wah liao ! Supersized migraine. So I stayed home. It has been reduced to an ache in the neck...not good either.

Finally wrote a letter to my friend Lynn in the UK. Have known her since I was 12 & she 15. We started off as penfriends & have kept it up all these years ! Some 30+ years of friendship. She has been to Singapore 3 times & I went to her wedding in Manchester. She knows our entire family & I know her's. It has been an awesome friendship. But she hasn't quite graduated from letter writing to the computer. She occasionally emails when she gets a chance to go on a comp. But I have been rather remiss in writing. We used to do weekly letters. I have been on email with her but not as frequently.

I wrote her an 8 page letter last night & my fingers were cramped ! I didn't type okaaay...handwritten ! And so she will be pleasantly surprised cos she nags (only a little lah) that she doesn't hear enough from me. And I am guilty so she has a right. Am also sending her a CD of photos. Got a few old ones from her trips here in 1983 & 1986 lol. She will be suprised. Her last visit was sometime in 1997/98. Then I went to UK in 2000 for her wedding in August. Matron of honour some more ! I loved the visit !

Cora is going to retire soon & will go home to the Philippines. She has been with us about 8 years. And we will have to look for a new maid as she will go home October next year as that is when her passport expires. I am so not looking forward to a new maid.

Had an Indonesian maid a few years back when Cora went home for an operation & we didn't know if she wanted to come back. That Indonesian was a slut...got Bangladeshi guys calling her within a week. They would pretend to ask for a different person if one of us picked up the phone when we happened to be home. One day I pretended to be her & had a rude shock ! The guys had been passing the number around. And, her name is Lena, not even pretty ! Tomboy looks. She threatened the kids who were young then that cannot tell mummy & daddy about the uncles she would meet downstairs or she would whack them. She stole, lied, her sister got into a bus accident, died & lived within a month she was with us. Fed the kids bread, biscuits, packet noodles for lunch. Sarah said she didn't clean house only on weekends we were home.

Then we rang Cora who said she sent us a letter which we never received. She wanted to come back to work with us thank goodness. So I sent Lena back to the agent & told the agent everything. Just one month & so much crap. From the grapevine, Cora had also heard all about the stuff Lena got into !! Bladdy bitch ! Good thing we didn't keep her longer or she would start inviting men home & I have kids, plus a girl to boot. I hope Lena never gets to work here. If I ever see her with a new employer, I would have no qualms telling the new employer. Better they know than rudely find out ! Yes break her rice bowl but why not when she she lied, stole, threatened my kids, didn't care for them, had boyfriends. Very glowing testimonial meh ?? Yes yes still heated up when I think back about her. Bitch !

Cora is already in her 50s & so she should rightly retire. We will ask her if she has anyone she would recommend. If not, we will need to take on a new maid. Haven't decided what nationality. If they up the salaries of Filipina maids, we will not be able to afford them. May have to stick to Indon or Sri Lankan.

My mother in law has a fantastic Sri Lankan. We were contemplating having MIL stay with us & we also take over her Sri Lankan maid who is very used to us & loves the kids. The kids too like her much. But MIL may not want to cos she may be happy moving around every two months. But she is getting old & the moving is not too good for her. I know my sisters in law would be happy if she stayed with us permanently lol...hubby said that too.

We could do without a maid & get someone part time to clean house but I dun like the idea of leaving kids at home alone while we are at work. Ah well...we shall see.

I msgd drey a couple of days ago & didn't get a reply. LOLOL. I am finding this all amusing now.

Tomorrow very busy day...8.30am, 10am, 11am, 12.30pm, 3pm & 5pm meetings...sigh. Lucky migraine today !!! Its the monthly hormonal thing lah so I should be better tomorrow. Every few months, I get the supersized migraine, fortunately not monthly.

Lament for the day : the web of deceit is a tangled mess that can eventually be unravelled.

Hah ! earl wins. Well lucky for him then. He made the right move ousting Yau Man cos if Yau got into the finals, Earl would not have won. I still find what dreamz did detestable & deceitful. As for cassandra...haha...hopeless case. No one paid her any heed in the reunion. Forgettable. Dreamz is in his own world...dunno what he is saying. You fucked up & lied means you fucked up & lied. Dun beat around the bush.

The book...is DONE !! It was an awesome read. Sometimes I had to re-read conversations becos of the manner in which it was written; the same way it was spoken in those days.

Hubby out meeting fishing kakis & then off to fishing pond with dyran. I was contemplating going shopping but the thought of the crowd during GSS seems intimidating.

Godson went for a minor op to remove his extra thumb. The op was sooner than expected cos the surgeon had an available slot. He is doing fine. His mummy sent me a pic in his walker, topless like tarzan sucking other hand while operated hand was bandaged. It is good that he gets the op at this age as he will recover faster & I suppose there will be less pain.

