Allergy.


I realised that ever since I started work at my attachment place, I’ve been itching quite a lot. There will be sudden pink spots appearing on my arms, body and legs for no reason whatsoever. When they do, I’d start itching and would want to scratch them. It took a great effort just to stop myself from scratching them!


Deciding that I’ve had enough, I went to see my doctor last evening. I informed him that the spots and itchiness only appear when I’m at work and I’ve never had such a case before. When he asked me whether I’ve eaten or applied anything new, I told him that I didn’t. He then told me that I’m “allergic to the work environment”. Eh, I never knew that one could be allergic to one’s work environment. He gave me some medicine to take and cream to apply and told me to return to him should I not feel better after a week.


I hope that the spots will not return at all. I HATE the itchy feeling and it’s absolutely unbecoming to scratch in public, especially when I’m so nicely dressed!

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 5:55 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Of cars and men.


There was an early meeting scheduled for this morning so I had to leave home early. After I’ve collected my stuff to bring along for the meeting, I then went up the stairs to the meeting room.


Now, there were 2 other people (females) going up the stairs in front of me and they were engaged in conversation with each other, while I was thinking about what I’d just read in one of Wilde’s plays, when I saw this male colleague behind me, on my left. Since I didn’t know who he is, I didn’t acknowledge him at all. I heard him say “Good morning”, but as I thought he meant it for the 2 people in front of me, I didn’t reply and continued walking up the stairs. Imagine my surprise when he said “Good morning” again and tilted his head to look at me pointedly. So I said “Morning” to him and tried not to look so surprised.


He: “I’ve seen you before in school.”


I: “…Is it? When?” Shucks! I hate it when people tell me this, as I have to recollect all the faces that I’ve seen in school and match them to their names.


He: “Yah, I’ve seen you before during some orientation thing that the school organised for us some time ago.”


I: “That must be like 2 years ago! What course were you doing in school?” Look, for the life of me, I really couldn’t recall whether I’ve seen him in school or not. I’m usually very good with names and faces, but his really stumped me.


He told me the name of his course and I told him mine. Then he went, “It was during one of the sessions in the classroom and we were having some class discussion, remember?”


I: “Er… okay.” Then I asked him for his name and I told him mine.


I tell you, this guy certainly has a wonderful faculty for remembering people, especially people like me who wasn’t even in his course of study. I absolutely CANNOT remember who he is. God, that particular orientation was more than 2 years ago! How could I have remembered what it was about and who were the people in attendance?! So, I’ve come to the logical conclusion that he had mistaken me for somebody else. A simple solution to a complicated situation.


When I asked one of my friends, who is also my colleague, about him, she asked me why I wanted to know. So I told her what happened earlier on in the morning and she laughed so loudly that some of the people in the room turned round to look at us.


She: “哇！有进步啊！ 你知道他不跟人讲话的吗? 除了坐在他附近的那些人和跟他合作, 他从来不会主动跟别人讲话的。有进步, 有进步。这是一个很好的开始哦!”


I: “Really ah? I never knew that he doesn’t talk to people much. A bit weird ah.”


She: “你觉得他怎样？有没有男人的魅力?”


I: “!!!”


She: “Seriously, do you think that he’s good-looking?”


I: “Okay lah. But he reminds me of my teacher.”


She: “Not good-looking meh? He’s very popular you know. Eh, it’s a good start that he talked to you ah?” She winked at me after saying this.


I: “Among the colleagues?” I ignored her wink and whatever insinuation it carried.


She: “Among the females.”


I: “Good lor.”


Another funny thing happened during the meeting. My seat was near the door and about 20 minutes into it, this guy came into the room and sat down behind me. He asked me what the meeting has covered so far and I told him. Then, he launched into the reasons why he was late when I didn’t even ask him! We talked a bit more during the meeting and I discovered that he’s been doing scripting and coding for some projects.


