t s u b a s a reservoir chronicle

Thursday, January 29, 2009

I don't get it. When girls feel crappy for no reason and want to moop around and be annoyed at the world, is it part of PMS? Or some sort of mood swing that girls are somehow entitled to have because of hormonal changes? Because I am thinking very irrational thoughts and wanting to commit irrational acts but the sensible part of my brain tries very hard to persuade me to act sensibly. It's like you have everything but because of such crazy mood swings you are filled with dissatisfaction and want to snap at people over silly things. Fuck. I've never been a particularly PMSish person (ask anyone) but I think tonight is one of those days when I'm just going to have to be in an irrationally bad mood and justify it with hormonal changes.

Sorry guys.

Lingga says @#%$! at 9:17 PM

I am currently at work! Office mostly empty because most of the temp staff have been made to go on compulsory leave. Mine's for tomorrow. Why CL you ask? Cuz the 40 of us are so under-utilized in answering the very little 180+ calls or so we get everyday that we are wasting taxpayers' money. -.- It's true, most of the time we sit here and surf strange blogs and websites (like www.failblog.org which has become quite popular after I mentioned it to Wen) or stare into blank space or watch the clock hands travel around and thinking how many hours there are left to lunch. And then after lunch we repeat the cycle and we count how many hours there are left before we're released. If we're lucky our phones may ring about 3 - 5 times a day (in this period, apparently number of calls are expected to increase in first week of Feb) and we will pick them up and explain to the callers what the Jobs Credit scheme is about. We're also handling the Defer Giro scheme but no one cares enough about it to ask (ok la no la, it's because the letters haven't been sent out yet. But they will be in another week or so).

It's quite a cushy job I guess. I'm paid about $7.35 (from next month onwards, this month it's only 6.85) an hour to sit here and surf the net. Sorta. But I'm so mindlessly bored most of the time because no one calls me, and I'm not even sitting with Wen and Lijie, who are only separated from each other by one person. :( So most of the time I surf the net (I READ STRAITS TIMES ONLINE EVERYDAY) or stone a bit looking at the clock.

The hardest phone calls I get are the ones who have strong Indian accents -.- I got one like that yesterday and I took damn long to realise "furrrsh yerrr pee-rrrr" meant "first year PR". It may seem very obvious now but trust me on the phone it is just gibberish. Anyway, the call lasted about 15 minutes because I had to take some time to decipher his accented english before I could formulate an answer for him. I got a chinese caller on the first day of work, too -.- That was hard. I had to say Jobs Credit scheme in chinese (hu yong pu tie).

Anyway, Lijie Wen and I have met some interesting people! Including a pair of male twins our age and their 21 year old brother, who is 195cm tall. ZOMG. That is monstrously BFG-ish tall! He sits next to Wen, who takes care not to stand up too much when he is standing up because she looks like an absolute midget. I don't even want to think how Yip or Cassandra are gonna look XD

Lingga says @#%$! at 10:50 AM

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Meow Mee doesn't like Bear.

Lingga says @#%$! at 7:57 PM

Hi Sok Mui! Actually yesterday at 4 the three of us probably reached home already. Cuz we only "worked" till 12.30. It was supposed to be a briefing on our duties, but we actually just got warned many times about the importance of taxpayers' confidentiality and security breaches and how we can't use to the system to find out how much our principals earn. Stuff like that. Signed a lot of contracts. Basically a waste of time. But we still got paid for the 4 hours. Then at 12.30 went to the jap restaurant upstairs for sushi. Wen and I went to Centrepoint to visit Jia the sandwich artist after that! Jia looked sooo cute in her green subway shirt packing lettuce or whatever into the bread. :D

Oh yes, you know I bought the Anderson jacket during homecoming last Sat for $30 right? On Monday when I accompanied Jessica around AMK to stake out hair salons (actually we just went shopping most of the time), I spent $29.50 on a pair of satin black shorts (20% off). On Tuesday after work when Wen and I were at Centrepoint, while waiting for Jia to get off work at 3 I bought a silver dress for CNY for $29.50 (50% off). For both purchases I spent less than one minute debating them. !! I am a renowned cheapskate, plus I am indecisive. Why am I suddenly so decisive where money-spending is concerned! Okay lah the swapping of money for clothes (I have spent most of the money I've earned these 2 days) made me very happy and excited. But still.

So back to work. Today we reported for our first full day and first day of training at 8.30. First of all, training room was damn cold today and yesterday, so I actually caught a cold yesterday night -.- Today we sat in the training room from about 8.30 - 12.30 then from 1.30 - 5. 4 lectures. 4 sets of powerpoint slides. On stuff like "basic tax terms", tax payments, how to navigate the system and even customer etiquette. -.- They even gave us each an exercise book! However, you will realise that having 4 lectures (about 19 slides per lecture?) spread out over 7.5 hours is really quite time-inefficient. So in between lectures we had like 20 - 30 min breaks, during lectures 10 min breaks, even had time for a 30 min self-introduction done by the 40+ people in the batch, and so on. Really quite a waste of time sometimes when we just sit around and create mindless chatter (just like jc lectures). But then I remember that I'm getting paid for this (so not like jc lectures) and it seems a lot better.

