Webmice Bloggery

i don’t know if i should feel happy or miserable. well… i have this colleague that somehow doesn’t feel like one… he feels more like a friend… perhaps he is a really good person… but having been through life… nearly three decades… i sort of became jaded and really disregard real friendship… or am i being naive? ah… this will be another pondering blog entry… to spare you with the misery… you may stop now because whatever i write after this… is purely personal

how close am i with this colleague?
seriously, i do not know… he joined in Dec 06… in fact, his first day at work was also the day we had our corporate retreat at orchid country club… my first impression was… he blended well with the rest of us… at least he was not pretentious… sincere and able to laugh at himself… well i was still in HR then… and somehow… we didnt really have the chance to communicate… until a temp staff - also an ex student of the sch… came into the picture… it was then we had our unofficial tea break… we would usually write emails or book calendars in our outlook to secretly have tea break… so the three of us… the temp staff, my colleague and i would be skiving at the canteen… ahaha… actually not really skiving because at the canteen we would be discussing our favourite topics… which is programming… ahhaha i am not that knowledgable… but i do understand programming language … quite strange… but i scored distinctions for my programming even though i was in a civil engineering course… but thats not issue… so… lets go back to the three of us… we would sometimes go swimming… after work… and its really great cos… i didnt know colleagues can be friends… so when the temp staff left for army… its just me and my colleague… although we sit on different levels… he would sometimes come up and joke with me and billy… he loves to gossip… so… hahah actually we gossip alot in office… so blah blah… the thing goes on

until today… we actually tried doing rss for our websites yesterday… but because the articles in our websites are not drawn from databases… its not possible to automate rss… what we have is a manual rss update… sigh… i really don’t like this idea… but he went on to work over time… even at starbucks near his place… just to solve the picture problem… but… sigh… what for? its still going to be manual… and why have a manual rss? it defeats the whole idea… but he sent an email to DP… and of course… DP being the very ’siao’ person who likes such IT improvements… praised him… my colleague then replied that "I AM" also involved in this… then DP says to make it possible on the entire website… i nearly fainted… who is going to do these manual updating all the time… sigh… so i told him… i don’t think he should emailed DP and gave him false hopes… but my colleague said never mind… "what he is doing is to help me get promotion…" i told him i don’t want promotion… he insisted that "i needed a promotion after working so hard for two years…" i just went dead… i don’t know if i should be happy or sad…

…. i just don’t know what to do… its really confusing

its a very nice restaurant! i love the feeling of sitting in a cottage themed restaurant with jazz music piped in… its really romantic…

i had escargot… hahaha i never thought i’ll eat snails… but yea i did… it tasted like… chicken… no…. fish… erm… no…. okay its really tender… almost like eating abalone… but definitely easier to bite… hahah but you go the idea…

i also ordered the clam chowder… hmmm… not really to my liking because i thought there will be lots of clams in it… but nope… its really empty… maybe a few thin slices… and some pieces of potatoes… but overall… it taste watery… not nice

my best friend ordered spaghetti with prawn roe (lots), prawns and some clams… its really not bad… but i really pity those prawn roes… lying untouched… cos it sticks to the plate… sigh… i pity those eggs…

i ordered the dish… that sounded like tongkat… basically its a set of sticky rice, prickles, miso soup, potatoe salad, cabbage salad, ice cream and fried pork. The pork was firm and thick… i just wish they hit on it more… so that they can be tender… but i love the source… very very salty and sour… hahaha.. yes, i just love it when my taste bud is stretched to the limit… but the miso soup was different from those you drink at sakae sushi or yoshinoya… this one has onion, carrot, radish and chicken in it… ichiban ah…

i will give it 4 stars for ambience and 3 stars for food quality

i spent $59 bucks including service charge and gst… on the way out… please ask for their membership card… its FOC… and you get some discount next time u come back… oh by the way… if you are using UOB JBP card… then you can have discount… otherwise… nope…

i heard that their hamburger is nice and unique… you might want to try that… its beef btw

hehe… this is the second time i went to this restaurant called Hai Xiang at Parkroyal Hotel at kitchener road…. next to mustafar… and farrer park mrt

even so… i still haven’t try enough… it has 66 dishes on its menu… and its buffet ala carte…. the first 7 dishes on its menu is only served once… but the rest are not… wahahaha you can imagine

okay… so how much is it?

its between $25 to $36 per person… depending on the day of the week… but thats excluding tea/towel/nuts charges… which could add up to $20

if you are using uob card to pay… you will have 20 per cent discount… it cost $201 for 7 person after discount… which is roughly $29 per person

not bad… cos its really worth it… they have this mini buddha jump over the wall… it has one baby abalone in it… some mushrooms… real baby shark fins (many pieces) and some hai sian… delicious… i also like their large serving of prawns and fishes… hahaha in fact you can order many times

we ate from 6.30pm to 9pm… and had multiple bowls of desserts

its really worth it… better than the lobster house in rp… wahahaha

show you some photos

this is their main menu where you can order only once… the rest you can order multiple times… i suggest you look at the meat section… cos its really REALLY standard restaurant fare… so you will know how worth it is… wahahaha i hope they don’t close down soon

