Have I already mentioned how much food we get to eat in the General Office?
For every festival, one-month-birth, every meeting, birthday etc etc all the food is left in the General Office for gluttonous clerks like myself.
I think we had the worst case of excess food during the Chinese New Year period.
Everyone brought their leftover prawn crackers, cookies and more fatty food into the office!
Occasionally we'll get pizza hut, KFC and MacDonalds delivery.. Birthday cakes sometimes..
Fantasizing about it makes my stomach grumble a little but the problem can be solved as there is a large stock of crackers just behind my desk.
I'll miss this school and the free food.
If you worked here, and you were really lucky that it happens to be Secretary Week, and during the week that you happen to work only 3 days, if the Principal chooses to give a treat on one of the three days that you are reporting for work, then you tan dio.
Can someone tell me what is tan dio in English?
It means for someone to be in a fortuitous situation that you get something you don't necessarily deserve and after getting it you can't stop congratulating yourself, Wah I really very heng!
Thats the gist.
I just taught you one Hokkien word.
The correct way to say it is to paste a wide grin on your face while raising your eyebrows at each syllable.
Of course I was quite uncertain whether I'm included to go to Equinox because I'm a temporary staff and not a Secretary.
Besides, who is going to watch the office when we're all gone during school dismissal time?
I was getting more disappointed by the hour as nobody told me to get ready to leave but you know what.. being the Principal's appointed daughter-in-law has its own perks.
Muahahaaaa.
Fine dining on the 70th floor of the Swissotel at Stamford with the view overseeing the whole of the city area.
This is THE Life according to Vivian.
There was so muchhhh foooodddd I became dizzy with choices.
Which should I eat first?
The goose liver or the sushi.?
Wait.. I see glistening roasted lamb and beef and cod fish with cream.
Food excites me especially when its served on big platters and even my 5-inch radius plate can't seem to accomodate food I'm piling on it.
Even though I couldn't resist going for seconds, thirds and fourths I was sure to maintain decorum so as to not shock my colleagues.
Never will mediocre, served on less-than-70th-floor food look the same to me anymore.
*Burp*
Labels: Food
♥Bid Farewell
Nyl and I went to Hippo&Friends' birthday party and holy cow, the cake is humongous!
So enormous it can possibly feed my family of 11 for 3 weeks if we had cake for breakfast dinner and lunch.!
On second thoughts it will not last so long as our appetite is expandable to fit the amount of food available.
The family policy on food is never leave any food unfinished.
Nyl and I were very redundant and blocking the human traffic flow mainly because Ivan was a very busy host and we were strangers to his friends except some chinese drama people.
Would you throw a birthday party because its such a big deal to be 21 years old?
I mean, it happens once in a lifetime!(like all other days, but thats not the point)
I'd love to have one if all my friends know each other and all I have to do is shake leg while someone organises it for me.
Nontheless I understand that it is kind of hard to have a party when the celebrated has only 10 friends.
I'm not complaining actually, its quality, not quantity that counts.
I met one of my quality friends, Nat to go to queensway for new boots on Saturday after her NTU interview.
Sometimes I get really envious of these eloquent people who won't know how its like to lose sleep nights before an important interview.
To be fair I think some of them will lose sleep over the interview because they're so hyped up that there's an interview.
Interview? Oh yeah baby, I'm going to trash those losers with my super long resume and fluent delivery of speech to the interviewers.
That's how they're like, punching their fists into the air triumphantly when they get the call for interviews.
I've got 2 interviews waiting for me when I come back from HongKong.
Wish me good luck!
And give me tips if you know anything about dentistry tests and interviews.
**
I have a new colleague whom I have been covering for 3 months already.
She is really slack.
Slacker than me.
I'm annoyed by her because she tries so hard to not answer the phone.
Whatever ok.
I started answering the phone within half an hour I settled into the office.
She's getting really good at pretending that things are not happening.
Eg when the phone rings, she concentrates so hard at my pile of paper reading nothing.
I wonder how she blocks out the shrill ceaseless ringing sound which makes me want to smash the phone on the floor.
When people are standing at the information counter she will bend her head low, keeping her eyes fixated on the wooden table, trying to make out the grain of the wood.
So even though we have an extra pair of hands the workload is basically still the same for everyone else.
She tries so hard to keep herself unoccupied so that she can stare into blank space.
Even though I know that I am not anyone's slave, I try to do everything that is asked of me because the workscope is not clear.
It gets on my nerves that some teachers keep on treating me like their personal maid, doing things that they can very well do themselves.
Even though it is errands like returning the posters they borrowed or compiling entire New South Wales lists for P3, 4, 5, it makes me lose respect for them.
What does it say about their sense of responsibility when they are pushing entire projects on to the laps of clerks and washing their hands off it.?
Not only that, these people don't follow up to see how's the progress machiam its enough that they've given instructions.
Should we take their pay too now that we're doing their jobs?
I thought I deserved to be burdened with so much work until I saw how the other HODs work.
