Operation Bummer

Currently listening to: We belong together~ Mariah Carey

Sis's birthday was a quiet affair. The three of us went out to dinner at Olive Tree and I think they enjoyed themselves very much. Not that I didn't but I think I was a little tired that night. Other than the birthday celebration, I have been just bumming around at home and attended a meeting at clementi last night. After that CJWD and I took a bus down to Orchard to have drinks and finger food. Woke up today to do laundry and then bummed around for the rest of the evening before I took a walk to the market to buy dinner for myself.

So I'm going back to work tomorrow.

I think the short absence from work did help me a great deal. Surprise surprise! I'm actually not dreading work tomorrow and am already thinking of what I have to do. Many things have happened in these few days. More than what I expected. I hope I'm able to solve the problems that surfaced.If only they were that easy to solve......

Well, there is always Friday to look forward to.

Edited 'cos of the layout

The Ham

47% dark, 47% spontaneous, 27% vulgar
Your humor style: CLEAN, SPONTANEOUS, LIGHT
Your style's mostly goofy, innocent and feel-good. Perfect for parties and for the dads who chaperone them. You can actually get away with corny jokes, and I bet your sense of humor is a guilty pleasure for your friends. People of your type are often the most approachable and popular people in their circle. Your simple & silly good-naturedness is immediately recognizable, and it sets you apart in this sarcastic world.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Will Ferrell - Will Smith

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 25% on dark
You scored higher than 58% on spontaneous
You scored higher than 39% on vulgar

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on OkCupid Free Online Dating

When you can't remember who, what and how.

Memories. Deletion of nouns and verbs.

Keeping secrets and letting go~epiphany.

I was looking at my friend's blog when I came across these two links

http://postsecret.blogspot.com and http://www.livejournal.com/community/sgsecrets

Some of the secrets are so dark it hurts to know that there are actually people who would have to live with them for the rest of their lives. Are there any secrets that you would want to post on these sites, knowing that you would never reveal them to even the people closest to you?

Coincidentally, I was told and asked to keep a secret today. The difficult part wasn't about keeping the secret but rather, it was about maintaining an objective point of view and trying to dish out good advice. I nearly cried because I felt quite affected by what I felt could happen. Like I was about to lose someone I treasure, again.

Then I remembered how the same feeling came to me on a few occasions.

Then I suddenly understood.That the sadness I felt at one point in time wasn't due to losing a connection {a lot like love}. I actually am sad to the same degree whenever I feel I'm going to miss/lose anyone I cherish a lot. Anyone. Not just him.

Maybe I have just been fooling myself for about four years now.

What a small sum of money can do.

Buddy's husband got hit on the arm today while trying to shield another female officer from an idiot. He ended up with a big bruise and he went to the doctor to get certification so that it can be used as evidence. The silly security guard let the assaulter leave without making a police report. Gasp. Never mind, the idiot's just waiting to get visited by the police. He actually wanted to hit a woman. What kind of man is that?

Over a petty sum of money? I still feel angry when I think about it. Sometimes I really don't understand what these people are thinking. Nothing we do ever makes them happy. Because they take it for granted.

All the verbal abuse, empty bomb threats and "I want to kill you, what's your name and where do you live?" questions may seem funny at times but when someone actually stoops so low as to hit somebody doing her job, it really appalls me.

We are not servants, mind you. Even servants deserve respect.

Another week of work, neopets with a lot of love and a story about that black thing.

Yet another week of work ahead but I'm bracing myself for it, taking heart that the long break is coming. Yay! Tomorrow, I have two long meetings and some urgent things to clear but it's okay, I know I will survive tomorrow.

I'm like suffering from some disease that is just waiting to eat me up anytime. Sometimes I feel like I'm just waiting. The signals are all present. Exhaustion, dreading the next day of work, longing for weekends to come, short tempers at work, frustration......

Oh well, at least I know it's not terminal. The cure for it is either that I take a break to recharge or find another job. Finding another job now is not a choice so I took the other option of taking a long break. Hope it works.

Anyway, E-y, when I wake up tomorrow, tell myself that it's going to be a great day as usual. It does work, doesn't it? Well, as long as nothing goes wrong early in the morning, like knocking my tailbone hard against the wardrobe. Ouch!