Now I know more about GIRO (a scheme where you can arrange to have your tax payments deducted from your bank account) and forms of payment more than I ever want to!

Anyway, Wen, Lijie and I have the same job, which is to handle calls made to the 2009 Budget helpline. You know, after PM makes the speech tomorrow at 1.30pm unveiling the new budget, people will call in asking oh I'm this and this, what tax exemptions do I enjoy and so on? Yep about 70 people will be fielding calls like that including us. So that's why we're reporting for work at 2.30pm tomorrow, after the speech, so we can get arm ourselves thoroughly with knowledge to start work officially on Friday. But we also need to know all the general questions about taxes and payments in case people ask (although who calls budget helpline to ask generic questions like these, I have no idea) us. I can't wait to get my first psycho taxpayer call. I know they might shout and get pissy and scold bad words, and people get defensive and want to scream back at them, but like I told Jessica I'm so used to being politely condescending I'll probably just politely condescend to them and be falsely apologetic to whatever insults they call me. I need to be THICK-SKINNED! But secretly I'll be very excited and amused, and will tell everyone else I know that Mr/Mdm so-and-so is crazy. Hahaha.

No need to wake up at 7 tomorrow! But I have nothing to do at home anyway. Hmm. Can't wait for CNY (got chio dress to wear! Coolness!). Wanna go shopping moreeeeee.

Lingga says @#%$! at 7:30 PM

Sunday, January 18, 2009

I am sunburnt around the shoulder blades from Sentosa on Thursday! And my back is quite distinctly darker than my face or the front of my arms -.- thanks to me resolutely refusing to face the sun so my face wouldn't sunburn (just in case). So my back bore the brunt of it. Although the sunburn isn't too bad, it still hurts when I toss around in bed :( Now I have a darker back! Coolness!

I think I'm developing a penchant for jumbo sausages :D But whyyyyy do they have to be sooooo expensive? *pokes fingers together*

Anyway, yesterday was Anderson Homecoming! I met with Lijie and Wen at AMK station before walking to school, just like how it was at 6.45am every morning when me and Lijie would talk and talk and talk rubbish on the way. Anyway, Lijie was really late (she strangely decided to take the mrt from Woodlands to Marina Bay and back again to AMK cuz she left the house too early) and Wen and I had to make slightly awkward conversation with Rama Ramo, who is back with a bigger and tighter body o.O Hahaha!

So waited for Chia chia at the school gate. TONS OF PEOPLE inside. Spent ages milling around waiting in the wrong queue (we were told to register, but we ended up in the queue for people to leave their well-wishes), and then finally cutting queue to register and receive a sticker that indicates from which Anderson campus you were from (yellow for the current campus). Nicky met up with Jia and I halfway and we sauntered around looking for food cuz Jia was damn hungry.

Eventually ended up in the hall later than everyone else, but it was okay because we got seats in the back and didn't pay attention to Mrs Poh and whoever it was who went up to make speeches. Although I heard the words uttered by Mrs A'shari on stage very clearly "and now we present to you... FOOD". So yes Jia and I stood up and made for the buffet tables on the right side of the hall quickly, before bringing the 4 plates (what, they were small plates okay and we were taking for Nicky :D) back to our chairs at the back.

Jia, Nicky, Layjia and I all bought the Anderson jacket! It's black with bright yellow stripes and has the school crest embroided on the heart (they should have saved the effort and made it less bigass). Not exactly the cutting edge of fashion, but it looks right on all of us for some reason. $30 to show our loyalty to the school and the needy children fund.

After we finished the fooood, Nicky and Jia and I quickly left the hall to go explore the premises! Anderson's recently built a new indoor sports hall which hangs in mid-air supported by pillars scaling 3 storeys, over a new basketball court. Quite cool. But we don't understand why it's got to be so high -.- Climb very sian leh. Stairwell also not very big.

We managed to meet Mr Wong, Eric Tay and Mdm Neo throughout the day! All of them said to Nicky the same things, which went in this order "Why are you this dark?" "What have you been doing (to get this colour)?" "You will get skin cancer." It was quite funny. Eric Tay only remembered my name when I told him he calls me with my surname too everytime in class -.- Nice one zheng lao shi.

After that, met up with Layjia in the canteen and broke out Snorta. More people joined in and we even roped in Mr Leow. Oh god, I will forever remember the going-away note Jia and I left for him detailing how we found that he resembled a french dancer on the streets of Paris spotting a deep v-necked white shirt with ruffles. It got quite havoc-ish until the school apparently wanted to close at 5+ and we left.

