Random thoughts Stray memories

Thursday, February 28, 2002

Been getting a couple of calls from headhunters recently but no inclination to move on. Looking forward to visiting the hairdresser's this evening. Got activities packed till this weekend. My time is definitely not measured in nano-seconds.

The present of things past is memory, the present of things present is sight, and the present of things future is expectation.
- St Augustine

There is no present moment; there is only the freshest memory.
- from Christopher Wilkins' The Horizontal Instrument

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

After work I wandered by the m*b*** (word not spelt out in full so as not to rouse leslie_'s sensibilities, lol) bookfair and saw a wonderful book which was miscategorized as children fiction due to its slim volume. Hence I bought Christopher Wilkin's The Horizontal Instrument for a mere $2.90. A cheap price to pay for an intriguing mediation on love, death and time.

Friends have noticed that I tend to drink the soup rather than eat the noodles when I order noodles with soup. Then I'd stop eating the noodles after I've finished drinking since the noodles got too dry to eat. I guess it's one of those quirky eating habits, like 3TapRiff sandwiching french fries into his burger. :)

Received 2 new boxes of namecards today in preparation for the renumbering of Singapore phone numbers from 7 to 8 digits in March. Sorted out my un-used namecards and found that I've stockpiled 8 boxes of them just working in my current company. omg.

Constancy is a geostationary satellite. Imagine orbiting earth, hovering over the same spot at all times to infinity. But how many will find the phrase I wanna be your geostationary satellite romantic?

Monday, February 25, 2002

Some investment gauge B12 has read somewhere. Scary cos I'm way off the mark.

Annual income X age / 10 = (amount of money + investments) you should have currently.

In the midst of a discussion with the guys about film, I realise that for me, film is still a secondary love. I understood this when the guys were talking about following the sequential progress of a director's work to see how it has matured. They were thinking about film the way I think about music.

While leaving home this morning for work, mum took one look at the huge crystal cluster rattle ring I'm wearing and deadpanned "Wow, diamond so big har", before sniggering like a kid. That was so unexpected but oddly endearing.

Bought another trinket for myself: a crystal cluster rattle ring. It's a ring with about 20 bluish-white translucent crystals loosely clustered together, so the crystals rattle when shaken. On one hand I find this fascinating, and on the other hand I'm fascinated that this can fascinate me.

Sunday, February 24, 2002

Today I saw a touching scene of a couple striding down Orchard Road. A young slim woman was walking along and holding the left hand of a wheelchair-bound young man, who was wheeling himself along with his right hand. They bantered on, looking so at ease with each other despite all the stares they were getting. They looked... blessed.

Good thing I don't have any feelings.
- title of a song from Future Bible Heroes' album I'm lonely (and I love it).

I cracked up laughing when I spotted this album at Borders. I like their sense of humour (but not enough to bust my wallet on the album).

I checked out the HMV sale today and bought an album by the Sweet (described by limabean as 80s power-rock) as well as Pressure Drop's Tread. I've never heard of Sweet 'cept in a music review in Uncut magazine, which lamented that this is a band which failed from mismarketing in spite of their solid music repertoire. I'm wary of buying the album based on a hazy impression but I don't think I know anyone who owns a copy, so there's really no one to borrow from. Sampling it now as I'm blogging, and I don't think it's my thing. But like most things in life, you don't know till you've tried it though.

Another happy packed day and I think I should round it off by going to read. Don't give a damn about blogging it at all. And that's as good as it gets.

Saturday, February 23, 2002

ttj thought that the movie Black Hawk Down is a good management case study, eg. it's a management boo-boo when the 2 soldiers got left behind. It's interesting when he translated the skirmish in terms of a failed project, and wondered about when people know it's time to bail out. Me, I never thought about that at all.

There's something mortifying about being the only single person surrounded by 5 couples at a gathering.

Today's been a mad rush. Attended a seminar, returned to the office, watched the film society screening of Pi and met up with the junior college guys (& their SOs) for dinner and drinks. I really enjoyed hanging out with the guys, it's been quite a while and they all still have that razor sharp wit. Conversation couldn't have been funnier.. remembering when the guys had to list out in class the activities old men do in their free time and someone wrote down "masturbation"; the flying hockey stick incident; examining the differences between hurricane, typhoon and tornado; imagining conversation between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker first in Cantonese and then in Hokkien...

It's amazing how time flew and everyone grew up so fast. I don't know if I can possibly feel more nostalgic than I do right now.

