Happy Moments of 25022009

- Having a nice lunch with one of my colleagues. We realised today that we had never had lunch together so went to Thai Express and got some yummy crayfish tom yum. Delicious stuff. Bought some coffee from Starbucks after lunch. Bliss!
- Getting an unexpected message from a friend, showing concern about a recent incident. Good to know that there are people around me who care.
- Eating a banana after dinner. It was sweet and banana-y. I love that there are fruits at home- gives you something healthy to snack on when you're having the munchies.

Easy Listening

I'm listening to some of Olivia Ong's music and wow, she's really good.

Yes I Am In A Bad Mood

As Ki so gleefully blogged, there have been a few victims this morning and she was one of the fortunate few who didn't get it from me.

Victim #1 says:
how do u get an eye ulcer
bon does not want no eye ulcer says:
AAIYAH
GOOGLE
Victim #1 says:
bacterial infections due to contact lens
bon does not want no eye ulcer says:
so there
no need to ask me right
Victim #1 says:
ok..didnt mean to step on your tail
bon does not want no eye ulcer says:
lol you're not
i'm having a bad day
so
leave me alone


Victim #2 says:
How's your morning in the office?
bon does not want no eye ulcer says:
SUCKY
LEAVE ME ALONE

Did I Do Lasik?

Woke up this morning with heavy lids but strangely perfect eyesight. And then I realised I must have forgotten to remove my contact lenses the night before. Lol.

Word Of Mouth Advertising Is A Really Powerful Thing

It's amazing how positive word-of-mouth recommendations can help sell something so rapidly. LGG saw the fortune teller a little less than a year ago, and because he was able to give the name of someone in her life that no one else knew about, almost all her friends flocked to make an appointment with him.

Fast forward to the weekend that just past- and already I have four five friends who have made appointments with him. I'm not sure how he did it, but being able to accurately read my dad's name, my mom's name, and my ex-husband's name convinced me that he's the real deal. He was also able to give details about my first marriage that while not utterly impossible to guess, was spot on enough to give him credibility.

So according to the fortune teller, I've not been happy the past couple of years. I've seen happier times before, and from this year on, I'll be able to find happiness again. Yay! He said that I won't have too many obstacles and challenges, and any that I face will be stuff that I am able to overcome, especially with daily prayer. (Interestingly, I was the only one that LGG knew that he said to pray daily.)

He said that I'd meet with uncooperative and jealous people in the course of my work, but overall, I'd do well career-wise. He also foretold promotions and pay increments. Cha-ching! Apparently I'll also eventually have a couple of people who report to me, but I guess that comes as part and parcel of moving up the corporate ladder. Not too hard to guess hehe.

I take it that I won't be a tai-tai any time soon, seeing how I've got a good career ahead of me and he didn't mention anything about being able to stop working. Pfft. But ok lah, as long as I'm happy. *grin*

Relationship-wise, a second marriage and children are on the cards so I guess I don't have to worry about being a lonely spinster for the rest of my life. According to him, my next husband will be tall and handsome (YIPPIE!), well educated and will make me really happy. We'll travel a lot and may migrate to another country and settle down there. Sounds like a plan!

The fortune teller also said that I was brilliant and talented and that I have a good heart and am kind. Heehee.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with my reading, although I have to say it's not something that was revolutionary or life-changing. I know that I need to move on, I know that I want to be happy, and that's all that really matters, isn't it?

The Weekend

I'm liking the weekend so far.

- Caught up with Pam and Trin for a movie, He's Just Not That Into You. Adri joined us for hot chocolate and beancurd after.
- Had my fortune told this morning- this is the same guy who knew the name of the dude LGG was seeing when no one else knew.
- Hung out with LGG after my reading, exchanging notes.
- Lazing in bed with a book.
- Taking a walk with my mom and chatting as we strolled around the neighbourhood.