Yesterday took half day leave, went to ryan's school to pick up report book & meet with teachers. He did good in his math, eng & science, scoring above average & doing A's for these. He did not get a U grade for Chinese !!!! Which is a good improvement. So form teacher didn't say much about other subjects, just about chinese & how to target for better when PSLE comes. Bought form teacher & chinese teacher Canelle cakes which I hope they enjoyed. Canelle does awesome cakes. Can't give teachers gifts as they have to declare but perishables are ok so I decided on the cakes & also knowing that they would be busy, may not have time to eat lunch.

Having dinner with godson & his parents tonite. Looking forward to seeing him.

Ahhhhh poor sarah down in the dumps from her blog but she is ok now. Just left for church. Yesterday GPP bought her a bought her a pair of orange pants from M & S lol...what a bright colour but pretty though.

We haven't been stressing her as parents, at least I don't think we have, becos she is sensible & responsible. We trust that she will not get into any messy situations. But we do nag her on keeping up with her studies, spending less time on the comp so that she can sleep early & rest, keeping her room neat... But I dun think its excessive nagging. Most times we allow her out so long as she tells us where & she gets back by curfew. We like that she spends time with church friends, some of whom are alot older & would look out for her. Its sad though that she doesn't get along much with her classmates. Even sadder that normal classes are seen as less capable.

Recently, a mother wrote in ST forum about the elitism attitude of some students in a convent school. She didn't say which & well, it is quite apparent where sarah is at. Though she qualified for express, she decided with our support, to head for normal. Unfortunately the school pays more attention to the express girls. Doesn't this breed elitism ? The normal classes are just left to be & the subjects combination doesn't leave them much room to excel in what they may want to choose to do. For example, sarah would have loved to to Lit but it is not offered for normal classes. Instead forced to do Principle of Accounts. WTF ? I wrote 3 times to the principal...twice on email & one hand-delivered letter to appeal to allow sarah to do Lit. Guess what I got ? ZERO reponse ! This is NOT the convent school that I remember & now I know why must of my ex-classmates chose other schools for their girls. I am totally disillussioned.

Some normal class students may have a bo-chap attitude but there are those who do wish to do well. Ignoring all of them then reduces their chances of doing well. Shouldn't normal classes be given even more attention to be nurtured & encouraged ? But I am delusional. The educational landscape claims equality & nurturing based on capability. I really don't think so. It seeks only to cultivate & develop the cream of the crop. Nevermind those who are in normal or even technical, let them grope & wing it on their own. Screw up then too bad lor. Who ask them to be in normal or technical. Well helloooo...DUH how the hell did the different castes system of education system come about ? Immaculate misconception.

Lament for the day : I think I shall write the principal again...

The book...The massa & Chicken George were riding high on their rooster fights successes. George had some $2k saved as he was planning to buy his family's freedom. Then George loses all his savings cos his massa wanted to save face & squandered all his slave's money as well as his own in a chicken fight with some lord from england. So the massa loans george to the lord for 3 years to train his roosters in england to pay off his debts of some $80K which is alot of money in the 1800s. Then massa can't sustain looking after his roosters, his farm & has no income, sells the entire family except for grandma Kizzy cos she is too old & the slave trader didn't want her. So Matilda (george's wife) & their 6 kids (4 boys & 2 girls) are sold off. At least he sells them off together. Fortunately to a good new massa & missus who are newbies in owning slaves & farming.

Survivor...none of the 3 finalists deserve to be in the finals. Last Friday was a really interesting session where the jury hantam Dreamz & Cassandra terok terok. Those are the 2 least deserving to be there. It should have been Earl & Yau Man. But Earl out manouvred Yau Man cos he knew that the jury would vote for Yau Man to win. So probably Earl will win. At least I hope he will.

At the office, I was relating to a colleague how this guy parks in a no parking zone next to the mall & got fined by the traffic police. He writes a letter to traffic police with copy to the mall saying that the road is a private road belonging to the mall lah & that its the mall's fault cos never put any signs to say no parking there etc etc. If it is indeed mall's private road, why would traffic police bother. DUH !!! Can't believe some things which people try. Or is this true ignorance ??

Lament for the day : If dreamz or cassandra wins, I will give up watching survivor.

Got invited to neighbour's son's wedding on 9 June. Nice ! Chatted with them for a while. Its been six years since we moved to the neighbourhood. How time flies. We are lucky all our neigbours on our level are nice & friendly.

The book...George is all grown. He has mastered the training of fighting cocks for his "massa" (who is his father) & has been successfully winning fights & his massa who gives him some money from the wins. Just got christened Chicken George by all the other trainers. He "jumped the broom" (got married) & has two sons.

