We just did it, went out each morning and limped along as best as we could

I've never heard about Waris Dirie, but when Mak bought a couple of books recently, I chose to read this one first.

I enjoyed the read, especially the first half of the book, when she talked about life as a nomad in Africa, and how she ran away from Somalia to escape a planned marriage with a really old man from her village.

Then the story unfolded about how life as an African model was like in London... though it was nice, I didn't enjoy it as much as the earlier parts. But I found the part about the female circumcision quite disgusting. I mean, how can you rip off almost the entire genitalia? Totally wrong.

For about 2 days, I tried to make the above quoted motto applicable to me. What's life in an airconditioned office compared to searching for water for days? I want to believe, that no matter how tough my job is at times, I should really just limp on as best as I can.

I'll do just that, as soon as I return to work after a 2 day medical leave :p

When was the last time any of you used a phonecard? Not prepaid mobile cards, but real phonecards to be used on public payphones?

Yesterday? Last month? Last year? A decade ago?!

I started using my first mobile phone when I was about 18...so the last time I probably used a phonecard was at least a good 7 years ago. Phonecards? Who needs them nowadays when you've got bundled free calls? Only foreign workers and primary school kids have use for them.

Until, I realised the usefulness of a prepaid phonecard.

Which I am about to use very soon, in less than an hours' time.

Nevermind the inconvenience, and the possible queue & waiting time for me to use the payphone. My privacy, which comes in the form of keeping my mobile number unknown to boys & girls I don't like to hear from after office hours, is priceless.

But unfortunately, the cost of my privacy is not exactly priceless - it comes in the form of $5.25 monthly if I want to privatise my number and why would I want to inconvenience my loved ones who would like to know that I am calling them? No reason at all.

When it takes so long for me to get the office phone into my hands, I'll turn to the good ol' phonecard. I hope that's more reliable than a coin phone. This evening, I spent about 5 minutes punching the same telephone number into a coin phone, only to have the makcik at the store tell me the phone is faulty.

Thank goodness for cardphones, I can't wait to go back to basics in a while!

...

And just when I thought my Monday was not going on too well, I received another plastic card in the mail. And so the first purchase goes to...?

Promise totally broken. I've been through quite a lot of stress lately, so a few spoonfuls of B&J won't hurt, I'm sure. I'll make up for it. I'll climb the stairs 20x on saturday morning.

Happy days are here again - the weekend! Actually it's quite sad how weeks pass by so quickly, then before you know it, you've completed 52 weeks, then it's time to get a new pocket diary.

Tomorrow will be another exciting day! I'm trying to psyche myself into believing I've got a very interesting job, to the point that my hp profile has been set to "A GREAT DAY" instead of "GENERAL". My passwords are supposed to be positive encouragement. It worked for a while, until reality sets in again. But worry not, positive me will start again on Monday.

I had such a restful sleep yesternight. Yessssss~! Now I feel...rested! :)

AH said that we needed to leave for work at 8 am. Well look at the time now...he's still much asleep.

2 more days before one of my good kakis at the cube leaves for her new workplace. Sighs...I guess farewells at workplaces are almost inevitable. There'll always be things one won't be happy about.

Anyway, I bought a health supplement - some kind of an antioxidant. I thought the saleslady was pretty skilful. I went there to buy Vitamin C but left the store with an antioxidant instead (lucky the antioxidant contained 300 mg of Vit C). But being in sales is something I can't imagine myself doing. Standing on yr feet more than 8 hours daily, dealing with forever angry customers. Not good at all.

And after all that, I found 2 bottles of supplements stashed away somewhere at my workstation semalam? It always happens, doesn't it? You buy something you think you no longer have, and it pops by THE MOMENT YOU BUY IT! That's life.

Btw, I wonder if anyone noticed that the forum in the papers is becoming more and more like a complaining avenue for some s'poreans. Tiap2 hari there'll be some kind of complaint there. S'poreans are fast becoming a complaining society (heh, look who's talking). I mean, some things tak payah lah sampai nak tulis kat suratkhabar. Tulis kat blog cukup. If not enough, tulis kat the management directly. Menyampah betul seh dgn orang2 mcm gini. Menyampahhhhh!! (hehe, i kinda like the sound of this word. I wonder if it originates from the word sampah :p)

I'll trot to work soon. Lost of cases to close, lots of paperwork to clear. No fieldwork today, I'll just work like a mouse later.

I succumb to temptation...





