Sweet Child O' Mine

Ring....! It's another brand new day. Wasting no time, I jumped out of bed and did my typical eye rolling exercise. As fierce contest for common bathroom prevailed in my family, I sprinted to it when I saw the coast was clear. To keep my spirits high, I often would indulged in some bathroom singing.

Wait a minute, I suddenly heard my singing being harmonized by an infantile voice. Am I in dreamland? Nope, it's just my little niece humming "My favourite things" :)

You may not believe it. The magical charm of child's singing actually keeps me merry at the start of the day to face up new challenges for the day. To sustain the cheery mode, both of us will switch to the lung-provoking song from the movie "Sound of Music": "Do-re-mi". Am not sure if it works for you. But it certainly works for me. Basically, each of us will take turn to deliver the song in segments. The chemistry between us given the number of rehearsals for the same track has also made us in sync, where one will join in as soon as the other adjourns for a break.

Guess that is why the spa business has also started to introduce music therapy for its clients. In fact, I am a big fan of music therapy (particularly American Idol) that I even have a repertoire of songs in my handphone by my niece to keep my day going.

Does it work for you too?

Girls just want to have fun

Yippee! It's last day at work again. Hmmm... Let's see... Should I go for a show, a drink or head for a run? Especially work has been rather mundane. I don't know if you feel the same as I do. Looking at the waistline, I suddenly became motivated to keep fun aside and indulge in some good physical exercise.

Of course, things do not always turn out the way you wish in life. As my running mate unexpectedly messaged me to call off the running session, much to my dismay. As I have made up my mind to go for a short run, I decided not to let my decision sway. Regardless, I will enjoy the evening even if I have to run alone.

To make it up, the evening was pleasantly cool. Just perfect for some outdoor workout! So I put on my adidas running shoes and polar watch to get ready for the action. Next, I did some light stretching and began on my warm up lap to east coast park (ecp). It was a rather slow start as the road was wet after an afternoon's pour. Feeling determined not to slip, I tried my best to keep my balance in check. Upon reaching ecp, I was disappointed that the sky had darkened and rain drops started to hit the ground. But I decided nothing was going to stop me! Quickly, I did my warm up exercise and began my next 4km of run. It was enjoyable running in rain, I must admit. To begin with, there were less people on the road, let alone joggers. As I was aware that I had compromised my speed in 1st 2km, I accelerated my pace in the hope of finishing my run under 42 minutes.

The next 2km was a breeze and I actually enjoyed the solitude run. Even when a cat crossed my path, given my hyper phobia towards the animal. At the end of the 4km, I then made a turn back towards the starting point for the remaining 2km. Knowing i had lost some time at the start, i gave my everything in the last lap. Then the weather changed for the worst as it started to pour heavily again. Grinning on, I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me. I guess I shocked myself as I would have given up the run on another day. But today I was committed whole-heartedly. Eventually, I crossed the finish line in a time of 44 minutes.

Bad timing! Overly cautious and lack of motivation have always been 2 of my greatest pitfalls and these are 2 things that I wish to address in the new year. Not just in the run, but in my life too. Guess my friend is right again on his prediction that my run would be a short one due to lack of motivation. I really hope to have a good start in the new year and not procrastinate further...

I believe I can fly

This is day 1 of my blog. Frankly, I am clueless. Hmmm....Let me start with singles not hitching after 30 years particularly for ladies is appalling in Asian context.

Folks will be breathing down your neck. Relatives will provide no further comfort by "interrogating" your martial status whenever they bump into you. In short, swinging ladies are not acceptable in Asian societies. Depreciation of value is what one may say. At 20 years of age, you enjoy luxury of choices. In your mid 20s, you still have opportunities of meeting the right one. Once you hit 30, the alarm will trigger off where immediate family and aunts will resort to all means to ensure that the lady do not do not get left on the shelf. A more vigorous approach by some entails matching-making, especially in countries like India. Once past 35, one has to passively accept that it is merely a pipe-dream for one to tie the knot.

Personally, I feel life can be beautiful by aligning to one's dreams, rather than frantically pursuing the one and only goal regarded by most ladies. For starters, one can upgrade oneself, go round the world with a back-pack, perform volunteering work and so on and so forth. The options are inexhaustible! Often, I hear married friends sighing lack of freedom or time to pursue one's interests. So here I am in a prime spot free to do what I want and I believe I can fly:)

Oops I did it again

First and foremost, I have to thank my friends for their invaluable comments on how I treat my things. The last I heard is that my cell phone has also reported of malfunction after my rough handling.

Many a times, I have witnessed my friends, let alone my family members not leaving their possession with me. Even my elder sister has rejected my invitations on a few occasions to take my nieces out. All I did was to shrug it off as it didn’t hit me on how serious my issue could be. Guess that is human nature after all. Not able to face up to criticism and change for the better. Or could be just taking it easy, some may say.

Privately, my best friend gave me his last straw when I received my first ipod mini from him “Handle with care. Otherwise, it’s best you do not take it”. So allow me to say right here that I am the luckiest lady in the world for the fact that he is willing to put up with me.

Hopefully, things will be better in this new year as I will make the earnest efforts to change and I will!

Happy Birthday

One of my colleagues is turning one year older this Friday. To surprise her, we invited her for lunch, as part of our daily routine, not letting her know our true intention. At the strike of one pm, we executed our plan flawlessly.

The plan was for the group to “kidnap” birthday girl, Jolene to Swenson restaurant for delectable western meals, especially renowned ice-cream. Next, Siti and I excused ourselves from the lunch on the pretense of urgent work.

