it easy. Every night, I go to sleep worrying about numbers to submit to Charles the next morning. Worry about completing requests for my salesperson. Worry about what additional reports that will be email out to us suddenly. Worry about what time I will have to stay back in the office. I missed all the regular gym classes I attended.

It is Saturday today. I brought back all the reports because I really did not want to stay back in the office on Friday anymore. Looking at the files now, the sense of pain seems to be approaching again.

Was at IMM for dinner with Angela, after struggling hard in the office just now. As the cab was approaching the building, a person came into my mind. She is Felicia Soo Lai Mee, a very dear friend of mine. She had left us to another world, about a year ago. And I still miss her...

Felicia joined my ex company, Sansho Singapore on 1996. She was in the Finance department, whereas I was in the Sales Team. However, Sansho Singapore is a small office which only have about 15 to 16 staffs, so I was placed seated just opposite her. As she was from KL, she could conversed very well in Cantonese, and I happened to be a Cantonese, we became very close friends. 靓嫂 (Cantonese 'lang so' meaning pretty auntie) was a name I gave her. She always said she was married, so she is already an auntie. I told her, she was a very pretty auntie anyway. She liked the name very much and lived with it till the very last day of her life.

We shared alot of ideas, thought, good times, bad times... She taught me how to grow up in a mature way, taught me how to put myself in my parents' shoes and think whenever I complained about my parents' nagging, taught me how to face problems instead of running away from them. I confined to her to almost everything. She would tell me Buddhist stories then explained the meaning behind it. Sansho had a company trip to Australia, Gold Coast one year, and I shared the room with her. We had a great time talking at night. We even tested our guts in those scary rides in Dream World. I could tell she was very proud of herself after all the rides, because she kept telling the bosses we had great fun challenging all those ride.

Felicia had became very close to my family, coming over for dinner and gathering. She would call my mum once in a while to catch up, or asking her opinion on certain issues. My mama would regard her as her daughter, asking her over for dinner because she knows Felicia missed her mum's cooking in KL. My parents love her company alot.

She was a smoker since I knew her. Whenever I told her not to smoke so much, she will said she was used to it. I even encouraged her that if she quited smoking, she could get ready to get pregnant. However, it took her a long time to quit totally, and she had 2 children, a daughter and a son.

My dear friend was diagnosed with Lung Cancer during the company check up, but she did not follow up on the check up. She said she wanted to use her ways to cure herself, instead of having chemical stuffs in her body. Most of her friends were kept in the loop, and she forbade her friends to leak out the news. We intended to invite her whole family to my brother wedding in October, but she rejected, saying she was not feeling good. When I was told about her illness, she was already at the 4th stage of the cancer. She left the company and stayed at home to rest. She sounded so tired when I called her on the phone, and she told me she had no strength to chit chat with me anymore. I was very sad.

Before I could get prepared for her illness, she lost the battle, leaving behind her husband, and 2 children. She had been a very dear friend to me, and I was really depressed that she is gone forever. And my mama was very sad that, she had lost a friend too. During her wake and funeral, we were told not to cry, because she kept the illness from all her friends, as she would not want us to get worried and sad over it, but how many of us can control our emotion? Basically everyone there had teary eyes.

靓嫂, I hope you are good in another world, free from all the pain and suffering. Miss you very much...

Shared this joke during lunch today with LiJun, Gillian and Jeremy. I am thinking, I should share it here too.

There was an incident that I went to the doctor because I was not feeling well, forget it's due to fever or just skin sensitive problem. The doctor asked me a lot of questions, trying to find out the cause of the problem. I asked him either to repeat what he said, or I misunderstood what he was trying to tell me.

After repeating a few times, the doctor said, 'Miss, I think I should check your ears first.'

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LiJun reminded me of another doctor joke.

I used to have papaya everyday, 1 slice after lunch. No specify reason, maybe it is soft and no need to waste my strength to bite.

Then one day, I fel ill, so I went to the doctor. For your info, same doctor lah. As usual, I will greet the doctor before I sit down and tell him my miscomfort. This time, I was quite surprised that he kept looking at me since he looked up from the table. 'Er... Sick until like that, still pretty har? How come look at me like that?' I was still thinking.

'How come you are so yellow?' Doctor said.

'Yellow? Pale you mean.'

'No! Y-E-L-L-O-W. Yellow!'

It turned out that I had over consumption of papayas.

LiJun invited us to her house last Saturday. We all know that she stayed in a 3 storey house in Chestnut Terrace, but none of us have ever physically stepped into the house before. Anyway, I was busy eating and enjoying myself, I never really took pictures of her house. However, I noticed a few cute little things that I will like to share later. (LiJun given permission, yeah!)

She played a very good host, arranging everything from food, entertainment to transport. Preparing food not only for adults, and also for the children. Arranging mahjong for the 4 warriors, plus karaoke for the non players, games for the children to play. Taking care of all our requests, whenever we called her. She even offered to drive us in from the mrt!

It is a very cozy house, 3 storeys, very big space (to me lah). As I was touring around, I was actually thinking, how nice if I have this area, I can put my bookselves and my books. Or nice room to make into a walk-in waredore. Hahaha!!! Think only lah...

