My NTU Interns As I wrote on Twitter just moments ago, my interns from NTU made something for me, as today is their last day at our company. It’s a hand-made paper crane hanging on a pretty strand of shimmery twine, with a pink note, and silver bells attached. I can’t take a photo now, but it’s really pretty! They also gave me Hershey’s Kisses! I love chocolate. Haha. Anyway, I just want to share the messages that each of them wrote for me, as they’re really sweet and funny~ Wrote Xiuwen: Dear Daphne, Remember the first day I set foot into X, you’re the one who showed Winston and I around And you’re so professional. But after getting to know you better, you’re another cute, pinky, fun-loving girl Wish you all the best in everything that you set your heart to do. May you find your Mr Right real soon. It may take time, but you have to keep the faith that your Mr Right is somewhere out there ya? Muackssss… WIth love, Xiuwen Wrote Winston: Da-ph-nee! My first impression of you was totally wrong! Haha thought you were some super-focussed career woman, now I kinda feel like you are a prettier version of Pooh bear with a leaky nose hehehe! Thanks for everything and wish you good luck for yoru future endeavours! Winston. (ETA: What does Pooh Bear mean? Huggable? Chubby? Oh no! Or does he mean clumsy? Silly? Okay, on hindsight, is Pooh bear supposed to be a compliment?!) Okay, and after all that sweetness, let me just share a bit about these 2 interns. They’re working in the department of one of my darlings at work (Amy), and we often have lunch together. These 2 are really funny and smart, and just instantly likeable. I still remember that on the first day, I couldn’t remember their names, so I scribbled down in my notebook “NTU Girl ext2738, NTU Boy ext2737″. They’ve been here 10 weeks, but it seems like just yesterday that I orientated them! Ah, all the laughter and the jokes during lunch time, and whenever I dropped by their department to talk to Amy, or their manager, or to see the CEO. I’m definitely gonna miss seeing them around and poking Winston with my finger every time I walk past him to go to the CEO’s office. Gonna miss Xiuwen’s sweet smile which makes her eys erm, slits. Haha. They’re super adorable, the pair of them. Winston is this guy who looks very serious but is actually goofy, and Xiuwen is just the sweetest thing, from her face, right down to her actions and her voice. Haha. OK! I wanted to steal photos from their facebook and post them here, but I decided that it’s not nice HAHA!  They are really my favourite interns so far, and trust me, I’ve seen a lot come and go in this company. The most horrid being this one. Xiuwen and Winston are the most perfectly behaved interns I’ve seen - perhaps this comes from NTU’s excellent education! Haha! Although Peronel yesterday complained that she asked Winston to scan a set of documents, and what he did was this: He tested scanning with 1 page, then it worked, so he scanned the rest of the documents. This resulted in 2 separate pdf documents. Hahahaha. Sorry, Winston. Hahaha, I laughed behind your back, Hahahaha. NTU didn’t teach you how to scan documents? Hehe! Protected: Paranoid is my middle name This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: How much do you save? It’s just occured to me that I do not have much bills to pay for each month, yet I am not saving as much as I should. A huge part of my salary goes to rental and utilities (about $550 per month), but my phone bills, which also usually take up a substantial part of most people’s earnings, are being paid by the company (I never exceed the given $50 anyway, thanks to the cheap prepaid that I am using). Also, I walk to work everyday, hence I save on MRT / taxi fares. So where exactly is my money going to? Things that I spend on every month: 1. Rental and utilities 2. Transport when I go out 3. Food (dinner and weekend meals) 4. Phonebill (reimbursable by company) 5. Shopping OK. I’ve realised that I should stop cabbing when I go out, and stop eating expensive food all the time. Hahahaha. And yeah *coughcoughStopShoppingcoughcough* Protected: And this is how i feel This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: The ‘In Group’ Debate I’m ashamed to say that I once was an editor, a writer, and an avid fan of pragmatics. I guess I’ve failed because I managed to hurt the feelings of some people in the community that I care so much about, and even angered a couple of them. That was really never my intention. And here, I shall say once more: I never meant for the words to read it the way it probably does, to some of you. When I wrote the term, the “in group”, it was really quite clear to me that it was not an exclusive list of bloggers, and neither was it limited only to those bloggers who attended. If you look at my pictures from that damning post, you will see the faces of some of the most prominent bloggers on Ping.sg. Why are they prominent? 1. They are active on the Shoutbox 2. They attend gatherings or are seen at events 3. They blog a lot and people like reading them 4. They are active in sub-communities related to Ping, like Twitter and Plurk Hence, by my definition of prominent, these are also the Popular bloggers! I would like to see someone refute the fact that Krisandro, Wenderella, Claudia, Nadnut, Sheylara, Rinaz, Arzhou, Uniquefrequency, and Chaosdingo are popular in the Ping.sg community. Think about it. Aren’t they the ones who are constantly around and blogging things that people want to read? Don’t they write well? And don’t you think (for those of you who have met them) that they are boisterous as a group? My pont is this: I never meant to say that everyone else who didn’t attend was not popular. I never meant to say that all the people who attended were popular. I was really quoted out of context, and misinterpreted, and misunderstood, and yes, I feel hurt. People accuse me of trying to create a group of ‘elite’ bloggers and an ‘in-group’ around me. But I beg to differ.  What is popular, I ask you? Popular (as a blogger) is when you have friends supporting you, when you have friends reading your posts because they are genuinely interested in what you have to say. That means a blogger is nothing without the community and his/her friends. Without Ping.sg, I would never have gotten to know so many people, and would not have had the chance to do so many things. I’m always grateful for the community, and most of you who know me, know that I build my life to revolve around Ping.sg. It’s been just over a year since I’ve joined the community, and every month, we have ups and downs. We talk, we go out, we chat on MSN, and we have gatherings, etc. As the community manager, a role that Uzyn felt I was suited for (if any of you think that I’m not suitable, I welcome your feedback and criticism, and we can, as a community, choose a different person to represent us), my job is simple (in no particular order): 1. To be active and participate in all activities in the community 2. To organize and attend gatherings for the community 3. To organize and attend events for the community 4. To get sponsorship and benefits for the community (events) 5. To welcome new members into the community 6. To be a part of the community 7. To build the community and bring in more members 8. To create awareness about the community And here, I am being accused of trying to break up the community. Why would I break up my own life, something that I love so much? Ping.sg is something that I have willingly revolved my life around. I can proudly say that other than Uzyn himself, I care most about the community. Which is the reason why I always feel so hurt when such things happen in the community. It’s not just because it’s about me, or against me. It’s because this kind of things cause people to take a step back and wonder if this community is worth it or not. I don’t want such things to happen in the community, and it was never my intention to break it up. I welcome everyone to the community, as does Uzyn. And I sincerely apologize to those who feel that my words were offensive. They were not written to be so. And with this, I hope that this chapter is closed, and that we can move on, as a community, and celebrate Ping.sg’s 2nd anniversary this month! Do look out for the “sign up” announcement for the party! You put me on cloud nine. In wake of the recent negative comments being said about me online, I (as every other girl would) ran to complain to my bf and tell him that I felt indignant of being accused