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Anyway, I’m liking my new chair
Its easy to assemble and quite comfortable. Trying to juggle this on the scooter is another story though! 😉
Diary of a Singaporean now living in Rome, Italy
My helmet got stolen recently. It made me extremely upset when I came down to see it missing.
I was at my friend, Narima’s place after a friend’s wedding. We spent the time talking, laughing and watching tv together. I noticed that it was getting a little too late, so I said my goodbyes and went off to the parking lot.
When I rode off, I realised that there was something missing. I wasn’t wearing my helmet. Where was it? I left it on the seat, now its gone! I freaked out.
Granted that it wasn’t very expensive. But the idea that someone would be so heartless enough to steal it was extremely upsetting to me.
A quick phone call to Narima soothed me a little.
But there wasn’t anything that I could do. A police report? My helmet was generic and did not have any special markings on it. Nothing much could be done anyways but to be more careful in the future.
Though I had a spare one, I still needed a helmet for my pillion, so I decided to go to Yahoo Auctions to scour for affordable helmets online. It has been a while since I last done any online auctioning. I remember that I had a blast of a time rummaging around for hidden treasures, then buying nice things and selling off of items.
After a few minutes of browsing, I found a relatively good and affordable one and bidded on it. After much anticipation, the rush of winning was there again. I saw the name of the top bidder – I won the bid!
The dealer suggested to do a meet up at the Caltex Petrol kiosk along Bukit Batok for the transaction. So we agreed to meet after my night class.
I usually filled up my scooter at the SPC Petrol Kiosk so I saw for the first time how it was at Caltex. It was impressively larger. In the cool night air, the place shone like a drive in movie theater. I saw men with suds, washing cars by hand and I went in the mart. There was a place where I could sit down, and have a cuppa. And I waited.
I didn’t have to wait too long, the dealer came soon-after. The transaction was done pretty speedily. I checked the condition of the helmet and handed him the money and we left.
Pretty easy.
I remember the things I used to get from Yahoo Auctions, things like the unused Fancl Facial Set, the Levi jeans, computer books which I used while studying computer science back then. All these would be more expensive if I bought it first hand.
Using that as a justifiable move, I could buy more items like a polarizer filter for my camera. It would be nice to take a nice, crisp blue sky instead of the grey shots that I keep getting. I wonder if I could get a suitable prime lens too.
And on that note, I could sell away some items too. Like the Estee Lauder perfume that I bought on impulse while attending their makeover session. I keep wondering why I bought it … I don’t even use perfume!
Too bad I cant buy a new throat on Yahoo Auction
*cough cough cough*
A new throat would be nice.
Somewhere in Singapore, the full moon shines and gazes down peacefully at the view beneath her.
But the peace and quiet is soon broken …
What will our heroine do?
Never fear! Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa cough syrup is here! With 15 natural herbs to blast away those sore throat and coughs! Recommended by all chias worldwide!
So drink your Nim Jiom Pei Pa Koa today!
I do so love my shoes.
I may not be the most gentlest person with shoes Being a rather rough person, regular shoes typically dont last more than a month with me. In the end, I’d usually encounter footwear calamities like this that I can only laugh at days after.
But that doesnt stop me loving beautiful shoes.
I was walking around the Jurong Point Shopping Center when I found these very pretty and colourful pair of wedges at Charles and Keith. It was love at first sight. I just had to try them on. It looked as good as it was comfortable to wear.
It was so comfortable that I had no problem wearing when riding my scooter.
Another pair of lovely that I found was from Bata. Even though Bata has a reputation here in Singapore, as being ‘Buy And Throw Away’ for not lasting very long, undeniably, there are some very lovely designs there, such as this green and pink cork wedges that I found.
It was extremely sexy. And I loved how it immediately made any outfit feminine. It was a timeless design. The only minus point was that it can get uncomfortable after a while because of its gradient. A day at work with these shoes wont be practical.
The funny thing is, I dont usually wear these shoes and my other pretty shoes to work anymore. Instead, I wear a pair of mocassins thats almost disintegrating already but I just dont have the heart to replace.
Do you have any objects that you absolutely adore like I adore shoes?
Ah! Its so nice to meet up with old friends again!
