时间， 你在哪里？

赢了。

这几天根本没时间做自己的工作。不是帮同事改文件就是有临时的ministry事件要搞定。不然就是老板有求于我， 要我帮他处理些事。

超烦！！

breathe in, breathe out

I feel like I am being pulled in a dozen different directions at the same time.

My mind feels the same way. There're tons of thoughts going in and out of my mind at the same time that I can't really focus properly. My mind feels like a broken TV with that grey static running across the screen and that hideous "pshaw pshaw pshaw" sound violating your ears.

There's a million different things to do at work and a million different things to do in my personal life. I am zipping from task to task, a little here, a little there, back to here from there, anywhere, wait...where am I again??

Falling behind on some deadlines, chased by external people.
Lots to buy, lots to plan, lots to prepare, lots to think through, lots to search for info on...

ACK~! ARGH~! AHHHHH~!!!

*meditation pose*
breathe in, breathe out....
*ohm*

*breathe*

I feel inundated by my contract staff’s papers sometimes.

She submits them to me for clearance and vetting before it goes up to my boss. Her mistakes in formatting, policy approach, grammar, typos, language and other things get to me and I find it time-consuming and somewhat tiring to have to guide her. It is especially trying when sometimes she doesn’t heed what I suggest. (I don’t blame her, she’s 12 years my senior.)

But yeah, it gets a trifle tiring looking through her work and not being able to start on your own work!

I wonder how my boss does it. He oversees 4 of us managers who flood him with policy papers for vetting and approval from time to time. It gets worse when there are Board meetings and each of us coughs up about 2-3 papers or so each. Maybe that’s why he has a perpetual frown on his face, like a grumpy old man.

Oh dear, I cannot be a grumpy old woman!!

Project Spring

You know the science experiment we did when we were little children in primary school? Sticking an onion in water and watching it sprout shootsafter a few days?

I think I'm going to do it haha. After more than 2 decades, I'm gonna try it again! Once they grow sufficient roots, I'm gonna transplant it into a pot of soil and then see what exactly happens hehe.

Project Mossy

I am embarking on a new plant project. I want to grow moss! :)

I have a pot of ficus ginseng bonsai and I've also bought a nice ceramic pot for it. Before I do any major transplanting into the new pot, I want to grow some moss so I can do landscaping with it.

Am currently doing some research on growing it. I hope I manage to grow them successfully hehe. It'll be fun trying it out....

Wish me luck!

hmmm...

Some pointers for a civil/public servant when taking questions from the public or media:

Evade
Avoid
Dance around
Tiptoe
Be indirect
Reply but don't reply
Be politically correct
Be diplomatic

$#^%$&#&^@%&U#@%#$

I IS ANGWEEEEEE!!!!!

stupid boss!!!!!! argh!!!!

how can he send out my entire draft email out to other divisions????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wah lau eh!!!!

@$#&$^%I&^*^$%%^#$^&$*E$^^$@#

Encounters of the Squirmy Kind

TAMPINES - An epic battle of sorts was fought in a quiet corridor of a residential block in the eastern town of Tampines yesterday afternoon. After an intense one hour 20 minutes, it appeared that a female resident in her 30s emerged victorious.

Denizens residing within the soil of a particular pot of bamboo were thought to be eradicated. According to witnesses, inhabitants included silverfish, a small striped young lizard, dozens of ants and other unidentified wriggling creatures.

Witnesses at the scene of the carnage said they saw plastic bags, newspapers, rotten bamboo stems, bits of earth, scissors, gloves, a water spray, a small spade and other paraphernalia lying around the pot. There was another pot containing palm-like plants close by but it seemed unscathed.

When interviewed, the female resident, who declined to be named, explained, “This is what happens when you leave your outdoor plants unattended for too long. I had initially left them to my mother’s care but a year of no attention paid to the bamboo was far too long. I found rotten stems, rotten leaves, dead insects, ants, cobwebs and a whole host of other strange creatures. I had no choice but to kill as many of those creatures as I could. If not, the bamboo would perish!”

Indeed, in the aftermath, a lingering smell of insecticide was still in the air.

At last count, the pot of bamboo was seen sitting in a bed of fresh soil and peat moss and had been freshly watered. A thin layer of mist covered its leaves, its stems and new shoots were reaching out to the sun and its future seemed infinitely brighter.

