Dad’s birthday.


It was dad’s birthday yesterday and we went for dinner at his favourite hawker stall at Whampoa Food Centre. It’s the one with the fish head steamboat that we always patronise whenever anyone has a craving for it. The entire food centre is undergoing renovation now, so all the stalls had been moved to a temporary place about 200 metres further up from its old site.


I paid for the dinner when the bill came and you should have seen dad smiling away. He didn’t want anything fancy for his birthday, just something simple and inexpensive.


I received a surprise this morning when we went to the bank and he transferred いちまん to Xue's and my bank account. The personal banker was like, “Wah, a gift from daddy ah?” I find that it’s nothing great anyway.


We went for dinner at a Teochew restaurant called Hung Kang opposite Hong Lim Park tonight. My parents had booked a table there last week and we invited my uncle, his girlfriend and my auntie along. My gran wasn’t feeling well, so she didn’t attend. The food’s not bad actually. This is the only Teochew restaurant that my dad loves and one that we’ll go to when he wants to eat plain Teochew cooking in Singapore.


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

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 11:08 PM ~ ~ ~
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Food, bags and clothes. What else?


I took time-off from work to go shopping with my mum and Xue today. We headed to Kuriya restaurant at City Hall for lunch because my mum wanted to try the food there. Yup, the food sure is good there and I especially like the creamy croquette and salmon sashimi. I didn’t get to try the grilled ice-cream because I was too filled up with all the great food.


We went shopping after lunch and Xue went to Agnes B to buy a bag that she wanted. I have 4 of the same bag, though in different colours. She wanted one that is big enough to put her file and school stuff, like the big one that I always carry to work. Tough luck for her as the shop ran out of the black bag with blue handles that she likes. So she had to settle for the khaki one with yellow lining and teal-coloured handles instead. Much as I do not need the bags, I still bought two from that shop and another one when I went to the other outlet at Isetan Wisma later on.


I popped by Raoul Paragon to see Lisa and bought a couple of shirts from her. One was a short-sleeved blue-striped one while the other was a halter-necked purple-striped one with lace trimmings down the front where the buttons are. I later went to Prints to buy some presents for my former tutors as Teacher’s Day is approaching.

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 11:58 PM ~ ~ ~
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Mrs Seah. AS IF!


Now, DD is an extremely annoying person, if what happened today is anything to go by. Around 3.20pm today, I had to go to a couple of my colleagues' desks to deliver some stuff to them. On my way there, inevitably, I had to pass by DD’s table as his is just across the aisle from their tables.


One thing you must know is that I wear slippers, flip-flops, in the office as they are more comfortable than heels. So naturally, people will be able to hear the flip-flop sounds that my slippers make. When I walked past his table, he had to comment, “It must be her, because she is the only one in the entire office who wears flip-flops around.”


I: “What business is it of yours whether I wear flip-flops or not?”


DD: “It’s very irritating and noisy.”


I: “They don’t seem to irritate other people at all. You are the only one who is irritated by my flip-flops. Anyway, why do you spend your time noticing what I’m wearing?”


I got so fed-up with him that I quickly delivered the stuff and went back to my table. I am SSSSOOOOOO glad that our tables are on different levels. Otherwise I will be subjected to such verbal torture everyday.


When I walked past DD’s table some time later to put some documents on A’s table, he wasn’t around. Thank God! But Fairy Godfather (FG) was around and he had heard what transpired between DD and I earlier on from the other colleagues. They were laughing their heads off when they heard the exchanges between DD and I. Duh! He started making fun of me and that made my blood boil.


I: “Eh, why don’t you go and be with DD? He and you seem perfect for each other.”


FG: “Funny, that’s what DD said about the two of you!”


I: “ARGH! SHADDUP! DO NOT say my name with his in a sentence!”


FG: “No, I won’t, MRS SEAH!”


I: “Excuse me, what did you just call me?”


