The Original Juice

I had the opportunity to catch up with my junior, my friend, my "coursemate", my colleague's daughter last Fri.

I had a very nice time chatting with her that 1hr seemed to pass by in a flash!

Firstly, I bought 3 pcs of clothes for $15 at that cheap store at Lau Pa Sat.

After we bought our food, i got her down talking about her new job! And then about a proposal from a Saudi!! She felt like her rights were somehow violated when her mother refused it FOR her when she hasnt even given it a thorough thought. Basically, she didnt wanna lose her daughter lah.

I agreed to say what a waste and indulged in a little bit of daydreaming. C'Mon, who DOES NOT want to like in Mekah??? Furthermore, the guy is well established, travels widely and has had an australian education. The only setback is that, she's got to be prepared for the guy to take another 1 or 2 wives!

Nonetheless, She said she's happy to hear, at last, somebody who supported her idea, or at least, see the reason why she felt somehow elated. I told her, "Hello? You're talking to a person who married a foreigner herself. Of course i'd totally support the idea!" LOL


But quite funny actually. She is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO into Indian stuffs! She likes to wear punjabi suits, she eats Indian food, she learns Hindi from her neighbour and prolly has watched every single Hindi movie ever made! hehehe

She gave me a tip to play any Hindi movie on the background while surfing and stuffs and listen to their conversation and it will subconsciously go into my head! haha

Just a few metres from we were excitedly discussing how confused we are with Main, Mujhe and Mainney - the diff varieties of the English equivalent pronoun, I.

So i told her... Ok Let's meet up next fri and i will bring my book and will discuss this again ok?

*winks*

Have you ever had an argument with your significant other and felt utter despair and disappointments? Like the future looks bleak and all?

I had loads of that of course. Last night was just the same. But the ending somewhat different.

It started from the word hello when i called him last night. In return to my hello he said, "kaisey ho, bhai?" which means, how are you bro?

Actually the story is very long. To cut it short, just say that i took offense that he called me BRO and it led to other bigger arguments with him realising how different we are and how we're ever gonna survive the future together.

We hang up bitterly with me keeping mum towards the end not saying a word. But he called again trying to explain that Bhai is like Singapore's Lah equivalent (altho at first he said he was just joking with me). and wanted to make up which we did but it was shortlived when he passed the phone over MIL. I was still crying and very much emotional so i cldnt take the call well and it was ended abruptly.

Not 5 mins later, he called me again. I asked, "You're using home line? I tot u said its expensive?" He said yes. and i began to say, "So why... (are you still calling me?)" and then his lovely words, "Yeah lah... and u still think that we dont love you and care for you."

I noticed his use of plural but whatever. Only then i truly realised that he does indeed love me. He can't bear to argue or be angry with me for long. He wanted to end the day in peace. And suddenly, the dark clouds were gone and the sun was shining bright. And i was smiling and laughing away. Like they say... the making up part is the best. =)

I love you. Despite your quirks. Despite our differences. Despite our distance. Despite our history. God willing our marriage will stay strong.

Alhamdulillah, I have confirmed my flight to Pakistan!

My boss has also approved my two weeks holiday! Alhamdulillah wa skurulillah. Just that he cldn't accept my request to take 3 days of unpaid leaves out of the 7.5 annual leaves citing that HR might raise an eyebrow about it. I seriously don't know why HR would mind.

As the day of departure is fast approaching, i find myself very busy with things to do!!

1. Finish all my pending tasks at work
2. Meet Hidayah to borrow winter clothes
3. Meet my 11 Best GFs
4. Meet Gynae
5. Pamper myself at Spa just before meeting hubby
6. Shop for travel toiletries or anything else i would need to use over there in Pak
7. Make a list of items to bring
8. Prolly go buy PSP? Video Cam? Shop at Audio House. They are having 60% discount!!!
9. Finish reading my "Learn Urdu in 2 months" which i started MORe than a year ago!!!
10. Get some more prescription for slimming pills and sinus.
11. Achieve my target weight. Maybe 3 more kgs to go?
12. Borrow books/DVDs to bring over

I hafta remember NOT to eat so much over there! But i heard a lot of pple are going to invite us over for a treat (read: meal) arghhh how to maintain my weight like that? LOL

Ok focus focus.

