work power - reactivate!

I am knackered! Me body seems to have adjusted so well, erasing all thoughts of how tiring work can be. I actually slept through S's loud snores last night, that almost never happens.

I've just settled into HP Labs and actually knowing exactly what to do next on my project. It has been a month of groping around in the dark. But thankfully my supervisor has been most patient and keeps initiating talks to make sure that I know what's going on.

For the first time in months, I am sitting in front of my computer watching youtube and not feel guilty about it. No thoughts of "Oh shit, I've got to finish another 4 articles of reading" or "Dammit, another 2,400 words to go."

Today I am completely at ease, sitting here with a clear conscience that I've cleared all my work and I truly deserve this break and it's okay not to do anything.

I'd forgotten what it feels like to blank out all thoughts of work and just have time for myself. I needed those periods of blanking out especially when I was at CCH and dreaded work days so much that during weekends my mind would completely switch off.

On the subject of work, I officially applied for a job in the UK yesterday and it is scary. It is a consumer marketing manager position for EMEA and I have all the qualifications that they want. Including an MBA.

*Gulp*

Today a colleague (A) at HP was just discussing with another colleague (B) and A was prompting B to do a business plan. That was where I heard my name come up, and not just once.

"Go ask T how to do it, she has an MBA, she'll be able to help you do the business plan."

*Double gulp*

Expectations. Okay, sure if guy B had approached me, I would have been able to help. But that was just more from work experience than my MBA course. After 10 months and £20,000 later, I am not quite sure if I've gotten smarter and more analytical than when I first started. One thing I do know though is...I can speed read now.

It'll be really interesting to go back to my friends and back to work and see if I've changed with this experience and if I am supposedly more astute in my views of the vicious and backstabbing business world. (Highly unlikely) Some people, it seems that their MBAs have changed their lives. Almost a religious experience (no offense to the religious), but you know what I mean.

Weird thing is, I feel less confident about myself in terms of work than I before I started my course! hehe, Best that I get my ass down to applying a few more jobs and trying out for some interviews!

renault clio

I am utterly in love with the new Renault clio.

By sheer accident, went up to Stratford today (again). A friend of mine rented a stickshift renault clio and didn't know how to drive on left hand side. Initially I was reluctant to go, cos I'd gone to Stratford with Sue May just 2 weeks back. But when I saw it was the Renault clio, I was just dying to test drive it, and before I knew it I heard myself say...

"If you want, I could go up Stratford with you gals." DOH!

Of course my friends weren't expecting me to go with them and spend the rest of the day on a road trip, instead of reading glorious articles on advertising, ad recalls, digital media trends... But under yesterday's circumstances, they were stuck and asked if I would go with them.

But am glad I did.

We went to Stow-on-the-wold and it is this little quaint village with lots of delicatessens (hear hear) lots of pastries, cafes, restaurants and kitchenware shops. You know me and kitchenware - I could have stayed there for the rest of the day looking at them.

Of course we had to go the Eagle and Child - which they claimed to be England's oldest inn. Seems like their cooking time lasted just about as long since the inn existed - AD947.

Okay it could be me. But when I pay £9 for a sandwich, I kinda expect more crisps and less wilted salads. And when the waiter takes my orders and tells me he can exchange crisps for chips, you expect chips. But noooooo.

The sandwich was kinda small too. It probably shrank in size while sitting on the counter waiting to be served. It took them a good 30-40 minutes getting our sandwiches. Honestly, after paying £10 for a sandwich and diet coke, I felt cheated and had to have an ice-cream to compensate.


Oh but the best part of the trip - the Renault clio, how could I forget...

It's fantastic. The interior is a lot more spacious than you expect. The pick up speed is definitely better than my good old Nissan March, the Vauxhall Corsa or Zafira. It was just such a smooth ride! Plus for the same distance that we travelled from Bath to Stratford on the Corsa, it was a half tank fuel consumption, but on the clio, to and from, the fuel gauge hardly budged!

I need to strike lottery and buy that car, so that I can use my tiffany key chain with new car key. Muahahhaha!

