The resignation of my boss

In the past few months in SH , my manager ( a s'porean ) has given me guidance and support as well as pressure and challenges at the same time. It is tough to meet his standard but he has led by example to prove that it s possible to reach the standard he wants. Under his leadership, we were working towards the goal of improving our company products' quality with ambitions. But due to his failing health over time , he has chosen to quit and leave for hospitalisation in Spore. The announcement is made to the department on his last day of service (Friday) and we were devastated. I could not help shedding tears in the room after everyone left after his announcement. He is like a brother and a mentor to me and a great source of support for me to survive in this company which puts quality at a less important position but blames the quality team for not doing a good job when things go wrong.

It is a culture shock for me to adapt to this messy company compared to my ex company which is a mature automotive company with solid quality background. And my boss is Japanese company trained, having the same mindset as me that quality is first. But sad to said, both of us do not think that the management shares the same idea, as their focuses are about speed and quantity and not about quality and functional safety of the consumer goods which we are selling now. With his leaving, my lighthouse is gone and all is dark now. To make it worse, the Shanghainese colleagues in my department who are good at office politics but not really keen to solve the problems are now free from his control, and they are bound to start creating havoc in the department to gain power. The Shanghainese employees are usually selfish, calculative, self centered and they do not work for the benefits of the company but only for themselves. In comparison, i still like Hongkong/Sporean colleagues, who are generally effecient and smart .

I am re considering my career path as i do not see light at the end of the tunnel now, and i do not want to tarnish my professionalism to suit the environment.
Unless the new comer is able to take over the role of my ex boss and lead the team towards the right path, there is only 1 option out which is to leave the company. And i will know the decision by next year after Chinese New Year.

Darby

给爸爸的信

I am about to hand this letter to my dad when he gets back. I don't know how he will react. Will I be able to overcome his will? I hope so.

爸爸

今天肾脏中心打电话给我，说你又要减少洗肾的次数。我听了觉得很失望。

我明白你想帮我减轻我的经济负担。 可是你有想过我的精神负担吗？ 而且，这样的做法真的会帮我省钱吗？ 其实都不会。

你知道你为什么要洗肾吗？ 你的肾脏已经不能排除身体多余的水分和毒素。 如果多余的水分继续存留在体内，将会影响你的呼吸，使你觉得气喘， 身体也会出现水肿的情况。你还记得你眼睛肿到不能张开，严重气喘，最后变成要进医院洗肾的日子吗？如果身体的毒素继续存留在体内， 将会损害你体内的器官。 一旦器官受攻击，引起并发症，我又要送你进医院了。

洗肾的作用就是把多余的水分和毒素排除。让你能正常过日子， 而不需要住在医院里。你也应该知道，住院的费用不便宜， 都是千元以上。目前，你的公积金保健户口里的钱也快用完了。几个月后，我将动用我的保健户口来支付你部分的洗肾费，其余用现金还清。

洗肾的次数应该由医生来决定，不是你或我说了就算。以你目前的情况, 你需要每星期三次的洗肾。　你已经洗了一年多了，也没出现不好的并发症。　我觉得安心多了。为什么现在又要改呢？每个人需要洗肾的次数是不一样的。

你知道我每天上香求的是什么吗？就是希望父母家人身体健康。我每天回家看到我父母平安身体没大病，我就觉得欣慰了。

我知道洗肾辛苦，你也不想我花钱。可是你必须洗肾。这是不能改的事实。　同样的道理，洗肾的次数也是不能改的。

如果你真的替我着想，就不要坚持减少洗肾的次数。　听我的话好吗？　维持每星期三次的洗肾次数，　直到医生允许你减少洗肾的次数。

只要你保持目前的情况，　不需进出医院，就能帮我省很多钱了。那就够了。

不要因为想省少数的钱而变成要花更多的钱。　这是不聪明的做法。

可以答应我吗？不要让我在工作时还要替你担心。这就是我指的精神负担。　明白了吗？

Mcdull

Return my weekends to me

i have been working non stop since i came back from Mexico , most of the weekends are spent in office. I do not have my Saturday and Sunday rest. It s just getting depressing for me. I am tired. Why am i so ill fated to get caught in jobs that always needed long working hours? I just miss my bed.


Darby

Winter is coming

As the dried skins fell off from my arms and legs , so are the dried leaves falling off from the trees along the streets in Shanghai. Winter is approaching and i feel like a corpse soaked in an ice block whenever i go out of my apartment. Altho the Shanghai winter is not as dry as Shenzhen , but the temp reduction is so fast that it has dropped from 20 deg C to below 10 deg C in just a few weeks, and will reach 0 deg C next month. I hope to see some snowing from my unit, for the second time (First time was in Korea ).

The wind is always strong in Shanghai, and ppl on the street are wearing their trench coats, and it makes the city looks very French to me, only if the ppl on the streets do not spit. When i was walking along East Nanjing Street, I was approached by 3 girls in a row, repeating the same dialogue as below.

The girl : Can i ask how to get to Fuzhou street ?
Me : Walk towards Raffles Place and turn left
The girl : Are you a foreigner ?
Me : None of your business.

This must be a new tactic for hookers to get business, but they just look unsightly to me. i have better things to do, go to Fuzhou street to buy books. And i ended up buying 3 books on work related topics.

Darby

Finally it is the time

After working here in SH for more than 4 months , i am pretty comfortable at work as i have a very good boss. He is a very demanding but yet reasonable person , knowledgeable and strict at the same time. He is always like a volcano , erupting his energy at work and pushing for ideas to become reality, does not mind making enemies.
I was not the apple of the eyes of the local China top management , and i think the character they want is the loud and decisive type. I am more a quiet person and make no enemies. After working for years , my volcano has been put out. I like to keep myself calm. Still my boss is able to appreciate my presence, cause i can get things that he required done, when most of the locals are unable to achieve the standard he has set. So i am sort of sheltered from the blazes of top management with my boss as the umbrella.
But my boss just told me yesterday he has tendered and will be leaving the company by end of Nov. I feel glad for him. He has gotten a better offer and is able to return to Singapore and have his family to take care of his health. I know the path ahead without him is going to be tough for me and it will only get worse. Worse economy, less sales, heavier work load, no shelter from my boss, i am going to have a hard time ahead of me.

I think it is time to rethink my option, although it is never in my thoughts that i will leave SH in a short period of time. Let's see how things go from here.

Darby

Xavier Cugat

Got to know this Mr Xavier Cugat through Mr Wong Kar Wai's films. Soul catching tunes, in mandarin we called it Gou Hun ( hook the soul ). And it is totally retro and elegant ,just perfect for WKW's movie. I have no doubt that he is one of the best Latin musicians who ever existed.
I began to understand more about the Latin ppl when i was in Mexico. Their culture is very open to any foreigner who speaks English as their language, Spanish, is very similar to English (which English borrowed many vocabs from). The Latin ppl is totally different from English ppl we know. Warm and optimistic, and lazy of course. They are beautiful ppl if not too fat, whether boys or girl. Still, most Mexicans are fat and sex is casual. I can recall the first Spanish i read is from books by a Chinese author San Mao ( Echo ) about her Spanish husband, Jose. I think she picked a Spanish husband with a very Chinese character.
I find it quite bizzare that both the Asian and Latin ppl are living on the same earth but while the Latin ppl can afford an easy lifestyle / attitude, we asians have to strive hard to survive. It's weird.
Let's just enjoy their music. Jungle drums by Xaiver Cugat.

Darby.

Back from Mexico

After 22 hrs of flight, we finally returned to SH Pudong just to find out that the weather was really bad due to heavy fog. The flight then headed to Fu zhou (next to Taiwan)to land for 2 hrs, so it added 7 hrs to our total flight hours.
I almost cracked into pieces when i reached home in Pudong, missed my bed so much.
At the night i touched down, there was another customer visit to our company, and we had to entertain him at the Bund, meal and sightseeing. I was quite blur that i forgot to bring my phone , and ended up losing contact with my colleagues and was unable to find the restaurant. Luckily they could take care of the customer themselves. I then went to Raffles city at Nanjing road for Chicken Rice, and bought Bread Talk. Headed towards home right after dinner as i was too tired.

And in the subsequent week , i did not have chance to sleep more than 5 hours. I just hope i will be able to catch some sleep this coming Friday night.