Ok right now, im swamped and i LOVE it!

Normally at the start of the new year, we would like to start keeping data properly when we begin afresh, right?

I have already done the new data-entry template for my colleague which she has started using and doing well.

Next on the list is Clients Contacts List.

Currently, we do have an excel spreadsheet with the information but it was very poorly designed that i can't exploit the data for other usage for eg Mail Merge.

So my intention is to do some housekeeping on the existing spreadsheet. And then export it to MS Access to include email add, Names of Officers and their departments that is tagged to the company name.

The biggest picture will be to incorporate the "sales" figure and payment feature into the Access too. But the last time i messed around with the prog, i realised i had forgotten how to make a query! Oklah.. i suppose i CAN manage it, but its the data entry part that needs to be correct first. Aiyah... im just rambling!

Secondly, I suggested to my office manager to conduct a basic PowerPoint lesson to my male colleagues. It will increase their efficiency when they need not hafta wait for my return email of the fully animated slides everytime they have a presentation to show.

and then I will also share the extra functions and formulas in excel, graphs and keyboard shortcuts with the rest of the ladies.

So im currently busy compiling all the things i wanna share and putting together notes for them so that, hopefully, they can remember the features available and need only take a look at that note. haha

I am looking forward to this session actually, bcos i really do feel they are very useful! Remember, the key feature is the HELP button. You dont really hafta remember ALL the formulas and actions Excel or any other software can do. Just press F1!

I'm quite sure if the Manager who taught/showed me Excel many years ago knows this, he would be proud of me today.

Our filing cabinet is full!!!!!

I have a LOT of archiving to do to clear up two shelves or maybe four. And then Expansion... changing of cabinet labels. Major reconstruction!

Oops i still owe 5 minutes of meeting from last year! Hafta finish them too

Fortunately, Boss is away and won't be back till next thurs. So i can focus to finish all these.

I might write less too... just to warn you.

Kak Ly, Abg Fai and Mummy were from Geylang and picked us up.

We all reached home around 6:50pm yesterday.

I set about having a quick dinner before going to class. Ayah was carrying Syifaa'. Then Kak Ly wanted to let Ayah take his dinner so she took the baby from him. But Syifaa' refused as hell!

At first we thought she's still blur from her nap in the car or that she cldn't recognise her Ummi who has just had an image-changing haircut.

She kept on crying and crying, we thought, "Is she just cranky because of the fever?" She just came back from a $70 doctor's visit, you see.

That is.. Until Ayah realised that...

Right after we came home, while ayah was carrying Syifaa', Ayah did what he always do to entertain her ie Take her to the window for people/nature watching. Note that it was 6:50pm and dusk was approaching in approx 25min.

It is said that during this time the jinns / spirits come out to play before the calling of the athan at dusk which scares them away.

Syifaa', Kak Lily claimed, looked very fierce when she refused her own mother. It was like she had a split personality, crying at one time, fierce at another, then a bit of laughing when we tried to play with her.

Ayah then took an advice from his friend to read the athan (call for prayer) on her right ear and iqamah on her left ear and read Ayatul Kursi and all other verse from the Qur'an relentless until she fell asleep.

She woke up at about 10:30pm and started to cry non stop again. We did the above step again but this time she really struggled very hard for some time. Ayah thinks this is the part where the spirit was truly on the way out of her system.

My poor darling Syifaa'. Syafakillah and May Allah always protect you and all of us too.

I was supposed to have a movie date I Am Legend, 6 o'clock show at Ang Mo Kio with Lina yesterday.

I fixed the appt with her some 10 days earlier, and reconfirmed with her again 3 days prior to yesterday. and said yes yes, ok. But at 3.35pm she smsed me asking if i had bought the tickets cos it seemed that she cant make it now.

Well, lucky for her i didnt book the tix.

I scrambled to find somebody to go out with but could only think of Hidayah. Unfortunately, she has a class that night.

The thing is, my family are going out for class that night and i sooo dont wanna be at home all by myself. Well you should know why lah. So i decided to go watch Alvin and the Chipmunks at causeway POint instead. Alone. But better than at home alone. Causeway Point has a lot of pple.

When i reached home, I asked Kak Ly, "Ly, are you going to class?" She asked why and i said, "If you're not going then i shan't go out, but if you're going then i go out lah." She said, "Aiyah you go lah..."

