Petals Around the Rose

Received the links in my email a century back. Just thought that it's a perfect rainy day to clear them.

For those who simply love a puzzle, try solving this one. Petals Around the Rose. According to this article, the smarter you are, the longer you take. Right. That makes me not that smart after all. Hmm... *ponder* Then again, as Pig fondly puts it, high IQ doesn't mean a successful life ahead. In fact, most of the down and out people are those with high IQs, as they wallow and dwell in their past glories.

So, if you can't solve the puzzle or think you have a high IQ, don't hurry to the wall to bash your brains out. I will give you a treat when I make it big with my high EQ and low IQ. Muahahhahahaha.....

Screwed the Glasses!

Ah Hah! Caught your attention, didn't I?!

Can you imagine screwing 2 tiny brackets onto your nose (Ouch! I was shuddering as I was reading this article. Can't imagine piercing any part of my body, except my ears!) and hanging a pair of spectacles on the bridge of your nose? Well, I can't. All I can think of is, what if some bloody idiot decided to tear them off your nose!!!!

Check it out, if you dare.....

*Proud contributor of the Link - Who else... Duma!!

New Year's Eve

So here I am, on a New Year's Eve morning, in the office, typing a boring blog with a dead boring title. *Yawn* My boss postponed the 10am interview to 11am. Argh! I knew it! Should have slept longer AND it's a grand rainy day too!!! *Triple Argh!*

What a Way to Spend Christmas Eve - Malarky!

After the frustrating experience of bashing my way through crowds at *Orchard Road on a Tuesday night, just 4 days before Christmas, I wasn't that keen to repeat that ordeal again last night. Besides, I figured that yesterday would be even more chaotic than ever, it being Christmas Eve and all! So, we decided to chill out at Changi Village with 100 other cats. (Well, I didn't really count, but in the dark, the number of strays there did seem like 100 to me.)

Christmas Eve at Changi Village was not as chilly as I initially expected. Cars Cars Cars! Darn! The carpark was full! Argh! Couldn't even find a decent lot. So Ah Long decided to park the car illegally along the double-yellow lines and guess what! He actually bothered to peel a parking coupon and display it at the dashboard! DUH! I mean, if I were the carpark attendant, I would have given him a ticket for parking illegally, with or without carpark coupon! His theory was - he could give the excuse that there wasn't any lots available so the fault didn't lie with us?! Never could understand the Geminis!

Dinner was great, value for money, with fun company. But it wasn't spectacular enough to warrant more than 3 lines in blog. Hah!

Now for the more interesting part. We adjourned to Vic's house for a game of Malarky. We ended up watching bits and pieces of "Band of Brothers". We wanted to begin the game at Christmas sharp. Nah! We were just intrigued by the gory scenes. Shrug. Probably would borrow the dvds from him to finish the whole mini series.

Anyway, yes, here comes Malarky. (Review over here.) Basically, it's a game in which great storytellers would thrive in (have no doubt, this is one of my favourite games!). It's something like trivia pursuit, yet instead of asking the others to guess the answer, you give them the answer and let them guess if it's true of false. Therefore, you need to possess a certain level of imagination (Me me!) and a straight face. To earn points, you need to either weave believable tales, or tell the truth with a shifty look. Not only that, you need to have a hound's nose to sniff out a lie. Hey! You are talking to a master over here! 30 points ahead of no.2, with the rest differing from one another by few mere points.

One example here.
What's the difference between skimmed and non fat milk?
My totally logical answer told with a straight face : Well, the difference is, for skimmed milk, the fat is removed by scrapping away the milk curds at the top, while, for non fat milk, the fat has been clinically removed from the beginning.

Totally plausible answer, right?! (ok ok, some of you giving me skeptical looks..... I had full marks for this ok!!!! Do you know how hard it is to convince EVERYBODY in the game? You wouldn't understand my skill unless you have played the game for yourselves. *fold arms*)

Anyway, the real answer is - No difference.

Haha! Fooled you! Didn't I?

*Orchard Road - Being a miniscular country, people tend to flock to Orchard Road, our main shopping strip, when they can't think of anywhere better to go.

Xcute mi! Cn U rid dis?

Goodness Gracious! Guess what I've stumbled upon while I was blog surfing?! Try reading this! I'm not sure if this is a generation gap or what. I simply can't understand the "English" of the Generation Y/Z/whathaveyous(I've checked the mirror, I'm really not THAT old!!), or if it's a new language altogether!!

bad dae!!!! =/
another dae of feelin low ah =/ . haish* duno y also . hmmm 2dae work is lyk i was so quiet than other dae. no much voice heard frm mi today. everione was shocked lyk tt. come console mi . thnk pals, i ok =)*

then ck they all come find mi n jashua nor, sho gd sia they all, 1st time x=. then we go to suntec coz ck wana haf lunch. all see him eeat onli x= . den aft tt, we went to arcade. joey n bernard wanna play initial D . see them play i feel like playin also. then i gt play, how i wish i can realli go 4 the spin ~

Actually, I still can't decipher some of the words. Thinking of taking up a course in cryptography or something.... This is simply amazing. This is either "realli bad eng" or a very complicated piece of code.

Everyone Loves a Fast Food Joint!

One more blog today! This is a BONUS addition. You read one entry and you get one more free!! This is worth US$25!! Doesn't that look familiar? That's what all the internet marketing websites do to promote their products. Right, I'm deviating......

