Auntie Behaviour

06 September 2010 @ 10:06 am

Its been super long since I last posted, I guess its more of a facebook thing nowadays?

But woke up this morning with a sudden urge to log in and read previous posts about Latte. I knew it was about 1 year since she left (31 Aug 09 I now confirmed). So thought it would be good to have an update of what had happened in the year since she left, so that in a way, she could also be "updated".

After she passed, I moved into my new place as planned. No need for a doggie gate or dog proof grass. No need for logistical preps for where to place dog bowl, dog food, dog brush etc etc. During the mad days of moving, I suppose I was "glad" to a certain extent. But after all that died down and we were settled in, I distinctly remember it being too quiet. Too still. A doggie was meant to run around outside! I tried to comfort myself, reminding myself of the aforesaid "good" things about a non doggie house. No fur flying around or wafting past you when you eat, no poop or pee, no bugs.

But then again, the bugs are the worst! If latte were here...there would be no cockroaches terrorising me or keeping me hostage. no millipedes making their way across the kitchen floor in a apparent pilgrimage to who knows where. No snails that usually get picked up and tossed out before they make it half way anywhere. No Zed (big monitor lizard type) and Zee (smaller brother??) hanging out in the plants and scaring me when I water them.

Ah.. it wasnt long (maybe 6 months?) before I managed to convince the Hub to get a doggie. We actually spent a lot of time in the early part of this year, intensively researching (me) various breeds and regularly checking the SPCA and other websites for adoptions. This is because I set the rule (luckily)that I would not pay for a doggie. As much as I wanted a doggie, I knew that the Hub was not fully aware of the implications of having a dog in the house and that I needed time to make the preparations. So whilst it would have been done in a jiffy had we agreed on a breed and got out and bought one, adopting a suitable one would def take more time.

Alas, many trips to SPCA later no suitable doggie. Hub has his eyes set on a mini schnauzer, which I was ok with since its a non shedding breed.

A few months later, I told Hub we should wait. Since we are planning to start a family, I didnt want the innocent doggie to play "2nd fiddle" immediately after a new addition arrived. He agreed. Since he wasnt going to be part of the cleaning or maintenance of the doggie (I allocated tasks but knew that i would end up doing them anyway, like bathing and poop picking and doctors)

So , no doggie for now.

I also watched Hachiko the movie about the golden who waited at the train station for his master for 10 years, not knowing that his master had died of a heart attack at school. That was a real tear jerker. I had not cried like that for awhile .I remember still sobbing in the car a good half hour after the show had ended. Needless to say, Hub was a little bit worried.

I also still find it odd to go back to my parent's home and there is no doggie. 24 years at that house and there has always been a doggie, saved for the 3 days between Coco and Latte. Every time I pull up, I expect to see a tail wagging and running around, happy to see me. I guess I really took that for granted.

All in all, I guess Latte was clever (as always) and knew this would be best for her. I have been working late this year and it would not have been fair to her to spend her time at home all alone and bored to tears. I bet she is having a far better time doing her own thing now...

But remember this teh teh, I miss you every day you are not here with me! I hope you remember me and the good ol times we had exploring our neighbourhood and having fun in general. Don't worry, no other doggie will replace you and the special place you have in my heart. Kiss Kiss! Shake Hand! Good girl.... hugs.... =)

Current Mood:

peaceful

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26 November 2009 @ 12:13 pm

Rude cabbie

Had a bad start to a busy day today with my unfortunate encounter with a rude cabbie on the way to Court.

I got on and said my usual, "Family Court please, next to Subordinate Courts" and added on my usual, "you can go up the viaduct to Cross Street".

To which, before I even finished, the cabbie cut me off and said in a loud and gruff tone, "I know how to go!" .

I was a bit taken aback and said "I'm sorry?" thinking I did not hear him well (since I was talking at the same time)

He repeated with a wave of the hand , " We know how to go lah!".

(err.. who's we? the last I checked there was only one driver)

I was really peeved and wanted to retort that he need not be so rude, not to mention that I understand the cab companies' policy is for cabbies to ask for passengers preferred routes.

But then I thought about it and decided not to say anything because

a) Not worth my blood pressure going up

b) No point endangering my life since I am already in the cab and he is in the drivers' seat.

At the end of the journey, I left without a thanks (from him or me) and a bad taste in my mouth.

This followed with a long, difficult morning at Court, but thankfully, I had a really nice cabbie on the way back to the office, who was so considerate to stop me closer to the stairs, and asked if I had taken all my things with me, and even offered to wait for me whilst I took my call when I was giving him change.

