Archive Page 100
Was reading Digital Life during lunch today when I came across the article about earning $$ from your blog. The usual suspects came up – adverlets, nuffnang, adsense. Decided to put the adverlets banner back on my blog. Took it down in Jan and never bothered to put it back up ‘cos I thought it was ridiculous that an online/ web-based company can forget to renew their domain registration. Only earned S$8.30 on it for the 4 months when I was running it… heh. Quite pathetic considering bloggers with bad English and fat thighs are earning multiples of that. But oh well… my blog isn’t exactly being marketed so I’ll just have to let it be.
Anyway, it costs about S$18 a month to maintain this site so would appreciate if you could help generate a little more ad traffic by clicking on the banner at the bottom of the right panel of the blog. Heh. One click a day goes a loooong way. Heh.
Ha! Caught your attention didn’t I? Not that it’s entirely untrue… I am drugged – the medication sort.
The celebration for the last birthday of my 20s started last Thursday in office with the gals (Booze Queen, Bubbs, XLS, and Jess) planning a surprise celebration for me. They got this yummy chocolate rum cake from Awfully Chocolate and it was good! Make that doubly good since my very next meal, a seafood dinner celebration with my family, gave me severe food poisoning.
The seafood was taken at the Sinma coffeeshop "restaurant" at Geylang Lor 3. No one else at the dinner was inflicted so it must’ve been a particular piece of seafood that I took that was bad. Really bad. The vomiting and diarrhoea started on Friday morning. At first I thought it would go away with medication – Po Chai pills, imodium, Chi Ka Chi (Chinese med for vomiting), so Iceman and I went ahead with our plans to drive up to Malacca for a overnight stay.
However, by the time I got to Malacca, the food poisoning got so bad, I couldn’t even hold down water. Everything I drank, sipped, etc, came out. I vomited and had diarrhoea about 20x each. Lost count after the 15th or 16th time so I can’t be sure. Couldn’t sleep the whole of Fri night either ‘cos my feet kept cramping, probably due to the body being dehydrated.
Made it back to JB on Sat late afternoon and went to see a doc. Was given more imodium and another med to stop the vomiting.
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Ok, I just slept for 8h ‘cos I was typing the above post after taking some new cocktail of medicine and suddenly got really sleepy and knocked out for 8 hours.
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To wrap up the story about my great fantastic ordeal, the vomiting stopped after taking the medicine from the JB doc… but I still felt nauseous after food and still had diarrhoea. Went to see my regular doc this morning and was given a cocktail of 4 medicine – lomotil for diarrhoea, charcoal tablets for wind, something else for stomach pain and something else for nausea. (Can’t remember the names now). Knocked out for a full 8h after the first round of medication. Just took a 2nd round and I’m sleepy again! Oh no!
Iceman proposed.
I said, "yes".
Now for the tough part…
I’m proud to say that despite my short trip this time (arrived on Mon night, leaving now – Wed late afternoon), I managed to accomplish all the personal stuff that I wanted to do!
Woke up a little later on Tue morn – 9:30am since the morning meeting was postponed. Once Upsize confirmed that we would only be meeting at 11:45am, I ran out of my hotel room at 11:10am to go to The Landmark’s supermart to buy my dried mangoes! Wanted to get dried jackfruit but it was out of stock. Heh. Bought dried bananas instead, as well as Wrigley’s chewing gum. Hehe. After my purchase, I ran (really really ran) all the way back to the hotel so that I could change out of my jeans into a suit to meet Upsize for meetings. Heehee. It was a good workout!
The 2nd thing that I simply had to do in Makati was to return to Via Mare Oyster Bar at Greenbelt 4. I spoke about the food incessantly till Upsize agreed to take the underwriters there for dinner. Come to think about it, the original dinner invitation was from the underwriters – as in they wanted to buy Upsize dinner. (Ok, that sounds funny… as though they wanted to buy a huge meal…) Don’t know how come we ended up paying instead! I mean, I got the bill ‘cos Upsize asked me to get it… but as I’m typing this, it suddenly occurred to me that… hey… it was supposed to be their treat! Damn those underwriters!
Anyway, that was one torturous dinner. ‘Cos though we were at the Oyster Bar, Upsize didn’t order oysters!! Even after I asked at the end of the meal if we could order 1 plate of oysters but was turned down by Upsize. Nonethless, I persevered. I refused to give up. After dinner, we went for 1 more drink, and then Upsize and 1 of the underwriters went off for more drinks, leaving me and another underwriter at Greenbelt. The 2nd underwriter decided that she wanted to go back to her hotel to do some work so I gladly walked her to the cab stand, and returned to the oyster bar.