It was the first time I went to a fortune teller and I must say that he said some things which were uncannily accurate. There were no life changing revelations though, but one of the things he said was that I will be happy, and that's always something that's good to hear. *grin*

Bunny On A Budget.. Fail

Apparently it's not as easy for me to keep to a budget as I originally thought.

Wednesday 18 February 2009
Kopi - $1.10
Guava - $1.00
Lunch - $28.80 (but I can claim so it doesn't count)
Cab fare home - $13.00
Daily Total - $25.00
Weekly Total - $95.00
Weekly Balance - $25.00

Thursday 19 February 2009
Kopi - $1.10
Big Pao - $1.50
Lunch - $5
Dinner - $33
Cab fare - $21
Daily Total - $61.60
Weekly Total - $156.60
Weekly Balance - ($36.60)

Ah well. One needs to eat and socialise. Heehee.

Money, Money, Money

One of the challenges that I spontaneously decided to try was to survive on a budget of about $120 a week. Ideally, this should cover all meals and beverages, any purchases (snacks etc) as well as transport costs if I did not use my ez-link card.

I asked around to see if this was doable (I've never been one to keep to a budget much) and the advise I got from most was to minimise going out, head back after work and just have dinner at home, and also cut down on taking cabs.

The idea popped in my head on Monday when I was in the office, and I had originally planned to have a cap of $100 a week. However, since I had already taken a cab to work that day, I added $20 to the weekly budget. I meticulously took down every single cash payment I made yesterday, headed home after work for dinner and made a tally. So far so good!

Monday 16 February 2009
Cab fare to work - $12.50
Lunch (mee siam) - $3.30
Kopi - $1.10
Single trip ticket (MRT) - $1.80
Daily Total - $18.70
Weekly Total - $18.70
Weekly Balance - $101.30

Sweet. Not too bad, I thought. Had breakfast at home on Tuesday and went to work, and to no one's surprise, totally forgot about my challenge. Hahahahaha. Had lunch with my colleagues and met up with Peggy in the evening after a quick jog at the gym.

Tuesday 17 February 2009
Lunch (Delifrance) - $10
Kopi - $1.10
Dinner (No5) - $24
Cab fare home - $16.20
Daily Total - $51.30
Weekly Total - $70.00
Weekly Balance - $50.00

$50 to last the rest of the week? Hehehe actually this is alot more than I had originally miscalculated when I was sleepily doing my sums at night. Somehow I managed to end up with only $31.30 to last till Sunday LOL. (Ahh, I took Monday's weekly balance and deducted Tuesday's weekly total.)

I do have a birthday dinner on Thursday with my colleagues and a movie on Friday with the Zorkians, though. So much for not making plans and heading home for dinner instead. Hmmm.

Anyway, my happy moments of 17022009:

- Heading to the gym for the first time this year and not collapsing after running 3.68km on the treadmill. I think I figured out a way to make jogging more enjoyable. Shall try it out the next time I go.
- Meeting up with Peggy for dinner and inheriting three books from her. Yippie!
- Coming home to find that mom bought a small table fan for me to place in the room so I don't get too hot at night. *love*

Yummy, Guppy and Bunny Should Add Pigging Out As A Skill Set In Our Resumes

Met up with Yummy and Guppy last night and we had a feast at Jumbo restaurant. The last time i was there with the ex-Zorkians left me with a hankering for chili crab, and since we had the $50 voucher, we decided to head back there to whack the crabs and satisfy our cravings.

It was the first time meeting Guppy, but as she mentions in her blog, it feels like we've known each other for a while since we read each other's blogs regularly. We poopoo-ed Yummy for giving up on her blog adventures to no avail, the gal still won't pick it up again. LAZY!!!

I've been eating so much this year and I haven't had the time to hit the gym yet. Ugh. I really, really need to start going, otherwise my gym membership fees are just going down the drain. Unfortunately there's a birthday dinner tonight with cousin.SF and Xena, and I've got an event after work tomorrow.. maybe I'll go over the weekend. If I can drag myself out of bed.