So made me remember that the morning cabbie was really a rare one. I take cabs quite a bit during the week to Court and back and have not met one that was so outright rude before. (I think I blogged about one who did not accept $50 note and made me to go change it there and then, but even he was not RUDE . Just refused to accept haha)

Most cabbies are really nice and considerate, some are chatty and want free advice or political debate, and most are just quiet and silent (best type).

Since I have come on to blog about this, I suppose my resolution that I made as I exited the first cab , not to let it affect my day, was not successful at all!

Current Mood: annoyed

annoyed

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13 September 2009 @ 11:10 pm

www.everythingwithfries.com

This is a quick restaurant review about Everything With Fries (duh). Located at a shophouse along Joo Chiat Road (close to Katong Mall). See www.everythingwithfries.com for details.

Read the review in the papers on Friday and told Hub that we should try to check it out over the weekend since a) we LOVE fries and b) its really close to our home.

Dropped by on Saturday for a late lunch (3pm) and turned out that the kitchen was closed for that day as "they were overcrowded for lunch". Was kinda upset cos we had walked quite far to get there (no parking spaces nearby). But things turned out for the better in the end cos we tried Aston's for the first time for lunch which was nearby.

Went back the next day to try to have some fries, but turns out that only open at 12pm! We managed to get a nearby lot so waited in the car til 12pm before heading to the cafe. Unfortunately, at 12.05pm, the shutters were down and even though we could see that there were staff milling about inside through the shutters; it did not seem that they would be opening anytime soon. We waited outside til about 12.15pm and still nothing. We were gettinmg quite upset by this time mainly cos it was a really hot day! and we were really hungry!

Finally, a boss type person came out (after I stood very close to the shutters with my hands crossed for about 3 mins or so) and told us that the ktichen was not open but we could come in and sit down first. I told her that I would love that , given that we were standing outside in the sun for at least 10 mins. Thankfully, she apologised about it and let us in immediately.

We placed out orders immediately when we sat down and had :

Hub:
Cheeseburger with salt and vinegar fries and baby caesar salad
Nutella shake

Me:
girlled ham and cheese sandwich with garlic and herb fries and coleslaw
cappucino

The food came about 20 minutes later (which was OK given that they did tell us the kitchen was not ready) and in light of the fact that the drinks came promptly after our order was placed.

Unfortunately they got our fry orders wrong. I ended up with sour cream and onion fries and Hub got my garlic and herb fries.

But that said, the food was really good! My sandwich was nicely grilled, cheese well melted and ham was soft. Bread was heavily buttered and yummy!

The burger had melted cheese on it too and meat was relatively tender.

Fries were nice, with the interesting seasoning but would have preferred it to have been warmer and softer.

We were glad that the trips and wait was well worth it and we will definetely go back. But probably not in the next 3 months or so. Singaporeans obviously love their food and this 2 week old 60 seat cafe simply did not stand a chance. If we had not been there within 5 mins of opening time, it would have been impossible. By the time we left at 1pm, there were about 10 - 15 people outside and we overheard the staff telling the new customers that they were full and would have to wait for at least 30 minutes... Wow...

Felt sorry for the staff though, they had 3 very young looking kids, who were very eager and really quite competent but were simply understaffed. They ended up running around like mad and could barely cope to manage the crowd even with 2 boss type ladies joining in...

Verdict - great concept, lovely ambience and decor, good food, pleasant service, OK location (no parking but close to Katong food stretch) and good value for money.

Worth a try.

Current Mood: full

full

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04 September 2009 @ 01:49 pm

Latte's squeaky and not so squeaky toys

As promised in my earlier post, would like to share the hilarious stories of Latte and her squeak toys.

Now when Latte was a puppy, she loved to chew, gnaw and bite most things in sight, including shoes, slippers, bones, bowls, fingers, toes, shoelaces etc etc. You get the idea. I guess thats relatively normal for a puppy.

