Happy Chinese New Year!

Would like to wish all celebrating, a Happy Chinese New Year. I hope the Year of the Ox will bring us all prosperity, happiness and good health!

Turning 65 ...

Who's turning 65 you ask? Well, it's my Dad who's turned 65 today! We had a lil small cake cutting ceremony with the grandkids happily blowing the candle and cutting the cake for him, and then digging into the sugary cream on the cake. I wanted to take him out for dinner with my Mom but with it being Chinese New Year period, most places were also booked out. So we'll probably do a belated dinner next weekend.

This photograph was taking a long time (as you probably can notice I was MUCH slimmer then *sighs*) and my bro was doing his training and he took us for a ride which was pretty cool.

My Dad and I get along very well. I think it's cuz my Mom and I are similar in character and we tend to get into clashes alot and poor Dad's always stuck in between us cuz he pretty much lets me get away with anything and that would drive Mom totally crazy! Both my parents have been very supportive for what I do. Even till today, they will still ask about how's work and Dad would share his own experiences to help me cope with any difficulties I had at work.

Dad used to be in the Police Force and was a Station Inspector before he retired. I remember 'growing up' at the police station because he would be done at work and my school was just across from the station so I would walk to the station, meet up with him and then we would pick Mom from her work place.

He's gone through alot ... lost his Mom at a young age, had a Dad who was real strict but had sisters and a brother who looked after him. He then joined the police force (and I have pictures of him in his uniform and back then, they really wore shorts!).

What I admire about him is that he puts his family ahead of his own needs. When he had us, he basically stopped buying things for himself so that he could buy what us kids needed. And now that he has grandkids, he still doesn't buy things for himself even though he may need them, but wouldn't think twice about spending money on his grandkids. I am really lucky to have a wonderful Dad and I pray that he live a long and healthy life to see his grandkids grow up and let them spoil him in return! Happy Birthday Abah!

My dream car ...

Do you have a dream car? What's that dream car of yours? For the longest time, I've had and still have a fascination for the gorgeous Volkswagen, the older models though the new ones are nice but the older models are simply gorgeous. And I was corrected by a fella who works for VW, these are called transporters not cars *laughs* Roger that!

Unfortunately, it's pretty pricey to own one of these babies and maintenance or repairing them will cost me an arm or leg or both as they would need to bring in the parts from overseas. But I continue to dream that someday, I will be driving in one of these babies.

And I have the exact one that I want. It has to be yellow because it's the colour of the sun and it always makes me smile. And it has to be a convertible. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. A convertible in this part of the world *laughs* Yes, yes, yes. But it's my dream car so indulge me k (photograph below is a borrowed photo of somebody's car).

I get very excited when I see them on the roads here and recently I saw one cool one nearby where I live. I saw it before and didn't have my camera at hand. And I was fortunate that evening after finishing grocery shopping at Cold Storage at Heartland Mall, I saw this beauty screaming one at me! Whipped out my camera and took a photo. Didn't see the owner around so couldn't talk to him/her. It reminded me of an old military tank!

What I should do now is add my dream car into my Vision Board huh *grins* Will go and work on that right now!

My bean sprout woes ....

Just some ramblings from a very grouchy person irritated with a persistent cough that is refusing to go away! A warning dear friend, if you're a fan or bean sprout, skip this post.

I recently felt like having some Mee Rebus (noodles with nice thick gravy) and there's one Malay stall near Heartland Mall (where the former Hougang Bus Interchange used to be) supposedly serve good Mee Rebus. They usually have a long queue of people waiting to either have their noodles or Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice). So I went there, joined the queue and when it came to my turn to order, I asked for 'Mee Rebus, satu, bungkus, tak nak taugeh'. Alrighty, let me translate all that. I ordered one packet of Mee Rebus, to go, with no beansprouts. Simple right? Right.

Now, I need to state this here. I am not fussy about food. Basically will eat anything that's put infront of me. Whether I enjoy the food or not, that's a different thing, but I will eat anything. The only time I am a wee bit particular is when it comes to veggies. I am not a fan of veggies and yes, I know it's good for you but I just have certain veggies that I eat - egg plants (brinjal), mushrooms, green leafy veggies (any kind), lettuce, ladies fingers, tomatoes and recently, I may consider eating capsicum too. See, I do have quite a range of veggies that I do eat if I have to. Anything else than these, I stay away. For example, am not a fan of brocolli, cauliflower, cabbage (unless sliced thinly like them coleslaw), carrots (unless mashed with potatoes) and BEAN SPROUTS. I simply loathe BEAN SPROUTS. Three things that I will painstakingly remove from my food (in order of dislike) - bean sprouts, onions (unless finely chopped and I have no choice but to eat it) and cabbage (thick chunky ones). Friends know how weird I get when it comes to bean sprouts. After several bad encounters of food orders going wrong, I have learnt to be wiser when ordering food.

