Boo!

It's been awhile...how come all my pictures disappeared?

Little Girl in a Big Big World...

Everybody dress to kill at the CBD area, especially Mondays. Power suits, 2-3 inch heels, linkcuffs etc if their branded suits are way more branded than yours, they can kill you.

I learned there are the fast lane and the slow lane on the escalators. Those in a hurry will step right and walk while riding along. If you wish to just ride it out, you have to stand left.

So, on Monday like all people, suffered from the Blues and I commute to work gloomy and I hate it that everyone dressed like they're so uppity with expressions that's far from friendly and they have such intended force in their steps when they walk, dont their feet hurt at all? So back to the escalator, I was running late, cut right and knocked the shoes off some lady in front of me. Her flops went sprawling to the other end, I found myself staring at her naked feet and for a split second I thought 'wah so smartly dressed but eh? bare-feet?? '. Half expecting her whip round giving me loud 'tsk' or killer stare, heard lady 'hehe' to herself while she reached for her shoe. Her 'hehe' did it, already I found it irresistibly funny, her 'hehe' nearly killed me cos I desparately wanted to laugh too! I swear it was the hardest apology I coughed up while holding my chocking urge. It was precisely so funny cos it was like so improper. And suddenly it didnt feel like a awful Monday no more..

My Boss:
- calls us 'boss' instead of our names and he msg us on this messenger thing we have like msn and ask how's our morning/lunch/day etc: 'helo boss, hw's lunch?'
- he's overwhelmed by work and mostly it's bohliao stuff, he forwards the email to us with his comment in big fonts "Lao Sai"
- time to time he'll msg us 'boss hw r u? Im dying...'
- so we go drop by check in on him at his cubicle and he shows us what he has to work on while half-crying and laughing 'wah lao...cherandy...I have to update this, this, this, boring man...'
- some people made mistakes or did stupid unexplainable things, his msg: "Vomit!"

See what?

Hi! I'm her evil twin, she's Gemini remember so that's gotta be another around and yup its me. Brandy. You laughing at my name?You think it's cheesy? Suck my toe. It's a stupid name but it signifies my all too important role in her otherwise mundane life.
Although she pretends I'm not around..as if I put her to shame, each time she gets drunk, who takes it for her? And the woman wakes up the next day going about her usual as if nothing happened.
No she didnt climb up the podium in Devils and make a complete ass of herself, no she didnt beg the waiter at Harry's (?) to 'save' her by dancing with her (which he gladly obliged and was all gentleman about it...woah) cos some scary blok kept harrassing her to dance with him, and no she certainly did not chat up with the janitor telling him how he should wear his redcap while he smiles nervously at her as he cleans up some puke off the floor..It was all ME! And she has the cheek to be ashamed of me! Ingrate!
Sooo except for certain days of the month dependent on some weird cycle or the Moon, OR when she oh-so-unwillingly lands herself in unhealthy environment surrounded by booze and plays victim there, I'm usually not interested in letting myself out. But when I DO come out and grace my presence, I relish every moment of it. So really, ours is a love-hate relationship, something which I find tough to understand.
Anyways, I cant stand it that she kids herself thinking with her new found job, she's either too stressed or busy to blog something down and so tonight it's MY SAY. She not happy she can go suck the other toe.
Let me begin by introducing myself:


She: My acting angel twin


Me: Evil Twin


Just a side note, someone once commented that MY picture looked like some Japanese babe! WoohoOoo! Kawaii Ne~~And she had the audacity to be all cheery and happy about it! As if it's her pic??
The woman shocks me, horrifies me and fascinates me.

Case-study:

1. She was told to go Millenia Tower and obtain her Acess Pass on the 39th floor from a lady working at the CSIS Dept. Apparently she was also informed there should be a Smith and Barney's office around on the same floor.
- She steps into the crowded lift, press '39' and I heard her telling herself she's gonna faint any moment cos everyone around her was smartly donned in business armour suits and she's getting smaller smaller and smaller... *Ding* 29th Storey says the Automated voice and the woman walked out! She looked around for Smith and Barneys, not in sight. She went on along the corridor reading the Dept plates on the walls. No CSIS but she did see a CIS. She hesitates abit and thought oh well, maybe it's the same. The SAME?! And proceeds to dial the relevant extension while she stands outside the obviously wrong door! Nobody answered, annoyed, she marched up to the recep of the floor and asked for the lady she was to meet. 'Oh, CSIS is on the 39th Floor' said the lady. You should have seen the look on my twin's face. Doh!