So I made it a point to load Latte with several toys, in the hope that she would only bite the toys and not the "real stuff" (I know, wishful thinking). But I also really wanted to spoil her =) So along with a variety of squeaky toys, she also got MANY MANY raw hide toys in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Her fave raw hide was a long skinny stick (that came in packs of a few hundred, so she's super excited when she sees the whole pack but knows she can only have 1 at that time). She gets REALLY excited when she gets hold of the stick and will do practically anything you ask of her, as long as you have the stick in hand. That was really how I taught her to shake both right and left hands and lie down etc etc (pure bribery!). So anyway, once she gets the stick, she will hold it ever so loosely between her teeth and then do a mix between a bob and a trot up and down the driveway in ecstatic celebration of her stick acquisition. I always used to call it "smoking" cos she really looked like she had a ciggie on the side of her mouth. Sometimes she would start gnawing at it during this ecstatic dance and it would look like it was waving up and down in her mouth... She was also incredibly playful, so she would come in front of me and hold the ciggie loosely, "showing off". I would "fake" her into looking elsewhere and then pull the ciggie from her mouth! She would snap her head back towards me and start her dance all over again... This would repeat for as long as I had time for ...and as long as I din feel bad enough keeping her away from her ciggie. Once she got her ciggie safe and sound she would then settle down on her tummy in her fave spot on the driveway and then holding the ciggie in her 2 hands, savour it for a good 5 min. Yes... she was super fast. For the first few times when she was really young, she couldnt hold the ciggie properly and it would just drop or roll away from her hands and she would end up chasing it down the driveway (which was slightly sloped) so I had to pick it up for her and "insert" it between her paws and teach her to hold it tight. She learnt really quickly.

Now with the squeaky toys, I would make regular trips down to the pet shops to get her toys cos A) she really enjoyed her time with them and B) she spoilt them really quickly. She had the usual tennis size ball, big ball, 4 balls fuse into one ball - ball, big bone, small bone, pacifier, burger, frisbee (she din really like cos no squeak), and many others. (you get the idea). These had to be replaced very often cos apparently Latte disliked (or liked? I'll never know) the squeakiness of the toys that she would first go mad chasing it around in the grass etc and finally, dismembering the poor toy to "remove" the squeaky valve. I would step on the toy to flatten it and cause it to squeak as the air came out. Latte would get really excited but would "freeze" when there was no sound, only to jump around excitedly when I released the toy and it squeaked back into shape.

Initially, we didnt notice that the valves were gone cos most of the toys were in bits and pieces anyway. But the subsequent toys were mostly in tact, but only the valve was missing. Latte probably wised up that she did not need to waste effort to destroy the whole toy to silence it. It even got to a point that most of the valves on the toys were missing and a quick look of the garden could not yield any of them. My brother suggested that they were all in Latte's tummy and if you squeezed her tummy, she would probably squeak! haha..

She was really quick at this "silencing of the toys" too. I distinctly remember one incident during Christmas of 1999. She was probably a few months old and I knew that she was going to be left alone at home for that day as everyone in the family had events to go to. I was just down the road at a friends' house for a gathering. So along with my Christmas shopping for friends, I bought her a large brown squeaky toy shaped in a pacifier. I gave it to her before I left, played with her for awhile, saw that she was happily carrying it by the "handle" in her mouth and running up and down the garden , before I left. I told her to be safe and that I would come back and try to play tug of war with her new toy cos "got handle".

I came back to the house about 30 min later to get something for the gathering, and was surprised to see Latte sprawled tummy up on the grass, relaxing, but no pacifier in sight. I looked ard quickly and saw that it too, had its valve missing!! WOW that was fast! I berated her for awhile, telling her that "too bad, you got no toys now". She looked at me with the usual sad eyes and I melted and gave in. She happily trotted away with a ciggie in her mouth and resumed her tummy up position on the grass.. I told her to be careful not to choke and left.. amazed that she took half hour to destroy my $8.90 purchase. I hope she at least had fun!!!

After a few years, toys did not get much attention from Latte. There was only one lone surviving (and well made) toy left, the 4 ball fuse into one ball - ball. It could be because I got her the large food dispensing ball that she would roll around with her nose to get bits of kibble to come out.... but she too lost interest in that in a while cos the ball kept getting stuck in corners and she couldnt reverse it out. haha.

Now Mum is clearing Latte's stuff and when I see the 4 ball fuse into one ball - ball. I remember all these lovely happy memories and know that Latte is probably eating 3 ciggies at once, 3 times a day, and teaching other dogs how to silence toys by surgically removing the valves hahaha....

Current Mood: silly

silly

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01 September 2009 @ 11:23 pm

Latte's First Days with Auntie

Ok, so over the past few days, I have gone over so many many wonderful memories in my head of my beautiful puppy Latte. I shall endaevour to share some here... There might be overlaps with my previous posts (much much earlier) but I guess funny stories are meant to be shared repeatedly! Here goes the story of how Latte came to my home...

Rewind back 10 yrs.. It was a Saturday morning in May 1999. I just finished my common test in JC and my parents came to pick me up. We bundled into the car and headed for SPCA ... 3 days earlier, our first dog , CoCo passed away. We spent 3 very quiet days at home before relenting to invite another puppy into our lives. So needless to say, I didn't do very well on my test at all!