Sheedah invited me to her wedding. Sheedah was a friend and an ex colleague from the previous school that I was attached with. I spent about two years there and had very fond memories of the school.
I messaged Narima if she wanted to go with me. She affirmed, so I fetched her on my scooter, and together we went to the ceremony.
A dance for the bride and groom
It still tickles me when I think about us wearing baju kurong (traditional Malay wear) on two wheelers. Me in my orange gold dress and my wedges and Narima in her Kebaya must have attracted quite a few shocked motorists on the road. I imagined that they were thinking, “Crazy Women! Why on earth are they wearing fancy clothes like that on a scooter?”
When we reached there, I saw so many of my ex-colleagues. We looked at each other and started to talk animatedly, excited to see each other again. I missed them so!
We entered the grand hall and waited for the bride and groom. It was so lovely, the sound of the Malay drum beating in chorus, and adorable little girls strewing flower petals on the floor. Sheedah looked radiant and her husband, Suhaimi looked equally dashing.
The chandelier almost covered my face
One could see the love in their eyes as they smiled and glanced at each other. It was so lovey dovey. It made me feel like wanting to get married too.
While watching the emcee talk, I updated my friends on whats new in my life while they updated theirs. It seemed that there are quite a few changes in the school – quite a few staff has left or thinking of leaving. Some going for new pastures, like teaching in Hong Kong.
Peiyi : Hey! You look so nice!
Me : Not as nice as you 🙂 You look beautiful in that outfit and that hairstyle.
Peiyi : I thought you were coming with your boyboy?
Me : No, he’s coming in December, thats why I sms’ed you about Tea Chapter.
Sherry : It’s popular with tourists.
Xiaofang : Boyfriend?
Peiyi : Where is he from?
Sherry : What is he working as?
Peiyi : How did you guys met?
Me : Erm .. erm ..
I was really happy to be around these wonderful people.
Mr Loo, Me, Hasnah, Waheeda, Linda and Narima.
But the night ended too quickly and we had to say our goodbyes too soon. But what a lovely night. Being among good friends is one of the most priceless things one could have.
By the way, the post to be Marina’s husband is now open. You may apply here.
I’m liking the new Blogger. I’ve finally have what I’ve always wanted to have – labels! Now I can categorize my posts and choose to read which category I want at one click.
There’s also the ‘widget’ feature which I like, once I’ve adjusted it, it will stay the same, no matter what template I change to. But now that Blogger has upgraded from CSS to XML, I believe alot of blog-skins will cease to work. Fortunately for this blog, it has a very simple design. 🙂
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I had a lovely day on Thursday which was the eve of Teachers’s day. I still went to work even though I had another day to rest – I was concerned as there wasnt anyone manning the pictures and the video for the school. I was feeling better anyways.
I watched the school concert put up by the school students – some were dancing, some formed a band, there was even one who did beat-boxing.
I felt well enough to attend the teacher’s day lunch. I asked Sophia, the admin manager, where the place was
Sophia : Its at River View Hotel
Me : Err .. Where’s that?
SOphia : Do you know where Havelock Road is?
Me : No … Where’s that?
Sophia : Its near Zouk (a night club)
Me : I dont go clubbing
In the end we consulted streetdirectory and read the directions from there but just to be double sure, I asked some of the staff who were driving if I could follow their car.
V : I’m not sure if that’s a good idea
Me : Why not?
V : I’ll be driving quite fast
Me : Just say that you dont want me to follow you
V : Its not that, I’m not sure if you can keep up
In the end, I said nevermind. It was obvious that he did not want me to follow his car so I proceeded to go to the journey by myself. Should be easy. Ayer Rajah Expressway leading to the Central Expressway, turn right and then ride along Havelock road.
I rode along Ayer Rajah Expressway, and then exited the Central Expressway as I was supposed to but I couldnt recognize any landmarks. What made it worse was that it started to rain heavily. Raindrops started to fall on me like tiny spikes. I never realised how painful it was to ride in the rain.
I stopped by the Tanjong Pagar Railway to consult my streetdirectory book and after getting the directions proceeded on my journey again.
Cold, soaking wet and miserable, I finally found the right road but I still couldnt find the hotel. It was so annoying.
