t s u b a s a reservoir chronicle

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Anyway I was just struck by a realisation that they should just close the damn helpline on Saturdays and open the helpline for longer periods on weekdays instead. This way we don't have to spend $1.70 taking public transport to get to work to answer one phone call, then spend another $1.70 to go back home. It is hardly cost-efficient.

I can't believe I've only been here for 2 hours.

I am bored. The whole office is so bored (and quiet), we are all being lulled to sleep by the absence of phone ringing. Tzu Jye (one of the twins) is asleep with his back against his chair and his head on the back of another chair behind him. -.- Looks pretty uncomfortable. But from what I see during office hours he seems pretty good at falling asleep in strange positions.

Me, I'm gonna get back to blogging.

God. I have received one call the whole morning. From a woman who just wanted to know when tax filing at community centres started. Which is really totally not the information we are trained to give, but I asked and told her accordingly. Because many times we get very very random questions from taxpayers who for some reason like to dial our number instead of the correct one, even though we are clearly listed as the number to call if you have enquiries about the budget especially for Jobs Credit and DeferGiro. But you know, "we practise No Wrong Door Policy". So yeah just give them whatever information they want.

So out of say maybe 15 calls I get I check at least 5 under the number 12, which is "Others", because they ask seemingly irrelevant (to our helpline I mean) questions. Many times I am so curious I ask the TP (taxpayer) just how they got this number, and they're like "oh it was on the letter you sent me, and I thought since I'm calling to ask about this I might as well ask about that!" and then you tell them "oh actually you'll have to call Income Tax at 1800 356 8300 instead" (I think the temp staff there totally hate us I refer like, 4 out of 10 calls over at the end of my conversation with the TP) and they go "but can't you just transfer my call over? What, you all cannot transfer call one? How come like that?" No we can't, we're not one big department nor are we receptionists for Income Tax, get over it already woman. Some TP very nice, will just go "oh thanks can you give me the number", some not so nice and get snotty demanding that we transfer their calls.

I'm getting totally pro at decipheirng Indian/foreign accents. The other day this girl Lydia suddenly said (in an almost-desperate voice) in the middle of the day "can someone help me??? I have absolutely no idea what he is talking about. He has a very strong accent" so Wen had to go "EH YILING VERY PRO AT ANSWERING INDIAN CALLERS", so I had to go over and pick up the phone. Anyway first of all she wasn't kidding about the accent. Most of the time I couldn't tell when he was speaking his native tongue or when he supposedly switched to English. I can tell it's English sometimes when I spot certain words, like when he addresses me "miss" or says "GIRO", so based on these words and the utterances of affirmation he gives when I guess what he's asking correctly ("So uh sir, are you asking about your tax balance? Would you like me to check it for you?"), I eventually somehow managed to give him the answers that he wanted (I guess? To the questions he asked and I didn't manage to decipher in time, I merely went yes that's right sir. Hopefully I didn't give any glaringly inaccurate information la). So I guess it was a successful phone call?

Some TP really very nice, they say thank you very much dear. And they wish that I'll have a nice day :)

2h 15 mins to go. ARGH.

You know I utilized my student pass privileges for the first time since As yesterday? At Pastamania in Shaw. People like Sasa automatically get student meals when they go to KFC, or do not have to show ez-link when they pay 55 cents for bus ride (she always does this one!!!!). Anyway from what I heard from Wen, they're recalling back all existing student ez-link cards from primary, secondary and tertiary students (not for us teens who've already left school) this month so they can issue a new version of the student ez-link card. You know, since they're slowly phasing out the old ez-link card with the introduction of a new one that can be used as a cashcard and shit right. So the implication for US is that after they change to the new ez-link card, then we cannot abuse our student card privileges anymore because people will know we are not real students! As we will be showing the old card not the new one! HOW?? I don't want to give up on student meals and discounts T.T they save a lot of money... *pokes fingers together*

God, I never realised how good students have it (financially) until this year. But I do NOT miss school. I do not miss lectures or tutorials or even breaks. I would never give up the current post-As life I'm leading (devoid of studying, worksheets or exams) for another year of JC. Anyone who says otherwise, you're obviously crazy.

