i got tired of blogging and since i am hardly stunning the world with my views, i stopped.
but today, something  heard made my blood boil.
i was asked not to blog about work, but it happened to a colleague, so i guess it's ok.
and i wont use real names but if u want to know, call me and i'll be happy to blab.

anyway, my colleague - who is indian and we'll call her A - helped another to cover a story about a taiwanese pop star. this pop star speaks english, so no problem right?
so when A arrived with a photog, the photog overheard the concert organiser's pr person or marcomm person - shall we call her dumbass? - tell another, in chinese somemore, "i worked so hard to arrange this, and she (my other colleague) send an indian."
damn!
when this was related to me, i wanted to call the production company's boss - who wouldn't know who i am if i fainted right in front of him - to complain.
but A - being classy and sensible - said while she was pissed, dumbass was too insignificant to be bothered with.
if this had happened to simon or susie, i'll go for some dumbass throat. at this day and age, there are still major dumbasses. i'm sitting on my hands trying to stop myself from doing something.

i am not so idealistic to that racism doesn't occur on a daily basis. But i still get worked up when i hear about it.

I only realized this when planning for the trip but this is actually the first time I'll be away during the National Day period! can you imagine? I am more of a patriot that I imagined. Now I better get that flag out hahahahahaha. (Surprisingly, these new blocks I am in seen very bochap about that flag. No one has hung it yet. My father thought we better spot a couple of it first b4 we jump the gun. More S'poreans travelling abroad over the National Day weekend break

Sat, Jul 19, 2008 The Straits Times

By Aw Cheng Wei THERE is still time to book an overseas tour during the National Day weekend. But you better hurry for tour agencies said places to popular spots like Hong Kong, Thailand and Taiwan are selling out fast. According to 12 tour agencies that The Sunday Times spoke to, 10 reported an average increase of 15 per cent in business compared to last year, despite a hike in airline-ticket prices because of higher fuel costs. Sales at the other two agencies were on par as last year's. At SA Tours, Ms Ruth Lim, its marketing and communications manager, said: 'We've seen a 17 to 25 per cent increase in bookings, depending on destination. The trend seems to be pointing towards cities that are not take more than five hours away from Singapore.' This would cover places as far away as Taiwan, India and Perth. The cost ranges from $398 for a weekend tour to Bangkok to $1,100 for another to Taiwan. Read the full story in tomorrow's edition of The Sunday Times.

I've got less than 10 days before I promised myself to start on a new list of goals.
but there were quite a few that i am unable to get done b4 the current deadline.
aiyoh.
nevermind, will carry forward the goals and give myself another decade hahaha.
Soooooo (not in order of priority):
1. See Paris with T
2. Lose half the weight!
3. Quit smoking for good, and not just cut back
4. Learn to speak Malay
5. Contribute more to charity.
And something I want to do daily: Spend more quality time with my parents and my son.
Also, b4 the end of the next decade, I would be retired and working freelance and traveling and doing charity work around the world, while T remains the successful brand manager and paying for my upkeep hahahahahaha
ok, fingers crossed, i hope, i hope, i hope.

aiyoh, i sat on it quite a bit, so now i'm scrambling:
if you can afford it and would liketo make a donation to the Children's Cancer Foundation, pls go to http://www.ccf.org.sg/hfh/webApp/shaveeBIO.php?shaveeId=553
i'm shaving my head again.
and as if my hair knows its days are numbered, it is getting extremely poofy. my hair seems to get bigger by the hour. 
anyway, i'll be botak by sunday afternoon. so please donate if you can la.

don't gasp, that's the title of the new song from cyndi lauper.
but miss lauper is a mind reader.
how did she know this would be my refrain?
oh well, life is what it is.