2. Every Friday evening, she supposedly started having Cell Group meetings on the 16th floor at this condo 'Rafflesia' in Bishan. She's both driven / being driven there couple of times and last night being late, overworked and very hungry, she rushed down in a cab. Uncle cabby asked her before he turned in 'This one ar?' She looked up abit 'ya' and continues playing with her mobile. Now, at the gantry, you usually just tell the guard the magic words '16-0-1' and you'll be let through, unmolested. Last night, the guard gave her a funny look and she thought he was being rude. He then shoves a book to her face and requested she signs in. The nerve! She complains to the cabby uncle that they started a new system and that before, there wasnt any need to sign any stuff at all and laments and sighs while she scribbled on it. After being let through, she thought the driveway was a little strange and that he has to drive a little longer than usual before arriving at the dropoff point. No worries. She paid and proceeded to the lift lobby. Strange, this time they built doors to the lobby, new system of having to sign in and now there are lobby doors! Note, by this time, I was kinda frowning and gave her a little kick, but the bugger ignored me. Oh well. She goes into the lift with an angmoh couple, the man was carrying a big pot of plant with little oranges on it. Chinese New Year mood infectious! Cool! Then she looks at the buttons....no button with '16' on it to press. The highest floor was '10'. Well, she has to press something right? She hit the highest floor while she was all confused inside. Angmoh couple exit at their floor and she frantically hit the Ground button while she thinks to herself where the other 6 storeys gone to. Down at the ground level, she walks around, and I cant believe this but she actually thinks maybe this is the wrong block, maybe another block has 16 storeys to it and that's the right one. The colours of the condos seemed right and even the swimming pool seemed right so it's gotta be another block. She called her cell group friend to check on the correct tower and was told it's tower 1, she saw tower A and thinks that's the one. 'A' and '1' is the first of everything. So it must be it. She walks and stopped short, wait, this block looks short, it's the same one I came out from, looks around, all the blocks are of the same height! It's all 10 storeys! She walks to the gantry and checks with the guard. Wrong place. Does it surprise you? Did it surprise me? There's more. The guard told her 'Rafflesia' is further up the road. She attempts to walk uphill, feeling stupidier with each step she took in her filmsy heels. Upon nearing the compound, she looks at the colour of the condos and thinks, 'This is not it, the colours are wrong and the tennis court is not above ground level, not the place at all'. Then she saw the signboard
Rafflesia
Stupid or not, I ask you?
You want somemore? Ok just abit more..

3. She was bathing just now right and began the routine of washing her hair first. Using only Dove hair products, after shampooing she went on to the conditioner and rinsed it off. So far so good. Next is the body right? She reached and squeezed out a fat glob of Dove shampoo, again.

She thinks it's not too bad since, hey there's no one else in the bathroom, she can remedy the situation by twisting off the shampoo cap and scrapping the glob back into the bottle.
Think again, she forgot I was there.

Who's ashamed of who now?

~Brandy (shaddup)~

Welcome to channelcherandyasia: According to statistics, Unemployment has declined by 0.00001% today...

Bcos I've juz been hired! Today is like smack everything happening in yer face one after another. Agent called in morning informed me of an interview set for afternoon. Went for it and couple of hours later, she said I'm selected!! WooHOoo!! Can you feel my happiness?? Can you??

Gosh all of a sudden I feel I've not played enough...I know this is a stupid thought but cant they have me start work next Monday instead of tomorrow? Im not ready to wake up 7am and jostle with the peak hr crowd. I'll most probably have insomnia tonight and look like shit tomorrow. Looking at my dull-wit face, they'll prob think they've selected the wrong candidate and let me go the next day! Smack and Wham again! They better not cos this is the very same bank that rejected me the other time. I dont care if it's a different office this time, if they let me down again I'll take it very personal and burn them down. Not when I sent mass SMS to all my friends "tis is to formally announce ur dearez fren cheran here has been employed! Tnks for all de encouragements! Muacky muackz"

Alrite I'm heading out for a grand celebration, fireworks and all.
Kiss porridge nightmare goodbye!