Lemme show a photo of Meow Mee~

Kitteh stares suspiciously from under drawer

Woah, I just spent an entire hour on this post. Fabulous! Passed an hour successfully.

Lingga says @#%$! at 10:29 AM

Yep, I'm at work. I'm also a facebook addict. Na na na.

I went shopping with Jin Ning yesterday in town. Current season at Forever 21 is very very appealing. I discovered a strange but intense desire to blow a lot of money on casual tops with nice prints on them trying to pass themselves off as articles of clothing worth more money. But which are essentially t-shirts. And my cheapskate inner voice knows that. So that's what's stopping me from blowing $28 + $39 at Forever 21 and Dorothy Perkins (! SOMETHING WORTH $39! ZOMG! Not that it is cheap but you know. It's Dorothy Perkins. $39 is like crazy mega sale for them) respectively.

Although the $39 t-shirt which has blue (nicest blue possible!!!) and cream stripes in many directions is really messing with my will of steel right now.

Anyway, we bought some basics from GG<5, a shop I would never step into unless there's a certain something going on. Yep SALE. 30% - 70%. Quite shiok. We managed to find quality bargains at the 70% off rack. Me and Jin Ning are happy.

Shopping makes people happy. I just blew $40 at Cotton On on Friday. And $33 in GG<5 yesterday. I am riding on a retail therapy high these days.

Lijie asked if I wanted to go to HK with Shunwei & her, sometime in July, and my mom was totally "you want to go go lor." But what I really want to do is to go back to Bangkok again because seeing all the clothing in blogshops and Max&More and Hula&Co and assorted Bugis/Far East shops and knowing they were a fraction of their Sing dollar prices in Thai baht makes me really, really... uncomfortable. It makes me want to hop on a plane to Bangkok, head for Platinum Mall and buy back 20 shirts straight. All at like, $8 or something. But of course, HK also can shop la (and I am more at ease with the food). But you know, my mom also said if I wanted to go Bangkok she was fine with it and that she and my dad would just tag along again. .......I think my mother just wants to go shopping too, but my dad very poor thing (he didn't buy a single thing when he went in Dec)

So what I'm asking is. Is there anyone who would want to come to Bangkok with me? Because God forbid I trawl the streets of Bangkok with my mother.

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

Thursday, February 19, 2009

COMPULSORY LEAVE! I love. Getting up before 7 is not love.

I promised Lijie to post some photos so that while she is working right now, she can read and entertain herself. But sorry wo de ai ren, I'm going to make this short cuz later on I need to catch the 11.30 bus from Yishun to SSC. SHOPPING! I also love.

Anyway for those who do not yet know, Lijie's gotten a new phone, the pink LG Viewty. We've both decided to switch to using LG phones because the new model of Nokia ones are really dead ugly. And since LG is the only brand whose text messaging works exactly the same as Nokia, it's the only brand I can bear to switch to. Also we're both shallow and easily seduced by pretty things, especially phones which happen to be pink. I was also very adamant about GETTING A FLIP PHONE this time round. And then it happened. We were both browsing around the Singtel store in Northpoint when we saw this:

The LG KF350 in pink.

Girly. Sweet. Chio. Fucking love at first sight.

So you can imagine my disappointment when, unfortunately, after some research on my part online and reading through all the reviews about it that I could find, I concluded sadly that it was not the best performing phone around (not even that it has lousy features. It apparently hangs and screws up in quite a number of ways, unanimously agreed upon by practically ALL its users -.- what the right) and hence not worth buying. I was very sad :( and am still looking for another phone to take its place of affection in my heart...

Lijie however, quickly turned her attention to the LG pink Viewty, which is this:

It's quite pretty, but the design or the colour don't really do it for me. Furthermore, it's a touchscreen phone. For all the hype about iPhones and touchscreen phones and how extremely cool the touch screen function is, it still doesn't make up for the fact that navigation is bloody inconvenient for me and hence, all touch screen phones no matter how fucking chio they are are totally out as a choice. :x

Anyway enough about phones. Lijie keeps showing off her new phone (but I have to admit, the stylus and poking on ehr screen with it IS pretty cool. If you don't have to sms on it, that's all). So we took a few photos to amuse ourselves in the office :D

Workplace.

