Call of Nature: Part 2

Another nature tripping walk.

Place: Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

The cockroach-like creature is a cicada. Pinkish flower. A caterpillar.

Some weaved nests. Skink

The thorny soil. Green green leaves. And an artsy letterbox.

Wetland. Cottage in neverland. Scenic cloud's reflection.

Call of Nature

I joined a day tour in Malaysia few weeks ago. It's the first time I was able to capture several funny animal shots. An episode of the National Geographic/Discovery channel.

Place: Pengerang Ostrich farm, Desaru fruit farm and mini-zoo, Kota Tinggi firefly trip.

OSTRICH feathered friends

I was surprised to be greeted by a pair of ostrich 'in action'. It's really weird to see these tall big birds doing their thing. I have a feeling we're intruding their privacy. :p The next pic shows how to crack an ostrich agg, quite hard. And the egg yolk is the most humongous one I've ever seen. The last pic in the series is not a dead chicken. It's actually a Polish chicken playing some tricks. When the owner shouts 'Swei Chiao' (mandarin for sleep), he'll drop dead and sleep until the owner wakes him up again.

Another thing you can do with an ostrich, ride on it. (I wonder if it can support my weight as well, too bad I didnt try hehehe). I havent seen an ostrich flying. Can they really fly? If they can, wow that would be quite a scene with the little pink girl on her back.

Last but not the least, one more thing you can do with an ostrich, eat it. I actually didnt know that ostrich is edible, and that there are quite a lot of ways to cook it. Whew my first time to try ostrich satay and ostrich superior soup. It tastes ok. :)

MONKEYING

Time for some monkeying. There's an intellectual reading pose, a kamot and belat shot, and a mother-daughter pair.

A few more:

I think the goat looks like he is smiling and enjoying too much with eyes closed. The next is a streching goat, i didn't know they are quite flexible. Then I also have a bruised-in-blue weird-looking chicken. The last looks like an animal council to me, they are quite friendly with other species, aren't they?

Scenery

Refreshing nature landscape.

P.S. I actually had a firefly trip, but wasnt able to capture anything decent as it was too dark. I've never seen a firefly before. They do look like christmas lights at night.

Home Shopping

My house contract got renewed early March at a good price. Whew I can continue staying in the comforts of this house. I like the location, Bishan being one of the prime residential estates, and also anything I need is just across the street.

Finally got the time to go for a round at Ikea. I didnt know the main branch in Tampines is that BIG! It even has showrooms for bedrooms, kitchens, sala, etc. The warehouse concept is superb, honesty policy. And the prices are quite cheap when they're on sale.

(*these pictures are from the showroom, not my home :D)

I went there mainly for buying a mirror. Good enough for a whole body view and convenient enough to carry around (3 squarish sections).

My typical Sunday look at home. Jersey with shorts, comfy! hihi.

Macau Macau

Macau is one of my fave vacation spots so far, nice scenery, nice food.

Quite amazing how they manage to make it so Europe-ish. and my 2nd 'fake' gondola ride. One day I will be trying the real one!

Quite crazy to be trying new things.. boots! and some of the hair and neck burloloy stuff which I cant use in SG nor in Ph. My companion was even more prepared with her kikay get-up. One of my best travel buddies. Imagine few hours before the flight, we had early check-in of our baggage (with a minimal fee) just to go to a beach few kms away from the airport. And we survived by just commuting (bus). That's what I call 'madiskarte'!

Casino-hopping is one heck of an interest. Money can disappear in seconds. It's literally burning money. Despite recession, the casinos were full of people! I tried my luck, no good. :p

Some good food: suckling pig, porkchop bun (ju pa bao) and Portugese clam dish. Sangria wine is another must-try.

The hotel we stayed in is definitely a good choice in terms of proximity to tourist spots, it's in the middle of the city. We highly recommend it for travellers who prioritize convenience and value for money. However not for honeymooners, stone-like mattresses hehe.

