Who did what??

It pays to be a "No Man" sometimes.

Another good movie of Jim Carrey's

Usually, a blinding flash of lightning hits us a few moments before the accompanying roar of thunder. And just like that, sometimes, Shu's speech - the inability to say "NO", rather - precedes her thoughts associated with common sense. And so Shu ignorantly gets into all kinds of sticky situations. Once when she was lost in an industrial park, she readily accepted a lift in a lorry full of workers who she had never met before. When the gravity of the situation kicked in (riding in a lorry full of unknown men), she was already seated in the front seat of this lorry, answering away questions from the helpful driver who eventually did drop her at the gate of the place she was looking for. Another thing she is  brilliantly good at is saying "YES" when actually she wanted to say was "NO". Like today, she failed at turning down a dinner invitation from a chatty old senior colleague. When the thunder finally hit - the awkwardness of meeting a colleague outside work to chat about work ALONE - she panicked and desperately thought of means for damage control. Now she hopes that he will be hit by a temporary bout of dementia by next month and forget all about the invitation.

~ ~ ~

Singapore is a haven for foodies. And today, I have various raw ingredients suitable for a blog rojak.

The Urban Dictionary defines "rojak" as follows;

A delicacy in Singapore. Mixed with various ingredients. There are the Chinese Rojak, and the Indian Rojak. Different ethnic flavours come from different methods of mixing and different ingredients.
The Chinese version normally include a base of lemon sauce and a sweet gravy. Ingredients include fried fritters (Yew Char Kuay), Fried beancurd (Tau Pok), Beansprouts (tau gay), Pineapple (Ong Lai), Cucumber, Radish, and sprinkled with peanut crumbs.
The Indian flavour constitutes a melange of colourful fried foods, potato, fish cakes, and many more yummies! This rojak is normally accompanied with a sweet red coloured sauce.

~ ~ ~

I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad about the load of junk to-be-recycled we collected this month. On one hand it is a bit shocking to see that a 3-4 person household accumulated this much of recyclable junk in roughly a month, but on the other hand it is comforting to know that some of it went to a recycling plant instead of a landfill or an incinerator. 

    

                       Junk load on 1st February 2014                  Junk load on 19th February 2014

~ ~ ~ 

I like setting out to work in the crack of dawn. I've always loved the sense of calmness this time of the day brings. Apart from stars, there are less vehicles on the road, less people bustling about, the winds are cooler, bird calls are distinct and thoughts sound louder. I meet pensioners, joggers, security guards, cab drivers washing their cars at gas stations, students and working adults who, like me, start their day early. 

Vendors at the wet market starting their day early

~ ~ ~ 

Remote desktop connections leave me very amused. When I was a kid, I recall watching a TV show called Ghostwriter, where a group of kids communicated with a friendly ghost through mediums related to words and writing to solve mysteries. So the other day when the Notepad window below suddenly popped up while I was doing my work, I was immediately reminded of Ghostwriter. Also when I'm deeply involved in my work, I automatically assume that the computer monitor is an extension of my mind, so when "Ghostwriter" popped up at work, for a moment there I felt possessed!

It was just a colleague from the IT department who likes creeping up on people through remote desktop connections

~ ~ ~ 

My ongoing research into male behavioral patterns using specimens at work have shed light on some interesting areas. Though previously thought to be uncommon behaviour among these creatures, gossiping, expressing feelings and an affinity for drama have all been commonly observed. 

Scenario 1:

X: Do you have any air freshner with you?

Y: No, why?

X: The guy sitting in the neighboring cubical farts all the time and it's unbearable

Y: That's disgusting (giggles).

Scenario 2:

A: What does she do now?

B: She's working at a new company. And I heard she got divorced too.

A: Oh really?

B: Yeah...what happened?

Scenario 3:

G: Ever since you got transferred, I have really missed you man.

H: Yeah, I missed you too.

G: I should try to get you transferred back here.

Scenario 4:

Boss: DID HE JUST FART?? I heard it right through the wall!!

Shu: Yeah, I heard that too.

Boss: Giggles hysterically

Shu: *straight face, Shu, straight face* *dammit*

Shu: HAHAHAHA