The Original Juice

In line with some WHP (Work Health Promotion/prog) guidelines, we hafta organise some sporty activities.

So we've had that Amazing Race Food Edition some time back, last fri 16th Nov 07, we had Vertical Challenge.

It is a race up the 26 Floor building of our office! There were two sections, Team and Buddy relay.

A team consists of 5 pple each taking on 5 floors with exception of the first climber, 6 floors. Each member of buddy team will take on 13 floors each.

Stretching

These are Edy and Wei Seng. They are the champion for the Buddy relay finishing at 3.12mins

Fun pple at AXA! (My they really look like a cartoon drawing!)

This French team finished at 3.23mins.

Painted Legs for group identity.

The different Batons

That brown stick with a cartoon face is actually a baguette! Last year, we had cucumber!! LOL

Some hang on to the rail

Mathieu thought he should do 3 steps at a time!

They were greeted with these snacks on 26th Floor

The medals for top 3 teams

Team Relay Champion at 2.42mins

2nd Place at 2.42mins, 3rd: 2.49mins, 4th: 3.02mins, 5th: 3.04mins, 6th: 3.06min, 7th: 3.06min, 8th: 3.09min, 9th: 3.17min

My two Department representatives of this race got 3rd place finishing at 3.53mins


The buddy challenge generally finished after more than 3 mins but that's SUPERB i think! 13 Floors is no joke! Before my boss sponsored my gym membership, i tried to climb the staircase, i only managed to do 4 Floors sey...


Luckily i didn't participate in the team relay bcos i was still sore from badminton on wed! haha

We had a movie marathon Fri night which ended at 2:30am. (Actually later, but i gave up half way thru the 3rd movie)

1. Mistress of Spices (Aishwariya)
2. Provoked (Aishwariya)
3. World Trade Center

DVDs courtesy of my neighbour, Kak Is. Thank you, Sis!

Then the Sat morning i had class 11 - 1pm.

I was hoping to catch some sleep when the whistle blew!

Being on the 2nd floor, i got SUPER DUPER affected and IRRITATED by this motorized wind blower(??). I was sooooo angry i shouted "SHUT UPPPPPPPP!!"

I understand that this Bangla is not to be blamed. He was doing his job. In fact, he was helping to make Singapore a clean and green country.

But what happened to the good old SILENT rake? The way i see it, the blower is just a noise and air polluting machine (i bet its using diesel!), and it's not helping the cleaner much bcos the leaves are too light they fly all over the place! Granted, prolly use less energy, but at the expense of our environment?!

Cuteness!!!!


My mum voiced her concern that Syifaa' is getting too attracted to Music. Everytime a song is played, she will twist, clap and dance! However, i feel that its a natural reaction of every human to hum or tap to the beat, na? It doesn't mean she wouldn't be a good muslimah when she grows up. I'm pretty sure Kak Ly and Abg Fai will guide her lah..


Although, i must say, me and Zubair havent been a very good example to her! We always sing n dance with her! hehehehe Sorry Ly.

The stretch of road leading towards China Town from Tg Pagar is now TERRIBLY TERRIBLY HOT!

1 building had been torn down and many big trees were cut!! It's too early to be making way for Circle line or whatever MRT they're gonna build there, isn't it?

This is my route every afternoon - a 5min walk frommy office to the gym. But its getting unbearable with the sun glaring and the shine bouncing off the glasses and concrete. Ergh!

There used to be stubbed tree trunks here.. but i was too late to capture it... now this is what's become of them. Poor trees....

**************************

Having sore muscles from Badminton Wed night, i can't do the treadmill in the gym today. i just went for the steam room. The steam was almost unbearable! i should've brought another towel in to cover my face.

I was supposed to do the steam for 10min (or so the beautician at slimming centres told me) but i only did 5min. Even then it seemed like aeons! To kill the time, i chant Allah to the rhythm that i know 33 x 3 x 5 to make about 500 which is almost equal to 5min. For variation, sometimes i analyse random thoughts or do a postmortem on some discussion. Eg: Why were there many people on the mrt at 4pm? What would my boss be thinking from what i told him just now?

Afterwards, on the way to do my errand, i felt like treating myself to some snack. it feels like a waste if i dont bring back "souvenirs" frommy lunch excursion, though it was only to Raffles place hehe... so some ideas i had were:

1. Coffee Bean's Sunrise. Nahhh @ $5, its triple the amount i was willing to part with.
2. Famous Amos' Butterscotch cookies. But i just had them 3 weeks ago and i've got so many other sweet cookies..
3. Burger King's Fries? Nope, just had it last night and i felt like having something sweet
4. maybe that $9.90 shoe along the Raffles Link? I can't eat a shoe! and none caught my interest
5. Polar Puff's Chicken Pie? No, actually quite full already
6. Delifrance's Peach Tart. Expensive
7. Maybe some cake or pastry at that new halal bakery at Caltex House?