i am horribly grumpy today. it is one of those days.
this morning, an auntie cut my taxi queue. and when i told her very nicely i'm in front of her, she "heh!" me!
damn.
after waiting nearly 15 mins, a cab came and she flagged it down.
i got so pissed off i actually shouted. and she gave me black face and told her companion: "I let him go first. so unreasonable!"
ok, i respect senior citizens and im the first to give up my seat on the bus or the train. and had she asked, i would have given her the cab first.
but dunno la, probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
and this evening, i very stupidly thought it was a good idea to go to Giant Tampines to get some groceries. i thought it would be nice for my dad, since he does like to walk around and kaypoh a bit.
it turned out to be one of the worst ideas ever.
it was crowded, the people were rude and the taxi queue was too long.
i called for a cab and the guy took forever to come cos he was stuck in the jam.
and when he came, he gave attitude! it was as if it was my fault that he got stuck in the jam. and he didn't even bother to call me to let me know. i had to call the hotline, qait in that darn phone queue and finally to be told, yes, he would be delayed.
and today, t and i fought constantly all becos i was a grouch and horrible.
i so badly wanted a cigarette and a good cry.
now im home, had my smoke, took a long long shower and am listening to my anne murray. 
i am feeling better, thank goodness.
i'm going to tear into my pack of M&Ms.
i will regret the M&Ms in the morning but fuck it. life is short.

i just did a stocktake of what i have to do and I am so far behind.
worse, I've got so much more ahead.
O-M-G.
time to gird my loins ....

of cos there are so many horrible things happening across the globe but i want to rant.
i am very impatient and it is made worse if i have to work with someone less than hardworking.
i won't mention name la cos for wat right? (and as if u know who!) but today was strike 3. 
i'm making plans to replace struck-out. such a chore. but it's a waste too cos this one is quite good at the main part of the duties. 
but struck-out stank and screwed up so many other stuff. t
sk tsk
struck-out was strike 3 with me. and struck-out was strike 3 with many others too, i was told.

someone i know actually got arrested.
good grief.
he wrote some racist shit on his blog, someone complained and he kena.
i have scant tolerance for racism but, to be frank, i was surrpised when i found out. i guess you never know. i always had the impression he is not as stupid as that. but then, i don't know him that well. 
and after this incident, i guess i don't know him at all.

 

my mother's sister passed away on fri.
she was in so much pain in her final days I am actually kind of glad for her. i'll always her to be the fiesty one, who smokes a cigarette a day when she went to the loo.
i was so young when i first found out and i was scandalized! (of course now .... I'm sneaking off to a corner at herwake to catch a smoke!)
it pains me to see how my mom is now. this is the third sibling she lost in recent times.
My cousin and I have a mission: To keep an eye on each other's moms, to make sure they're ok. the cremation is on tues, so we're getting ourselves prepared.
ive got to work tonight, got work the next two days. it's madness.

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Annie Lennox's performance on last week's "Idol Gives Back" special has propelled the former Eurythmics singer onto the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the first time in almost 13 years.

Lennox entered the chart at No. 80 on Thursday with her version of reggae icon Jimmy Cliff's 1969 song "Many Rivers to Cross."

While the tune has been covered by many artists over the years, including Linda Ronstadt, UB40 and Cher, it has never appeared on the Hot 100 until now.

"Many Rivers to Cross" marks Lennox's sixth non-Eurythmics appearance on the Hot 100. Three of those have been covers, starting in 1989 with a duet with Al Green on Jackie DeShannon's "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," which went to No. 9. In 1995, Lennox went to No. 23 with a remake of the Lover Speaks' "No More 'I Love You's'."

Her 1992 solo album "Diva" yielded two hits that year, "Why" (No. 34) and "Walking on Broken Glass" (No. 14), and one in 1993, "Little Bird" (No. 49).

Eurythmics appeared 15 times on the Hot 100, beginning with the duo's 1983 chart-topper "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" (No. 1) and ending with 1989's "Don't Ask Me Why" (No. 40).

Reuters/Billboard

i have been so insanely self-centered that i am oblivious to all others. 
i found out a couple i know turned vegetarian only like a day ago, when they announced it at a previous gathering.
and a colleague had been going thru some shit, and i didnt sense it and only knew when i read about it.
little and big things had happened to people i know over the past year or so but i don't retain the information. or is it that my friends don't bother to tell me things anymore?
it seems in my life now is just t, my family, the work thing and how the world hates me and is mistreating me. man - what has happened to me?
and the scary thing is, i dont know how to start caring about others. i'm fucked.

as you know, i am a Hillary fan. i hope she goes all the way!

ps: i had posted this via youtube about 1 week ago! and now it appears. haha. so i guess over the next few entries, you'll see the annie lennox sing video as well.