Jobless and Chest-less...

My agent confirmed my worstest fear, din get the stupid job as expected. Hate it when I always get it right and it's always the bad bad ones. I'm peeved. I've had it with this dumb bank, one day when I become rich and powerful, I'll employ someone to open and close an account worth millions every alternate day and I want my withdrawal all in coins.

So she's gonna try pimp me to another bank, we'll see how that goes. To speed things up, I went down to Adecco and got myself another personnel consultant. Hmm I like the word agent better, makes me feel like a celebrity whenever friends ask for updates "..my agent will contact me should there be further developments". This hongkie-twang agent tells me she has an open position currently, working hours are from 4pm - 1am...this explains why it's still left open. Well, I cant be choosy right? Anything nice and rosy wld have been snatched up, even if it aint, it wldnt be for me. So if they're willing to train someone like me who's got no relevant experience wadsoever, I'm happy. Just take me!

Other news - met up with 2 of my closest friends for lunch and got scolded for not eating enough cos to them I lost weight and my breasts. I was never a large or even close to a moderate. 'Ya but at least u had some, now it's like u dont even have any'.

I wanna hit things.

I'm on emotional crutches..

Well I've seen better days. Maybe its my hormones, I'm in the midst of my cycle. Maybe it's the damning drilling that roused me from my slumber at unearthly hours. Maybe its the awful interview I went through yesterday.

When I received call from my agent that I was shortlisted for the interview, nothing could describe my happiness! At least I have a chance! When I was informed of the venue and the interviewer, they were strangely familar...Didnt take long to realise I've been to the exact place, had the interview with the exact person couple of months back! It was through a friend that had me hooked up to that interview and now my agent's sending me to the same interview again.
What kinda chance do I have now? Disappointed, I decided to turn up anyway...I mean who knows?

Apparently, the lady who was due to interview me made that realisation too and checked with my friend way before our scheduled time. She told my friend since she's interviewed me before she cant interview me again, so I was actually interviewed by another lady. My friend found out and relate to me that I wasnt shortlisted the first time bcos I didnt look like I would stay on with the supposedly boring job and that the lady felt I'm more apt for sales position. Come on! I would have know better and go immerse myself with sales application instead of trying out for this than right? Obviously I would know what I want and would be commited to stick on with the 'boring' job. How could they just presume and its not even a correct presumption at that!

I turn up hopping I could change her mind, only to discover another lady was interviewing me and the interview wasnt good. It was superficial, nothing much was asked about me and it felt like she was just going through for the sake of it. I was in and out in about 10mins.

Now you know why I feel terrible?

But then again my friends were real supportive and I'm so grateful for that, for them.

supportive fren: no worries la..take your time

me: if take somemore time I have to eat porridge liao la

supportive fren: porridge not bad wad...quite nice to eat leh

me: ...can you try harder to make pple feel better instead of describing the porridge

supportive fren: hehe..ok la it's that stupid company's loss..

and she even went further to check up my horoscope (gemini), cut and paste the entire chunk detailing how the year 2005 would be a good year for me.

I really appreciated that. Another bore with my whinning and lamenting into the phone about how ill-fated I am, how the sun refuse to shine for me no more..you know..making my problem sound bigger than it really is.

Below are more sporadic utterance from various friends:
fren 1: cheran, we go for holiday ok? I lend you the money first, no interest. You can pay me back when u find your job.

fren 2: you still have money in your bank not? If not can tell me..

fren 3: I pray for you ok?

They dont know how much I love them. It's not the money, Im definitely very good with my finance management. It's just that sometimes they really make me feel very loved...think I should go and cry abit..

How Was Your Night?

A simple dinner apointment morphed into 7hours of unforseen chained activities.
I guess nobody really wanted to end the night, head home and wake up to a gloomy Sunday so what do we do? We tell each other and ourselves 'Nope, not tired, where to next?'

So we stretched the hours of darkness and prowled the streets.Something which I've not done for a very long time since my uni days in Perth. I dig the excitment in these, spontaneous and uncalled for, anything goes. But it's very impt that the company is right. Vibes and all. If the companionship aint there, Disney feels like an afternoon hangout at the 7-11s. I'd rather watch polish dry off my nails.