DAMMIT suffering from car ownership withdrawal symptoms

Top photo: Picture of the town centre in Stow-on-the-wold. Bottom picture: Nina standing outside Eagle and Child

summer solstice

Today is summer solstice. The longest day of the year and where the sun is farthest north in the sky. At this very minute as I write too - 18:08

Which never used to bother me, cos all days are roughly the same in Singapore, variation is about half an hour of the sun setting early and late. But here, I kinda appreciate the sun more.

It's the day when Stonehenge is open overnight to allow hippies and druids in. I can understand why they celebrate this paganistic event, particularly when you're in this part of the world.

Here's an extract from BBC- Science and Nature

Summer

The day the north pole is nearest the Sun is called the 'summer solstice'. Looking from Earth, the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky all year. This means it takes the most amount of time to cross the sky. So this is the longest day of the year. Its called the 'summer solstice' and happens around 21 June. Astronomers call this the start of summer and after this date, days start getting shorter.

The sun rose at 4:50 this morning and will set at 9:30hrs tonite.

The bright side (no puns intended) is that it is officially start of summer - woohoo shall go submit my essay in my bikini tomorrow! The not so bright side is, we lose the day a few minutes a day. Till it gets to be that horrid horrid time when it gets dark at 3pm.

Oh well, you gain some you lose some. I just have to start scheduling some vacations in winter then. Muahahha.

suddenly stefanie

Got a sudden karaoke attack! Haven't gone to my fave karaoke place in Bishan. Sigh... the sacrifices I make!

New song which I am determined to master.



These are the lyrics to the song

• 歌曲：我怀念的
• 歌手：孙燕姿
• 专辑：逆光

• 作词:姚若龙作曲:李偲菘
  
  我问为什么
  那女孩传简讯给我
  而你为什么
  不解释低着头沉默
  我该相信你很爱我
  不愿意敷衍我
  还是明白
  你已不想挽回什么
  
  想问为什么
  我不再是你的快乐
  可是为什么
  却苦笑说我都懂了
  自尊常常将人拖着
  把爱都走曲折
  假装了解是怕
  真相太赤裸裸
  狼狈比失去难受
  
  我怀念的是无话不说
  我怀念的是一起作梦
  我怀念的是争吵以后
  还是想要爱你的冲动
  
  我记得那年生日
  也记得那一首歌
  记得那片星空
  最紧的右手
  最暖的胸口
  谁记得
  谁忘了
  
  想问为什么
  我不再是你的快乐
  可是为什么
  却苦笑说我都懂了
  自尊常常将人拖着
  把爱都走曲折
  假装了解是怕
  真相太赤裸裸
  狼狈比失去难受
  
  我怀念的是无话不说
  我怀念的是一起作梦
  我怀念的是争吵以后
  还是想要爱你的冲动
  
  我记得那年生日
  也记得那一首歌
  记得那片星空
  最紧的右手
  最暖的胸口
  谁忘了
  
  我怀念的是无言感动
  我怀念的是绝对炽热
  我怀念的是你很激动
  求我原谅抱得我都痛
  
  我记得你在背后
  也记得我颤抖着
  记得感觉汹涌
  最美的烟火
  最长的相拥
  谁爱得太自由
  谁过头太远了
  谁要走我的心
  谁忘了那就是承诺
  
  谁自顾自地走
  谁忘了看着我
  谁让爱变沉重
  谁忘了要给你温柔
  
  我怀念的
  我还有想要爱你的冲动
  我记得那年生日
  也记得那一首歌
  记得那片星空
  最紧的右手
  最暖的胸口
  
  我放手
  我让座
  假洒脱
  谁懂我多么不舍得
  
  太爱了
  所以我
  没有哭
  没有说

darling B2

It's been almost a year since I last saw B2. And when I left Singapore in September, she had just about turned 2 and could hardly say a word, much less a sentence. I believe her vocab at that time were: - mama, kor kor, yee yee, mommy, oh oh, oh nooooo.

So that's the impression that I have of my favourite darling niece whenever I chat with my sister.

