Performance Bonus...

the day has finally arrived...
the payout this year was much better than last year...
due to the bull market...
however, a number of the Managers were not satisfied, me included...
we expected more...

performance bonus is based on past performance / achievements...
there is no linkage to responsibilities / skills / qualities...
such aspects from the basis for the annual increment...
an exercise that touches on potential...

Sunday 20 May 2007

woke up and had breakfast at around 10:30am...
arranged with Ming to meet at 12:45pm for Martin's daughter Yuki's one-month birthday lunch at Carlton Hote;'s Vic Cafe...
reached Carlton at 12:45pm sharp to realise that Ming will be late cos her baby girl was sleeping...
the woes of being a parent...

Yuki is adorable...
think her mum, Sharon, has put on quite a fair bit of weight...
it takes time for mothers to get back to their pre-pregnancy figure...
i will never know how such things work...
Ming's son, Lucien, and daughter, Inez, are even more adorable...
was playing with Lucien in the restaurant...
managed to carry Inez for a while...
she didn't even want me to touch her when we first met...
babies are all the same...
strangers in the beginning...

was eating mostly pastries and fruits...
loved the scones with butter and jam... had three of them...
and mini sandwiches...

decided to catch Spider-Man 3 at GV Bishan...
got my ticket... bad seat... fifth row from the screen...
window-shopped a little while waiting for the movie to start...
was contemplating on buying Beyonce's B'Day Deluxe Edition that comes with a DVD but didn't...

was disappointed with Spider-Man 3...
too draggy...
especially the lovey dovey part between Peter and Mary Jane...
and the part where Peter became a bad Spider-Man...
only consolation...
Harry is so much cuter than Peter...
drool drool...

dinner was at the food court above Bishan Interchange...
char siew rice...
simple as that...

my anus is getting better after the medication and ointment...

Crazy Saturday 19 May 2007

finally the day has arrived for me to visit the Polyclinic about the bleeding in my anus...
it's been going on for a couple of weeks now...
and the pain can be unbearable at times...

the Hougang Polyclinic now has a website to monitor the number of patients waiting to see the doctor...
when i first checked at around 9am, it was 148...
decided to wait for the number to decrease...
but at 11am, the number was 190!!
shocking...

left the house and walked to the Polyclinic...
checked in at 11:17am...
waited to register...
took around 10 minutes...
waited to see the doctor...
that took more than an hour...
waited to collect medication...
another 20 minutes...
in total i spent 2 hours in the Poyclinic...
talking about efficiency in our healthcare system...
and the bill came up to S$18...
not as cheap as i expected...
considering the time i spent there...
luckily i had my ipod nano and James Patterson's Beach Road to accompany me...

doctor diagnosed that i have piles...
piles are enlarged blood vessels in or around the anus...
for more information about piles, please click here...
doc said medication should help...
gave me Diosmin pills as well as ointment to apply to the affected area...
for more information on Diosmin, please click here...

came home... showered and took a cab to Marina Square for my facial...
they assigned me a different consultant this time...
Celest is her name...
much better than the Audrey i had for the last two times...
Celest must have spent at least 30 minutes on my blackheads...
so darn painful...

after facial... i dropped by Precious Thots at CityLink to buy two Precious Moments figurines for my disciple, Jasen...
was persuaded by the salegirl to sign up for the Precious Moments Club for S$60...
and also ordered a set of figurines at S$80...
they were so cute...

took the MRT to Simei where Jasen lives...
it's his 21st birthday...
kid no more... an adult from now on...
all his friends have left...
only his relatives were around...
chatted with him for a while...
met his younger brother...
asked him to help us take a picture...

took bus 12 from Simei to Katong to meet Kerry for dinner...
last minute arrangement...
but since we are both already in the East...
had my favourite maggie noodle with luncheon meat and egg at the Hong Kong Cafe...
followed by dessert at some two-day old cafe...
it's some family business...
the waiters / waitresses were so raw...
and the tiramisu they served were like chocolate / coffee cake...
but still not too bad for a new cafe...
we chatted so much during dinner and dessert...

Kerry passed me the Eternal Summer book from Kinokuniya...
started reading it on the bus home...

it has been a crazy but pleasant and fruitful Saturday...

