what's the fuss?

was on the mrt when i saw this scene:

parents (looks to be early 30s) sitting down on the seats, with their son (age abt 1 - 2, i can't really tell the age of kids lah). son was sleeping very cutely across the parents' lap, his head lying on his dad's arm, legs on mum's lap (try picturing it in ur head). he was sleeping soundly, looking v angelic and all... then mum took a blankie (those cloth not thick enough to be a blanket), folded it, and lifted up boy's head, put the blankie over dad's arm and put boy's head back. boy continued sleeping. after 5 sec, mum thought it didn't look right, and proceeded to lift the boy's head and adjust the towel again. then did it again... finally she looked mildly satisfied. but after 5 sec, dad lifted boy's head, adjusted the blankie, then readjusted it. by now the poor boy was still asleep, but u could tell he was annoyed... he scrunched up his face for the split second his head was off his comfy pillow (dad's arm) as if to say "just let me sleep can?" so after like 5 times of adjusting poor boy... parents are satisfied... so boy slept peacefully for like a good 3 min (around one stop)

after tt, they're approaching their stop, so mum beckons maid, who all this while was sitting next to mum scrolling thru their camera and minding her own business, to fix up the pram. she did, then mum proceeded to carry boy into the pram. she didn't put him in properly though, looks to me tt boy was way too low in the seat. so tt's why the seat buckle thing couldn't buckle properly. so she proceeded to fiddle with the buckles and strap for a good few minutes, you could tell she's getting stressed already cos i think gonna reach her stop. all this while i wanted to say "why don't you just lift boy up abit, then you don't need to adjust like crazy" but i didn't. so finally, she was able to buckle her son in, rather oddly cos the straps were way too long to be securely arnd his waist, more like at his crotch area... then they left the train...

me? all this while i was just standing there looking, not bothering to pretend tt i wasn't looking cos they were clearly fixated on the son, whether he's sleeping properly (if don't lie down properly wait get neck pain how?) etc. so they kept on fussing over him... readjusting the blankie so many times, then fiddling with the straps and all. ironically, the constant readjustment just made the boy's sleep alot more disrupted... it's amazing how he still slept thru it. a more finicky baby would have started wailing, but maybe he's used to it. and i just wanted to say "relax lah, he's fine, don't worry"

from the looks of it, this is the only child since i didn't see any other kids around and the maid was out with them so they couldn't have left kids at home. (maybe the grandma is taking care of the kid, but nmind) is it me or are parents fussing too much over their kids? fall down abit then hurry up go and pick the kid up... scared the kid fall, get injured, play in dirty sand (tt's prob why all the playgrounds these days have no sand in them) fall sick etc. so the kid ends up sheltered, and spoilt, and falls sick ezily... etc. and grow up to be brats...

not saying tt i'll be a better parent when my turn comes, just... relax lah, ur kids are hardier than you think. look how well you turned out...

The Risk Management Guide to LOVE

Ok, I have so many people asking me what is it that I really do. I manage risks, duh. Even people in my company and division don’t know what I do! Problem is, I don’t really know how to explain it to them, so I start making them blur and end up paiseh-ing myself.

So here goes, to explain the concept of Risk Management (RM) I’m using one of the most universal examples: LOVE.

Step One: Identify the scope of the project
In this case is falling in love and whether to enter a relationship with tt special person. Being in r/s and it working out or not is not in the scope, so I shall not elaborate, and anyway there are different set of risks which then makes it super complicated to explain.

Step Two: Identify the benefits of the project
1) The benefits of couple-dom: don't ever need to have to find excuses to go out with tt person w/o sounding daft or desperate. No more lonely weekends/holiday seasons.
2) At the end of a particularly hard day, there's always someone to sayang you and hug you and kiss you to make you feel better...
3) In the process of being in r/s with tt person, you get to know him/her more, and also get to know urself more... and who knows, he/she may be THE ONE
4) You have something to tell your nosy relatives when they ask you why you aren't married yet (at least you're getting there)
The list is of course, not exhaustive. There are a million other reasons why people should fall in love, but I shan't go into details.

