Politics

I am a straightforward, no nonsense, no agenda kind of gal and I really hate beating about the bush or playing the politics game or covering ur silly a** just so as not to look bad. If I make a mistake, I come right out and say it. Admit, resolve, learn from it, move on.

Sadly, the world doesn't work this way and not many people share my above philosophy (so sad!). So I'm learning to play the game ... to follow these rules and not get sucked nor trapped nor played out by those adept at it. Yes, that's part and parcel of working smart. "Don't be a fool!" i hear you say.

When things go wrong, solving the issue doesn't seem to be the immediate action item. Its trying to cover up, trying to shirk responsibility or trying to blame others instead of themselves that take centre stage. Instead of trying to quickly solve it at the root, they would suggest means of getting the "victim" to change. What logic is that ? I do not know.

Anyway, I know I just have to protect myself. Be firm, be assertive and push the issue back to them. The thing is, you waste a long of brain juice trying to think of political reasons why this and that shouldn't be the way, and why they should be the one changing.

Thankfully I have a group of very patient, accomodating and understanding users. One even came with 2 bottles of brand essence chix for me for all the hard work I'm putting in lately. Such a sweet & kind gesture. I'm very touched to say the least.

And though the orgn doesn't give a hoot about the hard work put in, its users like them who make slogging for them worthwhile.

And to answer some of my friends' questions. No, I didn't sell myself to the company. And NO, they don't give me 12 months bonus.
hahahaha
And yes, I have to pay for my own cab fare.

lalalalalala

Nightmare on Robinson Street

Another busy period for me ..... its Phase 2 of the "nightmare". Phase 1 was towards the end of 2007 when I also spent many late nights in the office.

The "big day" was on Sat and we started some preparatory work on Fri night. And the nightmare started right from the beginning. Whatever that didn't happen before happened that night. Haiz, we struggled til past 11pm before we called it a night.

The nightmare continued the following day. The team that was performing the task was disappointing and too inexperienced. Considering that it was an important exercise, I was completely riled that the exercise was carried out by some inexperienced and incompetent staff. To add to that, there were many unexpected behaviour that didn't occur during the testing phase. I was glad my users were patient (or just didn't know what to expect) in verifying and reporting the many errors encountered. I was constantly on the phone receiving reports of errors ... thankfully I had everyone in the team holed up in a room so the communication and rectification work could be resolved quickly. Sadly the problems mentioned above proved too serious and the entire exercise was delayed. Though the system was up on time by 4pm, there were some functions that weren't working.

Just when we thought we had resolved all issues by 9pm and we were packing up to go, and I had sent an update to my boss to give the all-green, I realised during my one last verification that something wasn't working. So it was another few hours of desperate trouble-shooting. Unfortunatly the problem couldn't be resolved as it appeared to be something only another team must work on. So we finally raised the white flag and decided to rollback that errorneous module at 1+am. That meant another update to my boss.

Sigh, it was just a totally screwed up exercise and as a friend I whined to on msn said to me "You are v v v v v f**ked liao". haha ...

Was back again in office today to oversee the rollback and verify the system. Thankfully the rollback wasn't fraught with difficulties and we finished up the task in 2 hours.

Its gonna be another long week ahead ..... I'm not looking fwd to it, but guess following-up with these issues help to keep the adrenalin going ...

So glad that I didn't have to burn another night @ work today and I quickly made my way to see a doc about my worsening wrist pain. This chinese doc that my mom had been seeing for years (whom I'm not so impressed with) used some devices that passed electrical currents through my injured area. It was really painful while he was at it, thankfully it lasted only a minute or two. It did felt slightly better after the treatment, but I have a feeling it would be only temporary ? Why did I go since I sound so sceptical ? Well, that doc is near to my workplace and its most convenient to go to. Considering I'm beat and just want to get some treatment before I head home to crash.

I just hope my wrist will get better soon ... the pain experienced when performing simple tasks is really worrying me :(

The weather is extremely hot today :( It was so oppressive I could feel the breathlessness just standing in the heat. It proved too much for me that by the time I finally reached home, I felt sick. The body was shivering from cold (yes, cold!) and I felt a little nauseous. The body was weak and hence I decided to stay home and rest instead of joining some friends I haven't seen in MONTHS for dinner. Sorry that I couldn't make it and hope the birthday gals had a good time. Hope to catch up with them real soon. Its been too long ....

