Xmas Gift Exchange – The Litmus Test

Everyone has a value attached to him or her – I mean each of us will assign a value to people we know, some more, some less, some worthless even negative. Xmas gift exchange, among other occasions such as birthdays and valentine’s day, is by no means the best time to reveal (how much u like/disgust a person) and discover (your own worth) that.

Shopping takes effort – we look forward to the expression on the recipients’ faces.

People who matter to us, we try our best to second guess what they like and buy them their dream gift. It takes lots of hard work but the look on their faces is worth it all (or can be really disappointing).

Compulsory/peer-pressured gift exchange, so we’ve to willing or unwillingly chip in or buy something for some people whom we would otherwise rather not see. In the case of the former, we make enormous efforts to find the cheap (if not cheapest) and most presentable item we can in town – it kills brain cells. But the disappointment on their faces is worth the rummaging the piles for the BEST find!


Both are painstaking but to me FUN!

Sometimes we have no choice but to buy the cheaper range cuz the real thing is out of reach; or we exchange gifts for the fun of it; or we simply buy cheappos for the cheapskates.

And its very telling when A particular person receives all the GOOD BUYS!!! Its time for him/or to reflect but of course some get the gifts precisely b’cos of who they ARE– our lives will be less exciting without them!!! I NEED them.

Working with People

I read it somewhere that smart people are those who ask lots of questions and listen more than they talk. I’m glad to be working with some smart people and also the not so smart ones. Some people just keep quiet or have the blank stare b’cos they are clueless of what’s going on. Some keep nodding when you are talking, as if they understand it all. Then the next moment, they pop a stupid question. Of course, some just look/are plain (stupid).

I’ve worked and am still working with some “genius” who screwed things up and kept assuring me that everything would be just fine. Recently there’s this cannot-make-it printer who cannot get things right, not even copy and paste jobs. Last week, he offered to give me a good price for a job, I told him to put it down in the quotation. And he said “like that it will be meaningless”. So I asked him “Then what’s the purpose of a quotation?”, and he was dumbfounded. He just asked for it.

He was supposed to print some name cards for a lady director. So I told him to follow the template he used for a male manager. He said "Don't worry, i know what to do". He sent me THE template, untouched. Of course, these are just 2 out of the 10 encounters with him.

The classic example I could quote you was my ex-colleague who put up an invitation to quotation for whistles. She received some calls for clarifications and one vendor asked: the whistle can blow or not?

I must share that I've enjoyed working with the society for the physically disabled. They are so much more abled and smarter than the abovementioned retards.

The next time someone tells you: Don’t worry or no problem, please take extra care.

Some regrets in life...

I couldn't sleep last week after waking up in the middle of the night, as well as didn't start my day well today, all for one reason - i didn't manage to destroy the 2 big, fat & juicy cockroaches in my toilet. I can only watch them grow bigger and bigger each day...

My favourite is still flying cockroaches, it makes the whole chase more interesting! Hope i can "alleviate" my regret later when i go home this evening.

I must say this again - I love Pork!

Amongst the common meats we eat in our daily meals, i still rank pork the highest.

1. its between red n white, so its very healthy
2. heard there're lots of bacteria on pork, can can build up natural resistance
3. its one of the most versatile meat around - you cook beef in many different ways but all you taste is the same cheesy, milky taste, which you dun need all the time; pork is different, it takes on whichever identity n taste the chef turns it into
4. actually i must thank my mum, cuz she cooks us nothing but fish

In my recent trip to China, i was very very very happy to find pork sausage muffin at macdonalds! And then, there was the famous wanshan trotters and tongpo belly. Slurp!!!

I was a little traumatised to find a motorbike with ten overturned and pigs tied and stacked onto the back in cambodia approach and park next to me at the petrol kiosk. But that evening, i managed to overcome my fear after having very nice grilled pork chop for lunch n dinner, a rare find in that country.

Some good place for pork in Spore will be the black pig japanese restaurant at liang court, tongpo belly at dian xiao er... Pls tell me if you know more.

McDull + Mrs Mc = greatest love of all times

I watched "happy birthday" starring louis khoo and liu ruoying (whatever her english name is). Afterthoughts - its either a super romantic love story between 2 people or simply a tale of 2 people wasting their time (10 years). I actually spent 2 nights watching it...