Last Saturday, I was determined to get the little girl to talk to me. She has been successfully evading all mandatory "hi yee yee I love you" phone conversations just by screaming,"NOOOOoooooooooooooo." Well, it worked for me as a kid, so I thought, in all my yee yee biased-ness, that it was a smart tactic for a 2 year old.

It got to a point where, while trying to get me mom to get her to talk to me, and at the very slight mention of the word "mei" she'll scream,"Nooooooooooooooooooooooo." So I told me sis that I wanted to do a webcam with the little girl. And at 815pm on Saturday nite, I called me sis, and heard the little girl over the phone, just before the webcam was connected.

"Hold on a while yee yee, hold on alright?" the little girl parroted me sis.

"Princess, will you do a picture for gong going?"

"TOMORROW YEE YEE, I WILL DRAW A PICTURE FOR GONG GONG TOMORROW!"

I can't believe the little rascal can now speak so much, and she was even doing a muffled version of Christina Aguilera's song from Mulan.

Apparently she told some of the big boys off for cutting the queue at a birthday party, and had a conversation with me sis's friend's aunt about going to China. At 2!

I can't wait to see her in September. And have a feeling will be crying buckets when they both go home.

strawberries and cream

Past few weeks strawberries have been on sale. :) So I bought them a couple of times, they've been soooooo sweet. I've never tasted such sweet strawberries without piling on the icing sugar before.

As I held one up to close scrutiny while happily scoffing down a whole box of it, I decided to do something...cos at that point in time, it struck me - the little yellow seeds on the strawberries looked like blackheads.

So you can pretty much guess the rest. All I can say is, the entire experience was satisfying. And that coming from me has to be true. (Somehow sense a sigh and some head shaking coming from my cousin.)

It felt so much like the real thing! All the fun, and none of the red blotchiness and pain! Just that the seeds got under my nails. Ugh.

Bet you'll never view strawberries the same way again. Muahahaha

11 Keppel Road

Back in my previous life when I had a job, I would walk pass this furniture shop at the bottom of the building where I worked. This shop, presumably, was a showroom and sold office furniture. The furniture was mighty fancy - design and ergonomics all rolled into one. (Go check out the furniture layout under their "Projects" on their website.) And the use of such furniture would mean that you will have to have a certain amount of space within the office to house it all.

And everyday for the few years that I worked there, while walking pass, I would ask myself,"Who the hell buys these furniture?"

Well, HP does. At least HP Labs in Bristol does. It's one of those places that has a cube that's about 2x the size of what I had at CCH, (bearing in mind I am only an intern there and need only to go in like 1-2x a week). But I have a cube, with my name on the side board. The table is divided into two areas, one is specifically for the monitor, and there are some levers that I can use to adjust the height of where that should be. The chairs are those that not only allows you to adjust height, you can tilt it forward or back at the angle you want and armrests are also adjustable.

And oooo, the key to small drawers even has a built-in magnet, so that you can stick it on the partition boards which have metal parts on them - GENIUS!

And if that's not good enough, working at HP that is, is that they are the printer makers of the world. So, ie, I've been offered the opportunity to print out my dissertation there! Muahahahha! Eh that's a lot of savings, considering one piece of colored printing is 30p. A 100 page dissertation (estimate, not that I will actually write 100 pages), is £30, excluding binding!

Call me a cheapo...I like.

*******
A btw, the stain on my very expensive dress came off - phew!
A second btw, found a food blog that's fantastic, no thanks to Ms. Woo who tried to make me crave more for my chai tao kway - yin yang one with no chili thank you. It's called ieatishootipost - brillant pictures, and makes me so wanna go home!

baby's first "cheers!"

Had a glorious 3 days off work and just romping around the streets of Bath, showing Sue May the Roman Baths, Pump Room (with it's yucky 43 mineral free drink), Sally Lunn's, Royal Crescent, Circus and of course, what we do best - eating and shopping.

To top it all off, we went to Stratford-upon-Avon yesterday. I really like that town even though I don't really like the Bard. But the houses were done Tudor style and most were quite old, as the wooden planks weren't exactly straight but it all adds to the charm of the city. Like Bath, Stratford was swamped with tourists. I walked by the Crabtree & Evelyn cafe that Bons, Janet and I went to in December last year.

