Nanking

Nanking

Watched "Nanking" with Sing, Chow, Jaimes and Lefei yesterday and I must say that it is a very important film that everyone should watch. It's not your typical documentary where there's a narrator and where you see interviewees. The 'narrators' are from the perspectives of the people who were actually involved in the safety zone in Nanking. In addition, you hear the perspectives of the Japanese soldiers who were at Nanking. One thing I like about this film is that it doesn't strive to be 'objective' and it doesn't sell itself to be one. In fact, it starts out telling you that its from all these different people's diaries etc. Absolutely subjective but yet its an important story to tell. It shows the truth - that war is cruel, bad and should not and cannot be covered up. Truth - humans will rise to the occassion and do something that's beyond their ordinary lives in order to protect and save the less fortunate. Truth - its not time to hate or blame...the world needs to heal. People suffered. We need to remember their pain and suffering in order to ensure that this does not happen again.

Season's Greetings!

Time goes on in constant motion
Humans go in a cycle of ups & downs
Thanks to all those who remain as constant
Down this path of no return
Yet another chapter in this never ending story
Two millenias past but yet recurring
Let us clear our hearts and minds
Prepare him room to reside
The warmth and spirit of this day
Gives us faith, hope and most importantly, LOVE
Wishing one and all who read this
A blessed and memorable Christmas!

HumanForSale.com - Free Survey

Am-I-Dumb.com - Intelligence Test

Your Score: INTP

You scored 60Introversion, 59 iNtuitiveness, 38 Feelingnessand 20 Judgingness!

Nerdy, secretive, you are the INTP. Communication is sometimes necessary to you but only when it involves something impossibly deep or complex. You talk to your friends about eastern philosophy, western religion, weird ass music like..."well, you probably haven't heard of them", etc. You are highly theoretical, dealing mostly in possibilities. Thus, you aren't highly inclined to action. Rather than flying the aeroplane, you build it and let the ISTP fly it. You read everything, because it increases your knowledge base, and therefore the number of things you can think about. You probably can't relate to "S's" very well, because talking about the "defensive lines of the PAC 10" bores the hell out of you. Where do people fit in to your understanding? You analyze them carefully, much like you would analyze a book, and then base your opinions of them on that. Perhaps you should accept people more than you analyze. your life might be easier.

Introvert: You are internally focused

iNtuitive: You are abstract

Thinking: You use your thinking to make decisions

Perceiving: You use your imagination to define your ideas

Link: The strangely accurate personality Test written by Whalesfromheck on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Mel has been lusted, cautioned.

Haha...ok...went to watch "Lust, Caution" with Moon and Cubey last night. My gosh...it is a very good film. Tony Leung's butt is very nice too! Ok, lustful glances aside, the pace of the movie was fantastic. It wasn't slow (unlike another famous arty farty director who loves to set his films in 1940s Shanghai) and the acting from the cast was incredible. EACH OF THEM DESERVE AN OSCAR! Tang Wei - how can anybody NOT applaud her acting? She and Tony Leung have conversations with their eyes. Tony Leung - enough said. Ang Lee has created another masterpiece.

Anyway, interesting thing happened. The tickets were not printed in order! Maybe I should've bought 4D for yesterday's date...haha...but I'm not a gambling woman.

Ok..on to the complaints that I have against 2 companies. Firstly, Singtel. For the 2nd time, they DID NOT send me my bills for 2 mths. Well, but they certainly did not forget to charge it to my credit card.

Secondly is The Cannery. They FINALLY send me a bill for Sept's charges and they dared to charge me $20 for late payment. Excuse me. I never received the statement from them either at end Sept or in Oct and they dare to charge me for late payment?? WTF! They're soooooo going to get an earful from me tomorrow when their customer service line is open.

Ah well...thank goodness I had "Lust, Caution" to calm and entertain me yesterday. Ok...on to the next show "Stardust"!

Ok...I'm starting to get bored of blogging about my holiday cos there's so much that I can say and that little time that I can do so. Anyway...back to my hols :) Btw, I have also updated my previous posts on my holiday through adding pics etc. So do re-read them again if you've got the time and patience.

Day 7 - Fri, 5 Oct - Part 2

We walked around Rome with our trusty little map and here are the sights!

At the ruins of a Roman Bath. This was my idea and this ang moh couple there copied my idea. Intellectual property rights!! :PThe view of the garden before entering the bath. There used to be more marble but they're obviously gone.

Sorry but I don't remember the exact name of this piazza as there are too many piazzas in Rome and I don't have my map next to me. Anyway, Rome was very sunny when we were there and you'll continously see me in my sunnies.