Actually what caught my eyes are those little things I seen. Maybe I start from the parking rule. I heard from LiJun, that they have an agreement with their neighbours, that every house can have 2 parking lots outside their compound. Our dear sister here is so cute, because we have taken up more than 2 parking lots outside, she is worried that the neighbours might be unhappy. In the end, we have Jonas to write a note and paste it on Gillian's car, in case they need more parking space. Very well organised, I must say. Cars parking in multi storey carparks might not be so well manner somemore. 'Impolite driver can "accidentally" take up 2 lots lor'.

Next thing I want to share are these little toilet notices I saw sticking on the fridge, right outside the toilet. Don't misunderstand ok, you must be thinking how come fridge outside the toilet? Anyway, can't explained in words. It's very appropriate. Er... Side track already. Come back come back. I was mentioning the little notes. I saw 'Please keep the toilet dry' and 'Be careful of the step' notes at the fridge. I am vey amused. I mean, you always see these notes at the public toilets. This is the first time I seen it inside a residence. So 贴心. Will remind the guests to be careful of the step.

As per mentioned earlier, we had fun singing karaoke. Maybe you might think I am a 'mountain tortise', or you might have the impression that it just a dvd player most of us have at home. Wrong!!! It's actually a karaoke system that really surprised us. It's just like we are inside a KTV lounge, where we choose the song by pressing the numbers using the remote control. It comes with those books, which we can flipped through and choose the songs we want to sing. And cordless mics too! It's just like Partyworld or Kbox!!! Everyone started to shout out what they normally order in KTV, hahaha!

And I saw Wii!!! However, I am actually scared that the kids might spoilt the machine, I did not mention about playing with it. Hehehe. Then I was really impressed that they seems to have all the channels on SCV! Imagine a house with no kids, actually have the full selections of Cartoon channels at her house! I was looking at the TV, when she was switching channels. I think they must have taken up most of the channel package in SCV!!! Cool!!! Wa!!! I could have been sitting in front of the TV whole day!!!

Thank you Lijun for inviting! Er... Can we go your house again? The bee hoon is worth waiting. potatoes balls are delicious! Please......

Attended Valerie and Valenssa 21st birthday party this afternoon. The twins looks pretty and happy today. First time seeing them dressing in dresses, because they are always in gym attire whenever I see them. Their mum, whom insisted us calling her '大姐', instead of Auntie, was so funny. Think we always make her laugh, so she likes to join in our conversation now and then. Happy Birthday!!! Valerie and Valenssa!!! Big Girls already, must be guai har.

I started to recall my 21st birthday. Haha... Yaya, that was really many years ago. If I managed to find my photos, I think I will be laughing hard at myself for sure. I can still remember I wore a white top and grey stripes pants. Don't visualise ok, not good fashion sense that time. Still young mah, hahaha. And I have short hairs. Plus those baby fats on my face. Hahaha! Luckily, I already start wearing contact lenses. If not, I will look like 林亚珍. In case you are wondering who she is, she is an character in the old movies. Old fashion and not-so-pretty.

There were about 100 guests in my house. Ya right! 100 over people in a 3 room flat. You will never believe it. Me too! I invited 70, but people I never invited, called up and wished me Happy Birthday. and said they heard about my party. I had no choice but to act as if I forget to inform them, and invited them to come also. And friends who claimed to be single all along, actually brought their boyfriends/girlfriends along. So you can imagine how cramped was it. My parents were so shocked, because they never imagine I had so many friends. 21st birthday with 100 relatives and friends, how many people will I invite if I get married??? Fortunately, neighbours were very understanding, because some of my friends had to sit at the corridor, (because bedrooms, kitchen and living room were all full) and they actually brought out their chairs for my friends to sit. Best part was I only ordered food for 50 person, (Experienced friends told me not to order exact number of headcounts for food, because sure to have extra portion given by caterer), and it was just enough to feed 100 over people. And everyone commented the food was great! Haha!!! Don't ask me which caterer leh, because I also don't remember.

So many things happened all these years. My family, relatives and friends... Some was gone forever, and some are lost, but many are still having close friendship with me. My cousin passed away a few years later. Some of my friends never contacted me after they got attached. Some of them live in their own world, and only call me when they need a favour from me. Some of them can only say Hi if they see me, because they can not remember my name anymore.

I really appreciate those old friends who stay with me since then, and new friends I made everyday. Through my hard times and good times, giving me a pat on the back when I have done something excellent, or kicking my ass when I made stupid mistakes, encouraging me when I tell them I want to do something new. consoling me when I failed. Sound emotional hor, but I just want to say thank you.