Sue May and I went to Shakespeare's birthplace at Henley Street. My last trip there, the girls didn't really want to go in.

But Sue May and I did. It's amazing. Structurally, the house is still about 60-70% the original building from when John Shakespeare and his wife stayed there in the late 1500s. The floor has been unchanged. Why, with all the Shakespearean air about, I almost sprouted a few sonnets. Sue May tried composing a poem, to which we both cringed upon her reciting it.

The drive to and from Stratford was very scenic. There is this stretch of road just before you hit Northleach coming down the A429 from Stratford, which we called "The Viking". It's like a really steep valley, and you can almost see a vertical drop down to the bottom and then a sharp hill up on the other side. Like a roller-coaster ride! Was really fun!

I had to return the car today, and went back to Enterprise. They have this drop you off service, which is great. So I waited while someone arranged to drive me back to Oldfield Park. Just before leaving the boy at the counter who served me said,

"Thanks for waiting, see you again. Cheers!"

"Cheers!" I replied.

Me first "cheers"

Hmmmm I've always found it hard to say "Cheers" or "Ta" in replacement of "Thanks" and "Bye". Could this be the start?! I've started using words like "rubbish" and pronouncing words differently. CANNOT!!!! Go back sure kena big time from rubbish people like crabs. hmmm

Crabs are you reading this?
































Top to Bottom: Sue May holding the audio phone at Roman Baths; Royal Crescent - Bath's most expensive piece of real estate

summerball-ocks

Had my summerball yesternite. Yup please conjure up images of beautifully dressed gals and handsome young men in their tuxs, all having a formal meal and drinks and lotsa dancing.

I wore my expensive Ted Baker silk dress, $200 shoes and went out earlier in the day to get a purse and some cheap earrings. See below for stunning pix of me.

I paid £29 for the ticket, which was just for admittance to the Bath Racecourse grounds OH OH OH... the rides were free.

Hang on before we get there...

A whole group of 14 of us gathered for a meal at Aqua Restaurant just before the ball. And I pre-ordered the yummilicious sounding dish on the menu just days before. Calamari, with prawns & langostine. So I haven't had much food since breakfast so that I could eat my £12 worth of food and enjoy it. For £12 I got 6 calamaris, 2 prawns and 1 tiny langostine. I thought it was an appetiser. And I had to order more bread to keep myself full.

K ... fast forward toBath Racecourse. First impression when I got there.

"I got dressed up for a carnival?"

Almost immediately I had to head for the drinks tent to get a Pimms. And it was a half pint for £3.60. Day light robbery.

So we got talking, me and some of my mates and their pals. And suddenly one of them drops her Pimms on the floor, splashing cheap alcohol on my silk dress and shoes.

"ARGH!!!!!" Yup. Those were my exact thoughts. Hmm no my exact thoughts were "WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!??!?!"

Was told the stain would come off.

"It had damn well better come off, YOU STUPID BITCH WHO CANNOT HOLD YOUR DRINKS!"

But couldn't exactly scream, cos 1. it's gf of a friend. 2. it was a pure accident

"Butterfingers"

Anyway since the Bath Racecourse was on a hill, it started to get cold. Really cold. I only had my one thin cardigan to keep me warm. All the gals were dressed to the nines but were shivering and had their arms crossed and hands rubbing their arms to keep warm.

There was nothing to do at the Ball, the band playing was from the 1970s. Most people by 11 were piss drunk, of course they were having a fun time. I would drink more if not for the fact that the eczema patch on my chest looked like it would take over my entire body if I tried. The girls who started the evening looking all pretty and sweet were drunk, eyes dazed and couldn't walk straight - not a pretty sight.

We walked up and down the grounds trying to keep warm. And in the end I managed to convince a few people to sit on the rides (ie. Yohsuke, Aor (in pix above) and abz) So it was the most expensive ride of my life at £29.