For her parting shot, the female resident advised, “Your plants are just like your pets. They need care and attention. Give them some love and patience as well and I’m sure you will find lovely surprises along the way!”


-Agence de presse-

Happy New Year

And we are 12minutes away from 2012. Or so the clock tells me.

How time flies. 12 months ago on this day, K & I were in Rome. But it really feels like just a few weeks ago.

I'm not sure whether 2011 was a a good year for me or not. But I guess, if there were more good things than bad, it can be considered a good year right? Some significant things which happened for me this year that I can recall:

1. Registered my marriage and am now officially a Mrs. :)
2. Coordinated a major Internet conference in June within a short 3-month lead time.
3. Launched a product which is a significant development in the history of the Internet in Singapore.
4. Extracted a molar of mine, fainted at home after that and somehow ended up in hospital for a night.
5. Visited Senegal and it was my first time ever on the African continent!
6. Saw my cousin and one of my closest girlfriend get married.
7. Reared shrimps and crabs.

It's already midnight. I can actually hear the fireworks from the Marina Bay area. Wow...

There are some people blowing whistles and blowing those party horns around the neighbourhood too.

Happy New Year Everyone. May 2012 bring you much joy, peace, happiness, blessings, wealth, prosperity, love and fulfilment.

Gran

I was on leave today and went to visit my Gran. Dad went with me as well.

When we reached the home, we found that she was being restrained on the bed again. Sigh, I didn't ask the staff why though. No point. Either she was stubborn and wanted to wander around on her own, or she was being delusional again.

But at least she was lucid and could talk to us normally.

And she knew my name and who I was. That's most important hehe. :)
And she gave me a flying kiss when I was going off haha.

Happy New Year Granny!
May you stay blessed, healthy and happy always! Love you!

Lao Ban Niang

Aka Lady Boss.

I go to this salon in my neighbourhood. Prices may be steep going by HDB neighbourhood standards but I like this salon and the lady boss who runs it and so I've been going back to her since a few years ago.

It's been a long time since she personally touched up my hair or coloured my hair for me or washed my hair or blew dry my hair for me. She usually discusses things with me first and then instructs her assistant to do all the things for me (except cutting cos I only trust her hands).

Today was different. Don't know why but she did everything herself. From touching up my hair to cutting to blowing to washing...

Nice! And she also gave me a small neck massage...Shiok! :)
I've already pre-empted her and boooked her time in mid March for a colouring, trimming and treatment session. Hehe, in preparation for the photoshoot in end March!

Festivities

Christmas, New Year and the upcoming Chinese New Year.

There's been a flurry of activities and gatherings. I enjoy the chance to meet up with some people whom I've not caught up with for awhile.

But I don't really like the "hectic-ness" of it sometimes. Cos sometimes when things are packed closely together and you rush from one thing to another...you find that you don't really get to enjoy it very much. I'm someone who likes to have gatherings and activities spaced out from each other...not one day after another....

And I don't like the idea that my cholesterol and weight levels might be increasing...

I'm going for my gown fitting in Feb. Jialat.
And I'm going for my cholesterol blood test in April. Double jialat. :(

It is technically still 2011. Today is the 30th.
And I already have a date set on 14 Jan for my first lo-hei of the 2012 CNY celebrations.

Les Papiers - je n'aime pas!!

10 papers.

1 down.
2 90% done.
5 30% done.
2 not done at all.

January will be busy busy.

My Greens

The pot of basil seemed scraggly and had wilted leaves last week, a few days after I first brought it home. I've since repotted it into a bigger pot, gave it more soil and drenched the rootball in water twice in the past week. I've also removed unwanted leaves and moved the pot into the balcony where it can get more sunlight.

I'm happy to announce that it's looking better than ever before! :) Full fat leaves, with mini leaves sprouting up now. The stems are also sturdier and more turgid compared to last week! The plant smells lovely too and it's definitely a joy seeing it grow stronger haha.

It loves its water and I'm hoping that I'll be able to propagate it once it grows out even more. Apparently basil thrives in our weather. Well, at least for the species I am having. :)

As for the mint, it's doing good too! It's the first time I've rooted a cutting directly into the soil. I didn't root it in a separate jar of water first since I read that it's a very hardy plant. And it's true that it's a hardy plant! I actually forgot about the cutting for 2 days before I stuck it in the pot of soil lol. And it still survived!

