Annabelle Chong

I think Ignatius Low's article on Annabelle Chong in last Sunday's papers must have sparked quite a number of letters to be sent in to the ST desk.
Short of hailing her as a "national hero", he did sound mighty proud that she had the chutzpah to step out of conventions and do things her way.

ST published 3 letters today: Two from 2 female readers and one from a male reader.

Haa..wonder if it was a coincidence that both the 2 female reader's chastised Ignatius Low for glorifying Annabelle Chong's deed done a decade long ago in 1995. Even felt that ST as a national paper, should not have allowed such articles to be published, will lead our young to having wrong ideas yada yada...
Sounded irate and a tad bit prudish.

The guy on the other hand, commended Ignatius Low for airing his views and trying to get the society to be more open and gracious...and also to encourage people to have the gutso do their own thing...

ST style as usual..? Gender-based views...pitting women against the men...

It's been a decade...yet Annabelle Chong still manages to stir up such pointless, cock and bull discussions...
In a way, why stir up a ghost of a story long past?
Are our journalists running out of ideas to pitch and stir up public interest??

what to put as a title??

Ever wondered what you were in your previous life?

Your Past Life Diagnosis:
I don't know how you feel about it, but you were male in your last earthly incarnation.You were born somewhere in the territory of modern Burma around the year 925.Your profession was that of a seaman, cook or carpenter.

Your brief psychological profile in your past life:
As a natural talent in psychology, you knew how to use your opportunities. Cold-blooded and calm in any situation.

The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation:
Your task is to learn determination and persistency. Youd should not allow to let misfortunes take influence on your strong will.



Kaozz......I was male? haaa....

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Am wondering how's Yiyong in Texas..
Dropped him an SMS...but he didn't reply me...
Dumbass must be partying his brains out...
Or getting fat on his sambal fishballs...

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Roy Keane is out of Man U!!

Nothing much of a news to hoot about, it's expected anyway. Just that there'll be less fodder for the tabloids to pick up on? Hmm...then again, maybe not.
The papparazzi dogs will still sniff out others to strip bare for the public to see. It's their job.

Food Glorius Food!!

Wheeee.....

Ok, am looking forward to the CNY period next year...think I can start eating the usual food....=D =D =D

Muahaha..And Kel has made a pact, we'll go makan the oatmeal prawns at the kopitiam near his place...think he's got the whole menu lined up in his mind already haha...
I want my Furong Dan!! With lotsa prawns and spring onions in it!!

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'Nuff crap...Am not making much sense as usual...gonna nap..and then head for expo later on!
Curios about the Sexpo thingy....

zzzzz...signing out...

Weekend!

Went to catch Harry Potter : Goblet of Fire yesterday with Ling & gang.
Effects were great but other than that, nothing much...
Oh, but there were some small eye candy here and there.. Like the Chinese girl..and the guy called Cedric.

Am not even sure this is instalment number what in the whole series...it's getting extremely draggy. And Harry and his sidekick Ron Weasely are looking more and more erm...too old to reprise their roles in this show.

p/s: Potter's specs = simply CMI

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Had a nice lunch yesterday with Mike n Gary...It's been a super long while since I had the porridge buffet at Suntec Convention Hall...Not bad la, still as good...hehe....

And yessss, the poor me kena bully like nobody's business...haha think Gary's not seen for too long liao..more than half a year? haa...but glad to see him looking so fine and peppy...

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OK OK, Jay has not disappointed me..
I apologise for wavering in my confidence in his ability to deliver his debonair music...
Can you even use "debonair" to describe music?? haa..

I had some reservations about some of his songs after hearing his new album for the first time.
But as usual, the more I listen to it, the more I fall in love with it..
It just grows on you...that's the X-factor of his songs I guess... =)

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Dark eye rings = pain in the arse.
Quite a number have asked me about it already...
I don't know what to do about it..Can only hope that after I back to work, with a more "regular" routine of sleeping and waking...they'll go away soon...

Breakout = pain the arse.
haa...need I say more..all of us have through this at one point in time or another...ARGH!!
Qing Chun Dou!!!
Wo Bu Yao!!!

Belly Belly Cold...

disclaimer : got this off blinkymummy's blog..haa..good comic relief man..

有一天魔王把公主抓住, 公主一直叫...

魔王: 你尽管叫破喉咙吧, 没有人会来救你的! 哈哈哈!!
公主: 破喉咙~ 破喉咙~
没有人: 公主~ 我来救你了!
魔王: 妈的! 说曹操曹操就到!
曹操: 魔王! 你叫我干嘛?
魔王: 哇唠! 看到鬼!
鬼: 靠! 被发现了!
靠: 胡说! 谁发现我?
谁: 关我屁事?
魔王: Oh my GOD!
上帝: 谁叫我?
谁: 没有人叫你啊!
没有人: 我哪有?