An impromptu dinner @balithai with AH yesterday, sushi we had for friday's lunch, neoshot with the sis & eyeshadow pots from missha. My only grouse is, the pots don't come with eyeshadow sticks, or brushes, or sponge, or whatever they call it. I resorted to using cotton buds for my experiment just now.

Nevermind I'm not a make-up person...those little green eyeshadows are just too cute to resist! Too bad the people at my workplace are not make-up queens, if not, I'll have a good reason to put on some colour tomorrow.

Monday sure goes by quickly when you're having fun (read:not at work). Then there's desperate housewives tonight too. All my favourites! Now I'll wait for AH to come back after his class, then it'll all be perfect.

Half a day was spent at the facial centre.

And today's the last episode. I won't be returning there anytime soon, not that my adult acne has miraculously diminished into thin air...I just don't want to sign on the package anymore.

For obvious reasons: I want to use the money for other things.

In my heart...haiz...macam tau aje extra cash (alhamdulillah!) is coming around end of the week...package pon habis. So I told the nice lady upfront that I won't sign on anymore coz I can't afford it (which is true...I need the money for accessories, impulse buys & short getaways).

I feel so liberated!

Since it's my last weekday off day for the month... (the next weekday off won't be coming in at least another 5 weeks!), I've packed another appointment at 3 pm too.

Sometimes I think I'm really sad. The only thing I love about my job currently are the weekday off days. Who knows, I might develop more loves about my job tomorrow, when I return to the cube. I hope so.

For some strange technical reason, this blog doesn't publish the time at which the entry was made. So I have to update the time myself, haha!

I'm working today (groanns...) but I've packed some exciting things throughout the day, so I won't have to worry about slumping in my chair, falling asleep infront of the monitor. Yeah!

....

Alhamdulillah, I managed to claim my time off during Nana's school hols, so yesterday I took her jalan2. No movies this time, just window & some actual shopping. A sushi meal at Ramen10, $8 worth of neoprints (!!! Teringat dgn spongebib punya hobby), 2 bagfuls of aussino bedsheets & bedskirts, a bag I took almost an hour to decide before buying & some famous amos cookies. Nana pun enjoy jugak, she got herself a pair of coloured earrings, a wallet @20% off & a new haircut at kedai nyonya bedok. I've never had so much fun in a long time.

After that much fun & retail therapy, I suppose I should be fit for work today. I've quit bracing myself up for scary emails that make me jump. I've decided that I'll just face them, and that's that.

But I know I have to remind myself that I've gotta cut down on those expensive lunches next week. Just last week alone, I must've spent more than $50 on lunch! Blame it on farewell lunches, and fastfood trips (sometimes you just don't have a choice). Maybe next week I should start bringing food from home again, just like pre-wedding days, when I have to save $$. Then maybe I could use the $$ to get that bag I saw yesterday....lagi worth it!

Woke up early...feeling emancipated coz I know I don't have to step into the cube today...

Cuci langsir...masak indomie... tukar template...

THEN...an sms....

That's why they say ignorance is bliss. What you don't know sometimes won't kill you.

Now that I know, my heart is racing quite a bit.

I suppose it's not my colleague's fault coz she didn't know I was on whole day time off today.

But still...bingit, you know?

2 actually.

1 was getting on a lorry (as a passanger), and having trouble getting off the lorry. The 2 pple looking on at me, had grins plastered on their faces. They must've been so amused at me, for not being able to even get off a lorry gracefully. I'd initially thot of jumping out onto the ground, but after weighing my odds of toppling over, I used the stepper and hung on to the handle for balance. And I made it!

Not adventurous enough?

What happened just an hour ago was even more adventurous...but too bad I can't really blog about it due to confidentiality issues. Boring seh, coz I'd really love to share it here.

Anyway during the adventure (which took place via the phone, with me totally in the comfort of my own seluar nusantara & bedroom), I muttered something to AH, something alone these lines, " Times like this make me want to quit my job. Can I quit tonight?!"

AH's response was something a person in distress would never have expected for an answer. He said something like, " Isn't this exciting? You should treat this like an adventure" Or at least that was what I gathered.

AN ADVENTURE?! Close...coz my hands became really cold and my heart beat so fast when I found out about that adventurous incident.

Later when I cooled down, I figured that AH was right to a large extent .... if I could take this job like it was an adventure, my job would be fun, exciting and challenging. And not a drag, with me getting worked up with anything out-of-the-norm that pops out (which occurs very often).

Everyday I try some new strategy to keep my head afloat at work.

