SMRT operation management is really ...

Stuck on a slow moving packed train with a wailing baby is no joke...

Mild headache has evolved into a throbbing one...

With no service announcements, I can only guess that the rain has affected train service to such an extent that we are stopping for a few minutes at each station.

I just wish some brilliant scientist would improve the teleporting process to include human beings. The possibilities are endless!

吴奇隆 - 祝你一路顺风

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TfMgg9-QiA8

It has been close to half a year since you have left us...

Although we have not been really close, listening to this song on YES 933.3 FM just brought back all the memories...

I am just glad that you have moved on to a better place...

RIP

Don't use your handphone if you are driving...

How to drive when you are holding your handphone in 1 hand while trying to steer with the other hand?

Did you realize you are taking up 2 out of 3 lanes in your attempt to multi-task during peak hour traffic...

Ah Boys to Men - Review

Just watched Ah Boys to Men with HIM... Quite a funny and heart warming in local context.

Gained some new knowledge about NS terminology, eg: CB leaf (which HE brought up previously but simply refuses to elaborate further).

Personally, I felt that the movie is worth watching and it would be even better if it is a complete movie instead of being split up into 2 parts. No doubt the 'break' was quite nicely done.

Review of obdo mask

Finally used this last piece of obdo mask. It contains coenzyme Q10, collagen and ginseng. It is supposed to prevent wrinkles, moisturise the skin and improve skin elasticity.

The previous 2 times that I tried it (left it on overnight as per instructions overleaf), I was quite happy with the results (whiter and more moisturised skin). However, the ginseng smell is quite strong.

SingTel's Corp Social Responsibility initiative - Project Silverline

Received this SMS from Singtel a few minutes ago:

Donate your used iPhone 3GS/4/4S for a good cause! As part of SingTel's Corp Social Responsibility initiative - Project Silverline, we will sponsor 1 yr's talktime & data plan to our senior beneficiaries to match your iPhone donation. Donate yours at any SingTel Retail Shop today. More info @ www.singtel.com/silverline

What is the main purpose of this Corp Social Responsibility?

You mean the elderly cannot use phones from other brands?

Smallest portion of western food I ever had

Grilled fish from P & Gin Grill & Pasta

The 2 pieces of fish was thin like prata. Confirm need to buy supper later...

Western food at Teck Ghee hawker is so much better, both in taste and price.

Little pleasures on a hazy Saturday morning

Eating juicy crispy pears with a tinge of 梨香 while enjoy Korean drama on S One...

The harsh facts of life...

The sad fact is that I am supposed to be dead tired but somehow I just woke up suddenly at 4 am plus and cannot seem to get back into the zzz mode.

Work stress? Highly possible with the incredible workload and the recent encounter with bitches (pardon me) at work.

Well it was a nasty experience but I am glad to finally see their true colours. The way they giggle n talk animately to the male colleagues vs the taichi of work that I kena 1 hour before knockoff are really 2 extremes. Suayness to the max! Confirm and chop they won't taichi to male colleagues lo.

Although it is not the first time I heard things about these bitches (pardon me again) but it is a totally different experience when you are right smack in the middle of the mess.

Paid peanuts compared to the rest but always got to cover for people under various reasons. Just plain unluckiness or is it just my life :(

When would I find a job that I really like? All I ask for is work life balance and it is so hard to achieve...

The Wonder of Evening Primrose Oil

Have been taking EPO in the recent years in an attempt to improve my irregular periods.

Apart from that, the other benefit that is that it is supposed to be good for the skin.

I would say this method of hormonal therapy do work to a certain extent.

Just this week, I got to know an even better incentive to continue taking this supplement from my physician.

Evening Primrose Oil do help to delay the onset of wrinkles!

According to her, EPO is a much better alternative to Botex etc which might not even give patients the desired effect.

I am just glad that I started taking EPO in my early twenties and hopefully wrinkles would just leave me alone.

http://www.abbeyessentials.co.uk

Cockroaches are my new "best" friends...

I seemed to be attracting cockroaches everywhere I go.

!st encounter: While walking back home from the carpark after attending a wedding dinner

2nd encounter: Back in our room just after the 1st encounter. Not able to capture it at all after it went under the sofa bed. Super hard to fall asleep that night imagining the cockroach crawling over me *yucks*

3rd encounter: In the car the next day just above my head *abandon car* *shrieks*

Seriously, cockroaches ought to be next on the extinct list.

They have been around like forever since the prehistoric times and I think it is time they rest in peace forever...

They are just a pest with no positive contributions to the environment at all.