Jia had to leave to go back to the hospital to take care of her ye ye, so it was a rather odd company of people left - me, Nicky, Priscilla, Layjia and Benjamin and Sean who weren't from 4/4 and who I didn't know personally. Audrey met up with us at AMK, and all of us (minus Benjamin, who left us at AMK) went to Sembawang Shopping Centre (T_T MY ESPRIT) to eat at Astons. I love Astons. Although I should stop eating grilled fish everytime I visit a western restaurant. But their grilled fish with herbs is really superb! It was a surprisingly good dinner and we even played Bridge while waiting for the food to come -.- Nicky still has my Carlsburg deck!!!

Walked to Layjia's house. ZOMG AT LAYJIA'S HOUSE, which is like Orchard Road. The whole compound is her family's, and there are small 3-storey terrace blocks lining both sides of the common driveway (7 in total). I think each relative's family occupies each block. Layjia lives in the last block where she also keeps 7 dogs (!!!) which are not your normal cutesy teeny yappy things but large snarling barking furry animals! But they were barky in a very nice way. Only 2 were allowed to roam freely as they can be trusted not to maul strangers; Megan the black rottweiler was super attracted to Nicky (probably cuz Nicky's like the same colour as her) and Xiao Hei, the world's only un-hyperactive Jack Russell, plods along slowly and innocently after various people/his owner. I also met Coffee and Milo (who were damn furry and damn cute but also damn big) through the bars of Layjia's living room windows, where they looked at me with imploring eyes from the sideyard they were kept.

Anyway, what is most amazing is that the compound has 35 toilets. ....Each room has an attached toilet. 7 houses x 5 toilets. Zomg zomg. I liked her house! It's got a very home-ly comfortable feel (and so many toilets and dogs always bode well :D). We also discovered that Layjia has got 2 of practically all the textbooks from Sec 4 since when she cleared her "locker" (really just a corner in the classroom she and Jody occupied and threw all their books in) she found 2 of everything and brought them all home. So some poor sod's got his/her Bio, Chem, A Math, Social Studies textbooks in Layjia's house. Amazingly, she's STILL got them displayed on her shelves! Layjia admits she's a hoarder -.-

Sat in the living room area on the second floor to play more games! Jody arrived halfway through the second game of Boggle. Layjia generously donated her Absolut Vodka and her endless supply of Ribena so we could concoct vodka ribena as forfeits in the games later on. Nicky got very excited at the idea of alcohol, and volunteered to test the first mixture. We then moved on to Snorta when both Yongyuan and Wilson arrived sometime around 9. Daaaaaaaamn funny. I love Snorta sia! This time we made whoever got out-shouted by the other person drink from the communal forfeit cup.

Some time around 9+ Nicky and Audrey got very high from their consumption of alcohol. At 11 Nicky rolled around on the floor looking like this:

and tried to do this to Wilson:

Audrey had already thrown a variety of objects at Nicky during the game. It was time to stop the flow of alcohol, send Priscilla (who was tutoring the next day at 9am) off and to take group photos with Nicky's cam and Layjia's polaroid, which took pictures like these:

After that sat back down and talked about secondary school life until it was almost midnight, and Jody's brother came to fetch her. She offered people a lift to yishun mrt and suddenly everyone jumped up and made for the car, because people like Audrey and Nicky who stay in Buangkok and Serangoon Gardens respectively need to get home before public transport ceases. As it was clear that everyone wasn't gonna be able to fit, I took 859 home (since I live only 10mins from Layjia! Not fair to insist I get driven to Yishun right -.-) and on the way realised HEY I'm gonna be on the same route as Jody's car and I looked to my right and THERE WAS JODY SITTING THE FRONT SEAT OF HER BROTHER'S CAR bloody coincidental right! Called her and waved madly at everyone until the car (I'm on a public bus after all) overtook us and disappeared.

Fun fun fun day. Really very fun day with very fun company. :):):)

Lingga says @#%$! at 7:42 PM

Friday, January 16, 2009

Everywhere around me, girls are bemoaning the fact that their significant others are locked up in Tekong becoming pillars of our nation's defence. I totally understand how they feel. It is akin to my long wait for the arrival CNY eve, steamboat, abalone and ang bao. If I just call CNY eve darling..

Darling, I really miss you :(

See? It's the same. :)

Okay lah, not to make fun of these poor girls. But you know, at least the guys can call you/sms you everyday right. If they're not (I assure you they definitely CAN and have time to. Sorta. Depending on how dirty or tired they are), then well, it's an issue you need to take up with them when they come back on the 23rd.

In the mean time, just occupy yourself with lotsa stuff. Read books, watch movies, hang out with other girls just like you. Go and sing K!!! In short, hang in there, there's only a week left. Whereas there are 9 days left for me until CNY :( I sadder :(:(:(

(Fine, I admit this is a bloody nonsense post)

Lingga says @#%$! at 11:42 PM

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

7 days can feel like an eternity.