On the left is the front facade of the 'Church of St. Mary and Matyrs". On the right is a modern piece of artwork symbolising the risen Christ with his cross to bear. Don't you just love the mix between old and new? I liked how it's blended in rather than jarring in your face fusion.
Our first peek of the Vatican City. That in the background is the St. Peter's Basillica.

The Trevi Fountain in the background. The water was surprisingly cold and it was very clear. Threw 2 coins in....which means that I'll be going back to Rome twice! Gor said that one coin was on his behalf (fair enough) and we'll be going back to see the Vatican City Museum (something that we missed 'cos we didn't Q and didn't realise that they don't open on Sundays).
These are the Spanish Steps, so called because the Spanish Embassy used to be there.

This is the famous street (Via Condotti) with all the designer brands like Ferragamo, Prada, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton. I was soooo tempted to buy something. Seriously, the prices of the designer goods there (non-sale) is equivalent to the same designer goods sold in Singapore on sale. *Sings* If I were a rich girl....nah nah nah nah nah nah nah......

Ok, this street is facing the Spanish Steps and its quite non-descript if it weren't for the lovely signages. I was in designer heaven with Gor constantly yanking me back to reality. Designer wet blanket! :(
This is one really ironic vandalism that I just HAD to take. It reads "God is Dead". On a bridge, in Rome with the Vatican City in the background (not shown).

Lookie...that's the Vatican City at the back!

Ok...I dont' remember this fountain nor the plaza's name...Gor...Help.


Dinner at the Plaza! On the left is my Spaghetti Vongole while Gor had the Risotto Fungi.

Verdict: Tourist trap.





The Pantheon at night!

Day 8 - Sat, 6 Oct

We had aimed to wake up early today to go start queuing at the infamously long queue to the Sistine Chapel (Gor heard an American teen call it the Sixteen Chapel...hahahahahahaha). However, we only got up at 8:30am and took the metro there!

Pics of Gor and myself in the Roman metro on the way to the Vatican City.


St. Peter's Basilica!! The famous square, which actually is oval in shape, and everything else! Gor...need your input here. Brain is fuzzy about the details and names :P

Anyway, as mentioned, we didn't queue to get into the Sistine Chapel to see the famous frescos by Michelangelo because it was just horrendously long. Instead, we went to the St. Peter's Basillica. There's more queuing....we queued for a good 45 mins before we could even reach the front door of the Basilica!

In there, I overheard this Chinese tour guide misleading 2 Chinese tourists that those statues of the saints were statues of Catholic gods. -_- EXCUSE ME! Those are saints and not gods. He even told the tourists that Catholics worshipped those saints. This got my blood boiling and I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. He was telling untruths to those 2 poor chinese tourists who were actually smart enough to question with a "But wasn't Catholicism the start of Christianity?" That stttttuuuuupid tour guide actually answered this question with a "Yes, they did but then they started worshipping Mary and then had other gods." I was really pissed off by then and was shaking my head profusely while staring at BOTH the tourists and tour guide. Gor refused to let me go up to them and correct the stupid tour guide. Thinking about it, I should've gone up to them. Defend my faith. Haha. However, on a serious note, its disheartening to know that there are so many people who are severely misled about Catholicism. I have even heard this Christian friend of a friend insist that Catholics aren't Christians. We would've gotten into an argument if we weren't considerate enough to think about our dear friend. *sigh*

More on my holiday!!!

Day 4 - Tue, 2 Oct

I had booked a day tour for Gor and myself over the internet before leaving Singapore. So we headed off for the tour which included the Gothic quarters of Barcelona, Gaudi's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD) famous works, the Spanish Village as well as entry to Picasso's museum.

Thoughts - it's rather intriguing that Barcelona has mainly Gothic architecture but there are few Baroque or Classical styled buildings around. Gaudi is an eccentric genius. All his works were inspired by nature and Gor commented that his buildings looked rather underwater. The most intriguing thing to me is that Gaudi is a man beyond his time. His architecture, designs and concept of living belongs more to this era than during his (late 1800s). You guys just have to check out his last work, the Sagrada Familia (http://www.sagradafamilia.org/) in order to only start to wonder at how his brain works.

Picasso, Picasso...another one of those geniuses that are hard to understand. Seriously, I don't really appreciate his kind of art. I understand his contribution to the art world with regards to cubism, the thing about deconstructing and reconstructing. But...I'm really not into his art. I prefer Monet and Van Gogh thank you very much. Nonetheless, it's quite interesting to see how Picasso's art work transformed throughout the years. That said, the only work of Picasso that I like and appreciate is Guernica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_%28painting%29). It's a huge artwork/ mural that's just in your face. I like *grin*. Gor kept saying that he didn't know that Picasso was Spanish (somehow the artists seem to come from France and Picasso seems like a somewhat frenchy name).