of not doing my job well. He said to me: Last year I went to a Hillsongs Conference, and Bishop TD Jakes spoke. And he said that he once got his team to google all the references for his name, and collate all the positive and negative comments. The negative ones, although they felt was a lot, was just five per cent. His point was that we tend to overplay how much people criticize us. I don’t know how many per cent it is for you, but there are lots of people who appreciate what you do and support you, and to put it simply, like you. So, focus on that, and don’t let the others get you down. I then asked him: So, are you in the 85% (who like me), 10% (who love me), or 5% (who hate me)? And he said: Assuming you know 1000 people, I’m the 0.1%. I’m your only bf who loves you with all his heart, and whom you love too, and who only wants you to be happy. Awww. Tell me, how not to love a guy like that? — Anyway, it was a big hullabaloo about just ONE word. I hope it’s clear now. uzyn daphnemaia  sheylara hendribudi uraywong wishbone brokenshardz sylvdoanx twistedian  jerricklim krisandro claudia10 litford Everyone’s in. Are you? Who was Kitty MSN-ing with over dinner? Tonight, during the Pizza outing, this Kitty was seen enthusiastically typing away and smiling away at her PDA. Yes, as some of you have guessed and overheard, I was MSN-ing with the bf who is many many time zones away. I was interrogated several times during dinner - from Jerrick’s “Hey, so let’s talk about the person you’ve been talking about on Plurk!” to Sekling’s discreet “Who is it that you’re seeing? Do I know him?” and the others’ “Boyfriend? What boyfriend? Tell!” Of course, I kept quiet about it. In another previous post, I mentioned that I was going to blog freely from now on, about my feelings, my thoughts. So here it is - I’m going to give you the full exposé… On why I’m not going to tell you who it is! Haha. Well, although I want to try to blog as freely as I can, I think that a relationship (especially one as new and as sensitive as mine) should be completely private and kept between myself and him only. My rationale for this is that a relationship can easily be killed by too many prying eyes, too many speculations, and as we all know, too many cooks spoil the broth. Right now, I’m enjoying my time spent with him, very much, and I’m just going to take things one step at a time. He knows of this blog, he reads this blog, and he knows why exactly we need to keep it under wraps. I know that I’ve been teasing my Plurk friends by Plurking about him all the time, yet not telling them who it is, but hey. I’m sure you guys can understand my POV! To him, I’m just a girl. Not a blogger, not a community manager, not any one. Just me, Daphne. So I hope that my privacy can be respected in this case, and if you ever see me with him, don’t do anything that will make me feel uncomfortable or conscious. Just walking away would be the best, to me. In fact, when we first started seeing one another, I was so conscious of being seen by Pingsters, that I refused to go to town, opting instead for neighbourhood malls, for late night suppers at my area or his, and for less crowded places. Now, I feel that it’s unfair that I restrict us to the ‘outskirts’ only, simply because I don’t want to bump into people I know. So although I still worry about being seen in town, I accept that I cannot keep it under wraps forever. Just hope that everyone can understand when the time comes! In the mean time, I’ll just continue having my irregular hours of MSN chats and phone calls with him, and bask in this new found love Pingsters at Peperoni Pizzeria! Another Pizza outing, and this time, there was really a stark contrast in the group that attended. This group was the boisterous group, the eloquent group, the popular group on Ping.sg. Yes, there really is such a thing as the “in group”, as in all other communities - I don’t deny that. Well, nothing wrong with that anyway, not everyone is equal, and not everyone has the same interests! Compared to the previous outing (which was fun too, but comparatively subdued, I feel), this group consisted mainly of Pingsters who were really active in the Ping.sg community itself, or some community that was closely related to Ping.sg (for example, on Twitter, or Plurk). You simply can’t deny that there are different groups of people on Ping.sg, but the thing I love most is to be in the centre of it all! Haha. That’s the reason why I always try to sit as close to the centre of the table as possible, so that I can participate in as many discussions as possible! (I’m not saying that the people who attended the last time are not fun, not popular, or whatsoever. I’m just saying that they are the quieter-in-real-life sort, although at that point in time, they were the active ones on Ping.sg, forum, and shoutbox. But as Daryl once wrote on Plurk, communities are organic, and I suppose it is true that people drop out or start joining at different times, and this group this time happened to be a lot louder. That’s all I am saying. Stop insinuating about the various members and guests who attended the previous round. I’m not saying anything bad about them. I don’t dislike them or anything. In fact, some of them are my close friends. Not all the people who are the popular ones on Ping now attended the gathering this evening, and not all the people who attended tonight are the super popular ones. And this is really what I mean when I say that I wish people wouldn’t analyze my words like this whenever I blog. And I feel that the more I explain, the worse it becomes. So I’ll just leave it as that. Ping outings are open to all. It’s really up to each member to decide if they want to attend or not. In fact, had I been less busy, I would have gone to personally invite Pingsters on shoutbox, via SMS or MSN, to the outing. I’m sorry I was just busy - as you know, I have another life outside being a community manager.) Well, anyway, kudos to Jerrick (of 65bits) for organizing this gathering. Here’s a pictorial of the whole evening: Peperoni Pizzeria at Greenwood Avenue L’Estaminet Bar, where our group was actually seated, at a long long table Claudia, Kris and I cabbed down from Aljunied, and arrived rather early, at 1830hrs. The supposed meeting time was 1930hrs. And since we were really hungry, we decided to order some finger food! Belgian Beef Balls ($8 for 8pcs) - I really liked it! But Clauds says it’s too beefy! Chicken wings ($8 for 8pcs) - we all agreed this was excellent. After Wendy, Uray and Joey arrived, we moved into the bar /restaurant area, and started ordering food, camloving (some blogger used this term before, and I like it!), and doing what bloggers do best - take photos of food and drinks. Haha. Wendy and Uray Birthday boy, Joey Birthday girl, Claudia Sekling and I Arzhou-the-meanie and I I’m actually thankful that every time I meet NTT and Arzhou, it’s on separate occassions. I cannot imagine meeting the both of them together. It would kill me, the endless jokes they make about my height, my intelligence, etc. *sighs* The sufferings I go through! Kris and LeShane, otherwise better known as kukunehneh, LOL The two people I’ve known the longest on Ping.sg aka Uzyn and Sekling, Ping Boss and Lady Boss! And the 4 lovely ladies L to R: LeShane, Claudia, Wendy and Uray More food! Calamari rings ($12) Portobello Mushroom ($15) - my absolute favourite appetizer! Seafood pizza Sorry I don’t know the fancy Italian names! Four cheeses pizza Chicken pizza Beef pizza Mushroom pizza There were a lot more pizzas but they were too far away from me so I didn’t get to take pictures of them! Claudia and her abang, Yusri Jerrick, Nadnut and Daniel (also of 65bits) L to R: Jerrick, Nadnut, Daniel, Rinaz, Sheylara, Daryl, Ironicgamer (ok, a bit of him) And since it was Claudia and Joey’s birthdays today, Wendy and Uray helped by bringing a cake! Cutting the cake And later, while Claudia was busy trying to cut and distribute the cake, Joey was busy sianning girls Joey trying to bluff Uray (the chocolate cake addict) with a slice of cake! Haha I’m jesting! The gathering ended on a cheerful note. We all parted outside the restaurant in groups. I must say I really had a wonderful time, despite being distracted for a bit (more on this in the next entry!) Oh, by the way! I really enjoyed the food today. The pizzas were good mostly (I thought the mushroom pizza was so-so, though. Perhaps being a mushroom lover, I expected a bit too much?) and the service was excellent. Warm