Gigi Lives Alone

Sad To Say Goodbye

2009-01-12T10:42:00.002+07:00

It's certainly sad to say Goodbye.

Thank you for the wonderful memories.

www.missy-gi.blogspot.com

I'll see you guys there!

Be Real! At All Times!

2009-01-08T22:32:00.004+07:00

Why does one pretend all the time?

If you were insensitive and not understanding about a person's predicament or a person's frustration in the beginning and got irritated with it till you later find out that you have thought wrongly, WHY WON'T YOU JUST APOLOGISE FOR BEING INSENSITIVE?

Why don't people put in effort to say sorry as opposed to spending even more effort vehemently denying that they acted in an insensitive / uncaring manner to start with?

Is admitting one's oversight so difficult to do?

I hardly can stand for people who change their tune after finding out that they have been wrong and not even bothering to admit it, instead acting like I am crazy for pointing out that their behaviour was not consistent as before.

Be real with me.

Or you will stand nowhere in my heart.

On a separate note, I just finished this TVB drama titled The Brink Of Law.
I was super addicted to it for a couple of days, although I have watched it on tv back in Singapore before.
Now, I am feeling rather lost without it.

I wonder if I will feel this way about HCMC when I go back to Singapore next Monday.
I am sure I will, in some strange sense.
However, I have not figured out what I will miss the most.
Some people have asked me that but I find difficulty in answering that because honestly, although I have learnt to embrace my life here, I still love my life back in Singapore the most.

Many say that they will miss the independence of living alone.
However, I never really liked living alone. I love living with my family!
I remember how lonely I felt when my entire family was out and I was home alone.
When my parents called home, I asked longingly when they will be back.
Yes I was already a working adult when that happened.

Many also think I will miss Robert.
Haha.

Some think they will miss the convenience of living in the heart of town.
I am not sure.
I have always lamented about living in the heart of town. Sure it's convenient but it also takes away the novelty of visiting town.
I love dressing up an driving to town like it's some excursion!

I guess I will miss some friends.
I honestly have not met kinder people than some of those I have met here.
Maybe it's less competitive here and some people are more real that back in Singapore.
(Of course I am not saying my friends back home are not real but these are people I meet at work, you know what I mean)
You know, I am all about being real :)

Will I miss the cheap taxis?
Hmmmmm I don't know, I never like taking taxis, not even in Singapore.
Somehow......

Will I miss the cheap tailor?
Nah, I am not really into tailoring stuff.

Maybe right now, I have too many things on my mind.

Maybe I will miss the chaotic pace of life here.
I might miss the lack of orderliness.
I might miss this special vibrancy.
I might miss the experience I once had.

An experience is an experience, it connotes the past, not the present, nor the future.
At least in my opinion.

Now that this experience is over, it's time for me to move onto another experience.
Now whoever said I was not adventurous?

Heh.

I don't have resolutions for 2009 but I do have some hopes, especially that the new year coincides with me moving home.
I am looking forward to building a life again in Singapore with all you friends around me.
I hope I can meet new people. Loads of them!
I hope my life will be fulfilling and happy.
I hope that I will be able to rise up to future challenges, especially with what I have experienced here.
I also hope to finally own that Gucci tote. Heh.

M For Mood

2009-01-06T17:58:00.001+07:00

I am really moody today.
I will be moody for the next few days till things take a turn for the better.

No, I am not having my period!

Hello 2009, I Hope You Will Treat Me Better This Year

2009-01-05T17:41:00.004+07:00

Although, I seriously doubt it.

According to my horoscope, I will basically have arse luck for a couple of years and it even adviced that I should take it positively.

I will try.

The trip to Nha Trang was crappy.

The weather was majorly un-cooperative!

Nobody is to ever make me take a bus again!

Unless I choose to.

Even if I do, someone please do give me a slap! Or a knock on the head or something.

Oh I made soup a couple of weeks ago. My mother calls this the ABC soup. Maybe because it's as simple as ABC to make. Loved the onions!

Nothing interesting has happened so far.

It's only been 5 days. I do not think my life is that dramatic and eventful.

However, the sad realisation that I will be turning 26 in exactly 6 months is making me feel kind of sad. I am truly on the wrong side of 25.

It's my last week at work and in HCMC and I will be moving back for good next Monday.

My new boss was even kind enough to arrange for a car to pick me up to send me to the airport. This is why I am impressed by him - not because he arranged for transport for me. It's because he cares about the little things regarding everyone.

It's very easy to say you want to do that, but it's really difficult to put it to practice in real life.

I bought flowers last week. Nice! I love flowers.

I am very puzzled. How is it that my colleague could spell "Yazhuang" in my name correctly but did not get "Gigi" right?

She copied it straight out of my proper records.

Because only my official documents spell my name as Su Yazhuang, Gigi

She even bothered to add in the comma.

But she didn't bother to see that Gigi is not Gi Gi.

This, together with the fact that people think I am a local with foreign men, really gets me riled up.

Regardless where I go (Crystal Jade at a 5 star restuarant or a super local place) or what I wear (Office wear or casual clothes), the service staff will come up to me first and speak to me in Vietnamese.

And that is after they witness my colleagues / friends /Gabby and I speaking in English.

KNS!

I used to tell them I don't understand or sometimes I will acknowledge because I do understand. But these days, I get so fed up of being mistaken for a money grubbing, foreigner loving local that I will completely ignore them or stare at them and say "I am sorry? What are you talking about?"

Some will get red faced.

Some will tell me the very classic line....................

I am sorry. Bekors I thought you are Vietnameeeee

Not all Asian looking people are Vietnamese.

Just like not all Asians are poor.

And not all Asians suck at English. (I really do not want to entertain another "So what do you speak in Singapore" question just like how I do not wish to explain how Singapore is a country that has no National Lanugage like the Vietnamese do. Actually we do. It's Malay. But I will further confuse people.)

I am so hungry.

2009 Beckons

2008-12-31T17:15:00.003+07:00

Happy New Year!
I bet it would be 2009 by the time all of you read this.

I would be on the wrong side of 25 and thinking very seriously on how to reverse this stupid aging process.

I told my boss "I hope to stay young and not age at all in 2009."

He laughed.

I told him it's just a hope!

I do not believe in making new year resolutions but if I could, I would blast some people off this face of the earth, for reasonable reasons or not.
That, in fact, is just a dream, not a resolution.

I made a huge mistake and bought train tickets back from Nha Trang on the wrong day.
Now Robert has to go get a refund (80% only but better than nothing) and I wouldn't have a chance to sit on a train.

My parents said I sat in one when I was very young but since I cannot remember, this would have been my first time.

I really don't know what's happening to me these days, I keep getting dates all mixed up!

Zhao says my new year resoluton would be to read the calender properly.

Somehow, I find it increasingly hard to disagree.

I hope that I will be younger, thinner, and chio-er in 2009!!!
And Robert will finally buy that Gucci bag I have been eyeing on for ages!
Heh.

I hope I will not be having any bad luck in 2009! Although I think it might be rather impossible since I am really rather jinxed.
Did I mention I stepped on a tennis ball and twisted my ankle (again) on Sunday.

Sigh.... all these for Robert.
He should really buy me a few of those bags I have been eyeing on.

Facebook Peril

2008-12-30T17:48:00.002+07:00

Some of you might already have found out that my dad has a Facebook account and it's all because of me!

If he is stalking you online, it's my fault!

He seems to be very intrigued by this whole social networking site and has took time off to even put in his fvourite quotations and interests!
Good gosh!

It's really rather amusing especially when he was so happy that he is "connected and relevant to the world."

He added all my cousins, Robert, my brother's gf....... Everyone he knows on my list lah...... Except my ex-bfs, which would be weird.

My friends are really rather amused and asked me to ask him to add them.
Ask yourself!

I had a hectic day and now I am super stressed about something :S

Sigh!

Just As You Thought.....

2008-12-29T15:11:00.003+07:00

Things could not get any worse.
Or you have seen it all......

Life always has funny ways to shock you.

Including our building manager who told us we would be sharing an apartment with some stranger (her brother's friend).

Robert and I have been sleeping in an empty apartment for the past few nights due to the lack of extra beds that could be placed in our living room (because his parents were visiting).

Everything went ok except for last night when the building manager whom I am sure happened to see us downstairs, casually mentioned that a man would be sleeping outside in the living room.

She even very coolly told us that there is nothing to worry. We will be in the room and he would be in the living room and we can lock the room door and they will be keeping the keys to the room.

I go toilet how? The toilet is common in the living area lor.

That's besides the point.
I had thought it was extremely rude and disrespectful.
In fact when she told us, she had already let the guy into the apartment.

And we had the keys to the apartment too, ready to pop in there to sleep any moment.

To cut the long story short, of course I had to be the bad person and told her
"Of course not. Would YOU sleep with a stranger in your living room?"

Of course she tried to explain how come he was there.... the other room was not vacated as expected therefore she put him in the apartment given to us. She meant to tell us (but it was 9.30pm and she was walking out of the apartment with her bag and keys when she saw us. Hmmmmmmmm........).... all kinds of excuses lah.

Robert asked her "why don't you ask him to sleep in the living room of unit 2A then?" (the apartment that was supposed to be vacated for him but was not.)
To which she had no reply.

In the end she asked him to leave.
I was really pissed....... Even though Robert was quite right that they do not owe us an extra bed but I felt that it was rude to just let someone into an apartment you gave to us to sleep in and expect us to be ok with it. At least we should have been informed earlier and something could be worked out nicely.
Is this a difference in culture?
Or just plain disrespect and lack of courtesy?
I don't know....

In fact, they didn't even inform us about the extra bed situation till the night before when we could not do anything.

I asked curtly if the guy slept on the bed and she said no.
It would be rather yuck if he slept there and the sheets and pillow cases were not changed.
But even then, I slept there last night and I really wouldn't know.

Oh. And her apology, was not even apologetic!

I am still shocked thinking about it!
I kept wondering..... What if she didn't happen to see us outside the building and didn't inform us.
What are we going to do when we go into the apartment to find a total stranger there?
Can I kick him out?
What if he refuses to leave?
Although it didn't happen but it really could have.

Amazing things do happen!

Christmas 2008 - Saigon

2008-12-25T12:59:00.019+07:00

I was supposed to have a work event last night but I managed to get my friend to cover for me.

It was really nice of him to do that so I could go for dinner with Robert!

When I got home, I saw a cake from one of the more expensive cake shops in town, Tour Les Jous. It was from the apartment people! Wow not bad! Got budget! HY told me it's probably because they earn more from rent psm (per square metre). True.

So cute!

What's not cute. Robert laughed when he showed me this. He was very amused, I was not surprised. The receptionist once called Robert my husband. Doesn't matter.
Christmas eve dinner at The Refinery. We ate there last year too. Somehow, I am starting to suspect we are really boring as a couple. We go to the same place to eat every year!
The Christmas set dinner was honestly quite value for money. $39USD++ for champagne and a whole load of other stuff..... will show you in pictures to come.

I am loving my new American Apparel dress! I shipped it from the US and got my mom to bring it over for me! This dress can be worn like 20 different ways. But the string is sooo long, Robert had to help me out and we decided that I should just wear it this way or he would have to put the string through the tiny hole all over again whenever I want to wear it. Not fun!

Aperitif - Cheesesticks and champagne
Starters - Prawn bisque and crouton. Mine. I didn't like it and honestly have had better bisque.
Robert's red bell pepper soup. He liked it but I typically do not like bell peppers.
Another starter (I am sure there is a proper term but I forgot. The menu is at home!) - Prawn, avocado, and pomelo salad. It was good! Except this avocado was not sweet (I have tasted really sweet ones before) and it's fattening! Heh.
Robert's beef carpacio.
Lime sorbet and vodka. Once again, I forgot the proper term for a sorbet before your mains and after your starters.
Main - Salmon with eggplant. I LOVED IT! But alas I was too full to finish it. I actually had a another party at 4pm before the dinner.
Robert's Christmas turkey. I never enjoyed turkey.... and I had it last year! The potatos were bad!
This really baffled us. This is a black and white terrine with poached pears (they weren't even poached!!!).

We wondered for the longest time what a terrine was.... because this thing didn't melt and it tasted like powder!

I just Googled and terrine is actually like a pate!
The night ended and we walked around the city for a bit. It was really crowded. People were waving the Vietnamese flag, singing this "Vietnam Ho Chi Minh" song, spraying fake snow. It was too much for us to take so we went home!
I fell asleep at 11pm while watching tv......... heh. I was so tired from all the exercise I did!

Check this out! So cool! Giant balloon!

The next few weekends would be busy ones. Robert's parents are coming tomorrow, we are going on a trip, and then I am home for good!

Time passes so quickly when you least want it to :(

Thanks to Robert for the nice dinner and the wonderful gift! I didn't buy him anything!

Oh by the way, I am working today because there are no religion related Public Holidays here.

It sucks but hey.... Merry Christmas everyone!

You Learn Something New Everyday

2008-12-22T17:41:00.002+07:00

Time flew by today because of a very long meeting and a very late lunch.
It's the end of the day and I doubt I would be getting all the information I have been waiting for.

Patience and some smarts is needed to survive in this game.
Unfortunately, I think I have none.
Ack.

My new boss, whom I am very much impressed with because of his cheerful personality and intelligence, taught me a new personality trait today.

High D.

I had known about other personality tests like MBTI, DISC, Types A & B but I honestly didn't know about High D before.
D for domineering.
He went on to mention A is for accomodating and C for collaboration, I think.

I started to wonder if I were high D too.
D, in my opnion, could be Diva.
Something which I have to say, I possess.
Hah.

I just hope I am not as annoying as the high D I have in mind.

As we were having lunch, there was a minor blackout.
The waiter came up to us and spoke to me in Vietnamese.
I just nodded at him like I understood and immediately, HY started laughing out loud.

I exclaimed
"This ALWAYS happens to me! ALWAYS!!!"

Thing is, recently, I am being mistaken for a local more often than I like.
Initially, it was obvious I am not local but seems like this has changed over the past year.

The problem is, everyone thinks I am a local, often with foreigner males.
Be it at Park Hyatt having lunch with my male colleagues, at the shoe shop with Robert, or just anywhere else.

My male colleagues would be happily speaking to me in English and the wait staff see it.
BUT when they need to communicate something or speak to me, they speak in Vietnamese.

Wah lao.......
You mean female cannot be a foreigner working here meh?
Only must be male meh?!

Yes I agree with HY that the incidence is less but still it's kind of annoying!

The most annoying thing is that I was with Robert and his friends at a shoe shop and we were all speaking English.
The shopkeeper, thinking I am local dating a foreign man, starting speaking to me in Vietnamese although Robert was the one who was buying the shoes.

Ironically, Rober'ts command of Vietnamese is much better than mine.
I ignored her and she looked at me.
In my annoyance, I told Robert loudly "why does she think I am your Vietnamese gf?! Do I look like it?! I AM IGNORING HER!"

Perceptions.
We are all masters of meting out these perceptions without the slightest concern and ironically, we hate it when we are victims of them.

I went to Yakun yesterday to relive my Singaporean memories.
I even finished the night with chilli crab cooked Long Beach style (the chefs are from Long Beach).
It was shiok, even though I don't eat crabs.
I did not take any photos because I forgot to charge my camera and it's a tad spoilt! BOO!

Robert, LL (no hor, it doesn't mean lan lan), and I met the master franchisee for Yakun in Vietnam.
A young man who perturbed us over his choice of real estate in HCMC.
(I am borrowing this term from Robert who very aptly put it "We learn that the choice of real estate is also very important in a business.")

Yakun tastes quite solid - just like Singapore.
Only that I wish my bread came with my eggs and it was not so cold.
And LL wondered why it was not served in the typical coffeeship mini cups (apparantly, the locals find it expensive for such a "small" cup of coffee).

I hope that he soon understands the power of the Police here and the need to strike a balance between making them happy but not selling yourself out.

This is not Singapore hor.....
The Police and the protocol with the authorities are different hor.....
Even as stubborn as I could be, I get it after a while.

I bought some Christmas CDs yesterday since it's so cheap here and surprisingly, Britney Spears new album is rather solid too!
I think I am going to miss this when I am back in Singapore.

The Best I Could - The Best Thing You Could Do Is Read It!

2008-12-20T16:24:00.003+07:00

I have to say, this is certainly very out of the blue for me.

Firstly because I hardly bother to review the books I read, even the really good ones like Kite Runner and Da Vinci Code. maybe because most people would have already known about them.

However, I felt compelled to recommend this book.

Firstly, I owe Mr. Subhas Anandan an apology. When I read in the Straits Times that the book was that not that great because he was bound by client confidentiality, thus making it a tad dry, I struck off the book, together with the fact that I typically do not think non professional writers could write something that interested me.

Even if it were in the subject I love most - Law.

However my dad, also an avid fan of the subject of Law, searched high and low for the book and finally triumphed it in front of me recently, telling me how great it was. I was skeptical at first but was honestly quite blown away.

Written in fairly simple language, this book is for the man on the street.

There are 2 parts to this book - the first about his illustrious and interesting life and the second about the prolific cases he has taken on and some of his afterthoughts.

What struck me was that he was not only brilliant, he had a charmed life where he always seemed to meet people who helped him, stood up for him, or respected him greatly. That is honestly the perfect combination - a dash of luck in the people department plus talent and hard work.

Mr. Anandan is also known as one of the most straight talking lawyers around because of his high moral grounds. Something you would have not expected from someone is does Criminal Law and seems to defend the worst people around.

I, too, thought that he defended those people mainly because of money or publicity. However, if you read his book, very often, he was either assigned the case by the State (the criminals seem to always request for him) or he took on the case because he truly could put himself in the shoes of the family members who begged him.

For some cases, he did pro-bono work. One case, he only took $200 from the family. Another case, he refused to reduce his fees because he mentioned that the family of the accused were arrogant about their wealth.

What was interesting to me was that even as a defence lawyer, he sometimes told his clients "enough is enough" and advised one not to appeal against his sentence anymore because he thought what his client got was "fair"

In my opinion, I felt that he was very clear in making sure justice was meted out and protecting his clients' interest to the best of his abilities.

This book took me less than 2 days to finish and I have new found respect for this man, whom I once knew little about and thought that he was just "making loads of money being a Criminal Lawyer."

You will laugh about the incident when he and his protester friends from the University wanted to burn the American Flag but the Police seemed more interested in them littering with the ashes (I suppose).

You will also laugh about how he asked the Russians for vodka during another protest.

You will marvel at how he managed to convince 70 people from his University hall to jump into the pool of a hotel in their PJs at midnight because a waiter was rude to him and his friends earlier. AND managed to get hot chocolate and biscuits as treats for all from the General Manager!

You will start to realise how eloquent he is when he managed to score 30 movie tickets from a movie operator - for free!

You will wonder, like him, about karma when he mentioned a case that only initally sentenced 2 accused of killing and burning a man to death when there was actually 4. Many years later, a man asked for him to be his defense lawyer in a murder trial and he revealed that he was the 3rd person the police never found and he is now in prison because he murdered the 4th person over ganja (drugs).

There are so many thought provoking remarks he made about specific people, incidences in general, and the Singapore Judiciary system.

If you want to borrow it, call me!

Gi - Touch Down

2008-12-19T17:56:00.003+07:00

12th January

Monday

5.50pm

Home.
Sweet.
Home.

I will be on holiday till..... I don't know when!
Anyone who is bored, just ask me out.

I am free for the following activities:

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Tea
Supper (although I hardly condone this)
Shopping
Gossiping
Taking photos (Heh!!!)
Clubbing
Valentine's Day (Heh. Sorry Robert)
Sports

Wow, it's been 1.5 years.
It's neither a long nor a short time and I have certainly been through alot.
It honestly has been a huge test for me and I think I couldn't have survived without Robert and my parents.
They really have been the most patient.

I honestly also have to thank the Dumpling Sisters - Your daily emails have been keeping me sane for the past difficult 1 year (the first 6 months was a different kind of difficult) and also SDF, the first 6 months, he really made sure I settled in well.

And also to SDK who hears me rant ALL THE FREAKING TIME! There are times when I honestly have been so rude to her because I was so moody.

And of course, everyone else especially the friends who have been reading this blog and some even taking time off to make comments. The fact that you read shows that you care :)

I really hope what my dad (though Lala also claimed she said that) said came through
"You will come back a better person."

Although I think Gi is STILL Gi - with that fiery temper and ah lian-ish attitude and that materialistic, controlling streak.

Nothing changes, huh?

Sniff

2008-12-17T14:00:00.002+07:00

I am down with a mini flu and am in a positively bad mood.

Everyone's going to some nice place for a holiday and I am stuck here :(
It's just making me feel worse!

Thats...... Woah!

2008-12-11T18:01:00.002+07:00

I am in love with this blog that I found - That's Chic

The Asian Born American is so super chio (I have not found out her ethnicity yet).
Her boyfriend, is even more chio.

You know how I hardly think Caucasians are good looking, much less boys with flip flop hair but my goodness.... he is a dream.
Although he looks young enough to be my brother.
Which is weird because I basically enjoy.... well, vintage men with short crop hair.

Heh.

I found out last minute that my work related dinner has been cancelled and I am totally bummed because I didn't bring my jogging gear.
I would have gone!
Bleh.

I am going to spend my evening shopping for a present and wondering if I should eat home cooked soba or that dragon unagi roll. OR BOTH?!

I hope to be able to catch up on my reading tonight.
And stop sleeping right after dinner due to some unknown fatigue spell.

Have a happy weekend y'all!
My parents are coming! Woot woot!

V For Vendetta?

2008-12-09T12:00:00.002+07:00

Freedom never tasted so sweet till I lost it.

Many things have been going on recently and I am not at the liberty of disclosing anything as yet.
So when the dust has settled, I will announce it accordingly.

I am suffering from a bad case of tummyache.
In fact, I have been suffering from acute stomach discomfort the day I arrived in Singapore and got chided by my mother when I wolfed down a whole plate of curry rice with Hainanese pork chop.
Yes, my parents do remind us not to eat so much - in case we get fat!
Doesn't really work since I am still rather plump and my brother.... oh well, I won't date him with that body for sure.
It was so slurp but I definitely paid for it dearly 3 hours later!