So we head into the kennels and I'm all excited! We split up and I go round the kennels. Most of the doggies are quite sad (I would imagine) and since its by this time, dead in the middle of the afternoon heat and most of them are just trying their best to keep cool (read: lie down, pant and not move). So I spot a handler carrying this cutie wee bit of a dog. It was slightly bigger than his palm! It was adorable! It was dark chocolate brown and had white feet like socks. I knew his eventual owner would call him socks/boots or some variation for sure. Mum din approve anyway.

I continued walking and found Mum squatting (rare) in front of this kennel and talking to a white slightly bigger wee bit of a dog. I went over and joined in. This dog was white-ish / cream and had an odd looking head, huge dome forehead with LARGE triangles for ears, short fur (approve) and a curious black spotted tongue.

Mum told me that this dog was originally sitting at the back of the kennel and when she came and asked "Do you want to come home with us?" This dog immediately ran forward and "put on its best behaviour". Said dog was trying to lick us through the squares in the gate at this time. Impatient that we were "talking amongst ourselves". She was as cute as you could ask of a dog. So I went into the kennel to have a "feel".

I should have known better, and NOT worn my sport shoes that I wore to school. After the usual, pat pat, wiggle of tail (plus butt) and eager standing on two legs to "show off" she went for my shoe laces! (I eventually had to change them afterward when she finished her job at home). Mum and I of course found this behaviour absolutely adorable at this time (key word: at this time) and cooed over her seeming ability to understand our first enquiry about her wishes...

Not long after, Dad was filling out the forms for DOG to come home with us. We were not ready to take her that Saturday so arranged for her to be transported to us on Monday (again, I din do much studying on Monday AT ALL). So after we were done, we headed to trusty ol parkway to buy the supplies for our new DOG, who of course needed a new girl coloured bowl, new girl coloured collar, new girl coloured leash (you get the picture that CoCo was a boy) . After all that tiring shopping, we of course stopped for coffee at trusty ol delifrance (still there btw). And we bandied names about over a cappucino (dad), latte (mum), hot chocolate (me).

We noted that she was whiteish, and suggested milky, Milo (wrong colour), and other beverage related names (note coco) . before Mum realised hey, she was the colour of the latte she was drinking! HAH! We dutifully tried this name out with the mandatory "baby call" (read: Laaaaa- teeeehhhhh) and "repeated name call" (read: la la, teth teh!) and agreed this was the best!

So on Monday after school, Latte came in the transport van to live with us in our home. Wonder what she was thinking?!? She probably didn't have a good time before she reached SPCA (subsequent events in her life led us to believe that she was either abandoned in a box or made to be in a box for a time - cos she hated any boxes and large items and would not use her box bed or any bed for that matter). So she was absolutely traumatised by this relatively long journey in the back of a van. Lo and behold, Latte arrived at our home completely GREEN instead. Yes, she poo pooed all over herself (and the cage / van and even on the door!!) Mum and I laughed but poor Latte spent the first 10 mins with us being hosed down in the back of the van! poor girl!! (she later repeated this on the same ride in probably the same van when she got spayed).

But good ol Latte, being the trooper that she is, shook off the excess water after she was let out of the cage and into our home and promptly ran around mad on the grass patch... not even bothering with us... she happily trotted and explored the front garden quickly before coming over to poke us all on the legs with her wet nose(which eventually became her HELLO!) Then she discovered her water bowl. WOW! she must have thought, this is so cool! and promptly stuck her paws inside, splashing the water around... (Again because this was all new and novel, it seemed very funny to us.... repeated madness like this somehow loses its comic-ness though....). Not content with splashing, (and this really shocked us) 2 seconds later, she grabbed the bowl by its side, picked it up, thereby splashing ALL the water on herself and the floor and trotted (yes trotted with tail up and all) to the grass patch and placed the bowl there instead. For what, I will never know. But I was too stunned to do anything but laugh.

This eventually became Latte's fave thing to do, not sure why, but luckily she din do the same thing to our larger water dispenser type bowl (those with the bottle attached) that we bought to try to get her to stop trying to kill herself from thirst. We even had the whole large hamster bottle with ball bearing dispenser for awhile. But she managed to spoil that (no idea how) in a few days. I should have known she loved water cos eventually she obviously looked like half a golden retriever. That also subsequently explained how she loved to dig, then washed her paws in the water bowl before pouring it all out and walking around with the bowl in her mouth, and then switching on the tap to drink and leaving it on, or perhaps "drinking" by cutting the stream of water when mum watered the plants... I only did not manage to bring her to swim though - it was too much of a logistical nightmare to have her spray salt water everywhere in the car!

