My Voice

Well, some of you may not have heard me talk yet... And seriously, if you do not like my voice, neither do I... But, I was born with it and I have to live with it. Unless moolah drops from the sky and I'm able to go under the knife to do something to it...

Here's what happened the other day...
A colleague brought his amp to the office, because we had our annual staff party, hooked up a mic to it and got me to mic test. There I was, yabbah yabbah into the mic, and I really cringed. I told them I can't stand hearing my voice cos it's SUPER whiny though I have no intention to whine.
Then they laugh...

I'm irritated not because of the laughing and what not. Because as normally as I try to speak without whining, I still sound as if I'm whining! And sometimes I feel that because of the pitch and tone of my voice, no one takes me really seriously and would always brush my comments off as whining... When in actual fact, I'm NOT whining...

Back to what happened the other day...
And so, a few moments passed and there I was at the processing area, obviously doing something... As we had stock take earlier in the morning, some colleagues who were working morning shift could go home a little earlier. But because we had the staff party in the night, some decided not to go as it was a blardi long day for them.
So, one of them was just about to go home and I started to really whine and asked this fella to go. Then we started to joke, saying I whine to "wrong target" cos this guy is gay. Then Boss and I brought up what happened in the office a little earlier, and there I was, saying that I have a permanently whiny voice.

Back in Poly, a lecturer and some friends told me that if I want people to take me seriously, I have to stop whining. But I really can't help having such a pitch and tone...

Something just set me thinking... Are there cheaper and less invasive alternatives to "tune" my voice? Say vocal lessons or something? If anyone knows, please drop me an email or a comment on this post or the tagboard on your right. Help and suggestions much appreciated. Thanks in advanced!

Sick & Whiny

Sometimes when I'm sick, on MC, and in need of a fucking good sleep and rest, things just fucking happen...
- Woke up in the middle of the nite so many blardi times
- Automaticaly woke up at 7+ when I've already switched off all my alarm clocks
- Woke up again at 9+ with all the loud banging ping-biang-bing-piang noises coming from construction downstairs and somewhere right above my own blardi room.
- Woke up again at 11+ with the phone ringing non-stop!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Saving My Lappie & Porridge Buffet

I guess the 3rd part of the bad luck(s) came along about 2 weeks back. I was using my lappie as usual and all of the sudden, my screen became distorted and blurry. Thinking it was just overheating, I switched it off and let it cool before turning it on again. But the problem still persisted. So, I switched it off overnight, (I usually leave it on because I need the alarm to wake me up) and switching it on again after I got home from work the next day. Still, the problem persisted.

Dear then accompanied me to go get a VGA cable and we hooked the lappie to the family computer's monitor in the living room last weekend. The screen looked ok and we ruled out the possibility that the video card was spoilt.

During this long weekend, we went down to Funan to hunt for a cheap monitor, so I could hook my lappie out to use it. While looking around, we went to ask a HP reseller about the repair of the lappie and she told us the cost of repairing was about $400-$500, and the cheapest monitor we found was $149. Though the monitor was within my budget, I didn't buy it immediately.
Reason was because we saw this unassuming shop on level 3, sitting below the escalator, that repairs computers and lappies. The price for the repairs was about $300 (depending on the size of my screen) and it will only take one day, and will be able to give a firm quote once they see my lappie.
Weighing out the options, Dear suggested bringing the lappie down to HP Service Center first thing in the morning on Saturday and see how much and how long it would take for my lappie to get it repaired there.

Woke up early on Saturday morning and almost got lost at HP till we found the security checkpoint. There, a very nice security guard gave us directions to the service center.
Like all service centers, have to take queue number first lah. There were a lot of counters opened, so the queue moved pretty fast. But the initial diagnosis took a little longer. The lady who served us told us the cost to change the screen with all labour charges and GST would total up to about $614. Of cos, me, being so broke and already not earning much, would take the cheaper alternative lah.

We then took a bus down to Suntec to fill our stomach with Joaquim's Porridge Buffet. The spread and everything was good but the aircon toooooooooooooooo damn blardi cold, making the porridge and dishes cold very fast. To imagine how cold the place was, here's what you should know: the braised gravy of the pig trotter dish "jelly-fied" at the end of our meal.