Can 2 people who have not met for years still be deeply in love with each other, and wishing each happy birthday every year without fail?

And i thought the story of Mrs Mc splurging on her 30-cm tall husband was the greatest love story of all times?!

Recently i've been busy...

I haven't been blogging recently cuz i went travelling again...then now hooked onto facebook.

Anyway, to sum up my visit to the dragon country certainly has rich culture & history and of course interesting people...lots of them, regardless of age and gender.

My colleague asked me if I met any man in China...of course! They were squatting, spitting, smoking, talking loudly, pushing one another in the trains etc... regardless of age and gender. There were of course, surprises along the way. Nice people i mean, just the way they behave is sometimes shocking.

The places are really worth visiting, and they're fast disappearing, or in the process of being devoured by tourism and modernisation. The country is transforming from a golden legendary dragon into a dragon in dirty grey space suit!

Why some people are stupid

There're different levels of stupidity. Here're how they may be classified (in ascending order):

1. silly
2. stupid
3. dumb
4. fool
5. moron

As to why people are stupid, there may be more than one possibilty. it could be due to:

1. sad genes
2. food/drinks they eat
3. the air they breathe
4. the people they mixed with
5. plain stupidity (w/o reason)

i need to figure out how to live with them. Hopefully i can provide the answers soon. Bless me!

Suggestions, anybody?

The art of a Patisseur

My fren recently got a job as a patisseur in a hotel's French restaurant. He was very excited about the new job cuz the hotel told him they are 5* international and a 6* wannabe in the industry, and the restaurant was newly opened and they were recruiting chefs.

On the first day of work, my fren was asked to cook pasta. Then he was helping to make sandwiches and coffee. He couldn't bake yet as the resaurant didn't have an oven, and thats b'coz they didn't know they needed one. Later, they bought one n he got to bake once in a while, followed by washing the dishes. The chefs were busy making deliveries.

And most recently, he left the job to teach dancing at "One leg kicking" dance studio.

Internship

We had a very beautiful and Miss India look-alike intern with us in June and July, i thought. I enjoyed reading her blog on how much she looked forward to internship with my MNC company, then check out her thoughts after the internship on 31 July 07 :)

http://www.rattle-tattle.blogspot.com/

The Worst Days in Our Lives

Some of us may think that the worst times of our lives are if we fell out of love, lost our jobs, lost a friend, got cheated of money/feelings…
One of my friends lost her dad this morning. I lost mine eight years ago. It is not easy to bear the loss of a loved one.

I visited my uncle a few weeks back. He had a stroke and was bedridden, reduced to half the size he used to be. I’m not sure if he was happy to be still alive. He might be.

What’s worse than not being able to choose your fate? To be unable to even decide whether to live or die?

For me now, its getting out of bed every morning, then dragging my feet to work…

Ladybird and Hotdog

What do "ladybird" and "hotdog" have in common???

How do the male ladybird feel if someone calls him a "lady"bird. Moreover, he is not a bird...

How about "hotdog"? They are hot but are these sausages made of dog meat??? I think its pork. So maybe we can call them "hotpork"...no maybe "hotpigs"....how about "hot babes"?

People and Things I used to like

There are many people things i like and used to like (of course, lots more for those i don't).

I rememer during my primary and secondary school days, i spent much of my pocket money buying magazines and friday weekly newspaper with celebrities (in those days, it was Aaron Kwok was my no. 1 $ sucker, then there were also Andy Lau, Vivian Chow, Nicky Wu, Xiao Hu Dui...and quite a long list) i liked. I always had to make difficult decisions as to which to buy, or worse, if my favourites appeared on different ones at the same time, it was a decision between more spiritual satisfacion or less food, or no recess... Then "regret" was the frequent word that came to my mind when i bought a mag with Andy Lau, or the rest, only to find Aaron Kwok in some others later.

And then there were albums, stickers, cards (i spent time turning the card dispensers at the grocery shops, squatting, and hope to see the faces i wanted.)

I might have spent enough $$$ to get me a ticket to Europe! And seeing how Aaron Kwok looks these days made me regret more.

But i'm proud to say i had not spent a single cent on any of their concert. The only one that tempted me was Kenny G's.

I think the wisest spending is still on food and travel!