But her love for all water related activities is best suited for another post.

And so is her obsession with squeaky toys.. That one's funny. Shall post that one soon.

Current Mood:

nostalgic

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31 August 2009 @ 12:22 am

Bye Bye Latte

This is going to be a short post just to update and I shall endaevour to post a full update when I'm more ready..

On Saturday morning, I received the worst call ever from Mum... that Latte was not moving and did not come to eat her breakfast. I hopped on a cab and after a agonising $6.80 later, I reached my parent's place and braced myself.

I was told Latte was in her fave spot under the tree and took a deep breath before I put my bag down and walked to the backyard... I was bracing myself throughout the cab ride but nothing could prepare me for what I was going to experience.

I saw her lying in her fave spot (a little hole of mud/soil actually, under a few trees, which I suppose if I was an outdoor dog, WOULD be quite comfy). She looked like she was sleeping .. I did not want to believe that she had passed and instintively called out to her: "Latte!! Teh Girl"- *clap clap*. I half expected her to jump up suddenly and come towards me with her tail wagging and poke me in the leg with her wet nose. I prayed that she would do that. But alas... no, she remained asleep.

I moved forward gingerly, pushed the leaves away and observed her tummy, hoping that there would be some "action" there. Again, no movement.

At that moment, the emotion that came out of me honestly shocked me... I keeled over and broke down (causing my mother to cry as well). I patted and sayang-ed my baby girl... so sad that she had left me.

I apologised that I did not visit her enough, that I had scolded her for poking me, that I din let her chase all her insect/animal friends at will (see previous posts). I cried that she did not wait for me, even tho I told her we would be moving into our new home shortly and that I had made sure she had a garden to play in so she could come and live with me. I thought about her loneliness for the past 1.5 yrs that I missed... that somehow "life got in the way" and cried somemore.

I played with her paws and her ears and patted her... told her to rest well and be a good girl... and to remember me how I would always always remember her. I told her to go and run around like mad in circles, chase streams of water, blow and chase all the frogs that she wanted and dig as much as she could.

She was 10 yrs old, relatively young for a doggie, I honestly thought she would be with me for about 3-4 more years at least. She was not sick (apart from the (suspected) "fake" arthiritis (see previous posts). But I guess that was selfish of me. Perhaps she knew that I was worried for her, whether she would adapt to my new home (with the smaller area for her) and did not want to bother me with trips to the vet and high vet bills if she fell ill. Perhaps she decided that this was the best way to go.. without burdening us... She was always a sweetie and I'm sure she knew her time was near....

As I stared out of my parent's home as I had done for more than 10 years, looking out into the hot day, I recall seeing Latte probably sprawled on her back on the grass, with all 4 legs up in the air, baking in the sun and just enjoying life... but on Saturday, 29 August 2009, there was no puppy in sight...that was when it really dawned on me that she was gone....

I will miss all the funny, loving times that she shared with me and I'm very sure that she gave me more than I could ever give to her. And I'm sad that she is no longer here with me. I've lived through saying good bye to 2 doggies and I think I'll hold off having another puppy for awhile...

Whilst I am devastated that she is gone, I take comfort and find joy in the fact that she chose a beautiful August day to say goodbye..(I believe choosing Saturday so that I could come and say bye), under the shade of her favourite tree and in her favourite comfortable "mud-bed". I know she was peaceful and hope that she is enjoying herself in doggie heaven, running and baking in the sun like she would with us....

Bye bye baby girl.. I will miss you...

Current Mood: sad

sad

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14 July 2009 @ 01:38 pm

A memorable trip

Just a quick lunch time update.

On Friday night, after a nice bday dinner with family, I discovered that my dear Hub had arranged a surprise trip to Phuket for us to celebrate my birthday!!! We were due to leave on Sat night, celebrate my bday on Sun and return late on Mon night (I was earlier informed to apply for leave on Mon without any further details).

What was meant to be a nice quick get away turned out to be one of the most memorable trips that I have had. (Not necessarily in a positive way).

So we arrive at the airport in good time, had a nice ice cream snack with his family who came down to send us off (I reckon the kids were really only looking out for the ice cream) and then we headed to the plane. Plane was delayed for about 20 min or so due to restrictions imposed by the NDP rehearsals that evening. When we eventually took off, it turned out to be one bumpy ride! (I remember being very thankful that I din each much dinner before the plane, or else for 'Ms I suffer from Motion Sickness' me, it would have been messy). Turned out turbulence was substantial throughout the flight there due to bad weather (Hub still slept soundly throughout). To add to this, the person in front of me was having a BAD case of gas... Whoa.