Step Three: Identify the risks of the project
1) He/she may end up to be a jerk/bitch. A horrible monster who you can't live with. Sweet while dating but suddenly morphing to a jealous/neurotic/overpossesive/selfish/mummy's boy person. AND ends up treating you like shit. And dumping you and what not.
2) After being a jerk/bitch and dumping you, you have to deal with all the emotions: sadness, loneliness, self-doubt (am i not good/pretty/thin/smart enough?), self-pity (ditto), anger, etc. AND friends who didn't know better might unintentionally rub it in esp if they didn't know that the r/s has ended.
3) Waste time/effort/emotions on someone who's totally not worth it, when you could have spent all that time and effort doing charity work/studying hard and doing well in sch/working hard and advancing in your career.
Again, unexhaustive. All in all, the ultimate detrimental effect is the break-up.

Step Four: Risk Control
Split into two wide categories: prevention and mitigation.
Prevention: actions to prevent the break-up. E.g. getting to know the person alot better before getting into the relationship, not taking him/her for granted, always showing that you care, making the effort to know his/her family and friends. You can also prevent getting hurt by not investing that much emotions in the r/s (i highly don't reccommend this)

Mitigation: actions to lessen the effects of the break-up. E.g. Hang out with good friends, learning a new hobby/sport, going out to know new people, not wallow in self pity and doubt etc.

Step Five: Overall Analysis
Weighing the benefits and the risks and after taking into account the steps you could take to prevent the risk event from occuring, make a decision whether this person is worth all this effort. Falling in love is a big gamble cos you might end up losing more than you win.

But remember: if you wanna be 100% safe, don't fly.

bloody hell

monday tt started out pretty good. rested weekend, watched prison break, the tv series tt's currently not available on ch5 or cable, so get the dvd series! it's even better than LOST, which is, in its 2nd season making me super lost liaoz... went to familiarisation to learn abt one of the subsidaries' operations, insightful... just that yah, airbus is out to sabotage my next year's bonus i tell u. stupid, delay the A380 for so long for wat? now everyone gonna be affected. bloody hell. and tdy's newspapers, boeing gonna delay the dreamliner too... wth, but at least tt one they give sufficient notice, so we can do forward planning... but still...

ok the worst thing tdy was: with effect of 1st Aug my stupid bus fare is gonna increase from $89.25 to $126. An increase of 40%. madness. ok i understand tt fuel prices are up, but 40% is way too much lor, even airlines dun charge so much extra... currently one-way fare is $60 but i pay more lah, to enjoy two-way, which is not super worth it since i take it like on average 2 times a week, but i figured it works out to abt 2 bucks a trip so why not... so now tt it's gonna be so ex (one way is still gonna be 90 bucks) i figured tt it's time to change the way i get to work... this leaves me with these few options:

1) take one way only, then take the bus back myself, pay $90/mth + watever it costs to get me home via sbs

2) go to work myself, squeeze on sbs, and squeeze on sbs back, est.: $50/mth
cons: no seats on the way there. other than tt, i still leave home arnd the same time and will reach on time (i arrive at 8am now, much too early anyways)

3) hitch a ride from my mum to tjc, then take bus in, again, sbs back. est.: $30/mth
pros: save more money, dunnid to squeeze on public bus for majority of the ride.
cons: i'll prob reach work too early again, but this also means i can drop by at bedok and have yummy breakfast...