Indulge me as I share a common bean sprout encounter. My friends and I were at a kopitiam (food court) and I ordered Mee Goreng from the Indian Muslim stall and I told the guy at the stall 'Sayur, Tak Mau' (with accompany hand and head gestures to emphasise my request for no veggies because the dish usually comes with chunky chopped cabbage and bean sprouts). And when the dish comes, he made up for the request for no veggies with extra helping of bean sprouts! And when I told him that I had requested for no veggies, his reply was, 'No veggies what!'. And when I pointed to them bean sprouts, he gave me a puzzled look and replied 'Itu bukan sayur apa!' (translation 'But that's not veggies!'. Huh? So these days, I request for 'No veggies and No bean sprouts. I allergic. If eat, I will die here on the spot'. Usually it does the trick and my friends will have a good laugh at how serious I look when I tell him (and yes, instructions come with full hand and head gesture...with me showing using hand gestures to show him how I will collapse and die'. Yeah, I can get very dramatic about such things. I just can't help it.

Anyways, back to my Mee Rebus story. After politely requesting for no bean sprout for my noodles, I watched her as she prepared. She packed the gravy separately - clever girl, otherwise my noodles will get soggy by the time I get home to have it. She grabbed the yellow noodles and dumped it into hot boiling water. And to my horror, her plastic glove covered right hand grabbed a WHOLE bunch of bean sprouts and dumbed it in together with the noodles. Immediate reaction from me was 'Dik, kan tak nak taugeh!' (loose translation: 'Didn't I say I didn't want taugeh!'). She looked at me, looked at the bean sprout and then turned to me and said,'Sikit aje kak' (translation: 'Just a bit Sis'). Huh? A bit you say? *sighs* How difficult was it to just not put the beansprout? I just shrugged and took the packet of noodles that she handed to me, and didn't feel like having the noodles anymore.

You're probably thinking right now that it's just bloody bean sprouts, just eat the darn thing and stop fussing about it! *laughs* Yeah, you're probably right. Yes, it's only $2 which is cheap for bought food these days so I should just shut up and eat the food when others elsewhere in the world is thinking where their next meal is going to come from.

Yes, yes, yes, I know all this. It's just hard to explain why I get upset by these incidents. And by the way, I did eat the noodles after I spent about three minutes removing the bean sprouts (even that I missed a couple as you can spot them in the photograph below).

But this incident got me thinking I will move away from bean sprout. Yes, it's not a post just on bean sprouts *laughs*. Last week, the same thing happened when I placed the same request with the same girl for the same food. And I was surprised when I opened the packet of noodles at home to see bean sprouts waving at me. But I brushed it aside as maybe the girl didn't hear my request. But this time round, I made sure I made eye contact with her when I made the request so I was sure she heard me. That was what I thought at least.

She heard me, but I think it was selective hearing. She just needed to know what dish I wanted and prepared that. I think she just heard 'one' 'to go' 'mee rebus'. Anything else in between got ignored as noise and totally unnecessary. Is it because she does this everyday for at least 8 hours and it has become so routined that no thinking required because I am sure she can prepare the food with the eyes closed after doing this for years (plus probably not many people would make such requests I guess).

I was just thinking how it would be like to be working in a job that is so routined that I would not have to think much about what I am doing, no stress too, no need to change since things would be the same for a long while. Once in a while, have to deal with a fussy customer (like myself). Hmmm .... not too bad.

But I think it depends on the individual. Some would like such routine so that they became really skilled in that one area. But some may get bored with it after a while. I have a very very short concentration span and if I do anything for too long that's too routine, I will get all fidgety and restless and will get on my colleagues nerves probably.

Then it got me thinking about the staff that's working with me. Are they bored with what they have to do because after a while, it's sameo sameo thing? Or is that how they prefer to work? I recently had to design an enhanced jobscope for some of the officers and it was quite a challenge to design ways that I can grow them professionally to do work that will require them to learn to do new things or do the old things in a new way. I know some may take this as a challenge (and enjoy it) but others may not. I think I am just going to assume that as human beings, we all want to learn and develop professionally and do work that challenge the mind. Will have to talk to my officers soon about this. Good time to be doing this as the year has just started! Hmm, all this from a bowl of Mee Rebus and a handful of bean sprouts. Food for thought indeed ... *laughs*

Hula Away ...

