They Are The Same!!!

Last week, my mechanical pencil gave up on me. I had abused it for about 4 years.

I had always wanted to buy a shaker mechanical pencil. Never owned one before. With this opportunity, I went to a book shop and shopped around for one.

I looked around for quite a while, finally settling for one. It was pretty expensive according to my standard. It was about $2.70. My initial budget was about $1.50. Well, since it was my first shaker mechanical pencil, I decided to burst my budget. Happily, I bought my first Pilot shaker mechanical pencil. And it was purple.

Few days ago, my wife told me that she had bought a shaker mechanical pencil. She showed me and coincidentally, it looked exactly like mine. Almost similar except that her pencil was about 0.01mm longer than mine. And it was purple too. I thought my wife and I had telepathy. Ha.

She then asked me to guess the price of the pencil. I guessed around $2.10, thinking my wife usually goes for a bargain. She replied, "80 cents." I was totally shocked. Besides being a Chinese brand, all else was the same as my Pilot mechanical pencil. Why did I then have to pay more than 3 times what my wife paid for? She added that she could have purchased 3 mechanical pencils at the price of $2. I felt disgusted. The 3 pencils would probably last me 12 years. Yet I paid $2.70 for only one. (By forking out another 10 cents, I could easily had gotten 4 Chinese branded mechanical pencils, and that would have lasted me 16 years.)

Disgruntled, I checked the internet for the company that produced my wife’s purchase. It was a manufacturer of mechanical pencils. Maybe Pilot outsourced the manufacturing process to them, marked up the price by many times and sell to fools like myself. While the Chinese company simply sold the extras at a low price. And they could do so probably because the manufacturing cost was very low. Imagine the Chinese company can still make a profit by selling the pencils at 80 cents. I wonder how much profit Pilot made.

I decided to buy the brand "GiLiFa" shaker mechanical pencil next time and not Pilot.

I Love Air-Con

Today is a very hot day.

Before we left our house, we had filled up the vases of our flowers with water. By the time we returned, the water in the vases were almost empty.

Such weather was torturing my wife, who was constantly feeling warm ever since she got pregnant. My wife was basically a water bag drenched in her own clothing.

Good thing we had our house air conditioned. Full blast please.

Number One

Today, my wife and I went for the routine checkup of our baby.

Our appointment was at 12pm. We waited till 1.30pm before we saw the doctor. We went into the room and the doctor showed us our baby. It is about 6 months. We could see the side features of our baby. He looks like my wife based on the side profile.

My mum once told my wife that if the baby looked more like the mum, it meant that the dad loved the mum more. If the baby looked more like the dad, it meant that the mum loved the dad more. I don’t know if this is true but based on old wife’s tale, seemed like I love my wife more than she loves me.

Oh... I wonder who the number one in her heart is...

More Sleep

It’s unbelievable. I slept at 1030pm yesterday, woke up today at 10am and I am still feeling tired.

The lack of sleep the day before must have taken a toll on my body. I am feeling high now plus a little bit dazed. Everything seems like in a dreamy state to me.

Maybe I should sleep early tonight to recharge again.

Tired

I slept late yesterday, at 3am. Yet this morning, I had to wake up early to help my wife carry some stuff to her office.

At about 6am, my wife woke me and I sat up into a Cleopatra position. As I thought that it was still early, I decided to count to 10 before getting up to wash my face and brush my teeth.

The next thing I realized was that my wife had already dressed up and she was ready to set off. It was 6.45am. I had unknowingly slept for 45mins in a semi sitting cum lying down position.

Jumping out of bed, I washed up quickly and helped my wife carry her stuff to the waiting taxi.

Not Enough Sleep

Wah lao!

Until now still have not finish my work.

Only half way through.

Tomorrow is the deadline.

How?

More importantly, sleep late still has to wake up early.

Hate it!

Last Minute Work

Not too enthusiastic about what I am going to do.

A last minute project deadline was given today to be submitted on Thursday.

My colleague Ritz was very unhappy. He felt unfair and complained to our lady boss. It was obvious that she will not listen to Ritz. She was already being pressured by the top management. And now it's her turn to push us to complete the project. Guess she may need to flog us.

After much discussion, all of us will have to complete the project by Thursday while Ritz will submit on Tuesday. She was definitely showing her authority to Ritz, by showing her unhappiness, giving him a verbal lashing.