Arrived at Phuket airport and it was raining cats and dogs. Not a good start. On the 1 hr long ride to our hotel at Karon Beach, noticed everything was incredibly dark and there were practically no lights at all. Again, not a good start. Seemed like a blackout had hit Phuket. Our driver had to turn in random lanes to use his high beam to illuminate the hotel name/sign on a few occasions.

Arrived at Movenpick Resort at Karon Beach, seemed nice enough, only that by then, I was incredibly motion sick(ed?) and was all pukey feeling due to the cumulation of the flight bumps and the long ride in the rain. Was MOST looking forward to a nice long bath and collapse on soft bed for a long sleep. Took awhile for us to be checked in and the rain and wind hit through the entire open air lobby. Looksed nice enough and made mental note to explore the grounds tomorrow when it is not raining.

We get driven through the grounds to our "Plunge Pool Villa" which turned out to be an outdoor Square Hole (I think about 1.5 m ?) Hub and I have a giggle but cos its raining, we run inside. The driver noted our disappointment with the rain and promised us "tomorrow sunshine!!!". I crossed my fingers. The room itself is impressive with nice decor and lovely bath. Things looked to be going well until I reaslied the air con was not on. Tried to fiddle with the switch for awhile before checking with the reception who confirmed that the elecricity was out. Therefore no air con. (WHOA.) Its raining cats and dogs, and the one ceiling fan is not positioned above the bed (the designer should really have a rethink) and so Hub and I spent the night lying upside down on the bed trying to be as close to the fan as possible - in an increasingly humid and stuffy room. After repeated calls for updates, we finally gave up and fell asleep (at least I did) in the early morning. Only to be woken up by freezing air blasting out of the air con unit when the electricity came back on. Woke up the next mornnig completely frozen and having a bad nights' sleep.

Woke up next morning and sadly, its STILL raining. Its one of those persistent rain types. Before we left for breakfast, my daily morning CNN dose was rudely interrupted by electricity being cut off again. Most displeased. This time, no lights no nothing. After breakfast, we tried to spend some time in the internet cafe type place (since we din have electricity in our room anyway) and explored a nearby bazaar (in darkness and by the light of Hub's halogen light keychain) when the rain let up. The beach looked scary and I noticed the red flag that was raised (to indicate that it was unsafe to swim - I have no idea why anyone who is sane would swim there really) was completely shredded and the shreds were flapping violently in the wind. (SCARY.)

Later, we checked out Patong and had our compulsory thai massage. Bought some Little Miss tees that I love to wear and other knick knacks. Had the nice massage before heading back for dinner. Went back only to realise that there was no hot water now. (SIGH). Showered in cold water which was super 'refreshing' to say the least, esp when the whole day had been cold and windy. Decided to have dinner at the hotel when the rest of Karon beach seemed to be enveloped in darkness (realised it could have been far worse if the hotel we stayed at did not have its own generator like this one?) and after dinner, returned back to the room to realise, sadly, still no air con.

Hub cannot tahan alr and called the reception (with some egging on from me) to seek some compensation. After much effort, managed to get the hotel to give us complimentary extension of room check out until 6pm (originally 2pm) as our return flight was only at about 8.50pm the next day. Luckily air con came back on just before we went to bed. Dutifully watched all 3 CSI eps on CSI supreme Sunday on AXN and slept. (yay.)

Woke up next day and glad to see the sun was out. We had leisurely breakfast and got engrossed in a nat geo documentary on crop cirlces after. Too engrossed cos by the time we made it to the pool armed with sunnies, hat and book, the sun had retreated somewhat behind the clouds and we din get much of a tan. (SIGH). Headed to Patong again for lunch (Karon turned out to be quite quiet) and had our compulsory daily massage before checking out and heading to the airport.

At the airport, when checking in,I remembered to ask if they can put us in the front of the plane if possible (the last seats we got were at the front of the emergency exits and the chairs could not recline). We boarded the plane to realise we were put DEAD LAST (next to the loo). Poor Hub had to deal with random people standing next to him for the majority of the flight (luckily the aisle seat was empty). Hub still managed to sleep through it all anyway. (WOW.)

All in, a very very memorable holiday, one that I will definetely remember for a very long time. For the fact that it was a lovely surprise by Hub and also cos of the power failures in Phuket. Would like to go back one day, never really got to check out the premium mall, the ATV or go carts, snorkelling (or any beach/water sports for that matter).

Note to self: next trip should NOT be during the monsoon season =)

PS to Hub: Thanks baby.