Only when I left that I finally found the building. Printed on the high rise hotel in red words, River View Hotel. I could almost hear the angels sing.
So stressed out I was, I signed up for the karaoke competition on a whim. And guess what? Me and my partner won first in the duet category!
Hee Hee hee!
Guess where I was last night.
I did a quick revision.
In the toilet.
I know its an odd place to study, but at least it was peaceful and conducive enough for me to complete a whole chapter on economics.
Mum asked me to give her a ride to the Kallang Stadium where she will be taking her examination for the Basic Exercise Certification. She aims to be a certified fitness instructor so this examination will be the one of the hurdles for her.
Travelling from here to home would take at least an hour and a half. Since the examination lasts for an hour, I decided to wait for her.
So I had to park my scooter. I tried to find a motorcycle parking lot around the stadium. Its a very large area, the car park itself was about the size of a soccer field.
But I couldnt find any motorcycle lot and I really didnt want to do an illegal parking and get fined again, so I decided to park the scooter at a car lot. After tearing up a coupon, I entered the stadium.
Sunset by the stadium by Justin
Aptly nicknamed as ‘the grand old lady’, it was a grand stadium. It was large and rather spectacular. I watched the caretakers tending to the stadium field, some dragging in large water hoses while others water the grass of the field.
National Day celebrations by Elfonse
The stadium has hosted many different events here such as the National day celebrations, football leagues and other events. And I remember the last time when I went here with the school that I was formerly attached with, to give support to the military band performance.
So many memories here.
Which makes it a little sad for me to hear that this stadium will be torn down come next year.
It was nice and quiet so I sat facing the stadium to do a little studying. But as the sun set, it got increasingly difficult to see and I went to the nearest lighted area. The gym was for members only and I wasnt allowed in the office. The only well lighted area that I could go to was the ladies.
Engrossed with the book, time passed by quickly and mum was already done with her examination. I saw the throngs of people coming out the theaterette. Many of them has an anguished look to them. It must have been a difficult paper.
A Girl : Things that I studied didnt come out and the things I didnt studied came up!
A Lady : The instructor emphasized on the wrong topics
A Girl : Do you know that 10 people retook this examination?
A Lady : Oh dear! This is so disheartening!
Mum popped out eventually and I asked her how she felt. She gave a brave smile and said, “It was scary, but God bless, I’ll be fine”.
We headed to where I parked my scooter and I noticed a white slip stuck to my scooter. Another fine! I was fined for ‘parking at an area not designated for it’
Honestly!
What is wrong with these people? Where on earth am I supposed to park when there are no lots for it?
It was really getting under my nerves. Mum saw how worked out I was that she decided to bring me to the ‘Meet the People’ session where I can air my griveances to the constituency minister.
As much as I enjoy riding, sometimes I feel that it can bring out the worst in me. I have a very short temper and get frustrated easily.
Is this normal?
I had a company meeting yesterday. Since the location was further on to the Eastern part of Singapore, I travelled for the first time on my scooter to the ECP expressway.
On the highway, I passed by the heart of the city and saw the tall skyscrapers of the CBD area. And as I passed by the Nicoll highway, I was enthralled by the enchanting sight of the tall buildings by the river leading to the sea.
Beautiful. Just beautiful.
Which makes it quite amazing that just about two years ago, this same place, made the entire nation in a moment of trepidation as they listen to the news of the Nicoll Highway collapse incident.
It was a long ride to the boss’s house. With no form of entertainment for me except for to look at the crazy motorists on the road zig-zagging without prior signalling and to curse and shout at the taxis suddenly cutting in my way.
At length, I reached the Boss’s place and met and mingled the other educators and staff there. There was Dzul and Deanna, both of whom I met while during our orientation days last year.
My previous supervisor, Mei Yun, me and Deanna
It was the typical motivational speech, company vision, new things that will come for the future and what nots. Some people might be cynical about these motivational speeches. Granted that I include one of them sometimes, but at the same time though, I felt quite blessed that I was with Asknlearn after all that I’ve been through with the previous companies that I have worked with.
Our game team posing next to the ‘spiderweb’ that we broke
Working life understandably does have its problem but at least I can ask them for help whenever I feel that I couldnt cope with something. The best environment is where everyone feels they belong and look out for each other.