FG: “Nothing, nothing. I was just saying how nice it sounds to call you Mrs Seah.”


I: “YUCKS! I’d much rather be Mrs Lee or Mrs Tan or maybe even Mrs Lim or any other surname but NOT his!”


FG: “Mrs Seah is quite nice what.”


I: “Get lost and go and die lah!”


I showed him the middle finger before leaving. This is really so not my day. I have to meet two asinine people consecutively and listen to their nonsense. Think I have to go home and wash my ears thoroughly!

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 11:40 PM ~ ~ ~
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Glad to be out.


Much as I love studying at the university, I finally feel happy to have graduated. After 4 years there and being pampered by my professors, I think that it’s time I learn how to stand on my own feet.


I’ve been learning to crawl since I graduated and I can proudly say that as of today, I have finally learned how to walk. Though these initial steps may be arduous, I know that I will not give up; that I will persevere, no matter now bad the terrain is and how harsh the criticisms can be. I know that I will be able to walk without having anyone to hold my hand anymore.


God has shown me that in the 400 or so days after my graduation, I could overcome the little trials that he sent my way. He told me that as long as I believe in myself, I will surpass whatever hurdle that he puts before me. He has stood by me during my darkest moments to comfort and walk me through the abyss. I am grateful for the love that he has showered me, thankful for the patience that he has taught me and the wisdom that I have gleamed from his lessons.


I know better now, why I was so reluctant to enter the workforce last year. It was because I had been accustomed to an easy life in school, that I sought shelter in it. I was trying to escape the reality that work would bring as it would then jolt me out of my reverie into the naked truth of life. I am an escapist, period. Do I still want to pursue my studies? Of course I want to. But only when I am able and ready to do it because I feel that the time is right for me and not because I want to escape the frustrations of work and all other kinds of unhappiness that it may bring. Doing something just because I want to escape from another is not going to bring me anywhere. What it will do is to saddle me with a heavy heart and make me brood over things which I should not be thinking about.


刚才看到了那些网页时，仿佛突然惊醒似的。我感觉到我从此也不是那里的一分子了。从前在那个地方感受过的快乐，现在也随风而去。那里的东西全都变了， 尽管是人是 物，都有了新脸孔，就好像变得陌生的是我，而不是他们。我终于了解为何我对那里的人和事都漠不关心了。


因为时间已经开始慢慢的冲淡一切。而我对那里的那份情意已经渐渐的消失了。


没了他和它，我还能够继续开开心心地活下去的。我已经开始走自己的路了。而这一段路是稳还是崎岖不堪的山路，我并不知道。可是，有一点我是非常清楚的：我这一趟旅程是必须由自己走下去的。这，才是我生命的起点。


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~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 11:58 PM ~ ~ ~
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A stupid guy!


I was walking on the ground floor of the building during my tea break when I saw a few people crowding around in a corner. Being a “kaypoh” Singaporean, of course I had to see what the fuss was all about.


When I reached the corner, I saw a pool of blood and this guy lying on the floor faced up and one of my colleagues was pressing a piece of cloth on his forehead. Someone had already called for the ambulance and it soon arrived to take the guy to the hospital.


Rumours abound over his accident. One version was that he was walking and he hit the wall, but I didn’t see any blood on the wall. Another one was that he was running and he hit somebody else. Hmm… I wonder who the other victim is. When I asked my colleague who was the one pressing the cloth over his forehead, she said that she didn’t know how the accident occurred. She just saw the guy bleeding on the floor and rushed to help. Oh well, we’ll probably know the full story soon anyway.


Later on in the afternoon, I went to the Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM) at Empress Place to look at some of the exhibits for work. I have never been there and I was glad for a chance to view the exhibits. They really have some lovely artworks there!

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 7:30 PM ~ ~ ~
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Vietnam coffee.


My colleague, V, surprised my by putting two sachets of Vietnam coffee on my table today. She said that they were from Dr L, my Pragmatics tutor.