Darby

宝贝

My Monday blues were chased away after listening to this song titled 宝贝by 张悬. I think it's one of the best lullaby's that I have heard - period.

My colleague Thess couldn't stop gushing about her young toddler Kevin. He's her
宝贝. Nathan, my by now 5 year old nephew is the darling of our whole family. I am lucky - I have more than one 宝贝. Everyone of us should have 宝贝 or 宝贝's in our life. Whose's yours?

我的宝贝　宝贝
给你一点甜甜
让你今夜都好眠
我的小鬼　小鬼
逗逗你的眉眼
让你喜欢这世界

哇啦啦啦啦啦我的宝贝
倦的时候有个人陪
哎呀呀呀呀呀我的宝贝
要你知道你最美

我的宝贝　宝贝
给你一点甜甜
让你今夜很好眠
我的小鬼　小鬼
捏捏你的小脸
让你喜欢整个明天

哇啦啦啦啦啦我的宝贝
倦的时候有个人陪
哎呀呀呀呀呀我的宝贝
要你知道你最美

哇啦啦啦啦啦我的宝贝
孤单时有人把你想念
哎呀呀呀呀呀我的宝贝
要你知道你最美

哇啦啦啦啦啦啦耶～
耶耶耶耶喔喔

哇啦啦啦啦啦我的宝贝
倦的时候有个人陪
哎呀呀呀呀呀我的宝贝
要你知道你最美

要你知道你最美

http://www.51t.com/play/play51t.asp?id=221701

Mcdull

In Mexico again.

While piggy is busy with his work in Singapore, i am being air shipped to Mexico again to face customers. This time i had a direct flight , still the jet lag makes me giddy as last time. However for this trip , i get to enjoy better accomodation , Hilton and Marriot , incredible. Thanks to the director who travelled with me, i get to upgrade my accomodation.

I just get to enjoy my hot bath after 18 hrs of flight, well it is much better than previous trip transferred at Paris which took me 30++ hours. Inside the bath of Hilton, they prepared Evelyn and Crabtree toiletries , after the bath i just feel much rejuvenated. And being a kiasu and kiasi person after living in Spore for years , i decided to "Kop" some of the famous toiletries. They are just right for me as a frequent traveller, and luckily i do not need to pay to enjoy these 5 stars hotels, their rates just ridiculously high.

I am feeling giddy again while typing this , the night scene outside the window is beautiful, and i want to sleep now...

Darby

Funeral Blues

If you have watched "Four Weddings and a Funeral", chances are you might remember John Hannah reciting a touching poem at the funeral of his partner in the movie.

"Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good."

W H Auden is the brilliant mind behind this poignant piece of work. Every line within the stanzas resonates of true love; love which is so deep-seated within the heart that I can't help but think that even in death, the person who was mourning was fortunate - fortunate to have experienced true love in a better time.

This poem also reminds me of a Hokkien song "家后" written by a Taiwanese singer/composer. These lines, loosely translated, moves me immensely. "When the time comes, I will let you go first cos I cannot bear to leave you alone to weep for me" and "When the time comes, do let me go first cos I cannot bear the thought of watching you crying over me".

有一日咱若老　找无人甲咱友孝　我会陪你
坐惦椅寮　听你讲少年的时阵　你有外摮
吃好吃丑无计较　怨天怨地嘛袂晓　你的手
我会甲你牵条条　因为我是你的家后

阮将青春嫁置恁兜　阮对少年跟你跟甲老
人情世事已经看透透　有啥人比你卡重要
阮的一生献乎恁兜　才知幸福是吵吵闹闹
等待返去的时阵若到　我会让你先走
因为我会呒甘　放你为我目屎流

有一日咱若老　有媳妇子儿友孝　你若无聊
拿咱的相片　看卡早结婚的时阵　你外缘投
穿好穿丑无计较　怪东怪西嘛袂晓
你的心我会永远记条条　因为我是你的家后

阮将青春嫁置恁兜　阮对少年就跟你跟甲老
人情世事嘛已经看透透　有啥人比你卡重要
阮的一生献乎恁兜　才知幸福是吵吵闹闹
等待返去的时阵若到　你着让我先走
因为我会呒甘　看你为我目屎流


Mcdull

Missing Aunty SK

I got home around my usual time (9 plus) this Tuesday and mummy told me at the doorstep that Aunty SK (Siew Kuan Yi, as I call her) passed away that day. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?", I asked. "What for? You were working", she said. I stepped into the house after the gate was unlocked and put my left hand on mummy's shoulder. I could sit the tears starting to form in her eyes when she felt my touch.

"When did you learn about it?" I asked.
"Two plus this afternoon", mummy answered.

I quickly finished my dinner and sat down next to mummy. One of our favourite weekly variety shows was on but our minds were elsewhere. I was wondering how mummy was taking this sad news. Aunty SK was her closest friend for years, an aunt who literally saw YT (my brother) and I grew up since our births.

I remember visiting Aunty SK every few weeks during my childhood days in Kallang Bahru and she will treat us to tasty home cooked food. Chinese New Year was an even more joyous occasion for me as I then have a sweet tooth and I will induldge in all her yummy homemade pineapple tarts and kueh bangkits. Throughout the 30 over years of my existence thus far, mummy and I have kept in touch with Aunty SK and she will come visit mummy in the house every few months (in our old house and later, our new house) to chat with mummy and keep mummy company because she knows that mummy's legs aren't that strong. This was the case even though Aunty SK's own health was failing and her vision was deteriorating with age.

We went to Aunty SK's wake last night and I could not hold back my tears when I knelt down and offered the incense sticks. YT accompanied mummy to take one last look at Aunty SK in the coffin and I heard some sobbing in the background. Surprisingly, mummy's reaction was more subdued and controlled than I have expected.

Afte we reached home, mummy told me that she could not get into sleep mode the night of Aunty SK's death as she keeps thinking about the visits Aunty SK had made in the past.

It has been said that tears are stronger than words sometime . When it comes to measuring the depth of mummy's emotions over the loss of her best friend, I reckon tears don't necessarily show the depth of it. As mummy herself said it, she will think of and miss Aunty SK for a long long time.

I will miss her too.

Mcdull

Piggy is coming to SH again

As the 1st Oct holiday is approaching, piggy and i am planning for a gathering in SH. I want to spend this 8 days in my apartment with him doing all the cooking / laundry / marketing , etc.. Heheh...Not likely , he is too lazy and need some education from me on household chores.

Come back to the itinerary , i think we can go :
1. Qi Bao old street
2. Mo Gan Shan Gallery district
3. Duo Lun road for Tui Na and chestnuts
4. Bi Yun district , where i live
5. Must go Zhengda again for Xi Duo Wu international buffet. (Only 40 SGD per persons , and you can have free flow of countless international cuisines.
6. Suzhou

Hehe ... Enuff. The rest of the days will be spent at home resting and watching tv together. Kicking piggy s butt and twisting his pig ears as i like.

I hope no calls from company to pull me back. I will kill anyone who does that.

Darby.

Back to home again

After spending a few days in Korea with customer again, i returned to home for mum is having some problems on her neck due to the high blood pressure medicine she took. She could not straighten her neck and seek a few doctors help before her blood pressure can be lowered. It is a scare for me as i know she always have high blood pressure, and not seeing her for the past few weeks adds to my worries.
When i see her doing fine after medication , i feel relieved, old folks like her can get into serious trouble easily because of their physical is no longer as strong as before.
I took the chance to recover my hectic schedules , i have not been sleeping well before my Mexico trip, and right after Mexico it is Korea again. I spent most of my time flying between places, and i began to feel my bones are in pain after sitting for too long. Long working hours , short sleeping hours , hectic life. I am exhausted.
I watched the tv show last night on the theme of "Born on same year and same date" from Channel U, a young couple in 20s are soaked in love totally and reminded me in the past when piggy and i were just met each other, and now i have become too career minded to care for him, and he is busy with his work too. I have become so independent that i do not need others in my life for a long period of time , i do not know if this is good or bad. I can do many things on my own in a day, but at the end of the day , when i finally collapsed on my bed in my Shanghai apartment , i just miss the pig.

Darby

Photos from Mexico

As promised , pictures from Mexico Guadarajala.