You know what i ended up with? $2 Rockmelon from SunMoon! Healthy and within budget snack treat! Yay!!

***********************

After such a glaring walk to the gym, i went out to strong winds and dark clouds. Soon it began to rain. Then i can't continue to walk, but had to take the bus instead for just 1 stupid stop its $0.67!!! $#%$^#$%@#$@

When i dropped at Fullerton.. i thought i just brave the wind to walk over to HSBC. Coincidentally, the lady walking in front of me was opening her umbrella so i caught up with her and asked, "Hi. Can i share my umbrella till across the road?" Then i started to chat with her

Me: Wah the rain comes so suddenly huh?

Lady: Yeah

Me: Just now was very Hot!

Lady: Yeahlah, now weather is changing

Me: OH yeah November already.

Lady: In Singapore now, everyday raining

Me: (Is it?) oh yeah.. so must bring umbrella everyday. You're crossing this road, also?

Lady: its ok. its on the way

Me: Thank you very much. Bye!

Almost wanted to say "See You.." but i thought it was ridiculous. But suddenly, my social bar (Sims term) rose very high and i mood turned to Silver. *beam*

I was pinging my blog entries at ping.sg, when i saw the ad banner for Singapore.Recuit.net.

I caught a glimpse of the animation searching for a "blogger" job. and i quickly clicked on it. But sadly, there's not job for "blogger". hahaha But i didnt despair, i tried "Writer" and got 90+ posts.

1. Travel Writer for streetdirectory.com
2. Writer for a regional marketing comm agency. Basically translating products or services to potential clients.
3. Contract writer for 3 months for a design company doing creative marketing. This is lower entry level for Writer, i believe. and with 3 months contract, i can leave if i find i can't cope with too much words! haha
4. Research Writer for the Learning Lab with possible specializations in MAths, etc.

Nothing else is available for me as they need a degree holder. But the last post made me search for "Research" and these are the results that interest me:

1. Research Exec. collecting data n trends in countries such as Singapore, India, Pakistan and even Bangladesh!! They need a Bachelor degree but i dont care i wanna try!! there might be travelling involve! I'd be a good advantage when i've mastered Urdu/Hindi and understood more of their culture. If not, just ask Zubair for help! haha
2. Research Officer for a credit and BUsiness Information bureau. Basically checking credit history of pple or business. Nice!
3. Lastly, a Admin Exec (corporate Research) for JTC. Well, at least it's prolly in the right direction to start the career in Research.. Untill i finished my freaking degree!

Prolly you're asking, why am i searching for a new job?

Not that i'm unhappy in this job, just that to break away from what i think is an income ceiling for an Admin job with my level of education, i think i hafta break away from doing just ADMIN.

Writing is something i have been doing for the past year or more. Tho im not convinced my English is good, but the comments i've received from this blog as to the manner i write, have been encouraging =)

Research is something i'm obsessed with ever since the internet started to get so convenient. I've researched extensively for the Degree programme that i'd like to enrol back in 2005 and the best education loan (read: lowest interest) to support the sch fees. OCD, Money making, Job, Music Diploma for Zubair (more on this later) and more.

I believe i have what it takes to be a researcher bcos of my keen interest in number. In my testimonial, my principal wrote that i have analytical skills, and that fits the bill for most of the research job requirement.

But Shldn't leave in Dec! Should wait till BONUS! hahaha

Phew! What a night!

Last month we had that Amazing Race Challenge right? This month there are two other sporting events, one of which is Badminton Tournament.

Last night was the 2nd training session. I was pleased to see that my "driver" is playing again this year! He lives in Yishun and gave me a lift there then i'd take the bus back to Woodlands.

The story is like this...

I so wanna play badminton with Paul, our champion last year. But he had a knee operation just 2 weeks prior to registration deadline. Mathieu, the Frenchman, wants to play with his fellow countryman. I'm left with the not-so-interested-just-play-for-the-sake-of-participating-in-something Amos, the new guy.

I stalled my registration ... then one day i saw that there were two names registered but with no partner! they were Edy and Wei Lee. They are both very good players! Somehow, i chose Wei Lee.