Exam Fever...

been a very long time since i last sat for an exams...
literally i am getting exam fever...
my irritable bowel syndrome hit me yesterday morning...
at night, the runny nose started once again...
i thought i recovered from that already...
while i was sleeping, the fever came...
this morning the temperature was 37.7 degress C...
think my immune system is at an all-time low during this period...
put me next to someone with the flu...
and i'll prbably die from it...

i cannot wait for it to be over...
Thursday morning will be the third and last paper...
then i will be on leave in the afternoon to go shopping with mum...
checking out the new 8-storey John Little in Orchard Road...
and Robinsons having sale too...

In Love With You...

Class 95 was playing In Love With You...
a duet by Regine and Jacky Cheung...
incidentally cable TV was showing Jacky's mini-concert to launch his new album...

managed to dig out the promo single...
i bought from Cash Converters for 50 cents...

enjoy the song...

http://www.yousendit.com/download/UW15L0dQcGtmVFkwTVE9PQ

 

Busy Being Single...

met Kenneth and Shaun for dinner at my all-time favourite eating place in Raffles City, Asian Kitchen...
delicious food...
this could easily be my 10th time eating there...

of course, great company as usual...
both of them are travelling soon...
i'll be alone in Singapore...
cos i have no more annual leave after this darn examinations...
don't get me wrong...
i'm not complaining...
had a few good holidays in Sydney, Melbourne and KL in the last 6 months...
more than i can ask for...

the topic of love and relationship came up when we were having our drinks at the Lobby Lounge...
i realised that i am not suitable to play the game of love...
a game i cannot afford...
don't get me wrong again...
i'm not complaining...
i love myself too much to even consider sharing myself with someone else...

it's good being single...
it's good being alone...

Circumcision...

Thursday met David for lunch @ New York New York...
he mentioned that he's sending his male dog for circumcision in a couple of month's time...
gave him the "blur look" for a while...
and he realised that it should be castration instead of circumcision...

well, i know that male dogs do have foreskins...
from my past experience of masturbating for the dog in our camp during my army days...
but to circumcise a dog??
so salah...
hahahaha...

MediCorp Actor Christopher Lee Jailed For Drunk Driving

Mediacorp actor Christopher Lee has been sentenced to four weeks' jail after being found guilty of drink-driving related charges.

He was also fined $4,500 fine and disqualified for driving for three years.

Those found guilty of drink driving can be fined up to $5,000, or jailed up to six months and banned from driving for at least a year.

Lee, 35, had been slapped with five charges relating to drink driving, including failing to stop after the collision, causing injury to a motorcyclist and his pillion rider, not rendering help to the injured, and moving his vehicle without a police officer's permission.

His black Mercedes-Benz collided with a motorcycle carrying two men at the junction of Serangoon and Kitchener roads at 4.13am on Oct 8 last year. The motorbike rider injured his face and hands, while his pillion rider suffered cuts on his face and legs. Lee left the scene after the collision, but was stopped by a police car and ordered to take a breathalyser test.

Lee will be appealing the jail sentence, and has been granted bail of $20,000.

China "Disneyland"...

Visitors walk past a ticket office in front of "Cinderella's Castle" at the Shijingshan Amusement Park in Beijing Wednesday May 9, 2007. The park's management on Wednesday denied it used copies of Walt Disney characters, saying its Cinderella looked like a "Chinese country girl". (AP Photo/Greg Baker)

Wednesday Dinner @ Aglio Olio...

tonight's dinner was at Aglio Olio, China Square Central...
a bet i won...

the starters of garlic bread, calamari and chicken wings were delicious...
the mushroom cream spaghetti was creamy and nice...
but the seafood pizza was bad...
there was a certain smell from the seafood...
i didn't try the beef tomato sauce spaghetti cos i do not eat beef...





cream of chicken and potato soup...



garlic bread...



calamari...



deep fried chicken...



mushroom cream spaghetti...



beef tomato sauce spaghetti...



seafood pizza...



lemonade...

after dinner we wanted to have pancakes with bananas @ Vilage... only to realised that they have ceased business...
we ended up in TCC along Circular Road for their cakes and drinks...



brownie with vanilla ice cream...



macha tiramisu...



ti-Rum-misu...



forgot to take pictures of our drinks...
these are just plain iced water...



we nearly brought this nice sugar holder home...

International Buddhist Film Festival...

the international buddhist film festival is on from 17 to 20 May 2007 at Lido Cinema...
10 films will be shown over the 4-day festival...
two of which are actually cartoons:

King Of The Hill: Won't You Pimai My Neighbour (2000) 19 May Saturday 2:15pm...

