Not Good, Not Bad... But Interesting.

Got on to read the news and this article caught my eye. It's not so much the title, which obviously got my attention, but it was the bit about being skinny and having a shorter life-span.

I just wonder what the anorexics and bulimics have to say about it. Then again, if they're in denial about their lives, they'll probably be in denial about the issues brought up in the article.

The article does mention that if you're overly overweight, or obese, you're also in for trouble. That is already a well-known fact. But to say people who are a little on the chubby side can actually live longer than most normal-sized, or skinny people, is actually refreshing news. Now this is one excuse for normal-sized people to have their cake and enjoy it without having to think about trying to lose that little extra weight it would put on you.

So for you girls who have a nice light padding on ur bones, with a little something to cushion you in a fall, stop complaining that you need to lose weight after enjoying a slice of cake with your friend. Be comfortable and happy with what you have because it's probably prolonging your life!

Dog's Day Out @ The Park

I was reading a pets' magazine and found an advertisement for an event called "Dogs' Day Out At The Park", and since I didn't have anything to do that day, I got everyone out to West Coast Park to enjoy a day with the doggies.

It wasn't as big as I had expected, but everyone attending the event were quite enthusiastic about everything, and participating in as much things as their dogs could handle. As it was just after noon, the sun was out in full force and some dogs were in the tiny cooling tent to help them with the heat. There were repeated warnings to keep the dogs and ourselves cool in the heat and the tents weren't really helping as the air was still too warm to cool anything off.

I signed Barkley up for the 'Happy Tails' competition which was to see which dog could wag the longest and the strongest. While collecting the free goodie bag, we were called up for the contest and by that time, Barkley was already too tired to even meet and greet other dogs. Finally when the contest began, he was so bored until he realised that the dog next to him was a Dushund puppy, about a quarter his size, and that's when he got all excited to meet another dog that was so cute!

Well if it wasn't for one judge who decided that he didn't deserve a prize, Barkley would have been in the top 5. I guess the contest was also partly a giveaway. Imagine the little puppy winning a large bag of kibbles meant for big dogs. So the big dog won the big prize, and the little ones got the little prizes. It was all good in the end as all participants got a participation goodie bag, which just added to my day's haul.

Going around after the contest, I managed to bag a few more goodies, some that were just too big for Barkley, and so it went to the neighbour who has a big dog. Barkley also got a new portable, collapsible bowl and a new name tag. Once Barkley was too tired to even move to look at other dogs, we went off, at the same time realising I also got a new idiot tan.

Making Friends

Tired Contestants

Big Bag Of Food For The Happiest Tail

Hauling My Collection Of Goodie Bags

Predicting Someone's Future?

Seems recently that every time I wasn't feeling too good, Amy would get the same problems a few days later. It could have started earlier, but when you see each other every week, you would tend to blame the contact for how the illness got passed. The recent cases are really noticeable as we haven't met up with each other for quite some time. It started out with one really bad headache that I got, that was so bad that any light would start making me wince in pain. I guess some might call it a Migraine. I just slept it off with the help of a lot of Panadol and Tiger Balm. Finally getting enough control of the pain to go online, I find that Amy seems to have been struck with the same issue.

Next was a something that went wrong with my stomach. Ok, so I won't go into details but it included dashes to the toilet, and this issue lasted about a week. Problem was, I had to start work the day after the problem showed up and in the end, I ended up taking a day off work to get things settled by my best doctor. While waiting to see my doc, I received a few text messages from Amy, one of which told me she got a similar stomach problem. Hmm... strike 2?

The last one was the strangest. For most of the other common problems, I've sort of mentioned it to Amy one way or another. So I thought maybe it was some form of sympathetic/empathetic illness - where u get the same (possibly) illness out of the empathy/sympathy you feel for the other person. However, this one was very different in that Amy told me her problem before I told her that I had the same thing a few days ahead. I had requested a day off work to go for my regular diabetic check, and during this check, my doc asked if I was feeling giddy and all because I had a low blood pressure reading. I guess it didn't affect me as much as it would my mom or my sis. Or maybe I'm so used to strange things happening to me that I've learnt to compensate? Well whatever it is, Amy sent me a message while I was at work a few days after the check to tell me that she was pissed off with the doctor not believing her, and that she was feeling giddy. Then she told me the doc told her she has low blood pressure, probably accounting for her other problems (the doc obviously can't be bothered to give her a thorough check). That's when she realised why her world was spinning, and I realised that this was getting a bit weird.