It was half past 10, a very late dinner at Clark Quay. We decided on TCC : Chicken Enchiladas, Fresh Farm Salad and loads of flavoured tea to wash down with. Endless chattering, dessert was fantasized so we gave in and ordered Banana and Chocolate Rum ice-cream. Close to one, TCC was winding up for the day and we started the 'where to next?'

Late night movie sounded enticing so we headed for Cine in my Rebel friend's zippy bike which I'll call SpeedShark cos I think thats what the sticker read. Nothing on screen which we've not seen was interesting. Except "Omen" which Rebel was tempting me with. But me and ghost-horror movies dont cross path and I'm determined to ensure it never does and I'm glad she doesnt push it. That was two-ish.

Spontaneous thinking churned up Bowling and I did really pathetic. My thumb was swelling with just 2 throws and I found myself admiring the lians over at the next lane, they had their very own cool balls and bowled like thunder, knocking pins like toothpicks. Rebel insisted I threw curve balls, that I tell her how I did it. She was being nice attempting to cushion my crushed ego or she failed to realise though they spin alrite, it all spun nicely into the gutter, with a couple bordering on the edge taunting me before drain shots.

It was here at the Marina South carpark I attempted to ride SppeedShark. "It's an Auto, just throttle and go" she says. And you guessed right, Shark drove me instead and pweeny seconds passed before bike had enough of me and puked me off over the curb and I managed half a somersault. Bike was resting nicely alongside curb. I blame it on bad karma.

Past 3. Geylang King of Doughstick. Here we shoved more food: tea-egg, beancurd, soya milk and doughstick. I love 24hrs food stalls! Made this our last stop cos I could see her eyes were starting to swell from weariness. I loved the food, appreciated her company and grateful for Shark's mercy. Towards the end, I remember feeling mellow and nostalgic. It seemed I was starting to miss the night already.
Reached home at five.
It has to be my best night.

Part III: Finale

Alrite this is the really romantic sleeping quarters we had at the village. For some strange reasons, each night before I right about lose my consciousness, these words comes to mind: I'm a beeeautiful little butterfly. That's what too much of "A Bug's Life" does to you.



Having spent 4 days with the Karen folks, I know I left a part of myself there and bidding farewell was rather tough. Maybe it's a becoming of self. To be a part of something that's bigger then life itself, how do you let it go? They were able to understand what Goodbye meant and amidst photo shots and hugs, I'm constantly reminded of the fact we may never see each other again. And I can only hope I left an impact in their lives, one that is positive of cos, that there are people who loves them and will try and help them. Bcos they did leave quite a deep one on me.

Chiangmai Academy/Orphanage
The drive was hell. Close to 10hrs of bumming and near-puke experience. Death chill winds, polluted city air, holding-off pissing till stops are made and scrambling into moving vehicle cos driver doesnt really ensure all is safely accounted for and seated. We finally reached the Academy and I was kissing the ground.
Greeted by students of the orphanage and immediately I noticed how Thai people esp those up here in the north look really good! Like this handsome boy, well not real outstanding in this pic but he's seriously gorgeous in person, so agreed by my surrounding friends.



Lady in black is Malee and white is Noch. Very pretty as well. I do not know if they are orphans as some students have parents around but they live in the orphanage. Anways, I noticed Malee cos shes pretty and has a very cool and attitude face. I went up to her and told her she's pretty and she thanked me very politely. Next day we visited the orphanage again and I decided to take a picture of them. After which I walked to a nearby swing and sat by myself while listening to some ongoing sermon. Malee came up and asked if she could sit beside me and we made small talks then she requested that we exchange contacts so we could keep in touch. See what I told you about being cool and attitude? You would never expect that this individual be the more forward between the both of us. Me, arguably the more seasoned and city slicker and she having spent all 10yrs of her life in an orphanage and possibly never have travelled in a airplane was the one to reach out. I was more than impressed and humbled. We did and both she and Noch would be receiving a copy of the photograph below.
Right now at this point in time, I would really like to sponsor someone from that orphanage. And I know I will work towards that aim.

Part II :



Influenced them to put up my infamous V pose!


To them its luxury
I learned their usual fare consists of only boiled cabbage with rice. The way she slurp it up made magiee manufacturers proud.