The computer that's on right in the foreground is mine, and that's my workspace. Yeah. Lijie sits behind me towards my left, so the angle the photo is taken from is really her perspective when she turns around to look at the front.

And then I found this frame, which I used because obviously there are cats on them :D:D:D

My head isn't that big, it's only because I'm leaning forward to take the photo

Then we experimented with other frames.

Lijie! Chio bu!!! Sexy lips!!!

Hahha I shall be lazy and stop blogging for now.

Lingga says @#%$! at 10:06 AM

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Just spent 50 mins on karaokeparty.com warbling at my webcam. No one at home, must grab the opportunity ma. Now I know why the top few high scores on the website are for My Heart Will Go On. One, song is very slow. Two, there are only those few notes. Three, hold the notes (especially at vowels eg. I see yoooooo, I feeeeeeeel you) for 3 secs to jack up points. So fun. Although you know I don't actually have a mic, so I use the built-in one in my webcam.

NTU ADMISSIONS TALK! Waste of time -.- Met so many people we know. All kena cheated into attending the talks. Haha. It's my own fault la, listen to the business talk before already still go for it. But at least we got really prime seats in the theatre :)

MET SO MANY COUPLES! I have underestimated the number of couples in Singapore. I realised because past 5 years, V day has always fallen on weekdays, when couples are working and do not throng the streets at noon, plus either after school I go straight home or I hit heartland areas, and miss the sight of them thronging the streets.

Yesterday however, I had the whole afternoon to drink in the sights of a million girls bearing bouquets/balloons while their boyfriends sidled protectively alongside them down the hallway of Suntec City. Now I understand just how much business gift shops and florists can get just for that day itself. Every girl who didn't have a bouquet had a balloon (got one girl holding very gross balloon! Huge and transparent filled with rainbows and birds outside and I LOVE YOU in cursive! Boyfriend got no taste!) to show off! Wen and Lijie and I berated girls who walked with their bouquets thrust in front of them like a sign of supremacy. Flower only ma! Need to hold until like that meh.

A lot of couples in Citylink too. Lijie and I observed that most couples have similar dressing style, like if the guy is very immaculately dressed up the girl will be uber glam with thick make up and luscious curls, and if the guy is the Crumpler type the girl will be in Havianas and shorts. You know. We also made snide remarks (hohoho) about couples whose significant other happened to be much better looking than the other. But if you think about it it simply offers hope to the rest of the population that it's not just the beautiful who get to hook up with the beautiful. Very encouraging sign for you Lijie! :D

It was actually a very productive day because we did so much people-watching. I also learned a lot about Singapore's population dynamics and discovered that most rose bouquets actually look very similar to one another. And lastly, that hanging out with Lijie for a whole day can be very tiring -.-

So anyway, this week I am on CL on Thursday and Friday T.T I don't want, I have nothing to do. Then Saturday must go back and waste $3 to earn half a day of wages. T.T Then next Monday on CL again. T.T POOR ME!

Lingga says @#%$! at 12:33 PM

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Ok it is definitely time to blog. You'd have expected me to blog religiously seeing how much free time I have during work to surf the net. But there are other far more productive (and gratifying - at that instant anyway) things to do online than blogging. Such as, playing Who Has The Biggest Brain (my brain is VERY BIG NOW!), reading, facebook stalking various people who are very prominent in VJ O.O and of course, doing work when your supervisors hand you stuff to do -.- Number of calls has picked up this past week, with majority of people calling to ask aboutt he defer GIRO option letters they've received. I realise my chinese is quite inadequate to deal with the clueless middle-aged who simply want to know what the scheme is about. I dunno how to say "apply for this scheme" in chinese, so I compromise "ru guo ni yao apply zhe ge scheme", and they mostly understand what I'm saying so it's not too bad. But I feel quite ashamed to have to converse this way -.- I mean, not like I am those chinese CMI types right. AND I KEEP FORGETTING WHAT INCOME TAX IS IN CHINESE. I know tax is shui4, but income is..?? Completely flies my brain when I need to say it on phone.