Thanks to a dear friend, Az, who managed to arrange for Hula Dance class for the next six Saturdays, M and I had our first session this weekend and we had a great time. The dance instructor is really nice and paced her lesson slow enough for us to follow. What I like about this dance is that is very grounded (the dance instructor kept reminding us to imagine our feet in the sand) and pretty sensual (well at least the teacher did it real nice wherelse the rest of us were trying to coordinate feet, hands and hips without knocking into each other).

It's different from what we were doing before and as for myself, it has been two years since I stepped foot any dance studio so knees and back were hurting this morning after I got up! Yeah, age catching up definitely. But am pretty sure that for the next six weeks, my back is going to feel much better once it's loosen up like before and looking forward to learning more basic steps at class. It's also a little easier (so far at least but we've only had one class so I better not say too much right now). We learnt how to move to the left and right with hips swinging in a coordinated manner (can't remember what the movement is called though), we did a couple of ka'o. And everything is exaggerated right now though we were assured that it will become subtle with time *laughs* I sure hope so otherwise we will look real odd man!

And if you're thinking coconut shells and straw skirts. Nope, no such thing fortunately! *laughs* Will look for a lei sometime this week from Spotlight and I think with my sarong skirt in hand, I am looking forward to next Saturday's class. Thanks Az for organising the class! *big hugs*

Update: Found a site where they teach the basic hula steps. Will update when I find more ...

A real test of my patience ...

In my line of work, I have to deal with people (am referring to adults here) which I think is one of the hardest things I have to do. Some experiences are pleasant, others aren't so pleasant. And being in a supervisory position, I am responsible for the work done by the staff I am incharge of. When I get compliments from my 'customers' for the good work done by my staff, I make it a point to celebrate that with my staff cuz they have done good. When I get complaints for mistakes made by my staff, it's my job to handle the situation with my 'customers' and even take the blame if I have to for the mistake made. And afters, I will speak with my staff and explain to her the consequence of her mistake and how we both can learn from it and not repeat it. And we move on. Am sure many of you have been in similar shoes and we basically take

Why am I sharing this you may ask, well I had some bad experiences recently with people who are in the service industry, in the business with dealing with people yet do such a shoddy job at it.

I was recently at DBS Bank (Hougang Branch) and I approached the counter where a certain Ms K was on duty. I asked about opening a second savings account with DBS and how I could go about doing it. She replied that I can open two accounts for POSB. Hmm, for a moment, I thought I had stepped into the wrong bank and looked around and confirmed that I was in DBS bank. And I asked if I could do the same for DBS. And she said no. So I said thank you and turn to walk away. She then said, 'Ms, let me check again'. So I waited for her as she went into one of the cubicles. She came out a few seconds later to say that it's possible for me to open a second DBS savings account. JOY OH JOY! She learnt something new today too about the bank she is working in. So I said, 'Good, how can I go about it'. She pointed to about four ladies who were seated and said,'We're busy changing money for CNY so there's a long queue'. So I asked,'When can I open the savings account then?'. She replied,'Not over this period'. After taking another deep breath, I asked calmly,'Should I come back after CNY? Would that be a better time?'. She replied,'No, just not over this period of time. You can go to POSB, they open till 7pm'.

*sighs* If I wanted to open a second POSB account, I would have gone to POSB in the first place. Why not tell me to go to OCBC, Standard Chartered, UOB *sighs* She should have given me more useful information like how long I would have to wait if I wanted to open the account and let ME decide what I want to do then. And how long will the change of new money take? It's maximum $400 per person. I don't know the exact workings of a bank but won't the money be pre-packed and just need to ask how much the ladies want and quickly prepare it? I was at POSB recently and they had a separate line to deal with customers who wanted change new money (by cash or ATM card only) and they cleared the queue so quickly. YAY POSB!! And if POSB could think of ways of efficiently handle this, why can't DBS. And at POSB, they also had a counter to help customers and the lady they put there knew her stuff and could even direct a customer to the nearest DBS bank (customer was new to the area and was desperately looking for DBS bank).

Today, I accompanied my Dad to hospital T as he is going for a day surgery procedure to remove a cyst that has developed on his knee. We were at the pre-surgery consultation section and after quite a wait, when we asked when we will be registered, from the frantic behaviour and panic that was taking place behind the counter, we pieced it together that they had registered another patient wrongly and the patient had gone home with my Dad's admission form and appointment card.