one of my best buddies at work left today.
people leaving is something that happens, esp in this economy. but ... well, it was strange.
luckily i had a busy day away from the office and i didn't have to say goodbye. it's pointless cos we'll meet again. and i know i would cry. (i cried when she sent in her letter of resignation).
and today was - finally! - the day we officially knew which teams we were in.
and for the first time since i've joined, my name was not under the usual place, with the usual group of people. 
that is a strange feeling too.
tomorrow when i'm back at my desk, i'll look across and my colleague would not be there. i wouldnt be able to have my whispered gossip session. luckily i still have people i adore around me. they may not be my team mates anymore but they are my friends. it's selfish but i need the comfort.

ps: thanks to those who asked about my health. it's a bitch and it's going around the office. i hate meds. do you know i've been having work-related nightmares ever since i've been forcing meds down my throat? it ain't pretty (the pills and the nightmares) and it makes me wonder if i'm too involved at work.

OMGGGGGGG my danny boy is OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTt.
what is idol without Danny Noriega?
there goes my interest in Idol this season
i hope when it comes to the presidential race, Americans have more sense. Hillary Clinton is the choice!

wow - i lasted till march without taking MC. but today, i guess my body just got tired of fighting.
it's funny how quickly everything goes downhill.
i was fine yesterday until the mid afternoon when i started getting that aching back and dull headache. 
and when i got home i started sneezing. my throat got itchy and i knew it - kena already.
the doc has zero bedside manners and seems more determined to pile lots of med on me (esp when he knows i'm subsidized by company). ive got one for every minor ailments - runny nose, backache, headache, itchy throat. if i said i wanted to throw up, he would prob make me take a pregnancy test too lor!
BUT on MC, still got to work.
got to attend a press con later. shit. gonna crawl back to bed and take a 30-min power nap, although im more anxious to see who's out of Idol. i hope it's not my babe Danny Noriega!

ps: here's a bit of random kindness. my colleague maureen came up to me out of the blue and asked if i was born in the year of the monkey. i was. then she passed me an amulet she had taken from the tua pek kong temple. that was so nice of her. esp when she told me inside got 4D number even! so thanks maureen. such a sweet gesture. the number is 8618. good luck!

t and i have new, made-in-china toys.

this is t's:

t is happy with his. it has everything but the kitchen sink. tv reception, music, games, even a scanner for notes. 

here's mine:

it plays videos, so perfect for me. but cannot pause, and if i stop it midway, it goes back to teh start. and if i forward it, it hangs. haha.
but what can you expect from a $160 device right?
it'll keep me company on my way up to KL. gotta get 30 mins sitcoms.

normally i would have nothing to say. i mean, what can i contribute right?
but was reading today's papers and the search for the escapee mas selemat is, so far, not getting any results.
it wouldn't have piss me off so much but yesterday, i was at the cpf building (the building opposite velocity) to observe a muay thai class and i went to the loo. the loo had one of those posters to crow about accomplishments, etc. and bragged abot spending $5 billion (or some huge apeshit amount) on security or something.
i remember it was the biggest amount out of other stuff, like education.
so with that budget and the resources and the size of our country, and this one limping guy is still out there?
wow. im damn impressed. i wonder who will end up as the scapegoat.

ok, i'm alarmingly mountain tortoise-like. i didn't know that the budget airlines flew into KL until very recently. 
and since t and his girls r headed out to bangkok for a girl's weekend out, i'm headed up to kl. 
it's quite sad, really, cos for the longest time, i had no idea where to go. given the choice, i would rather spend the weekend at home, in bed. but i told myself i gotta move move move and do things. i can be such a damn lump of lard!
so anyway, im going. 
and i booked myself on budget flights up and down. it's about the same price as taking a bus (slightly more la), so it'll be fun-ish.
but u know, honestly, i dunno what i'll be doing there. likely just sleeping! haha!

ps: 
there's a reason for this entry = it's 29 feb - once in four years shit - so thoght might as well make the most of the day and blog. 

pps: 
went to natas and nearly booked t and i on a trip to HK. and found this website too (they had a booth), offers very good room rates. www.sg.pyotravel.com - check it out. or am i being mountain tortoise-y again?

yesterday, quite out of the blue, the security guard at the gym asked me: "Are you the gay?"
trying to be witty, i quipped: "I don't know if i'm THE gay, but I'm certainly gay."
He replied: "Oh." i don't think he got my attempt at witticism.
the remarkable thing was that he seemed nonchalant about it all. after that, he went on to talk about bus routes.
it was all quite surreal.
never underestimate people. sometimes they don't care if you're the gay or not.