funny site...

in case you came here looking for an update, so as not to disappoint you, i'd like to point you to this damn hilarious site: www.theoatmeal.com

i particularly like (in no particular order):

the 9 types of crappy handshakes

how different age groups celebrate halloween

how to suck at facebook

the 6 types of crappy hugs

lame i know, but some of the things are quite true, if you think about it...

blogger's block...

been suffering from (or enjoying??? hehe...) writer's block lately. can't seem to string along a complete legible sentence. and been very busy at work these 2 weeks. working non-stop! could be because bossbossboss is back in town, so as usual, we have to go on long meeting marathons... *phew*

nevertheless, the mind is far away. thinking of flying away, to a faraway land. gosh, i need a vacation! thank goodness cny is near. can't wait!

on affairs and scandals...

been meaning to blog about this, but as usual, been procrastinating... anyway, i don't know if it's this company or if it's the trend now, but i find that some of the ladies who work here are real... sluts, for want of a better word.

most of them are married with kids, but their hubbies and children are back in their hometown. so they're like weekend mommies and wives. the rest of the week, they sorta live their lives like bachelorettes in the city. it's fine if all they do are just going out dancing and drinking after work. and trust me, they do that pretty often. ladies nights are never missed!

but what's troubling is that they go out to meet guys! they flirt around and get guys to buy them drinks... some of them even have part-time lovers, whom they'll call up to talk love and flirt over the phone during lunch hours. i'm not sure how far they've gone with these 'boyfriends', but listening to them, it seemed like they're real experts in stringing along those poor blokes! but then again, it serves these 'dirty old men' (at least that's the image i have of these so called 'boyfriends') right! who asked them to be so gatal (malay for 'itchy') to go for married girls? i've always believed in the old chinese saying, loosely translated as, "if the cow refuses to drink, there's no way for you to force its head down to drink"

and it's not like they're discreet about it too! one colleague, dancing daphne, was pretty proud that she has a few boyfriends under her thumb... disclosing about this boyfriend who sponsored her to a slimming program, that boyfriend who topped up her phone prepaid credit, another boyfriend who was surprised at all the weight that she's lost etc. and she even put this saying up as her fb status once:

"Love and Scandal are the best sweeteners of Tea - Cullen Hightower"

looking at them about it, i feel like the married old lady more than them! am disgusted... (at them, not myself!)

long overdue gift from N

just to share this cute set of snoopy & friends magnets i got from N yesterday! this was promised to me nearly 2 years ago, and i just got it yesterday. first, she took her own sweet time making it. after that, she just kept it aside and went on with her life as if nothing happened. hehe...

it was only a week or two ago, when she was sorting through all her stuff to prepare to move to her new home, that she stumbled on these again. hop on over to N's blog to read abt it.

one reason i don't take up crafting in felt is the amount of weaving one would have to do! look at that! crazy, right? and at the same time, really impressed with N's needle-wielding skills...

read also:

1) new year gift

in control...

i started making this maneki neko 2 weeks back, taking my own sweet time hooking it while watching my drama series and HBO series. hehe...

a 'good luck' cat clutching a golden salmon under her arms...

this is for my colleague, Lady Loretta who will be leaving the company to set up a company of her own. at first, i didn't know what to make for her when it suddenly struck me that a maneki neko would be the perfect gift for her new company!

so as not to bore everyone with a lengthy explanation of a maneki neko, click here to read more about it. and you can hop on over to my craft page to read about my crocheting process in this project.

in this post, i want to talk about being conscious of our emotions. but what has it got to do with the maneki neko, you ask?

ok ok, i'm getting there... 2 days ago, while lunching with a few of my colleagues (minus Lady Loretta), one girl, Dancing Daphne suddenly commented that she thinks Lady Loretta has removed us from her facebook friends list. not only that, she may have even blocked us, because Dancing Daphne was not able to even search for her name!

upon hearing this, all of us were quite shocked. i would say the group of us are pretty close, not merely colleagues. so we had no qualms in adding each other into our facebook and getting a glimpse into our personal lives. so this sudden 'she don't friend us anymore' development came as a surprise to everyone. the general reaction: upset.

that lunch hour, while the rest of my colleagues were discussing the reasons for Lady Loretta's action, i was quietly mulling over my half-finished maneki neko at home. is this kind of friend worthy of my effort to hand-make a gift for? after all, she "don't friend me anymore"...

then that night, i was still contemplating if i should finish this project, when i suddenly remembered the reason i started this project - it's a sincere wish for a friend in her future undertakings. it is something i want to give her. just that, and shouldn't have to do with anything else. and i'm sure she has her own valid reason for her actions...

having this in clear perspective, i continued to hook away happily, putting in good and positive thoughts into every stitch! :)

and it felt so good! sure, we humans have emotions that we can't control. that's why buddhism teaches us about the 10 worlds. but to be conscious of what we are feeling and then to seek the reason why are we feeling it, we get to choose how we react to these emotions.