I've tried the "My boss is nice as a friend but terrible as a boss" strategy at work to feel better about her character.

I've tried the "Being ikhlas at work" strategy because "work is an ibadah".

I've tried drilling the "Even the smallest thing you do may make a difference to someone" belief into my head too.

I've also tried viewing my work as exciting.

But to take it a step further and regard it as an adventure...that I haven't tried.

So, now excuse me while I get my sleep, coz I need all the energy I should have for my adventures...coming my way the moment I step into that adventurous place.

Night night :)

I've just finished reading Nana's borrowed library book. Smart title, I thought. People talk about life in the fast lane, but fat people narrow it down more accurately, so it becomes, life in the fat lane.

Though I've yet to be really obese (gasps, that doesn't sound too positive), I'm already experiencing life as it should be in the fat lane. I've blogged about colleagues thinking I'm pregnant, right? OK, that's one.

Second, I can't really fit into an M or L too easily these days. I was lucky enough and very delighted when I could fit into Esprit's L a month ago, or wait, was that XL? The last pair of jeans I bought last year was a size 28. Obviously that no longer fit as well as it should but I never expected my waistline to be more than 30 before I could actually turn 30 years old!!

Undergarments? Sometimes I wonder if the machines in clothes/underwear factories have moulds that stop at size S or something. Even the XLs look like size S to me! Sighs, it ain't easy being fat in S'pore.

Third, being fat makes you look older. Evidence? A girl, probably 17 yrs old, called me "Cik" in an AUssino store just now. It took me 2 seconds before I realised that the "Cik, boleh saya bantu?" phrase was meant for me. In my heart, Oiiii! I'm not even 10 yrs older than you lah! But I was just so stunned. So I went, "OK, Cik nak yang..." Not, obviously! I just weakly conceded defeat, letting her call me Cik again when she apologised for making me wait at the cashier. *loud sobs*

This is only March 06 right? Great, I still have 9 more months to lost some kilos. I mean, if Erlin Montel can do it in real life, I'm pretty sure I can too. It has only been 6 months, But i'm already sick of being fat. I'll start my diet tomorrow.

Am currently surfing through vpost & some online shopping sites. It's cool, we can actually purchase stuff from overseas and pay for the postage via vpost, which is supposed to be cheaper. Shall try it someday. Maybe I'll buy something cheap first and see how it goes.

While I'm typing this, I can hear the soft, faraway sounds of the pakcik I blogged about last week. Ting...ting...sounds of his organ filling in the new geylang serai market. Mak & I laughed about it when we heard him play the other evening. Pakcik...pakcik... there are certainly all kinds of people you can find in Geylang. But apparently, Mak said that that guy has a very kind heart.

2 more hours before I have to report to work. I suppose today won't be so bad. I'm glad the weekend is here before it's too late.

It's a hot sunny day. Maybe I should pop over at the market for a fruit juice now. It's going to be a happy day :)

This may sound like a sweeping statement, but I think our society is really a warped one. We're fed with information everywhere - ads in trains, ads on buses....in restaurants, and recently even paper lining the trays in fastfood restaurants have some kind of fun facts on nutrition or something informative.

It's hard to stare at something without reading it these days.

Anyway at the back of the ladies' toilet cubicle at my workplace, someone has ingeniously stuck some informative posters so that you can read & absorb some knowledge while you're on the toilet seat.

The poster, which was on exercise, went something like "It is important that the activity is carried on for 10 minutes without stopping."

But the shopaholic in me read instead, "It is important that the activity is carried on for 10 minutes without shopping."

Haha, whoever stuck the poster there must be really happy now at the effectiveness of disseminating the info :p

If anyone reading this is tempted to stick on something informative wherever it may be, think again. The brain needs a break sometimes. It gets tiring reading and absorbing information too often. Especially for lazy people like me.

A colleague struck $1250 in toto last weekend. Naturally, everyone was quite excited about it. She was to cash in her winnings at lunch time yesterday.

Lunch time came, and to her horror, she discovered the ticket missing. A group of 5 to 6 working professionals rummaged through her workstation (while I looked on, as I did not wish to play a part in this whole thing :p), trying their best to hunt for the golden ticket. I could see the panic in the "almost winner"'s eyes as she cooly hunted for the lost one. I left for lunch after that as selfish me, simply couldn't imagine spending the next 30 minutes of my precious lunch hunting for something totally unrelated to myself.