Cottons hanging in sky

Round patterns on fields

View from El Tapatio Balcony

My Spanish Villa

Tlaquepaque
Beautiful sad looking sculptures, wish i can bring them home

Crosses

Woman in the Wind

Blue and wooden doors at Tlaquepaque


Night scene from villa to Guadarajala

Going back to SH tomorrow

I had a long day again today, my second last day of work in Mexico. It started with a 3 party concall involving our customer which lasted 2 hrs and was then followed by an interview of 3 candidates for Mexico rep post. I went for lunch at 1.30pm, cleared tonnes of emails i have received since my laptop was not able to access the net in the past 1 week and then went back to the hotel room to prepare for another concall from 8 pm to 11 pm. My stomach began to feel uncomfortable at 10 pm. I finished the concall as soon as I could and rushed to a restaurant in the hotel and ordered a chicken breast stuffed with mango for dinner. It was good. Perhaps i was too hungry. I sat in the restaurant and the view through the glass wall was really beautiful. The million dots of light at night from the houses on flat land looked just like stars to me who is at the hill top. I never thought that Mexico can be this romantic, and the pig is not here.

I will have a long concall tomorrow morning. After that, i will go to the airport directly. This time i will fly from Guadarajala to Mexico City to Holland to Shanghai, another 24 hours on flight. I began to feel my back is aching again.

Darby

Como Esta ?

I am now in Guadarajala in a resort hotel located on a hill. Guadarajala is a city on a mountain which means it has a cool climate. I have spent a week in Monterrey Mexico and it is hot as hell at 40 deg C, but Guadarajala is a cool 26 deg C.

The journey only become more pleasant when i took the small jet from Monterrey to Guadarajala. I had a long week with long working hrs and slept only for 3 hrs every day in Monterrey. While suffering from jetlag, feeling sleepy at days and not being able to get into sleep mode at night, i still have to meet the customer's management in a meeting room with an agenda that is filled with heated arguments and negotiations. The discussion reached a stalemate finally on Friday, two days before i am due to leave Guadarajala on Sunday and I activated my manager and directors to bring the negotiation to their level for the next meeting. I finally get longer hours of sleep on Saturday night, although i still worked for 8 hrs on Saturday.

Not longer than a minute after the plane departed from the airport to Guadarajala, i can see from the window, the green mountains and rivers below and white clouds hanging in the air like cotton. After leaving the airport, i headed to the hotel immediately. I was really shocked to find that the hotel is like a huge Spanish villa when my cab driver reached the hotel. It is located on a hill that offers a great view of the city. After entering the room, i was overwhelmed by the size of the room and its interior deco and wondered if the company had booked a wrong hotel for me. I have not stayed in a hotel room this big and offers a balcony view of the hill. Check out Hotel El Tapatio if you come to Guadarajala.

After settling down, i took a ride by hotel transport to the art market town nearby, Tlaquepaque. I used to think that Mexico is boring when i was in Monterrey. But my impression was completely reversed when I reached Tlaquepaque, a small town like Ubud in Bali Island that sells fantastic art piece by Mexico aborigines, and littered with good restaurants. Tourists were walking slowly and Spanish is heard everywhere, and i guess i am the only Asian in this town. I bought a painting by Mexican aborigines for 4 USD and 2 red indians head scuplture for 3 USD. I controlled myself hard to avoid getting into a shopping spree as Mexican art is really beautiful. They have tiger heads made of tiny colorful beads planted into clay, beautifully painted cross with jesus christ and without, Mexican peasants paintings and sculptures. I bought an Eiffel Tower in Paris Charles de Gaule Airpot for 10 USD , and i will transfer in Holland airport on Tuesday. I better control myself to avoid bursting my luggage. But i took tonnes of photos of this beautiful town, their doors and buildings are really unique and very mediterranean.

Mexican ppl are a mixture of Spanish, French, Red Indians, etc and most of them are beautiful looking ppl like other Latin Americans, and stunningly goodlooking young boys and girls can be found everywhere. The tv shows always show half naked hunks, swim suit babes like a beauty pageant contest. But it is really a Catholic country where no porn is allowed, no abortions, so the tv is quite boring for a hotel, hehehe. Although born as beautiful people, they always turn themselves into a pig after 30 years due to their large intake of foods and high calories cuisine. The men and ladies older than 30 are always plump and 30% of the ppl is obese.

That's all for today and i hope piggy is doing fine as there is no mail and call from him for a week already.

Darby

Going to Mexico next week

I brought all my subordinates ( 20 persons ) today for dinner at a restaurant nearby, which costs me 200 SGD, very cheap. And everyone has a full stomach when leaving the place. I must thank my clerk who did a good job of choosing the restaurant, booking and ordering dishes, and coordinating. I was not in the mood at all to eat and just listen to their nonsense during the meal, it was quite fun.

After having a good rest for about a week this week (my boss left for Spore for his home trip), I am going to fly to Mexico next week, and will be staying for a week there. The purposes are to visit 2 customers to resolve issues, and at the same time I will be interviewing a rep so that we do not have to send ppl there again. I am alone now in the office at 9pm on a Friday night preparing the work for the trip to come and feeling quite sleepy as it has been a long day today.

The job is rewarding as i get to lead and change things , but it is also very stressful cause any wrong decision made will get me terminated. It did not occur to me that i will be in this kind of position one day. I will be quite reluctant to take up the post if i knew the job scope is so heavy beforehand. But i have really nothing to lose and just want to give it a try now, as not everyone has the chance to do the work i am doing now. I am a lucky person, at least this is what i feel now. And if i fail and get terminated one day, at most i will pack and go home. I did not have this feeling at all in the past when i was in Shenzhen.

Besides the work itself, the living environment is much better, and I just hope my family/piggy/friends will be able to enjoy themselves here with me. Shanghai is a great place to live with a lover, but i am alone.

I have promised to show the photos of my neighborhood and here is it. My condo is the red building next to the church , and the church is just next to Ramada Hotel. The park and the river are just in front of the church.







Darby

Home

I was googling for a gay love poem one weekday morning to send to darby, hoping to cheer up his day. I found "Home" by Duane Simolke. Darby liked it and asked that I reproduced it in the blog. So here it is.


When I lie beside him,
His knee presses
Against the underside
Of my knee,
His hand presses
Against my chest,
As if holding me together.
If I wake,
And he isn't beside me,
I'll curl up
Like a frightened child,
Lost in the dark,
Afraid to move.
If I wake,
And he isn't beside me,
The thickest blanket
Won't keep me warm.
But I wake,
And find him
Beside me.
He holds me together.

Simple as it is, I reckon I can understand the appeal this poem holds for darby. Intimacy of the type described in the poem is possible if you have the company of your other half/partner day to day. This is something heterosexual couples enjoy constantly but oh so difficult to achieve for gay lovers/couples who are not staying together. I think I speak for myself too. About the yearning for a regular stable couplehood - living our lives together and doing things together.

The way to go is to get a house where both darby and I can call Home. That day will come and we are both working our ways towards this goal.

Mcdull

i am going back to Shanghai tomorrow

Finally i finished my work in Korea. I am allowed to go back tomorrow noon at 2 pm Korea time and expect to reach SH at 3 pm (Korea is faster than us by 1 hr). My customer is not pleased with the lot received by them today at 7 pm and want to reject the lot. I can see it is not healthy here, but the improvement made is greater than the last shipment. I just hope my boss would not be upset about the result, as i know my subordinate is working very hard for this project.

So far i have a good trip this time. I forgot to bring my credit card and has no cash to pay the hotel deposit, but a Korean man in the airport limousine helped me to call the hotel i am staying at for a discount and to waive the deposit. I realised he is a friend of the hotel owner, and the staff there did not even bother to check my ID when I checked in. The gentleman also called my customer to pick me up from the bus stop. It was very kind of him as he did not have to do that.

My customer was very kind to me too and offerred to pay for the hotel fees, which i rejected of course. Luckily today, the other customer who was stationed at my plant hand carried the cash from my company to rescue me. I now have enough cash to pay for the expenses , but not enough time to shop.

I have eaten :
Day 1. Korean style chinese foods ( Zha Jiang Mia / Fried sauce noodles, Ta Zhu Rou / Sweet sour pork , and Ice Lychees )
Day 2. Steam boat noodles and Bi Bi Bap
Day 3. Cold noodles and Barbercue pork
All paid by customers. And they fetched me to and from hotel every day.

The Korean ppl are quite generous ppl overall, and i think it s unbelieveable as their life is so hectic and stressful. And i hope there would not be any trip in the near future as i am really tired recently after moving in to my apartment.