Speaking of bed, my mattress will be delivered today! Yippie! After more than 2 weeks of waiting, I'm so pleased! Hmm but that means no more watching late night TV till I doze off. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Alrighty, haven't done this in a while. Happy moments of 11022009:

- Waking up, feeling happy that I had a very pleasant dream. It *still* brings a smile to my face when I think about it.
- Having friends that enjoy eating and aren't reluctant to spend a pretty penny on good food. Chili crabs, bamboo clams, cereal prawns, baby sotong. Need I say more? *slurp*
- Chatting with my MouseHunt-sugardaddy (or rather, MouseHunt-philanthropist, as he likes to call himself).

Dream Progression!

Woohooooo! For those of you in the know about my dreams, I finally had a dream that progressed from the last one! Yippie!

*dance and giggle*

No Wonder I'm Pooped

Woah it's been way too long since I last updated here, and I must say that it's because of a combination of being a busy bee and sheer laziness to log in and write. Work's been hectic and I've been going out almost every night, which means by the time I get back home I'm too tired to do much but stone.

- Had dinner with the ex-Zorkians at Jumbo last Tuesday. Yus, Adri, Trin, Pam and Sophie were there. Most of the conversation that evening was about Sophie's recent Bhutan trip, where the both of us just kept gushing on and on about how hot Bhutanese men are. Lol. The food was delicious, although I have to say I didn't seem to get my fill of chilli crab. We ordered chilli crab (twice!), cereal prawn, some scallop wrapped in yam thing, and sambal kang kong. The total bill didn't break the bank either, each of us ended up paying less than $30!

- Introduced Alfred to the wonderful world of Canele on Wednesday evening. I was working late and decided to try my luck and see if he was free to meet up for a late dinner. Don't know if he enjoyed the food much, but who cares as long as I did. Hehehehe. I had a salad (good), baked rice (not too bad, but I'd rather have the sandwiches or pasta next time) and of course, dessert (can't go wrong there!).

- Couldn't make it for the CNY gathering with my secondary school classmates at Mrs Wong's place because I was working late. By the time I left the office and made my way there, it would probably have been almost 9pm. I guess I could have tried to rush there by cab, but the thought of having to make my way back home after was quite tiring. Of course, I only realised after that Sengkang is not *that* far from the East- so even if I went there, going back home wouldn't have been such a chore. Too late though.

- Met up with the ex-Zorkians again at this chill out place called Overeasy on Friday. It's at One Fullerton and I have to say I haven't been in the area for the longest time. I was out of the office the entire day at some event, and was so busy that I didn't even have time to have any lunch. Was starving by the time I made my way to Overeasy, to a waiting Ching and LGG, and amused them by waving frantically at the waiter and asking him to bring me my food (all 3 orders) NOWNOWNOW. Food was alright, and spent most of the evening just catching up and chilling out.

- The cousins came over to Overeasy and I switched tables to join them. It was an early birthday celebration for cousin.SY and hung around Overeasy for a bit. Made our way to this dessert place at Holland Village after, I think it was called 2am. Nice place if you're hankering for something sweet after midnight- they serve desserts till 2am every day.

- Had yet another event on Saturday, which means I spent most of the first half of my weekend *gasp* working. Grabbed a cab back, and collapsed into bed from sheer exhaustion. (Only got home at 3am the night before and slept at almost 4am).

- Woke up to find that it was Sunday and decided to cancel on the ex-Zorkians who were planning to go to this place called KM8 or something at Sentosa. Made plans to meet cousin.SF at Marmalade Pantry and had a scrumptious brunch there. Food was a tad salty but the dessert was fantastic as usual (even though the orange pudding that we had didn't taste remotely orangey). Caught up on some personal issues and had a nice chat about being self-aware and reflections. She had to go for a chiropractor's appointment so I hung around Borders waiting for Alfred.