After lunch, I had to ensure that some equipment was set up for a talk for some people in the company, but found that the person whom I’ve asked to set up the equipment was missing! The visualiser, that vital thing that was required was not even set up yet. I was really sore about it and tried to page for the equipment guy but he didn’t respond. Then I saw that guy from the meeting and asked him for help. He told me to “give him a minute” before he could help me.


Boy, was I glad that I found someone to help me! On our way to get the visualiser, he started telling me about cars. I really have no idea how we came to this topic at all. He told me that he just got his license in the first quarter of the year and bought a car within one month after. So I asked him about his car and he told me that it’s the yellow Mazda 6 series and he bought it for about S$102,000. I knew which one because it was the only yellow one in the entire car park. It’s an extremely nice looking car! Then he proceeded to tell me the different types of Mazdas, Camrys, Subarus and Hondas.


Amazing! I even learnt the similarities (a lot!) and differences (not many) between a Honda Jazz and a Honda Fitz. That guy is a walking dictionary of cars. When he found that I have yet to take my license, he encouraged me to go and take it fast and even told me the best times that I could go and learn. He asked me whether I know where to apply, and I told him that I’ve heard of the place, near some MRT station. Then he asked me whether I was staying for the length of the talk or I could leave before it started. When I told him that I’d probably have to stay, he just mumbled, “never mind” and went off to do his work.


I have a nagging suspicion that he might want to show me where the driving centre is using the internet, or worse, drive me to the centre and point it out to me! It sure would be scary if he had done the latter! :0)


If you CANNOT see the Chinese words above, click 'VIEW', then 'ENCODING', then 'UNICODE (UTF-8).

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 9:28 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Wind’s homecoming.


The girl stood by the window and stared out at the scene before her. People were scurrying for shelter, and the Rain was falling, falling, as if to wash away the stains of the surroundings. But the Wind was searching for the girl who has been in its thoughts since it went on its travels. Usually to be found at her favourite place, she was not there today. Torn with despair at her disappearance, it rushed about venting its anger on the hapless people on the streets, when it looked in at one of the windows and saw her there, beckoning it to come to her.


Relief filled its heart and it rushed at her, chastising her for causing it to worry. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Mollified by her apology, it lightly caressed her face, softly stroking her lashes and her arms. Tickled by its touch, she let out a laugh and reached out as if to touch the Wind. It jumped away and moved to twirl her hair around its fingers, gently blowing at her face. She tilted her head to the side and listened to the murmurings of the Wind as it touched her.


It told her about its travels to the different parts of the world. Wind recounted to her about how it brought smiles to the children when it danced for them. It told the girl stories of the Sphinx and the secrets of the Pyramids. Wind told her about the natives and their rituals, of the people who never seem to age and the kindness and love of mankind in another place. “Will you bring me there?” she asked. “Soon, soon,” it whispered in return.

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 2:45 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Lounge lizards.


I left my attachment place earlier on at 5pm as it was the “Eat with family day”, and met up with Jos first. We went shopping for clothes before going for dinner at the Japanese restaurant at Takashimaya’s basement. I still need to get some pairs of shoes and a watch. Not the cute Swatch kind that I like, but something that is less cutesy and more serious, like a silver metal watch.


After dinner, Xue joined us for some drinks at Meritus Mandarin’s Top of the 'M'. I had my favourite house-blend, Little India, while Jos had CTE and Xue had Mount Faber. Both of theirs didn’t taste as nice as mine! Hahaha!

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 2:16 AM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

忘不了。


这个星期就快要结束了，但我还是闷闷不乐似的。从考试到现在已经超过一个月了，应该是时候把不开心的事情抛在脑后甭去想它了。但是我办不到。我的的确确，老老实实的办不到。原因只有一个：因为我是一个拿的起，放不下的女孩。说简单一点，我就是属于那种非常重感情的人。有时候还可以把理智给甩掉的那种。