Darby

I dun wan to eat Kimchi anymore

i arrived at Korea, Gun Po yesterday, and i have been eating Kimchi Kimchi Kimchi. It is ok for me to eat it once in a while and i will enjoy it, but for consecutively 2 days i have been eating only Kimchi as the appetiser/side dish/main course/soup/ dessert ... It is quite sickening, and i am not very happy about it. I think there should be more choices besides Kimchi, altho Korean ppl make great cuisine, be it western or eastern. Besides that,i should be back on Tues, i.e today to Shanghai, but due to the customer request, i need to stay until Thurs. I kinda miss my bed in my apartment now. The longer stay also means more Kimchi. God dun save the queen, save me first.

Other that that, Gun Po is a peaceful small town like Toa Payoh. I went for a stroll tonight and found a very big wet market, full of unknown and interesting objects. Edible and not edible.
The hotel tv keeps playing Korean Drama, and i must admit their actors and actress are looking terrifically beautiful, but the ppl on the street are just so so. This is my fourth time to Korea. Like last time, i have a bleeding nose due to the dry weather again, and not because of Korean man.


Darby

Duffy

Another easy listening love song from Sodagreen that's worth a spin , it suits the taste of those who like mainstream pop.

苏打绿-小情歌
这是一首简单的小情歌
唱着人们心肠的曲折
我想我很快乐当有你的温热
脚边的空气转了唱着我们心头的白鸽
我想我很适合当一个歌颂者青春在风中飘着
你知道就算大雨让这座城市颠倒我会给你怀抱
受不了看见你背影来到写下我度秒如年难捱的离骚
就算整个世界被寂寞绑票我也不会奔跑
逃不了最后谁也都苍老写下我时间和琴声交错的城堡
最后谁也都苍老

And Duffy is another singer (she is a new found talent from British) who's recently hot in MTV channel, for her hit song "Mercy " (theme song of Sex and The City ) , but i like her "Warwick Avenue" more. She is a white female, with powerful lungs and sings like a black, on Soul/Jazz/POP. She is really gifted with the capability to switch between genres without efforts.
I have been searching for her album in the nearby neighbourhood , i think it is still unavailable at Pudong area.

Click on the link below to play the song "Mercy" .



Darby

Soda Green

I was supposed to shift into my condo today. The landlady delayed me for a few times and I was finally able to get into the unit only at 4 pm to view the condition and sign the contract. But the stupid Shanghainese landlady did not do her part as agreed to move out the junk in the wardrobe and cupboard on time and the place and things in there were still as messy as before. She also did not bother to clean the room either and only changed the electric rice cooker to a rusty one! The agent and i both helped her to clear the junk and her husband was mumbling unhappily while doing the cleaning job, complaining that i caused the confusion on what i need and do not need them to move out. I just fucked him in the face by telling him everything was discussed and jotted down in contract 4 days ago by his wife to shut his mouth. Finally we cleared the junk at 5pm, and the agent began to draft the contract and let us view the contract at 6pm. Just right before signing the contract, the landlady called her son and read the contract line by line, and the bastard shouted at her mum in the phone on certain terms. The landlady then hanged up the phone and told us she could not rent out the room to me anymore. I just kept my mouth shut. I was too tired to deal with her, she never kept her promise, never made up her mind, was always beating around the bush, was always delaying her job. The agent became mad and tried hard to reason out with the landlady but failed. She then called her boss to inform him about the failure to close the deal due to the stupid landlady.

I just left the condo with the agent and decided not to waste our time on this landlady, and complimented the agent for her persistence on requesting the proper documents(the landlady just kept forgetting to show us the properties cert) and fighting for me as per contract. I will still hire her for the hunt of my unit in the next few weeks, and may stay at my company's quarter paid for 6 months for another newly hired fella who did not turn up. I think i am more tolerant with China ppl this time after knowing their character. I did not even get angry when this happened. I can see Shanghainese ppl shouting out loud at each other once or twice day in day out, knowing they are not honest and not generous ppl.

After that , I went back to the hotel and put down the contract/cash and went to Secret Recipe at Carrefour for my dinner. Then I went back to hotel to watch TV, and the MTV channel kept playing the songs of a band namely 苏打绿/Sodagreen, singing 无与伦比的美丽 . The male lead is very "Faye Wong" himself and i am sure he is a PLU, and rumours have spread that the 2 instrument players are PLU and in love with each other. They are an indie rock band playing guitar/drums with piano/violin. It is odd for a rock band. They are more of a glamour/grunge rock band than heavy metal. Their songs are melancholic sometimes, vocals are not terrific and unisex (you cannot tell the male lead voice is a boy or girl at all), but full of feelings, great to play on a rainy night.

无与伦比的美丽 By 苏打绿

天上风筝在天上飞 地上人儿在地上追

你若担心你不能飞 你有我的蝴蝶

天上风筝在天上飞 地上人儿在地上追

我若担心我不能飞 我有你的草原

你形容我是这个世界上无与伦比的美丽

我知道你才是这世界上无与伦比的美丽

天上风筝在天上飞 地上人儿在地上追

你若担心你不能飞 你有我的蝴蝶

你形容我是这个世界上无与伦比的美丽

我知道你才是这世界上无与伦比的美丽

你知道当你需要个夏天 我会拼了命努力

我知道你会做我的掩护当我是个逃兵

你形容我是这个世界上无与伦比的美丽

我知道你才是这世界上无与伦比的美丽

天上风筝在天上飞地上人儿在地上追

你若担心你不能飞 你有我的蝴蝶

我若担心我不能飞 我有你的草原

Darby

Pines Market

After taking photos for my china work permit, i took a stroll in the neighbourhood , and to my surprise i found an alley in a mall that is catered for expats next to Carrefour. Inside, i can find Vietnamese/Jap/Indian restaurants, not mentioning the Starbucks which i can see from outside the building.
The biggest surprise is i found Pines Market inside the mall too and it has all kinds of food for expats and is like a Cold Storage Market from Singapore planted next to my condo. I can find cheese finally in China. I was overjoyed! It holds a lot of Ang Mo food and Southeast Asia groceries, lots of good DVDs/CDs at a few SGD. It is perfectly suited to my needs. While i was totally soaked in joy there in the market, Piggy happened to call and check on me. I told him that i will not go back to Singapore again as i have found Pines Market. Of course it is a joke. But i wanted to show him how good my life is here in SH, which i could not do when i was in run down Shenzhen outskirt, and hope to spend some good time with him in this relaxing new neighborhood.

A little further away from the market, there is a Sports Market named Decathlon, which is big and spacious with all kind of sports accessories. It will take me at least 40 minutes to browse through all the items. And further down, i found B&Q , a China interior mall like Ikea, and as large as Ikea.

I was wondering if i have made the right choice to stay a bit far from co, but now i am very sure this is the area i want to live in. Given that the rental around this region can go as high from 10K to 30K RMB (2K SGD to 6K SGD) after checking from a few estate agents, my one bedroom unit at 2500RMB (500SGD) is really worth the money since i have access to the same facilities.
I will take photos to show the readers my neighbourhood, and do not doubt, this is China when you see the photos. Shanghai is different definitely.

Darby

A satisfied day at work

i have taken up a new position as a supervisor, but was shocked to find out i have more than 30 subordinates and combined with 2 departments, it's actually a managerial role . I think the company wants to make every single cent of their money count, and i have begun my first OT till 10.30 pm today, my third day of working here in Shanghai. However, it is not as stressful as i thought. My subordinates are good and experienced, they handle the jobs themselves and only comes to me for major cases. Other than that, i will spend my time to prepare paperwork for my boss who needs to present the Yearly Review to Management next week.

I am involved in an issue with my leader and attended a concall today with our overseas counterpart. The management is not pleased with this counterpart as he is not contactable for days. They want to kick him out and planned to have me pick up from him before he realised that I will be handing over to a new guy. After that, i have to visit a few customers located there to build up the rapport as they are our biggest customers. My leader is really hardworking to work till this late, this is out of the norm for locals. I have helped him on the communication as he is not as well versed in English and i guess he is happy with my presence after today's concall. I feel good although I worked late today and this is rare. May be it is the presence of teamwork in the company here from engineers to directors. And i will go and apply for my US visa tomorrow for the upcoming customer visit, just in case.


