what's with october weddings

i received another wedding invitation (ok... not the card but news cum verbal invitation). this is the third wedding i am invited for october. KN emailed the news yesterday... her big day is on 9th. and there are JN and SC on 20th and 27th respectively. so looks like my plans for a holiday in october has to be shelved or re-scheduled to another time slot...

seems like this is the year of weddings and new births...

besides the above 3 weddings, there is LF's wedding in dec

as for arrival of babies... remember in my previous posting that there are 6 piggy babies that i know of? i have to add 1 more!

first to make his appearance is Ethan, my boss's son who made appeared in my blog with royalty waived by the mom!

i almost forgot budninny's due date till her sms that day... expecting her delivery to be on 5th or 6th April

that will follow by LY (expected due date on 24th April), then CL and JT in June, Z in July and G in Oct...

if you ask me at the end of the year to reflect on 2007... i guess i have to say it was a busy year for the storks and

a day of drama

after many uneventful days (hence no postings for the past days), today was full of drama... or at least there was a major drama!

*the following posting contains coarse language, M18 rating required! :)

it all happened in the afternoon when we were going for lunch. 6 of us were waiting for a cab and a bitch tried to steal our cab! in the past, i will usually just curse and swear or show my third finger to those axxhxxxs that stole my cabs. finally decided that enough is enough! I AM NOT GOING TO LET ANYONE TAKE MY CAB UNDER MY NOSE! i sort of see it coming, the cab really stopped in front of her, i shouted at her as i walked towards her and the cab "Excuse me, we were here first!" and her response... "i am rushing"... hello? not even a sorry?!?! so i walked towards the cab, reached for the cab door and blasted her! "just too bad, cause we were here first". she had the guts to reply me that the cab stopped in front of her! then blame her stupid and slow reaction by standing there to argue with me, i opened the door and just got in the cab! guess that bitch chose the wrong day to snatch my cab!

then the next irritating thing happened, the stupid cab driver started shouting in the cab saying that he stops for the person he saw flagging first. so i told him that we came first and he yelled that we people always like to complain and how would he know who comes first... i was already heated, so i raised my voice at him: "so do you want to take us or not?" he said up to us... i was like what? if you don't want to take me, fine, we will alight. then he just asked where we want to go? AC and WL tried to play peacemaker by telling the cab driver that we were not finding fault at him. i just kept quiet because i knew i will blow up! in my mind, i was like, i never mentioned the word "complain" at all to him... i didn't even shout at him when i went into the cab... so i don't know what was his fXXXing problem! anyway, i just treat him as a scary cat who is worried that someone will complain about him. and since i know i am right and it was a matter of principles... i wrote my phone number on a piece of paper and passed it to the cab driver and told him that if that bitch complain about him, he can pass my number to comfort and i will be his witness / defence!

WL actually thinks i was quite nice to give him my number. but i guess i wanted to prove to him that i was not unreasonable and i am not at fault. haha... think i also frighten the new gals in my dept. they haven't really seen me flare up before... so... if this bitch decides to wait for me at my office to beat me up one day... i have 5 witnesses!!!

p.s.: mermaid - i finally stand up for myself to the cab snatchers!

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anyway, went for a free movie preview today and watch "Smokin' Aces". didn't know what the show was about at first, but looking at the cast which includes Ben Affleck, Andy Gracia, Alicia Keys, Ryan Renolds, Jeremy Piven (from Entourage), the show must be quite good right? oh well, the show was good in a certain way... but it was very disturbing, very bloody, and too shocking for me. i expected it to be dark, but was not prepared for the violence. anyway, for the faint hearted, my advise is that you give it a miss... otherwise i think it was a movie that keeps you entertained thru' out the whole movie, definitely not a single moment that you will be bored coz you will be shocked at every scene.

caught some reviews on its website:

"Action, Excitement, Twists and Attitude"

"The smartest, coolest action movie in years"

"One wild, super kinetic ride"

hey Lynette - the movie is on DVD from April in US... I wonder if it was shown way earlier or its straight to DVD?

real music to the ears...

was given a chance to appreciate a different kind of music from my usual repertoire of pop, hip hop, musicals etc...

my media agency offered 8 tickets to Renee Fleming's concert to me... didn't know who she was at first, so went to check out her website... touted as "America's beautiful voice" and being a Grammy winner, i decided that this is the best chance for me to explore classical, opera music... alright, it also helped when the tickets cost either $180, $220 and $280!

as it is not the usual known artistes, many people rejected the offer of the free tickets... ended up wasted 3 tickets... went with E (keen to explore too), my sister's colleague who is a music teacher and her friends' parents (her friends bought tickets already)...