Not much at the office but work. Swapped speakers with ryan & brought his to the office. Now I can listen to music I like & not the Chinese ones which one of the girls plays (quite loudly) on her radio. I am considerate. My music is loud enough only for me to hear. The one who has that loud Chinese ringtone still has it loud. Its annoying when she is not at her desk to answer the phone.

CSI now, time out !

Lament for the day : Ah well..some people dun geddit.

Ohhh forgot to say we watched dvd, Flyboys yesterday. It was good. Had dinner at AMK Hub Fish & co after that. The mall is not any different from any other mall but lotsa people. Fish & co food standard seems to have dropped. Batter on fish was really oily but quality of service is still good. Good service seems quite consistent for all their outlets. I like that.

Watched the 1998 movie on dvd, emperor & the assasin the day before. Didn't really like it. Rather I didn't like the emperor. Shi Huang Di united the warring states to unify China & he was ruthlessly cruel, perhaps mad, sometimes muddled, sometimes weak & wimpy. He be the one who's royal tomb consists of the life-sized terra cotta warriors & many other treasures which accompanied him in death.

The saga continues...Toby married Bell, Massa Waller's house slave. They have a daughter Kizzy who was sold at 16 becos she forged a letter for her boyfriend so that he could run away. She became pregnant by her new "massa" & now has a son, George (whom those who have read the book or seen the series will remember as Chicken George). Kizzy is ashamed becos her son is half white, & she worries what her parents would think. Massa Waller's estate consists of all pure black slaves, Bell would boast. Toby of course hates the white man for having snatched him from his family in Africa & hates the "sasso borro"; blacks with some white blood.

It was a weird day but in a good way. Within a span of an hour while at the gallery, I met 2 old friends whom I had not seen in at least a dozen years.

This man, walks into my path while I am talking to the technicians so I move aside & he gets in my way again. I look up & was about to tell him off & I see Michael an ex-colleague from my second job in an ad agency. We reminisce about other ex-colleagues. Then I had to get back to what I was doing.

About an hour later I see 3 guys standing outside the gallery deciding whether to come in & so I approach them. And one of them yells in excitement "heyyyyyy how are you ???? Long time no seeeee !!!" Its Richard whom I met in my next job at raffles hotel. Richard has been in Bali with his partner for the last dozen years & now is back as his partner is now working here. And so we reminisce too.

Met sarah after work & headed to J8 as she wanted to look at shoes. Bought 2 pairs for her. Picked up a nice ring from Swatch. They have some nice costume jewelley & we have a few pieces from there. She has this bracelet I bought her last year that has a heart & you slip in the arrow which clasps it on. She gleefully tells everyone who asks her about it that her boyfriend bought it for her. And she comes home telling me who believed her LOL.

Planning to take her out on Friday afternoon again after the meet the parents sessions in the schools. Have taken half the afternoon off. Not sure if sarah's school requires me. She says unlikely cos she doesn't have disciplinary problems, never had since P1. We did go last year but it was misinfomation lol. Only she needed to go pick up report book, parent not needed if the student has not been problematic. But I am hoping to see her teacher this year as I have a few questions which the school principal did not respond to despite my 3 emails & a hand delivered letter. That really irks me !

Meeting with ryan's teacher should not result in anything negative as he has A's for english, math & science. He doesn't have disciplinary problems either but at least one parent is required to chat with class teacher. I will meet 2nd lang teacher as well as I will be interested to hear how much improvement he has made with chinese.

Lament for the day : Sarah & I were waiting in line to buy bao from a new store at J8. The customer before us had ordered & they got her orders all wrong. Only 9 baos...3 of each type also can salah. Better not buy, so we walk away. Then we queue for bakchang. The sales lady is busy chatting to a friend who is buying from her. She takes her time chatting about personal matters. Loud enuff that I could hear. We wait for a bit & she still ignores us. I walk away exasperated. We picked up some items for breakfast at polar, without a fuss !

How nice to have my blog read by someone else other than family, friends & sarah's friends ! Thanks hawk for your message. Please visit anytime !

Had a very nice lunch at the chinese restaurant at cathay. Tried new dishes. Creamy pumpkin soup with seafood & beef in special sauce. Beef dish was so succulent & tender. I also enjoyed the deep fried scallop with a dash of salted egg yolk over bits of deep fried vermicelli. All atop a leaf of lettuce which you wrap around to bite. Ohhhh so yummy that I forgot to take a pic ! And dim sum was very nice; deep fried yam with bits of pork & mushroom. Plus the steamed onion pancake. All portioned nicely which doesn't make you drowsy at work after.