Ok...the tour ended and we've kinda satisfied our artistic soul. Now for some touristy and modern food! We went to the famous La Rambla for dinner and we chose a restaurant that was recommended by the guide book. What did we eat? Your typical paella with sangria and Gor ordered an additional tortilla. Now, in Spain, tortilla means omelette. It does not refer to the flour dough thingy that resembles roti prata. That's Mexican.

Day 5 - Wed, 3 Oct

Woke up lazily late (because we finally could!) and had brunch at some cafe (I think I ate donuts bought from the supermarket opposite our hostel though...Gor poo-pooed the donuts and threw them away 'cos they didn't taste nice. Wasting food is a sin, Gor!).

Then we spent the rest of the day shopping at Zara, Mango, Desigual and some other stores. Sing and Moon - you ladies will go nuts in Zara and Mango. The Zara in Barcelona is HUUUUGE. It's 3 storeys, including the basement. I didn't know until that day that Zara had its Home collection. Zara sells pillows??!! Their full price items are the prices of Zara items on sale here in Singapore. Ditto for Mango.


After a full day of shopping, dinner was at the Spanish Village with the flamenco show. I HIGHLY recommend this, even if you're like my bro and you hate 'artificial' villages etc. Yes, yes, I know that flamenco isn't very Barcelonian...it belongs more to the south of Spain (Madrid etc.) but it's still a wonderful dance to watch. The guitarists who perform with flamenco dances are also FANTASTIC! Gosh...the way their fingers fly across each fret. Jealous. =P We paid EUR 64 each and this includes a 4 course meal with a full bottle of wine each - unless 2 people order the same type of wine. Gor and I actually drank half a bottle of wine each. He had red, I had white. Pretty ironic since I had ordered meat for my main course while Gor ordered fish. My rational is this - bad red wine tastes worse than bad white. So unless a colleague/ friend/ family member orders the red wine...I'll stick to white. Whites are fruitier anyway.

I really enjoyed the flamenco show and dinner but Gor just HAD to spoil some of my fun by joking about how they were stamping their feet and clapping. ( -_-;) Someone please skin him alive and give him a bit more artistic inclination!!


Day 6 - Thu, 4 Oct

I think it's the wine. We were just too lazy to wake up early. Haha...ate breakkie at a cafe that was nearer to La Rambla and then we just walked along La Rambla since we didn't manage to get a good view of it the night before last. Did we do any shopping? Mostly Gor. We found Massimo Dutti. Need I say more? Yes...Massimo is A LOT cheaper than home. Now, why didn't I buy anything from there? Cos I still don't think I'm earning enough to buy blouses that cost SGD 100 or more. SGD 80 is already pushing it. SGD 100 and more are meant for dresses in my current cheapo shopping list.

Anyway, around 3pm, we went back to the hostel, repacked some stuff and headed off to the airport. Roma...here we come! Oh so we thought....

1. We were on a 7pm Iberia flight...which turned out to be a Clickair flight!
2. We checked ourselves in and rushed to the gate blah blah and even went into the plane only to get an announcement that there was a technical error on the plane and we were to be transferred back to the airport waiting area
3. It was raining and as far as budget airlines get, it's a bus. There's no nice thingy to connect plane to building.
4. No further explanation as to how long we'd have to wait etc.
5. We asked them whether an announcement would be made regarding the boarding and they said yes.
6. It's 11pm...we checked again and turns out that we could board! Now...where's that bloody announcement??!!!

Day 7 - Fri, 5 Oct - Part 1

It's midnight and we finally arrive in Rome. Great. We missed the last train from airport to the city centre. There's a sign about buses but when we tried to walk to the bus stop...we couldn't find it. The taxi drivers there are HAWKS. They started asking us whether we wanted to take a cab and such rippers they are! They quoted prices that ranged from EUR 40 to 60. *Faint* We're tired and we really don't need this crap. Finally, we went to the taxi driver who agreed that he'll only charge us what the meter reads. Thought while sitting in the cab: this guy could take a longer route to our hostel and we wouldn't know. *Shakes thought away*

We finally arrive at the hostel at 1am. Meter read EUR 47. He charged us EUR 50 because of our luggage. Gor was dumbstruck. I told him that let's not argue. EUR 3 isn't alot to argue a lot to me...especially when other idiots were quoting us EUR 60.

Reached the hostel to check-in and guess what? They don't have credit-card facilities because their machine broke down. This is how the conversation went (roughly).