I like the PE, Maths, English, GEP and Students Welfare HOD.
When they ask me to do work, I don't get the feeling that they want to be rid of these annoying projects.
They will sit down and do the exact same thing as they asked me to do, not as if they're too high and mighty(I think there's no such word. I made it up) to be doing these manual work.
I think I know, it is the pride in their work that makes them glow and differentiates themselves from their peers.
Anyway, whenever I see these teachers coming to ask me to do work I do it gladly, knowing that they need my co-operation or they would do it themselves.
Today I helped Christine do her English Oral stuff willingly and she was so thankful to me she couldn't find the right words to say.
'Angel , thank you so much.. You're so .. clever..!'
That totally made my day.
I'd do anything for you Christine. [Only for today.]
This is something to keep in mind when I start working in the future.
That is never to shirk responsibility and have pride in my work so as to win respect of others.
When people respect you, everything will go so much smoother.
♥Bid Farewell
Every friday is the day I update every one about my cute wushu instructor (the one on the motorbike, remember?).
I'm pleased to announced that we have officially said hi to each other, what a great step!
He purposely waited for me at the door to catch my eye and waved goodbye before he left.
Little does he know that it will be the last time we meet each other.
Anyway back to my non-self-deluding real life, I met Nyl (who is a snail) at J8 just now.
We were going to buy a present for Hippo and Friends who invited us to his 21st birthday chalet.
You know what's sad?
He didn't mean to invite me at all.
To think that I got all excited and touched that he remembered to include me on his 21st birthday party invite list.
Nyl coerced him to invite me by saying that if I didn't go she wouldn't too.
Sian! In a pique we randomly took some kleenex and toilet rolls as birthday presents for him.
Save money and its very practical.
Nyl has grown up so much.
Not physically , of course.
I need to go back to watching Kill Bill loaned from Weiwei.
So much spurting of blood from amputation not to be missed.
♥Bid Farewell
Hi man I think you performed very well.
To be truthful the whole show bored me a little except for the part where Nat started to hit people with her ladle and rolled up her sleeves to strangle Dolly.
Change the setting during the interval next time ok!
And I really like your character best. Followed by Marcy.
Cus she's a pretty girl.
Watching a play reminded me of what its like to perform on stage.
Despite my unwillingness to admit that I was from chinese drama club in secondary school because it was such a nerdy CCA to join, I have to say I really like performing and acting.
I think the CCA instructor was responsible for killing any love for drama by assigning us groups to play primary school games which we didn't see the point of.
Every monday became a drag as we [at least huiyi and I, the others seemed very enthusiastic. ] attended the class by the instructor only because attendance was compulsory.
I sound like a whiny unsatisfied-with-everything person but I enjoyed those times as well for huiyi was always there to gossip with me and laugh at hippo and friends with me.
['Hippo and Friends' is a nickname we gave to this senior who was a child actor in the 'Hippo and Friends' children series on KidsCentral. He is a very funny person.]
Being a lucky [and lazy] girl I was somehow made the seniors give me the lead roles in our annual performances.
I can't remember how many times exactly.
haha I was really very lucky la.
There were auditions for the plays the committee wrote and it was the most exciting and fun things to do.
A few of the drama members would go to this classroom and the committee members would act all serious while giving us roles while we impromptu created scenerios to act out.
'You, be the road sweeper. You, be the young arrogant rich kid. You be his ah mah [grandma]. ' etc.
It always turns out to be nonsense after 5 mins of this audition.
Anyway I think this interest for acting stems from a narcisstic reason.
I like to know that people are watching me.
What better way to get attention be being in the centre of the stage right?
I don't know how I look like on stage though.
Naturally I would do my best blending into the character
But my family tells me that I suck.
Such is the way of life.
This is yet another narcisstic entry talking about myself.
♥Bid Farewell
Figured that the coughing which kept me (and my super light sleeping mother) up the whole night renders the sleeping in totally valid.
I think if I'm going to school with my coughing self and sleep deprived face I might as well wait until the next friday as this might turn the cute wushu coach off.
Since he's 2 years older than me he's probably waiting to go to Uni after his NS.
We might even end up in the same school! (crosses fingers)
If we become friends and he happens to stay in the east I can then bully him into fetching me to school on his motorbike.
If he allows me to bully.
and if he's willing to be my friend.
and if I get to see him ever again.
I mean, who wants to be friends with girls who swallow their phlegm?
Just now the chinese Sinseh asked me a series of questions about the cough eg, when did it start, what is the colour of your urine, does your throat feel ticklish or painful etc etc.
When she asked me what is the colour of the phlegm I couldn't answer.
Then when she paused and looked at me askance I had no choice but to reveal that I hadn't seen it before.
I thought it was quite embarrassing when she told me to spit it out next time.
I considered telling her how I kind of like the feeling of gooey phlegm sliding down my throat.
But thats gross.
I thought everyone swallowed phlegm.
(My brother used to eat his mucus.)