Darby

Start Working Today

22 June
i was typing the first part of this blog while waiting to board my flight to Pudong at Changi airport T3, 9am , 22 June. It is drizzlin outside, i am really sleepy and tired as i woke up early at 4am but i cannot sleep now. it is quite pathetic that i have to leave for SH alone, but again i do not like to have ppl sending me off. Mummy woke up at 4 am to prepare breakfast, fried egg sandwich. When i woke up this morning, she had completed her task and was reading her Sutra. After washing up and taking breakfast, my younger brother drove me to the airport. It was dark and there was a heavy downpour. I saw mum standing by the door and upset that i am going to leave her again. I do not know if i am doing the right thing, may be i am wrong. I told her, take good care, and waved to her when i was inside the car. She has aged a lot, and so did i. I may regret this in the future that i did not take good care of her although my younger brother is doing a good job taking care of her.

And i finished the second part of this blog at 11 pm on the same day. When i reached the hotel in Pudong at 5pm, i finished the Nasi Lemak i bought from the airport. This is the last cuisine i can enjoy from the tropical for the next few months at least. I left the hotel and went out for a stroll and found a residential area called BiYun, it has Carrefour, Starbucks (3 Storeys), Secret Recipe, Subway, YongHe Soy Milk, B&Q Interior, Breadtalk, Pizza Hut and a Megafitness Building with pool/gym/yoga lessons, and lots of Caucasians and Indians around. I feel better now. It is 20 minutes' drive from my company, and i hope to find an apartment to stay in between these 2 spots. If i can endure long enough in this company,i will spend most of my time between these 2 spots during weekdays. And what they missed out is they do not have a bookstore. But the good thing is the transport is convenient, i can easily hire a cab here or take a bus, and the cab drivers do not pluck a figure out of no where like in KL and they follow the meter strictly.
Tomorrow is the begining of a new chapter in my life.

23 June
After my work today, i rushed to the agent to view 2 units in the same condo near Biyun. I like the second one altho it is more messy and expensive, but it gives me the home feelin and offers a good view from the balcony at night. I can take the company bus by walking to the pick up point which is 10 mins by foot from these two apartments, and i can return at the same way at 430 pm ( official knock off time) or take the 6 pm / 8 pm bus too.

I then went for a foot massage at 70RMB for 60 mins and called to inform piggy , as he likes massage a lot. After that, i took a cab home. I like this area, but the rent can go as high as 10K RMB, and the apartment i viewed is at 2.5K RMB, the cheapest i can find around this region, altho renovation is not as good.


Darby

Jakers ! The adventure of Piggley Winks.

I have been watching this cartoon in the noon by Kids Central Channel for the past 1 month, because of the cute character Piggley Winks. Silly me. Well, a piggy never fails to attract my attention. But lucky me, I am able to rest for a month before i start working again. Hereby i announce, i will fly on 22 June to Shanghai. I will miss Piggy, friends, and family.

I think that' s all for my blog in June 2008. Love.

Darby.

Yoga Sutra

I have been reading Yoga Sutra by Patanjali that i bought in Shenzhen, the mandarin version. It has 4 chapters and i began chapter 2 yesterday, and it is very difficult for me to understand untill i read the Tibetan Book of Life and Death last month. As i go further with the reading and understanding of Yoga Sutra, I began to understand what the teachings of Buddhism and Hinduism are about basically. It is about practising control and then removing the effects of your ego and emotions, by separating your true self (Atman) from temptations from your five senses through Yoga. And the effect of karma on your five senses is explained too. A total transformation of one's true self is expected when the meditation reaches the higher stage, called Samandhi, such as a seed which is burnt under high temp will never sprout again. That will cut you off from the greed/hatred/lust, and this is what Buddhism is preaching.

It totally make senses to me, whatever i need/i lust for/i want /i wish /i love.... all are not permanent, but are these really what "I " want ? People will go to the gym to build up their body shape, go to a saloon for an expensive hair cut , go shopping for Gucci/Prada, go dining at Shangrila, but all these are purely acts of attachment to our 5 senses. We like to look good ( visual) , feel sexy ( touch) , taste good food ( taste ) , smell good (scent), etc. None of these is what our true self really needs, and all of these are superficial. And once we cannot do that, jealousy and dissatisfaction will grow and create Karma, the greater the attachment to the objects from this earth, the more difficult you can recognise your true self (Atman) in Yoga. And being able to recognise your true self is like giving yourself a passport to escape from reincarnation. Yoga is about achieving minimalism in life with everything in moderatation. And the final result is that you will become a monk, but come to think of it, some of the monks are very rich in terms of their possessions nowadays.

I do not think i can reach the stage of being a monk, as my understanding of these concepts and teachings are very minimum, and i am not a bright student either. What i hope to achieve is to find the happiness/peace within myself, by knowing who i really am, and have less attachment to my possessions. It will help me to go further with my life, my work and my relationship with others.


Darby

Top Ten Movies

I promised to write about foreign / western movies last year and managed to get a top ten list of my own today . I have barely done any research and just ran through in my mind , what were the movies that i have watched in the past few years and wanted to collect the DVDs of . I could have left out many other good movies but it does not matter i guess as the list is done just for fun.


The ranking is not in order of importance.

1. Broke Back Mountain
Needless to say anything.

2. Big Fish

Full of imagination and passion.

3. Billy Elliot

Great.

4. Como Agua Para Chocolate ( Like Water for Chocolate )

The book is better , but it is still a great movie and i love to watch them do the cooking.

5. Jerry Maguire
Always inspiring.




6. Kill Bill
Entertaining and funny.



7. Love Actually
The movie that begins the courtship between McDull and Darby.



8. Millions
Child actor is always the best.




9. Paris Je taime
Love this .





10. The Piano
A beautifully shot movie , with tonnes of feelings.

Darby

Viva Pavillion

It was wet in the beginning and the end, i mean the weather. On Sat morning 14 June , I waited for Piggy at JB custom at 8 am , and he was late for 30 mins due to traffic jam, and it was a pity that we did not went for our Kaya Toast at JB old town at Jin Hua Kopitiam near Post Office. We rushed to Larkin station and had our Mcdonald's Breakfast before we boarded the bus . The weather was not good with heavy rain for hours after we took the KKKL express. Both of us were quite sleepy and we napped on the bus. Luckily when we arrived, the weather was sunny again.

It is our third or fourth trip to KL together, and we were expecting no surprises to come out of this trip, which is purely for relaxing. But we were wrong.

I have done some study before hand on the eatting places for piggy, and managed to find one restaurant which Media Corp channel U host Quan Yifeng visited. We took our lunch there. It is only 10 minutes walk from Pudu Raya Bus station and there is a sinseh permanently stationed there to check your pulse for free. We find the soup is above average and the price is reasonable (abt 10 RM per soup ) .

Ju Yuan Tonic (11am to 3pm / 530 pm to 9pm, Sunday closed ) 3 out of 5 pig tails ratings
6011 -C Blue Boy Mansion Jln Tong Shin
502000 KL

After lunch , we feel recharged and were lucky enough to take a cab by an honest driver that only charged 2 RM to Radius International hotel at Changkat Bukit Bintang. On the next day when we tried to take a cab back to the hotel after purchasing our return ticket to JB , another taxi driver wanted to charge us 10RM. This is the down side of travelling in KL, the public transport sucks and the cab drivers are not honest. After resting in the hotel till 6pm, piggy's tummy was roaring loud for foods, so we were out again for dinner and explored the neighborhood , and we found many themed restaurants at Jln Changkat Bukit Bintang. We picked Restaurant Muar for its home cooked food, and it did not failed us. We ordered Japanese Tofu , Fried Kangkong , Ginger Spring Onion with Fish Slice and they all turned out quite good. The dessert is fantastic Nonya Cendol with gula Malaca topping.

Restaurant Muar, 4 out of 5 pig tails this time.
No 6G Tengkat Tong Shin ,
50200 KL

After dinner , we took a slow walk to Pavillion which was just next to Starhill, and we were surprised by the size of this mall located within KL City Central and the great number of luxury/ brand name stores and boutiques it contains. We took a quick look of this mall and decided to come back for a movie the next day and bought our tickets in advance.