AND, yesterday I came across a chinese expat (with very strong American accent "so, wadayoo think I shood doo?") who is FILTHY RICH. His income tax for one month is - notice it is income TAX not income - 20 thousand dollars!

!!!

Disgusting! Imagine how much he's drawing a month. Full expat portrait; his wife is British.

Oh yes, so I've got some long overdue photos.

I drew this using paint on the first day of work some weeks ago. I was sitting opposite Wen, very bored and there was no one next to me.

And then when I went to Jia's house to bake cookies last Wed:

Because the photo's been resized, you can't see the cookies that clearly, but when it's full size you can see those fat lumps of cookie dough just RISING and becoming fat lumps of shit-coloured cookies. Cool right!

The double choc chip cookies still tasted the best. The chocolate chip ones malfunctioned slightly because I uh, sorta didn't mix the butter in so evenly. So some cookies ended up being baked with more butter in them than desirable. And became a little bit salty.

This is Jia kneading at the butter cookie dough. It was supposed to have been cinnamon cookie dough, but we couldn't find any cinnamon powder at Cold Storage or NTUC, so Jia bought almond powder instead, but we both forgot to put in the almond powder before freezing the dough. So in the end we just sprinkled almond powder over the cookie dough before baking them into almond cookies.

What was hilarious was that the recipe book called for us to roll the dough into a long cylindrical shape, then freeze it so that it became mostly solid, then slice thin slices of cookie dough so that upon baking they'd become thin cookies. But perhaps due to differences in weather conditions -.- in the hot Singapore sun instead, the cookie dough kept melting into nuah-ness before Jia had time to slice them properly. So in the end we just kneaded lumps of dough and pressed them into circles. they still turned out pretty though :) and tasted good.

The heart-shaped brown cookie thing, although looking rather appetizing, tastes just like cocoa-flavoured dough that has been baked into a biscuit shape. Not the most desirable taste in a baked good. They were supposed to have been chocolate pretzels -.- and Jia and I think we've followed the recipe to a T... but for some reason it still ended up crappy. Oh well. So much for experimenting.

And here's a photo of Wen and Jia this Wed, when we went over to Jia's house to hang out.

The strappy tentacle-thingys are really part of Jia's goggles. They swam and did dumb things in the pool, like turn their swim caps into jellyfish which ate each other's swim caps, while I sat by the pool and read trying to get a tan (failed).

And lastly, exclusive photos of Lijie at work!

I kept telling her her particular outfit made her look like a lizard! That's Wen trying to be funny and simulating her lizard-y tail having been cut off and flopping about.

Notice her browser window - FACEBOOK. Next to her is one of the twin boys I mentioned.

Okay end of photo post. Later on, I'm gonna make like every other 19 year old single waiting for her A level results and go to the NTU Admissions Talk at Suntec, for want of something better to do (or a significant other to spend the day with). Meeting Lijie the Liazard (LOL) and Wenwen the Whale at City Hall, together with Shunwei, so we can do lunch and go shopping etc etc. UK/France reunion! Hahaha.

Lingga says @#%$! at 9:42 AM

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

One last thing before I go offline. I just finished reading P.S. I Love You this morning.

I cried BUCKETS all the way through it man. Like every time she opened up a letter for the month, I cried like shit. Oh god. It is a life-affirming book detailing how Holly picks up her life after Gerry's gone, but with his help for the first 10 months after his death, and how life goes on and love is lost but memories are forever. But I don't know don't even want to imagine how on earth I'll be like if I'm in her shoes. I end up wanting to cry now everytime I think of the book and I only just finished it this morning -.- Some of the passages just got to me and messed with my head and tugged so badly at my heartstrings. I swear I wept throughout the book. Anyone else had the same experience?? Or am I just a crybaby?

I almost wish I hadn't ever read that book -.- it's so horribly depressing (it's not supposed to be. But I suspect I'm just too optimistic and go into denial when faced with depressing circumstances).