Live Life

Life is unpredictable.

Just a couple of months ago, my friend, Judith was on compassionate leave for several days. Her younger sister had passed away. She passed away because of cancer. Little mention about her younger sister would bring tears to Judith. She was very sad.

A few weeks later, Judith was absent from work. Her absence was not only for a day but for several weeks. Today, she returned to work. She looked pale. She had just undergone an operation.

Judith was diagnosed with 2nd stage cancer. She is 36 this year.

Judith, I hope you will conquer the illness and recover soon.

Dog Competition

On our way home after breakfast, my wife and I came across a dog competition.

It is our first time watching a live dog competition. There were small dog races and big dog races. There was also obedience competition.

The races were pretty boring as the distance covered was short. But the obedience competition was very interesting. Dog owners were trying to do last minute preparation to ensure their dogs were at their best. They were practicing commands like “Heel”, “Down”, “Stand” and “Stay” with the adorable canines. The dogs were very obedient. It was going to be a tough decision for the judges.

During the actual competition, however, only a few dogs were really flawlessly obedient. One particular dog, a Border Collie, and its owner were the center of attention. Not only did the collie not listen to the owner, it simply ignored the owner’s presence. When the owner gave the command “Come”, it ran past its owner into the crowd and played with other dogs. The owner had got nothing to say but left immediately, chasing after it.

We did not stay till the end of the competition as we were pretty tired waking up early.

Tonnes Of Work

Simply cannot finish my work.

Deadlines after deadlines again.

Irritated. Try to finish everything by this weekend.

Watch Arsenal match later. Beer and nuts. Yeah... Time to relax.

Where's My Towel?

Came home from work and I felt very tired. It was about 6.30pm.

I decided to take an early shower to wake myself up. The moment I stepped into the bathroom, clothes fly out and I got ready to turn on the tap.

Just then, I realized that I did not have a towel with me. My house is very close to my neighbors’ and they can see me clearly the moment I step out off the bathroom. How am I going to come out without letting my neighbors enjoy a free show?

I couldn’t shout for my wife as she was bathing in the other bathroom. After much consideration, I decided to sprint out naked all the way to my bedroom to take my towel. Better run naked and dry than having to run naked and wet as I may slip and hurt myself.

Hope no one reports to the police.

Friends

Some friends come and some friends go.

I have gotten to know many people after 30 years on earth but few become good friends. Yet sometimes some of these ‘good friends’ just disappear into thin air, while some simply just distant themselves and act as if they have not known me before. These 2 kinds of friends really baffle me. Is it my problem or theirs that they acted this way?

I have got no answer to that but I definitely know that if there is ever a problem in the friendship, I will definitely want to solve it. However, I believe that not everyone thinks the same as I do. They may not value the friendship as much as I do.

Well, the world is made up of all sorts of people. Cheers to that.

Taxi Please

Today was supposed to be relaxing for me but it turned out to be quite hectic.

When I finished my workout at about 12pm, I was thinking of visiting my parents and at the same time clean the ears of my parents’ dogs (used to be mine). But my aching body made this simple task a chore. I rested for about half an hour.

I managed to pick myself up and headed to my parents’ place. I barely rested after bathing when my elder sister asked me to send her to National University of Singapore (NUS) for some music stuff. I realized that I only had 50 minutes to get to NUS and back because my second sister needed to use the car at 2.25pm and it was already 1.35pm.

The journey was fast and stressful as we zigzagged to NUS. After dropping off my elder sister, I fled back. Completed the journey in 40 minutes and reached home at 2.15pm.

After reaching home, I did some work until about 4.45pm. I then sent my second sister to Raffles Junior College (RJC) for some piano accompaniment, went to Nuskin and bought some toiletries, and returned to RJC to fetch her home.

I am pretty much sick of the traveling on the road at this moment.

Name For A King

What name should I give my son?

I was thinking about names I should give my son while riding. Several English names came to my mind and one stood out. I was thinking of calling my son Niko Low. Suddenly, I thought of Niccolo Machiavelli.

Niccolo Machiavelli was a politician who lived a life misunderstood by people. Although he was patriotic, he was mistaken by others as evil and cruel. His bad reputation was established because of a book he had written. The book was titled “The Prince”. After writing the book, there was no return for him into the political scene. He died with dreams unfulfilled.

Sad story. I don’t think my son would want that name.