servers, attentive, and very very friendly. They even helped orchestrate the bringing in of the cake, plus the singing of the birthday song! Thanks to all the staff who waited on us tonight! Jessie’s farewell and being busy It’s been an exhausting week so far. Thursdays have been my favourite days for the last few weeks, because Thursday evenings are for girlfriends Amy and Jessie, and Thursday afternoons the ice-cream man comes to the office. Well, I had my ice cream fix this afternoon (absolutely adore his attapchee ice cream) but no outing this week with the girls. Speaking of which, it’s been a week since Jessie left us for greener pastures. Last Wednesday, we had a farewell for her at The Mushroom Pot at Orchard Point (I think), and it was fabulous. We actually had this Operation Shadow, in which we arranged to leave in pairs, lest Jessie’s manager finds out and decides to crash our party (she’s fond of doing that, and btw, she’s affectionately known to my Twitter and Plurk friends The Baby Elephant). Some photos of my darlings (from work) (To Lis & XY, I’m not forsaking you girls!) taken during Jessie’s farewell dinner: Amy with Ryan (Creative Designer) Us girls - Amy, Jessie, myself, and Anne (from Marcom) The girls with Ryan Another shot of us Anyway, just now Amy and I were at the Business Development office, and I just suddenly decided to call Jessie, so we did! We put her on speaker phone, and at the end of the call, Jessie said, “Love you both!” and Amy and I said (very synchronisedly), “Love you too, hunny!” Haha, it was hilarious. Amy’s manager (a lovely lady by the name of Peronel) was laughing at us when we did that, and I just felt my mood lift a bit. I guess sometimes when the going gets tough (yes I’ve been feeling down), all we need is some laughs and love from our girl friends. I’ll be meeting the girls next week on Wednesday. Looking forward to it because I just have so much to tell them! And I miss their infectious laughter. The way Amy and Jessie guffaw. Haha. Anyway, this evening, there’s a Ping.sg pizza outing at Bukit Timah area. I simply cannot believe that I’m travelling all the way to Bukit Timah just to have pizza! Friday evening will probably be spent with Charlotte at Holland Village. We’re gonna have Cold Rock ice cream! I’m craving for the chocolate fudge with cookie dough ice cream. Saturday I’ll be out at ECP with Esther, my PJC friend, and well, we’re just going to have lunch, coffee, and chill. I sure hope that Saturday will be a cloudy, sunless day. I don’t really want to tell her that I am not a fan of the sun, since it’s our first time going out and all. I’ve been going out quite a bit since the week began. Monday evening was spent at home, and I slept early, so that I could wake up to call the bf. Tuesday began groggily, and ended with dinner and shopping with Elsa. Wednesday, ditto, dinner and shopping with Elsa. And as I’ve mentioned, I’ve got appointments lined up for the rest of the days this week. I guess it really does help pass time faster, so that by the end of the week, I can say, “Yes! One week down! One week closer to seeing the bf again!” Haha. Obsessed, I am. But happily obsessed. I have no privacy Don’t get me wrong here - I definitely love the community at Ping.sg, but it is also part of the reason why my blog has degraded from a personal blog which I cherished and took pride in updating every single day (sometimes several times a day), into one which I update only occassionally, and usually with things that are not so personal or which would give the reader too much insight into my thoughts or my real life. Compare my blog now and that from just slightly over a year ago, and you will see the stark contrast. I used to tell stories about my life. I used to write my most sincere thoughts and feelings. When I was sad, depressed, heartbroken, I wouldn’t mince my words - I’d say it as it was. When I was angry, I swore and cursed on my blog. Well, those days seem to be gone now. But I want to return to that time. I want to be able to blog freely once more. I don’t want people to read and judge me, and say things like, “Daphne, you shouldn’t be saying things like that because you are … (fill in the blanks)!” Or rather, perhaps, more aptly, I should say I don’t want to care anymore about what people say about what I write. I can’t control what people want to say or think. But I just hope people understand that despite my rather *significant* role in the community of Ping.sg, I am, after all, only human. I am a real person, not just the Daphne Maia you all know, not just the Hello Kitty Ping.sg knows, not just the blogger whose blog has an audience (unfortunately?). I need to be true to myself. What I blog should not have a consequence on the image or stand of Ping.sg, and I and my blog are one entity, separate from the management of Ping.sg. So although I have no more privacy now, I will try to start blogging for myself again. So please bear with all the self-indulging I’m going to do on my blog. My blog is, afterall, mine. That said, I know the perils of having one pair of eyes too many on my blog. One never knows when an entry one perceives as trivial can explode, so there will be entries that I will lock with a password known only to myself, and there will be entries that I will lock with passwords that I will give sparingly to trusted friends only. Here’s to my renewed zest for blogging, and blogging for myself only. Protected: The afterthoughts This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: Johari Window This has been around for a while now, and I’m sure most of you have heard of it. I remember doing this before, but I can’t find my Johari Window anymore. So I decided to start a new one, after completing the Window of someone who is very close to me now, but whom I admittedly do not know that well yet. Anyway, it was difficult to complete that Window, and I really thought long and hard about it before choosing the 6 words. So I hope all of you can help me do this too, with as much thought as you can give it! Daphne Maia’s Johari Window Daddy’s Unconditional Love Was reading the blog of one of Wendy’s friends, Elaine, when I came upon this fascinating post, where she wrote about not needing a boyfriend cos there’s no one who can love her as much as her daddy does. I thought about it, and I find it so true. Perhaps this is the reason why I always start finding faults with my boyfriends. Yes, all 12 of them. I always compare them to the ideals I have in my head, and these ideals are really, you know, reflective of who my daddy really is. Smart, loving to family, strong sense of responsibility, clear-headed, liberal with hugs and kisses, honest, handsome, be able to provide for family. And did I mention SMART? Haha. These are just a few traits and virtues that my daddy has. And I guess what Elaine says is true, we (girls) will never be able to find someone who loves us as much as our daddies do. No other man can sacrifice as much for us, and do as much for us. I have lost count of a lot of things my Dad has done for me - things like covering my ass so that my Mum wouldn’t find out, each time I did something wrong, things like saving me from poverty while I was an undergrad (haha), things like driving all the way from Tanjong Pagar to NTU to bring me out for lunch, things like waiting for me at Kranji for up to an hour when I had Council activities back in JC, things like remembering everything for me (like deadlines for uni application, etc) because I’m just too absent-minded. I love my Daddy. Have you tried calling SilkAir? This is ridiculous. Every time I want to change a booking for SilkAir flights or Singapore Airlines, I have to call their hotline 6223 8888. This is for bookings that were made in China, or countries other than Singapore. Usually, my Chinese colleagues will have their ticket bookings made in China by our Chinese HR counterparts. Then if they need to change the return date, they will then approach me to do the bookings. But every single time, I fail to get through to the Singapore office hotline. I will get the same message, that says: “All our operators are currently busy. Your call is important to us. Please continue to hold and we will attend to you shortly.” Every single time, the call gets cut off because I’ve been on hold for too long, and then I have to call some offshore SilkAir office, like Shenzhen or Chongqing or Kunming. Which really doesn’t make sense, because I’m in Singapore, and Singapore has a SilkAir office