My laptop screen froze when I had typed a nice long email to a reporter this afternoon. Which led to loud curses from my corner. sigh...the last time this happened was worse, I was editing a 20 page document & after I restarted, couldn't find the damned thing.

Oh I told the tea lady I forgot the curry puff & that I was truly sorry. One of the guys in the office (who is abit annoying & tee ko) was there when I was speaking to her said, "Can eat lah, just heat up in the oven & eat". I was like...left it in the office over night, no aircond on & the filling is curry. You mad or what ? Get food poisoning how ? Was sooooo tempted to tell him "You eat lor & then kena lau sai then good for you lor." Gila ! Auntie tealady said dun eat.

Hubby & ryan went to watch spiderman 3 at the cinema with the sony 4K. It was good they told me & with such clarity. Met them around 6.30pm after work & headed to have ryan's fave hokkien mee at beach road. The hawker centre with the shops up top selling army stuff, dunno what that hawker centre is called. Parking was a pain as usual. Had my satay fix but very unsatisfying. Meat was so tough & sauce lousy. One of the worst satay I have ever had. Have not been able to find a good satay place since the one outside sembawang shopping centre closed. The whole place including the shopping centre is a construction site. The one at clarke quay no longer has the ambience. Satay in an enclosed area restaurant style. Where got shiok ! It was better before the renovations, more local, now too touristy.

I am still happily with Kunta Kinte who now has to embrace his ang moh name, Toby. Sadly, he has just had his foot cut off for running away. I must get hold of the DVD so that kids can watch. It was an excellent series.

Sarah is out with a friend watching A Midsummer's Night Dream at fort canning park. A play in the park...nice. Lucky no rain today.

Lament for the day : where to find shiok satay & sauce.

Ahhhh I feel really bad ! The tea lady bought me a curry puff when she came back from lunch & I didn't eat it cos I had already fixed to go out for lunch. I planned to take puff home BUT I left the office & forgot. Sigh...its sitting on my desk. I will apologise to the tealady tomorrow.

I had a meeting out of office today & it was pouring when I was done. Had no umbrella, was with colleague & both of us ran across the road in a shower to catch a cab. There was no cover. So we were wet but thankfully not soaked. The taxi stand outside the building was blocked off by heavy vehicles of the building next door which was doing construction work. They have been doing this just about everyday. I am heading that way again tomorrow so if I remember, I will take a pic & send to LTA.

Hubby & Ryan watching Spiderman 3 on the sony 4K digital tomorrow. Sarah has seen it already. Doesn't bother me to miss it, not really a fan. But looking forward to POTC, Shrek & HP.

Lament for the day : I am so sorry about the curry puff auntie tea lady !!!!!!!!!!

Deal or No Deal is quite interesting. 'The banker' has a fat silhouette lol.

Seems like blogger is working fine now. Can remove page elements & the posting page is back to normal. That is great !

Ryan has A's in 3 subjects. Only Chinese koyak but got improvement from before. Sarah has an A for math which she was failing before & that is great. She didn't get an A for English as we expected as she has been for the past 2 years' exams. Nevermind, there is the final term exams to do it.

I received an annoying call today from a vendor selling his services to our organisation. I kept telling him we have other priorities etc & we are not in need of such facilities. He doesn't get it that his services do not really enhance what we already have. Very annoyingly persistent. Cannot tahan. Plus the audacity to say that it is a "special price valid only for the next 14 days from quotation". That is such a turn off. Such questionable tactics.

Lament for the day : mio replied to our email but never answered our questions.

Ohhhh aircond is back to working order. No more leaking ! Thank goodness as it has been very humid.

Mio/singtel customer services called hubby again today, apologised etc etc. He asked for an explanation in writing. Then later in the evening, a manager of the technical side called me cos the supervisor I was talking to on Sunday said they would check back with us on Tuesday. I told him we solved THEIR problem. wah liao ! It was so simple...maybe too simple that they didn't see it. Just change analogue phone to digital.

And this time around I am impressed becos the tech manager did get a copy of our email & he had our history even able to tell us what phone model we have now lol. And I told him that I am glad finally someone has our history lol.

4 telephone calls to tech helpline & 3 technicians didn't figure it. Its not as if we hid our phones when they came. Perhaps they themselves just figured it out cos I dunno why it was only with the 4th phone call that they asked about what kind of phones we are using. The manager says that if I get anymore problems, can call & ask for him lolol, he will take care of matters personally. Which we appreciate but think it may no longer necessary.