The good thing about bad service

Hallo frenz,
Hope i dun bore u with this... after weeks, i'm still on this topic about service. But i think we need to think about the meaning SERVICE has brought to our lives. I like to look at things froma different perspective, and in this case, a positive perspective!

We all know good service can brighten up our days or subconsciously force us to get something not intended, but dunno how to say no... have to spend money... Bad service is different, you can save all that unwanted or intended spending altogether!

And if you have nothing to do on a particular days, just hang out at one these places that provides overwhelming, unexpected bad service... you get entertained, learn about your rights, brush up your communication skills, gather more topics to talk to frens.. and have something to write.

Bad service can sometimes be great!!!

The Secret Recipe to service

I haven't been blogging recently cuz there isn't interesting stuff to write about. Thus, i really have to thank Secret Recipe at plaza sing cuz it has given me a topic to write about.

Though the food were not really great at Secret Recipe (at least for this PS outlet where i had salty chicken chop), the service is impressive! My friend were there last evening and were waiting to be seated. The waiters were everywhere in the half-filled restaurant... serving the tables, walking around, chit-chatting at the counter, except bringing those at the queue to a table.

I particularly like the way they handled situations. I found an insect in my salad and alerted the waiter when he came to collect the plates. "I think there's a fly in the salad" i told him and he calmly replied "I think thats an insect, not a fly" and walked away.

Guys that draw my attention

1. the perfect catch
2. the good catch
3. the "catch me if you can"
4. the catch of the day
5. the caught between 2
6. the catch no ball

Those I like MOST and i'm sure you will too

1. Those who have it but don't share or share too much
2. Those who don't have it
3. Those who don't have it (empty vessels) but keep sharing
4. Those who keep telling people to get what they have (nags)
5. Those who insist you should do things their way
6. Those who insist you do things their way and get in your way
7. Those who like to show off what they have(hao lians)
8. Those who like to show off what they have when they have not
9. Those who don't get it
10. My favourite - Those who don't get it (idiots) and never will but think they have it all and insist that they got it

10 things to do in Cambodia and Vietnam

Hey hey,
I went on a 2-week bagpacking trip to Cambodia and Vietnam last december and haven't the time to blog about it, despite all the time spent on writing about other insignificant stuff.

There're 10 things you really should do:

1. swat the houseflies before and while you eat, or they may linger around your food or land on you (cities: Phnom Penh and Siem Reap).
2. bring charcoal pills, they come in really handy in case you LS after drinking coffee, esp iced sold alng the roadside (Saigon).
3. bring extra cash, USD (preferred), dong or riel to get into the express queue at the Vietnamese customs at the borders.
4. must love dogs in Cambodia and you can find them everywhere. Think you can find them on the dining table in Vietnam.
5. eat (cooked food)by the roadside, a wonderful dining experience!
6. stock up cup noodles and memories of you mom's cookin before you hit Cambodia.
7. Visit Angkor Wat- but grab all your winter clothing or all of the hotel's towel/blanket you can find when u take the tuk tuk to Angkor Wat early in the morning. Or you can bring a heater;catch sunrise and sunset at Angkor; climb to the top of the "Wats" for the sunset
8. squueze at least 4 persons on a motorbike in Cambodia.
9. read up the history of Vietnam and Cambodia b4 you go, ethnically sensitive issues here n there, dun get your tongue chopped off unknowingly...
10. u can grab a cheong lonely planet for USD 2-10.... must buy ah!!!

Ways to answer THIS question

How many times have u attended weddings and people (usually older people) ask u, "Hey, when r u getting married" or "why r u not married?"... I don't come across these interesting moments that often but I've come up with some possible answers. Spoke to my frens abt it...

Of course, we can give conventional answers like "haven't found the right person", "time is not right", "no money"...no this, no that. Yawn........

How about pretending to ignore or say "I enjoy freedom... i mean look at you..." (if the person is a haggard-looking auntie). Or "I heard your son/daughter is still single. Why so?"

And what about "Uncle, don't u think you're too old for me"?

Maybe I'll try this on my relatives, if they give me the chance to, at my cousin's upcoming wedding.

Birthday Presents -Ideas!

What are some of the memorable presents you have received for your birthday?

For me, I got some interesting presents from my frens and also played an important role in preparing my frens' birthday presents.