Lingga says @#%$! at 11:32 AM

AHHHHHH LIJIE HAS A BIGGER BRAIN THAN ME!!! PUBLIC HUMILIATION ZOMG.

Anyway I'm on CL again, was at home whole of yesterday too. People around me already getting quite pissed off about going on CL so often because it means earning a lot less money (we get to earn about $55 per day! Not bad right). And also I have nothing to do at home because not the whole world is going on CL -.- Sometimes Lijie Wen and I don't even get to go on CL together, like today both of them are working and tomorrow I'm the only one working. Sianness. No one to eat lunch with :( I think I'll go and walk around shopping malls tomorrow I guess. ALONE. T.T Coming from the girl who loudly proclaims how she hates eating alone. Sigh.

Oh yes, I was just talking to Lijie through facebook chat -.- and I said "I'm such a loser. I play Word Challenge at 10am in the morning when I'm at work. I play Word Challenge at 10am in the morning when I'm at home." She agreed with me. But she says she'll love me anyway, and even though I don't believe her, some hua yan qiao yu can be quite nice to hear at times :D

Also, I would like to refute Sok Mui's claims that all people who handle hotlines give inaccurate information. I fully deserve the 85 cents man you know how stress it is to answer calls in chinese AND handle indian accents? AND handle shitty attitudes from people (hahaha ask Lijie she is super pissed with this old man she got at her line on Monday) WHILE maintaining a polite voice. Strangely I always seem to get callers who like to complain how my colleagues had given them different (AND WRONG) information earlier on when they called. Hai qun zhi ma man these people, cuz the info they give is SO WRONG I cannot imagine how they could possibly do so seeing as how we've got handouts and the FAQs are online, so it's not like you can't just read directly from sources of info -.-

Monday evening the 3 of us went back to Sumo House in AMK for dinner :) Fond memories (trip engineered by Wen who fang bu xia her hotate and upon seeing how katsudon costs $5.90 at Banquet in United Square) all through Anderson and even JC, when we always go AMK Library to mug and then to Sumo House for lunch. One reason is the insanely cheap prices (I always order the $2.90 katsudon) and the other is that they give free sides when they see students come in groups :D I haven't had to pay for the breaded fish since like, 5 years ago. We ended up absolutely stuffed from the side dishes; Wen ordered a whole plate of hotate for herself -.- while Lijie and I split the second plate. Plus the breaded fish of course. So hearty :D And only for $4! How can you not love cheap Jap food!?

Anyway must not get so excited. Because everytime we visit AMK we've got to pay like $1 transport *weeps bitterly* I hate transport fees!

Sunday night was Yeong's CNY bbq, which was extremely successful because unlike all the other bbqs I attend, this one was run by her very organized and efficient parents. You know how relieving it is to be able to find serviette when you need serviette, forks when you need forks, drinks when you need drinks, cups when you need cups (CUPS WITH YOUR NAMES LABELLED ON THEM - courtesy of Yeong :D), DUSTBINS WHEN YOU NEED DUSTBINS! Seriously man most of the bbqs I go to (chaired by teenagers my age, usually from my classes) are put together only when someone needs something -.- because we usually just forget about that minute detail like "oh no one remembered to get more tissue paper. Oh ran out of cups. Oh shit no one brought forks" etc. And there are never enough drinks to go around. Haha. And don't even get me started on the food! Unlike previous bbqs, where the wings are never cooked, yeong's parents bbqed all the food to perfection just for us *sheds tears of gratitude* We didn't even need to tend to the grill at all, because her kind father took up the job of grilling FOR his daughter's greedy friends (ahem) and even brought the food over to the table for us. So nice!! Seriously her family was a damn good host :)

One of Yeong's little brothers was crowned official photographer of the event and spent hours snapping the group at the table from various positions at the porch -.- I had a brief look through some of the early photos and they REALLY can pass off as paparazzi shots man! Some starnge videos where no one dared to eat unglamly or talk with the knowledge of a camera pointed at them recording their every movement. Girls are still vain, lor.