too! Hell, SilkAir is from Singapore! So why is it that I must make calls to overseas SilkAir offices? Extremely disappointing. It irks me so much that I’ve actually Twittered about it previously. I just filled in a feedback form on their website, to inform them of this matter, and enquire if there are other alternatives to this long and painful process. And at the end of it all, after I’ve submitted the form, it says: Thank you for taking time to provide us with your valuable feedback or enquiry. We assure you that your comments will be attended to by the relevant department in SilkAir. Please note that your comments will be attended to during business hours only. Sat, Sun and Public holidays are excluded. For urgent matters, please call our hotline at (65) 6223 8888. I think SilkAir just self-pwned. Leaving Plurk to return to Ping.sg I realised that I have a huge problem. I cannot manage all my different social networking tools online, and I hate using softwares that ‘merge’ all of them, like Digsby. I admit that I have limited attention span, and I can only focus on either one: Ping.sg+Twitter (old life) or Plurk (new obsession). As a result of my activeness on Plurk recently, my appearance on Ping.sg has also been rarer. However, because I am a representative the community manager of Ping.sg, I deem it my duty to stay with the community, and stay on the Shoutbox! So as of today, it is… BYE BYE PLURK! I shall continue where I left off with Ping.sg and with Twitter, and I shall never leave my beloved community again! I cannot imagine how people can Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, Shout (on Ping.sg), MSN, Gtalk, and whatnot, all at the same time! I really take my hat off to those of you who can manage it. But since I’ve been there and done that, I can safely say that it is not for me. I’ll be here, on my blog, and on Ping.sg Shoutbox I really had a good time on Plurk. I met so many friends from different countries - USA, UK, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, France, and beyond! I’ll miss you, Plurk! To my new Plurk friends, you know where to find me. And we can still MSN! I’ll check Plurk once in a while, but please remind me not to get carried away, because I have a community to love. Random Meme Got tagged by Claudia some time ago (okay, 11 days, to be precise) and thought I’d do this cos my blog has been dead for quite some time. Well, this would revive it, right? I mean, it contains Hello Kitty’s secrets! Haha. 1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? Derrick 2. What were you doing at 0800? I was in bed, dreaming about *ahem* Nevermind. Hello Kitty doesn’t wake up so early, y’know. 3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? (That means at 08 53 hrs) Walking to work! *shows off* It takes me 12 minutes exactly to walk to work from home! 4. What happened to you in 2006? I quit school, found a job with Titan, found my true calling in Human Resources, got attached, left Titan after a lot of politics (but it remains the most fun company I’ve ever worked at), found a new job at E&M, learnt quite a lot, left, went to Beijing for the best 2 weeks of holiday ever, met my beloved there (Pipi)! 5. What was the last thing you said out loud? Good morning! (I sit at the reception desk at work, and take it upon myself to greet everyone chirpily in the morning. However, I think some of my colleagues don’t like it. They aren’t really morning people, I guess) 6. How many beverages did you have today? Not yet! Oops. I will go get my Cafe Mocha soon! 7. What color is your hairbrush? I have a variety - pink, blue and black 8. What was the last thing you paid for? Dessert at Ristorante de Parma last night, with my love (Jessie) and my darling (Amy). We had such a blast! Headed straight to Serangoon Gardens after work with them, and had dinner at Sushi Tei ($54 for 3pax) and Ristorante de Parma ($36). I must tell you that their desserts are simply to die for.  9. Where were you last night? At Serangoon Gardens between 7pm to 11pm, and at home afterwards, being an insomniac although I didn’t drink a single drop of coffee all day yesterday! 10. What color is your front door? Brown. So boring. When I have a place of my own, I shall have a hot pink door. 11. Where do you keep your change? In my stationery tray at work. This is for buying drinks from the vending machine! I swear, I contribute to half the amount the whole company spends on drinks there every month. 12. What’s the weather like today? Slightly overcast, but still a bit of sun shining through. 13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk! Or chocolate with cookie dough at Cold Rock, Holland Village. 14. What excites you? Sex. Men in army greens. Men in business attire. Chocolate ice cream. My girl friends. Hello Kitty stuff. 15. Do you want to cut your hair? I don’t mind cutting it because my hair is getting rather messy with all the ‘duck tails’. I hate shoulder length hair! I am currently dealing with it by tying it up everyday so that it looks neat. And I think I look like a kid when I put my hair in a ponytail! 16. Are you over the age of 25? No. *blinks* I’m 19. 17. Do you talk a lot? Too much for my own good. Haha. 18. Do you watch the O.C.? No, and I don’t even know what it is. 19. Do you know anyone named Steven? I had one classmate back in Jakarta who was named Steven. I don’t know any other Stevens, I think. I happen to think it’s an awful name. 20. Do you make up your own words? Yes I do, and they are mostly related to sounds. The last one was in January, and the word is ‘Womp!’ (yes, with the exclamation mark!) It is the sound that Hello Kitty makes when she is bouncing around happily. *Womp! Womp!* 21. Are you a jealous person? It really really depends on who and what it is about. 22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Adam 23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Kevan 24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? I don’t want to say. 25. What does the last text message you received say? From Justin: “Maybe we can set it next weekend? This weekend busy watching football overnight and sleep all day long~” (I cannot fathom guys and football!) 26. Do you chew on your straw? A lot, yes. I actually chew on my straw to mark it, cos none of my other friends do it. Haha. 27. Do you have curly hair? Nope, I find curly hair too difficult to manage. But I did have curly hair in 2004-2005. It was quite nice when it grew out (you can see my Friendster photos if you are on it), but at the beginning, it looked just horrid! Haha. 28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? The staff rest area, where the vending machines are. Haha. 29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Sorry, I have no space for rude persons in my life. But if you’re talking about colleagues, I guess it’s got to be a toss up between Amelia and Jacqui. Oops. 30. What was the last thing you ate? Instant noodles at 2:30am, just because I couldn’t sleep. I tend to fall into a food coma after eating (so please don’t think you’re boring if I suddenly start stoning after having a meal with you). 31. Will you get married in the future? Sure. But I’ve kind of made up my mind to marry Adam. It’s just that he doesn’t want to marry me. Hahahaha. And he’s in Inner Mongolia right now, so he can’t refute it. 32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? Sex and the City! It’s the best movie to watch with your girlfriends! Speaking of which, I need to talk to them soon! Gosh. Been feeling super disconnected for the past week or so! 33. Is there anyone you like right now? Yeah. I like a lot of people. 34. When was the last time you did the dishes? I can’t remember. I’ve been eating out everyday. 35. Are you currently depressed? No. *panics* Should I be? 36. Did you cry today? Not yet! Haha. Does anyone plan to make me cry today? 