Why do people do the things they do?

I hope the boycott on the Utusan-owned Kosmo runs the paper into the ground.

The people there must really have nothing but fluff or possibly air between their ears. And a whole load of insensitivity to boot.

1. Show some humanity and respect to the dearly departed.
2. You must be out of your minds to publish salacious gossip about someone who was (still is) a someone in the media and advertising industry. 'Backlash' and 'consequence' probably don't exist in your vocabulary. You apparently forgot who it was you're publishing that juicy bit of gossip about.
3. Serves you right for angering a whole community of existing (probably not anymore) and potential (kiss them bye-bye) advertisers. Let's see you try to meet your advertising quotas.

But then again, what can I expect from people who work for the institution(s) who claim that a certain PA fell to his death from the 16th floor?

They really do think we're morons, don't they?

Aw shucks, guess we disappointed them yet again.

Access Denied

Singapore is a GREAT country.

I love how organized it is and how the buses and trains actually run without a hitch. I love the fact that there is so much variety in the consumer retail industry that sometimes I am wont to leave my jaw unhinged with all the gaping that I do. I can find things here I never thought I'd need or want. I like that the trees here are allowed to grow to a ripe old age without having to worry that their life would be cut short for a new fly-over or highway. And of course, who can deny that Singapore is a financial and commercial hub?

I get the feeling though that the ruling powers here still feel that their charge are not to be trusted and left to their own devices.

Take surfing on one of the wireless hotspots here. My personal experience but hey, maybe it's just me. Not 5 minutes into hooking up via Wireless@ Singtel at Spinelli's, I tried googling a Deloitte survey after opening my iTunes, opening a file from the hard drive and signing onto YM. Here's the message I got:

Anomalous Behavior Detected - Request Blocked

Your computer was automatically blacklisted (blocked) by the network due to an abnormal amount of activity originating from your connection. It is possible that your computer is infected with a worm and/or virus. Please contact your network administrator for assistance or more information.

Try as I might, the next few searches I tried all brought up the same message and I was blocked from going online. Undaunted, I restarted the Mac and tried googling again. Still the same darned message.

Talk about getting a great big slap on the wrist. I get the feeling like I'm being treated like a teenager who got caught with his pants down. And being sent into juvenile detention because of that.

Wow. What a great country this is.

For all the crap that happens in Malaysia, at least I know I won't face nonsense like this when I need to surf from anywhere outside my home.

Worm my ass.

All Awhirl

It arrived yesterday. Mommy was more excited than her. She refused to put it on. Only budged when I lured her with a bribe of watching mommy's phone; she loves watching videos of herself. She had fun after. Wouldn't take it off until it was time to sit on the potty.

Intruder

We've recently resorted to locking the bathroom door whenever we need to use the toilet or take a bath/shower. Normally just closing the door would suffice but the small fry has gotten into the habit of standing on tiptoe, turning the doorknob and opening said door.

Too bad if you're on the john or naked in the shower.

So yes, locks on doors are now required.

Rest In Peace

Too many gone. Too soon.

Active Again

I've just started to post on the much neglected saku taku no ki. Drop by if you feel like it.

The Healing Spot

The infamous face belies the truth: it's not pain, it's showing off in front of the lens.

Note the healing scar.

Trying To Win Her Over

Here's what yee-yee tries to do every time the small fry heads back to KL for a visit: curry favour. It's too bad that by the time she's comfortable with and wants yee-yee to carry her every time she sees her, it's time to head back into Singapore.

In a bid to ....

Today was a little bit weird.

First time ever I tried bidding on eBay while on the move. In a cab. On my mobile.

And singing to the small fry while she's eating her rice cake. Sitting on my lap.

In the end?

I won the bid.

Phew.

A Leetle Bit Busy

So, we're a teensy weensy bit busy these days, due to my impending deadline and my compulsion towards procrastination.

Add to that I've been trying to wring out some time to:

1. tinker on the Macbook Pro
2. reread Harry Potter #7
3. do my other work other than the writing
4. spend time with Sophia
5. practice with my D80 and the new 50mm lens
6. sleep

When you break it down, there really is not very much time in a day to do everything that you want to do. Well, due more to my skill at leaving things till the last minute than anything else.

Sophia's birthday scar is healing quite nicely, after a couple of days of peeling (too much time spent in the tub; she's now relegated to quick showers only). It's pretty unsightly - dark purple and bumpy and lumpy - but it's dry and not spewing pus, so my fingers and toes are crossed that it'll be healed enough by next weekend that she'll be able to head into the pool again.

