Incident for thought (3)

Update : decided to change the title to "Incident for thought", or else people will be wondering what kind of people Singaporeans are if I keep coming up with posts about Ugly Singaporeans. I'm, after all, a Singaporean as well.

Time : 7:35 p.m. to 8 :10 p.m.
Day : Tuesday (24th Feb 2009)
Venue : MacDonald's, Suntec City

There was a couple who was already seated at the place on my left when I got there. They soon left and immediately this other couple came over and took the seat, because of the two power points at the side so they were able to use their laptops.

Anyway, while the guy went to get the food, the long-haired girl, wearing a sleeveless black and white sports top with shorts, and wearing spectacles, which I'm guessing is not any older than 26, was left alone to set up the laptops and most likely to clear whatever the previous couple had left behind, which I later saw, was just an empty paper cup.

So, instead of taking that empty paper cup to the dustbin, this girl took the cup, went over to the table where the Filipino couple had just vacated, and put the empty cup there. The best thing was, the Filipino couple had just got up from their seats and the guy was still collecting his bag, when this girl just walked over, put the cup at the place and walked off. Even though the guy exclaimed quite loudly, "Why did she put her empty cup here?" The girl didn't even so much as looked back and apologised, or even have the decency to look a wee bit embarrassed. She just went back to set up her laptops as if nothing happened.

What in the world are Singaporeans turning into? This is a young girl I'm talking about here... the generation that will most likely be working, or are already working in our society. What are we showing to these foreigners/tourists/expats with such behaviour? What happened to those Civics and Moral Education lessons we used to have in school?

My dream diary

Dreams are sequence images, sounds and feelings experienced while sleeping, strongly associated with rapid eye movement sleep.

I have never, ever in my life had such vivid dreams continuously for a week... I wonder why...

Monday night :
I was queuing up at a busy fruit juice bar when a guy suddenly came in front of me and started to place his order. I was so angry that I shouted a "Hello!" at him. He turned around, saw the queue and then apologised. Since the husband didn't mentioned about hearing me shouting in the middle of the night (though he was not really a light-sleeper), I assumed that the shout was only confined in the dream.

Afterthought : Is this telling me that something/someone might piss me off so much so that I would shout at him/her in public?

Tuesday night :
This couple, who were also my neighbours started quarreling coz the man wanted a divorce. The woman strongly refused and went into the house with the kid while the man walked off angrily. After a while, the kid came out alone to us who were still standing at the corridor.

Someone went to knock on the door but the woman didn't answer. So a few of the others decided to bang down the door. After a few strong pushes, a large piece of wood at the side of the door suddenly came down. At the opposite side of the window, the woman had hung herself and her face was smashed against the glass.

Afterthought : I was jerked awake and it always sucked that it was the time in the middle of the night when everything was so quiet around. It didn't help much that my mind kept going back to the image, and my imagination was speeding without brakes.

Wednesday night:
I was told that I had only a limited period of time to live. However, I cannot tell anyone about it. I must come up with a list of things to accomplish, and names of people I want to meet and talk to before I "go". I saw my parents and I suddenly realised that they had really grown old, and I hadn't really done anything to repay them for raising me.

Afterthought : Once in a while, there will be this dream that even when you wake up from it, you cannot stop thinking about it. What was worse was that the feeling of sadness and helplessness remains for quite a while.

Thursday night :
I had gone to exchange my old EZ link card for the new one. However, the counter auntie told me that the new one was out of stock, and so she gave me a receipt to allow me to continue using the old one.

So, as I was coming out from one MRT station, the personnel stopped me and asked why I wasn't using the new card, and demanded to see the receipt. I dug into my gigantic bag and realised the receipt could not be found. So, in the middle of the MRT station, I sat down and emptied out my whole bag onto the floor and finally found the receipt in between a book.

Afterthought : Maybe I should go change my EZ link card soon.

Friday night :
I did have a dream, but it was so short that I couldn't remember what it was.