Friday, February 22, 2002

I woke up this morning to a nice surprise. Someone actually quoted from me at Random Blog Quotes. Thanks Beth! :)

Thursday, February 21, 2002

I bought a flimsy itsy bitsy skullcap from the Club 21 sale today. Lots of folks there digging through branded clothes, shoes and bags at huge discounts and all I got was a tiny skullcap which I could crush in the palm of my hand. But man, what a cure for bad hair days! Muahahaha!

When I was younger, I would feel defensive if someone claimed I was boring. Then I figured the problem is probably with the other party for not finding something interesting in me. As I said before: there are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people. And I'd rather be happy and boring, rather than moody and interesting.

During lunchbreak, I found the mini toy pool table I've always been looking for! The cue sticks resemble giant chopsticks while the balls are unnumbered coloured balls. That doesn't matter though, I'm on top of the world. :)

Currently reading a book called Feeding Frenzy, about a bet to eat at all 29 Michelin 3 stars restaurants in Europe on consecutive nights. It's interesting to read about some of these restaurants which defy convention, like a Sports Hotel which aspired to attain 3 stars with the youngest chef in Michelin history. The chef started at age 20 and have a 16 year partnership with the hotel owner.

What it made me think is: eating is serious but food should be fun.

Today's mystery gift to myself: James' album Whiplash, an album I've nearly forgotten I own and hardly listened to before. :)

Today's WhatIs.com explains about game theory, one of my best friend's pet topics way before A Beautiful Mind ever surfaced.

Game theory is a branch of mathematics with direct applications in economics, sociology, and psychology. The theory was first devised by John von Neumann. Later contributions were made by John Nash, A. W. Tucker, and others.

Game-theory research involves studying interactions among people or groups of people. Because people make use of an ever-increasing number and variety of technologies to achieve desired ends, game theory can be indirectly applied in practical pursuits such as engineering, information technology, and computer science.

So-called games can range from simple personal or small group encounters or problems to major confrontations between corporations or superpowers. One of the principal aims of game theory is to determine the optimum strategy for dealing with a given situation or confrontation. This can involve such goals as maximizing one's gains, maximizing the probability that a specific goal can be reached, minimizing one's risks or losses, or inflicting the greatest possible
damage on adversaries.

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

As calm as a clam.
- strangest word-play today contributed by B12. Eh.

Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe.
- Galileo Galilei

Read the comics this morning and Cathy is also obsessing about green tea and antioxidants. Hmm.

Tuesday, February 19, 2002

Today's saved by the 3 books I bought from the "am-I-back-again?" bookfair. They're Ian Penman's Vital Signs (essays on music, movies and other manias), Jonathan Rosenbaum's Placing Movies (the practice of film criticism) and Rose Tremain's 1999 Whitbread winning novel Music & Silence (the title alone clinched it). Woohoo. Happy happy joy joy. :)

Pupi asked me previously how I would know what book to buy. Well, there are the books which have won awards or are well received by critics. But what I prefer are those I get from gut feel. Like if I flip through the book and a line jumps out at me. Or if the book has a hefty solid weight (please, no jokes about phone directories or the like; and yes, I've read my way through encyclopaedias before). Oh yeah I believe in heavy books... it means there's more for me to read. When queuing up behind kids with huge thin picture books in libraries, I often fight the urge to ask them to go read some REAL books instead.

Courtesy of da mouse.


Which British Band Are You?

Today seems to be bad service day. I've got a watch which I've sent in for repair 2 months back cos the watch glass has fallen off (yes, ironically they promise scratch-proof glass but not that it won't fall off). The repair center is supposed to phone me when it's done but I ended up phoning them every few weeks to ask how it is. Today I happened to call and they told me that the watch is ready. What, must they wait for me to ask? Never mind, so I went down to the repair center to collect the watch during lunchtime. And it turned out that they've given me an entirely different watch glass from the one I had, so the watch looks different now. When I pointed this out, they said they didn't know which watch glass to choose (inferring they picked whichever watch glass they felt should be it). No one bothered to check with me before ordering the part from Switzerland. This is gross stupidity. In the end, I've got to order another watch glass but am allowed to wear my watch for the time being. Sigh. I really hate bad service.

Ok, I need tech support for CD-writer and hope someone out there is kind enough to help. :) I've got a problem copying a CD on my laptop's internal CD-writer. A previous operation aborted so I wanna recopy, but it says target CD ROM cannot be used anymore cos previous operation failed. How to re-use target CD ROM? Thanks!