Wooh hit town yesterday with Jia, Wen & Sasa to help Sasa find 2 dresses for her bro's wedding. Sasa mnust have shopped more yesterday than she's done so for the past 3 years. Hit 2 Isetans, 1 Taka and eventually Paragon, where it is actually quite nice to shop because there is virtually no one at the back of the mall. Went for things with crazy prints on them and virtuous dresses. Sasa's mom had been like, no budget, so this time anything under a $120 was fair game. Haha. Really gave our calves a workout yesterday. Then partially sent Jia to Centrepoint for her Subway interview. Jia's gonna be a sandwich artist!

Happy birthday babe! You're 19 and I honestly can't believe where all those years have gone. You're still as short as the first time I met you. Sorta. :D

Lingga says @#%$! at 3:44 PM

Sunday, January 11, 2009

I think I might get based up for saying this, BUT is it me or are there a lot of people breaking up these days?? I skulk around facebook fairly often checking my friends' status updates and suddenly I realise I've been seeing a lot of "So-and-so is now single." Then 20 minutes ago another "So-and-so and so-and-so have ended their relationship."

Hmm. I know right after As there was a shitload of new couples. Suddenly everyone around me seemed to be getting attached -.- Like literally everyone. Or on the path to getting attached la. Okay, even now there are still people who "So-and-so is now in a relationship.", but number is far less than the ones who are now single. Wonder why.

Campus Superstar is very bad -.- The guys cmi in terms of looks, the girls are chio, Yoga Lin looks completely bored to tears in WHATEVER promotional activity he is doing related to the show or on stage, I increasingly find Felicia Chin's antics very act cute (and I never got over her changing her name to chen jing xuan. Not as distinctive as chen feng ling leh I think), which is strange because I used to like her, the students all sound a bit weird in that they seem to be trying to sound very sophisticated and there's a lot of slang when they pronounce "jian" as "gian" and so on. Some quite awful zou yin at the 2 hour long so-called concert special I caught on repeat telecast yesterday afternoon, but in general voices are not bad. Jia asked me exasperatedly why I'm even watching if it's that bad, but see I'm just quite bored and need things to occupy me for a few hours. Even cringe-worthy concerts. Haha. I know, even I myself get tired with announcing that I'm super bored.

I neeeeeed to check out Sembawang Shopping Centre because my beloved Esprit factory outlet has moved there *sheds a million teardrops*

Lingga says @#%$! at 5:05 PM

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Princess Diaries 10 is supposed to have been out in Singapore already T_T Since like Jan 6. But I went to Popular just now and it's still not out. SADNESS.

Oh yeah digress for a moment, another kid barrelled into my legs just now at the library. I'm like ... I mean, I know they have a tendency to do so but now I think God's making them walk into my legs just to mock at me you know? Like, oh wherever you go in future you are cursed to always have little children smack into your legs because for some weird reason they can see other people's legs and not yours! Muahaha

Anyway (like you can't tell) I'm totally bored at home. Dunno how many times I have to emphasize that -.- I can't concentrate on reading, because there's nothing compelling enough to read for now (except maybe for PD10 :D) I'm so bored, I'm counting down to the 25th, which is fyi 15 days away (just to prove to you that I am INDEED counting down, hahaha). Why am I so lame as to count down to CNY eve? Some of the more general reasons include

1. CNY = $$$.
My stash of angbao money from 2008 has disappeared with the purchasing of presents for 4 different people. Some people still owe me money lor -.- but I dunno if I'll have time to meet them in future cuz we'll be busy with work and such. Huh. Well okay actually it's not that I don't have money I have a hundred dollar note my er peh gave me for new year last year, but which I don't want to spend because I've never had a hundred dollar note to myself before! So it's still sitting at home in an angbao somewhere. Haha.

2. CNY = steamboat & bao yu to eat!
In case you don't know by now, I am a big fan of abalone. I know most people don't like because it's sorta tough and even rubbery but I just love the chewy texture. Meow Mee loves abalone too because sometimes I share a little bit of mine with him :) I'm not sure but I don't think there are many abalone-eating cats in Singapore. Also, I love steamboat. During steamboat we'll ALWAYS have um pig liver and pig kidney, which I love. Especially the kidney :D Yes, I'm gross, but whatever it's super nice to eat.

Maybe I should just count down to the 20th, when I start work, because I think time will fly once I start work. I'll also get to hang out with Wen & Lijie and hopefully Sok Mui, which is always great fun.

Mom just walked in and said "ni zuo Saturday hao, you $30 ke yi na! Saturday hen hao office mei you ren de." Ooh. New perspective. Maybe I can even break out the cards then. :D

One last random piece of information - I'm quite interested in this year's Campus Superstar even though I haven't watched a single episode yet. I attribute it to my leaving all forms of academic rigour for good last year but still have some lingering attachment to school.

Gah, so bored.

New Zealand should be so lucky. Jealous jealous jealous

Lingga says @#%$! at 2:56 PM

Friday, January 09, 2009

I am super bored. I need to get hired, quick.

