New Week, New Challenges

Here's the lowdown, 3 weeks to plan and launch a 3 day event. Its going to be a really exciting programme if everything goes smoothly. Do I think it will? Hardly, too many issues and too many uncontrollables. Nonetheless, I will just have to see it through.......challenges, either you overcome them or they overcome you. Such is life.

The good thing is I think I am getting into the groove of things. My students are really funny and I like the times spent with them. Marking is a bitch tho' but for some strange reason, once I start on it I am like a man on a mission. I won't stop till I am all done! And trust me, time really FLIES past when doing grading. 2 hours will go by at the blink of an eye!

Such is my commitment to marking that I could not stop even when I was on the cab home on Friday. I was working on it on my lappie and as usual I reached home before I knew it. In my rush to get out of the cab, while trying to coordinate the paying, getting my keys for the door and grabbing all my stuff, I actually left my handphone in the cab!

I felt so handicapped without it and of course it didn't help that I was having a mooncake party that night. Gosh! What mayhem.....people trying to call me for address and all that jazz...... But the little party went okay I guess, 3 bottles of wine, 2 champange and 1 big peach lantern. Was still abit sad that I lost my phone tho.......

Luckily for me, the person who found the phone got a friend to return it. This guy, Mr Law, called Xiufeng and asked if she had a friend who lost a handphone. Xiufeng MSNed me and I rang Mr Law. 3 hours later I got it back. The whole arrangement seemed strange but what the heck, as long as I got my phone back. Now let's be honest. Who will return a handphone they found raise your hands!

Anywayz, its time to face the new week and all its challenges. With my phone back safely I am sure I can work anything out! Haha!

Teacher Teacher........ I have lost my social life, Help!!


I had wanted to post an entry for ages but just haven't had the time. Gone are the days where I can stroll down the gym for morning classes, gone are the times where I can go for haircuts or massages during the day, gone are the lazy afternoons were I can suntan on the roof!!!! Sobz..... that about sums up my social life. Right now here's my new routine :

Friday - Class
Sat - Rest rest rest!
Sun - Marking
Mon - Class followed by crazed marking before the next day
Tue - Class
Wed - Phew! Project Runway!
Thurs - Prep for new week of lessons

Doesn't sound very happening huh? Yeah I thought so too...... No more social life.... Sad.... Sob!
The big consolation is my students are generally okay. I think they think I am very fierce.... HA! I guess they just haven't got used to me.

Anywayz, I went with Roger to NTU yesterday. I was crazy enough to take part in the biathlon again this year....... at least I managed to persuade Roger to come along with me. The thing is, I slept really late on Friday and we had to make our way there at 6 in the morning! It was NOT ON at all! I was very excited tho, was wondering if I could even finish the race. But its not that tough after all...... Just that.....my legs are all aching now!

Well, at the race we made a really depressing observation. Although people always say we look young for our age like in our early twenties...... But when we were in the company of guys that age, my gosh! Its so obvious we are much older looking! Yikes!! And yeah, loosing my social life doesn't help!! Time to pile on the SKII....

Anyway, I think this week will fly by rather quickly. Its mooncake day this Friday and I am going to have a mooncake + champange party at my place! Can't hardly wait.....

Project Runway 3 Starts and School Reopens Tomorrow!


Hey....its PR season 3 yippee! The highlight of the week is back, together with TAR and ANTM.....gee I think the weeks ahead are going to be slightly easier to endure. And good thing it falls on Wednesdays again. At least I know half the week is gone when I watch it on tv.

School reopens tomorrow.....its gonna be exciting. Everyone giving me advice on how to do various things but I guess its not till I meet my students in person that I will know the full impact of things.

Be good okay? All my students-to-be! Better have an early nite.......

Does SBS stand for Stupid Bus Service?

Okay I have been meaning to write this in my blog for ages, but somehow due to the gravity of the issue I wanted a dedicated time to fully concentrate to it. Since I am still pretty free at work now, I have decided its time. Here goes.....

Two weeks ago, I joined RP and was issued a temp staff card to use until my actual one is ready. Like anyone would do, I placed it in my wallet. That day itself, I boarded a bus and horror of horrors the validator that reads your ezlink card reflected an error message when I tapped my wallet on it. Mr Bus Driver then stood up and asked me to take out my ezlink card. I took it out of my wallet and tapped it, wahla! It was working fine....... Then nightmare begins.......

Mr Bus Driver (MBD) den demanded me to take out the other card in my wallet. I was befuddled as I was not sure what was the problem. MBD said there is another card in my wallet causing the error message. Well, I thought it had to the the temp card from RP since its the only new thing in my wallet. I took it out and showed him and said it could be this card but I only use it at work to get into the office. He then swiftly took it (I swear they must have been trained) and tapped it. True enough the error message showed up again. The next thing he said totally blew me off. MBD said for these cases he has to retain the card causing the error and went on to issue me a reciept. I tried to reason with him and said it was used at work and the card even has Republic Poly printed on it. It fell on deaf ears and I was getting wierd stares from the other passangers since our dear MBD has decided not to drive off until the inquiry is settled. Finally MBD said if I have any questions I can call the hotline number printed on the reciept.

Sighs........what can I do at that time, I just swallowed it down. The next day I rang up the number and the customer service girl was friendly and nice enough, she did help me trace my card and all and told me that my temp pass can actually be used as an ezlink card (much to my surprise of cos). Hence, the error message when the two cards are tapped together. I told her I did not know that and I wanted to know how I can get the card back. She told me it was at Bukit Merah Bus Interchange and I could go there to get it. It was this point when I got really mad. Why should I inconvenience myself because of this? I told her no and that they should send the least they could do is to send the card back to me by registered mail. She then said she has to check on it. To cut the story short, there was a few ding donging of phonecalls and there was a couple of ridiculous points raised to support why they cannot send the card to me.