我知道曾经对自己说过我会把他给忘了，别在想他了，但我还是做不到。喜欢一个人是多么的容易的。可是要把一个人给忘掉的话就较难了。我问你，你要如何去把一个深深刻在你内心里的人给忘了呢？一个埋伏在自己的感情里的美好回忆给测除掉呢？不可能的！这是一件那么艰难的事。我想在这宇宙里没有一个人能够在短暂间把另外一个人给忘了吧。除非他是得了失忆症，要不然这是完全不可能发生的。每当我觉得自己已经把他给忘了的时候，脑海了便会情不自禁的浮现出他的容貌。自己仿佛会听到他的声音，和那迷人的笑容。


熊熊，我想我这一生中永远都不可能把你给忘记的。你已经在我的生命里留下了那么深刻的印象，是时间也无法使我把你冲洗掉的。在那短短的一年多内，你已经成为我的生命力了。这些日子以来，每当我遇见不开心的事情时，我只要一想起你的笑容我就会开心起来。你的笑容和声音对我而言，就像太阳和雨水对纯真的花朵一样，即滋润又重要。


生命真会愚弄人们。明明是可能有结果的，但由于我们太注重莫些因素这才使这一段感情无法有个完美的结局。倘若我们是在另一个地方和空间认识的话，而又没有那些讨厌的外来因素，我想我们的故事还会继续下去的。如今到了这个地步，我只能够说声抱歉。 原谅我先放手。不是有他人的影响，但是我实在没有其它选择了。


熊熊，你是我一辈子都不会忘记的男人。如果时间可以倒流的话，我宁愿它倒转到2004年的莫一天。那一天，你看我的眼神和看其他人是不同的。人家总是说，喜欢一个人不是要拥有他，而是要他快乐。


If you CANNOT see the Chinese words above, click 'VIEW', then 'ENCODING', then 'UNICODE (UTF-8).

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 12:17 AM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

The weird things that teachers remember.


Teachers really do remember some weird things. When I saw my teachers today, well, those who can still remember me, told me that I’ve slimmed down quite a lot. Now, between you and I, we both know that this is not true at all. Rather, I feel that the contrary is much closer to home.


Why don’t they remember all the good work that I’ve done, or how obedient or mischievous I was in school? Why is it that they tend to remember someone’s appearance the most? This is really unfathomable, for me that is. Quite a few of them came up to me and commented that I’ve lost quite some weight and my English teacher even asked me how I did it! Hahaha! I feel even fatter than before! Serious!


Today’s no different from the first two days. I helped out with a tiny part of the administrative things that needed to be done and spent the rest of my time surfing the internet, as usual. Sigh… Ah well, like what someone told me, you still get paid for doing nothing! Ain’t that the best?!

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 9:48 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

My nightmare!


I woke up this morning to find that every inch of my faculties was intact and not lost! Phew! Was that a great relief!


I dreamt that I sent an email to someone from school and he wrote back to me asking me to confirm something for him. The gist of his email went like this:


“Dear Cloudiyskye,


Some people have noticed that we are always together chatting and laughing and they have asked me whether we are attached. I don’t know what to say to them because I don’t know how you feel. I want to ask you something: Do you like me? Would you want to be with me?”


I knew that I shouted YES, but thankfully he didn’t hear it since it was an email that he sent. But I didn’t reply his mail at all. Why? I was scared actually. I was afraid that when I replied in the affirmative, he would reject me and I’d need to find a hole to burrow into.


In all verity, the main reason why I didn’t reply him is because of the people from school. His “some people” are well, you know, really “some people”. It would be detrimental if these people know that we are a couple. No good would come of such a confession. It would only increase the strain that we would have with certain people. Moreover, asking me through email is a pretty insincere way of sounding out a person’s feelings. So, it’s no go at all!

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 9:25 AM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Attachment.


All of my classmates and I started our attachment with our respective companies today. While some of them were put to the mill, I spent a rather uneventful day with the organisation. There were about 6 other people who were also attached to the same organisation with me, but I don’t know them until I saw them today. We might have come from the same university, but our majors were decidedly different.