Got back to serious business and walked down to Funan. Showed the guy my lappie and he said that this particular model of lappie heats up very fast, and now my screen has this problem, the most common reason is because of the motherboard. He told us, to change the screen, it will be $320 and about 45 mins wait, but if it's the motherboard problem, he will repair the motherboard, which will only cost us $250 but we can only collect the lappie at about 7pm. He then took down my hp number, told us to walk around first and will give us a call once he has changed the screen and tested it.
Within 20 minutes, the call came. He told us that it's confirmed that he has to repair the motherboard and even asked if we would want to take a look at the lappie first to confirm. We just told him to go ahead and repair the motherboard because I really dun see how he could be cheating us lor... hhaha...

So, Dear and I nua and walked around Raffles City till about 6pm. As we were about to reach Peninsular Plaza for Dear to place his soccer bets with Singapore Pools, the call came again and told us the lappie was ready for collection.
When we collected the lappie, he even told us he has tested a few rounds and there isn't any problem during testing. There is also a one month warranty and if there's anything wrong, can go back to look for him. Dear and I then deduced that he has actually finished by about 4+ to 5pm, but was leaving it to test. Not only was the service good, the delivery was punctual, or rather, earlier than expected!

Saving up now to up my lappie's RAM, which they can also do! hehhehehe

I'm Still Alive...

Decided to drop by and breathe a lil life into my blog.

I've been so swamped lately, I've been bringing home work almost everyday for the past few weeks. I actually just finished doing up some stuff but sleepiness hasn't crept in yet...

Planning for a great big bang isn't as easy as I thought it would. Sometimes, I just wished time would stand still for a while, so I have more time on my hands. Now, if only my favourite character in Heroes, Hiro Nakamura is for real, I would really need to enlist his help.

Stressed? Probably... I have all the timelines drawn up and prioritized what I would have to settle first. But, Dr Murphy has to keep looking me up! If only I have full control of everything, but I know I don't. Hence, I realised, I really have to play by the ear.

I don't know how else to push myself. I tell myself, "just XX days to endure", but yet, this seemingly pushing factor is a stress factor as well, cos I only have the same XX days to get things done. Suggestions anyone?

Bah... I'm signing out. Probably should get a lil more work done since I'm not that sleepy...

Damn Fucking No Mood...

Either I spend too much or I'm destined not to be able to save any money or my luck's really down...

1st, my toe got trapped under the door about 1+ week back. It hurt and bled so much that I literally collapsed onto the floor, clutched my toe, held it up high, sat in a damn weird position to try to stop the bleeding that in the end, Dear had to help support me cos I was getting too tired in that weird position. Now, seems that the wound has healed and a new nail is forming. Thank God my nail hasn't dropped out yet, and I hope it doesn't till the new nail has formed nice and long enough for a pedicure session. HAHA...

Then just when I thought finally I can get to save a little this month after setting aside money for a jie mei's bday treat, another jie mei's wedding (clothes and ang bow), installments and all other necessary spendings, my external hard drive has to die on me. And, I have no other copies of the data I have inside that HD. I've just sent it in for data recovery and am waiting for the big surprise, the quotation... I have no idea how much it would cost me, but I guess I'll have to sign for it on my dad's sup-card and pay him back bit by bit.

Some people say bad luck comes in 3s. So what's the last part in this trilogy huh?! BRING IT ON DAMNIT!

Nicholas Zhang Dong Liang 张栋梁 Autograph Session @ The Heeren

One of my posts that had been sitting realllllly long in the drafts. Couldn't really get to sleep the other nite, so decided to finish a bit of it... Finally, this is done! hahaha...

Since young, I've been to quite a few autograph sessions to ogle at my favourite artistes in flesh. I've always been at the receiving end of it, getting my CDs signed, say a quick hello, shake hand, or even hug these artistes. And most of the times, I'm the one getting fustrated with the organizers for not doing this and that.

But on July 11th, I got to experience what was it like to be on the other side of the fence. Not every single little teeny weeny detail would go according to what you planned or what you had imagined it to be. Thank God for his blessings and grace!