Brave girl had a badly infected wound. She was limping around and caught the attention of our trained nurse who sat her down and cleaned up her pus-caked cut. She washed, she dug at it and brave girl kept a smile thru-out! It was painful alrite, she tensed and clenched her teeth at times. I felt so sore and held her hand while the cleansing was in process. After cleaning and dressing up her wound, she went to play hopscotch in the dirt..geez..



Things we did together. Taught the alphabets, simple english vocabulary, shared stories about Jesus birth in the manger and coloured 'Jesus Loves You' pictures.



We gave out blankets, clothes, toys and some medical supplies.

Siam: Deep in the forest down some creek, 'Silent Night' could be heard at a little Karen village..

+ It was the most romantic outback stay. mosquito nets (pink!) lined the ceiling. tons and tons of blankets as cushions and covers for the cold. Candles burning dimly at some corner. All snuggled alongside each other falling aslp to lull of crickets and snores.

+ Was adventurous enough to bathe by the icy river. Amid washing hair Timotei style, heard my travel buddy Joyce laughing. Looked up and saw my Rejoice shampoo bobbing along with the current downstream. Ran after it for dear life creating big splish-splash. Places like these, I need my damn shampoo. Rescued it alrite.

+ 'Ter Berlerk' (made-up spelling) is Karen for 'What's your name'. We kept asking each other till it's like some form of greeting. To me, they all looked the same differentiated only by the clothes they never change out of. To them, we all looked the same too. I introduced myself as my chinese name 'Su Jun' , 'Cherandy' would be a real challenge I reckon. They got the hang of it and kept calling out 'Su Jun' just to evoke a response from me. Be it a look, a smile, a wave sometimes even a 'What/Simi?' from me. Initially I trained them to call me 'Chiobu' just for the fun of it. But dropped it as it became too gross for me to handle.

+ Early morn. Brushing my teeth at the washing area. "Su Jun, Su Jun". I looked up and saw a bunch of them across the grasspatch. I waved and they waved back amused. Continued brushing "Su Jun, Su Jun". Waved again. This happened afew times and became quite routine.

+ A platform of wood slabs was put together near our house. We lined blankets on it and snuggled under more blankets while staring out at the stars. The max no. of shooting stars under 2hrs was 6.

+ I imagined myself being tied-down with the bridge building but the truth is, there really wasnt much we could do. The best we could offer was to transport planks. I find myself more drawn to the educational class we conducted. This is where I could interact with them the most and is also the most cherished episode of my trip. We sang songs, taught the alphabets tho I guess they have hardly a clue what was being sung, they sang along anyhow. Languages,cultures are no barrier when there are smiles and love being displayed. Imagine Captain's Ball and Poison Ball was played there. Imagine the word 'Chiobu'could be heard at that part of the world..

to be continued..

Changmai Missionary Trip 2004

Tribes we'll be visiting: Karen and Hmong
- Karen Beeyawta Village School
- Panakok Hmong Village
Building Bridge and Teach (I'm sooo looking forward to the Bridge Building but doubt I'll be much of a help anyway).

Allocated Departure Baggage - 5kg Hand Carry , 7 kg Check-In (this is for ladies. Men 5kg Chk-In)
Climate: 15+ degrees by day, below 10 by night. No fear of mosquitos = probability of Malaria minimal.
Taking a chance with Cholera so no jabs taken.
Dysentery - Charcoal pills should provide some relief.

I'm so gonna try find me some elephants to ride!

Santa would most prob trip and fall visiting a particular unit in Ah Hood Road..

Christmas is approaching and this year i would really like a Christmas tree but my mom is right, our house is always in such a big mess there wouldnt be a clean spot for the tree.
The last tree we had since pri school had lost all its 'leaves'. It was a real plasticky tree that had leaves slotted into branches slotted into the tree. Few years back I tried to set it up but it looked so ugly cos we lost most of the leaves and if they were still around, most were pressed out of shape. And I bet like most of you, come Chinese New Year, the tree would still be glittering with neon bulbs and laden with cotton snow.
So I looked around and felt books have got to be the most common in my HDB flat. We have a total of 7 bookshelves overflowing with it. The Genre is wide: "Chen Style Taichichuan", "The Complete Medicinal Herbal", "How to Get Extraordinary Results from Ordinary People", "Mastering WordPerfect 5" (do people still use WordPerfect these days?), "New Syllabus Mathematics (latest edition, revised edition, complete edition etc)". We've long ran out of space for bookshelves, hence piles of it are stacked neatly at some corner. Occasionally pile would topple over and stuff at the bottom rises up to the top. Upon entering flat for the first time, friends would almost always display the by now classic expression. Imagine dropped jaws and a 'wah...' followed by long pause. One thing's for sure, our unit would burn the brightest if there's ever a fire hazard.