It's been almost a week and my stomach is still giving me problems!
In fact, I was duly did in by the cup of latte I had this morning.
Which, may I mention, was specially delivered to my office!
Can you believe it!
I was stuck in a meeting this morning and could not collect my coffee after I ordered it.
So the people at the cafe brought it down for me, with the bill, AND with sweetener.
I am sure sure they noticed that I do not use real sugar with my coffee.
Wow. I was super impressed!
Thumbs up for great service.

The office is so empty now because all my colleagues went to the wake of the father of our storekeeper.
This, I found out, is the culture here.
People will go for wakes during office hours.
I guess their after office hours are very precious to them - for them to spend with their families or whatnot.
Though I found it strange, I guess there is something we Singaporeans could learn - focus more on family and less on other things!

Now talking about that, I should start cajoling my dad to buy me that Gucci tote I so love soon....
heh heh!
Just joking!

Need to go home to get my charcoal pills now!

Back Again

2008-12-08T14:42:00.005+07:00

I am back in HCMC again and I have to say the weather is perfect here!
It's bright and sunny in the mornings with a cool chilly breeze.
What could be better!

I had a good few days back in Singapore and my gosh, I ate ALOT!
I had loads of good food, not barring that my stomach was giving me loads of problems.
Time to get back into shape again now that I am back!

It was a great trip particularly because my aunty bought me a great Christmas gift!
We went shopping together and I chose it and I am totally loving it, after trying it out last night!
Heh it's a huge jar or Matcha body scrub from Origins. Wonderful stuff!

I will be back in Singapore for good in about a month's time and wow.... time really flies.
I have been here for 1.5 years already and it has really been...... an experience I would say.
As December always seems to fly past the fastest, I am sure before I know it, I will be back home having my homecoming celebrations.
Heh.

I have even lined up all the activities I want to take part in when I am home and that includes getting my bike license (I cannot procrastinate! I cannot!)

Due to popular (is it popular) demand to test out of cooking skills (it only looks not bad in the photos according to friends), I shall invite my friends to my place for a dinner cooked by me as well (ok maybe I will get my mother or my maid's help..... hey cooking for a couple of friends is not easy ok! Remember Robert's birthday!)

I am also looking for a Valentine's Day date! Anyone wants to ask me out?

(Robert will continue living in HCMC. Yes, I am used to the "huh? like that how?" look already. I don't know. If he finds himself a Vietnamese chick behind my back, I will fly to HCMC to castrate him. Since I am PCD, I shall do it blindfolded. And with gloves. All that germs..... eeew)

I would love to stay on for a while more if circumstances allowed but I guess it's time to go home.
I am rather sad to go for a few reasons but I am equally happy to be heading home as well for a couple of reasons too.

When I home, I guess this blog address has to change as well.
I will keep you guys updated!

It definitely won't be "Gigi Lives Alone" more likely "Gigi Lives Off Her Parents"
hah!

My dad is coming this Sunday for work.
Excited!

I am a bit lazy to post photos of my trip here.
Do check out my Facebook profile!

A Day Of Good Food!

2008-12-02T17:57:00.002+07:00

It's really been a wonderful day of good food!

I had a lemon crunchy top cake for breakfast - my only caked that turned out really fantastic!
I have to say I REALLY think it's tasty!
Post photos soon.

I had my favourite wanton mee for lunch - cheap and good! shiok!

For dinner, we are hosting Robert's friends who are visiting at our favourite French restuarant, Ty Coz.
Also cheap and good!

I am soooooo hungry!
Going for my jog now!
I need to burn at least something so I can stuff myself later.

I will be on my way to the airport tomorrow at this time.

WOOSH! HOMEBOUND!

Little Miss Prissy + I Must Know Why

2008-12-01T13:55:00.002+07:00

I grieve for the young Singaporean lawyer who got killed in the Mumbai attacks.
I abhor terrorist attacks.
What good does it do to kill others?
And, I would like to ask, if the Taj Hotel had warning before that, are erecting metal detectors and not allowing the cars to park outside the hotel ENOUGH?!

Has anyone been to The American Club?
I really think the security there is top notch.
Got Ghurkas, some quite cute.
Ok that's really besides the point.

I would like the mystery answered.
Why are the people here so blur and oblivious to things?
On Saturday, I was MOD and I noticed a man opening the door to the female locker room and looking in.
I stared at him from afar for a good 5 minutes and I guess he and his friend who was beside him got it and quickly walked away.

There were lights switched on and I am only guessing there were females in there.
I change there often too - to go to the staff gym.
I cannot imagine if that happened to me.
I think I would have screamed my head off, especially when the curtain to the changing area is not big enough.
I have told HR about this for about 6 months already.

I brought this up in my MOD report and my colleague reminded the security to be more careful.
While I do not blame the security staff because they cannot possibly be manning the place 24/7, I really wonder why the man did not read the sign on the door?

Which part of the picture of the girl in a skirt did he not understand?

Then today I took a cab and I told him to go by a certain road.
He did not hear me and turned left instead of going straight.
Then I raised my voice in horror as he turned left.

He told me he would go by this other road.
I told him "I don't like"
He told me he would go one round again so he can go straight as per instructed.
You think I am mad?!
I where got so much time and money for you to do that!

Koaz! Can someone please listen to my instructions anot?
Very tiring because every morning I do this.
90% of the time, they really do not listen to what I say after I tell them where I want to go.

WHY IS THAT SO?

My pronnounciation so bad meh?

Like when I ask them to keep left, they will immediately jam break and stop me there.

"ben trai" and "dung lai" sound so different! My Vietnamese cannot be THAT bad right?

Anyway, I am homebound in 3 days.
Excited!

The Moment All Of You Have Been Waiting For

2008-11-28T16:05:00.022+07:00

Haha I really have had a few people asking me what' s that one single most precious thing I am giving to Robert.

Ok lah, here it is!

MY LOVE!

Robert says he loves cheesecake but it's not easy to bake ok! You need to double wrap it with foil, make the biscuit base and chill it, put it in another tin and fill it with water to bake it! Plus this recipe calls for an extra layer of sour cream on top so I had to bake it twice for a total of 1 hour! It's really quite shiok - especially the extra layer of sour cream!

Photos of Robert and his cake! No he is not 2. Maybe I should have put 3, since he is close to 30 already. Old man... I LIKE OLD MEN! They are all so yummy! 2nd bottle of wine in a week! We both love wine.
We went back to the same restaurant as last year's. Had almost the same food and the same bottle of wine! Foie gras!!! I LIKE!!! It's sooooooooo good. Super expensive can - this is $30Sing. But it's sooooo worth it!
French onion soup with bread and loads of cheese in it. Rather good!
My main course - scallops! Super good! I am rather into scallops and lamb these days. But scallops are rare and expensive :(
Robert said the steak here is not bad. Last year he had the steak tartar (raw beef) and he loved it.
I surprised Robert with helium balloons! 28 of them - one for each birthday Robert has celebrated. I was very touched the old man came all the way to my place just to fill up 30 balloons for me (I burst 2 on purpose). He even put some ribbons for me at my request. I tipped him but I don't know if the security guard thought it was for him when I passed him the money. I didn't know how to tell him so I hope the man got it. From the apartment.
After a few hours, the balloons started dropping. Quite nice actually!
How one of the balloons look like. Rather cute right!
Another one.

I wanted to surprise Robert on Wednesday night by inviting all his close friends in HCMC for dinner. I brewed lotus root soup with pork ribs and peanut, cooked black Hokkien mee, fried egg, made tofu with minced pork. It was very stressful!

My friend, HY, came early and he was kind enough to help me clean up the very war zone like kitchen. I was swearing and shouting away and said "OMG I AM NEVER GOING TO BE A HOUSEWIFE! I AM SORRY FOR SHOUTING! I AM SO STRESSED!"

Heh.

BUT Robert was not surprised! Because of L's bad acting! And the building manger saw him and told him "your friends are all upstairs!" AGRH!

Robert and his present. Because he is so rude! I got him this Voltron and Star Wars tee too. But alas, he saw them before I gave them to him. Tell me earlier leh! I wrap the present for what! Ah the perils of living together.

"Why did you buy me a Voltron tee?"

"I asked you and you said you liked Voltron wat!"

I joked with Robert that these are the most expensive candies ever - customised M&Ms! I flew them in from the US! I shall post a photo of what I customised on the M&Ms soon. It's not with me. It's really cool - you can even choose the colour theme of the M&Ms and of course I chose some cheery pink theme! You can even print your photos! But I just put words.
The other day I came home and I saw this! So nice! The apartment people put it up for us!
Last night, Robert asked me over dinner "Which is you and which is me?"

"Neither" I replied.

"I am not so ugly."

Heh.

I Am A Closet Lian!

2008-11-27T11:53:00.002+07:00

Singapore must be beautiful with all the Christmas decorations now.
I would get to know next week - I will be back for the weekend for.... a wedding!
Our friend is getting married!

As you guys enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas day, I would be sleeping early and getting ready for work.
Alas, it's not a PH here :(

I am super in love with Britney Spears' new song - Womanizer.
It's super catchy!

Gosh, I want to go party!
I actually dreamt of clubbing the other night.

Clubbing here is just.... boring.
I have no incentive to even dress up to go.
My stash of party clothes and shoes are back home and they are collecting dust!
Yes leh, just like my winter clothes, I also have a stash of clothes and shoes (and some bags) just for clubbing! I have been collecting a couple for a few years but stopped recently.
Age has caught up and partying clothes have been exchanged for something else.
I need to categorise everything in my life!

Thank you Britney, for cheering me up! I am super lovin' your song!

Some friends suggested having a dressing up party when I go home.
I shall name it the "Gi Touches Down" party or something and I suggested I should wear torn prisoner's clothes to signify that I have broken free.

Or maybe I should wear some cute flight attendent uniform?
Touch down mah.....

January baby, January!
It's been a loooooong time since I had ALOT of FUN!

Another One Bites The Dust

2008-11-26T16:16:00.003+07:00

About 50% of my ex school mates from Secondary school or getting married or are married.
I think it's about 50% lah, there are so many wedding pictures on Facebook, I am shuddering as I see them.

The only people whom I know are not married are Mel, Boo, Sadako, and I!
Are we the only 4 virgins left in this world?!
I am shocked because what happened to the wild Convent girl image?
What happened to the aritculate young women we were brought up to be and being indepedent and all that?
What happened to enjoying life?

At 25, are you really ready for marriage?
What do you know about life, let alone building a life with someone else?

At 25, where do you get all that money from to hold lavish wedding dinners?
Where do you get all that money to buy a house, renovate it, furnish it with furniture?

Maybe these 25 year old friends of mine have it, because they have not been splurging on chio bags, expensive makeup, and lavish meals like I have. Therefore, I have nothing in my bank account. Heh.

Are you really sure this person is the person you wish to spend the next 50 years with? (Assuming either of you live for the next 50 years)
Talking about that, I saw a grandpa and grandma holding hands yesterday.
They were both at the lobby asking for their newspapers and after they walked away, they automatically held each others' hands.
So sweet!
If my parents held hands now, I think I might squirm to death.
Eeeeeew!

Really must get married to be happy meh?

Anyway, today is a truly bad day for me.....
I cannot begin to describe how bad it is.

Tomorrow is Robert's birthday.
I will give him my single most precious thing tomorrow.

STAY TUNED!

Heh.

Lunch Time Rant

2008-11-21T12:31:00.002+07:00

Can we please have a "Learn How To Use The Lift" campaign here? Really very fed up with people who don't notice if the lift is going up or down and just rush in as long as the lift door is open. And people who stick their faces so close to the lift door, they look like they are kissing it.
Can the taxi drivers stop being so damn dishonest? I am not saying all.
Can someone open an American Apparel spree so I can buy the Colourblock dress and a black scraf? I am going to winter wonderland next year! I need to stock up on my wintery stuff!
Should I buy that winter suede boots that is on 20% discount?

We are having a fun packed weekend - housewarming with my colleagues tomorrow and with some of our friends on Sunday.

I am going to wake up early to go to the wet market tomorrow.

AGRH I AM TURNING INTO AN AUNTIE!

it's really cheaper and easier to shop at the wet market though.

I have not been to the gym for far too long!

So many things are distracting me!

Gi Is Pouty Faced Because...

2008-11-20T18:04:00.002+07:00

She is reminiscing Japan.

POUT.

I think I am going to dye my hair to the right shade of black this weekend. I love jet black hair. I don't know why I dyed it ah lian gold recently and I covered it up with dark brown.

Like they said... once you go black, you never go back.

How true!

Must buy hair dye tomorrow!

Things.......

2008-11-20T12:03:00.005+07:00

Damn that stupid ulcer. So damn painful. It has rendered eating an unenjoyable activity now.
Don't know why my head hurts and neck aches. Why?
Don't know why people with some position and power like to shout at others who are not even their direct subordinates. It doesn't mean you have that bit of power, you can abuse it. Plus, please learn how to book your air tickets yourself.

Cooking stuff:

I tried fyring pork lard to cook with some of my food last night and I BURNT IT! Pui.

Stir fried cabbage with chinese mushrooms and oyster sauce. Since Robert says he doesn't eat enough vegetables, I have no choice but to learn to to cook them, even though I don't really like them. I have to cater to the man who puts the roof above my head, right?

Next time must really go to the wet market to buy my ingredients. So expensive! This cost me $8Sing can. Steamed tofu with minced pork. My favourite!
Dinner last night - Stir fried bak choy with button mushrooms and prawns.
My favourite too and it's my mom's recipe - braised fatty 3 layer pork! With the 5 spices powder as marinate, it tasted extra good!

The Storm That Never Came

2008-11-18T12:16:00.012+07:00

There was supposed to be this big storm last night and I thought I could stay at home today due to the flooding but no lor, I am at work during lunch time.

2 nights of lousy sleep has made me a very unhappy person.

2 nights ago, I woke up from extreme pain in my forearms.

I tried to get back to sleep but I basically stayed up all night tossing and turning, not knowing why my forearms hurt so bad (it's tennis and kneading of the dough, which I will talk about later).

I don't know how I slept last night too because I woke up with a neck ache and my hair was in a mess and all tangled up.

I dropped my whole box of brownies, full of crumbs on the floor and spent a good 15 minutes cleaning up.

Sigh.

Now my forehead hurts. I think from the squinting.

There is something wrong with my computer's adapter - it keeps flickering!

Anyone wants to buy me that pink Viao?

Anyway, some photos.

Expensive, lousy dinner! I wanted to eat lamb but Robert suggested to go to this place for dinner, which I agreed to but secretly never liked or regarded it to serve good food. But I went ahead anyway. I should have ordered the fish and chips!

Lousy souffle too lor! Don't know who told me it's damn nice... it's not nice at all!
I played tennis for 3 hours on Sunday - whole body is aching like crap now! I really feel like I am breaking into pieces can......

I love tennis! Tennis is a game of pure skill and tactics, not strength.

I love it because I am control what I want to do with the tennis ball about 80% of the time.

I was telling my friend "I realised that the only thing I could have real technical skills in is... TENNIS leh!"

"You know what your next career move should be?"

"Become a tennis coach? Haha!"

I really miss my mother's cooking. So one day, I SMS-ed her and asked her to call me to teach me how to cook the things I like. This is one thing I missed most. At home, I can just eat this with LOADS of rice. Love it! The pork here is even better than back home! Yum!

Don't look down on this black looking thing - it's super yum lor.
On Sunday after tennis, we invited our friend, Gary (who is from HK but apparantly wants to live in Singapore for good!) over for dinner after tennis. I cooked this again, something which I think only I enjoyed because once again it's my mother's recipe.

This time, it's better - I put much less water. I also realised the wonders of garlic and ginger. I never knew these inconspicuous things could do so much to flavouring food! I have been lamenting that I cannot find pork ribs anywhere in the city and after tennis on Sunday, we headed out to Ben Thanh market - the market with everything. True enough, I even found ornamental baking stuff there!

I regretted not bringing my camera to show you how the lady perched herself on the stone table and chopped the meat for me. Next time! I am sure to go back. I have never bought anything from the wet market before - this was my first time. She quoted us a price for the meat which I promptly paid because I don't even know if the price is right. I got my friend, HY, to check with his wife and she confirmed that it was reasonably priced.

I cooked Ba Kut Teh with the Prima Premix. IT IS THE BEST THING ON EARTH! Because the instructions are clear and simple, and they even included the special Ba Kut Teh soya sauce!

Gary said it was the first time he tried Ba Kut Teh, although he has heard about it before. Definitely will buy this premix again!

Gary brought mangos - which were really sweet.

After dinner, I set out to make my red bean buns I mentioned before.

Kneading the dough was hard work lor! The instruction said to use the bread machine but I don't have so have to use hand lah. I kneaded the dough for like 30 minutes but I still could not get it to be the way I liked it to be and I gave up. VERY PAIN LOR! And the dough was so super sticky!

I made my red bean paste from scratch and boy is it hard work! Need to soak the beans overnight (I soaked it throughout the day), boil for 1.5 hours, mash it (check out the latest addition to my kitchen tools - a metal masher all for $2!!!), fry it......

Wah lao. I cannot believe a red bean bun is $0.60 back home. For all the effort one needs to put in to just make the bun, I think each bun should cost $6 lor!

Tadah! My buns which I am coincidentally eating for lunch now. I was too lazy to waste an egg to glaze it so it looks very matte. I used a different bread recipe so it's sweet and milky. However I think I didn't knead the dough enough so I think it's not fluffy enough. It's very chewy - like rubber. Somehow Robert likes it. Maybe it's because he has no choice?

Students Are Irritating

2008-11-17T17:15:00.003+07:00

This article got me rather irritated.

I agree with one of the person interviewed.
These students are so idealistic.
Wait till they work at Raffles Place, have one hour for lunch - actually only 50 minutes because it takes 10 minutes to get out of the building with the rest of the world and walk to a hawker centre, buy food THEN look for a seat.

How ridiculous is that!

They proposed that getting someone to sit there while others buy food is more socially gracious.

HELLO STUDENTS GOT ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD LOR!
Can you imagine how much time you will have left to eat IF you were the one waiting for the rest to come back with their food?

I like to chope my seat with my tissue paper and I think it's definitely more polite AND SAFER than 2 people running to an empty seat with a tray in their hands.

So bo liao.
I wonder if they put in so much effort into their studies too?

On a seperate note, I have found my next cat! After JB dies of course.

Hey it's natural lor. He is so old already, he would leave me one day.

I think I will name him Puffy-ball or something! PB so cute!

(This is a british blue shorthair)

Ring Tone

2008-11-17T15:33:00.001+07:00

I LOVE Robert's new N79!
He bought it just a few days after it was released in Singapore, without even knowing it was new till he decided to buy it.

It's damn fun the phone! I am also going to buy it!

So disgusting to have matching phones but it's cool lor!

And it's not expensive after trade in!

BTW, I did not insist Robert put that as his ring tone hor! HE was the one who asked me to do that. I hardly call him so I think it's safe!

You Know You Have Been Living In Vietnam For Too Long When............

2008-11-15T14:44:00.004+07:00

You no longer raise an eyebrow to these

"The Straights Times at the lobby is missing."
Now I know our national paper is not gay.

"This is not consistency."

"We got trouble with the lift."

"You know it's because of the law or something like that...."

I don't mean to make fun of anyone here but I was surprised I didn't even raise a brow when someone spelt my national papers wrongly. I didn't even notice it!

I went to the doctor's yesterday because I was..... sick.

No need to guess how much I paid for the bill - it's enough for me to pay for a meal at Les Amis.

The doctor found dried pus on my tonsils and used that wooden tongue presser thing to get it out for me. I was gagging all the way and yuck, the pieces of dried pus were rather huge!
There was one on each side of the tonsil! He told me that's the reason why I always fall sick with tonsilitis and after he removed the 2nd one, he told me to spit it out.

I didn't but proceeded to swallow it by mistake.

When I told my friends that, it kind of grossed them out.

Whatever it is, I am very glad it's out now!

Am on MOD Saturday today and it's been good so far *crosses fingers*

I am attempting to jog 3km today.

Yay!

p/s I will never buy anything cheap again!
I bought this cheap L'oreal mascara with the lash strengthening thing and the mascara in 1 tube for about $20 and it doesn't work! I now look like a Panda because it smudges!
So angry! Waterproof somemore ok!
I will switch back to my Shiseido mascara base ($30) and Lancome mascara ($40)
Yeah I know it's about 4 times the price but it works lor!
You can never substitute quality stuff with cheaper stuff!

My mother told me yesterday she would be happy to see my brother and I married.
Where did that come from? She will never be happy. I wonder if my offer of yearly Gucci bags will help?!

The Situation Is Broken

2008-11-14T09:53:00.003+07:00

The spirit is not.

I am having a terrible headache and neckache today!

A phonecall this morning definitely made me happy.

I will wait.

If it all works out, I might be able to pursue what I want to pursue soon!

If She Is The Prisoner Of Tehran

2008-11-13T11:00:00.005+07:00

What am I?

Prisoner of myself?

I just finished my recent book, The Prisoner Of Tehran.

An interesting and touching read but while the author talked about giving a voice to the prisoners of Evin, a well known prison for political prisoners in Iran, I felt that she was more describing her immense luck throughout her entire ordeal.

In fact, I did not even feel that she went through any ordeal, considering that her interrogator, who was Muslim, loved her so much, he did everything to protect her, including saving her from an execution just few seconds before she was going to get shot. The only thing was that she was forced to marry him and convert to Islam.

In the end, he died for her and asked his father to do anything to protect her.

She was thus allowed to marry her Christian childhood love and subsequently move to Canada.

Not that I am sadistic but I thought her story was not representative of the other prisoners in Evin.

I am sure not everyone could have been picked up from death twice (she was going to get killed after they found out that she married her Christian husband but her ex father in law intervened)

I am sure not everyone could get out of the prison to go for meals and whatnot like she did with her Muslim husband even though she was still captive as a prisoner.

I wanted to know more about Khomeini.

I wanted to know more about the Iranian-Iraqi war.

I wanted to know more about how the people suffered in Evin.

I had to Wiki it.

In fact, I could not believe how lucky she was throughout her ordeal and I shed a tear when her Muslim husband, Ali, pushed her away to get shot so she would be protected.

The man was a good man and he truly loved her.

Anyway, I am going to start on a new book tonight.

Quite excited.

My dinners for the past 2 nights.