That was essentially the highlight of the nite. SAD. And utter waste of money.

no panadol thank you

What I don't understand about some people, is their unwillingness to take painkillers, which were invented for the sole purpose for removing pain.

Have a friend in Singapore, who suffers from migraines, and as a fellow migraine sufferer* I can fully understand the torment. It's just so painful that sometimes knocking your head against the wall seems to provide relief. (Makes you look like a mental patient, but hey whatever that works!)

For me, at the first sign of an impending migraine - the thickening of the saliva, small pulsating pain from inside the head, I grab two panadol extras to kill it, before it turns into a monster.

And when I tell the same gal to take panadol, she would go,"oh no, it's not good to take too much medication, I'll ride it out."

Which you never do, at least not for me with migraines. So rather than save time and having some decent quality of life, as opposed to headbanging and crouching over table like some dead animal for the rest of the day, it is better for her, to endure the pain.

Go figure.

*No more migraine, thanks to another medical invention aka the Pill. The crap women have to put up with each month!

knowledge by osmosis

Hehehe, just had last of my exams, in my whole entire life... I mean, surely after working, exams are like nothing, and in retrospect they are not a big deal, but the days leading up to the exams - I nearly died. I started revision too late, and tried to cram all 5 days' work in 1 day PLUS a textbook. Needless to say, my brains almost nearly exploded. It was hilarious, all of yesterday while revising for exams, my classmates and I were furiously logging onto Facebook and all replying each other's messages within seconds. Glad to know that I wasn't the only procrastinating.

Don't know why the cheesy chinese song "Love is oveeerrr" is in my head at the moment. But just that line, since I can't remember the rest of the words.

Okay so now that my life will now evolve around - assignments, dissertation sans exams, I may have something may be more interesting to write about.

OH! yes, I got S a citrine bed cos his business has been a bit low lately. And thanks to me cous who said that citrine is a money stone good for business etc, I asked S if he would allow me to decorate his house with citrine (He did ask me to decorate his house with "chinese" stuff. Hah, me with chinese stuff...that'll be the day. I'll like to say crystals are more hippy stuff than chinese, in case someone is reading this post and screaming that while reading.)


Anyway he said okay (surprisingly) and I did. And I am not sure if it was coincidence, timing or that the crystal really worked, but he got more work calls this past week and also an unexpected "windfall" when his neighbour gave him some vouchers (as opposed to a £6 bottle of wine) for him helping them out some weeks back. Cool. And now he wants more fengshui stuff in his house. hmmm

Now I'm going to get moonstone for weight loss. Though I suspect dieting and exercise are still part of that deal...dang!

Sue May is coming next week, on Wednesday, I can't wait! I'm dragging her to one of those free walks on Bath, Pump Room (where the aristocrats used to hang out as it was a place to be seen), Sally Lunn's (oldest house in Bath), Royal Crescent, Circus, Thermae Bath Spa, Comedy Cavern, Royal Victoria Park, Roman Pump and we'll be renting a car to go see Stonehenge (my third time!), and Lacock Abbey where they filmed Harry Potter. Can't wait!

ooooo. Talking about Harry Potter, I think I should book for the book so that it arrives in my post the day it is released. Something other than strategy, price and product differentiation to read about.

hellos and goodbyes

Time seems to fly. After nine months, some people whom I've just met and have grown really close to are leaving.

Annie, or Aunt Hilda (since she is from Norway and we all can't read her Norwegian name, so decided to christen her Aunt Hilda) a really bright, smart and cheerful girl who lives in the room next door is leaving next Monday. It is weird, but the people on my floor have grown really close and largely because through her. She has an amazing ability to bring people together, and she is honest and very sensible for someone as young as she is.

She was my accomplice in using garbage bags to seal up Keith's door, a birthday gift for him. awwwww. Well it didn't stop there we ended up taping Keith's food cupboard, weetabix and milk. Then continued taping the fridge.

Feeling a bit sad that she is leaving soon. I still have all of June, July and August before my dissertation is up and the rascals come over.

On the plus side, I now have an invite to visit Norway anytime I want. :) I just recalled having this picture book on Norway which my dad bought for me when I was little. It showed pictures of fjords and rivers, lots of natural landscape.