Also would like to thank these people for giving me such a brilliant on-the-job experience textbook can't teach!
- I had help from an experienced marketing team at The Heeren who have dealt with such events before. They were brilliant and were such a great help, helping out in all small little nitty gritty details so the event could be carried out smoothly. Thank You!
- I had help from a security team, which acted really fast, did up barricades in such a short time, did a great job at crowd control, and acted as past of a human wall when needed... Thank You!
- The fans were brilliant and so cooperative that I wish I will face such fans in future for all other events! An event had ended earlier, but before the stage could be barricaded, they had swamped round the stage. But they were damn nice lah! I told them I needed about 45 minutes to set up the area for the autograph session and needed them to not crowd the stage meanwhile. Within 5 minutes, some left, some hanged around nearby but no longer directly in front of the stage and cleared that much needed space for set up to be done. So sweet rite? Thank You!
- Last but not least, of cos, Thank You Warner for letting us play a part in this album's promotions.
- And of cos, my boss... Thank You for giving me such a chance. It was crazily busy, but I really enjoyed the experience and the learning process of putting together such an event.

Talk so much, some of you might be wondering how Nicholas Zhang Dong Liang 张栋梁 is really like in person right? Truth to be told, I did not have the chance to interact with him much, cos I was working on site, rather than chatting with him.
But during those few sparse minutes I managed to see him, I can tell he is a very nice, warm, down-to-earth, friendly person. Definitely not your diva-ish kinda celebrity! He's TALL, according to me, someone who is pretty vertically challenged, he might be probably about 180+cm. Hello, that's TALL for me lah!
And before I say the next comment, let me just set a disclaimer... Different people for different taste ok? He's actually quite good-looking, quite cute, quite suave, the type that would make girls melt and weak at the knees and/or the type which mums would like their daughters to bring home... But not exactly my type in the looks department, I still think my fave guy celebs rank higher.... Dun hate me, we just have different taste! *runs*

The Dunkin Donuts Rant (Again)...

Well, if you have no idea which (first) rant I'm referring to, here the link.

About a month back, I decided to give my dearest DD another try. Thus, during lunch break, I walked over and grabbed 3 donuts: Double Choc, Blueberry Cake and Rainbow Windmill... And here's the verdict:
Double Choc - One of my most-est favourite flavors in the entire range. Compared to the REAL MCCOY in the US, VERY dry, VERY tasteless, VERY flat, regretted that I even bought. Even Pop Doh, often regarded as my local "back-up" for DD's cake donut, scores a landslide victory over local DD. I ish damn sadded lahz...
Blueberry Cake - I didn't get to try to REAL MCCOY back in the US, so can't compare taste cos it wouldn't be fair. But although it taste a bit yummy, it's still very dry.
Rainbow Windmill - The REAL MCCOYS call it the French Cruller. Best of the 3. But then again, I didn't get to try to REAL MCCOY back in the US, so can't compare taste cos it wouldn't be fair. But compared to Pop Doh's Crullers, both are kinda on par overall.

But there's something which I notice: There are tags telling customers the flavors of the donuts!

While this DD fan refuses to give up and will track back once in a while to see if the "standards" are improving, I shall much prefer to get my donut fix at Pop Doh (for cake donuts and crullers) and J Co (for bread-texture donuts), thank you very much!

Dunkin' Donuts Opens In Singapore

As most of you would have known by now, I've a FREAKING HUGE DD fan... If you don't, read this, this and this.
Before I begin, I'm going to do a disclaimer first. My post might be offensive to some, but as a FREAKING HUGE DD fan, I have my expectations of how a DD donut should taste like. I can still remember how DD donuts tasted like and how they melted in my mouth although it was more than a decade I've last ate them in Singapore and more than a year since I last ate them in the US. Not that I do not trust franchisees, but since eating the REAL MCCOY in the US, my expectations of how a DD should taste like are damn high. If a DD doesn't taste like a DD, then I, in my honest opinion, think that it doesn't do justice to the brand.