Just calculate the amount of time wasted walking to the toilet every time I cough.
I could be doing so much more with that precious time, like typing nonsense on my blog.
I want to tell everyone about that time the boy got embarrassed by me.
My job scope is not all about stapling worksheets.
Occasionally I have to tend to injured little boys who, aw poor things, fell along the corridor.
I get irritated sometimes because these boys are so drama-mama and act as if someone gave them a choke slam(I'm not sure what that is cus Stacey didn't give me a demo despite multiple threats).
I forgive them because they're still young.
But to ease my nagging irritation I will watch them closely while I spray the super painful anti-septic on their wound.
So shiok. To see them writhe and hop on the well foot while mumbling 'so painful!'.
Which makes me irritated again.
BE A MAN.
Some of this irritation stems from seeing other boys who didn't shed a tear and are very brave even when they needed stitches.
Those who don't cry usually are in more serious situations.
My story is about another big sized P6 boy (I'm assuming because he looks like 14) who seeked treatment while I was busy entertaining queries on the phone.
P6 boy: 'I have a scratch. Very painful.' (All the time lifting his fringe so I could see the wound)
I inspected the 'wound' and found no scratch although it was a little red.
[I think its a boring story. ]
I passed him a Hansplast plaster and told him that since there was no open wound I didn't have to apply medicine and he could paste the plaster himself if he wanted to.
A few minutes later his teacher who sent him into the office and himself came back asking for the joker who dispensed a plaster when he was having a headache.
He actually pasted the plaster in the middle of his forehead unquestioningly.
Not a doubt about this clerk's hearing abilities and the plaster's purpose, which is not to cure headaches.
♥Bid Farewell
I'm currently facing a dilemma.
Its the first time the cute wushu coach will teach those boys after a break of about a month already curse the holidays and exams and march holidays.
I've even planned what to wear to school.
The thing is I'm running a fever of 38.6 degrees celsius and my head is spinning.
Should I go to school?
I mean there're not many chances to see this boy anymore.
And he rides a motorcycle.
Tough choice.
This photo has no link with anything.
I think it looks pretty good and good things must be shared.
♥Bid Farewell
The thing I look forward most to every morning when I crawl up at 6 am is sleep.
What kind of life is this.
My need to sleep is insatiable its so bad I look forward to lunch time so that I can steal a nap at the children's reading area.
When I go home I can't wait to sleep on the bus or mrt.
Its never-ending.
And when the stupid 520pm bus doesn't come the usual 530pm and 520pm passengers all cramp up the 530 bus.
Like today.
I was so irritated but I couldn't find anything to target my anger at, so I just kept giving my stalker dirty looks and deliberately shifting away when he comes near.
Actually this stalker thing might just be my imagination la.
He doesn't try to talk to me or drop at my stop anymore.
Maybe he just likes being on the same bus as me.
Maybe he likes to see grouchy faces who ignore him when he says hi.
Yiteng and I have been going to Amore religiously cus our $53 a month unlimited package is ending soon.
Those Amore people are so calculating, they wouldn't extend my package for the 3 days I went to Jakarta, which they clearly stated in the registration form that it can be done.
Its already the third week I joined.!
Guess how much weight I lost-
No prizes for guessing right.
I lost zero la obviously.
To live a taitai Indonesian-Chinese life for 3 days negated all the fitness I gained.
There was so much good food and me and weiwei had such a good host that we had people feeding us while we laid on the bed watching HEROS and Desperate Housewives.
Thanks man Menny.
You are the best host in the whole wide world.
Menny, being the best host in the whole wide world, brought us to the pirate mall where they sold so many pirated DVDs and softwares at cheapo prices.
I bought like 3 DVDs cus I was too hum ji to cross the customs with too many shiny discs flashing in the luggage.
I already watched the Ghost Train with my mummy but it sucked.
There were no subtitles and both of us can't understand Japanese.
The rough story we understand la but those parts about how the first ghost appeared and that goat-like statue's role are not clear.
Anybody who's watched before can tell me?
I have problems watching the other DVD though.
The first time I switched it on my parents wanted to watch with me.
I refused to.
You must be crazy will you watch American Pie 3: The Naked Mile with your papa and mama?
So I left the room and they continued.
I tried to watch it the next day after I came home from Amore.
My brother has apparently matured a little during my Jakarta trip as he caught on that I didn't want him to stand behind me when those American college girls were running stark naked on tv.
It was so annoying.
Everytime I hear his footsteps coming from the corridor I pause the DVD and switch the TV to Channel 8.
He kept coming in and out and in and out while encouraging me:
'Jiejie watch your show la. What are you watching?'
He sat on the floor toying with some miniature train and keeping his eyes slanted to the TV.
Sian!
So after 4 days of trying to watch it I'm really fed-up.
Might not continue watching it already la.
Watch one DVD have to spend so much effort and be so sneaky.
I need to sleep now. (highlight of the day! sleep! yay!)
Labels: Family, Friends, Travel
♥Bid Farewell