Afterthought : Most likely the mind was more relaxed since the weekend had arrived.

Saturday night :
Yun and I brought my late grandma (my paternal one) to this very big coffeeshop for a meal. She appeared to be very well and healthy, and asked for roasted duck and char siew rice, which was one of her favourite kind of food when she was still around.

Afterthought : It had been some time since I last dreamt about my ah mah...

Sunday night :
I was in this boutique, and was rushing to the front of the store, and then to the fitting rooms at the back. To and fro, to and fro... at least 6 - 7 times. I was not sure what I was doing... but definitely not trying any clothes coz I didn't remember going into the fitting room. Hmmm... maybe I was the owner of the boutique... ooohhh....

Afterthought : I realised that I can feel sadness, happiness and anger in a dream. But after all that "running"... there was no sense of tiredness...

动物世界的笑话

兩只青蛙相爱了，结婚后生了一个蛤蟆,
公青蛙见状况大怒说：贱人，怎么回事？
母青蛙哭着说：他爹，认识你之前我整过容。

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鸭子和螃蟹赛跑,一起到达终点，难分胜负，
裁判说：你们来个剪刀石头布定输赢吧,
鸭子大怒：妈的，算计我，我一出总是布，他总是剪刀。

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狗对熊说：嫁给我吧, 嫁给我你会幸福。
熊说：我才不嫁呢，嫁给你只会生狗熊，我要嫁给猫，生熊猫那才尊贵呢!

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蜜蜂狂追蝴蝶，但蝴蝶却嫁给了蜗牛。
蜜蜂不了解：他哪里比我强？
蝴蝶回答：人家好歹有自己的房子，哪像你住在集体宿舍。

Thumbs Up KFC

went for impromptu lunch with a couple of buddies on friday while i was at jurong west area.. as it was lunch time and we couldn't really think of any places to go.. decided to go to this KFC outlet thats situated at quite a busy area, but hidden in a corner.. anyways, we went in to get our order and since it was lunch time, i was surprised that there was only 1 customer inside at that time (it was a small KFC with seating capacity of maybe 30-40 customers maximum)..

anyways, to cut the story short, was about to place our orders when we realised that the counter service staff kept gesturing and mumbling.. thats was when i realised she was a 'handicapped' person (she couldn't speak).. but i must say that i was impressed as she used the menu, asking us to make our choices and by pointing and speaking, she could remember our orders and even re-confirm after we placed our orders and confirmed item by item.. though it felt awkward (always sympathise for the handicapped), i must really admit that, at the end of the day, she did her job very well, her service was very good and she got everything right.. even she couldn't speak, i could feel her politeness and sincerity in serving us.. it wasn't those spectacular service nor she gave me extra fries or whatever, but she certainly did better than some counter staff i encountered with my many experiences as a fast food junkie due to my work.. :(

spoke to levynn about it and she mentioned that KFC is the only one in singapore that is employing handicapped personnels? which makes me wonder why.. i think maybe MacD employs elderly? anyways, juz thumbs up to KFC and i hope more of such chances would be given to the less fortunate..

Gotta Be Somebody - Nickelback

Creamy Chicken & Zucchini Soup

Maybe it's the age factor, or maybe it's the horror image of seeing the needle on the weighing machine going up, up, up, there are times when I simply didn't have much appetite for dinner.

So, this is where all my recipes for soups come in handy. Most of them are easy to make, and soups seem to be healthier too. Ok, maybe minus the cream and butter and other fattening ingredients. But whatever it is, some soups are still much better than any high carb or high fat meals.

This is my first time trying a creamy soup, and it tasted just all right, though we felt that it was a bit too buttery. A few dash of black pepper solved the problem. However, we didn't managed to finish it, because after a while, it became kind of too "heavy",most likely due to the combination of the cream and butter.

Creamy Chicken & Zucchini Soup
(adapted from Quick Short Chicken Recipes)

4 servings

Ingredients :

- 20g butter
- 3 chicken breast fillets, thinly sliced
- 800g zucchini, grated
- 1 onion, grated
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour
- 750ml (3 cups) chicken stock
- 250ml (1 cup) cream

Direction :

1) Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the chicken and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or until the chicken changes colour.