So on 5 Jan some members of 4/4 met up at Mind Cafe in Dhoby Ghaut for a planned class gathering :) Layjia and I were in charge of "planning". Actually she did most of the work while I was one of the disseminators that's all lol. The event was a failure in terms of response, as evident on facebook -.- but it was a success in terms of amount of fun :D The people who turned up included Jia, Wei Ching, Nicky, Dev, Alfred, Yongyuan and of course Jody & Layjia. I haven't hung out with everyone except for Jia Dev & Nicky of course for AGES so I was pretty surprised to find that conversation flowed easily and we laughed and joked --

WAIT! IRAS JUST CALLED ME! I AM HIRED!!!! *dances around in joy*

After waiting so long T_T But unfortunately. I only start work on the 20th. Sian leh. What am I gonna do for the next week??? I'll be super duper BORED, I've been cooped up at home watching movies on HBO and stalking Rama on facebook (LOL inside joke). Anyway I've got to work on Saturdays as well, from 8.30 - 1. !!! I suppose work more earn more yah. But still. Pay's lower than what my mother told me, instead of 7.50 which I've been gleefully announcing to the whole world, it's 6/hour for Jan, then 6.50/hour for the rest of the months I work.

Anyway back to the outing. So yes, only after the 4 hours we spent there shouting damn loudly and screaming (for SOME of us *coughlayjiacough*) hysterically then did I venture to the selection of board games there and realise there are like MANY MANY which we could play too. I def wanna go back next time and try out this board game I was eyeing the last time I went to Plaza Sing with Nicky and co. to get '1000 nights of sex' for his aunt and uncle. It's some test how dirty your mind is game. With like a lot of sexual connotations and shit. As anyone who knows me should know, I am pro at this thanks to my frequent dalliances with Faris bin Ridzuan since the age of 13.

Anyway, Alfred had to leave halfway to go back to school, and Nicky just nice arrived and took his place. So we were charged only for 8 people :D However, it turned out that the bill consisted not just of $5 for the 4 hours but also board game charges and service charge and so on. In the end it was more like $8, but okay lah considering how much fun we had and the fact that there was actually an location to do all these stupid things. We'd earlier made reservations at Mad Jack for dinner at 6.30, a party of 10 (me using Jody Ang's name because Deng Yiling is just very difficult to spell on the phone), and it was only 6, but everyone started declaring that they were starving and we made our way to Paradiz straight away. Yongyuan announced that he was going to the toilet and we all nodded our acknowledgement. When we were crossing the overhead bridge to Paradiz I was counting the number in our group and strangely puzzled there were only 7. But I couldn't figure out what was so strange about the number. It turned out that, unfortunately, sadly, shamefully, we had left without Yongyuan -.- and didn't even remember him until he called Layjia! Hahaha! So pai seh! He'd in fact made his way to Mad Jack faster than we did, as we paused on the second floor for a while to inform the rest about Yongyuan's abandon -.-

So interestingly. 7 of us ordered grilled fish (with cream sauce, black pepper sauce and honey lemon sauce). Layjia ordered chicken baked rice. Most of us finished our fish in 20 minutes, which was the time Layjia's baked rice took to come. We thus had ample time to marvel speechlessly at her traditional style of eating baked rice/pasta - she scoops up a spoonful of rice, pours in some tabasco sauce and generously dumps parmesan cheese on the rice, before she eats it. She did this for EVERY SINGLE BITE! Like zomg! How much cheese is that man? Uh, she did ask for another plastic cup of cheese when she was halfway done though :x

Jia and Wei Ching distracted us from Layjia's baked rice-eating antics by ordering dessert and offering bites to everyone :D banana crumble and warm chocolate cake with ice cream respectively. The crumble impressed Jody and Layjia so much that they made Nicky and Yongyuan share in another one with them and polished off the whole thing damn quickly. After that we sat around while Layjia checked for movie slots via her phone but I was already sure I'd be going home in a while, so wasn't very interested. They wanted to watch ponyo!!!! You may scorn me for this, for the movie is highly acclaimed and has many stars, but the trailer disgusted me so much that I swore I would never watch the movie. It's got like a pulsating ugly baby in pink on an oyster bed (or was it the bed that was pulsating?) or something under the sea and some strange kiddish voice chirping out a song in the background. I remember the baby's got freaky eyes. Ew! How could anyone want to watch that? But yes I am biased.

They changed their minds and went to pool instead! Cuz all the movie time slots were quite late. Wei Ching and I walked back to the station by ourselves, she'd intended to cab home to catch xiao niang re -.- but in the end took train with me and we had fun discussing rich people and their ostentatious houses (particularly memorable line she said "ni dong wo men de men pai bu shi gua zai men qian ma? ta men de shi ke zai shi tou shang de" - you know our door plates hang above our gates right? Theirs are carved in stone) and other quite inane stuff. Ah, reminds me how much fun I used to have with my ah niu ge (uh, inside joke, hahahaha) who sat across the aisle from me in class, when we always compared maths worksheet answers and complained about Mr Wong insisting our curves are not parabolic enough. :)

So yes anyway can I just state for the record that 6 Jan was a day full of funny fuck ups, hahaha!