4) source for other bus companies, but i have a feeling tt this particular company has a monopoly on this route from my house to my work place.

so yeah. most prob i have to find my own way back liaoz. which will take me at least 1.5 hours. sighz. but tt means i have the flexibility to work later (trust me, i'm not really looking forward to this) but i figured that i have to start working late anywayz since i getting alot more to do, and i keep having to go for trainings for this and tt, not as if my workload is lightened. oh well...

so wat do u think i shd do?

just like toilet paper

heard this at work tdy from my colleague in crisis management with regards to his job:

"my friend says i'm like toilet paper, in times of peace nobody gives a damn abt u. in times of trouble suddenly u become damn precious and important."

hmm... does tt mean i'm like toilet paper too?

take time off to smell the roses

starting to get busy at work, which is a good thing. realised the reason why my predeccesor left, and i must say i observed the same thing as well, but shall try my best to make things work lah.

watched "cars" last nite with tj, it's a committee event org for our division, turned out quite well, we ended up selling 200 tix and it's nice seeing all the kids in tow... it's a pretty good movie though i dun agree with tj tt it's better than "over the hedge" i think both are pretty equal... so go catch both! guaranteed laughter galore...

don't worry, there won't be any spoilers so you can continue reading this. one thing tt resonnated with me was how alot of us, caught up with the rat race to be number one, to earn tons of money, we forget to slow down, enjoy the beauty of mother nature around us, to pay attention to the people we love, and who love us too... and tt ultimately makes us empty and unhappy... sure it may be a trade-off: if we spend less hours at work, we do less well, we may not get paid as much, but we get the extra time to spend making ourselves happy... and who says tt's a bad thing?

so yupyup. everyone please take the time off to smell the roses. to relax, enjoy ur weekends instead of cramming in so many activities 'cos you don't wanna "waste it".

have fun!

of sakae, tea party and great thai food

haven't been blogsurfing these few days cos was kinda busy, read my friends' blog and realised tt they have updated so much shit... which made me wonder what the hell i've been doing, it's not as if i was tt busy at work lor... hmm...

so yeah, tuesday was tons of food day. my dept secretary got promoted and we were organising a tea party. so boss wanted to drive us out to tampines for lunch and get the teabreak stuff... so we did tt. ended up secretary treated us to sakae lunch, the lunch sets are pretty decent and value for money! try their sushi set, looks exquisite lor, like 8 of their best sushi combined in a set, and comes with seafood soup in a kettle (i dunno wat this is called lah, but looks atas). by the time we were done with lunch, it was abt 1.30. then we still had to go get food for tea party. ended up buying angie's the choice durian roll, mango roll and went royal's to get mini pastries too.

realised tt my boss is pretty generous. not only does he buy titbits around the dept when he goes on trips, he sponsored alot of the tea party, cos knowing my company, we wanna cut costs on EVERYTHING. but he insisted on getting durian roll lah, which at $2.80 per roll isn't cheap lor. so at 3.30 we had tea break... after which it was almost time to go home, so just dally abit and i did...

best part of the day, yummy homecooked dinner. tj's parents were in taiwan for holiday so he has the car these few days. he decided to cook dinner for me! so not knowing wat was for dinner, i made my way to his house, to the smells of yummy pineapple rice. there was also a v yummy rendition of vietnamese salad (healthy) and the most kickass thai green curry with authentic matured green curry paste all the way from thailand. it was hot! but super nice... it's like after a hard's day at work then i go back and have yummy dinner waiting in front of me... bliss!

so yup. later got movie screening of cars, free tix sponsored by sports and recre committee (of which i'm part of). heard it's a good movie, and since it's free, even better still! have a good week ahead. i'm dreaming of my beach holiday...

Night Safari

Went to the Night Safari (NS) just now, taking advantage of the 50% discount coupon on ST, and the fact that Tj's parents weren't in town so he had the car. But we still ended up paying $18, which wasn't tt cheap, but better than $28. Not complaining, cos we thought it was well worth the money. I have been there, but it was in the early days of NS, and it was with my parents and some overseas friends, so it was just tram ride and go home. Today we went on the 45 min tram ride, had fun looking at ALOT of cool animals, it seemed that we were lucky and managed to see majority of the animals, even got to see a rhino in the open (they usually wallow in the mud to coat their sensitive skin and protect it from extreme heat (s'pore's weather) and mosquitoes and all). well it was a nice cool night, and i guess after the long drizzle it really got pretty cooling, which made the walk around the various trails more comfy... even made it for the 11pm animal show...