37. Why did you answer and post this? Cos Claudia tagged me, and I don’t want her to think that I’m rude for not doing it. Haha! *kitty luvs claudia* 38. Tag 7 people who would do this survey. I’m in a good mood today, so I shan’t sabotage tag people. Social Media Breakfast: Singapore 2 Since everyone’s done extensive coverage on what happened at SMB 2, and I’m kind of late with this post,  will not repeat what exactly happened. Instead, here are pictures I took that day (worth reading for, cos there are pictures of Hello Kitty with her friends, HAHA), followed by my thoughts on what was good, and what could have been better. On the morning of 24 May (Saturday), I was supposed to meet Claudia & co., at Farrer Park MRT, but due to my own slow movements and internet addiction (I was reading blogs and chatting with the Pingsters), I ended up starting my preparations rather late, and then leaving the house late. So I had to hop on to a cab. Here’s the mandatory photo-in-cab: I look so pale, but whatever. I arrived at Cafe Domus in no time at all (in fact, at 11am sharp). This is the exterior aka shopfront And the interior The Wine Bar Look what I found- Absolut Disco! The chill area Really cozy and Zen! The breakfast / brunch spread: Love the walls As usual, I wasted no time in taking more photos, and giving out my namecards, and talking to people. I’m not going to name everyone that I met, cos I know that I will miss out some people (thanks to my goldfish memory) and then people are going to get upset and think that I forgot about them (okay lah, I didn’t forget, but it might have slipped my mind, haha) so I shall just post pictures and talk about them if I can! We were given stickers to ‘tag’ people with. Like, you know, in facebook, on blogs, etc. Hello Kitty: Tagged. Okay, you can’t really see, cos my jacket is white. But the tags are there! Look at some of my tags (post event). Many ‘Hello Kitty’ tags I lost some though. Here I am with Singapore’s tiniest blogger, Nadnut With Justina from Singapore Model United Nation 2008 With Ridzuan (who is a damn miserly employer- at the lowest point of my short career thus far (haha) he said he would hire me, and pay me 1 coffee a day. I was thinking, Oh, not bad. 1 Starbucks coffee per day! Then he interrupted my thoughts and said, No, one kopitiam coffee per day. Kitty is not friends with Ridz anymore. This photo is just cos he happened to be there. Y’know. With JuzzyWuzzy, aka Hisham, who’s a really funny, spontaneous and outgoing guy! But oh, if you’re in a hurry, please don’t walk down Orchard Road with him. He knows like a 5235 people who spend their lives hanging out at Orchard, so every 5 steps he would bump into an acquaintance or friend, and then spend a few minutes catching up. Walking from Marriott Hotel to Heeren would take, like, oh 1.84 years or something. It’s true! (Us being lame, taking photos of the bamboo plants) Really. They are bamboo plants. See? This is Litford and Yuhui After I got really heated up (the temperature was like 300 degrees), I went indoors. And found Dominic, blending into the walls And this is Kitty with the pink camouflage man, in the Hello Kitty pose *This is my favourite picture of the day!* Haha. And second favourite photo- Kitty flanked by 2 Kitty fans, Dominic & Krisandro I don’t care what you say- they are my fans. Haha! After that, I sat around taking random photos No, Dominic is not checking out JuzzyWuzzy’s manboobs. Nope. This is Nadnut (manboobs lover) with Farinelli, though. R(A)! (Jayden the extra is behind) As you can see, Farinelli has manboobs (moobs), and they belong to Nadnut All your moobs are belong to Nadnut. His milkshake brings all the Nads to the yard, And their moobs is better than yours, damn right, it’s better than yours! Haha. That is Nad and Fari’s theme song. And this is me with Enning and Christina! Would’ve loved to talk to them more, but time didn’t permit! This Kitty had to fly around trying to meet as many people as possible before rushing off to work (sort of). Anyway, very glad to have made the connection nonetheless! And here’s my lovely friend, Claudia And Hendri Me and Tianhong (who looks so sad to be taking a photo with me) Okay, and this wonderful event was put together by SMB main organizer, Daryl, & Co. aka Derrick, Brad and Sheylara. Here’s Kitty with Daryl. Didn’t manage to take photos with the rest of their team, not even Sheylara Okay! Post-event thoughts: I really had such a wonderful time at SMB 2, that I was so sorry when I had to leave at around 1pm to go off to work. The turnout was really good. Initially, I had thought that most of them would be bloggers from Ping.sg, because it seemed that way, from the confirmed RSVP list on Facebook. However, there was really quite a good mix of bloggers, non-bloggers, and writers, marketing people, etc. Ahem. I felt that the Pingsters were rather cliqueish at first, though. Not sure if they infiltrated other groups later on, after I left. To stop people from being cliqueish, I think there should be some sort of ice breaker activity, followed by at least one main activity. My only grouse for this event was that I didn’t know exactly what we were supposed to do, or if there was any programme planned. When I last spoke to Daryl about a month back, he was tending towards the “free and easy” theme, but I wasn’t quite sure, since SMB 1 had a more structured programme, I think. Perhaps at SMB 3, Daryl & Co. can consider having just one fixed activity. I know that there was the whole tagging thing, but that was previously done at SMB 1 too, so it was nothing new for those who had attended the previous session, or those who had read blog entries about the event. In addition to this tagging (maybe we can have something new next round too, cos we keep tagging the same people with the same things, and it may get boring - like how I got 99.99% Hello Kitty tags. Oh no, am I so boring? Shucks), perhaps we could have some round-the-table game, or small group activity, or mass activity. Oh, the venue chosen for this event was perfect. Located at 124 Owen Road, Cafe Domus is a quaint little cafe which you’d probably miss if you were to walk along this row of shophouses. The place wasnt too big so that people would pass by one another with lots of space in between. In fact, its being small and cozy forced us to talk to others whom we walked by, or stood next to. Haha. I loved the backyard with its wood and stone decor, and the bamboo plants. I shall have a party here next time (but I wish we could do something about the stupid Singapore weather). Food was not bad! But my only grouse was: Why no drinks? I think even iced water would’ve been appreciated, cos of the aforementioned cursed weather in Singapore. Anyway, I had an iced cafe latte, and it was quite alright. Nothing compared to coffee made by Danny (Pang, of Geek Terminal), but mighty good anyway. OK! The end! *// I think I need to stop reading Wendy’s blog. Her abrupt endings are contagious. \\* How can I say No without burning bridges? It’s been some time since I finished my diploma at SHRI - about 6 months since I had contact with my classmates. After my last exam in December, I just stayed home and did my Final Project (graduation requirement) and didn’t go to school at all. Then I started work in January. Yesterday, I received an email from the couple that I mentioned in this post, whom I’ve not heard from in the last few months. Well, it’s not like I want them to contact me anyway, but that’s besides the point. The girl (as usual, since her bf is not allowed to have female-contact) wrote me an email with 2 attachments. The email briefly asked me how am I, and then went on to say that ”We need your help in editing our Final Projects, Thanks.” They didn’t really ask if I could please take a look for them, but if I’m not free, then never mind, bla bla bla. They just kinda assumed that I wouldn’t say no. Here’s a bit of news, people: NO. The attachments have yet to be downloaded, because I have no intention of editing their projects for them. In the first place, let me say that I’ve even stopped taking paid assignments for editing and writing, because I simply do not have the time now. So why should I do this for people that I don’t like, for free? Well, I don’t want to burn my bridges, especially since we’re all going to be working in HR, and as you know, Singapore is so damned small that we might just bump into one another some time or another. So how do I email them back and tell them “I don’t think so.” Or should I just ignore, and if they ask me, say that I didn’t receive it? My embarrassing crush on a blogger I remember that just a couple of weeks ago, a blogger on Ping.sg wrote about her crush on a blogger. It was kind of cute. Haha. So now it’s my turn to write about my crush on a blogger (don’t bother trying to guess). Haha. It’s kind of embarrassing, but I’m going to write it anyway! Well, whatever I look for in a potential partner is pretty simple: He must buy me lots of chocolate ice cream. He must be extremely intelligent, and be able to engage me mentally. He must be a great conversationalist, and must have a sense of humour. So you can