I love the weather. It allows some vents for vanity :)

Lastly I again dont like the culture of the Chinese there, I am disappointed over those who take advantage of tourists. I cannot understand Cantonese but I can somehow guess a few phrases. I hate the typical situation where people hard-sell you into something and once offer is declined, they'll talk so rudely in a foreign language. Same goes in China or HK. Sad to admit, countries with the negative side of the ancient Chinese culture are really a turn-off. Good thing somehow SG people are a bit more refined (or at least they are ethical enough not to vent out loudly). I would have left earlier if this is the case. :p

Midnight Snack (the chinese style)

One of the simple meals yet gastronomically satisfying..

siomai +chix feet + carrot cake.. and of course my teh tarik (milk tea). gulp!

and who says good meal should always be fine dining?! definitely not.

more! come and join me.

Fun with Nephew

I heard from my sister that one of my nephews claimed to have a 'gf'. I think he's currently in Prep 1 or 2. Wow.

Here's our conversation last time:

Shoti, I heard you have gf na.

Yes, yi-yi (that's what they call me, fookien for little auntie)

What's her name?

Janica

Is she pretty?

Yes

Long hair or short hair?

Short hair

Eh how many bf does she have?

Gua lang (fookien-fil for me only)

His ahya was playing beside him and then he shouted 'I hate girls'. Then shoti answered 'I like girls'.

So I amusingly asked him, 'ay ganon, so when do you plan to get married'

He paused for 5 seconds, scratched his head, then he answered, '6 years old', together with hand gesture showing 6 fingers.

I broke into laughter, I asked his ahya how old is shoti now. He answered 'patawa, 5 years old na cya ngyon, he'll be turning 6 in a few months'.

and i wonder if he did. :p

p.s. here's a picture of him. Isnt he so cute and lovable!:p

p.p.s. does it mean it runs in the blood?! hihihi

Birthday Cake

I recently went to Macau for a short Vday vacation :p ....too bad it wasnt with a guy though lol... but with my kumare. Macau is definitely a nice place for sight-seeing, foodtripping and of course picture-taking. I'll blog about those separately.

My mom and her parents are good friends. I bumped into her Dad last December in Shopper's Mart (Binondo) during my vacation. Her dad was asking me about our vacation plans for Macau. It's actualy my friend's bday also. He was thanking me for being a 'maalaga' sister to her daughter. Then suddenly he took out some money from his pocket and asked me if it's okay to ask a favor that I buy her daughter a birthday cake in Macau. He wanted to surprise her. Awww that's very touching. I suddenly missed having a dad :(((

I didnt want to take his money, I smiled and said it's okay I'll find a cake and pay for it. But he insisted so I just took a small portion just so he wont feel embarrassed. I asked him 'do you know what does she like?' He answered 'actually no'. He suggested that maybe I can try asking her in a not-so-obvious manner.

On our flight back (we actually had the same flight then to Manila). So I started telling her that I just had so much cake because my sister brought home a lot blah blah. And pa-simple asking, how about you what flavor do you like. She answered 'Sans Rival'. I was quite puzzled, where in the world will I find a Sans Rival in Macau or even in SG? hehe I think it's only available in Phil. Haha I was expecting an answer like chocolate or black forest, a 'safe' mass favorite. Then I said 'anything else'? I think she answered 'Brazo de Mercedez'. hehehe another puzzling one. Lastly she also mentioned chocolate cakes, coffee cakes, etc.

When we reached Macau, we were always together and I had no idea how to sneak out to buy a cake in secrecy. I'm not a good surpriser (if there's such word). But I did keep an open eye to find where the nearest bakery to the hotel is. Okay fine I was running out of time that day as we still had to go to Venetian. We were about to go back to hotel then I said 'wait, I have to buy something'. I tagged her along (good thing I remembered where the bakery was), and I said I wanted to buy a cake, 'okay choose which flavor do you want hehe'. Anti-climactic as it may sound, but hey at least I'm sure she'll get something she really wanted :p. She was surprised and thanked me. We were both bursting into laughter. She chose this nice cake topped with strawberries and layered with fruit bits and crispies. And oh btw, two miss piggies managed to finish the whole cake in 2 days.

After paying for the cake, I did tell her that part of it was her dad's idea. And related to her the conversation that her dad and I had. Suddenly I saw her in tears and she was quiet for quite some time. I was also silent. Then she called home to thank her parents.

For me, it was a warm touching moment. Family values are such important things in a person's character. If I do have a family in the future, I also want to pass that kind of warmth to my kids hehe. Really such things in life are priceless, and you dont get to see it everyday.