萧敬藤洛克先生演唱会2010

I have decided that, other than MayDay, Jam Hsiao will be another artiste, that I will pay for concert ticket in future. Thumbs up for Jam Hsiao! He was well known for his vocal, and I heard him singing live in Indoor Stadium before. He has very powerful voice, and his songs are really good. Thanks to Jessica, who balloted for them in the office and asked me to go with her. I had a great time, because he sang all the songs I especially wanted to hear， 王妃，收藏etc. I was really impressed, because he really can sings! The opening was all the Rock music, and he can sings for half and hour without stopping, and his vocal is still strong. And can tell from the 'cutey' songs he sang like, 蔡依林 - 看我72变，徐怀玉 - 飞起来，瑶瑶 - 爱的抱抱，Wonder Girls - Nobody. That was hilarious!!! Never thought he can do those dances, and I must say all of us was really have a good laugh. After all, I am giving him 2 thumbs up for his overall performance.

前晚，我看见有一只蟑螂和一只baby壁虎在厨房的角落，面对面。平时，我已大声向我爸爸求救了。可是，这次我却被它们吸引，好奇这两只昆虫（算是昆虫吧？）在干什麽。不可能是在打招呼吧， 难道是谈判？或者，要一决高下，胜者为我家厨房的统治者？

没多久，蟑螂向壁虎的方向冲去。壁虎一动也不动。对蟑螂的攻击，没有反应。蟑螂停了下来， 又往前移动。这次，速度慢慢的。壁虎还是没反应。两只对望了一会儿，（我觉得是在对望啦，它们的眼睛这麽小，我也看不到）蟑螂就往窗口跑走了。

Wa!!! Baby壁虎嬴了！！！我在想， 壁虎会不会觉得，今年是虎年，它是壁‘虎’。所以，有虎年撑腰， 它最大！

每年，我妈妈都会到四马路观音庙‘借富’。 所谓‘借富’，就是健康，财富，事业，婚姻， 等等。 有借就要有还，今天就要去还红包。所以，我请了假，陪爸妈到观音庙去了。

跟以往一样，庙里庙外都挤满了善男信女。其实，我看到很多乐龄人士，手拿着香，花和水果，被一群人围着，大家都你推我挤，看了真怕公公，婆婆被推倒。我一手拿着香，又要顾着我妈妈，实在没办法帮他们。还好，有关单位会分批让乐龄人士先进去。不过，我觉得拥挤的现象在庙里也没有很好。因为我亲眼看到一位婆婆，被人挤在香油箱前，动弹不得。我只好帮她把人群隔开，扶她走到一旁去。

晚上，我又出门， 陪美美到Suntec IT Show 去。再一次，与人群抢新鲜空气。每一次去都会是同一个情景，人挤人。是新加坡人很有钱，还是东西便宜到那麽值得买。我还真后悔答应美美陪她去。吃饭时，也要等。一样，人太多。 回家时，公共交通车也拥挤。

想想，今天我就像沙丁鱼。

So sweet of Lijun. She bought me this Xiao Ding Dang Lock!!!

It will go travelling with me from now on! Haha!

Thank you Lijun!!!

The cleaner auntie, Elizabeth, a name Lijun has given her, had been working long before I joined MediaCorp in 2001. She has been clearing our rubbish bins, cleaning up the mess we made in the pantry, coming to our rescue when we dropped something dirty on to the carpet or when we complained to her of what we have seen in the toilet.

Sometimes there are snacks bought by the salesperson or bosses, we will ask her to have a piece, or ang bao during festive seasons, she always said, 'Aiyoh. pai sei leh'.

That day, Mary bought Old Chang Kee for everyone, I asked her to take some home. She said, 'Pai sei leh, you all eat lah. I take one can already. The other aunties in other departments also don't get to eat like me.'

I told her, 'Auntie, you have been taking care of us all these years. What are a few curry puffs compare to that?'

She has treated us like her close friend, taking care of us all these while. Just want to blog about here and 'Thank you!'

今年的元宵, 我们决定到莆田用餐。

第一次， 到那儿吃饭。 之前，总走过店面，没机会到里面品尝佳肴。正逢元宵佳节，所以我们点了盆菜。常常听人说，盆菜好吃， 也从来没吃过。 哈哈！基本上， 我是带着第一次的心情 ，享受这一切。

盆菜没话说！料很多， 香又美味！ 招牌菜是芋头。外脆内软，一级棒！面线的汁给的很足， 不会让人觉得干干的。 非常值得一提的是， 特制的辣椒酱， 哇! 真是没的弹！够味，够辣，够香！ 我爸爸还淋在白饭上， 慢慢吃哩。还有， 一定要点甜品。金瓜露比起一般的杨汁干露， 特别又好吃！ 赞！ 我差点忘了拍照，因为只顾着吃！！！

正好是正月十五， 月亮又大又圆。 忍不住拿起相机拍了下来。

After lunch today, we heard bird chirping in the office. Every now and then, we can hear it chirping again. Some of us was thinking, 'Can the stupid guy answer his call? Aiyoh!'

Niang Niang said, when she came to work in the afternoon, she saw birds flying. So we assume one of the birds must have been trapped somewhere in the office. (In between boxes, files, door, rubbish etc etc, who knows). I went to investigate, and found that it could have been trapped in the false ceiling on top.

So 'bibo bibo', the man from the property department was called in. He came in with a tall ladder, climbed up and in a very short while, we saw him taking something from his hands.

Suddenly I started to understand what the elderly meant when they said, '现在翅膀硬了, 会飞了'.