Shanghai Eats

Colleague been talking about going out to feast for the longest time. I always obliged with a "sure" without much enthusiasm since she has this habit of having to go to the gym to shower during lunch (save her time at night according to this busy mother -__-")

Anyway, we finally managed to head out for lunch at this Shanghai Xiao Long Bao shop just right across from the Tiong Bahru food centre on Friday. According to my colleague the food is not bad. Since I luv xiao long bao, I enthusiastically agreed to lunch.

When I got there I was sceptical as the shop wasn't the least bit crowded ! Apart from a family of 3, the entire place was empty during the busy lunch hour peak! Nonetheless, we headed in since colleague raved about it.

The food turned out to be surprisingly good! For two person we sure ordered A LOT! There weren't many items to order so we just zoomed in on those that caught our fancy. The stir-fried dou miao was highly recommended and it didn't disappoint. The xiao long bao was passable (though we re-ordered another steamer of it :P) as the skin wasn't well made. The skin on top was too thick. Well, I have tasted better but nonetheless still quite yummy lah.

This curry puff lookalike is some savoury item called "eyebrow pastry" or something. I'm a pastry lover and this is a definite must try! The pastry was simply wonderful. It was soft to the bite and sort of dissolves in your mouth. Even the sides of the pastry isn't thick and hard like some of the other pastries.

The best of the best is this yam pastry. The exterior is again this sinfully soft & thin pastry skin. The whole pastry was filled entirely with yam paste that isn't too sweet. It even has a gingo nut within. This is one of the most enjoyable yam pastry I've tasted. And for $1.50 per pc, it is sooo cheap too! I was so tempted to order one more :P

Of course there were misses in what we ordered. The wine chicken that looked so appealing in the menu turned out to be a cold dish. Both of us weren't used to the dish and asked for it to be heated up. For that miserable bowl of chicken that costs $6.80, it was a definite let-down. The chicken was just passable and defnitely nothing to rave about.

We saw other tables (a few other customers trickled in while we feasted) ordered some of their other cold dishes that didn't appeal to us. Some also ordered their noodles which we skipped. Perhaps the next time I would try their noodles. Would like to bring my mom there to try soon.

The lunch was so satisfying it was able to keep me satiated for the rest of my work day that ended past 10+pm.

Tarts & Such

Woke up with a stiff neck... :_( arghhhh! (Mom said its due to heatiness - no thanks to all the rubbish I've been constantly snacking on) and hence decided against a short short run.
Dun tink my neck can withstand the bobbing while running.

Went to the temple with mom as its the 15th day of the lunar month and afterwhich did my usual round of shopping. Then brought mom to Victor's Kitchen for dim sum. As expected, the place was packed and we had to queue to wait for a seat. Obviously Victor's Kitchen is doing a roaring biz and he has extended to occupy the shop space beside his. Good for him.
We had our usual fare of dim sum ... too bad he doesn't serve my fav char siew so or yam pastry. All in all still a good lunch and we were stuffed!

I also bought the bean curd tarts from LE Cafe. Have heard about this from Loti in the past but never got around to trying it until today. They come in a box of 8 and don't sell in pieces .... so no choice got to buy a box. They have the standard bean curd tarts and a mixed bean curt tart. The latter has gingko nuts and chin chow mixed in the bean curd.
I just tried the tart .... errrr ... I have to say I don't enjoy it. Its well, yeah, taste of bean curd. The filling is really soft (my Dad used a spoon to scoop up the filling .. i find that weird tho) but that's about that. I'm unimpressed to say the least. I still prefer those from Fancy Delights. Thought that taste much better IMHO.

Anyway, the stiff neck got progressively worse and hence we headed for home soon after. I'm now still having difficulties lying in bed to read .... just hope I'll feel much better by tomorrow.

Short Runs

5 spins
3 runs (8.8km, 5km*2)
2 swims
...
uncountable jiaks (hehe)

Hope I am able to slowly cover longer distances ..... but I'm not pushing and I don't dare to.
Let's hope I can at least continue to run such distances ....