Divine intervention came, we got a call from their teacher saying that tonight's class is cancelled. She had to go settle some administration issue. Yayyy, i have my family at home and i dont hafta spend a single cent going out. It would have been about $13 worth of damages if i did catch that movie. $7 for movie ticket and $6 for my beloved Nachos combos!


But you know what? I had a truly fabulous time with my very long chat friend, butterflyrubrics, during lunch earlier that day.

I was invited over to her office "lounge" aka the-place-where-she-sleeps for lunch. and you know how i LOVEEE to see other pple's office! haha weird.

We compared notes on how we exercise at the gym... I discovered that she goes to this custom made shoe maker (called something Lizard!) who sells pump shoes starting $60! It's like retail price of the smae kind of shoes (if u shop at Metro or Takashimaya)! Nice right~

Unfortunately, i wont be able to make it to her wedding! Which was the purpose of our meeting up ie for her to pass the invitation card to me. She's so understanding about it. She said its ok and that this sending of invitation card is a good way of catching up with friends! Cos its not like she'd be able to chat with all her guests on the Big day!

And i am soooooooooo looking forward to pamper myself to this Harem spa that she strongly recommends. 2.5 more weeks to go!

To my dear friend, Thank you.

So though i didnt manage to catch up with Lina... I had Butterfly with me for Lunch whom i hadn't seen since Syawal 06! I feel loved. *beaming*

For the past yr or so i havent been taking the cab as frequently as i did previously.

It's prolly due to:

1. Its not an available option for me if i wanna eat till end of the month.
2. I arrange my outing to coincide with Ayah's schedule so he could send or pick me up
3. If i'm late for work, then im late for work.
4. I realise that cab can take quite longer than train esp during peak hours with traffic jams everywhere
5. I now mostly go out w Hubby, so even if we hafta take the train, we have each other and i have his shoulder to lean on for a wink.

However, to go to my Sat class, if nobody could send me then i'd normally take a cab down Bcos it's a good 10 - 15min walk from home. Though i can easily do that leisurely, i dont wanna reach there all sweaty and out of breath to teach! Train will take abt 10mins or even up to 15 including walking n waiting time and to think that its only for 1 stupid station! There are a lot of buses that go to my student's place BUT bcos i'd be taking from the bus interchange and not a regular bus stop, the bus berths are all over the place, it'd be silly to be running around to catch the first bus that departs.

In any case, It's been a long time since the last time i had to take a cab down to that class. What used to be $3.20 or at the very most $3.50 if we meet a red light at every junction is now $4.50!!!!!!!!! It was the SilverTaxi

The flag down rate used to be $2.70 now is $3.00. Per km rate has also doubled.

The only good thing that has come up out of this is that, it's a LOT easier to catch a cab now. I didnt even hafta wait 1 min two empty cabs already passed me by. Sighh... tit for tat huh? But the govt's right. We shldn't be taking advantage of cab and that it SHOULD be a premium commuting option instead of an alternative public transport.

So, it's trains only now for me lah.

Hi peeps!


I'm quite sure i have written about how to get your favourite games for free before. But nonetheless, lemme just write again.


DON'T be scared or LAZY to get and cancel those trial memberships!!


Shockwave offers 10 days unlimited games when you apple for their Shockwave Unlimited membership. Remember, these are FULL Versions and not the kind with 60min limit. Just login to your unlimited membership to gain access to the full version after you've downloaded and installed the game.


Pros: very portable


Cons: Only 10 days


Realarcade on the other hand, offers 1 free FULL Version for keeps when for every email account you sign up for a gamepass trial account which you must cancel within 30days to avoid being charged. First, you need to install their Realarcade software though.


Pros: get to keep the games forever. can redownload at any other computer. 30 days trial.


Cons: Need to install software


The only catch is you would need to use your credit / debit card to secure your trial membership. and that you hafta remember to cancel it!!



Now, i hafta tell you that i own a grand total of 32 full version games that i have acquired over the past 2 years. This is only on RealArcade and not even including scores of other games i've played on Shockwave.