Current Mood:

thankful

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21 June 2009 @ 10:41 pm

Uncertainty

After a super long posting drought, decided to just post this up... with the intention of "checking back" in a few months' time to see what's the progress like.. .=)

Anyway, to cut long story short, I'm the only one left in my workplace... No, it doesn't mean I am the boss. I mean i'm the only one of my "level". Yup, its just me and the 2 bosses (small boss
and big boss) and of course the indispensable assisting staff..

Just like the last colleague to leave (last day last friday), it really didn't hit me until the tears started to flow and people said their goodbyes. I mean we have talked about how I would alternate between utter despair, anger and denial... but never really thought about it you know?

I think I would have mentioned before that I enjoy my work but enjoy the company of my colleagues even more. When I first joined, there were 4 of us same level type people. I was (of course) the most junior. I liked being the most junior in a great team. I learnt a great deal from my colleagues at a faster pace than would normally be the case if we weren't such a good team. We also had great fun. I remember a lot of shopping trips during lunch and MANY MANY fun uno games...We also had alot of people to "download" and "vent". Work was evenly spread out and at a comfortable pace.

About a year in, the most senior same level type person (SLTP) left to move on to greener pastures. Uno games continued, albeit with fewer "intercepts" and slightly less screaming during games. Lunch outings continued but at much reduced frequency given the increased work load on each of us. We still had a good group of 3 to vent and I continued to be the most junior (yay - since I could hide under the "crest of ignorance")

Another year in and the 2nd most senior SLTP ( most senior at this time but 2nd in terms of us 4) left to a more hapz job (jealous). Then it was just the 2 of us (me and abovementioned 'last colleague to leave last friday'). Uno games ceased to be fun so we stopped playing. The 5 packs of well worn uno cards were nicely packed away and have not seen the light of day since. Sad. We had a few lunch outings for shopping and meals but most of the meals were bought in partly cos we had work to do (since the workload of 4 was essentially spread betw 2 of us now) and partly cos we just got lazy and the new location of our office lacked in variety of food). The workload got slightly stressful and whilst we continued to have fun, bitch about clients and discuss our cases, we knew we had to work together and make the best of it since it was just the 2 of us..

Fast forward (yes another year - my colleagues are most regular spaced people) and abovementioned last colleague to leave last friday (LCTLLF haha or LC for short) is now moving on too. Alas, its just me. Somehow, either the impact of being the only one left or just the fact that I was closest to her given that she was closest in age to me. But I'm finding it really hard to move forward at work now... LC had 2 weeks of leave and came back last week to help when Big boss was away. After 2 weeks of silence and talking to myself (or others on MSN/Gchat), it was nice to have her back again to chat and to talk about the future...Nice to bounce off ideas and plans for cases and complain (alot of complaining).

Now, who knows, maybe fast foward 1 year (for good order) and I may also move to greener pastures. But for now, its going to be a heck of a year and I have absolutely no clue how to get through it other than day by day. Each day goes by so fast given the amount of work to cover and weekends whizz by even faster with work to be done as well). Hopefully it means the 1 year will also whizz by? I am no longer the most junior (since only one person mah) and can no longer hide under the crest of ignorance. Sigh.

My colleagues made work fun, made me look forward to coming to work each day (ok less on Mondays) and now that its N. A, work just seems not that fun anymore. And now my weekly sunday night depression is deeply worsened as a result. And as I am typing this late on a sunday night, fully in sunday night depression, I am so not looking forward to the work week. My only hope is for the week to whizz right by and for the weekend to come by again (not fast enough!)

Check back again soon... =)

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01 December 2008 @ 11:05 am

Engrish???

Ok since the tone of the weekend has been a sombre one, I figure it best to log a light hearted post instead.

When I was pouring over the newspaper over the weekend, i came across this article about a facebook group:

I am Singaporean and tired of service staff who can only speak Mandarin

The article went on to share the experiences of the reporter who went around "testing" service staff from various organisations on their grasp of the English Language. What transpired was hilarious, laugh out loud funny anecdotal evidence that there were many service staff in Singapore in GENERAL (key word to note, this IS a generalisation) who were mainly from China could not communicate to Singaporeans in English.

One particularly comical story was of this poor malay childcare teacher who needed some assistance in a supermarket but had to ask up to 4 different staff members before she could locate one who was Singaporean and able to help her. She was especially shocked when one of the service staff actually asked her if she could speak Chinese (yes.......)

Those of you who know me would know that one of my pet peeves is bad english. Now, I'm sure i'm going to come across as some sort of "english snob" to some.. but really, its just a pet peeve of mine... I can't help it. I don't think its too much to ask to speak with proper grammar and pronouce (simple) words properly and clearly.