Right. Fast Food Joint. Everyone simply loves a joint. You get air conditioning. You don't get threatening glares at your back or people hovering over you, in fact, almost falling over you as you take a last sip of your bak kut teh soup. You don't get waiters or waitresses asking you for your orders, politely hinting,"hey! Get your ass off the seat! You are holding up our other customers!"

Where I work, there are tonnes of fast food joints. (My personal favourite is the Macs at Boat Quay, discounting its north pole-like air con system.) Burger King, Mos Burger, Macs, Subway, Yoshinoya... you name it, you get it. Too bad there isn't a KFC. Hey! KFC! Are you reading this! Open a joint at Shenton! Burger King at OUB Centre is another one that I frequent. Big, spacious....Full of insurance agents and MLM people.

Yeah, that's right. According to Ah Wei's statistics, (hah! You must be wondering how many times I frequent a joint in one day. THat's besides the point!), only 2 out of 10 parties do not belong to this group of people. Every time I sit down at a table in BK, the person on my left, would be explaining some policy and sliming the rest of the insurance companies/agents. On my right, the person would be pointing excitedly at a file, about how fast you can get rich on an MLM fastrack career and that Robert Kiyosaki has endorsed it, before proceeding to urge the prospect to read Robert Kiyosaki's book - Business School (something like that).

Well, I don't have anything against insurance agents or MLM sales agents. Hell! One of my good friends is from the insurance industry and my very own brother is a financial planner! Some of my friends are from MLMs.

There's a joke going around, that if you pick up a rock and throw it at a crowd of people, chances are, you will hit an insurance agent or an MLM agent. I didn't start this joke, so don't spam my email.

Anyway, as I was saying (I have this fond habit of wandering off-topic), BK... Right, our favourite guessing game in BK, would be :
1. Which insurance/MLM company is he from? The right answer gets a stick of french fries.
2. The common mistakes of a salesperson.
3. Will he close the deal?

One day, Laval decided that he's sick of the game and of hearing the same old scripts again and again. You can't help but hear them, when they are sitting around you!! So he suggested that we go to Yoshinoya and he thought it was a brilliant idea, because it's a rather small place, so according to probability calculations, we should have a smaller chance of meeting them.

So we uprooted ourselves and trudged to Yoshi. Hey! Great! No agents there at all. We were going to dig into our beef bowls, when, an insurance agent (I think he's from GE), came in with his client. At this point of time, Laval went mad, stood up and started screaming, "why are they everywhere?!"

Ok ok, so he didn't do that in public! I would have dug a hole with my chopsticks and hide in it if he did. But I'm sure that's what he was thinking as he rolled his eyes.

Personally, I as just wondering, how effective is it, to do a review with a client at a fast food joint? I had the unenviable experience of doing a presentation to a client in Macs. That's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, because, I will never do that again! Hah! I had to scream at my client at the top of my lungs, to combat the noise level raised by the pesky kids and chattering people. At the end of the day, I was not sure if he even heard a word. As expected, the deal wasn't closed. Ineffective, ineffective. Besides, every one in the joint would have known how much you are insured for, etc.

My boss would scream at us, "I spent a 6-figure sum to rent this swanky office and 1 million dollars on renovation, just for you to do your presentation at MACS!?"

For me, I usually request that my clients meet me at my office. One of my friends commented,"Eh.. Miss, do you think you are still a purchaser? So Dao (hoity-toity in Hokkien)! Make the clients come to your office?! How to do sales like this?!"

"My office is nice mah! You can see boats cruising by and you even get free kopi (coffee)!! Cheaper than going to fast food joints!"

Hmm... Come to think of it. Maybe I shouldn't put up this article at all. If all the insurance agents and MLM salespeople boycott my blog, then no one will ever read it again?! Heck lar! *Bo Chap! Not as if I'm enjoying 10000 hits a day anyway!

*Bo Chap = I can't care less! (Local dialect)

Iridology

According to the dictionary,

I-ri-do-lo-gy
Study of the iris, especially as associated with disease.

I had the privilege to meet an Iridologist (Oh wowee!) on Sat at the Malay Heritage Centre (Don't ask me what I was doing there on a fine Sat morning/afternoon, when I could have been doing something better! Grrr...!! That's another story altogether!). Someone was giving away flyers about iridology (I'm 100% certain that it's been plagarised from some iridology website). So, to kill my boredom, I abandoned my colleague at my stall (one of the stalls at the Vanity and Wellness Fair, supposedly targetted at professional women. Guess their idea of professional women and mine are on the extreme ends of the scale... )and sneaked off to walk around the rest of the stalls and exhibits.

I met Thye San, wandering around out of boredom as well, at the Iridology stall. Ahh.. This looked like something that's more intriguing than the rest. The people behind the stall were all self-professed iridology. Apparently, they would check your iris for illnesses and then recommend a supplement from their stash of MLM products to improve on the condition.

Ok, fine. After a few encouraging words and nudges from me, Thye San asked if the "iridologist" could try giving him a diagnosis. The Malay man, in his 50s, took off his spectacles and peered into Thye San's eyes, or irises, to be specific, and nodded knowingly every few seconds. Then he took off his spectacles and took a deep breath...... (Me too, I was eager to hear some earth shaking diagnosis here, wowee, a reeaaaal iridologist.)

With a sagacious air, he drawled,"You frequently get headaches...." (wowee! what a revelation!!!)
TS : Yes! You are right! I often get headaches!
SOM (Sagacious old man) : Right, you always think very hard. (rewarded by me rolling my eyes and TS nodding enthusiastically)
TS : Right, sometimes I get headaches after long hours of work.