The Simpsons: She Of Little Faith (2001) 19 May Saturday 5:00pm...

for more details, please visit the official website: International Buddhist Film Festival

Kim Clijsters Retires...

Kim Clijsters announced her immediate retirement from tennis...
because of concerns over injury and the constant efforts to stay at the top...
one of my all-time favourites...
besides the Williams sisters...
i always fancy Kim above her compatriot, Justin-Henin...

Growing Old...

am watching the Thye Hua Kwan Charity show on Channel 8 as i am typing this...
i know i should be studying but couldn't resist some of the big names performing tonight...
Cai Qin, Peter Ho, Grasshoppers (shit i missed their performance at Bugis Junction yesterday)...

every time i watched such charity shows...
at the back of my mind, i'm wondering if i would end up like the patients in the shows...
old... sick... without a loved one to look after me...
what would i be doing when i turn 50 or 60??

can still remember vividly that when my AIA agent first got me to sign up for an endowment fund in 1996...
she estimated the maturity of the policy to be at age 65 years old...
told her then that i have no intention to live until that age...
and changed the policy maturity to age 50...

let's do whatever we can to help the less fortunate...
while we still can...
in the meantime, cherish the good health you have...
say your prayer and thank God for everything...

Insomnia Saturday...

dinner with Steve, Daniel, Chris, Sian Yen and Thomas was served at Yet Con along Purvis Street...
six of us had six dishes: steamed chicken, roasted pork, fish maw, toufu, pork chop, sambal kangkong...
the home made barley with lemon drink was simply the killer of the day...

Broadway Beng Returns kinda disappoints...
although The Phantom Of The Chinese Opera was hilarious...
the three chio bu's were cute...
the show has too much of Hokkien and i wonder if those Malay girls behind us understood most of the time...
surprisingly the young teenage boy next to me was able to understand and was busy explaining some of the words to his presumably elder sister...
have to salute Sebastian for his good vocals...
and those English translations of the Hokkien songs were plain crude...

we adjourned for coffee at Spinelli Raffles City...
ordered a large black Americano (i still dunno what is a white Americano)...
big mistake...
i was still awake at 4am...

it's back to my textbooks now...

Broadway Beng Returns...

woke up feeling a little lethargic...
guess the drowsy medicine is making me sleepy...
supposed to attend Kang Chong's son's one-month birthday celebrations in AMK...
but decided to stay home to rest...
so that i can go for Broadway Beng Returns tonight...
all six tickets are with me, anyway...
asked Steve to pass an ang pao to Kang Chong...
that's the best i can do for now...
will go visit his son some other time...

Sick Friday

despite the rest that i have been getting over the last two days...
my condition worsened today...
started having a dry cough...
had a meeting in the morning...
went to see the doctor in the late afternoon...
was given cough syrup and stronger medicine for the flu...

met up with Grace to get her PAssion card from her...
now i can get 20% off for my Dim Sum Dollies...
but can only purchase my tickets after 18 May...
hopefully can still get good seats by then wor...
i've been a fan of DSD since the second one they had...

came home, had dinner, watched a bit of TV and went straight to bed...

Medical Leave...

was nursing a runny nose and slight fever since May Day afternoon...
today went into the office for an important briefing...
went to see the company doctor during lunch and was given medical leave to rest...
came home, had lunch, took my medicine and slept...

in the evening, woke up for dinner...
took my medicine...
watched some TV...
those Taiwanese game shows...
they are really creative...
something Singapore Mediacorp should learn...

going to bed now...
it's back to the office for yet another important meeting tomorrow afternoon...

Heroes Episode 20...

while i am busy mugging for my exams...

Heroes episode 20...
downloading in progress...
hopefully it's ready by the end of the day...

www.torrentspy.com

Tiong Bahru Breakfast...

mum woke me up at 6am cos i told her last night that i will be going for a run...
as i was doing my big business in the toilet, a downpour started...
went back to bed...

woke up at 8:30am and joined my parents for breakast @ Tiong Bahru Market...
besides those in the pictures, we also had thick black coffee with you tiao...
yummylicious!!



"dark" carrot cake...



pig organ soup with rice...



kuay chap...



dumplings...



porridge / congee



my all-time favourite chwee kuay