I think testing should have been properly done before they launched mio. The sales/marketing & tech people should be properly armed with all the info. They should highlight certain issues to the customer when they sign up so that when there is a problem, the customer can tell the tech helpline & this will then help to solve the issues more efficiently. I wonder if the immediate reactions was because of the cc to st forum & whether the reaction would be so immediate if there was no cc. I do understand that some issues only surface out of the blue but this phone thingy seems very basic particularly for a company of such stature & experience.

Ohhh Kunte Kinta...reunited ! Ryan says my Roots book pages so yellow. Of course maaah, my book is almost 18 years older than him lol!

Lament for the day : I need to go through my mum's store...I may have more hidden treasures in there ! The Good Earth, Huckleberry Finn, 1984, Tess of D'Ubervilles, Wuthering Heights, Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, Thorn Birds, Shogun, maybe a couple of poetry books & shakespeare from schooldays, Enid Blyton's books & Disneyland magazines which would be some 30 over years old.

On our way home, we stopped by the shops to get some things. On the way back to the car we spotted a tortoise about the size of my palm, happily strolling. There was a guy seated at the bench & I asked him if the tortoise was his. Who knows ? Maybe he was taking his tortoise for a walk ?? He said not. So it came from the landscaped garden & pond just a few feet away. Dunno why he was just sitting there & watching it.

So I picked it up & put it back in the pond. Didn't want it to come to harm. I had to toss it in cos there was a fencing around. For a while, it turned turtle heh but swam after a bit. Thought I killed the poor fella ! The tortoise must be cursing me...stupid idiot ! I wanted freedom & it took me 3 days to get where I was, now have to start all over again. lol Forgot to take pic to post.

Yesterday hubby had to do a blowjob. Our bedroom aircond is still screwy. Kids' units are working fine. It has been like that for the last 3 days. He took the vaccuum cleaner to suck out the algae from the outlet pipe. There was muck. Then we turned on our bedroom unit & it worked fine. Half an hour later, it started to leak again...sigh. Happiness shortlived. So told hubby to suck it again lor. But he decided to get the repairman instead. Guy coming tomorrow.

heh...I am so enjoying Roots.

Ohhhh singtel called hubby cos I signed off hubby's name & number on the email. They apologised & said they would write. Okay lor apology accepted but they better answer our questions when they write. Our phone has been working all day now. wah liao ...maybe all it needed was the digital phones. 3 (or was it 4) tech help officers & 3 visiting technicians couldn't figure it out. Conversation with tech help line "turn off your modem, turn on your modem, is the green dsl light on, is it flickering, is the filter there" etc etc...we know SOPs by heart already. Then the technicians changed new modem, fit in a new outlet for plugging in the phone line, still didn't work. Crap.

Lament for the day : why can't I change the 'browing now' book pic ...getting error message.

The technician came by today to see if the mio problem can be resolved. We are still plagued by the same problems with home phone; can receive calls, then cannot, can make outgoing, then cannot. The phone worked for a while today & this evening after dinner, we checked. Can receive but cannot make outgoing.

So I call the tech helpline & told them not to go through the same old routine again ; turn off modem, turn on modem, is the green light for dsl on , is it flickering, are there filters etc etc etc. We wanted to speak to someone senior. But before that the officer asks us what is our house phone brand. And we were so rudely surprised to hear that analog phones cannot be used for mio & that it has to be digital. To top it off, must be a brand & model compatible to mio !! What the fuck ????? How come we weren't told in the first place !!!

So we send an email off to singtel (with cc to stforum) explaining the whole situation from when we got our modem on 30 March till now. And we asked them to be transparent about the do's, do not's, can, cannots etc etc etc of mio. Why was this never ever told to us when we signed up, actually before we signed up, during the 3 or 4 calls to the helpline & when the technicians came. Or do they not know & only recently discovered this ??? Why should I have to change my home phone to accomodate mio when it should be designed to accomodate the consumer ??? I will wait to see what singtel has to say.

Another annoying thing is that they have no email address for feedback. Its those feedback forms & accepts only 850 characters. My email far exceeds that so I sent to their corp comms department instead. How to give feedback in so few words ????? Or maybe it is so designed such that they don't give us a chance to properly complain. Wah liao !!!!!!!

On a happier note, we had dinner to celebrate mother's day with my mum, godma & aunt with the spouses & kids. Was also to celebrate godma's birthday. Seafood lah & shiok as usual. Makan too much as usual too. The place was crowded, everyone doing the mother's day thing. Kids gave chocolates to all the mums & we bought a cake to celebrate the two occasions.

Ryan got a new ipod nano from my godpa. So bladdy lucky ! 8 gig some more ! Not even his birthday or christmas etc. And my shuffle is sooooo pathetic compared to his lol. But I still love it cos its cute & cos its from hubby & the kiddos for mother's day. Hubby said he will swop our 2-gig nano with ryan's lololol. Better that he falls & crushes the old one than the new lolol. Told him better to get a protection case cos he damaged his previous nano when it was in his pocket & he accidentally fell, landing on that particular pocket. Sigh...so sayang.