probably see that it’s not hard for me to develop a crush on a fellow blogger! I first started reading his blog when he first started chatting on the shoutbox some months ago. At that point in time, I felt kind of indifferent towards him. Then the more I read, the more interesting I found him to be. Then I met him in person. And I was just kind of drawn towards him in a moth-to-light kind of way. He was really really charming in person! And then I chatted with him on MSN, and erm, after a while I kinda found out that he has a girlfriend. Haha! What’s really embarrassing is that when I see him, I get a bit tongue-tied, and that’s not really common for someone like me who can just prattle on and on and on. And I actually notice myself blushing when I talk to him (whether face-to-face or on MSN, even). But I still have a crush on him, lah! Hehehe. His blog is still really really engaging. But I don’t know much about him, and probably will never, cos I’m pretty sure that once I do, this secondary school girl crush will come to an abrupt halt. Anyway, it’s just a crush! Hehehe! Okay, this is a super bimbotic post that is super unlike me really getting embarrassing so I should probably stop here. *awkward laugh* And please don’t make wild guesses. The HelloKitty Challenge! Win a mystery prize! contest closed. please email me your entries. Girls’ Makan Day Out! Today, 4 silly girls (whose paths would never have crossed this lifetime if it weren’t for Ping.sg) decided to meet at Bugis Junction for a late lunch an afternoon of non-stop eating. Despite reminders not to be late, our Queen, Her Majesty the Queen of Tardiness, Wendy was still late. So the rest of us hurried down to Ma Maison before they cancelled our 2pm reservation. Before we even started to look at the menu, we did what we had to do for our dear blog readers / supporters - take photos. Hahahahahaha. (I notice that every time after I meet Uray, I start blogging like a mad woman, and laughing like one too.) The interior of the restaurant Ma Maison is supposed to mean “My Home” in French. But actually, that’s not quite accurate. The meaning of Ma Maison is actually “My House”. The proper way to say “My Home” in French is, I believe, Chez-moi. Our table Uray was saying that the lamp looked kinda out of place with the rest of the warm, homely decor. I think so too! Hahahaha. It’s like a cheapo version. Look at the other lamp on the other side. That’s nicer! Anyway, this is Yuka (aka Snowbiscuits) and Uray! And when Wendy finally arrived, it was our turn to take photos too! And all our individual portraits! Yuka Uray Wendy And Hello Kitty! Okay. On to more serious things. Food. Hahahahahahahahahaha. Here’s the menu! It’s made of leather! Beef and pork hamburger with cheese and the chef’s special brown sauce! Tonkatsu! Beef straganoff! The greenish things in the beef is actually the reflection of the lamp. Remember? The green lamp? Oh, and they don’t have fixed table numbers. Instead, they give u ‘tags’ like these: So after you’re done, you just bring the ‘table number’ tag to the cashier, and pay for the items you ordered. Uray liked the key so much that she had to take a photo with it! Hahaha. Crazy woman hahaha. OK! Soon after the food arrived, it was devoured by the 4 hungry girls. Yuka and Uray claimed that they weren’t full yet, although me and Wendy were. So we moved off to Ministry of Food @ My Izakaya!   Decor wasn’t much to look at, so we took photos of ourselves again. Haha. And behold! Our desserts! Uray’s very big Chocolate Sundae! Uray the piggy with her sundae And Wendy’s Strawberry Gelato, which I felt was a tad too sweet And Yuka and I each had a Sesame Gelato! Yums. After desserts, we wanted to go to Ah Chew Desserts for a second round of desserts. Unfortunately, none of us could fit any more desserts into our stomachs. Haha! So we went shopping! Actually, Wendy did most of the shopping. We just kinda, accompanied her. After that, Yuka went off first to meet her family, then Wendy went to meet her bf at Paragon, and it was down to Uray and I. I went to Tekka Mall to thread my eyebrows! Yay. Finally got to do it. My brows were really turning into bushes, you know. Haha. What a fun day! Okay. This is kinda abrupt. Okay, bye bye! (Wendy’s style) >> Yuka’s entry >> Wendy’s entry Why I refuse to donate Disclaimer: I am not asking people not to donate. In fact, I think it’s great if you donate towards helping other people out of their misery. What I’m writing below is to say that people should not present others with a bad attitude just because they refuse to donate. And I’m also presenting my reasons for my refusal to donate. That is all. This blog entry was not written to dissuade others from donating. — — — — — My company’s admin staff were going around collecting donations for the recent earthquake victims in Chengdu. While I applaud their gesture and initiative, I refused outright to donate. I was met with a dissatisfied face that told me that they were unhappy about my refusal. I feel that people collecting donations should not show such attitude if others refuse to donate. In the first place, to decision to donate or not lies with the person making the donation, and I have a right to decide either way. I feel that it’s pointless for me to donate at this time, because I don’t know where my money goes to. In the wake of the NKF saga, as well as recent years’ reports about donations towards victims of natural disasters, a hesitancy to donate is natural. Corruption, misappropriation of funds, embezzlement - these are all common in countries like China, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and even “squeaky-clean” Singapore. Why should I donate, then, if my hard earned money is only going to further line the pockets of the already-wealthy people who are controlling the funds? And sometimes, even if the money does go through the right channels, they are not being used for proper reasons. Case in point: A university friend of mine started an initiative to help victims of the earthquake in Yogyakarta in 2006. Donations collected were used mainly for the child victims. Do you want to know what were the donations used for? School bags, stationery, books, and other frivolous things. Although I donated at the time, towards this cause, and I also defended it, many others slammed the donation drive, as they did not believe that those were the things that the victims need immediately. Thinking back now, I agree with those who disagreed. What the victims really needed was aid to rebuild their homes, food in their stomach, and clothes to wear. These are the basic needs of every human being! If these needs cannot even be satisfied, why would they even need school supplies? I understand the logic of keeping the children happy, giving them hope during a time of darkness, and helping them through this difficult period by giving them a smile. But how long can this short-lived happiness last? Therefore, my stand is this: Unless I know that I can truly help someone - perhaps by going there to work with the volunteers amongst the victims, or make a donation towards a particular family - I will choose to keep my money. It’s my choice. Being a glutton, alcoholic, and nymphomaniac don’t kill It’s been some time since I last posted a video on my blog. But before you [-] me on Ping.sg for being a cut-and-paste blog, you should watch this! I only share good things. This is hilarious. And besides, don’t you want to know what’s killing yer? Thanks to Foxtwo for sharing this. Now don’t you think this is so completely worth watching? Scarlet: Unveiled - The Launch at Singapore Flyer When Sabrina invited me for the Launch of Scarlet: the Hit New TV Series, I was a bit skeptical. I’m not really a “TV person”, you see. But after being coerced persuaded, I decided to attend the event. Held on 2 May, at the Singapore Flyer, the Launch of Scarlet was an elegant affair, much like the star of the TV Series itself. Natassia ”Scarlet” Malthe - Isn’t she absolutely gorgeous? Credits: 2008 LG Electronics I arrived just a little after 7, and some of the bloggers were already there. As usual, the camwhoring started. Hey, we’re bloggers, we have a responsibility towards our readers. Haha. I’m too lazy to link the other bloggers. Please check Ping.sg for more details. *smiles* Below are some photos from my own camera. But I’m looking forward to seeing those from Jayden’s, as well as our 2 official photographers (yes, we had an entourage complete with photographers!). I know Jayden