So the SOM went on to introduce some supplements which would cure this ailment. There was a horde of Malay aunties standing beside the SOM, pushing products towards TS.

A younger Malay man (in his 30s, I think) came up and stared into my eyes. I got such a shock that my eyes went glassy. (Don't be surprised, he could even give me a diagnosis even after my eyes glazed over.) I think he has a lot to learn from the SOM, beginning with iriodolgy 101, how not to alarm your customers. Anyway, he too, gave me the exact same knowing look (ah, must have learnt that in iriodolgy beginner's course) and said,"You have a problem with skin allergy."

"What What!?" I sputtered. "No I don't."
"Yes you do." (Now who the heck is he to tell me that I have skin allergy when I don't!)
"Now look here. I have only had rashes twice on my arms TWICE in my whole life!"
"THere you see! Like what I said, you have skin allergy." (DUH!)
Refusing to argue with a moron, I decided to agree with him. "Hey! You are right! I DO have skin allergy."
With my ardent agreement, he smiled at me and recommended supplements to combat that. (Why me?!)

Moral of the Story : If you do want to pretend to be a iridologist, at least get to know the top 10 problems which most Singaporeans have. If I were to do it, my diagnosis would probably be :

Stress (Most Singaporeans are stressed up over one thing or other anyway. High Hit Rate.)
Lack of Sleep
Difficulty in Sleeping
Headache
Myopia (Now that's easy! I will probably peer into my customer's eyes, spot the contact lenses and cheerfully tell him that he has myopia. Duh!)

See! I will definitely make a great Iridologist! At least a better one than those 2!

Blabber

Before I forget (remember? All my history exams? There! I see you nodding your head.), I need to tell you about the blabber tag at the end of each post. It's really a comment form, but apparently, all the comments sort of disappeared when the layout has been changed. So now you see the egghead beside it, which means that nobody is writing any comment.

Therefore, you are highly encouraged to blab and of course, that will influence the egghead to transform itself to a pert little number (1,2,3,4,5,6....). Ok??

That's 2 entries for today. I'm chalking up buffer for myself. *grin*

Keeping Up with My New Resolution....

Opps! I have recently made a new resolution (that's right, just after I have revamped the look of the blog), that I would write a blog a day. Sigh! I can only blame it on my hideous lack of discipline and failing memory (why do you think I failed most of my History exams/tests/whathaveyous??).

However, I must redeem myself, however slightly, for this (hehe, more excuses). Why?! Because.... the stupid IT support (yeah! Excuse module 101, always find someone else to blame) for my company is changing the server, erm.. modifying something here and there (he gave me a 10 mins torrent of uncomprehensible IT jargon, I gathered that he's changing SOMETHING) and it caused my laptop to be unconnectable to the internet! See!! Look at the frustrations that I'm going through?

So poor me has to get up at 7am in the morning, so that I can get to the office by 9am (don't ask me what i did between 7-9am, some time has to be attributed to travelling etc) and lay stake on one of the few common computers (see the look of triumph on my face?!) and BLOG! NOW, do you see the commitment level there?! I could have slept til 9am!! My next appointment in the morning is at 10am.....

Right, so now that I've established this routine and with an iron will, I will endeavour to delight you with more bitching.

A Whole New Look!

As you might have noticed, my blog has taken on a whole new look!! Thanks to Duma for that! I gave up editing it halfway and figured that it's only going to take him 10 mins while it's going to take me 10 hours to redo it... So, being one of the nicest person (here comes the flattery bit) in the whole wide world, he singlehandedly edited it.

So here I am, back in action, to increase my viewership! Stay tuned!

A Place of My Own!

Finally! The days of floating around like a spectre are over, over, over! I don't have to jostle with 100 other people for half a table and half a telephone. I have my very own table, very own phone, 2 stabilo ball-point pens, a stapler and a handful of paper clips. Not only that, I now don't have to squat pathetically outside the front glass doors, pray and beg that the cleaners would show some sympathy and let poor little me in. Now I can practically sail in with my access card and let the other pathetic souls in.

Sigh! Ok. Skiving time is over. Now to put the table, chair, telephone, pens, stapler and paper clips to full use, besides writing blogs.....

I REALLY Want That!!!

Guess what? It's an antquarium.

Another contribution from the Guru of Links, Duma! (Yes, you are probably right. That's his main job and IT consulting is probably his side line!)

This is a great website to go to if you are really running out of ideas for gifts, or if you are simply a gadget freak. They have stocked up creative what-have-yous in their inventory. Well, it's not exactly a budget shop, so expect to pay a premium for them. However, it makes fun sense to go up there whenever you are bored and see what technology, or simply innovation can do for you in the current space age.

Right you are! You can find a link on my sidebar. Another one of my schemes to shore up the hit rate of my website when I'm lacking in inspiration.

Super Super Mario Brothers 3!!!!

Does this ring a bell? If yes, congrats *shake your hand*!! We belong to the same nintendo Mario butt kicking generation!! Never mind the 3D games which are available now.  Super Mario Brothers (SMB) still has that magnetic draw for me.  Images of shelled geese, evil mushrooms, the red and green little men with moustaches etc.

I have played the game for hours and hours during my teething years, however, I do not ever recall ever completing it.

However, now, thanks to Yy, I now have a short media file on how to complete SMB3 within 11 mins! Do I hear someone mumble, "Nah! It's impossible!!" Well, this jaw-dropping demonstration will certainly prove that nothing in this world is impossible. 

So, marvel at the player's impeccable timing and superb knowledge of the SMB world. 