The waiter and security guard gave me strange looks when I walked in. But I persisted and ate 16 oysters! Woohoo! Heehee… and it only cost S$15 lor. Cheap right? Heh.
Oh yeah. Wanted to write about some new tips I learnt about Makati.
Firstly, if you ever stay at the Interon, and you pay for a "Club Interon" room, you get unlimited Internet access at the Club Lounge. For Net access in the room however, you still have to pay for it… unless… you go to the Club Lounge, get a username and password, and then use that in your room. Heehee. Found that out by accident. Heh.
Secondly, always always try to reach the airport in Manila 3h before your flight’s departure because it just takes super duper long to clear immigration. And if you’re inside and have nothing to do, don’t bother about the foot massage or eating at the airport. Just pay Php 400 (or USD 10) and use the "Paying Lounge" (aka the "Sampaguita Lounge") on the 4th level. There’s snacks, buns, sandwiches, muffins and fruit juice that comes with the amount you pay. Plus unlimited Internet access too! Stupid me bought food from the departure hall before finding out about the Paying Lounge. *Sniff*.
Oh… and guess what? There was some Miss Earth Philippines pageant held at the hotel where I was staying in. Unfortunately, the contestants weren’t that fantastic lah.
Wanted to get a pic of their faces but couldn’t whip my camera out in time.
Went for a 1.5h walk around Glorietta / Greenbelt area before I came to the airport. Didn’t manage to do any shopping but I did come across the Ayala Museum at Greenbelt 4. Was very hard pressed for time so I could only do a cursory tour of the 4 floors. I would highly recommend it. For only SGD15 (approximately), it was very worth it. There’s a gold artefacts exhibition, exhibition of paintings, and a clay figurine type of exhibits telling the history of Philippines. Definitely will visit it again on my next trip. (Was so pressed for time I ran back from the museum to my hotel in 10min).
Ooh… I think I see my plane now. Gotta go soon.
See you back home folks!
P.S. Sorry if the formatting turns out warped ‘cos I’m rushing (again!)
Life in Philippines is sloooooow. My flight arrived early. Instead of 8:40pm, I landed early at 8:25pm but waited till 9:05pm to get my luggage and by the time I got to the hotel, it was 10pm. Sigh. Was starving. Took photos of my lovely room (not as luxurious as Shangri La but still nice nonetheless), then went to check out the Club lounge, and then headed to the coffee house for dinner.
Gosh! Dinner was yummy but so pathetically small!! I was starving even at the end of it. Thinking I may eat the fruits in my room. Heh. Here’re the photos of my room & the hotel.
At the entrance of my room. The toilet’s on the left, wardrobe’s on the right.
Sofa area.
I love the king-size bed.
Check out the nice cushiony hanger!
The pathetic little serving of Sukiyaki.
Hotel lobby.
Hotel lobby area.
I think the fruits will come in handy later… hungry…
I got a bit of a scare when I first opened my room door. I heard this high buzzing sound… of a TV that’s switched on but switched to a silent channel. I was a little scared ‘cos I was worried that maybe there was some screw up or something and the room was double booked.
I paused for a short while but hearing no other noises, I ventured deeper into the room. The TV was on. But it was to the main menu and guess what? The TV even had my name on it! Fwah! Talk about cool man! Heehee.
Okie… gotta go shower… soon… *yawn*.
Once again, I am the author of a lengthy complaint email. Enjoy.
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Dear Whom-It-May-Concern,
I am forced to write this complaint email thanks to your staff, Malah (or however you spell her name). Due to her nasty attitude and inability to converse, I have no choice but to put down my points in writing.
1. Park & Ride – Simei Blk 248
- I purchased a Park and Ride package on 4 April 2008 at 12:54:32.
- On the night of 4 April 2008, when I exited the carpark between 10-11pm, I was STILL charged for the full day’s parking at Simei. Does it take more than 10 hours for something as simple as a renewal of season parking to be processed? The first time I bought my Park and Ride package, it took less than an hour to be effected.
- On 5 April 2008, I parked at Simei Blk 248 from about 12pm to 11pm. Again, I was charged for the full day’s parking.
Please review the matter and issue the refund due to me.
2. Malah’s Extremely Rude Behaviour
I contacted the Transitlink office regarding the above over-charging issue one month ago in April. However, their staff, Helen, did not follow up as promised and thus I sent an email regarding this matter again yesterday. A Janelle from Transitlink called me promptly and said she will look into the matter. The next call I received was from your staff, "Malah".
The minute I answered Malah’s call, she was on an extremely defensive mode and starting rattling on about how there was no wrong charges for 4th and 5th May. At first, I was confused by her, before I realised that she checked the wrong month. I told her that I was overcharged in the month of April and not May, which made her even more defensive and she something to the effect of, "Why all of you tell me the wrong month? Of course I check wrongly".