从此, 魔王精神分裂...


很冷, 小心感冒... =))))

almost TGIF!

Devastated!!

Ok, an exaggeration. But I'm still upset.
Went for the Group Publicity Meeting just now. And saw Huiling there...been quite awhile since I last her..maybe 5-6 months?

First thing she said to me was nice: "Hey so nice to see you! Been so long!! And I no longer bump into you in Tampines! haaa..."
Then came the whammy: "But errr...you matured alot..hmm...yah, you look errr...more matured...dunno how to say lah...but definitely more matured...haa." She repeated the word 'matured' at least 3-4 times in that sentence!

And then she gave me a face that made me feel like as if i look like I'm 35 already.
*sulk sulk sulk*
=((

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Work wise...things are going okay...think I'm in gear 3? Slow but steady...
And irritating the peeps in office (most notably Shirley since she sits in front of me hee...) with my loud laughter.
MK told me this today: "I'm giving you a one week break first...next week I'll sit down and brief you..."

OOOkie...am not looking forward to next week!! haa....but well..am curious to know the way he works...only worked with him on a minor thing once...

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Saw this really sweet young thing at the interchange today..dressed in harajuku style.
Prolly 15 or so? Was standing around with a group of her friends, dressed likewise.
Hair like feather duster, wearing those pumps and in a short short skirt barely covering their arses.
Thought she looked kinda cute lah in a young girl sort of way...till she took out a ciggy and lit up.
Puffed away and away...the rest followed suit. Seemed to me that she wa a 'leader' of some sort..

Sighz..kids these days...smoking at such an early age...girls somemore..

The prior generation always looks upon the following generation with a tsk-tsk view. Yeah?

me sleepy sleepy...

Quite fast, today's my 3rd day back at work..things are getting heavier since the discussion yesterday to delineate and segregate the various mktg roles between me, win and celia.
Got some tasks lined up here and there..some cleared, others pending...wonder how things'll be...

Today was quite stoned...got up feeling stoned and was stoned till about 2plus 3...
And as purpleskies puts it, quote unquote: "Michelle is perpetually stoned anyway....."
*hmph* but true lah..haaa.... =p

Abit disappointed that the sec sch gathering had to be postponed...TH & PQ sick, Ally, Kaemin late...
No choice but to postpone to another day...gonna have to arrange meet-ups with some others too...
Though have to spread out abit to conserve energy haa....

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Went for dinner with Choy family at Da Dong Restaurant in Chinatown, quite near the Food Street thingy...
As usual, dajie was damn entertaining. Er jie seemed abit tired and quiet..Mama c was sibei cute and papa c was his usual self...damn funny.
And hmm...they seem to enjoy opening champagnes during dinners...haaa...

Muahahah!! Ate wat mum did not allow me to eat for the past month!! I.e. eggs, beef and erm..dried scallop.
The dried scallop was an accident..didn't realise it was dried scallop till much later.
Or maybe my subconsciousness told me to bo chup and not pay any heed to it..haha..

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Walked from OUB Centre to the dinner place..think me n him took about 15-20mins?
The old injury on the right foot acted up again..damn..was hobbling at one point in time..
As we were walking, there was this small sidewalk cafe and voila!
Kristin was there having dinner! Super small world..can meet at such an ulu place...
And miraculously, after meeting her, the pain in my right foot was gone and I managed to walk as per normal...hmmm...weird....

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Silly me Silly me!!!!
Am super happy!!!! HAHAHAH!!!!
Finally got to eat my fried fish noodles for lunch today!! WOOHOO!!!!
My Earth Kitchen Fried Fish Noodles with Shao Xing Wine!! *slurp slurp*
And the soup was inflinchingly, inexorably, tenaciously : GORGEOUS!!!
hmm..maybe I shdn't use the word gorgeous, should use the word : SUPERLICIOUS!! =D
Lotsa good food today...haa.....I'm a happy woman!

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Ok. Me smelly. Me go bathe now.
Me sleepy. Me go sleep after bath.
Me tired. Me go drink chicken essence later.
ME STONED.

*burp* after dinner

Muahahha….my doppelganger is…..JESSICA ALBA!
Yeah, I wish.

Loved her ever since I saw her in Fantastic Four. Wow…think she looks so pretty and her figure’s great!!
Big expressive eyes, voluminous hair, super flat tummy…*slurp*

But think the latest Tiger Beer ad doesn’t really do justice to her though…
It didn’t really capture the qualities of her dapper image.
Plus, her exposure in the ad wasn’t really long leh. Or maybe she was too expensive?