Random clutter-check:
1. two refrigerators

2. four TVs (1 not working but not disposed of bcos 'it can be fixed')

3. three VCR recorders (1 not working but same as above)

4. four vacumn cleaners (1 not working but same as above)

5. three iron (1 short circuited when my mom last used it, not disposed just cos its simply not disposed of)

6. twelve phone sets!! (4 connected, the rest is spoilt in some ways. Not disposed cos I'm beginning to suspect we have a fetish for these instruments.)

7. five desktops (3 in use while the rest is being kept as antiques)

8. four laptops (2 in use while the rest were 2nd-hand bought at very good rates but with no planned purpose of use)

And I hafen got to the kitchen...

I Sing, You Like, I'm Your Idol..

Caught the final ep. of the Singapore Idols last night and I'm happy Taufik clinched it. Not a supporter of both finalist but just by the fact that I cant stand Sylvester with all his excessively 'cute' actions puts me off and had me rooting for Taufik by default. When Gurmit announced the voting had ended Sly actually 'pretended' to cry. Just by that alone makes me feel like hitting him.

Taufik is undeniably a better singer and has stronger stage prescence but I doubt his career as an idol will have much development. Sly on the other hand might stand better chance.

And Then There Are Times

I get awaken prematurely especially on my designated Sleep-In-Day, a routine which I faithfully adhere to and uphold like a sacred ritual. Lady on the line spoke with deliberate politeness (could sense she wasnt used to being polite) that I'm among some fortunate 30 who have won some lucky draw.
Sensing that I'm not recalling, she asked me if i remember filling out some lucky draws at some shopping mall and the only one I could recall was the Harvey Norman forms I filled out. She wasnt too interested in my reply and launch into a script-like rattle of the various items I've won: Designer Italian watch, travel package and quite a few more which I couldnt register at my raw state of mind. Collection time was to be at The Adelphi 2pm. Must be exactly 2pm? I questioned. To which she replied, well if you come later then you'll end later. Wait a min...isnt it a pick and go thing? Afterall it's a 'collection' right? She seemed to read my mind, let me explain she says. My warning alarm went off 'Phony! Bogus! No way is it a simple lucky draw' "Once your here, we will explain our travel promotion to you and inform you of the discounts you will get should you be interested in signing up for our membership...*the rest is unregistered*

This definitely did not sound Harvey Norman, so I told her, I dont think I took part in any contest. This is not a contest she replied. Well, I didnt take part in this lucky draw then...but this is also not a lucky draw...Didnt she start off the whole conversation asking if I remember filling up some forms for a lucky draw? If I were to ask the words "What is this then?" I know more of my precious mobile time would be charged as she dives back into one of the scripts she has, with chunks of lines to rattle off before a response is needed. Maybe with pointers entitled 'How to baffle those suckers again once they sense something is amiss'. So I pass.

Alrite here comes the rejection I must dish out. I suck at giving flowery excuses to get out of sitatuations, I know some people out there who can do wonderful job of getting out of things yet still come off as *oh...such a sweetie...I know you would love to be suckered by me and understand that you just cant help but reject my attempt to do so bcos you have such a sweet reason and I dont blame you at all..* All I could manage was a "Nah I think I'll forgo this". She paused and I could just read the evil bubble forming at her head: #$#$%%@#, I tell ya, it was one pause which made me feel so uncomfortable. Obvious that she's regaining herself: "But m'am, this is a great opportunity..." Nope I dont think I want it, thanks.

"Ok then Bye" Click.

Without adequate sleep, my Sunday was ruined, I was tired but not tired enough to get back to bed so I moped around the house lethargic and sunk my lifeless mass in front of the teevee while playing furniture to the rest of my family.


To end, I bought this new beverage just cos it signifies my mood totally and upon tasting the drink, the message on the Can all the more amplifies my feeling of the day.

Track 6: ...Such Comfort In Loving You..