is a nice person, so he will photoshop me to look stunning, right? Haha. The Singapore Flyer (well, part of it) At Level 2 There, we met the organizer, Gavin Foo from Fleishman. Although we were told that the dress code was evening formal, I saw people in jeans! Do you feel cheated?! Haha. Scarlet is not a TV series, but rather, a series of TVs by LG! Haha. Scarlet TV is the world’s slimmest LCD TV, and it is only 1.7inches (4.5cm) thick! This idea for this campaign was conceptualized by the LG Global Brand Marketing Team, and was produced by Hollywood acclaimed director David Nutter, whose works include The X-Files, Smallville, and The Sopranos. I personally found the marketing campaign to be a very interesting idea. It was a play of words that we didn’t pick up on early enough (oops, so much for bloggers doing homework before attending events). I watched the videos and found it to be intriguing. I believed all that gunk they fed us about it being an Anne Rice-inspired TV series, and that the world has never seen entertainment like this before! However, I felt that it kind of took away the whole focus on the product itself (is that the intention?) and people instead, focussed on this uber-innovative campaign. Nevertheless, Scarlet was the word of the evening, and she (the TV) was definitely a beauty. Moving on. On the Singapore Flyer Sabrina was really really scared. She hardly moved throughout the 30minutes ride. I thought I was scared enough. But Sab was terrified. Just look at the expression on her face! Pretty petite Nadnut. You can’t tell, but she’s like, tiny. 1.40m? The scenery from the Flyer After the ride, Jarius and I went back to the main event hall and collected our goody bags, took some final photos, and said goodbye to the rest of the bloggers, before heading off to City Hall. This is what I wore last night I later went to Suntec’s Starbucks to meet Xizor, Chillycraps, Xinyun and her friends (Marcus and Freddy). Hendri, who was on his way back from Changi T3, joined us for a drink. I really had a good time tonight, although I was a bit afraid of the “ferris wheel ride”. Many thanks to Sabrina and Gavin for the invitation to be part of this event. Blogger’s Treat - Hello Kitty Guest Stars! Yeah yeah, I know that Blogger’s Treat has been talked about to death on the blogosphere of late. But this is going to be a fun post! And you should read it because I’m Hello Kitty. No, I’m kidding. Though I really think that’s a great enough reason.  I put in a lot of effort for the photos, so please read! So the story goes… On the Saturday of 19 April (the day after I return from Chiang Mai), I dressed myself in my Hello Kitty polo t-shirt (I’m not kidding - I bought it from Chiang Mai’s Hello Kitty Boutique at the Airport Plaza Shopping Centre for THB 375.25) which you will see in the vodcast… which will be launched… TONIGHT! But I digress again, so on that fateful Saturday, the day I became a movie star, I brought the Blogger’s Treat producer Aaron Koh, director/cameraman Michael Cheng and host Sabrina (with boyfriend Derek in tow) to Lan Zhou La Mian (兰州拉面) at Smith Street, Chinatown. After some discussions with owner/chef Mr Wong, we finally got the camera rolling! And finally, the food is all ready for us to try and rave about! Hehe. And here are my reviews of the food we had! And the best of all! See? With such yummy food being featured, how can Blogger’s Treat not be the best blogger’s food show ever?! So come down, find out more tonight at the launch, watch Hello Kitty and Sabrina in action in the first ever Blogger’s Treat episode, and okay lah, can take photo with me! Hehe! *act shy* Muahahahahaha. The Podfire Podcast Network: Soft Launch Date: Today! Wednesday, 30 April 2008 Time: 1900 to 2130 hours Location: Geek Terminal (55 Market Street) See you there! Unsatisfactory Dinner at Menotti This evening, I met up with Elsa and Elise at Menotti at Raffles City. I had previously dined there with Zhiwei, Michelle and Audrey, my ex-colleagues from TRM. I also went there on another occasion with XW. Anyway, both times I really enjoyed the dinner and desserts. Not surprising, since it is a restaurant by the Garibaldi Group of Restaurants. However, tonight was probably my last time dining at Menotti. Extremely disappointed, angry, and irritated - that’s how I would have described my feelings when I left. I ordered the Lunghetti Buongustaia (lunghetti with bacon, mushrooms, cream and parmesan cheese) ($24), which I felt was mediocre. The cream was too heavy, and I could taste little of anything else in the plate. (sorry about the lousy quality of photo - no digicam today!) Elsa and Elise both ordered the Spaghetti Gamberi (spaghetti aglio, olio and peperoncino with prawns) ($22.80), which was too bland, according to Elise. She said that the garlic should’ve been chopped, not sliced into such huge pieces. Quite a lot of prawns though. Also, she said that they should’ve used fresh chilli and not dried chilli. Anyway, the quality of the food at Menotti has seriously dropped. Or perhaps it was the items of food that we chose? Service really sucked too. The waiter missed out on one order, forgot to refill our glasses with warm water (we asked for it twice) and had to be reminded to serve Elsa’s coffee twice as well. At the end of the meal, I asked to speak to the manager. He could not speak English properly, could not give me a satisfactory answer or could not handle or perform service recovery. In the end, I left, and headed off with Elsa to buy a jacket for work. What an unsatisfactory dinner it was! And at $90 for 3pax, I really really expected better. Also, in future, I will refuse outright to pay for the 10% service charge if I get lousy or no service. [Chiang Mai] Day 1 - Wat Phra Singh Due to time constraints, we only managed to visit two temples in Chiang Mai, one of which was the Monastery of the Lion or, in Thai, Wat Phra Singh. We headed to Wat Phra Singh on the first day itself, after lunch at a roadside stall. During Songkran festival, Thai Buddhists flock to temples to pray and offer food to the monks. Wat Phra Singh, being one of the main temples within the Old City Walls, had a huge crowd too. Wat Phra Singh main hall Mom and Dad making offerings to Buddha (I never knew Buddhists used joss sticks? Isn’t that Taoist?) Clouds (okay, this is a bad photo but I don’t care) Asking for blessings from the monks Buddha images Mom and Dad outside the main hall Beside the main hall, there was a sort of bazaar going on And we found a foot massage stall! THB 80 per person per hour! That’s like SGD 3.50! Mom and Dad enjoying themselves Although having a foot massage probably does not rank high on my priority list of things to do in Chiang Mai, I joined my parents in this activity. I’m actually the sort who kicks people when they tickle or touch my feet. I’ve been known to ‘kick’ a pedicurist in some nail spa place at Holland Village. @.@ Anyway, this masseuse that I had was quite good with her fingers, and she understood when I said, “Pain!” and whenever I giggled, she tried to make it less ticklish for me. I also tried to take my mind off the fact that someone was touching my feet (gasp!) by taking random photos of things around me. The Viharn Lai Kam (Gilded Assembly Hall) In the Halls. There were murals painted on the walls, but I couldn’t properly photograph them because I’m a photography / DSLR noob. Hehe! Eh.. Hmm. A bit senget. Nevermind. Random photo taken on the temple grounds More structures depicting the Lan Na Thai architectural style It was almost sunset when we left the temple, and I managed to get this shot I like this shot but someone said it’s not that nice We left Wat Phra Singh by tuk-tuk, having forgotten all about Songkran. Credits: Douglas Janson Needless to say, we were drenched at the end of the ride. And when I say drenched, I mean drenched. Soaked from head to toe. Dripping wet. It was horribly uncomfortable, especially since Mom and Dad were in pants and tee shirts. I was wearing a cotton dress, so I just gathered the bottom of the dress and squeezed out the water when we got to our destination! During the tuk-tuk ride, Dad’s Blackberry got wet cos his bag is made of fabric. Luckily for me, my bag was ‘waterproof’, and I didn’t take the camera out of my bag, so it remained dry. These people are really a bit too much - they splashed buckets of iced water on us! We guessed that they are drinks vendors along the roads, and they just get the water from the cooler in which they put their canned