Ah… i guess this is what you want to see… how much it cost and how to make reservations… if you are driving… you can park at the hotel carpark… its $2.20 per entry after 6pm… but the space is limited… and no eps system… so you have to insert cashcard into their reader

it has really nice decor… lux… lots of woods and beautiful sandstone walls… mood lights… some place you can bring your family and friends to… and not appear cheap… its a good family gathering place… for someone like me who don’t talk to my family that much… i must admit that… i was abit high… i was talking nonsense… which made everyone happy… wahahaha

hehehe… and of course… my grandma… don’t you think she is cute? hi grandma! woooots~

ah… so what is on my mind… handphones

i must have been a handphone slut… ok, unlike those real hp sluts… i’m just changing it once… whenever i renew my contract… thats not so bad… at least i use the phone for 2 years before i think of changing … so now its like… 3 months before my contract is 2 years… i got to think of the possibilities…

i came up with a few criteria…

1) if its nokia… it got to be one with gps… cos thats the only thing thats attractive about nokia phones nowadays

2) if its a sony ericsson… it got to be the cybershot one… cos the one i’m currently using k750i is actually very good…. although its technically not a cybershot phone… it was the phone with 2MP… 2 years ago… its really a big deal… and with flash somemore… ahaha… if i choose sony ericsson… it got to better than the one i’m using… i’m eyeing http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=24&id=2360 but i guess it will be 2 years later… cos i’m not really a trendsetter… i prefer to have the product out in the market for sometime

3) if its a samsung… its got to have MP3 storage and a cool screen… but i hate those BIG FONTS … hate it totally… then when u press got sound somemore… and its those doh, reh, me… yucks… so… maybe not

4) if its motorola… its… nah~ i dun like hello-motor… damn stupid tag line… and that david backcum is spokesperson somemore… yucks… sorry guys… i don’t like running billboard on the field

the rest can’t make it… so… yeah… i’ll stick to my top two choices for now…

talking about crap… i can’t imagine how i manage to survive this week… but i did! good job, ben

have a great weekend and treasure whatever is left

by the way… my weekend is filled to the brim

Sat morning… going to train with the guys/gals at seletar
Sat noon… drive the kids to jurong lake
Sat evening… go eat dinner with my family at some haunted hotel next to farrer park mrt
Sat night… go meet my campmates (i havent seen them for awhile… but ah… F***… i just received an sms saying i got to go for recall manning brief again!!!)

Sun morn… rest and study
Sun noon… pick my best friend up
Sun noon… arrive at jurong lake again to watch the kids compete for finals
Sun evening… dinner with my best friend
Sun midnight… chiong all the reports i need to submit to my boss for her approval

what a weekend!

heya friends… you know i am quite touched by some of your actions recently… to simplify matters… yes i am that lazy… i am going to group you guys up… haha

okay first off… to my dear colleagues at rp… especially those few close ones… its really funny but i’m actually close to some of you… haha… maybe its because you guys are really real to me… and you didnt pretend at all… i do not know who sent me this TGIF thing… but its really nice of you… by the way… for those who didnt know how we fax things… its actually by scanning it as an image then you can actually send fax electronically… but this one i received didnt come from a fax… it came directly as a scanned image…  although its really simple… but its really nice… because i was on MC on friday… and someone sent me this… i am really touched by your kind gesture… so to that mysterious friend… thank you… also to cat… although you called me to ask me about some work related matters… you sounded really sweet by telling me to rest well… yes, i was half asleep and drowsy from the flu tablet… but your voice really perks me up… it did put me in a good mood :)… and to my cheeky friend chee liang… haha i don’t think you should come to my cubicle so often… they are beginning to mistake me with you… hahaha… erm and thats not a nice gossip to start with… haha… so there thank you colleagues

i was glad i went out just now… for dinner… with gerald’s friends… at least i feel better… to brian… its really good to know that you are really my blog… it shows you are interested in my personal life… hahaha… ya i blog too much sometimes… and to jason for recommending a very nice website… which i didnt know about… www.yum.sg… i will explore it in a few days time… hopefully… my schedule is abit tight recently because of events… sigh… in fact… i do not know if i am learning at all… i’m beginning to feel bored at work…

to my coursemates… particularly… my project mates… haha you know who you are… thanks for making my two days of lectures per week worth travelling to… wahahaha… yeah… crazy bunch of folks… haha… sorry for giving you names… but really… its appropriate… wahahahah

gosh… what can i say… i’m really glad i have some friends

thanks!