============
Since we’re on the topic of Tiger Beer.

I’m kinda proud that our homegrown beer brand is doing so well…
Hell, they've got 35 breweries all over the world…with the latest one being commissioned to start construction in Mongolia…

Cool. Simply Cool. :)

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The red biscotti messaged me yesterday to tell me he got accepted into NIE.
Good for him. Haaa....just wondering if he is happy with his last resort?? Cos the bond's for 3 or 4 yrs I think.

Cun imagine him teaching chemistry to a bunch of disinterested pubescent teenagers...
Hmm...pouring chemicals, distilling liquids, differentiating nitric acid from hydrochloric acid and handling test tubes??
Will also be teaching PE...hmm..meaning it'll be a total of 2 yrs in NIE. He'd better train up man!

HeH.

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~To comport in the way that I have is inevitably my right~

B A C K @ w o r k

1st day back at work! Wheeee....

Got up at 7am as opposed to the usual 11am during the last 7 weeks..trudged my way through the morning rituals. Was surprised that the clockwork mechanism was still somewhere within me.
Thought it would have faded or gone awry with the hiatus. :)

Anyhow, Lady Luck must have been with me when my feeder bus came just as I reached the bus-stop.
Also managed to get a seat on the train. Caught more than 40 (thousand) winks en route to Tanjong Pagar..

Maybe it's been awhile since I last took a train to work amidst the masses of our forlorn-looking lot of office workers. Cos I kinda felt abit tired by the time I reached and made my way up to office.

Swiped my access pass, went in quietly and was bombarded with a series of welcomes, cheerful calls, huge smiles and hallos! Haha...think they were more excited than I was! =D
Said I looked about the same…but as usual, kena suan, haaa…
Siva mentioned: “Outside look okay. Inside don’t know okay or not!!”

Spoke to Jen too about the doc’s memo of my working hours.
Am very appreciative of the flexibility extended to me. And the welfare too…

Felt nice to be back amongst the denizens of LHUB.
Felt nice to be exercising abit of brain muscle too. Ha…
=))

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Vanity strikes yet again! Crankiness after a day's work...
Well haha..almost a day's work considering I spent 80% of my time chatting and updating myself with the rest...tsk, I should be ashamed of myself!! *muahaha*

Specially for Purpleskies & Cheerleaderjen

Hey babes,

Not sure if you'll get to see this anytime soon.
Just wanted to let you know that though things are very heavy-going in office now and that you gals are getting damn exhausted..almost to the point of collapse...hold on tight to the railings yah!
Jiayou Jiayou Jiayou!

I can't do much to alleviate anything.
Except to morally support you and lend a listening ear if need be. And maybe to entertain you gals more in office..haa..
Nah, kidding...shall spare you both of my ridiculous antics... =)

And hey red tomato, it's always tough juggling work and studies..but remember this :
"When the going gets tough, the tough gets going"

Who knows, your performance bonus next year might be a big and fat one? ha...something to look forward to yah..a simple motivation to spur you gals on..

And purpleskies, when you do get that fat bonus, pls remember to save ah!

Cheerios,
Shell

Dragon Squad

Went to watch “Dragon Squad” today. Wanted to see Vaness Wu in action…nice hairstyle and great smile...*salivate*

But man oh man..it was yet another gory action flick.
Wasn’t as gory as Tom Yum Goong…but think it was 70-80% there…with chopped legs, hands and ears. Blood splattering everywhere and brains spilling too.
Generally quite an okay show, with some little parts of romance and a minute dose of comedy thrown in for good cause.

Was abit disappointed that Simon Yam’s role in the movie was a limited one. Think his total appearance was less than 10mins. Would have loved to see him and his crinkly laughing eyes much more… :))

The other veteran in the show was…Samo Hung…Kaoz…Don’t know what to say. Quite amazed at some of the stunts and action bits that he did (or maybe it wasn’t him but a stunt double??). Considering the fact that he’s piled on lots and lots of extra blubber.

There were a few scenes which caught his side profile and he did seem like he was in his “last trimester” or his “fourth trimester” (if there was one).

And I thought Maggie Q looked great as usual..cool, calm and there's also this "don't f*ck with me" look about her that I think she carries off very well..haa...

~little girls~

Popped by an arts and craft cum knick-knacks push cart stall at Century Square while out just now. Was looking through some interesting stuff when a voice next to me suddenly greeted me: “Yes, how can I help you?” It was a shrilly voice, definitely a child’s. I turned around and found myself staring at a wisp of a girl with a ponytail, around 7years old.