Anyway, more pictures and curry tonite. :) Am looking forward to it. In the meanwhile, back to crappy Change Management essay.

anyone missing me yet?

okok, I haven't exactly dropped off the face of this earth... just fallen off my friends' email lists and MSNs.

The past few weeks have been so busy (re: all 200 other posts before this screaming my awful schedule)

Just like Rupert who was in the MBA computer room said today,"Enough, I'm sick of this fucking MBA, fucking Claverton, fucking assignments, fucking essay..." (you get the drift)

I am actually quite looking forward to NOT doing an MBA now. Hear, hear McKinsey, isn't it about time you post that job offer to me?

Well all I can say is, at least the weather is cooperative. It's been rainy past three weeks, if it had been sunny I would have killed someone by now.

The silver lining, light at end of tunnel, sunshine after the rain...is that Sue May my friend from kindergarten is coming over to visit! That's going to happen just the week after my final, final FINAL exam, ever... for the rest of my life. So she is camping in and it's going to be Grrrreat! (think Kellog's Frosties Tiger)

These days it gets dark close to 9pm. So now, when it's 801 feels like it's 5-6pm in Singapore. I feel cheated when it gets completely dark and mentally I'm thinking - no problem still have some hours before 12 to get stuff done.

And when it actually gets dark it's 10 and TIME TO ZZZ! K 9pm now, time to do some work.

foodle moodle

This is a message from Foodle's CEO.

I got promoted 2 days ago. From Project Manager to CEO. The C though, stands for coffee; was mainly running to the coffee room to get coffee for the boys. E and O I haven't quite figured out.

I've been up to my ears doing this entrepreneurial project that combines all my knowledge gleaned from my 1 year on the Bath MBA. Ended up, I STILL did the marketing, dang!

But it's been an eye opening experience, and it just re-affirmed some of the stereotypes about people that I've always had. Some people were just not pulling their weight on the project, which meant that those who were, were punished for being responsible by getting more to do.

Or maybe they'll like to write it off as a cultural difference...what the hell. Not doing work translates to not doing work in any damn language or culture. (As you can see, am not very happy)

I mean, how can you learn if you don't start speaking English? They complain that English is too hard for them, yet they like to fall back into their comfort zone speaking their native language.

Anyway one 85-page essay down, 5 more to go.

It's 1.22am. Time to shower and hit the sack.

crashing and burning

What I really need now... is a month of no work, just sipping Pimm's by the beach and taking in the sun.

With Claverton project (our business venture idea that has to be presented), 2 assignments, a graded presentation tomorrow and readings not done...I am losing the will to live.

Gotta crash now. zzzZZZzzz

under attack!

My limbs are under attack. From insects. Cos the welts on my arms look suspiciously similar to sandfly bites.

Sometimes it gets really itchy. And they are only on my arms, just behind me shoulders and ankles. Ankles are the newest collection of itching welts.

I should take a few pictures and post it here, but it'll seem like some skin disease centre ad. Not too appealing.

But bloody hell, stop biting me!!! And just when summer is here too! I suspect may be all that going to the park thing. DAMN YOU ENGLISH INSECTS!!

Day before was in S's garden doing gardening (don't ask me why), and kena bitten by this blood sucking caterpillar/mosquito look-a-like. And after that it was just a red dot that spread from .05cm to about .1cm in diameter. S looked at it and said it's weird cos he's never come across it before.

grrrrr.

So may go to the medical centre and get some medication. Or maybe to Boots to get some cream, under the section isle of "cream for diseased".

Nose also peeling and red, I think it's eczema, but it's been there for about 2 weeks now.

Sigh. To have good skin.

On another note,... I miss my Ali G.

Keynesian Theory

If it was anything that came out of my education in Economics, it sure wasn't that of Keynes' theory of aggregate demand and supply (*gulp* got visuals of the graphs already). What I do remember of Keynes was his dismissal of all events in the long run.

And it struck me today, that that is sooooo true. With things changing so rapidly, what is permanent? Practically nothing.