The next morning , after our breakfast in the hotel , we went to Pavillion again, watched Missing by Tsui Hark at 12 pm and lunched at Food Republic at 2.30 pm. It was quite a good experience. I then dropped the idea of going to Jln Petaling to buy Thangka , and let Piggy and i have more time to explore the shops in Pavillion. WIthout any hesitation, Piggy contributed to the pink dollar industries and bought 4 long sleeves shirts from Library at Tangs and G2000 at Parkson. In the midst of shopping , we realised that Pavillion could possibly have highest concentration of PLUs in Malaysia, and it is not hard to understand why given the number of high fashion stores it has under its roof. Piggy was salivating throughout the shopping and his ears were red after many twisting by me. I can only chant " Beauty is only skin deep " and hope to bring back his soul to his body. Lust is dangerous.

After spending a whole day in the mall , Piggy and i were tired and decided to go back to the hotel. On the way back , he had a foot massage at Dong Fang (opposite to Restaurant Muar) for 60 mins at 40 RM. The masseur (number 31), a pretty Hei Long Jia girl was good according to Piggy. We went to bed early and it feels good to hug Piggy before sleep.

The next day , we did nothing and just lazed around. We took our lunch again at Ju Yuan on our way to Pudu Raya. It began to rain again before we boarded the bus. We reached JB at 6pm and have dinner at City Square Kim Gary Restaurant. After dinner i sent piggy off to JB custom. As the silhoutte of piggy gets smaller and smaller under the yellow street lamps , i began to feel the pain again of being separated from him although it is only temporary. And i am quite touched by the effort he has put in to accompany me and pamper me during the journey. It is not easy to cross the border during a traffic jam as you will get tired/hungry/ frustrated. I have been through that when i was younger and know how it feels. And i can only say Thank you and I love you, Piggy.


Darby

Ginseng Pork Rib Soup

Mum taught me how to cook the soup with below ingredients :
1. Pork Ribs , 200 g
2. Ginseng , 5 g
3. Dates , 10
4. Sweet corn / potato / carrot , all in equal amount and cut into cubes
5. Boil the soup with ingredients from 1/2/3/4 except potato
6. When all are boiled and softened, put potato into the pot.
7. Small flame to continue boiling.
8. Add salt and taste , then you can switch off.
It is sufficient for 4 persons.

While preparing this , the Shanghai company called and asked me to report to work in Shanghai on 23 June. This means i have to depart from Singapore on 22 June. I will have to count on mum's teaching on this soup so that i can cook myself some nutritious food. She promised she will come to Shanghai to visit me next year if i am working in Shanghai. I would like to show her around in Shanghai and Suzhou/Hangzhou. It is a way for me to show my gratitude, since she rejected my proposal to send her to a cruise tour last month. I think my mum is very smart , of course pick Shanghai la. hehehe..

i am craving for Japanese curry lately. Although piggy treated me last month to dinner in a famous Jap Restaurant in Orchard, i just could not enjoy it due to my gastric pain again. I do not know why, it is such a coincidence, i just could not enjoy my meal wholeheartedly whenever piggy is giving me a treat since i returned . Blame it on my poor health.

Darby

FCUK

11 June

Went to singapore to meet piggy for lunch and then my insurance agent, and after crossing the border i suddenly could not talk and eat due to a bad sore throat. I had a hard time trying to swallow the Vietnamese Bun that piggy treated me to, and i was not able to talk much to piggy either. After meeting the insurance agent at City hall, i went to a nearby clinic immediately. The doctor said i have inflammation in my throat, and it is swollen on both the left and right sides. I was thinking to myself, what is next ? Stomach, intestine, now throat. i have been popping pills this whole month non stop.

Today my black fcuk t shirt again drew attention from the crowd, on it were the words LUCKY FCUK printed in white color in a very small font . In the train , a guy and a girl sitting opposite me just kept staring at the words; later in a bank , another boyish guy queueing in front of me just turned his body and stared at my t shirt (he is short and my chest is at his eye level); on my return trip to JB, the custom officer ( a pretty young Malay lady ) smiled at the words. Luckily, i dropped the idea of going for a swim due to the sore throat. This t shirt is just worth much more than what i have paid for and i just feel like i am a celebrity every time i put it on.


10 June

Thunderstorm at 9pm , a bark of the tree in front of our house fell due to a heavy rainstorm that lasted for 1 hr, my neighbor's roof top sealing was lifted up by the wind and carried into our courtyard. It is the heaviest rain and most violent storm i have seen lately in Malaysia . And the next morning when i am leaving for Singapore , i saw a car has plunged into the drain, i am not sure if this's due to the storm.


Darby

The Tibetan Book of Life and Death

10 June
After reading The Tibetan Book of Life and Death for a few times this year, i realised that it has become very instantaneous and easy to understand many other scriptures.I spent a day on Sunday to study the Great Mudra Sutra , a simplified explaination by a very famous white sect Tibetan Living Buddha, it is simple and make senses to me on their teachings , the concept is clear and understood. I then read The Heart Sutra at mid night again , which i was not able to understand since i have read it many years back when i was a teenager, and i managed to grab 50 % of what it says this time.

I have not read any of the Buddhist Scriptures since 10 years back , due to the language/terms used are really unknown to me and i cannot understand the concept at all through their old scriptures. But within this few days , i can grab the meaning behind it with some basic interpretation and i actually taught my mum on the Great Mudra Sutra , The Tibetan Book of Life and Death, and explained to her how these are related to her Buddhism study for the past 5 years. She said that she only know how to chant in the past but never truly grabs the meaning of the teachings , and neither the nuns able to enlighten her on this so far, but after my explaination , she began to understand the scriptures and the concept of Buddhism better for the first time. I know the simple and clear teachings from the Tibetan Book actually works.

All this begin from my learning of Hatha Yoga, and i began to study the real Yoga concept and i found that it is more on meditation than Asanas , the Sutra is 90% on meditation. What we learn from the gym , is only a by product of ancient Yoga. The real Yoga guru teaches us how to see our Atman through meditation ( Atman = the godlike nature of every creature. ) . I bought Yoga sutra 2 years back and realised that it is truly a profound concept to absorb by normal ppl. And it leads to the study of the Tibetan Book, as Yoga is practised by monks to attain nirvana.And i happened to find the Great Mudra Sutra from my mum s library. I worked the reverse way from tough to easy , the right sequence should be Great Mudra Sutra first , which offers the clear concept on Buddhism teachings and Meditation ( Yoga Sutra ) , and the use of this Meditation in after life ( The Tibetan Book ). The toughest among all is to practise the Buddhism teachings and Meditation.

Until now , i have not completed the study of Yoga sutra and not able to fully understand the teachings, and i will continue to do so. Then i can use the Yoga to move my soul from one place to another to spy on Piggy. Piggy , be afraid , be very afraid.

Darby.

Jack Johnson

5 june
i escaped from my house this noon after my yoga practising, and spent the afternoon in a Jusco nearby . i spent an hr in Starbucks , ate a marble cheese cake and a glass of hot milk as i cannot drink coffee now, and i definitely craved for cheese cake. Then spent an hr in a bookstore, browsing for all kind of books. window shopped but there is nothing i want to buy except a pair of jeans only cost 10SGD for i am too fat for my old pants, after that i spent some time in the groceries store too but find nothing i want to buy.
When i was in Starbucks today , I read about the critics on Jack Johnson s new album , he has the charm to combine simple music with his melancholic voice, usually in a gentle manner and with lyrics that tells us daily things happening around us.
He belongs to a rare genre in western pop now, especially when R&B and hip hop is the main stream , and he managed to draw a certain group audience . i love the way he sings, it feels like you are relaxing in a pub , and this singer is telling the stories by his singing , gentlely with guitar as the background. in any album of this singer , i found most of the songs are pleasing to ears and easy to understand but it always come with deep thoughts behind the lyrics. He is a lucky man, doing the things he like and not giving in for commercial reasons. Hope to see him going on for years till i am old too, as i am very picky when it comes to music, only listen to very few singers that i like.

Darby.

PIG PIG HEADLINES

It's 11.55 pm. now on a Monday night. Fat darby must be snoring away in blissful sleep and building his collagen at the same time. Well I hope he is :-) Two years of hard work in China have taken a toll on his health and some colour off him. Now is the only time he has to catch his breath and break the cycle of stress and worry. I wish he will get as much rest as he can and enjoy his short break, before he starts his new job in a new city.