Ok this is Robert's dinner, I only had portions for one, so I decided not to eat. Black hokkien mee - made with organic Soba noodles instead of the usual yellow ones. I cannot find them here and the Soba noodles were good substitutes. My mother can cook this really well. It was simple and easy and a tad peppery! Baked soy glazed Basa fish. I didn't like it - I think I will not use this recipe for the sauce next time. The fish was good though. I never knew what Basa fish was - I still don't. I just picked it

out because it's so much cheaper than Salmon! Fish was obviously not enough for Robert so I made baked sweet potato chips as well. I really like this, although I think I need to perfect it - some slices were too thin, some slices were too thick thus some were too crispy and some were too soft. But it was great - sweet and crispy with that pinch of salt for taste! Everyone should try this.
After being here for so long, I finally tried out the crepe restuarant with a friend yesterday for lunch. The Ceaser salad was good and we shared this cheese sauce chicken crepe which is amazing! YUM!

I Am Cutting Off

2008-11-12T12:01:00.001+07:00

The cancerous cells, not out of pique, but out of rationality.

This is what I want, respect it.

Because Sadako Tagged Me.

2008-11-11T14:05:00.002+07:00

I was tagged by SDK, so here goes!

(Why can't I paste special on Blogger?! Hmph!)

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. cottoncandy_gal
2. aphrodite
3. missy_gi

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
I have never thought of myself as beautiful, hence none. But I shall quote others. If it makes them happy, I guess it's good enough for me!
1. "When I first saw you, I thought your lips and teeth are very nice" --> FAKE mah, wore braces
2. "Your nose is rather sharp..." --> FAKE mah, got it done
3. "Your chink look turns me on" --> erm ok thank you!

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON’T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. Everything
2. Everything
3. Everything

I think only my belly button looks nice because I am an "innie"

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. Chinese
2. I wish I were part German or something
3. I also wish I were part Brazillian or something

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. Having no money
2. Germs on my hands
3. Commitment

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. TV
2. Beauty products
3. Mobile phone

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING NOW:
1. I am not wearing anything......... special
2.
3.

Haha turns you on more than my chink look anot!

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS:
1. Jay Chou - I am destined to marry him
2.
3.

Actually that's all. I am a closet lianster remember?

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS (RIGHT NOW):
I don't know lah, I just listen to whatever Robert plays on the MP3 and occasionally forcing him to skip some horrid songs.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
1. Shaved head
2. Fugly single eye-lid
3. An intelligence that cannot match mine
(Now it all makes sense why I am dating Robert right? haha)

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE PREFERRED SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
I am PCD, this is a blasphamous question!

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. Reading
2. Eating at nice, posh places
3. Buying chio bags!

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
You know what they are!

THREE CAREERS YOU’RE CONSIDERING/YOU’VE CONSIDERED:
1. Lawyer
2.
3.
I know, I have little dreams.

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Switzerland
2. Italy
3. Egypt

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Own a Rolex
2. Buy my own apartment
3. Own a SLK in black
(All that and not be in debt!)

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A GIRL:
1. I love chio bags
2. I love pink
3. I am obsessed with staying young and slim

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE NOT STEREOTYPICALLY A GIRL:
1. I don't appreciate petty dynamics between girls, don't you think it's a waste of time?
2. I don't like to get married and have kids
3. I read when I shit (guys do that right?!)

THREE PEOPLE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE TAKE THIS QUIZ NOW:
1. Wilf
2. Lala
3. I don't have that many friends with blogs leh! I am a loser, boo!

I Am A Homemaker

2008-11-10T12:24:00.024+07:00

Haha.

This will be as good as it lasts.

I was telling my friend, Corn, I will be back to my old self once I am back in Singapore.

Admittedly, the new kitchen with bigger kitchen space makes cooking and baking so much more enjoyable.

And truth be told, I am rather competitive - with myself.

I just want to prove myself right that I can get this done - cooking and baking that is.

Full of photos!

On Friday, I had this huge craving for Cinnabuns so with the help of Sadako (who is my trusty source of tips for baking and cooking), I found this recipe that garnered 2000 5 star ratings!

Had to make it of course!

I rushed home after jogging and started with the preperation of the dough.

I am soooooo glad Prima exports their flour to Vietnam.

I bought Bread Flour at the only shop in town that has it for a hefty price but who cares!

It's ironic that I am hankering over our Singaporean products after I move out of the country.

Heh.

Rolling out the dough.

Before that, I had to prepare the dough and "proof" it (allow it to rise) for an hour. To allow it to rise, I had to create a warm, moist environment so I switched off the air-con much to the dismay of Robert.

But it didn't work. So I heated up my microwave and later put my dough in there.

In between, I made dinner for Robert. This was inspired by the pasta with lamb cubes from one of my favourite restuarants here, Au Parc. Pasta with beef cubes sprinkled with cheese and basil.

Robert says the beef was a bit tough. How does one tenderise beef? Use that tenderiser?

Back to my dough. I prepared the butter, sugar, and cinnamon spread and spread it over the dough. Supposed to spread the dough into a rectangle but erm, I am still learning.

Roll it up and cut it into pieces for 2nd round of proofing.

In total, the cinnabuns took 4 HOURS to make - from making the dough to baking. This is how I spent my Friday night. Heh. I think I baked them for too long at too high a temperature (I was busy reading my new book) and they turned out a bit cripsy outside.

Heh.

The best part. I can keep the unbaked ones in the fridge and just bake some whenever I feel like it! Next time, I will watch the oven.

I am so into making bread now - I think it's healthier than cakes and muffins. I do not like to make cakes because they are never successful and I cannot make muffins because my previous housekeeper THREW AWAY my silicon muffin holders. AGRH my heart is bleeding! It's very expensive because they are made from silicon!

Next up? I am going to attempt red bean buns and make my own red bean paste! I found the recipe!

On Saturday night, we decided not to eat out and I decided to cook since I had quite a bit of pork. We visited Metro, a large wholesale supermarket in the afternoon and had to buy too much pork. I even attempted to buy squid. I was looking at this lady for like 5 minutes and she pulled off the heads of the squid (they are charged by weight so I guess that makes sense) so I did the same as well!

Yes can you believe it! My hands were all smeared with the black squid ink. Heh.

Stir fried prok with baby corn and tomato (which turned into puree). The pork was very tender but I think I put too much salt. I am still not very good at this!

Fried egg with shrimp and tomato (it's obvious I have ALOT of tomatos to clear!)

On Saturday, Robert and I went to the gym to jog and then headed to District 2 area for lunch at this really quint, nice place beside the British International School. I loved it.

Loved the decor.

Loved the magazine rack. They had many different kinds of magazines. But mostly in some language - I don't know if it's Spanish or something.

Check out the chio cup!

Inside of the cup! SOOOOO nice!

Robert's sandwich.

My potato and leek soup was very good!

I was eating halfway when I saw this! Aiyoh I was wondering if it will pee on me! Possible ok!

Luckily it just decided to lie there and not move. Don't you think it looks like a pig?!

I have a confession.......

I.........

actually.....

cheated on Robert!

This is why I have rejected his marriage proposal many times (even that Disneyland thing didn't impress me). I don't want to marry him and spawn chink looking babies subject to years of ridicule and end up having to go for a nose job! Heh heh.

SO CUTE RIGHT! The wait staff were all fawning over him and I couldn't help it. He was very heavy lor and was bopping up and down in my arms. When he got tired, he rested his head on me and drooled on my shirt. Aiyoh so cute!

Look what we found at Metro (we didn't find the things we wanted to find though)

Sunday was errand day after Robert's housewarming part 1 (talking about that, I think I failed to invite some people from my workplace for part 2 next week but I cannot anymore cos the invite list is kinda long and my house is not very big!) and my first Vietnamese wedding (I shall post it later). I am into this white shorts craze now. Decided to wear sneakers to look like a school girl. Heh. I shall post a video of the broken rice I ate last night with some visiting Singaporeans later. I have a dinner appointment with friends visiting too. We shall attempt super local central Vietnamese food which is very shiok!

The Virtual Tour

2008-11-10T10:32:00.001+07:00

So sorry if you cannot really hear what I was talking about.
I had this mask plastered on my face and was thus mumbling.

I apologise that I am dating an embarrassment.
Heh.

Another Black Friday :(

2008-11-07T15:31:00.005+07:00

I woke up this morning and the tv reception is back to it's shitty state.

I got my delivery of vegetables but the mushroom I ordered were missing.

I tried to tell the office manager that my kitchen towels are missing and I only need the 2 towels in my sink but he didn't understand me at all.

I came to work and, sigh.

I think I burnt my tongue too, from the organic tea I had this morning.

I was thinking at the gym the other day.

Why do people use language as one of the instruments of nationalism and national identity?

Like the French would speak French, the Vietnamese would speak Vietnamese - with pride.

I am sure there are other instruments of national identity.

Why can't we speak one language and the accent be the identification factor?

For example, people would usually know I am Singaporean from the way I talk.

Ok whatever.

Dinner from last night.

Stir fried beef with vegetables. It's seriously enough for 3 or 4 people. Heh, I didn't know how to estimate. I think it wasn't very good. The plate is very big lor. About 1.5 times my face. Heh.

Fried egg with oyster sauce and pepper. I have never put oyster sauce and pepper before!
My dinner. Cold soba. Yum!

Cheat's Murtabak! Yay!

2008-11-06T12:30:00.005+07:00

My murtabak turned out to be a success!
Ok, it was a success compared to the horrid baked rice I attempted!

It's a simple recipe but to control the heat of the pan so the prata doesn't get burnt (the first one did) and folding the prata was indeed a challenge.

I loved it, maybe because I am so into Indian food these days! I put extra curry powder into the meat and ... hmmmmm hot but shiok!

I even had time to bake oatmeal and raisin cookies. I used less than half of the sugar required and it was too sweet even! I love it in my new cookie jar! I love my new oven - it's huge and the heat distribution is great. I even left some cookies for my housekeeper. I don't know how to write "for you" in Vietnamese so I left it on the pile of hangers she is supposed to clear. I hope she gets it!

Today I am going to stir fry vegetables with beef.

I don't like to eat any of the vegetables I am going to stir fry nor do I eat beef. It's for Robert. Heh.

Ouuuuuucccch

2008-11-05T16:08:00.002+07:00

Legs are aching like mad and I still cannot walk.

Am very happy over Obama's win.
Yay!
Change!
We need change!
Who knows if he could really do the job but hey, at this point in time, I think we are willing to bet on a formula that has not been proven right rather than a formula that has been proven wrong.

Very happy that I ordered some organic stuff online.
I love this whole delivery service for a low free or free thing here in HCMC!
I bought some mushrooms, strawberries, and canned diced tomato.
Would have bought other vegetables too but I think they won't come in time for my dinner plans tomorrow so I shall leave it for next week!

Downloaded so many recipes and I am dying to try them out now that I have a brand new kitchen!
Tonight, I am going to try out murtabak!
Wish me luck!

Honestly

2008-11-04T13:38:00.000+07:00

Rather put off by someone's behaviour.

Questions I Am Dying To Ask

2008-11-04T09:14:00.002+07:00

Why am I always dreaming?
I have been having dreams every night for the past I-don't-know-how-long.
I dream about work, ex bosses, going for interviews, and being raped.
Yes you read it right.
It was a nightmare.
It's either I remember the dream vividly or I remember having a vivid dream.
Either way, it's not fun.
I am so tired from all these late night activities.

Why is it that my cake never rises?
I baked a batch of banana cake for breakfast last night and it's not a cake.
It's a banana pancake.

Why am I having a headache?
This I know.
It's because of the bad reception from the stupid TVs at home.
AGRH.
It's impossible to watch the channels I like now.
So I fall asleep watching CNN now - wow so intellectual!
This morning, the shifty looking office manager asked me if everything is ok with the apartment.
I said "no. the tv is still not working."
He asked me the same thing yesterday morning and I told him the same thing too, to which he gave me some da bian (shitty) answer.
I told him it's not true because my previous place JUST ACROSS THE STREET has perfect reception. Then he blamed the rainy weather.
Pui, it was bright and sunny yesterday morning and the problem started from the day before.
This morning, he said the technician checked it yesterday and I told him I cannot watch it at all.
FINALLY he asked me which channels cannot be watched.
He told me all other apartments are fine but mine.

I DO NOT CARE IF ALL OTHER APARTMENTS ARE OK BUT MINE. SO WHAT?! IT'S MY FAULT NOW THAT ONLY MY APARTMENT'S TV SIGNALS ARE BAD?! THEN I PAY YOU 2000USD IN RENT FOR WHAT?! TO GET A HEADACHE WHILE WATCHING MY FAVOURITE CHANNEL?!

Sorry for shouting, I really hate it when people annoy me in the morning.
It's really a pain to watch tv now.
And I am like clockwork so I need to watch that particular channel.
I use the tv shows as a clock and to pace myself while getting ready for work.
I am not about to change that.
Moreover, cable is part of the rent.
What is cable for when half the cable channels cannot be watched?!

Why can't I walk properly?
Because I went up and down my old place moving my bags of stuff and then walked back and forth 5 times to move my things from my old place to the new place across the street.
Then I went jogging yesterday.
Now, I cannot walk because my calves are so pain :(

Why do we have such HR benefits?
It's really unique.
My HR manager recently put in place a new staff welfare programme.
Dancing in the female locker room twice a week.
I am most curious how that could happen in a 3 x 4 metre space!
I cannot dance but I will watch!

Why are there such people around?
What can I say?
I am so blessed.
Hah.

Why did I pay $2.50Sing for an onion?
I also don't know.
I took it because it was purple and it looked chio.
Who knew that one purple onion could be so expensive?
I suck.

How can I live in an apartment with Robert when I am PCD?
Because Robert sleeps on the sofa.
When I mentioned "my side of the bed" I didn't mean that there was somebody beside me.
I usually just sleep on one side I like and put my books and bags on the other!
(This is not a question I am dying to ask but I am sure this is a question all of you are dying to ask me)

When am I going home for good?
Soon enough. REALLY SOON.
If nothing cocks up!

Why am I so chio?
This one, is a mystery of the universe, that I too, do not know.
Heh.

Summary Of My Trip + My New Home

2008-11-03T12:11:00.019+07:00

I need to find a new threader.

I have been going to the shop at Clementi for many years now and I have decided not to patronise them anymore.

Sigh.

Many of you do not know but I actually have a very hairy face.

So I would drive all the way from my place to Clementi monthly to thread my face (a traditional method of hair removal by the Indians) and also my brows.

So this one time, the lady removed 1/5 of my right brow lor!

In the end one brow was shorter than the other and I had to go to this upmarket place in town to get it fixed - 3 times the usual price!

Sigh.

I have since signed up a package with them so I can save a bit whenever I go get my brows done and I will never let them thread my brows again.

So I thought I could still thread my face at the Clementi place right?

And leave my brows to the experts.

Recently I went to get my face threaded and when I came back to Vietnam, I realised that the lady did such a bad job, I had like patches of hair un-threaded!

OMG I feel like a mutant now can!

With patches of hair on my face!

Pui!

So horrible! I am never going back there again!

Now I don't have a threader.

I need to find a new one.

I finally went to Valentino's and I loved it!

Check this out! Sweets in a cart! The food was good, the ambience was great, the service was tip top! But it's not easy to find. Luckily YY checked out the map before we went!

I loved this! I was so full from the pizza and pasta but I still had room for this. It's some caramel chocolate thing. HEAVEN!

After dinner, I drove all the way to Yio Chu Kang / Upper Thompson to buy bread featured in 8 Days! Super old school! They even had loud oldies playing in the background. The shop is rather unique - they open from 5pm till late so people can buy bread after work for the next day. Many stars patronise them.

Singapura Bakery - 12 Jalan Kuras. You might need a map because it's nestled in a housing area. I thought the shopkeepers might have been snooty because they are so well known but when I asked if I could take a picture, the auntie quickly said yes and asked if I would like to take one with her.

I joked with her that I came all the way from Simei and she told the chief baker (featued in 8 Days). He was really friendly and even asked us to sample the free donut balls. The auntie even asked me to develop the photo for her should I return. My new place!

Ok I have got a new address:

Unit 6B, 27 Thai Van Lung

Ben Nghe Ward

District 1

HCMC, Vietnam

This will be the last time I am moving, I promise!

Welcome to my new home! My new house has a lift! A LIFT! Very rare here ok! Unless in big buildings. I like that they have sensor lighting in the corridor too.

View of the living room from the door.

View of the kitchen area from the door.

Living room. I love photos, I put photos everywhere! I bought a magazine box (on the right) and even a colourful rug from Ikea just for the new place! Heh yes got plasma tv but have bad reception as well :( Check out my huge kitchen area! It's heaven! They provide all kinds of kitchen utensils, cutlery, and even a mini coffee machine! I am so going to make myself some coffee! I even have an electric oven!
The bathroom is the only downside. It's not attached to the room so when I got up to pee last night, I was touching around like a blind person. Plus, I don't really have space for all my toileteries.
My bedroom! So big and I have a tv in there too. Which is rather rare.

Loads of cupboard space!

Most of the clothes are not mine!

The study desk which I doubt either of us will use. We have wireless internet which is great. I can shit and MSN at the same time!

Robert put the flower on my side of the bed.

I am loving the new apartment, thanks to Robert!

Sucks.

2008-10-31T10:49:00.001+07:00

To be back in prison.

Being Home....

2008-10-26T17:49:00.001+07:00

Is great.

I got a call at 2.45am yesterday and it was my dad.
He called to ask me where I was and if anyone was sending me home.

This is why I would love to be back home again.

Because it's lovely to know someone cares.

I had a great volunteer session today. Heh.

Worker Bee Gi

2008-10-23T12:28:00.003+07:00

Heh.

I have been quite caught up with work recently.
I was rushing about yesterday and when my day ended (at a very decent time, no less) I felt so exhausted.
In fact, I promptly fell asleep shortly after dinner and could not get up till it was midnight.

We are going through some CI changes and there is plenty to be done.
Chasing the entire world for their input.
Not a fun job ok, I feel like a loan shark.

Am working on some proposal now and I just realised the Economist side of me is at play.
Heh.
I intend to propose a set of reward and recognition structure that will minimise gaming.
I remember I studied this in school.
I didn't forget everything afterall!
But I am sure I do not know how to use SPSS anymore though.

I am peeing so much, it's actually interrupting my thought process at work.
Not funny lor.

Next time I shall not drink so much water.

Going home tonight.
I am not VERY excited but excited enough I guess!

Is there a miracle pill to make someone smarter, better, and more confident?
Someone should make that!

Oh Well

2008-10-21T12:35:00.014+07:00

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Real work don't want to do, but you involve yourself in everyday games.

I am just a terrible liar / actress.

That's why always lose!

Whatever!

Photos. I am honestly in a terrible mood - I am too lazy to describe my weekend.

I love Spanish food and sangria! Supper happy drink!

Robert & I - clubbing at a super lousy place where only ang mohs were served better. Music sucked! Why does my face look so fat?
Velvet in HCMC - much better music.

Robert loves me so much because I have a fake nose.
Kebab for 15,000VND ($1.50Sing). Cheap and good but not very hygenic.

That Robert. He has lousy photography skills. I think I will date David Beckham instead. He tattoo-ed my face on his body lor! So touching.
Going for his second one.
One of the few places in town that has STRAITS TIMES! Heh. What is Robert trying to hide?!?!? His alcoholism.
Went grocery shopping and meet the new addition to the family! Electric fly swat!
Super good indian food. Makes me miss home even more.
This is the worst baked rice I have ever eaten and I COOKED IT! haha! I have been failing at my baking and cooking these days, I don't know why. It's so disgusting I swear I wanted to puke after eating it.

This Is Really A Problem...............

2008-10-20T10:36:00.003+07:00

Sigh being pretty, smart, and kindhearted is really a problem.

I mean most of you wouldn't know the perils of being so perfect because you are nowhere near there.

Ever since my nose job, I have been elevated to yet another level of attractiveness, especially to the opposite sex.
First, I mentioned that I had to fend of the attention of Nelson Piquet.

Then on Saturday, I posted that photo of myself and my new bf. Let's call him Bryan.
So sexy that he gets me all hot and bothered (nevermind that I am still PCD).

I guess Robert saw and he got jealous.

So he told me he wants to bring me to Tokyo and propose to me at Cinderella's castle with fireworks spelling out my name "Gigi Su" and at the end of the parade, he will get Mickey Mouse to come out and say
"Gigi san, will you marry me, neh!"
Complete with Japanese accent.
Of course, he promised to buy me that 1 carat diamond ring with that 4 claw setting.

I rejected him because I don't like my full name spelt out with fireworks.
It was the right decision to dump him since he has not figured out my preferences when it comes to my name.
Sigh all these men vying for my attention and love!

Today, I opened my mail and I got a shock.......

WHAT AM I TO DO?!

He tattoo-ed my picture on himself. I am beyond touched!

My New Boyfriend!

2008-10-18T11:42:00.000+07:00

MOD Saturday

2008-10-18T10:15:00.003+07:00

MOD today, I hope nothing comes up. Please, please, please!

I came to work today and found my colleague, Thien, at work.
I was shocked.
A few moments later, Binh, came to work.
He had to see a guest.
I share my office room with these 2 men and secretly, I do enjoy their presence.
Binh, who has just returned from a working stint in China and Australia, is a very nice, endearing man.

I say that because he always tries to make conversation, I noticed him to be dedicated, he speaks really very decent English and he has a confident presence BUT has no airs.
To be honest, some of the locals here, especially having been overseas and can speak fluent English, can be rather cocky.

I guess 30 years ago, Singaporeans were like that too?
Now, all my peers travel or have traveled for work and everyone can speak English, so no big deal.

In addition, he is very polite. Once he spoke in Vietnamese and he turned to me to apologise.
I guess its because he has been to China and related to his own experience where people spoke in Mandarin and he was simply clueless.
That was a small gesture but had a great impact.

Isn't life funny, sometimes it's realy the small things that really count.
A relationship could be formed or destroyed because of something small.

When I leave Vietnam, he would be one person whom I think I will fondly remember. Together with Tuyen, Tam, and some other colleagues.
They have all extended their kindness to me in many ways that I will always remember.
Some people may say these friend take pity on me because I am a foreigner all alone here.
Some people may say it's because one day I might be their boss that's why they are so nice.
But sometimes, relationship between 2 people is quite beyond what others see.
While we sure cannot communicate optimally, their kindness have touched me.