Although I do not know WHO made the mistake – whether it was Janelle who told her the wrong month, or Malah who heard the wrong month, the person at fault was certainly not me. My email to Transitlink clearly stated the right month. Nonetheless, I endured the incessant griping from Malah and asked her to please help check for the month of April.
Malah called me back not too long after. This time, the minute she called, she started lecturing me about:
- Why did I not renew the season parking early?
- Sembenviro gives a grace period of 3 days so why didn’t I renew my season parking on time?
- Since it was "my fault" for not renewing on time, why didn’t I call Sembenviro to inform them about my late renewal?
I have EXTREMELY good answers for why I did not do the above. However, I was unable to tell Malah my reasons because SHE DID NOT ALLOW ME TO SPEAK. I tried NUMEROUS TIMES to explain my reasons to her but she CUT ME OFF EVERY SINGLE TIME. The irony is, when I finally lost my patience and told her to stop cutting me off because that is extremely rude of her, I could not complete my 2nd sentence because she CUT ME OFF AGAIN saying (very ironically), "I am not cutting you off".
May I know, does SembEnviro have any sort of training for frontline staff? Perhaps a simple 30 minutes session on "How to hold a conversation" would do great good for your staff.
That said, please note that the reason why I did not renew my season parking in time was:
- I was not in Singapore from 18 Mar – 3 Apr, and your system did not allow me to renew my season parking before I went abroad.
- The day after I returned to Singapore, I went to renew my season parking immediately and even though I had missed 3 days of parking in April, I still paid the full price of $70.
- When I went to renew my season parking at the Transitlink office at Raffles Place, I was NOT informed that I needed to call Sembenviro to inform yourselves about the late renewal.
I certainly hope this email is not checked by Malah because I do not believe I will get a fair and just response from someone as unreasonable sounding as her. I also do not wish to ever hear from her again. Please allocate another staff who is able to hold a proper conversation to follow up on this.
Please be forewarned that to ensure my complaint gets fair airing, I may be publishing this email, as well as any replies from you in any public media or forum that I deem appropriate.
Thank you.
Regards,
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Does this happen to anyone else out there?
Was just informed today that I’ll be going to Manila on Mon and I’ll be back on Wed night or Thur evening, depending on flight availability. Won’t be a very pleasant trip I think ‘cos we’ll be discussing some problems the client is having and everything kind of touchy and sensitive now so…. hope it works out well. Doesn’t help that I need to REALLY familiarise myself with how Business Interruption claims are computed. I hate maths and anything that involves numbers. Argh. Bleah!
Worked relatively late today. Had a craving for sambal kangkong so I got the zi char stall at the Simei Kopitiam do a special order for me – fried rice with sambal kangkong on top! All for the price of $6.50 only! Cool hor? Hehe. Would’ve been better if I didn’t dabao I suppose ‘cos the gravy from the sambal kangkong was absorbed into the rice, leaving the veggie a little dry.
Talking about food… Iceman and I tried the "Bao Today" restaurant (or something like that lah) on Sunday. The Chinese tea served is damn strange. It’s served in a bowl. What the heck is that about man! I mean, a bowl?! Iceman said maybe they were trying to be "authentic" but… I know Chinese wine was drunk from bowls centuries ago lah… but tea?!? Eh, Chinese tea culture quite developed you know… why do you think we have those cute little teapots and a certain way of preparing/ pouring the tea?
Anyway, my prize from the Brand’s can’t-remember-what contest got delivered today. Yippee!! The prize looks fantastic man. I loooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvveeee Brand’s essence of chicken (or EOC for short). I had 2 boxes of EOC, 1 box of EOC + cordyceps, 1 box of bird’s nest (yucks, I don’t like bird’s spit), and 1 box of EOC for kids (with Vit B complex)!
OK. I gotta focus on the last 20min of today’s episode of Pandemic now. While I sip my Choya. Heehee. I need to relax after losing my temper 2.5x at ABNNs today.
When people heard I was going to Adelaide, everyone said the same thing to me – "It’s BORING!". Well, Adelaide is indeed a very quiet town. We stayed at 2 service apartments that were right in the heart of the city so that made getting around easy. Food was cheaper in Adelaide too! Thank goodness. Haha. And while drivers in Melbourne were quite paranoid about getting fined by the traffic police, the drivers in Adelaide were quite reckless! I saw cars beating red lights at least 4 times a day. It’s crazy man!!