Staff 1: Sorry, cash only. Our machine broke down. There's an ATM further down the road
Gor: Well, that's your problem isn't it?
Staff 1: (repeats after my bro) That's my problem....
Staff 2: Sorry...the machine broke down and we can only accept cash.
Gor: I don't have cash. When did your machine break down?
Staff 2: It's been about 2.5 weeks now.

Ok...at this pt in time, if I wasn't tired and in need of a bed, my response would've been: "2.5 weeks?????!!!!! I may not know how Italy works but 2.5 weeks is way too long to leave a machine broken and unrepaired. Do you need help in getting it fixed? Just tell the credit card company that 2.5 weeks is unacceptable as you're running a business, you've told your customers that there is credit card facility AND credit card companies don't earn if credit cards aren't swiped, right?" Anyway, back to the ridiculous 'drama' that was unfolding.

Gor: Well, too bad but we really don't have any cash now. I don't have enough Euros as I just paid the taxi driver EUR 50.
Staff 2: There's an ATM just around the corner.
Gor: My card doesn't work for these ATMs.
Staff 2: Do you have enough cash for 1 night then? It's our policy that we receive full payment upon check-in...if not it'll screw up our system and blah blah blah...
Gor: No. Anyway, I've already paid an online deposit. Isn't that deposit a sign of good faith?
Staff 2: It's not a matter of trust but it's about our policy. (To staff 1) Could you call Eric? (back to us) What I can do for you is if you could pay for 1 night and I'll cancel your booking for the rest of the nights. There are beds still available for the next 3 nights so finding a bed wouldn't be a problem.

At this point, this illusive Eric couldn't be reached and an Aussie guy who was working at the hostel's Bar came through. He heard what was going on and asked Staff 2 to keep our passports and only return them when full payment's made the following morning. Mind you, he said this to his colleague as if Gor and myself were NOT there. That ticked me off even more. Gor got ticked off even more as well. What happened to the "it's not a matter of trust" bit? BS. Puhleese...most hotels don't collect payment until you check-out.

Ok...anyway, to cut the long story short, Gor pretended to go to the ATM while checking out the hotels in the same building. They were quoting EUR 130/night but the problem was that they were full. Gor came back saying to the staff that just as expected, he wasn't able to withdraw any cash. Anyway, in order to get some rest, I said that let's heck it and just pay for one night. However, I told Staff 2 that we shouldn't need to pay so much cash since we've already paid a web deposit. *rolls eyes* we even had to give EUR 10 deposit for the keys and bedsheets. Unbelievable.

The night was terrible. We had to share the room with 2 other blokes who didn't come back to the room till 3am-ish? They tried their best not to make a lot of noise but they kinda spoilt it when they came in. I was woken up and you know how difficult it was for me to fall back asleep. To make things worse, we had to wake up @ 9am as we had to check-out at 10am. In a nutshell, we're never going to stay at THE YELLOW (http://www.yellowhostel.com/) in Rome and I advise you to not stay there either.

It's 10 am and we checked-out. We IMMEDIATELY went to the hotels opposite (http://www.hotelromae.com/en/) and found one that's cheaper and -get this- PRIVATE! We didn't need to share the room with others and we had the whole darn toilet to ourselves. EUR60/room/night in this hotel compared to EUR 75/pax/night in that hostel. No brainer. Although the fact that this hotel and the hostel are in partnership.

The yellow's selling pt. - fun, fancy and stylish. Ok. Good selling pts. However, if you're running a business...especially one that's service oriented. Take a good look at your policies and how unhappy you're making some people felt. Those who have a good time seem to be those who are more concerned about bar hopping and drinking. I don't understand these people sometimes. You're in a foreign land for a limited period of time and you'd rather spend the night drinking and clubbing? Hmmm...I really hope that most of them do take the time to see the sights. Ok enough of my ranting.

After we happily checked into Hotel Romae, we went sight-seeing! We walked and walked and walked! Will update on the sights in my next post.

My European vacation

Let me retrace my holiday....

Day 1 - Sat, 29 Sep
5:05 am Landed @ Heathrow, dreary-eyed.
5:15 am Breezed through immigration and finished collecting luggage
6:05am Gor still isn't @ the airport and unable to reach him on his mobile.
6:10 am The driver that Gor hired to pick me up (i was carrying 3 pieces of luggage thanks to someone) found me. Gor is STILL not at the airport. We decide to pick him up from the tube station instead. Noticed that there was a merc parked next to my driver and the merc driver was inside the car.

6:15 am Realised that the driver had forgotten to put my bag of Duty Free items in the boot!!! I dared not tell him that the bag contained more than SGD 700 worth of cosmetics...did a U-ie to grab that bag from the trolley. Now I'm wide awake.