On an even happier note, my mum passed me my book, Roots. It was published in 1977. I think I have a lot of books in my mum's storeroom older than the kids lolol.

Lament for the day : mio still sux !!!!

And why can't I edit settings to change book I am browsing.

Arggggghh why can't I edit my settings?? I want to change book image. And this post page is all weird. Can't use the align para buttons, the bold & italic buttons, can't preview. But can add pic & use ctrl function for bold & italics. Wassup leh !?!!

My new toy ! From hubby & kids for Mother's Day. Its a really cute shuffle & comes with a personal message inscribed from them. I can easily clip it to my blouse. Very cool ! I like the size better than the nano & the clip on function. Coooool lime green. Have put in my songs heh. Hubby can have the nano to himself lol.

Kids mid year exams over. Sarah is out watching Spiderman 3. Ryan will take a short short break & then he needs to work on revisions & chinese.

Hubby away fishing in Batam. Since his phuket trip got screwed up he has been itching to go out to sea so he found some kakis to go with. Left this morning & will be back tomorrow night.

Mio still sux ! And I will continue saying this till they fix our phone line grrrrrrr.

Sorry that Lakisha left. I thought Blake would go & we would have a good fight amongst 3 gals. I guess Lakisha would already have a recording contract in her pocket already so it probably still ends well for her. I think it will be between Melinda & Jordin.

He can really jump !

Lament for the day : nothing really, cos I have a new toy heh. Already grumbled above anyway.

Mio still sux !! lol

It has been really busy at work. It is that time of the year where we have many activities & projects going on at work. Its good though. I'd rather this than boring long days.

Set up pics at gallery yaaaaaay ! Picked up the statues to accompany the pics as well. Will probably add on more pics along the way. Setting up the statues & doing the lighting tomorrow.

Our domestic help, cora, who is in her 50s is retiring. She has been with us for a good 8 years & we can see that she is tiring & slowing down. She has been really great with not only the kids but also with hubby's fam & mine. We will miss her when she goes. It will be next year that she leaves, when her passport expires & the thought of getting a replacement is scary. Btw, she has been working here for so many years she ought to have PR status. She was some 10 or 12 years with another family here before us.

I had an Indonesian maid for one month & that was enough. The lies, the stealing, the bangladeshi boyfriends, threatening our kids not to tell, feeding kids biscuits, cup noodles for lunch while we were not home...bitch ! We are fairly easy going employees I think. So calling that one a bitch really says something about her.

Our very first maid from Sri Lanka was with us for 2 years & she was alright till she became cocky. So we decided not to extend her contract lest she became bolder. But she did love sarah & came to see her when she returned to work here.

Our second maid, nora, who is Filipina, was with us for 4 years. Oh before that we had one from Myanmar for a month. A very nice girl but not cut out to look after kids & that wouldn't do cos the kids were really young then. Anyway, nora who was with us for 4 years returned home becos of poor health. We still keep in touch with her & she is always asking about the kids.

Then along came cora, our current help. About 4 years into her contract she had to go home for a major op. She wasn't sure if she wanted to come back.

That's when the bitch came.

Fortunately I decided to call cora & she was happy to come back to us. We have been really lucky with domestic help except for that one bitch. We aren't looking foreward to getting the new one when cora goes but what to do...sigh.

Lament for the day : hubby is annoyed cos windows vista sux !

Mio still sux !!! This will be the 3rd time a technician is coming to "check phone line". And dunno how many times hubby has called the help line. Wtf ? House phone work, dun work, work then dun work. Most of the time, dun work. And we have to use our mobile phones to make calls. Wtf !!!!!!!!!!

One of hubby's friend said that some technician told him can't have more than one phone if using Mio. If this is true, Wtf ???? Never said so anywhere when we signed up. And its our perogative if we want more than one phone. We only have 2 phones hooked up. One in the bedroom & one downstairs in the living room. And we want to put in phones in the kids' rooms using same line. So how ? Instead of improving services, its regressed. Ahhhh crap !

Lament for the day : mio sux !

Went to orchard to watch Wild Hogs. Only front row left arrrghhhh. When I checked online a couple of hours earlier, there were a good number of seats left. Sigh. Its Saturday, I forget. So we walked around for a bit instead & browsed in the apple shop. Headed to Plaza Sing but carpark full so we went to Beach Road as hubby wanted to get some fishing stuff & pick up reel he sent for servicing.