We were put through the same induction programme and had to follow a senior member of the staff for the whole day, observing him or her working. I was sent to shadow this lady, she’s quite nice, not too bad actually. I didn’t have to be with her for the whole day, so when she’s not doing anything important, I get to do my own stuff. So I’ve been spending like a couple of hours surfing the internet and watching the falling rain. A very relaxed first day, unlike some of my classmates.


We’ll be attached to the company for a couple of weeks to get a feel of what the working environment is like, before being released for the holidays. Then, we’ll start working with the organisation in July, or a week before it depending on the company’s management. So far, I’m still trying to adjust to the working environment. I think that I’m really having what people call the adjustment problem. I cannot seem to stop thinking of myself as a student! I see faces everywhere, but not the ones that I am used to on campus. Despite the fact that I have some friends who have been working in this company for a few years, yet I still feel somewhat different, apprehensive about starting work with this company. Maybe it’s because I am not used to working life. It’s a real drag to have to adjust to new things all of a sudden. At least the management is not throwing me straight into the pot yet. I’m thankful for the fact that they are trying to ease my transition from school life to working life.


What is my position you ask? Well, I’m a Public Relations cum Human Resource personnel, and will have to come into contact with different types of people. Some are nice and easy-going, while others can be extremely unreasonable, spastic and even asinine. Apart from the PR side, I’m also responsible for the recognition and deployment of talents in the company. Tough, but that’s life.


How I wish that I could study forever and not have to work at all! I ABSOLUTELY HATE DEALING WITH PEOPLE! Sigh… Amazing right, that I chose this field? Rather! :0)

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 10:22 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Outing.


It’s a public holiday today and since my dad wasn’t working, we went for breakfast at Komala’s Villa at Little India. I love the “paper thosay” that they serve there. It’s really crispy and the curries are delicious too. After that, we proceeded to Ikea, where dad wanted to buy some stuff for the house. But he didn’t find anything that he liked whereas I bought this bright red bedsheet that I’ve been eyeing for a long time.


We drove to Bukit Chandu, intending to visit the museum that my classmate had recommended. But we only realised that it was closed on Mondays when we reached there. When I called my classmate to tell her, she kept on apologising for not letting me know in advance. I thought: I didn’t even ask her initially, so it’s not even her fault at all! Sheesh!

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 10:34 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Ballroom dancing.


My ex-classmate called my house last night to update me on her recent activities. I haven’t seen her for a long, long time, about 2 years to be exact. We used to meet up on MSN, but I’ve been so busy in my final year that I went off MSN until I needed it, which is seldom.


She was so surprised when I told her that we actually haven’t met in 2 years and went “Really ah? Wah, must meet up this school holiday.” I missed talking to her about nonsense during my first 2 years on campus. She’s really fun to talk about stuff with.


I first knew her during English class. Then, because it was the initial years, I had to take a few stupid and irrelevant Maths modules which I disliked. There was this horrendous Maths assignment that had to be done in pairs, and since we were having fun doing the groupwork for English, it was natural that we paired up for Maths.


She told me that she took up ballroom dancing this year and was preparing for a test and competition around the middle of the year. Methinks that dancing should come quite easily for her as her mother’s a dancer. It’s in her genes anyway.

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 8:56 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Hanging out.


I met Xue, Jos and Ying for dinner last evening at Scotts foodcourt. Then we went to check out the sale at Polo Ralph Lauren and UCB at Paragon as they were having a sale. We had an additional 10% off the total bill as Ying’s sister has a friend who works for Ralph Lauren and we just had to quote her name and staff code upon payment. Nothing caught our fancy, so we left to walk towards the bus stop in front of Heeren to catch a bus to Raffles City for the Esprit private sale. The company had sent me a mailer about its sale at 3 different places over the weekend.


On our way there, I saw my classmate from one of my English modules, but she didn’t see me. She was kissing and hugging this Caucasian man, while waiting at the traffic light to cross to Crown Prince Hotel. We were also waiting at the same place to cross to Crown Prince Hotel. Now, this is the second time that I’ve seen her with a Caucasian man at Orchard and I’m pretty sure that it’s the same man. She also didn’t see me the first time round. What made me gape and stare was the fact that her guy resembled a lecturer from school! I couldn’t be certain that it was indeed he. I hope NOT, as that guy has a wife and child!