6:25 am Driver went to the trolley and the bag wasn't there anymore. I insisted on going to look for it myself. Noticed that the merc driver was still there. Tapped on the window. He took one look @ me and went "ah...wait!" Got out of his car, opened his boot and passed me my bag. Phew.

6:40 am Finally picked Gor up and the driver told me that he's going to charge us GBP 5 more 'cos he had to pick Gor up from the station. (-_-;)

7:20-ish Reached Gor's apt. The driver now has the cheek to want to charge extra for the accident!! Gor refused to pay. I would too. It was his fault for forgetting to place that bag anyway. Ok...sleeeeeeeeep......

10:30am Woke up and showered. Hit the tube and went to Canary Wharf as Gor forgot to put his 'out of office' profile into his office email. Btw, Windows Vista sucks for remote access.

2:00pm Lunch @ this place called "Eat." Typical office lunch food. Kinda reminds me of "Munch" back home.

3:00pm onwards - went to buy tix to "Lord of the Rings - the musical"; walked around Chinatown, Oxford Street, Regent Street.

7:30pm Watched "Lord of the Rings" and was quite disappointed. I nearly fell asleep during one period....but I have to say that the costumes, stage direction, stage design and lighting were very innovative and rather fantastic. Otherwise....it's a big fat yawn from me. I really don't think it's jetlag.

Day 2 - Sun, 30 Sep

(At 8 something a.m.) Sniffles. Dry, almost sore throat. Sniffles. Bloated. Went to the toilet and realised that my 'friend' has arrived. Great. Period AND a cold. Great.

Woke up yet again after 10am. Wasn't too bad considering that Gor and I were to meet his friend, Phoebe, for dim sum at this 2 Michelin-star restaurant named "Yauatcha". Food was pretty good (think Din Tai Fung, Crystal Jade and Imperial Treasure meet La Strada) but the whole set-up was too chi-chi and pretentious for me. They don't even allow you to take photos inside the restaurant. Not of the food nor of yourselves. Seriously. It was quite funny how Phoebe 'scolded' my bro for making me eat Chinese food instead of 'ang moh' food.
Look at the Macarons that we bought at Yauatcha! And that cake is a Blue White Tea cake that tastes a little like very light cheese cake with the slightest hint of tea. I still wonder what that blue thing was made of. I ordered it because it looked funky.

After lunch was yet another bout of shopping...walking along...um...oops, I can't remember what street. Oh, we walked through one of the parks that led to Buckingham. After which, we walked through St. James' Park to see West Minster. After that, we walked slightly further up to the River Thames to get a better view of the Millenium Eye. By then, it was 5pm and we had to rush for the 6pm mass. Singaporeans - please don't complain about travelling half an hour to anywhere. Average travelling time in this city is an hour. Ditto for most parts of Japan. So don't complain.

Mass was surprisingly good. I wished all masses in Singapore were that simple and that the homilies were that concise and filled with a message that was clear. Yes, I know that we can't choose priests who speak well...but I think that priests should ALL take a course on how to be simple, concise and interesting.

We met Phoebe once more in church and after mass, all 3 of us had sore, tired feet that were in need of rest. Our stomachs also needed to be filled. At the lack of any inspiration or cravings, I mentioned fish and chips. That led us to Covent Garden. Unfortunately for us, ALL the pubs were not serving food by then. Strictly drinks only. Bah. Gor then reminded me that we're in London. Europeans treat Sunday as the day to spend with your families and maybe a quick swig in the pub with your close mates. Ok. Fine. But we were hungry. Found a Japanese restaurant and not caring about the price, we walked in (the fact that actual Japanese were eating there was quite comforting too). Weird thing happened. The sushi chef spoke to us in Japanese and asked us how many people. Haha. I find myself speaking Japanese in England. Wonderful. Get this...a Katsu don here cost GBP 13. That's SGD 36. For a bowl of katsu don. At least it was delicious.

Day 3 - Mon, 1 Oct
Woke up at....c'mon, make a guess...yes, after 10 am!!! Typical rainy London day. Too tempting to stay under the blanket. Anyway, decided that we needed to do some laundry and to cook lunch! I had brought this honey garlic pork rib mix from Singapore and it just so happened that Gor had bought pork ribs the week before. He also had chicken thighs. So we cooked the ribs with the sauce that I brought from Singapore and cooked some herbal soup with the chicken thighs. Yum.

After lunch, we did some last min packing and it's off to Gatwick airport and welcome Barcelona!!!!!!!

Landed in Barcelona around 10pm and by the time we cleared customs, baggage claims etc, it was around 11pm. We took the Aeroport (bus) and I must say that it's rather silly that the Aeroport, which is meant for people going to and fro the airport, has only 1 area for putting luggage AND the stairwell is narrow.