i was also skeptical if i will enjoy the show myself... we even made plans that if we are bored by it, we shall leave at the interval...

that obviously didn't happened... i never yawn or felt sleepy once during the 1hr 30mins performance. it was like heaven! never felt that touched by a voice before... all these without a microphone (that tells you the power of her voice), and just a pianist (who by the way played beautifully) to accompany that voice... never understood most of the songs as it was in either italian or german... but from the voice and her expressions, she brought across the emotions of the songs so perfectly! during the encore, she sang 2 english songs to my delight! Summertime (which i first heard Fantasia sang on American Idol) and Over the Rainbow.... the best versions i ever heard! wow... i am glad i went for the concert... love it...

donuts craze...

out of the blue, singaporeans are suddenly into donuts...

new donuts shops are sprouting out, and long crazy queues are seen at a particular one... singaporeans being singaporeans... love to join the queue, hence creating the imagery that the donuts are great... all i can say is... HELLO?!?!?! non-donuts lovers, please don't praise something just because there is a queue... remember hot crazy people were with Roti Boy, Portugese Egg Tarts etc... look at where these food outlets are now?

anyway, my and my fellow donut crazed mermaid tried the "talk of the town" donuts way before the queue started (due to the press write-ups)... our conclusion... nothing beats Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme! I have also tried one of the best in L.A - Randy's donuts! Even Mr Donuts that i ate in Bangkok!

how to tell if the place serves great donuts? always try the most basic, either the normal glazed or sugared ones... you will be able to really taste the dough and its texture... its not the flavours that matter, it also shows the creativity, not the taste.

after all my long theory... it is just the start to my reports of another donut shop that i went to yesterday at VIVO City...

bought half a dozen of different flavours and my verdict...

- need to improve on appearance... although irregular shapes shows that it is handmade, but it can put someone off with its inconsistency

- size is too small, not value for money... quite a small donut for $1.20 (flavoured) and $1 (glazed). the box was made much bigger, so the impression given was that the donuts are really small... take some learnings from the big boys like dunkin' donuts... 6 donuts should fit just nice

- the texture of the dough is just nice but not consistent. some pieces tends to be dry

- totally no taste for the original glazed... big disappointment... it was like unglazed totally

- some potential for the flavoured ones... like the mighty almond (white chocolate with almonds flakes)

so.... someone please bring back my Dunkin' Donuts or bring Krispy Kreme into Singapore! show Singaporeans what donuts should taste like!!!!

maternal instincts?

is my biological clock ticking away? no... not really... its just a picture of me carrying baby ethan... my boss's adorable bundle of joy. look, i do look pretty happy carrying ethan ya? maybe he felt the comfy fleshy cushion of aunt celia's arms... haha...

just got these pictures from YG... while looking at it, i really thought i was smiling from within. i can imagine all mothers' joy when they are holding on to their babies. not sure if it will ever happen to me... will i ever have that chance to enjoy those special moments.

i always love to play with kids... at least before they start crying non-stop... that's why i am always happy and looking forward to the arrival of my friends' babies. somehow i dun see myself having a child of my own, so was more than eager to be a godma! see... how time flies, my godson - Jovan is turning 4 years old this year!

this year, i know of 6 piggy babies... baby ethan is the first, followed by the babies of LY in Apr, Cyn and Jean in Jun, Z in Jul and G in Oct! I am always open to be godma to more than 1 baby, so the mothers out there... just let me know :)

delayed posting...

E passed the CDs of our europe trip to me last sunday... yes i finally get to see my pictures after 3 months... didn't get the chance to go through it as i was either away for a conference in malaysia, work was killing me etc...

so... since a picture tells a thousand words, i am going to let the pictures do the talking.... enjoy the highlights of my Barcelona trip!

good old friends

it is pretty amazing how you will miss some collegues (my fellow underwater friends - a reminder after watching Finding Nemo)...

chatted with the mermaid on msn for the past 2 nights while she was on her business trip. then we started reminising on how we used to travel for conferences together, how i had to remind her on little things like bringing her air ticket, contact lenses etc, how we eat all the time, the type of hotels we stayed in etc... somehow, both our first business trip after she left our company, seemed so different. our chemistry was pretty good too, we actually logged on to read the shark's blog at the same time! hehe...

this afternoon, i received an email from seaweed. at the end of the email, she asked if i was alright. she read my earlier posting on my trip to JB and thought i sounded a bit down. reading her email put a smile to my face as i was happy to receive her email and felt her concerns to me. thanks for cheering me up if you are reading this blog, and hope that you got over getting pissed with your current boss! remember, can always call me to release your fustrations ok?