By the way, one more thing to take note of, whenever I managed to get a 1 up (increase in life), I could feel tears of joy and satisfaction forming behind my eyelids.  BUT, for this guy, he accumulates lives like nobody's business!!!!! In fact, he has even accrued more than the max. number (which is 99, for that matter) allowed! Life is just so unfair! Hmpf!

Catching up!
 
Wowee! Just checked the date. Realised that I have been MIA-ing (Missing in Action) for the whole month. 

Yeah. My poor toe was so sore that I couldn't hobble over to the computer to type. A little update on the injury - the pain is gone, but it looks like I may  be losing the nail soon. I will try not to go into the gross details but it seems to be clinging on to the flesh by just a wee bit. I still can't imagine how my big toe will look like without the nail. Argh!

Now, on to my blog.  Surprise surprise! The counter is still ticking even after I have stopped posting.  For a while, I thought that, "Gee! I really have these die-hard fans out there!" These self delusions were dashed when Rosa revealed that they have been using my blog as a link bookmark to everyone else's blog. Duh! So much for a Ah Wei Fanclub in the making. I am very much reassured that at least my blog still has a little use in this world. I guess the way to keep it going is not to post more but to add more links to it.  Sigh, oh cruel world!!

Just Another Bloody Toe!

This is the sequel to the "Sweat it Out" posting. It is based on a true story which happened a few hours back. Be forewarned that there will be much blood and gore mentioned, definitely not for the faint-hearted........

The left toe suffered a crushing defeat by the mightier Asics track shoes. Dejected, it limped off the battlefield covered in blood and bruises. Gungho as usual, it thought nothing of its injuries.

It started off with a little throbbing pain. Within a few days, it escalated into a full-blown pain-in-the-ass (oops, toe) and swelled big time into twice its former self!! It was in such pain that it writhed and thrashed at night, unable to get a decent night's sleep.

Something had to be done. It didn't help, with all the horror stories contributed by various helpful sources, e.g. the nail falling off, infection, toe being amputated etc etc.

It decided to seek professional help. It held its breath as the doctor dished out the cure... "please please, not an amputation". Luckily, it wasn't beyond healing and the doctor proposed to drain the blood out, instead. Clasping it under firm hands, the doctor wielded a thick, fat needle, which had a hole in the middle. He drilled gently on the top of the nail. In the very instant when the needle broke the bottom surface of the nail, there was a sharp pain which was felt in the very bones and blood spurted out from the miniscular hole. (Just imagine the scene from Kill Bill 1 when Uma started cutting up Lucy's henchmen. Yeah yeah, the blood spurting scene, as if the limbs were water hoses.) All in all, the doctor drilled 4 holes into the nail and right into the toe, as well. At that very instant, the toe regretted its vanity which led to the battle between the kept nail and the shoe(as always, men seldom escaped unscathed when their kept women were found out).

There was blood everywhere, the napkins were soaked in it. It's surprising how much blood could gather between that layer of nail and flesh, even though there was a bulging below the nail, where more blood probably gathered. Yucks!

The doctor predicted that there's a 50-50 chance that it might get to keep the nail. "The nail is just like the hair. You won't feel any pain if it falls off. REALLY!!!" the doctor comforted the toe, as it looked at him in horror. What... no more nice nail polish (on what?! if the nail falls off?!), no more nice open toe sandals... WHy... this spells the end of life for the vain toe. Alas, to keep its life (and save itself from being amputated), it meekly submitted to the doctor's advice.

Once again, pedicures and sports don't go together. Take heed of this advice, or you will regret as deeply as the repentent toe.

Sweat it out!

Would you believe it?! I actually played netball today! Yeah! Miss Butter-fingers cum Contact-sports idiot played netball today! I hardly believed it myself!

All in all, it felt good to practically sweat it out! Something which I haven't done for ages, decades, centuries! (Yeah... I didn't stick to my twice-a-week-workout resolution. Stop rubbing it in!)

Amazingly, I escaped pretty unscathed. Just one minor sprain (the fourth finger on my left hand, where the netball went smack on it.) and one major internal bleeding under the nail of my big left toe. Sigh... Considering what an accident proned person I am, all the above are trivial. (Believe me.) I could see the blood clotting beneath that pale pink nail polish and it hurt like crazy, after 1st half of the game. It's amazing that I could still hobble over the courts for the next session. Hmm... Anyway, it all goes to show that pedicure and sports can never go together.

Pedicure, sweat, pedicure or sweat?! Darn! What a tough choice! (You will probably be wondering, duh... how bimbotic can this person get?!) Too much air in the head, oooh, I'll probably think about it tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a better day. (Fluttering of eyelashes.)

Whatever.. it hurts like hell now. Probably have to give the toe a break and see what happens next. Hope the nail doesn't fall out or dangle from the flesh. (shiver. That sounds totally grossed out.) I have never had such experiences before though, because my nails are usually rather short. Vanity, vanity, the price one has to pay or it.

Changes Changes Changes

Just 3 months away and everything changes. The Blogger website now looks totally different, more user friendly with a far cooler interface. I have yet to explore the new features.

Why am I back?
1. I have received loads and loads of fan mails and smses begging me to bring them their daily entertainment tit bit. (Ha! Like real!)
2. My computer suddenly sprang back into life after months of hibernation.

Well, believe me, I was just bullshitting you.

The real reasons:
1. I am experiencing an extreme emotion.
2. I have a computer nearby.
3. I have stopped procrastinating.