At this point in time, I'm feeling rather lethargic and my nose was completely stuck. Looks like my Clarinase only lasted for a couple of hours.

Thanks to clear directions from the hostel, we arrived there in one piece (each) and checked-in. Popped a panadol and went to bed.

--------------------------------------------
Ok...enough of typing from me for today...will update on Barcelona and Rome soon! Ciao.

Holiday!

Europe here I come!

It's been finalised! I'll be going to London to meet Gor at the end of Sep and then we'll head off to Barcelona and Rome for a week before heading back to London. Am I excited? Kinda. It hasn't really hit me yet and I haven't packed yet...things are piling...I need a "to do" list as well as a "to pack" list in addition to Gor's "to buy" list...which I'm trying to fulfill.

My wallet's feeling the pinch already.....but ah well...HOLIDAY!!!!!! WEEEEEEEEE...........

During dinner last night, we were sitting next to a primary school teacher and she was talking to her parents/ aunts about her students who come from broken families, poor families and were not of the same educational standard as their peers.

This made me realise how lucky I am and really drove home the shocking point that I make up only a very small percentage of the whole population. I don't feel that way mainly because I am surrounded by people who belong to this small percentage! Her conversation also reminded me of the time where Sing and I were selling CD cases and letter pads to raise funds for this charity organisation that helped families that needed financial support. A Caucasian tourist had actually commented to Sing (when she had approached him) that Singapore doesn't need charities because everyone's wealthy. How wrong he is.

Every wealthy nation has its poor. There are people who fall through the cracks due to several reasons. Some families are broken due to drugs, a parent being jailed or just that the parents aren't able to secure high paying jobs due to the lack of education.

Sure, it's easy to say that its the government's job to level the playing field but let's be realistic. There's free education in Singapore. Schools are equipped with computers. There are tuition grants, edusave schemes, scholarships and even independent schools such as my alma mater SGCS have bursuries and grants. Technically speaking, this translate as everyone in Singapore being provided good education. True...but everything happens young. Poor primary school children aren't at the same level as their peers because their peers have parents who can afford to send them to kindergartens. These children learn their basic abc's and 123's at kindergarten. Thus, primary school is no longer the place to learn your basics. But our poor kids don't learn these basics until they go to primary school.

Ok, let's say that these poor children do understand the basics even though they've never gone to kindergarten. Some are so poor that they can't afford small misc items such as uniforms, stationery and goodness knows what else a student needs these days. I'm not a teacher and therefore I do not have such tales to tell. But the teacher that I heard last night is the 2nd first-hand experience that I've heard.

I'm not saying that the poor is a big problem in Singapore. I'm saying that the poor does exist and they're being pushed even further into the fringes where nobody really sees. What we see now and believe is that the average Singaporean is middle-class and can afford Coach bags. The report that the no. of millionaire Singaporeans have increased also helps to make this perception more concrete. The report is true. Singaporeans getting richer is also probably true. But let's not forget that the poor still exist and it is NOT shocking to find that they're our fellow Singaporeans.

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Mel feels inspired

Mum and I signed up for a Prayer retreat where we're supposed to learn how to pray and therefore grow closer to God. Throughout today's session, I realised that unknowingly, God had already taught me how to have a dialogue with him and making me more aware of Him throughout my life. I also remember Clare's question to me about how I should serve God and give back. Today's session felt right.

I've hesitated to join any of the church's choirs and you'd think that it would be unnatural for me...especially when I do love to sing and be around musically-inclined people. I've flirted with the idea of being a cathecist but I think that I don't have enough patience with children and neither do I find myself very knowledgable. But perhaps, this is it. Perhaps my way of giving back is through sharing my personal experiences.

Prayer is not a monologue. It's not clasping one's hands and reciting set words. I always felt that saying the rosary or reciting prayers during mass were not my prayer. I like to reflect on whatever troubling me during the period or whatever I am thankful for. I like to run through thoughts and reflect on my emotions and question WHY do I feel those emotions. Are those emotions rational? Where are they coming from? More importantly, I find that I am becoming more aware of God's presence and voice. Some may be 'signs' or just things that...all depends on you.

When you've been tightly wound up for a long time, you'll eventually snap.

That's how I will describe my behaviour and feelings for the past 3 mths. Back to sanity now.
Nonetheless, I fear that the feeling will creep back one day. I ask God every night what he wants from me...what's the path that I'm supposed to walk. Why do I still feel so empty? What lessons have I learnt? I've learnt that it's important to be humble, money can't buy you happiness nor health and that humans can be so self-serving. I still feel lost and relatively lonely. I've got tons of great friends and I'm grateful for them....and I shouldn't be feeling this way but I still feel lonely and tired of working. The hum-drum of routine grates on me.