In a strange bid to consume more antioxidants, I've taken to drinking a cup of green tea every morning in the office. I've read about the beautycare effects of white tea, but I wonder if people do drink it and what it tastes like. Does it look like plain milk? I've this funny image of women sipping daintily on white tea, stopping inbetween to dip their fingers in the drink and dabbing it on their faces.

Didn't have time to blog yesterday. Congrats to Jedixus on the opening of his new cafe. :) Do check it out... it's called Tea Square, located in a cozy corner at Camden Medical Center next to Tanglin Mall. They serve lovely cakes, sandwiches, pasta and of cos yummy drinks.

Monday, February 18, 2002

Followed a link from M's blog and found that I'm a Sunday's Child.
Fair and wise, and good and gay.

Well actually, I was born on the day of the biggest flood my year. Not a very considerate baby.

Sunday, February 17, 2002

Instead of visiting an ex-colleague's home today, I ended up spending my Sunday fire-fighting at a customer's site with a colleague. The problem? Using baking analogy, let's say customers did cake sampling too late so new cakes can't (and shouldn't) be baked, but we need to alter the taste of cakes as much as we can now. A very bad example is like if we've got a chocolate cake on our hands, and now it's gotta be tiramisu, and we're just pouring some alcohol on the cake and praying it tastes like tiramisu. Eh.

On my way to and from my customer's, I was chatting with the taxi drivers about their kids and the current education system in Singapore. One cab driver told me an interesting story about how he convinced his 2 daughters to study. He actually drove them around the red-light district when they were still studying in Primary School, and told them point-blank that this is where they would end up if they don't study hard. Wow. But hey, it worked. Odd.

Recently I've switched to drinking more beer instead of wine. I didn't use to like it but now a pint of Kilkenny does wonders.

Last night, my UK travel mate, her friend and I walked home from Embargo at Fullerton. It took us 2 hours of brisk walking but we had fun. Maybe it's cos we're aware that not everyone is willing to walk so long, for whatever whomever.

i said i am a minute man
for she was a wild bomb
- Ian Lim's poem At first sight.

Saturday, February 16, 2002

Listening to music from earphones makes me feel like a ventriloquist dummy or being possessed by a spirit. Someone else's voice is floating round in my mind, and should I choose to shape the words with my mouth, this voice will escape from me like a runaway balloon.

Busy day at work since half the team was out of the office. Made up for it by meeting up with an old girlfriend and her hubby who are visiting from the States. It's been about 2 years since we last met, but there's no awkwardness at all. We just talked on and on till it's time to leave. I shook my friend's hubby's hand and there was a brief pause when it came to my girlfriend's turn. Hugging doesn't come natural to me but we hugged goodbye nonetheless. :) Hope to see you again next year.

Friday, February 15, 2002

I spent Valentine's with friends drinking and listening to music at this joint called Wala Wala. Heard 3 different renditions of My Funny Valentine today: one guitar solo, one jazz funk cover and one impromptu accapella. :) Then I came home, dug out my Chet Baker album and listened to my favourite version of the song again. How can I explain it? When he crooned it so soft and sadly, I'd hold my breath as my heart mapped into tiny delicate chinks, breaking off bit by bit in clear little shards. And I'm so glad.

Thursday, February 14, 2002

First day back in the office. Listening to Jamiroquai while doing a LiveUpdate on Norton AntiVirus. 55 unread emails with more incoming. Back to the real world again. Hello.

Wednesday, February 13, 2002

What I learnt today:
1) As usual, I asked limabean during dinner to tell me something I don't know. Instead, he asked if innies or outies collect more tummy lint. I said outies, cos there's more surface area right? He said yeah, but there's more chances of the tummy lint being rubbed off. And then I thought that I don't really know any outies. At least Aaliyah was an innie. We saw her belly button while she appeared in a movie trailer for Queen of the Damned.

2) limabean's friend told him that the kid who acted in the sitcom Mr Belvedere (it's that butler comedy but if you're not old enough to remember this, forget it) is actually Marilyn Manson. Unbelievable.

I heard that Dorothy Parker was asked a few times to write her own epitaph, and she gave different responses. There's a funny one that goes "Excuse my dust". But the one that I prefer is the one where she said quietly "You've just stolen my heart".

If you're going to read this, don't bother.
After a couple pages, you won't want to be here. So forget it. Go away. Get out while you're still in one piece.
Save yourself.
There has to be something better on television. Or since you have so much time on your hands, maybe you could take a night course. Become a doctor. You could make something out of yourself. Treat yourself to a dinner out. Color your hair.
You're not getting any younger.
What happens here is first going to piss you off. After that it just gets worse and worse.