after lunch, i was so glad to see the shark logging on to her msn! sent her a message immediately to bitch to her! felt quite bad that i started bitching to her about current work rather than asking her about her baby and her. really pai seh... but can't be help as there aren't many people i can talk to, bitch to or turn to at the office now... would love to chat more with her, but had to rush some work before i left the office... but boy am i happy to have chatted with you.

its days like this that i miss all my good old friends that i made from work. note the word friends and not colleagues... since you gals are my most frequent reader, just want to take this chance to tell you... I MISS HAVING YOU GALS AROUND!!!!!

the kid in me...

keeping count of the number of free shows i am watching this year... after Eason and Rain's concert, today is the show number 3...

i've always wanted to watch holiday on ice since it started many years back. but year after year, i will change my mind thinking that i dun want to pay $$ to be surrounded by noisy kids. strangely, i wasn't as keen for this year's holiday on ice as it is based on Finding Nemo. yet, as my boss is on maternity leave, i was given her 4 tickets! as i got it pretty late, only managed to get E and R to go... so had 1 ticket wasted!

the show was pretty entertaining, and i must say i am totally impressed with the performers. imagine skating around the rink, with either costumes that covers the head or that are really bulky and acting all the way. there were even some acrobatic acts in between. well, i will let the pictures do the talking...

connected to the world...

i had a tvc shoot in one of the restaurants today. usually, it is quite difficult to pass time in between shoots... most time are wasted on waiting for setting up, or getting lighting right etc...

today, i decided to try out the wireless internet connection at the restaurant since it was enabled a couple of weeks back. turned on my laptop and eureka! i am connected to the world in seconds! yeah! happily tried to log-on to my msn... then my smile turned into a frown... somehow msn just doesn't get log-on... troubleshoot and re-login time after time... nope... just couldn't get it... tried to sign in to my emails (both work and personal)... the strange thing occurred... i could always read the emails, but it will always hang when i reply... isn't it strange....

oh well, as least i got to read some of my friends' blogs and checked out some emails.

missing my dear friend

when i was on the bus to Johor, CD turned to me and said "this trip seems so different from the previous trips. you used to yak non-stop with your dear friend the moment you step on the bus!"

looking around me, the mood is definitely different... i was sitting alone, with my luggage next to me... across the walkway sat CD and MT. i had no intention to walk to any of my team mates seats, i had no urge to go talk to any of them... CD's words of wisdom hit the right spot... it totally spells out my mood or whatever you call it... i sms my dear friend immediately... i really miss having her around... i think i can become a loner from now on... it seems like i rather have no one sat next to me then to force myself to chat...

oh well... it is at trips like these that i start to remember to good times our team used to have... something cast in my heart and mind, something i cherish and will not be replace...

P.S: boss, if you are reading it, it is not meant to scare you of anything... just having deep thoughts!

another 24 hours trip

after my brief "almost 24 hours" trip to Bangkok last year for the P Conference, i never thought i will go through another real SHORT trip again! boy was i wrong! just came back from across the causeway in 1 day... yes, many of you will be like, what's wrong with going to JB for 1 day? read my itinerary and you will understand...

date: 6 march 2007 (tuesday)

0900hrs - go to work as usual

1000hrs - board bus from office and set off to woodlands causeway

1130hrs - reach JB - Persada Convention Hall

1230hrs - lunch

1400hrs - convention starts

1450hrs - evacuated the convention hall due for building safety check due to tremors felt from Indonesia's earthquake

1535hrs - back to convention hall

1630hrs - head for NEW YORK HOTEL & check-in

1830hrs - depart for Gala Dinner

2300hrs - bus back to hotel

2330hrs - went sleezy KTV!

date: 7 march 2007 (wednesday)

0230hrs - back to the room

0300hrs - watched Liverpool vs Barcelona on ESPN with bad reception. but still can see where the ball is!

0545hrs - finally went to bed

0717hrs - jerked out of bed as i realised we overslept!

0730hrs - walked down 13 floors as the lifts were slow and too many ppl were waiting!

0800hrs - breakfast back at convention hall

0930hrs - board bus back to Singapore!

of course, my day didn't end there... we were told that though the restaurants managers were given an off day, it is considered a working day for RSC staff. hence i was back at my desk by 1100hrs, with emails to check, presentation deck to prepare, consumer crisis to settle etc... boy was it an busy day! it didn't help that i slept for barely 1 1/2 hours! eyes were tired, brain was dead and yet i stayed till 1930hrs!

oh well - today's blog is to update my boss on maternity leave. YOU DIDN'T MISS MUCH!!!!

some pictures to share... the few happy moments before the Gala Dinner...