The queue at Esprit was SOOOOOO long! We went in but didn’t buy anything. So we headed for the lounge at the Swissotel to unwind and chat. We took some pictures of our drinks, the surroundings and ourselves and I promised Jos to let her have them soon. Ying commented that we were narcissistic and I was like, “Yup! I most certainly am!”


I got so comfortable that I tucked my legs beneath me even though I was wearing a skirt. Xue asked me what colour was my panty, “White ah?”


I: “No lah, it’s blue. Sky blue. G.” with a straight face and the rest roared with laughter!


She also told me that this guy behind her was staring at us most of the time. Must be because we were making too much noise! Or maybe… he was arrested by the sight of a little blue triangle, IF he had supersonic eyes!

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 10:59 AM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Lunch.


An and I met up for lunch with our Social Studies tutor, Ms T, at around 11am this morning. I arrived in school first and chatted with Ms T being adjourning to the canteen to meet Annie.


I gave Ms T the huge packet of honey-roasted cashew nuts with sesame and a pair of chopsticks which I bought from Bangkok. She chose a pair of Ms C, my history tutor who wasn’t on campus that day, and another for Mr C. I didn’t want to knock on his door to check whether he was in, in case he starts being sarcastic with me. I knocked on Dr A’s door and told him to choose a pair as I could see that his office light was switched on. Ah, this guy is not as sarcastic as Mr C, but he can be quite jumpy at times.


Ms T treated us to Ribena and cut fruits in the canteen, and we just basically gossiped about school, our classmates and her work. Oh, and we also gossiped about other lecturers too! Heeheehee! As we were finishing our lunch, I saw Mr C leaving the canteen with his colleagues, so I decided to ask him to choose his chopsticks later on, sarcastic remarks or not.


On our way back to Ms T’s office to get my bag and stuff which I had left there for lunch, we told her about the rumours that were flying around about a particular person, that he is a homosexual. She knows the person and so do we. We asked her pointedly whether he really is a homosexual and she laughed loudly and said “Of course not! You are very naughty leh!” We explained to her that it wasn’t only us who were curious, the entire Arts faculty and even the Science people have been asking whether that particular person is gay or not. Ms T said that we better clear the air about the person and we said that we would definitely help to do so.


Back at her office, I told Ms T that I wanted to get Mr C to choose his chopsticks since he was in school that day. She put back the pair that she chose and told me to “Go let him choose and then come back to tell us which pair he had chosen”. She had initially chosen a black pair for him without carvings. So I went, knocked on his door and let him choose the chopsticks. Eh, I had to endure some of his sarcastic remarks and spent some time rolling my eyes the time that I was in there. I FINALLY MANAGED TO MONKEYTISE HIM! YAY! Now I can add his monkey picture to the rest of my collection of monkey pictures that I have of my tutors, classmates and friends! I bluetoothed the picture to his Nokia 7650 as he wanted it, then I didn’t have to email it to him.


I was laughing when I left his office to return to Ms T’s. It’s just less than 10 steps away. Ms T and An were curious as to which pair he had taken and I was like, “He took the same pair as you and Ms C lor.”


Ms T: “Really ah? I thought that he would choose the darker pair.”


I: “He did initially. But he said that he hadn’t seen the one with the carving before, so he chose it instead.”


The next few moments were spent laughing among the 3 of us as we shared our private chopsticks joke. Nope, I’m not going to write it here. It’s PRIVATE see. Suffice to say that we laughed until our sides ached and Ms T said that I was “VERY NAUGHTY!” Hahaha! If you want to know, you know where to find me right?