Wake up. Brush teeth. Shower. Change. Feed Baileys. Go to MRT. Go to work. Lunch. Work. Go to MRT. Go home. Eat dinner. Entertain myself and Baileys. Shower. Change. Sleep. (Repeat)

OH GOSH! I can't imagine doing this for the next 30 yrs!!! Ok...pepper this occasionally with vacations, maybe dates, wedding dinners etc. But still?!! Just thinking of it is giving me semi-anxiety attacks. Work. I hate it. Why do we have to do it? To earn $ to buy food, clothes, presents, a home.

I'm getting disillusioned with this industry. It's built mainly on tons of people who think nothing more than $$$ and then they attempt to give it back through meagre charity events. True, its been said 有钱出钱，有力出力 but (maybe it's my disillusion talking again) I feel that it's because the industry has zillions of dollars that it just looks bad to hoard. Ok...but then again, I'm jaded. I am sure that there are people in the industry who donate regulary and volunteer as well.

I've signed up for a week's prayer retreat. It's just 10 hrs for the next week and hopefully, I can truely understand the Grand Plan a little better. Trust the inner voice that constantly speaks to me (not, I'm not schizo). I really love India Arie's song "Strength, Courage and Wisdom". That's what I ask for everyday. Strength, courage and wisdom to live through the day; to let things be. Now, all I need is to feel alive.

I'm done. I'm done complaining and wallowing in self misery. Each time I feel miserable, I can't help but remember what Joel and Kenric said to me before...that I like to make myself sound like the victim.

Yes, I did have a part to play in all the bad mouthing that went on for the past 3 mths. I don't know why I wasn't more careful. After all that training that I received in GS, you would've thought that I would be more careful but I wasn't. I was rash, slightly arrogant and didn't cover my ass well. *sigh* Irene is right. Nobody is as nice as her to tell me straight that I've made a mistake and to help me cover it up. No melodrama from her or her bitching about it to others. I miss that.

Ah well...I feel rather embarassed whenever I recall what my sg boss said to me in a conference call together with my hk boss. *sigh* Ah well...what's done is done and I am too tired to talk about it. I'll live. I tried too hard. Instead of doing well, I fell flat on my face and there's spilt milk for me to clean up.

Life sucks. Work sucks. Yes I'm unhappy and NO I'm not ok. I don't feel like telling you what's wrong. I'll tell you what's wrong when I tell you what's wrong. Don't sms me or call me to ask me what's wrong. I'll tell you in good time. I just wish that women were not such bitches and that if you think I've made a mistake, TELL IT TO MY F&*(KING FACE instead of gossiping among yourselves and then telling it to my boss. NOT FRIENDLY! AND READ YOUR FREAKING EMAILS. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE FREAKING READING THEM. SINCE YOU'RE SO "DETAILED"...DO YOU EVER FREAKING REALISE HOW LATE SOME OF MY FREAKING EMAILS ARE SENT?

*breathes in, breathes out*
*thinks* Yes there are people starving out there...yes there are innocent people whose lives are being held hostage. No big deal...this is no big deal......
*breathes in, breathes out*

Work still sucks.

Photos from Alli's visit!

At Raffles Long Bar.Esplanade - the brain. These art works are made from one continuous line without any breakage.
Singer sewing machine....brilliant isn't it?

Fish reflexology! Went there last saturday and treated my parents to it.

This is pretty cool...you dip your feet into a pool of fish that eat your dead skin cells! The result is very smooth feet and I highly recommend this! Pay for the full package where you get the fish, feet, shoulder and back massages. It's only $50 and you'll leave feeling really refreshed and gets your blood circulation going. However, if you're uber ticklish, the fish is definitely not for you.


Dad's feet with the bigger fish from Africa. Common name of this fish is supposedly the tilapia.The big ones seem strangely attracted to mum's feet...a lot of dead skin huh.
Mine...quite a normal amount of fish...nibble nibble....The small fish are from Turkey...cool...

Jaded

I'm fast turning jaded. Tired. I want to be a child again...or at least a rich tai tai

Heard the news yesterday about the Pope's decision about changing the mass to Latin? I seriously think that his reason about wanting people to know the history and tradition of the church IS NOT GOING TO HELP! Seriously. Listening to the mass in your own local language is already hard enough...let alone in Latin.

You want a revival in the Catholic Church? LISTEN TO THE YOUTH! They're the ones who are going to maintain the church and spread the word. The Youth do want to remain faithful and do want to go to church BUT there are just too many rules, too many traditional stuff that just spoils the whole experience. You want the people to learn about the history of the Church? There's something called CATHECISM (a.k.a. Sunday school).