- from Chuck Palahniuk's Choke.

Charming.

Virgo doesn't have too much of a musical preference, as long as the music doesn't distract them from the task at hand. You might enjoy Ernesto Cortazar for his soft sounds. When lyrics are important, enjoy the soothing souls of Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand. The younger set perhaps prefers the Ambient shape of Mystical Sun.
- an icq message from my best friend. omg.

Rainy day indoors reading film reviews. Happy beyond words.

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

As expected, I received the biggest Ang Bao (think red packet filled with money given by married folks to single folks/ kids) from bro and sis-in-law. I thought it's quite embarrassing to still get them but what the heck right? And no, I didn't visit anyone for Chinese New Year at all. Instead, I stayed home and later went to watch the movie Kate and Leopold on impulse. The storyline is flaky but the characters are cute, so I was torn apart between gushing Aww and then thinking: Wait a minute, there's some flaw with the logic here.

Anyway, one of the most memorable scenes for me didn't include either Kate or Leopold. Instead, it was one of Kate's ex-boyfriend. He was trying to explain that he feels like a dog which has seen a rainbow, 'cept dogs are colour-blind. So, the other dogs don't believe him. Trust me to zero in on the odd scenes in a romantic comedy.

I watched a lot of VCD movies the past 2 days: Beijing Bicycle, Metropolis, Betelnut Beauty and Children in Heaven. I didn't notice that I bought the dubbed version of Children in Heaven so everyone speaks in fluent Cantonese in the movie. lol.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone.

Monday, February 11, 2002

While going for a solo jog this morning, I picked up a ring hanging off a branch amongst shrubs. No, it's not a Tiffany diamond ring. It's a battered worn cheap metal ring with the word LOVE inscribed on it. I don't think it's lost accidentally from the way I found it, so I figure it's another relationship casualty 3 days before Valentine's Day. I don't know why, but it didn't feel ok leaving the ring on the branch so I just plucked it off and carried it away. I hope the ring owner is ok.

Sunday, February 10, 2002

Lots of first times today. First time I drank sake. First time I visited Bar None. And there was a hen party going on there too, complete with bride-to-be wrapped in a pink feather boa and her entourage of women friends who called themselves Kinky in Pink. Eh. The bride-to-be got on stage and did a mock lap dance with a tourist from Liverpool, though Yoyo wryly commented that it looked more like a line dance. Anyway, it was pretty omg.

I bought CDs today (of course!) and one is a compilation of club remixes, while the other is a darling album by Bent called Programmed to Love. Nobody needs to be programmed to love this album, love comes naturally for dancy pop so deliciously infectious!

B12 and I chatted about music as we often do, and he told me about some new hi-fi info. We're different in our music appreciation cos he's more an audiophile while I'm not that discerning about sound quality. He said that's partly why he's more into classical music while I'm not, cos sound quality comes across better in live performances. He can tell the difference in CD sound quality by their country pressings, but I just can't. Then I asked him what he was looking for when he first knew he could hear music differently from other people? He replied that he was looking for the integrity of sound. Somehow that sounded wonderful.

The integrity of sound.

Today has been a long eventful day. First I met up with B12 who kindly gave me a run-down on Japan. He's been there more than 20 times and is more familiar with Tokyo than even my Japanese colleague. I guess I'll need to read more to figure out where to go but I've got a rough idea. One place I can't decide if I should visit is Tokyo Disneyland. Fact is, I've never been to any Disneyland though I've travelled quite a bit. I've always opted out cos I'm not into amusement rides. B12 told me there's not much point visiting Tokyo Disneyland since I don't speak Japanese, but unfortunately, the Disney characters there do.

Then we started discussing about maintaining the mythical image of the Disney characters. There's supposedly only one Mickey Mouse in Tokyo Disneyland, even though there are (I think) 7 worlds within it. So some visitors may not be lucky enough to spot Mickey. I wonder why there can't be one Mickey in each of the worlds... it's not like they'll be so close that they will run into one another. But then again, what if an excited tourist phones another friend within Disneyland to say that he's standing next to Mickey, only to hear that his friend is also in Mickey's presence? Hmm, then there would be lots of traumatic Mickey sightings just like Elvis'.