Weather the past 2 nights has been fantastic, tho the thunder kept me awake .... so I'm glad I still managed to pull myself up for a short run this mrn. Decided to do a reverse loop today just to have a slight change to the routine. Body took a while to warm up and I felt so much like walking just 5 mins into the run. Thankfully the body got used to the rhythm about 15mins into the run. At one point I realised I was running at 6min pace and had to slow down considerably. Weather was good without the harsh sunlight though it was close to 10am. Good relaxing run.

Realised that its still better to have a short activity each day just to keep the muscles working & active.

Alright .. time to nuah and carry on reading ... so much reading but so little time!

Aerins

Ultra Slacker again! Saw that the sky was gloomy and determination waned :P What great reason to skip the lunchtime swim!

Thought to head out for lunch and enjoy some relaxing moments .... sms-ed sis for lunch and she said she has a business lunch appt at Ritz!!! Win lor ....

Finally managed to arrange a last minute lunch with some ex-colleagues. Just my luck that both were able to make it amid their usual hectic schedule. What luck! :)

Anyway, we ended up at Aerins @ Raffles City. I always thought the place is way too upmarket but hey, looking at the menu, its not!!! Ok, we were cheapo and ordered their lunch special which costs like $10 for mine .. like vegetarian spaghetti. Its too oily for me ... nothing fantastic ... but I'm not really into spaghetti anyway. We also shared a chocolate pudding with ice cream. Good place to head for lunch as its NOT crowded (compared to the various restaurants nearby that were doing a roaring business) so you definitely will not have trouble finding a seat.

I got back to the office and it was oh-so-sunny! Aiyo ... slacker me ... :P

Yeah!

Feel achieved today. Nope, not at work.
But piggie managed to run, bike & swim today.

Though distances are miserable ... but doesn't really matter lah ....

Just hope my legs wun fail me tmr ...
:P

Fireworks!!!

I was gonna bitch about having to stay late today but it turned out to be a sorta blessing in disguise because i just saw fireworks!!!

I was on the phone when I heard "explosions". I had the most perfect view from where I was seated as the window is just right behind me. Think the fireworks is for the official launch of Singapore Flyer.

Frankly, the fireworks weren't that impressive but still a good distraction from the boring work ... and also to add some color to my day. These explosions really rock (literally) and I could feel and hear the windows rattling from the impact of the fireworks.

Nice end to my work day. :)

Blindness

What if you were driving and stopped at the traffic lights ... while waiting for the light to turn green, you ...
suddenly ...
lost ...
your ...
sight


No warning, no premonition. Nothing.

And what if .... this blindness is contagious? It spreads from contact.

This is the story from the book Blindness by Jose Saramago.

I'm just into the second chapter and I'm already hooked!

Overslept due to the late night on Fri ... thankfully friend waited for me to wake up for the run.
Sadly we only managed 2.6km coz his knee started to hurt then ... so we walked the rest of the journey back yakking and getting some vitamins D (i like!).

Again went to see the sinseh for my painful wrist. Got there at 10:30am, clinic wasn't open yet and there was already a crowd waiting outside! Aiyo!!! We waited til close to 11 before he finally turned up. There were some confusion coz the aunties ahead seemed to have assigned themselves the Q numbers but for the uninitiated like myself and another lady, we were completely clueless. Anyway we assigned ourselves the last 2 numbers and I was 15!!! Geez!! The sinseh told me to come back 3 hours later .. sigh. With 3 hours to kill, I decided to go to the library ... in between was caught in the rain several times so was already wet by the time i finally reached the library. Was looking such a wreck! *shake head*

I waited another hour before I got to see the doc at 245pm. I got accupunture this time and still had to bandage (I asked not to but he said no) so I'm wearing my bracelet again :P
He said that if I don't get this treated I will have to go for operation. Huh ? so serious ? I tot it was just a minor strain due to the fall ? He said it was due to my carrying too heavy load. He kept asking me whether I have been carrying a baby. (I didn't dare disclose that I carry weights in the gym) He then asked whether I just gave birth (!!!!!!) Ok I'm fat but this is too much lah! Wau Lau!

Anyway, hope my wrist will recover soon coz I hate to miss bodypump classes. Seriously I doubt its this serious ... well, just gotto wait & see.

Sigh, I can't help but question my genetic makeup. People exercise, I also exercise. And I seem to get injured for any darn thing that i do. WTF!
___________________________________________
Went IMM to window shop and had dinner at Ichiban Sushi.; my friend's favourite Jap restaurant. We arranged to go because I wanted to give her a treat for all the help she rendered when I was doing a major over-haul of my room.