At first thinking that the bugs were more mighty, and Singapore being much smaller, than we realised, would be the reason why we were 'sharing' the same problems. Then I thought maybe we were just so close that we were starting to feel each other's problems (like what my mom and me sometimes encounter). The low-blood pressure is just a bit of a shocker, making me think if there is a possibility that I'm feeling what Amy might get before it hits her? Predicting her illnesses?

Now I wonder, if I were to die. Would she end up following me a few days later? Oh My....

A Bit Of Empathy Perhaps?

I thought I would fall asleep after taking pills for the crazy nose situation I'm having but it doesn't seem to be the case. My stomach is also queasy and the heat doesn't help either. So I thought I would blog, but I got stuck at looking at updates on the blogs written by some friends. As you can see, reading them hasn't put me to sleep. Instead, I've sat up and decided to blog.

So the few blogs I've read either haven't updated for quite some time, or I've already read the latest posts and commented on them. The one that got me thinking was actually the blog by Shirley. Recently she's been going through a bit of a rough time and it's a bit hurting to read the things some people throw at her in this trying time. Maybe it's the fact that we're of the same age, and aren't married, that I can relate to how she feels. The issue, in her case, is about trying to change her lifestyle, to learn to care for others, instead of just caring for her own self.

I guess for people who have been married, and have children, have a different mindset and style in living their lives. They've already made up their minds, and at least psyched themselves, to take care of someone other than themselves. With the addition of kids, their priorities change once again. The difference, in this case, is that people who have chosen to get married, or have had children, have already prepared themselves. They've taken the time during dating, the time in preparation for a wedding, and the time in preparation for the birth of a child, or more, to get used to idea of taking care of someone else. In Shirley's case, she had to change her mindset in an instant. People like her, who are just trying to make a life of their own, to try and take care of themselves would get overwhelmed with the idea that they suddenly had to think of someone else's life above their own. Furthermore, with people who don't understand her situation insisting she be the perfect caregiver in an instant, it WILL definitely take a toll on her. Seriously, even the maids that people can hire have received training before they're even put up as one of the choices.

So what if the person is your parent. Unless you've discussed the issue about taking care of your parents (setting mindset to care for others), you won't be able to just go into caretaker-mode with the singale clap. We're human after all, and we have to adapt to change. In my case, I've talked (well mostly joked) to my sis about what will happen when my dad decides to retire. We can talk about it and plan everything, but I know, when the time comes, we would still have to change our lifestyles to suit the changes around us. It WILL take time and it WILL take patience.

It reminds me of the time when my parents were involved in an accident and my sis and I heard about it only after we returned home from school. The first question was if they were alive. After finding out that the most serious injury was that my dad dislocated his knee, I was quite relieved. The second time was when I heard that my dad was admitted to hospital because he had multiple strokes. One of the most worrying times was when mom was admitted into hospital for some unknown problem, but I got a feeling it was exhaustion. The amount of worry that goes through your mind during these times are already enough to get you feeling depressed. Making you think day and night about what to do if that dreaded day comes when your parents are gone.

When you have your own family to take care of, you don't feel as though it's a big deal. Taking care of others is already part and parcel of your life. It's like how my mom takes it in her stride to take care of my paternal grandfather when she first got married, to help take care of her mother when she had her strokes, to take care of her own father when my grandmother died. It seemed like second nature to her, to just be able to take care of her own family, and her parents as well. For us, we had to change and adhere to certain curfews, to do our part to ease trying situation. However, when you're still in a place where you're trying to make a name for yourself, trying to stand on your own two feet, and then have the weight of someone else's world crashing down on yours, it will be very trying.

At the point when my grandmother passed on, I was sort of lucky to still be in school. During this time in my life, school was a priority and I was old enough to go out after without having to bother my mom. It didn't bother the family so much that until it came to going out together. It came to the point where my dad, sis and myself were quite pissed off with the rest of mom's siblings for not even offering to help in caring for my grandfather. As even Shirley put it, maids need a day of rest too. If my uncle and his family weren't free, we would only be able to leave the house after 12 (given grandpa his lunch), and then we would have to return by 6 (so she could make dinner for grandpa). The bad feelings came whenever my grandpa would somehow get himself into some predicament, falling and not be able to get up. The mouthy doctors would say that there needs to be someone with him every hour of the day and no one would say anything but turn to my mom. Somehow mom wasn't as bothered by it as we were, but I guess it's because it's in her nature/mindset.

Basically, this whole thing is about thinking before you speak. You can ask someone to think of others before themselves, but have you thought of them before you opened your mouth? Doctors do it all the time, they talk like people are machines and do things at a touch of a button. Talking is easy. Try putting yourself in the same situation and see how well you fare. Sympathy is not the same as Empathy. People who have not had anyone close in their family die won't understand the hurt that comes with death.