Walked around the Arab street area & there are some nice funky shops. Went into one store that sells collectibles & antiques. Saw these little square boxes of face powder. I have not seen these in soooo long ! My grandma used them. I am told that some people still use them. I was also told by the store assistant that I could use this to clean silver jewellery. Errr so why would I put it on my face hah ?? lol

Anyway I was so tickled to find these that I bought 2 to put in my display case & one to see if it really cleans my silver jewellery lol. I also saw two pairs of miniature char kiaks & asked how much. "Sorry, not for sale". bleaaaah ! I would so like the mini char kiaks.

One shop had chapteks which brought back memories. In another shop, we saw some nice floormats. I don't know what the material is called but its those brown bristly type & there are some cute phrases on it. BUT ! $69 each. How to use as floor mat outside the door ?? Some stores' items are quite pricey as there are alot of tourists in the area. I saw a number of nice things I wanted but so pricey....sigh. There was this old wall clock, but very ex leh ! Ah well, nevermind, got my powder lol.

Picked ryan from cath class & then popped over to Changi Village to the fishing tackle shop. Sarah was out for dinner with friends. Then headed to Kembangan to meet Carol, Dyran & kids for dinner. The kids are really soooo adorable & little Tasha, now 4 months old is such a pretty little thing. And so sweet & amiable too. I had nasi lemak but the rice got no kick. Not fragrant & not lemak enough. Went over to their house for a bit to chat, then picked sarah from J8 & home.

After his shower, ryan crashed. Asked him why he was going to bed so early. He says tired from running around & playing with Jarrod & Trisha lol. He was the perfect kor kor today, played with the kids & very patient. On some days, he is like "aaarrrghhh can you ask Jarrod to stop following me" lolol. Jarrod loves his kor kor ryan.

Lament for the day : they don't make chapteks like they used to.

lol my dog is greedy, so intent on the lollipop. Actually he gets fixated on certain things. For example, Sarah has soft toys on her bed which he can easily get hold of but he doesn't. Until one of us picks a toy up & he wants it. Put it out of reach & he can sit there for the longest time. Better attention span than the kids lolol.

I dun geddit. Why are the pics taken with my E65 so blur ? The N70 seems to take better pics & both same, 2 megapixels. Above pic was taken with E65 & pic on left with the N70. Th husky photo in one of the previous posts was with the N70.

Was browsing the stomp site. There was a pic of a lady eating a pack of durians on the bus. Can't imagine why no one told her to stop especially the driver. Smell is dead giveaway esp in aircond environment. Another pic of an uncle on the mrt, bags on seats & wet umbrella opened on the floor to dry. Worst is the playground pic where a family hangs their clothes out to dry on the monkey bars. I would throw the baju away. Its a public place not their personal backyard. Idiots !

Lament for the day : dieeee...next week will be horribly busy & only got 2 of us.

I was right about Chris & Phil. I have no idea what is happening on Prison Break II. Missed a number of episodes.

Verrrry busy at work..........

hah ! Sarah forgot piano lessons today so teacher sat & had something to eat with us while waiting to go to her next lesson across the road.

The phuket trip is off. Hubby not able to go cos of busy work schedule. Looking at mine now, same lor.

The irritating ringtone thngy I lamented about last evening is still happening. My assistant who is malay says she can sing the chinese song by heart lol.

Must remember first wednesday of the month at supermarket is no plastic bag day lol. Friend went to buy munchies & pad then realised no plastic bag lol, had to pay for it.

My friend Hayden sent me email of his new collection. Very nice ! If anyone is reading this lolol, see links.

Lament for the day : I wonder if anyone apart from family reads this blog ??

Busy time of the year. And it will be even busier next week as I have to tear down an existing exhibition & put up the new one. Its always fun doing this but loads of work.

Then there is this 'big' project which is to be announced as well as our other local projects. Plenty of press stuff to do.

Kiddos' exams have started. Sarah had a dream that she failed her English & woke up crying. Told her not possible lah.

Melinda is really good but she has to stop looking surprised leh. Its getting old. Or is it just her facial expression that is like dat ??? Enjoyed Lakisha & Blake's performances. Jordin not so good tonite. Even if she is booted off, dun matter cos probably already has a contract. My vote to go is Chris & Phil.

Scanned a photo of Sherlyn, Victor & me somewhere in Europe. Emailed it off to Sherlyn. Lol plus one of Dilip.

Lament for the day : In the office, someone has a chinese song for mobile ringtone. Loud, irritating & it keeps ringing....sigh.

Roots by Alex Haley. I have been searching for this book. My bro can't find it in the labyrinth of mum's store. Searched national library. Very few copies & not available. Tried ebay even & hit a US$392 first edition hardcover. Errrr no leh, I just want to read & keep an ordinary copy. Can't afford the collectible. Aiyo...may have to order. Have asked uncle if he could help us buy the dvd of the series. This is something worth reading & watching again.