Apparently, she is taking an English course taught by him. V happened to ask him whether he knows this little girl by the name of “…”. Dr L said that he knows me and asked V to pass me the coffee that he bought when he went to Vietnam over the June holidays.


Thank you, Dr L!

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 10:59 PM ~ ~ ~
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Here kitty, kitty!


Right, I was sitting in front of the television watching the news or something when out of the corner of my eye, I saw this black thing going into the kitchen. I turned to see what it was and it turned out to be a kitten!


Yup, this little grey and white thing was looking lost and trying to find its bearings. She was gazing at my kitchen and went to nose the bags of food that my mum had dumped on the floor. Xue took the clothes pole and tried to shoo it away, but it went and hid under the sofa instead. So I went to open a new packet of milk, poured some into a plastic jelly cup and placed it in front of the cat.


She sniffed a little before licking lapping it up. She was so soft to carry and looked so cute! I wished that she were my cat. Too bad, I already have Glutton and Meerkat. Otherwise I would have adopted her straight away. She was so docile and did not wriggle hard when I picked her up with one hand on her butt and the other holding her front.


Xue and I suspected that it belonged to one of the neighbours because we had seen a similar cat but bigger in size (probably it’s her mother) outside one of the doors before. So I carried her and the jelly cup out of my house and placed her near that particular door. When it heard the gate opening, she dashed past the flowerpots I think, into the house. By that time, I was already walking back to my own house so I didn’t see whether she actually entered that house or not.

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 3:44 PM ~ ~ ~
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Thief, thou shalt not covet my stuff!


During one of the meetings last week, I was asked to share my PowerPoint presentations and other documents with the rest of the company. Apparently one of the people from the upper management was so impressed with my presentations and she wanted me to share it with the rest of the staff.


I’ve heard a lot of things about some people plagiarising the work of others in the company, from my friends. Poor souls! They were the ones who got ripped off by some of the “parasites” and they advised me to lock whatever documents that I want to share before depositing them into the company’s intranet. My close pal at the company, MH, told me to put my name on every single slide and page so that others know that the information belongs to me.


MH said that her Word document on some statistical stuff got “stolen” by one of the colleagues and it was passed off as that person’s work! She was fuming mad when she told me about it. It seems that some people are not above coveting the work of others. Sheesh! I thought that only students at the university would plagiarise stuff. It has never occurred to me that people at the workplace would do it too. I guess that I’m too naive.


So what did yours truly do to prevent people from stealing and editing my stuff to pass off as theirs? I went to buy the Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium edition to lock all my information today! Heeheehee!



It comes with six other programmes and lots of free stuff. It cost me S$629 for this suite, but Xue and I feel that it’s really worth the money. This is because each set of software is selling at about S$250 at the shops and I paid a way lesser amount to get the good stuff. It has Acrobat 7.0 Professional, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, Version Cue, Bridge and Stock Photos. I have yet to try out the others, but I really love Acrobat 7.0 Professional!


It allows me to lock my documents with passwords and I can even prevent people from printing them! HA! So far, what I’ve done is to put passwords to prevent people from editing and printing my stuff. I don’t think that I want to prevent people from opening my documents yet. That is, until they irritate me or, until I start to dislike them.

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 10:17 PM ~ ~ ~
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STUPID Haircut!!


I went to get my hair cut this afternoon and the guy cut it wayyyyyyyyy too short! ARGH! Now I'm stuck with looking like an alien until it grows back again!


This is really frustrating!


Okay, it's not so bad when people tell me that I look like a secondary student. Heehee! I'm fine with that when I'm dressed in jeans and T-shirt. NOT so when I have to dress up for work tomorrow! Can you imagine a person wearing office clothes aka executive dress and looking like a teenager???!!!


Sigh... Who's going to take me seriously like this?

~ ~ ~ Skye's telling at 5:51 PM ~ ~ ~
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