Oaks Horizon – Master Bedroom. Patience had a friend, Bearbear, who was smuggled to Australia in Iceman’s luggage. She was very glad for the company though she kept beating him up at first ‘cos she thought he was trying to be funny by saying his name was "Bearbear". She’s not very patient.
Our very well equipped kitchenette.
Nice living area.
A very interesting erm, dustbin in the middle of Rundell Street (that’s the main shopping street in Adelaide!)
Iceman & I visited Central Market & I just had to take a pic of the yellow bananas to honour the Funky Bananas!!
Chinatown. I’m proud to be Chinese. We’re everywhere! Muahahaha.. *evil shriek*
I thought the message on the closed door was funny…
Iceman’s MBA course mate took us up Mt Lofty early early in the morning. Pity it rained so the view was cloudy and we didn’t get to see anything. Sigh. Exact same sight that greeted me on Mt Wellington in Hobart!
We did manage to do a bit of walking and I was bushed! (Pun intended…)
Sibeh high-tech public toilet ah!
The University of Adelaide
A typical historical "Victorian" style house in Australia. Seen one, seen all.
The National Wine Centre in Adelaide. (Booze Queen – took this pic to tempt u… rows and rows and rows of wine!!!!)
More booze!
Very interesting pavements in Adelaide – strewn with coins from various Asian (I think) countries. Saw 2 or 3 ringgit coins there… but only 1 SGD 0.20. SGD not cheap..
Miller Apartments
Food for humans with no magical powers…
Hahndorf, a village where the early German settlers sunk roots. So some sunk more than roots…
German Char Siew
Lego’s predecessor. This model was made w/o glue or screws! Just pegs!
I liked that reddish tree. The leaves looked like maple leaves but I really don’t know what it is.
You can put bunnies on anything and I’ll like it!
Puppets!
Yummy Gelato!
The Pie Cart
Comes with special parking ok!
Adelaide’s Festival of Lights
Check out how the same building changes its look!
A mixture of various local produce at one of the vineyards in Mclaren Vale. The cheese was sooooo good. First time I actually loved the blue cheese!
Another vineyard… can’t remember the names now!
First public toilet in Victor Harbour ah! Don’t play play.
This was supposed to be the biggest rocking horse in the world. Heh. Found the place by accident while driving to Barrosa Valley.
At the National Motor Museum
The Whispering Wall (it’s really a dam).
Yeah, works.
Iceman’s MBA convocation
Didn’t do much shopping but this is the Adelaide Arcade. Heh.
Saw this sign at the Adelaide Airport. I think they’re weird. I wouldn’t drink water used for flushing toilets, recycled or not. 😛
Phew! That was a looooong post since I spent 1 whole week in Adelaide. Overall, it was a great trip.. though Bigmac is still sore about my long holiday! Heh.
Received a letter from Singtel today. In conjunction with the full number portability that telcos are rolling out in June (instead of the simple call forwarding that telcos do now when subscribers change from 1 telco to another), I must now decide if I want to retain my Singtel no. as my hp no… or do I want to switch to my Starhub no. that’s being forwarded to my Singtel no..
It’s a tough decision for me… ‘cos the Starhub no. is a lovely no… and we all love nice numbers don’t we? My Starhub no. is something like 92052006 (you do realise this is a made-up no. I’m using as an example and not my real hp no. I hope!). See the pattern there? Easy to remember right?
On the other hand, my Singtel no., while it doesn’t have any easy to remember pattern to it, is my first hp no. after all… and it’s been with me since Nov 1997! That makes it really hard to just chuck aside. It’s almost like shedding part of my identity!
That said, selfish old me doesn’t want anyone to have my recycled Starhub no.. Sigh. Thinking if I should ask my mom to switch from her pre-paid card to my Starhub no.? That means I’ll have to sign up a new plan for her… hmm…
I’m torn!!!! :'( *Sniff*.
Went for the first ever Formula Drift race in Singapore on Sunday. Didn’t put much thought to it so I didn’t bring any sun block with me. I applied sun block on my face as I normally do… but didn’t bring any for my arms & legs… and I got really burnt! My shoulders are "char siew" red and you can see a line where my skirt ends on my thighs. Sigh.
I thought it was just a hot day in a hot month… but I think after the heavy storms in March, this April is hotter than usual. Well, at least that’s what I concluded after I opened a tube of body moisturiser just now and the moisturiser just spilled out of the tube!! I was just using this Bath & Body Works moisturisers a couple of days ago and it was fine! Not watery or anything! Which means the moisturiser literally just melted on my dressing table. It’s bad man!!
I just stuffed both my B&BWs moisturisers into the fridge… hope I can salvage them! Sigh. 🙁
The weather is just WAY TOO HOT!
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