Other than that, she's been a real saint about the unsightly mark on her face. She doesn't touch it unnecessarily unless she wants me to kiss it. I have my rose hip oil and aloe vera handy in case it's gonna get itchy the more it heals.

Enough for now then, I'd better get back to my deadlines....

Tasty!

Post-birthday cake, you can just barely see the burn mark next to her nose. Sigh, my bad. Poor dear.

Seems like the floor is tastier than the cake....

The Many Faces

Just before her second birthday, we headed back to KL. The idea was to grant both sets of grandparents the opportunity to celebrate her birthday with her.

She loved the stay, mainly because she got to visit the playground everyday and overdosed on the swings and the slides.

Whatcha looking at?

Balls, balls balls!

Small Indulgences

So these two books came from the same shop we bought Sophie's jack-in-the-box. It was with great restraint that I didn't stash more beautiful books, knick-knacks or toys into my hands.

The Brown Cows

Had fun with the brown cows today. They were pretty cooperative with me, considering I was invading their sleep time.

Toys

Been looking around for a proper jack-in-the-box for Sophia for a while. Finally found it at a store called Wood Would. I would have bought up 90% of the store, if I could.

This set of blocks came from Daddy on a biz trip to Bangkok.

Library Haul

1. Kiss of Life - Daniel Waters
2. Lucky - Rachel Vail
3. The Wizard Heir - Cinda Williams Chima
4. The Dragon Heir - Cinda Williams Chima

Weird Encounters In The Service Industry

There are some weird goings-on in the food industry. On Tuesday I sat next to a lady with a weird request along with her order. Today, Sophia and I witnessed an interesting incident at California Pizza Kitchen at The Forum on Orchard.

I'm still not sure if the incident was borne of a possible miscommunication or misunderstanding, or if it was just a stupid policy of the restaurant.

A group of three office people came in for lunch. From their accent and conversations in Cantonese, I surmised that they were probably Hongkies. Anyway, the man in the group started raising his voice after the waitress got to their table and I was able to make out something along the lines of them wanting to split the bill three-ways and the waitress telling them that was not possible. At which, the man called loudly to see the manager.

Instead of getting the manager, the waitress got the cashier. And while the customer was grilling the cashier, the manager showed up. I couldn't really make out what they were discussing, just the fact that the customer was quite upset.

In the end, customer and manager somehow came to a cort of compromise and the group was allowed to split the bill individually. The weird thing was how that was managed. I saw the group of three break up and two of them individually sat at another table each. And the man who had complained said something to the effect of, 'Serve them right for such a stupid policy. I don't care if we have to split up into three different tables just to get our bill separated. It's absurd and there was no issue the last time I was here but if they want to make it an issue and do it this way, then we'll just do it their way."

So that was how the group of three at one table split up into three groups of one, each at a different table, just so that they could get separate bills on their lunch.

How about that for service?

Books Bought

1. Eyes Like Stars - Lisa Mantchev
2. Click: What Millions Of People Are Doing Online And Why It Matters - Bill Tancer
3. Through The Lens: National Geographic Greatest Photographs
4. Work: The World In Photographs
5. National Geographic: The Photographs
6. The Photographer's Eye - Michael Freeman

While I Was Eating Today

Lunch was a somewhat 'quirky' affair today.

I had a passable beef kuay teow soup, replete with beefballs and beef slices. I would have probably enjoyed it more except for the fact that not two feet away, at the table on my left, a Buddhist nun had vegetarian fried meehoon. As I was finishing up on my meal, a lady sat down at the table on my right and ordered her lunch.

"Can you tell the chef not to use oil in my laksa? I don't want oil, if possible. I don't want oil floating at the top of my laksa," she told the waitress.

I bit back a rude retort and stifled a smirk. Er, laksa with no oil?

What part of laksa does she not understand? You can't have laksa with no oil!

As my husband would say, "Damn stupid Singaporeans!"

From Warm To Cool

Finally! After a year of plodding through my books under dim yellow lights (the blurb on the bulb box says 'warm white' but don't be fooled) I couldn't take it anymore and chucked all the energy-saving yellow bulbs for white ones. Also energy-saving.

The blurb on the box, this time though, says 'cool daylight'. And it is such an improvement. It's so bright now that I only need to turn on one of the two lights in the dining/living room to sufficiently light up the whole area. Well, that and the fact that each light structure actually demands eight, yes, EIGHT bulbs to power up.

Can you imagine the energy cost if we didn't use energy-saving bulbs?

I'm now bathed in bright, white light, HALLELUJAH!!

I see the light.