ah, i feel so enlightened! :D

p/s: Lady Loretta was very happy when she saw the gift. she said since she saw all the photos of my handcraft in my facebook album, she's been been wanting one. but she's malu (malay for 'shy') to ask me to make for her. and seeing her happy smile and feeling her hug, i'm really glad of my timely epiphany! :)

bento #24: the one with the tartlets and red bean kuih

was buying dinner at a coffee shop yesterday when i saw this woman selling some kuih (malay, loosely translated as confection or pastries). normally i'm not one who likes kuih, but those that she was selling looked interesting enough for me to take a closer look.

bought a pack of egg tartlets (4 in a pack), a pack of coconut tartlets (also 4), and a pack of red bean kuih (5 in a pack).

so here's my breakfast bento today!

packed 2 bentos, one for the graphics designer under me... am i a good senior or what? ;)

read also:

1) bento #22: the one also with the kao-zhi

2) bento #21: the one with triangles of rice

3) bento #18: the one with all the shapes

4) bento #13: the one with the kao-zhi

of ficklemindedness...

gosh, i'm just so fickle that i can't stand myself sometimes! hehee...

remember my target for year 2010? if you forgot, go scroll down or click on this link to refresh your memory, especially on target #1. go on, i'll wait...

well, now things have taken a little twist... suddenly i have this desire to take off to a faraway land. to experience a different culture. to see the world.

ok, maybe some of the recent happenings in the city has put a damper to my already waning confidence to the country's system and have spurred my desire to seek greener pastures elsewhere. or maybe lurking in my friend's blog, who is currently an expat in one of the european countries, has ignited the kaki jalan (lit. "walking legs". malay for "person who likes to travel") in me. but i've always been restless to a fault. in fact, it's really a wonder that i've stayed in this city for so many years!

maybe it's the fear for change, the complacency, the laziness to act, the lack of courage to face what's out there, the comfort zone i'm in now... whatever it was, i've never really felt any strong desire to seek my fortunes in a different country until now. yeah, sure i did gave it a thought, but only in a half-hearted, fantasy, what-if sorta way. something like when we fantasize about being a princess with a disney fairy-tale kinda life. hehe...

now, i'm really giving this thing serious considerations. i've even dropped some mention to a few of my well-placed friends... people whom i think have the contacts and position to be privy of any suitable position for me.

heck, i've even considered taking a year off to join those teaching english in japan programs! japan has always been on the top of my 'places-to-go' list since forever. so what better way to get up-close and personal with the country than to work there!

so as of now, i'll be on a look out for opportunities beyond our borders... and linking the points back to my target #1, i reckon i'll not be moving anytime soon. no point moving to a new place now, only to have to move again after a few months when i've found a new posting elsewhere. moving stuff accumulated in the span of 10 years is no joke, ok?!

but gosh, being the fickle me, i hope this new target don't change anytime soon! :P

more frivolity...

was passing by my colleague's desk yesterday, when something green caught my eye.

a lil mickey mint box from hk disneyland!

so i reached over to take a look. my colleague explained that it was her son's and the mint inside have expired, so she's using it to store some rubberbands instead. and then when she saw my interest in it, she said i can have it!

i was shocked! and i asked her is a hushed and reverent voice, "are you sure? it's from hk disneyland, you know?"

and she gave me this look: =_='''

hehe... she's a woman of 50+.

but now i'm wondering: will i ever get too old for all things disney? hehe...

anyway, what is it about tin boxes that's so appealing? or is it just me? :P

haiz... i'm such a sucker for packaging!

read also:
1) something frivolous

an epiphany...

i stumbled into a friend's blog recently... ok, not really stumble. i've just only added her as my fb friend, and was just snooping around her profile, which led me to her sister's profile (whom i sorta knew), which led me to her blog, which has a link to her sister's (my friend) blog in her list.

it's really amazing what one can find on the web, if you know where to look... which brings me to worry a little about what ppl are finding about ME on the web!

i digress. anyway, while i was reading through my friend's blog, it struck me that she seems so positive! her whole blog, from the top banner, to her writing, to the very feel of the blog, spews POSITIVITY. then i got to a post where she shared something from a book she's read - One by One, The World Is Yours To Change, written by Daisaku Ikeda. basically it's a collection of essays on individuals based on his personal encounters and relationships... individuals like nelson mandela, rosa parks, arnold toynbee etc.

one individual mr. ikeda wrote about is dr. martin seligman, a fox leadership professor of psychology in the departments of psychology at the university of pennsylvania and a best-selling author of optimism and the creation of happiness. he was also the president of the american psychological association for 1996.

quote from my friend's blog:

"it is indeed important to have awareness, realization within ourselves. often, the unconscious dialogue we conduct within ourselves when we face obstacles, since we do not notice it, becomes habitual.

