Holy toot, the red shirt that I wore yesterday ran! Silly me for soaking it together with my white knit top and my skirt. Now my skirt has a interesting red splotch design. Hope the fabric stain remover works.
Speaking of clothes, here is one of the worlds greatest mysteries. You toss in a sock in the washing machine and after it has been washed, you’d find that there are at least one side of the sock missing. Where does it go? Did it go the magical black hole of missing laundry? Is there a magic sock bunny that takes it away? And where did my denim skirt go to? What happened to my brown knit top? Did my green sailor top sail away? Where did the rest of my underwear go? Where? Where? Where?
Very puzzling indeed …
Anyhow, to continue with yesterday’s story, I went to have lunch together with Geri at Bugis. We went to Sim Lim Square first as she needed to buy a pair of speakers for her lappy. We were both nervous that the shops would be closed and the speakers that she bought with her looked a tad heavy and bulky. I looked around the shops for the prices of some of the stuff that I contemplated on getting. But then decided otherwise when I remembered how much I’ve spent on computer parts in December. Maybe another time.
Moreover when I checked at the ATM machine downstairs, as expected, my mid month pay hasn’t arrived yet. Even with the message they sent to all staff:
“Hi all, accounts has confirm salary will be credited tomorrow. The company all chinese staff, gong si fa cai”
That’s word for word. And that was on Monday the 7th. The day when it was supposed to be payday. Come on now accounts. Your department of all people should know that the bank doesn’t work on public holiday eve. And it doesn’t work on public holidays either. So we won’t get it on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday since these are all Chinese new year holidays. Checks clear only after 2 days. So it will only clear at the very least on Saturday!
What really made me mad about it is that they have been constantly delaying it since last year. What is up with that? Really annoying.
I tried calling up the Ministry of Manpower a couple of weeks back but couldn’t reach them, so I left a email instead. I recently received this back
“Section 21 of the Employment Act stipulates that all salary, other than payment for overtime work, must be paid within 7 days after the end of the salary period. Salary for overtime work must be paid within 14 days after the end of the salary period”
I should lodge a complaint. I’m nearly having it up to here. And I’m not sorry that I have told the principal about what was going on with the company. I’m still waiting for the Central Provident Fund to reply back to my calls. Loyalty my ass. If you treat your workers like crap, crap will come back to you.
Besides, it’s “Accounts has confirmed that salary will be credited by tomorrow. The company wishes all staff: Gong Xi Fa Cai”
Anyhow, Geri and I went to Long John Silvers for lunch. I love LJS a lot as it brings plenty of nostalgia for me. I used to hang around here a lot when I was back in secondary school – back then it had the cheapest prices any fast food restaurant had. For $2.99 we could have two pieces of chicken, fries and coke and we could make it last for hours and hours while we studied in the comforts of the cool air conditioning. Sure it was a little noisy, but it wouldn’t be as distracting as the noise back at home. Screaming matches are frequent in my household. So I’ve evolved with the unique ability to hear only the things that I want to hear. It’s called “selective hearing” All I hope for is that I don’t have “selective thinking”
Out of the blue Geri asked me why I never changed my watch. I looked at my watch.
me : whats wrong with my watch?
geri : it’s old
me : it’s not old
geri : It’s old!
me : well, I got it in 2002, it’s not old.
grew : you should change it
me : well I like it, its been with me for a while, I’m quite attached to it
grew : You should change it. You’re being defensive
My watch has been with me for long while now. It accompanied me through a lot of journeys, it has been with me with all my trips and was there for me through all the bad things and the happy things. It has been with me longer than any of my relationships even. My watch has never failed me once. It’s the most loyal watch and has never died on me when I needed it the most. Always ticking away night and day, rain or shine.
It’s so loyal to me, in fact, I think I’ll give my watch a name. Albert. That doesn’t sound bad, in fact, I kind of like it. Albert. Albert the watch. Yes, Albert is very loyal to me. I love you Albert, you’re the best pal a girl could have. May you live a long and happy live Albert. And I’ll keep you close to my left arm and I will keep you for always.
Oh. No. I’m beginning to realize that I’m growing to be neurotic all over again. I refer to one of the journals I wrote about last year.
“Anyways, I noticed that to my horror, I’m becoming to be like one of those over analytical ladies that tends to analyze each and every behaviour of something … not that rationalising is bad, but when one over reads the lines, that’s something kind of obsessive, I think.
Lets just look at this scenario : (not that I’m in this scenario, but, you know what I mean)
man : we’ve been together for 3 months now …
woman thinking : uh oh … he thinks we’ve been together for too long … I think he’s gonna break up with me, why is this talk going on now?? Is it something I said? I don’t look good enough? I know I’ve been bingeing lately .. does it show? 3 months? Is he bored of me? Why is he doing this to me? Did he meet someone new? I knew it .. that bustard! He’s breaking up with me .. He’s actually breaking up with me … AFTER all that I DID for him!!!
woman screaming : I HATE YOU!!!
man : what did I do???”
If the Asian version of Ally Mcbeal or Bridget Jones ever come to Singapore, I think I’d be the first person to audition for it. I’m neurotic enough, and I’m eccentric enough. I’d be perfect.
Speaking of Bridget Jones, I came across a really funny blog while searching for yakult vs vitagen in google. It was so funny reading this articles that I spent a couple of hours just reading it non stop from August 2004 till the present post.
Its about a character who calls himself as Eddie Neo Chee Beng who is stuck in a job that he didn’t enjoy, but couldn’t find another one since he’s only armed with a diploma, thinks of himself as very unattractive and is a NBK (never been kissed)
I think that he would definitely be a male version of Bridget Jones. He definitely has the wit for it 🙂
I also looked forward to reading another blog because it was so fascinating and in depth and conversational without being in your face. And I look forward to when the author updates her page :)She had me at “insalata caprese” lol
Anyhow, I’ll end here for the moment. Till then 🙂
Hi, Marina – I like your blog. It’s very conversational and so full of energy! 😉 Fun, fun, fun.
Thanks for the mention of my blog, very nice!
Oh, and I agree – you should keep the watch 😉 A comfy watch is like a favorite pair of shoes, never out of style.
Thanks DJ,
I find your blog in return as very insightful, funny and really an interesting read 🙂 Easy to read!
My watch is fraying badly now. Kind of hard to wear now even. LOL … Oh dear …