Boy! Was i surprised to see that Wei Lee is the Driver from last year! See.. i was confused between Wei Lee and Wei Ming. I tot he was Wei Ming! i told him just so and he said, "Oh that's why u put your name there lah cause you thought you'd be playing with Wei Ming. He's 1st runner up last year what. Eh Don't put high expectation on me, no!"

Now i remember my theory to recall which is which, Wei Ming is the tall one and Wei Lee is the erm... not-tall one. hehe

This year and last year is definitely NOT the same. Last year i was single, this year i'm married. I asked Zubair to come along, rather than him sitting at home feeling bored right. At first, he said he'd get bored watching sports, but then i said no you can go look around maybe GreatWorld City or something.. and he did just that.

In total i played 4 matches. I finished 2.5 ltrs of water in 3 hours.

It was really fun this time around! Chiaw Gek, our professional player, showed me the "footwork". The theory is you skip to the right and to the left as to reach the shuttle with least movement. No wonder i saw they hit the shuttle so effortlessly and gracefully!

Then the partner gave me some tips and asked me to practise

I need to serve lower so the receiving opponent wouldn't be able to smash.

To do that, i need to change the style i serve. From back hand... change to.. er... upper hand? and that my thumb should be positioned so that it's pointing the flat face of the net of the racket.

I hafta "tap" the shuttle and hit with my racket swung to the back a bit and wait for it to get lower.

At first i thought that "tapping" means light touch. But i soon understand that it means hitting it hard. and send it to the back of the opponent.

Another tip is to hit right end or left end, but not center.

Zubair said my face was so flushed RED after i finished the last match. Gosh the game is just about 5min and i cldnt take it! To be fair, i did a lot of jumping and the opponent made me run to the right to the left like crazy! Need to remember the skipping steps.

Anyway, by the end of the training session, i felt so... delirious that i regretted not coming last week. But at the same time i was also grateful that i didnt, bcos otherwise i would have terrible sore muscles i wont be able to enjoy the Eid Visiting with friends the next day!

Next week is the tournament. I can already identify which team is potentially to be the champion! The ultra Male team: Ka Wei and Albert. Well.. more details next week! Can't wait! But maybe can wait till my sore muscles ease up. hahaha

Sometimes its wonderful, sometimes it irks me when i hear how thoughtful these pple are.

(Now i understand what Hidayah meant when she said she dont like goody goodies!)

Being the youngest pampered daughter, i think i am most of the time selfish. I want the things that i want, i want things to go the way i want, im not really willing to share except things i wanna discard and basically, just didnt' think of others.

Zubair surprised me when two nights ago he asked me, "So How's Kak Lina?" Kak Lina is the host where Zubair gave an outstanding performance on their grand piano, of which the video is here.

Me: Dont know
Zubair: Well, drop her a msg or something. Keep in touch. She's your cousin. We're not talking to her just for job or piano..

So the smses went like this:

me to Kak Lina: Hello Kak Lina. HOw are you? just dropping by to say hello cause Zubair is remembering you and family. send our regards to them all your parents in law and girls

Kak Lina:So sweet of your hubby to have us in his thoughts... :) Waalaikumussalam, from us all..

Me: Yeah he's a sweet thing. But too much of sweet will rot the teeth! hehe oklah keep in touch

Kak Lina: Till today Riqqah still remembers how he runcle Zubair is the one who put his long yellow scarf around her head face and body! the elder said she remembered him as the uncle playing our piano

Cute right those girls?!

i feel warmed and touched by this exchange... and i appreciate Zubair for urging me to do so... It's a new experience for me to be the initiator of maintaining relationship. heh

But then ah... im very amazed, these pple are so passionate, so thoughtful and selfless in part. How did they become that way? Makes me feel inept, ya know! Like why i dont have such natural characteristics in me? But yeah, i guess it needs to be cultivated and there's always time to start!

I remember when i was first being discovered sleeping at the backmost empty table in the office. It was 8+am, before the official working hours, so i took a chance to take a wink. Then my throat felt super dry and i HAD to cough. When i did, my Asst Manager quickly ran up to me and asked, "Are you ok? I didnt know you were here... Do you need to see the doctor?"

The force of such caring words almost took me back. Wow... I guess im not used to being the receiving end of a thoughful, caring person, esp in the working environment.

Back in Zac meat, our overtimes were seen as ways to squeeze more money out of your employer, our MCs and sick leaves were seen as more liabilities to the company.

Then in MKA, when i had to take leave or MC for period pains almost every month, my bosses came to slow talk to me. They said, "You hafta manage your problem."

Re my Pakistan trip, my mother and aunty are very worried about the political situation there.