Saturday, February 09, 2002

Where did your long hair go
Where is the girl I used to know
How could you lose that happy glow
Oh, Caroline no

Who took that look away
I remember how you used to say
You'd never change, but that's not true
Oh, Caroline you

- from Beach Boys' Caroline No

I stumbled out of bed at 7.30am this morning and had just one thought. Beach Boys. I propelled myself to hunt down a Beach Boys CD, put it in my Discman and snuggled back in bed. For half an hour it was just me and the Beach Boys, who always sound amazingly upbeat even on their sad songs. So though I found myself listening to them with a huge lump in my throat and on the edge of tears, I also found myself smiling. And that's enough.

Friday, February 08, 2002

In the end, my UK travel mate, jc girlfriend and I all went to pierce our ears on our day off. My UK travel mate and I both pierced our left ears, sharing a pair of earrings between us. So the 2 of us have 3 earholes each. My jc girlfriend pierced her first regular pair. We were on a buzz! I think piercing ears is addictive, as long as the number of earholes is a prime number, eg. 2, 3, 5.

It's a sin to be boring.
- my jc girlfriend's #1 rule for men.

Thursday, February 07, 2002

Btw. I memorise all the URLs for the blogs I read... I don't click on the links from my blog at all. So if you've got a hit from my blog, well, it's not me.

I bought the VCD for Children of Heaven but haven't watched it yet. It's an Iranian movie about a boy Ali, who's trying to get a pair of shoes for his sister. Their family is too poor and can't afford them. And there's me with my stupid hoard of unworn shoes. Urgh.

Yesterday on a whim, I emailed the mensa branch in Japan to say that I'm going to visit Tokyo. I sent off the email while chatting on the phone with B12, cos he said that he considered contacting them while he was in Japan, but he didn't. So I thought why not? Today, I received a friendly email reply telling me there's a possible gathering during my visit there, and maybe I can meet up with them. Wow. That felt nice, the kindness of strangers.

Came home to have dinner with my family but my bro had to go back to work again. At 10pm. He works in IT like me but his hours are weirder than mine. My bro jokingly quips that he keeps bargirl hours. lol. Hope you don't work too late y'hear?

looking forward to trading stories about keeping cholesterol levels down, funding children's tertiary education with deflated stock portfolios and whatever else middle aged people talk about..
- a friend's sly dig on proposed conversational topics at an upcoming gathering.

Man. We're old old old!

I'm on leave tomorrow and on Chinese New Year's eve next Monday. Fantastic long break! Any suggestions for what 3 women can do tomorrow besides gym, movie, shopping or high tea? :)

Woke up and decided to rummage for new shoes to wear among the hoard I've got. Picked a pair of strappy high heels and immediately felt happier. Looking for things I own but have forgotten existed is like receiving a time-delay present from myself. I'm guaranteed to like it and I'm surprised. There's something to be said for my short-term selective memory. lol.

Wednesday, February 06, 2002

This morning I rummaged though trinkets I bought back from my '95 trip in Europe and came across a painted bluish-tinged copper cat ring. I can't even remember which country I bought it from, just that I bought it from a streetside vendor across a wide old bridge. A standing cat with outstretched paws has been drawn on the ring. I don't know how I could have forgotten about it, but I'm glad I found it again. :)

Courtesy of Electrin. Cute.



Which Star-Crossed Marvel Lover Are You?

You better go to bed now.
- Richard Ashcroft singing in Chemical Brothers' The Test

I guess I'd do just that.

Know what my goal is? To jive with jamiroquai when they return in fall, whenever that is...
- sms from friend I attended the jamiroquai concert with. Most unexpected sms today at a quarter past midnight.

Upon receiving this sms, I had a whimsical thought that each of us should sms a friend with a goal we have. Then our friends can just keep the sms and check on us to see how close we're to achieving our targets. Hmm.

Tuesday, February 05, 2002

Decided not to book tickets to Poland till I've returned from Japan, so dun worry about replying to me about your availability ok? :) I'm sure there'll still be reasonable airfare later, why plan so much in advance? One thing at a time. Work really overwhelms me nowadays and reduces my blog entries.

There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless.
- Mark Twain

Monday, February 04, 2002

Oh yes, forgot to mention I have already booked my Japan flight. Only pending my Poland trip. :)

Very busy and had an unpleasant encounter at work today. Read other folks' blogs and realised it's a Black Monday for some of them too. I hope tomorrow will be better for everyone else. Pupi is right, I shouldn't let others affect me. I do not need to be forever nice and obliging.

On another note, I don't have to answer to anyone for being different. I know some of my colleagues think it's odd that I'm travelling alone, like I have no friends to accompany me to Japan. On the other hand, I think it's narrow-minded mentality and odd that people put off trips they've always been thinking about, just because they're subject to other people's schedules and choice of destination.