Wah seh, not bad siah! I thought to myself. The little girl sounded professional, mature for her age and was even adept at instigating me to "take my time" and browse around.

I was kinda caught off guard and didn’t reply. She continued and launched her sales pitch: “Are you looking for something? That one costs $2 and you can actually use them to make…blah blah blah..the pink colour one is not bad....”

I shushed her up..and then glanced around. Where the hell’s the mother? Oh ok…right there entertaining another 2 customers...Guess it's the festive season and lotsa people are shopping around for small gifts..

And then suddenly, another girl came over to serve me too. This one was prolly the elder sis, not more than 9 years old. She sounded equally mature and was also more polished and well-trained in her sales pitch…this elder sis could even cross-sell and up-sell me other products too man…

And come to think of it, their English was immaculate!
Whoa, I AM SIMPLY IMPRESSED!!!

Good idea to use one's kids to help out at one's stall. For one, with their innocence and child-like sincerity, it's easier to close sales..who can say no to a little girl in pigtails with puppy-dog watery eyes and dressed in a cutesey dress?? And also, guess it builds on their character and confidence too...a good way to expose them to different situations out there...

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Tao Zhe ~ LOVE CAN Concert 2005

COUNTDOWN : 14 more days to go!!

========================================================

This is probably dumb...but erm...can anyone help me out here?
Out of the two sentences below, which is the grammatically correct version?
Suddenly both versions seem correct to me...hmm...*scratch head*

1. 14 days more to go!!
2. 14 more days to go!!

Newspaper ads

Been reading the papers with more zest and thoroughness lately, since I’ve the luxury of having more time on my hands. Noticed that the number of car ads have increased especially over the past week and a half or so…Most notably Mazda pushing their Mazda 3 model series…haa…

Advertising space in the papers can be broken down into the following rough categories I think.
40% of adspace will be taken up by condos and other private property homes.
30% will be taken up by furniture/electrical goods stores like Harvey Norman, Courts and Ikea...
with them splurging on huge centrepage ads and fullpage ads…
10% will be for beauty ads like slimming and bust enhancement.
And the remaining 20% will be for other stuff like retailers, banks, etc...

Can’t help but notice the advertising budget of some companies.
Fullpage full colour almost everyday.
One fullpage full colour ad costs almost $20K leh..excluding design costs somemore.
Phew…wonder how it’s like working in their mktg dept…hmm….*evil grin*...MUAHAHAHA

Aw man…"job hazard"…to think that when I flip the papers, I will also go and notice these kind of things..haa…

the works of one's mind...

What's with love and jealousy and hatred?? It's creepy how people change when love transcends into hate and jealousy. It's scary how people morph into another alter-ego ala Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

There's so much in the news lately..the Indian man who chopped his wife into pieces cos he was suffering from acute jealousy syndrome (a mental disorder) and was under the impression that his wife was committing adultery...the Chinese man who stabbed his young Indonesian wife...the married Chinese man who stabbed himself to death when his Filipino girlfriend spurned him...

And just today in the papers, the married man who, after his mistress ended their affair, hired 3 teenagers (aged 15 to 16) to murder her and gouge her eye out. The first thing that came to my mind was : Anthony Ler..

But anyhow, the bottomline is..it's just plain scary how a person can behave when love/jealousy/hatred/anger or some other strong emotions cloud his/her mind.

An out of point observation: the 3 teenagers hired to do the killing were offered $500...which they accepted...$500 only????? and they agreed to do the deed???? piangzzz......*faint*

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Woohoo!! My dearie Jay Jay is sooooooo talented! Just read Life which said that he's directing his own music video for one of new songs "Snow-Like Hair" and is even in talks with S.H.E to direct some of their MTVs too...

muahaha....Go Jay Go!!

cohabitation & our local TV scene

Hmm...I think most adults of my parents’ generation still frown upon the concept of cohabitation. A couple yet to be married but already living together. Tsk, absolutely detrimental to the girl’s reputation they would say. And absolutely ungentlemanly of the guy. But err…seems like an okay idea to me though haaa…

What you see ain’t always what you get. How will you know if you have seen all there is to your other half? Besides, marriage is a lifelong commitment and well, I think cohabitation before marriage allows the couple the chance to interact and communicate in closer quarters and in new circumstances compared to the usual dating plateau.

Haa…spoke to some friends before…most like me are open to the idea..but they wouldn’t really go ahead and do it, out of respect for their parents (unless their parents really don’t mind). And some guys say, out of respect for the girl’s reputation, even if she doesn’t mind.

Hmm…wonder in SG how many peeps out there are actually sharing an apartment before marriage..Are there any stats on this? muahahah....