Have you ever felt so angry that you feel blood gushing up your head, your ears, to the ends of your hair? Well, I have and pretty often. I find myself experiencing the outbursts more and more often, and rather difficult to keep it under control. Well, I have always been hot tempered but this is way too often for comfort. I like to attribute it to my thyroid condition which is messing up my hormonal balance. However, this in a way is also worsening it. Chicken and egg problem.

When I feel the heat climbing up my neck, I tried counting to keep it down. Recently, it seems to have lost the desired effect. Maybe I should start counting sheep, even if it doesn't work for insomnia. Damn damn damn, I hate that feeling, the feeling of losing control, as I feel the heat creeping up, my heart making little staccato beats and tears forming behind my eyes. I despise people who make a scene in public and yet I'm turning into one.

Maybe I should start picking up yoga. Breaking my bones (trying to perform those yoga stunts) certainly beats losing emotional control. Sigh... I have a bad bad feeling that my thyroid blood count this time round will swing way out of range again and the dosage will have to be increased. Why me?!

Brief "Hallo!!" from Greece

Managed to access the internet from one of the ulu Greek islands. They are charging me 1.50 euros for a miserable 15 mins!!! Since I still have 5 mins left, I felt that I should let everyone out there know that I'm still alive and kicking somewhere on earth.

Damn! It's difficult to type with long extended fingernails with french manicure. Will tell you how I almost poked my eyes out when I tried to remove my contact lenses. Long nails are huge pains in asses. I will leave the exciting story till next time! Meanwhile, ciao! And keep your eyes on the space for more interesting tales from Greece!

FINALLY! I have found a site where I can put my photos up and link over to them.... You will expect to see an avalanche of photos! Hehe... Now.. Where's the photo of my cute hamster...??

Yeah!!! I did it!!! 20,000 points!!!!
Hop hop hop!!!!

Gobble Bobble

A Great way to pass a Friday Afternoon, especially when all the bosses are away.
Just feed the Bobble the stuff on the left and right. Find the right combination and chalk up points!

Contributed by the God of Links, Duma (*bows* May he keep the blessings.. eh hem.. the links coming... I worship the very ground he walks upon...), he claimed that the max is 20000. So far, my best record is 13900. Well, if anyone ever reaches 20000, please email me the secret combination!!!

My friend commented that depression's one of the effects of thyroid. I told her that I wasn't depressed until I saw the blood test results. Maybe it's a chicken and egg thing.

When will I ever get well?! Sigh...

About a year and a half ago, it was diagnosed that I had a thyroid condition. It was a devastating piece of news as I had always considered myself a very healthy person. Also, I couldn't accept that there was actually something wrong with me..... I was also rather upset that I hadn't discovered it sooner as I had been staying alone for almost a year and being a rather careless person, I paid little attention to my appearance. The symptoms were all there - the sudden increase in weight (to a girl, getting fat is worse than death), the swell around the neck, the bulging of my eyes, the trembling of my hands.... Not only that, when left untreated, it was life-threatening.

Later, I discovered that it's actually a rather common ailment as everyone started confessing to knowing an aunt, a relative or friend having it. OK.. So a lot of people out there had it as well... Oh well, at least it's not cancer....

So I dutifully went for the ritual blood test, took the horrible medicine every day, gave up my favourite pastime - diving.... After a year, the symptoms started to subside, except for my eyes.... (So if you see someone with 2 eyeballs bulging from the sockets, that's me). The doctor said that they may never revert back to their original position, but the condition's improving. OK ok, I can accept that... I've always wanted bigger eyes, haven't I?!

Half a year ago, the blood count went back to normal. I was estactic. I was finally back to normal. If the next blood count was normal too, then I was on the road of recovery. Everything looked so hopeful...

I just took my blood test yesterday, another big fat test tube of blood. The doctor just called to give me the bad news. Sigh... The condition has worsened and I have to increase my daily dosage.... I thought I would have been immuned to this kind of bad news after rounds and rounds of blood tests etc. But, still, I can't help but feel depressed that after a hopeful 6 months, I'm still not well yet. Ok, and very disappointed as well...

Most of the time, I just bitch a lot on the blog. Frustrations and anger... but this must be the most depressing posting I have ever made.... (Considering that I was too (and even more) depressed the first time round to even record the outcome of my very first blood test.)

Fairy Tale.. what?

There isn't a single comment on my fairy tale, which I painstakingly took the whole day to write (in between a lot of alt-tab to keep the nosey parkers out of my life). I simply cannot comprehend the reason for this.

Is my fairy tale written too "chim" for everyone? Or is it soooo boring that everyone nodded off to sleep even before they were done with the 1st paragraph?

My brother claimed that he had read it, every single word of it.
"So did you manage to grasp the deeper meaning behind this fairy tale?"
"Har? (The omni-powerful word which all Singaporeans are familiar with. "Har" can mean ANYTHING! E.g. What the f*** are you talking about?)
"The d-e-e-p-e-r meaning?"
"Like what?"
"I mean... which nation is famous for white sausages & beer??"
*Blank Look*
"What about the changes in the surroundings due to their procrastination?"
"Oh... You mean there will be global warming etc?"
*Pulls hair out*

I wonder if he's my brother. I'm now doubly sure that my Mom rescued him from one of the rubbish bins in KK hospital about 25 years ago.....

Blabbers & Cheerios

Woah. Lotsa postings today (for me!). Just added another website to my list.

Blabbers & Cheerios is put up by Justina (I knew her from the hamster forum). A girl with a really big heart and lots of pets. I have always believed that all animal lovers are nice people. Coupled with great models (her hamsters) and great photography skills, her blog is a must for hamster lovers. Look out for her little beauties!!