Food was yummy and we always try to be there early (like before 6pm) so that we can be assured of a short queue.

After eating at Ichiban, you really wouldn't want to step into Sakae anymore. Simply no fight.

We later tried the Milo McFlurry @ MacDonalds. Its a COMPLETE rip-off. Its basically vanilla ice cream with a hint of milo powder and some milo nuggets. For $2.70, its definitely not worth it. Think I'm better off eating those ice cream from those street hawkers.

And we also realised that the Mac @ IMM had a station setup for customers to dispense their own chilli and ketchup and help themselves to the napkin. Isn't this very counter to the current drive to be more enviro friendly? Knowing Singaporeans, majority of our people will be helping themselves to more chilli, ketchup and napkins than they need. The napkins holder also didn't seem that "friendly" and I see people struggling to extract napkins from the holder. Hence many just tried to pinch through the holder and grabbed a thick stack of the napkins out.
I also find this setup and process non-efficient. Imagine after queuing for your food, you still need to queue a second time for the napkins etc. Why the added inconvenience & inefficiency ? Isn't it easier for staff (& customers) to dish out those "peripherals" when serving the customers ? And I thought the reason for this practice was also to control usage ? To avoid abuse ?

Maybe I should ask Mac about this ... interesting to know the reason ... am sure they have their reasons for doing what they did ...

2am: Dessert Bar

Friend needed someone to talk to on Fri nite to help him with some decision making. So arranged a last minute dinner near my place. Wanted to try One Rochester since I've never been there (yeah, I know. I lived so close & yet have never been there ! -___-") but they said they were "fully committed" for dinner. Ok I didn't expect better since I called to make reservations at 8+pm! :P

So anyhow I didn't bother to look elsewhere and suggested Holland Village. We (rather he) had dinner at a French restaurant, whose name escaped me now, and had our first round of wine there. As the restaurant closes at 11 and we wanted some Tiramisu which the French doesn't serve (?), we headed elsewhere.

That brought us to 2am : Dessert Bar. We passed by while walking out of the carpark so we decided to give that place a try. I thought the place was some hangout place for the teenagers but was pleasantly surprised that it was pretty chic. We were lucky to get the last sofa seats. The sofa seats were not the usual sofa seats mind you; They were long enough to have you seated upright like you were on a bed. Very comfy actually but it took some getting used to nonetheless. (Anyway, not so convenient for gals in skirts -thankfully I was in jeans hehe good call)

The service was pretty good. The waitress asked whether it was our first time there and promptly recommended us their house specialty (chocolate tart). You could also order their wine that they pair with the dessert (great for people like me who knows next to nothing about wine). The chocolate tart was quite yummy - rich chocolate that oozes out when you pry into the tart ... so best to eat it warm before it hardens. Tiramisu is just as yummy though I didn't like the coffee ice cream - nothing wrong just that I don't take coffee.

The place was hip yet cosy enough. You don't have to raise your voice in order to be heard. Very nice place ... but it didn't come cheap. The 2 desserts with wine, one sherbert and coffee came up to close to $90. Will I go back ? Definitely.

Though I had wanted to spend a quiet relaxing Fri night in bed reading, the dinner & drinks turn out pretty good too. Great start to the weekend :)

After 2 afternoons of heavy downpour, seeing the bright sunshine embracing the sky is such a welcome sight!

So piggie went down for a swim. The pool was crowded!! Was stoning there for a while wondering whether I should just forget about the swim and go back in to change. Thankfully I managed to squeeze in between 2 lanes.

Swim was laborious but the glorious weather all but made up for it. Relaxing dip and can get a tan. Shiok!

There was this pregnant lady swimming beside me. Was so afraid I might kick her ... sure don't want to be responsible for any mishaps ... seriously, is it safe for them to be swimming in a crowded pool ?

Slow Run

Last run was last Tues. Then slacked over the weekend and didn't manage a single run *notti notti!*

Managed another run to office this mrn. I deliberately kept to a very slow pace so was able to maintain an easy jog for the first 30mins ... even managed to jog up a few of the little slopes that I had difficulty with the past 2 runs.

Though I didn't have to stop often at the traffic lights, nor sms like the previous week, the entire run took about the same time, just a few minutes shaved off. That attests to the slower pace I was doing today.