drinks to cool them. The force of the moving water along with the moving tuk-tuk resulted in a painful shower of ice cold water. Definitely not pleasant. But at least, we know that the water isn’t from some dirty river. Ewks. Anyway, poor Mom was chilled to the bones, and she was a bit upset by the whole thing. However, I’m still glad that in the end, we just managed to smile, and say mai pen rai (nevermind, it’s alright!) and go off to a nearby cafe for hot coffee. If you’re wondering why we were so brave as to sit al fresco, this is the reason why! The cafe’s servers were also splashing water at cars and pedestrians passing by, hence we were ‘protected’! We didn’t want to sit indoors because the airconditioning would definitely have caused us to catch a cold, what with the wet clothing and all. The coffee was quite good, but at a killer price of THB 70 per cup, it had better be! A meal in Chiang Mai only costs about THB 30. After coffee, we headed over to the next street, where the famous Night Bazaar was. It was a very touristy place, with most stalls selling handicrafts and souvenirs. I didn’t take any photos because I was afraid of getting water onto the camera. It was the last day of Songkran, so people played until rather late, although on the previous 2 days, celebrations ended before 7pm (sundown). At the bazaar, we mainly bought souvenirs for friends. Things were cheap, but you had to be a firm bargainer to get a good deal! In any case, a good tip to remember when shopping at such places overseas is that you should only pay for what you think the item is worth. Everyone has different opinions on that, so don’t make yourself so upset if you bought something at a higher price than your friend did, or find that another stall is selling something at a lower price than where you had already made your purchases. Money can always be earned again, and the important thing about shopping is that you want to make yourself happy! Haha. After walking around the bazaar for about 1.5 hours, we went to a nearby food court and had our dinner! It was a very interesting place. There was a live band performing on the stage! For dinner that night, I had khao soi (Northern Thailand curry noodles), which was very spicy, but which I told myself that I must try at least once, because I read somewhere that it’s one of the ‘must-do’ things when one goes to Chiang Mai! Decor at the food court complex I must admit that I love Thai architecture and interior design. I love wood! Doesn’t it look so welcoming and inviting, and not to mention cosy? We went back to the hotel by songthaew or rod daeng again after dinner. 10 hours in Chiang Mai, and we had yet to take a normal metered taxi! Haha. What an achievement. >> Next up: Doi Suthep! How sure are you that you are straight? A candidate is at my office for an interview, and she’s quite obviously a dyke, or what we sometimes call, a butch. When she walked in, I was quite blown away by her charisma, her looks, her voice and her firm handshake. She stood by my desk to chat with me for about 10 minutes after she filled up her form, and she is so very smart and wonderful to talk to! I’m beginning to doubt my sexual orientation. Haha. I remember back in high school / junior college, my music theory class had this girl called Kim. While she was no where as handsome as this candidate, she was most certainly very charming too. I used to go to class just to talk to her and sit next to her. If you were my boyfriend back then, and you are reading this now, I’m sorry. This must come as a shock! If you’re my sister who took music lessons with me back then, please don’t think too much. Haha. Anyway, my question is this: How do you know absolutely if you are straight? And if you’re attracted to someone of the same gender, does that really make you gay? What if you have no intention or inclination on acting upon the feelings that you have for this person, or the attraction towards this person? Does that still make you gay? Any other brave girls out there who want to admit their attraction towards other girls? Haha. Wah lao. I feel so salah! I’m supposed to love guys! Ok, I LOVE GUYS. Don’t shun me, okay? An Open Letter My Dearest Intern, Please be reminded that you are an intern at our company, or in other words, a student representative of your school. Please take note that your behaviour is not considered acceptable at all. 1. Your short dresses with your baring cleavages do not exude sexiness, but sluttiness. 2. Your loud laughter and flirtatious tone when talking to men is unbecoming. 3. The rumours surrounding you and your boss, a senior management staff, is completely unacceptable. 4. And your getting drunk at a company function is not acceptable, not for an office lady, and definitely not for an intern. Last Thursday, at the Sales Team Party, you “drank like a hippopotamus” (the exact words of a Senior Manager), got drunk, and had to be carried into the spare bedroom we have upstairs. You messed up the room so thoroughly but did not even tell us about it. Your boss demanded that the security guards open up the room for you (overriding HR instructions that room usage must be approved by our department), so that you could spend the night there. Don’t you find that your behaviour and actions are completely unacceptable for an intern? Well, let’s not talk about being an intern. Let’s talk about being a woman. Do you really have to cheapen yourself like that, and show to the whole world that you are easy? Please, I plead with you, stop embarrassing the rest of us women who maintain a proper / professional image in this organization. In any case, your boss isn’t writing your internship review report. I am. Your HR Officer P/S: Thanks to you, I have so much explanation to do to the big boss. Thanks to you, I also got scolded by the cleaner who had to re-clean the room. WTF?! Bitchy Hello Kitty I’m in a super bitchy mood today. Perhaps it was brought on by the onslaught of individuals displaying extreme stupidity in front of me today. Or perhaps it’s simply PMS. Let me describe some of the stupid individuals who didn’t make the cut that I interviewed for the position of ‘Personal Driver’ (for COO) today: 1. Mr Cheena Late Sleeper He came in quite well groomed. Spoke Chinese, though. Whenever I tried to speak to him in English, he would reply in Chinese. I had already crossed the ‘Rejected’ box at the end of the application form, when he asked me what were the working hours like. I replied, “7am to 4pm, may have OT sometimes.” His reply? “Wah, so early. I cannot wake up so early leh. 8am can?” (哇！那么早啊！我睡不醒　leh. 八点可以吗？) Verdict: Thank you for wasting my time. Bye bye! 2. Mr Perverted He arrived at our office in a bright orange tee shirt and bermudas, complete with beach slippers. He crossed his arms across his chest during the interview, and kept staring at my breasts. Verdict: You pervert. I think you should just go and bum around at Sentosa. 3. Mr Despatch Driver He walked in for an interview, and was dressed shabbily. I accepted him for interview anyway. When I told him that this is a position for Personal Driver, he said, “Wah. Cannot leh. I drive truck one, not Merk (he means Merc). Can I be delivery man ah? You want delivery man?” Verdict: OK! Bye! … P/S: In the ad, we wrote “Personal Driver”. Not “Despatch”. 4. Mr Lazy Bum He filled up the first part of the form, which contained his name, contact number and address. He left the rest of the form blank. In the interview room, he told me, “Paiseh ah, I a bit lazy to write so many things.” Verdict: Sorry, I’m also lazy to interview you now. Bye! 5. Mr Criminal This guy’s license was only 4 months old. Some probing revealed that his license was revoked a few years ago. I probed further, and he said that he was drink-driving and injured someone. Verdict: I think I should write in my next ad: “Only those with clean driving records may apply. Drunkards please stay away.” ———— In addition, I received many calls regarding this position. A lot are delivery / despatch drivers, so I just politely told them that we need someone with P.Driver experience. Otherwise, to scare them off, I just say, “Are you confident of driving a Merc? We will have a test drive later.” They usually don’t turn up. ———— On a separate note, I hate people who make appointments (I’m now referring to interviews for other positions) and do not turn up for the appointments but do not even give a courtesy call to cancel it. And I wait and wait and wait for them, and there is no news at all!