Picnic

Yesterday, my wife, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and I wanted to have picnic at Botanical Gardens. We had planned to do so last Sunday. Due to circumstances, we had to postpone it to yesterday.

We were excited about the picnic although it was raining in the morning. We bought food and drinks ready for the occasion. Eagerly, we waited for the rain to stop. It was only 10am.

We waited and waited and waited. The rain never stopped. In the end, at 6.30pm, disappointed, we cancelled the picnic.

Noodles

My little brother-in-law, Ryan, came to my house this afternoon.

My wife and I had not have lunch and we felt hungry. It was about 2pm. I decided to cook noodles with dumplings. I asked Ryan if he wanted to eat too, and he said no as he had taken lunch prior reaching our place. So I started cooking for my wife and myself only.

When I finished cooking, I told my wife to start without me. Ryan looked at the bowl of noodles with an odd expression on his face. I ignored him and went to wash the cooking pot. When I turned around, he was still staring at the bowl of noodles. Seems like he had been studying the bowl of noodles for quite a while. I asked him again if he wanted to eat. Immediately, he said yes! He placed his order for a bowl of noodles with soup, no dumplings but with plenty of vegetables.

After serving his request, he gobbled everything up in minutes. He even dried the soup. His action flaunts my cooking... of instant noodles.

Leng Kee Kia Service Sucks

Today, we have placed our order for Kia Picanto, the car that we have seen last week. It is my wife’s first car and my second car.

Within one week, the car price had jumped up by a thousand dollars. Last week, it was $35,999. This week, it is $36,999. Too bad that we didn’t place the order last week or we would have saved $1000.

Alex, the salesman that serviced us last week was bad. This week, we didn’t ask for him. We tried another salesman, Phil. He was equally bad, if not worse.

We had done our research and had concluded that we wanted Picanto as it was value for money. So before we stepped into the showroom, we had already made up our mind. It was just a matter of which salesman would be lucky to earn their commission from us.

Phil was friendly at first, but as he gradually found out that we were keen in buying the car, his attitude changed. He became arrogant and snobbish. If we had an alternative, we would have walked away from the deal. Sigh... So due to the stupid concept of over demand and scarce supply, we didn’t have a choice but to put up with the salesman’s nonsense.

Just hope our car that is due in December or January period gives us no problem.

Divorce

Marriage is not a stamp that confirms a relationship. In fact, it is only the beginning of a life long journey that promises to have plenty of ups and downs.

Many people are taking happy marriage for granted. However, we are no longer living in the olden days where match made couples could live with each other till old. Divorce was seen as a disgrace in the past but now, it seemed cool to be a divorcee.

People are becoming more and more unwilling to give in to their partners when disagreement arises. They tend to place themselves first before the family. They no longer try to see the view of the other.

Some people eventually leave because they find new love while others simply leave because they can’t stand the sight of the partner that they used to love dearly. Some are heartless enough to abandon their children.

Why is this happening? As a country progresses, do our values degrade? I wonder...

Don't Take The Green Man For Granted

I almost witnessed a road accident today.

I was riding home from work at about 8.30pm along Stevens Road. The traffic was heavy. As I was approaching the cross junction, I started to slow down because the traffic light was turning red. I managed to wriggle my way through and stopped first in line.

A man stepped off the curb and started to walk across the road in front of me. Suddenly, the taxi beside me lunged forward. It almost hit the man. The taxi itself was nearly hit by vehicles moving across the junction.

Fortunately, the man was alert and dodged the charging taxi. All vehicles came to a screeching halt. It was chaotic. The taxi driver gave an apologetic wave and tried to reverse his taxi behind the white line. He must be feeling tired and was probably dreaming.

Who would have thought that the taxi driver was unfocused? Who would have thought that he would step on the accelerator accidentally when the traffic light was red? Good thing the man crossed the road cautiously. He didn’t take the “green man” for granted.

Twitch

My left eye has been twitching for the past 2 days. Wonder what the twitch is trying to tell me.

One thing for sure, I am getting “heaty”. I can feel my tongue is getting swollen. When I close my eyes, hot air oozes out of the eye lids. And I get thirsty very quickly.

I guess I need to have an early night to recuperate. Got to wake up early tomorrow to go to work.

Oh Friday, please come faster!

Feed My Brain

Suddenly, I felt lost. Not in terms of where I am, but in terms of knowledge.