Lingga says @#%$! at 5:04 PM

Sunday, January 04, 2009

And here's the print of the chio t-shirt:

I have absolutely no idea what the 2 of them are doing. On closer inspection you will deduce that it's a guy and a girl (the girl is wearing skinny jeans and looks like her long hair is tucked in front of one shoulder) each holding an umbrella and staring off smiling in opposite directions, brandishing some foreign object.

...??? I don't care. It is cryptic and whimsical and I love it. People on the mrt will stare at it while sitting down and facing your shirt and then scratch their heads desperately trying to figure it out.

Enid and I trying to pull off some emo shit on the plane. I love Enid. She is seriously my best seating partner. Sitting with her, the 2 hours on the plane almost flew by as quickly as the 4 days did. We talked and talked and talked rubbish, got tired, then each plugged into our own respective mp3 players for 20 mins, and tadah - plane began its descend. :D

I love this photo. It was taken in this long floaty bohemian skirt shop with expensive long skirts. This is a classic example of the (lower end of the) spectrum of varying fashion taste in Bangkok -.- I burst out laughing upon examining the mannequins' faces. I DARE YOU TO STARE AT THEM FOR 10 SECONDS AND MAINTAIN STRAIGHT FACE.

Where we ate at the airport before flying home. The story with the young chicken fried rice will probably be told for generations to come. Ask me and I will tell you.

Lastly, the elusive male t-shirt store where I am going to ask my sister to go to. The white piece of paper is the notice announcing the shop's closure -.- There's Enid, standing guard outside the t-shit store Mel & Sok Mui were checking out, with the large green plastic bag which was dumping ground for al our purchases the day before. It was pretty huge by the end of the previous day and we all took turns carrying it around because it was so comfortable like hugging a cushion. The only reason why Enid's carrying it and it's so deflated is because Sok Mui had to bring the original plastic bag and the item she wanted to exchange back to this particular store to convince them to let her switch (they did).

BY THE WAY, I love Bangkok salespeople. They're so friendly and intimate without being intrusive. And they are genuinely nice lor. If Singaporeans tried to put on the effusive friendly act ("Welcome!") I get quite irritated. Singaporean salespeople are polite but don't really give a shit what you want, and if they try to be warm, it is obviously fake and gets on my nerves -.- I'd much rather they maintain a distance and not try and bother me. But STRANGELY, in Bangkok, I felt very at ease with all the salespeople, who are mostly young, know what they are doing, care about your needs and are PRETTY. So strange! I didn't really see ugly Thai salesgirls. Okay lah got, but they are usually unpleasant and rude if they're ugly (Enid + SM + Mel and I stumbled upon this shop I termed the mean girls shop because the 2 salesgirls were sooooo minah and soooo rude). And those are rare. I met a lot of those pretty and qing xiu types who are very sweet and pleasant. Where are they in Singapore???

AND ON THE LAST DAY, I MET A LADYBOY EVERY 5 MINUTES! So fascinating!!! They are usually tall and thin and very pretty and have super good figures. Until they talk then you get a shock. =x How come so many thronging Platinum Mall on 30 Dec?? I also have no idea. Haha.

Lingga says @#%$! at 11:05 PM

It turns out that I'm not starting work in 2 days! Hahaha. Apparently IRAS needs to call each of us and arrange for interviews. Like what certs to bring and show them etc. Well my mom assures us that we'll 100% get hired, so I'm not too worried. I can still handle a few basic questions on my work etiquette and stuff like that. Probably won't get too intense right - like throw in passion-related questions. I mean, this is a temp job. As long as you look clean and smell okay and don't seem too slow, you'll probably get the job right? :)

So wow. I was at Sok Mui's blog and HOW COME she like bought so many more things than I did? *muses* It's true she was like throwing necklaces into her bag and money at the shopkeepers. But still got like quite a few unaccounted for leh. LOL at her organic jumper, which she eventually managed to get exhcnaged haha!!!

Oh yeah my clothes are all in shades of black and white, did I mention? No wonder they're so chio :) Perhaps I should stop bothering with colour and just invest in a chic black and white wardrobe, like how Enid's wardrobe is 60% black or something. It's so easy to match things. What goes with one top will go with 2/3 of the rest. *muses again*

I REALLY need to buy shorts. Black shorts. And work-ish pencil skirts. Or floaty A-line skirts. And more basic cotton tops in solid colours. OMG I JUST REALISED I MISSED OUT THE ENTIRE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY SALE. I didn't go shopping at all in Singapore for the month of December! Uh other than for prom dresses. But oh yah. The shopping for prom made me so weary that I swore I would lay off Orchard for 2 months, didn't I? *realisation dawns* No wonder I didn't go shopping. Anyway, I have so many new things to wear. Like 7 new things to wear. How can I go shopping? What do I need so many clothes for? *ooh yes, many things, like personal satisfaction and the joy of excessive consumerism, voices in head chime*

Anyway I need some time to snap out of the Bangkok shopping state because in Singapore, one obviously cannot go far if all the prices she expects to pay for clothing are to be under $10. I was at Giordano earlier today, taking a break from shopping for a webcam, when I saw this black and grey minute striped long and loose polo tee which was $33. I tried it on and quite liked it. But because of the last day of the lunch special or something, it was storewide 40% off, effectively making the shirt $20, and even though I know IT IS NOT BANGKOK ANYMORE AND THAT TOPS DO NOT COST $10 ANYMORE (sob) I still thought it was expensive!!! -.- *shakes head* I think I might start taking yearly trips to Bangkok for shopping at Platinum Mall. 2 night stays every year with $300 shopping money :D I think I can save enough for that.