Given the above, of course my griveance with those who CAN"T even speak english would naturally fall within the subset of my pet peeve. I have had MANY occasions where I'm sure my blood pressure went up after having to speak in Chinese to a service staff. Now, I am Chinese and speak (fairly bad) Chinese but what about those who are non chinese? It seems that all service staff from China expect everyone to speak Chinese! (note story above).

I get especially upset when the said service staff is working in a western or predominantly non chinese working environment. (read a restaurant). I do not mind this when eating at food courts, hawker centres and take out counters etc.. even at fast food outlets! but when i pay service charge and have a sit down meal, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a basic level of English from the staff.

Even if I give another concession to those Chinese Restaurants, who may have employed chinese speaking staff to give some allure of authenticity perhaps? ( maybe?) but how about those western joints that I have been to ?

One bad experience at a pub in Far East Square area in town comes to mind. I recommended this place to my friends at lunch one day and I was deeply embarassed I did that. The service staff could NOT understand what we wanted and our orders were wrong and we waited about 10 minutes with our food in front of us with no utensils. The service staff could not understand english and made no effort to ask and just nodded and came back with drinks and serviettes instead. After that, they just stopped coming back. I could not tahan and complained to the manager who gave us a free round of drinks (which we had to gulp down since our meal had taken a long time to finish!)

Its just ridiculous given that the majority of the patrons were and would likely be caucasians!!!

The latest incident occured yesterday at a new japanese restaurant at Tiong Bahru Plaza where this LOCAL male service staff, alex, was attending to us and INSISTED on speaking chinese! Even though it was CLEAR that he understood what I said but spoke in Chinese in reply. I don't know why but that irked me alot and I guess if i was feeling bitchy enough, I would have just stared blankly back at him and insisted he replyin English instead. I say he was local because his local chinese accent . I seriously wanted to ask him why he insisted on speaking to us in Chinese ? It was not like he had to give a speech in English. He only had to confirm whether there was any discount with any credit card (zhan shi hai mei you) , to top up our green tea (hao de. ke yi) and to return Hub's card (ze shi ni de ka)

Sigh.

In this present day and age, I would like to believe that those employed in service staff in Singapore have at least a basic command of english. Pls don't get me wrong. I get the whole concept of employing foreigners in service jobs due to the numerous postiive factors (mainly positive for the employers) but I think it is only right (and self serving for the business) if your staff can speak english and communicate well!

A good point was brought up by the newspaper article, where they likened it to the fact that our domestic helpers are made to sit through a basic english proficiency test at the agency level. I think that would be a good idea. But I suppose logistically it will be very hard given that there is no consolidated agency/organisation for foreign service staff but perhaps there should be?

Needless to say, I joined the facebook group immediately.

Current Mood: bitchy

bitchy

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02 November 2008 @ 11:12 pm

The Oddest Dream

Went for a friend's birthday party on Friday night after work, and it must be the excessive laughter which caused me to have the oddest, most non sensical dream that I have had in a long time... Curiously, it was also about work... YAWN.

Anyway my dream was about my company change in office premises.

The first part of my dream was that the entire office was put into this warehouse/office type place, where it was just desks grouped in groups of 4, where we faced each other. Oddly enough, the desks reminded me of my teacher's desks in school (in their "teacher's common room". it was probably from an old memory from school or smtg... So i was not very pleased with the whole arrangement, I mean, so odd right, FACING your colleagues when doing work???

The rest was hazy, then another shift.

This time, we were all in an open air URA car park in Chinatown. (Yes.. start laughing)

I distinctly remember it cos it had the Green and orange striped building in the background (Must be so that we can be close to ct or smtg?)

So, we all went to recee the place with Boss. There were moving people there and we basically took up an entire car park (complete with lots and trees planted on dividers). The movers were putting our teachers desks around in groups again. AMazingly enough, all the computers and phones seemed to be working (without any wires as well!) haha

This comes the best part...

By this time I was really upset with this whole thing... it was irritating, did not make sense and tiring at that.... I asked Boss the ultimate obvious question:

"Erm, isn't anyone concerned with rain???"

Boss (who was very frantic and mang zhang as well) replied:

"Can you be more supportive or not... You find me a place in town which charges this price?"

(classic Boss reply wanting support and followed up with a semi disjointed comment)

I was most Pek Chek.

Throughout the dream, I remember bering quite agitated and breathed heavily.. I woke up super tired on Saturday morning lah!

Sigh.... my brain's weird...

Current Mood: amused

amused

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