Perhaps just an indicator that the place is dirty and it is time for a cleanup?

speedysigns.com

Shocking Number of Bodies found recently

I am pretty shocked at the amount of bodies found in the recent weeks.

05 Jul 2011 - Decomposed body found at Clementi Woods Park

03 July 2011 - Male body found in waters off Harbourfront Walk

02 July 2011 - Human skeleton found at New Upper Changi Road next Tanah Merah MRT station

01 July 2011 - Female body found in water below Helix Bridge

Hope these incidents are isolated cases and not some serial killer at work.

SingPost postal services...

Quoted from SingPost website:

"SingPost is Singapore’s designated Public Postal Licensee (PPL), providing efficient and high quality domestic and international postal services. We are also the leading logistics provider in the domestic market and own one of the largest retail distribution networks."

As our one and only option for postage services, it seems like the services offered by SingPost is getting from bad to worse.

Effiiciency is not really there.

Our items bought locally online sometimes took more than a week to be delivered.

There is even worse scenerios whereby the items simply disappeared.

For instance, parcels were delivered to the wrong address even though the address was stated correctly on the package.

We got to depend on our neighbours' goodwill to return the items back to us.

If it happens once/twice, we can still close one eye but it happened numerous times.

Imagine paying for things which just disappear...

What kind of service is it???

It has reached the point that registered mail is the only option to try and ensure that at least we get the items.

What exactly is the message that SingPost is trying to send?

Registered mail is the only way to go for postal services?

Why should we as consumers pay more just to ensure that we really get the kind of "efficient & high quality postal services" as mentioned as SingPost?

With monopoly over Singapore's postal services, the least SingPost could do is to provide basic regular and dependable  postal services instead of branching out into areas like Retail Business and Logistics Business.

Just because these areas generate more income for your organisation?

Even with registered mail, I would expect the items to arrive in acceptable conditions which turns out to be not true at all!

Imagine torn envelopes with items held together by rubber bands...

Almost lost 2 parcels in April/May 2011 which led to me sending frantic emails to both the sender as well as SingPost.

Although it was a happy ending (ie: items found), I was not too impressed with the level of customer service offered by SingPost.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Standard email response by SingPost

Dear XX,

Thank you for your feedback on 28/04/2011 regarding Mail not recieve.

We deeply regret to hear of your unpleasant service experience and we want to sincerely extend our apologies to you.

SingPost is committed to provide an excellent standard of mail delivery

service to all our customers. We are therefore concerned when mail

entrusted to us is not properly delivered. We have alert the relevant delivery base manager to review this case and will revert once update.

We would like to thank you for bringing the matter to our attention.

Regards,

YY

Customer Service Officer

Contact Centre

Customer Service

Singapore Post Limited (Reg. No. 199201623M)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After which I waited for days and there was no response from SingPost at all.

It was only after sending another email to SingPost for them to expedite the matter, would a Malay lady contact me via handphone and update on the outcome.

In the first place, customers normally email/feedback to an organisation when something unexpected/out-of-the-ordinary has taken place.

The least the organisation could do is to at least give the impression that you are trying to resolve the issue instead of the customer having to pester for a response.

Even after the issue has been resolved, nothing was mentioned about is there any new measures that they are going to put in place to ensure the same incident does not repeat again, ie: ensuring parcels/letters are delivered to the correct household.

I really feel that there is not much QC measures in place to ensure the postal services are really up to notch looking at the kind of postal services we have been 'enjoying' for the past few years.

One plus point to note is that SingPost do try and repackage damaged parcels in a transparent bag to minimise any further damages.

Election time!

Election time again.

It is gg to be my 2nd time voting.

As a Gen Y, I admit one of my main concerns used to be the housing issue.

Very hard to get a good queue number...

Let alone get a good queue number at our ideal estate...

Furthermore, prices are rather high even at estates like Sengkang, Punggol which are too far from our parents' places/workplace...

After we got our unit, my 'hot' concern has been replaced by retirement needs.

After spending our entire CPF savings for the next 30 years on the flat and the ever increasing CPF minimum sum, how are we ever going to retire?

Looking at the current elderly population in Sg, there is an increasing number working as cleaners/ dish collectors etc...

Is that going to happen to us in the near future?

How are we going to ensure sufficient savings for our retirement needs with the high living standard in Sg?

Movie Review: Just Go With It

Brief Introduction

Danny (Adam Sandler) has a unique approach to picking up women - in order to break the ice and gain their sympathy, he pretends to be stuck in an unhappy marriage.

The instant he brandishes his wedding ring, the deal is all but cinched.

But when Danny finally meets a woman (Brooklyn Decker) that he really would want to marry, he abandons his usual approach for something more subtle.