I had an expensive and unsatisfactory dinner last night and its all my fault.
I have been reading about this French grill place for the longest time and there were many good reviews about it so I got Robert to eat there.
I spent about 440,000VND ($40Sing) on half a bottle of wine and 3 small pieces of lamb fillet (I have started to enjoy lamb very much ever since I got here) and it was not that great.
The waitress also tried to hit on Robert, in front of me!
This is not the first time by the way. It happened at another restaurant too.
So irritating!
I am invisible meh?!

Ok going to check rooms now!

Pay It Forward

2008-10-16T16:21:00.003+07:00

I met a very nice taxi driver who took less than what I was supposed to give him last night because he had no change and neither did I.
This morning, I met a very polite taxi driver who said "Good Morning" to me (!!!)
So I tipped him to pay it forward for both the random acts of kindness and politeness God has bestowed upon me.

I am not always bitchy and demanding ok :P

It has been a rather hectic week - many meetings and I am STILL obsessing over my document!

I am taking a break to read my daily work / life related article and today's article is about empowering employees and how to build effective teams.

Today my colleague explained something very astonishing to me!

Just a couple of days ago, I was lamenting to HY, my colleague how we have to call everyone Mr. so and so or Ms. so and so.
To be honest it's kind of tiring.
He told me it's part of the Vietnamese culture and we have to embrace it and I agreed.

Today, out of the blue, my colleague, Binh, asked me not to address him as Mr. Binh.
Then my other colleague, Thien, said "yes me too. me too!"

I was shocked.

I thought I had to address them as Mr. Binh and Mr. Thien because it's their culture to be this formal?
Many of them address me as Ms. Gigi too and as a result, when I am (or some of my Singaporean colleagues and they admitted to it too) not addressed with a "Ms." I feel out of place and as if I have not been properly respected.

Binh told me that actually it's not true!

He said that it's because in school, they were taught Mr. means male and Ms. means female so somehow people just add it in front of foreigners' names too.
I also suspect it's a direct translation from the Vietnamese language.

Because in Vietnamese, they usually use "anh" (for male) or "chi" (female) before a person's name.

I also suspect that this is done because some Vietnamese names sound unisex.

So anyway, both men told me that I should drop the Mr. and Ms. because it creates a barrier between me and my fellow Vietnamese friends!

WOW! I was truly amazed when they told me that!!!

To be honest, I don't know how this practice of calling each other Mr. and Ms. came about but at least within the many echelons of this organisation, it's still deemed as polite. I definitely will not call my boss Nam!!!
I will still address him as Mr. Nam.
(Which brings me to another thought that I had in the toilet when I was peeing that all Asians who have been largely brought up in Asia, irregardless of their preference to the Western or Eastern ideology, adhere to some form of hierachy, don't you think so? We always try to emulate the Westerners and how they function at work. However, this is not always entirely applicable. It's because hierachy and respect that comes with hierachy is deeply embedded in our Asian culture. It's just the degree of it that's all.)

I told them that although I am still puzzled by this, I have already become accustomed to it.

This world is so complicated.

I am back to my document!

Taking A Break

2008-10-15T15:54:00.002+07:00

From reading and making changes to this 63 page document.

I love spotting mistakes and changing them!
So exciting!

Nothing much happened lately except for one very memorable night.
I was happily reading the papers and eating my noodles (it says instant udon but it taste like the curry Maggi Mee, which is super slurp!).......

I really don't know what happened but my bowl slipped and the contents were slipped all over my..... CROTCH! and because I sat open legged, the chair was soaked too.

I walked like a crab to the toilet.
Why do people walk like crabs when they spill things on themselves?
I don't know.
So anyway, I looked like I puked on myself and my chair.

I laughed at myself and cleaned the mess up.

Sometimes I wonder why I am such a klutz.

What A Monday!

2008-10-13T13:00:00.003+07:00

I did not bake the brownies I talked about because I was sick over the weekend.

I think I had mild food poisoning and then some major gastric attack from the lack of food, stress, or whatnot.
I puked, went to the toilet severeal times, puked, and teared in pain.

However, I was bored enough yesterday to bake a batch of these yesterday.
I had all the ingredients lying in the fridge so why not!

Mr. Chen had oatmeal raisin cookies yesterday. I love how they smell and taste but it's not crunchy enough!

I was admittedly extremely angry this morning because my colleague locked the door to our office (which is shared by 3 of us) and was nowhere to be found for an hour.

I called and SMS-ed him but no avail. In the end, I was just left standing outside my office door in my slippers (I live in an alley so I don't wear my shoes to work, I leave them in the office and no they are not dirty!) with all my bags hanging over my arms.

One hour later, he showed up for work.

And I got no apology.

While I understand why he locked the door but it's seriously no fun to just be stranded outside your own office and not be able to get anyone to open it for you because he is the only one who has the key.

Sigh.

Has everyone read about the hoo-hah about Starbucks and Spinelli's using water dippers?

I didn't know that you could be fined in Singapore for wasting water.

I just have a question - what do we constitute as wasting water?

Both coffee chains have claimed that this is the best way to keep their utensils clean, who are we to oppose (unless of course there have been studies that germs do not breed as much with other methods)?

What if someone fell sick after they stopped using this method?! Who is to blame?

I understand environmentalists' calls to save water but I cannot help but symphatise with Starbucks because it got penalised for something "so telling."

Who doesn't waste water at work or at home?

A building manager who doesn't fix or notices a leaking tap is also wasting water.
It's just that we don't know it that's all.

My Life In Point Form (Post Edit)

2008-10-09T12:02:00.005+07:00

So easy to sum things up.

Nothing interesting has happened. I am just waiting to go home.
Have to work this Saturday and next. Nothing new.
I am thinking of making brownies tonight. Wish me luck!
I am wondering why my colleague is polishing his shoes in the office now. I am dying from the smell!

I want to go here:

Kwong's Satay

Big D's Grill

~~Valentino's~~

Chatterbox

Any takers!!!

I recently read that Les Amis Cafe at Botanical Gardens will be re-branded to something else.

I was a tad sad when I read it because it brought back beautiful memories where I was introduced to the really good fish and chips by my ex boss.

And how I walked around with a huge golf brolly in the sun with my 2.5inch heels!

Next time someone asks me for a date, I will ask him to bring me to Au Jardin! If not I won't go!

The Missing Video

2008-10-08T18:50:00.001+07:00

Don't know why it went missing.

ROAR

2008-10-08T14:51:00.001+07:00

AGRH SO ANGRY!

Ok have to be clam!

Gi The Baking Fiend

2008-10-07T12:31:00.010+07:00

It's official.
That's what I am.

I entertained friends from Singapore over the weekend and the moment they left, I was back to labouring in the kitchen by the oven all over again.

On Sunday I baked a cobbler (which is like a pudding cake with fruits) and boy, I was cobbled.
Failed miserably.

Yesterday, I could not resist the urge and bought a bottle of vanilla essence (I know! I am supposed to buy in Singapore but it's seriously not very expensive here.) to try a new peanut butter cookie recipe.
I bought extra milk over the weekend and still had some leftover from the bad cobbler experience.
So I thought to myself - what am I going to do with all these milk?

Bake cookies! Because it needs a tad of milk and the rest, I could dip my cookies in for breakfast!

I am obsessive compulsive!

My cobbler - corporating in the oven. I thought it would be a success. The recipe was so simple! Just cut fruits (I used 2 green apples and 1 peach), place them in the pan, make the batter, and pour it in!

Done. And who would have thought that this would fail on me?! The inside is too soft and mushy. When I tried to take it out of the pan, the cobbler broke! I wonder if it's because I ignored instructions to put tapioca flour to absorb the juices of the fruits (I didn't think they were that juicy anyways.)

The cobbler is still edible (even though it looks like a mess) and I like the contrast of the sweet pudding like cake with the sour green apples. Next time, I shall omit the peaches - too sweet!

I used the staff gym yesterday and had quite a bit of time on my hands to cook dinner so I decided to offer to cook Robert dinner since he managed to get my leaking gas pipe fixed.

I was going to settle on pasta when I found some chicken and potatos in the supermarket and thought...... hmmmm why not!

A growing boy needs his carbs and protein. Oven baked chicken wings with cajun and paparika, oven baked cheesey nachos (which are not so cheesey. I bought the premix.), and cream sauce linguine with basil (I have this super easy recipe for cream sauce and I love basil!)

Heh I even attempted the gourmet chef thing - the twirling of the pasta into nice globs. I needed to save space for the chicken and potato!

I told Robert he would have to eat this again later in the week because I have portions for 2 or 3 and I don't eat dinner. I was going to attempt fried rice tonight but looks like I would need to try that another day. Was actually rather excited about it!

By the time I finished preparing dinner, I wondered if I should bake my peanut butter cookies.

I decided I should go ahead.

I got this recipe online (I forgot the link, sorry) and it was adapted from Magnolia Bakery's recipe. Anyone who is a Sex and the City fan would know about Magnolia Bakery for their famed cupcakes (which I walked an hour for when I was in New York City!)

This recipe calls for coating the dough balls in sugar first.

Tadah! Batch 1! Makes about 3 batches, which is about 48 cookies.
Close up of my sugar coated peanut butter cookies. They are supposed to be fatter and crunchy on the outside, cakey on the inside. I tried one while it was warm and it did taste like that. Although I am not sure how it's supposed to taste once it's completely cooled. I will know today!

A tad different with the sugar coating. I think I could pass on it the next time. Unless any of my friends like it.

I put in more peanut butter chips too! Super yum!
A batch of cookies with Mr. Chen (the character from lao fu zi. or is he Big Potato?)

I have been baking and taking photos of them so often, I decided to create a folder for all my food photos.

Gosh. Has my life come to this?! FOOD?!

I am dying to get a new phone!

And that watch. oh that watch!

Post edit:

J.Bean is sick and was hospitalised for a couple of days. His bladder was blocked and he was peeing crystals. Sigh. So far my dad says he is doing ok.

I am, of course, devastated by the news.

你告诉我。。。。

2008-10-07T11:09:00.001+07:00

Today I read about 缘分 and I thought of this song.
That piece that the author wrote moved me greatly.
I think the author knows who he / she is.

I also need to have a reason!
就是需要原应！

This song, 新不了情, is really a classic!

I am sure I have posted it on my blog before from my many years of blogging and it's my all time favourite.

缘分 - 我记得。

可能。。。。。
可能。。。。。

缘分是原应吗?

This Video Says It All

2008-10-06T16:56:00.002+07:00

My friends from EY came to visit.
Mind you, that ear muffler thing was no use at all ok.
And I screamed because it was so damn loud and that first bullet sleeve (is it what it's called) FLEW INTO MY FACE CAN!

I tried it once and was scared shit!

Dimply Plum Cake - I Am Proud Of It!

2008-10-02T10:29:00.038+07:00

For as long as I can remember, I could never bake a cake that actually rises at the sides.... Till now!

Yesterday I was surfing for a while about 10 minutes before I got home and I happened to find this recipe.
I initially did not want to bake because I had quite of bit of stuff in the fridge and I thought I was bordering on being obsessive compulsive.
However, after a short nap, I woke up feeling refreshed and all ready to go!
In fact Robert was the one who reminded me of the plums, so I decided.... why not! It would take less an an hour to prepare the batter!
Checked all the ingredients and I had it all (except for orange zest which I felt I could skip).

I noticed that I tend to bake on Wednesdays - when I go not go to the gym and there is nothing to watch on TV.

My plums!

Work in progress.

Tadah! My plums were a tad too large but it's ok, I like loads of fruit in every bite! I am glad I used the plums in the cake too! They were not very sweet but perfect complement to the cake!

That's not all - I sprinkled icing sugar on top and it definitely completed the look... and taste!

Close-up of a slice. I love the idea of having fruits in a cake! I think I should use strawberries or blueberries next time!

Verdict? I like it, except that it's a tad too dry. I think I was too conservative with the butter! Next time I shall use a bit more. However, the author said it would become more moist over 2 days. I am keeping some to see if it's really true!
Next up? I will try another recipe for peanut butter cookies! However I finished all my vanilla extract and it's rather expensive to buy it here. I shall try to put off my urge to bake till I buy a new bottle in Singapore!

Or maybe a brownie since that doesn't need vanilla extract!

I Exercise So I Can Eat Somemore

2008-10-02T10:29:00.026+07:00

I will be blogging twice - one post about my weekend with food and another about my dimply plum cake which turned out great!

Ok I finally have a bit of time today before I have to discuss a new initiative I have been tasked to do.

Saturday night after gym, we went to this Taiwanese resturant to eat.

The food was good.

However, it left us wondering..... what are the characteristics of Taiwanese food?

I have never been to Taiwan and hardly had the chance to eat Taiwanese food in Singapore.

Do you know?

Needless to say, I could not really understand this but I managed to decipher some words though.

Stir fried beef noodle. I tried the noodle (because I do not take beef). A tad peppery but it was good! It's some egg biscuit thing. Fail!

Taiwanese hotdog! Didn't know they eat it with garlic.
Bitter gourd soup. A tad peppery but it was good.
I liked the dumplings!

Fave Saturday night activity. Too old to club.
Sunday - visited Robert's previous landlord to return my keys.

Her daughter. Think she is rather pretty.

We cannot communicate because of language barriers but she sure knew that my camera could be her toy. I guess some things are universal. She was snapping away with my camera.

On the way to lunch, we saw people filming.
Mekong Merchant at District 2 was super nice! The front of the shop is actually a furniture shop but when we walked into the courtyard, it was bustling with foreigners enjoying their Sunday brunch.

Sunday Times! What can I say, it's a bliss to be able to read Sunday Times during Sunday brunch. My papaya and lemon juice was great lor.
Chocolate pancake with chocolate sauce. Pretty good!
Australian steak sandwich. The fries were great. Robert said the steak sandwich was "ok only"

Crab pasta with chilli and lime. I really like this! In fact I have been thinking about this for a couple of days already!

We later moved outside because the lighting was better. Was difficult to read the papers in the room.

Kids playing in the room beside us.

Dinner at a local seafood place. A place I honestly won't step into unless someone told me about it.

Guess what this is!

Fresh large oyster! Which I do not eat.

Clams steamed in some garlic broth, I think.

Grilled prawns. Yum!

This is my oyster. Grilled with cheese. It was really good. I had one grilled with garlic and butter too.
Oyster with egg. Something like our orh luah but not so oily and starchy, which I actually prefer!

Although I was told that this place has increased prices significantly, I guess it's still not VERY expensive yet. About $35Sing between the 3 of us.

The New Nose - One Month On

2008-10-01T10:14:00.010+07:00

Selamat Hari Raya to all our Muslim friends and Happy Children's Day to everyone who think they still suffering from Peter Pan Complex! (i.e. me)

It's a slow day.
Everyone in Singapore is enoying their holiday!

I tend to get really hungry at the weirdest times. Like now.
I just chowed down a piece of bread, dont' think I will be having dinner tonight then.

I am super elated that I bought my favourite chocolates that are on a buy-one-get-one free sale now! They were imported by a Singaporean company from Germany and then imported to Vietnam so I think I won't die anytime soon.

Alright back to my nose job - one month on.

A couple of you have been asking me stuff since I am probably the most plastic friend some of you have.
So ok lor, I will oblige!

Q: How does it feel like to have a foreign object stuffed in you?

I guess I feel no different from a stuffed turkey during Thanksgiving. Only that I had a choice and the poor turkey probably didn't know what was coming. And I don't think I would taste good with cranberry sauce. haha.

It felt weird. It still feels quite weird but I am slowing getting used to it. I am still very careful when I wash my face. I have been cleaning out my nose and boy it feels good!

Q: What are the inconveniences?

The fact that I cannot press my blackheads! As a result, my nose is now the meeting point for blackheads. I think they are holding a national convention or something there.

Q: Erm besides that, anything else you cannot do?

Sometimes I will knock my nose into things. Especially when I drink from a cup and if I tilt it to finish the last drop of drink, the rim of the cup will tend to knock my nose bridge. It's fascinating when that happens! I now know how ang mohs feel like.

Also, I have since stopped kissing and hugging. Because I am PCD.

And I now drink water from a bottle, if I could.

When I sleep, I tend to be more careful when I toss in bed. Or when I place pillows on my face.

Q: Any vigorous activities you cannot engage in?

No! I have done Body Combat. I do not know if I was imagining things but I did feel my implant moving up and down but I would attirbute that to my paranoia.

Are you going to ask me if I can have wild, violent, animalistic sex?

I DO NOT KNOW. I am PCD lor!

My doctor's instruction sheet does read "you can do light exercises, including sex."

If what you are planning to engage in is similar to Body Combat, I guess go ahead!

Q: More men hitting on you now, huh?

Yes. In fact I am trying to fend off his attention. Suddenly I think I am too good for this....

Q: So what are the other up-sides to this surgery?

I finally have a nose bridge now. That explains everything.

Q: Your parents didn't object to this?

My mother ignored me for a bit. My dad was so excited. In fact, I suspect he is living his secret plastic surgery dream through me. He even told me that in Korea, they usually do the eyes and nose together. Even my bandaged nose looks cute to him.

Ahhhh what can I say, he is my biggest fan!

Q: Is Robert treating you better now that you even have to fend off attention from a F1 driver?

Robert is more concerned about Lehman Brothers filing for Chapter 11. Afterall, an Investment Banker can have all the chicks he wants!

Q: Are you not afraid that people will ostracise you because you have had plastic surgery? Afterall, it's still a taboo word in the society.

They ostracise me because I am so pretty. I can understand their pain.

Q: Erm actually I can hardly see any difference!

You must see it up close and personal. And feel it!

If you have never noticed how fugly my nose like before, then you probably would see very little difference!

Q: So do you tend to notice people's noses now and see if they are fake?

Yes of course. In fact I have always been about the nose. I only date people with nice, sharp noses.

Yes I am a nose-cist, whatever you want to call me.

Q: Robert's nose very nice meh?

I don't know. I was blinded by his immense wealth.

Q: So will you look down on me because of my bulbous nose?

No but I will ask you to got for plastic surgery*.

Q: So what is next!

Now that my Large Fast cream is not working ............. hmmmmm!

*(You realise I am just joking. I love my friends despite their noses not being as nice as mine. haha.)

Inspiring People

2008-10-01T10:14:00.003+07:00

This is one of my favourite blogs.
She is living the life I have always dreamed of.

Is it time for me to do it too?

Because I Am Singaporean

2008-09-30T14:01:00.002+07:00

I refuse to be bribed.

Taxi woes, taxi woes.

I know, many of you have had enough of my taxi woes.

In fact, I have tried to alter my bad attitude in the mornings (I really don't like to talk so I figured I might have come across as unfriendly) to minimise my clash with taxi drivers.

So now, I speak to them nicely, address them properly, and I always round up the fare for them.

In addition, I allow them to stop me where-ever they like as long as it's within walking distance to my office.

However, I still get all kinds of attitude.

Those that refuse to answer me.

Those that do not wish to switch on the air-con, leaving me perspiring in the sweltering morning sun and sucking in thick black smoke.

Those that give me a stare as if I killed their dog when I politely ask them to turn left at the junction.

There are food nazis.

Are there taxi nazis?

Yes certainly so.

Call it PMS or something but I have been in a less tolerant mood these days.

I met with a slightly rude driver this morning but decided to ignore him.

However this incident in the afternoon takes the cake of the 1 year that I have been living here.

An excerpt from my mail:

During lunch, I boarded a Mai Linh taxi at the lobby of SCC to run errands.
The taxi was parked at the lobby waiting for guests as per normal.
However, just as the taxi turned out of SCC to Mac Dinh Chi street, I noticed that the meter stated that the distance covered was 1km.

I found this strange but thought that maybe there was an error in the meter reading.
However, the taxi driver took the same route that I take to go home everyday and by the time he passed by my house, it was already 25,000VND compared to the usual 15,000VND that I have been paying.
By the time I reached my destination, it was 35,000VND.

I paid him 35,000VND accordingly but while doing that I also firmly told him (in English) and pointing to the meter that he probably switched it on way before he picked me up.
I told him I would mention this to my company.

He seemed to have understood me because he tried to give me an extra 5,000VND.
When I refused, he gave me an additional 20,000VND.
I refused again and walked into the shop I was supposed to go to and he followed me in.
I walked away from him.
He then tried to push 50,000VND to me. I refused.

He left after a few minutes.
However, after another few minutes, he returned again and tried to talk to me.
The shopkeeper asked him to leave.
He stood outside waiting for me the whole time I was purchasing my items.

When I left the shop, he came up to me and tried to talk to me again.

I am not trying to make life difficult for someone else; I understand that everyone is trying to make a living.
I also understand that sometimes problems do arise when taking taxis.
However, of all my encounters, I found this most unacceptable. He certainly gave me quite a scare when he followed me and refused to leave.

I took another Mai Linh taxi from the shop back to SCC and the fare was 19,000VND. This is close to 50% lower than my taxi fare there.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bribing will not do the trick here.

Of course I am guilty that I might cause someone to lose his job.

But, I refuse to budge also because he was suddenly so nice to me when he was loud and rude to me earlier.

I was shocked that the word "complain" could do so much to change someone's behaviour.

What happened to shouting at me and almost scolding me when I repeated that the address was 223, not 22 because he heard wrongly?

I complained to my Security Manager, not because I am pompous but because we have exclusively allowed this taxi company to park in our premises and pick up our residents.

While we are a seperate entity, it would be vey natural for our residents to draw links between us and the taxi company.

We should not be seen as condoning such behaviour.

He is lucky that I am an internal customer.

What if this happened to our residents?

What happens if the resident is European or American?

(We have very high profile guests staying with us)

They are definitely more particular about such behaviour from where they come from.

I really would die to be able to take MRT to work again.

Really.

Don't Ask Me!

2008-09-29T11:44:00.002+07:00

MOD Saturday passed without a glitch!
Yay to me for that.

Today is a bad start to a brand new week.
The only thing that I am looking forward to is my day off this Friday - my friends from EY will be here for the weekend to visit me!

You know how people always say that a lady is most beautiful on her wedding day?
Eh no lor.
I have seen some fugly brides.
It's true ok, I cannot even bring myself to say they are pretty!

A white gown and some heavy makeup is not going to make you prettier lor.
Grooming and plastic surgery is.

Today my cousin asked me when I am going to get married.
I told her never.
She thought I was joking.

One more time someone asks me that and insists I secretly want to get married, I will make you marry me.

It's really the worst way to make you suffer.

It was a weekend of good food.
Photos soon.

