Written English

I made a boo-boo at work last week (supposedly).

Yesterday, the boss asked me, "I just want to make sure that you understand written english". She said it so matter-of-factly.

This is by far the biggest insult I've received here.

Come on, I made a mistake. This has nothing to do with my standard of English. After studying here for 1.5 years, I am very confident that although my spoken English is not as bombastic as those ang mos, my written English is far better than many of them. And of course this includes understanding written English!

气死我了！！！

Update: I should show the boss this news article: Singapore students score high in global literacy study

Incomplete??

I got the shock of my life when I checked the results this morning.

What is this INC grade?!!!! Means I fail or what???

I panicked. I started calling, MSNing every classmate I know. Also e-mailed lecturer and tutor. Turned out that my entire class had the same grade. And the "nuisance" call I received 2am this morning came from a freaked out classmate, J.

Update at 7.30pm: Lecturer finally released the grades via e-mail. She said an administrative error resulted in all our grades being reflected wrongly. I got a "5", credit. So it's 5, 6, 7 this semester.

Hahaha....what a relief!!!!

Rudd Wins!

Australia decided. Kevin Rudd is the new PM.

We could see the fireworks that went off at Suncorp Stadium. First time we see fireworks...for winning an election!

What is more important: Please keep your promise on giving us that high-speed broadband. (:

Banana Cinnamon Walnut Muffins

As promised, here are your muffins.

For persevering to the end. For all the hard (heart) work.

You deserve it girl.

Anyone still remembers Chage and Aska? Haha...only those in my era would, I guess. I came across a piece of entertainment news on them today and went YouTube to search for my favourite song - "Say Yes". I first heard this song, watching the popular Jap drama serial: 101 Proposal. Guess it was sometime in the early 1990s.....Just listening to the song puts a smile on my face. So romantic lor.....

Compare the 2 videos - one is the original MTV (OMG - early 1990s) and a more recent live version (this is funny, coz Aska forgot the lyrics)....their singing is exactly the same one.

Yum Cha

I suddenly had this craving for proper dim sum.

So this morning pulled Mr Potato out of bed and we went Chinatown for cantonese styled yum cha. The experience was complete with yummy dim sum and waitresses with the push karts. Thank God we were there early. Minutes after we started our food, coach-loads of tourists descended upon the restaurant. (:

Into the Christmas Mood

We bought a little christmas star and put it on the balcony door.

Pretty right?

Getting into the mood for our first Christmas in Australia!

A Blissful Day

I actually finished my exam on Tue. But have been avoiding the laptop for the past 2 days...just to recuperate from the mugging. Silly me ah? Haha.

It's Friday today! Just went to the library and borrowed a sackful of books. With a good cup of tea on a nice-weathered day....gosh....the kind of holiday I'm looking forward to. (:

Now I have all the time to start planning the year-end trip properly. Going to re-discover QLD with friends and explore NSW. Hopefully we can even squeeze in a day or two @ ACT (Canberra).

And....Thank God for answering our prayers. Our lease got extended for another year. Though the rent went up by $100/mth, we are still very happy to keep this place. Really no better location than this at such a price nowadays.

Chasing Fairytales?

I keep reading reports that young couples now are spending more and more money to have a memorable or "fairytale" wedding. One couple recently spent nearly 270K on their wedding at Ritz Carlton.

What can 270K can pay for these days:

- Support 642 kids at World Vision for a year

-Buy 16,875 packets of 10kg rice for the poor

-2,700 wheelchairs for the disabled

-Support 12 kidney failure patients for a year of dialysis treatment at NKF

-Is 10% of the annual budget for the Children's Cancer Foundation

I'm not saying that people shouldn't splurge on their weddings, or for that matter, splurge on big houses, big cars, big holidays. Well, I'm still dreaming for my sea-view house and my holidays to Europe. Sometimes when we look at the things that we are blessed with, no matter how much we have, do we think of what we want more, or how we can be contented with what we have and use the extra to bless others?

All our lives, we work hard for our rights. We study hard, we work hard, and so if we have the ability (i.e. $$$$), we feel that it is our right to pamper ourselves with the things that we desire. At the end of the day, what do we get by focusing on these rights?

And what really matters?

- A fairytale wedding or a fairytale marriage?

- A fairytale career or a fairytale family?

- A fairytale holiday or a fairytale life?

-A fairytale mansion or a fairytale health?

In our hearts, I guess we all know the "answer". In reality, the choices we make rarely reflect the "answer", especially when the temptations of the world are so.....tempting, exactly.

There are many people whose fairytales are simply having a proper meal everyday or being able to sleep at night without shells exploding over their roofs.

Which fairytale are we chasing?

If this is not bullying, what is?

I feel like exploding in a string of nasty words and curses after I saw this. 3 tourists went for a ride in a SINGLE trishaw, laughed at the elderly and left without paying. Infuriating!



The NewPaper reported this and managed to track down the idiot who posted the original clip (yes, he was one of the 3 who squeezed into the trishaw and had a good time ridiculing the elderly)

And what was his response? "Looking back I think we were insensitive. But bullies, no."

Come on! What did your mothers teach you about bullying? Obviously you speak English but don't know English. If intentionally exploiting their weakness is your idea of a sick joke, it is not funny! Keep your silly and mindless and selfish antic at home. You are not welcomed anywhere else.

After all the "fun" you had, you had the money to take a cab and no money to pay the miserable $15 you agreed on for stuffing your big asses into the trishaw? Crooks!