- Dragged poor limping Alfred to town to go shoe shopping (for him, not me!) because he needed to get shoes which had better sole support. Finally found a pair at Far East Plaza and then decided to catch a movie to kill some time before having dinner. Watched Bride Wars at Plaza Singapura (not bad) and made our way to the glass house for dinner at Fish & Co. Didn't realise there was a Thaipusam festival, which explained why the area was so so so so crowded. Managed to get a glimpse of the festival as they passed by.

- Left the office on the dot last night to meet Eunice for dinner. Her baby is growing so fast! Apparently your baby grows exponentially during the third trimester and I was surprised to see that her belly was so much bigger than the last time I saw her a couple of weeks ago. I had another meeting after dinner so couldn't stray too far from the office, and ended up eating at Olio Dome. Had a margherita pizza and lime juice with aloe vera. Delicious and satisfying.

- Met Summer after my meeting at AMK Hub and she drove us over to Bishan Park to chill at this little pub thing there. I was already stuffed from dinner and drinks from my meeting, so we just shared a plate of topshell and a basket of sotong balls. Finally got the Slumdog Millionaire movie from her (ahem, SweatshopOwner, you're lagging behind on my DVDs!) and had a nice catch up about her children. Can't believe the first time I met her son, he was taking his PSLE and now he's already a JC student! *feels old*

..

Wow, no wonder I had no time to update last week. I've been a busy busy bee. Well, don't ask me why I'm up at 4.30am and why I'm blogging instead of trying to get back to sleep. Hehehe. Time passes so fast and already we're almost halfway through the second month of the year!

It's February Already?

Wow where did January go to? In the blink of an eye, the first month of 2009 has just flown on by. Time passes so much quicker when you're having fun, I guess.

My workload in the office is getting heavier, and I'm so thankful for the past events experience that I have. Having gone through all the crap and shit in the past makes what I'm going through now feel like a walk in the park.

There have been bad things that happen, along with the good, but on the whole my prediction for how 2009 was going to be seems to be shaping up pretty well.

Happy Moments of 05022009

- Having lunch with my colleagues and planning how we'll split the $10m Toto prize
- Having dinner with Alfred at Canele- had a salad, baked rice and ice cream!
- Having mom help me to colour my hair black

Happiness

I'm at Canele now with Alfred, blogging from his iPhone now. I am a happy bunny.

Had a salad, baked rice and now waiting for my ice cream. Yay!

26 Random Things About Me

1. My closest friends are not of the same age group, with most of them almost 10 years older than me. I've always been able to get along better with them than with my peers, not too sure why.

2. I love food and I enjoy eating and the only time I've actually really lost my appetite was when I was down with a bout of food poisoning in Bhutan and Nepal. It was the first time LGG saw me unable to eat, and it was quite worrying. Thankfully I was able to start eating soon after I came back to Singapore.

3. I finally understood the true meaning of family and family support in 2008. My family has been there for me through thick and thin and without them I won't know where I'd be today. I've learned to treasure them a whole lot more.

4. The first thing I install in my computer at any job is MSN. Oops, I forgot it's called Windows Live Messenger now. I'm addicted and have too many contacts on my list. (340 contacts! I need to start pruning my list.) One of my dream jobs is to get paid to chat with my friends on MSN all day. I'll be rich!

5. Sometimes I have the weirdest dreams. Apparently it's a reflection of repressed desires. If that's true, I'm really quite disturbed. Lol.

6. I've been blessed to work in jobs that require me to travel. The best work trip I've been on was probably to Mongolia where I was paid to take minutes for one meeting! Spent the rest of the time drinking vodka, riding horses and enjoying the countryside.

7. Giving up alcohol was one of the harder changes I've had to make. It wasn't just avoiding booze, but changing my social lifestyle as well. I struggled with it a lot in the initial stages and would avoid meeting friends because I didn't want to be tempted. Things are a lot better now and I don't think too much about it anymore.

8. The only time that I've been hospitalised was when I had an undetected case of urinary tract infection. I didn't have any of the usual symptoms and went to the A&E when my fever kept spiking. I had to be warded to make sure the infection didn't spread to my kidneys and spent my birthday in 2005 in hospital. It was the first (and only) time I got 3 birthday cakes- one from my family, another from JM and the third from the doctor who probably bought it because I whined so much about being in hospital on my birthday.