Kudos to Alonso for winning the F1 race!
Before this, I never knew there was a job called "lollipop man" !!!
I also never knew Singapore could look so cool on TV!

But seriously, PM Lee could have worn something funkier for the prize giving!
Afterall, I have seen him in funky shirts for the National Day Rally and was rather impressed!

F1 drivers are so cute.
Especially in their cute overalls!

I will be dumping Robert soon!
heh heh!

Gi Wants......

2008-09-27T16:05:00.002+07:00

A 3rd ink.

Because 2 is never enough.

You know what's the best feeling in the world?

Shitting.

And then being able to brag to someone about it.

It will soon be 3 more months to touchdown.
Scared.

I am very scared.

I Twisted My Shoulder With My Late Night Activity!

2008-09-26T11:46:00.015+07:00

And the activity is called.... baking.

Heh. What were you guys thinking?

Before I continue, can I say I am secretly very happy (ok not so secret now that I am blogging about it) that my colleague's standing fan (yes the very tall one up to your shoulder kind) is GONE!

Besides the fact that it's very noisy and that the wire of the fan always gets caught in the rollers of my chair when I push my chair back to go pee (which is very often because I happen to drink about 1.5l of water when I work), it has caused me to trip a couple of times and once, I really almost smashed my face in if not for my other colleague who caught me in time.

I hope the fan was stolen and sold to China or something.

I was a very happy person yesterday because of my KFC meal! Because it was a new outlet, we even got a discount voucher and then the girl gave me a VIP card which would entitle me to a lifetime of 10% discount at KFC!

I gave the card to HY since he likes KFC so much. Today he asked me if I wanted to eat KFC because he has VIP card. Idiot.

It was very crowded at KFC yesterday.

Our meals served to us on plastic plates.

Metal cutlery. In excess can!
Bet you guys wished you had this back in Singapore. It's damn annoying to press ketchup out of the tiny packets especially when you are eating halfway and your fingers are oily lor!
Wah the meal was damn shiok. Only that the chickens are slightly smaller than that of Singapore's. I even bought mashed potato to dip my fries in. SUPER SHIOK! After we finished HY asked me if he should order another chicken. I was super tempted and asked him to buy something for both of us to share. I know I was like a hungry ghost let loose! ROAR!

really don't know what happened yesterday but many roads in the city centre was just jammed. For no reason!!! I didn't see any accidents, neither did I see any road blocks. I suspect it's just people not following traffic rules. Now how often do you have a bus perpendicular to your taxi, right in front of you, and honking away. Mind you I think they are air horns lor....... it's super loud and goes on for a VERY long time.

I declined dinner last night because I had too much to eat at KFC so I decided to distract myself by baking and last night's theme was peanut butter.

Before I continue, I have to say I never really fancied peanut butter much till I went to the US with ting for our graduation trip and she bought Reese's peanut butter cups. At first I thought they were super weird but later I fell in love with them. I have loved most things peanut butter ever since!

I have to say I have to dedicate my peanut butter baking theme to ting. Heh. Because I first caked peanut butter cookies with her love (and mine) for peanut butter in mind.

But the first time, I failed because I failed to read the insturctions carefully and due to a lack of experience, I didn't know that I could only remove the cookies from the baking tray when they are slightly cooled and after that, I need to cool them (under the fan or aircon or even in the fridge) to make them crunchy.

As a result, my cookies were soft, crumbly, and looked like droplets of shit. The Dumpling Sisters were very kind to have even eaten them!

Heh!

So anyways, I have perfected my peanut butter cookies! And to give it an extra peanut butter omph, I added Reese's peanut butter chips instead of normal chocolate chips! It's damn shiok but also very ex (cos it's imported and I only found it in Giant at Vivo). I also used crunchy peanut butter so some cookies had that real peanut crunch!

They no longer look like shit! Move aside Famous Amos! I have to say it's rather shiok especially that I found out, by a stroke of luck, that greasing the baking tray with salted butter makes the cookies taste nicer because they absorb the butter as they bake! (As opposed to vegetable oil or unsalted butter because they are tasteless)

Later, I found a recipe by Nigella Lawson. This is the close subsitute for Reese's which cannot be found easily in the UK I think. Peanut Butter and Chocolate blocks! No baking required, although it's damn tiring to mix the peanut butter base! I know there is chocolate in there. No made in China nonsense. The chocolates are made in US and Singapore. I am safe.
Closeup! I followed the recipe closely and it's a tad too sweet for my liking. I think I will use less sugar. I cut them up in small blocks (it yields about 48 blocks) because it's very rich so a bite sized block is enough to make your day! and you need to eat it chilled then it would be very shiok!

I spent about 2.5 hours making 48 blocks of peanut butter chocolate and about 36 peanut butter cookies. Packed some for Robert's colleagues. Some for Robert. Some for myself.

Check out my baked goods! Together with my banana cake! Yes I have alot of tupperware! heh!
I am damn aunty. I told Robert to give his colleagues the cookies but I want the container back. I am turning into my mother. Help.

There is a fire drill today. Sian. But the up-side is that my office is in the basement so when the alarm rings, I just have to slowly stroll out from the car park ramp!

MOD tomorrow. I don't know if it will be :) or :(

Please do not let anything major happen. If not very sian.

Going to move to that apartment in about a month! I already have evil plans to get Robert's colleague, LL, to help us move house. Heh!

Cluck Cluck

2008-09-25T10:06:00.005+07:00

Today is a big day.

Because I starved myself for 2 chickens.

Heh.
I am going to have KFC for lunch today!
While it may not be a big deal to most (or all reading this), it's a big deal to me!
Ever since I moved here and put on a considerable amount of weight, I have been watching what I eat very closely.
I usually pack my own bread to eat for brunch and eat little for dinner or don't eat at all.
Because I spent time and effort to pack lunch, I usually turn down last minute lunch requests.

My friends now know better and usually ask me the day before.

Yesterday, HY invited me to KFC.
Now that the new KFC is so near us, he couldn't wait to try it out.
HY's love for KFC is legendary.
I am suspecting he may actually be the author behind this.
My friend, a famous, humourous blogger!
(You must read from the beginning to understand him!)

I told HY that we should go today and I will starve in the morning so I can eat lunch.
There is only that much food I could eat in a day - something's gotta give.
This morning, I had half a cup of milk (left over from the banana cake I baked yesterday. Photo at the end of this entry) and 2 slices of brown bread and I am all ready to tear those original drumsticks apart!

Admittedly, I am very excited.
Because it really has been a long time since I had fast food. (I had some fries yesterday but not the entire meal)
Just like how I don't remember the last time I actually drank coke.
Ooooosh!

I am boycotting an upcoming event because I have done the same thing last year and it's really boring.
Plus, the venue of the event is very far away from the city.
It requires me to bring my family.
I only have Robert.
As I mentioned the venue is the same as last year and I personally think that there has been a lack of effort on the organisers part to organise something different or new.
I do not accept "lack of budget" as an excuse.
I worked with "lack of budget" for 2 consectutive years for the D&D previously, I know what lack of budget is.
It's a lazy person's excuse to non-creativity.
You just have to give your best effort with the budget.
And honestly, I do not think this is best effort.

Thus, I would rather spend my Sunday reading a book over bruch with Robert as we argue about the different kinds of books we enjoy.
It's the epic battle of the century. Very enjoyable.

Anyway!
I declined dinner with Robert yesterday because I was trying to empty my stomach for today's KFC meal.
You must think I am crazy.
I am not.
1 piece of KFC chicken = 531 calories.
You have to probably jog for 2 hours to burn that.
(1 hour of Body Combat burns about 300+ calories I think.)
And who eats only ONE piece of KFC?
They will eat 2 or 3!
With the yummy mash potato!
And wash it down with Pepsi!
Sometimes I will order fries to dip into my mash - it's orgasmic I tell you.

So how like that?
Stay in the gym for a week.

So anyway, since I had free time and I happened to chance upon a recipe, I decided to bake instead!
I wanted to bake a banana cake and brownies but I realised I didn't have enough eggs.
o it's jut the banana cake for now.
I OD-ed on the bananas so my kitchen smells like a banana plantation now with the cake sitting in the over.

You know how I always lament that I could never bake cakes because the sides do not rise?
It happened again yesterday and I think I know the answer.
I FORGOT TO GREASE THE SIDES!

AND! I realised that I have been assemblying my cake tin (which is in 2 parts) the wrong way round for the past few months!
I am stupid.

Enjoy my cake.
It will feed Robert and I for a couple of days.

Sorry it looks like it's in a sorry state.
Well Robert says it tastes ok. As long as he is not dead.

I am very sad with all these news about the melamine scare. As a result, I have not been buying chocolates at all :( I am living on the last bits of chocolate which I took from my ex boss' place as he was packing to move out. They are from Europe, so I guess it's safe?

Post edit:

I realised that one thing I am really going to miss about being in HCMC is the convenience of food delivery.

Yesterday I ordered some bagels and foccacia via email and it would be delivered right to my doorstep tomorrow FOR FREE!

I also found an online fruits and vegetable website which sells organic stuff and even blue berries! (Maybe I should make blue berry cake soon?) They deliver the next day for free too!

I love bagels very much. I used to hang out with my friends at night at Starbucks and stuff myself silly with bagels spread with loads of butter (melted) and strawberry jam. It's not easy to make bagels so I decided to buy them. Something tells me I have to ditch my diet plan soon.

It's Not Worth My Time

2008-09-24T12:25:00.004+07:00

Indeed it's not.
We only have that many things we could handle in a day.
Why do we spend our time on things / people that actually don't matter?

Do I sound cryptic?

I was reading a poem online about the Lisbon Disaster by Voltaire - Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster)
Sad to say, I could not really comprehend it because I was never good at Literature.
I cannot comprehend the cryptic use of language to express one's feelings.
Suddenly, I feel that I am very stupid.

Wikipedia is very interesting.
I found this, which reminded me that I learnt this phrase in Primary School!
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum"
(Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord [is] with you)

Do you know that "Virgo serena, pia, munda et immaculata" (Serene virgin, pious, clean and spotless) is a well known anagram change of Ave Maria?

Ave Maria was one of my favourite hymns to sing in school.

What defines you?
Have you found that out already?

I have :)

My Life As It Is

2008-09-23T12:04:00.004+07:00

Boss: Have you followed up on XXX project yet?

...........

Dear boss, you have not given me a single instruction despite me asking, how am I to follow up for you?

For All That It's Worth

2008-09-22T14:59:00.002+07:00

My weekend passed without any photographic evidence.
I forgot to bring my camera out and when I did, I realised I forgot to check the battery.
Again.

I spent the weekend pigging out (I really like the Brazillian meat buffet. Yum!) and Robert has decided on the apartment he wanted, although we are not sure if it's confirmed yet.
I will post photos when I move in!
Nope, it's not the apartment where I could avoid his stinking poo.

I finished reading Marley and Me last night and as I read about the part when he was about to make a decision to put his dog (Marley) down, I started getting very emotional.
I never really liked dogs but I guess any pet owner could relate to that and really, the dog seemed like a terror but was actually a joy.
I wonder how Jellybean is doing. Maybe I should ring my mom to find out.

I was just talking to WH just now about my winter wear and I was thinking I should blog about what makes me super happy - winter clothes!
For all that it's worth, yes I have a collection of winter wear which I have been collecting over the years.
I have all kinds of jackets, long sleeves, scarves (not so many).

I don't know why when I tell people this, they seem to give me this "are you mad response"
Yes leh, some people collect stamps, I collect clothes that insulate!

I hardly ever go on a holiday during summer.
Why would I want to do that when it's summer all the time in Singapore and I spend my time avoiding the sun?
Thus, I love holidays in countries when it's cold and you know, there are different temperatures and weather temprements.
(What do you do when it's really warm in the day but really cold at night? Ask me, I know the answer!)
And sometimes you do different things during the holiday.
For example, if you go to Disneyland, you must wear a shorter jacket that keeps you warm and is easy to remove because you need to take off your jackets for some rides.
If you go to some other place just for shopping, then maybe you might want to wear a longer jacket to keep your legs warm and look positively stylish too!

It's an art ok!
Over the years, through experience, I have amassed a variety of winter clothing that could be worn for a variety of cold weather.
HK's winter.
USA's winter / spring.
Australia's winter.
Japan's spring.

All kinds!
I also have perfect bags with the jackets because from experience, it's very difficult to carry some bags when you wear some thick winter clothing.
However, I am still sometimes caught off-guard by a new country's weather and suffer. (cue my time in Hanoi and when I was in Japan and it rained.)
So after each trip, I would look out for clothes that could prevent the same thing from happening again!

And yes, in case you are wondering, I am the person my cousins go to when they need to borrow winter clothes.
I have a whole suitcase and cupboard filled of them!

Talking about my obsession gives me some weird sense of happiness!

The only things I have not bought?
Ugg boots which I really want!
And a pair of nice gloves. I find them a hassle to wear so I am unlikely to spend money on them.
I also don't have ear muffs. I have not gone to a place this cold.

Suddenly my Monday seems so much better! :)

My Mid Day Post

2008-09-18T09:44:00.008+07:00

As you can tell, today has been a relatively slow day.

I missed the ISO meeting yesterday and so far, nothing has come up (yet).
Will have to start writing my monthly stuff soon though!
Thank goodness I alredy have a topic in mind.

Have been tasked with the heavy responsibility of picking a restaurant for Lala's upcoming birthday celebrations.
1) No picnic.
2) No buffets.
3) No Korean food.
(Because I don't like! heh heh. Why am I going Korea next year? To buy cosmetics lah! duh!)

Why am I so suakoo?
I just found out that since Au Petit Salut moved to Harding Road, the old location was turned into Bistro Petit Salut.
I must eat there before having my proper date at Au Petit Salut next August.
Yes, ~~that many people are dying to go out with me~~ I plan that far.

So many great places to eat.
So little time.

This channel 8 show I am watching is totally putting me off marriage and motherhood.
I know that the government is trying very hard to paint a positive picture about marriage and family.
Someone should tell them that sometimes such things don't work.
How about: give birth and get a Chanel bag free!

Something tells me I would die a sad, sad woman.

OMG I thought I lost the number of this die-die-must-try restuarant, Valentino and was going to burst into tears when I saw this:
Ristorante Da Valentino
11 Jalan Bingka (off Rifle Range Road)
Tel: 6462 0555

Helloooooooo pasta!
I remember someone wanted to bring me there but the place was closed or something.
Cannot remember.
I wonder if Fang wants to celebrate her birthday there.
Heh heh.

Check Below

2008-09-18T09:44:00.003+07:00

For the BKK post

I TOLD YOU I WAS RIGHT!

2008-09-18T09:44:00.002+07:00

Muahahaha sorry for shouting!
I love it when I am right.

I was speculating that the new shop opposite my office would be a KFC and indeed it was!
Ladida!

I was going to post my BKK trip on Tuesday but in the middle of that, something urgent cropped up so it's still halfway done.
Maybe I would continue with it today.

I was reading about this organic farm last night and wanted to arrange for a tour there!
Got so excited but I found out that it's 15km or so away from Da Lat, which is almost near central Vietnam.
Aiyoh........
Makes sense too because the weather in Da Lat is similar to that of Genting Highlands - only slightly colder!

I extended my trip back home so now I would be back from the 23rd night to 29th.
If I am going to spend money flying home, I might as well go home for a longer time right?
(Erm no lah actually my tickets are free but I still need to pay for taxes lah)

Come back come back

You want me to go back to Singapore?

Yes

Ok but when I go back make sure you treat me nicer!

Huh you mean I am not nice enough to you?

Heh. You can be nicer mah.

...................

Heh heh.

God may have forgotton some things when he made me (boobs, chio nose, demure character to cheat people, long legs everyone in my family has) but he has certainly blessed me with other things.
Friends.
Great ones who didn't even hesitate when I asked for help.
Thank you.

Miss Hainanese Chicken Rice

2008-09-16T23:09:00.002+07:00

Tonight, I feel like stuffing my face with Hainanese pork chop from Hans or Foo House and Hainanese curry rice from Maxwell.

My mother's Hainanese and I still have distant relatives in China who occasionally write from Hainan island.

I find that I love Hainanese food more than Hokkien food.
I also love all these pastries mostly made by Hainanese chefs.

Hainanses are supposed to be very close knit and very "clannish" in the terms of my Hainanese friend, YR.
It's true from what I observe from my mother and her family.

I wonder if I picked up half of that?

I don't know.

Right now, I would really love that plate of curry rice please!

Selfish Selfish

2008-09-16T16:20:00.002+07:00

Today I curse the person who, despite repeated persuasion, refused to fix the equipment that boosts the cell-phone reception in my carpark basement office because in his words "I don't see a need to. Afterall, people who want to get me can get me on my direct land line."

Selfish twerp.
Sure you don't need it.
Try picking up an important call from home and saying hello 2 million times only to have the phone cut off despite you walking out of the office for better reception.
I am so damn angry.

Wait till your loved one calls you over an emergency and your cell phone cuts off while you rush out for better reception.

See how you feel then.
Maybe you would strap the mobile phone boosters to your belt.

The Long Awaited BKK Post

2008-09-16T12:44:00.021+07:00

I have to say I am feeling very satisfied now after visiting the toilet.
Constipated no more!

I don't know why I am so unlucky these days.
Yesterday I tried to microwave my cake (as usual) and as I was talking about how great an investment my silicon cupcake holders were, Robert told me about the smoke coming out from my microwave.
I burnt my cake :(
As a result, the entire room was smokey like Genting (I think some people can relate to that. Haha.)
I used the oven instead and burnt my hand and now it hurts.
As I was preparing to bake them, Robert asked me if I used eggs.
We both looked at the 2 eggs by the sink.
Sigh. I forgot eggs again.
Did I mention that I also dropped my cupcake holder into the batter?
Other than that, my chocolate orange cupcake / muffin / cake turned out good.

My cat, Jellybean, is sick.
Double sigh.
I think only people with pets (fishes don't count! heh heh) could understand my pain.
For the past month or so, he has not been using his litter pan, which is usually a sign of protest since we did not change the kind of litter used nor the position of his "toilet."
I told my mom he is probably sick and we should bring him to the vet but she insisted he was not and it's probably the food.
In the end, she brought him to the vet and he was diagnosed with bladder infection!

My poor JB!
I am beyond sad now because I am convinced I am the only one who loves him dearly!
Age is catching up on him.
If I am not wrong, he is about 6 or 7 years old now.
What will I do when he dies?
It was love at first sight and he has become part of my life!

Ok back to the BKK trip.

When we arrived, we realised that the government just announced a State of Emergency.
I am sure the fighting and rioting was happening somehwhere but I don't know where.
Everywhere else was peaceful.
The people were great.
The things were cheap.
I have to say, the Thai people are very creative.
I found a couple of shops with GREAT jewellery but they were not exactly cheap.
The clothes too!
Next time, I shall go back when I am very rich and buy all these wonderful stuff!

Arrived at the airport at around 5am!
I was sooo tired I slept on the plane and on the way to our apartment - Somerset Park Suanplu.
Heh I got staff rate!

Nice huh! The driveway is inside. To get in, you need to pass by a security check and whatnot. We definitely felt very safe.
Can you imagine working in BKK and living in an apartment like that? So shiok.
Dining area.
Kitchen area.Living room.
Bedroom.

Oooh I love large mirrors!

Can do a split in the shower area! I got Lala to pose in it to show how big it is!
First meal in BKK - A&W! I swear if I weren't on a diet, I would stuff myself silly with the curly fries, waffle with ice cream, and root beer float!

Waiting for Ting to try her clothes. I noticed this stray leg of the mannequin of this Chinese track star (the one who bowed out of the games at the Beijing 2008) and I wanted to take a photo of his leg. Somehow, it slipped from my hands and landed on the floor instead. Erm, the sales assistant came over and didn't look very pleased. I also ended up with a big bruise on my hand!

Ting saw this fruit bowl and said "Gi take this and act like a begger." Such wonderful friends I have.

Yum! Durian paste and tapioca - 2 things I love the most. BTW, I recently found a recipe for durian muffins. Maybe I should try it soon!

Chinatown at night. The food was yum. Erm actually each time we eat, we wanted to take photos but we were always too hungry so before we remembered about the photos, we would already have finished the dinner!

All the stuff we bought.

I am a victim of bully. My friends made me take this photo. It's mine. Nothing to be shy about! I am really lacking in the boob area! It's not really working leh. It's been close to 4 weeks and my boobs are still.the.same.

Super chio nails! $4 only can!

Waiting for our complimentary Tuk Tuk at our apartment.

It was a great trip.

Walked alot, shopped alot, ate alot, laughed alot!

In December next year, all 5 of the Dumpling Sisters are planning to go to Korea together!

Yay! I hope to be able to see snow!

It's great to be single and working.

My Weekend With Wall-E & Househunting

2008-09-15T10:40:00.011+07:00

I finally managed to watch Wall-E.
Movie watching is not so much a big thing here yet.
There are just a couple of movie theatres and each theatre screens an average of aout 3 films, all of which are already shown in Singapore.
It's hardly ever full - which is a good thing since getting a movie ticket in Singapore sometimes could be a mildly stressful affair!

After searching almost the entire city for a theatre that screens Wall-E, we found it at Hung Vuong Plaza.
30 minutes by bike from our place where my gym is located.
I enjoyed the movie very much!

When I saw how Wall-E was so smitten by Eve and was desperately trying to hold her hand, I turned to Robert and said

"Eh Wall-E is you and I am Eve!!! Same lor! How you were so smitten by me when you met me and I was just oblivious!"

Then Eve starts blasting things with her rifle arm.

"Yes really like you! Got violent temper!"

Whatever!
I don't have violent temper lor. *ROAR*

Since I had to work yesterday, I spent my Saturday house-hunting with Robert.

Lunch at our favourite place near my office. I don't usually like noodles but it's really great here! (If you do not focus on the grimy floors and yellow everywhere interior). We had the noodles with duck in some herbal soup. I am also going through some "I Love Wanton" stage now so we had that too. (Darn that Robert. I asked him to just a photo of the food.)

Despite being sick, we looked at a couple of apartments. Nothing great except for this one which I took photos of.
I LOVE IT!
Dining area. Notice the woodem beams on the right? The bed is beside it!
The bed / living area. It's like a majorly huge studio with no walls. Only woodem beams as partitions. The floor is glazed concrete. Very mordern! Don't really fancy the blue bed cover but I guess that could be changed. Notice the wooden beams behind the sofa? Guess what it is!
Peekaboo!