All About Work

So many things happened when I got back to work this year from vacation. Just the following day, the company I'm working for got splashed all over the headlines of SG dailies because of corporate fraud of which CEO has stepped down. Shocking as it is, its presence in 40+ countries, the 50,000+ associates worldwide, all suddenly came into a big dilemma. Will we survive this kind of scandal in times of recession. Whew.

January payroll got delayed for several days. From sana may increase... to sana hndi ako matanggal.. to now.. sana may sweldo ako this month. What a mess. Wehehe so far didnt sound as bad as it is, good thing I'm still paid.

More than half of those I worked with were already sent back somewhere else or asked to resign. I was a bit anxious last January because my banking project was ending soon and I dont know what's taking so long to allocate me back to telco project. Note on bench on few days = greater chance of bye bye. I purposedly dropped by the other office of my PM, I really wanted to know if they're allocating me back. Somehow when I was there, I couldnt find the words to say and just left without even asking. I'm such a coward in asking when I'm not confident to get a definite answer. Let it be, talk to me when you're ready :(

A few days after, finally they're chasing after me. Client wanted me back. As in 'namedrop'. Whew so I joined the meeting the next day and the clients were glad to see me. Someone from the client said 'hey we missed you'.. and I answered 'thank you' (what a dry answer hehe. I should have answered 'I miss you all too' :p) It felt good that somehow what I'm doing is 'value-add' and gets appreciated.

Crazy company with crazy policies. Lame timelines by project managers who want to cut down cost and expedite progress = burnout associates. Banking project was actually not officially over and I was pulled out for telco. See what were the excuses made by my PM in banking project - leslie cant join us anymore because she's sick, she took Medical Leave for one week, then she went to Manila. Then what? #@#$ I dont like these crazy lies.

Anyway, important thing is I have a project now that will be running for quite some time, I'm still 'safe'. It's really a matter of luck and staying power. Like one of my favorite lines, I dont necessary have to be the best. but I want be to irreplaceable. You wont easily find someone like me or someone to replace me. Probably it's my common sense that is not so common that is earning me the credits. I may not know if a solution will work, my job is to say 'something is wrong' and point that out hehe.

I actually dont know how it all started. I came in 23 months back. Do all sort of tasks. I dont know what my role is actually, as they say I'm an all-rounder. I analyse data, crunch my head out in data recon, perform testing, interact with users, get requirements, documents, sometimes even develop some easy programs, and also include those times when I'm a secretary preparing meeting minutes and preparing updates and presentation slides for my PM. As long as it's something that I can do or learn to do and within working hours, I dont quite argue. Finally few weeks back, I was glad that when a counterpart was going against me, my ever strict project manager yelled back and said 'she's my lead in this project, she has identified so many bugs, do what she said'. Wow it felt so good - affirmation. Finally I know what I am :p. How can I possibly land a lead role in SG??? Now I dont have to do so much dirty work myself but rather ask people, push people to do things for me. And oh my English seems to get much "broken" now dealing with more KL and SG folks. Sample: phrases like 'I not yet checked' instead of 'I havent checked'.

I just got to realize I prefer being a consultant rather than managing something. I dont really like much the feeling like the world is on my shoulders. This additional role didnt get me any added benefits, but more hassles due to dealing with incompetent people. Probably I'm not really born to be a career woman. I'd probably be happier managing something that has a direct impact on me, eg managing my own business, my own crew, etc. This is one heck of a headache. SIT comes and my schedule goes crazy as well. Leaving office at 930pm for 1 week is too much. Then come Saturday and I rest and have to feel guilty because they expect much more. 'I want you to be on top of everything'. I hate it when my weekend time gets stolen by work. Due to a pinch of martyrdom, okay fine I dragged myself to office today (Sunday) to check how things were going.

For some strange reason, I still havent applied for permanent residency. Blame it on my stupid stubborness for sticking to what I intend. I have this feeling that if I apply for PR, it will be much harder to give up the easy life here. But now this stupidity will cost me much suspense. Anytime I do get retrenched, I will have to find a job in ONE month's time. Okay fine, crossing my fingers, let's bring it on. :p

At the corners of my mind, probably somehow I have set 'the day'. the end date hehe. I'm still confused, I really dont know. But somehow I just know I have to go back to my real home... :)