So, imagine THE HUGE ANTICIPATION that overwhelmed me when I saw a recruitment ad on The New Paper a few weeks back for the store in Singapore. And, imagine THE EXCITEMENT that overwhelmed me when I saw tstar's plurk about a DD store at ION a few hours ago. Once I finished work, I really walked damn freaking fast down from Heeren to get my favourite donuts!

But I can tell you that I am FUCKING SORELY DISAPPOINTED!!!
1) The REAL MCCOY in the US lets me choose my combination of munchkins. Here, all packed in a box of 20.
2) Where are the cake donuts? Look at THE REAL MCCOY's menu. For a moment, I thought I stepped into J. Co. Mind you, J. Co. is my favourite brand of bread-texture donuts. But, DD is a US franchise, so gimme back those flavours it had before it disappeared from our shores more than a decade back.
3) Thank goodness they have some jelly and kreme filled ones. But these fillings, sadly, don't taste like the REAL MCCOY. Just a tad flat... Flat never mind, the fillings of the REAL MCCOY literally FILLED the donut, sadly, this doesn't.
4) The dough, although I know it will not be as soft as J. Co., doesn't have the "oomph" of the REAL MCCOY. My mum tried the SG-made DD donuts more than a decade back, and it's actually kinda her fault for getting me hooked onto DD, feeding me with them almost weekly when I was younger. Trying this now, the comparision of her facial expression when she tried this and when she tried the REAL MCCOY is priceless. One was "HEAVENLY WOW", the other, a mix of "huh-er-eww". And she agreed with me when I said that it doesn't taste like what DD tasted like more than a decade ago in Singapore and what we had in the US.
5) No tags telling us what the flavours of the donuts are. Already shocked to see unfamiliar-looking flavoured icing donuts, I was looking at the small little holes in the filled ones and figuring out if that is strawberry or some other kinda berry.

But, still being a FREAKING HUGE SUCKER for DD, I'm going to return in a few weeks time to check out the flavours again. Going to give it the benefit of the doubt that whatever's on the REAL MCCOY's menu and wasn't there in the store were all sold out...

Remembering Frank McCourt

In recent years, some movie screenplays have been published as books, but like some others, the book existed first before it was made into a movie. In the case of the highly-acclaimed movie, Angela Ashes, the "book version" existed before the movie.

Written by Frank McCourt, the book talked about his life in Ireland, his almost-always drunk dad and how poor they were during the days of the Depression. I'm not a very avid reader, but I could say I've read quite a few books and Angela Ashes was one I cried and laughed with.
His 2nd book was 'Tis. He talked about his life when he came back to America (he went back to Ireland during the Depression) and about his youth.
3rd book was Teacher Man, which sadly, I didn't have the time to finish, and I first picked the book up in August 06!

I'm not a very "literature" person, and I can't really describe or go at length why I like his writing. But when I start reading his books, I find it hard to pause or put the book down. I would read and flip the pages, almost addicted. Which is partly the reason why I have not finished Teacher Man till now.

May God bless his family...

I Have To Start Blogging...

To save my blog from dying into oblivion (haha), I've thought of a plan to push/motivate/force (choose which one you like) myself to blog more often...

1) Everything will be done in drafts.
There are times when on the bus, or when I'm about to sleep, I would go, "shit, I forgot to blog about it!" And many times, these are things which I find that are important to my life and things which I wana record down, so when I'm old, senile and having dementia, my kids and my grandchildren can tell me, "Mum/Granny, these are things that happened in your life"

2) Finding those bits of time to blog.
When I have a draft or points that I wana blog about, I will find bits of time to blog. Say, during lunch, after work, during weekends. And when the entries are fully done up, I'd publish it. Yes, it might take days or even weeks before a blog post is up, but better then now right? Ever since I started work, I think I'm like averaging one post a month lor...

3) Get a notebook. Or probably a data plan for my phone.
Yes, I think it would be good to start drafting on my notebook or have a data plan n start typing away on my phone, on the way to and fro work. Well, not that I don't have a "note" function on my phone and then email it to myself which will cost my 5 cents each. hahhaha... Let's see which works better and cheaper...

4) Actually keeping to this plan of mine....
Sometimes I procrastinate... so... yah... Let's see how this works out ah?