Just pondering...

Today, Melvin, Minnie and I were chatting for a bit at Minnie’s cubicle. About striking up conversations and pick-up lines… Minnie was relating the lamest pick-up she ever heard too... And I’ve had some kinda weird experiences too, but luckily, none of them turned out for the worst.

I’m not sure why but lately it’s hit me that I’m single… Am I still a swinging one at that? That, I don’t know anymore though… I feel the looks and even catch the gaze of many. But I know I’m inherently shy about things. And I’ve never dated before anyway. I’m not the sort to keep looking till I find someone. Unfortunately, more than I’d like to admit, I’m still waiting for my prince charming. I often tell myself that I still have time to wait… Actually, that’s just me being lazy about things.

Quite a few of my closest buds are very much at the end of their tether on trying to get me to go places and meet new people. And I can safely say that friend “A”, has officially given up on getting me to date a guy who’s not Indian. Of course, there’s two reasons for that… Firstly, there eventually has to be a conversion and secondly, I’m not allowed out very late at night. This CAN get tough… I'm not exactly a person for the night life itself either; it can get creepy around my neighbourhood late at night.
So, anyway, I’ve decided to bide my time a bit more. ‘Cus truth be told, a guy who can’t make the first move doesn’t seem up to the task at all to me. My preference may seem more traditional than others but those are my preferences anyway. And I’m quite picky too… So, “A”, if you’re reading this, don’t worry babe! I’ll come around soon enough… ;-) Hahahaha!!!...

Basic criteria? Sense of humour, confidence and presentability. He doesn’t HAVE to have a body like Vin Diesel, though that would DEFINITELY be a plus point... Hehehehe… Cheeky, I know, but I do prefer bigger guys to an extent… Not super-huge, like hugging a huge Grecian pillar, but a nice body never hurt anyone right?

Anyway, this is me pondering over something that's not a pressing issue in the first place… I was just letting my mind drift off from work for a couple of minutes…

Ok, back to work again...

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A Case of the Munchies...?

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Ok, I admit it… I have not been disciplined lately at all. And the scales are giving it away!! Horror of horrors, the truth is finally out of the closet. I’ve gained weight.

I know what my rules are and that the ultimate choice to stick to it all is my own. So, I admit it. I’ve slipped a lot in my resolve, gaining back a bit of what I’ve lost. Anyway, I’m starting to miss clean food… I discover cravings at odd moments for clean, clear-tasting food. And I feel kinda gleeful when I fulfill my craving too… Like today, I had a huge salad from Carl’s Junior that I couldn’t even finish because there were too many greens (actually, lettuce was the culprit). It was the chilled char-grilled chicken salad, with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It wasn’t bad overall, except that it’s been raining non-stop for three days straight and I was cold to begin with. So it wasn’t exactly the smartest of lunch choices. But, to comfort me, I also got a small bowl of tomato and vegetable soup from Subway. That helped a little.

Anyway, we made our way back to office pretty fast and got to work, munching away. And we spoke about different things and more. The weather was actually nice and comfy, if you were bundled up in a nice soft blankie… But I forgot my jacket so I’ve had to sit through the various days in the well-chilled office. Oh well…

This morning didn’t have a very pleasant start with many emails including two angrily-worded emails from different company owners… It was due to difficult circumstances which couldn’t be avoided unfortunately. Hence, they faced inconvenience with last-minute cancellations, etc. The situation has since been resolved anyway. So, I’m not going to take anything personally.

Well, that’s pretty much what happened for the day apart from the usual roles and responsibilities… Toodle-do!!!