WOODEN BATHTUB! AIYOH SO COOL! SO JAPANESE! AND I LIKE ALL THINGS JAPANESE! Check out the clever use of pubbles to make sure the are is dry! AIYOH SO NICE!!!

Behind the blinds by the bathtub is a glass door that leads to the balcony! So nice!

Even this is cool.

Anyway I have to say I have prove that women are not fickle minded.

Robert was telling me all about this apartment and how nice it is when he called me while I was busy holidaying in Singapore. I ~~paid no attention to him~~ couldn't really hear him due to the poor connection.

So when I went to see it on Saturday, I was truly blown away! I love it. Then, he dropped the bombshell on me

"It doesn't feel like a home. So depressing."

"No lah I think she didn't switch on all the lights."

"It's so far away from everything."

"No lah, Hideaway Cafe is nearby and a yoghurt place is going to open soon!"

"It would be so cold when you bathe."

"Switch off the air-con lor."

"Eh I thought about it. When your mother comes visit. HOW IS SHE GOING TO BATHE?"

"We all let her bathe and we wait downstairs."

Haha. When my mother comes, she usually comes with my dad lah.

Hiyah I am losing the battle. Because when we ranked it, we both had favourable comments for another apartment (which I forgot to take photos of).

In my last ditch attempt to convince him this is a great apartment, I turned to him and said

"Eh Robert, you know what's great about this apartment?"

"What?"

"When you shit, I can bathe in peace and the place won't stink!"

(The toilet is behind the glass door in the 1st picture and about a good 10 metres away from the bathtub)

Needless to say, I never got an answer.

MOD Sunday

2008-09-14T10:24:00.001+07:00

I shall not curse myself about talk about this.

Heh.

At work.

Going to have to check rooms soon.

Sick since Friday.

Went house hunting yesterday.

Post photos tomorrow.

Don't want to see doctor.

Sumitted about $700 of claims 2 months ago.

No news till now.

Don't know where my money is.

So put off to see the doctor here because I need to fork out a couple of hundred dollars and wait for so long.

Whoever said outsourcing is good?

Sniff

2008-09-12T15:20:00.003+07:00

Hiyah I am falling sick again - why!

Many people have been commenting how I am unhappy these days.

What rubbish!

I am happy as can be!
How can I not be happy when I have a new nose and I am going home in 4 months!

Except that my nose is slightly red and my doctor is slightly concerned.

I just have to say....... I simply love bengs!
Slurp!
Patricia Mok, in a recent interview with 8 Days, claimed that she likes to date bengs because they are very generous.
My friend and I concluded that bengs make good business men too.
I guess it's because they are street smart and they tend to take the whole taking care of their cai (Hokkien for girl) a tad too seriously.
So sexy!

Heh heh heh.

Some of you really thought that Robert is really an Investment Banker.
Hahahahha no lah! Robert is really not.
It's just a fragment of my vivid imagination.
Even if he were - so what?!
He is still not going to sign his Orchard Turn apartment to me wat.

Enough about that.
On a seperate note, I managed to dig my nose this morning!!!
Gosh I cannot describe my immense satisfaction! I didn't know my tiny nose could hold SO MUCH PI SAI!
Amazing!

I have seen through it all.
Now I know.

Why Me?

2008-09-11T11:48:00.003+07:00

Feeling a tad flustered now so I decided to take a break to what else, blog!

The saga between Ms. her-nickname-is-so-long-i-shall-call-her-SYTwannabe and I continues.

Ms. SYTwannabe is really very quiet. She will suddenly appear behind me only to give me a shock.
I wonder if she cushions her shoes to protect her old 50 year old knees.
Hur hur.

This morning, I was hard at work scanning all the invoices - something which has tasked me to do with much pride.
She suddenly appeared behind me and shocked the hell out of me. Again.

She asked in her very nice voice
(It's better than her pretending to be friendly and nudging me and touching my arm whenever the bosses are around.)

"Have you found out which entries don't have invoice?"

"Erm no. They are all in VIETNAMESE. I need to translate."

"So you are going to label all the invoices like in the past?"

"HUH?"

"You are going to write the reference number on the invoices right? Like how you did it before?"

"Huh?"
I did it on purpose. Let me explain why later.
Mumbles something more.

"I am going to rename the soft copy files of the scan."

"So you are going to write the reference number on the invoices right?"

My god, woman, please listen!

"I am going to name the soft copy files of the scan with the reference number. JUST LIKE HOW I DID IT THE PREVIOUS TIMES. Unless you want hard copy, I will print out and manually label them for you."

"Oh so you are going to re-name the soft copy of the file is it?"

"Yes as per what I did before."
Smiles.
Continues to scan.

Let me explain to you why I am so mean.
Because I have devised the most efficient way to label and organise my work and I have explained it clearly not once, but twice in e-mails which Ms. SYTwannabe did not read and asked me personally 5 seperate times BEFORE this. In fact, she tried to teach me how to label my work after I explain to her my method of labeling.
To which she was shell shocked (she looked that way) maybe due to my unbelievable untelligence.
In fact, I once walked past HR office and spotted her scrutinising my NTU certificate.
Maybe she is jealous of my very impressive 2nd lower honours.
Hur hur.

BTW, Ms. SYTwannabe is not some rank and file staff hor.

I realised that there is no use explaining to her, sending her e-mails or fighting her.
I just repeat what I need to repeat and agree to whatever she says and get out of her office as soon as I can.

Let me relate to you another classic story between me and her
(Oh my I am so in the mood for story telling today!)

"Sign this to say you prepared this document."

"I did not prepare it! Ms. XXX did."
I prepared another version which everyone ignored. As usual.

"Just sign."

"No Ididn't prepare it."

"Just sign it. You were supposd to do it but you didn't so Ms. XXX did for you. Now you just sign."

"......................."
So I sign lor.
The thing was sent to up above.

No use fighting cosmic powers.

Just 10 minutes ago, HR sent me and another mail out of the blue informing me and another of my colleague on the same programme as me that we do not get PH allowance.

I was like "HUH?! Wrong mail is it?"

I scrolled down and realised she asked my previous boss who has since left for many months in APRIL if we were entitled.
Previous boss said no. (He bold, so I also bold)

I had a sudden urge to ask the HR Manager why she is sending this mail out in September to me and another girl when
1) Many months and a number of PHs has since passed
2) There are 4 of us on this programme but only 2 of us were informed

So I asked a stupid question and told her I didn't have any idea what this was about!
She replied that staff usually get 150,000 ($12Sing) every PH as allowance from the Trade Union or something.

So I copied it to my other 2 colleagues and told her that for consistency, the other 2 should not be getting as well right?

I don't freaking care for $12 ok but I am just annoyed how come I don't even know there is such a thing.
I wanted to tell her that my other colleague who is also on this programme got some book vouchers for his kid from the Trade Union too during some festival but then I decided against it because she might think I am being petty over $12 over a couple of PHs (about 9 or something lah).
The most irritable thing is that she suddenly sends me a mail to tell me about it.
If you want to hide it, hide it forever can!

Some of you might think I should fight for it but let me tell you the world is unfair, I have learnt to let it go - It's close to $100 lah but think about it, it's not even enough for me to cover my meal at Gunther's or something to cheer me up if I were to fight for it and make myself unhappy.
If people choose to do things in a certain manner (moral or not, right or wrong), I will not fight it no more.
You just got to hope next time nobody does the same thing to you :)
(It was a sarcastic smile)

I am back to deciphering my Vietnamese invoices.
Koaz.
Some people really know how to make things difficult.

What doesn't break me makes me stronger.
Who knows, my Vietnamese might improve after this!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On to other things.
My friends / ex colleagues from EY are coming to visit first week of October!
I am really touched girls (in case you are reading this) because all 3 of them are SUPER BUSY (I can so relate to that) and they actually took time off to come visit me because I told them I am going back for good next January.
I DO NOT not like HCMC. I don't know how many times I need to repeat that.
I just would like to challenge myself more professionally and Singapore is the place to be.

I am going home end October!!! :)
My dad was asking me if I wanted to go back first week of November for a wedding of a distant relative.
I thought hard if I wanted to go and decided not to - because I am sick of people telling me I put on weight. Or pretending that I am prettier (it happens every CNY. HOW MUCH PRETTIER CAN I GET?! GOSH. SO FAKE.)
I would rather go blading or do volunteer work on a Sunday than sit through a wedding lunch where my mother will use every opportunity to brag about me.
She can do so even without me around.
I am not being arrogant lor but there is really nothing much my mother could say about my brother except that he is a clerk in the Air Force serving his NS.
She can conjure up more stories about me and my IB bf, Robert and how he bought her the coveted $268 for 8 mini Snow Skin Almond Paste with Bird's Nest Filling and-Gold-Leaf-on-top-of-the-mooncake mooncakes from St Regis.
(Which by the way has the most expensive champange brunch in town now. Someone bring me there! Woowoo!)
(Joking. Robert bought a very modest durian mooncake. Got discount somemore!)

To debunk all the rumours, I go back to Singapore more often these days because I work on at least 1 weekend every month! Sometimes 2!
To be honest, I do not know what to do with the days off so I just accumulate them and decide to fly back to Singapore instead.
I am not earning $10,000Sing a month (in VND? Maybe. hah) to be able to fly back so often.
As many of you know, my dad travels alot. So I just leech on him lor!
Very tired of people making the same comments about how I go back so often.
Then they will raise their eyebrows because they know I am on this programme. Plus most of the time, I fly by SQ.
Sometimes when I am in a lazy mood, I will just say my father owns SIA.
Hur hur.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On another unrelated note, I was happily going down the stairs today and as I was walking down, I was looking at the computer screen of my landlord's brother (who takes care of the house in the day) who is about 50ish?
I saw a video playing and was wondering what it was so I just kept staring at it as I walked down the stairs (my best attempt at multi tasking i tell you)
And then.........................

I REALISED IT WAS PORN!

Omg omg omg!
I was SO embarassed, I just pushed my house keys to him (he keeps my keys for me) and looked away.
I quickly scurried out of the house!
He was so embarassed too because he quickly switched off the monitor and he didn't even say he usual xin chao to me!

It was VERY BLUR but how do I know it's porn?
a) 1 person on a bed with legs open and I think some blanket covering the bits (I think. It's very blur lah, I really don't know)
b) Someone else was there. The person's head was between the legs.

I swear I do not think the person was giving birth. I think a baby is smaller than that.
If it's not porn what is it!!!

My life in HCMC is finally getting so interesting!

p/s majorly happy I found cottonpads at last! Gosh it's really difficult to find cottonpads here! I went to a couple of supermarkets and could not find and even resorted going to a make up counter to ask where they got theirs from!
Will never take Watson's cottonpads for granted no more!

I really want to eat a filet-o-fish. No Macs here :(

I Have A Personality Disorder

2008-09-10T17:48:00.007+07:00

It's my mandatory blog before I go home post.
No lah, actually I am waiting for Robert to get back to the city.
It takes him one hour to travel from his prestigious foreign bank to the city.
I have plenty of time on my hands before we go for dinner because I don't need to cook.

Ms. I-cannot-get-married-but-still-want-to-act-hiao-and-talk-in-a-high-pitched-voice-and-hate-all-sweet-young-things tasked me to do something today, to which I tasked to the boss' secretary.
In her unbelievably efficient fashion, she asked me 5 minutes ago if the work is done.

I said nope not scanned yet.
Waiting for boss' secretary.
She asked me if I could scan it.
I said I don't know how to use the scanner.
I acted nice and asked her if it's urgent and told her I would pass her tomorrow after a very in-sincere sorry.

Very annoying.
I know I am sibeh attitude.

Next time someone does a similar thing to you. It may be because:

1) You have many times ignored the person's e-mail for 2 weeks only to rush the person and to act smart about things that don't require the least bit of common sense when the top is rushing you.

2) You have blatantly refused to help the person when she / he needed help and tried to get the person into obvious trouble by suggesting she / he do things that would obviously cause the person to commit career suicide.

3) You don't read your e-mails with clear step by step explanation from the person and later try to lord over the person with your so called intelligence.

4) You always harp on the person being young and make comments that through various not very self important or value adding projects that now the person learns - you hope through your credit.

5) You speak so loudly that people can hear you clearly from 5 metres away. This is not a crime. This is just possibly another reason lah!

6) You accused the person of shouting at your staff and dressing skimpily when the alleged person wore a tee and modest shorts on her off day to ask why her pay has been forgotten for the 2nd time in a row. Nicely.

7) You could possibly have contributed to the rumours that the person has an affair with a fellow boss.

That is possibly why it takes a few days to get things done!
And suddenly a seemingly smart girl doesn't know how to scan things!
Now you know!
(For those who are planning to do the same thing to your bosses, please think twice. Ms. her-nick-name-is-so-long-i-am-so-lazy-to-type is NOT my direct boss and doesn't appraise me. On top of that, I do not piss other people off.)

Oh boy, I am so bitchy today!

I was going to blog about how I mis-handled the glue bottle yesterday and it popped right into my head after I squeezed it hard.
Ok it sounds so wrong but I had glue all over my hair.
I started laughing.

Then I got ready for dinner.
Asked my staff many times if there would be a van.
The answer was yes at 6.30pm.
6.30pm came and went - NO VAN.
I should have gotten used to it now.
I gave a wry smile and very thick-skinned followed my big boss into his Camry.
If not how I go for the dinner?!

Today my colleague told me I put on weight.
I laughed.
Then he caught me eating a piece of chocolate in the lift.
I was happily munching my little bar of happiness when I peered at him from the corner of my eye.
He said "gigi don't eat so much chocolates!"

I am taking a very positive approach to life now.
My bitchy entry is not a true reflection of my happy state of mind.
Ever since I got my new nose, I have been practically busking in happiness.
See who says plastic surgery is bad.
It made me a more cheerful person!
Woowoo!

I have also decided to name all my friends either by their initials or by their most commonly known nicknames in my blog.
I realised it can get confusing if you keep reading "my friend"
I also don't want to give you guys the wrong impression that I have alot of friends when it's actually the same person!
I don't have alot of friends - just enough to know that I am loved and they will bail me out if I ever ended up in jail for being so chio.

Anyway, I have just broke my promise to The Rock for not swearing.
I just swore over SMS over something to HY.
I am not angry - just exasperated. And I could not express the full length of my exasperation if I didn't use any of those words.

I will go home and repent and promise not to swear again - even in writing.
Just this afternoon I told HY that I will no longer use a bad word and I will just *bleep* in place of them.
He told me that I was a sell-out to my true lian nature.
It broke my heart.
I can still be lian even though I am pure, chaste, and demure, with high moral values (it's becoming such a handy tagline for me I can say it so smoothly with ease!)

I have a random question for all of you.
You know we grew up watching those HK movies where all the ghosts are always dressed in white flowing dresses (either that or vampish red with loads of boobs showing).
They always look so incredibly chio with their long black flowing hair, nice putty lips, big almond shaped eyes?
And the male lead would always think that they are some nice, kind hearted, demure girl without a strand of malice in her?
But it turns out that the girl is some blood sucking vampire or evil ghost out to suck his soul out of him.

Ever wondered if such things happened in real life?

They always say that drama is a reflection of real life and vice versa.

TODAY.
I BRING YOU THE TRUTH.

Ghosts or vampires like that exist.
(Must make bigger a bit so you all can get it into your minds!)

I have to applaud the script-writers for being able to so beautifully blend real life situations into an entertaining yet mildly scary movie! I actually have been subtly educated of the ways of the world from my late night movies (last time it showed after the 10pm news on Channel 8) but I didn't know it because I watched alone.

The plot in each movie has uncanny similarities! I summarise for you!

a) Men are suckers. Anything that has long hair, is fair, speaks in a soft tone, and seems like it's gliding on air = good woman who is definitely not a ghost or a vampire.

b) Everyone around these men are smart. They will try to tell the men that they are being suckers. Or rather, they are being sucked. Ok everything sounds wrong. You get the picture. Do these men listen? No.
They will insist that the ghost or vampire is a real nice and demure girl and look at her..... so frail looking, long hair, flowing white dress and so nice to him and everyone else. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE that this sweet little thing that you so want to protect be a ghost or vampire out to suck your blood or take your soul?!

THIS IS HOW THE SHOW IS SUPPOSED TO BE. You need to have patience one!
At this point in time, you would want to kill the naive men on all the shows. Be patient. It will turn for the better.

c) After being sucked dry (again it sounds wrong, I am sorry. It's what ghosts and vampires do!) the men will realise that their demure 梦中情人 is actually a 鬼！

That's why I have short hair and cannot quit swearing or being bitchy!
I also cannot talk softly or act nice and whatnot and pretend I have a simple mind and think with my pinkie finger and therefore I have no excuse to use when I am insensitive to the surroundings and how other people might possibly feel.
(I know some of you might be suspecting I do sometimes think with my pinkie finger. Get lost! I actually do read intelligent things - like Her World)

By the way, I am not saying I met a ghost or vampire hor. Neither am I insinuating my Robert is one of those men.
How is it possible! An intelligent and chio bu like me will of course be dating someone with some standards!

And always remember guys..........
It's not the act itself but the intention behind the act!

My mother should read this and weep. 6k a year of NTU education which I am now slogging to pay off every month has paid off. I finally came up with a quotable quote! (I swear I didn't copy. Sheer moment of brilliance, sheer moment of brilliance)

Post edit: OMG has anyone seen the latest i-Pod? I am begging someone to buy it for me. I like the red one. I also like the pink one. I also like the green one. Surprisingly, the yellow one is also very nice!
I need to date oil tycoon, not investment banker who will not be conned by me!

Charity Work?

2008-09-10T11:41:00.003+07:00

A tad irritated now.

Next time when you are senior management, please re-think the motives behind you commission big scale projects and how it would affect others.
Don't do something just to leave a legacy before you quit only to have others pick up after you leave.

Charity work doesn't need to be big scale.
It can be every day small gestures that would help make a person's life better.
Like buying 1 packet of tissue from a disabled person and giving him the smallest note you have.

Talking about that, I don't understand why some people take all 3 packets of tissue sold by these people. 3 packets can last you a very long time leh! and it's damn messy when you take 3 and dump in your bag.
I usually take 1 and it can last me for months even.
Sometimes I don't even open it at all.
Ok that's besides the point.

AGRH.
I cannot stand it when people use charity for other ulterior motives.
CANNOT STAND IT.
You build library means you are good and chartitable?
You mean other people who volunteer their time on a regular basis for whatever cause they believe in or just to give when they can are not as charitable?

Ok now I am calm.

I will post that BKK post SOON!

I have a meeting regarding ISO 14000 - Environmental Management System this afternoon.
Someone SAVE ME.

On a side note, I still cannot dig my nose and my stitches have not dissolved yet.
Sigh.
I managed to gently take out a big piece of dried blood from my left nostril yesterday, which strangely has more dried blood than the right.
That act pleased me greatly.

You try not digging your nose for 2 weeks, live in HCMC, and dig your nose after - I bet you will be more satisfied than me!

This is a week of farewells and hellos so I have been eating and eating.
Robert is back today and we have a dinner date!
AGRH MORE FOOD!
I told him I don't really want to eat so much so he suggested the food-court at Parkson.

By the way, some of you asked me why I call him Robert when you guys actually know my rich banker boyfriend goes by another name.
It's not because I am fleecing him (you know you usually call guys Robert when they are suckers to girls who cheat their money). I am still trying very hard to get him to sign his million dollar Orchard Turn apartment to me without having to lose my moral values.
Will update you guys on that soon.

Anyways, my mother, who admittedly is not very well educated cannot pronounce Robert's very difficult name. So over dinner one day, she decided that she had enough of tongue twisting and said she should call him Robert instead. So there!
(Nothing to be ashamed about here. I always tell people my mother only finished primary school only to get some form of sadistic satisfaction out of their shocked looks. You mean what, a lady who only went to primary school in small town Malaysia cannot give birth to me?! My mother is very high class ok! She was the one who taught me how to place my cutlery after I was done with my food hor!)

I was thinking to myself the other day - wouldn't it be great if we could pass out oil and fats whenever we pee or shit?
That's what I always secretly hope for!
Wow if this happens naturally for everyone, I would be very slim!

I Am Plastic

2008-09-09T16:32:00.005+07:00

According to my friend, HY, my nose is the talk of the town.

My colleagues have been commenting about my new look ever since I came back but I have said nothing but admitted that my hair is now different.

Hiyah, it's not that I am not upfront, it's just that the way they approach it is not very .......... nice?

I mean if you are curious, you can ask me nicely.

No need to say there is something new and wriggle your nose.

Maybe I am just jealous I cannot wriggle my nose now.

Haha.

My new boss (although not directly my boss) is in town and I am going to keep a distance from him. If not there will be rumours flying all over again.

Ever since I came to Vietnam, I suddenly feel like a celebrity.

Out of nowhere, I will have sordid affairs with people.

Affairs I don't even know about.

If I were a natural beauty, I would accept this curse with no hesitation but look at me - I need plastic surgery leh.

Even after that, I am not say very chio. Why am I cursed with such fate?!

I am almost tempted to swear but I promised my friend, who claimed that I am perfectly great to have beside him in public..... until I OPEN MY MOUTH, that I will no longer say another swear word.

5 months more to going home.

Wah I cannot wait!

I am going to buy a giant foam hand and bring it around when I am back for good - whenever someone complains about Singapore, I will slap them with my giant foam hand!

Did I already mention that I am going to move house again?

Yeah I know it's very sian, maybe that's why nobody sends presents to me anymore.

They don't even know where I am living now!

Robert has moved on from being a private banker to an investment banker and can now stay in a nice apartment so upon knowing that, the materialistic me invited myself to stay with him so I can save rent!

2 months of rent hor - I can ~~buy that Gucci bag I have been eyeing~~ save!

See, why would I have affairs with all these random people when I am sooo materialistic and dating a banker? I am busy enough trying to cheat Robert of his money!

On a totally unrelated note, in a sheer moment of brilliance, I have coined a new term - Evil M! Which I use to refer to marriage.

Shall end my post with me flaunting my new chio nose!!!

And another!

The Journey Of My Nose Job

2008-09-08T11:14:00.022+07:00

I have hated my nose as far as I can remember.

So I have to say I am very pleased that I went for this surgery.