dr. seligman suggested that to be aware of our inner-thoughts, one way is that to write down what we are thinking to ourselves when we are in a situation. put in positive words for ourselves. we should practice optimistic thinking, inscribing optimistic phrases in our minds."

it was then that i realized i've been pretty negative all these while. complaints about work, my bosses, my housemates, my whole situation... everything! with dark thoughts and depressions thrown in for good measure. no wonder i'm only attracting all the negative vibes around me!

so i've made up my mind to be positive! and right away, this song comes to my mind and stayed stuck there for the whole day:

"sunny day / sweepin' the clouds away / make my way / to where the air is sweet..."

ah, nothing like a pinch of the sesame street theme song to perk one up, huh? and just like that, i feel my whole being just lift up in a happy singing mood! now why didn't anyone tell me it's so simple from the beginning, that it's all in the mind?!

so let's see how long this can last, shall we? oh no, i'm not supposed to have such thoughts... that's considered a negative thought, right? ok, i can do this! i can do this! *ommmmhhhhh...*

psst... anyone knows an antidote to getting that sesame street tune out of one's head? ;P

something frivolous...

bossboss treated us to lunch at fullhouse today, it being the first working day of the year and all. anyway, they had 4 different set lunches and all 4 of us ordered a different set each. to see the 4 sets of lunches, click here and keep on clicking 'next' (it's that arrow thingy below the image).

anyway, instead of tarts, we were served cakes. but we were so full by the time the cakes arrived, we were just forcing our cakes down out throats. and boss declined his. so i got the waiter to ta-pao (pack to go) the last slice of cake for me...

this was what the cake came back in...

bossboss was scandalized, telling the waiter to bring the cake back, that we don't want it anymore. but i said i want it! and boss said it's not good to waste food, coz he's sure they're not gonna put the cake back, but will throw it away. hehee... so i happily carried the slice of cake back in the nice box (which all of us are certain is more expensive than the cake itself! hehe...)

now u'll understand why bossboss was scandalized!

not that i'm particularly crazy abt their cakes... i just wanted the box! don't you think it's nice? i know it's frivolous, and as much as i try not to be too influenced by packaging, sometimes it's really hard to resist! :P

read also:
1) N's birthday at fullhouse

ushering in the new year...

1st working day of the year... did not go on long leave end of last year. mainly because i've used up my meager leave allocations, with only just one day to bring forward. also, because my bosses were fighting tooth and nail over going on long end of year leaves, which resulted in both of them deciding that i can hold the fort by myself.

but luckily i was still able to be home for my nephew's wedding (my NEPHEW!!! i feel so ancient now!) on the last day of the year. and lucky thing too, coz my home was swarming with noisy relatives and i'd feel so miserable and lonely if i were to miss out on all the gossips and fun laughters! :P

the kids enjoying the 'yum-seng' toast!

(more pictures in my facebook...)

anyway, seems like everyone is blogging abt the new year and their new year's resolutions... and while browsing through my blog archive, i realized that i've not blogged abt the new years for 2 consecutive years! hmm... i think it's because i don't really have the habit of making new year's resolutions. and for me, the years are just another number. quite pessimistic, hor? hehehe... well, i think it's just a different way of looking at things.

so since everyone's talking and blogging abt their new year's resolutions, i guess i should try to think up one too. but i would exactly call it 'resolutions'. maybe a target of that i wish to achive this year.

1. to move house, either to a rented studio apartment or a cosy crib of my own

since M moved out in June last year, we've been renting out the middle room to 2 students from IMU. and gosh, i never thought anyone could be so sloppy and lazy and basically just pure insensitive, until i met them! well, one of them, anyway. since having them in the house, the word "MOVE" has been hovering in my mind every damn day! every time i step out of my room. every time i get home from work. don't want to go into details as to the things that gets to me, but it's driving me and housemate P crazy, and it's like the main topic of our conversations these days.

2. to change to a better job in a better company

my msn status reads: "it seemed like a place of dreams and promises, but after nearly 2 years, it all remain as far-fetched dreams and empty promises." enough said...

3. in the mean time (in achieving target no. 2), to work smarter (coz i think i'm working smart already!) and not hard, so that i can leave the office on time and would not need to spend so much time in the office.

4. to try to get more sleep and exercise more!

yeah, have not been doing much of either of these...

5. to do more craft, and maybe earn some side income out of it

6. to have a bit more compassion and tolerance towards other ppl

i find myself getting pissed quite easily, especially last year. i guess some additional compassion and tolerance will be good, for myself and also for those around me!

well, that's all i can think of at the moment. let's see how i do at the end of this year, ok?

also, from most of the blogs that i read, seems like 2009 wasn't so bad for them. but how come i feel it sucked big time for me??? i was so glad to send 2009 off. good riddance, i say! i think last year was my most depressing year.

so let's hope 2010 will be better... here's a happy new year to everyone! ;)

read also:

1) brimming with life

2) heralding 2005