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I feel a bit stifled today. Probably from the extensive lunch we had yesterday at Carousel… Carousel is a nice place. It was our unit lunch, supposedly under the umbrella of our “healthy lifestyle” thing. So much for a healthy lifestyle huh? It was an extensive buffet spread with dishes from all over the world. And being one of the few halal buffet restaurants, the place was teeming with people. There were so many various dishes from different cuisines that I couldn’t sample everything. It was just too much. And I didn’t get through half the desserts either… It was all a little too much, especially when I’ve not been eating regular big amounts of food for so long. But the food overall was good, except that cut corners could be easily spotted. But I must say, I was pleased with the salad spread, with around 5/6 different tossed salads including roasted pumpkin, artichoke, shrimp and bean salads. The chilled seafood spread was huge but I didn’t touch it as seafood to me, is an affair to hold in private, not consumed right in front of the new boss… Especially when there is a small risk of a crayfish shell flying somewhere… Wahahahaha!!!... That would probably be the worst thing that could possibly happen.

Anyway, we were all pretty stuffed from the food and we slowly made our way to the Cathay near P.S. for our movie. We watched 10,000BC and all I can say is, I’m thankful I hadn’t paid to watch it. Even though it was on a Monday, it still didn’t feel good enough to justify a movie ticket… To anyone interested in watching it, don’t waste your money and time; just wait for the pirated DVDs. If you still want to know why I say this, please go and read the review in yesterday’s Straits Times paper and you’ll understand what I mean.

There was eye candy but it wasn’t enough for me. Lacking in depth, the storyline was flawed and there wasn’t any character (human or beast) development at all. And the ending was painfully pathetic; the typical happy ending without an adequate explanation. The girl with the blue eyes, was she truly enough to keep the movie going? For the men viewers, maybe but certainly not the females. And certainly not film critics. Please disregard my sheer language but to shamelessly screw with history and facts to produce unbelievable nonsense is annoying to say the least. And I thought the “Mummy” franchise was bad. At least in that series, the characters had more entertainment value and there was a bit of eye candy and interesting visuals. Surprisingly, those with European ancestry can never seem to outgrow their infatuation with Egypt and its beautiful history. (So now it seems better explained to me why Anthony could never get over Cleopatra, he simply never grew out of it.) Ok, I profess now that the statement above is my own and does not reflect common sentiment, to the best of my knowledge.

Anyway, it is back to the reality of the workweek again... So much for entertainment. Naturally, such things don't last and they gradually fade away into the background of noise. I might even forget I even watched such a movie some day... Forgetful truly.

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Today is Friday… Aishah finally came back to work after 3 days MC. I hope her leg gets better…

Anyway, it was just the three of us today, Aishah, Minnie and Me… When Aishah and I went out to get lunch, we seriously splurged on ourselves today… Mansor’s Chicken Briyani and we split a bag of Shihlin chicken too. I also got Subway cookies for both Minnie and Aishah as a treat:- For Minnie to make her feel better about her skirt and for Aishah to welcome her back. We caught up on things over lunch back at the office and Minnie commented that it felt so peaceful. I totally agree.

I am looking forward to the weekend too. Gonna meet up with a couple of old girlfriends to catch up… A close girlfriend of mine is flying off to London for her graduation over the weekend… I wish her all the best. She’s a very driven person, for whom the status quo is never enough. All the best Amelie!!!

I am currently in the office quite busy with work. But I felt like writing something so here I am. Although I have to admit that my writing has gone down the drain pretty much over the years due to lack of effort… My teachers often commented that I could be an author one day. So much for that one book that never got finished. I feel irritated whenever I see it in my drawer. A reflection of efforts abandoned… A long time ago. I’m not even sure if it can be picked up again.
Perhaps I should start on a new slate altogether, what say you? Hmmm, let me ponder over a suitable subject first.