2) Add the zucchini, onion and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

3) Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the stock, bring to the boil, stirring until it boils and thickens slightly. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute.

4) Stir in the cream and cook for 2 more minutes. Season and serve.

How do twins come about?

Got this through email. Damn cute! :)

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th : a superstition about a day of good or bad luck.

Superstition : used in Latin as an unreasonable or excessive belief in fear or magic, especially foreign or fantastical ideas, and thus came to mean a "cult" in the Roman empire, is a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge. The word is often used pejoratively to refer to supposedly irrational beliefs of others, and its precise meaning is therefore subjective.

I'm not the kind that wakes up in the morning and goes in a panic, like, "Oh my gosh! It's Friday the 13th today! Where is my lucky red underwear? Where is my lucky pink shirt? Where is my lucky charm?"

I believe that there is a spiritual world out there. I believe in retribution, karma. But any other things, I always take them with a pinch of salt. Just like Friday the 13th. All along, it was just another ordinary day for me, nothing much to fuss about, or to give yourself unnecessary stress by wondering what could go wrong in everything you do.

However, I didn't hear my alarm rang at 6:10 a.m. this morning, and I'm a light-sleeper, and had no recollection whatsoever about turning it off. So by the time I woke up, it was already 7:20 a.m., and of course, was late for work. (this was only the second time in my life that I woke up late. the first time when I was still in Poly)

Then as I was about to arrive at my work place, I suddenly remembered that the 3 pieces of cakes that Dass and I had bought for tea break today, were still resting cozily in my fridge. Arrggh!!

And it didn't help when the husband said, "It's Friday the 13th. Anything that can happen, will happen."

But after the morning "drama", everything seemed normal. At least that was until the afternoon, when I went down to the office, and suddenly, one of the clerk, in front of 3 others, asked me, "I heard that you are pregnant. Is it true?"

That statement stirred up a bit of excitement among the 4 females, and I hurried to clarify that I'm not pregnant.

I AM REALLY NOT PREGNANT! *confirm guarantee chop*

It was then that I remembered about another incident that happened yesterday (which was Thursday the 12th). Another colleague suddenly stopped me, holding onto my arm, and spoke in a low voice. "I heard something about you today. Is it true that you already have 3 kids?"

I didn't know whether to get mad or laugh out loud when I heard that. My first thought was that R*Y (name has been held back for privacy reasons) must have told her that, coz that was a joke that had been going on between the few of us. And the worse thing was, when I asked *AY (again, name has been held back for privacy reasons) about it, he told me he was not sure whether he joked about it to the colleague before or not. Honestly, I didn't really mind about the guys joking around once in a while, but, surprisingly, there are still some people out there who really believe in everything that everyone is telling him/her. (and that colleague is at least in her late 30s or early 40s).

However, I got to admit that it was quite exciting to be the centre of such rumour, but I only want to hear the good ones. Heh.

Also, I'm really very curious as to who started this pregnancy rumour. Don't tell me it's her...

So, will I be wearing my lucky underwear for the next Friday 13th?

Hmmm.

Nope.

Incidents for thought (2)

The following 2 incidents took place on different days.

Incident 1 :
At Seng Kang MRT station

A man was pushing a pram, approaching one of the bigger fare gates, when another younger man came in from his blind spot, cut into his path, and went through the fare gate.

The older man was immediately pissed. He turned back to his wife, and said in a loud voice, "Wah, like that also can. He cannot see I'm pushing a pram?" (which by the time, the younger man was already walking away, without even turning back)

I heard the wife muttered something, and the man continued loudly,"So inconsiderate one ah, these Singaporean people." Then he hurriedly pushed his pram and went after the younger man, which at this moment, I didn't know what happened since I was going in the other direction. But judging from his reaction, I won't be surprised that he went to confront that young man.