I was supposed to meet up with my friends Vai and Juli in Orchard. After getting lost around the roads for a few minutes and screaming, “Where am I? Where am I?” I finally managed to stumble into the city area and then got myself stuck behind a procession of taxis and cars then magically finding myself entering a carpark behind a shopping center complex.
I can feel the eyes of other motorcyclists as they see me park my scooter. I was the only female rider there in the already full parking area.
I swooshed out my hair like a shampoo commercial and sashayed out of the parking lot.
Anyway, I met up with Vai first and updated each other on what’s new in our lives.
Me : How did the birthday event go?
Vai : It was great! Thank you for helping out in the powerpoint slides. It was spectacular. Her entire family loved it.
Me : Not a problem 🙂
Some while after, Juli turned up and the playful catfight began.
Vai : Ah, someone went shopping I see. No wonder you are late.
Juli : Excuse me! This is for school. We are having a dinner function at a community center!
Vai : Community center? That’s such a cheap place. I had mine at a hotel!
Juli : What hotel? Hotel 81 is it? (Hotel 81 is a budget hotel)
We went to lido to watch this movie called pretty persuasion which I throughly enjoyed. It was a satirical dark comedy with spectacular dialogues and perfect characters which a rather shocking ending.
The night ended much too quickly though with Juli needing to leave to get ready for her marathon the next day.
Juli : And you, Vai, I’ll see you there at 6.30 am
Vai : But I’m sick! Who knows if tomorrow I would die!
Juli : I don’t care! If you can still stand up and walk right now, you can still run for tomorrow.
Vai : Why doesn’t Marina go for it?
Juli : That’s because she never signed up for it not like SOME people who sign up for things but never turns up at the last minute.
Vai : You women are always ganging up on me.
I have the funniest friends.
I was viewing the photoclicks competition page and saw the finalists from the Boon Lay CC category.
I must say that I’m very impressed by the way that the photographers captured their images – it was unique, something that I would not have thought of myself.
I was there, on Sunday to participate, just for the fun of it. I signed up for it months ago as I was a photovideoi member. Besides, Boon Lay was rather near where I lived.
The editor for magazine, John Cosgrove was there, to conduct a quick workshop. It was the same person who conducted the macro workshop that I attended in February.
He ended the workshop and started the competition. The theme was, “Life in the HDB block”. The 100 participants and I went off to shoot pictures in the heartlands.
It was a rather warm day and soon I was perspiring and fidgeting and began pawing at things.
I took shots of the housing blocks from different angles. I climbed up the flight of stairs to see view from the top. I sat on the ground to see view from the bottom.
After a few hours, I couldnt concentrate in the heat and decided to just walk casually around the neighbourhood. I stumbled upon a rather pretty farm and stood there admiring. Its rural-ish charms reminded me much of my old house before our relocation.
I saw a farmer watering the vegetables and I shouted out to him
me : Nice vegetables uncle!
farmer : Haha! Yes! But its not mine. This is shared with other residents here
me : What beautiful plants
An auntie comes near us pushing her groceries
me : Isnt this such a lovely farm?
auntie : Yes. Too bad we will be leaving next year
me : What? Why?
auntie : We are being relocated. These houses here are over 40 years.
me : Really? Doesnt look it though.
auntie : I hope that our new place will have good amenities.
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I walked around and saw other photographers taking their pictures. I smiled and said hellos and observed them deep in concentration. I saw a rather familliar face.
Me : Hey, havent I seen you before? You were at the macro workshop
He : I dont remember. I go to too many shoots. Do you always go photographing solo?
Me : Yeah, I dont have much friends who like photography.
He : Maybe you can join my friends and I on our shoots.
Me : Sounds great 🙂
In time it was time to return to the community center to submit our shots. There were a multitude of people there queing up already.
The results were announced soonafter. I saw and admired the lovely pictures by the top 10 finalists. Mr Familliar was one of them – He was very talented.
This is my submission, it wasnt in the top 10 but I’m still pleased with it.
Hopefully there will be another one next year. It was a lot of fun! (apart from the heat) Will you join me if there will be one the next time?