Let's look at what the Church is supposed to teach:
- love (God's love as well as love we shld show to each other)
- understanding
- patience
- God, Jesus and just generally being good

These are more important than the language of the mass! Vatican 2 is about community. Where would be the sense of community if the Church...no no, I shouldn't say Church...I should say "The Pope". Anyway, as I was saying...where would be the sense of the community if the Pope insists on reintroducing Latin Masses? It's going to be a major turn-off for most of the youth. Youths are grappling with their lives, searching for God and searching for answers. Heck, I'm still grappling with my life and constantly searching for answers and for myself in this world.

What is so attractive about the Protestant Churches is that they're inclusive and not exclusive (except maybe to those who refuse to convert...haha). Why no female priest(ess)? What's wrong with having a female up there performing the rites and celebrating mass?

I seriously think that all the old fogies in the Vatican are too removed from the masses, especially the youth. Have more dialogues with the youth; have communication with parish priests who are in contact with the youth as well as the older folks and be more inclusive. Humans always want to feel welcomed and not bogged down by so much religious bureaucracy. Want to take steps backwards? Then step back into the SPIRIT of the 1st Christians who were more concerned about spreading the Good News and trying to become more like Jesus in their daily lives. That's what we Catholics should strive towards. Language matters as language is local and local is easier to comprehend and touch. Haven't we learnt through the New Testament that God is not some far removed being but he/she is always close by and we can easily turn to? He is our counsellor and guide.

What is all the point of all the open showyness of worshipping and showing how in awe we are of him when our lives aren't changed? Mass began as a way of a community praying and worshipping together. I always say that I love being a Catholic because I can go anywhere in the world, attend Mass and still be able to worship and understand what is going on. Nonetheless, I still feel that Catholics are so ritualistic that they've forgotten the importance of mass. It's not the rituals but rather the sense of community and celebrating with God.

What is the Singaporean Chinese look?

Yet another cabbie commented that I don't look local. Um...is there a Singaporean Chinese look to begin with? To which he said that I had a certain 'foreigner' air around me. -_-; I've got no idea whether to take that as a compliment or as an insult...but he stressed that it was neither. Ookkk....ah well.

Announcements!

Ok...it's quite official....ALLISON IS COMING TO SINGAPORE!!!! Woohoo!! She's finally getting her 1.8m frame down here to Singapore! It's been 2 years since we've last met. Gosh. Time really flies. Calling all the SingATW people - she'll most probably be in Singapore from 25-31 June! We should all meet up and do the usual touristy thing and end it with a yummy dinner!! :)

Velvet Dragon's official launch party!

I managed to get free invites to Velvet Dragon's official launch party, which was held on Fri, 8 June. So...me and the gals went down there to party! I really needed it that day because I had faced so much crap on Friday itself (all the crap decided to occur on FRIDAY!) and I really needed to unwind. Anyway, had a wonderful time in the end as I haven't clubbed for ages AND we actually managed to meet 3 nice guys thanks to Moon! :) One of them wanted to get to know Moon better and his 2 friends were tagging along and helping him out. Ahahaha...the 3 stooges. They're nice and all...but I think Moon's against getting to know any of them better (esp the one who wants to get to know her better!!). Ok...managed to get a few pics!

I'm not drunk ok...I just had a bad hair day.
The model with the f&*^ing thick and gorgeous hair!!!! It belongs on Sing's and my head. Damn him. Yes I'm jealous.

Themeless

You know what? My blog has NO theme. Some blog about food, some fashion, bitching outlet...what do I blog about? My boring life and random thoughts...*sigh* boring...

Abandonning Blog Abandonment

Yes guys, I'm finally back and I'm finally blogging again! I was in HK for training and later in Manila for our mini-conference and here are the pics! It's Vesak Day today!! YAY...cos it means that it's a PUBLIC HOLIDAY! For some apparent reason, I feel really tired these days and I think it's because I caught a cold...sniffle...ok...pics!

Maryann, my colleague in Phils; Bruce, my boss; and myself!Vicky, my HK colleague, and myself.Carol, my HK colleague, and myself.

Check out my room in Shangri-la Makati!

Aren't these toys cute??? Each one comes with the mango/strawberry drink! The waiters were biased towards me...hee...they took all 3 and allowed me to choose my fav while also allowing me to take a pic of all 3 toys! All the clients got tigers and elephants while I got the iguana! :)

Ok, you would ask me whether I had fun or not...well, in some ways I did but mostly it was because I got to know people and I got to learn how things were done. The thing I like about my new role is that I get to go out there on the 'field' if you call it.