I cant help it. The man has been singing to me for the past 5hrs in the pirated version which I shamelessly ripped off the net, how can I be so cruel as to ignore him and not do this: spending precious savings on the album thereby making him and Sony Music Entertainment so much richer.

I dont usually invest in albums as it's always a couple of nice tunes among many other crappy ones. Very Uneconomical. So for me to actually purchase an artise' CD could only mean one thing, all the right buttons were pushed, think virtual orgasm. Make no mistake, I didnt say the collection was overly nice, it just worked for me. No two people could have identical buttons so I'm not liable if it didnt go down well for you.

Tech Savvy I'm Not...

will you just look at that...wires everywhere! Spent good half of my day cleaning up my room specifically my dust-laden computer. Oh gosh..I just remember I need to change my bedsheets after all this cleaning and it's like 2ish in the morning...grrrreat.

Painstakingly unplugged the various components and gave them a good wipe and it's when I discover the Law of Gravity doesnt apply to Dust. Dust collects everywhere! Even on the underside of wires and my glass table. Anyways back to the dirt cleaning, my Creative speakers have a maze of wires, they're like tentacles sprawled all over and it's no joke sorting them out. And then there was my block of a scanner, something we exchanged for through accumulation of reward points. It's the thickness of two textbooks atop each other and did I mention so many wires! I was lazy to label the wires to the respective sockets thinking I'm real cool about which hole to plug into correctly..

You guessed it, I dim-wittedly ran my high powered Creative adaptor into the scanner and with everything else in place, I flick the switch on.."Beep! Beep! Beep!!" in retrospect I believe that the beeping was in fact Morse Code for "I'm gonna die!!!". It happened fast, 'Pop', I killed the power and white smoke with some plasticky smell followed.

Believe me, I've never felt smarter. Couldnt get my PC to respond after that, could turn it on but my monitor couldnt detect any signals, not to mention the beeping continued persistently. To cut it short, my brother came to the rescue (thank God for brothers! No thank God for tech-savvy brothers). He couldnt pin the problem but he swapped the memory card into a different slot and it worked!

Life oozed back into my virtual gadget and I cant begin describing how happy to be baack clicking my mousey and drumming my keyboard! Ahhh..internet is my other source of life, my connection to the world...ok sounding drama..I'm happily blogging again and I've downloaded my favourite Huang Yi Da track - 'Xi Huan Ni, Xi Huan Wo' playing it on Repeat for what seemed eternity. This has gotta be Cherandy's track of
the year.
Everything's Normal again

Once you get hold of that driving license, getting lost takes on a whole new meaning.

Liz bought herself a car and wasted no time in getting lost, she claimed it took her a whole hour to get from Orchard to Marina. These days she's more familiar with Orchard so if she wish to get to anywhere in Singapore, we would see her travelling to Orchard before she can start navigating herself to the desired destination. To me this is an improvement, at least the woman is able to find her bearing once she hit the familar town streets.
Tonight is my virgin experience letting her drive me home. A common friend Wen, who had prior experience warned me "You cant talk to her while she's driving. Just keep very very quiet...I almost fell asleep that time...." she recounted miserably.
I made a mental note: Keep very quiet, Talk only when absolute necessary. e.g: "Watch Out!" or "What did we hit??" finally "Arrrrgh!! We're gonna Die!".

Anyway the Moment arrived. Wen and myself told Liz we're ready to go home. Liz became very quiet then suddenly announced she gotta pee and hurried away. We were all convinced she's damn nervous.

I'm typing this blog on my own PC in my cosy HDB bedroom so hey...it's not that bad afterall. There wasnt a need to utter those lines above, we were even able to hold a decent conversation about the kind of songs she burned on her CD. In fact I think she's a pretty darn steady driver this is besides the fact that she has a scary habit of turning Right from the Left lane.
I had my share of getting lost and I'm most afraid of big towns which distinguishes its roads with numbers: Avenue 1, Avenue 2, bcos numbers dont make much of an impression to me and I get lost easily when surrounded by too many numbers.
Common ones to see are: Avenue (insert numeric) , Lorong (insert numeric), Drive (numeric) and Street (numeric).
Just wondering are there such things like " Ang Mo Kio Avenue 9 Street 65 " ?
How about " Ang Mo Kio Drive 6 Lorong 9 Avenue 2 Street 65?