This Friday is the due day to file the written submissions for the month long trial I did with my boss and Thess four weeks ago. Counsel has not quite gotten started on the draft and my boss is having nightmares, although we have been working on the points for submissions more than 2 weeks ago. I can foresee a whole week of long hours and brain damaging activites (going through the draft, debating drafting points and legal submissions with my boss, making sense of the cases and the LAW). It's all right though as I have the innate ability to crack silly jokes which amuse myself but irritate my boss at the same time. After making my Nth joke of the day in front of her, my boss finally gave up on me. She started to rattle some points in an inaudible manner to herself and whined that I am not being serious and no one was paying attention to her. Haha - how hilarious it is to know that my views are still wanted, even though I am a mental case.

I ended the day plonking my new semi-round belly in front of the TV and watched Jiang Mei Qi (Xiao Mei) sing a few songs by her favourite composers Lin Xi and Yao Qian. One song led to another and I soon discovered that these two (by now old but still talented) uncles have written quite a number of good songs. There's Sandy Lam's "Zhi Shao Hai You Ni", Tanya Chua's "Mo Sheng Ren" and Karen Mok's "Ai Qing". The best part of it all - I discovered that Xiao Mei could sing these songs as well as the original singers. It's a pity that she has not reached the same level of popularity as some more famous but less talented singers. A singer like her deserves a bigger break and audience. I hope she will get them.

The last headline news I have for you fans is that darby and I am making our way up north to KL this Saturday. This will be our 3rd trip to KL together and I am not expecting it to be very different from our previous trips where the activities are concerned. It's a good thing still as we don't get to spend much time with each other nowadays. A relationship needs to undergo some servicing from time to time (like the car engine) and I consider the KL trip a maintenance workshop for our 4 1/2 year relationship. I hope to come out of it running faster and longer.

Mcdull

I hate kids

4 June

The 3 little monsters are with us for this whole week, as my niece is having her school holidays and the other 2 little monsters are too young to go to Kindergarten. I really do not enjoy their presence, altho they can be quite adorable. I need a quiet place now to sleep/eat/ exercise properly. It's another long battle when I start the new job soon but there is no peace at all in my house now.

I always dislike kids, unknowingly. The world is already in a mess. It might be the end of the world in the next 50 years, 100 years . Why bring your kids to this world just to tell them that the earth is gonna to blow up soon and they are going to die before they get old? Many ppl did not do their part to reduce the waste, and created tonnes of junk, wasted the resources, generated heat and carbon monoxide, but they say i love kids, and look at what they have done to the earth that they are going to handover to their kids ? It's quite shameful of them cause their love for their kids is selfish and shortsighted.

I am a strange person in that since my teenage years, i have disapproved of ppl who litter/pour waste into rivers or ask for unnecessary plastic bags. Maybe it is because i have the chance to grow up in a rural area during my childhood. We have a slope behind our back yard that is planted with Starfruit/Soursop, and on the slope you can find a bamboo forest that is linked to a jungle and a small river in the jungle with a cold and clean stream of water. We kept 30 dogs to guard the durian plantations next to our house, and i was quite upset when the leader of the pack named Kopi (a very big gentle dog with tiger pattern fur) was knocked down by a fucked up driver. He was my good friend during my lonely childhood, after i had just returned to my own family from my grandparents.

Maybe it is the way i have grown up - surrounded by the nature. I have poor relationship with ppl during my childhood and I tend to find peace in nature and hope to protect it.


Darby

Lab Report

3 June

I picked up the lab report from my doc today and he showed me that the test specimen which was taken from my intestine has turned red. This means there is the presence of Helicobacter , a bacteria that resides in and eats up digestive organ, in my stomach. 50 % of the population has this kind of bacteria in the stomach, but it will only become harmful and cause ulcer/inflammation when the acidity in your stomach is excessive/imbalanced, if i am not wrong. And it will start to eat the flesh in your organ and cause the layer of tissue to tear. This will then cause pain when the gastric acid attacks your stomach nerves directly. I do not want to be a victim of the worst case scenario knowing what the bacteria can do, and i am lucky that after 3 months of suffering, finally the cause of my stomach and intestinal pain is determined.

I have visited 2 docs, one from HK and one from JB. The HK doc failed to find the cause altho the same test is performed. 3 months later, the JB doctor traced the cause of my pain with a more comprehensive test. I have been sufferring from pain in my digestive organs. First, it was the stomach ulcer. Then the acid reflux which is burning the easophagus and now the intestine inflammation.

I will start a 7 day course of medicine and the doc say i will feel nauseous and my throat may feel awful. I told the doc it is fine as i am not working now. I hope to get rid of the pain for good so that I can start my new job in Shanghai with better health.

After the visit to the doctor , i went for a swim in Marsiling pool, and walked from the Kopitiam near Marsiling MRT to the pool , that short but sweet journey again. I really miss those good old days when piggy and i would go for a swim during the weekend at Marsiling pool, and after the swim we would walk from the pool to the Kopitiam to eat my fav Minced Meat Noodles. Along the way, i would make fun of piggy and he would try very hard to strike back, a push on his chest, a pinch on his ear, but he is just not on par with me when it comes to violence. I know this will never happen again or at least not in the next few years as I am not stationed in Spore permanently and he has moved to Central. Things have changed. I am the one to be blamed. If i did not choose to go overseas, then we can still continue the way we were. Now we can hardly talk to and see each other regularly. And when we get together, either one of us will be too tired (for me the stress is from the flight and work, and for him the stress from the work and family) to care about the other one. This has caused some bad feelings/tiffs sometimes, but the good thing is neither of us is doubting our relationship, we hope to make it last. It's a long way to go.

Darby

House hunting

1 June

piggy and i embarked on a house hunting action in the past 2 days in Spore. We viewed 2 hi end condo in the central of Singapore with the intention of investing. And to my surprise, the cost of these small condo units can go up to more than 800K Sin for a 2 room unit( i.e 2 bedrooms ). It is as small as the Hongkong condo units and I feel that any owner will definitely feel that he is shortchanged on the space given the amount of cash that he has to put in. I have been paying attention to the housing in JB. For about 300K RM ( 150K SGD ), you can buy yourself a single storey terrance house with courtyard in JB town near Pelangi. In Singapore, that same amount will only fetch you a small 2 bedroom HDB flat. But of course, private housing in JB does not provide you with the same facilities that Singapore houses or condos can offer nor the security.

The housing in JB is dropping for the past 4 years. You may buy a house that cost 300K RM in Y2004 and now it may cost only 280K RM. But in Spore, the prices are only going up and up. By comparison, it is only reasonable to invest in Spore properties, but the problem is we do not have enuff money for that, even for a 2 bedroom unit. We did our calculations and the monthly instalment can be as high as 6000 SGD if we want to keep to a 10 year installment plan. That means we will not have our yearly trips to overseas countries and we will live pathetically as a slave to pay the mortgage for the house.

So, to choose a right house at the right cost, and one that is good enuff for our own use and with a good investment potential is really a challenge. We were thinking about this and hope to make some money out of the house so that we can enjoy our retirement life. Then piggy can go BKK every now and then to watch his fav agogo show. But now is not the right time to buy, as we both are not ready to fork out the money to buy the house at current prices. So i guess we will put it on hold , and piggy will continue to monitor the market.

Looking at the real estate market in JB, i am not worried about the cost of housing in JB. I think i will defer my purchase in JB till i am back for good. A private house in JB is not secure if you are not staying in the house yourself, and when i do purchase the house in future, i believe the cost is not going to vary very much from now.

Darby

Friends

it is not easy for most people to maintain a relationship all at once with, family , friends, lover, colleagues... , let alone a quiet and boring person like me. I tend to hide behind the shadow of those eloquent ppl when i am with strangers. I do not have too many friends, i mean really good friends that I have known for years. But today, i am going to talk about my good friends.


1. Alien
He is the first kaki that i came to befriend in my all boys secondary school, after my transfer from a notorious co ed secondary school. Slowly, we found out more about each other. I realised that Alien is a very sceptical person (a real virgo but not virgin anymore) towards everything in this Universe. He will poke into and make fun of the reality and add salt to the wound on certain issues, but you cannot deny that his points are very realistic at the same time. And who taught him this method of thinking at a young age ( a secondary school boy ) - I was truly amazed! And his cold blooded words would hit the bull's eye without compassion at the same time. If you have watched the Devil Wears Prada , he is the perfect male actor for the role that Meryl Streep played in the movie. Born with a sharp tongue, it is strange that he seldoms or actually never hurts any of his friends with his born capability but more on life and politics.