It's not perfect and neither is it Eurasian looking but I finally have a bridge!

I have to say, besides my braces, this is the next best investment I have ever made in my life!

This procedure cost me aout $5.5k (plus GST) and I went to Doctor JJ Chua, who is getting more and more famous. He recently was interviewed in 8 Days, claimed to have done the most Mediacorp faces, and was the consulting doctor for this drama show about plastic surgery on Channel U.

The night before my surgery. I was really rather excited.

Way before the surgery, my doctor prepared some medicine for me. From L-R: pills that keep me calm should I feel nervous a few days before the surgery, sleeping pills for the night before should I not be able to sleep from anxiety, and painkillers to be taken 1 hour before reporting for the surgery. I was so happy - who needs pills for anxiety! I slept like a baby too!

Some information regarding the surgery. My doctor called it "happy surgery." INDEED! I cannot dig my nose for 2 weeks. OMG it has been really uncomfortable I tell you. After 5 days, I wet a cottonbud and cleaned inside and breathed hard so the booger could come out. Don't laugh - everyone has booger lor. So do I. So the night before, I dug my nose clean! I was relating how I made sure my nose was clean to my aunty and she found it very amusing. 2 weeks leh - CAN DIE!!! I have 1 more week to go!!!
It's called nose augmentation surgery or rhinoplasty.
The list of medicine and other stuff. I was given 2 kinds of anti-biotics, 2 kinds of anti swelling medicine, sleeping pills, and a whole load of painkillers. I did not take pain killers because I never believed in them so I took a sleeping pill the first night that's all because it felt a little tight and uncomfrotable.

On the morning of the surgery! My mom and dad went with me. Side view of my nose without a bridge.

Front view - FUGLY! By the way, the mole on my upper lip is becoming bigger and bigger. Sigh. It would be good if it were a mole of good fortune. Unfortunately, I checked the meaning of the mole and it's a mole that signifies my penchant for liking nice things in life - especially good food.

I could not take any photos of me in the operating room. It was a private and simple affair - I waited at a corner with the curtains drawn, went in (in my own clothes), was sedated and blab something to my doctor and woke up in 30 minutes.

I saw the silicon implant - a pink L shaped implant that was cut to fit my nose.

According to my doctor, my left side is fleshier than my right side. Before he started, he said the surgery would be good for me because my nose is flat. haha!

I just came out feeling groggy. The nurse taped me up in such a fugly manner! The tape was skin colour so I didn't feel very self concious about it.

It was LA but I was sedated. I even had dreams can!

Blood!

In my cosy corner with some ginger tea resting.

You can see blood coming out from my nose. The doctor cut in both my nostrils and stuffed the implant through the hole. For the entire day, I was shopping with a bit of blood dripping out. I think I scared this girl at Watson's because she asked me what happened to my nose. The tape is almost invisible!

I have ALOT moe dried blood than this now lah..... Ok my nose is full of blackheads now and I can no longer press my blackheads because of the nose implant. HELP. You can see that if you have a fake nose, the bottom of your nose is a nice triangular shape (for Asians. Europeans have different noses) and the nostrils are pulled into oval shapes. Not very obvious here. In fact, I think my nostrils are bigger now and I told the nurse it seems that I can breathe better! She said it's the first time someone has told her that.

I mentioned that my doctor said I would most likely experience yellowish brusing around my eyes but I never got it. Instead I got this bruise (this is after 48 hours when I could finally take my tapes out) that is still here today! You must be wondering why I need to have my nose taped up when my incision is inside my nostril - it's to keep the implant in place - afterall it's a foreign object.

How does it feel to have an implant in me? It's hard from the start of the bridge (where is bruise is) to the bottom of the nose (the piece of flesh seperating my nostrils). Very obviously fake. If you guys want to touch I will oblige.

Day 3 on the way to the airport. The bruise is the first thing you noticed about me!

Front view. To be honest, I still think my nose looks big. The implant can only reduce the size of the nose by a certain percentage. If I wanted it any smaller, I need to do a nose reduction surgery which is expensive (another 3.5k or so), invasive, and my doctor said it might look un-natural.

The side-view. The most rewarding part of the surgery - TO FINALLY HAVE A NOSE BRIDGE!

The best part of having a nose bridge? I can finally wear sunglasses and it sits nicely on my nose and doesn't rest of my cheek! Robert even bought me that chio Mango sunglasses to celebrate my new nose!

My nose's still swollen so it would only look the way it should look in about a month but the doctor said it's more or less about there.

My dad loves it - he says it's very natural.

In fact it's so natural that some people don't notice it until I tell them! Which is a good thing I guess.

I came back to work today and some people say I look different and I tell them it's my hair.

The nose still feels a little tight and when I laughed too much or try to wriggle my nose, it feels tight and it sometimes hurts - which is normal according to my doctor.

My conclusion? It was truly and simple and happy surgery. My doctor was friendly and helpful although you have to get used to him speaking at the speed of light.

Plastic surgery has made my life better. My mother is an advocate of not changing what God gave you but I cannot agree - if it makes you a much happier person, why not!

The only downside is that I have loads of blackheads, I cannot press my nose and wriggle it like normal people, and it's a little difficult to kiss. Heh heh. I can live with that. Don't press blackheads, don't wriggle my nose, and don't kiss lor!

I would do it all over again if I could.

Have photos of my entire trip including my trip to BKK but I am damn lazy to post! Maybe you guys can just check it out on FB.

Many thanks to all my friends who called or SMS-ed me regarding the State of Emergency in BKK.

I am truly loved!

BKK was safe - it was great and I was shopping like mad. Ok maybe another post soon!

Happiness

2008-09-01T21:51:00.003+07:00

There could not be a better word to describe my day.

I survived today without a car.
I walked to Simei and walked back.
Took the public transport to town and back too.

Applause please!

I am loving my new hair even though it's a little annoying I cannot wash it till Wednesday night.
So my hair's all over my face now and it's a little uncomfortable.

Had dinner at Sun & Moon (Wheelock) and I loved it!
I have not been there for years!

Had crepes and macarons at where else but ............. Canele!

*burp*

Shopped around, bought new books (Loving Tuesdays With Morrie. It's such a light yet powerful read)
Tried unsuccessfully (yet again) to dig out my dried blood.
Sigh.
Tried on my Mango sunnies that I want to buy to celebrate my new nose.
Now I have NOSE BRIDGE hor! hahahha.
Asked my friend for opinion.
We think the black one is nicer!
Talked cock, made fun of friend, made my friend my manual labour, tissue paper provider, toilet change provider, tried to become match-maker.

It was a fun Monday.

I am off to BKK in a few hours and I am not even packed yet.
I don't even know if I should sleep!

"If I give you a wake up call at 5.30am, would you wake up?"

"If you call me then and then I wake up, I HG already!"

New Nose Part 2

2008-09-01T08:52:00.002+07:00

I have finally taken off my plasters.
Today is the 3rd day and according to my after surgery notes from my doctor, it's supposed to swell the most.

He told me that some bruising will spread to under my eyes and make me look yellow but so far, I just have a blue-black bruise at the tip of my bridge which is not too fugly.

I think my nose could be higher but everyone says NO.

Yesterday my friend asked me if I feel prettier.
I guess..... NO!
I just feel less concious of my nose and I would not feel shy taking my photo from my side anymore.
I still look very much the same and I never thought I was pretty to start with so the nose actually doesn't change much except that I no longer lament it's so flat!

The surgery and healing process has been relatively fuss free.
I even encouraged my brother's gf (who is half Korean and very open minded to such things) to do her nose too!

Actually my new nose will only be more or less the way it should look after a month.

Should I just post photos then?

New Nose

2008-08-31T22:36:00.001+07:00

I WANT TO DIG MY NOSE!

SO MUCH DRIED BLOOD IN MY NOSE!

Other than that, I am loving my new nose!
My dad says my doctor did a good job because it looks natural! Woooo!

Sorry haven't uploaded photos yet - no battery!

ROAR

2008-08-30T00:03:00.003+07:00

I AM HOME!

By the time you are reading this, I would already have my silicon implant in me and sporting my new nose with bandages, sipping wine with my Dumpling Sisters at our Swissotel hotel stay, and walking around the Comex Fair 2008.

Today's flight home was full and it was the first time that I didn't manage to sit by the aisle.

The cabin crew were much better looking and I like the new uniform of the stewards!

I went DFS shopping after I landed and ended up being the last one to collect my bag!

My dad, who arrived 30 minutes before me at T2 and went to T3 to wait for me with my mother and auntie was of course grumbling how I could shop till everyone else was gone.

This is the 2nd time that I have arrived at T3 and it's really beautiful, by the way.

I am so excited!

Kind People

2008-08-29T14:23:00.005+07:00

I met plenty of kind people (from my colleagues to taxi drivers) these few days and I am really touched!

Dinner which I cooked on Wednesday.
Love my oven - I baked the chicken and it turned out yum!

I had this major craving for this egg that my mother cooks at home.
Tasted weird to Robert and I reckon it's because he didn't grow up eating something like this.
I have no idea what the vegetable is too. My mother pointed it out, gave me instructions and tadah!

Lee Kum Kee's ma po tofu sauce was not very good - I have tried better.

A few more hours and I will be back hoooooooommmmmeeeeeeeee!!!

On The Other Side Of The Table

2008-08-28T12:09:00.002+07:00

Consultant from Singapore is conducting a course and I AM VERY BORED!

I personally do not think this person is very professional (shall not mention which consulting firm he is from but I doubt you would have heard about it anyway).

Personally do not think it's right to let your phone ring and eat while you are presenting.
And he has this funny habit to end every sentence with an "ahhhh" (think high pitched)
I figured for the past 4 hours, he has already said at least 80 "ahhhhs"

One thing which I think is totally rude?
Saying "Hellooooo?!?!?" whenever we take time to reply to his questions.

Wah lan, we need time to think lah.
I really think it's not very nice to speak like that!

Oh let's not mention the bad formatting, inconsistent formatting, and not preparing for the session at all!
Can you imagine coming into a session with a document that was for another entity and changing it on the spot?!

This is the Principal Consultant, by the way.
Not some young Associate that just graduated from school.

This meeting is going to take the entire day.
Sigh.

I can leave the job but the job never leaves me.

Am Very Glad

2008-08-27T17:25:00.000+07:00

Because after about 1 month and 3 supermarkets later, I finally found Oral B dental floss!

Very hungry! Time to go home for dinner!

Weekend With Robert & Cupcakes

2008-08-26T10:40:00.017+07:00

I really need a new pillow. I suspect this one's giving me a load of problems that's why I wake up feeling tired and grouchy all the time.

The other time I mentioned that over here, we pray during the hungry ghost festival too.

Apparantly, they pray for the safety of the cars too. Set up an alter in front of the cars, switch on the headlamps, place some joss sticks at the number plate, and honk loudly.

(I am not sure for what)

I mentioned that people will throw money as part of the ritual and I witnessed it too. I was a tad amused by the whole thing because everyone was just scampering around. My colleague was nice enough to give me a coin she picked up.

Promised you guys photos of my weekends!

Robert brought me to this French cafe on Saturday which my colleague mentioned before.

Pretty nice and cosy inside.

HELMET HAIR! So these days I just pin my messy hair up to avoid looking like this.

Everything was fine till my food came........ Eating pi sai or what! Yes, paid 50,000VND ($4Sing) for 2 small slices of pork, a loaf of bread, and a heap of vegetables. I don't know why I bothered to use my knife to cut the meat. I could eat it up in 2 seconds!

Robert's chicken - not so bad. The metal plates remind me of hospital food (Which I love by the way! I used to always eat my grandma's dinner when she was in the hospital. Which of course annoyed my parents till no end.)
When the bill came, we realised that we were charged for things that we didn't even eat or use (like the wet tissue). Tried to talk to the cashier but her face was black like charcoal. Totally rude!
They charged me 20,000VND for butter ($1.50Sing). Probably the most expensive and yucky butter I have ever tasted.
I later went to Ben Thanh market to get lotus seeds for my cousin and I saw a new yoghurt place - Red Berry. Super excited so I decided to give it a try. They charge by weight and even had peanut butter flavoured yoghurt. I like peanut butter a fair bit but it tasted weird.

Self service - so you can go crazy and mix all the flavours in a cup.

Quite a variety of toppings. This is by weight too. Just add it onto your yoghurt and place your cup on the weighing scale and pay! (25,000VND or $2Sing per 100G)

My yoghurt which I didn't even finish. It's not that great. I still prefer the local brands I buy from the supermarket. Cheap and good!

I love the spoon! That place was a no smoking place and I found the manager smoking right beside me. So I tapped him on his arm and pointed him the "No Smoking" sign. He apologised and stubbed out.

Yesterday was my friend, HY's, birthday. I decided to spend Sunday noon baking him some cupcakes which was nerve-wrecking because there are many steps to making cupcakes, my previous attempt failed (they tasted like muffins), and I needed to make icing. I attempted to make a chocolate cake for another friend previously but that failed too. Don't ever ask me to bake cakes!

But this time it was a success! They are not fantastic but at least they don't taste like muffins anymore!

My cupcakes dressed up in incing and all lined up in my oven!

I am super surprised I even managed to make icing! Which is not that tough afterall! Placed them in a cake box for birthday boy and gave the rest to Robert and his colleagues. Had one for breakfast. I started at about 5pm. By the time I was done, it was close to 8pm!

This morning HY told me someone stole the last cupcake in the office pantry which was meant for someone else. I am now wondering if it's really that nice or that person was just very hungry!

Facing Reality

2008-08-22T14:35:00.002+07:00

I am ~~getting fat~~ experiencing a change in body shape.

I eat like a bird almost everyday and yet my jeans seem to get tighter and tighter.

So how?

Don't eat at all?!

Hiyah, I think I will stop hoping that I will lose weight and buy new jeans.

How apt that I found my photo when I turned 21 just after I celebrated my brother's 21st!

Ok crap, I was obviously thinner then! WHY!

"He Is Driving Like He Is Playing Daytona"

2008-08-20T09:56:00.007+07:00

That's the comment my colleague made recently when we took a cab.

This morning, as my cab driver whizzed past many cars, accelerate like mad, jammed his break whenever he felt like it, I suddenly thought of his comment.

I arrived at work a little frazzled.

I am very appreciative these days when a taxi driver actaully bothers to switch on the air-con without me asking.

I can live without the air-con during the short trip but it's majorly polluted so I would like to protect my lungs most of the time.

This morning, the taxi driver wound up one window but left the one on his side open.

I wondered why.

I asked him to wind his up too because there was a huge diesel truck emitting black smoke just right beside us.

He turned the fan speed of the air-con to medium but I still felt hot.

I wondered why.

It was only later that he realised he forgot to switch on the air-con altogether.

He jabbed furiously at the button.

I was silent and quite afraid actually.

I think he was in a bad mood.

He then proceeded to turn up the volume of his walkie talkie set.

I tried to give him instructions but I could not hear myself because it was so loud but surprisingly, he could hear me.

He jammed break (for the 5th time or something and I was almost flung out of my seat), honked mercilessly at other drivers who had the right of way.

I got off the cab in a bundle of nerves.

I am glad I am alive.

On a seperate note, I really enjoy learning about different cultures.

This morning, I walked out to the car park and found 2 tables with rice and water - just like the offerings my mother prepares back home.

I walked back into the office and saw a suckling pig.

The locals believe in the 7th month too and their practices are very similar to what we do back home.

Our driver tried to explain to me what he was trying to do but he said he cannot speak in English.

My Vietnamese is limited too.

But he did manage to tell me it's to pray for the cars and another "alter" was set up for the office.

Just 2 nights ago, my friend and his wife told me that the 15th day of the 7th lunar month is Mother's Day in Vietnam and if you were a businessman, you would pray and throw money onto the roads. If you prayed for your home, you would pray with bags of sweets and invite children (real ones. I thought they were talking about ghost childs) into your home to take the sweets.

After living here for a year, I find that we are largely one and all the same.

The only difference is that we embraced the language of our colonial masters but they have a language which they can call their own.

Sometimes, we think we are better because it just so happens that the language of our colonial masters became lingua franca. That's all.

The other day I was at the gym and observed a local speaking perfect Cantonese.

They don't sound any different from my mother or my grandmother.

I looked at them and looked at myself - we are all the same.

Immigrants from China.

Back to the topic of food.

I have been trying my best to eat healthy these days and have taken to drinking organic soy milk, eating brown bread, and avoiding refined sugar and processed meat.

This is my lunch box for today (yes it's white bread because brown bread was sold out!)

I took a cab to gym yesterday only to suffer from pretty bad cramps even before class started so I went home and accompanied Robert for dinner instead. Pho. It's not my favourite noodle here I must say. I prefer bun somehow.

Remember I mentioned I am into this whole crazy "I love peaches" phase? I bought these from Parkson where my gym is at and check out the pink one!!! This is the first time I have ever seen a peach this pink. It was super sweet. So much better than the lousy USA peach I paid $5 for! I paid $6 for 4 peaches and I bought the last few. Where am I going to find cheap and good peaches?!

There is Her World in Vietnamese here! I found it when I was buying bread. Fann Wong is gracing the cover this month.

I was looking at it and I realised Fann Wong has a Vietnamese name! And so does Christopher Lee! Pham Van Phuong va Ly Minh Thuan means Fann Wong and Christopher Lee. It's directly translated from their Mandaring names Fan Wen Fang and Lee Ming Shun. Erm I don't understand the rest already!

Park Hyatt - It's Simply The Best!

2008-08-19T10:26:00.017+07:00

The meal cost me $56USD (plus taxes).

Cheap if you asked me, for excellent food and even better service.

I read in the papers on Sunday about the trend of spending $200 at fine dining restuarants.

I personally think it's money well spent. Once you have experienced it, you will understand what I am talking about.

But I am not food snob - I love my chicken briyani at Bedok Simpang with my Oolong tea just as much.

3 of the most expensive resturants listed were Les Amis, Iggy's, and Goto.

My next wish?

To bring my dad to Goto for a super luxurious Japanese dinner.

Because my mother and brother won't really appreciate and my dad's practicaly half Japanese.

And I cannot afford to pay for the whole family! (I read that it costs about $200 to $300 per head to eat there. Oh gosh.........)

Will the Money God shine on me please!

Photos!

Sorry about the quality of the photos - obviously I am really not a good photographer and my camera is a damn chio pink. So you could only imagine why I bought the camera for.

9 Singaporeans turned up for the dinner and Park Hyatt has this amazing set dinner that is very similar to a dégustation menu. You could choose from the $38USD, $48USD or $58USD menu and we all chose the $48USD one.

All dishes are served on a plate for all and we each had a portion to ourselves.

The bread is simply divine. With this amazing salsa sauce. I swear I have not eaten something like that before.

In the private room with coconuts as centrepieces!

This is stunning!

First dish - Vietnamese spring rolls. I didn't enjoy this because of the mint leaf. There were so many things inside, I could not identify where the leaf was to take it out!

Next appetizer - soft shell crabs for those who didn't eat beef

Another appetizer - pomelo salad. It was divine.

I think this is still an appetiser. At this point in time, I didn't really care. Cold seafood for 4 people. I took the lobster and accidentally ate someone's prawn!

Grilled tiger prawns!

Main dish - Sweet and sour fillet

Kurobuta (black) pork and lamb racks. I love black pork. My camera really does not do justice to the food!

Check out the sauces for the meat! So classy!

Last but not least, the Grand Desert! One tray for 2 people. I loved the cheesecake and this crunchy biscuit like thing on top of it which reminded me of apple strudel. Also the jackfruit springroll (it's like a crepe) was super!

A close-up! On the left is the coconut pudding served in, what else, a coconut! Above it is a divine bowl of fruit sorbet (i think it's strawberry. don't know, too full to find out), coconut ice cream (which is damnnnnnn good and I hardly like anything coconut!), and macadamia nut ice cream which rivals Haagen Dazs! (And I love macadamia ice cream from Haagen Dazs!)

Wait For Me

2008-08-18T10:41:00.004+07:00

The trip back to Singapore was GREAT.

I loved every moment of it.
I have to say, the service in Singapore has generally improved.
I would rate excellent service at 9 out of 10 places I went to.

And that includes my encounter at the bank!
I was the first few at the POSB bank near my place at 8.30am in the morning on a Saturday and this lady came up to me and asked me if I would like to take a sweet or biscuit from the basket she was holding.

WHAT A SURPRISE!!!

I was really touched by this small gesture.
In fact, she was so nice, she asked me if I wanted water because eating biscuits would leave my mouth dry.
She then noticed I was holding a water bottle and I told her it's ok.

Later, I overheard her telling another customer that she is giving out sweets for no reason, she is just happy he is at her branch.

I would give POSB top marks for service.
Maybe I should write in to compliment her.

My brother's birthday celebration was great.
I shall post photos later.

I accomplished many things this weekend -
Went to see the doctor
Went for facial (it's so much better in Singapore)
Did some mad, senseless shopping
Stocked up my baking items
Met up with a couple of people
Drove from Lavender to Holland V without getting lost!!!
Went to the temple
Became a fashion advisor
Found a new shopping bag I love
Bought my mother an Agnis B bag that is super chio - she loved it so much she used it the next day! Finally I bought her something she loves!
Took the Singapore Flyer for $10 only!!!

I even went to Chanel to check out that lambskin clutch I love but they don't carry the colour I like in Singapore.
I have never been a fan of Chanel so it was my first time there and I have to say it's definitely more high class than LV or Gucci.
The staff wear gloves to touch the bags can!
In LV or Gucci, it's like a market leh.
It's so crowded sometimes I feel like I am shopping in some mass market shop.

I met this lady who was deciding which Chanel bag to buy and asking her obviously disinterested husband.
To which she pointed out that she needed all her bags to match her shoes.
I looked at her and I was thinking to myself "siao. just buy the bag you like and choose the shoes accordingly lor."

Anyway, my flight was delayed for 3 hours yesterday.
I am too lazy to type out the entire story, I shall just cut and paste what I mailed my friends.