I realized that I had not been feeding my brain for quite a few months. My brain is going dead soon if I stop nourishing it.

What I knew had been stagnant and not growing. I had lost touch of the corporate world and the different work styles and strategies. I felt that I am unable to compete out there in the harsh reality. I felt disgusted with myself.

I had shelved some books which I wanted to read for quite some time. It is time for me to take the books out one by one and chew on them.

My brain needs food!!!

To Eat Or Not To Eat

I am feeling hungry right now as I am typing the blog.

I remembered a friend of mine telling me that a hungry man is an angry man. Although I am not sure if the statement is true, I can confirm that I am a confused man currently. To eat or not to eat, that is the question. I am trying hard not to take suppers as I am trying to lose weight.

What should I do? Jason, Jan Lye’s husband, once told me that if I could not sleep unless I had supper, I am on my way to obesity. I had to endure.

The door bell is ringing. It’s the McDonalds delivery service. Hmm... I wonder who ordered food.

Happy Birthday, Fook Yong

Today is my friend, Fook Yong’s birthday.

We had a drink yesterday night, near my place, to celebrate his 31st birthday while watching England vs Austria World Cup Qualifying match.

Although there wasn’t much activity, we had a great time cursing Sven-Goran Eriksson, the England Coach, and the England team. We didn’t expect the score line to be 1-0. Miserable score line for England, the so called favorites to lift the World Cup. Oh please!

Fook Yong betted the score line to be 3-0. He needed England to win at least 2-0 to recoup some losses. Eventually, at full time, he lost all his bet. Fortunately, it was only $40. Maybe it is a sign to tell him to quit betting from his 31st birthday onwards.

Happy Birthday, Fook Yong!!!

Test Drive

Today, my wife and I went to shop for cars. I meant window shopping. We had the intention of getting a car because of the soon arriving baby.

Upon looking through the papers for a few weeks, we had decided to try the cheapest car in town, Kia Picanto. As my dad wanted to change a new vehicle also, we went together to explore the various car models before finalizing.

First, we arrived at Nissan, my dad’s favorite brand of car. As usual, he was thinking of getting Nissan Sunny. He had been driving the same model of car for many years and he simply loved it. No other models could divert his interest.

After that, we went over to see Kia Picanto. We test drove the car. As it was only 1.1 liters, it had weak power. This was all within expectation. We then tested the comfort level of the back seats by having 3 adults seated at the back. It was comfortable.

After the drive, no salesman serviced us. I guess they were too busy. Although we had not placed an order yet, the car had sold itself.

7.2km

Today, I had an opportunity to go to the gym, so I went. I wanted to keep fit and more importantly, I wanted to reduce my weight to a healthy zone. Currently, I am considered as mildly obese.

Armed with my towel, I stepped into the gym. The treadmill was unoccupied. Without stretching, I immediately leaped onto the machine like pouncing onto a prey. With a few touches, I was on my way to good health.

I used to do an hour of running and after that, some weights. That was my routine few years back. However, I had not been working out for long, so I thought I should just do running and skip the weights.

After an hour, I clocked a distance of 7.2km, burning 592 calories. I was really happy. I didn’t feel tired at all. Instead, I felt light. When I stepped down from the treadmill, I almost collapsed. My legs went jelly and they almost cramped. Quickly, I stretched my thighs and all parts of my legs. Throughout the run, I was focused on my breathing. I didn’t realize my legs worked out too. My lungs weren’t tired but my legs were! After that, I had to walk really slowly to avoid a cramp.

Moral of the story: Stretch and warm up properly before exercising. Push yourself hard but know your limits.

Welcome To McDonald's

Many people use McDonald’s delivery service. My wife and I, and many of the people we know are no exception.

As my wife works in the Human Resource Department, her colleagues will naturally ask her for McDonald’s delivery number. I guess they must be associating her with one of their operators. They will ask my wife for the phone number for McDonald’s delivery every time they need the service. She will then tell them the number and off they go to enjoy their sumptuous meal.

Today, my wife wanted to use McDonald’s delivery service. She picked up the phone and dialed the number. On the other line, a man picked up the phone. She asked if it was McDonald’s and she wanted to place an order. The man gently replied, “No.” With an almost accustomed manner, the man directed her to dial another number. All of a sudden, my wife realized that she had been giving out the wrong number to her colleagues all this while.