Life is too short to wait for other people to go where you want to go.

In difficult economic times, you don't want to put $5,000 locks on $20 doors to protect bubblegum.
- Hager Mike Hager, vice president of network security and disaster recovery at OppenheimerFunds

Sunday, February 03, 2002

Bought the latest Chemical Brothers' album Come with Us finally, and am listening to it now while I'm blogging. Wonderful stuff, and my favourite track on first listening seems to be the last track The Test, sung by Richard Ashcroft. He croons, Did I pass the Acid test? Yes yes yes. :) Man, do I have a special spot in my heart for them Brothers.

I don't like cover songs to sound like the originals. I figure I like alter-ego (or cover) songs so much cos it reinvents a song, giving it another personality. I'm impressed by how cover artistes can listen to the original rendition, and yet hear something else.

My favourite David Bowie song is Space Oddity (not that I know many of his songs). It's basically a dialogue between Ground Control and Major Tom (who's in a space shuttle), and at the end the Major seemed to have gotten adrift in Outer Space. Sometimes I think this is sadder than the saddest love songs.

My UK and US travel mates and I spent about 2 to 3 hours having cake and coffee at NYDC this afternoon. We didn't really chat but instead, rounded up the latest issues of Female, Her World, Cleo and FHM magazines they have inhouse and proceeded to read all of them. We actually finished all the magazines too so we didn't need to buy any. It's great that we're all fast readers. lol.

For you will burn your wings upon the sun.
- title of a song from the latest album by Black Tape for a Blue Girl.

I saw this title while sampling music at Borders this afternoon, and immediately thought about Icarus and the pair of feathered wings he fixed together with wax. Wearing the wings, he soared so high that he was surrounded by intense white light. But he got too close to the sun, and the wax melted from his wings. And then he plunged. Likewise, I thought this song'd mount in ectasy before spiralling down in despair. Somehow, the song didn't evoke this for me.

Long day. Roamed Chinatown with my folks and took pics, as well as finished reading Paulo Coelho's The Devil and Miss Prym, one of the library books I borrowed. Afterwards, I attended a colleague's wedding dinner. Seems like lots of wedding dinners took place cos the date was nice [02/02/2002]. Sunday looks set to be perfect for lazing with girlfriends and reading. :)

Friday, February 01, 2002

Tonight's one of the rare Friday nights I'm home for family dinner instead of playing pool. It's been a while since I last saw my bro and sis-in-law, so I had a great time catching up with them. You know, all those inconsequential but fun bits of conversation. I caught my sis-in-law calling my bro Fat Cat. Then when I asked him what he calls her, he leaned over and sniggered "little cat", to which she protested loudly. I think they're a cute couple anyway. My sis-in-law complained that my bro couldn't stop reading books, and both he and I chorused together in favour of it. We also decided to catch the Cirque du Soleil together with my mum, who was already eying the next action flick by Arnie called Collateral Damage. I lent my bro my copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad (still unread after months) and hoped my sis-in-law didn't give me the evil eye for encouraging his reading habit.

I really love my family. :)

Today is a hectic day at work cos I've only had my first drink of Milo at 5.20pm. Though I'm not an accountant, my workload gets worse at month-end cos I've got to cater for invoicing customers, as well as solve problems for customers whose month-end closing hits a glitch. There's something strangely satisfying about hunting down errant figures in the system so that the financial reports can tie. It's like playing detective.. where could that amount go? Is it loss due to exchange rate fluctuation? Did someone forget to book a transaction? Is it a report program bug? When you finally locate the missing amount, your whole body seems to be singing Eureka!

Nothing is more beautiful than the naked body. The most beautiful clothes a woman could wear are the arms of the man she loves. But for those who have not had the luck to find that happiness, I am there.
- Yves Saint Laurent

Yes, but only for those women who can afford it. :P

Some co-workers were organising a dinner but only told me about it last minute. I guess they didn't really expect me to turn up so I told them what they wanted to hear. I wonder why cos I'm a sociable person, but somehow we're on different wavelengths. Sometimes it's tiring to be the butt of the joke when people gang up to rib me about how "cultured" I am with my books, music and movies, and they're just oh-so-shallow. It doesn't help that I can't speak the Hokkien dialect cos I'm not grass root enough. Maybe that's why I automatically interpret for my Japanese colleague whenever the others start conversing in Mandarin. I know how it feels to be left out.

Hey, can't be everyone's friend right? I know I know I know.