Incredibly, it works.

But when she discovers the wedding band that he used to use as a pick-up prop, Danny attempts to cover his tracks by falling back on his tried-and-true divorce line.

Unfortunately, the plan backfires when his new girlfriend asks to meet his future ex.

Desperate, Danny recruits his office manager, Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), to validate his ruse by posing as his current wife.

Before long, the lies are snowballing, and by the time Katherine's kids get involved and everyone comes together for a trip to Hawaii, it's not a matter of if Danny's plan will fall through, but when.

Source: http://t0.gstatic.com

Review - Must watch!

We would say this movie is among the top 5 list of funniest movies we have ever watched.

I would think this is high praise as we watch an average of at least 2-4 movies a month.

The best romantic comedy so far!

The show was really hilarious in a good way without any element of lame jokes which I was super happy about.

Was laughing throughout the whole show & it was really $ well spent.

The flow of the story was quite good and the characters came together in a great package.

Go watch it!

Wettest Chinese New Year?

It was raining non-stop from Sat till Mon. Even today, there were still showers on and off throughout the whole day. The umbrella is now officially my best friend!

Every year during Chinese New Year, the reunion dinner is the only portion of the activities that I look forward to. The steamboat with lots of wonderful ingredients that my parents will prepare, the company etc. I do not really look forward to visiting relatives. These are some of the really irritating questions that I have encountered over the years:

1) You seemed to have grown fatter over the year. (Sidenote to self: Thanks for pointing it out...)

2) Have boyfriend? Why never bring him along? (Sidenote to self: Bring along for what? For additional 'interrogation'?)

3) Where are you working now? (Sidenote to self: Why would I want to go into detail? I would rather not let you know too much details.)

Sometimes, you just know that these people asked such questions not out of general concern. Rather, they are trying to pry more details out of you to meet their own personal interest. My 1st line of defence is to surround myself with people I do not mind hanging around with and siam as soon as I can. Worse still, no more angbao collecting from this year onwards =<

Some of the Chinese New Year sayings that might coming in useful:

新年快乐 恭喜發財 吉祥如意 身体健康 万事如意

Source: http://www.malaysiasite.nl

Cervical Cancer Vaccination - 1st dose

Finally went for the 1st jab last week, courtesy of the $299 voucher  given by a kind soul in Cozycot. Without the voucher, I doubt I would have gone for the jabs so soon. $299 for 3 doses, inclusive of consultation fees & GST was too good an offer to pass up.

According to the doctor, Cervarix was a better choice as a significantly higher amount of antibodies seems to remain in the body as compared to Gardasil after 5 years. One point to note is that Gardasil offers protection against 2 more types of HPVs.

Freaking hot

Source: uspstudent.nus.edu.sg

Don't know what is wrong with SMRT these days. Capacity & timing for both buses & trains are always not able to meet the demands of the public.

For instance, if you know that there is always high passenger load during this particular period, long Bendy buses should be deployed instead of these New Mercedes Benz O500LE (in simple terms, short buses). Moreover, these new buses don't feel safe at all to me. Whenever there is a turn or the driver engages the handbrake, I can feel the bus shaking from side to side.

As for the morning North-South trains travelling towards City Hall, it is always packed but ventilation don't seem to be working very well. Ventilation is even worse for evening trains back home. 90% of the time I can only feel hot air blowing at me. Perhaps it is because I am sitting at the 2 seaters area. But even so, this kind of setup is not acceptable. How can there be good ventilation at only certain areas of the train (new trains somemore)? By the time I get off the train, I can feel a headache coming my way.

I believe I am not the only person with the above feedback. Wondering if SMRT management is concerned about these issues or is their main focus on their profit levels?

** My interpretation of their media logo: Creating Possibilities for lousy service, Inspiring passengers to Always complain more **

Cervical Cancer Vaccination

Planning to get the vaccination soon, sometime within the next few weeks but still in the process of sorting out which clinic offers a cheaper deal.

So far, the cheapest alternative I manage to find cost $360 for 3 doses, not inclusive of GST. Brand name is Cevarix. This promotion is only valid for Passion card members.

More information can be found at http://www.passioncard.com.sg/newmerchant.aspx#c24

Rebonding

Going to rebond my hair again this week. Realised it is a never ending 'vicious' cycle. So used to having neat,  straight and easy to maintain hair to the extent that I will start thinking about making the next rebonding appointment whenever I find my fringe starting to curl. At first, it was an annual event. But now, it seems to have 'upgrade' to a half yearly event.

What can I say? I am just so used to having straight, non-frizzy hair that I will willingly sit 3-4 hours per session for the magical transformation.