Poor man, I wonder how many “McDonald’s delivery” calls have he received. He seems very used to it that he doesn’t even flare up anymore.

Tattoo

I had always wanted to have a tattoo since army days. A tattoo that says “Runaway” at the side of my feet. When I wear shoes, it will be hidden, and when I wear flip flops, it will be visible.

Today, the idea of tattooing floats into my mind again. Should I get it or not? My wife suggested that I get a stick-on first. How boring. More importantly, I only wanted to have a tattoo designed by me.

When I was deep in thought, my wife suddenly popped out and said that the needles will be like a dot matrix printer with very high number of dots per inch punching into my flesh.

The image she painted wasn’t very glamorous. Maybe, I will do it another day.

Wild Dressing

My wife’s anxiety grows bigger and bigger day by day as her wardrobe shrinks. Finally, she cannot take it and lets out her frustrations today.

My wife returned from work at about 8pm and told me that she was having a crisis. All her maternity clothes, including those newly bought, were too small. She had got nothing to wear tomorrow. What should she do? Without further ado, we set off on our quest to search for maternity wears. Before that, we had to eat dinner first.

After finishing dinner at about 9pm, we started shopping. We went through several shops, in and out of changing rooms and put back a lot of clothes. Finally, we stopped at her favorite shop. It was 9.45pm. The shop was closing. As she frequented the shop very often, the shopkeeper specially attended to her. She was the only customer.

As my wife’s favorite shop was just beside the bank, I left to do some banking. Just a few minutes later, I returned and found her with a pile of clothes overflowing from the changing room.

Finally, my wife spent about $190 on 7 pieces of clothes that could be worn during maternity and after giving birth. Not bad for an hour of wild shopping.

Under One Roof

Everyday may be different. But as long as we are growing wiser, everyday will be better.

It seems easy to put it down in words. But it may take a life time to muster enough knowledge and experience to be considered wise. Yet again, it may not only be the old that are the wisest for they can sometimes be muddle headed too.

The young, nowadays, often possesses vast knowledge which they acquire easily from the internet such that it may render the old school of thought useless. But it is the experience of the old that makes them invaluable too.

Therefore, we need the new knowledge of the young to generate new ideas from new resources, and we need the experience of the old to help us to avoid any mistakes that have already been committed.

With the strengths of the two generations combined, the fulfillments should be overwhelming.

Intrusion Of Privacy - Values

What are values? Can we take for granted that everyone has a good set of values?

In Chinese History, there were many intellects, such as Lao Zi and Confucius, who had written many fine scripts and philosophies. There were many fine customs and traditions that were passed down from generations after generations. Do the values still exist?

As I was typing, my wife interrupted me with the following paragraphs. “Nowadays, many people are immoral and materialistic. They only care about their survival in a dog eat dog world. Values are secondary. Their immediate gratification is primary. They can give up their family, their chastity, and their pride for monetary gains. How I despise them to the core.”

“I will teach my child values and integrity. Something that money cannot buy. So that he will be a beacon of light and a source of hope to mankind. He will also be known as Wonder Boy.”

I feel stressed up for my child.

Gunners

We went to have the baby scan today.

Our appointment was 10am. As usual, we woke up an hour before the appointment, thinking that we merely needed 30mins to prepare ourselves to get out of the house and another 30mins for travel. We eventually reached the clinic at 1015am. I brought along a book to read, just in case I had to wait for my wife outside of the consultation room. It was titled “The On-Time On-Target Manager”. (Yes, I have not completed the book yet, since about 2 months back.)

I didn’t need to wait outside of the consultation room. The doctor asked me in, and she began the “5th month” scan. The first thing she told us was that the butt of the kid was facing us. Ha! Talk about respect. Then, she started orientating us the scan of the baby’s parts. After about 20mins or so, she concluded that the baby was healthy and developing well. A sigh of relief.

The doctor asked if we had any preference of gender. We said no. She then revealed the little gun staring at our faces and told us that the baby is a boy.

To my wife’s relief, she revealed that she wasn’t concerned now if the baby has my small eyes. She said appearance is more important for a girl than a guy. What a way to say that I am ugly. Hmm…

I had told my friends that if I had gotten a boy, I would play soccer with him. If I had gotten a girl, I would train her to be a heart breaker. Now, I need to get him a Gunner's soccer jersey.