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Actually come to think of it, our local programmes, variety shows, infotainment shows, etc aren’t that bad lah. It’s quick and easy to throw criticisms and caustic remarks, but hey, cut the TV station some slack…

Programmes like Man-O-Man, Yuan2 Lai2 Jiu4 Shi4 Ni3, Ye4 Shang4 Hai3, Super Funkies, etc are quite interesting actually. Though some themes might be repetitive at times (like food, travel and fashion), who are we to blame the scriptwriters and producers of these shows? They, who have to constantly churn out innovative ideas of presentation about things to do/see in tiny tiny Singapore or about other social issues?

Then there’s the criticism of local copycat spoofs of overseas programmes, like our gameshows and even the Singapore Idol, yada yada…Take it with a pinch of salt lah, if there’re winning formulae which work overseas, I don’t see why can’t we import the same idea to our local shores? With appropriate customisation to the local context, that is.

As for dramas, IMHO, think they have improved a lot over the years. Kudos to the team too for collaborating with other TV stations in HK, Taiwan, China and Malaysia to bring fresh angles and slants to the storyboards.

unsound sleep...

T’was a night of unsound sleep again..didn’t pop any sleeping pill the doc prescribed beforehand…

Thought that the day’s activities would have rendered me tired enough to just enter a deep sleep. But I think my sleep throughout was marred by dreams here and there. Can’t really remember most of it…just fuzzy, blurry images..all except that I remember someone who appeared in my mind : Daniel Quek. Can’t remember what scene did he appear in though.

Lost touch with him for so long liao..hmm..slightly more than 2.5 years at least? The last I ever saw of him was during his 21st bday at East Coast Costa Sands. And then again, that was like a 10 minute thingy only to pass him his pressie.

Kinda miss those fun days we had, he and Lawrence as the Hugo Boss guys and me and Magdalene as the “tie” gals…Wonder if he still stays in Bedok South?

rainy day today...

Had another review with the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Centre today...hate to say this again but this time round, things are even more screwed up..waited for 2.5hrs...went in for 10 minutes or so and I was out..

And can't believe it but mum kinda made a scene at the registration counter when my appointment was over and was making payment for the consultation..was asking the staff why the system's so screwed up, made so many people wait.. and blah blah blah...seriously didn't know where to hide my face...everyone else at that clinic was just staring at her...

Went PS after that..managed to catch some glimpses of YanDaoKia strutting his stuff on stage...pity that fella didn't smile too much..haa...else he would have "killed" more pple with his cheeky grins...ahboy commented his bod looked great....haaa...

went for dinner at Pasta Mania...hmm..not a very satisfying dinner..but better than having rice at home hehehe...

Oddity

Autumn leaves of
Gold, brown and red in hue
Spiralling through the air
Sailing on carpets of wind
Denizens of Mother Nature

They fall
Ever so gracefully
From trees of age old descent
Onto the moss and lichen
Covered ground below

The adventurous ones float farther
And lay themselves
Onto gurgling streams
Riding mild torrents
Towards lands of yonder

Alas I stand there
Amidst the falling specks of gold
An ugly gash in the canvas of serenity
And hitherto I realised that
I am out of place

Perplexity & Listening

When one can
And another can’t
When one does
And another doesn’t

It all adds to strain
Will it not?
What an anomaly
To decipher

Hey, sorry that I wasn’t of much help...

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Listening is such a rare commodity nowadays...Glad I still have people to rally around and listen to me…Likewise I will do so for them..even if I can’t do much to alleviate the situation, the least I can do is to be an outlet for them…an avenue of letting off…and to just be there for them...

Back to.........w o r k

Had my review with JT today..will be going back to work next week...

Partially glad cos I'll be able to see the rest and have things to do...partially apprehensive cos stamina's not too good and I might get tired easily...anyhow, doc gave me a memo too...more like a tickt pass entitling me to a 6hr workday every week till the end of the year....when he handed that to me..I was like..."WAH?? Like that also can???"

Anyway, guess things will have to discussed with Jen & ET...haaa...the lian was hopping for joy...says her "saviour" and "entertainer" is coming back...haa...

And guess what? In the few moments after I sent out the email informing HR & Jen & ET that I'll be back next week, I received a mail from ET...Piangzz....workplan for the week ending 18th Nov...

Rendered me speechless...simply speechless...and my name was on some of the things to do...yup, can understand that they do need to delegate as I'm officially back as part of the team..haa...but hey!! I need some time to get back on track! It's been almost 2 months!! I've lost touch! aaaa.....lian has to be my babysitter and guide me back on track....dun care *hmph*