Today distance: 8.55km
Time: 1hr 4mins

男人女人

Received this from someone.

Easy on the ears ... got hooked after the first listen *thumbs up*

Death at Intervals

Sunday Times Lifestyle's READ section featured Jose Saramago's latest book Death at Intervals. I was very intrigued by the synopsis written.

Alas, the book is not available in NLB; not even for reservation! :(

I don't believe in paying for books (why would you read a book more than once?)... so now just have to wait & see how I can get my hands on 1. Maybe buy and sell bookstore would have ? (ok, I still have to pay for rental, but at least its a fraction of the selling price :P)

Hope I get to read it soon!

Sore

Bracelet is off since ytd as my sensitive skin couldn't take the bandage and guess what, the wrist felt a little more sore than before.

As of today the wrist still hurts ... not a good sign leh ... cham lah .... :P

My New Bracelet

I wasn't immediately aware that I have hurt my wrist after the fall more than a month back. But I started to realise something isn't right when I always felt the left wrist feeling odd like it was in an awkward position when I hold on to the bike's handlebar. There is also a slight pain when it is at a certain angle. Recently the wrist buckled when i was trying to pick up a small container of water. All signs of strain or injury.

Yes, it took me so long to realise something isn't right. So today I finally decided to go see a chinese sinseh and have it fixed. I haven't been to see this sinseh in YEARS and I wasn't sure that the clinic was still there. Got there too early (yeah, like 1.5 hours early :P) and hence went to the library first. He is still as popular and I had to wait for like 1.5 hours.

I also took the opportunity to seek treatment for my left toe & bunion issue. It is getting more worrying with it giving me sudden sharp pain occassionally. He took one look and said that it would lead to arthritis if I don't get it treated. He also instructed me to avoid all soy or nuts products (tofu, beans etc.). Awwww .... my favourite food !! :( Anyway, he said he couldn't treat both ailments at one time as the medicine for both were exclusive (or something like that, i couldn't really comprehend). So anyway I had to leave that to the next round.

For now, I'll just have to live with my new accessory for 2 days. Such a challenge when showering !! :P

Binge Fest

Last minute arrangement to have dinner @ Queenstown for some yummies. Was toying with the idea of a short run but someone tempted me with food instead. Well, needless to say what prevail haha.

I thought it would be crowded but thankfully it wasn't. Got there and we were the only customers. Food was alright, but glad for the company. Lousy week for me, so some yak after work definitely helps the soul.
__________________________________________

Following night had dinner & drinks with a business associate that has now become a good friend. He arranged for this dinner after knowing how down I was lately. It was a good dinner @ Brewertz. I pigged out so much on the munchies and the mains that I literally felt like my stomach was gonna burst. The beer was good too.

Was glad for the frank talk about realities in working life etc. Learnt that working smart doesn't equate to knowing your work, its about how in one aspect is for you to be visible enough for people to know you did the work. You can be so NOT on top of things, and yet seem so in the know in front of your boss. And many other facts of life. Haha ... interesting night. Anyway, I had so much of the chunky fries think I was gonna be sick by the end of the night :P

Strength

While on the road this mrn, I met this aged lady pushing her big trolley inch by inch up the slope. I passed her and thought for a while whether to help her, even staring at her back for a while before I u-turned back & ask her whether I could give her a hand.

When she understood my intention, she touched my hand and found me wet with perspiration and said that I should quickly go back to shower and don't catch a chill or something. Hey that was very sweet of her I thought. The gutsy lady heartily said that she could manage the load and declined my offer to help. Such an independent & strong woman, who doesn't see a need to accept help when she is still capable of doing it herself.

I admire that.

Second time ...

Had to be in office early today for some support so had to skip my mrn gym. Decided to run to office as I've been hoping to do that ever since the last such run on 15th Feb. More than 1.5 mths ago!! *tsk tsk*

There were many interruptions because of traffic light stops, sms-es (work sms, not that I like to wake people up early in the mrn) and crossing minor roads etc. So there were more than enough excuses to walk.

Hence, a short 8km (or less?) run took me 1hr 4 mins! *roll eyes*

Nonetheless, I guess I have to count my blessings, that at least I can still go for short slow runs rather than being injured and can't run off any frustrations.