1) I should not have tapped the two cards together hence its my own fault
My reply was I did not know the temp pass was an ezlink card but even then, I already told MBD that it was used at work. He could have just simply told me not to tap the cards together in future and not retain the card.

2) They usually DO NOT return retained cards to their owners
Like WTF!!! Already I am not sure if they have the right to take other people's property. Now that they found out there is nothing wrong with my card (ie. I did not tamper it to cheat SBS of bus fare) they still cannot return the card to me.

3) Its not their procedure to send cards back by registered mail, they can make an exception to send it by normal post
Its so clear they want to release themselves of responsibility. The actual words were, if it gets lost in the mail we will not be responsible for it. And what's with this obsession with procedure? If there is no procedure for this den make one! SBS has no procedure to spend $2 on registered mail to send stuff back to customers they wrongfully confiscate. Duh!

4) Its unfair to the other customers if they sent it to me by registered mail.
This is be far the worst argument. Other people accepting their "reasons" does not make it the right thing to do. If they want to be high handed and retain people's cards they should have the PROCEDURE to return them safely should there be found to be no problem with it.

I told them to send me an email citing all the reasons why they cannot send the card back by registered mail. After on final check (with some higher being, I suppose) she finally said they can send it to me via registered mail. FYI, the whole dingdong took a week!


In Singapore, people from all walks of life are so indoctrinated that there is always some procedue to follow and some law or regulation they must uphold. Many times to the extend its so absurd yet those in it no longer see it. I should not have let MBD take my card in the first place. He or SBS for that matter should not have the right to do so. If they think I am frauding then call the police and they can take actions against me if they want (even what the police can or cannot do is subjective). The next time something like this happens I will stand my ground and uphold my rights. I hope the rest of you will too. Oh yeah I am going to write to ST Forum, I hope it gets published!

Losing Something

Last week, I bumped into someone, actually it was more like crashed. My front tooth bore the brunt of the impact and it hurt like crazy. Immediately I was worried that it would fall off. Losing one's front tooth is NOT ON....... but den I guess I did not drink all that milk when I was young for nothing. OUr teeth are alot strong than we think, so I was assured. But the thing is its been a week and I still slight pain, oh dear I don't want to lose my tooth!!! Shudder Shudder....

A few days ago my friend lost her granny. Death is a part of life but for some reason we tend to block it out until it actually hits us in the face. This kept me thinking for awhile and I had a really strange dream last night as a result. In the dream I was in a really dark tunnel, its so dark you cannot see right in front of you. But in the very far distant there was a flicker of light and I found myself moving towards it. Before I know it, I was running and the light got bigger as I got nearer. In the last moments before I woke from the dream I jumped towards the light feeling quietly comfortable and contented. Heaven, nivarna, peace........

Sharman King and SLK

Anyone who knows me know I love watching cartoons, jap animae in particular. Some people think I am childish but I just love the quirky characters, "cold" jokes and amazing drawings. For sometime now, I have been completely smittened by this series called Sharman King. Went to PS today and Poh Kim as having a sale so guess wat? Yeah....i bought the complete series! So Happy!

Well, basically it traces the story of this young boy (Yoh) who has the ability to channel his energy into his guardian spirit (A spirit of an ancient samurai, Amidamaru) to do battle with other, Sharmans, like himself. He enters a competition that takes place one every 500 years for Sharmans around the world and the winner gains control of a great power that can change the world. Along the way he befriends a couple of other characters and they look out for each other as they face one challenge after another. The drawings in this series are really amazing and I love the storyline, it is alittle slow at the beginning but once the competition starts it gets more and more exciting with each episode.

After dinner with a friend at PS and after buying my very own Sharman King series, I walked back to Emerald Hill. When I opened the gate I was greated by a silver SLK200. My housemate really got himself a car! Gosh! I so want to drive it now. I wish I can take my practical test sooner....... geesh! I am really hoping to pass on my first test now that I already have a car waiting for me to drive. Argh!!! 7 of Dec is just too far away!

Yoga Retreat

Oh boy am I tired.... Got back this afternoon from a Batam. No, no, no, not there to do what Dirty Old (Singaporean) Men do. I was there for a yoga retreat. Its wholesome!

I was initally hesitant to go for this trip because I have started working already and was afraid I will be too tired when I got back. And were my fears founded? Most definitely! Geesh! But I am tired but somewhat satisified. I must say this retreat was tonnes better than the last one. For starters we stayed at Turi Beach Resort which was pretty decent. Not Club Med, but still it was rather cosy and quiet.

We had a rather relaxing class last night and the night was a tad uneventful but I guess it was in preparation of the cleansing session we were going to do this morning. Can you imagine downing 5 big glasses for warm salted water and then puking it all out? Well, that was what we did this morning in a nutshell. Coupled with a lot of pukey sounds and spit of course. Yucks! But for some strange and warped reason I found it rather fun to do. Maybe I am a closet bulimic....Haha!

Anywayz when that was done, me and my roomie has to take turns to visit the toilet where the rest of the water came out from behind. I guess it was difficult to puke it all out and it had to come out somehow! Haha!

Hmmm... the rest of the day was boring, took the ferry back, went to collect my new shirts from Raoul and got myself a new wallet. Oh and I have decided to set some money aside everyone to invest (in what I dunno yet, but I am sure my housemate can advise me).

Well, gotta sleep soon. I have to work tomorrow tho' I am not sure what I am supposed to do for now...... School is starting in 10 days! Oooooh!