Certainly not your job. Not all friendships...relationships? Hell no!

It's weird. I've always hated change, and I still do. But at this point in my life, where nothing is going to be what it is in 6 months' time, I've come to terms, albeit grudgingly, with this state of ephemeral confusion and chaos.

Makes me wonder that sometimes, should I just live for the moment and abandon all thoughts of "how will this affect me down the road? what long term thinking and investment? Should you invest long term in a career? In a relationship?

What's the point anyway? If it doesn't work - NEXT!

All that carpe diem crap does make sense and when things hit you good while you are carpe diem-ing... it is really good. And when shit hits the fan, so what? Things will all even out anyway.

So Mr. Keynes does have a point doesn't he?

"In the long-run, we're all dead"

things you never thought you'll do

For me, that is taking really long walks, sitting out in the sun, lying on the grass having a picnic. But those are exactly what I've been doing the past few weeks.

Took a really long walk from school to home. Was nearly 1 hour walk. (To see where I've covered, just follow the yellow brick road on map I've extracted from Google Earth*

Thanks to my new birkies, would have died without them. Sure, sure I know they are not the best looking of shoes, but in the right colour, and right design, (ie the Madrid, cos I have them dammit!) they can be fashionably cool and chic.

Though must say, the smell of sweat plus suede sure don't go together. Got a bottle of Scholl shoe odour spray from Boots today. Hope it works, or will have to do the horrid German fashion of socks with birkies! Fashion faux pas!













View of Bath Skyline from North Road


*Best invention on earth, after the air-conditioner and radiators. Costs you next to nothing to fly from UK to Singapore and BACK!

damn you jeans!

After 30 something years of pui-ness*, short-sightedness, shortness, fat arms, bow-leggedness, higher propensity towards:

- high blood pressure
- SLE
- diabetes
- heart problems
- stroke
- eczema

I have found another reason to curse the very existence of the double helix that have brought about my being.

I am starting to look like me sis! ARGGGHHHHH

All my life, most people have always said that we look different. But in recent years, people have started commenting that we're looking alike.

The first few comments I waved it off...then along came the pictures and even I thought that I looked like me sis... god forbid! Sure she has always been the prettier one... but I don't want to look like her! Muahahhaha We even have the same - one eye smaller than the other problem when we smile, comes out real obvious in pictures!!

Just like me dad and his bros, they've all merged into ONE LOOK. The Leo Brothers Look.

Scary.











Me, with new hair-do. Think me eyes look like L from Death Note. (cousin will know what I'm talking about.)


*While trying on my trusty ole' sisley jeans the other day, realised that the fly kept coming down. Initially tried to attribute it to a spoilt zip. But I think it's cos I've put on too much weight! Pui-ness: Hokkien and singlish-nised for fat-ness.

the pop effect

A closeup in the mirror revealed a little white spot. Using the edge of a tweezer, I prodded it and goodness gracious me...there was a little tail sticking out from the little pore opening.

The squishy, gelatinous, white head was like a little plug, plugging the pore. I raced to the bathroom, got tissue and then opened cupboard, which had a huge mirror in it.

With my face just 2 inches from the mirror, I examined the whitehead. And slowly but surely, I coaxed the little bugger to reveal more of himself in the open.

"Stop hiding and come out!" I said to him.

Blood and serum came gushing out from the surrounding sore tissue.

I eased its little tail in all directions, and used the edge of the tweezers to hold its tiny tail, then kiaped* it tight and "POP"! The white head was out!

The feeling was one kind of shiok.

Super shiok.

Last week, saw 3 pus-y spots on S's back.

"May I squeeze them? Please?"

"Alright, go on then." said S.

"Seriously?" I replied in disbelief, cos this was the first time he's allowed me to squeeze a spot.

And before he could change his mind, I hurriedly dragged him to the window for better light. Then drawing on my years of experience, I gently eased the pus out. It went POP.

Pus was green, semi solid. So shiok.














Me at North Parade Park on a Sunday afternoon. The life!

*Kiap: Onomatopoeia. Hokkien word for clasp