They called our number to register us and pretended as if nothing happened. We were given a photocopied of the admission form and when asked for my Dad's Appointment Card, the Operations Manager, said she will give us a replacement card. No explanation. No apologies. Sweep everything under the carpet. Guess they thought we were dumb enough to let things go. But they thought wrong. To me it was a serious enough mistake and we deserved an explanation. Imagine if both my Dad and the other patient went for the wrong procedure. The other guy was due for a scope and end up having his knee cut up for a cyst that he didn't have. And when I pressed for an explanation, the lady Operations Manager actually raised her voice at me and I had to tell her that there was no need for her to raise her voice at me. Allo, you guys made the mistake, and you dare raise your voice at me when I asked for an explanation? And she expected me to just take her word that she will retrieve the documents? Who is she that I am suppose to trust her? No assurance given nope. At least tell me what's going to be done so that I know something is being done. After they tried to sweep things under the carpet before, I won't be surprise if my Dad turns up for his medical check-up before the Op and they feign ignorance to all this and push the blame to my Dad for not having the original Admission Form and Appointment Card, especially my Dad being an elderly and may be easier to bully!

We strive to be a country that provides excellent service, in all areas. But I think we still have a long way to go before achieving that. Our employers must ensure that our people, especially those that we put in the front line must be equipped with the skills and knowledge to do their job well. If we want to be a world class country with world class services, we jolly well start thinking and behaving like world class people! I do wonder if it's wishful thinking or can we actually be all that! I really don't know .....

Ip Man, the movie ...

I spent New Year's Eve a little differently this year. 20 minutes before the clock struck midnight, I was in the cinema, getting comfortable to watch the movie Ip Man, with Donnie Yen playing the main role of the grandmaster. The movie is a semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun.

I enjoyed the movie tremendously and if you get the chance to catch it, please do. Yes there were pretty cool fighting scenes with a touch of humour every now (like his lil kiddo cycling out amidst Ip's fight with an out-towner) and then but there were moments where I got a little emotional too (the revenge scene with the blood rice). I have not seen any of Donnie Yen's movie before this but I thoroughly enjoyed his performance in the movie. Here's the trailer for the movie and hopefully it's enough to tempt you to get the DVD (movie might not be showing still).

Oh yes, there is also Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, a Japanese actor who specialises in Judo, who played the not-so-nice-but-oh-so-cute General Miura. In the movie, when Japan occupied China during the war, there was a duel between the Japanese General and Ip Man and no prizes for guessing who won *grins* Go watch the movie lah!

Clutter queen ...

I am a horder. It's horrible I know and at this age, I STILL hord things. I have something called compulsive-hoarding syndrome, or disposophobia *grins* I dunno whether it boils down to pure laziness of having to clear things especially those that I don't need or use anymore OR I am actually sentimentally attached to my things. And yeah, I have read enough books (and it's pretty much good old common sense) that if you have not used the item within the month (or maybe six months), it cannot be THAT important.

But somehow I tell myself I MAY need the item and I will probably regret it cuz the day I discard the item, I would need it and have to go out to get a replacement *laughs* See how well I kid myself! I am too embarass to even look at some of my drawers cuz god knows what I will find in there.

My aim for 2009 is to do my best to lead a clutter-free life. I have quite a long way to go but I think it could be rather theraupetic process. Ideally, I should just spend a weekend to go through my things and rid of them quickly but I am not sure if I have a weekend to do just that (yeah, I hear you screaming EXCUSES! EXCUSES *laughs*) So will aim by February to at least clear all my clothes that I have not used for a while (or can't fit into!) and see if anyone else can put them to better use and by end of February, I will cart them to Salvation Army. Killing several birds with one stone. Clear my clutter and maybe do a lil bit of charity too?

Trust me I have a lot of decluttering to do so have grouped them into several categories. Will probably keep adding to this categories as I discover more things but right now there are - Clothes, Books, CDs/DVDs, Craft Materials, Handbags (I cleared the bulk last year but there might be more to clear). So wish me luck as I start to declutter my life of things!

Happy New Year ...

Happy New Year to you, and you and you .... *hugggies*

I came across the photo slide above with the quote which I like and it shall be my focus for myself for 2009. To better understand myself by spending more time with myself (I don't do enough of this last year), listening to me so that I am better aware of myself. It must sound odd that I'm going on about how I do not know myself. But do you really really really know yourself? Are you doing what is best for you? Are you being true to you? Lots of questions and lots of conversation with myself needed *winks*