".......anyway let me tell you all my drama at the airport yesterday......
i think zhao already knows the whole story already cos i called her to tell her....

i checked in already then went to the customs area. have to weigh our handcarrry bags so there were 2 ladies in front of me.
both vietnamese. the first one put her bag there and the customs lady asked her to go.
the second one, STEPPED ONTO THE WEIGHING SCALE!!
whahahahhahahahah then the immigration lady told her to get off a few times she didn't understand.
i really laughed until i almost died..... it was too funny already!!!!!

then nehmind, as i was buying cosmestics, i saw 2 policemen escort this indian man out with handcuffs.... i was like... wah power.....

then after that they said my flight would be delayed for 1 hours.. kaoz.... i was at budget... you know how boring it is there......
so i just went to read magazines.... finally after an hour, i went to queue up. you know budget the waiting area only got like 8 seats and you need to queue up in 1 line to get to the plane.....

while i was queing, the same lady who went up the scale (now i realised it's the same lady cos of her yellow bag) she was in the front of the first row queue (I was in the 2nd row, parallel to the first row) she just lifted up the cloth barricae in front of her and ran towards the door that opens up to the runway!!! (budget you need to walk to the plane one)

And she did it a few times!!! till the ICA lady made her queue up in front of my row.... then she tried to rush out again till the ICA lady got pissed and she moved her all the way tothe back!!!!!!!

then nehmind... by the time i was already waiting for 1.5 hours already........ then they said it will be further delayed.... and aksed us to disperse....
so i jsut sat there on the floor with the rest of the people lor.... with my gucci bag!!!
i told zhao i was so hungry, i wanted to take out my muffin to eat and i would really look like a begger.

i kept asking the people there what's happening, they said they are not from tiger.... they are from swissport helping tiger with the check in and stuff....

sibei irritated with the poor service.... by the time the plane already delayed for 2 hours.... then the supervisor finally came and told me due to crew rotation, THERE IS NO CREW! NO PILOT, NO NOTHING!!!!!

first the flight was late for an hour, then the crew is not there. HOW CAN IT BE?! want to speak to tiger representative but nobody was around.....

then give us the call centre number. someone called but nobody picked up.
KNN! t
hen nehmind. finally they announced that the flight will take off at 4.15pm.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?! my flight was supposed to take off at 12.50, changed to 1.45, changed to 4.15pm... finally the pilots strolled in..... and they didn't even explain why there is a delay!!!!!!!

OMG this sucks!! by the time i got home it was close to 7pm Vietnam time ok!!!"

I am wondering if I should write to the customer service people but honestly I am too lazy to relate my entire story again.
This sucks lah!

Wait for me, I will be home soon.
Then we can do the things we used to do.

Hello! Land Of Smiles!

2008-08-14T09:22:00.002+07:00

I would have plenty to smile about because I would be going to ..........

BKK!

Wooosh!

With a new nose somemore!

There are some very cheap tickets on Tiger Airways to BKK and some great deals at the properties in BKK so I got my colleague to book for me.

Check out the Somerset Website and the rates are valid till end of this year until further notice.

Two of the Dumplings suddenly talked about going to BKK two days ago during the time that I will be back for my nose job.
And I was like why not! I want to go too!
I have always liked BKK and the shopping is good - if you don't care about quality, that is!
(Some of my dresses wear twice got lobang already. But cheap and chio so nevermind lah.)

I have been there twice and I am still not sick of it.

Hiyah now some people might think I am going to BKK for a nose job.
No hor! The new nose is strictly made in Singapore.
I am not that adenturous!

Many things to look forward to!

Flying home tomorrow!
Woooo!

I Just Want To Say......

2008-08-13T10:11:00.003+07:00

I DON'T CARE!

I have been on a rampage lately.

Will be going home on Friday for my brother's 21st birthday bash and coincidentally, my mom's birthday is tomorrow too. So it's a double celebration and everyone will be there! oooh!

I do not know why my alarm didn't ring this morning and as a result, I overslept.

By the time I woke up, it was actaully time for me to get out of the house but thank goodness, I was not very late for work. About 10 minutes (yes I brushed my teeth and even had time to eat breakfast).

Am super excited about upcoming events in my life. Of course one of which is my nose job. I will update the rest later.

My friends have asked me to post a before and after photo of myself before my big day (in 16 days) and I told her I would post a before, during, and after!

I read about my doctor in 8 Days recently and boy am I glad! At least I know that he is not some kuching-kurap doctor who is going to make me look like a witch!

If any of you reads this early enough, my friend sent an e-mail that there is a promotion for the Singapore Flyer. Tickets are going for $10 and you must book by today.

I want to go check out the Singapore Flyer! Another thing to add onto my to-do list.

Another friend recently sent me a number of e-coupons and some are quite great! Like 30% off Bird Park entry and 50% off the Night Safari tickets.

I have been to the Night Safari recently so I think I will skip but I want to go to the Bird Park! I love flamingos - they are so pink and cute! Gosh I sound like some teenager who is visiting Singapore for the first time.

Hiyah I don't care - it's better to be happy over nothing than to never be happy at all.

"Eh I want to go bird park."

"Huh? See how first."

"See how. See how your head! I don't care, I want to go!"

"Don't care?! It's so you."

Anyone wants to go?! Text me!

I was told you can feed the birds and they will fly to you. So exciting! I hope they won't peck my face since it looks like a big loaf of bread!

My Love Affair With Food

2008-08-12T12:29:00.002+07:00

I love food and food loves me.

Yesterday I went to this new Singaporean seafood restaurant everyone seems to be raving about - Red House.

It's co-owned by a couple of Singaporeans and many staff, including the Executive Chef was from Long Beach in Singapore.

LONG BEACH LEH!

Had the set lunch and for the first time I ate drunken prawns.
Very shiok.
The not so shiok part?
I had to peel my own prawns.
Hey what! I never peel my own prawns one leh.
In the process, I burnt my fingers.
Ouch!

We even had chilli crabs.
I don't eat crabs (for some reason) but it was super shiok to dip the fried bun into the chilli sauce.
I think this is the only place with fried buns - just like Singapore.

There are chilli crabs in other Singaporean restaurants but seriously, this place is really very authentic and shiok!

Oh and the best part? The wait staff will crack open the crab claws and place them in a plate for you.
Great for lazy people!

Am damn tired!
I am contemplating if I should go to the gym tonight.
Hooooow!

I am so into peaches these days.
I am practically craving for a peach every night but the cheapest peaches are sold in D5, where my gym is.
The other day, I bought one from the gourmet stall opposite my house.

USA Peach.
1 for $5. (The ones I usually buy cost $2.50)
Verdict?
Not nice lor!

Thursday night dinner with 9 other Singaporeans at Park Hyatt.
I cannot wait.

My NDP Weekend

2008-08-11T12:08:00.016+07:00

Yes, I am trying to make a concious effort of documenting my life here and I shall start with the NDP celebrations here in HCMC.

It rained this morning.

I took a cab and got a very nice driver so even when he didn't want to return my change, I also "khong sao" (no problem).

I have to say even though I always kpkb (it's Hokkien, better not learn) about the service here, the people are very sweet.

My colleague saw that it was me in the cab and ushered him to some place with a shelter to stop and even opened the door for me!

How sweet is that! I was very touched!

Yesterday I told Robert about the crappy service I got at Charles and Keith.

Over here Charles and Keith is considered very high class - only rich people go there to buy their shoes in USD hor!

They ai mai (don't know if they want or don't want) like that - I shop also I don't feel shiok!

But the service at Mango was so much better! Another high class shopping place here.

Robert told me in despair that it's a developing country.

Think he was very fed up with me because I was very bitchy at Thai Express that they forgot my drink.

Sorry lor, Robert, I disagree with you.

I am bitchy everywhere regardless of where I am.

I don't care if you are black, white or purple but if you do a shitty job at making sure I get good service where I am supposed to get it (I mean seriously, you buy chicken rice from Bedok market, you must adjust your expectations lah!) most of the time I will bite.

This is called standards wat - you think what, everything also can. I am not a dust bin ok!

Don't say it's because I was never a service staff.

I was lor! AND I WAS GOOD AT IT!

I took time to explain different kinds of pasta to my guests but later I got F-ed by my boss because I took too much time.

I even got tipped but my boss kept it.

I wanted to tell him "People come to your high class restuarant at Anson Road to eat something as high class as Italian food, of course they want to know what fusilli is right? They didn't come here to eat chicken rice leh. I can just tell them, it's noodle lor and I bet with you they won't be back."

Anyway, the restuarant is no longer there.

Ok, photos!

Wah everyday drink and eat.

I had this orgasmic lunch at Park Hyatt on Friday.

Has anyone had pork from the black pig?

I tried it twice in Singapore and I LOVED IT!

I FOUND IT HERE LOR!! More about that in another post!

CT is back in town!

We love Au Parc, a french style bistro.

The 3 of us. This place is perfect for an afternoon read. The natural sunlight streams in from the glass roof and you can just lie there with cushions as long as you like as you read your book.

Foooooooood. Au Parc has this power hot dog bun with giant chips on top of it! Too bad the hot dog is beef, which I cannot eat.

The famous Chocolate Nemesis Cake and I ordered another peanut butter chocolate slice. I have a sweet tooth!

After that, we went to the tailor's. No more torn shirts!

My tailor! I like her and her husband because they are super patient and nice. They can do anything ok! Some ladies bring their Mango catalogues to replicate stuff.

I replicated my favourite shirt. Cost? 100,000VND ($8Sing) for workmanship.

Bought DVDs for a friend. It's a DVD haven here! Anything you want, you get!

Celebrate Singapore 2008 At Sedona Suites. After I entered the compund for the celebrations, someone I know (who is Senior Management) passed me what the person thought was my ticket. I was like "Huh? but I am in here already. Luckily I have my own ticket, don't have, I have to pay to get in, you give me now also no use."

I wish to tell all of you that it's very rude to just anyhow stick a ticket into someone's face from behind that person.

Even if I were a dog, I also have a name.

And yes I checked, the person's mouth was not full of popiah or whatsoever.

We met for the first time last year at the very same event. That was a day of doom.

The whole group of us gathered at CT's place to watch NDP on CNA! With Singaporean food! Yay!

I wanted to post a video of us singing but I realised my singing is really 很难听！

Later we went to Park Hyatt (again)! Had my favourite chocolate soup! It's like a souffle. I LOVE IT! Orgasmic can!

Dinner at Thai Express last night! Yes it's finally here!!!

The prices are similar to Singapore but sad to say, the quality is really not up to scratch. I always eat the same thing at Thai Express so I know. Then again, I have not eaten at Thai Express for a long time, maybe the quality of food back home has dropped? I don't know.

Dear ............

2008-08-11T11:01:00.004+07:00

Dear Anyone Who Cares About Us,

I am writing to you to express my immense disappointment.

There is a formal event at Caravelle Hotel tonight to celebrate Singapore's National Day.

However, being a Singaporean, I do not know why my friends and I do not have an invite.
I have another friend who does (maybe because he is part of the Singapore Business Group) but when he called to sign 3 of us in, he was told that he could not because he has already signed 1 person in and that's the maximum.

I am deeply patriotic.
In fact when I was in kindergarten, I sang Majulah Singapura in front of the TV at 3pm everyday without fail before the shows started on Channel 8.

We toyed with the idea of just turning up for the event (i.e. gate-crashing) but I would be very embarassed should I get turned away in my $250 brand new outfit and LV bag which I specially use for very special ocassions.

In the end, I have decided not to turn up for fear of being turned away.

I do not understand why I was not invited - even though I have registered with the Consulate here.
Is this party only for very specific people?
But are we not celebrating our Nation's Independence and when it comes to that, shouldn't everyone be invited?

Even if the consulate doesn't have my physical address, they surely could invite us through e-mail?

After all, I have gotten not one, but two e-mails from MFA asking me to register my kid for Primary School.
I wish to tell MFA that I am single, I have no kids, and I am still very undecided if I should populate Singapore with another sarcastic version of myself although I know the nation's concerns.
I am guessing, at the end of the day I might.
Afterall, I believe in eugenics (one of our population policies in the past) and I also believe that I should do something for my nation.

I am not being sarcastic when I say I love Singapore alot.

In fact, when I moved to Vietnam my friend commented that she would never imagine that I would live overseas since I love my home country so much.

But being a very homesick and patriotic Singaporean who almost cried watching the National Day Parade (BTW, my dream is to watch the Parade live at the stadium but I have bidded for them for years but they have always eluded me. WHY?), I am extremely let down that I would not be going tonight!

Prove?

Look, I even bought a brand new dress and a new pair of shoes! I rushed home after work on a Sunday to buy my outfit. If you don't call that dedication, I don't know what is.

You might think that this is just another excuse to shop but I would beg to differ.

I am a strong believer that one should always dress according to the event because it's important to respect the event. Thus, I chose a very expensive satin dress that made me look like I am 30 over a more casual looking "I am going to Church" dress. In fact, I planned to wear my pearls for this event too.

I am a Singaporean who, has taken MM and PM Lee's advice, to "globalise" myself.
I look forward to going home to Singapore to further contribute to the society.
I wish to be remembered when it's time to celebrate our Nation's independence.
Not when it's time to register my "child" for Primary One.

Yours Sincerely,
A Singaporean with a new satin black dress

Good Morning Sunday!

2008-08-10T10:56:00.002+07:00

I am on MOD today and got a call in the morning regarding some matter.
Thank goodness it's nothing serious so I am rather glad.

Celebrated National Day yesterday and it was really rather fun!!!

I was meaning to use today to post photos (and even a video of us singing and saying the pledge!) but I guess I will do that later - I have this formal dinner tomorrow night hosted by the Consulate General.

At first I was not very keen but seems like everyone is going, so I might as well go too!

The dress code is lounge formal or national dress or whatever.

What on earth is that?
I don't know lah, all I know is I have an excuse to buy a new dress!!!
And shoes!

Neh Neh Poks!

2008-08-07T12:27:00.003+07:00

I once blurted it out when I was with someone whom I am not very close to and I think I tickled the socks of that person.

Very funny meh?

It's F-ing raining above my head!

Let me count the ways why I think I am so-damn-suay.

My shirt got hole

Don't know if the people here don't know how to wash my shirts or what.

This is the 3rd working shirt that is torn!

I am mortified!

I have no more working shirts because the new ones are with the tailor so I am wearing it to work and hoping nobody notices a hole at my upper back.

Sigh what would my mother think?

"Not say you got no money to buy clothes is right, girl?" She would tell me.

My skirt is also ko-yak (spoilt)

DOUBLE SIGH!

Two mornings ago, I found a piece of stray string on my calf.

In a rush, I pulled at it.

The string was un-ravalling at and amzing rate.

Ok had to stop, so I cut it off.

The next thing I knew?

My skirt needed some sewing.

Now I cannot wear the skirt - because I do not know how to sew!!!

I need to bring it back to Singapore to get my mother to sew it.

I only have 1 skirt left for work.

Suay!

Finally got milk but.....

Did I already mention to you that I tried to buy milk at 2 stores but was unsuccessful?

At the second store, I decided to divert my attention to yoghurt instead.

Just when I thought nothing could surprise me anymore, the guy told me I cannot buy the yoghurt because the price was not in the system.

At that moment all I thought of was "ku-ku-jiao. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!"

He told me to come back tomorrow.

I was asked to pay for another kind of yoghurt that I also picked up.

That one had the price in the system.

Wow, I was so lucky.

Damn pissed (must be cos of gym) so I left.

If I were having my period and bleeding to death, how?

Buy the tampon tomorrow while I use his t-shirt as a pad?!

Ok nevermind, so I finally bought milk last night.

This morning, I was super happy because I finally can dip my lovely Bangawan Solo pandan cake (which I bought from Singapore and carefully saved it to last over the week) into my milk.

I love milk - why do some people think it's smelly?

Unfortunately, it has done nothing for my boobs (no F-cup tea somemore! My friend could not find!) but I will love it anyway.

I took a huge glup of my milk and it tasted slightly sour.

WAH LAN EH! Got so suay anot!!!

Guess what? I still drank it because I was really that stubborn. And stupid.

Luckily, I am not running to the toilet yet.

Thought I was smart but I am not. Next time cannot kay-qiang (act smart)
This morning I woke up with a spitting headache.
It's a spot headache where the pain is damn sharp and it feels like someone poked your head when you least expect it.

After my milk incident, I thought I would just go to work and embrace a brand new day.

I have been lamenting forever how my entire neighbourhood has Vinasun taxis now.

They are more expensive and the drivers don't know where my office is.

Every morning, the Vinasun guy would see me walking from afar and quickly usher me a taxi.

So by the time I arrive at the road side, the taxi is already there waiting for me.

Such good service, how to reject him?

He would even open the door for me and smile at me ok.

Singapore where got like that!

One day, I decided I would get a taxi on the other road instead.

Hopefully I would get a Mai Linh one (cheaper and they know my office well).

Lo and behold, HE WAS THERE! Aiyoh.

There is no running away huh.

This morning, he was nowhere to be found.

It was my chance!

I had to pounce on it!

I quickly flagged for a Mai Linh taxi and was extremely proud of myself.

"So smart, gigi! You finally managed to get a Mai Linh taxi at your house! Can save money because it's cheaper!"

When I arrived at my office, the price was the same.

My heart sank.

Suddenly what my mother always tells me came into my mind

"Study so much, go to NTU also NO USE! Don't even have common sense!"

Yes mother, you are right.

I should stop cursing less too, it's unbecoming of me.

I must really pack my own lunch

Don't know why I am always hungry by lunch time these days.

Today I decided I would utilise my free coffee card and buy myself my favourite chocolate crossaint.

Oh happy day, I thought!

Ordered my free latte and went to buy my crossaint.

The cashier told me it's 25,000VND ($2Sing).

I was shocked. Last time it only cost 18,800VND ($1plus Sing)

She looked at my shocked look and told me the price increased.

Irritating. Everything also increase.

Taxi fare increase, food price increase, if food price doesn't increase, the portions shrink (cue my German dinner last night. I think I was eating pi sai.)

Talking about that, I am very irritated with Singaporeans who complain about inflation back in Singapore.

SHUT UP! It's ONLY 7%!!!!

Over here it's 30% ok! And not say, the quality and service improved.

At least in Singapore, I am progressively getting more polite service and the people are more knowledgable about the product (that's their job!)

Ok, maybe it's because I was shopping in Prada?

The sales guy told me what leather it was and how it was produced hor!

So impressed, I wanted to buy one straight away.

I love this black wallet there!

Mel loves the gold one! (and she taught me yet another new phrase kim tang tang in Hokkien)

SOMEONE BUY IT FOR ME.

Actually I don't need another wallet but I like leh! And the service was excellent!

But then again, I was at Miu Miu and this stoned guy thought my bag was a display set.

I left it on the chair to try out other bags and he took my bag.

Next time when I go to Miu Miu, I will carry a plastic bag.

Hiyah, I always love to digress.

Back to my expensive chocolate crossaint.

I happily brought it back to office to eat it and it tasted like S.H.I.T.

It's bland and tasted like chalk (not that I have tasted chalk before).

I didn't even finish it!

I only ate it because I won't be eating dinner later and I would starve if I didn't eat now.

oh man, what a day!

What happened to tudou.com!?

This wonderful thing happened to me.

My friend, HM, introduced me to tudou.com!

I cannot read Chinese but she helped me find the shows I wanted to watch.

Happily watching Desperate Housewives Season 4 but today, I simply cannot load it!

SUPER SUAY!

What on earth is going to happen next?

My banker bf, Robert, who drives a BMW 3 series (in black) and is going to propose to me in Paris with a Harry Winston is going to break up with me because.......................

(Don't understand, please read my blog religiously!)

I revealed on my blog how much he looks like Chen Xian Shen (or is he Da Fan Shu?) in Lao Fu Zi!

Oh lucky me!

I need a shoulder to cry on! Boo!

P/S I have been very entertained by this blog by this so-called supporter of Dawn Yang in this Dawn Yang vs Xiaxue fiasco, Melissa Lam!

Ms. Lam posted that people who live in HDB are peasants leh! No different from staying in a mud hut, she said!

Ms. Lam was educated in prestigious schools, including Cambridge but she could not spell "bourgeosie" correctly.

How did I know? HAHA, I am peasant leh - I went to Dictionary.com to check it out and realised the spelling was wrong.

Simi si petit bourgeosie?

I am a peasant! I do not live in a HDB flat but my parents are not rich enough to send me overseas. Therefore, I studied very hard to go to the University in Singapore, made no friends, and came to Vietnam to work to fulfil my life long dream of being overseas!

Gigi Lives Alone

Sad To Say Goodbye

Be Real! At All Times!

M For Mood

Hello 2009, I Hope You Will Treat Me Better This Year

2009 Beckons

Facebook Peril

Just As You Thought.....

Christmas 2008 - Saigon

You Learn Something New Everyday

The Best I Could - The Best Thing You Could Do Is Read It!

Gi - Touch Down

Sniff

Thats...... Woah!

V For Vendetta?

Back Again

A Day Of Good Food!

Little Miss Prissy + I Must Know Why

The Moment All Of You Have Been Waiting For

I Am A Closet Lian!

Another One Bites The Dust

Lunch Time Rant

Gi Is Pouty Faced Because...

Things.......

The Storm That Never Came

Students Are Irritating

Ring Tone

You Know You Have Been Living In Vietnam For Too Long When............

The Situation Is Broken

If She Is The Prisoner Of Tehran

I Am Cutting Off

Because Sadako Tagged Me.

I Am A Homemaker

The Virtual Tour

Another Black Friday :(

Cheat's Murtabak! Yay!

Ouuuuuucccch

Honestly

Questions I Am Dying To Ask

Summary Of My Trip + My New Home

Sucks.

Being Home....

Worker Bee Gi

Oh Well

This Is Really A Problem...............

My New Boyfriend!

MOD Saturday

Pay It Forward

Taking A Break

What A Monday!

My Life In Point Form (Post Edit)

The Missing Video

ROAR

Gi The Baking Fiend

你告诉我。。。。

This Video Says It All

Dimply Plum Cake - I Am Proud Of It!

I Exercise So I Can Eat Somemore

The New Nose - One Month On

Inspiring People

Because I Am Singaporean

Don't Ask Me!

Gi Wants......

I Twisted My Shoulder With My Late Night Activity!

*Cluck Cluck*

It's Not Worth My Time

My Life As It Is

For All That It's Worth

My Mid Day Post

Check Below

I TOLD YOU I WAS RIGHT!

Miss Hainanese Chicken Rice

Selfish Selfish

The Long Awaited BKK Post

My Weekend With Wall-E & Househunting

MOD Sunday

*Sniff*

Why Me?

I Have A Personality Disorder

Charity Work?

Cluck Cluck

Sniff