Last Fri, mummy reported that she saw on C N N a "WAR" is going on right IN LAHORE. Then i quickly told Zubair to check w his family. But Rizwan, his brother, said everything is fine. But mummy is persistent that she SAW the video footage on C N N.

So i kept a lookout for the news report on the channel. I saw some police controlling crowds while Benazir giving her speech just on the lawn of her house in RAWALPINDI during her house arrest. There was a 5sec clip where a policewoman was hitting and slapping this woman. I was very surprised at the policewoman's reaction to the poor civilian's mere verbal outcries that i shouted, "OH MY GOD!" Zubair went out quickly then reprimanded me, "What is this Julissa? This is nothing u already made a big issue?" i said i was just surprised that's all.

ANYWAY, should i be afraid?

1. There's no coverage on Lahore
2. Rizwan said nothing happened
3. Mamoo Ajmal say this situation will only affect the politicians, judiciaries and media
4. Postings on Lahore Metblogs only reported peaceful protests that the universities launched. Photos show they were indeed peaceful
5. and on that blog, life still went on as normal, except that satellite dishes saw a 150% jump in price when their TV channels got blocked. Interestingly, NOT their internet and the news pple are posting videos online.
6. Paul was in Bangkok, Thailand when the prev Prime Minister was overthrown by the military, was in emergency state and was under Martial Law. He said that everything was fine. like nothing happened.

But of course, danger lurks EVERYWHERE... death can also happen anywhere... Winter is calling me... we will be there, and return safely by grace of God.

Ok.. I'm writing this for free.

Still on the subject of money, I stumbled upon a CitiBank ad after i sent an email in yahoo. It said

"No minimum income to own a credit card"


And i thought, Really? Now that's a dream come true! im just a lil over 5k to reach the usual min requirement. So i clicked on the ad.

Well, i supposed it's not too bad a deal. You can check it out here.

The card is called a Citi Clear Card.

1. Min age requirement is 21yrs old, or otherwise, need parent's consent
2. You can be a working adult or a tertiary student or an NS man
3. Credit Limit is S$500. Yup its pathetic but naturally with income lower than the standard 30k, you wldn't be able to spend much beyond ur earnings anyway. So it's good for emergency purposes. Eg: ur bonus is in Dec but u desperately need that Foundation NOW! hahahahha
4. Hmmm there's feature for cash withdrawal but a min charge of $10 per withdrawal or 5% of amount withdrawn whichever is higher. Hmm... like that i'd rather take a loan from my mother! Interest free! maybe even got discount! LOL or at least can offset from other debit transactions.
5. I dont remember how much is the interest rate, but the late payment charge is somewhere around $40!!!!
6. There's also an option to create a Step-up Interest Account that pays interest max 3% for your monthly salary input or something but there's a min of $2,000 to maintain the account or a fee is chargeable and with a compulsory first deposit of $500. Er... Thanks, but not thanks. i've already got 2 accounts to maintain. humph!
7. The best part is, the statement in online. So i can check it at home or in the office. i dont hafta whine when i forgot to bring the statement to work to review my expenses or anything. (You can get a paper statement at $2)

There are more information available on the website that you might need to consider before taking it up. But i hafta tell you... i DONT like the site... it's only after i've filled in the form that the FULL details such as interest rates and all that came out. I wanted to read all that before applying.. but thank goodness the online form doesn't mean a true take up.. You still need to print the form, copy your IC and mail it to them or drop them off at the branch.

Anyways... I've submitted my application... Like i said, it's for emergency. I must be steadfast on NOT using it unnecessarily as it will only burden my monthly payments! Otherwise, KOYAK (TORN/DRY), babe!

PS: Luckily, i am writing this for free so i can give my honest and balanced opinion about it.

http://www.jaxtr.com/jussaemon

I havent got to try it yet.. But suddenly my emails were full of invitations for this allegedly free phone service.

But i suppose, it'd be convenient to have when Zubair is in Pak and me in Singapore.... IF it works...

I suppose the caller should have an earpiece and a mic.

OH yeah the cost to call is 1 jax/min and they start you off with 100jax with monthly free credits of i dont know how much.

Ok.. i just read some more... the only way you can earn some more jax is by inviting new friends... even then you only get 20 jax for each sign ups. Hmmm im usually not one to bomb my contacts' inbox with useless invitations... so i've just invited the ones overseas...

Oops... i think i have accidentally signed up WITHOUT clicking on the 2 invitations i got. i just straight away typed the add on the browser. *slap forehead* And sad dont you think that only one of the inviters will get the points?

Wait... i have an idea... make LOTSA accounts from your own diff emails! That way you get 100 jax x Y (no of emails u have) + 20Y.