i enjoyed myself cos it's nice seeing animals in a "natural" habitat (you may argue with me abt this, but at least they are safe from poachers and destruction of their wild habitats) and it's just sad that perhaps my children may not get to see them next time, so don't buy wild animal products and wear fur and eat sharks' fin and all tt... unfortunately we didn't take any pics because it's dark in NS (simulate their natural habitat) and they didn't allow flash photography (cos it's not a good idea to startle the animals)... so we ended uptaking photos of us with stuffed toys in the gift shop (this is starting to be a trend)

saw quite alot of tourists there... i think it's nice to be a tourist once in a while in your own country, to look at s'pore from fresh new eyes. next up: pedalubin and macritchie treetop walk (part 2). hope tt does materialise...

Lost In Space (Lighthouse Family)

Heard this song on light and easy 94.60 FM a few days back. It's a sweet song that brings me back to when I was younger. And now, it just expresses my feelings towards you...

Sometimes, I get tired of this me first attitude
You are the one thing, that keeps me smiling
That's why I'm always wishing hard for you
'Cos your life shines so bright
I don't feel no solitude
You are my first, star at night
I'd be lost in space without you

And I'll never lose my faith in you
How will I ever get to heaven, if I do

Feels, just so fine
When we touch the sky me and you
This is my idea of heaven
Why can't it always be so good
But it's alright, I know you're out there
Doing what you've gotta do
You are my soul satellite
I'd be lost in space without you

And I'll never lose my faith in you
How will I ever get to heaven, if I do

Unwanted Attention

Close friends would have probably heard my whines about this one by now. Long story, but to borrow the words of a friend, “it’s complicated, yet simple. He's irritating and doesn’t get the hint, and you are never gonna like him.” How true. So if you break the whole episode down to its essence, as my friend did, then it really is simple. This applies to a lot of things that happen in our lives. We think so much into everything, of every small little action by people whom matter to us, that a lot of things become so much more complicated than they really are. By breaking things down to its simplest, perhaps a lot of worries and troubles will go away. One thing is for sure, that at least we’ll spend a lot less time trying to complicate things.

One thing for sure, this isn’t the first time. Perhaps it was the environment I was in, everyone was in lab coat and goggles all the time, guys were typically boring and didn’t go out there to meet new friends, much less girls. Perhaps its because I don’t really like to talk about my personal life, believing it to be my own, only revealing those to closer friends. Was afraid that tj wouldn’t like it, that he’ll misunderstand, thinking that I intentionally hid him from my friends, leading other guys on etc. But I’m so glad that he didn’t. He’s just my rock, my hiding place, my shelter from the storm. Thank you dear.

Of course one question comes to my mind, is there anything wrong with the way I deal with the opposite sex that makes them misunderstand my actions? Not that it had always happened, and usually guys do back off once they figured you’re attached. Which part of “I only treat you as a friend, and I already have a boyfriend” do you not understand? Cos it sure is irritating and scary when someone remembers every little small action that you do, or some offhand remark that you make jokingly, and takes it to mean something totally different. I was just being myself. *Shrugs* Deal with it.

Enough whining. Time to get back to my day.

Opening Statement

To be honest, I've toyed with the idea of starting my own blog for the longest of time, but never gotten round to doing it. Plain laziness I guess. That's what happened to my attempts at starting my own diary too. (For the record we used to have to hand in Diaries in both English and Chinese in Pri Sch, and I hated it.) So here goes, out of boredom, and wanting to keep my friends informed. Many a time I'm just too lazy to just phone a friend to say hi, and as time goes by, friends start drifting apart. So yeah.

Suddenly as I sit here typing, words aren't coming out. Mental block I guess. Am usually the reticent sort, I can laugh and joke (sometimes too loudly) with friends but mostly I take time to warm up to people. I'm fine with that but as usual, we all wish we could be different. All the what ifs in our lives. As we go around, tippy-toed in this big wide world, hoping to find our place in this world.

Enjoy the ride, dear friends. I can't guarantee that I won't rant/bitch/whine but hey, you do that too!