We rushed to florist shop close at hand to purchase a birthday bouquet. The arrangement of flowers entailed 3 stalks of daisies and a mini teddy bear neatly bundled in pink and purple colored papers.

When we reached the restaurant, we sneaked up to Jo and presented her with lovely birthday bouquet. Personally, I believe that flowers, apart from diamonds are gals’ best friends as I could see that she was over the moon. The group then proceeded to place our orders.

One of the items, New Year platter looked inviting on the menu. It consisted of 5 small servings of snacks along with sashimi salad in the center of the plate. The group had no objection to start the feast with the exciting platter mix and it was a good choice made! The main dishes also turned out to be a sumptuous experience, as we tucked into the food heartily. The only regret was that another colleague’s order was delayed considerably despite repeated enquiries with the restaurant crew.

After we gorged down our food, we decided it was time to bring on dessert and coffee. I took advantage of the private moment with the manager to arrange for a special birthday song for Jo.
To top it off, the restaurant threw in a complimentary ice-cream for Jo, accompanied with a birthday song. This made it extra sweet for Jo! To make memories last, we took some solo and group images of the birthday lunch before we headed back to office.

It’s My Life

Over the weekend, a couple of my friends and I caught a movie “Blood Diamond’. Set against the backdrop of civil war and chaos in 1990's Sierra Leone, Blood Diamond is the story of Danny Archer, an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy, a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, albeit their backgrounds and their lives are as different as they are. Until one day, both of them became entangled in a common quest to gain possession of a priceless pink diamond, one that can transform a life...or end it.

At the end of the show, I was completely stirred. Not only I find the movie disturbing and thought provoking but how one (particularly the consumers from leading countries) derive pleasure and joy in the purchase of diamonds are equally perplexing! It seems like money is always the root of the problem. Ideally, if diamonds are not acceptable in Africa for the purchases of arms, then it wouldn’t have fuelled more internal war between the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the African government.

Likewise, this show also explicitly exposed the complicity of diamond industry leaders who have chosen profits over principles, at the expense of the lives of the innocent lives.

Overall, I find the director, Edward Zwick along with a strong cast did a good job in conveying the message to prohibit the purchase of conflict diamonds. Personally, I liked Blood Diamond heaps, but do not think it is a spectacular film. A good movie? Yes. Mainstream and formulaic, particularly the typical Hollywood ending, as the movie ended on a gleeful note.

Still, the movie was saved by a superb performance by DiCaprio. Djimon Hounsou’s acting was equally good and I especially enjoyed the chemistry between the two men in their scenes together. He was able to make the audience felt the gamut of dramatic emotions his character experienced during the course of the movie- pride and hope, fear and courage, outrage and desperation, and above all, sheer determination to bring back the son in the name of father.

I have a dream

Tick tick… My watch finally showed 6.15pm. Instinctively, I grabbed my bag and ran out of office as fast as my legs could carry me. There was no way I was going to miss my 1st lecture for the course in Mass Communication!

As I was still early, I decided to head for quick bite nearby. I ordered a alfungi mushroom pasta and helped myself heartily. At five minutes before seven pm, I then strolled over to school to check out class venue first. The monitor displayed the location of the lecture on third level, room no. 25.

Excitedly, I sprinted to the lecture room and was greeted by my classmate whom I befriended at the orientation last week. We engaged in usual scuttlebutt chat before more classmates joined the lecture. Shortly, a lanky silhouette showed up at the doorway. My heart sank when I learnt that he is the lecturer for the subject, Creative Writing, Darren. Honestly, the youthful face does not speak much for his teaching experience. And I can only prayed for the best!

First, we were invited to go round the room for a quick introduction of the class. Then Darren gave an outline of the essence of communication and mass communication (MC) in a bigger picture. To pump us up, he also shared with us the prospects of pursuing a career in MC entailing broadcasting, journalism and the like that set our adrenalin pumping. At least for me!

Honestly, not many know I have a secret ambition to be a news broadcaster. Sadly I only embrace this pipe dream due to a lack of confidence, and as such, no action on my part to make it happen. Albeit time is running out being in my mid 30s, I am willing to give it a shot if opportunity knocks on my door!

I could have continued but frankly, I feel a nap coming on…

Buses and Trains

Generally, the transport system in Singapore is high in frequency and accessible to most parts of the island. Notably, the train system is worthy of high praise as it shows up almost 3 to 5 minutes during peak hours. Given that commuters are prohibited from food consumption in the trains, cleanliness is almost impeccable.

With regards to the bus service, I feel there are lots of rooms for improvements. Particularly SBS Transit, the monopoly bus transport company, where one often find popular buses or routes are invariably filled to the brim. One classic example is feeder bus 238, which offers bus service for the heartlanders of Toa Payoh estate. Despite bringing on more buses during highly demanded peak hours, the queue never fails to cease. As a result, many senior citizens are compelled to stand on buses.

Personally, I have suggested to SBS to switch the single feeder buses to double deck buses to mitigate the high demand. This has also been widely adopted by other smaller bus companies servicing in the densely populated estates. Alternatively, revival of feeder bus or introduction of new feeder buses to the highly sought areas will also alleviate the insatiable demand. Quite often, the erractic bus schedules for popular buses often erratic do not help either. Certainly, the odour in the older SBS buses need to be checked too.

On a perky note, I have to commend on having TV mobile to come on board SBS buses. Certainly, one does benefit from news coverage or other informative shows during long haul bus journey. Hopefully, the recent evaluation scheme to lift up the public bus service, an initiative from Land Transport Authority will see some enhancements, especially SBS bus service.

Okay, maybe I went too far in my wishful thinking this time...