In the meantime, I’ll try and catch up on reading Minnie’s book, “Message in a bottle”. Amazingly, Minnie likes to purchase books. So does my friend, Kamilia. I’m the library sort of person… Maybe one reason is that I wouldn’t want to end up investing in a book that’s not a good enough read? Funny ‘cus my dad used to purchase his books for reading. Oh well, I realized that my dad has a very wide taste in reading and his choice of books are very interesting… So are mine anyway. I don’t fancy much of lovey-dovey, “oh-that’s-so-lovely!” kind of books… I grew up with The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew and even the Singapore ghost stories. I read everything when I was young. But most of all, I grew up with mystery books, cops and the legal system. I’ve read almost everything… From simple fiction, to mysteries to thrillers to science to geographical to dream to literature. Depending on my mood and my immediate choice of the level of challenge, I will choose as I deem it. Often, I borrow three books at a time. That’s my modus operandi… I have come across some appallingly boring and slow-paced books written even by supposedly raved-about authors. But my fave books for passing time are murder mysteries… I could read them anywhere. J This, of course lies in the hands of the author… Most books I’ve placed my faith on have not disappointed me. I like visualization of events; I have a very active imagination mind you… That’s why I love nature too… Visuals can take my breathe away. Even the smallest of things can pull my attention with its beauty.
Oh well, I’m feeling kinda sleepy now from lunch. In the middle of the office. Shall put up another new post soon…


Toodle-do lads!!

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Damn.

Some people are so confusing.
What is the true status of person? A temp? Or a person?
A staff? What defines a staff? Double-standards prevail? I really don’t know.

What am I to think? To treat as a non-existence once and then to accord acknowledgement the next is naught. Does the presence of a person depend upon the legality of an employment contract? Or is it a matter of money? What is it that makes the difference? Or is it all purely personal opinions? In the words of one of my funny colleagues, “I also does not know!” So, what then?

To accept the abrupt invitation or to ignore and “defy”? But to do so would not be a show of courage to acknowledge earlier on-goings…. What would one call it? Stupidity? Righteousness? I do not know.

I kind of feel cheesed-off at the chain of events and feel bad for the others pulled into it too… It is an unfair form of communication and it stinks…


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Pasta and cookies.... Sigh...

Today, we went to Pasta Mania at Cineleisure for lunch… Three of us (me, M and X) and we had a nice time; M bought new jewellery too… The spoiler, however, was soon to follow… As we took the escalator down to the ground floor, M’s beautiful long, white skirt got temporarily caught in the side of the escalator, causing some motor oil to touch the skirt. Thank God she managed to pull the skirt out of the machine in time; or some mishap might have occurred. We made our way to the basement washroom and I helped her the best I could (by squirting out soap for her; pathetic, I know) and she managed to get some of it off… But the thing had stained her skirt in a couple of places and since it was very dense oil, it proved really hard to remove. To make things worse, the silly hand dryer in the washroom was not working at all. Hence, we had to use an oscillating fan (yes, we did) to partially dry her skirt. When we finally got out of the washroom, it was 2.00pm so we made our way up again. To make her feel better, I bought her a white chip cookie from Subway, which turned out to be a disaster of sorts too… To know what happened with the cookies, please read my email to Subway below in grey…


To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to inform the management about the difference in the standard of cookies being sold at various Subway outlets. On Wednesday, I purchased two cookies with my lunch order at the Far East Plaza outlet, a white chip and a double choc cookie. Both were baked to a much harder texture than normal, particularly the double choc cookie. I had to literally break it in pieces. Yet, today, when I purchased two white chip cookies at the Subway outlet at Cineleisure, it was the complete opposite. The cookies were not cooked at all! There was butter/oil seeping out of the cookies and the middle was not cooked at all, except for the outermost edges. I ended up eating raw cookie dough for dessert. This is unacceptable. Like me, there was another customer, a gentleman, who was queuing to purchase just cookies. If he had bought white chip cookies as well, I am sure he would have been disappointed too.

I would like to know if the cookies are pre-made or are they freshly made at the stores. If they are fresh, aren’t there specific instructions on baking time and oven temperatures for the outlet staff to follow? As I had purchased cookies for my colleagues as well for a treat, I ended up being severely embarrassed after they found the cookies to be undercooked. As both purchases were takeaways, I did not have the chance to inform the staff directly. I hope this is the last time such a thing happens at Subway’s outlets as the discrepancy between the outlets is alarming. It may inevitably cause the quiet loss of customers too. I urge the management to look into this matter for hygiene reasons as well. Not everyone has stomachs made for raw cookie dough.

Thank you very much for your attention. Do feel free to contact me should you wish for clarification on details on the above matter.

Some lunch it was huh?

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