Had lunch at toa payoh & saw this sign at the coffeeshop lol. We were having our favourite rojak. The engrish not so right leh lol.

Took a walk around & got the screen protectors for ryan's mobile phone & mine too. This place is really busy. Soooo many people out & about.

Picked up some kueh kueh for tea. Ondeh ondeh...yum...the type with the moist gula melaka that squirts out when you take a bite. And this pink & lime green kueh-kueh that is dipped in orange coloured sugar. Can't remember what the sugar & the kueh are called in chinese. I remember when I was young & staying at my late grandpa's (mum's dad) house in tiong bahru, a hawker with his pushcart would come by our street everyday selling these. He had a steamer on his cart so the kuehs were steaming hot & ohhhhh so soft. These are mini ones that I bought & actually feels a little stiff. They don't make 'em like they used to.

I also remember the Indian man balancing a big basket on his head who would also come by the street. Putumayam...steamed rice cake made to look like flattened beehoon. Dip that in the oranged coloured sugar & shredded coconut.

Kueh pie tee is best nonya style. Not those that you get at the coffeshops. No standard ! My late grandma (dad's mum) made super shiok pie tee, popiah & mee siam. Pie tee shells homemade somemore. Every CNY openhouse & everyone would look forward to makaning her pie tee, popiah & mee siam. Beeeeeeeeeest ! My mudder can make good popiah but seldom get to eat leh. Her pound cake also supposedly best. But I dun remember leh.

Errr, anyway, I like my carrot cake in the black sweet style in pieces not flat & white. Hawker centre at toa payoh got yummy black carrotcake. So happy I found it. Drooooool ! Now craving for nonya pie tee, black carrot cake & putumayam.

Lament for the day : Not pregnant, just greedy.

This is the mess someone made of the bulky items' refuse bin. My neighbours & I pack our bulky items to be discarded either in trash bags or carton boxes. Some idiot comes along, takes it all apart to see if he/she can salvage anything. Yes take what you want but don't make such a fuckin mess !! I've seen a couple of these people checking out the bin but never witnessed anyone making the mess. Should have a cctv & catch the asses ! The poor cleaners have to deal with this shit.

Went for executive medical check-up. My colleague who was scheduled for 8.15am had to wait till 8.30am for the staff to arrive. And to think they called us, beseeching that we arrive early or on time as they had a full schedule.

Then with so many rooms available (they were only seeing our company's staff), they draw blood & ECG in one room. Person taking the blood can be in one room & the other person doing the ECG in another. Rather than have everyone wait wait. So silly...they called me into the room for drawing blood. She tells me to go out to reception after that. Less than a minute later, they call me back in same room for ECG. Huh ???

Then same colleague who was first on the list had blood drawn as the last item in the check-up. Duh !! So I commented to my colleagues that the previous place where we did these exec checks took urine & drew blood first, then let us have a drink, toast & biscuits in their lounge. After the staff heard us talking, they did the blood first lol. The same person who did ECG provided the drinks in styrofoam cups & packet biscuits (2 pieces inside type). lol

There is no lady doctor. We had to request for one to be available. We really don't get it...why a company that does such executive check-ups has no female doctor ? The lady doc they arranged was only available on 2 fixed dates. wtf ??

Think they screwed up one of the appointments. I was there at 8.45am for my 9.15am appointment. Another colleague came in at 9am & they couldn't find her name on the list even though she quoted a staff's name who took her call to fix the schedule. Fortunately someone cancelled so they slotted her in. When I left about 10plus, she was still waiting, not even done blood yet. Aiyo, if cannot see the doc yet cos it isn't her time then draw blood first lah so that she can have something to drink/eat. We all had to fast for the blood & urine thingy.

Later in the afternoon, bumped into a guy colleague as I was removing plaster from arm from blood being drawn. He asked what that was for & I said the drawing of blood at med check-up. He said, got meh ? He just came back & no one drew his blood. wah liao.

I wasn't able to do pap smear...blame problem of the 2 fixed dates of female doc. Anyway one of the staff told me to go see my own gynae. Excuuuuuuse me, our company paid for the package that includes pap smear. Sheesh !

Yes, it was a pissy morning. But it got better, did alot of stuff for a Monday lol.

Was talking to boss about my E65. He was planning to buy one. He already has this sophisticated phone that could do so many things but he doesn't like cos so bulky. So I said, "get a blueberry lah" with all that confidence. Lololol, he couldn't stop laffing & said that this remark is gonna last at least a week of jokes. Blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry...all the same lah lolol.

Lament for the day : movie marathon on tv sux !