Leap Year

Feb 29. Just another day?

For me, yes. Yet another day at work. Well, a few "different" things happened today too, some of which I am not at the liberty of mentioning up here yet, just in case.

It's sad to say farewell to one my closest colleagues today. But as usual, I'm truly happy for him that he's found another place where he can embark on the next phase of professional growth. Yet, the workplace will be much quieter and lacklustre without him. And I'll have one less confidante to share my grouses with. Sigh ...

After coffee with a couple of colleagues (yes, we shared our grouses), I rode the NEL home as usual. A little girl, about 4, boarded the train with her mom around Boon Keng or so. She's such a little bundle of Sunshine! Let me tell you why.

When the lady beside the little girl alighted, the girl urged another lady standing in front of her to take the seat. She was so earnest that the lady who was hesitant at first, finally had no choice but to sit down. Then, the little girl started chatting to her, leading me to think that they probably knew each other. But no! They were complete strangers! It was Little Miss Sunshine who basically brought the cheer on.

And when we all alighted at Sengkang, Sunshine said goodbye to me and an old lady next to me. She completely turned my dreary day around. There is so much optimism in her that it seems nothing could go wrong. The sad part is, as she continues this journey of life, how much and how fast will dark clouds move in to hide the bright Sunshine? Is that inevitable?

Alright ... it's not right of me to paint a bleak picture of the future at the start of the weekend :) In any case, I am still optimistically hopeful about many things. Just that I'm a little tired of playing the waiting game. Nevertheless ...

HAPPY WEEKEND! Let's MARCH on.

It's a small world!

So last Wednesday, I received an email from this person from Panasonic enquiring the work culture at my company. He had found my email googling because my company's website was down. I replied and so it seemed that he was scheduled for an interview on Friday. That was why he was trying to find out so much about the company.

Over the last few days, we corresponded a few times via office email (dangerous! I was quite relunctant in replying too truthfully) and this morning, he gave me his MSN because he wanted to ask more questions.

And that's how I found out that he's the younger brother of my ex-classmate! When he said he was from Malacca, I was already like, wah, 这么巧? Then, when he said I was same age as his sister, I asked for her name and it turned out that she's my ex-classmate! Lol ... his sis and I were not that close so I'm not sure if she remembers me.

It's just amazing how small this world can get and how big a part fate can play.

My Lovely Saturday

I promised myself not to work, or even think about work, this weekend. I had been spending the past several weekends, including the Chinese New Year one, mulling over issues at work. So my friends and I had a date for some millenia-old Greek sculptures specially flown in from Le Louvre on display at the National Museum.

After the exhibition, we had an early afternoon tea at Dome, Singapore Art Museum. Seems like an exhibition, Primary Colours, by Chinese artist Feng Zhengjie is going on. I'll probably pop by this Friday evening, when the museum is open to the public for free. Hopefully, that exhibition is too. Well, anyway, we had our dessert and drinks and chatted for about an hour as Fauzie was sleepy cuz she had been at work all morning and Karen had to return home to take care of Maia so Greg could go out.

I didn't have much to do but since it had been sunny, I didn't really feel like doing anything much either. I'd just pop into Plaza Singapura for a while and then head home. At Basement 1, I got enthralled by the fish at a new fish shop (probably not that new but I'd never stopped by previously) and spent an hour admiring them.

Unexpected Find on Facebook

Haha ... I'm really surprised to find a friend request from the most unlikeliest friend of mine whom I thought would never join Facebook. He's Chinese and is not very fluent in English so I've never thought for a moment Facebook would interest him the least bit. That is also why I've not invited him to join. But he has.

Haha ... I'm ranting but it's just that I can't help but be amused at the far-reaching fingers of this phenomenon known as Facebook.

Another fallen star ...

What happens when a star dies?

It's beginning to feel as though if I see another report on the news about the death of a celebrity, I'll just shrug and say, "That's just the way it is."

Hardly two months into the new year, a third brilliant star, and this one was truly the one most brilliant star, had her light snubbed by the invisible fingers of death. Lydia Sum, the 开心果 of Chinese entertainment, succumbed to liver cancer this morning at age 60. Unlike the other two deaths, her long battle with cancer has sort of prepared people of her eventual departure. But still, I can't help but feel sad.

Only her shows that form my childhood memories remain.

Quiet Moments

On a whim, I took leave today. Woke up not feeling like going to work. Besides, I still have one more day of 2007 leave to clear and I don't foresee many chances of my doing so before the deadline of end Feb. So I might as well continue this week-long holiday and indulge myself. R&R to the max! Hahahahaha ...

Well, now that the day's almost over, I'm happy to say that it's been very unproductive. Haha ... I'm just taking it easy ok! The weeks ahead will be super chiong I tell ya.

After I managed to drag myself out of bed at around 10 am, I cleaned our little kitchen a bit. It's really in need of some scrubbing since we hardly did any spring cleaning before the new year ... after which, I took a leisurely walk to the food court for some kopi gao (thick coffee). While sipping the delicious caffeine-rich beverage, I rewatched some video clips we'd shot during our holiday trips last year. Damn, the 九寨沟 ones made me wanna pack my bags and begin my Tibet adventure right away!

So off I went to the library to further research my trip. But there were few books on Tibet travel so I decided that an online search might be more rewarding. I'm planning for August. A friend in Chengdu tells me it's better to visit in summer, in fact it's a good time cuz that's when there'd be lots of festivities. Still, the guide book authors seem to think otherwise cuz July, Aug and much of Sep are the monsoon months. Hmm ... more research required.

Hope the trips come through though my project schedules are pretty much wobbly at this point so I'm not quite sure when I can really steal some time off to fulfil this wanderlust ... but for now, I'm enjoying my quiet moments at home.

Just me, my music and my book. This is luxury.

Hey ... Happy Year of MICKEY!

So I realise I've been very inactive on the blog front this year. Hehe ... well, that's cuz nothing much, or rather, nothing exciting to update. The first month of 2008 flew by just like that. ZIP!!!

And now, we're into the second week of Feb. WHAT?!!! Oh boy, the Lunar New Year holidays are over just like that. I'm on leave tomorrow (though I had applied for my leave way before, the office won't be open tomorrow either cuz the best henggang day for this year falls on Tue so all staff are forced to take compulsory leave tomorrow. How unfair!).

Can't say I'm exactly looking forward to starting work in this supposedly fabulous year of the Mouse. Not because I adore Mickey, but it's true by feng shui terms that Dragons enjoy great fortune in the year of the Mouse cuz the most magnificent of the zodiac animals appears to be the chummiest with the hmmm ... for most people anyway, the pest that lurks the sewers of the world (perhaps with the exception of New York City where Ninja Turtles rule the sewers instead? Hehe ... oh but not to forget that they, too, have a RAT Ninja Shifu!)

Okie ... enough of my crap blog talk.

MAY EVERYONE ENJOY A PROSPEROUS YEAR OF THE MICKEY.

MAY ALL OUR DREAMS COME TRUE.

MAY WE ALL BE HEALTHY AND HAPPY

EVERY SECOND, EVERY MINUTE, EVERY HOUR OF THE DAY.