One of her masterpieces!

A Not so Short Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, in the village of Tiddlywinks, there lived a bunch of people, whose pastime was to drink beer and eat white sausages. The villagers produced beer and used it to barter for white sausages from the next village, Winkytill.

One fine day, as of any normal day, the villagers cheerfully loaded their little carts with barrels of fine TW beer, looking forward to having fresh white sausages for their dinners. They simply loved the white sausages, which was their only source of pleasure in a hard day’s work of beer making.

Whistling happily, they pushed their carts with vigour, on the winding path to Winkytill. Suddenly, the whole procession stopped. There was a great big giant tree, right smack in the middle of the vital path to Winkytill!! They just couldn’t believe their eyes. How could a humongous tree grow overnight?! (This is a fairy tale, ok?!) They rubbed their eyes in disbelief! What’s worse! It had cut them off from their precious supply of white sausages! This was atrocious, ridiculous and… UNTHINKABLE!!

The villages wrung their hands in despair and pulled their hairs out. They pushed their carts dejectedly back to their village and sat in a circle despondently. One of the villagers stood up and exclaimed,” We need a giant axe to cut down the giant tree!” At this statement, the fire returned to everyone’s eyes. “That’s a brilliant idea!!” They patted the smart aleck on his back.
“Now, where can we get this great big axe from?!”
“Hmm…..”
“I know! Ah Wei from the RoarRoar town nearby can do it! She can find ANYTHING!”

So, they contacted Ah Wei . She became an employee of the Tiddlywinks subsidiary located in the RoarRoar town and they entrusted upon her the important task of getting a giant axe, so that they could cut the tree down and get to their precious supply of white sausages.

Efficient as she always was, she managed to find someone who had this great big axe in an amazingly short time.
“Yo yo! I have a seller who’s willing to sell his great big axe for 1 dollar!! It’s such a good deal!”
The villagers of Tiddlywinks exclaimed,”1 dollar?! But we don’t have 1 dollar! We only have a lot of good TW beer! The best beer in the region!”

After much cajoling, persuading, even to the extent of begging, Ah Wei managed to get the seller to barter his great big axe for a barrel of good old TW beer. The seller reluctantly accepted the bargain, although he’s allergic to beer and would develop red ugly rashes from drinking it. Nevertheless, he’s no match for Ah Wei’s persuasive powers.

Now, the villagers sat around the great big axe. It’s so big that 30 people were needed to lift it up. What’s the best way to cut the tree down?
“We should do it the top-down method!”
“No no! It should be the left-right method!”
“No no no!! It should be ……”
The villagers spent 4 whole months, arguing over the best way to utilise the great big axe. After much fighting and debating, they finally agreed on a method. So they set off to conquer the great big tree.

When they reached the very spot where the great big tree rested, they discovered that, because they had spent so much time arguing, the entire landscape had changed! Instead of a great big tree, a great big river cut across the path!!!

They shouted, they lamented and they hopped around in anger, for 4 months without the white sausages had left them very miserable indeed. Furiously, they trudged back to the village.

“Ah Wei!! We don’t want the axe anymore!! We want a great big pail to bail the water out!”
“What.. what?! Then what should I do with the great big axe?!”
“We don’t care! Just barter it for a great big pail! By hook or by crook! We are your bosses so you must do what we say!”
“But but but…” Ah Wei had no choice.

She found a seller with a great big pail. After much effort, she managed to persuade him to exchange his pail for the axe. Wiping her sweat off her brows, she gave the pail to the villagers. Yet again, the villagers took another 4 months to decide on the best way to bail the water out with the pail. It’s pretty amazing to find so many indecisive people in one village. They should have made an entry in the Guinness book of Records.

So, off they go again, to the river, grumpily shoving each other along the way. They were suffering from the withdrawal syndrome, being deprived of the white sausages for 8 whole months. Yet again, the world waited for no one. While they were gone, due to forces of nature, the river was replaced with a mountain! “Our white sausages!!!” The villagers hollered in anguish.

They went back to Ah Wei and demanded, “WE WANT YOU TO EXCHANGE THIS GREAT BIG PAIL FOR A GREAT BIG SPADE!!”
“What..what?! This is unreasonable! First you wanted a great big axe, then a great big pail and now a great big spade! Do you know what you want!?”
“We don’t care! The natural forces have changed, we now want a spade! We can’t use the pail on the mountain!!”
“If only you had observed the natural trends and taken less time to react to the changes, then all these would be unnecessary!!!”
“So what?! Do you question our actions!? You are our employee and you must follow instructions, no matter how stupid they are! We pay you to do what we want you to do!!”

Fed up with their unreasonable demands and tired of having to pacify the irked sellers, Ah Wei finally released her pent up frustrations! Conjuring up a handful of *fried cuttlefish (Reminder: This is a fairy tale.), she stuffed them into the villagers’ mouths! Taken aback by surprise, they were too shocked to move. She boxed them in the ears, punched them in the face and kicked them in their shins.
“I CHAO your YOU YU!! I have companies lining up to employ me and I will not sit here, wasting my time to follow the instructions of a bunch of procrastinating fools!”
With amazing strength, she turned the great big pail over the heads of the villagers, slapped the dust off herself and walked off.

She had not experienced such great satisfaction for a long long time….

*fried cuttlefish = Chao3 You2 Yu2 (in Chinese) = Sack the employer = resign = whatever = you get the idea!

The blogout comment thingy has completely broken down. I had to replace it with another comment box script. *Sigh* There goes all the previous comments.