There are several types of games that i like to play:

1. Search and find. Eg: The Scruffs

List of items you need to find are on the right. Click on the dog's bone to get a hint of where the item is if you're stuck. As for me, if i dont know the meaning of certain words or can't picture what they look like, i just search for their images at Google!

These type of games have further variations like:

a) Various Short games after you completed a round including jigsaw puzzles, spot the difference, unscramble words etc

b) Instead of words, they give you shadows of the items u need to find

c) Hints are awarded in diff manner. Eg: find the bone or click once n u hafta wait for the bar to fill up again before u can click on it again.

And they will always include a very nice story line. The Scruffs story started after the father lost his job and need to sell the house to get by. Turned out the grandfather has some treasure hidden away under double triple clues that they hafta solve....

2. Fast finger wins!

You hafta react to customer's orders quickly to fill them, get the money and achieve your sales goal.

The Apprentice Los Angeles

Cake Mania 2

The Apprentice Los Angeles came to a close 2nd behind my all time favourite Cake Mania 2. Actually maybe they are a tie lah. Both are number 1s in my book of games!

The thing i like about Apprentice is they have 3 or 4 different scenarios / shops and while its not exactly easy, its manageable. But stages towards the end of Cake Mania is very unnerving and intense! But I like Cake Mania for their colourful animations, their delicious looking cakes with different icing and toppings and for the machine UPGRADES! It's like working hard to buy your car or house, only instead of car or house, they let u upgrade for faster ovens and icing machines, faster shoes! Faster muffin oven to soothe the impatient customers, upgrade for more and diff toppings as well as faster ones.

I have to say though that i DONT LIKE! I repeat i dont LIKE Diner Dash. It's so mundane ok. seat ur customers, preferably according to their colours, serve them menu, collect their order, send their order, give and collect the check, clean the table. As another bonus, u get more points for chaining (doing one action eg serving menus to multiply customers in a row).

3. Strategy

Build-A-Lot

Build a town and achieve the mayor's specified goal before the deadline. You will start off with, let's say, $10,000 and 3 workers. Firstly, you hafta buy the blueprint on how to build, for eg, a Manor, an Estate etc. If you build a construction office, your employee will be more efficient and you can employ new workers at cheaper rate. Then if you build a bank, you can earn money. But if you donate the profit to charity, then you will get tax exemptions etc. So you need to strategise, really!

Just like Holiday Island, remember Ayah?

Fairy GodMother Tycoon

Fairy GodMother is another strategy game. But the difference is there's competition and you hafta kick them out of business! The storyline for this one is also cute. and before the start of a new business day, you hafta buy supplies, set your advertisement budget and method, read the weather forecast. In the forecast, they will say how many % of pple will get a certain sickness the next day, so ur supplies to make curing potions, shld be able to accomodate the Ill.


At first, only Kak Lily joins in the fun and joy of these games. She even subscribes to Big Fish Games which she pays monthly!! After a year or so, then Kak Long started to get hooked mostly on Search & find games only. But she prefers chatting to playing these games lah.


And now, i've got Mummy addicted to it too! I dont know to feel happy or guilty! Happy that someone shares my interest. Guilty that im responsible for her time away from her other responsibilities. hehe I've only introduced her to the Search & Find... Over the past week or 2, she's already finished 5 or 6 games twice each!


Anybody interested yet?

The last weekend has been "wonderful".

Just lazing around at home.

But i got a bit frantic after i gotta know that Kak Ly was going out to a wedding dinner, mummy & ayah overnighting in Malacca and of Course Kak Long's not in Spore, that sat night. I dont wish to stay at home alone while Zubair is away. Dont wanna get caught in the gloom.

So i went out to buy my "happy food" for break fast. 1 large Twister Fries, 1 apple pie, 1 McFlurry, 1 bag of vegetable crackers (keropok yg putih2 tu).

While at Tom & Stefanie's, i found a nice winter pyjamas! Pants @ $3.90, turtle neck shirt at $3.90 and this cute pink sleeveless thick vest @ $5.90.

I'm loving it.

Watched Amazing Race Episode 12 on AXN and kinda zapped out into a daze of game playing. till 3am. Talked to Zubair for 40mins and didnt sleep till 4:30am!!

Even then, i woke up at Syifaa' banging at my door at 10:30am and cldnt go back to sleep.

ok this post soo has no purpose whatsoever. I beg your pardon.