"If everyone has one story that defines them, then this is mine…" wow i just love all these poetic lines… it comes from the opening trailer of the home song stories… of cos the main lead is joan chen… i just love joan… she comes from china but works her way up to be an actress… an internationally acclaimed one

"i write these stories about my mother trying to understand her and all the things that she did. Or perhaps to punish her, or just to remember, to feel, to forgive, to love…" wow… and that’s the closing of the trailer…

love it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2s85bHTAzc

how come no one talent spot me? hahaha maybe i have not enough power haha… anyway… i’m suffering from fever, flu and headache this weekend… not a good way to start off the weekend.. knowing how important weekends are to me

back to the main topic… i have been wanting to write something to defend rui en… i do not know why… please don’t ask me

this gal was talented spotted while acting as the running girl in the singtel ad many years ago by artiste networks… headed by ken of course… wahaha

but the amazing thing about this girl is she has done quite a lot of amazing thing… like singing with Jay chou in her debut album… if you do not know… now you do… the album titled RuiEn hahaha was released in 2002 to much fanfare but it suffered from bad press because of the way she treated them… i made this up… haha but then the real reason could be fans of jay chou were not happy with him cosying up with a young starlet like ruien… to add on… rui en has a funny accent when she sings… perhaps due to her educational background.. but hey… thats no way to put blame on… look at what yanzi and tanya turns out to be… they are sing without much accent… hahaha… but this is extreme…

lets look at her 2002 album… i must tell you dispite her weird accent… she did an amazing job and i am listening to it over and over again… yes its on repeat mode again… thats the problem with me

okay so what song is playing non-stop … its this one http://tt78.com/player/1301/26760.htm Ai Qing Fu Zuo Yong (爱情副作用)… a rock song that kind of nicely phrased by ruien… good job… i bet she sounds like ashley simpsons trying to sing rock… wahahaha… and i mean it in a good way… she is wild and angry enough in this song…  i like the way she screams wahahaha

of course rui en is more famed for her acting skills nowadays… best suited for tomboyish type… she is really a natural… in Honour and Passion 宝家卫国… she was this tomboy who finally found some love… i love the scene where she wore a red dress and big hair wig trying to impress the guy she loved… wahahah its hilarious

ahh… also in this album… i love the R&B sound of this song tao yan(讨厌) http://tt78.com/player/1301/26761.htm … she has groove… too bad… like i told you… this album didnt do well because of bad press…

of course… how can you miss out on the duet with the kind of chinese pop Jay chou .. tian liang dang beng you (天亮当朋友)… http://tt78.com/player/1301/26763.htm … i didnt know jay chou can sing better… hahah at least he sounds better than rui en in this track… but yawns… a boring song

catch rui en on the upcoming ch8 show Metamorphosis 破茧而出

i’m not promoting her… wahahah…

if you take a look at the NEA site on earthquakes… it recorded the recent quakes measuring 6.0 and above… on the last figure in the page… http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/article.asp?pid=1198

you see… the plates are moving… in what direction… hmmm looking at the map… it seems like they have resulted in the formation of trench… so it should be compressing in the direction of australia… yikes… does that mean Singapore will move nearer to the plate lines???

but its interesting to note how many earthquakes there were yesterday and today…

What do you think?

it started with Daphne telling me that Billy will be away for a long time… sad… Billy didnt tell me this himself even though I said in the same cubicle as him… of course i was horrified… in fact… maybe i should just say it here since… he is in my list of friends here… and he will probably read it… hopefully… before he goes to hospital this week… sigh… that he is my first friend in RP… and yes… it is extremely difficult to find friends when you are working… and there… Billy is someone who is totally sincere and down-to-earth… very rare…

so i just want to wish Billy… "have a quick and safe recovery! hope to see you at work again… if i’m still around when you come back… but still… we can always go out again… with the rest of the gang at RP… change is nature… things will keep changing… so do not be surprised when you come back…"

peace and take care, my friend

eh… i do not know what state of mind i am in now… maybe the crazy one… cos i am multi-tasking… and when i do… i feel weird… maybe guys are not born to do such things… not that i am not in control… i am… just that… i would rather have just one thing to focus at one time…

ever felt you are small? my group mates did just that… hahaha… to discuss about our… erm… project… we went to national library at bugis… instead of sitting with the rest of those selfish adults… we decided to explore the kiddy land and be selfish ourselves… ahahaha… we ‘chopped’ a table and many seats… there was one i particularly like… because if you flip it to the side it became a rocking chair… alas… i am not longer the small Ben i used to be… squeezing into the seat was such a pain… my bottoms must be huge… not that i really take notice… so there we were… sitting in the middle of a playhouse… trying to kid ourselves wahahahahah…    let me introduce them to you… jac (the one who combs her hair very regularly with her hands) ehehehe, eugene (the one who is the anchor man for a popular chinese programme - qian xian jui zhong… pardon me for my hanyu pinyin… it sucks too), and alicia… though i prefer to call her juan (the one who writes newsletters for companies)… wahahaha i’m really glad to know these bunch of happy folks who joke alot… and i mean A LOT!!