Anyway, I'm still trying to figure how to add the options for smilies in.... I know I know, I'm not exactly the most web savvy person here. Give me some time leh!!!!

The ST Headline screams : It PAYS to Study, especially in S'PORE!!

Study finds that worker here gets 13.2% more for each extra year of schooling - higher than in Japan, Australia and US.

IT PAYS to stay in school, a joint study by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has found.

For every extra year of schooling, a Singaporean worker earns on average 13.2 per cent more, which is significantly higher compared with countries like the United States, Japan and Australia.

Broken down by educational qualifications, the return on every year of schooling rises as an individual goes up the education ladder.

A first-degree holder, for example, earned about six times more than that of a worker who did not even have primary-level education.

The study found that a university graduate with a first degree would earn on average 17 per cent more for every extra year that he spent in school.

In comparison, a worker with only primary school qualifications would only earn on average 1.5 per cent more for every year he stayed in school.

The paper, written by two MAS and two MOM economists, also found that the wages of more highly educated people in Singapore increased at a faster pace than those of less-educated workers.

The salaries of less-educated workers doing manual jobs also peaked earlier, in 31 to 40 years of working, while the wages of more highly skilled workers continued to rise with experience even after they reached 50.

The study used data from an MOM survey in 2000 on education qualifications.

At that time, 13.5 per cent of the workers here had a first degree or better, while 30.7 per cent had primary school education or none at all.

The average number of years of schooling for both males and females was 10.1 years, while the median monthly wage for a graduate with a first degree and 11 to 20 years' experience, was $5,320.

The paper noted that the rate of return on education was higher in Singapore than in other countries.

Citing research conducted in other countries, the paper said that the returns for each additional year of schooling in Australia were 5.1 per cent for men and 5.2 per cent for women.

The figures were 12.7 per cent and 13 per cent respectively in Britain.

For Japan, they were 7.5 per cent and 9.4 per cent respectively; while in the US, they were 7.4 per cent and 9.6 per cent.

Another study, a World Bank policy research paper, had reported that the average return on each additional year of schooling was 9.9 per cent in Asia, 11.7 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa and 12 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The authors concluded that the study showed that there was a substantial pay-off to education in Singapore.

'As Singapore restructures itself and shifts from a technology-oriented society to a knowledge-based info hub, there will be increasing demand for high-skilled workers,' they said.

'The premium on investing in higher education should encourage and provide greater incentives for individuals to pursue such qualifications.'


I came across this particular article in our national newspapers, the Straits Times, this morning. For anyone who's interested in the original e-copy of it, you may click on the link.

At first sight, I thought, "Hey! This is part of the government's campaign to encourage the people to further their studies. Hmm.. And to tell the world that we have a whole crate of highly educated people aka workforce in the country!!"

However, upon second thoughts, this probably reflects the stereotyped thinking of our citizens. Why would such a phenomenom arise? Now, wait a minute, is this all part of the *whispers*government's propaganda ?? *whispers* Ssshhh...!

Education. Education is the first criterion which the Singaporean employer goes by. This standard has been kindly set by our very own civil service. Therefore, if you are not a university graduate... Bah! You are out! Jeez... You have lousy grades... Boom! You are also out! They do not care if you have other redeemable qualities such as leadership, good communication skills etc. So what happens? They recruit people who top their classes, mug well and regurgitate the exact wordings of the textbook. Forgive me, but this is really how the Singapore educational system works. Not much room for creativity here. I do not deny that, among the smart alecks, there are some who excel in both IQ and EQ. However, by taking results and educational standard as prime criteria, many other talented people have been left out.

Not only that, the appraisal and promotional chances an individual has, in civil service depends not only the experience and contributions he has chalked up in his years of service but also on his O Levels, A Levels and what-have-yous. Therefore, if he acquired a D grade in either his 'O's or his 'A's, it may well plague him for the rest of his working life in the public sector!!*shiver*

Now you know why children commit suicide due to educational stress in this meritocratic system. Because, they know that if they make a bad grade in primary school, they will be haunted by it for the rest of their lives. How do they know?! Our national newspapers said so....

20 QUESTIONS!!

Came across this quirky little programme. Remember how we used to play 20 Questions when we were little (hmm.. or not-so-little)?? That's how it works! And consistently when it is unable to guess the answer, the user will put the new item into its database and thus enabling it to grow. In a way, it serves as a learning cycle.

Anyway, I managed to beat it in the 1st time! I was thinking of the "trigger fish". Hehe. Hey...! I wonder if I have told you my trigger fish adventure. Let me scroll through the past entries. If not, I will do so in my next entry.

Keep your eyes on this space!

CHINESE ZODIAC SIGNS....!!

My Mom has just bought the new chinese zodiac signs prediction book for the coming New Year... It has been written by some famous fengshui master (His face appears on the cover of the book. Decent-looking, bespectacled guy) from Hong Kong.

Therefore, everything has been written in CHINESE! It takes me about 3 times the length of time I need for reading English. Anyway, I painstakingly read through the first paragraph (the most important one because it sums up the general outlook). YIPPEEE!!! Rabbit (Yep yep! I was born in the Year of the Rabbit, the cute little white furry animal.) will enjoy luck and prosperity in the coming year, especially in career and studies. It's one of the top 5 lucky animals!

Being the nosy parker that I am, I read through the rest of the zodiac signs (only the 1st paragraph of course!).

The top 5 lucky animals are :
Rabbit
Horse
Snake
Ox
Forgot the last one. Sorry. Hehe.