Showcase Your Character, Play A Game.

I had been wanting to blog about this for a while when I realised one of my friend's character seems so different (from what I thought) when he started playing an online game. From what I know through the years, he's a bit of a workaholic and stayed away from his emails and any other means of contact through the computer platform. Recently, we had a class gathering and everyone was asking if one or the other had an account with a certain networking site. He obviously didn't even hear of such a site, let alone have an account, and so asked if I could start one for him, which I did.

A while later, there was a game where the person takes care of a pet, where the pet can be fed, washed, and played with. Once he got started playing the game, he got hooked and became a little obsessive about it. First shock to me was when he actually told me that he had spend money to buy stuff for this virtual pet. Honestly, I don't think anyone who had bills to pay would actually buy credits in a virtual game that didn't reap any rewards. But he did, and as he put it, "Since I can't keep a real pet and spend money on it, I'm spending money on my virtual pet." Sometimes I wonder if he's being stupid paying to play this game, but if you look at the money he spends in real life, you'd realise that this might be a better investment than some of the things he's paying for.

The other day, he sent a message asking if I would recommend him to some of my friends so that he could show his pet off, as well as his pet's home. Well this isn't much of a surprise coming from someone who was status-conscious. He loves his branded goods and would most likely buy something if it's associated with some brand. What got to me was the fact that he wanted to show off the pet's house which, to me, looks like a warehouse. So he had almost everything made available in the game. Just as in real life, not everything in the world can be put into one place and look good. There's moderation to everything, even in the virtual world. I'm wondering if there should be a group therapy session for obsessive players like him. However, I can imagine these people just going into therapy with their laptops, playing the game till their computers are confiscated.

Then there was the time he asked if he could get somethings from me, or if any of my friends had the things he wanted for his virtual pet. In the end, he got somethings and promised to trade somethings back, which never happened. I'm left wondering if this was the kind of person he was in actual fact. Just that in real life, I don't have anything he wants. But if I did have something, then would I end up not getting my things back in the end?

Other than this friend, I noted something else about another friend who played a different game. In this case, the person seems to give out derogatory comments about the other player while playing. At the same time, I noticed that this person would also try to put other people down with name-calling and comments even when not playing any games.

So if the way that one plays games can tell what kind of person you are? Or is it what the game essentially is about?
Personally, I like the Sims games. What it essentially is is a game in which you are in control, playing God. Though not all situations in the game in entirely in your hands. So does that mean I like to be in control? Well, thinking about it, I do prefer being in control, but in life, just like in the game, you can't control everything. What does it mean if someone gets easily bored with games? Are the games not entertaining, or is it that the person needs more stimulation in their life to keep them interested in something? Or is it just that the person hasn't found the right game for themselves?

Fudders

Happy Fathers' Day

Congratulations Candie & Boon Peng

Tonight was spent at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, celebrating with the rest of the ballroom to the marriage between Candie & Boon Peng. Candie had been talking about her wedding plans and preparations since last year, and finally the invitations were sent out.

The Happy Couple

The wedding reception was one of the best I've been to, with the added pleasure of catching up with some friends I've not seen for almost 10 years.

Other than the dessert, the whole menu was really enjoyable and tasty. Presentation of most dishes were really interesting and creative.

Braised Duck Dish

Although as u can see above, the portion sizes were really different.

Adorable Yam Ball In The Shape Of A Tiny Apple.

I never liked, and probably never will like, the yam part of this dish.

Cod Fish Dish

I really found this dish presented rather cute. Instead of having the head and tail of the real cod, which would look rather ugly, (plus the big eyes staring back might make you lose your appetite) the re-created them with fried tofu instead. Creative, and it's an added bonus to those who might be more hungry.

Chilli Crab Dish

Sometimes making it easier to eat doesn't mean that it will be good. Taste-wise it was quite nice, but I think there was just too much starch in the whole thing. It just felt like a spicy shark's fin soup going down instead of chilli crabs. But I think it was the bun that saved it for me. I'm such a sucker for fried bread.

But I think the best thing I got out of the whole night was the little gift of heart-shaped measuring spoons with really cute love-related inscriptions. It will probably be one of the few gifts I'll actually treasure.

Photos courtesy of Angie Ong's camera cos mine died.

Love Your Work, Not The Company....

I got back to working again, but I've got a change in location. Well, a new outlet means I've got new people (other than my best work buddy who brought me there in the first place) to work with. After the info I got about what some people were doing in the other outlet, I guess learning to work with a new group of people would be less challenging, stressful and frustrating, until I worked with a certain slowpoke in the group.