Later, we whipped out our digital cameras and took photos with Ms T, Mr C and Dr A. Dr A was passing by with his mouth stuffed full of biscuits and when the picture was taken, he was caught POUTING on camera! It was hilarious! I enlarged the picture in the “view” mode and showed it to Ms T and An. You could have heard our laughter all the way down the corridor! I then showed the picture to Dr A and he was like, “You so bad one!” And he gave me a slight punch on the right shoulder. Not my fault that he looked like that what!


An wanted to view the picture again and she was trying to press the buttons on the camera and I was like, “WAIT! Some of the pictures cannot see one. Cos I never wear clothes!” Actually, I was joking with her and I was trying to take the camera back to look for the picture for her, when I heard Dr A saying, “Hah? Issit? Where ah?” and everybody laughed again. It was really fun to laugh together.


We left after this and went to find Dr L to pass her a packet of the nuts and chopsticks for her and her husband Dr L, who started work someplace else. She gave us his new email and I think that I will email him some time later. We also took a couple of pictures with her and I promised to send them to her soon.

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 8:33 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Museum visits.


I went to the Singapore Philatelic Museum with one of my classmates today. I didn’t want to go actually, as I just wanted to stay and home and relax. But I felt a bit sorry for her and didn’t want to refuse her, so I went out with her in the end.


Hmm… This friend of mine is apparently not very well-liked in school. It seems that nobody in the English Language and Literature faculty is willing to partner her for pair and / or group work. I’ve heard classmates saying that she (let’s call her Sc) is a very bad-tempered person and is apt to flare up for no reason. I’ve worked with Sc twice and found that it’s not that bad actually, though my groupmates and I have been subjected to her bouts of bad temper. This kind of mild eruption is something that I can stomach, and anyway, I can at least read some basic body language. So when I sense that she is going to erupt, I usually excuse myself!


We met late in the morning and headed straight for the stamp museum. The exhibition’s on some of the works of Hans Christian Andersen. I LOVE the stamps! They are so beautiful! We spent some time there taking photographs and being silly before leaving to go to the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Fire Station Museum.


Not a bad day actually. :0)

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 6:10 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Farewell, President Wee Kim Wee.


The news reported that Singapore’s fourth president, Dr Wee Kim Wee, passed away at 5.10am today at his home, from complications due to a relapse of prostate cancer.


I remember him from my primary school days. He was President of Singapore then and if I remember correctly, during National Day celebrations, the Principal would always read a speech from him to us students.


I also remember seeing him on television broadcasts, my more memorable ones were those of him during the National Day Parades. Yes, whenever I saw him then, he was always full of vitality and smiles. I do not remember seeing much of him after he stepped down as President. I think that I will always remember him smiling and looking like he used to do when I was in primary school.


The last lap of the journey saw him being loaded into I watched Dr Wee’s funeral live on television today. He was accorded a State Funeral and boy, was it grand! I like the music that was played: Dead March from Saul by George Frederic Handel and the Last Post.

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 10:50 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?

Bangkok – Singapore, Day 5.


Finally! It’s our day to go home! After breakfast at the hotel, we went to Erawan to pray the 4-faced Buddha. Yes, my period ended yesterday! Sheesh, it came the day after my Translation paper. Then we headed back to the hotel to do some last minute packing, freshened up and checked out of the hotel. But we left our luggage at the lobby. After that, we went for head, shoulder and foot massage at Big C. I only enjoyed the foot massage while mom loved all three. I felt like I was being tortured when the masseur pulled my arms and twisted my waist. Worse, my head felt like a grape having to divest itself of its juice and seeds!


We had a late lunch at Big C and also ice-cream at Baskin Robbins, then went back to the hotel to wait for the bus to pick us up at 5pm. While waiting, I read The Bangkok Post and saw the picture of the Royal Baby that was born to the Prince and his consort yesterday. The baby’s very cute! After clearing immigration, we went to shop at the Duty-Free area before having dinner at Thai Air’s restaurant above the Duty-Free place. We took the 8.05pm 3K 514 flight and arrived in Singapore about 11.30pm.


At last! It’s HOME SWEET HOME! :0)

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 11:18 PM ~ ~ ~
Hey! Are you in on the secret yet?