Anyway, Yeong's house is veeeeeeeerry nice and home-y. It's also super huge, 7 rooms! 2 staircases! I was like what do you need 2 staircases for! (they lead to the same second storey by the way). They've got a nice large yard and balcony to you know, sit and chill and watch your surroundings, complete with perfectly comfortable chairs made of wood which fit the chill-out mood. And a swing everyone was fighting to sit on.

I'm gonna meet Jia later on at about 1.30 to bake at her house :) Seeing as how she's off and I'm off and we can both accompany each other. Actually I just want to bake for personal consumption, seeing as how this V Day Jia can't bake cookies for us anymore :( She wants to "try out some recipes", which is always very good to hear :) Gah work tomorrow! ALONE!

Lingga says @#%$! at 10:54 AM

Sunday, February 01, 2009

I woke up at 7.25am today. !!! It seems that I have once again been quickly trained to wake up at unearthly hours due to work. Actually I really don't mind waking at 7. It's anything before that (ie. during school) which pisses me off so much. Plus, travelling to work is quite a relaxing experience for me nowadays. A lot of times I'm able to get seats :) and I just close my eyes and plug in and rest in the 19 mins it takes for me to get to Novena (SO FAST!). Then I meet Wen and Lijie, who I always always have fun with, and we walk into Revenue House together to our computer lab/"office" in B1. Then I sit down and surf the net for the next 7.5 hours. These days Lijie and I are actively trying out all the facebook game apps like Word Challenge and Geo Challenge (which I am addicted to, and can't stop playing during work. Although this fact can be easily gleaned just by viewing my profile), and our supervisors don't give a shit anymore because it's clear that the calls are not going to inundate us and it's either have your temp staff play games to occupy themselves or have them dying of boredom. Sok Mui, I know what your job is you're at the taxpayer hotline and I'm damn sure it's for income tax one :D:D:D You die already hahaha.

Amazingly! I still haven't run out of websites to surf. Last 2 days at work have been quite relaxing cuz I spent most of it playing games... and Sat was half day. So yah. Oh yes after work on Sat we went to the Japanese foodcourt in Northpoint for lunch. The food is really quite decent. But after not finishing my unagi omelette rice which was drenched in bloody so much gravy sauce, I can't even think of Jap food without losing my appetite (I cannot deal with too much gravy, I'm the type to eat rice dry one).

I actually watched The Wedding Game you know!!! It was quite bad -.- but still entertaining enough la haha. The plot is bloody rubbish and incoherent but still, if you watch it from a no-expectations POV, some of FannWong&ChristopherLee's antics are really quite funny. But you know, probably not worth blowing $8 on a movie ticket for. Watch when Ch 8 shows lor. Although some of Fann Wong's dresses are really chio inside. And Chris Lee's shen cai is fab man.

Fri night went to Zijun's house for the sole purpose of gambling. No idea what estate it is that she stays in, but it's right opposite Sembawang Shopping Centre and it is FREAKING GORGEOUS. I saw the night version of her estate la and it's so chio I want to die of envy T_T Met up with Nicky and Wilson at Sembawang MRT and even though we were all late, our timing was just so perfect that we caught the shuttle bus right on time (even innocently stumbling around the bus stop right into the front of the queue so that we boarded the bus first. Hahahahaha) even though none of us had any idea when the shuttle was coming. :D Sigh, sometimes things just work out so well you marvel at your own genius. Anyway, Nicky told us both about how he's been winning lots of money during CNY recently (he brought a little red paper bag typically used to contain oranges, claiming it's his lucky bag) and TRUE ENOUGH, he won bloody a lot of money at ban lat and mahjong later on. Mostly ban lat la, he and Layjia teamed up to be banker and ended up collecting bills with sweeping motions of his hands while a lot of people (esp. poor Wilson) looked ashen-faced. Haha.

I won $1 from mahjong -.-

Anyway, tonight going to Yeong's house for her CNY bbq and some money collecting at the same time XD My angbao fund this year quite little leh, time to claim back some from people already! Hmm shall go offline and watch the rest of CJ7 I think.

Lingga says @#%$! at 10:29 AM