There is another side to him which is very sentimental, making him someone who has a severe split personality. He is the one who would buy books and read them, appreciates good films, good music and of course with a liking for wines too. A very realistic person who, at the same time, will bother to appreciate good arts.

Alien is always a leader among my good friends. He takes on this responsiblity of rounding us up for a gathering whenever there is a chance. It is not an easy and in fact an unappreciated task. I myself do not think anyone else among us friends who is capable of doing this better than him.


2. Merino
A saggitarius, always messy and crazy , he partied and partied for years since his teenage years. We need to have his presence to have fun , as he is capable of cracking silly jokes and it s really silly believe me. He is born with an optimistic character and spreads laughters, behaving like a clown. But he has very good IQ and EQ, trying to masquerade his true self ( silly or smart? we do not really know as he is never serious . He is the naughty one who will make fun of the teachers, calling them names and imitate their acts during every lunch break. Although he is in mid 30 s now , we still find him unsettled sometimes.

He has a capablity of mixing around, making friends , and sometimes we find it very fishy with his new girl, friend? lover? friend? lover? But no one can deny that he has very good PR skills and is able to talk until cow comes home. And i think he is the high achiever among us.


3. Fatty
An aquarius, he is a very timid and talkative person , ultra sensitive 6 senses (not ghost ok ) towards the surroundings. Like FBI agents , he is able to detect small changes within a radius of 50 KM and take necessary actions to avoid troubles. We find him a excellent candidate for paparazzi, as he got the qualities that the job needs, but with a timid character, he will not dare to chase the celebrities and persecute them.

Also very auntie at the same time , he is a great diplomat who like to chit chat non stop and gossip about others. If he bothers to set up his antenna, he has the most information everytime during the gathering. Being a great diplomat also means he never confronts others if there is anything that irritates him.

Great at cooking (previously a chef at a Spore 5 stars hotel ) , zero tolerance towards dust, knowledgable in electrical appliances, he will be a good house husband. We hope he will get married soon.


4. Nun
OK , he is a monk. We just make fun of him as he is a very devoted buddhist. There is a very easy going air about him, it is almost like he has attained nirvana as he has a relaxed attitude towards life, which i believe none of us can surpass him in this field. He never complained about how life is , always take things as they come, always treat others with politeness and kindness, never calculate on how much effort he puts in for anything. I truly envy him on how he carries himself and finds him the most happy person that i know. And I hope he can be the person he wants to be, a nun. haha.. i am talking nonsense again.


5. Anak Patung


He's the only one among us who is a non chinese. He has a rather introverted character like me, and is a very soft hearted person. We became more familiarwith each other only after secondary graduation. Patung has a very gentle character, and he is an easy going person like the Nun too, except that Patung is too sinful to live in any temple.

He is always with us, but stay in the background quietly like a shadow and perfectly ok with this role. But deep inside, we know that he is someone with his own personality too, but he chose to suppress it for unknown reasons. I find him a rather strong willed person as no one is able to change his mind once he has decided on something.

I want to take the chance to say thank you guys , you have brightened up my life bit by bit. It helps me to pull through many things, which I can't, if there is no back up from you guys. We have misunderstandings and understandings. We have fights and make ups. We shared happiness and unhappiness. I just hope we will be friends forever. And if you happen to read this, pls keep this blog as your little secret among us.



Darby

The three little monsters

My 4 y/o niece and 2 y/0 twins nephew were with us last weekend and that means i have to suffer from high pitch noise and a messy environment. They are always full of tonnes of energy and high pitch squeaky noise in their tiny bodies at their Dan Tian ( that's how the tenors practise their singing). Of course for a day or two, we still can tolerate the bombarding from the army troop, but not longer than that - say 1 week. My mum made a wise decision to raise the white flag and kicked them back to their home after the weekend.

We were watching the 8pm news not knowing what the reporters said, due to the screams and shouts from the troop, and none of us can do anything about these crazy fellas running jumping shouting in our living room that can last for at least 1 hr. For someone like me, i definitely do not want to go through this phase as it is fine with my life to have no children. I would rather keep a pet dog or a cat, it is more manageable, although a dog or a cat is similar to a baby sometimes. i have to salute the parents who are responsible and patient enough to tolerate their kids.

Darby

Took up the offer in Shanghai

After clarifiying the letter of offer for the past few days , i finally replied to the Shanghai company that i accept their offer. it is not a high increase at all in my basic salary, and i am not too excited about it. The company has refused to increase my salary further as working in China , tax (which is factored into the salary) is a large portion of the company expenses. I will just take it up as i am still jobless now.

It is full of uncertainty now, although i truly want to settle down in my career . I do not know if i will last for another 2 years like the previous one in Shenzhen, and i want to do my investment in properties now as i am already 34 yo and still homeless. I like to go back to home for mummy's cooking but other than that, the home itself caters no space or quiet corner for me to read/rest / practise my yoga. i know i am eager and need to have my own space/privacy and i am ready to purchase one.

Darby

Mee Hun Kuay

I left my Shenzhen company for good and returned to my home 5 days ago, and i am trying to regulate my life style back to normal. I try to sleep at 10 or 11 pm , wake up at 7 am , go market with mum , carrying the groceries, help out with household chores such as laundry ( with hands ) and cooking. And today our assignment is mee hun kuay, i kneaded the mee hun ( flour dough) myself, it is quite easy , and mum did all the cooking. We were busy in the kitchen since morning till 11 am, she showed me her Yi Tian Jian ( Heaven Sword) that she has been hiding for her own use ( I said she is Mie Jue Shi Tai ) for me to chop the red onions . To be frank , i feel really blessed that i can walk with her on the way to and from market, it is a blessing from God above that my parents are healthy.

I discussed with my best friend on the new job in Shanghai last night, he said it is how much in dollars and cents that will make you leave your family for a job. I truly agree that no money can buy the family ties and my quality time with mum and siblings. It is truly a Maslow hierachy, if you have fulfilled the first need , you will go to the second need ... And it has come to a stage where at my age , i truly value my time with mum as i know she is ageing every day, and i should take my time to pamper her. However, i may not stay by her side for good as the global economy is changing such that i cannot now get a job easily in Singapore to provide for her. I have been coaxing her to go for a trip with me and her sisters, but i think she is truly a house wife now who only wants to stay in our house. I find that to be a pity as i may be going overseas for my next job if there is no other offer in Spore, but i think i cannot change her mind overnight as she has been living like a nun for years ( no meat no killing no fun ) .. haha...

Mum said that she used to eat this dish with her mum and family when she was young , i think she misses granny too. And I know why.


Darby

Easter in BKK

Piggy and i went to Bangkok (our fondest city among all) during Easter holiday this year. We went to Patpong, Divana Spa, MBK, Siam Square, ZEN, Central and did a fair amount of eating , shopping and massage.

Our first destination was Patpong of course cause we have almost forgotten the faces of those strip dancers after we watched them 4 years ago. It is for the pig to recap its memory and saved it in his harddisk for another 4 years. But this time, between the first show and the second show, piggy actually slept with its mouth wide open (it has this habit of sleeping at places with open mouth and i wonder how many flies it has eaten). I could see the boxers passing by were really unhappy due to the pig's response to their strippers who were working hard on the stage, and I got worried that it might get punched in the face altho it can swallow a fist easily.

The next day we went to Divana Spa near Glass Haus at Sukumvit and enjoyed our exotic spa package that lasted for about 3 hrs and cost us 150 SGD per person. I felt rejuvenated this time compared to 4 years ago, may be because i am really tired due to the exhausting workload after years. I had the sesame scrub and a rose essence oil massage, and asked for 2 glasses of their famous pandan honey drink after the massage. We left the spa happily with glowing body and lifted spirit. It is a great pamper for the two of us for all the hardwork in the past 4 years.

In the following days , we went to pray at the 4 face buddha site and shopped and ate at Siam Square, Central and a little eating house near piggy's firm's Bangkok office. It was a relaxing trip again this time with no fighting and no arguing. Then came the last day and i have to send the pig off first, which i hate to do whether it is the pig sending me off or I send the pig off. But luckily, we will meet again soon in the following week cause i took about 1 week plus no pay leave to get my body check up done in my hometown.

Overall i love BKK, and it's too bad I cannot eat much this time because I have not recovered from my stomach ulcers yet. But i know for sure this time that I will never like China cos it is only the tropical food, pple and weather that i like.

Darby