It's growing beautifully, slowly but surely. It's grown 4 leaves in the past crucial month and I'm sure it'll grow even more. Yay, I'll propagate it too when it grows bigger. :)

Another step closer to my dream mini herb garden! :D

The crypt that is my mind

Sometimes I try hard but it just feels like it isn't enough.

Or maybe I am just not trying hard enough? Or am I trying too hard I've lost myself in the process? Or am I comparing myself to others too much? Or do I care what others think of me too much? Afraid of not measuring up? Afraid of being scrutinised?

paper churner

Amending 1.
Reviewing 2.
Conceptualising 1.
Doing up another 4.

8 papers and counting.
oh the daily grind.

Size

Gave a colleague some chocolates.
He dropped me an IM over the office network and said "Thanks for the puny pressie."

what the...???????

Loves

I think, cooking and gardening rank high on my list of varied interests.

Although I am not a fantastic cook and still can't cook many complicated dishes like curries, I thoroughly enjoy the process of combining a few raw ingredients and churning out something my tastebuds would cheer hurrah for. Coupled with the fact that I enjoy eating alot, cooking really does bring me good cheer. :) Oh but I hate the cleaning up part.

Gardening. Well, not a very accurate term to use since I don't actually have a garden to potter around in. But you get what I mean. I tried to keep the occasional pot of cactus last time when I was younger but somehow either always killed them or just simply lost interest in them (probably because I didn't have the patience to care for them).

But I don't know what possessed me to build a terrarium in June/July last year. I started getting more and more plants and soon a small corner of my balcony was filled with pots of plants. I don't have very green fingers though and a number of plants have perished under my care. Either that or sometimes I go on long haul business trips for more than a week and somehow my mother manages to murder some of them while I am away. Hmm.

I currently have 1 pot of African violets, 4 pots of both red-veined & green-veined fittonias, 1 pot of mint, 1 pot of sweet basil, 1 mini ficus bonsai and 1 unidentified plant which I grew from a small cutting my sis-in-law gave me. I probably would have had at least 5 or 6 more pots but those plants have long since perished. :( Thankfully the ones I have now are doing relatively alright except I don't know why the violet doesn't flower (which is very odd since violets typically flower easily and bloom throughout the whole year!!). And the latest addition to the family, the basil pant, seems to be a little wilted today.

Tending to the plants is somewhat therapeutic. From mixing the potting soil and spagnum moss, to clearing up dead or dying leaves, to plant propagation, to building terrariums, to simple watering, it is really just about spending some quiet time with yourself, bonding with yourself (and the plant too lol) and of course wanting the plant to do well.

I sometimes find unconsciously myself talking to a plant. I don't know how it happens but it does. I suddenly find myself saying things like "Oh, you've got a new shoot!" or "Aiyo, what happened to you? Why like that?". Yea, Yea, I know....quite duhhh..... -_-''

But I'm really happy if I see new shoots or new leaves sprouting out. Because it's a sign I am doing something right. :) I just spent 40minutes transplanting one of the plants to a bigger pot and checking that the other plants are doing fine. My "therapy" for the night. ;p

Next aim = getting the mint and basil plants to row robustly and then start a herb garden thereafter! Other herb plants I think I would want to get are rosemary, thyme and lemon grass.

I want to get some hybrid seeds and start growing plants from scratch. I think that would be more fulfilling. :) Hmm, need to go Ban Lee Huat and check their seed stock.

I think these interests of mine will be here for a long while. :)

Make You Feel My Love

For K. For my family. For my close friends.
Love the lyrics, love the emotions.

Bob Dylan did a great job on this song many years ago. Adele brought it back to popularity in recent years.


Make You Feel My Love
When the rain
Is blowing in your face
And the whole world
Is on your caseI could offer you
A warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When the evening shadows
And the stars appear
And there is no one there
To dry your tearsI could hold you
For a million years
To make you feel my love

I know you
Haven't made
Your mind up yet
But I would never
Do you wrong
I've known it
From the moment
That we met
No doubt in my mind
Where you belong

I'd go hungry
I'd go black and blue
I'd go crawling
Down the avenue
Know there's nothing
That I wouldn't do
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging
On the rolling sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change
Are blowing wild and free
You ain't seen nothing
Like me yet
I could make you happy
Make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends
Of the Earth for you
To make you feel my love, To make you feel my love

downtime vs uptime

need to stop the down spiral.
need to start climbing up.
need to. need to. need to.