Hahaha.

Okay going for dinner soon! We're having Thai food.

Lingga says @#%$! at 6:02 PM

I can't believe I'm starting work in 2 days!!!!

THIS IS THE END OF MY POST-AS SLACKING.

T_T How on earth did my December pass by so quickly?? Well true, the last few days were spent mindlessly thronging shopping malls for clothes in Bangkok, which understandably led to the days melting together into one large time period which passed very fast, but what about the first few weeks of Dec? What the hell was I doing?

Ah, I remember watching Bolt with Nicky Dev and Sonia and hilariously mall-hopping to find a cinema that showed Bolt at 7. We finally settled at PS for the 9pm showing. And buying "A 1000 nights of sex" for Nicky's aunt and uncle (!!!). Note to self: never ever catch evening movies at Cineleisure on Friday nights unless you go in the afternoon to purcahse tickets first.

I also remember... prom. Yeah. Whatever.

I remember watching American Pie 1 & 2 -.- By the end of the February I resolve to finish watching all 6 movies in the series. Hahahaha (it's really quite funny XD).

I remember spending Xmas Eve with the 4/7 girls + Shunwei at Mad Jack eating dinner at 6, dessert at 8 and still have lots of time to sit around outside National Library bored to tears and freezing in the wind!

I remember being vaguely concerned when people were like furiously sending out resumes and looking for jobs, and me thinking "hmm it doesn't seem very correct that I get to sit here and slack watching movies on HBO knowing that I can earn 7.50/hour doing mindless data entry without even trying". Also remember being vaguely concerned with taking BTT. But not really caring (after all, I've got 2 years to do so). And vaguely concerned with the possibility of taking SATs in case my GP grade is shit (PLEASE GOD NO I CAN'T DEPEND ON ANYTHING ELSE), because Hian Huat reminded me, but then not really caring again. See how unimportant such things are to me now. Ooh, love the ability to shove them to the back of my head and forget about them :D

I remember arranging all my lit notes and passing them to Eugene to photocopy and then getting them back and then going home to get my Geog notes and then "selling" them all to Yirong for $10 at Jurong East MRT station. I sold them so cheap cuz I was guilty of making him wait 40 mins for me -.-

I remember coordinating the 4/4 gathering tomorrow with Layjia on msn! And getting ignored by all the 4/4 people who we invited into the msn window!!!! *is crushed* Horrible people, all of you.

I remember Jia and Wen coming to send me off :)

I remember resolutely stating that in Dec I would have a buffet -.- And I didn't. .... Oh wait! I did! But it wasn't the one that I thought I would have. I want to eat dim sum. Or sushi. :3 :3 :3 I want to eat xiao long bao, and shui jing bao, and har gao, and dim sum, and everything else that comes in the little baskets *salivates* I want to eat the Zhou's Kitchen high-tea buffet at Square 2! Oh my god I'll be working at Novena! So near yet so far... and anyway I can't eat cuz during that period I'll be working. Boohoo. *wanders off talking to herself*

I want to eat Aston's grilled fish with herbs :) And New York New York's crispy fish pasta in that fabulous cream sauce. Orgasmic. And and and. DIM SUM. And KFC's O.R. fillet burger lol!

Oh yes I tried the KFC breakfast, the uh American/Original wraps. Not bad. But the honey biscuit is shit. The honey comes from the thin layer of sweet substance on top of like 1/10 of the surface area of the biscuit. I thought it'd be like crack open the biscuit OOH honey flows out! But no. Give me an oily hashbrown ANY DAY. BK's Crossan'wich is till the best :):):) Favourite breakfast ever.

The soles of my feet are in an absolute state of degeneration -.- Cracked heels, very rough, a lot of dead skin etc. Zomg. Must buy those creams soon already. AND JIA'S BIRTHDAY IS IN 10 DAYS OR SO. ZOMG ZOMG. HER 19TH BIRTHDAY!!!! Jia is like. Damn old lah -.-

You know Weiyi told me that the ages 13 - 19 were the teenager years. I never knew that. How come, I asked. He asked me to list the ages. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen. Got what in common?

.................................... Seriously ah? I bloody never knew that.

I AM GETTING MY A LEVEL RESULTS THIS YEAR.