Anyway, I was pondering over this issue while I was driving to work this morning. I know that the English horoscopes (the stars) originated from the formation of stars. But.. but... what about the Chinese zodiac signs?? Where did they come from??!!

Butter Fingers!

Darn!!! I was eating a piece of papaya while reading a blog and halfway through the huge piece of papaya toppled from the plastic bag, onto my WHITE T-shirt, before sliding down, SPLAT on the table!!!!

Even as I whipped out the tissue paper a mere split second later to salvage the damage, my WHITE T-shirt has been stained by orange spots!!! How am I going to face the public later!!!

And the worst thing was, I had to dispose that piece of sweet, juicy, orange papaya. SIgh...! Nothing pains me more than wasting food, even though it has stained my favourite white T-shirt. Sob sob...

Maybe I should wear my cardigan back to front to cover the stains?! Sigh....

Christmas! (Half a month late....)

Yes yes... I know that Chinese New Year (22-23 Jan 2004) is approaching and I am still posting Christmas links.

Again, from YY's website (Hmm... I wonder where she got all these links from.. Truly amazing!!)

A brief description of the game :
You get to be Santa (Yeah!) and your task is to give the presents to the children and throw chunks of coal on the evil elves. (Again! I used to think that elves were the kindly serfs of dear O'le Santa. I'm totally disillusioned, but, nevertheless...) You have to avoid evil reindeers (huh?!) from running you down and avoid falling off the roof.

Simple right?! Wait til you start playing it and try figuring out the mambo jumbo of keys. My highest record on my third try was 4635. My brother beat me with 5700 points using my very own strategy! Hmpf! *fold arms*

Violent Game...

Found the link of this game from YY's website.

The aim of it is to blow the pesky Christmas elves to pieces!

Well, I am not exactly the world's best shooter, so it actually took me 4 times to win the game. *sheepish look* So, you should be able to imagine the feeling of triumph and satisfaction when I FINALLY completed it!! I raised my fists up in the air in victory!!!! YES YES YES! Guess what?! I managed to slug my brother (who was actually standing behind my seat, watching me play.. ) in his mouth! He doubled up in pain, because my fist ploughed into his 2 front teeth and his nose. I suffered a cut on my knuckles (compliments from his bugs bunny teeth) with a bonus of his teeth imprint on them.

If you value your life, DON'T PLAY THIS GAME!!

Book Releaaassseeee!!!!


The article on book release in the LIfe today got me all flushed and excited! That's a totally brilliant idea! I have quite a few books at home just for this very sole purpose! I have read them once and yet I doubt they would interest me to read a second time. I have a strange fetish of keeping books which I have read at least twice. Since these do not qualify for this criterion, there's no reason why they should stay on my shelves. Yet, it's a pity to discard them.

Therefore, after reading about book release, I thought,"YEP! THIS IS IT!!"

Step 1 :
I eagerly registered myself at both the Bookcrossing website (I have decided to let my book gain some international exposure. I mean, wouldn't it be totally cool if my book actually has the chance to travel across oceans and continents?!) and at the Passiton website (Being a Singaporean, I should show some support for the local website and the interest group. Patriotic eh?!)

Step 2 :
I made a stringent check of my bookshelves and selected 2 lucky books to experiment on. "Roses are Red" and "Violets are Blue".

Step 3 :
I bugged my brother to print the Bookcrossing release book labels, snipped them into tidy little rectangular pieces (well almost as I'm not the world's "straightest" cutter. So, they turned out to resemble little trapeziums instead. Hmm....). I stuck them smack on page one (with a stick of purple UHU glue. My brother claimed that the purple glue's not superior to the white one, he got it because he's *heow). Following the instructions in Bookcrossing, I filled in the BID number.

Step 4 : (The MOST IMPORTANT Step!!)
Ponder ponder... Hmm... hm... I have registered myself. I have the books and have even labelled them. Where's the best place to release them??

A few places came to my mind:
- on a bench beside the reservoir? (It might rain and the poor book will get all wet and soggy!! Nah... I should choose a sheltered area!)
- in an SBS Bus?? (What if nobody picks it up at the end of the day and they end up at the SBS lost & Found?!)
- in the MRT? (Hmm.. If I left it there and someone picks it up and runs after me, telling me that I have forgotten them... Should I tell him that I'm.. eh hem... releasing them in the "wild". He will probably think I'm nuts, if he hasn't read the article!!)
- in the post box?! (Where only the postman will find it?!)

Argh argh!! I have got everything but nowhere to release them....

Being the ever cheapskate I am, something just popped into my mind... How about STARBUCKS?! Since Pass it on is advocating it. I might as well do it, then I get to register this action in both websites! Whee! I can simply kill 2 twittering birds with one book, oops, I mean stone. Ah wei! How smart can you get! *A pat on my own back* There there....

Step 5 :

What's left now, will be to release the 2 books in Starbucks cafe on Monday.

Mission Completed...

*heow = Vain (in Singaporean context)

I have decided to keep the current template, until I have time to scout around for nicer ones, OR get down to doing one myself (which might take another 99 years...).

The Mystery of the Missing Templates!!

Funny, why are there so few templates to choose from? Wonder where all the nice old ones have disappeared to?!

Getting pretty sick of having the same template for the past one year. So, bear with me while I'm getting it changed. I'm not the best html person in the world. Sigh....

No Man's Land...

Another addition to the flogs... Someone whom I got to know from the Hamster Forum.

Had the urge to make new postings recently but the ailing Blog server just killed all my inspirations and enthusiasm... Hehe, another case of finger pointing.