You know what I find most amusing about this incident?

"Singaporean people."

Incident 2 :
At a family clinic

You know how there are some neighbourhood clinics which share the area with a dentist, then all the patients will be seated together at one area? The family doctor I went to is in such a clinic.

There were about 5 more patients in front of me, and so I sat somewhere near the registration counter for the dentist, since the place was nearly full.

There was this woman with her baby, complaining at the dentist counter about how someone accidentally cancelled her 12 o'clock appointment (it was already 1:30pm at that time) and she had to wait for an hour before someone comes back to the counter after lunch. She was completely incensed, and she was not really a quiet one and the place was not that big.

So, she went on and on and on about how irresponsible that person who cancelled her appointment was, how she still called the previous day to double-check the appointment, how she had to travel and waited one hour, how tiring it was for her to have to bring the baby along, blah, blah, blah. You know how sometimes when people are angry, they kept repeating and repeating everything, until you know the whole story and can even anticipate what she was going to repeat next.

I could see that the dental nurse was ready to leap over the counter and tie the telephone cord around her neck. But she still tried to pacify her and told her to wait since her appointment was cancelled accidentally, and someone already took her time slot. But once again, that woman whined, "Wait?! I've been waiting for an hour, and you still want me to wait?"

Maybe she thought the dentist has two heads and four arms, and can check on two patients at the same time.

Anyway, she calmed down for a while, tended to the baby who was growing frustrated in her pram. Then she turned to the dental nurse,"Who is in charge here? Or do you have a manager? I want to speak to him. I want to complain how come you people can anyhow cancel my appointment." And there it started again.

The dental nurse told her that their HQ is somewhere in Ubi, and she demanded that she called the HQ now because she wanted to complain to the person in charge. While the nurse was making the call, the woman pushed the pram over, and sat on the empty seat beside me. As she prepared to pour out the porridge for the baby, I guessed I sniffed a little, and she immediately turned to me.

"Are you having a flu?"

I nodded.

And with one "aiyoh" that means a lot, she jumped out of the seat, pushed the pram to the corner and started in her not-so-soft voice. "This place ah, all these people... full of germs."

The air around suddenly turned awkward and I was very sure there was a full minute of absolute silence.

Anyway, she finished feeding her baby and the call to the HQ was through, and once again, everyone in the clinic got to hear her story for the 53rd time. Then suddenly there was a loud noise and I saw her kind of shoved the phone back at the nurse, and it toppled over the counter and hit the nurse's leg.

The nurse calmly picked up the phone and put it back to where it was. And the woman started again, "Why did you hang up the phone? Your manager wants to speak to you."

Like, duh, she didn't even say that the manager wanted to speak to the nurse!

I should have told her I got the bird flu.

Shrimp Wontons... from a box

After hearing some rave reviews about CP Shrimp Wontons from his colleagues, the husband decided to get a box to try it over the weekend.

Honestly, I'm rather skeptical when it comes to frozen boxed foods (except ice-cream, of course). I have the thinking that, if it is frozen, it will never taste as good as the real thing. Even if my cooking is bad, at least whatever I used is fresh. Maybe it's the constant influence from my mother. She was always talking about how frozen food will never compare to the fresh ones we bought from the market, blah, blah. When I was still living with her, I don't remember ever seeing any frozen boxed foods in the freezer.

Anyway, the husband was quite excited over these wontons and volunteered to cook them with some noodles for brunch.

I was quite surprised when I saw the cooked wontons. I didn't expect them to be so big, and from the looks of it, the skin was thin, and the shrimp inside was huge. There was absolutely nothing in the wonton skin except this big, fat succulent shrimp. I didn't think that once frozen and thawed, the shrimp could still remain so plump and juicy. Maybe some help came from the small packs of seasonings that came with the wontons to flavour the soup, but whatever it is, I'm sold.

Thought of the day

Why is it that, when the moment something becomes out of reach, you suddenly find yourself yearning for it? When in the first place, you never even thought about it...