My brother's Back...

for vacation that is, and he's got this beauuutiful kiwi figurine for me. Well, it's simply lovely cept it wasnt really what I had in mind...I had wanted a kiwi which I could actually handle, this kiwi figurine is enclosed in a liquid glass globe and when given some shakes, glitters would swish around. Not the exact thing I'd asked for but it's a real pretty thing and I liked it lots. Has kinda hypnotic effect with all the swirling glitz and my eyes just glazed over with all the intense staring..
So he's back and my mom's on holidays, I So feel like I'm on holiday as well, my job search can wait...well at least till after my Chingmai trip in December.

In other news, we went to the John Little Sale yesterday and gosh they had undergarments going at a dollar! I know what you're thinking, that they're Grandma material i.e. that stretches up to your tummy. On the contrary, there are real nice ones around going for the buck. Fancy prints of flowers and some tiny beads in front. Swweet!
Do you know that a nice pair of undergarment boosts the confidence level? Try it! For that extra boost, pick out your best piece.

Who holds the Key to all their strenght?

'The Incredibles' truly blew me over.
Warning: This post can be considered a spoiler for those who havent seen the film, so do not read on if it matters to you.

Anyways, the part that did it for me was when Mr Incredible with all his mighty super strength told his wife in desperation that she cant follow him on his dangerous mission despite her having super powers as well, bcos he simply cannot risk losing her again (previously he was misled into thinking the evil villian had destroyed his entire family). With all his super-human strength, the exact words he used were 'I'm not strong enough' when it comes to the thought of losing his wife.
Such irony and yet in itself, most beautiful and touching. This is the very reason why this movie appealed so much to me. Similarly in 'Superman: The Movie', an anguished Superman remembered how he lost his adoptive father Jonathan Kent to heart diesease and he bitterly thought to himself something to the lines of: "..with all the powers in the world, yet I couldnt save the man.." with that,he was even more determined not to lose Lois and proceeded to bring her back to life.

There are people around who appear formidable, untouchable, full of self-confidence and seem to have the world at the palm of their hands. And I think the more 'powerful' they get, the more vulnerable they are. This shouldnt be taken as a bad thing of cos. So if you know your strength is built on someone dear to you, you should start appreciating that individual and not take him/her for granted.
I know of a friend whose father treats her mom with the utmost care as she has real bad asthma and many times attacks were so bad they nearly lost her. Her dad calls her mom 'Loh Fatt Ye' meaning Empress Dowager. I bet her mom feels so loved. I also recall how my father seemed afraid when he had to clean my badly abused knee wound. Click here for that episode. So you see, everyone has points of weaknesses and many times it's emotions that rules.

Chameleon
You know once news get around of your resignation, people at your workplace starts morphing into somebody or something else? It's sublimal, attitudes change and some just avoid talking to you altogether. I'm especially disappointed in a certain colleague who was initially real helpful and forward with help needed. Towards the last few months of my termination, I was treated indifferently and I cant help but felt there could have been a conspiracy going on. I felt judged and misunderstood. I wish my colleague knew the person I am instead of basing it from hearsay.
There were a couple however, who encouraged me throughout and I appreciated it thoroughly.

Who hasnt heard about office politics? But just what kinda person do you wanna be? You can be the type that plays the game well and just like a monitor lizard switch sides constantly following majority, or you can play half the game but remain indifferent when it comes to matters that's not of your concern thus playing it safe, or you cant help but be in the game but speak words of encouragement for matters that's not of your concern and risk offending the majority.

I must state that anybody can be a player but ultimately I guess it all boils down to whether you can live with yourself being such an individual. At some point I was really disgusted and angry. And I ask myself what have I learnt from the Bible. I learnt that sometimes people may not know what they are doing and no one can be perfect, including me. When Jesus was persecuted and misunderstood, He prayed for those who persecuted Him. I'm not saying I'm like Jesus holy and perfect, praying for those persecuting Him. I myself am full of imperfection and the least I can do is pray for Jesus to take my hurt away and not be angry anymore.

Come to think of it, isnt it wonderful? Some school of belief has it that forgiveness or detachment of such bitterness is required to seek peace and higher levels of enlightenment. I guess my belief is that forgiveness is required because of love. Jesus loves you, so do I.