9. I've made mayonnaise from scratch. I've also made kaya and butter. No reason really, I just wanted to see if I could.

10. One of my favourite singers is Astrud Gilberto. I listened to her music a lot when I was going through my first serious breakup but never knew who she was until a couple of years later. Listening to her songs still brings me back to those days when I'd cry myself to sleep in my hostel room almost 8 years ago.

11. Most of the books that I've read were recommended to me by my sister. She's a voracious reader and was the one who introduced me to the books that I now have come to love and enjoy. Without her I probably wouldn't had read as much as I have now.

12. I used to be quite violent when I was younger, with my poor sister getting the brunt of most of my tantrums. Apparently I've hit her in the face with a badminton racket, stabbed her hand with a mechanical pencil and thrown a knife at her. I used to have anger management issues I reckon.

13. I also used to be a very weird child. Apparently I stapled my finger with a stapler because I wanted to see how painful it was and I'd cut my eyelashes because I thought they were too long.

14. Sometimes I question why we have to do the right thing and behave like responsible adults. I yearn for the days of self indulgence and irresponsible behaviour but try to control myself now because I am frightfully afraid of having to answer to God. (God: Why did you kiss another guy when you were still legally married? Me: Er cos I couldn't wait for my papers to be finalised? FAIL.)

15. No, I didn't kiss any guy, and there is no queue. I'm still waiting for my papers to be finalised. I think my marriage and subsequent split taught me a lot about myself and I think one of the ongoing lessons for me is patience.

16. I shop like a man. I'm not one of those who can go from shop to shop to shop to shop and try on a million different articles of clothing, compare prices and then go try on the same items of clothing but in different colours. I have an item that I need to get, I find it, try them on to make sure it fits, then buy it.

17. One bad habit that I have is cracking my knuckles. My hands feel stiff if I don't crack them but I know it's making my fingers look all weird and knobby. I have ugly man-hands.

18. My friends used to tease me that I was surgically attached to my phone. I'm not as bad anymore but I still feel uncomfortable if I don't have my phone with me. Actually, I don't think I've ever forgotten to bring my phone out before, but I have forgotten to charge the battery and I've had my phone die on me a couple of times.

19. I made my Chemistry teacher cry when I was in secondary school and was subsequently kicked out of class just a month before the O' Level examinations. Basically I lied about getting permission from her to skip class and got found out. She was appalled that I'd lie about such a thing and instead of getting to sit in revision classes I had to make my way to the discipline office during her classes.

20. During Chinese New Year, I can easily eat as many as 10 mandarin oranges a day. Probably more. No lack of vitamin C during this season!

21. I have to cover myself with a blanket when sleeping, no matter what the weather is. I'd rather have the fan blast at me and cover up, than sleep without a blanket.

22. Something that I need to conquer (but am not sure how) is my fear of heights. My legs literally tremble and sometimes I get paralysed with fear. This doesn't stop me from going on holidays where I have to climb though. I'm proud to say that I've climbed the Great Wall of China, the Angkor Wat in Cambodia and my highest achievement, the Tiger's Nest in Bhutan (3300m!).

23. Even though I used to booze heavily in the past, I've never smoked a cigarette, shisha or done any recreational drugs. Except for the one time I forgot that I was on painkillers after taking out my wisdom teeth, and had a bourbon coke soon after. I couldn't even stand and had to be carried back by 2 friends.

24. I think the best song of all time is Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

25. Someone once told me, "If you're going to do it don't regret it, if you're going to regret it don't do it." Fantastic words of wisdom that I live by.

26. One of the things I'm going to do is say "yes" more this year. Yes to meeting friends. Yes to experiences. Yes to life. (Yeah yeah, I know this sounds like Jim Carrey's Yes Man.)

Happy Birthday To All!

It's ren ri today. Hehehe.