So this outlet is a lot tinier than most outlets and has only 4 permanent staff on the floor, 2 in the kitchen, and 2 part-timers with a possibility of more coming along. So with all the leave entitlements and compulsory days off, there are days where I'm bound to work with at least one of the 4 permanent floor staff. While the pace of the people at this outlet seems to be really laid back compared to the previous outlet, Slowpoke takes it to another level, hence the nickname.

Slowpoke is the kind of person that is a waste of your time and energy to have to work with. Not only can you not count on this person to help you run the show, you have to actually double-up your efforts to end the shift right. The very first time I worked with Slowpoke was on a saturday afternoon and noticed that Slowpoke didn't seem to pull their weight and also disappear somewhere for long periods of time, too long to just send orders in.

Then I had the opportunity to work with Slowpoke one night to close the outlet. At first I just went about doing what was required on my part and then I realised that I seemed to be doing all the work while Slowpoke just had the cheek to sit in the corner and have a plate of pasta. To top it off, Slowpoke started nagging and telling me to clip receipts to one corner. How anal is that? The second day came along and this time I slowed down my pace to suit Slowpoke's so that Slowpoke had to cater to all the tables. Well... I didn't start working in this line just a week ago if you actually know my history.

After grumbling about Slowpoke to my buddy, I found out that Slowpoke's attitude might be because of the promotion that didn't happen. Instead of getting promoted (after 10 years with the company), Slowpoke was left with the same title, and to top that off, my buddy (a rank above Slowpoke) was brought to the outlet to help run the show. So maybe it explains why Slowpoke has such a bad laid-back attitude. However, I got a feeling that Slowpoke didn't get the promotion because of the crap attitude and the slower-than-a-snail's pace. Working with any other permanent floor staff would see us sending out the last order at 9.30pm, start closing procedures, and finally leaving the place about 10 minutes after closing (unless some idiots stay beyond closing). Working with Slowpoke, you will notice that there will be no one around by 9pm, where the cashier is closed, leaving me to clean up what's left while Slowpoke takes the whole hour to count the money and do paperwork. Most times, I never stay long enough to know when Slowpoke actually finishes the work, I just leave at 10pm.

I don't know how old Slowpoke is, but it doesn't look like Slowpoke is in the 50s range yet. What I'm getting at is the question of how some people seem so passionate and dedicated to the company they work for. The thing that brought up this issue was actually an email that I got the very same night I found out about Slowpoke's issue. In the email, the first of many slides stated "To love your job but don't love your Company, because you may not know when your company stops loving you". Unless it's a company that you founded, I don't see the point in staying in the company till you die. There are companies which are fun to work for that you would like to stay with as long as you can, but there comes a time when you either have to leave to find greener pastures or just realise that there is no future within the company for you.

Personally I love my job. I love what I do, and I've done it with different companies. The reason I came back to this company wasn't that I liked the company. No... in fact, I find the company can be a bit fickle-minded, and needs to be a bit more protective of their staff. Plus all the trouble they had me go through just for a simple letter to state that I've worked with them had me thinking they aren't really as nice as they portray themselves while right in front of you. The main reason I came back was that I missed the smells and equipment. The second reason was the people at the old outlet. They were fun to work with right until the end of last year when all hell broke loose. Now, at least I know who I can trust, and who I can work with, a bunch of people I know I can actually hire if I ever started my own place. Well maybe it would be better to have these people invest themselves in the new place so that they would love the company as it's partly theirs as well?

So anyone wants a Company to love?

Whatcha Think About That...

Read this article in the papers today and thought that it was interesting enough to blog about. It's not so much that a woman has written a book about sex, nor the fact that Ms. Lootah is a Muslim woman in an Arab country, or that the book about sex is also related to Islamic teachings. It's actually the fact that she went about having her book approved by the Mufti (religious leader) before getting it published. Yet after all that, she still gets death threats. Not surprising that the threats are from conservatives though, they're just living up to their name.

“People have said I was crazy, that I was straying from Islam, that I should be killed,” Ms. Lootah said.

Somehow I think these people are just judging the book by it's cover. Now if the book did quote the Koran ("One of the themes of her book is the danger of anal sex and homosexuality generally, not because of AIDS but because they are banned by the Koran.") then how can she be straying from Islam? Yet it's the men who seem to break the rules - "In Saudi Arabia and other countries where the genders are rigorously separated, many men have their first sexual experiences with other men".

I, personally, think it's time people started accepting change in this world. That women aren't just going to stand behind in the shadows, or hide under their niqabs, and let their lives just past them by. That women are more valuable than some people make them out to be. If everyone wanted sons, sooner or later there won't be anymore women to give you the next generation. Most times, the best advice is from the very first woman you know, your mom!

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