Lingga says @#%$! at 11:23 AM

Friday, January 02, 2009

Shopping trips in Bangkok can be sooo productive. Hello everyone I came back on 31st Dec 12.30am :)

On the third day which was spent completely in Platinum Mall, Enid & Sok Mui & I totally had a blast shopping together, oohing and aahing over clothes. I have explained before Sok Mui and my inexplicably similar tastes and as Enid's pretty much receptive to our tastes, we were a FANTASTIC shopping threesome. We spent four hours alone combing the first floor (which was huge) and bought many *squeals in glee* tops.

Because strangely, in Bangkok's markets and neighbourhood shopping malls no one tries clothes on before buying them, (probably because all the girls are so tiny and skinny everything fits anyway) I had a nagging worry that my tops would all turn out to look hideous on me/not fit. NO NEED FOR SUCH WORRIES because they are all so fantastically good-looking, as I discovered yesterday when I finally dug out everything and tried them on. *sighs happily* Thank you Enid & Sok Mui, for being such wonderful shopping companions, and thank you for always spotting something you like in the shop where I want to get something because only then can we purchase each of our tops at wholesale prices, making it very very cheap and very very worth it. Sok Mui and I simply buy the same tops in different colours because we spot and like the same things. It is hence not very difficult for Enid to also chip in with something she likes from the same shop and make up the necessary quota of 3 items to purchase at wholesale prices. *nods happily*

Anyway, I got something like 3 t-shirts (one of which Sok Mui has in a different design), 4 tops (of which Sok Mui has 2 in different colours), 1 vest (exact same which Sok Mui bought too), 2 kimono tops, a long white flowy skirt (which Sok Mui has in purple-pink) and a pair of super cute slippers. 3 rings and one necklace. And many gifts :)

Oh point is, the last day of the trip (aka day we fly home), we all went back to Platinum Mall. My sole purpose was to find 2 shops and exchange 2 items I'd bought. Enid's was to find 2 shops and purchase 2 items. Sok Mui's was to find 2 shops and exchange 2 items. In short, it was a "Re-locate the shop you stopped by yesterday" trip. We spent hours and hours searching for stores which we'd nonchalantly and casually stopped by in our walking process yesterday, but which for some funny reason CANNOT be found if you're looking very hard for it. In fact, you'd think with 4 pairs of eyes and 2 different groups of people searching the whole first floor, locating ONE shop would be easy, but the fact is we ALL managed to walk RIGHT by the shop and miss it completely even though our eyes were glued to the signboards resolutely scanning for shop exteriors which looked like the one we remembered. This particular shop SM Enid and I had in fact visited TWICE on the third day -.- Anyway Michelle and the rest found it for Enid in the end.

For me, however, I painstakingly had to go back to try and locate the male t-shirt store in Platinum Mall because the tee I got from there had the size&logo, originally supposed to be printed inside the tee, printed OUTSIDE on the back instead. -.- Anyway I was gonna force them to let me exchange the tee. I spent about an hour walking around the third and fourth floors with Mel, Sok Mui and Enid LOOKING for the damn bloody store because the whole mall has like 1500 shops or something. I wanted to die, dragging the other 3 around behind me as I checked corner shop after corner shop for the elusive shopfront. AND I SAW IT. I SAW IT. I FINALLY SAW THE SIGNBOARD.

And the shop was fucking closed.

For the new year.

......... Closed from 30 Dec (THE DAY AFTER I BOUGHT THE SHIRT) to 3 Jan. Sigh.

Such rotten luck nowadays -.- Kena fever then this kind of thing. Anyway, I'm gonna pass the shirt to my sis who is going to Bangkok on the 7th so she can exchange the shirt for me. The print on the shirt is SO chio. I'll take a photo of it and post it up next time I have a chance.

Yes anyway. I AM SO HAPPY WITH MY PURCHASES! Sok Mui die already I tell you she has like 400 necklaces. And cuffs and rings. Crazy woman. See already get very excited then must buy. Hahaha. By the way, Enid & Mel both bought the same chio tarnished silver ring as I after realising that it cost only 60 baht. So now all 3 of us have the same ring :) And I exchanged one of my kimono tops (this horrendous bright orange monstrosity which the rest said was bright and cute but which looks like shit on human bodies) for the same top Jess eventually bought. I need to thank Michelle and Jess for psychoing the shopkeeper into letting me exchange my top :) She was totally adamant and apologetic about NOT allowing me the exchange but after Michelle was like "She exchange, we buy. She cannot exchange, we don't buy" in this super no-nonsense voice and Jess piped in winningly, she relented! They make a great combi lor. Michelle is pro at slashing prices. There's something about the combination of the stone-faced firm stance that she adopts and her small petite frame that makes people somehow RELENT and offer lower prices. We speculated and gathered it must be the whole "xiao hai zi" but at the same time "scary-ily no-nonsense firmness" mixture.

I love shopping in Bangkok. Lalala. Enid loves tom yum :) Everyone else loves pad thai. What I DO NOT LOVE is paying 175 baht for young chicken fried rice!!!

Lingga says @#%$! at 3:56 PM