Memorable presents received in recent years:

-home-cooked dish
-clothes that didn't fit at all...my sister benefited
-66++ (i think) stalks of roses. My colleagues counted that for me

-a porky hamper with pork floss, bak gut teh cooking powder, canned pork trotters and the ultimate pork sausages, complete with a pig poster as the cover

-a birthday card with McDull cutting the birthday cake and frens singing him a birthday song. I was touched to tears as he is... sorry if this name appears again and again but if you're still my friend at this point of my life, you have to accept it as the ("brutal" for some) truth

Best of all ...CASH

i also had some impressive ideas for my frens which i'm rather proud of...

-leftover, ehem... i meant items set aside, corporate gifts packed nicely in a good-quality shopping bag

-DIY t-shirts... drawing a wheelchair on a plain t-shirt for fren who was in community work and a numbered jersey, using his birth date. I then realsied I'm quite artistic.
-the opportunity to slap/hit my McDull continuously 20 times

MORE to come...

Porky ad

I can finally say I have come across an advertisement which i like 99% recently. I really like the spirit of it. Its on pork.

We see this cute little piglet with a crown on its head looking innocently into the camera. Then when u read on, it talks about the daily supply of fresh pork. Then there're smaller pictures of pork ribs and different parts of the pig below.

This ad captures the essence of my relationship with McDull. See, love and hatred can co-exist!

I love my friends- we can have unpredictable fun together!

After having bruised all my 10 toes during netball, i had another eventful evening yesterday.

A very generous friend invited us to join him for an event on Sentosa which he had been invited to. He assured us that there's no restriction on the no. of guests. I didn't mind travelling to another island since there's free food and fun. When we met at the mrt station, he calmy told us that he missed out on a fine print that said "card admits one only" and he blamed it on the fine print cuz it was too fine. We went ahead to the island to try our luck anyway and ended up eating stale sushi at this green frog restaurant. The air-con was in a working condition that customers were perspiring and its waiters all wet. However, they still insisted that was the normal temperature. So we continued eating the not so fresh food in that stuffy place.

Guess what, we saw this scary story of the sea laser show when we stepped outof the frog restaurant! Some nemo look alike items were on sale in the theme shop.

After dinner, we thought we should do sth different to end the day, so we went to this insect club near vivo. The first floor was rather crowded and we proceeded to the second. It was a karaoke-style drinking area. We thought we bumped into our parents and they had turned the clock 20 years back, yelling away with the music. The coffee shop might be a better choice for them really. Still, we tried our best to bring the ambience back to the present by dedicating more current songs.

And yet, it was almost an hour wait for the taxi home.

Take chances

My hands, legs and toes don't seem to belong to one body. The company's netball practice has taken the toll on me. I used up my energy supply for the year. You know what, me and my colleague said yes to the activity not knowing its going to be a competition. We, no i mean i, am totally uncompetitive. But the session (just started on the first yesterday, not sure if its gonna be the last) turned out rather fun. I could feel my energy burning up but sweating (for the right reason) is a good feeling. Most of all, I think i looked sporty in t-shirt and shorts:)

Well, lots of things happen like that. Like I had wanted to learn Japanese but b'cos the classes at the community centres took forever to start, i took up Korean instead. Now i can sing the birthday song in Korean. Haven't learned how to swear in Korean yet.

I also located a Korean restaurant by chance. I went to CTC holidays opp it but the didn't have any trip to the place I wanna go. I was very angury and went to the korean restaurant across the street. The food at Togi made up for everything!

Lets think about the future

One of friends told me that my blog is a little too dull. I've to live up to expectations. I've decided to share my thoughts a little more....the intended names for my kids (of the Mc 麦 family ) in future:

For boys, it well be
麦包，麦当劳，麦当雄。。。and many more things to sell. English names will be Mc Donalds

Girls:
McDonna (one good daughter is a life-time guarantee thought)....

Undeterminable gender:
麦鱼，麦菜, 麦片，mai hiam.....

Have excluded "mai char" cuz i'm worried my child will be an introvert. Any other suggestions?

The best name is still McDull.

Hi, I'm Mrs Mc (for now)

Heyhey,
This is my first blog, in attempt to share my life as Mrs Mc (Dull). More to come!

But damn! I can't upload pictures from my office pc. By the way, my blogs will be done in office. Will try to make up for the lack of visuals with words.