Winning a lottery...I'm not sure if you can say that comes from God (or can we?). But that incident made me think about the blessings God has granted to us, and how He can take it away from us in a split second. Healthy one moment, limping the next. Rich today, poor tomorrow. Beautiful today, hideous next week. Such blessings have always been there but as sure as they're there, no one's to say they are here to stay. Just like my job too, here today, gone tomorrow?

I can't believe I've been at this job for 2 years. 2 years of stress, crazy deadlines, late nights, heartaches, annoyance, despair. It fascinates me thinking about how the ones who have been here longer keep themselves sane. Due to the lack of stability in employment these days, I've been offered another go at the job for another 2 years. 2 years of stable monthly income, alhamdulillah. But after that?

I'll cross the bridge when I get to it, I guess.

But see, although I sometimes loathe working here, I do want the job at the end of the day to pay the bills. But Allah has His reason for not granting something too permanent for me, so at least I won't get too complacent? Just like the lottery ticket, the winnings are there for me, but I suppose if I don't take good care of it, I could lose it, which means losing my winnings too!

....

The past 3 days have been really blissful. No office, no reports, no delinquents...knocking off at 5 pm... I haven't been skiving, just been on training. But of course, good things come to an end. Anyway I'm just so glad that I was given the 3-day break. Wonderful.

I got home early enough to think of popping by the sushi shop at Chai Chee after following Mak fetch Nana from school. Then Mak asked me to drive, so I thought, OK, let's just try it out. So there, the most dangerous driver in the east hit the road after reading some prayers under her breath.

Let's just say, if driving without confidence was a crime, I'd have been prosecuted & incarcerated. But at the end of it all, I'm glad I tried.

And after all that, we found the sushi closed at 6 pm when we got there.

I smelt the first whiff of Geylang market when I was walking to the MRT station this morning. That familiar smell is now much nearer to me, now that the market has relocated right in front of where I stay. But thank goodness the shops directly facing our place are selling clothes, and not daging kambing or worse, ikan. Phew~!

It's going to be quite an exciting, not to mention convenient 2 to 3 year stay around here. AH joked that we should fix a pulley system from the balcony. With that, food ordered by shouting across the street could be delivered straight through the pulley system. If that really materialises, I can see myself putting on another 10 kilos next year, since I don't even have to move any muscles which are necessary to generate weight loss.

Anyway, I totally welcome a newer, cleaner & less smellier market. That'll be great!

Almost all the shops from the old market have moved to their new stalls, including some unwelcomed guests, or rather entertainment. The pakcik, who has parked his musical centre for the past few years at the walkway between JooChiatComplex & Geylang Serai market has moved to a new location too!

I was in the shower just this evening when I heard familiar tunes. I wondered where the electone sounds were coming from so I took a peek from Tok's room after that. To my surprise (horror is too strong a word), I saw his tent. Yes, the makeshift tent which houses his electone. And I think I saw his prized photos (hall of fame) too.

I was like...don't tell me I'll have to listen to his tunes everyday for the next 3 years?! No way!!!! That'll drive me up the wall, man!

I suppose I should count myself lucky coz I'll be at work most of the days (what? stay at work with dread just to avoid his sounds? That's totally unhealthy!) so I won't have to listen to his showcast of talent. On weekends? That's easy. I'll make an escape to MIL's place as usual. But wait, how about my Mondays off? I want to stay at home sometimes.

I'll let him go on playing his tunes for now. But if it becomes intolerable...maybe I should take the next step. Like suggest that he moves to the other side of the market, near where chicken meat are being sold? Or for a start, negotiate that he plays nicer songs, not on the electone, but on a guitar with the condition no amplifier shall be used.

I wonder if AH is going to send me to the train station. I'm on course today, so I won't be needing the ride uphill to work.

I'm glad I'm on course for the next 3 days. If I wasn't, I can imagine myself slouching in my chair, looking really depressed, occasionally looking up to my neighbour, giving him a hard cold stare before I re-connect into the outside world. Urgh, I hate work sometimes.

I like work for the range of interesting cases I get to handle. But when I meet people who just dont want to be helped, I ermm...lose my patience & will get really really annoyed.

I mean, if you're already poor & stuff, and people give you help, shouldn't you take it? And use it to better yr life? Like go to school & get a proper education or something? But no...you choose to wake up at 11 am every morning, although you sleep at 8 pm the previous day even if know you have to report in school by 7.20 am. Isn't that simple enough? Hey, the rest of Singapore wakes up for work/school/marketing at 7 plus am too, hokay?!

Argh. Then I'll be the one who receives all these voicemails & incessant phonecalls about YOU not going to school!