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I was playing neopets just now. Yes, whoever's laughing, I'm still playing neopets since the games are cute and fun and my pets don't die even though I don't feed them. Well, I was looking at the games when I spotted a game named A Lot Like Love! Wahaha. That sounded strange (what's the link between neopets and a romantic comedy?) so I clicked on it and realised it was to advertise the show in Singapore. Wow. Well, I recalled/learned a few things from the quiz:

1) Oliver (Ashton Kutcher) and Emily (Amanda Peet) took a plane to New York from Los Angeles together.
2) Oliver has two siblings, Ellen and Graham. Both got married. One in the middle of the movie and the other at the end.
3) Oliver was in a dot com business named DiaperRush.
4) Emily took up acting for a while and had a writer boyfriend named Peter.
5) Oliver and Emily met up on New Year's Eve after her breakup with Peter and he flew off to San Francisco the next day.
6) Oliver had a girlfriend named Bridget in San Francisco and they broke up (well, she dumped him) because he didn't spend enough time with her.
7) Emily became a professional photographer while Oliver's business went bust.
8) Their friendship (or something a lot like love) lasted 7 years.
9) The song Oliver sang with a guitar was Bon Jovi's "I'll be there for you".
10) I was watching the movie at Great World City. I got a hotdog bun. I had finished half the bun when something whizzed past my head and landed on it. In the dark of the theatre, I saw a black object on the bun. Swiftly, I took the plastic box, swept the black thing into the box and closed it. Placed it down on the floor beside my seat. I looked at the ads. Then I looked down at the box. The yellow lights shone through the container and the thing was buzzing around. I was disgusted. I took my bag and the box and whatever left of the bun in my hand and went out of the theatre. While walking out, I could feel it buzzing.

I left it on top of the full rubbish bin. It was still buzzing.

Yucks. Why was there a fly in the cinema and why did it have to land on my bun!

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Ok. I think it's time for me to sleep soon. Have a great week everyone, whoever you are.

Living life and having things to look forward to.

It's been rather uneventful these days. As usual, I have been up to my neck with the project work. Unable to convince myself that I could drop everything and let matters take care of themselves, whenever I start filling out a leave application, I just trash it after a few minutes.

I was never this much of a worrier in the past. Now, I fret over the minute details and get startled over the littlest thing like being called to the Boss's room first thing in the morning. I'm actually getting lines on my forehead. Argh.

I'm just trying to finish whatever I can before I leave for a break in late July till early August. I'll be going for two courses in that period and taking a few days leave in between. Course One is on managing people and Course Two is on managing changes. Hopefully I will get some answers like how to effectively delegate work, motivate and counsel staff, how to manage expectations of changes and effectively communicate to people that changes are beneficial and lastly, how to convince them to keep an open mind.

Looking forward to the learning!

---

Watching -
Poetic Licence: 6/7/05 8 p.m. Singapore Arts Museum auditorium (with Su)
Ballet under the Stars: 15/7/05 7 p.m. Fort Canning (with Au and DT)
Corrinne May's Homecoming Concert - Safe in A Crazy World: 10/8/05 7.30 p.m. Esplanade Concert Hall (with Au)

Poetic Licence was memorable. I liked the simple set up, the lightings and the music. Of course the cast was strong and the poems chosen (written by local poets) were well performed. The performance started off strongly with "We should not have to sit in rows" and of course, we were all seated in rows. =)

My favourites were Bloodline and Palindrome #1: Winter Tears in Act 1 and many in Act 2. The poems on national service were especially entertaining to the audience as most of us could identify with what we watched either through our own NS experiences or through the stories we heard and read. It also enabled us girls to appreciate more of what the guys droned on when they were serving NS.

I missed the installation at the end as Su and I didn't realise it was a poem and we walked off. The cast were outside the auditorium, seated on the floor, looking intently on pieces of paper soaked in containers of water.

Funny things to note:

1) Su and I got lost trying to find Singapore Art Museum. We walked to the Asian Civilizations Museum in the end. I swear I would have been able to find SAM in the day but somehow everything looks different at night.

2) Su and I waited outside the auditorium and were surprised when a guy dressed in the army uniform opened the door to let all of us in. I thought he came to watch the show.

3) Su thought the containers on the floor outside the theatre were for containing leaking water from the ceiling

4) Su was feeling sleepy and laid her head down on my shoulder to rest when a poem started and one of the cast shone his torch in her face and said something like "Told you to be quiet.....". She woke up immediately and we laughed so hard. Later on, when he performed "Geography of you", she kept saying that he's hot and all. Really woke her up.

5) Su was shocked by one of the cast when he ran down the stage shouting and stopped just in front of her.

Su was funny lah. Hahaha. It was also great to see SC perform again.

As for the other two performances, it will be the usual picnicking (pigging out) at Fort Canning. It will also be great to see Corrinne May perform live again.

So these are the programmes lined up till August. As for September, Au and I have checked out some tour packages for Syd/Mel and we're flying off in the last week of September. Finally!